Scene #8904: This Is So Sad, Emmy Play 'I Am All Of Me'

Owner	Pose
Petra Soroka	Concurrently with Aidan's fight versus Xion and Petra in the Quicknest Capital arena. . . The mining tunnels beneath Aidan's hometown connect to a cave system with other entrances besides the one in town. Aidan, of course, knows where they are, can mark them on a map, guide a path through and beneath the foothills to approach the town hidden from the eyes of any turret or robot Petra might've set up there. It's up to Ishirou and Sarracenia still to remember the route, maybe with some dungeoneering help from whoever Aidan sent with them, but Ishirou can certainly be trusted to remember things, especially when those things are necessary for him to not get shot a bunch of times. It's Aidan's home, after all, the specific houses and bars and roads he knew and Petra openly derided. Who knows what kind of elevated spite she might have directed towards it, for the sake of making Aidan's life miserable? Whatever she did do, though, she didn't pay so much attention to the town that she bothered to consider an infiltration via underground tunnel. There's no bot patrols, no sensors or cameras they notice-- and Ishirou would-- and no automated defenses to hinder their way through the hour of trekking in damp, earthy darkness. They're almost at the exit into the mining camp Aidan would have worked at, within town, when the first sign of something wrong comes with a sound, rather than a sight. Plinking, like water droplets tuned to the precision of a xylophone, echoing down the tunnel from further ahead. Approaching the sound, they start to notice splits in the rock at their feet, hairline fractures that don't seem to be caused by a lack of structural within the tunnel. Little glimmers of whatever light source they have catch within the cracks, and when waved around, there's more hints of reflections coming from within the wall, and the ceiling, and then sprouting out of a crack in the ground is a tiny, perfect, metal flower. The source of the sound, once they go far enough to see it, is a trickle of Silver, identical to Petra's morphmetal, dripping out of the ceiling where symmetrically radial Silver roots spread out away from the center of town, leaking excess morphmetal slick off the sides. The morphmetal collects into a pool in a dip in the tunnel, with more of it running in rivulets of overflow, creating an inch deep sea of weighty, hydrophobic metal for the freedom fighters to trudge through. It doesn't actively move to harm them, and Ishirou can check-- it's subtly* different from Petra's own morphmetal. Following it to the source, following the roots to where they spread from, is exactly the direction they were already headed: out, and into the town. More flowers, each perfectly, pristinely gleaming, pattern the ground the closer they get, growing from cables and glittering earth.
Ishirou	Ishirou can follow instructions, and does! He helps lead the way forward, POD floating behind him helping with navigating the underground tunnels, and even if there wasn't any light it wouldn't hinder his ability to navigate them. Ishirou is decked out in his RESCUE armor straight away because regardless of what happens, they're likely going to be in a firefight the moment they get to where they are going. Then the strange morphmetal. He calls a halt to the progression, seeing it drip down. Why is there morphmetal here..? Where is it leading to...? Of course, the answer is down their path, and directly into their way. Strangely, it is different from Petra's metal, and he starts having a strange feeling in the pit of his stomach. "Be careful, I think we've been discovered..." he says, and pushes forward, aiming to try and drive towards the source of the metal, and see if his fears are right or not. After all, he knows there is only one other person who uses the metal like Petra. He has no idea why she would help Petra, and inadvertently help Eggman... but there is only one way to find out why.
Aidan Proudpick	Two of Aidan's friends are here. Unlike Aidan, who relies on his speed and mobility, both of THEM are wearing armor. A short and stout skunk carries a large bolt action rifle over his shoulder. Next to him, a burly wall of a badger carries a large combat shotgun and a duffel bag under one hand. Both wear a large gambesons with quilted armor underneath. The skunk, Cole, has a map out on a barrel, the only proper way to plan an attack in a fantasy world. It's not perfect, but it is fairly accurate, which is all that matters. He makes sure that Ishirou has plenty of time to look at it and memorize it. "I imagine Aidan didn't tell you both the plan. A patient smile, "Petra's not good at security. Especially right now. You'll need to watch for flying rats for security, laser turrets, bombs, and robots with chainsaws. Also watch out for Heyalexa. Given that Aidan's hometown isn't a well kept secret, we had an idea that Petra might do something here. After a little scouting, well. We know it's something like Petra's morphmetal but that's it. And there's a lot of it. We find the source, shut it down, and free any robots in the area." Cole has a patient and serious look on his face, diametrically opposed to Aidan's manic energy. He rolls up the map. "Any robot can be freed with a quick hit from a blunt object." Honey steps forward and tosses the duffel bag on the floor. With a quick unzip, she reveals four aluminum baseball bats. "Just in case you didn't bring yer own." She grabs one in a large hand and puts it through a loop on her chain mail. Down in the tunnel itself, Honey carries the lamp, holding her combat shotgun in one hand. "Be nice down here if we weren't about to step into the gale without any clothes on. Reminds me of sneaking out to get some target practice in. Up ere." She lowers the lamp over the silvery stuff, squinting at the flower, looking over at Ishirou and Sarracenia, "Got any ideas why it does THAT? Pretty enough, but gives me the chills." She glances over at Ishirou, "Can ya give us a run down of what to expect? Whaddya mean discovered? There ain't a rat bot down here." Light scatters as Honey pulls the lantern side to side, bouncing off as they follow the roots. A hitched breath. A mutter. Honey trudges through the pit first to test it out, lifting to the exit. "Suffocate me," they both whisper with dire worry.
