3237/Woodvale Trial: Nature's Wrath

Woodvale Trial: Nature's Wrath
Date of Scene:	20 October 2015
Location:	Paragon City <CoH>
Synopsis:	The Devouring Earth are launching another assault. Can the heroes beat them back?
Cast of Characters:	Maya, Karian Icefang, Neuroi Girl, 530, 560, 626, 754, 769, 826, August Kohler

---

Dr. Vahzilok (769) has posed:
    The neighborhood of Arcadia, in Woodvale, is a fortified location in a zone that is mostly dominated by monstrous beings known as the Devouring Earth. Creatures of stone, crystal, plant, and fungus. Insect swarms, and walking lamprey-like abominations that spit acid. Fearsome giants and growths that selectively augment only the life that is of the Devouring Earth, and spare no benefit for the shunned humans. All led by a god-like psychic presence, presently identified as the Earth itself.

    A field hospital has been set up in what was supposed to be a children's hospital, with the construction of such abandoned in the face of the invasion. The city and suburbs to the west, the parks and countryside, all of it... Everything outside of thise one somewhat cramped neighborhood with some office buildings and stores... Is now the domain of monsters. The rate of their spread is terrifyingly fast, and has only been halted thus far by the efforts of heroes from both Paragon City and the rest of the Multiverse.

    As sick individuals worsen by the day, exposed to the Devouring Earth's spore-based contagion, and the psychic presence that seeks to worm into the minds of others over time as they are exposed to it, wearing down their defenses... More and more civilians try to just walk into the monster-held territory to turn themselves over to a power greater than they are. No cure is presently available. But that may be about to change, because just yesterday, a Lesser Devoured, one of the Devouring Earth 'Boss'-class enemies, was captured, and it has been being studied since then. With the combination of medical and healing skills available, brilliant minds and mystical awareness, strides have been made in figuring out what kind of mess the captured monster is and how to start working out a cure for the Devouring Earth's poisons.

    Progress is being made... But there's something missing. Some key element that Elite-level healers are needed to figure out. Faith Maccabe is speaking to the other healers, doctors, geneticists, whoever that has showed up. She specializes in reconstructive surgery, not all of this, so she's deferring to the expertise of others as she squints at the results of the examination.

    Meanwhile, as all that is happening, Devouring Earth attacks have been increasing in frequency upon Arcadia's defensive perimeter since last night. Monsters keep charging in small groups, attacking the heroes and police officers, braving the police drones that float around zapping hostiles that come near and sending them to jail...

    And the size of the attack groups keeps increasing. Now it's in the afternoon and groups of 12 to 15 are launching themselves against the defenses all along the north, south, and center, every 30 seconds or so. Defending heroes will have their hands full already, while others try to help the people with lungs covered in fungal growths, and all the others that may yet be exposed to the Devouring Earth.

    Meanwhile, in Founders' Falls, just to the east, several buildings have mysteriously caught fire in the Venice-like locale. As local authorities and fire fighters rush to respond, attention is less on the security gate between zones and more upon that emergency. Thus, some villainous individuals manage to sneak through and into the secure locale, and then further into a building that has been repurposed as a research laboratory.

    Somewhere in here are computers containing the results of research on Devouring Earth creatures so far, as well as the specimen that was captured. A psychotic villain who needs to be the center of attention and cause chaos for random people for no reason actually has all the reason necessary to erase the data, leave a message about who was responsible, and then set the Lesser Devoured free to cause havoc inside of the facility, and then get out before any of the busy authorities can respond.

    But is there ever REALLY a need for a 'reason' to mess with the good guys?

Karian Icefang has posed:
    While this wasn't exactly the kind of work Garen specialized in, it was something he was good at. Slipping into places he wasn't supposed to be in, and taking things that weren't his to begin with were skills gained over a long-ish career. So, with the distractions, he slipped through the gate and into the facility. "Right...That was the easy part, I suppose...now the fun part." he says softly to himself. While he had a moment, or at least he hoped he did, he checked over his gear. Blaster pistols, check. Rifle, check. Sword hidden on his back, under his clothing, check. Various grenades and other nasty bits, check.

Neuroi Girl has posed:
     After that first incursion into enemy territory and the encounter with 'Earth', the little Neuroi known as Evangeline has been steadily fighting the dangerous creatures that have been attacking them. Searing beams of red energy rain down fairly often, attempting to repel or disintegrate attackers as the fae-like black creature darts between groups of attackers.

     Determination is obvious in Evangeline's actions and posture, but even with her tendency to keep communications to a minimum and her lack of facial features it is obvious that she is tired. She doesn't sleep, sure, but even creatures like her need rest every now and then. And with her focus on the Devouring Earth, Garen's infiltration goes unnoticed by the littlest Neuroi.

Bertram Silent (826) has posed:
Bertram looks exhausted in his chair in the meeting room. A big mug containing little more than a few last drips of a strange yellow liquid is anxiously held to his lips, trying to drain what little there's left of the liquid inside. He's come a little late to the meeting, though not obnoxiously so, and has yet to speak a word. He just looks so, so, so exhausted. And yet his eyes show a refusal to go to sleep, to rest. This meeting is rest.

Kyra Hyral (626) has posed:
    Officially, this is the first crisis that Kyra Hyral has officially needed to apply her burgeoning medical knowledge. Prior to coming to Paragon, she did as much pre-research as she could and gathered all of the equipment she needed to do her job. It's of Galiandan make, everyone will realize, and thus powered directly by Kyra's own MP and capable of being taken completely off-grid. There also seems to be alternative adaptors for electricity, however, further hinting that they are of Ramuhan make. Included, of course, are portable PCR machines, a mironized protein assay device, a rapid gene sequencer, and the mPad which all the previous devices interface with wirelessly. The first thing Kyra did upon showing up was to ask for access to whatever centralize DNA sequencing database this world might have. Some awkward jury rigging between her equipment and the local equipment follows so she can run the data she collects from the samples against the database itself.

