NODE: Sea of Life - The Hunt for Pures

NODE: Sea of Life - The Hunt for Pures
Date of Scene:	17 June 2014
Location:	The Homeworld
Synopsis:	Eleanor Lamb and a swath of Heaven or Hell invaded Eleanor's Abstractum Node to fight and defeat the Pure, Allan Bishop.
Thanks to:	Thanks to Abby for running this and everyone else for coming out and letting me feel like a badass. :D
Cast of Characters:	2, 38, 40, 75, Vruasa Telash, Fiora O'Brien, 219, 331, 347
Tinyplot:	When They Return

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Abstractum.Net (347) has posed:
The brassy, art-deco underwater tunnel that leads to Daedalus Industrial Park is a familiar one. Glass walls bare an unforgiving ocean. Beyond it, the industrial construction mixed with the artistic aesthetic make for a wonderful view.

Today, Eleanor is hunting. Past the wide expanse of the industrial park is a factory-slash-refinery floor full of partially wrecked equipment, and past that, an old, half-flooded office. Through there, you can find the Atlantic Express. The station proper is behind it, past this platform where a rusted, decaying train-car makes its home. The Second's lieutenant escaped into there.

The wide platform is probably in desperate need of cleaning. The escaped Splicer has gone to ground there, but it looks like the door has opened since. You can head in, which leads into a claustrophobic series of corridors, offices, and parts storage areas. One would assume they're infested with Splicers as well, judging by the garbled, babbling noises coming from within.

Eleanor Lamb (40) has posed:
If it's to be a hunt, a hunt she shall have. Miss Eleanor Lamb is here in all her glory. It's been... more than enough time to get her power base back into plac,e get more under her belt, and more importantly, get Utopia ready for this as well. He has to be, she has to be ready.
And so, with her Sister suit shined and polished and cleaned and newly repaired and retrofitted, Eleanor's here, leading her merry band cobbled together from the ranks of Heaven or Hell.

The twisted, horrible mess of the halls of Rapture does little to invite anyone though. Overgrown and rusted, worn and ruined, the only operational bits are those patrolled by Daddies and kept up by NUFOS.

The Atlantic Express, though, is a hub, a long remembered part of the netowrk. And it was here that Eleanor last saw Allan Bishop, and it's from here she's hunting. "Like I said, folks, expect ugly and expect erratic behaviour out of the Splicers. There's... well, ADAM has likely taken its continuing toll on the place. We are looking for a large man with a flamethrower or weldtool. He is our target. If you see another like me, though... she is one as well." She looks at the othes, the green HUD in her helmet casting a ghastly light around the hallways. "Be prepared."

And with that, she starts down the chambers, on the track.

Ariel (219) has posed:
Ariel is here, with Harmonious Diea. She has Diea in BLUE Chroma right now, since Vruasa is here to handle the Green matters. If he needs her help, he knows enough about her abilities to ask for a Chroma Shift, and she figures Blue is more useful with all these Red-types here.

The little unicorn's horn is glowing faintly, giving her some light. She doesn't need a suit, but she is wearing one anyway, even if it's clumsily refit for her smaller frame. "Diea, just help me keep an eye out for now." She's out of her element, a little, but she'll look around for opportunites.

Himei (331) has posed:
Nothing much to see here. Himei is here with White Rose tucked into a loop at her side, like a holster for the wand. She also carries a pistol, but she isn't pulling that out or anything, not yet. The Sailor has transformed though, already in fuku and all that. "Just to get it out of the way, I'm starting to hate nodes."

She hasn't even been to many!

Well, she's here now, and willing enough to help Eleanor. "Got it," she replies, walking warily due to her unfamiliarity. Given that she's in an underwater setting, she probably has her own pressure suit. Unfortunately she never got a new one, so the loop holding White Rose is on the belt of a suit that looks like her old Sailor Nothing fuku. Including black skirt.

Ezio Auditore (75) has posed:
Hunting is just the stress relief Ezio needs. As he returned to his home in Rome, Ezio swapped out his suit and tie for his other uniform, robes and weapons, etc. He's not taking chances, and Ombra has also joined in on the hunt this time around.

As he wanders down the chambers alongside Eleanor, Ezio's eyes narrow while he keeps a hand on the hilt of his broadsword. He only knows that this was some sort of Libertarian Dream City founded in the mid-1900s, that went to hell with the advent of genesplicing.

This ought to be /fun/, judging by the powers he's seen Eleanor packing. He's highly expecting the sources of those mad ravings are going to be a pain in the ass to fight.

A flashlight is kept on hand for the darker areas of Rapture, but otherwise Ezio keeps it off to preserve any stealth. He'll need the element of surprise.

Vruasa Telash has posed:
A few moments before the group had entered the Sea of Life, VRUASA TELASH had used his coat's properties to flicker out of existence. It had been a familiar visual effect, very similar to that of optical camoflouge being turned on. The effect was, of course, a great deal more thorough. He leaves no trace of himself behind. Not the slightest disruption of air or the sound of his boots against the floor. As far as the world is concerned, he is even less than a ghost.

They are hunting Pures, and so, Ulixes is present in his cybernetic eye socket, replacing the usual prosthetic. A simple command has been issued: If battle is engaged, engage a mass-tandem at first available opportunity. Though, previous experience has suggested that this may not be as helpful as desired against sufficiently powerful Pures.

Today, the Troll does not stray far from the group. He drifts along at a careful clip, keeping the others in sight but not too close at hand. Better not to cluster together too much down here, and Vruasa suspects that this is exactly the sort of place where it's useful to have people with different visual perspectives on what's going on.

To those who are FRIENDLY to him, which is mostly just defined as 'Abstractum users who accompanied Eleanor today', there is a subtle visual marker defining Vruasa as a FRIENDLY, with a little orange arrow over his head. It's easy to miss without knowing it's there, but everybody should already be aware of it.

