Bay 12 Games Forum

"Upgrade time!" you exclaim, clapping your hands happily. "Let's also ignore the clearly mad woman who believes to be the Evil Overlord. She'll never be as evil as me."

Then, you watch as Chemista takes care to educate the children on how you are the epitome of Evilness and Evil is Good, which the children start to latch on with ease. Except a young boy.
Who looks at you angrily and stays away from the rest of the 'class' as well as both Chemista and Cerulean.
Cerulean slowly surfs near him, trying to coax him out of his 'boxed' in state of arms around his knees and face pressed against his thighs, but to no avail.
Cerulean pouts, then ruffles the boy's head.
You watch as the little rascal angrily stomps off to another corner.
Like a game of cat and mouse, the scene repeats itself for a few times until, tired, the boy simply lets Cerulean ruffle his hair as he remains quietly in his 'boxed' state.
It's then you realize Psysquid is right next to you, slowly munching and slurping noisily on a dry squid tentacle -what the hell is he doing with his tongue to that tentacle- while gazing at Chemista.
"I didn't have the chance to say it before, your evilness," he whispers like a pusher ready to deliver another drug package. "If you want more...I have my resources...Just say the fetish and I will provide..."
"You know, I'm currently watching my daughter playing with another kid while Chemista and the Succubus teach other children. You look like the creepy pedophile from around the corner in that attire...what's the matter with the grey trenchcoat anyway?"
"Ah...well, it's sort of cold in here, isn't it?" he remarks with a forced smile.
"I swear if you're n- wait, you aren't actually naked. You just want me to yell at you about being indecent, right?"
"Yes your evilness."
"Go bother Chemista." You mumble.
"WITH PLEASURE!"
"NO! NOT WITH PLEASURE! NO PLEASURE NEAR THE CHILDREN IS TOLLERATED!" you yell, but Psysquid has already thrown himself in mid-air to land with a satisfying 'THUNK' on the ground. Chemista moved her 'goo-mass' away from Psysquid's intended point of impact, hence giving him a big bruise on the forehead.
"And that, children, is what stupid inferior Dark Advisors do to pass the time."
"Yes, Miss Chemista." they all chorus.
"Now repeat after me 'Humans are bad, we should kill humans because killing humans is good'."
"Humans are bad," the children repeat.
"Good!"
"Bad!"
"Very well!" she claps her hands once.

The Hydraulic succubi then put on skimpy white bikini and head over to work with the Backup base. It will not be useable as a transport or anything, but if you lair is breached, you will have an automatic point of escape available...
"Hey, Overlord," one of the Succubus remarks. "I feel so lonely at night...can I come over to your room?"
You ignore her.
"I want to come too!" the other whimpers.
"Me three! We can have a pajama party!" Cerulean exclaims then, making you sputter.
"NO. No, and no!" you shake your head. "Get on with the upgrades...really..."

You then head over to your throne room, and turn on the television.

"In other news, the Just-city first-of-a-kind-and-hopefully-only Nuclear Reactor, Foakaho, has recently exploded. Inquiries are being made over the possible accident-relation to it, but at the moment the police is more busy cordoning off the area where it happened and shooting down the erratic monsters that have begun to emerge from it. These 'mutants' claim to still be men and women...but do not trust the mutant -he lies!"
A few moments later, the newscaster continues.
"The renowned Doctor Love-Love-Good, Plastic Surgeon extraordinaire has disappeared. No one has any idea where he has gone, but many believe he has simply decided to leave in another long-term trip around the globe."
Then the television turns dark.

"Hey, hey, you..." a metallic claw 'thunks' on the glass of the camera. "Hey, hey, listen...hey listen, hey listen...hey listen...HEY FUCKING LISTEN...hey listen...I had a deal right? We should have met...I left you a hint...you didn't come and that's not good...you don't leave people waiting. People waiting get bored. Bored people blow things up...sniffle, you LEFT ME!" she wails, off camera.
Then, the music of the shark starts playing as a glowing green bar of plutonium appears on screen, held within a transparent metallic tube covered in spinning mechanisms.
"You see this? This is PLUTONIUM. It takes the name from my dog. I called it Pluto before killing it and making slippers."
You blearily decide to ignore her ever 'making sense'.
"I once had a friend like you, you know? His name was...I think his name was...Well, it's not important. I'm going to make you a deal. You show yourself up, you fake-Evil Overlord...or I kill. I kill and I kill and I kill until the body count becomes so high they can't even find a high enough number to name it. It will a Gaziquazibillion of deaths...I know you. You're a fake, a liar, a thief...what is mine is mine and the title of Evil Overlord is mine...you will give it to me or I will kill you. I think I'll kill you anyway. Tell me," a picture flashes of Psysquid smashing an overweight bearded man-fairy on the ground, soon followed by Gamington slaughtering people and then over to Chemista wearing (in her goo-form) a form-fitting black bondage-like corset which actually makes your brain go in certain directions it shouldn't go, before the screen then moves to a picture of Cerulean with a tortured face -probably from the torture time. "Are these your people?" then it's Snowstar and Coghuahua, as seen when in the orphanage.
"I'll kill them too, you know. I'll kill you all...you fakers, you liars...you Heroes...I'll show you the TRUE EVIL! I'll show you the TRUE OVERLORD! I AM CHEERFUL CHEERIE, AND YOU WILL DIE LAUGHING HOLDING YOUR SPILLED GUTS! MWUAHUAHUAHAUHAUHAUAHUAH!"

