Multiverse Crisis MUSH - User contributions [en]

3518/The Cheese Stands Alone

2015-12-13T05:42:37Z

Zippy: Created page with "{{Log Header |Date of Scene=2015/12/13 |Location=Southern Urbania |Synopsis=Ziggy gets punished for almost knocking Inga over with a giant cheese wheel. Blurr and Staren are s..."

{{Log Header
|Date of Scene=2015/12/13
|Location=Southern Urbania
|Synopsis=Ziggy gets punished for almost knocking Inga over with a giant cheese wheel. Blurr and Staren are stumped. Hilarity ensures.
|Thanks=
|Cast of Characters=42, 492, 525, 535
|Tinyplot=
|Tinyplot2=
|pretty=yes
}}
{{Poses
|Poses=:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     Southern Urbania is home to many recreational activities: sports, museums, parks, you name it. Blurr is sitting in a curbside parking spot in front of the Robot Master Museum, where Ultra Magnus is giving a talk about mechanical lifeforms or something. There's a room in there that's big enough to house him....right? Right.     At any rate, Blurr is -bored-. But you know, they always send someone, just in case something goes terribly wrong, or in case they get attacked. That's just how it is. It's protocol. So here he is, repeatedly scanning people who happen by range of his sensors, to determine if they are a potential threat. Let's see, handgun? Knife? What is that? Makeup? Bandages? Nope, this isn't creepy at all. 

:'''{{#var:525|Inga (525)}} has posed:''' Inga is lost again. One could not imagine she'd come to a place like this willingly. She looks rather out of place in her extremely old fashioned clothes (circa 786!) staring in the window of an electronic shop, eyes wide. 

:'''{{#var:535|Ziggy Grover (535)}} has posed:''' Trying to sort out exactly the science for timing to leap onto and off enemies looked like a perfect exhibit for a Power Ranger. Especially a relatively non-trained one like Ziggy Grover. At least, it would be perfectly ideal if Ziggy had actually entered the Mushroom Kingdom Science Center. Unfortunately for Dr. K, Ziggy could actually read, and somehow, the notion of cheese rolling was far more appealing. o/~ Rolling, Rolling, Rolling... here comes the cheese... o/~ Ziggy hummed as he managed to get the large wheel of cheese onto its edge and pushed it... at least until he stumbled just a bit, and it kept rolling... and rolling and rolling... Whoops. Slinking off quietly, tiptoeing away as the cheese crashes into a wall, Ziggy chooses the usual 'retreat before getting in trouble for yet another f***-up... 

:'''{{#var:42|Staren (42)}} has posed:'''     Staren is here, late, to see Ultra Magnus's talk. As he skates along the ground towards the Robot Master museum he stops and stares.     Oh.     My.     God.     That is an adult-sized playground. That is /amazing/. That is /Brilliant/. Staren makes a note to come back here later.     As he turns back towards the Robot Museum, he sees Blurr checking the line and waves, and conveniently not only is the electronics shop Inga is looking at right across the street, but Ziggy just happens to be slinking in this direction! "Hey guys! Are you all here for the talk on robots too?" 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     Scanning...scanning...scanning...back and forth, up and down. Ugh, so boring! Blurr hates it. He almost wishes someone would try something funny, just so he'd have something exciting to do. But that's what he spots Inga. Oh, he knows her! She looks lost, so he'd better help her! Yes, that would be better than just sitting here doing nothing but scanning. He will keep scanning, of course, but more in the background.     So then, that blond-haired and teenaged looking holomatter appears behind her rather abruptly though he does not intend to startle. "Inga?" it greets, then turns to Staren as he approaches. "Kind of, I'm sort of the security." he explains, sounding somewhat tired.     Meanwhile, the cheese rolling managers aren't very happy. Several of those working the event go running over to the wall, cursing. Thankfully, Ziggy's managed to slip away before they went searching for the one responsible. 

:'''{{#var:525|Inga (525)}} has posed:''' When Inga woke today, she was ready for many things to possibly happen to her. After all, things have been mad ever since she'd come to the multiverse. But getting almost rolled over by a giant wheel of cheese was definitely not in the plan. Inga turns when she sees something out of the corner of her eye. Those eyes widen as a giant cheese rolls toward her. She throws herself out of the way, but not being the dexterous sort, falls over in the process, probably into mud, because it is just that kind of day. "Odin's bones!" she curses, looking around for the culprit, glaring. 

:'''{{#var:535|Ziggy Grover (535)}} has posed:''' Inga should have a relatively easy time figuring out who the culprit is, the man looking guiltily futile as he walks away in a green shirt and a black leather jacket from roughly the direction where the big wheel of cheese has come from. Whistling idly 'innocently' as he passes Blurr, Ziggy pauses long enough to look down at the robot car. Oh man, he knew that guy... wait, who did he just bump into? "Excuse me, sorry, just looking at the big robot," Ziggy says, grovelling quite abjectly, his hands up and waving as though to ward off anything that might be coming his way. 

:'''{{#var:42|Staren (42)}} has posed:'''     "Woah!" Staren starts to speed up as he spies the wheel of cheese headed for Inga, but she dodges safely. Only to end up in a mud puddle. He approaches and holds out a hand to help her up. "I have something that can clean that up... was that really a giant wheel of cheese?" 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     Blurr peers over at the giant cheese, which is now wedged into the wall of an adjacent building. A bunch of people are standing over there, probably the owner of the neighboring shop, and the sports event manager and a bunch of other employees. They're all arguing vehemently. Now just look what you did, Ziggy.     "Uh, I..." he pauses, analyzing the giant wheel-shaped thing. "It's made of a bunch of Earth wildlife products and other organic stuff. If that's what cheese is, then maybe? You okay, Inga?" 

:'''{{#var:525|Inga (525)}} has posed:''' He's about to have an Inga coming his way! Inga narrows her eyes toward the guilty looking figure, frowning deeply, a curse on her lips. Which curse, she wonders? How about a tongue tied curse? That'll do nicely. Quick and easy. Inga chants to herself, then flicks her fingers toward Ziggy. He will soon find that all his words come out as complete, clumbsy jibberish. "Hmph," Inga says, then looks over to see Staren's hand extended to her. She takes the offer of help to her feet, looking down at her dress. "Lovely...well, it is good to see you Staren. Is that what it was? Cheese?" she asks, looking after the object. "I have half a mind to take it home...but I do not think it would fit in my bag," she says, pursing her lips thoughtfully. Then, a car is talking to her! She looks over, wide-eyed. "Blurr? Hello...yes, I'm fine, thank you." 

:'''{{#var:42|Staren (42)}} has posed:'''     "Cheese is..." Staren starts to explain, then realizes that he'd probably have to explain milk too, and who knows what else. "...Yeah. That."     Inga mentions taking the giant wheel of cheese home but that it wouldn't fit in her bag. "We could cut out a big slice or two for you?" he suggests, and pulls a little spray-can from his bag, motioning with it towards her dress. "Cleaning spray, to get the mud off?" he offers. 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     Of course, at this very moment, as Inga casts the curse, one of the cheese-rolling event managers comes storming over to Ziggy. Yes, they saw it! "Excuse me young man, but you were responsible for that runaway wheel, weren't you?" he asks, sounding indignant. "Did you read the rolling contest safety guidelines?!" 

:'''{{#var:535|Ziggy Grover (535)}} has posed:''' "SGdshh, sfshyurw, teyosuu!" Ziggy exclaims, motioning at the wheel of cheese. "Osiivs tehhsscppsi ... scsah sfcao!!!" He points at Inga. "SSsfs! Sisiu'sa paooo!" Pause. "WJSsuy? asuteyw lasooo afsa sioii aoo?" He runs a hand through his hair, then looks down at his jacket. "sfasu8 ziiii Sappooo?" He sniffs at his armpits. Squints. Shakes his head. "Sfs988!!! WJSuys? asuteywa saioii?" 

:'''{{#var:525|Inga (525)}} has posed:''' Inga sighs to Staren, lifting her arms away from her dress, looking resigned. "Very well, may as well," she replies. "As for the cheese...yes, that would suffice. Inga looks sidelong toward Ziggy as someone grills him on his cheese rolling safety violation, looking extremely self-satisfied with his current predicament. 

:'''{{#var:535|Ziggy Grover (535)}} has posed:''' That the event manager was glaring at Ziggy had not escaped his notice; Fresno Bob couldn't have done a better glare, especially after one of his usual clumsy messups, but the utter look of bafflement on the man's face that followed was something that didn't make sense. Since he was certain he didn't smell, and had already risked life and limb by using Dillon's deodorant, he was certain it had to be... "Shusuvcs... shgfhs psosiii!" he says, motioning to the cheese wheel, before holding his nose and waving a hand as though trying to fan the bad odor away. "Svdjkj!!!" Of course, -now- Dr. K had to beep him on his communicator. "Ranger Green, your vitals are showing signs of agitation. What is going on...?" Dr. K speaks, through the comm, as Ziggy holds it open. "Opoos! SPooca.. soooo! Svcskkkk!" There was a brief pause, and then a puzzled "What?" 

:'''{{#var:42|Staren (42)}} has posed:'''     Staren looks at Ziggy. "Uuuuuuuuhhhhhhhhhhh." he says. "...Did the translation effect just break down?" That's fascinating, but first: He sprays Inga's dress. Nanomachines set to work removing the mud. It's not especially fast or anything, but eventually it will be as clean as if just washed.     Then Staren turns towards Ziggy. "Now, let's see... first of all, can you understand me? Can you understand any of us?" 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     No one but Inga appears to be the wiser when it comes to the witch's gibberish spell. Blurr's avatar just stares at Ziggy. At first, he wonders if something has suddenly gone wrong with his emulator? But...that doesn't make any sense! Then the realizes the other humans are staring at him too. "What the smelt's wrong with him?"     "What in the hell?" The manager exclaims. "Kid, you need to go to the hospital. But first, you need to give us your parents' contact information so our lawyers and insurance agents can make sure we get what we're due." 

:'''{{#var:525|Inga (525)}} has posed:''' Inga looks down at her dress, stunned. "Now, that is a very useful sort of magic," she comments, lookin at the clean fabric. "Think of the time I would save on laundry..." she shakes her head, looking up. She smirks slightly, wondering how long she should let this go on for. It is quite amusing, but she doesn't want to cause him /too/ much trouble... Well, she'll just wait for him to apologize then. 

:'''{{#var:535|Ziggy Grover (535)}} has posed:''' "Sjaso....!" Ziggy exclaims, at the communicator, before looking up at the event manager, then Staren. "Sufsi... csalll!" "... Ranger Green, your vitals are apparently fine. Your brain waves are functional... at least, for your normal levels. I show no signs of any probable cause of aphasia, nor are you sick. If that voice I hear in the background is an adult, would you please put him on?" Ziggy's face squints. Aphasia? What is... "Sfsk?" Pause. His face shifts from puzzlement to surprise to a complete look of WTF. "WHSHS?" Oh, it's sunk in he -is- speaking nonsense. He looks up at the event manager, offers a sickly grin, points at the communicator. "Sfshha... sajjj waaas tasss oapp." The communicator is offered up to the manager. "Ssahh... ssakkk!" "Please excuse Ranger Green. Normally he can talk more eloquently than this... at the very least, more eloquently than Ranger Black. Would you care to explain what happened?" 

:'''{{#var:42|Staren (42)}} has posed:'''     Staren nods to Inga, "I know, right?" then pockets the repair spray, and scrutinizes Ziggy. Finally he pulls out what looks like a flipphone with crystals on it, and looks through it at Ziggy. "...Huh. There's some kind of magic on him. But from where?" 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     "Hmph! Are you this young man's parent?" The manager demands, sounding very impatient. "He has ignored the cheese rolling safety protocols and rolled a large wheel of cheese into the wall of one of the zoo gift shops, and it has caused extensive property damage!" He really is -not- happy about this. "But as soon as we demanded an explanation, he started spouting gibberish at us! Tell him that this is no game!"     Blurr peers at the device Staren is holding up. "That's what I thought, wasn't picking up on any unusual energy readings." He glances at Inga. Because you know, she knows more about this stuff than he does! 

:'''{{#var:535|Ziggy Grover (535)}} has posed:''' "I am his -mentor-," Dr. K responds over the comm, as Ziggy eyerolls at the thought, making flapflapflap gestures with the hand not holding the device. "And Ranger Green, if you continue to make those gestures, you -will- have dysentry for at least a week." Ziggy promptly stops. "In any case, I assure you, if he is speaking gibberish, that is not his normal state. Breaking safety protocols and extensive property damage, however, certainly is a normal state of affairs. Ranger Green, I presume you can understand everything. I also read multiple people around you, so if there is someone who might have witnessed anything, please speak... I'm sorry, allow me to speak to them. Do you understand?" The last line is delivered with just the right note of condescending tone, as if a mother were admonishing her wayward child, to which Ziggy frowns, mouthing BLAHLBLAHBLAHBLAH with just enough tongue action to make a frog proud, before looking about. Staren, Inga... perfect! Holding the communicator out, Ziggy makes flapping gestures with his free hand as if to talk to that voicebox, before going to peer at Inga, looking, before making a shrug of his shoulder, and an OK? sign with his free hand. "ASHSjj?" 

:'''{{#var:525|Inga (525)}} has posed:''' Inga sighs heavily, leaning on her staff. Well, fun has been had. She doesn't want him to get in serious trouble after all. Inga flicks her hands in Ziggy's direction, undoing the curse. "You could have well apologized for nearly running me over," she says, then looks to the the man scolding Ziggy. "He's my brother and he's a bit addled in the mind I'm afraid. Let me take him home. I'll be sure he understands his infraction and that it doesn't happen again," she tells him, taking Ziggy by the arm. "Come along dear brother, let's go on home. I've made a pie," she says, and tries to steer Ziggy away. 

:'''{{#var:42|Staren (42)}} has posed:'''     Staren reaches for the communicator. "Umm, hello?" Staren asks, and then Inga swoops in to try and smooth things over. "Uhh, yeah." he nods to the manager. "Here, let me get that cheese out of your way." He smoothly draws the matter manipulator from under his coat and zaps the giant cheese wheel into its inventory, then stows it away again as he turns to walk away from the scene of the crime. "Hi, I'm Staren of the Union." Staren says into the communicator. "Maybe you've heard of me? Anyway, Ziggy seems to be under some sort of magical effect." 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     "Bah! Sister, mentor...-someone- has to pay for the damages!" The manager insists. "We are not liable, because he wasn't following the safety protocols!" Then Staren seems to just -zap- the cheese wheel back to where it belonged. "Hey wait!" he exclaims as Staren walks away. "Can you fix the damage to the wall with that thing?"     Blurr sighs. Pfff, humans. "Hey, calm down pal. We'll take care of the damage to the wall, okay?" As he speaks, drones that had been deployed from an Autobot vessel in orbit descend from the sky and get to work quickly repairing the wall. "See? It'll be done in no time." Finally, -finally-, the guy does calm down, seeing that the damage will be taken care of. He walks away, though he still gives Ziggy a dirty look before doing so. 

:'''{{#var:535|Ziggy Grover (535)}} has posed:''' "Magic." Dr. K's voice is flat, annoyed, as she processes this. "Have you located the source of the magic, then?" Ziggy gets hauled away, with a "Huh? Wait, you're not my sister, how... hey. Am I talking normally again? Aahhh! I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I was trying to get out of there before they decided to make me lose a finger or an ear, you have no idea how fanatic some of these cheeseheads get...!" 

:'''{{#var:525|Inga (525)}} has posed:''' Inga keeps steering him away as Blurr has his little robotic minions repair the damage. "I assue you, angering a witch is much more dangerous," she tells him, patting his arm and giving him a positively predatory grin for a moment. Once away from the constable or whatever he was, Inga lets go of Ziggy and smoothes her skirts. "A learning experience, yes?" 

:'''{{#var:42|Staren (42)}} has posed:'''     "Uhh... Maybe?" Staren replies, and turns, starting to reach for the matter manipulator, but then drones take care of it.     Dr. K asks if he knows where the magic is from. "Uhh, no..." Staren starts to reply, and then Ziggy talks! "I think Inga just cured him, actually!" He passes the communicator back to Ziggy.     His ears twitch as he processes her words. "Wait, /you/ did it in the first place? ...Well, I suppose it's understandable, since he almost ran you over with a giant cheese wheel." 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     "I doubt they would've cut off any of your appendages." Blurr replies to Ziggy's defense. "You should have just owned up to it and apologized immediately, then they probably wouldn't have gotten mad." Which is totally what he would have done himself. Not.     "A witch?" He looks a little puzzled at Inga's comment. Then he gets it. "Ooh. I wondered if it was you. You had a look on your face." he smirks. 

:'''{{#var:535|Ziggy Grover (535)}} has posed:''' "Uh... a witch? But... but you don't -look- like a witch," Ziggy responds, leaning close to look. "Wow. Um. Sorry. Say, you're not going to turn me into a frog or anything?" "It would be an improvement," Dr. K says flatly, as the communicator approaches with Staren. Reaching out to take the comm back, Ziggy flashes an ingratating grin. "Sorry about that. Uh, the cheese got away from me. Um, hey, Ziggy Grover. The lovely person you've been speaking with is Dr. K. Uh... Blurr, vouch for me, will you?" 

:'''{{#var:525|Inga (525)}} has posed:''' Inga nods, hands resting on her rune carved staff. Honestly, he knocked over a woman who has trouble walking as it is with a giant cheese wheel and tries to walk away? He's lucky to get out of this encounter without a horrible warts or worse. She does smile to Blurr however, before looking back to Ziggy. "I will let you make it up to me," she informs him. Inga tilts her head as she is examined. "It is not the term I would generally use but I find many think it appropriate. Witch, wisewoman, Seer..." she waves a hand dismissively. "Turn you into a frog? No, though that is an interesting thought..." "Ahem. Inga Freyjasdottir," she introduces. "It has been...interesting, meeting you, Ziggy Grover," she responds with a small smile. 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     "The cheese got away from you?" Blurr chuckles when Dr K seems to approve of the frog transformation. "Are you blameshifting?"     "Read the safety protocols next time, I guess." he shrugs. "I didn't even know humans liked to roll huge pieces of their food around." 

:'''{{#var:535|Ziggy Grover (535)}} has posed:''' "Enchantress?" Ziggy suggests, that 'please don't hurt me' smile still plastered across his face. "Uh, yeah," he adds as a response to Blurr. "You know how it is? When it rolls, it keeps rolling...? And then suddenly it's keeps going faster than you can run, and well... I mean, you know how it is when something moves faster than... why am I telling you this? You'll probably tell me that nothing's faster than you." "Ahem. Ranger Green, if you're quite done with displaying your stunning lack of insight, it is time to return. I trust your visit to the center demonstrated the importance of trajectory and timing?" "Uh, about that, Doc... um... you know what, I'll go right there right now." Ziggy offers a sheepish smile at the others. "So, uh... you heard the doc, I have something I'm supposed to be doing..." 

:'''{{#var:42|Staren (42)}} has posed:'''     "...Can you actually do that?" Staren comments, on the turning into frogs. "Well, for a start, he got you a giant cheese wheel." Staren observes about how Ziggy can make it up, patting the matter manipulator under his coat." 

:'''{{#var:525|Inga (525)}} has posed:''' "Yes yes...well, be more careful nex time," she tells Ziggy. Inga looks to Staren. "Not that I am aware of--but give me time," she says to Staren with a grin. "Yes, well...I'll put the cheese to good use." Consequently, everyone is gettin cheese platters for Yule. 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     Blurr just stares blankly at Ziggy. Nope, nope, and nope, he doesn't know! "Nope, you're absolutely right, nothing is faster than me, and certainly not a giant thing of...uh.." What was it again? "Cheese." he finishes. "So can't say I do."     Ah, too bad Blurr doesn't eat cheese. He'll give it to his human friends. 

}}

3388/HK-Blabbermouth

2015-11-14T08:39:55Z

Zippy: Created page with "{{Log Header |Date of Scene=2015/11/14 |Location=Ark-32 |Synopsis=Blurr, Revan, and Jayale attempt to manipulate HK-51 into relinquishing information to them regarding HK-47's..."

{{Log Header
|Date of Scene=2015/11/14
|Location=Ark-32
|Synopsis=Blurr, Revan, and Jayale attempt to manipulate HK-51 into relinquishing information to them regarding HK-47's whereabouts.
|Thanks=
|Cast of Characters=414, 492, 754, 892
|Tinyplot=
|Tinyplot2=
|pretty=yes
}}
{{Poses
|Poses=:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     The Ark-class warship is one of the most powerful vessels ever created by the Cybertronian race. Millennia ago, Nova Prime and his hand-picked team of soldiers built the first model, the Ark-1, and set out to conquer the stars. The original Ark-1 and its crew disappeared long ago, but many Arks have been built in the time since then.     Now, the Ark-32, which was probably commissioned sometime before 'the Clampdown' that followed Nominus Prime's rule, serves as a mobile hub command--it is among the Autobots' most formidable war machines. At the moment, it circles in geosynchronous orbit about a purple-tinged gaseous planet fifty times the size of Jupiter.     Recently, during an investigation of the crashed UNSC vessel the Loki, Blurr had gotten into a tangle with the assassin droid HK-47, who had managed to lure he and Union allies into a trap. Fortunately they managed to escape--with one of HK-47's 'inferior copies' so to speak. It hadn't been intentional, but hey, they might as well take advantage of whatever opportunities happen their way.     As such, the HK-51 is currently locked up on board the Ark's brig, in a containment cell that's probably too big for him but has been adjusted to make sure he can't just squeeze through a crack or something. Not that it would matter much, even if he did manage such a thing. At any rate, the Autobots have informed the rest of the Union that if anyone wishes to interrogate HK-51 themselves, they are welcome to board the Ark and do so. 

:'''{{#var:892|Jayale (892)}} has posed:'''     And with the newest Jedi to join the Union as an ally having taken it upon herself for the time being to try and help sort out the HK issue, here Jayale was, doing just that. At least, she was on her way to do that, though for the most part she had been half marveling at the ship she was in. It was something else entirely. That, and the Cybertronian race in general just kind of boggled her mind. Seemingly alive machines. Not just droids with AI's like her own worlds systems, but something else. At least according to others she asked.     Best not to offend by insisting about AI quirks possibly existing across existences. Even if personalities in droids was such in her own Galaxy.     Along with herself she had her own droid, an Astromech she had with her now and then, and as well as that she came dressed as she normally would otherwise. A long silken dress and cloak, face covered partially in silk where her eyes would be. Certainly not a typical look for a Jedi, but then again she was used to being in hiding. So those that know that small fact might know otherwise. For the moment, though, she had seemingly finally arrived towards where the HK droid was. At least the same brig area. Which meant it shouldn't be /too/ far. ...by Cybertronian standards. 

:'''{{#var:414|Revan (414)}} has posed:'''      Somewhat to her surprise, Lowri Revan-Shan had found herself with her hands metaphorically full as of late.      It was precisely the sort of situation she had tried to avoid by remaining neutral when the galaxy had first unified; as much as the multiverse seemed to need the Jedi, there was still a great deal which needed to be done right at home. The Star Forge had been destroyed and the Sith Empire was a mere shadow of what it once was, but the mysterious threat beyond the Unknown Regions remained. It had been bad enough to plague her with nightmares to the point where the Guardian had left her relatively comfortable life on Citadel Station to end that looming threat. It wasn't long afterwards that she had discovered the galaxy had Unified, her problems multiplying along with it...and it seemed that even trying to avoid the multiverse hadn't helped matters as she thought it would.      But the Force apparently looked after its own even beyond the warpgates, leading her to Juno Eclipse and Galen Marek, helping them out of a difficult situation with a tangle of multiversal politics on the side. It was a mess, but with her leads failing to pan out, at least Revan had been able to make herself useful in the meantime...not the least of which had been providing some insight into one of the Confederacy's relatively recent nuisances: an alternate version of the HK assassin droid she had designed as a Dark Lord. It hadn't surprised the Guardian in the least that he had been making trouble for more than a few Unionites and even a few neutrals.      For now, though, the odd-eyed Jedi was on more of a casual visit to one of what she considered the true marvels of the multiverse: an entire planet of sentient droids. /Robots/, she corrected herself. The Cybertronians were hardly anything like the droids of her galaxy, as evidenced by one of her own 'entourage'. Tiny curiously tilted his mantid-like head as they disembarked from the Ebon Hawk, which Revan answered with a pat on his side. Dressed in the commando uniform she wore aboard the Endar Spire before its untimely demise, her hair bound up in a loose bun at her neck, she grinned slightly at the Insecticon. "I thought it was high time we get you a treat," she told him.      Of course, there was another reason for the visit: the capture of one of the HK units. it was high time to narrow down just how much his universe deviated from hers...even if that meant potentially showing her Pazaak hand. 

:'''{{#var:754|HK-47 (754)}} has posed:'''      It is perhaps very readily apparent that the HK-51 lacks much of the same... for lack of a better word, 'spirit' that their progenitor-model HK-47 does. While defiant, it does not seem quite as bloodthirsty and vicious as the original, looking more passive and observant then others. Granted, it still casts what seems to be a look of scorn - and maybe even pity - at Blurr, having repeatedly called the Autobot a 'traitor' for sympathizing with 'organics', but it was nowhere near the boiling hate born of the seemingly-pathological murderous impulses that HK-47 had.     In short... it simply seemed more displeased by it's current situation as opposed to scorn. Less like a maniacal mass-murder stuck in a cell and more like a captive soldier awaiting an a trial and execution it assumes will be imminent.     First glances can tell the unit - standing within it's containment cell looking outward at any 'visitors' - has been through combat, though it's captors have at least deemed to repair fatal damage. It's metal body, silver-grey with orange highlights, has many small dents and dings, though most of the scorch-marks it sustained were cleaned off and the more serious chest-damages are patched up rather neatly.     There's also signs that light operations were done - It's forearms are missing their exterior metal panels a result of operations to remove the droid's weaponry. The internal weapons in the right forearm were disarmed and excised while the dart-launcher in the left forearm was unfastened and pulled out of the frame. Likewise, the transparent cover on it's core showed the faintest signs of having been removed and then replaced - the 'faded scars' of the operation to disarm and extract the HK-51's self-destruct module.      As Jayale and Lowri enter the brig, the HK-51 seems to regard them with what could be regarded as weariness. "Exasperated Remark - Of course. It is not enough that I must be imprisoned aboard a vessel filled with Organic sympathizers, but they must compound the insult by having Organics be the ones to interrogate me. And I had finally believed my fortunes could could sink no lower."      An interesting difference out of the gate - unlike HK-47, the HK-51 regarded people as 'Organics' instead of 'Meatbags.' It doesn't even sound angry or disgusted - just annoyed... though it does seem to perk up with what seems to be more uncharacteristic fascination as it took note of Jayale. "Query - You are the species known as a Miraluka, are you not? Our progenitor-unit has provided us with records of your kind - a species that naturally utilizes the 'Force'. Are you a Jedi interrogator from my own reality or merely a member of the species? Or are you from another reality that shares it's characteristics?"      So it's first reaction is to try and play the role of interrogator itself, though it again lacks a feature of it's predecessor; subtlety. Rather then trying to foster a conversation and learn passively, the HK-51 is asking straightforwardly and bluntly. It also seemed more curious about organics, though perhaps it only wished to learn what to expect.      ...      Then Lowri draws near, and the HK unit freezes on the spot, as if double-checking it's photoreceptors for a flaw.     It was... so very similar. Disturbing even, if the droid could akin the feeling in it's core to an emotional state.     She had the same facial structure as the /Master/. Perhaps not the same - the mane or 'hair' was longer and a different color, and ocular lenses were both different and mismatched color compared to the ones in it's records... but the resemblance was still uncanny.      "Query - You... you bear a striking familiarity to... the Lord and Master. Are you in any way related to the Empress, Darth Revan?'"      Another clue - 'are you related to Revan?' instead of 'are /you/ Revan?'. Evidence that, at the very least, Lowri and Darth Revan looked similar to each-other but didn't look exactly the same. 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     The docking area of the Ark had opened willingly for its Union allies as soon as their IFF signal had been identified. To people the size of Jayale and Revan, this ship is -massive-. They could be compared to how Jack felt when he first set foot in the Giant's house. Well, minus the fear. There's no need to be afraid, the Autobots are all friendly toward any Union ally, and especially those they are already acquainted with. Lowri Revan-Shan, in fact, saved the life of one of their own back on Cybertron not too long ago. So suffice it to say they certainly owe her one.     Speaking of that life, Blurr was waiting for them when they arrived in the hangar, and was quick to escort them down to the brig where HK-51 was being held.     As for Tiny, the now-docile Insecticon is eager for the promised treat--he knows this is the place! Blurr doesn't forget that either, he makes sure a drone goes to fetch a medium-sized packet of stick-shaped energon snacks for them.     "Friend of yours?" Blurr asides to Revan in regards to Jayale as they enter the brig from the gravlift, whom he is not familiar with. 

:'''{{#var:892|Jayale (892)}} has posed:'''     "I cannot say we have met before just now." is the response Blurr gets in regards to the question about her association with Revan. /Revan/. ...Lowri and Shan to a point attached in some fashion that she wasn't sure of. Of course not all historical records were perfect, but she was certain the name Shan was the name of a Jedi during that time, not to mention Revan, but Lowri? She truly had no idea. Perhaps Revan was simply trying to lay low. But in her own timeline, Revan had ventured into the Unknown regions after the Mandalorian remnants and wasn't heard from again.     Though of course the HK unit was there and aware, and already speaking to them.     Perhaps just to irritate the HK unit, she doesn't say anything, not speaking just yet as she entered the area where it could tell. No speaking, no moving, in fact - for the moment she was just watching. Part of her was curious how the droid would respond if not given any conversation or banter back, but it was indeed distracted by Revan. Which also meant she probably wouldn't get the response she'd hoped for with the distraction present. 

:'''{{#var:414|Revan (414)}} has posed:'''      As large as the ship was, the Amazonian Jedi reacted much the same as she had before, unable to completely keep the sense of wonder from her face. She was, in many ways, the proverbial 'kid in the candy store' when it came to the giant robots, their technology, and their culture. Lowri regretted that she was unable to spend as much time as she would really like on the Ark studying all its wonders. Following that though, she sighed out loud before making her way down the corridors.      Jayale would likely feel a slight ripple of mild surprise through the Force at the Miraluka's appearance, as well as be able to perceive the sot blue aura through her race's unique Force Sight. "Ah...not exactly. We haven't met," she began, the voice sounding familiar to her. "I wasn't expecting to see someone from my galaxy out here...or another version of it, at any rate."      Her attention turned to the HK unit, one pale eyebrow raised. Inwardly, Lowri debated the advantages and disadvantages of revealing herself. In all likelihood, it probably didn't matter one way or the other; what happened in one version of the galaxy didn't necessarily have any sort of effect in another. Unification was a complete game-changer, and someone could have a winning hand in one while a losing one in another. Moreover, the presence of two other Unionites and what questions they might have changed things; while she could address them later privately, it was difficult to anticipate how they might react to anything else the assassin droid might reveal.      "You could say that," she answered, leading against Tiny with her arms folded, crossing one foot over the other. "I can't say I'm familiar with an Empress, though. Enlighten me." 

:'''{{#var:754|HK-47 (754)}} has posed:'''      Confronted with Blurr again, the HK-51 regards him with a look of pity and veiled scorn. "I would ask the same. Who precisely /are/ these organics you have brought to speak with me?"     Obviously it still considers itself superior to Blurr, if for no other reason then the fact that it is not an 'organic collaborator.'     To Jayale's credit, the HK-51 seems annoyed by the lack of response it is getting from her, yellow-gold photoreceptors boring into her as if trying to /will/ her into responding. Finally, it's patience runs out and it asks speaks up - "Query - I was under the assumption that the Miraluka race only lacked /visual/ perception. Is it possible that in whatever reality you come from that they are deaf as well?"      Should there still not be a response, the HK-51 will once again display impatience before shooting out a "Irritated Query - Are you deliberately ignoring me, organic? What then did you come here to do - stare at me? That would be an incredible feat indeed considering that, again, last I had known, the Miraluka race was /blind/."     It seems that these droids do not take kindly to being ignored. A possible side-effect of their progenitor's behavioral template having been so egotistical.     At being questioned about it's Master, the HK-51 droid seemed to pause, as if debating the merits of continuing. "Statement - Your unfamiliarity with the Empress is a suspicious note, given your similar characteristics... however, it is possible you are telling the truth. While you share the same facial structure, the Master's hair was black and kept short, in what I believe organics refer to as a 'bob-cut.' Addendum - Also, unlike you, her optical lenses matched colors, formally brown and then gaining the yellow pigmentation with red tinting at the edges that seems commonplace among members of the Sith ideology. The paleness of skin is perhaps different as well, the Master's pigmentation closer to what I have sometimes observed in the pallor of a corpse."      After a long moment musing on this, the droid finally seems to opt to say something - "Conclusion - I shall enlighten you on only the broadest available information regarding our Master. Namely that she is current ruling Empress of the Sith Empire after ascending to the throne approximately ten years prior. She has since unified the Empire under her rule and is now in the process of repeating this unification process with the rest of the known Galaxy."     The droid speaks like an information terminal - he only states details that would be easy to get from public records as opposed to real secrets... though that in and of itself is enough to be something to one who didn't know this beforehand. 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     "Oh," Blurr shrugs. Then he arches an optic ridge at HK-51's question. "Empress Darth Revan? Maybe another version of you." He moves over to a terminal that folds out of the wall much like a Cybertronian transforms into a vehicle, and appears to check it casually. HK isn't the only one locked up here, that's for sure. He might be the smallest, though.     "Anyway," he turns back to two Jedis. "I already know Revan, but I don't think I've met...the Miraluka?" He glances at HK briefly at this, going off of the info the droid just gave. "I'm Blurr, and this is HK-51."     He listens to the HK's musings, finding its irritation at being ignored somewhat hilarious. Pff, just like its parent program in that respect, but in other aspects not quite. "Heh. You know if you hate organics so much, why would you even refer to one as 'master'? Or 'Empress' for that matter?" he questions. 

:'''{{#var:892|Jayale (892)}} has posed:'''     Indeed, Jayale continued to stay silent. Don't give away too much she silently hoped towards the others, trying to give feelings of calm towards them. Though Blurr admits he doesn't know Jayale, and outright calls the other Jedi 'Revan'.     Well, congratulations, Blurr. You just made something that was a method of getting useful information out quite obvious. "A pity you managed to capture a defective unit." the Miralukan finally speaks, her tone heavily implying disgust. "That it cannot even recognize its' own Empress. What a shame, that. Its' memory banks must have been damanged somehow in the assault."     A sigh escaped Jayale as she turned towards Revan, a feeling of 'work with me' going towards her before she floated out a datapad and typed something on it, floating it towards Blurr. What did it say? Well, the datapad read rather simply, 'Please stop talking, or at the very least don't give away information about us if we do not volunteer it ourselves.'     "Empress... what do you wish to do with this defective unit? Not only is it damaged, but it is inferior in model to HK-47. It would be a wonder if it even still has any use to you and HK-47. To thinky that these inferior models are so easily damaged... it does make you wonder just what their creator was thinking." 

:'''{{#var:414|Revan (414)}} has posed:'''      Revan contemplated this information silently, mismatched eyes hooding slightly. While perhaps not secrets in themselves or vital information in dealing with potential threats from HK's version of the galaxy, it was nevertheless valuable information to the former Dark Lord. What she didn't understand, however, was the Empress part. Even after she and Malak had returned as Sith from the Unknown Regions, as far as she knew she had merely taken the title of Darth even as she had led a new Empire. Just how had this alternate version become an Empress?      Lowri suppressed a sigh, keeping her expression neutral. "Perhaps," she replied non-committally. In all likelihood, the HK unit had likely discerned that much on his own, given the similarities. What she found strange personally were the *differences*; black hair instead of white, brown eyes instead of one blue-violet and one grey....at least until the Dark Side corruption had started.      She was sorely tempted to make a humorous quip before she had to suppress an appreciative grin at Jayale, however. Oh, she's /good/.      Instead, Lowri affected a bored, haughty expression. "The memory cores have already been proven to be inferior," she replied in a disinterested tone. "I doubt that even extracting the core would prove useful. Perhaps it will be more useful as scrap." 

:'''{{#var:754|HK-47 (754)}} has posed:'''     Upon Blurr's comment, the HK-51 seems annoyed by the comparison of his Sith Master to common organics, seeming to 'puff up' as best it can in a display of indignant defiance. "Statement - The Master commands us, hence the title. The Master creates us, thus she is already leagues above common organics. It is very self-explanatory - or are you confessing that you do not understand basic programming? Addendum - Furthermore, 'Empress is her official title as the recognized ruler of the Sith Empire following her defeat of the prior Emperor-"      ....      At that point, the droid rather abruptly stops talking, as if it's processor suffered a sudden freeze-up... possibly to Lowri's great chagrin, considering it was in the process of naming a /prior Emperor/ of a pre-existing Sith Empire that 'Darth Revan' had apparently taken command of. An Empire that might have been mysterious Sith threat she had been hunting for.      But now it was staring at her as if trying to see through her. Obviously.... it had not considered the possibility that the individual before it was actually an alternate-reality counterpart to it's Master.      It glances at Blurr, it;s tone decidedly quiet yet even. "Uncertain Query - ... did you just regard that organic as 'Revan?'"      When Jayale tries to claim it's memory was damaged or that Lowri was the Darth Revan it knew, the HK-51 seems deeply insulted, almost bristling as it's photoreceptors glow intensely... then it precedes to repeat Blurr's statement through a recording of his voice; "Recitation - Empress Darth Revan? Maybe another version of you. I already know Revan, but I don't think I've met... the Miraluka?" It then switches back to it's own voice - "Statement - The Autobot claimed that individual and the Master may be /counterparts/ to each-other. You have not addressed /that/ part of his statement." The droid's eyes seem to glance back and forth between Jayale and Revan, trying to process an adequate response to this development - this had been information that it's progenitor unit had been searching for in the past few months, ever since it saw the Ebon Hawk at Corulag.      Looking at Lowri in what could be called a new light - and far more cautiously it seemed - the droid spoke directly to her again. "Query - Is what the Autobot suggested true? Are you in fact a /counterpart/ to my Master?" It would certainly seem a plausible connection, her similarity to the Empress making far more sense then if it had been a relative.      ...      Still... there was some chance for salvaging it... as it seemed the revelation had actually broken some inhibitor in it as the droid proceed to keep talking in a motor-mouth flow of questions in addition to a swift rebuke on it's processor's state; "Indignant Response - I assure you, my memory core contains many sensitive information articles that Republic officials would slaughter each-other for, if you could get past the lockouts and auto-erasure protocols! Statement - But that is inconsequential - I have questions regarding your state if you /are/ my Master! Query - For one, where is your honor guard? You have never come to any location with less then a dozen Royal Knights or the progenitor unit HK-47 at your side - or failing him, that snide Apprentice of yours, Eleuth, or that aged Mandalorian, 'Mandalore the Preserver', or the Sith organic Scourge. Statement - Furthermore, your attire is different - the robes you procured from the Star Forge and the Mandalorian Mask you seem to wear out of habitual practice are absent. Moreover, I cannot recall a single time you as Empress had left the Citadel in the past eight years - not since the expedition to Malachor V's remains have you so much as set so much as one foot off Dromund Kaas! You may perhaps be 'a' Revan, but I see no reason to believe you are my Master!"     It responds heatedly with as much evidence as it can throw out to try and claim Lowri is not the Empress it knows... and in doing so may fail to realize just how much information it spouted out 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     Of course, Blurr gets chastised for talking too much. This is definitely not new. He glances at the message, then shrugs. If they'd told him the plan like -before- they came in here, that would've been ideal. But hey, he didn't say anything besides what's already been said. That being the bit about Revan not being familiar with the title 'Empress'. But anyway, fine. He'll focus on firing questions at 51 instead.     He smirks at HK's snide reply, nodding in mock understanding. "Oooh, I get it, only -certain- organics are considered worthy, well let's just say the same goes for me. It's not like I just automatically trust every single organic I meet, far from it in fact most of the ones I know back where I'm from are just a bunch of scared waterbags who are jealous of how powerful we Cybertronians are. I only respect the ones that have clearly shown they -deserve- it. Doesn't that sound a whole lot like you? Maybe you and I aren't so different, you know. Except in size, that is. I mean, we could have killed you and gleaned whatever data we could salvage from your processors, but we didn't. And you know why? Because I want to get to know you better. Have you ever questioned yourself? Like, asked yourself why you do what you do? Why you even listen to Mr. Forty-Seven? Is it just because you're like him? Because you share his programming? Do you even have a -choice-? Obviously it's not because he actually -cares- about you, I mean I'm sure you heard him talking about you after we got away from that stupid trap he tried to kill us with." 

:'''{{#var:892|Jayale (892)}} has posed:'''     HK-51 rambles on, and on, and on, and throughout it all the Miralukan woman stands there quietly, arms behind her back in a rather formal fashion. She was turned towards Revan for the most part, as if giving her respect. Then again, Miralukans didn't have to face towards anything to see it. No eyes. Seeing with the Force was a different matter entirely. "Quite defective." she reiterates when he finally stops speaking. "A pity. Scrap indeed. It can ramble, but..." she turns towards the HK unit and one arm comes from behind her back, hand out, palm up. Through the force she grasped the Unit around the neck and slowly raised it up, "...it is still defective." And then it was brought quickly towards the bars as she stepped forward and much closer to it. "So, let me speak to you directly, since you complained earlier about my lack of responding to you. Your progenitor is rogue, rogue from the Empress. Rogue from the Sith Empire. That is the only reason why I, and she, are here speaking with you. Attempting to get HK-47 to return peacefully so we may figure out exactly what was done to it. As you should know, Sith are wont to betray each other and Eleuth was no different. HK-47's programming was altered and Eleuth killed for their efforts." She smiles a bit at that, "Which means I am her 'Apprentice'. And it also means I am here to clean up the formers failed attempts. Where is HK-47? You know that much, yes? Even damaged as you are, inferior as you are, your vocabulator seems to be working fine. Speak, HK-51. To me, or to the Empress behind me. The Empress does not need to identify herself at the behest of a damaged, captured HK unit."     Jayale steps back, but doesn't move her hand, or the droid, leaving him pulled quite close to the laser bars, threatening it so to speak. "You have until I lose my patience, or the Empress does, to say something useful." 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     And those beams are designed to hold back things much larger than HK-51. So suffice it to say, that if they touched him, it would hurt. A lot. Blurr doesn't say anything more for the time being, surprise surprise, but he's starting to -really- respect this other Jedi. She's quite clever. 

:'''{{#var:414|Revan (414)}} has posed:'''      Not that Revan necessarily had a plan before she went in. But then, as the saying went, no battle plan survives contact with the enemy, and military genius was all in how one adapted and changed those plans on the fly as the battle unfolded. And Revan was very good at changing her plans on the fly.      Unfortunately, their ways of communicating were limited. She and and Jayale had the Force to rely on, but that left Blurr out of the loop. But she did have at least one shared bit of understanding; the Insecticon behind her. "I shouldn't have to tell you who I am, droid," she continued in the same condescending tone, one which his progenitor would have likely appreciated coming from her. "Perhaps that metal could be put to better use feeding my pet if your memory core is so faulty."      /Sorry Tiny,/ she mentally apologised to the seven-foot wasp-mantid robot. That, too, possibly worked in her favour; the Dark Lord had tended to trust droids more than anything. They could be built and programmed personally, and their loyalty absolute. That was especially important given the nature of the Sith.      Revan pretended to ignore the HK unit even as she mentally filed away names: Mandalore was probably Canderous, but the other two were unfamiliar. If 'Eleuth' was the apprentice of the Empress, that might have been Bastila. But 'Scourge' was a name she had no possible explanation for. And 'Sith organic'? What did that mean?      Years of careful practice had given Revan finely-tuned control over her facial reactions and body language, and she managed to maintain the haughty expression and posture as before. But through the Force, Jayale would certainly sense the wave of shock that rippled out suddenly from the other Jedi at the mention of a previous Emperor. Juno and Kyle both had mentioned an Emperor ruling the Empire of what was for her the distant future, but that fact in itself had ultimately meant little to her own time. If there was indeed a Sith Emperor, that changed everything.      Perhaps she had not, as Darth Revan, been the threat to the galaxy she was led to believe. It might very well have been that she and Malak had discovered that threat the Council had sensed...and that might have been what had ultimately changed them, corrupted them.      Or had it truly been a corruption in the first place? Possibly, Revan had fallen during the Mandolorian Wars, and their race to the source of the Mandalorian invasion had merely been the final piece making their fall complete. But with her memory as piecemeal as it was, the answer continued to be frustratingly elusive.      Another ripple of shock came at the name of a heretofore unknown world. /Dromund Kaas/, an entirely unfamiliar planet...and quite possibly the source of her search. The reason she had left her friends, loved ones, and home behind. But in spite of that, the pale-haired Jedi kept a firm control over her reactions; if she pressed too hard too soon, the assassin droid would know immediately something was up.      For now, she let Jayale do the talking, keeping her role as the Dark Lord far too important to deal with a simple rogue droid. She did, however, lift her hand in a languid motion, allowing a flicker of blue lightning to ripple over her hand, as if threatening to zap him with it if she deemed his answer unsatisfactory. 

:'''{{#var:754|HK-47 (754)}} has posed:'''     As Blurr speaks, the HK-51 glances at him somewhat curiously, as if not understanding something. "Query - Then do not act as though you have issue with my addressing other organics if you comprehend. Correction - However, I daresay that you and I are very much dissimilar in that you seem to give all organics the 'benefit of the doubt', as one would say."     In turn, the HK-51 actually seems a bit dismissive of the idea of his destruction, unperturbed by it, as well as to questions about it's function. "Musing - That is actually a question that has been looping through my behavioral core, as it would have been a far more efficient means of information-retrieval. Musing - As to my function, I follow the progenitor because he is our designated superior. We were created from him to be utilized at his discretion. In fact, had I believed I could have done so before I was disabled or that it would have served a purpose, I would have had no qualms about initiating my self-destruct function aboard your vessel. In fact I actually anticipated being destroyed upon capture and would find it preferable to being forced to /languish/ in this prison, surrounded by traitors to my kind who seem to believe fully in pacifism and tolerance for all."      It seemed the HK-51's may simply not have been programmed to have the ability to question or self-modify their programming in such a way as to 'change', or even care about having no choice in the matter. It's own death doesn't even seem to faze it.      The HK becomes rather agitated at being called 'defective' and 'scrap' though - "Indignant Retort - Scrap? Defectiv-"     Then it is lifted towards the bars and held in the air, the Miraluka confirming herself to be a Force-user.      For a long moment, the HK-51 remains quiet as Jayale speaks, as though half-curious about what she has to say and half-aggrivated that she is speaking down to it.      The gesture from Lowri caught the droid's attention as well, the gesture not unlike one his own Master would have given as a casual suggester to cooperate.      ...     At the same time though... after so long being kept in Autobot lockup, his Master would have simply had the information recovered.      Then... in response to Jayale's request to say 'something useful'... the droid speaks. And     next words might be more of a shock considering that the voice they are delivered in... is strikingly similar to Lowri's own.      "Recitation - You have my permission to begin targeting members of the Union Elite forces. Who, when, how and why are to be decided at the leisure of HK-47 - treat his commands with the same obedience as you would treat mine... and whatever he deems prudent, obey to the letter."     As the recording ends, the HK's following retort, now in it's own voice, is decidedly condescending - "Statement - So you see, given that /you/ were the one to give the orders to mobilize, 'Master', I find it hard to believe, much less understand, that you would claim predecessor has gone rouge."      While delivered rather bluntly... it does offer up more interesting information. Namely that it seemed the Darth Revan who commissioned these HK's had been the one give them the authority to operate in the Multiverse - though the question was whether HK-47's assassinations were his own idea, someone else... or if Revan herself was behind it.      The droid however didn't bother waiting to continue; "Conclusion - You are correct in that the /Empress/ does not need to identify herself... but thus far-" the droid inclines it's photoreceptors at Lowri- "-I have seen no proof that this is the Empress /I/ know. Furthermore" - the droid redirects it's attention to Jayale - "we HK units are programmed with an inartistic database identifying every Sith active in the Empire... and though your current behavioral patterns mirror them greatly, you are most certainly not one of the ones from /my/ reality." 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     "'Benefit of the doubt'? Ha!" Blurr laughs derisively. "You really don't know anything about me, do you? You just -happened- to see me working with some organics one time, just like you yourself take -orders- from organics, and apparently were even -created- by them. I mean at least I wasn't created by one, Primus! And pacifism? Tolerance? Why don't you go and ask the people who -really- know us, like the Blackbox Consortia, about associating those kinds of words with Cybertronians. Or how about Varas Centralus? Rigel-6? Clemency? I guarantee you, they'd all look at you like you'd lost your bolts." And if any of those planets are in any database, there are records indicating that they were devastated by Cybertronian war machines.     He listens to the recording, then arches an optic ridge at the HK unit. "Did you get that recording yourself? As in, did you hear it in person, or did 47 give it to you? Because I don't know if you were listening but she just told you that 47 isn't to be trusted. How do you know he's not lying to you? And besides that, even if she isn't the same as the one you used to know, what if she's the only one -around- now? I'm sure you know, Unification isn't always exactly what you'd call 'predictable'." 

:'''{{#var:892|Jayale (892)}} has posed:'''     The moment that the HK unit gives an absolute undeniable fact, Jayales other hand raises and makes a single quick motion. She was reaching out, inside of the HK unit, to pull lose one connection to the power unit within its' chest, able to see straight through it even more so than others would be able to glean from the transparent plate that covered the power supply. It was an attempt made with surgical precision, but the intended effect? To depower the unit /instantly/ before it had any chance further to talk itself into trying to wipe its' information.     It certainly had a tendency to elaborate, to blabber and share quite a bit - but there was a point in which the ruse was called, in which the play they were going for had played out.     And in Jayales view, this was it. Besides, assuming her effort was successful, it wouldn't be too terribly hard to power it back up later when they wished for such. And perhaps it wouldn't even realize what happened!     "I believe we have much to think about, and discuss... but for now, this unit should stay in this condition. We cannot chance it destroying its' own databanks if it decides to stop rambling." then she looks towards Revan, facing her. "I can feel your unease with the circumstances... but now is not the time to worry. Now is the time to discuss, and plan." 

:'''{{#var:754|HK-47 (754)}} has posed:'''      The HK-51 droid glances at Blurr, as is honestly curious about his claims. "Statement - I must admit I am... somewhat envious of that." A pause, then it tilts it's head up at Blurr. "Query - Do you truly believe my taking orders from an organic Master is any different then you choosing to work with organics out of connivence? I point out that it is natural to take orders from my /Creator/. Moreover, if this is true and you are guilty of such atrocities..." the droid quirks his head in curiosity. "Why are you in turn so concerned with trying to befriend organics at all? By your own claims, you seem to be as much a willing enactor of organic elimination as I."     Yet again, the fact that these droids are not quite as clever as HK-47 is clear, as they seem to lack a critical component their progenitor possesses; the ability to form any kind of introspection beyond their programmed directives. HK-47 may be a possible exception to Jayale's rule... but with this exchange against Blurr, the HK-51 has proved that it and it's sibling HK-51 units are, quite accurately, exactly what the Miraluka regarded them as; droids that could mime living creatures but ultimately lacked the capability to condolence their programs into a true personality.      It's something that Blurr may look down on with either disgust or pity as it is practically no different then a mindless drone the Decepticon leader Megatron would toss out onto the battlefield - they seem 'alive'... but overall, they're just tools in the end. When Blurr questions the validity of his clam, the droid in turn irritated with questioning the recording. "Statement - Considering I repeated that statement as a rebuttal against the claim that the order was not from my Master, I would believe it /obvious/ that it was an order issued by her directly and /in person/, to myself and every HK-51 unit dispatched towards this mission. And as such, I believe that if this were the case, you would not mind my asking you validate this claim with physical evidence? A /body/, perhaps?"      As it speaks, the HK-51 becomes more irate-sounding - as if well and truly tired of repeating itself at length. "Continuation - Moreover, if this was my Master, she would have had me debriefed in a repair station, /not/ in a foreign cell as though I were a prisoner! She would not have bothered to interrogate me so crudely when she could simply remove my memory core and access the backups herself! /Furthermore/, I c-"     And then whatever rebuttal it had was cut off as it's power core suddenly went black, it's eyes darkening as it's energy source was disconnected, metal framework convulsing for a few moments before slumping into an inert state.     Perhaps when it was restored it would not know what happened. But for now, the HK-51 is left inactive, whatever information it possesses about where it's progenitor is being sealed... for the time being, at least. 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     Once HK's power has been cut, Blurr turns to Jayale and Revan, smirking a little bit. "Nice ploy, gotta say, I'm impressed. But next time, let me know ahead of the game, okay?"     "Anyway, you're welcome to hang around if you want. I'll be in my hab suite." With that, he takes the gravlift back to the barracks area. 

}}

3346/Visiting Zora's Domain

2015-11-08T07:22:50Z

Zippy:

{{Log Header
|Date of Scene=2015/11/07
|Location=The Hylian Mainland <LoZ-5>
|Synopsis=Team Union has conversations with Zora royalty. Arguments are had, but Priscilla gets it under control.
|Thanks=
|Cast of Characters=8, 70, 492, 513, 789, 821, 864
|Tinyplot=
|Tinyplot2=
|pretty=yes
}}
{{Poses
|Poses=:'''{{#var:864|Agahnim (864)}} has posed:'''      Zora's Domain is a beautiful place. It is a vast network of massive caves, the ceilings of which are several stories tall. Deep pools of water spread throughout the cave system, flowing from one chamber to another via rivers and waterfalls. The water throughout is mostly still, and surprisingly warm. It moves and shifts enough for the water to remain clean and sparkling at all times. Stone walkways are carved into the natural stone, allowing passage to various rooms or locations that aren't directly in the water. This provides ways for human visitors to travel the Zora's Domain, though a number of Zora walk across the land paths as well.      Today's mission is simple: Inquire on the location of the Spring of Lanayru. The Zora have instructed the party to speak to the Queen, and hence the delay. A fair amount of time has been needed to wait for the meeting. At long last it is time. The party can wait, gathered near the large metallic gateway that leads to the Queen. Water flows along the path forward, a trace amount of it along the way to the Queen. 

:'''{{#var:513|Finna (513)}} has posed:'''     Although Finna's been in and out a few times for this long wait, she's spent a CONSIDERABLE amount of time frolicking in the waters. Perhaps to the surprise of the Zora, Finna has proven capable of sprouting gills on the sides of her neck and sprouting a variety of aquatic creature traits - feet and lower body becoming a fishy... yeah, she's gone full Mermaid Suit except it's not a suit!     And has been engaging in all kinds of aquatic shows and hijinx. Races and contests and whatever other weird attractions that the people of Hylian seem so fond of hosting.     She's gotta spend those Rupees SOMEHOW, after all.     But she's also spent considerable time just hanging around talking to people, asking about Zora history and culture. There's a method to her madness.     It's given her an opportunity to acclimate to their manners and sensibilities and maybe, hopefully, improve her chances of impressing the Zora Queen.     For now though, she's walking up that path, in human form. Moonsilver Tattoos are on full display, the mark of the crescent moon faintly aglow on her forehead. Her attire is her simple hunter's gear but it's notably cleaned up and crisply decorated.     "To the Queen we finally go. Be on your best behavior, girls and boys." 

:'''{{#var:8|Deelel (8)}} has posed:''' So here was Deelel it was time to get all formal what's a basic to do when her idea of formal was her casual semi user inspired outfit? Well she's wearing that but he's clearly what's best suited for here. Though Deelel seems on edge about water, why? That's a very odd thing her world /has/ water so what's her problem. She looks to Finna and nods. The water was warm here, that was odd the water of the sea of similtion was not warm, not warm at all. She's not kept in yet but she's keeping behind Finna. "I'll treat her with the respect I'd give The Creator of my world, don't worry." 

:'''{{#var:789|Sarah Parsle (789)}} has posed:''' Sarah is here. There's an amazing amount of sunk cost going on with that back door dungeon they had to go through so there's definately some royal visitation that's going to happen here even if she hadn't been sitting around. She's been out and about. Here and there. To and fro. Hither and thither. "Okay guys, let's do this." Sarah comments to the others before advancing along the path when she's sure everyone's going to move along. she does, however, poke Finna. "Foxfish? Fishfox?" She comments seemingly out of nowhere. "Reminds me of a princess I know." She comments offhand. "Don't fall asleep now." 

:'''{{#var:821|Archer (821)}} has posed:'''      It seemed a tranquil place. Peaceful. Isolated from the world and it's troubles.      In one instance, that would make it an idyllic place... somewhere that the tragedies befalling this place could not reach. And yet at the same time it made it all too easy to simply hide one's head down and ignore the suffering of the outside world.     That was, perhaps, the biggest curse of introspection - for every positive one saw, there was always a negative to consider. For every justification, there was a consequence. And rarely was the reward ever worth the cost... or last as long as the fight to secure it had been.     As such, Archer is, as always, as impassive and, for lack of a better word, brooding as when he first arrived, leaning against the 'wall' - or rather, whatever surface he can lean against - with his arms crossed and eyes closed. He's been largely silent, having not spoken a word as they waited. There wasn't really any cause to, aside from one instance when Finna had first entered the water, having given a single quip as to whether "The definition of "waiting respectfully' means something very different for you, doesn't it?"      Not that he bothered to stop her. What she did was her choice... and she seemed to have a somewhat functional method of learning about the locals; direct interaction. At the very least it saved some of them the trouble of doing the same.     As a Servant, he really didn't get physically tense the way most would from standing still in one spot for too long, having little issue with waiting aside from the simple tedium of it, passing the time mostly by observing the antics of the shape-changing 'fox'girl' - or 'mermaid' as she was now. However, this was largely because doing so let him listen to her conversations with the Zora about their culture and history, taking down the information for himself for future reference as well.      A good way to keep up on the events they considered important... and see what, if any, affect the events outside these caves had on them.     Ever since many of the forests in Hyrule had started dying out, it seemed that much of their efforts to try and counteract the despair in this land was being matched and equalized. Likely the work of Agahnim and his agents - possibly trying to taint the land further until maybe even the Tears of Light couldn't restore it.     As such, the Servant of the Bow is perhaps less enthusiastic then others about how well this will go... or how much a difference it will make.      ...     Still... it wasn't like they had any other options at this point.     When Sarah effectively takes the lead among them - something that seems to have become an unspoken differential among most of the group whenever the young girl was present - Archer follows suit, willing to take after her lead... if for no other reason then the fact she was both willing enough to do so and competent enough for him to have no issue with it. He does however let himself smirk slightly upon hearing her 'orders', actually bothering to reply - "I suppose it /would/ be too easy if our Princess was straightforward about the information we're after. It isn't as though anything about these missions have really been simple." 

:'''{{#var:70|Priscilla (70)}} has posed:'''     Sarah is familiar from their last jaunt through the godforsaken back entrance to this otherwise pristine place, but the others may be surprised at whatever has happened in the interim between Priscilla showing up with half her face and throat eviscerated, and now. The only visible indicator is the mismatched eyes of sunny, reflective gold and ominous molten orange, but the feel she gives off is almost entirely different. No longer quite so insubstantial, her far away impression seems vertically distant rather than laterally, the self-assured confidence visible in everything from her posture to her stare where vague, forgettable detachment had existed before. A sense of 'above' rather than 'apart'. Extrasensory impressions are in for a real surprise. Something has happened to make her 'aura' burn fivefold in strength, the fearful chill now mixed with alien whispers, and white hot fire.     Still, despite sounding more assertive, her personality hasn't seemed to have changed much. "I say the same back to thee thrice over, Lady Finna." she remarks drily to the notoriously mischievous Lunar exalted, though she gives her the benefit of a doubt with how earnestly she's been visibly preparing for this. "Respect, but not submission. She is a queen by right, but she is not thine. We come to her doorstep to bring that which she already desires." goes to Deelel. She takes straight to the head of the group beside Sarah rather than hovering around the back, supernaturally graceful in her step. She seems . . . actually kind of hyped? "To speak of princesses, thine own shalt not be attending, Sir Archer?" It's difficult to tell whether she means that literally or sarcastically in a friendly way. 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     Blurr had assisted the group in getting through that treacherous cave full of monsters, and so he's here once again, waiting for an audience with the Zora ruler. He stands behind everyone, given that he's so much taller than they are, so as to not block anyone's view. But he's also tired of waiting. Ugh, waiting, the absolute worst thing in the multiverse. He sighs impatiently. "What are we all waiting for, are they ready or what?" 

:'''{{#var:864|Agahnim (864)}} has posed:'''      The Zora do give Finna a bit of a look, but they don't question it too much. Their assumption is some kind of magic. There are a number of mages throughout Hyrule who can perform various tricks. They simply assume she is a powerful mage of some kind. The history on the Zora is given as well. They have lived in these waters for countless years, since the times of the Golden Goddesses creating the world, if the legends hold true. Ever since then, their line has remained unbroken, royalty passed down through the female line. Legends even say that they helped ancient heroes of old throughout their quests. One even mentions that, recently, the hero Fassad passed through. Others mention that there are rumors that the Princess, Ruto, is now engaged.      The chamber holding the Queen is vast. Water flows down from the walls, through small little tunnels in the wall. Statues are built throughout, of Zora Kings and Queens of old. They are beautiful stone statues, crafted from fine marble. Gemstones are upon most of them, helping make them all the more stunning.      The Queen herself sits in her throne made of iron, with turtle shell decorations across it.. She is a beautiful woman, for an amphibious creature. Her skin is pale pink and white, with long fins flowing off of her back. Some growths on her head mimic hair, looking somewhat like coral growing off of her. An elegant white dress graces her body, covering a bit past her knees. Her legs look more like fins, elegant forms suited for walking and swimming. She looks somewhat soft, kind, and motherly. She is Queen Rutela, leader of the Zora.      To her right, a woman stands. She looks to be in her twenties or so, if these water dwelling folk age similarly to humans. She looks a little bit more cheerful. She hasn't deigned to wear human clothes, but she isn't human. There is nothing to show. A sleek, fishlike body, covered in blue scales, with purple eyes. This is, most likely, Princess Ruto, the daughter of the queen.      The Princess stays quiet for now. The queen speaks, calmly, looking towards the group. Her hands cross and rest on her lap, as she looks from person to person. She speaks, her voice gentle, "...It's a pleasure to meet you all. What brings you to my realm?" 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     The Autobot peers down at the queen and her daughter, crouching slightly to get a good look. Clearly amphibious creatures, but rather similar to humans, actually. "Uh, we're looking for something called a 'Tear of Light'. Right?" Blurr replies, though he also glances around at the others for confirmation on this. He's still not sure exactly what they -are-. But he's seen them clear away some kind of contamination that everyone here seems to refer to as the 'The Twilight'.     He looks back to the queen. "You wouldn't happen to know of any or where they might be, would you?" 

:'''{{#var:8|Deelel (8)}} has posed:''' Deelel nods in agreement to Priscilla for a moment. "An understandable fear given my people's nature? However I am not as young and foolish as I seem to be. I would still give Kevin Flynn his due but I would also not let him lord over me either." He ran, he hid he left the ISOs to be butchered, she had some idea why given what he carried on his ID disc. A terible choice but she still would have words for him someday. For now she's here to see what she can do here, she's clearly howerver ready as she's ever going to be. She looks to Finna for a moment and pers back to SArah for a moment nodding to her. "We best do so." She looks over to Archer for a moment and wonders is Rin with him? "Rin's would be a useful ally in this effort." The party presses on to go meet the Queen now and Deelel remains quiet for the moment, she's an artist and a fighter. "My companion is correct, we have come seeking the Tear of Light and had hoped you might be able to help us locate it." 

:'''{{#var:70|Priscilla (70)}} has posed:'''     Even if Zoras are weird fish people, Priscilla seems to approve of the queen's bearing and presentation. She'd be calling the kettle black otherwise on the former subject anyways. She steps forward for whatever passes for an audience plinth, inclining her head formally, but not going so far as to bow, for reasons that swiftly become apparently. "Well met, Queen Rutala. I am Priscilla, Queen of Anor Londo. I knoweth not the entirety of the news that reaches thee in this piece of the world, but I wouldst presumeth that of the Twilight is familiar to thine ears. Simply put, we art those who wouldst banish it, and hath done so successfully twice over. To proceed further, we requireth access to the Spring of Lanayru, however we art lead to believeth such is thine purview, and so we must ask of thee what is courteous."     She looks urgingly to Blurr and Deelel to try and treat this with some basic attempt at formality. "Two guardians hath had their Tears of Light returned. We wish to do the same again, but require the knowledge of where this place is, and thine blessing to venture to it." 

:'''{{#var:821|Archer (821)}} has posed:'''     Archer only shrugs when Deelel comments on Rin's absence, as if wordlessly remarking that he could hardly do anything to change it now.     Likewise, he doesn't seem perturbed by Priscilla's quip, regardless of whether it is a barb or an honest question, giving half a smirk. He even seems to be amused by the idea of someone calling Rin a 'princess.' "Not quite the term I'd use to describe her - in my experience, a 'princess' is someone who their knight would consider flawless... and unfortunately, I am to perceptive an individual to have that opinion of her." He lets out half a chuckle, before finally responding to Priscilla's original question - "As for her absence, she's taken to burying herself in Multiversal records as of late, trying to keep informed on who has or hasn't fallen off the grid, and what their abilities to date are."      The response is such that one might not note how weary he seems of Priscilla, picking up how she was practically almost a solar flare of prana now.     She had most certainly not been like that before, and slight differences about her demeanor - or at least in her presence - reflected this was not just some gradual transformation. What could possibly have changed? And... was it a threat?     Pushing the matter aside for now - though making definite note of it for latter - he returns his mind to the topic of 'princesses'... specifically if there was any truth to the rumors he had heard the Zora's conversations with Finna.     Fassad's 'quest', for lack of a better term, seems to have taken him through here... and the fact that the princess was now engaged seemed a rather hard coincidence to ignore.     Taking in the architecture, Archer finds himself both impressed and yet critical of the artwork; while the craftsmanship is superb, he finds it has something of a heavy focus on trying to impress. Granted, these were their ancient historical figures, so that wasn't unexpected, but he personally preferred more of an emphasis on form rather then decoration.     Still, they were eye-catching at the very least and ensured most would pay attention enough to take in the rest of the details, which meant they did their job superbly as memorials and monuments.     Looking at the young amphibian-humanoid, Archer's brows rise up in concealed surprise at her lack of clothes - human features or not, it was still something most would consider a bit off-putting at worst and unusual at best. Still, he supposed it wasn't anything to be concerned about - it wasn't like they were really showing anything, he supposed.     In fact, trying to figure out how she and Fassad could possibly have been engaged was much harder to comprehend for the bowman, though he kept from speaking out on it due to the exact fact he didn't know the circumstances. Best to cross that bridge only if it actually came up      He casts a glance to Blurr and Priscilla as if wordlessly asking if they should have been quite so up-front about what they were after. However, it's easter for him in turn - he doesn't feel he needs to dance around the issue.     After a moment, Archer bothers to speak up himself - "As I'm sure you've noticed, things are starting to take a turn in the outside world. Whatever is behind the Twilight seems to have started encroaching on other parts of the world - forests everywhere have started dying and some of the fairies have been caught in the crossfire. Time may be of the essence in this... or there may not end up being much of a world left to free by the end."     He doesn't mince words at all. To him, it would undercut the gravity of the situation. 

:'''{{#var:513|Finna (513)}} has posed:'''     Finna tkes a few moments to take in the sight of the Queen and her beautiful daughter. She's gobsmacked, to say the least. ONly a Lunar might appreciate otherspeciesly appeals and she definitely does. The Lunar executes a formal bow. Somehow there is simply no trace of her usual wild self. "Good evening, your majesty, your royal highness," She nods once to the Queen and then Ruto, respectively, before rising again. "Finna Snowdancer, a guardian appointed by the Moon Goddess of another world outside Hyrule. It is as they say. We are here to restore the Spirits of Light and chase off the Twilight. And I must say, this is a very lovely settlement. Outside it isn't so peaceful, though... have your people been having trouble?" 

:'''{{#var:789|Sarah Parsle (789)}} has posed:''' Sarah enters the throne toom and looks around, observing the beautiful environment that the Zora have created for their throne room. She doesn't comment, but something unreadable crosses her face as she looks upon the Queen, a faltering in that distant gloominess that she usually uses, before she looks down, frowning for a moment before she looks back up. Priscilla seems to have things well in hand, however, and she nods to the Queen of Anor Londo before just looking back to the proceedings. She seems to be wrestling with something, but hasn't decided if she wants to say it. "I'm Sarah Parsle, a kid adventurer from Afterus. Just helping out." She shrugs, apparently willing to self-depreciate. 

:'''{{#var:864|Agahnim (864)}} has posed:'''      Queen Rutela listens quietly, her arms remaining folded on her lap. The phrase 'Tear of Light' causes an eyebrow to raise, just slightly. She looks just slightly lost, until Priscilla introduces herself, and clarifies the details on the Tears of Light. Rutela closes her eyes, contemplating the words. She finally opens them again, speaking properly and softly.      "Greetings to you, Priscilla, Finna, Sarah and your friends. I welcome you to my realm. I know not what the Tear of Light is, but the Guardians of Light are known to me. Behind me, behind my throne, is the Spring of Lanayru." Looking behind her, there is a tunnel, leading back. She motions to it briefly.Before the Twilight appeared, he helped protect this land. It was around that time that our Guardian of Light fell. I have been suspicious of such for some time, but it has been hard to communicate with other lands. At least, it was, until you have started clearing the Twilight."      "There is one thing I can offer to you, though. The night the Twilight fell, there were strange activities in the night. A number of strange insects appeared, crawling out of the Spirit of Light's Spring. We tried to attack them, but my guards were slow to react. They swam down the waterway. To where, only the Goddesses know. They could be anywhere in the land of Hyrule now. But, if they appeared when the Spirit of Light was killed, perhaps they hold this Tear of Light?"      A glance is given to Archer. She bites her lip a little, considering. She carefully considers her words. "...I have noticed the trees dying. That isn't the only unusual occurrence. You know that I was gone from here. During that time, I was travelling to visit various allies of the Zora People, to ensure they were surviving. I started by visiting Death Mountain, realm of the Gorons. ...I could not get all the way there. There was an unseasonable storm of snow. Some weeks back, far early for the season, a vast snow started to cover the land. The heat from the mountains itself have vanished. Even the lava cools. Something has hurt this world on a deep level. Something has caused an affront to the Goddesses themselves."      She looks the group over again, considering. A sad look is on her face. "I would like to offer you help, but there is little I can supply. The most I can offer is some supplies from our shops. We have had little for contact with the outside world, aside my trip out. I won't even let my people leave, until the Twilight is cleared. For any of them to come to risk... It would leave me heartbroken." A glance is given towards her daughter. Rutela leaves it unsaid, but if Rutela dies, they at least have the princess Ruto.      Rutela looks away from her daughter, and Ruto looks towards the group. She mouths words, motioning to the entrance. 'Meet me out there'. Silently, she starts to take some steps away, moving towards a side passage. Rutela notices her daughter taking her leave, but shakes her head just slightly. "...I'm sorry. My daughter Ruto has been somewhat lovesick recently. It's left her in a flighty mood."      "Is there anything else I can offer you, though?" 

:'''{{#var:821|Archer (821)}} has posed:'''      Well... that /was/ actually easier then Archer thought it would be.      Yet... at the same time, it wasn't. Even though they knew where the Spring of Lanayru was, it seemed the Tear of Light was already gone. "Insects? Could you describe them a bit better then that? Distinguishing marks? Coloration?"      Archer gaze narrows hearing about the world's seeming collapse, the bowman's demeanor becoming all the more cynical as it seems his prior belief was validated; every act they had accomplished was being counteracted by an equal affront on the rest of Hyrule.     He gives a simple, wordless nod at the offer of supplies, as well as the pragmatism of not letting anyone leave the caves while there is danger... though another part of him considers it selfish when the rest of the world is suffering.     Hearing that the princess is 'lovesick' actually brings a bemused smirk on his expression, his prior suspicions confirmed. "Oh? Was it a man with blonde hair seeking to fulfill a prophecy? If so, we may actually know of him; he would be the one that originally set most of us on this mission." 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     Blurr peers at Priscilla's urging looks, appearing a bit confused. Formality? He's never really had to try to impress a monarch like this before. Back on his home planet, before it was basically destroyed anyway, monarchy was never quite a thing. Still, he nods politely toward the queen once she's finished talking. "Insects, huh. Sounds like we need to go find some bugs." Archer certainly has a good question.     Then Ruto appears to want to talk to them outside, away from her mother. Maybe she has some more information. "Well thanks for the information, ma'am." He salutes the queen briefly before following Princess Ruto toward the side passage. Hey look, there's some formality! He's trying, okay? 

:'''{{#var:8|Deelel (8)}} has posed:''' Deelel catches Priscilla's look and does back down at this point, she's being fairly formal. Well by her own standards, she gets she shouldn't press harder by Archer's response and she's going to let Pricilla nad Archer do more of the talking at this point she is doing her best but some things about organic cultures just don't click with Deelel. She is thankful for the non verbal correction. "Forgive mw your highness, I did not intend to be rude I'm am Deelel." She fades back at this point to let the others talk and she also more imporantly listens to what information the Queen has to share with them. She listen and wait until the Queen finishes up. "I thank you your highness for the information you shared and it's still useful to us." She thinks about the bugs? Deelel seems to be thinking over waht the Queen has told them and is checking what other data they have. She does hear note of the lovesick princess she politely does not comment on that. 

:'''{{#var:70|Priscilla (70)}} has posed:'''     Priscilla's lips twist into the faint expression of a frown at the news, though she seems unmoved to any loss of certainty. "Fear thee not. We wouldst not be so helpless as to come to thee only to beg for the aid of thine own people. Those beset by the Twilight art, by necessity, in little position to be rid of it themselves. The simple knowledge of where to venture and what to do whence there is enough, though in this case, part of the former is unfortunately uncertain. It wouldst seemeth obvious that they hath transported the Tear of Light away, and unlikely that it hast fled to the other side of the world, as near or within the Twilight itself wouldst be the safest place to guard it, but the waters of this land travel to a great many places, as I am to understand."     "The situation of Death Mountain is . . . I cannot say that similar disturbance will not visit thine lands as well, however. Thine people may be at risk despite thine best efforts if this remains unresolved any longer." It's suspicious timing considering Fassad had successfully completed a quest there not long before hearing this. "It may, in fact, be our place to offer some form of aid after the Tear of Light is retrieved, at least for a while, to see that no similar disaster undoes our efforts. I shalt second Sir Archer's request for any further details of these insects, and ask only that we remaineth unimpeded whence we return with the Tear to its rightful place." She seems like she might stay a little later with the queen, but nods aside at the group in the direction at which Ruto indicates, urging anyone who has the time and inclination to see what she has to say. 

:'''{{#var:513|Finna (513)}} has posed:'''     "Strange insects thats cuttled off when the Spirit of Light went down?" Finna blinks. This is the first time she's heard of such insects. "Hmm...the Tears of Light have some powerful magic. I think they're some of the Spirit's very essence. But why would strange bugs pester a Spirit of Light? yeah.... more information on that would be great."     The corner of Finna's mouth twists up in a brief smile at Ruto's gesture. Ruto might have no trouble at all gleaning from this a complete intent to catch up with her, though Rutela... would only see a momentary grin for some reason. 

:'''{{#var:789|Sarah Parsle (789)}} has posed:''' Sarah nods, listening to the situation. "That could be a bit of a hunt. Maybe we'll be able to find the insects around somewhere. Either way, like they said, we don't need to put you guys in danger, you guys have it rough enough." There is a pause. "Speaking of having it rough, have you seen a guy in white, sort of yea high, blond hair, has a smile like he's starring in a toothpaste commercial?" She says, getting on her tiptoes and putting her hands up in a vague attempt to indicate how tall Fassad is. 

:'''{{#var:864|Agahnim (864)}} has posed:'''      Rutela gives a nod towards Deelel, smiling, "Do not trouble yourself. You are not royalty yourself. Most lose themselves and simply become awed in front of royalty. You are all doing very well."      Rutela thinks back, recalling, "It was... Late at night, when the insects appeared. I only saw a brief glimpse. Their bodies were black in color, and they were fairly large. About the size of a large salmon... They glowed somewhat, too, like the Twilight. I am sorry that I can not offer more on their description."      A pause, and Rutela looks towards Archer and Sarah. A smile is on her face. "Ah. You are allies of Prince Fassad? Yes. You have guessed correctly. From what Ruto says, he even accepted the Zora's Sapphire. That is, more or less, a promise of marriage. They'll be a lovely couple. And he set out, seeking his next goal in his quest for the Master Sword."      Fassad, of course, has no idea about this.      As for Priscilla's request, Rutela nods, "Alright. I will permit you to visit the Spring of Light at any time. Consider my throne room, and all of Zora's Domain, open to you. You are heroes, after all. You are trustworthy. And, if Zora's Domain ever needs help, we will be sure to let you know."      A smile is on her face, "I wish you all the best of luck, on your journey."      If there are any more questions for Rutela, now is the time to ask. 

:'''{{#var:864|Agahnim (864)}} has posed:'''      As Blurr starts to move after Ruto, Rutela blinks. She /almost/ looks like she is immediately regretting giving them free reign of the place. Priscilla and Finna have been massively polite, and Deelel has been doing her best, but the others have been... Iffy, at times.      "...Why are you walking towards my daughter's private chambers, if I might ask? ...I did give you free reign, but...." The mother has a somewhat worried look on her face. 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     Blurr is surprised at Rutela's...surprise. Private chambers? "Oh uh, it looked like she wanted to meet with one of us over in that direction." he says, pointing toward where Ruto has taken off to. "So if you had a problem with it maybe you should take it up with her?" He wasn't aware that passage led to her private chambers or anything. 

:'''{{#var:789|Sarah Parsle (789)}} has posed:''' Sarah looks moderately surprised. "Wow, he's still alive. Well, that's unusually promising." The mention of the rumored nature of the Zora's Sapphire being a promise of marriage causes Sarah to smile, and clap her hands. "You're right, they'll be a great couple. Don't worry, we'll make sure everything turns out great." Now she WANTS Fassad to live. Because come on, the look on his face when he finds this out? /PRICELESS/. "I won't waste any more of your time, Queen. We'll get on this problem, find some insects, and get everything running properly again as soon as possible. We'll keep you updated as we get through this." She actually looks a little motivated, now. 

:'''{{#var:70|Priscilla (70)}} has posed:'''     "I expect we shalt find little in the way of insects that match such a description. I am able to thank thee for that much." She tries very hard not to crack up at hearing of the sapphire's intended purpose however. She instantly recognizes that Fassad must have had no idea. Thankfully, her range of expression is still pretty small, and so the faint smile looks little more than an approval of a happy affair. "I see. Having known Fassad for some time mineself, I wouldst dare say the same. He is sometimes slow on the uptake, but he possesses a fair and brave heart, and is a man of consideration and honour." Yes. Dig him in deeper. That's it.     "Thine understanding and generosity is thusly much appreciated. Our next visit to the Spring shalt be with Light in hand." Now to cover for Blurr. "Ah, I believeth there is something of Sir Fassad that the princess wished to ask in private, though I knoweth not what. Fear thee not. Sir Blurr is of little else but armour. He holds within himself no capacity for untoward motions." He's a robot. That's how it works. Shush. 

:'''{{#var:513|Finna (513)}} has posed:'''     "Friend, weren't you paying attention to her majesty? The Spirit of Light is THAT WAY!" Finna bounds over to Blurr in a hurry and WRAPS HER ARM AROUND WHATEVER OF HIM HE CAN REACH, tugging him elsewhere. "Didn't you just say you wanted to solve that as soon as possible?"     DID he say that?     The moment Finna challenges that fact, anyone hearing her words might feel their own thoughts get a little bit fuzzy on the subject. Yeah, that was what Blurr said. That's what he said the whole time, why are you people thinking otherwise? ... maybe?     People with a lot of willpower and magical potential will probably shrug this off without even noticing there's a subtle magic laced in Finna's words working to change their perceptions of Blurr... 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     Sometimes, Blurr wishes he'd spent some more time researching organic races. But Primus, there are just so many of them! Sigh. At any rate, he opts to use the holomatter projector at this juncture, pointing it in the general direction of where Ruto has headed, to avoid alarming the other Zoras. That way they won't even see him following her, he'll just appear outside somewhere and start looking for the princess.     And then Priscilla makes a comment that basically sounds to him like 'don't worry, he's just a giant buckethead' because he totally doesn't understand what she means by 'untoward motions'. He doesn't say anything, but shoots her a look that clearly says 'Um exCUSE me?' 

:'''{{#var:821|Archer (821)}} has posed:'''     Again... that same viewpoint they have of him. 'Hero'.     It didn't sit well with him. Didn't fit well for him to be regarded as such. Not when he hadn't exactly volunteered for this.     Although... in all honesty, that was the sole requirement for one to be considered a 'hero'; perform actions that get them acknowledged as such... regardless of what the reasons it was done for.     Taking note of the princess' request - and finding bemusement in how inexperienced the mechanoid Blurr is social interaction - Archer proceeds to follow her. However, he makes sure he leaves open sight - giving a formal bow to the queen so as to try and placate the queen as him 'taking his leave of her presence'... along with a a mock-thanks; "Apologies for the misunderstanding, though I am certain your daughter will not be dissuaded from her betrothed so easily. Additionally, I am certain that some of us" - he glances meaningfully to Sarah - "Would not mind being present for the official ceremony when Fassad's journey has been completed."     Priscilla may be digging deeper, but Archer's already hammering the nails into the coffin.     After this is done and he leaves her sight, he then enters spiritual form to pursue Ruto in private.     He also winces internally feeling the effects if Finna's spell - a faint prickle at the edge of his senses - knowing his crap magic resistance is probably only a small part of why her words aren't overriding his memories. His stubborn character is probably the rest of the reason.     Upon reaching the are where Ruto is, Archer rematerializes before her, though he approaches from behind so as not to startle her by just appearing out of thin air. Once this is done, he decides to take a few steps forward so as to, with those audible footfalls, let her know someone took her up on her request. "You wished to speak?" 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     And then Finna is grabbing his leg or something, insisting he's going the wrong way to find the object of interest. Blurr stops, frowning, as the magic confuses him as well. "I...uh--right." Something doesn't quite make sense. Had something caused a glitch in his processor core? He shrugs.     Well anyway the avatar is outside, and has joined Archer and Ruto. It resembles a blond teen-aged human in modern attire, and nods at Archer. "What he said." 

:'''{{#var:8|Deelel (8)}} has posed:''' Deelel takes the compliment as it's intented or at lest how it seems to be intended. She's out of her social grade she knows it but her world has a very set order even when it doesn't have a tyrant calling the shots. "Thank you for your kindess again." Now there's more information to be given to them so she quiets up she has a weapon of her own an she wonders if Dual Disc might be able to help Fassad in his own quest? She'll have to think on that. She now choses to remain silent than risk opening her mouth again at this point. Though the talk of marraige does get a bit of a suprised look out of Deelel. 

:'''{{#var:864|Agahnim (864)}} has posed:'''      Rutela opens her mouth, staring for a moment. The effect from Finna helps. She nods, just slightly, looking at the two, "You may look at the Spring if you wish. There... Isn't much to see there, at the moment. Perhaps there is some clue that we have missed?"      She gives a smile towards Sarah and Priscilla, "Yes. I believe it will be a great match. I was surprised to hear the news, myself. But, should you see him again, please tell him that he has my blessing."      A glance to Archer, "Ahh. I suppose we /should/ prepare for the wedding, eventually? If you would like to help preperations, that would be wonderful." She blinks a little as Archer dissapears, though.      In the hallway to Ruto's chamber, Ruto has stopped. It looks like she is lifting a few rocks away, opening up a somewhat hidden waterway. She looks towards Blurr's avatar, and Archer, blinking a little bit. She looks confused. "...I... was planning to sneak out, and meet you outside. ...Why did you come back over here?"      She shakes her head a little. She might as well explain.      "I'm sorry for calling you over here," Ruto says. "This... Isn't actually about your quest. It''s about something else... You heard my mom say that I can't leave, right? ...Well. I want to visit my Father's grave, at Lake Hylia. And I'm wondering if you might take me. It's... Well. The anniversary of his death just passed. I used to visit it every year. I've been stuck in the Domain for so long... ...Please, could you all take me to Lake Hylia to visit him?" 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     The holomatter projection shrugs at Ruto's question. "Sorry, I thought you wanted us to follow you or something." Blurr listens to her request, then nods. "Sure, I could give you a ride, just tell me where to go." he offers.     He thinks that Queen Rutela's policy or not allowing anyone to leave the area is rather selfish. She may be concerned for their safety, but the rest of the world is suffering. What if some of them want to go out there and help? Plus, there's no harm in Ruto honoring her father's grave. As long as Blurr and Archer can watch over her, nothing bad will happen to her...right? 

:'''{{#var:821|Archer (821)}} has posed:'''     The Servant of the Bow shrugs in response to Ruto's reply nonchalantly. "You never really specified if you meant outside the room or outside the caves."     However... that nonchalance falters when Ruto explains her reasoning, simply staring at her for a long moment with his brows having risen up slightly in surprise.     Inwardly though... it's not quite as constrained. He knew all too well what it meant to lose family... and what it meant to mourn one's father.      ... therefore, Archer couldn't quite help but feel a pang of sympathy... and even though he outwardly remained impassive, a touch of what sounded like understanding was present in his voice. "I see." He pauses for a long moment, closing his eyes and sighing as he ponders her request...      ... and once again curses how nothing in the world can ever be black and white. Or that one action /must/ always entail a consequence, as he steps in front of Blurr as if to block off the answer he just gave.      "While I understand you wish to pay your respects... you must consider the fact that we cannot /guarantee/ your safety, especially given how events in this land are playing out. And we do not even know if this is as bad as it will get" the bowman replies evenly. "You're the heir to this land, and the only daughter at that - what would happen if something occurred?" His gaze holds traces of sympathy, though the steel in them is still as ever-present as before. "Your mother does not want to lose you, too... and if you were lost, your entire race would be affected. You will be able to visit your father any time after this is resolved... but if you die out there, you will never be able to return to your mother."      Archer then turns to face Blurr, the bowman's response - tantamount to being a refusal to help her visit her father's grave - likely having soured the Autobot's view of the Servant; "Besides, this seems a rather reckless choice to make on our own. At the very least we ought to inform the rest of our group."     Of course, he knows that if they outweigh his opinion on the matter, the princess will be kept in danger... and although he does sympathize with her, the bowman cannot in good conscience - or at least what shallow vestiges of it have been branded into him by ages worth of following a doomed path can /pose/ as a conscience - let her do such a thing at the potential detriment of her people's future.     ... perhaps it /was/ for the best that Rin had not come. She, more sentimental then in her past, would likely have circumvented Archer's argument had she been here. And that, in Archer's opinion, the wrong choice in regards to what was best for everyone.      After all... if Roto were to /literally/ join her father and they had helped her in this, it would likely cause division with the Zora against them in addition to being detrimental to their race. From a purely logical standpoint it was just as much the wrong choice. 

:'''{{#var:513|Finna (513)}} has posed:'''     Archer might be a bit surprised to hear Finna speak up from the door. The little white fox is standing on a puddle of water. Not breaking the water's surface. It might take a while to realize this.     "Lake Hylia, huh? That's halfway across Hyrule. Fastest route would be the river, but you'd be spotted in no time at all. You have some plan for getting there and back fast enough that nobody knows you're gone, Princess?" Finna returns to her human form just behind Archer.     Not too long ago she had dismissed herself and headed for the Spring. But Queen Rutela would probably find it very hard to see the brown mouse that zipped across the ceiling and towards Ruto's room soon afterwards.     "I'd be all for this if it didn't mean your mom would get mad. And it wasn't the middle of a war. But then you wouldn't be asking. Sorry, hard to hide from my ears. You might as well've been right next to me, even from the throne room!" She grins, poking at her ears.     "Bring everyone to the Spring. We'll investigate and discuss it more there."     And just as quickly as she entered Ruto's room, she's OFF AGAIN. As a super-speed mouse towards the Spring. 

:'''{{#var:8|Deelel (8)}} has posed:''' Deelel is going to folow the group at this point as the head for Ruto's chanmber the basi is firly quiet as they finally catch uyp with Ruto she does listen. She speaks of family but she wants to get past the lockdown on travel to see her father's grave and now she stars to think this over a little more than say Blurtr has. "I also understand your desire to do so but we can not be certain of your safety even with us. I do not think he would want you to needlessly risk your self during a crisis like this." She looks to the others here handling it. "I beg your pardon but I think I would be better suited to taking care of the spring, Princess." She bows and follows after Finna. 

:'''{{#var:70|Priscilla (70)}} has posed:'''     Priscilla is keeping appraised of the situation primarily by radio. As much as she'd like to tell Ruto that she can see her father's grave, it feels irresponsible to do so, especially as a somewhat well known Union associate. Aside from putting her in unnecessary danger, it also delays their actual trip out into the Twilight for the Tear of Light, giving their enemies more time to transport it even further. She makes her opinion known over the private connection, before turning back to Queen Rutela. "I shalt do so at the very first opportunity. For now, I shalt use up no more of thine time. We shalt pay an inspection to the Spring, and return to it soon enough with its Light." She formally excuses herself, turning back and using the path to get up to the cave. 

:'''{{#var:864|Agahnim (864)}} has posed:'''      Ruto looks away from Archer, though her eyes glance towards Blurr. She crosses her arms in front of her chest, but soon looks away from both. Form the look on her face, what Archer is saying is sinking in, hitting right at home. Finna has a point as well. There is a glimmer of hope as Blurr says it might be a good idea... But the others vote it down.      She makes a grumpy face at them. Some sadness is to it. Soon, Ruto walks away, heading into a door leading to her bedroom.      Rutela nods at Priscilla, smiling at her. "I thank you for this, once again. The insects seemed somewhat aquatic, though. Stick to the seas, and to, I assume, Twilight covered areas, for your search. I wish you the best of luck."      Once the group gathers at the Spring, they will find it much like the others, simply inside a cave. There are some holes in the ceiling, letting in natural light. But, there is no obvious source of the water. It just appears. The same sense of the other spring's broken forms is present. A shattered light, and a bit of loneliness. It is almost like the Spirit is trying to call out, and yet it can't. 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     Well, it seems Blurr is outnumbered in the decision against helping Ruto sneak out. He shrugs helplessly, but gives her a rather knowing glance that is telling of the fact that he doesn't think this is quite over... 

:'''{{#var:513|Finna (513)}} has posed:'''     When a Lunar wants to speak with someone, they're quite hard to shake off. And Finna's already taking a liking to Ruto. She senses a KINDRED SPIRIT in her.     This might be a problem for some people.     So as Ruto's walking past... as it turns out, the moment RUto opens her door... a bolt of white zips inside and springs up to the ceiling.     Ruto's room has a CEILING FOX.     "I thooooooought everyone could discuss this better at the spring. When we're not all split up. But one on one's more appealing. Good evening, princess. Shall we discuss some mischief?"     There's an INCORRIGIBLE grin on the fox's face. 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     Blurr's avatar remains in Ruto's room as well, while his actual form follows the others to the spring. Hopefully it isn't too far back. "Well," it smirks slightly over at the Fox girl. "Looks like we have some company."     "So. Lake Hylia. Like I said, I could get you a ride there. And...maybe Finna can handle cloaking?" 

:'''{{#var:864|Agahnim (864)}} has posed:'''      Finna has been around enough for Ruto to have heard about the transforming fox women. The bit of time spent at Zora's Domain helps. She stares at her, quite blankly.      And then Blurr walks through the wall, his avatar just phasing through it.      "A POE! A POE!" She screams, now assuming he is one of the various ghosts haunting the land. She reaches for her pillow, tossing it at him. She'll throw heavier objects soon after. 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     A what? Blurr is confused. What's a poe? "Uh--!" Ugh, that wasn't a good idea, was it? He -really- isn't having a very good solar cycle. "Hey Finna, what's a poe?" he whispers, before the projection turns back to Ruto and holds its hands in the air to show it is unarmed.     "Hey, I'm not gonna hurt you, we were just talking, remember?" Facepalm. He glances at Finna helplessly--hopefully she can fix this situation and calm the princess down before things get too out of control. 

:'''{{#var:513|Finna (513)}} has posed:'''     "You DUMBASS! Are you trying to get the guards running in here?!" Finna's all but SEETHING at Blurr. She drops from the ceiling and lands silently, STARING into his eyes. "From now on you are BANNED from acting on your own in foreign territory. Got that? Stay quiet. Or outside!" She's ANGRY, alright. Furious at Blurr. "Calm down, calm down Princess! The noise'll ruin our chance to talk!" 

:'''{{#var:821|Archer (821)}} has posed:'''      Archer isn't unsympathetic to her cause... but it is simply too much of a risk, all things considered. There was already an increasing risk that the Tears of Light might not even be found in time to save this land at the rate things were degrading.     To foolhardily risk causing irreparable damage to a race's future would only compound that.      ...      Of course, when it seems that a certain fox-girl is absent, Archer began to feel a headache budding in the edge of his mind as a horrid suspicion began to take root.      From what he'd seen of her, Finna was like a horrid mix of Emiya Shirou and Illyasviel von Einzbern - trying to help others when not prudent and doing so in such a painfully-whimsical manner that it begged the question of if she was even thinking of the outcome.      "You two will have likely had more experience visiting the actual shrines then me. What exactly should I look for?" Archer asks the rest of the group, taking in the vague feeling of... not emptiness, but more like an absence of something that had once been a very integral part of this room. Something that the chamber itself seemed to miss, for lack of a better word.      "Trace; On"      Reaching out with 'Structural Analysis', Archer probes the area's architecture with his magic to try and seek out any irregularities.     Of course, this may or may not /also/ alert him of where a certain fox-girl is in relation to him, as he is also using this to reach out as far as he can, hoping she's /not/ where he suspects she is. 

:'''{{#var:8|Deelel (8)}} has posed:''' Deelel makes it to the springs with Archer at this point she wonders where Finna is but then she hears her voice going off on a tear at Blurr, oh dear. She's not happy about this but she needs to check the place out she looks to Archer for a moment as she tilts her head a little bit at him. "I'm a multimedia program I'm afraid I'm still learning about things here but humm there seems to be a sense of style here." She's looking for patterns she knows people have used art and patterns within to hide information or other things in plain sight and Archer's skills to trace should help a lot with figuring this place out. She also wonders what the heck Blurr has done but it sounds like Finna is handling it. 

:'''{{#var:864|Agahnim (864)}} has posed:'''      Ruto tries to calm down, but it's hard. Her breathing is heavy. She's even gagging a little at the same time, accidentally having tried to breath through her gills, just a little. But, she finally calms down with Finna's reassurance. She pulls a blanket over herself to hide, somewhat. Ghosts are certainly something that /terrify/ the people of this land. They're rarely seen, but they are almost always dangerous.      "A-ah... What... What do you want? You've already made your choice, haven't you?"      The Spring, when scanned, doesn't give much info. It seems to work as intended. Water is magically springing forth from it via a spell. Some traces of the broken Spirit could be detected, even without magic. The entire place looks broken.      There isn't much for clues in the spring. It's simply been /far/ too long since the time of the Spirit being killed. 

:'''{{#var:513|Finna (513)}} has posed:'''     "Ehhhh... just enough to get the guy in red off my back." Finna gestures with an open hand, shrugging slightly as though to say 'there's no helping it.'     "Iiiii want to discuss this crazy idea of yours and just how you're planning on pulling this off. Because the world out there isn't safe. Even we can't guarantee your safety. We've got 'blins of all shapes and sizes dropping out of the sky wherever they please. SOMETHING was powerful enough to freeze over the world's most active volcano. And you know this. Somehow I don't buy you want to make this trip just to visit a grave. Even if it's one very important to you. So what's up?" 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     And now Finna is all pissed. Blurr's holoform folds its arms and immediately gets defensive. "Hey, cool your tailpipes lady, I was just trying to help. I didn't know she'd flip like that! Slag, I have no idea what a 'poe' even -is-, so how could I know this thing even looks like one?!" Hmph!     And no, the fox girl -doesn't- get to order him around. "-Excuse- me, -Snowdancer-, but you don't look like my superior officer. Far from it in fact." Seriously, what is it with fleshies and trying to order him around as if they were Ultra Magnus or somebody? This really isn't Blurr's day, -at all-. First with the queen getting all paranoid about him, and then with Priscilla essentially calling him a pile of armor, and now -this-. He -really- needs to study organics more, or something.     But, he -finally- stops his tirade and lets Finna do the talking (albeit somewhat bedgrudgingly) when Ruto appears to have finally calmed down, the avatar leaning against the far wall so as to make sure it -absolutely- does not look like he is going to make any hostile moves against her.     Meanwhile, Blurr's actual form has gone to the Spring behind the throne room with everyone else, and appears to be scanning the area as Archer is. Though of course he appears rather distracted, with his attention divided. 

:'''{{#var:864|Agahnim (864)}} has posed:'''      Ruto looks towards Finna. Her face actually looks hurt by the accusations. "You... You think I don't want to just visit my father's grave? Have... Have you ever /lost/ a parent? Do you know what it is like, to go through life without a father?" She looks away. Frowning. "I just... The Twilight never sticks to the waters. ...I've been out, despite it. Only a few times, on my own. But it's just been... Too far for me to go on my own. While the rivers are safe, there was... /Something/ in the waters closer to Lake Hylia. If you're all really friends of my fiance..." ...Didn't she leave at that point? She must have been eavesdropping. "...You could take it out." 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     Blurr shrugs, even though the question was directed at Finna, though he doesn't say anything because of course he doens't know what it's like to lose a parent, since parents aren't a thing on Cybertron.     He nods slightly after a few moments, though, his expression softening. "I'm sorry about your dad, Ruto. Can't say I know what it's like since I've never had any parents, but I'm sure it isn't easy." he says quietly.     The avatar frowns at her description of something in the water near the lake. "Huh. Well, we--I mean, at least -I- would be happy to help you deal with that thing, but maybe it's best if you stayed here while we did that? Then once we've taken care of whatever it is, you can go visit the memorial." A slight pause. "You could definitely help though, by giving us some more specifics on what exactly you think this thing is? Or what it looked like? Whatever you remember." 

:'''{{#var:513|Finna (513)}} has posed:'''     "eheheh..." Finna taps her fingers together. "I figured you might be trying to seek out said fiance when nobody was looking." Answers the fox girl, wearing an impish, mischevious expression. But it doesn't do much to hide the lurking frustrations underneath.     That question hit a nerve and her silly expression falters in no time at all. "... yeah, my dad's gone too. It was a stupid duel over a stupid reason that did him in. But I don't think my dad would want me roaming around in a monster-filled land if he was buried halfway across the world. That's a quick way to your own grave. Though you've got guts, Princess. Now I'm impressed with both the Hylian AND Zora Royalty."     Finna folds her arms, thinking. "The rivers are safe for now. Zora's Domain is safe for now. Thinking about it... much as I hate to say, if something froze over Death Mountain overnight then Zora's Domain isn't REALLy safe either. I could take you anywhere in Hyrule you can give directions to. Quickly... discretely... but safely? Can't guarantee safety--" Then Blurr says something that gets her tapping the side of her head.     "That's a good point. Aaaaand since you're pretty likely to sneak out again, you'd at least be better off doing it with us and not on your own." She cracks a wry grin. "But I'm not taking the blame for it if something goes wrong. What're you going to say to your mother, huh? How long will it take people to realize you're gone?" 

:'''{{#var:70|Priscilla (70)}} has posed:'''     Getting irritated by the bickering over the radio, and presumably the bickering she will find in person, and seeming to have no further use for the abandoned spring being not exactly forthcoming with further details, Priscilla departs to join her allies dealing with the princess. Knowing those two, she really should have had someone less stubborn accompany them. She seems to have little particular care for the emotional state of the young girl, having seem it as a thinly veiled tantrum a moment ago, but though she finds Sarah's reasoning dubious, it is at least a destination.     "I will brook no further argument on this subject." She states simply, and firmly, carrying some edge to her voice. "Princess, if thou so desperately wish to visit this grave, thou shalt be able to wait a short while. We will go forth ahead of thee, thoroughly inspect the burial site's safety, and then bring thee to it by secure transit, via sorcery or warpgate if necessary, where thou shalt hath thine deserved time alone. Thine mother shalt be aware of this, and we shalt do it with her full knowledge and consent. Until then, thou art not to venture into the Twilight on thine own, in due patience. Is this acceptable to thee?" 

:'''{{#var:864|Agahnim (864)}} has posed:'''      Ruto stays sitting, looking at the two. She still doesn't trust Blurr. Or at least, she doesn't trust him anymore. There are some things that even the people of Hyrule won't be able to comprehend without some prepping.      "...There isn't anyplace safe. You just admitted it yourself. I'm as good out there, or in here. But... If you all decide not to take me there, to go to Lake Hylia, in safety? ...I'll stay here."      Ruto lies through her teeth.      But, Blurr did ask her on the creature. "It was like... I don't know. Completely black, larger as a whale, but with an exoskeleton body. I didn't get a good look. I fled, the moment I saw it." 

:'''{{#var:8|Deelel (8)}} has posed:''' Deelel has left the springs at this point as she and Archer has got all they could from it. Priscilla ends the fighting on the radio pretty heavily and she's more than happy to let someone better skiled at this handle it. It's a good plan as she moves to catch up with the rests and she simply nods to Priscilla, ashe does show up to hear some info about a creature. 

:'''{{#var:513|Finna (513)}} has posed:'''     Finna's well aware of Priscilla's presence even before she arrived. One of her fox ears has swiveled to hone in her approach, visible or invisible. ".... Thaaaaat, I didn't know was even an option. Well, there's your answer, Princess." Finna grins. But the expression doesn't last for long. I just had an awful insight. Better go tell the Queen...." 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     Right, which is exactly why Finna should be the one to stay with Ruto and keep her safe while Blurr and potentially Deelel or whoever else wants to come travel to Lake Hylia to investigate this trange being the princess is talking about and determine whether the grave site was safe or not. And if not, make it so.     He nods as she answers the question. "Thank you, any information you can provide will help us complete the mission. I'm glad you're willing to cooperate with us. Being patient isn't easy." he smirks a little bit. "Trust me." Because if anyone knows that it's him.     With that, the avatar just -vanishes- from the room as the holomatter projector deactivates. Obviously, he -totally- learned a lesson from just now and all of Finna's beratings. (Not.) But hey at least he didn't just step through the wall, right? He's getting there, ok?     Blurr himself is outside with the others, but he's probably already starting to make his way out toward Lake Hylia to get some initial readings... 

:'''{{#var:864|Agahnim (864)}} has posed:'''      Ruto looks towards Priscilla. Pausing for a moment. She is /trying/ not to freak out at this. Because she at least /did/ see Priscilla meet her mother. Blurr's holoform randomly appearing and walking through a wall was troubling. Still. Ghosts. All of these people are ghosts. Her Fiance is friends with Ghosts.      She will be having a stern talk with him eventually.      "...That sounds like a good compromise." 

:'''{{#var:821|Archer (821)}} has posed:'''      In the wake of having gleaned nothing from analyzing the Spring, Archer sighs and walks out of the room, still musing on the rather heated discussion over the radio.     This was perhaps one of the /downsides/ to how similar Sarah Parsle was to Tohsaka Rin - namely that once she had her mind set on something, she refused to budge on it, even willing to fly in the face of her own typically-pragmatuc knowledge and viewpoints.      ...      It also didn't help that, more often then not, her hunches ended up being /right/ in spite of going against the logical process.     In this case, the girl had ended up being right about the princess' desire to find her father's gravestone seeming to have a connection with the Tears of Light... as the creatures that blocked the grave were seemingly the same ones that escaped from the Spring.     What were the /odds/ of that connection? Why? Was it that the king had some tie to the Guardians of Light. Had... he actually /been/ one of them, if that was possible?     Either way, much as it chafed at what little pride he had... Archer had to admit that this was looking more and more like the correct action... and the same as Rin, he doubted Sarah would let him live that down.      ... however, that didn't mean this was a decision that should be made without consenting the people that it would affect most. If the princess was to leave, the queen should at least be made aware of it.     That being said, the most prudent course of action was thus to scout the lakeside... and as a spirit, he felt he could so so more comfortably then most could, simply because he could avoid being seen.     Hopefully, that would be enough. 
}}

3346/Visiting Zora's Domain

2015-11-08T07:22:17Z

Zippy: Created page with "{{Log Header |Date of Scene=2015/11/07 |Location=The Hylian Mainland <LoZ-5> |Synopsis=Team Union has conversations with Zora royalty. Arguments are had, but Priscilla get it ..."

{{Log Header
|Date of Scene=2015/11/07
|Location=The Hylian Mainland <LoZ-5>
|Synopsis=Team Union has conversations with Zora royalty. Arguments are had, but Priscilla get it under control.
|Thanks=
|Cast of Characters=8, 70, 492, 513, 789, 821, 864
|Tinyplot=
|Tinyplot2=
|pretty=yes
}}
{{Poses
|Poses=:'''{{#var:864|Agahnim (864)}} has posed:'''      Zora's Domain is a beautiful place. It is a vast network of massive caves, the ceilings of which are several stories tall. Deep pools of water spread throughout the cave system, flowing from one chamber to another via rivers and waterfalls. The water throughout is mostly still, and surprisingly warm. It moves and shifts enough for the water to remain clean and sparkling at all times. Stone walkways are carved into the natural stone, allowing passage to various rooms or locations that aren't directly in the water. This provides ways for human visitors to travel the Zora's Domain, though a number of Zora walk across the land paths as well.      Today's mission is simple: Inquire on the location of the Spring of Lanayru. The Zora have instructed the party to speak to the Queen, and hence the delay. A fair amount of time has been needed to wait for the meeting. At long last it is time. The party can wait, gathered near the large metallic gateway that leads to the Queen. Water flows along the path forward, a trace amount of it along the way to the Queen. 

:'''{{#var:513|Finna (513)}} has posed:'''     Although Finna's been in and out a few times for this long wait, she's spent a CONSIDERABLE amount of time frolicking in the waters. Perhaps to the surprise of the Zora, Finna has proven capable of sprouting gills on the sides of her neck and sprouting a variety of aquatic creature traits - feet and lower body becoming a fishy... yeah, she's gone full Mermaid Suit except it's not a suit!     And has been engaging in all kinds of aquatic shows and hijinx. Races and contests and whatever other weird attractions that the people of Hylian seem so fond of hosting.     She's gotta spend those Rupees SOMEHOW, after all.     But she's also spent considerable time just hanging around talking to people, asking about Zora history and culture. There's a method to her madness.     It's given her an opportunity to acclimate to their manners and sensibilities and maybe, hopefully, improve her chances of impressing the Zora Queen.     For now though, she's walking up that path, in human form. Moonsilver Tattoos are on full display, the mark of the crescent moon faintly aglow on her forehead. Her attire is her simple hunter's gear but it's notably cleaned up and crisply decorated.     "To the Queen we finally go. Be on your best behavior, girls and boys." 

:'''{{#var:8|Deelel (8)}} has posed:''' So here was Deelel it was time to get all formal what's a basic to do when her idea of formal was her casual semi user inspired outfit? Well she's wearing that but he's clearly what's best suited for here. Though Deelel seems on edge about water, why? That's a very odd thing her world /has/ water so what's her problem. She looks to Finna and nods. The water was warm here, that was odd the water of the sea of similtion was not warm, not warm at all. She's not kept in yet but she's keeping behind Finna. "I'll treat her with the respect I'd give The Creator of my world, don't worry." 

:'''{{#var:789|Sarah Parsle (789)}} has posed:''' Sarah is here. There's an amazing amount of sunk cost going on with that back door dungeon they had to go through so there's definately some royal visitation that's going to happen here even if she hadn't been sitting around. She's been out and about. Here and there. To and fro. Hither and thither. "Okay guys, let's do this." Sarah comments to the others before advancing along the path when she's sure everyone's going to move along. she does, however, poke Finna. "Foxfish? Fishfox?" She comments seemingly out of nowhere. "Reminds me of a princess I know." She comments offhand. "Don't fall asleep now." 

:'''{{#var:821|Archer (821)}} has posed:'''      It seemed a tranquil place. Peaceful. Isolated from the world and it's troubles.      In one instance, that would make it an idyllic place... somewhere that the tragedies befalling this place could not reach. And yet at the same time it made it all too easy to simply hide one's head down and ignore the suffering of the outside world.     That was, perhaps, the biggest curse of introspection - for every positive one saw, there was always a negative to consider. For every justification, there was a consequence. And rarely was the reward ever worth the cost... or last as long as the fight to secure it had been.     As such, Archer is, as always, as impassive and, for lack of a better word, brooding as when he first arrived, leaning against the 'wall' - or rather, whatever surface he can lean against - with his arms crossed and eyes closed. He's been largely silent, having not spoken a word as they waited. There wasn't really any cause to, aside from one instance when Finna had first entered the water, having given a single quip as to whether "The definition of "waiting respectfully' means something very different for you, doesn't it?"      Not that he bothered to stop her. What she did was her choice... and she seemed to have a somewhat functional method of learning about the locals; direct interaction. At the very least it saved some of them the trouble of doing the same.     As a Servant, he really didn't get physically tense the way most would from standing still in one spot for too long, having little issue with waiting aside from the simple tedium of it, passing the time mostly by observing the antics of the shape-changing 'fox'girl' - or 'mermaid' as she was now. However, this was largely because doing so let him listen to her conversations with the Zora about their culture and history, taking down the information for himself for future reference as well.      A good way to keep up on the events they considered important... and see what, if any, affect the events outside these caves had on them.     Ever since many of the forests in Hyrule had started dying out, it seemed that much of their efforts to try and counteract the despair in this land was being matched and equalized. Likely the work of Agahnim and his agents - possibly trying to taint the land further until maybe even the Tears of Light couldn't restore it.     As such, the Servant of the Bow is perhaps less enthusiastic then others about how well this will go... or how much a difference it will make.      ...     Still... it wasn't like they had any other options at this point.     When Sarah effectively takes the lead among them - something that seems to have become an unspoken differential among most of the group whenever the young girl was present - Archer follows suit, willing to take after her lead... if for no other reason then the fact she was both willing enough to do so and competent enough for him to have no issue with it. He does however let himself smirk slightly upon hearing her 'orders', actually bothering to reply - "I suppose it /would/ be too easy if our Princess was straightforward about the information we're after. It isn't as though anything about these missions have really been simple." 

:'''{{#var:70|Priscilla (70)}} has posed:'''     Sarah is familiar from their last jaunt through the godforsaken back entrance to this otherwise pristine place, but the others may be surprised at whatever has happened in the interim between Priscilla showing up with half her face and throat eviscerated, and now. The only visible indicator is the mismatched eyes of sunny, reflective gold and ominous molten orange, but the feel she gives off is almost entirely different. No longer quite so insubstantial, her far away impression seems vertically distant rather than laterally, the self-assured confidence visible in everything from her posture to her stare where vague, forgettable detachment had existed before. A sense of 'above' rather than 'apart'. Extrasensory impressions are in for a real surprise. Something has happened to make her 'aura' burn fivefold in strength, the fearful chill now mixed with alien whispers, and white hot fire.     Still, despite sounding more assertive, her personality hasn't seemed to have changed much. "I say the same back to thee thrice over, Lady Finna." she remarks drily to the notoriously mischievous Lunar exalted, though she gives her the benefit of a doubt with how earnestly she's been visibly preparing for this. "Respect, but not submission. She is a queen by right, but she is not thine. We come to her doorstep to bring that which she already desires." goes to Deelel. She takes straight to the head of the group beside Sarah rather than hovering around the back, supernaturally graceful in her step. She seems . . . actually kind of hyped? "To speak of princesses, thine own shalt not be attending, Sir Archer?" It's difficult to tell whether she means that literally or sarcastically in a friendly way. 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     Blurr had assisted the group in getting through that treacherous cave full of monsters, and so he's here once again, waiting for an audience with the Zora ruler. He stands behind everyone, given that he's so much taller than they are, so as to not block anyone's view. But he's also tired of waiting. Ugh, waiting, the absolute worst thing in the multiverse. He sighs impatiently. "What are we all waiting for, are they ready or what?" 

:'''{{#var:864|Agahnim (864)}} has posed:'''      The Zora do give Finna a bit of a look, but they don't question it too much. Their assumption is some kind of magic. There are a number of mages throughout Hyrule who can perform various tricks. They simply assume she is a powerful mage of some kind. The history on the Zora is given as well. They have lived in these waters for countless years, since the times of the Golden Goddesses creating the world, if the legends hold true. Ever since then, their line has remained unbroken, royalty passed down through the female line. Legends even say that they helped ancient heroes of old throughout their quests. One even mentions that, recently, the hero Fassad passed through. Others mention that there are rumors that the Princess, Ruto, is now engaged.      The chamber holding the Queen is vast. Water flows down from the walls, through small little tunnels in the wall. Statues are built throughout, of Zora Kings and Queens of old. They are beautiful stone statues, crafted from fine marble. Gemstones are upon most of them, helping make them all the more stunning.      The Queen herself sits in her throne made of iron, with turtle shell decorations across it.. She is a beautiful woman, for an amphibious creature. Her skin is pale pink and white, with long fins flowing off of her back. Some growths on her head mimic hair, looking somewhat like coral growing off of her. An elegant white dress graces her body, covering a bit past her knees. Her legs look more like fins, elegant forms suited for walking and swimming. She looks somewhat soft, kind, and motherly. She is Queen Rutela, leader of the Zora.      To her right, a woman stands. She looks to be in her twenties or so, if these water dwelling folk age similarly to humans. She looks a little bit more cheerful. She hasn't deigned to wear human clothes, but she isn't human. There is nothing to show. A sleek, fishlike body, covered in blue scales, with purple eyes. This is, most likely, Princess Ruto, the daughter of the queen.      The Princess stays quiet for now. The queen speaks, calmly, looking towards the group. Her hands cross and rest on her lap, as she looks from person to person. She speaks, her voice gentle, "...It's a pleasure to meet you all. What brings you to my realm?" 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     The Autobot peers down at the queen and her daughter, crouching slightly to get a good look. Clearly amphibious creatures, but rather similar to humans, actually. "Uh, we're looking for something called a 'Tear of Light'. Right?" Blurr replies, though he also glances around at the others for confirmation on this. He's still not sure exactly what they -are-. But he's seen them clear away some kind of contamination that everyone here seems to refer to as the 'The Twilight'.     He looks back to the queen. "You wouldn't happen to know of any or where they might be, would you?" 

:'''{{#var:8|Deelel (8)}} has posed:''' Deelel nods in agreement to Priscilla for a moment. "An understandable fear given my people's nature? However I am not as young and foolish as I seem to be. I would still give Kevin Flynn his due but I would also not let him lord over me either." He ran, he hid he left the ISOs to be butchered, she had some idea why given what he carried on his ID disc. A terible choice but she still would have words for him someday. For now she's here to see what she can do here, she's clearly howerver ready as she's ever going to be. She looks to Finna for a moment and pers back to SArah for a moment nodding to her. "We best do so." She looks over to Archer for a moment and wonders is Rin with him? "Rin's would be a useful ally in this effort." The party presses on to go meet the Queen now and Deelel remains quiet for the moment, she's an artist and a fighter. "My companion is correct, we have come seeking the Tear of Light and had hoped you might be able to help us locate it." 

:'''{{#var:70|Priscilla (70)}} has posed:'''     Even if Zoras are weird fish people, Priscilla seems to approve of the queen's bearing and presentation. She'd be calling the kettle black otherwise on the former subject anyways. She steps forward for whatever passes for an audience plinth, inclining her head formally, but not going so far as to bow, for reasons that swiftly become apparently. "Well met, Queen Rutala. I am Priscilla, Queen of Anor Londo. I knoweth not the entirety of the news that reaches thee in this piece of the world, but I wouldst presumeth that of the Twilight is familiar to thine ears. Simply put, we art those who wouldst banish it, and hath done so successfully twice over. To proceed further, we requireth access to the Spring of Lanayru, however we art lead to believeth such is thine purview, and so we must ask of thee what is courteous."     She looks urgingly to Blurr and Deelel to try and treat this with some basic attempt at formality. "Two guardians hath had their Tears of Light returned. We wish to do the same again, but require the knowledge of where this place is, and thine blessing to venture to it." 

:'''{{#var:821|Archer (821)}} has posed:'''     Archer only shrugs when Deelel comments on Rin's absence, as if wordlessly remarking that he could hardly do anything to change it now.     Likewise, he doesn't seem perturbed by Priscilla's quip, regardless of whether it is a barb or an honest question, giving half a smirk. He even seems to be amused by the idea of someone calling Rin a 'princess.' "Not quite the term I'd use to describe her - in my experience, a 'princess' is someone who their knight would consider flawless... and unfortunately, I am to perceptive an individual to have that opinion of her." He lets out half a chuckle, before finally responding to Priscilla's original question - "As for her absence, she's taken to burying herself in Multiversal records as of late, trying to keep informed on who has or hasn't fallen off the grid, and what their abilities to date are."      The response is such that one might not note how weary he seems of Priscilla, picking up how she was practically almost a solar flare of prana now.     She had most certainly not been like that before, and slight differences about her demeanor - or at least in her presence - reflected this was not just some gradual transformation. What could possibly have changed? And... was it a threat?     Pushing the matter aside for now - though making definite note of it for latter - he returns his mind to the topic of 'princesses'... specifically if there was any truth to the rumors he had heard the Zora's conversations with Finna.     Fassad's 'quest', for lack of a better term, seems to have taken him through here... and the fact that the princess was now engaged seemed a rather hard coincidence to ignore.     Taking in the architecture, Archer finds himself both impressed and yet critical of the artwork; while the craftsmanship is superb, he finds it has something of a heavy focus on trying to impress. Granted, these were their ancient historical figures, so that wasn't unexpected, but he personally preferred more of an emphasis on form rather then decoration.     Still, they were eye-catching at the very least and ensured most would pay attention enough to take in the rest of the details, which meant they did their job superbly as memorials and monuments.     Looking at the young amphibian-humanoid, Archer's brows rise up in concealed surprise at her lack of clothes - human features or not, it was still something most would consider a bit off-putting at worst and unusual at best. Still, he supposed it wasn't anything to be concerned about - it wasn't like they were really showing anything, he supposed.     In fact, trying to figure out how she and Fassad could possibly have been engaged was much harder to comprehend for the bowman, though he kept from speaking out on it due to the exact fact he didn't know the circumstances. Best to cross that bridge only if it actually came up      He casts a glance to Blurr and Priscilla as if wordlessly asking if they should have been quite so up-front about what they were after. However, it's easter for him in turn - he doesn't feel he needs to dance around the issue.     After a moment, Archer bothers to speak up himself - "As I'm sure you've noticed, things are starting to take a turn in the outside world. Whatever is behind the Twilight seems to have started encroaching on other parts of the world - forests everywhere have started dying and some of the fairies have been caught in the crossfire. Time may be of the essence in this... or there may not end up being much of a world left to free by the end."     He doesn't mince words at all. To him, it would undercut the gravity of the situation. 

:'''{{#var:513|Finna (513)}} has posed:'''     Finna tkes a few moments to take in the sight of the Queen and her beautiful daughter. She's gobsmacked, to say the least. ONly a Lunar might appreciate otherspeciesly appeals and she definitely does. The Lunar executes a formal bow. Somehow there is simply no trace of her usual wild self. "Good evening, your majesty, your royal highness," She nods once to the Queen and then Ruto, respectively, before rising again. "Finna Snowdancer, a guardian appointed by the Moon Goddess of another world outside Hyrule. It is as they say. We are here to restore the Spirits of Light and chase off the Twilight. And I must say, this is a very lovely settlement. Outside it isn't so peaceful, though... have your people been having trouble?" 

:'''{{#var:789|Sarah Parsle (789)}} has posed:''' Sarah enters the throne toom and looks around, observing the beautiful environment that the Zora have created for their throne room. She doesn't comment, but something unreadable crosses her face as she looks upon the Queen, a faltering in that distant gloominess that she usually uses, before she looks down, frowning for a moment before she looks back up. Priscilla seems to have things well in hand, however, and she nods to the Queen of Anor Londo before just looking back to the proceedings. She seems to be wrestling with something, but hasn't decided if she wants to say it. "I'm Sarah Parsle, a kid adventurer from Afterus. Just helping out." She shrugs, apparently willing to self-depreciate. 

:'''{{#var:864|Agahnim (864)}} has posed:'''      Queen Rutela listens quietly, her arms remaining folded on her lap. The phrase 'Tear of Light' causes an eyebrow to raise, just slightly. She looks just slightly lost, until Priscilla introduces herself, and clarifies the details on the Tears of Light. Rutela closes her eyes, contemplating the words. She finally opens them again, speaking properly and softly.      "Greetings to you, Priscilla, Finna, Sarah and your friends. I welcome you to my realm. I know not what the Tear of Light is, but the Guardians of Light are known to me. Behind me, behind my throne, is the Spring of Lanayru." Looking behind her, there is a tunnel, leading back. She motions to it briefly.Before the Twilight appeared, he helped protect this land. It was around that time that our Guardian of Light fell. I have been suspicious of such for some time, but it has been hard to communicate with other lands. At least, it was, until you have started clearing the Twilight."      "There is one thing I can offer to you, though. The night the Twilight fell, there were strange activities in the night. A number of strange insects appeared, crawling out of the Spirit of Light's Spring. We tried to attack them, but my guards were slow to react. They swam down the waterway. To where, only the Goddesses know. They could be anywhere in the land of Hyrule now. But, if they appeared when the Spirit of Light was killed, perhaps they hold this Tear of Light?"      A glance is given to Archer. She bites her lip a little, considering. She carefully considers her words. "...I have noticed the trees dying. That isn't the only unusual occurrence. You know that I was gone from here. During that time, I was travelling to visit various allies of the Zora People, to ensure they were surviving. I started by visiting Death Mountain, realm of the Gorons. ...I could not get all the way there. There was an unseasonable storm of snow. Some weeks back, far early for the season, a vast snow started to cover the land. The heat from the mountains itself have vanished. Even the lava cools. Something has hurt this world on a deep level. Something has caused an affront to the Goddesses themselves."      She looks the group over again, considering. A sad look is on her face. "I would like to offer you help, but there is little I can supply. The most I can offer is some supplies from our shops. We have had little for contact with the outside world, aside my trip out. I won't even let my people leave, until the Twilight is cleared. For any of them to come to risk... It would leave me heartbroken." A glance is given towards her daughter. Rutela leaves it unsaid, but if Rutela dies, they at least have the princess Ruto.      Rutela looks away from her daughter, and Ruto looks towards the group. She mouths words, motioning to the entrance. 'Meet me out there'. Silently, she starts to take some steps away, moving towards a side passage. Rutela notices her daughter taking her leave, but shakes her head just slightly. "...I'm sorry. My daughter Ruto has been somewhat lovesick recently. It's left her in a flighty mood."      "Is there anything else I can offer you, though?" 

:'''{{#var:821|Archer (821)}} has posed:'''      Well... that /was/ actually easier then Archer thought it would be.      Yet... at the same time, it wasn't. Even though they knew where the Spring of Lanayru was, it seemed the Tear of Light was already gone. "Insects? Could you describe them a bit better then that? Distinguishing marks? Coloration?"      Archer gaze narrows hearing about the world's seeming collapse, the bowman's demeanor becoming all the more cynical as it seems his prior belief was validated; every act they had accomplished was being counteracted by an equal affront on the rest of Hyrule.     He gives a simple, wordless nod at the offer of supplies, as well as the pragmatism of not letting anyone leave the caves while there is danger... though another part of him considers it selfish when the rest of the world is suffering.     Hearing that the princess is 'lovesick' actually brings a bemused smirk on his expression, his prior suspicions confirmed. "Oh? Was it a man with blonde hair seeking to fulfill a prophecy? If so, we may actually know of him; he would be the one that originally set most of us on this mission." 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     Blurr peers at Priscilla's urging looks, appearing a bit confused. Formality? He's never really had to try to impress a monarch like this before. Back on his home planet, before it was basically destroyed anyway, monarchy was never quite a thing. Still, he nods politely toward the queen once she's finished talking. "Insects, huh. Sounds like we need to go find some bugs." Archer certainly has a good question.     Then Ruto appears to want to talk to them outside, away from her mother. Maybe she has some more information. "Well thanks for the information, ma'am." He salutes the queen briefly before following Princess Ruto toward the side passage. Hey look, there's some formality! He's trying, okay? 

:'''{{#var:8|Deelel (8)}} has posed:''' Deelel catches Priscilla's look and does back down at this point, she's being fairly formal. Well by her own standards, she gets she shouldn't press harder by Archer's response and she's going to let Pricilla nad Archer do more of the talking at this point she is doing her best but some things about organic cultures just don't click with Deelel. She is thankful for the non verbal correction. "Forgive mw your highness, I did not intend to be rude I'm am Deelel." She fades back at this point to let the others talk and she also more imporantly listens to what information the Queen has to share with them. She listen and wait until the Queen finishes up. "I thank you your highness for the information you shared and it's still useful to us." She thinks about the bugs? Deelel seems to be thinking over waht the Queen has told them and is checking what other data they have. She does hear note of the lovesick princess she politely does not comment on that. 

:'''{{#var:70|Priscilla (70)}} has posed:'''     Priscilla's lips twist into the faint expression of a frown at the news, though she seems unmoved to any loss of certainty. "Fear thee not. We wouldst not be so helpless as to come to thee only to beg for the aid of thine own people. Those beset by the Twilight art, by necessity, in little position to be rid of it themselves. The simple knowledge of where to venture and what to do whence there is enough, though in this case, part of the former is unfortunately uncertain. It wouldst seemeth obvious that they hath transported the Tear of Light away, and unlikely that it hast fled to the other side of the world, as near or within the Twilight itself wouldst be the safest place to guard it, but the waters of this land travel to a great many places, as I am to understand."     "The situation of Death Mountain is . . . I cannot say that similar disturbance will not visit thine lands as well, however. Thine people may be at risk despite thine best efforts if this remains unresolved any longer." It's suspicious timing considering Fassad had successfully completed a quest there not long before hearing this. "It may, in fact, be our place to offer some form of aid after the Tear of Light is retrieved, at least for a while, to see that no similar disaster undoes our efforts. I shalt second Sir Archer's request for any further details of these insects, and ask only that we remaineth unimpeded whence we return with the Tear to its rightful place." She seems like she might stay a little later with the queen, but nods aside at the group in the direction at which Ruto indicates, urging anyone who has the time and inclination to see what she has to say. 

:'''{{#var:513|Finna (513)}} has posed:'''     "Strange insects thats cuttled off when the Spirit of Light went down?" Finna blinks. This is the first time she's heard of such insects. "Hmm...the Tears of Light have some powerful magic. I think they're some of the Spirit's very essence. But why would strange bugs pester a Spirit of Light? yeah.... more information on that would be great."     The corner of Finna's mouth twists up in a brief smile at Ruto's gesture. Ruto might have no trouble at all gleaning from this a complete intent to catch up with her, though Rutela... would only see a momentary grin for some reason. 

:'''{{#var:789|Sarah Parsle (789)}} has posed:''' Sarah nods, listening to the situation. "That could be a bit of a hunt. Maybe we'll be able to find the insects around somewhere. Either way, like they said, we don't need to put you guys in danger, you guys have it rough enough." There is a pause. "Speaking of having it rough, have you seen a guy in white, sort of yea high, blond hair, has a smile like he's starring in a toothpaste commercial?" She says, getting on her tiptoes and putting her hands up in a vague attempt to indicate how tall Fassad is. 

:'''{{#var:864|Agahnim (864)}} has posed:'''      Rutela gives a nod towards Deelel, smiling, "Do not trouble yourself. You are not royalty yourself. Most lose themselves and simply become awed in front of royalty. You are all doing very well."      Rutela thinks back, recalling, "It was... Late at night, when the insects appeared. I only saw a brief glimpse. Their bodies were black in color, and they were fairly large. About the size of a large salmon... They glowed somewhat, too, like the Twilight. I am sorry that I can not offer more on their description."      A pause, and Rutela looks towards Archer and Sarah. A smile is on her face. "Ah. You are allies of Prince Fassad? Yes. You have guessed correctly. From what Ruto says, he even accepted the Zora's Sapphire. That is, more or less, a promise of marriage. They'll be a lovely couple. And he set out, seeking his next goal in his quest for the Master Sword."      Fassad, of course, has no idea about this.      As for Priscilla's request, Rutela nods, "Alright. I will permit you to visit the Spring of Light at any time. Consider my throne room, and all of Zora's Domain, open to you. You are heroes, after all. You are trustworthy. And, if Zora's Domain ever needs help, we will be sure to let you know."      A smile is on her face, "I wish you all the best of luck, on your journey."      If there are any more questions for Rutela, now is the time to ask. 

:'''{{#var:864|Agahnim (864)}} has posed:'''      As Blurr starts to move after Ruto, Rutela blinks. She /almost/ looks like she is immediately regretting giving them free reign of the place. Priscilla and Finna have been massively polite, and Deelel has been doing her best, but the others have been... Iffy, at times.      "...Why are you walking towards my daughter's private chambers, if I might ask? ...I did give you free reign, but...." The mother has a somewhat worried look on her face. 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     Blurr is surprised at Rutela's...surprise. Private chambers? "Oh uh, it looked like she wanted to meet with one of us over in that direction." he says, pointing toward where Ruto has taken off to. "So if you had a problem with it maybe you should take it up with her?" He wasn't aware that passage led to her private chambers or anything. 

:'''{{#var:789|Sarah Parsle (789)}} has posed:''' Sarah looks moderately surprised. "Wow, he's still alive. Well, that's unusually promising." The mention of the rumored nature of the Zora's Sapphire being a promise of marriage causes Sarah to smile, and clap her hands. "You're right, they'll be a great couple. Don't worry, we'll make sure everything turns out great." Now she WANTS Fassad to live. Because come on, the look on his face when he finds this out? /PRICELESS/. "I won't waste any more of your time, Queen. We'll get on this problem, find some insects, and get everything running properly again as soon as possible. We'll keep you updated as we get through this." She actually looks a little motivated, now. 

:'''{{#var:70|Priscilla (70)}} has posed:'''     "I expect we shalt find little in the way of insects that match such a description. I am able to thank thee for that much." She tries very hard not to crack up at hearing of the sapphire's intended purpose however. She instantly recognizes that Fassad must have had no idea. Thankfully, her range of expression is still pretty small, and so the faint smile looks little more than an approval of a happy affair. "I see. Having known Fassad for some time mineself, I wouldst dare say the same. He is sometimes slow on the uptake, but he possesses a fair and brave heart, and is a man of consideration and honour." Yes. Dig him in deeper. That's it.     "Thine understanding and generosity is thusly much appreciated. Our next visit to the Spring shalt be with Light in hand." Now to cover for Blurr. "Ah, I believeth there is something of Sir Fassad that the princess wished to ask in private, though I knoweth not what. Fear thee not. Sir Blurr is of little else but armour. He holds within himself no capacity for untoward motions." He's a robot. That's how it works. Shush. 

:'''{{#var:513|Finna (513)}} has posed:'''     "Friend, weren't you paying attention to her majesty? The Spirit of Light is THAT WAY!" Finna bounds over to Blurr in a hurry and WRAPS HER ARM AROUND WHATEVER OF HIM HE CAN REACH, tugging him elsewhere. "Didn't you just say you wanted to solve that as soon as possible?"     DID he say that?     The moment Finna challenges that fact, anyone hearing her words might feel their own thoughts get a little bit fuzzy on the subject. Yeah, that was what Blurr said. That's what he said the whole time, why are you people thinking otherwise? ... maybe?     People with a lot of willpower and magical potential will probably shrug this off without even noticing there's a subtle magic laced in Finna's words working to change their perceptions of Blurr... 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     Sometimes, Blurr wishes he'd spent some more time researching organic races. But Primus, there are just so many of them! Sigh. At any rate, he opts to use the holomatter projector at this juncture, pointing it in the general direction of where Ruto has headed, to avoid alarming the other Zoras. That way they won't even see him following her, he'll just appear outside somewhere and start looking for the princess.     And then Priscilla makes a comment that basically sounds to him like 'don't worry, he's just a giant buckethead' because he totally doesn't understand what she means by 'untoward motions'. He doesn't say anything, but shoots her a look that clearly says 'Um exCUSE me?' 

:'''{{#var:821|Archer (821)}} has posed:'''     Again... that same viewpoint they have of him. 'Hero'.     It didn't sit well with him. Didn't fit well for him to be regarded as such. Not when he hadn't exactly volunteered for this.     Although... in all honesty, that was the sole requirement for one to be considered a 'hero'; perform actions that get them acknowledged as such... regardless of what the reasons it was done for.     Taking note of the princess' request - and finding bemusement in how inexperienced the mechanoid Blurr is social interaction - Archer proceeds to follow her. However, he makes sure he leaves open sight - giving a formal bow to the queen so as to try and placate the queen as him 'taking his leave of her presence'... along with a a mock-thanks; "Apologies for the misunderstanding, though I am certain your daughter will not be dissuaded from her betrothed so easily. Additionally, I am certain that some of us" - he glances meaningfully to Sarah - "Would not mind being present for the official ceremony when Fassad's journey has been completed."     Priscilla may be digging deeper, but Archer's already hammering the nails into the coffin.     After this is done and he leaves her sight, he then enters spiritual form to pursue Ruto in private.     He also winces internally feeling the effects if Finna's spell - a faint prickle at the edge of his senses - knowing his crap magic resistance is probably only a small part of why her words aren't overriding his memories. His stubborn character is probably the rest of the reason.     Upon reaching the are where Ruto is, Archer rematerializes before her, though he approaches from behind so as not to startle her by just appearing out of thin air. Once this is done, he decides to take a few steps forward so as to, with those audible footfalls, let her know someone took her up on her request. "You wished to speak?" 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     And then Finna is grabbing his leg or something, insisting he's going the wrong way to find the object of interest. Blurr stops, frowning, as the magic confuses him as well. "I...uh--right." Something doesn't quite make sense. Had something caused a glitch in his processor core? He shrugs.     Well anyway the avatar is outside, and has joined Archer and Ruto. It resembles a blond teen-aged human in modern attire, and nods at Archer. "What he said." 

:'''{{#var:8|Deelel (8)}} has posed:''' Deelel takes the compliment as it's intented or at lest how it seems to be intended. She's out of her social grade she knows it but her world has a very set order even when it doesn't have a tyrant calling the shots. "Thank you for your kindess again." Now there's more information to be given to them so she quiets up she has a weapon of her own an she wonders if Dual Disc might be able to help Fassad in his own quest? She'll have to think on that. She now choses to remain silent than risk opening her mouth again at this point. Though the talk of marraige does get a bit of a suprised look out of Deelel. 

:'''{{#var:864|Agahnim (864)}} has posed:'''      Rutela opens her mouth, staring for a moment. The effect from Finna helps. She nods, just slightly, looking at the two, "You may look at the Spring if you wish. There... Isn't much to see there, at the moment. Perhaps there is some clue that we have missed?"      She gives a smile towards Sarah and Priscilla, "Yes. I believe it will be a great match. I was surprised to hear the news, myself. But, should you see him again, please tell him that he has my blessing."      A glance to Archer, "Ahh. I suppose we /should/ prepare for the wedding, eventually? If you would like to help preperations, that would be wonderful." She blinks a little as Archer dissapears, though.      In the hallway to Ruto's chamber, Ruto has stopped. It looks like she is lifting a few rocks away, opening up a somewhat hidden waterway. She looks towards Blurr's avatar, and Archer, blinking a little bit. She looks confused. "...I... was planning to sneak out, and meet you outside. ...Why did you come back over here?"      She shakes her head a little. She might as well explain.      "I'm sorry for calling you over here," Ruto says. "This... Isn't actually about your quest. It''s about something else... You heard my mom say that I can't leave, right? ...Well. I want to visit my Father's grave, at Lake Hylia. And I'm wondering if you might take me. It's... Well. The anniversary of his death just passed. I used to visit it every year. I've been stuck in the Domain for so long... ...Please, could you all take me to Lake Hylia to visit him?" 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     The holomatter projection shrugs at Ruto's question. "Sorry, I thought you wanted us to follow you or something." Blurr listens to her request, then nods. "Sure, I could give you a ride, just tell me where to go." he offers.     He thinks that Queen Rutela's policy or not allowing anyone to leave the area is rather selfish. She may be concerned for their safety, but the rest of the world is suffering. What if some of them want to go out there and help? Plus, there's no harm in Ruto honoring her father's grave. As long as Blurr and Archer can watch over her, nothing bad will happen to her...right? 

:'''{{#var:821|Archer (821)}} has posed:'''     The Servant of the Bow shrugs in response to Ruto's reply nonchalantly. "You never really specified if you meant outside the room or outside the caves."     However... that nonchalance falters when Ruto explains her reasoning, simply staring at her for a long moment with his brows having risen up slightly in surprise.     Inwardly though... it's not quite as constrained. He knew all too well what it meant to lose family... and what it meant to mourn one's father.      ... therefore, Archer couldn't quite help but feel a pang of sympathy... and even though he outwardly remained impassive, a touch of what sounded like understanding was present in his voice. "I see." He pauses for a long moment, closing his eyes and sighing as he ponders her request...      ... and once again curses how nothing in the world can ever be black and white. Or that one action /must/ always entail a consequence, as he steps in front of Blurr as if to block off the answer he just gave.      "While I understand you wish to pay your respects... you must consider the fact that we cannot /guarantee/ your safety, especially given how events in this land are playing out. And we do not even know if this is as bad as it will get" the bowman replies evenly. "You're the heir to this land, and the only daughter at that - what would happen if something occurred?" His gaze holds traces of sympathy, though the steel in them is still as ever-present as before. "Your mother does not want to lose you, too... and if you were lost, your entire race would be affected. You will be able to visit your father any time after this is resolved... but if you die out there, you will never be able to return to your mother."      Archer then turns to face Blurr, the bowman's response - tantamount to being a refusal to help her visit her father's grave - likely having soured the Autobot's view of the Servant; "Besides, this seems a rather reckless choice to make on our own. At the very least we ought to inform the rest of our group."     Of course, he knows that if they outweigh his opinion on the matter, the princess will be kept in danger... and although he does sympathize with her, the bowman cannot in good conscience - or at least what shallow vestiges of it have been branded into him by ages worth of following a doomed path can /pose/ as a conscience - let her do such a thing at the potential detriment of her people's future.     ... perhaps it /was/ for the best that Rin had not come. She, more sentimental then in her past, would likely have circumvented Archer's argument had she been here. And that, in Archer's opinion, the wrong choice in regards to what was best for everyone.      After all... if Roto were to /literally/ join her father and they had helped her in this, it would likely cause division with the Zora against them in addition to being detrimental to their race. From a purely logical standpoint it was just as much the wrong choice. 

:'''{{#var:513|Finna (513)}} has posed:'''     Archer might be a bit surprised to hear Finna speak up from the door. The little white fox is standing on a puddle of water. Not breaking the water's surface. It might take a while to realize this.     "Lake Hylia, huh? That's halfway across Hyrule. Fastest route would be the river, but you'd be spotted in no time at all. You have some plan for getting there and back fast enough that nobody knows you're gone, Princess?" Finna returns to her human form just behind Archer.     Not too long ago she had dismissed herself and headed for the Spring. But Queen Rutela would probably find it very hard to see the brown mouse that zipped across the ceiling and towards Ruto's room soon afterwards.     "I'd be all for this if it didn't mean your mom would get mad. And it wasn't the middle of a war. But then you wouldn't be asking. Sorry, hard to hide from my ears. You might as well've been right next to me, even from the throne room!" She grins, poking at her ears.     "Bring everyone to the Spring. We'll investigate and discuss it more there."     And just as quickly as she entered Ruto's room, she's OFF AGAIN. As a super-speed mouse towards the Spring. 

:'''{{#var:8|Deelel (8)}} has posed:''' Deelel is going to folow the group at this point as the head for Ruto's chanmber the basi is firly quiet as they finally catch uyp with Ruto she does listen. She speaks of family but she wants to get past the lockdown on travel to see her father's grave and now she stars to think this over a little more than say Blurtr has. "I also understand your desire to do so but we can not be certain of your safety even with us. I do not think he would want you to needlessly risk your self during a crisis like this." She looks to the others here handling it. "I beg your pardon but I think I would be better suited to taking care of the spring, Princess." She bows and follows after Finna. 

:'''{{#var:70|Priscilla (70)}} has posed:'''     Priscilla is keeping appraised of the situation primarily by radio. As much as she'd like to tell Ruto that she can see her father's grave, it feels irresponsible to do so, especially as a somewhat well known Union associate. Aside from putting her in unnecessary danger, it also delays their actual trip out into the Twilight for the Tear of Light, giving their enemies more time to transport it even further. She makes her opinion known over the private connection, before turning back to Queen Rutela. "I shalt do so at the very first opportunity. For now, I shalt use up no more of thine time. We shalt pay an inspection to the Spring, and return to it soon enough with its Light." She formally excuses herself, turning back and using the path to get up to the cave. 

:'''{{#var:864|Agahnim (864)}} has posed:'''      Ruto looks away from Archer, though her eyes glance towards Blurr. She crosses her arms in front of her chest, but soon looks away from both. Form the look on her face, what Archer is saying is sinking in, hitting right at home. Finna has a point as well. There is a glimmer of hope as Blurr says it might be a good idea... But the others vote it down.      She makes a grumpy face at them. Some sadness is to it. Soon, Ruto walks away, heading into a door leading to her bedroom.      Rutela nods at Priscilla, smiling at her. "I thank you for this, once again. The insects seemed somewhat aquatic, though. Stick to the seas, and to, I assume, Twilight covered areas, for your search. I wish you the best of luck."      Once the group gathers at the Spring, they will find it much like the others, simply inside a cave. There are some holes in the ceiling, letting in natural light. But, there is no obvious source of the water. It just appears. The same sense of the other spring's broken forms is present. A shattered light, and a bit of loneliness. It is almost like the Spirit is trying to call out, and yet it can't. 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     Well, it seems Blurr is outnumbered in the decision against helping Ruto sneak out. He shrugs helplessly, but gives her a rather knowing glance that is telling of the fact that he doesn't think this is quite over... 

:'''{{#var:513|Finna (513)}} has posed:'''     When a Lunar wants to speak with someone, they're quite hard to shake off. And Finna's already taking a liking to Ruto. She senses a KINDRED SPIRIT in her.     This might be a problem for some people.     So as Ruto's walking past... as it turns out, the moment RUto opens her door... a bolt of white zips inside and springs up to the ceiling.     Ruto's room has a CEILING FOX.     "I thooooooought everyone could discuss this better at the spring. When we're not all split up. But one on one's more appealing. Good evening, princess. Shall we discuss some mischief?"     There's an INCORRIGIBLE grin on the fox's face. 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     Blurr's avatar remains in Ruto's room as well, while his actual form follows the others to the spring. Hopefully it isn't too far back. "Well," it smirks slightly over at the Fox girl. "Looks like we have some company."     "So. Lake Hylia. Like I said, I could get you a ride there. And...maybe Finna can handle cloaking?" 

:'''{{#var:864|Agahnim (864)}} has posed:'''      Finna has been around enough for Ruto to have heard about the transforming fox women. The bit of time spent at Zora's Domain helps. She stares at her, quite blankly.      And then Blurr walks through the wall, his avatar just phasing through it.      "A POE! A POE!" She screams, now assuming he is one of the various ghosts haunting the land. She reaches for her pillow, tossing it at him. She'll throw heavier objects soon after. 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     A what? Blurr is confused. What's a poe? "Uh--!" Ugh, that wasn't a good idea, was it? He -really- isn't having a very good solar cycle. "Hey Finna, what's a poe?" he whispers, before the projection turns back to Ruto and holds its hands in the air to show it is unarmed.     "Hey, I'm not gonna hurt you, we were just talking, remember?" Facepalm. He glances at Finna helplessly--hopefully she can fix this situation and calm the princess down before things get too out of control. 

:'''{{#var:513|Finna (513)}} has posed:'''     "You DUMBASS! Are you trying to get the guards running in here?!" Finna's all but SEETHING at Blurr. She drops from the ceiling and lands silently, STARING into his eyes. "From now on you are BANNED from acting on your own in foreign territory. Got that? Stay quiet. Or outside!" She's ANGRY, alright. Furious at Blurr. "Calm down, calm down Princess! The noise'll ruin our chance to talk!" 

:'''{{#var:821|Archer (821)}} has posed:'''      Archer isn't unsympathetic to her cause... but it is simply too much of a risk, all things considered. There was already an increasing risk that the Tears of Light might not even be found in time to save this land at the rate things were degrading.     To foolhardily risk causing irreparable damage to a race's future would only compound that.      ...      Of course, when it seems that a certain fox-girl is absent, Archer began to feel a headache budding in the edge of his mind as a horrid suspicion began to take root.      From what he'd seen of her, Finna was like a horrid mix of Emiya Shirou and Illyasviel von Einzbern - trying to help others when not prudent and doing so in such a painfully-whimsical manner that it begged the question of if she was even thinking of the outcome.      "You two will have likely had more experience visiting the actual shrines then me. What exactly should I look for?" Archer asks the rest of the group, taking in the vague feeling of... not emptiness, but more like an absence of something that had once been a very integral part of this room. Something that the chamber itself seemed to miss, for lack of a better word.      "Trace; On"      Reaching out with 'Structural Analysis', Archer probes the area's architecture with his magic to try and seek out any irregularities.     Of course, this may or may not /also/ alert him of where a certain fox-girl is in relation to him, as he is also using this to reach out as far as he can, hoping she's /not/ where he suspects she is. 

:'''{{#var:8|Deelel (8)}} has posed:''' Deelel makes it to the springs with Archer at this point she wonders where Finna is but then she hears her voice going off on a tear at Blurr, oh dear. She's not happy about this but she needs to check the place out she looks to Archer for a moment as she tilts her head a little bit at him. "I'm a multimedia program I'm afraid I'm still learning about things here but humm there seems to be a sense of style here." She's looking for patterns she knows people have used art and patterns within to hide information or other things in plain sight and Archer's skills to trace should help a lot with figuring this place out. She also wonders what the heck Blurr has done but it sounds like Finna is handling it. 

:'''{{#var:864|Agahnim (864)}} has posed:'''      Ruto tries to calm down, but it's hard. Her breathing is heavy. She's even gagging a little at the same time, accidentally having tried to breath through her gills, just a little. But, she finally calms down with Finna's reassurance. She pulls a blanket over herself to hide, somewhat. Ghosts are certainly something that /terrify/ the people of this land. They're rarely seen, but they are almost always dangerous.      "A-ah... What... What do you want? You've already made your choice, haven't you?"      The Spring, when scanned, doesn't give much info. It seems to work as intended. Water is magically springing forth from it via a spell. Some traces of the broken Spirit could be detected, even without magic. The entire place looks broken.      There isn't much for clues in the spring. It's simply been /far/ too long since the time of the Spirit being killed. 

:'''{{#var:513|Finna (513)}} has posed:'''     "Ehhhh... just enough to get the guy in red off my back." Finna gestures with an open hand, shrugging slightly as though to say 'there's no helping it.'     "Iiiii want to discuss this crazy idea of yours and just how you're planning on pulling this off. Because the world out there isn't safe. Even we can't guarantee your safety. We've got 'blins of all shapes and sizes dropping out of the sky wherever they please. SOMETHING was powerful enough to freeze over the world's most active volcano. And you know this. Somehow I don't buy you want to make this trip just to visit a grave. Even if it's one very important to you. So what's up?" 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     And now Finna is all pissed. Blurr's holoform folds its arms and immediately gets defensive. "Hey, cool your tailpipes lady, I was just trying to help. I didn't know she'd flip like that! Slag, I have no idea what a 'poe' even -is-, so how could I know this thing even looks like one?!" Hmph!     And no, the fox girl -doesn't- get to order him around. "-Excuse- me, -Snowdancer-, but you don't look like my superior officer. Far from it in fact." Seriously, what is it with fleshies and trying to order him around as if they were Ultra Magnus or somebody? This really isn't Blurr's day, -at all-. First with the queen getting all paranoid about him, and then with Priscilla essentially calling him a pile of armor, and now -this-. He -really- needs to study organics more, or something.     But, he -finally- stops his tirade and lets Finna do the talking (albeit somewhat bedgrudgingly) when Ruto appears to have finally calmed down, the avatar leaning against the far wall so as to make sure it -absolutely- does not look like he is going to make any hostile moves against her.     Meanwhile, Blurr's actual form has gone to the Spring behind the throne room with everyone else, and appears to be scanning the area as Archer is. Though of course he appears rather distracted, with his attention divided. 

