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Owner	Pose
Ishirou	The Desert area of Indus.  Parts of the old city of Indus stretch out here, desertification seems to have taken much of this area, perhaps it was due to the mana issue, or perhaps it was simply the construction of the city.  Perhaps the desert had always been there and had just grown out after the old Indus retreated away and let nature take what it couldn't defend.   In the desert, old buildings can occasionally be seen.  Some are made out of sand stone (definitely indicating that the desert was here before) leaving half-buried ruins.  There were also more modern buildings, in fact, one of the larger surviving structures was a large group of apartment buildings farther out.  The sand itself is firm in most places, but in some, it becomes loose and requires some careful navigation to get around.   The area where the signal came from was from the outcaste camp, those who had abandoned INDUS's wasteful and debaucherous life.  They lived lives without conveniences, eschewing anything but the basics of conveniences.  Here some people debate politics, or systems, or governance.  They are also, often, hostile to androids.  They don't attack, but they are made to not feel welcome.   Outsiders that wish to trade, who are neither android nor INDUS citizens are usually welcome.  However, oddly today they turn anyone away who comes close.  Asking about I4 gets shrugs, indicating he had not come this way, despite the closeness of his signal.  Without EVIDENCE it might be impossible to get in and look around.  Force is always an option! On the other hand, searching around the area might turn up clues.  Of course, there are other ways to get information, you can try a wider search, though it might be more difficult without some way to track down I4.  Of course, he seemed to be in danger, so time is probably NOT on your side.
Kale Hearthward	In Kale Hearthward's home world, he's a frontline bruiser - capable of soloing entire airships full of enemy forces, sky pirates, or just whoever had happened to catch the empire's displeasure at that moment. Out in the rest of the multiverse, though, in worlds where easy air travel, sharp vision and hearing, and universal windbending aren't the norm - but in the company of multiple people who can also take on armies - his role's shifted from 'frontline bruiser' to 'scout (but also frontline bruiser)'. Which is to say that right now he's scouting. He's taken to the air - jetboots turning on with just a click of his heels together - and has started canvassing the area from the sky above it. He's starting with whatever the Paladins were able to place as I4's location (or if not, then just a spot between the warpgate and the center of the desert) and searching out in a spiral pattern, his eyes remaining focused on the ground below as he looks for signs of I4, any camp he might have made, or just any sort of clues.
S6	S6 has her Type 51 Visor equipped again.     After transferring its functionality to her eyes, it feels strange to wear it. But it would be too easily out of place not to, and so she retains it as part of her recognizable 'look'. At the very least, she reasons, it keeps the desert sand out of her eyes.     It is this figure of Striker Six who confronts the villager on guard, her arms folded loosely. Beside her, the POD's arms are also folded, one manipulator claw tapping against the opposing waldo arm. The POD's antenna is extended from the boxy hull.     -CONFIRMED. SIGNAL IS NEARBY. LOCATION INDETERMINATE.-     "If you have not seen Inspector 4, then permit me to search the camp and verify. I will leave once my investigation has concluded," Her head inclines, "It is of great importance that I find him. He was tracking an enemy Officer who poses a significant threat to your community."
Rita Ma	Rita's perfectly ordinary girl clothes are poorly-suited to the desert. She droops in the heat, despite not visibly sweating, and chugs deep swigs of fresh water from a canteen stashed in her satchel; a little canary-yellow parasol spares her from the worst of the sun, but it's obvious this isn't how she meant to spend her evening.      Such short notice... but if it's a disaster, it can't be helped. If I'd had warning, I'd have eaten before coming here. As it is, it's been *hours*. My stomach feels like it's being stabbed with a frozen knife. Maybe once we're done here, I can barter for something with these villagers?      She tries to put her Hapless Imouto moves on the guards, adorable sad eyes and earnest pleading and all, but their hearts are evidently made of ice. Dejected, she turns to leave, trudging back over a sand dune. But...      Mr. I4 doesn't think he's much good at fighting, but he wouldn't just go quietly, would he? If they're saying they don't know anything, that just makes them suspicious. I have to know.      It takes her a few moments to get safely out of view of both the villagers and other Elites- Kale, soaring overhead, gets particularly close scrutiny from her; it isn't safe to cloak until his back is turned. Then, finally, she shimmers out of visibility, her mimic-octopus-like tentacle-wrappings perfectly camouflaging themselves against the background, and circles back around the side. Even her pretty parasol unravels into tendrils, revealed as a fraud.      Cloaked tentacles reach up to snag onto the top of the settlement's ruined wall like soft, silent grappling hooks, and then use their alarming strength to easily pull Rita's light body up too.      From her high perch, she surveys what she can see of the camp- are there any obvious signs of a disturbance? If I4's location isn't immediately obvious, she'll sneakily stick out her tongue, tasting the air for his scent. If the people here are averse to androids, that'll only make his trail stand out more.
Staren	Once again, Staren is SEKRITLY AN ANDRIOD, not that it's obvious from outside. Arriving to find the signal either missing or too faint to trace accurately, she's confronted by people denying that I4 is even here? Hmm. Staren asks a few people, simply stating the truth about following a signal here, watching their reactions, and feeding what she sees to a computer, to see if a specialized AI can spot the subtle tells that might indicate people trying to hide something... including any ill intentions towards meddling outsiders.
Kukuru	A strange distress call to a region of the desert that Kukuru is unfamiliar with. Normally, she wouldn't let such a call pull her out of bed or away from her duties at home, but a few choice pieces of information lead her towards approaching the desert village. First and foremost, it's a city of outcasts. They might be useful if they can be convinced to pledge their allegiance to the Concord. Secondly, however, it's the fact that I4 is missing. Even if he's not a member of the Concord, Kukuru's recognized him enough times by now that she has some small personal stake in his well-being. Thus, she arrives at the village, literally just appearing at the gates in a swirl of dark energy and vague wub wub noises. The initial refusal to let anyone in and general unhelpfulness as to his whereabouts doesn't have has the woman in white and green looking as pleased as she normally does. Still, she has ways to work with such stubborn people! Mostly in the form of cheating and trying to just cram thoughts into the villagers' heads that these Elites actually are worth helping and that they're friends of the outcasts, so they should be let inside. She even smiles broadly when she asks them for that again.
Ioanna Langstrom	INDUS.      Once again, Ioanna Langstrom finds herself in the same swirling black dress with the open cleavage window, the same black blindfold, the same overwrought floating sword behind her, the same false POD hovering over her shoulder.      It's not her choice. She'd've chosen something more convenient for the location. But she doesn't get to pick the outfit. She doesn't get to pick what the superhuman combatants of the place look like.      That makes it...inconvenient for her, and the others. The MCM is too spot-on. Too correct. It's not absolutely perfect, but it's close enough that it'd convince other androids - and thus, almost assuredly these people.      So Ioanna instead taps into any signals in the area besides the distress call. It's surface-level hacking, not much more, but if there's anything out there these people don't want them to see, she'll try and pinpoint it.
