5533/Wrench in the Works

Wrench in the Works
Date of Scene:	25 October 2017
Location:	Summer
Synopsis:	All-Seeing Eye requests help from the Paladins for what appears to be a routine dissident. The culprit, and the implications, surprise everyone.
Cast of Characters:	All-Seeing Eye, 1134, 1129, Kotone Yamakawa

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All-Seeing Eye has posed:
The first interesting thing that visiting Elites will note is that this Creation is evidently the same one from which the Deathknight, Bloody Revelations, hails. But it's far from the last. Glocrim is just over a thousand miles south of Denandsor, deep in the jungle. The terrain is frustrating unless one has a way of bypassing it-thick gnarled roots crisscross over dark, damp soil. The air is muggy, filled with the sound of many an insect or frog, even in the mid-day. The coordinates that the Elites are given lead them to a large lake easily 300 miles across at its widest.

(map: https://imgur.com/a/9VpMD)

     Those given directions here might think they've been misled, were it not for the smiling Alchemical waiting at the edge of the lake. Thick vines and large, swollen trees surround the lake, and the humidity is enough that in the fall weather a curtain of fog hangs over it, giving the place a slightly erie look to it. All-Seeing Eye sits upon a mossy rock, with an erhu propped upon his knee and the bow in one hand. "Glad you could make it on such short notice," he says, spotting Kotone and Mei--and Miari. "Ah! Miari." Of course, he'd invited her to come, but he didn't think it'd be today of all days. Still, he's not going to turn her away. Especially not when he could use her assistance! "One moment."

     The Exalt drags the bow across the erhu's string, adding a short, curious song to the natural, breathing melody of the jungle. (erhu: https://tinyurl.com/ydcu2xmx ) At first, the notes seem to drift away without any response, the ambience drinking them up just as the dense foliage swallows the light that filters through the canopy. But, then, there's a stirring beneath the water, the sound of something truly immense rising, a faint rumbling beneath the Elites.

     (mood music: https://youtu.be/INYknIjiqQI ) Waves form at the lake's surface, traveling startlingly far. First, a capstone emerges, a few miles out into the water. Then, as the jungle lake's water continues to slough off of the surface, more and more is revealed. By the end of a few minutes, an enormous ziggurat of steel and what appears to be red jade has arisen from the depths of the lake, easily big enough to be a city in its own right. Water rushes down the sides of the ziggurat, and various antennae shake themselves free of hidden ports along the side. Lights, glowing like electric eyes, appear all down the side of the ziggurat. Startled by the sound and the emergence of this presence, birds of flight take to the skies, calling their displeasure, and on the ground many a small rodent scurries for cover.

     Once fully risen, the ziggurat looms in the distance, and a panel opens in the base. From this panel, a sea vehicle that looks like a cross between a cybernetic fish and a hovercraft emerges, propelled by two turbines. It rushes to the shore to ferry the Elites into the city. "Welcome to the Patropolis of Glorious Crimson Taskmaster."

Mei Hatsume (1134) has posed:
For better or for worse, Mei Hatsume lacks any familiarity with all of this Creation business! For all she knows, she's just been brought to a crazy huge lake to investigate INDUSTRIAL SABOTAGE. Logically, something industrial means it would have to involve something technological, right? That should make it a cinch compared to the other investigation she's a part of, right?

     Wrong. There's little that looks super-industrial in this area, between all the vines and massive trees, and the wide-eyed inventor is already sweating rather uncomfortably under her backapck full of gadgets and gizmos. Damn this humidity! Still, All-Seeing Eye did specifically request aid from the Paladins, and when that giant steel structure comes out of the lake....

     Well, maybe she's still got a good chance to shine here. "Thanks for having us. So! Industrial sabotage. Against..." Her eyes gleam slightly when the seacraft comes to pick them up, and Mei wastes little time in ogling the unfortunate device. "Oh... This Taskmaster. They built this place and this little wonder here, hmm~?"

     Coincidentally, Mei's got her giant hover boots on today as well.