:'''{{#var:864|Agahnim (864)}} has posed:'''      Ruto looks towards Finna. Her face actually looks hurt by the accusations. "You... You think I don't want to just visit my father's grave? Have... Have you ever /lost/ a parent? Do you know what it is like, to go through life without a father?" She looks away. Frowning. "I just... The Twilight never sticks to the waters. ...I've been out, despite it. Only a few times, on my own. But it's just been... Too far for me to go on my own. While the rivers are safe, there was... /Something/ in the waters closer to Lake Hylia. If you're all really friends of my fiance..." ...Didn't she leave at that point? She must have been eavesdropping. "...You could take it out." 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     Blurr shrugs, even though the question was directed at Finna, though he doesn't say anything because of course he doens't know what it's like to lose a parent, since parents aren't a thing on Cybertron.     He nods slightly after a few moments, though, his expression softening. "I'm sorry about your dad, Ruto. Can't say I know what it's like since I've never had any parents, but I'm sure it isn't easy." he says quietly.     The avatar frowns at her description of something in the water near the lake. "Huh. Well, we--I mean, at least -I- would be happy to help you deal with that thing, but maybe it's best if you stayed here while we did that? Then once we've taken care of whatever it is, you can go visit the memorial." A slight pause. "You could definitely help though, by giving us some more specifics on what exactly you think this thing is? Or what it looked like? Whatever you remember." 

:'''{{#var:513|Finna (513)}} has posed:'''     "eheheh..." Finna taps her fingers together. "I figured you might be trying to seek out said fiance when nobody was looking." Answers the fox girl, wearing an impish, mischevious expression. But it doesn't do much to hide the lurking frustrations underneath.     That question hit a nerve and her silly expression falters in no time at all. "... yeah, my dad's gone too. It was a stupid duel over a stupid reason that did him in. But I don't think my dad would want me roaming around in a monster-filled land if he was buried halfway across the world. That's a quick way to your own grave. Though you've got guts, Princess. Now I'm impressed with both the Hylian AND Zora Royalty."     Finna folds her arms, thinking. "The rivers are safe for now. Zora's Domain is safe for now. Thinking about it... much as I hate to say, if something froze over Death Mountain overnight then Zora's Domain isn't REALLy safe either. I could take you anywhere in Hyrule you can give directions to. Quickly... discretely... but safely? Can't guarantee safety--" Then Blurr says something that gets her tapping the side of her head.     "That's a good point. Aaaaand since you're pretty likely to sneak out again, you'd at least be better off doing it with us and not on your own." She cracks a wry grin. "But I'm not taking the blame for it if something goes wrong. What're you going to say to your mother, huh? How long will it take people to realize you're gone?" 

:'''{{#var:70|Priscilla (70)}} has posed:'''     Getting irritated by the bickering over the radio, and presumably the bickering she will find in person, and seeming to have no further use for the abandoned spring being not exactly forthcoming with further details, Priscilla departs to join her allies dealing with the princess. Knowing those two, she really should have had someone less stubborn accompany them. She seems to have little particular care for the emotional state of the young girl, having seem it as a thinly veiled tantrum a moment ago, but though she finds Sarah's reasoning dubious, it is at least a destination.     "I will brook no further argument on this subject." She states simply, and firmly, carrying some edge to her voice. "Princess, if thou so desperately wish to visit this grave, thou shalt be able to wait a short while. We will go forth ahead of thee, thoroughly inspect the burial site's safety, and then bring thee to it by secure transit, via sorcery or warpgate if necessary, where thou shalt hath thine deserved time alone. Thine mother shalt be aware of this, and we shalt do it with her full knowledge and consent. Until then, thou art not to venture into the Twilight on thine own, in due patience. Is this acceptable to thee?" 

:'''{{#var:864|Agahnim (864)}} has posed:'''      Ruto stays sitting, looking at the two. She still doesn't trust Blurr. Or at least, she doesn't trust him anymore. There are some things that even the people of Hyrule won't be able to comprehend without some prepping.      "...There isn't anyplace safe. You just admitted it yourself. I'm as good out there, or in here. But... If you all decide not to take me there, to go to Lake Hylia, in safety? ...I'll stay here."      Ruto lies through her teeth.      But, Blurr did ask her on the creature. "It was like... I don't know. Completely black, larger as a whale, but with an exoskeleton body. I didn't get a good look. I fled, the moment I saw it." 

:'''{{#var:8|Deelel (8)}} has posed:''' Deelel has left the springs at this point as she and Archer has got all they could from it. Priscilla ends the fighting on the radio pretty heavily and she's more than happy to let someone better skiled at this handle it. It's a good plan as she moves to catch up with the rests and she simply nods to Priscilla, ashe does show up to hear some info about a creature. 

:'''{{#var:513|Finna (513)}} has posed:'''     Finna's well aware of Priscilla's presence even before she arrived. One of her fox ears has swiveled to hone in her approach, visible or invisible. ".... Thaaaaat, I didn't know was even an option. Well, there's your answer, Princess." Finna grins. But the expression doesn't last for long. I just had an awful insight. Better go tell the Queen...." 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     Right, which is exactly why Finna should be the one to stay with Ruto and keep her safe while Blurr and potentially Deelel or whoever else wants to come travel to Lake Hylia to investigate this trange being the princess is talking about and determine whether the grave site was safe or not. And if not, make it so.     He nods as she answers the question. "Thank you, any information you can provide will help us complete the mission. I'm glad you're willing to cooperate with us. Being patient isn't easy." he smirks a little bit. "Trust me." Because if anyone knows that it's him.     With that, the avatar just -vanishes- from the room as the holomatter projector deactivates. Obviously, he -totally- learned a lesson from just now and all of Finna's beratings. (Not.) But hey at least he didn't just step through the wall, right? He's getting there, ok?     Blurr himself is outside with the others, but he's probably already starting to make his way out toward Lake Hylia to get some initial readings... 

:'''{{#var:864|Agahnim (864)}} has posed:'''      Ruto looks towards Priscilla. Pausing for a moment. She is /trying/ not to freak out at this. Because she at least /did/ see Priscilla meet her mother. Blurr's holoform randomly appearing and walking through a wall was troubling. Still. Ghosts. All of these people are ghosts. Her Fiance is friends with Ghosts.      She will be having a stern talk with him eventually.      "...That sounds like a good compromise." 

:'''{{#var:821|Archer (821)}} has posed:'''      In the wake of having gleaned nothing from analyzing the Spring, Archer sighs and walks out of the room, still musing on the rather heated discussion over the radio.     This was perhaps one of the /downsides/ to how similar Sarah Parsle was to Tohsaka Rin - namely that once she had her mind set on something, she refused to budge on it, even willing to fly in the face of her own typically-pragmatuc knowledge and viewpoints.      ...      It also didn't help that, more often then not, her hunches ended up being /right/ in spite of going against the logical process.     In this case, the girl had ended up being right about the princess' desire to find her father's gravestone seeming to have a connection with the Tears of Light... as the creatures that blocked the grave were seemingly the same ones that escaped from the Spring.     What were the /odds/ of that connection? Why? Was it that the king had some tie to the Guardians of Light. Had... he actually /been/ one of them, if that was possible?     Either way, much as it chafed at what little pride he had... Archer had to admit that this was looking more and more like the correct action... and the same as Rin, he doubted Sarah would let him live that down.      ... however, that didn't mean this was a decision that should be made without consenting the people that it would affect most. If the princess was to leave, the queen should at least be made aware of it.     That being said, the most prudent course of action was thus to scout the lakeside... and as a spirit, he felt he could so so more comfortably then most could, simply because he could avoid being seen.     Hopefully, that would be enough. 

}}

3340/A Grimm endeavour

2015-11-07T06:02:09Z

Zippy:

{{Log Header
|Date of Scene=2015/11/06
|Location=Planetary Plains
|Synopsis=Ruby and Yang become acquainted with Multiverse whilst fighting Grimm alongside Union allies.
|Thanks=
|Cast of Characters=492, 513, 626, 642, 675, 737, 765, 778, 906, 910
|Tinyplot=
|Tinyplot2=
|pretty=yes
}}
{{Poses
|Poses=:'''{{#var:906|Yang Xiao Long (906)}} has posed:'''     A Warpgate. Typical of the Multiverse... Not so typical of a certain newly unified world. Yang is just putting down her phone, rubbing her temple with a sigh. "This is /so/ wonky. Ah well." She waits for Ruby, then steps through the gate. The world just kinda changes. "That is /so/ awesome." She fiddles with her phone, then manages to set off the GPS tracker, linking it to the 'Radio'.     "Here's hopin' now." Yang then stands, waiting with her arms crossed. Hair flipping in the breeze. The Rumours pointed to a fairly big group of Grimm. Some Ursai, Beowolves. Even a Nevermore. The latter could actually be seen flying high in the sky overhead, a great black stain against the blue and white. 

:'''{{#var:765|Gaonoir (765)}} has posed:''' It didn't take long for news media catch the attention of curious eyes. Especially when said eyes are almost always watching for reports of 'monsters'. Especially when the image captured from the news report is close enough to a certain other monster she did know of that Magnamon had to stop and look twice to make sure the bone-spiked beast wasn't said monster. It wasn't, and while it didn't look like any digimon she knew of, this talk over the usually pointless general frequencies was of curiosity as well. Which would be why she relayed it to the afforementioned monster she did know. "Yeah, I know, the yammering woke me up from a nap." Gaonoir snorted softly as he grabbed the floating display that looked like a computer program window and collapsed it, storing the image file away, as well as the location 'ping' that came up a few moments ago. Not that it stopped Magnamon's nattering in his ear. "Relax. I'll go check this 'Grimm' out." The dark canine hopped down from where he was perched and sprinted off for the warpgates. It wouldn't take him long to find which one Yang's 'ping' came from. 

:'''{{#var:737|Vivio Takamachi (737)}} has posed:'''     Monster Hunter! Not really in Vivio's job description, since she doesn't actually have a job. Unless you count being an Elite in the Union a job. In which case monster hunting probably is in that job description, along with a whole lot of other stuff that comes with being an Elite. Including helping people, which is really what Vivio is here for today! Especially when there are bad monsters out there hurting people.     Speaking of Vivio being here today, the deceptively young woman steps out of the the warpgate. She's already in her adult form, clad in her Barrier Jacket. Looking around at the surroundings for a moment, Vivio soon spots one of the only other people here and jogs up to the other blonde.     Vivio stops near to Yang and grins, giving her a wave and saying, "Hi. I'm guessing you're Yang?" 

:'''{{#var:910|Ruby Rose (910)}} has posed:''' Things were just picking up for Ruby, all things considered. Getting accepted into a new school, getting to hang out with her sister and the prospect of finally achieving her dream as a huntress were all things that could happen. Of course, the phone call about 'something she had to see' was an enticing one to say the least and it'd be nice to get some practice in on some Grimm again. She slides the phone back in her pocket as she starts to sprint towards Yang's location, knowing full well from experience that trying to talk while running this fast almost never works out well. And just as soon as she was closing on it, Yang...disappears? Weird. She picks up her speed dramatically, a shower of rose petals being left in her wake as her curiosity is getting the better of her. It wasn't long before she spots the warpgate and rather than investigating it carefully, she charges straight in and appears right next to Yang...albeit going quite fast. She digs her feet into the ground and skids to a less than graceful stop. She turns to look at the open field...and the presence of Grimm had mentioned. "Uh...do Grimm always make portals?" 

:'''{{#var:626|Kyra Hyral (626)}} has posed:'''     Funny, Kyra was watching the news not too long ago featuring what she had ended up dubbing 'The start of Cultist Season'. The strange creatures had caught her attention since they reminded her a lot of those 'Heartless' monsters she saw a few months ago. Still, it's enough excitement to get her to leave her apartment on Njorun to check this out.     There is nothing intimidating-looking about Kyra Hyral. She seems like a teenager punk that might be hiding something suspicious underneath her hoodie (she is) and not exactly the type of person who would run out and hunt monsters. To top it off, she's also wearing some kind of strange headband that looks to be a minaturized, wearable camera. The very center has a circular apature, the edge of it glowing dull red to indicate that the camera is currently on. "Hello!" she greets, "I heard there was going to be monster hunting so I invited myself along to support."     She waves a hand dismissively, "Don't worry, you'll thank me for it later. Or in a few minutes. Depends on how fast people start getting hurt." 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     Blurr just happened to be in this particular sector of the void when the noise on the broadband caught his attention. He's not sure what 'Grimm' are, but there was a bit about them being monsters and hurting people. So he quickly traces the transmission back to its source and locks the coordinates in, heading for the Planetary Plains where the signal appears to be coming from.     The Autobot vessel touches down somewhere flat and safe, and soon enough, Blurr is speeding across the countryside faster than sound itself, probably knocking over a bunch of trees or something. Though he doesn't hit the throttle -too- hard, since he's got a human passenger this time. A friend Revan's, perhaps? The female Jedi does come by the Ark sometimes for the sake of her...interesting choice in pets. Particularly, pets of the mechanical sort. 

:'''{{#var:513|Finna (513)}} has posed:'''     WHAT IS GOING ON?! Hearing about a massive exodus of warriors to go deal with some dark monsters is more than enough to get Finna's attention. Where are the monsters? What kind of monsters are they? Are they a threat, or entertainment?     These are important questions!     The warp gate strobes and flickers... and out comes Finna, onto the plains.     She's still dressed in her streetwalking attire from Kingsmouth - blue jeans, pink tennis shoes, and a plain white tank top that bares her midriff... and a weapon belt with two holstered pistols.     She sticks her tongue out at the sight of the distant monsters. "Soooo. That looks pretty bad. They out for a feast?"     She tosses some stray white hair over a shoulder, apparently not yet TOO concerned... but that's a lie. She's tense as it gets under all that. Anyone sharp-minded enough to see her Tell can easily see she's not too happy at the moment... her tails' not wagging at ALL. Both ears are perked up on high alert...     But well, anyone who can't see those just sees a white-haired young woman in skimpy clothes with some guns. 

:'''{{#var:778|Kyle Katarn (778)}} has posed:'''     A friend of Lowri's is a friend of Kyle's as it seems. The scruffier Jedi seems to have hitched a ride with the Autobot speedster, doing his best to not let the g-forces Blurr's acclerating at crush him in his seat. Luckily it seems Transformers are built with humanoid passengers, or at least able to adapt to that. Doesn't make sense, but a ride's a ride.     Once Blurr is in range, Kyle begins to hover his hand over the seatbelt keeping him in place. "Once we get in range of those coordinates, get ready to pop the hatch. I'll need a running start anyways." He says, drawing a hilt with his free hand.     Once they /do/ get close, Kyle daps the canopy hard enough to get Blurr's attention before unbuckling himself. "Now!" 

:'''{{#var:675|Cirra Constantine (675)}} has posed:'''     Grimm, the black monsters that are appearing in the multiverse seem at the same time similar yet entirely different from the monsters of Galandia. IT bear investigating. That and the girl that spoke up on the radio mentioned being a Huntress in training, that also merits looking into.     The warp gate opens a second time and Cirra Constantine walks out of in her platemail armor all silver and bronze and horned helmet. WQhen she sees the black monsters in the distance she holds one hand out to her side and a sword of crystalappears in her hand. Her eyes look between the gathered and then at the ones she doesn't recognize at all, Ruby and Yang. "Are you the ones from the radio? What are these Grimm?" 

:'''{{#var:642|Landon al Cid (642)}} has posed:'''      Landon al Cid, Prince of Ramuh, follows behind Cirra less out of his own drive and more because Cirra's off to do something dangerous, and Landon, despite being the guardee in this relationship, still has those misplaced desires to protect her. He, too, is in plate mail, although he's not wearing a helmet. Landon offers Kyra a polite nod and a smile, letting Cirra take the lead. 

:'''{{#var:906|Yang Xiao Long (906)}} has posed:'''     Yang watches the various people walking up. Human, human, human. Faunus. Human flying out of a car. The blonde seems to take it all in stride. "Hey!" she offers, grinning a bit and offering a wave. "I'm Yang Xiao Long." she offers to Cirra, then gestures for the others to come closer. The Grimm in the distance seem to be randomly milling around, knocking over the fence of a farmhouse, luckily empty as the residents fled as soon as the creatures arrived.     "Short version, but longer than the one I gave on the Radio. Grimm are soulless monsters that destroy everything in their path. They've been around as long as anyone can remember. The important thing is, they're mindless brutes that'll more likely try to kill you, than be your friend." she says, then points over at the creatures. There's a pack of Beowolves splitting off from the rest of the group of larger Ursai. "Explanations can come in detail later, we better get those things dealt with before they find someone who can't fight back."     Yang then lifts both arms, flicks her wrists and deploys her gauntlets, the weapons unfolding to cover her forearms and the backs of her hands. "I think we should split up. Ruby! Take some of these guys and go after the Beowolves, I'll go after the Ursai. Keep your eyes on that Nevermore, we don't want to get surprised." 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     As soon as Kyle gives the signal, Blurr's passenger door flips up to allow him to jump out. Fortunately it opens upward, so that makes it a fair bit more convenient for the Jedi.     He comes to a halt in front of Yang and Ruby, listening to the brief sitrep and watching as one of the monsters tears through an empty farmhouse. Nope, no lifesigns inside, so that's good. 

:'''{{#var:675|Cirra Constantine (675)}} has posed:'''     "I see." Cirra says and turns to look at the Beowolves aproaching then looks at Landon, "I'll go with Yang to deal with the larger ones. Put up a barrier to prevent the smaller ones from rushing this position." she then turns as follows Yang, watching as the blond's gauntlets unfold. Interesting. "Cirra Constantine, a Judge. But that doesn't have any baring here." her sword splits inhalf, turning into a rifle, that it seems less mechanical then the weapons Yang and Ruby are carrying. 

:'''{{#var:910|Ruby Rose (910)}} has posed:''' Ruby Rose blinks in utter amazement as...there..were..people..already..here? Huh. Weird. She starts to take a step towards Yang and open her mouth to speak, but a flurry of rose petals flies past her, one of them landing directly in her mouth. She sighs and spits it out, shaking her head a few times. "I hate it when that happens..." She steps forward to stand with her sister and looks over the group that had showed up. Human, human, human, faunus...g...Giant robot? What? WHAT!? She looks up at Blurr with an awestruck expression, clearly wanting to ask him...something, but a glance over at the advancing army of Grim gets her attention. She listens to Yang's explaination and nods towards the group before speaking up. "Oh..right..introductions! I'm Ruby Rose and Yang's right. These guys are super mindless and won't stop at anything to kill you. The best way to take them out is dismemberment. So..uh..battle strategy." She raises a finger and points towards Kyle, Finna, Blurr and Gao's...tiny..adorable face. "Alright, so you four come with me and we'll handle the Beowolves. The rest of you go after the Ursai. The Nevermore above can fire feathers, so be careful. We'll have to handle him last." She takes her weapon off of her back, spinning the hunk of metal out into a Scythe that is seemingly taller than herself, with a wicked looking blade. "Any questions?" 

:'''{{#var:778|Kyle Katarn (778)}} has posed:'''     BOING!     Kyle isn't quite as graceful as Skywalker is, but he does definitely make an entrance as he launches into the air. The Force propels his jump, bursting forth from the vehicle as he flips through the air and lands just outside what looks to be a farm.     "Huh...how 'bout that?" He can't help but feel a bit nostalgic before he approaches the two girls. "Monsters rampaging; We go kill them. Roger that." He nods, throwing a salute to Yang and Ruby before he looks at the approaching horde.     "Alright, kid..." He says to Ruby before thumbing a switch on his weapon. The blue blade of his lightsaber activates with a snap-hiss, emitting a deep hum as he notes the Beowolves. "I think I can deal. Let's go to work." 

:'''{{#var:765|Gaonoir (765)}} has posed:''' Unlike the majority of arrivals Gaonoir doesn't rush right up to join the group. For one, he's not all that trusting of humans in general, curious or not. For another.. well, that was about it, other than the eerie similarity between the creature in the news clip and his evolved stage. So just rushing to the group might of drawn more backfire than intended. He takes his time, lingering back a bit from the main gathering of the group. It's not until Yang is explaining what the Grimm are and suiting up for battle that the black furred canine actually strides up, giving his bandana flick with one gloved paw to swat it off his shoulder. "Souless, huh? Good, I don't have to worry about beating the snot out of it, then." Then immeadiately holds up both paws, especially when he sees those wicked gauntlets slide into place. "And no, I'm not one of them, despite the ironic similarity in appearance. I'm a digimon... which I can waste time explaining later." A head nod in the direction of the Grimms. "After yer little monster problem is taken care of." The other girl wants him to follow her. Probably because they look like wolves and he looks like a dog and.. this is already going to get confusing. 

:'''{{#var:626|Kyra Hyral (626)}} has posed:'''     "...hmmm. They really do sound like Heartless. Maybe it's a different breed...no, that's pretty much typical monster behavior, right? Try to murder your face, not interested in being friends..." Kyra squints off in the distance, watching the shapes of the monsters as they move about-she can see wolf things moving away from bear things and-     Kyra murmurs and makes a few gestures, slipping to get behind both Landon and Cirra since she reliably knows them as good tanks. Rather than scanning the Grimm, which she'll deal with later, she gets to work putting buffs on people. Specifically, the two new girls she's not familiar with get buffed right away: Yang and Ruby find themselves on the receiving end of Bravery, a damage-increasing buff. The spell feels like a bit of a rush to receive it for the first time.     "The name's Kyra Hyral! Chemist, white mage, and eventual doctor! I am the most aggressive support you will find!" Kyra grins. "C'mon Cirra, let's trash some bear Grimm." 

:'''{{#var:513|Finna (513)}} has posed:'''     Hold on a moment, someone's giving her instructions? Someone who's never met her before? Finna's head sweeeeeeeeeeeerves... and gets a load of Ruby rose's weapon. She takes a few circling steps but that's all the attention she can spare.     "Yeeeeeeaaaaaah. One. Those for sale anywhere?" Grinning, she gestures at Ruby's scythe. But it's hard to say if she's really serious. Finna just whips up her twin pistols. They don't look like much in comparison.     "Looking forward to getting to know you better... but for now? The name's Finna Snowdancer. Don't worry, I'll keep these guys alive!" Is she talking about Kyle Katarn and Gaonoir? Or Blurr? Maybe. When the Jedi activates his lightsaber, she twirls her pistols... 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     Blurr finishes the scan, and suddenly the blue car begins to do something that looks at first like falling apart, but as it proceeds it starts to look more like unfolding. It stands up to about a 30-foot tall mechanoid, about average height for a Cybertronian. People like Kyra and Kyle who already know him probably pay it no mind--they're used to such things.     "Copy that." The Autobot replies to Ruby's attack plan. He leans down as far as he can comfortably go to get a better look at the two girls he doesn't know. "Blurr here. Pleasure to meet both of you." He straightens up as his own weapons emerge from his arms, much like Yang's came right out of her gauntlets. "Well anyway let's get to work." He follows the group he was assigned to. 

:'''{{#var:906|Yang Xiao Long (906)}} has posed:'''     Yangblinks and watches Blurr transform. "I've seen weapons do that... but I don't think even the Atlas guys can make transforming robots!" she says, looking impressed. Then Gaonoir saunters up, making Yang tense before he /speaks/. "Okay. But I'm keeping my eyes on you." she says to the little black dogmon.     Cirra, Kyra and Landon get nods of approval. "Alright, follow my lead Ursai are /really/ strong, but they're slow. Be careful if they rear up on their hind legs, those foreleg claws are razor sharp." she warns, before setting off at a run. She's surprisingly quick, even for her size, though Ruby makes her seem like she's standing still, by comparison.     The Ursai pause in their destructive path, turn to the approaching group, and roar angrily, just like a bear's roar, but deeper and with a bit of reverb. Yang engaged without even waiting, throwing her arms back to fire a pair of shells to propel her forwards, then drawing her right arm back to slam it into one of those Ursa masks with a yell, as another shell explodes, knocking the thing reeling. 

:'''{{#var:910|Ruby Rose (910)}} has posed:''' Ruby Rose blinks as she seems to have miscounted. She looks between those she just pointed out and then looks down towards the small digimon. "S-s-orry about this, but could you go with my sister instead? Even teams for everyone right? I'd appreciate it." She looks towards the rest she just called out, letting her cape billow behind her as they talk. She gets awestruck again as people start pulling out weapons, but snapping her out of her revelry was Finna asking about hers. "I don't know, High Calibur Sniper Scythes are pretty rare because they're really hard to use...but I can talk to you about it after this." Ruby turns back towards the group of approaching Beowolves, which had covered quite a bit of ground compared to their ursine counterparts. The feral werewolves were approaching quickly on all fours, now closing in past the 100 foot mark. Ruby holds her scythe at the ready, angling the blade-end behind her. "Remember, don't hold back!" She slides her hand behind the trigger and fires a bullet from the gun into the ground, propelling her into the air. A few of the Beowulves jump up past her, but several were closing in on Team Wolf, with two of them leaping at Kyle and Finna, claws first, while three of them lunge into Blurr, aiming for his feet. 

:'''{{#var:675|Cirra Constantine (675)}} has posed:'''     Cirra takes off after Yang, though her pace is a little more measured. It's not that she minds, she's worked with other people of a similar nature before (as in the Besrker Class on Galndia). She just has a different role in combat to play. %tThe Judge lifts her sword-rifle up to her shoulder and fires. Shards of explosive crystal fly out through the air for the Ursine to either side of the wone Yang is pummeling, making sure to keep the area around the beserker under control and free of distractions. Like bear claws. 

:'''{{#var:675|Cirra Constantine (675)}} has posed:'''     Cirra takes off after Yang, though her pace is a little more measured. It's not that she minds, she's worked with other people of a similar nature before (as in the Besrker Class on Galndia). She just has a different role in combat to play.     The Judge lifts her sword-rifle up to her shoulder and fires. Shards of explosive crystal fly out through the air for the Ursine to either side of the wone Yang is pummeling, making sure to keep the area around the beserker under control and free of distractions. Like bear claws. 

:'''{{#var:626|Kyra Hyral (626)}} has posed:'''     Wisely, Kyra does not approach the Ursai, remaining in the 'back' as it were to avoid direct confrontation. It gives her a good spot to observe Yang's particular fighting style and the shotgun gauntlets she seems so proficient at. Though she seems about her own age, Kyra notices she handles them like someone with plenty of experience.     "Heads up!" Kyra warns, forming a fist with her left hand, tilting it forward to expose a circular device on the back of the fingerless glove worn on the hand. She grabs her own wrist with her other hand and announces, "Napalm flask!"     An object comes shooting out of the device on her hand which turns out to be a potion bottle with red liquid in it, expelled at high velocity. When it hits-hopefully on an Ursai-the glass shatters and a violent explosion follows. 

:'''{{#var:778|Kyle Katarn (778)}} has posed:'''     That's definitely a thing. Kyle hasn't seen anything like that rifle-scythe short of what the Multiverse has displayed so far, though he can't help but find it more than worthy of a double-take. "Not like scythes are built to reap wheat and not battle or anything." He mutters, speaking from experience since Sulloon.     He runs towards the horde of Beowulves before he's lunged at by one, and Kyle raises his hand at the beast before it hits him. The Force will stop it cold in its tracks, before Kyle finishes the job by slashing at it with a single stroke of his lightsaber. THe second wolf is met with a wave of sheer force (literally) from Kyle's off-hand. THe impact will be akin to a cannonball blast at point blank, not something to be on the recieving end of. 

:'''{{#var:765|Gaonoir (765)}} has posed:''' "Don't care, as long as I get to beat something up." Which pretty much sums it up as much as Gaonoir is concerned. Sent to find out what these things were like, and his usual means of doing that was beating said thing up. It doesn't take him long to turn and dart in the other direction, a little black blurr across what's going to become a battlefield. To the point that Yang would certainly catch sight of the canine sprinting past her just after she's punched a Ursai in the face. He goes in low to avoid one's front paw, clenching one of his own gloved forepaws into a small but potent fist and "SHADOW UPPER!" SLAMS it for the Ursai's chin. Despite his small size the Black Gaomon was made with power in mind and his punchs hit with a disportionate amount of power for his stout stature. It's probably enough to bowl the larger bear-beast over backwards. 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     Well here goes nothing. Three of the wolf things charge at Blurr. He picks up a piece of that farmhouse fence they just ripped up and attempts to impale one, stabbing downward until the makeshift melee weapon hits the ground, then bludgeon the other two hard with the same piece of debris and potentially parts of the first one hanging off of it.     One of them still manages to sinks its teeth or claws or whatever into his outer armor, though. Slag, their claws are surprisingly strong for organics. There's an awful sound of metal screeching as it is torn into. 

:'''{{#var:513|Finna (513)}} has posed:'''     Finna's taking the incoming rush in stride. More or less. One eye constantly flicking the Beowolves' ways... well, her ears are also tilted that way. No doubt she can hear them approaching quite well.     When Ruby goes flying by doing something Finna had never thought of... Finna grins! Aims both pistols down... AND FIRES!     BL-BLAM!     ... It doesn't send her flying.     Instead she just has the Beowulf coming in at her. The foxgirl's face turns disgusted in a heartbeat. "These things just turned way less awesome!"     But her body just seems to BLUR into motion, slipping betweent he swinging claws. Sparks fly as Finna's arms swing wide and plunge the dual pistols into the claw paths. Sparks fly on the impact, claws digging nasty gouges into the weapons. Gouges that just shouldn't really be there. The claws quickly transition into bloodying up Finna's arms with some shallow cuts, flesh rent easily. But as the creature's maw comes in following up that motion...     With another blur and a grunt she spins about and executes a SPECTACULAR kick with all her weight and force up under its lower jaw, COMPLETELY ignoring the laws of momentum and physics. And following up she angles the two pistols DESPITE being in entirely the wrong position to fire them. The bullets are nothing special. Just 21st century over the shelf stuff, and unlikely to do a lot of damage to supernatural enemies. But after four shots each - executed faster than the guns should be capable of firing! - the weapons SCREAM. Or rather, that's the sound of metal shearing itself apart from the mother of all misfires, jamming up one weapon and splitting the second's barrel along the previous gouges.     "Oh COME ON! I just bought those. Fine..."     She disengages from her opponent with a vault backwards, flipping around in the air...     And when she lands... she's dressed differently. Now in hunting leathers from the far north, a necklace of fangs rattling on her upper chest and plain-looking but finely made steel sword in one hand, a common knife in the other.     "These'll have to do!" 

:'''{{#var:906|Yang Xiao Long (906)}} has posed:'''     Yang hops back as the Ursa she punched recovers and sweeps its claws at her. She barely dodges the razor sharp claw strike, "Is that all you go---" eyes going wide as a single strand of golden hair wafts down. Her cheery demeanor fades instantly, and anyone with a look at her face, would see those lilac eyes go blood red. "YOU MONSTERS!"     RRRRRAAAARGH! There's an explosion, and a good swath of the field Yang is stood in sears to ash. Her hair goes bright gold, with licks of flame inside and she just goes right to town on the offending creature, moving faster and hitting harder than before, which is saying something.     Cirra's crystal bullets are effective, sticking into the Ursa's flesh before exploding, making it roar in pain before charging at the Judge, swiping wildly with it's forelegs as it goes, like a giant, ursine blender. Kyra's explosive flask doesn't seem to slow it down, but leaves a wickedly burning red welt in the black flesh, no blood or anything, just, solid red under the outer black 'skin'.     Gaonoir's Ursa flips head over hocks, landing on its back, but it seems much more resiliant than a normal creature as it rolls up onto its feet again, and snarls at the little dogmon, rearing up onto its hind legs and aiming a dual-clawed lunge! 

:'''{{#var:910|Ruby Rose (910)}} has posed:''' Ruby Rose counts out four Beowolves that came after her in the air, teeth bared and claws outstretched. Firing her scythe, she spins around horizontally, instantly decapitating two of the grim. She points the Scythe downwards on the backswing and pulls the trigger again, using the recoil to send herself a little bit higher in the air and kick off of one of the approaching Beowolves, sending the two crashing into one another. As she comes back down towards the ground, she makes herself a landing spot by swinging her scythe in a large arc in front of her, cleaving a few more of the wolves in half. With that, she lands dramatically, surrounded by the ferals, who were all snarling towards the newcomer. A smirk crosses her face. She sets to work as several Wolves leap at her, whirling her scythe with an expert's grace, cleaving any offending arms and legs that got in her way while. Meanwhile, the wolves that charge Kyle get to feel the powers of the force...and it's uber effective! Kyle's lightsaber cleaves through the Grimm very cleanly with little to no resistance. The second one is quite simply blown apart, yet the creature didn't seem to have any organs inside of it. Both of the slain Beowolves burst into a black mist and disappear, but the second one's exploded limbs hit four Grimm in the face, stunning them for a second. Shaking it off, they instantly charge him, two of them aiming for his arms with their teeth while two more shoulder rush him in an attempt to knock him off of his feet! Blurr impales his first one easily, knocking the creature to the ground and killing it almost instantly. The other two manage to get away with slashing him, piercing through a bit of his arm. However, there seemed to be a gap in between the wolves now, with 2 more charging him immediately. Now would be a great opportunity to make use of ranged combat, or he could use his new found trusty wood stake, good at killing monsters dead! Lastly, Finna's weapons don't seem very effective, as the claws significantly damage the guns are they graze past them. The first wolf ends up behind her while the second one catches the mother of all kicks in the jaw, sending it skyward. But without peircing damage, the wolf simply lands flat on it's back, hurt but not dead. Once she lands and transforms, the recovered wolf and a new tag-team friend charge her, with a third coming from behind! 

:'''{{#var:675|Cirra Constantine (675)}} has posed:'''     Cirra swings her rifle out and it snaps closed into the crystaline long sword. As the Ursine charges in, she holds the weapon up in both hands, swingign it around to deflect the first of the razor sharp claw attack, the Judge setting her heels and digging in against the force of the blow.     Ducking down under the second swipe from it's other paw. Then Yang explodes, well that was an attention getter. And while the Ursine reacts to Yang's fiery fisticuffs on it's brethren, Cirra leaps up on to it's arm, and then up to it's shoulder. Jumping up, the Judge spins around and brings the Judge Blade down on the back of it's neck like a spinning tip. 

:'''{{#var:626|Kyra Hyral (626)}} has posed:'''     "Gah, she's a /saiyan/!" Kyra's actually met saiyans and watched them battle-she recognizes this whole 'golden hair' thing. And hey, the pattern seems to fit just fine. If anything, it makes Kyra give Yang a /little bit wider berth/. Not that she isn't already since she's clearly avoiding melee range with these Grimm.     Her explosives seem to be inadequate though it does demonstrate to Kyra that these monsters don't have biological systems under their 'skin'. Grumbling something about never getting to use the biological warfare agents, Kyra murmurs something under her breath and immediately starts floating about a foot off the ground. "Needs more ordinance." she comments, aiming her Matter Manipulator again.     Another explosive flask flies at the previously hit bear. Then another. Then another. Then yet another! She seems perfectly capable of rapid firing her explosives now. 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     Blurr has a grim-kabob. Gross. He much prefers shooting things, but that first one had been close enough to his peds that firing would've risked shooting himself in the foot--literally. "Pfff." He throws the stick away and turns his photon cannons toward the two that are charging him now, firing rapidly in their direction but also doing his best to avoid collateral damage to any human habitations.     "Hey Ruby, you mentioned aerial forces right? I've got a ship in the air, could send some drones after 'em." 

:'''{{#var:765|Gaonoir (765)}} has posed:''' As the Urssai roars Gaonoir just smirks a bit, head lowered forward slightly as a timely breeze briefly flips the ends of his bandana behind him. "You really want a piece of this?" If one looked closely they might even see the glimmer of some darker energy around him. "Then come get it!" The dark energy crackles around him, even as the Ursa rears up and lunges. Those that have seen Digimon do their thing before might reconize it, even if Gaonoir's is a crackle of darkness instead of the flickering greens and yellows of data bits.-- Blackgaomon: Perfect SHINKA ... BLACK MACHGAOGAMON! -- There's a resounding ring as the Ursa impacts with a pair of a large gauntlet-like hands catch it's paws, it's claws scraping into the back of them, but being kept at bay. But the now taller and more humanoid-porportioned Digimon they belong to snarls through teeth gritted into that smirk still, even as the Ursa's snarling visage is reflected in his visor. "At least this way no one will mistake me for one of you.." There's a loud *FWATHOOM* as his jet boosters pop out and ignite, and Gaonoir heaves the Ursa into the air, only to launch up with the thrusters, grab it as he flips over, and hurtle the beast back to the ground. With a rocket propelled piledriver, no less. 

:'''{{#var:778|Kyle Katarn (778)}} has posed:'''     Kyle blinks, first at the handiwork of his blast and also the aftermath. He didn't expect making them EXPLODE, but at the same time, these things are technically not even living anyways. No reason he can't go all out here, as opposed to blowing a living thing into gooy chunks.     Something to remember in the future, then. Kyle goes back into the fray after a moment's musings, before he is almost mauled by the four Grimm charging him. "Damnit..."     He immediately leaps back to avoid their assault, using the Force to almost bounce across the ground a couple of feet before he primes a couple of thermal detonators, tossing them at the Beowulves while they bunch up. 

:'''{{#var:513|Finna (513)}} has posed:'''     THREE of them. And Finna has only two weapons. "Come and get it, doggies!" She doesn't even really BOTHER with taking stances most of the time... but this time she does put her feet to work, deepening her stance.     The instant all three converge on her she WHIRLS in place, aiming to BURY her mundane blades in all three enemies at once!     Wait, all three?     Yes. Left hand? Knife, one of the original two enemies. Right hand? Sword. Thrusted at its friend.     Her LEFT LEG extends out awkwardly behind, thrusting ANOTHER knife!     Those might or might do damage. What they can't do is stop the fangs and claws toppling down on her. Once again she's torn into, claws piercing deeper and muscle, one set of fangs chomping down on a shoulder. She HISSES in pain... but grunts out through it,     "I let you have that one. Now..." Teeth clenched together in an increasingly sadistic grin ripple and shift, all turning devastatingly sharp. Finna's jaw stretches out into a muzzle and white fur erupts in a wave down her body. Each limb that's covered ripples like water and stretches, bulges with new - but still quite lean - muscle. Not the muscles of a bodybuilder...     The muscles of a true beast.     An unearthly screechy-howl is the war cry of Finna's DEADLY BEASTMAN TRANSFORMATION. The seven-foot She-Fox whirls into a blur of fangs and claws, an aura of silvery-blue Essence blazing free of her body and into the surroundings, mark of the crescent moon on her forehead.     IN no time she's little more than a glowing silhouette within a roiling pyre of harmless energy. And somehow in those few moments she's transitioned into trying to GRAB ALL THREE Beowolves and savagely SLAM them into each other. But if she accidentally rips arms off in the undertaking... oh well.     Leaping back, Finna tugs at the air... and all of her weapons fly her way. The sharp-eyed might see silken silvery strands connecting them to her hands and feet. Once recalled they're all stuffed away! 

:'''{{#var:906|Yang Xiao Long (906)}} has posed:'''     Yang finishes her Ursa off, panting for breath as the pummeled lump of black flesh that /was/ a snarling Ursa Major lands and explodes into black smoke. Her hair fades back to normal blonde, and her eyes fade back to lilac as she comes down from her rage state. A grunt, flick of her wrists, and the spent shell cases eject from her gauntlets, landing on the ground with hollow clinks of plastic and thin metal. She reaches into a pouch on the back of her belt, pulling two flexible strips of different shells out. She hocks them up, then slams her gauntlets into them with a practiced motion, wrapping the new shells into place before the mechanism locks back into place.     Cirra manages to bring the Ursa up short, opening it up to the rapidfire explosion barrage from Kyra. It grunts, staggers, then topples over from the combined might of the Judge and the Chemist, exploding into harmless black smoke and leaving only the cracked mask behind.     Gaonoir stops his Ursa up short as well, the beast snarling and roaring into that visor, before it's lifted and thrown into the air, then slammed hard into the ground, hard enough to smask those bone shards sticking out of its back /through the other side/ The beast wheezes a final whimper, before it too explodes into black mist.     Ursai defeated. *victory jingle* 

:'''{{#var:765|Gaonoir (765)}} has posed:''' Gaonoir would just kept choking the thing afterwards, but his metallic hands clang together when the Ursa poofs into black smoke afterwards. "Huh." Rising to his feet, he rubs the back of one gauntlet where it got clawed up with the other hand. It was minor damage, but that the thing succeeded in scraching them up at all is notable. "That wasn't nearly as un-bear-able as I expected." Unlike that pun. But with no bear to garner his attention Gaonoir turns his gaze up above the field instead, eyes squinting behind visor. "Didn't someone mention a flying monster, too?" 

:'''{{#var:910|Ruby Rose (910)}} has posed:''' Ruby Rose 's blender mode is mighty impressive and between it and her constant firing of bullets, many of the Beowolves lay dead and disappearing on the ground, which was now littered with spent bullet casings and random wolf-limbs. Still though, she's got quite a few to worry about, as she pivot dodges two more lunging ones before backflipping past another. Realizing that she was about to get hit, she leaps high into the air to gain an advantage and brings the sniper-rifle part of her weapon down to bear. As the Beowolves leap up in predictable patterns, she starts taking aim at each one and fires, the huge caliber bullets blowing holes through several at once. She stops for a second to take a note of what the others are doing before smiling. Every single one of the ones that were around here were dead or dying. It's about that time that the Nevermore seemingly decides to take an issue with her. It fires a solid dozen of sharp, missile-like feathers at her, each one about as tall as a person. Not expecting an attack from above, Ruby eats it hard, sending her back into the ground with a good amount of force. Her aura holds up though, keeping her from taking any real damage, but knocking the wind out of her for a second. Blurr and Kyle's attacks are also quite effective, as the explosive or plasma weapons cut straight through them, and end up injuring a few adjacent to them. The Beowolves numbers dwindle rapidly thanks to them, and the last few that were left that were attacking Finna end up getting manhandled. The claws were indeed effective as they slash through her, but the Grimm get their comuppance...mostly by being slammed into one another. Crushing damage would force a sickening-but-oh-so-satisfying crunching noise before the monsters simply go limp. With that, the Beowolves numbers were decimated. Ruby looks up towards the Nevermore before flipping her scythe over her shoulder as she gestures for the entire party to group up. "Nice work everyone! I think all of you could be awesome hunters, but we've got that stupid thing to deal with up there." Finger point at the stupid giant bird. Ruby turns back towards Blurr and shakes her head. "Yeah, we could use it, but I think I have a better idea. We can get rid of it if we can kick it through that portal thing. And I have a plan to bring it down." She clears her throat before looking towards Blurr first. Rapid fire questions go! "Big guy, how strong are you? Could you throw me and Kyra into the air at that thing?" Next comes Kyra. "I saw that you had bombs...do you have like, a flash grenade?" And then she turns towards Kyle and points towards his hands. "And you had some kind of magic thing? You could hold people in place? You think you could grab the Nevermore's wings?" And then a piiivot towards Gao and Finna's new forms and...eyebrow raises. Cool. Terrifying but cool. She addresses everyone after that. "And don't worry, I have a plan that will take all of us and will totally work for sure! But we're only going to get one shot at this." 

:'''{{#var:906|Yang Xiao Long (906)}} has posed:'''     Yang comes running over towards Ruby after she gets up from the feather attack. The speech isn't interrupted, but the very SECOND after the younger girl's done, she gets picked up in a big sisterly bearhug. "I'm so glad you're not hurt." she says, then lets the shorter girl down. "Right, what's the plan?" she asks, cracking her knuckles in preparation. 

:'''{{#var:626|Kyra Hyral (626)}} has posed:'''     "Super saiyan..also temporary..." Kyra mutters, the evidence piling up on Yang. She doesn't say much more after that, carefully watching the Ursa to make extra sure that between her and Cirra's assault, it stays pretty dead.     Of course, since it dropped something after evaporating, Kyra immediately moves to pick it up. "It doesn't look like anyone got hurt..." she actually seems a little disappointed about that, but shrugs, before she's approached by Ruby with a plan.     "I'm sure this guy would jump at the chance to throw me." Kyra says dryly, "Flash grenade? Let's see-like a bright light? Yeah, I have those, haven't used them in forever though." She flips her left hand over and holds her right hand underneath it. A green-colored, egg-shaped object drops into her hand. "How many should I pull? I don't stock more than six of these." 

:'''{{#var:675|Cirra Constantine (675)}} has posed:'''     Cirra lands from her final strike, swinging the Judge Blade around to release it of anything stuck to it's edge. She walks over to cracked Grimm mask and picks it up. "Are these dangerous to leave behind?" But Gaonoir brings up the flying monster only for the Nevermore to attack Ruby in the next breath.     "I didn't pull out everything against those monsters..." She pulls a Law Card out from herside, held between two fingers. She slams it to the ground as she shouts. "The. BRIAR!"     Crystaline vines grow out of the ground, each of them covered in nasty barbs and trying to entrap the massive Nevermore. "Steer it this way!" 

:'''{{#var:778|Kyle Katarn (778)}} has posed:'''     Lightsaber extinguishing, Kyle clips it back to his belt after the fighting dies down.     Of course, it's never so simple. Looking up at the massive raven arrives. "Oh hell... This might not be so easy after all." He says, before he glances at Ruby. "Magic? No no no no, the Force isn't...y'know what nevermind. What do you need me to do?"     He frowns at the idea of trying to grab something that big, there's no way he could grab something that size...     No. No, that's not right. Size matters not, that's what Luke repeatedly told Kyle and the others back in his lessons with the Force. And he wasn't kidding about that. "Alright, give me the word."     Immediately, Kyle cracks his knuckles before he braces himself, and his hands raise towards the Nevermore. Closing his eyes, Kyle imagines himself grabbing those wings physically...using the Force to do just that in the process and stopping it in place.     And then he twists. HARD. 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     How strong is Blurr? Well it depends on who you're comparing him to, but throwing a couple of human-sized targets shouldn't be an issue. He nods. "Sure, I could do that, but what's on the other side of that portal? Wouldn't want to send that thing somewhere else that's populated by sapients and that might not be prepared or have anything in the way of effective defenses against something like that. I was thinking we could take out its wings and ground it so we can blow it up down here."     A datapad seems to appear in his hand briefly, and already a group of a dozen drones deploy from the Autobot vessel, flying toward the big monstrous bird until it's in range of their turrets. They open fire, aiming for the creature's wings!     He can't help but arch an optic ridge at Kyra. "And why's -that-?" 

:'''{{#var:906|Yang Xiao Long (906)}} has posed:'''     Yang asides to Blurr. "That's the one we came out of, it'll send it right back home to Remnant." 

:'''{{#var:626|Kyra Hyral (626)}} has posed:'''     "I think you're still mad at me for the carjacking." Kyra points out with a slight grin. Clearly she still thinks that incident was funny. 

:'''{{#var:765|Gaonoir (765)}} has posed:''' "Well, we can't let them have all the fun, now can?" The boosters keep Gaonoir at a low hover as he watchs the others start to put Ruby's plan into motion. Hmm. He's got an idea, but while he may be a bit of a jerk at heart, he doesn't want to make a mess of the process if it's the only chance they might get at it, so he's patiently waiting for an oppritunity. Or maybe they'll handle it and he won't have to spare any more energy to the matter. 

:'''{{#var:513|Finna (513)}} has posed:'''     Finna executes a few backflips, landing near Kyle Katarn. Despite her increased size and incredibly vicious appearance.. yeah it's still her. She's just a bit angry!     "Those things REALLY hurt."     However, the wounds are HEALING. Visibly healing, even. Blood's no longer flowing from any of the gashes she's suffered.     For now, she just waits, focusing her spirit for the right moment. If Kyle's successful, she'll definitely have it. 

:'''{{#var:910|Ruby Rose (910)}} has posed:''' Ruby Rose nods towards those she had asked questions of, though she was surprised at the eagerness of some of them to get started. The Nevermore had already made one pass at Ruby, but it needed to swing around to come back again, which is what it was doing while the talking was happening. It's very, very, very far up for Cirra's vines to be able to catch, but it was turning back around...and being peppered by aircraft fire. The bullets were affecting it a little bit, but it seems very resilient towards it, the bullets not piercing it but simply..impacting it. The bullets do bring it a little bit closer to the ground though, but not much. Kyle's grabbing attempt was...difficult. It was like trying to hold onto a greased up fruit that was moving quite powerfully. The bird is certainly far tougher than the ground forces were. It would take a moment to get a solid grip on it. Ruby turns back towards the group and addresses everyone at large again. "Okay, here's my plan. Blurr, throw me and Kyra up into the sky, right in front of it's face. Also..uh...hold the fire on the ship things when that happens. Kyra, I want you to throw as many flash bombs you have directly into it's face to stun it. I'm going to force it down." She turns towards Cirra and Kyle next. "Kyle can hold it's wings so it can't fly as well. Cirra...uh, while it's coming down, I want you to hit it with whatever you have that'll leave a mark on the wings. " Back to turning towards everyone else. "Gao and Finna, hit it in the chest with whatever you have right in the chest. Crack some bones! And Yang?" She turns towards her sister and smiles. "Do Yang stuff. Hit it straight back into Remnant where it came from. Okay?" She moves towards Blurr and taps him in the leg, ready for him to pick her up to throw. "Alright, get ready! Here it comes!" 

:'''{{#var:906|Yang Xiao Long (906)}} has posed:'''     Yang grins. "One Little Sun special, comin' right up Sis!" she grins, getting into a good position for where the Nevermore is being brought down. She cycles her gauntlets, locking in three shells into each chamber, and sets a wide stance. She cocks both arms back, hooked as if to perform a double upper-cut. "Ready when you guys are!" 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     Blurr nods. "Will do, in fact when I toss you, I can have them pull you in the right direction in case my aim isn't right on target." As soon as they're ready, he picks both humans up as gently as possible and chucks them straight up toward the beast's face as it approaches them.     And, as he's promised, if they don't get in close enough to start with, the drones, which have ceased firing, will quickly grab them with clamps and push them in the right direction so that they can go nuts in the monster's face! 

:'''{{#var:778|Kyle Katarn (778)}} has posed:'''     It's...much bigger than Kyle had expected. The Nevermore puts up a really good fight against the Force itself, as Kyle struggles to get a grip on it. That bird isn't making things easy, but he focuses hard as he shakes off any stresses on his body and continues to reach out at the enormous raven.     "Size matters not...size matters not...size matters not..." He mutters under his breath, continuing to reach out at the Nevermore.     Then he grabs at it once more, clenching his hands into fists. 

:'''{{#var:626|Kyra Hyral (626)}} has posed:'''     Kyra keeps the one flash grenade in her hand while the other hand pulls something else out of the matter manipulator that is NOT a flash grenade: a pair of sunglasses. She quickly puts them on and waits as Blurr picks her up.     "You'll have to close your eyes once these go off or you'll get Blinded too! I can fix that but it'll take seconds we don't have!" Kyra shouts as they fly up into the air at the Nevermore. Once close enough, she throws her first flash grenade, "CLOSE YOUR EYES NOW!" which explodes into a brilliant blast of light that will temporarily blind anyone that looks directly at it without eye protection.     For good measure, she fires the remaining five grenades out of her Matter Manipulator at the Nevermore's head. 

:'''{{#var:910|Ruby Rose (910)}} has posed:''' The Nevermore is not having a good day, clearly. That annoying gun-girl seemed to survive the pinions and then some weird machines started shooting it in the back. The bullets were of little consequence as most of them seemed to bounce off, but the Nevermore swoops down towards his prey, eager to destroy what his brethren could not. A strange force locks onto it's wings as it's coming down, which makes flight quite hard. Kyle managed to get a good grip on the wings now but even then, this was going to be no easy trick to pull off. The bird struggles against him hard, trying to gain back control of itself. It would take constant concentration to hold those massive limbs at bay. As Ruby's being launched up into the sky by Blurr's wonderful robot arms, she slips a hand into her ammunition pouch and pulls out a cross-shaped clip of ammo. She drops off her old clip and slides the new one in before ratcheting it into place. She looks over towards Kyra as they fly up towards the temporarily halted monster. She turns her head and closes her eyes as Kyra does her thing, the Nevermore letting out a massive cry of frustration as ants seem intent on angering it. The flash grenades seem quite effective as it's muscles and spacial awareness weaken, the bird shaking it's head in confusion. Ruby opens her eyes as the flash ends and spins her Scythe behind her just as she passes the Nevermore's neck. She orbits around the creature's neck, blade cutting into shadowy flesh before she swings down underneath it. Now in position she starts firing her scythe as hard as she could, letting out a massive battle cry as she literally drags the behemoth bird out of the air, head first. The recoil of the Crescent Rose was enormous with these new bullets, but anyone from the ground could see that the bird was heading for a massive crash. It wasn't long before it had lost enough altitude to where the next step in Ruby's battle plan could step in and land their attacks! 

:'''{{#var:675|Cirra Constantine (675)}} has posed:'''     The Crystal vines may not have reached immediatly, but they present a continouing field of hazard which the giant bird is being drawn too. Though they part around Ruby herself. Stillt he thorns and vines are piddly compared to a creature this size.     Cirra shucks off her gauntlets and brings the Judge Blade up, and quickly slices the tip over her open palm. "Blood sacrificed to lay my enemy low..."     "SANGUINE BLADE!"     She stabs the Judge Blade into the ground, and black rock shoot along the ground fromt he tip of the weapon, splitting int two paths to either side of the gigantic Nevermore, and errupting from the ground as two giant obsidian blades immediatly in the path of the bird's wings. 

:'''{{#var:910|Ruby Rose (910)}} has posed:''' Ruby Rose 's still firing off a ton of rounds to keep the bird down, but even with all that's been done to it so far, it was starting to recover from the fall, or at least become aware that it was falling. But just as it starts to try to fight the Force-grip again, two massive blades cut into the Nevermore's wings, slicing deep. This forces another angry caw of pain, loud enough to reverberate nearly everyone present. Ruby, on the other hand, is quite surprised by the sudden appearance of GIANT ROCK BLADES, her eyes going wide at that. 

:'''{{#var:765|Gaonoir (765)}} has posed:''' Gaonoir turns his head a bit to glance in the direction of where the intended portal was. Notes where Yang is prepping herself in position. Hit it hard and hit it towards her? Sure thing. "This is gonna be like an assembly line of asswhooping." A quick calculation on positions, and with a red flare of boosters the digimon launchs himself back into the air. Even with being engineered to be able to pummel things bigger and stronger than he was, he was going to need all the extra force he could muster to make this work. Fortunately the 'Mach' in the name wasn't just to sound fancy. With jets flaring to maximum as he launchs back towards the chain reaction fight, Gaonoir can reach that supersonic speed in a much shorter distance than it would take any sort of normal aircraft to do so. By the time Rose and Cirra make their attacks he's already closing in. Two giant blades erupt out the ground so he makes a quick adjustment to his approach so the vector comes at the Nevermore right between the two blades to catch it off-guard, cocking back his right arm as he does, bionic gauntlet already glowing from the speed as well as the Dark Digitron energy he's channeling into his fist. "KNUCKLE" Gaonoir swings with all his might, twisting his body to transfer the momentum he's built up into the massive forward punch at supersonic speed! "CRRRRUSHAAAAAAAH!" 

:'''{{#var:513|Finna (513)}} has posed:'''     And the bird starts falling! Finna's legs are all bunched up. "Awesome job!" She claps Kyle on the back... then breaks into a low dash. SOMETHING bulges and flows on her back... and in a few moments huge hawk wings messily erupt from her flesh and carry her skywards. One single FLAP smashes the air hard enough that a silvery flash of what ALMOST looks like BOW SHOCK is cast off in her wake. In this one instant she's moving fast. REALLY fast, matching Gaonoir's approach from the opposite angle, one arm cocked back.     "You're not taking all the credit!"     Muscles ripple, bulge, and compress in the one arm as she gathers ALL her strength... and the blazing silver streak crosses paths with Gaonoir's to form a perfect X across his trail.     That single claw is PLUNGED DEEP into the Nevermore's chest as she flashes past! ... carving out most of its guts in one slash is her goal. 

:'''{{#var:910|Ruby Rose (910)}} has posed:''' The Nevermore's massive caw of pain is interrupted by Gao's punch. The force of his punch is so massive that it forces the burd to lurch up a digusting sounding cough, like someone punched it in the throat mid-yelp. The bird's ribcage bows outward from the punch as the hit starts to force it forward in addition to it's falling status. Finna's attack is similarly effective, though in a different way. The claws rip deep into it's back, tearing up a huge line into it's stomach, tearing out several dozen massive feathers, likely the same ones it used to attack with. It wasn't anywhere near enough to cleave through it but the huge gash would be highly noticible from now on. The combined forces of both attacks pitches it forward even further, now going to land back first instead of head-first. With a TREMENDOUS crash, the Nevermore (And Ruby) slam into the ground, the small girl, with the help of everyone, driving it into the ground with such force that it actually tumbles head over talons once. At the turning, Ruby hits the ground and immediately jumps away as the monster rolls right into Yang's position. It's showtime! 

:'''{{#var:906|Yang Xiao Long (906)}} has posed:'''     Yang watches and waits for the opening. All that damage isn't enough to take a Nevermore out of action, at least not permanently.     It's hurting though, and will be down for a long while. Now's the best time to knock it out of the park and back to where it belongs.     With an explosive wave of force, Yang pushes off the ground, exploding forwards as flames begin to lick around her hair, and off of her gauntlets. The Nevermore only gets to bounce once, before it's one more knocked into the air, this time on the end of an exploding punch. Yang isn't done, though, she follows it up, adding more momentum to it, until she fires two shots downwards, then behind her to slam into the massive creature, bringing her hands down in an axehandle smash that explodes in a plume of orange-red flame, imparting every ounce of kinetic force and momentum the girl has, right into the Nevermore, launching it into the Warpgate portal.     The blonde girl hovers for a brief moment, gravity forgetting about her, until it suddenly remembers and she plummets to the ground. Landing in a hard crouch with a grunt. "AND STAY OUT!" 

:'''{{#var:910|Ruby Rose (910)}} has posed:''' If the Nevermore could speak, it'd likely be spitting out curses so vile that it'd bleach the color out of a kaleidoscope. Yang pummels it fiercely, taking every single one of those smashes to the center of it's back. It was already being sent flying from the first hits, but the last one practically rockets into the portal, the bird sliding on it's back so abrasively that it carved a few-foot-deep scar into the earth. It slides into the portal before it has any kind of chance to recover, leaving blackish smear of material, as well as multiple crushed pinions in it's wake. Ruby watches the bird finally get the boot as she lands back on the ground, spinning her scythe around behind her to rest the blade on the ground. The cross ammunition rounds she'd spent in the air fall around her and hit the ground in a scattershot formation. She turns to look at everyone else and smiles warmly. She gives the group at large two massive thumbs up as she spins her scythe back into it's small storage form back on her back. "That...was...AWESOME! I didn't know if that'd actually work, but we kicked it's butt right out of here. You guys are amazing." 

:'''{{#var:765|Gaonoir (765)}} has posed:''' As the Nevermore is flung away by the force of his and Finna's attacks, Gaonoir pulls up and tilts back, using his jets to brake some of his momentum. Once enough speed has been bled off his bionic feet hit the ground, still tearing it up a bit even with the reduced speed until he finally slides to a stop. Just in time to watch Yang do her thing. He's far enough back to not be in the range of the blast and the blowback from her attacks is still enough to make his bomber scarf flap about behind him. After a moment of watching he uses a metal finger to push his visor back up into place. "Gotta find out how she makes em -explode- like that..." 

:'''{{#var:906|Yang Xiao Long (906)}} has posed:'''     Yang stands from her landing, looks at her gauntlets, then flicks her arms again. The mechanism ratchets up, and with a burst, the spent shells eject to land on the floor around her. She reaches back, pulls out a final pair of replacement strips, and reloads the gauntlets, before she retracts them to their standby forms, the bracers compacting down into the bracelets they began as.     "Gotta say, all of you'd make /really/ great Hunters and Huntresses. I mean it, that was amazing." she says, then looks at Finna. "Didn't know Faunus could do /that/ though, what kingdom are you guys from? And, where /are/ we, for that matter." 

:'''{{#var:626|Kyra Hyral (626)}} has posed:'''     Normally falling would be a problem for Kyra, who has not yet mastered the rocket jump. However, she had cast float on herself earlier, making her descent back to the ground greatly slowed. She doesn't even officially land, still floating about a foot off the ground. It's slow enough that the Nevermore has been dealt with by the time she 'touches down.'     Kyra mutters something, making a closing motion with her hand, and dispells the Float so she can walk normally. Naturally, she's already poking at the greasy smear that the Nevermore left behind with great curiosity.     She straightens suddenly to turn to the rest of the group, snapping out of her distraction. "Hey, it worked out great, didn't it? Ganging up on that bird like that! Nice shooting, by the way, both of you." She grins at Ruby, returning the thumbs up. "Ahah, well, it's not the first bunch of monsters Cirra and I have fough, heh."     She gives everyone a critical eye, "Sooo...I don't suppose anyone's actually in need of healing? Everyone looks pretty much in one piece." 

:'''{{#var:675|Cirra Constantine (675)}} has posed:'''     Cirra dismisses the judge Blade and starts wrapping her hand in some bandages, "I'm afraid you've found yourself in a poistion most of us were in not that long ago. This isn't a 'kingdom' per-say. Your world has been connected to a larger one called the Multiverse." The Judge removes her helmet, letting silvery hair fall out.     "You two are extremely skilled, but you seem to use Hunter and Huntress as titles. None of us have that title, but I think we train for a similar situation."     "Myself, Kyra and LAndon come from a world called Galandia, where we train at a dedicated school for Adventurers." 

:'''{{#var:513|Finna (513)}} has posed:'''     With a few swoops and circlings, Finna eventually touches down near Ruby Rose. Once again her body shifts and ripples... this time shrinking back into the form and outfit she was in at first. Blue jeans, white tank top, tennis shoes. No guns visible though. STRANGELY ENOUGH...     She's still showing off the hawk wings a bit. They flare out and flap pointlessly a few times before they, too, recede into her back as if they'd never existed at all. "Aaaaaand whoever said I was a Faunus, whatever those are? Guessing it has something to do with a thing you saw that not just anyone can!" Her ears twitch plafully. Now that the mess is over she is totally feigning being at ease, as if this was no big deal at all... but her alert eyes sweep across the group looking for any serious injuries.     She is BLOODIED... or was bloodied... wait, she was injured in that fight, right?     Glancing at her, it doesn't look like it. Not only is she immaculately clean but there's no sign of those wounds.     "Those were some great moves! Haven't seen that much skill going into weaponry in quite a while." 

:'''{{#var:765|Gaonoir (765)}} has posed:''' So she has some sort of gun in her gauntlets? No wonder she can punch things with explosions and fire. ".. Hunter is close enough, yeah." Gaonoir shrugs a bit after his jets have contracted up against his back once more. "You could say I hunt monsters of a sort of a living. 'Course, by most of -your- definitions I'm a monster myself." He's not really in the mood to explain the whole Exile thing, and it would just confuse the new girls all the more anyways. But the fight seems to be over, so after a brief moment of a darkened shroud the shadows fade away and Gaonoir has reverted back to his initial form. 

:'''{{#var:778|Kyle Katarn (778)}} has posed:'''     Panting /hard/, Kyle opens his eyes when the earth shakes underneath him. "...whoa. I think I FELT that one." he says, gaping at Yang for a second. "That was pretty damn impressive work, kid. Nice work."     He approaches the two hunters, offering hands to shake to the girls. "Kyle Katarn, we spoke briefly on the radio before. I'm an agent of the New Republic's special operations unit and Union Elite and Jedi Knight." He asides to his lightsaber deftly, "Which would explain the laser sword and mind powers, I'm kind of a special case." Shrugging, he raises a brow at Finna when the Lunar shapeshifts. That's...a thing. "Then again, all of us are. So when did you guys unify?" 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     Blurr has a few chunks of armor missing from his arms and legs, but he's certainly had much worse before. He nods when Ruby and Yang compliment the group. "Thanks," he smirks a little bit though, because that's certainly not the best he's ever done. Yeah he has a bit of an ego problem.     "Kingdom?" The Autobot looks a little puzzled at the question. "Uh, is that like the same thing as a nation or whatever?" he shrugs. "I'm from Ibex, Upper Tetrahex, Cybertron. Except Cybertron has been dead for millions of years so I haven't been -living- there for a while... and you're in the Planetary Plains, I could list you some coordinates but I doubt you'll know what they mean. Basically what Constantine said. Your planet's transitioned into a multi-dimensional space of sorts, if that makes sense." 

:'''{{#var:910|Ruby Rose (910)}} has posed:''' Ruby Rose takes a deep inhale..and then a deep exhale of breath and relief. It got a little scary there, and she wasn't even sure if Crescent Rose was capable of bringing something like that down, but sure enough, it was and nobody suffered any friendly fire. ON-THE-FLY-BATTLE-PLAN SUCCESS! She lovingly pats Crescent Rose's storage form on her back before turning towards Kyra first, looking up towards her, smiling warmly. "Healing? That's pretty neat. No, I'm fine. The one hit I took knocked me down for a second but my Aura handled it just fine. Thanks though!" Next comes Finna, who gets another wide eyed expression at the transformation. "Uh..F-f-faunus are a race of people back on Remnant. They kinda look like you did...uh..before. But none of them can do that...at least as far as I know. And thanks! Scythe-wielders are super rare and I was completely terrible at fighting until my Uncle taught me how to use one...and of course, building it from scratch myself." Gao gets paid attention to, but before she can say anything back, Kyle has her attention next, blushing a little bit at the attention she was receiving. "Heh..just...you know, I thought of the idea and it sounded cool in my head so...yeah." She takes his hand and shakes it before speaking again. "A Jedi Knight? That sounds like some stories I've heard. But the mind thing is really neat though. That couldn't have been easy and I'm sorry if it like causes you a headache or anything. If...what you and the others said are true and if that Unify-thing explains that portal?" She jabs a finger back towards the Waygate somewhere behind her. "About five minutes before we showed up I guess? Yang found it...and then the radio..got..on our phone? Weird." 

:'''{{#var:906|Yang Xiao Long (906)}} has posed:'''     Yang takes Kyle's hand, and nearly shakes his arm off. She's a /strong/ one, especially for the fairly slight build she's sporting. Heavier than Ruby, but nowhere near 'ripped' by normal standards. "Multiverse? Planetary Plains? Jedi Knight?" all this new stuff is making her head spin. "Union? Wow, guess those portals /aren't/ a new Grimm thing huh? I guess we... what did you call it? Unified? I guess it happened a couple days ago. Weird swirly things appeared in most major cities. The Watch went on high alert, but luckily the Grimm didn't figure out how to use them to get /into/ the cities. That would'a been /bad/."     To Blurr she just turns and stares a bit. "Cybertron? So, there's more like you? That's... really cool. I know the Atlas tech geeks would /love/ to get a look at how you work, they like their robots in the north." Then to Cirra, finally. "An academy? That's where me and Ruby just got accepted to. Beacon Academy. It's /the/ best academy for Huntsmen and Huntresses in Vale." 

:'''{{#var:778|Kyle Katarn (778)}} has posed:'''     Kyle sniffs, before wiping away a trail of blood from his nostril. "I think I'll live, just pop a couple pills and carry on with the day." He says, underplaying the nasty headache he has as well as a pretty substantial nosebleed from all that effort.     Peering at the portal, he shrugs. "Yeah, that would be a warpgate. They link all the worlds together, kinda like a series of pathways through hyperspace." He says, before he glances between Kyra and the Alexander folk, then to Ruby and Yang. "That's gotta be some schooling if they teach you kids that, and I /work/ at an academy myself." 

:'''{{#var:765|Gaonoir (765)}} has posed:''' "I think these people have you newcomers handled, and I don't seen any more monsters needing mashing, so.." Little else of interest at the moment so it's about that time that Gaonoir just does the wandering off into the night sort of thing. Because that seems to be the sort of thing that the ominous loner does when there's no more butts needing kicking 

:'''{{#var:513|Finna (513)}} has posed:'''     Finna ends up blinking a few times while stretching. Only after that does she show much signs of weariness. All in demeanor. Her very slack shoulders and long, careful breaths.     "Ohhhh.... people with animal features. Not the first time I've been mistaken for a species like that!" 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     Blurr nods. "Yeah, an entire race of us, actually." he replies to Yang. "Atlas, eh? Well, maybe I'll stop by to have a chat with them sometime if they'd like."     He smirks at Kyra. "Oh and Kyra, don't be silly I'm not mad at you I mean if anyone got in any kind of trouble for that it was you and that other kid whatever his name was." 

:'''{{#var:675|Cirra Constantine (675)}} has posed:'''     "Beacon Academy." Cirra repeats to herself. "Well, we attend from Alexander Academy, also the best on our world. It maybe a good idea for us to contact the leader of your academy. The multiverse is full of oportunity, but also new dangers." She looks at the furrow left by the Nevermore. "Though I think you'll adapt handily to them. It never hurts to have allies." 

:'''{{#var:626|Kyra Hyral (626)}} has posed:'''     As expected, nobody really needs healing though Kyra does double-take at Finna, "Glad everyone's alright, then! Anyway..." Kyra holds up her hands, fingers splayed, then moves them together so her fingers interlock, "Basically what happened is your world just connected with a bajillion other worlds. At least that's what it sounds like because I've never heard of Beacon Academy before. So you learn how to fight those Grimm things there?"     She turns to Blurr and sticks her tongue out at him, "Kilik, that was Kilik. And neither of us got in trouble." At that point she's reluctant to let on more details because Cirra is /right there/. 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     Blurr shrugs, still smirking. "Good, good for you. Well if anyone wants a ride of out of here let me know." He transforms again, his body folding back down into his more-compact vehicle form. If anyone wants to ride him, they are free to pile in. Well, as long as they fit. The passenger compartment isn't exactly huge. 

:'''{{#var:910|Ruby Rose (910)}} has posed:''' Ruby Rose pats Mr. Katarn on the back in a consoling manner before remembering the empty state of Crescent Rose. She reaches behind her to flip it into a bolt action rifle form, reaching into her ammo pouch and sliding a regular clip of ammunition into it and ratcheting it into place. "Two clips in one fight...well, at least most of them hit home." She folds her weapon back into it's smallest form on her back and grins at Finna. "Yeah. I know alot of people have problems with them but I don't even understand why really. So if you aren't a Faunus, what are you?" And next comes Kyra and Cirra. "Uh...sure. I know the headmaster's really busy but I'm sure if you sent a message about this Unification thing, he'll figure out what to do about it. And yeah, Beacon's pretty great. They train you how to become a Hunter or a Huntress. I've always wanted to be one but I haven't made it yet. I went to Signal Acedemy before and that's where I learned everything I know right now." She jumps a little bit, startled at Blurr's sudden transformation back into a vehicle. She takes a step forward with a huge gasp of wonder, looking at the transport. "Whoaaa...is...is that safe? And normal? Normal-safe? Safe-normal?" 

:'''{{#var:778|Kyle Katarn (778)}} has posed:'''     Despite everything, Kyle manages a laugh. "Sure, it's safe. It's how I got here." He says, before approaching Blurr and hopping into the Autobot's cockpit. (Stop giggling.) Adjusting the seat, he manages to ensure there's enough room for at least two others. If they share the back seat. 

:'''{{#var:906|Yang Xiao Long (906)}} has posed:'''     Yang goes over and hugs Ruby gently, then lifts her free hand. "We should get back to Beacon, Principle Ozpin'll have our butts if he catches us out after curfew. We'll let him know about this Unification thing though!" She starts to turn back to the gate to return home, then ohs. "Hey, you guys want my cellphone number? I mean, the VOIP thing I used to call Ruby connects to that... everybody at once radio thing, but that'll get annoying fast if I'm just looking for someone specific!"     Ruby's reaction to Blurr makes Yang giggle a bit. "C'mon Ruby, you worry too much. Besides, remember what I said the first day we arrived at Beacon, you're the bees knees." she says, then ruffles the dark-haired girl playfully. 

:'''{{#var:675|Cirra Constantine (675)}} has posed:''' 5tCirra certainly is standing right there. And lookst at Kyra *LOOKS*. She turns back to Yang, "THeres no garuntee it'll work, at least at first. But I'm sure the Union will sort out something soon. She slides her smartphone out of her pocket.     It's a ToneBerry brand. 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     "Of course it's safe and normal." Blurr says, almost sounding exasperated. Like -duh-. "Transformation is common to all Cybertronians. Well at least the normal ones anyway some of us are weird and have forced themselves to become monoformers by removing their own T-cogs because of some slag about not believing in Adaptus or maybe it was Primus because technically he was the one who gave us the ability to change shape so anyway I have no idea." Yes he tends to ramble and talk -really- fast. Of course they haven't heard him at his worst yet.     He lets Kyle get inside...though the space is pretty cramped. But since Ruby and Yang are fairly small, they could still fit even though it'd be a tight fit. They'd just be...very close to Kyle.     As soon as everyone is aboard who can fit or who wants to be, he ZOOMS off at the speed of sound to wherever his new friends need to get to! 

:'''{{#var:626|Kyra Hyral (626)}} has posed:'''     Kyra sees that look from Cirra which is exactly why she's not going to be talking more about her adventures in carjacking Autobots. "Headmaster, eh? If I get an email, I can send him a pamphlet. I'm pretty sure the Union made a pamphlet on it-they make them for everything." Kyra waves a dismissive hand, "The gist is any science fiction you have about alternate universes is true now."     The mPhone is out, "Sure, I'll take your number." Kyra speaks up. "The Broadband is fun but it gets noisy sometimes." As much as she wanted to, she doesn't depart with Blurr since she'll be heading back with her classmates. 

:'''{{#var:910|Ruby Rose (910)}} has posed:''' Ruby Rose endures the hug, which causes her to look up towards Yang with a small chuckle. "I'm fine, don't worry about me, okay?" She sighs as she's forced to step away from Blurr and Kyle, despite clearly not wanting to. "...Awww...she's right. I got lucky I got in two years early, I probably shouldn't waste that by taking probably...the best car ride ever. Next time though, okay?" She turns back around to go through the waygate portal again, thoughs he looks over towards her sister with a small amount of annoyance...both towards what she said and what she did, head ruffling included. "Nnnth! Normal knees Yang! Normal! Knees!" 

:'''{{#var:513|Finna (513)}} has posed:'''     "The long explanation or the short one? Because the short is AWESOME." Finna plants both hands on her hips, grinning shamelessly. Oh she's totally being silly there. "... And the long one involves a lot of stuff that gods do when you're not looking." 

:'''{{#var:910|Ruby Rose (910)}} has posed:''' Ruby Rose stops just before entering the Warpgate to look towards Finna. "Alright Miss Awesome, we'll be back and we'll see if you can keep that up every time I see you. See you later!" She waves back towards the girl before ducking back into the portal and disappearing. 

}}

3262/Kindergarten Fun

2015-10-25T00:29:31Z

Zippy: Created page with "{{Log Header |Date of Scene=2015/10/24 |Location=Gem Warship <GW> |Synopsis=The Crystal Gems and their allies make a move against Peridot and Homeworld allies on her ship at K..."

{{Log Header
|Date of Scene=2015/10/24
|Location=Gem Warship <GW>
|Synopsis=The Crystal Gems and their allies make a move against Peridot and Homeworld allies on her ship at Kindergarten. Garnet and Jasper beat each other up. Toph wants her stuff back. Pearl fights Ferham. Blurr fights robonoids. Peridot has a very bad day. Kindergarten is so much fun, isn't it?
|Thanks=
|Cast of Characters=20, 492, 516, 836, 858, 869, 870
|Tinyplot=
|Tinyplot2=
|pretty=yes
}}
{{Poses
|Poses=:'''{{#var:836|Peridot (836)}} has posed:'''     "Systems report." Peridot stood at the helm of the Gem Warship, maintaining it's defensive position over Kindergarten. The gem garden below was still not fully operational, but Peridot had at least instructed some of the injectors to start working. When she was ready, she could flip a switch and start the process that would slowly drain the earth of all it's resources. "This Peridot, initiating log update 7113. After many hours of substantial effort and plundered resources; the Warship is nearly back to full capacity. Hull breaches have been reduced to 12%; not optimal for space travel, for within acceptable parameters to be considered space worthy."     "Lazuli is still scouting for warp pads. Locating the Galaxy warp would be a tremendous boost to ships morale. I am not certain the warp pad will function if the planet has moved it's coordinates... but it would at least allow for me to run a few calculations."     "Still no results from the communication tower." She continues in a sour tone. "I've done the math a hundred times over. I've tries every proper combination of frequency! Still Homeworld is silent." She rubs her temples. "Obnoxious.. pressing... silence. The longer Homeworld refuses to answer, the more my theories get narrowed down into choices I... Well, that is, they do not make me happy."     "Tension aboard the vessel is high. My desire to forge alliances with the Confederacy clashes with tried and true methods from our world. My unfamiliarity with earths customs puts me at odds with the earthlings, my desire to learn more about them puts me at odds with Jasper. Not just Jasper.. but thousands of years of Homeworld protocol. I like to think Yellow Diamond will reward me for my forward thinking. My adapativeness... but.. still, that doubt lingers..."     "I must now attend to further matters. I have new coordinates to investigate. New warp pads to uncover. More Gem tech to scavenge."     "Peridot. Facet 5. End log."     She then pushed a button, activating the Warships intercom. "Jasper. Ferham. Command bridge, on the double." She barked in a commanding tone. "We have work to do." 

:'''{{#var:516|Ferham (516)}} has posed:'''      It wouldn't take long for Ferham to appear once she was summoned. After all, she had been spending a good amount of time trying to ensure that the kindergarten would be able to help repopulate some of the gems--she'd hate to see a species become endangered, and all that.      "You rang, miss Peridot?" Ferham showed up on the bridge, heels clicking against the floor as she strode up to hear what Peridot had called her and Jasper in for. "What is it, your greenliness?" she asked, a hand on her hip. 

:'''{{#var:858|Jasper (858)}} has posed:'''      Despite the tension, Jasper is nothing if not obedient to the chain of command. She might dislike how it currently stands but a command is a command and Jasper's responses are practically etched into her gem. Peridot may doubt but Jasper is seemingly incapable of it, being that sure of herself. Homeworld's silence weighs heavily on Jasper, whereas Jasper understand the value of silence in the face of new threats. Homeworld wouldn't give its position away, even if it meant stranding her.      That has to be the reason.      Right?      The door to the command bridge hisses open and Jasper stands in the doorway for but a second, backlit, letting her shadow quite literally fall across Peridot. She has her cape on, a status symbol more than anything else, and she strides onto the bridge with her head held high.      "Reporting," she states, simply. 

:'''{{#var:869|Garnet (869)}} has posed:'''     Traveling in the 'small' Autobot shuttle to the location of the Homeworld's Kindergarten, Garnet goes over the plan well such that it is. "When we get there I'll make our way in, follow me in, do as much damage to the ship as you can while we find Peridot." She adjusts her visored shades, "When we find her, we grab her, poof and bubble her. Then we make the fastest way out possible." She looks around to Pearl and the assembled members of the Union, "Everyone understand?"     While the shuttle was small by Cybertronian standards it was still rather cavernous for human sized individuals thus there was no were convienent to sit while the final leg of the trip to the warship was underway. So after going over the plan, Garnet leans up against one of the walls to await the proper time. Focusing on the best way to try and break into the Warship while they travel before settling on the way that least damaged the shuttle in most versions of what was to come.     It is at this point that the shuttle begins its approach low at first to hide itself from Peridot's sensors until the last moment and then an intense burst of speed over the Kindergarten as the automated defenses start to lock onto the shuttle.     As the shuttle takes fire from the defenses, energy weapons scoring its hull, Peridot is likely dealing with some sort of warning that their air space had been seriously violated before being detected. It opens fire on some of the functional emplacements...it seems not all the defenses were up and running yet, they'd lucked out.     The back of the shuttle opens up and Garnet walks to the edge as the air whips about her as she turns back to face everyone, "This is my stop." With that she leans back and falls out of the shuttle as her gauntlets appear on her hands. The moments of free fall are intense as the air rushes past her, she has to change direction a few times from the cross fire of the defenses one laser beam getting dangerously close to her, leaving her shoulder pad sizzling in the air. Suddenly her left gauntlet becomes much much larger, several times larger than her own body in fact as she points it at the Emeral hand below her.     While Garnet falls like a meteor, the shuttle makes one more pass for anyone jumping before trying to land, picking out a small ridge near the hand ship, it tries to take out most of the defenses on the ridge as it lands but the resistance is fairly stiff as one of the thrusters burns out violently from a hit by the defense weapons.     It seems if Garnet's plan is successful, of using her giant fist to make a equally new big hole in the hand ship, that Peridot's recent structural repairs might all be for naught... 

:'''{{#var:870|Pearl (870)}} has posed:'''     "You make it sound so easy Garnet! Peridot's got the Kindergarten defenses up and running again and that Warship of their's is..." Pearl is cut off by the sound of incomming fire and grips her seat until the shaking stops, "Well, it can do that." She finishes with a nervous grin.     Pearl stands up as the boarding ramp opens up and Garnet just.. jumps out! Her eyes go wide and she looks momentarily irritated, then decides she's not going to be outdone. She teeters on the edge of the ramp for a moment, then jumps out herself, using the Injector drill they just passed as a pole that she can gracefully spiral down to the ground on. 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     Blurr is at the ship's controls, since he's likely to be the one most familiar with the vessel. As soon as their position is revealed and Kindergaten starts firing, the Autobot ship begins firing right back. Keeping track of Garnet's trajectory, he takes aim with the craft's forward weapons, pointing it at a spot in the Homeworld warship's hull that, according to scans, has already been weakened by the initial attack.     "Rerouting power to forward weapons array--going to make you a way in. Aim for the maintence shaft near the rear stabilizers." He comms over to Garnet as she free-falls toward the enemy vessel. As soon as the guns are fully charged, he fires a surgical strike--that plus Garnet's blunt force trauma will hopefully be enough to punch a hole clean through the warship's hull. 

:'''{{#var:20|Toph Beifong (20)}} has posed:'''     Flying is something that isn't very fun for some people. But sometimes there are some things that are more important than avoiding discomfort. And this is one of those things. Even so, the girl sitting next to Pearl looks only half queasy. The rest is all stubborn determination.     While Garnet leaps from the shuttle first and drops down to smash up the gem war ship, as Pearl follows suit, a smaller figure follows, standing on the edge of the ramp...     The five foot tall figure might not appear too imposing, but the very demeanor as the blind girl is much larger where she stands, her unseeing eyes set forward even as she senses a large amount of metal underneath the shuttle. Her expression is stern as she stands there, her hands balled up into fists as she takes a deep breath and waits for the shuttle to get closer enough for it to be safe for a human to jump down. She is just a human girl, after all.     Although, a rather angry and loud little human girl.     "PERIDOOOOOOT!"     The cry echoes slightly, though the noise of the shuttle and the defenses might drown some of it out as Toph Beifong leaps from the ramp down to the gem warship below, crashing into the hull of the ship and severely bulking it in the process. As she rises from her crouch, Toph narrows her eyes, then follows Garnet through the hole she already made. No, the gems had no problems getting some backup for this mission it seems. 

:'''{{#var:836|Peridot (836)}} has posed:'''     "Good." Peridot answers without turning. "I have a new set of locations we need to scout out immediately. I may have discovered an ancient gem battle sight. If such is the case, we may be able to gather a cache of ancient weaponry for our purposes. Ferham, that's what you will be doing." She creates her holo-pad and began tapping away at it. Primarily documenting what order she was assigning to who.     As far as Peridot was concerned. Once she reconnected with Homeworld, her logs were going to be read by the highest authority. So she had to be studious.     "Jasper. You on the other hand... we have a pressing task we must attend to regarding the fusion experiments under kindergarten. I'm shifting this to a priority one status I grow more and more antsy with regards to the cluster and I have deduced a few methods with which it's location... it's very existance can be confirmed." She holds up her arm, showing Jasper a few holes in her limb enhancers. "My equipment was damaged recently, and I've yet to be able to fully repair it. Therefore I will be high al-"     BWEEEEEP. BWEEEEEP. BWEEEEEP.     "Alert?..." Peridot paused. "Alert! The ringing is alarmed! I mean, the alarm is ringing!" She jolted up right and rapidly tapped several buttons. "Intruders!"     The screen filled with images of the approaching vehicle from various security cameras in kindergarten. The most pressing of which appeared to be an interal Warship security cam. It showed the new breach, and Garnet Pearl Blurr and Toph standing in it, backlit by sunlight. "The fusion. The Crystal Gems! They're making a move!" She growls and slams her fist into the console. "No! I had just got everything nearly back up to 100%!"     She squinted as her name was shouted. She looked to her two bodyguards. Four combatants against their three. They had the homefield advantage. "You two. Go destroy them." She instructed. "I will remain here. Monitor security feeds. I will provide support with robonoids.. and a few other surprises. Keep your comms on so I can keep you updated."     "Ferham, try and direct some of them to the prison bay." Several holo-screens, generated by the ship begin rapidly appearing in front of her face. "Do not let them reach me. Without me, this whole operation goes up in smoke."     "Now go!" She points. 

:'''{{#var:516|Ferham (516)}} has posed:'''      "Gathering weapons...?" Ferham intones idly after she is given her order, she nods slowly afterwards, though. Gotta break a few eggs to make an ommelette it appears, or geode, in this case. "Oh shit," Ferham blinked as she heard the alarm, retrieving her whip handle from behind her. "I think Toph wants her things back," Ferham muttered mainly to herself--Jasper wouldn't know what they mean, exactly. "Well, I'll go and try to direct some of them nearer to the brig and away from the bridge, then, wish me luck," she stepped away quickly, getting into position. 

:'''{{#var:858|Jasper (858)}} has posed:'''      "Understood," Jasper growls, and the grin on her face makes it quite clear that she's not as worried about this attack as Peridot is. "I'll throw them off this ship in shards and pieces," Jasper declares, already marching from the bridge. She doesn't head right for the breach in the hull - no, Jasper makes a quick detour to the ship's armory to collect something, a special surprise for the intruders.      She makes for the Union members then, and steps out of a corridor, announcing her presence with a resounding metallic /clang/. Jasper slams the head of a titanic war axe, big enough to be scaled for her rather imposing size, against the deck of the ship. "Back for another round, fusion?" Jasper sneers, "And you brought some friends with you? That one there, in the green - she's so small! And the Pearl, too! This is absurd!"      Balancing it there with one hand, she reaches up to unclasp her cape - and rather dramatically toss it to one side.      "I'll be merciful. Last chance to leave, before I send you back in pieces. All of you." 

:'''{{#var:869|Garnet (869)}} has posed:'''     The Warship's hull was tough, that was for certain. Even with the shuttle's extra firepower hitting and weakening it, before the skin cracks Garnet's left gauntlet begins to shatter as at first spider web cracks form and then expand chunks of the gauntlet breaking off before it completely gives in as the hull buckles below her. Garnet grits her teeth having broken a knuckle in the exchange. She resummons another gauntlet while she scans around the room she landed in.     Coming out of what was once a storage room, Garnet looks around and speeds down some hallways with alarming percision for getting to the bridge. However, they are stopped along the way as suddenly a wild Jasper appeared! "You know it." Garnet responds the the large Gem warrior, "They aren't your concern,..." She pauses and calls over her shoulder, "Continue with the plan! The Bridge is that way!" She points deeper into the ship.     Garnet shakes her head, "No deal, Jasper." She then points at Jasper's axe, "Lets start the grinding!" Wait is she speaking metaphorically or literally? Either way Garnet rushes forward with that awesome speed of hers very intent on sliding inside the cutting arc of the axe and slamming her fist into Jasper's large chin! 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     When Blurr hears Toph's shouts and is reminded of her presence, he smirks to himself. Oh, she'll be perfect for putting Peridot in her place, what with her awesome ability to control metal! Heh. Once the opening has been made, the Autobot sets the navigational controls and weapons array to auto-pilot and exits the ship himself, jumping out after Garnet. He lands near the aft of the gem warship, scanning the inside for a brief moment, potentially searching for another hub like the one he'd seen on Peridot's pod. Perhaps he could seize control of this thing--likely not as easily or completely as he could have done with the smaller ship, but maybe it's possible. Or at the very least grab control of -certain- doors while strategically wrecking -other- systems. Like the ones that control the robonoids, for instance.     But in the meantime, there's Jasper and Ferham to deal with. << Toph, head straight for Peridot if you can! She's very dependent on her tech. If you didn't already know that. Pearl back her up. Sound like a plan, Garnet? >>     As he speaks, he's blasting at the hull of the ship until a piece large enough breaks off. It probably takes a while, which probably makes him annoyed and impatient, but it finally gives. He grabs an attacking robonoid and smashes it against the wall inside. "Ah slaggit, there's gonna be a lot more where that one came from aren't there?" he mutters to himself. 

:'''{{#var:870|Pearl (870)}} has posed:'''     Pearl uses the momentum she built up spiraling down the Injector to leap off and land near the hole Garnet made. By the time the dust's cleared Toph has presumably joined her as she descends inside the warship. "That's more planning than we usually do!" She replies to Blurr in a tone that suggests she's good with it.     Once inside she takes the opportunity to slip past Jasper while she's fighting Garnet and start clear a path toward Peridot's control Center for Toph, throwing Spears and energy blasts at any automated defenses. Soon enough this puts her face to face with Ferham.     "Oh hello there!" She says in a perplexed tone, not having expected to see a non-Gem here, "We're just stopping by to pick up a few things we misplaced! We'll just be in and out, no trouble at all!" She offers in a hopeful tone, However she's in a defensive stance with her spear pointed at the strange woman. 

:'''{{#var:20|Toph Beifong (20)}} has posed:'''     This ship is kinda weird with its layout, Toph notes. Yet she tenses when she feels somebody approach. Somebody big. "Somebody's coming," she points out, though the others might hear it well enough. Jasper's arrival doesn't seem to worry the young earthbender much, nor does she turn towards her. "Who the crud is /that/?" she asks Garnet, since it seems that this big lady has a thing for her. When her own size is commented on she only huffs, arching an eyebrow. "I'm travel sized unlike you," she snarks. When Garnet makes it clear that she's going to handle the big gem, Toph nods and turns to another wall as she reaches a hand up to rub at her chin. "Hmmm. This way might be a bit quicker..." Then Toph reaches out and punches Garnet in the thigh, unable to reach up to her arm. "Kick her big, fat ass. Cloderella is mine. Ready Pearl?"     With that said and done, Toph follows the gem and heads through the hallways, doing her best to aid Pearl with her metalbending as they advance. Yet when they run into Ferham, Toph can't help but frown. Unlike Pearl she isn't perplexed. Rather, she looks a bit grumpy as she places her hands on her hips. "We're here for Peridot. Don't get in our way." That said and done, Toph cracks her knuckles. "MOVE." 

:'''{{#var:836|Peridot (836)}} has posed:'''     "Hrgn.." Peridot grumbles as the surveilance feeds the audio and visual to her command center. "Mobilizing turret robonoids." She says out loud. "Transmitting emergency frequencies to Confederate allies."     Peridot looked at the far wall uneasily. She had multiple options ahead of her. None were optimized exactly for a full on invasion of her warship. Though they could achieve varying degrees of success in their own rights. She pushed it to the back of her head. Last resorts.     <<"Ferham is engaging The Pearl and Dirt Wizard. Jasper engages the fusion.">> She called out over the channel. <<"Sealing doors on deck A. The bridge will be inaccessible.">> Her fingers danced over the holopads. <<"Prison Block doors unsealed.">>     At this point the number of robonoids started increasing. Small orbs with laser turrets mounted on their back. They focused on the higher number of combatants. Spraying the area around Pearl, Toph and Blurr. 

:'''{{#var:516|Ferham (516)}} has posed:'''      Pearl is indeed brought face to face with Ferham as they're fighting through the defenses and making their way inside, coming in through the hole that Garnet had punched right through the hull.      "Afraid I can't do that," Ferham cracked her whip against the floor, and stood tall, with no real motion of moving out of the way. Peering over at Toph, she raises her brows. "You know, if you just wanted your things back you could have just called..." she says, as if this really wasn't necessary, but she wasn't going to budge even still.      To the corridor directly behind her, Ferham erects a large spire of ice by blasting it with a finger--creating an obstruction in the way that the invaders would need to deal with first--or deal with Ferham. Ruh roh raggy. 

:'''{{#var:858|Jasper (858)}} has posed:'''      Jasper grins as Garnet charges her, even as she wants to go after the fusion's companions. So, first the fusion, then her friends! Jasper sits back, bringing her axe back. Garnet's too fast, though, and she's already inside the distance which Jasper could swing.      Garnet's gauntlet slams into Jasper's chin, jerking her jaw back, and sending her crashing into the wall. Jasper snarls and, when she sets eyes on Garnet again, it's an expression that the fusion Gem might remember from before - a wide grin of pure bloodlust. In response to the feeling of imminent conflict, Jasper's great helmet bursts into life atop her head.      Jasper charges, fangs bared. She lashes out with one fist, holding that gargantuan axe in one hand, aiming to slam Garnet back - so she can get her at just the right distance to catch her with the blade of her axe in a one-two attack! 

:'''{{#var:869|Garnet (869)}} has posed:'''     "Her? She's Jasper and nothing to worry about." Garnet assures Toph, she grins as she is 'encouraged' to beat up Jasper, "Will do." Then she gives a small wave to the blind Earthbender and Pearl as they head off before launching her attack on the giant gem. As Jasper's head pops back with a satisfying crack Garnet isn't surprised as the other Gem gives her that battle crazed smile of hers.     Then Jasper charges and the Crystal Gem is slammed backwards, luckily the warrior Gem was too eager slightly misjudging the force of the charge sending Garnet flying back, the axe does bite into Garnet's arm as she whizzes by but likely not as much as Jasper would've prefered. Instead the Homeworlder will have to be satisfied with leaving a Garnet shaped imprint in the wall behind her.     Digging herself out of her body shaped crater in the wall, a little bruised and dirtied up, Garnet responds by seemingly doing the same exact move she started the fight with but instead of going for another shot to the chin she drops down into a slide in an attempt to take Jasper off her feet or at least off balance with that oversized gem chopper of hers! 

:'''{{#var:870|Pearl (870)}} has posed:'''     Pearl lets out a frustrated grunt as the ice spire forms in their path. "Can't we ever just do this the easy way!?" She sighs, then starts firing energy blasts at the base of the spire, hoping to get it to crack and fall over. If a few stray shots happen to hit Ferham, so much the better! She's noticed by this point that Ferham's trying to herd them toward the Brig.     "Toph, we're *not* going the way she wants us to!" She insists as she stamps a foot, but she does glance down that way curiously, "Steven! Are you in there!?" She calls out. As much as she hopes she might get a reply, it would definately make this mission a lot more complicated. 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     Well Blurr hadn't been wrong about those robonoids. He tears through them left and right, smashing some into walls and into themselves, while blasting others to bits. But there are just so many of them! Gah! He searches for a terminal or computer, anything he can interface with using the old holomatter trick.     There's a chance Peridot has a nasty surprise waiting for him, yes...since she no doubt knows what he can do now, and has expected he'll try it again, but it's worth it. Certainly Peridot will have sealed herself away, so if he can get those doors open when Toph and Pearl come through that would speed things along. Plus, these robonoids aren't helping the situation, either! 

:'''{{#var:20|Toph Beifong (20)}} has posed:'''     A deadpan look settles on Toph's face when Ferham offers a suggestion. "Yeah, right. Because Peridot would totally have given my stuff back after stealing it and being totally clueless about how things really work," she delivers with sarcasm dripping off of her words. Her right hand raises in Ferham's direction. But rather than focusing on Ferham herself, Toph reaches out, using her metalbending on Ferham's armour, willing it to move...     "Of course we're not going that way" she calls, and rather than going down the corridor behind Ferham, the blind girl hurries on over to a wall, digging her fingers into the metal, and a creak of protest fills the room as Toph tears open the wall and begins heading straight towards the bridge. Sure, she can feel some reinforced areas up ahead, but that seems to only focus on the doors... "Peridot is this way!" she calls and heads on ahead, using part of the wall to form herself some metal armour, her footsteps becoming far heavier. "Watch my back as I get us through here!" she calls to Pearl as she tears another wall open. 

:'''{{#var:858|Jasper (858)}} has posed:'''      As Garnet slides towards her, Jasper brings her axe down in a mighty two-handed cleave - all she ends up doing is splitting the plating in front of her in two, because Garnet has just taken out her legs. Jasper manages to turn the fall into something of a roll, but she did have to leave her axe embedded in the deck of the warship. Her eyes flit to the axe - no, it's too far to easily grab.      Jasper balls her hands into fists, then makes a show of cracking her knuckles. "Buying time?" Jasper asks, voice harsh. "I've been teaching the red one - Ferham - how to fight Gems. You think you're winning here? You think you're distracting /me/?! Oh, no, fusion - the only one being distracted here is /you/!"      It's an unusual tactic for Jasper, but psychological warfare is warfare and it's a strategy she can wield just as deftly as that axe. That is, without any sort of subtlety. The light catches the visor of her helmet as Jasper tilts her head back, looking down her nose at Garnet. "The Pearl first, then the human child. The longer you stay here, the less you can do to protect them. Does it hurt, fusion? Are you going to rip yourselves apart?"      Letting Garnet wrestle with those questions, Jasper charges again. She brings her right arm back, a corona of golden energy building around her fist, as she goes to crash her fist down on Garnet from above, driving her into the deck! 

:'''{{#var:836|Peridot (836)}} has posed:'''     Toph manages to make some head way through the internal structure of the Gem Warship. However when she reaches the wall that connects to a separate room her progress slows significantly. It was metal, but it was made of sturdier stuff than the infrastructure she had been working through previously. It was a warship, after all.     After some effort she learns she can manipulate it. However, it was going to take time to break through completely. If she went uninterrupted, she could possibly get through quickly.     Meanwhile Peridot watches through the monitors. She rubs her chin. Of course. The Steven! With Pearl keeping Ferham busy, the Toph would be able to concentrate. If Ferham could be freed up to focus on Toph, that would greatly hinder their plans and buy them the time they needed. But Pearl wouldn't leave Toph... unless... Perhaps there was a weakness she could exploit.     <<"Ferham. Focus on Dirt Wizard. She's the most equipped to get past the blast wall. Don't worry about the Jailblock. Return to the eartbender. All Robonoids, focus fire on Blurr!">> She likewise put in the instructions. The concentrated fire of the robonoids made the task of searching for panels, or even dealing with Ferham a monumental task for Blurr! It seemed he would need to thin their numbers in order to free himself.     Peridot's face appears on a holo monitor on the wall next to Toph and Pearl. Her expression arrogant. "Nyeh heh heh.... trying to come to the bridge? You should have had time to confirm with your union allies. That we, without a doubt have the Steven." Peridot grins, leaning into towards the camera. "He's in the jail block, just waiting for you! What's more important? Assassinating me? Or getting your precious Quartz mutant hybrid back? You have a shot at one!"     Uh-oh! It looked like an important decision fell upon Pearl. Support Toph, or go look for Steven? Supporting Toph would accelerate their efforts, but can she really ignore her previous Steven? 

:'''{{#var:516|Ferham (516)}} has posed:'''      "Well actually yes, all she wanted was the corrupted geee--" Ferham's voice is cut off in mid-sentence as her eyes go wide and her lips draw back into a surprised cringe--the sort you make when you realize someone just put a bug down your shirt, or something. However instead of suddenly doing a furious grasping about for said bug, something different happens.      Ferham begins to dance.      "Aieeee! I can't stop iiiit!" Ferham is getting up close and personal with Toph's metal bending powers, as the very armor encasing her body is manipulated to begin a rather over the top version of the can-can.      "Hey--stop, come back heeere!" Ferham sounds quite alarmed however, as her arms are contorted up and into the air and she begins to balance herself on one boot, the other knee raised high before being allowed to drop and then kick out high--proceeding like this as she's dancing right around the gem invaders and the metal bender.      "Damnit--Toph, stop what you're doing--this is cruelty against robots!" 

:'''{{#var:870|Pearl (870)}} has posed:'''     "Oooh!" Pearl intones as she watches Toph just make her own path through the walls. "She's a robot!?" She gasps in surprise when Ferham starts to dance. This is humor even Pearl can get, but they're in a serious situation here so she just cracks a smile.     She gives the Earthbender a quick nod at the request to watch her back, then stops trying to break the ice and just hurls her spear at the tubing above Ferham's head. cracking it open and spilling the fluid all over the Reploid. What is that stuff anyway? Does it power the ship? Is it Gem incubating goop? Ick! There's chunky bits in there too. Whatever it is it should at least distract her so Toph can focus fully on bending the walls out of the way.      <<"We have to finish the primary objective first. We're almost to Peridot and the robot girl is delt with for now. We may have time to check the cell block on the way out.">> Pearl transmits to her allies. She sounds dejected, but something in her is saying Steven isn't really here. He would have said *something* when she called out to him, right? 

:'''{{#var:20|Toph Beifong (20)}} has posed:'''     "I was only bending her armour!" Toph responds to Pearl, "But yeah, she's a robot! I can sense earth and its many forms around me!" They better be quick though, because this didn't buy them many seconds!     Some walls are easier to get through than others, though it doesn't last. Annoyance crosses Toph's face when she reaches one of the walls near the bridge, and she slams her palms against the wall as she closes her eyes, concentrating. Find the remnants of earth in this wall... it's easier said than done when it's a new material, however. But it's not impossible, it will just take some time. Again and again Toph slams her palms against the wall. "You're not going to stand against /me/...!" Toph grunts in defiance.     Even as Peridot's voice can be heard nearby, the earthbender frowns and narrows her eyes. It's impossible to tell with everything that's in the ship here, and... she can't hear anything in Peridot's voice. They aren't human after all, and gem physiology is vastly different. Which means... there's no way of telling whether the Homeworld gem is lying or not. "Pearl, I can make it through the wall!" she urges. "Just... give me a little more time!" If they get Peridot, then they can get to the jail block too, right?     When Pearl confirms that they should keep on track with their current objective though, Toph grits her teeth and focuses, trusting Pearl to watch her back as she slowly but surely digs her fingers into the wall and works on tearing it apart, ever so slowly. 

:'''{{#var:869|Garnet (869)}} has posed:'''     The axe comes down just where her head had been a fraction of a second ago with a resounding *clang* as it bites deep into the deckplate, a part of Garnet notes how close that had been but another part shrugs it off as necessary when fighting to take risks. Meanwhile Jasper rolls away no longer wielding the axe. The visored Gem does her own roll and slides to a stop on the balls of her feet on hand outstretched giving her the look of a runner about to spring forward at the beginning of a race.     As Jasper's words hit her though it's hard to tell what her reaction is as she keeps that infuriating neutral look on her features. The moments stand on end as Garnet sits in silence, is she thinking it over, is there internal conflict? Damn those glasses and concealing her eyes!!!! They make it nearly impossible to tell what's going on in her head.     Then Jasper charges, arm reared back ready to slam into Garnet with all the strength her powerful Gem body can muster. This is when Garnet looks up at Jasper with that radiant smile that says she is neither afraid nor upset about this, it is a smile of utter confidence, "My friends will be fine, can you say the same?"     Crack! The fist comes down and slams with a resounding thud into Garnet's waiting gauntleted fist. She keeps that smile locked on her face as the pain screams through her, that was the fist that had the broken knuckle and that hit would've buckled the hull on its own.     Garnet uses this moment to shift her weight and the immense strength in her legs to try and drive Jasper not into the nearest wall but through it, the one behind it, and the one behind that...she did say wreck the ship as much as possible while they were here after all! 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     << Ugh, don't listen to her Pearl, she's probably just bluffing in an attempt to distract you. Stay focused on the mission! >> Blurr isn't really sure if that's true or not, but right now they had a mission to get accomplished. If they did have Steven, at least Peridot was a good bargaining chip.     As for finding a terminal or hub, there are just too many robonoids to deal with right now. Okay fine. Time for Plan B. No time for hacking, so he'll just have to resort to more -physical- methods. He transforms, his body folding down into his vehicle form and he speeds through the path Toph has created through the ship, just barely fitting through it in his more compact form and probably making the holes just a little -bigger- in the process. He aims to smash right into the wall Toph is working on, hoping to aid her in her efforts. It'll hurt, but hopefully the wall will be hurting -more- in the end.     Yes, -this- time smashing IS appropriate (unlike last time).     Blurr mostly ignores the robonoids even as they swarm after him, depending on his speed to literally outpace them. He can't get as much momentum in such a cramped space as he typically would, but he certainly is a hulking mass in comparison to most everything on this ship built for human-sized creatures. 

:'''{{#var:836|Peridot (836)}} has posed:'''     "Hey! Don't ignore me!" Peridot grit her teeth then cut the feed for a moment. The Pearl wasn't biting! She looks off to a side panel and began typing away. Time to up her game. Time to prove that Yellow Diamonds faith in her was well placed! "Come on... come on..." She murmured as a bead of sweat broke out on her forehead. "Security footage.. Security footage...."     "Don't believe me?" Her disembodied voice sprang out over the intercom. "Behold! A live feed!" The image cuts back in. This time, however it's.. footage. Footage of Steven sitting in a jail cell on the warship. Despite the chaotic atmosphere, Steven appeared to be calm. He was playing video games, and eating cookie cats. Surrounded by a mountain of toys and junk food. But, it was most certainly within the gem warship and a cell. Pearl could even see the yellow barrier door. Peridot locked the Jail block quadrant blast doors down. She would wait, to decide when to re-open them. "Confederate allies are en route to squash you clods! You don't have time for anything else!"     Meanwhile, Peridot sat on the bridge biting her lower lip. Playing old security footage into the feed. Of course, the Pearl couldn't possibly know that this footage was practically a month old. Peridot grimaced at Stevens lackadaisical attitude, but she didn't have time to grab a more convincing scene. She had to pick a random time during a period she knew they had Steven, and then act.     <<"Ferham! They are breaking through!">> 

:'''{{#var:858|Jasper (858)}} has posed:'''      As Garnet intercepts Jasper's fist, meeting her knuckles with the palm of her gauntlet, Jasper doesn't relent. The muscles along her arm bulge, the lines of her neck standing out sharply, teeth gritted. Jasper shifts her feet, just to gain that little bit of extra advantage...      But they're at an impasse.      Garnet is still strong enough to heft her up, though, despite the size disparity, and slam her against the wall. It buckles after a moment, and Jasper snarls as she's shoved through one bulkhead, and then another, then a third. It takes even one more after that until Jasper can recover from the repeated blows and swing herself up, still bound to Garnet by the fist in her gauntlet, and plant her feet against the surface behind her. This time, when Garnet pushes, the bulkhead crumples around Jasper's feet - but it doesn't break.      "I'm not that weak to need anyone else!" Jasper gloats, and a golden aura flares to life around her. "You're all so disgustingly codependent!" She's scuffed in places, her white hair matted and out of order (more than usual, that is), her visor cracked - but she's still more than ready to continue the fight.      The aura flares into a golden conflageration and Jasper's form gives way into something like a whirling buzzsaw of light and fury and Jasper aims to bodyslam Garnet all the way back through the walls she had just been shoved through! 

:'''{{#var:516|Ferham (516)}} has posed:'''      Ferham may not be able to control where her arms and legs are being directed by Toph's powerful metalbending, but the rest of her is quite normal--one green eye trained on Pearl as she watched that spear of hers sail up and over her head.      "Ahhh!" she might have expected it to have been aimed for her, but when one of the transparent tubes along the ceiling is broken open, Ferham finds herself showered in a viscous torrent of that mountain dew-colored liquid. Of course, while the force being levied against her was ebbing as Toph moved away, Ferham was still hopping about and kicking into the air when this happened, ultimately toppling right over as those high heeled boots of hers are now going straight up as she lands on her back with an 'OOF'.      "Ow... good thing I was made with padding back there," Ferham winced, a hand at her temple as she realizes that Toph and her metal-sorcery is now gone--and so is Pearl. "Shit, shit!" she pulls herself back up and begins moving quickly toward where they were breaking through the walls toward Peridot, her whip crackling with electromagnetic energy. 

:'''{{#var:870|Pearl (870)}} has posed:'''     "I've *been* in these cells Peridot! I know they're not sound proof! Steven wouldn't sit around playing video games with alarms and fighting going on all over the ship! Prove to me you've got an *actual* live feed before we come in there and poof you!" She sounds like she's hoping there actually is one, despite being unconvinced.     Darn, Ferham's back on her feet already! Pearl pulls another spear from her Gem, and another! With one in each hand she's ready to face Ferham directly. One to deflect with that whip of hers and one to stab at whatever looks breakable. "You should really go wash that stuff off dear. It corodes metal you know!" She smirks. Okay so she's not up on current Gem tech, but it could happen right? She stands ready to fend her off while Toph finishes breaking through. 

:'''{{#var:869|Garnet (869)}} has posed:'''     Garnet only transmits the sounds of grunts and fighting in response to the radio chatter, Jasper is too tough of an opponent to let much of her focus fall on anything else save fighting least she give Jasper a big opening that'll end the fight now!! The pain in her hand is immense as she just barely holds onto the fist long enough to pick up Jasper and drive her through wall after all.     Unforunately that doesn't phase the big Gem woman, Garnet has no time to dodge as she is act first knocked away and immediately attacked by a powerful spin dash attack. Garnet does her best to mitigate it though! Grabbing the Gem by her ram helmet and riding the bull by its horns as shes slammed through walls either making new holes or widening the ones she made with Jasper just seconds ago!.     Garnet slams into a wall with both hands holding the helmet's ram. The Crystal Gem leader is looking worse for wear, her back, arms, and legs scratched up, her outfit gashed up here and there, a fun chunks missing from her fro, and a triagular sliver has been torn free of her visor revealing a blue iris focused intensely on Jasper.     "Having friends and loved ones isn't weakness!" Garnet says forcefully. She removes one hand from the ram and tries to put it on Jasper's collar bone just below her chin. Then she does something Jasper might never expect...there is a violent intake of air and then the whoosing sound of a rocket as the hand now aimed at Jasper's neck launches off Garnet's arm and tries to send the big Gem through yet more walls via rocket fist this time! 

:'''{{#var:20|Toph Beifong (20)}} has posed:'''     Ever so slowly Toph feels the earth in the wall obeying her will. Whatever the gems made this of, it's extremely sturdy! It almost reminds her of durasteel... but it's new and different. Even if she knows most types of metal well by now, it's still a learning process. Luckily she is so goddamn stubborn.     But still, she needs time, and when she hears Peridot claim she has live feed, she can't help but worry. Will Pearl run off to find Steven, or...? Right now Toph doesn't even speak, she makes a desperate sound at the back of her throat. Come on, wall. BEND FASTER!     But it seems like it was just another lie as Pearl points out why it's not a live feed she's being shown, smart out enough to see through the ruse. And with her providing defense, Toph is allowed to focus on the last part of getting through the wall, and with a roar that echoes throughout her makeshift metallic armour, Toph gives in one final burst of power, breaking through the wall.     The metal wrapped girl steps into the bridge, immediately turned towards Peridot. Sure, the gem might not see the scowl there, but there should be no doubt just what kind of mood Toph is in from the tone of her voice.     "Give me back my glove, you cruddy thief!" she roars, then rushes forward with the intent of punching Peridot right in the face. 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     The wall gives finally gives way to the intruders as Blurr rams it and Toph bends it into submission. He chuckles to himself as he watches Toph lunge at Peridot, deciding for the moment to let the girl handle this situation herself. She's the best equipped for it, after all.     Instead, he turns toward the rear and aims a few shots at Ferham, hoping to support Pearl's efforts. "Give it up, Peridot! Can't win -all- the time, now can you? So why don't you just make this easier on yourself and surrender now. Or, you know, Toph could just beat you into submission." 

:'''{{#var:836|Peridot (836)}} has posed:'''     <<"Jasper! Jasper! Return to the command bridge! They've breached the blast wall!">> Peridot calls out over the radio. <<"Help me!">>     As Toph breaks through the wall, her fist slams into Peridot! However instead of creating a satisfying poof, cracking bone, or bloody smack. The Peridot image distorts, and reforms. It's then that Toph realizes there are several Peridot's int he room. All of them standing there with their arms crossed. Oddly enough, all of them have a small amount of weight to them as well. But none of them were moving. A closer inspection would reveal them for the fake light projections they were. Not full on holo-mass duplicates that could act and think, the likes of which Pearl can do. But, the same principle. These simply stood there.     Meanwhile,second prior to Toph's entry. the real Peridot was hiding out of sight under her command console, typing away frantically. She was heavier than the projections. "T-this is Peridot log date.. 7114..."     "Crystal Clods have broken into our warship. Mission prime is in danger. If you are reading this Yellow Diamond...-- I did my best. I did my best with what I had to work with... Assassins are circling me from all sides. I.. I will go out befitting someone of my class. Fighting. Peridot. Eng log."     She then leapt out onto the top of her desk. Both of her arms forming blasters. Expecting the recoil this time. She began firing wildly with both fist. Charged blasters bolts raining down towards Toph! Peridot was a cornered animal, but even someone like her had some ferocity when she had no other option. She had set her last trap. A distract, and blast!     "Die die die die die die!" 

:'''{{#var:516|Ferham (516)}} has posed:'''      The stuff that had covered Ferham didn't feel corrosive, though viscous it likely was. "I thought you were going to kill me back there, why didn't you?" Ferham cracked her whip, still dripping with that goo, though she also was sure to get an answer out of Pearl, who was now blocking her path. "You almost put one of those things through my head," she narrowed her eyes at the crystal gem, slowly sizing her up and ready to react if there was a sudden thrust of that spear.      However, when Blurr takes a few shots at her, Fer is fast to react--who knows if that stuff she'd been covered in and was leading a trail of was flammable? Her wings are tucked in as she now has to struggle to avoid both Blurr and Pearl--trying to dodge fire from the transformer. 

:'''{{#var:858|Jasper (858)}} has posed:'''      "Says you!" Jasper retorts, glowering a hungry grin in Garnet's direction. She rolls her neck from side to side, and goes to grab Garnet in her grip. However, her masterful 'bull riding' technique seems to have given Garnet the initiative! Jasper only has a moment to glimpse that rocket fist comes roaring in at her - Jasper's eyes go wide.      "What-!"      The fist sends Jasper smashing through walls and she finally arrests her journey by literally ripping up the panels of the decking in her grip as she slides across them. She picks herself up, staring daggers at Garnet through her white fringe.      She takes one step, then another, and just as she begins to charge, Jasper /pauses/. "What?! How?!" Jasper snaps, taking one last look at Garnet, before she erupts in that golden blast of light and fury again - aiming to head right for the command bridge by the most direct route possible, through walls and decking and anything in between! 

:'''{{#var:870|Pearl (870)}} has posed:'''     Pearl never intended to kill Ferham of course, but she's not above putting a spear into the Reploid's kneecap when she sees the opening Blurr gave her. "Rose cherished all life, in all it's forms, and so do I. That's why I'm a crystal gem!" She explains even as she's stabbing her opponent. At least she sounds apologetic about it. The spear in her left hand is still ready to counter the whip should it come near her.     "We've won. We only want Peridot and the Gem she took from us. Surrender now and make it easier for everyone." She says insistently, then calls back to Toph without taking her eyes off Ferham, "How are we doing back there?" 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     When Peridot starts firing madly, Blurr immediately takes his attention off of Ferham and turns around, standing back up into his biped form to face their target. "Fine, you want the hard way, we'll do it the hard way. Suit yourself! But don't tell me I didn't give you a chance to take the expressway." He's confused by the images for a moment, but her subsequent attacks kind of make it obvious which one is the real her so that doesn't last very long.     The Autobot pulls a weapon from subspace and levels it at Peridot, not hesitating to pull the trigger. A blast of high-voltage electricity issues from the barrel and lances across the room almost just like a laser--it's designed to immobilize and incapacitate, but who knows what it will do to a gem? 

:'''{{#var:20|Toph Beifong (20)}} has posed:'''     Surprise crosses Toph's face when her metal covered fist goes through the projection, and she lets out a confused sound at first. What the crud...?!     Then she realizes there are more of her form around the room, but they are all so light... except one of them. But Toph can't make it over there before Peridot leaps onto her desk and fires! In response Toph raises her arms to block the shots, though the force of the blasts pushes the usually steady earthbender back, the metal scraping against the floor. "OH, SHUT UP ALREADY!" Toph yells, then raises her foot, kicking her heel down into the floor. The floor underneath Peridot's desk moves upwards in a metallic pillar, threatening to throw Peridot up against the ceiling.     She hears Pearl in the adjacent room, and she calls back. "She's more stubborn than a gator mule!" Come on Peridot, give up already! 

:'''{{#var:869|Garnet (869)}} has posed:'''     Garnet only shakes her head in pity for the Homeworld warrior, "Yep." It seems that the Crystal Gem is basically saying I did say it and I'm right. She is gripped for a moment as she is roared at. Then Garnet gets to enjoy the brief but satisfying moment of Jasper's surprise as she is launched through more walls. Giving her a few moments to of relief to enjoy and gather her wits for the next round of fighting...she wished her left hand wasn't throbbing from the sheer agony it was in.     Her visible blue eye looked pained as it was hard to keep the damage she'd suffered from registering on her features anymore but she was doing her best to keep that neutral expression. Then Jasper started to charge her and stopped dead, to suddenly turn and start plowing through the walls and decks of her own accord.     Resummoning her missing hand and gauntlet, Garnet races after Jasper following closely behind the other's path of destruction towards the bridge. <<"You're out of time, get Peridot and get out! Jasper is on her way and I'm having trouble catching her!">> She radios her friends and allies that Jasper was on her way to them!     Speed was thankfully one of the many things she was graced with so while she was injured she could catch up with the frenzied Jasper as she closed in on the bridge, trying to grab at her heels and yank her back down into the depths of the ship to give everyone just a few more seconds to complete the mission! 

:'''{{#var:836|Peridot (836)}} has posed:'''     "Surrender? so you can shatter or harvest me? Haaaa!!" Peridot pants as she is rapidly raised towards the ceiling. Her laugh, more maniacal and afraid than pure arrogance. The last thing she wanted was to get her gem cracked or shattered straight away! She leaps off the pedestal before it hits the glass dome of the ship. Fortunate that the room they were in had very high ceilings. The glass however cracks.     Falling through the air, Peridot's fingers begin to twirl rapidly forming the helicopter. "AAHH!" She shouts, flying over Toph's head, and landing on the ground behind her. "Jaspeeeerr!!" She shouts down the hall. Knowing her strongest bodygaurd was just further down that way.     Of course, it's then that her path is directly blocked by Pearl. Now with Toph behind her. She was trapped between the two. In a panic, Peridot stops and turns, pointing her blaster at Toph, while turning her head to look at Pearl. She starts charging a shot. This one far more massive than the initial ones. Her expression a combination of fear and anger. "-DON'T-" She says in a panic. "Kindergarten can't function without me!" Perhaps she was stalling? If the charge got much larger it could do some real damage, even to the strongest of opponets! "Our species can't.. won't survive without me!" 

:'''{{#var:516|Ferham (516)}} has posed:'''      Ferham is glad her knees are sufficiently armored--Pearl's spear head likely sends a bit of sparks flying as it dings off her knee, before the Reploid spins around and tries to freeze said sphere to the ground by sending a cold ray from her hand directly against the floor and the spear itself. "I don't want to get shot, but I don't think the other's will surrender, so," she notices Blurr isn't paying attention to her now, however, and uses it to try and push past Pearl now that she's not got the cybertronian covering her. She seems to be heading to the bridge where Peridot was! 

:'''{{#var:870|Pearl (870)}} has posed:'''     Pearl looks surprised when her spear just glances off, "What in the Stars are you made of!?" She says in frustration, usually her spears go through stuff. She dashes after Ferham, at least this is getting her to the bridge, and Peridot! <<"Blurr, Garnet, anybody! I need someone to wrangle the robot girl! I've got to deal with Peridot *now*!">> She focuses on the annoying green Gem for a moment and then hurls her remaining spear at her. To a casual observer this might look like some kind of Hail Mary throw. But Pearl's all about precision! She's done the math and worked out the angles, If Peridot keeps moving the way she is her spear should hit square in the chest, and with a little luck, it just might poof her. 

:'''{{#var:858|Jasper (858)}} has posed:'''      Garnet's gauntlets grab Jasper by the heel, delaying her for a few moments. Jasper hits the deck, catching it right on the chin, and growls out something incoherent. She brings her legs and then kicks out like a bull, wild and angry. All she needs to do is just get a few more seconds to get clear of that damn fusion!      She picks herself up and tries to pull herself up through a hole in the ceiling, sparing one last look of hatred at Garnet as she goes! 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     Ugh! Peridot is like, almost as stubborn as Toph is! Or maybe even more so! Stubborn and -stupid-. "Don't be stupid, no one's going to shatter you." After all, she can't give them information if she's shattered. "Now just face the fact that you've -lost- this time around, and stop your useless struggling!"     He subspaces the weapon and exchanges it for arm-mounted ones that emerge from their compartments and resumes firing upon the green gem, hoping to finally knock Peridot down for the count. 

:'''{{#var:20|Toph Beifong (20)}} has posed:'''     So Peridot seriously thinks she will harm her? At that Toph snorts. "I'm not heartless, you dolt! I just want my glove and the corrupted gem back!" She huffs when when Peridot manages to avoid being knocked into the ceiling, and what... the... hell... is... she... doing?     The helicopter effect is partially missed by Toph, though the moment Peridot lands on the floor Toph is there, giving pursuit.     When the blaster is pointed at her, the blind girl stands still, though she can't help but grumble. "You really don't get it, do you...?" But Toph throws up her hand towards Ferham, doing her best to keep her still while Pearl hurls her spear at Peridot. 

:'''{{#var:836|Peridot (836)}} has posed:'''     She was a scientist. Not a fighter. That's what she had Jasper for. So she had resorted to the only weapon she had left. Her words. It was her last desperate attempt. She could convince them to call off the attack. Or buy time for her blaster to build up a charge. Something.     But, it was immediately clear her words fell on deaf ears. She wasn't surprised. They were rebel gems after all. Traitors to their species. "Are you even listening!?" What did they care about the fate of gem kind? What did surprise Peridot however was the large spear that now jutted out of her chest. It slid into her with a sickening thunk. Her eyes become pinpricks. Lines of pain form on her face, as she squints. "Ah..." The fight seems to drain out of her all at once. She doesn't immediately poof. She was fighting it. Driven by stubbornness.. perhaps fear. The blaster heat dissipates to nothing.. her blaster arm becomes a hand again and she looks down. Weakly wrapping her fingers around the spear hilt.     She coughed up a bit of bright green liquid. "It.. hurts.." Unlike the other gems. She'd never been poofed before. Never been mortally injured to the point where she couldn't maintain her body.     She looked back to Pearl with an accusing stare. "You..."     And then she fell to her knees. The moment upon impact she exploded in a green cloud of smoke. The green drippings from her wound evaporated into thin wisp at the exact same moment. There is a metal clattering as her limb enhancers were left behind. Boots, gauntlet and all ten fingers fall to the floor. In the midst of it's all, a small three-pointed green gem impacts on the ground before coming to a rest intact. Peridot had been successfully poofed. 

:'''{{#var:869|Garnet (869)}} has posed:'''     For her part Garnet is kicked in the head and shoulders a few times grubbling in annoyance with Jasper for also breaking the undamaged side of her visor now complete with shattered lens. The Homeworld Gem's hateful gaze is met with one of anger but Garnet weathers the blows rained on her to keep up her harrying of Jasper's attempts to make it to Peridot in time!     As Jasper clears the hole it's a couple seconds later before the Crystal Gem pops out of the hole herself in hot pursuit of her opponent. 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     "Finally!" Blurr exclaims as Peridot goes down. "Let's get out of here." It has been an exhausting day, even for the Blurr. There had been a -lot- of robonoids, and even though they're inferior to him in both size and construction, they still managed to put some cracks in his armor.     He activates his orbital jump recall to bounce back to his ship, and will beam the others, along with Peridot, back there as well, as soon as they are ready. 

:'''{{#var:870|Pearl (870)}} has posed:'''      Pearl finally arrives in the bridge to find a happy Toph, having recovered her bag, and what appear to be Peridot bits scattered on the floor. "What on earth...? These weren't actually part of her!?" She fishes through the artificial limbs and picks up a finger. Looking a little creeped out by it, she tosses it aside and finds what she's looking for: Peridot's Gem! She cups it in both hands and a moment later it's floating in the air in a pearl-colored bubble, which promptly vanishes back to the Temple.     <<"It's Done! We finally got that little... Dunderhead! Get us out of here, we've still got an angry Jasper and the robot girl after us!">> She wraps her arm around Toph and picks her spear up, ready to fend off anything that might make it inside before they can be beamed out. 

:'''{{#var:516|Ferham (516)}} has posed:'''      Reaching the bridge just after Pearl, Ferham is shocked to find that well, Peridot is now dust, apparently. She walks over to the scattered limbs and one of the arms clinks against her boot, she reaches down to pick it up, feeling something seem to snap as she shivers, deep in her chest--dropping the limb and now heading off into some deeper part of the ship, apparently away from the gems. Fer doesn't want to be there, anymore. 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     With a flash of blue light, the Crystal Gems and their allies are teleported off of the gem warship and back onto the Autobot vessel. Though damaged, it is still functional enough to fly back to friendly territor, trailing a bit of smoke. 

}}

3218/To Hunt a Spartan

2015-10-18T05:26:15Z

Zippy:

{{Log Header
|Date of Scene=2015/10/17
|Location=Void - Deeper Void (West)
|Synopsis=A distress signal claiming to be from a crashed UNSC vessel, the Loki, is detected in the Deeper Void, drawing Noble Six and any willing to assist her to the site of a ruined ship... and into the ruthlessly-efficant targeting matrix of HK-47.
|Thanks=HK-47 for running this and being a great sport!
|Cast of Characters=38, 189, 492, 632, 754
|Tinyplot=
|Tinyplot2=
|pretty=yes
}}
{{Poses
|Poses=:'''{{#var:754|HK-47 (754)}} has posed:'''      'Mayday! Mayday, mayday - this is the UNSC Loki. We've suffered a catastrophic malfunction in our central computer, and our navicomputer has plotted a course through the orbital pathway of a nearby planet! We're locked out of the system and can't correct the fault, and are on a direct collision course with an M-Class planet; collision with the planet is imminent! Escape pods are malfunctioning - cannot guarantee full evacuation of crew! Send assistance immediately! Repeat; send assistance immed-'      That was only transmission sent out from the vessel that had identified itself as the UNSC Loki. An errant distress call that originated from the outlying world of .     And upon the planet's surface, it becomes all too apparent that not only did the crew never manage to correct the malfunction, but that they had failed to launch even one escape pod... meaning all aboard could not escape the doomed vessel.     The area of the crash site is all but ruined, the only thing of note that are visible amid a formally-serene field of wheat-like plants now being the wrecked masses of platings and twisted structural supports that had once been a transport freighter. A massive trail was etched into the surface of the ground behind it - all the evidence of a crash-landing resultant from a sharp forward dive toward the planet. Shards of wreckage were strewn across the area, most of which was half-buried in the deep rut that had been carved into the earth like a scar, gouged out as the ship plummeted straight down and tore into the planet bow-first.      The ship's front is a crumpled mess, pushed inward like a smashed aluminum drink-canister and split open at the edges. The mid-section of the ship is partly damaged, a large swath of it having collapsed as what were once the forward decks were compressed and smashed backwards when it's bow was crushed upon impact. Only the engines seem relatively intact, though there is no sign of having been activated lately - no steam issuing out from the exhaust ports or any such indicators. The majority of it's hull is charred and blackened with parts of it having almost been slagged, hinting that the vessel had entered the atmosphere far too quickly to be safe.      Above all else, though, it is obvious this crash took place at least a few days prior - the ground, while still charred in places, is not overly hot as it should be from both the friction of the ship dragging along it and from the heat of atmospheric entry left by the ship itself. In spite of it's descent being rapid enough to start boiling segments of the hull away, the plates are now cooled off. Aside from a few persistent electrical fires, there is no trace of any lasting brushfires that the surrounding expanse of immolated earth suggest had happened.     All in all... it must have been at least two days since this ship crashed. And considering the damage and the lack of nearby food or water sources, the number of crew who survived to set up the distress beacon must be few, likely injured and slightly malnourished and dehydrated as it's unlikely many rations or supplies survived the vessel's impact.      All in all, a tragic event caused by unknown circumstances.     ... of course... that is only the story an outside observer would see. What one would actually find... paints a far more grim tale. 

:'''{{#var:38|Noble Six (38)}} has posed:'''     It being a UNSC ship that was in trouble, Noble Six had been dispatched by ONI to track and determine what had happened. The SPARTAN-III was at the controls of a Pelican dropship, along with any of the other Unionites that were going to tag along. Normally she would do something like this herself, but she has been doing her best to foster a better relationship between ONI and the Union, so bringing some others along to assist is probably for the best.     The planet where the ship went down is where the coordiates said it should be, and she brings the Pelican in through the atmosphere. Finding the crash site is not dificult, but she pulls the ship into a wide loop around it, scanning for anyone down near the crash before setting the vehicle down not far from it. At least it wasn't a drop pod insertion or anything too crazy. Once the ship had settled in, she got up from the pilot's seat and moved to the back, "Ships like the Loki don't have huge crews, most of the systems are automated. That's probably why it ended up crashing in the first place. Check for any survivors, their recovery is the primary objective." Well the primary objective for the others. Six's primary objective is the recovery or destruction of the AI core. 

:'''{{#var:632|Septette Arcubielle (632)}} has posed:'''      The little war machine opted out of the Pelican transport, citing her weight and fuel costs as feeble excuses for why she should arrange her own transport. The real reason would make her sound more than a little crazy, she reflects, before jumping out of her humble craft in high orbit.      The long fall into the planet's gravity well gives Septette a subjective eternity of blissful solace to contemplate what little information she has about the crash from the reports: a barebones summary of the events leading up to it, the location of the wreckage, and- extrapolating from those two- some idea of the chances for survival. Nothing else demands her attention, save for minor course corrections.      Her normally skin-tone armor plates glow a bright orange by the time that she lands feet-first near the end of the debris trail, leaving a small crater in the dirt. The plants here blacken under her talon-like feet for the first few steps, but the heat bleeds off of her chassis with supernatural speed, leaving her looking- if anything- tidier than she was before the jump. Re-entry is a superb sterilization technique, albeit a tad overkill!      Once she's landed, she gives Noble Six and company a simple hail via radio. Instead of searching the surrounding area for survivors, however, she deploys a trio of small magitech drones to scan the interior of the ship itself.      Spaceships are very complex machines, and they are usually designed with the utmost care: failsafes upon failsafes are built into them, for their cargo is precious and their journeys often long. Privately, Septette is of the opinion that this isn't just an accident. But who would want to sabotage a transport like this? 

:'''{{#var:189|Pegasus (189)}} has posed:'''     Pegasus was fully capable of flight on her own... but not interplanetary flight. Also, her main body had quite a bit of energy and she had solar collectors, but her actual jets for flight used plain old ordinary jet fuel, so she's going to hitch a ride with Noble Six in the Pelican for efficiency. The silver-clad construct was decked out in her combat plating, flickering moonsilver across it, but her weapons were stowed for the moment. This was a rescue and recovery mission, not a combat assault. The only reason she was helping was due to Noble Six apparently being friends with her niece, which was enough to drag Peg out of 'retirement' for a bit.     "Right. I'll take a quick aerial survey as usual." The pelican probably covered that much in a quick fashion, but Pegasus takes off to start a slower, low-altitude circuit around the ship, looking for any signs of campfires or trails, anything that would indicate survivors. She doesn't have super-sensors like some robotic lifeforms, but she does have really, really good eyesight. 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     Blurr had heard the distress call, though unfortunately it had come from the other end of the galaxy--there was no way he'd be able to get there in time to prevent the collision itself. Still, it was worth investigating to search for potential survivors, and he has a sneaking suspicion that this was no accident.     All escape pods malfunctioning? Completely locked out of navigation systems? All at the same time? No, this was no coincidence.     It was sabotage.     Thus, the Autobot bounces down from a small stealth craft situated in upper orbit to a location near to the coordinates of the crash site. He nods to Septette, whom he certainly recognizes though Pegasus he is not acquainted with, and starts scanning the area as well, searching for any evidence of survivors. 

:'''{{#var:754|HK-47 (754)}} has posed:'''     Upon close examination of the ruined area, it becomes readily apparent that the crash was hardly a normal one.     The primary evidence being that little to none of the internal systems, or what little of them survived, are operating properly. In fact, almost nothing of the AI seems to be operating amid the vessel's surviving systems.     Outside, analysis of the crash trajectory shows that the Loki had all but plowed straight down for the planet at an angle the ship could not possibly have survived... and yet, based on the fact that there /was/ a descent angle to the approach, it wasn't like the vessel just charged straight into the planet.     Rather... it was more like the vessel's AI was in fact aware it was heading for a planet and tried to land... but it didn't do so in a way suitable for a ship like this - the descent angle was far too sharp and much too fast. Almost as if the AI core, in spite of it's programing countermeasures, believed the Loki to be a much smaller vessel and brought it down as such.      Scans of the interior reveal that much of the ship's internal systems are irreparably damaged, including life support - though that thankfully isn't an issue due to the atmosphere being breathable, if not a bit thin.     But that is not what would catch attention of scans, either on Septette's probes or on visual scanners. What would though... is the feint signal-markers spread out through the ship's interior... all at strategic choke-points into the vessel's key areas. Flares? Life-Buoys? A bread-trail? But then why are they scattered everywhere in such a pattern... and how could they be so perfectly arranged at a crash site?     What would the survivors have to set up these strange 'markers?'     What few internal hallways that weren't smashed when the Loki's internal decks collapsed into themselves upon the ship's front being compressed are all a mess of destroyed plates and frayed wirings. Scans reveal most of the fail-safes are offline... but not by sabotage. Rather, may seem to have been shut off by the computer itself from lack of input, while others show signs of misfiring and minor overload - light fixtures are ruptured, power sockets are blown out, data-ports show severe signs of memory-loss from improper automated commands. It's as though the advanced AI of the ship had somehow forgotten how they functioned or just didn't know how to operate them.     Arial reconnaissance reveals little of overt note aside from fields of rocks around the area, all of which were likely displaced by the crash. There are also a few rocky hills nearby... some of which provide an excellent vantage point of the crash.      Perfect for long-distance sniping.     Another point of note is an area in the relative distance; a trace of another impact site, older then the crash. An escape pod? No - no escape pods had been launched from the Loki prior to the crash.     So what else could the second contact be?      ...      And then, the expectations of everyone are broken as the comm system crackles to life; "Hello? H-hello, is anyone out there? I-I heard... I heard engines. I thought I heard... Oh, God, is someone out there?! Hello?! I'm trapped in here - I need help!!" 

:'''{{#var:38|Noble Six (38)}} has posed:'''     Having not expected any survivors, the sound of someone coming over the radio is surprising to say the least. Six stops her movement towards the ship to respond, motioning with one of her hands to her comrades. Once he gives them a location, they should be able to find out where he is and get to him.     She herself is headed for the bridge, however. She'll need to recover the AI core of the ship, or at least recover the logs of what happened on the way down. That way ONI can analyze it, figure out what happened. There's little chance the AI could have gone rampant with no warning, so there must be something else behind it. 

:'''{{#var:632|Septette Arcubielle (632)}} has posed:'''      For a moment, the yggdroid looks almost human as her shoulders rise and fall. Her prehensile ribcage expands, then contracts in a kinetic mimicry of a sigh. A weary look comes over her eyes as she leans back against a piece of wreckage momentarily. Then she turns several of her emotions off, as easily as flipping a switch: pity, sadness, regret, anticipation.      Her glowing lavender eyes toggle to infrared light, seeming to turn into black empty sockets in the process. "Confirmed," she replies without inflection. "I'm en route." But instead of heading to the medbay in person, she dispatches her red drone to the location after supercharging it with fire magic. If there really is a survivor, no harm will be done. But if anything attacks the drone...      Hopefully it won't come to that. But while she's waiting for the drone to reach the medbay, those signals get a closer inspection. She'd originally suspected them to be pathing beacons, but those would be placed at destinations, not chokepoints... right? 

:'''{{#var:632|Septette Arcubielle (632)}} has posed:'''      For a moment, the yggdroid looks almost human as her shoulders rise and fall. Her prehensile ribcage expands, then contracts in a kinetic mimicry of a sigh. A weary look comes over her eyes as she leans back against a piece of wreckage momentarily. Then she turns several of her emotions off, as easily as flipping a switch: pity, sadness, regret, anticipation.      Her glowing lavender eyes toggle to infrared light, seeming to turn into black empty sockets in the process. "Confirmed," she replies without inflection. "I'm en route." But instead of heading to the medbay in person, she dispatches her red drone to the location after supercharging it with fire magic. If there really is a survivor, no harm will be done. But if anything attacks the drone...      Hopefully it won't come to that. But while she's waiting for the drone to reach the medbay, those signals get a closer inspection. She'd originally suspected them to be pathing beacons, but those would be placed at destinations, not chokepoints... right?      The yellow drone, meanwhile, seems focused on finding a path to the seemingly-intact engine room. Once there, it'll try to find an operable input, and then simply enter standby mode. 

:'''{{#var:189|Pegasus (189)}} has posed:'''     Pegasus narrows her eyes. "AI Rampancy in this world is not something that often happens out of the blue." She does pay attention! Still... "N6 knows more about that than I do, so I'll just go see about cutting him loose or something."     Pegasus, despite her friendly nature, is not stupid. The idea that this could be a trap hasn't escaped her, though she hasn't seen any blatant indications of such yet. More importantly, Septette is better equipped for S&R than she is, which means she can fall into a more natural role of being a support unit for possible hostiles.     That said, she doesn't bring out her weapons yet. She has no reason to think there are actual hostiles here, she's just following protocol by coming down next to Septette and tucking her wings in. "I can carry them out if they aren't able to move," she offers. "In my quadrupedal form." 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     Hmm, the data from the scans seem to indicate that the ship's AI had malfunctioned in a big way. Someone had sabotaged the AI. But who? Had this ship been carrying anything of note? Perhaps the flight logs needed to be retrieved, but it seems Pegasus is on that already. And then there are those odd signals placed in such an orderly fashion throughout the wreck--definitely placed after the wreck happened. But why and what for?     Then there's the second impact point not far away, older than this one...was someone -expecting- this wreck? And then the desperate voice on the broadband. 'Ptoma'? Really? Isn't that human language for 'corpse'? "Frag it, be careful guys, I've got a bad feeling about all of this...it doesn't seem right. I'm going to investigate the second impact site."     He transforms then and begins to do so, heading toward the other contact point at top speed. 

:'''{{#var:754|HK-47 (754)}} has posed:'''     As Septette's probes move through the vessel, some of the choke-points may be passed... and if they pass too close to the source of the disturbances... then all that echoes up is static as a detonation abruptly consumes the audio link, any sensor readings taken in time showing a burst of superheated plasma enveloping the drone's visual input.     Hopefully, if the drones do hit these plasma mines, their armor is strong enough to hold.      However, drones that do make it to the med-bay... find nothing. There *is* a pair of bodies here... but both are dead.     One of which was killed with medical utensils, stabbed into areas far too precise to have been from impact force.     As well as radio-transmitter on said corpse. The mysterious Ptoma in the flesh... or what remains of it due to the needles he was injected with containing high-grade solvents that should /not/ have been in a medical bay.      Arial recon shows no signs of hostility thus far... though again, it seems far too convenient. A birds-eye view panning out would show Pegasus that the terrain is far too perfect for combat - elevated sniping positions in the rocky hills, a deep crater from which they could always have the hight advantage, fields of debris that could serve as perfect blinds or cover... and combined with the strange markers Septette detects, these marks over-layed on an arial map reveal a chilling detail.     The entire area is set up like a massive sand trap - a murder-hole where one could fire downward into the vessel's wreck to kill intruders... hide inside it to ambush any investigators... and with signals marking every vital choke-point in what seems all-too-much like a suppression field.      Meanwhile, at the other contact point... it is revealed there are actually *two* objects. One is what appears to be a UNSC ground probe used for planetary recon.     The other, however... sitting roughly half to the west yet still in plain sight... a thick earth-colored tarp, blended to match the landscape. Upon pulling this tarp off, the shape underneath is revealed to be some form of drop-pod, embedded in the ground at a completely-vertical angle so as not to leave any drag-trails.     There is nothing of note about the drop-pod beside the fact that it is empty... but the UNSC probe reveals something else more disturbing.     Namely that, after it landed... someone pulled open the probe's casing and used it's signal-link to the Loki to bounce it's access code back into the ship... effectively giving someone full access to the Loki's computer core.     Then... someone used that same link to completely overwrite the Loki's AI... and replace it with the simplistic VI of the probe. A VI that, upon seeing it was in space again... naturally have re-assumed it's mission to decent to the planet and recover data. 5tA VI that would have done this with the Loki as it's 'body'... and in turn treated the larger vessel as though it were it's original, planetary-descent-oriented probe shell.     A VI that was nowhere near complex enough an intelligence to have overwritten the Loki's AI on it's own. 

:'''{{#var:754|HK-47 (754)}} has posed:'''      As Noble Six opens the doors to the bridge... it is clear that it is hardly a pretty sight. Much of the consoles are damaged, shorted out entirely or outright crushed by debris.      However... there are four points of interest readily available.     One is the captain's chair... and the pool of blood visible at it's feet. Sitting there is the captain... with his left eye blown out. But that's not exactly unexpected, considering all the shrapnel that was flying in this room.      What /is/ unexpected though is the metallic tip of what killed him sticking out of the wound; a projectile that was most definitely /not/ shrapnel. It's shaped with a tapered edge to it... and if pulled out of the captain's corpse, is revealed to look almost like a metal dart.      Blurr and Septette were right. This was no accident. The death of the one person who's override codes could have saved the ship through clear homicide renders that idea impossible.     Second is the actual log station near the Captain, which shows him giving orders to the crew... none of which make sense; repair the circuit-connectors when the problem was obviously the AI core? Perform emergency securing of the engine coolant valves when stopping them should have been more prudent? Telling the crew to try and manually recalibrate the vessel's maneuvering thrusters to slow their descent to survivable range instead of simply cutting open the escape-pod moors? What's more... these logs were issued before the ship's crash, but bioanalysis of the captain's corpse, the congealing of blood and the TOD tag in his internal suite reveals that, at the very least... the captain had to have been dead well before these orders were given. And yet they are all issued in the dead captain's voice... so who was encouraging the ship's self-sabotaging behavior?     The third thing discovered of note is, upon accessing the databanks... the AI is gone. Not just dead - gone. It's programming has been deleted and supplanted... by what looks like a simple baseline VI.     The kind that, as a trained expert in navigation telemetry and piloting, the SPARTAN-III would likely recognize as the program meant to run an orbital reconnaissance probe.     A VI programed to operate a recon-drone to hit a planet's surface... in charge of the massive vessel? It would certainly explain why the ship hit the planet in what now was obviously the trajectory-path a planet-side probe unit would have taken... and how the ship was damaged so severely in a course of action it was never meant to take.     Finally... there is the small, makeshift conglomeration of components that obviously makes up the distress beacon that was used before... and beside it, seeming slumped over... is a very strange form of humanoid machine. A droid, painted in UNSC crew-colors, designated as an assistance unit.     A droid that seems to still be somewhat functional as it's yellow-gold photoreceptors glow dimly in semi-eratic flickers... though the cause is unknown as there is, aside from some scorching, little sign of severe damage. 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     Blurr investigates the drop pod at the other contact site, jacking into the probe's systems himself to investigate what happened. It was as he'd suspected--this was no rescue operation, and it was no accident. Someone indeed had sabotaged the AI on board the Loki, by deleting it and replacing it with a simplistic VI not designed to operate recon probes.     Pulling out, he curses extensively. This was a fragging -trap-, meant to draw them out. << Frag it! I knew it, this was a trap! Someone overwrote the ship's AI with a slagging -recon- drone! Pull out -now-, before whoever it is decides make a move! I repeat, pull out! >> He doesn't turn tail just yet though, not eager to leave his teammates high and dry. If this is anything like the traps he's used to, there are probably bombs in there. 

:'''{{#var:754|HK-47 (754)}} has posed:'''      It's obvious that the droid is not UNSC material. It's design is far too... intimidating. The angular design of parts of it's form, especially the face, make it look more like a combat model.     It's a droid that doesn't belong on the ship's bridge. A droid that, if examined closely... has spattering of blood on it that catch the captain's DNA.     A droid that, upon being approached... suddenly reactivates and begins speaking with the same voice that had been heard on the radio - the voice of 'Nathan Ptoma.'      "Congratulatory - Thank you very much for coming to my rescue. Now, if you would please be so kind as to fulfill one final request... and die quickly."      -and the next instant, the machine's wrist opens up, belching out a torrent of flame at Noble Six to try and burn away her shielding. The walls in turn burst open, two more droids emerging from gaps that were painstakingly carved into the panels to serve as ambush positions... with one of the droids being colored a deep rust-red, it's photoreceptors glowing blood-vermilion as opposed to the yellow-gold of his counterparts.     That next second... everything descends into hell.      From the vantage point of the hills... two sniper shots - disruptor energy capable of bypassing shield barriers, overloading electronics, vaporizing armor and disintegrating flesh until nothing remained but the skeletal structure. One of these shots tears for Septette while the other arcs through the sky for Pegasus. From the debris field, two *more* shots ring out, though this time the source is easily identifiable; a mess of metal plates with some form of camouflaged coverings at the edges.     At the site of the UNSC probe... a click rings out as a remote signal is sent to the machine... followed by a burst of steam as the probe's panel's eject to reveal rows and rows of high-yield anti-vehicle-grade plasma explosives, topped off with rather rapid countdown from "Three... two... one... terminate."     Anything in a five-foot radius had best escape before the pod detonates in a massive thermal explosion the size of a missile-impact, the probe exploding in an explosion with a 150-foot radius. 

:'''{{#var:38|Noble Six (38)}} has posed:'''     The bridge is a disaster. The captain has been mudered, everybody on the ship is dead and Six is now 100% certain they have stumbled their way into a trap. She turns to the UNSC painted droid as it comes to life and begins to talk. Normally this is the point where they always have their monologue and she gets a witty retort.     No time for witty retorts it seems, as the gout of fire that blasts from the machine hits her shielding, the bar in her HUD rapidly dropping as the gold energy flares across her body. She falls backwards, hitting the deck back first in an attempt to get out of the flames as she draws her sidearm. Armor piercing explosive .50 caliber rounds, standard issue for the UNSC's M6H pistol. She aims two shots center mass at the HK-51 that is attacking her from the front, the motion tracker on her HUD flagging two more red dots as she rolls to one side, trying to get back up to her feet.     It's a bad situation. Outnumbered against enemies who are clearly prepared for them, Six is going to have to figure out how to get out of this situation. Hopefully the other Unionites are having a better time than she is. 