Kukuru	If Rita or anyone else comes by for food, meanwhile, Kukuru will dig out a plastic container filled to the brim with dense meatloaf (that isn't hyper-bready filler bullshit), chicken skewers minus the skewers, and little fishcake with bits of shrimp in them. It's actually kind of heavy and probably not a good idea to eat while also staying awake.
Lilian Rook	Deserts are trash. The worst combination of getting clothes sweaty and getting hair dry and brittle. Neither of those are things Lilian particularly worries about anymore, with sufficient preparation (this being automatically taken care of by not showing up to the middle of nowhere in her dress clothes) but she has to hate the spirit of the desert on principle. Hers bunch of poors unrelated to Indus is also largely not her concern. She surmises that they're a 'weird little gaggle of commies' via radio, but there is the *distinct* impression that she doesn't think that word means what everyone else things it means. Just because she looks down on Indus' way of life doesn't mean she particularly respects anyone else here. She'd heard from I4 that they're supposed to be in danger, but they don't seem very threatened at the moment, and she has ostensibly nothing to gain from interacting with them.     Except the fact that they aren't respecting *her* is unacceptable. So Lilian gives up all pretense of being 'some military-ish outside person with a way-too fancy hair clip' and begins interrogating strangers with the beguilement on as high as it goes before it starts making people non-verbal. She is questioning them pretty severely about the past while, soaking in all of their thoughts and feelings more than their answers anyways, and then briefly attempting to pay people off as a classy departure before realizing 'what the fuck are they going to spend it on?'
Ishirou	The Sky: Kale gets a longe range view from up high.  Thankfully there was a clear signal of where it went out.  It would put it less than half a mile from the small outpost's position.  Kale has also seen I4 fight, some of his moves are flashy because of the ordinance he carries.  There is no way that they missed this.   The fighting, if Kale goes to look, leads father away into the buried apartment buildings.  The sand hasn't had time to be blown away so there is a trail.  Three pairs of footsteps, two actively engaged in combat, one of which easily match I4, the other seems to be taking a wider range, and has come from the village.   City Wall: Rita from her perch can see a few things.  Triangulating with Kale can easily get her a good view of where the distress signal came from, and of course some singing of the nearby ground.  Some bits of glass formed from the heat of the weapon.  Obviously I4's POD, and once she's felt before.  From the position, it looks like it was being fired in a direction that seemed to take him away from the outpost, but deeper into the desert.   When she sniffs the air, there is a strange sensation.  She smells more than one android.  Five.  One is obviously I4, one is obviously one SIMILAR to I4, and three are androids with a worm in them.  All three of them are in the camp.  In fact, one of them is one of the guards refusing to let anyone in.  With how they are dressed for the desert, it's nearly impossible to tell them apart.  It's also double odd that they are not acting like a puppet, but rather a full-fledged member of this place.   I4's trial does seem to go away from the city.  So does the other android without a worm.  Oddly, so does one of the wormed androids, but it's hard to tell which one actually went, or if they returned.   Camp Gate: The lead guard crosses his arms at Kukuru who attempts to FORCEFULLY  get her way.  The other two guards look conflicted, they start trying to argue with their boss who firmly looks at Kukuru and says, "Absolutely not.  We have a situation ongoing ourselves and will resolve it ourselves.  Please leave."   They look at S6, and simply give them a single word, "No." Staren gets a little more.  Thanks to Kukuru's control, Staren can see that they DO know that something happened.  That someone went out to scout it, and that they absolutely do not want anyone around for some reason.   Ioanna can use her low-level hacking to detect there are technological signals beyond her ability to even attempt.  They similarly treat her like they do S6, barely giving her any notice.  However, she can track two signals in the village, one seems to be the head guard, another is far in the back.   Lilian, on the other hand, gets that these people are very secretive.  They answer questions.  Why are they here?  They reject INDUS's way of life, they think that it's what's causing the situation right now.  They seem to revere the earth, perhaps even think of it similarly to the Mother Earth Movement on most modern earth.   It's on this point that Lilian might get the feeling something more is going on here, because of their desire to talk about how things are terrible, but uncaring about the potential disaster heading towards them.  If POINTEDLY asked on that, they shrug, "All things return to the earth, eventually.  Why are we any different?"
Kale Hearthward	Ah. Paydirt. Almost literally - markings in the dirt. Sand. Whatever. "They didn't... see this, huh." As far as triangulating with Rita goes, it only reluctantly happens (if at all). There's... some stuff going on there between them. Stuff that isn't important right now. Kale leans forward, resuming his search - but in a much more focused direction, following the footprints, but a bit more hurriedly as he makes a few realizations. If it'd be impossible for those at the outpost to have not seen I4 fighting... ... Then they must be lying, if they're saying they hadn't seen him... ... and if they're lying, it's probable that they're on the side of whoever he's fighting... ... and thus it's likely that they're going to radio on ahead. He leans in further, pushing his boots to go faster, as fast as he can possibly go while still following the tracks. Stealth isn't a concern anymore, but speed very much is.
Kukuru	Try as the lead guard might, moving Kukuru with brute force is not going to get him anywhere. She just stands there, sock still as she looks up at the lead guard with a blank stare. "... The important thing is that you tried." She (barely) tries to reassure him with that, speaking with the same tone of voice that a teacher would use with a student that failing an incredibly basic math problem. "You should really be more honest about these kinds of things in the future, though. You never know who knows what you're not saying." She taps on the side of her head as if suggesting something, then looks up when she hears that Kale's got a lead. It takes her a moment to get a bead on how far away he is, but she soon disappears in another dark swirl and reappears behind the birdman only to start dropping out of the sky again. On her way down, however, she looks right back down to see where those tracks are going, then teleports again to land safely nearby before following them on foot. ... And also teleporting forward repeatedly so she can just follow them to their end point instead of actually having to walk that whole way. What she lacks in speed, she makes up for by just blipping from point to point effortlessly, large gaps in the ground or physical barriers be damned.
Rita Ma	There's something nagging at the back of Rita's mind. I4 had said that the androids with worms in them had their souls extinguished, hadn't he? Back then, they just behaved like puppets. But that one at the gate... she'd had a whole conversation with them.      Can those worms actually be people? Or did the androids not die when the worms were put in them, somehow?      She leaps back down from the top of the ruined wall, turns herself visible again, and- once the other Elites have dispersed- walks back up to the guard she'd identified as being a wormed android. Her expression is forlorn as she greets him with a wave.      "Um, excuse me, mister? I lost my umbrella somewhere. I didn't leave it here, did I?" It's a flimsy pretense, but it'll do.      I tasted one of those worms before; made its power part of me. And that means... they ought to serve me, like everything I've eaten does.      She makes a strange gesture at him, but one that could be easily dismissed as the restless fidgeting of a distraught girl. But it establishes contact between her and the worm inside him. In that moment, it is connected through that devoured essence to the biological singularity at Rita's core.      She is its child in need of protecting- no, its parent gently instructing- no, its Queen demanding obedience. Every natural instinct it has- and if it doesn't have any, new ones will be jammed into its mind for the purpose- is abruptly, forcefully bent to justify the conclusion of serving and protecting her.      She gives the worm a simple, silent, telepathic order: Blink twice. And then she voluntarily allows the connection to be severed, allowing it mental freedom once more.      It's an elegant experiment. Is the worm, itself, the person? Is it directing the android's actions? Or is it lying dormant inside the android's body, not yet having asserted control?
