4002/Slaves to the Metal Horde: Part 1

Slaves to the Metal Horde: Part 1
Date of Scene:	11 April 2016
Location:	Aqua Valley - Superdesert
Synopsis:	Five thousand dollars will be paid out to the families of anyone who dies during the chilling cinematic presentation of the desert drama!
Cast of Characters:	151, 162, 165, 236, Kushiko, 967

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Ren Tanaka (165) has posed:
    WE ARE... not in Waterland right now. Nope!

    Ren invited anyone who was interested to a movie night, since he recently came into acquisition of a rather nice authentic cinema projector and a roll of film featuring the late 1970s classic, uh, um...

    Well, that's just the thing! We don't really know. The can's empty aside from the date, so it was a surprise movie. Nevertheless he has made popcorn and hot dogs and stuff, and invited people into the room in Njorun while he gets the film set up.

    That may or may not have been the reason why you came here. The other reason may be why he's currently staring at the wall, walking up to it, and wiggling his hands in front of the projected image on the screen.

    For, you see, when Ren finally got that film up and rolling, after a brief few seconds, and a bit of narration, the image suddenly got a lot brighter, and all of a sudden it wasn't an image at all. It was a portal!

    That's right, a warpgate opened up right in Screen B. And what would any sensible person do? Why, stick their head in, of course.

    "...who wants to go exploring?"

Zephyr Windstar (162) has posed:
    Zephyr wasn't really much of a social creature... but when a general alert went out about a new portal just opening up from a movie projector, well, she comes running! The mage rounds the corner and frowns a bit as she pulls the coin from her bracer, preparing to set up her Barrier Jacket and Device. "Divine Wind, scan that projector and the film reel..."

    <Already did, Master. No Lost Logia signature detected.> replies the AI, the blue gemstone flickering as the voice speaks. "Oookay then... lets get in there and get this over with huh?"

Auron (236) has posed:
    Auron may not be what one would call a super movie buff, but he can appreciate one. Particularly one that likes to call itself a 'classic'. He also brought soda, because he figures it's going to be needed. And if not, hey, that's just more soda. It's not like no one will drink it, right?

    Try to separate him from his sword however? And one is going to be disappointed. Given the odd nature of the request, it's probably a good idea he decided to bring that. So yes, he does have his sword on his back in the gray sheath attached to his belt.

    The film is started, and then suddenly there is a portal. This is a bit surprising. Auron asks a question of his own in response to Ren's. A couple of them, actually. "Are we limited by time? Will we be stuck there if the film runs out before we return?"

X (967) has posed:
X appears in a flash of light not far away, courtesy of a teleporter. He heard the general call for help and decided to peek in! And it leaves him walking into... a movie theater? The robot pauses mid-stride. What is he looking at?

    "Hello? My name's X. I heard the call for help... what in the world am I seeing? Some kind of portal?"

    He's brave enough, but he halts at the edge of the portal, as if maybe he can get a clearer image of what's through it from being closer.

Ren Tanaka (165) has posed:
    "It's certainly kind of weird, isn't it?" Ren says to Divine Wind, rubbing his chin. "I should definitely go back to the little shop I bought this from and see if it's disappeared tomorrow."

    He's about to stick his head through when Auron comes up with a good point, and he nips back a few steps to make sure how much film is actually IN the reel. Surprisingly enough though, it doesn't seem to be a problem- he pauses, stops the reel, walks back to the wall, sticks his hand in- yeah, seems to be fine.

    "Must just be a very unusually shaped warpgate we've just activated. Funny."

    "We sure do have a portal. And you know what the first thing to do when you find a mysterious portal to another world is, right?"

    He's already running at the wall. Darnit Ren. "YOU JUMP IIIIInnnn-"

    Just... just follow him trust me.


    On the other side of the warpgate...

    As the narration said when the reel started, well. Welcome to the future, although it is not your future!

    

    Ren Tanaka shields his eyes from the sun, looking at the dusty buildings carved into the stone of the badlands. "Looks like this world's seen better days."

    That seems to be a settlement of some kind, and a pretty thoroughly-built one at that. There's some sort of big landship docked nearby, sheltering in the shade. Presumably it's inhabited. Want to go say hello to the natives and hope they're not vicious, motorcycle-riding, skull-wearing raiders?

Zephyr Windstar (162) has posed:
    Zephyr just blinks dumbfounded when Ren goes and leaps right in... She covers her face with her free hand, starts walking toward the portal and says in a deadpan, long suffering tone. "Divine Wind. Set up."

    By the time she's through the portal, she's in her Barrier Jacket, and the long-hafted battle-axe of her Device is slung over her shoulder like a shounen protagonist's sword. "Y'can say that again." she replies to Ren, looking around. "Divine Wind, any life-signs nearby?" she asks the Devi<span class=" fg_m bg_n ++ e.

    cm"><INITIATING SCAN. STANDBY.></span> replies Divine Wind, as it spits out a set of glowing purple 'wisps'. They're set to pick up energy emissions and lifesigns, but not transmit visual data, and their bandwidth of detection is kinda limited, so they might miss things being shielded from scans. They flit off toward the settlement though.

Kushiko has posed:
There are things that should stick out like a sore thumb, but may not very well stick /out/ nearly as much as they have any right to be. The peculiarity of whatever this.. portal has brought about has coincided with the explorations and reconnisance ventures of another.

The Tenno; while they are not /especially/ well known, X would certainly find recognition in a pair of them: Valkyr and Nova Prime. Darkly colored with shaded of purple and orchid, the feline-like frame and the antimatter-wielding frame are somehow already there, ahead of the group that's arriving.

They are armed: Nova Prime, the slightly shorter Warframe has what looks to be a sleek-looking, high tech hand crossbow in her hand, with a blocky-looking weapon on her back that for a keen eye, may resemble a breach-loaded grenade launcher and a long, katana-looking sheathe on her hip. The other, Valkyr, doesn't have her weapons drawn, but she doesn't need to have the weapons necessarily drawn from her back and hip: rifle and sword otherwise, her talon-like fingertips occasionally flex a little as she oozes a predatorial menace.

Which.. is a pretty good accomplishment given that there's no readily discernable optics or face or eyes on either her or Nova Prime. Really, the massive hound of a Kubrow next to Valkyr is the only one who has any real eyes, the batlike snout huffing slightly as he provides maybe a hint less of such menace as the pair don't necessarily dawdle, but are otherwise assessing the settlement.

Auron (236) has posed:
    The reel is stopped and yet the portal remains. He nods. Good. That would have been an unfortunate happenstance. Thus he's less reluctant to go in, and follows Ren through without complaint. Once he realizes the sun is every bright, he reaches into his coat and pulls out a pair of good, modern sunglasses, setting them on the bridge of his nose. He's covered up reasonably well, though the coat's likely to be hot after a while.