Homura Akemi (2) has posed:
HOMURA AKEMI is here, walking in after Himei. She is still dressed as she was earlier today-- dress shirt, black pants, format shoes, no jacket or tie. Glasses, ponytail'd hair with a red ribbon. Semi-formal. She's been rocking the style for a while now, mostly on Psyber's recommendation that it's a nice way to replace the safety and certainty of her school uniform with something just as easy to wear almost every day without having to figure fashion out.
Ugh, fashion.

She follows, unarmed.

"Hunting Pures... that's just such a weird idea. Normally they're the ones coming after us more actively. Haven't had to really look for them before. I hate to state the obvious, but couldn't this just be a trap?"

She, naturally, has her Abstractum with her, but isn't making active use of her right now. After the Fragment episode, Claire probably needs some rest.

Noble Six (38) has posed:
If there were going to be hostiles that would need to be dealt with, Noble Six would be there. She might not have a lot of hobbies, but termination of hostiles is one of them, and it's one she excels at.

The SPARTAN moves with the rest of the team that has gathered, doing a quick weapons check, and ensuring that her VISR system is in working order, so she won't need to worry about flashlights when she enters less than optimal lightining conditions.

Fiora O'Brien has posed:
Fiora is here.

For once, she doesn't appear to be ENTIRELY fucking around. Today she carries Hecate in one hand, and has taken a decidedly retro look to her outfit!

Oh wait, no, she's just wearing shorts under a sarong, a short-sleeved shirt, and a pair of very steampunkish goggles up in her floof of hair. On her feet are flip-flops. She is READY to GET WET.

Because Rapture. Go figure.

"Hey, Eleanor, so, murder anyone who tries to kill us, and also nega-you. Is that the gist of it?" She asks plainly, looking at Vruasa with a little smirk, before being... Rather surprised at the turnout. "Seems like you've got some friends, Eleanor. Well, all the merrier, I suppose. And if you see a pure, I'll try to make sure to help you out. Just... Uh... Yeah, sorry. I'm pretty useless on this whole pep-talk, informing, or doing anything fields." She grumbles.

Abstractum.Net (347) has posed:
What ensues is a gauntlet of savage violence. Stray, wandering Splicers are all around. Some aren't even hostile. Whimpering, sobbing wrecks in sone corner or another, seeming catatonic with some powerful negative emotion or another. Most of them are corpses by now, though, clearly savaged with blunt objects and gunshots, looted of their gear and many of their ADAM through huge needle wounds in their spines.

The harmless and the corpses are by far the minority, though. This is deeper in Second's territory, far from the Divers. Hateful, twisted men and women with growths on their bodies scream as they approach, ruthless gunmen wield revolvers and machine-guns... But there's a notable lack of more substantial ADAM exposure here. Must not have been more of the well-off sorts. Though there's a lot of limb-regrowth splicing that was going on here; the work conditions around the neighboring industrial zones must have taken off some limbs back in the day, and their twisted replacements are obvious. Allan Bishop is here somewhere.

The Splicers love to scream and yell. They have political mottos, though this seems more like the screaming of a movement than a government.

"They can't know, they can't know, THEY CAN'T KNOW!"
"Let it die, let it all die!! Let it die with DIGNITY!"
"Kill them! They'll tell the others if they know, we can't let them!"
"The Third has to die, the Third has to die, THE THIRD HAS TO DIE!"

Eleanor's older Diver friend is back on the radio. "Christ," Noah says. "I can hear the screamin' all the way back at Daedalus, it sounds like you lot are at it again. Miss Lamb, the fellow in here, Allan, he's left us alone on the condition that we leave the 'ADAM' alone, but he's a fair bit mad, and we had a friend of mine laid up a week because Allan smacked him on the mouth hard enough to break his jaw."

"Got a temper, so you keep yourselves careful. Likes bashing, even though he's got that fire-gun thing of his. He's gonna go for the brain whenever he can, seen him fighting with those other awful monster-men and he practically decapitates 'em, so keep your head down."

For obvious reasons, he's not attacking Vruasa, who manages to sustain a Tandem of the entire group. Being the only Green-type present, he can issue tactical orders. Fiora, Ariel, Ezio, and Himei get the brunt of the short-range waves, while Noble Six and Homura are being singled out by the gun-toting splicers.

They seem to be getting denser as the group approaches a service area for train repairs. Possibly the location of the Pure?

Ezio Auditore (75) has posed:
"It did not take long for them to spot us." Ezio remarks with some irritation once stealth is broken. He doesn't have an advantage at range, with the splicers toting fireballs and other plasmids, and those who aren't so lucky either carrying guns or whatever weapons they can cobble together.

However, Ezio's a resourceful sort, always has been. This won't be an issue for long.

Drawing his crossbow, Ezio loads up with a bolt before he begins to take aim at the thugs charging him and some of the others. "Ariel, get back!" He warns the unicorn, before he takes a shot and swaps the crossbow out for the broadsword, meeting the splicers in melee with speed and skill way above their level. This sort of numbers? No problem for him.

Eleanor Lamb (40) has posed:
Eleanor... is used to this, somehow. The Big Sister moves rather passionately through the Splicers, blasts of TK, waves of fire, and vicious slashing of her needle. Still, the Splicers howl about secrets, naughty secrets, and still she hasn't yet decifered what it is they've done, they've all done in the scant three years she's been absent from Rapture.
The porthole of her suit gleams though, as the Daniel gets back on the shortwave, and calls out joyously.
"Then we shall settle the debt with Mr. Bishop, Daniel. It is good to hear a friendly voice down here again, by the by. Have you lot found what it is /you're/ looking for down here yet?"

Happy, idle banter as she notes the concentration of splicers with some grimness. "This is the way, folks. A workman's got his haunts, afterall."

Ariel (219) has posed:
Ariel does not need to be told twice to get back! She knows she's not all that great in battle compared to most here. She doesn't consider herself useless though! "Ah... Diea, can you analyze weak points in our allies and just feed the data to me? I'll do the rest." She has Diea in cloak form right now, rather than shield, and lets Ezio defend her while she works her magic.

And that magic? Her horn glows, and she concentrates on the flow of the World around her. A simple spell, the most she can handle right now, takes a tiny fragment of her power and spreads it out amongst the others, targeting those weak points of her allies with a power that is strongest against hate and evil.