S6	The visor over S6's eyes conceals their narrowing when given such a blunt response by the gate operator. A tip across the airwaves prompts a somewhat different reaction, though she doesn't convey that change in position through her posture or poise. What does happen is the POD's antenna retracts and the drone clicks a few times. The antenna extends again with the support unit announcing, -DYNAMIC SCANNING MODE.-     That confirms it. The blue wireframe of an android skeleton and overlaying support systems. The glowing gold of important components scattered about. The unmistakable crimson alert of an imbedded foreign object. Immediately, S6's vision fills with the interface of the VRCS, a reflex she only barely manages to stop in time.     The swords across her back rattle for a split second, but do not actually move from where they rest.     Find I4 first. Engaging in combat may put him at unnecessary additional risk.     S6 unfolds her hands, resting her arms at her sides in a more ready position. Unaware of what Rita is trying to do, S6 presses a different tactic, "Where is Father Kalsus. Bring him to me. I would hear this rejection of a reasonable request directly from him."
Ioanna Langstrom	The two signals draw Ioanna's interest. There's two. Not three. But Rita says there's three in the village.      Are there?      She comments on it over the radio as she waits. The guards giving her looks don't bother her - she's been stoic for longer than they have. She might as well *be* an android for all the emoting she's doing.      Lilian gives orders. Ioanna complies. She starts running along after I4; the MCM lets her move a lot faster than normal, so she might be able to catch up with Kale as she races through the sands.      And, to her great pleasure, neither the high heels nor the dress actually get in the way. Instead the dress just swirls around her, and the C-SYS compensates for the high heels perfectly.      Which is great because otherwise she'd probably slip and break her neck on one of these sand dunes.
Lilian Rook	Rita makes a weird request of Lilian.     As much as she'd really like not to, she humours it anyways, and decides to stick around in the 'settlement' for a little while longer. Since Ioanna can't crack the other signals, and Kale has the trail, she suggests the former follow the latter and secure wherever I4 is ASAP. Kale doesn't have any kind of digital compatibility either, and she doesn't feel like relying on eyeballs alone.     But the people's words and attitudes bug her in a certain, specific way.     In the interests of both upholding her minor agreement with Rita, and compounding on the experiment, Lilian angles towards where the next null-worm-signal android is, and, from spicy 'ambush', casts Teleport Other to take them outside the walls and into a desert a short ways away, asking Rita to tell her if her target reacts.
Staren	Something about this gets Staren's hackles up. It's like that Mage's Association world making a big deal about maintaining a masquerade. This feels like people hiding something because it gives them a selfish advantage, and Staren has a strong desire to expose whatever it is on principle. Except its less of a principle and more of a strong gut feeling. There's probably some introspection to do there, but right now...     Right now, someone's found I4's trail! Staren excuses herself and runs off. Once out of sight of the guards, she drops pretenses of trying to be human and just runs after Kale at like a hundred miles an hour. "Geeze. This looks like what I did to part of Maslow Peak... Does I4 have such destructive weaponry? Or is it what he was fighting?"     Staren's built-in sensors sweep ahead, trying to get a fix on the signal... or any sign of ongoing activity at all.
Kale Hearthward	After sufficient radio badgering, Kale slows down a *little* so that people can catch up.
Ishirou	Rita: The worm does not respond to your command.  Though the guard DOES seem to focus his gaze on the new girl, who just tried to psychically command him.  He places a hand on his hip, once people have moved away, and she remains.  Though not everyone is gone...however, it does seem he's more willing to talk. Especially when that force was used on him.  At the end of the day, the worm seems to be in control.  He blinks twice, at her command and when released looks confused, like he had blanked out for a second.   Those who went with Kale: Things lead deeper into the desert, into the apartment complex half-buried in the sand.  Parts of the buildings are opened to the open air, while some are still fully closed off.  The trail of fighting seems to lead deep into some more ruins, what looks like a trail of something burrowing into harder sandstone, but also twisted metal.   There is the sound of distant fighting.  Running down there will quickly reveal...a scene.  I4, missing an arm is surrounded by several androids.  These androids all are without clothing, barely a body.  They're more like DOLLS than normal androids.  Some Androids are mingling in absolutely disturbing ways, while another group has another android pinned. The other android, as S6 can ID as S4, struggles as something is shoved down her throat.  Her body will start to twitch.  Above you, round objects seem to litter the ceiling.  All over the ground are abandoned clothing, though each piece set of clothing is underneath the round objects.  A larger Nullborn with the body of a person, and the legs of a worm seems to be laying these eggs.  Some eggs are open, and some of the androids here, the doll-like ones, are holding worms.   "Holy shit get away from me!" he shouts, firing another beam that hits the nearest android doll.  The worm dies in the beam, which causes all of the androids, and the null to scream in pain and anguish.  S4 soon starts joining the chorus. In the middle of the desert, a female android appears.  She starts running back towards the front of the building.  The man at the front does not seem to know, or if he does seems to give no indication of it.  However, if they stick around long enough the voice of the Father can be heard, "What just happened?" he demands of the group at the gate.  The voice does not match the body at all.
Staren	Huh, a building. Is it in use, or just here? The path leads into some kind of cave and--     Well, that's fucked up. KILL IT WITH FIRE is, indeed, what Staren is thinking. She barely takes the time to deploy a blast shield to hide behind (and maybe some others can too, if they get friendly) before warping in missiles which fire immediately at the worm-person nullborn, the eggs, and any androids that look like they might start trouble.     Plasma warheads just release such an intense amount of energy that rather than a raw shockwave of explosive force, the air itself is superheated to the point of becoming a soup of loose electrons and nuclei. A forcefield projects around Staren and anyone next to her as the expanding cloud of high-energy physics fills the area. Hopefully the nullborn are more affected than I4 or anyone else who gets caught in it!