    He too tilts his head to look up at the settlement in the cliff. Details are difficult to pick out with one eye, otherwise he'd be looking for ladders, activity, or some sign that the cliff settlement is still inhabited. Instead his gaze moves to the landship... and then to the Tenno. His remaining eye narrows a bit behind the sunglasses. Though he doesn't act quite yet; he instends to follow Ren's lead.

X (967) has posed:
"No you don't do that--" X stretches a hand out as if to step Ren, but he's just not fast enough. Humans. So crazy.

    He's only standing there bewildered for a moment though. Seems now he HAD better jump in and make sure these people aren't going to be in HUGE TROUBLE!

    Without another moment of hesitation he dives through and goes skidding across the ground for a bit. And what he sees is enough to render him quite speechless.

    "..."

    He just... STARES for a good ten seconds. "Ooooo...kay. At least there's no explosions over here."

    Well, may as well explore while he's here. The robot frowns though. "Are we somewhere in the Multiverse? ... Or actually... somehow IN the movie?"

Ren Tanaka (165) has posed:
    Funnily enough most of them seem to be inside the sandcrawler (slaps hand, I told them it wasn't a sandcrawler. Bad narrator!) uh, the tank fortress and not in the... town? Which is weird. You'd think it would be the other way around, and could in fact be forgiven for not picking it out through a pair of shades. Also there are definitely a few people OUTSIDE of the tank fortress, as you may have noticed that a few people are definitely looking at the Tenno. Or, well, running from it after looking at it.

    One of the more interesting things Divine Wind may also report on is that we're definitely in a recognizeable PART of the multiverse- specifically the agglomeration of desert and desert-worlds commonly called Waterland, which is, while utterly awful, at least not as radioactive as the portions classified as Skaro.

    When they get close enough to the fortress (it's roughly the size of a ferry or cruiseboat), they will hear a sound from a tannoy mounted on the outside.

    "Since you're not too fussed by walkin' right on up to the robots, and you all strolled right on through the desert without puttin' on much of a tan, I'm guessin' you all have a story to tell. Why don't you all indulge a guard and tell me who you all are and how you got here?"

Zephyr Windstar (162) has posed:
    <SCAN COMPLETE. LOCATION VERIFIED. WATERLAND. COORDINATES ARE SPECIFIC.> states Divine Wind. The Device does a cursory scan of the Warframes, but doesn't comment, though Zephyr gives Nova Prime a very close look over, before the guard starts speaking.

    The Mage clears her throat, and projects her voice via a simple Increase-class spell. "My name is Zephyr Windstar. I am a Mage in the Time Space Administrative Bureau. My friend here," she gestures to Ren. "Acquired a film reel and was putting on a show for some people, when the projector created a Warpgate to this location." Her voice travels, but isn't a booming loudspeaker sounding thing, carried on the wind itself or so it seems.

Kushiko has posed:
<"Tenno, I'm picking up on others. At least one from the Grineer derelict, and three others, from my scans. Curious.."> Such communications are more privately held than most, given they are from the Lotus to her Tenno in the field. The attention of the Warframe's shift slightly. Not necessarily fully looking at, but all the same..

In the case of Nova Prime, her drone, the Helios sentinel alights itself a little higher, a little better angle as to afford it the ability to potentially scan the arriving Elites. IT's a semi-active scan, more meant to record for mimeographic purposes. Besides, getting exact information on individuals might take more scans after all, to get any more than that physical appearence of the Elites arriving.

Valkyr in the meantime contiunues to almost sortof circularly stalk forward. Despite her seemingly lithe, feminine appearence next to the absolute monstrous, Irish wolfhound size of the Kubrow at her size, there's the palpable feeling that the beast is the lesser threat, though not by much. Valkyr's long tail flickers very slightly from side to side, the anchor-like wedge arcing in the air.

Some measure of silent communication must be going on as the two Warframe occasionally seem to move and shift in ways that is slightly unnatural to the trained eye. No gestures between one another but Auron is given a seemingly brief 'look', a canting of the head of the antimatter wielding Nova Prime. As does X and Ren and Zephyr warranting somewhat more direct acknowledgements.

But enough time is seemingly spent on the ground as they turn their attention towards the fortress-ship as it were, though their movements are somewhat more cautious. Indiscriminate murder would be counter productive.

Auron (236) has posed:
    To be fair, Auron's presence amongst these people might look a little odd, even to scanners. All of these people might have some sort of possibly detectable way they're different. Auron? Well, he's... a human. Nothing cybernetic, nothing really magical (though the items he's carrying might ping to a sensor). But could be a little strange for a normal human to be amongst all these others.

    If Auron notes the scrutiny, he doesn't mention. Maybe he does notice, though, as he aims a look in the Nova Prime's direction. Not that he's not looking at the Warframes and their 'pet' anyway; he does need to determine threat potential. He's assuming 'very high'.

    Auron doesn't have any way to make his voice carry like that. Besides that, Zephyr's basically got the right of it anyway, so he remains quiet for the time being. Aside from the sword, he isn't visibly a danger anyway.

X (967) has posed:
"Why would I be fussy over being around robots?" Asks X, though he's not sure who exactly he's speaking to. He eventually spots the speaker though! ... Where the voice is coming from.

    Huh. That's OOOLD style.

    Isn't it?

    "I'm called X! We haven't been wandering for very long. Dropped in from out of nowhere... will tell you all about it if you can tell me where I am!"

    Where THEY ALL are. He casts a glance oer at the nearby Warframe... when did they show up?

Ren Tanaka (165) has posed:
There's a brief pause. "Well, friend, hard to tell where anything is without many landmarks any more, you know? Best as I know, this place either used to be Nottingham," laughs, "Or Alaska!"

    Ooh, that's a bad sign.

    "I mean, unless you're all from another planet, because I wouldn't put it past you. In which case: welcome to Earth! You got here just a little too late for the sightseeing, mind you!"

    here's a little camera that comes out from a tilting panel underneath the speaker- it moves back and forth, looking at each of them in more scrutiny (least time on Auron)- Kushiko will recognize it as the same one which was looking at her a few minutes ago, until it rather rudely snapped shut while the people inside deliberated in confuion. Ren's happy to smile for the camera- well, cameras, really, considering the Helios drone there as well.

    When Zephyr finishes explaining the situation, there's airy sound on the other end. And then a, "That was me whistling, sorry. Piece of crap doesn't pick up on half the things it should unless you speak pretty slow into it... but, huh, well, if that don't beat all? You just give me a minute and I'll be right down to meet y-"

    A little muffled talking from behind- just as the other person mentioned, it's hard to pick anything else up that the other person is saying. But it's easy to hear whoever else was talking say- "Didn't you hear? We got magicians, aliens, and anyone who walks around in that bright blue get-up's gotta have some confidence. I'm going to roll out the welcome mat for them, sure. You just do me a favour and keep one eye on those big 'bots, alright?"