    It will actually take her a few hours of time to obtain conclusive results on the sequence analysis. In the meantime, she made herself busy treating patients and scanning the afflicted humans to get a better idea of the infecting spores. She's even taken a few spore samples very, very carefully, working with them like someone who has experience working with very infectuous agents.

    Eventually, she calls the other scientists, doctors, and researchers working on the problem together to deliver some of the results of her ongoing analysis. "So I have news, which may or may not be good. So far I have confirmed that one hundred percent of the DNA sequencing from the Lesser Devoured are 'Earth' in origin based on matches from the central genome database. It's hard to determine exactly what this chimera is derived from since many of the sequences match in many different organisms on this planet." As she takes, a tech tries to jury rig a connection from her mPad to a projector so she can show the output of her programs doing the matching.

    "One thing is clear, however, that part of this monster is derived from Hume-excuse me, human DNA." With a stylus, she taps a button and several sequences of DNA are highlighted. "Another very interesting thing I've determined is the lingering post-geomantic magic particles found bound to the DNA."

    She switches her view to a three-dimensional structure showing a double helix. Kyra highlights several spots on the ladder edges of the double helix. "In other words, this DNA has been irradiated by nature magic but it was NOT the nature magic that created the sequence and thus the Lesser Devoured. My guess is that this creature was created through general genetic manipulation and then /animated/ in some way by the nature magic."

HK-47 (754) has posed:
    A return to form, so quickly after having made his effective declaration of war on the Union, was a risk. There was a better chance Union Elites would recognize him, after all, following his infuriating failure to exterminate Noble Six.

    But considering the scale of the relief effort here, it was hardly an opportunity HK-47 could afford to pass up. Especially depending on how far-reaching the repercussions could be.

    If the relief effort here failed, it would mean the end of this world's civilization. That in turn would render all the time and effort the Union had placed into saving it utterly useless.

    Between the loss of an entire allied realm and the demoralizing effect it would have on the union personnel present, it was a perfect opportunity to equalize the loss he sustained. Granted, the act of sabotage he would need to enact would be decidedly less... elegant and subtle compared to what he would prefer... but facing multiple Union Elites and their diversified powers had sadly forced him to resort to more crude and straightforward measures all too often.

    As such, after the distraction - overseen by an HK-51 unit to ensure it went off without issue, as that was about the only thing older assassin droid would entrust his subsequent-generation units to handle with a degree of competency - HK-47 infiltrated the security gates with a manual bypass and proceeded to the target building.

    Following after him, after an interval of several minutes, came two HK-51 units, one of which had overseen the detonation of the firebombs - a backup precaution in case they were discovered... for at the very least the inferior mock-ups could buy HK-47 and any comrades present a vital minute or so to complete their task. The two HK-51 droids possessed new coats of navy-blue paint with feint white markings on them with symbols for the local EMT division stamped on, while HK-47 himself has had his rust-red paint covered in a more dark-cherry color with dull yellow markings - a fire-suppression unit.

    Of course, the local customs would make it easy to realize no such units were indigenous to this world... but if nothing else, the disguises would obfuscate identifying them as Confederate-affiliated assassination droids... or at least would hinder them from recognizing the droids /immediately./ .

    As he did, he took note of the strange black organism - for lack of a more accurate term - that was fighting off the invading creatures.

    The structure, heavily repurposed to serve as a field laboratory, was hardly foolproof. The computers were likely in a secure area - if the building had multiple floors, the top would be a logical place to keep both the data and the specimen by separating them from the earth, which was a more dangerous area as it was the source of the local creature's vitality.

    Cycling through his internal weapons and checking his close-quarters combat knife, HK-47 proceeds to seek out an entrance to the base. If he spots Garen at any point, one of the HK-51 units will break off to reinforce him, forming two squads of two apiece. The HK-51 takes to addressing the incognito agent with a single sentence, it's vocal tone lowered in the droid equivalent of a whisper; "Discrete Affirmation - I have been placed at your disposal for the duration of this mission and will thus designate and acknowledge you as temporary Master, should you accept my assistance."

Maya has posed:
Maya was a healer who had some understanding of DNA it's hard not to given biomagitech was used often in her world, heck a part of her rifle used such to grow ammo as needed, however she had gone ot take a look at the pathagen from a magical angle and that's got her some information. She'd noticed the nature magic but she found something more interesting than that she looks at the DNA and with a bit of help from the computer she noticed that the human DNA is part of the creature yet monster itself is immune to the pathagen. She brings up the data for a moment.

"Curious this thing is partially human-derived yet unlike anything else related to humans or humans themselves is immune to it. We might be able to work magic and medical treatment ot use the LEsser Devoured's own immunity to purge the toxins from normal humans as well but it's going to take some powerful healing to do it. we also need to isolate just why they are immune."

She'll pass the data on to the other resrchers and notably Kyra.

Emiya Shirou (560) has posed:
    Shirou hasn't actually left the area. He's been traipsing along with the project, from capture to studying, always nearby in case the thing breaks loose and needs to be subdued. Researchers tend to be lacking in the kung fu department after all, and this stuff needs to be figured out and STOPPED.

    Before more are infected. Before anyone wanders off at this thing's siren song.

    Once or twice he's head to leave the research site and deal with creatures wandering the streets, but a small group of monsters here and there is... actually not that big of a deal to Emiya Shirou at his current development. He's come out with no more than a few scrapes and close calls.

    That was then, anyways. He's been at this for HOURS, fighting as economically as possible and relying on teamwork with other heroes and a supply of reinforced arrows nabbed from a sports store and his favored Kanshou and Bakuya over flashier Noble Phantasms.

    But is there ANY END to this?!

    And then there's smoke over some blocks away... "That guy might've been right about evacuating the city. This is no way for people to live!" He blurts in-between skirmishes.

    Eventually Shirou needed to rest. OTHER forces at the perimeter sent him to check on the project, mostly as a way to force him to rest a little. And so he comes strolling into the labs just in time to hear Kyra's presentation, quiver of remaining arrows slung over his back... but no bow in sight. Kinda odd for an archer.