Ioanna Langstrom	Corpses.      They aren't human corpses, but they're corpses all the same. They're moving corpses, dolls, nothing but dolls, a horrifying mass of dolls that walk and stumble and dance and play in awful twisted parodies of life, a horrifying mess of dolls pinning a person to the ground. A horrifying mess of corpses pinning a person to the ground. Is this what an android zombie looks like? Is this what they are, when they die?      I4 shouts to kill it with fire.      Ioanna can do fire.      She flicks her hand downwards. The sword hovering behind her slips under her foot. She won't have any meaningful accuracy doing this, but she's trusting in the superhuman power of the MCM to get here there anyway.      She waves her hand forward.      The sword blasts out of the sand, carrying Ioanna with it for exactly two feet before she leaps off the thing. She goes shooting towards the worm-ridden nightmare alongside the sword - which is now, quite literally, leaving a trail of fire in its wake.      The sword moves past her and stabs into a leg. Ioanna grabs onto it, puts one foot on the creature's leg, and drags the sword upwards to tear it free and leave another trail of fire. With her other foot she settles on the waist, and drives the sword down into the torso.      When Staren fires, Ioanna has exactly a blink of an eye to process what's going on, and then about that much time to react. But, as usual, she's a survivor.      The blade wheels around the creature. Ioanna slams her back up against the vile thing. Staren has a metal blast shield. Ioanna will use one of metal and flesh. It's skin-crawlingly awful even through the MCM. These are the things you do when you need to survive.      Her hair and dress ripple outwards. There's a bit of damage to the dress - people can see some orange hexagons on the edge trailing along where the dress just was, like a trail of particles. The loose bits of hair have some orange hexagonal particles, too; Ioanna's proper blonde peeks out from underneath.
Kale Hearthward	Oh, there's I4! We've found him, mission accomplished. We can all go home. Or... not. Yeah, lots of stuff to deal with here. The hawk decides that staying up *here* where nobody can shove worms into him is a good idea. The irony of not wanting worms inside him is lost in the action. I4 should probably not have worms in him, either. Or be in the middle of the sheer amount of firepower that's probably coming his way. Kale, still in the air, makes a snap judgement call - and just as quickly puts his plan into motion, halting his advance to hover in the air and quickly shaping a spell. Lifebreath spells are quick and simple - breathe out, catch the wind with your hands, and twist the air currents into knots with your fingers. It takes all of a second, to form the simple directional wind spell Kale wants, and at the end of the process he has a 'knot' of winds in the palm of his hand... Which he winds up and throws like a baseball, aiming to drop it right beneath I4's feet. A moment later it erupts - a fierce, very narrowly targeted updraft right beneath I4, trying to bring him up into the air where Kale's ready to catch him!
Kukuru	Poof. Poof. Poof. Kukuru doesn't show any signs of slowing down as she follows the trail, and she's long since given up on even pretending to look like she's walking by the time she sees the top of the half-buried apartment. Another poof later, and she sees I4 surrounded by a whole bunch of androids she doesn't recognize while slipping her oversized claws on over each hand. He requests fire. Staren and Ioanna oblige. Kale goes for the rescue. That gives Kukuru an opportunity to reappear by S4, taking note of the android's recent force-feeding and spotting a potential angle here! In this case, however, she doesn't really have the proper knowhow on how to perform surgery on an android so much as she can just try to separate this one from the others. She does this by closing her claws around S4, more than large enough to keep the android encased in a safe-ish shell of oversized knife-hands, then looks around for a safe spot that isn't going to be on fire in a few more seconds. Instead of picking a spot nearby, though, she just teleports right on back to the trail that had led the group here in the first place. With S4 separated from the other screwed up androids, her next trick: Seeing how thrash-y S4 is and if it's actually plausible to try and get that worm out versus just using her claws as an iron maiden. "Hey. Calm down. We're here to help, okay? If you understand, gimme a signal so we can start doing that."
Rita Ma	Rita's eyes go wide when the guard blinks twice. Her eyebrows climb her forehead in obvious, naked shock. The worm isn't just dormant- it follows her commands, which means...      The worm *is* the person, isn't it? That's the only way it makes sense. Does he even know what he is? ... Something's different between him and the ones in the lab. Maybe it's that he isn't connected to anything, like they were connected to the voice in the televisions.      Back then, they were just a vessel for control, weren't they? But now...      She's about to ask more questions when the radio chatter erupts in chaos. Rita flinches visibly, putting a hand to her ear and looking down and away. "I'm sorry, mister. I'm- we can talk more later, okay? I'll be right back."      Then she looks away, keying on her radio. Quietly: "Ms. Rook, please get me out. He didn't respond to whatever you did."      The last thing she presents to the guard before she's whisked away is a sympathetic smile. It's the kind that says "everything's gonna be okay".      It's gonna be real awkward if it takes Lilian a few moments to get here, and they're just left staring at each other.
Lilian Rook	<J-IC-Scene> Rita Ma says, "Ms. Rook, please get me out. He didn't respond to whatever you did." <J-IC-Scene> Rita Ma says, "The worm-androids in the village, I don't think they're slaved to anything like the ones at the lab were. And when they're not connected to anything, they're just..." <J-IC-Scene> Rita Ma says, uneasily: "People."     "I'll be the judge of that." Lilian mutters to herself, now watching the female android sprinting her way back to the walls without hesitation. She draws her sidearm, and takes aim at the back of the knee; can't have her reporting right back too quickly. Then two more teleports are in order. One for the android. One for Rita.     Lilian appears next to Rita on request, and then without asking, just hoists her up in a one-armed bridal carry so she can keep her other hand armed. The ammo counter projection reads 47. With Rita in arm, she disappears again, to bring her right outside the building that is currently a flaming shitshow.
S6	S6 keeps her focus on the guardsman obstructing her, patiently waiting for a response. She pays little mind to him acknowledging Rita, though finds it odd that he seems confused by her presence, not really able to connect the dots on what happened. Instead, based on what she's hearing on the radio, her focus shifts once more to the parasite curled around the android's mana battery. Calculations start rolling about in one corner of her vision, ascertaining the fastest way to remove it while minimizing damage.     The mystery girl gets abducted by the more familiar Lilian Rook. S6 notes this, but it all happens far too fast for her to do much about it. Her gaze returns to the guard in front of her.     In a flash of motion the larger of her two swords lurches from her back, sweeping in a waist-high horizontal cut. It could easily cleave the android male in half-- but she stops it very suddenly. That isn't to say S6 does not fully intend on burying the weapon in his side, but she does arrest all motion a mere millimeter from the blade touching the surface of his mana battery. Right into the soft body of the lamprey-like nullborn wrapped around it.     Just as suddenly as she aggressed, S6 withdraws her weapon in a sweeping motion to dislodge anything stuck to the blade. This entire motion carries out through the VRCS' golden runes around the sword's hilt, S6's body does not actually move at all, though her expression shifts to one of faint discomfort.     It's this scene that the mysterious female android with Kalsus' voice will happen upon, and S6's forcibly calm voice: "Father Kalsus, you have changed since last I saw you."