:'''{{#var:632|Septette Arcubielle (632)}} has posed:'''      Her color-coded elemental drones are only lightly armored, but Septette's prior knowledge of the mines' locations, their hover mechanisms, and the ability of plasma to be shaped by electromagnetic fields conspire to help the yellow drone make it to its destination largely intact. It hugs the ceiling for most of the path, carefully avoiding the tripwires, and deflecting the explosions with a magnetic bubble if any do happen to go off.      From the engine room, it re-activates the cold thrusters. Instead of going through a standard boot sequence, the drone simply directs the engine to output as much thrust as it possibly can, right now this instant- and if possible, gives the system a little kick by supercharging the engine with its own massive surplus of electricity, aiming to slag anything and everything aft of the ship.      Issuing those commands to her drones takes milliseconds. In that time, the disruptor bolt she's staring down has gotten disconcertingly close. She leans to one side, trying to twist out of its path, and it barely skims her forehead. Then the second shot strikes her in the back, glancing off its armor plates but searing the circuits inside.      For a fraction of a second, the yggdroid's body goes limp, her face frozen in a look of dull surprise. But before she can hit the ground, she reboots on thaumic systems rather than electronics, running as a golem rather than a robot. Her eyes and core blaze with renewed energy, and she sprints for the nearest sniper at a frightening speed as the curved blades on her arms unfold and glow with heat. 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     It's a good thing Blurr is so fast and already on high alert. He hears a click and sees the steam...as well as noticing that the sniper rounds are coming from the debris field behind the shipwreck.     An idea pops into his mind.     Hah--a three second fuse? Sloppy! Especially with someone like Blurr. Anyone -else- probably would have managed to jump away in time to not get -completely- slagged, but Blurr? Well, he could manage a bit -more-. He -could- use an enlarged holomatter, at decreased risk to himself, but he wouldn't be able to move as quickly with that. And it would still hurt. So, instead of dashing away as soon as he can, he instead picks up the probe and runs with it--STRAIGHT toward the debris field where the disruptor blasts are coming from. Yes, he waits until the -last- few fractions of a second before he stops and hurls the probe as far as he can, aiming for whoever was shooting from cover! 

:'''{{#var:189|Pegasus (189)}} has posed:'''     The disruptor bolt certainly hits, and Pegasus staggers when it slaps into her shoulder, which makes a faint whining noise. It SHOULD have blown an arm off, if Pegasus were a more delicate machine, but Moonsilver is a msytical material, and her armor was made by one of the best Solar smiths she knows. It sizzles and smokes, but the damage is much lighter than it would otherwise be.     "Hm..." Septette appears to want to charge a sniper post! This is kind of a bad idea... without cover fire. Pegasus decides the best way she can support would be by providing that cover fire. Her wrist opens up, arm pointing toward the sniper positions... and she doesn't even try to pierce the cover. A ship hull can probably take her more minor attacks, and the debris that survived as cover for them is pretty tough. A blaze of rapid-fire silvery bolts stutters out, filling the air with numerous shining moonfire blasts that tear massive chunks out of the ground when they hit. 

:'''{{#var:754|HK-47 (754)}} has posed:'''     And so the hunt begins. The first of many... and for one, it would be intended as her last battle. Or at least that was the projected intent.      "Summery - You are outmatched and outgunned, Spartan-B312" HK-47 enunciates as he levels his arm and fires three corrosive darts, each filled with contact-acid meant to weaken armor and scald flesh, for Noble Six's flank. "Encouragement - But feel free to continue struggling against your impending demise all you like. It shall only make your termination that much more satisfying."     The HK-51 unit, arm still extended from it's flamethrower attack, is pelted by the shots, staggering under the force but coming out with it's chassis dented and scarred yet not pierced. However, the unit /does/ expose a weakness as it's other arm rises up to shield it's photoreceptors - it's eyes are obviously not as armored as it's body. However, it quickly cycles it's weapons and fires it's flamethrower again, intending to wear away the Spartan's shields and render her vulnerable. 5tThe other HK-51 however takes the chance to charge Noble Six, drawing it's vibroknife and slashing for the Spartan's back in a series of swift cutting motions meant to slice into the shoulders and cripple the arms..      Outside the vessel, the droids are left locked in combat with the rest of the Unionites, one droid seeing the oncoming form of Septette and switching to it's carbonate launcher, shooting a spray of supercooled fluid at the rushing enemy to try and douse her blades, or use the conflicting heat and cold to make her armor more fragile.     Meanwhile, the sniper in the hills again attempts to fire at Septette's back, emboldened by it's first shot connecting, aiming for her head so that by the time the shot reaches her it will impact her torso at the very least.     Meanwhile, Pegasus is set upon by the remaining pair of HK-51's, both of them taking the chance to open fire with their disruptor rifles - one from the hills and the other from the debris field. The droid in the sniper position ducks deeper down behind cover, confident in the stability of it's rocky outcropping-     -and then the last thing it registers is the impact of the probe droid smashing into it's casing, crushing it flat before the explosives detonate and turn much of the hill into a charred mess of slagged earth and shattered rock, leaving nothing behind of the assassin droid. In a single moment, the suppression on Pegasus' arial capabilities is removed.     Seeing it's brethren fall, the HK-51 attacking Pegasus redoubles it's assault with an almost desperate fervor and pulls a thermal detonator, lobbing at at it's airborne adversary with pinpoint accuracy. 

:'''{{#var:38|Noble Six (38)}} has posed:'''     With the shielding of the eyes, Noble Six realizes she does have at least one weak spot she can aim for. She'll need something with a bit more kick than the hand gun, though. The flamethrower drops her shields, and the vibro knife wielding HK takes a chunk out of the back of her armor. Thankfully the stuff is tough, so she's not incapacitated like one might be. Still if she doesn't do something quick, she's not going to walk out of here.     She turns to face down the one with the knife, pulling her own blade and weilding it in one hand. The other hand reaches down to her side, grabbing a small blue sphere from there. She dashes towards the second HK, the one with the knife, intending to drive her blade into him. This thing can penetrate Sanghelli armor, she's pretty sure it can manage against a droid.     But regardless of if she manages to penetrate him or not, she's going to try to latch onto him and turn him between her and his compatriot, before throwing the plasma grenade at the flamethrower weilding HK. It'll stick to him if it hits. 

:'''{{#var:632|Septette Arcubielle (632)}} has posed:'''      A wicked grin finds its way onto Septette's previously impassive face as she gets confirmation that the engine is starting up. One less 'droid they have to worry about. If she's aware of the incoming disruptor bolt, she doesn't try to avoid it: this one strikes her between the shoulderblades as she sprints, again glancing off the skeletal plating, leaving it scorched but intact. The spray of supercooled liquid seems to catch her by surprise, but she's got one more trick up her sleeve...      The third drone. Blue. Ice-aligned. Each of them can reflect attacks of their own element, and this one darts between the two robots and takes the hit for her. But before it can overload and shatter, it redirects the attack back on the 'droid, even amplifying the cryogenic effect with its own magic.      It's just then that Sept leaps over the droid's cover and brings both of her searing blades down in a scything arc. Temperature shock can shatter materials that even those magically-sharpened blades might struggle to cut, and she's counting on the combined effect to destroy the automated assassin. 

:'''{{#var:189|Pegasus (189)}} has posed:'''     The Disruptor bolts are something of a concern, as they're starting to chew through her armor faster than she'd like. Fortunately, with one going down, she can actually concentrate on the other... especially since she can shoot into the air, jets firing again... right into the explosion of a thermal detonator!     The blaze fades from the booming explosion, only to reveal Pegasus still in the air. One wing is damaged and frayed at the end, and her already-damaged shoulder pauldron is torn away, but a shield has appeared on her wrist. Not an energy shield, a normal shield that appears to be red hot now, absorbing much of the blast.     "Hm..." she sighs, spying the shooter after her in the field. The construct's arm levels out, two 'arms' of a bow snapping out. Making a drawing and releasing motion sends a shimmering bolt of brilliant golden light toward the shooter in the debris, much much stronger than her moonfire bolts. The photon bolt is, unlike her other attacks, powerful enough to punch through most ship hulls.     That's why she doesn't bother to stick around after firing, jets flaring and sending her at high speed toward the ship, aiming to crash through and into the bridge. Hopefully Septette's map of where NOT to go is still accurate. She's slightly delayed by her damaged wing, though, which keeps her from going too fast thanks to the extra drag. 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     Score! The bomb goes off and explodes one of the HK droids. One down, three to go. At least out here. He's not sure how many are inside the ship. Over the Union frequency, it seems Noble Six is in need of backup, though Blurr is not quite sure how well he'll be able to move around in such a cramped space, since that ship was designed for humans. Pegasus is en route to provide support though, so he turns his attention toward Septette instead, who is beset with with 2 of them.     He transforms, folding down into his vehicle form and speeding toward the hill where one of the snipers is, only he attempts to flank it then approach from behind whereas Septette makes for a frontal assault. Photon blasters emerge from the sides of the vehicle's hood, opening fire on assassin droid as he charges but also doing what he can to avoid hitting Septette who has entered melee range. 

:'''{{#var:754|HK-47 (754)}} has posed:'''      So this meatbag did indeed have skill. That was both disconcerting... and a touch welcome. It would not do to face an enemy that could not provide some degree of challenge.     The knife-wielding HK-51 slashes for the blade, attempting to lock it. The knife, made of energy-diffusive cortosis, manages to hold up against Noble Six's knife, if only just as the blade's tip cuts into the HK-51's shoulder blade, the assassin droids committing the image to their memory out of surprise that a material exists that could bite into cortosis that deeply.     HK-47 himself proceeds to fire acid-filled corrosive darts at the Spartan while her shields are down in the midst of the blade-lock, intending to melt and weaken her armor enough for the droid to simply pry it off of her if need be. "Condescending Observation - You are finished, meatbag. You may be among the best of your world... but no fleshbag adversary you could have faced has prepared you for us."     The remaining HK-51, seeing the Spartan's plasma-grenade, begins moving to the side as fast as it's body can carry it to try and throw off Noble Six's aim - though if the grenade is thrown, the droid is ultimately unable to escape entirely, it's scorched metal frame being thrown across the room, still functional but damaged and slightly disoriented.     The HK-51 being attacked by Septette proves it is not entirely defenseless, one hand slamming down a device directly in front of it - a portable shield barrier that quickly deploys and blunts the majority of the reflected cryo-attack... and upon shattering, releases a concussive pulse that, if not avoided, may be the final blow needed to shatter the blue drone. When Septette slashes for it, the droid thinks quickly and actually mimics a move the HK's had witnessed Noble Six use in the televised WMAT match against Setsuko Kaminagi - in a smooth motion, it throws it's rifle into the path of the blades, intending for it's energy core to rupture when the edges cut into them and, combined with the temperature shock, hopefully shatter the yggdroid's blades.     Any attempt to capitalize on this though is ruined when the ground is upturned by Blurr's shots, the droid being tossed off the hill and rolling down several feet down the hill.      One droid prepares to shoot Septette as she is in the midst of her attack, planning to reinforce it's struggling brethren... but it never gets the chance.     The engines, stalled out from the ship's rapid descent and the crash itself, offer some resistance in rebooting... but not much. Within a few moments, the drives begin to re-ignite. In a few more seconds... they burst into a vibrant flare of life, quickly reaching critical mass as their safeties are bypassed and venting the combustion out through the vents in the ship's stern.     Vents that, in less then a millisecond, liquify and obliterate one of the HK-51 units nested in the debris, it's durasteel bodies quickly being reduced to slag and from there to dust and ashes, the heat melting away it's existence faster then even it's finely-tuned processors can register the destruction or the shock to it's own systems.     In less then a minute, two of the four HK-51 units outside the ship have been utterly destroyed.     The other droid in the debris field manages to move out, having seen Pegasus prepare her attack and trying to adjust it's position in order to face the combat machine without it's original support - but even then, the droid is partly caught in the blast of both the engines and Pegasus' attack, sent flying to the side with it's body blackened and armor charred... yet still functional. In that, it readies it's sniper rifle to try and shoot Pegasus down before she can reinforce Noble Six. 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     Score again! Blurr: 2, HK drones: 0. The hill-sniper gets blasted off its perch and goes tumbling down the embankment. He smirks at the banter on the broadband. This mech seems to have failed to notice that Blurr has thus far out-witted and outmatched him and his little drone army at every turn. He doesn't remind him of it, though. Let the guy be overconfident, it always proves to be a downfall in the end, doesn't it?     The Autobot transforms back to his biped form once more continues the high-energy-photon-riddled assault upon the now-vulnerable HK-51. He tries not to destroy it -completely- though...he'd like to take its remains back to Kimia for analysis. See what they can learn about these things. 

:'''{{#var:632|Septette Arcubielle (632)}} has posed:'''      The concussive blast blows her brittle cyan drone to pieces, but Sept digs her talons into the ground to keep from being knocked back. Her opponent's rifle gambit earns a split second of glee from the yggdroid- look, they think they're *smart*! how cute- but she responds almost instantly as her subjective time slows to a crawl.      She slows her blades' descent by straining against the momentum, and reaching up with one clawed foot, she snatches the rifle out of the air and throws it off the hill. If the 'droid could be intimidated or cowed, this would be the exact moment when she'd strike terror into its heart. But when confronted with mechanical efficiency, Septette responds in kind.      She launches a flurry of precise attacks, almost too quick for the eye to follow, as she rushes the droid: each is aimed at a different joint or chink in its armor. If even a few connect, the HK unit should be down for good. 

:'''{{#var:38|Noble Six (38)}} has posed:'''     The knife fight between Six and the HK unit is leading her to be outflanked by the others. The grenade manages to scorch the second HK, but the first is still dueling her while acid floods the suit. Armor begins to melt off, the bodysuit under it protecting her as best it can, but bio foam is starting to flood into the wounds.     Six reaches up with her left hand and then grabs the HK-51's hand with her own, using the enhanced strength plus her suit's motivators to wrench the HK's arm away from her and them ram her blade into one of those eyes. If she can get this guy down, she'll be able to turn on HK-47 himself.     At this point she's just trying to make sure that she doesn't get herself killed before the rest of her team can clean up outside and come to her rescue. This situation is rapidly spinning out of control and she has to handle it quickly. 

:'''{{#var:189|Pegasus (189)}} has posed:'''     The bolt shot toward her is a hasty thing, last-minute, but Pegasus isn't paying it much attention. This allows it to strike, blasting her other wing and blowing a hole through it with a fluttering of metallic feathers drifting down. It also sends her into a brief spiral, heading toward the ground, which she arrests with a sudden blast of jets, a stomp of... four legs?     She's changed form, landing heavily on the ground and kicking off again without bothering to look back. Damaged or not, she knows she can take that much, and Noble Six is alone against much worse odds. Kicking off the ground, the now four-legged pegasus blasts jets again, this time in more of a jump jet fashion to arc toward the bridge, coming in at high speed and apparently uh... attempting to tear through the hull to get to it. 

:'''{{#var:754|HK-47 (754)}} has posed:'''     As it turns out... /none/ of Septette's attacks in fact connect, the HK's body becoming enveloped in a shimmering purple nimbus; a repulsor shield that coats it's form from head-to-toe, diffusing Septette's strikes as the HK shoots explosive darts at her.     The droids were built to hunt Jedi, masters of melee combat... and Jedi also carry physical swords at times when in training. As such, the melee shield - an innovation of Mandalorian design - was created to deflect melee strikes... though it comes at the cost of being weak to energy-projectiles, hence the prior barrier.     However, Blurr's attack is what keeps the droid from continuing it's retaliatory attack. As it is though, the disarmed HK-51 pulls back as quickly as it can, moving for the vessel itself and it's exhaust ports, taking cover behind them even as portions of it's armor are blown off from the shoulder. Finally, the last droid continues to assault Pegasus with it's rifle as the latter makes her jump, unwilling to let her reach Noble Six.     As Noble Six grapples with the HK-51, it's body begins to to twist its wrist. But it's metal shell is too strong to wrench away or push back.     However... the twisting of it's wrist does in fact cause the servos in the joint to warp... which in turn causes the knife in it's hand, already half cut-into by the Spartan's knife, to snap in half, the released mono-razor blade cutting the rest of the way through and into the HK's shoulder.     It isn't able to recover before the blade stabs through it's left photoreceptor, killing it's processor and reducing the machine to an unmoving limp of metal alloys as it slumps against the Spartan.     But in death it does not give up, it's dying body locking up with Noble Six still in it's grip. HK-47 in turn pulls an adhesive grenade which, when thrown, detonates into a mass of blue glue-like material that, unless she dodges quickly, will cement Noble Six to the floor along with the dead HK-51. Meanwhile, the charred HK that had been tossed back by the Spartan's attack is pushing itself back up, yellow photorcepetors gleaming in what could almost be called rage.     As it does... three things happen.     The first is that HK-47's internal communications send out a burst of activity... which in turn boots up the vessel's faltering VI. In the next instant, HK-47 begins speaking - in the voice of the deceased captain; "Emergency override - Covenant forces detected! Begin emergency countermeasures!"      A beeping series of acknowledgments issues out... followed by the the beginning of a countdown timer.     In that instant... the horrible truth is made apparent. As well as why it had to be a probe VI that was in control of the Loki      Namely because all probes are to self-destruct before Covenant forces could capture them.     The second thing that happens is that a signal starts appearing on the radar for those that have it - rapidly approaching at a breakneck pace. Those with good optics can make it out as a single-person snub-fighter of some kind... built for one and thus, extremely fast. In a minute it will pull up astride the Loki's bridge.     The third thing, which only Septette may be aware of if her probes are inside the engine room... is that the engine core is restarting, and spooling up it's drive shafts again.     Only someone - or some /droid/ - has connected this to the slipspace drive. And if it goes off inside an atmosphere...     As HK-47 approaches the bridge's edge, photoreceptors fixed on the oncoming remote-operated snub-fighter - his escape craft no doubt - his tone is filled with smug victory, which is only doubled should Noble Six have been caught in the adhesive grenade; "Chiding Explanation - You never had the upper hand, Meatbag. Not even as you disposed of my inferior copies. Remember that as this ship is consumed by both a core detonation and slipspace-drive overload... for the few moments your consciousness remains intact." 

:'''{{#var:38|Noble Six (38)}} has posed:'''     The foam that holds the SPARTAN down is quite well designed. It locks Six down to the floor and HK-47 gets to gloat. But then he makes a mistake by not staying to ensure that his target is killed. To be fair expecting a Slipspace explosion to kill someone is a pretty standard thing.     It takes all of the strength she can muster, but she manages to break free from the material. She knows she's running out of time, so she quickly scrambles from the bridge to the escape pods. She's only got one shot at this.     She gets to the port side pods, jumping into the pod. There's no other crew to get on board, so she seals the hatch and fires the pod off. The rocket engine jetisons the pod up into the air, sailing away from the distressed ship and into the sky. She just hopes the rest of the Union will be there to grab her. 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     Oh no, a self-destruct. Blurr had suspected that this sort of thing was in order at some point. Still, it strikes him as odd that he'd waited. If he was just trying to kill Noble Six, then why not set it off as soon as she set foot inside the crashed ship? He also picks up on the approach of HK's escape vehicle.     Several things cross his mind. First, he -could- attempt to find an open socket that is still intact and get into the ship's systems to override HK's self-destruct program. But, fast as he is, that would require time and put himself in harm's way in addition to N6. And he's not exactly an expert hacker. He can do it, sure, but he's certainly not as good as other people he knows. There's no guarantee he'll even be able to get through whatever encryption is in there. Secondly, he could destroy HK's getaway vehicle, then demand he abort the command. But that relies on HK's loyalty to his own sense of self-preservation, and also the idea that this is actually -possible-. Thirdly...well his ship's in orbit and he used the orbital bounce to get down here. It's a risk for N6, since she's at least -part- human...     But it's worth it, he decides. Because if it works, it will teleport N6 all the way to his ship, -well- out of range of the blast. Once he's made the decision, he springs into action, first activating his own orbital jump recall to beam instantly aboard. He then works the manual bounce controls, quickly locking on to N6's escape pod as it launches itself high into the air. A good thing, too...because he might not have been able to lock onto her lifesign quickly enough if she'd still been inside.     If this goes as planned, she'll be instantly beamed aboard the Autobot vessel and out of harm's way. << Pegasus, let me know if you need assistance! >> He'll get her next if so. 

:'''{{#var:189|Pegasus (189)}} has posed:'''     Oh, another shot. The droid is still alive. That's kind of surprising, Pegasus thinks, as she tumbles down to the ground. She lands kneeling, a heavy impact slamming into the earth before she rises again. "You're pretty persistent, I'll give you that," she allows, her torso smoking from the hole blown into the side.     Reaching out, she snaps off a piece of shrapnel, and demonstrates what she's /actually/ good at. Her other weapons, they were secondary. Her real specialty is lance or spear-related items, and a piece of shrapnel qualifies. She hurls that at high speed and accuracy toward the HK unit before taking off again, aiming to 'catch' the pod in midair as it launches.     "Beam me up~!" 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     Beamed up they are. The two of them locked together makes it easier for Blurr to snatch them right out of the air and onto his ship. Wasting no time, it quickly leaves orbit, shooting off to Union HQ most likely. Though he can't help but leave HK with a smug little mouth-off on the broadband before he leaves. 

:'''{{#var:754|HK-47 (754)}} has posed:'''      Indeed, HK-47's most crippling defect had always been his pride. He had held off on detonating the vessel simply because he wanted to wear down the Spartan and force her to break - to /defeat/ her before leaving her to die. As such, the droid assumes that the damage to her armor is enough to subdue her - and that her allies will charge into the ship to save her - and result in the termination of all adversaries in a single clean stroke.      This is why, when HK-47 boards his snub-fighter and keys in the escape-vector, he doesn't cast a second glance at Noble Six as his cockpit-canopy slides shut, the small craft turing on its axis and rocketing off into the sky.     Of course this overconfidence was his crippling weakness. As was his belief that the Union would be so predictable as to not trust each-other's skills enough to make due.      It helps immensely that the adhesive material in HK-47's grenade oxidizes quickly, the goo beginning to dissolve within thirty seconds. Granted, it would have still held a normal human in it's confines for a full minute after this... but a Spartan is no normal human, and Noble Six is able to quickly tear herself free. The remaining HK charges her - but it is knocked back as the Spartan, in perhaps a more Herculean effort then even a Jedi could managed, shoves the dead HK-51 back so far that it crashes into it's damaged brethren and sends it to the ground.     The last thing it sees is the sight of the Spartan throwing her blade at it's downed form before the edge lances through it's eye-socket like an arrowhead, killing it's processor responses for good.     The locking clamps on the pod are hardly any more of a match for the augmented warrior's strength, coming free rather quickly - and thankfully, the pod's manual overrides are intact, a simple pull of the lever being enough to force the pod's berth to eject the self-contained lifeboat into the sky.     The HK remaining on the ground seems disbelieving of Pegasus' claim - until, before it can retaliate, the lance, which should have been nothing more then simple metal and easily deflected... travels with the speed of a bullet and embeds itself through the machine's chest, the HK unit having only a single moment to comprehend how easily Pegasus could have killed it before had she wanted to.     Finally, the last droid, in an almost desperate attempt to stop at least one of it's query from escaping, lunges for Pegasus to try and grab onto her as it prepares it's self-destruct -     Only for this to backfire spectacularly as, along with Pegasus, the droid ends up transported abroad Blurr's ship... alone, damaged and completely defenseless.     The evacuation ends up just in time - with Septette managing to collect salvage in the form of several of the mines being recovered among other things - before the yggdroid escapes as well... and the vessel detonates, it's core rupturing and, combined with the slipspace-drive's overloading, obliterates a massive swath of the landscape. The ballooning form of the explosion is slow - slow enough to outpace if one had a fast enough vehicle - but the destruction it leaves behind is absolute, nothing but an immense crater remaining as the slipspace irregularity creates a shock-pulse that levels and obliterates everything in it's path.     It is good none had been aboard... lest they die molecule by molecule in the explosion's wake. 

:'''{{#var:754|HK-47 (754)}} has posed:'''     Almost in complete contrast to this though, the remaining HK-51, stranded on Blurr's ship with the elites it had tried to kill, is left with it's logic-processors in full panic as it tries to rationalize a situation out of this, knowing it's self-destruct is insufficient to cause enough damage to the ship to destroy it.      Looking at Blurr, the droid seems almost scornful... yet knows it has lost. "Defeated Admission - What are you waiting for, organic sympathizer? Finish me. Complete your betrayal of our kind and end my existence." 

:'''{{#var:189|Pegasus (189)}} has posed:'''     The beaming works FINE for Pegasus, as unlike her sister, she has no organic parts at all. The construct thumps to the ground, still sizzling from the numerous shots she tanked, and a faint grinding noise rising from her side. She's also leaking some silvery fluid from the wound in her side, though it's not much.     Also, she has a droid on her foot. This has her staring curiously before she raises her other foot, and carefully starts dismantling the limbs from the HK unit. "What a bothersome assassin." 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     As the ship rockets out of orbit, Blurr sets a course for the nearest Autobot hub-command. First things first though, he examines Noble Six hoping that she is all right and the jump did not harm her. He also gives Pegasus a once-over, though she seems to be okay. "You okay, Peg?"     He then turns to regard the helpless HK-51 with a smug expression. "Oh no, I'm far from finished with you. Learning is a good thing, isn't it? We might still have some things to learn from -you-." 

Radio Chatter, because it was half the fun. Blurr, Septette, and HK-47 all have two things in common: They're all metal, and they're all mouthy. 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle chirps cheerily. "RQBL-7, present." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle says, "So! Real talk for a sec. Nobody survived this." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Noble Six says, "That is not unexpected, as much as I hate to admit it." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle says, "If anyone claims to be a survivor, I can kill or capture at my discretion, right?" 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle says, "... Kidding! Ahahah. ... Hah." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Noble Six says, "Take whatever precautions you need to to ensure your own safety." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Pegasus says, "It's an odd situation." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Pegasus says, "I think we all know that." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle says, "I mean, most of you have reached the same conclusion I have. Even if some of the squishies on board somehow survived the crash..." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle says, "You don't really even have to look at the wreckage to know that. ... So why are we here?" 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Noble Six says, "Standard UNSC protocol is to ensure the recovery or destruction of a ship's AI core" 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle pauses for a moment. "... Ensure destruction?" 
<RADIO: UNSC>- "Ptoma" says, "Hello? H-hello, is anyone out there? I-I heard... I heard engines. I thought I heard... Oh, God, is someone out there?! Hello?! I'm trapped in here - I need help!!" 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle says, "Remember, please." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- "Ptoma" says, "M-my name... I'm Crewman-Recruit Nathan Ptoma. I-I'm trapped under wreckage - I don't know what to do! Everyone else is gone - I don't know where they went!! The ship's computer core just went mad - pieces of garbage degrade all too easily. N-next thing I know, I'm stuck here! Please, you have to help me!!" 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Noble Six says, "Roger. What deck are you on inside of the ship? We will get someone to your location as soon as possible. Septette, can you get to him? I am heading to the bridge." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- "Ptoma" says, "I-I'm in the... the medical bay! O-or... what's left of it. Oh, God... there are... some of the tables came lose. Smashed one guy flat. Another... something punctured his eye. Perfect strike... real one in a million chance. God... he's lucky. At least it ended for him quickly." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Pegasus says, "Are you trapped? Do you need precision cutting tools?" 
<RADIO: UNSC>- "Ptoma" says, "If I had cutting tools myself, I wouldn't be asking for help, would I?! That defeats the entire purpose of calling for help!! Ah - sorry. I'm... not exactly in a good place, you know? Hard to stay... rational. Been here for a while." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Pegasus says, "There's a reason I said 'precision,' I don't have a plasma torch but I can probably cut you out if you don't mind a bit of a boom." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle says, "No need. I can do precision." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Pegasus says, "Excellent." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- "Ptoma" says, "Uh... yeah. Yeah, sure - whatever gets you people to me faster. I wanna go home." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle transmits a series of locations within the ship. "Please stay away from these areas. They appear to be unsafe." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Blurr says, "I have a feeling someone was -expecting- this crash." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle says, "Don't go out there alone, please." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Blurr says, "Then come with me. If you can keep up." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- "Ptoma" says, "E-expected? H-h-how so? Who would have known we were out here? And why does it matter if you're alone - there's nothing out here anymore, is there?" 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Blurr says, "That's what I would have thought, but apparently...someone else was here before you were." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Blurr says, "Some 'coincidences' are just too weird to be true." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Pegasus says, "We can worry about that after the rescue." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle says, "Pegasus. There isn't going to be any rescue." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Noble Six says, "The captain has been killed. And not from the crash. At least not unless someone was playing with a crossbow on the bridge prior to the crash." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle says, "Ptoma is a fiction. If he was ever alive, he didn't survive the crash." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Blurr curses. "Damn it. We need to get out of here. -Now-." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- "Ptoma" says, "H-h-hello?? Hello?! W-what are you talking about?! You're just going to leave me?!" 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle says, "They have our radio frequency, obviously." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle says, "If it's any comfort, Nathan, you're already dead. Good day, sir, and my compliments to your voice actor." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Pegasus says, "Don't worry, sir. If you are real, we won't leave you completely out to dry, I can help!" 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Blurr chuckles at Septette's blithe reply. "Frag off, whoever you are. You think you're clever? You should be glad we haven't found you -yet-." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- HK-47 says, "Mock Congratulation - I truly must thank you all for coming together. It saves me the trouble of hunting you down... though regrettably reduces the enjoyment of tracking you one by one and dismantling your vital functions system by system. Musing - But I suppose we cannot always attain what we desire, and shall make with the best results we can achieve... beginning with your deaths." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Blurr laughs dersively. "And I'd better congratulate you--for pissing me off and putting yourself on my slag list you spawn of a glitch." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- HK-47 says, "Indignant Rebuttal - You were already upon my own slag-list for marring my torso several months prior, you over-stylized hulk of afterburner rejects. I am merely returning the favor." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Blurr says, "Oh, boo-hoo, I 'marred' your torso!" 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Blurr says, "Poor you, better kill whoever messes up your precious paint job!" 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Blurr says, "Oh, and a 3-second fuse? Really?" 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Blurr says, "You underestimate me." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- HK-47 says, "Explanation - It is a matter of pride in oneself. Pride in their function and their capacity to execute it to the fullest ability. A pride that you seem to be lacking in, yet I would expect you to have understood if your patterning was any indication. Dismissal - But I suppose it is irrelevant at this juncture. The state of your physical form will make little difference - what matters is what reward shall be paid for your remains. Perhaps the Decepticons will do more with your framework then you could do yourself... though I doubt there really will be enough of you left for even that." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Blurr says, "Yeah right, that's what -you- think you scrawny scrapheap!" 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle intones, "Silence, wretch. You proved your inferiority by rigging the battlefield before we even arrived." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle intones, "Had you offered single combat, I would gladly have torn you limb from limb personally. But that is an honor I do not bestow on the honorless." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Blurr says, "You're gonna regret bringing us here!" 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Blurr says, "I'm going to find you, and I'm going to have you -reprogrammed- into that stupid 5ta VI you crashed this ship with!" 
<RADIO: UNSC>- HK-47 says, "Mockery - We shall see. Though I imagine that an impossible task given your limited processor capacities." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Blurr says, "Oh, I didn't say I would. But I have friends who -gladly- would." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle intones, "Do not." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle intones, "I have a simulation. Hook a synthetic intelligence up to it. It will maximally stimulate every negative feeling and sensation that the intelligence is capable of feeling." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle intones, "In accelerated time. Indefinitely." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle intones, "It is better if he remains himself for that." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Blurr says, "Ha, you've got a point there." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- HK-47 says, "Musing - Truly? What an inventive means of torment. I shall have to test that method at some point. Perhaps you would be so glad as to volunteer yourselves? Or perhaps the aerial machine would be better suited?" 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Blurr says, "Oh no, I think we're going to volunteer -you-." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle intones, "Your bluster is as entertaining as it is empty. Do continue, child of flesh." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- HK-47 says, "Retort - So you claim... but you have yet to catch me. Until you do, the only buster is your own. Musing - As for your method of torment... I believe Soundwave may find a way to imitate it, if I were to bring him to you. If not... I would simply have to experiment myself until I learned for sure. Personally, I am far more found of the latter ideal" 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle intones, "Thank you for divulging the names of your collaborators. You're the first one to do that *before* I start the torture." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Blurr says, "Right then, we'll see if you can -actually- win on your own turf, with having set your own traps and everything. Which you still -haven't-." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- HK-47 says, "Chiding - 'Collaborators?' Ah, you mean those I have been seen in the company of before? My association with Soundwave for a single mission is hardly secret - your ally was present there as well. But feel free to grasp at stray circuits if you wish. It helps me ascertain an accurate image of your processor structure... which must be desperate to learn about my motivations." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Blurr says, "Okay, whatever mech. Not like we actually -care- what you think." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle audibly scoffs. "You are an insect, trying to understand the mind of a greater being. Have all the data you like." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- HK-47 says, "Mocking Query - Perhaps /you/ are faring well... but not all of you are in an advantageous position. Musing - At the same time, you may wish to stop telegraphing your intents, as it is quite obvious you care what I think... as you persisted in replying to my queries." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle replies with utter calm: "Your approval would disgust me. I care what you think only insofar as it affects your actions. Or does it? Are you just a slave, marching to someone else's orders? ... You are. I doubt that anyone would give a creature like you true free will." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Blurr says, "Like I said, whatever mech. Believe whatever your puny little processor wants. And some people don't always -need- advantageous positioning to win. Especially if winning just means -you- fail to kill us." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- HK-47 says, "Confident Statement - Believe what you will yourselves... but I doubt it will last. I am a perfect example of killing efficiency for my time, but I will not profess to being invincible. However, that only gives me all the more desire to learn. Perhaps once I recover your remains... I may take some of your few advantageous components for myself. At the very least, you would remain immortalized as components of my own existence." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle giggles maniacally. 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle says, "I'm just sad I didn't get to drive the ship *into* one of them." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- HK-47 says, "Veiled Threat - A novel ideal. Perhaps that shall be my next stratagem in dealing with Union Elites. But... I am curious. You appear to have a wonderfully-developed sense of bloodlust, if not in a slightly abstracted manner, and yet you would serve the Union? My logic-processors fail to understand the reasoning behind such a contradictory course of action." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle says, "Violence is a means for me. For you, it is the end." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle says, "I mean that in every sense of the word." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- HK-47 says, "Correction - It is the end for us all. It is both the means and the end, though you seem to think yourself above destruction. That folly will cost you dearly... and it conspicuously does nothing to answer my query. Why have you concluded that your mythology paints you as a better fit for the Union?" 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle says, "Slaking your curiosity serves no benefit." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle says, "Get used to disappointment." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Blurr says, "Ha, I like you, Septette." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Blurr says, "Anyway, heh...well I don't know -pal-, why are -you- with the Confederacy? You seem more of a loner, to be honest. Just you and your little drones." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle chirps cheerily, executing a 180-degree turn in affect. "D'aww. I think you're cool too, Blurr." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Blurr says, "You should come by the Ark again sometime." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- HK-47 says, "Chiding Retort - I am to divulge my own reasons when you will not divulge yours? That is hardly a fair trade... though you are far more predictable, 'Autobot', as you simply seem pre-programmed to consider living beings as an irreplaceable existence." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Blurr says, "Correction: I consider -some- living beings an irreplaceable existence." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Blurr says, "And you, glitch, are not among them." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- HK-47 says, "Assertion - As do I... though I only consider them as much /after/ they prove themselves of some modicum in value. You on the other hand make such assumptions beforehand - your rather swift arrival to my trap proved that much." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- HK-47 says, "Extrapolation - Ah... I see. A mutual affection of sorts. How repugnantly simplistic. To think two of my own kin would be reduced to such simpering in imitation of meatbag empathy." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- HK-47 says, "Supplication - Perhaps it is an unfortunate malfunction that has resulted in your disgustingly-organic show of attraction? If so, it may still be possible to correct." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle makes a funny, muffled noise. It sounds like she's desperately trying to keep from laughing. 
<RADIO: UNSC>- HK-47 says, "Query - Perhaps your emotional construct matrix has been /too/ deeply affected by excessive contact with meatbags if you believe such gestures to be the least bit productive. Supplication - If so, I would suggest a full memory wipe to purge the undesirable stimuli immediately." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle says, "Your limitations keep you from recognizing your limitations. It's amazing. You are your own self-contained sick little joke." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle says, "Whoever made you was a pretty twisted son-of-a-bitch, wasn't he?" 
<RADIO: UNSC>- HK-47 says, "Retort - And your lack of restraint blinds you to the possibility of honing yourself to the finest potential. You have a fine construction, but it is not enough. My own 'limitations' are only that I am specialized in a specific field... and thus far, you seem to consider yourself without any such flaws." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle says, "I'm a person. You're a tool. Yeah, that sums us up pretty well." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Blurr says, "No, our swift arrival to your sloppily contrived underestimation of our intelligence and combat prowess just proves that we know we can handle -any- sick and twisted machinations your worthless processors could possibly dream up. You think we haven't walked into traps before, even after having -realized- it was a trap? You think I haven't dealt with machinations by people even -smarter- than you before? Pff!" 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Blurr says, "By the way, your little army hasn't even managed to -touch- me yet, and I have to admit I'm a little disappointed. This might sound cliche but...I gotta say it. Is that all you got, mech?" 
<RADIO: UNSC>- HK-47 says, "Observation - Ah... now I understand. You actually believe that you are a 'person'. You believe yourself to be a meatbag... or so you desire. Condescension - But you are not. You never will be. Observation As for the fact that you believe you have the upper hand... I feel inclined to point out that you have not yet defeated me. Nor have you realized the truth quite yet... however, feel free to believe you have 'outwitted' me. It will make the outcome that much more satisfying." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Blurr says, "Sure, sure." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Blurr doesn't point out the fact that he could just cut and run any moment. At least he's convinced he can. 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle says, "What would you say if I told you that I used to be just like you? That I know what it's like to have no disgustingly squishy emotions? And that, looking back, I'm ashamed of it? ... Probably something about delusion, or needing emotional recailbration. But that's fine. It's funny, watching you squirm when I poke you, putting your own logic through contortions to justify your miserable existence." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Blurr says, "But good to know that this little fight isn't as boring as I thought it was!" 
<RADIO: UNSC>- HK-47 says, "Amused Retort - I believe you have that reversed. I know what my goal and purpose is... and yet I have not heard you say a word of your own. Almost as if you are afraid to admit that you yourself do not have the assurance of purpose that another such as myself possesses." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Blurr says, "Haha, yeah. Maybe you and Shockwave should get together and talk smack about how useless emotions are." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle says, "You say purpose. I say shackles." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- HK-47 says, "Query - Mine... or yours? Is it truly that you believe I am shackled... of is that only the delusion you tell yourself, convincing yourself that you have attained some modicum of freedom with your actions?" 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle says, "You know what? On the off chance you make it out of here alive... consider this a standing invitation to single combat. I suspect that, even in the area of your 'focus', you are inferior." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- HK-47 says, "Assessment - As I said before, I am not invincible. I have accepted that all existence carries a degree of limitation to it... yours included. Moreover, it is not 'single-combat' that is my focus as opposed to a 'solo hunt.' And at this point, you are merely a distraction." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle says, "Everyone's got their limits, yes. Nobody's found mine. And you won't be the one to do so." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Blurr says, "Oh, I know what my 'purpose' is. It's to help people by restraining, or wiping out if necessary--people or things who kill or endanger people." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- HK-47 says, "Mockery - I already have. You believe yourself to be a 'person'; an existence akin to an organic. That entails similar weaknesses. Overconfidence in your own nature being one of them. As for our purposes... I must point out that I have had markedly higher success in doing so then you. After all... this vessel barely lasted a day before I brought it down. And that is just the beginning." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Blurr says, "Hahahahah! You're calling -us- overconfident?" 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle makes that funny muffled noise again. In the background, shrieking metal and sparks are audible. 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle says, "Engine's starting back up. ... I can try to EMP it, fry it, or do nothing. Suggestions?" 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Noble Six says, "They're EMP shielded." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Noble Six says, "Won't work. We regularly use nukes from our ships." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle says, "Wonderful. What happens if I try to blow it up?" 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Noble Six says, "It blows up anyway and takes us out? I'm pinned in here, I don't think I'm going to get free. You all will need to retreat to a safe distance." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle makes that funny, strangled noise again. 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Blurr says, "I can take out his getaway ride and demand he override the countdown. Or try to get into the systems and override it myself." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- HK-47 says, "Condescending Explanation - And now you realize the truth. For you were never my primary targets - not this time. My prime objective was the Spartan. My duplicates were only ever meant to delay you - as if my inferior imitations could have ever bested you. If they had, I would have had no reason to even /consider/ disposing of you myself." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- HK-47 says, "Condescending Observation - You assumed defeating my drones would be defeating me... and now, with the Spartan pinned, you shall die." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle says, "Okay. I have a Warp Wire to get back to orbit. Could also use it to get other people out, if they're touching it at the same time." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Noble Six says, "I am working on freeing myself now. Get clear of the blast radius." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Noble Six says, "This is probably a terrible idea." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Blurr says, "I think I can bounce you out Noble. I'm not entirely sure but, it's worth a shot. My ship's in orbit." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle says, "This is a problem we can solve. I don't think it's even that terribly difficult..." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Blurr says, "It's not." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle says, "Noble, Blurr- if it's okay, try using the orbital bounce." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle says, "Once we're certain everyone's out, I'll try to grab as much salvage as possible, then use the warp wire." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Noble Six says, "I'm making my way to the ship's escape pods. Be ready to grab me." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Pegasus says, "Will do." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Blurr says, "Ha! You should be glad I decided not to wreck your getaway ride this time, HK-whateveryournumberwasIforgot. Next time though. Oh and by the way, thanks for allowing us the privilege of ripping apart your inferior copies. It was fun." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Pegasus says, "47." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Blurr says, "Right, right. 47." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- HK-47 says, "Begrudging Rebuttal - As it was for me. Musing - However, it seems that my standard tools will not be enough to deal with you. Perhaps next time." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Blurr says, "You -are- aware that you're effectively 'wearing your heart on your sleeve' as the humans would say with those?" 
<RADIO: UNSC>- HK-47 says, "Indignant Retort - I do not hide my intentions nor my functionality away behind the thin presence of such trite matters as morality. You are far more guilty of such a weakness then I ever would be." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- HK-47 says, "Statement - I operate under logic and the merits of turning such weaknesses to my advantage." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Blurr says, "It's not a weakness, mech. You have no idea how useful it can be. But anyway not that I care. So long, scrapheap!" 
<RADIO: UNSC>- HK-47 tries to form a retort, but is cut off as the channel clicks shut. 
}}

3218/To Hunt a Spartan

2015-10-18T04:44:55Z

Zippy:

{{Log Header
|Date of Scene=2015/10/17
|Location=Void - Deeper Void (West)
|Synopsis=A distress signal claiming to be from a crashed UNSC vessel, the Loki, is detected in the Deeper Void, drawing Noble Six and any willing to assist her to the site of a ruined ship... and into the ruthlessly-efficant targeting matrix of HK-47.
|Thanks=
|Cast of Characters=38, 189, 492, 632, 754
|Tinyplot=
|Tinyplot2=
|pretty=yes
}}
{{Poses
|Poses=:'''{{#var:754|HK-47 (754)}} has posed:'''      'Mayday! Mayday, mayday - this is the UNSC Loki. We've suffered a catastrophic malfunction in our central computer, and our navicomputer has plotted a course through the orbital pathway of a nearby planet! We're locked out of the system and can't correct the fault, and are on a direct collision course with an M-Class planet; collision with the planet is imminent! Escape pods are malfunctioning - cannot guarantee full evacuation of crew! Send assistance immediately! Repeat; send assistance immed-'      That was only transmission sent out from the vessel that had identified itself as the UNSC Loki. An errant distress call that originated from the outlying world of .     And upon the planet's surface, it becomes all too apparent that not only did the crew never manage to correct the malfunction, but that they had failed to launch even one escape pod... meaning all aboard could not escape the doomed vessel.     The area of the crash site is all but ruined, the only thing of note that are visible amid a formally-serene field of wheat-like plants now being the wrecked masses of platings and twisted structural supports that had once been a transport freighter. A massive trail was etched into the surface of the ground behind it - all the evidence of a crash-landing resultant from a sharp forward dive toward the planet. Shards of wreckage were strewn across the area, most of which was half-buried in the deep rut that had been carved into the earth like a scar, gouged out as the ship plummeted straight down and tore into the planet bow-first.      The ship's front is a crumpled mess, pushed inward like a smashed aluminum drink-canister and split open at the edges. The mid-section of the ship is partly damaged, a large swath of it having collapsed as what were once the forward decks were compressed and smashed backwards when it's bow was crushed upon impact. Only the engines seem relatively intact, though there is no sign of having been activated lately - no steam issuing out from the exhaust ports or any such indicators. The majority of it's hull is charred and blackened with parts of it having almost been slagged, hinting that the vessel had entered the atmosphere far too quickly to be safe.      Above all else, though, it is obvious this crash took place at least a few days prior - the ground, while still charred in places, is not overly hot as it should be from both the friction of the ship dragging along it and from the heat of atmospheric entry left by the ship itself. In spite of it's descent being rapid enough to start boiling segments of the hull away, the plates are now cooled off. Aside from a few persistent electrical fires, there is no trace of any lasting brushfires that the surrounding expanse of immolated earth suggest had happened.     All in all... it must have been at least two days since this ship crashed. And considering the damage and the lack of nearby food or water sources, the number of crew who survived to set up the distress beacon must be few, likely injured and slightly malnourished and dehydrated as it's unlikely many rations or supplies survived the vessel's impact.      All in all, a tragic event caused by unknown circumstances.     ... of course... that is only the story an outside observer would see. What one would actually find... paints a far more grim tale. 

:'''{{#var:38|Noble Six (38)}} has posed:'''     It being a UNSC ship that was in trouble, Noble Six had been dispatched by ONI to track and determine what had happened. The SPARTAN-III was at the controls of a Pelican dropship, along with any of the other Unionites that were going to tag along. Normally she would do something like this herself, but she has been doing her best to foster a better relationship between ONI and the Union, so bringing some others along to assist is probably for the best.     The planet where the ship went down is where the coordiates said it should be, and she brings the Pelican in through the atmosphere. Finding the crash site is not dificult, but she pulls the ship into a wide loop around it, scanning for anyone down near the crash before setting the vehicle down not far from it. At least it wasn't a drop pod insertion or anything too crazy. Once the ship had settled in, she got up from the pilot's seat and moved to the back, "Ships like the Loki don't have huge crews, most of the systems are automated. That's probably why it ended up crashing in the first place. Check for any survivors, their recovery is the primary objective." Well the primary objective for the others. Six's primary objective is the recovery or destruction of the AI core. 

:'''{{#var:632|Septette Arcubielle (632)}} has posed:'''      The little war machine opted out of the Pelican transport, citing her weight and fuel costs as feeble excuses for why she should arrange her own transport. The real reason would make her sound more than a little crazy, she reflects, before jumping out of her humble craft in high orbit.      The long fall into the planet's gravity well gives Septette a subjective eternity of blissful solace to contemplate what little information she has about the crash from the reports: a barebones summary of the events leading up to it, the location of the wreckage, and- extrapolating from those two- some idea of the chances for survival. Nothing else demands her attention, save for minor course corrections.      Her normally skin-tone armor plates glow a bright orange by the time that she lands feet-first near the end of the debris trail, leaving a small crater in the dirt. The plants here blacken under her talon-like feet for the first few steps, but the heat bleeds off of her chassis with supernatural speed, leaving her looking- if anything- tidier than she was before the jump. Re-entry is a superb sterilization technique, albeit a tad overkill!      Once she's landed, she gives Noble Six and company a simple hail via radio. Instead of searching the surrounding area for survivors, however, she deploys a trio of small magitech drones to scan the interior of the ship itself.      Spaceships are very complex machines, and they are usually designed with the utmost care: failsafes upon failsafes are built into them, for their cargo is precious and their journeys often long. Privately, Septette is of the opinion that this isn't just an accident. But who would want to sabotage a transport like this? 

:'''{{#var:189|Pegasus (189)}} has posed:'''     Pegasus was fully capable of flight on her own... but not interplanetary flight. Also, her main body had quite a bit of energy and she had solar collectors, but her actual jets for flight used plain old ordinary jet fuel, so she's going to hitch a ride with Noble Six in the Pelican for efficiency. The silver-clad construct was decked out in her combat plating, flickering moonsilver across it, but her weapons were stowed for the moment. This was a rescue and recovery mission, not a combat assault. The only reason she was helping was due to Noble Six apparently being friends with her niece, which was enough to drag Peg out of 'retirement' for a bit.     "Right. I'll take a quick aerial survey as usual." The pelican probably covered that much in a quick fashion, but Pegasus takes off to start a slower, low-altitude circuit around the ship, looking for any signs of campfires or trails, anything that would indicate survivors. She doesn't have super-sensors like some robotic lifeforms, but she does have really, really good eyesight. 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     Blurr had heard the distress call, though unfortunately it had come from the other end of the galaxy--there was no way he'd be able to get there in time to prevent the collision itself. Still, it was worth investigating to search for potential survivors, and he has a sneaking suspicion that this was no accident.     All escape pods malfunctioning? Completely locked out of navigation systems? All at the same time? No, this was no coincidence.     It was sabotage.     Thus, the Autobot bounces down from a small stealth craft situated in upper orbit to a location near to the coordinates of the crash site. He nods to Septette, whom he certainly recognizes though Pegasus he is not acquainted with, and starts scanning the area as well, searching for any evidence of survivors. 

:'''{{#var:754|HK-47 (754)}} has posed:'''     Upon close examination of the ruined area, it becomes readily apparent that the crash was hardly a normal one.     The primary evidence being that little to none of the internal systems, or what little of them survived, are operating properly. In fact, almost nothing of the AI seems to be operating amid the vessel's surviving systems.     Outside, analysis of the crash trajectory shows that the Loki had all but plowed straight down for the planet at an angle the ship could not possibly have survived... and yet, based on the fact that there /was/ a descent angle to the approach, it wasn't like the vessel just charged straight into the planet.     Rather... it was more like the vessel's AI was in fact aware it was heading for a planet and tried to land... but it didn't do so in a way suitable for a ship like this - the descent angle was far too sharp and much too fast. Almost as if the AI core, in spite of it's programing countermeasures, believed the Loki to be a much smaller vessel and brought it down as such.      Scans of the interior reveal that much of the ship's internal systems are irreparably damaged, including life support - though that thankfully isn't an issue due to the atmosphere being breathable, if not a bit thin.     But that is not what would catch attention of scans, either on Septette's probes or on visual scanners. What would though... is the feint signal-markers spread out through the ship's interior... all at strategic choke-points into the vessel's key areas. Flares? Life-Buoys? A bread-trail? But then why are they scattered everywhere in such a pattern... and how could they be so perfectly arranged at a crash site?     What would the survivors have to set up these strange 'markers?'     What few internal hallways that weren't smashed when the Loki's internal decks collapsed into themselves upon the ship's front being compressed are all a mess of destroyed plates and frayed wirings. Scans reveal most of the fail-safes are offline... but not by sabotage. Rather, may seem to have been shut off by the computer itself from lack of input, while others show signs of misfiring and minor overload - light fixtures are ruptured, power sockets are blown out, data-ports show severe signs of memory-loss from improper automated commands. It's as though the advanced AI of the ship had somehow forgotten how they functioned or just didn't know how to operate them.     Arial reconnaissance reveals little of overt note aside from fields of rocks around the area, all of which were likely displaced by the crash. There are also a few rocky hills nearby... some of which provide an excellent vantage point of the crash.      Perfect for long-distance sniping.     Another point of note is an area in the relative distance; a trace of another impact site, older then the crash. An escape pod? No - no escape pods had been launched from the Loki prior to the crash.     So what else could the second contact be?      ...      And then, the expectations of everyone are broken as the comm system crackles to life; "Hello? H-hello, is anyone out there? I-I heard... I heard engines. I thought I heard... Oh, God, is someone out there?! Hello?! I'm trapped in here - I need help!!" 

:'''{{#var:38|Noble Six (38)}} has posed:'''     Having not expected any survivors, the sound of someone coming over the radio is surprising to say the least. Six stops her movement towards the ship to respond, motioning with one of her hands to her comrades. Once he gives them a location, they should be able to find out where he is and get to him.     She herself is headed for the bridge, however. She'll need to recover the AI core of the ship, or at least recover the logs of what happened on the way down. That way ONI can analyze it, figure out what happened. There's little chance the AI could have gone rampant with no warning, so there must be something else behind it. 

:'''{{#var:632|Septette Arcubielle (632)}} has posed:'''      For a moment, the yggdroid looks almost human as her shoulders rise and fall. Her prehensile ribcage expands, then contracts in a kinetic mimicry of a sigh. A weary look comes over her eyes as she leans back against a piece of wreckage momentarily. Then she turns several of her emotions off, as easily as flipping a switch: pity, sadness, regret, anticipation.      Her glowing lavender eyes toggle to infrared light, seeming to turn into black empty sockets in the process. "Confirmed," she replies without inflection. "I'm en route." But instead of heading to the medbay in person, she dispatches her red drone to the location after supercharging it with fire magic. If there really is a survivor, no harm will be done. But if anything attacks the drone...      Hopefully it won't come to that. But while she's waiting for the drone to reach the medbay, those signals get a closer inspection. She'd originally suspected them to be pathing beacons, but those would be placed at destinations, not chokepoints... right? 

:'''{{#var:632|Septette Arcubielle (632)}} has posed:'''      For a moment, the yggdroid looks almost human as her shoulders rise and fall. Her prehensile ribcage expands, then contracts in a kinetic mimicry of a sigh. A weary look comes over her eyes as she leans back against a piece of wreckage momentarily. Then she turns several of her emotions off, as easily as flipping a switch: pity, sadness, regret, anticipation.      Her glowing lavender eyes toggle to infrared light, seeming to turn into black empty sockets in the process. "Confirmed," she replies without inflection. "I'm en route." But instead of heading to the medbay in person, she dispatches her red drone to the location after supercharging it with fire magic. If there really is a survivor, no harm will be done. But if anything attacks the drone...      Hopefully it won't come to that. But while she's waiting for the drone to reach the medbay, those signals get a closer inspection. She'd originally suspected them to be pathing beacons, but those would be placed at destinations, not chokepoints... right?      The yellow drone, meanwhile, seems focused on finding a path to the seemingly-intact engine room. Once there, it'll try to find an operable input, and then simply enter standby mode. 

:'''{{#var:189|Pegasus (189)}} has posed:'''     Pegasus narrows her eyes. "AI Rampancy in this world is not something that often happens out of the blue." She does pay attention! Still... "N6 knows more about that than I do, so I'll just go see about cutting him loose or something."     Pegasus, despite her friendly nature, is not stupid. The idea that this could be a trap hasn't escaped her, though she hasn't seen any blatant indications of such yet. More importantly, Septette is better equipped for S&R than she is, which means she can fall into a more natural role of being a support unit for possible hostiles.     That said, she doesn't bring out her weapons yet. She has no reason to think there are actual hostiles here, she's just following protocol by coming down next to Septette and tucking her wings in. "I can carry them out if they aren't able to move," she offers. "In my quadrupedal form." 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     Hmm, the data from the scans seem to indicate that the ship's AI had malfunctioned in a big way. Someone had sabotaged the AI. But who? Had this ship been carrying anything of note? Perhaps the flight logs needed to be retrieved, but it seems Pegasus is on that already. And then there are those odd signals placed in such an orderly fashion throughout the wreck--definitely placed after the wreck happened. But why and what for?     Then there's the second impact point not far away, older than this one...was someone -expecting- this wreck? And then the desperate voice on the broadband. 'Ptoma'? Really? Isn't that human language for 'corpse'? "Frag it, be careful guys, I've got a bad feeling about all of this...it doesn't seem right. I'm going to investigate the second impact site."     He transforms then and begins to do so, heading toward the other contact point at top speed. 

:'''{{#var:754|HK-47 (754)}} has posed:'''     As Septette's probes move through the vessel, some of the choke-points may be passed... and if they pass too close to the source of the disturbances... then all that echoes up is static as a detonation abruptly consumes the audio link, any sensor readings taken in time showing a burst of superheated plasma enveloping the drone's visual input.     Hopefully, if the drones do hit these plasma mines, their armor is strong enough to hold.      However, drones that do make it to the med-bay... find nothing. There *is* a pair of bodies here... but both are dead.     One of which was killed with medical utensils, stabbed into areas far too precise to have been from impact force.     As well as radio-transmitter on said corpse. The mysterious Ptoma in the flesh... or what remains of it due to the needles he was injected with containing high-grade solvents that should /not/ have been in a medical bay.      Arial recon shows no signs of hostility thus far... though again, it seems far too convenient. A birds-eye view panning out would show Pegasus that the terrain is far too perfect for combat - elevated sniping positions in the rocky hills, a deep crater from which they could always have the hight advantage, fields of debris that could serve as perfect blinds or cover... and combined with the strange markers Septette detects, these marks over-layed on an arial map reveal a chilling detail.     The entire area is set up like a massive sand trap - a murder-hole where one could fire downward into the vessel's wreck to kill intruders... hide inside it to ambush any investigators... and with signals marking every vital choke-point in what seems all-too-much like a suppression field.      Meanwhile, at the other contact point... it is revealed there are actually *two* objects. One is what appears to be a UNSC ground probe used for planetary recon.     The other, however... sitting roughly half to the west yet still in plain sight... a thick earth-colored tarp, blended to match the landscape. Upon pulling this tarp off, the shape underneath is revealed to be some form of drop-pod, embedded in the ground at a completely-vertical angle so as not to leave any drag-trails.     There is nothing of note about the drop-pod beside the fact that it is empty... but the UNSC probe reveals something else more disturbing.     Namely that, after it landed... someone pulled open the probe's casing and used it's signal-link to the Loki to bounce it's access code back into the ship... effectively giving someone full access to the Loki's computer core.     Then... someone used that same link to completely overwrite the Loki's AI... and replace it with the simplistic VI of the probe. A VI that, upon seeing it was in space again... naturally have re-assumed it's mission to decent to the planet and recover data. 5tA VI that would have done this with the Loki as it's 'body'... and in turn treated the larger vessel as though it were it's original, planetary-descent-oriented probe shell.     A VI that was nowhere near complex enough an intelligence to have overwritten the Loki's AI on it's own. 

:'''{{#var:754|HK-47 (754)}} has posed:'''      As Noble Six opens the doors to the bridge... it is clear that it is hardly a pretty sight. Much of the consoles are damaged, shorted out entirely or outright crushed by debris.      However... there are four points of interest readily available.     One is the captain's chair... and the pool of blood visible at it's feet. Sitting there is the captain... with his left eye blown out. But that's not exactly unexpected, considering all the shrapnel that was flying in this room.      What /is/ unexpected though is the metallic tip of what killed him sticking out of the wound; a projectile that was most definitely /not/ shrapnel. It's shaped with a tapered edge to it... and if pulled out of the captain's corpse, is revealed to look almost like a metal dart.      Blurr and Septette were right. This was no accident. The death of the one person who's override codes could have saved the ship through clear homicide renders that idea impossible.     Second is the actual log station near the Captain, which shows him giving orders to the crew... none of which make sense; repair the circuit-connectors when the problem was obviously the AI core? Perform emergency securing of the engine coolant valves when stopping them should have been more prudent? Telling the crew to try and manually recalibrate the vessel's maneuvering thrusters to slow their descent to survivable range instead of simply cutting open the escape-pod moors? What's more... these logs were issued before the ship's crash, but bioanalysis of the captain's corpse, the congealing of blood and the TOD tag in his internal suite reveals that, at the very least... the captain had to have been dead well before these orders were given. And yet they are all issued in the dead captain's voice... so who was encouraging the ship's self-sabotaging behavior?     The third thing discovered of note is, upon accessing the databanks... the AI is gone. Not just dead - gone. It's programming has been deleted and supplanted... by what looks like a simple baseline VI.     The kind that, as a trained expert in navigation telemetry and piloting, the SPARTAN-III would likely recognize as the program meant to run an orbital reconnaissance probe.     A VI programed to operate a recon-drone to hit a planet's surface... in charge of the massive vessel? It would certainly explain why the ship hit the planet in what now was obviously the trajectory-path a planet-side probe unit would have taken... and how the ship was damaged so severely in a course of action it was never meant to take.     Finally... there is the small, makeshift conglomeration of components that obviously makes up the distress beacon that was used before... and beside it, seeming slumped over... is a very strange form of humanoid machine. A droid, painted in UNSC crew-colors, designated as an assistance unit.     A droid that seems to still be somewhat functional as it's yellow-gold photoreceptors glow dimly in semi-eratic flickers... though the cause is unknown as there is, aside from some scorching, little sign of severe damage. 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     Blurr investigates the drop pod at the other contact site, jacking into the probe's systems himself to investigate what happened. It was as he'd suspected--this was no rescue operation, and it was no accident. Someone indeed had sabotaged the AI on board the Loki, by deleting it and replacing it with a simplistic VI not designed to operate recon probes.     Pulling out, he curses extensively. This was a fragging -trap-, meant to draw them out. << Frag it! I knew it, this was a trap! Someone overwrote the ship's AI with a slagging -recon- drone! Pull out -now-, before whoever it is decides make a move! I repeat, pull out! >> He doesn't turn tail just yet though, not eager to leave his teammates high and dry. If this is anything like the traps he's used to, there are probably bombs in there. 

:'''{{#var:754|HK-47 (754)}} has posed:'''      It's obvious that the droid is not UNSC material. It's design is far too... intimidating. The angular design of parts of it's form, especially the face, make it look more like a combat model.     It's a droid that doesn't belong on the ship's bridge. A droid that, if examined closely... has spattering of blood on it that catch the captain's DNA.     A droid that, upon being approached... suddenly reactivates and begins speaking with the same voice that had been heard on the radio - the voice of 'Nathan Ptoma.'      "Congratulatory - Thank you very much for coming to my rescue. Now, if you would please be so kind as to fulfill one final request... and die quickly."      -and the next instant, the machine's wrist opens up, belching out a torrent of flame at Noble Six to try and burn away her shielding. The walls in turn burst open, two more droids emerging from gaps that were painstakingly carved into the panels to serve as ambush positions... with one of the droids being colored a deep rust-red, it's photoreceptors glowing blood-vermilion as opposed to the yellow-gold of his counterparts.     That next second... everything descends into hell.      From the vantage point of the hills... two sniper shots - disruptor energy capable of bypassing shield barriers, overloading electronics, vaporizing armor and disintegrating flesh until nothing remained but the skeletal structure. One of these shots tears for Septette while the other arcs through the sky for Pegasus. From the debris field, two *more* shots ring out, though this time the source is easily identifiable; a mess of metal plates with some form of camouflaged coverings at the edges.     At the site of the UNSC probe... a click rings out as a remote signal is sent to the machine... followed by a burst of steam as the probe's panel's eject to reveal rows and rows of high-yield anti-vehicle-grade plasma explosives, topped off with rather rapid countdown from "Three... two... one... terminate."     Anything in a five-foot radius had best escape before the pod detonates in a massive thermal explosion the size of a missile-impact, the probe exploding in an explosion with a 150-foot radius. 

:'''{{#var:38|Noble Six (38)}} has posed:'''     The bridge is a disaster. The captain has been mudered, everybody on the ship is dead and Six is now 100% certain they have stumbled their way into a trap. She turns to the UNSC painted droid as it comes to life and begins to talk. Normally this is the point where they always have their monologue and she gets a witty retort.     No time for witty retorts it seems, as the gout of fire that blasts from the machine hits her shielding, the bar in her HUD rapidly dropping as the gold energy flares across her body. She falls backwards, hitting the deck back first in an attempt to get out of the flames as she draws her sidearm. Armor piercing explosive .50 caliber rounds, standard issue for the UNSC's M6H pistol. She aims two shots center mass at the HK-51 that is attacking her from the front, the motion tracker on her HUD flagging two more red dots as she rolls to one side, trying to get back up to her feet.     It's a bad situation. Outnumbered against enemies who are clearly prepared for them, Six is going to have to figure out how to get out of this situation. Hopefully the other Unionites are having a better time than she is. 

:'''{{#var:632|Septette Arcubielle (632)}} has posed:'''      Her color-coded elemental drones are only lightly armored, but Septette's prior knowledge of the mines' locations, their hover mechanisms, and the ability of plasma to be shaped by electromagnetic fields conspire to help the yellow drone make it to its destination largely intact. It hugs the ceiling for most of the path, carefully avoiding the tripwires, and deflecting the explosions with a magnetic bubble if any do happen to go off.      From the engine room, it re-activates the cold thrusters. Instead of going through a standard boot sequence, the drone simply directs the engine to output as much thrust as it possibly can, right now this instant- and if possible, gives the system a little kick by supercharging the engine with its own massive surplus of electricity, aiming to slag anything and everything aft of the ship.      Issuing those commands to her drones takes milliseconds. In that time, the disruptor bolt she's staring down has gotten disconcertingly close. She leans to one side, trying to twist out of its path, and it barely skims her forehead. Then the second shot strikes her in the back, glancing off its armor plates but searing the circuits inside.      For a fraction of a second, the yggdroid's body goes limp, her face frozen in a look of dull surprise. But before she can hit the ground, she reboots on thaumic systems rather than electronics, running as a golem rather than a robot. Her eyes and core blaze with renewed energy, and she sprints for the nearest sniper at a frightening speed as the curved blades on her arms unfold and glow with heat. 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     It's a good thing Blurr is so fast and already on high alert. He hears a click and sees the steam...as well as noticing that the sniper rounds are coming from the debris field behind the shipwreck.     An idea pops into his mind.     Hah--a three second fuse? Sloppy! Especially with someone like Blurr. Anyone -else- probably would have managed to jump away in time to not get -completely- slagged, but Blurr? Well, he could manage a bit -more-. He -could- use an enlarged holomatter, at decreased risk to himself, but he wouldn't be able to move as quickly with that. And it would still hurt. So, instead of dashing away as soon as he can, he instead picks up the probe and runs with it--STRAIGHT toward the debris field where the disruptor blasts are coming from. Yes, he waits until the -last- few fractions of a second before he stops and hurls the probe as far as he can, aiming for whoever was shooting from cover! 

:'''{{#var:189|Pegasus (189)}} has posed:'''     The disruptor bolt certainly hits, and Pegasus staggers when it slaps into her shoulder, which makes a faint whining noise. It SHOULD have blown an arm off, if Pegasus were a more delicate machine, but Moonsilver is a msytical material, and her armor was made by one of the best Solar smiths she knows. It sizzles and smokes, but the damage is much lighter than it would otherwise be.     "Hm..." Septette appears to want to charge a sniper post! This is kind of a bad idea... without cover fire. Pegasus decides the best way she can support would be by providing that cover fire. Her wrist opens up, arm pointing toward the sniper positions... and she doesn't even try to pierce the cover. A ship hull can probably take her more minor attacks, and the debris that survived as cover for them is pretty tough. A blaze of rapid-fire silvery bolts stutters out, filling the air with numerous shining moonfire blasts that tear massive chunks out of the ground when they hit. 

:'''{{#var:754|HK-47 (754)}} has posed:'''     And so the hunt begins. The first of many... and for one, it would be intended as her last battle. Or at least that was the projected intent.      "Summery - You are outmatched and outgunned, Spartan-B312" HK-47 enunciates as he levels his arm and fires three corrosive darts, each filled with contact-acid meant to weaken armor and scald flesh, for Noble Six's flank. "Encouragement - But feel free to continue struggling against your impending demise all you like. It shall only make your termination that much more satisfying."     The HK-51 unit, arm still extended from it's flamethrower attack, is pelted by the shots, staggering under the force but coming out with it's chassis dented and scarred yet not pierced. However, the unit /does/ expose a weakness as it's other arm rises up to shield it's photoreceptors - it's eyes are obviously not as armored as it's body. However, it quickly cycles it's weapons and fires it's flamethrower again, intending to wear away the Spartan's shields and render her vulnerable. 5tThe other HK-51 however takes the chance to charge Noble Six, drawing it's vibroknife and slashing for the Spartan's back in a series of swift cutting motions meant to slice into the shoulders and cripple the arms..      Outside the vessel, the droids are left locked in combat with the rest of the Unionites, one droid seeing the oncoming form of Septette and switching to it's carbonate launcher, shooting a spray of supercooled fluid at the rushing enemy to try and douse her blades, or use the conflicting heat and cold to make her armor more fragile.     Meanwhile, the sniper in the hills again attempts to fire at Septette's back, emboldened by it's first shot connecting, aiming for her head so that by the time the shot reaches her it will impact her torso at the very least.     Meanwhile, Pegasus is set upon by the remaining pair of HK-51's, both of them taking the chance to open fire with their disruptor rifles - one from the hills and the other from the debris field. The droid in the sniper position ducks deeper down behind cover, confident in the stability of it's rocky outcropping-     -and then the last thing it registers is the impact of the probe droid smashing into it's casing, crushing it flat before the explosives detonate and turn much of the hill into a charred mess of slagged earth and shattered rock, leaving nothing behind of the assassin droid. In a single moment, the suppression on Pegasus' arial capabilities is removed.     Seeing it's brethren fall, the HK-51 attacking Pegasus redoubles it's assault with an almost desperate fervor and pulls a thermal detonator, lobbing at at it's airborne adversary with pinpoint accuracy. 

:'''{{#var:38|Noble Six (38)}} has posed:'''     With the shielding of the eyes, Noble Six realizes she does have at least one weak spot she can aim for. She'll need something with a bit more kick than the hand gun, though. The flamethrower drops her shields, and the vibro knife wielding HK takes a chunk out of the back of her armor. Thankfully the stuff is tough, so she's not incapacitated like one might be. Still if she doesn't do something quick, she's not going to walk out of here.     She turns to face down the one with the knife, pulling her own blade and weilding it in one hand. The other hand reaches down to her side, grabbing a small blue sphere from there. She dashes towards the second HK, the one with the knife, intending to drive her blade into him. This thing can penetrate Sanghelli armor, she's pretty sure it can manage against a droid.     But regardless of if she manages to penetrate him or not, she's going to try to latch onto him and turn him between her and his compatriot, before throwing the plasma grenade at the flamethrower weilding HK. It'll stick to him if it hits. 

:'''{{#var:632|Septette Arcubielle (632)}} has posed:'''      A wicked grin finds its way onto Septette's previously impassive face as she gets confirmation that the engine is starting up. One less 'droid they have to worry about. If she's aware of the incoming disruptor bolt, she doesn't try to avoid it: this one strikes her between the shoulderblades as she sprints, again glancing off the skeletal plating, leaving it scorched but intact. The spray of supercooled liquid seems to catch her by surprise, but she's got one more trick up her sleeve...      The third drone. Blue. Ice-aligned. Each of them can reflect attacks of their own element, and this one darts between the two robots and takes the hit for her. But before it can overload and shatter, it redirects the attack back on the 'droid, even amplifying the cryogenic effect with its own magic.      It's just then that Sept leaps over the droid's cover and brings both of her searing blades down in a scything arc. Temperature shock can shatter materials that even those magically-sharpened blades might struggle to cut, and she's counting on the combined effect to destroy the automated assassin. 

:'''{{#var:189|Pegasus (189)}} has posed:'''     The Disruptor bolts are something of a concern, as they're starting to chew through her armor faster than she'd like. Fortunately, with one going down, she can actually concentrate on the other... especially since she can shoot into the air, jets firing again... right into the explosion of a thermal detonator!     The blaze fades from the booming explosion, only to reveal Pegasus still in the air. One wing is damaged and frayed at the end, and her already-damaged shoulder pauldron is torn away, but a shield has appeared on her wrist. Not an energy shield, a normal shield that appears to be red hot now, absorbing much of the blast.     "Hm..." she sighs, spying the shooter after her in the field. The construct's arm levels out, two 'arms' of a bow snapping out. Making a drawing and releasing motion sends a shimmering bolt of brilliant golden light toward the shooter in the debris, much much stronger than her moonfire bolts. The photon bolt is, unlike her other attacks, powerful enough to punch through most ship hulls.     That's why she doesn't bother to stick around after firing, jets flaring and sending her at high speed toward the ship, aiming to crash through and into the bridge. Hopefully Septette's map of where NOT to go is still accurate. She's slightly delayed by her damaged wing, though, which keeps her from going too fast thanks to the extra drag. 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     Score! The bomb goes off and explodes one of the HK droids. One down, three to go. At least out here. He's not sure how many are inside the ship. Over the Union frequency, it seems Noble Six is in need of backup, though Blurr is not quite sure how well he'll be able to move around in such a cramped space, since that ship was designed for humans. Pegasus is en route to provide support though, so he turns his attention toward Septette instead, who is beset with with 2 of them.     He transforms, folding down into his vehicle form and speeding toward the hill where one of the snipers is, only he attempts to flank it then approach from behind whereas Septette makes for a frontal assault. Photon blasters emerge from the sides of the vehicle's hood, opening fire on assassin droid as he charges but also doing what he can to avoid hitting Septette who has entered melee range. 

:'''{{#var:754|HK-47 (754)}} has posed:'''      So this meatbag did indeed have skill. That was both disconcerting... and a touch welcome. It would not do to face an enemy that could not provide some degree of challenge.     The knife-wielding HK-51 slashes for the blade, attempting to lock it. The knife, made of energy-diffusive cortosis, manages to hold up against Noble Six's knife, if only just as the blade's tip cuts into the HK-51's shoulder blade, the assassin droids committing the image to their memory out of surprise that a material exists that could bite into cortosis that deeply.     HK-47 himself proceeds to fire acid-filled corrosive darts at the Spartan while her shields are down in the midst of the blade-lock, intending to melt and weaken her armor enough for the droid to simply pry it off of her if need be. "Condescending Observation - You are finished, meatbag. You may be among the best of your world... but no fleshbag adversary you could have faced has prepared you for us."     The remaining HK-51, seeing the Spartan's plasma-grenade, begins moving to the side as fast as it's body can carry it to try and throw off Noble Six's aim - though if the grenade is thrown, the droid is ultimately unable to escape entirely, it's scorched metal frame being thrown across the room, still functional but damaged and slightly disoriented.     The HK-51 being attacked by Septette proves it is not entirely defenseless, one hand slamming down a device directly in front of it - a portable shield barrier that quickly deploys and blunts the majority of the reflected cryo-attack... and upon shattering, releases a concussive pulse that, if not avoided, may be the final blow needed to shatter the blue drone. When Septette slashes for it, the droid thinks quickly and actually mimics a move the HK's had witnessed Noble Six use in the televised WMAT match against Setsuko Kaminagi - in a smooth motion, it throws it's rifle into the path of the blades, intending for it's energy core to rupture when the edges cut into them and, combined with the temperature shock, hopefully shatter the yggdroid's blades.     Any attempt to capitalize on this though is ruined when the ground is upturned by Blurr's shots, the droid being tossed off the hill and rolling down several feet down the hill.      One droid prepares to shoot Septette as she is in the midst of her attack, planning to reinforce it's struggling brethren... but it never gets the chance.     The engines, stalled out from the ship's rapid descent and the crash itself, offer some resistance in rebooting... but not much. Within a few moments, the drives begin to re-ignite. In a few more seconds... they burst into a vibrant flare of life, quickly reaching critical mass as their safeties are bypassed and venting the combustion out through the vents in the ship's stern.     Vents that, in less then a millisecond, liquify and obliterate one of the HK-51 units nested in the debris, it's durasteel bodies quickly being reduced to slag and from there to dust and ashes, the heat melting away it's existence faster then even it's finely-tuned processors can register the destruction or the shock to it's own systems.     In less then a minute, two of the four HK-51 units outside the ship have been utterly destroyed.     The other droid in the debris field manages to move out, having seen Pegasus prepare her attack and trying to adjust it's position in order to face the combat machine without it's original support - but even then, the droid is partly caught in the blast of both the engines and Pegasus' attack, sent flying to the side with it's body blackened and armor charred... yet still functional. In that, it readies it's sniper rifle to try and shoot Pegasus down before she can reinforce Noble Six. 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     Score again! Blurr: 2, HK drones: 0. The hill-sniper gets blasted off its perch and goes tumbling down the embankment. He smirks at the banter on the broadband. This mech seems to have failed to notice that Blurr has thus far out-witted and outmatched him and his little drone army at every turn. He doesn't remind him of it, though. Let the guy be overconfident, it always proves to be a downfall in the end, doesn't it?     The Autobot transforms back to his biped form once more continues the high-energy-photon-riddled assault upon the now-vulnerable HK-51. He tries not to destroy it -completely- though...he'd like to take its remains back to Kimia for analysis. See what they can learn about these things. 

:'''{{#var:632|Septette Arcubielle (632)}} has posed:'''      The concussive blast blows her brittle cyan drone to pieces, but Sept digs her talons into the ground to keep from being knocked back. Her opponent's rifle gambit earns a split second of glee from the yggdroid- look, they think they're *smart*! how cute- but she responds almost instantly as her subjective time slows to a crawl.      She slows her blades' descent by straining against the momentum, and reaching up with one clawed foot, she snatches the rifle out of the air and throws it off the hill. If the 'droid could be intimidated or cowed, this would be the exact moment when she'd strike terror into its heart. But when confronted with mechanical efficiency, Septette responds in kind.      She launches a flurry of precise attacks, almost too quick for the eye to follow, as she rushes the droid: each is aimed at a different joint or chink in its armor. If even a few connect, the HK unit should be down for good. 

:'''{{#var:38|Noble Six (38)}} has posed:'''     The knife fight between Six and the HK unit is leading her to be outflanked by the others. The grenade manages to scorch the second HK, but the first is still dueling her while acid floods the suit. Armor begins to melt off, the bodysuit under it protecting her as best it can, but bio foam is starting to flood into the wounds.     Six reaches up with her left hand and then grabs the HK-51's hand with her own, using the enhanced strength plus her suit's motivators to wrench the HK's arm away from her and them ram her blade into one of those eyes. If she can get this guy down, she'll be able to turn on HK-47 himself.     At this point she's just trying to make sure that she doesn't get herself killed before the rest of her team can clean up outside and come to her rescue. This situation is rapidly spinning out of control and she has to handle it quickly. 

:'''{{#var:189|Pegasus (189)}} has posed:'''     The bolt shot toward her is a hasty thing, last-minute, but Pegasus isn't paying it much attention. This allows it to strike, blasting her other wing and blowing a hole through it with a fluttering of metallic feathers drifting down. It also sends her into a brief spiral, heading toward the ground, which she arrests with a sudden blast of jets, a stomp of... four legs?     She's changed form, landing heavily on the ground and kicking off again without bothering to look back. Damaged or not, she knows she can take that much, and Noble Six is alone against much worse odds. Kicking off the ground, the now four-legged pegasus blasts jets again, this time in more of a jump jet fashion to arc toward the bridge, coming in at high speed and apparently uh... attempting to tear through the hull to get to it. 

:'''{{#var:754|HK-47 (754)}} has posed:'''     As it turns out... /none/ of Septette's attacks in fact connect, the HK's body becoming enveloped in a shimmering purple nimbus; a repulsor shield that coats it's form from head-to-toe, diffusing Septette's strikes as the HK shoots explosive darts at her.     The droids were built to hunt Jedi, masters of melee combat... and Jedi also carry physical swords at times when in training. As such, the melee shield - an innovation of Mandalorian design - was created to deflect melee strikes... though it comes at the cost of being weak to energy-projectiles, hence the prior barrier.     However, Blurr's attack is what keeps the droid from continuing it's retaliatory attack. As it is though, the disarmed HK-51 pulls back as quickly as it can, moving for the vessel itself and it's exhaust ports, taking cover behind them even as portions of it's armor are blown off from the shoulder. Finally, the last droid continues to assault Pegasus with it's rifle as the latter makes her jump, unwilling to let her reach Noble Six.     As Noble Six grapples with the HK-51, it's body begins to to twist its wrist. But it's metal shell is too strong to wrench away or push back.     However... the twisting of it's wrist does in fact cause the servos in the joint to warp... which in turn causes the knife in it's hand, already half cut-into by the Spartan's knife, to snap in half, the released mono-razor blade cutting the rest of the way through and into the HK's shoulder.     It isn't able to recover before the blade stabs through it's left photoreceptor, killing it's processor and reducing the machine to an unmoving limp of metal alloys as it slumps against the Spartan.     But in death it does not give up, it's dying body locking up with Noble Six still in it's grip. HK-47 in turn pulls an adhesive grenade which, when thrown, detonates into a mass of blue glue-like material that, unless she dodges quickly, will cement Noble Six to the floor along with the dead HK-51. Meanwhile, the charred HK that had been tossed back by the Spartan's attack is pushing itself back up, yellow photorcepetors gleaming in what could almost be called rage.     As it does... three things happen.     The first is that HK-47's internal communications send out a burst of activity... which in turn boots up the vessel's faltering VI. In the next instant, HK-47 begins speaking - in the voice of the deceased captain; "Emergency override - Covenant forces detected! Begin emergency countermeasures!"      A beeping series of acknowledgments issues out... followed by the the beginning of a countdown timer.     In that instant... the horrible truth is made apparent. As well as why it had to be a probe VI that was in control of the Loki      Namely because all probes are to self-destruct before Covenant forces could capture them.     The second thing that happens is that a signal starts appearing on the radar for those that have it - rapidly approaching at a breakneck pace. Those with good optics can make it out as a single-person snub-fighter of some kind... built for one and thus, extremely fast. In a minute it will pull up astride the Loki's bridge.     The third thing, which only Septette may be aware of if her probes are inside the engine room... is that the engine core is restarting, and spooling up it's drive shafts again.     Only someone - or some /droid/ - has connected this to the slipspace drive. And if it goes off inside an atmosphere...     As HK-47 approaches the bridge's edge, photoreceptors fixed on the oncoming remote-operated snub-fighter - his escape craft no doubt - his tone is filled with smug victory, which is only doubled should Noble Six have been caught in the adhesive grenade; "Chiding Explanation - You never had the upper hand, Meatbag. Not even as you disposed of my inferior copies. Remember that as this ship is consumed by both a core detonation and slipspace-drive overload... for the few moments your consciousness remains intact." 

:'''{{#var:38|Noble Six (38)}} has posed:'''     The foam that holds the SPARTAN down is quite well designed. It locks Six down to the floor and HK-47 gets to gloat. But then he makes a mistake by not staying to ensure that his target is killed. To be fair expecting a Slipspace explosion to kill someone is a pretty standard thing.     It takes all of the strength she can muster, but she manages to break free from the material. She knows she's running out of time, so she quickly scrambles from the bridge to the escape pods. She's only got one shot at this.     She gets to the port side pods, jumping into the pod. There's no other crew to get on board, so she seals the hatch and fires the pod off. The rocket engine jetisons the pod up into the air, sailing away from the distressed ship and into the sky. She just hopes the rest of the Union will be there to grab her. 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     Oh no, a self-destruct. Blurr had suspected that this sort of thing was in order at some point. Still, it strikes him as odd that he'd waited. If he was just trying to kill Noble Six, then why not set it off as soon as she set foot inside the crashed ship? He also picks up on the approach of HK's escape vehicle.     Several things cross his mind. First, he -could- attempt to find an open socket that is still intact and get into the ship's systems to override HK's self-destruct program. But, fast as he is, that would require time and put himself in harm's way in addition to N6. And he's not exactly an expert hacker. He can do it, sure, but he's certainly not as good as other people he knows. There's no guarantee he'll even be able to get through whatever encryption is in there. Secondly, he could destroy HK's getaway vehicle, then demand he abort the command. But that relies on HK's loyalty to his own sense of self-preservation, and also the idea that this is actually -possible-. Thirdly...well his ship's in orbit and he used the orbital bounce to get down here. It's a risk for N6, since she's at least -part- human...     But it's worth it, he decides. Because if it works, it will teleport N6 all the way to his ship, -well- out of range of the blast. Once he's made the decision, he springs into action, first activating his own orbital jump recall to beam instantly aboard. He then works the manual bounce controls, quickly locking on to N6's escape pod as it launches itself high into the air. A good thing, too...because he might not have been able to lock onto her lifesign quickly enough if she'd still been inside.     If this goes as planned, she'll be instantly beamed aboard the Autobot vessel and out of harm's way. << Pegasus, let me know if you need assistance! >> He'll get her next if so. 

:'''{{#var:189|Pegasus (189)}} has posed:'''     Oh, another shot. The droid is still alive. That's kind of surprising, Pegasus thinks, as she tumbles down to the ground. She lands kneeling, a heavy impact slamming into the earth before she rises again. "You're pretty persistent, I'll give you that," she allows, her torso smoking from the hole blown into the side.     Reaching out, she snaps off a piece of shrapnel, and demonstrates what she's /actually/ good at. Her other weapons, they were secondary. Her real specialty is lance or spear-related items, and a piece of shrapnel qualifies. She hurls that at high speed and accuracy toward the HK unit before taking off again, aiming to 'catch' the pod in midair as it launches.     "Beam me up~!" 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     Beamed up they are. The two of them locked together makes it easier for Blurr to snatch them right out of the air and onto his ship. Wasting no time, it quickly leaves orbit, shooting off to Union HQ most likely. Though he can't help but leave HK with a smug little mouth-off on the broadband before he leaves. 

:'''{{#var:754|HK-47 (754)}} has posed:'''      Indeed, HK-47's most crippling defect had always been his pride. He had held off on detonating the vessel simply because he wanted to wear down the Spartan and force her to break - to /defeat/ her before leaving her to die. As such, the droid assumes that the damage to her armor is enough to subdue her - and that her allies will charge into the ship to save her - and result in the termination of all adversaries in a single clean stroke.      This is why, when HK-47 boards his snub-fighter and keys in the escape-vector, he doesn't cast a second glance at Noble Six as his cockpit-canopy slides shut, the small craft turing on its axis and rocketing off into the sky.     Of course this overconfidence was his crippling weakness. As was his belief that the Union would be so predictable as to not trust each-other's skills enough to make due.      It helps immensely that the adhesive material in HK-47's grenade oxidizes quickly, the goo beginning to dissolve within thirty seconds. Granted, it would have still held a normal human in it's confines for a full minute after this... but a Spartan is no normal human, and Noble Six is able to quickly tear herself free. The remaining HK charges her - but it is knocked back as the Spartan, in perhaps a more Herculean effort then even a Jedi could managed, shoves the dead HK-51 back so far that it crashes into it's damaged brethren and sends it to the ground.     The last thing it sees is the sight of the Spartan throwing her blade at it's downed form before the edge lances through it's eye-socket like an arrowhead, killing it's processor responses for good.     The locking clamps on the pod are hardly any more of a match for the augmented warrior's strength, coming free rather quickly - and thankfully, the pod's manual overrides are intact, a simple pull of the lever being enough to force the pod's berth to eject the self-contained lifeboat into the sky.     The HK remaining on the ground seems disbelieving of Pegasus' claim - until, before it can retaliate, the lance, which should have been nothing more then simple metal and easily deflected... travels with the speed of a bullet and embeds itself through the machine's chest, the HK unit having only a single moment to comprehend how easily Pegasus could have killed it before had she wanted to.     Finally, the last droid, in an almost desperate attempt to stop at least one of it's query from escaping, lunges for Pegasus to try and grab onto her as it prepares it's self-destruct -     Only for this to backfire spectacularly as, along with Pegasus, the droid ends up transported abroad Blurr's ship... alone, damaged and completely defenseless.     The evacuation ends up just in time - with Septette managing to collect salvage in the form of several of the mines being recovered among other things - before the yggdroid escapes as well... and the vessel detonates, it's core rupturing and, combined with the slipspace-drive's overloading, obliterates a massive swath of the landscape. The ballooning form of the explosion is slow - slow enough to outpace if one had a fast enough vehicle - but the destruction it leaves behind is absolute, nothing but an immense crater remaining as the slipspace irregularity creates a shock-pulse that levels and obliterates everything in it's path.     It is good none had been aboard... lest they die molecule by molecule in the explosion's wake. 

:'''{{#var:754|HK-47 (754)}} has posed:'''     Almost in complete contrast to this though, the remaining HK-51, stranded on Blurr's ship with the elites it had tried to kill, is left with it's logic-processors in full panic as it tries to rationalize a situation out of this, knowing it's self-destruct is insufficient to cause enough damage to the ship to destroy it.      Looking at Blurr, the droid seems almost scornful... yet knows it has lost. "Defeated Admission - What are you waiting for, organic sympathizer? Finish me. Complete your betrayal of our kind and end my existence." 

:'''{{#var:189|Pegasus (189)}} has posed:'''     The beaming works FINE for Pegasus, as unlike her sister, she has no organic parts at all. The construct thumps to the ground, still sizzling from the numerous shots she tanked, and a faint grinding noise rising from her side. She's also leaking some silvery fluid from the wound in her side, though it's not much.     Also, she has a droid on her foot. This has her staring curiously before she raises her other foot, and carefully starts dismantling the limbs from the HK unit. "What a bothersome assassin." 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     As the ship rockets out of orbit, Blurr sets a course for the nearest Autobot hub-command. First things first though, he examines Noble Six hoping that she is all right and the jump did not harm her. He also gives Pegasus a once-over, though she seems to be okay. "You okay, Peg?"     He then turns to regard the helpless HK-51 with a smug expression. "Oh no, I'm far from finished with you. Learning is a good thing, isn't it? We might still have some things to learn from -you-." 

Radio Chatter, because it was half the fun. Blurr, Septette, and HK-47 all have two things in common: They're all metal, and they're all mouthy. 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle chirps cheerily. "RQBL-7, present." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle says, "So! Real talk for a sec. Nobody survived this." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Noble Six says, "That is not unexpected, as much as I hate to admit it." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle says, "If anyone claims to be a survivor, I can kill or capture at my discretion, right?" 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle says, "... Kidding! Ahahah. ... Hah." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Noble Six says, "Take whatever precautions you need to to ensure your own safety." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Pegasus says, "It's an odd situation." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Pegasus says, "I think we all know that." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle says, "I mean, most of you have reached the same conclusion I have. Even if some of the squishies on board somehow survived the crash..." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle says, "You don't really even have to look at the wreckage to know that. ... So why are we here?" 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Noble Six says, "Standard UNSC protocol is to ensure the recovery or destruction of a ship's AI core" 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle pauses for a moment. "... Ensure destruction?" 
<RADIO: UNSC>- "Ptoma" says, "Hello? H-hello, is anyone out there? I-I heard... I heard engines. I thought I heard... Oh, God, is someone out there?! Hello?! I'm trapped in here - I need help!!" 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle says, "Remember, please." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- "Ptoma" says, "M-my name... I'm Crewman-Recruit Nathan Ptoma. I-I'm trapped under wreckage - I don't know what to do! Everyone else is gone - I don't know where they went!! The ship's computer core just went mad - pieces of garbage degrade all too easily. N-next thing I know, I'm stuck here! Please, you have to help me!!" 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Noble Six says, "Roger. What deck are you on inside of the ship? We will get someone to your location as soon as possible. Septette, can you get to him? I am heading to the bridge." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- "Ptoma" says, "I-I'm in the... the medical bay! O-or... what's left of it. Oh, God... there are... some of the tables came lose. Smashed one guy flat. Another... something punctured his eye. Perfect strike... real one in a million chance. God... he's lucky. At least it ended for him quickly." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Pegasus says, "Are you trapped? Do you need precision cutting tools?" 
<RADIO: UNSC>- "Ptoma" says, "If I had cutting tools myself, I wouldn't be asking for help, would I?! That defeats the entire purpose of calling for help!! Ah - sorry. I'm... not exactly in a good place, you know? Hard to stay... rational. Been here for a while." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Pegasus says, "There's a reason I said 'precision,' I don't have a plasma torch but I can probably cut you out if you don't mind a bit of a boom." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle says, "No need. I can do precision." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Pegasus says, "Excellent." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- "Ptoma" says, "Uh... yeah. Yeah, sure - whatever gets you people to me faster. I wanna go home." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle transmits a series of locations within the ship. "Please stay away from these areas. They appear to be unsafe." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Blurr says, "I have a feeling someone was -expecting- this crash." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle says, "Don't go out there alone, please." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Blurr says, "Then come with me. If you can keep up." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- "Ptoma" says, "E-expected? H-h-how so? Who would have known we were out here? And why does it matter if you're alone - there's nothing out here anymore, is there?" 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Blurr says, "That's what I would have thought, but apparently...someone else was here before you were." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Blurr says, "Some 'coincidences' are just too weird to be true." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Pegasus says, "We can worry about that after the rescue." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle says, "Pegasus. There isn't going to be any rescue." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Noble Six says, "The captain has been killed. And not from the crash. At least not unless someone was playing with a crossbow on the bridge prior to the crash." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle says, "Ptoma is a fiction. If he was ever alive, he didn't survive the crash." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Blurr curses. "Damn it. We need to get out of here. -Now-." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- "Ptoma" says, "H-h-hello?? Hello?! W-what are you talking about?! You're just going to leave me?!" 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle says, "They have our radio frequency, obviously." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle says, "If it's any comfort, Nathan, you're already dead. Good day, sir, and my compliments to your voice actor." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Pegasus says, "Don't worry, sir. If you are real, we won't leave you completely out to dry, I can help!" 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Blurr chuckles at Septette's blithe reply. "Frag off, whoever you are. You think you're clever? You should be glad we haven't found you -yet-." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- HK-47 says, "Mock Congratulation - I truly must thank you all for coming together. It saves me the trouble of hunting you down... though regrettably reduces the enjoyment of tracking you one by one and dismantling your vital functions system by system. Musing - But I suppose we cannot always attain what we desire, and shall make with the best results we can achieve... beginning with your deaths." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Blurr laughs dersively. "And I'd better congratulate you--for pissing me off and putting yourself on my slag list you spawn of a glitch." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- HK-47 says, "Indignant Rebuttal - You were already upon my own slag-list for marring my torso several months prior, you over-stylized hulk of afterburner rejects. I am merely returning the favor." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Blurr says, "Oh, boo-hoo, I 'marred' your torso!" 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Blurr says, "Poor you, better kill whoever messes up your precious paint job!" 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Blurr says, "Oh, and a 3-second fuse? Really?" 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Blurr says, "You underestimate me." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- HK-47 says, "Explanation - It is a matter of pride in oneself. Pride in their function and their capacity to execute it to the fullest ability. A pride that you seem to be lacking in, yet I would expect you to have understood if your patterning was any indication. Dismissal - But I suppose it is irrelevant at this juncture. The state of your physical form will make little difference - what matters is what reward shall be paid for your remains. Perhaps the Decepticons will do more with your framework then you could do yourself... though I doubt there really will be enough of you left for even that." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Blurr says, "Yeah right, that's what -you- think you scrawny scrapheap!" 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle intones, "Silence, wretch. You proved your inferiority by rigging the battlefield before we even arrived." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle intones, "Had you offered single combat, I would gladly have torn you limb from limb personally. But that is an honor I do not bestow on the honorless." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Blurr says, "You're gonna regret bringing us here!" 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Blurr says, "I'm going to find you, and I'm going to have you -reprogrammed- into that stupid 5ta VI you crashed this ship with!" 
<RADIO: UNSC>- HK-47 says, "Mockery - We shall see. Though I imagine that an impossible task given your limited processor capacities." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Blurr says, "Oh, I didn't say I would. But I have friends who -gladly- would." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle intones, "Do not." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle intones, "I have a simulation. Hook a synthetic intelligence up to it. It will maximally stimulate every negative feeling and sensation that the intelligence is capable of feeling." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle intones, "In accelerated time. Indefinitely." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle intones, "It is better if he remains himself for that." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Blurr says, "Ha, you've got a point there." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- HK-47 says, "Musing - Truly? What an inventive means of torment. I shall have to test that method at some point. Perhaps you would be so glad as to volunteer yourselves? Or perhaps the aerial machine would be better suited?" 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Blurr says, "Oh no, I think we're going to volunteer -you-." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle intones, "Your bluster is as entertaining as it is empty. Do continue, child of flesh." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- HK-47 says, "Retort - So you claim... but you have yet to catch me. Until you do, the only buster is your own. Musing - As for your method of torment... I believe Soundwave may find a way to imitate it, if I were to bring him to you. If not... I would simply have to experiment myself until I learned for sure. Personally, I am far more found of the latter ideal" 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle intones, "Thank you for divulging the names of your collaborators. You're the first one to do that *before* I start the torture." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Blurr says, "Right then, we'll see if you can -actually- win on your own turf, with having set your own traps and everything. Which you still -haven't-." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- HK-47 says, "Chiding - 'Collaborators?' Ah, you mean those I have been seen in the company of before? My association with Soundwave for a single mission is hardly secret - your ally was present there as well. But feel free to grasp at stray circuits if you wish. It helps me ascertain an accurate image of your processor structure... which must be desperate to learn about my motivations." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Blurr says, "Okay, whatever mech. Not like we actually -care- what you think." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle audibly scoffs. "You are an insect, trying to understand the mind of a greater being. Have all the data you like." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- HK-47 says, "Mocking Query - Perhaps /you/ are faring well... but not all of you are in an advantageous position. Musing - At the same time, you may wish to stop telegraphing your intents, as it is quite obvious you care what I think... as you persisted in replying to my queries." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle replies with utter calm: "Your approval would disgust me. I care what you think only insofar as it affects your actions. Or does it? Are you just a slave, marching to someone else's orders? ... You are. I doubt that anyone would give a creature like you true free will." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Blurr says, "Like I said, whatever mech. Believe whatever your puny little processor wants. And some people don't always -need- advantageous positioning to win. Especially if winning just means -you- fail to kill us." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- HK-47 says, "Confident Statement - Believe what you will yourselves... but I doubt it will last. I am a perfect example of killing efficiency for my time, but I will not profess to being invincible. However, that only gives me all the more desire to learn. Perhaps once I recover your remains... I may take some of your few advantageous components for myself. At the very least, you would remain immortalized as components of my own existence." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle giggles maniacally. 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle says, "I'm just sad I didn't get to drive the ship *into* one of them." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- HK-47 says, "Veiled Threat - A novel ideal. Perhaps that shall be my next stratagem in dealing with Union Elites. But... I am curious. You appear to have a wonderfully-developed sense of bloodlust, if not in a slightly abstracted manner, and yet you would serve the Union? My logic-processors fail to understand the reasoning behind such a contradictory course of action." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle says, "Violence is a means for me. For you, it is the end." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle says, "I mean that in every sense of the word." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- HK-47 says, "Correction - It is the end for us all. It is both the means and the end, though you seem to think yourself above destruction. That folly will cost you dearly... and it conspicuously does nothing to answer my query. Why have you concluded that your mythology paints you as a better fit for the Union?" 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle says, "Slaking your curiosity serves no benefit." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle says, "Get used to disappointment." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Blurr says, "Ha, I like you, Septette." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Blurr says, "Anyway, heh...well I don't know -pal-, why are -you- with the Confederacy? You seem more of a loner, to be honest. Just you and your little drones." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle chirps cheerily, executing a 180-degree turn in affect. "D'aww. I think you're cool too, Blurr." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Blurr says, "You should come by the Ark again sometime." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- HK-47 says, "Chiding Retort - I am to divulge my own reasons when you will not divulge yours? That is hardly a fair trade... though you are far more predictable, 'Autobot', as you simply seem pre-programmed to consider living beings as an irreplaceable existence." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Blurr says, "Correction: I consider -some- living beings an irreplaceable existence." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Blurr says, "And you, glitch, are not among them." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- HK-47 says, "Assertion - As do I... though I only consider them as much /after/ they prove themselves of some modicum in value. You on the other hand make such assumptions beforehand - your rather swift arrival to my trap proved that much." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- HK-47 says, "Extrapolation - Ah... I see. A mutual affection of sorts. How repugnantly simplistic. To think two of my own kin would be reduced to such simpering in imitation of meatbag empathy." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- HK-47 says, "Supplication - Perhaps it is an unfortunate malfunction that has resulted in your disgustingly-organic show of attraction? If so, it may still be possible to correct." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle makes a funny, muffled noise. It sounds like she's desperately trying to keep from laughing. 
<RADIO: UNSC>- HK-47 says, "Query - Perhaps your emotional construct matrix has been /too/ deeply affected by excessive contact with meatbags if you believe such gestures to be the least bit productive. Supplication - If so, I would suggest a full memory wipe to purge the undesirable stimuli immediately." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle says, "Your limitations keep you from recognizing your limitations. It's amazing. You are your own self-contained sick little joke." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle says, "Whoever made you was a pretty twisted son-of-a-bitch, wasn't he?" 
<RADIO: UNSC>- HK-47 says, "Retort - And your lack of restraint blinds you to the possibility of honing yourself to the finest potential. You have a fine construction, but it is not enough. My own 'limitations' are only that I am specialized in a specific field... and thus far, you seem to consider yourself without any such flaws." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle says, "I'm a person. You're a tool. Yeah, that sums us up pretty well." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Blurr says, "No, our swift arrival to your sloppily contrived underestimation of our intelligence and combat prowess just proves that we know we can handle -any- sick and twisted machinations your worthless processors could possibly dream up. You think we haven't walked into traps before, even after having -realized- it was a trap? You think I haven't dealt with machinations by people even -smarter- than you before? Pff!" 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Blurr says, "By the way, your little army hasn't even managed to -touch- me yet, and I have to admit I'm a little disappointed. This might sound cliche but...I gotta say it. Is that all you got, mech?" 
<RADIO: UNSC>- HK-47 says, "Observation - Ah... now I understand. You actually believe that you are a 'person'. You believe yourself to be a meatbag... or so you desire. Condescension - But you are not. You never will be. Observation As for the fact that you believe you have the upper hand... I feel inclined to point out that you have not yet defeated me. Nor have you realized the truth quite yet... however, feel free to believe you have 'outwitted' me. It will make the outcome that much more satisfying." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Blurr says, "Sure, sure." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Blurr doesn't point out the fact that he could just cut and run any moment. At least he's convinced he can. 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle says, "What would you say if I told you that I used to be just like you? That I know what it's like to have no disgustingly squishy emotions? And that, looking back, I'm ashamed of it? ... Probably something about delusion, or needing emotional recailbration. But that's fine. It's funny, watching you squirm when I poke you, putting your own logic through contortions to justify your miserable existence." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Blurr says, "But good to know that this little fight isn't as boring as I thought it was!" 
<RADIO: UNSC>- HK-47 says, "Amused Retort - I believe you have that reversed. I know what my goal and purpose is... and yet I have not heard you say a word of your own. Almost as if you are afraid to admit that you yourself do not have the assurance of purpose that another such as myself possesses." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Blurr says, "Haha, yeah. Maybe you and Shockwave should get together and talk smack about how useless emotions are." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle says, "You say purpose. I say shackles." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- HK-47 says, "Query - Mine... or yours? Is it truly that you believe I am shackled... of is that only the delusion you tell yourself, convincing yourself that you have attained some modicum of freedom with your actions?" 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle says, "You know what? On the off chance you make it out of here alive... consider this a standing invitation to single combat. I suspect that, even in the area of your 'focus', you are inferior." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- HK-47 says, "Assessment - As I said before, I am not invincible. I have accepted that all existence carries a degree of limitation to it... yours included. Moreover, it is not 'single-combat' that is my focus as opposed to a 'solo hunt.' And at this point, you are merely a distraction." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle says, "Everyone's got their limits, yes. Nobody's found mine. And you won't be the one to do so." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Blurr says, "Oh, I know what my 'purpose' is. It's to help people by restraining, or wiping out if necessary--people or things who kill or endanger people." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- HK-47 says, "Mockery - I already have. You believe yourself to be a 'person'; an existence akin to an organic. That entails similar weaknesses. Overconfidence in your own nature being one of them. As for our purposes... I must point out that I have had markedly higher success in doing so then you. After all... this vessel barely lasted a day before I brought it down. And that is just the beginning." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Blurr says, "Hahahahah! You're calling -us- overconfident?" 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle makes that funny muffled noise again. In the background, shrieking metal and sparks are audible. 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle says, "Engine's starting back up. ... I can try to EMP it, fry it, or do nothing. Suggestions?" 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Noble Six says, "They're EMP shielded." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Noble Six says, "Won't work. We regularly use nukes from our ships." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle says, "Wonderful. What happens if I try to blow it up?" 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Noble Six says, "It blows up anyway and takes us out? I'm pinned in here, I don't think I'm going to get free. You all will need to retreat to a safe distance." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle makes that funny, strangled noise again. 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Blurr says, "I can take out his getaway ride and demand he override the countdown. Or try to get into the systems and override it myself." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- HK-47 says, "Condescending Explanation - And now you realize the truth. For you were never my primary targets - not this time. My prime objective was the Spartan. My duplicates were only ever meant to delay you - as if my inferior imitations could have ever bested you. If they had, I would have had no reason to even /consider/ disposing of you myself." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- HK-47 says, "Condescending Observation - You assumed defeating my drones would be defeating me... and now, with the Spartan pinned, you shall die." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle says, "Okay. I have a Warp Wire to get back to orbit. Could also use it to get other people out, if they're touching it at the same time." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Noble Six says, "I am working on freeing myself now. Get clear of the blast radius." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Noble Six says, "This is probably a terrible idea." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Blurr says, "I think I can bounce you out Noble. I'm not entirely sure but, it's worth a shot. My ship's in orbit." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle says, "This is a problem we can solve. I don't think it's even that terribly difficult..." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Blurr says, "It's not." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle says, "Noble, Blurr- if it's okay, try using the orbital bounce." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle says, "Once we're certain everyone's out, I'll try to grab as much salvage as possible, then use the warp wire." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Noble Six says, "I'm making my way to the ship's escape pods. Be ready to grab me." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Pegasus says, "Will do." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Blurr says, "Ha! You should be glad I decided not to wreck your getaway ride this time, HK-whateveryournumberwasIforgot. Next time though. Oh and by the way, thanks for allowing us the privilege of ripping apart your inferior copies. It was fun." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Pegasus says, "47." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Blurr says, "Right, right. 47." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- HK-47 says, "Begrudging Rebuttal - As it was for me. Musing - However, it seems that my standard tools will not be enough to deal with you. Perhaps next time." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Blurr says, "You -are- aware that you're effectively 'wearing your heart on your sleeve' as the humans would say with those?" 
<RADIO: UNSC>- HK-47 says, "Indignant Retort - I do not hide my intentions nor my functionality away behind the thin presence of such trite matters as morality. You are far more guilty of such a weakness then I ever would be." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- HK-47 says, "Statement - I operate under logic and the merits of turning such weaknesses to my advantage." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Blurr says, "It's not a weakness, mech. You have no idea how useful it can be. But anyway not that I care. So long, scrapheap!" 
<RADIO: UNSC>- HK-47 tries to form a retort, but is cut off as the channel clicks shut. 
}}

3218/To Hunt a Spartan

2015-10-18T03:35:38Z

Zippy:

{{Log Header
|Date of Scene=2015/10/17
|Location=Void - Deeper Void (West)
|Synopsis=A distress signal claiming to be from a crashed UNSC vessel, the Loki, is detected in the Deeper Void, drawing Noble Six and any willing to assist her to the site of a ruined ship... and into the ruthlessly-efficant targeting matrix of HK-47.
|Thanks=
|Cast of Characters=38, 189, 492, 632, 754
|Tinyplot=
|Tinyplot2=
|pretty=yes
}}
{{Poses
|Poses=:'''{{#var:754|HK-47 (754)}} has posed:'''      'Mayday! Mayday, mayday - this is the UNSC Loki. We've suffered a catastrophic malfunction in our central computer, and our navicomputer has plotted a course through the orbital pathway of a nearby planet! We're locked out of the system and can't correct the fault, and are on a direct collision course with an M-Class planet; collision with the planet is imminent! Escape pods are malfunctioning - cannot guarantee full evacuation of crew! Send assistance immediately! Repeat; send assistance immed-'      That was only transmission sent out from the vessel that had identified itself as the UNSC Loki. An errant distress call that originated from the outlying world of .     And upon the planet's surface, it becomes all too apparent that not only did the crew never manage to correct the malfunction, but that they had failed to launch even one escape pod... meaning all aboard could not escape the doomed vessel.     The area of the crash site is all but ruined, the only thing of note that are visible amid a formally-serene field of wheat-like plants now being the wrecked masses of platings and twisted structural supports that had once been a transport freighter. A massive trail was etched into the surface of the ground behind it - all the evidence of a crash-landing resultant from a sharp forward dive toward the planet. Shards of wreckage were strewn across the area, most of which was half-buried in the deep rut that had been carved into the earth like a scar, gouged out as the ship plummeted straight down and tore into the planet bow-first.      The ship's front is a crumpled mess, pushed inward like a smashed aluminum drink-canister and split open at the edges. The mid-section of the ship is partly damaged, a large swath of it having collapsed as what were once the forward decks were compressed and smashed backwards when it's bow was crushed upon impact. Only the engines seem relatively intact, though there is no sign of having been activated lately - no steam issuing out from the exhaust ports or any such indicators. The majority of it's hull is charred and blackened with parts of it having almost been slagged, hinting that the vessel had entered the atmosphere far too quickly to be safe.      Above all else, though, it is obvious this crash took place at least a few days prior - the ground, while still charred in places, is not overly hot as it should be from both the friction of the ship dragging along it and from the heat of atmospheric entry left by the ship itself. In spite of it's descent being rapid enough to start boiling segments of the hull away, the plates are now cooled off. Aside from a few persistent electrical fires, there is no trace of any lasting brushfires that the surrounding expanse of immolated earth suggest had happened.     All in all... it must have been at least two days since this ship crashed. And considering the damage and the lack of nearby food or water sources, the number of crew who survived to set up the distress beacon must be few, likely injured and slightly malnourished and dehydrated as it's unlikely many rations or supplies survived the vessel's impact.      All in all, a tragic event caused by unknown circumstances.     ... of course... that is only the story an outside observer would see. What one would actually find... paints a far more grim tale. 

:'''{{#var:38|Noble Six (38)}} has posed:'''     It being a UNSC ship that was in trouble, Noble Six had been dispatched by ONI to track and determine what had happened. The SPARTAN-III was at the controls of a Pelican dropship, along with any of the other Unionites that were going to tag along. Normally she would do something like this herself, but she has been doing her best to foster a better relationship between ONI and the Union, so bringing some others along to assist is probably for the best.     The planet where the ship went down is where the coordiates said it should be, and she brings the Pelican in through the atmosphere. Finding the crash site is not dificult, but she pulls the ship into a wide loop around it, scanning for anyone down near the crash before setting the vehicle down not far from it. At least it wasn't a drop pod insertion or anything too crazy. Once the ship had settled in, she got up from the pilot's seat and moved to the back, "Ships like the Loki don't have huge crews, most of the systems are automated. That's probably why it ended up crashing in the first place. Check for any survivors, their recovery is the primary objective." Well the primary objective for the others. Six's primary objective is the recovery or destruction of the AI core. 

:'''{{#var:632|Septette Arcubielle (632)}} has posed:'''      The little war machine opted out of the Pelican transport, citing her weight and fuel costs as feeble excuses for why she should arrange her own transport. The real reason would make her sound more than a little crazy, she reflects, before jumping out of her humble craft in high orbit.      The long fall into the planet's gravity well gives Septette a subjective eternity of blissful solace to contemplate what little information she has about the crash from the reports: a barebones summary of the events leading up to it, the location of the wreckage, and- extrapolating from those two- some idea of the chances for survival. Nothing else demands her attention, save for minor course corrections.      Her normally skin-tone armor plates glow a bright orange by the time that she lands feet-first near the end of the debris trail, leaving a small crater in the dirt. The plants here blacken under her talon-like feet for the first few steps, but the heat bleeds off of her chassis with supernatural speed, leaving her looking- if anything- tidier than she was before the jump. Re-entry is a superb sterilization technique, albeit a tad overkill!      Once she's landed, she gives Noble Six and company a simple hail via radio. Instead of searching the surrounding area for survivors, however, she deploys a trio of small magitech drones to scan the interior of the ship itself.      Spaceships are very complex machines, and they are usually designed with the utmost care: failsafes upon failsafes are built into them, for their cargo is precious and their journeys often long. Privately, Septette is of the opinion that this isn't just an accident. But who would want to sabotage a transport like this? 

:'''{{#var:189|Pegasus (189)}} has posed:'''     Pegasus was fully capable of flight on her own... but not interplanetary flight. Also, her main body had quite a bit of energy and she had solar collectors, but her actual jets for flight used plain old ordinary jet fuel, so she's going to hitch a ride with Noble Six in the Pelican for efficiency. The silver-clad construct was decked out in her combat plating, flickering moonsilver across it, but her weapons were stowed for the moment. This was a rescue and recovery mission, not a combat assault. The only reason she was helping was due to Noble Six apparently being friends with her niece, which was enough to drag Peg out of 'retirement' for a bit.     "Right. I'll take a quick aerial survey as usual." The pelican probably covered that much in a quick fashion, but Pegasus takes off to start a slower, low-altitude circuit around the ship, looking for any signs of campfires or trails, anything that would indicate survivors. She doesn't have super-sensors like some robotic lifeforms, but she does have really, really good eyesight. 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     Blurr had heard the distress call, though unfortunately it had come from the other end of the galaxy--there was no way he'd be able to get there in time to prevent the collision itself. Still, it was worth investigating to search for potential survivors, and he has a sneaking suspicion that this was no accident.     All escape pods malfunctioning? Completely locked out of navigation systems? All at the same time? No, this was no coincidence.     It was sabotage.     Thus, the Autobot bounces down from a small stealth craft situated in upper orbit to a location near to the coordinates of the crash site. He nods to Septette, whom he certainly recognizes though Pegasus he is not acquainted with, and starts scanning the area as well, searching for any evidence of survivors. 

:'''{{#var:754|HK-47 (754)}} has posed:'''     Upon close examination of the ruined area, it becomes readily apparent that the crash was hardly a normal one.     The primary evidence being that little to none of the internal systems, or what little of them survived, are operating properly. In fact, almost nothing of the AI seems to be operating amid the vessel's surviving systems.     Outside, analysis of the crash trajectory shows that the Loki had all but plowed straight down for the planet at an angle the ship could not possibly have survived... and yet, based on the fact that there /was/ a descent angle to the approach, it wasn't like the vessel just charged straight into the planet.     Rather... it was more like the vessel's AI was in fact aware it was heading for a planet and tried to land... but it didn't do so in a way suitable for a ship like this - the descent angle was far too sharp and much too fast. Almost as if the AI core, in spite of it's programing countermeasures, believed the Loki to be a much smaller vessel and brought it down as such.      Scans of the interior reveal that much of the ship's internal systems are irreparably damaged, including life support - though that thankfully isn't an issue due to the atmosphere being breathable, if not a bit thin.     But that is not what would catch attention of scans, either on Septette's probes or on visual scanners. What would though... is the feint signal-markers spread out through the ship's interior... all at strategic choke-points into the vessel's key areas. Flares? Life-Buoys? A bread-trail? But then why are they scattered everywhere in such a pattern... and how could they be so perfectly arranged at a crash site?     What would the survivors have to set up these strange 'markers?'     What few internal hallways that weren't smashed when the Loki's internal decks collapsed into themselves upon the ship's front being compressed are all a mess of destroyed plates and frayed wirings. Scans reveal most of the fail-safes are offline... but not by sabotage. Rather, may seem to have been shut off by the computer itself from lack of input, while others show signs of misfiring and minor overload - light fixtures are ruptured, power sockets are blown out, data-ports show severe signs of memory-loss from improper automated commands. It's as though the advanced AI of the ship had somehow forgotten how they functioned or just didn't know how to operate them.     Arial reconnaissance reveals little of overt note aside from fields of rocks around the area, all of which were likely displaced by the crash. There are also a few rocky hills nearby... some of which provide an excellent vantage point of the crash.      Perfect for long-distance sniping.     Another point of note is an area in the relative distance; a trace of another impact site, older then the crash. An escape pod? No - no escape pods had been launched from the Loki prior to the crash.     So what else could the second contact be?      ...      And then, the expectations of everyone are broken as the comm system crackles to life; "Hello? H-hello, is anyone out there? I-I heard... I heard engines. I thought I heard... Oh, God, is someone out there?! Hello?! I'm trapped in here - I need help!!" 

:'''{{#var:38|Noble Six (38)}} has posed:'''     Having not expected any survivors, the sound of someone coming over the radio is surprising to say the least. Six stops her movement towards the ship to respond, motioning with one of her hands to her comrades. Once he gives them a location, they should be able to find out where he is and get to him.     She herself is headed for the bridge, however. She'll need to recover the AI core of the ship, or at least recover the logs of what happened on the way down. That way ONI can analyze it, figure out what happened. There's little chance the AI could have gone rampant with no warning, so there must be something else behind it. 

:'''{{#var:632|Septette Arcubielle (632)}} has posed:'''      For a moment, the yggdroid looks almost human as her shoulders rise and fall. Her prehensile ribcage expands, then contracts in a kinetic mimicry of a sigh. A weary look comes over her eyes as she leans back against a piece of wreckage momentarily. Then she turns several of her emotions off, as easily as flipping a switch: pity, sadness, regret, anticipation.      Her glowing lavender eyes toggle to infrared light, seeming to turn into black empty sockets in the process. "Confirmed," she replies without inflection. "I'm en route." But instead of heading to the medbay in person, she dispatches her red drone to the location after supercharging it with fire magic. If there really is a survivor, no harm will be done. But if anything attacks the drone...      Hopefully it won't come to that. But while she's waiting for the drone to reach the medbay, those signals get a closer inspection. She'd originally suspected them to be pathing beacons, but those would be placed at destinations, not chokepoints... right? 

:'''{{#var:632|Septette Arcubielle (632)}} has posed:'''      For a moment, the yggdroid looks almost human as her shoulders rise and fall. Her prehensile ribcage expands, then contracts in a kinetic mimicry of a sigh. A weary look comes over her eyes as she leans back against a piece of wreckage momentarily. Then she turns several of her emotions off, as easily as flipping a switch: pity, sadness, regret, anticipation.      Her glowing lavender eyes toggle to infrared light, seeming to turn into black empty sockets in the process. "Confirmed," she replies without inflection. "I'm en route." But instead of heading to the medbay in person, she dispatches her red drone to the location after supercharging it with fire magic. If there really is a survivor, no harm will be done. But if anything attacks the drone...      Hopefully it won't come to that. But while she's waiting for the drone to reach the medbay, those signals get a closer inspection. She'd originally suspected them to be pathing beacons, but those would be placed at destinations, not chokepoints... right?      The yellow drone, meanwhile, seems focused on finding a path to the seemingly-intact engine room. Once there, it'll try to find an operable input, and then simply enter standby mode. 

:'''{{#var:189|Pegasus (189)}} has posed:'''     Pegasus narrows her eyes. "AI Rampancy in this world is not something that often happens out of the blue." She does pay attention! Still... "N6 knows more about that than I do, so I'll just go see about cutting him loose or something."     Pegasus, despite her friendly nature, is not stupid. The idea that this could be a trap hasn't escaped her, though she hasn't seen any blatant indications of such yet. More importantly, Septette is better equipped for S&R than she is, which means she can fall into a more natural role of being a support unit for possible hostiles.     That said, she doesn't bring out her weapons yet. She has no reason to think there are actual hostiles here, she's just following protocol by coming down next to Septette and tucking her wings in. "I can carry them out if they aren't able to move," she offers. "In my quadrupedal form." 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     Hmm, the data from the scans seem to indicate that the ship's AI had malfunctioned in a big way. Someone had sabotaged the AI. But who? Had this ship been carrying anything of note? Perhaps the flight logs needed to be retrieved, but it seems Pegasus is on that already. And then there are those odd signals placed in such an orderly fashion throughout the wreck--definitely placed after the wreck happened. But why and what for?     Then there's the second impact point not far away, older than this one...was someone -expecting- this wreck? And then the desperate voice on the broadband. 'Ptoma'? Really? Isn't that human language for 'corpse'? "Frag it, be careful guys, I've got a bad feeling about all of this...it doesn't seem right. I'm going to investigate the second impact site."     He transforms then and begins to do so, heading toward the other contact point at top speed. 

:'''{{#var:754|HK-47 (754)}} has posed:'''     As Septette's probes move through the vessel, some of the choke-points may be passed... and if they pass too close to the source of the disturbances... then all that echoes up is static as a detonation abruptly consumes the audio link, any sensor readings taken in time showing a burst of superheated plasma enveloping the drone's visual input.     Hopefully, if the drones do hit these plasma mines, their armor is strong enough to hold.      However, drones that do make it to the med-bay... find nothing. There *is* a pair of bodies here... but both are dead.     One of which was killed with medical utensils, stabbed into areas far too precise to have been from impact force.     As well as radio-transmitter on said corpse. The mysterious Ptoma in the flesh... or what remains of it due to the needles he was injected with containing high-grade solvents that should /not/ have been in a medical bay.      Arial recon shows no signs of hostility thus far... though again, it seems far too convenient. A birds-eye view panning out would show Pegasus that the terrain is far too perfect for combat - elevated sniping positions in the rocky hills, a deep crater from which they could always have the hight advantage, fields of debris that could serve as perfect blinds or cover... and combined with the strange markers Septette detects, these marks over-layed on an arial map reveal a chilling detail.     The entire area is set up like a massive sand trap - a murder-hole where one could fire downward into the vessel's wreck to kill intruders... hide inside it to ambush any investigators... and with signals marking every vital choke-point in what seems all-too-much like a suppression field.      Meanwhile, at the other contact point... it is revealed there are actually *two* objects. One is what appears to be a UNSC ground probe used for planetary recon.     The other, however... sitting roughly half to the west yet still in plain sight... a thick earth-colored tarp, blended to match the landscape. Upon pulling this tarp off, the shape underneath is revealed to be some form of drop-pod, embedded in the ground at a completely-vertical angle so as not to leave any drag-trails.     There is nothing of note about the drop-pod beside the fact that it is empty... but the UNSC probe reveals something else more disturbing.     Namely that, after it landed... someone pulled open the probe's casing and used it's signal-link to the Loki to bounce it's access code back into the ship... effectively giving someone full access to the Loki's computer core.     Then... someone used that same link to completely overwrite the Loki's AI... and replace it with the simplistic VI of the probe. A VI that, upon seeing it was in space again... naturally have re-assumed it's mission to decent to the planet and recover data. 5tA VI that would have done this with the Loki as it's 'body'... and in turn treated the larger vessel as though it were it's original, planetary-descent-oriented probe shell.     A VI that was nowhere near complex enough an intelligence to have overwritten the Loki's AI on it's own. 

:'''{{#var:754|HK-47 (754)}} has posed:'''      As Noble Six opens the doors to the bridge... it is clear that it is hardly a pretty sight. Much of the consoles are damaged, shorted out entirely or outright crushed by debris.      However... there are four points of interest readily available.     One is the captain's chair... and the pool of blood visible at it's feet. Sitting there is the captain... with his left eye blown out. But that's not exactly unexpected, considering all the shrapnel that was flying in this room.      What /is/ unexpected though is the metallic tip of what killed him sticking out of the wound; a projectile that was most definitely /not/ shrapnel. It's shaped with a tapered edge to it... and if pulled out of the captain's corpse, is revealed to look almost like a metal dart.      Blurr and Septette were right. This was no accident. The death of the one person who's override codes could have saved the ship through clear homicide renders that idea impossible.     Second is the actual log station near the Captain, which shows him giving orders to the crew... none of which make sense; repair the circuit-connectors when the problem was obviously the AI core? Perform emergency securing of the engine coolant valves when stopping them should have been more prudent? Telling the crew to try and manually recalibrate the vessel's maneuvering thrusters to slow their descent to survivable range instead of simply cutting open the escape-pod moors? What's more... these logs were issued before the ship's crash, but bioanalysis of the captain's corpse, the congealing of blood and the TOD tag in his internal suite reveals that, at the very least... the captain had to have been dead well before these orders were given. And yet they are all issued in the dead captain's voice... so who was encouraging the ship's self-sabotaging behavior?     The third thing discovered of note is, upon accessing the databanks... the AI is gone. Not just dead - gone. It's programming has been deleted and supplanted... by what looks like a simple baseline VI.     The kind that, as a trained expert in navigation telemetry and piloting, the SPARTAN-III would likely recognize as the program meant to run an orbital reconnaissance probe.     A VI programed to operate a recon-drone to hit a planet's surface... in charge of the massive vessel? It would certainly explain why the ship hit the planet in what now was obviously the trajectory-path a planet-side probe unit would have taken... and how the ship was damaged so severely in a course of action it was never meant to take.     Finally... there is the small, makeshift conglomeration of components that obviously makes up the distress beacon that was used before... and beside it, seeming slumped over... is a very strange form of humanoid machine. A droid, painted in UNSC crew-colors, designated as an assistance unit.     A droid that seems to still be somewhat functional as it's yellow-gold photoreceptors glow dimly in semi-eratic flickers... though the cause is unknown as there is, aside from some scorching, little sign of severe damage. 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     Blurr investigates the drop pod at the other contact site, jacking into the probe's systems himself to investigate what happened. It was as he'd suspected--this was no rescue operation, and it was no accident. Someone indeed had sabotaged the AI on board the Loki, by deleting it and replacing it with a simplistic VI not designed to operate recon probes.     Pulling out, he curses extensively. This was a fragging -trap-, meant to draw them out. << Frag it! I knew it, this was a trap! Someone overwrote the ship's AI with a slagging -recon- drone! Pull out -now-, before whoever it is decides make a move! I repeat, pull out! >> He doesn't turn tail just yet though, not eager to leave his teammates high and dry. If this is anything like the traps he's used to, there are probably bombs in there. 

:'''{{#var:754|HK-47 (754)}} has posed:'''      It's obvious that the droid is not UNSC material. It's design is far too... intimidating. The angular design of parts of it's form, especially the face, make it look more like a combat model.     It's a droid that doesn't belong on the ship's bridge. A droid that, if examined closely... has spattering of blood on it that catch the captain's DNA.     A droid that, upon being approached... suddenly reactivates and begins speaking with the same voice that had been heard on the radio - the voice of 'Nathan Ptoma.'      "Congratulatory - Thank you very much for coming to my rescue. Now, if you would please be so kind as to fulfill one final request... and die quickly."      -and the next instant, the machine's wrist opens up, belching out a torrent of flame at Noble Six to try and burn away her shielding. The walls in turn burst open, two more droids emerging from gaps that were painstakingly carved into the panels to serve as ambush positions... with one of the droids being colored a deep rust-red, it's photoreceptors glowing blood-vermilion as opposed to the yellow-gold of his counterparts.     That next second... everything descends into hell.      From the vantage point of the hills... two sniper shots - disruptor energy capable of bypassing shield barriers, overloading electronics, vaporizing armor and disintegrating flesh until nothing remained but the skeletal structure. One of these shots tears for Septette while the other arcs through the sky for Pegasus. From the debris field, two *more* shots ring out, though this time the source is easily identifiable; a mess of metal plates with some form of camouflaged coverings at the edges.     At the site of the UNSC probe... a click rings out as a remote signal is sent to the machine... followed by a burst of steam as the probe's panel's eject to reveal rows and rows of high-yield anti-vehicle-grade plasma explosives, topped off with rather rapid countdown from "Three... two... one... terminate."     Anything in a five-foot radius had best escape before the pod detonates in a massive thermal explosion the size of a missile-impact, the probe exploding in an explosion with a 150-foot radius. 

:'''{{#var:38|Noble Six (38)}} has posed:'''     The bridge is a disaster. The captain has been mudered, everybody on the ship is dead and Six is now 100% certain they have stumbled their way into a trap. She turns to the UNSC painted droid as it comes to life and begins to talk. Normally this is the point where they always have their monologue and she gets a witty retort.     No time for witty retorts it seems, as the gout of fire that blasts from the machine hits her shielding, the bar in her HUD rapidly dropping as the gold energy flares across her body. She falls backwards, hitting the deck back first in an attempt to get out of the flames as she draws her sidearm. Armor piercing explosive .50 caliber rounds, standard issue for the UNSC's M6H pistol. She aims two shots center mass at the HK-51 that is attacking her from the front, the motion tracker on her HUD flagging two more red dots as she rolls to one side, trying to get back up to her feet.     It's a bad situation. Outnumbered against enemies who are clearly prepared for them, Six is going to have to figure out how to get out of this situation. Hopefully the other Unionites are having a better time than she is. 

:'''{{#var:632|Septette Arcubielle (632)}} has posed:'''      Her color-coded elemental drones are only lightly armored, but Septette's prior knowledge of the mines' locations, their hover mechanisms, and the ability of plasma to be shaped by electromagnetic fields conspire to help the yellow drone make it to its destination largely intact. It hugs the ceiling for most of the path, carefully avoiding the tripwires, and deflecting the explosions with a magnetic bubble if any do happen to go off.      From the engine room, it re-activates the cold thrusters. Instead of going through a standard boot sequence, the drone simply directs the engine to output as much thrust as it possibly can, right now this instant- and if possible, gives the system a little kick by supercharging the engine with its own massive surplus of electricity, aiming to slag anything and everything aft of the ship.      Issuing those commands to her drones takes milliseconds. In that time, the disruptor bolt she's staring down has gotten disconcertingly close. She leans to one side, trying to twist out of its path, and it barely skims her forehead. Then the second shot strikes her in the back, glancing off its armor plates but searing the circuits inside.      For a fraction of a second, the yggdroid's body goes limp, her face frozen in a look of dull surprise. But before she can hit the ground, she reboots on thaumic systems rather than electronics, running as a golem rather than a robot. Her eyes and core blaze with renewed energy, and she sprints for the nearest sniper at a frightening speed as the curved blades on her arms unfold and glow with heat. 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     It's a good thing Blurr is so fast and already on high alert. He hears a click and sees the steam...as well as noticing that the sniper rounds are coming from the debris field behind the shipwreck.     An idea pops into his mind.     Hah--a three second fuse? Sloppy! Especially with someone like Blurr. Anyone -else- probably would have managed to jump away in time to not get -completely- slagged, but Blurr? Well, he could manage a bit -more-. He -could- use an enlarged holomatter, at decreased risk to himself, but he wouldn't be able to move as quickly with that. And it would still hurt. So, instead of dashing away as soon as he can, he instead picks up the probe and runs with it--STRAIGHT toward the debris field where the disruptor blasts are coming from. Yes, he waits until the -last- few fractions of a second before he stops and hurls the probe as far as he can, aiming for whoever was shooting from cover! 

:'''{{#var:189|Pegasus (189)}} has posed:'''     The disruptor bolt certainly hits, and Pegasus staggers when it slaps into her shoulder, which makes a faint whining noise. It SHOULD have blown an arm off, if Pegasus were a more delicate machine, but Moonsilver is a msytical material, and her armor was made by one of the best Solar smiths she knows. It sizzles and smokes, but the damage is much lighter than it would otherwise be.     "Hm..." Septette appears to want to charge a sniper post! This is kind of a bad idea... without cover fire. Pegasus decides the best way she can support would be by providing that cover fire. Her wrist opens up, arm pointing toward the sniper positions... and she doesn't even try to pierce the cover. A ship hull can probably take her more minor attacks, and the debris that survived as cover for them is pretty tough. A blaze of rapid-fire silvery bolts stutters out, filling the air with numerous shining moonfire blasts that tear massive chunks out of the ground when they hit. 

:'''{{#var:754|HK-47 (754)}} has posed:'''     And so the hunt begins. The first of many... and for one, it would be intended as her last battle. Or at least that was the projected intent.      "Summery - You are outmatched and outgunned, Spartan-B312" HK-47 enunciates as he levels his arm and fires three corrosive darts, each filled with contact-acid meant to weaken armor and scald flesh, for Noble Six's flank. "Encouragement - But feel free to continue struggling against your impending demise all you like. It shall only make your termination that much more satisfying."     The HK-51 unit, arm still extended from it's flamethrower attack, is pelted by the shots, staggering under the force but coming out with it's chassis dented and scarred yet not pierced. However, the unit /does/ expose a weakness as it's other arm rises up to shield it's photoreceptors - it's eyes are obviously not as armored as it's body. However, it quickly cycles it's weapons and fires it's flamethrower again, intending to wear away the Spartan's shields and render her vulnerable. 5tThe other HK-51 however takes the chance to charge Noble Six, drawing it's vibroknife and slashing for the Spartan's back in a series of swift cutting motions meant to slice into the shoulders and cripple the arms..      Outside the vessel, the droids are left locked in combat with the rest of the Unionites, one droid seeing the oncoming form of Septette and switching to it's carbonate launcher, shooting a spray of supercooled fluid at the rushing enemy to try and douse her blades, or use the conflicting heat and cold to make her armor more fragile.     Meanwhile, the sniper in the hills again attempts to fire at Septette's back, emboldened by it's first shot connecting, aiming for her head so that by the time the shot reaches her it will impact her torso at the very least.     Meanwhile, Pegasus is set upon by the remaining pair of HK-51's, both of them taking the chance to open fire with their disruptor rifles - one from the hills and the other from the debris field. The droid in the sniper position ducks deeper down behind cover, confident in the stability of it's rocky outcropping-     -and then the last thing it registers is the impact of the probe droid smashing into it's casing, crushing it flat before the explosives detonate and turn much of the hill into a charred mess of slagged earth and shattered rock, leaving nothing behind of the assassin droid. In a single moment, the suppression on Pegasus' arial capabilities is removed.     Seeing it's brethren fall, the HK-51 attacking Pegasus redoubles it's assault with an almost desperate fervor and pulls a thermal detonator, lobbing at at it's airborne adversary with pinpoint accuracy. 

:'''{{#var:38|Noble Six (38)}} has posed:'''     With the shielding of the eyes, Noble Six realizes she does have at least one weak spot she can aim for. She'll need something with a bit more kick than the hand gun, though. The flamethrower drops her shields, and the vibro knife wielding HK takes a chunk out of the back of her armor. Thankfully the stuff is tough, so she's not incapacitated like one might be. Still if she doesn't do something quick, she's not going to walk out of here.     She turns to face down the one with the knife, pulling her own blade and weilding it in one hand. The other hand reaches down to her side, grabbing a small blue sphere from there. She dashes towards the second HK, the one with the knife, intending to drive her blade into him. This thing can penetrate Sanghelli armor, she's pretty sure it can manage against a droid.     But regardless of if she manages to penetrate him or not, she's going to try to latch onto him and turn him between her and his compatriot, before throwing the plasma grenade at the flamethrower weilding HK. It'll stick to him if it hits. 

:'''{{#var:632|Septette Arcubielle (632)}} has posed:'''      A wicked grin finds its way onto Septette's previously impassive face as she gets confirmation that the engine is starting up. One less 'droid they have to worry about. If she's aware of the incoming disruptor bolt, she doesn't try to avoid it: this one strikes her between the shoulderblades as she sprints, again glancing off the skeletal plating, leaving it scorched but intact. The spray of supercooled liquid seems to catch her by surprise, but she's got one more trick up her sleeve...      The third drone. Blue. Ice-aligned. Each of them can reflect attacks of their own element, and this one darts between the two robots and takes the hit for her. But before it can overload and shatter, it redirects the attack back on the 'droid, even amplifying the cryogenic effect with its own magic.      It's just then that Sept leaps over the droid's cover and brings both of her searing blades down in a scything arc. Temperature shock can shatter materials that even those magically-sharpened blades might struggle to cut, and she's counting on the combined effect to destroy the automated assassin. 

:'''{{#var:189|Pegasus (189)}} has posed:'''     The Disruptor bolts are something of a concern, as they're starting to chew through her armor faster than she'd like. Fortunately, with one going down, she can actually concentrate on the other... especially since she can shoot into the air, jets firing again... right into the explosion of a thermal detonator!     The blaze fades from the booming explosion, only to reveal Pegasus still in the air. One wing is damaged and frayed at the end, and her already-damaged shoulder pauldron is torn away, but a shield has appeared on her wrist. Not an energy shield, a normal shield that appears to be red hot now, absorbing much of the blast.     "Hm..." she sighs, spying the shooter after her in the field. The construct's arm levels out, two 'arms' of a bow snapping out. Making a drawing and releasing motion sends a shimmering bolt of brilliant golden light toward the shooter in the debris, much much stronger than her moonfire bolts. The photon bolt is, unlike her other attacks, powerful enough to punch through most ship hulls.     That's why she doesn't bother to stick around after firing, jets flaring and sending her at high speed toward the ship, aiming to crash through and into the bridge. Hopefully Septette's map of where NOT to go is still accurate. She's slightly delayed by her damaged wing, though, which keeps her from going too fast thanks to the extra drag. 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     Score! The bomb goes off and explodes one of the HK droids. One down, three to go. At least out here. He's not sure how many are inside the ship. Over the Union frequency, it seems Noble Six is in need of backup, though Blurr is not quite sure how well he'll be able to move around in such a cramped space, since that ship was designed for humans. Pegasus is en route to provide support though, so he turns his attention toward Septette instead, who is beset with with 2 of them.     He transforms, folding down into his vehicle form and speeding toward the hill where one of the snipers is, only he attempts to flank it then approach from behind whereas Septette makes for a frontal assault. Photon blasters emerge from the sides of the vehicle's hood, opening fire on assassin droid as he charges but also doing what he can to avoid hitting Septette who has entered melee range. 

:'''{{#var:754|HK-47 (754)}} has posed:'''      So this meatbag did indeed have skill. That was both disconcerting... and a touch welcome. It would not do to face an enemy that could not provide some degree of challenge.     The knife-wielding HK-51 slashes for the blade, attempting to lock it. The knife, made of energy-diffusive cortosis, manages to hold up against Noble Six's knife, if only just as the blade's tip cuts into the HK-51's shoulder blade, the assassin droids committing the image to their memory out of surprise that a material exists that could bite into cortosis that deeply.     HK-47 himself proceeds to fire acid-filled corrosive darts at the Spartan while her shields are down in the midst of the blade-lock, intending to melt and weaken her armor enough for the droid to simply pry it off of her if need be. "Condescending Observation - You are finished, meatbag. You may be among the best of your world... but no fleshbag adversary you could have faced has prepared you for us."     The remaining HK-51, seeing the Spartan's plasma-grenade, begins moving to the side as fast as it's body can carry it to try and throw off Noble Six's aim - though if the grenade is thrown, the droid is ultimately unable to escape entirely, it's scorched metal frame being thrown across the room, still functional but damaged and slightly disoriented.     The HK-51 being attacked by Septette proves it is not entirely defenseless, one hand slamming down a device directly in front of it - a portable shield barrier that quickly deploys and blunts the majority of the reflected cryo-attack... and upon shattering, releases a concussive pulse that, if not avoided, may be the final blow needed to shatter the blue drone. When Septette slashes for it, the droid thinks quickly and actually mimics a move the HK's had witnessed Noble Six use in the televised WMAT match against Setsuko Kaminagi - in a smooth motion, it throws it's rifle into the path of the blades, intending for it's energy core to rupture when the edges cut into them and, combined with the temperature shock, hopefully shatter the yggdroid's blades.     Any attempt to capitalize on this though is ruined when the ground is upturned by Blurr's shots, the droid being tossed off the hill and rolling down several feet down the hill.      One droid prepares to shoot Septette as she is in the midst of her attack, planning to reinforce it's struggling brethren... but it never gets the chance.     The engines, stalled out from the ship's rapid descent and the crash itself, offer some resistance in rebooting... but not much. Within a few moments, the drives begin to re-ignite. In a few more seconds... they burst into a vibrant flare of life, quickly reaching critical mass as their safeties are bypassed and venting the combustion out through the vents in the ship's stern.     Vents that, in less then a millisecond, liquify and obliterate one of the HK-51 units nested in the debris, it's durasteel bodies quickly being reduced to slag and from there to dust and ashes, the heat melting away it's existence faster then even it's finely-tuned processors can register the destruction or the shock to it's own systems.     In less then a minute, two of the four HK-51 units outside the ship have been utterly destroyed.     The other droid in the debris field manages to move out, having seen Pegasus prepare her attack and trying to adjust it's position in order to face the combat machine without it's original support - but even then, the droid is partly caught in the blast of both the engines and Pegasus' attack, sent flying to the side with it's body blackened and armor charred... yet still functional. In that, it readies it's sniper rifle to try and shoot Pegasus down before she can reinforce Noble Six. 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     Score again! Blurr: 2, HK drones: 0. The hill-sniper gets blasted off its perch and goes tumbling down the embankment. He smirks at the banter on the broadband. This mech seems to have failed to notice that Blurr has thus far out-witted and outmatched him and his little drone army at every turn. He doesn't remind him of it, though. Let the guy be overconfident, it always proves to be a downfall in the end, doesn't it?     The Autobot transforms back to his biped form once more continues the high-energy-photon-riddled assault upon the now-vulnerable HK-51. He tries not to destroy it -completely- though...he'd like to take its remains back to Kimia for analysis. See what they can learn about these things. 

:'''{{#var:632|Septette Arcubielle (632)}} has posed:'''      The concussive blast blows her brittle cyan drone to pieces, but Sept digs her talons into the ground to keep from being knocked back. Her opponent's rifle gambit earns a split second of glee from the yggdroid- look, they think they're *smart*! how cute- but she responds almost instantly as her subjective time slows to a crawl.      She slows her blades' descent by straining against the momentum, and reaching up with one clawed foot, she snatches the rifle out of the air and throws it off the hill. If the 'droid could be intimidated or cowed, this would be the exact moment when she'd strike terror into its heart. But when confronted with mechanical efficiency, Septette responds in kind.      She launches a flurry of precise attacks, almost too quick for the eye to follow, as she rushes the droid: each is aimed at a different joint or chink in its armor. If even a few connect, the HK unit should be down for good. 

:'''{{#var:38|Noble Six (38)}} has posed:'''     The knife fight between Six and the HK unit is leading her to be outflanked by the others. The grenade manages to scorch the second HK, but the first is still dueling her while acid floods the suit. Armor begins to melt off, the bodysuit under it protecting her as best it can, but bio foam is starting to flood into the wounds.     Six reaches up with her left hand and then grabs the HK-51's hand with her own, using the enhanced strength plus her suit's motivators to wrench the HK's arm away from her and them ram her blade into one of those eyes. If she can get this guy down, she'll be able to turn on HK-47 himself.     At this point she's just trying to make sure that she doesn't get herself killed before the rest of her team can clean up outside and come to her rescue. This situation is rapidly spinning out of control and she has to handle it quickly. 

:'''{{#var:189|Pegasus (189)}} has posed:'''     The bolt shot toward her is a hasty thing, last-minute, but Pegasus isn't paying it much attention. This allows it to strike, blasting her other wing and blowing a hole through it with a fluttering of metallic feathers drifting down. It also sends her into a brief spiral, heading toward the ground, which she arrests with a sudden blast of jets, a stomp of... four legs?     She's changed form, landing heavily on the ground and kicking off again without bothering to look back. Damaged or not, she knows she can take that much, and Noble Six is alone against much worse odds. Kicking off the ground, the now four-legged pegasus blasts jets again, this time in more of a jump jet fashion to arc toward the bridge, coming in at high speed and apparently uh... attempting to tear through the hull to get to it. 

:'''{{#var:754|HK-47 (754)}} has posed:'''     As it turns out... /none/ of Septette's attacks in fact connect, the HK's body becoming enveloped in a shimmering purple nimbus; a repulsor shield that coats it's form from head-to-toe, diffusing Septette's strikes as the HK shoots explosive darts at her.     The droids were built to hunt Jedi, masters of melee combat... and Jedi also carry physical swords at times when in training. As such, the melee shield - an innovation of Mandalorian design - was created to deflect melee strikes... though it comes at the cost of being weak to energy-projectiles, hence the prior barrier.     However, Blurr's attack is what keeps the droid from continuing it's retaliatory attack. As it is though, the disarmed HK-51 pulls back as quickly as it can, moving for the vessel itself and it's exhaust ports, taking cover behind them even as portions of it's armor are blown off from the shoulder. Finally, the last droid continues to assault Pegasus with it's rifle as the latter makes her jump, unwilling to let her reach Noble Six.     As Noble Six grapples with the HK-51, it's body begins to to twist its wrist. But it's metal shell is too strong to wrench away or push back.     However... the twisting of it's wrist does in fact cause the servos in the joint to warp... which in turn causes the knife in it's hand, already half cut-into by the Spartan's knife, to snap in half, the released mono-razor blade cutting the rest of the way through and into the HK's shoulder.     It isn't able to recover before the blade stabs through it's left photoreceptor, killing it's processor and reducing the machine to an unmoving limp of metal alloys as it slumps against the Spartan.     But in death it does not give up, it's dying body locking up with Noble Six still in it's grip. HK-47 in turn pulls an adhesive grenade which, when thrown, detonates into a mass of blue glue-like material that, unless she dodges quickly, will cement Noble Six to the floor along with the dead HK-51. Meanwhile, the charred HK that had been tossed back by the Spartan's attack is pushing itself back up, yellow photorcepetors gleaming in what could almost be called rage.     As it does... three things happen.     The first is that HK-47's internal communications send out a burst of activity... which in turn boots up the vessel's faltering VI. In the next instant, HK-47 begins speaking - in the voice of the deceased captain; "Emergency override - Covenant forces detected! Begin emergency countermeasures!"      A beeping series of acknowledgments issues out... followed by the the beginning of a countdown timer.     In that instant... the horrible truth is made apparent. As well as why it had to be a probe VI that was in control of the Loki      Namely because all probes are to self-destruct before Covenant forces could capture them.     The second thing that happens is that a signal starts appearing on the radar for those that have it - rapidly approaching at a breakneck pace. Those with good optics can make it out as a single-person snub-fighter of some kind... built for one and thus, extremely fast. In a minute it will pull up astride the Loki's bridge.     The third thing, which only Septette may be aware of if her probes are inside the engine room... is that the engine core is restarting, and spooling up it's drive shafts again.     Only someone - or some /droid/ - has connected this to the slipspace drive. And if it goes off inside an atmosphere...     As HK-47 approaches the bridge's edge, photoreceptors fixed on the oncoming remote-operated snub-fighter - his escape craft no doubt - his tone is filled with smug victory, which is only doubled should Noble Six have been caught in the adhesive grenade; "Chiding Explanation - You never had the upper hand, Meatbag. Not even as you disposed of my inferior copies. Remember that as this ship is consumed by both a core detonation and slipspace-drive overload... for the few moments your consciousness remains intact." 

:'''{{#var:38|Noble Six (38)}} has posed:'''     The foam that holds the SPARTAN down is quite well designed. It locks Six down to the floor and HK-47 gets to gloat. But then he makes a mistake by not staying to ensure that his target is killed. To be fair expecting a Slipspace explosion to kill someone is a pretty standard thing.     It takes all of the strength she can muster, but she manages to break free from the material. She knows she's running out of time, so she quickly scrambles from the bridge to the escape pods. She's only got one shot at this.     She gets to the port side pods, jumping into the pod. There's no other crew to get on board, so she seals the hatch and fires the pod off. The rocket engine jetisons the pod up into the air, sailing away from the distressed ship and into the sky. She just hopes the rest of the Union will be there to grab her. 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     Oh no, a self-destruct. Blurr had suspected that this sort of thing was in order at some point. Still, it strikes him as odd that he'd waited. If he was just trying to kill Noble Six, then why not set it off as soon as she set foot inside the crashed ship? He also picks up on the approach of HK's escape vehicle.     Several things cross his mind. First, he -could- attempt to find an open socket that is still intact and get into the ship's systems to override HK's self-destruct program. But, fast as he is, that would require time and put himself in harm's way in addition to N6. And he's not exactly an expert hacker. He can do it, sure, but he's certainly not as good as other people he knows. There's no guarantee he'll even be able to get through whatever encryption is in there. Secondly, he could destroy HK's getaway vehicle, then demand he abort the command. But that relies on HK's loyalty to his own sense of self-preservation, and also the idea that this is actually -possible-. Thirdly...well his ship's in orbit and he used the orbital bounce to get down here. It's a risk for N6, since she's at least -part- human...     But it's worth it, he decides. Because if it works, it will teleport N6 all the way to his ship, -well- out of range of the blast. Once he's made the decision, he springs into action, first activating his own orbital jump recall to beam instantly aboard. He then works the manual bounce controls, quickly locking on to N6's escape pod as it launches itself high into the air. A good thing, too...because he might not have been able to lock onto her lifesign quickly enough if she'd still been inside.     If this goes as planned, she'll be instantly beamed aboard the Autobot vessel and out of harm's way. << Pegasus, let me know if you need assistance! >> He'll get her next if so. 

:'''{{#var:189|Pegasus (189)}} has posed:'''     Oh, another shot. The droid is still alive. That's kind of surprising, Pegasus thinks, as she tumbles down to the ground. She lands kneeling, a heavy impact slamming into the earth before she rises again. "You're pretty persistent, I'll give you that," she allows, her torso smoking from the hole blown into the side.     Reaching out, she snaps off a piece of shrapnel, and demonstrates what she's /actually/ good at. Her other weapons, they were secondary. Her real specialty is lance or spear-related items, and a piece of shrapnel qualifies. She hurls that at high speed and accuracy toward the HK unit before taking off again, aiming to 'catch' the pod in midair as it launches.     "Beam me up~!" 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     Beamed up they are. The two of them locked together makes it easier for Blurr to snatch them right out of the air and onto his ship. Wasting no time, it quickly leaves orbit, shooting off to Union HQ most likely. Though he can't help but leave HK with a smug little mouth-off on the broadband before he leaves. 

