Scene #4372: Rata Novus

Owner	Pose
Khusso	Waypoints are great for quick transit of small groups, but for moving actual militaries they are impractical to the extreme. This means that the small force that Khusso has put together from the Union is able to zip right back to the Waypoint near the entrance... but that the Pact has had little headway in keeping the area fully secure. The locals have set up some protective walls that help, but the number of soldiers is distressingly small. Since they couldn't get soldiers and supplies there reliably, the Pact, under guidance from Khusso, tentatively tried their newly-minted Multiversal connections for the first time. Word was sent out to the Syndicate that capable individuals were needed for a temporary guard duty and possible exploration contract, in the hope that strong individuals could take up the slack where entire units couldn't make it. Even if the contract wasn't accepted, this may have aroused curiosity in some Syndicate members. Khusso is pretty ready, of course. Her blindfold is tugged up so her eyes are visible, the asura's scarlet hair swept away. She's sitting on what looks like a recovered supply crate from some wreckage that is not too far off, near the entrance of the chak tunnels that have been cleared for the moment. Froglike natives shuffle around checking for burrows rising, and nearby some of the asura's companions are looking bored... except the tiny little asura child in a pink bow, who has a small station with holographic readouts spitting out data. Her golem Scruffy is nearby.
Duet Fortuna	The earlier piece of the barrier that Duet took last time is nowhere in sight, but the masked adventurer is. Arriving with the rest of the Union, she waves to any faces she knows, and this time she can get a better look at Taimi, too. "Hello there," the woman greets, before finding a seat. She's come armed again, though this time she brought her Colt rather than the Beretta, for the greater stopping power it offers. Most likely she'll be leaning on the sword a lot, though. She's also wearing a toughened leather armor instead of the tomb raider outfit, so much more practical. "I do like exploring ruins," she ventures. "I'm no scientist, but I guess if you need dangerous magical artifacts sealed, I can do that. Hopefully we won't be running into many of those."
Stygian Mirror	Well at least this time she won't have to sneak about due to being unwelcome. Ish. Turns out it's a lot easier to get places when you're expected and not on a blacklist due to helping a giant plant dragon. That's why Mirror is here more openly this time, the white-haired woman not wearing a cloak this time. Soulsteel edge on her waist, bony white gauntlets and boots lined with Soulsteel, and that reinforced long-sleeved tunic, her outfit is pretty static, but then if something works, why change it. And assuming Mordremoth isn't sending someone to be his eyes here this time, Mirror's even offered him a hearthstone (fancy magical jewel) that'll let him see and hear through her own eyes and ears, so long as she makes no effort to shut it down. If not for this mission, maybe for another one; best be prepared for the future. That way if something in the ruins of the city turns out to interest the dragon, he can have Mirror do something about it. Maybe. She's probably going to be vastly outnumbered, but that's never stopped her. Standing off to the side, probably because Khusso's men rightly wouldn't want to talk to her, she finally breaks the silence with: "So, what's in there that's so important, anyway? It's not like I won't find out at the same time everyone else does."
Shin Tokuyama	> 'Word was sent out to the Syndicate that capable individuals were needed for a temporary guard duty and possible exploration contract'. Shin was already looking for a chance to avenge the loss of his friend, Mr. Steeley, from the last time he had visited this world. So when the contract came across the line to go back to this world, it had been an easy call to accept it. The death of his friend, Mr. Steeley, still haunted him. ---Dramatic Flashback--- A non-sapient, non-sentient, totally automated steel golem gets trampled and eaten by a large T-Rex as Shin looks on in horror at the death of a personified inanimate object. "MR. STEELEY! NO!" ---End Dramatic Flashback--- Shin had tried to apologize to Mr. Steeley's widow and child, but he couldn't speak the local language and translation between the two had been difficult. He wasn't sure the two had understood what he was saying at the time. ---This is a Flashback-Heavy Episode--- Shin is standing in a village square talking to a statue of a woman carrying a child which is there as part of an art installation, "-and so that is why your husband won't be coming home. I felt it would be best if you heard the nose from one of his comrades." A city guard puts his hand on Shin's shoulder, "Sir, you need to move along. You're disturbing people." ---Back to Reality--- Shin approaches and raises his hand to wave at the woman in the blindfold, known as Khusso, "Hey hey! I'm here to help out again. Hopefully it'll go smoother than last time I came around. That was a shitshow." He's got a backpack across his back, and immediately gets distracted from talking to Khusso by the arrival of Stygian Mirror, "Dude! Linkin' Park, what up? Can I play with your ears some more?"
Ainsley	Ainsley is here! She isn't saying much, though. Dressed in her own set of leather armor (she's still wearing a red ribbon on her head and on her tail), she looks like a common lizardman soldier. If not for her tendency to float an inch or two off the ground when idle, she would be pretty unremarkable compared to the rest of the Union people here. She brought a sword at least. A longsword, by the look of it. Might be a bit big for someone that's only five feet tall. She has a mellow look on her face. "If we run into anything that cannot be read easily, that's something I can handle," she tells the group, lifting one of her hands, "It's my specialty." "I'm Ainsley," she remembers to introduce, smiling only briefly. Seems she's pretty serious today.
Staren	Staren's here as before. The glimpse of the ruins he got before was intriguing, so he's eager to check out more! People he knows get a wave, but upon seeing Taimi looking at some kind of readout he walks up to her curiously, "Find something already?"
Chat Noir	A LITTLE WHILE AGO... Chat Noir perches on the outside of the Arc de Triomphe, his baton in smart phone mode. Shortly after the gate had appeared here, the device had offered the opportunity to join some kind of mission board. Initially he'd ignored it, but after a while he started wondering whether or not it was a part of the latest supervillain's gimmick and joined it just to play along. It said a whole lot of words that he really didn't understand, and then he'd blindly accepted a mission board posting without really putting a lot of thought into the thing. Peering at the directions it's giving him, he looks down towards the gate. Then flips over to text message Ladybug. Chat Noir: Hey Buginette. Accepting this mission board posting. Chat Noir: Yesterday was some sort of video game gimmick too. Chat Noir: A fetch quest I guess??? Too bad we don't have a dog. Chat Noir: It's pawsible this is the same deal. Chat Noir: Catch you on the other side!!! >:3 Chat Noir had, as before, pushed right on through the warp gate to his destination without waiting. His appearance is marked by a totally feigned lack of confusion and just sort of sidling in at the back and listening to people who /sound/ like they sort of know what's going on. He leans casually against his baton, currently extended to staff length, and just listens to the ongoing conversations. He's wearing a cocky smile that is completely at odds with how totally out of depth he actually is here. When somebody introduces herself -- a lizard person, actually -- Chat Noir chimes in, "Chat Noir. It's a pleasure!" almost automatically. He went through several introductions yesterday.
Lin	Hearing through the Union grapevine that Khusso needs help with operations in a world that happens to be more along the lines of what she's used to (FINALLY!!!), Karal Rei Lin has gotten going as quickly as she can. From the warp gate, to the meeting point... it's a non-stop dash, apart from maybe being forced to defend herself from the occasional overly-twitchy wild animal maybe... but that's irrelevant! What does matter is that she leaps straight into the impromptu camp. Down she goes, landing... and only recognizing Khusso because she was smart enough to actually -research- the situation this time before running in. Somewhat. She's learning. "Heard you needed an extra swordarm--" Hold on, there's a familiar voice nearby. And familiarly aggravating, unfamiliar lingo. Lin's whole body twitches like a cat being pet the wrong way...
Shadowed Scales	There are those that do not need waypoints. In the case of such people or beings that are already present. A nearby shrub rustles, barely disturbed by something no larger than a common chicken. Except the occupant is not a chicken. It is a velociraptor. Albeit pocket sized. Perhaps such spawns the name Pocket Raptor. One without a pack is something of an oddity, but then again maybe it's looking for one, or looking to start one, or maybe no one should pay any attention to it at all. Don't pay the pocket raptor any mind.