Then the television flashes into static, and from static it moves to the interviews of the children.
"What's your name, dearie?" Chemista says in a kind voice.
"Jimmy..."
"Good boy...now tell me Jimmy, what do you think of the HEROES association?"
"They're...they're scum...and...bad people..." he seems to be frowning, as if something beyond the camera was there for him to read. "Th-They're really bad...they s-suck...and...and the older boys...they made them cry and broke their legs...my older brother, I think he's still there...Can I go and see him now?"
"Later dear," Chemista replies, "You'll see your older brother later."
You're pretty sure there isn't an 'older brother' at all for that boy.
"Really?"
"Of course...we do not kill innocent boys, we let them leave so the HEROES association can be seen for the butchering murders they are..."
"Ah...thank you auntie!"
"No, no, thank you Jimmy," Chemista keeps up a very strained smile until the camera shows an interview of Snowstar.
"My...name is Snowstar. Once, I was Snowkid. The...the ORPHANAGE IS EVIL! It's a place of...of pain and suffering and...and classification and..."
"If you're not pretty," Coghuahua says then, "You...you have to want to be pretty. Heroines are all pretty. Bright, white smile...stylish dresses...you have to show something to the public...like...belly button or something because...you don't graduate otherwise from the Luchadores...and...and sometimes you have to...ah...you have to remove the mask and show you've got a pretty face beneath it but...but it's ugly, and they force you to say it's ugly because your face is the mask and to the young one they lie, they tell them that if they remove the mask the skin will come off and some...some don't believe it so...so the next time they take the mask off they glue it right back...and then they melt it directly on their face."
She shudders.
Then it's Cerulean's turn.
"My name is Cerulean," she says, standing up in her goo-form prim and proper. "And I was a magical girl before being transformed by the Overlord." She makes a small smile, "Now I'm happy. I can really smile now, and not fake it! There...there are a lot of children like me who...who fight even when all they want is to have a family. They tell us that if we're good, if we complete our missions and defeat evil...they'll give us some mums and dads for us...but...I found mine already so...please! The orphanage was a really bad place and we saved who we could...you must stop the HEROES!"
Then the television turns black.

When it returns, it's The Mechanic on Air.

He stands, prim and proper, like an old and affable man.
He holds a small smile, and then he begins to speak.

"Citizens...do not believe the Evil Overlord. He is a threat to us. To us all...he is an enemy we must defeat. Everything he does, he does against us. Look at the thousands of dead already, and the many more to come...he is a cancer of the world...and now, you must help the HEROES purge him."
He gazes at the camera.
"Fight, citizens of the world...against evil, against crime...against the Evil Overlord. Fight..."
He whispers. "For all the children that died, for the cries of the wailing mothers...fight..."
he then grips on his cane. "FIGHT! FIGHT AND SHOW THE EVIL SCUM THE PLACE THEY DESERVE IS THE COLD GROUND! SNAP THEIR LIMBS, TEAR APART THEIR INNARDS! Evil took my son away from me, evil claimed THE Hero...and now...now we must band together against this threat!" he begins to cry, showing tears that roll down his cheeks. "Please...fight."

The news then return to normal, but even the newscaster is crying.
"C-citizens, we must fight against this h-horrible enemy," she stutters out through red and puffy eyes..."We must..."

You turn off the television.
You clench your hands. You won't have any idea which 'ideology' won out in the end, at least not until tomorrow or during the missions...
But you cannot underestimate your father.
he was THE Hero before you, wasn't he?

You are now in Downkeep

Well, Savoy is Savoy...and France NO you can't have Savoy.

I'm allied with England, Castille, Aragon and funnily enough some strange amount of states up in the north.
I learned another lesson: Never ally with the 'warring states of bloody north' because really...Wurtember, Mainz, Saxon...they all fight one another like unruly children...sheesh!

Now Aragon's conquered Naples, wonderful.
And the center is in Tuscany's hands while the papal states have been wiped out of the map (and 'Genoa' is now simply in Crimea XD)

But Savoy...nobody shall mess with the Savoyards! really, it's cheaper to hire Mercenaries with out Ideological ideas and then release them post-war...Just must be careful to pay back the loans and...

*chuckles darkly*

HRE...nope, not giving you back MY conquered states. I'll take the hit to reputation any day...in any case, Italy will be mine, mine I tell you!

*ahem* ending the rant...I'm going to annex Corsica.
And then Sardinia.

Is there actually a way to 'buy' regions from other countries, or can you only 'sell' them? I find it strange I can sell them but not 'buy' them.

You build four Guardogs.

It's late at night, and everyone else is sleeping by the time the four Guardogs roll out. Since you used your summoning for the Blorble, you head over to finish your sleep -thankfully devoid of dreams- back in your bed. You pass by the 'nursery' room, where giant pillows now each hold a sleeping children, with Cerulean snoring softly in the middle of it, five little forms sleeping on her as if she were just another jiggling pillow.

It's a teeth-rotting scene of cuteness.
Hopefully it won't last.