    A couple minutes pass, before a submarine-like door in the middle of the ship's fairing rolls its hatch and opens, prior to a rope ladder coming down. There's a pause before someone appears- it's a dark-skinned woman in long robes and boots, with a wide-brimmed hat and goggles. Attached to the large waistband she has is what appears to be a ... yes, a rather dinged-up crown with bits of velvet still on it. She climbs down!

    "You can call me the Queen Mother."

Zephyr Windstar (162) has posed:
    Zephyr nods a little to the Camera. She looks human enough, apart from the bright clothing and the giant purple axe slung across her shoulders. When the woman comes out of the landbarge, she offers a salute. "You seem to have some, preconceptions regarding synthetic lifeforms... I take it there's a story behind that." she asks, taking a step forward.

    Divine Wind chimes. <Master, be careful.> warningly, but not exactly worried. "Don't worry Dee, I got this." replies the Mage softly, then returns to her projected voice. "I can assure you, we come in peace with no hostile intentions."

    A meaningful glare is sent to the two Warframes, mismatched eyes staring at where the 'face' would be if one were present. The look says: >Don't cause trouble now I've said that.<

Ainsley (151) has posed:
    Ainsley is here. She was here the whole time. Her presence just wasn't noticed because she was silent and because she was hanging back, too wary of getting stabbed, shot or hit with rotten fruit to take the front of the group as everyone went through the movie screen portal. That said, she approaches right after the lady climbs out of the ship and stops before the group. The reptile woman blinks slowly a couple of times.

    "That name, somehow, seems much more ..." she trails off. Ostentatious? Regal? "Out of place than I was expecting."

    "... Queen Mother of who, exactly?" she wonders, her brow knitting and her eyes trailing away from the lady and up to the thing she climbed out of.

Auron (236) has posed:
    Auron has to smirk at the assessment of the situation by the voice emanating from the speaking on the landcraft. But yes, he's intent on keeping an eye on things. Mainly because he doesn't know much about 'those big bots' either. Hopefully time to learn. He's somewhat reminded of the Al Bhed here, just a tiny little bit.

    As the 'Queen Mother' approaches, he bows his head respectfully. And when he comes within speaking distance, he finally speaks up. "...My apologies for not speaking up earlier. My name is Auron," he offers.

Kushiko has posed:
Keeping an eye on the 'big bots' may prove.. more unique than provided. Granted, if they had really, /really/ wanted to, they would have kept out of sight. But in a situation like this, there was a certain confidence held by the Tenno that if there was a threat, it was not necessarily /here/. Not in plain view.

So in lieu of a covert threat or otherwise, there was little point to concealment and stealth as they gathered information.

Still, there is something to their movement; their faceless visages giving the impression that /certainly/ they were aware, they were watching everyone who fled, or simply held their ground when it came to Warframes in their midst. They were.. noiseless, despite every indication seeming there should be. Not even a crease of their armored suits or anything beyond the noise their power may generate.

Though, in regards to Zephyr, it's not a response by the Warframes themselves, but that massive, muscular and fit-looking Kubrow. A rumbling kind of *ruff!* from her. (At least one might think it's her) The Valkyr simply lifts her legs up, her body momentarily floating as she takes up a meditative-looking position; legs folded, hands on either side.

Never mind she's floating while doing this. While Nova Prime in the meantime simply meanders around, hand resting on the sheath of her Dragon Nikana, allowing Helios to continue it's generalized scanning. It's not that they're antisocial. It's just that they don't yet see a reason to discourse yet. Others can speak for them, and they will observe and react.

X (967) has posed:
X is left speechless as usual by the behaviors of people across the Multiverse. Well... how to respond? "I'm X.... you're certainly dressed for the part, ma'am! Queen Mother.. of this... settlement?" He can only peer incredulously at the HUGE vehicle people are apparently living on.

    Though his confidence returns shortly thereafter. "What kind of robots are troubling everyone? .. What happened to this world?" He's not going to announce that he's a robot himself, if he's passing enough for human.

    He puts a hand on his hip and smiles warmly. "Tell us about your troubles. Maybe we can help."

Ren Tanaka (165) has posed:
"I'm surprised how well she's taking this," Ren comments to no one in particular as he watches the woman climb down.
"Yeah, well, nothing much surprises me any more," the Queen replies. She's got good hearing!

    She adjusts her clothes a little as she gives each of them another glance-over- it is, after all, a little different when you're not looking at everyone through a camera. She hadn't even noticed the lizard-girl before ('wonder if she knew any presidents?', she thinks to herself. Don't say that one out loud, Queenie). Let's see, we've got a redhead who's looking for a sunburn, big bright and bladed, definitely-an-alien, the man in the sunglasses, the blue boy, yeah that seems to be everyone!

    "Ren Akiyama," Ren adds, once some people begin introducing themselves.

    "No one else was using it. What can I say?" she replies to Ainsley. Nods to X. "It helps people," knocks the side of the vehicle, "Know who's in charge."

When it comes to the issue of Kushiko, she leans up against the side of the landship, crossing her arms. "I guess you could say that, yeah. Only out here's probably not the best place to explain it. Let's see if we can find some place to sit down in out of the sun, huh?"

    She looks at Kushiko after pushing off and walking a few steps. "If there's anyone inside that big thing, you're welcome to come along if we find somewhere you fit inside." The statement is twofold- both a 'prove to me there's someone these guys' side in there' and 'if there isn't, you won't be able to sit with us'.

    Wipe cut, in any case, to the interior of one of the buildings carved into the cliff. It doesn't appear that this place is inhabited, but it seems like there's a fair amount of chairs, tables, furniture and infrastructure left behind.

    "So, you all want to know why this place is such a mess?" the Queen asks, having taken off her hat. She's been accompanied by three other extras at this point, one with a science bent to the stuff he's carrying and two honor guards. "Well, I'd say, take your pick, honestly. How much do you know about the history of mankind?"

Ainsley (151) has posed:
    Ainsley looks at the 'Queen Mother' with some skepticism at the reply, but decides to just accept it, looking back to the vehicle she came out of. "Fair enough..." she murmurs.

    One jump cut later, and...

    Ainsley is picking through the place looking for a place to sit when she replies, "Quite a lot, from dozens of worlds," and then she fixates the Queen with a look of vacant, reptilian curiosity, "But you're saying that as a lead-up to explaining. We don't know anything about this world, as far as I know..." She scans the others on the off chance that others have been here before.

    "Doesn't look like a happy history, in any case," she murmurs, when she finds a chair with an acceptable design for her tail's comfort.