Ladybug	EARLIER Ladybug had been patrolling around Paris, trying to hunt down the obviously-an-Akuma (obviously!) that had made the Arc into a giant shady portal to alternate dimensions to absolutely no avail, so when she got HEROTEXTS from her partner, she flipped open her yo-yo to check. >Buginette >Buginette DOES HE KNOW??!? Having a mild freakout, she nearly drops her phone-yo before mashing out a 'yeah sure I'll be there please wait no stop don't just go' and leaping on after him. NOW Ladybug, in her spotted red heroing getup, arrives in the wake of Chat Noir, looking utterly mortified for no explainable reason. As Chat introduces himself, she raises a hand, meekly. "And I'm Ladybug. Have you seen any black-purple butterflies around?" Pause. "Or... We're here for the..." She looks at Chat. "Quest?"
Chat Noir	Chat Noir raises a finger to Ladybug to indicate that he needs a moment as he reverts his baton to the appropriate size and activates the smart phone mode again. A beeping indicates he just now received Ladybug's reply, which he doesn't bother checking because she's right next to him. A couple of taps later he brings up the MISSION BOARD and re-opens the posting he'd followed here. "Temporary guard duty and exploration." He reads the mission summary off for her, then turns the screen back off to re-extend the baton into a staff and lean on it. "But just beclaws we're here for that doesn't mean we aren't /also/ looking for spooky-looking butterflies."
Ainsley	Ainsley is staring over at Chat Noir, taken off guard by how... out of place an apparent superhero was in a situation like this. She stares with bright and pleasant surprise until he makes a cat pun, and then she places both hands on her face and tries not to laugh. She fails. She has the sweetest voice of all lizard people, especially when she's trying not to laugh, ESPECIALLY if you're expecting sandpaper Argonian voice.
Khusso	Taimi looks up when Staren approaches. "Here," she offers, holding out one of a dozen or so wristbands. "Put this on. I'm measuring the magical saturation of this area as best I can with the equipment I have. I'm going to see if I can refine the sensors by taking readings throughout the mission with Scruffy and these bands, to see if I can pinpoint why the chak like this so much. Maybe we can find some way to repel them." It's a lost cause, in this case, but she managed it for Mordremoth's vines so it's not like she has any reason to believe she can't do this. Khusso is giving a way eye to Mirror... and the Pocket Raptor, because those things ALWAYS travel in packs. It isn't attacking, so she isn't wasting energy on it. "Okay everyone," she says, stepping up to her full uh... four feet or so in height. "Some of you are new so I'll introduce the situation. I'm Khusso, leader of this expedition, but Taimi over there is the expert. We're going into a city that we haven't heard from in over a century. It's a city built by my people, so it may be cramped for some of you in some places. If they're still in there, they may not be friendly, but they probably won't attack us on sight. They've previously allied with humans and with the Exalted in the south, so I don't think they'll be averse to allying with us if we can convince them. Assuming anyone is alive in there. We're here to seek allies, find information that may help us fight the Elder Dragons, and to find any technology they may have that wasn't developed in Rata Sum, its sister city. Be careful what you touch and watch out for chak, they're insects that feed on magical power and they're pretty much all over this area. Any questions?" She'll answer questions on the way, because she's already heading down the tunnel. There are unfortunately no signs of an active city in the wide tunnel, only dusty and falling apart golems and defense turrets.
Ladybug	Ladybug's mortified look slowly dims to a low-grade 'ughhhh' as Chat reveals what's going on. "You just... joined the group? What if it was a trap? What if..." She looks around, at all the other people. Fantastical heroes, a talking lizard person - Ainsely nearly makes her jump into action against CLEARLY AN AKUMA - before she relaxes, incrementally. Ladybug can't just bring herself to doubt this many people. It wasn't in her nature to. Besides! Papillion had never made two Akuma at the same time... Yet. Maybe this was different? Much like when she was briefed by Major Military Man yesterday, Ladybug has a question. This time, however, she doesn't raise her hand like a dorky secondary schooler. "They eat magic? The Chak?" Pleasedon'tmakechat/chakpunsIsweartogod "How will we know what technology is out of place? I've, ah, never been here."
Mordremoth	Lurking in the jungle is an uninvited guest. Blademaster Diarmid, the inexplicably pink Mordrem Guard who uses two sabers, has been watching this. Mordremoth doubts that anything of use is in the lost city, that was why it gave the rough location to Stygian Mirror as payment. Yet here the Pact was setting up and investigating. It was not sure how they had managed to defeat Zhaitan, but the jungle dragon was not going to underestimate a group like that, insolent or not. The addition of strange powers unknown to it made the situation more unknown! Diarmid waits, the silent call from her master informing her that the dragon is in a wait and see mode. She will be following at a safe, long distance, being the only Mordrem here. She's been told to follow along just in case. If Mordremoth hears of something from Stygian Mirror that concerns it, the dragon will have an agent nearby.
Shin Tokuyama	Oh. A lot of people, the client included, are making introductions, "Hey hey. I helped out before, a while ago. I don't think I met you. I'm Shin Tokuyama, Combat Vagrant and also sometimes Hero of Fists!" Shin gives Khusso a thumbs up and then punches one hand into the palm of the other. He doesn't pay too much mind to the presence of Karal Rei Lin, save to make a mental note to avoid her since she usually yells at, berates, or is otherwise rude to him. Not as bad as the DRAGONS have treated him in the past, but still enough that he's established a pattern of simple non-engagement. Of course, he can't take his usual pattern of non-engagement for Dragons right now, since this job explicitly involves researching them. He puts a note in the back of his head to tell Mellisa that these people need help fighting Dragons if he ever sees her again. Of course, when Ladybug talks about the Chak, Shin waves his hand a couple times, "Oh man, yeah. Anywhere you go, All Chak can suck the magic out of everything. Gotta be careful about that." He does have questions for Khusso, though, "So what sort of stuff do you really EXPECT to find? I mean, I know what you're looking for, but what's the real expectation here? Shoot for the stars, land on the moon, you know?"
Staren	Staren smiles -- genuinely -- and nods, wrapping the bracelet around his right wrist (His left arm already has some kind of armband device on it.) For once, he's not wearing his armor, because of needing to move around in the cramped Asuran city. Of course, entering an enclosed underground space is still an environmental hazard, but he still has like /two/ environment suits on his person that he can deploy in an emergency, so he's good. Staren looks over at Ladybug. "Taimi or Khusso should suspect if something's out of place. Maybe the ancients will even turn out to have some sort of unified aesthetic we can identify?" Staren looks back to Taimi. "Say, what was that about their golems going in a different direction than yours?"
Stygian Mirror	"Erm... sure?" Mirror doesn't try arguing with Shin, because he speaks like a Raksha and trying to argue with a Raksha is a lot like trying to do a thing that is an excellent metaphor for this due to absurdity and difficulty. When Khusso begins to explain, she gives a little mental tug on the connection she (hopefully) established with her employer, to see if he's using the gift or not. She figures he's going to want to hear the part about seeking allies here in particular. "If this is the only way into the city, and it was sealed before we came along, wouldn't anything in there have to have been in there this whole time? So, you know, if we stumble on those bugs again, kind of sounds like a bad omen to me." She doesn't really have a -relevant- question though, so she'll wait until they're ready to move and follow along.