Chemista is still working at her laboratory however, and when you head over she gives you a quizzical glance. "Yes, your evilness?"
"Doing a late-nighter?"
"Of course," she acquiesces.
"You know," you remark dryly, "For a tiny instant, I had this stray thought of you being my mother somewhat...but it's just a stray thought, right?"
"Of course," Chemista chuckles dryly, "I'm old, but not that old. Didn't I tell you my story once already? I must have forgotten then..." she sighs, "I was a chemist working on a Mindium-related projected with a few other top-notch elites. The mineral had just then been discovered, and we all wanted to be the first to make a breakthrough and get the prize-money. I was the one who thought about grating the mindium into a thin powdery substance and then using a chemical fluid known as...goo," she brings up her gelatinous right hand, "To ease absorption into the skull and subsequently the brain. It worked, I got the prize money, and my assistant aptly decided I had to be flung into the grinder."
Chemista chuckles. "You have no idea how much it fucking hurts to be ground down to paste by giant slicing blades that move at beyond mach two of speed, while remaining alive as your every cell is filled with the very same goo you created."
She awkwardly looks sideways. "I was a mush flesh and blood pudding by the time the grinder stopped...but I was still alive," she sing-sung, "And so I plopped out of the vat and killed the bastard with a well placed usage of a Mindium shard...pierced his head, smashed him on the ground, feasted on his entrails...you know the drill. I was a bit angry, maybe that's why I actually sliced his guts apart."
She hums thoughtfully. "I was a monster, and killing someone made me automatically 'not-a-hero'. So I ended up becoming a refuse of society. With the prize money I bought myself a nice little boat, which I later upgraded. With my form I stole from banks solo first, and then I began to get help from a few critters here and there...slowly I became known as the Evil Overlordess Chemista and, at the height of my power...I did the most diabolical thing any Evil Overlord before me failed to do..."
She chuckled, "I killed THE Hero's mother soon after his birth."
She clicks her tongue then, "Unfortunately your father did intervene," she shrugs, "And I couldn't finish the deal. But well...that's all in the past, your evilness."
"Wait," you blink. "You killed my mother?"
"No, I killed Silver's mother. You, Incognito...well, yes, if we want to be nitpicky I grew you, I molded you, I trained you and gave you everything to let you start off...you are my son in all but blood and flesh, in the end."
"You didn't mutate me," you say then. "Why?"

Chemista hums. "Why? Is there really a need for a reason? You're human because it's your choice. I never lied about your utter freedom of choice Incognito. If you want to mutate, I can inject you just like anyone else. If you want to be Cogified, I'll call Psysquid and send him down...I'm not lying, I'm not good at telling lies. Subtle manipulations of the truth? Yes. Lies? Nope."

"You killed my mother."
"Yes," she rolls her eyes. "You don't even remember her, you couldn't in any case."
"Did you know I was taken in by the orphanage once?"
"Yes," she shrugs, "That was plan number two to get rid of you. Don't give me that look. You were the past THE Hero's child. It was easy to believe you'd be the next THE Hero. Killing you off would have solved the problem, but I wanted your father broken...I wanted him to realize the wrongdoings he was committing with his HEROES association...so I sent you at the orphanage, mind-controlling the Orphanage's caretaker to grab you too along the way...after my minions killed all of your caretakers of course. You know, I think that at attempt nineteen they simply stopped giving you nannies and directly assigned you Knighthowl."
You close your eyes.
"Really?"
"Yes."
You sigh.
"Anything else, your evilness?"
"My...mother, how did you kill her?"
"Mind-controlled the nurse to slice her throat. Would have bashed your head too but...alas, your father held you and he wasn't the Silver Mechanic for nothing."

You do excuse yourself for the night however.

Then, grabbing some cameras and a magical crystal -without forgetting a microphone and some tape- you throw it all in the SAD system. The moment a metallic pole emerges -with a camera in place of its head- you know you got the right thing.

You summoned a Camerathing!

It clicks and starts recording.
"IT'S A BEAUTIFUL STARRY NIGHT AND THE EVIL OVERLORD IS SO BEAUTIFUL THE SKY ITSELF PALES IN COMPARISOOONNNNNNN EVERYONEEEE BOW TO THE OVERLOOORRRRDDDD INCOGNITOOOOOOOOO!"
yelling that out at the top of its -not existing- lungs, the Camerathing begins to tip-tap.
"OVERLORD! OVERLORD! ALL HAIL THE OVERLORD!
TO YOU WE BOW! OVERLORD!
YOU ARE OUR LORD!
OVERLORD! OVERLORD!
WE SING YOUR PRAISE OH MIGHTY LORD!
SMITE OUR FOES THAT ARE GOOD!
FOR YOU ARE THE OVERLORD!
AND YOU WILL KILL EVEN THEIR MOOD!
Oh OVerlord, oh Overlord, for you our stars shine brightlyyyy...
oh overlord, oh overlord, we all love your sparklyyyyy...
oh overlord, oh overlord, I thin you're very prettyyyyy..."
"Enough," you snap your fingers and the thing goes quiet.
Then you exhale in relief. Blessed silence, once more.

And you promptly go to sleep.

Only to wake up the next morning to the sound of children wailing and screaming, as Cerulean yells. "THE WATER DOESN'T HURT! COME ON, Timmy, Jimmy, Ginny, Gummy! It's your turn now!"
There's laughter and pit-pat of feet out of your room.
You're actually tempted to simply keep on sleeping.
Really tempted.