Eleanor Lamb (40) has posed:
Though, questions are asked.
"Fiora, you have been a faithful friend this whole way." A splicer burns. "Even if I cannot pronounce half the things you end up saying sometimes. Though I doubt few can."
Towards Himei. "You do look lovely, Sailor Nothing. It's been a while since I've gotten to see you in action." Ice and lightning.
Homura: "Is it really so odd? They seek death, either way. We cannot sit back and idly wait for them to make the moves. Not all of them are as seemingly Pure-Hearted asthose lot that Samael has saddled with the devices. Besides, this one tried to burn me to death, and has murdered others here in the lust for ADAM. He is as guilty as the rest."

Homura Akemi (2) has posed:
Just like last time she came in here.
Those... things, for a lack of better descriptor, because they're hardly people anymore, sure enjoy screaming about the Third, dignity, secrecy and death.

Homura's not too sure who the person on the radio is-- she'll leave that up for Eleanor to handle, and explain, when things aren't quite so hairy. The Puella Magi'll stick to what she's good at for now.

Her outfit shimmers, and with flashes of purple is replaced by her magical girl clothes; no transformation dance or show, just a quick flash of flames, numbers and measuring gauges washing over her, and then she's holding a massive black bow with a purple gem in the center.

Her form blurs, and she dances amidst the incoming bullets, sidestepping them like she's already aware of where every bullet is going to be coming from. A few mis-steps do happen, grazes and tears in her clothes, but no direct hits, not from these Splicers anyway.

And in response, Homura... does not visibly attack! Or do much.

On the other hand, that doesn't seem to stop about a dozen bright purple energy arrows from cashing towards the gunslingers out of seemingly nowhere and from weird angles. They have plenty of time to dodge if they're fast, obviously.

Vruasa Telash has posed:
Things start to get messy particularly quickly, and VRUASA is not slow to begin to issue orders. He wades into the fray, but he never actually engages in combat. He's superimposing illusory HUD over the battlefield for everyone, along with simple instructions that can be read and dealt with. A portion of the group is being engaged by distant foes, while the others are being assaulted by close-up enemies.

> FIORA: A long series of arrows appear cutting a divide in the battlefield. The illusion suggests that she lay down some smoke or darkness that will separate the ranged splicers from the melee splicers. Then, it suggests, she should open up full-bore on the ones closing in.

> ELEANOR: Should use her supernatural bullshit powers (described in the illusory orders exactly as that) to lay down an area-effect zone of bad (also described exactly this way) within the cloud, so that when the ranged splicers try to push through they get fried.

> ALL: Then, assuming that Fiora and Eleanor follow their suggested courses of actions at least in part, everybody should focus their efforts on the splicers who are dumb enough to come in close.

For the time being, Vruasa himself does nothing. He's simply hanging back, trying to figure out where to go from there. After all, this is what he's supposed to be good at with Ulixes at hand, isn't it? Feels a bit hollow, though... there's not much substitute for actually driving the spear into somebody yourself.

Himei (331) has posed:
"I'd forgotten how insane these things were," Himei mutters. She too isn't a fan of them, but when Vruasa tells her to lay out some attacks and handle them, and Ariel is reinforcing her defenses, Himei tugs out White Rose and gives her a twirl. "All right, guess we'd better get to work doing your favorite thing. White Rose: Skull Impact Mode."

This is not a real mode, but she figures it will make the Abstractum happy. Especially since she starts doing just that, cracking any who come close enough with the Abstractum. She's fighting somewhat defensively though, more trying to keep injuries down and keep them from getting through than being her more aggressive self.

Noble Six (38) has posed:
There's the enemy contact. Six moves into a better position as the gun toting Splicers move on the group. She has her own pistol out, the monster of a weapon that it is, and returns fire when shots present themselves, taking the time to move behind cover as needed, to allow her shields to recharge.

The SPARTAN fires off a shot at one of the melee focused Splicers as he nears Ezio, then returns her attention to the ranged ones, taking a chance to throw a grenade out towards them, even as a flurry of shots hits her from a machine gun toting Splicer, forcing her to take cover once more as her shields drop fully. She'll need to give them a little bit of time to recharge.

Fiora O'Brien has posed:
Fiora laughs. "It's all in the tongue. I think? Maybe it's just a state of mind and really, really hating everyone and everything that helps me get over the accented wingding gobbledegook that I start spitting when I get going." She jokes, before smiling. "Well, you know your way to my heart, Eleanor." Fiora offers genuinely, as she waves her hands outwards, things getting FSKING WEIRD in the designated areas. It's not exactly smoke, more of a cloud of 'Existance???' where things have a hard time... Being. Unfortunately, it is quite equal opportunity, but for the purposes of splitting the two groups, it serves quite well!

And then splicers are on her, beating her shit, and that is really bad.

In fact, she sort of gets dogpiled in her 'casting', a splicer hiting her upside the head with a pipe wrench and biffing her to the ground.

THERE GOES THAT TENDER MOMENT.

Looking up with hatred in her eyes, the splicers around her might find themselves being... Deleted.

From life.

Abstractum.Net (347) has posed:
"Oh, plenty!" Noah's calling out over the screaming cacaphony of battle. "Honestly, it was just Rapture that we were looking for. The fact that we found it at all is great. I mean, had my own motives, but uh... I'll just say that's covered for now."

Ezio's combination of crossbow work and broadsword swiping let him deal with the melee and a fraction of the ranged threat here fairly easily. Eleanor's AoE power and needle attacks make a sustained field of awfulness, enhanced heavily by a soft green fire that inflicts substantial damage over time to enemies that are entering. It helps the group that Fiora's shadowy dust field is making everything near damn impossible to see... for the enemies, specifically. Ariel keeps their weakest tactical point - dealing with the ranged foes - enhanced, and those targeted by the gunfire find less threat, giving Homura the space to strike out with crashing magical arrows that take many of them down, if Noble Six's grenade-work doesn't finish them off first.