Zephyr Windstar (162) has posed:
    Zephyr leans against a wall just inside the door, arms folded with her axe resting beside her. It's longer than she is tall, about 6'4" long, compared to her 5'11". "Well, if we're talking Earth history, it's largely been dominated by pointless conflict and self destruction. Nuclear weaponry irradiating swaths of the world, biological weapons, chemical."

    She sounds a little bitter. "Mass Based weaponry is outlawed within the TSAB jurisdiction.. it's too easy to manufacture and use, and Magic is much safer on the environment... and is non-lethal by design."

X (967) has posed:
X gives the Warframe wandering around a sideways glance. "You're awfully quiet. Can't that suit speak?" He'd be really surprised if not. REALLY surprised.

    Well, to the matter at hand. "Very little, actually. Especially for this Earth. You're right about being from another world. Starting from the beginning's fine with me, miss." His voice is gentle and polite. He's got patience after all.

    Still... what ZEPHYR just announced has him flinching rather visibly the very next moment. "... All different worlds." He adds through a grimace.

Auron (236) has posed:
    Cut to inside shot! The place is indeed a mess. It almost looks like Zanarkand, except not quite as ruined. It's certainly just as devoid of people, though. Likely some catastrophe caused it. Though the nature of it he isn't quite sure.

    He finds a chair to sit in, leaving the guarding of the door to Zephyr. Though he makes sure he places the door on his left. The Queen Mother's question gets a tilt of his head. "History is generally written by the people who won," he comments. But he does nod in Zephyr's direction. "That seems about what I've heard about it."

    He's careful about his wording. Because, while he might be a human, he's not an Earthling.

Kushiko has posed:
'Big' is relative. Giant robots are not what the Warframes are, though they can certainly have that presence if they wish it, as much as they wish to not have it. Such is the effect of their silent menace. Anyone can loom, stare balefully.

It's another matter altogether when they don't have eyes. When the entity itself is not necessarily present. Or are they? It is a mystery.

Regardless of this actual measure, the Valkyr's legs unfold. When it comes to fitting into places, the Warframes might seem very tall, but once they're a bit closer it strikes one that they're perfectly humanoid-sized, in most terms: Valkyr's legs below the knees seem a bit felinoid, but other than that, the pair plus Kubrow make their way over. Still as silent as ever, still not particularly keen on introducing themselves directly.

However, the nature of that is given to a voice over local commfrequencies. A woman. The Lotus. "These are my Tenno. Valkyr and Nova. They will be here to observe, for now, as will I through their systems." Broadcast signal from the Nova itself, it seems.

Regardless, one wipecut later and the pair are rejoined there. Or more accurately, Nova Prime herself is. Valkyr, on the other hand, has elected to stand 'guard' in a more hidden way. She's disappeared off somewhere, courtesy of the Kubrow's ability to conceal her. Sure, there might be a guess as to where she went, but for now, she's stalking just outside the landship.

Kushiko has posed:
To answer X, Lotus' voice comes through again. "There is no need for words from the Tenno, X. Not while in the field." As to the furtherance of the discussion, she adds, though Nova lifts her hand as though to produce what resembles an augmented reality display of the Lotus herself, or at least a headshot.

"These kinds of conditions are sadly familiar to us. Until we got closer, we suspected we might have still been within the same scope of our own universe before closer study." It is a blasted mess though, even if it does remind the Tenno present of some of the scars found on worlds seized by the Grineer and other ruined husks, people scraping by to survive. Not that the Tenno /aren't/ taking casual stock of things like Zephyr's Divine Wind in that matter. Because they are.

Ren Tanaka (165) has posed:
"Well, good for you!" the Queen says, sitting down. After X replies to her she lets Zephyr speak, as well as Ainsley.

    "Well, visitors, it sounds like you know the long and the short of it," she says to them, spinning a chair around and sitting down on it with her arms leaning on the back (solely, if to judge by the expressions on the people accompanying her, to look cavalier). "Some of you, anyway."

    "It can safely be said that the people who didn't learn from the mistakes of the wars of the past, died, and left the ones who weren't around to experience either of them to do the suffering in their place," she says. Half-looking at them, and half-looking out at the craggy, mountainous semi-scrub desert that you've got a better view of from further up the cliff. She doesn't specify which of Zephyr's horror words was the specific reason, but she looks sourly nevertheless. Ren, meanwhile, is just daintily sitting in his own swivel chair- not being from Earth himself, this is actually relatively new old history to him. Hence the surprise.

    "Maybe it might be more accurate in our case to say it's being written by who's left," she says to Auron. "An awful lot of them are on our... good ship Lollipop out there. It's a piece of work, but it's built like a brick outhouse and so long as we keep moving, it keeps us safe."

    "But tell me again... how was it you said you got here, again? Hoping if you're not just here to take a look at what we've become, maybe you could help us..."

Zephyr Windstar (162) has posed:
    Zephyr opens her eyes, looking down at the ground. "I've watched a world burn before..." She turns to look out of the door at the craggy, ruined world outside. "I don't have much clout with the TSAB higher ups, but I'm a Union Elite.. so, maybe, with the rest of us, we could swing some humanitarian aid at the least." she looks back.

    "Why would you need to keep moving though? I'm guessing not all the survivors see the benefit in cooperation?"

Ainsley (151) has posed:
    "A portal," Ainsley explains, "We got here from a portal from another world. In theory, all of you that would prefer to just leave can follow us back and we can make sure you have a fresh start on life. I can only imagine the daydreams some of you have had about getting away from all of this, if I go by your habit of keeping on the move. In theory, you could have a place you didn't have to run from. In truth, many of you must be used to being on the move, and there are safe solutions even for that, with the use of recreational vehicles. Motorized homes, as it were."

    And then she looks away from the Queen Mother, to the craggy desert they had a good look at, and then back. "Of course, those of you that would prefer to stay would find my help and likely others, in trying to salvage your home world, to make it a place you feel safe in again, if not the... uh, the most immediately attractive option."

    She digs in her coat after saying this, pulling out a pen and a notepad to start scribbling down notes.

Auron (236) has posed:
    Auron nods to the Queen's words of history being written by those left. He falls silent then, curious as to what the Queen will choose for her people, given Ainsley's offer of evacuation or assistance.

Kushiko has posed:
From a far, far flung place, there is an observer. The Lotus is one of them. There is another, though the nature of which is not to yet be touched upon.

But these observations allow for something to be felt. Sensed, in a sense. An inexact sensation, but a sensation borne of centuries of combat and training and mastery. It's enough to provoke Valkyr, from where she is outside to shift her weight a little bit.

<"Lotus. There is something. I can't.. quite place it."> <"Keep your guard up. Something is coming, but it is too far to discern yet.">

The visage of the Lotus blinks out before resumption. Those words were in a place unseen and unheard, even though their impact is far reaching. As to how the Warframes, how the Tenno arrived here?