You are now in Upkeep

Your central security system is but the spyglasses connected to your room.
"Central Security System, activate," you state plainly, before gazing around when nothing happens. Well, it doesn't matter. You move to where the brats probably are to teach them a lesson about 'not waking the evil overlord' when he's taking a nap.
It takes nothing more than a few minutes to realize you've been walking in circles however.

"And when I'll become the prodigal and beautiful Cheerful Gal, you can be my side-kick, Silver Pompom."
"I'm never going to call myself Silver Pompom," the male voice grumbles again. "I'll be something cool, like my dad and mom! Probably...if I knew them...anyway, I'll be something smart and powerful!"
"Yeah, right," the female snorts. "The only thing you'd be good at would be cheering from the sidelines."
"Hey! That's not true..."
"Did you even manage to make a single Cog work now?"
You have a bad feeling about it, as you still your hand right in front of a door that you know isn't supposed to be there. It's a wooden door, and in your lair filled with metal...it gives off an extremely bad vibe.
"No, but I'm working on it!" the male voice replies...
You hear a ruckus from beyond the door.
"There you are, Silver!" it's a male voice, gruff and that makes your very skin shudder.
"W-who are y-"
"This will not happen again," the male voice grumbles to someone else beyond the door.
The question is...
Do you open the door?

"Save the undefined and be quick about it," you exclaim, running up the stairs to reach for the overseer's office to unlock the cell doors.
The moment the Zeppelins come into view, the surviving members of your army work double time in carrying the scared and frightened children -none older than nine, it would seem- straight up the floating contraptions.
Unfortunately, space has its limits and soon...

Soon you watch as explosions rock throughout the entire orphanage, tearing it apart as chunks of concrete fall and screams rise in the air, high-pitched from the sounds of the children crying.
You start to power up the engines of your zeppelins, letting the steam-powered mechanisms clunk and thunk as you make your way out of there as fast as Evil Overlordly possible.
Within mere instants, the place falls down with thunderous crashes and explosions.
You hold little doubt anyone could have survived within it. It was...it was a slaughter.

Weather the storm

"The Brave-City orphanage was attacked, ransacked, and its gentle and caring employees," a picture of the drill sergeant smiling and wearing an apron appears on screen, "have been mercilessly slaughtered by the Evil Overlord Incognito, in a move that firmly classifies him as the biggest threat the HEROES association has ever had since the Evil Overlord [CENSORED]."
A picture of dozens upon dozens of small white coffins appear then on screen, "Following the onslaught, no children survived. The Evil Overlord fired upon the ruins with its zeppelins, tearing apart and killing what little survivors there might have been after blowing the orphanage up with everyone inside...in his acting, he has without a mistake made himself an enemy of all righteous citizens, as he is a monster without a heart who must be purged from the world! He is a cancer, a plague, a blight!" the newscaster is normally a bubbling red-haired woman, but now she takes on an angry scowl as she snarls, "This monster MUST be brought to swift Justice! For all the children, for all the future generations, the HEROES association now demands that you, citizens, and you, parents, make the ultimate sacrifice for the lives of those yet to come! Bring your children to the nearest HEROES headquarters or branch, and let us take care of training them to their full potential! THE HEROES will always triumph against evil! And everyone must do his part."

Then your own 'news' come into the air.
Unfortunately, you didn't have any of the Snail-Crew present...
Or a camera.
Twenty dressed and cleaned children stand in circle around Cerulean, who appears to be bubbling with excitement. "Let's play, all right!?"
What follows next are a few minutes of harmless playing as child after child stops being scared and starts 'yelling' and 'screaming' like any other child their age. Some seem interested in using bits and pieces of Cerulean like pudding, but she's quick enough to get those back.
She really does seem happy.
Then it's up to Psysquid to take the news with his hands gripping some papers, while wearing his bright and colorful green-spandex clothes...that now enhance his pectorals.
You bring your right hand to massage your temples as you watch the stylish monstrosity speak.

"Survivors were saved from the orphanage before the Heroes association could kill them all brutally! We of the Evil Overlord Incognito's side believe fully in equality between humans and monsters, and will fight for a better tomorrow devoid of war, famine, plague and...no, sorry, this is...who the hell wrote this!?" he throws the papers in the air, and then snaps.
"The Heroes treat their so called 'precious children' like child soldiers! DO NOT believe in the HEROES association! They will take your child, erase his memories of you, and then train him until he bleeds from his mouth and holds all of his bones broken! You must keep your children safe from the HEROES!"

And that's when static interrupts once more, and CHEERFUL CHEERIE takes the air.

"HEYYYYY I HEARD YOU DID A SLAUGHTEEERRRR! I like slaughters, they rhyme with laughters!" Cheerie laughs. "I think we need to meet up, you, me, a burning baby...maybe under the light of a radioactive tower ready to explode? Yes! I like the sound of that...how about we meet eh? And maybe we can slaughter enemies together, like pals, uh? And if I stick a claw through your guts, will you scream lots pretty please?" she giggles then, "Oh, by the way...I think it's not fun when you don't reply to me...feels like I'm talking to a wall or sumthing..."
She cocks her head to the side. "I KNOW! Let's play a game of 'catch the Overlord'! You find my lair you win, I find your lair I win! And the winning price is a final showdown between us, eh!? I've got it all ready and prepared...I delivered a nice and crisp first hint in the message I just said...HAVE FUN, AND BE CHEERFUUUUULLLL!"

And with that, she goes off the air.