    Well, never mind that. His eyes are narrowing considerably as Kyra's conclusions hit on some of his suspicions. "Nature magic? The Woodsman comes to mind here! He's been missing since this whole mess started..." Except a few flashes of brain-numbing insight from that disastrous mental link that pointed him being TORTURED somehow...

    "I still think that if we could just find him it'd pull the plug on the Devouring Earth or cripple this mess somehow."

August Kohler has posed:
A new world has just recently unified, one full of the supernatural, yet, it is hidden away from the public. August Kohler hails from this world, having only barely scraped the surface of the supernatural. Yet, discovering the Multiverse has made him curious, as he comes across yet a world that is new to him. And right now, there's a problem going on...and like hell he's going to sit and watch!

Approaching the barricade, the sixteen year old moves at a quick pace to avoid any combat, as he surveys the area, before quickly approaching Neuroi. "What's going on here? What are these creatures?!" August speaks calmly yet quickly, examining the monsters approaching as well as he can without any reference. His accent is undeniably German. "Tell me what I can do to help!"

Despite this, August kind of just stands there, taking everything in. He swallows hard, not quite sure if he /can/ do this, yet. But something metal and burnt does appear into his hand, as he anxiously twirls it around. He can't go back after volunteering.

Dr. Vahzilok (769) has posed:
BARRICADES

    Evangeline's beams have definitely been keeping the number of enemies attacking the barricades from reaching the level where they can overwhelm the defenders. The police drones are not infallible. Huge numbers of enemies all at once can get at least some past them while the teleportation beam is on 'cool down'. But the beams of red that lance down from the sky eliminate enemy after enemy. With creatures of crystal and stone howling and roaring as they charge forth, only to be bombarded by gunfire, energy beams, and some attacks from other local heroes in the form of ice shards, fireballs, and dual handguns, it should be clear pretty quickly to August that whatever the enemy are, no one on THIS side of the barricade is considered anything but an enemy.

    Boulders come flying through the air to crash into the ground nearby the new arrival, even! If that's not a sign that stepping up to return fire (however he can) would improve survival chances of everyone involved, then nothing is! There's some melee-oriented heroes, some lady in an abbreviated kimono with a katana out slashing at fungal monsters and plant beasts, and a guy in red-white-and-blue with some kind of flag pole that generates a flag made of lasers as he slashes and smashes with it, but they have to keep falling back to get patched up before they can go back out again. Earlier, a red-haired young man who has been called various 'The Forlorn Blacksmith', 'The Blacksmith', and even just 'The Smith' was out dicing up enemies with blades as well.

    It seems like the situation is only getting worse, but for right now, the good guys are holding the line.

Dr. Vahzilok (769) has posed:
FIELD HOSPITAL

    Meanwhile, at the field hospital, Dr. Maccabe listens to what has been described and the possible solutions proposed. Shirou's idea that they evacuate the planet still strikes her as too extreme at this point in time, though it probably isn't completely off the table. Convincing the whole world to cooperate when the threat is still presently only contained to one city would be unlikely, to say nothing of the logistics involved...

    But The Smith has been fighting as fiercely as all the other heroes, risked his life to save others'... So his words bear consideration as well.

    The red-haired young doctor thinks about what Dr. Vasilikos told her when she asked him about how he would treat this problem.

    -----------

    "They're infected, aren't they? Sick?" the more accomplished physician had inquired while working on some sort of cybernetic contraption. "Cut out the infected tissue and replace it with a healthy replacement."

    "Their lungs are infected, and we don't know how far it has spread exactly." Faith had replied.

    Demetrios Vasilikos had simply looked at her.

    "We don't have replacement lungs on-hand even if that were the extent of the infestation." she'd explained further.

    The other doctor had just continued looking at her. Finally, he'd said, "Perhaps someone should acquire them then." And then he'd gone back to his work.

    -----------

    There were still other solutions. Artificial lungs might be an idea. Prosthetics. That's what the other doctor had been spending all his time working on lately, hadn't it? Maya's proposal of reverse-engineering the immunity of the Lesser Devoured, and combining science and mysticism to spread the immunity to all of those afflicted has her interest, but she also makes a mental note to consider contacting a provider of cybernetic bio-systems. If only the money from the World Martial Arts Tournament that Cortex was due to win was available...!

    "If you think you can do this, please do. And let me know if there's anything I can get for you. This isn't my area of expertise. The Woodsman's disappearance is quite worrying, as is the connection you've mentioned with the Devouring Earth's master. From the original investigation, there was no sign of magic in this area other than from the Woodsman, and now I've had several Magic Origin heroes and contacts inform me that all of Woodvale is permeated with it. I think something must be being done to him. Rescuing him whenever we find him is a major priority. But right now, we have to help those sick people outside."

    She turns to look at Bertram. "They've been bought time by your efforts. They were on the verge of death before your arrival, and now they might have days longer. We need to come up with a cure and apply it before then."

Dr. Vahzilok (769) has posed:
RESEARCH FACILITY

    As Garen, HK-47-with-paintjob, and the other droid allies enter the research lab, they find themselves in the entry of an office building, with cables being run in from outside, and also connected to various portable generators. Sterile sheets and plastic divides make the halls beyond a maze of rooms and compartments, and there are Security Guards and research personnel throughout the building. There's more than one computer that may be encountered, and investigating each one before wiping it should probably be attempted... In order to get the information on where the specimen is being held.

    There's even one nearby, down the hall.

    The sound of the computer system humming rhythmically may tip the intruders off as to its location. If they're careful about it the Security Guards nearby might not even find out they're there...

    "These monsters are more than I signed on for," one of them says around the corner.

    "I don't think they'll care what you signed on for if they make it out into the rest of the city." another replies.