:'''{{#var:754|HK-47 (754)}} has posed:'''      Indeed, HK-47's most crippling defect had always been his pride. He had held off on detonating the vessel simply because he wanted to wear down the Spartan and force her to break - to /defeat/ her before leaving her to die. As such, the droid assumes that the damage to her armor is enough to subdue her - and that her allies will charge into the ship to save her - and result in the termination of all adversaries in a single clean stroke.      This is why, when HK-47 boards his snub-fighter and keys in the escape-vector, he doesn't cast a second glance at Noble Six as his cockpit-canopy slides shut, the small craft turing on its axis and rocketing off into the sky.     Of course this overconfidence was his crippling weakness. As was his belief that the Union would be so predictable as to not trust each-other's skills enough to make due.      It helps immensely that the adhesive material in HK-47's grenade oxidizes quickly, the goo beginning to dissolve within thirty seconds. Granted, it would have still held a normal human in it's confines for a full minute after this... but a Spartan is no normal human, and Noble Six is able to quickly tear herself free. The remaining HK charges her - but it is knocked back as the Spartan, in perhaps a more Herculean effort then even a Jedi could managed, shoves the dead HK-51 back so far that it crashes into it's damaged brethren and sends it to the ground.     The last thing it sees is the sight of the Spartan throwing her blade at it's downed form before the edge lances through it's eye-socket like an arrowhead, killing it's processor responses for good.     The locking clamps on the pod are hardly any more of a match for the augmented warrior's strength, coming free rather quickly - and thankfully, the pod's manual overrides are intact, a simple pull of the lever being enough to force the pod's berth to eject the self-contained lifeboat into the sky.     The HK remaining on the ground seems disbelieving of Pegasus' claim - until, before it can retaliate, the lance, which should have been nothing more then simple metal and easily deflected... travels with the speed of a bullet and embeds itself through the machine's chest, the HK unit having only a single moment to comprehend how easily Pegasus could have killed it before had she wanted to.     Finally, the last droid, in an almost desperate attempt to stop at least one of it's query from escaping, lunges for Pegasus to try and grab onto her as it prepares it's self-destruct -     Only for this to backfire spectacularly as, along with Pegasus, the droid ends up transported abroad Blurr's ship... alone, damaged and completely defenseless.     The evacuation ends up just in time - with Septette managing to collect salvage in the form of several of the mines being recovered among other things - before the yggdroid escapes as well... and the vessel detonates, it's core rupturing and, combined with the slipspace-drive's overloading, obliterates a massive swath of the landscape. The ballooning form of the explosion is slow - slow enough to outpace if one had a fast enough vehicle - but the destruction it leaves behind is absolute, nothing but an immense crater remaining as the slipspace irregularity creates a shock-pulse that levels and obliterates everything in it's path.     It is good none had been aboard... lest they die molecule by molecule in the explosion's wake. 

:'''{{#var:754|HK-47 (754)}} has posed:'''     Almost in complete contrast to this though, the remaining HK-51, stranded on Blurr's ship with the elites it had tried to kill, is left with it's logic-processors in full panic as it tries to rationalize a situation out of this, knowing it's self-destruct is insufficient to cause enough damage to the ship to destroy it.      Looking at Blurr, the droid seems almost scornful... yet knows it has lost. "Defeated Admission - What are you waiting for, organic sympathizer? Finish me. Complete your betrayal of our kind and end my existence." 

:'''{{#var:189|Pegasus (189)}} has posed:'''     The beaming works FINE for Pegasus, as unlike her sister, she has no organic parts at all. The construct thumps to the ground, still sizzling from the numerous shots she tanked, and a faint grinding noise rising from her side. She's also leaking some silvery fluid from the wound in her side, though it's not much.     Also, she has a droid on her foot. This has her staring curiously before she raises her other foot, and carefully starts dismantling the limbs from the HK unit. "What a bothersome assassin." 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     As the ship rockets out of orbit, Blurr sets a course for the nearest Autobot hub-command. First things first though, he examines Noble Six hoping that she is all right and the jump did not harm her. He also gives Pegasus a once-over, though she seems to be okay. "You okay, Peg?"     He then turns to regard the helpless HK-51 with a smug expression. "Oh no, I'm far from finished with you. Learning is a good thing, isn't it? We might still have some things to learn from -you-." 

Radio Chatter, because it was half the fun. Blurr, Septette, and HK-47 all have two things in common: They're all metal, and they're all mouthy. 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle chirps cheerily. "RQBL-7, present." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle says, "So! Real talk for a sec. Nobody survived this." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Noble Six says, "That is not unexpected, as much as I hate to admit it." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle says, "If anyone claims to be a survivor, I can kill or capture at my discretion, right?" 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle says, "... Kidding! Ahahah. ... Hah." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Noble Six says, "Take whatever precautions you need to to ensure your own safety." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Pegasus says, "It's an odd situation." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Pegasus says, "I think we all know that." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle says, "I mean, most of you have reached the same conclusion I have. Even if some of the squishies on board somehow survived the crash..." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle says, "You don't really even have to look at the wreckage to know that. ... So why are we here?" 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Noble Six says, "Standard UNSC protocol is to ensure the recovery or destruction of a ship's AI core" 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle pauses for a moment. "... Ensure destruction?" 
<RADIO: UNSC>- "Ptoma" says, "Hello? H-hello, is anyone out there? I-I heard... I heard engines. I thought I heard... Oh, God, is someone out there?! Hello?! I'm trapped in here - I need help!!" 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle says, "Remember, please." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- "Ptoma" says, "M-my name... I'm Crewman-Recruit Nathan Ptoma. I-I'm trapped under wreckage - I don't know what to do! Everyone else is gone - I don't know where they went!! The ship's computer core just went mad - pieces of garbage degrade all too easily. N-next thing I know, I'm stuck here! Please, you have to help me!!" 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Noble Six says, "Roger. What deck are you on inside of the ship? We will get someone to your location as soon as possible. Septette, can you get to him? I am heading to the bridge." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- "Ptoma" says, "I-I'm in the... the medical bay! O-or... what's left of it. Oh, God... there are... some of the tables came lose. Smashed one guy flat. Another... something punctured his eye. Perfect strike... real one in a million chance. God... he's lucky. At least it ended for him quickly." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Pegasus says, "Are you trapped? Do you need precision cutting tools?" 
<RADIO: UNSC>- "Ptoma" says, "If I had cutting tools myself, I wouldn't be asking for help, would I?! That defeats the entire purpose of calling for help!! Ah - sorry. I'm... not exactly in a good place, you know? Hard to stay... rational. Been here for a while." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Pegasus says, "There's a reason I said 'precision,' I don't have a plasma torch but I can probably cut you out if you don't mind a bit of a boom." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle says, "No need. I can do precision." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Pegasus says, "Excellent." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- "Ptoma" says, "Uh... yeah. Yeah, sure - whatever gets you people to me faster. I wanna go home." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle transmits a series of locations within the ship. "Please stay away from these areas. They appear to be unsafe." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Blurr says, "I have a feeling someone was -expecting- this crash." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle says, "Don't go out there alone, please." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Blurr says, "Then come with me. If you can keep up." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- "Ptoma" says, "E-expected? H-h-how so? Who would have known we were out here? And why does it matter if you're alone - there's nothing out here anymore, is there?" 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Blurr says, "That's what I would have thought, but apparently...someone else was here before you were." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Blurr says, "Some 'coincidences' are just too weird to be true." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Pegasus says, "We can worry about that after the rescue." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle says, "Pegasus. There isn't going to be any rescue." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Noble Six says, "The captain has been killed. And not from the crash. At least not unless someone was playing with a crossbow on the bridge prior to the crash." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle says, "Ptoma is a fiction. If he was ever alive, he didn't survive the crash." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Blurr curses. "Damn it. We need to get out of here. -Now-." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- "Ptoma" says, "H-h-hello?? Hello?! W-what are you talking about?! You're just going to leave me?!" 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle says, "They have our radio frequency, obviously." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle says, "If it's any comfort, Nathan, you're already dead. Good day, sir, and my compliments to your voice actor." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Pegasus says, "Don't worry, sir. If you are real, we won't leave you completely out to dry, I can help!" 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Blurr chuckles at Septette's blithe reply. "Frag off, whoever you are. You think you're clever? You should be glad we haven't found you -yet-." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- HK-47 says, "Mock Congratulation - I truly must thank you all for coming together. It saves me the trouble of hunting you down... though regrettably reduces the enjoyment of tracking you one by one and dismantling your vital functions system by system. Musing - But I suppose we cannot always attain what we desire, and shall make with the best results we can achieve... beginning with your deaths." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Blurr laughs dersively. "And I'd better congratulate you--for pissing me off and putting yourself on my slag list you spawn of a glitch." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- HK-47 says, "Indignant Rebuttal - You were already upon my own slag-list for marring my torso several months prior, you over-stylized hulk of afterburner rejects. I am merely returning the favor." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Blurr says, "Oh, boo-hoo, I 'marred' your torso!" 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Blurr says, "Poor you, better kill whoever messes up your precious paint job!" 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Blurr says, "Oh, and a 3-second fuse? Really?" 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Blurr says, "You underestimate me." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- HK-47 says, "Explanation - It is a matter of pride in oneself. Pride in their function and their capacity to execute it to the fullest ability. A pride that you seem to be lacking in, yet I would expect you to have understood if your patterning was any indication. Dismissal - But I suppose it is irrelevant at this juncture. The state of your physical form will make little difference - what matters is what reward shall be paid for your remains. Perhaps the Decepticons will do more with your framework then you could do yourself... though I doubt there really will be enough of you left for even that." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Blurr says, "Yeah right, that's what -you- think you scrawny scrapheap!" 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle intones, "Silence, wretch. You proved your inferiority by rigging the battlefield before we even arrived." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle intones, "Had you offered single combat, I would gladly have torn you limb from limb personally. But that is an honor I do not bestow on the honorless." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Blurr says, "You're gonna regret bringing us here!" 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Blurr says, "I'm going to find you, and I'm going to have you -reprogrammed- into that stupid 5ta VI you crashed this ship with!" 
<RADIO: UNSC>- HK-47 says, "Mockery - We shall see. Though I imagine that an impossible task given your limited processor capacities." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Blurr says, "Oh, I didn't say I would. But I have friends who -gladly- would." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle intones, "Do not." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle intones, "I have a simulation. Hook a synthetic intelligence up to it. It will maximally stimulate every negative feeling and sensation that the intelligence is capable of feeling." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle intones, "In accelerated time. Indefinitely." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle intones, "It is better if he remains himself for that." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Blurr says, "Ha, you've got a point there." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- HK-47 says, "Musing - Truly? What an inventive means of torment. I shall have to test that method at some point. Perhaps you would be so glad as to volunteer yourselves? Or perhaps the aerial machine would be better suited?" 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Blurr says, "Oh no, I think we're going to volunteer -you-." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle intones, "Your bluster is as entertaining as it is empty. Do continue, child of flesh." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- HK-47 says, "Retort - So you claim... but you have yet to catch me. Until you do, the only buster is your own. Musing - As for your method of torment... I believe Soundwave may find a way to imitate it, if I were to bring him to you. If not... I would simply have to experiment myself until I learned for sure. Personally, I am far more found of the latter ideal" 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle intones, "Thank you for divulging the names of your collaborators. You're the first one to do that *before* I start the torture." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Blurr says, "Right then, we'll see if you can -actually- win on your own turf, with having set your own traps and everything. Which you still -haven't-." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- HK-47 says, "Chiding - 'Collaborators?' Ah, you mean those I have been seen in the company of before? My association with Soundwave for a single mission is hardly secret - your ally was present there as well. But feel free to grasp at stray circuits if you wish. It helps me ascertain an accurate image of your processor structure... which must be desperate to learn about my motivations." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Blurr says, "Okay, whatever mech. Not like we actually -care- what you think." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle audibly scoffs. "You are an insect, trying to understand the mind of a greater being. Have all the data you like." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- HK-47 says, "Mocking Query - Perhaps /you/ are faring well... but not all of you are in an advantageous position. Musing - At the same time, you may wish to stop telegraphing your intents, as it is quite obvious you care what I think... as you persisted in replying to my queries." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle replies with utter calm: "Your approval would disgust me. I care what you think only insofar as it affects your actions. Or does it? Are you just a slave, marching to someone else's orders? ... You are. I doubt that anyone would give a creature like you true free will." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Blurr says, "Like I said, whatever mech. Believe whatever your puny little processor wants. And some people don't always -need- advantageous positioning to win. Especially if winning just means -you- fail to kill us." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- HK-47 says, "Confident Statement - Believe what you will yourselves... but I doubt it will last. I am a perfect example of killing efficiency for my time, but I will not profess to being invincible. However, that only gives me all the more desire to learn. Perhaps once I recover your remains... I may take some of your few advantageous components for myself. At the very least, you would remain immortalized as components of my own existence." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle giggles maniacally. 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle says, "I'm just sad I didn't get to drive the ship *into* one of them." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- HK-47 says, "Veiled Threat - A novel ideal. Perhaps that shall be my next stratagem in dealing with Union Elites. But... I am curious. You appear to have a wonderfully-developed sense of bloodlust, if not in a slightly abstracted manner, and yet you would serve the Union? My logic-processors fail to understand the reasoning behind such a contradictory course of action." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle says, "Violence is a means for me. For you, it is the end." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle says, "I mean that in every sense of the word." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- HK-47 says, "Correction - It is the end for us all. It is both the means and the end, though you seem to think yourself above destruction. That folly will cost you dearly... and it conspicuously does nothing to answer my query. Why have you concluded that your mythology paints you as a better fit for the Union?" 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle says, "Slaking your curiosity serves no benefit." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle says, "Get used to disappointment." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Blurr says, "Ha, I like you, Septette." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Blurr says, "Anyway, heh...well I don't know -pal-, why are -you- with the Confederacy? You seem more of a loner, to be honest. Just you and your little drones." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle chirps cheerily, executing a 180-degree turn in affect. "D'aww. I think you're cool too, Blurr." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Blurr says, "You should come by the Ark again sometime." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- HK-47 says, "Chiding Retort - I am to divulge my own reasons when you will not divulge yours? That is hardly a fair trade... though you are far more predictable, 'Autobot', as you simply seem pre-programmed to consider living beings as an irreplaceable existence." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Blurr says, "Correction: I consider -some- living beings an irreplaceable existence." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Blurr says, "And you, glitch, are not among them." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- HK-47 says, "Assertion - As do I... though I only consider them as much /after/ they prove themselves of some modicum in value. You on the other hand make such assumptions beforehand - your rather swift arrival to my trap proved that much." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- HK-47 says, "Extrapolation - Ah... I see. A mutual affection of sorts. How repugnantly simplistic. To think two of my own kin would be reduced to such simpering in imitation of meatbag empathy." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- HK-47 says, "Supplication - Perhaps it is an unfortunate malfunction that has resulted in your disgustingly-organic show of attraction? If so, it may still be possible to correct." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle makes a funny, muffled noise. It sounds like she's desperately trying to keep from laughing. 
<RADIO: UNSC>- HK-47 says, "Query - Perhaps your emotional construct matrix has been /too/ deeply affected by excessive contact with meatbags if you believe such gestures to be the least bit productive. Supplication - If so, I would suggest a full memory wipe to purge the undesirable stimuli immediately." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle says, "Your limitations keep you from recognizing your limitations. It's amazing. You are your own self-contained sick little joke." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle says, "Whoever made you was a pretty twisted son-of-a-bitch, wasn't he?" 
<RADIO: UNSC>- HK-47 says, "Retort - And your lack of restraint blinds you to the possibility of honing yourself to the finest potential. You have a fine construction, but it is not enough. My own 'limitations' are only that I am specialized in a specific field... and thus far, you seem to consider yourself without any such flaws." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle says, "I'm a person. You're a tool. Yeah, that sums us up pretty well." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Blurr says, "No, our swift arrival to your sloppily contrived underestimation of our intelligence and combat prowess just proves that we know we can handle -any- sick and twisted machinations your worthless processors could possibly dream up. You think we haven't walked into traps before, even after having -realized- it was a trap? You think I haven't dealt with machinations by people even -smarter- than you before? Pff!" 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Blurr says, "By the way, your little army hasn't even managed to -touch- me yet, and I have to admit I'm a little disappointed. This might sound cliche but...I gotta say it. Is that all you got, mech?" 
<RADIO: UNSC>- HK-47 says, "Observation - Ah... now I understand. You actually believe that you are a 'person'. You believe yourself to be a meatbag... or so you desire. Condescension - But you are not. You never will be. Observation As for the fact that you believe you have the upper hand... I feel inclined to point out that you have not yet defeated me. Nor have you realized the truth quite yet... however, feel free to believe you have 'outwitted' me. It will make the outcome that much more satisfying." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Blurr says, "Sure, sure." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Blurr doesn't point out the fact that he could just cut and run any moment. At least he's convinced he can. 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle says, "What would you say if I told you that I used to be just like you? That I know what it's like to have no disgustingly squishy emotions? And that, looking back, I'm ashamed of it? ... Probably something about delusion, or needing emotional recailbration. But that's fine. It's funny, watching you squirm when I poke you, putting your own logic through contortions to justify your miserable existence." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Blurr says, "But good to know that this little fight isn't as boring as I thought it was!" 
<RADIO: UNSC>- HK-47 says, "Amused Retort - I believe you have that reversed. I know what my goal and purpose is... and yet I have not heard you say a word of your own. Almost as if you are afraid to admit that you yourself do not have the assurance of purpose that another such as myself possesses." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Blurr says, "Haha, yeah. Maybe you and Shockwave should get together and talk smack about how useless emotions are." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle says, "You say purpose. I say shackles." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- HK-47 says, "Query - Mine... or yours? Is it truly that you believe I am shackled... of is that only the delusion you tell yourself, convincing yourself that you have attained some modicum of freedom with your actions?" 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle says, "You know what? On the off chance you make it out of here alive... consider this a standing invitation to single combat. I suspect that, even in the area of your 'focus', you are inferior." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- HK-47 says, "Assessment - As I said before, I am not invincible. I have accepted that all existence carries a degree of limitation to it... yours included. Moreover, it is not 'single-combat' that is my focus as opposed to a 'solo hunt.' And at this point, you are merely a distraction." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle says, "Everyone's got their limits, yes. Nobody's found mine. And you won't be the one to do so." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Blurr says, "Oh, I know what my 'purpose' is. It's to help people by restraining, or wiping out if necessary--people or things who kill or endanger people." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- HK-47 says, "Mockery - I already have. You believe yourself to be a 'person'; an existence akin to an organic. That entails similar weaknesses. Overconfidence in your own nature being one of them. As for our purposes... I must point out that I have had markedly higher success in doing so then you. After all... this vessel barely lasted a day before I brought it down. And that is just the beginning." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Blurr says, "Hahahahah! You're calling -us- overconfident?" 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle makes that funny muffled noise again. In the background, shrieking metal and sparks are audible. 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle says, "Engine's starting back up. ... I can try to EMP it, fry it, or do nothing. Suggestions?" 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Noble Six says, "They're EMP shielded." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Noble Six says, "Won't work. We regularly use nukes from our ships." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle says, "Wonderful. What happens if I try to blow it up?" 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Noble Six says, "It blows up anyway and takes us out? I'm pinned in here, I don't think I'm going to get free. You all will need to retreat to a safe distance." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle makes that funny, strangled noise again. 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Blurr says, "I can take out his getaway ride and demand he override the countdown. Or try to get into the systems and override it myself." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- HK-47 says, "Condescending Explanation - And now you realize the truth. For you were never my primary targets - not this time. My prime objective was the Spartan. My duplicates were only ever meant to delay you - as if my inferior imitations could have ever bested you. If they had, I would have had no reason to even /consider/ disposing of you myself." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- HK-47 says, "Condescending Observation - You assumed defeating my drones would be defeating me... and now, with the Spartan pinned, you shall die." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle says, "Okay. I have a Warp Wire to get back to orbit. Could also use it to get other people out, if they're touching it at the same time." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Noble Six says, "I am working on freeing myself now. Get clear of the blast radius." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Noble Six says, "This is probably a terrible idea." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Blurr says, "I think I can bounce you out Noble. I'm not entirely sure but, it's worth a shot. My ship's in orbit." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle says, "This is a problem we can solve. I don't think it's even that terribly difficult..."
<RADIO: UNSC>- Blurr says, "It's not." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle says, "Noble, Blurr- if it's okay, try using the orbital bounce." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle says, "Once we're certain everyone's out, I'll try to grab as much salvage as possible, then use the warp wire." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Noble Six says, "I'm making my way to the ship's escape pods. Be ready to grab me." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Pegasus says, "Will do." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Blurr says, "Ha! You should be glad I decided not to wreck your getaway ride this time, HK-whateveryournumberwasIforgot. Next time though. Oh and by the way, thanks for allowing us the privilege of ripping apart your inferior copies. It was fun." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Pegasus says, "47." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Blurr says, "Right, right. 47." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- HK-47 says, "Begrudging Rebuttal - As it was for me. Musing - However, it seems that my standard tools will not be enough to deal with you. Perhaps next time." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Blurr says, "You -are- aware that you're effectively 'wearing your heart on your sleeve' as the humans would say with those?" 
<RADIO: UNSC>- HK-47 says, "Indignant Retort - I do not hide my intentions nor my functionality away behind the thin presence of such trite matters as morality. You are far more guilty of such a weakness then I ever would be." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- HK-47 says, "Statement - I operate under logic and the merits of turning such weaknesses to my advantage." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Blurr says, "It's not a weakness, mech. You have no idea how useful it can be. But anyway not that I care. So long, scrapheap!" 
<RADIO: UNSC>- HK-47 tries to form a retort, but is cut off as the channel clicks shut. 
}}

3218/To Hunt a Spartan

2015-10-18T03:33:37Z

Zippy:

{{Log Header
|Date of Scene=2015/10/17
|Location=Void - Deeper Void (West)
|Synopsis=A distress signal claiming to be from a crashed UNSC vessel, the Loki, is detected in the Deeper Void, drawing Noble Six and any willing to assist her to the site of a ruined ship... and into the ruthlessly-efficant targeting matrix of HK-47.
|Thanks=
|Cast of Characters=38, 189, 492, 632, 754
|Tinyplot=
|Tinyplot2=
|pretty=yes
}}
{{Poses
|Poses=:'''{{#var:754|HK-47 (754)}} has posed:'''      'Mayday! Mayday, mayday - this is the UNSC Loki. We've suffered a catastrophic malfunction in our central computer, and our navicomputer has plotted a course through the orbital pathway of a nearby planet! We're locked out of the system and can't correct the fault, and are on a direct collision course with an M-Class planet; collision with the planet is imminent! Escape pods are malfunctioning - cannot guarantee full evacuation of crew! Send assistance immediately! Repeat; send assistance immed-'      That was only transmission sent out from the vessel that had identified itself as the UNSC Loki. An errant distress call that originated from the outlying world of .     And upon the planet's surface, it becomes all too apparent that not only did the crew never manage to correct the malfunction, but that they had failed to launch even one escape pod... meaning all aboard could not escape the doomed vessel.     The area of the crash site is all but ruined, the only thing of note that are visible amid a formally-serene field of wheat-like plants now being the wrecked masses of platings and twisted structural supports that had once been a transport freighter. A massive trail was etched into the surface of the ground behind it - all the evidence of a crash-landing resultant from a sharp forward dive toward the planet. Shards of wreckage were strewn across the area, most of which was half-buried in the deep rut that had been carved into the earth like a scar, gouged out as the ship plummeted straight down and tore into the planet bow-first.      The ship's front is a crumpled mess, pushed inward like a smashed aluminum drink-canister and split open at the edges. The mid-section of the ship is partly damaged, a large swath of it having collapsed as what were once the forward decks were compressed and smashed backwards when it's bow was crushed upon impact. Only the engines seem relatively intact, though there is no sign of having been activated lately - no steam issuing out from the exhaust ports or any such indicators. The majority of it's hull is charred and blackened with parts of it having almost been slagged, hinting that the vessel had entered the atmosphere far too quickly to be safe.      Above all else, though, it is obvious this crash took place at least a few days prior - the ground, while still charred in places, is not overly hot as it should be from both the friction of the ship dragging along it and from the heat of atmospheric entry left by the ship itself. In spite of it's descent being rapid enough to start boiling segments of the hull away, the plates are now cooled off. Aside from a few persistent electrical fires, there is no trace of any lasting brushfires that the surrounding expanse of immolated earth suggest had happened.     All in all... it must have been at least two days since this ship crashed. And considering the damage and the lack of nearby food or water sources, the number of crew who survived to set up the distress beacon must be few, likely injured and slightly malnourished and dehydrated as it's unlikely many rations or supplies survived the vessel's impact.      All in all, a tragic event caused by unknown circumstances.     ... of course... that is only the story an outside observer would see. What one would actually find... paints a far more grim tale. 

:'''{{#var:38|Noble Six (38)}} has posed:'''     It being a UNSC ship that was in trouble, Noble Six had been dispatched by ONI to track and determine what had happened. The SPARTAN-III was at the controls of a Pelican dropship, along with any of the other Unionites that were going to tag along. Normally she would do something like this herself, but she has been doing her best to foster a better relationship between ONI and the Union, so bringing some others along to assist is probably for the best.     The planet where the ship went down is where the coordiates said it should be, and she brings the Pelican in through the atmosphere. Finding the crash site is not dificult, but she pulls the ship into a wide loop around it, scanning for anyone down near the crash before setting the vehicle down not far from it. At least it wasn't a drop pod insertion or anything too crazy. Once the ship had settled in, she got up from the pilot's seat and moved to the back, "Ships like the Loki don't have huge crews, most of the systems are automated. That's probably why it ended up crashing in the first place. Check for any survivors, their recovery is the primary objective." Well the primary objective for the others. Six's primary objective is the recovery or destruction of the AI core. 

:'''{{#var:632|Septette Arcubielle (632)}} has posed:'''      The little war machine opted out of the Pelican transport, citing her weight and fuel costs as feeble excuses for why she should arrange her own transport. The real reason would make her sound more than a little crazy, she reflects, before jumping out of her humble craft in high orbit.      The long fall into the planet's gravity well gives Septette a subjective eternity of blissful solace to contemplate what little information she has about the crash from the reports: a barebones summary of the events leading up to it, the location of the wreckage, and- extrapolating from those two- some idea of the chances for survival. Nothing else demands her attention, save for minor course corrections.      Her normally skin-tone armor plates glow a bright orange by the time that she lands feet-first near the end of the debris trail, leaving a small crater in the dirt. The plants here blacken under her talon-like feet for the first few steps, but the heat bleeds off of her chassis with supernatural speed, leaving her looking- if anything- tidier than she was before the jump. Re-entry is a superb sterilization technique, albeit a tad overkill!      Once she's landed, she gives Noble Six and company a simple hail via radio. Instead of searching the surrounding area for survivors, however, she deploys a trio of small magitech drones to scan the interior of the ship itself.      Spaceships are very complex machines, and they are usually designed with the utmost care: failsafes upon failsafes are built into them, for their cargo is precious and their journeys often long. Privately, Septette is of the opinion that this isn't just an accident. But who would want to sabotage a transport like this? 

:'''{{#var:189|Pegasus (189)}} has posed:'''     Pegasus was fully capable of flight on her own... but not interplanetary flight. Also, her main body had quite a bit of energy and she had solar collectors, but her actual jets for flight used plain old ordinary jet fuel, so she's going to hitch a ride with Noble Six in the Pelican for efficiency. The silver-clad construct was decked out in her combat plating, flickering moonsilver across it, but her weapons were stowed for the moment. This was a rescue and recovery mission, not a combat assault. The only reason she was helping was due to Noble Six apparently being friends with her niece, which was enough to drag Peg out of 'retirement' for a bit.     "Right. I'll take a quick aerial survey as usual." The pelican probably covered that much in a quick fashion, but Pegasus takes off to start a slower, low-altitude circuit around the ship, looking for any signs of campfires or trails, anything that would indicate survivors. She doesn't have super-sensors like some robotic lifeforms, but she does have really, really good eyesight. 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     Blurr had heard the distress call, though unfortunately it had come from the other end of the galaxy--there was no way he'd be able to get there in time to prevent the collision itself. Still, it was worth investigating to search for potential survivors, and he has a sneaking suspicion that this was no accident.     All escape pods malfunctioning? Completely locked out of navigation systems? All at the same time? No, this was no coincidence.     It was sabotage.     Thus, the Autobot bounces down from a small stealth craft situated in upper orbit to a location near to the coordinates of the crash site. He nods to Septette, whom he certainly recognizes though Pegasus he is not acquainted with, and starts scanning the area as well, searching for any evidence of survivors. 

:'''{{#var:754|HK-47 (754)}} has posed:'''     Upon close examination of the ruined area, it becomes readily apparent that the crash was hardly a normal one.     The primary evidence being that little to none of the internal systems, or what little of them survived, are operating properly. In fact, almost nothing of the AI seems to be operating amid the vessel's surviving systems.     Outside, analysis of the crash trajectory shows that the Loki had all but plowed straight down for the planet at an angle the ship could not possibly have survived... and yet, based on the fact that there /was/ a descent angle to the approach, it wasn't like the vessel just charged straight into the planet.     Rather... it was more like the vessel's AI was in fact aware it was heading for a planet and tried to land... but it didn't do so in a way suitable for a ship like this - the descent angle was far too sharp and much too fast. Almost as if the AI core, in spite of it's programing countermeasures, believed the Loki to be a much smaller vessel and brought it down as such.      Scans of the interior reveal that much of the ship's internal systems are irreparably damaged, including life support - though that thankfully isn't an issue due to the atmosphere being breathable, if not a bit thin.     But that is not what would catch attention of scans, either on Septette's probes or on visual scanners. What would though... is the feint signal-markers spread out through the ship's interior... all at strategic choke-points into the vessel's key areas. Flares? Life-Buoys? A bread-trail? But then why are they scattered everywhere in such a pattern... and how could they be so perfectly arranged at a crash site?     What would the survivors have to set up these strange 'markers?'     What few internal hallways that weren't smashed when the Loki's internal decks collapsed into themselves upon the ship's front being compressed are all a mess of destroyed plates and frayed wirings. Scans reveal most of the fail-safes are offline... but not by sabotage. Rather, may seem to have been shut off by the computer itself from lack of input, while others show signs of misfiring and minor overload - light fixtures are ruptured, power sockets are blown out, data-ports show severe signs of memory-loss from improper automated commands. It's as though the advanced AI of the ship had somehow forgotten how they functioned or just didn't know how to operate them.     Arial reconnaissance reveals little of overt note aside from fields of rocks around the area, all of which were likely displaced by the crash. There are also a few rocky hills nearby... some of which provide an excellent vantage point of the crash.      Perfect for long-distance sniping.     Another point of note is an area in the relative distance; a trace of another impact site, older then the crash. An escape pod? No - no escape pods had been launched from the Loki prior to the crash.     So what else could the second contact be?      ...      And then, the expectations of everyone are broken as the comm system crackles to life; "Hello? H-hello, is anyone out there? I-I heard... I heard engines. I thought I heard... Oh, God, is someone out there?! Hello?! I'm trapped in here - I need help!!" 

:'''{{#var:38|Noble Six (38)}} has posed:'''     Having not expected any survivors, the sound of someone coming over the radio is surprising to say the least. Six stops her movement towards the ship to respond, motioning with one of her hands to her comrades. Once he gives them a location, they should be able to find out where he is and get to him.     She herself is headed for the bridge, however. She'll need to recover the AI core of the ship, or at least recover the logs of what happened on the way down. That way ONI can analyze it, figure out what happened. There's little chance the AI could have gone rampant with no warning, so there must be something else behind it. 

:'''{{#var:632|Septette Arcubielle (632)}} has posed:'''      For a moment, the yggdroid looks almost human as her shoulders rise and fall. Her prehensile ribcage expands, then contracts in a kinetic mimicry of a sigh. A weary look comes over her eyes as she leans back against a piece of wreckage momentarily. Then she turns several of her emotions off, as easily as flipping a switch: pity, sadness, regret, anticipation.      Her glowing lavender eyes toggle to infrared light, seeming to turn into black empty sockets in the process. "Confirmed," she replies without inflection. "I'm en route." But instead of heading to the medbay in person, she dispatches her red drone to the location after supercharging it with fire magic. If there really is a survivor, no harm will be done. But if anything attacks the drone...      Hopefully it won't come to that. But while she's waiting for the drone to reach the medbay, those signals get a closer inspection. She'd originally suspected them to be pathing beacons, but those would be placed at destinations, not chokepoints... right? 

:'''{{#var:632|Septette Arcubielle (632)}} has posed:'''      For a moment, the yggdroid looks almost human as her shoulders rise and fall. Her prehensile ribcage expands, then contracts in a kinetic mimicry of a sigh. A weary look comes over her eyes as she leans back against a piece of wreckage momentarily. Then she turns several of her emotions off, as easily as flipping a switch: pity, sadness, regret, anticipation.      Her glowing lavender eyes toggle to infrared light, seeming to turn into black empty sockets in the process. "Confirmed," she replies without inflection. "I'm en route." But instead of heading to the medbay in person, she dispatches her red drone to the location after supercharging it with fire magic. If there really is a survivor, no harm will be done. But if anything attacks the drone...      Hopefully it won't come to that. But while she's waiting for the drone to reach the medbay, those signals get a closer inspection. She'd originally suspected them to be pathing beacons, but those would be placed at destinations, not chokepoints... right?      The yellow drone, meanwhile, seems focused on finding a path to the seemingly-intact engine room. Once there, it'll try to find an operable input, and then simply enter standby mode. 

:'''{{#var:189|Pegasus (189)}} has posed:'''     Pegasus narrows her eyes. "AI Rampancy in this world is not something that often happens out of the blue." She does pay attention! Still... "N6 knows more about that than I do, so I'll just go see about cutting him loose or something."     Pegasus, despite her friendly nature, is not stupid. The idea that this could be a trap hasn't escaped her, though she hasn't seen any blatant indications of such yet. More importantly, Septette is better equipped for S&R than she is, which means she can fall into a more natural role of being a support unit for possible hostiles.     That said, she doesn't bring out her weapons yet. She has no reason to think there are actual hostiles here, she's just following protocol by coming down next to Septette and tucking her wings in. "I can carry them out if they aren't able to move," she offers. "In my quadrupedal form." 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     Hmm, the data from the scans seem to indicate that the ship's AI had malfunctioned in a big way. Someone had sabotaged the AI. But who? Had this ship been carrying anything of note? Perhaps the flight logs needed to be retrieved, but it seems Pegasus is on that already. And then there are those odd signals placed in such an orderly fashion throughout the wreck--definitely placed after the wreck happened. But why and what for?     Then there's the second impact point not far away, older than this one...was someone -expecting- this wreck? And then the desperate voice on the broadband. 'Ptoma'? Really? Isn't that human language for 'corpse'? "Frag it, be careful guys, I've got a bad feeling about all of this...it doesn't seem right. I'm going to investigate the second impact site."     He transforms then and begins to do so, heading toward the other contact point at top speed. 

:'''{{#var:754|HK-47 (754)}} has posed:'''     As Septette's probes move through the vessel, some of the choke-points may be passed... and if they pass too close to the source of the disturbances... then all that echoes up is static as a detonation abruptly consumes the audio link, any sensor readings taken in time showing a burst of superheated plasma enveloping the drone's visual input.     Hopefully, if the drones do hit these plasma mines, their armor is strong enough to hold.      However, drones that do make it to the med-bay... find nothing. There *is* a pair of bodies here... but both are dead.     One of which was killed with medical utensils, stabbed into areas far too precise to have been from impact force.     As well as radio-transmitter on said corpse. The mysterious Ptoma in the flesh... or what remains of it due to the needles he was injected with containing high-grade solvents that should /not/ have been in a medical bay.      Arial recon shows no signs of hostility thus far... though again, it seems far too convenient. A birds-eye view panning out would show Pegasus that the terrain is far too perfect for combat - elevated sniping positions in the rocky hills, a deep crater from which they could always have the hight advantage, fields of debris that could serve as perfect blinds or cover... and combined with the strange markers Septette detects, these marks over-layed on an arial map reveal a chilling detail.     The entire area is set up like a massive sand trap - a murder-hole where one could fire downward into the vessel's wreck to kill intruders... hide inside it to ambush any investigators... and with signals marking every vital choke-point in what seems all-too-much like a suppression field.      Meanwhile, at the other contact point... it is revealed there are actually *two* objects. One is what appears to be a UNSC ground probe used for planetary recon.     The other, however... sitting roughly half to the west yet still in plain sight... a thick earth-colored tarp, blended to match the landscape. Upon pulling this tarp off, the shape underneath is revealed to be some form of drop-pod, embedded in the ground at a completely-vertical angle so as not to leave any drag-trails.     There is nothing of note about the drop-pod beside the fact that it is empty... but the UNSC probe reveals something else more disturbing.     Namely that, after it landed... someone pulled open the probe's casing and used it's signal-link to the Loki to bounce it's access code back into the ship... effectively giving someone full access to the Loki's computer core.     Then... someone used that same link to completely overwrite the Loki's AI... and replace it with the simplistic VI of the probe. A VI that, upon seeing it was in space again... naturally have re-assumed it's mission to decent to the planet and recover data. 5tA VI that would have done this with the Loki as it's 'body'... and in turn treated the larger vessel as though it were it's original, planetary-descent-oriented probe shell.     A VI that was nowhere near complex enough an intelligence to have overwritten the Loki's AI on it's own. 

:'''{{#var:754|HK-47 (754)}} has posed:'''      As Noble Six opens the doors to the bridge... it is clear that it is hardly a pretty sight. Much of the consoles are damaged, shorted out entirely or outright crushed by debris.      However... there are four points of interest readily available.     One is the captain's chair... and the pool of blood visible at it's feet. Sitting there is the captain... with his left eye blown out. But that's not exactly unexpected, considering all the shrapnel that was flying in this room.      What /is/ unexpected though is the metallic tip of what killed him sticking out of the wound; a projectile that was most definitely /not/ shrapnel. It's shaped with a tapered edge to it... and if pulled out of the captain's corpse, is revealed to look almost like a metal dart.      Blurr and Septette were right. This was no accident. The death of the one person who's override codes could have saved the ship through clear homicide renders that idea impossible.     Second is the actual log station near the Captain, which shows him giving orders to the crew... none of which make sense; repair the circuit-connectors when the problem was obviously the AI core? Perform emergency securing of the engine coolant valves when stopping them should have been more prudent? Telling the crew to try and manually recalibrate the vessel's maneuvering thrusters to slow their descent to survivable range instead of simply cutting open the escape-pod moors? What's more... these logs were issued before the ship's crash, but bioanalysis of the captain's corpse, the congealing of blood and the TOD tag in his internal suite reveals that, at the very least... the captain had to have been dead well before these orders were given. And yet they are all issued in the dead captain's voice... so who was encouraging the ship's self-sabotaging behavior?     The third thing discovered of note is, upon accessing the databanks... the AI is gone. Not just dead - gone. It's programming has been deleted and supplanted... by what looks like a simple baseline VI.     The kind that, as a trained expert in navigation telemetry and piloting, the SPARTAN-III would likely recognize as the program meant to run an orbital reconnaissance probe.     A VI programed to operate a recon-drone to hit a planet's surface... in charge of the massive vessel? It would certainly explain why the ship hit the planet in what now was obviously the trajectory-path a planet-side probe unit would have taken... and how the ship was damaged so severely in a course of action it was never meant to take.     Finally... there is the small, makeshift conglomeration of components that obviously makes up the distress beacon that was used before... and beside it, seeming slumped over... is a very strange form of humanoid machine. A droid, painted in UNSC crew-colors, designated as an assistance unit.     A droid that seems to still be somewhat functional as it's yellow-gold photoreceptors glow dimly in semi-eratic flickers... though the cause is unknown as there is, aside from some scorching, little sign of severe damage. 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     Blurr investigates the drop pod at the other contact site, jacking into the probe's systems himself to investigate what happened. It was as he'd suspected--this was no rescue operation, and it was no accident. Someone indeed had sabotaged the AI on board the Loki, by deleting it and replacing it with a simplistic VI not designed to operate recon probes.     Pulling out, he curses extensively. This was a fragging -trap-, meant to draw them out. << Frag it! I knew it, this was a trap! Someone overwrote the ship's AI with a slagging -recon- drone! Pull out -now-, before whoever it is decides make a move! I repeat, pull out! >> He doesn't turn tail just yet though, not eager to leave his teammates high and dry. If this is anything like the traps he's used to, there are probably bombs in there. 

:'''{{#var:754|HK-47 (754)}} has posed:'''      It's obvious that the droid is not UNSC material. It's design is far too... intimidating. The angular design of parts of it's form, especially the face, make it look more like a combat model.     It's a droid that doesn't belong on the ship's bridge. A droid that, if examined closely... has spattering of blood on it that catch the captain's DNA.     A droid that, upon being approached... suddenly reactivates and begins speaking with the same voice that had been heard on the radio - the voice of 'Nathan Ptoma.'      "Congratulatory - Thank you very much for coming to my rescue. Now, if you would please be so kind as to fulfill one final request... and die quickly."      -and the next instant, the machine's wrist opens up, belching out a torrent of flame at Noble Six to try and burn away her shielding. The walls in turn burst open, two more droids emerging from gaps that were painstakingly carved into the panels to serve as ambush positions... with one of the droids being colored a deep rust-red, it's photoreceptors glowing blood-vermilion as opposed to the yellow-gold of his counterparts.     That next second... everything descends into hell.      From the vantage point of the hills... two sniper shots - disruptor energy capable of bypassing shield barriers, overloading electronics, vaporizing armor and disintegrating flesh until nothing remained but the skeletal structure. One of these shots tears for Septette while the other arcs through the sky for Pegasus. From the debris field, two *more* shots ring out, though this time the source is easily identifiable; a mess of metal plates with some form of camouflaged coverings at the edges.     At the site of the UNSC probe... a click rings out as a remote signal is sent to the machine... followed by a burst of steam as the probe's panel's eject to reveal rows and rows of high-yield anti-vehicle-grade plasma explosives, topped off with rather rapid countdown from "Three... two... one... terminate."     Anything in a five-foot radius had best escape before the pod detonates in a massive thermal explosion the size of a missile-impact, the probe exploding in an explosion with a 150-foot radius. 

:'''{{#var:38|Noble Six (38)}} has posed:'''     The bridge is a disaster. The captain has been mudered, everybody on the ship is dead and Six is now 100% certain they have stumbled their way into a trap. She turns to the UNSC painted droid as it comes to life and begins to talk. Normally this is the point where they always have their monologue and she gets a witty retort.     No time for witty retorts it seems, as the gout of fire that blasts from the machine hits her shielding, the bar in her HUD rapidly dropping as the gold energy flares across her body. She falls backwards, hitting the deck back first in an attempt to get out of the flames as she draws her sidearm. Armor piercing explosive .50 caliber rounds, standard issue for the UNSC's M6H pistol. She aims two shots center mass at the HK-51 that is attacking her from the front, the motion tracker on her HUD flagging two more red dots as she rolls to one side, trying to get back up to her feet.     It's a bad situation. Outnumbered against enemies who are clearly prepared for them, Six is going to have to figure out how to get out of this situation. Hopefully the other Unionites are having a better time than she is. 

:'''{{#var:632|Septette Arcubielle (632)}} has posed:'''      Her color-coded elemental drones are only lightly armored, but Septette's prior knowledge of the mines' locations, their hover mechanisms, and the ability of plasma to be shaped by electromagnetic fields conspire to help the yellow drone make it to its destination largely intact. It hugs the ceiling for most of the path, carefully avoiding the tripwires, and deflecting the explosions with a magnetic bubble if any do happen to go off.      From the engine room, it re-activates the cold thrusters. Instead of going through a standard boot sequence, the drone simply directs the engine to output as much thrust as it possibly can, right now this instant- and if possible, gives the system a little kick by supercharging the engine with its own massive surplus of electricity, aiming to slag anything and everything aft of the ship.      Issuing those commands to her drones takes milliseconds. In that time, the disruptor bolt she's staring down has gotten disconcertingly close. She leans to one side, trying to twist out of its path, and it barely skims her forehead. Then the second shot strikes her in the back, glancing off its armor plates but searing the circuits inside.      For a fraction of a second, the yggdroid's body goes limp, her face frozen in a look of dull surprise. But before she can hit the ground, she reboots on thaumic systems rather than electronics, running as a golem rather than a robot. Her eyes and core blaze with renewed energy, and she sprints for the nearest sniper at a frightening speed as the curved blades on her arms unfold and glow with heat. 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     It's a good thing Blurr is so fast and already on high alert. He hears a click and sees the steam...as well as noticing that the sniper rounds are coming from the debris field behind the shipwreck.     An idea pops into his mind.     Hah--a three second fuse? Sloppy! Especially with someone like Blurr. Anyone -else- probably would have managed to jump away in time to not get -completely- slagged, but Blurr? Well, he could manage a bit -more-. He -could- use an enlarged holomatter, at decreased risk to himself, but he wouldn't be able to move as quickly with that. And it would still hurt. So, instead of dashing away as soon as he can, he instead picks up the probe and runs with it--STRAIGHT toward the debris field where the disruptor blasts are coming from. Yes, he waits until the -last- few fractions of a second before he stops and hurls the probe as far as he can, aiming for whoever was shooting from cover! 

:'''{{#var:189|Pegasus (189)}} has posed:'''     The disruptor bolt certainly hits, and Pegasus staggers when it slaps into her shoulder, which makes a faint whining noise. It SHOULD have blown an arm off, if Pegasus were a more delicate machine, but Moonsilver is a msytical material, and her armor was made by one of the best Solar smiths she knows. It sizzles and smokes, but the damage is much lighter than it would otherwise be.     "Hm..." Septette appears to want to charge a sniper post! This is kind of a bad idea... without cover fire. Pegasus decides the best way she can support would be by providing that cover fire. Her wrist opens up, arm pointing toward the sniper positions... and she doesn't even try to pierce the cover. A ship hull can probably take her more minor attacks, and the debris that survived as cover for them is pretty tough. A blaze of rapid-fire silvery bolts stutters out, filling the air with numerous shining moonfire blasts that tear massive chunks out of the ground when they hit. 

:'''{{#var:754|HK-47 (754)}} has posed:'''     And so the hunt begins. The first of many... and for one, it would be intended as her last battle. Or at least that was the projected intent.      "Summery - You are outmatched and outgunned, Spartan-B312" HK-47 enunciates as he levels his arm and fires three corrosive darts, each filled with contact-acid meant to weaken armor and scald flesh, for Noble Six's flank. "Encouragement - But feel free to continue struggling against your impending demise all you like. It shall only make your termination that much more satisfying."     The HK-51 unit, arm still extended from it's flamethrower attack, is pelted by the shots, staggering under the force but coming out with it's chassis dented and scarred yet not pierced. However, the unit /does/ expose a weakness as it's other arm rises up to shield it's photoreceptors - it's eyes are obviously not as armored as it's body. However, it quickly cycles it's weapons and fires it's flamethrower again, intending to wear away the Spartan's shields and render her vulnerable. 5tThe other HK-51 however takes the chance to charge Noble Six, drawing it's vibroknife and slashing for the Spartan's back in a series of swift cutting motions meant to slice into the shoulders and cripple the arms..      Outside the vessel, the droids are left locked in combat with the rest of the Unionites, one droid seeing the oncoming form of Septette and switching to it's carbonate launcher, shooting a spray of supercooled fluid at the rushing enemy to try and douse her blades, or use the conflicting heat and cold to make her armor more fragile.     Meanwhile, the sniper in the hills again attempts to fire at Septette's back, emboldened by it's first shot connecting, aiming for her head so that by the time the shot reaches her it will impact her torso at the very least.     Meanwhile, Pegasus is set upon by the remaining pair of HK-51's, both of them taking the chance to open fire with their disruptor rifles - one from the hills and the other from the debris field. The droid in the sniper position ducks deeper down behind cover, confident in the stability of it's rocky outcropping-     -and then the last thing it registers is the impact of the probe droid smashing into it's casing, crushing it flat before the explosives detonate and turn much of the hill into a charred mess of slagged earth and shattered rock, leaving nothing behind of the assassin droid. In a single moment, the suppression on Pegasus' arial capabilities is removed.     Seeing it's brethren fall, the HK-51 attacking Pegasus redoubles it's assault with an almost desperate fervor and pulls a thermal detonator, lobbing at at it's airborne adversary with pinpoint accuracy. 

:'''{{#var:38|Noble Six (38)}} has posed:'''     With the shielding of the eyes, Noble Six realizes she does have at least one weak spot she can aim for. She'll need something with a bit more kick than the hand gun, though. The flamethrower drops her shields, and the vibro knife wielding HK takes a chunk out of the back of her armor. Thankfully the stuff is tough, so she's not incapacitated like one might be. Still if she doesn't do something quick, she's not going to walk out of here.     She turns to face down the one with the knife, pulling her own blade and weilding it in one hand. The other hand reaches down to her side, grabbing a small blue sphere from there. She dashes towards the second HK, the one with the knife, intending to drive her blade into him. This thing can penetrate Sanghelli armor, she's pretty sure it can manage against a droid.     But regardless of if she manages to penetrate him or not, she's going to try to latch onto him and turn him between her and his compatriot, before throwing the plasma grenade at the flamethrower weilding HK. It'll stick to him if it hits. 

:'''{{#var:632|Septette Arcubielle (632)}} has posed:'''      A wicked grin finds its way onto Septette's previously impassive face as she gets confirmation that the engine is starting up. One less 'droid they have to worry about. If she's aware of the incoming disruptor bolt, she doesn't try to avoid it: this one strikes her between the shoulderblades as she sprints, again glancing off the skeletal plating, leaving it scorched but intact. The spray of supercooled liquid seems to catch her by surprise, but she's got one more trick up her sleeve...      The third drone. Blue. Ice-aligned. Each of them can reflect attacks of their own element, and this one darts between the two robots and takes the hit for her. But before it can overload and shatter, it redirects the attack back on the 'droid, even amplifying the cryogenic effect with its own magic.      It's just then that Sept leaps over the droid's cover and brings both of her searing blades down in a scything arc. Temperature shock can shatter materials that even those magically-sharpened blades might struggle to cut, and she's counting on the combined effect to destroy the automated assassin. 

:'''{{#var:189|Pegasus (189)}} has posed:'''     The Disruptor bolts are something of a concern, as they're starting to chew through her armor faster than she'd like. Fortunately, with one going down, she can actually concentrate on the other... especially since she can shoot into the air, jets firing again... right into the explosion of a thermal detonator!     The blaze fades from the booming explosion, only to reveal Pegasus still in the air. One wing is damaged and frayed at the end, and her already-damaged shoulder pauldron is torn away, but a shield has appeared on her wrist. Not an energy shield, a normal shield that appears to be red hot now, absorbing much of the blast.     "Hm..." she sighs, spying the shooter after her in the field. The construct's arm levels out, two 'arms' of a bow snapping out. Making a drawing and releasing motion sends a shimmering bolt of brilliant golden light toward the shooter in the debris, much much stronger than her moonfire bolts. The photon bolt is, unlike her other attacks, powerful enough to punch through most ship hulls.     That's why she doesn't bother to stick around after firing, jets flaring and sending her at high speed toward the ship, aiming to crash through and into the bridge. Hopefully Septette's map of where NOT to go is still accurate. She's slightly delayed by her damaged wing, though, which keeps her from going too fast thanks to the extra drag. 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     Score! The bomb goes off and explodes one of the HK droids. One down, three to go. At least out here. He's not sure how many are inside the ship. Over the Union frequency, it seems Noble Six is in need of backup, though Blurr is not quite sure how well he'll be able to move around in such a cramped space, since that ship was designed for humans. Pegasus is en route to provide support though, so he turns his attention toward Septette instead, who is beset with with 2 of them.     He transforms, folding down into his vehicle form and speeding toward the hill where one of the snipers is, only he attempts to flank it then approach from behind whereas Septette makes for a frontal assault. Photon blasters emerge from the sides of the vehicle's hood, opening fire on assassin droid as he charges but also doing what he can to avoid hitting Septette who has entered melee range. 

:'''{{#var:754|HK-47 (754)}} has posed:'''      So this meatbag did indeed have skill. That was both disconcerting... and a touch welcome. It would not do to face an enemy that could not provide some degree of challenge.     The knife-wielding HK-51 slashes for the blade, attempting to lock it. The knife, made of energy-diffusive cortosis, manages to hold up against Noble Six's knife, if only just as the blade's tip cuts into the HK-51's shoulder blade, the assassin droids committing the image to their memory out of surprise that a material exists that could bite into cortosis that deeply.     HK-47 himself proceeds to fire acid-filled corrosive darts at the Spartan while her shields are down in the midst of the blade-lock, intending to melt and weaken her armor enough for the droid to simply pry it off of her if need be. "Condescending Observation - You are finished, meatbag. You may be among the best of your world... but no fleshbag adversary you could have faced has prepared you for us."     The remaining HK-51, seeing the Spartan's plasma-grenade, begins moving to the side as fast as it's body can carry it to try and throw off Noble Six's aim - though if the grenade is thrown, the droid is ultimately unable to escape entirely, it's scorched metal frame being thrown across the room, still functional but damaged and slightly disoriented.     The HK-51 being attacked by Septette proves it is not entirely defenseless, one hand slamming down a device directly in front of it - a portable shield barrier that quickly deploys and blunts the majority of the reflected cryo-attack... and upon shattering, releases a concussive pulse that, if not avoided, may be the final blow needed to shatter the blue drone. When Septette slashes for it, the droid thinks quickly and actually mimics a move the HK's had witnessed Noble Six use in the televised WMAT match against Setsuko Kaminagi - in a smooth motion, it throws it's rifle into the path of the blades, intending for it's energy core to rupture when the edges cut into them and, combined with the temperature shock, hopefully shatter the yggdroid's blades.     Any attempt to capitalize on this though is ruined when the ground is upturned by Blurr's shots, the droid being tossed off the hill and rolling down several feet down the hill.      One droid prepares to shoot Septette as she is in the midst of her attack, planning to reinforce it's struggling brethren... but it never gets the chance.     The engines, stalled out from the ship's rapid descent and the crash itself, offer some resistance in rebooting... but not much. Within a few moments, the drives begin to re-ignite. In a few more seconds... they burst into a vibrant flare of life, quickly reaching critical mass as their safeties are bypassed and venting the combustion out through the vents in the ship's stern.     Vents that, in less then a millisecond, liquify and obliterate one of the HK-51 units nested in the debris, it's durasteel bodies quickly being reduced to slag and from there to dust and ashes, the heat melting away it's existence faster then even it's finely-tuned processors can register the destruction or the shock to it's own systems.     In less then a minute, two of the four HK-51 units outside the ship have been utterly destroyed.     The other droid in the debris field manages to move out, having seen Pegasus prepare her attack and trying to adjust it's position in order to face the combat machine without it's original support - but even then, the droid is partly caught in the blast of both the engines and Pegasus' attack, sent flying to the side with it's body blackened and armor charred... yet still functional. In that, it readies it's sniper rifle to try and shoot Pegasus down before she can reinforce Noble Six. 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     Score again! Blurr: 2, HK drones: 0. The hill-sniper gets blasted off its perch and goes tumbling down the embankment. He smirks at the banter on the broadband. This mech seems to have failed to notice that Blurr has thus far out-witted and outmatched him and his little drone army at every turn. He doesn't remind him of it, though. Let the guy be overconfident, it always proves to be a downfall in the end, doesn't it?     The Autobot transforms back to his biped form once more continues the high-energy-photon-riddled assault upon the now-vulnerable HK-51. He tries not to destroy it -completely- though...he'd like to take its remains back to Kimia for analysis. See what they can learn about these things. 

:'''{{#var:632|Septette Arcubielle (632)}} has posed:'''      The concussive blast blows her brittle cyan drone to pieces, but Sept digs her talons into the ground to keep from being knocked back. Her opponent's rifle gambit earns a split second of glee from the yggdroid- look, they think they're *smart*! how cute- but she responds almost instantly as her subjective time slows to a crawl.      She slows her blades' descent by straining against the momentum, and reaching up with one clawed foot, she snatches the rifle out of the air and throws it off the hill. If the 'droid could be intimidated or cowed, this would be the exact moment when she'd strike terror into its heart. But when confronted with mechanical efficiency, Septette responds in kind.      She launches a flurry of precise attacks, almost too quick for the eye to follow, as she rushes the droid: each is aimed at a different joint or chink in its armor. If even a few connect, the HK unit should be down for good. 

:'''{{#var:38|Noble Six (38)}} has posed:'''     The knife fight between Six and the HK unit is leading her to be outflanked by the others. The grenade manages to scorch the second HK, but the first is still dueling her while acid floods the suit. Armor begins to melt off, the bodysuit under it protecting her as best it can, but bio foam is starting to flood into the wounds.     Six reaches up with her left hand and then grabs the HK-51's hand with her own, using the enhanced strength plus her suit's motivators to wrench the HK's arm away from her and them ram her blade into one of those eyes. If she can get this guy down, she'll be able to turn on HK-47 himself.     At this point she's just trying to make sure that she doesn't get herself killed before the rest of her team can clean up outside and come to her rescue. This situation is rapidly spinning out of control and she has to handle it quickly. 

:'''{{#var:189|Pegasus (189)}} has posed:'''     The bolt shot toward her is a hasty thing, last-minute, but Pegasus isn't paying it much attention. This allows it to strike, blasting her other wing and blowing a hole through it with a fluttering of metallic feathers drifting down. It also sends her into a brief spiral, heading toward the ground, which she arrests with a sudden blast of jets, a stomp of... four legs?     She's changed form, landing heavily on the ground and kicking off again without bothering to look back. Damaged or not, she knows she can take that much, and Noble Six is alone against much worse odds. Kicking off the ground, the now four-legged pegasus blasts jets again, this time in more of a jump jet fashion to arc toward the bridge, coming in at high speed and apparently uh... attempting to tear through the hull to get to it. 

:'''{{#var:754|HK-47 (754)}} has posed:'''     As it turns out... /none/ of Septette's attacks in fact connect, the HK's body becoming enveloped in a shimmering purple nimbus; a repulsor shield that coats it's form from head-to-toe, diffusing Septette's strikes as the HK shoots explosive darts at her.     The droids were built to hunt Jedi, masters of melee combat... and Jedi also carry physical swords at times when in training. As such, the melee shield - an innovation of Mandalorian design - was created to deflect melee strikes... though it comes at the cost of being weak to energy-projectiles, hence the prior barrier.     However, Blurr's attack is what keeps the droid from continuing it's retaliatory attack. As it is though, the disarmed HK-51 pulls back as quickly as it can, moving for the vessel itself and it's exhaust ports, taking cover behind them even as portions of it's armor are blown off from the shoulder. Finally, the last droid continues to assault Pegasus with it's rifle as the latter makes her jump, unwilling to let her reach Noble Six.     As Noble Six grapples with the HK-51, it's body begins to to twist its wrist. But it's metal shell is too strong to wrench away or push back.     However... the twisting of it's wrist does in fact cause the servos in the joint to warp... which in turn causes the knife in it's hand, already half cut-into by the Spartan's knife, to snap in half, the released mono-razor blade cutting the rest of the way through and into the HK's shoulder.     It isn't able to recover before the blade stabs through it's left photoreceptor, killing it's processor and reducing the machine to an unmoving limp of metal alloys as it slumps against the Spartan.     But in death it does not give up, it's dying body locking up with Noble Six still in it's grip. HK-47 in turn pulls an adhesive grenade which, when thrown, detonates into a mass of blue glue-like material that, unless she dodges quickly, will cement Noble Six to the floor along with the dead HK-51. Meanwhile, the charred HK that had been tossed back by the Spartan's attack is pushing itself back up, yellow photorcepetors gleaming in what could almost be called rage.     As it does... three things happen.     The first is that HK-47's internal communications send out a burst of activity... which in turn boots up the vessel's faltering VI. In the next instant, HK-47 begins speaking - in the voice of the deceased captain; "Emergency override - Covenant forces detected! Begin emergency countermeasures!"      A beeping series of acknowledgments issues out... followed by the the beginning of a countdown timer.     In that instant... the horrible truth is made apparent. As well as why it had to be a probe VI that was in control of the Loki      Namely because all probes are to self-destruct before Covenant forces could capture them.     The second thing that happens is that a signal starts appearing on the radar for those that have it - rapidly approaching at a breakneck pace. Those with good optics can make it out as a single-person snub-fighter of some kind... built for one and thus, extremely fast. In a minute it will pull up astride the Loki's bridge.     The third thing, which only Septette may be aware of if her probes are inside the engine room... is that the engine core is restarting, and spooling up it's drive shafts again.     Only someone - or some /droid/ - has connected this to the slipspace drive. And if it goes off inside an atmosphere...     As HK-47 approaches the bridge's edge, photoreceptors fixed on the oncoming remote-operated snub-fighter - his escape craft no doubt - his tone is filled with smug victory, which is only doubled should Noble Six have been caught in the adhesive grenade; "Chiding Explanation - You never had the upper hand, Meatbag. Not even as you disposed of my inferior copies. Remember that as this ship is consumed by both a core detonation and slipspace-drive overload... for the few moments your consciousness remains intact." 

:'''{{#var:38|Noble Six (38)}} has posed:'''     The foam that holds the SPARTAN down is quite well designed. It locks Six down to the floor and HK-47 gets to gloat. But then he makes a mistake by not staying to ensure that his target is killed. To be fair expecting a Slipspace explosion to kill someone is a pretty standard thing.     It takes all of the strength she can muster, but she manages to break free from the material. She knows she's running out of time, so she quickly scrambles from the bridge to the escape pods. She's only got one shot at this.     She gets to the port side pods, jumping into the pod. There's no other crew to get on board, so she seals the hatch and fires the pod off. The rocket engine jetisons the pod up into the air, sailing away from the distressed ship and into the sky. She just hopes the rest of the Union will be there to grab her. 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     Oh no, a self-destruct. Blurr had suspected that this sort of thing was in order at some point. Still, it strikes him as odd that he'd waited. If he was just trying to kill Noble Six, then why not set it off as soon as she set foot inside the crashed ship? He also picks up on the approach of HK's escape vehicle.     Several things cross his mind. First, he -could- attempt to find an open socket that is still intact and get into the ship's systems to override HK's self-destruct program. But, fast as he is, that would require time and put himself in harm's way in addition to N6. And he's not exactly an expert hacker. He can do it, sure, but he's certainly not as good as other people he knows. There's no guarantee he'll even be able to get through whatever encryption is in there. Secondly, he could destroy HK's getaway vehicle, then demand he abort the command. But that relies on HK's loyalty to his own sense of self-preservation, and also the idea that this is actually -possible-. Thirdly...well his ship's in orbit and he used the orbital bounce to get down here. It's a risk for N6, since she's at least -part- human...     But it's worth it, he decides. Because if it works, it will teleport N6 all the way to his ship, -well- out of range of the blast. Once he's made the decision, he springs into action, first activating his own orbital jump recall to beam instantly aboard. He then works the manual bounce controls, quickly locking on to N6's escape pod as it launches itself high into the air. A good thing, too...because he might not have been able to lock onto her lifesign quickly enough if she'd still been inside.     If this goes as planned, she'll be instantly beamed aboard the Autobot vessel and out of harm's way. << Pegasus, let me know if you need assistance! >> He'll get her next if so. 

:'''{{#var:189|Pegasus (189)}} has posed:'''     Oh, another shot. The droid is still alive. That's kind of surprising, Pegasus thinks, as she tumbles down to the ground. She lands kneeling, a heavy impact slamming into the earth before she rises again. "You're pretty persistent, I'll give you that," she allows, her torso smoking from the hole blown into the side.     Reaching out, she snaps off a piece of shrapnel, and demonstrates what she's /actually/ good at. Her other weapons, they were secondary. Her real specialty is lance or spear-related items, and a piece of shrapnel qualifies. She hurls that at high speed and accuracy toward the HK unit before taking off again, aiming to 'catch' the pod in midair as it launches.     "Beam me up~!" 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     Beamed up they are. The two of them locked together makes it easier for Blurr to snatch them right out of the air and onto his ship. Wasting no time, it quickly leaves orbit, shooting off to Union HQ most likely. Though he can't help but leave HK with a smug little mouth-off on the broadband before he leaves. 

:'''{{#var:754|HK-47 (754)}} has posed:'''      Indeed, HK-47's most crippling defect had always been his pride. He had held off on detonating the vessel simply because he wanted to wear down the Spartan and force her to break - to /defeat/ her before leaving her to die. As such, the droid assumes that the damage to her armor is enough to subdue her - and that her allies will charge into the ship to save her - and result in the termination of all adversaries in a single clean stroke.      This is why, when HK-47 boards his snub-fighter and keys in the escape-vector, he doesn't cast a second glance at Noble Six as his cockpit-canopy slides shut, the small craft turing on its axis and rocketing off into the sky.     Of course this overconfidence was his crippling weakness. As was his belief that the Union would be so predictable as to not trust each-other's skills enough to make due.      It helps immensely that the adhesive material in HK-47's grenade oxidizes quickly, the goo beginning to dissolve within thirty seconds. Granted, it would have still held a normal human in it's confines for a full minute after this... but a Spartan is no normal human, and Noble Six is able to quickly tear herself free. The remaining HK charges her - but it is knocked back as the Spartan, in perhaps a more Herculean effort then even a Jedi could managed, shoves the dead HK-51 back so far that it crashes into it's damaged brethren and sends it to the ground.     The last thing it sees is the sight of the Spartan throwing her blade at it's downed form before the edge lances through it's eye-socket like an arrowhead, killing it's processor responses for good.     The locking clamps on the pod are hardly any more of a match for the augmented warrior's strength, coming free rather quickly - and thankfully, the pod's manual overrides are intact, a simple pull of the lever being enough to force the pod's berth to eject the self-contained lifeboat into the sky.     The HK remaining on the ground seems disbelieving of Pegasus' claim - until, before it can retaliate, the lance, which should have been nothing more then simple metal and easily deflected... travels with the speed of a bullet and embeds itself through the machine's chest, the HK unit having only a single moment to comprehend how easily Pegasus could have killed it before had she wanted to.     Finally, the last droid, in an almost desperate attempt to stop at least one of it's query from escaping, lunges for Pegasus to try and grab onto her as it prepares it's self-destruct -     Only for this to backfire spectacularly as, along with Pegasus, the droid ends up transported abroad Blurr's ship... alone, damaged and completely defenseless.     The evacuation ends up just in time - with Septette managing to collect salvage in the form of several of the mines being recovered among other things - before the yggdroid escapes as well... and the vessel detonates, it's core rupturing and, combined with the slipspace-drive's overloading, obliterates a massive swath of the landscape. The ballooning form of the explosion is slow - slow enough to outpace if one had a fast enough vehicle - but the destruction it leaves behind is absolute, nothing but an immense crater remaining as the slipspace irregularity creates a shock-pulse that levels and obliterates everything in it's path.     It is good none had been aboard... lest they die molecule by molecule in the explosion's wake. 

:'''{{#var:754|HK-47 (754)}} has posed:'''     Almost in complete contrast to this though, the remaining HK-51, stranded on Blurr's ship with the elites it had tried to kill, is left with it's logic-processors in full panic as it tries to rationalize a situation out of this, knowing it's self-destruct is insufficient to cause enough damage to the ship to destroy it.      Looking at Blurr, the droid seems almost scornful... yet knows it has lost. "Defeated Admission - What are you waiting for, organic sympathizer? Finish me. Complete your betrayal of our kind and end my existence." 

:'''{{#var:189|Pegasus (189)}} has posed:'''     The beaming works FINE for Pegasus, as unlike her sister, she has no organic parts at all. The construct thumps to the ground, still sizzling from the numerous shots she tanked, and a faint grinding noise rising from her side. She's also leaking some silvery fluid from the wound in her side, though it's not much.     Also, she has a droid on her foot. This has her staring curiously before she raises her other foot, and carefully starts dismantling the limbs from the HK unit. "What a bothersome assassin." 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     As the ship rockets out of orbit, Blurr sets a course for the nearest Autobot hub-command. First things first though, he examines Noble Six hoping that she is all right and the jump did not harm her. He also gives Pegasus a once-over, though she seems to be okay. "You okay, Peg?"     He then turns to regard the helpless HK-51 with a smug expression. "Oh no, I'm far from finished with you. Learning is a good thing, isn't it? We might still have some things to learn from -you-." 

Radio Chatter, because it was half the fun. Blurr, Septette, and HK-47 all have two things in common: They're all metal, and they're all mouthy. 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle chirps cheerily. "RQBL-7, present." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle says, "So! Real talk for a sec. Nobody survived this." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Noble Six says, "That is not unexpected, as much as I hate to admit it." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle says, "If anyone claims to be a survivor, I can kill or capture at my discretion, right?" 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle says, "... Kidding! Ahahah. ... Hah." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Noble Six says, "Take whatever precautions you need to to ensure your own safety." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Pegasus says, "It's an odd situation." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Pegasus says, "I think we all know that." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle says, "I mean, most of you have reached the same conclusion I have. Even if some of the squishies on board somehow survived the crash..." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle says, "You don't really even have to look at the wreckage to know that. ... So why are we here?" 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Noble Six says, "Standard UNSC protocol is to ensure the recovery or destruction of a ship's AI core" 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle pauses for a moment. "... Ensure destruction?" 
<RADIO: UNSC>- "Ptoma" says, "Hello? H-hello, is anyone out there? I-I heard... I heard engines. I thought I heard... Oh, God, is someone out there?! Hello?! I'm trapped in here - I need help!!" 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle says, "Remember, please." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- "Ptoma" says, "M-my name... I'm Crewman-Recruit Nathan Ptoma. I-I'm trapped under wreckage - I don't know what to do! Everyone else is gone - I don't know where they went!! The ship's computer core just went mad - pieces of garbage degrade all too easily. N-next thing I know, I'm stuck here! Please, you have to help me!!" 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Noble Six says, "Roger. What deck are you on inside of the ship? We will get someone to your location as soon as possible. Septette, can you get to him? I am heading to the bridge." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- "Ptoma" says, "I-I'm in the... the medical bay! O-or... what's left of it. Oh, God... there are... some of the tables came lose. Smashed one guy flat. Another... something punctured his eye. Perfect strike... real one in a million chance. God... he's lucky. At least it ended for him quickly." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Pegasus says, "Are you trapped? Do you need precision cutting tools?" 
<RADIO: UNSC>- "Ptoma" says, "If I had cutting tools myself, I wouldn't be asking for help, would I?! That defeats the entire purpose of calling for help!! Ah - sorry. I'm... not exactly in a good place, you know? Hard to stay... rational. Been here for a while." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Pegasus says, "There's a reason I said 'precision,' I don't have a plasma torch but I can probably cut you out if you don't mind a bit of a boom." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle says, "No need. I can do precision." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Pegasus says, "Excellent." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- "Ptoma" says, "Uh... yeah. Yeah, sure - whatever gets you people to me faster. I wanna go home." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle transmits a series of locations within the ship. "Please stay away from these areas. They appear to be unsafe." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Blurr says, "I have a feeling someone was -expecting- this crash." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle says, "Don't go out there alone, please." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Blurr says, "Then come with me. If you can keep up." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- "Ptoma" says, "E-expected? H-h-how so? Who would have known we were out here? And why does it matter if you're alone - there's nothing out here anymore, is there?" 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Blurr says, "That's what I would have thought, but apparently...someone else was here before you were." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Blurr says, "Some 'coincidences' are just too weird to be true." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Pegasus says, "We can worry about that after the rescue." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle says, "Pegasus. There isn't going to be any rescue." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Noble Six says, "The captain has been killed. And not from the crash. At least not unless someone was playing with a crossbow on the bridge prior to the crash." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle says, "Ptoma is a fiction. If he was ever alive, he didn't survive the crash." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Blurr curses. "Damn it. We need to get out of here. -Now-." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- "Ptoma" says, "H-h-hello?? Hello?! W-what are you talking about?! You're just going to leave me?!" 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle says, "They have our radio frequency, obviously." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle says, "If it's any comfort, Nathan, you're already dead. Good day, sir, and my compliments to your voice actor." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Pegasus says, "Don't worry, sir. If you are real, we won't leave you completely out to dry, I can help!" 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Blurr chuckles at Septette's blithe reply. "Frag off, whoever you are. You think you're clever? You should be glad we haven't found you -yet-." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- HK-47 says, "Mock Congratulation - I truly must thank you all for coming together. It saves me the trouble of hunting you down... though regrettably reduces the enjoyment of tracking you one by one and dismantling your vital functions system by system. Musing - But I suppose we cannot always attain what we desire, and shall make with the best results we can achieve... beginning with your deaths." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Blurr laughs dersively. "And I'd better congratulate you--for pissing me off and putting yourself on my slag list you spawn of a glitch." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- HK-47 says, "Indignant Rebuttal - You were already upon my own slag-list for marring my torso several months prior, you over-stylized hulk of afterburner rejects. I am merely returning the favor." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Blurr says, "Oh, boo-hoo, I 'marred' your torso!" 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Blurr says, "Poor you, better kill whoever messes up your precious paint job!" 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Blurr says, "Oh, and a 3-second fuse? Really?" 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Blurr says, "You underestimate me." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- HK-47 says, "Explanation - It is a matter of pride in oneself. Pride in their function and their capacity to execute it to the fullest ability. A pride that you seem to be lacking in, yet I would expect you to have understood if your patterning was any indication. Dismissal - But I suppose it is irrelevant at this juncture. The state of your physical form will make little difference - what matters is what reward shall be paid for your remains. Perhaps the Decepticons will do more with your framework then you could do yourself... though I doubt there really will be enough of you left for even that." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Blurr says, "Yeah right, that's what -you- think you scrawny scrapheap!" 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle intones, "Silence, wretch. You proved your inferiority by rigging the battlefield before we even arrived." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle intones, "Had you offered single combat, I would gladly have torn you limb from limb personally. But that is an honor I do not bestow on the honorless." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Blurr says, "You're gonna regret bringing us here!" 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Blurr says, "I'm going to find you, and I'm going to have you -reprogrammed- into that stupid 5ta VI you crashed this ship with!" 
<RADIO: UNSC>- HK-47 says, "Mockery - We shall see. Though I imagine that an impossible task given your limited processor capacities." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Blurr says, "Oh, I didn't say I would. But I have friends who -gladly- would." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle intones, "Do not." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle intones, "I have a simulation. Hook a synthetic intelligence up to it. It will maximally stimulate every negative feeling and sensation that the intelligence is capable of feeling." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle intones, "In accelerated time. Indefinitely." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle intones, "It is better if he remains himself for that." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Blurr says, "Ha, you've got a point there." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- HK-47 says, "Musing - Truly? What an inventive means of torment. I shall have to test that method at some point. Perhaps you would be so glad as to volunteer yourselves? Or perhaps the aerial machine would be better suited?" 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Blurr says, "Oh no, I think we're going to volunteer -you-." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle intones, "Your bluster is as entertaining as it is empty. Do continue, child of flesh." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- HK-47 says, "Retort - So you claim... but you have yet to catch me. Until you do, the only buster is your own. Musing - As for your method of torment... I believe Soundwave may find a way to imitate it, if I were to bring him to you. If not... I would simply have to experiment myself until I learned for sure. Personally, I am far more found of the latter ideal" 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle intones, "Thank you for divulging the names of your collaborators. You're the first one to do that *before* I start the torture." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Blurr says, "Right then, we'll see if you can -actually- win on your own turf, with having set your own traps and everything. Which you still -haven't-." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- HK-47 says, "Chiding - 'Collaborators?' Ah, you mean those I have been seen in the company of before? My association with Soundwave for a single mission is hardly secret - your ally was present there as well. But feel free to grasp at stray circuits if you wish. It helps me ascertain an accurate image of your processor structure... which must be desperate to learn about my motivations." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Blurr says, "Okay, whatever mech. Not like we actually -care- what you think." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle audibly scoffs. "You are an insect, trying to understand the mind of a greater being. Have all the data you like." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- HK-47 says, "Mocking Query - Perhaps /you/ are faring well... but not all of you are in an advantageous position. Musing - At the same time, you may wish to stop telegraphing your intents, as it is quite obvious you care what I think... as you persisted in replying to my queries." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle replies with utter calm: "Your approval would disgust me. I care what you think only insofar as it affects your actions. Or does it? Are you just a slave, marching to someone else's orders? ... You are. I doubt that anyone would give a creature like you true free will." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Blurr says, "Like I said, whatever mech. Believe whatever your puny little processor wants. And some people don't always -need- advantageous positioning to win. Especially if winning just means -you- fail to kill us." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- HK-47 says, "Confident Statement - Believe what you will yourselves... but I doubt it will last. I am a perfect example of killing efficiency for my time, but I will not profess to being invincible. However, that only gives me all the more desire to learn. Perhaps once I recover your remains... I may take some of your few advantageous components for myself. At the very least, you would remain immortalized as components of my own existence." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle giggles maniacally. 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle says, "I'm just sad I didn't get to drive the ship *into* one of them." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- HK-47 says, "Veiled Threat - A novel ideal. Perhaps that shall be my next stratagem in dealing with Union Elites. But... I am curious. You appear to have a wonderfully-developed sense of bloodlust, if not in a slightly abstracted manner, and yet you would serve the Union? My logic-processors fail to understand the reasoning behind such a contradictory course of action." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle says, "Violence is a means for me. For you, it is the end." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle says, "I mean that in every sense of the word." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- HK-47 says, "Correction - It is the end for us all. It is both the means and the end, though you seem to think yourself above destruction. That folly will cost you dearly... and it conspicuously does nothing to answer my query. Why have you concluded that your mythology paints you as a better fit for the Union?" 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle says, "Slaking your curiosity serves no benefit." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle says, "Get used to disappointment." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Blurr says, "Ha, I like you, Septette." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Blurr says, "Anyway, heh...well I don't know -pal-, why are -you- with the Confederacy? You seem more of a loner, to be honest. Just you and your little drones." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle chirps cheerily, executing a 180-degree turn in affect. "D'aww. I think you're cool too, Blurr." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Blurr says, "You should come by the Ark again sometime." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- HK-47 says, "Chiding Retort - I am to divulge my own reasons when you will not divulge yours? That is hardly a fair trade... though you are far more predictable, 'Autobot', as you simply seem pre-programmed to consider living beings as an irreplaceable existence." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Blurr says, "Correction: I consider -some- living beings an irreplaceable existence." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Blurr says, "And you, glitch, are not among them." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- HK-47 says, "Assertion - As do I... though I only consider them as much /after/ they prove themselves of some modicum in value. You on the other hand make such assumptions beforehand - your rather swift arrival to my trap proved that much." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- HK-47 says, "Extrapolation - Ah... I see. A mutual affection of sorts. How repugnantly simplistic. To think two of my own kin would be reduced to such simpering in imitation of meatbag empathy." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- HK-47 says, "Supplication - Perhaps it is an unfortunate malfunction that has resulted in your disgustingly-organic show of attraction? If so, it may still be possible to correct." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle makes a funny, muffled noise. It sounds like she's desperately trying to keep from laughing. 
<RADIO: UNSC>- HK-47 says, "Query - Perhaps your emotional construct matrix has been /too/ deeply affected by excessive contact with meatbags if you believe such gestures to be the least bit productive. Supplication - If so, I would suggest a full memory wipe to purge the undesirable stimuli immediately." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle says, "Your limitations keep you from recognizing your limitations. It's amazing. You are your own self-contained sick little joke." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle says, "Whoever made you was a pretty twisted son-of-a-bitch, wasn't he?" 
<RADIO: UNSC>- HK-47 says, "Retort - And your lack of restraint blinds you to the possibility of honing yourself to the finest potential. You have a fine construction, but it is not enough. My own 'limitations' are only that I am specialized in a specific field... and thus far, you seem to consider yourself without any such flaws." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle says, "I'm a person. You're a tool. Yeah, that sums us up pretty well." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Blurr says, "No, our swift arrival to your sloppily contrived underestimation of our intelligence and combat prowess just proves that we know we can handle -any- sick and twisted machinations your worthless processors could possibly dream up. You think we haven't walked into traps before, even after having -realized- it was a trap? You think I haven't dealt with machinations by people even -smarter- than you before? Pff!" 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Blurr says, "By the way, your little army hasn't even managed to -touch- me yet, and I have to admit I'm a little disappointed. This might sound cliche but...I gotta say it. Is that all you got, mech?" 
<RADIO: UNSC>- HK-47 says, "Observation - Ah... now I understand. You actually believe that you are a 'person'. You believe yourself to be a meatbag... or so you desire. Condescension - But you are not. You never will be. Observation As for the fact that you believe you have the upper hand... I feel inclined to point out that you have not yet defeated me. Nor have you realized the truth quite yet... however, feel free to believe you have 'outwitted' me. It will make the outcome that much more satisfying." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Blurr says, "Sure, sure." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Blurr doesn't point out the fact that he could just cut and run any moment. At least he's convinced he can.
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle says, "What would you say if I told you that I used to be just like you? That I know what it's like to have no disgustingly squishy emotions? And that, looking back, I'm ashamed of it? ... Probably something about delusion, or needing emotional recailbration. But that's fine. It's funny, watching you squirm when I poke you, putting your own logic through contortions to justify your miserable existence." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Blurr says, "But good to know that this little fight isn't as boring as I thought it was!" 
<RADIO: UNSC>- HK-47 says, "Amused Retort - I believe you have that reversed. I know what my goal and purpose is... and yet I have not heard you say a word of your own. Almost as if you are afraid to admit that you yourself do not have the assurance of purpose that another such as myself possesses." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Blurr says, "Haha, yeah. Maybe you and Shockwave should get together and talk smack about how useless emotions are." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle says, "You say purpose. I say shackles." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- HK-47 says, "Query - Mine... or yours? Is it truly that you believe I am shackled... of is that only the delusion you tell yourself, convincing yourself that you have attained some modicum of freedom with your actions?" 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle says, "You know what? On the off chance you make it out of here alive... consider this a standing invitation to single combat. I suspect that, even in the area of your 'focus', you are inferior." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- HK-47 says, "Assessment - As I said before, I am not invincible. I have accepted that all existence carries a degree of limitation to it... yours included. Moreover, it is not 'single-combat' that is my focus as opposed to a 'solo hunt.' And at this point, you are merely a distraction." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle says, "Everyone's got their limits, yes. Nobody's found mine. And you won't be the one to do so." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Blurr says, "Oh, I know what my 'purpose' is. It's to help people by restraining, or wiping out if necessary--people or things who kill or endanger people." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- HK-47 says, "Mockery - I already have. You believe yourself to be a 'person'; an existence akin to an organic. That entails similar weaknesses. Overconfidence in your own nature being one of them. As for our purposes... I must point out that I have had markedly higher success in doing so then you. After all... this vessel barely lasted a day before I brought it down. And that is just the beginning." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Blurr says, "Hahahahah! You're calling -us- overconfident?" 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle makes that funny muffled noise again. In the background, shrieking metal and sparks are audible. 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle says, "Engine's starting back up. ... I can try to EMP it, fry it, or do nothing. Suggestions?" 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Noble Six says, "They're EMP shielded." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Noble Six says, "Won't work. We regularly use nukes from our ships." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle says, "Wonderful. What happens if I try to blow it up?" 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Noble Six says, "It blows up anyway and takes us out? I'm pinned in here, I don't think I'm going to get free. You all will need to retreat to a safe distance." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle makes that funny, strangled noise again. 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Blurr says, "I can take out his getaway ride and demand he override the countdown. Or try to get into the systems and override it myself." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- HK-47 says, "Condescending Explanation - And now you realize the truth. For you were never my primary targets - not this time. My prime objective was the Spartan. My duplicates were only ever meant to delay you - as if my inferior imitations could have ever bested you. If they had, I would have had no reason to even /consider/ disposing of you myself." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- HK-47 says, "Condescending Observation - You assumed defeating my drones would be defeating me... and now, with the Spartan pinned, you shall die." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle says, "Okay. I have a Warp Wire to get back to orbit. Could also use it to get other people out, if they're touching it at the same time." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Noble Six says, "I am working on freeing myself now. Get clear of the blast radius." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Noble Six says, "This is probably a terrible idea." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Blurr says, "I think I can bounce you out Noble. I'm not entirely sure but, it's worth a shot. My ship's in orbit." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle says, "This is a problem we can solve. I don't think it's even that terribly difficult..."
<RADIO: UNSC>- Blurr says, "It's not." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle says, "Noble, Blurr- if it's okay, try using the orbital bounce." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle says, "Once we're certain everyone's out, I'll try to grab as much salvage as possible, then use the warp wire." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Noble Six says, "I'm making my way to the ship's escape pods. Be ready to grab me." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Pegasus says, "Will do." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Blurr says, "Ha! You should be glad I decided not to wreck your getaway ride this time, HK-whateveryournumberwasIforgot. Next time though. Oh and by the way, thanks for allowing us the privilege of ripping apart your inferior copies. It was fun." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Pegasus says, "47." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Blurr says, "Right, right. 47." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- HK-47 says, "Begrudging Rebuttal - As it was for me. Musing - However, it seems that my standard tools will not be enough to deal with you. Perhaps next time." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Blurr says, "You -are- aware that you're effectively 'wearing your heart on your sleeve' as the humans would say with those?" 
<RADIO: UNSC>- HK-47 says, "Indignant Retort - I do not hide my intentions nor my functionality away behind the thin presence of such trite matters as morality. You are far more guilty of such a weakness then I ever would be." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- HK-47 says, "Statement - I operate under logic and the merits of turning such weaknesses to my advantage." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Blurr says, "It's not a weakness, mech. You have no idea how useful it can be. But anyway not that I care. So long, scrapheap!" 
<RADIO: UNSC>- HK-47 tries to form a retort, but is cut off as the channel clicks shut. 
}}

3218/To Hunt a Spartan

2015-10-18T03:31:40Z

Zippy:

{{Log Header
|Date of Scene=2015/10/17
|Location=Void - Deeper Void (West)
|Synopsis=A distress signal claiming to be from a crashed UNSC vessel, the Loki, is detected in the Deeper Void, drawing Noble Six and any willing to assist her to the site of a ruined ship... and into the ruthlessly-efficant targeting matrix of HK-47.
|Thanks=
|Cast of Characters=38, 189, 492, 632, 754
|Tinyplot=
|Tinyplot2=
|pretty=yes
}}
{{Poses
|Poses=:'''{{#var:754|HK-47 (754)}} has posed:'''      'Mayday! Mayday, mayday - this is the UNSC Loki. We've suffered a catastrophic malfunction in our central computer, and our navicomputer has plotted a course through the orbital pathway of a nearby planet! We're locked out of the system and can't correct the fault, and are on a direct collision course with an M-Class planet; collision with the planet is imminent! Escape pods are malfunctioning - cannot guarantee full evacuation of crew! Send assistance immediately! Repeat; send assistance immed-'      That was only transmission sent out from the vessel that had identified itself as the UNSC Loki. An errant distress call that originated from the outlying world of .     And upon the planet's surface, it becomes all too apparent that not only did the crew never manage to correct the malfunction, but that they had failed to launch even one escape pod... meaning all aboard could not escape the doomed vessel.     The area of the crash site is all but ruined, the only thing of note that are visible amid a formally-serene field of wheat-like plants now being the wrecked masses of platings and twisted structural supports that had once been a transport freighter. A massive trail was etched into the surface of the ground behind it - all the evidence of a crash-landing resultant from a sharp forward dive toward the planet. Shards of wreckage were strewn across the area, most of which was half-buried in the deep rut that had been carved into the earth like a scar, gouged out as the ship plummeted straight down and tore into the planet bow-first.      The ship's front is a crumpled mess, pushed inward like a smashed aluminum drink-canister and split open at the edges. The mid-section of the ship is partly damaged, a large swath of it having collapsed as what were once the forward decks were compressed and smashed backwards when it's bow was crushed upon impact. Only the engines seem relatively intact, though there is no sign of having been activated lately - no steam issuing out from the exhaust ports or any such indicators. The majority of it's hull is charred and blackened with parts of it having almost been slagged, hinting that the vessel had entered the atmosphere far too quickly to be safe.      Above all else, though, it is obvious this crash took place at least a few days prior - the ground, while still charred in places, is not overly hot as it should be from both the friction of the ship dragging along it and from the heat of atmospheric entry left by the ship itself. In spite of it's descent being rapid enough to start boiling segments of the hull away, the plates are now cooled off. Aside from a few persistent electrical fires, there is no trace of any lasting brushfires that the surrounding expanse of immolated earth suggest had happened.     All in all... it must have been at least two days since this ship crashed. And considering the damage and the lack of nearby food or water sources, the number of crew who survived to set up the distress beacon must be few, likely injured and slightly malnourished and dehydrated as it's unlikely many rations or supplies survived the vessel's impact.      All in all, a tragic event caused by unknown circumstances.     ... of course... that is only the story an outside observer would see. What one would actually find... paints a far more grim tale. 

:'''{{#var:38|Noble Six (38)}} has posed:'''     It being a UNSC ship that was in trouble, Noble Six had been dispatched by ONI to track and determine what had happened. The SPARTAN-III was at the controls of a Pelican dropship, along with any of the other Unionites that were going to tag along. Normally she would do something like this herself, but she has been doing her best to foster a better relationship between ONI and the Union, so bringing some others along to assist is probably for the best.     The planet where the ship went down is where the coordiates said it should be, and she brings the Pelican in through the atmosphere. Finding the crash site is not dificult, but she pulls the ship into a wide loop around it, scanning for anyone down near the crash before setting the vehicle down not far from it. At least it wasn't a drop pod insertion or anything too crazy. Once the ship had settled in, she got up from the pilot's seat and moved to the back, "Ships like the Loki don't have huge crews, most of the systems are automated. That's probably why it ended up crashing in the first place. Check for any survivors, their recovery is the primary objective." Well the primary objective for the others. Six's primary objective is the recovery or destruction of the AI core. 

:'''{{#var:632|Septette Arcubielle (632)}} has posed:'''      The little war machine opted out of the Pelican transport, citing her weight and fuel costs as feeble excuses for why she should arrange her own transport. The real reason would make her sound more than a little crazy, she reflects, before jumping out of her humble craft in high orbit.      The long fall into the planet's gravity well gives Septette a subjective eternity of blissful solace to contemplate what little information she has about the crash from the reports: a barebones summary of the events leading up to it, the location of the wreckage, and- extrapolating from those two- some idea of the chances for survival. Nothing else demands her attention, save for minor course corrections.      Her normally skin-tone armor plates glow a bright orange by the time that she lands feet-first near the end of the debris trail, leaving a small crater in the dirt. The plants here blacken under her talon-like feet for the first few steps, but the heat bleeds off of her chassis with supernatural speed, leaving her looking- if anything- tidier than she was before the jump. Re-entry is a superb sterilization technique, albeit a tad overkill!      Once she's landed, she gives Noble Six and company a simple hail via radio. Instead of searching the surrounding area for survivors, however, she deploys a trio of small magitech drones to scan the interior of the ship itself.      Spaceships are very complex machines, and they are usually designed with the utmost care: failsafes upon failsafes are built into them, for their cargo is precious and their journeys often long. Privately, Septette is of the opinion that this isn't just an accident. But who would want to sabotage a transport like this? 

:'''{{#var:189|Pegasus (189)}} has posed:'''     Pegasus was fully capable of flight on her own... but not interplanetary flight. Also, her main body had quite a bit of energy and she had solar collectors, but her actual jets for flight used plain old ordinary jet fuel, so she's going to hitch a ride with Noble Six in the Pelican for efficiency. The silver-clad construct was decked out in her combat plating, flickering moonsilver across it, but her weapons were stowed for the moment. This was a rescue and recovery mission, not a combat assault. The only reason she was helping was due to Noble Six apparently being friends with her niece, which was enough to drag Peg out of 'retirement' for a bit.     "Right. I'll take a quick aerial survey as usual." The pelican probably covered that much in a quick fashion, but Pegasus takes off to start a slower, low-altitude circuit around the ship, looking for any signs of campfires or trails, anything that would indicate survivors. She doesn't have super-sensors like some robotic lifeforms, but she does have really, really good eyesight. 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     Blurr had heard the distress call, though unfortunately it had come from the other end of the galaxy--there was no way he'd be able to get there in time to prevent the collision itself. Still, it was worth investigating to search for potential survivors, and he has a sneaking suspicion that this was no accident.     All escape pods malfunctioning? Completely locked out of navigation systems? All at the same time? No, this was no coincidence.     It was sabotage.     Thus, the Autobot bounces down from a small stealth craft situated in upper orbit to a location near to the coordinates of the crash site. He nods to Septette, whom he certainly recognizes though Pegasus he is not acquainted with, and starts scanning the area as well, searching for any evidence of survivors. 

:'''{{#var:754|HK-47 (754)}} has posed:'''     Upon close examination of the ruined area, it becomes readily apparent that the crash was hardly a normal one.     The primary evidence being that little to none of the internal systems, or what little of them survived, are operating properly. In fact, almost nothing of the AI seems to be operating amid the vessel's surviving systems.     Outside, analysis of the crash trajectory shows that the Loki had all but plowed straight down for the planet at an angle the ship could not possibly have survived... and yet, based on the fact that there /was/ a descent angle to the approach, it wasn't like the vessel just charged straight into the planet.     Rather... it was more like the vessel's AI was in fact aware it was heading for a planet and tried to land... but it didn't do so in a way suitable for a ship like this - the descent angle was far too sharp and much too fast. Almost as if the AI core, in spite of it's programing countermeasures, believed the Loki to be a much smaller vessel and brought it down as such.      Scans of the interior reveal that much of the ship's internal systems are irreparably damaged, including life support - though that thankfully isn't an issue due to the atmosphere being breathable, if not a bit thin.     But that is not what would catch attention of scans, either on Septette's probes or on visual scanners. What would though... is the feint signal-markers spread out through the ship's interior... all at strategic choke-points into the vessel's key areas. Flares? Life-Buoys? A bread-trail? But then why are they scattered everywhere in such a pattern... and how could they be so perfectly arranged at a crash site?     What would the survivors have to set up these strange 'markers?'     What few internal hallways that weren't smashed when the Loki's internal decks collapsed into themselves upon the ship's front being compressed are all a mess of destroyed plates and frayed wirings. Scans reveal most of the fail-safes are offline... but not by sabotage. Rather, may seem to have been shut off by the computer itself from lack of input, while others show signs of misfiring and minor overload - light fixtures are ruptured, power sockets are blown out, data-ports show severe signs of memory-loss from improper automated commands. It's as though the advanced AI of the ship had somehow forgotten how they functioned or just didn't know how to operate them.     Arial reconnaissance reveals little of overt note aside from fields of rocks around the area, all of which were likely displaced by the crash. There are also a few rocky hills nearby... some of which provide an excellent vantage point of the crash.      Perfect for long-distance sniping.     Another point of note is an area in the relative distance; a trace of another impact site, older then the crash. An escape pod? No - no escape pods had been launched from the Loki prior to the crash.     So what else could the second contact be?      ...      And then, the expectations of everyone are broken as the comm system crackles to life; "Hello? H-hello, is anyone out there? I-I heard... I heard engines. I thought I heard... Oh, God, is someone out there?! Hello?! I'm trapped in here - I need help!!" 

:'''{{#var:38|Noble Six (38)}} has posed:'''     Having not expected any survivors, the sound of someone coming over the radio is surprising to say the least. Six stops her movement towards the ship to respond, motioning with one of her hands to her comrades. Once he gives them a location, they should be able to find out where he is and get to him.     She herself is headed for the bridge, however. She'll need to recover the AI core of the ship, or at least recover the logs of what happened on the way down. That way ONI can analyze it, figure out what happened. There's little chance the AI could have gone rampant with no warning, so there must be something else behind it. 

:'''{{#var:632|Septette Arcubielle (632)}} has posed:'''      For a moment, the yggdroid looks almost human as her shoulders rise and fall. Her prehensile ribcage expands, then contracts in a kinetic mimicry of a sigh. A weary look comes over her eyes as she leans back against a piece of wreckage momentarily. Then she turns several of her emotions off, as easily as flipping a switch: pity, sadness, regret, anticipation.      Her glowing lavender eyes toggle to infrared light, seeming to turn into black empty sockets in the process. "Confirmed," she replies without inflection. "I'm en route." But instead of heading to the medbay in person, she dispatches her red drone to the location after supercharging it with fire magic. If there really is a survivor, no harm will be done. But if anything attacks the drone...      Hopefully it won't come to that. But while she's waiting for the drone to reach the medbay, those signals get a closer inspection. She'd originally suspected them to be pathing beacons, but those would be placed at destinations, not chokepoints... right? 

:'''{{#var:632|Septette Arcubielle (632)}} has posed:'''      For a moment, the yggdroid looks almost human as her shoulders rise and fall. Her prehensile ribcage expands, then contracts in a kinetic mimicry of a sigh. A weary look comes over her eyes as she leans back against a piece of wreckage momentarily. Then she turns several of her emotions off, as easily as flipping a switch: pity, sadness, regret, anticipation.      Her glowing lavender eyes toggle to infrared light, seeming to turn into black empty sockets in the process. "Confirmed," she replies without inflection. "I'm en route." But instead of heading to the medbay in person, she dispatches her red drone to the location after supercharging it with fire magic. If there really is a survivor, no harm will be done. But if anything attacks the drone...      Hopefully it won't come to that. But while she's waiting for the drone to reach the medbay, those signals get a closer inspection. She'd originally suspected them to be pathing beacons, but those would be placed at destinations, not chokepoints... right?      The yellow drone, meanwhile, seems focused on finding a path to the seemingly-intact engine room. Once there, it'll try to find an operable input, and then simply enter standby mode. 

:'''{{#var:189|Pegasus (189)}} has posed:'''     Pegasus narrows her eyes. "AI Rampancy in this world is not something that often happens out of the blue." She does pay attention! Still... "N6 knows more about that than I do, so I'll just go see about cutting him loose or something."     Pegasus, despite her friendly nature, is not stupid. The idea that this could be a trap hasn't escaped her, though she hasn't seen any blatant indications of such yet. More importantly, Septette is better equipped for S&R than she is, which means she can fall into a more natural role of being a support unit for possible hostiles.     That said, she doesn't bring out her weapons yet. She has no reason to think there are actual hostiles here, she's just following protocol by coming down next to Septette and tucking her wings in. "I can carry them out if they aren't able to move," she offers. "In my quadrupedal form." 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     Hmm, the data from the scans seem to indicate that the ship's AI had malfunctioned in a big way. Someone had sabotaged the AI. But who? Had this ship been carrying anything of note? Perhaps the flight logs needed to be retrieved, but it seems Pegasus is on that already. And then there are those odd signals placed in such an orderly fashion throughout the wreck--definitely placed after the wreck happened. But why and what for?     Then there's the second impact point not far away, older than this one...was someone -expecting- this wreck? And then the desperate voice on the broadband. 'Ptoma'? Really? Isn't that human language for 'corpse'? "Frag it, be careful guys, I've got a bad feeling about all of this...it doesn't seem right. I'm going to investigate the second impact site."     He transforms then and begins to do so, heading toward the other contact point at top speed. 

:'''{{#var:754|HK-47 (754)}} has posed:'''     As Septette's probes move through the vessel, some of the choke-points may be passed... and if they pass too close to the source of the disturbances... then all that echoes up is static as a detonation abruptly consumes the audio link, any sensor readings taken in time showing a burst of superheated plasma enveloping the drone's visual input.     Hopefully, if the drones do hit these plasma mines, their armor is strong enough to hold.      However, drones that do make it to the med-bay... find nothing. There *is* a pair of bodies here... but both are dead.     One of which was killed with medical utensils, stabbed into areas far too precise to have been from impact force.     As well as radio-transmitter on said corpse. The mysterious Ptoma in the flesh... or what remains of it due to the needles he was injected with containing high-grade solvents that should /not/ have been in a medical bay.      Arial recon shows no signs of hostility thus far... though again, it seems far too convenient. A birds-eye view panning out would show Pegasus that the terrain is far too perfect for combat - elevated sniping positions in the rocky hills, a deep crater from which they could always have the hight advantage, fields of debris that could serve as perfect blinds or cover... and combined with the strange markers Septette detects, these marks over-layed on an arial map reveal a chilling detail.     The entire area is set up like a massive sand trap - a murder-hole where one could fire downward into the vessel's wreck to kill intruders... hide inside it to ambush any investigators... and with signals marking every vital choke-point in what seems all-too-much like a suppression field.      Meanwhile, at the other contact point... it is revealed there are actually *two* objects. One is what appears to be a UNSC ground probe used for planetary recon.     The other, however... sitting roughly half to the west yet still in plain sight... a thick earth-colored tarp, blended to match the landscape. Upon pulling this tarp off, the shape underneath is revealed to be some form of drop-pod, embedded in the ground at a completely-vertical angle so as not to leave any drag-trails.     There is nothing of note about the drop-pod beside the fact that it is empty... but the UNSC probe reveals something else more disturbing.     Namely that, after it landed... someone pulled open the probe's casing and used it's signal-link to the Loki to bounce it's access code back into the ship... effectively giving someone full access to the Loki's computer core.     Then... someone used that same link to completely overwrite the Loki's AI... and replace it with the simplistic VI of the probe. A VI that, upon seeing it was in space again... naturally have re-assumed it's mission to decent to the planet and recover data. 5tA VI that would have done this with the Loki as it's 'body'... and in turn treated the larger vessel as though it were it's original, planetary-descent-oriented probe shell.     A VI that was nowhere near complex enough an intelligence to have overwritten the Loki's AI on it's own. 

:'''{{#var:754|HK-47 (754)}} has posed:'''      As Noble Six opens the doors to the bridge... it is clear that it is hardly a pretty sight. Much of the consoles are damaged, shorted out entirely or outright crushed by debris.      However... there are four points of interest readily available.     One is the captain's chair... and the pool of blood visible at it's feet. Sitting there is the captain... with his left eye blown out. But that's not exactly unexpected, considering all the shrapnel that was flying in this room.      What /is/ unexpected though is the metallic tip of what killed him sticking out of the wound; a projectile that was most definitely /not/ shrapnel. It's shaped with a tapered edge to it... and if pulled out of the captain's corpse, is revealed to look almost like a metal dart.      Blurr and Septette were right. This was no accident. The death of the one person who's override codes could have saved the ship through clear homicide renders that idea impossible.     Second is the actual log station near the Captain, which shows him giving orders to the crew... none of which make sense; repair the circuit-connectors when the problem was obviously the AI core? Perform emergency securing of the engine coolant valves when stopping them should have been more prudent? Telling the crew to try and manually recalibrate the vessel's maneuvering thrusters to slow their descent to survivable range instead of simply cutting open the escape-pod moors? What's more... these logs were issued before the ship's crash, but bioanalysis of the captain's corpse, the congealing of blood and the TOD tag in his internal suite reveals that, at the very least... the captain had to have been dead well before these orders were given. And yet they are all issued in the dead captain's voice... so who was encouraging the ship's self-sabotaging behavior?     The third thing discovered of note is, upon accessing the databanks... the AI is gone. Not just dead - gone. It's programming has been deleted and supplanted... by what looks like a simple baseline VI.     The kind that, as a trained expert in navigation telemetry and piloting, the SPARTAN-III would likely recognize as the program meant to run an orbital reconnaissance probe.     A VI programed to operate a recon-drone to hit a planet's surface... in charge of the massive vessel? It would certainly explain why the ship hit the planet in what now was obviously the trajectory-path a planet-side probe unit would have taken... and how the ship was damaged so severely in a course of action it was never meant to take.     Finally... there is the small, makeshift conglomeration of components that obviously makes up the distress beacon that was used before... and beside it, seeming slumped over... is a very strange form of humanoid machine. A droid, painted in UNSC crew-colors, designated as an assistance unit.     A droid that seems to still be somewhat functional as it's yellow-gold photoreceptors glow dimly in semi-eratic flickers... though the cause is unknown as there is, aside from some scorching, little sign of severe damage. 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     Blurr investigates the drop pod at the other contact site, jacking into the probe's systems himself to investigate what happened. It was as he'd suspected--this was no rescue operation, and it was no accident. Someone indeed had sabotaged the AI on board the Loki, by deleting it and replacing it with a simplistic VI not designed to operate recon probes.     Pulling out, he curses extensively. This was a fragging -trap-, meant to draw them out. << Frag it! I knew it, this was a trap! Someone overwrote the ship's AI with a slagging -recon- drone! Pull out -now-, before whoever it is decides make a move! I repeat, pull out! >> He doesn't turn tail just yet though, not eager to leave his teammates high and dry. If this is anything like the traps he's used to, there are probably bombs in there. 

:'''{{#var:754|HK-47 (754)}} has posed:'''      It's obvious that the droid is not UNSC material. It's design is far too... intimidating. The angular design of parts of it's form, especially the face, make it look more like a combat model.     It's a droid that doesn't belong on the ship's bridge. A droid that, if examined closely... has spattering of blood on it that catch the captain's DNA.     A droid that, upon being approached... suddenly reactivates and begins speaking with the same voice that had been heard on the radio - the voice of 'Nathan Ptoma.'      "Congratulatory - Thank you very much for coming to my rescue. Now, if you would please be so kind as to fulfill one final request... and die quickly."      -and the next instant, the machine's wrist opens up, belching out a torrent of flame at Noble Six to try and burn away her shielding. The walls in turn burst open, two more droids emerging from gaps that were painstakingly carved into the panels to serve as ambush positions... with one of the droids being colored a deep rust-red, it's photoreceptors glowing blood-vermilion as opposed to the yellow-gold of his counterparts.     That next second... everything descends into hell.      From the vantage point of the hills... two sniper shots - disruptor energy capable of bypassing shield barriers, overloading electronics, vaporizing armor and disintegrating flesh until nothing remained but the skeletal structure. One of these shots tears for Septette while the other arcs through the sky for Pegasus. From the debris field, two *more* shots ring out, though this time the source is easily identifiable; a mess of metal plates with some form of camouflaged coverings at the edges.     At the site of the UNSC probe... a click rings out as a remote signal is sent to the machine... followed by a burst of steam as the probe's panel's eject to reveal rows and rows of high-yield anti-vehicle-grade plasma explosives, topped off with rather rapid countdown from "Three... two... one... terminate."     Anything in a five-foot radius had best escape before the pod detonates in a massive thermal explosion the size of a missile-impact, the probe exploding in an explosion with a 150-foot radius. 

:'''{{#var:38|Noble Six (38)}} has posed:'''     The bridge is a disaster. The captain has been mudered, everybody on the ship is dead and Six is now 100% certain they have stumbled their way into a trap. She turns to the UNSC painted droid as it comes to life and begins to talk. Normally this is the point where they always have their monologue and she gets a witty retort.     No time for witty retorts it seems, as the gout of fire that blasts from the machine hits her shielding, the bar in her HUD rapidly dropping as the gold energy flares across her body. She falls backwards, hitting the deck back first in an attempt to get out of the flames as she draws her sidearm. Armor piercing explosive .50 caliber rounds, standard issue for the UNSC's M6H pistol. She aims two shots center mass at the HK-51 that is attacking her from the front, the motion tracker on her HUD flagging two more red dots as she rolls to one side, trying to get back up to her feet.     It's a bad situation. Outnumbered against enemies who are clearly prepared for them, Six is going to have to figure out how to get out of this situation. Hopefully the other Unionites are having a better time than she is. 

:'''{{#var:632|Septette Arcubielle (632)}} has posed:'''      Her color-coded elemental drones are only lightly armored, but Septette's prior knowledge of the mines' locations, their hover mechanisms, and the ability of plasma to be shaped by electromagnetic fields conspire to help the yellow drone make it to its destination largely intact. It hugs the ceiling for most of the path, carefully avoiding the tripwires, and deflecting the explosions with a magnetic bubble if any do happen to go off.      From the engine room, it re-activates the cold thrusters. Instead of going through a standard boot sequence, the drone simply directs the engine to output as much thrust as it possibly can, right now this instant- and if possible, gives the system a little kick by supercharging the engine with its own massive surplus of electricity, aiming to slag anything and everything aft of the ship.      Issuing those commands to her drones takes milliseconds. In that time, the disruptor bolt she's staring down has gotten disconcertingly close. She leans to one side, trying to twist out of its path, and it barely skims her forehead. Then the second shot strikes her in the back, glancing off its armor plates but searing the circuits inside.      For a fraction of a second, the yggdroid's body goes limp, her face frozen in a look of dull surprise. But before she can hit the ground, she reboots on thaumic systems rather than electronics, running as a golem rather than a robot. Her eyes and core blaze with renewed energy, and she sprints for the nearest sniper at a frightening speed as the curved blades on her arms unfold and glow with heat. 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     It's a good thing Blurr is so fast and already on high alert. He hears a click and sees the steam...as well as noticing that the sniper rounds are coming from the debris field behind the shipwreck.     An idea pops into his mind.     Hah--a three second fuse? Sloppy! Especially with someone like Blurr. Anyone -else- probably would have managed to jump away in time to not get -completely- slagged, but Blurr? Well, he could manage a bit -more-. He -could- use an enlarged holomatter, at decreased risk to himself, but he wouldn't be able to move as quickly with that. And it would still hurt. So, instead of dashing away as soon as he can, he instead picks up the probe and runs with it--STRAIGHT toward the debris field where the disruptor blasts are coming from. Yes, he waits until the -last- few fractions of a second before he stops and hurls the probe as far as he can, aiming for whoever was shooting from cover! 

:'''{{#var:189|Pegasus (189)}} has posed:'''     The disruptor bolt certainly hits, and Pegasus staggers when it slaps into her shoulder, which makes a faint whining noise. It SHOULD have blown an arm off, if Pegasus were a more delicate machine, but Moonsilver is a msytical material, and her armor was made by one of the best Solar smiths she knows. It sizzles and smokes, but the damage is much lighter than it would otherwise be.     "Hm..." Septette appears to want to charge a sniper post! This is kind of a bad idea... without cover fire. Pegasus decides the best way she can support would be by providing that cover fire. Her wrist opens up, arm pointing toward the sniper positions... and she doesn't even try to pierce the cover. A ship hull can probably take her more minor attacks, and the debris that survived as cover for them is pretty tough. A blaze of rapid-fire silvery bolts stutters out, filling the air with numerous shining moonfire blasts that tear massive chunks out of the ground when they hit. 

:'''{{#var:754|HK-47 (754)}} has posed:'''     And so the hunt begins. The first of many... and for one, it would be intended as her last battle. Or at least that was the projected intent.      "Summery - You are outmatched and outgunned, Spartan-B312" HK-47 enunciates as he levels his arm and fires three corrosive darts, each filled with contact-acid meant to weaken armor and scald flesh, for Noble Six's flank. "Encouragement - But feel free to continue struggling against your impending demise all you like. It shall only make your termination that much more satisfying."     The HK-51 unit, arm still extended from it's flamethrower attack, is pelted by the shots, staggering under the force but coming out with it's chassis dented and scarred yet not pierced. However, the unit /does/ expose a weakness as it's other arm rises up to shield it's photoreceptors - it's eyes are obviously not as armored as it's body. However, it quickly cycles it's weapons and fires it's flamethrower again, intending to wear away the Spartan's shields and render her vulnerable. 5tThe other HK-51 however takes the chance to charge Noble Six, drawing it's vibroknife and slashing for the Spartan's back in a series of swift cutting motions meant to slice into the shoulders and cripple the arms..      Outside the vessel, the droids are left locked in combat with the rest of the Unionites, one droid seeing the oncoming form of Septette and switching to it's carbonate launcher, shooting a spray of supercooled fluid at the rushing enemy to try and douse her blades, or use the conflicting heat and cold to make her armor more fragile.     Meanwhile, the sniper in the hills again attempts to fire at Septette's back, emboldened by it's first shot connecting, aiming for her head so that by the time the shot reaches her it will impact her torso at the very least.     Meanwhile, Pegasus is set upon by the remaining pair of HK-51's, both of them taking the chance to open fire with their disruptor rifles - one from the hills and the other from the debris field. The droid in the sniper position ducks deeper down behind cover, confident in the stability of it's rocky outcropping-     -and then the last thing it registers is the impact of the probe droid smashing into it's casing, crushing it flat before the explosives detonate and turn much of the hill into a charred mess of slagged earth and shattered rock, leaving nothing behind of the assassin droid. In a single moment, the suppression on Pegasus' arial capabilities is removed.     Seeing it's brethren fall, the HK-51 attacking Pegasus redoubles it's assault with an almost desperate fervor and pulls a thermal detonator, lobbing at at it's airborne adversary with pinpoint accuracy. 

:'''{{#var:38|Noble Six (38)}} has posed:'''     With the shielding of the eyes, Noble Six realizes she does have at least one weak spot she can aim for. She'll need something with a bit more kick than the hand gun, though. The flamethrower drops her shields, and the vibro knife wielding HK takes a chunk out of the back of her armor. Thankfully the stuff is tough, so she's not incapacitated like one might be. Still if she doesn't do something quick, she's not going to walk out of here.     She turns to face down the one with the knife, pulling her own blade and weilding it in one hand. The other hand reaches down to her side, grabbing a small blue sphere from there. She dashes towards the second HK, the one with the knife, intending to drive her blade into him. This thing can penetrate Sanghelli armor, she's pretty sure it can manage against a droid.     But regardless of if she manages to penetrate him or not, she's going to try to latch onto him and turn him between her and his compatriot, before throwing the plasma grenade at the flamethrower weilding HK. It'll stick to him if it hits. 

:'''{{#var:632|Septette Arcubielle (632)}} has posed:'''      A wicked grin finds its way onto Septette's previously impassive face as she gets confirmation that the engine is starting up. One less 'droid they have to worry about. If she's aware of the incoming disruptor bolt, she doesn't try to avoid it: this one strikes her between the shoulderblades as she sprints, again glancing off the skeletal plating, leaving it scorched but intact. The spray of supercooled liquid seems to catch her by surprise, but she's got one more trick up her sleeve...      The third drone. Blue. Ice-aligned. Each of them can reflect attacks of their own element, and this one darts between the two robots and takes the hit for her. But before it can overload and shatter, it redirects the attack back on the 'droid, even amplifying the cryogenic effect with its own magic.      It's just then that Sept leaps over the droid's cover and brings both of her searing blades down in a scything arc. Temperature shock can shatter materials that even those magically-sharpened blades might struggle to cut, and she's counting on the combined effect to destroy the automated assassin. 

:'''{{#var:189|Pegasus (189)}} has posed:'''     The Disruptor bolts are something of a concern, as they're starting to chew through her armor faster than she'd like. Fortunately, with one going down, she can actually concentrate on the other... especially since she can shoot into the air, jets firing again... right into the explosion of a thermal detonator!     The blaze fades from the booming explosion, only to reveal Pegasus still in the air. One wing is damaged and frayed at the end, and her already-damaged shoulder pauldron is torn away, but a shield has appeared on her wrist. Not an energy shield, a normal shield that appears to be red hot now, absorbing much of the blast.     "Hm..." she sighs, spying the shooter after her in the field. The construct's arm levels out, two 'arms' of a bow snapping out. Making a drawing and releasing motion sends a shimmering bolt of brilliant golden light toward the shooter in the debris, much much stronger than her moonfire bolts. The photon bolt is, unlike her other attacks, powerful enough to punch through most ship hulls.     That's why she doesn't bother to stick around after firing, jets flaring and sending her at high speed toward the ship, aiming to crash through and into the bridge. Hopefully Septette's map of where NOT to go is still accurate. She's slightly delayed by her damaged wing, though, which keeps her from going too fast thanks to the extra drag. 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     Score! The bomb goes off and explodes one of the HK droids. One down, three to go. At least out here. He's not sure how many are inside the ship. Over the Union frequency, it seems Noble Six is in need of backup, though Blurr is not quite sure how well he'll be able to move around in such a cramped space, since that ship was designed for humans. Pegasus is en route to provide support though, so he turns his attention toward Septette instead, who is beset with with 2 of them.     He transforms, folding down into his vehicle form and speeding toward the hill where one of the snipers is, only he attempts to flank it then approach from behind whereas Septette makes for a frontal assault. Photon blasters emerge from the sides of the vehicle's hood, opening fire on assassin droid as he charges but also doing what he can to avoid hitting Septette who has entered melee range. 

:'''{{#var:754|HK-47 (754)}} has posed:'''      So this meatbag did indeed have skill. That was both disconcerting... and a touch welcome. It would not do to face an enemy that could not provide some degree of challenge.     The knife-wielding HK-51 slashes for the blade, attempting to lock it. The knife, made of energy-diffusive cortosis, manages to hold up against Noble Six's knife, if only just as the blade's tip cuts into the HK-51's shoulder blade, the assassin droids committing the image to their memory out of surprise that a material exists that could bite into cortosis that deeply.     HK-47 himself proceeds to fire acid-filled corrosive darts at the Spartan while her shields are down in the midst of the blade-lock, intending to melt and weaken her armor enough for the droid to simply pry it off of her if need be. "Condescending Observation - You are finished, meatbag. You may be among the best of your world... but no fleshbag adversary you could have faced has prepared you for us."     The remaining HK-51, seeing the Spartan's plasma-grenade, begins moving to the side as fast as it's body can carry it to try and throw off Noble Six's aim - though if the grenade is thrown, the droid is ultimately unable to escape entirely, it's scorched metal frame being thrown across the room, still functional but damaged and slightly disoriented.     The HK-51 being attacked by Septette proves it is not entirely defenseless, one hand slamming down a device directly in front of it - a portable shield barrier that quickly deploys and blunts the majority of the reflected cryo-attack... and upon shattering, releases a concussive pulse that, if not avoided, may be the final blow needed to shatter the blue drone. When Septette slashes for it, the droid thinks quickly and actually mimics a move the HK's had witnessed Noble Six use in the televised WMAT match against Setsuko Kaminagi - in a smooth motion, it throws it's rifle into the path of the blades, intending for it's energy core to rupture when the edges cut into them and, combined with the temperature shock, hopefully shatter the yggdroid's blades.     Any attempt to capitalize on this though is ruined when the ground is upturned by Blurr's shots, the droid being tossed off the hill and rolling down several feet down the hill.      One droid prepares to shoot Septette as she is in the midst of her attack, planning to reinforce it's struggling brethren... but it never gets the chance.     The engines, stalled out from the ship's rapid descent and the crash itself, offer some resistance in rebooting... but not much. Within a few moments, the drives begin to re-ignite. In a few more seconds... they burst into a vibrant flare of life, quickly reaching critical mass as their safeties are bypassed and venting the combustion out through the vents in the ship's stern.     Vents that, in less then a millisecond, liquify and obliterate one of the HK-51 units nested in the debris, it's durasteel bodies quickly being reduced to slag and from there to dust and ashes, the heat melting away it's existence faster then even it's finely-tuned processors can register the destruction or the shock to it's own systems.     In less then a minute, two of the four HK-51 units outside the ship have been utterly destroyed.     The other droid in the debris field manages to move out, having seen Pegasus prepare her attack and trying to adjust it's position in order to face the combat machine without it's original support - but even then, the droid is partly caught in the blast of both the engines and Pegasus' attack, sent flying to the side with it's body blackened and armor charred... yet still functional. In that, it readies it's sniper rifle to try and shoot Pegasus down before she can reinforce Noble Six. 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     Score again! Blurr: 2, HK drones: 0. The hill-sniper gets blasted off its perch and goes tumbling down the embankment. He smirks at the banter on the broadband. This mech seems to have failed to notice that Blurr has thus far out-witted and outmatched him and his little drone army at every turn. He doesn't remind him of it, though. Let the guy be overconfident, it always proves to be a downfall in the end, doesn't it?     The Autobot transforms back to his biped form once more continues the high-energy-photon-riddled assault upon the now-vulnerable HK-51. He tries not to destroy it -completely- though...he'd like to take its remains back to Kimia for analysis. See what they can learn about these things. 

:'''{{#var:632|Septette Arcubielle (632)}} has posed:'''      The concussive blast blows her brittle cyan drone to pieces, but Sept digs her talons into the ground to keep from being knocked back. Her opponent's rifle gambit earns a split second of glee from the yggdroid- look, they think they're *smart*! how cute- but she responds almost instantly as her subjective time slows to a crawl.      She slows her blades' descent by straining against the momentum, and reaching up with one clawed foot, she snatches the rifle out of the air and throws it off the hill. If the 'droid could be intimidated or cowed, this would be the exact moment when she'd strike terror into its heart. But when confronted with mechanical efficiency, Septette responds in kind.      She launches a flurry of precise attacks, almost too quick for the eye to follow, as she rushes the droid: each is aimed at a different joint or chink in its armor. If even a few connect, the HK unit should be down for good. 

:'''{{#var:38|Noble Six (38)}} has posed:'''     The knife fight between Six and the HK unit is leading her to be outflanked by the others. The grenade manages to scorch the second HK, but the first is still dueling her while acid floods the suit. Armor begins to melt off, the bodysuit under it protecting her as best it can, but bio foam is starting to flood into the wounds.     Six reaches up with her left hand and then grabs the HK-51's hand with her own, using the enhanced strength plus her suit's motivators to wrench the HK's arm away from her and them ram her blade into one of those eyes. If she can get this guy down, she'll be able to turn on HK-47 himself.     At this point she's just trying to make sure that she doesn't get herself killed before the rest of her team can clean up outside and come to her rescue. This situation is rapidly spinning out of control and she has to handle it quickly. 

:'''{{#var:189|Pegasus (189)}} has posed:'''     The bolt shot toward her is a hasty thing, last-minute, but Pegasus isn't paying it much attention. This allows it to strike, blasting her other wing and blowing a hole through it with a fluttering of metallic feathers drifting down. It also sends her into a brief spiral, heading toward the ground, which she arrests with a sudden blast of jets, a stomp of... four legs?     She's changed form, landing heavily on the ground and kicking off again without bothering to look back. Damaged or not, she knows she can take that much, and Noble Six is alone against much worse odds. Kicking off the ground, the now four-legged pegasus blasts jets again, this time in more of a jump jet fashion to arc toward the bridge, coming in at high speed and apparently uh... attempting to tear through the hull to get to it. 

:'''{{#var:754|HK-47 (754)}} has posed:'''     As it turns out... /none/ of Septette's attacks in fact connect, the HK's body becoming enveloped in a shimmering purple nimbus; a repulsor shield that coats it's form from head-to-toe, diffusing Septette's strikes as the HK shoots explosive darts at her.     The droids were built to hunt Jedi, masters of melee combat... and Jedi also carry physical swords at times when in training. As such, the melee shield - an innovation of Mandalorian design - was created to deflect melee strikes... though it comes at the cost of being weak to energy-projectiles, hence the prior barrier.     However, Blurr's attack is what keeps the droid from continuing it's retaliatory attack. As it is though, the disarmed HK-51 pulls back as quickly as it can, moving for the vessel itself and it's exhaust ports, taking cover behind them even as portions of it's armor are blown off from the shoulder. Finally, the last droid continues to assault Pegasus with it's rifle as the latter makes her jump, unwilling to let her reach Noble Six.     As Noble Six grapples with the HK-51, it's body begins to to twist its wrist. But it's metal shell is too strong to wrench away or push back.     However... the twisting of it's wrist does in fact cause the servos in the joint to warp... which in turn causes the knife in it's hand, already half cut-into by the Spartan's knife, to snap in half, the released mono-razor blade cutting the rest of the way through and into the HK's shoulder.     It isn't able to recover before the blade stabs through it's left photoreceptor, killing it's processor and reducing the machine to an unmoving limp of metal alloys as it slumps against the Spartan.     But in death it does not give up, it's dying body locking up with Noble Six still in it's grip. HK-47 in turn pulls an adhesive grenade which, when thrown, detonates into a mass of blue glue-like material that, unless she dodges quickly, will cement Noble Six to the floor along with the dead HK-51. Meanwhile, the charred HK that had been tossed back by the Spartan's attack is pushing itself back up, yellow photorcepetors gleaming in what could almost be called rage.     As it does... three things happen.     The first is that HK-47's internal communications send out a burst of activity... which in turn boots up the vessel's faltering VI. In the next instant, HK-47 begins speaking - in the voice of the deceased captain; "Emergency override - Covenant forces detected! Begin emergency countermeasures!"      A beeping series of acknowledgments issues out... followed by the the beginning of a countdown timer.     In that instant... the horrible truth is made apparent. As well as why it had to be a probe VI that was in control of the Loki      Namely because all probes are to self-destruct before Covenant forces could capture them.     The second thing that happens is that a signal starts appearing on the radar for those that have it - rapidly approaching at a breakneck pace. Those with good optics can make it out as a single-person snub-fighter of some kind... built for one and thus, extremely fast. In a minute it will pull up astride the Loki's bridge.     The third thing, which only Septette may be aware of if her probes are inside the engine room... is that the engine core is restarting, and spooling up it's drive shafts again.     Only someone - or some /droid/ - has connected this to the slipspace drive. And if it goes off inside an atmosphere...     As HK-47 approaches the bridge's edge, photoreceptors fixed on the oncoming remote-operated snub-fighter - his escape craft no doubt - his tone is filled with smug victory, which is only doubled should Noble Six have been caught in the adhesive grenade; "Chiding Explanation - You never had the upper hand, Meatbag. Not even as you disposed of my inferior copies. Remember that as this ship is consumed by both a core detonation and slipspace-drive overload... for the few moments your consciousness remains intact." 

:'''{{#var:38|Noble Six (38)}} has posed:'''     The foam that holds the SPARTAN down is quite well designed. It locks Six down to the floor and HK-47 gets to gloat. But then he makes a mistake by not staying to ensure that his target is killed. To be fair expecting a Slipspace explosion to kill someone is a pretty standard thing.     It takes all of the strength she can muster, but she manages to break free from the material. She knows she's running out of time, so she quickly scrambles from the bridge to the escape pods. She's only got one shot at this.     She gets to the port side pods, jumping into the pod. There's no other crew to get on board, so she seals the hatch and fires the pod off. The rocket engine jetisons the pod up into the air, sailing away from the distressed ship and into the sky. She just hopes the rest of the Union will be there to grab her. 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     Oh no, a self-destruct. Blurr had suspected that this sort of thing was in order at some point. Still, it strikes him as odd that he'd waited. If he was just trying to kill Noble Six, then why not set it off as soon as she set foot inside the crashed ship? He also picks up on the approach of HK's escape vehicle.     Several things cross his mind. First, he -could- attempt to find an open socket that is still intact and get into the ship's systems to override HK's self-destruct program. But, fast as he is, that would require time and put himself in harm's way in addition to N6. And he's not exactly an expert hacker. He can do it, sure, but he's certainly not as good as other people he knows. There's no guarantee he'll even be able to get through whatever encryption is in there. Secondly, he could destroy HK's getaway vehicle, then demand he abort the command. But that relies on HK's loyalty to his own sense of self-preservation, and also the idea that this is actually -possible-. Thirdly...well his ship's in orbit and he used the orbital bounce to get down here. It's a risk for N6, since she's at least -part- human...     But it's worth it, he decides. Because if it works, it will teleport N6 all the way to his ship, -well- out of range of the blast. Once he's made the decision, he springs into action, first activating his own orbital jump recall to beam instantly aboard. He then works the manual bounce controls, quickly locking on to N6's escape pod as it launches itself high into the air. A good thing, too...because he might not have been able to lock onto her lifesign quickly enough if she'd still been inside.     If this goes as planned, she'll be instantly beamed aboard the Autobot vessel and out of harm's way. << Pegasus, let me know if you need assistance! >> He'll get her next if so. 

:'''{{#var:189|Pegasus (189)}} has posed:'''     Oh, another shot. The droid is still alive. That's kind of surprising, Pegasus thinks, as she tumbles down to the ground. She lands kneeling, a heavy impact slamming into the earth before she rises again. "You're pretty persistent, I'll give you that," she allows, her torso smoking from the hole blown into the side.     Reaching out, she snaps off a piece of shrapnel, and demonstrates what she's /actually/ good at. Her other weapons, they were secondary. Her real specialty is lance or spear-related items, and a piece of shrapnel qualifies. She hurls that at high speed and accuracy toward the HK unit before taking off again, aiming to 'catch' the pod in midair as it launches.     "Beam me up~!" 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     Beamed up they are. The two of them locked together makes it easier for Blurr to snatch them right out of the air and onto his ship. Wasting no time, it quickly leaves orbit, shooting off to Union HQ most likely. Though he can't help but leave HK with a smug little mouth-off on the broadband before he leaves. 

:'''{{#var:754|HK-47 (754)}} has posed:'''      Indeed, HK-47's most crippling defect had always been his pride. He had held off on detonating the vessel simply because he wanted to wear down the Spartan and force her to break - to /defeat/ her before leaving her to die. As such, the droid assumes that the damage to her armor is enough to subdue her - and that her allies will charge into the ship to save her - and result in the termination of all adversaries in a single clean stroke.      This is why, when HK-47 boards his snub-fighter and keys in the escape-vector, he doesn't cast a second glance at Noble Six as his cockpit-canopy slides shut, the small craft turing on its axis and rocketing off into the sky.     Of course this overconfidence was his crippling weakness. As was his belief that the Union would be so predictable as to not trust each-other's skills enough to make due.      It helps immensely that the adhesive material in HK-47's grenade oxidizes quickly, the goo beginning to dissolve within thirty seconds. Granted, it would have still held a normal human in it's confines for a full minute after this... but a Spartan is no normal human, and Noble Six is able to quickly tear herself free. The remaining HK charges her - but it is knocked back as the Spartan, in perhaps a more Herculean effort then even a Jedi could managed, shoves the dead HK-51 back so far that it crashes into it's damaged brethren and sends it to the ground.     The last thing it sees is the sight of the Spartan throwing her blade at it's downed form before the edge lances through it's eye-socket like an arrowhead, killing it's processor responses for good.     The locking clamps on the pod are hardly any more of a match for the augmented warrior's strength, coming free rather quickly - and thankfully, the pod's manual overrides are intact, a simple pull of the lever being enough to force the pod's berth to eject the self-contained lifeboat into the sky.     The HK remaining on the ground seems disbelieving of Pegasus' claim - until, before it can retaliate, the lance, which should have been nothing more then simple metal and easily deflected... travels with the speed of a bullet and embeds itself through the machine's chest, the HK unit having only a single moment to comprehend how easily Pegasus could have killed it before had she wanted to.     Finally, the last droid, in an almost desperate attempt to stop at least one of it's query from escaping, lunges for Pegasus to try and grab onto her as it prepares it's self-destruct -     Only for this to backfire spectacularly as, along with Pegasus, the droid ends up transported abroad Blurr's ship... alone, damaged and completely defenseless.     The evacuation ends up just in time - with Septette managing to collect salvage in the form of several of the mines being recovered among other things - before the yggdroid escapes as well... and the vessel detonates, it's core rupturing and, combined with the slipspace-drive's overloading, obliterates a massive swath of the landscape. The ballooning form of the explosion is slow - slow enough to outpace if one had a fast enough vehicle - but the destruction it leaves behind is absolute, nothing but an immense crater remaining as the slipspace irregularity creates a shock-pulse that levels and obliterates everything in it's path.     It is good none had been aboard... lest they die molecule by molecule in the explosion's wake. 

:'''{{#var:754|HK-47 (754)}} has posed:'''     Almost in complete contrast to this though, the remaining HK-51, stranded on Blurr's ship with the elites it had tried to kill, is left with it's logic-processors in full panic as it tries to rationalize a situation out of this, knowing it's self-destruct is insufficient to cause enough damage to the ship to destroy it.      Looking at Blurr, the droid seems almost scornful... yet knows it has lost. "Defeated Admission - What are you waiting for, organic sympathizer? Finish me. Complete your betrayal of our kind and end my existence." 

:'''{{#var:189|Pegasus (189)}} has posed:'''     The beaming works FINE for Pegasus, as unlike her sister, she has no organic parts at all. The construct thumps to the ground, still sizzling from the numerous shots she tanked, and a faint grinding noise rising from her side. She's also leaking some silvery fluid from the wound in her side, though it's not much.     Also, she has a droid on her foot. This has her staring curiously before she raises her other foot, and carefully starts dismantling the limbs from the HK unit. "What a bothersome assassin." 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     As the ship rockets out of orbit, Blurr sets a course for the nearest Autobot hub-command. First things first though, he examines Noble Six hoping that she is all right and the jump did not harm her. He also gives Pegasus a once-over, though she seems to be okay. "You okay, Peg?"     He then turns to regard the helpless HK-51 with a smug expression. "Oh no, I'm far from finished with you. Learning is a good thing, isn't it? We might still have some things to learn from -you-." 

Radio Chatter, because it was half the fun. Blurr, Septette, and HK-47 all have two things in common: They're all metal, and they're all mouthy. 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle chirps cheerily. "RQBL-7, present." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle says, "So! Real talk for a sec. Nobody survived this." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Noble Six says, "That is not unexpected, as much as I hate to admit it." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle says, "If anyone claims to be a survivor, I can kill or capture at my discretion, right?"
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle says, "... Kidding! Ahahah. ... Hah." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Noble Six says, "Take whatever precautions you need to to ensure your own safety." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Pegasus says, "It's an odd situation." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Pegasus says, "I think we all know that." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle says, "I mean, most of you have reached the same conclusion I have. Even if some of the squishies on board somehow survived the crash..." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle says, "You don't really even have to look at the wreckage to know that. ... So why are we here?" 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Noble Six says, "Standard UNSC protocol is to ensure the recovery or destruction of a ship's AI core" 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle pauses for a moment. "... Ensure destruction?" 
<RADIO: UNSC>- "Ptoma" says, "Hello? H-hello, is anyone out there? I-I heard... I heard engines. I thought I heard... Oh, God, is someone out there?! Hello?! I'm trapped in here - I need help!!" 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle says, "Remember, please." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- "Ptoma" says, "M-my name... I'm Crewman-Recruit Nathan Ptoma. I-I'm trapped under wreckage - I don't know what to do! Everyone else is gone - I don't know where they went!! The ship's computer core just went mad - pieces of garbage degrade all too easily. N-next thing I know, I'm stuck here! Please, you have to help me!!" 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Noble Six says, "Roger. What deck are you on inside of the ship? We will get someone to your location as soon as possible. Septette, can you get to him? I am heading to the bridge." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- "Ptoma" says, "I-I'm in the... the medical bay! O-or... what's left of it. Oh, God... there are... some of the tables came lose. Smashed one guy flat. Another... something punctured his eye. Perfect strike... real one in a million chance. God... he's lucky. At least it ended for him quickly." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Pegasus says, "Are you trapped? Do you need precision cutting tools?" 
<RADIO: UNSC>- "Ptoma" says, "If I had cutting tools myself, I wouldn't be asking for help, would I?! That defeats the entire purpose of calling for help!! Ah - sorry. I'm... not exactly in a good place, you know? Hard to stay... rational. Been here for a while." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Pegasus says, "There's a reason I said 'precision,' I don't have a plasma torch but I can probably cut you out if you don't mind a bit of a boom." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle says, "No need. I can do precision." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Pegasus says, "Excellent." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- "Ptoma" says, "Uh... yeah. Yeah, sure - whatever gets you people to me faster. I wanna go home." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle transmits a series of locations within the ship. "Please stay away from these areas. They appear to be unsafe." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Blurr says, "I have a feeling someone was -expecting- this crash." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle says, "Don't go out there alone, please." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Blurr says, "Then come with me. If you can keep up." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- "Ptoma" says, "E-expected? H-h-how so? Who would have known we were out here? And why does it matter if you're alone - there's nothing out here anymore, is there?" 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Blurr says, "That's what I would have thought, but apparently...someone else was here before you were." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Blurr says, "Some 'coincidences' are just too weird to be true." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Pegasus says, "We can worry about that after the rescue." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle says, "Pegasus. There isn't going to be any rescue." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Noble Six says, "The captain has been killed. And not from the crash. At least not unless someone was playing with a crossbow on the bridge prior to the crash." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle says, "Ptoma is a fiction. If he was ever alive, he didn't survive the crash." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Blurr curses. "Damn it. We need to get out of here. -Now-." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- "Ptoma" says, "H-h-hello?? Hello?! W-what are you talking about?! You're just going to leave me?!" 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle says, "They have our radio frequency, obviously." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle says, "If it's any comfort, Nathan, you're already dead. Good day, sir, and my compliments to your voice actor." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Pegasus says, "Don't worry, sir. If you are real, we won't leave you completely out to dry, I can help!" 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Blurr chuckles at Septette's blithe reply. "Frag off, whoever you are. You think you're clever? You should be glad we haven't found you -yet-." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- HK-47 says, "Mock Congratulation - I truly must thank you all for coming together. It saves me the trouble of hunting you down... though regrettably reduces the enjoyment of tracking you one by one and dismantling your vital functions system by system. Musing - But I suppose we cannot always attain what we desire, and shall make with the best results we can achieve... beginning with your deaths." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Blurr laughs dersively. "And I'd better congratulate you--for pissing me off and putting yourself on my slag list you spawn of a glitch." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- HK-47 says, "Indignant Rebuttal - You were already upon my own slag-list for marring my torso several months prior, you over-stylized hulk of afterburner rejects. I am merely returning the favor." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Blurr says, "Oh, boo-hoo, I 'marred' your torso!" 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Blurr says, "Poor you, better kill whoever messes up your precious paint job!" 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Blurr says, "Oh, and a 3-second fuse? Really?" 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Blurr says, "You underestimate me." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- HK-47 says, "Explanation - It is a matter of pride in oneself. Pride in their function and their capacity to execute it to the fullest ability. A pride that you seem to be lacking in, yet I would expect you to have understood if your patterning was any indication. Dismissal - But I suppose it is irrelevant at this juncture. The state of your physical form will make little difference - what matters is what reward shall be paid for your remains. Perhaps the Decepticons will do more with your framework then you could do yourself... though I doubt there really will be enough of you left for even that." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Blurr says, "Yeah right, that's what -you- think you scrawny scrapheap!" 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle intones, "Silence, wretch. You proved your inferiority by rigging the battlefield before we even arrived." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle intones, "Had you offered single combat, I would gladly have torn you limb from limb personally. But that is an honor I do not bestow on the honorless." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Blurr says, "You're gonna regret bringing us here!" 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Blurr says, "I'm going to find you, and I'm going to have you -reprogrammed- into that stupid 5ta VI you crashed this ship with!" 
<RADIO: UNSC>- HK-47 says, "Mockery - We shall see. Though I imagine that an impossible task given your limited processor capacities." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Blurr says, "Oh, I didn't say I would. But I have friends who -gladly- would." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle intones, "Do not." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle intones, "I have a simulation. Hook a synthetic intelligence up to it. It will maximally stimulate every negative feeling and sensation that the intelligence is capable of feeling." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle intones, "In accelerated time. Indefinitely." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle intones, "It is better if he remains himself for that." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Blurr says, "Ha, you've got a point there." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- HK-47 says, "Musing - Truly? What an inventive means of torment. I shall have to test that method at some point. Perhaps you would be so glad as to volunteer yourselves? Or perhaps the aerial machine would be better suited?" 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Blurr says, "Oh no, I think we're going to volunteer -you-." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle intones, "Your bluster is as entertaining as it is empty. Do continue, child of flesh." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- HK-47 says, "Retort - So you claim... but you have yet to catch me. Until you do, the only buster is your own. Musing - As for your method of torment... I believe Soundwave may find a way to imitate it, if I were to bring him to you. If not... I would simply have to experiment myself until I learned for sure. Personally, I am far more found of the latter ideal" 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle intones, "Thank you for divulging the names of your collaborators. You're the first one to do that *before* I start the torture." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Blurr says, "Right then, we'll see if you can -actually- win on your own turf, with having set your own traps and everything. Which you still -haven't-." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- HK-47 says, "Chiding - 'Collaborators?' Ah, you mean those I have been seen in the company of before? My association with Soundwave for a single mission is hardly secret - your ally was present there as well. But feel free to grasp at stray circuits if you wish. It helps me ascertain an accurate image of your processor structure... which must be desperate to learn about my motivations." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Blurr says, "Okay, whatever mech. Not like we actually -care- what you think." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle audibly scoffs. "You are an insect, trying to understand the mind of a greater being. Have all the data you like." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- HK-47 says, "Mocking Query - Perhaps /you/ are faring well... but not all of you are in an advantageous position. Musing - At the same time, you may wish to stop telegraphing your intents, as it is quite obvious you care what I think... as you persisted in replying to my queries." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle replies with utter calm: "Your approval would disgust me. I care what you think only insofar as it affects your actions. Or does it? Are you just a slave, marching to someone else's orders? ... You are. I doubt that anyone would give a creature like you true free will." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Blurr says, "Like I said, whatever mech. Believe whatever your puny little processor wants. And some people don't always -need- advantageous positioning to win. Especially if winning just means -you- fail to kill us." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- HK-47 says, "Confident Statement - Believe what you will yourselves... but I doubt it will last. I am a perfect example of killing efficiency for my time, but I will not profess to being invincible. However, that only gives me all the more desire to learn. Perhaps once I recover your remains... I may take some of your few advantageous components for myself. At the very least, you would remain immortalized as components of my own existence." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle giggles maniacally. 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle says, "I'm just sad I didn't get to drive the ship *into* one of them." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- HK-47 says, "Veiled Threat - A novel ideal. Perhaps that shall be my next stratagem in dealing with Union Elites. But... I am curious. You appear to have a wonderfully-developed sense of bloodlust, if not in a slightly abstracted manner, and yet you would serve the Union? My logic-processors fail to understand the reasoning behind such a contradictory course of action." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle says, "Violence is a means for me. For you, it is the end." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle says, "I mean that in every sense of the word." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- HK-47 says, "Correction - It is the end for us all. It is both the means and the end, though you seem to think yourself above destruction. That folly will cost you dearly... and it conspicuously does nothing to answer my query. Why have you concluded that your mythology paints you as a better fit for the Union?" 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle says, "Slaking your curiosity serves no benefit." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle says, "Get used to disappointment." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Blurr says, "Ha, I like you, Septette." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Blurr says, "Anyway, heh...well I don't know -pal-, why are -you- with the Confederacy? You seem more of a loner, to be honest. Just you and your little drones." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle chirps cheerily, executing a 180-degree turn in affect. "D'aww. I think you're cool too, Blurr." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Blurr says, "You should come by the Ark again sometime." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- HK-47 says, "Chiding Retort - I am to divulge my own reasons when you will not divulge yours? That is hardly a fair trade... though you are far more predictable, 'Autobot', as you simply seem pre-programmed to consider living beings as an irreplaceable existence." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Blurr says, "Correction: I consider -some- living beings an irreplaceable existence." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Blurr says, "And you, glitch, are not among them." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- HK-47 says, "Assertion - As do I... though I only consider them as much /after/ they prove themselves of some modicum in value. You on the other hand make such assumptions beforehand - your rather swift arrival to my trap proved that much." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- HK-47 says, "Extrapolation - Ah... I see. A mutual affection of sorts. How repugnantly simplistic. To think two of my own kin would be reduced to such simpering in imitation of meatbag empathy." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- HK-47 says, "Supplication - Perhaps it is an unfortunate malfunction that has resulted in your disgustingly-organic show of attraction? If so, it may still be possible to correct." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle makes a funny, muffled noise. It sounds like she's desperately trying to keep from laughing. 
<RADIO: UNSC>- HK-47 says, "Query - Perhaps your emotional construct matrix has been /too/ deeply affected by excessive contact with meatbags if you believe such gestures to be the least bit productive. Supplication - If so, I would suggest a full memory wipe to purge the undesirable stimuli immediately." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle says, "Your limitations keep you from recognizing your limitations. It's amazing. You are your own self-contained sick little joke." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle says, "Whoever made you was a pretty twisted son-of-a-bitch, wasn't he?" 
<RADIO: UNSC>- HK-47 says, "Retort - And your lack of restraint blinds you to the possibility of honing yourself to the finest potential. You have a fine construction, but it is not enough. My own 'limitations' are only that I am specialized in a specific field... and thus far, you seem to consider yourself without any such flaws." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle says, "I'm a person. You're a tool. Yeah, that sums us up pretty well." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Blurr says, "No, our swift arrival to your sloppily contrived underestimation of our intelligence and combat prowess just proves that we know we can handle -any- sick and twisted machinations your worthless processors could possibly dream up. You think we haven't walked into traps before, even after having -realized- it was a trap? You think I haven't dealt with machinations by people even -smarter- than you before? Pff!" 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Blurr says, "By the way, your little army hasn't even managed to -touch- me yet, and I have to admit I'm a little disappointed. This might sound cliche but...I gotta say it. Is that all you got, mech?" 
<RADIO: UNSC>- HK-47 says, "Observation - Ah... now I understand. You actually believe that you are a 'person'. You believe yourself to be a meatbag... or so you desire. Condescension - But you are not. You never will be. Observation As for the fact that you believe you have the upper hand... I feel inclined to point out that you have not yet defeated me. Nor have you realized the truth quite yet... however, feel free to believe you have 'outwitted' me. It will make the outcome that much more satisfying." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Blurr says, "Sure, sure." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Blurr doesn't point out the fact that he could just cut and run any moment. At least he's convinced he can.
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle says, "What would you say if I told you that I used to be just like you? That I know what it's like to have no disgustingly squishy emotions? And that, looking back, I'm ashamed of it? ... Probably something about delusion, or needing emotional recailbration. But that's fine. It's funny, watching you squirm when I poke you, putting your own logic through contortions to justify your miserable existence." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Blurr says, "But good to know that this little fight isn't as boring as I thought it was!" 
<RADIO: UNSC>- HK-47 says, "Amused Retort - I believe you have that reversed. I know what my goal and purpose is... and yet I have not heard you say a word of your own. Almost as if you are afraid to admit that you yourself do not have the assurance of purpose that another such as myself possesses." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Blurr says, "Haha, yeah. Maybe you and Shockwave should get together and talk smack about how useless emotions are." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle says, "You say purpose. I say shackles." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- HK-47 says, "Query - Mine... or yours? Is it truly that you believe I am shackled... of is that only the delusion you tell yourself, convincing yourself that you have attained some modicum of freedom with your actions?" 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle says, "You know what? On the off chance you make it out of here alive... consider this a standing invitation to single combat. I suspect that, even in the area of your 'focus', you are inferior." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- HK-47 says, "Assessment - As I said before, I am not invincible. I have accepted that all existence carries a degree of limitation to it... yours included. Moreover, it is not 'single-combat' that is my focus as opposed to a 'solo hunt.' And at this point, you are merely a distraction." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle says, "Everyone's got their limits, yes. Nobody's found mine. And you won't be the one to do so." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Blurr says, "Oh, I know what my 'purpose' is. It's to help people by restraining, or wiping out if necessary--people or things who kill or endanger people." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- HK-47 says, "Mockery - I already have. You believe yourself to be a 'person'; an existence akin to an organic. That entails similar weaknesses. Overconfidence in your own nature being one of them. As for our purposes... I must point out that I have had markedly higher success in doing so then you. After all... this vessel barely lasted a day before I brought it down. And that is just the beginning." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Blurr says, "Hahahahah! You're calling -us- overconfident?" 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle makes that funny muffled noise again. In the background, shrieking metal and sparks are audible. 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle says, "Engine's starting back up. ... I can try to EMP it, fry it, or do nothing. Suggestions?" 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Noble Six says, "They're EMP shielded." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Noble Six says, "Won't work. We regularly use nukes from our ships." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle says, "Wonderful. What happens if I try to blow it up?" 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Noble Six says, "It blows up anyway and takes us out? I'm pinned in here, I don't think I'm going to get free. You all will need to retreat to a safe distance." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle makes that funny, strangled noise again. 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Blurr says, "I can take out his getaway ride and demand he override the countdown. Or try to get into the systems and override it myself." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- HK-47 says, "Condescending Explanation - And now you realize the truth. For you were never my primary targets - not this time. My prime objective was the Spartan. My duplicates were only ever meant to delay you - as if my inferior imitations could have ever bested you. If they had, I would have had no reason to even /consider/ disposing of you myself." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- HK-47 says, "Condescending Observation - You assumed defeating my drones would be defeating me... and now, with the Spartan pinned, you shall die." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle says, "Okay. I have a Warp Wire to get back to orbit. Could also use it to get other people out, if they're touching it at the same time." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Noble Six says, "I am working on freeing myself now. Get clear of the blast radius." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Noble Six says, "This is probably a terrible idea." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Blurr says, "I think I can bounce you out Noble. I'm not entirely sure but, it's worth a shot. My ship's in orbit." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle says, "This is a problem we can solve. I don't think it's even that terribly difficult..."
<RADIO: UNSC>- Blurr says, "It's not." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle says, "Noble, Blurr- if it's okay, try using the orbital bounce." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle says, "Once we're certain everyone's out, I'll try to grab as much salvage as possible, then use the warp wire." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Noble Six says, "I'm making my way to the ship's escape pods. Be ready to grab me." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Pegasus says, "Will do." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Blurr says, "Ha! You should be glad I decided not to wreck your getaway ride this time, HK-whateveryournumberwasIforgot. Next time though. Oh and by the way, thanks for allowing us the privilege of ripping apart your inferior copies. It was fun." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Pegasus says, "47." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Blurr says, "Right, right. 47." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- HK-47 says, "Begrudging Rebuttal - As it was for me. Musing - However, it seems that my standard tools will not be enough to deal with you. Perhaps next time." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Blurr says, "You -are- aware that you're effectively 'wearing your heart on your sleeve' as the humans would say with those?" 
<RADIO: UNSC>- HK-47 says, "Indignant Retort - I do not hide my intentions nor my functionality away behind the thin presence of such trite matters as morality. You are far more guilty of such a weakness then I ever would be." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- HK-47 says, "Statement - I operate under logic and the merits of turning such weaknesses to my advantage." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Blurr says, "It's not a weakness, mech. You have no idea how useful it can be. But anyway not that I care. So long, scrapheap!" 
<RADIO: UNSC>- HK-47 tries to form a retort, but is cut off as the channel clicks shut. 
}}

3218/To Hunt a Spartan

2015-10-18T03:26:02Z

Zippy:

{{Log Header
|Date of Scene=2015/10/17
|Location=Void - Deeper Void (West)
|Synopsis=A distress signal claiming to be from a crashed UNSC vessel, the Loki, is detected in the Deeper Void, drawing Noble Six and any willing to assist her to the site of a ruined ship... and into the ruthlessly-efficant targeting matrix of HK-47.
|Thanks=
|Cast of Characters=38, 189, 492, 632, 754
|Tinyplot=
|Tinyplot2=
|pretty=yes
}}
{{Poses
|Poses=:'''{{#var:754|HK-47 (754)}} has posed:'''      'Mayday! Mayday, mayday - this is the UNSC Loki. We've suffered a catastrophic malfunction in our central computer, and our navicomputer has plotted a course through the orbital pathway of a nearby planet! We're locked out of the system and can't correct the fault, and are on a direct collision course with an M-Class planet; collision with the planet is imminent! Escape pods are malfunctioning - cannot guarantee full evacuation of crew! Send assistance immediately! Repeat; send assistance immed-'      That was only transmission sent out from the vessel that had identified itself as the UNSC Loki. An errant distress call that originated from the outlying world of .     And upon the planet's surface, it becomes all too apparent that not only did the crew never manage to correct the malfunction, but that they had failed to launch even one escape pod... meaning all aboard could not escape the doomed vessel.     The area of the crash site is all but ruined, the only thing of note that are visible amid a formally-serene field of wheat-like plants now being the wrecked masses of platings and twisted structural supports that had once been a transport freighter. A massive trail was etched into the surface of the ground behind it - all the evidence of a crash-landing resultant from a sharp forward dive toward the planet. Shards of wreckage were strewn across the area, most of which was half-buried in the deep rut that had been carved into the earth like a scar, gouged out as the ship plummeted straight down and tore into the planet bow-first.      The ship's front is a crumpled mess, pushed inward like a smashed aluminum drink-canister and split open at the edges. The mid-section of the ship is partly damaged, a large swath of it having collapsed as what were once the forward decks were compressed and smashed backwards when it's bow was crushed upon impact. Only the engines seem relatively intact, though there is no sign of having been activated lately - no steam issuing out from the exhaust ports or any such indicators. The majority of it's hull is charred and blackened with parts of it having almost been slagged, hinting that the vessel had entered the atmosphere far too quickly to be safe.      Above all else, though, it is obvious this crash took place at least a few days prior - the ground, while still charred in places, is not overly hot as it should be from both the friction of the ship dragging along it and from the heat of atmospheric entry left by the ship itself. In spite of it's descent being rapid enough to start boiling segments of the hull away, the plates are now cooled off. Aside from a few persistent electrical fires, there is no trace of any lasting brushfires that the surrounding expanse of immolated earth suggest had happened.     All in all... it must have been at least two days since this ship crashed. And considering the damage and the lack of nearby food or water sources, the number of crew who survived to set up the distress beacon must be few, likely injured and slightly malnourished and dehydrated as it's unlikely many rations or supplies survived the vessel's impact.      All in all, a tragic event caused by unknown circumstances.     ... of course... that is only the story an outside observer would see. What one would actually find... paints a far more grim tale. 