Worlds that burn, sundered before them is not.. an unheard of concept. The Tenno's knowledge of this is not something they share readily, not yet, nor any reason to, showing as tacit as they are. "Not the same portal, but my Tenno were conducting a reconnisance operation on a discovered Torsion beam generator that produced a portal which led them here as well." the Lotus remarks. "It did not operate as it was intended to." Which was putting it mildly.

It was unlikely that that one would work very long. The way things felt.. they might need to ensure that means of access was permanently removed. Such thoughts were not aired, however. But there was a slight edge to the Lotus' voice that implied the device was something that should not have been active.

X (967) has posed:
X blinks a few times, but nods solemnly at the Warframe. "I... see." Well at least Lotus is speaking up. That's something.

    Again focusing on the 'Queen Mother' though, X strolls over and... hunts for a seat. Or he'll just stand politely, that's fine too. He doesn't really tire, after all.

    "Would you believe a portal appears on a video screen?" X remarks, bewildered by the notion himself. "The world's a strange and wonderful place. We ended up out here in the wastes... I'd love to give you a dramatic tale of wandering through the desert, but that would be a lie. ... And to tell you the truth, I'm a robot myself, built to help humans. Only been active for around a year... but everywhere I go there's some awful trouble brewing."

Ren Tanaka (165) has posed:
"No, we're all baically on the same side as far as running away from our problems sort of goes," the Queen replies.

    She listens closely once Ainley makes her offer to her- "You think you'd be able to fit everything we've got, that big ship out there, through however you got here?" she says.

    "She's very good at this sort of thing, isn't she?" Ren says quiet-ish-ly to Auron, who he seems to have found himself sat next to and is desperate to make conversation with. "I hear it's her speciality..."

    When X speaks up, she glances outside at the landship again. "You might... want to keep that part quiet if I introduce you to the others," to X.

    Suddenly perturbed perhaps, she gets quickly out of the chair, as if it was red-hot all of a sudden. "I mean, I don't know well many people would take it if I just said that a bunch of aliens landed in our lap and went and solved all of our problems, but I can dare say it'd be a lot, but I can also say that it'd be a lot less if they..."

    "I expect you can fill in the blanks with your imagination, but I'll suffice to say this- yeah, there was a big, ugly thing that happened. I wouldn't even call it a war, more something like a... disaster, because a war implies we had something worth a damn to fight against. We're all here in this big landship now, keeping ourselves moving away from something that's trying to catch us, trying to look for something they might have built as a failsafe maybe against-"

    Lotus makes a statement, and the queen freezes up. It's clear all of a sudden that if there is 'something', then she knows what that 'something' is and immediately knows- and is scared by it.

    "It's true, your majesty! (wheeze)" shout-gasps a voice from outside, desperately climbing up the outside of one of the buildings. "They're moving from the north!"

    "What?" she replies. "Damn, I thought they wouldn't come back to an empty town..."

    She pulls a walkie-talkie out of her robe. "This is your queen speaking! Start moving the ship! We'll catch up to you!"

    She begins to make her way towards the doorway. "Well, guess you'll get a good look at them now..."


    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FfOqqEj_ip0&t=16m58s
    chw">Main theme - Paul Sawtell & Bert Shefter
    It! - The Thing From Outer Space - 1958</span>

    First, a series of dull, blunted cones begin to rise out of the sand. Almost thirty in all, ringed with green lights- many of them with long arms half-way along, their forearms mounted with underslung guns. At the bottom there is a black sphere with digitigrade legs attached.

    They are approaching.

    "The slavers of the Metal Horde..."

Zephyr Windstar (162) has posed:
    Divine Wind chimes a warning... far too late. <LOST LOGIA-CLASS SIGNATURE DETECTED!>

    Zephyr is quick on the uptake, and grabs the axe from its rest, turning to run out the door. "Get to the ship! I'll try and hold them off." she says over her shoulder, before a quartet of purple coloured, transluscent 'pixie wings' sprout from her back and she rockets into the sky, blasting sand around her take-off point.

    "Divine Wind, area strike mode. Lock on targets, saturation spread." she orders. <TARGETS LOCKED ON. READY FOR SATURATION SPREAD. IMPULSE CASCADE, HURRICANE SHIFT.>

    In her wake, and appearing around her, dozens of light motes appear, grow in size to about a tennis ball, before lashing out at the conical robots. Each 'bullet' isn't strong, but there's a veritable hailstorm of shots.

Auron (236) has posed:
    Auron turns a look to Ren, brow of his remaining eye arched, a smirk pulling at his mouth. "Almost as if she was specially-trained, even," returns with a hint of dry wit in his voice. Though he quiets as the Queen starts to speak of the 'disaster'.

    And then there is a bigger problem. 'Something' is coming. Auron peeks out the door to look, and frowns. The Queen's words draw his attention, and he turns to look at her. "I take it that's the disaster you were referring to?" he asks. She seems worried enough about the things for it to be.

    Regardless, he knows the Queen needs to get back to her people. And so he goes Guardian Mode. He tilts his head towards the door, then looks at the Queen Mother. "We need to get you back on the landship. I'll guard you," he offers. This is, after all, what he does.

Ainsley (151) has posed:
    Ainsley's face is surprisingly passive to the skepticism the Queen Mother displays to such an offer. It's natural to be hesitant about something that sounds too good to be true. She shakes her head slowly, though, at the mention of the portal's size. She isn't sure, she hasn't measured either the portal or the vehicle. "You may have to leave it behind..." she murmurs.

    They don't have much time to discuss this. Things start to light up with panic and the promise of battle. The reptile lady stands up from her seat, calmly walking out to get a decent vantage to watch the metallic beings approach. They don't look friendly. They look like they're coming with purpose. To attack and to capture.

    She touches at the side of her snout, a gesture of thought. Her eyes begin to glow with the magical symbols of her Arcane Sight as she scans for signals. She scans the robotic beings for the capacity to communicate, such as with computer codes and radio wavelengths. If they are directed wirelessly, she can help others follow it back to the source... either to bring the war back to its doorstep, or to figure out how to stop this peacefully if at all possible.

    For now, she's just looking for a way to confuse them if they run on signals, or impede them if they run on computer code.

Kushiko has posed:
"Verified."

That is the first word out of the Lotus, not just via the pop-up like window the Nova was holding, but over the local band transmission.

At the coming of the slavers of the Metal Horde, something experienced combatants might pick up on is felt. It's not necessarily something that screams out or is flagrant, but immediately there's a change in Nova Prime's demeanour. Expectant, and she's blitzing down and out of the landship itself--occasionally casting open wormholes, little dimensional doorways that bring her out with rampant expediency.

Others can use these Wormholes, but they go both way, and may only last about 4 charges each, a thin line of energy connecting to the outward point. Which, now that the Warframes /are/ using their energy.. Zephyr could be forgiven for thinking what's about to be used is close to magic, to say nothing of what the others might feel.