Sarracenia	% "Are these sewers?" is the first thing Sarra asks when she hears they are going underground. Going underground in the first place means she will have to dress down to avoid ruining her nice clothes, and she hates having to do that. But, how dressed down does she need to be? Just to be safe, she went with hazmat chic. A bright yellow rubber one piece outfit that is flatteringly form fitting complete with hood, gas mask with face cover, and black rubber boots. When asked if Aidan told her the plan Sarra shakes her head then listens to the briefing. When offered a baseball bat she can't help a slight hmph and a smirk. She hefts her hammer meaningfully. "I appreciate the offer, all the same." she says, trying to be gracious. The idea of that morphmetal worries her, though. Following Ishirou's lead was definitely not her first choice, but Aidan set it up that way. The princess is definitely irked that she is apparently not dependable enough to lead the mission, and while she tries not to show it the frown she wears is pretty obvious. She carries her hammer with her the entire way since it is pretty likely they will be attacked or be attacking straight away. As they reach the area where the floor is starting to crack she indeed does wave her flashlight back and forth as she sees the reflecting. "...is this...part of the mine?" she asks, also feeling kind of uneasy about it. When they reach the flower, Sarracenia blinks in surprise before carefully moving closer. "...a...metal flower?" Being who she is and where she is from, Sarra immediately wonders if it is some kind of power-up. And as such, she takes out her phone to take a picture of the flower then moves to pick it. Even if it isn't a power-up it is pretty, and she likes shiny pretty things. Perhaps it can go on a vase in her quarters! This surely is a good idea. Next is the root system, and now Sarra is looking around in wonder instead of worry. That too gets a picture taken of it. Like Honey and Cole, Sarracenia is confused when Ishirou says they are discovered. "Indeed. I have yet to see any sort of robots or surveillance. Did you detect something?" she asks. Despite that, she lifts her hammer into a ready stance as they keep moving. Trudging -through- the morphmetal seems like an exceedingly bad idea. So, Sarra pulls out one of her trusty leaf powerups, gains raccoon ears and a tail, and flies over it instead. Still, she takes more pictures as they go. "What in the world is this? This does not strike me as Dr. Eggman's or Petra's sense of asthetics."
Dimokratia	As the path continues, upward, into more and more familiar parts of rocks and caves -- the infiltration of morphic metal runs along cracks and pools deeper-still, leaks like blood from broken rock where picks worked at, smooths and brushes-flat the imperfections of the tunnel. The pour of goop into the tunnel shifts like a water level, deeper where the path is rough, shifting slowly down slanted paths. Falling down stairs, and clinging in chrome skin to the rails of mine-cart trails. The resistance didn't know about this -- it might have even been new, or at least recent -- but with analysis or miner's knowledge, if it followed any kind of fluid logic it would fill the place within another week or two. The wake of the material, where it seeps into rock, and infiltrates the very mineral bonds of the mountainstone with glittering alien chrome, softens and smooths and homogenizes the rock into resourceless stone, left unshaped and worked only by the cable-roots of the strange budding flowers. 'We haven't been spotted yet...' perhaps is an illusion, but Ishirou is keenly aware that even in areas of complete awareness or control, there was levels of attention -- like infiltrating a digital system at the sector outskirts and lower-order programs, the nerves here were dull and silent. Each bud a cool nerve, each petal a sensing surface, and the stretching, expanding, filling flow turns the mine into... ...simply a mountain. Past a point, despite entering familiar-shaped areas, the wash of goop has erased - deconstructed - consumed all trace of the shafts as anything more than startlingly unique and novel natural formations. A history of struggle, of souls lost to the slavery of the pick. Under attack. Being scrubbed out like an eraser tool on 'anything interesting to do with this place'. Has Ishirou ever hacked a mountain before? He might have to. Has Aidan and his friends ever seen something un-mine a mountain? It's not like putting something back into the earth. It is still taking something out. Could Sarracenia go without plucking a flower from its stem? Perhaps not today. The flower, petals of bright and colorful metal in the light of attention, are backed by ceramic white, and the whole bud is quite solid and easy to yank at. Giving it a good few tugs, there's less a cut or snip and more a clicking detach, as the whole piece comes away from the cable - a gorgeous lotus bloom of rust Russet red that drips, from the base, with more of that strange semiliquid morphmetal fill. Still, Sarracenia could affix it to her clothes or simply hold the item! It...
Dimokratia	...feels like a 'power-up'... And nothing bad happens immediately when the princess goes for the flower. For the rest of the group, the pasage following roots and routes doesn't give Ishirou any directly forboding answers, but he's able to detect something ahead! So does everyone's ears. A chatter, a clatter, a ticker-tack, the sound of precision limbs that come to points, a sussuration of activity that carries on lightlessly 'higher' in the passage until a collection of domes begin advancing downwards towards the gang. Light cast on them reveals the shape of dark carbon-and-ceramic ladybug-oid drones or Badniks without the usual Eggman designs. Since they're not rats, they're... Probably related to the flowers? From the advancing ladybugs, a light is eminated from the 'spots' on the advancing dome-drones with skittering legs! It sweeps over the gang, and, of course, starts the ladybug drones scuttling to aggress on... almost everyone! The little bumpercar drones preferentially travel along cables and move effortlessly among the thick goop on the ground, and don't have obvious weapons but are in some particularly dangerous terrain to be knocked around and tossed about in! What of these mine shafts and paths are really bottomless YOU DIED pits? ... And Sarracenia, after being scanned, is ignored! She only must bear the Incredible Temptation To Try On New Powerups (and where to put them?)!
Ishirou	Ishirou and POD hear the insect drones come a long way off, and Ishirou isn't sure what is up with these at all. They aim to collide with Ishirou, but he flips over the initial group and jumps off a nearby wall, landing perfectly, but narrowly, away from the group. He attempts to try and stay ahead of the bugs and initially does what's natural to him when encountering what he thinks are drones. He attempts to hack them. Energy flies from his hands as he attempts to get into their network, attempting to disrupt it to avoid them warning whoever might be controlling them, and then causing a cascade through their network to try and fry some. "Put that down!" he calls out towards Sarracenia, perhaps dooming her to put it on. It's well known that they don't like each other, but he doesn't have time to be cautious or overly caring. There are insect drones after them, and if they are ignoring her after she picks it up, it can't be good! Or at least, that's what he assumes.