Miari (1129) has posed:
Miari's approach is flamboyant enough! She swoops in from the skies, riding a beauteous creature with the form of a dragonfly, but wreathed in rainbow shimmers. The buzzing, humming demon steals breath away with its beauty, which simultaneously resembles the light of dawn, gleaming jewels, a lover's sighs, and a polished sword at once.

    TRy not to dwell on that too much.

    The Agatae comes in for a landing, and Miari- dressed ornately in her fine kimono, this time with a delicate Orichalcum tiara wrapping about her head, shoves off the creature's back and slowly approaches.

    The Agatae seems appreciative of the music, listening quietly but fluttering its wings in a show of applause towards the distant Alchemical!

    ... but Miari ends up staring. Confounded. At the thing that emerges from an otherwise unasuming lake...

    "My... you have been busy, dear Eye!"

Kotone Yamakawa has posed:
Kotone Yamakawa has some mixed feelings on creation, but of that comes from things older elites have brought up over the years. Eitehr way she's here. With the humid nature of things? Kotone is glad her form doesn't really give the local black fly or mosquito analogs things to munch on she's also lagging a bit in terms of speed. Given her injuries the precvious day with the death of Rucks at the hands of the Ura. Still she's out mostly patched up but is trying to keep it mostly easy on her new parts. She's clad in stealth gear, as she comes up to All-Seeing Eye.

"Eye hello and are you sure this is the right...."

She closes her mouth now as she itseems there is something indeef going on here as something rises. 5R
".... Impressive."

She looks over to Miari for a moment then to Eye.

"Wait this isn't old you just made this?!"

All-Seeing Eye has posed:
The watercraft has a canopy that opens, with enough seating that the Elites can all comfortably fit. As the craft returns to the city, Eye gives his allies a rundown of the situation. "The city had a functional warpgate to Claslat yesterday--artificial, of course," he says with no small amount of pride. He's got to show off! There's a Solar, an inventor, and a cyborg here, after all. "During last night's shift, it was sabotaged. It's currently undergoing repair, but the culprit remains at large--a branch of our local government kept records of workshifts and the saboteur destroyed the records for this entire week." He makes a little annoyed sound at that, twirling his hair around a finger. "Unfortunate, no?" Sigh.

     The craft pulls into the ziggurat, and the enormous structure closes behind them. For a moment, they're left in darkness, until a loud thud heralds the activation of a lighting system above them. "Debarkation room," says Eye idly to the pilot. The pool of water in which they sit suddenly moves--it seems as though this is some kind of middle ground between a lock and an elevator! Though the entry point is rather nondescript save a control room above, the water-elevator lifts them up to something much more interesting.

     The Exalt giggles at Mei's question. Did Glorious Crimson Taskmaster build the city? "No," says Eye with a little smile. "He didn't make the city. He /is/ the city." As he says that, the dull grey walls holding the craft in the enclosure open, and before them the breadth of the city is shown.

     As soon as they exit the craft and set foot upon solid ground, the Elites will see that they stand upon the ground floor of an indoor city. Artificial sunlight streams down from lamps high above, and viewscreens on the wall allow curious onlookers to see the outside wall. Everyone here has some sort of gem embedded in their head, with different colors and cuts seemingly corresponding to different roles. Around the edge of the city's first floor there are numerous merchant stalls set up, and everyone is practically assaulted by frenzied calls to buy this or that. Synthetic weave clothing, portraits of important spiritual Autochthonian figures, portraits of his Chosen (including speed-drawn portraits of Kotone and Mei, who are apparently mistaken for Chosen), even courtesans painted in bioluminescent, elaborate blue glyphs.

     Elevators are evenly spaced along the wall as well, although all of the signs here seem to be glyphs of different colors, more pictogram than written language. Miari will recognize some of them as Old Realm glyphs, and others appear to have slowly diverged from that language. Still others are wholly alien. "When Alchemical Exalted become centropoli, it's customary to shorten their designations for efficiency. Glorious Crimson Taskmaster became... Glocrim." The smile sours a little--this could be his future, too, and apparently that bothers him. He offers any Elites who need it a hand, then points behind him, towards the city's artificially made warpgate.