Chat Noir	"You see?" Chat Noir gestures a clawed hand between Ladybug and Ainsley, beaming devilishly between the pair of them, "/She/ a-purr-iciates my masterful wordplay." This is what you get. This is what you get for encouraging the cat. One of the hairclip ears on his head twitches backwards, towards the bushes. He doesn't turn, but it isn't hard to intuit that he noticed the rustling shrub in which the Pocket Raptor resides. That is, he noticed, but didn't bother to check it out any further because he's having too much fun over here. Since they're talking on the move, the black-clad superhero shifts his staff so that it rests behind his neck, either arm draped over the ends of it comfortably as he walks. In answer to Ladybug's questions he smiles and says, "I don't worry about things like that too much. I've got nine lives and always land on my feet, if I mean to." For a moment, if Ladybug turns and looks towards Chat Noir, she can /taste/ the gears turning in overdrive while listening to the whole 'Chak' thing. He chimes in all sing-song instead, "I'm giving you a pass on that one, Buginette." Have a panic attack instead of puns.
Duet Fortuna	In we go then. "Duet Fortuna, adventurer and erm... catalogueger of dangerous artifacts," Duet says for the benefit of the new people. "I... don't think we're going to run into anyone alive here, if it's been that long. I guess we can still hope, though." Duet nods to what Staren said as well. "Taimi and Khusso are the local experts on this tech," she agrees. "It's not like anything I've seen before, either."
Lin	"Follow you perfectly... but..." Lin turns about, BOGGLES at Ladybug's costume after pinning down the source of who spoke... and exclaims, "Same as her... have no idea what counts as out of place. Not a local." And perhaps glad of it, if there's BUGS around here that eat magical energies. Sounds damned dangerous to a Chosen... Along the way, her gaze falls across Shin... and he gets a childish, frustrated frown, plain and simple. One person she just can't stand, can't figure out how to talk to, but WANTS to talk to... if only she could make sense of what he was saying, darnit! Of course Chat Noir gets almost the same look that Ladybug did... except with a mixture of suppressed amusement mixed in. Well. An attempt to suppress her amusement. The result is this sort of scrunched-looking boggle... Though she quickly shakes her head and sets to checking her equipment one last time,.
Shadowed Scales	The pocket raptor is no issue, really. Without a pack, it's not going to even consider throwing itself at the much larger, much more numerous, and more well armed party members present. It merely watches, silent and intent; staring with beady and intelligent little eyes. The miniature raptor slinks back into the brush and out of sight. But it's going to follow. Seemingly blending into shadows, sticking out of sight and tailing the group, using wrecked golems and old rubble as cover.
Ainsley	Ainsley follows along, her mellow mood having been brightened by the word play of the strange cat-themed superhero over there. She had noticed that Ladybug was a little less comfortable about her presence, so she kept more distance from Ladybug just to keep that one comfortable. "Oh, it's terrible, but it IS fun," she tells Chat Noir. She appreciates it but she knows the cat puns are... a bit much. Ainsley keeps an ear out for the topics of conversation as they travel, able to float along at a constant speed and not worry about any terrain problems. "I'm with them. Survivors seem unlikely, after all this time," she says, frowning for a moment.
Khusso	Taimi hobbles over to Scruffy and the golem lifts her into the cockpit. Looks like Scruffy is at least partially autonomous. She answers Staren as the group gets underway, "Just in the direction of design, and how the joints are structured. Compare Scruffy here to how the joints interlock in these sentry golems. They have a more limited motion but greater passive protection, while Rata Sum golems solved the joint vulnerability through active defenses. I'd bet the internals show a lot of divergent methods, too... is that daylight?" Khusso is answering some of the other questions. "I doubt we'll find anyone living here, either, but maybe they left something we can use. We can't dismiss the possibility either." She draws her sword as she makes her way down the too-silent tunnel. "And yes, chak eat magic. They don't suck it out of you or anything... magic-users don't need to worry. They feed on ley line energy and things like that. I've gotten a few reports that they chew on the transmission lines too, and took down the waypoint a few times by gnawing on the generator." Chat Noir gets a small glare... wonder what that was about? Does Khusso have a problem with cats? At least her blindfold isn't on, so she CAN glare. What Taimi said is accurate though! The tunnel opens up into a vast open space, with tumbled pieces of masonry all over. What looks like the remains of a terminal is close by, and plenty of inert defenses. A large pool of water has gathered in the middle of the massive space, and the crumbling ruins sport plenty of half-complete stairs and leaning pillars leading to ledges. It looks like the middle fell out of a multi-tiered underground city... but there is daylight, even though it's over a hundred meters underground. Small 'lights' appear to line the walls in many places, shining light from above into the area without any apparent power.
Staren	Staren nods, inspecting one of the broken golems as Taimi explains. But then... There's a COMPUTER. Or at least a terminal. He rushes over to examing it, trying to figure out how to turn it on, or at least find signs of obvious physical damage preventing it from turning on. (The possibility that it's useless without a mainframe somewhere else powered on does occur to him, but it's at least worth investigating...)
Shin Tokuyama	"Awesome. Thanks, My Chemical Romance." Shin says to Stygian, following along after her. It's an unamazing feat of hand-eye coordination that he trails behind Stygian, managing to almost perfectly keep step while playing with her big, fluffy ears out of what sums down to childish amusement. It's largely the same reason he bonded so well with Catzerker, really. His experiences with Catserker are we he also carefully avoids touching her tail under any circumstances whatsoever. He has learned that is a cultural faux pas among the fox people, or so he has been led to believe. He'll eventually get bored of it and switch to walking alongside her, "So how've you been, Red Jumpsuit Apparatus? I haven't seen you since the Vance job." Shin lets out an impressed whistle when they come to the cavern proper, looking around, "Ho damn. This place is pretty impressive. Glad I brought my ten foot pole and hundred feet of hemp rope in my backpack." He muses, hands falling into his pockets as he trudges along. His cell phone comes out and he takes a couple pretty cool photos to post on his Twitter account later. >@CombatVagrant * Now : Fucking exploring some ancient caves. #Adventure. The phone vanishes into his pocket again and he looks to Stygian, "So I'll stick with you. What do you wanna check out first?"
Chat Noir	"Meowderation is for less talented souls than I." Chat Noir proclaims, tapping himself on the chest with his fingertips. As they start moving into more tight spaces, he retracts his staff back down to baton side and re-seats it at the small of his back. It seems to just sit there, sans a holster, without any sort of problem. He catches the glare from Khusso and just smiles a brilliant, fangy smile at her. He's used to people getting tired of his nonsense and just rolls with it. If there's anything else to be read into it, he sure doesn't pick it up. When they come into a more wide open space, he moves towards the edge of the pool of water, glancing inside for a moment to see if there's anything in there. Afterwards, Chat Noir plants his baton against the ground and climbs on top of it as it begins to extend, riding it like an elevator up towards the ceiling to see if he can get a better overview of what's around. The actual practical usefulness of this may be limited. Unlike his partner and everybody else, he hasn't been asking questions, and it's /really/ hard to determine if he paid attention to the explanations issued to the others.
Stygian Mirror	Mirror would have to admit the city is more open than she thought it would be. She expected deep underground ruins, but it looks like time took its toll. Also daylight... lights? That's kind of odd. Does the damage mean that people could've just flown over the seal to access this area by punching in from above? If so, it's possible there's more here than jut what was sealed in. To Shin, she stares confusedly for a moment, perhaps understanding Lin's frustration with the man. Just a bit. She rolls with it a lot better, for sure. "Jobs and more jobs. There's nothing especially new." She pauses at the question, looking ahead. It all looks... well, it's ruins. She doesn't know how these people built their cities, so she doesn't know where important locations would be. Guess you can't go wrong throwing a stick and walking to where it lands. Mirror selects one staircase at random, going ahead without hesitation, presumably with Shin in tow. Or rather, his hands are glued to her ears, it's more or less the same thing. Somewhere the Neverborn are really angry one of their servants is letting herself get handled like a housecat for the Xth time in a row, and Mirror gets a headache. Ugh. Oh well.