Kyra Hyral (626) has posed:
    "Immune to the spores of the Devouring Earth?" Kyra's eyes widen, "Now that is very interesting, Maya, and very true. We need to determine the mechanism granting immunity to the Devouring Earth. Magical in nature, maybe-if the nature magic bound to the DNA is providing the protection against the spores-but treatment for that will be problematic on a larger scale unless we can figure out a way to replicate the magic closely enough. Bertram, you should help Maya with this given your experience with conjuring and healing magic. Some esuna analog may help, I think. The other alternative is the Lesser Devoured has some kind of antibodies that have immunized the organism from the spores."

    Kyra sets her mPad down. "I can check into that since I managed to carefully collect some samples of the spores. I'd like to inject the spore samples into the Lesser Devoured and take blood afterwards. If we do find antibodies that means we can engineer a vaccine against the infection. I suspect that we'll need a combination of them both, however. Magical antibodies."

    Kyra slips on a facemask and a pair of rubber gloves before carefully producing the spore samples. "Anyway! Let's get to our live sample and do some science!" She sounds delightfully cheerful despite the dire situation.

Bertram Silent (826) has posed:
"Do you have any spares Ethers, miss Hyral? I'm out." Bertram asks, the first thing he's said so far, and even as he's putting on a fresh surgical gloves and visibly motivated, he just looks so, so tired. "Blew through my entire supply." He's said nothing else, even the recognition he's gotten was responded to with little more than a slight shrug meant to imply 'it was the least I could do'

Neuroi Girl has posed:
     Evangeline notices the only thing outside the walls that isn't a plant or rock, and makes her way toward August quickly. She blasts those boulders, then turns her featureless face toward him. "...take cover...or ready your weapons..." she says in her soft, nearly monotone, obviously artificially generated voice. She then takes off into the air again and continues her aerial assault, moving between sections that need more support or where the ground fighters call out for support.

     As she moves between the skirmishes, a blue energy shield comprised of hexagonal segments can be seen flaring whenever a spur or boulder hits the Neuroi. She is able to repel much of the surface to air assault, but still many of the shots get through. When they hit her, Evangeline's body shatters around whatever point it was hit. The shards of black that fall from her disintegrate into silvery-pink powder only for those sections of her body to regenerate a few moments later. A silver line flows from the break in her body and reforms her missing segments. Each time she has to regenerate Evangeline is unable to fire her sinister red beams, giving the creatures a chance to push forward even more.

Emiya Shirou (560) has posed:
    "We've got to get these problems solved and fast." Shirou grumbles a little to himself. "People can't live in a city that's constantly under attack from demon-powered gangs, violent aliens, and corrupt elementals..." He starts gathering himself up though. "I should head back to the front lines. They said I should go check on everyone but everything here's fine. The attacks are getting more brutal. I don't understand their attacks. If there's something ordering them then it doesn't care how many it loses. Instead of sending small waves and then big weaves, it should just send everything at once. It's like they're trying to wear us down just to be spiteful."

    Of course, if nobody needs him for anything, he'll be heading out right quick!

HK-47 (754) has posed:
     Stalking up to the computer system slowly, HK-47 directs one of his duplicates to stand guard close to the entryway. If the Guards hear anything and approach, the HK-51 will try to offer itself as being an EMT unit meant to escort them out of the area in the event of devouring earth incursion cutting deep enough into the city.

    Moving silently is perhaps a bit more difficult due to the metallic frame of the droid, but the whirr of the computer mainframe should somewhat obscure the sound of the droid's servos and the light clack of his feet against the floor.

    Upon reaching the first computer, HK-47 plugs himself into the device with an interface spike, beginning the process of scrying through the data-logs to locate relevant data about the subjects...

    As well as copying down the research information for himself, noting that the medical data could come very much in handy for a... side project his Master had been interested in starting.

    Upon copying everything of value - and waiting as courteously as any droid could do for a meatbag for Garen to examine the data himself - the droid proceeds to begin wiping the information off the console.

    And of course, unable to resist the idea of spiting the forces that had escaped his trap several days ago, the homicidal droid cannot help but leave a calling card of his own. In this instance, for the console, it is a symbol that might seem odd to those not familiar with it - a circular image with a five-part insignia akin to an abstract forge-plate.

    Something that, hopefully, would draw a certain individual to him once seen... and bait his next trap.

    After the computer is wiped, the droid's next objective is to analyze the information to see where to go next - provided they did not draw attention to themselves or that his cheep imitation could diffuse the guard's concern if they had indeed been noticed.

August Kohler has posed:
As the boulder lands near August, he quickly learns his only options. He goes to grab his weapon...and then Neuroi's words make him realize that he /forgot/ one! Rapidly looking for a suitable item, his eyes lock onto a hammer ostensibly used for the barricade's construction, and he dart for it. August picks it up right in time, as he strikes an approaching Devouring Earth with it.

Twirling the metal in his hand faster during the brief respite he has, August bites his lip and talks to himself aloud. "Well...looks like I can't just be a bystander anymore. You are thou, right?" He speaks directly to the metal, which is actually a spoon, heavily burned, except for a spot that is still incredibly reflective. He glances into it. The reflection is both his own, and not his own, appearing as a strange, but powerful creature. And August raises the spoon, staring into it...and grins.

"Alright...here goes nothing! Persona!"

The spoon crackles in mid air with every syllable of the final word, bright blue energy swirling around August. He grins sharply, as above and behind him, manifests from the energy a strange creature. A massive metallic humanoid, dressed in nondescript military dress uniform and a matching cap, manifests. Eyeless and foreboding, yet at the same time, strangely beautiful, the man is covered in burns, most prominently over his chest, where it has burned through the uniform in the shape of a heart. And then, the man's right leg is missing, replaced by a long rifle of indiscernable make. The man stares forward with its empty sockets, not moving a muscle.

And then, August slams his arm forward at a group of approaching Devouring Earth. The metallic soldier suddenly rushes forward in mid air, gun leg pointing upwards to strike. Instead of bullets, however, a gout of flame bursts forward, attempting to devour its enemies. August stands still, focusing entirely on the enemies the soldier is attacking. Hmm...

