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Post by inakamoto on Aug 11, 2013 1:32:59 GMT -5
Tony's eyes remained fixed on the cameras outside. The anticipation was almost too much for him to bear. Everything related to this mission hinged on this audition going exactly as planned. On the inside, Tony hated having to do this sort of song and dance for business associates. But, like most of their work, it was a necessary evil in the grand scheme of things. All Tony needed to do was please Xanatos, then everything would be set to proceed.
"GLaDOS," Tony said loudly, "Are the Team-X Members in place?"
"The ones I could find, anyway," GLaDOS responded, "I suppose I'll have to give Haruhi and Konata a stern talking-to when this mission is over."
"Yeah, well, how was I supposed to know they'd run-off to join the circus?" Tony asked with an annoyed tone.
"Speaking of which," GLaDOS said inquisitively, "if we already have our own agents implanted among the cirque folk, why do we still need Xanatos' information?"
"It's a necessity," Tony explained, "a full evaluation of the cirque members would take months, even years, to catalog all the information we'd need. If all goes well today, and Xanatos hands over everything he knows about the cirque members' abilities, we'll have shaved at least a year's worth of observance off our time schedule, and all they'll have to do is mix and mingle, give us a general idea of their psychological profiles."
"I see," GLaDOS answered thoughtfully, "in that case, here's hoping all goes well, then."
"It better," Tony said as he caught site of a black limousine pulling up in front of the building, "it better."
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Post by Deleted on Aug 11, 2013 1:43:52 GMT -5
The sleek and long limousine pulled up to the curb silently in front of the Stratoform building. The car came to a rest before a driver jumped out of the front in a crisp uniform and walked to the back, holding the door open with a stiff and polite stance.
From the depths of the dark interior, Xanatos appeared. He stepped from the limo with ease and grace, more like he was going to his own party than making a potentially dangerous contract. He rose to his full height before he casually brushed at his trim and stylish suit.
Suddenly, he turned towards the building and, looking directly into the security camera, gave a grin that was both clever and ominous. He stared with his dark eyes for only a brief moment before another figure appeared behind him, the man he so ofter masqueraded as.
"Is everything ready, Owens?" He said over his shoulder to the tall blonde man.
"Yes, sir. The finalized deal and all the information compiled on the Cirque has been sorted and organized."
Owens held out a stark briefcase with a silver clasp at the top. Xanatos gave it his amused grin before turning and heading towards the entrance to the building.
"Excellent. Shall we get started?"
"Indeed, sir." Owens answered emotionlessly as he followed at a respectable pace behind Xanatos as they entered.
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Post by inakamoto on Aug 11, 2013 2:48:27 GMT -5
As the two men approached the facility, the glass doors flew open automatically, releasing a rush of cold air upon them. The lobby was empty, completely devoid of life. The cold air hung stagnant as the two men entered.
Not long after taking their first steps into the lobby, GLaDOS voice greeted them, "Good afternoon, gentlemen. Mr. Stark is pleased that you could accept his invitation, and on his behalf, I would like to cordially welcome you to Strato-Form Industries."
A trail of blue lights became visible on the floor, leading directly to an elevator door, that suddenly opened.
"Please, follow the blue line, and I shall lead you to my employer."
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Post by Deleted on Aug 11, 2013 14:29:02 GMT -5
Xanatos entered with the air of a man completely in his element. Owens stayed close by but showed no emotion or reaction to the voice that spoke. He merely turned and looked at Xanatos across the vacant space.
Xanatos didn't even look at Owens but raised an eyebrow and gave a wide smile.
"Well, we best not keep our hosts waiting."
Xantos casually walked over to the elevator and stepped inside, standing at ease as Owens followed. When the doors closed, Xanatos spoke into the quiet.
"Tell me, would your name happen to be GLaDOS?"
Xanatos had taken time out of his busy schedule to gather some information about who Stark worked alongside with. After all, it was best to know as much about your allies as your enemies.
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Post by inakamoto on Aug 11, 2013 17:24:04 GMT -5
"You never cease to amaze, do you, Mr. Xanatos?" GLaDOS answered in a bit of a sarcastic tone, "It's nice to see you took the time to research my name. I hope you found only good things about me."
After the two men entered the elevator, the doors closed, and the elevator began to descend at a rapid rate, down into the bowels of Strato-Form's facility.
"I must admit, sir," GLaDOS stated during the descent, "you carry yourself with great composure. Most who enter our facilities are put off the apparent lack of human presence, and are even more startled by voice. Of course, you've probably seen your fair share of oddities. I'm certain you were more than prepared for this encounter."
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Post by Deleted on Aug 11, 2013 18:18:15 GMT -5
Xanatos just gave the slightest nods of his head, his grin curling slightly at the edges.