Duet Fortuna	Interesting. And kind of dead. "... yeah it doesn't look good for survivors, does it?" Duet sighs, and leaves the technical stuff to tech heads. She herself is going over to the pool of water as well, to take off her shoes and wade in. Recklessly, probably. If things tumbled down, there might be some interesting wreckage or materials in the pool, as that's the lowest point. "I'll look over here, let me know if anyone finds anything," she calls out.
Lin	Into the caves they go! And what a cavern it opens up to. At one point, Lin wonders if she'll need to ignite her anima in order to conveniently see where she's going... But there's light from above. Somehow. She can only look up at the distant light sources with a bit of wonder and awe. "How did they bring LIGHT all the way down here?! And you say it hasn't been heard from in a century?" This is more and more exciting... she can't wait to see what other wonders might be in this city! With Staren rushing over to hack away at some odd gadget that didn't look important at all to her though... she decides to follow, and is soon leaning over his shoulder. "Find something neat in all this?!"
Khusso	Stygian and Shin climb some stairs. Crumbling they may be, but the construction looks solid, with some metal reinforcement. If it weren't so humid here it'd probably last even longer. Another terminal, a crumpled golem or two... and a massive door. Pretty boring stuff! The door is closed and sealed, looking like a ship bulkhead more than anything else. Taimi is also at the computer, but taking a few minutes to analyze the nearest light. "It looks like they wired optical cables to carry light directly from the surface without opening up actual tunnels. That's pretty impressive work! I've always been curious about what it was like to live underground like my ancestors, before we were driven to the surface. I can't wait to see what else they've done. Oh, let me see that..." Braham and Canach just shake their heads. The computer has... a trickle of power. With help from a native like Taimi or Khusso to show him through the unfamiliar parts, it could be possible to send a signal to the main generator. It looks like this is all linked together, and at least a half dozen more terminals are linked and in sleep mode. It doesn't say much more than that though. It does look like there's a backup power supply that could be turned on to get more information. Chat Noir finds the same thing about the pool as Duet: it's shallow up to a point, and then has a deep dropoff. It looks like a hole through the city, with possibly more chambers underneath, now flooded. Chat Noir gets a much higher perch, and can see there are walkways still intact. He has an excellent view of one walkway leading to a massive sealed door - much like the one that Stygian Mirror and Shin found - but this one has blinking lights around it. Some level of power supply must still be working.
Ladybug	>Buginette The excuse for Ladybug to be passive and mildly squirmy even though she looks like a young hero is because for some reason every time Chat calls her that she seizes up and then looks very distressed for a while. Her brain just totally goes on tilt. There's a totally reasonable explanation - adding -nette to the end of something is just a pet name or a familiar tic, but to her it's... Hitting a little closer to home. Khusso's explanation gets a thoughtful nod, as she snaps out of 'oh god oh god oh god' mode. "They're like those... flappy bats from that old movie about space and laser swords!" Mynocks. There's some relief there. "Well, I guess they won't eat my suit then. That's good. So if there's lights on, that means magic is still going here? Maybe we could trace the magic back towards some... source? That could be a clue!" She's just ignoring the word-play now. It's Other People's problems, for once. Let her bask in this.
Staren	"Nice." Staren comments, re: Lighting. "I'm not sure we should turn all the power on, until we figure out how to control the golems and point defenses. If we can see what information this terminal has though, that would be good."
Shin Tokuyama	"Hahaha. They're so fluffy," Shin says in amusement as he rubs the ears. He has a lot of practice. He's also unaware of Stygian Mirror taking any punishment for his actions. It stops, though. Eventually. Around the time they come to the door. "You gotta a trick to open that door or are we gonna have to just team up and pry it open?" He asks her, switching into business mode as he cracks his knuckles and heads over to the sealed door. He doesn't try to force it open yet. Instead he tries to see if it's actually sealed and locked, or if he can just open it. Failing that, he knocks: knock knockknock Knock Knock
Lin	"Power... magic power. And there was talk about these bugs shutting down magical buildings and artifacts... we shouldn't turn ANYTHING on until we've made sure it's not going to go haywire from all the bugs!" Lin quickly reaches a conclusion born of a little bit of logic and more forethought than she's normally prone to. Probably because she's already been yelled at a few times for just CHARGING AHEAD here and there... "Or... are they not that much trouble?"
Chat Noir	Chat Noir looks down below towards Duet in the pool, and Ladybug milling around a little more passively than is typical. His expression falls a little bit. That's weird, what's gotten into her? And is it really a good idea to go wading into that pool? It looked like it got pretty deep. But then he looks up towards the passage that ends in pretty lights and a door, and he has to /choose/. If he didn't have to choose, he'd wander right up to that door and see if he could get it open. Might even power things back on that they really shouldn't power back on yet! But because Ladybug down there is acting distressed, he's gotta actually engage that problem, stop punning for a very short while, and leave some breadcrumbs. With a faint grunt, he inclines the extended baton towards the passage with the powered door until he tilts over and lands against it, jumping off with a thump. This leaves the extended staff leaned up against that path. Somebody agile enough could climb it. For /now/, the leather-clad superhero instead slides right back down the pole to the surface level and comes up alongside Ladybug. "Ok," he breathes, scratching his head quizzically, "what's the matter?"
Duet Fortuna	Huh. "I'm going to see what's under the water," Duet calls, already peeling out of her armor into something lighter, the normal clothing beneath perfectly fine for swimming in. She sets her weapons aside for not, or hands them to one of Khusso's NPCs or something. Taking a deep breath, she dives in without apparent worry that she'll run out of air. She can't actually breathe under water, but she can hold her breath long enough that it shouldn't be a problem for her, provided she doesn't linger too long. Let's see what rooms are underwater here.
Stygian Mirror	A door! Past a terminal and a couple of golems. Mirror isn't much of a computer person; she can count on one hand how many people she knows who have sufficient knowledge of ancient magitech to operate it, and she's not among them. Granted, this isn't Creation. Maybe it's more user-friendly? The talk of generators stashes the idea away, though. "Staren's right. Yes, let's handle this manually until we can't proceed any further without power." Prying the door open, though? She's not sure she could do it. IF no one answers Shin's knocks, Mirror will grab her sword and motion for him to step aside. A moment later, a surge of black Essence will flow around the Soulsteel edge, making it appear much larger than it really is. Then she slashes the door, because Abyssals are great at killing things, and when you have a Charm called Creation-Slaying Holocaust Blade you /use it/. To make a long story short it's a highly enhanced shockwave slash that specializes in ruining terrain and scenery, up to the size of a fortress. In this case it's just slashing wide enough to cover the door, and possibly a few dozen meters past the door in a straight line. Also her Caste Mark would be dimly visible now.
Ainsley	Ainsley, as before, largely keeps her comments to herself. She does keep an eye on Chat Noir, especially the display of his abilities, and the interactions between him and Ladybug tell her that they know each other at least reasonably well enough. Probably more than a few days. (Coworkers?) she wonders, since they've got similar costume aesthetics. Ainsley glances aside at Staren, because he's handling something involving a computer terminals. In lieu of having any better ideas, Ainsley starts poking around in search for other bits and bobs that may prove useful to the group. Asura are almost certainly all thinkers, and thinkers like to write things down or at least create some kind of record. Her ability to float means she has an easy time just puttering around, digging in spaces that might be harder for the others to access. It gives her the look of an astronaut in zero-G, the way she just effortlessly pushes around with her hands and feet on obstacles as if she weighs next to nothing.