Their psychotic rush is severely hampered, and the group won't have too major a threat posed to it, but a few solid thwacks and shots are coming in regardless as they progress through the station. These are hardened, albeit insane, survivors.

The train maintenance area, once they reach it, is wide, full of pipes and machinery, commandeered by an overseer from a neighboring industrial area.

Atop one of the train-cars, hoisting a horrible, monsterous contraption fashioned out of a combination of bioscience equipment from another region of Rapture and phneumatics and airbrake equipment used in the trains themselves is a massive flamethrower-like device that bares several clear containers full of something squirming and writhing. A man is hunched over it, his welding mask down. "Fine," He's mumbling. "Fine, fine! If the things I've gotta do to survive mean you've gotta kill me, what was the point, right?" His masked face whirls back on the group once they finally get inside. "Fine!! It was all pointless! But let us die in peace! I may hate what the Second wants for us but I know /why/ she wants it! You could have just left us alone to /starve/! You didn't have to /know/! Nobody had to!" The twisted mechanical mass is hefted in both hands, held like an autocannon.

The man leaps and heavily slams into the ground, emitting a gush of vicious fire in a shockwave around him at the base of the train. "If we can't die in peace, then burning's the next best thing!" His Pure's core can be seen among that twisted wreck, marking it as, apparently, designed to be modified with these twisted, rusting machines. "And I don't have to worry about how much you know if you're /ashes/."

Eleanor Lamb (40) has posed:
It is... a welcome feeling, to be sure, to be surrounded by friends and being helped like this. It's something that Elle... really has missed the last few months, the current surroundings be damned for it. Though now as the attacks start to thin out, the big Sister looks up at the room they've entered, this boiling, burning mass of metal standing before them with the Pure at its heart...
And before them, the horrible, twisted soul of Allan Bishop, leaping at them in defense of his Self.

The Big Sister feels like crying, feels like anything, wants some emotion to come up at this. There's pain in her heart for what this place has become, but... But she cannot turn from this. Not anymore. Never again.

The HUD in her suit flips over to full combat mode, the porthole glowing brilliant, crimson red now. The arm with the massive needle comes out straight at Bishop, and the Sister hisses. "Last time you said you said you were sorry, Allan. You said you couldn't live with this. Last time you surprised me, surprised all of us."
She grips at her gloved hand, the gem of Utopia showing through the gleaming metal and now blood stained canvas of the diving suit. "You said I knew, that it was in my Blood. Let me show you what my Blood can do. The blood of Rapture. The Blood of the Lamb. UTOPIA. SHIFT."

Homura Akemi (2) has posed:
It's good getting past the Splicer doesn't take too much effort; they know they're here for a Pure, and Pures tend to require focus and energy. Focus and energy they won't have if they waste it on the rank and file between them and the goal. On the other hand, Homura's quite the expert at saving her energy and efficient fighting, so that might be less of an issue for her.

Moving past the crazed gunmen and superpowered fish mutants, the Puella follows along, until they finally reach the end of the path, and the insane, rambling Pure User, brandishing WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT at them. Is that a gun? Or some horrible medical experiment combined with a flamethrower you know what let's not waste time trying to figure it out.
Let's just not die instead.

"Lamb, please be careful. Regardless of your confidence here remember that if you engage him right now Utopia may activate Oblivion Paradigm on you, and then you'll be a board game away from death."

An idle look towards Fiora.
Well, she'll probably tell them what happens afterwards, so.
No use worrying about it.

For the time being Homura shields herself, bringing her arm up to produce a barrier of purple light to block the flames and heat. It won't hold, not against a Pure, but it'll buy her a few seconds to observe and not leap straight into combat with an unknown.

Ezio Auditore (75) has posed:
Given Eleanor's direction, Ezio knows he's gonna have to move on the run when he can. Unable to reload his crossbow and keep fighting at the same time, Ezio opts to cut his way out of the group of melee splicers while he finishes off one of the gun-toting ones, blindsiding the bastard and cutting him down and reaching to retrieve whatever the splicer was carrying.

It's a Tommygun. Ezio has a Thompson. "Heavy, but it'll do." He comments, sheathing his sword before he scavenging a few reloads on the way along the path.

He also seems to have taken a bit of time to rummage through the pockets of whatever Splicers felled on the way, whether it's to find healing items or ammo is unknown.

By the time he sees good Mr. Bishop, Ezio isn't so much convinced he's in a warzone as he is exploring and looting ammo and snacks. He's almost disappointed when the madman seems content to launch flames after only a /short/ monologue. Sigh. "I should've taken part in this adventure earlier." He grouses, before taking aim at Allan with his appropriated Typewriter. "Ombra, cloak me. I'll need the cover." He says, letting Eleanor and Homura handle the tanking as he circles around, leaping between the trains nimbly and navigating his way to a good spot to take potshots at Allan.

Himei (331) has posed:
Rubbing at her bruised cheek from the fighting, Himei frowns and winces at the final result. Yes, she has a helmet, but for ease of talking it's actually with an open faceplate right now. No doubt she has a few other bruises from the bashing through that wave of insane gibbering splicers, those are just harder to see.

To Eleanor, she notes, "Yeah, no problem." At least, that's what she gets out before they're confronted with the bizarre, twisted machine and more twisted man bearing it. She's going to wait for Lamb's word before engaging though, instead readying herself to run interference in case they're swarmed again.

Ariel (219) has posed:
Since Eleanor is more on the scientific/tactical side of Blue Support, Ariel is going to be handling other things. She briefly thanks Ezio for keeping the Splicers off her and hurriedly shuffles up next to some of the others, glancing around to see what their status is. Then she eeps softly and asks, "What's wrong with him?"

But she can already tell that there's a Pure there, and that's going to be a Problem.

Her next spell is simpler thant he last, and she doesn't even need her Sorcery technically. She just shifts her concentration toward an invigorating rush, like a second wind and rush of endorphins, around the group so that they can ignore their aches and pains as much as possible.

Noble Six (38) has posed:
For Noble Six's part, she's starting to run low on ammunition for her pistol. Thankfully for her, they have killed a whole mess of pistol wielding Splicers. She holsters her magnum and picks up one of the revolvers. She peers at it from behind cover, taking a moment to document the features.