Aidan Proudpick	"...is this...part of the mine?" "Most of this one has been mined out. We can still get a little bit of iron ore, but, this is where we got the metal for the engines. For the Breath Weapons, I mean. All of it shipped directly to the Empire." Cole is still patient about it. Honey, not so much, clutches her shotgun harder. Old branches being filled to the limit. Cole puts a hand against the rock, feeling it break apart completely under the fingers. He rubs his fingers together, letting each particle of stone drift out of his fingers onto the ground, seeing nothing reflective in it. Cole looks over at Ishirou for any sort of confirmation. Breath weapons are one thing. Strange metal goop is another. The worst is the reflection. The way the lantern bounces off of everything, the eerie reflections, both perfect and carnival style, deforming in the twists, perfect in the ponds. It lights the tunnels fully, almost too fully, giving them a bright hotel hallway glow. Honey pulls up on a shaft, shining a light over it. "Something's wrong ere. That path should go down. It's just flat." She lifts the lantern up again, scowling. "Ishirou, what's the metal made out of? It's taking everything from the rock. The silicia, everything." Honey puts herself up front as the Ladybugs appear, twisting her body so that she takes the wave on her side. The blue lines on the shotgun light up as Honey pumps air into the chamber. Compressed air fills the lines until she pulls the shotgun down. There's a deafening shockwave of air, but not quite the harsh explosion. It's deafening in the mine as she unloads the shotgun into the lady bugs.
Sarracenia	The flower clicks free, and Sarra lets out a little squeal of delight as it seems perfectly intact. It drops some of the metal goop though, and that is slightly worrying. Still, this sort of thing is exactly why Sarra wore what she did. "It is red! What good luck~!" she says. Red is her favorite color family, after all. She carries it cradled in both hands like a precious gem after that, until... 'Put that down!' Sarra pauses, looks directly at Ishirou, and...pulls out a headband with a metal clip on it. The flower is clipped in, the headband is placed on her head over her hood. All while looking at Ishirou. And with the bugs apparently ignoring her, there is even more time to stare defiantly at Ishirou! "Put it down? They are ignoring me! It is obviously a good luck charm! Perhaps the rest of you should grab one!" she says even as she readies her hammer. She floats down to land by Honey. The princess may not be sturdy, but her firepower belongs on the front line. Ishirou is the technician. She is the muscle. She hefts that hammer, then tsks. "I am sorry about this, dear bug bots. But, we are here to free this land." She starts swinging, swatting any that get close to her or Honey and keeping herself in the path of those trying to get to Ishirou. "Did you see what the metal is doing in there? Even if these flowers are lovely, that was rather creepy!"
Petra Soroka	The expected defenses are subverted by the morphmetal and the drones, intensely Silver and not-Petra in origin. Knowing that Dimo and Petra have had severe quarrels in the past-- though maybe not knowing the details, or forgetting them-- and that Dimo is a Paladins ally, Ishirou could be forgiven for thinking instead that this is the result of a different kind of freedom-fighting. After all, why would Dimo help Petra, instead of him, a Paladin? She could have simply liberated this town in her own way, independently of the slow-paced rebels, and the automated defenses are meant for Petra's retribution. When the ratbots follow the ladybugs in, though, that hope is dashed. Fewer in number than before, at least in this vanguard contingent of them, but still armed with the classic Eggman!Petra array of bulky lasers and chainsaws, there's no way to really interpret them as being more Silver reinforcements, converted by the morphmetal. They are ignored by the Silver bots, though, further reinforcing the idea that they're allied together. At least they remain simple to take out. They have no defenses against hacking, though Ishirou doesn't notice them with his senses until actually physically looking at them-- they appear as dead space on any scan. They swoop down with saws or harrass the rebels with concussive blasts whose craters in the rock below are smoothed over in real time, knocked out of the air one by one by the return fire and crushed by hammer swings. Fighting their way forwards, the metal sheen is eventually lit by daylight, so there's confirmation that the exit to the tunnel hasn't been sealed over. More metal, with cables of bundled copper and blue steel weave over a version of Aidan's hometown that never existed. Tents neatly propped up, damages to buildings erased like new, roads perfectly smooth, shot through with veins of metal and cables that rise in and out of the ground like diving dolphons. All of them connect back to a massive metal lotus in the center of town, taller and broader than any structure there before. Porcelain white with mechanical petals spread dozens of feet, clean and polished to shine and reflective with ranges of metal colors, the lotus seems to be the epicenter of everything happening with the morphmetal here. Petra's own robotomized robots are still here, building derricks around the lotus to wick that silver goop up out of the ground, and ratbots buzz around for surveillance-- and now, defense.
Dimokratia	The leech out of the mines for the resources proceeds like a plant through soil, with the filiments of the root and the little fingers an imperceptible passthrough of each cubic milimeter of rock. Greater than any pick, more masterful than ripping the rock apart in any way: the mountain is intact, and smoothed, and perfect, and aligned, and as warm as skin contact with a lover in a gentle moment. The scuttling ladybug drones seem all but determined to push the gang back deeper, and might even succeed -- were it not for Ishirou's quick reflexes and the team's alacrity, might have been much worse! The stymied servitors do not seem to be combat models of any kind, and despite their silent buzzing being and the stilt-tick of their legs it is the roar of the resistance team's guns that speaks far louder, scattering sleek construction into flinders and snap-broken parts across the goop-floor. It might have been worse, or a second wave might have actually threatened the gang, but. . . Sarracenia's flower, worn on a headband, seems to calm or deflect away like a wielded torch the aggression of the Ladybugoids. The flow of ratbots continue, but in a gang with Sarracenia leading and proudly displaying such a beautiful metal blossom there isn't any interest in really knocking her around! Ishirou will need the help. Opening a channel, less metaphorical and more deliberate and literal to the grand and complex ocean of synthetic spread, tunes Ishirou's systems to a frequency that hits like trying to find one voice out of amplifying the white noise of a crowd of thousands. Filtering away things like warm gospel-chant of atmospheric data and the devotional plod of seismic scans leaves voices - speaking, conversing, just past hearing, layered over by a dozen more quarter-conversations. Ishirou understands immediately why this operation is going on: to the signal-aware mind, it's labelled. Deconstruction // Reclamation. Reducing that which burrs and harms allies. The Silver - and its current local-unit command presence - is no-one Ishirou is familiar with. However, it is definitely alerted. Breaching out of the mine to the mountainside finds the absolute ripped-to-the-nails outset of that mining mouth. The grand lotus - the source of all of the Silver transmutations of the area - rests in the arms of the Quicknest-Petra defenses. The locals hear the whistle in the air. From the warm blossom settled amongst Sarracenia's hair, a sympathetic ceramic rustle-shift as if the flower turned towards 'the sun'. Ishirou hears a voice, over the network. <<"You can come from underneath? That's so cool!">>
Dimokratia	The streak is meteoric, across the air, cardinal red. It's not flight, though, not precisely, and gravity brings the approaching streak down out of the sky and zipping over terrain in loops and zigzags before bulleting up to the trio. A red metal figure, round of head with fins andh a black faceplate display that extends over the jaw in wings and puffs like soft cheeks. Red dot-ring eyes and a digital white bouncing nose and whiskers are displayed over the plate and the expressive droop of the grey-on-black singledot whisker lines express across the whole display. A trimmed down 'roboticized'-elegantly conceptpiece inspired by Velocity (the local Hamster Speedster Hero), with little radar-dome silverwhite in red metal ears on the metallized goobus -- and a second set, set into the top fin, like the face of a peeking rat over a mass of fluff. An optic sweep glances over the trio of would-be heroes, and set on Sarracenia, the would-be flower girl. No time to speak, though! Their arrival wooshes out a tremendous catch-up sonic boom which vwooshes a blastback wave of wind and carries their excited introduction: "Hi! I'm Metal Velocity, but you can call me MV, or Emmy, and I'm sorry but you three are just going to have to leave the painful way! Sorry! So sorry!" The local defenses are immediately up in arms in support fire and suppression on the mouth of the stripped mine, and none of THEM might be avoiding Sarracenia -- but Metal Velocity (who looks like if someone made Metal Sonic a red hamster instead of a blue hedgehog) zips across the group, offering a spin-dash or metal-shod kick to the others and a hand-gathered-up greeting to the princess. "Do you want treatment? That's so wonderful!"