Ladybug	Ladybug is sort of Unhelpfully Trying To Help, but this isn't really a problem in 'her field'. Her Yo-yo multitool computer dingle is JRPG mapping the area, but it hasn't got a lot to go on. It's not really a 'scanner' and she isn't equipped for this. Surprisingly enough, Ladybug is most adept at solving problems that come in two flavors: Punching bad guys, and rube goldberg schemes that result in the punching of bad guys. This Meta-Heroics/Investigative Adventuring thing... is really new for her! But she's trying, becuase someone said they needed help. Ainsley seems to have a good idea, so Ladybug follows after, Chat descending on her off-kilterness to inquire as to her deal. With a light sigh, she shakes her head, her ribbons waving to add an almost exaggerated air to her 'no no, really' gesture. "I'm fine. Sorry, just... something you said. 'Buginette'?" A pause, then an awkward laugh. "Shouldn't we be focusing on the mission? Someone's counting on us to put our heads together and find things!"
Khusso	Staren and Taimi tinker with the computer. "We... may get a small reaction from this," she admits. Karal's concerns are in fact valid, because as the system hums to life, a rumbling is heard. They had to be hibernating or something, to be arriving this swiftly, but the crumbling dirt and stone buckles to reveal several of the clambering, skittering creatures almost immediately, in the area with Staren and the others. This means Khusso, Staren, Ladybug, and Chat Noir are going to need to handle them. "Depends on what's powering what," Khusso is saying to Ladybug. "I wouldn't worry about your suit any more than I'd worry about Taimi's golem Scruffy. It-" And then chak appear. Oops. "Looks like they're still hungry, but if it's just these we can handle it, right?"
Staren	THE COMPUTER WAS FULL OF BUGS! Why is this surprising?! Staren has a laser pistol. It's overkill. But that's the best kind of kill. He makes sure not to fire any shots that might hit the machine if he misses -- someone else will have to handle any chak that insist on hanging out on the computer.
Khusso	Ainsley is poking around in the various spots, and sees evidence that there was a panicked flight in some of the less damaged areas that aren't militarized. Specifically, small personal items like a children's doll and the like. Of much more importance are the sheafs of papers and journals she will find... most of which are either boring personal stuff, or research notes that are incomprehensible due to being jargon-filled and a language that is unfamiliar. Being a polyglot who has seen some asuran script, though, she can get the general idea enough that... One journal in particular really is interesting! It seems to talk about the chak a lot, and how they're a continuing and growing nuisance. It theorizes that they are attracted to the city because it's basically using the magical equivalent of geothermal power. Several pages are missing, though... particularly some of the possible solutions to the problem. One thing is of import there despite this. They seem dedicated to defending one particular lab, and after a quick cross-reference, the words seem to make sense: 'Dragon Research Laboratory'
Mordremoth	Hey, it's time for Mirror and Shin to run into trouble! That massive Essence burst sure does tear through the door! It looks like a golem research and development lab is beyond it, and lots of parts are laying around. Another terminal is in here too, glowing just enough that it can probably be turned on as well. But what else is here? That's a lot of essence to be throwing around. Chittering sounds. Then an eruption of a half dozen smaller chak, and one of the lightning hurlers rise from the dirt and soil underfoot! They're going right for the pair that awoke them. Somewhere else, a lone Mordrem sits down to look at what everyone is doing scampering around. So far she doesn't hear anything of concern to her master. She is unaware that someone with keen senses who is not distracted by the chak attack might be able to spot her right now.
Lin	BUGS. ... BIG BUGS! Lin whirls around the moment there's any rumbling, only to see.... THOSE THINGS. Although brave as one can be, the sight of huge scorpion-like magic bugs is... disgust-inducing, to say the least. "THAT's a Chak?!" ... Ewwwww. The rasp of steel fills the chamber, sounding from behind Staren... as Lin draws her blade and twirls it out into a guard - apparently, she's skillful enough to consider wasting a little time on flourish. And maybe the motion'll weird off the bugs. Probably not though. "See?! Magic machines. Bugs!" She was right. SHE WAS RIGHT THIS TIME! And she starts by step-skidding over the grounds and slashing at an upwards diagonal, aiming to catch the beast's claws and turn it over... or snag the stinger and slice it off, failing that! "So any tips for these things?!"
Chat Noir	"My /nicknames/ are giving you paws?" Chat Noir wonders aloud, raising his hand to rub thoughtfully at his chin. That cocky smirk never quite goes away, but it returns in force now that he's sure nothing /seriously/ wrong is ongoing with Ladybug. He gestures to Ladybug animatedly and starts to rattle off, "How about... Bugaboo? Lovebug? Or..." The nicknaming is derailed by a combination of the appearance of oversized crab-spider things and Khusso calling his attention towards more immediately relevant matters. "I found a powered door up above--" He starts to explain, around the exact moment the Chak show up. Chat Noir looks towards the chak, and then towards his staff which he hadn't bothered to reclaim or split a piece off of for continued use. Welp. The job is to keep the chak off of the people more vulnerable to them, so-- haha no, Chat doesn't actually think that deeply about it when he surges forward to try to deliver a powerful kick to one of the magic-devouring creatures. He just kind of transitions from conversation to rushing in blindly too rapidly to actually formulate a coherent plan, like usual.
Staren	"These aren't the big ones from the other day." Staren replies to Lin, keeping his distance from the beasts as he shoots. Actually he's happy to move /behind/ her. "If one's armor turns out to be too tough... well, do whatever you'd normally do."
Khusso	Duet's adventures under the water! Actually there's not a WHOLE lot under here to find... but it definitely was part of the city. Most of the submerged tech looks to be either junk, or heavier equipment that would need a better team down there. Most of it. In searching about, she'll find a journal as well. Waterlogged, of course, with some papers strewn about. Maybe it will have something useful in it, though.
Shin Tokuyama	"Good Charlotte! Hold On! Little Things!" Shin calls, planting a hand in the center of Stygian's chest and trying to be a cool guy by pushing her back and out of danger. Also because she's pretty cool and he has no idea if doing that took a lot out of her. He wants to be a total cool guy and save the day. So he lunges forward, right hand igniting with a blaze of ki before he says, "Power!" He learned the move from copying Mordred and it has since become a staple: Discharge energy into the ground to create a big explosion. "Geyser!" Shin's fist slams into the floor, connecting cleanly and then releasing a 45-degree-angled blast of fire straight down the hall to try to incinerate the threat they just woke up. In his head, he's hoping this all works out and he totally looks like a cool guy hero.
Shadowed Scales	Where had that little raptor gone? The entire time it has followed the group into the city, but when everyone split up, it meandered through the shadows, partially exploring on its own somewhat, and partially keeping a beady little eye on one person or another from a distance. The Mordrem however... The tiny raptor doesn't quite 'announce' itself. No, it moves like a stalkerish shadow, coming to within inches of the plant woman before it chirps. A lone Pocket Raptor isn't a threat. And this is pointedly not how one would act in the wild as it stares up at the Mordrem with calculating murderer eyes.
Ainsley	Ainsley makes sure to gather up anything related to this Dragon Research Laboratory, as it is heavily relevant to the party's current efforts. She stuffs the journal away in her armor somewhere and other stuff gets placed in a small satchel she brought along with her just for collecting such things. She hears the sounds of Chak from where she is, though, and it sounds like the sounds of battle... "Hmm," is about as deep a worry she gives to it, having full confidence in the others being able to deal with the problems they encounter. She floats over to the water to meet up with Duet, hoping she can at least provide a spell to help her speak underwater, or meet her at the surface of the water in case she found something. In the meantime, she looks through the journal she found more thoroughly, scanning it with her 'Arcane Sight' so she can grow more familiar with Asuran script and what info the journal actually contains.
Stygian Mirror	"Hey, hold on, I'm not some damsel--" Irrelevant, in Shin's narrative. Mirror is pushed back, and Shin decides he needs to totally take that entire insect horde on on his own. She still has her sword in her hand, and debates the situation for a solid five seconds. She decides to let him handle it, while she scoots over to the glowing console to check it out. Why waste perfectly good time?