.38 Caliber, break action. She wishes she had some speed loaders, but she'll make due. She gathers up extra ammunition and slots it into one of the storage pouches on her armor, before she moves to try to find a position to flank the man with the flamethrower. Shields or not, they won't last long against a device like that.

Abstractum.Net (347) has posed:
The massive construction begins to scream. Very literally, in fact; the twisted organic contents of those clear containers writhe and squirm in a pained way as red light flushes through them. Eleanor should be able to recognize those at this distance. They've shown up on every single one of her medical reports.

The weapon has ADAM Slugs built into it. They're screaming in pain, suddenly emitting their infused Plasmids.

The whole flamethrower-esque welder weapon gushes and cries out with fire. "I didn't want any of this, I never wanted any of this to happen, and I /am/ sorry! But I have to do this, if dying's the other answer. And if I have to die anyway, /fine/! I'll make sure nobody remembers all this!"

He lets lose an intense scream.

"Blueshift Abstraction." Utopia says, marking intense, bright blue DNA code and ethical text up and down Eleanor's arm, and over half of her face. Her mind sharpens. Her thoughts accelerate. The voices of her sea of DNA calm to silence.

He lets loose an inhuman roar, seeming to summon splicers from elsewhere. Ezio's gunshots find purchase, but only for a moment, as a screaming, twisted, leaping creature comes straight down from the ceiling, slamming onto his arm. Himei and Ariel are being targeted by a sudden trio of splicers that burst in from the way they entered, shouting and swinging awful bludgeoning objects. Noble Six, Homura, and Eleanor all receive a gush of INTENSE fire, but it's more like a beam, a powerful incinerating blast, than just a flamethrower. It's clearly powered by Plasmids... Somehow!

Eleanor gets the worst of this for now, because Allan then rushes in, trying to swing all several dozen pounds of that weapon straight for her and crash it through her skull while he yells through that welding mask.

Eleanor Lamb (40) has posed:
Oblivion Paradigm. Right. Well. That's how things work conceptually. Elle's thought only stray so far before her Shift comes... The sudden, blessed welcome rush of calm and concentration fills and soothes Eleanor as she soaks in the sensation of that Shift, the energy of the Gene swamping her.
And then he's crashing in on top of her, Bishop's bulk and the mass of the twisted, horrible device sending a reeling wave of revulsion past her. It's not just wrong, it's a perversion. Why did she wait so long coming back here?

She can hear the rush of all of those other Splicers washing in and over the top of her and the party, and... and then returns Bishop's inhuman roar with a blood curdling, room shaking HOWL. Big Sister Is Here.

A series of kicks through the flames, letting the heat scorch and lick at her suit, a countering shove of TK gusting wind around her frame as she attempts to lay into Bishop with repeated blows to the head. Her thoughts flicker around the room, taking in all the data she can, internalizing it. Whereto bring him, what's good to use, where can I exploit this monster and remove him from My Rapture?

Ezio Auditore (75) has posed:
Whatever just hit Ezio, it's slugging off bullets really well for a skinny, sneaky thing. He kicks aside the spider-splicer, before taking aim at his current enemy with a short burst of .45 rounds. He doesn't have much in the way of ammunition, so he keeps the fire in short bursts before slinging the Tommy across his back, drawing a dagger and moving in to tackle the Spider.

Eleanor seems to have the Pure User covered for the time being. Trying to take potshots at someone when a psycho brandishing fish hooks is trying to gut you isn't exactly easy, so here Ezio is in close quarters with the Splicer for now.

Homura Akemi (2) has posed:
There goes her protection.
Homura's barrier absolutely cannot stand up to that sort of firepower.

Rather than try to stand her ground, the Puella Magi just blurs and disappears, reappearing by Himei instead. Her outfit's got a few scorch marks-- evidently she wasn't quite as fast as she should have been on that. But then again she didn't expect the Pure to focus fire them instead of Eleanor with whatever the hell that flamethrower is.

"So is THIS a good time for tea, then?"
Last time it wasn't, she just wants to check.

"Claire, let's try some science."
Homura produces her PSYBER1 and PSYBER2 Cartridges and slams them into something under one of her sleeves. She then produces a grenade, and lobs it up towards the creature attempting to harass Ezio. She sure hope this works or Ezio's gonna be pissed at her.

Himei (331) has posed:
It's a good thing Himei was guarding the rear against more oncoming swarmers, isn't it? Because now she has three splicers to fight while the others are busy. They might be surprised that she was ready for them, but things are complicated by the fact that she has Ariel with her, aren't they? She's going to have to keep the more fragile unicorn safe.

"Sorry, you've got to get past me," Himei mutters. White Rose is swung in an arc toward one of the splicers, and another will find his charge interrupted by a kick toward his stomach. Unfortunately it's three on one, so she's going to have to hope Rose can help, otherwise she's staggering under a slam of the pipe another is wielding.

"You guys got everything under control over there?"

Abstractum.Net (347) has posed:
The shoves and kicks and powerful telekinetic blows to the head rain down on the man through his yelling. Around the room, Eleanor Lamb can find several ENGINES, various containers of FUEL, assorted PRESSURE-MANAGEMENT EQUIPMENT, chemicals meant to remove rust in cans and sprays that could be DAMAGING TO EXPOSED SPLICERS, and other similar materials.

Allan, meanwhile, is charging forward with another blast of flame and another swing of his hefty weapon.

Abstractum.Net (347) has posed:
Several bullets sink into the screaming, lean, twisted man covered in hooks that descended on him. He tries to leap back up, but Ezio slams into his back, dagger in hand. An elbow swing around, trying to smash Ezio over the head, but Ezio's current position can blunt most of that impact. Grappling on the ground, Ezio now just has to sink that blade in.

Vruasa Telash has posed:
VRUASA TELASH has been idle for some time. He is looking for an opportunity. Any opportunity. There have been precious few, but he thinks that he can make one. The last time that he came here, he had brought with him ghosts... and today, he decides that there will be ghosts again. This time, they're not going to be regular ghosts though. He tweaks his illusions, rendering 'himself' no longer invisible to the Splicers and their Pure master.

