My favourite Nemesis

Ah the neverending demands of the Arachnos group - don't they realise that we have people to maul, riches to rob, plots to plan? Having failed to deliver on the vague promise that was given when I arrived at the Rogue Isles - that I would be a "Chosen One" and inducted into an elite echelon of Lord Recluse's organization - my need for them is on the vane. Granted, the Rogue Isles are an excellent haven for the activities of the Seventh Cabal, but really, there are many small regimes on the face of the Earth who would offer the same terms given the amount of cash we have to pay for the privillege of being here.

But I digress - every now and then we are called upon to do some manner of service for Arachnos - maybe it's some sort of prolonged test, but it reeks of plain manual labour. In my case, I have long since stopped answering to the lower ranks of Arachnos or taken any sort of orders from them. My point of contact these days are Black Scorpion himself, who is functioning as my Patron and ally. A loathsome business it has turned out to be, as Black Scorpion is a narrow-minded, paranoid, insecure little man who wouldn't be so tough without that stolen armour system of his. He strikes out at everyone and always defaults to brute force, even when it is abundantly clear that less is more.

But the other day he needed assistance - I had been unravelling a Nemesis operation for some weeks and it turned out that the Prussian Prince of Automatons was planning a major assault on Grandville and I had uncovered the evidence of this just in the nick of time. Lord Recluse had of course ordered his Lieutenants to deal with the situation - a wise move, since an invasion from Nemesis is hardly the thing you ask the rank and file to handle if you want to come out on top.
But Black Scorpion called for assistance - although I got the impression that it was more a matter of demonstrating to his rival Lieutenants that he had powerful allies of his own.

Having done all the investigative work myself - and pocketed some interesting Nemesis prototypes and parts that sold for a small fortune on the black market in the process - I didn't mind showing up for the final showdown.

Click for detailed Arachnos Surveillance Photo
Nemesis, now THERE is an Arch-Villain I wouldn't mind working for. He obviously have the determination, the intellect, the resources and the know-how. He fields an army of disciplined and fiercely loyal soldiers alongside a horde of mechanical constructs, war-machines and replicas of himself - the so-called "Fake Nemesis". The latter are powerful automatons which displays a vast array of the powers Lord Nemesis is said to possess, and of course an enemy of the Prussian Prince never knows if he is facing an automaton or the real deal - it's genius.

The invasion was headed by a series of Mole Machines, the likes of which I haven't seen before anywhere in my frequent clashes with the forces of Nemesis - but I would very much like to lay my hands on the blueprints as I know of a couple of groups who would pay a king's ransom for those.
A huge landing force was pouring from the machines as I landed on the beaches of Grandville and I must say it was no easy fight - indeed it could have gone either way for a long while.
But of course, in the end I and the rest of the Arachnos forces prevailed against the forces of Nemesis.

But the sheer organization and attitude of the man - to attack Grandville itself, and from what I have seen during my prolonged investigation into the Nemesis Army, this wasn't even for real - it was just a fieldtest to see what would happen.

Hard not to speculate if Nemesis might have a need for freelancers ....