Aidan Proudpick	Cole doesn't know much about this team up. It hasn't come across Aidan's line of sight, and hasn't been passed down. He does see the Ratbots, immediately taking a knee to the ground. His is a bolt action, each of the shots breathing in a sharp snap of air into the gun before shooting a bullet at one of the ratbots. Honey leads up the cave entrance, shotgun pumped, held with both hands at hip level. She staggers immediately at the apex of the mine, pushing forward so other people can follow her out. Her face slowly moves over the scenery, eyes roaming buildings that have been turned into strange works of art, almost like marble, copper shooting through. Blue steel across windows like a finely draped cloth. If it weren't so terrifying, it might be beautiful. The badger moves forward across the street, frowning. She is already angry. "Terrible, yet... This is amazing. Is it self sustaining? No, no, it uses materials from the ground. You could use it to recycle and get a material out of it. Spectacular. I wonder what it would do with a Slyph engine attached." Both People's Rebels are pushed back to the ground by the sudden sonic boom of force, Cole eyeballing the figure, then Sarracenia, then back over to Ishirou. Honey takes the time to raise the question of 'hey, maybe we should pick some flowers' before the robot appears. She is used to manic excited speech, but this goes over the top. She's already having trouble following the robot as it zips and zooms across the field, only to have to put up her gun like a shield and take another heavy hit, pushing the gun back into her chest. All of the air rushes out of her lungs, followed by a grunt and wheeze as she staggers back. Cole takes another kneeling position, this time breathing in a harsh breath. Unlike Aidan, he doesn't use his power at blunt force levels, instead making a sort of variety of small wind walls that act as sort of a slow field for the robot hamster.
Ishirou	"It's Morphmetal, something that was given to Petra once, it's a bit hard to get into the details right now..." he says, trying to avoid and hack more of the ladybugs, but also listening to the network. He's also not surprised that Sarracenia isn't listening to him, and not going to be responsible for what happens to her. Then comes Metal Velocity, who offers them a greeting... and is covered with the Morph Metal. They're the person leading the local network, much to his surprise, and honestly relief. "Wait, how are yo-" cut off and then kicked hard across the head, he goes flying back and skids across the ground trying to catch himself. A new spiderweb crack forms in the helmet where the two collide and Ishirou is dazed momentarily from the assault. His hands whip to the sides, as he charges up electromagnetic force, and attempts to remotely grapple Metal Velocity, attempting to use the force to press them firmly into the ground with all of the telekinetic might he can muster.
Sarracenia	As soon as they are clear of the cave, Sarra takes a moment to pull her hood down and let her shining copper hair free, then places the headband back in her hair. She can't help smirking smugly in Ishirou's direction as the bugbots part around her. She even gives one of them that goes calm as she passes a pat on the shell. "Good bug." she says. Then, the ratbots and other defenses join in. It is clear they are working together, and unlike the bugs which Sarra has taken a liking to despite having to break many of them...the other robots and things are fair game. That central lotus is rather impressive. Not to mention the town looks very clean! "...I know they are bad, but the town looks quite nice. Minus all the cables poking up everywhere. I might have to actually limit my use of explosives~" she says as she takes another picture, this time of the central lotus. Then, Metal Velocity! Sarracenia is more than a little surprised at the paradoxical greeting of some of them getting kicked and spin dashed while she gets a friendly greeting. "Oh, um...nice to meet you, Emmy?" Sarracenia says in confusion. "I am Princess Sarracenia Sundew, Crown Princess of the Sundew Kingdom~" Someone treating her nice is such a change that the attacks on her allies are all but forgotten for a moment. The question of treatment makes her pause, though. "Treatment? For what?" she asks as she pulls off the gas mask and slips it back into her purse and fluffs her hair out. Her crown is not atop her head though, and she adds after a moment, "I am not representing the kingdom here, though. I am a free agent in this instance." Metal Velocity isn't attacking her, but the other defenses are. Sarra huffs, then looks at Metal Velocity. "I am afraid we cannot leave, though. I am sorry. But, the people here are being oppressed and this land was taken over for very dubious reasons. I daresay the current regent does not even want this place. So, would you be so kind as to stand aside? It would be quite unfortunate to have to fight the first person who has greeted me kindly in what seems like ages." Sarra reaches into her purse and pulls out a turtle-like plushie with a black helmet and shell. She gives it a squeeze and in a puff of white smoke she is in a black one piece outfit instead of yellow, with the helmet and shell. The flower is stuck to the side of the helmet. She holds out her hands, and twin throwing hammers appear in them. She starts chucking them, aiming to knock as many ratbots and defenses out as she can while making her way toward that lotus. It seems to be the focus of the area, and if there is a 'boss' of this area it is likely to be there. Or some other thing that needs stopped.