Ishirou	Kale knocks I4 into the air, to perfect combo with himself and get him out of harm's way.  I4 has never, and will likely never, be so happy to see Kale again in his life.  "Oh my god, please I never want to see a worm again in my life..." he says, extremely distressed.   Kukuru grabs S4, the worm is still trying to burrow down into her, with a grab she could yank it out, but it might cause damage.  Then again, it'll be FAR WORSE if left there.  I4 has been known to be able to hack living objects though, should she want assistance...or act now! Staren and Ioanna lay down hell into the room, burning alive androids with worms, worms held by androids, eggs on the ceiling that make a sickening POP noise and then fall off the ceiling and scream as they cook alive.  They don't scream like small worms... But like humans. The giant nullborn jumps from her position to crash in front of the two, swiping her massive hands to try and knock them from her feet.  She has the rage of a mother who just watched her children burn to death. You know, because she has! "Whhhhhhy!  OUR PEOPLE!  WE SHALL BE...THE NEW GODS OF THE EARTH!" She curses, seeing Ioanna's dress.  "INDUS...INDUSSSSSS!" she screams, releasing a huge amount of mana.  She appears to be charging something terrible! This is the situation that Rita and Lilian appear in.  The field of energy is building in the background, but is it an attack?  What is she doing?   "You've killed us..." Kalsus says, coming over the hill to see S6 cut through one of his own.  The village back up, screaming...things turn into pandemodiumn.  The 'Father' collapses into the ground slamming her hands into the sand.  "Why did you not leave us alone.  The nullborn were to be our saviors...the dead and abandoned androids to be our cacoons into a new existence..."
Ioanna Langstrom	They're people.      The Nullborn are people.      And, to be perfectly honest...      They probably deserve this world more than the people of Indus.      But that doesn't matter right now. Right now what matters is that Ioanna, and others she's here to protect, are in critical danger. She can't feel remorse about fighting back, about protecting her ally. Later she can find out what happened. Later she can come back here. In this, moment, Ioanna Langstrom is going to do her damnedest not to die.      The creature shrieks.      Ioanna pulls off her FluxComm blindfold. Her eyes lock onto the worm's.      "This is a misunderstanding," Ioanna says, "I don't serve Indus. I serve the Paladins."      "You're intelligent. You're a selflike."      She holds up her hands. "We didn't know. I'm so sorry."      "I'm so sorry."      Her voice is strained.
Kale Hearthward	"I got you - hang on," says Kale, keeping a tight hold on I4 around the middle. Fortunately his magitechnological contrivances mean that he doesn't actually have to 'lift' I4 up as much as just hanging onto him to bring him along for the ride. "Um - are you stable? Not leaking anything that'll kill you if you leak too much of it? I know you're injured and everything but it looks like this has gone beyond the scope of trying to rescue you to dealing with all of this," says Kale, glancing from I4's missing arm then back down to the ground below. "So if you're stable we might need both me and you to stay on the field here."
S6	S6 finally shifts, turning her back on the fallen android to face Kalsus fully. Her bigger sword sweeps forward and she places her hand on the hilt, seizing direct control and using it to point at the prostrated ladybot.     "The Nullborn are antithetical to human life. So you ceased being human...by killing and stealing the bodies of androids?" Her second sword, the smaller blade, flips off of its hovering placement and lifts up beside her face. The blade slides beneath her blindfold, then jerks outward, cutting the Visor away completely. The anger she's stopped trying to contain. It wasn't clear with the blindfold in the way, but once it's out of the way: S6 is clearly furious, and she wants Kalsus to know it.     "Do you expect me to just accept that?" She takes one step forward, now side-on, giving her more reach with Virtuous Treaty, "Androids are people. The same as humans. You are killing us to save yourselves. How many suffered? How many screamed when you killed them?" Twisting her weapon, she switches it so the blade curves upward, showing the dark, ichorous stain left on the edge by the creature she killed, "How many cried when you put parasites inside them?"     "You say you reject Indus but you really are exactly the same."
Kukuru	Unfortunately for S4, getting I4 to HACKING BEAM the work out of there doesn't quite occur to Kukuru as a valid option in this situation. It's not because she doesn't know he can do that, because he's done it to her before. Instead, it's because her patient is right here, and she's a field medic. Thus, it's time to be a field medic. First step: Isolating the cause. Using one clawed hand to keep S4 pinned down for her own safety, Kukuru focuses her gaze on S4 throat and chest. She's looking for the slightest signs of movement to isolate how far that worm's gone, and then she slips a handkerchief into S4's mouth. "Bite down on that. This is gonna hurt, but you'll be okay." And then it's time to operate! Figuratively, anyway, as it really just looks like Kukuru's carving S4's chest/neck/relevant region open with the tip of her other claw. Once she sees the worm, she tosses the operating-claw aside, then just reaches in to yoink it out! Delicately, though. She's trying not to harm the worm in the removal process, but she does hold onto it firmly in case it tries to wriggle out of her hand. "You, settle down. And you..." She looks back over at S4, then moves right onto the next step. Healing nanites flood out of Kukuru into not just S4 to close up the impromptu field surgery wounds, but also into the worm. As she does this, she also plants the same thought into both of them: You're safe now. The Concord are your allies, so please trust us. Work with us.
Rita Ma	On being scooped up, Rita emits an "eep!"-approximate Surprised Imouto noise. "Oh!" To her credit, aas an experienced little sister, she knows exactly how to sling her arms around the back of Lilian's neck to be easily-supported. "Thank you-      ----      "-Ms. Rook," she finishes at the destination. It doesn't take Rita long, after being set back down, to process her surroundings- barely a fraction of a second. Her eyes, Lilian could note, eventually land on the ammo counter on her gun as their last stop. Her eyes widen again, body tensing slightly. Then she relaxes again, after an instant of internal struggle.      I told Ms. Rook not to kill them. There's no point in asking now. I just have to trust she didn't mess it up.      But this one, the mother of them all... I can't forgive that one. These androids were people, too, just like Mr. I4 and Ms. S6. I don't know if the worms had a say in how they came to be, but she's a murderer for certain.      Rita's body subtly shimmers as her invisible true form steps out of its disguise-wrappings. Her false body rushes forward in a very human sprint, as if aiming to tackle the horrible monster to the ground from the left-      -no, it dissolves into nothingness right as the giant Nullborn might try to intercept it, and she's really leaping in from the right-      -no, that's a feint too, and she's really behind her already. Rita's palm is pressed between the Nullborn's shoulderblades. Whatever the monster's building up mana for, she isn't going to let it happen.      However much energy she has, it isn't enough to fill my hunger. I'm sure of it. And tasting these worms has taught me a new way to eat.      Crackling energy courses up Rita's arm and into her body as the magic is drained out of the Nullborn, in exactly the same way as the worms draw power from the androids' mana-batteries parasitically. Her own eyes go wide, glowing with an ominous blue as she feeds. "You're disgusting," she says, her voice quiet and soft. "Murdering those androids just so your young can feed. Did you think your turn would never come?"      Of course, she won't stop at cancelling out the magical effect. If her draining is effective enough, she won't stop until it's an empty husk.