A surge of energy is gathered as she suddenly appears when a line exiting the ship puts her almost at the front lines of the approaching metal horde. Not /too/ close, even as Valkyr moves into a sort of guardian-like posture, her rifle at the ready, but she's not quite inclined to use it just yet.

No, the first to the stage is Nova Prime. Gathered energy is molded, formed into antimatter particles and a surge of pinkish-lilac energy into her hand raised upward as she descends down from her recent exit of a portal. Her body slows as she effectively /slams/ the energy down towards her feet.

Such a motion precedes her unleashing an expanding wave of force, seeking to bathe the immediate area and beyond in antimatter energy; pink-purple and lines of light crisscrossing one another with a very visible band at it's equator, the sphere of Molecular Prime unleashed.

Approaching foes might be primed just in time for Zephyr's own suppressive fire to strike in tandem; the conical bodies if they aren't resistant to it, would find their bodies wreathed in that energy, energy that not only makes them radiate with bubbling circles of energy, but incredibly slow them down, not just their movements, but hopefully their ability to react and use what weapons they have. Suppression indseed.

The notable factor of the Warframe is this: yes, there is antimatter energy radiating out, fueled by her own Void energy. But as much as something like this should be indiscriminate, the energy just passes over like a kind breeze against Zephyr and the others who might rejoin the front lines.

She pivots, midair; literally somersaulting backwards in midair in order to cancel the forward momentum provided by her Wormholing antics as she brandishes her Tonkor grenade launcher in preparation--after all, the priming tends to cause enemies to react rather more explosively towards firepower directed at them, even if the explosions /are/ going to be controlled by the same antimatter wielding frame.

X (967) has posed:
"I understand. It's that bad?" Oh X, you don't know. You just don't know.

    All hell breaks loose and so the blue robot swivels about, dropping into a battle stance. His right hand shimmers and whirls with mechanical parts, rearranging into the X-Buster almost instantly. The robot's blue color scheme shifts to red and black for who knows why a moment later.

    "... Slavers." He echoes accusingly towards the onrushing horde. Why would robots want humans for SLAVES of all things? It doesn't make much sense to him! Can't they build worker robots like Mechaniloids?

    Sheesh.

    "That's WAY too many of them!"

    Unwilling to engage an enemy that hasn't actually opened fire yet, he hesitates - and just aims the X-Buster warningly.

Ren Tanaka (165) has posed:
    There's a reason why these machines appeared so far away, making this silent march towards the landship as the sun begins to set some distance away.

    Guess it if you can.

    Ren looks concerned here, as he looks out of the window frame- he is not really one for fighting himself, especially as he scopes out the Metal Horde next to the Queen. It's hard to tell due to issues of perspective, as the landship is rolling away and showing everyone just how big this approaching group is, but each of the robots is a little more than twice the size of the average person here.

    Ainsley will be able to see what nobody else can- that each of these robots appears to be an individual, with its own mind- but disciplined like soldiers, instead of programmed like computers.

    "What are you going to do?" Ren asks Ainsley, as Auron offers to be the guard.

    Giving it about a second of thought, Ren inclines his head from X, towards Ainsley. "Alright! I know. X, the portal's not far from here, right? Keep an eye on Ainsley whatever she decide to do and make sure any of those metalheads don't break off to it. Auron, you help the bodyguards, I'll give her majesty here a lift back to the HMS."

    His cheeks turn pink, and he suddenly stammers and shakes his head. "I-I mean, if that's. OK. With everyone?"

    "A lift?" And he's picking her up. He's being literal. "Awk!"

    Of course, no matter how he carries her Ren's going to give the Queen a good chance to look at what comes next, as the various Unionites either make their way down and out of the abandoned building or fly outside.

    Said good ship Lollypop was already aiming its starboard flak guns as a peppering deterrent when Zephyr goes first, racing out and blasting quickly over the sand. She adds to the ship's shooting with an area barrage over the legion of huge robots. Some, but not all of them are quick to respond with the weapons attached to their arms- but they never really expected to meet a flying human before! Will she be stunned by the green electrostatic bolts? Or is a better question to ask, 'how many of them'?

    If Zephyr was a surprise, and the ones that weren't looking at her WERE looking at Valkyr, they're going to be really thrown for a robo-loop when Nova Prime is right up in their business. They were hardly expecting one big surprise, and now they've got about three! A wave of explosive antimatter can definitely cause that formation of Slavers to be scattered in varius directions- and slowed down, too.

    (Could Ainsley even pick that out, too? A little mild, squelched panic?)

    When that first wave of fire is done and the slowdown is decaying, the Slavers find themselves with an awful lot of things to concentrate on- but that's okay, they're good at delegating.

    Let's see, we have at least six people heading to the ship and three big threats, and thirty of them. And they're all armed with the same sort of stun weaponry. So that means... six of them firing at Zephyr, twelve at Prime, six at Valkyr. And about seven of them shooting at the people doing the retreating.

    And one guy who's just not sure where to aim at all.

Auron (236) has posed:
    Auron nods to Ren's statement, and leaves the building after Ren and the Queen. There's a lot going on and Auron has no ability to fly, move fast, or engage at a distance. So instead he starts to fall back with those retreating, drawing his sword and angling it to serve as a shield. He's just one man, and there's seven of those conical robots shooting at the retreating people. But that's ONE vector of retreat that's safe, anyway.

Ainsley (151) has posed:
    Ainsley picks up that they are all individual soldiers. Metallic beings, certainly, but not controlled drones, and that is somehow more troubling. Yet it gives her hope that there's some way to reach an understanding about the situation. She also notes that they are soldiers, they make decisions based on rational information and not cold calculation, and that they are apparently utilizing stun weapons. Capture, and not killing...

    She chooses not to announce this. A battle is already underway and she lacks sufficient context. When the battle is done, she'll find one of these conical things. She's not a tactician and she knows she's no good at negotiation. She is, however, good at cracking open the shell of a mystery.

    "It is an army and not an automated patrol," she speaks to the others, over an open band, apparently using a spell to direct it just to her immediate allies. "Please try to leave some of them intact by the end of this. These are people, trying to capture humans for reasons not yet understand, using skills they were trained to use, as opposed to robots fulfilling programming."

    "It would be best if we could question one of them." 'We' meaning 'her,' by the tone of her voice, but she knows others might be interested too.

Zephyr Windstar (162) has posed:
    <ANTIMATTER WAVE APPROACHING. IMPACT IN THREE. TWO. ONE...> chimes Divine Wind, as the Molecular Prime passes over the pair. <NO CHANGE IN INTEGRITY. WARNING! INCOMING FIRE! EVADE!>

    The electrostatic bolts flash out at the flying Mage, and she starts to 'dance' between them, erecting shields to deflect and absorb those she can't evade, though each impact drains her mana reserves substantially. She puts on a display of aerial acrobatics that, to anyone that knows her, would reaffirm her title as The Wind Dancer of March, ducking, wheeling and rolling with a lithe grace befitting her frame.