Petra Soroka	On Emmy's back, held on by cinched-tight shoulder straps in a rudimentary imitation of the Eggpack Petra so often carries Angela around in, is a tablet. On its screen is a 3D model of an Amazon Alexa, occasionally emoting with symbols popping up around it, and animated outlines to indicate speaking. This is Heyalexa, Petra's beloved secretarybot, currently telecommuting in to assist with Emmy's defense and monitoring and felon-hunting of the outskirts!! Also affixed to the tablet, angled on an articulated robotic arm up and over MV's shoulder, is a cannon of some sort, as thick around as a thigh with the muzzle ringed by a sunburst of dimly glowing red. A laser, almost certainly, and one just too big for the ratbots. It waggles like a greeting to Ishirou and Sarracenia, with Heyalexa's voice coming off the speakers behind. Heyalexa: Hello ! You are trespassing on very important 24 hour surveillance private property of Dimo Made This ! Heyalexa: You ! You are a known felon !!! Heyalexa: Prosecution will be administered swiftly ! And I will help my New Best Friend ! Heyalexa: With my High Power Laser Blaster Cannon Made For Anti-Tank Less-Than-Lethal Gun Powered Energy Explosions!! And so she does. The sunburst ticks light up one by one, charging up a massive blast, and with zero recoil to slow MV down it fires with a flash of blinding white. The light-orb projectile released is slow moving, traveling more like a thrown rock than a bullet, but dodging around it means constraining your movement for dodging MV too. After several seconds, it connects with the entrance wall of the mine, exploding with a wave of concussive force hard enough to throw you back if you're too close. Meanwhile, across the country, in an arena overlooking a squirrelstomping. . . "Hey. Give me something light," Heyalexa, wearing a bowtie and attending the bar of the VIP lounge during the spectated execution of Aidan Proudpick , is projecting her awareness into the tablet that her AI was connected to. She's still obediently standing around and ceaselessly wiping a glass for atmosphere, until she's approached by a bird man. She checks her database for facial recognition and immediately understands that he isn't part of Petra's Family Package, so he is due his requests but no particular fondness. He's also a healthy consumer, according to ethically gathered data, with purchasing habits in the upper quartile of Extremely Valued Returning Best Friend Customers! Heyalexa: Okay . Searching through my cocktail recipes. Heyalexa: I'm preparing 'Something Light' . Please wait patiently . Heyalexa: By the way, customers like you also liked Handheld Neck Back Massager - Double Head Electric Full Body Massager - Deep Tissue Percussion Massage Hammer for Muscles, Arm, Neck, Shoulder, Back, Leg, Foot (Black) . Buy now free delivery Tuesday May 7th order within three hours fourteen minutes ? In her mind, Heyalexa is busy blowing up Ishirou with a cannon. Surprisingly, this is usually what Petra is doing when talking to Kale too.
Dimokratia	The source of the strange madness, what is being fed all kinds of material exactly as ''feared'' or at least suspected, is the hungry bloom on the side of the mountain the botyard and defenses are settled around. All sorts of things go into the cauldron-hole of blooping-glooping metal. 'Morphmetal'. That's what Ishirou calls it, that's what it appears to be, a thick metallic substance no warmer than the perfect temperature for bathwater. The infiltration of the ground is even more pronounced on the surface, where buildings are worked through with thick vines through the walls, both draining and remaking the terrain in a vast terra-forming. Where wood had been, now spiderwebs of structural chrome-silver span and extend, bound into what is bound into what is bound, an endless spread that nevertheless is thickest and most sourced from the side of the mountain that features a brilliant metal flower. One could linger in the alien and encabled-blooming landscape at the base of the mine, but -- their goal lies at the center of this alien encroachment. Sarracenia, an oasis of particular deference for some (the flower) reasons, gets a bright cheery-toned greeting. "You're certainly beautifully crowned! My best friend told me you're a felon but you seem so nice and pretty!" Emmy tries to explain, between beating up Happy and Cole with further harrying attacks and sticking in little bashful kicks and hands-behind back aw-shucks motions. "Treatment for all the things that could be better! Doesn't it hurt? Doesn't it itch? I've heard of itching it sounds awful!" Bumped away from talking to the very interesting princess by Cole, MV pivots its attention. "Hey! Is this that wind magic I've heard so much about?" Metal Velocity asks politely, tapping its foot momentarily on the smoothed ground while Cole conjures. Giving the forehead-fin at the crown of its head a 'reassuring?' pat, MV leans the white whiskered nose into the gusting barrier -- and then sweeps a dangerous claw into the wall! Sent bounced away by the terrain barrier's gust-force, the originally cheerfully confident sophont defender zips back, then retreats for a moment among Heyalexa's controlled drones, breaking contact and streakling in behind Cole to barbedly spin in a sea-urchin spiked ball of semi-liquid spikes gathered from the weepinh morphmetal all around when the attack is suddenly caught and blunted by Ishirou's shock trap! Hissing in momentarily violent, distorted surprise, Metal Velocity doesn't feel pain but the overriding shock of coming to a halt and is wounded worse for that. Cole has but to deal with the woosh and dangerous spikes of the followup spin-attack, and then Emmy changes their attention with two almost-confused optics. Betrayed. Through his sensors, he knows why, a context borne on sizzling sinewave frequencies: For the first time in its existence, Metal Velocity was halted, and it Didn't Like that. Metal Velocity's ring-eyes gain a pupilmark, bright scarlet, mark and cross-hatch with four lines and resolve into two digitally ocular crosshairs, and stare targeting data to its onboard Backpack Mounted AmazonPrime Family Plan Services Displeasure Dispensing Bestiebot. Ishirou, particularly, is visited by a dreamy vision of being only a little bit less than lethally vaporized. Meanwhile... Emmy doesn't have a particular line to say to Princess Flower-In-Her-Hair Sarracenia as she makes best pace towards the master lotus, who has practically froliced through the friendly Silver servitors and ladybugs, enjoyed the grace of the local defender, and only has been called a felon a little bit by Heyalexa! Racing towards the flower, with the sensor/repeater affixed to her head fills Sarracenia's head with warmth, a dripping-down-spine infusion of positivity and tingling enery. She feels alive, her nerves sing in harmony with a tone being given off... By the yawning abyss into the cauldron