     The gate is surrounded by mortal technicians in grey jumpsuits, poking and prodding at it in a concerted effort to repair it. "Currently, we have two leads--the warpgate itself, and the local Olgotary." He realizes the others may not know what that word means, and clarifies. "Think of it as an administrative branch of our government."

Mei Hatsume (1134) has posed:
Miari's flashy entrance contrasts rather sharply with Kotone's stealth gear and more understated entrance, and if not for the fishy hovercraft? Mei would probably be trying to figure that all out right about now! Alas...

     Fishy hovercraft. "Sounds like an inside job, then. But... No, that'd be too easy, wouldn't it? Unless that's what the culprit would want us to think..." Stroking her chin, Mei lets herself get distracted from the hovercraft at least for a little while. She's got enough sense not to try and take it apart while they're still on it, at least, but being ushered off it without more time to see what makes it tick does have her looking back at it several times before it finally goes out of view.

     Thankfully, there's the entire goddamn CITY to ogle instead. Or rather... "... /Is/ the city? So a person just... Became this?" Her tone carries mixed awe and skepticism, and All-Seeing Eye's own expression catches her attention. "On purpose, or...?"

     And then Mei gets distracted again when she spots the warpgate with the technicians working on it. It's probably no surprise that she's making a beeline for the warpgate itself.

     "Hello~! Mei Hatsume, Hero-in-Training at your service. Where's the damage? Pretend I'm someone that has no idea how amazing pieces of technology like this work." Even as she speaks, she's already looking over the warpgate and using her Quirk to stare at it closely even from a distance to try and find visible signs of tampering.

Miari (1129) has posed:
"For this one has to ask... who would want to destroy a warp gate, and who would know how these newcomers to Creation operate? The answer... well. It is either an inside job or an EXTREMELY well-educated Exalt. Perhaps one of Heaven's agents. Though it is far too early to conclude anything." Is Miari's answer to Mei.

    Her attention is ALL OVER THE PLACE here of course. She's clamping down the urge to SQUEAL WITH DELIGHT. It's written ALL over her face. How often does a girl like her get an opportunity like this?!

    Never, really.

    "You... evolve into cities? H-... how does that... work..." As thoughts of this swim through her noggin' she freezes right in the middle of the thoroughfare... and doesn't budge for a whole ten seconds. It takes that long to analyze the implications!

    And some of them are intriguing indeed.

    But Miari seems quite content to walk alongside Eye wherever possible, keeping only the absolute minimum amount of personal space! She seems chipper as a schoolgirl today. Quite unlike her cynical and fierce displays on other outings!

    "Well. Let's look at the warpgate first. What sort of damage was inflicted on it?"

Kotone Yamakawa has posed:
Kotone Yamakawa gets in without much word she's just socping out the work on craft and then when they get to the Ziggurat? That gets her attention she notices the gem's in everyone's heads, also how lively the market seem tobe. The pictures of her catch her off guard as she just kind of stares at them for a moment, the strange body tattoos on the courtesans also get a look. She keeps moving with the rest of the party as they go deeper into city. The elevators get some notice as well.

"I see so wait this City was or is one like yourself?"

She raises an eyebrow at that and she does seem to be standing out a bit.

"All right I got to admit it's a bit different from how Canada does it..."

She notes as she looks to Miari and thinks for a moment.

"I have a friend who basically was made to run ship or a space station and I might be able to help a bit with the gate."

She notes, though if anyone is paying attention Kotone's movments are a bit off today notably once and a while her hand goes to her side.

"Hello Mei Hatsune, the name's Kotone Yamakawa."

All-Seeing Eye has posed:
It seems as though people are interested in the Warpgate, first, so Eye is more than happy to follow along. It'll be interesting to see how his allies handle this. Of course he'd be able to find the culprit on his own--but if the battle against the Ura showed anything, it's that he can certainly be of use to the Paladins. The aim here is to find out if they can be of use to Claslat. Sure, the Tripartite believes it, but he needs more convincing!