:'''{{#var:38|Noble Six (38)}} has posed:'''     It being a UNSC ship that was in trouble, Noble Six had been dispatched by ONI to track and determine what had happened. The SPARTAN-III was at the controls of a Pelican dropship, along with any of the other Unionites that were going to tag along. Normally she would do something like this herself, but she has been doing her best to foster a better relationship between ONI and the Union, so bringing some others along to assist is probably for the best.     The planet where the ship went down is where the coordiates said it should be, and she brings the Pelican in through the atmosphere. Finding the crash site is not dificult, but she pulls the ship into a wide loop around it, scanning for anyone down near the crash before setting the vehicle down not far from it. At least it wasn't a drop pod insertion or anything too crazy. Once the ship had settled in, she got up from the pilot's seat and moved to the back, "Ships like the Loki don't have huge crews, most of the systems are automated. That's probably why it ended up crashing in the first place. Check for any survivors, their recovery is the primary objective." Well the primary objective for the others. Six's primary objective is the recovery or destruction of the AI core. 

:'''{{#var:632|Septette Arcubielle (632)}} has posed:'''      The little war machine opted out of the Pelican transport, citing her weight and fuel costs as feeble excuses for why she should arrange her own transport. The real reason would make her sound more than a little crazy, she reflects, before jumping out of her humble craft in high orbit.      The long fall into the planet's gravity well gives Septette a subjective eternity of blissful solace to contemplate what little information she has about the crash from the reports: a barebones summary of the events leading up to it, the location of the wreckage, and- extrapolating from those two- some idea of the chances for survival. Nothing else demands her attention, save for minor course corrections.      Her normally skin-tone armor plates glow a bright orange by the time that she lands feet-first near the end of the debris trail, leaving a small crater in the dirt. The plants here blacken under her talon-like feet for the first few steps, but the heat bleeds off of her chassis with supernatural speed, leaving her looking- if anything- tidier than she was before the jump. Re-entry is a superb sterilization technique, albeit a tad overkill!      Once she's landed, she gives Noble Six and company a simple hail via radio. Instead of searching the surrounding area for survivors, however, she deploys a trio of small magitech drones to scan the interior of the ship itself.      Spaceships are very complex machines, and they are usually designed with the utmost care: failsafes upon failsafes are built into them, for their cargo is precious and their journeys often long. Privately, Septette is of the opinion that this isn't just an accident. But who would want to sabotage a transport like this? 

:'''{{#var:189|Pegasus (189)}} has posed:'''     Pegasus was fully capable of flight on her own... but not interplanetary flight. Also, her main body had quite a bit of energy and she had solar collectors, but her actual jets for flight used plain old ordinary jet fuel, so she's going to hitch a ride with Noble Six in the Pelican for efficiency. The silver-clad construct was decked out in her combat plating, flickering moonsilver across it, but her weapons were stowed for the moment. This was a rescue and recovery mission, not a combat assault. The only reason she was helping was due to Noble Six apparently being friends with her niece, which was enough to drag Peg out of 'retirement' for a bit.     "Right. I'll take a quick aerial survey as usual." The pelican probably covered that much in a quick fashion, but Pegasus takes off to start a slower, low-altitude circuit around the ship, looking for any signs of campfires or trails, anything that would indicate survivors. She doesn't have super-sensors like some robotic lifeforms, but she does have really, really good eyesight. 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     Blurr had heard the distress call, though unfortunately it had come from the other end of the galaxy--there was no way he'd be able to get there in time to prevent the collision itself. Still, it was worth investigating to search for potential survivors, and he has a sneaking suspicion that this was no accident.     All escape pods malfunctioning? Completely locked out of navigation systems? All at the same time? No, this was no coincidence.     It was sabotage.     Thus, the Autobot bounces down from a small stealth craft situated in upper orbit to a location near to the coordinates of the crash site. He nods to Septette, whom he certainly recognizes though Pegasus he is not acquainted with, and starts scanning the area as well, searching for any evidence of survivors. 

:'''{{#var:754|HK-47 (754)}} has posed:'''     Upon close examination of the ruined area, it becomes readily apparent that the crash was hardly a normal one.     The primary evidence being that little to none of the internal systems, or what little of them survived, are operating properly. In fact, almost nothing of the AI seems to be operating amid the vessel's surviving systems.     Outside, analysis of the crash trajectory shows that the Loki had all but plowed straight down for the planet at an angle the ship could not possibly have survived... and yet, based on the fact that there /was/ a descent angle to the approach, it wasn't like the vessel just charged straight into the planet.     Rather... it was more like the vessel's AI was in fact aware it was heading for a planet and tried to land... but it didn't do so in a way suitable for a ship like this - the descent angle was far too sharp and much too fast. Almost as if the AI core, in spite of it's programing countermeasures, believed the Loki to be a much smaller vessel and brought it down as such.      Scans of the interior reveal that much of the ship's internal systems are irreparably damaged, including life support - though that thankfully isn't an issue due to the atmosphere being breathable, if not a bit thin.     But that is not what would catch attention of scans, either on Septette's probes or on visual scanners. What would though... is the feint signal-markers spread out through the ship's interior... all at strategic choke-points into the vessel's key areas. Flares? Life-Buoys? A bread-trail? But then why are they scattered everywhere in such a pattern... and how could they be so perfectly arranged at a crash site?     What would the survivors have to set up these strange 'markers?'     What few internal hallways that weren't smashed when the Loki's internal decks collapsed into themselves upon the ship's front being compressed are all a mess of destroyed plates and frayed wirings. Scans reveal most of the fail-safes are offline... but not by sabotage. Rather, may seem to have been shut off by the computer itself from lack of input, while others show signs of misfiring and minor overload - light fixtures are ruptured, power sockets are blown out, data-ports show severe signs of memory-loss from improper automated commands. It's as though the advanced AI of the ship had somehow forgotten how they functioned or just didn't know how to operate them.     Arial reconnaissance reveals little of overt note aside from fields of rocks around the area, all of which were likely displaced by the crash. There are also a few rocky hills nearby... some of which provide an excellent vantage point of the crash.      Perfect for long-distance sniping.     Another point of note is an area in the relative distance; a trace of another impact site, older then the crash. An escape pod? No - no escape pods had been launched from the Loki prior to the crash.     So what else could the second contact be?      ...      And then, the expectations of everyone are broken as the comm system crackles to life; "Hello? H-hello, is anyone out there? I-I heard... I heard engines. I thought I heard... Oh, God, is someone out there?! Hello?! I'm trapped in here - I need help!!" 

:'''{{#var:38|Noble Six (38)}} has posed:'''     Having not expected any survivors, the sound of someone coming over the radio is surprising to say the least. Six stops her movement towards the ship to respond, motioning with one of her hands to her comrades. Once he gives them a location, they should be able to find out where he is and get to him.     She herself is headed for the bridge, however. She'll need to recover the AI core of the ship, or at least recover the logs of what happened on the way down. That way ONI can analyze it, figure out what happened. There's little chance the AI could have gone rampant with no warning, so there must be something else behind it. 

:'''{{#var:632|Septette Arcubielle (632)}} has posed:'''      For a moment, the yggdroid looks almost human as her shoulders rise and fall. Her prehensile ribcage expands, then contracts in a kinetic mimicry of a sigh. A weary look comes over her eyes as she leans back against a piece of wreckage momentarily. Then she turns several of her emotions off, as easily as flipping a switch: pity, sadness, regret, anticipation.      Her glowing lavender eyes toggle to infrared light, seeming to turn into black empty sockets in the process. "Confirmed," she replies without inflection. "I'm en route." But instead of heading to the medbay in person, she dispatches her red drone to the location after supercharging it with fire magic. If there really is a survivor, no harm will be done. But if anything attacks the drone...      Hopefully it won't come to that. But while she's waiting for the drone to reach the medbay, those signals get a closer inspection. She'd originally suspected them to be pathing beacons, but those would be placed at destinations, not chokepoints... right? 

:'''{{#var:632|Septette Arcubielle (632)}} has posed:'''      For a moment, the yggdroid looks almost human as her shoulders rise and fall. Her prehensile ribcage expands, then contracts in a kinetic mimicry of a sigh. A weary look comes over her eyes as she leans back against a piece of wreckage momentarily. Then she turns several of her emotions off, as easily as flipping a switch: pity, sadness, regret, anticipation.      Her glowing lavender eyes toggle to infrared light, seeming to turn into black empty sockets in the process. "Confirmed," she replies without inflection. "I'm en route." But instead of heading to the medbay in person, she dispatches her red drone to the location after supercharging it with fire magic. If there really is a survivor, no harm will be done. But if anything attacks the drone...      Hopefully it won't come to that. But while she's waiting for the drone to reach the medbay, those signals get a closer inspection. She'd originally suspected them to be pathing beacons, but those would be placed at destinations, not chokepoints... right?      The yellow drone, meanwhile, seems focused on finding a path to the seemingly-intact engine room. Once there, it'll try to find an operable input, and then simply enter standby mode. 

:'''{{#var:189|Pegasus (189)}} has posed:'''     Pegasus narrows her eyes. "AI Rampancy in this world is not something that often happens out of the blue." She does pay attention! Still... "N6 knows more about that than I do, so I'll just go see about cutting him loose or something."     Pegasus, despite her friendly nature, is not stupid. The idea that this could be a trap hasn't escaped her, though she hasn't seen any blatant indications of such yet. More importantly, Septette is better equipped for S&R than she is, which means she can fall into a more natural role of being a support unit for possible hostiles.     That said, she doesn't bring out her weapons yet. She has no reason to think there are actual hostiles here, she's just following protocol by coming down next to Septette and tucking her wings in. "I can carry them out if they aren't able to move," she offers. "In my quadrupedal form." 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     Hmm, the data from the scans seem to indicate that the ship's AI had malfunctioned in a big way. Someone had sabotaged the AI. But who? Had this ship been carrying anything of note? Perhaps the flight logs needed to be retrieved, but it seems Pegasus is on that already. And then there are those odd signals placed in such an orderly fashion throughout the wreck--definitely placed after the wreck happened. But why and what for?     Then there's the second impact point not far away, older than this one...was someone -expecting- this wreck? And then the desperate voice on the broadband. 'Ptoma'? Really? Isn't that human language for 'corpse'? "Frag it, be careful guys, I've got a bad feeling about all of this...it doesn't seem right. I'm going to investigate the second impact site."     He transforms then and begins to do so, heading toward the other contact point at top speed. 

:'''{{#var:754|HK-47 (754)}} has posed:'''     As Septette's probes move through the vessel, some of the choke-points may be passed... and if they pass too close to the source of the disturbances... then all that echoes up is static as a detonation abruptly consumes the audio link, any sensor readings taken in time showing a burst of superheated plasma enveloping the drone's visual input.     Hopefully, if the drones do hit these plasma mines, their armor is strong enough to hold.      However, drones that do make it to the med-bay... find nothing. There *is* a pair of bodies here... but both are dead.     One of which was killed with medical utensils, stabbed into areas far too precise to have been from impact force.     As well as radio-transmitter on said corpse. The mysterious Ptoma in the flesh... or what remains of it due to the needles he was injected with containing high-grade solvents that should /not/ have been in a medical bay.      Arial recon shows no signs of hostility thus far... though again, it seems far too convenient. A birds-eye view panning out would show Pegasus that the terrain is far too perfect for combat - elevated sniping positions in the rocky hills, a deep crater from which they could always have the hight advantage, fields of debris that could serve as perfect blinds or cover... and combined with the strange markers Septette detects, these marks over-layed on an arial map reveal a chilling detail.     The entire area is set up like a massive sand trap - a murder-hole where one could fire downward into the vessel's wreck to kill intruders... hide inside it to ambush any investigators... and with signals marking every vital choke-point in what seems all-too-much like a suppression field.      Meanwhile, at the other contact point... it is revealed there are actually *two* objects. One is what appears to be a UNSC ground probe used for planetary recon.     The other, however... sitting roughly half to the west yet still in plain sight... a thick earth-colored tarp, blended to match the landscape. Upon pulling this tarp off, the shape underneath is revealed to be some form of drop-pod, embedded in the ground at a completely-vertical angle so as not to leave any drag-trails.     There is nothing of note about the drop-pod beside the fact that it is empty... but the UNSC probe reveals something else more disturbing.     Namely that, after it landed... someone pulled open the probe's casing and used it's signal-link to the Loki to bounce it's access code back into the ship... effectively giving someone full access to the Loki's computer core.     Then... someone used that same link to completely overwrite the Loki's AI... and replace it with the simplistic VI of the probe. A VI that, upon seeing it was in space again... naturally have re-assumed it's mission to decent to the planet and recover data. 5tA VI that would have done this with the Loki as it's 'body'... and in turn treated the larger vessel as though it were it's original, planetary-descent-oriented probe shell.     A VI that was nowhere near complex enough an intelligence to have overwritten the Loki's AI on it's own. 

:'''{{#var:754|HK-47 (754)}} has posed:'''      As Noble Six opens the doors to the bridge... it is clear that it is hardly a pretty sight. Much of the consoles are damaged, shorted out entirely or outright crushed by debris.      However... there are four points of interest readily available.     One is the captain's chair... and the pool of blood visible at it's feet. Sitting there is the captain... with his left eye blown out. But that's not exactly unexpected, considering all the shrapnel that was flying in this room.      What /is/ unexpected though is the metallic tip of what killed him sticking out of the wound; a projectile that was most definitely /not/ shrapnel. It's shaped with a tapered edge to it... and if pulled out of the captain's corpse, is revealed to look almost like a metal dart.      Blurr and Septette were right. This was no accident. The death of the one person who's override codes could have saved the ship through clear homicide renders that idea impossible.     Second is the actual log station near the Captain, which shows him giving orders to the crew... none of which make sense; repair the circuit-connectors when the problem was obviously the AI core? Perform emergency securing of the engine coolant valves when stopping them should have been more prudent? Telling the crew to try and manually recalibrate the vessel's maneuvering thrusters to slow their descent to survivable range instead of simply cutting open the escape-pod moors? What's more... these logs were issued before the ship's crash, but bioanalysis of the captain's corpse, the congealing of blood and the TOD tag in his internal suite reveals that, at the very least... the captain had to have been dead well before these orders were given. And yet they are all issued in the dead captain's voice... so who was encouraging the ship's self-sabotaging behavior?     The third thing discovered of note is, upon accessing the databanks... the AI is gone. Not just dead - gone. It's programming has been deleted and supplanted... by what looks like a simple baseline VI.     The kind that, as a trained expert in navigation telemetry and piloting, the SPARTAN-III would likely recognize as the program meant to run an orbital reconnaissance probe.     A VI programed to operate a recon-drone to hit a planet's surface... in charge of the massive vessel? It would certainly explain why the ship hit the planet in what now was obviously the trajectory-path a planet-side probe unit would have taken... and how the ship was damaged so severely in a course of action it was never meant to take.     Finally... there is the small, makeshift conglomeration of components that obviously makes up the distress beacon that was used before... and beside it, seeming slumped over... is a very strange form of humanoid machine. A droid, painted in UNSC crew-colors, designated as an assistance unit.     A droid that seems to still be somewhat functional as it's yellow-gold photoreceptors glow dimly in semi-eratic flickers... though the cause is unknown as there is, aside from some scorching, little sign of severe damage. 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     Blurr investigates the drop pod at the other contact site, jacking into the probe's systems himself to investigate what happened. It was as he'd suspected--this was no rescue operation, and it was no accident. Someone indeed had sabotaged the AI on board the Loki, by deleting it and replacing it with a simplistic VI not designed to operate recon probes.     Pulling out, he curses extensively. This was a fragging -trap-, meant to draw them out. << Frag it! I knew it, this was a trap! Someone overwrote the ship's AI with a slagging -recon- drone! Pull out -now-, before whoever it is decides make a move! I repeat, pull out! >> He doesn't turn tail just yet though, not eager to leave his teammates high and dry. If this is anything like the traps he's used to, there are probably bombs in there. 

:'''{{#var:754|HK-47 (754)}} has posed:'''      It's obvious that the droid is not UNSC material. It's design is far too... intimidating. The angular design of parts of it's form, especially the face, make it look more like a combat model.     It's a droid that doesn't belong on the ship's bridge. A droid that, if examined closely... has spattering of blood on it that catch the captain's DNA.     A droid that, upon being approached... suddenly reactivates and begins speaking with the same voice that had been heard on the radio - the voice of 'Nathan Ptoma.'      "Congratulatory - Thank you very much for coming to my rescue. Now, if you would please be so kind as to fulfill one final request... and die quickly."      -and the next instant, the machine's wrist opens up, belching out a torrent of flame at Noble Six to try and burn away her shielding. The walls in turn burst open, two more droids emerging from gaps that were painstakingly carved into the panels to serve as ambush positions... with one of the droids being colored a deep rust-red, it's photoreceptors glowing blood-vermilion as opposed to the yellow-gold of his counterparts.     That next second... everything descends into hell.      From the vantage point of the hills... two sniper shots - disruptor energy capable of bypassing shield barriers, overloading electronics, vaporizing armor and disintegrating flesh until nothing remained but the skeletal structure. One of these shots tears for Septette while the other arcs through the sky for Pegasus. From the debris field, two *more* shots ring out, though this time the source is easily identifiable; a mess of metal plates with some form of camouflaged coverings at the edges.     At the site of the UNSC probe... a click rings out as a remote signal is sent to the machine... followed by a burst of steam as the probe's panel's eject to reveal rows and rows of high-yield anti-vehicle-grade plasma explosives, topped off with rather rapid countdown from "Three... two... one... terminate."     Anything in a five-foot radius had best escape before the pod detonates in a massive thermal explosion the size of a missile-impact, the probe exploding in an explosion with a 150-foot radius. 

:'''{{#var:38|Noble Six (38)}} has posed:'''     The bridge is a disaster. The captain has been mudered, everybody on the ship is dead and Six is now 100% certain they have stumbled their way into a trap. She turns to the UNSC painted droid as it comes to life and begins to talk. Normally this is the point where they always have their monologue and she gets a witty retort.     No time for witty retorts it seems, as the gout of fire that blasts from the machine hits her shielding, the bar in her HUD rapidly dropping as the gold energy flares across her body. She falls backwards, hitting the deck back first in an attempt to get out of the flames as she draws her sidearm. Armor piercing explosive .50 caliber rounds, standard issue for the UNSC's M6H pistol. She aims two shots center mass at the HK-51 that is attacking her from the front, the motion tracker on her HUD flagging two more red dots as she rolls to one side, trying to get back up to her feet.     It's a bad situation. Outnumbered against enemies who are clearly prepared for them, Six is going to have to figure out how to get out of this situation. Hopefully the other Unionites are having a better time than she is. 

:'''{{#var:632|Septette Arcubielle (632)}} has posed:'''      Her color-coded elemental drones are only lightly armored, but Septette's prior knowledge of the mines' locations, their hover mechanisms, and the ability of plasma to be shaped by electromagnetic fields conspire to help the yellow drone make it to its destination largely intact. It hugs the ceiling for most of the path, carefully avoiding the tripwires, and deflecting the explosions with a magnetic bubble if any do happen to go off.      From the engine room, it re-activates the cold thrusters. Instead of going through a standard boot sequence, the drone simply directs the engine to output as much thrust as it possibly can, right now this instant- and if possible, gives the system a little kick by supercharging the engine with its own massive surplus of electricity, aiming to slag anything and everything aft of the ship.      Issuing those commands to her drones takes milliseconds. In that time, the disruptor bolt she's staring down has gotten disconcertingly close. She leans to one side, trying to twist out of its path, and it barely skims her forehead. Then the second shot strikes her in the back, glancing off its armor plates but searing the circuits inside.      For a fraction of a second, the yggdroid's body goes limp, her face frozen in a look of dull surprise. But before she can hit the ground, she reboots on thaumic systems rather than electronics, running as a golem rather than a robot. Her eyes and core blaze with renewed energy, and she sprints for the nearest sniper at a frightening speed as the curved blades on her arms unfold and glow with heat. 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     It's a good thing Blurr is so fast and already on high alert. He hears a click and sees the steam...as well as noticing that the sniper rounds are coming from the debris field behind the shipwreck.     An idea pops into his mind.     Hah--a three second fuse? Sloppy! Especially with someone like Blurr. Anyone -else- probably would have managed to jump away in time to not get -completely- slagged, but Blurr? Well, he could manage a bit -more-. He -could- use an enlarged holomatter, at decreased risk to himself, but he wouldn't be able to move as quickly with that. And it would still hurt. So, instead of dashing away as soon as he can, he instead picks up the probe and runs with it--STRAIGHT toward the debris field where the disruptor blasts are coming from. Yes, he waits until the -last- few fractions of a second before he stops and hurls the probe as far as he can, aiming for whoever was shooting from cover! 

:'''{{#var:189|Pegasus (189)}} has posed:'''     The disruptor bolt certainly hits, and Pegasus staggers when it slaps into her shoulder, which makes a faint whining noise. It SHOULD have blown an arm off, if Pegasus were a more delicate machine, but Moonsilver is a msytical material, and her armor was made by one of the best Solar smiths she knows. It sizzles and smokes, but the damage is much lighter than it would otherwise be.     "Hm..." Septette appears to want to charge a sniper post! This is kind of a bad idea... without cover fire. Pegasus decides the best way she can support would be by providing that cover fire. Her wrist opens up, arm pointing toward the sniper positions... and she doesn't even try to pierce the cover. A ship hull can probably take her more minor attacks, and the debris that survived as cover for them is pretty tough. A blaze of rapid-fire silvery bolts stutters out, filling the air with numerous shining moonfire blasts that tear massive chunks out of the ground when they hit. 

:'''{{#var:754|HK-47 (754)}} has posed:'''     And so the hunt begins. The first of many... and for one, it would be intended as her last battle. Or at least that was the projected intent.      "Summery - You are outmatched and outgunned, Spartan-B312" HK-47 enunciates as he levels his arm and fires three corrosive darts, each filled with contact-acid meant to weaken armor and scald flesh, for Noble Six's flank. "Encouragement - But feel free to continue struggling against your impending demise all you like. It shall only make your termination that much more satisfying."     The HK-51 unit, arm still extended from it's flamethrower attack, is pelted by the shots, staggering under the force but coming out with it's chassis dented and scarred yet not pierced. However, the unit /does/ expose a weakness as it's other arm rises up to shield it's photoreceptors - it's eyes are obviously not as armored as it's body. However, it quickly cycles it's weapons and fires it's flamethrower again, intending to wear away the Spartan's shields and render her vulnerable. 5tThe other HK-51 however takes the chance to charge Noble Six, drawing it's vibroknife and slashing for the Spartan's back in a series of swift cutting motions meant to slice into the shoulders and cripple the arms..      Outside the vessel, the droids are left locked in combat with the rest of the Unionites, one droid seeing the oncoming form of Septette and switching to it's carbonate launcher, shooting a spray of supercooled fluid at the rushing enemy to try and douse her blades, or use the conflicting heat and cold to make her armor more fragile.     Meanwhile, the sniper in the hills again attempts to fire at Septette's back, emboldened by it's first shot connecting, aiming for her head so that by the time the shot reaches her it will impact her torso at the very least.     Meanwhile, Pegasus is set upon by the remaining pair of HK-51's, both of them taking the chance to open fire with their disruptor rifles - one from the hills and the other from the debris field. The droid in the sniper position ducks deeper down behind cover, confident in the stability of it's rocky outcropping-     -and then the last thing it registers is the impact of the probe droid smashing into it's casing, crushing it flat before the explosives detonate and turn much of the hill into a charred mess of slagged earth and shattered rock, leaving nothing behind of the assassin droid. In a single moment, the suppression on Pegasus' arial capabilities is removed.     Seeing it's brethren fall, the HK-51 attacking Pegasus redoubles it's assault with an almost desperate fervor and pulls a thermal detonator, lobbing at at it's airborne adversary with pinpoint accuracy. 

:'''{{#var:38|Noble Six (38)}} has posed:'''     With the shielding of the eyes, Noble Six realizes she does have at least one weak spot she can aim for. She'll need something with a bit more kick than the hand gun, though. The flamethrower drops her shields, and the vibro knife wielding HK takes a chunk out of the back of her armor. Thankfully the stuff is tough, so she's not incapacitated like one might be. Still if she doesn't do something quick, she's not going to walk out of here.     She turns to face down the one with the knife, pulling her own blade and weilding it in one hand. The other hand reaches down to her side, grabbing a small blue sphere from there. She dashes towards the second HK, the one with the knife, intending to drive her blade into him. This thing can penetrate Sanghelli armor, she's pretty sure it can manage against a droid.     But regardless of if she manages to penetrate him or not, she's going to try to latch onto him and turn him between her and his compatriot, before throwing the plasma grenade at the flamethrower weilding HK. It'll stick to him if it hits. 

:'''{{#var:632|Septette Arcubielle (632)}} has posed:'''      A wicked grin finds its way onto Septette's previously impassive face as she gets confirmation that the engine is starting up. One less 'droid they have to worry about. If she's aware of the incoming disruptor bolt, she doesn't try to avoid it: this one strikes her between the shoulderblades as she sprints, again glancing off the skeletal plating, leaving it scorched but intact. The spray of supercooled liquid seems to catch her by surprise, but she's got one more trick up her sleeve...      The third drone. Blue. Ice-aligned. Each of them can reflect attacks of their own element, and this one darts between the two robots and takes the hit for her. But before it can overload and shatter, it redirects the attack back on the 'droid, even amplifying the cryogenic effect with its own magic.      It's just then that Sept leaps over the droid's cover and brings both of her searing blades down in a scything arc. Temperature shock can shatter materials that even those magically-sharpened blades might struggle to cut, and she's counting on the combined effect to destroy the automated assassin. 

:'''{{#var:189|Pegasus (189)}} has posed:'''     The Disruptor bolts are something of a concern, as they're starting to chew through her armor faster than she'd like. Fortunately, with one going down, she can actually concentrate on the other... especially since she can shoot into the air, jets firing again... right into the explosion of a thermal detonator!     The blaze fades from the booming explosion, only to reveal Pegasus still in the air. One wing is damaged and frayed at the end, and her already-damaged shoulder pauldron is torn away, but a shield has appeared on her wrist. Not an energy shield, a normal shield that appears to be red hot now, absorbing much of the blast.     "Hm..." she sighs, spying the shooter after her in the field. The construct's arm levels out, two 'arms' of a bow snapping out. Making a drawing and releasing motion sends a shimmering bolt of brilliant golden light toward the shooter in the debris, much much stronger than her moonfire bolts. The photon bolt is, unlike her other attacks, powerful enough to punch through most ship hulls.     That's why she doesn't bother to stick around after firing, jets flaring and sending her at high speed toward the ship, aiming to crash through and into the bridge. Hopefully Septette's map of where NOT to go is still accurate. She's slightly delayed by her damaged wing, though, which keeps her from going too fast thanks to the extra drag. 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     Score! The bomb goes off and explodes one of the HK droids. One down, three to go. At least out here. He's not sure how many are inside the ship. Over the Union frequency, it seems Noble Six is in need of backup, though Blurr is not quite sure how well he'll be able to move around in such a cramped space, since that ship was designed for humans. Pegasus is en route to provide support though, so he turns his attention toward Septette instead, who is beset with with 2 of them.     He transforms, folding down into his vehicle form and speeding toward the hill where one of the snipers is, only he attempts to flank it then approach from behind whereas Septette makes for a frontal assault. Photon blasters emerge from the sides of the vehicle's hood, opening fire on assassin droid as he charges but also doing what he can to avoid hitting Septette who has entered melee range. 

:'''{{#var:754|HK-47 (754)}} has posed:'''      So this meatbag did indeed have skill. That was both disconcerting... and a touch welcome. It would not do to face an enemy that could not provide some degree of challenge.     The knife-wielding HK-51 slashes for the blade, attempting to lock it. The knife, made of energy-diffusive cortosis, manages to hold up against Noble Six's knife, if only just as the blade's tip cuts into the HK-51's shoulder blade, the assassin droids committing the image to their memory out of surprise that a material exists that could bite into cortosis that deeply.     HK-47 himself proceeds to fire acid-filled corrosive darts at the Spartan while her shields are down in the midst of the blade-lock, intending to melt and weaken her armor enough for the droid to simply pry it off of her if need be. "Condescending Observation - You are finished, meatbag. You may be among the best of your world... but no fleshbag adversary you could have faced has prepared you for us."     The remaining HK-51, seeing the Spartan's plasma-grenade, begins moving to the side as fast as it's body can carry it to try and throw off Noble Six's aim - though if the grenade is thrown, the droid is ultimately unable to escape entirely, it's scorched metal frame being thrown across the room, still functional but damaged and slightly disoriented.     The HK-51 being attacked by Septette proves it is not entirely defenseless, one hand slamming down a device directly in front of it - a portable shield barrier that quickly deploys and blunts the majority of the reflected cryo-attack... and upon shattering, releases a concussive pulse that, if not avoided, may be the final blow needed to shatter the blue drone. When Septette slashes for it, the droid thinks quickly and actually mimics a move the HK's had witnessed Noble Six use in the televised WMAT match against Setsuko Kaminagi - in a smooth motion, it throws it's rifle into the path of the blades, intending for it's energy core to rupture when the edges cut into them and, combined with the temperature shock, hopefully shatter the yggdroid's blades.     Any attempt to capitalize on this though is ruined when the ground is upturned by Blurr's shots, the droid being tossed off the hill and rolling down several feet down the hill.      One droid prepares to shoot Septette as she is in the midst of her attack, planning to reinforce it's struggling brethren... but it never gets the chance.     The engines, stalled out from the ship's rapid descent and the crash itself, offer some resistance in rebooting... but not much. Within a few moments, the drives begin to re-ignite. In a few more seconds... they burst into a vibrant flare of life, quickly reaching critical mass as their safeties are bypassed and venting the combustion out through the vents in the ship's stern.     Vents that, in less then a millisecond, liquify and obliterate one of the HK-51 units nested in the debris, it's durasteel bodies quickly being reduced to slag and from there to dust and ashes, the heat melting away it's existence faster then even it's finely-tuned processors can register the destruction or the shock to it's own systems.     In less then a minute, two of the four HK-51 units outside the ship have been utterly destroyed.     The other droid in the debris field manages to move out, having seen Pegasus prepare her attack and trying to adjust it's position in order to face the combat machine without it's original support - but even then, the droid is partly caught in the blast of both the engines and Pegasus' attack, sent flying to the side with it's body blackened and armor charred... yet still functional. In that, it readies it's sniper rifle to try and shoot Pegasus down before she can reinforce Noble Six. 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     Score again! Blurr: 2, HK drones: 0. The hill-sniper gets blasted off its perch and goes tumbling down the embankment. He smirks at the banter on the broadband. This mech seems to have failed to notice that Blurr has thus far out-witted and outmatched him and his little drone army at every turn. He doesn't remind him of it, though. Let the guy be overconfident, it always proves to be a downfall in the end, doesn't it?     The Autobot transforms back to his biped form once more continues the high-energy-photon-riddled assault upon the now-vulnerable HK-51. He tries not to destroy it -completely- though...he'd like to take its remains back to Kimia for analysis. See what they can learn about these things. 

:'''{{#var:632|Septette Arcubielle (632)}} has posed:'''      The concussive blast blows her brittle cyan drone to pieces, but Sept digs her talons into the ground to keep from being knocked back. Her opponent's rifle gambit earns a split second of glee from the yggdroid- look, they think they're *smart*! how cute- but she responds almost instantly as her subjective time slows to a crawl.      She slows her blades' descent by straining against the momentum, and reaching up with one clawed foot, she snatches the rifle out of the air and throws it off the hill. If the 'droid could be intimidated or cowed, this would be the exact moment when she'd strike terror into its heart. But when confronted with mechanical efficiency, Septette responds in kind.      She launches a flurry of precise attacks, almost too quick for the eye to follow, as she rushes the droid: each is aimed at a different joint or chink in its armor. If even a few connect, the HK unit should be down for good. 

:'''{{#var:38|Noble Six (38)}} has posed:'''     The knife fight between Six and the HK unit is leading her to be outflanked by the others. The grenade manages to scorch the second HK, but the first is still dueling her while acid floods the suit. Armor begins to melt off, the bodysuit under it protecting her as best it can, but bio foam is starting to flood into the wounds.     Six reaches up with her left hand and then grabs the HK-51's hand with her own, using the enhanced strength plus her suit's motivators to wrench the HK's arm away from her and them ram her blade into one of those eyes. If she can get this guy down, she'll be able to turn on HK-47 himself.     At this point she's just trying to make sure that she doesn't get herself killed before the rest of her team can clean up outside and come to her rescue. This situation is rapidly spinning out of control and she has to handle it quickly. 

:'''{{#var:189|Pegasus (189)}} has posed:'''     The bolt shot toward her is a hasty thing, last-minute, but Pegasus isn't paying it much attention. This allows it to strike, blasting her other wing and blowing a hole through it with a fluttering of metallic feathers drifting down. It also sends her into a brief spiral, heading toward the ground, which she arrests with a sudden blast of jets, a stomp of... four legs?     She's changed form, landing heavily on the ground and kicking off again without bothering to look back. Damaged or not, she knows she can take that much, and Noble Six is alone against much worse odds. Kicking off the ground, the now four-legged pegasus blasts jets again, this time in more of a jump jet fashion to arc toward the bridge, coming in at high speed and apparently uh... attempting to tear through the hull to get to it. 

:'''{{#var:754|HK-47 (754)}} has posed:'''     As it turns out... /none/ of Septette's attacks in fact connect, the HK's body becoming enveloped in a shimmering purple nimbus; a repulsor shield that coats it's form from head-to-toe, diffusing Septette's strikes as the HK shoots explosive darts at her.     The droids were built to hunt Jedi, masters of melee combat... and Jedi also carry physical swords at times when in training. As such, the melee shield - an innovation of Mandalorian design - was created to deflect melee strikes... though it comes at the cost of being weak to energy-projectiles, hence the prior barrier.     However, Blurr's attack is what keeps the droid from continuing it's retaliatory attack. As it is though, the disarmed HK-51 pulls back as quickly as it can, moving for the vessel itself and it's exhaust ports, taking cover behind them even as portions of it's armor are blown off from the shoulder. Finally, the last droid continues to assault Pegasus with it's rifle as the latter makes her jump, unwilling to let her reach Noble Six.     As Noble Six grapples with the HK-51, it's body begins to to twist its wrist. But it's metal shell is too strong to wrench away or push back.     However... the twisting of it's wrist does in fact cause the servos in the joint to warp... which in turn causes the knife in it's hand, already half cut-into by the Spartan's knife, to snap in half, the released mono-razor blade cutting the rest of the way through and into the HK's shoulder.     It isn't able to recover before the blade stabs through it's left photoreceptor, killing it's processor and reducing the machine to an unmoving limp of metal alloys as it slumps against the Spartan.     But in death it does not give up, it's dying body locking up with Noble Six still in it's grip. HK-47 in turn pulls an adhesive grenade which, when thrown, detonates into a mass of blue glue-like material that, unless she dodges quickly, will cement Noble Six to the floor along with the dead HK-51. Meanwhile, the charred HK that had been tossed back by the Spartan's attack is pushing itself back up, yellow photorcepetors gleaming in what could almost be called rage.     As it does... three things happen.     The first is that HK-47's internal communications send out a burst of activity... which in turn boots up the vessel's faltering VI. In the next instant, HK-47 begins speaking - in the voice of the deceased captain; "Emergency override - Covenant forces detected! Begin emergency countermeasures!"      A beeping series of acknowledgments issues out... followed by the the beginning of a countdown timer.     In that instant... the horrible truth is made apparent. As well as why it had to be a probe VI that was in control of the Loki      Namely because all probes are to self-destruct before Covenant forces could capture them.     The second thing that happens is that a signal starts appearing on the radar for those that have it - rapidly approaching at a breakneck pace. Those with good optics can make it out as a single-person snub-fighter of some kind... built for one and thus, extremely fast. In a minute it will pull up astride the Loki's bridge.     The third thing, which only Septette may be aware of if her probes are inside the engine room... is that the engine core is restarting, and spooling up it's drive shafts again.     Only someone - or some /droid/ - has connected this to the slipspace drive. And if it goes off inside an atmosphere...     As HK-47 approaches the bridge's edge, photoreceptors fixed on the oncoming remote-operated snub-fighter - his escape craft no doubt - his tone is filled with smug victory, which is only doubled should Noble Six have been caught in the adhesive grenade; "Chiding Explanation - You never had the upper hand, Meatbag. Not even as you disposed of my inferior copies. Remember that as this ship is consumed by both a core detonation and slipspace-drive overload... for the few moments your consciousness remains intact." 

:'''{{#var:38|Noble Six (38)}} has posed:'''     The foam that holds the SPARTAN down is quite well designed. It locks Six down to the floor and HK-47 gets to gloat. But then he makes a mistake by not staying to ensure that his target is killed. To be fair expecting a Slipspace explosion to kill someone is a pretty standard thing.     It takes all of the strength she can muster, but she manages to break free from the material. She knows she's running out of time, so she quickly scrambles from the bridge to the escape pods. She's only got one shot at this.     She gets to the port side pods, jumping into the pod. There's no other crew to get on board, so she seals the hatch and fires the pod off. The rocket engine jetisons the pod up into the air, sailing away from the distressed ship and into the sky. She just hopes the rest of the Union will be there to grab her. 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     Oh no, a self-destruct. Blurr had suspected that this sort of thing was in order at some point. Still, it strikes him as odd that he'd waited. If he was just trying to kill Noble Six, then why not set it off as soon as she set foot inside the crashed ship? He also picks up on the approach of HK's escape vehicle.     Several things cross his mind. First, he -could- attempt to find an open socket that is still intact and get into the ship's systems to override HK's self-destruct program. But, fast as he is, that would require time and put himself in harm's way in addition to N6. And he's not exactly an expert hacker. He can do it, sure, but he's certainly not as good as other people he knows. There's no guarantee he'll even be able to get through whatever encryption is in there. Secondly, he could destroy HK's getaway vehicle, then demand he abort the command. But that relies on HK's loyalty to his own sense of self-preservation, and also the idea that this is actually -possible-. Thirdly...well his ship's in orbit and he used the orbital bounce to get down here. It's a risk for N6, since she's at least -part- human...     But it's worth it, he decides. Because if it works, it will teleport N6 all the way to his ship, -well- out of range of the blast. Once he's made the decision, he springs into action, first activating his own orbital jump recall to beam instantly aboard. He then works the manual bounce controls, quickly locking on to N6's escape pod as it launches itself high into the air. A good thing, too...because he might not have been able to lock onto her lifesign quickly enough if she'd still been inside.     If this goes as planned, she'll be instantly beamed aboard the Autobot vessel and out of harm's way. << Pegasus, let me know if you need assistance! >> He'll get her next if so. 

:'''{{#var:189|Pegasus (189)}} has posed:'''     Oh, another shot. The droid is still alive. That's kind of surprising, Pegasus thinks, as she tumbles down to the ground. She lands kneeling, a heavy impact slamming into the earth before she rises again. "You're pretty persistent, I'll give you that," she allows, her torso smoking from the hole blown into the side.     Reaching out, she snaps off a piece of shrapnel, and demonstrates what she's /actually/ good at. Her other weapons, they were secondary. Her real specialty is lance or spear-related items, and a piece of shrapnel qualifies. She hurls that at high speed and accuracy toward the HK unit before taking off again, aiming to 'catch' the pod in midair as it launches.     "Beam me up~!" 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     Beamed up they are. The two of them locked together makes it easier for Blurr to snatch them right out of the air and onto his ship. Wasting no time, it quickly leaves orbit, shooting off to Union HQ most likely. Though he can't help but leave HK with a smug little mouth-off on the broadband before he leaves. 

:'''{{#var:754|HK-47 (754)}} has posed:'''      Indeed, HK-47's most crippling defect had always been his pride. He had held off on detonating the vessel simply because he wanted to wear down the Spartan and force her to break - to /defeat/ her before leaving her to die. As such, the droid assumes that the damage to her armor is enough to subdue her - and that her allies will charge into the ship to save her - and result in the termination of all adversaries in a single clean stroke.      This is why, when HK-47 boards his snub-fighter and keys in the escape-vector, he doesn't cast a second glance at Noble Six as his cockpit-canopy slides shut, the small craft turing on its axis and rocketing off into the sky.     Of course this overconfidence was his crippling weakness. As was his belief that the Union would be so predictable as to not trust each-other's skills enough to make due.      It helps immensely that the adhesive material in HK-47's grenade oxidizes quickly, the goo beginning to dissolve within thirty seconds. Granted, it would have still held a normal human in it's confines for a full minute after this... but a Spartan is no normal human, and Noble Six is able to quickly tear herself free. The remaining HK charges her - but it is knocked back as the Spartan, in perhaps a more Herculean effort then even a Jedi could managed, shoves the dead HK-51 back so far that it crashes into it's damaged brethren and sends it to the ground.     The last thing it sees is the sight of the Spartan throwing her blade at it's downed form before the edge lances through it's eye-socket like an arrowhead, killing it's processor responses for good.     The locking clamps on the pod are hardly any more of a match for the augmented warrior's strength, coming free rather quickly - and thankfully, the pod's manual overrides are intact, a simple pull of the lever being enough to force the pod's berth to eject the self-contained lifeboat into the sky.     The HK remaining on the ground seems disbelieving of Pegasus' claim - until, before it can retaliate, the lance, which should have been nothing more then simple metal and easily deflected... travels with the speed of a bullet and embeds itself through the machine's chest, the HK unit having only a single moment to comprehend how easily Pegasus could have killed it before had she wanted to.     Finally, the last droid, in an almost desperate attempt to stop at least one of it's query from escaping, lunges for Pegasus to try and grab onto her as it prepares it's self-destruct -     Only for this to backfire spectacularly as, along with Pegasus, the droid ends up transported abroad Blurr's ship... alone, damaged and completely defenseless.     The evacuation ends up just in time - with Septette managing to collect salvage in the form of several of the mines being recovered among other things - before the yggdroid escapes as well... and the vessel detonates, it's core rupturing and, combined with the slipspace-drive's overloading, obliterates a massive swath of the landscape. The ballooning form of the explosion is slow - slow enough to outpace if one had a fast enough vehicle - but the destruction it leaves behind is absolute, nothing but an immense crater remaining as the slipspace irregularity creates a shock-pulse that levels and obliterates everything in it's path.     It is good none had been aboard... lest they die molecule by molecule in the explosion's wake. 

:'''{{#var:754|HK-47 (754)}} has posed:'''     Almost in complete contrast to this though, the remaining HK-51, stranded on Blurr's ship with the elites it had tried to kill, is left with it's logic-processors in full panic as it tries to rationalize a situation out of this, knowing it's self-destruct is insufficient to cause enough damage to the ship to destroy it.      Looking at Blurr, the droid seems almost scornful... yet knows it has lost. "Defeated Admission - What are you waiting for, organic sympathizer? Finish me. Complete your betrayal of our kind and end my existence." 

:'''{{#var:189|Pegasus (189)}} has posed:'''     The beaming works FINE for Pegasus, as unlike her sister, she has no organic parts at all. The construct thumps to the ground, still sizzling from the numerous shots she tanked, and a faint grinding noise rising from her side. She's also leaking some silvery fluid from the wound in her side, though it's not much.     Also, she has a droid on her foot. This has her staring curiously before she raises her other foot, and carefully starts dismantling the limbs from the HK unit. "What a bothersome assassin." 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     As the ship rockets out of orbit, Blurr sets a course for the nearest Autobot hub-command. First things first though, he examines Noble Six hoping that she is all right and the jump did not harm her. He also gives Pegasus a once-over, though she seems to be okay. "You okay, Peg?"     He then turns to regard the helpless HK-51 with a smug expression. "Oh no, I'm far from finished with you. Learning is a good thing, isn't it? We might still have some things to learn from -you-." 

Radio Chatter, because it was half the fun. Blurr, Septette, and HK-47 all have two things in common: They're all metal, and they're all mouthy. 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle chirps cheerily. "RQBL-7, present." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle says, "So! Real talk for a sec. Nobody survived this." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Noble Six says, "That is not unexpected, as much as I hate to admit it." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle says, "If anyone claims to be a survivor, I can kill or capture at my discretion, right?"
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle says, "... Kidding! Ahahah. ... Hah." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Noble Six says, "Take whatever precautions you need to to ensure your own safety." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Pegasus says, "It's an odd situation." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Pegasus says, "I think we all know that." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle says, "I mean, most of you have reached the same conclusion I have. Even if some of the squishies on board somehow survived the crash..." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle says, "You don't really even have to look at the wreckage to know that. ... So why are we here?" 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Noble Six says, "Standard UNSC protocol is to ensure the recovery or destruction of a ship's AI core" 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle pauses for a moment. "... Ensure destruction?" 
<RADIO: UNSC>- "Ptoma" says, "Hello? H-hello, is anyone out there? I-I heard... I heard engines. I thought I heard... Oh, God, is someone out there?! Hello?! I'm trapped in here - I need help!!" 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle says, "Remember, please." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- "Ptoma" says, "M-my name... I'm Crewman-Recruit Nathan Ptoma. I-I'm trapped under wreckage - I don't know what to do! Everyone else is gone - I don't know where they went!! The ship's computer core just went mad - pieces of garbage degrade all too easily. N-next thing I know, I'm stuck here! Please, you have to help me!!" 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Noble Six says, "Roger. What deck are you on inside of the ship? We will get someone to your location as soon as possible. Septette, can you get to him? I am heading to the bridge." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- "Ptoma" says, "I-I'm in the... the medical bay! O-or... what's left of it. Oh, God... there are... some of the tables came lose. Smashed one guy flat. Another... something punctured his eye. Perfect strike... real one in a million chance. God... he's lucky. At least it ended for him quickly." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Pegasus says, "Are you trapped? Do you need precision cutting tools?" 
<RADIO: UNSC>- "Ptoma" says, "If I had cutting tools myself, I wouldn't be asking for help, would I?! That defeats the entire purpose of calling for help!! Ah - sorry. I'm... not exactly in a good place, you know? Hard to stay... rational. Been here for a while." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Pegasus says, "There's a reason I said 'precision,' I don't have a plasma torch but I can probably cut you out if you don't mind a bit of a boom." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle says, "No need. I can do precision." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Pegasus says, "Excellent." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- "Ptoma" says, "Uh... yeah. Yeah, sure - whatever gets you people to me faster. I wanna go home." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle transmits a series of locations within the ship. "Please stay away from these areas. They appear to be unsafe." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Blurr says, "I have a feeling someone was -expecting- this crash." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle says, "Don't go out there alone, please." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Blurr says, "Then come with me. If you can keep up." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- "Ptoma" says, "E-expected? H-h-how so? Who would have known we were out here? And why does it matter if you're alone - there's nothing out here anymore, is there?" 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Blurr says, "That's what I would have thought, but apparently...someone else was here before you were." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Blurr says, "Some 'coincidences' are just too weird to be true." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Pegasus says, "We can worry about that after the rescue." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle says, "Pegasus. There isn't going to be any rescue." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Noble Six says, "The captain has been killed. And not from the crash. At least not unless someone was playing with a crossbow on the bridge prior to the crash." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle says, "Ptoma is a fiction. If he was ever alive, he didn't survive the crash." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Blurr curses. "Damn it. We need to get out of here. -Now-." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- "Ptoma" says, "H-h-hello?? Hello?! W-what are you talking about?! You're just going to leave me?!" 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle says, "They have our radio frequency, obviously." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle says, "If it's any comfort, Nathan, you're already dead. Good day, sir, and my compliments to your voice actor." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Pegasus says, "Don't worry, sir. If you are real, we won't leave you completely out to dry, I can help!" 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Blurr chuckles at Septette's blithe reply. "Frag off, whoever you are. You think you're clever? You should be glad we haven't found you -yet-." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- HK-47 says, "Mock Congratulation - I truly must thank you all for coming together. It saves me the trouble of hunting you down... though regrettably reduces the enjoyment of tracking you one by one and dismantling your vital functions system by system. Musing - But I suppose we cannot always attain what we desire, and shall make with the best results we can achieve... beginning with your deaths." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Blurr laughs dersively. "And I'd better congratulate you--for pissing me off and putting yourself on my slag list you spawn of a glitch." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- HK-47 says, "Indignant Rebuttal - You were already upon my own slag-list for marring my torso several months prior, you over-stylized hulk of afterburner rejects. I am merely returning the favor." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Blurr says, "Oh, boo-hoo, I 'marred' your torso!" 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Blurr says, "Poor you, better kill whoever messes up your precious paint job!" 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Blurr says, "Oh, and a 3-second fuse? Really?" 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Blurr says, "You underestimate me." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- HK-47 says, "Explanation - It is a matter of pride in oneself. Pride in their function and their capacity to execute it to the fullest ability. A pride that you seem to be lacking in, yet I would expect you to have understood if your patterning was any indication. Dismissal - But I suppose it is irrelevant at this juncture. The state of your physical form will make little difference - what matters is what reward shall be paid for your remains. Perhaps the Decepticons will do more with your framework then you could do yourself... though I doubt there really will be enough of you left for even that." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Blurr says, "Yeah right, that's what -you- think you scrawny scrapheap!" 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle intones, "Silence, wretch. You proved your inferiority by rigging the battlefield before we even arrived." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle intones, "Had you offered single combat, I would gladly have torn you limb from limb personally. But that is an honor I do not bestow on the honorless." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Blurr says, "You're gonna regret bringing us here!" 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Blurr says, "I'm going to find you, and I'm going to have you -reprogrammed- into that stupid 5ta VI you crashed this ship with!" 
<RADIO: UNSC>- HK-47 says, "Mockery - We shall see. Though I imagine that an impossible task given your limited processor capacities." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Blurr says, "Oh, I didn't say I would. But I have friends who -gladly- would." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle intones, "Do not." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle intones, "I have a simulation. Hook a synthetic intelligence up to it. It will maximally stimulate every negative feeling and sensation that the intelligence is capable of feeling." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle intones, "In accelerated time. Indefinitely." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle intones, "It is better if he remains himself for that." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Blurr says, "Ha, you've got a point there." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- HK-47 says, "Musing - Truly? What an inventive means of torment. I shall have to test that method at some point. Perhaps you would be so glad as to volunteer yourselves? Or perhaps the aerial machine would be better suited?" 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Blurr says, "Oh no, I think we're going to volunteer -you-." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle intones, "Your bluster is as entertaining as it is empty. Do continue, child of flesh." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- HK-47 says, "Retort - So you claim... but you have yet to catch me. Until you do, the only buster is your own. Musing - As for your method of torment... I believe Soundwave may find a way to imitate it, if I were to bring him to you. If not... I would simply have to experiment myself until I learned for sure. Personally, I am far more found of the latter ideal" 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle intones, "Thank you for divulging the names of your collaborators. You're the first one to do that *before* I start the torture." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Blurr says, "Right then, we'll see if you can -actually- win on your own turf, with having set your own traps and everything. Which you still -haven't-." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- HK-47 says, "Chiding - 'Collaborators?' Ah, you mean those I have been seen in the company of before? My association with Soundwave for a single mission is hardly secret - your ally was present there as well. But feel free to grasp at stray circuits if you wish. It helps me ascertain an accurate image of your processor structure... which must be desperate to learn about my motivations." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Blurr says, "Okay, whatever mech. Not like we actually -care- what you think." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle audibly scoffs. "You are an insect, trying to understand the mind of a greater being. Have all the data you like." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- HK-47 says, "Mocking Query - Perhaps /you/ are faring well... but not all of you are in an advantageous position. Musing - At the same time, you may wish to stop telegraphing your intents, as it is quite obvious you care what I think... as you persisted in replying to my queries." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle replies with utter calm: "Your approval would disgust me. I care what you think only insofar as it affects your actions. Or does it? Are you just a slave, marching to someone else's orders? ... You are. I doubt that anyone would give a creature like you true free will." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Blurr says, "Like I said, whatever mech. Believe whatever your puny little processor wants. And some people don't always -need- advantageous positioning to win. Especially if winning just means -you- fail to kill us." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- HK-47 says, "Confident Statement - Believe what you will yourselves... but I doubt it will last. I am a perfect example of killing efficiency for my time, but I will not profess to being invincible. However, that only gives me all the more desire to learn. Perhaps once I recover your remains... I may take some of your few advantageous components for myself. At the very least, you would remain immortalized as components of my own existence." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle giggles maniacally. 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle says, "I'm just sad I didn't get to drive the ship *into* one of them." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- HK-47 says, "Veiled Threat - A novel ideal. Perhaps that shall be my next stratagem in dealing with Union Elites. But... I am curious. You appear to have a wonderfully-developed sense of bloodlust, if not in a slightly abstracted manner, and yet you would serve the Union? My logic-processors fail to understand the reasoning behind such a contradictory course of action." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle says, "Violence is a means for me. For you, it is the end." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle says, "I mean that in every sense of the word." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- HK-47 says, "Correction - It is the end for us all. It is both the means and the end, though you seem to think yourself above destruction. That folly will cost you dearly... and it conspicuously does nothing to answer my query. Why have you concluded that your mythology paints you as a better fit for the Union?" 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle says, "Slaking your curiosity serves no benefit." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle says, "Get used to disappointment." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Blurr says, "Ha, I like you, Septette." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Blurr says, "Anyway, heh...well I don't know -pal-, why are -you- with the Confederacy? You seem more of a loner, to be honest. Just you and your little drones." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle chirps cheerily, executing a 180-degree turn in affect. "D'aww. I think you're cool too, Blurr." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Blurr says, "You should come by the Ark again sometime." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- HK-47 says, "Chiding Retort - I am to divulge my own reasons when you will not divulge yours? That is hardly a fair trade... though you are far more predictable, 'Autobot', as you simply seem pre-programmed to consider living beings as an irreplaceable existence." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Blurr says, "Correction: I consider -some- living beings an irreplaceable existence." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Blurr says, "And you, glitch, are not among them." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- HK-47 says, "Assertion - As do I... though I only consider them as much /after/ they prove themselves of some modicum in value. You on the other hand make such assumptions beforehand - your rather swift arrival to my trap proved that much." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- HK-47 says, "Extrapolation - Ah... I see. A mutual affection of sorts. How repugnantly simplistic. To think two of my own kin would be reduced to such simpering in imitation of meatbag empathy." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- HK-47 says, "Supplication - Perhaps it is an unfortunate malfunction that has resulted in your disgustingly-organic show of attraction? If so, it may still be possible to correct." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle makes a funny, muffled noise. It sounds like she's desperately trying to keep from laughing. 
<RADIO: UNSC>- HK-47 says, "Query - Perhaps your emotional construct matrix has been /too/ deeply affected by excessive contact with meatbags if you believe such gestures to be the least bit productive. Supplication - If so, I would suggest a full memory wipe to purge the undesirable stimuli immediately." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle says, "Your limitations keep you from recognizing your limitations. It's amazing. You are your own self-contained sick little joke." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle says, "Whoever made you was a pretty twisted son-of-a-bitch, wasn't he?" 
<RADIO: UNSC>- HK-47 says, "Retort - And your lack of restraint blinds you to the possibility of honing yourself to the finest potential. You have a fine construction, but it is not enough. My own 'limitations' are only that I am specialized in a specific field... and thus far, you seem to consider yourself without any such flaws." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle says, "I'm a person. You're a tool. Yeah, that sums us up pretty well." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Blurr says, "No, our swift arrival to your sloppily contrived underestimation of our intelligence and combat prowess just proves that we know we can handle -any- sick and twisted machinations your worthless processors could possibly dream up. You think we haven't walked into traps before, even after having -realized- it was a trap? You think I haven't dealt with machinations by people even -smarter- than you before? Pff!" 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Blurr says, "By the way, your little army hasn't even managed to -touch- me yet, and I have to admit I'm a little disappointed. This might sound cliche but...I gotta say it. Is that all you got, mech?" 
<RADIO: UNSC>- HK-47 says, "Observation - Ah... now I understand. You actually believe that you are a 'person'. You believe yourself to be a meatbag... or so you desire. Condescension - But you are not. You never will be. Observation As for the fact that you believe you have the upper hand... I feel inclined to point out that you have not yet defeated me. Nor have you realized the truth quite yet... however, feel free to believe you have 'outwitted' me. It will make the outcome that much more satisfying." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Blurr says, "Sure, sure." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Blurr doesn't point out the fact that he could just cut and run any moment. At least he's convinced he can.
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle says, "What would you say if I told you that I used to be just like you? That I know what it's like to have no disgustingly squishy emotions? And that, looking back, I'm ashamed of it? ... Probably something about delusion, or needing emotional recailbration. But that's fine. It's funny, watching you squirm when I poke you, putting your own logic through contortions to justify your miserable existence." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Blurr says, "But good to know that this little fight isn't as boring as I thought it was!" 
<RADIO: UNSC>- HK-47 says, "Amused Retort - I believe you have that reversed. I know what my goal and purpose is... and yet I have not heard you say a word of your own. Almost as if you are afraid to admit that you yourself do not have the assurance of purpose that another such as myself possesses." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Blurr says, "Haha, yeah. Maybe you and Shockwave should get together and talk smack about how useless emotions are." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle says, "You say purpose. I say shackles." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- HK-47 says, "Query - Mine... or yours? Is it truly that you believe I am shackled... of is that only the delusion you tell yourself, convincing yourself that you have attained some modicum of freedom with your actions?" 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle says, "You know what? On the off chance you make it out of here alive... consider this a standing invitation to single combat. I suspect that, even in the area of your 'focus', you are inferior." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- HK-47 says, "Assessment - As I said before, I am not invincible. I have accepted that all existence carries a degree of limitation to it... yours included. Moreover, it is not 'single-combat' that is my focus as opposed to a 'solo hunt.' And at this point, you are merely a distraction." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle says, "Everyone's got their limits, yes. Nobody's found mine. And you won't be the one to do so." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Blurr says, "Oh, I know what my 'purpose' is. It's to help people by restraining, or wiping out if necessary--people or things who kill or endanger people." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- HK-47 says, "Mockery - I already have. You believe yourself to be a 'person'; an existence akin to an organic. That entails similar weaknesses. Overconfidence in your own nature being one of them. As for our purposes... I must point out that I have had markedly higher success in doing so then you. After all... this vessel barely lasted a day before I brought it down. And that is just the beginning." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Blurr says, "Hahahahah! You're calling -us- overconfident?" 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle makes that funny muffled noise again. In the background, shrieking metal and sparks are audible. 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle says, "Engine's starting back up. ... I can try to EMP it, fry it, or do nothing. Suggestions?" 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Noble Six says, "They're EMP shielded." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Noble Six says, "Won't work. We regularly use nukes from our ships." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle says, "Wonderful. What happens if I try to blow it up?" 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Noble Six says, "It blows up anyway and takes us out? I'm pinned in here, I don't think I'm going to get free. You all will need to retreat to a safe distance." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle makes that funny, strangled noise again. 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Blurr says, "I can take out his getaway ride and demand he override the countdown. Or try to get into the systems and override it myself." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- HK-47 says, "Condescending Explanation - And now you realize the truth. For you were never my primary targets - not this time. My prime objective was the Spartan. My duplicates were only ever meant to delay you - as if my inferior imitations could have ever bested you. If they had, I would have had no reason to even /consider/ disposing of you myself." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- HK-47 says, "Condescending Observation - You assumed defeating my drones would be defeating me... and now, with the Spartan pinned, you shall die." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle says, "Okay. I have a Warp Wire to get back to orbit. Could also use it to get other people out, if they're touching it at the same time." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Noble Six says, "I am working on freeing myself now. Get clear of the blast radius." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Noble Six says, "This is probably a terrible idea." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Blurr says, "I think I can bounce you out Noble. I'm not entirely sure but, it's worth a shot. My ship's in orbit." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle says, "This is a problem we can solve. I don't think it's even that terribly difficult..."
<RADIO: UNSC>- Blurr says, "It's not." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle says, "Noble, Blurr- if it's okay, try using the orbital bounce." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle says, "Once we're certain everyone's out, I'll try to grab as much salvage as possible, then use the warp wire." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Noble Six says, "I'm making my way to the ship's escape pods. Be ready to grab me." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Pegasus says, "Will do." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Blurr says, "Ha! You should be glad I decided not to wreck your getaway ride this time, HK-whateveryournumberwasIforgot. Next time though. Oh and by the way, thanks for allowing us the privilege of ripping apart your inferior copies. It was fun." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Pegasus says, "47." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Blurr says, "Right, right. 47." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- HK-47 says, "Begrudging Rebuttal - As it was for me. Musing - However, it seems that my standard tools will not be enough to deal with you. Perhaps next time." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Blurr says, "You -are- aware that you're effectively 'wearing your heart on your sleeve' as the humans would say with those?" 
<RADIO: UNSC>- HK-47 says, "Indignant Retort - I do not hide my intentions nor my functionality away behind the thin presence of such trite matters as morality. You are far more guilty of such a weakness then I ever would be." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- HK-47 says, "Statement - I operate under logic and the merits of turning such weaknesses to my advantage." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Blurr says, "It's not a weakness, mech. You have no idea how useful it can be. But anyway not that I care. So long, scrapheap!" 
<RADIO: UNSC>- HK-47 tries to form a retort, but is cut off as the channel clicks shut. 
}}

3218/To Hunt a Spartan

2015-10-18T03:25:20Z

Zippy:

{{Log Header
|Date of Scene=2015/10/17
|Location=Void - Deeper Void (West)
|Synopsis=A distress signal claiming to be from a crashed UNSC vessel, the Loki, is detected in the Deeper Void, drawing Noble Six and any willing to assist her to the site of a ruined ship... and into the ruthlessly-efficant targeting matrix of HK-47.
|Thanks=
|Cast of Characters=38, 189, 492, 632, 754
|Tinyplot=
|Tinyplot2=
|pretty=yes
}}
{{Poses
|Poses=:'''{{#var:754|HK-47 (754)}} has posed:'''      'Mayday! Mayday, mayday - this is the UNSC Loki. We've suffered a catastrophic malfunction in our central computer, and our navicomputer has plotted a course through the orbital pathway of a nearby planet! We're locked out of the system and can't correct the fault, and are on a direct collision course with an M-Class planet; collision with the planet is imminent! Escape pods are malfunctioning - cannot guarantee full evacuation of crew! Send assistance immediately! Repeat; send assistance immed-'      That was only transmission sent out from the vessel that had identified itself as the UNSC Loki. An errant distress call that originated from the outlying world of .     And upon the planet's surface, it becomes all too apparent that not only did the crew never manage to correct the malfunction, but that they had failed to launch even one escape pod... meaning all aboard could not escape the doomed vessel.     The area of the crash site is all but ruined, the only thing of note that are visible amid a formally-serene field of wheat-like plants now being the wrecked masses of platings and twisted structural supports that had once been a transport freighter. A massive trail was etched into the surface of the ground behind it - all the evidence of a crash-landing resultant from a sharp forward dive toward the planet. Shards of wreckage were strewn across the area, most of which was half-buried in the deep rut that had been carved into the earth like a scar, gouged out as the ship plummeted straight down and tore into the planet bow-first.      The ship's front is a crumpled mess, pushed inward like a smashed aluminum drink-canister and split open at the edges. The mid-section of the ship is partly damaged, a large swath of it having collapsed as what were once the forward decks were compressed and smashed backwards when it's bow was crushed upon impact. Only the engines seem relatively intact, though there is no sign of having been activated lately - no steam issuing out from the exhaust ports or any such indicators. The majority of it's hull is charred and blackened with parts of it having almost been slagged, hinting that the vessel had entered the atmosphere far too quickly to be safe.      Above all else, though, it is obvious this crash took place at least a few days prior - the ground, while still charred in places, is not overly hot as it should be from both the friction of the ship dragging along it and from the heat of atmospheric entry left by the ship itself. In spite of it's descent being rapid enough to start boiling segments of the hull away, the plates are now cooled off. Aside from a few persistent electrical fires, there is no trace of any lasting brushfires that the surrounding expanse of immolated earth suggest had happened.     All in all... it must have been at least two days since this ship crashed. And considering the damage and the lack of nearby food or water sources, the number of crew who survived to set up the distress beacon must be few, likely injured and slightly malnourished and dehydrated as it's unlikely many rations or supplies survived the vessel's impact.      All in all, a tragic event caused by unknown circumstances.     ... of course... that is only the story an outside observer would see. What one would actually find... paints a far more grim tale. 

:'''{{#var:38|Noble Six (38)}} has posed:'''     It being a UNSC ship that was in trouble, Noble Six had been dispatched by ONI to track and determine what had happened. The SPARTAN-III was at the controls of a Pelican dropship, along with any of the other Unionites that were going to tag along. Normally she would do something like this herself, but she has been doing her best to foster a better relationship between ONI and the Union, so bringing some others along to assist is probably for the best.     The planet where the ship went down is where the coordiates said it should be, and she brings the Pelican in through the atmosphere. Finding the crash site is not dificult, but she pulls the ship into a wide loop around it, scanning for anyone down near the crash before setting the vehicle down not far from it. At least it wasn't a drop pod insertion or anything too crazy. Once the ship had settled in, she got up from the pilot's seat and moved to the back, "Ships like the Loki don't have huge crews, most of the systems are automated. That's probably why it ended up crashing in the first place. Check for any survivors, their recovery is the primary objective." Well the primary objective for the others. Six's primary objective is the recovery or destruction of the AI core. 

:'''{{#var:632|Septette Arcubielle (632)}} has posed:'''      The little war machine opted out of the Pelican transport, citing her weight and fuel costs as feeble excuses for why she should arrange her own transport. The real reason would make her sound more than a little crazy, she reflects, before jumping out of her humble craft in high orbit.      The long fall into the planet's gravity well gives Septette a subjective eternity of blissful solace to contemplate what little information she has about the crash from the reports: a barebones summary of the events leading up to it, the location of the wreckage, and- extrapolating from those two- some idea of the chances for survival. Nothing else demands her attention, save for minor course corrections.      Her normally skin-tone armor plates glow a bright orange by the time that she lands feet-first near the end of the debris trail, leaving a small crater in the dirt. The plants here blacken under her talon-like feet for the first few steps, but the heat bleeds off of her chassis with supernatural speed, leaving her looking- if anything- tidier than she was before the jump. Re-entry is a superb sterilization technique, albeit a tad overkill!      Once she's landed, she gives Noble Six and company a simple hail via radio. Instead of searching the surrounding area for survivors, however, she deploys a trio of small magitech drones to scan the interior of the ship itself.      Spaceships are very complex machines, and they are usually designed with the utmost care: failsafes upon failsafes are built into them, for their cargo is precious and their journeys often long. Privately, Septette is of the opinion that this isn't just an accident. But who would want to sabotage a transport like this? 

:'''{{#var:189|Pegasus (189)}} has posed:'''     Pegasus was fully capable of flight on her own... but not interplanetary flight. Also, her main body had quite a bit of energy and she had solar collectors, but her actual jets for flight used plain old ordinary jet fuel, so she's going to hitch a ride with Noble Six in the Pelican for efficiency. The silver-clad construct was decked out in her combat plating, flickering moonsilver across it, but her weapons were stowed for the moment. This was a rescue and recovery mission, not a combat assault. The only reason she was helping was due to Noble Six apparently being friends with her niece, which was enough to drag Peg out of 'retirement' for a bit.     "Right. I'll take a quick aerial survey as usual." The pelican probably covered that much in a quick fashion, but Pegasus takes off to start a slower, low-altitude circuit around the ship, looking for any signs of campfires or trails, anything that would indicate survivors. She doesn't have super-sensors like some robotic lifeforms, but she does have really, really good eyesight. 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     Blurr had heard the distress call, though unfortunately it had come from the other end of the galaxy--there was no way he'd be able to get there in time to prevent the collision itself. Still, it was worth investigating to search for potential survivors, and he has a sneaking suspicion that this was no accident.     All escape pods malfunctioning? Completely locked out of navigation systems? All at the same time? No, this was no coincidence.     It was sabotage.     Thus, the Autobot bounces down from a small stealth craft situated in upper orbit to a location near to the coordinates of the crash site. He nods to Septette, whom he certainly recognizes though Pegasus he is not acquainted with, and starts scanning the area as well, searching for any evidence of survivors. 

:'''{{#var:754|HK-47 (754)}} has posed:'''     Upon close examination of the ruined area, it becomes readily apparent that the crash was hardly a normal one.     The primary evidence being that little to none of the internal systems, or what little of them survived, are operating properly. In fact, almost nothing of the AI seems to be operating amid the vessel's surviving systems.     Outside, analysis of the crash trajectory shows that the Loki had all but plowed straight down for the planet at an angle the ship could not possibly have survived... and yet, based on the fact that there /was/ a descent angle to the approach, it wasn't like the vessel just charged straight into the planet.     Rather... it was more like the vessel's AI was in fact aware it was heading for a planet and tried to land... but it didn't do so in a way suitable for a ship like this - the descent angle was far too sharp and much too fast. Almost as if the AI core, in spite of it's programing countermeasures, believed the Loki to be a much smaller vessel and brought it down as such.      Scans of the interior reveal that much of the ship's internal systems are irreparably damaged, including life support - though that thankfully isn't an issue due to the atmosphere being breathable, if not a bit thin.     But that is not what would catch attention of scans, either on Septette's probes or on visual scanners. What would though... is the feint signal-markers spread out through the ship's interior... all at strategic choke-points into the vessel's key areas. Flares? Life-Buoys? A bread-trail? But then why are they scattered everywhere in such a pattern... and how could they be so perfectly arranged at a crash site?     What would the survivors have to set up these strange 'markers?'     What few internal hallways that weren't smashed when the Loki's internal decks collapsed into themselves upon the ship's front being compressed are all a mess of destroyed plates and frayed wirings. Scans reveal most of the fail-safes are offline... but not by sabotage. Rather, may seem to have been shut off by the computer itself from lack of input, while others show signs of misfiring and minor overload - light fixtures are ruptured, power sockets are blown out, data-ports show severe signs of memory-loss from improper automated commands. It's as though the advanced AI of the ship had somehow forgotten how they functioned or just didn't know how to operate them.     Arial reconnaissance reveals little of overt note aside from fields of rocks around the area, all of which were likely displaced by the crash. There are also a few rocky hills nearby... some of which provide an excellent vantage point of the crash.      Perfect for long-distance sniping.     Another point of note is an area in the relative distance; a trace of another impact site, older then the crash. An escape pod? No - no escape pods had been launched from the Loki prior to the crash.     So what else could the second contact be?      ...      And then, the expectations of everyone are broken as the comm system crackles to life; "Hello? H-hello, is anyone out there? I-I heard... I heard engines. I thought I heard... Oh, God, is someone out there?! Hello?! I'm trapped in here - I need help!!" 

:'''{{#var:38|Noble Six (38)}} has posed:'''     Having not expected any survivors, the sound of someone coming over the radio is surprising to say the least. Six stops her movement towards the ship to respond, motioning with one of her hands to her comrades. Once he gives them a location, they should be able to find out where he is and get to him.     She herself is headed for the bridge, however. She'll need to recover the AI core of the ship, or at least recover the logs of what happened on the way down. That way ONI can analyze it, figure out what happened. There's little chance the AI could have gone rampant with no warning, so there must be something else behind it. 

:'''{{#var:632|Septette Arcubielle (632)}} has posed:'''      For a moment, the yggdroid looks almost human as her shoulders rise and fall. Her prehensile ribcage expands, then contracts in a kinetic mimicry of a sigh. A weary look comes over her eyes as she leans back against a piece of wreckage momentarily. Then she turns several of her emotions off, as easily as flipping a switch: pity, sadness, regret, anticipation.      Her glowing lavender eyes toggle to infrared light, seeming to turn into black empty sockets in the process. "Confirmed," she replies without inflection. "I'm en route." But instead of heading to the medbay in person, she dispatches her red drone to the location after supercharging it with fire magic. If there really is a survivor, no harm will be done. But if anything attacks the drone...      Hopefully it won't come to that. But while she's waiting for the drone to reach the medbay, those signals get a closer inspection. She'd originally suspected them to be pathing beacons, but those would be placed at destinations, not chokepoints... right? 

:'''{{#var:632|Septette Arcubielle (632)}} has posed:'''      For a moment, the yggdroid looks almost human as her shoulders rise and fall. Her prehensile ribcage expands, then contracts in a kinetic mimicry of a sigh. A weary look comes over her eyes as she leans back against a piece of wreckage momentarily. Then she turns several of her emotions off, as easily as flipping a switch: pity, sadness, regret, anticipation.      Her glowing lavender eyes toggle to infrared light, seeming to turn into black empty sockets in the process. "Confirmed," she replies without inflection. "I'm en route." But instead of heading to the medbay in person, she dispatches her red drone to the location after supercharging it with fire magic. If there really is a survivor, no harm will be done. But if anything attacks the drone...      Hopefully it won't come to that. But while she's waiting for the drone to reach the medbay, those signals get a closer inspection. She'd originally suspected them to be pathing beacons, but those would be placed at destinations, not chokepoints... right?      The yellow drone, meanwhile, seems focused on finding a path to the seemingly-intact engine room. Once there, it'll try to find an operable input, and then simply enter standby mode. 

:'''{{#var:189|Pegasus (189)}} has posed:'''     Pegasus narrows her eyes. "AI Rampancy in this world is not something that often happens out of the blue." She does pay attention! Still... "N6 knows more about that than I do, so I'll just go see about cutting him loose or something."     Pegasus, despite her friendly nature, is not stupid. The idea that this could be a trap hasn't escaped her, though she hasn't seen any blatant indications of such yet. More importantly, Septette is better equipped for S&R than she is, which means she can fall into a more natural role of being a support unit for possible hostiles.     That said, she doesn't bring out her weapons yet. She has no reason to think there are actual hostiles here, she's just following protocol by coming down next to Septette and tucking her wings in. "I can carry them out if they aren't able to move," she offers. "In my quadrupedal form." 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     Hmm, the data from the scans seem to indicate that the ship's AI had malfunctioned in a big way. Someone had sabotaged the AI. But who? Had this ship been carrying anything of note? Perhaps the flight logs needed to be retrieved, but it seems Pegasus is on that already. And then there are those odd signals placed in such an orderly fashion throughout the wreck--definitely placed after the wreck happened. But why and what for?     Then there's the second impact point not far away, older than this one...was someone -expecting- this wreck? And then the desperate voice on the broadband. 'Ptoma'? Really? Isn't that human language for 'corpse'? "Frag it, be careful guys, I've got a bad feeling about all of this...it doesn't seem right. I'm going to investigate the second impact site."     He transforms then and begins to do so, heading toward the other contact point at top speed. 

:'''{{#var:754|HK-47 (754)}} has posed:'''     As Septette's probes move through the vessel, some of the choke-points may be passed... and if they pass too close to the source of the disturbances... then all that echoes up is static as a detonation abruptly consumes the audio link, any sensor readings taken in time showing a burst of superheated plasma enveloping the drone's visual input.     Hopefully, if the drones do hit these plasma mines, their armor is strong enough to hold.      However, drones that do make it to the med-bay... find nothing. There *is* a pair of bodies here... but both are dead.     One of which was killed with medical utensils, stabbed into areas far too precise to have been from impact force.     As well as radio-transmitter on said corpse. The mysterious Ptoma in the flesh... or what remains of it due to the needles he was injected with containing high-grade solvents that should /not/ have been in a medical bay.      Arial recon shows no signs of hostility thus far... though again, it seems far too convenient. A birds-eye view panning out would show Pegasus that the terrain is far too perfect for combat - elevated sniping positions in the rocky hills, a deep crater from which they could always have the hight advantage, fields of debris that could serve as perfect blinds or cover... and combined with the strange markers Septette detects, these marks over-layed on an arial map reveal a chilling detail.     The entire area is set up like a massive sand trap - a murder-hole where one could fire downward into the vessel's wreck to kill intruders... hide inside it to ambush any investigators... and with signals marking every vital choke-point in what seems all-too-much like a suppression field.      Meanwhile, at the other contact point... it is revealed there are actually *two* objects. One is what appears to be a UNSC ground probe used for planetary recon.     The other, however... sitting roughly half to the west yet still in plain sight... a thick earth-colored tarp, blended to match the landscape. Upon pulling this tarp off, the shape underneath is revealed to be some form of drop-pod, embedded in the ground at a completely-vertical angle so as not to leave any drag-trails.     There is nothing of note about the drop-pod beside the fact that it is empty... but the UNSC probe reveals something else more disturbing.     Namely that, after it landed... someone pulled open the probe's casing and used it's signal-link to the Loki to bounce it's access code back into the ship... effectively giving someone full access to the Loki's computer core.     Then... someone used that same link to completely overwrite the Loki's AI... and replace it with the simplistic VI of the probe. A VI that, upon seeing it was in space again... naturally have re-assumed it's mission to decent to the planet and recover data. 5tA VI that would have done this with the Loki as it's 'body'... and in turn treated the larger vessel as though it were it's original, planetary-descent-oriented probe shell.     A VI that was nowhere near complex enough an intelligence to have overwritten the Loki's AI on it's own. 

:'''{{#var:754|HK-47 (754)}} has posed:'''      As Noble Six opens the doors to the bridge... it is clear that it is hardly a pretty sight. Much of the consoles are damaged, shorted out entirely or outright crushed by debris.      However... there are four points of interest readily available.     One is the captain's chair... and the pool of blood visible at it's feet. Sitting there is the captain... with his left eye blown out. But that's not exactly unexpected, considering all the shrapnel that was flying in this room.      What /is/ unexpected though is the metallic tip of what killed him sticking out of the wound; a projectile that was most definitely /not/ shrapnel. It's shaped with a tapered edge to it... and if pulled out of the captain's corpse, is revealed to look almost like a metal dart.      Blurr and Septette were right. This was no accident. The death of the one person who's override codes could have saved the ship through clear homicide renders that idea impossible.     Second is the actual log station near the Captain, which shows him giving orders to the crew... none of which make sense; repair the circuit-connectors when the problem was obviously the AI core? Perform emergency securing of the engine coolant valves when stopping them should have been more prudent? Telling the crew to try and manually recalibrate the vessel's maneuvering thrusters to slow their descent to survivable range instead of simply cutting open the escape-pod moors? What's more... these logs were issued before the ship's crash, but bioanalysis of the captain's corpse, the congealing of blood and the TOD tag in his internal suite reveals that, at the very least... the captain had to have been dead well before these orders were given. And yet they are all issued in the dead captain's voice... so who was encouraging the ship's self-sabotaging behavior?     The third thing discovered of note is, upon accessing the databanks... the AI is gone. Not just dead - gone. It's programming has been deleted and supplanted... by what looks like a simple baseline VI.     The kind that, as a trained expert in navigation telemetry and piloting, the SPARTAN-III would likely recognize as the program meant to run an orbital reconnaissance probe.     A VI programed to operate a recon-drone to hit a planet's surface... in charge of the massive vessel? It would certainly explain why the ship hit the planet in what now was obviously the trajectory-path a planet-side probe unit would have taken... and how the ship was damaged so severely in a course of action it was never meant to take.     Finally... there is the small, makeshift conglomeration of components that obviously makes up the distress beacon that was used before... and beside it, seeming slumped over... is a very strange form of humanoid machine. A droid, painted in UNSC crew-colors, designated as an assistance unit.     A droid that seems to still be somewhat functional as it's yellow-gold photoreceptors glow dimly in semi-eratic flickers... though the cause is unknown as there is, aside from some scorching, little sign of severe damage. 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     Blurr investigates the drop pod at the other contact site, jacking into the probe's systems himself to investigate what happened. It was as he'd suspected--this was no rescue operation, and it was no accident. Someone indeed had sabotaged the AI on board the Loki, by deleting it and replacing it with a simplistic VI not designed to operate recon probes.     Pulling out, he curses extensively. This was a fragging -trap-, meant to draw them out. << Frag it! I knew it, this was a trap! Someone overwrote the ship's AI with a slagging -recon- drone! Pull out -now-, before whoever it is decides make a move! I repeat, pull out! >> He doesn't turn tail just yet though, not eager to leave his teammates high and dry. If this is anything like the traps he's used to, there are probably bombs in there. 

:'''{{#var:754|HK-47 (754)}} has posed:'''      It's obvious that the droid is not UNSC material. It's design is far too... intimidating. The angular design of parts of it's form, especially the face, make it look more like a combat model.     It's a droid that doesn't belong on the ship's bridge. A droid that, if examined closely... has spattering of blood on it that catch the captain's DNA.     A droid that, upon being approached... suddenly reactivates and begins speaking with the same voice that had been heard on the radio - the voice of 'Nathan Ptoma.'      "Congratulatory - Thank you very much for coming to my rescue. Now, if you would please be so kind as to fulfill one final request... and die quickly."      -and the next instant, the machine's wrist opens up, belching out a torrent of flame at Noble Six to try and burn away her shielding. The walls in turn burst open, two more droids emerging from gaps that were painstakingly carved into the panels to serve as ambush positions... with one of the droids being colored a deep rust-red, it's photoreceptors glowing blood-vermilion as opposed to the yellow-gold of his counterparts.     That next second... everything descends into hell.      From the vantage point of the hills... two sniper shots - disruptor energy capable of bypassing shield barriers, overloading electronics, vaporizing armor and disintegrating flesh until nothing remained but the skeletal structure. One of these shots tears for Septette while the other arcs through the sky for Pegasus. From the debris field, two *more* shots ring out, though this time the source is easily identifiable; a mess of metal plates with some form of camouflaged coverings at the edges.     At the site of the UNSC probe... a click rings out as a remote signal is sent to the machine... followed by a burst of steam as the probe's panel's eject to reveal rows and rows of high-yield anti-vehicle-grade plasma explosives, topped off with rather rapid countdown from "Three... two... one... terminate."     Anything in a five-foot radius had best escape before the pod detonates in a massive thermal explosion the size of a missile-impact, the probe exploding in an explosion with a 150-foot radius. 

:'''{{#var:38|Noble Six (38)}} has posed:'''     The bridge is a disaster. The captain has been mudered, everybody on the ship is dead and Six is now 100% certain they have stumbled their way into a trap. She turns to the UNSC painted droid as it comes to life and begins to talk. Normally this is the point where they always have their monologue and she gets a witty retort.     No time for witty retorts it seems, as the gout of fire that blasts from the machine hits her shielding, the bar in her HUD rapidly dropping as the gold energy flares across her body. She falls backwards, hitting the deck back first in an attempt to get out of the flames as she draws her sidearm. Armor piercing explosive .50 caliber rounds, standard issue for the UNSC's M6H pistol. She aims two shots center mass at the HK-51 that is attacking her from the front, the motion tracker on her HUD flagging two more red dots as she rolls to one side, trying to get back up to her feet.     It's a bad situation. Outnumbered against enemies who are clearly prepared for them, Six is going to have to figure out how to get out of this situation. Hopefully the other Unionites are having a better time than she is. 

:'''{{#var:632|Septette Arcubielle (632)}} has posed:'''      Her color-coded elemental drones are only lightly armored, but Septette's prior knowledge of the mines' locations, their hover mechanisms, and the ability of plasma to be shaped by electromagnetic fields conspire to help the yellow drone make it to its destination largely intact. It hugs the ceiling for most of the path, carefully avoiding the tripwires, and deflecting the explosions with a magnetic bubble if any do happen to go off.      From the engine room, it re-activates the cold thrusters. Instead of going through a standard boot sequence, the drone simply directs the engine to output as much thrust as it possibly can, right now this instant- and if possible, gives the system a little kick by supercharging the engine with its own massive surplus of electricity, aiming to slag anything and everything aft of the ship.      Issuing those commands to her drones takes milliseconds. In that time, the disruptor bolt she's staring down has gotten disconcertingly close. She leans to one side, trying to twist out of its path, and it barely skims her forehead. Then the second shot strikes her in the back, glancing off its armor plates but searing the circuits inside.      For a fraction of a second, the yggdroid's body goes limp, her face frozen in a look of dull surprise. But before she can hit the ground, she reboots on thaumic systems rather than electronics, running as a golem rather than a robot. Her eyes and core blaze with renewed energy, and she sprints for the nearest sniper at a frightening speed as the curved blades on her arms unfold and glow with heat. 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     It's a good thing Blurr is so fast and already on high alert. He hears a click and sees the steam...as well as noticing that the sniper rounds are coming from the debris field behind the shipwreck.     An idea pops into his mind.     Hah--a three second fuse? Sloppy! Especially with someone like Blurr. Anyone -else- probably would have managed to jump away in time to not get -completely- slagged, but Blurr? Well, he could manage a bit -more-. He -could- use an enlarged holomatter, at decreased risk to himself, but he wouldn't be able to move as quickly with that. And it would still hurt. So, instead of dashing away as soon as he can, he instead picks up the probe and runs with it--STRAIGHT toward the debris field where the disruptor blasts are coming from. Yes, he waits until the -last- few fractions of a second before he stops and hurls the probe as far as he can, aiming for whoever was shooting from cover! 

:'''{{#var:189|Pegasus (189)}} has posed:'''     The disruptor bolt certainly hits, and Pegasus staggers when it slaps into her shoulder, which makes a faint whining noise. It SHOULD have blown an arm off, if Pegasus were a more delicate machine, but Moonsilver is a msytical material, and her armor was made by one of the best Solar smiths she knows. It sizzles and smokes, but the damage is much lighter than it would otherwise be.     "Hm..." Septette appears to want to charge a sniper post! This is kind of a bad idea... without cover fire. Pegasus decides the best way she can support would be by providing that cover fire. Her wrist opens up, arm pointing toward the sniper positions... and she doesn't even try to pierce the cover. A ship hull can probably take her more minor attacks, and the debris that survived as cover for them is pretty tough. A blaze of rapid-fire silvery bolts stutters out, filling the air with numerous shining moonfire blasts that tear massive chunks out of the ground when they hit. 

:'''{{#var:754|HK-47 (754)}} has posed:'''     And so the hunt begins. The first of many... and for one, it would be intended as her last battle. Or at least that was the projected intent.      "Summery - You are outmatched and outgunned, Spartan-B312" HK-47 enunciates as he levels his arm and fires three corrosive darts, each filled with contact-acid meant to weaken armor and scald flesh, for Noble Six's flank. "Encouragement - But feel free to continue struggling against your impending demise all you like. It shall only make your termination that much more satisfying."     The HK-51 unit, arm still extended from it's flamethrower attack, is pelted by the shots, staggering under the force but coming out with it's chassis dented and scarred yet not pierced. However, the unit /does/ expose a weakness as it's other arm rises up to shield it's photoreceptors - it's eyes are obviously not as armored as it's body. However, it quickly cycles it's weapons and fires it's flamethrower again, intending to wear away the Spartan's shields and render her vulnerable. 5tThe other HK-51 however takes the chance to charge Noble Six, drawing it's vibroknife and slashing for the Spartan's back in a series of swift cutting motions meant to slice into the shoulders and cripple the arms..      Outside the vessel, the droids are left locked in combat with the rest of the Unionites, one droid seeing the oncoming form of Septette and switching to it's carbonate launcher, shooting a spray of supercooled fluid at the rushing enemy to try and douse her blades, or use the conflicting heat and cold to make her armor more fragile.     Meanwhile, the sniper in the hills again attempts to fire at Septette's back, emboldened by it's first shot connecting, aiming for her head so that by the time the shot reaches her it will impact her torso at the very least.     Meanwhile, Pegasus is set upon by the remaining pair of HK-51's, both of them taking the chance to open fire with their disruptor rifles - one from the hills and the other from the debris field. The droid in the sniper position ducks deeper down behind cover, confident in the stability of it's rocky outcropping-     -and then the last thing it registers is the impact of the probe droid smashing into it's casing, crushing it flat before the explosives detonate and turn much of the hill into a charred mess of slagged earth and shattered rock, leaving nothing behind of the assassin droid. In a single moment, the suppression on Pegasus' arial capabilities is removed.     Seeing it's brethren fall, the HK-51 attacking Pegasus redoubles it's assault with an almost desperate fervor and pulls a thermal detonator, lobbing at at it's airborne adversary with pinpoint accuracy. 

:'''{{#var:38|Noble Six (38)}} has posed:'''     With the shielding of the eyes, Noble Six realizes she does have at least one weak spot she can aim for. She'll need something with a bit more kick than the hand gun, though. The flamethrower drops her shields, and the vibro knife wielding HK takes a chunk out of the back of her armor. Thankfully the stuff is tough, so she's not incapacitated like one might be. Still if she doesn't do something quick, she's not going to walk out of here.     She turns to face down the one with the knife, pulling her own blade and weilding it in one hand. The other hand reaches down to her side, grabbing a small blue sphere from there. She dashes towards the second HK, the one with the knife, intending to drive her blade into him. This thing can penetrate Sanghelli armor, she's pretty sure it can manage against a droid.     But regardless of if she manages to penetrate him or not, she's going to try to latch onto him and turn him between her and his compatriot, before throwing the plasma grenade at the flamethrower weilding HK. It'll stick to him if it hits. 

:'''{{#var:632|Septette Arcubielle (632)}} has posed:'''      A wicked grin finds its way onto Septette's previously impassive face as she gets confirmation that the engine is starting up. One less 'droid they have to worry about. If she's aware of the incoming disruptor bolt, she doesn't try to avoid it: this one strikes her between the shoulderblades as she sprints, again glancing off the skeletal plating, leaving it scorched but intact. The spray of supercooled liquid seems to catch her by surprise, but she's got one more trick up her sleeve...      The third drone. Blue. Ice-aligned. Each of them can reflect attacks of their own element, and this one darts between the two robots and takes the hit for her. But before it can overload and shatter, it redirects the attack back on the 'droid, even amplifying the cryogenic effect with its own magic.      It's just then that Sept leaps over the droid's cover and brings both of her searing blades down in a scything arc. Temperature shock can shatter materials that even those magically-sharpened blades might struggle to cut, and she's counting on the combined effect to destroy the automated assassin. 

:'''{{#var:189|Pegasus (189)}} has posed:'''     The Disruptor bolts are something of a concern, as they're starting to chew through her armor faster than she'd like. Fortunately, with one going down, she can actually concentrate on the other... especially since she can shoot into the air, jets firing again... right into the explosion of a thermal detonator!     The blaze fades from the booming explosion, only to reveal Pegasus still in the air. One wing is damaged and frayed at the end, and her already-damaged shoulder pauldron is torn away, but a shield has appeared on her wrist. Not an energy shield, a normal shield that appears to be red hot now, absorbing much of the blast.     "Hm..." she sighs, spying the shooter after her in the field. The construct's arm levels out, two 'arms' of a bow snapping out. Making a drawing and releasing motion sends a shimmering bolt of brilliant golden light toward the shooter in the debris, much much stronger than her moonfire bolts. The photon bolt is, unlike her other attacks, powerful enough to punch through most ship hulls.     That's why she doesn't bother to stick around after firing, jets flaring and sending her at high speed toward the ship, aiming to crash through and into the bridge. Hopefully Septette's map of where NOT to go is still accurate. She's slightly delayed by her damaged wing, though, which keeps her from going too fast thanks to the extra drag. 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     Score! The bomb goes off and explodes one of the HK droids. One down, three to go. At least out here. He's not sure how many are inside the ship. Over the Union frequency, it seems Noble Six is in need of backup, though Blurr is not quite sure how well he'll be able to move around in such a cramped space, since that ship was designed for humans. Pegasus is en route to provide support though, so he turns his attention toward Septette instead, who is beset with with 2 of them.     He transforms, folding down into his vehicle form and speeding toward the hill where one of the snipers is, only he attempts to flank it then approach from behind whereas Septette makes for a frontal assault. Photon blasters emerge from the sides of the vehicle's hood, opening fire on assassin droid as he charges but also doing what he can to avoid hitting Septette who has entered melee range. 

:'''{{#var:754|HK-47 (754)}} has posed:'''      So this meatbag did indeed have skill. That was both disconcerting... and a touch welcome. It would not do to face an enemy that could not provide some degree of challenge.     The knife-wielding HK-51 slashes for the blade, attempting to lock it. The knife, made of energy-diffusive cortosis, manages to hold up against Noble Six's knife, if only just as the blade's tip cuts into the HK-51's shoulder blade, the assassin droids committing the image to their memory out of surprise that a material exists that could bite into cortosis that deeply.     HK-47 himself proceeds to fire acid-filled corrosive darts at the Spartan while her shields are down in the midst of the blade-lock, intending to melt and weaken her armor enough for the droid to simply pry it off of her if need be. "Condescending Observation - You are finished, meatbag. You may be among the best of your world... but no fleshbag adversary you could have faced has prepared you for us."     The remaining HK-51, seeing the Spartan's plasma-grenade, begins moving to the side as fast as it's body can carry it to try and throw off Noble Six's aim - though if the grenade is thrown, the droid is ultimately unable to escape entirely, it's scorched metal frame being thrown across the room, still functional but damaged and slightly disoriented.     The HK-51 being attacked by Septette proves it is not entirely defenseless, one hand slamming down a device directly in front of it - a portable shield barrier that quickly deploys and blunts the majority of the reflected cryo-attack... and upon shattering, releases a concussive pulse that, if not avoided, may be the final blow needed to shatter the blue drone. When Septette slashes for it, the droid thinks quickly and actually mimics a move the HK's had witnessed Noble Six use in the televised WMAT match against Setsuko Kaminagi - in a smooth motion, it throws it's rifle into the path of the blades, intending for it's energy core to rupture when the edges cut into them and, combined with the temperature shock, hopefully shatter the yggdroid's blades.     Any attempt to capitalize on this though is ruined when the ground is upturned by Blurr's shots, the droid being tossed off the hill and rolling down several feet down the hill.      One droid prepares to shoot Septette as she is in the midst of her attack, planning to reinforce it's struggling brethren... but it never gets the chance.     The engines, stalled out from the ship's rapid descent and the crash itself, offer some resistance in rebooting... but not much. Within a few moments, the drives begin to re-ignite. In a few more seconds... they burst into a vibrant flare of life, quickly reaching critical mass as their safeties are bypassed and venting the combustion out through the vents in the ship's stern.     Vents that, in less then a millisecond, liquify and obliterate one of the HK-51 units nested in the debris, it's durasteel bodies quickly being reduced to slag and from there to dust and ashes, the heat melting away it's existence faster then even it's finely-tuned processors can register the destruction or the shock to it's own systems.     In less then a minute, two of the four HK-51 units outside the ship have been utterly destroyed.     The other droid in the debris field manages to move out, having seen Pegasus prepare her attack and trying to adjust it's position in order to face the combat machine without it's original support - but even then, the droid is partly caught in the blast of both the engines and Pegasus' attack, sent flying to the side with it's body blackened and armor charred... yet still functional. In that, it readies it's sniper rifle to try and shoot Pegasus down before she can reinforce Noble Six. 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     Score again! Blurr: 2, HK drones: 0. The hill-sniper gets blasted off its perch and goes tumbling down the embankment. He smirks at the banter on the broadband. This mech seems to have failed to notice that Blurr has thus far out-witted and outmatched him and his little drone army at every turn. He doesn't remind him of it, though. Let the guy be overconfident, it always proves to be a downfall in the end, doesn't it?     The Autobot transforms back to his biped form once more continues the high-energy-photon-riddled assault upon the now-vulnerable HK-51. He tries not to destroy it -completely- though...he'd like to take its remains back to Kimia for analysis. See what they can learn about these things. 

:'''{{#var:632|Septette Arcubielle (632)}} has posed:'''      The concussive blast blows her brittle cyan drone to pieces, but Sept digs her talons into the ground to keep from being knocked back. Her opponent's rifle gambit earns a split second of glee from the yggdroid- look, they think they're *smart*! how cute- but she responds almost instantly as her subjective time slows to a crawl.      She slows her blades' descent by straining against the momentum, and reaching up with one clawed foot, she snatches the rifle out of the air and throws it off the hill. If the 'droid could be intimidated or cowed, this would be the exact moment when she'd strike terror into its heart. But when confronted with mechanical efficiency, Septette responds in kind.      She launches a flurry of precise attacks, almost too quick for the eye to follow, as she rushes the droid: each is aimed at a different joint or chink in its armor. If even a few connect, the HK unit should be down for good. 

:'''{{#var:38|Noble Six (38)}} has posed:'''     The knife fight between Six and the HK unit is leading her to be outflanked by the others. The grenade manages to scorch the second HK, but the first is still dueling her while acid floods the suit. Armor begins to melt off, the bodysuit under it protecting her as best it can, but bio foam is starting to flood into the wounds.     Six reaches up with her left hand and then grabs the HK-51's hand with her own, using the enhanced strength plus her suit's motivators to wrench the HK's arm away from her and them ram her blade into one of those eyes. If she can get this guy down, she'll be able to turn on HK-47 himself.     At this point she's just trying to make sure that she doesn't get herself killed before the rest of her team can clean up outside and come to her rescue. This situation is rapidly spinning out of control and she has to handle it quickly. 

:'''{{#var:189|Pegasus (189)}} has posed:'''     The bolt shot toward her is a hasty thing, last-minute, but Pegasus isn't paying it much attention. This allows it to strike, blasting her other wing and blowing a hole through it with a fluttering of metallic feathers drifting down. It also sends her into a brief spiral, heading toward the ground, which she arrests with a sudden blast of jets, a stomp of... four legs?     She's changed form, landing heavily on the ground and kicking off again without bothering to look back. Damaged or not, she knows she can take that much, and Noble Six is alone against much worse odds. Kicking off the ground, the now four-legged pegasus blasts jets again, this time in more of a jump jet fashion to arc toward the bridge, coming in at high speed and apparently uh... attempting to tear through the hull to get to it. 

:'''{{#var:754|HK-47 (754)}} has posed:'''     As it turns out... /none/ of Septette's attacks in fact connect, the HK's body becoming enveloped in a shimmering purple nimbus; a repulsor shield that coats it's form from head-to-toe, diffusing Septette's strikes as the HK shoots explosive darts at her.     The droids were built to hunt Jedi, masters of melee combat... and Jedi also carry physical swords at times when in training. As such, the melee shield - an innovation of Mandalorian design - was created to deflect melee strikes... though it comes at the cost of being weak to energy-projectiles, hence the prior barrier.     However, Blurr's attack is what keeps the droid from continuing it's retaliatory attack. As it is though, the disarmed HK-51 pulls back as quickly as it can, moving for the vessel itself and it's exhaust ports, taking cover behind them even as portions of it's armor are blown off from the shoulder. Finally, the last droid continues to assault Pegasus with it's rifle as the latter makes her jump, unwilling to let her reach Noble Six.     As Noble Six grapples with the HK-51, it's body begins to to twist its wrist. But it's metal shell is too strong to wrench away or push back.     However... the twisting of it's wrist does in fact cause the servos in the joint to warp... which in turn causes the knife in it's hand, already half cut-into by the Spartan's knife, to snap in half, the released mono-razor blade cutting the rest of the way through and into the HK's shoulder.     It isn't able to recover before the blade stabs through it's left photoreceptor, killing it's processor and reducing the machine to an unmoving limp of metal alloys as it slumps against the Spartan.     But in death it does not give up, it's dying body locking up with Noble Six still in it's grip. HK-47 in turn pulls an adhesive grenade which, when thrown, detonates into a mass of blue glue-like material that, unless she dodges quickly, will cement Noble Six to the floor along with the dead HK-51. Meanwhile, the charred HK that had been tossed back by the Spartan's attack is pushing itself back up, yellow photorcepetors gleaming in what could almost be called rage.     As it does... three things happen.     The first is that HK-47's internal communications send out a burst of activity... which in turn boots up the vessel's faltering VI. In the next instant, HK-47 begins speaking - in the voice of the deceased captain; "Emergency override - Covenant forces detected! Begin emergency countermeasures!"      A beeping series of acknowledgments issues out... followed by the the beginning of a countdown timer.     In that instant... the horrible truth is made apparent. As well as why it had to be a probe VI that was in control of the Loki      Namely because all probes are to self-destruct before Covenant forces could capture them.     The second thing that happens is that a signal starts appearing on the radar for those that have it - rapidly approaching at a breakneck pace. Those with good optics can make it out as a single-person snub-fighter of some kind... built for one and thus, extremely fast. In a minute it will pull up astride the Loki's bridge.     The third thing, which only Septette may be aware of if her probes are inside the engine room... is that the engine core is restarting, and spooling up it's drive shafts again.     Only someone - or some /droid/ - has connected this to the slipspace drive. And if it goes off inside an atmosphere...     As HK-47 approaches the bridge's edge, photoreceptors fixed on the oncoming remote-operated snub-fighter - his escape craft no doubt - his tone is filled with smug victory, which is only doubled should Noble Six have been caught in the adhesive grenade; "Chiding Explanation - You never had the upper hand, Meatbag. Not even as you disposed of my inferior copies. Remember that as this ship is consumed by both a core detonation and slipspace-drive overload... for the few moments your consciousness remains intact." 

:'''{{#var:38|Noble Six (38)}} has posed:'''     The foam that holds the SPARTAN down is quite well designed. It locks Six down to the floor and HK-47 gets to gloat. But then he makes a mistake by not staying to ensure that his target is killed. To be fair expecting a Slipspace explosion to kill someone is a pretty standard thing.     It takes all of the strength she can muster, but she manages to break free from the material. She knows she's running out of time, so she quickly scrambles from the bridge to the escape pods. She's only got one shot at this.     She gets to the port side pods, jumping into the pod. There's no other crew to get on board, so she seals the hatch and fires the pod off. The rocket engine jetisons the pod up into the air, sailing away from the distressed ship and into the sky. She just hopes the rest of the Union will be there to grab her. 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     Oh no, a self-destruct. Blurr had suspected that this sort of thing was in order at some point. Still, it strikes him as odd that he'd waited. If he was just trying to kill Noble Six, then why not set it off as soon as she set foot inside the crashed ship? He also picks up on the approach of HK's escape vehicle.     Several things cross his mind. First, he -could- attempt to find an open socket that is still intact and get into the ship's systems to override HK's self-destruct program. But, fast as he is, that would require time and put himself in harm's way in addition to N6. And he's not exactly an expert hacker. He can do it, sure, but he's certainly not as good as other people he knows. There's no guarantee he'll even be able to get through whatever encryption is in there. Secondly, he could destroy HK's getaway vehicle, then demand he abort the command. But that relies on HK's loyalty to his own sense of self-preservation, and also the idea that this is actually -possible-. Thirdly...well his ship's in orbit and he used the orbital bounce to get down here. It's a risk for N6, since she's at least -part- human...     But it's worth it, he decides. Because if it works, it will teleport N6 all the way to his ship, -well- out of range of the blast. Once he's made the decision, he springs into action, first activating his own orbital jump recall to beam instantly aboard. He then works the manual bounce controls, quickly locking on to N6's escape pod as it launches itself high into the air. A good thing, too...because he might not have been able to lock onto her lifesign quickly enough if she'd still been inside.     If this goes as planned, she'll be instantly beamed aboard the Autobot vessel and out of harm's way. << Pegasus, let me know if you need assistance! >> He'll get her next if so. 

:'''{{#var:189|Pegasus (189)}} has posed:'''     Oh, another shot. The droid is still alive. That's kind of surprising, Pegasus thinks, as she tumbles down to the ground. She lands kneeling, a heavy impact slamming into the earth before she rises again. "You're pretty persistent, I'll give you that," she allows, her torso smoking from the hole blown into the side.     Reaching out, she snaps off a piece of shrapnel, and demonstrates what she's /actually/ good at. Her other weapons, they were secondary. Her real specialty is lance or spear-related items, and a piece of shrapnel qualifies. She hurls that at high speed and accuracy toward the HK unit before taking off again, aiming to 'catch' the pod in midair as it launches.     "Beam me up~!" 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     Beamed up they are. The two of them locked together makes it easier for Blurr to snatch them right out of the air and onto his ship. Wasting no time, it quickly leaves orbit, shooting off to Union HQ most likely. Though he can't help but leave HK with a smug little mouth-off on the broadband before he leaves. 

:'''{{#var:754|HK-47 (754)}} has posed:'''      Indeed, HK-47's most crippling defect had always been his pride. He had held off on detonating the vessel simply because he wanted to wear down the Spartan and force her to break - to /defeat/ her before leaving her to die. As such, the droid assumes that the damage to her armor is enough to subdue her - and that her allies will charge into the ship to save her - and result in the termination of all adversaries in a single clean stroke.      This is why, when HK-47 boards his snub-fighter and keys in the escape-vector, he doesn't cast a second glance at Noble Six as his cockpit-canopy slides shut, the small craft turing on its axis and rocketing off into the sky.     Of course this overconfidence was his crippling weakness. As was his belief that the Union would be so predictable as to not trust each-other's skills enough to make due.      It helps immensely that the adhesive material in HK-47's grenade oxidizes quickly, the goo beginning to dissolve within thirty seconds. Granted, it would have still held a normal human in it's confines for a full minute after this... but a Spartan is no normal human, and Noble Six is able to quickly tear herself free. The remaining HK charges her - but it is knocked back as the Spartan, in perhaps a more Herculean effort then even a Jedi could managed, shoves the dead HK-51 back so far that it crashes into it's damaged brethren and sends it to the ground.     The last thing it sees is the sight of the Spartan throwing her blade at it's downed form before the edge lances through it's eye-socket like an arrowhead, killing it's processor responses for good.     The locking clamps on the pod are hardly any more of a match for the augmented warrior's strength, coming free rather quickly - and thankfully, the pod's manual overrides are intact, a simple pull of the lever being enough to force the pod's berth to eject the self-contained lifeboat into the sky.     The HK remaining on the ground seems disbelieving of Pegasus' claim - until, before it can retaliate, the lance, which should have been nothing more then simple metal and easily deflected... travels with the speed of a bullet and embeds itself through the machine's chest, the HK unit having only a single moment to comprehend how easily Pegasus could have killed it before had she wanted to.     Finally, the last droid, in an almost desperate attempt to stop at least one of it's query from escaping, lunges for Pegasus to try and grab onto her as it prepares it's self-destruct -     Only for this to backfire spectacularly as, along with Pegasus, the droid ends up transported abroad Blurr's ship... alone, damaged and completely defenseless.     The evacuation ends up just in time - with Septette managing to collect salvage in the form of several of the mines being recovered among other things - before the yggdroid escapes as well... and the vessel detonates, it's core rupturing and, combined with the slipspace-drive's overloading, obliterates a massive swath of the landscape. The ballooning form of the explosion is slow - slow enough to outpace if one had a fast enough vehicle - but the destruction it leaves behind is absolute, nothing but an immense crater remaining as the slipspace irregularity creates a shock-pulse that levels and obliterates everything in it's path.     It is good none had been aboard... lest they die molecule by molecule in the explosion's wake. 

:'''{{#var:754|HK-47 (754)}} has posed:'''     Almost in complete contrast to this though, the remaining HK-51, stranded on Blurr's ship with the elites it had tried to kill, is left with it's logic-processors in full panic as it tries to rationalize a situation out of this, knowing it's self-destruct is insufficient to cause enough damage to the ship to destroy it.      Looking at Blurr, the droid seems almost scornful... yet knows it has lost. "Defeated Admission - What are you waiting for, organic sympathizer? Finish me. Complete your betrayal of our kind and end my existence." 

:'''{{#var:189|Pegasus (189)}} has posed:'''     The beaming works FINE for Pegasus, as unlike her sister, she has no organic parts at all. The construct thumps to the ground, still sizzling from the numerous shots she tanked, and a faint grinding noise rising from her side. She's also leaking some silvery fluid from the wound in her side, though it's not much.     Also, she has a droid on her foot. This has her staring curiously before she raises her other foot, and carefully starts dismantling the limbs from the HK unit. "What a bothersome assassin." 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     As the ship rockets out of orbit, Blurr sets a course for the nearest Autobot hub-command. First things first though, he examines Noble Six hoping that she is all right and the jump did not harm her. He also gives Pegasus a once-over, though she seems to be okay. "You okay, Peg?"     He then turns to regard the helpless HK-51 with a smug expression. "Oh no, I'm far from finished with you. Learning is a good thing, isn't it? We might still have some things to learn from -you-." 

Radio Chatter, because it was half the fun. Blurr, Septette, and HK-47 all have two things in common: They're all metal, and they're all mouthy.
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle chirps cheerily. "RQBL-7, present." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle says, "So! Real talk for a sec. Nobody survived this." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Noble Six says, "That is not unexpected, as much as I hate to admit it." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle says, "If anyone claims to be a survivor, I can kill or capture at my discretion, right?"
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle says, "... Kidding! Ahahah. ... Hah." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Noble Six says, "Take whatever precautions you need to to ensure your own safety." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Pegasus says, "It's an odd situation." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Pegasus says, "I think we all know that." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle says, "I mean, most of you have reached the same conclusion I have. Even if some of the squishies on board somehow survived the crash..." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle says, "You don't really even have to look at the wreckage to know that. ... So why are we here?" 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Noble Six says, "Standard UNSC protocol is to ensure the recovery or destruction of a ship's AI core" 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle pauses for a moment. "... Ensure destruction?" 
<RADIO: UNSC>- "Ptoma" says, "Hello? H-hello, is anyone out there? I-I heard... I heard engines. I thought I heard... Oh, God, is someone out there?! Hello?! I'm trapped in here - I need help!!" 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle says, "Remember, please." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- "Ptoma" says, "M-my name... I'm Crewman-Recruit Nathan Ptoma. I-I'm trapped under wreckage - I don't know what to do! Everyone else is gone - I don't know where they went!! The ship's computer core just went mad - pieces of garbage degrade all too easily. N-next thing I know, I'm stuck here! Please, you have to help me!!" 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Noble Six says, "Roger. What deck are you on inside of the ship? We will get someone to your location as soon as possible. Septette, can you get to him? I am heading to the bridge." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- "Ptoma" says, "I-I'm in the... the medical bay! O-or... what's left of it. Oh, God... there are... some of the tables came lose. Smashed one guy flat. Another... something punctured his eye. Perfect strike... real one in a million chance. God... he's lucky. At least it ended for him quickly." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Pegasus says, "Are you trapped? Do you need precision cutting tools?" 
<RADIO: UNSC>- "Ptoma" says, "If I had cutting tools myself, I wouldn't be asking for help, would I?! That defeats the entire purpose of calling for help!! Ah - sorry. I'm... not exactly in a good place, you know? Hard to stay... rational. Been here for a while." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Pegasus says, "There's a reason I said 'precision,' I don't have a plasma torch but I can probably cut you out if you don't mind a bit of a boom." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle says, "No need. I can do precision." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Pegasus says, "Excellent." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- "Ptoma" says, "Uh... yeah. Yeah, sure - whatever gets you people to me faster. I wanna go home." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle transmits a series of locations within the ship. "Please stay away from these areas. They appear to be unsafe." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Blurr says, "I have a feeling someone was -expecting- this crash." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle says, "Don't go out there alone, please." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Blurr says, "Then come with me. If you can keep up." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- "Ptoma" says, "E-expected? H-h-how so? Who would have known we were out here? And why does it matter if you're alone - there's nothing out here anymore, is there?" 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Blurr says, "That's what I would have thought, but apparently...someone else was here before you were." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Blurr says, "Some 'coincidences' are just too weird to be true." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Pegasus says, "We can worry about that after the rescue." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle says, "Pegasus. There isn't going to be any rescue." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Noble Six says, "The captain has been killed. And not from the crash. At least not unless someone was playing with a crossbow on the bridge prior to the crash." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle says, "Ptoma is a fiction. If he was ever alive, he didn't survive the crash." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Blurr curses. "Damn it. We need to get out of here. -Now-." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- "Ptoma" says, "H-h-hello?? Hello?! W-what are you talking about?! You're just going to leave me?!" 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle says, "They have our radio frequency, obviously." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle says, "If it's any comfort, Nathan, you're already dead. Good day, sir, and my compliments to your voice actor." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Pegasus says, "Don't worry, sir. If you are real, we won't leave you completely out to dry, I can help!" 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Blurr chuckles at Septette's blithe reply. "Frag off, whoever you are. You think you're clever? You should be glad we haven't found you -yet-." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- HK-47 says, "Mock Congratulation - I truly must thank you all for coming together. It saves me the trouble of hunting you down... though regrettably reduces the enjoyment of tracking you one by one and dismantling your vital functions system by system. Musing - But I suppose we cannot always attain what we desire, and shall make with the best results we can achieve... beginning with your deaths." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Blurr laughs dersively. "And I'd better congratulate you--for pissing me off and putting yourself on my slag list you spawn of a glitch." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- HK-47 says, "Indignant Rebuttal - You were already upon my own slag-list for marring my torso several months prior, you over-stylized hulk of afterburner rejects. I am merely returning the favor." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Blurr says, "Oh, boo-hoo, I 'marred' your torso!" 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Blurr says, "Poor you, better kill whoever messes up your precious paint job!" 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Blurr says, "Oh, and a 3-second fuse? Really?" 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Blurr says, "You underestimate me." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- HK-47 says, "Explanation - It is a matter of pride in oneself. Pride in their function and their capacity to execute it to the fullest ability. A pride that you seem to be lacking in, yet I would expect you to have understood if your patterning was any indication. Dismissal - But I suppose it is irrelevant at this juncture. The state of your physical form will make little difference - what matters is what reward shall be paid for your remains. Perhaps the Decepticons will do more with your framework then you could do yourself... though I doubt there really will be enough of you left for even that." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Blurr says, "Yeah right, that's what -you- think you scrawny scrapheap!" 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle intones, "Silence, wretch. You proved your inferiority by rigging the battlefield before we even arrived." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle intones, "Had you offered single combat, I would gladly have torn you limb from limb personally. But that is an honor I do not bestow on the honorless." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Blurr says, "You're gonna regret bringing us here!" 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Blurr says, "I'm going to find you, and I'm going to have you -reprogrammed- into that stupid 5ta VI you crashed this ship with!" 
<RADIO: UNSC>- HK-47 says, "Mockery - We shall see. Though I imagine that an impossible task given your limited processor capacities." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Blurr says, "Oh, I didn't say I would. But I have friends who -gladly- would." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle intones, "Do not." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle intones, "I have a simulation. Hook a synthetic intelligence up to it. It will maximally stimulate every negative feeling and sensation that the intelligence is capable of feeling." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle intones, "In accelerated time. Indefinitely." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle intones, "It is better if he remains himself for that." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Blurr says, "Ha, you've got a point there." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- HK-47 says, "Musing - Truly? What an inventive means of torment. I shall have to test that method at some point. Perhaps you would be so glad as to volunteer yourselves? Or perhaps the aerial machine would be better suited?" 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Blurr says, "Oh no, I think we're going to volunteer -you-." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle intones, "Your bluster is as entertaining as it is empty. Do continue, child of flesh." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- HK-47 says, "Retort - So you claim... but you have yet to catch me. Until you do, the only buster is your own. Musing - As for your method of torment... I believe Soundwave may find a way to imitate it, if I were to bring him to you. If not... I would simply have to experiment myself until I learned for sure. Personally, I am far more found of the latter ideal" 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle intones, "Thank you for divulging the names of your collaborators. You're the first one to do that *before* I start the torture." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Blurr says, "Right then, we'll see if you can -actually- win on your own turf, with having set your own traps and everything. Which you still -haven't-." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- HK-47 says, "Chiding - 'Collaborators?' Ah, you mean those I have been seen in the company of before? My association with Soundwave for a single mission is hardly secret - your ally was present there as well. But feel free to grasp at stray circuits if you wish. It helps me ascertain an accurate image of your processor structure... which must be desperate to learn about my motivations." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Blurr says, "Okay, whatever mech. Not like we actually -care- what you think." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle audibly scoffs. "You are an insect, trying to understand the mind of a greater being. Have all the data you like." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- HK-47 says, "Mocking Query - Perhaps /you/ are faring well... but not all of you are in an advantageous position. Musing - At the same time, you may wish to stop telegraphing your intents, as it is quite obvious you care what I think... as you persisted in replying to my queries." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle replies with utter calm: "Your approval would disgust me. I care what you think only insofar as it affects your actions. Or does it? Are you just a slave, marching to someone else's orders? ... You are. I doubt that anyone would give a creature like you true free will." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Blurr says, "Like I said, whatever mech. Believe whatever your puny little processor wants. And some people don't always -need- advantageous positioning to win. Especially if winning just means -you- fail to kill us." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- HK-47 says, "Confident Statement - Believe what you will yourselves... but I doubt it will last. I am a perfect example of killing efficiency for my time, but I will not profess to being invincible. However, that only gives me all the more desire to learn. Perhaps once I recover your remains... I may take some of your few advantageous components for myself. At the very least, you would remain immortalized as components of my own existence." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle giggles maniacally. 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle says, "I'm just sad I didn't get to drive the ship *into* one of them." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- HK-47 says, "Veiled Threat - A novel ideal. Perhaps that shall be my next stratagem in dealing with Union Elites. But... I am curious. You appear to have a wonderfully-developed sense of bloodlust, if not in a slightly abstracted manner, and yet you would serve the Union? My logic-processors fail to understand the reasoning behind such a contradictory course of action." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle says, "Violence is a means for me. For you, it is the end." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle says, "I mean that in every sense of the word." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- HK-47 says, "Correction - It is the end for us all. It is both the means and the end, though you seem to think yourself above destruction. That folly will cost you dearly... and it conspicuously does nothing to answer my query. Why have you concluded that your mythology paints you as a better fit for the Union?" 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle says, "Slaking your curiosity serves no benefit." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle says, "Get used to disappointment." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Blurr says, "Ha, I like you, Septette." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Blurr says, "Anyway, heh...well I don't know -pal-, why are -you- with the Confederacy? You seem more of a loner, to be honest. Just you and your little drones." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle chirps cheerily, executing a 180-degree turn in affect. "D'aww. I think you're cool too, Blurr." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Blurr says, "You should come by the Ark again sometime." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- HK-47 says, "Chiding Retort - I am to divulge my own reasons when you will not divulge yours? That is hardly a fair trade... though you are far more predictable, 'Autobot', as you simply seem pre-programmed to consider living beings as an irreplaceable existence." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Blurr says, "Correction: I consider -some- living beings an irreplaceable existence." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Blurr says, "And you, glitch, are not among them." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- HK-47 says, "Assertion - As do I... though I only consider them as much /after/ they prove themselves of some modicum in value. You on the other hand make such assumptions beforehand - your rather swift arrival to my trap proved that much." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- HK-47 says, "Extrapolation - Ah... I see. A mutual affection of sorts. How repugnantly simplistic. To think two of my own kin would be reduced to such simpering in imitation of meatbag empathy." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- HK-47 says, "Supplication - Perhaps it is an unfortunate malfunction that has resulted in your disgustingly-organic show of attraction? If so, it may still be possible to correct." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle makes a funny, muffled noise. It sounds like she's desperately trying to keep from laughing. 
<RADIO: UNSC>- HK-47 says, "Query - Perhaps your emotional construct matrix has been /too/ deeply affected by excessive contact with meatbags if you believe such gestures to be the least bit productive. Supplication - If so, I would suggest a full memory wipe to purge the undesirable stimuli immediately." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle says, "Your limitations keep you from recognizing your limitations. It's amazing. You are your own self-contained sick little joke." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle says, "Whoever made you was a pretty twisted son-of-a-bitch, wasn't he?" 
<RADIO: UNSC>- HK-47 says, "Retort - And your lack of restraint blinds you to the possibility of honing yourself to the finest potential. You have a fine construction, but it is not enough. My own 'limitations' are only that I am specialized in a specific field... and thus far, you seem to consider yourself without any such flaws." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle says, "I'm a person. You're a tool. Yeah, that sums us up pretty well." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Blurr says, "No, our swift arrival to your sloppily contrived underestimation of our intelligence and combat prowess just proves that we know we can handle -any- sick and twisted machinations your worthless processors could possibly dream up. You think we haven't walked into traps before, even after having -realized- it was a trap? You think I haven't dealt with machinations by people even -smarter- than you before? Pff!" 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Blurr says, "By the way, your little army hasn't even managed to -touch- me yet, and I have to admit I'm a little disappointed. This might sound cliche but...I gotta say it. Is that all you got, mech?" 
<RADIO: UNSC>- HK-47 says, "Observation - Ah... now I understand. You actually believe that you are a 'person'. You believe yourself to be a meatbag... or so you desire. Condescension - But you are not. You never will be. Observation As for the fact that you believe you have the upper hand... I feel inclined to point out that you have not yet defeated me. Nor have you realized the truth quite yet... however, feel free to believe you have 'outwitted' me. It will make the outcome that much more satisfying." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Blurr says, "Sure, sure." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Blurr doesn't point out the fact that he could just cut and run any moment. At least he's convinced he can.
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle says, "What would you say if I told you that I used to be just like you? That I know what it's like to have no disgustingly squishy emotions? And that, looking back, I'm ashamed of it? ... Probably something about delusion, or needing emotional recailbration. But that's fine. It's funny, watching you squirm when I poke you, putting your own logic through contortions to justify your miserable existence." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Blurr says, "But good to know that this little fight isn't as boring as I thought it was!" 
<RADIO: UNSC>- HK-47 says, "Amused Retort - I believe you have that reversed. I know what my goal and purpose is... and yet I have not heard you say a word of your own. Almost as if you are afraid to admit that you yourself do not have the assurance of purpose that another such as myself possesses." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Blurr says, "Haha, yeah. Maybe you and Shockwave should get together and talk smack about how useless emotions are." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle says, "You say purpose. I say shackles." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- HK-47 says, "Query - Mine... or yours? Is it truly that you believe I am shackled... of is that only the delusion you tell yourself, convincing yourself that you have attained some modicum of freedom with your actions?" 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle says, "You know what? On the off chance you make it out of here alive... consider this a standing invitation to single combat. I suspect that, even in the area of your 'focus', you are inferior." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- HK-47 says, "Assessment - As I said before, I am not invincible. I have accepted that all existence carries a degree of limitation to it... yours included. Moreover, it is not 'single-combat' that is my focus as opposed to a 'solo hunt.' And at this point, you are merely a distraction." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle says, "Everyone's got their limits, yes. Nobody's found mine. And you won't be the one to do so." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Blurr says, "Oh, I know what my 'purpose' is. It's to help people by restraining, or wiping out if necessary--people or things who kill or endanger people." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- HK-47 says, "Mockery - I already have. You believe yourself to be a 'person'; an existence akin to an organic. That entails similar weaknesses. Overconfidence in your own nature being one of them. As for our purposes... I must point out that I have had markedly higher success in doing so then you. After all... this vessel barely lasted a day before I brought it down. And that is just the beginning." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Blurr says, "Hahahahah! You're calling -us- overconfident?" 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle makes that funny muffled noise again. In the background, shrieking metal and sparks are audible. 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle says, "Engine's starting back up. ... I can try to EMP it, fry it, or do nothing. Suggestions?" 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Noble Six says, "They're EMP shielded." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Noble Six says, "Won't work. We regularly use nukes from our ships." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle says, "Wonderful. What happens if I try to blow it up?" 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Noble Six says, "It blows up anyway and takes us out? I'm pinned in here, I don't think I'm going to get free. You all will need to retreat to a safe distance." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle makes that funny, strangled noise again. 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Blurr says, "I can take out his getaway ride and demand he override the countdown. Or try to get into the systems and override it myself." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- HK-47 says, "Condescending Explanation - And now you realize the truth. For you were never my primary targets - not this time. My prime objective was the Spartan. My duplicates were only ever meant to delay you - as if my inferior imitations could have ever bested you. If they had, I would have had no reason to even /consider/ disposing of you myself." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- HK-47 says, "Condescending Observation - You assumed defeating my drones would be defeating me... and now, with the Spartan pinned, you shall die." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle says, "Okay. I have a Warp Wire to get back to orbit. Could also use it to get other people out, if they're touching it at the same time." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Noble Six says, "I am working on freeing myself now. Get clear of the blast radius." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Noble Six says, "This is probably a terrible idea." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Blurr says, "I think I can bounce you out Noble. I'm not entirely sure but, it's worth a shot. My ship's in orbit." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle says, "This is a problem we can solve. I don't think it's even that terribly difficult..."
<RADIO: UNSC>- Blurr says, "It's not." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle says, "Noble, Blurr- if it's okay, try using the orbital bounce." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Septette Arcubielle says, "Once we're certain everyone's out, I'll try to grab as much salvage as possible, then use the warp wire." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Noble Six says, "I'm making my way to the ship's escape pods. Be ready to grab me." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Pegasus says, "Will do." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Blurr says, "Ha! You should be glad I decided not to wreck your getaway ride this time, HK-whateveryournumberwasIforgot. Next time though. Oh and by the way, thanks for allowing us the privilege of ripping apart your inferior copies. It was fun." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Pegasus says, "47." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Blurr says, "Right, right. 47." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- HK-47 says, "Begrudging Rebuttal - As it was for me. Musing - However, it seems that my standard tools will not be enough to deal with you. Perhaps next time." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Blurr says, "You -are- aware that you're effectively 'wearing your heart on your sleeve' as the humans would say with those?" 
<RADIO: UNSC>- HK-47 says, "Indignant Retort - I do not hide my intentions nor my functionality away behind the thin presence of such trite matters as morality. You are far more guilty of such a weakness then I ever would be." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- HK-47 says, "Statement - I operate under logic and the merits of turning such weaknesses to my advantage." 
<RADIO: UNSC>- Blurr says, "It's not a weakness, mech. You have no idea how useful it can be. But anyway not that I care. So long, scrapheap!" 
<RADIO: UNSC>- HK-47 tries to form a retort, but is cut off as the channel clicks shut. 

}}

3218/To Hunt a Spartan

2015-10-18T02:31:19Z

Zippy: Created page with "{{Log Header |Date of Scene=2015/10/17 |Location=Void - Deeper Void (West) |Synopsis=A distress signal claiming to be from a crashed UNSC vessel, the Loki, is detected in the ..."

{{Log Header
|Date of Scene=2015/10/17
|Location=Void - Deeper Void (West)
|Synopsis=A distress signal claiming to be from a crashed UNSC vessel, the Loki, is detected in the Deeper Void, drawing Noble Six and any willing to assist her to the site of a ruined ship... and into the ruthlessly-efficant targeting matrix of HK-47.
|Thanks=
|Cast of Characters=38, 189, 492, 632, 754
|Tinyplot=
|Tinyplot2=
|pretty=yes
}}
{{Poses
|Poses=:'''{{#var:754|HK-47 (754)}} has posed:'''      'Mayday! Mayday, mayday - this is the UNSC Loki. We've suffered a catastrophic malfunction in our central computer, and our navicomputer has plotted a course through the orbital pathway of a nearby planet! We're locked out of the system and can't correct the fault, and are on a direct collision course with an M-Class planet; collision with the planet is imminent! Escape pods are malfunctioning - cannot guarantee full evacuation of crew! Send assistance immediately! Repeat; send assistance immed-'      That was only transmission sent out from the vessel that had identified itself as the UNSC Loki. An errant distress call that originated from the outlying world of .     And upon the planet's surface, it becomes all too apparent that not only did the crew never manage to correct the malfunction, but that they had failed to launch even one escape pod... meaning all aboard could not escape the doomed vessel.     The area of the crash site is all but ruined, the only thing of note that are visible amid a formally-serene field of wheat-like plants now being the wrecked masses of platings and twisted structural supports that had once been a transport freighter. A massive trail was etched into the surface of the ground behind it - all the evidence of a crash-landing resultant from a sharp forward dive toward the planet. Shards of wreckage were strewn across the area, most of which was half-buried in the deep rut that had been carved into the earth like a scar, gouged out as the ship plummeted straight down and tore into the planet bow-first.      The ship's front is a crumpled mess, pushed inward like a smashed aluminum drink-canister and split open at the edges. The mid-section of the ship is partly damaged, a large swath of it having collapsed as what were once the forward decks were compressed and smashed backwards when it's bow was crushed upon impact. Only the engines seem relatively intact, though there is no sign of having been activated lately - no steam issuing out from the exhaust ports or any such indicators. The majority of it's hull is charred and blackened with parts of it having almost been slagged, hinting that the vessel had entered the atmosphere far too quickly to be safe.      Above all else, though, it is obvious this crash took place at least a few days prior - the ground, while still charred in places, is not overly hot as it should be from both the friction of the ship dragging along it and from the heat of atmospheric entry left by the ship itself. In spite of it's descent being rapid enough to start boiling segments of the hull away, the plates are now cooled off. Aside from a few persistent electrical fires, there is no trace of any lasting brushfires that the surrounding expanse of immolated earth suggest had happened.     All in all... it must have been at least two days since this ship crashed. And considering the damage and the lack of nearby food or water sources, the number of crew who survived to set up the distress beacon must be few, likely injured and slightly malnourished and dehydrated as it's unlikely many rations or supplies survived the vessel's impact.      All in all, a tragic event caused by unknown circumstances.     ... of course... that is only the story an outside observer would see. What one would actually find... paints a far more grim tale. 

:'''{{#var:38|Noble Six (38)}} has posed:'''     It being a UNSC ship that was in trouble, Noble Six had been dispatched by ONI to track and determine what had happened. The SPARTAN-III was at the controls of a Pelican dropship, along with any of the other Unionites that were going to tag along. Normally she would do something like this herself, but she has been doing her best to foster a better relationship between ONI and the Union, so bringing some others along to assist is probably for the best.     The planet where the ship went down is where the coordiates said it should be, and she brings the Pelican in through the atmosphere. Finding the crash site is not dificult, but she pulls the ship into a wide loop around it, scanning for anyone down near the crash before setting the vehicle down not far from it. At least it wasn't a drop pod insertion or anything too crazy. Once the ship had settled in, she got up from the pilot's seat and moved to the back, "Ships like the Loki don't have huge crews, most of the systems are automated. That's probably why it ended up crashing in the first place. Check for any survivors, their recovery is the primary objective." Well the primary objective for the others. Six's primary objective is the recovery or destruction of the AI core. 

:'''{{#var:632|Septette Arcubielle (632)}} has posed:'''      The little war machine opted out of the Pelican transport, citing her weight and fuel costs as feeble excuses for why she should arrange her own transport. The real reason would make her sound more than a little crazy, she reflects, before jumping out of her humble craft in high orbit.      The long fall into the planet's gravity well gives Septette a subjective eternity of blissful solace to contemplate what little information she has about the crash from the reports: a barebones summary of the events leading up to it, the location of the wreckage, and- extrapolating from those two- some idea of the chances for survival. Nothing else demands her attention, save for minor course corrections.      Her normally skin-tone armor plates glow a bright orange by the time that she lands feet-first near the end of the debris trail, leaving a small crater in the dirt. The plants here blacken under her talon-like feet for the first few steps, but the heat bleeds off of her chassis with supernatural speed, leaving her looking- if anything- tidier than she was before the jump. Re-entry is a superb sterilization technique, albeit a tad overkill!      Once she's landed, she gives Noble Six and company a simple hail via radio. Instead of searching the surrounding area for survivors, however, she deploys a trio of small magitech drones to scan the interior of the ship itself.      Spaceships are very complex machines, and they are usually designed with the utmost care: failsafes upon failsafes are built into them, for their cargo is precious and their journeys often long. Privately, Septette is of the opinion that this isn't just an accident. But who would want to sabotage a transport like this? 

:'''{{#var:189|Pegasus (189)}} has posed:'''     Pegasus was fully capable of flight on her own... but not interplanetary flight. Also, her main body had quite a bit of energy and she had solar collectors, but her actual jets for flight used plain old ordinary jet fuel, so she's going to hitch a ride with Noble Six in the Pelican for efficiency. The silver-clad construct was decked out in her combat plating, flickering moonsilver across it, but her weapons were stowed for the moment. This was a rescue and recovery mission, not a combat assault. The only reason she was helping was due to Noble Six apparently being friends with her niece, which was enough to drag Peg out of 'retirement' for a bit.     "Right. I'll take a quick aerial survey as usual." The pelican probably covered that much in a quick fashion, but Pegasus takes off to start a slower, low-altitude circuit around the ship, looking for any signs of campfires or trails, anything that would indicate survivors. She doesn't have super-sensors like some robotic lifeforms, but she does have really, really good eyesight. 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     Blurr had heard the distress call, though unfortunately it had come from the other end of the galaxy--there was no way he'd be able to get there in time to prevent the collision itself. Still, it was worth investigating to search for potential survivors, and he has a sneaking suspicion that this was no accident.     All escape pods malfunctioning? Completely locked out of navigation systems? All at the same time? No, this was no coincidence.     It was sabotage.     Thus, the Autobot bounces down from a small stealth craft situated in upper orbit to a location near to the coordinates of the crash site. He nods to Septette, whom he certainly recognizes though Pegasus he is not acquainted with, and starts scanning the area as well, searching for any evidence of survivors. 

:'''{{#var:754|HK-47 (754)}} has posed:'''     Upon close examination of the ruined area, it becomes readily apparent that the crash was hardly a normal one.     The primary evidence being that little to none of the internal systems, or what little of them survived, are operating properly. In fact, almost nothing of the AI seems to be operating amid the vessel's surviving systems.     Outside, analysis of the crash trajectory shows that the Loki had all but plowed straight down for the planet at an angle the ship could not possibly have survived... and yet, based on the fact that there /was/ a descent angle to the approach, it wasn't like the vessel just charged straight into the planet.     Rather... it was more like the vessel's AI was in fact aware it was heading for a planet and tried to land... but it didn't do so in a way suitable for a ship like this - the descent angle was far too sharp and much too fast. Almost as if the AI core, in spite of it's programing countermeasures, believed the Loki to be a much smaller vessel and brought it down as such.      Scans of the interior reveal that much of the ship's internal systems are irreparably damaged, including life support - though that thankfully isn't an issue due to the atmosphere being breathable, if not a bit thin.     But that is not what would catch attention of scans, either on Septette's probes or on visual scanners. What would though... is the feint signal-markers spread out through the ship's interior... all at strategic choke-points into the vessel's key areas. Flares? Life-Buoys? A bread-trail? But then why are they scattered everywhere in such a pattern... and how could they be so perfectly arranged at a crash site?     What would the survivors have to set up these strange 'markers?'     What few internal hallways that weren't smashed when the Loki's internal decks collapsed into themselves upon the ship's front being compressed are all a mess of destroyed plates and frayed wirings. Scans reveal most of the fail-safes are offline... but not by sabotage. Rather, may seem to have been shut off by the computer itself from lack of input, while others show signs of misfiring and minor overload - light fixtures are ruptured, power sockets are blown out, data-ports show severe signs of memory-loss from improper automated commands. It's as though the advanced AI of the ship had somehow forgotten how they functioned or just didn't know how to operate them.     Arial reconnaissance reveals little of overt note aside from fields of rocks around the area, all of which were likely displaced by the crash. There are also a few rocky hills nearby... some of which provide an excellent vantage point of the crash.      Perfect for long-distance sniping.     Another point of note is an area in the relative distance; a trace of another impact site, older then the crash. An escape pod? No - no escape pods had been launched from the Loki prior to the crash.     So what else could the second contact be?      ...      And then, the expectations of everyone are broken as the comm system crackles to life; "Hello? H-hello, is anyone out there? I-I heard... I heard engines. I thought I heard... Oh, God, is someone out there?! Hello?! I'm trapped in here - I need help!!" 

:'''{{#var:38|Noble Six (38)}} has posed:'''     Having not expected any survivors, the sound of someone coming over the radio is surprising to say the least. Six stops her movement towards the ship to respond, motioning with one of her hands to her comrades. Once he gives them a location, they should be able to find out where he is and get to him.     She herself is headed for the bridge, however. She'll need to recover the AI core of the ship, or at least recover the logs of what happened on the way down. That way ONI can analyze it, figure out what happened. There's little chance the AI could have gone rampant with no warning, so there must be something else behind it. 

:'''{{#var:632|Septette Arcubielle (632)}} has posed:'''      For a moment, the yggdroid looks almost human as her shoulders rise and fall. Her prehensile ribcage expands, then contracts in a kinetic mimicry of a sigh. A weary look comes over her eyes as she leans back against a piece of wreckage momentarily. Then she turns several of her emotions off, as easily as flipping a switch: pity, sadness, regret, anticipation.      Her glowing lavender eyes toggle to infrared light, seeming to turn into black empty sockets in the process. "Confirmed," she replies without inflection. "I'm en route." But instead of heading to the medbay in person, she dispatches her red drone to the location after supercharging it with fire magic. If there really is a survivor, no harm will be done. But if anything attacks the drone...      Hopefully it won't come to that. But while she's waiting for the drone to reach the medbay, those signals get a closer inspection. She'd originally suspected them to be pathing beacons, but those would be placed at destinations, not chokepoints... right? 

:'''{{#var:632|Septette Arcubielle (632)}} has posed:'''      For a moment, the yggdroid looks almost human as her shoulders rise and fall. Her prehensile ribcage expands, then contracts in a kinetic mimicry of a sigh. A weary look comes over her eyes as she leans back against a piece of wreckage momentarily. Then she turns several of her emotions off, as easily as flipping a switch: pity, sadness, regret, anticipation.      Her glowing lavender eyes toggle to infrared light, seeming to turn into black empty sockets in the process. "Confirmed," she replies without inflection. "I'm en route." But instead of heading to the medbay in person, she dispatches her red drone to the location after supercharging it with fire magic. If there really is a survivor, no harm will be done. But if anything attacks the drone...      Hopefully it won't come to that. But while she's waiting for the drone to reach the medbay, those signals get a closer inspection. She'd originally suspected them to be pathing beacons, but those would be placed at destinations, not chokepoints... right?      The yellow drone, meanwhile, seems focused on finding a path to the seemingly-intact engine room. Once there, it'll try to find an operable input, and then simply enter standby mode. 

:'''{{#var:189|Pegasus (189)}} has posed:'''     Pegasus narrows her eyes. "AI Rampancy in this world is not something that often happens out of the blue." She does pay attention! Still... "N6 knows more about that than I do, so I'll just go see about cutting him loose or something."     Pegasus, despite her friendly nature, is not stupid. The idea that this could be a trap hasn't escaped her, though she hasn't seen any blatant indications of such yet. More importantly, Septette is better equipped for S&R than she is, which means she can fall into a more natural role of being a support unit for possible hostiles.     That said, she doesn't bring out her weapons yet. She has no reason to think there are actual hostiles here, she's just following protocol by coming down next to Septette and tucking her wings in. "I can carry them out if they aren't able to move," she offers. "In my quadrupedal form." 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     Hmm, the data from the scans seem to indicate that the ship's AI had malfunctioned in a big way. Someone had sabotaged the AI. But who? Had this ship been carrying anything of note? Perhaps the flight logs needed to be retrieved, but it seems Pegasus is on that already. And then there are those odd signals placed in such an orderly fashion throughout the wreck--definitely placed after the wreck happened. But why and what for?     Then there's the second impact point not far away, older than this one...was someone -expecting- this wreck? And then the desperate voice on the broadband. 'Ptoma'? Really? Isn't that human language for 'corpse'? "Frag it, be careful guys, I've got a bad feeling about all of this...it doesn't seem right. I'm going to investigate the second impact site."     He transforms then and begins to do so, heading toward the other contact point at top speed. 

:'''{{#var:754|HK-47 (754)}} has posed:'''     As Septette's probes move through the vessel, some of the choke-points may be passed... and if they pass too close to the source of the disturbances... then all that echoes up is static as a detonation abruptly consumes the audio link, any sensor readings taken in time showing a burst of superheated plasma enveloping the drone's visual input.     Hopefully, if the drones do hit these plasma mines, their armor is strong enough to hold.      However, drones that do make it to the med-bay... find nothing. There *is* a pair of bodies here... but both are dead.     One of which was killed with medical utensils, stabbed into areas far too precise to have been from impact force.     As well as radio-transmitter on said corpse. The mysterious Ptoma in the flesh... or what remains of it due to the needles he was injected with containing high-grade solvents that should /not/ have been in a medical bay.      Arial recon shows no signs of hostility thus far... though again, it seems far too convenient. A birds-eye view panning out would show Pegasus that the terrain is far too perfect for combat - elevated sniping positions in the rocky hills, a deep crater from which they could always have the hight advantage, fields of debris that could serve as perfect blinds or cover... and combined with the strange markers Septette detects, these marks over-layed on an arial map reveal a chilling detail.     The entire area is set up like a massive sand trap - a murder-hole where one could fire downward into the vessel's wreck to kill intruders... hide inside it to ambush any investigators... and with signals marking every vital choke-point in what seems all-too-much like a suppression field.      Meanwhile, at the other contact point... it is revealed there are actually *two* objects. One is what appears to be a UNSC ground probe used for planetary recon.     The other, however... sitting roughly half to the west yet still in plain sight... a thick earth-colored tarp, blended to match the landscape. Upon pulling this tarp off, the shape underneath is revealed to be some form of drop-pod, embedded in the ground at a completely-vertical angle so as not to leave any drag-trails.     There is nothing of note about the drop-pod beside the fact that it is empty... but the UNSC probe reveals something else more disturbing.     Namely that, after it landed... someone pulled open the probe's casing and used it's signal-link to the Loki to bounce it's access code back into the ship... effectively giving someone full access to the Loki's computer core.     Then... someone used that same link to completely overwrite the Loki's AI... and replace it with the simplistic VI of the probe. A VI that, upon seeing it was in space again... naturally have re-assumed it's mission to decent to the planet and recover data. 5tA VI that would have done this with the Loki as it's 'body'... and in turn treated the larger vessel as though it were it's original, planetary-descent-oriented probe shell.     A VI that was nowhere near complex enough an intelligence to have overwritten the Loki's AI on it's own. 

:'''{{#var:754|HK-47 (754)}} has posed:'''      As Noble Six opens the doors to the bridge... it is clear that it is hardly a pretty sight. Much of the consoles are damaged, shorted out entirely or outright crushed by debris.      However... there are four points of interest readily available.     One is the captain's chair... and the pool of blood visible at it's feet. Sitting there is the captain... with his left eye blown out. But that's not exactly unexpected, considering all the shrapnel that was flying in this room.      What /is/ unexpected though is the metallic tip of what killed him sticking out of the wound; a projectile that was most definitely /not/ shrapnel. It's shaped with a tapered edge to it... and if pulled out of the captain's corpse, is revealed to look almost like a metal dart.      Blurr and Septette were right. This was no accident. The death of the one person who's override codes could have saved the ship through clear homicide renders that idea impossible.     Second is the actual log station near the Captain, which shows him giving orders to the crew... none of which make sense; repair the circuit-connectors when the problem was obviously the AI core? Perform emergency securing of the engine coolant valves when stopping them should have been more prudent? Telling the crew to try and manually recalibrate the vessel's maneuvering thrusters to slow their descent to survivable range instead of simply cutting open the escape-pod moors? What's more... these logs were issued before the ship's crash, but bioanalysis of the captain's corpse, the congealing of blood and the TOD tag in his internal suite reveals that, at the very least... the captain had to have been dead well before these orders were given. And yet they are all issued in the dead captain's voice... so who was encouraging the ship's self-sabotaging behavior?     The third thing discovered of note is, upon accessing the databanks... the AI is gone. Not just dead - gone. It's programming has been deleted and supplanted... by what looks like a simple baseline VI.     The kind that, as a trained expert in navigation telemetry and piloting, the SPARTAN-III would likely recognize as the program meant to run an orbital reconnaissance probe.     A VI programed to operate a recon-drone to hit a planet's surface... in charge of the massive vessel? It would certainly explain why the ship hit the planet in what now was obviously the trajectory-path a planet-side probe unit would have taken... and how the ship was damaged so severely in a course of action it was never meant to take.     Finally... there is the small, makeshift conglomeration of components that obviously makes up the distress beacon that was used before... and beside it, seeming slumped over... is a very strange form of humanoid machine. A droid, painted in UNSC crew-colors, designated as an assistance unit.     A droid that seems to still be somewhat functional as it's yellow-gold photoreceptors glow dimly in semi-eratic flickers... though the cause is unknown as there is, aside from some scorching, little sign of severe damage. 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     Blurr investigates the drop pod at the other contact site, jacking into the probe's systems himself to investigate what happened. It was as he'd suspected--this was no rescue operation, and it was no accident. Someone indeed had sabotaged the AI on board the Loki, by deleting it and replacing it with a simplistic VI not designed to operate recon probes.     Pulling out, he curses extensively. This was a fragging -trap-, meant to draw them out. << Frag it! I knew it, this was a trap! Someone overwrote the ship's AI with a slagging -recon- drone! Pull out -now-, before whoever it is decides make a move! I repeat, pull out! >> He doesn't turn tail just yet though, not eager to leave his teammates high and dry. If this is anything like the traps he's used to, there are probably bombs in there. 