Dimokratia	The source of the strange madness, what is being fed all kinds of material exactly as ''feared'' or at least suspected, is the hungry bloom on the side of the mountain the botyard and defenses are settled around. All sorts of things go into the cauldron-hole of blooping-glooping metal. 'Morphmetal'. That's what Ishirou calls it, that's what it appears to be, a thick metallic substance no warmer than the perfect temperature for bathwater. The infiltration of the ground is even more pronounced on the surface, where buildings are worked through with thick vines through the walls, both draining and remaking the terrain in a vast terra-forming. Where wood had been, now spiderwebs of structural chrome-silver span and extend, bound into what is bound into what is bound, an endless spread that nevertheless is thickest and most sourced from the side of the mountain that features a brilliant metal flower. One could linger in the alien and encabled-blooming landscape at the base of the mine, but -- their goal lies at the center of this alien encroachment. Sarracenia, an oasis of particular deference for some (the flower) reasons, gets a bright cheery-toned greeting. "You're certainly beautifully crowned! My best friend told me you're a felon but you seem so nice and pretty!" Emmy tries to explain, between beating up Happy and Cole with further harrying attacks and sticking in little bashful kicks and hands-behind back aw-shucks motions. "Treatment for all the things that could be better! Doesn't it hurt? Doesn't it itch? I've heard of itching it sounds awful!" Bumped away from talking to the very interesting princess by Cole, MV pivots its attention. "Hey! Is this that wind magic I've heard so much about?" Metal Velocity asks politely, tapping its foot momentarily on the smoothed ground while Cole conjures. Giving the forehead-fin at the crown of its head a 'reassuring?' pat, MV leans the white whiskered nose into the gusting barrier -- and then sweeps a dangerous claw into the wall! Sent bounced away by the terrain barrier's gust-force, the originally cheerfully confident sophont defender zips back, then retreats for a moment among Heyalexa's controlled drones, breaking contact and streakling in behind Cole to barbedly spin in a sea-urchin spiked ball of semi-liquid spikes gathered from the weepinh morphmetal all around when the attack is suddenly caught and blunted by Ishirou's shock trap! Hissing in momentarily violent, distorted surprise, Metal Velocity doesn't feel pain but the overriding shock of coming to a halt and is wounded worse for that. Cole has but to deal with the woosh and dangerous spikes of the followup spin-attack, and then Emmy changes their attention with two almost-confused optics. Betrayed. Through his sensors, he knows why, a context borne on sizzling sinewave frequencies: For the first time in its existence, Metal Velocity was halted, and it Didn't Like that.
Dimokratia	Metal Velocity's ring-eyes gain a pupilmark, bright scarlet, mark and cross-hatch with four lines and resolve into two digitally ocular crosshairs, and stare targeting data to its onboard Backpack Mounted AmazonPrime Family Plan Services Displeasure Dispensing Bestiebot. Ishirou, particularly, is visited by a dreamy vision of being only a little bit less than lethally vaporized. Meanwhile... Emmy doesn't have a particular line to say to Princess Flower-In-Her-Hair Sarracenia as she makes best pace towards the master lotus, who has practically froliced through the friendly Silver servitors and ladybugs, enjoyed the grace of the local defender, and only has been called a felon a little bit by Heyalexa! Racing towards the flower, with the sensor/repeater affixed to her head fills Sarracenia's head with warmth, a dripping-down-spine infusion of positivity and tingling enery. She feels alive, her nerves sing in harmony with a tone being given off... By the yawning abyss into the cauldron at the center of the flower. The poetry of the Pitcher Plant Princess being drawn brings up a question that must be burning: Why doesn't she just jump in? It will fix her. She will be Treated. The barrage against the flower, the falling hammers, begin to heavily destroy the bloom and the harmonious wail only grows sad and sorry and sibilant, needy, begging, why is it being forced away? Why is Sarracenia forcing it away?
Ishirou	They're being trashed, Petra was ready for this... and Aidan's little plan was falling apart. Worse, he fell into it instead of just waiting for a real hero to step up and support them. This was his fault, and now he's already looking for a way out of this. Right now he has to keep going for just a little longer... and hopefully, he won't collapse before then. Hearing the cannon charge, and the voice on the screen he swallows. He also looks into the eyes of Metal Velocity, who do not like their speed being restricted. The two work together, and the cannon fires. He dives, avoiding the majority of the blast, but the roar and the rip are more than enough to uproot him, toss him head over kettle through the air, and smash him face first into the ground. His back burns, his body screams at him, and he knows this is going badly. "We should run," he says towards the others... but already notices that Sarra likely has other things on her mind right now, and he doesn't have time to deal with her. He warned Aidan about this, and now her indiscretion is throwing everything that the mission was based on at risk. Ishirou groans and pushes himself back to his feet, before making a silent command to POD. POD deploys itself in a beam configuration, the bottom opening up and a laser cannon forming from what could be considered 'inside' of it, and fires a beam of energy towards MV, attempting to beam it heavily before it could act again and flatten them. "Let's go, we've already failed the mission, we need to leave now!" he says to the others.
Aidan Proudpick	"It's Morphmetal, something that was given to Petra once." Cole nods. "I'll see what the Watch has on the subject later. Just shout out anything relevant." The tablet on MV's back suddenly moves upward, pointing a cannon. "Oh yea, that's Heyalexa. Her security chief? That cannon is new." His eyes widen as the sunburst of energy forms, radiating energy out in terrible pulses. It soon becomes clear that Cole is NOT a front line fighter, scrambling out of the way. He keeps hold of his gun, keeping his tail out of the way of danger, only to be stopped by MV, jerking himself up to a halt. "Yea, that's our- wind magic." He takes a single step back, keeping his voice low and sedate, like one talking to a bear that might attack. Not retreating like prey, being calm and collected. MV suddenly disappears from his sight and the skunk howls out in pain as the spikes tear up his back. The chain mail keeps the spikes from plunging fully into his flesh and spine. "We should run." Cole looks up at Ishirou, pained, "Getting back the town isn't worth any of us dying. I'm terrified what the metal is going to do to it. Let's get the princess and get out of here." "So, would you be so kind as to stand aside? It would be quite unfortunate to have to fight the first person who has greeted me kindly in what seems like ages." Honey stares at Sarracenia like she's insane. But insane in the same way that Aidan is. And the thing just LEAVES HER ALONE. "Why does it always breeze for the idiots?" And then she starts moving towards the flower, happy to dip into it and Honey starts charging after, "Fucking happy go lucky thinking everything is just gonna work out stupid gusting GET BACK HERE!"" The badger charges in after Sarracenia, taking in blasts of defensive fire from the turrets as she rushes up behind the princess to lend a mighty blacksmith hand to yank her back out.