     Mei's question distracts him from his brooding. "Ah! Yes, on purpose." He nods, and, seeing an opportunity to answer Miari and Kotone's questions with the same line of thought, offers a little more explanation. "As our mastery of Essence grows, so do we. First into giant beings known as colossi, then into cities like Glocrim." He turns up his nose. "I suppose it's interesting," notes the Champion dismissively. If Kotone is looking, she'll see he's applied makeup over the spot on his temple previously marred by the Ura's attack. "But it's not for me. Mm... you could always ask him about it yourself!" He gestures, without looking, to one of the viewscreens on the wall, which have holographic interfaces similar to keyboards. His chipper tone belies the frown on his face.

     Mei is met by a short, thin woman with short red hair. Affixed to her forehead is a black onyx gemstone, round and polished with a cabochon cut. "You must be the visitors from the Multiverse," she says with a winning grin. A callused hand is extended towards anyone who'll shake it. "I'm Shift Chief Popescu." Since Kotone wants to help, and Mei and Miari are curious about the damage, she explains.

     "What you're seeing with my crew here's just routine maintenance. The real damage is to the..." Mei said to explain it like she has no idea about anything. "To the gods in this shrine," she says, pointing towards what indeed appears to be a little shrine after opening up an access panel. It even has a little diode that uses an electric current to light incense. "The saboteur somehow drained them of Essence, which is like an invisible, intangible building block of our world--it powers All-Seeing Eye's abilities, as well as virtually everything you see around you." The shift chief gives a worried frown, her brow furrowing. Evidently, this is cause for concern.

     Eye speaks up for the shift chief as she falls silent, highlighting the reason for her worries. "That takes either Proto... ahem." Oh, this Multiverse! Why doesn't anyone call a gyroscopic chakram a gyroscopic chakram! What's a good substitute for Protocols? "It would take either sorcery, restricted technology, or an as-yet unseen Charm." He folds his arms behind his back and sighs, as if it's become rather boring. "So, yes--I'd agree with Miari and Mei's assessment. Likely an inside job~"

Miari (1129) has posed:
"Oh, it's possible. It's very possible." Miari chimes in a singsongily bell-like voice of triumph, and digs around in... inside the Kimono? But she pulls out a pair of goggles. They look like goggles, but the lenses are etched with some strange occult patterns and the frames are a gold beyond gold - Orichalcum, however a minute amount of it.

    "Try these on."

    Of course, just being able to SEE Essence - the entire world aglow with a vibrance and swirls of energy - doesn't mean one can comprehend what the flows mean...

    She has a second set of the goggles if Kotone wants to try. "I'm only lending these. Orichalcum is hard to come by!" The scholar's quick to miserly announce.

    But upon a few moments to meditate on the problem at hand... "Drained the gods of Essence? That would shut off any magitech, certainly... but it's such a curious method. So... to accomplish this, one must wield Essence, one must understand artifice, and one must have both known about this project and its specifics. Further, they were able to do this without being noticed... even though the ENTIRE CITY has eyes." Miari sounds WILDLY weirded out by how difficult the feat sounds.

    "... a feat only the Chosen could pull off, if it was of Creation..." She murmurs... and then reaches out a hand to the damaged warpgate.

    There's a strange pulse of Essence from her indeed, one that doesn't quite come off as Solar. But that's not so odd! Solar sorcerers often call upon foreign powers. Like demons. Still... this power lashes out towards the least god of the warp gate that was so assaulted. This probably won't be too pleasant for the little spirit...

    Because a question is asked of it, and needles of Essence RIP into it. The question being, 'Who did this to your gate?'

Kotone Yamakawa has posed:
Kotone Yamakawa will accept the goggles and nods, "Got it I'd not think to run off with this. I leave the magical items to those best able to handle it. My world has no mana, essance or anything akin to it." She putsthe goggles on and marvels at how pretty it is but she will takes some time to look for a moment trying to see where the flows might not seam right for a moment.

"If it's a warp gate it could be.

"Yes she's in the Paladins as well her name's Rory White."

SHe notes before she keeps looking and humms.

"Magi tech as some woudl call it...I'm not sure what happened to the Gate here, but it's not common for people to mess with them."