"I think you will find out soon enough, GLaDOS. On that note..."
Xanatos gestured towards Owens, who stood close by with the brief case held firmly in his grasp.
"This is my personal assistant, Owen Burnett. I do hope that Mr. Stark doesn't find his presence off-putting. He is here merely to offer his services, should I require them. I very much doubt I will. I expect nothing but the best hosting from Stratoform's finest."
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Post by inakamoto on Aug 11, 2013 19:13:37 GMT -5
"Rest assured," GLaDOS said calmly, as the elevator continued its way downward, "you'll be given nothing but our best, here at Strato-Form. And I wouldn't worry about your assistant. Mr. Stark generally finds all right-hand men off-putting. On the bright side, he mostly hates the brown-noser types, so judging by your friend's apparent lack of any human emotion, I can assume he's in the 'slightly-tolerable' category, on the Tony Stark scale."
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Post by Deleted on Aug 12, 2013 0:56:26 GMT -5
"Should I take that as a compliment or an insult, Mr. Xanatos?" Owens said softly as the elevator continued on his descent. Xanatos actually gave a small chuckle and shot his assistant a look.
"A compliment."
He then turned back towards the doors of the elevator and grinned.
"Besides, I am sure that this meeting will end up giving everyone just what they want. I would say that Mr. Stark and I are similar enough in that we both can recognize a great opportunity when it has presented itself."
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Post by inakamoto on Aug 12, 2013 1:28:22 GMT -5
After another few seconds, the elevator came to a halt, and the doors opened again, revealing a catwalk leading to a hover-platform. Tony Stark was standing at the center of the platform, dressed in his best business attire, as he awaited Xanatos' arrival. He kept his hands behind his back, trying to look as relaxed and suave as possible.
"Welcome to Strato-Form, gents," Tony said in grandiose form, raising his arms up in a presentational fashion, "pleasure is all yours, I'm sure. Please step lively, we got a lot of ground to cover on our tour."
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Post by Deleted on Aug 12, 2013 1:35:58 GMT -5
Xanatos kept the slightly amused look on his face, but otherwise it was a mask as the doors opened and revealed Tony Stark. He gave no pause and merely stepped out onto the catwalk towards the lone figure, walking at a leisurely pace, in no rush. Owens followed behind, brief case in hand and as silent as the grave.
"Well, I must say it is quite a pleasure to meet Tony Stark at last in the flesh. Far better than just speaking over the phone lines."
Xanatos soon stood in front of his soon-to-be business partner. He was completely at ease and his demenour showed it while Owens was completely stiff and proper.
"I do so look forward to meeting your team, Stark. I think they will also please me quite well, but not as much as this opportunity can offer me."
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Post by inakamoto on Aug 12, 2013 1:59:50 GMT -5
"The feeling's mutual," Tony said with a broad smile, "I assure you, you won't be disappointed."
Tony then turned towards the control station at the front of the platform. At the helm was a ball-shaped computer-core, with a single blue eye, staring back at them.
"Wheatley, take us to GLaDOS," Tony spoke to the computer core.
"Consider it done, boss," the computer core answered in a cheery tone. Then, after a few quick beeps, the platform began moving.
Tony then turned to Xanatos, "I'd like to introduce Wheatley, one of the members of Team-X. Our 'resident hacker' if you will."
"'Ello, gunva," Wheatley said in a thick British accent, "Wheatley Core's the name, computing and hacking's my-."
Wheatley was suddenly interrupted by a loud bang from behind the platform. Looking back, the riders saw the platform had made contact with the wall behind them. Clearly, a sign of 'pilot error'.
"Not a problem, not a problem," Wheatley said with a nervous chuckle, "I, uh, I can fix this."
After another series of beeps, the platform began moving again, this time in the correct direction.
"He has his...glitches, admittedly," Tony said in a hushed tone towards Xanatos, "but he's reliable...mostly..."
Wheatley appeared to be looking off in other directions, his blue pupil narrowed as he nervously hummed "Pop Goes the Weasel".
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Post by Deleted on Aug 12, 2013 11:46:44 GMT -5
Xanatos kept his attention on Stark as the platform began to move, his dark eyes taking in every detail of the man in front of him. For the most part, he saw what he liked, but he also had a good idea of the kind of man Tony was. One who was likely to push back, and hard, should someone think they could control him.
All the same, Xanatos was certain that Stark could be made to work peacefully should the deal not go over as planned. One thing he had learned in his long years of being a business man, you always had a backup. The thing he learned from being a demon was that you always had an ace up your sleeve when playing poker with a pro. And Xanatos had the perfect one for Stark.
He turned his head and regarded Wheatley for a moment, showing a small amount of interest in the robot.