Garen (530) has posed:
    With HK doing his thing at the console, the chiss agent took up a place to cover the droid. He eyes the data quickly and nods. "Efficient...now lets make our exit as clean as our intro."

Maya has posed:
Maya comments about her discovery and idea to treat it.

"I'd need someone more skilled in medical technology though I could handle the magical end of things there but I'd need hel if we were to keep going after that as for the bit on the woodsman? That might explain a few things but we'd have to look into it. Could they be using him to fuel something?"

she looks to Kyra for a moment nodding hoping her discovery would help with the treatment evne id she can't do it alone.

"We'd need to be careful the Devouring earth are primmed to destroy humans also we'd need to work fast. I fear the American Government may write the city off to contiune the infestation, if we fail."

She hears Kyra's plan af from what she knows it should have a chabnce to work but she'll be following other people's leads on this.

Dr. Vahzilok (769) has posed:
    BARRICADES

    Boulders are shot out of the air, and monsters burn beneath Evangeline's barrage. August's Persona attack likewise riddles enemies with fire blasts, mowing them down. The plant enemies in particular seem to take extra damage and fall quickly to the flames! But then...!

    Suddenly lasers come out of nowhere! And not Evangeline's! The lasers are precise, hit with some sort of impact that a laser probably wouldn't if it were pure light, and are aimed at Evangeline and August! They might notice the attacks in time to avoid them or otherwise defend... But where are they coming from?

    One of the other heroes nearby points at a distant roof. "The shots came from over there! We have a sniper!"

    Who would be sniping the good guys at a time like this!?

    Shirou is on his way to the Barricades, and may come over in time to spot what's going on. He seems to be right about a couple things: This city is full of crazies, and the Devouring Earth do seem to be trying to cause not just death but also suffering, in any way they can. However, the efforts of heroes like Shirou may well be part of the reason why they don't have another huge invasion force ready to launch right now.

    ...How wonderful that now they have snipers to deal with though!

Garen (530) has posed:
    Garen looks over to HK. "Hrm...I trust you to have things in order, HK-47. I'm going to give you operational freedom, under the one caveat that your main objective is to get the info and exfiltrate. No Union hunting. If they engage you...well....I'm sure you can make your point. I will be securing our exit. Do try to have fun." He says. With that, the chiss was off. He was looking for a nice rooftop that overlooked the facility, so he could ply his trade.

Dr. Vahzilok (769) has posed:
    FIELD HOSPITAL

    Thankfully, the people at the field hospital are stopped from having to make the trek to the research laboratory by Dr. Maccabe! "Actually, we have all the bio-samples we need contained here. It's too dangerous to lower the force fields for further testing upon the creature itself, so we'll have to make do with what we have." The doctor has a refrigerated case and some other sterile containment units that hold everything needed to make a cure. "Also... We simply don't have time for a lengthy research project. These people need help now. This isn't my area of expertise, but I would like to make a suggestion: Finding what makes these 'Devoured' creatures immune might take a lot of time. But we know that THIS material is immune. Could we isolate the human DNA within the sample, and then use the magical abilities of those present to proliferate just that into the spore samples? Essentially, turn the spores themselves into a cure for their own infection?"

    Given the latent nature magic in the material, and the number of White Mage-types here, combined with their scientific knowledge as well... Such a thing might not be outside the realm of possibility. Kyra even already has a spore sample cultured thanks to her foresight in that regard! With bio-tech expertise from Maya, and raw healing output from Bertram, spreading the cure may be a real possibility!

    The sound of alarm outside beyond the roars of monsters that have been continuously going off in the distance indicates something may have changed out there. The urgency of the situation becomes even more severe.

Kyra Hyral (626) has posed:
    "Shame I couldn't have attacked this problem sooner." Kyra laments, handing over her spore sample. "But isolating the exact bits that confer the immunity would take time, yes. Isolating the human sequences has already been done thanks to the earlier work-" Kyra gestures at her equipment. "I can run the PCR machine continuously to produce the sequence and Bertram and Maya can confer the sequence into the spore samples. Here, be careful with this."

    Kyra hands the spore sample over to Maya then promptly gets to work with her PCR machine. It only takes a few minutes for her to extract and multiply a very concentrated sample of DNA pieces that contain the human DNA from the Lesser Devoured. The amount seems absolutely tiny given the size of the vial she passes over to Maya and Bertram afterwards. It's really not-there are millions of strands of DNA contained within.

    "Here you go. Go for it, you two!"

Dr. Vahzilok (769) has posed:
    RESEARCH LABORATORY

    There was no time to set up isolated systems and so on in a crisis like this, and security is kind of lax within the facility itself because everyone is focused on guarding the creature, not guarding the computers. So HK not only gets into the network all the computers are on, gets all the data obtained so far on the Devouring Earth (known types of enemies, capabilities, weaknesses, variations, tactics, suspected origins, even hints at the unidentified power behind them), and then deletes the locally-available copies of such. Even if they might be able to get this information back from other sources, right now, when it's most needed, it isn't here.

    And they'll know who to blame for that now, and that not even Paragon City is safe from super villains!

    There's no indicaton in the data of where the live organism is being kept, but the guards outside continue to talk, thanks to not knowing about HK's or Garen's presence yet. Good thing they left them alive!

    "Did you see that thing up on the third floor?" one of the guards asks.

    "Talk about disgusting. I'm glad I'm not guarding it. It freaks out at the sight of any humans! ...Does it even have eyes?"

    Regardless of his construction, it seems HK is plenty stealthy enough for these talkative guards! He can slip past them to the elevator if he chooses not to engage, or take them out by surprise if he wishes so he doesn't have to worry about them on the way back out. Either is viable, though the first will be faster and avoid the risk of alerting other guards before he even gets up to the third floor.