The newscaster returns in the air with a narrow look. "THE HEROES ASSOCIATION WILL FIND YOU, RADIO THIEVES!"
Then Psysquid returns on screen.
"Television killed the Radio Starrrrrr!"
And with that, it's back to the normal shows.

You close the tv, exhaling as you drop your head against the back of your luxurious couch and chuckle. You did it. You really did put a wrench in the enemy's plans...

WE. WILL. BE. TOGETHER. FOREVER. AND. EVER. SILVER. YOU'RE. MINE. SILVER. SILVER. SILVEEEERRRRR.

You tremble as your eyes open wide.

You take a deep breath. There's nothing around you. It's night, and you probably fell asleep in the living room, but there's nothing around you.
Nothing.
Everything is fine.
Then the sound of small footsteps reach your ears once more.
"Mine!" you hear a child scream. Maybe the kids went out of their way and ended up somewhere they weren't meant to be -aka too close to you.
"No, it's mine!" another childish voice yells.
"MINE!"
"NO, MINE!"
"YOU MEANIE! YOu...you bully!"
"Ha! You can't do anything about that! I'm the one who gets to become a Hero! You're just a side-kick!"
the voice is now female, older.
"Yes, yes," another male voice grumbles, "Like I give a damn..."

Listen on...or find the source?

In Italy, the 'Party' gets to choose.

We simply vote the parties when the time comes, and bam, the parties choose who to put in power (There are actually 'moneys' to be made. If you enter a party, you pay tot euros -in Italy- and then if you get elected you pay 'support' to your party)
No wonders Italians brought organized crime to a new level.
We have an organized mafia on the television (Known as Rai), which forces Italians to pay a 'tot' every year as long as you have a television screen. It doesn't matter if you're using it for playstation rather than television...you have one, you've got to pay the Rai Tax. If you don't, they'll come into your home and place a thick iron sheet over your screen.
Yes. They will.

Rai is, by the way, the 'tax-funded democractic  media' with a 'tax' forced down Italian's throats and with every news being accurately filtered and delivered only after a more shocking one comes to pass.
I get 99% of my political information online, from online newspaper coming from at least five different countries.

And I'm subscribed to both neo-fascist AND neo-communist pages on facebook, because either way, if you want the truth you've got to find it out for yourself by checking both sides and then getting the middle ground.

It is never a matter of right versus wrong.
You mull the thought over, as your eyes stare to the vast extension of the sea beyond the glass window of your zeppelin. Behind it, the floating barge and the second Zeppelin are following filled to the brim with what troops you could carry on them.
You look at both Coghuahua and Snowstar. They’ll be your sidekicks for this mission.

You have sidekicks. The thing empowers you somewhat with glee. It’s just like having a group of heroes and being on the verge of assaulting the Evil Overlord’s base…only in reverse, you’re assaulting the Good Guy’s Recruitment Center.
You close your eyes, breathing in and out deeply as you try to keep the headache out of your mind. A soft and cool hand with a slight gooish substance grips at your right gloved one, your eyes opening softly to stare at Cerulean’s own wide ones. She softly smiles at you, before murmuring.
“I’m scared.”
“You wanted to come here, Cerulean,” you remind the goo-girl, who nods.
“Yep,” she mutters, “We’re freeing the others, right? I’ll have a lot of little brothers and sisters afterwards, right?”
You nod, “Yes, you will.”

Chemista slinks closer for a moment, before coughing. “Come on Cerulean, let Incognito turn to his broody thoughts as an evil overlord about to make a statement. He needs to reverse his Evil Overlord speech to the Heroes too.”
Cerulean awkwardly follows Chemista, and you watch as both Coghuahua and Snowstar eye you nervously.
“Uhm…you were from the orphanage too?” you ask.
“E-Every new hero is,” Snowstar mutters. “We’re taken from our families and our minds are erased because it might be…hard for us to be impartial.”
“Ah, right;” you nod. “Wait, so you’re all orphans?”
“Not really,” Coghuahua murmurs. “It’s just…they take us very young, to fit a number…when that number is reached we’re then divided into heroes and side-kicks…and then they further divide us in what category of hero or side-kick we can end up being.”
Snowstar nods. “I’m a battle assistant, for example. My bonuses are used in battle and in case of risk of death…well, I sort of cut off one of my parts and escape. Cerulean, on the other hand, is a Utility assistant. She gives a normal bonus of help and…well, her ability is ‘Taking a Bullet for the Boss’.”

You look towards Coghuahua.