She had notices that Eye has also covered up the damage from the Ura attack.

AS the woman appears she grins a little bit.

"Helo Popescu."

SHe is a bit distracted by the gate trying to figure out what broke here though and how.

"The worst I seen done to gates is some worlds try to burry them or seal them off, not destroy them."

Mei Hatsume (1134) has posed:
Someone who wants to keep the area closed off to outsiders, maybe... But who would stand to gain from that sort of policy /and/ have enough power to do this?" Mei replies to Miari with a somewhat distracted tone. Her mind is running a mile a minute between the mystery of the culprit's motives and the sabotaging method of the warpgate itself, and her eyes are straining a bit to try and catch all those details.

     Her ears do (figuratively) perk up when Kotone mentions a space ship, though, and she files that note away for later. "Kotone, hmm? Space station... Hoho, that should be...~" She trails off after a moment, the topic of Glocrim's transformation keeping her a little more subdued.

     Also, Popescu arriving to greet the group. "The gods? So... There's magic /and/ technology involved in this as well? So... Is it possible to see Essence in its raw form? Perhaps... If the saboteur had to put it all somewhere? Maybe that would make it easier to find them." Mei steps away from the warpgate and lets her eyes rest with its Zoom Quirk deactivated, blinking a few times at Popescu before taking her hand for a confident, firm shake with her own gloved hand! "Like in their office or a pantry somewhere...?"

All-Seeing Eye has posed:
Popescu brightens at Mei's question about Essence, and immediately looks toward All-Seeing Eye, whose gaze is focused on one of the male courtesans in the distance. Still, he can see her eager smile.

     "All-Seeing Eye! Isn't there a submodule of Optical Enhancement for that?"

     "Yes, darling," says the Exalt absently. "But I don't have it." Still watching the courtesan dance, his vision also reveals Miari reaching into her kimono. "My dear friend Miari seems to have come prepared, however!" He smiles widely as the other Chosen passes out a pair of artifacts.

     Should the accept the offer, Kotone and Mei will see Glocrim as a sorcerer would. The place is abuzz not only with Essence but with invisible machine spirits, in various bright neon hues, tending to the patropolis' every need. Whorls and eddies of wispy blue energy crisscross the ground floor of the city, but they concentrate in a few places. Obviously the Essence-users, Eye and Miari. Then there's the naturally ambient glow that comes from being literally inside an Exalt, and the low-level glow that emanates from mortals and the weaker machine spirits. But, interestingly, one of the shift workers appears to have a concentration of his own, and it's closer in magnitude to Miari and Eye than it is to his fellow workers.

     While they look around, Eye peruses some of stalls. Tapping a finger to his ear, he communicates by radio to pose a response to Mei. "Not necessarily, dear," he says, turning over a synthcrystal glass and giving it an appraising glance. "Unless there's a spell that would allow our saboteur to store it externally." He pointedly glances over his shoulder, towards the room's sorcerer, giving her a coy little smile without overtly asking her if there's such a spell. Turning back around to test the quality of a silk overcoat, he continues. "In most cases, the Essence would be stored in the body, or in whatever artifact was used to steal it."

     Miari's use of Essence shows up on the goggles, as well, spearing into the gods enshrined in the warpgate. The Essence surrounding them is dim--almost as dim as a mortal's. Machine spirits are very different from their Creation counterparts, as evidenced by the way the tiny gods provide Miari with an answer.

     A viewscreen appears before her eyes, holographic in nature. Reams of Old Realm glyphs, followed by zeroes and ones, fly across the screen in an upward scroll. They move so quickly that they become a green blur. In that blur, a scene plays out.

     'ESSENCE RESERVES CRITICALLY LOW' flashes across the screen in angry red Old Realm glyphs, then 'DATA CORRUPTED' followed by 'INTRUSION COUNTERMEASURES INADEQUATE.' The green display brightens, and on the screen it appears the small access panel is opened. The face of a worker with a black onyx soulgem peers into it, frowning in concentration. His hand reaches into the shrine and tears something out. As he leans forward, two antennae are seen poking from his forehead, long and thin like a roach's.