Neuroi Girl has posed:
     Evangeline pauses as that metallic soldier appears near August. She tilts her head slightly in curiousity, then floats toward that construct. She is about to poke at it when it moves. She floats quickly back into the air, only to look around as someone calls out a sniper.

     Just in time for a powerful laser beam to impact the Neuroi's shield, causing it to flare brightly and pushing her back a good distance. Pieces of her body fleck away from the impact, then reform a moment later. Evangeline raises her sleeve-like arms, and that sinister-looking red energy gathers at the ends of both arms before one powerful beam nearly as thick as Evangeline is tall is fired toward the apparent sniper position, aimed at a downward angle so that if she misses the beams will tear into enemy creatures and lost buildings. If she doesn't hit the sniper, she is hoping he or she will be caught in falling debris.

     Perhaps a bit of an overreaction to the sniper shot, but Neuroi hardly ever respond proportionally to whatever provoked them.

Emiya Shirou (560) has posed:
    It's only thanks to his reinforced vision that SHirou sees things anything crazy going on besides the normal. And what he DOES see is... enough to make his blood run cold. ... Then boil hot! "What in... that's a Crey uniform! Why would they--..." No, never mind. That company has him increasingly frustrated. How much would they do to get in the way of lives being saved?!

    So although he is easily a block or two away, Shirou takes action.

    Which is why, within about ten seconds, the sniper's shot is answered by a crimson flash from over a block away. SOMETHING goes flying for the rooftop, streaking upwards like a twisty, energized rocket. Mystical light - baleful, cursed-seeming crimson - enshrouds the HRUNTING that flies at half the speed of sound, on an unerring collision course for the sniper's weapon.

    Of course, if it strikes, the resulting explosion from a very minor Broken Phantasm will probably knock the sniper flat on their ass and considerably injure them.

    A block or two away, Shirou lowers his bow, expression both angry and grim.

Kyra Hyral (626) has posed:
    After Kyra has passed off the sample, she carefully unbuttons her labcoat to reach for one of the bandoliers hidden beneath it. She DID sort of look a little bulky in that coat-this was probably why. In the bandoliers are vials, some of which contain blue liquid. Kyra removes three of them and hads them over to Bertram. "Here you go, three ethers." They look a little dusty, as if Kyra had been carrying them around for a long time. They taste a little bitter but still work fine.

August Kohler has posed:
As Evangeline approaches the soldier, it only turns to look at her when August himself does. It doesn't move, however, until the lasers come into impact, knocking the soldier backwards, as August clutches his chest in pain. With a wave of a hand, August shouts out. "Hey! Use this!"

The soldier turns towards Evangeline fully, glowing slightly as a burst of assistive energy surrounds her, attempting to boost her attack. It'll only be temporarily, but surely it should help. Leaving the sniper for the others, as August begins dashing, the soldier follows, leg pointing to its side as it begins firing a full auto round of bullets at the swarms, despite the gun looking like that should be impossible. August meanwhile strikes at any enemies in his path with the hammer, one strike and dashing past them. Not exactly wise to directly engage an enemy like that, after all!

HK-47 (754) has posed:
     .... was this the circumstance that meatbags regarded as 'a turn of good fortune?'

    The network had not been segregated - the organics apparently did not have the time to consider such a precaution, let alone anticipate sabotage. Then again, they likely did not anticipate anyone to sabotage research critical to saving their world.

    Considering how far-reaching the multiverse was, it was impossible to call it anything else but short-sighted.

    What equates to terabytes of data is scrolled through regarding the 'Devouring Earth', yet none of the data indicates the location of a local 'sample'... not that it would be hard to find at this rate.

    The HK-51 however makes up for this by actually proving it's worth, noting that their prior assumptions had been correct - the scientists had separated the specimen from the earth.

    The droid had all he'd wanted and more. Now the only thing left was to effect a simple getaway.

    As the guards passed by, the urge to exterminate the meatbags and relish the shock and fear in their optical organs at the sight of an unexpected, highly skilled assassin droid in their midst was overpowering... and yet, HK-47 was forced to rationalize that it would sadly not have the same impact that a /perfect/ infiltration would have; the fear and paranoia that would be bred upon the revelation that an infiltration of near-peerless skill had wiped out all their collected information and released their research specimen without a single one of them ever knowing the threat was present.

    Meatbags that died in fear served as a warning. Meatbags that lived in fear served as the conduits for terror and chaos to spread across a population... and after having been forced to use more crude tactics against Union Elites, HK-47 was able to realize he was finally in a position where true assassination skill was required... and one of the first laws of his craft was to know when to kill and when not to.

    And right now... letting the guards live served both his immediate and far-reaching goals more effectively. Hence, with a heavy feeling of wistfulness in his processor, he decided to forgo eviscerating the guards and instead pressed on for the third floor, his companion HK-51's following in his wake to cover both his advance and his back.

    Only one step remained. After that... perhaps he would stay just long enough to relish the looks of despair the scientists would have, when they realized they had just lost everything of the research they so desperately needed.

Bertram Silent (826) has posed:
Bertram takes a good look at the unusually coloured ether. "It's blue." It's hard to tell through the tiredness what emotion is attached to that statement, all energy drained from his voice from exhaustion. He still drinks one, and follows that up by drinking a cup of coffee. "Let's look at this." He looks at the vial, and concentrates to analyze the flow of magic more than anything else. "Should've asked the archons if I could borrow their kit." He mutters to himself.

Maya has posed:
Maya sees the idea might be possible given the people they have here she's quite glad to have Bertram and Kyra backing her up here. She's getting in pretty deep at this point she knows the alames are going off but there could be more things going wong there she'd had runner in the lab in the event hter was a breach but she had yet to dpeloy him she and the mecha mutt seems uneasy but held it's ground for now. She looks to Kuyra nodding as the sampen is taken.

"Bertram shall we get to it?"

She's already working with her magic at this point and a faint aura of blue fire is covering her body with no harm to anything else as she gets ready.

"Humm."