Instead, he gives his eye the simple instruction: Show them what they most fear, in abundance. It goes without saying that what appears in his place, to those who are hostile to his friends, is a multitude of things that are never quite the same for each person. They march as legion, slowly advancing on anyone or anything that hesitates even for an instant to act in the face of whatever their deepest fear may be.

Truthfully, the Knight of Time is not certain that it will not simply enrage them to act with further hostility. But if it does, he hopes that it will enrage them to act without thought, without the effectiveness they badly need to win the day here. He wishes to bring them despair.

Yes, even Allan.

A vast instruction appears, highlighting all of the enemies present with red arrows and stating simply:

> ALL: ATTACK WHILE THEY ARE DISTRACTED.

It's not the best that Vruasa could do. But at times, it is best to simply keep things simple.

Ariel (219) has posed:
Ariel is fragile, and Blue Shifted, too. But hey, she's not helpless! Seeing Hiemi pounce onto the three coming from behind, she immediately notices how outnumbered the Sailor is, and how distracted the others are. "Ah... I may need a Red Chroma soon... but let's try without first!"

With a crackling *BOOM* Ariel focuses her magic and releases one of her family's trademark lightning bolts at the third one, to keep him off Himei's back. Belatedly, she realizes, "But that shield could come in handy about now."

Fiora O'Brien has posed:
Fiora had been laying down, on the deck, as the fight had progressed, an angry purple lump on her brow about the color of her shirt at the moment, as she looked around groggily.

What a time for a nap.

"What are we doing again?" She asks the room, as Splicers run around and scream and do Splicer things around her, and most of the fight has moved on.

She frowns. "Oh right. Murder." She sighs, rubbing her concussed noggin. "Uhhh... Right." She mutters, drawing darkness about herself like a cloak (which is in and of itself quite obvious, but at the same time, totally forgettable. Hooray, subjective observation!

Then she stumbles towards where Eleanor is, woozily.

Probably some people get stabbed in the juggular with a pen. Because Splicers. Pens. Whatever.

Noble Six (38) has posed:
Oh good, some sort of...Plasma stream, or something. Noble Six isn't sure. When it hits her, the alarms that go off inside of her suit remind her of when Hunters hit her with their concentrated fuel rod shots. She dives for the nearest thing that looks like it'll provide cover, rolling several times as she attempts to extinguish any remaining flames.

Once she's clear, smoldering Six rises back up, staying in cover, and peers at Eleanor and the fight. Well, since she does seem to have it in hand, Six will provide cover fire from the rampaging Splicers that are trying to join the fray. She turns and fires that revolver with one hand, putting two shots into a Splicer as it rushes at her, and then turning to go for a headshot on a Tommy Gun wielding one nearby.

Ezio Auditore (75) has posed:
Raising his arm, Ezio expertly blocks the blow before he calmly thrusts the blade between the Spider Splicer's ribs, the fourth and fifth to be exact. He digs in deep, then TWISTS when he detects the relevant organs to carve up. Once that's done, he rips the knife free and begins to rejoin Himei and Ariel.

He attacks one of the SPlicers attacking Himei, to ease things up for her with a throwing knife to the head. "Need backup? Things are clear on my end."

Abstractum.Net (347) has posed:
Homura produces a pair of CARTRIDGES. Both install. Claire endows each with a bright red fire. The first category cartridge still works just as effectively! The grenade tumbles onto Ezio and his enemy and explodes... And doesn't harm Ezio! Or in fact any of Homura's allies! It has severely damaged Ezio's foe.

The other one produces a stranger effect. It seems to have disabled Homura's Barrier Drivers and overcharged her Strike Drivers, which was good for Ezio, but might be bad for Homura now that a few gun-toting Splicers are coming in from the opposite end of the area.

Abstractum.Net (347) has posed:
Himei has melee bludgeoning to do, and by god she sure does it. The Abstractum in her hands floods her with intense athletic power and endurance that lets her smash into the enemies with great power, and endure their strikes intended for Ariel very well. The pair that she's struck are knocked back, babbling and crying out in anger as they tumble under her assault. The third is left for now, the pipe-man trying to land a few more bashing strikes as the other two recover.

Eleanor Lamb (40) has posed:
Right. Lots to work with, but she needs a good feint here. She's sweating now, inside that helmet, as she makes a quiet calulation, and biffs it. A stagging stumble into one of those swings by the Mechanic, and Eleanor's limber frame goes tumbling once end over end past Fiora, landing in a cluster of Oxyacetalyne Tanks, scattering some and knocking a rusted valve hinge off an empty tank.
A moment as she lies there, seemingly stuned and concussed, before her voice perks up. "What's that Father? Teach him about the dangers of fire?" A trio of the Oxy tanks tanks float up around her as she stands.

"Well. If you insist." One. Two. Three go the tanks, one after another into that blasting flame of the Mechanic.

Abstractum.Net (347) has posed:
Vruasa saturates the area with horrors. The Splicers, (un)fortunately, are assaulted with terrifying hallucinations on a daily basis, so this is really only compounding the issue, but they are irregularly stunned by these apparitions, all of them screaming about how the Second is coming for them. Every time someone attacks following up after one of these sudden stuns, they receive a substantial attack boost.

Abstractum.Net (347) has posed:
Ariel's power sticks to blue for now. The third one is swinging at Himei, but by the time Himei has a chance to respond, the awful pipe-swinging asshole is going to be stunned by a facefuck of lightning. Shock and whack, the one-two punch! Ariel gets urgent prompting from Harmonious Diea; she can swap to shield whenever she wants!

Abstractum.Net (347) has posed:
There's a splicer doing splicer things coming up on Eleanor. They now mysteriously have a pen growing out of their neck. They don't call them fountain pens because of the fountains of blood, stop that. Well, a surprise attack on Eleanor was just prevented, in any case.