Ladybug	Paws. Ugh. UGH. UGHHHHH. It doesn't /stop/. It never stops. It won't ever stop. "Bugaboo? Lovebug? Stick to 'My Lady'." Ladybug finishes, before OHGODBUGS. Well, not 'oh god'. Ladybug, empowered by a tiny bug spirit thing, with... 'ladybug powers', actually doesn't find them that gross. They're awful, but not 'oh ick ew!' style. More 'dear lord'. "Alright, Chat, let's make sure--" Aaaand he's gone. As Ladybug takes up a position near Staren to protect mister lasergun, she casts out her yo-yo towards the abandoned staff, reeling in Chat's weapon, before taking careful aim. "Chat! Catch!" She calls, tossing his weapon to the charging dorkasaurus rex. Then, twirling her weapon in a shining red ring-barrier, she prepares. "Miss, these aren't, um, corrupted people, right? Real monsters that never were people? Just to make sure. It's..." She has a strange look on her face. "Important for a thing I do."
Mordremoth	Shin is strong enough that his AoE can blast the smaller chak away, and make them sprawl! They squeal and screech, but flail about pointlessly before crawling to their feet, injured and wobbly. It is the bigger one that he has to worry about! The others are badly hurt, but the big one is just injured enough to piss it off, and sends crackling lightning toward the Protagonist! He can take it, but it is keeping him busy all right. Stygian Mirror can thusly poke at the console. She probably doesn't know how to operate it, but if she can read the language she might be able to power it on, especially if she asks for help over radio. It has the same backup power supply, so the same procedure will work. Mordremoth finally speaks, surprisingly clearly. "The Chak are a nuisance even to me, but they have taken away this threat." The Mordrem stares at the Pocket Raptor. It isn't acting normal, and Mordremoth - and its servants - know how the jungle beasts should act. She takes her attention away and stares to the raptor. "What are you?" She doesn't expect an answer, but all of Mordremoth's servants have been infected with its curiosity of late.
Khusso	"They're wildlife," Canach answers for Khusso, as the asuran currently has her blade dug into one of the creatures and is distracted. "Natural predators. Dangerous ones, like most in this forsaken wilderness." Taimi is working on the terminal still. "I think... I think if we power on a couple more, I can turn on the power /after/ reprogramming the defenses. If we keep our power draw down, maybe the defenses will be enough." Braham is paying attention for once! "Wait, there's a lab here? And you found a powered door? That must be it!"
Shin Tokuyama	"It's okay, Jimmy Eat World. I know you're a tsundere, so you can't thank me in public! You'll just make me a lunch later. But not because you like me. Just because you didn't want me to think you owed me something." Shin gives Stygian a big thumbs up as he runs off. She's either gonna kill him or get used to this eventually. Shin is remarkably composed enough to say this even as he charges into the hallway after the surviving enemy. The blast of lightning hits him right in the chest and he drops to a knee, "Augh! Damnit!" He coughs a couple times, smoking escaping his mouth from some unseen burns before he braces a hand on the wall and starts to push himself to his feet, "Hoo boy, you're tough." Shin darts in towards it, trying to close the distance. When he can get close enough, he uses both legs to launch himself straight towards the enemy. Ki is pushed through his system and channeled to one side of his body as one arm curls over his head and the other across his stomach, "Tetsuzanko!" His body tries to slam into the surviving enemy like a cannon shot.
Shadowed Scales	No, the tiny raptor is not acting normal at all. It knows this. It knows this very well, after having spent the larger part of a day stalking the pack it had come from; picking the most prime member and separating it from the rest- slaying the creature far from its brethren and taking it for itself. The little raptor twitches, flickering with silvery light, before its body flows like liquid silver, smoothly growing, altering form, shifting right in front of the Mordrem. This one need not fear being taken. Shadowed Scales Hide Bloody Claws has already taken the heart of a Mordrem for herself; yet still even in the new, humanoid, form displayed, those silent, calculating eyes watch the plant woman for any sign of emotion, head tilting slowly. But then she taps the side of her head, before pointing a finger at the Mordrem. "Who does it want dead." Despite wording, that was less of a question and more of a demand for a target. Right now.
Duet Fortuna	Ainsley providing water breathing would help, but it isn't necessary as it turns out. As the lizard is approaching, she'll see Duet surfacing with a sputter. She's holding the book she snagged, and as many papers as she could gather up without damaging them. Wading to the surface amidst combat apparently, she holds up the book. "I think this may be something of interest to you."
Khusso	It was a really small group, and with the firepower here... well, Chat Noir's weapon may be gone, but it's just one little chak, so a solid kick can drive it away squealing. Being tossed his staff will help a lot though, and can finish it off right away. These things don't seem to have a sense of self-preservation though. Karal snags a stinger and flips over the chak, finding them individually not so bad. Good thing there's a group here to handle them easily! It's pretty easy to see how city defenses could be overrun by hundreds of the buggers, though. It flails at her with scrabbling claws. Khusso answers, a little belatedly, "The small ones are like any other insect. Find the central thorax and disable it. Stab or impact, either works and should kill them instantly." Someone has been fighting a lot of monsters in this world.
Stygian Mirror	Mirror doesn't know how to operate it, no. She just figured it was worth a look, in the event this had some very user-friendly graphical interface. You know, big green button with 'POWER' on it, big red button with 'NO POWER'. That would have been handy. Well, not the case! A side-glance is given to Shin, who manages to find time to seemingly hit on her between strikes. She looks puzzled, more than anything. "I'm a what?" That's a word. A very weird word. "W... well, yeah, I guess we could go grab lunch if you want? I don't think it's a good idea, but we could," she answers, considering. As long as she doesn't make it a habit to pretend to be a living being, her masters shouldn't take... TOO much offense. Oh right, that. She'd better make a point. Her sword clicks, and with an idle swing she sends the top half of the blade rocketing away, towards one of the smaller bugs. It's like a hookshot! A hookshot made of sharp, jagged metal that drains magic. Which is itself made of people! Technically, none of those things take away from its sword-whip nature. At Mordremoth's words, she thinks back: <<Aren't you worried about the research they were doing being dug up? It sounds like those guys were trying to figure out how to kill your kin. If I were you I'd want this entire place destroyed.>> An idle glance at the console. <<Do you know this language? I don't. Bet you there's a way to overload the generators, though... or maybe I can try finding them and giving them a good manual whack.>>
Staren	Staren doesn't reply to Khusso's advice. He's trying not to get close to the bugs, which makes such clean targeting difficult. "Sheesh, there's no end to this horde!" He looks around for opportunities to reach the defense golems. He'll activate his wings and fly if he has to! He pulls a stone out of his bag, slaps it against the golem's chest, and concentrates, pushing the stored enchantment into the machine. Then he throws up his arms with a fluorish. "Arise, my minion! Smash those bugs!" And indeed, smashing is all it can do -- the golem enchantment controls a humanoid object, and has no way to interface with any weapons more complicated than a club, built in or otherwise. Staren repeats the process with the other golem -- depending on size, he may end up riding atop its shoulders as he continues shooting bugs, ejecting the e-clip much like a magazine and loading in a new one from his bag.
Lin	"Can I try one of those later?!" Lin excitedly asks Staren mid-battle. She's all fired up now that the combat's started... although the Chak proves to be a pretty nasty customer, its CHITINOUS EXTERIOR doing a number on Lin's ordinary steel blade... she manages to flip the creature over and dive under it. the Claws rake her arms but fail to gain much purchase. Blood's drawn, a few nasty wounds inflicted... but she mostly ignores the pain. In favor of driving her sword into the creature's hopefully-more-vulnerable underbelly, and slicing towards the head!