    She surges off into the distance, past the Slaver lines, then wheels about, "Alright, lets see if we can't cut some of these assholes down to size. Drive Ignition! Strike Mode!"

    As she comes driving back into the fray, her Device transforms, the Haft shrinks, the blades dissolve and reform into a single, curved blade, and a pair of spinning 'fan blade' like drones spall off and attach to where the second blade used to be. They spin up, and begin trailing lines of purple mana. <STRIKE MODE. MISTRAL CUTTER!>

    The blade of her axe begins to glow that same dark purple, and she skims low over the sand, aiming to pass as many of the robots as she can. Can you guess what she's aiming to do yet?

    As she passes, she holds that blade out, aiming to slice off legs in a high speed pass. They can't chase if they can't move, right?

Kushiko has posed:
Oh /good/, they're a little bit more resilient than the usual. The nominal Molecular Prime wave is meant to last a little bit longer, but for all they knew, there could be something that was part of these metal bodies that made the energy decay off their bodies faster.

Either way, between that and the returning fire, neither Valkyr nor Nova Prime had much time to waste, especially as they had begun to open fire.

Valkyr.. despite her lithe appearence otherwise, doesn't seem to /care/ much about being shot at, a spanning kind of noise impacting against her shields before those shields themselves falter as she breaks into a run not at the horde directly--she's magnificently armored that the shots don't seem to slow her down.

No, her running is towards the people that are being shot at. Her blade comes out, a wicked-looking thing that as she supports Auron's efforts, her weapon weaving a supernatural arc through the air that surely shouldn't be doing anything to stop stunning weaponry. But channeled energy through the blade Broken War would provide that kind of ablative parrying.

Though with this going on, the Kubrow has no interest in hanging back whatsoever; she's darting back and forth to avoid the greater bulk of the weapons being fired at her in order to leap and maul herself a target; her teeth and muscles are enough to rend heavy armor.

Nova, on the other hand, does not like her shields quickly drained by the stunning weaponry. Mercifully while one of them knocks her over, she's quick to spring back onto her feet. With the group of thirty-odd metal, conical slavers positioned as they are, marching as they were?

.. why /not/ fire high powered grenades?

The Tonkor is angled a little bit upwards to send not one or two, but a quad-set of grenades, cylinder-looking charges into the thick of them. Two will not necessarily hit their targets, bounding almost helplessly (somehow, given the sandy reaches) to linger in the midst of some. The other pair has a better shot; wind may carry those shaped, highly explosive corrosive charges into the molecularly primed enemies as is.

Of course, if explosions are started on one, Zephyr and the others stand a VERY strong chance of causing a wonderful chain reaction, presuming the energy hasn't decayed /too/ much by then.

She gives the Tonkor a quick flick, opening the breach-loaded grenade launcher and reloading it as she leaps backwards, rolling and jinking in order to hopefully keep the metal drones from having an easy time tracking her. Helios on the other hand, is certainly scanning for all it's worth to categorize and perhaps find something they can use, just in case they blow /everything/ up.

Hopefully not. But as Ainsley mentions, they're fighting an army. And fighting armies is something the Tenno are very good at through their use of Void-fueled powers and weaponry.

X (967) has posed:
Size means little to X, who's still hesitating for a bit. Should he engage? Or would they be way too much for him?

    His decision's made when the blasts start going everywhere. With a panicked yell X opens fire with vivid Phaser Breams lancing across the wasteland, certain to melt and disintegrate... but gobbling up Weapon Energy.

    "Go! I'll cover your retreat to the Lollipop!"

Ren Tanaka (165) has posed:
    Mind you, that's a big sword! Who even knew that people could carry something like that? You'd ordinarily tear your muscles from strain. It doesn't compute.

    It is appreciated, though! After all, it's not just the Queen Mother, but her two bodyguards and that science officer that are along with them. And it's not that it fall on Auron to protect all of them, but perhaps it's better to concentrate on the ones who are ... say, not being carried by a fast moving bloke. Just hope that shooting too much electricity set to 'stun' into a big metal object isn't going to get unpleasant after a while. It's perhaps thankful in that case that Valkyr is there to support him if he needs it, having broken off from the scrum to defend instead.

    

    And despite the retreat, Ainsley is doing an excellent job as a tactical commander, picking out things that nobody else can. The Queen can't hear her, she's just watching from the rear in surprise.

    And even if it was self-defence, the landship was firing first when Zephyr came out...

    Speaking of Zephyr, she continues to mix it up alongside Prime and Valkyr. Although even saying that is probably a disservice to her acrobatics: which are simultaneously impressive (for the people watching) and confusing (for the Slavers). It's bad enough that she's an airbound human foe, but her movements and variety of fighting are so numerous as to really confuse an opponent it's new to. It's not even a case of them not being able to improvise tactics on the fly- it's more that this is such a shock that any tactics they might have are useless.

What do you do against enemies who are roughly the size of humans, but more agile than planes, more well-armed than tanks, and using weapons that they have absolutely no frame of reference for?

    Well, they do their best.

    And Zephyr entirely begins removing the legs of some of them, to boot. In THIS case, they know what to do: the same thing they would if their legs were crippled by environmental damage, which is 'immediately break off and retreat'. Since sand is the same as water, in many ways, they do this by deplying the same things they travelled here with- corkscrew-like impellers at the tops of their heads, which they bore into the sand to escape with.

    Others get the business end of Nova Prime- and X, too. Surprisingly the latter manages to cover Valkyr pretty well, leaving Nova to cause havoc. It's a miracle, perhaps, that amidst all of this there's not any friendly fire. We'll put it up to the bigger number of Slavers.

    Grenades bouncing on sand, Tenno bouncing around- the only word for it is 'carnage', really. And again, it's not so much that these robots aren't choosing to raise the level of firepower, it's that they don't have anything better to use.

    And in the face of overwhelming chaos like this, with no tactical experience to fall back on, a melee quickly begins to turn into a riot, with smoking Slavers, ones with holes beginning to melt in their titanium and carbon fibre bodies, and ones with limbs being blown off or even to pieces.

It may turn into a question not of which of them is able to talk, but which of them won't be too terrified to?

Ainsley (151) has posed:
    Ainsley frowns from her fairly distant vantage, her sharp eyes taking in the intricacies of the battle from the layer of her communication magic. The lizard woman deactivates her Sight when she feels she has nothing further to gather from the soldiers themselves, and she quietly waits for the battle to conclude without getting close enough to get shot at by the strangely-shaped robots themselves.

