I had a run-in with a cell of them a little while ago, and have been able to reproduce the survelliance and video files from some of the encounters that make up that run-in - of course, had it not been for the assistance rendered by Johnny Buzz, our in-house data-expert and all-star hacker, the data would probably have been lost in the Malta Group's aggressive scouring of the net and their desire to keep their activities a secret.
Source: Arachnos Sureveillance
Time: 21:00 hours zulu time
Subject: Malta Group (cross ref: Rhinioxx, Titan Project)
Transcript:
[backup video systems coming online - video recording focuses from white noise to regular picture feed - 8 black clad people in military style fatigues have appeared in hallway - hacking suspected]
A man clad in black military fatigues and sporting a stetson-style hat (1) is gesturing towards the rest of the intruders. Identified as Malta Group Gunslinger.
VOICE (1): Spread out and gather the information we want - Omicron Alpha-2 assures me that we are shielded from detection for another 15.28 minutes! Move it!
[loud booming noises in background - sounds like metal being beated - seemingly agitating the intruders]
VOICE (1): Prepare to repel attack - Engineer Theta-21a(2) and Alpha-234c(3) setup sentinels! Sapper ready your wep-sys in case of Meta-Human interferrence!
[2 of the intruders hurriedly unpacks what appears to be a transportable gun-system from their backpacks - whirring as servos kicks in and ammo rolls into the guns from the drumrolls]
[Crashing noise of metal - whole picture shutters - debris flying by, hitting one of the intruders who goes down in a shower of blood. Battle-armour clad person stomping by Camera 213az-tellion - identified as Rhinoxx (4) - loud-pitched noise emitting identified as battle-cry sonic attack originating from battle-armour of (4)]
VOICE (4): Come out and play Kingdom Red 1-0-1 (1?) - I know you and your cronies are here! We need to settle at little debt you owe me for dumping those doctored files on me into the lap of Arbiter Zacharias!!! (ref Arachnos Arbiter omega-z1231). Do you have any idea how hard it is to escape that sort of scrutiny?
VOICE (1): Dammit - I thought the spider-boys would have dealt with him by now - Engineer Alpha-234c abandon post and penetrate deeper into the base for Titan activation!!! We will hold this meta-human creep!!
VOICE (3): Yessir! Commencing sequence now!
[(3) leaves the camera coverage - huge humanoid shape (4) moves past primary camera at blurred speed - screams and gunfire follow - primary camera is splashed with dark substance (most likely blood) then explodes in a gunfire strafing.]
[Tertiary survelliance systems coming online - security alert still not transmitted - internal defense systems offline - hallway is now an inferno of fire, blood, debris, shellcasings and torn bodies - (1) and (4) are fighting amidst the chaos, (1) appearing to use some sort of personal teleportation system to blink around (4) while discharging guns akimbo-style - both display signs of damage]
VOICE (1): Give it up Rhinoxx! We have more tricks up our sleeve than just framing you for the Aeon Lab job!!! (Ref Aeon Lab Breakin 21-9-zetha) Surrender and you get a nice control collar and the chance to do something right you Meta-Human Scum - if not Dreadnought Red 5-6-5 will deal with ...
[voice of (1) interrupted as (4) rips out a part of the wall and hits (1) square in the face with the jagged piece of metal]
VOICE (4): Give it up eh? How about you just eat some floor cowboy? [laughter]
[rumbling in background - metallic booms sounding like steps - part of wall exploding outwards - large metallic construct (5) errupts through ruined wall and scorches area occupied by (4) a moment earlier with laser impulse canon - identified as Malta Zeus Class Titan]
VOICE (5): Your extermination is at hand Meta-Human - surrender is no longer an option!!! The armoured fist of the Malta Group is reaching for you!!!
[Laser fire from Titan almost white-outs the surveillance cameras - (4) and (5) exchanges tremendous blows that make the walls shake and destroys the audio system]
[(4) manages to deal (5) a series of blows that appears to stun the titan's battle systems and allowing (4) to rip the primary cannon arm off (5) and crush its head and chest area with it - (5) falls to the floor once again making the walls shake - (4) stomps outside of camera range]
//Transcript ends
Having dealt with Kingdom Red 1-0-1 (what is it with the Malta bosses and their need to have these James Bondesque names?) I brought the datacore from the titan back to HQ along with some holo-plates I had found on the operatives - fortunately Doctor Mandible was able to extract some useful information from them.
It appeared that the strike against the Aeon Lab in Cap au Diable wasn't just a random strike against Arachnos - rather they had stolen the blueprints to a next-generation powersource that would allow them to activate a series of Kronos Class Titans they had secretly been constructing in Warburg. Guess they should have blamed someone other than me and their little scheme might have succeeded.
Still - Kronos Class Titans could be a serious threat to the stability of my adopted home. Knowing that they were designed to battle the Freedom Phalanx and other high-powered supergroups, they are serious military-grade hardware.
Knowing that such a facility would be heavily manned and guarded, not to mention the danger of the Malta Group having already activated whatever number of Kronos Titans they had available, I sent word to the underground network and recruited a number of powerful villains who saw eye to eye with me on this topic - alongside Dark Cobalt and Horus Priest (our resident atomic woman and egyptian para-god respectively) from the Seventh Cabal.
We did a very successful strike against the Titan Facility - it turned out that the mad Arachnos renegades in Warburg had actually allowed them to create a titan factory. Having waded through endless hordes of Malta Operatives and Titans we penetrated the factory proper and managed to deactivate four of the five!!! Kronos Class Titans we found there on a permanent basis.
Unfortunately the Malta Engineers managed to power up the fifth unit and an epic battle followed as our fight tore through the factory, demolishing all before us and finally spilling into Warburg itself.
Had we been just delayed a bit longer the monstrous robot might have had time to start all of it's weapon systems and charge to full power, but as it was, the fight was still incredibly hard and I hope I never have to encounter one of these monsters in full battlemode.
In the end we prevailed and sealed the whole deal by diverting one of the Warburg missiles and detonating it over the Malta facility - burning it from the face of the earth.
Now I just have to find a way to finance the extensive repairs to my battle-armour - but I am betting that the Malta Group will be interested in buying back the blue prints I leeched from the facility mainframe - and if not them, then Crey probably will be.
Sometimes, it's just great to be a villain - but most of the time, it rocks!