Himei (331) has posed:
Well, might as well take advantage of the stun just like Vruasa said! Admittedly part of it is from Ariel, and Himei is slightly staggered by the assault, but with the third splicer stunned she takes that wide open opening and ducks in for a quick, vicious jab to the jaw, aiming for a hard blow to knock him over. Preferably out.

"Thanks," she says curtly to Ariel... and then has to repeat it, "Thanks," to Ezio. "Backup is nice, but I think we've got this covered now. How's Eleanor doing?"

Abstractum.Net (347) has posed:
Homura's targets are getting peppered with shots from Noble Six, while more vicious melee splicers are incoming on her flank. They're keeping the group off of the overseer! Damn it. Well, at least the group is keeping them off of Eleanor! She can focus on SCIENCE FIGHTS.

Abstractum.Net (347) has posed:
The massive explosions as oxygen tanks detonate under plasma blasts ring through the whole arena, battering the welder-faced man and his blistering, bleeding skin. Regardless, he now charges in, his skin flaying off under the strain of these explosions. No more half-heartedness in the melee; the red-typed Pure is swung around, the slugs rushing with telekinesis plasmids to increase the force, and there's only one thing to do now.

"Eleanor, get ready." Utopia says, protectively and urgently. "He's coming, and this is the last clash on this. OBLIVION PARADIGM!"

What the others perceive is that the brilliant red fireball that Allan Bishop has turned into has impacted a fierce blue inferno that Eleanor has turned into, and both of them are emitting massive, gushing waves of force and wind.

What Eleanor sees is that she is now alone, lacking even the voices in her mind, in what appears to be a flat, plains-like area underwater. No colorfoul coral growths or underwater plants mark this area, not even stones.

A young girl's voice screams out, around Eleanor's own age, but wavering with intense mental instability. "Look at how many people you've brought. Do you know how many people have to die now? Killing the Third was going to be bad enough. LOOK AT THIS! Look what all you've DONE!"

Eleanor Lamb (40) has posed:
The Big Sister readies herself for the charge, looking on grimly as the blistering and battered Bishop charges her... And then she's taken in by Oblivion.

And... This was not what Eleanor was expecting.
The young lady in the suit turns around, looking rather perplexed herself as she scans the ocean bottom for the source of the noise, the voice, that... that sounds so much like her. "I brought people because the truth needs to be told. People need to know what happened here. This place can never happen again, but hiding it away is not going to solve anything."
She's breathing hard now, mentally trying to suss this out. ...She was really going to have to have a talk with Homura about this in the future.

Ariel (219) has posed:
Just in case anyone is wondering, Ariel is going to have Diea shift to Shield mode, but she'll keep it at Blue Chroma. Most of her concentration is going to be on keeping people away, with the rest occasionally sending another swift rejuvenating flush through the air.

Homura Akemi (2) has posed:
These Cartridges are great, right up until Homura needs to defend herself.
A few bullets pierce through her right arm before she blurs and visibly flashsteps closer to Himei. Seem's she's in pain and cranky now. "Oh come on! The hole in my stomach JUST stopped hurting!"

Sigh. Homura's Soul gem darkens ever a bit more and she cuts off as much of the pain as she can for now. She's not quite stupid enough to turn it entirely off, because that just causes tons of issues down the road. She knows. Not from experience, more observations. She has incredible friends.

"And there goes Oblivion Paradigm, too..."

Nothing to do now but watch.
And presumably take idle shots if Splicers are still coming.

Abstractum.Net (347) has posed:
"NOBODY CAN KNOW!" The city of Rapture itself erupts from the ground as it crumbles around Eleanor. "They made their mistakes, they died in their pits of wrongdoing and sin, and /NOBODY CAN KNOW/! Do you have any idea of the /shame/, the /humiliation/ of what happened here?!"

Another Big Sister crashes out of a building high above Eleanor, as the newly-made structures begin to crumble when massive house-sized Big Sister synringes emerge violently from them. Her scream is audible even through the water as she tries to crash intensely down on Eleanor, needle-first.

"The secrecy was to keep Rapture safe before! But we /need/ it now, to die with /dignity/! Nobody can know the things that happened here, the things we did! The Third must die, and then Rapture! Isn't that why you left?! Don't you hate it as much as /we/ do!? It has to die! The city, the people, and the /memories/!"

Ezio Auditore (75) has posed:
Ezio feels a bullet or two graze his arm, and he doesn't bother retrieving the dagger in favor of reloading and leveling the TOmmygun to provide cover for the other girls. Like before; short, controlled bursts are the order of the moment here. Ezio's not one to waste ammunition, and he makes his ammo count before the Thompson finally goes click and he uses the empty weapon as a bludgeon against the head of a Splicer that gets too close, finishing him with a Hidden Blade before he tosses the busted weapon aside in favor of his sword.

Fiora O'Brien has posed:
DURING THIS TIME FIORA IS MORE GONE THEN PREVIOUSLY! SHE IS IN FACT, SUPER GONE.

The mysteries (or the utter lack therof) continue!

Noble Six (38) has posed:
The revolver Noble Six had picked up flashes and empties. She breaks it down and ejects the rounds, left hand working fast to reload the rounds two at a time. She snaps it closed and pulls back on the hammer, turning around as a Splicer gets right on top of her. One of those hooks digs into her side, finding a weak point in the armor and penetrating the bodysuit underneith.

She lets out a cry of pain, but it's muffled by the helmet. She shifts back, pulling that Splicer with her, while the revolver is pressed to his forehead, and the trigger squeezed. With that taken care of, Six yanks the hook out of her side, and applies biofoam to it, to close off the wound. A visible wince goes through the SPARTAN. No matter how many times you do it, you never get used to that feeling.

Eleanor Lamb (40) has posed:
...Oh dear. Eleanor's challenge wells up in front of her, as Shadow Eleanor rages in the deep depths of the Ocean, Rapture rising up high above. But above all else, in this place Eleanor is, was and Ever Will Be the Messiah.
Elle dive rolls out of the way of the other Sister, sweat beading on her face now. When did her suit get so confining? "Ryan wanted to keep Rapture a secret. It burned down around him. Mother wanted Rapture all to herself until she was ready to take the surface. She burned in the depths of Persephone."
But she sets her feet, not attacking. "Uncle Jack, a slave, broke the first chain. He took the first of us to the surface, saved us, brought us out and into the light. Father broke the second chain. He stopped Mother, he proved that Mother's perfect collective couldn't stand up to determination and will for change. Once again, more of the Sisters got away from this cursed place."