    She makes a little bird like chirp noise, impressed with the way the robots can flee into the sand. "That will make following them difficult," she muses aloud. "I hope we get at least one of them..." She scans the battlefield of explosions and weaponry obviously vastly outmatching the conical slaver soldier robots...

    "This might be the first real victory these people have seen in a while," she also adds to her thoughts, noting the ship and the previous words, suggesting they've always been the ones retreating before. She sighs to herself, walking out in no real hurry to the rapidly concluding battle. She hums a little song to herself as she goes, the unusual reptile striking a cool and calm affect among a battlefield full of panic and fire.

    It's a very sharp contrast.

    With any luck, she can find one of the conical robots among the sands that is in no condition to run off but still intact enough to try to speak to... and luck out more by actually getting something out of this after its unit suffered a resounding, terrifying defeat.

Zephyr Windstar (162) has posed:
    <MASTER!> "I see it!"

    Zephyr pulls up sharply, looping over while still trailing that energy line. As one of those Slavers goes to tunnel down into the sand... it'd find the Mage descending onto it in a direct, dead-drop with the axe baring down. Energy crackles along the edge of that weapon, but that's not all, as she cuts into the hull of the robot, the Bits detach and with a chime, emit 'ribbons' of energy that lash out to try and bind the rest of the things <span class=" bold_bg_m fg_n ++ hassis.

    cm"><STUGGLE BIND!></span> announces Divine Wind, the Ribbons suppressing energy flow to non-critical systems, but leaving Core Processes unaffected.

Auron (236) has posed:
    Auron merely retreats with those that are retreating, though he stays in front of the group to provide as much cover as he can. Once everyone's in the craft, he stays outside. The craft will probably be moving off once the Queen's inside it, so Auron then moves forward. The others have this. He IS, however, going to add to the intimidation factor here. How? By heading towards the now-retreating robots.

    Oh he's not just heading towards them. He's walking, his shoulders set in JUST THAT WAY, sword propped on his shoulder. Whenever a stray blast comes at him, he lifts the sword easily, batting the blast aside. By now the blasts should be sporadic enough to pull this off. His expression is set in just enough of a frown to let the robots who can see it know that He Is Not Amused.

    The message is clear, if the others' show of power hasn't already made it clear-- he is clearly the fighter with the fewest capabilities, the one closest to the humans they've been taken for granted. And he's walking through their laserfire like it's an unexpected spring drizzle. Turning back would be a really good idea.

Kushiko has posed:
It's probably a good thing the Tenno have no means of flight. Right?

Right.

No, with Valkyr doing her option of alternatively tanking and reflecting back things, she's able to, at last, sink herself into the battle properly. She sprints, sliding and then launching herself like a bullet, careening through the air in order to bring Broken War down upon the head of one of those slavers.

She begins to demonstrate a terrifying kind of agility as with X's covering, she's able to act more efficiently. She turns loose an absolutely terrifying /Warcry/ in the midst of the Slavers and allies alike; the kind of thing that could bolster and break morale to friend and foe, a howl of primacy in her voice despite the lack of notable mouth piece.

The lack of raising of firepower is telling. The Lotus dislikes this; she agrees with Ainsley's initative for one to be captured at the least. But both Nova and Valkyr simply elect to move to kill and destroy as many of them, as quickly as they can, weaving themselves in and out. Gun and blade until there's one they can pull away.

Sadly, that notion of actually trying to strip one out is not as easy as it appears. The ones trying to use their drills to break off and retreat elicits Valkyr to throw out a grappling hook from one hand, tethered by a ripline cord of energy to attempt to yank one off it's feet. Granted, the sheer force of it may cause it to experience a certain degree of trauma that would render it a poor subject for interrogation.

Truly, what the two frames are attempting to do at this point is the elimination of as many targets as possible in as quick an order they can, mutually providing cover to Zephyr, X, Ainsley and Auron while at the same time taking advantage of the holes they open up with their actions.

To put it kindly, the Tenno are severely disinterested in letting any of the Slavers leave intact or unsecured by those present here, solely based on not letting them report back.

X (967) has posed:
X weaves left and right, warned by his adaptive tactics software about enemies about to shoot. It gives the impression of rather startling precognition. If one thing Light was a genius at, it's programming. The end result is that X is able to leap, duck, and swerve away from a deal of shots moments before they happen while returning fire.

    But some shots do get through despite his best dodging efforts. These leave sparking scorch marks on his armor alloy, shallow 'wounds' but ones that get him wincing nevertheless. Unlike Zephyr, he's kinda groundbound and pretty slow.

    So it's a relief indeed when the horde starts falling back... or falling to pieces, as the case may be.

Ren Tanaka (165) has posed:
    It is! It is the first real victory they've had. In. A while.

    And there sure are a lot of people watching from the ship... like, it's hard NOT to be watching them at this point, and the spectacle, and the strangeness, and all of the colours and explosions, not to mention the sheer 'ease' with which X and Zephyr are moving, indeed seeming as if the Slavers can't lay a hit on them. People will be telling their kids about this one, and leaving out any details of when anyone got hit at all, even when it did happen.

    Auron and Ainsley approach what is clearly a rapidly concluding and winning battle for the visiting team, which is not exactly a 'rout' but it's definitely a coordinated retreat, due to massive lack of meaningful countermeasure let's say. Auron walking forward certainly makes a statement, but let it not be said that someone isn't going to be watching and recording this, and learning, and preparing... just because these robots are sentient doesn't mean that they can't transmit information to other ones...

    With excellent timing, Zephyr manages to notice one of the augurs the Slavers are using and disable it JUST before the robot in question manages to use it- which is probably just as well that she managed to do so, because with the rather comprehensive job the Tenno are doing at explosive violence there's no question that at least half of the robots are going to end up scrapped from sheer overwhelming violence. In fact it may become inevitable that someone will have to give them a little 'oh, hey, wait, maybe ease up there'? There's no point in only having one or two left if they're going to be too traumatized to offer any meaningful information, after all.

    In any case, soon the carnage is over, and there's an unprescedented number (previous record: 0) of Slavers arrested to talk to about what on earth is going on here. It may be a while before they have anything to say though, other than "Icchantika!", whatever that means.

    "You're saviors to all of us," the Queen says, "...but you could be saviors to a great deal many more. I have a selfish request for you..."




    ----

    INTERMISSION:

    "Who are the Metal Horde?" asks old Dr. O'Neil, although it's a rhetorical question. He sits back in his chair.

    "They are ruthless, human-capturing machines, led by beings called Mechanticals. They weren't the only ones," the scarred man explains. "But they were the first. It was their artificial neuron brains that let them think, like humans. The scientists thought that they were going to make something more advanced than the current computers... something that could fit in a single room, or even smaller. But they forgot that when you make something that is shaped like a brain, and made like a brain, it will think like a brain... and an inhuman mind thinks inhuman thoughts... soon they were building other machines, and then other robots, and then......"