“Ehm,” she smiles awkwardly. “I don’t know mine, your evilness. There wasn’t much damage done but…I’m pretty sure I’m an Utility assistant too.”
You look to Brave City, now over at the horizon.
“What awaits us?” you murmur.
“Heroes, would be heroes, side-kicks and whatnot,” Snowstar murmurs… “And The Sergeant.”
Coghuahua shudders and emits a startled cry —something you’re pretty sure you didn’t program in her.
“The sergeant…no, no, memory wipe…not computing, refuse computation.”
“The sergeant?” you ask once more, turning to gaze at Snowstar since Coghuahua is apparently deathly afraid of it —and has gone through too many errors thirty-two to count right now.
“The Sergeant,” Snowstar murmurs. “He’s the one who chose who went where. Side-kick, Hero, Magical Girl academy, Heroic training, Super-training, Stupid-Training…he decides which heroes goes where and…he’ll find out how strong you are, even by breaking all of your bones and making you lift a heavy weight afterwards.”
“That’s…inhuman,” you murmur.
“No,” Coghuahua whispers. “It’s super-human, above-human, it’s…hero-human.”
“That’s torture, plain and simple!” you snarl, swishing your right hand in front of you and clenching it in a fist. “And this stops now! No children should ever be subjected to this again! It’s time to end this!”
The Elephantine Wraith hums his agreement. “We will never forget the murdered boats,” his eyes shine darkly. “Our revenge will be sweet.”
The Blorble ‘blorbles’.
“We’re going to put on our swimsuits,” the Hydraulic Succubi remark, “We don’t want to dirty our clothes with blood sprays.”
“We will hunt until our fill is done!” the Hunter of the Wild Hunt remarks, lifting his lance and sounding his horn.
“IT! GlurbleblurbleGlubrl!” the IT exclaims, extracting pikes and spikes from his furry body like some sort of overcharged chipmunk interbred with a Swiss army knife.
[Overlord (Coghuahua+Snowstar)], (Chemista+Cerulean), Blorble, 2 Hydraulic Succubus, 1 Hunter of the Wild Hunt, 1 Elephantine Wraith, 1 IT, 16 Guardogs, 6 Cogs + 2 Wuffle Cogs.

Mission Control Success:


You nearly fumble with your mantle as you step down from the zeppelin. Thankfully, nobody is there to notice and so, even though your evil troops have seen you so ungraciously descend…they keep quiet, because it wouldn’t do to snicker behind your back.
“Well,” Chemista murmurs. “At least the bad luck happened only here…”
“Let’s hope so,” the elephantine wraith replies, “We do not forget.”
“You already said that,” Chemista snaps. “You already had your moment of ‘presence’ now go back to being a Dark Minion.”
“Oh,” the elephantine wraith blinks —even if it is without eyebrows or eyelids, it ‘turns off’ its burning red eyes for an instant— and then acquiesces.
The orphanage is a large and white painted stone structure. Heavy bars of steel cover all the windows, of a bright pastel-pink color. The gates are made of iron and have shiny-looking bits of colored glass over the walls of the place, which seem to glint off a shiny multicolored light and ooze a light syrupy substance.
“Don’t touch that,” Snowstar remarks casually to a cog, who was near the wall. “That’s a powerful sedative…you get a nick with it, and you won’t like it at all when you wake up in corner-time…”

Cerulean shudders lightly, before gazing at the extremely tall structure. “It’s…it’s still as big as I remember it,” she murmurs.
You gently let your hand drop on her shoulder, encouraging her with your mere touch to not be afraid. You walk forward then, heading over to the security door of the complex and opening it. You hear the wheezing and the clunking as steam-powered engines move the massive iron bars aside, soon followed by the two steel panels sliding away to reveal a magnificent-looking tall ceiling corridor.
Lights shine all around it, as exquisite paintings and majestic looking furniture entices your eyes. Your feet, and those of your troop, clink as they walk on the marble pavements.

Eventually, you reach a long and tall staircase that seems to be heading upwards.
“The central lock is in the office of The Sergeant,” Snowstar mutters. “It’s…it’s going to be well guarded and…”
“Look who the cat brought in!” a voice snaps to attention, as you bring out your silver staff of cogs and narrow your eyes, looking to the top of the staircase, where a man dressed like a military soldier stands tall and proud, his chest out and a scar over his right eye.
“WELL BRATS, WHERE ARE YOUR MANNERS!? EVER HEARD OF KNOCKING, PATHETIC WIMPS!?”
“I-I’m sorry Sir!” Coghuahua snaps to attention, before a thunk on the head from a nearby cog brings her back to her ‘sanity’.
Cerulean carefully slinks forward, fist extended. “You bad meanie! We’re getting everyone out of here now!”
The Sergeant looks amused, before snapping his fingers. From the sides of the stairway, Special Forces clad in heavy and robust armor appear wielding rioting shields —what the hell of an orphanage has guards with rioting shields— followed by Security.
And by security, it means policemen wielding assault rifles.

“I will not let you take the children, you horrible, horrible monsters,” The Sergeant smirks, laughing out loud. “THEY ARE MY TOYS, NOT YOURS!” he snarls then, taking out a long whip. “And I will do with them as I see fit!” a gun emerges from his other hand, one with three barrels rather than one. “Now…COME AND DIE, MONSTERS!”


“Hey Honey, come over to the dark side,” the Succubi say with enticing hip-movements, “We have cream!”
The Drill sergeant snaps back. “DON’T BREAK THE LINES MAGGOTS!”

Corruption impossible with: Burly Old Sergeant- Fealty through Screaming

The battle begins with you charging ahead, summoning from the very ground your Cog armor as you jump in the air, the Drill sergeant firing off a trio of bullets that impact and spark against your silver shields, leaving behind gashes and dents.
“COME BACK HERE, BASTARD!”
Your silver claw impacts against the ground of the staircase, but the drill sergeant dodges, firing more bullets that are reflected with grace and ease. You thrust a claw forth, and the sergeant jumps on it, before kicking your armor’s crystalline face and flinging you slightly backward, against the wall —crashing through it and in the room beyond, an empty cafeteria.
“IT’S NOT TIME FOR LUNCH YOU MAGGOT! YOU CAN’T HAVE MORE, OLIVER TWIST!”
Meanwhile, back in the main lounge the bullets of the special forces fire with renewed vigor against your army, many clinking against the Guardogs’ precious metals defenses as behind their shield-like forms the normal cogs hold on to their helmets and snap to one another in Cog-ese.
“FLANK THEM! FLANK COG THEM!”
“THEY GOT JOE!”
“Damn it those lurid bastards killed Kenny!”
“Revenge for the Cogs killed!”
“Fire in the holeeeee!”
“Keep your head down son! We’ll fight through it!”