Staren	Staren kills it with fire.     The screams aren't all THAT concerning. Shouting about being gods wins the nullborn no friend in Staren.     But then Ioanna speaks up.     A memory comes to Staren's mind; saving soldiers from giant, larval monsters only to learn that it was the human-looking ones who were in the wrong, who'd provoked a fight with a guardian's children. She told herself she wouldn't make this mistake again.     But now...     I SHOULD HAVE KNOWN BETTER     She really should have. After everything. Being brought up in Lazlo of all places, fearing the distant Coalition. Letting zealotry consume her to the point that she tried to purge part of herself for not thinking like a human enough.     How many beings did she just murder? She has to undo it... but she can't. 'I didn't know, you looked bad!' is the excuse of the idiotic 'heroes' who only keep the world bad for for the downtrodden.     Staren's collapsed to her knees, albeit behind the scorched remnants of the barrier, a tear sliding down her cheek. The mother-creature is charging up some sort of big, telegraphed attack.     No matter how much bad you've done, you can do so much more good! Keep fighting! You can't change the past, but you can still make a better future!     The thought that would once have echoed clear through her mind, given her strength... feels so distant and hollow now.     If that can excuse anything no matter what... then it can't really excuse anything at all, can it? I can tell myself that even as I force some twisted 'perfection' on the whole Multiverse...     Do something! You'll die!     Maybe I deserve it... Maybe this is where they stop me, before 7AM...     Dumbass, we're immortal. You'll probably survive anyway...
Ioanna Langstrom	Rita starts drinking.      Ioanna's seen enough Elites to recognize that sort of sign. She may not know the exact way it works - indeed, obviously she couldn't - but she knows draining power when she sees it. And it might just be draining away power, to stop it from fighting...      But...      But not the way Rita's talking.      Ioanna moves. She moves fast. She moves very, very fast. While Rita's distracted by her feeding, Ioanna moves around the torso. She grabs Rita's hand. She not strong enough to just rip it off the worm, or move anything else, but she doesn't need to. She just needs to disrupt the flow.      She starts burning.      It's not hitting the suit, after all. It's hitting her. It's drinking her life, her blood, her power to stand, her living. It's drinking her ability to continue existing. It's drinking her life.      Still she holds on. As her grip starts to weaken she grabs Rita's wrist with the other hand, but that's getting weaker, too. As the MCM starts to waver, orange hexes disintegrating around her, she stares at Rita. Her voice is getting weak.      "Then..."      "When you kill me..."      "You'll be a real monster, too."      "Because I won't..."      "I won't let you..."      "Kill..."      "These..."      "People..."      She's losing consciousness. But she's still clinging to Rita's wrist with all the strength she has left. Her eyes start to waver. "I won't...let you...kill people...pushed into a corner...and..."      "Defending...themselves..."      "From..."      And then her eyes close. She wavers. She can't speak anymore.
Lilian Rook	"They're fine." Lilian says, unprompted to Rita, as she slides free from her arm. Just like she knows what she's thinking. No, she probably does. She always seems to. There's something unspoken, there. They're just in time for Staren to burn the room, for Ioanna to scorch the root, for-- all of it to go very wrong. <Tac-Paladins> 4 Ioanna Langstrom, sternly, says, "Dame Commander, I suggest you restrain that woman. This could lead to an incident that will make our jobs much, much harder in the future."     "No." 'This is a misunderstanding.'     "It isn't." 'You're intelligent. You're a selflike.'     "I said I'd be the judge of that." 'We didn't know. I'm so sorry.'     "And that's not good enough Langstrom." 'I'm so sorry.'     "Not nearly good enough."     Lilian's spoken tongue changes. "Listen to me, Langstrom." She re-holsters the sidearm, magnetized to her thigh.     "By the Eleventh Code, 'Thou shalt kill without hesitation. Doubt proves thou art not fit to take away life, nor to offer it.', I declare you unfit to choose whether to kill or spare." She pulls the glamered sword from her back instead, gossamer glass and polished lodestone scraping eerily, recursive etchings smouldering red.     "By the Tenth Code, 'When thou speak from authority absolute, so must be thy judgement. Thy word remains true even if the mind does not. None shall follow one who countermands their absolute judgement.' I declare your judgement compromised." She trudges forward, to one of the charred worm corpses, stopping with a crunch of her heel over its carbonized head.     "By the Twelfth Code, 'Those who die for the greater good hath their reward. The many outweigh the few. The righteous outweigh the unjust. Stay thy hand not for unnecessary persons.' I declare this cult of murder Unrighteous, and its cultists Unnecessary." She raises Night Mist over the dead nullborn. Its shadow contracts into a single line, and then turns a negative, lightless white beneath its point. The air throbs with a single, unwholesome heartbeat.     "By the First Code, 'Thou art responsible to thy blood first above all else, both the blood of thy line, and the blood shed for thee.', I declare my responsibility is to the comrades who have shed blood for us, and not the beasts that attempt to prey upon them." The black sword plunges straight down, and vanishes through its own negative shadow.     "Cleasa ~ Scriosadh Fola"     What better a sympathetic, arcane connection than the literal child of a mother? A freshly burnt sacrifice, in fact. It takes Lilian almost no effort to translate the act of 'piercing the heart' through the immolated spawn into the flesh and shared blood from which it'd sprung. Ioanna's struggle with Rita, and the question of friendly fire, are rendered moot on her part, as she expects only the inevitable gore of having a fractal of sword strokes appear from inside a target's heart.     "And by verse of the Thirteenth Code, 'Thou shalt never heed the words of that which has consumed the flesh of man. Thou shalt never heed the words of that which begs thy reply. Thou shalt never heed the words of that which abides not adversity nor attainment.' I declare that there can be no understandings with these things that can only exist in our world by treating human souls as prey."     "Android, Indus, I don't care; the sentence is death already."