Ainsley	Ainsley gingerly retrieves the documents that Duet managed to find down there, floating away to find a nice stable perch to begin reading what she's been given to see if they can find out anything more about all of this. She glances aside distractedly at all the racket caused by fighting hungry bug monsters, but pays it no more attention than that.
Chat Noir	When the kick lands, Chat Noir darts back and recovers. His head turns towards Ladybug, whom he offers a playful two-fingered salute, "I'll abide by that 'til things calm down, My Lady! Unless I think of a good one, of course." Then he notices a line running from Ladybug to his discarded staff, and flails a little bit as it's directed towards him. Fully extended as it is, it's rather unwieldy, and he gets bonked pretty good before getting a proper hold on it. It retracts back down to normal size a moment later. He seems reluctant to actually crack these bugs open for real though, even though his sheer physical strength would seem to suggest that he's perfectly capable of it. Instead of attempting to squash the Chak that is still harassing him, he turns his staff around sideways, begins extending it, and then just tries to scoop and toss simultaneously off towards the opposite wall. If it comes back, then he /will/ just jab the little bastard from a distance and squash it. But it's obvious that he really would prefer not to if he can avoid it. Wildlife's gonna be wildlife, he wouldn't want to kill a hostile lion if he could avoid it either. "Yeah!" He calls back to Braham, waving his staff upwards in the direction he'd noticed the door, "There's a powered door up there!"
Mordremoth	While Shin cannonballs right into the bigger chak, he's discovering that even if they hurt, he can take them down with a little effort. The larger one crumples, legs snapping, and is defeated! That's good, right? It looks like that has finally triggered enough for the others to skitter away. Killing the hive mind, or the local one, helps a lot. Mordremoth speaks to Stygian Mirror! "I can read the script, but the language is not one I know, and this technology is new to me. Destroying this would be useful if it has anything that can hurt me. I am doubting this." It is more cautious than its brethren, but still an arrogant ancient dragon. The Mordrem stares at Scales offering to kill something for her. That's easy. "Yes," she replies, pointing at Khusso. "That one." The Pact Commander is the only remaining threat, now that the Marshall is gone. Killing Khusso, she reasons, will cause the Pact to fall apart before it can gather allies from outside of the world.
Khusso	With some golem defenders and laser blasts, plus skilled combatants like Chat Noir(with his WEAPON) hitting them... well, they seem to be taken care of swiftly. Chat doesn't have to kill them, either! Knocking the far enough away will cause them to reburrow, but it takes a LONG distance to do that. It is an option, though. Khusso wipes off her blade when the battle finishes up. "You shouldn't waste your mercy on them," she notes. "It's not like they're a bear guarding a den full of cubs. They're more like... ants." At least she can relate to wanting to spare the former... though she won't mention how many bears she's killed. Tact, she has it. "There we go..." Taimi is saying. "If we link up with one more node that should secure... most of the place."
Shin Tokuyama	"A tsundere. It means your romance is all reluctant and disguised by abuse that should realistically drive any sane suitor away, but the guy you're interested in puts up with that shit for some unknown reason until eventually you soften up." Shin explains, panting a bit in the aftermath of his fight as he adjusts his tie and the jacket he wears. It's now covered in scorch marks and monster gunk. Of course, Stygian only reinforced that stereotype with precisely what she said about getting lunch, "Yeah, see, Paramore." Another band name. Can't stop, won't stop. "That's exactly how a Tsundere would do it. You're good at this. Nice job." While he takes the breather to recover from the damage, he gives her a thumbs up and starts to head over to her console, peering over her shoulder, "So watcha workin' on?"
Khusso	Ainsley's journals are growing to something actually useful. There are no actual notes on the dragon research - those would be in the lab - but hey, there's a LOT of context here. Stuff about how the asurans fled the 'Gread Destroyer,' a servant of Primordus. About the sacrifice of the dwarves. And more, possible theories on how to approach the dragons and their nature. Some of it is old news but there are nuggets here and there.
Ladybug	Wincing as the tossed staff smacks into Chat's face, Ladybug winces. He should be way better than that! She's seen him react to /cars/ faster than that! Well, he is a Black Cat. Perhaps it is part and parcel of his luck. Or, his inhuman ability to just mess around constantly. The bugs get a few slings of her yo-yo, but Real Monsters just don't get Ladybug's heart into it. She'll defend Staren, Ainsley, and the console readily and with effort, but going on the attack isn't something she feels right doing. Purification powers? "Something like that." She agrees with Staren, her eyes examining the room for something 'needed'. "But also... If I 'fixed everything', I wouldn't want to bring back things that want to hurt us. It's never been a problem before - but when we've defeated the Akuma before, I'd set back everything to the way it was. If that meant bringing back a whole bunch of monsters, that'd be... Not great?" She replies, with HERO EXPOSITION! It's so much easier in Paris. She can't believe she just thought that.
Staren	At last the chak are down! Staren returns to the terminal. "Does this thing have a map on it?"
Stygian Mirror	<<You're one to take chances with these things? Interesting. Not surprising, but interesting. Alright, well... doing something to the computer is out of the question, so I'll try something else. I doubt it'll take a lot to mess with the research data.>> Mirror turns to look at Shin, shrugging. "Being saved by you, evidently, and being attributed a narrative role I didn't sign up for. I guess all in all it's not that unusual a day. Say... a hero like you would be beholden to keeping a secret, wouldn't he?" As her sword snaps back into one piece, she lowers it, pointed at the base of the console. It shoots again, but this time aims to tear through the ground. The animated upper half of the blade, still linked to the lower half by a tether of black Essence, guided by malice and intent to destroy, would then try to slither through the complex, following the wiring of the console. Hopefully, all the way back to a generator... or a server! Mirror has -no- idea what sort of central complex all these machines are linked to, but she doesn't really care or need to know. Whatever the sword can find, it's going to start hacking apart. IF it can find anything. The best it can do is follow wiring, conduits, anything-- if there's no such thing, or if complicated navigation becomes needed, all she'll have managed to do is break the console next to her.
Chat Noir	"Meow-rcy isn't reserved for bears protecting cubs," Chat Noir chimes in, leaning casually on his staff as he natters at Khusso, "I'm strong enough to get it done without cracking them open, so it just doesn't seem right to do it the easy way when it doesn't cost me much more to do it this way." This is the second actually thoughtful thing the cat-themed superhero has said all day. For Ladybug, it's probably the second thoughtful thing he's said in /months/. And he still managed to worm some dumb wordplay in. He jerks his head upwards and says, "I'm going to go check out that door above! If anybody else is coming, grab on. Ladybugs first!" A moment is offered for anybody who is interested to grab onto the staff before it extends upwards again, carrying whoever is grabbing on to it alongside the ledge with the powered door connected to it. They'll have to clamber off on their own power which is kind of nerve-wracking unless you're used to this stuff. Chat Noir is absolutely used to using his staff for mobility enhancement like this and slides off onto the platform, padding towards the powered door.
Shadowed Scales	A finger is pointed. The killer has her mark. It is not the first time, the Lunar has been pointed in a direction and told to kill. It will not be the last, she reasons, but now, her destiny is a bit more under her own control than it had used to be, during days long gone by. She offers this kill willingly. Those frigid eyes follow the Mordrem's gesture, locking upon Khusso from her vantage point. She eyes the Asura with an almost otherwordly hunger. And just like that, her conversation with the plant woman is over. She slips into a shadow. She practically becomes one with it. Rough scalry skin blending with her surroundings, she slinks like an eel overland, far too smooth and slippery, every motion without sound, seeking a better vantage point at first- scaling an old wall, creeping along overgrown and rotting masonry, finding a good... Spot. The dinner-plate sized spider that drops down doesn't bother with something so time consuming as subtlety. To a crature of this size, Khusso would make a feast of a meal, anyway as it brandishes fangs. But the poisons within them are nowhere close to normal, or natural... Luna's Spite is a potent venom, magical in nature; the victims that die to it turn deathly pale, and their eyes to mirrors of silver. To be inflicted with such a toxin would probably be nightmarishly painful, even if a hardy soul like Khusso will most likely survive.