Chemista merely hears ‘Cogcogcogcogcogcogcogcogcog!” repeated in different pitches and noises.
That’s when the Hunter sound its horn and the Elephantine Wraith brings up his hands charged with eldritch energies.
The sound of hooves mixes with the opening of a portal, as a horde of cannibalistic and angry-looking elephants storms through gripping with their extended and skeletal whip-like proboscis a few of the policemen, who…scream as they are torn apart and carried away, back to whatever hell they came from.
“FOR THE HUNT!” the hunter bellows, “CHARGEEEEEE!”

Snowstar spits out a lance of ice, closing the gaps on the stairs as Cerulean slinks through it to lodge a well-placed punch to the side of another policeman —gripping it and using the man as a human shield as Chemista surfs closer and melts another one into acid with her inner stomach.
“WUFFLE-TIME!” The Wuffle-Cogs exclaim as they soar the air, landing with their metallic extremities against the faces of two unlucky men who end up grinded through their spinning blades.
Then, it’s time for the enemies to counterattack.


It is carnage beyond proportions what follows next.
“Hold the lines!” a Rioter snarls, “FIRE! FIRE! PUSH THEM BACK! ARMOR PIERCING BULLETS LOADED!”
Bullets soar in the air as they swap cartridges and finally, the bullets connect and tear apart at the delicate balances within the Cogs, breaking them apart as they explode in steam and mechanisms, destroying everything there ever was of salvageable from them as a light fog starts to fill the room from their burning remains.
Chemista grips on to Cerulean and brings her back from the front, straight behind one of the guardogs as the defensive cogs form shields to protect the rest of the army.

“Go away monster scum!” a guard screams holding on to his dead buddy, “You monsters shall pay! Kill them! Kill them all!”
The Drill sergeant laughs out loud as he mockingly claps his hand at you.
“Well then buddy, seems the tides have turned! You’re just a maggot after all, you have no…’esprit de corp’ as we say it…you’re just a pathetic bunch of monsters all tied together by bloodlust. I’m not going to let you take the children, and I swear,” his right hand hastily grabs another of his three-barrel guns, “I will be hailed as the hero who killed the Overlord after this!”
You hear Cerulean scream as your Cog armor slowly stands back up, gripping tightly onto a metallic table nearby.
There is something etched on it, something your eyes barely make out.

I don’t want to be a hero…I want a mommy and a daddy, please. C.

You roar as you lift the table out of its hinges, then you bring it down against the ground and pounce on the Drill sergeant.
The man, albeit old, hastily jumps back into the middle of the fray firing at the joints in your cog-like armor. You slam your left fist on the ground, letting the wooden splinters fly in the air before you bellow.
“TO ME, MY COGS!”


The Cogs answer your call.
With a bellowing scream the cogs feast upon the remains of their partners, growing in size and spikes as they charge through the riot shields, breaking them apart one after the other as they impale the men with blood spraying out.
The IT plunges in the middle of them, trembling vividly as if it were under convulsions and ejecting spikes and pikes from its body together with vicious jets of vomit and flyers, all which obscure the visibility of the special forces’ helmets.
A Wuffle Cog twists its body in mid-air and initiates slow-motion, before throwing a blade of his to decapitate an enemy soldier.
Then time returns to normal, as the elephantine wraith smashes both hands down with powerful energies and summons a giant skeletal elephant foot to smash two special forces.

The Blorble detonates, dying and yet at the same time pouring down acid on the enemy forces, melting shields and making the few unlucky ones who were doused enough die from suffocating within their own protective gear.
Coghuahua dances, before gripping a soldier and jumping in mid-air, initiating a jump-backwards flip that ends with the man impaled by an ice spike courtesy of Snowstar.
You roar in fury, before gripping tightly onto the Drill Sergeant’s body with your armour and snarling.
“Who’s winning now, uh?”
The drill sergeant laughs, pointing his gun at you.
“Until the last man dies, WE WILL PERSEVERE!”


One of the soldiers fires his last remaining bullets at Chemista, who lets them pass through her gelatinous body without it even halting her for a second. She stops close to the man, and then calmly grips his neck with her gelatinous hands.
“The human body is filled with fat, proteins and carbs…it will take me quite a bit of gym to keep my line after I eat you,” she smiles then, “But I’m such a glutton!”
The man screams as he is devoured then, leaving behind nothing but its gear that falls on the ground afterwards —covered in goo.
Chemista burps gently. “Ops!”
It’s then, that your armor starts to fall.
Two turns of armor are all it can hold apparently…
Or maybe the bastard damaged it enough to crack it apart.