     That same worker is on the repair shift now, notably wearing a synthetic weave beanie--presumably to hide the antennae.

Mei Hatsume (1134) has posed:
"Optical Enhancement? Ah, so, you need some sort of special sight to see Essence!" Feeling rather proud of that fairly straightforward deduction, Mei's more than happy to take a look at Glocrim through a new set of eyes. Catching that extra detail in one of the shift workers, Mei tries not to stare at him for too long, although she does take a few glances in his direction once she takes the goggles off.

     She'll need to remember what he looks like for investigating later. The hero-in-training doesn't point him out just yet, though, instead opting to listen to Eye. Her gaze shifts over to Miari when he clues her into a potential external storage of Essence, then laughs lightly before turning around and deliberately avoiding looking at the warpgate and the suspicious shift worker. "I see! So if there was someone around, we'd have noticed by now. But maybe they're not around after all..."

     A tip, perhaps? "Have you ID'd any potential suspects, then? Anyone that's shown a motive for wanting to bring this warpgate down?"

Miari (1129) has posed:
Miari twitches a few times at the VERY unfamiliar streams of information. She does thankfully rapidly start parsing it through the enlightenment of She Who Lives In Her Name, one of the few beings that can even grok some of Autochthon's Designs...

    And what she finds is troubling indeed.

    She stands up straight, lowering her hand.... and turns around to look at Eye.

    "So if we encountered the perpetrator, what would you do? Tie them up?" She asks idly, while adjusting her clothes.

Kotone Yamakawa has posed:
Kotone Yamakawa pauses for a moment and seeing like this is unlike anything she's seen before.

"It's pretty...Sorry there is nothing like this on my world."

She may be saying the stuff over agian but she's a bit in awe of what she's sene he takes a moment to look about at the various glows from people and she pauses at the tech raising an eyebrow for a moment she steps over ot Miari and whispers to her.

"Hey that tech there his glow's more like yours and eye's." She notes she's not sure and, she has a feeling about it and she odesn't move just yet.

"I'd attempt to subude and bring them in if they would't surrender. I am packing hardware to disable people."

Whe notes quietly to Miari She also gives Mei a nod.

"Any information woudl be useful..."

She is doing her best to coverty eye the tech and is also making sure to record everything too.

All-Seeing Eye has posed:
"None from this side," says Popescu, removing a handkerchief to dab a few beads of sweat from her brow. "Really, I can't think of anyone on the other side either. Lots of people are trying to get through, but there's only so much Glocrim's infrastructure can accomodate... but breaking it doesn't help anyone. Especially from this side..."

     The worker that's suddenly the focus of so much attention continues about his task, trading tools with another to work on a different section of the gate. It really looks like he has no idea Mei is trying to drop him a hint!

     Popescu continues, leaning on the gate. "Even then, not likely. Most of them want to come over to this side."

     "Precisely," says All-Seeing Eye, with a notable absence of boredom in his voice. In fact, he's so interested now that he actually bothers to stop perusing the wares around the city's market. He faces his allies and casually strides over to them, smiling confidently. "We're after someone who either has an artifact, or a command of Essence. Sabotaging this gate, rather than the one in Harmegis?" He gives a little shrug of his shoulders. "Simple! You don't want others to pass through it. This wasn't done to damage Glocrim so much as it was to prevent pursuit--especially given the falsification of the work shift records. /Someone/ didn't want to be followed!"

     The worker in question is visibly shaken. Miari, Kotone, and Mei, should they be observing, will notice his hands shaking. Miari's question must've gotten to him.

     "As am I," he says in agreement with Kotone, his voice dripping with honey. "We'd make the arrest, peacefully or... otherwise." There's a little chuckle at that, and the Champion plays with his hair idly. "As the crime occurred on Claslati territory, I, being one of Autochthon's Chosen would have jurisdiction. They would be taken... peacefully or otherwise, to a Claslati holding facility--"

     "YOU WON'T TOUCH MY MIND!"