She'a nos taking a spell to sense the thing out better magically, and maya's oddly yet to touch the coffee for whatever reason.

Dr. Vahzilok (769) has posed:
    The lasers from Evangeline devastate the perch the sniper is on, sending them tumbling down the side of the building, but the man manages to grab only a crumbling window sill! Further, monsters below also get lasers rained upon them, damaging or taking them out thanks to the increased attack power afforded by August! It seems this tactic was very effective!

    Any enemies that might have rushed in while Evangeline was busy taking care of the sniper are attacked with the bullets, keeping them pinned down. The groups that are attacking are now in the 30s-range. Huge groups, that seem to almost be agitated by something other than the existence of human beings...

    Could it be that they know that one of their own has been captured? That perhaps they sense the will of their maker is being tampered with by the scientists and mages present? Unknown.

    But as the Crey Sniper chooses to scramble back up onto the ledge as best he can and ready himself to take fire once more, rather than fall to the ravening hordes below, all he gets for his trouble is his high-tech rifle pulverized by a Noble Phantasm that sends him FLYING from the building for a considerable distance, to land somewhere on the other side of where the suburbs used to be. The teleportation network will get him, since he didn't die from it, but someone less heroic than Shirou might have opted to blast the sniper instead of the weapon, and then there'd have been a bloody smear instead of five upper floors of a building falling through the air to crash into the enemies below who are already dealing with falling masonry and lasers.

    Hopefully THAT'S out of the way!

    ...Though the creatures continue to be a problem, even as August smashes a crystalline foe to pieces with his hammer!

Dr. Vahzilok (769) has posed:
    Kyra's work with isolating the human DNA is indeed invaluable in coming up with a quick medium for the usage of the spells that Bertram and Maya are encouraged to work. The nature magic does NOT belong to the Devouring Earth, nor to their master. It has been corrupted, twisted, to serve their ends... But if the twists and turns within the magic are righted, the wrongness straightened out and made whole again, the path may seem quite clear.

    No matter what the Woodsman's power is being used for, he himself does not want it. No matter who much the Devouring Earth may claim to represent nature, they are working counter to the world's natural order, causing just as much chaos and destruction as humans have. They may represent a world free of humans, and maybe such a world would have far less destruction, chaos, pollution, war, suffering... But to get there, they'd have to murder billions of people. They are not a force of good. They are a force of hatred and death wearing the face of unity.

    It's all spelled out right there. When the touch of the Devouring Earth is pulled free of nature, nature attempts to reassert itself and remove the contagion that is the 'cure for humanity'.

    Maya, Bertram, and Kyra as well if she lends her aid... They are powerful enough healers that, working together, using their accumulated skill, experience, and individual abilities, they can forge a new power from their combined efforts. A new Power, to which the Magic Origin and the Science Origin both respond. And the source that each of these comes from allows it.

    The new Power is ready to be unleashed. And when it is... All those suffering outside, will find the infections within them receding and eventually crumbling, as their minds and bodies become their own again.

Dr. Vahzilok (769) has posed:
    HK-47 successfully makes it to the elevator and up the third floor. There are some guards here... Quite a few infact, and they seem to have kept the creature locked down inside a forcefield that's visible in a room beyond, down the hall. This is an office building-turned-lab, not a prison or fortress. So it follows that... HK-47 could potentially spot which power cables lead to that containment-field, with the worm-mouthed, lamprey-like creature within, screaming and howling out promises of death to very weary and frightened security guards, and just... Yank the power.

    Simple. Direct. And it would show how unprepared they were for not only holding such a creature but also for dealing with someone as skilled and fearsome as HK-47. Yank the power to the containment field, let the creature out to maul the guards and anyone else in its way... While they're dealing with the Lesser Devoured, the droid can slip out, join Garen, and depart with all of their data.

    Or he can charge the guards and try to fight through them to get to the creature, and risk becoming its next target once it's released through a control panel.

    Hmmmm. One of these choices is probably preferable.

Kyra Hyral (626) has posed:
    "Oh, yeah, I like making it blue. Makes it different enough from potions and hipotion~" Kyra says cheerfully as she buttons the top button of her labcoat but not much more. She stands back, throwing up a Scan to watch Bertram and Maya work their magical abilities, observing carefully what they are doing first. Kyra herself starts to work her own magic slowly, carefully as she concentrates.

    There is always the lingering worry that her magic might go Wild. But today, thanks to her concentration and Focus upon the goal of creating a cure for this "plague," Kyra's magic behaves normally. She too lends her magical prowess to the combined cure, fascinated as they create a new Power on the spot, unlike anything the white mage has seen before.

    She is all too eager to unleash it and relieve the suffering of the assaulted humans.

Bertram Silent (826) has posed:
"Potions are blue. Ethers are yellow." Bertram just states, perhaps in his state his mental attention span on things that are unimportant yet baffling is limited. He chugs another one of the blue ethers to get to work on providing his magical energy, drawn from the earth, the air and water. For harmony and health, and using it to alter this strain to the desired effect the best he can. "Pray tell me we have time to study some test cases before spreading this far and wide."

HK-47 (754) has posed:
    It was almost laughable how little logic-driven thought actually went on within the fleshy mass that served as the 'processor' of the liquidious fleshbag-excuses for guards. How had they ever conceived of keeping this creature in containment?

    Perhaps it had only ever been in short term. Perhaps they had meant to transfer it to a safer local... or perhaps the were simply desperate to research the creatures.

    Whatever the reason... it would invite their inevitable demise all the same.

    Analyzing his surroundings, the droid quickly and easily spots the power-cables that connect the force-field cell to it's generator.

     ... of course, why settle for /just/ that?

    Taking out his vibroblade, the droid carefully cuts into the casing on the cable nearest to him - a slight rend to make it look like, if discovered, the cable had ruptured in a blowout.

    Then the assassin droid aims his Ion-pulse emitter at the tear, lines the incision up with the emitter while careful to avoid direct contact... and pours a burst of ion-energy into the cable.