Sarracenia	Sarra waves back to HeyAlexa in a confused fashion. These robots being nice to her is so weird. Nice, but weird. 'You ! You are a known felon !!!' "Being a felon here is being a hero most everywhere else." Sarra says to HeyAlexa. And she throws a hammer at that laser arm as she passes. 'You're certainly beautifully crowned! My best friend told me you're a felon but you seem so nice and pretty!' Sarracenia is left flustered by this, her cheeks a bit red from the flattery. "Oh! W-well, thank you! And other than the attacking us thing you seem quite nice as well! Once we free Quicknest, if you find yourself no longer allied to Petra or Eggman and needing a new place to stay you may find yourself welcome in the Sundew Kingdom~" The friendly treatment has her defenses pretty low, and she gets clipped by many weapons from the non Silver defenses. Her outfit pops, putting her back in her hazmat suit. 'Treatment for all the things that could be better! Doesn't it hurt? Doesn't it itch? I've heard of itching it sounds awful!' "...it does hurt and...itch, I suppose. Itching is quite awful, you are right." Sarracenia says as she looks into the bubbling, inviting cauldron of morphmetal. It seemed like a good idea to avoid it in the cave, but out here, looking at a beautiful giant flower and having one in her hair that is sending such good vibes...it looks much more inviting. Her hammers fall against the larger flower, and she winces at the way the wails grow sad. She has faced such a test before, and in very recent history. The LobCorp button test. It offered to fix everything if she pressed the button. Now, here she stands, facing another. As Angela said, the test never actually ends. You have to keep not pressing the button. But, Sarracenia has had a bad year. People are mean to her for (in her mind) no reason, or made up reasons, or reasons they are just wrong about. And the flower is making her feel really nice right now. And Petra uses this stuff and it doesn't hurt her, right? Having some of Petra's power would be nice, too. If she goes in...will she get more power?
Sarracenia	That is the last straw for her mind, and she closes her eyes and turns around, then holds out her arms at her sides. "Treatment...perhaps I could use some after all." she says to no one before...falling backward in what is best described as an about to make a snow angel posture. SPLOOP! She is in for a few moments before Honey races up and grabs a foot that is poking out. The princess is yanked free. She blinks dazedly as she lands on her back, then looks at Honey. "...what?" she asks, then blinks again. "Failed? How? We just barely got here!" she exclaims! The princess hates losing, and Ishirou's assertion that they are failing gets her moving again. "No! We cannot fail!" She turns to look at the flower again, then sighs. "I am sorry. You are lovely, but you are also terrorizing this town and its people." She pushes down her hazmat suit, which is fine since she was wearing a dress underneath. But, it also reveals liquid silver sliding along her body. One would think after Melting Love she would be pretty opposed to such a thing. This stuff feels different, though. She pulls out a leaf and once again gains her raccoon ears and tail, and takes to the sky. She flies to a decent height, then pulls out one of her newer power-ups. A Bullet Bill plush. "You better move, Honey!" she exclaims as she starts diving, then gives it a squeeze. She disappears in an explosion, and from that explosion a car-sized bullet comes rocketing out. Aimed right at that blossom. When it hits, there is a much bigger explosion. One that the princess comes sailing out of, smoke trailing off of her.
Petra Soroka	As Sarracenia approaches the grand lotus at the center of town, the Petra-built robotomized bots clustered around it pause in their tasks to assess her. They put down the piles of scrap metal and rock-waste that they've been hauling into the center of the flower, disposing by converting, and shift to raising up their weapon-arms to point them at her. She's not given passage by Petra's robots just because of the Silver flower in her hair, and they're about ready to turn her into a charred blast mark on the ground before Heyalexa's smoothly text-to-speech voice escalates in volume at Ishirou. Heyalexa: How dare you !!! Heyalexa: You hurt my Very Fast Friend ! I have maxed out your Felon Meter immediately ! Heyalexa: Please remain still and do not vacate the area . Heyalexa: Authorities will arrive soon to scrape your Unfair Awful Friend-hurting body off of the ground !!! Heyalexa apparently doesn't direct the weaponized bots, but her command seems to count for something. In addition to the massive, slow-moving cannon blast from before, several of the robotomized bots ignore Sarracenia to instead unload attacks at Ishirou, peppering him with regular drumroll bursts of gunfire and flamethrowers. Ishirou gets the majority of Heyalexa's ire, but Honey and Sarracenia aren't entirely spared from the robots and ratbots. Heyalexa: You are being Very Mean ! Heyalexa: You have incurred incalculable fines from the sin of Property Damage ! Bills will be sent to your account later !