     The bellow comes from the worker, who in mere moments shifts form, his flesh rippling, hardening, darkening. The top half of his jumpsuit rips away to reveal a chitinous exoskeleton. The sleeves too are torn away, as two additional arms sprout from his body, all four sporting razor-sharp spikes along the edge. His mouth deforms into a set of slavering, sharp mandibles, and his eyes grow to the size of dinner plates, bulging nearly out of their sockets and taking on a sickly yellow hue.

     Miari will know there's few other things this could be than a pissed-off Lunar--but a roach warform?! Really? The deadly beastman takes a swing at All-Seeing Eye, evidently intent on stopping the Champion from 'touching his mind.'

Miari (1129) has posed:
Miari, of course, was quietly ready for a confrontation. Kotone's additional information was just double-confirmation. And the whisper brings a smile to her face. Not quite a pleasant one... just one that means business.

    "Fai---" She begins to explain... but although she was ready for a confrontation, she wasn't ready for the party here to initiate it.

    IN the space between seconds though she cranks her mind into overdrive. The unmistkable silver shimmer of Lunar Essence in her eyes, Eye's own conclusions...

    "If that's case, why did this wayward Chosen of Luna remain at the scene of crime instead of fleeing into the wilderness? I see... with the seal pierced, Celestial Exaltations can flow to those mortal souls within Autochthon's body!"

    Miari doesn't sound too terribly intimidated by a fledgling Lunar. "I recommend not shapeshifting too much, too rapidly." She warns the Lunar calmly even as they're freaking out. "You won't be able to change back without the right trainings and initiations."

    She's calm because they're focusing on All-Seeing Eye... and this leaves Kotone and Miari both unmolested.

    And Miari is probably as dangerous as the Alchemical, when one gets right down to it. She simply GLARES at the Roach warrior.

    And invisible fingers of will close about where it stands, seeking to bind it up into a tight squeeze. Just enough to restrict movement, not choke.

    The invisible force, though, is hardly so invisible to those using Essence sight. Streams of wispy, blurry crystal-blue energies are clutched about the insurgent like a fist.

Mei Hatsume (1134) has posed:
If there's nothing to gain but the damage itself, then... Someone that enjoys chaos?." Mei replies with a quick nod towards Kotone, reaching to pat the taser at her hip. "I've got some gear myself, so... Hmm. Now I'm curious what someone that could do this would even be capable of~"

     The gears are turning again! Luckily, Mei doesn't have to speculate for long with All-Seeing Eye's assessment of the situation making a fair amount of sense. "Yes, a distraction... Or to throw off a trail? That really would be-"

     And even more luckily, the culprit finally reveals himself with a cryptic declaration! The Hero-in-Training gawks at the transformed roachman for a few moments before drawing her taser and taking aim. Is a taser even going to work on a giant roach?

     Only one way to find out. "Stop right there! There's no chance for you to escape, so make things easier and surrender now, or we'll have to bring you down with force!" Mei warns and waits briefly to see if the Lunar does actually lay down his... Everything. If he doesn't, then she'll fire the stunning implement right at his gut! Or... Whatever the center-area of a giant roach would be.

     Mei's an inventor, not a roachologist.

Kotone Yamakawa has posed:
Kotone Yamakawa has no idea of the local poltical affairs or social state of thingsbut this nation is allied with the Paladins and Eye is indeed local law. she wseems concerned as she looks to the tech and she hears the tone of Eye's voice for a moment she's not sure what to think about that other than he does seem to have. She sees the worker transform into a horrible bug thing and he scremas about his mind being touched? She's not sure what to think on that but she knows how dangerous thing in creation are. She sees as Miari tries ot talk the Lunar down somewhat.

While not an Exalted herself Kotone has clawed her way up from being /nothing/ on the scale of the multivese and certianly would not be weak meat here. She knows her own shock weapony might not even work on this things biology but it might also do as well.

She will move in he's fast, very fast and she's got her eel ware arms she's gong to try an get in close now.

She'll try to get into close combat and bug zapper if the Lunar does not surrender. If he does she do nothing if not it's bug zapper time.