Ishirou	S6: "Like them?  They waste and drain and are a parasite...ha, I guess in a way we would be like them, except to something hurting the world anyway." "You likely scattered the people into the sands, they won't last long out there without others.  Or more of your 'allies' will go murder them.  You don't get it, do you..?" "We used the scraps that Indus had created to find a way for humanity to exist in nature.  If you think there was any other way to make this possible that we wouldn't do it?  The mother in the cave made her sacrifice willingly.  The rest would follow...we would find rebirth.  To use the weapons of our enemy...to align with the will of the planet." "But that dream is dead, you and yours killed it.  We wished to be left alone in peace..." he says.  Slowly she points a hand towards the direction of Indus.  Magic is charging, and a bolt flies.  The spell probably could do little, or would it even get anywhere..?  But the Father grins.  The second shot aims for S6, clearly knowing it's suicide by S6. Kale: Kale manages to get I4 to safety.  He just lays where he's put too tired to even do much but sigh and is thankful he's not worm food.  He does give Kale a smile, "Thanks man...I didn't think you liked me much." Kukuru, Ioanna, Staren, Rita, and Lilian: You managed to get the worm out, and S4 is more...herself, even with the damage taken from what just happened.  She takes a moment to orient herself, looking at Kukuru.  The worm itself is likely also calmed by the words, but it looks hungry. S4 draws a weapon, not at Kuruku, but at the giant Nullborn.  Rita's attack drains mana before Ioanna interferes.  Preventing the creature from completing what it was trying to do.  Staggered by the attack, and completely caught off guard by Ioanna's sacrifice it actually did not know what to do.  Hurt and pain from the loss she suffered, but the fact that someone from Indus tried to...? Until its heart is stabbed through the connecting from Lilian.  It looks down seeing the blood slowly pouring out.  Feeling its life slowly starting to fade away.  It collapses, looking at the wound, unable to comprehend what happened.  It slowly craws towards one of the other worms, still alive.   All it can do is cradle it with the last of its strength, before it too parishes.  With it, all of the remaining dead worms and start to fade away, as mana pools in this are and are disbursed.  What is created is an oasis, in the middle of the desert, a place of life created from the death of something so monstrous.  Honestly, I would probably be happy with this outcome as well.   In the distance there is a rumbling, something is moving through the sand nearby, but it appears to be getting farther away.
Rita Ma	Rita looks straight at Ioanna for just a moment. Her eyes go wide; her expression shifts through shock into realization, and then anger.      And then her body dissolves one more time. Ioanna's grasp is having the desired effect, but it's not an arm that she's holding onto as the illusion dissipates- it's a tentacle that's doing the mana-draining, translucent-smoky indigo-blue and cruelly ridged. And it's connected to...      Rita's true form- or part of it. It's finally revealed, standing just a few feet off to the side of where her last decoy body was. She's still a short girl, still with pale skin and blonde hair. But her body is cruelly shot through with veins of alien flesh, branching under the surface like a second circulatory system, and occasionally erupting through the skin into monstrous new features. Gleaming scales and feathery fins and translucent lappets adorn her torso like a grotesque dress.      The right side of her face is eaten away with the worst of it, new leviathan-flesh showing through like a branching tumor where the human meat has yielded. Her left eye is still brown, but the right eye is cruel icy blue, and its pupil is distorted into a cross like that of some exotic cuttlefish.      Her expression is irate, but her voice is quiet and quavery. "You talk a lot."      She doesn't know what she's doing. I've tasted her- not her flesh, but her energy, and that started the hunger too. It's like chilled barbed wire's being dragged through my insides. I want to rip her apart, tear her muscles from the bone and swallow them down one by one just to make that feeling go away. But I won't. I won't. I won't!      Instead she cocks her hand back. The punch that connects with Ioanna's skull is so fast that it's heard and felt, but not seen. There's a noise like a whipcrack, a fluttering wind, and a bone-rattling impact fit to reverberate through her entire skeleton.      "But I don't care. I know what I am. And I know what I'm doing. Find something better to die for than making me feel bad."      Invisible tentacles wrap around Ioanna's weakened body, then shapeshift into the appearance of iron chains, seeming to materialize out of thin air. Rita takes a few deep breaths of air while staring at her adversary, but doesn't bother kicking her while she's down.      She straightens up in time to see the Nullborn worm fall, and catches Lilian's eyes with her mismatched pair. There's gratitude, at first, as she realizes who put the monster to death. Then abrupt self-consciousness- Rita flinches back with a jolt of fear on realizing how she looks.      She wraps herself in invisible tentacles and disappears from view, perfectly melded with the background of the newly-formed oasis.
S6	Kalsus raises a hand. S6's reaction is immediate. A single step forward, leaning into the lunge and bringing Virtuous Treaty in an upward arc. The spell fires off, wild and off to the side, harmlessly as far as S6 can tell. The arc of her sword severs that extended arm and she immediately swivels the blade, drawing it down on the other arm the same time the second spell goes off, searing up her extended arm and into the wall behind her.     The Striker then pushes forward, raising a foot to shove Kalsus' android form onto her back. She is then pinned there, S6 placing her weight on the center of her foe's chest. Virtuous Treaty is aimed down, held in one smoldering hand. Contract, wrapped in the runes of the VRCS, floats beside it, both blades aimed at Kalsus' face.     "By the authority placed in me by the Paladins, Father Kalsus, you are under arrest."
Kukuru	Somehow, someway, the universal language of hunger is clear to Kukuru even when it comes to this weird little worm thingy. Ignoring the blood or blood equivalent probably covering herself already, she reaches into her pocket, fishes out one of those densely packed fishcakes, and offers it to the creature. Assuming it takes the meal, she withdraws both the worm and the fish wad into her pocket for safe-ish keeping, then turns her attention back to the giant Nullborn. She doesn't make any attempts to attack nor save it, though, as her job as a field medic comes first! Namely... Finding I4 to get him back on his feet as well. Once again, she teleports to cut down on actual travel time, then scans him briefly to locate the worst injuries first. "This seems like a bad time to ask about all the details about this place, so... Um." She glances over at the oasis as it springs to life, squinting at it in confusion before shrugging her shoulders. "... Later. Lemme know if I miss a spot." And then she gets right back onto healing duty, pumping him full of nanites as well to mend whatever might still be leaking or infected or whatever. Kukuru also avoids mentioning the worm in her pocket. What he and the Paladins aren't thinking about can't hurt them, especially after hearing and seeing Rita's and Lilian's strongly felt opposition to the Nullborn's existence. Besides, keeping this one around might be useful once she gets back home.
Ishirou	The 'Father' is on the ground, but with a SNAP her legs attempt to try and sweep, moving at unnatural angles.  There is a moment, where something starts to happen.  S6 knows what is about to happen immediately, and the attempt to snap their legs wasn't trying to get away but to trap S6.  "I won't be going alone..." They're self-destructing. Assuming nothing is done, in moments the Android starts to overload, leaving a massive explosion in their wake.
Staren	No attack comes.     The world around Staren comes back into focus. The worms are dead. Lilian and Rita did something, and Ioanna is down?     Staren replays her sensor feed, and watches, horrified, as Lilian demonstrates exactly what Past Staren's idea of 'What I have to be for the Concord to respect me' actually looks like in action. THIS is someone so self-assured, and able to carry it out without hesitation. THIS is someone no one would ever doubt as a Hand -- someone who would *allow* no doubt from others -- and who would stand up, say something, and maybe give even Seifer pause. Who knows how that fight would go, but it wouldn't be a foregone conclusion.     And the zealous devotion to a code is just giving Staren MEGA BAD FEELS right now. She's seen what happens when she goes down that path...     Even if she wanted it, it's closed off. She just can't be that person anymore.     Staren stands up, and looks over the fallen Ioanna. Sensors analyzing what treatment is required. She looks briefly between the two Paladins. Does she need to get Ioanna away? Somehow, that doesn't seem like it will work. So instead, she just administers any treatment required for immediate stabilization, and then turns to Lilian, steeling herself. "I think you were better when you were capable of feeling remorse for what we did to Mosura."     And then she *fuckin' runs*, because she realizes too late that might just make Lilian *actually mad*.