    The result is nothings short of perfection - the overload of energy fries the cables, surges back into the portable generator that was fueling it and causes it to start spraying out sparks and short out, distracting the guards as they momentarily focus on the source of the overcharged generator and it's rupturing batteries.

    Which in turn takes their eyes off the force-fields for one crucial moment. Long enough to give the beast inside it's head-start.

hisortable lights supplied by the generator burn out and flicker as their power source overloads and burns out in a stunning geyser of sparks.

    And in the chaos, HK-47 stows back down to the elevator, his subordinate units covering him as they pull away in silence for the exits.

    However, the droid doesn't instantly leave the battlefield. No, he wishes to see the results of his actions, observing silently with his subordinate successor-models as the research lab descends into utter chaos.

    However, as with the computer, the droid left his calling card.

    In the room, near one of the walls well off from the impending destruction... there now sits a decorative holoplate - a small, metal oblong object with a crimson emitter-lens. When activated, the emitter projects an orange holographic image of HK-47, wielding his rifle in what seems to be an action-pose, the image being his world's equivalent of a miniature bust.

    And at the base of the hologram, as if incomplete without one final facet of the droid's personality and nature... is a small plaque affixed to the edge of the plate, a single word engraved upon it; 'Meatbag.'

Neuroi Girl has posed:
     Despite how many she has destroyed, the number of enemies just keeps increasing! Evangeline is starting to feel hopelessness, but she will not give up. She keeps blasting at the earthen creatures until August suggests corralling them. Evangeline comes to a stop in mid-air, then lowers her head a bit. She holds her arms out in front of her and starts to charge. Red energy builds in front of her, larger and larger.

     Only when the orb of energy is as large as she is does she fire. A beam larger than any she has created yet is fired, lancing quickly back and forth along the ground between the defenders and the source of the Devouring Earth. Explosions rock the area as the beams cut into the landscape, and with each pass a ravine is deepening between the walls of the town and the incoming Earth monsters.

     Evangeline carves into the landscape deeply, expending nearly all of her energy reserves to try and create a trap that any charging creatures will either have to fall into or avoid. Then...she starts to lose altitude. She aims herself at the recovery area, then she falls from the sky, drained for the moment.

Maya has posed:
Maya is doing what she can to help with this but she's focued on the magical end of thing. She notices the nature magic does not belong to Devouring Earth they ae twisted that much is clear. She's going to have to fogure out how to deal with this. Maya will lend her aid to this as she keeps working she'll look at the magic, she's in new terratory given her understanind of biotech came from a hardware understanding due to living parts ot whole cloth organisms on her world to make it but this is something else.

"Core energy is naturally blue but I am getting off track. We'll do what we can with this but we we dont' do something we will lose people regardless."

August Kohler has posed:
As Evangeline falls, August quickly shifts his attention to her, shouting outloud. "Tin Soldier! Catch her!" He doesn't need to call to it, but it makes him believe he has a better chance of succeeding. The Tin Soldier dashes forward, attempting to soften Neuroi's landing and get her on the ground safely, before turning its attention on the battlefield. Spacing himself as far from the ravine as he can, August looks at the corral...and flicks a finger at it.

And the Tin Soldier dances, moving forward and around the ravine as August's finger spins in sync. Dancing as his partner are the flames emerging from his gun, hoping to engulf the monsters in the ravine and make sure they can't continue their march. And as August does this, he begins to get a bit weary. Eventually, the Tin Soldier stops, returning to August before fading away.

And then, August falls onto a knee, clutching his head. Using that much of the Tin Soldier's power is not safe, and is certainly tiring. He'll need a lot of sleep tonight, that's for sure.

Emiya Shirou (560) has posed:
    Down goes the sniper. Shirou really can't just go and see to his fate though. The many, many more monsters still out there are a much bigger problem. He dashes the rest of the way to the barricades at superhuman speeds - if only slightly so, and goes leaping out into the fray. Not with his blades, at first. Instead he's still using that black bow. Arrow after arrow is unloaded with tremendous force. Even if the arrows themselvse are low quality commercial crap, Reinforcement and the immense draw weight of that black bow turn them into truly lethal projectiles that crack the pavement after spearing through whatever's in their way. Many of them shatter afterwards, though, unable to handle that much force. They won't be of any use against the rock creatures, but anything less... owww.

    After unloading his quiver, he projects kanshou and Bakuya and ditches the bow, dropping in for a landing.

Dr. Vahzilok (769) has posed:
    As the corruption is purged from the people outside, they may not be in the BEST condition given what they've been going through for the past several days... But they are no longer sick, no longer being corrupted mentally or physically. They will still need to be evacuated to get them away from that psychic pressure, but they are no longer in danger of dying. A little girl with a stuffed rabbit is able to breathe without a machine again.

    The monsters, realizing that what they were attempting to prevent has alredy occurred... Oddly enough... When faced with the bombardment from the defenders, destroying them and defeatin them where they stand... Simply stop, turn around, and leave. They take any sword arrows to the back, any lasers to the head, any bullets or flames that may be tearing through their forms of vine and stone and crystal and fungus...

    And just retreat.

    Weird behavior from these things. They have never shown any sense of self-preservation before now. Maybe they still have none. Maybe it's whatever controls them that commands it.

    Or maybe they just can't see the part of their maker that was here anymore, now that the magic has been turned against them.

    Meanwhile, a less peaceful ending is coming about within the research facility. The force field shuts off, and lights go out. The Lesser Devoured wastes no time in breathing a mixture of wasps and acid at the defending guards, resulting in shrieks in the dark as the monster charges forth to claw them and cut them down. And in these halls that will soon be full of horror, HK-47 makes his escape, with intelligence on a threat, and a message left behind:

    'The good guys are vulnerable. Being good isn't enough to protect them if the villains decide to pay a visit.'

    As despairing as that may be... There are still many lives saved this day. And even once the escaped Devoured is taken down, a weapon now exists to fight back.