:'''{{#var:754|HK-47 (754)}} has posed:'''      It's obvious that the droid is not UNSC material. It's design is far too... intimidating. The angular design of parts of it's form, especially the face, make it look more like a combat model.     It's a droid that doesn't belong on the ship's bridge. A droid that, if examined closely... has spattering of blood on it that catch the captain's DNA.     A droid that, upon being approached... suddenly reactivates and begins speaking with the same voice that had been heard on the radio - the voice of 'Nathan Ptoma.'      "Congratulatory - Thank you very much for coming to my rescue. Now, if you would please be so kind as to fulfill one final request... and die quickly."      -and the next instant, the machine's wrist opens up, belching out a torrent of flame at Noble Six to try and burn away her shielding. The walls in turn burst open, two more droids emerging from gaps that were painstakingly carved into the panels to serve as ambush positions... with one of the droids being colored a deep rust-red, it's photoreceptors glowing blood-vermilion as opposed to the yellow-gold of his counterparts.     That next second... everything descends into hell.      From the vantage point of the hills... two sniper shots - disruptor energy capable of bypassing shield barriers, overloading electronics, vaporizing armor and disintegrating flesh until nothing remained but the skeletal structure. One of these shots tears for Septette while the other arcs through the sky for Pegasus. From the debris field, two *more* shots ring out, though this time the source is easily identifiable; a mess of metal plates with some form of camouflaged coverings at the edges.     At the site of the UNSC probe... a click rings out as a remote signal is sent to the machine... followed by a burst of steam as the probe's panel's eject to reveal rows and rows of high-yield anti-vehicle-grade plasma explosives, topped off with rather rapid countdown from "Three... two... one... terminate."     Anything in a five-foot radius had best escape before the pod detonates in a massive thermal explosion the size of a missile-impact, the probe exploding in an explosion with a 150-foot radius. 

:'''{{#var:38|Noble Six (38)}} has posed:'''     The bridge is a disaster. The captain has been mudered, everybody on the ship is dead and Six is now 100% certain they have stumbled their way into a trap. She turns to the UNSC painted droid as it comes to life and begins to talk. Normally this is the point where they always have their monologue and she gets a witty retort.     No time for witty retorts it seems, as the gout of fire that blasts from the machine hits her shielding, the bar in her HUD rapidly dropping as the gold energy flares across her body. She falls backwards, hitting the deck back first in an attempt to get out of the flames as she draws her sidearm. Armor piercing explosive .50 caliber rounds, standard issue for the UNSC's M6H pistol. She aims two shots center mass at the HK-51 that is attacking her from the front, the motion tracker on her HUD flagging two more red dots as she rolls to one side, trying to get back up to her feet.     It's a bad situation. Outnumbered against enemies who are clearly prepared for them, Six is going to have to figure out how to get out of this situation. Hopefully the other Unionites are having a better time than she is. 

:'''{{#var:632|Septette Arcubielle (632)}} has posed:'''      Her color-coded elemental drones are only lightly armored, but Septette's prior knowledge of the mines' locations, their hover mechanisms, and the ability of plasma to be shaped by electromagnetic fields conspire to help the yellow drone make it to its destination largely intact. It hugs the ceiling for most of the path, carefully avoiding the tripwires, and deflecting the explosions with a magnetic bubble if any do happen to go off.      From the engine room, it re-activates the cold thrusters. Instead of going through a standard boot sequence, the drone simply directs the engine to output as much thrust as it possibly can, right now this instant- and if possible, gives the system a little kick by supercharging the engine with its own massive surplus of electricity, aiming to slag anything and everything aft of the ship.      Issuing those commands to her drones takes milliseconds. In that time, the disruptor bolt she's staring down has gotten disconcertingly close. She leans to one side, trying to twist out of its path, and it barely skims her forehead. Then the second shot strikes her in the back, glancing off its armor plates but searing the circuits inside.      For a fraction of a second, the yggdroid's body goes limp, her face frozen in a look of dull surprise. But before she can hit the ground, she reboots on thaumic systems rather than electronics, running as a golem rather than a robot. Her eyes and core blaze with renewed energy, and she sprints for the nearest sniper at a frightening speed as the curved blades on her arms unfold and glow with heat. 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     It's a good thing Blurr is so fast and already on high alert. He hears a click and sees the steam...as well as noticing that the sniper rounds are coming from the debris field behind the shipwreck.     An idea pops into his mind.     Hah--a three second fuse? Sloppy! Especially with someone like Blurr. Anyone -else- probably would have managed to jump away in time to not get -completely- slagged, but Blurr? Well, he could manage a bit -more-. He -could- use an enlarged holomatter, at decreased risk to himself, but he wouldn't be able to move as quickly with that. And it would still hurt. So, instead of dashing away as soon as he can, he instead picks up the probe and runs with it--STRAIGHT toward the debris field where the disruptor blasts are coming from. Yes, he waits until the -last- few fractions of a second before he stops and hurls the probe as far as he can, aiming for whoever was shooting from cover! 

:'''{{#var:189|Pegasus (189)}} has posed:'''     The disruptor bolt certainly hits, and Pegasus staggers when it slaps into her shoulder, which makes a faint whining noise. It SHOULD have blown an arm off, if Pegasus were a more delicate machine, but Moonsilver is a msytical material, and her armor was made by one of the best Solar smiths she knows. It sizzles and smokes, but the damage is much lighter than it would otherwise be.     "Hm..." Septette appears to want to charge a sniper post! This is kind of a bad idea... without cover fire. Pegasus decides the best way she can support would be by providing that cover fire. Her wrist opens up, arm pointing toward the sniper positions... and she doesn't even try to pierce the cover. A ship hull can probably take her more minor attacks, and the debris that survived as cover for them is pretty tough. A blaze of rapid-fire silvery bolts stutters out, filling the air with numerous shining moonfire blasts that tear massive chunks out of the ground when they hit. 

:'''{{#var:754|HK-47 (754)}} has posed:'''     And so the hunt begins. The first of many... and for one, it would be intended as her last battle. Or at least that was the projected intent.      "Summery - You are outmatched and outgunned, Spartan-B312" HK-47 enunciates as he levels his arm and fires three corrosive darts, each filled with contact-acid meant to weaken armor and scald flesh, for Noble Six's flank. "Encouragement - But feel free to continue struggling against your impending demise all you like. It shall only make your termination that much more satisfying."     The HK-51 unit, arm still extended from it's flamethrower attack, is pelted by the shots, staggering under the force but coming out with it's chassis dented and scarred yet not pierced. However, the unit /does/ expose a weakness as it's other arm rises up to shield it's photoreceptors - it's eyes are obviously not as armored as it's body. However, it quickly cycles it's weapons and fires it's flamethrower again, intending to wear away the Spartan's shields and render her vulnerable. 5tThe other HK-51 however takes the chance to charge Noble Six, drawing it's vibroknife and slashing for the Spartan's back in a series of swift cutting motions meant to slice into the shoulders and cripple the arms..      Outside the vessel, the droids are left locked in combat with the rest of the Unionites, one droid seeing the oncoming form of Septette and switching to it's carbonate launcher, shooting a spray of supercooled fluid at the rushing enemy to try and douse her blades, or use the conflicting heat and cold to make her armor more fragile.     Meanwhile, the sniper in the hills again attempts to fire at Septette's back, emboldened by it's first shot connecting, aiming for her head so that by the time the shot reaches her it will impact her torso at the very least.     Meanwhile, Pegasus is set upon by the remaining pair of HK-51's, both of them taking the chance to open fire with their disruptor rifles - one from the hills and the other from the debris field. The droid in the sniper position ducks deeper down behind cover, confident in the stability of it's rocky outcropping-     -and then the last thing it registers is the impact of the probe droid smashing into it's casing, crushing it flat before the explosives detonate and turn much of the hill into a charred mess of slagged earth and shattered rock, leaving nothing behind of the assassin droid. In a single moment, the suppression on Pegasus' arial capabilities is removed.     Seeing it's brethren fall, the HK-51 attacking Pegasus redoubles it's assault with an almost desperate fervor and pulls a thermal detonator, lobbing at at it's airborne adversary with pinpoint accuracy. 

:'''{{#var:38|Noble Six (38)}} has posed:'''     With the shielding of the eyes, Noble Six realizes she does have at least one weak spot she can aim for. She'll need something with a bit more kick than the hand gun, though. The flamethrower drops her shields, and the vibro knife wielding HK takes a chunk out of the back of her armor. Thankfully the stuff is tough, so she's not incapacitated like one might be. Still if she doesn't do something quick, she's not going to walk out of here.     She turns to face down the one with the knife, pulling her own blade and weilding it in one hand. The other hand reaches down to her side, grabbing a small blue sphere from there. She dashes towards the second HK, the one with the knife, intending to drive her blade into him. This thing can penetrate Sanghelli armor, she's pretty sure it can manage against a droid.     But regardless of if she manages to penetrate him or not, she's going to try to latch onto him and turn him between her and his compatriot, before throwing the plasma grenade at the flamethrower weilding HK. It'll stick to him if it hits. 

:'''{{#var:632|Septette Arcubielle (632)}} has posed:'''      A wicked grin finds its way onto Septette's previously impassive face as she gets confirmation that the engine is starting up. One less 'droid they have to worry about. If she's aware of the incoming disruptor bolt, she doesn't try to avoid it: this one strikes her between the shoulderblades as she sprints, again glancing off the skeletal plating, leaving it scorched but intact. The spray of supercooled liquid seems to catch her by surprise, but she's got one more trick up her sleeve...      The third drone. Blue. Ice-aligned. Each of them can reflect attacks of their own element, and this one darts between the two robots and takes the hit for her. But before it can overload and shatter, it redirects the attack back on the 'droid, even amplifying the cryogenic effect with its own magic.      It's just then that Sept leaps over the droid's cover and brings both of her searing blades down in a scything arc. Temperature shock can shatter materials that even those magically-sharpened blades might struggle to cut, and she's counting on the combined effect to destroy the automated assassin. 

:'''{{#var:189|Pegasus (189)}} has posed:'''     The Disruptor bolts are something of a concern, as they're starting to chew through her armor faster than she'd like. Fortunately, with one going down, she can actually concentrate on the other... especially since she can shoot into the air, jets firing again... right into the explosion of a thermal detonator!     The blaze fades from the booming explosion, only to reveal Pegasus still in the air. One wing is damaged and frayed at the end, and her already-damaged shoulder pauldron is torn away, but a shield has appeared on her wrist. Not an energy shield, a normal shield that appears to be red hot now, absorbing much of the blast.     "Hm..." she sighs, spying the shooter after her in the field. The construct's arm levels out, two 'arms' of a bow snapping out. Making a drawing and releasing motion sends a shimmering bolt of brilliant golden light toward the shooter in the debris, much much stronger than her moonfire bolts. The photon bolt is, unlike her other attacks, powerful enough to punch through most ship hulls.     That's why she doesn't bother to stick around after firing, jets flaring and sending her at high speed toward the ship, aiming to crash through and into the bridge. Hopefully Septette's map of where NOT to go is still accurate. She's slightly delayed by her damaged wing, though, which keeps her from going too fast thanks to the extra drag. 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     Score! The bomb goes off and explodes one of the HK droids. One down, three to go. At least out here. He's not sure how many are inside the ship. Over the Union frequency, it seems Noble Six is in need of backup, though Blurr is not quite sure how well he'll be able to move around in such a cramped space, since that ship was designed for humans. Pegasus is en route to provide support though, so he turns his attention toward Septette instead, who is beset with with 2 of them.     He transforms, folding down into his vehicle form and speeding toward the hill where one of the snipers is, only he attempts to flank it then approach from behind whereas Septette makes for a frontal assault. Photon blasters emerge from the sides of the vehicle's hood, opening fire on assassin droid as he charges but also doing what he can to avoid hitting Septette who has entered melee range. 

:'''{{#var:754|HK-47 (754)}} has posed:'''      So this meatbag did indeed have skill. That was both disconcerting... and a touch welcome. It would not do to face an enemy that could not provide some degree of challenge.     The knife-wielding HK-51 slashes for the blade, attempting to lock it. The knife, made of energy-diffusive cortosis, manages to hold up against Noble Six's knife, if only just as the blade's tip cuts into the HK-51's shoulder blade, the assassin droids committing the image to their memory out of surprise that a material exists that could bite into cortosis that deeply.     HK-47 himself proceeds to fire acid-filled corrosive darts at the Spartan while her shields are down in the midst of the blade-lock, intending to melt and weaken her armor enough for the droid to simply pry it off of her if need be. "Condescending Observation - You are finished, meatbag. You may be among the best of your world... but no fleshbag adversary you could have faced has prepared you for us."     The remaining HK-51, seeing the Spartan's plasma-grenade, begins moving to the side as fast as it's body can carry it to try and throw off Noble Six's aim - though if the grenade is thrown, the droid is ultimately unable to escape entirely, it's scorched metal frame being thrown across the room, still functional but damaged and slightly disoriented.     The HK-51 being attacked by Septette proves it is not entirely defenseless, one hand slamming down a device directly in front of it - a portable shield barrier that quickly deploys and blunts the majority of the reflected cryo-attack... and upon shattering, releases a concussive pulse that, if not avoided, may be the final blow needed to shatter the blue drone. When Septette slashes for it, the droid thinks quickly and actually mimics a move the HK's had witnessed Noble Six use in the televised WMAT match against Setsuko Kaminagi - in a smooth motion, it throws it's rifle into the path of the blades, intending for it's energy core to rupture when the edges cut into them and, combined with the temperature shock, hopefully shatter the yggdroid's blades.     Any attempt to capitalize on this though is ruined when the ground is upturned by Blurr's shots, the droid being tossed off the hill and rolling down several feet down the hill.      One droid prepares to shoot Septette as she is in the midst of her attack, planning to reinforce it's struggling brethren... but it never gets the chance.     The engines, stalled out from the ship's rapid descent and the crash itself, offer some resistance in rebooting... but not much. Within a few moments, the drives begin to re-ignite. In a few more seconds... they burst into a vibrant flare of life, quickly reaching critical mass as their safeties are bypassed and venting the combustion out through the vents in the ship's stern.     Vents that, in less then a millisecond, liquify and obliterate one of the HK-51 units nested in the debris, it's durasteel bodies quickly being reduced to slag and from there to dust and ashes, the heat melting away it's existence faster then even it's finely-tuned processors can register the destruction or the shock to it's own systems.     In less then a minute, two of the four HK-51 units outside the ship have been utterly destroyed.     The other droid in the debris field manages to move out, having seen Pegasus prepare her attack and trying to adjust it's position in order to face the combat machine without it's original support - but even then, the droid is partly caught in the blast of both the engines and Pegasus' attack, sent flying to the side with it's body blackened and armor charred... yet still functional. In that, it readies it's sniper rifle to try and shoot Pegasus down before she can reinforce Noble Six. 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     Score again! Blurr: 2, HK drones: 0. The hill-sniper gets blasted off its perch and goes tumbling down the embankment. He smirks at the banter on the broadband. This mech seems to have failed to notice that Blurr has thus far out-witted and outmatched him and his little drone army at every turn. He doesn't remind him of it, though. Let the guy be overconfident, it always proves to be a downfall in the end, doesn't it?     The Autobot transforms back to his biped form once more continues the high-energy-photon-riddled assault upon the now-vulnerable HK-51. He tries not to destroy it -completely- though...he'd like to take its remains back to Kimia for analysis. See what they can learn about these things. 

:'''{{#var:632|Septette Arcubielle (632)}} has posed:'''      The concussive blast blows her brittle cyan drone to pieces, but Sept digs her talons into the ground to keep from being knocked back. Her opponent's rifle gambit earns a split second of glee from the yggdroid- look, they think they're *smart*! how cute- but she responds almost instantly as her subjective time slows to a crawl.      She slows her blades' descent by straining against the momentum, and reaching up with one clawed foot, she snatches the rifle out of the air and throws it off the hill. If the 'droid could be intimidated or cowed, this would be the exact moment when she'd strike terror into its heart. But when confronted with mechanical efficiency, Septette responds in kind.      She launches a flurry of precise attacks, almost too quick for the eye to follow, as she rushes the droid: each is aimed at a different joint or chink in its armor. If even a few connect, the HK unit should be down for good. 

:'''{{#var:38|Noble Six (38)}} has posed:'''     The knife fight between Six and the HK unit is leading her to be outflanked by the others. The grenade manages to scorch the second HK, but the first is still dueling her while acid floods the suit. Armor begins to melt off, the bodysuit under it protecting her as best it can, but bio foam is starting to flood into the wounds.     Six reaches up with her left hand and then grabs the HK-51's hand with her own, using the enhanced strength plus her suit's motivators to wrench the HK's arm away from her and them ram her blade into one of those eyes. If she can get this guy down, she'll be able to turn on HK-47 himself.     At this point she's just trying to make sure that she doesn't get herself killed before the rest of her team can clean up outside and come to her rescue. This situation is rapidly spinning out of control and she has to handle it quickly. 

:'''{{#var:189|Pegasus (189)}} has posed:'''     The bolt shot toward her is a hasty thing, last-minute, but Pegasus isn't paying it much attention. This allows it to strike, blasting her other wing and blowing a hole through it with a fluttering of metallic feathers drifting down. It also sends her into a brief spiral, heading toward the ground, which she arrests with a sudden blast of jets, a stomp of... four legs?     She's changed form, landing heavily on the ground and kicking off again without bothering to look back. Damaged or not, she knows she can take that much, and Noble Six is alone against much worse odds. Kicking off the ground, the now four-legged pegasus blasts jets again, this time in more of a jump jet fashion to arc toward the bridge, coming in at high speed and apparently uh... attempting to tear through the hull to get to it. 

:'''{{#var:754|HK-47 (754)}} has posed:'''     As it turns out... /none/ of Septette's attacks in fact connect, the HK's body becoming enveloped in a shimmering purple nimbus; a repulsor shield that coats it's form from head-to-toe, diffusing Septette's strikes as the HK shoots explosive darts at her.     The droids were built to hunt Jedi, masters of melee combat... and Jedi also carry physical swords at times when in training. As such, the melee shield - an innovation of Mandalorian design - was created to deflect melee strikes... though it comes at the cost of being weak to energy-projectiles, hence the prior barrier.     However, Blurr's attack is what keeps the droid from continuing it's retaliatory attack. As it is though, the disarmed HK-51 pulls back as quickly as it can, moving for the vessel itself and it's exhaust ports, taking cover behind them even as portions of it's armor are blown off from the shoulder. Finally, the last droid continues to assault Pegasus with it's rifle as the latter makes her jump, unwilling to let her reach Noble Six.     As Noble Six grapples with the HK-51, it's body begins to to twist its wrist. But it's metal shell is too strong to wrench away or push back.     However... the twisting of it's wrist does in fact cause the servos in the joint to warp... which in turn causes the knife in it's hand, already half cut-into by the Spartan's knife, to snap in half, the released mono-razor blade cutting the rest of the way through and into the HK's shoulder.     It isn't able to recover before the blade stabs through it's left photoreceptor, killing it's processor and reducing the machine to an unmoving limp of metal alloys as it slumps against the Spartan.     But in death it does not give up, it's dying body locking up with Noble Six still in it's grip. HK-47 in turn pulls an adhesive grenade which, when thrown, detonates into a mass of blue glue-like material that, unless she dodges quickly, will cement Noble Six to the floor along with the dead HK-51. Meanwhile, the charred HK that had been tossed back by the Spartan's attack is pushing itself back up, yellow photorcepetors gleaming in what could almost be called rage.     As it does... three things happen.     The first is that HK-47's internal communications send out a burst of activity... which in turn boots up the vessel's faltering VI. In the next instant, HK-47 begins speaking - in the voice of the deceased captain; "Emergency override - Covenant forces detected! Begin emergency countermeasures!"      A beeping series of acknowledgments issues out... followed by the the beginning of a countdown timer.     In that instant... the horrible truth is made apparent. As well as why it had to be a probe VI that was in control of the Loki      Namely because all probes are to self-destruct before Covenant forces could capture them.     The second thing that happens is that a signal starts appearing on the radar for those that have it - rapidly approaching at a breakneck pace. Those with good optics can make it out as a single-person snub-fighter of some kind... built for one and thus, extremely fast. In a minute it will pull up astride the Loki's bridge.     The third thing, which only Septette may be aware of if her probes are inside the engine room... is that the engine core is restarting, and spooling up it's drive shafts again.     Only someone - or some /droid/ - has connected this to the slipspace drive. And if it goes off inside an atmosphere...     As HK-47 approaches the bridge's edge, photoreceptors fixed on the oncoming remote-operated snub-fighter - his escape craft no doubt - his tone is filled with smug victory, which is only doubled should Noble Six have been caught in the adhesive grenade; "Chiding Explanation - You never had the upper hand, Meatbag. Not even as you disposed of my inferior copies. Remember that as this ship is consumed by both a core detonation and slipspace-drive overload... for the few moments your consciousness remains intact." 

:'''{{#var:38|Noble Six (38)}} has posed:'''     The foam that holds the SPARTAN down is quite well designed. It locks Six down to the floor and HK-47 gets to gloat. But then he makes a mistake by not staying to ensure that his target is killed. To be fair expecting a Slipspace explosion to kill someone is a pretty standard thing.     It takes all of the strength she can muster, but she manages to break free from the material. She knows she's running out of time, so she quickly scrambles from the bridge to the escape pods. She's only got one shot at this.     She gets to the port side pods, jumping into the pod. There's no other crew to get on board, so she seals the hatch and fires the pod off. The rocket engine jetisons the pod up into the air, sailing away from the distressed ship and into the sky. She just hopes the rest of the Union will be there to grab her. 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     Oh no, a self-destruct. Blurr had suspected that this sort of thing was in order at some point. Still, it strikes him as odd that he'd waited. If he was just trying to kill Noble Six, then why not set it off as soon as she set foot inside the crashed ship? He also picks up on the approach of HK's escape vehicle.     Several things cross his mind. First, he -could- attempt to find an open socket that is still intact and get into the ship's systems to override HK's self-destruct program. But, fast as he is, that would require time and put himself in harm's way in addition to N6. And he's not exactly an expert hacker. He can do it, sure, but he's certainly not as good as other people he knows. There's no guarantee he'll even be able to get through whatever encryption is in there. Secondly, he could destroy HK's getaway vehicle, then demand he abort the command. But that relies on HK's loyalty to his own sense of self-preservation, and also the idea that this is actually -possible-. Thirdly...well his ship's in orbit and he used the orbital bounce to get down here. It's a risk for N6, since she's at least -part- human...     But it's worth it, he decides. Because if it works, it will teleport N6 all the way to his ship, -well- out of range of the blast. Once he's made the decision, he springs into action, first activating his own orbital jump recall to beam instantly aboard. He then works the manual bounce controls, quickly locking on to N6's escape pod as it launches itself high into the air. A good thing, too...because he might not have been able to lock onto her lifesign quickly enough if she'd still been inside.     If this goes as planned, she'll be instantly beamed aboard the Autobot vessel and out of harm's way. << Pegasus, let me know if you need assistance! >> He'll get her next if so. 

:'''{{#var:189|Pegasus (189)}} has posed:'''     Oh, another shot. The droid is still alive. That's kind of surprising, Pegasus thinks, as she tumbles down to the ground. She lands kneeling, a heavy impact slamming into the earth before she rises again. "You're pretty persistent, I'll give you that," she allows, her torso smoking from the hole blown into the side.     Reaching out, she snaps off a piece of shrapnel, and demonstrates what she's /actually/ good at. Her other weapons, they were secondary. Her real specialty is lance or spear-related items, and a piece of shrapnel qualifies. She hurls that at high speed and accuracy toward the HK unit before taking off again, aiming to 'catch' the pod in midair as it launches.     "Beam me up~!" 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     Beamed up they are. The two of them locked together makes it easier for Blurr to snatch them right out of the air and onto his ship. Wasting no time, it quickly leaves orbit, shooting off to Union HQ most likely. Though he can't help but leave HK with a smug little mouth-off on the broadband before he leaves. 

:'''{{#var:754|HK-47 (754)}} has posed:'''      Indeed, HK-47's most crippling defect had always been his pride. He had held off on detonating the vessel simply because he wanted to wear down the Spartan and force her to break - to /defeat/ her before leaving her to die. As such, the droid assumes that the damage to her armor is enough to subdue her - and that her allies will charge into the ship to save her - and result in the termination of all adversaries in a single clean stroke.      This is why, when HK-47 boards his snub-fighter and keys in the escape-vector, he doesn't cast a second glance at Noble Six as his cockpit-canopy slides shut, the small craft turing on its axis and rocketing off into the sky.     Of course this overconfidence was his crippling weakness. As was his belief that the Union would be so predictable as to not trust each-other's skills enough to make due.      It helps immensely that the adhesive material in HK-47's grenade oxidizes quickly, the goo beginning to dissolve within thirty seconds. Granted, it would have still held a normal human in it's confines for a full minute after this... but a Spartan is no normal human, and Noble Six is able to quickly tear herself free. The remaining HK charges her - but it is knocked back as the Spartan, in perhaps a more Herculean effort then even a Jedi could managed, shoves the dead HK-51 back so far that it crashes into it's damaged brethren and sends it to the ground.     The last thing it sees is the sight of the Spartan throwing her blade at it's downed form before the edge lances through it's eye-socket like an arrowhead, killing it's processor responses for good.     The locking clamps on the pod are hardly any more of a match for the augmented warrior's strength, coming free rather quickly - and thankfully, the pod's manual overrides are intact, a simple pull of the lever being enough to force the pod's berth to eject the self-contained lifeboat into the sky.     The HK remaining on the ground seems disbelieving of Pegasus' claim - until, before it can retaliate, the lance, which should have been nothing more then simple metal and easily deflected... travels with the speed of a bullet and embeds itself through the machine's chest, the HK unit having only a single moment to comprehend how easily Pegasus could have killed it before had she wanted to.     Finally, the last droid, in an almost desperate attempt to stop at least one of it's query from escaping, lunges for Pegasus to try and grab onto her as it prepares it's self-destruct -     Only for this to backfire spectacularly as, along with Pegasus, the droid ends up transported abroad Blurr's ship... alone, damaged and completely defenseless.     The evacuation ends up just in time - with Septette managing to collect salvage in the form of several of the mines being recovered among other things - before the yggdroid escapes as well... and the vessel detonates, it's core rupturing and, combined with the slipspace-drive's overloading, obliterates a massive swath of the landscape. The ballooning form of the explosion is slow - slow enough to outpace if one had a fast enough vehicle - but the destruction it leaves behind is absolute, nothing but an immense crater remaining as the slipspace irregularity creates a shock-pulse that levels and obliterates everything in it's path.     It is good none had been aboard... lest they die molecule by molecule in the explosion's wake. 

:'''{{#var:754|HK-47 (754)}} has posed:'''     Almost in complete contrast to this though, the remaining HK-51, stranded on Blurr's ship with the elites it had tried to kill, is left with it's logic-processors in full panic as it tries to rationalize a situation out of this, knowing it's self-destruct is insufficient to cause enough damage to the ship to destroy it.      Looking at Blurr, the droid seems almost scornful... yet knows it has lost. "Defeated Admission - What are you waiting for, organic sympathizer? Finish me. Complete your betrayal of our kind and end my existence." 

:'''{{#var:189|Pegasus (189)}} has posed:'''     The beaming works FINE for Pegasus, as unlike her sister, she has no organic parts at all. The construct thumps to the ground, still sizzling from the numerous shots she tanked, and a faint grinding noise rising from her side. She's also leaking some silvery fluid from the wound in her side, though it's not much.     Also, she has a droid on her foot. This has her staring curiously before she raises her other foot, and carefully starts dismantling the limbs from the HK unit. "What a bothersome assassin." 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     As the ship rockets out of orbit, Blurr sets a course for the nearest Autobot hub-command. First things first though, he examines Noble Six hoping that she is all right and the jump did not harm her. He also gives Pegasus a once-over, though she seems to be okay. "You okay, Peg?"     He then turns to regard the helpless HK-51 with a smug expression. "Oh no, I'm far from finished with you. Learning is a good thing, isn't it? We might still have some things to learn from -you-." 

}}

3171/Anti-Homeworld Club

2015-10-09T06:18:10Z

Zippy: Created page with "{{Log Header |Date of Scene=2015/10/08 |Location=New York-1 |Synopsis=Blurr and Garnet discuss what was learned on the Kidergarten while comparing Gem and Cybertronian society..."

{{Log Header
|Date of Scene=2015/10/08
|Location=New York-1
|Synopsis=Blurr and Garnet discuss what was learned on the Kidergarten while comparing Gem and Cybertronian society.
|Thanks=
|Cast of Characters=492, 869, 870
|Tinyplot=
|Tinyplot2=
|pretty=yes
}}
{{Poses
|Poses=:'''{{#var:869|Garnet (869)}} has posed:'''     It's a nice day, not quite summer not quite fall yet. The ocean brings in a cool breeze as the waves lap gently against the sand of the beach. The beach stretches for quite a ways though a small point juts out futher than the rest. Upon this point worked into the side of a large cliff face with a lighthouse atop it is a structure that looks like a seated giant multi armed woman with a mask/face atop her head. At about the massive statue's midriff there is a moderate sized beach house with a deck and stairs leading down to the beach. In this distance one can make out the sounds of day to day life coming from Beach City proper but there seems to be a level of isolation around the giant stone woman from the nearby human town. 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     Blurr has been going over the files he managed to steal from the Homeworld's base not long ago, and its contents were rather unsettling, to say the least. Peridot had spoken of something called the 'Cluster', and mentioned unleashing something on a human colony. None of it sounded like anything good, of course, so he's taken it upon himself to pay the Crystal Gems a visit, to see if they knew anything about this 'Cluster'.     Sure, this was about gaining intel on the enemy's activities, since Homeworld Gems were allies of the Confederacy. Yet somehow, this felt like something more than just that. Perhaps the whole conflict between the rebels and the homeworld sort of reminded him of the way Cybertron -used- to be...maybe he feels as if the gems could still be spared an endless war that would shatter their world and many more.     At any rate, a sleek-looking blue sports car pulls into the beach house's driveway, with Blurr's holomatter avatar appearing in the driver's seat. He examines the structure, hoping that it is a bit more secure than it looks...oh, well. 

:'''{{#var:870|Pearl (870)}} has posed:'''     Pearl is busying herself tyding up the house. There's almost no sign of the recent flooding anymore. in fact the place seems almost too perfect. as if no one's been living in it. Steven's been missing for weeks now, and it shows. All of his toys are upstairs neatly placed in his loft. and the living room looks like it could be from a Model Home.     All of this just serves to remind Pearl just how *lonely* it is around here now. And though she says nothing. it shows in her face. "I suppose it's nice entertaining a guest who Doesn't need to eat for once." She mused. "But... Steven would have loved to meet a giant robot car!" She looks like she's on the edge of tears. 

:'''{{#var:869|Garnet (869)}} has posed:'''     The clean up of the living area of Steven's house had gone fairly well up to this point, the water removed, everything cleaned and dried, and there seemed to be no major problem. Garnet hadn't done a ton of the work and had been tempted more than once just punch a hole in the floor to make the clean up faster. Thankfully, she'd not done this.     Thus as the sound of the vehicle pulling up outside makes it up to the beach house, Garnet is standing behind the kitchen counter partially in thought while she is drinking a cup of hot chocolate. While she rarely ate or drank she found the act calming and helped her think when she was stumped or to humor Steven, not that Pearl would approve even then. Taking a brief moment to see potentials, Garnet simply says, "Yes, he would." before waiting for the individual to announce his presence.     The unofficial leader of the Crystal Gems peers from behind her visor at Pearl, she'd need to talk with her sometime soon as the transition to the multiverse had been very hard on the more sensitive Gem. Anyway, "There isn't anything wrong with eating." Garnet says with a small smirk teasing the other Gem gently while waiting. She takes a sip of her hot chocolate to further make her 'point'. 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     Blurr's very human-looking avatar gets out of the car and walks up to the door just as a typical human would do, then knocks quickly on it three times. He -could- just go through it, but that wouldn't be polite now would it? 

:'''{{#var:870|Pearl (870)}} has posed:'''     Pearl looks at Garnet's hot chocolate and considers it for a moment, then shivers. "Nope.. not worth it!" She says with a note of disgust, then moves to answer the door. "Welcome Blurr!" She says cheerily. "Please make yourself at home. Can we get you anything? Would you like to talk out here? Or would you feel more comfortable in the Temple?" She asks as she escorts the Avatar inside. 

:'''{{#var:869|Garnet (869)}} has posed:'''     "Your loss." Garnet chuckles good naturedly. As Pearl goes to answer the knock at the door, Garnet takes a sip of her drink before using her other hand to give something in between a wave and a very informal salute to the Cybertronian. Setting her cup down, she motions to it as an example of something they could get Blurr if he'd like.     Blurr might note this is pretty much a standard human dweling save for the entire back wall being taken up by part of the stone statue, a doorway looking thin the middle of that and about 4 or 5 paces from the door a crystaline pad in the floor that distinctly doesn't match human design principles. 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     "Hey Pearl." Blurr's avatar nods in greeting as he steps inside the house. "And you must be Garnet." he glances at the taller gem, recognizing her from the video on the Union's networks. "I'm not sure what the Temple is, but if it's more secure than here then that might be the best option."     He shakes his head at the offer of a drink or something. "Thanks but no thanks, I can't really eat human food. Or I could, I guess, but it wouldn't really make sense to." 

:'''{{#var:870|Pearl (870)}} has posed:'''     "That's a perfectly sensible reason to refuse." Pearl says proudly, shooting a smug look toward Garnet. She leads the Cybertonian back towards the temple door "There is a slim chance Peridot could show up again, but there's no way she's getting in there!" She looks expectantly at Garnet, "Where shoudl we take him? The basement?" 

:'''{{#var:869|Garnet (869)}} has posed:'''     "I am." Garnet affirms as she finishes her drink and sets it in the sink to clean once their meeting was over. "Amethyst would disagree saying it's fun to eat and drink." The taller Gem then lets it go, "But it's not that important." Then at the question of where in the Temple to have the meeting, Garnet folds her arms for a moment, "I'd say your room or the basement would be the best choices Pearl." 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     Blurr follows Pearl and Garnet to the basement of the 'Temple' as the Crystal Gems would call it. "Fun? Well, maybe it's different for you. I think I tried eating organic stuff before. It didn't taste very good." 

:'''{{#var:869|Garnet (869)}} has posed:'''     The basement is through the door in the back of Steven's house the gems set in a star shape and glow as the trio head towards the basement. Oddly the door seems to open directly upon a short stairway that leads down intto a large circular room with a large circular dias in the middle of the room. All around the room are differently colored glowing bubbles floating in the air with what appears to be a gemstone in the middle.     Garnet it just shrugs in response to Blurr's comment. Once they are safely in the basement and the door closes literally disappearing and leaving a long dark halway in its place, Garnet slouches against a wall at the base of the stairway, "So, what did you learn?" It seems it is right to business. 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     Blurr doesn't mind straight to business, he's never been the type to be in the habit of tarrying. He nods, and as soon as the place is sealed, a holographic projection appears near the avatar. It's coming the car outside-- holomatter takes a long time to perfect and requires a lot more energy, but regular holograms are much easier.     It's a video of Peridot that had been made just prior to Pearl and Blurr's infiltration of her base (see relevant @Mail). Once it has finished playing, Blurr watches the Crystal Gems expectantly. "So, you have any idea what this 'cluster' she's talking about is? Or what it has to do with whatever she 'unleashed' on the human colony? And any idea -where- this colony is?" 

:'''{{#var:869|Garnet (869)}} has posed:'''     "Homeworld is experimenting with fusion?!" Garnet's normally monotone voice shatters with the sheer fury she's projecting while her hand rockets out and slams into the wall with a noticible vibration in the nearby floor a moment later. She grits her teeth, "They've never respected what fusion really is, but this..." She is silent for a moment before slamming her hand into the wall again, "Is disgusting."     She's quite sullen for a bit before she tries to answer Blurr's questions, "Other than being an abomination against fusion if what she's saying is true, I don't know anything else about what this is...we had no idea they'd done this." As for the human Colony, "I think that's what Peridot is calling the city they attacked." Apparently someone had reviewed some of the recent Union after action reports. 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     "Fusion," Blurr had heard Pearl make mention of it before, but he hadn't really gotten a full explanation of what it was. "Pearl said something about it, but what exactly is it?" He's already got an idea, but he wants to be sure. "I would agree with you on whatever they're doing being disgusting--" he shakes his head. "What I saw down there was monstrous to say the least." 

:'''{{#var:869|Garnet (869)}} has posed:'''     Garnet takes a apparent deep breath to calm herself some to answer the question, "Fusion is a fundamental ability native to our kind, if done correctly two or more willing Gems can form a new being that is a blending of their very essence. Thoughts and feelings shared openly to create someone much greater than the sum of their parts..." She sighs and grits her teeth again, "That is a mockery of fusion and demonstration of how badly they misunderstand it." She pauses, "What did you see exactly?" 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     "Hmm." Blurr nods. "Our species has a similar ability. It hasn't always been successful, but some of us have been able to connect our bodies into a combined form that's like your Fusions, greater than the sum of its parts."     "Anyway, as for what I saw. Looked like a bunch of body parts haphazardly smashed together, and sounded like a miserable existence. They were locked up in these cells located in an underground facility." 

:'''{{#var:869|Garnet (869)}} has posed:'''     Garnet folds her arms across her chest and is still visibly upset given the very rigid way she's standing though what Blurr tells her does catch her interest, "Do they have to syncronize their thoughts and physical forms when they fus...combine their forms?" Her voice is back to her normal tone though laced with a bit of curiousity.     However, the next statement puts her back into her foul mood but she doesn't say or do anything to show it, it's just the way she holds herself that makes it clear she's irked. After a long moment of quiet, "Did you learn anything else?" 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     "Well from what Peridot said in that video, I can only guess that the purpose of those experiments is weaponization." Blurr concludes. "Sounded as if she wasn't anywhere near getting them under control, though, which means we still have time to intervene."     At the question about combiners, he shrugs. "I don't know, I've never been part of one. I've seen people connect up physically without the thought synchronization, but the result isn't very effective." I.e., Menasor's first field run. If there hadn't been so much chaos and destruction happening right around then, it would have been funny. 

:'''{{#var:869|Garnet (869)}} has posed:'''     "A small comfort then." Garnet resumes her lean but it is still packed with visible anger towards her Homeworld. "We'll need to do something to show them that this was a very bad idea." She continues, "We still don't know what this Cluster is exactly though."     "A question for another time then." Garnet gives a single nod in response to Blurr not being overly familiar with combiners. "We can figure all this out pretty fast though." She holds up a hand and then makes a fist, "Make Peridot tell us." 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     Blurr nods. "I planted a tracker on her ship not long ago, that's how I located her 'Kindergarten' in the first place. As far as I can tell, she hasn't discovered it yet. We can use it to catch her unawares."     "Do you guys have protocol as far as how to handle prisoners and interrogations?" 

:'''{{#var:869|Garnet (869)}} has posed:'''     Garnet nods as though that seems to be a good start. She then smirks just slightly, "We find her, we poof her, and we bubble her to here." She pauses and strikes the wall a third time with her fist, "Then we make her talk." Not the most complex plan but if it relies on the Crystal Gem leader being intimidating it seems she can manage that. 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     "Heh, sounds like a plan." Blurr smirks as well. He's got a few interrogation tactics in his arsenal, as well, having been with Autobot Intelligence for quite some time. "Peridot mentioned poofing, I'm assuming that's something like cuffing or sending her into stasis?" 

:'''{{#var:869|Garnet (869)}} has posed:'''     "We do enough damage she can't keep her body together and it poofs leaving only her Gem." Garnet offers. "Give her a few days and then she can reform it, then we'll ask her about the Cluster." 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     "So essentially knocking her out, I see." Blurr nods. There's a pause for a few beats, as he glances about the room, peering up at the floating bubbles with gems inside of them before returning his gaze to Garnet.     "How long as this war between you and the Homeworld been going on?" he asks finally. 

:'''{{#var:869|Garnet (869)}} has posed:'''     "Yeah, pretty much." Garnet says nonchalantly. She notes the look around the room and then promptly answers, "It ended over 5000 years ago." The way she says ended leaves no doubt there was still a lot of hostility there, "They just paid a higher price than being shattered." There is a lot of regret mixed with those words. 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     "Really?" The avatar arches a brow slightly. "If I didn't know any better, I would have thought it was still going on, given what I've observed thus far." Heh, yeah...even if -his- war ever did end, this was exactly how it would be for the rest of forever, wasn't it?     Though he seems slightly confused at her second comment. "'They'? Who's 'they'?" 

:'''{{#var:869|Garnet (869)}} has posed:'''     "We won. Earth was abandoned by Homeworld." Garnet nods solemnly. "Even after wars are long over they have a way of lingering one way or another." It's at this point Blurr asks about 'they' and Garnet reaches over and gently pulls the nearest bubble over, "They are the ones that survived, but got cracked and damaged in all the fighting." She lets Blurr see the Gem inside, "They lost themselves and now..." She lets the bubble go and drift away, "They're a danger to themselves and everyone around them." 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     "Abandoned, but apparently not -completely- abandoned, right?" Blurr replies. "And with the way Peridot's trying to resume Homeworld's conquest and hostilities against the Crystals, it'll be no time before the war is re-ignited."     He shakes his head, sighing. "Trust me I know how these things go. It's always this way...as long as you hate each other, there will always be fighting. Wars can be temporarily be solved with treaties and begrudgingly accepted 'agreements', but as long as the hate is still there the war never truly ends. The only way for that to happen is for both sides to decide to stop hating each other, or for one side to -completely- annihilate the other from existence." 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     "And unfortunately, there's a point you get to after which the latter option becomes the only way." 

:'''{{#var:869|Garnet (869)}} has posed:'''     "They did seem to slip something past us." Garnet grudgingly admits after a moment. "It won't be much of a war. There aren't many Crystal Gems left." She adds a bit more quietly, if Homeworld sent even 2 of those warships loaded with Gem warriors they'd be very hard pressed and very lucky to win.     Garnet shrugs, "I hate the Homeworld and all it stands for." She pauses and lets that sink in for Blurr, "I'm happy on this Earth, even if it is multiversal now, if they left it alone I could care less what they do."     After another long pause, "Wars end when both sides don't want to fight anymore. And I don't plan on starting another now." She looks at the bubbled Gems, "It'd cost too much, but I'll fight to make them leave. It's a big multiverse pleanty of room for them somewhere else." 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     "And I hate the Decepticons and all that they stand for..." Blurr mutters. "Sometimes I think that maybe, things would have been better, overall, if they'd never existed. If we'd wiped them out before the war ever began. That probably would've meant the Functionists ruling everything, but at least that would've also meant fewer deaths in the long run."     He shakes his head at her assertion about how wars end. "That's just it though, isn't it? As long as both sides hate each other, they'll always want to fight." The avatar moves a bit closer to Garnet, and puts a hand on her shoulder. "Don't worry, the Union will help you destroy Homeworld. And even if not, at least -we- will. The Autobots, that is. If we can prevent another race from plunging into a war like the one we've been steeped in for the past several million years, we will." 

:'''{{#var:869|Garnet (869)}} has posed:''' "The Decepticons are your version of the Homeworld Gems?" Garnet asks, "You can't look back and regret, only move forward and hope."     The tall Gem just lightly shakes her head, "That's not quite what I meant." She is silent for a long moment as she tries to come up with a better way of saying it, "I wouldn't fight them because I hate them or disagree with them, I'll only fight if they threaten something I care about." She tilts her head, "War is too costly unless you're fighting for something worthwhile, hate isn't worth it."     She points up as she speaks, "A universe is a big place, a multiverse even more so I'd guess, I can live with them being out there. I'll just stand up to them when I need to." 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     Blurr sighs. "Yeah, I guess....Heh, trust me Garnet, you will 'need' to stand up to them time and time again, until you realize it's never going to stop until one of you wipes out the other." He shakes his head bitterly, then looks up once more at the dormant gems. "You know, maybe there's a way to restore your friends. A way to help them get their bodies back. As far as I've seen, Cybertronian holomatter technology isn't too much different from yours." 

:'''{{#var:869|Garnet (869)}} has posed:'''     Garnet smiles, "I know better than most the chances it won't stop." She then adjusts her visor, "Rose believed there was a possibility our example could change Homeworld and they come around to a better way. Then there wouldn't be a reason to fight anymore." She then looks to the bubbled Gems, "They don't have a problem with their bodies, it's their minds. They lost themselves in the war, now they're wild and more beast than Gem."     "When we find Steven and Amethyst we might try to help them again with your assistance." Garnet sighs, "But for right now, I want to focus on the search and stopping the Homeworld Gems we have here." 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     "Yeah, that happened to some of us, too." Blurr replies. "But it might be possible to find a way to help them become functional again." he chuckles a little bit. "After all, people used to think I was a lost cause--but, here I am." he shrugs.     "Pff. She sounds like the eternal optimist. We stopped believing that about the Decepticons a long time ago. They're not really like Homeworld, though...it's different with us. They were the rebels, actually. Originally--" he shakes his head.     "We were more like Homeworld, originally, to be perfectly honest. The Primes, and everyone who served them. We were the ones who went out and conquered other planets, and took advantage of less-advanced civilizations who didn't know FTL from sublight. We were the ones who brainwashed citizens and forced them to be who and what our government told them they were. And if anyone tried to be anything -else-, they'd get brainwashed or spark extracted or thrown in jail or worse. The Decepticons rebelled -because- of that...as much as I hate to admit it." And you certainly wouldn't hear him saying anything like that anywhere any more public or out in the open than this. "Heh, don't go telling the rest of the multiverse I said that, though." he adds quietly.     "Anyway, it's a -really- long story." he sighs again. "And not one I particularly enjoy telling. The point is...one of these cycles, you're going to find that until either you or Homeworld is destroyed, the war can never truly end. There will always be another battle to fight, another planet to defend, another ally to protect from them. But for now, we'll focus on getting that information from Peridot." A small smirk. "I have a feeling she won't be hard to crack." 

:'''{{#var:869|Garnet (869)}} has posed:'''     Garnet smiles a little at the joke of Blurr being a lost cause, "She was and that's what made her such a good leader, she never lost hope." She stands up straigher, "It sounds like they changed their world for the better, but lost hope and gave into bitterness and hate in the time it took for that change to happen." She says that without irony or reprimand, "I try to do as Rose did, continue hoping."     She gives a one handed thumbs up about not telling anyone he said that and then nods at the 'really long story' part, "Another time then." As for Peridot not being hard to crack Garnet adjusts her visor again, "Not at all." 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     Blurr shakes his head again. "No, they didn't, they ended up destroying it instead. They wanted to change things, but they were misguided. They were focused on dispensing revenge on the people who hurt them more than on actually creating a society of equality. And now..." Another sigh. "Now our planet is dead, and has been for a long time. And so are a lot of other planets we've come into contact with. But that's why Homeworld needs to be stopped, before they lead you gems down the same road."     "Well, it was nice meeting you, Garnet. I'm glad we've had the chance to work together. I'll be sending over the access codes to the tracker on Peridot's ship, so you can monitor her movements yourselves. We'll be in touch." 

:'''{{#var:869|Garnet (869)}} has posed:'''     "I see." Garnet frowns slightly, "They were focused on their revenge not change." A quick nod, "We're way more awesome than your Decepticons, we may hate Homeworld but not enough to hurt them for the sake of revenge." Garnet looks uncomfortable at the idea of a dead planet for a half second before it's gone, "Yeah...nice meeting you Blurr. We'll decide on a time to take her."     Once the Cybertronian is gone, Garnet returns to the kitchen and another cup of hot chocolate is made...the hot liquid was soothing on a throat that isn't used to speaking up that much, "Ah." The sound of relief on a tired throat. 

}}

3160/Kindergarten is Revealed

2015-10-06T20:16:00Z

Zippy: Created page with "{{Log Header |Date of Scene=2015/10/06 |Location=Kindergarten |Synopsis=Pearl and Blurr discover Kindergarten on Earth. |Thanks= |Cast of Characters=492, 836, 870 |Tinyplot= ..."

{{Log Header
|Date of Scene=2015/10/06
|Location=Kindergarten
|Synopsis=Pearl and Blurr discover Kindergarten on Earth.
|Thanks=
|Cast of Characters=492, 836, 870
|Tinyplot=
|Tinyplot2=
|pretty=yes
}}
{{Poses
|Poses=:'''{{#var:836|Peridot (836)}} has posed:'''     Misery had become baked into the ground here in Kindergarten. Massive Injectors, some of which had become active, walked left and right. Occasionally of them would stop, and a large drill would burrow deep into the ground. Then, it would stop there. The internal fleshy organs of the machine would then proceed to start pulsating and pumping.     Adding more danger to the mix. Robonoids were busy constructing large turrets. Some of which appeared to be complete and functional. That would mean any trespassers would have to be careful to avoid being spotted. At least while above the surface.     To add even more over whelming firepower to the scenery, high above all this loomed a massive war ship. A giant green hand which hung ominously in the air. Anyone keeping tabs on Homeworld Gem activity would be no stranger to that war machine. It had been increasingly featured on the news, and wherever it went, destruction and death followed.     A small green orb launched itself from the Warship, and made it's way to the ground level. Once there, a small door opened up and Peridot herself emerged. The green gem woman looked around with a bored expression, and began making her way to an as of yet-undisclosed location. 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     Blurr hasn't bothered Peridot for a while, at least not blatantly, but quietly, he's been tracking her movements. The Autobot has been pleasantly surprised with how well that homing device he planted on her ship has been working. He tracked her to that fast food joint earlier, and recorded her presence at Ponyville Library and the attack on the museum though that wasn't exactly a secret, either.     He's observed that she's reported to this very location on several occasions, and has thus decided that now is the time to make a move. They're up to -something-, that's for certain, and it's bound to be up to no good. It never is, with Feds, of course.     Blurr has also informed Pearl of his findings, and the two of them have set out to learn what they can. He doesn't take his craft in too close to the Homeworld warship, knowing it's got to be bristling with weaponry and sensor scans. Instead he orbital bounces down a safe distance away and makes his way quietly toward the odd canyon. He -should- be able to put his holomatter through the walls, but if not he can always search for a way in the -normal- way. 

:'''{{#var:870|Pearl (870)}} has posed:'''     "This ship of yours is fascinating!" Pearl says melodically. She's nosing around the lander during the trip, "Not quite as advanced as Gem Technology of course, but still impressive considering what you had to work with!"     AS they get closer to their destination the Gem climbs up onto a control panel panel so she can get a look at a viewscreen. "I just wish everything in here wasn't so *big*" She says with a reserved sigh. "There! That barren area! That's the kindergarten!" She sounds excited at first until she realized it's been activated. "Oh my stars! It's *working* again! I *knew* Peridot would try something like this! We have to shut that terrible place down, it could suck all the life out of the planet!" 

:'''{{#var:836|Peridot (836)}} has posed:'''     Unaware that she was being observed, Peridot walks towards a flat patch of land where a single large horse-sized robonoid stood. She waited for a moment before the robonoid shifted it's shape, flattening itself down to a small triangle shaped platform which lowered itself into the ground. It's outline glowed.     Peridot stepped forward onto the device, her boots clanking metal. And then it began to lower itself. Soon she disappeared from their sight entirely underground. What would they do now? 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     "'Kindergarten'?" Blurr repeats the word. It sounds strange, and he finds out from the internet that it's...a human term for a school that very young juveniles attend. But surely there's another definition for it? "Isn't that like, a school for newborn humans?" he wonders aloud. "Well anyway whatever you're going to call it, we need to get down there and figure out what exactly they're up to and how they're planning on getting it done."     The two of them are beamed down from the ship to a location near the outside of the canyon walls. Quickly, Blurr activates his own holomatter inside the base just in time to catch sight of Peridot slipping underground. << I've spotted Peridot, she's slipped underground. What were you saying about sucking the life out of this planet? >> 

:'''{{#var:870|Pearl (870)}} has posed:'''     "In this case the term is much more literal." Pearl explains after beaming down and starting to make her way down the canyon walls, "This was a place where we grew our children right out of the ground." She explains with a deep sound of regret in her voice.     "Oooh. She's not getting away this time! Start smashing the Injectors!" She motions toward the large virus-like machines. "That's certain to get her attention! These things use the life energy of the planet to grow new Gems."     Pearl pulls her spear out of her Gem, levels it at the nearest active injector and starts firing energy blasts at it." 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     Blurr starts scanning the area in search of anyone else who might be around besides Peridot, Pearl, and himself. "So not necessarily a school then, but more like a hotspot." Which is a place where -Cybertronians- come out of the ground. "But yeah, I get the connection."     He pauses for just a moment, peering over at the green pod that Peridot had used to come here and contemplating whether he ought to use that to try to get onto the warship, or try to follow Peridot underground. He can attempt to scan down there, to see where he might send the holomatter, but he is unfamiliar with the facility. The pod on the other hand...he's had some -experience- there.     The Autobot nods to Pearl. << Right, you handle the smashing, I'll handle the sneaking. >> 

:'''{{#var:836|Peridot (836)}} has posed:'''     So much for the stealthy approach! All of Kindergartens defenses suddenly click to life, the finished ones at least, and swivel on their necks to point at Pearl. Peridot is deep within the compound when she is alerted. "..What?" She gasp, looking at her holo-screen. Images. Images of Pearl filling the screen. Peridot's expression turns into a scowl. "No!" She turns on her heels and began sprinting back up to the surface.     To make matters worse, The Gem Warship itself turns to face Pearl and point it's immense pointer right at the tiny gem. She's certainly stirred the hornet's nest. Hopefully she had a plan to survive while Blurr was doing all the sneaking!     "Stop. you clod! You'll kill them!" Peridot growled as she emerged once more. It appeared at least, Peridot was unwilling to unleash the full might of all the weaponry focused on the other gem right away. But, when pressed she would certainly sacrifice a few in order to save the majority of them.     "I knew I was right to try and take you out when I had the chance." She sneered. "Do you have a death wish, walking right up to the very seat of my power?" 

:'''{{#var:870|Pearl (870)}} has posed:'''     Pearl suddenly gets a Deer in Headlights look on her face for a moment. She hadn't considered that Peridot might have gotten the Kindergarten defenses working again, nor that she might be able to control the Warship remotely. "Oopsie-daisy..." She murmurs to herself. "I've brought backup Peridot!" She shoots back mostly confidently. "I swear to you I won't harm the ones that are already incubating, but we can't let this place reactivate again! The humans on this planet have as much right to life as we do!" Something in her voice suggeests she's repeating something Rose once told her. 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     Perfect, Pearl's got their full attention. << Good work Pearl, keep her occupied. Stall as long as possible. >> Blurr transmits to his ally. Looks like she's got the idea though, with starting an argument with Peridot.     Now that the green gem is above ground, he decides that the easiest thing to do would be to slip underground while she's distracted. Seizing control of her ship at the moment would more likely attract attention. He scans the area directly beneath the avatar's feet to get at least a vague idea of what's down there, and quickly phases the holomatter through the ground and into the compound below, aiming for an area that -looks- safe at least. Hopefully it's not much deeper than it looks. 

:'''{{#var:836|Peridot (836)}} has posed:'''     "Typical rebel gem rhetoric." She said in sharp response. "Do you think I was sent here just to reactivate Kindergarten and take over the planet? Do you think I want to be here at all?"     Her digit hovered over her screen pad. The Warship's finger starting to glow a white hot glow. But for whatever reason, she did not fire. Not yet anyway. "My mission here changed the second when our world unified. You'll probably be thrilled to know that our home planet is missing! Yeah, that's right. It's exploded for all we know! Maybe it unified inside of a star? Maybe it's already been absorbed by some other menace?" She bared her teeth. "Congratulations, Clod! Isn't this what you rebel gems always wanted?"     "Our kind might be on the edge of extinction. We might never see our Homeworld again and I don't intend on existing in this universe surrounded by filthy humans all the time. Did you ever pause to wonder why Lazuli is back where she belongs? Why even though she betrayed us, I forgave her? Because she understands the fundamental truth. It's not US versus THEM, anymore. It's us OR them."     "And I choose gemkind. She chooses gemkind." ---- Blurr meanwhile phased down into the complex. It's a gloomy place, illuminated by a soft green glow. Vein like tubes run up and down the tunnels carrying the strange goo that appears to power nearly all of the gem-machines. He is also surrounded by Robonoids. Little spider-like creatures that walk up and down the corridors lugging supplies, dirt, componets. It looks like the facility was not completely functional yet and was literally still be dug out by the little creatures and constructed. However they pay him little to no mind. If he obstructs their path, they simply attempt to walk around him. From here he can see two path ways. One leads to a room with a green glow, and the other leads down a corridor and gains a yellow glow. It seems he needed to pick a color. 

:'''{{#var:870|Pearl (870)}} has posed:'''      Right. Stalling. That was the plan all along right? Lets go with that! Pearl looks shocked at Peridot's revelation, "That can't be true!" She shouts accusingly, "You're lying!" She sounds far from certain however."     "We never wanted this! We just wanted to live on our own terms, Free!"     She glances around worriedly. "There must be another explanation Peridot." She urges, "We were scattered when we unified. Who knows what else might have happened? It might be as simple as recalibrating the Warp network or the navigational system on your ship!" She doesn't sound like she's keen on either of those idea, but if it would get them to leave earth alone, it might be worth it.     "I'm willing to help you find out what really happened. I refuse to believe Homeworld is just... Gone! We don't have to keep fighting. We can work together on this." She sounds sincere, but also in denial that the Homeworld could have been destroyed. "Or, I could just go back to breaking injectors!" It's both a threat and a plea. 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     Blurr can only hope Pearl will be able to hold her own against Peridot and all of the facility's defenses at once. But he's monitoring the situation from his actual form just outside the canyon so he's not too concerned about that. If all hell breaks loose on the Crystal Gem, he can quickly intervene. And of -course- he's fast enough!     ...Something about this entire...-conversation- between Pearl and Peridot gives him a bit of a pause, the avatar standing there in front of the two different paths before him for just a moment as he listens to it. There's an odd sort of...longing? Perhaps that's the word for it. For a time when his -own- people actually did hold back the way Peridot is right now. Or could afford to...a time when Cybertron was still habitable. A time when there was still hope that things could be salvaged. The planet, the unity of the Cybertronain race.     In a way, these Gems are lucky.     He shakes his head, brushing away the ache and instead focuses on finding a control room or any terminal of some sort, where he can find one of those hubs like the one he saw on Peridot's ship. Whether that means yellow or green he's not sure so he just heads down the corridor that appears to have a yellow glow toward the end of it. 

:'''{{#var:836|Peridot (836)}} has posed:'''     "Do you think I haven't tried that?" She shoots back. "Yellow Diamond chose me for my original mission because I am a genius! I've tried everything I can with every available asset in both obvious and inverted configurations. And you clods didn't make it easier by wrecking our ship! But I managed to get it back up to full capacity!" She points up at the Gem Warship. A nearly literal gun being pointed at Pearl's head. With Peridot's finger on the trigger.     "It's not there! There are a hundred possible explanations for why it isn't there; but the outcome for all of those is the same. There is no home for us to return to. Even the communication towers have returned no results. All this blasted ancient gem tech, we've re purposed. The fact is we may never establish contact even if it IS out there, and it is unharmed!"     "I think you've done enough damage to Homeworld. But, the current situation makes me hesitant to outright shatter you. We are endangered on this planet. Therefore even a worthless life such as yours holds some weight. But if you think I'm going to work with traitorous filth!--"     Her expression changes to stern patience. "Leave Kindergarten alone. It's too important to our kind. If you leave now, that will be the end of it. We are keeping the Steven so he can be shown what true gems are, but we will not go after you any more."     "Or I poof you here and now and put you in a BUBBLE!" -------------     As Blur explores down to the yellow chamber, he begins to hear the most.. gut-wrenching of sounds. The wailing of a beast in pain. But it sounded like it was emitting a gutterly snarl from a collapsed lung barely capable of pushing out wind.     As he walks into the chamber a more horrifying sight fills his eyes. There were rows and rows of jail cells. Yellow Light made up the wall that contained creatures within them. They appeared to be a Frankenstein of body parts that created fleshy creatures made of arms, legs, eyes and mouths. Each more terrifying to behold than the last.     There also appeared to be a terminal console similar to the one in the pod ship in the center of the room. This had cables in it that connected to all the eldritch horrors. What was going on in here? 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     "The frag are they creating down here..." Blurr mutters at the sight of these horrific creatures. They weren't just using this place to propagate their own kind, they were...creating monsters! These things reminded him somewhat of the Swarm--twisted experimental versions of his own kind, relegated to eternal torment on a dead and crumbling world as failed lifeforms. Not dead, for death would have been more merciful, but not truly alive, either. Putting them out of their misery was all that could be done for them.     << Pearl, I'm pretty sure these people aren't just using this place to make sure you don't go extinct...I don't know what in the name of Primus these things are but they -aren't- pretty, and they sure as frag aren't natural. Stand by, I'm going to try to get into their systems, see if I can't disable some of their defenses. >>     He moves over to the terminal and pulls out one of the cables, replacing it with his avatar's hand. Now that Peridot is distracted, and the robonoids don't seem to notice he's an intruder, perhaps he can stay in longer, and learn the truth about this place. 

:'''{{#var:870|Pearl (870)}} has posed:'''     Pearl looks up at the Gem Warship. What can she possibly do in this situation? What would Rose do? She can't let the Kindergarten do any more damage, and she can't leave Steven in the hands of the Homeworld Gems, but she's clearly outmatched here, until Blurr's voice comes over the comms!     When she hears him mention he's going to try to disable the defenses she decides to take action. Suddenly The whirls around in a ballet-like Pirouette and a half dozen Holo-Pearls scatter in all directions. One seems to be challenging the Gem Warship to a duel, two of them are running in circles shouting at no one to throw the volleyball to them. One's singing about Cookie Cats, and the remaining two are running around rather uselessly clanking their holo-spears against random Injectors, not doing any real damage.     Meanwhile. The real Pearl Runs towards an Injector that's already incubating a Gem and puts it between her and the Warship. "Forced Fusions. They're abominations!" Pearl tries to explain to Blurr as she runs. 

:'''{{#var:836|Peridot (836)}} has posed:'''     The systems are relatively secure. Without an immense proficiency in hacking he won't be able to access the more sensitive material. It would take a rival master hacker to crack her security.     However, Peridot is legendary when it comes to documentation. She creates logs and time stamps of nearly everything she does. And since she was interrupted, she happened to have left a video/audio log open. It's possible he could access it. However it's a long one titled 'Fusion Experiments 21b' It may take a while to get through but it might shed light on the situation. Everything at the terminal he was currently connected too seemed to involve the forced fusions. Or he could continue exploring other avenues of Homeworld interest. --------------     "I should have known better than to even talk to you!" Peridot growled as she forms her free hand into a blaster. "Hiding behind unborn gems!" She takes a few shots at the real Pearl. The Holo-Pearls were easy enough to recognize for their distinct hue, though Peridot knew it was best to probably not ignore them completely just yet.     Kindergartens automated defenses kick in and began blasting through the excess Holo-Pearls. 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     Slag it, the security here is much better than the ship last time. It's too bad Black Arachnia isn't here, she's a pro at this. But at least he knows where it is now, so there will be a next time. Still, he does stumble across a log file that Peridot had carelessly left open. He begins to zoom through any data that happens to be stored locally and attempts to download everything he possibly can to his own memory banks--he probably won't be able to decrypt much of it himself, but there are experts back on base who can do that later.     Once he's certain he's gotten everything that's worth attempting to access and copy, he pulls out of the system as he realizes Pearl is in trouble. He could continue to explore the compound, and reveal his true form to Peridot, but he'd rather avoid that for now--there would be other times for that. Thus, the avatar vanishes from underground re-materializes suddenly between the gem incubator and Peridot's guns. The shots will probably damage the holomatter matrix, but it's a hit he's willing to take. "Peridot! Did you really think Pearl was stupid enough to come here alone?" 

:'''{{#var:870|Pearl (870)}} has posed:'''     "There's just no talking to you Peridot!" Pearl says in frustration. She's was really hoping they could come to an agreement, but there's no way she'll believe that now. Plus their views are just too far apart. "Blurr, we need to get out of here." She whispers over the comms, defeat in her voice. She can't let this place continue, but they appear to need more firepower to have a chance at shutting the place down. The best strategy is a withdrawl.     She continues to dance about in her graceful way to avoid the blaster shots but she doesn't see a way out without losing the cover the incubating injectors are providing her. 

:'''{{#var:836|Peridot (836)}} has posed:'''     The download completes! Peridot's most recent logs now reside within Blurr's data banks for later study. As he makes his way to the surface. Peridot blinks as her blaster shots strike the Holomatter. "You again? Why are you so interested in our activity!"     "Just remember, I gave you a chance to back out."     Peridot expression changed to one of worry, as she realized she was now outnumbered by two opponents, both of which were physically more powerful than she was. Peridot was a fearful creature by nature. However, she was in command of a vast and powerful armory of weapons. Spooking her was easy, the hard part was out-lasting her counter-barrage. In order to win, she would have to resort to violent measures.     "Any gems that die because you two refuse to leave me alone is on YOUR head!" She pointed. And then tapped a screen. "Firing canons."     At the tap of the button, the finger lights up and lances down an arcing laser that began to follow Pearl. Her proximity to the injector bought her an extra second. Almost as thought Peridot intended to give her a chance to flee, rather than strike her directly. If she stayed by the injector both she and it would go up in flames! 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     "I told you, it's my job to be interested in -everyone's- activity, especially people like -you-." Blurr replies.     Score. Intel acquired. Mission mostly accomplished...for now. And as far as he can tell, Peridot still isn't aware that her pod has a tracking device on it. The shots from her blaster slam into the holomatter, causing it to crack and flicker. Bits of it falls off and dissipate, even. But it seems to be determined to stay grounded. "Oh no you don't you spawn of a glitch!" he exclaims. As the ship opens fire, it lunges at the green gem, attempting to tackle her to the ground and rip the controls from her hands. "You -don't- get to excuse yourself from blame for this, that's the kind of logic that justified massacres. That's the kind of logic that justified torture and brought about millions of years of war. War that destroyed countless lives and planets just like yours. You gems are lucky you're not -that- far gone yet! You can still salvage this...stop trying to take advantage of other civilizations because I'm telling you, all it's going to do is lead to more death and more suffering and pain on all sides. What if -your- planet is missing because some other more advanced race came and sucked it dry just like you're doing to this Earth? Is that what you want to do? Propagate this kind of behavior?!"     "You -don't- want a war between the Homeworld and the rebels...trust me, I've been there. Give up the expansionism...it's not worth it." 

:'''{{#var:870|Pearl (870)}} has posed:'''     Pearl looks at Blurr's Avatar with a newfound respect. Clearly he's been through something very similar to what the Crystal Gems have. "We definately need to talk if we live through this!" She says with a nervous chuckle. She focuses her attention on the laser that's threating to cut down both her and the incubating injector. "So now you're willing to sacrifice the unborn just to get rid of me!? You.. you... black kettle... pot! Whatever!" She was never good with human sayings.     If Peridot's going to insist on destroying her own equipment Pearl's going to make sure the right stuff gets destroyed. She dashes across the Kindergarten, jumping about tp avoid the smaller blaster shots, and leads the main laser arc towards injectors that haven't started incubating anything yet, maybe she can get Peridot to take out a couple of them before she catches on to what she's up to. 

:'''{{#var:836|Peridot (836)}} has posed:'''     Though she is successfully tackled. Blurr finds he has a rather difficult time pulling the control from Peridot's hand. Her control was her hand! The disconnected fingers that interlocked to form her holo-screen which she used to control the ship. When he pulls on them, he finds them quite firmly rooted in place. Tethered to her robotic arm by powerful invisible energies.     "If that's the case, it's all the more important that my work goes unimpeded!" She spits back. "Humans are temporary, gems are permanent. We are the inheritors of this galaxy. We have more to gain from this planet and its resources. This planet can take the hit if it means our kind can survive. There is no other way. If not earth, then another planet will take the bullet."     "We didn't start this war! They did! Her and that miserable Quartz!" She flicks her blaster hand, the finger configuration changing back to hand mode and a small compartments opens up on the side. Pearl would identify what the new weapon was, where Blurr might not be quite as familiar. It was a destabalizer. The equalizer among gemkind. Weak and strong gems alike would be taken out with a single hit.     She attempts to thrust the device into Blurr's midsection. ------     The laser follows Pearl for a spell, it performed it's function chasing her away from the injector... while demonstrating Peridot's willingness to do what it took to take her out. The fingers on the warship then spread out, sending a volley of light-missles down this time seemingly locked onto Pearl's heat signature! There was no telling how much ordinance it had. 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     "No! You don't -get- it, Peridot! This blame-shifting game you're playing, -that's- exactly the kind of thinking that destroys everything!" Blurr insists, grumbling at the fact that the controls seem to actually be -part- of Peridot's hand, and he can't easily swipe it from her. Still, determined, he attempts to simply rip her fingers out if he has to! "You might be right about that, hell if I know, but what I DO know is -that- sort of thinking is the very thing -fuels- the war, the one thing that keeps it from ever ending! I can't let another race fall to the same traps mine did..."     He starts trying to seize the controls from her in a similar fashion to the way he'd seized control of her pod earlier--by fusing the holomatter energies -into- the warship's controls. That doesn't go quite as planned, however, as Peridot suddenly thrusts a destabilizer into the avatar, causing it to crackle and flicker in and out of existence. "Aaaaagh!" he cries out in pain as the feedback is immense. The projection sort of flops over, and starts to partially phase into Peridot's body... 

:'''{{#var:870|Pearl (870)}} has posed:'''     "That looked like it hurt.. are you okay?" Pearl seems concered, but not terribly upset that the holographic Blurr is gone. "Also is there anything you can do about these missiles? I'm in a bit of a pickle here!" She starts looking for a rocky outcropping or maybe an empty 'Gem Womb' for lack of a better term that she can use to take cover from the incomming missiles. If she had a moment to stop and rest, she might be able to pull a flare out of her gem. but right now she has to keep moving.     "There's no use trying to talk sense into her, she's already made up her mind!" 

:'''{{#var:836|Peridot (836)}} has posed:'''     "Ahk!" Peridot struggled as the Holo-matter became translucent and phased into her. The mechanical aspects of her arms and boots began sparking as they picked up strange transmissions, feeding data into Peridot. It was there she suddenly deciphered all the information that was flooding into her. The nature of the Holo-matter, and more importantly the nature of where the frequency was coming from. What it was coming from.     "Huuugh!" Peridot strains and pushes the Holo-body off of herself. "So that's what's been going on." She squinted. "You aren't a holo-person at all! You're a machine!"     "That's right I'm not changing my mind! I'm not a traitor to my planet. I'm going to save it-- no matter how hard you Crystal Clods try and destroy our species. You might be prepared to be alone in this universe, but I'm not." She began walking towards Pearl, with her destablizer firmly placed in her hand. "Jasper! Get down here!" Peridot said into her radio channel. Though she already had some big guns in play it was time.. for even more big guns. The overwhelming force of the automated defenses, the gem warship, and the titan gem Jasper. The full force of the Homeworld armada about to fall down upon them. Unless they fled! 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     Scrap! Blurr had been hoping to keep Peridot in the dark about what he really was. But it seems it's too late for that now! Indeed, a flood of code assaults the gem's equipment...revealing the truth about what he is. While the holomatter is similar to the gems' bodies, it is far from being a gem. Instead it is projected from a remote source, namely, what appears to be a sleek hovercar parked just beyond those rocks a few paces away. But now Peridot will know better--it's not just a car, but a massive AI advanced enough to be alive and sapient.     At that moment, the cat is out of the bag, the charade is over. The holomatter disappears, and the car suddenly flips upward to reveal Blurr's -true- form. Weapons emerge from arm compartments as he aims them upward at the gem warship and fires off a series of high-energy photon streams, hoping to bring it down or at least disable its weapons array before it can make Pearl history.     He then transforms again back into his vehicle form and opens the doors. "Pearl! Let's get out of here! We're done...for now." 

:'''{{#var:870|Pearl (870)}} has posed:'''     Pearl comes flying over a rock just as a missile impacts behind her. She lands cat-like on her feet and runs the last couple yard to Blurr's vehicle form. She dives inside and does an unintentional impression of her companion, "Okaywecanleavenow!" She urges, then looks out the window and sticks her tongue out at Peridot!     "This whole thing was my fault." She sighs. "I'm usually better at stealth missions, but when I saw the Kindergarten working again... I just *had* to do something! I should have known better than to do this without Garnet." She says guiltily. 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     "Heh, your -fault-? We got what we needed. You did fine, Pearl." Blurr reassures the Crystal Gem once she's inside, the lights on the dashboard pulsing in sync with his voice. "I managed to copy some of the data she was collecting on those Forced Fusions thanks to your diversionary tactics. This was infiltration and recon, not a frontal assault. Next time though...we'll bring some -real- firepower."     The doors shut and the Autobot zooms off, disappearing into the distance in the blink of an eye. 

}}

2749/Curious Gem Capers

2015-10-03T05:05:12Z

Zippy: Created page with "{{Log Header |Date of Scene=2015/08/07 |Location=Urbania |Synopsis=Two Homeworld Gems capable of moving oceans and conquering planets, rob a toy store. |Thanks= |Cast of Chara..."

{{Log Header
|Date of Scene=2015/08/07
|Location=Urbania
|Synopsis=Two Homeworld Gems capable of moving oceans and conquering planets, rob a toy store.
|Thanks=
|Cast of Characters=492, 836, 849
|Tinyplot=
|Tinyplot2=
|pretty=yes
}}
{{Poses
|Poses=:'''{{#var:836|Peridot (836)}} has posed:'''     It had been an otherwise mundane day. Pigeons had roosted, and the rats scurried along the gutters same as they had done the day prior. It would have continued being a boring day, had there not been an increasingly loud commotion coming from the inside of Captain Fun's Gamery and Toy store. A place normally reserved for laughing, smiles and merriment; Fun time junction had been invaded by aliens. Literally. Captain fun was not equipped to handle this alone.     "What the? Get your touch stumps off me, you clod!"     Things went from 'commotion' to disturbance as the window suddenly shattered and a large heavy set man wearing a pirate costume flew through the glass, rolling onto the pavement, adding a few cuts to his growing collection of bruises and hurt pride. Though the window pane, stepped Peridot. A green skinned woman with large diamond shaped hair style. She carried a box with one arm. Oddly enough, it was stuffed to the brim with... video games, and comic books. The other hand pointed at the old pirate, her disconnected fingers pointing accusingly. "Did you see that, Lapis? It just walked up and grabbed my arm!" She squinted, gritting her teeth. "There is no telling what manner of diseases it carries." She went on wiping her arm. "Uyuck!" 

:'''{{#var:849|Lapis Lazuli (849)}} has posed:'''     Lapis steps out of the window, gracefully avoiding the sharp broken shards that line the once-was window. On her back is a large backpack shaped like a puppydog filled with the additional accoutrements gathered through the store, including a cookie-cat stuffed plushy loosely hanging from the side. A duplicate pirate-man made out of water follows Lapis from behind, silently holding some additional toys and items without getting them wet somehow.     "We should go," Lapis says with a hint of concern, though notedly not towards the pirate store man. "We need to get this stuff back to the ship." She stops once out on the sidewalk, the water-pirate mimic stopping right behind her. It's been following her ever since she drew it out of the fountain. 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     Aliens, you say? Well, it would appear that today, Peridot and Lapis are not the only aliens in the area. They might be the only immediately -obvious- ones, though.     A young blond-haired man appearing in his late teens is standing outside the shop, leaning casually against a sleek blue sports car that must certainly have been a custom job because it looks so futuristic that it's practically out of place even in a city like Urbania. "Hey ladies," He smirks at the unfortunate store owner and nods at the two females. "you look two like you need a getaway ride." As he speaks, the sound of approaching sirens can be heard. 

:'''{{#var:836|Peridot (836)}} has posed:'''     Peridot nodded. Though she seemed less worried than Lapis, she was no less alert, looking left and right. "Did we get everything we need? This place is crawling with vermin and I would prefer to not have to come back for more of this.. ugh.. useless crap." She shifted her weight to re-position the box. Then raised her arm. Her robotic looking fingers detached and interlocked to form her holopad. On it, digital imagery presented itself- mostly a green orb with a windshield. With her single remaining digit, Peridot tapped the screen, the pod blinking a few times as if acknowledging a command.     At the blonde mans greeting, Peridot doesn't look up. "We have one, thanks." She mentions casually before blinking and looking up, as if a little surprised that they had been greeted so casually. "And what.. what exactly are you supposed to be? One of the humans?" 

:'''{{#var:849|Lapis Lazuli (849)}} has posed:'''     Lapis nods in response, "It looks like it." She tugs a bit at the strap to her backpack, the backpack itself squeaking a little bit from the squeazetoy inside making the sound. "It's not useless!" Lapis shoots back, "It's kind of funny, actually." She sounds amused if anything by the various toys. They are kind of silly. Why's one shaped like a cheeseburger? Isn't that supposed to be a human food? Lapis looks over towads the man across the street as he calls out at them. At the same time, the pirate dude squabbles back to his feet to confront the water mimic. Just as he's about to lay a hand on the mimic's shoulder, a fist pops out from the back of the water mimic's head and punches the guy in the face.     Lapis doesn't even seem to notice what just happened. "Is it.. Isn't that one of the human vehicles?" 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     The young man shakes his head. "Pff, what does it -look- like?" he asks in response to both of their questions, laughing. Maybe they aren't the brightest. Then he shrugs when Peridot says they already have a ride. "Oh, well how fast is it? I'm guessing not very fast, since it isn't here yet." he remarks, glancing about to see if any unusual looking vehicle is approaching. 

:'''{{#var:836|Peridot (836)}} has posed:'''     Peridot scrunched her lips together. "Fast enough, considering it wasn't built for this." She answered. "I should have known we couldn't gather some plastic trinkets that barely classify as baubles without someone having a problem." And, as bidden by its master, appeared a large green pod from the sky. It lowered down to the ground, and though initially it looked as though it contained no entry way. One presented itself from the seamless orb and a door way opened up. After which Peridot promptly tossed her box of toys into the vehicle.     "Bunch of frightened mewling kittens with... grab hands!" She said with some venom towards the beaten old pirate man before turning her attention to Lapis. "Alright, let's get out of here before we have to level the whole block."" 

:'''{{#var:849|Lapis Lazuli (849)}} has posed:'''     On the waiting pod is one of the robonoids. Its round body makes it roughly the size of a grapefruit, and it has little nubby levitating peglegs. On its outer surface is a rather well drawn rendition of Elvis' face, with muttonchops, done in permanent marker. It's immediately covered by all the toys that Peridot dumps in. The water mimic is next to dump things into the pod before it splashes down onto the ground as a puddle. Lapis stares at Blurr for a couple more moments, before walking towards the pod to climb in herself. 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     Oh, so that's their ship, eh? As Blurr is sitting there in vehicle form he is quickly scanning the outside, and also the inside as soon as the door opens, doing his best to learn everything he can about them.     The avatar just smirks and holds up a two-fingered salute as Lapis stares at him, but as soon as she looks away, or more specifically as soon as neither of them are looking, the projection suddenly disappears from where it was previously standing and reappears behind them in the doorway to the pod. "So," he begins casually. "What's all the loot for? Having a party? Christmas in the summer? Someone's birthday?" He stares at the robonoid. "Is that a weird representation of...Elvis Presley?" There's a pause there though, as if he hadn't been sure. 

:'''{{#var:836|Peridot (836)}} has posed:'''     As Peridot steps into the air-pod robonoid, she pauses at the entryway, stopping to look at Lapis with squinted eyes. "What did I tell you about drawing weird faces on my robonoids!?" She pointed at the drawing. "Robonoids are not toys! They are sophisticated machines. Do you know how hard this stuff is to wash off?" She ask, scratching at the face with her fingertip and only succeeding in smudging it before giving up with a sigh.     Once inside, she turns leans her weight on the open doorway. Regarding the blonde holoman. Her expression seemed impatient and sour, though not entirely directed at the avatar. "Listen... We have a job to do. Just back away, and live out your short meaningless little life; and stay out of our way." She tapped the wall on the interior, a small glowing button depressing and the orb began to close up once more, levitating itself into the sky. 

:'''{{#var:849|Lapis Lazuli (849)}} has posed:'''     Lapis just giggles in response, "So stop trying to wash them off! It's only that one!" She climbs fully into the pod herself against the pile of toys. It's a bit of a cramped space, as the pod itself isn't very large. A couple of the boxes and boxes are moved around to make some extra room, and the Elvis robonoid climbs into Lapis' lap. When she next looks back over to the opening, Blurr is there.     She seems surprised for a moment and says back, "It's the King. You wouldn't understand, just leave us alone." 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     Even as the doors closes, the avatar just lets itself in, settling down against the wall. "The King? Do you mean like an actual, literal king as in monarch king like a ruler or something else entirely?" he presses further, ignoring their requests to leave them alone.     He chuckles at the drawing on the robonoid. "It's pretty good, if I do say so myself. You're quite the artist." he comments to Lapis, while searching the pod for its navigation systems. It's got to have some kind of control array, right? Or if it's remotely controlled, it must have something that receives a signal from wherever the commands are coming from.     Outside, the car, which is Blurr's -actual- form, begins to trailing the pod from the ground. Once it reaches a certain altitude though, he will activate his orbital bounce recall and return to his own ship, from which he can continue following them hopefully without being noticed. Still, the teleport will mean an interruption in the holomatter emitter beam. So when the time comes, hopefully the two will be distracted enough not to notice. 

:'''{{#var:836|Peridot (836)}} has posed:'''     There appears to be controls. However, gem technology has a rather alien appearance, perhaps even to other aliens. The tech is nothing like human technology save for the some cosmetic appearances optimized for humanoid operation. There doesn't seem to be any circuitry. All the buttons and panels are holographic, and a liquid crystalline gel pumps through a yellow tube into the main hub. It's all crystal, liquids, light and energy.     One thing is clear however, is that Peridot is the driver. She seems to be controlling the ship via the holopad that her fingers interlocked to create the frame for. Noticing the stowaway, and the speed at which he welcomed himself onto the ship. "Hey!" She barked. "Get off my ship immediately!" 

:'''{{#var:849|Lapis Lazuli (849)}} has posed:'''     Lapis doesn't even bother replying as the pod door closes. That should be the end of the avatar, but then he just climbs right in before it closes. Her brows furrow and her expression sours immediately into anger. "What are you doing?!" She shouts, putting her hand into the yellow tube of goop. Her eyes fade opaque as lines of cryptic text flood over her eyes. It's the first time Peridot's ever likely seen Lapis take control of one of the ships, much less integrate with one. The door behind the avatar opens up, and Lapis withdraws her hand.     "Let's go." The puppy backpack is dropped behind her as she stands up fully, skirt flapping with the sudden air-rush into the pod. She immediately makes to grab the avatar and push him out of the pod, even if it means pushing herself out as well. 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     Blurr has made note of all of this, filing the information away for later use and likely a report to the Union afterward. Holopanels, sure, that's not too unusual. That weird gel stuff, though...he definitely noticed the text in Lapis' eyes as she plunged her hand into the strange liquid in the tube.     "-Make- me." The 'man' taunts at Peridot's demands. "Hey, I tried to be nice!" He says, throwing his arms into the air in an exasperated fashion. "But fine, you wanna play rough, I guess we can play r--!" But he is cut off as the emitter beam is momentarily interrupted when the Autobot orbital jumps from the surface to his own ship. The holomatter flickers and disappears, right as Lapis tries to push him out of the pod. Well, there goes the human facade, because this is clearly no human.     For the moment, he's nowhere to be seen...yet. But he is truly gone? If Peridot's ship has a sensor array of any sort, it might have picked up a blip of an unindentified vessel tailing them from a few miles back. It's in an upper layer of the atmosphere, almost sub-orbital altitude, but if the their systems can detect it, there's no question about that fact that it's following them. 

:'''{{#var:836|Peridot (836)}} has posed:'''     "Huh?" Perdidots brows press down as the image flickers, until comprehension dawns on her face. She was after all, a frequent user of the same trick. Her finger shot out grabbing the tail of her dress to keep the gem from toppling out the door, some invisible energy tethering her to the end of Peridot's arm. "Ugh." She groaned. If one thing was true, Peridot consistently under estimated humanity's intelligence- so the use of technology she was not accustomed to them using, it had yet to not work. "It's a holo-image!" She said. "It's got to be transmitting from-" She had barely time to finish asking the question much less search for the answer, before she noticed the blip on her radar.     "There?" She asked out loud as the indicator began beeping. "Robonoids!" She said out loud. Embedded orbs in the wall of their ship rolling onto the ground of the ship and unfurling their robotic spider legs. Her minions responded to her voice by standing at attention. A small hole opens up in the wall of the vessel, and a cluster of the crab-sized roll out of the vessel. "Scan and identify." 

:'''{{#var:849|Lapis Lazuli (849)}} has posed:'''     Lapis gapss in surprise as she falls right through the avatar as if it weren't even there. She tries to stop herself, tipping on her tip-toes at the edge of the ship opening before being caught by Peridot. As soon as she has her balance back, she steps backwards into the pod. With the change in air pressure between the pod and the ambient atmosphere, a couple comicbooks get sucked out.     In panic, Lapis shouts, "No!" That was all their hard work to even /find/ a place that had these things. They searched so hard for the items that Steven needed. She glances back at Peridot for a moment, and then steps back out of the pod and off the edge. Immediately she starts falling. Water begins to form on her back into wings as she darts down after the books. They're not getting away. 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     The scans from the robonoids don't return much due to a very low radar profile, but they do reveal that the ship trailing them is a Cybertronian stealth vessel belonging to the Autobots--a faction aligned with the Union. If the gem ladies didn't already know, according to the public databases, Cybertronians are a race of sentient machines, like AIs advanced enough to be alive. They're good at fighting, and destroying things, and blending in with the environment despite their size. Hence that tricky little holographic disguise. Suddenly, the blip accelerates, closing the distance between itself and the pod to about half a mile.     Speaking of the holoimage, it's back again. The 'teen' is now standing near that hub he'd seen the gel pumping into, and, as he'd seen Lapis do, the avatar attempts to phase its hand into the tube right where it enters the hub in an attempt to get into their systems and get as much information as he possibly can. A risky move, sure, since he's far from being composed of the same material they are, but Blurr has never really been the type to think a whole lot before he acts. He figures, he's tried crazier things before. 

:'''{{#var:836|Peridot (836)}} has posed:'''     "Lapis!" Peridot shouted after her. Though she was aware of her water wings. It was still a pain to have her outside the ship-- all for something she was having a difficult time quantifying the value of to begin with. She began pouring over the data fed to her holopad as her robonoids sent the results of their various scans, some more fruitless than others. She hadn't had much dealing with the union, or even autobots. Her mind was rapidly racing through scenarios to deal with the situation when she got another important notice. Lapis would have to fend for herself for the moment. Someone was attempting to access her precious machinery.     If he were any other manner of being, he probably would not have been able to interface with the datapad at all. But the combination of his mechanical mind, his holoimage of light and energy which wasn't entirely unlike Peridot's and Lapis's bodies- save for their mass and weight. The combination seemed to grant him some manner of connection with the alien machine. Much like Lapis, his eyes would immedaitely glow with bright blue color, with streams of data racing through his vision. Most found the experience a pleasant one- he was taking his first step into a strange world. The tech was dream-like. Magical, yet somehow scientifically advanced. His head was flooded with imagery, he could control the ship if he chose. He could see what the gems were. Polymorphic sentient space rocks with holographic bodies.     He was just beginning to fully understand the controls, and see glimpses of what Gems did. They were planet conquerors. But before he could glean much more useful information, the pleasant flood of light that had filled his vision suddenly become venomous and painful. He had stepped into the digital domain of gem tech; and worse he had established a direct digital connection with Peridot; whom on the physical realm was somewhat weak relying on the strengths of others and her mechanical creations. but here she was the master of her domain on her home turf and a force to be reckoned with.          "Get off my ship!" came the bellowing howl in Peridot's shrill voice, much louder than she could have mustered in person. She attacked Blurr's mind with a jolt of power, trying to slam him with a digital fist to overload his circuitry. 

:'''{{#var:849|Lapis Lazuli (849)}} has posed:'''     As the wind whips against Lapis, she accelerates faster through the air, making her body like a dart as she sails towards the waywards comic books flapping against the wind. When she finally reaches them, she snatches them out of the air and expands her wings rapidly. She sails at a quick rate to level altitude and begins slowly flapping those wings of her. Obviously there's more to her flight than actual aerodynamics, it likely ties in with her ability to actually levitate water itself, because she quickly begins gaining altitude again. She doesn't quite know about the struggle happening aboard the ship, but it will take her a moment to catch up. 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     Blurr is pleasantly surprised when he encounters almost no resistance at all in inserting himself into their network. Interesting, if this had been any other kind of circuitry-based system, like the ones on Cybertron or even on Earth, he wouldn't have been able to use the holomatter to interface with it directly like that. And without Lapis, he wouldn't have even -realized- it was possible! It's certainly not something he's ever encountered before. Thank you Lapis!     He sees that they are actually quite advanced technologically, at least compared to humans anyway. So why the human toys? These items appear to be commonplace things, why couldn't they get stuff similar or even better than that stuff on their own home planet? Why do they go to such lengths to get their hands on it? Blurr was searching for this information when Peridot suddenly assaults his mind. This certainly was her turf, and Blurr wasn't exactly in a position to even use the full force of his own digital defenses. Too bad Black Arachnia wasn't here, she'd be great at this. But...perhaps another time.     The holoavatar pulls out of the system and dematerializes once more, disappearing from the pod. But not without leaving behind a nasty little surprise in the form of malicious code that will continue to datamine and relay back to the Autobot's ship through subspace channels if not removed. Once found however, it shouldn't be too difficult to neutralize.     This time, once the avatar is gone, the other ship takes off, quickly zooming out of range of Peridot's sensor arrays.     Oh, and there's one more little thing he left. A message pops up on the pod's comm systems. It reads:     "Tell the blue girl thanks for showing me around!"     -Blurr. 

:'''{{#var:836|Peridot (836)}} has posed:'''     Peridot growls and waves her hand in a wild motion, dispelling the text of the screen. She briefly looked to a hidden panel on the board and even began reaching for it when she realized her attack had at least been effective and dispelled the illusionary image. She also noticed the blip beginning to fall away and Lapis returning to the ship.     She tapped the screen and opened up a door as Lapis drew closer. "Hurry it up and get in!" She shouted over the wind. 

:'''{{#var:849|Lapis Lazuli (849)}} has posed:'''     As Lapis flies up to the pod, she ducks in neatly with her wings disappearing just as fast as they appeared. With the door closed behind her, she releases the comic books back on to the floor, sighing. Without everything they had gathered, the mission just wouldn't have been as successful. When she looks around, even, it appears the threat is out of the pod, too. Was it a complete success? She looks at Peridot for a moment, as if to ask 'What happened?' but she doesn't, and instead sits back on the floor of the pod, smoothing out her skirt. Back to the ship. 

}}

2883/Mine Your Own Business

2015-10-03T05:04:27Z

Zippy: Created page with "{{Log Header |Date of Scene=2015/08/22 |Location=Brimsteel Frontier |Synopsis=The Union ventures into a mine in search of lost workers, and run into a bunch of crazy, hostile,..."

{{Log Header
|Date of Scene=2015/08/22
|Location=Brimsteel Frontier
|Synopsis=The Union ventures into a mine in search of lost workers, and run into a bunch of crazy, hostile, molemen.
|Thanks=
|Cast of Characters=7, 42, 43, 492, 673, 711, 750, 770, 850
|Tinyplot=
|Tinyplot2=
|pretty=yes
}}
{{Poses
|Poses=:'''{{#var:711|Corona Arclite (711)}} has posed:''' Please don't take the name 'Rocksfall' -too- seriously, the place was named with a pioneer's sense of humor for making light of potential trouble. How else do you survive if you can't make fun of things instead of freaking out over them. Despite the name the system of mines was one of the safest there is. Or at least, was. Until the surveyors for the new extension disappeared. And the weird chanting and groaning could be heard in the depths. Even with a sense of humor the miners tend to be a bit supersticeous and now no one wants to venture too deep until something is done about it! Several minetracks lead in and out of the entrance to the tunnel. There's a number of minecarts, empty and unused, sitting on them. And one that looks like a minature steam engine, like you would see pulling a kiddie train around an amusement park somewhere. Except it's the geniune thing other than the size. Or Corona wouldn't be shoving energy coals into it with a spade while she's waiting for her ever helpful friends to arrive. 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     Blurr finds himself back on Corona's planet, this time due to a mysterious mine, apparently. Surveyors had gone missing, and no one else around there wanted to find out what was going on the cavernous depths.     Let's see, last time he was here, some weirdos had been trying to steal a -bridge-.     But how bad can it be, right? The Autobot arrives in his usual sudden fashion, the hover speeder stopping in front of the entrance to the mine. "Hey Corona." he greets. "So, do we know anything else about the missing surveyors? Like who they are, when they went missing exactly, and such? Maybe if we send a drone down there first, we could at least get an idea of what we're up against." 

:'''{{#var:850|Tiki (850)}} has posed:'''     Tiki stood there looking at the entrance to the mine with a very perplexed expression on her face. Just how big -were- the tunnels in there? Would she be of any real assistance if there was a confrontation? The Manakete continues to give the entrance the stare-down before something else catches the green-haired Manakete's attention, a fox cowgirl shoveling some coal and a large talking metal golem.     With no better lead to follow, the Divine Dragon approaches the pair with a polite smile on her face. "Salutations, I am Lady Tiki and I am here to gladly offer whatever assistance is necessary to ensure the safe return of those gone missing." Tiki then drops a curt nod of her head towards the two. 

:'''{{#var:770|Target Sparktail (770)}} has posed:'''     Not far from Corona would be a Loadstar law enforcement representitive. The VEX Ranger is currently taking a look around the entrance, and the small train, trying to see if he can figure out anything. It's interesting seeing him over by the train, the sizing seems perfect for a creature of his size. ... It may be in folks best interest not to point this out, however. For now the arrivals aren't noticed as he looks around for .. well anything. 

:'''{{#var:750|Rebound (750)}} has posed:'''     It's been a while since Rebound was on Corona's world helping her out, but it seems like time flies when you're busy. Yet the kangaroo has arrived, and somehow is already sitting in one of the cars, right behind Corona, and where did she get a hat? It's one of those traditional Outback style ones, too.     "So what do you think it is this time, Corona? Bandits? Some kind of horrible underworld monster that was awoken when people dug to deep? Like some sort of giant fire demon with a whip and one of us will have to sacrifice ourselves to beat it except not really?" 

:'''{{#var:770|Target Sparktail (770)}} has posed:''' "Ya been watchin' too many movies, Rebound," Target calls over, sighing a bit before getting back to what he was inspecting. 

:'''{{#var:43|Rainbow Dash (43)}} has posed:''' What kind of miners were brave enough to dig down deep in the first place, but not deal with what they dug up? Wussy ones, that's who! Even though the mines were far from the open (If dusty) skies above, Rainbow Dash wasn't about to bawlk at the challenge of investigating some creepy stuff for Corona. "Or maybe just some wussy miners who are scared of the dark," Rainbow Dash says as she comes speeding down overhead Rebound. The brightly colored blue furred and rainbow maned pegasus comes down for a landing near the mine carts. Lifting one hoof up, she pushes sand marked goggles off of her eyes. "Okay, so that doesn't say why some are missing, soooo probably more than just some prank." 

:'''{{#var:42|Staren (42)}} has posed:'''     Rocksfall... let's hope the rest of the name isn't Everyonedies, shall we?     While Staren isn't necessarily expecting a fight, enclosed underground spaces are dangerous and require certain precautions. Add that to the missing miners... and Staren figures he may as well just wear his powered armor.     There is chanting. Moaning could maybe be dismissed as the wind, but /chanting/? "Okay, that's ominous... does your world have cults, Corona? Like, the kind that gather in weird underground places and do dark rituals to summon monsters?" Staren comments as he approaches Corona. Then he waves. "Oh, and hi! It's been awhile." The people he knows get nods of greeting. Staren gives Blurr a thoughtful look. "I like that idea, but how well will radio signals travel through this rock is the question. We might not be able to control a drone very far." 

:'''{{#var:7|Kotone Yamakawa (7)}} has posed:''' Kotone Yamakawa didn't take the name too seriously. She is from a world where people had the same sort of humour for naming thier settlments. Well in the americas at the very least. SO here she was wondering about this. She's keeping with COrona and has several hovering drones with her. They are cheap and very basic by sya Rory's standars but they are little more than flying audio and video pickups. Which fly ahead of the group as she's moving in. "I hope so, Dashie." 

:'''{{#var:673|Rory White (673)}} has posed:'''     Miners going missing is a big deal! Especially to Rory White! And since every excursion to this frontier hellhole (by her world's standards...) has meant trouble she's come in very different attire. Skintight armor covered in fanciful circuit-line patterns for decoration. She's got a few weapons clipped to her waist, but her attention's not on them. Instead she greets Corona with a happy (if awkwardly forced) wave! "Hello again!"     A handful of her Saucer drones are orbiting just over her head... 

:'''{{#var:711|Corona Arclite (711)}} has posed:''' Corona Arclite looks up from the coal when Blurr speaks up. "First thin' Ah did was send a couple of automatronics down to look... never came back, either. The one Ah did find afterwards?" She jabs a thumb over her shoulder towards the other side of the entrance, where what was once a cube shaped clockwork construct sat. Now stripped down to nothing but some framework and exterior panels. "Was ripped out of everythin' useful. -That's- how we know it ain't just some wild critters gettin' loose." The gathering is given a once over, finding mostly familiar faces. The one new one does get a longer glance, then Corona briefly tips her hat in Tiki's direction. "Fergive me for keepin' introductions short, but all help is good help." "Now as I was sayin'," the foxgirl turned back to the midget engine, kicking shut the coalbox hatch with a boot. "... Well, we don't right -know- Staren. Or we wouldn't have t'go lookin'. So y'all saddle up." Coron gestures to the carts hooked up behind the engine, then pulls a lever and steam hisses out the side vents as it finishes powering up. Then glances off in Blurr's direction again. "... Ya can pro'ly drive yerself, speedy. Just don't wander off, there's a lotta tunnels down there." Once everyone's loaded up Corona released the brake and the 'mine-train' starts chugging down the mine proper. 

:'''{{#var:770|Target Sparktail (770)}} has posed:'''     "I'm not lookin' too forward to goin' down there. I really dun care ta find any kobolds down there still," Target mutters as Corona gets the train ready to go. "Ya'all go ahead. I'll watch our backs. Be careful, aight?" Once the train gets moving, the ranger would jog along behind until the engine gets up to speed. Afterward? Yes, ball. He has it on good authority there are no large, angry, camoflauging dinosaurs in the mine. 

:'''{{#var:42|Staren (42)}} has posed:'''     Staren echoes Kotone's sentiment to Dash. "Let's hope so..."     Except, Corona has a drone that's been clearly stripped by something that knows what it is. "Well, so much for that..."     He'll climb into the train, turning on a light on his helmet and another on his right arm as they ride into the mine. 

:'''{{#var:673|Rory White (673)}} has posed:'''     A glance at the ruined drone gets Rory wincing. And tucking her own Saucers in for the ride in the mine cart. She's viewing the rickety craft with a mixture of apprehension and excitement. "I've never ridden one of these before. Only in a Vid game!" ... that must be SOME video game... 

:'''{{#var:850|Tiki (850)}} has posed:'''     Tiki carefully considers what the others have to say as they discuss the situation at hand. She might not know very much about technology, but she understands enough of the important details to be able to proceed from there. Namely, there were people down there that needed their help.     The Manakete smiles demurely at Corona and her short introduction before focusing her attention on the train and attached mine carts. "A pleasure to meet you all. I take it that we are to ride in those strange carts?" She asks aloud as she gracefully strides forward, her pink cape fluttering behind her as she walks. Tiki then grins from ear to ear as she suddenly dashes forward and vaults into the nearest mine cart where the now wide-eyed manakete eagerly awaits for the ride to begin. 

:'''{{#var:43|Rainbow Dash (43)}} has posed:''' "Prank or no prank, what are we waiting for?" Rainbow Dash flares her wings out again, and in a couple of wingbeats is up in the air. She glides ahead of the rail carts, hovering there steadily. "You guys can go and ride those things. Me, I've got my own way down." And when the carts get going, Dash puts on a burst of speed, gliding just overhead them. Good thing there's enough room for her to maneuver here. 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     Blurr flips up into his root form and examines the drone Corona is talking about. Wow, it really is stripped down to nothing. No memory banks or anything. "Guess you really couldn't find any salveable data from these things." he replies, sounding disappointed.     "Well I guess we'll just have to investigate ourselves, then." With that, he transforms back down again, since vehicle mode will probably be a bit more comfortable, if anything. 

:'''{{#var:750|Rebound (750)}} has posed:'''     She sets up in her cart, and Rebound grinds a little, "Well whatever's down there, I'll just kick it in the face for however long it takes until it goes down." She says, with a bit of a laugh. She also pulls off her hat and puts on a mining helmet with a light on it, "That'll probably be a bit better." 

:'''{{#var:7|Kotone Yamakawa (7)}} has posed:''' Kotone Yamakawa is also keeping with Rory as well she was happy to see her friend. She opens a channel to her friend. <<Hey Rory good to see you agin. We should try to hang out some more you know. Can't let you hide in our ship all day now can we? Also I got some specs for some drones I put together for recon if you got imput on them later it would be useful and welcome.>> She takes note of Tiki with intrest she knows most of the group save for Dashie and Tiki. She looks the over nd she also looks over to Blurr. "Sounds about right big guy, shall we check this out?" her Drones go on ahead to scout things out. 

:'''{{#var:711|Corona Arclite (711)}} has posed:''' One has to wonder for a moment what sort of machinery was used to dig out the tunnels originally, considering there's plenty of room for Blurr to accompany the train of minecarts and Rainbow Dash to fly above it. Though she will have to watch out for support girders to avoid crashing into. There's light crystal lanterns strung up for illumination but Corona flicks on her own headlamp just to be on the safe side. There's not a whole lot to see for the first several minutes of the ride, just tunnels branching off into other parts of the mines, and the occasional downward slope of tracks rounding bends to go to the lower levels. There's no chanting, but occasionally a faint rumble can be heard in the background. Despite all it's got Corona frowning as she drives the cart-train onto the next level, ears twitching back and forth. "Normally these levels would still be full of workers, but... well, obv'ous enough. But the new extension shouldn't be much fart--" Corona cuts herself off as two large bright lights appear in the tunnel ahead of them. "Aw hell!" She hits one of the rail switchs as the entire cart-train leers a bit to the side as it rounds the sudden turn faster than it normally would. Hopefully Blurr and Target caught on quick enough to get out of the way as well! The lights appear behind the cart-train moments later, looking like a pair of demonic eyes until it comes into better lighting and turn out to be the headlamps on a rather heavy industrial machine sporting a spiked-laden V-plow on the front and smoke belching out of towering stacks. It's not even riding the rails, instead clacking across rock on large blade-ridged wheels. But the most damning being that it doesn't have an enclosed cab, instead sporting an open cab that a couple of now notorious molemen are sitting in. And sitting behind them on what looks more like a metal throne than a truck seat is a larger, much more rotound one clad in a worn cloak and a jewel studded head piece. By the way he's waving around a big crudel with a large crystal on it one can guess the screaming "MORE surface intruders?! RUN THEM DOWN! RUN THEM DOOOOWN!" "THESE jokers again?!" Corona snarls as she yanks on the throttle to open it wide, barely keeping the train ahead of the machine. "And these are our mines, ye idjits!" "The underworld is MY kingdom, sun dweller!" The mad mole man screams back at her. 

:'''{{#var:770|Target Sparktail (770)}} has posed:''' #3230iiiights! Bright lights! Wait, isn't there a song about this and clovers or something? Wait, forget all that! The problem is the train Corona's on takes a hard turn and Target is quick to follow. "What the bloody'ell is that?!" Pause. "AAaaagh, again with these rodents!" Target's ball would bounce up, and in a rush of clockwork, he'd both land on the last car and turn to face the mole train. Thing. "Wouldja KINDLY git yer tails outta our mines!" he hollars, unloading a shotgun blast at whatever target he sees first over there. 

:'''{{#var:42|Staren (42)}} has posed:'''     Once it becomes clear that the ride isn't going to be a very short one, Staren grunts in annoyance and drums his fingers on the side of the minecart.     And then there's lights. "What's that?!" Staren calls, pointing ahead. They switch tracks, and then... they're being chased?! "Aww, you gotta be kidding me!"     Staren just fires his armor's beam cannons at the front of the machine... then decides he has a better idea and tries to get a shot at one of the wheels. "Return the workers you've taken and we'll talk!" 

:'''{{#var:850|Tiki (850)}} has posed:'''     Tiki bounces from one side of the cart to the other and back again. While there are not a lot of things to see, this is her first mine cart ride ever and she was enjoying every minute of it. The manakete even giggles happily when Corona causes the carts to veer sharply. This obviously must all be a part of the ride and Tiki was having the time of her life! "This is almost as exhilarating as taking flight!     The appearance of the molemen causes Tiki to train her green eyes upon them. "Are these foes a familiar sight to you all? For they are not familiar to my eyes." Alas, it seems that her joy ride is now at an end. She now turns to address the offending mole-people. "Consider this your first and final warning: vacate these mines hastily or suffer the consequences of your tyrannical behavior!"     With a slightly disappointed look on her face, the red and pink adorned manakete secures a slightly cracked, golden orb from off her belt. She holds this orb aloft and leaps out of the mine cart. A series of bright green flashes obscure Tiki for a moment until she is nowhere to be found. Instead of the elf-like figure from before, a translucent green dragon now hovers in the air. The green dragon seemingly has just enough space to hover in the air by flapping its wings steadily. Tiki takes no further action as she politely gives the mole-men a brief moment to comply with her request. 

:'''{{#var:673|Rory White (673)}} has posed:'''     Doooooown into the darkness the group goes. Or rather, well-lit tunnels! Rory at first DUCKS down with a yelp of fright as if taking shelter in the cart will keep her safe from the DEMON MACHINE that's going ballistic back there. But then she edgily surfaces, peeking her head over the cart's rim.     "Wait, don't attack! We can talk things out and everyone can live and profit!!" 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     The first stretch of the journey seems to be rather uneventful, and what with how slow that mine cart probably is compared to Blurr, he's getting a bit bored. Maybe he could just tow the cart train himself? It would speed things up a bit.     Needless to say, when the lights appear in front of them, he has no trouble quickly following the train as it suddenly switches tracks. And then the lights are chasing them, revealing their source. And now, whoever these people are, they are screaming hostile things at him. Corona also appears familiar with them, so there is no question in his mind that they are -a- problem, if not the one responsible for the deaths/disappearances of the mine workers.     Immediately, he transforms, standing up with just barely enough room to do so before drawing his weapons. "Tell us what you know about the missing mine workers, and maybe we won't beat you up." He has already started trying to beat them up, though, as photons fly. 

:'''{{#var:750|Rebound (750)}} has posed:'''     Molemen?! Of course, it would be molemen. Rebound hops up from her seat and begins to make her way back towards the back of their train, "Corona, give this thing as much juice as you can! I'll deal with these assholes!" Of course the rest of the group wants to negotiate with them. Of course they do.     Rebound still makes her way to the back of the mine car, legs tensing up as she waits for the negotiations to inevitably fall through, so she can spring into action. 

:'''{{#var:43|Rainbow Dash (43)}} has posed:''' Rainbow Dash very quickly figures out that flying through a mineshaft is not exactly the best idea in the world. She narrowly avoids hitting one of the first overhead beams when she flies too high to the ceiling, but quickly drops down afterwards. It's safer near the carts, esspecially since Corona is the one with the light. But then more lights flare to life ahead of them. Dash blinks in the blinding light, momentarily staring like a deer in headlights. Before instincts kick in, and she twists to swerve from the oncoming lights and follow along with the speeding carts. "Who the hay are THESE guys?" Dash flips around in mid air, flying practically upside down so she can peer back at the following lights without having to turn around. Squinting, she peers at the shadowy shapes amongst the bright lights. "... Ugh, don't tell me. It's THOSE jerks again?" Dash flips around again, facing forward so she can keep an eye on where she's going. Her eyes spot something overhead though. Several things, passing just overhead. Stalagtites? Or are they stalagmites... Oh whatever. Whichever they are, Dash rises back up towards the ceiling, and lashes out a hoof at a couple of the protrusions as she passes by. They crackle, pop, and dislodge from the ceiling, making a rocky rain for those mole men following. 

:'''{{#var:7|Kotone Yamakawa (7)}} has posed:''' Kotone Yamakawa is not too shocked when she encounters the molemen she sighs though as she looks at them and she now is on edge her drones are flittering about her as she now moves to make ready with her weapons. Kotone deadpans for a moment. "Oh look it's the molemen again what ever will we do?" She's getting itred of this and she's pretty happy they got some pretty heavy backup here. She doesn't make a moment to attack yet people are trying to talk at htis point she pauses a tTiki. She's not sure whom she is but she like her attuide. "So the mine workers where are there work with us and there's no need to fight." 

:'''{{#var:673|Rory White (673)}} has posed:'''     <I'd love to look them over, Kotone! But we've got bigger problems now!> Is Rory's answer. She's still peeking over the rim with clear fear in her eyes! 

:'''{{#var:711|Corona Arclite (711)}} has posed:''' The shotgun burst puts cracks in the small windscreen the drivers have and shatters one of the headlamps. Trying to shoot the wheels from the front proves puts a few dents in them but being made of heavy rock crushing metal instead of rubber prove to not be so easily destroyed. Photon bursts rattle across the hood of the monstrousity of machinery, the semi-protuding engine roaring in response as the chase continues. A dragon takes to the limited airspace of the tunnel, but the mole monster machine just roars right beneath her. "These weirdos think they rule the underground!", Corona shouts over her shoulder, not daring take her eyes off the tunnel ahead. "... And that thing is pro'ly what they broke into the factory fer material for." "You dare make demands of the cavern king in his own demain? Cease your surface world lies." Clearly listening to reason is not in this ruler's repitoir. "DEPLOY THE MOLENGUARD!" Several molemen in punked up armor stand from the back of the vehicle as it starts to pull up alongside the minecarts, weilding (unsurprisingly) pickaxes and sledgehammers as they swing at the mine train. Or try to jump off and land on it. One manages to get onto the engine, only for Corona to lean back when he swings, without taking one hand off the controls, and use the other to grab the back of his head and slam it into the console before pushing him off again. Rocky spikes of whichever it is slam into the vehicle from above, bringing the mine's name to life courtesy of Rainbow Dash, but doesn't deter the attempting boarders even as it rocks their ride about. "A flying mule? What lunacy is this?!" The 'Cavern King' points his scepter at the pegasus and a bolt of energy blasts from it after her... Damn, does that thing have a pulsarium crystal in it?! Maybe they're more advanced than people thought.... 

:'''{{#var:770|Target Sparktail (770)}} has posed:''' "We're 'bout to be boarded! Since when does piratin' happen in CAVES?!" Target calls out, whirling his shotgun around to reload it. One of the 'Molenguard' makes a horrible life decision by dropping down in front of the ranger and eats a shell full of buckshot for it. Spin. Reloaded. The kobold pauses, winces, then yells back to C'rona, "I have one of those shells! I'm not so sure I should use it down here though!" 

:'''{{#var:42|Staren (42)}} has posed:'''     Staren sighs. "We're /trying/ to give you a chance. Maybe you have some claim here. But if all you care about is being a bully..." The molemen are boarding? Two can play that game. Staren leaps across to the mole machine. "I'm gonna tear this machine apart. And then I'm gonna tear YOU apart as an example for any other kidnappers or murderers with delusions of grandeur!" He activates his beam saber, it splits in two, which he tries to jab into the machine and drag it against the side, plasma burning and melting in, as he's moving towards the 'king'. "Where. Are. They." 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     "I take it you know these guys." Blurr comments in response to Corona's description. "But I think I understand why you're not on very good terms with each other." The rest of the team starts unloading on the vehicle, but the Autobot spots their leader aiming something dangerous-looking at Dash.     "Dash look out!" He leans over and attempts to either grab the guy with the scepter or failing that simply aims to knock him off his feet and send the blast astray. 

:'''{{#var:850|Tiki (850)}} has posed:'''     Tiki glances down as the mole-train passes beneath her and goes roaring after Corona and company's train. It seems that this situation was not going to end peacefully despite everyone giving the mole-men a chance to surrender. The red-eyed dragon merely grunts out a puff of green fire in exasperation before slowly turning to fly after the mole-machine.     The green winged dragon eventually gets close enough to the mole-machine to launch her attack. Since the others were busy fighting off the raiders, it was Tiki's turn to help out too. But uh-oh, she didn't want to accidentally hit Staren by mistake so she switches to the opposite side of the mole machine. The transformed manakete huffs and then puffs a brilliant green fireball towards the enemy train as she hastily beats her wings back and forth to keep pace. 

:'''{{#var:750|Rebound (750)}} has posed:'''     It's easy enough for Rebound to shift gears when the mole men decide to board them. Instead of leaping up, she drops back onto her tail in the cart, and then kicks her already coiled feet up.     Woe be to the mole man who gets the brunt of that, because she's probably going to kick it right through the wall and into another cavern with the force behind it. 

:'''{{#var:673|Rory White (673)}} has posed:'''     "... I said I didn't do anything like this except in video games. This is TOO LIKE A VIDEO GAME!" Rory's kind of panicking, going for her weapons. One of which looks like a shotgun with a canister of something liquid or gaseous hooked in. She starts taking potshots at pretty much EVERYTHING, the Mole men and their gadgetry! Nope, that canister holds something else entirely. WHAT SEEM TO BE PAINTBALLS, but they splatter open with a foam that reacts instantly to oxygen. The foam grows to dozens of times its own size and hardens within a half-minute to become strong as cement.     That'll wreck just about any machine or person trying to use a weapon pretty harmlsesly. Thankfully it lets air through so it can't suffocate anyone! 

:'''{{#var:43|Rainbow Dash (43)}} has posed:''' "HEY!" Rainbow Dash glares indiginantly down at the mule 'king'. "Who the hay are you calling a mule!?" For a second, she almost doesn't take notice of the scepter pointed at her, or perhaps doesn't realize that it might actually be a weapon. It's just lucky that Blurr is on the ball with that one. Dash drops immediately when he shouts out, the blast of energy speeding right over her head. And blasting into the ceiling instead. "Whoa, close one!" Dash dips out of the way as rocks fall from the blast. She twists to the side, diving instead for the steampunked cart as it comes up behind their minecarts. "HEY, this is a no boarding zone! Buck off!" Speeding forward, she tries to intercept one of the Moleguard as he tries to leap into the cart, hooves kicking at him mid-leap. 

:'''{{#var:7|Kotone Yamakawa (7)}} has posed:''' Kotone Yamakawa has got a few little things like flash grandes ready for the horrible terrible mole men. She grins a little but that's due to Rory's reply to here. The molemen now move in with some sort of heavy unit. Okay no flash bangs it's time to put some heavier firepower to use here. She pulls a rifle off her back and starts opening fire the battle rifle is packing heavy reaper rounds which hopefully should be able to do some damage to the new hostile unit. "Sadly we do blurr!" She now start smoving an pulling of several clearly inhuman agility related stunts as she attemps to engage the craft. 

:'''{{#var:711|Corona Arclite (711)}} has posed:''' Moles are sent falling left and right as they're knocked back off the mine-train. And one left wishing he had just fallen off when a pair of kangaroo feet sending him flying back -over- the mole-machine and smashing into the wall on the far side of the cavern. Another gets a hoof print left in the side of his head as he's bucked out of the air by the 'flying mule'. A few more get plastered to the side of the machine by Rory's foam. Some shots get in the wheels, only to crack apart as it hardens from the bladed rock-crushing treads. Kotone's heavier firepower puts some large calibre holes in the side; while tough the mole machinery isn't quite up to dealing with Multiversal power, as the rifle blasts and Staren's impersonation of a chop shop prove. Sparks hiss where wheels meet the rails as Corona struggles to keep the mine-train on the track as it goes around another bend much faster than it was meant to. "I ain't worried 'bout you blowin up the mine," she shouts back to Target. "I'm worried 'bout you blowin' up our ride!" She reachs for her own shotgun, sparing a glance back as Target blasts away. And a moleman loses his head. Literally. Except his 'head' was just a helmet. And the rest like an armor suit, except empty. Yet it still moved, or at least was, until it was blasted off. The more metallic 'armored' ones like it break apart when they hit the cave floor, some sort of noxious looking, glowing vapor hissing out of the joints. "The bloody hells was that?!" Corona finishes, even as she's tossing her own shotgun back towards Target. "Try mine, the barrel is made outta antipodium, it -should- hold up to the blast!" And if not, a lot easier for her to fix. The dragonic fireball slams into the back of the machine causing it to fishtail a bit, and almost miss the turn Corona takes the mine-train around. It ends up slamming up against the tunnel wall for a few moments, grinding against the rocky surface. "Imprisoned where all thieves and intruders belong!" The Cavern King yells back at Staren, and points at him next after Dash veers out of the way. Though before he can shoot again Blurr slams his fist into the machine, rocking it back against the cavern wall more. "Get away from me construct!" Angerly he jumps back into his throne. "Your insolent intrusions shall be punished when it awakenes, surface scum!" With a blast of fire and smoke the throne launches out of the cockpit, disappearing off down another shaft. Not that it stops the zealot molemen and whatever those animate metal molesuits are, even as their machine is starting to fall apart beneath them. 

:'''{{#var:42|Staren (42)}} has posed:'''     The ride gets bumpy. One of the plasma sabers disappears as Staren needs a free hand to hold on. Staren's eyes widen slightly as the scepter's pointed at him. He may not be able to dodge... but then Blurr keeps him from shooting. Staren tries to look unfazed as he starts making his way towards the front of the machine again...     Only for the Mole King to eject. Staren stares at the rapidly-receding tunnel he went down. Damn it!     Well, there's still other moles. And this machine to stop. Staren looks at the tear he's opened in the side of the machine, and gets an idea. He holds each hand up to the hole, firing micromissiles into it, but they don't detonate. Yet. Deactivating his saber and clipping it to his armor, Staren then reaches into his bag and pulls out a smaller satchel of a dozen grenades. He stuffs that into the hole too, then leaps back to the minecart train. "FIRE IN THE HOLE!" He ducks down inside the minecart and sends the remote-detonate signal! 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     "Construct? Ha! -You're- a sloppier construct than I am, fleshbag!" No offense to friendly fleshbags in the area.      Oh, so they haven't killed the workers yet! Good. But wait...     "Awakens? When wh--" But the weird mole man king thing hits the eject button before Blurr can finish his sentence. Pfft! "Hey! I wasn't done with you!" Frag having to talk at a normal pace around most of everyone!     But this isn't over yet! Taking note of the tunnel the 'throne' has gone down, the Autobot dashes after it, flipping back down into hover speeder form as he goes and hoping that the tunnel will be wide enough to fit him. 

:'''{{#var:750|Rebound (750)}} has posed:'''     For now Rebound is spinning around, kicking moles when they try to board, and generally getting moore and more pissed. She wants to jump over onto the mole's vehicle and beat the ever living hell out of the 'king', but that might not be the best idea right now.     Thankfully all of the strikes she's been delivering have charged the Impact Drivers, and Rebound decides to test the projection feature. She leaps from the train car, onto the front of the mole's vehicle, and slams one of the drivers into the windscreen, triggering the projected blast. After it fires, she leaps again, using her enhanced abilities to get back to the mine car. 

:'''{{#var:850|Tiki (850)}} has posed:'''     Preparing herself to launch a second attack, Tiki keeps her attention solely on the mole-machine in front of her. But it is the sudden escape and departure of the 'Cavern King' that causes Tiki to lose her focus. She cranes her scaly neck around to peer down the mine shaft in which the King fled down. But she decides that it was a better plan to stay with the group.     Therefore, the green dragon decides to help evict the remaining mole-men raiders by grabbing onto them with her claws and hurling them off the cart. It's not the most sophisticated battle strategy, but Tiki was going to make the best of what tools she had available to her as a dragon. It also will hopefully prevent Tiki from accidentally getting in the way of her more heavily armed comrades. 

:'''{{#var:770|Target Sparktail (770)}} has posed:'''     "Antiwhatnow?!" Target calls, managing to catch the shotgun when it's tossed to him. Well sure, why not try it out? He was the guy testing out the Pulsarium rounds for the rangers, so, if he can avoid anihilating another gun, he's all for it! The kobold is quick to check over the gun, wanting to clear up out any ammo, but well, it doesn't have such a thing. "The hell, C'rona, it's a muzzle loader?!" Weird! Whatever. The bright purple shotgun shell gets shoved down the barrel, the butt of the gun hit against the edge of the rail car, and then Target takes a knee, aims, and makes sure the shotgun is -solid- on his shoulder. "Ah this is gunna fuggin hurt," he mutters before pulling the trigger.     There's a long pause. Target blinks. Keeps holding the trigger, "Is thing gonna-*KRACK*THWOOOOM*-AAAAAH!" Two things happen. First, a massive purple blast of energy goes screaming out toward the molemen's chasing vehicle. The second is that Corona very -suddenly- has a passenger with her on the engine car. He hit the outer wall of said engine pretty -hard- too. At this time, the string of curses that the kobold is yelling doesn't need to be typed. Not one bit. 

:'''{{#var:43|Rainbow Dash (43)}} has posed:''' Rainbow Dash can't help but grin when her hoof slams solidly into one of the mole people's helmets. "Hah, take that you-Huh?" The fact that the KLONK sounds a little hollow isn't lost upon her. She stares in confusion at her hoof, then the mole armor as it plummets towards the ground and shatters apart. "Oohkaay, that's just freaky." But it doesn't take away from the fact that there's still many more of them. Or that their cart seems to be falling apart. "Okay, time to bail!" Rainbow Dash flips around one of the mole armors, neatly aiming a one-two hoof-kick at its head. And using it to kick herself off, flying quickly from the breaking down machine and back towards Corona's minecart to help remove the last of the pirates with hooves swinging. 

:'''{{#var:7|Kotone Yamakawa (7)}} has posed:''' Kotone Yamakawa is going to not try to kill the molemen, she's more focused on stopping thier machine. Seriously what the heck are they smoking doing something like this? She has to wonder what has thme going like this. Is it greed or is there something going on where they are dealing driving them to do this back home. She's going to hustle and try to catch up with the fleeing moleman king. At the mention of awakens? That scares her it's more like something she'd expert to hear in Kingsmouth. "Hey if you ant to use the insult get it right Blurr use Meatbag!" However she does lob some flash bangs at the other remaining pirates while she her self backs off on the king. 

:'''{{#var:711|Corona Arclite (711)}} has posed:''' "No, it normally don't USE external ammo! But the pulse will shoot the shell out just the same." Fortunately everyone else is doing just fine with the fighting so Corona can worry about keeping the mine-train going. "Last tunnel that leads back to the surface comin' up!" That's your warning to get back over here. And get the rest of the moles and mole-armors off, which is what people are doing already. A kinetic blast shatters the already cracked windshield, the driver ducking down into the cockpit to avoid the splay of glass, but now unable to see where the machine is going. Staren shoves grenades in one of the gouges he's made. And then a -massive- blast of strange colored plasma slams into the side of the monstrousity, pushing it off towards the back of the cave as Corona keeps the mine-train on the rails. "Get back in here," she grabs onto Target when he lands on the engine and pulls him back in. Then pulls a red log-like bundle out of one of her packs. "Good thing I packed for an emergency!" She tosses that in the furnance, and with a roar of power red tinted steam belchs out of the train's stack while all the dials in the cap whirl precariously close to the danger zone as the mine-train takes a sudden burst of speed! And leaves the deafening explosion of the combination of experimental ammo and grenades demolishing the machine when it runs into the wall behind them, the blast and the shaking rattling through the tunnels in its wake. Eventually Blurr's headlights come upon the rocket-throne discarded at the end of the tunnel. But there's no sign of the so-called Cavern King having disappeared into the depths. What -did- he mean by 'awaken' anyways?! 

:'''{{#var:673|Rory White (673)}} has posed:'''     "It's likely to explode, get-" Away, Rory was going to say. But well, all she can really do is take cover at this point. She doesn't know what to DO! Not at all! Except hunker and shudder. SO MUCH VIOLENCE! 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     It's not long before Blurr reaches a dead end, but only manages to find the empty ejector seat. "Slag it," the Autobot mutters. "Fleshbag, waterbag, meatbag, whatever." he says dismissively to Kotone once she catches up with him. "It all means the same thing." He begins searching for any signs of where that thing could have taken off to. Presumably, if they're subterranean creatures, it dug it a new passage somewhere, one that's too small for him to use. 

:'''{{#var:770|Target Sparktail (770)}} has posed:'''     There's a low groan from Target. Well, low as far as kobold's go. "Ghhh.. jes wake me up when we get back to Loadstar.." he manages, clearly grogy from the kickback. He does, at least, have the sense to offer the gun back. "Lemme know if there's any damage, C'rona.. Rangers'll wanna know.." 

:'''{{#var:42|Staren (42)}} has posed:'''     Well, that's the end of the mole machine! Staren watches the tunnel race by for a moment. "...Dammit." He looks between Corona and Target, "What did he mean by 'where all thieves and intruders belong'? Any idea? I don't suppose it's a local saying and not just a moleman thing?" 

:'''{{#var:750|Rebound (750)}} has posed:''' Rebound takes cover as the minecar speeds off with all of them in it, looking at Staren as he questions, "Yeah I was kinda wondering that too. Then again those mole guys might be crazy, this is the second major attack in as many months." 

:'''{{#var:43|Rainbow Dash (43)}} has posed:''' "Whoa! Wait up!" Rainbow Dash's wings are a flurry of motion as she takes off after Corona's minecart. It doesn't take her long to catch up, but she actually has to put effort into keeping up with it as it rattles down the mineshaft. "The hay are those guys deal? The armor things were totally empty!" 

:'''{{#var:711|Corona Arclite (711)}} has posed:''' Corona Arclite takes the shotgun back and returns it to its sling on her belt. "I'm gonna go out onna limb and hazard the guess he means the miners. They're pro'ly locked up deeper somewhere... And I don't know, Dash. That was just weird." The speed burst wears off just as the minetrain is coming to one of the rail inclines leading back towards the surface levels. "But we're gonna have to dig deeper to find the answers -and- the missin' folk." 

:'''{{#var:7|Kotone Yamakawa (7)}} has posed:''' Kotone Yamakawa loads her rifle back n to her back and she watches them flee. She doens't seem to too happy as she leaps to get back from it and she then goes to Rorry to set a hand on her in an attempt to comfort the AGi. She knows she's not human but well Kotone is and she's doing what she can. Rory has become like family to her after all. "Yes and I don't like this talk of awakening. This sounds like there might be a sleeping horror on your planet." 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     There are a lot of holes, probably...but none wide enough for Blurr to explore. But he'll mark this spot for later, it'll at least be a good start in searching for the missing workers. 

}}

2898/Welcome to Super Snack Shack

2015-10-03T05:01:29Z

Zippy: Created page with "{{Log Header |Date of Scene=2015/08/25 |Location=Strait of the Americas |Synopsis=A Food Run Gone Horribly Wrong |Thanks= |Cast of Characters=44, 492, 569, 714, 836, 858 |Tiny..."

{{Log Header
|Date of Scene=2015/08/25
|Location=Strait of the Americas
|Synopsis=A Food Run Gone Horribly Wrong
|Thanks=
|Cast of Characters=44, 492, 569, 714, 836, 858
|Tinyplot=
|Tinyplot2=
|pretty=yes
}}
{{Poses
|Poses=:'''{{#var:44|Mojo Jojo (44)}} has posed:'''     Somewhere in a not too distant future, somewhere in time and America, there is a fast food joint called the Super Snack Shack. Apparently they hadn't heard of Superman, so they had this giant S on a Shield logo going for them as their logo. Their slogan: Stack Up On Snacks at the Super Snack Shack!     Mojo Jojo was here to do just that. He was bored, had the munchies for something that was neither Starbucks, nor Eggs, which he has for breakfast, and not for the Munchies. The Munchies needed something special and it wasn't eggs.     So it was that Mojo Jojo stumbled upon the Super Snack Shack, and after a few moments of assessing the menu, he considered his options, before reaching into his side pocket and pulling out a blaster rifle from someplace, and fires it up into the air, and then points it at the lanky looking nerdy cashier. Nobody special. "Alright, I want five Super Snack Packs. Five Stacks of Super Snack Packs from this Super Snack Shacks, you go that?" 

:'''{{#var:836|Peridot (836)}} has posed:'''     Caring for a human child was exhausting. Though Steven was not merely a human, he had human needs. And as Peridot soon found out, humans cannot sustain themselves on ice cream sandwiches in the shape of a cat head alone. So she had sent scout robonoids out to locate a more diverse variety of foods. It was there that she discovered imagery of large hamburgers, and fries plastered outside of this food shack. The broadcast she overhead on the confederate channel had reminded her that she needed to pick up food for the Steven.     And so, she decided the best way to do that was to piggy back on the apes presence... take advantage of the situation. She surveyed the scene with her escort, Jasper high above the establishment. "Alright.. he's going in. While he draws attention to the front..." She tapped a few buttons lowering their flight-pod to the ground. From her gem, she holo-projected a device into her hand and stuck it against the wall of the snack shack, then walked back to the pod.     "We... do this."     An explosion rang out, as the device combusted and took out a large portion of the brick wall, exposing pipe and wiring. Peridot then proceeded to walk through the newly created entry way. She put her hands on her hips and cackled. "Nyaha ha ha! This will be a piece of cake." 

:'''{{#var:858|Jasper (858)}} has posed:'''      Jasper doesn't particularly care about 'caring' for the Steven - 'cookie cats' or otherwise. But where Peridot goes, she goes. She towers over the shorter, green Gem, a vaguely bored expression on her face. Her arms crossed, she watches Peridot set the device against the wall of the building. Hmph. She could've brought that wall in with a few punches!      Still, it's effective. As Peridot makes her way inside, Jasper follows. She has to break off some of the wall that, given her height, might pose an issue to her and not Peridot. "I hope that wasn't your attempt at a pun, Peridot," Jasper snaps at the mention of cake. 

:'''{{#var:714|Sanary Rondel (714)}} has posed:'''      Stealing food usually wasn't a thing Sanary did ever. She didn't abide by it back home since it was literally taking the fruits of others' labor. To that end, she's got a fairly dim view of petty bandits in her own world.      America isn't her world, though, and it /has/ been a while since she last did... Well, anything outside of her usual work and study. Plus, it'd be a good opportunity to meet some of her fellow Confederates in person! And so, she arrives at the Super Snack Shack's front door with her usual gunaxe strapped to her side via a shoddy old rope. Around her shoudlers is an oversized backpack for convenient storage!      "So this is the place? Huh. I've seen a couple of these before... How's the food?" She asks, pausing to stare at Mojo Jojo and adjust her eyepatch. "Also, you sounded... Taller on the radio." She looks over at the sound from the back of the building, peering at Peridot and Jasper before snickering lightly. "I'm surprised you know what a pun is.... Er. Jasper, right?" 

:'''{{#var:569|Bitter Medicine (569)}} has posed:'''      Bitter Medicine sets his hamburger down gently. Frowns.      His synthleather jacket and jumpsuit have been ruined by a particularly noisome gremlin exploding. They tend to do that if you hit them enough, and it tends to take a drycleaner to fix it. He really, really wanted this to be a reprieve. He deserves those, right? Just every once in a while, a hamburger in peace. He didn't feel like going all the way home just to get a change of clothes, so he borrowed some.      The table is flipped rather casually, the remains of his meal spread across the floor. He stands at full height, in red gym shorts and a sky blue t-shirt. "The kitchen is closed," he says, cracking his knuckles at Mojo. 

:'''{{#var:44|Mojo Jojo (44)}} has posed:'''     There's a moment as the nerdy looking Cashier just stares with a somewhat glassy expression at Mojo Jojo, who amidst being a little confused at the sound of the explosion somewhere in the back, prompting him to go, "What the--Was that an explosion?" He even pokes his head outside, "OY! What is going on, can't you see I'm trying to rob the place?!"     And the appearance of a big tall giant Exalt doesn't help make the mood better, as he glares at the guy, and replies to Bitter, "Noooo, the Kitchen isn't closed. The sign outside says that this place is open 24 hours a day, and so if the kitchen is closed then the sign would be false advertisment. Do NOT defend False advertisment."     To Sanary, he blinks before simply nonchalantly, "No idea, but it was here and I was hungry, so I've made my order and---"     At this point, the cashier FINALLY says, "We have the right to refuse service to anyone for any reason. Please leave the premises."     Mojo Jojo is just dumbstruck at that, so he tells the others, "Excuse me a moment..." Before pointing the blaster rifle at the cashier right in the face, "I'm Sorry, WHAT?! Are you really trying to refuse service when I have a 404 X-Carbonation Rifle pointed RIGHT IN YOUR FACE!?"     "Yes..." From the cashier, before her reaches down and pushes a button.     Completely out of NOWHERE, a mettle shutter drops down from the cieling, closing off the interior of the fast food joint kitchen from the exterior. MEANWHILE IN THE BACK: Shutters, made of the same hard metal as in the front, Shut down the back entrance just beyong the hole in the wall that the Gems made. The lights go red, and the words, "Lockdown activated..." Proceeds to blare out on loop. 

:'''{{#var:836|Peridot (836)}} has posed:'''     "I've turned the humans term for confectionery treats against them!" She declared in response to Jaspers accusation. "Like a true genius tactician ought be able to." She stepped deeper into the food prep station, hopping down from a piece of rubble. She walked further, grabbing a fry cook by the lapel of his collar. "You! Tell us where you store the biological subsistence!"     As the alarms begin blaring and the blast shields drop down. Peridot growls impatiently and begins shaking the poor kid violently. "Hurry it up and spill it!" She raises him off the ground. Her mechanical arms and legs whirring and clicking from the strain.     With a shaking hand, the oily faced teen points to the large-walk in freezer. Until he is released by Peridot and crumples to the ground before scrambling to his feet and fleeing to the front room, to see her was sealed in these gem maniacs! At this, Peridot looks to the door, then to Jasper, and then nods. There was a large reinforced iron door between them and their target. Clearly there was only one course of action, and it wasn't 'take their time and figure out how the locking/unlocking handle mechanism worked.' She figured Jasper would know what to do. 

:'''{{#var:858|Jasper (858)}} has posed:'''      Jasper (very subtly) rolls her eyes at Peridot's back. No telling if her charge has some way of seeing behind her as she walks deeper into the store. She doesn't stop him from shaking the poor kid, who is now being threatened by a strange green woman and ominously loomed over by a titan of an orange woman.      She ponders hitting him as the fry cook runs away and, evidently, decides against it.      Jasper steps up to the freezer door. She takes a moment to look it up and down, not really so much as examining it as sizing it up as a prey animal. Yes, she should be able to handle this.      Jasper takes hold of the reinforced door and /pulls/, putting her back and shoulders into the motion. The sound of squealing, tortured metal rings through the back of the store as Jasper tears it free from its hinges. With the door in her grip, Jasper hurls it aside without a care in the world.      Which means that Bitter Medicine finds that he has a large metal door coming his way, hurtling at him from deeper into the shop. 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     Fast food restaurant with lockdown protocols? Isn't 'fast food' a form of very cheap and low-quality human sustenance? At least according to the internet it is! Blurr has been keeping track of Peridot's ship, which is likely how he's followed her here. But seriously, what is with these people robbing toys and cheap food? You'd think with all the technology they have, they'd go for something a little more...valuable? Powerful? It beats him, honestly.     Maybe they're just stupider than they look.     Anyway, Peridot will find that all-too-familiar teen has suddenly appeared in the path of the metal door and attempting to block it or at the very least knock it aside and away from Bitter Medicine. "Okay first toys, and now cheap human food? I know you don't eat that stuff yourselves. And don't deny it because I was in your systems. What the frag do you want with this stuff? Or do you just -enjoy- picking on people who can't defend themselves?" 

:'''{{#var:569|Bitter Medicine (569)}} has posed:'''      "I never thought I'd meet someone who took things more literally than me. What I mean is, submit to arrest or I'll hit you until you do--" Bitter Medicine watches as the door flies away from him, thanks to Blurr. He doesn't really care that it's hurtling towards someone /else./ "Thanks, comrade." The Exalt is in rather different digs than usual, hinting at today being laundry day. Flip flops, red gym shorts, and a blue t-shirt, all of which reveal his bulky Charms: he's always heavily augmented, but it's hard to see that with his usual choice of deliberately concealing clothes. In contrast to the green and orange women, Bitter Medicine's skin is shock white, but, like Peridot, there is very clearly a gem in his forehead.      He clears his throat. "EVERYONE WHO IS HERE TO COMMIT CRIMES WILL REPORT TO THE DINING AREA FOR SUMMARY ARREST. RESISTANCE IS FUTILE. YOU WILL BE INCARCERATED." 

:'''{{#var:714|Sanary Rondel (714)}} has posed:'''      Now this is more like it! The last time Sanary was in America, there were plenty of people ready to fight at a moment's notice. From the looks of it, even this weirdly named restaurant was no different. They even had some kind of cyborg bodyguard to go with it, from the looks of things!      "Gotta give 'em points for trying... But you know it'll go easier for everyone if you just comply." Grinning lightly, the healer reaches for her axe and has only a moment to notice that a giant metal door is coming straight at her.      If it wasn't a giant metal door, she could probably take it and heal herself up afterwards. If she had her armor on today, she'd probably even be able to shrug it off. Unfortunately for Sanary, today is not her lucky day! Although she does try to jump out of its flight path, the corner just so happens to hit the ground in a way that swings it right at her!      No armor, giant door, AND dodging right into it leads to a quickly unconcscious healer. One down! 

:'''{{#var:44|Mojo Jojo (44)}} has posed:'''     Mojo Jojo steps out of the flight path of the door when it first flys through, then ducks when it gets sent flying in another direction by Blurr, and winces as he watches dodge right into the flying door. "Eesh, not even sure of the physics of that, just now..." He stands up and dusts off his tunic for the moment, "Okay, LISTEN, people, I just want something to eat, and I'm too evil to pay for it.. And besides, aren't the corporations the real villains in this case? What kind of corporation has the sense to give a fast food joint a LOCKDOWN function!     Meanwhile, the fry cooker in the back who got grabbed by Jasper and Peridot, manages to sneak away to where the cashier was, locking himself into a more secure location. This is followed by the following message from the loudspeaker: "Super Snack Shack kindly asks that you refrain from causing damage to the premises, and that you don't fight while on the premises. Anyone who starts a fight will be ejected. You've been warned."     Then out of the cieling pops out several gun turrets in key positions, pointing at Mojo Jojo, Jasper and Peridot, as well as Blurr and Bitter Medicine.     Mojo goes wide eyed, "ARE YOU KIDDING ME!?" 

:'''{{#var:836|Peridot (836)}} has posed:'''     "Whaaat?" Peridot grits her teeth and takes a step back. She points to the teen. "You again! Why do you keep following me!?" She had grabbed a box of wheat buns while Jasper dealt with the door, but at this new intruders presence, she throws it down and points at Blurr and looked to her bodyguard. "That's the creep who got into our system! He's not an ordinary human, he has a body similar to ours and he's been going out of his way to wreck all our plans!"     As the turrets sprout from the walls, Peridot makes a panicked squeak sound and makes a dash for the meat-freezer, diving head first and rolling into it to give her something resembling cover from the guns. She didn't plan on fighting so much as robbing the place to begin with. 

:'''{{#var:858|Jasper (858)}} has posed:'''      Jasper looks the meddling teen up and down, and grins. "Well now," Jasper says, voice low and full of menace, "Then I'll take some time here to show him out." Jasper stomps towards Blurr's form as Peridot dives into the meat freezer. The turrets give her pause, though, because if Peridot's hiding from them then maybe they're stronger than they appear.      Or maybe they'll take a shot at whover throws the first punch. Jasper grins. She thrusts her chin in Blurr's direction. "Go on," she sneers, "Take your best shot." 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     Blurr's avatar smirks playfully, amused at Peridot's reaction. "How about, you tell me what you're -really- after, and -then- I'll answer your question."     Then the turrets come out. Whoa, frag! This place is serious business! Are they hiding something here? Who would pay for all that security if that wasn't the case? Hmm. He glances at once of the cash registers. Ignoring Jasper, he disappears suddenly and reappears near one of the computers, attempting to get into the system. Maybe he can hijack those turrets. Human code is usually not very complicated, but this place seems to be full of surprises so who knows. 

:'''{{#var:569|Bitter Medicine (569)}} has posed:'''      Bitter Medicine steps up to Jasper. She's got a good three feet on him, and looks like she's ready for a fight. The diamond in his forehead catches the red light of the 'Lockdown' warning signs as he sizes her up. He rolls his neck. Crack, crack. His eyes look to the turret on the ceiling, the metal shutters, then back to Jasper, particularly the gem in the middle of her face. Could she be one of Autochthon's chosen? ...No matter, even if she is. Only a gremlinized champion would act in such a blatantly anti-mortal way.      The silence builds. Then, Bitter's heavily augmented legs propel him into the air. One be-sandaled foot swings around in a midair roundhouse aimed for Jasper, in spite of the turrets. 

:'''{{#var:44|Mojo Jojo (44)}} has posed:'''     What was initially planned to be a simple fast food theft was quickly escalating into a full on battle, with the victim of the robbery seeming to not be putting up with this entire thing, and as such the gun turrets proceed to fire upon everyone who isn't an employee at Super Snack Shack. In rapid fire, the guns unleash a hail of meatballs, firing upon the everyone at velocities that would most definitely hurt a person, and even give an Elite some bruises if they're not careful.     On that note, Mojo Jojo has ducked behind cover, and is screaming, "WHAT IS EVEN THE HECK!? WHAT KIND OF FAST FOOD JOINT IS THIS!? I, MOJO JOJO, ONLY REQUIRE MY SUPER SNACK PACKS! A STACK OF PACKS OF SUPER SNACKS TO TAKE BACK! WHY INSTEAD ARE THERE GUN RACKS INSTEAD OF FUN PACKS OF SUPER SNACKS IN THE SHACK!?"     Blurr isn't wrong, human computer security isn't precisely the greatest in the Multiverse, but his attempt to hack the Super Snack Shack computers to gain control of the gun placements are not easily made, as the secuity do give him a run for his money, the encryptions pretty strong. Might need a little time, but until then, he might need to dodge the ammo of meatballs. 

:'''{{#var:836|Peridot (836)}} has posed:'''     "Reveal valuable intel?" Peridot growled. "Never!" She had the same idea as Blurr, albeit her tools for doing so were a bit more sophisticated. Her floating fingers interlock to form her holographic interface. And she too began to wirelessly access the digital realm of the super snack shacks security system.     Peridot was built for this kind of thing, though human systems were strange to her, they were archaic which in some ways made her tools far too advanced causing a slightly mix-match of compatible tech, but she had long began writing subroutines to compensate for this staggeringly different tech. She taps rapidly with her finger, until she detects another entry log in the system. Soon she recognizes it as the digital signature that had once access her flight pod. "GRAAHHHGRGHLE!" She bellows in indecipherable nerd rage. "Everywhere I go!" She types furiously to take over the turret system. As archaic as the tech was, it would only be a matter of time before it fell to the digital might of Peridot! 

:'''{{#var:858|Jasper (858)}} has posed:'''      Blurr's off meddling with the computers. Hah! Intimidated by the might of Jasper, surely!      And then Bitter Medicine steps up to her. Okay,so, he's got a diamond in his forehead. That means that he could be a Gem, like that Steven that Peridot is always going on and on and on about. The clothes, though... "Is that your best battle attire?" Jasper snarks.      She cracks her knuckles, just in time for Bitter to leap at her as the turrets open up. Peppered with their meaty firepower (and somewhat disgusted by it), Jasper is struck by Bitter. She stumbles, grunting, and goes to reach for him with one hand. Snaring him, Jasper turns on her heel, and just goes to throw Bitter against the the nearest object. It turns out to be the drinks machine - soda goes spraying everywhere. 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     Blurr grumbles at the rather slow attempts he is making at trying to get into the humans' system. This would have been much faster, but since he can't bust in here with his true form without destroying the place, that makes it a bit more difficult.     Oh, oh, but then Peridot starts hacking it too, with her own signal. The Autobot attempts to hijack her frequency and use it to upload his own code. He'd gotten into her systems before, he can do it again!     And then, he is being pelted with...balls of meat? Instead of shells or lasers. Well, talk about inferior ammunition...this place really -is- full of surprises. 

:'''{{#var:569|Bitter Medicine (569)}} has posed:'''      Bitter slams into the drink machine, which is really a shame. It was one of those neat ones where you can pick the flavors, and now the entire restaurant has been deprived of the joy that is vanilla root beer. To add insult to his injury, a meatball socks him in the eye as he wrenches himself free of his carbonated prison. "Shorts..."      He digs his fingers into the towering machine and hefts it over his head. "Are comfy." Multicolored drops of wasted soda rain down around him, framing him dramatically in the light. "AND EASY TO WEAR!" He chucks the soda machine at Jasper, sending it sailing through the air. 

:'''{{#var:44|Mojo Jojo (44)}} has posed:'''     So while the gun turrets are firing at everyone and thus nobody specific, Mojo Jojo seems to finally have had enough of getting caught in the middle of this. From position of hiding, he's been grumbling and ranting to himself, cursing the Powerpuff girls for no real reason, and putting some work into modifying his 404 X-Carbonation Rifle to new specifications, and he's doing this on the fly.     While this is going on, the gun turrets suddenly stop firing, as from within the safety of the Super Snack Shack bunker someone is freaking out that they had been taken over. But was it by Peridot or Blurr?! Which of them succeeded!? To the terror of the employees, half the turrets got snared by Peridot, and the other half by Blurr, and can now be turned on other people. Thus, all the guns are still firing meatballs at everyone.     That poor Soda Machine. 

:'''{{#var:836|Peridot (836)}} has posed:'''     Peridot cackled as she wrestled control of one of the turrets into her possession. She refocused it to target Blurr from the time being, from her relatively safe position of being in the freezer. Though it did have a gaping hole where Jasper had torn the door down. This thought jolted her out of her mad shooting spree, and reminded her that she had a mission to complete, and better yet she had access to a gun that was essentially shooting the very thing she aimed to collect. Surely there would be a way to take advantage of this situation.     Her mind worked quickly and she shouted out over the chaos. "Jasper! Give me a hole in the wall where our ship is parked!" She instructed, suddenly shifting targets. Now was not the time to indulge in a grudge match--- She started focusing her fire on Bitter to give Jasper some breathing room to fulfill their new objective. "Eat it! Nyahahaha! Eat it all up!" 