"Clearly. Well, everyone has their little quirks, even robotic components such as your Wheatley."
Xanatos then turned back towards Stark as Owens watched with slight interest as Wheatley sing his song.
"A useful member of your team, in his own way, I am sure. However, I would give fair waring to you about technology in regards to the Cirque. The air around their locations is so charged with magical offput that most technology, particularly advanced technology, can be negatively affected."
Xanatos left out the part about how he had tried to send his own latest probe into the Cirque to try and discover Sally's location, only to have it cross the border, spark and malfunction violently, before quickly exploding. And the probe was no where as advanced as Wheatley or GLaDOS were.
"The more complex the technology, the more problems it will run into."
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Post by inakamoto on Aug 12, 2013 17:17:25 GMT -5
"Thanks for the friendly warning," Tony said with a smirk, "but we've encountered this particular problem before, and we believe we've come up with a fairly sound solution." Tony then pulled out his smartphone, typed in a quick command, and was able to call up a holographic display of schematics for one of Strato-Form's latest creations. It appeared to be a belt, with a circular disk-like device at the front. "GLaDOS calls it the 'Anti-Magic Device'," Tony explained, "Not the most imaginative name in the world, but we believe it's exactly the kind of device we need for future magical intrusions. You see, magical energies are, in the most rudimentary sense, no different from regular energies. And, as far we can figure it, the reaction of magical energies in relation to electronics occurs within the electric reactions within the circuitry itself. Basically, magic energy fuels too much power into electric equipment, and causes their circuits to overload. This device is designed to essentially counteract that effect. It basically generates an energy shield with a 4 foot radius that vibrates at a precise frequency to cancel out ambient magical energy. This protects our electrical equipment from overloading, and leaves the machine free to do it's work." (OOC: I'm not entirely sure if this makes a lick of sense; it's my first time writing techno-babble ^ ^ . Tony's smile indicated a particular note of pride as he continued his explanation, "GLaDOS's original design was more of a box-shaped device. But, I gave it a bit of tweaking, and made the design more practical, not to mention aesthetically pleasing."
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Post by Deleted on Aug 13, 2013 13:34:56 GMT -5
Xanatos listened to Tony intently as he spoke of the new object they had created to counteract the overpowering magic that circulated around the Cirque.
His dark eyes went over the belt, focusing on every detail and design of it and calculating in his mind how it would hold up against the various members of the Cirque.
"Clearly you have taken much into account. However, I would ask how it would hold up against a direct magical assault should the wearer be confronted?"
Owens had remained silent during this whole conversation but added curtly to the talk.
"We have intel that shows some of the members might very well be able to use technology against their enemies."
Xanatos nodded in agreement with his assistant.
"Yes, it is very true. And you must not forget, Mr. Stark, that their are forces at work in the Cirque that you may have never dreamed off. After all, 'There are more things in heaven and earth than are dreamt of in your philosophy' Mr. Stark."
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Post by inakamoto on Aug 13, 2013 16:24:12 GMT -5
Smug punk, quoting Hamlet to make himself sound smart, Tony thought to himself.
"Well, we have tested it against various forms of magical attacks," Tony said with a light cough, "it's held up against various forms low-energy projectile attacks, and can deflect blows from enchanted items. However, manipulation magic, like technology manipulation as your second banana mentioned, is admittedly a little more tricky. But, we've been around the witching block more than a few times, and seen our fair share of enchanted oddities. This fine beauty is just one of a number of anti-magic weapons in our arsenal. And, more importantly, the physical abilities of my team would be more than enough to counter anything those 'tight-rope walkers' have in store."
As they spoke, a set of panels attached to a wall they were approaching pulled away, leading to a large, circular chamber. At the center, hung a mechanical entity, attached to the ceiling, with a singular yellow eye. The entity appeared to be staring right at the spot where the panels parted, as though awaiting their arrival.
"There she is," Tony said with a wide smile, "our Lead Researcher, and the star of Strato-Form Industries, Miss Genetic Lifeform and Disk Operating System herself."
"GLaDOS is fine," GLaDOS answered, "and its nice to see you all made it here. In one piece, that is."
"Oh, come of it, would ya?!" Wheatley said indignantly, "I'll have you know these fine gents enjoyed a perfectly-!"
Wheatley was interrupted when the platform banged against the floor of GLaDOS's chamber.
"That was totally on purpose, just to make sure you were awake," Wheatley said nervously after a short, awkward silence.
"Of course," GLaDOS said nonchalantly; as she spoke, another set of panels created a small pathway from the platform into the chamber, "If you'll step this way, we can get started."
Tony let out an exasperated sigh as he gestured for his guests to follow, "Right this way, gents."
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