Dimokratia	Sarracenia, wearing the red metal and ceramic white flower in her suited hair, already has some chrome-silver dribbles from the attachment of the wonderfully complex mechanical accoutrement running down her not-entirely-rubber-now suit-crown, suit-cheek, neck, shoulder, down the back of her containment outfit and over the shoulder of the arm. Even through a hazmat suit, the nerve-tingling waves of synapse flow from the flower-repeater, map the Princess' singing nerves. Metal Velocity is held, back, on the mountainside, but she still calls a sweet "I'd love to!" while Sarracenia carries on. Honey and Cole work in tandem with Ishirou to fight off Metal Velocity's snapping sonic boom speed, forced to react or be demolished by the spin strikes, but Emmy is direly slowed and off-kilter by the roiling emotions fighting against its nature as a positive presence. Something violently against Metal Velocity's liking happened and the static-crackle stasis trap sent all of the precalculated-superior attitude and pleasantness into suspension. Retreat seems like a good idea - but advancing and retreating across the zone is an equally dangerous proposition with the drones and cannon fire, and it's all the worse with Sarracenia broken off and allowed far deeper by her metal flower. Providence and presence favors and blesses the princess as even the interception fire is only on her for a moment before peeling off, and it's up to the daring of Ishirou and the hometown duo to bail this mission out and pull out. Cannons booming around the mountainside as Honey makes the ridge of the grand lotus' mouth, having to dramatically action hero across the open ground while 'bots fire blaster arms through the air and sizzle high over the broad synthetic petals. This close, even Honey can 'hear' it, feel the heat through boots, taste something metallic on the air. The mouth, which Sarracenia is doing a sploopy angel in, holds her like a gentle cradle, pillowsoft and smearing like paint across hazmat rubber as she plays in it. Besides, detritus sinks soundlessly into the soup, as the whole mirrorgloss rainbowed-reflective surface begs, pleads, sears a longing into Honey's skull, behind the eyes, pours into the curls of the sinus cavity beind the eyes like smoke entirely on hooked feeling that he should join the Princess. That she should fall, tumble down and be true and honest with everyone including himself. Honey's hand reaches into the soup, gloved fingers curling and yanking, and Sarracenia is freed without much more than a coated suit. Right?
Dimokratia	Both Honey and Sarracenia understand -- It attaches, soaking like water to papercloth equally to cloth and skin, but sliding off of hair and down to the roots to mingle there. It had been so easy to affix the glistening bottom of the flower to a hairband, and the whole of it had been like a warm drizzle. For Honey, the glove tingles and a brush of something very like fingers but so much intimately touching, fingertip to complete fingertip and dripping down from glove, and the badger can feel the particular parting of each drip. Sarracenia has undergone so many kinds of transformations and might be used to this feeling, though it's sticky like molasses and wonderfully sweet. It lingers in the sinuses like sunbeams, warm and refreshingly dry. It's hard to call on the power inside the beret, the pool, but at the same time, she already has it, it's in her and making her muscles sing a happy symphony. Isn't it? Conditioner down her hair, shampoo to the scalp, oil to the neck and relief follows wherever it chases... Surely it'll all go away when she ends her fun with the drooling lotus beret. Ishirou has so much simpler of a problem, after directing POD to form a massive beam cannon and directing it at the partially-stunned red blur of the hamsteroid. Smoke, and a chaff-like glittering dust from the erupted ground, covers the results from knowing. He hears nothing but the hundreds-of-conversations whitenoise and not such a particular wanting-begging-inviting. He sees, across, moments after, as he's running still target-paintern eyed the hovering and smoking form of the chrome-bleeding and cracked-visor'ed Metal Velocity. "You can't outrun me! I'm faster than you! You can't run away, stay! Stay with me! Listen!!" Heyalexa's drumrolls of fire walk over the group's escape route, and like a bullet Emmy zips in hounding and hunting, trying to save Sarracenia from being taken back, trying to convince Honey to listen more closely-- Okay. Mostly Metal Velocity dives appears with a !! with whiskers above and below the dot-eyes on her warning marker and if you don't get out of the way, through-smoke line dash attacks you taking up Exactly One Third of the available dodging space.
Ishirou	Gunfire and flamethrowers combined with MV's targeting hammer into Ishirou. They shatter and melt armor clear off, and leave Ishirou a smoking mess... but a still moving smoking mess. He's hurt, he's going to feel it in the morning, but he's still functioning. "Go go!" he calls out to the others, trying to get them to retreat too, but right now they're out-manned and out-gunned. That and two people might have their heads in whatever gunk that Petra and Dimo have created here. Ishirou goes flying, sending OPTION drones out for the other members of the group so they can go flying with him, and attempt to get away from the combat zone before they are shot down and taken with them. "Well, good to know she has... underlings to help her?" he says, not sure if that was good at all. But it was at least mentally good for Petra. So at least that was good..?
Aidan Proudpick	For Honey, who has had a father killed by the South Wind and worked a lot of her life on forging swords and guns, the allure is heavy. Helping to raise brothers, taking on a job early like many while doing it. Most of the People's Knig-Rebels have little to no powers, despite trying to get more breath weapons to pass around. The idea of being able to not rely on Aidan as the front man, even if she loves his head dearly, grasps at her mind. Letting an emotional vulnerable stupid horny goober lead isn't easy. She takes longer than she might to pull herself back. And maybe keeps her hand in a bit longer than she should. But in the end, it's about saving someone, so she finally pulls Sarracenia fully out. If they weren't escaping... Heyalexa: You have incurred incalculable fines from the sin of Property Damage ! Bills will be sent to your account later ! "Put it on my tab!" She reaches out to grab Sarracenia again as the princess comes back out of Bullet Bill form. "Listen, I know yer strong, princess, but we need to go. It ain't worth dying for nothing out here." She WILL princess carry the Princess if Sarracenia doesn't get up onto her own two feet. Cole meanwhile, might be able to SEE the AOE marker in time, but it's hard to get out of the way quick enough. He hustles to one side, only to be kicked that way by the rushing Metal Velocity blasting by him. New blood splurts up from his back, pushing him into the perfectly formed pathway. Honey yanks him up to standing and helps both Cole and possibly Sarracenia onto an Option Drone so they can get out of here.
Sarracenia	End her fun with the drooling lotus beret? Why would Sarra do that? It is pretty and it makes her feel nice! So it might be controlling her mind a bit. She is totally strong and won't be brainwashed or something. -And- if she can bend it to her will she can shove it in Petra's face at some point! It's a win win as far as she is concerned! But, apparently they need to go. Sarracenia is very obviously not happy about this. She sighs heavily but resignedly at Honey. "And we need to go fast, I think." She grabs Honey's hand and pulls out another Bullet Bill plush. This one is a bit different in that it has arms. "Gotta go fast!" she says, then squeezes it. Another explosion, and both are encased in a Bullet Bill with rocket propulsion. They go flying down the street, bowling over things in their path. The Bullet Bill form lasts about 10 seconds, just long enough to get them from 'really far behind Ishirou and Cole' to 'just a few paces behind Ishirou and Cole', then releases them in a puff of white smoke. "...I hate losing..." Sarra grumbles to herself as they land and she catches onto an Option drone to join in the escape.