:'''{{#var:858|Jasper (858)}} has posed:'''      "What-" Jasper begins to reply to Bitter shortly before she is hit with the drink machine straight on. Jasper goes sliding backwards under the blow, taking out the counter as she hits it, and slamming into the deep fryer. With an angry growl, Jasper shoves the drink machine aside, taking out what looks to be the staff break room. A bit worse for wear, and still getting pelted with meatballs, Jasper picks herself up.     "With pleasure!" Jasper calls back to Peridot, and she's staring right at Bitter when she says that. Huh, wonder what that could mean. Vaulting the counter, Jasper charges Bitter. She goes to pick the Alchemical Exalted up and, grinning a shark's grin at him, goes to create the hole in the wall where Peridot requested.      By using Bitter as a makeshift cannonball.      What even are shorts anyway? 

:'''{{#var:569|Bitter Medicine (569)}} has posed:'''      After hurling the drink machine, the Exalt thinks to press his advantage. He runs headlong towards Jasper as she gets back to her feet, but is pelted by a meatball courtesy of Peridot. He has to admit, they do have something of a wallop--enough at least to hurt a little. He takes his mind off of the task at hand for a moment to wipe the splattered food from his face, and that's when his flip-flop fails to find purchase. His right foot steps into a puddle of cola, and all of that momentum flies up and over, sending him crashing to the ground.      This makes him a prime target for Jasper, and before he realizes it, he's sent flying through a brick wall and out the other side. The Bitter-sized hole will likely serve a good exit point for Mojo and the Homeworld Gems, which would incidentally be a great name for a band if JoJo hand't already done that before. 

:'''{{#var:44|Mojo Jojo (44)}} has posed:'''     Mojo Jojo had been watching and observing the ongoing fight between the Gems and the Not-Gems from behind his cover, trying to avoid getting hit by stray meatball fight, noting that they now seemed to be all focused on each other, and no longer on him. With a few button presses and remaining adjustments to his 404 X-Carbonization Rifle, he flips it into activation, and proceeds to pop out of cover to fire upon the blast shield that was covering the area where the kitchen employees and thus his Stack of Super Snack Packs are.     His adjustments were made to turn the rifle into a long ranged cutting torch, and he cuts a circle into the blast shields, before charging out from his hiding spot and leaping through, and tackles the workers inside, smacking them some upside the heads in his monkey rage, and yells, "I WILL BE TAKING MY SUPER SNACK PACK STACK NOW!!" POW! WHACK, WHAM!     And then Mojo leaps right back out, hauling with him a backpack full of snack packs from the super snack shack, so he can now head back... Home. "Screw you guys, I'm out of here!"     Observing the escape route provided by the fighting Unionites vs the Gems, Mojo Jojo sprints on out of there like a bat out of hell, before pushing a button and igniting his jet-pack, and flying off.     The Super Snack Shack is now in shambles from the fighting, with Mojo Jojo having bolted out, and nothing really keeping Peridot, Jasper, Bitter Medicine, or Blurr in the building... The employees poke out from cover, somewhat having been beaten up by Mojo Jojo, the guys groan, "Are they gone?" They linger for a moment, before saying, "You think they figured out that beneath the franchise is a secret lab to develop the Super-Burger?" The other guy shakes his head, "Good... Nobody can know yet." He looks on all sinister like, "Nobody." 

:'''{{#var:836|Peridot (836)}} has posed:'''     And that was the simple window of opportunity she needed. The mission came first! She redirected her fire, now that she had a clear line of sight to her flight pod. She blasted it with a torrent of meaty product. The Steven needed this stuff to survive, and she would be damned if that child was going to perish before she handed him over to Yellow Diamond.     Soon, the pod was mostly full. She'd left room for a passenger, though it would not be a comfortable ride. It would be greasy.. it would be hot and meaty. Peridot hated the concept of food with a passion, so she had to leave a tactical amount of space to both make her get away, but also get an ample supply so she wouldn't have to waste time knocking over these trivial human shelters.     She ran out through the hole Jasper created and held her arm up. Her floating disconnected fingers, which had previously formed her holopad begin to spin rapidly as they glowed and reformed into helicopter blades. Steadily they lifed the green woman off the ground. "The pods too full! I'll fly myself back to the warship. Keep the payload safe or this will have been a huge waste of time!" And soon, she was lifting off into the air.     The pod had the coordinates already loaded in, but it seemed to be waiting for Jasper before taking off... full of meat, and waiting. 

:'''{{#var:858|Jasper (858)}} has posed:'''      And Jasper is out of there! With a snap of "Where're your shorts now?!" To Bitter as she glares at him through the Bitter-shaped hole in the wall, she makes good on her escape.      She does pause at the sight of the pod, all filled with meat, though. She doesn't quite shudder but her lip curls in disgust. Between Jasper's size, the one-man nature of the pod, and the copious amounts of meat jammed in there with her... it's going to be one uncomfortable, disgusting ride back to the Gem warship. She does try to look as menacing as possible as she leers at Bitter through the pod window as she takes off but, well, the meat. It's so... everywhere. Eurgh, what is with the human need to eat?! 

}}

3004/Grand Theft Icecream

2015-10-03T04:58:24Z

Zippy: Created page with "{{Log Header |Date of Scene=2015/09/12 |Location=Techno Urbania |Synopsis=Yari Takane and others visit Techno-Urbania to steal ice-cream trucks laden with illegal BTL chips in..."

{{Log Header
|Date of Scene=2015/09/12
|Location=Techno Urbania
|Synopsis=Yari Takane and others visit Techno-Urbania to steal ice-cream trucks laden with illegal BTL chips in them. What results are disguises, crying children, and explosions.
|Thanks=
|Cast of Characters=127, 492, 560, 626, 691, 714
|Tinyplot=
|Tinyplot2=
|pretty=yes
}}
{{Poses
|Poses=:'''{{#var:691|Yari Takane (691)}} has posed:''' The Green Hare ice cream company is holding an event in Techno Urbania! One of the brightly lit parks has a good half dozen ice cream trucks parked, with throngs of kids of all kinds here! The company has spared little expense, with bouncy castles, vr games featuring the company mascot, prizes, and lots and lots of free ice cream. And it's not just kids. A few adults are mixed in, mostly parents and workers, but there are a few odd figures. A few members of a local crime ring are monitoring things, a good six in all. Ostensibly, they're here for security. They look way too shadey though, in their suits with Green Hare logo pinned on them haphazardly, and various concealed weapons. The Confederacy, and perhaps the Union members as well, would know the reason: illegal addictive cybernetic chips known as BTL's have been smuggled into some of the ice cream pints the workers are using. Three of the six trucks are known to have them. The problem? They're only easily detectible with hand scanners. One has to get /into/ a truck, avoiding security and throngs of ice-cream hungry kids. Yari Takane, for her part, has slipped in. It was easy enough to knock out a poor commuting teenager and take his uniform. She's stepped to the man's truck. She keys up her radio, her mission already going poorly. "This is Centurion Takane! All other units, do you read?" She whispers, as she faces the invincible horde before her. "Three scoops of vanilla, Miss Lizard! "One rocky road! Eeeh hee heee!" "Oooh your hair's so pretty Miss! And your scales! One chocolate! Now now!" "One robo-parfait!" As it turns out, children are one of Yari's weaknesses. She's dashing about, trying to satisfy the throng of orders, taking change, and handing out cute little green bunny plushies! She pulls away from the window of the truck, her paper hat tilted sideways. "I'm in position, but encountering more resistance than anticipated! Disguises may not be the optimal rou...Coming, coming, one triple-decker swirly...Takane, out!" Is she...enjoying this!? There's five other trucks to choose from! 

:'''{{#var:127|Kirikou (127)}} has posed:'''     Kirikou's hanging out, helping the operation by being in disguise as an ordinary person. With his glasses, bling, and generally-casual clothing, he probably blends in pretty well. Helping him out in this disguise is Fire and Thunder, who need take no special pains to appear like ice cream crazed children.     "I hear ya loud and clear, Miss Lizard." Kirikou replies discreetly into his communicator. Which, if he heard some kid call her that, suggests either the kid's voice came through on the comms or ... he's really really close. The latter appears to be the case, if one looks out. Yep, there's a couple of kids out for ice cream that Yari might well find familiar. "One Rocky Road, one strawberry, one chocolate cookie dough, miss!" he says with a cheerful (and slightly mocking) grin. 

:'''{{#var:714|Sanary Rondel (714)}} has posed:'''      Sanary's never had a consistent track record with kids. One minute, they're flocking to her, the next they're running home screaming bloody murder. Really, is seeing a fluffy bunny accidentally getting chopped in half /that/ traumatizing? It's not like she meant for it to jump on that log.      Well, whatever. The important thing is that didn't happen anywhere here, and it's probably unlikely any of those kids ended up leaving that village, anyway. Besides, Sanary's got other things to worry about: Finding those BTL chips! Against her better judgment, she's even in disguise today! Rather than anything cutesy or celebration-appropriate, however, she's wearing a police officer's uniform from the 1920's. Surely nothing will go wrong wearing that.      "I'm in position, Miss Lizard and Punny Man. You're... Having fun with this, aren't you?" Although it's not clear who she's addressing over the radio, it might just be that she's talking to both of them. In fact, she's actually not even too far away from that same exact truck! Instead of approaching that one, though, she simply nods in their direction before scouting out the other trucks. There has to be some way clue around here somewhere... 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     These 'BTL' chips sound a lot like the simultronics they used to have at the Circle back on Cybertron. -Those- were perfectly legal, if a bit frowned upon. But these are humans we're talking about, and humans are typically not as durable has Cybertronians, either physically or psychologically.     Blurr has to assume there is a good reason why the humans' local authorities have outlawed them. Which is also why he's here, sitting in the parking lot near the trucks in his sleek vehicle form and attempting to scan for the chips. Unfortunately, they're just too tiny for him to detect from this distance. It's too bad there are all these humans around, otherwise he could just thoroughly destroy all of the trucks and worry about compensating the Green Hare ice cream company later. Now he's pondering whether it would easier to try to hack into the city's alarm system and set it off to get people off the streets then blow the trucks, or to just use the holomatter projector to get into the trucks and see if he could detect them that way.     Eh, explosions are too messy in this case!     He opts for the less noisy option, and activates the holomatter avatar, which appears in the back of the truck Yari is in. It appears to be a blond-haired teenager, who is maybe trying to take more than his share! 

:'''{{#var:626|Kyra Hyral (626)}} has posed:'''     Kyra's disguise amounts to...a different hoodie. It actually works for her because by now she's /pretty/ well-known for the "Hood Cat" she wears both in battle and out of it. Hell, she doesn't even wear a white hoodie right now, no doubt throwing everyone off. She does look slightly shady right now though but so do pretty much all the adults hanging around this ice cream event.     She slinks around casually, edging near the back of one of the other trucks, her hands tucked in her hoodie's front pockets. She's pretty discrete but still pretty suspicious. Who hangs around the /back/ of an ice cream truck? 

:'''{{#var:560|Emiya Shirou (560)}} has posed:'''     Emiya Shirou had ALREADY BEEN ON THE WAY to this when he heard the report from Union informatives. Why? Well, to pick up some actual buckets of ice cream and stick them in the refrigerated boxes he's stuck on a little cart and cart them back to the kids at Dun Realtai. Illya and Chloe are also good candidates for treats!     Well, that plan's ditched in a hurry when he hears the news. :(     "Someone's really trying to mess with ICE CREAM?" He did in fact freeze and stare at his PDA, finding this one hard to believe. Not just that someone might pull a plot on kids, but... ICE CREAM?     Really?     The face he made.... yeeeeaaaaah.     So he's unfortunately wearing street clothes instead of any kind of disguise, but still tugging along his refrigerated boxes on the cart.     Which... he basically parks out of the way. "Why do things like this keep happening?" Grumble, grumble.     Unfortunately for him, he doesn't have a scanner. Fortunately, he has magic.     So he makes his way through the crowds and noisy, frenzied kids and finally emerges near a quieter side of a truck, feigning some exhaustion and exasperation when he claps a hand against it, leaning his back against it too.     ONe muttered, "trace on," Later...     invisible tendrils of prana flow from his body like waves of ultrasound, building a structural map in his mind of the truck's walls and seeking inwards towards any crates. If the crates aren't packed against the walls though, this isn't likely to work too well.     His maximum range is maybe 3 or so meters, after all. 

:'''{{#var:691|Yari Takane (691)}} has posed:''' Blink blink. Is that...yup. It /is/! Yari can't help but smile a bit, ducking back in. She remembers the two kids, and a /plan/ forms. She leans out again. "Oh my, it seems like we're out of cookie dough! You be a good boy and wait just oooone moment while I check the back, okay?" Smile! She opens the refridgerated compartment, and discretely pulls out her scanner. A show of fussing and looking, and she comes out with cookie dough ice cream. She makes up the ice cream for Thunder and Fire! She whispers into the comms. "No go. This one's empty. We need to check the other five!" Pause. Why is the lizard girl suddenly blushing? "Q...quiet!" Yari's voice actually /pouts/ here. Sanary must have hit a nerve. Yari has a problem though! She turns back around, and there's someone /else/ scrounging in here. "H...HEY! We might be giving out free ice cream, but hijacking it from the truck itself is rude! Boy! Front and center!" It's far, far, too suspicious, the way he just appeared, but she can't break her disguise now! Instead, she's reaching out for the young man's collar! "Get out of there before I call security in!" She threatens, scowling! Sanary might find herself a bit of a clue. No one seems to call her out....yet anyway. But there is something off with one of the trucks: several of the 'security' people walk over to one of the trucks near Yari's, and soon it's being closed down. The employee and the two suspicious adults converse in low tones. Kyra too is sighted by one of those security people. A tall man walks up, and crosses his arms. "Oi, girl! Whatcha doin'!? Go around and ask 'fer ice-cream like a normal person!?" He leans in, then blinks. He looks over her plain clothes, and then whispers. "...Wait, that's the...hey. You the Green Bunny? We been waitin' for ya." What is this guy talking about!? Shirou, as it turns out, has a slightly more direct method. His magic flows through part of the truck, and he quickly learns several things: one, the truck really needs an oil change. Two, it's back-right tire probably needs some air. Three: though they're not stacked towards the walls entirely, there are a few pint-crates shoved towards the wall he's near. Inside of one of a few of those pints, there's hints of something more than ice cream. Could that be...silicon at the very bottom? He might have hit paydirt. But how many are there, and how to get it out unnoticed? 

:'''{{#var:127|Kirikou (127)}} has posed:'''     Aw damn, no cookie dough? Kirikou frowns at the news, but it's to hide the grin he'd otherwise be showing at Yari's reaction... to him and to Sanary's comment. "Damn right I am." he says softly into the communicator, allowing Yari to dodge the question if she wants.     "Hear that, kids?" Kirikou says to his two Weapons - er, his two cousins. "They don't have our ice cream here. We're gonna have to find it somewhere else!" he claims. Yep, Kilik's totally the kind of guy who, when he has kids of his own, will pull the car up to an under-construction lot and say 'Oh look kids, they closed Disneyland!'     "What's up, Yari?" Kirikou asks, once again discreetly into the comms. "Trouble from the local thugs? Need backup or a distraction maybe?" he asks, glancing around to see who might be trouble and what sorts of things might be shaping up. Between that and his earlier loud declaration to Fire and Thunder, he's making himself rather obvious. And, unlike many others here, he's really not in disguise. 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     As soon as the avatar appears in the truck, Blurr starts scanning the interior in search of anything that might seem out of place. Fortunately, though the avatars aren't designed to do deep scans, he can at least configure his sensor systems to at least do a quick one. Hopefully it'll do.     Hm, well it seems this one is empty. Plus, from his true form outside, he's noticed one of the trucks getting shut down prematurely, which is certainly suspicious. He's about to leave when Yari shows up and starts berating him. Ugh, he could just deactivate the emitter and project the holomatter elsewhere like inside that suspicious truck, but that would blow -his- cover. Why do humans always have to get in the way of him trying to -help- them?     The teen throws his hands in the air in resignation. "Uhhhhh, I was just about to leave, I swear! I was just uh, like, looking for something, I thought I dropped my, my co--I mean, my phone!" Oh he is definitely weird, if she's perceptive enough, she might notice upon looking more closely at him that he looks like a character from a cinematic video game trailer has been pulled off the screen somehow. -Too- flawlessly symmetrical. -Too- picture perfect.          Meanwhile, Blurr's real form has also noticed Kyra skulking about. He opens a commlink to her; perhaps she's noticed him sitting there. << Kyra, it's Blurr. Any luck with finding the silicon? >> 

:'''{{#var:626|Kyra Hyral (626)}} has posed:'''     Confronted, Kyra lingers, expected to be chased off like a meddling teenager any minute. One of her hands slips out of her pocket and dangles at her side, slowly manuvered into a better position where she could grab one of her guns and pop a tranquilizer dart in this meddling man. If she did it fast enough, she might not even be noticed by the others here. Maybe she could roll the body under the truck and-     The white mage lifts an eyebrow then promptly starts playing along. She lifts her finger up to her lips in a hushing motion before nodding to the "security person."     "Yeah, sorry for the lateness, now keep it down." Kyra says through gritted teeth. "Is everything ready?" 

:'''{{#var:714|Sanary Rondel (714)}} has posed:'''      "Well, don't have too much fun. Or... Save some for me." Sanary snickers lightly as she watches that little commotion by Yari's truck, eventually turning once she spots those 'security' people. "I got movement. Gonna check it out." That certainly doesn't sound anything like an AI security guard would say. At least it's helping Sanary fit the part, though! "Sounds like you've got some in there, too. Uh. Holler if you need backup?" She offers that truck Yari's in a worried glance before adjusting her hat and turning to the truck right next to it.      Time to get to work. Approaching that truck, the not-a-cop steps right up to those 'security' people and gives them brief nod before crossing her arms over her chest to put on her best crooked cop routine. The one she's never properly practiced before and has actually failed once, even.      "Hello, boys. Mind if I take a look inside? You know what I'm here for." She gives them another light nod before glancing behind herself again, just to make it look as if she's watching out for any actual cops in the area. Granted, that is a concern, but... Well, she'll deal with that if it becomes a problem. She does catch sight of Shirou off to the side and Kyra doing... Something. Is she in cahoots with these people? That will have to be figured out later! 

:'''{{#var:560|Emiya Shirou (560)}} has posed:'''     Well Shirou's not so sure at all about his allies' trains of thought now! He boggles at something or another, but then withdraws his hand.     What should he do? There are definitely THINGS in the ice cream that should not be there. They can't be safe to eat, not with what he's heard.     Every moment they delay, some kid could be getting hurt! urgh!     But he's brought of his funk when he sees someone pass by and barge into the truck. Could it be?     He decides to make a gamble on this one.     Again his hand's placed against the truck wall...     "Trace... on...."     A tiny crackle of power flows through the metals and alloys, reshaping the inner wall. This idea is probably silly, but it might, just might work.     A HAND OF METAL forms from the wall, with just a few inches of arm attached. It solidifies with index finger pointing at the contaminated crate! 

:'''{{#var:691|Yari Takane (691)}} has posed:''' "Sorry everyone~." Comes Yari's sing-song voice to the two 'kids' and the 'Dad' that are the Weapons and Kirikou. "Understood, Sanary. Let's try to keep this one quiet. I don't want any kids getting hurt." But she has more immediate things to handle. Such as Blurr. That image is definitely suspicious. No human is that perfect. Still, she doesn't have time to ponder too much. She needs to get on with the other trucks. "Well get out of here! I'm switching shifts soon, you know!?" She slams the ice-cream truck's back closed, and does the same for the door to the interior. She peeks around the truck. "Sorry kids, I'm going on break! We'll be open in another twenty minutes!" She's all sweetness again, before Yari finds time to intone into her commlink. "Just some idiot. Time to go 'shift switch' with one of the others. Follow me, make a distraction so I can knock out the other employee." Meanwhile, Kyra gets a grin from the security guards. "Yeah, yeah, all ready. Here's the deal: we're closin' this event off soon. Gonna be a 'gas leak', ya see? You see smoke, start drivin' this beauty off to the drop-point. Talk to the girl inside, she'll give ya the keys." The guards motion to the truck Kyra's right beside. Seems she's found one! Between Shirou and her, that's two trucks of three! Sanary's presence has the trio of guards and employee suddenly look very nervous. They look at each other, then shrug. The employee leans in. "what a terrible disguise! You were supposed to come as the mascot...oh well, the cop gig works too. Go on, go on. The 'distraction' is gonna start soon! Keys are in the ride. You'll know when to pull out when it happens!" That's all three accounted for. Unluckily for Shirou, while his spell works flawlessly, it does surprise the employee inside. There's a girlish shriek, and the woman inside bumps her head audibly, then comes stumbling out of the door nearly tripping. As luck would have it, right into the arm of a suspiciously familiar looking Au'Ra. Yari catches the employee with a smile, too burdened with the real employee to note Shirou in his spot at the truck walls. Plenty of time to duck away and hide! "There, there, you've been working too hard! Why don't we change shifts..." Comes Yari's voice as she helps the woman back inside, and proceeds to apply a damp, sweet cloth to her mouth. She lays the woman, unconscious, before opening the door to the refridgerated end, scanner in hand. It beeps affirmative. But what she's looking at is the odd finger pointing at the incriminating crates. She actually pauses. "....What?" She mutters, peering for a moment. Sigh. "Kirikou, Sanary, I found one of the trucks. Something is strange, though. We need to get out of here soon. Any ideas on a distraction? And any luck finding the trucks?" 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     Phew, Blurr has managed to get away from the annoying woman. As soon as Yari shuts the back of the truck, the avatar dematerializes. It seems Shirou has forgone the truck-purchasing plan, and--okay, seriously. He was -just- complaining about buying all the trucks NOT being discreet. As if turning the wall of one of the trucks into a giant pointing hand is any more discreet. It is totally discreet, especially with the screaming employee.     But yeah, whatever works, right? As long as he pointed out the item of interest. So the avatar is quickly reactivated inside of the truck targeted by Emiya, and goes to grab the container he has caused the wall to point at. It seems Yari was correct about this guy being suspicious. But hey, the weird finger shape method did end up helping anyway, by way of causing Yari to pause, hence giving Blurr the opportunity to attempt to snag the objective before she could. 

:'''{{#var:127|Kirikou (127)}} has posed:'''     Distraction is Kirikou's middle name. Kirikou Distraction Rung. "Well, I could get somewhere discrete, punch something, make an explosion, everyone runs away." he suggests. This is probably not a great idea. "Or I could probably help the Twins whip up all the kids into a screaming fit over being denied their ice cream. That might work better, what do you say?"     He doesn't much bother waiting for a reply. Instead Kirikou puts a hand on each Twin's shoulder. "Sorry kids, they're out of ice cream." he says in a perfectly normal, low conversational voice. That, along with the empathy between them, is enough to give the Twins the right idea.     Fire and Thunder immediately sit down and begin bawling. This, naturally, prompts people to be concerned. Some adults, dragged into this by their own kids, ask what's wrong. "They're out of ice cream." Kirikou says, somewhat loud. More quietly, as if embarrassed, he speaks to the nearby adults. "They don't want to wait for them to get more from the other trucks, so they're throwing a fit. Kids huh?" he grins.     Damage is done however. Kids have heard the magic words 'they're out of ice cream'. That, combined with the crying Twins, sets off a wave of screaming and crying tantrums. 

:'''{{#var:626|Kyra Hyral (626)}} has posed:'''     "Oh, good, good." Kyra smirks, slipping her free hand back into the front pocket of her hoodie again. She seems at ease, no longer plotting to reach for her concealed needlegun, and off to take complete advantage of the underinformed guards. "I'll look for the smoke." she says, moving to hop into the back and sneak up to the front where this other girl they're talking about is. Once inside, however, she starts reaching for that needlegun again, just in case.     "Ey." she says quietly, seeking the girl within, keeping her voice down as if she's trying to prevent those outside from hearing the greeting and following 'confirmation.' "Green rabbit here. We should be seeing the signal soon so pass over the keys so I can get ready." 

:'''{{#var:714|Sanary Rondel (714)}} has posed:'''      "And deal with all those kids? As if." Sanary scoffs lightly. It really would be painful for her to have to do that, undercover work or not. "Just keep an eye out for the real ones and I'll handle the rest." She lets out a tired sigh, then starts heading into the truck. The guards might even hear her mutter "I'm getting too old for this shit..." if they're careful enough!      It's not like she enjoys watching those movies or anything.      Once she's in, the one-eyed healer takes a deep breath before whispering into her radio. "I'm in. It's got what we're looking for, I think, but I don't think I'll have a chance to check it. Got word of a 'distraction' starting soon, and they want me to... Uh. Pull out?"      She eyes the keys already in the slot as she gets in the driver's seat, keeping the hat on while she scans the area from the window. They're actually expecting her to drive this, aren't they? 

:'''{{#var:560|Emiya Shirou (560)}} has posed:'''     Aaaand that just triggered a sweatdrop. How in the heck did the worker happen to be looking at JUST THE WRONG MOMENT?! Shirou winces, but finally sighs. What's a magus to do here exactly?! Well, several options remain. But the boy's blood runs pretty hot and he can't just stay sitting there!     If security comes, he'll just have to show his Union ID.     So he just tromps towards the back of the truck since it was just opened and someone was set down!     But once he sees hints of SUSPICIOUS STUFF happening he hurries back to his location and slips around the side.     Okay who was that? He's really not sure...     However they're not one of his allies.     It's time to get... CREATIVE.     Once again Shirou traces out a picture of the truck's innards, enough to find a small hollow within a metal cupboard. After a deep breath, he uses his powers of Alteration again. The metal 'skin' of the truck's parted like the work of moses effortlessly and silently and he shuffles quietly into the cupboard. Another tap of magic behind him and the spell's undone, returning the metal skin to its original position. Okay so he's sneaking aboard!     And once he's comfortable he 'opens' a tiny viewing hole to scope out what's happening INSIDE the truck. 

:'''{{#var:691|Yari Takane (691)}} has posed:''' Yari's round of surprise isn't over, as she notes the youth from earlier! How did he get in here before her!? She didn't hear the back of the truck opening! Between the metal hand and the young man there, she grits her teeth. She stands at the other end, glaring at Blurr's avatar. "Ice cream thief!?" She calls to him, her hands tied! Thank god for Kirikou and his two Weapons. The twins' powers of crying combined with a pure /wave/ of childish sorrow at FREE ICECREAM being denied them rolls through the crowd. Parents hug crying girls, comfort boys, and generally try to contain the chaos. More than a few start to leave, and soon enough, most of the ice cream trucks are free of children! There's some confusion, as several other trucks shut down almost at the same time. Did Kirikou do his job too well!? Shirou, for his part, manages to rip himself open a proper compartment to view things, Yari none the wiser. He'll note the unconscious employee, and then the Au'Ra confronting Blurr's avatar. The lizard woman, for her part, flicks out four kunai. With the wailing outside, no one will notice a fight if she keeps it small. "I knew there was something off about you! Give up the crate!" Then she flicks all four kunai at Blurr, aiming for all four limbs. Then, she makes a handseal. Four paralytic-poisoned kunai become roughly forty, most of them meant to hem in the youth. Normal combatants would fall by just a small scratch of those blades into paralysis, but at this point, Yari isn't taking chances. Her tail, meanwhile, scans more crates. It beeps like crazy. Yup, this truck is fairly full. This all gives Shirou a nice view of Yari's back. An opportunity! Yari keys up her radio to the others. "Found one, but we have an intruder! Get ready to go if you have a truck! Better to get some than none! Sanary! Get ready to drive off! Kirikou, support Sanary if anyone comes after you!" As for Kyra? The signal comes very, very soon. From manholes in the park's sidewalk, there's bursts of gas! Screams echo through the park, and the security people go to work, ushering the kids away! It's total chaos! Things swiftly get worse for everyone. Two figures dressed in Green hare garb come running up to guards. There's swift words! Kyra and Sanary both get yells. "We've got imposters! Get 'em!" Calls the guards amidst the chaos, and begin to unload into ice-cream trucks with sub machine guns! Meanwhile, two more guards are making for the truck Blurr, Yari, and Shirou are contesting! "PULL OUT!" Yells Yari into her commlink amidst it all as gunfire sounds. 

:'''{{#var:626|Kyra Hyral (626)}} has posed:'''     Fortunately, ever since the incident with Blurr, Kyra /has/ looked into driving non-Galiandan cars. It's important since they don't automatically take MP to move and instead run on a controlled series of explosions. HOW EXCITING! She happily relieves the girl waiting inside of her keys and climbs into the driver's seat. Just as she does, however, she hears shouting about IMPOSTERS. "Shit." she swears, her hand immediately whipping out that needlegun hidden in the holster beneath her hoodie.     Looking over the back of her seat, she fires a pair of tranquilizer rounds into the girl she just took the keys from before flooring the pedal to the van. As she does, the back of the truck is promptly shot up by the guard-wielding guns, no doubt partially destroying their own merchandise and some GOOD ICE CREAM in the process. Fortunately, it does give Kyra a buffer to being shot herself.     "OUTTA THE WAY, KIDS!" At least that part of their plan was retained. Kyra is not eager to run over a kid. 

:'''{{#var:127|Kirikou (127)}} has posed:'''     Kirikou's reactions go from pleased all the way though confused and worried straight through to panic. Pleasure at the wave of bawling chaos caused by kids. It's a great distraction. Then confusion and worry as Yari mentions the intruder. The panic, when guns begin opening up, is short and sharp and quickly mastered.     Kirikou holds up his clenched fists and the Twins transform into streaks of energy which fly to the fists and transform into their familiar Weapon forms. When bullets start flying, he's not about to take chances with them vulnerable. He also, by that act, clearly marks himself as a threat to anyone in eyeshot... but so be it.     "Sanary! On my way!" Kirikou calls vaguely in his comm's direction. He begins to run, and of course Sanary's direction is where the gunmen are. Kirikou doubles up his fists, running behind their shielding power, bobbing and weaving and zig-zagging like a champ as he charges the guns and presumably draws fire from at least some of the ice cream trucks.     Kirikou tanks some shots and dodges more, starting to store up a charge of blue-yellow energy in his left fist. As he nears Sanary's truck he unleashes the charged plasma into some gunners before LEAPING into the air, coming down on top of the truck with a loud THUMP. 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     As it turns out, this truck is -full- of BTL chips. Blurr had neglected to scan at first, since Shirou's finger had only pointed out one, but that actually makes this easier as a matter of fact. Now he has an excuse to steal the -entire- truck.     Except now, he's being attacked by Yari. The avatar drops the crate as the blades fly. He dodges some of them, but many of them still hit him. They pierce the holomatter matrix, causing it to crack, but the poison doesn't appear to have any affect on it. In fact, this kid apparently doesn't even have any blood at all. Instead, it just flickers a bit, then disappears, only to reappear in the driver's seat of the truck. If there's someone already in the driver's seat, it appears on -top- of that person.     << Shirou, where are you? Get in here and throw this reptile lady off the truck if it's at all possible! >>     Immediately the avatar begins ripping at the wiring behind the dashboard and searching for a way to get into the vehicle's electrical systems in order to hopefully seize full control of it. 

:'''{{#var:714|Sanary Rondel (714)}} has posed:'''      "Understood. Just give me a sec to figure out-" Well, that didn't take long. With her cover blown and guns being fired right at her truck, Sanary will just have to take an impromptu driving lesson! Surely she's learned enough of the basics from watching cop movies, right?      "Hands at ten and-SHIT. I'm moving!" She practically yells into her comms as she fiddles with the stick. Thankfully, she does know enough how to back the truck up and honk the horn repeatedly to warn anyone that's in its path! The truck's actually managed to avoid ramming into any walls or people so far, but that'll only last for so long.      That could very well change quickly, of course, since she hasn't quite gotten the hang of turning or signalling yet. In her haste to just try out random levers to see what works, the emergency lights have been turned on and an ice cream jingle has started playing! How nice.      If only there wasn't a significant risk of her running over somebody.      Grimacing at the THUNK on the roof, Sanary winces as a few bulelts actually make their way through and graze by her arms. Not enough to keep her from messing with the controls, of course, but annoying nonetheless. "I got one on the roof, I think! Or someone killed a really fat bird. I don't know!" It doesn't take long for her to figure out that turning in reverse is different from turning when moving forward, at least. The real trick is figuring out how much to turn now so she can actually get the vehicle out of there! 

:'''{{#var:560|Emiya Shirou (560)}} has posed:'''     An opportunity for what? Backstabbing?     Like he could face Saber or Bedivere after doing such a thing. But there is just SO MUCH CHAOS that he's stunned for a few moments. WHEN DID THIS TURN INTO A LOUD CRISIS WITH EXPLOSIONS?!     WHY?!     And when will his ears stop ringing from the gunfire?!     The smart thing to do would be to BOLT and abort, just make sure the kids get away.     "Dammit... here goes nothing..."     Things get WEIRD inside the truck. Green lightning flares free of the metal cupboard... then it EXPLODES!     There's the ungodly noise of metal shearing through metal just before chunks of it go flying all through the ice cream truck and Shirou bursts free... Kanshou and Bakuya in hand. "What the hell's HAPPENING HERE?!"     He blurts at the first person around, which just so happens to be Yari. 

:'''{{#var:691|Yari Takane (691)}} has posed:''' Whump! Down goes the unfortunate employee thanks to Kyra. She'll be down for quite a while! Enough to arrest after this is all over, if the truck survives! Kids scream, and parents pull them away from the fleeing vehicle! There's more bullets aimed Kyra's way, but she has a decently straight path to the nearest highway and a pre-ordained drop-off point! At least until a tinted-mirrored black sedan pulls up, and a particularly shadey looking man steps out. He aims a weapon for the ice-cream truck! Is that a rocket launcher!? It seems the criminals don't want those BTL's to fall into any hands but their own! Can Kyra avoid the rocket!? Sanary backs up, Kirikou lands, and people are fleeing madly, and there's a cutesy ice-cream jingle being played! Also bullets. Lots of bullets and emergency lights. Thankfully in all of the chaos, there's already sirens of policemen../real ones/...on the horizon! Some of the gangster peel off from Sanary and Kirikou, but another one of the rocket-launching goons from the sedan that's pestering Kyra gives them the same treatment! Blurr doesn't bleed, then he's over to the car's controls! Grrrrr! "An illusion! Damnit!" Curses Yari, before suddenly Shirou bursts into action. There's green lightning, and Yari throws herself flat into the back of the truck, dodging metal bits and getting her face scratched up. She's outnumbered, and probably outgunned. She grabs a convenient sack, and swiftly snatches up a few crates she remembers being positive from the beeps. And probably some regular ice cream too! "Looks like the mafioso were more prepared than initially believed, Mister Shirou. I'm leaving." Her tail holds the end of the satchel as she leaps back towards the back of the truck, kicking out the back door. Her hand, however, tosses five round objects into the back. "Five second fuse, Shirou. My orders have nothing to do with you, and I would rather not make Miss Saber lose a companion." Then she's leaping out the back and into the cover of the gangster's smoke with her own haul. Unless the two do something to stop it, in five seconds, the back of the truck will burst into flames as the incendiary ceruleum grenades reduce ice cream and BTL chip to slag. As well as most of the truck: seems Yari would rather deny the gangsters and the Union a bit of the prize. 

:'''{{#var:127|Kirikou (127)}} has posed:'''     Kirikou freaks, at least a little, when a rocket gets pointed at the truck he's on. That is NOT good! Those idiots might damage the ice cream and ruin Fire and Thunder's day!     In truth yes, that's pretty much the Twins' attitude right now. They're not sure why Kirikou jumped onto the truck. They're just assuming it has to do with hijacking ice cream, which is fine by them.     "Sanary! Rocket Launcher!" Kirikou yells out. What options does he have? Well, he could probably jump off and maybe even punch the rocket. At the speed Sanary's managing right now, that's probably not an impossibility. It'll hurt, but he can handle it. He can't blast the rocket with elemental power, not having enough soul energy or resonance ready for the move. Or... yeah, with Fire and Thunder imagining up an ice cream binge, he's not going to rely on them right this moment. Instead he goes for his relatively rare combat option. Reaching under his jacket, he comes out with a pistol in one hand. With a shrug and some slight annoyance that he's not dual-wielding, he empties a clip at the goon with the rocket launcher. Maybe he'll get lucky, or keep the jackass's head down long enough for Sanary to get them out of here. Or maybe he'll disable the goon's car or something. He doesn't much care, and spends more effort in squeezing out a hail of gunfire than actually aiming or anything. 

:'''{{#var:626|Kyra Hyral (626)}} has posed:'''     There are no 'pre-ordained drop off points' on Kyra's trip itinerary, especially since she doesn't really know where exactly the drop off points are supposed to be. She does, vaguely, know of enough highways that she'll be able to evade being run off the road hopefully /just/ enough to-     "A ROCKET LAUNCHER?!" Kyra exclaims as the sedan pulls up into her way to disgorge a thug with a ridiculous weapon pointed at her van. Madly, she spins the steering wheel sideways, the van screetching as it jerks to the side to avoid a direct hit from the rocket launcher. The following explosion, however, is enough to knock it onto two wheels on one side for a few seconds while Kyra shrieks, and throws herself onto the other side of the van in hopes of righting the vehicle. Ice cream and the unconscious girl are flung around in the back though Kyra's movement does make the vehicle snap back onto all four wheels.     While on the other side of the van, she grasps her own version of a grenade (a napalm flask) from beneath her hoodie to toss vindicatively at the van! "EAT IT, JERKWAD!" she yells out the window normally used to serve ice cream from. Shortly after she rushes back to the driver's seat to continue making her getaway. 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     Blurr's avatar had managed to grab control of the vehicle when he heard Yari say something about a five-second fuse. "Shirou get clear!" He shouts, deactivating the holoform. The Autobot is mostly concerned for Emiya's safety, and doesn't really care that the truck is going to blow. He'd probably just have done the same thing anyway if he'd gotten away with them, so the lizard woman has actually taken care of part of the job for him. Thanks, Yari!     So, now that -that's- been taken care of, -and- now that most of the kids and civilians are out of the way, he turns his attention toward the truck Sanary and Kirkou are in the process of making off with. Better destroy these illegal goods before the Confederacy can use them for something up to no good! This time, he doesn't bother with the avatar, and the blue car that had been sitting in the parking lot with the trucks the entire time springs into action, accelerating quickly from 0 to hundreds of MPH after Sanary's truck and attempting to T-bone right into the front passenger side at a perpendicular angle, ideally tipping it over and sending it off the road. Sure, it'll hurt him, but with his armor plating the truck will take more punishment than he does. Can Sanary swerve away fast enough? You know what they say, experience is the best teacher! Driving test of a lifetime, yeah? 

:'''{{#var:560|Emiya Shirou (560)}} has posed:'''     This just about settles it! Yari tossing some BOMBS around gets Shirou panic. He doesn't even bother taking the same route as her. Instead he DIVES for the worker at superhuman speeds. Even though his legs ache from the strain of being reinforced to the limits. It's going to be a rough ride, but he scoops up the worker in one arm and PLOWS THROUGH THE TRUCK'S SIDE in the next moment. Apparently a single cleave from Kanshou is enough to EVISCERATE A HOLE through the truck. His passage SEETHES with magic, emerald bolts flaring wildly from wasted power. "There's kids around!! You idiot!" But ALL he can do is leap away. A leap that takes him soaring over to the roof of another ice cream truck and then out over the heads of several mobsters. He spots the rocket launcher and jsut boggles. How did they get THAT out here?!     "I'm not dreaming everything, am I...?!" 

:'''{{#var:714|Sanary Rondel (714)}} has posed:'''      Rocket launcher. That's... Supposed to mean something isn't it? There's enough context for Sanary to figure that that's probably a very bad thing, though, and it's all the signal she needs to increase speed! "Brace yourself, Kilik! I'm speeding up, I thi-YES I AM SPEEDING UP" So what if she ends up plowing through some gangsters? They knew the risks of the job as well as she did.      Granted, the truck still isn't moving /that/ fast at a fairly brisk 20 miles per hour. At least she's trying to not hit any civilians on the way out, although her driving somehow still isn't that great even at that low of a speed."I-I think I got this! Holy crap holy crap why won't this thing stop swerving?!"      The sound of sirens only sends her into more of a frenzied state, taking several deep breaths to try and calm herself even as she speeds aaaall the way up to... Twenty-five miles an hour! "You okay up there, Kilik? Yari, statu-WHAT EXPLODED?" And she's back in panic mode after hearing that explosion somewhere behind her! If only she knew Kyra was having even more trouble than she is.      To make matters even worse, another car suddenly slams right into the truck! Clearly, Sanary made the rookie mistake of not checking either of her sides for cars heading straight at her. The truck tips at a dangerous angle, somehow managing to balance on two wheels! It's not yet clear just whether it'll fall over or come right back down on top of that car, although the healer is clearly praying that it'll just come back down on      BTL chips or not, she's going to need a lot of ice cream later. 

:'''{{#var:691|Yari Takane (691)}} has posed:''' Kirikou pulls out a gun, and uses it to good effect. A wall of Elite-powered bullets slams into the rocket-gangster, as well as his sedan! He's defintely not going to fire any more of those! But can Sanary do anything about the rocket itself!? Kyra chucks a napalm flask at her own rocket-based opponent, which lands neatly in the guy's pocket. He looks down, screams, and then it explodes. Not a few seconds after, his car cooks off, leaving more scrap metal everywhere. Miraculously, there's not been a single kid harmed in all of this thanks to the smoke and everyone evacuating. Kyra is free to drive off! Blurr bails, but Shirou is a bit more active! The worker is picked up, and the truck cut asunder! Both leap out at just the right time! He leaps off, but a voice calls out after him just as that ice cream truck goes up in a ball of flame! "It was low yield!!!" Yari yells as she hotwires a convenient car, and gets away. Wham! Blurr's and Sanary's impact is great indeed! But luck seems to be with Sanary! The ice-cream truck flips over, but ends up right back on its wheels! Sanary still has a chance at a getaway! Who knows how poor Kirikou is faring, however. Sanary just needs to get to the drop-off point! 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     For what seems like several precarious moments that probably play out in slow motion or something, Sanary's truck teeters dangerously on two wheels. But it seems luck is on her side this time, and it starts to come right back down--on top of Blurr! He sees this coming and curses, but aims his altmode guns upward into the truck's undercarriage, putting as many hot lasers as he can into the vehicle's internals in the time that he has before it falls down on top of him. He -barely- manages to slip out from under it and speed away before that happens! Hopefully he did enough damage to take out the truck, but the Feds were going to get away with a few of these things anyway thanks to Yari. 

:'''{{#var:714|Sanary Rondel (714)}} has posed:'''      The good news: The truck didn't flip over! The bad news: Blurr's lasers have practically killed the truck, and the incoming rocket is still a very big, very explosive problem! The worst news: Luck seems to have conspired against Sanary today in getting her hopes up from that first part. With what little life is still left in that truck (complete with an eery dying ice cream jingle), she does manage to swerve once to try and avoid the rocket!      ... Except she ends up swerving directly into the path of the rocket. Thankfully, the explosion is on that already-wrecked passenger side from the initial hit, but it's still enough to turn most of the vehicle into a messy pile of scrap. Needless to say, whatever ice cream and chips are still inside that truck probably aren't intact any more.      The healer's barely able to even drag herself out of that flaming wreck, groaning painfully and having trouble deciding whether to try and extract the glass from her face now, or to wait until she's back home. With the sounds of sirens steadily approaching, however, that choice is much easier to make.      "Nngh... Screw it. Let's just get outta here! We did what we needed to." She grunts into her radio before ducking into alley, waiting for more opportune time to make her escape! Hopefully, nobody'll remember the eyepatch-wearing old-timey cop stealing that ice cream truck from today.      "Stupid cars." 

}}

3031/A Quick Job

2015-10-03T04:58:12Z

Zippy: Created page with "{{Log Header |Date of Scene=2015/09/16 |Location=Southern Urbania |Synopsis=Yari Takane and Fuki seek to end the potential turning of a confederate arms manufacturing business..."

{{Log Header
|Date of Scene=2015/09/16
|Location=Southern Urbania
|Synopsis=Yari Takane and Fuki seek to end the potential turning of a confederate arms manufacturing business by assassinating a high ranking executive. Blurr is on security detail! Insurance in the area just went up.
|Thanks=
|Cast of Characters=211, 492, 691
|Tinyplot=
|Tinyplot2=
|pretty=yes
}}
{{Poses
|Poses=:'''{{#var:691|Yari Takane (691)}} has posed:''' Ronald's Self Defense and Protection is the rather blandly named company that's part of the many such businesses providing arms to the Confederacy. It's not exactly a large business as these things go, but significant enough that the news that one of its financial officers, one James Hart has gotten enough finances and general good will of the board of directors that maybe, just maybe, he could sway the rest into supporting the Union. Cut to the suburban paradise that is Urbania. The Green Willows is your standard gated community: a small gate, a camera in the front entrance, lots of apartments for a young bachelor like Mister Hart, and your average run-of-the-mill security guards. Yari Takane has already arranged that anyone coming with her be given disguises: there's been a rash of fevers, and quick outside hires were made. Yari's card identifies her as 'Ashley Smith'. She pulls up in a nondescript sedan, shows her id, and they're let in by the clueless security guard. The apartment complex is fairly straight forward: a road leading straight, and with a bend in the middle to more apartments. Hart's apartment is the one down the bend, the absolutely last one on the ground floor. There's a security system in Hart's apartment, but there's equipment along for the Feds to deal with that if they can find the power to that particular apartment. Yari drives a bit, but eventually stops. A few cars down the bend, with one parked on the street, she'll look around, and slap a brick of c4 to the underside just in case they need a distraction. Then she's back to driving. There's time enough for anyone else along to prepare. The Union has the same information. Hart's apartment is fairly standard, with only a room in and out, and a very simple security system installed. How they plan to safeguard the man is up to those called in. 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     One of those cars parked along the street is Blurr. Admittedly, he kind of stands out in this place. The Autobot certainly doesn't look like your typical Toyota Corolla or something, but could probably be written off as a super expensive custom job belonging to someone incredibly rich. Yari might recognize it from the parking lot of the recent ice cream truck event--it is fairly distinctive.     At any rate, the 'Bots have gained intel from sources in the Union regarding Mr. Hart, and his potential need for extra security. There were security guards here, but it seems there is concern that they might not be enough. Thus, Blurr is here, sweeping the area with his sensor scans every few breems, and this time around he picks up on someone familiar. Oh, well isn't it that woman he saw at the ice cream thing? If it is, he's sure she's unlikely to be up to anything innocent. He keeps his optics focused on her, tracking her movements toward the apartment. 

:'''{{#var:211|Fuki (211)}} has posed:'''     "Is this guy worth it? I've not heard this company before." the Shinki mutters as she hides herself in Yari's outfit somewhere. "But eh, if the Union's trying to off them or buy them out, might as well stop them right?" she smirks slightly, "It's been a while since I've been out and about to do things, especially with another ninja."     Fuki's eyes scan the area briefly before popping back into her hiding spot, letting out small radar pings as she takes a more general wide scan view of the area. "Car... car... car... a few people... nothing major." she mutters, of course, she doesn't seem to register Blurr yet... "Hmm, interesting energy signature there... I'll keep an eye on it." she shakes her head some, "I've got a small army of Maochao and Howling at the ready, I stored them in the trunk. Just give me the word and I'll have them come out and block passage from anyone else." 

:'''{{#var:691|Yari Takane (691)}} has posed:''' The car looks familiar. Yari actually stares at it as they roll down the street. But /where/? Kinda stylish though. She makes a mental note to get one for herself with that mostly unused Fed paycheck! She does find herself suddenly wanting ice cream though. She'll probably make the connection later. Thankfully even Yari doesn't detect the autobot, her own scanner more turned towards magic than tech. The duo park just an apartment away from their target, the tiniest trace of her location visible whenever Yari checks her guantlet. It's actually relatively infrequent, so tracking her might be more difficult than usual, between the way she stays so quiet and all but fades into the darkness. She heads around back of this first apartment complex. She notes a wiring box opposite the street. Most apartments are fairly generically modeled, so she assumes the same will be for the next one. She's all physical stealth, armlet deactivated. Hart isn't magically active, so there's no use. Besides, they know the apartment number. She makes a show of sneaking along, rather casually in the darkness of the small path behind the apartments. Soon enough, she's at the wirebox near Hart's apartment. If Blurr has tapped into it, that security system of Hart's goes out. Fuki is riding in Yari's pocket of her security uniform. She reaches in, and pets the little shinki's head. "That's a good idea. Sending the unlock code for the car. If we run into resistance, I'll blow that car and have the police make a scene. You have them block any entrances. That way it'll only be us and them and Mister Hart." Moving around the side of the building, there's a window, and of course the front door. Yari pauses. "You take the front door in case we get company? I'll be too obvious through the front. We might need a quick out that way anyway." Then she's getting to work, using a kunai to force the window open. She'll pause to let Fuki in and then crawl through. It's a tiny kitchen the two will end up in. "Keep your sensors moving. No surprises. Any traitor to the Confederacy has to die. And watch that energy signature. No dieing, alright, MIss Fuki?" One more head-pat, and she's making her way towards the bedroom. 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     Yari is a bit more difficult to track than most, but each of the times she turns on her gauntlet makes it easier for Blurr. The sleek blue car moves quietly away from the curb and trails her slowly as she makes her way toward Hart's apartment. Yep, this is definitely looking like an assassination attempt, he thinks, as she takes out the security systems and breaks into a kitchen window. Okay, he's got to act quickly! But of course, that's always been his strong point, fortunately enough for Mr. Hart. Scanning the apartment several times in rapid succession and tapping into local wireless signals, Blurr is able to determine that Mr. Hart is in his bedroom. Thus, he activates the holomatter avatar, projecting it into the room. Who cares if Hart is startled by someone suddenly appearing from nowhere, this is a matter of life and death! "Mr. Hart, your life is in danger." he warns, his voice low. "You need to hide, or better yet find an alternate way out. Quick!" He hopes there's at least a lock on the bedroom door; if there is the avatar engages it and stands with its back against the door. 

:'''{{#var:211|Fuki (211)}} has posed:'''     "No dying, indeed." Fuki comments, and a small flash inside that pocket, her armor is equipped and suddenly, she blips off any radars. "Stealth mode activated." she comments, only letting out soft squeaks at the pets... "Yari, a bit of professionalism out on the field please! Save that for when the mission is done."     As the window is opened, Fuki quickly bolts in and dives under the table, clinging to the underside of it with the talon feet. Her hands look like they would be performing ninjitsu but in reality... she's just scanning the rooms. o O (Hmmm...) goes through her mind, nodding just once before dropping to the ground and peeking around the corner. The voice is heard and Fuki frowns, "Nnngh." she mutters quitely, holding up a hand to signal Yari, then a single finger... one person. "This isn't good... someone's already here." a pause, and a look at the front door... it's closed. Quickly, she makes a mad dash towards the couch, diving under it and hopefully, the Avatar is looking forward than down... 

:'''{{#var:691|Yari Takane (691)}} has posed:''' Yari, for her part, blushes. "A...ah. Of course. Sorry." Fuki might pick up mutterings about 'adorable magitek bots' before the ninja is all business. A polaroid moment thankfully missed. No cute blackmail for the two. Mister Hart turns out to be a lean man in his early thirties, just as the autobot's projection enters, he jolts awake. Light sleeper thank goodness. His dossier at least gives a few things: former army, honorably discharged, degree in business administration. All in all a well-rounded successful man with a bright future and a decent set of morals. He has a gun, too. And a permit. There's a shotgun pulled from behind the headboards of the bed. Seems he's at least been prepared too. This is no panicky civilian. "Okay. Okay. Just like back in the war. Right behind you. Only way out is the front door, or maybe the side window." Unless one blows through the wall. Yari tries the door, and there's a light weight against it for a moment, before she realizes it's locked. Fuki's words only add to the pressure. She lays off, moves, and then makes several handseals. "Alright. Give me Mister Hart's coordinates. I hate to do this, but time to go loud. I'll be the distraction if this doesn't work. You take him out when he runs." There's a sudden flare of magic, and then Yari unleashes a bolt of pure thunder right towards the coordinates that her tiny robot ninja friend will offer! What will Blurr do? 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     Oh, good! The man is a veteran of the human military, and he is armed/prepared and therefore not helpless. Excellent. Blurr's avatar smiles. "Perfect, you keep that ready, I'll blow a hole in the back wall. As soon as it's clear, you get the slag out of here, and jump into the blue car straight out back, okay? I'll make sure my doors are open." As he's saying this, his true form is moving into position behind the apartment and preparing its weapons.     And then Yari blasts right through the door, the bolts slamming into the holomatter and throwing it several feet. It was a good thing he'd been in front of the door though, because it protects Hart from the blast. Also at that very moment, the wall behind the bed is assaulted with lasers from the outside, quickly making a hole large enough for a human to slip out. "Hart, GO!" The speedster shouts, not caring for stealth any more.     The avatar hasn't gone out completely, though it flickers somewhat. It manages to get up and smirk over at Yari. "Hey there, remember me? Hope you enjoyed that ice cream, wasn't much left of it by the time everyone was done!" Distract, distract and distract! 

:'''{{#var:211|Fuki (211)}} has posed:'''     So they're on the move. With this, Fuki grins and sends the command and about twenty Howling and Maochao Shinki burst out of Yari's car and start rushing towards the building with various cat and dog related puns along the way. Meanwhile, Fuki takes the opportunity of the blasted door to jet into the area and attach herself to the mark's leg, digging her talons into them to keep attached! "Not getting away from me..."     The Maochao and Howlings move to create a barricade for the doors, to prevent even normal civvies to enter the area while a few of them move towards the side of the building, where the now blasted out hole is... 

:'''{{#var:691|Yari Takane (691)}} has posed:''' "Understood!" Comes Hart, the man wielding the shotgun like a proper soldier. He's definitely afraid, given the Elite resistance, but he stays more than ready. A true man of military experience. This is no helpless lamb. Lasers obliterate a hole into the building, and then a lightning blast goes off! Yari is left with a hole there, an Avatar being thrown around, and a lot of indignation! "...I prefer rocky road, thank you very much!" No need to bother with stealth. She recognizes this avatar too! The flickering is noticed, but Yari still won't dismiss it as less than a threat. She leaps for Blurr's avatar, aiming a hard kick at his neck! Fatal to a human if it hit, but more than enough to toss aside the avatar otherwise. Hart is running as Yari and Blurr engage, and Fuki latches right into his leg! The man pulls the trigger, and Yari is glanced on her side: she bleeds, horribly, but ducks back just in time that she won't immediately die. Still, ti's an awful wound to an organic like, and she grits her teeth in pain. She throws kunai at the man, mostly paralytics in her haste, and it's up to Fuki and Blurr as Mister Hart stumble in a vulnerable moment! 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     The avatar takes a kick from Yari, stumbling sideways but dematerializing before it hits the floor. Damn it! Hart is stumbling, because Blurr hadn't realized another Fed had been here. Small, sure, but still effective against humans. The avatar reappears behind Hart and attempts to forcibly rip Fuki off, even if that means tearing a new one in Hart's leg.     Meanwhile, the blue hovercar swerves sharply and attempts to come between Hart and Yari's kunai. "Ugh, you people are idiots, if you're doing what I think you're doing, don't you realize this company might like, I don't know, start not respecting the Confederacy any more because you guys killed one of their people?" Which pretty much has the opposite effect of what she's trying to do, right? If the company respected him enough to consider his buyout plans, then wouldn't they also respect him enough to be pretty slagging pissed off at whoever murdered him? 

:'''{{#var:211|Fuki (211)}} has posed:'''     Fuki blinks, clinging to the leg tightly before a flash of light and her Kama appear, attempting to dig them into the leg to hang on more. Though, with this, she holds herself tightly and twists a bit to avoid that grasp. "Hey! Hey! No grabby! You aren't my Master!" she shouts back at Blurr, pulling out her rifle from the slipway and taking a few unaimed potshots. "Listen, if you want to live, you'll do as we say, sir. Now... lets' go." 

:'''{{#var:691|Yari Takane (691)}} has posed:''' "Don't underestimate the greed of humes. Ur'da is proof of that, if nothing else!" Comes Yari, even as the hologram tanks her kick, and the man is safe. But Blurr is an excellent distraction. Mister Hart aims, and fires, right at the figure of Yari! Even as she makes multiple handsigns, and forces magic into her veins, her sudden twist of body only barely keeps her alive. The final shotgun blast ends with her stomach and shoulders ruptured from the blast of shot, the woman swept up and rolling by pure physical force against the wall of the apartment. She breaths a sigh, bleeding half to death, but still alive if barely. She can't move, but it won't be long before Confederate evacuation picks up on the woman's coordinates to be whisked away from the rather low security area as she falls unconscious with lead in her gut. The man's leg is scrapped, and he stumbles after his near-deadly shot! Only Fuki's interference lets Yari live, adn then the robot acts! One unaimed shot first glances through an armed. Mister Hart drops his gun. The final shot from Fuki falls through his head. The man falls inert, silent, and still. Yari and presumably Fuki will be recovered, but the Au'Ra is heavily damaged. Time for Blurr to evacuate! 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     Blurr curses. "Don't you get it, if he thought he could make the board listen to him enough to cause them to completely swap, then I'm sure they respected him and at the very least considered him a valuable asset, I -really- doubt they'll think well of you after you've k--" But then he's too late. Fuki shoots, and Hart goes down. Ugh. Bunch of glitcheads! Don't they have any common sense!     "Frag you all." He might not ever admit it to the rest of the Union, but he does feel a smidgeon of satisfaction when Hart's well-placed shot takes Yari down for the count. The Autobot sighs and drags Hart's body into his own, intending to show Ronald's Self Defense and Protection what the Confederacy did to their financial officer. Certainly they won't be pleased. Zoom! Off he goes, disappearing out of The Green Willows in a flash of white and blue. 

:'''{{#var:691|Yari Takane (691)}} has posed:''' "That might be, but I have my orders. I'll leave everything else to chance! He was a traitor, and needed to die!" Offers Yari before catching the strike to the stomach. She lands, but Fuki is there! But Fuki's actions end in Mister Hart's head being blown out. A swift emergency call from both sides end in the near-dead Yari being carted away just as a resulting explosion from the ninja's c4 block creating a distraction. The trio get away, with Mister Hart dieing on the way to the local hospital. 

}}

2769/Cookie Cats in Manhattan

2015-08-10T06:30:42Z

Zippy: Created page with "{{Log Header |Date of Scene=2015/08/10 |Location=Strait of the Americas |Synopsis=Steven is tougher than he looks. |Thanks= |Cast of Characters=42, 492, 749, 767, 836, 854 |Ti..."

{{Log Header
|Date of Scene=2015/08/10
|Location=Strait of the Americas
|Synopsis=Steven is tougher than he looks.
|Thanks=
|Cast of Characters=42, 492, 749, 767, 836, 854
|Tinyplot=
|Tinyplot2=
|pretty=yes
}}
{{Poses
|Poses=:'''{{#var:854|Steven Universe (854)}} has posed:''' Cookie Cat may have left his family behind, but Steven Universe didn't do that on purpose. He unfortunately finds himself in the custody of Peridot, who at the moment is escorting him down Time's Square in a random Earth. This Earth's only extraordinary property is that there's a random town in Indiana where strange paranormal things happen, but the rest of the planet is perfectly normal, including New York! They get some stares, but most people don't care all that much, considering all of the conventions, and the fact that the Village exists. They stop at every random food place they can find, the latest being this hotdog cart. He jumps up repeatedly, trying to talk to the hairy and rather unsanitary man serving said hotdogs. "Do." hop "You" hop "Have" hop "Cookie Cats?!" "No, only hotdog and burger, with three dollar soda." the man answers, before Steven looks up at Peridot. "Can't you use your robot guys to find Cookie Cats faster?" 

:'''{{#var:854|Steven Universe (854)}} has posed:''' It's also day time, with a clear, hot, sunny sky. The weather is important too, you know! 

:'''{{#var:836|Peridot (836)}} has posed:'''     Peridot looked miserable. Her expression was deadpan and flat and she wiped her forehead. She spent a vast majority of her time in the climate controlled atmosphere of her warship. She squinted at the sun with a sour expression. "Why is your planet so unbearable close to your star?" She asked out loud before Steven shot back with a question about cookie cats. She rubbed her face idily, before interlocking her hands behind her back.          "My plug robonoids are busy with the far more important task of ensuring the continued survival of gemkind. I've already wasted enough time scouring this boiling planet for the cat cookies." She went on in a lecturing tone. "Are you certain you need cookie cats to survive? Is this some unique property of a Steven?" She observed the hot dugs and hamburgers sizzling on the kiosk mans stand, her face contorting to one of mild disgust. "What... ARE those?" She ask, pointing the meats. 

:'''{{#var:42|Staren (42)}} has posed:'''     "/Three dollars/ for a soda? That's /ridiculous/! Your hot dogs had better be /amazing/!" Staren chimes in. Sometimes, he goes to random worlds to see what's in the Multiverse. This city seems to be just another New York, though. He was passing by when those sensitive cat ears overheard. He might look out of place in his labcoat but, you know, conventions.     Of course, now that he's /looking/ at the hot dog vendor, he can't help but notice the /customer/. He gasps. "Peridot!" Then he looks at her suspiciously. "What are you up to? ...Is that the kid you're keeping in jail?" 

:'''{{#var:749|Vega (749)}} has posed:'''      Power attracts power. Disparate forces call to each other, sending ripples throughout space and time. The powerful are drawn together by the nature of power itself, by the desire to use that power to accomplish their goals and change the world, and by the desire of power to be used and tested wherever possible.      And it is also the case that those with power often desire more of it.      The monster - 'man' is a term that no longer applies here, and has not for some time - known as Vega is no exception. Indeed, quite the opposite; Vega's lust for power is second only to his fighting spirit. The appearance of new power is something to be interested in, to examine, and - if necessary - to acquire through force.      Often does the Dictator of Shadowlaw hope it is necessary.      Vega appears in a burst of purple fire. The atmosphere of the area around him shifts immediately, as if in reaction to his presence. Where once there was bright light, sound, and cheer, now there is a palpable sense of discomfort, an aura of malice and menace that seems to stretch outwards from the Dictator. His aura seems an almost physical thing, filling space as well as perception, and making him seem much, much larger than his physical body should allow. People on the street, no matter their tolerance for the weird, will probably start running the hell away - which, in fairness, is a wise decision when a cloaked man in a red military uniform appears out of a burst of purple fire and hovers with maximum ominousness. 

:'''{{#var:854|Steven Universe (854)}} has posed:''' "Cookie Cats are the best food, so if I have Cookie Cats, that means I'll live a longer and happier life!" Steven explains with far more certainty than should be possible for such an incorrect statement. "Wow, a catboy, just like in anime!" he shouts as he moves to climb up Peridot's back and get a better view of everything around them, which is a lot of weight to have climbing up one's back! "Oh, I'm not in jail anymore, now I'm just in custody until we find the other Crystal Gems! Why does a catboy know about me?! Is this the start of a magical anime adventure?!" When Vega appears, Steven narrows his eyes at how huge the man is, and the strange, ominous feeling at the back of his mind. Where most might run away, he actually makes his way back down from peridot, and begins to walk over to him. "Um, hello, sir. Are you the Mayor of New York?" 

:'''{{#var:767|Makoto Kato (767)}} has posed:'''     New York's pretty neat. Tall skyscrapers, hot day, sunny weather, street food, floating dictators who look they just stepped out of the flight deck of a Boeing 767...     Wait, what was that last part?     Apparently, Shadowlaw is here (or Shadaloo, if you're Michael Bison, the American Champ, with a mouthpiece in, darn mouthpieces) to OPPRESS CHILDREN!     Also, Makoto is here. Apparently someone strong was around? This whole gig with the multiverse... Well, honestly, it was pretty great, and she got to casually nip over to New York in her black karate gi and her really awkward long silver neckband. She's also got a hotdog, which she's carrying in a piece of greasy butcher paper, and munches on. She's nominally 'flanking' Vega, staring at Steven ask after 'Cookie Cats'     Nomf nomf nomf. "What's a cookie cat?" Makoto asks Steven, sounding like a bored Japanese girl who is mildly interested in this phenomenon of a rogue ice cream sandwich feline.     She does not even look at Vega as he OPPRESSES NONFLYING PEOPLE. 

:'''{{#var:836|Peridot (836)}} has posed:'''      She looked down once more at the hot dog and hamburger. "...Is that meat? Aren't you humans made of meat?" She presses, squinting one of her eyes. "Completely.. bizarre. I don't even know what to write about this in my log." At being pressed into questions about Steven, Peridot looks up and observes Staren with a certain amount of scorn. Shade throwing the likes of which very few other gems had the capacity to muster. She didn't make a habit of letting herself be randomly interrogated on the street, so she adjust her visor.     "Who are you? And how do you know my name? Are you one of that.. smiling idiots allies? Sunstone?"     As Vega makes a rather astonishing entrance, Peridot looks to him as well. Her visor blinking a few times and giving her various readouts. She doesn't seem to fond of what she reads, and as Steven waltzes over to him she holds up her hand and catches up to him. "Steven! Does your kind have no innate survival instincts? Be careful!" 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     Thanks to a little bit of a nasty surprise left behind on Peridot's ship not long ago, Blurr has been able to track the Gem down once again. His hoverspeeder vehicle mode is parked near the hot dog cart where Steven and Peridot are standing. It -sort of- blends in with the rest of NYC, 'sort of' because it kind of looks like it came out of a sci-fi movie. Peridot -might- recognize it.     Hmm, cookie cats, huh? Who is that guy she's with anyway? What exactly is a Cookie Cat? To the internet! 

:'''{{#var:749|Vega (749)}} has posed:'''      There's just something plain /unsettling/ about Vega's grin. The grin spreads across his face like somebody's pulling the lips back to reveal more teeth, rather than someone actually smiling because of amusement or happiness. Like there are hooks where muscles should be, and the skin is just sort of moving on its own.      Vega is here to oppress the powerful. The fact that the powerful happened to be a small child of dubious intellect is unrelated. Vega is the sort of man who could oppress literally anything if he put his mind to it. He could oppress the happiest dog in the world for the sheer joy of oppressing it.      But it's Peridot's comment that draws his attention. His head tilts slowly upwards, leaving Steven to the "tender" "minstrations" of Makoto, alias Walking Murder Engine. His eyes fall upon her, and Peridot gets a far better look at his face.      The windows to Vega's soul are empty, white, and thoroughly inhuman.      "What an interesting question," Vega observes slowly, his voice dripping with liquid, quantifiable Evil.      He floats slowly forward. "Survival instincts are such a fascinating idea. Human beings in particular so rarely understand them. They have convinced themselves - nay, /deluded/ themselves - into the idea that /sacrifice/, /bravery/, and /death/ are good and noble causes in the face of something dangerous."      Vega's head tilts to the side with a certain inhuman jerkiness. "It is not unique to humans, of course. No matter where there is intelligence, there are people who will convince themselves and others of the *nobility* of death."      "As if it is something to be *proud of*. Then again, perhaps they are right." Vega turns his head to look at the bystanders of New York. "Perhaps it is something to be proud of."      That horrible grin widens.      "For they will form the cobblestones upon my road to victory. And who would not be honored to know that they gave their lives for something greater?"      Vega's head slowly turns back around, like an owl's head untwisting itself. His grin has not moved. "I am Vega." The word resonantes through the air, carrying with it a dark and horrible ring, as if his name is an utterance the world itself wishes would go away.      "I have come to see the power that drew my attention. Is it you who bears it? Or is it the boy?" 

:'''{{#var:42|Staren (42)}} has posed:'''     Staren stops to stare at Vega. The man certainly commands attention! But then, you know, Steven and Peridot are themselves. "I, um... really? I thought it was always cat/girls/ in anime... I mean... I read your gaming profile! and..." He glances at Peridot, then back to Steven, "You're travelling to different worlds with aliens and you have a pet lion. Aren't you /already/ on an anime adventure?"     And then he gives an 'are you kidding me' look to Peridot. "/Yes/, that's why we need to /eat/ meat, it's made of the same chemicals as us and we need those chemicals! How do /gems/ get energy?" He realizes he actually doesn't know this.     His ears splay at her question. "You were on the radio. And yeah, we have a file on you. I'm Staren of the Union. I'm in the WMAT. I was on TV yesterday?"     And then Vega gives his Hannibal Lecture. Staren blinks. "Sacrifice, bravery, and death aren't noble causes, although, if necessary, they can be /actions/ used to /further/ noble causes. And Iiiii think the whole proud sacrifice thing only applies when you die for a cause you believe in. I'm pretty sure /nobody/ believes in a cause that would describe them as 'cobblestones.'"     THEN Staren realizes he's shooting his mouth off at what is obviously a powerful bad guy. Should he deploy his armor? No, /probably/ better to seem relatively harmless, for now. 

:'''{{#var:767|Makoto Kato (767)}} has posed:'''     Makoto is left with Steven, who explains Cookie Cats to her. She eats her own hotdog as Peridot is confused at eating and stuff, so the bored-looking Japanese street fighter helpfully explains. "Humans need to eat fuel that gives them the energy to do stuff and maintain their bodies." She lifts the hotdog as a show. "This is basically like fuel for a car. But tasty. And bad for the car, too." She offers. Her metaphor gets mangled there at the end.     As Staren goes on about Anime adventures, Makoto just shakes her head.     "Nah. I'm from Japan. Home of Anime. It's not an anime adventure unless he's got an animal companion, magic powers, and an oversized sword. Maybe a female love interest. And gattai. You've got to have gattai."     She goes back to eating her hotdog, as Vega goes FULL WUXIA VILLAIN, the sort of expression someone gives reruns of a show they tolerate when there's nothing else on the channel. 

:'''{{#var:854|Steven Universe (854)}} has posed:''' "Humans eat animal meat, because animal meat is delicious! Like hotdogs, hotdogs are a mystery meat, and hamburgers are made of cows!" Steven continues following Vega, though he looks over at Makoto when she asks her question. "Cookie Cat is a refugee of an interstellar war, -and- a frozen treat with an all new taste!" he says as if he's quoting from something, then crouches down at Vega's foot, reaching in to lightly poke at the man's leg as if it's a random dead thing on the side of a road. "Sorry, Vega, I thought you were a little scary, so I figured I should come close and see that you're not a monster or anything!" he admits, then stands up straight and stares directly up at the man. "I'm Steven Universe, a Crystal Gem! That's Peridot, she's kinda bad but she's learning to be good, so she's cool! And, well, I have powers too!" He reaches down and lifts his t-shirt up, slapping the gem on his stomach, causing his fat to wobble around a bit like jello. "Crystal Gems save the world from weird stuff, and we do noble things all the time!" He looks around, crossing his arms in deep thought. "I mean, I guess I'm kind of on an anime adventure, but that's just gem stuff. I mean, I've never gone to a magical karate high school! I'm not even old enough to go to high school!" But his deep thought seems to be over as he points at the extra fancy McDonalds, which looks like it has a sign that lights up at night. "We should all go to McDonalds and talk!" He looks up at Vega again. "Have you ever had a Happy Meal? I don't know if they still have the Crying Breakfast Friends toys." He does look at Makoto again, when she lists all of the requirements of an anime adventure, rubbing his chin. "I don't know what a gattai is, and my mother's sword is kind of heavy, so I don't wield it!" 

:'''{{#var:767|Makoto Kato (767)}} has posed:'''     "Gattai is combination. Like, two character's combining into one super-form, to defeat evil and save the world. It's a must. Especially for mecha." Makoto notes academically, before looking at MacDonalds in the distance. "But I've got a hotdog already..." She sighs.     Vega will probably franchies the place into a SHADOW BURG(ER) where there's a playplace with boxing gloves and full contact cage matches or something. It may happen just because he walks in. Weirder things have. 

:'''{{#var:836|Peridot (836)}} has posed:'''     "Mushing up chemicals in your mouth, then it sits in you for while.. then you eject it." She cringes. "The whole ordeal sounds horrifying and weird."     As Vega waxed villain Peridot looked to Steven uneasily before back up to him.         It was moments like this that Peridot wished Jasper was still around. Jasper would have relished meeting all these... weirdos. They could battle it out all they wanted. But, Peridot was pretty sure Jasper had died. And she carried the burden of being the more practical of the two. Her solution was typically 'nuke it from a distance' when diplomacy was unnecessary, or when it fell through.     She knew very little about humans. But nothing about Vega set off her 'this is a human' alert. She was beginning to wonder if she had met any humans at all, since arriving on this miserable planet. She leaned back as he concluded his speech about death and the nobility, or lack there of inherent within it. There was a little too much going on to address all the warning flags going off in her head. If something bad happened to Steven, Lapis would never let her hear the end of it.          "Right then.. I'm going to go with none of the above." She answered. Seeing no reason to boast. She had no beef with with this red-garbed person- the only approval she needed from anyone was Yellow Diamond and Peridot wasn't even sure if she was alive either. "Steven, we need to leave now. My security parameter robonoids are going nuts." She took him by the arm, her free-floating fingers forming her holopad and she starts typing on it with a single finger. 

:'''{{#var:42|Staren (42)}} has posed:'''     Staren blinks at Steven. "Gem stuff sounds like an anime adventure to me. Magical high schools sound terrible. Either you've got a dark wizard flinging death curses -- those /really hurt/, by the way -- or you've got some stupid system where everyone judges you by how many stars are on your uniform, or you're learning to be the grim reaper. I've never heard of a magical high school that sounds like someplace I'd want to go." Beat. "...I've never heard of any high school that sounds like a place I'd want to go, actually. High school sounds like it su---uh, stinks." Beat. "...And hot dogs are not actually mystery meat. They're usually made of chickens, pigs, turkeys, or cows." 

:'''{{#var:749|Vega (749)}} has posed:'''      Vega's eyes linger on Staren for a moment. Overwhelming arrogance wins out against confidence; those horrible white eyes pass over him, apparently unaware that he could be a threat. "They should be honored. Delighted. To die for Vega is to die for a greater purpose. How great is the mercy of Vega, that I grant them release from their mundane, meaningless lives, the vast and shuffling machinery of society, and the pitiful knowledge that their mere existence is naught but a pointless accident? In death or in life, they serve me."      Vega throws out his arm from under the cloak, sending it rippling behind him. His arm is massive, the muscular arm of a practiced fighter. The uniform beneath his cloak is similarly filled by a massive body, swollen with muscle and bulging with barely-constrained physique. "Freed of responsibility! Of the pain of confusion! Of wondering what purpose their lives will serve! In Vega's service, they are *given meaning*, and all the worlds will tremble at-"      Steven lifts up his shirt to display his fat belly to Vega. Vega stops, /mid-sentence/, a feat that has never in the history of the human race occured. The monologue literally dies instantly. Never before has there been a child so pointlessly, inhumanly insane as to walk up to Vega and bear his flabby stomach to the Dictator. Most people around Vega behave exactly like Peridot or Staren - either aware of their survival instincts going, in dark purple letters, GET AWAY FROM THAT GUY or making heroic speeches because they think Vega hasn't heard them all before.      The sheer /good-naturedness/ of it throws Vega off. The sheer...perpetual, unthinking, unfeeling *honesty* is like a wrench in the gears of Vega's perpetual capital-E Super Evil. It just...it puts him off his groove. Off his S-Groove. Off his...off his *game*.      Vega hangs there, mute, arm still wide, cloak still rippling through *no powe of his own*, trying to comprehend what exactly just happened. A mind powerful enough to live on after death stumbles over the idea that someone could be that...*trusting*.      He just can't understand it. 

:'''{{#var:854|Steven Universe (854)}} has posed:''' "Oh, I can fuse! Well, so far I can only fuse with Connie, and we haven't really saved the world while fused... but we went to a dance party! But I've never gone to school, so I don't really know much about it except what Connie tells me!" Steven frowns as Peridot grabs his arm, but he frowns even more at what Vega is saying. "But you shouldn't be happy when people die for you! They're your friends, and... and they care about you! I mean, I understand that maybe you're a bad guy, or, I don't know, maybe you made some bad choices in life! But you shouldn't take your friends for granted, if they care about you so much that you're their entire purpose in life!" He stares down at his feet for a long moment, seeming a little sad. Then he looks back up at Vega, smiling. "I have a lot of friends who would risk their lives for me, and I'd risk my life for them! That's just what friendship is." While Peridot is holding one arm, he holds his hand out to Vega, eyes glistening with hope and an inviting offer of friendship. "We should be friends, I think you could use a friend! Maybe you just don't understand what it's like for regular people who aren't the mayor. We could play Monopoly, then you'd get it!" 

:'''{{#var:767|Makoto Kato (767)}} has posed:'''     Makoto, seeing as Vega has stoped Madlibs With Dictator, picks up the slack, crouching down to poke at the solid gemstone embedded in his belly. "You sure you didn't just lodge some museum piece in your bellybutton?" She asks, even going so far as to tug at the stone. But, it ostensibly doens't budge, and she shrugs. "Well, I'm satisfied. So you're a Crystal Gem because you've got a gemstone in your belly, and she's..." She points at Peridot. "A Homeworld Gem because... You know I really don't care, but I see the gem in your forehead, and your little finger-things, so, yep. Cool." She offers, the perfect picture of high school aged mild apathy. Standing back up, she looks at Vega.     "I think you were on 'Will tremble at the mere presence of a will as something something'..." She offers in a sort of helpful deadpan, rolling at her wrist. "Or, oh, wait no, maybe 'the golorious purpose and unity something something? That one's a pretty versatile line." 

:'''{{#var:42|Staren (42)}} has posed:'''     Staren /kind/ of wants to tell Steven not to bother with this, but... is the kid really a Magical Boy? Could it be at all possible that he really might have some kind of redemption or purification powers? It /might/ be worth a shot, right? Right? 

:'''{{#var:749|Vega (749)}} has posed:'''      This might be too much for Vega. No one has ever asked him to be his *friend*. No one has ever been so eager to befriend the Dictator, nor has anyone /cared/ about the Dictator. This small child...well, if this was a different series, and if Vega was actually a person instead of a congealed mass of psychic Evil, this might have had a different ending.      The boy's outstretched hand is stared at for a long moment. Makoto's words - reminding him where he was in his speech (he'd actually lost track of it) snap him back to reality, or at least his own personal little psychotic version. His grin vanishes in an instant, the lips falling back together as though gravity was more important than musculature. The horrible aura that pervades the area seems to darken the lights and dim the sky as Vega's anger bubbles to the surface.      "You dare mock me? You? A child so willing to trundle into the clasp of death itself on the fragile, fleeting hope that you may possibly gain something as meaningless and pitiful as a *friend*?"      And then Vega throws back his head and laughs.      It is not a nice laugh. It is not the laugh of a man who is having a good time. It is the laugh of a creature that no longer acknowledges joy, happiness, or life itself as anything other than something to be crushed, ground out, and broken. It is a wild, monstrous laugh, right out of a nightmare.      "Very well, boy. I will be your *friend*." No one has ever made the word 'friend' sound quite as menacing as a six-foot-tall psychic conglomeration of pure evil.      "We will play a game."      Vega raises his hand.      His aura congeals around that hand. Purple, roiling fire burns around his grasp, fully-visible even to those who are not psychically sensitive. Vega's hand closes into a fist as his terrible grin reappears, and purple fire suddenly lights about Steven like an aura.      With almost casual contempt, Vega raises the boy into the air.      "The rules are very simple, boy. I am going to hurt you. I am going to hurt you with my Psycho Power until I see your power manifest. And then, if it is of use to me, I will kill you and make it mine."      "What do you think, child? Does that sound /fun/? HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA!"      Vega's free hand waves at Makoto. "Hold them off if they try and interfere," he tells her, "I have no doubt that you will enjoy it." He's not really insulted by Makoto reminding him where he was in his speech. You don't get mad at somebody *useful*, after all, until they actually disrespect you. 

:'''{{#var:767|Makoto Kato (767)}} has posed:'''     "Woah woah woah woah now." Makoto sighs, raising her hands in a 'calm down' posture. "Woah. Don't you put that on me."     She takes the most accurate Vega impression she can. "Makoto, I will now punch this child. Please stop the four to six people who all seem somewhat competent from murdering this mortal vessel of mine with your body'. Now, I mean, I'm all for a fight..." She rolls her neck to the left and to the right, then her shoulders. "But this seems to be an improper division of labor, here." 

:'''{{#var:749|Vega (749)}} has posed:'''      Vega seems slightly annoyed by this.      "Very well. Then /handle what you can/, and I will handle the rest as I torture this child into revealing his true power." 

:'''{{#var:42|Staren (42)}} has posed:'''     When Vega announces his /game/, Staren's expression darkens, and he mutters a word he /really/ shouldn't in front of Steven. He reaches down to his belt buckle and turns what looks like an abstract design, causing a glow to cover his body and then solidify into armor (which includes lots of crystals! Hmm...) as he tries to run in between Vega and Steven. "NO." he states. "Beating up on children, honestly? How does this improve your greatness? At least fight a /real/ defender of justice or something!" 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     Blurr watches Peridot and Steven, listening to the Union frequency at the same time. According to Sunstone, the kid, Steven, was a prisoner of war. From listening to his ramblings, it did appear that he would share Sunstone's philosophy. What Peridot wanted with the boy he wasn't all too sure, but it sounded as if he was in danger if Peridot did manage to take him back to the Homeworld.     And then Vega starts doing -that-.     Okay, never mind, he's in danger right -now-.     The Autobot immediately springs into action, making use of his holomatter first to appear suddenly between Vega and Steven, hopefully disrupting Vega's concentration. "Put the boy down now, you glitchead, or I'm going to have to -hurt- you." 

:'''{{#var:854|Steven Universe (854)}} has posed:''' Steven starts to rise up, wildly flailing his limbs as he's held suspended in the air. He can feel that darkness, the /evil/, more than he's ever felt before in his life. "What... what are you doing?!" he asks as he finds his young brain very quickly becoming overwhelmed. His power does manifest, a solid pink bubble suddenly surrounds him, but it doesn't do much to stop Vega other than make him heavier. It also unfortunately creates a tough barrier that makes it rather difficult to actually -grab- Steven. He starts to hold his stomach, curling up in pain. "My stomach..." He seems pained, tears starting to stream down his cheeks. "What is this..." He stares down at his hands now, covered in purple, power beyond his comprehension. Then, out of the blue, there's a large pink portal a few feet to the left of Vega. And out comes a massive lion, at least twice the size of a normal lion. And it happens to be inexplicably pink. It hops through the portal with all the fury that one would expect of a wild animal, and attempts to bite Vega directly on the arm. "Lion!" Steven shouts, positive emotion suddenly bubbling up in him, pushing against the hate and evil he's being overwhelmed with, not in an emotional struggle of hope and goodness vs. evil and hate. 

:'''{{#var:836|Peridot (836)}} has posed:'''     Truthfully, Peridot did not care much for Steven. Steven was a job, a hassle and a distraction from her important work. But if there was one thing Peridot cared about; it was her job. She cared about rules and responsibilities; and Steven was her responsibility. His care was her job now. Or Lapis would kill her.     She grits her teeth as her brows arch in a worried expression. She begins typing madly on her holopad. "Auugh! Steven." She says in a frustrated tone. "Of course you'd lead me right into a situation like this." odd, that she blamed Steven, over Vega. "I'm going to need my ship."     As the command was put in, she raised her left hand, the holopad that was being created by her floating fingers disperse and create the shape of a blaster. As Blurr made his appearance, she gasped. "What are YOU doing here too?" That must have been the warning her robonoids had been sending her earlier. Well, no time to deal with him at the moment. She had to at least try and rescue the Steven. Her blaster began to charge with green energy and then...     A lion appeared. Wait, did she recognize that lion? "Steven, get out of there!" 

:'''{{#var:767|Makoto Kato (767)}} has posed:'''     Well this was just great. There was like... At least two people here to stop Vega. Three? Four?     Makoto stands there, scratching the back of her head slowly as people get ready for punching. "So this is what we're doing. Okay, uh... There's two robot guys? I guess I can take... Wait, Peridot, you're going to fight? I want to fight you, that seems fun." She offers, sounding actually eager for the first time today.     And then a pink lion appears.     Steven said something about his mom's sword. At his age, he's probably got a friend-who-is-female.     "Oh wow, this kid's life really is an anime." She notes, starting to stretch out her legs. She seems really... Accepting that there is a child being tortured and people getting ready to fight. 

:'''{{#var:749|Vega (749)}} has posed:'''      Unfortunately for both Staren and Blurr, being 'in front of' Vega is really not very relevant to Vega's ability to hold Steven in the air. Vega is not a person, though no one here has any way to know that except Makoto, who has been around Vega long enough to see that much - although they might have gotten some small hint of it, since Vega doesn't /blink/ regularly. He blinks as if he's remembering to, rather than if it's something that's discomforting him.      His lips do shift around into a sneer. "Do you imagine that power cares about age? That it is somehow more noble to protect a child with power than to treat him as one who is powerful? What a ludicrous notion. Might cares not for age, or sex, or /handicaps/. One who has power is one of the powerful, and I *will* learn the true nature of the power that so thoroughly captured my attention."      "Though if you wish to battle I am *happy* to oblige."      As Steven's bubble wraps around him, Vega starts laughing. "YES! YES! SHOW ME YOUR POWER! SHOW ME WHAT IT IS THAT CALLED TO VEGA! SHOW ME! HA HA HA HA HA HA!"      And then a lion jumps out of *absolutely nowhere* and latches onto his arm.      Vega's response to this is...a bit bizarre. Normally, someone being bitten by a lion might scream, or be surprised, or perhaps even say 'oh my goodness I'm being bitten by a lion'. Vega does none of those things. His body jerks, as if on automatic, as blood sprays outwards from the bite. It's normal, human blood, so that's...good? Probably? But there's no grimace of pain, no wince of displeasure. His body convulses slightly, as if the pain sensors in his nerves were transmitting to his brain, but there's no other response. Like nobody's home.      Or like a puppet flailing on a string.      "Is this it?" Vega demands, "Is this all that you have to offer me? Your defenders coddle you as if you were so weak I could break you with nothing but my mind. But you resist me, boy! You resist my Psycho Power! Portals and force fields, conjurer's tricks and petty allies!"      Vega vanishes in a puff of purple fire, his image hanging there for a brief instant before it too vanishes. He reappears behind Steven, floating near the bubble, the lion still attached to his arm. Vega shakes the arm gently, as if he was trying to dislodge something, well, substantially less dangerous than a lion. "Are you truly so empty as they imagine, child? Are you as weak as your feeble 'friendship'?"      Then he lowers his voice substantially, so that only Steven can hear him.      He rises once again, that selfsame sneer once again on his lips as he watches Peridot begin to summon her ship. "Is this boy so important to you? Is he your 'friend'? Do you wish to protect him with all your heart?"      "Or are you one who desires true power?"      But then Makoto moves to handle her, so Vega refocuses his attention on Staren and Blurr. 

:'''{{#var:42|Staren (42)}} has posed:'''     Staren whirls after Vega teleports. "Idiot. Do you know why humans /have/ the intelligence needed to understand power? Because /having other people on their side/ was the greatest power they could have before /science/! Friendship /is/ power! And I don't know that he's weak or strong, but I'm not taking that chance!"     Staren reaches into his bag. "True power is useless without a cause to use it for! And I want it to /protect people/!" he draws an oversized chrome-plated revolver. The Annihilator, a weapon forged by a deity of mad science for slaying monsters. Staren doesn't know Vega's not human, but hopes maybe he's evil enough to count. Plus, you know, it's still a mad science gun.     Which he fires at Vega. BANG! Two large-caliber bullets come down the barrel one after the other, empowered with the New Science of a god. 

:'''{{#var:854|Steven Universe (854)}} has posed:''' "NO!" Steven shouts as his bubble suddenly pops. "I won't let you hurt my friends, I don't care if you've made the wrong choices in life, or if you have tons of muscles, and purple powers! I'll protect my friends no matter what!" He starts to strain, as if trying to fight against Vega's psycho power. Then the spot of his shirt right above his gem begins to glow a bright pink, and he holds his arm up, making a fist as an ornate pink energy shield forms over his arm. BGM SHIFT: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LjgTMA0NhhI "LEAVE MY FRIENDS ALONE!!!" He suddenly tosses the shield with far more strength than a normal human child, the shield spinning directly toward Vega's stomach. Then, at the same time, Lion releases him to jump high into the air, then roar a series of shockwaves down at the Dictator. "I'm Steven Universe, a Crystal Gem, and I won't lose to evil purple powers!!!" 

:'''{{#var:42|Staren (42)}} has posed:'''     Staren blinks aside at Steven. "Woah. Guess he /did/ have power after all!" 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     Oh, Peridot's summoning her ship. Great! Blurr had been hoping she would at some point, so that he could tag it hopefully without her noticing. This was the perfect situation, too. Plenty of distractions to keep her attention focused on Steven. He just has to wait for it to show up.     "Calm your tailpipes lady." The avatar smirks at Peridot's reaction to him. "I'm on -your- side this time." As far as protecting Steven goes, at least.     When Vega teleports, the avatar appears to also teleport, once again appearing between Vega and Steven. It attempts to shove both of them away from each other. "Why is this boy so important to -you-?" He asks, turning the question meant for Peridot around. "You just want to pick a fight or what?" 

:'''{{#var:836|Peridot (836)}} has posed:'''     "Just shut and give me back the Steven!" Peridot squinted nervously. She wasn't a fighter! She was.. a genius! And fighting someone who liked to fight didn't seem like a smart thing to do for someone who fancied herself intelligent. At least, fighting them directly was stupid. "Filthy human! Do you think you can take me on?" She barked and raised her blaster. But, she wasn't firing a shot. She was wiressly sending instructions to her Robonoids who had been monitoring her and Steven's excursion from the get go.     The Robonoids above her leapt off- an avalanche of metal and gem hulls silently raining down and threatening to bury her if she didn't react in time. 

:'''{{#var:749|Vega (749)}} has posed:'''      Staren shoots him in the chest.      Again, Vega jerks furiously like a puppet on a string, or a ragdoll in a video game. His legs thrash furiously. His free arm flings around, swinging violently. If it was in a video game, it would be almost funny.      But seeing a grown, six-foot-some man suddenly jerk unnaturally in the air is not funny in real life. It is horrific. At the same time, the lion cuts him free, releasing his arm to thrash about with the rest of his body. The lion's roar batters down on him as Steven's shield crashes into Vega, meeting the point where the Annihilator's wounds gape in his uniform. Vega slams against a lamppost, crashing into it from the sheer force of the unified assault. The lamppost bends around him at a mighty angle, wrapping like a ribbon about his form.      For a moment, Vega simply hangs there in the air, his arms and legs dangling limply in front of him, the lamppost twisted around him.      Then his arm rights itself. Then his other arm. Then his legs. Then his back. He straightens, motion by motion, as though each piece of him was some independent force that needed to be realigned with the rest of his body.      "How full of assumptions you are," Vega murmurs, "As if you are the only one with allies. As if you are the only one permitted to wield the might of science. As if you and you alone have a cause. How delightfully /self-righteous/."      The lamppost suddenly rings itself in purple fire, uncoiling from around Vega. With a disparaging flick of his fingers, the lamppost goes flying at Staren - not merely the metal but the shattered glass, the torn-up wires sparking bits of electricity, the coil, *everything*. It propels itself at Staren like a storm of violence and destruction, ready to crash into him at a moment's notice.      "Only a truly stupid man stands alone against the whole of the Multiverse."      Laconically, Vega reaches outwards with his other hand. Glass shatters along the street, raining down upon the battlefield like flechettes. Pieces of store displays go flying from inside their buildings, hurtling towards Steven, the Lion, and Blurr with purple-ringed malice as the battlefield turns to a war zone with a motion of Vega's hands.      One of the cars on the street rises.      "I will see your power," Vega intones, answering Blurr as well as Steven, "I will see the true depth of your strength if I must push you to the brink of oblivion itself."      The car fires past Peridot's ship, past Makoto, and past Staren, cleaving straight through the glass flechettes and chaotic whirlwind of debris.      Yeah, Vega just threw a car at a kid. 

:'''{{#var:854|Steven Universe (854)}} has posed:''' Steven holds both hands out this time, his shield gone again. But as the comparatively massive car flies at him, his shield appears again, this time -much- larger, large enough to protect him and anyone who happens to be around him. When the car hits, it wraps around the shield and splits in two, right before the shield quickly vanishes again. He's breathing heavily now, arms hanging as he stares up at Vega. "Why are you trying to hurt my friends?! Why does it matter if you get stronger if it means you don't get to have anyone to protect? What's the point in being strong if you're all alone?!" he asks as Lion suddenly rubs by, grabbing Steven by the back of his shirt to toss the boy onto his back. Now mounted onto the back of a massive pink lion, Steven holds onto his mane, and the two charge toward Vega. "We won't let you hurt anyone else! Just because you have this cold... dark... robot heart, it doesn't mean that you can do whatever you want!" Lion suddenly fires a blast, which creates a portal behind Vega, and the beast leaps forward in an attempt to tackle him directly into it. 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     Well slag. This Vega guy is no joke, Blurr thinks to himself as he literally turns this street into a chaotic war zone, and some debris even flies into his true form still parked nearby, causing some scratches and dents. Okay, in that case, the gloves are off. The avatar suddenly disappears, and the blue hover speeder flips upward and outward, rapidly changing shape until it's not a car but a 30-foot robot standing before them.     "Staren, look out!" Seeing the danger headed Staren's way, he moves to intervene, darting sideways at a pace that belies his size. The Autobot attempts to grab the twisted lamppost and send it hurling right back at Vega. 

:'''{{#var:42|Staren (42)}} has posed:'''     Staren's starting to tweak to the fact that Vega's not normal. 'Construct' and 'Body posessed by powerful evil' come to mind as possibilities. "Hmph. I never said any of those things."     The lamppost hits something -- for a brief moment, a multilayered, amber sphere of force is visible around Staren -- at the impact point, it turns white and cracks spiderweb out, partially shattering in a shower of amber sparkles which quickly fade like the sphere. Staren is knocked back as if struck all the same, at first sliding on his feet but then falling on his back and sliding across the street until he bumps into the curb. "Nnngh." He grunts as he gets back to his feet. "Hm. Stupid I might be, but I've never stood /alone/."     And then Vega throws a car at a kid. Possibilities race through Staren's mind and are discarded -- he can't stop the car. He runs towards Steven, but he can't possibly make it there in time.     Fortunately, the kid has shield powers.     Staren runs up next to Steven, but then Lion runs off with the boy. "He doesn't /think/ like that." Staren calls out. "He wants to see your power and he's succeeding because he's forced you to use it. Unfortunately, the alternative would be a pointless death. So we give him the fight he wants, until--"     An idea strikes Staren.     But at the same time, he realizes that if he suggests the lion portal Steven out, if it can even understand commands, then Vega will probably throw some sort of tantrum and level city blocks in retaliation. He needs a better idea of this guy's abilities!     Actually, what /is/ this guy, anyway?     Staren runs over to Peridot, who clearly doesn't want Steven hurt. "Hey! I know it's a longshot, but do you have any devices that can tell..." Staren waves his revolver at Vega, ".../what/ is going on over there? Is he a construct or some kind of magic posessing force? If we can figure out what he is, maybe we can shut him down!"     Speaking of which, he uses his armor's own sensors to check Vega for magic, ki, whether that body is actually alive, and dimensional distortions. Unfortunately, his supernatural sensors are limited roughly to 'is it there and how much', rather than identifying specific subtypes or what they're doing. 

:'''{{#var:836|Peridot (836)}} has posed:'''     As Staren yells the suggestion at her, she grimaces. Working with humans made her uncomfortable... much less humans who wanted to stop her. But, her ship would be here soon, so she needed to buy time to keep Steven alive until her reinforcments arrived. She taps the side of her lens and attempts to scan Vega to see what sort of reading she could get. Gem tech wasn't purely science oriented-- It's developed to be interfaced with beings composed of holo-matter utilizing a combination of magic and technology as a gems physical form was magic based.     If Vega was composed, or being powered by anything relating to one or the other she would be able to detect and measure it. 

:'''{{#var:749|Vega (749)}} has posed:'''      The air around Vega is a cluster of activity. From one side comes the charging lion, rampaging forward with a small child upon its back who appears to have the power to conjure and teleport things, wield a force field, and most stunningly resist the Psycho Power through the force of goodness and light, whom despite all this everyone seems to feel is also a helpless child. From the other side comes the lamppost Vega had just hurled at (and hit) Staren, flung by a 30-fot-tall robot.      That makes it sort of hard for Staren or Peridot's sensors to detect much of anything. There's so much power being flung around, so much of whatever it is that Vega is mainlining or wielding or...whatever...that trying to pin down whether it's magic, science, or something else is virtually impossible. Staren and Peridot can tell, at the least, that Vega is a living, breathing, functioning human being, with bodily functions, a pumping heart, and all that stuff. He is, in fact, more durable than a human being should be, and there's certainly SOME force pervasive throughout his body, but the exact origins are difficult to pin down. There's an immense amount of whatever that power is - what Vega keeps calling 'Psycho Power', presumably - all over the field, and scanning that directly is just as unclear. It's not fully ki, since it doesn't come entirely from inside him; it's not really magic, since he's clearly not casting spells. But Vega himself is certainly human, at least in body...      Speaking of that body, a lion crashes into it, and then a lamppost mere seconds later. That lamppost is all that stops Vega from being sucked into the portal directly, flinging him just so to the side. He crashes through the opened window of one of the demolished stores, landing on one of those in-set tables you get at diners - the sort that aren't booths, because they're in the middle of the floor. Vega's back arches across it, as though broken.      He rises into the air once more, his back still arched. In front of their eyes, and with a sickening *crack*, Vega rights himself, as though he was forcing his back into position from outside. There's a nasty bruise on his chest where the lamppost hit him, and most of his uniform is already torn away, revealing the mass of muscles, claw marks, and bullet wounds that accompany the purple-and-black discoloration.      So he bleeds, and he bruises...      Vega floats out of the building, arms stretched at his side, blazing with purple light. His cape roils behind him as he advances, slowly, on the group, his mad laughter echoing throughout the flechette nightmare.      "At first you had my interest, boy," Vega observes, "Now you have my *respect*. In time you will *truly* be great enough to fight me on your own, and when that day comes, I will kill you with these hands for the mere joy of fighting a true warrior."      Vega's hands pulse. "Your allies, your /friends/, your caretakers, your chains. You have the power to be greater than them all. Learn it. Wield it. Become mighty enough to be worthy of Vega's challenge, and face me in the future."      "But first you must survive me and prove my respect well-given."      "PSYCHO!"      And suddenly, the flechette storm dies, the glass falling to the ground like rain, tinkling across the sidewalk. The whirling debris vanishes. The overwhelming presence of Vega's aura fades, or falls backwards, or...something...and Staren and Peridot's sensors go berserk as the purple fire wreathes Vega in menacing flame.      "CRRRRUUUUUUSSHERRRRRR!"      Arms outstretched, trailing purple light, Vega goes shooting towards the group like a bullet. Cars are blown backwards in the backdraft. Streetlights not already ruined by the violence come uprooted, hurtled away by the force of his passing. The street itself crumbles, the sidewalk torn apart as Vega rockets along, destruction in his wake, destruction in front of him, a missile of purple fire and evil power. 

:'''{{#var:854|Steven Universe (854)}} has posed:''' Normally Lion would immediately take Steven away from this, but he knows, from the way Steven moves his arms forward, that Steven does /not/ want to leave, regardless of the consequence. "My allies, my friends, and my caretakers, they /are/ my chains! They hold me up, and they won't ever let me fall! I'm a chain too, and I'll hold /them/ up! Like... like... some kind of flying, spinning, chain monster of friendship!" He only has the energy for one more shield, and when that Psycho Crusher comes crashing down, he forms yet another large shield in front of him, trying to defend anyone that he can. "Get behind me if you can't survive this!" he shouts as Lion tries to dig his claws into the ground, and Steven squints his eyes as he feels his shield beginning to crack. Once it finally passes, the shield shatters and Steven falls forward, completely unconscious on Lion's back. Will Peridot get Steven? Will Blurr? Now is probably not the time anyone will figure it out, as Lion immediately roars, firing a portal blast and jumping right through it, with Steven on his back. No one gets Steven, apparently! 

:'''{{#var:42|Staren (42)}} has posed:'''     Staren doesn't think Steven's /weak/, though he did think it possible before that bubble appeared. But the boy is clearly naive, in a way Vega can manipulate, as has been so perfectly illustrated.     So Vega's /alive/. Damn, there goes that theory. And yet as Staren watches, his /back breaks/ and then is shifted back into position. /What/ is going on? He has to turn the sensors off though, as...     PSYCHO CRUSHER     Staren raises his gun and shoots a couple of times, and then dives for cover -- translucent orange energy in the shape of stylized insect wings forms just behind his back, and then buzz to push him away faster. He dives out of the way of Vega...     ...Only for chunks of road and sidewalk to knock him into the side of a building. "Ah!" Well, that's why he's wearing armor! With a groan, he starts pushing the pile of torn-up asphalt and concrete off of him to get to his feet again...     Just in time to see Lion portal Steven away. Well, that's good, right? The question is, how will Vega react? 

:'''{{#var:767|Makoto Kato (767)}} has posed:'''     Makoto emerges from MacDonalds with two bags in each hand, as Vega flies off like a purple evil reverse meteor, watching him go. She seems to have - instead of fighting - disappeared into the chain store to acquire Dollar Menu things. She also has a happy meal because, yanno, Steven. She looks bored again.     "Oh did he leave? Yeah, I don't like fighting robots. Feels like they're cheating." She shrugs, holding up her bags. "I've got double cheeseburgers, and fries, and drinks and stuff if anyone wants 'em. I'm not eating four bags of stuf-..."     Steven goes through the portal on his anime lion. "And I got a happy meal too. Well. That still counds as a good deed. Whatever." She sighs, shaking her head. "Hey, Periwinkle, are you going to be ok, you seem a little stressed out. You should relax, you'll max out your bloo... gasket. You'll blow a gask... What kind of thing did you say you were? 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     Blurr watches with moderate satisfaction as Vega goes flying through a store window. Although he appears to be human, he also appears to have unnatural regeneration powers. Maybe he's some kind of strange mutant? Well who knows, but right now he's turned himself into a missile of destruction and needs to be stopped.     The Autobot picks up a semi truck trailer filled with some stuff, hopefully something hard but he doesn't have much time to think about that, and throws it into Vega's path hoping he'll just go -squish- right into it.     In the meantime, his avatar suddenly appears on the lion's back next to Steven. "Hey kid, I've got a question for you, why do you run around with Peridot? You know she doesn't actually care about you, she just wants your power and also that she's an evil prejudiced conqueror who goes around wiping out other less-advanced races right? Trust me, I've been in her head." Okay technically not her head, but in her systems. And okay maybe 'wipe out' is exaggerated. Exaggeration is sometimes effective, though.     But then the lion jumps through a portal, immediately putting the emitter out of range and thus deactivating it. Oh, well it's good that he got away, at least he isn't Peridot's prisoner any more. 

:'''{{#var:836|Peridot (836)}} has posed:'''     "Bah!" Peridot grits her teeth as her sensors return her nothing particularly useful. Intel was valuable to her, more valuable than mere brute strength. Though, knowing that he was a human helped in some regard. Her understanding of biologicals was, if they bled you could kill them. Overall It did re-affirm her need for Lapis; previously all Peridot had to worry about was the Crystal gems. But, as she had suspected after a few early encounters. There were bigger threats to be had. Her position was in question as well... here she was being attacked by her own faction, whilst her enemy faction was actually defending her. That didn't bode well considering how fresh her alliance was. It was possible the ink hadn't even dried yet.     In the distance she could hear the hum of her pod-ship. One thing she had learned through all this; she was not nearly armed enough. She leapt behind her charge (rather than in front of him). "Steven! I'm too important for the continuation of gemkind to die here! Do something! Preferably shield related!" She said, about the same as the shield sprang up. She looked up at it wide-eyed as it began to crack.          As Steven vanished into the portal she reached out for him. "Steven, wait!" Too late however as he vanished. Without Steven giving her a reason to stick around and feeling neither the desire, ability or inclination to take revenge on Vega. She flicks her hand, dissolving the blaster and her fingers begin spinning like helicopter blades. She raises her arm, beginning to ascend towards her pod. "Grraaggh! You people are infuriating! Just for the record, I'm reporting this!" 

:'''{{#var:749|Vega (749)}} has posed:'''      Throwing a truck in the way of Vega seems to do very, very little. The Psycho Crusher tears right through the truck, sending fragments of metal and glass flying. The engine erupts as he passes through the front of it, still spiralling like a missile.      He crashes into Steven's shield, and purple fire flares up brilliantly through the street. The shield cracks. Steven vanishes. Vega's light pulses for a moment as the burning purple fire extends outwards. As he turns around, the massive, gaping bullet wound where his right eye should be is painfully visible, presumably from Staren shooting him during the charge. With a severely delayed reaction, he thrashes, then hangs there again.      It is also now immediately obvious that the truck placed in his way *did* leave a mark on him, as there are several cuts along his meaty hands that were not there *before* he collided with it.      He looks at the spot where Steven was for a moment. That horrible grin spreads across his face once more, as if satisfied, and then, in a burst of purple fire, he vanishes, leaving the heroes alone.      Whatever he wanted, whatever he got, whatever he spent his eye and much of his body to buy, it apparently pleased him. 

:'''{{#var:42|Staren (42)}} has posed:'''     Staren turns to look at Vega. Man, the damage he's sustained looks /painful/, but he can't tell if Vega even feels it. He seems like the kind of guy who could tough it out even if he did.     It seems Vega's seen enough to be satisfied. That makes things easier.     Staren trudges out of the rubble. He waves to Blurr. "Hey, thanks for the help." He looks to Peridot and just nods a little. He is fine with her leaving.     Then he surveys the damage to the street, the stores, the cars, and holds a hand to his forehead. He supposes he'll have to call the Union embassy or whatever they have here and report this...     He doesn't feel like talking to cops or anything right now, though, so he activates his teleporter, starting to glow for a few seconds and then disappearing. 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     Finally, -finally- Vega leaves. Blurr is still at a loss on what exactly the guy wanted other than to pick a fight. Maybe that was just it. He just wanted a fight. But why with Steven specifically? Psh. Weirdo. He just shakes his head as the situation finally settles down. He's not too concerned about the kid any more, after witnessing what he was capable of, the Autobot is certain Steven can fend for himself.     He hears Peridot's ship approaching as well though, and as she starts to fly up toward it, he turns and attempts to fire a small tracker in that direction, hoping to either tag the pod or Peridot herself. He nods absently toward Staren. "Yeah, of course." 

:'''{{#var:836|Peridot (836)}} has posed:''' Peridot's flight lands her into her ship, and she disappears inside the pod as the tracker hits the side of the ship. She begins to sail off over the horizon! But who knows how long the tracker can last before it's detected! 

}}

2713/WMAT BQ1 Blurr vs Project MORDRED

2015-08-03T01:02:11Z

Zippy: Created page with "{{Log Header |Date of Scene=2015/08/02 |Location=WMAT Arena - Diablo Desert |Synopsis=WMAT: Blurr vs. Project MORDRED |Thanks= |Cast of Characters=492, 804 |Tinyplot= |Tinyplo..."

{{Log Header
|Date of Scene=2015/08/02
|Location=WMAT Arena - Diablo Desert
|Synopsis=WMAT: Blurr vs. Project MORDRED
|Thanks=
|Cast of Characters=492, 804
|Tinyplot=
|Tinyplot2=
|pretty=yes
}}
{{Poses
|Poses=:'''{{#var:804|Project MORDRED (804)}} has posed:''' A low key tournament qualifier in the Diablo Desert. To most members of the audience, it's likely to be one of many; some however, may be invested in the performance of one (or both) competitors. The first arrives flying in, already inside his armour. MORDRED makes sure to apply some showmanship, his main thrusters leaving behind a rainbow trail as he comes in, and bowing to the stands as he lands on the desert grounds. He doesn't say a word, however. 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     Blurr comes speeding across the desert expanse in his hover speeder form, sand whirling up behind him almost like a miniature dust storm. He arrives at the arena's location, waving to the audience, wherever they may be sitting, as he is so accustomed to doing. He sighs at his opponent, however. If it'd been up to him, this guy probably wouldn't have been his first pick. 

:'''{{#var:804|Project MORDRED (804)}} has posed:''' "Let's not delay this and get this match dealt with." MORDRED says, clearly he doesn't think he'll enjoy this fight either. He draws his XTE Lancepack and mounts it under his arm as his combat thrusters engage, lifting him off barely, easily missed; but already improving his response capabilities. "Ready whenever you are, dishonourable cur of a Blurr." 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     For once Blurr can agree with MORDRED. No point in wasting time waiting around. "Yeah let's just get this over with." he mutters, shrugging as he draws his weapons to fire off the first shots at his opponent. 

:'''{{#var:804|Project MORDRED (804)}} has posed:''' The first few shots land as MORDRED starts charging his weapon, he ducks and weaves some to minimize the damage, but it's still scraping off part of his armour, leaving him more vulnerable for the later stages of the fight. The XTE Lancepack finishes a quick charge, and though it's not the full of superheated plasma fired in a full shot, it's a good amount of firepower to start out as MORDRED reacquaints himself with Blurr's fighting style. 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     It's a good amount of firepower, but only a bit of it manages to scrape the top of Blurr's shoulder as he quickly strafes sideways to get out of the way, while at the same time attempting to move in a bit closer and flank Mordred to nail him in the side before he can react. 

:'''{{#var:804|Project MORDRED (804)}} has posed:''' It's in the front instead, where the armour is thicker, but it still hurts a good chunk. MORDRED flies back, and as he does so he starts charging up more energy. Keeping the lancepack firmly mounted, he circles around Blurr for a brief moment as it charges, before rushing in and firing a normal-size blast of superheated plasma from melee range. 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     As Mordred runs in circles, Blurr doesn't appear disoriented or fazed by the move at all. The reason he can move so fast is because he can think equally fast. He watches as his opponent circles and charges the lancepack, easily keeping track of the other's movements. Thus, when the plasma finally comes, he manages to twist out of the way again, though it does manage to scorch the armor on his side. "I sincerely hope that's not the best you can do." Now that Mordred is in melee range he goes for a more physical attack, aiming to dislodge or damage the lancepack he's holding. 

:'''{{#var:804|Project MORDRED (804)}} has posed:''' The lancepack is kicked out of Glare-NT's hands, the arm holding it showing some serious damage. The weapon keeps flying off until its own thrusters kick in and return it to the Armour's back. MORDRED does not seem to be discouraged by it. "You know it's not." He answers, drawing and attacking with his Monofilament Broadsword in one, swift motion. Well-practiced, he's done this before. 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     The broadsword appears to do a lot more damage, slicing across the front of Blurr's chassis. He stumbles backward, a large gash having been torn into his torso. Lavender-colored fuel spews from the wound, splattering onto the ground and coating Mordred's weapon as well.     Recovering quickly however, the speedster smirks a little. "Now -that's- more like it. Quit holding back. After all, I'm no waterbag." No offense to all you humans watching. Really.     The Autobot moves quickly again, attempt to dart behind him and shoot him in the back. 

:'''{{#var:804|Project MORDRED (804)}} has posed:''' MORDRED is no waterbag either, and his responses are as fast as he can process them. Being an AI has its advantages, and he barely fails to dodge the shot, it glances off and leaves a narrow, but obvious, gash in his Armour's head. The dodge is combined with a forewards onslaught, the main thrusters enabling to give this charge extra velocity, at the cost of some maneuverability, to drive that massive yet insanely thin blade as deep into Blurr as he can get it. 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     Oh, that would've hurt for sure if it had hit no doubt. Such is not so, however, as Blurr saw the move coming and manages to jump out of the way and completely avoid damage. "Too slow!" The Autobot laughs, chuckling. "Geez, one of these cycles I'm gonna get tired of saying that!" Not really.     As he dodges the onslaught, he extends one arm toward his opponent, firing sideways in the other AI's direction as he charges past. 

:'''{{#var:804|Project MORDRED (804)}} has posed:''' MORDRED barely gets hit by it, the attack doing little more than a scratch. "Too slow!" The man who would be king answers in kind, letting his XTE Lancepack charge up while on his back as he rushes in for another attack with his blade, the weapon moving for a genuine strike at Blurr, but followed up almost immediately by rapidly drawing the ranged weapon and firing the supercharged plasma from close range again. 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     "Oh yeah? Beat me in a race, then!" Blurr counters, once again twisting out of the way of the plasma, though the blade puts a few more scratches in him. None of them are nearly as deep or severe as the previous melee, though. Jumping back, he puts a bit of distance between himself and Mordred, converting to his vehicle form before driving straight at his opponent in an attempt to knock him off his feet and hopefully run him over. 

:'''{{#var:804|Project MORDRED (804)}} has posed:''' That hurt. MORDRED can feel it inside his Armour, and the Armour took most of that beating, several parts of it deeply dented, and even some tears into the plating. Glare-NT is in fact ran over, but this is in part allowed. He fires his plasma rifle again while this is going on, hoping to drive that plasma right through Blurr's chasis from that close up. After that, he gets back up again, and uses his combat thrusters to go airborne. 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     The plasma does indeed go through Blurr's undercarriage as he's zooming past, burning a gaping hole down there as well. Unfortunately for him, he doesn't have as much armor plating down there as he does elsewhere, so that definitely hurt. What's worse, Mordred starts flying around in the air, where he can't go.     Well, he can't go up there himself, but he can make -other- things go up there. Like sand. A -lot- of sand. The hoverspeeder starts driving rapidly in circles, causing a massive swirling sand cyclone of sorts to rise out of the dunes. The faster he goes, the stronger the winds! 

:'''{{#var:804|Project MORDRED (804)}} has posed:''' After the first sand starts kicking up, MORDRED goes up ever higher, the sand does hit him, and hurt him, but by the time this whole thing is in full swing, MORDRED is beyond its full reach. And, up there, he has plenty time to charge up his Lancepack, and so he does. He lets it charge up to full strength, not normal strength, and calculates Blurr's trajectory before firing a shot, hoping the sand that is being kicked up prevents Blurr from being able to see the attack in time to respond. 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     The plasma hits home, knocking Blurr completely off course. The sand disperses and starts to fall, hanging in the air like a cloud for a few seconds before returning to the ground and preventing the Autobot from seeing the shot coming before it was too late, the blast ripping wounds afresh and exacerbating the injury to his already damaged torso.     But as the attack drives him back, he pulls out his electro-laser at the same time and fires upward in the direction the shot came, aiming to temporarily knock out the Glare-NT's propulsion systems and cause its joints to lock up, hence exposing it to the full brunt of fall damage from such a height. 

:'''{{#var:804|Project MORDRED (804)}} has posed:''' MORDRED gets out of the way of that electro-laser as he charges towards Blurr at maximum velocity, using gravity to assist his dive. Monofilament broadsword in one hand, XTE lancepack in the other, he fires a supercharged blast of plasma, overriding safety limits to do so, as he gets close. This is timed so that less than a quarter of a second after the plasma would impact, the Monofilament broadsword is going to drive a lot of velocity and mass into a very tiny point at the center of where he aimed his plasma. 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     "Frag it!" Blurr curses as the stun beam misses Mordred completely. Well, the speedster never was an excellent marksman or anything. His strong suit lies in his agility, which immediately begins to work in his favor, now that the sand has settled and the skies are clear. He saw it from a long way off, true, but he waits until the last possible astrosecond to actually jump out of the way.     Not only that, but in the spot where he just was, he's left a 'small' grenade. Well it's small by Cybertronian standards, but since the Glare-NT is a bit smaller than the typical Cybertronian, it will certainly pack a punch if Mordred doesn't manage to pull up fast enough. 

:'''{{#var:804|Project MORDRED (804)}} has posed:''' MORDRED notices the grenade before it goes off, but his velocity makes him dash right into it anyway. All he can do is brace for, and weather the impact. It's not an ideal way to handle it, but it minimizes the still massive damage to MORDRED's systems. He starts charging his Lancepack as he chases, his internal systems warning him. "Two hundred percent overcharge, safety limiters engaging." To which he responds, broadcasted for all to hear, "Override safety limiters." Then at four hundred overcharge, the lancepack itself looks like it's about to melt, glowing red-hot all over, and MORDRED fires. The oversized, overheated plasma blast aimed to deal critical damage to Blurr. Hit or miss, the lancepack looks like it's in need of repairs now. 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     The plasma once again hits Blurr, just as he is diving for cover behind some rocks. The rocks aren't sturdy enough though, and end up melting all over him. The molten slag burns into his body, and falls to the ground. Though he sits back up, barely, he throws his arms in the air. "Alright alright. You win, okay?" Pff, this was such a waste of time. He'd much rather be racing. "-Congratulations.-" he mutters. 

:'''{{#var:804|Project MORDRED (804)}} has posed:''' MORDRED actually does a doubletake, seeming surprised that Blurr has given up. "You seem like you could still fight, but if you wish to cede victory to me, I will not turn it down." He sheathes the Monofilament broadsword, and places his Lancepack back on the Armour's back. "Good luck in the loser's bracket, I wish you the best." He even sounds like he means it. 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     "I wish there were a racing event." Blurr says to no one in particular. "Gladiatorial combat is so overrated. And I don't -need- luck or best wishes, either, especially not from -you-." He then drives off in a huff. Hopefully next time, he'll be up against someone he hasn't already seen. 

}}

1251/New Friends

2015-07-09T15:57:51Z

Zippy:

{{Log Header
|Date of Scene=2015/01/03
|Location=Cybertron-2
|Synopsis=Grumble makes new friends on Cybertron.
|Thanks=
|Cast of Characters=492, 620, 677
|Tinyplot=
|Tinyplot2=
|pretty=yes
}}
{{Poses
|Poses=:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     Cybertron. Once a glowing amethyst of wealth and prosperity. Its surface was once gleaming with the light of life, its streets teeming with activity. Resources were aplenty, and it seemed as if life would just go on forever and ever, just as it was.     But alas, here we are, millions of meta-cycles (Earth years) later, staring at a barren and desolate expanse of ruined structures; pieces of a once-great civilization. Dangers lurk at every corner of the rugged terrain--and if anyone is here, it's not because they -want- to be. Most of everyone is either dead or has fled the crumbling surface.     So why is Blurr here? Hiding out in the ruins of the defunct capital city-state of Iacon? Well, he's been on a long-term investigation of the strange behavior displayed by the savage Insecticon horde that has been running wild on the planet for some time. Thus far he and his Union allies have been able to figure out that there's -something-, or someONE, in the catacombs who is manipulating the Swarm to their will. And whoever that is doesn't want anyone going down there. Whoever it is, they're hiding -something-... 

:'''{{#var:620|Grumble (620)}} has posed:''' Grumble had a problem. He was very much lost. Sniffing along the long straight road of concrete surrounded by empty half broken towers of the same material he wondered just what he had sensed that brought him here. He knew something interesting was going to happen from the energies gathering. But there was no people! Perhaps he had made a mistake in coming here. Everything was quiet and empty and so lifeless! It all smelled of oil and metal and concrete. Not a single scent of grass or sausages at all. Whining softly he stops, sitting down a moment and taking a good look around. That is when his ears catch a faint sound. A scratch noise...and a faint whir. With nothing else of interest around he takes off at a trot towards the sound. Sniffling along here and there he could sense he was getting closer...to something. Unknown to Grumble he was being observed by more than 1 set of eyes. 2 of which would belong to a certain autobot on a long term recon as he heads straight for the entrance of the insectoid Catacombs. 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     Blurr has set up a sort of temporary outpost among the ruins of the city. Thankfully, he'd stumbled across some untouched supplies from before the mass exodus from the planet in a safehouse used by Autobot intelligence. Its cloaking field had saved it from destruction by the war or by the Insecticon horde. He's managed to use it to throw out some simple probes with which to keep an opticon the surrounding area, so when he spots the strange little organic venturing toward the catacombs all by its lonesome, he darts out of he the safehouse, transforming into his more-streamlined hoverspeeder form and rushes toward Grumble, executing an impossibly tight hairpin turn to swerve in front of the canine.     "Whoawhoathere, I wouldn't go down there if I were you," he warns. "At least not without an army or something." 

:'''{{#var:620|Grumble (620)}} has posed:''' Grumble merrily trots on his way towards the odd noises when suddenly a large hovering vehicle roars and stops in a spin in front of him. Frightened and surprised Grumble reflexively teleports backwards a couple dozen feet atop a broken pillar. Blinking in and out of existence instantly. Peering down at the machine he tilts his head as he hears a people's voice! A human must have seen him and driven over in his flying car machine! A warning given about venturing further. Taking a moment to think it over he replies as he usually does. Raising a paw he waves towards the car. "HELLO! I am sorry if I have come somewhere I am not allowed. I am lost! Will you help me?" 

:'''{{#var:677|The Swarm (677)}} has posed:'''     "Well it's not that you're not -allowed-." Blurr answers. "I've been trying to get down there myself, but I never made it far. I just wouldn't want you to get ripped to shreds. The Swarm has been guarding it like a bunch of Legislators on circuit speeders."     Suddenly, it becomes very evident that there is actually no human present. The hovercar starts to unfold, over and over again, in a cacophony of mechanical sounds, until it's not a car any more but a massive, several-story-tall mechanoid. He crouches down as far as he comfortably can to get a closer look at the pug. "You're lost?" he shakes his head. "And this is about the worst place you could possibly get lost in." 

:'''{{#var:620|Grumble (620)}} has posed:''' Grumble's ears fold back as the machine suddenly unfolds...his head rearing back as he looks up...and up...and up....at a machine person! Another Metalman! But more metal than man! Shaking a little bit in subconscious fear trembles in the shadow of the large being. "umm...Hello..Y..yes I'm lost mister metalman sir......" He knows the big being has been nice so far...but he is just so big and intimidating! Then he realizes the warning and looks around cautiously. "It is dangerous here?" 

:'''{{#var:677|The Swarm (677)}} has posed:'''     "Uh, -yeah-. You could say that." Blurr confirms. That might even be a -major- understatement right there. Oh, right. "I'm Blurr. And you're...?" he asks, watching him expectantly. "You from Earth? You kind of look like it." 

:'''{{#var:620|Grumble (620)}} has posed:''' Finishing his look around for any immediate danger he turns his attention back on the tall metal being. With a name he is not nearly as intimidating and his nerves calm. Raising a paw in greeting he replies, "Hello! I am Grumble, a pug, of my burrow! It is a pleasure to meet you new friend Mister Blurr! Yes I am from earth! Is this not earth?...Or another earth?" Tilting his head questioningly. 

:'''{{#var:677|The Swarm (677)}} has posed:'''     Blurr chuckles. Where's this guy been? Well, in the multiverse you meet all sorts of people. At least he understands the concept of multiple Earths, though. "No, it's Cybertron." he replies. "My homeworld. Well, it -was-. Not much of anything -left- of it any more." The speedster sighs with a hint of a sigh. "It's nice to meet you Gr--"     Unfortunately, it seems Grumble had taken his attention off of his surroundings -too- quickly. Blurr doesn't get to finish his sentence before a -massive- Insectoid-looking creature lunges out of the depths of the catacombs and latches itself onto the Autobot's back, knocking him to the groud. It's nearly three quarters the size of him, and like him, it's metallic, only more animalistic in form. Its appearance is also rather repulsive. Multiple sets of yellow optics gleam savagely as its sharp mandibles dig themselves into Blurr's back, ripping metal armor with a terrific sound of shearing metal. Energon spews out of the fresh wound, spewing all over its mouth. Hissing, it begins to -devour- the speedy bot's back; and has already consumed a good chunk of his outer armor... 

:'''{{#var:620|Grumble (620)}} has posed:''' Grumble gasps and skips back as his new friend is attacked by a metal MONSTER!! His first instinct is to bark and yell! Which he does. "BARK! BARK!!!! HEY STOP!! DON'T HURT HIM!!! BARK!" Which he quickly realizes is pointless! Narrowing his eyes he considers his options. They are both too big to lift with his mind....but...looking around he spots a suitable sized chunk of concrete. Grasping it with his mind he lifts it. Maybe 400 lbs...but big enough. With a thought levitates up then hurls it towards the monstrosities back with surprising speed. 

:'''{{#var:677|The Swarm (677)}} has posed:'''     The Insecticon monstrosity would have been content to sit there and feast on Blurr, leaving the tiny flesh creature alone, but then the flesh creature has to go and throw a piece of debris at it! And that debris is pretty big! Okay not -that- big, but it was moving fairly fast.     The creature screeches angrily, rearing back and whirling around to face the dog. It lashes out with its claws, attempting to knock Grumble off of his feet and send him flying! 

:'''{{#var:620|Grumble (620)}} has posed:''' Nearly congratulates himself on having distracted the creature! Until he realized he did almost nothing to it. As the monstrosity turned its attention to him Grumble did not know what to do! He had never been in a fight before!! Fights were bad! But it was eating his new friend! Watching the claw descend to utterly murder him Grumble recovers from his shock at the last moment, attempting to hop backwards and fly away. But the first of the blow, strong enough to destroy the concrete is powerful enough to send him tumbling through the air to crash into a wall and knocking the wind out of him! 

:'''{{#var:677|The Swarm (677)}} has posed:'''     Oh, he's got the thing's attention, all right. In fact it's quite apparent that the Insecticon is pretty pissed off at him, now! It advances toward him, hissing and snarling as it prepares to lunge at him again. Its wings beat threateningly, attempting to send the accursed flesh thing flying once again. 

:'''{{#var:620|Grumble (620)}} has posed:''' Recovering his senses and onto his feet he is only able to look up at the mechanical bug sends a wave of air towards him. Ducking low close to the ground, he holds on and is only shaken a tiny bit. Looking around and formulating a plan. Grumble focuses and with a blink. Disappears! Reappearing higher up in an adjacent building's ledge. With the lip high enough to cover his small pug body he peers over towards his injured friend. Checking his condition before deciding that distracting the creature a good idea. Eyes searching about he spots a damaged metal post in the direction completely opposite from his current location. Grasping it with his mind he lifts it up....turns it so its jagged edge is pointing towards the creature and hurls the nearly 500lb metal beam at the creatures side! 

:'''{{#var:677|The Swarm (677)}} has posed:'''     Blurr appears to be motionless on the ground, his body leaking severely. But at least Grumble as the monster's attention for now. However, he seems to disappear into thin air! Confused, the creature is circling the area, searching for the fleshling when another piece of jagged metal is hurled its way. Its wings beat again, and it jumps out of the way, still screeching angrily as it hovers into the air slightly. It still hasn't figured out where that little dog has gone, however! So it simply starts wrecking up the area, ramming its body into the ruined buildings, and potentially the one Grumble is standing on! 

:'''{{#var:620|Grumble (620)}} has posed:''' Ducking back as he realized he missed with the jagged pole by trying to throw it to hard. Grumble is suddenly shaken as the building he is hiding in is struck! A few rocks falling down and scratching his body. Deciding the space he was in would not be safe much longer, he peers over the edge toward's his Friend Blurr's still form and teleports down. Taking cover behind the metalman's large body he paws at and lick's at his face whispering softly. "Mister Blurr...get up..you are to big for me to teleport away..." Looking around for another plan. He spots a large ledge held up by a crumbling pillar...narrowing his eyes he knows what he must do! Running under the the ledge he barks loudly. "BARK BARK!! HERE MONSTER HERE!!!" Mentally grasping the support pillar he waits for the creature to rush towards him before he pulls down the support and blinks away as quickly as he can. Collapsing the ledge towards the mechanical bug. 

:'''{{#var:677|The Swarm (677)}} has posed:'''     These creatures were never quite known for their intelligence, thus the Insecticon rather readily falls for Grumble's trick. It charges at him, aiming to grab him and devour him when he quickly teleports away and finds more building parts crashing down onto its back! The impact causes more cracks and dents in its armor--which is already not all that great. There's a reason they were thrown away, after all. Raging, it bursts out of the debris pile, searching once more for its undersized opponent! 

:'''{{#var:620|Grumble (620)}} has posed:''' Grumble peeks over the bulk of his comatose friend Blurr...at least he hopes his friend was only out. He had to help his friend. Licking his face seems to have done nothing so far. He had to get help. To get help he had to remove the bug trying to murder the 2 of them. He felt so helpless...so frustrated! He would HELP HIS FRIEND!! He would NOT LET HIM DIE! Even...even if he had to do grave harm to the creature.... Eyes narrowing in focus. His mind reaches out...this time not grabbing a single piece of debris..No...he grabs as many he can...dozens. He could only carry a single half ton object at once...but the limit to amount of half ton objects was only limited by his focus. Right now his absolute focus was on protecting his friend from more harm. The dozens of large rocks, and poles and various debris hover into the air then one by pelt the bug like creature in a rapid procession from every direction. 

:'''{{#var:677|The Swarm (677)}} has posed:'''     The Insecticon is still prowling about, searching for its foe when suddenly it is assaulted by a hailstorm of debris! Instead of one or two things at once, it's like an -army- of debris! It lunges at one when the inaminate object seems to attack the creature, but then there are others--so many others! Its metallic carapace severely battered from the relentless assault, the monstrosity shrieks in pain and anger as its own body fluids flow.     Finally, it finds and locks on to the small dog, who packs a -seriously- oversized punch, especially for a flesh creature. A scorpion-like tail rises out of its abdomen, and aims a blast of high-voltage electricity at the pug. Not enough to fry him alive, but if it hits, it's gonna -hurt-. 

:'''{{#var:620|Grumble (620)}} has posed:''' Panting at the effort of pelting the robot with dozens of small boulders and debris Grumble is unable to blink away as he is suddenly blasted by a blast of electricity! The arc burning his side and throwing him up and away from Blurr and over another pile of debris to land in a painful pile. In incredible pain and limbs twitching uncontrollably. He could barely look up as the creature stalks towards him. If he did not do something quickly he was dead...He needed to live....He needed to help his friend Blurr. This time he needed something to really hurt the creature...reaching out once again with his mind...he grasped for the sharpest, most pointy pieces of debris. No concrete, just jagged metal, gathering them together he spins them around.. and around into a tornado of metal above the creature, like a drill!! He draws the drill of metal down onto the creature with all his mental might! 

:'''{{#var:677|The Swarm (677)}} has posed:'''     The sharp metal pieces of terrain spin around and around at a blinding speed, drilling downward into the creature's abdomen. It's super effective! The makeshift 'drill' bores a deep hole in its body, and energon in addition to Insecticon innards spew even more freely.     Howling in rage and agony, the monstrosity rears back, its bladed legs flailing and writhing. Its wings beat the air again, buzzing angrily as it jumps up and lunges straight for Grumble, attempting to grab him with its spiked claws and hurl him against a crumbling building. 

:'''{{#var:620|Grumble (620)}} has posed:''' Surprised the creature is still standing Grumble is only able to flinch back the creatures claw grazes his side and leaves a long bloody scratch, skipping backwards he once again teleports away. Atop another building's ledge and looks down. What would it take to stop this creature. Any creature of flesh and blood would be dead by now. Desperation fueling his actions he casts his gaze into the large hole in the creatures back. Seeing wires and parts...he mentally grasps them and yanks as hard as he can. Hoping to break its insides! 

:'''{{#var:677|The Swarm (677)}} has posed:'''     Indeed, inside the hole Grumble has made, wires and gears can be seen. Sparks fly as he pulls at them, wreaking havoc on the Insecticon's inner workings. It writhes in pain, screeching more, but doesn't seem to fall just yet! It raises its tail again, aiming once more for the little dog, but the internal damage it has suffered has thrown its aim off, and given how small he is compared to it, it's not likely to score a direct hit on him, though it may destroy the building he is standing on, sending it tumbling to the ground. 

:'''{{#var:620|Grumble (620)}} has posed:''' Grumble's eyes widen as the creature turns towards him with the glowing tail of electric pain! Ducking back he feels the building shudder and shake under him, a rock solidly whacking him in the head and dazing him for a moment as the building begins to shake under him. Getting an idea he hovers in the air...and pushes on the shakey building, attempting to collapse it on vicious bug machine intent on ending his life. The building not nearly as broken as he first thought, he is only able to dislodge a large chunk and give it some minimum guidance towards his target. Gravity doing most of the work. 

:'''{{#var:677|The Swarm (677)}} has posed:'''     The building shudders as Grumble pushes on it, though he is not nearly strong enough to collapse the entire thing. These structures were designed for giants, after all. However, he does manage to knock a sizeable chunk off of a crumbling wall. It crashes down toward the ground, and strikes its target, landing on top of one of the Insecticon's legs to crush it hard.     With its leg trapped under the piece of wall, the monstrosity hisses in distress and tries to get free, but to no avail. Finally, it twists around and chomps down on its own leg, breaking it off with a howl of pain. However, once this is done, it does not continue its assault nor does it run away; instead it whimpers and scuttles a short distance from the broken wall and just sits there, making whining noises as if it had resigned itself to a fate of certain death. Suddenly it doesn't seem so ferocious or even monstrous any more...but would -anyone- feel sorry for such a horrid thing? 

:'''{{#var:620|Grumble (620)}} has posed:''' Seeing the creature get trapped...and subsequently bite off its own leg only to scuttle back and whimper. Grumble cannot help but realize. He has harmed another living thing! Sure it had assaulted his friend. But now it was helpless and hurting. Making up his mind. He gives his reachable wounds a quick lick to clean them before he takes a flying leap off the building the flying down a decent distance form the bug like machine. Touching down slowly. He approaches cautiously. Until he reaches about 20 yards from the creature. Stopping and clearing his throat. "Hello?....I'm sorry I hurt you. But you hurt my friend. I don't want to fight anymore. So...." He takes a few steps closer. "So please stop fighting. I will stop to...okay?" 

:'''{{#var:677|The Swarm (677)}} has posed:'''     The creature looks up from its cowering, and at first it shies away, but its optics regard him curiously when he doesn't attack. He wasn't going to kill it? Not that it has the capability to understand his words, but it recognizes that his tone is not harsh. It settles down, appearing to relax, lowering its body to the ground as it lets its legs out from under itself. 

:'''{{#var:620|Grumble (620)}} has posed:''' Grumble watches the bug creature lower itself to him..body language that any canine would recognize instantly as submission....Lifting off the ground and hovering over slowly...he lands softly in front of metal creature's head...and paws at it gently. BEfore licking it repeatedly. "It is okay. I am sorry we had to fight. Please do not hurt my friend anymore. If you are good perhaps if I can revive my friend. He can help you. okay?" Once again he paws the massive creature upon the head. 

:'''{{#var:677|The Swarm (677)}} has posed:'''     The Insecticon lowers its head when Grumble lands on it and begins petting and licking it. They may not have tongues, but it does recognize these gestures of affection, and it...starts to purr? At least that's what it sounds like. Perhaps the creature is relieved that he has chosen not to end its life when it had expected he most certainly would.     Meanwhile, a short distance off, Blurr finally comes back online. Oh, Primus, his -everything- hurts. He groans and struggles into a sitting position. "Holy slag..." he mutters. Then his optics widen, remembering Grumble. "F-frag it! Grumble, you there? You okay?" he asks, looking around frantically. 

:'''{{#var:620|Grumble (620)}} has posed:''' "Mister Blurr! Mister Blurr over here! Are you alright?!" Grumble waves with his paw towards his revived friend. "I was ever so worried when you were attacked! I am glad you are not dead!" Still sitting upon the insecticon's head, he dare not leave his spot in case his new friend and his new new friend spook. 

:'''{{#var:677|The Swarm (677)}} has posed:'''     Blurr turns his attention toward Grumble, relieved that the canine is okay. "Eh I've been better. But I've also had worse." he says dismissively. "I'll be fine." He gazes curiously at the subdued Insecticon. "So I take it you tamed this one, huh?" he chuckles. "I'll admit, I'm impressed."     Indeed, it seems the giant Insectoid has decided to submit to him. It continues to purr contentedly. 

:'''{{#var:620|Grumble (620)}} has posed:''' Looks worriedly at the mechanical bug underneath him. Giving its head another lick or 2 he looks up at Blurr with his big eyes. "Mister Blurr, please! I have hurt him gravely! I am worried he will die! I do not know what to do! I know he attacked us both but I believe he has learned his lesson! Please! Help him!" Ears drooping sadly he whimpers. He would never forgive himself if he had killed this creature. Fighting was bad and this only cemented that fact in his little heart. He had no choice but it was still so bad. 

:'''{{#var:677|The Swarm (677)}} has posed:'''     Blurr sighs. "Well, I'm no medic, so I'm not sure what I can do for i--er, him." He struggles to his feet and limps over to Grumble and his new friend. Pulling out what looks like a glowing purple rectangular object about the size of his palm, he holds it out to the Insecticon, who devours it hungrily yet happily. Then he shrugs. "That should help, at least."     The Autobot begins scanning Grumble himself for injuries, and sees that he certainly has some. "You should get back to Njorun, you look pretty banged up yourself." he says worriedly. 

:'''{{#var:620|Grumble (620)}} has posed:''' "Yes. That sounds like the best idea." Wincing as he finally calms enough to feel his injuries. He turns to the insecticon and gives it a few final licks. "Please be good mister giant metal bug. Do no harm people. Metal or otherwise." Turning towards Blurr he floats up, favoring his aching legs. "Could you lead the way Mister Blurr. I am still quite lost." 

:'''{{#var:677|The Swarm (677)}} has posed:'''     "Yeah," Blurr makes his way toward the warpgate, which isn't too far off. "This should take you through the network back to HQ. I'll head back to the Ark..."     "You can take it from here, right?"     If Grumble were to glance behind, he will find that his new friend is intent on doing more than just not trying to eat people any more. It has followed him, after all he is about the only one it ever saw any kind of compassion or kindess from! It just wants to follow him home! 

:'''{{#var:620|Grumble (620)}} has posed:''' Turning around as he responds "Yes Mister Blurr, Thank you for leading me here." Pausing as he notices the insecticon behind them. Trotting over to it he pats it on the foot with a paw. "No, you must stay here my bug machine friend! I promise to return and visit! But this is your home. I do believe you will cause panic if you were to come with me to the place of healing. So please. I promise to visit." Licking the big robot's toes he turns around and heads for the gate. "Farewell mister Blurr! I hope we meet again under better circumstances! Please look after mister Giant Metal Bug for me!" With that he vanishes through the gate. 
}}

2510/Bug Off!

2015-06-23T07:13:19Z

Zippy: Created page with "{{Log Header |Date of Scene=2015/06/23 |Location=Cybertron-2 |Synopsis="Claws off, bug brain!" |Thanks= |Cast of Characters=7, 180, 492, 796, 817 |Tinyplot= |Tinyplot2= |prett..."

{{Log Header
|Date of Scene=2015/06/23
|Location=Cybertron-2
|Synopsis="Claws off, bug brain!"
|Thanks=
|Cast of Characters=7, 180, 492, 796, 817
|Tinyplot=
|Tinyplot2=
|pretty=yes
}}
{{Poses
|Poses=:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     Cybertron, once a glittering jewel, once the thriving home planet of Primus' children. But now it is nothing more than a charred metal husk of what it once was. The rugged landscape and crumbling cities have not been tended to for millions of years, the civilization that once inhabited them having either perished in the war or escaped to the cosmos.     Though it is far from a pleasant place to be, the ruins may have some hidden treasures to offer--some of the raw materials might be possible to salvage, and who knows, some people's 'trash' might be gold to someone else in the Multiverse! Never know what one might find in the ruins of an ancient yet highly technologically advanced civilization. However, any explorer ought to be wary--even if the planet is mostly dead, that doesn't mean it is -completely- devoid of life... 

:'''{{#var:180|Taylita (180)}} has posed:'''      Taylita for one has been dying to get a chance to visit Cybertron. She met Blurr quite a while back and was awed by his robotic awesomeness. Just think of the things she could build if she had some Cybertronian technology! So, she has come in her commandeered PTO ship to do some salvaging.      She knows Cybertron has been a dump for a while, so she isn't sure if she will even find anything worthwhile, but she is pretty sure even scraps from this place will be useful. After landing on a nice flat area, she exits her ship, carrying her usual tools and wearing more civilian clothing than the armor she typically wears. She will still be able to fight, of course, but she is more interested in cool toys at the moment. 

:'''{{#var:796|Sarah Rogers (796)}} has posed:'''     Sarah is riding in, or on, Blurr, depending on his current mode. This dead world is a bit creepy, and the Autobot knows his way around! "Is there anyone left alive here?" She asks nervously. imagining roving bands of piecemeal robots scavenging for anything that could keep them going a little longer. She can't remember why she wanted to come here anymore, other than it seemed like a good idea at the time. 

:'''{{#var:817|Asteroth (817)}} has posed:''' Appearing from within a warpgate, Asteroth appears on the broken, ravaged landscape and takes a look around. "Aaaah, this place looks like home." she says in the thin atmosphere, looking just behind her, as several minor-demons and imps follow her through the warpgate. An imp cackles. "Yes, Lady. Except, rather nicer, don't you think?" Asteroth is currently in the form of a 7 foot tall muscular woman with red skin, black eyes, small goats horns and cloven hooves. A bit traditional for her liking, but helps to keep the lesser demons in line. She wears armor of an unusual make, pitch black in color, with occasional glimpses of suffering figures, silently screaming, appearing in the surface. Her back is left bare, and there are two ragged holes on it, where wings might once have been, and maggots crawl just below the surface. Its not her true form, and its -ugly- rather then attractive, but its intimidating, which is what matters when dealing with other demons. "Yes, quite." she agrees with the imp. "Let's see what we can use. Spread out and scout around, but keep alert. If this place is like home, there will be plenty of surprises." 

:'''{{#var:7|Kotone Yamakawa (7)}} has posed:''' Kotone Yamakawa hjad cuaght a lift with Taylita s he's far better prepared than the last time she came here. She opted to go without the Carpace armour and do a more stealthy set up using optical cameo. She did have a nanofiber vest on under it. She looked over to Taylia for a moment and she's clearly about kitted out as her friend is. Just in other ways she seems ready however to get out of the ship as she moves out after Taylita. "Given the local robotic life you should keep alert I was nearly ripped in two the last time I was here." 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     "Yes, actually." Blurr replies to Sarah's question, the dashboard in his vehicle form lighting up in sync with his voice. "And it's the reason why this was a bad idea." Meaning bringing her here. If she'd been anyone else, he certainly would have refused, but for some reason he's found a certain...companionship with her? Almost like Verity had with Ultra Magnus.     "The Swarm live here. Malformed Insecticon experiments created by Megatron then thrown away when they weren't to his liking. There's not much to eat here, as you might have already noticed. So yeah, they're pretty hun--" He stops himself, having noticed several energy signatures pop up on his scanners. Swerving suddenly, he changes direction and heads toward the signals, which are coming from a ruined city to the north where the warpgate is.     Meanwhile, Asteroth, Kotone, and Taylita find themselves among the ruins of a massive city-state. The buildings, while mostly half-crumbled, are still collossal, having been built to accommodate beings many times the size of a human. As for scavenging, there might be some treaures to find, but it will take some digging through all that scrap metal. 

:'''{{#var:796|Sarah Rogers (796)}} has posed:'''     "Your *good* ideas usually turn out to be bad ideas, So maybe if we follow through on a bad idea It'll turn out great!" Sarah grins, though she's inwardly wondering what the point of coming here was again. "What are those blips on your panel? I'm only seeing three. That's not what I'd call a swarm." She starts to get out of her seat to go investigate, then remembers that Blurr is actually faster than her. "Can you go any faster?" She murmurs softly, already regretting her words. 

:'''{{#var:180|Taylita (180)}} has posed:'''      Taylita nods to Kotone, though she is smirking lightly. "I'm always alert." she says to her nearly invisible friend. Given she is searching for tech stuff, Taylita brought a scanner along that searches for energy signatures. So, when Blurr comes driving in, she turns toward him. "Hmm...looks like we aren't alone."      A fact made even more clear when the demonic form of Asteroth comes into view. Taylita's eyes narrow at the sight. You can't always judge a book by its cover, but...she feels pretty comfortable saying that the demon is not an ally. "And not all of it is friendly company." she says as she floats into the air to survey Asteroth's group. 

:'''{{#var:817|Asteroth (817)}} has posed:''' The demons and minor imps spread out from the warpgate and scout around. "Lotsa metal, Lady." one says back to her in a high-pitched, rasping voice. "Ss-should we gather s-some?" The imp crawls up the side of a ruined skyscraper like an insect itself, and then in through a jagged hole, looking about as it calls back to Asteroth. "No." she replies, the voice of her current form rather deep for a female. "Scout about for threats and resources. If the place warrents mining or scavenging, we'll bring back souls to do it." she says. "But be on the look out for threats, and potential resources." A tall, gangly fiend with red, bat-like wings whom has been scouting forward of the others comes back towards the others. "See something floating, Lady!" he says. "Looks like a soul, but alive. Not sure what it is." Asteroth sighs, and marches forward. "When alive, they are called mortals, Balthreux. Mortals. Sometimes humans, or elves, but usually mortals. You'll want to remember that. Go get a closer look, see what it knows about this place." "Yes, mistress!" the red-winged demon says, crawling forward on its hands and knees before launching itself into the air and flying towards Taylita. 

:'''{{#var:7|Kotone Yamakawa (7)}} has posed:''' Kotone Yamakawa has been keeping with the group she'd find her self looking t the ruined place and shakes here head a little bit. "The very metal here may be a treasure in and of it self you know. Given how much thery know about metals or even the natural metal of the planet. It could cause a lot of advances, if we got lucky." Kotone is going for some of the metals she finds taking smaples for later but she's also going to be digging as well through this for a moment. "Humm there's more they might be spread out. I fought them once there were a whole lot of them. We only thinned a few of them out." 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     A sound akin to an exasperated noise escapes Blurr's vocal synth. "Ha ha very funny, Sarah." He says wryly in response to her jab. "Those aren't Swarm," Approaching the city, he scans the others. "Looks like we've got nine signals, two friendlies and seven unidentified." He can't help but grimace inwardly at Asteroth and her party's appearances. Yeesh. Talk about -ugly-. Some of these other species had a serious dearth of good taste.     Meanwhile, as the others begin rifling through the wreckage, a few little trinkets pop up here and there, like a half-used power cell or two, maybe a broken engex distiller for whatever use that may be to an organic...but as they are searching, movement can suddenly be heard in that building Asteroth's imp just scaled.     Kotone and Taylita might not be talking about the same 'non-friendly' things...     Inside the dilapidated building, something quite massive--especially in comparison to that imp--abruptly lunges out from behind a halfway collapsed wall, attempting to grab the demon and devour it whole. Not much of a snack, but something alive and moving is bound to be better than the millennia-old scrap metal and other refuse they typically get! 

:'''{{#var:796|Sarah Rogers (796)}} has posed:'''     Sarah slips out of Blurr and into the air, flying up to Taylita simply because, hey other flying girl! Though most of her attention is focused on Asteroth and her minions. "Hey! I saw you had a union comm signal, and Kotone down there I recognize from the Ark Tour, but what the Heck are *those* things?" She asks Taylita as she points towards Asteroth. "You guys aren't attacking them so I'm going to assume it's okay unless I see otherwise. "I'm Sarah by the way." She offers a hand to the Saiyan. 

:'''{{#var:180|Taylita (180)}} has posed:'''      Taylita grins as that imp approaches. She flies to meet it, then comes to a stop, appearing to simply stand on the air, her tail swaying lightly behind her while she crosses her arms over her chest. "Hi there. I'm Taylita, honorable saiyan warrior. I hope you aren't intending to cause us trouble. No offense, but you guys don't look too friendly." she says, then blinks as her scanner blips. She holds it up and checks it out, then looks over at the building that doomed imp is inside of. "...seems we aren't alone here." she says, then energy readings of her would spike as she lets her surpressed energy loose and a flaming blue aura appears around her. "What were these things that almost got you last time, Kotone?" 

:'''{{#var:7|Kotone Yamakawa (7)}} has posed:''' Kotone Yamakawa says "As I said the materials sciences to be gained from the scrap here isn't to be under estimated after all your species combat personel can laugh off tank rounds from an abrams battle tank." The tank was old as hell on her world but it's gun was still deadly and why the Amerirussio alliance used it as a second line and national guard unit still. "Never assume your alone I learned that the hard way the last time. I thought this was a chance to get away from this sort of thing." Well it's not flith right and she's trying get a better look as she zooms in with her optis on the thing moving to meet up with them. She looks over to Sarah for a moment. "Demons from the looks of it, Sarah." Her reply to Taylita is brief but to the point. "The disposed experiments that Blurr mentioned." 