All-Seeing Eye has posed:
The Lunar is outclassed within seconds--and no one has better survival instincts than one of Luna's Chosen. One barbed arm stops just short of Eye's face, held fast by Miari's iron will. Those sickly yellow eyes flick fearfully, dilated pupils focusing first on Miari, in mute disbelief. His gaze then shoots over to Mei, brandishing what he can only assume is some sort of artifact weapon, then Kotone, her cybernetic arms the most familiar threat yet. Eye, however?

     He's smiling, his pupils gone and replaced with two soulsteel nozzles which look suspiciously like cannons. In fact, he goes so far as to place a hand gently upon the beastman's chest. "Oh, dearest," he says in a mock-affectionate tone. "I'll touch any part of you I want!~ Now, thank Miari."

     "What?" the worker's voice is guttural, distorted by his shapeshifted physiology. The warpgate behind him is utterly clear of workers, and even the market is eerily quiet--everyone cowers in fear of something the likes of which they've never seen. Glorious Crimson Taskmaster himself has even taken note, as turret emplacements surreptitiously slide free of the wall to track the Lunar's movement.

     "Thank. Miari," Eye repeats, as if talking to a child. His sweet smile never once falters as he delivers his next remark. His fingers toy with one of the barbs on his arm, smirking as the sharp point draws blood from his fingertip. "Because if your... barbs here made so much as a scratch upon my face?" He giggles. "There wouldn't be a god in Creation that could keep me from you."

     The beastman's mandibles click together. "Thank you, Miari."

     "Good. Now, you have a heart under all that, don't you? Ah, yes... yes, you do." The Sentinel slowly traces a finger over the lines of the Lunar's exoskeleton. "Did you sabotage the warpgate?"

     "No."

     Eye pauses, listening to something. "You're telling the truth!~ I love that about you. And I'll tell you what else!" Taking advantage of Miari's grasp upon the Lunar, Eye presses himself right on in, as if flirting with someone he's not seen in far too long. "I /love/ how you're going to help us find who did. Don't you?"

     "...Yes."

     "Good! Now be a good boy and return to normal so we can bring you along for questioning~"

     The Lunar does so, and Glocrim has a squad of Regulators--mortals in black synthleather trench coats with jackboots and repeating crossbows--on the scene in a few moments. Eye and the Regulators take him to one of the elevators, where the other Elites are free to follow. For the moment, the excitement has passed, and gradually, the din of the market returns to normal.

     "A full minute," says Popescu, marveling from behind an artist's booth.

     "I know!" The artist, a dark-haired young man, nods in agreement. "The longest it's ever taken the market to get back to normal."

Miari (1129) has posed:
"........" Seeing Eye handle the suspect sends a SHIVER down Miari's neck. A very imperceptible one that she masks fairly well. She is silent as he does his business, relaxing her mental grasp only when the Lunar relents.

    "... Hm." She murmurs as he's taken off for questioning. "... Perhaps he did not. But then there would have to be a second Lunar with the antennae Tell... unless what the spirit saw wasn't EVERYTHING..." Miari starts rubbing her chin... and only after the fact takes note of the weapons Mei and Kotone whipped out. They get a 'hmmmm!' of interest from her too.

    "Well. I wouldn't trust a Lunar's word so easily. The Moon is a trickster and so are her Chosen. But I believe you have a case of... some unsuspecting soul from within Autochthonia was Chosen for some reason by Luna. They fled out this warpgate and sabotaged it so news of their status wouldn't spread. But they stayed here because this culture and lifestyle is all they know. It is probably a case of pure panic. Malice, not so much."

Kotone Yamakawa has posed:
Kotone Yamakawa sees the lunar is rapidly handled but some things leave her very troubled the seeming mental effect. The comment about eye's face and there's a shudder there and it's a very troubling comment she wonder thoug habout the mention of the mind. she watches as they seem to be innocent of damaging the gate, but if that's true? What set this ... person off? She wonders about that but there's not much she can do at this point and maybe it's nothing really.

"Damn that ... was some serious body horror there. Roaches ..."

She shudders for a moment at it. "Damn things are one of the oldest lifeforms on my world but doesn't make them any less disgusting..."