The moment you end up on the ground, you bring up your staff to block the swinging scimitar of the Drill Sergeant. “They gave me this in the war!” he snarls at you. “I fought Overlords’ minions stronger than you will ever be!”
He kicks at your stomach, sending you to reel back, “Nobody and nothing can stop Justice!” the Sergeant yells, “AND ALL THAT ARE BENEATH ME SHALL BECOME HEROES! FOR I AM THE DRILL SERGEANT!”
A fragment of steel slices the air and nicks the old man in the cheek. Cerulean looks at the drill sergeant with an angry glare, her entire body bubbling in anger.
“LEAVE MY FATHER ALONE YOU…YOU OLD RETARD!”


Distracted by the scream, a Guardog with a white (painted) cape over his head stabs in the back a Special Forces operative, holding his metallic hand over the man’s mouth.
“Cogescat in pacem,” it whispers, before dropping the body on the ground and then running back up on a wall.

The Hydraulic Succubus actually manage to distract another one enough —by doing something unmentionable to the target audience— that the Hunter can easily pierce him in the chest with his lance, before turning his eyes away from the ‘show’ that involves a shower of blood.
“Really,” the Hunter mutters, “Blood is to be drunk, not showered with…difficult to clean the stains afterwards.”
Your staff comes to meet with the Drill Sergeant’s scimitar, as the two of you are locked in a vicious strength contest.

“You will not win, Overlord. Never. We are many, we are mighty, we are just!” the drill Sergeant snarls, “You will not have the children, Overlord! We will not hand over to you their future! Better to see them DIE than corrupted by your forces! A true man was needed to do what many men would never do!”
He spins, slicing forward and forcing you to take a step back before plunging forth with his sword that never meets its intended target, as you sidestep it and bring your elbow against his stomach. Instead of kneeling over however, the man pushes you back and then pounces ahead, jumping in mid-air to strike at you with both hands on his weapon.


The three remaining Special Forces stand back to back, firing blindly ahead of them before unclasping their grenades.
The Guardogs throw themselves against the grenades, as the explosion tears them apart to shrapnel that ends up nicking IT straight in the chest.
The Dark Minion looks at his chest, before falling down on the ground and laying still…and then exploding in a puddle of vomit and alcohol.
You take a step back, avoiding the Drill Sergeant’s swing at your body as you flap your mantle in front of his face and then plunge your staff forth.
“You speak of justice!? Torturing children is never just!” you scream.


You slam the staff into the drill sergeant guts just as the Elephantine Wraith’s realizes something.


“I was just charging energies,” the Wraith remarks, “how many turns passed already? Four? Uhmmm…”
His eyes shine purple.
He murmurs strange and ancient words of power.

Then time winds back, and he slices through the remaining Special Forces with ease before chewing down on their hearts and grumbling. “Sorry…I should have participated a bit more, but I was thinking back at the blood shower of the succubi and got distracted.”
Chemista shakes her head in disbelief.

The Drill Sergeant hisses out blood from its teeth, as it stumbles backwards. “You…you pathetic…” it coughs, falling down and retching blood. “You think…you have won…” it coughs, “But…in the end…you have…” he smiles, and then throws a combat knife at Incognito’s chest. “LOST!”
The combat knife embeds deeply into the chest of Cerulean, who takes it without even flinching as her entire body bubbles with anger —righteous at that—
“You…” she hisses, “THIS IS FOR DAD!”


Then her hand goes straight through the man’s mouth as she lifts him in mid-air, simultaneously wringing his neck and choking him, while melting his organs from the inside out. With a face that betrays a cold, calculative fury —enhanced by the fact she’s probably doing it on purpose to make him suffer more— the combat knife in her body slowly moves in her hand and then down through the man’s throat.
Then, gripping the body, she crashes it down on the ground with her entire mass while screaming.
Blood sprays everywhere as the body of the old drill sergeant snaps like a broken twig through the repeated motions.
“THIS! TAKE THIS! AND THIS! AND THIS! AND THIS! THIS! THIS ! THIS THIS THIS THIS!”
Then she flings the body against the wall, where it cracks, and she exhales in relief.
Finally, she slowly turns around to stare at you, and smiles brightly.
“Hey dad,” she slinks forward slowly, “He didn’t hurt you, right?”
You have half a mind of stating that no, he wasn’t going to hurt you since you do have an armor beneath your mantle but…
Well, she did a good job, so you pat her on the head.
Then you exhale in relief.
Everything is…

“Your evilness,” Chemista remarks hurrying over to your side, “Something’s going on. The…” the walls start to crack and split apart. “I think there was a dead man’s switch on him, your evilness! We…we have to choose,” she mutters then. “There are future-hero children, future-side-kick children or yet-to choose children to save, your evilness…I don’t know how many we’ll be able to save but…your evilness, they are in three different spots of the orphanage and we can’t save them all.”
“How many can we save?” you ask abruptly.
“If we’re lucky, ten per zeppelin.”
“What?” you snarl. “That means…why only twenty?”
“We need to barge in their rooms, your evilness…and we don’t have time to dally around!” she snaps back curtly. “We can’t carry back more, and those who remain will, if they survive, be put under the Heroes control…or we can just kill them all, your evilness,” she remarks. “We can just leave and wait for the orphanage to blow up, then we fire from the zeppelin on the survivors… They’re all humans after all. Killing them all will put a wrench in the Heroes association mechanism but…you have to choose fast.”
“Dad!” Cerulean looks at you wide eyed. “Please! You can’t do this!”
“Cerulean, quiet!” Chemista hisses, before looking at you. “What will it be, your Overlordness?”

Save Twenty-Children? If So, from which of the three ‘branches’?
Kill them all?