Shin Tokuyama	"Life's funner that way. Don't worry, I think you make a good Tsundere," Shin replies, peeking over her shoulder at the console screen, "Suuuuure, I can keep a secret, if you ask me nice. Anything to trip more flags." He vaguely adds on. He's mostly watching her work and not doing much else, since that fight tired him out a lot.
Lin	With the Chak down and Staren focusing on the terminal... Lin manages to clean her sword with a simple slash-twirl and expertly sheathes it in almost the same fluid motion. In a hurry though she's poring over the handful of more-intact Chak corpses... and starts rubbing her chin. ".... Not sure what a good way to carry these things in bulk is, and they'll probably start to smell in no time... hmmm..." Her solution is as ridiculous and flashy as it is effective! Lin ruffles through her clothes and pulls out a sack... then extends a hand. Raw golden-orange Essence crackles and flares, solidifying from her palm outwards into the shape of a grand, slightly curved sword. A larger, more ornate version of what she'd just been wielding... though it glows liek a toch, bright enough that any details it might have are impossible to make out. With a few well-placed and swift strikes, she chops off claws and stingers and shears off huge chunks of chitin and stuffs the sack full of everything she can get. Then just ties the sack up and drops it there. Clearly intent on grabbing it on the way out. Because the next thing he does is... "Coming with you!" ... Grab a hold of Chat Noir's staff. Even if his puns are awful and costume ridiculous.
Khusso	Khusso sheaths her sword and looks at the superheroes. "I can respect your choice not to kill even these. It's inconvenient, but you're better people than I am. And if you can really purify things like that... we should talk, Miss Buginette." Hey, she just heard Chat Noir call her that, she doesn't know anything about it otherwise! But heading up to the door sounds like a great idea. Clambering up there gets Taimi excited, too. "This must be it! This has to be the-" She gets interrupted very shortly. In the meantime, ther eisn't a map exactly, but Staren can tell that the powered door is drawing some power while the rest is drawing a negligent amount. This is something. At least, he can tell that until the entire system shuts down, leaving just the local database up and running as all the connections are severed. Mirror can't destroy the power source, but sending that blast through the network has overloaded some conduits and blown them apart. It's going to take some repair work to get them running again... which means the lab is sealed unless someone wants to bring some heavy firepower in. In a more immediate problem. "OW!" Khusso wears heavy armor, but she has some exposed portions. Trying to smack the spider away doesn't stop the bite from hitting... and while she's resistant to toxins, that doesn't mean she's IMMUNE. She's dropping down almost immediately.
Staren	Staren looks away from the console at the sudden shout of 'ow'. Wasn't the fight over? There's a giant spider on Khusso! Staren draws two objects from his bag -- a roll of bandages with a lump at one end, and a phaser. He starts running to Khusso's side while firing stun shots at the spider, then stumbles to a halt as he realizes he doesn't want to get close until he's damn sure that spider's disabled!
Stygian Mirror	Though Mirror can't see it, she can feel the tug of her blade crashing into something. And then things happen. She'll take it. Her blade pulls back, snapping into one piece again. She clamps it back to her waist, turning away from the console. "You'd keep it even if I didn't ask nicely, wouldn't you? It's nothing big. I'd just prefer what happened here to stay between us, is all." No ulterior motives at all, nope. To her employer, she thinks: <<I don't know how much good that did, but hopefully more than none. I'll give you the same advice I'd give my lord in this situation... now that the city is unsealed, you shouldn't take chances. Invade and destroy it. Use it as a distraction. Khusso and her men will defend this area if you attack it, thinking the research to be your target. Make an uproar about it, while you send a secondary force to take a position you normally couldn't.>> She's no general, though. She's just very practical. Back to Shin. "Let's regroup with the others. And explain to me what these 'flags' are while we walk?" Might as well clear that confusion up. She's also going to pick up one of the bug corpses. Souvenir!
Shadowed Scales	Those little fangs find their mark. As soon as the Asura drops, the spider's jaws flex, preparing to deal out another hardy dosage of that mystical toxin, but it is denied. It is odd- it certainly doesn't move like a normal spider. Staren's phaser is clearly a weapon- that much is obvious from the way he brandishes it. And as soon as it is pointed in the spider's direction, its attention snaps towards him. That initial shot seems to hit- at first. Up until the last second. The spider seems to move like living silver, its body FLOWING around the shot to avoid it, before it leaps. Not at him but away. The element of surprise is lost and it has done plenty of damage. For every blast fired, the massive arachnid flips, a series of vaulting someraults that carry it like a living, eight-spoked, wheel away from the scene of its assault. Though one phaser blast catches it in the process, throwing it off the groove in a wilder tumble, it regains composure and momentum and rolls away into and under a missing piece of stonework, disappearing into the blackness beyond.
Ladybug	tLadybug, having decided that following after Chat was a good idea, throws up her Yo-Yo to spin around convenient (or, perhaps, simply spun around air like some sort of PS2 Spiderman, it could happen, it's off-screen so you can't tell!!!) and hoisting herself up with the recall of the string, zipping up just as... SPIDER-SHENANIGANS happen. "What's...?" She glances down, but she's off! To follow her garbage cat! In... powering a door? It's very unclear. "Don't destroy anything!" She calls, chasing after Karal and Chat. "I'm pretty sure using Cataclysm here would be /very/ bad!"
Staren	Staren STARES as the spider DOES ACROBATICS. "Somebody fucking catch it! We might need it to synthesize the antivenom!" But it's quickly gone. "Rrrrrgh!" Staren growls in frustration, and then hurries over to Khusso, about to apply the bandage when he realizes that the medichines inside don't know shit about Asuran physiology. "Uhhhh quick, anyone have anti-poison magic? I don't know if my tech will work right with Asurans..." Instead, he starts pulling herbs from his bag, gets out a small heating pad, puts a cup on it, pours water in it, puts the herbs in and starts stirring while focusing magic into the potion. "This might help, if you drink it..."
Chat Noir	"You're paw-bably right, My Lady." Chat Noir asides to Ladybug, folding his arms over his chest and looking 'round at the door's surroundings. He's missed out on all the stuff going on below because he... wasn't below. "I don't want to have to cope with a time limit all the way out here unless I've really got to." Tapping his foot impatiently against the ground, he turns back around and heads towards his main chamber. Really, he has no idea how to get that door open just now, and there's a bit of a ruckus he can hear back down below. They got rid of those spiders, so what's going on down there? He twists his staff, glancing towards the display on its face. Oh holy /crap/ it's late. Chat Noir turns grim-faced towards Ladybug, and points towards the staff's screen with a light clacking as his claw makes contact with it. He's still failing his spot check to figure out what happened below, and by the time he got back to his staff the giant spider had already skittered on its way like a demented acrobat.
Shin Tokuyama	"Yeah probably. Secrets are important." Shin replies, hands folding behind his head as he looks alongside her, "Oh all this? Sure. It'll be our secret. I just might ask you a favor in return some day. Like, I dunno, to beat up that other girl who seems to dislike you and is always mean to me. Just an off-hand example. Friendship is a two-way street and all." Shin stretches a bit. He reaches into his backpack and pulls out a bag of chex mix, Bold and Savory Flavor, and opens it as he walks with Mirror, holding it out so she can have some if she wants, "So flags are..." Cue a length explanation about dating sims here.