Eleanor's porthole regards the other Sister. "I've come to free this place once again. I do not hate this place. Hatred is pain. You don't hide from hatred. That too must be brought to the light to heal the pain."
Elle's hands spread wide. "I just want to know the truth. I just want to bring this place back to life. Repair it. Make it whole again."

Abstractum.Net (347) has posed:
This seems to only enrage the Second Sister even more. She rips her needle out of the sandy ocean floor and clutches her head while she screams. "SOMEONE HAS TO KILL IT! The minds are broken, the history is disgraceful! I can /feel/ it, can't you? In my blood I can feel their shame. The people here just want to die in /peace/!"

This seems to have answered the ethic here. It's not a political ethic in question. The Second seems to have her own moral ethic being used here. It's twisted by her status as a Big Sister. But it's there.

"Lamb, you think your... Utopian ideals can work here? They /CAN'T/! The high-minded ideals and the intellectualism, all of it gives way under enough /shame/! You of all people should know this was a cesspit of immorality! The only KINDNESS it deserves is a DEATH WITH DIGNITY!" She's rushing syringe-first. The buildings of Rapture, crumbling as they are, are starting to block out what little sun filters through to the ocean floor.

Even if you're not inclined to attack the Second, you could just deal with that. Who knows, that might be another option! But the most obvious one is handling the hallucinatory, screaming girl headed straight for Eleanor.

Eleanor Lamb (40) has posed:
The sweat in her suit turns cold as she hears the absolute despair of this place, that voice, this girl in front of her, the agony of existance, of being left behind in this place. And her heart breaks. This wasn't some grand new vision of the world, of the idea of Rapture. She wanted it to be an utter tomb. A complete loss. No one in, no one out.

And Miss Lamb murmurs. "No." That porthole glows red. "No, I will not let you succumb and condemn the whole of this place because of your experience. If it cannot be saved, then it will crumble and fall like all of this, but..."

She lifts up her hands at the ruinois remains of Rapture falling down all around them, and murmurs, suddenly SHOVING mentally at the whole of the wretched place. "But I am The Lamb. Agnus Dei! /I/ am the Messiah of Rapture, and I shall put it right! That was my charge, my duty liad out to me. And /you/ will not stop me, young lady."

And drawing on the power of Utopia, the Ideal, Noplace and All places, she slowly starts to piece the representation of Rapture. Piece by piece, back into the glory it once held.

Abstractum.Net (347) has posed:
The Second Sister, whatever her response is, is incoherent, hateful to an extreme, violent as she can be. As she dashes forward through the murky depths of the ocean... She sems to be dissolving, as if drawn away in order to rebuild the city. As her dissolving form becomes pristine art-deco buildings that let in all the light, her remains try to slam Eleanor to the ground and shove the Second's helmet up against her porthole aggressively.

"THAT was what I WANTED! /You don't DESERVE IT!/"

With that ominous, mysterious phrase, the hallucinatory form of the Second Sister seems to dissolve away fully, and the light seems to intensify to a blinding level.

At this point, the Pure shatters. Eleanor finds herself standing back in the train repair area, with Allan slamming backwards through the car under repair here, his weapon having shattered and his limp body impacting the vehicle through crumpled metal. He seems knocked into a daze, but still full of anger, not defeated. Eleanor will probably need to kill him. Might need the memories in that ADAM.

The local splicers - there aren't many left - seem to be retreating now.

Eleanor Lamb (40) has posed:
Eleanor's surprise is two-fold, really, first at the virulent hatred coming from the Second Sister even in her defeat. Not that it was much of a debate, really. You can't argue properly with those who can't grasp the idea.
Secondly, NEXT TIME WARN ME HOMURA is what she'd be yelling if she had any proper breath left. What she does have is a incapacitated Splicer, a shattered Pure Device... and a downed Splicer. A downed, struggling, angry Splicer. A murderer and a thief and a brute who just... lost his way down here. Oh, what could have been.

Eleanor recovers quickly enough to bound forward, yelling. "COVER ME!" And the arm-needle, glowing with the markings of Utopia and the Gene, sinks into the chest of Allan Bishop, aiming to drain his core blood dry.
Memories drift up, despite Utopia's guiding presence, and Eleanor's voice echoes in her helmet and over the comms as she looks down at Allen. "Shhhhhh.... shhhhh... just sleep now. It's all done and dusted."

Homura Akemi (2) has posed:
What, she did warn you!
She distinctively said hey watch out for this happening.
Sass aside, Homura is pretty glad the Splicers are scampering off.

"Remember to collect the remains of his weapon. Psyber can make a Cartridge out of it for you," she tells Eleanor, ever the helpful advisor. Fiora must have been off playing BOARD GAMES with awful people right about now. Not much else to do but wait for Eleanor to end this poor sap's suffering.

Well that and wince at her own wounds.

Abstractum.Net (347) has posed:
A needle sinks in and Allan's core blood is drained. His spine goes dry, the ADAM accumulated in it pulled out of him. Paralyzed and struggling to breathe, he sobs out a few sorrowful, incoherent noises of pure shame. And then he dies, softly emitting a death-rattle into his welding mask.

The PURE SHARD is left where his shattered, ADAM-Slug-powered flamethrower was tossed, somewhere nearby. The splicers, mostly driven off for now, let the group do any looting and securing they want. They'll be able to get back to the Node gate mostly without issue.

Looks like this area is actually mostly cleaned out of Splicers. Daedalus Industrial Park is mostly safe for now, the group can move on via the Atlantic Express later.

The memories from Allan are going to need time to be processed: Utopia seems to be holding them in suspended processing for now, to let Eleanor calm down and get out of the node. They can be reviewed later.