S6	As soon as S6 realizes what Kalsus is doing, she draws Virtuous Treaty in against her body, the arc of the blade curving out. The desperate android wraps their legs around her, trapping the sword between them. With a frustrated scream, the Striker wrenches on Treaty's hilt, leveraging the sword against her shoulder with the aid of the VRCS. She throws all of her strength into it, drawing Virtuous Treaty up in an arc and cleaving the hostile android in two with a spray of crimson fluids, shot through with the distinctive glowing blue of a mana battery's contents.     The corpse falls away from her, both swords drop, impaling the sand when the runes of the VRCS fades. Shaking, S6 remains standing, her dress stained scarlet all down the front. As she composes herself with a deep breath, her stance finally relaxes.     It takes a minute before she moves again, twisting in place and dashing into the desert. Her discarded weapons dissolve in flurries of golden sparks, re-appearing across her back as she runs.
Lilian Rook	With the broodmother nullborn dead, Lilian's second concern becomes her main concern once again. I4: rescued, accounted for. Kale: unharmed, accounted for. Ioanna: incapacitated, breathing, status unknown. She's seen the iron chains once before. On the train. Rita. "Rita?" she calls out, naturally slipping back into English. "There you are." she sighs. It's a more caring look than she'd given her own allies for a moment. "Can you--" But it isn't reciprocated. Rita disappears. <J-IC-Scene> I4 |S4 says, "Now, if you would step asside, I have my orders to complete." <J-IC-Scene> S6 says, "Orders?" <J-IC-Scene> I4 |S4 says, "By order of the Consul of Indus, I4 has been marked for termination." <J-IC-Scene> S6 says, "Nnh..." <J-IC-Scene> Lilian Rook says, "You're ordered to stand down, S4." <J-IC-Scene> I4 |S4 says, "I am not a Paladin." <J-IC-Scene> Lilian Rook says, "True." <J-IC-Scene> Lilian Rook says, "But I'm in charge now." <J-IC-Scene> I4 |S4 says, "This is not the Commonwealth either." <J-IC-Scene> Lilian Rook says, "Are your acoustic sensors malfunctioning?" <J-IC-Scene> Staren says, "I don't think she's claiming authority on local legal grounds." <J-IC-Scene> Lilian Rook says, "I didn't say anything about the Commonwealth." <J-IC-Scene> Lilian Rook says, "I said *I'm in charge now*." <J-IC-Scene> Staren says, "'We're the Union, and we're here to help you. Do what we say or we'll pound your face in because you must be one of the bad guys.'"" <J-IC-Scene> I4 |S4 says, "I question your logic processes. You have no authority to claim as such." <J-IC-Scene> I4 |S4 says, "If you wish to handle that, I can wait." <J-IC-Scene> Lilian Rook says, "I'm here to handle I4." <J-IC-Scene> Lilian Rook says, "You can take my orders, or you can find out what happens next." <J-IC-Scene> I4 |S4 says, "I am afraid I ha-" a pause, "Had my orders. It seems that there is a emergancy signal being raised in INDUS." <J-IC-Scene> S6 says, "...Emergency signal? ...Kalsus. Kalsus missed a spell before forcing me to kill him. He must have done something. I did not have enough time to analyze what it was." <J-IC-Scene> I4 says, "..Bullette."     ". . . I know you're still there. Take a minute. Get your face back on. But don't spend too long in there. We still have work that needs doing. People that need helping. Monsters that need killing."     And Staren's running is irrelevant. Lilian only needs no time at all to get right beside her, and while anticipating an attack, simply trip her face first onto the ground. All the better to talk down.     "This is as much your fault as Langstrom's, conceited little twat. Flinging missiles at the problem the instant you see it, escalating us to where we are now, and then turning weepy and useless not seconds after, leaving everyone else in danger. 'Remorse' isn't worth shit. Your good intentions don't matter. Your noble sorrow doesn't amount to anything. That room is scorched black because of you, and feeling sad about it doesn't make it any better, and it certainly doesn't make you any better than me."     "Nobody has any use for 'heroes' so backwards that they think with their weapons and fight with their feelings. Wastes of space like you are a threat to everyone else and themselves. Be glad that Rita and I came with enough determination to make up for yours."
Rita Ma	There's a pause of just a couple seconds after Lilian addresses thin air. For a heartbeat, one might almost believe that Rita really is gone. Then 'thin air' sniffles softly.      "Okay," Rita says in a slightly muffled voice, with a soft rustling sound indicating wiping her face. She doesn't have to focus on keeping a brave expression like this, so she can dedicate all her effort to steeling her voice instead, but it just comes out as trying to sound firmer than she really feels. "I'll be ready again in a second. ... Thank you, Ms. Rook."
Staren	Yeah, Staren didn't really think she could run from a teleporter if she actually drew Lilian's ire, but she wasn't confident enough to just swagger away.     She's a robot, but the disguising 'skin' is flesh. Hitting the dirt still leaves her face scratched and bloody. She looks up at Lilian defiantly.     Tune her out. Don't listen. She's just trying to manipulate you.     Maybe if I actually listen to her, we can still engage?     Once again, failing to have a strong position to commit to just denies Staren even the chance to save face by looking unfazed. The truth in the words hurts and it shows, though she doesn't break down again.     But I4 needed help! He asked for this! ...That's just denying responsibility for your actions.     I did leave everyone else in danger. If I'd come back and Ioanna didn't...     But Ioanna being in danger was Rita's fault!     Was that a correctly-gendered insult? n_n     Lash out with words! Say 'At least I'm not a hero like you!' That sounds dumb and is possibly a self-own.     Okay okay, there must be SOME way to hurt her! How about 'At least I'll go back to allies that love me!' The Paladins probably *do* love her! And if that actually pisses her off, she'll make my life hell! Is that what I am? Afraid of a single elite? Yeah. Being afraid doesn't make me weak! ...Well, okay, it doesn't make me worthless! ...Yeah. Yeah, I've always been.     The moment for a response passes. Staren isn't able to come up with anything, which is, perhaps, the uncoolest option. But one more thought crosses all of her mind:   She actually bothered to come after us. That means what we said got to her.       Lilian can't read her mind (wait, CAN she?! That's a terrifying thought...) but *something* makes Staren look a bit less hurt as she stands up and turns away and keeps walking, slowly this time.