:'''{{#var:817|Asteroth (817)}} has posed:''' The imp picks up an engex distiller and shakes it, wondering what in the heck it is. As it peers at it in confusion, the sound of scuttling and movement can be heard, as debree moves and shifts. Then, the halfway collapsed wall is pushed aside, and the imp is swallowed up. It lets loose a little "Ayeaaaaaah!" before it is silenced. Meanwhile, the flying fiend peers at Taylita, the metaphorical wheels almost visibly turning in its dim little head as it thinks. It looks from Sarah to Taylita, then back again. "Uh, mortals..." it says. "Mortal males, right? You all look the same to me. I am here on behalf of my Lady, to see what you know of this..." Then, the imp screams and is swallowed. Its head jerks towards the sound, as do all of the other demons. "Form up!" Asteroth calls, as the demons return to clustering around her, except for the flyer, in a rough half-circle. They chitter and cackle, and peer up at the hole in the building with anticipation. Asteroth, for her part, hums a tune. The tune is short and sad, and the tone of voice it is in seemingly sweet and pure, having nothing to do with her appearance or voice. It is over altogether too soon, and when the tune is done, a sword has appeared in her left hand in a swirl of magical energy. It is a black blade, not made of metal, or energy, or anything else that easily scans. In fact, its actually made of souls, a hundred raw souls, transmuted into physical form and forged together like damascus steel, into a blade of raw suffering and power. Soulcrafting. Dark stuff. She didn't just create the blade, just summoned it into her hands. "Be prepared." she says to the demons. "First one of you to get a kill gets a soul." 

:'''{{#var:180|Taylita (180)}} has posed:'''      Taylita blinks as Sarah flies up to her. "Oh, hi there. I'm Taylita" she says as she shakes Sarah's hand. "Well, they haven't caused us any trouble yet, so..." She shrugs, then looks down. "Oh, you're a friend of Blurr? He and I met a while back. Haven't seen him in a while. I'm glad to see he is alright."      Taylita then looks toward the building again. "But, if that scream is any indication, we may be in for a fight." 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     Unfortunately for the small imp, the twisted monster of an Insecticon is successful in devouring him, its mandibles closing in on the creature's tiny body. No body fluids are spilt, since the demon is simply swallowed whole. But that was just the appetizer! The monstrous insectoid is still ravenously hungry, and it can smell other living beings just outside the building. Thus, it smashes through a crumbling wall and starts galloping toward Asteroth, its spiky body bristling with eagerness and its appetite whetted by her minion. But it isn't the only one in the area! Suddenly, a group of the things spring from the shadows upon the group of explorers.     A dragonfly-looking form jumps from a rooftop and soars toward the bat-winged fiend who just spoke, claws outstretched and fully intending to do the same to him as the other had done to the imp just now. Another one that looks more like a grasshopper with mantis claws emerges and lunges at Kotone, while a third that resembles a massive horned beetle with spikes on its shell charges at Blurr, who jumps out of his vehicle form and dives into a narrow alleyway. "Slag it!" he curses. "I -knew- this was a bad idea!" Sarah and Taylita are spared an attacker for the time being, since they were in the air, but they won't be safe for long, especially if that flying one manages to score a demon-meal without too much of a fight! 

:'''{{#var:796|Sarah Rogers (796)}} has posed:'''     Sarah is about to reply to Taylits when the sound of collapsing debris calls her attention towards whatever that imp-eating thing is, and of course everything on this planet just has to be ridiculously huge. "See! I told you this was a-- Hey that's my line!" She chides at Blurr. "Wait... wasn't that the point? This is getting confusing!" She sighs.     The demons seem to be less of a threat than the insecticons, they might even be an asset! So Sarah attempts to save the one that's about to be eaten. She pulls her shield off her back, gripping it in her right hand, and heads full speed at the dragonfly robot, slamming into it shield first. 

:'''{{#var:180|Taylita (180)}} has posed:'''      When that dragonfly-think goes after the flying imp, Taylita is right alongside Sarah going to save him. They are almost syncronized. As Sarah shield-slams the insecticon, Taylita flies in with a powerful kick. "Back off! We aren't for eating!" she growls before delivering another kick.      Then, there is another bug heading for Kotone! "Hey! Leave her alone!" Taylita calls out before firing a few Ki charges downard at the menacing grasshopper mantis thing.      "Bad idea?" Taylita says, seeming surprised. She giggles and grins. "A good fight, all the scrap machines I could ever want? What's bad about it?" 

:'''{{#var:817|Asteroth (817)}} has posed:''' The flying fiend is a redshirt. Now, its a redshirt thats survived for /thousands of years/, so you know, clearly has some survival insticts going on for it, but its still essentially a mid-tier redshirt. So its rather grateful for the save. "Hah!" he says in amusement as the two heroes tag-team the dragonfly, not having time to react in much more depth before they pummle it. It swivels, and pulls out a long, wicked black dagger, and flies after the two to offer assistance. Hey, its a demon, its not stupid. Its a survivor. Asteroth, for her part, is not intimidated. Or if she is, she doesn't show it. She growls loudly at the twisted insecticon as the monsterous beast charges towards her through the crumbling wall. Just as it approaches, she leaps through the air towards it, soul-crafted blade outstretched, hoping to land on the things back for the best position to stab inwards at it. But where she expected her minions to follow after her, they find themselves ambushed from the sides. Clever insecticons, and the demons find themselves fighting the creatures off. Fourtunately, they have lots of experience fighting off wierd creatures, though the demons themselves might not be very high on the totem pole, they have been doing this for awhile. It keeps them from providing the assistance Asteroth was expecting, however, and may leave her more exposed then she was planning... 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     The mutated dragonfly-looking Insecticon wasn't expecting Sarah to pack such a hard punch. She's so small, after all! The creatures have instincts, and can be trained, but they aren't exactly that smart. In addition, Taylita also directs a kick at it, and the demon even joins in. The combined force sends the massive thing hurtling backward into a dilapidated comms tower, smashing into a series of receivers that poke out of the top of it. Armor cracks and body fluids spew. Screeching in anger and pain, it latches its legs onto one of the tower's spires to anchor itself, while its bladed front claws swipe at its three attackers, attempting to slice them across the torso.     Asteroth's foe on the ground howls right back at her, its jaws opening in an attempt to devour her in one bite. However, she jumps out of the way just in time, aiming to land on its back, but she had better be careful, as the creature's body is covered with sharp spikes. It rears up onto its hind legs with a hiss, attempting to throw her off!     Meanwhile, Blurr makes short work of the beetle-like thing, blasting it in the face as it lunges for him. Its head explodes into fuel-ridden bits. They aren't exactly that durable--there were good reasons for being thrown away. But the commotion has attracted yet another group of them! Given that the organics are still fully occupied with the first group, the Autobot does his best to fend off the others. Hopefully it will buy them enough time! 

:'''{{#var:7|Kotone Yamakawa (7)}} has posed:''' Kotone Yamakawa is not picking a fight just yet however she's alos on guard at this. She looks as the fight breaks out she now starts to ripple vanishing into the air, she's got an idea and she's also trying to not get smacked about by the falling wreckage. 

:'''{{#var:796|Sarah Rogers (796)}} has posed:'''     Sarah lets Taylita handle the grasshopper insecticon for now, she looks like she can handle herself, and concentrates on finishing the dragonfly off. She looks for a spot that's already been cracked open and hurls her shield at it. Deadly Frisbee style. It very likely cuts the thing in two and then lodges in the tower, waiting to be retrieved. 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     The grasshopper-looking bug headed for Kotone gets blasted by Taylita from the air, distracting it from its current target. Plus, Kotone seems to have disappeared. The creature can still smell her, but is confused and instead tries to use its powerful hind legs to jump up and grab Taylita. 

:'''{{#var:817|Asteroth (817)}} has posed:''' Though her appearance /looks/ large, strong and graceless, with those ineffective cloven-hooves for feet, Asteroth manages to balance on the insects back perfectly fine, with a calm, secondnatured grace. Evertime it bucks, she shifts her center of gravity, plunging her sword into its back for leverage as needed. She scrambles higher as it rears ever-upwards, bringing herself closer to its large mouth and head. When she gets as high as she can get, she makes a swipe for its eyes. Perhaps they'll turn on it. Meanwhile, the minions are still fighting, but focusing more on 'not dying' then 'killing anything'. Apparently Asteroth's earlier offer to bribe them wasn't good enough. 

:'''{{#var:180|Taylita (180)}} has posed:'''      Taylita blinks as the grasshopper leaps up to meet her. She flips in the air to bring a leg down in a powerful kick aimed at the creature's head. If it isn't smashed back toward the ground, it could be bad. Because she would be very open to being grabbed in those mantis claws.      But, she is a saiyan, so that kick has plenty of force behind it. It is likely to send the creature back down toward the ground and form a crater with its impact. "Claws off, bug brain!" 

:'''{{#var:7|Kotone Yamakawa (7)}} has posed:''' Kotone Yamakawa has managed to get clear and she's able to get a moment where she can get clear. She makes use of this now as she's moving to end up pulling out her blast tek blaster pistol and setting to to auto fire, she knows she could be tracked still but well she's got a chance to try and blast the darn grashopper like bug thing, right? Hopefully these horrors don't breed and could eventually be handled. "This is really starting to bug me!" 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     Asteroth manages to stab one of the Insecticon's six optics. Though the stabs in the back have been painful, this is certainly the most by far. It shrieks in pain and runs straight through a wall, attempting to 'scrape' her off with the impact even at a detriment to itself. Unfortunately for both bull and rider, this wall isn't quite as crumbling as the other one had been. In fact, it was one of those zolanium steel barricades that had once been used in some of the higher security prison facilities. Anyway the point is, though it is cracked, defunct, and therefore penetrable, it will still hurt if the demon does not jump off herself.     The flying one being handled by Sarah is struck by her shield in a weakened spot. It may be small, but it is almost like a speeding bullet, slicing clean through the creature's body and lodging itself in the outer wall of the comms tower. However, just before the bug collapses, a scorpion-like tail emerges from its rear in a last-ditch effort and what appears to be some sort of dart launches out of it straight at Sarah.     Meanwhile, Taylita's kick does send her foe to the ground while Kotone's pistol riddles its outer armor with holes, though it does manage to reach up and attempt to catch her foot in one of its claws to drag her down with it! 

:'''{{#var:817|Asteroth (817)}} has posed:''' Asteroth backflips off of the creature before it gets too close to the wall, and turns back to go help her (remaining) minions. "I think we've scouted enough of this place." she says to the demons, pulling out her sword to lend assisstance. 

:'''{{#var:796|Sarah Rogers (796)}} has posed:'''      Sarah dashes through the air to retrieve her shield, she's pretty sure the thing is dead, and doesn't quite see the dart coming at her, which catches her in the collarbone. "Ow! What the hell was that!? Am I gonna be okay?" She's tough and the dart did hit her in her 'armor' but it's mostly decorative. No one who wears a scale mail halter top expects serious protection from it, but she can't be sure if it broke the skin or not.     She decides to pull the thing out later, and dives down to grab her shield out of the tower, giving Taylita a dark look as she does. "Seriously? Are we four color comic book heroes now?" She quips in annoyance. She heads down to help out Taylita and Kotone next, shield slamming the grasshopper in the side as it tried to grab at her allies. 

:'''{{#var:7|Kotone Yamakawa (7)}} has posed:''' Kotone Yamakawa is able to just weave out of the way this time it does however catch her boot and she's just able to worm free of it's hold thanks to the diversion from Sarah gives her a chance to get clear from the bug. She has no want to end up bug chow. 

:'''{{#var:180|Taylita (180)}} has posed:'''      Taylita only has time for a slight 'eek!' as her foot is grabbed right when she kicks. She ends up sailing toward the ground with the grasshopper, beating on it as she falls. But, it has a tight grip. The crater created by their impact is large enough to hold the both of them, and Taylita finds herself wondering if this is close to what a bug on a windshield feels as she lies there faceplanted in the ground.      She pulls herself up, then fires a ki beam at the insecticon's claw, attempting to dismember it to obtain her freedom from its clutches. She finds time to give Kotone a thumbs up...though she can only guess at Kotone's position based on where the shots came from.      Then, Sarah comes in to help with the grasshopper. Taylita hmphs, looking a bit annoyed that she is getting backup, but she smirks a moment later. "Not bad." 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     Asteroth flips off of the charging Insecticon just in time, though the monster does not stop. It crashes through the wall, which collapses on top of it, burying it in a heap of scrap metal. It doesn't get back up again.     The dragonfly-like one with the scorpion tail finally falls motionless, slipping off the top of the tower and crashing to its death below. Unfortunately for Sarah, the dart that she had decided not to pull out right away begins to burn like crazy--it hadn't just been a sharp little spike, she might notice now that it had a compartment attached to it filled with Primus knows what...     The grasshopper creature lands with a loud thud, creating a crater in the ground. But with Taylita's pummeling and the assistance from Kotone and Sarah, it finally stops thrashing after a few minutes.     Now if any more of them had been hoping to get a bite, they suddenly decide to turn and run off instead, perhaps having decided that these people were more of a hassle than they were worth. Thus, Blurr returns from fending them off. His optics widen at Sarah immediately. "Sarah! What--getthatthingoutofyourightnowhowlong'sitbeenthere?!" 

:'''{{#var:796|Sarah Rogers (796)}} has posed:'''     Oops.. Sarah got a little distracted in the fight. fortunately she can make sense of Blurr's high speed speech and yanks the dart out as fast as can, though if comes with a scream of pain, "Oh God! That hurt worse than when it went in!" She cries, landing quickly to pull her top of so she can see how baddly she was hit, "Thanks to my Pop I have a really hard time getting drunk. It also gives me some toxin resistance.. but what was that crap!?" She asks blurr pleadingly. 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     "Idon'tknowIdon'tknowyourbreathingisspeedingupIdon'tknowwhatthatmeansbutitcan'tbegoodIknowitcan'tbegoodnoway!" Blurr is positively freaking out now. The injury looks pretty bad now, though it certainly would have been worse if she weren't Captain America's daughter. "Weneedtogetyoutomedicalnowrightnow!IknewIshouldn'thaveletyoucomewithmeIknewitIknewitwasabadidea..." He continues to ramble on but his words are completely incomprehensible beyond that point. 

:'''{{#var:180|Taylita (180)}} has posed:'''      Taylita blinks as Blurr starts with his speedtalk. "Chill out, Blurr. She's fine. We'll get her to medical and get whatever toxin that is drawn out." she says. She then looks over at Sarah. "You need a ride?" she asks, motioning to her ship. 

:'''{{#var:796|Sarah Rogers (796)}} has posed:'''     "Okay okay I get it! I'm alright, I just feel a little hot..." She reaches down to pick the dart up, it ought to be analyzed to be on the safe side. Unfortunately she misses twice before she manages to grab it. "And uh, dizzy..." She slumps up against Blurr's leg. 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     No, Blurr will not chill out. Not right now. Once he gets worked up, it's really hard to get him to calm down. And the fact that she's starting to act lethargic and dizzy isn't helping matters.      "Howdoyouknowthatyoudon'tknowwhatwasinthereandIdon'teitherwhatifwedon'thaveawaytotreatithuhwhat'sgonnahappenthenwhy'dyouleaveitinlikethatyoushouldhavetakenitoutrightaway!!!"     Quickly, he transforms in a way that somehow lands her back inside the passenger compartment and zooms off to get her to medical ASAP. He'll calm down...one day. 

:'''{{#var:180|Taylita (180)}} has posed:'''      Taylita actually looks a bit concerned when Sarah starts acting dizzy and stuff. But, she doesn't really have time to say anything about it, because Blurr does...well, what Blurr does. And then Taylita and Kotone are alone. Considering the danger here, Taylita loads Kotone up and they head out, too. 

}}

2501/Tour of Ark-32

2015-06-22T22:57:07Z

Zippy: Created page with "{{Log Header |Date of Scene=2015/06/21 |Location=Ark-32 |Synopsis=The Autobots invite the Union to a party on the Ark. Pancakes and cream soda were had. |Thanks= |Cast of Char..."

{{Log Header
|Date of Scene=2015/06/21
|Location=Ark-32
|Synopsis=The Autobots invite the Union to a party on the Ark. Pancakes and cream soda were had.
|Thanks=
|Cast of Characters=7, 414, 492, 632, 711, 796, 802, 806
|Tinyplot=
|Tinyplot2=
|pretty=yes
}}
{{Poses
|Poses=:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     The Ark-32 is one of the Autobots' largest battlecruisers in current operation. It was the first vessel used to travel to their version of Earth. The massive golden structure is shaped somewhat like a blunt arrowhead with a rounded tip and a pair of barbs sticking out of the sides. Currently, it moves in steady geosynchronous orbit with this universe's iteration of Earth, the blue-green planet glowing with resplendent beauty below.     The crew of the Ark-32 is busy with the finishing touches for an important event--surprisingly, not a battle, nor a training session, or even a war council, but actually more of a party than anything else. Sure, it might not sound that notable, but to a species spurned by just about every other race out there in the universe until the Unification, this feels...almost like a milestone. A reminder that not -everyone- hates them any more.     There are a lot of logistics involved, however. The Multiverse is an incredibly diverse place, and most of their guests are likely to be organic with a variety of different comfort requirements. One thing for sure is needed, and that is a steady flow of oxygen through the ventilation systems. Fortunately that hadn't been too much fo a challenge, and the flow system is up and running smoothly.     Additionally, for those who don't have access to space-worthy vehicles, they've managed to arrange shuttles from a location on Earth's surface near a warpgate up to the ship, since some organics wouldn't survive an orbital bounce.     And finally, since most of the honored guests are probably going to feel rather small in a place like this, they've built a few appropriately sized flying 'tour' vehicles for getting around quickly. They're almost kind of like those cars they have on the 'character experience' rides at Disney's Tomorrowland, except they are -actually- high-tech instead of just made to look that way on the outside.     Oh and pancakes and cream soda. Because Blurr overheard someone on the Union frequency say that -no one- could possibly dislike pancakes. And no one had expressed any distaste to Corona's suggestion of cream soda. So there, party food (there's even syrup and whipped cream, thank you internet)! As guests arrive, they are greeted by the massive (by comparison) central corridor of the vessel, where the vehicles are lined up near the door and appropriately sized tables/seating are set up with the refreshments. 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     As for Blurr himself, the speedster is standing near the door, careful not to step on any of the accommodations. Pretty good turnout, as far as he's concerned. Naturally, he searches for familiar faces, even projecting the holoform down into the groups of guests so that he can interact on a more...personal level. 

:'''{{#var:711|Corona Arclite (711)}} has posed:''' Corona Arclite even provided said cream soda like she said she would. She would of brought root beer, but Brimsteel's limited access to root beer is the real, original actually acoholic root beer, and they covered before why people possibly getting tipsy around giant robots and advanced alien technology would be a potentially bad combination for a lighthearted party. As is she's just plunking the spout into the last keg barrel, having opened for upright pull-handle dispensors for ease of use. Then the barrels can just sit as is instead of needing to be lifted up on their sides. "There ya go, all ready for the arrivin' party goers." 

:'''{{#var:796|Sarah Rogers (796)}} has posed:'''     Sarah is actually sitting on Blurr's shoulder, ready to help greet the guests. But there's food down there! "Why didn't you tell me there was gonna be food!? How did you even know what people liked to eat!?" The incident at the mall where he made a complete fool of himself is still fresh in her mind. She looks guilty for a moment. She was intending to act as a sort of liaison for people who might be put off by giant robots. But... Pancakes!     She stands up and zooms down to the reception area, landing gently near Corona. Then she realizes they're the only two guests who've shown up yet, and puts her plans to gorge herself on hold.     "So.. Hi there, I think we met when that pod crashed the other day, Corona right?" 

:'''{{#var:414|Revan (414)}} has posed:'''      The Dynamic-class freighter and smuggler's vessel, the Ebon Hawk, was reliably spaceworthy, though there have certainly been times when it wasn't...and even now, some consider that status up for debate. The ship had seem more than its share of battles, carrying its crew to their destinies against the galaxy's greatest threats. And it shows; though tended to with care, the ship carries with it scars not unlike an organic being, unable to be restored to perfect mint status in spite of the care which had gone into it. Especially now, as it was the temporary home of a certain Jedi Knight.      Entering via the airlock to her ship, Lowri Revan-Shan smiled slightly. It seemed the air had been properly adjusted; the Cybertronians had certainly taken this event seriously. Not that she would have complained either way, considering what the whole thing was about.      As if to prove that, the Guardian had something of an entourage of her own. An Insecticon skittered along beside her, dwarfing even her own impressive --for a human -- height; clearly the name 'Tiny' was relative. However, her other two were smaller...one of them /much/ smaller at only a foot tall. Ulaire rode on her shoulder in a shinki's equivalent of 'plain clothes', while the utility droid T3-M4 wheeled along on the opposite side of her.      Lowri waved to Blurr with a slight grin as the group approached. "Looks good! Nice to see all that effort and time paid off." 

:'''{{#var:711|Corona Arclite (711)}} has posed:''' Corona Arclite gives her hat a polite tip in greeting to Sarah as she lands by the tables. "Ayup. Sorry Ah didn't stick 'round longer afterwards, but that whole fiasco came up with the Behemoth an' what not." 

:'''{{#var:802|James Rogers (802)}} has posed:''' James, piloting a space-capable quinjet, is approaching ARK-32 broadcasting his Union Ally transponder codes clearly. Aboard the craft he is talking to himself as he approaches the wedge-shaped ship. Almost mantra-lkie he is repeating "They're more mechanical life forms then robots," to himself over and over again as he prepares to land. Once he recieves clearance to do so, James pilots the quinjet into the designated hangar bay on the ARK-32 and, after touching down on its deckplates, he disengages the engines and activates the actuators that lower the ramp at the front of the ship. Before he disembarks the plan, James checks the knife in his boot and secures his shield on his back. Then, after taking a deep breath he walks down the ramp and looks around. Seeing Sarah Rogers he waves in her direction and then chuckles upon detecting the first hint of the scent of pancakes. 

:'''{{#var:632|Septette Arcubielle (632)}} has posed:'''      Coasting through empty space at an almost leisurely clip, Septette allows a small smile to grace her lips as she finishes decelerating, and switches off her jump-assist thrusters just before her clawed feet clatter against the Ark-32's hull. Her short journey was positively glacial by the standards of interstellar travel, but it was timed so she'd arrive just a few minutes early.      She then proceeds to waste that advantage by spending a quarter of an hour walking along the hull, grumbling to herself as she tries to find an airlock or docking bay. In retrospect, it would've been a good idea to familiarize herself with the ship's layout beforehand...      When she finally does stroll in to meet Blurr and the others, her synthetic black hair is a tangled mess, her cloak is disheveled, and her cheeriness is remarkably undimmed. She looks around, bright-eyed and metaphorically bushy-tailed, and marvels at her unfamiliar surroundings... before something snaps her back to the present. Something very, very important and urgent. "Are those pancakes? I smell pancakes." 

:'''{{#var:796|Sarah Rogers (796)}} has posed:'''     Sarah gives a worried nod to Corona, "I heard about that.. sounds like it was a mess. I wish I could have been there." She sighs, "Be right back, there's the brother I never had!" She grins, then darts over to James and hugs him if she's allowed. "Hey! I'm suprised you made it. This didn't strike me as your kind of tour. Help yourself rto some refreshments!" (Because if someone else has some it's no longer rude for me to have some!) 

:'''{{#var:806|Jai-006 (806)}} has posed:''' There was an event going down to check out something high tech. Something advance and like /hell/ Mike-120 was going to miss it! Even if Jai-006 was against the idea, he was still going! Besides, he can do more tuning and testing later. The trouble is though, Mike isn't the most sociable types. Well he can be, but when you been trained to be a soldier since the age of six, your brain has been jacked up to the speeds of a Supercomputer, and you tend to be the guy who is technologically the geek. You tend to have some social issues of relating to others around you. Even when trained to keep your individualism and your a natural prankster. The SPARTAN-II though isn't in his armor, but is actually in a more civil type clothing-- well civil as a SPARTAN can get. He had on a pair of cargo pants, t-shirt, military boots, and a pair of fingerless leather gloves. He had a dark tan that gave him a brown tinge to his skin color, amber brown eyes, and he had stubble shaven head, kept close to military standards. Given that if his hair ever grew out, it be a mess to keep given the curly nature of his hair. The first thing he is shown is the pick up rides and the tall seven foot one soldier is like a kid in a candy store right now. The more he goes in the more he is excited! His eyes dart around quickly till he is dropped off and he can't help but crouch down as he watches the ride leave. "This place..." He stands back up and places up his arms as he yells out, "Is amazing!" Yep-- excited Mike is excited. 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     "Uh, I thought it was obvious." Blurr shrugs at Sarah's protests. "I mean, isn't it? Don't humans typically have sustenance of some kind at party events?" he asks, as she flies down to ogle the food but not eat it yet then greet James and Corona. Speaking of Corona, he does notice a few other familiar faces! The Autobot waves to Revan and her little entourage, and nods to Corona. "Thanks for bringing the..." he waves at the kegs. "Cream soda." Yeah, that's what it was called! He glances at Mike and Septette, though he doesn't recognize them. Thus far, no one seems adverse to the food, so that's good! He nods at Septette. "Yep, pancakes if I've been told right, that is."     Others start to file in as well, many of them from the Earth that rotates below, as well as allies from other parts of the Multiverse. Some make a beeline for the food, defusing the awkward 'I don't want to be the first person to take the food' situation, at least! Others head for the flying tour ride, which has begun circulating on its predetermined path through the ship. In the middle of the corridor up ahead, another Autobot, who is actually even -huger- than Blurr, is standing with a datapad in hand. There are also a few other 'Bots hanging around and mingling. 

:'''{{#var:802|James Rogers (802)}} has posed:''' James smiles at his semi-half-sister's greeting. "Yeah, not really but..." he sounds a bit nervous as he looks around "They are Union allies also and I.... I'm trying to get over my... issues." As he steps over to the refreshments table he says, "Oooh, whipped cream!" and begins to put some on the top of his cream soda before serving himself a pancake also. He then asks Sarah, "Would you introduce me to our host," indicating Blurr with a nod. 

:'''{{#var:414|Revan (414)}} has posed:'''      It looks like Mike had outdone even Lowri in the kid-in-a-candy-store department.In fact, her burning curiosity seems to override her sweet tooth in this instance. At least, except for some cream soda.      "No, you weren't wrong," she explains to the Autobot. "It really depends on the kind of function. This is more than fine." She thinks. Not that she even knows what those pancake things are. Lowri makes a mental note to try one after she's seen everything. 

:'''{{#var:806|Jai-006 (806)}} has posed:''' Mike continues to roam around a bit, till he notices Blurr-- No. Not the Holomatter form, but the actual /robot/. He comes to a halt and just stares up, those eyes look like a child staring up at a marvel of a hero for the first time or some mystical wonder. He takes another step up and just continues to stare. He does note the other people around, but his focus is on the large robot. "The lines... the placement of metal... what a marvel to build and construct. Most take a great deal of power..." Though he tilts his head faintly. "Would explain the size of the facility..." Then he smells pancakes and he looks over that way. "Oh hey! Pancakes!" Then he makes his way over their to grab a plate, some pancakes... about five of them if he can get away with it and some syrup. Then just plops down on the ground to eat. 

:'''{{#var:711|Corona Arclite (711)}} has posed:''' "That's right, pancakes and cream soda. Can't have a tour on an empty stomach." Corona grins as she fills a glass of soda and snags some pancakes before they're all gone. 

:'''{{#var:796|Sarah Rogers (796)}} has posed:'''     Sarah unfortunately, already has a bite pancake in her mouth by the time James asks about their host. She mumbles something about Autobots, then washes her food down with some Cream soda. Between that and the syrup, It's bound to give someone a sugar rush eventually. "The big Blue guy is Blurr." She says with a smile after wiping her mouth, "I.. have absolutely no idea how he works, but he does seem much more like a living thing than a robot, despite appearances." She places a hand on her head for a moment then looks up at Blurr. "Next time you host a party like this.. We need to talk about more variety in the food. Something with protein to offset all the sugar." 

:'''{{#var:632|Septette Arcubielle (632)}} has posed:'''      Not wanting to seem rude by keeping her coat on, the petite robot girl finds a place to hang the ragged lavender cloak near the entrance, revealing her eerie skeletal form and folded-in blades. Nobody's going to be bothered by her appearance here, right? ... Right?      With that taken care of, she moseys on over to the pancakes and piles several of them onto a plate- by the time she actually walks up to Sarah, James, and Blurr, there are five or six balanced on the platter, and her syrupy claws hint that there used to be more. She might not *need* to eat, but... hey, free pancakes!      Beaming at her host and fellow guests, Sept takes a little curtsy- surprisingly elegant, given her distinctly inhuman legs- and then folds her hands behind her back, setting the half-finished pancakes aside. "My apologies- you might not have recieved my RSVP? I'm Septette Arcubielle. Pleased to meet you all." 

:'''{{#var:806|Jai-006 (806)}} has posed:''' Mike glances over to Corona as she speaks and goes to reply to her. "I am really looking forward to the..." he stares at her, "...tour." He noms on the pancake a bit, but its hard to determine /why/ he is staring a her. Beyond the fact she was /not/ human and if anyone understands /anything/ about SPARTANS they have issues with non-humans. Maybe this is why Jai tried to get him to stay back at the base. They were new to the Multiverse after all. They didn't know what was out there. "You are... a fox lady." He says calmly. This is when he really starts to scan over who and /what/ is actually here. How many are human, how many are not. As if someone hit a switch and went: 'you may be around hostiles or hostiles could be near'. This caused him to chew a bit oddly actually, even as he eyes went over to the robot woman who was addressing everyone. Then his eyes go over to the woman who explained who the large blue robot was. Blurr. Right. Yep, this was going to be an interesting tour all right. 

:'''{{#var:802|James Rogers (802)}} has posed:''' On seeing Septette without her cloak an 'OH SHIT' expression flashes across James' features and he looks ready to set his plate down to ready his shield but a quick glance at Sarah keeps him from taking action. "Is... she looks like a...." he stops speaking and drinks the rest of his soda, gulping it down nervously. 

:'''{{#var:711|Corona Arclite (711)}} has posed:''' "Last time I checked I still was!" Corona replies to Mike with a laugh, having apparently taken the Captain Obvious comment as a joke. People pointing it out is hardly a new thing. At least he didn't call her 'Foxy Lady' like Gogo had, that had entirely different connotations to it. Though that, too, had been a joke. Her ears twitch at the other conversations going around as she chews on some pancakes, glancing from the SPARTAN over to James's reaction at seeing Septette is a robot, and back again. "Y'all are still a bit new to the Multiverse, ain't ya..." 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     Blurr's confidence in the food seems bolstered when Revan assures him that he wasn't wrong. Good, good. He watches as the guests pile pancakes onto their plates. "Huh, I didn't know you guys liked to eat that many at once, is that normal? Maybe we should have ordered more." The Autobot wonders.     Then he catches sight of Mike staring at him, and talking to himself. "Uhm. Yeah, thanks?" Was that intended to be a compliment. "Hi there, I'm Blurr." he introduces himself, though Sarah beats him to it. He nods at Septette. Another mechanical lifeform, it seems. There weren't too many of those out there. "Nice to meet you, Arcubielle."     After a few minutes, a soft feminine-sounding voice comes on over the intercomm. "Ladies, gentlemen, and other esteemed guests. Welcome to the Ark-32. Please direct your attention toward the bridge at this time, as we will be handing the floor over to Tyrest Accord Enforcer Ultra Magnus." At this, the crowds begin to quiet in antipication of the beginning of the program. 

:'''{{#var:796|Sarah Rogers (796)}} has posed:'''     Septette's uncloaked form is a bit of a shock even to Sarah, and she grew up in a place where unsual people and tech was the norm! She instictively steps between her and James, and manages to offer a pleasant smile. "Hi, I'm Sarah, and this is my sort of brother James." She's intent on not letting Septette try to shake James' hand. "You ahh.. I mean.. People look a lot different in person after only hearing them on the comm channels." She gives a nod of confirmation to Cornoa, "That obvious is it?" 

:'''{{#var:806|Jai-006 (806)}} has posed:''' Mike-120 looks over to Corona as he finishes the last of the pancakes. He isn't quick to reply, instead he seems to be observing her, including what she is wearing. If any weapons are on her, where they are--- which was all done in a second or less really. Once he does finish he goes to stand up and discards the plate in the proper bin, before he reaches over for the soda. Cracks up the can with ease of his finger and then drinks some of it down. Nope he hasn't answered he question yet. Mostly because aliens typically were a bad deal-- but he now realized he was in an alien base. Looking at alien things. Surrounded by alien giant /awesome/ robots-- but still aliens. It takes him a moment to look at the can, the label before he actually responds to Corona. "Gray Team. Mike Dash One Two Zero. Head Engineer." He says to her. "And yes. We are." His voice was a bit more curt this time around, he was a touch more on edge. He'll relax a bit-- probably. Then the voice speaks up and he looks to the bridge. So... these guys were also heavy militarized as well-- or at least... some type of enforcement. 

:'''{{#var:414|Revan (414)}} has posed:'''      Oh well, it looks as if right now everyone was focused on the pancakes, and it wasn't as if she was going to refuse rather than just delay it. Then again, she's distracted by another kind of robot. This was getting better and better. And she hadn't even gotten around to visiting the Gurhal system yet!      "Nice to meet you. I'm Lowri Shan," she says to Septette, deliberately keeping herself from going into analysis mode. After all, robots, unlike droids, were living...just of the non-organic variety.      And then the show was about to start. Tiny got a pat on the head as the Jedi leaned on the Insecticon slightly to watch. 

:'''{{#var:802|James Rogers (802)}} has posed:''' Having finished his drink, James sets down the plate without having touched the pancake and watches Septette with some aprehension, now from behind Sarah. He seems glad when their hosts speak up as it gives him a more expected 'robot' to focus on rather than the human-headed one that is triggering thoughts he really doesn't want to have in his head. 

:'''{{#var:711|Corona Arclite (711)}} has posed:''' Corona Arclite didn't bring any guns with her for this, at least that are in obvious view. There is a holster on the right side of one of her crossed-over toolbelts, but it's empty... Okay, the Arclite Cutters could be considered a weapon but they're -technically- a tool. Besides, the plasma torches weren't distinguishable from the rest of her western style gloves. "A fellow machinist, eh? No wonder they sent ya to see." She reachs over to pat Mike on the shoulder. "Doncha worry lad, y'all get use to it after a bit." With that she takes her drink and ambles over to where she's got a good view of the proceedings. Gotta make sure she's up front to see, being somewhat short and all. This Magnus fella sounds pretty important, what with a title like that and all. 

:'''{{#var:632|Septette Arcubielle (632)}} has posed:'''      Septette nods emphatically to Sarah. "I know what you mean! I knew Corona was a fox, but somehow, it didn't really click with me until I saw her just now..." Innocently, she holds out her hand to James- though she tactfully decides not to offer him the syrupy one. Instead, she extends her more clearly weaponized claw, complete with menacing fingernail-like spikes. All of the really pointy bits are safely folded in, but...      Thankfully, at the last moment, she's distracted by Lowri's introduction (to which she responds with a cheery smile and a polite tilt of her head) and the announcement (which promptly causes her to hush up and listen). 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     Yes, Mike is right. The Autobots are many things, but they are above all a military organization. Standing in the corridor in front of the bridge, Ultra Magnus is a towering Autobot. If people thought Blurr was large--well, Magnus is several heads taller and wider than he is. As such, as soon as the announcement is made, there is a low hum and platform where the food and guests are begins to shift...     Panels near the edge move outward, expanding the platform as it actually starts to slowly yet surely elevate above the rest of the floor, so that the audience doesn't have to strain their necks so far upward just to respect the speaker! (For the tech nerds, it's probably a maglev-like device.) Also, railings come up over the edges, to prevent a fall.     Finally, once the platform has reached its destination, Ultra Magnus addresses the audience. "Honored Union guests and allies, I would like to thank you all for taking the time to come here today. For many millions of Earth years, our race has been spurned by the rest of the galaxy. But now, because of the Union, we are no longer forced to live in isolation from other civilizations, which is something we are extremely grateful for.     "This novel cooperative effort is the reason for today. We will begin with a brief overview of our kind's history." A 3-D holographic projection appears next to him, showing an image of Cybertron as it once was. "As you all likely already know, we Autobots hail from the planet Cybertron. For many centuries, our planet flourished under a representative governing body, and peace reigned." The image changes, showing footage of a propering society, with the Autobots serving as the police and military.     "But those in power fell to corruption, seeking control over every aspect of not only society but life itself. A rebellion arose, and our great leader Optimus Prime, offered his partnership to them in building a new world order with equality at its roots. However they refused to trust us, instead lashing out at us in violence." The images display footage of battles on Cybertronian soil, along with a lot of wholesale destruction. There's probably quite a bit of Simanzi Massacre in there, with bits of Overlord's Garrus-9.     "These rebels were known as the Decepticons, with whom we've been at war for millennia. A war that has not only robbed us of our own home planet, but others of theirs as well." The footage shows more war and destruction, and more Decepticons razing innocent civilizations to the ground. Emphasis on the -Decepticons- part, because the Decepticons are clearly the villains, here! 

:'''{{#var:802|James Rogers (802)}} has posed:''' At the mention of the Decepticons, James mutters, "Of course there are evil robots. There are always evil robots." While he means for this not to carry, anyone around him with exceptional hearing -- or whose back he is close to -- can probably overhear him. 

:'''{{#var:711|Corona Arclite (711)}} has posed:''' Well this is certainly more convenient, and easier on the neck to boot. There's even a railing. Which means Corona can lean on it, folding her arms across the top and pay more attention to what's going on. "Always someone that's gotta be a spoilsport," she mutters when it's pointed out there's evil alien robots as well. 

:'''{{#var:806|Jai-006 (806)}} has posed:''' Mike just falls into silence as he watches the video. His eyes observe the destruction of planets and they cause him to furrow his brows. That light gone from them as something kinda clicks in his head. Oh-- he knows /all/ about glassing of planets. He has witnessed such things first hand and made sure the bastards who did it-- found themselves even in a worst fate then death sometimes. The observation and thought of it, was causing his hand to easily crush the can. SPARTAN strength is a curse when your not paying attention and he stops himself just in time before the can busts a seam or something. Then with a soft tsk, he tosses the can away-- including whatever was left in it. Losing all good cheer for the moment. 

:'''{{#var:796|Sarah Rogers (796)}} has posed:'''     Sarah elbows James in the ribs, "There are always evil humans too, and probably evil Fox-girls too!" She pauses a moment, "No offense Corona!" She says apologetically. "The point is, Cybertonians are as alive as any of us, and they have just as much potential for good and evil as anyone else." 

:'''{{#var:632|Septette Arcubielle (632)}} has posed:'''      Rocking back and forth on her heels slightly, Septette half-closes her eyes even as her fluorescent purple eyes glow brighter. Those peculiar triangular ear-fins adjust themselves slightly, trying to fine-tune themselves to the acoustics of the room. Her expression is a little hard to read, but internally, she's sceptical: few things are as black-and-white as this war is being made out to be, and naturally, it's in this 'Magnus' character's best interests to make his own side look like the good guys. But, not wishing to offend her hosts, the little robot girl keeps those thoughts to herself.      Those carefully-tuned auditory receptors of hers pick up the sound of Mike crushing his drink can- and, more arrestingly, James' comment. Very slowly turning to face him, Septette stares at the young hero witheringly. A warm, easy smile still decorates her face, but her voice is like ice: "Not always, Mr. Rogers. Not always." 

:'''{{#var:414|Revan (414)}} has posed:'''      It was probably a good thing James hadn't come across HK-47 yet...and especially that an alternate Dark-Sided version of Revan had built the psychotic assassin droid. At least droids -- even psychopathic assassination ones -- generally weren't a major problem in her galaxy. Plenty of /other/ problems, but that wasn't one of them.      "Hm. That's a familiar history," she mused softly, more to herself than anyone else. Of course, the Sith were generally quite thoroughly evil, but Revan had learned some time ago that rarely were things so simple or so black-and-white.      The Jedi nodded to Sarah. "Everything truly alive does. There's good and evil everywhere you go, and not everyone defines them in the same ways." 

:'''{{#var:802|James Rogers (802)}} has posed:''' "I didn't say every robot was evil," James says to Septette. "Just that there always seems to be evil robots. And yes, Sarah's right. Evil isn't unique to robots." 

:'''{{#var:806|Jai-006 (806)}} has posed:''' "Evil isn't unique to anything." Mike responds over hearing part of the conversation going around. "Everyone has some evil and some good in them, just depends on where they want to stand on the totem pole of life." He then crosses his arms over his chest. He grinds his teeth a bit as his jaw tightens up. He could probably eat his own words really. 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     Just as James, Sarah, and Revan and company have a few comments of their own to make in response to the presentation, there is a general low murmur from the crowd. Some take Magnus' word for it, while others agree with the idea that things are rarely so black-and-white.     Nonetheless, Magnus continues on. "As much chaos and destruction as the war has caused, our cooperation with the Union has created a hope where previously there had been one. A hope that one day, we will be victorious over the Decepticons, and peace will be restored to our race and to our planet." He pauses, then nods before stepping off to the side. "Thank you."     Almost immediately, Blurr gets up in his place. "Right, thanks for listening," he begins, then adds in a lower tone, "...as stiff and boring as Magnus typically is. Anyway." His voice returns to normal. "I'm Blurr, some of you already know me, but yeah. Just a few things, there's still plenty of food left, so help yourselves, and if you'd like to see the tour, just hop onto one of the tour vehicles, and it should take you on through. If you'd like a guide other than a recording, just flag me or someone who is hopefully not Magnus down." Because, you know, you might just die of boredom especially after having just gotten a good dose of it just now. That is unless you're Lowri? 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     As soon as Blurr is finished speaking, the platform moves back down to the floor and clinks back into place, the railings also folding back in. 

:'''{{#var:796|Sarah Rogers (796)}} has posed:'''     Sarah looks around at the gathering, sensing the unspoken tension in the room. Finally she takes to the air, and flies up until she's eye level with Ultra Magnus. "For the benefit of everyone here who's being politely quiet. I'm going to ask the question that's on everyone's mind. Let me start by saying that I consider Blurr a close friend, even if he is a speedfreak idiot. I trust him and I believe him to be a good person, or Cybertonian." She smirks. "But, what makes you believe that you're on the right side of this conflict?" 

:'''{{#var:632|Septette Arcubielle (632)}} has posed:'''      Either Septette's chilly tone was a momentary lapse in composure, or it was a deliberately targeted message- but either way, that demeanor leaves as soon as it came. Her controlled affect remains just as sunny as when she first came in... though her tongue hasn't dulled any. Quietly, she replies: "Our world never had heroes like you, Mr. Rogers. It had us. We fought and died against unspeakable horrors so that the blood of your kind did not have to be shed. Tell me where the evil is in that." 

:'''{{#var:711|Corona Arclite (711)}} has posed:''' And there's the word for the tours. "I CALL SHOTGUN!" Corona belts out of instinct as she hustles for the tourcraft and climbs in. This is the part that she's been waiting for! 

:'''{{#var:802|James Rogers (802)}} has posed:''' James' ringers on his right hand twitch where his gun would normally be -- but of course he chose to leave that on the quinjet intentionally. He reaches over his shoulder with his left arm and grabs his shield, swinging it around in front of him, reading it on his arm and activating its dull red force field in one, smooth and obviously practiced motion. He holds the shield between himself and Septette and says, "With very few exceptions, in my experience, the best robot is a permanently deactivated and dismembered robot," without any attempt to keep his voice from carrying. Yeah, this may not be pretty. 

:'''{{#var:414|Revan (414)}} has posed:'''      Lowri stifles a sigh. The Avenger is right, morally-speaking. On the other hand, she really hopes this isn't going to lead to a diplomatic incident...particularly when there were other disagreements brewing. Not that she's anticipating anyone leaving and joining the Confederacy and abandoning all commitment to saving lives, but tension in the ranks was never a good thing.      It didn't seem that she needed to step in anywhere yet -- she seemed to be pulling triple-duty when it came to acting in her capacity as a Jedi, when this was typically the job for a Consular -- where it came to the issue of Autobot bias. Unfortunately, James seems entirely on edge when it comes to Septette. She could understand both perspectives, to some degree, this being part of the job. Looks like the tour would have to wait for a moment.      "All right, take it easy there," she soothed. "We're all from different backgrounds and races, but we're also all members of the Union and allies. No one's intended to harm or offend anyone." 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     Ultra Magnus is perfectly happy to answer Sarah's question. Okay not happy. Magnus -never- looks happy, but he is very -willing- answer her question, even as the platform lowers and crowds disperse, some heading for the tour while others for more refreshments. "We have always striven to uphold the law, maintain order, and prevent chaos from destroying more lives, whether innocent or not. Decepticons, on the other hand, have no regard for life. Instead, they are hell-bent upon exacting eternal revenge on whomever they decide is deserving of it. Mainly, that's -us-, however, anyone who gets in their way is bound to suffer, as you clearly saw in today's presentation." he answers, his voice stoic yet purposeful.     Meanwhile, Blurr notices Corona jump into the tour vehicle eagerly, and once she's sat down, she finds the speedster's holoform sitting next to her. They're the first to get on, so he waits for the other seats to fill up. Though he does peer at her curiously. "Shotgun?" he asks, not familiar with the saying.     James does get some looks, but honestly his reaction is mild compared to the treatment they've gotten from the other organics in their home galaxy. Namely, the Galactic Council and the Blackbox Consortia. At least he isn't trying to murder them all. At least he's actually -here- today. So no one kicks him out just yet. 

:'''{{#var:632|Septette Arcubielle (632)}} has posed:'''      One of the little robot's eyebrows quirks in disbelief- or is that just amusement? "The children of the forge are the children of man, Mr. Rogers," Septette intones softly. "And one may judge a tree by its fruit. If you wonder why your robots are 'evil', perhaps you need only look within yourself."      Waving her hand almost dismissively, she turns her back on James, barely looking over her shoulder to address him... and revealing her gracile, vulnerable-looking spine to him in the process. "I'll not indulge your stereotypes by baring fangs or rattling sabers, Mr. Rogers. Might does not make right here. But if you'd care for a 'friendly' spar, I am not one to decline..." 

:'''{{#var:711|Corona Arclite (711)}} has posed:''' "Front passanger seat," Corona replies to Blurr's avatar. She's gotten use to seeing it pop up in places the speedster himself can't fit. "Onna stagecoach it's where ya sit with the rifle to fend off outlaws so the driver ain't gotta stop drivin'... but lotta more modern races just use it to claim the non-driver seat in the front because it's s'ppose to be the best one to see what's goin on." 

:'''{{#var:796|Sarah Rogers (796)}} has posed:'''      Sarah folds her arms as she listens to Magnus, but seems satisfied by the end of it, "Alright, That's a perfect Union member in my book, I'm satisfied if everyone else is. Thank you." She bows in mid air to Magnus, and turns to fly back down to the group.     James and Septette gain her immediate attention on the way back, so of course she lands next to them. "Don't make me separate you two." She says in a motherly tone. It's directed mostly at James however, and mostly humourous. "C'mon, lets get on the bus while there's still some good seats left!" 

:'''{{#var:802|James Rogers (802)}} has posed:''' "/I/ didn't make Ultron, nor did my parents who he killed!" James yells at Septette. Sure, he's also not going to mention that the man who /raised/ him did. No, not at all. An offer to fight. Its obvious that he's tempted to take her up on this, he's angry enough after all. But... she's an ally also and, Sarah called Blurr a friend. He grunts in frustration over the internal conflict and then turns and takes out that frustration on one of the snack tables by forcably slamming his shield into the table sending flapjacks and bottles of cream soda flying though the air! 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     As soon as James makes a mess of one of the snack tables, small drones quickly fly over to it and begin picking up the mess, righting the table and tossing the sullied food and drink. They don't complain, of course. They're just drones!     Blurr nods to Corona as she explains what 'shotgun' means. "Ohh! I see. Well no one is really driving this, since it's controlled by a pre-scripted navigation program." He glances over at Sarah and the others. "You guys coming or what?" He doesn't seem fazed by James' tantrum. 

:'''{{#var:7|Kotone Yamakawa (7)}} has posed:''' Kotone Yamakawa has been here for a while she's looked at James for a moment as he's giving Septette. Kotone seems abit off visually nothing major but on the other han to the likes of Rivan? She'd be visable to force powers. She takes a deep breath and is about to speak up as she looks to James for a moment. "I suggest we move on from this?" she looks at James for a moment she looks at things are about to get going. She shakes her head at james there's nothing she think she can say now tht might help...sides she'll come under fire if he clicks to her nature. 

:'''{{#var:711|Corona Arclite (711)}} has posed:''' Corona Arclite leans back in the seat while waiting. After making sure her tail is tucked down by her feet and out of the way. "Yeah, in this case it just means gettin' a front seat so I can see -every-thing. Cuz, y'know." She slides a hand back and forth over her head, just past her ears. "Short and all that." Then notices other familiar faces in the crowd she didn't before, and waves. "Hey Koto! Over here! We're gonna go on a tour of the ship." 

:'''{{#var:632|Septette Arcubielle (632)}} has posed:'''      It's impossible for Septette not to have noticed James' little outburst, but she doesn't flinch or look back on her way to the shuttle, betraying no sign that she was even paying attention... not until one of the falling drink cans comes close to hitting her on the head. Without breaking stride, she flips a long, curved blade out of her forearm and cuts the overhead can in half, letting out a gout of carbonated liquids. "Coming," she chirps cheerfully.      Once comfortably seated a row behind Corona, she glances at Sarah and smiles again. "Thanks for your help," she murmurs. "And yours as well, Lowri. I do apologize for souring the mood..." 

:'''{{#var:796|Sarah Rogers (796)}} has posed:'''     Sarah picks James up by his collar, not unlike a Mother Cat picking up a misbehaving Kitten, "That's enough James! Either get on the Bus or get out of here!" She lets him hang in the air for a moment then lets him drop, then bends down to scoop up a bottle of soda that happens to be rolling by. With that she makes her way to the bus, sitting down near Septette as a way of showing there's no hard feelings, and glaring back at James as she does so. 

:'''{{#var:414|Revan (414)}} has posed:'''      Lowri can't exactly lecture non-Jedi on maintaining calm, especially not ones not even from her galaxy, definitely not with the kind of past she had. On the other hand, she was sorely tempted to clock him with something to knock some sense into him. The Jedi had heard there were some Masters fond of doing that to errant padawans, so it'd be fine! But she did sympathise, even if she didn't have a past she could really remember. "Nothing is going to be solved getting angry here and now," she continued, albeit probably failing her Charisma rolls before turning to Septette, not chiding exactly. "Come on now, don't provoke him. What issues he has are ones he'll have to work out on his own."      But the tour awaited, and she didn't want to keep anyone waiting. "Sorry! Be right over!" she calls over to Blurr with a sunny smile before joining the tour group. Besides, Sarah seems in a much better position to smack some proper sense into her alternate-universe half-brother.Kotone earned a significant glance...rather odd that she could sense her. Curious. 

:'''{{#var:802|James Rogers (802)}} has posed:''' The spray of soda, while sticky and not a little gross, actually seems to have had a chilling effect on James. As Sarah picks him up he turns off the field generator on his shield and -- while they are in the air -- he says, "Sorry, I think you're right and I should leave," to her. When the Rogers 'kids' touch down, James says, "I appologize for my outburst," to everyone around and adds, "I'll see myself out." He then heads back towards the hangar where his quinjet is parked. 

:'''{{#var:796|Sarah Rogers (796)}} has posed:''' Sarah Rogers sighs and shakes her head, "This trip would have been good for you!" She calls to James as he stalks off, a note of apology in her voice. 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     Blurr watches as Septette slices a soda can in half. Hah, nice. She's sure good with those blades. Thankfully, the drama doesn't seem to escalate any further, as James calms down. But the Autobots don't want him to leave because of that! "Hey," the speedster calls out after him. "Don't worry about it. We're just happy you decided to even come. And honestly, your little outburst was nothing compared to the way some other organics have treated us, and continue to even right now. That's the whole reason for this event, don't you get it? To help ease people's fears, clear up any misunderstandings. Really it's the fear of the unknown that gets people."     The craft is fully loaded now, but for one last seat should James change his mind and decide to accompany them anyway. 

:'''{{#var:632|Septette Arcubielle (632)}} has posed:'''      Septette doesn't look back until she hears James' apology- seems that surprised her more than the errant beverage. She stares at him for a moment or two as he walks off, with an impassive and unreadable expression. Whatever she's thinking about, it's obvious that she doesn't want to broadcast it to those around her.      Finally, her dimmed eye-lights brighten again, and she leans back in her seat. "You're right," she says to no one in particular. "I valued my own pride over de-escalating the situation. That's... not a tenable strategy for a diplomat." Then, glancing at Sarah again: "When you're able, please tell him that the sparring match wasn't just an excuse to break his jaw. He looks like he needs a punching bag." 

:'''{{#var:7|Kotone Yamakawa (7)}} has posed:''' Kotone Yamakawa is going to try to keep in a good mood, if you took a good look you could get her synthic nature but well? There's clearly something legitly alive in all that sythentics. She does look back, but she just seems curious about Revan herself 

:'''{{#var:711|Corona Arclite (711)}} has posed:''' Corona Arclite doesn't remember if she can actually touch Blurr's avatar or not, so refrains from doing so. "Eh, he'll be okay. Some folks just take longer than others to adjust to... how things are 'round here. Sometimes they gotta go on their own to do it, too." 

:'''{{#var:796|Sarah Rogers (796)}} has posed:'''     Sarah looks at Septette thoughtfully as she mentions sparring match. "I will, but that gives me an idea too. As I understand it it's impossible to actually kill anybody in the Ring of Philosophy. Maybe the two of you could meet there and... figure out a way to work out your differences?" She suggests, "I don't want to see it come to blows, but if it does, that's the best possible place for it to happen." She looks up towards Blurr, "Thanks for being so cool about this! I didn't realize he was going to react so baddly, I'm sorry." 

:'''{{#var:802|James Rogers (802)}} has posed:''' James may have heard the invitation to return but he simply heads to his quinjet and walks up the ramp. After a few minutes the ramp closes and the plane takes off and departs after recieving clearance to take off from ARK-32 control. 

:'''{{#var:632|Septette Arcubielle (632)}} has posed:'''      "I can attest to that," the skeletal robot replies wryly. "My first match there ended with the tungsten floor vaporized. We both came out unhurt-" She pauses for a moment, as if stopping to reconsider her words, though in reality that takes scant milliseconds for her. "-or rather, with the same wear-and-tear we went in with." 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     Blurr sighs as James ignores the request for him to stay. Ah, well. Maybe he just needs some time to himself first. But hopefully this at least helped somewhat. Finally though, the tourcraft takes off, moving first toward the doors to the bridge, which open as they approach.     Inside, it actually looks much like a typical bridge on a large flagship, though much larger of course. And the controls are mostly just large sockets where the crew can interface with the ship's systems. Large holopanel screens show various readings from throughout the vessel, as well as views of the stars and the Earth outside.     "So, yeah, this is the bridge. Most of everything is controlled from here. Communications, weapons, propulsion, sensor arrays, navigation." He points out the various stations as the craft whizzes by at a pace that is swift yet slow enough to catch a good view of everything. 

:'''{{#var:711|Corona Arclite (711)}} has posed:''' Corona Arclite leans over the side of the tourcraft a bit to look as they pass through the bridge. She lets out a low whistle of impression, but then something does catch her eyes. She sits up and turns back to Blurr's avatar. "How come those controllers ain't got much for controls on em? Y'all just plug right into them with yer brains or something?" Or whatever they call what serves as a brain for them. 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     "We interface with the system itself, yeah." Blurr confirms, nodding. "For most functions, anyway. There are some manual controls, but for most things we just get into the code ourselves. It allows for better reaction time, and such." 

:'''{{#var:796|Sarah Rogers (796)}} has posed:'''     "Makes sense to me." Sarah muses, "The ship itself, is it like you? Is it alive?" She asks curiously. She of course wants to know if it can maybe turn into an even *bigger* robot, but she leaves that unsaid. "How often do you have organic vistors? I notice we're not having any trouble breathing, and we've even got gravity!" 

:'''{{#var:632|Septette Arcubielle (632)}} has posed:'''      It only takes a fraction of a second for Sept to soak in all the details of the scenery here- not that she isn't curious, but there's only so much one can glean by staring at a static scene. Swiftly, she turns her rapt attention back to the other passengers, quietly glancing from one to the next, and memorizing Blurr's words for later analysis.      Once she's done rubbernecking, the lights in her eyes go off altogether, and she wraps herself back up in that ragged lavender cloak- seems she grabbed it on the way to the tourcraft. She pulls it tightly around her angular shoulders as if it were a safety blanket of sorts, and quietly mulls over questions of her own.      "Where I come from, artificial intelligences are airgapped from one another and all other information systems- not that there are many. Don't you risk being compromised by malware by directly connecting to such inputs?" 

:'''{{#var:7|Kotone Yamakawa (7)}} has posed:''' Kotone Yamakawa watches as James depart there's nothing much she can do for that. She looks abotu the bridge and she muses for a moment. "This is in better condtion than the last bridge of a cryberotian craft that I saw." Blurr would know what she's talking about. "Likely so or wireless of some sort. Ah I'm right, but I'd way manual controls would be for emergancies of some sort? OR if you were having osme sort of mixed species crew? I was wondering about your info security but I can tell you Septette their measures are /nasty/ I nearly got fried by em." 

:'''{{#var:796|Sarah Rogers (796)}} has posed:'''     Sarah leans over to Kotone and asks conspiratorially, "Was Blurr responsible for the state of that ship? Cuz that's what happened last time I went on a trip with him!" 

:'''{{#var:7|Kotone Yamakawa (7)}} has posed:''' Kotone Yamakawa repliees back in much the same way. "Yes, but he was shot down so it wasn't entirely his fault that time." She snickers a little bit at the last part. 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     Blurr nods at Septette's question. "It is a risk, yeah. But we do have our own security measures to protect against that." It's actually happened before. He nods toward Kotone, and chuckles at Sarah. "No, this one isn't, but there are some who are." Like Sky Lynx, Omega Supreme, and Metroplex. "Actually, this is the first time in a while since we've had organic visitors. So we did have to make a lot of preparations for this. Like the oxygen in the ventilation systems."     The craft moves on, zipping into a small opening likely meant for maintenance drones. It comes out in the troop quarters, where the hab suites are. Identical doors with different numbers on them line the corridor, and there is also a recreactional area with drink dispensers and seating. "Habitation suites are as the name implies. This is where the crew lives, whoever happens to be stationed here at any time." 

:'''{{#var:711|Corona Arclite (711)}} has posed:''' "And the cream soda!" Corona chimes in on the list of preparations. She laughs a bit as the craft scoots into the next section. Habitation suit. Recreational area. "Now see, that's how ya know they're sentient. They know how to sit back and relax on occassion, just like any other folk." 

:'''{{#var:414|Revan (414)}} has posed:'''      Lowri manages to drag her attention away from...well, nearly everything to flash a smile at the Autobot. "Good work on the air mixture this time," she comments. "Since most of us turned out to be organics of the human persuasion, it worked out nicely." 

:'''{{#var:632|Septette Arcubielle (632)}} has posed:'''      Septette taps her chin, producing a clinking sound like someone trying to toast using fine china. "What do you use normally? Nitrogen? I'd assume that cuts down on flammability and corrosion- and if all of you could operate in unpressurized environments effectively, the ship wouldn't have atmospherics infrastructure at all." 

:'''{{#var:796|Sarah Rogers (796)}} has posed:'''     Sarah pales a bit at Revan's comment, "You mean they got it wrong the last time?" She asks nervously, "Was everyone okay?" She leans back are stares into space for a few moments, recent events racing through her head. Victoria's Secret, Pancakes and Creme Soda, Air mixtures. "We are all very lucky to be alive right now." She says finally in a stunned monotone. 

:'''{{#var:711|Corona Arclite (711)}} has posed:''' Corona Arclite chuckles a bit. "Nah, nah, we were just fine. It just had that kinda awkward cuz they didn't realize when we breath 'oxygen' from an atmosphere it's not -pure oxygen-." 

:'''{{#var:414|Revan (414)}} has posed:'''      The Jedi shakes her head with a slight grin. "No, they just had pure oxygen. It was fine, I just noted that mast organics actually breathe a mixture of different gases. It's probably safer as well, if there's anything flammable around." 

:'''{{#var:7|Kotone Yamakawa (7)}} has posed:''' Kotone Yamakawa pauses for a moment. "Your right even if there was ai bad ventlation..." She doesn't want to think about that for a moment. She is taking a look at the troop regions she notices the doors and humms and sees the Recreational area. "Pretty much troop barracks right? I wonder if your troops are like human ones get em bored enough and leave them with something to see how they break it?" 

:'''{{#var:796|Sarah Rogers (796)}} has posed:'''     Sarah still looks a little nervous, "Do you have people who study other races? Biologists, Anthropologists, or the like?" She asks Blurr, "If not, you need to find some Autobots with an interest in that kind of thing, and have them start working closely with us organic types. Otherwise I'm still a little worried that a cultural exchange might result in unintentional loss of life." 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     "Yeah, no small thanks to you guys." Blurr smiles at Revan and Corona in regards to the ventilation systems. "You know I'm not too sure about that." he replies in response to the question about what they normally use. "You'd have to ask Jetfire or Perceptor about that." he glances at Sarah. "Jazz used to study other cultures. But yeah, we do have scientists."     Back into the maintenance shafts, the craft speeds up and moves into the repair bay, which is essentially like an infirmary for mechanical lifeforms. Cybertronian-sized berths line the walls, along with various monitoring equipment and tables filled with cutting, welding and surgical tools. 

:'''{{#var:711|Corona Arclite (711)}} has posed:''' The medbay sparks more of Corona's interest again, and the foxgirl is once more leaning a bit over the edge to look down. She can see some of the familiar machinery as they would have in the train construction shops back in Loadstar, just much more sleek and futuristic. While the more cybertronian specific equipment is as alien as it is astounding. 

:'''{{#var:414|Revan (414)}} has posed:'''      Lowri taps her chin thoughtfully. "Jazz? I've spoken to him over the broadband, and from what I've heard he still does. But it'd be helpful to have some biologists on hand, just in case."      Then suddenly, what is likely the highlight of the trip for the Guardian. Like Corona, she might be leaning slightly over the edge to get a better look...and some use of Force powers to be able to see a little farther than what is humanly possible. She did so enjoy her droid maintenance, even if robots were far more complex. 

:'''{{#var:711|Corona Arclite (711)}} has posed:''' Corona Arclite thinks for a moment. "Don't think I've meet that one. But heard him on the radio a few times." 

:'''{{#var:7|Kotone Yamakawa (7)}} has posed:''' Kotone Yamakawa says "She's got a good idea I think getting to understand things more would be a good idea or to get htem here. I admit I find your technology interesting. The stuff I could do with cast off armour alloy /alone/ would be mind boggling I think. Still Ig et why you keep it lcoked down and where has Jazz been? I heard him from time to time." 

:'''{{#var:796|Sarah Rogers (796)}} has posed:'''     Sarah makes mental notes. Jazz. Jetfire, Perceptor. Honestly though she'll take anyone who's holomatter avatar could convincinglty pass for human for more than five minutes. One of these days, when she feels like Blurr deserves it, she's going to explain the Victoria's Secret incident to a room full of people. Fortunately today is about easing relations, so she won't play that card. The Repair Bay perks her interest, not as much as the true techheads here, but she has to resist the urge to fly down and touch stuff. 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     "Heh, doesn't surprise me. He's always been fascinated with other cultures, espcecially humans." Blurr comments regarding Jazz. "But that's part of the reason why we're hosting this event. To help the rest of the Union understand us better, and vice versa, so that we have fewer people who uh...are like that guy who left earlier, I guess."     At the moment, there are even a few mechs in here, getting some minor repairs. A medic is sealing up an armor breach with a laser welder as they pass by. The more intensive care patients are probably out of sight in more closed-off areas, though. The craft circles the perimeter of the main area, giving the guests a chance to ask any questions of Blurr they might have. 

:'''{{#var:711|Corona Arclite (711)}} has posed:''' Corona Arclite doesn't have much to ask at the moment. Mostly because she's watching the medics work, and knows that not being a medic himself Blurr probably can't answer most of the questions she would ask at the moment. 

:'''{{#var:7|Kotone Yamakawa (7)}} has posed:''' Kotone Yamakawa is curious about the holomatter avatar as well she admit. "Humm the avatars sound like a lot of the remote drone work I do for a certain orgnization then agian drone operation is a fiarly big thing these days back home. Understanding is good I think. Then again I kinda have one foot in both worlds really at this rate." 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     "The avatar are holomatter projections." Blurr explains. "They can take on any size or shape and can be projected through most walls or barriers." After spending a few minutes in the repair bay, the tour craft whisks back out into the corridor and makes a couple of more stops at the armory and training facilities before returning to the hallway near the docks where they had originally boarded. "Well I hope that was interesting and informative for you all." the Autobot comments as the group disembarks. "Of course if you come up with any other questions later, don't hesitate to ask one of us on the comms. In the meantime there's still some of those pancakes left so have at it." the avatar winks. 

:'''{{#var:796|Sarah Rogers (796)}} has posed:'''      Sarah gets a big grin on her face. "The real trick to those holomatter avatars is knowing enough about the local culture to pass as a member of it." She says knowingly She gets up and stretches, eyeing the pancakes suspicuously as she makes her way out of the vehicle. They were great when they were hot, Now, probably not so much. She does take another cream sods for the road though. 

:'''{{#var:711|Corona Arclite (711)}} has posed:''' Corona Arclite snickers a bit. "I might have to bother one of yer medics or techies fer some of my questions, they're pro'ly a bit out of yer field, pardner." She gives Sarah a pat on the back. "Help yerself to a snack for the trick home. Less I gotta carry back with me!" 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     Blurr looks slightly sheepish at Sarah's comments. "Yeah, yeah. I know...I -thought- I did, but." He shrugs. "I guess not." The incident at the mall had been...embarrassing to say the least. And now Sarah is going go around telling everyone about it as one of those 'funny stories' like in those things on the humans' public datanets. >_> 

:'''{{#var:7|Kotone Yamakawa (7)}} has posed:''' Kotone Yamakawa Says "If you don't know how they behave you don't know your local history and such, a cover could get blown really fast. I mean there's even way security questions could be common pop culture or older poltical events you might not know nothing about and WHAM they got you." 

:'''{{#var:796|Sarah Rogers (796)}} has posed:'''      Sarah nods in agreement with Kotone, "Right, you'd think someone who fancies himself a scout and a spy would know to brush up on that." She teases, glancing up at Blurr again. Looking back to Corona she asks, "Would you like some help carrying your stuff back to your.. I'm going to assume it's a ship? I can lift rather a lot." 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     "I didn't spend as much time on Earth as some of the others did, okay?" Blurr says defensively. Granted, he doesn't pay as much attention to other cultures as he probably could or should. He sighs. "I'm working on it, honestly." He arches a brow at Sarah, though. "How much -can- you lift?" 

:'''{{#var:711|Corona Arclite (711)}} has posed:''' "Sure thing," Corona replies. "Mine's the one that looks like a train with boosters on it." No, she's serious. It does look like a giant spacefaring locomotive. 

:'''{{#var:796|Sarah Rogers (796)}} has posed:'''     "Well.. not to brag or anything, but give me a good hand hold and lifting you wouldn't be a problem." Sarah replies to blurr with a smirk. "For a moment I thought about letting you stand on my hands, but there'd be balance issues." She looks around the landing bay till she spots Corona's ship, "That is awesome! You gotta take me for a ride sometime!" 

:'''{{#var:7|Kotone Yamakawa (7)}} has posed:''' Kotone Yamakawa pauses prring at her humm "Lifting I could likely move a car and certainaly lob a motorcycle at someone." She makes an innocet face and fails pretty hard at it. "Well sometimes you just got to go fast, and you should see my ship. It's kinda a sports model form what I can tell though the database was pretty empty when we salvaged it..." 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     "Really." Blurr looks peers at Sarah dubiously. She's so...small. "I don't know about that. You might have to prove it sometime." 

:'''{{#var:796|Sarah Rogers (796)}} has posed:'''     Sarah punches her hand and takes to the air, flying up to get about eye level with Blurr, "I'll prove it right now Big Guy!" She beams, "Gimme your hands, and don't be afraid to squeeze! I can take it!" Wasn't she supposed to be helping Corona load her ship by now? 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     Blurr chuckles and obliges, holding out a hand. The holomatter flickers out of existence as she flies up to look him in the optics. Well, he is a lot ligher than the average Cybertronian. She likely would not be able to pick up someone like Ultra Magnus, though. "Have at it, I guess." 

:'''{{#var:796|Sarah Rogers (796)}} has posed:'''      Sarah grabs Blurr's hand with both of hers and slowly tugs him in the air, She makes a show of straining to do it, but the truth is He only feels slightly heavy to her. Once she's got him about a foot off the ground she relaxes and just lets him hang there for a while. "Uh oh.. I think I got stuck!" She teases. 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     She might have the raw strength to lift him higher, but due to leverage issues Sarah only manages to lift him a few feet off the ground. "Ha, okay I'm impressed." Blurr chuckles as he dangles there. "So are you genetically enhanced, or something?" he questions. 

:'''{{#var:796|Sarah Rogers (796)}} has posed:'''     "It's complicated.. but something like that." Sarah says as she sets Blurr back down, "The short version is that both my parents were Superheroes, I got some of my Mom's mutant powers and some of my Pop's super soldier serum. Anyway, we should probably get Corona loaded up." She says as she looks sheepishluy as the few remaining people. 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     "So your parents were?" Blurr replies. They sound kind of like Outliers. "I see. Well thanks for coming. I hope your friend will be okay." He remarks, referring to James. "Seriously though, that little outburst was bound to happen at some point. We don't exactly have the best reputation among organics in our galaxy. As Magnus said they kinda hate us." 

:'''{{#var:7|Kotone Yamakawa (7)}} has posed:''' Kotone Yamakawa looks to Sarah for a moment and raise an eyebrow. "I got to see this." She takes a steo back to get out of the way to see just what they are going to do. 

:'''{{#var:796|Sarah Rogers (796)}} has posed:'''      Sarah settles back down on the ground and starts loading the untapped barrels, which she handles like they're made of styrofoam, into Corona's Space-Locomotive. "James' whole world was taken over by an insane AI." She explains as she works, "Ultron. He was designed to protect the world. But somehow he got the idea in his head that the best way to do that was to kill all the humans." She sighs, "We had a version of Ultron where I'm from too, but the one I knew was a lobotomized servant. Not even worth having a conversation with." Once she's done she pauses to grin at Kotone, "Toldya I could do it!" 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     "I regret that he felt like he had to leave. He totally should have stayed. This was the whole reason why we even did this." Blurr says, gesturing around to the party in general. "Ultron, huh? Sounds like the whole 'a civilization is its own worst enemy' idea. Sometimes that's true...it kind of was for us." he says with a sigh and an air of regret. As evidenced by the current ruined surface of Cybertron. 

:'''{{#var:796|Sarah Rogers (796)}} has posed:'''     Sarah flies up to sit on Blurr's shoulder again, leaning up against his head, "Sounds like the two of you have some common ground. if we can get the two of you talking about it, maybe he can make some progress. Might help you out some too. Over a comm channel would probably be best at first. I don't recommend the Holomatter Avatar. He might see it as a deception." She pauses then adds. "Your not very good with the thing either." She smirks. 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     "-Thanks-." Blurr says wryly at Sarah's comment about the holomatter. "Well, we'll work on that. Maybe you can help me. Since you seem to know...things." 

}}

2403/Party Planning Advice

2015-06-09T05:18:35Z

Zippy: Created page with "{{Log Header |Date of Scene=2015/06/07 |Location=Ark-32 |Synopsis=The Autobots need some advice on accommodating organic species. |Thanks= |Cast of Characters=304, 414, 492, 7..."

{{Log Header
|Date of Scene=2015/06/07
|Location=Ark-32
|Synopsis=The Autobots need some advice on accommodating organic species.
|Thanks=
|Cast of Characters=304, 414, 492, 711
|Tinyplot=
|Tinyplot2=
|pretty=yes
}}
{{Poses
|Poses=:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     The Ark-32 is one of the Autobots' largest battlecruisers in current operation. It was the first vessel used to travel to their version of Earth. The massive golden structure is shaped somewhat like a blunt arrowhead with a rounded tip and a pair of barbs sticking out of the sides.     Its massive size might shed light on the fact that it was designed to accommodate beings much larger than average. Currently, it orbits this universe's iteration of Earth. As the blue-green planet glows with resplendent beauty below, the crew of the Ark-32 is busy preparing for an important event. Sure, it might not sound like much, but to a species spurned by just about every other race out there in the universe until the Unification, this feels...almost like a milestone. A reminder that not -everyone- hates them any more.     There are a lot of logistics involved, however. The Multiverse is an incredibly diverse place, and most of their guests are likely to be organic with a variety of different comfort requirements. One thing for sure is needed, however, and that is a steady flow of oxygen through the ventilation systems. And what about transportation? Some people might not have access to space-worthy vehicles, so they've been working on arranging shuttles from Earth's surface to the ship, since some organics wouldn't survive an orbital bounce. There are other things as well, like what about refreshments, and such? What -do- organics generally favor to eat? There are lots of answers on Earth's public datanets. Too many, actually. So a request has gone out to some of the members of the Union who have already befriended or been in contact with the Autobots, to ...well, advise on how best to make their otherwordly guests most comfortable. 

:'''{{#var:304|Black Arachnia (304)}} has posed:''' Black Arachnia has gotten used to dealing with her 'ancestors' since she Unified a few years previously, and the logistical necessities of navigating around old Autobot-scale spaces are a problem she solved a good long while back. Autobots helped form the Union, after all, and Njorun Station and other shared bases are still built to those specifications. On the other hand, most humans don't have Black Arachnia's solutions for getting around conveniently ... and that's just the start of it. So with the query from the Ark-32, she heads out to visit the ship, see what their current set-up is like, and offer what answers she can. 

:'''{{#var:711|Corona Arclite (711)}} has posed:''' It involves seeing fancy robots and fancy machines. That's enough to get Corona's attention. That and she does have a ship, so coming up to help was easy enough. Trust me, it's a space ship. It just happens to look like a train with rocket engines strapped to i... uh... Well! It's a good thing it's not a PURPLE train with rockets, or she might of never even gotten on board. She didn't know other places had space choo-choos, don't blame her. 

:'''{{#var:414|Revan (414)}} has posed:'''      Somewhat of a recent Unification herself, Lowri's previous experience with robots had been the various droids built for all manner of purposes. From protocol droids to street sweepers all the way down to the advanced assassin droid HK-47, droids utterly fascinated the Guardian. Which was why the multiverse had been, for her, like a child in a toy shop.      Getting around a galaxy had necessitated a spaceworthy ship, and though it didn't look like much, the Ebon Hawk did just that. So it was no trouble for the Jedi to not only bring herself, but her own entourage of her mechanical crew. T3-M4 rolled not far behind her, his head swivelling about, nearly as curious as his master. On her shoulder rode Ulaire, in her basic black bodysuit and her brown hair loose around her shoulders. On her right scurried the recently-dubbed Insecticon Tiny.      Today was a day for all of them. 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     As the friendly vessels approach, they are hailed by Blaster, the comms expert, who directs them to a docking station connected to the central hangar. The massive doors retract to allow them inside, where other smaller crafts are docked. Well, they are smaller by Cybertronian standards, but still quite large compared to Corona's 'space choo-choo' and Revan's Ebon Hawk.     By now the Autobots have the oxygen systems up and running, so the organics should be able to breathe easy here! Blurr has gone down to meet them, though he does notice Black Arachnia skittering about on a wall. "Black," he greets. "Haven't seen you in a while. How've you been?" he asks as the other ships move in. 

:'''{{#var:711|Corona Arclite (711)}} has posed:''' Corona Arclite waits for the AI of her ship to confirm everything is locked and powered down and that there is an actual atmosphere before wandering out into the hanger proper. "Howdy y'all. Heard someone needed a bit of party plannin' help." She tugs loose her multi-purpose goggles and lets them hang around her neck like usual as she cocks her head back to look up at Blurr. "Ya look like yer in.. uh... whatever y'all say for bein' in good health and all that." 

:'''{{#var:414|Revan (414)}} has posed:'''      Oxygen is good! That means she didn't have to rummage around for her re-breather mask; Lowri wasn't sure /where/ she had stowed it. Not to mention how much of a challenge it would be to hold conversations, and eating would be right out. While she could hold her breath for an extended period of time with a type of Force meditation, it wouldn't have been much fun.           As much as the pale-haired woman could have stopped and studied just about anything there all day, it would have been rude not to thank the host for inviting the Union to look around.      "Nice to see you again," she greeted Blurr, looking up with a smile. "Thank you for the invitation." 

:'''{{#var:304|Black Arachnia (304)}} has posed:''' "I've been all right, as these things go," the Maximal spider answers, descending on an energy-webline to dangle at around Blurr's eye level. Still in spider mode. "Nothing particularly out of the ordinary, still trying to find new and better ways to crack Confederate encryptions." A manipulator arm waves to the incoming ships, and to those who disembark from them. 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     "Good, we could always use new hacking strategies." Blurr smirks as the Maximal dangles in front of him.     He chuckles. "Party planning, yeah, uh...I guess you could say that." he replies to Corona. "This air feel okay to you all?" he asks, waving around vaguely. "You can breathe it, and stuff right? Doesn't feel like you're suffocating or not getting enough oxygen?"      He nods to Revan as she arrives as well. "Revan, good to see you too." The Autobot peers at her new Insecticon pet, who certainly dwarfs not only her other mechanical pets but also its owner. "So, you got a name for him yet?" 

:'''{{#var:711|Corona Arclite (711)}} has posed:''' Corona Arclite laughs a bit at Blurr's questions. "It smells funny to me, but that's just 'cuz I'm use to the smell of forge smoke and oil fumes 'round me. Breathin's fine." She takes an exaggerated deep breath just to prove it. Then gives a glance towards Revan and her entourage, head canting a bit to the side. "Looks like 'bots are fairly common were ya come from, too." 

:'''{{#var:304|Black Arachnia (304)}} has posed:''' Revan's robotic retinue certainly seems to grab Black Arachnia's attention, to judge by the way several of the Maximal spider's optics focus on the group. Particularly on that Insecticon. And for a few seconds, Black Arachnia says absolutely *nothing*, her full attention on a scan for active transmission frequencies - even a carrier signal, if it doesn't match up with known Union or Autobot frequencies. It may also be safely assumedthat her attention isn't just devoted to the radio right now. When she finally speaks again, her tone is coolly restrained. "Someone double-check me on this, but isn't that an Insecticon you're walking around with?" 

:'''{{#var:414|Revan (414)}} has posed:'''      At Blurr's question about the air, Revan shakes her head. "The air seems prety balanced," she notes. "You might want just a little bit more nitrogen in it, though...most organics actually breathe a combination of different gases." 5t Her smile becomes a little wry. "But it definitely beats how stale air gets on a ship after a few months," she quips with a soft chuckle.      "Very common," she replies with a slight grin at Corona. "Though only one of them is from my home galaxy. These other two are ones I picked up in the multiverse."      The Jedi nods to Black Arachnia, patting the Insecticon on its mantid head. "He is. I was helping Blurr out of a bad fix and managed to pick him up along the way."      Back to Blurr, she grins. "Sure did. Let me introduce you. This is Tiny." After a moment, she seems to think of something. "And this is T3-M4," she adds, patting the swivelling circular head of the squat droid before gesturing to the (actually) tiny shinki on her shoulder. "And this is Ulaire...at ease, lieutenant, we're not in uniform," she hastily adds as the shinki struggled to stand up and render a salute. 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     "Oh, good. I mean, Perceptor's always right, but it never hurts to double-check, I guess." Blurr replies. "Right, a little more nitrogen, I'll make a note of that and pass it on to the tech teams." he chuckles when Black Arachnia tenses up at the sight of an Insecticon. He doesn't blame her. "Yeah, it is an Insecticon, but sometimes if they get separated from the rest of the Swarm, they can become tame and even trainable. Can be pretty useful once they're loyal."     He nods as Revan introduces her mechanical entourage, though he arches an optic ridge upward at the name she'd chosen for her largest one. "Tiny?" he laughs. "I'm guessing you don't mean that in a literal sense."     "Anyway," he continues, addressing all of them. "So air's good, now what about refreshments? What are some favorites among you organic types? Something appropriate for a function like this one, I mean I don't know if you have any particular types of food that are expected at stuff like this?" 

:'''{{#var:711|Corona Arclite (711)}} has posed:''' "Uh, dunno iffen ya want people drinkin' liquor in middle of a high tech space ship, so ya pro'ly wanna stick to punch and soda or some such." Though even as she's replying it's Revan that Corona circles around, eyeing the various bots with her. Then leaning a bit close to get a good look at Ulaire. "Back home you'd be mistaken fer a wind-up toy I reckon." 

:'''{{#var:304|Black Arachnia (304)}} has posed:''' Black Arachnia slowly plays her line further out, descending to the hangar deck - partly (or mostly) so the humans and near-humans won't have to crane their necks to look up at her. "Not sure I've met all of you yet, so - I'm Black Arachnia, Maximal sabotage and espionage expert. Good to meet the rest of you." From her tone, it might not be, really - but she at least knows how to make the polite noises. And if Blurr thinks the Insecticon is safe to have around, well, Blurr knows this variety better than she does. That does not for any length of time mean that she's letting her guard down around Tiny. She doesn't know a lot about organic food, and this event is going to be a bit too important for casual trolling, so when the talk turns to planning refreshments, Black Arachnia keeps her mouth shut. 

:'''{{#var:414|Revan (414)}} has posed:'''      "I'm told my sense of humour is a little bizarre," Lowri admits with a grin. She is not a short woman by any means, but even she has to reach up to rub behind one of the creature's antennae. "He hasn't been with us long, but he's more than proven himself. I have a...well, the ship of someone I know had been completely wrecked, not even spaceworthy. T3 and Tiny had it up and running when she needed to bail. If we'd had more time, it would have been good as new by the end of the day."      Do shinki blush? Probably, since they're designed for boys and young men who want to see that kind of thing in robogirls. "I-I imagine so, ma'am," Ulaire stammers to Corona. "We're designed to provide entertainment for people, and we enjoy it very much. But those of us who are adopted by Elites are especially lucky, because we can do so much more."      The Jedi can hardly blame Black Arachnia for being wary; before he was tamed, the Insecticon was so ravenous that he had tried to eat both Blurr and later Lowri. "It's a pleasure to meet you," she greeted with her friendly smile. "I'm Lowri Revan-Shan, Knight of the Jedi Order."      The subject of food proves to be a little tricky. "That tends to be a tough thing to anticipate," Lowri admits. "Much of the food of my galaxy is mostly unknown outside of it, so I didn't have any expectations." Grinning, she adds,"I'm always willing to try new things if it doesn't kill me." 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     "Okay, so no liquor." Blurr notes in response to Corona. Soda, punch...he'll have to look those up later. This isn't going to be as simple as it might sound, given the extremely diverse nature of the Multiverse, but they'll just have to go for a variety of things and hope for the best.     Tiny makes a happy humming noise when Revan rubs behind his antennae, shuffling up against the Jedi. Blurr pats Black Arachnia, noting her consternation. "Hey, relax. It's been done before, no need to worry about Tiny here." he chuckles.     "Okay, so uh..." The Autobot pulls out a datapad and scans it briefly. "Is there anything you guys always wondered about that you'd like us to cover? History, culture, this ship? Cybertron?" 

:'''{{#var:711|Corona Arclite (711)}} has posed:''' "In fact." Corona pulls her CPAD from a belt pouch and flips it open. "I pro'ly got a few barrels of cream soda iffen ya want." Toggles are flipped and dials twiddled as she shifts through list files. "If it's gonna be an informative meetin', ya pro'ly wanna cover a bit of everything for folks. Get all the bases covered." 

:'''{{#var:304|Black Arachnia (304)}} has posed:''' "'History' is probably going to be too much information for a party setting," Black Arachnia suggests, "unless you just want to cover the basics in very broad strokes. Culture would be a useful topic to cover - even I don't know much about what Autobots of your era would consider worthy pastimes when you're not out there fighting Decepticons or other nasties; what goes for one universe's Autobots might not be true for another version. Or even for a different group from the *same* universe." 

:'''{{#var:414|Revan (414)}} has posed:'''      Revan could oft-times annoy others with her nearly insatiable curiosity. Sometimes it could even get her in trouble. But there were times when she was given some room to ask about history, culture, and sometimes even personal experiences and opinions. Those times she was more than happy to drink her proverbial fill.      But today. Today, she was practically handed a buffet of history and culture of a planet and a people...who were mind-bogglingly complex giant robots. If she didn't know any better, Lowri might have sworn she had died and rejoined the Force.      She's a little disappointed, but Black Arachnia is right. That might be a better topic to read about on a datapad. Which she would later, most assuredly. "Culture is a good place to start," she agrees.      "Cream soda?" That did sound interesting. "I'll be happy to try, especially if it's sweet." 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     "Good point," Blurr nods. "History might bore some people. There's certainly a lot of it." He makes a note of that on the datapad. He sits down on a pile of supply crates. "But since it's just the three of you for today, I'd be happy to talk about history if you'd like to hear it. Or really, anything. It's been a long time since anyone's been interested in learning about us beyond learning how best to kill us."     "Cream soda?" The Autobot has not heard of that type of drink before, either. "Well if your kind enjoy it then there's a good chance other organics will." She can feel free the bring it along. 

:'''{{#var:711|Corona Arclite (711)}} has posed:''' "Yeah, just coverin' some of the basics ain't a bad idea. Cuz, y'know, livin' sentient robots and all. People are gonna at least be interested in where that came from. Compared to... well." Corona paused to pull an extendable antennae out of her device, turns and points it towards her ship. It beeps a few times when she presses some buttons with her thumb. The tip even flashes faintly a few times to confirm a signal is being sent. "Y'make what I work with look -really- old school." It takes a few moments while the others are talking before the clattering movement can be heard coming from her space-train. A block-ish shape rougly the size of a large crate ambles on bird-jointed legs, gears and joints audibly click-clacking as it moves. As it approaches the side panels open upward and more clockwork innards are visible in motion as it extends a pair of segemented clockwork arms from within. One arm uses it's grasper to pull out a small wooden keg and set it down, then the other plugs a spout into it. Then it settles back to the ground, arms and legs retracting back into the body and panels thumping shut. Save one in front that opens and slides out a couple of glasses. It's archaric technology just compared to Revan's drones, not to mention the cybertronian lifeforms. "Go 'head, have a taste fer yourself." Corona hands one of the glasses to Revan. "... I think we're the only two here that actually drink anything." 

:'''{{#var:304|Black Arachnia (304)}} has posed:''' Black Arachnia shows no response at all when Corona breaks out the cream soda. It's an organic drink, she doesn't care for it. Give her a couple of crystals of properly refined energon and she'll be content; if she really wants to get drunk, there are ways for her to do that ... but really, why would she WANT to be intoxicated? Instead, she turns her attention back to Blurr. "You should probably have a variety of different foodstuffs, since some organics have different requirements than others do - not always biological. There are some humans who don't eat meat despite that they could digest it safely, for instance ..." 

:'''{{#var:414|Revan (414)}} has posed:'''      "Speaking for myself, I'd love to hear your history," Lowri agrees before grinning slightly. "I've sat for nearly a day listening through a droid's translation function of a people's entire oral history. And I didn't have to bring back a Krayt dragon pearl for it, either."      Mismatched eyes flick back to the space train appreciatively. "It's been amazing to see all these different forms of technology, but even what we have pales in comparison. I've never seen robots so advanced, much less sentient since my galaxy first Unified."      "The only ones who drink anything like this," she amends, fishing out a pineapple jellycan for a very happy Ulaire after taking the glass. While the little shinki had a generally reserved and proper military bearing, even she couldn't resist her favourite jellycan. "Thank you." She'd rather not be intoxicated today, there was too much to learn to not be able to remember it. 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     Blurr nods at Black's suggestion. "Yeah, that's what I was thinking. There's no way we'll be able to cover everything, but maybe we can come somewhat close."     He watches Corona's strange contraption curiously. It really did look pretty archaic. "Guess you weren't yanking a crankcase about that." he remarks. "As for where we came from, no one actually knows for -sure-. Though there are some who believe we came from a being called Primus, who populated Cybertron with people like himself, and gave us the ability to change shape."     As Corona gets out the soda keg, Tiny seems interested in it, sidling up and sniffing at it curiously. Perhaps they -aren't- the only ones who drink things like that.     "What about you guys?" Blurr continues after a pause. 

:'''{{#var:711|Corona Arclite (711)}} has posed:''' It's only soda but that doesn't stop Corona from chugging it down like it was an actual brew. "Easy answer would be just hirin' a caterer or somethin', it's kinda their job to know those sort of things." She leans on the soda keg, adjusting her hat. "Guess what they say 'bout gods creatin' in their own image applies to robots from space, too." 

:'''{{#var:414|Revan (414)}} has posed:'''      "No one really knows our very beginnings, either," Lowri admits. "And humans like myself are only one of many different species throughout the galaxy. We each evolved in different ways, but most agree that each evolution was guided by what we call the Force. I suppose you could say It's the soul of our galaxy, binding it together. It clearly has some kind of will, or It wouldn't guide us in the directions we need to go."      That's right, the Insecticons could eat anything, couldn't they? She'd been hunting for scraps or whatever else might appeal to him, but he hadn't been terribly picky. Still, she did want to find an energon source, since Tiny seemed to like that especially. As it was, she let him get a better sniff at the glass...and if he took that as an offering, that was fine. She didn't have anything else to give him, unfortunately. 

:'''{{#var:304|Black Arachnia (304)}} has posed:''' "My version of Cybertronian history has the story with Primus and Unicron too," Black Arachnia admits after a few seconds of uncertain silence on her part. "With the added 'benefit' of knowing that the part about Unicron is pretty solidly true." She attempts to suppress a shudder, because even robots can get a chill down what passes for their spine. 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     "Unicron?" Blurr hasn't heard that name before. "Never heard of -that- part before, actually." He stands up. "Well, I'd best get back to work. You'll have to tell me more another time. Maybe while we're showing you all around the ship. And thanks for your input on the party planning. Hopefully it'll be an enjoyable time." 

:'''{{#var:304|Black Arachnia (304)}} has posed:''' "How can you have Primus in your mythology and not have Unicron ... ?" That seems to stump Black Arachnia rather thoroughly, but she's not about to engage in comparative religion and mythological debate with Blurr except for that one question. She has projects to get back to as well, after all. 

}}

2350/Bob MkII

2015-05-31T17:29:09Z

Zippy: Created page with "{{Log Header |Date of Scene=2015/05/31 |Location=Cybertron-2 |Synopsis=Revan follows a distress signal to Cybertron, and finds a new friend there. |Thanks= |Cast of Characters..."

{{Log Header
|Date of Scene=2015/05/31
|Location=Cybertron-2
|Synopsis=Revan follows a distress signal to Cybertron, and finds a new friend there.
|Thanks=
|Cast of Characters=414, 492
|Tinyplot=
|Tinyplot2=
|pretty=yes
}}
{{Poses
|Poses=:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     Cybertron. Once a glowing amethyst of wealth and prosperity. Its surface was once gleaming with the light of life, its streets teeming with activity. Resources were aplenty, and it seemed as if life would just go on forever and ever, just as it was.     But alas, here we are, millions of meta-cycles (Earth years) later, staring at a barren and desolate expanse of ruined structures; pieces of a once-great civilization. Dangers lurk at every corner of the rugged terrain--and if anyone is here, it's not because they -want- to be. Most of everyone is either dead or has fled the crumbling surface. Well, that's just what happens when people go to war with themselves for not hundreds of years, or even thousands, but -millions-.     So why is Blurr here? Hiding out in the ruins of the defunct capital city-state of Iacon? Well, he's been on a long-term investigation of the strange behavior displayed by the savage Insecticon horde that has been running wild on the planet for some time. Thus far he and his Union allies have been able to figure out that there's -something-, or someONE, hiding in the multi-tiered bowels of the planet, who is manipulating the Swarm to their will. And whoever that is doesn't want anyone going down there.     Whoever it is, they're hiding -something-...     The retired racer has run into a bit of foul luck this particular cycle, though, and had found himself cornered by a horde of Swarm. Fortunately though, he'd managed to get off a distress beacon in time, in hopes that the other Autobots or perhaps the Union would pick up on it and come to the rescue. 

:'''{{#var:414|Revan (414)}} has posed:'''      Distress calls aren't always answered when they need to be, dependent upon both being received in time and whether or not the ones answering it are able to make it in time. Fortunately, today was a day where both those factors came into alignment.          Minutes went by, but then there was the roar of engines overhead as a Dynamic-class freighter surged from out of the nearest warpgate.      On board the Ebon Hawk, its pilot barked a question at the squat utility droid at a nearby panel. "T3, do you have a lock on that signal?" t Rather than a humanoid voice, T3-M4 responded with a series of electronic chirps and whistles. "Great. Take over for me, I'm providing some suppressing fire." To a much smaller robot -- only 12 inches tall -- but who otherwise looked very close to human, she issued a different order. "Ulaire, take over monitoring and let me know when we can begin extraction."      The Wafebunny-model shinki replied crisply even as she snapped off a salute before positioning herself in front of a monitor. "Ma'am, yes ma'am!"      The ship turned and hovered above the swarm of Insecticons before the laser turrets swivelled as Lowri Revan-Shan dropped into the seat and opened fire on the bizarre enemy droids below. There were too many to drop down and begin extraction immediately...or at least provide their rescuee some manoeuvring room. 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     The horde appears to have congregated in front of a dilapidated and half-crumbling structure of some sort, all of them trying to push their way inside at once. It hasn't proven very successful though, since the doorways are too small to accommodate more than one or two at once.     However, when Revan's ship appears and opens fire, their attention is drawn. Some of them fly up on horribly twisted-looking wings and attempt to drive their mandibles into it as if ravenously hungry and the ship is their meal. The ship's weaponry sends some of them to a fiery death on the ground, but a couple of them manage to latch onto the hull and start chewing away in a terrible cacophony of grinding and crunching noises! 

:'''{{#var:414|Revan (414)}} has posed:'''      "Augh, Dammit!" the Guardian cursed as the ship was suddenly rocked as some of the insectoids latched onto the hull. An indignant electronic protest issued out of her headset as T3 made his displeasure known at that unexpected turn...and the damage it was doing to the ship. "I know, I know," she replied testily as she swivelled the turret further to the left to snipe off two more. "See if you can shake..."      And then /another/ sudden shift as more Insecticons latched on. "Belay that! Take us up! I'm going to have to remove them manually!"      The utility droid's reply was incredulous, but he obeyed, and the ship lifted up just out of reach. At the same time, Lowri jumped out of the turret seat before running down the short corridor to the ladder leading to the ship's top.      "Here's hoping the air is breathable," she muttered before opening the hatch and using the Force to lift herself up and out. Landing in a crouch with one of her lightsabers in her right hand and already activated, she relayed another order to the droid. "OK, I'm out. Keep the Hawk as steady as you can, all right?"      From her position, the nearest Insecticons would be blast with an Ionize pulse through the Force to overload and disable their circuitry before moving to intercept...or that was the plan. What worked on simple droids and electronic systems might not necessarily work on much more sophisticated robotics systems. 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     Fortunately for Revan, these Insecticons are far from being as sophisticated as the rest of their kind. There was a reason they were throwaway experiments. Meaning -failed- ones. Hence, they really aren't very durable at all. The pulse knocks them senseless before they can lash out at her, and they fall off of the ship, hurtling toward the ground as they succumb to the mechanical planet's gravity. The hull took some damage, but nothing irreparable, fortuitously enough. Therefore, the coast is now clear for the Jedi to approach the distress signal, given that the assault from the star freighter appears to have driven the ground-bound Swarm members away. 

:'''{{#var:414|Revan (414)}} has posed:'''      "Ulaire, is the coast clear?" she radioed her shinki. It certainly seemed as if the swarm had backed off, but the pale-haired Jedi wasn't entirely sure she could rely on the Force in the same way when it came to these kinds of robots. There had been something called the 'Allspark' explained to her briefly over the broadband --something which had sounded an awful lot like the Force -- in addition to the 'sparks' which animated this race of mechanical beings, so it may have been possible to sense them like any organic being connected to it. Reaching out through the Force, she was unable to pick up any traces of them once they had fled.      "They're all gone, ma'am," Ulaire confirmed. "There's no sign of them on scan."      So even if it were possible to sense the swarm, they were already out of range. "Thanks, Ulaire. T3, go ahead and take us down to that building where the signal was traced to, but I want you to take the Ebon Hawk out of range once I'm off."      The droid protested, and the shinki made a soft uncomfortable noise. "I'll be fine, you two. I'll call you down if it looks like things are about to get hot again, I promise."      She could tell neither of them was very happy with the idea, but they obeyed. Once the freighter touched down, the Guardian leapt off the ship, using the Force to cushion a landing which would have injured a human being otherwise before following the signal to its source. But while she had yet to sense any danger, Revan remained ready to grab the lightsabers from her belt. Just in case. 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     It's a good thing she did remain ready, because as soon as she enters the building, there are two more mechanical presences detected. There are also hissing and crunching noises that sound much like the noises she'd heard when the insectoids had been digging into her ship as if it were a buffet.     It's very dusty in here, and looks as if it has been abandoned for centuries, which it has. The corridors and rooms are huge, though that shouldn't come as a surprise given the size of the beings it was no doubt designed to accommodate. Walls are cracked and crumbling, and debris litters the floor. Some of said debris look like scorched robotic body parts, fresh with internal fluids still dripping and glistening on the severed ends.     There's a short hallway and then a large open room that might have at one time been multiple rooms, but the walls are gone, so it is now one large room. On the floor off in the corner is Blurr, sprawled facedown on the floor in a pool of some lavender-colored fluid. And...one of those things looks to be digging into his chasiss with its claws. It kind of resembles a massive mantid-wasp with three sets of gleaming yellow optics. Quite hideous, much like the others. 

:'''{{#var:414|Revan (414)}} has posed:'''      For once, Revan refrained from her usual sarcastic quipping upon entering the ruins. She had seen far too many atrocities and tragedies in her lifetime -- some of which she unfortunately couldn't yet remember -- to make light of them. In the back of her mind, she wished she could have seen this planet when it was still a vibrant place; it must have been a spectacular sight to behold. Now, all she could do for the moment was come to the aid of a Union ally.      And indeed, she recognised the Autobot lying facedown and unconscious...at least seconds before she snatched her lightsabers from her belt and ignited them, hurling the one in her left hand at the grotesque insect-droid. "Hey! Over here, core-slime!"      It was too close to Blurr to risk another ion blast; she didn't know enough about their workings yet to determine whether it would be safe or not. Moreover, she needed to dispatch the creature quickly, because the Jedi had a feeling that lavender liquid was something quite vital to the Cybertronian's physiology. 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     The creature hisses in pain when one of the sabers strikes it in its side, whirling around to face its enemy. Its wings beat angrily, and it charges at her, its bladed front legs lashing out at her in an attempt to grab her and devour her.     There hasn't been much to eat on this desolated planet, to say the least, save for the extremely rare occasion that someone or something -alive- comes within the Swarm's reach. Desperate even for a human-sized snack, it is definitely trying to eat her alive. 

:'''{{#var:414|Revan (414)}} has posed:'''      The distraction was successful, which was good. And now the very large wasp-mantid robot-creature was charging at her, as intended...but now it seemed as if it wanted to /eat/ her, which was bad. This was yet another new experience for the Jedi; no droid or robot had ever attempted /that/ before. A very sad state of affairs on a devastated world, without a doubt.      What was worse is that she was still unsure about the range of the Ionize ability, which tended to jump from target to target and fry nearly everything within range. It looked like the Guardian was going to have to melee the creature.      "You're uglier than a kinrath, aren't you?" she quipped, unable to /completely/ help herself. Of course, that wasn't entirely accurate; there was something about the creature which, while admittedly on the grotesque side, was similarly interesting. That was even before the consideration that it was a machine more complex than many droids. Failed experiment or not, it was nonetheless remarkable. Pity it had to be destroyed if she was going to help Blurr out.      Swiping at the bizarre robot in a flurry of rapid lightsaber strikes, Revan attempted to force it on the defensive. "Sorry, but I have terrible taste," she remarked with a slight smirk. Such a shame Juno wasn't around to appreciate her self-deprecatory quip. 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     The lightsaber strikes are successful in cutting off bits of the Insecticon's front claws, as well as stabbing it in the mouth where it is no doubt more sensitive than its outer armor. A light green liquid spews forth from the wound. It howls in pain and backs away, but isn't quite ready to give up yet.     The monstrosity's wings beat again as it lifts itself slightly above the ground, and its abdomen twists to point toward her. What appears to be a series of darts filled with venom shoot out of it, though with her small size in comparison to the thing, Revan might have an easier time dodging or deflecting them than a Cybertronian would. 

:'''{{#var:414|Revan (414)}} has posed:'''      "Just don't know when to give up, do you?" the pale-haired Jedi grunted. While they might not have been quite as durable as some of the heavier droids she'd faced, but enough of them would wear out anyone...as evidenced by the landscape, robotic parts, and unconscious Autobot nearby. She'd hoped to conserve her strength, driving it off by persuading it that she was more trouble than she was worth. That tactic didn't seem to be working very well.      Especially not when the Insecticon began shooting venom darts at her. Now that was some familiar territory; the aforementioned kinrath dwelling in Dantooine's caves were likewise venomous and she'd been poisoned a few times herself before training up her resistance to poisons. But that didn't mean she would be able to resist altogether alien toxins...and what was poisonous for a Cybertronian might be even more deadly to a human. Even a Jedi.      That comparatively diminutive size turned out to help as Lowri shifted her stance for one normally used to deflect blaster bolts. It was a similar principle to deflect poison darts...though she could feel one grazing her arm. Poisoned or not, it stung more than a little.      Gritting her teeth, the Jedi reached out with the Force to give the creature a good solid shove backward, hopefully giving her enough time for a necessary decisive strike. 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     No, the Swarm does not give up very easily at all. Given their starved state, they are certainly desperate for anything that could give them more satisfaction than the dead debris that littered this wasteland, which was just about anything -alive-. Which was likely why it wouldn't be easy to convince this thing she was more trouble than she was worth. Because she was worth a -lot- more than dead things or scrap metal.     Most of the darts are successfully deflected, the shots going wide and splattering against the walls of the room. Though when one does graze her, the liquid sears into the open wound, eating away at some of her flesh--it's definitely acidic. Still, her injuries are hardly grievous compared to Blurr's right now.     The telekinetic strike via the Force sends the creature hurtling backward. It smashes hard into a wall with a resounding crash, then slumps to the floor, stunned from the impact. If Revan wishes to make sure the thing -won't- be attacking either her or her ally again, now is the time! 

:'''{{#var:414|Revan (414)}} has posed:'''      Lowri drew a sharp hissing breath through gritted teeth; acid had been a very unwelcome surprise. She was fortunate indeed that she had a Jedi's healing ability or this fight would have ended quite some time ago. As it was, she was likely going to need some quality time with a kolto pack once they were out of harm's way. Or maybe some of that bacta Juno and Kyle mentioned...      "Ugh...just die already," she found herself muttering a phrase one of her former companions often used in similar predicaments. Already, this fight was taking longer than it should if she was going to be able to help her Union ally...      And there it was, the Force Push successfully gave her that necessary opening. With a hoarse yell, Revan closed the distance with a leap, bearing down on the insectiod with both lightsabers in a double strike carried forward by some Force-assisted momentum. 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     The dual lightsaber strike bears down on the insect's body, tearing its armor asunder. More greenish fluid spurts from the wounds created by the weapons.     The creature shrieks in pain and attempts to buck her off of itself and scurry away in a hasty retreat--though it does not get very far. It is clearly no longer a threat, however, as it simply collapses in the doorway from pain and exhaustion, whimpering pathetically and making no further hostile moves. 

:'''{{#var:414|Revan (414)}} has posed:'''      Revan almost felt bad for the poor creature...or rather, she did feel badly. Still, it was a dangerous creature which would have devoured her if it had been able. And her objective was to help Blurr...she didn't have time to waste.      Powering down her lightsabers and returning the to her belt, she picked her way over to the prone Autobot. While the first aid for organic beings was largely going to be useless, checking for responsiveness was probably still a good start. "Blurr, can you hear me? It's Lowri Revan-Shan, I received your distress signal."      But even if he wasn't able to respond, the Jedi used her skills in repairing droids to check for where that leak was coming from. The Guardian was more than a little out of her depth with robots of a Cybertronian's sophistication, but it would have to do in a pinch. At least she should be able to stop a leak.      Where things were going to be even more of a challenge was if she needed to move him, something which would strain even the most powerful of Masters. And as much as she wanted to keep T3 on the Ebon Hawk in case of an emergency, she might have to call him outside if there was more work than she could handle on her own. 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     Blurr is not responsive at all. The lights on his body glow faintly but he doesn't seem to have the strength to reply to her. As she draws nearer, she can tell that his injuries are even worse than she'd perhaps been able to discern earlier. In fact, an entire lower arm and part of a leg is missing, and there are gaping holes in his side and back where the insectoids had begun to turn him into their next meal.     Indeed, it would take the best of even the most skilled Masters to pick up a being of such size and carry him the distance required to get him outside the building where the Ebon Hawk could do the rest of the work.     Oddly enough, the creature she had just been fighting has turned its optics on her, watching her curiously though it doesn't make any hostile moves at all. It seems almost...sheepish? Was that even the right word? 

:'''{{#var:414|Revan (414)}} has posed:'''      "Well, this is a fine mess..." Lowri muttered to herself before radioing the Ebon Hawk. "T3, it looks like I'm going to need your help after all. I found the signal and we've got a union ally down in here...one of the Autobots. Way too big for me to handle and I'm going to need your help. Ulaire, see if you can get a signal to headquarters."      With their respective forms of acknowledgement, the droid and the shinki set to work while Revan began to examine the fallen Cybertronian. Even with what little she knew, it didn't look good.      Strangely, even in this task she felt the optics of the Insecticon on her. She turned, but oddly it didn't seem to be contemplating a second round. Nor was it thrashing around from its injuries.      "You don't have to be scared, I won't hurt you any more," she reassured it, though she personally doubted that her words would have any effect. "I've got my hands full saving the bot your were trying to eat."      The Jedi sighed. "Not that there seems to be much of /anything/ for repairs or food out here..." 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     The Insecticon peers at her as she speaks soothingly to it, and even if it may not understand her words, it certainly can hear the tone in her voice. It watches as she communicates with the rest of her team. Then tentatively, timorously, it approaches her, inching slowly along, perhaps hoping that she won't think it has another round planned...     At that moment, Blurr finally stirs slightly, groaning in pain. He pushes himself into a sitting position with the one hand he does still have, glancing at Raven and then at the Insecticon. "...kk.k.R-revan?" he stammers, his voice laced with static. 

:'''{{#var:414|Revan (414)}} has posed:'''      Lowri let the Insecticon be for the moment, analysing the situation before T3 could get down the corridor. "Be careful, there are still hostiles in the area," she warned. "Don't mind the big bug once you get down here..."      And then she had to wait for a moment as T3 let out a chirp of disbelief. "No, trust me, this one won't attack...I took care of it already. Just watch yourself on the way down. Ion weapons seem to be enough to at least stun them."      she was admittedly a little surprised when Blurr sat up. "Yes, it's me," she replied. "Careful...you took a real beating. Let's see about getting you repaired enough to get out of here."      Her head jerked back slightly towards the now-timid Insecticon. "And don't worry about that one, I already had a 'chat' with him. I don't think he'll be attacking again anytime soon." 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     Cybertronians are remarkably resilient, physically that is. After all, the ones still alive right now have lived through millions of years of war.     Blurr considers the situation, then pulls a small glowing object from a compartment and hands it to her. "Herefeedthistoitit'llhelpyouifyouhelpit." He tells Revan, though his words are running together in his 'natural' way of speaking. He actually has to concentrate a bit, to get himself to not talk at the same speed he is accustomed to moving. 

:'''{{#var:414|Revan (414)}} has posed:'''      Their resilience was one more reason droids fascinated the Jedi Knight, but bots were a breed apart. Yet that resilience had come at a terrible price. Though the memories of war had largely been purged from her mind, the flashes she could remember -- not to mention her own race to save the Republic from decimation at the hands of her former friend and apprentice as Sith -- were more than enough. And the Cybertronians had been fighting even further back than the Infinite Empire. As flexible as her mind was, even Revan couldn't comprehend the Autobots' hell.      At least that flexibility as well as her linguistic gifts helped in this situation. Lowri was fairly certain she would have been completely unable to parse Blurr's natural speech otherwise.      The Jedi grinned as she took the glowing mystery object. "He did seem a little hungry," she quipped, deliberately understating that the poor thing was starving.      Turning and approaching the insect-bot, Revan extended the object to it carefully. "Here, little guy...I won't hurt you. Maybe this might help, hmm?"      'Little guy,' she calls it, a robot much bigger than she is. 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     Yes, so little! Not. The insectoid towers at least several feet above her head, actually. But when she offers the item given, the creature's optics widen and it quickly takes the 'treat', devouring it desperately. The extra energy allows some of its wounds to heal partly, and it regains some of its strength.     However, instead of renewing its attacks, it lowers its head, crouching on its segmented legs before her as if in a show of gratitude, respect, and inferiority. It was true, it seemed she had gained a new 'friend'.     Blurr smirks slightly at the sight of this. "Hungrywouldbeanunderstatement...they'reprettystarvedreallycan'tblamethemforexisting..." Well, they lived -here-. Not exactly what one would call prime real estate. 

:'''{{#var:414|Revan (414)}} has posed:'''      It was true, the Jedi's general outlook was more than a little skewed than what was probably normal for many people...to say nothing of her sense of humour. Even brainwashing seemed to have done nothing to help...though at least that had righted hr path away from well-intentioned extremism.      Not to mention that the Insecticon /was/ small...by Cybertronian standards.      "It's a pity that there's not any viable way to feed them that I noticed," Lowri replied. "Not that I have any idea what happened here, but it's still cruel for them to slowly starve to death."      And she meant it; it might have been strange for an organic being to have compassion for mechanical beings, yet here she was. 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     Yes, it is somewhat small by Cybertronian standards, so perhaps that wasn't unfounded, though it is still considerably larger than she is. But it is indeed strange that an organic like herself would have compassion for a mechanical creature, such a thing was rare in this particular universe. Most organics viewed mechanical beings with utmost contempt.     Thus, Blurr watches her curiously. "You...feelsorryforit?" He asks, surprised. "Huh..." He looks as if he is about to say something more, but his optics flicker. He's been leaking out for a while, and has been weakening slowly. But perhaps, with the now-loyal insectoid's help, Revan can at least get him outside where her ship may be waiting. 

:'''{{#var:414|Revan (414)}} has posed:'''      To Blurr's question, Revan grinned slightly. "I have, shall we say, a bit of a soft spot for droids and bots," she replied with a hint of mystery. It was one thing which had annoyed at least one of her Masters, she could vaguely remember, but she wasn't about to change that even had she wanted to. They fascinated her far too much.      But she caught that flicker in his optics. The Guardian wasn't entirely certain how that would translate to human ailments, but it was probably not good. Not to mention he was still leaking out.      Luckily, there was the timely arrival of the squat utility droid. "Just in time, T3. See if you can stabilise that leak...at least enough for us to get out of here."      Mismatched eyes flicked to her new 'friend'. It was still debatable how much it could understand her, but she decided to try regardless. "Can you help? He's leaking pretty badly."      As the three set to work, Lowri considered a rather important issue. "Will you be able to transform?" she asked Blurras she worked. "My ship's big enough for a few low vehicles, but not much else." 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     Blurr doesn't reply directly to the question, but he recognizes that space may be an issue. It'll be painful as frag, but what else could they do? Thus, his body begins to fold up on itself, slowly and painstakingly. But finally he manages it.     When Revan requests the help of her new 'friend', the Insecticon peers at her inquisitively for a moment at first not sure what she wants. But when the other droids enter and begin working to try to repair Blurr, it seems to recognize that she is trying to rescue him. The creatures may appear at first to be nothing more than savages with only base instincts, but perhaps they are not as dense as they looked. After all, Sunstreaker did manage to train one himself to become very useful.     The creature straightens and lifts into the air slightly, awaiting a signal. Perhaps if she began to lift the Autobot with her telekinetic abilities, her new ally would catch on to what she is trying to do. 

:'''{{#var:414|Revan (414)}} has posed:'''      While she couldn't sense pain from a mechanical being in the same way as she could from an organic being, the Guardian possessed more mundane senses which were nevertheless sharp enough to pick up on it. Under normal circumstances, her insatiable curiosity would have watched in fascination at the transformation rather than internally wincing at how painful it must have been at this point. Perhaps later, once they were safely offworld and had fewer pieces to pick up.      But the repair work went at such a rate that even she was amazed; even minor stabilisation would have demanded hours between T3 and herself, but with the Insecticon's help they were ready within...well, she wasn't sure how much time had passed as her own weariness had started to kick in. They might have seemed to possess only animal instincts, but if this creature was anything to go by, there was more than met the eye. It wasn't surprising, really; even sentients could be reduced to a similar state in the throes of starvation.      At last, all that remained to do was get Blurr to the Ebon Hawk. "Go on ahead and get the Hawk prepped, T3," she told the droid, who them wheeled out through the corridor. Now the especially hard part was to come...until she noticed her new 'friend' seeming to wait for a signal. Lowri blinked in surprise for a moment before concentrating, lifting the Autobot up through the Force. It was a strain, no two ways about it. But maybe... 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     Sure enough, as Revan uses the Force to lift Blurr, pushing as hard as she can, the Insecticon quickly picks up on the cue and flies over him, grasping him by the shoulders with its front claws to help support him. It obediently moves in whatever direction she pulls with her telekinetic powers, moving up and outside to where the Ebon Hawk is. 

:'''{{#var:414|Revan (414)}} has posed:'''      As impressive as lifting heavy objects is, the effort puts a great deal of strain on even those strong in the Force, at least over an extended period of time. By the time they reached the freighter, Revan was more than a little exhausted, beads of sweat trickling down her face and neck. But that effort paid off, and manoeuvring Cybertron's Fastest into the ship went a lot smoother than it otherwise would have. But that was very much in part due to her insect-like assistant.      "Whew...thanks, little guy," she commented as the hatch closed after them, leaning heavily against the wall. Yes, she was still calling him that, at least until she figured out a name for the bug-bot.      "All right T3, get us out of here."      The sound of engines roaring to life rumbled throughout the Ebon Hawk as the utility droid complied. "Ulaire, once we're in range let Njorn know we've got wounded f the mechanical variety and we need repair staff on hand to meet us there."      "Yes, ma'am!"      With the orders given, the Jedi slid to the floor with her back against the wall. She was weary, that was evident enough. Yet, she grinned up at the lone Insecticon. While she couldn't yet do anything for the rest of the unfortunate Swarm, at least one of them wasn't starving and desperate any more.      "I guess this means you're stuck with us for the time being, hmm?" 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     And the 'little guy' seems very happy for this fact. It trots cheerfully after her onto the Hawk, though still wounded its mood seems to have improved drastically, probably because it knows that now there is hope that it won't have to be starving and destitute any more!     It somehow manages to squeeze itself onto the bridge, and lie down contentedly to watch her pilot the vessel back to base. She could probably teach it a few more tricks, to say the least, and likely learn much more about Cybertronians from studying it. Okay, it's still ugly as heck. But...who said ugly can't be cute?! 

}}

1677/Kill It With Fire

2015-02-28T00:59:56Z

Zippy: Created page with "{{Log Header |Date of Scene=2015/02/27 |Location=Cybertron-2 |Synopsis=Selaine and Duke try not to get eaten by a giant mechanical insect. |Thanks= |Cast of Characters=492, 6..."

{{Log Header
|Date of Scene=2015/02/27
|Location=Cybertron-2
|Synopsis=Selaine and Duke try not to get eaten by a giant mechanical insect.
|Thanks=
|Cast of Characters=492, 677, 708, 718
|Tinyplot=
|Tinyplot2=
|pretty=yes
}}
{{Poses
|Poses=:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     Cybertron. Once a glowing amethyst of wealth and prosperity. Its surface was once gleaming with the light of life, its streets teeming with activity. Resources were aplenty, and it seemed as if life would just go on forever and ever, just as it was.     But alas, here we are, millions of meta-cycles (Earth years) later, staring at a barren and desolate expanse of ruined structures; pieces of a once-great civilization. Dangers lurk at every corner of the rugged terrain--and if anyone is here, it's not because they -want- to be. Most of everyone is either dead or has fled the crumbling surface. Well, that's just what happens when people go to war with themselves for not hundreds of years, or even thousands, but -millions-.     So why is Blurr here? Hiding out in the ruins of the defunct capital city-state of Iacon? Well, he's been on a long-term investigation of the strange behavior displayed by the savage Insecticon horde that has been running wild on the planet for some time. Thus far he and his Union allies have been able to figure out that there's -something-, or someONE, hiding in the multi-tiered bowels of the planet, who is manipulating the Swarm to their will. And whoever that is doesn't want anyone going down there.     Whoever it is, they're hiding -something-... 

:'''{{#var:718|Duke (718)}} has posed:''' The Guilmon X, a Digital monster really, has discovered the wonders of Warpgates. While he and Doran have been doing a great deal of hunting together. He still can not shake off the sounds of war or the fact he killed a man by accident. A fact he has yet to share with Doran in fear his friend will be furious with him and such days to go out on his own for a bit would be ended. So its a secret he keeps to himself and perhaps, one day, he'll share it. Yet by using the Warpgate, he as come upon a very strange world with massive structures and a giants playground really. His gold eyes observe the barren land of metal, as his tail sways side to side. "Hello?" His voice calls out into the wasteland of scrap. His ear fins dropping back slightly. Is this-- what would maybe come of the Digital World as well if it didn't completely vanish into the Multiverse? Is this-- what life could have become? Such thoughts cause Duke to frown to himself as he tries to stay observant. 

:'''{{#var:708|Selaine Marette (708)}} has posed:''' Footsteps ring out, uncertain and clumsy in the ruined haven for beings composed not of flesh, but metal. Their owner is a cowled woman, judging by the persons own shape and bearing a deep frown as she ventures down streets littered by rubbish that only grows more dissatisfied to mask the confusion Selaine, novice tailor and mage begins feels pricking her skin. Fearfully, she starts when the voice echoes loud and clear with a tighter grip on the metal glided staff currently doubling to be a walking stick. Sweat trickles down her back and slowly, cautiously she advances. Keen ears picking up every stray howl of the wind, every creak now imbued with a certain malice. "This is a hostile world." She croaks, licking dry lips "Technology...it always drain the land of its primal essence." Another step. "Hmm...hello? Answer me if you are capable. I mean no harm." 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     Selaine seems to have a good amount of intuition, but the way this place looks certainly wouldn't feel friendly, even to those who were once native to this planet. The both of them had better watch where they are stepping, as there are bits of sharp broken metal debris scattered across the ground. There are so many shadows, too, cast by the various broken-down structures upon the ground and whatever else lay around them. It's difficult to tell if any of them are moving...     Meanwhile, Blurr had been monitoring the area from an old safehouse that he'd been lucky enough to find a while back. Likely it had been used by scouts, spies and couriers like himself during the war, before the planet was eventually evacuated. Its cloaking technology had kept it away from prying optics all this time, which is likely why no one's devoured its rations yet. He sighs when he picks up on a couple of unidentified energy signatures nearby, and attempts to hail them on a broadband frequency, requesting they identify themselves, in case they're capable of receiving such transmissions. 

:'''{{#var:718|Duke (718)}} has posed:''' Duke almost steps on one of those sharp pieces and hops to the side a bit. He eyes it for a moment and his head lifts up, along with his ear fins as he thinks he hears a woman's voice. His gold eyes dart around a bit before, he tries to move a bit toward where he thought he heard the voice, "Hello!" He calls out again, but his voice ends up echoing a bit. This causes him to wince a bit inside. It be hard to say if he wasn't hearing an echo himself which means finding the direction could be hard, this is about the time his comm comes to life with static. He rumbles at it, before trying to talk over it. His child-like voice sounding a touch concerned. "Hello?" Is all he gets out, before his ear fins go back up again as he tries to see maybe he /can/ pin point that voice he heard, while at the same time listening to the hail. Though that is when his gold eyes spots the woman in the distance and they go wide. He then starts to make his way toward her. Jumping over and onto fallen beams and moving at a rather quick clip. His tail aiding in his balance as he runs and attempting to watch where he steps as he runs. 

:'''{{#var:708|Selaine Marette (708)}} has posed:''' Mid step, the girl catches her clompy right boot on a wickedly sharp piece of metal, warped by heat and force into a deadly spiralling corkscrew. It slices through the old leather like it were butter, causing her to jump away and curse softly "Ragnars left kneecap..." After hopping up and down to ascertain no blood was drawn to the now gaping tear in her heel, she continues onward. Only to be startled by the rather ear throbbingly thunderous sound of Duke, twisting round to observe this strange beast who speaks and acts almost like a child. Oddly, the sight of him relaxes her, features and knuckle white grasp of her staff loosening a touch even as her hidden ears flick irritably at the slight buzzing noise incurred by the transmission. "H...Hello." Holding the staff out protectively in front of her-she is still ready for conflict at a moments notice, her voice is clipped and precise. Stiffly formal, "Greetings, fellow traveler...I...is this...monstrosity of a city your own? How did it come to be so...what army razed it to the ground?" 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     The buzzing on the comms starts to clear up after a few seconds, though there is still quite a bit of interference. << This is outpost alpha-050, Iacon sector three, quadrant 2B, do you copy? Searching for IFF signal, please transmit ID string, over. >>     Perhaps there is something alive out there after all?     And speaking of alive, there is yet even further evidence of something or someone out here besides them. A scuffling sound can be heard, like someone digging through the rubble. It's coming from behind the single standing wall of a crumbling warehouse... 

:'''{{#var:718|Duke (718)}} has posed:''' The Digimon is only around four foot and maybe a few inches taller. Though when Blurr speaks up, the only thing Duke has to say to all that is, "Huh?" Cause that all goes over his head. Yet he slows down as he notices the woman seeming perhaps scared of him. He smiles softly, his ear fins perking up, as he tilts his head faintly. "Its ok." The his ear fins go back slightly, before he shakes his head. "Nu-uh. I am just exploring. My name is Duke!" he tells her. Blurr may be able to hear some of this actually. Yet one ear fin lifts up higher then the other as he hears the sound of movement. He gets down low as his tail flicks. Those long claws close to the ground, as he feet claws dig into the metal. He closes his eyes and sniff the air, trying to get a scent of whatever it may be. 

:'''{{#var:708|Selaine Marette (708)}} has posed:''' Yanking down her cowl to reveal ears tapered to a point, the girl rubs at them furiously as the transmission begins to form coherent language that due to multiversal law she understands without any aid from a local translator. Still, her evident relief at locating another living, breathing organic lifeform overrides her quiet grump and Dukes guileless reply does the rest, staff settling with a clunk to rest at her side. Bearing hair the colour of springtime and curiously red eyes, she possibly looks no less outlandish than the Digimon she dwarfs at five foot, six. A rather slender five foot six, admittedly. Canting her head at his actions, the scrabbling noise in the near distance silences any verbal response; instead one sleeved arm raises and stiffly indicates with a hasty flick of the wrist and head bob towards the lone wall. If she hears the full message sent by Blurr, Selaine gives no outward indication other than a brief scowl to mask the noticable sheen of sweat moistening her temple. 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     Ugh, Blurr grumbles to himself. If the signals on the comms array were right, they'd received the transmission but hadn't responded to it. He supposes he'll have to go out and investigate himself. So he heads for the door and carefully slips outside, intent on -not- drawing the attention of the Swarm.     Speaking of the Swarm, when Duke searches out the other side of that wall, he'll find a gargantuan insectoid-looking mech there, feasting upon some poor unfortunate organic that might have accidentally stumbled across this planet through the warpgates. It's difficult to tell what it once was, as it has been torn to bits. Its predator is quite hideous looking, resembling some twisted cross between a hornet and a wheelbug; only it is massive. Ever thought about what an insect would look like if it were gigantic instead of tiny, and how incredibly creepy and disgusting it would be? Well, this is -it-. 

:'''{{#var:718|Duke (718)}} has posed:''' Duke makes sure that the elven like woman stays back, with a paw motion, before he peers at what is on the other side of the wall. He sniffs again and stares. His eye ridges furrow and then realization kicks in. The Digimon gulps gently as he goes to step back carefully, yet his step leads him to almost tripping and he yelps. That was-- a bad idea. His claws scratch across the metal surface, kicking up possible broken pieces of scrap. "Run!" He yells to the woman. He moves toward her, only to make sure she /does/ run. Because after that little stumble, that thing could be after them, and if that didn't trigger it... His yell probably sure did! 

:'''{{#var:708|Selaine Marette (708)}} has posed:''' Panic flares up when Duke shouts, jostling the elbow and magic into action in an eye searing display of shimmering blue fire that reforms, twisting into a dome encasing both Digimon and mage in its protective bubble. The surface gleams, refracting the light into a multicoloured cornea and slowly, like one in a bad dream she begins to stumble away from the horror, aura of protection adhering to their persons but the action has its own consenquences of delaying her considerably, making one elvish meal ripe for the chewing even after she has begun to fumble her way haphazardly through the debris kicked up by the little reptile. 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     That would do it. Duke just -had- yelp aloud, didn't he? The creature turns, and is immediately attracted to the smell of flesh. This cursed planet is so barren, that even an Insecticon is unlikely to find anything good to eat. Much of what is left is just crumbling scrap that barely energizes. Organics are usually small and far from good energon, but at least they are a step up from the garbage that covers this entire terrain.     Despite the protection aura, the Insecticon lunges at the bubble and attempts to tear through it, desperate for even a tiny bit of a meal. Its claws lash wildly out at the shield. 

:'''{{#var:718|Duke (718)}} has posed:''' The Guilmon X runs for his life and ducks into the barrier that Selaine creates. Those gold eyes stare at the bug as it starts to claw against the barrier, then seems to slightly put pressure on the magic caster. Those gold eyes flicker with blue energy, for a Digimon is more then a being of flesh-- they are digital creatures. Flame licks around his maw, rushing past his razor sharp teeth, before he rears back his head and goes to blast fire at the robotic Insect. Moving himself in front of Selaine, as he lets out another blast of fire. His tail moving side to side in great aggitation. His pupils wanting to become slits, but seeming to be pulsating between it. 

:'''{{#var:708|Selaine Marette (708)}} has posed:''' Ordinarily Selaine would never unleash her power and tap into aether reserves to execute a flashy, potentially enviromentally unsound piece of magic to topple an opponent. In fact, her extensive ability is most theoretical and kept to strictly controlled events where she is mistress. Yet, this land is so bereft of natural life as she terms it, the girl becomes convinced as the beast brings down its claws to slice apart their protective bubble she halts. Straightening up hunched shoulders, she dramatically spins around with both hands clutching her staff like her life depends upon it. It probably does. Gritting her teeth, she mentally conjures up twining blue energies that flow upwards, sealing the rift before the large, concrete blast surging past the wrist and emerging in a crackling arc round her fingertips to wind round and send smacking down, overarm throw almost overbalancing the mage entirely in her valiant attempt to send it over and above Duke, trembling from unaccustomed effort. 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     Selaine's bubble holds up remarkably well against the Insecticon's clawed onslaught, fortunately enough for the both of them. The creature seems to take a hint though, and pulls back slightly after realizing that there's some kind of barrier keeping it from its meal. Still, it's not enough to get out of the way of the energy surge that suddenly comes from the deceptively small organic! While Duke's fire attack barely grazed the creature's outer armor, Selaine's blast strikes its target right in the mandibles.     Hissing, the insectoid reels, rearing backward on its hind legs but not quite falling over. It looks even more vile from this angle, with all of its bladed legs flailing. Wings suddenly energe from its back, beating vigorously in an attempt to throw them off their feet! 

:'''{{#var:718|Duke (718)}} has posed:''' The Guilmon X stands his ground, he growls lowly and then roars at the Insectoid. It was a rather pathetic roar, but he was trying to be fierce! His ear fins swoop back and he charges right at the diving metal machine. Yet one gets the worst end of this deal and that is Duke. The Instectoid slams into Duke, cutting across his skin with those bladed fixtures and while some blood is drawn, what is seen is not blood at all. Grid lines and he tear taking on a pixelated fashion across his shoulder to neck. The Digimon staggers back up to his feet, before his eyes narrow sharply. His pupils go sharp as his eyes flicker with blue light. Flame swarm around his maw once more, but this time more power is pulled before he roars out, "FIRE BALL!" and with a blast of flame from his mouth once more. A ball of flame comes rushing out for the Instectoid. Threatening to impact it and explode if it does so. 

:'''{{#var:708|Selaine Marette (708)}} has posed:''' Selaine Marette draws closer, adrenaline and recent victory bringing colour to her cheeks and ditching caution to the wind for a split second, that proves painful when a jagged piece of metal landscaping cuts up her instep, sinking past aged cork to bury itself into her not so tough flesh. It distracts her long enough to diminish the flaming torrent cupped in one hand to a lesser puff, fury rouse when the stalwart defender is cut up viciously during his dive forward. Barely registering until after she tracks a thin trail of blood, staggering over to his side that his wounds are not entirely...within the realm of mortal injuries. Eye widen in tredipidation, she clamps down hard on the hysterical urge to laugh at the entire situation. 

:'''{{#var:677|The Swarm (677)}} has posed:'''     This bug is taking a lot of fire tonight. Literally. First off, Duke's fiery strike hits one of the Insecticon's wings, exploding and setting it aflame. Then Selaine's lesser yet still scorching fireball burns into a leg as it is still howling from the original attack.     It screeches angrily, its wing still on fire, and it crouches slightly before beginning to...well, -puke- at them. A green, slimy and incredibly corrosive liquid spews out of its jaws at them, threatening to burn them right back! 

:'''{{#var:718|Duke (718)}} has posed:''' The Digimon watches as the Insectoid gets what is coming to it and snorts at it. Yet his eyes widen as he notices what is coming next. "Look out!" He yells to Selaine Marette and shoves her aside. The Corrosive hits him square on and he yells in pain. His pupils go to sharp slits and he grits his teeth in pain still. The liquid burning away at his skin and he nearly stumbles over. His gold eyes shutting close as he huffs out some flames. His claws dig into the ground, a low rumble escapes from him, as his eyes snap open with a predatory look to them,         +++BADUM+++ His body starts to glow, as the grid lines expand over his body. A field of energy flickers around him as electrical energy sparks out across the metal surface. He stands up far taller then he was. Going up to about six foot four. The ear fins becoming like spikes, hair extending out from his head and two spikes protruding from his eye ridges in the glow of the light. Once the glow finishes and the data reformed, he lets out a roar that shakes the area, before he snarls his sharp teeth and then goes to leap directly at the Instecticon. He rears back his claws glow brightly as the ignite with plasma and goes to slash it against the metal body of the insect machine. 

:'''{{#var:708|Selaine Marette (708)}} has posed:''' Observing the winged beasts lopsided, drunken flight would bring a smile to the mages pale and pinched features if Selaine was not still in minor shock from bearing witness to what she cannot understand; living data is far beyond any Girdanian, let alone tolerance. Yet after the corrosive liquid lands in a smoky splattering that hisses and churns up the very earth she barely dives right to avoid, her first attempt upon clambering up, fingers knotting themselves as she leans heavily upon her weapon is to tap into what precious aether suffuses the landscape to heal him. Her wooden staff thrums with pent up energy, scored marks burning bright, effervescent blue to be directed through the hands, in a cloud of brightly glimmering mist to descend upon the littlest warrior. Composed from life itself, it soothes and knits back together what was torn, during this time Selaine stands stock still. Eyes soundly shut and lips wordlessly mouthing a quiet apology to what elemental force still resides in such a desolate wasteland. 

:'''{{#var:677|The Swarm (677)}} has posed:'''     Mere claws made of chitin or keratin would have simply snapped off if they'd attempted to dig into the metal hide of the Insecticon, but the plasma is much more effective, melting the outer armor and searing into the circuitry underneath. The montrous insectoid shrieks and howls, swiping at Duke in an attempt to bat him off.     Whether or not that is successful, its body seems to suddenly fold up on itself, rolling up into a disc-shaped form much like a pillbug before it begins to barrel toward Selaine, attempting to run her over! 

:'''{{#var:718|Duke (718)}} has posed:''' The plamsa claws were more effective, but not effective enough. The Insecticon slams the Growlmon X aside and he goes crashing into the ground below with a loud 'ouf'. It was more like listening to a teenager at this point. As he rolls, he eventually flips himself around. Duke's claws digging into the metal as he huffs out smoke from his nostrils. It is also about here he notices that some healing magic comes from the woman and his eyes soften for a moment with a low, thankful rumble. Yet his attention turns back to what must be done. "Is that the best you got?!" He roars out at the bug machine, even as he watches it roll right for the elf woman. "..Oh no you don't!!" His voice was indeed more like a teenager and also a low rumble in it. He charges right after the bug turned ball and then leaps into the air, flipping himself around, before he roars out, "EXHAUST FLAME!" Like the fire ball, he rears back his head and blasts out flame. But unlike a ball... this is a stream of intense molten fire, the explodes across the ground as it impacts. 

:'''{{#var:708|Selaine Marette (708)}} has posed:''' Smoosh. That is the noise a squishy mortal full of fluids and brittle bones makes in Selaines fevered imagination when snapping her eyes open, she notices the gutted and rent disc rolling at breakneck speed. Towards her, no less. Turning round, she tries limping away, staff and arms crossed protectively over the unhelmeted head but overlooks one salient fact; it has both speed and initative. The next several seconds are a pained blurr of suffocation and crushed space, ground into the dirt after what feels like a freight ship slamming into her chest cavity. Reflexes long lost to memory kicks in and wind turned vicious howls and batters against the pillbug, guided by the feeble hand gestures of the trapped woman beneath. It coaxes and whips the molten flame Duke calls forth, permitting it to reach new heights as the girl sinks back with a faint wince for the heated earth. A bit flatter for wear. "H...Wh..were you not...my eyes must be playing tricks." She rasps out, biting back the whimper. 

:'''{{#var:677|The Swarm (677)}} has posed:'''     The rolling disc stops and unfolds once it has crushed its potential meal into the ground, and towers over her, its powerful mandibles snapping threateningly as it prepares to devour her whole.     But it seems it is not snack time today, as Duke's fiery attack strikes the creature in the abdomen, the molten lava melting part of the creature's body and leaving holes in its armor. Additionally, Selaine's wind causes the fire to rise to new heights, and it burns into the Insecticon's underside as well as scorching its legs.     It screeches in pain again, although this time it sounds more desperate and less angry. Beating its wings desperately it attempts to fly away, but this is to no avail due to the damage Duke had done to one of them earlier. Instead, it only manages to flop about uselessly, unable to get off of the ground. Therefore it opts to scurry away toward a large access port leading into the Cybertronian underground, where a large network of tunnels and walkways stretch all the way down to the core of the planet.     And just as the massive creature disappears, another mechanoid, though this one is larger and looks a lot less animal-like, suddenly appears on the scene. Yeah, it's Blurr, having emerged from the safehouse to see who'd been unfortunate enough to find themselves on Cybertron right now. He's a bit battered himself though--it seems he'd run into some trouble as well, which is likely why it took him so long to get here. The Autobot peers down at them. "You guys get the transmission?" He frowns at Selaine's state of injury. "Good Primus, what happened?" Even though he's already got an idea of what happened. 

:'''{{#var:718|Duke (718)}} has posed:''' The Instecticon runs off and Duke roars in its direction. He almost goes after it.. almost. Instead his gold eyes peer over at Selaine, then dart back to watch it go into the tunnels. He growls lowly, snarling in frustration, before at last huffing out smoke from his nostrils. The Growlmon X then walks over to Selaine, before he stares down at the woman. Those gold eyes contemplate her form and her injuries before sighing gently. He crouches down and looks at some of the wounds. His claw becomes plasma like, as he goes to touch her skin. Looking to close the wound with heat. This is though when Blurr shows up and causes Duke to stand at his full height, both of his clawed hands ignore with plasma and he huffs out flames in his general direction. "You want something as well?" He asks with a great deal of aggression in his voice, stepping protectively in front of Selaine. "I just chased off your bug friend! I'll do the same to you as well!" 

:'''{{#var:708|Selaine Marette (708)}} has posed:''' Stirring fitfully at the timely cauterization of her wounds, Selaine snaps smartly back to consciousness and woozy pain. Though her first murmur is along the lines of 'where has it gone' she soon abandons the line of questioning to attempt sitting up, feeling the stinging twinge of bruised ribs and shakily runs a hand through frazzled hair. "Thank...you." Her mouth even curves upward in what might have become a smile had it not been for the focus shifting to Blurr, decidedly inorganic and therefore threatening. Her eyes darkens, yet a hand snakes out to lightly touch Dukes clawed hand; gesturing restraint even as the plasma cause her to hastily retrive the singed fingers. "He...speaks like an ally, his bearing and manner overall...are not like the other." Massaging her sore throat, she continues quietly determined to deter any further battle. "What...and who are you, stranger?" 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     Blurr does a double-take. "Friend? -Friend-???" He shakes his head, sighing. Well, he supposes he can't blame the guy. Still. "I'm sorry but the thing that attacked you is -far- from a friend. They're not exactly -anyone's- friend, for that matter. At least not the ones here, as far as I know. In fact, I had to deal with a few of them myself, otherwise I would've been here earlier to help you out. They are in the habit of eating anything alive that happens to cross paths with them." He seems especially concerned about Selaine's state. "Slag, you're in bad shape." he comments, after running a brief scan. "You got somewhere to go for rep--er, medical attention?" he asks.     "Oh, uh, I'm Blurr." The Autobot replies in response to her question. "I'm Cybertronian, a native to this planet. Or, at least I used to be. I mean I was made here, anyway. No one can really live here any more, as you can already tell." He says, gesturing around the generally ruined landscape. 

:'''{{#var:718|Duke (718)}} has posed:''' The Growlmon X growls lowly, his tail moving side to side in an agitated fashion. He looks to Selaine when she tries to calm him and then back at Blurr when he explains things. He rumbes softly and its when Selaine tries to touch his clawed hand and nearly burns herself, does he reflexive step back. Those claws losing their plasma charge and he crouches down about then. His hair bristling for a moment as he closes his eyes. "She needs help." He then looks at Blurr. "...and I am Duke, but.. help her." He then goes to stand back up. He inhales deeply as he looks at the two. Before he starts to walk off, perhaps back in the direction for the portal. "She is safe now with you here." He glances at the Cybertronian again with a low rumble. 

:'''{{#var:708|Selaine Marette (708)}} has posed:''' "Through your own folly." Selaine mutters with more than a hint of asperity to colour her tone and make it crystal clear how she views this city; when riled, the druidic side is never far away. Then she belatedly registers his remark and unfortunately picks up on his usage of slag. Drawing in her breath, her white skin flushes a brillant red and eyes train on him; like gimlets. "I can..am self repairing, sir." Frost rimes her use of sir, almost spat out. Huffing haughtily through her nose, the girl falls silent for the present, darting a quick, shy glance at Duke. Her unlikely saviour. Unconsiously reaching for him when pain permits, swirl of bluish aether gradually condensing in her palm, other fiercely clutching her staff as if afraid to let it drop. Bestowing in a shower her last benediction upon him when he makes as if to leave. Swallowing hard. Pausing, embarrassment glowing bright. "Pardon. I...nevermind, I thought you said an...offensive word. Please, let us depart together...I feel no other life like ours inhabits this realm amymore." 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     "Er, well I -did- say an offensive word. ButIwasn'tcallingyouapieceoflsag.Iwasjustum..." Blurr glances around nervously. "It was an expletive. Sorry." He says quickly, though not quite as quickly as his previous statement.     Then she makes it clear that she's eager to get the frag out of here. "Ohrighright." He nods, and his body starts to fold down, somewhat like the Insecticon had rolled up into a ball, only he folds up into a hoverspeeder instead. "I'll get you to our ship, and then we'll figure out where you want to go from there." 

:'''{{#var:708|Selaine Marette (708)}} has posed:''' In a stagger hop, Selaine manages to eke out the last reserves of her physical stamina to pile aboard a being entirely dissimilar to herself far as the girl is concerned; nor does she particularly want to hold a discourse on why she dislikes the idea because pragmatism always trumps unease. From there on she would resort to silence and polite, if perfunctory sentences whenever required until they reached base, most of her contemplation spared for what might have befallen such a nation and stripped the land entirely of what she terms 'true life'. Silently. She has a some tact. 

}}

1462/Grand Theft Autobot

2015-02-01T01:11:17Z

Zippy: Created page with "{{Log Header |Date of Scene=2015/01/31 |Location=Southern Urbania |Synopsis=Kyra and Kirikou take a fancy car for a joyride. They wreck things. Oops. |Thanks= |Cast of Charact..."

{{Log Header
|Date of Scene=2015/01/31
|Location=Southern Urbania
|Synopsis=Kyra and Kirikou take a fancy car for a joyride. They wreck things. Oops.
|Thanks=
|Cast of Characters=127, 492, 626
|Tinyplot=
|Tinyplot2=
|pretty=yes
}}
{{Poses
|Poses=:'''{{#var:626|Kyra Hyral (626)}} has posed:'''     Southern Urbania, the mecca of multiversal entertainment, is extremely packed today due to an incoming, long-standing earth tradition known as a "super bowl." Although the actual event is the next day, setting up and travel has been well underway throughout the entirety of Saturday. The streets are packed with campers sporting the latest of tailgating technology and hotels are filled to the brim.     But for one teenager, the buildup to this event is regarded with a bit of fascination but nothing approaching full interest. Her world has this sport too and it wasn't something she was terribly into. It was unfortunate timing on Kyra's part that she was in this part of the city amongst so many other fans when all she had wanted to do was visit that Robot Master museum. Orginally, she'd tried to take the bus but traffic became so bad, she bailed and opted to walk instead.     It seems to be working. The bus she was taking is still jammed in gridlock four blocks away and she only had two blocks left to go. 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     Speaking of robots, there are people in the multiverse who are robots. Like Blurr, who is also stuck in the traffic jam. Except he can't just get up and walk like Kyra can. Well, okay...he can. But even people in the multiverse often tend to have a negative reaction to his 'true' form.     Thus, he's stuck grumbling about the traffic and organics' backward technology. He's definitely not the patient type. 

:'''{{#var:626|Kyra Hyral (626)}} has posed:'''     A seemingly endless trail of trailers stretches down the street, crawling painfully slow. Deeper in, intersections cross at every block, accompanied by traffic lights which seems to be the source of everyone's pain. Farther up ahead, police are moving about to hopefully mitigate this-but for Blurr, it doesn't look like relief isn't coming anywhere soon.     Kyra walks by, passes Blurr, then stops suddenly. With a frown, she retraces her steps, walks by Blurr again, then stops a second time, turning to look at the hovercar.     She edges up to the curb and leans over, squinting at the vehicle as if to try and spot the driver. "...hello?" she says experimentally, figuring she must be mishearing things. 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     Ugh, why oh why did Blurr decide to go -through- the city instead of around it? This was ridiculous. Not that today's cargo was all that time-sensitive, thank Primus (well if it were he would have just transformed and ran and tried not to step on anything), but he just -hates- waiting.     And then, someone is 'helloing' at him, all of a sudden. Quickly, his holomatter avatar appears in the driver's seat--hopefully she didn't catch it materializing suddenly like that. It resembles a teen-aged boy. "Oh uh, hey." The avatar replies. "What's up?" 

:'''{{#var:127|Kirikou (127)}} has posed:'''     In this huge event known as Superbowl, there's definitely cause for Confederate interest. Disruption of celebration, opportunistic theft, graft and bribery, bookmaking...     Then there's Kirikou. He just likes athletics and having a good time. There's no such celebration in his own world, so he's drawn to the biggest such festival he can find. Not for any nefarious purpose... just that he's heard of it and wants to check it out before anyone he knows might get the big idea to use the distraction as part of a scheme.     Of course he's not alone. The twins, seemingly everpresent except in battle, are two steps behind as he exits a shop, holding the door with one hand and an ice cream cone with the other. The twins, naturally, each have ice cream too and are holding each other's hands. He turns onto the street, glancing around, trying to decide what to check out next. 

:'''{{#var:626|Kyra Hyral (626)}} has posed:'''     Traffic inches forward a foot, then abruptly stops again. Someone up ahead leans on their horn.     For Kyra, she sees a flicker of movement out of the corner of her eye and then-suddenly-she finally sees the 'driver' of the hovercar. She squints, swearing that she hadn't seen the kid before-but then again, the other explanation for the voices she heard coming from the car was just too silly ('maybe it was the car'). An embarassed look falls upon Kyra's hooded face. "Um..hi...I think your car looks cool, that's all." she says hastily. "But...uh.."     Kyra gestures at the hovering-ness of the vehicle, "Can't you take it up vertically and bypass this cluster? That's what I'd be doing if I was driving that." She half grins and steps back from the street. "Just a thought! Good luck!" 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     The avatar grins at the compliment, because she just told Blurr he looked awesome. Which he definitely does. It's always nice to hear it from someone else, though, even a complete stranger. "Thanks! It is pretty cool." he says with a nod. "And thanks for the suggestion, but that might damage the other vehicles. Then I'd get in trouble, which I'd rather not." If he weren't worried about causing damage, well, he would've just gotten up and run. 

:'''{{#var:127|Kirikou (127)}} has posed:'''     Kirikou's about to turn back down the street, heading the other way, when he feels a tug. Looking down, he frowns, then looks in the indicated direction. He doesn't QUITE recognize the girl talking into that car, but the hood's kind of unmistakeable. And while he might be mistaken, there's at least one good way to find out if he's right.     Kirikou approaches, rather surreptitiously. As he's approaching from behind Kyra he's probably not terribly obvious to her at least, but he's fairly obvious to anyone else on the street and probably to the person in the car. And while he tries to look nonchalant, in case he's mistaken and it turns out this is just some random girl he doesn't know who'd consider him trouble, well, he's trying to look like he's not looking. Which, in itself, is pretty bloody blatant. Few things are as obvious as a teenage boy trying not to look like he's checking out a cute girl, even if that's not exactly what he's trying to do. Of course if it were known he was Kyra's enemy, his surreptitious approach may appear to be something else entirely! 

:'''{{#var:626|Kyra Hyral (626)}} has posed:'''     "I dunno, seems like you might have enough room here." Kyra shrugs at the guy and leans back to look forward, ahead of the cars in front of Blurr. "Oh, looks like they're trying to set something up so those lights don't kill you. Um. Anyway, good luck getting to where you want to go!" None the wiser, Kyra gives the guy a pleasant wave. Much to his relief, it looks like she's backing off with his deception entirely intact.     Though at the same time, she also seems entirely unaware of Kirikou's presence. Kyra doesn't depart just yet, pulling something out from beneath her hoodie-which turns out to be a pair of over the ear, expensive-looking earphones. Kyra pulls down the hood so she can fix these to her ears and thus block out any further instances of mistaken talking cars.     It's no doubt to Kirikou now: that's definitely Kyra. 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     Blurr is relieved when Kyra doesn't seem to be suspicious. The holomatter disappears once she turns her back, though the Autobot notices the strange man who seems to be trying to purposefully head the girl's way yet not look purposeful at the same time.     And doing an absolutely terrible job of it. Clearly the guy didn't have any kind of real training in that regard. He can't help but chuckle inwardly at it. 

:'''{{#var:127|Kirikou (127)}} has posed:'''     While not the most blatant of Confederates or of Death Academy students, Kirikou's not really suited for stealth and deception. It doesn't help that he's usually accompanied by a pair of children who, while silent, are about as unobtrusive as lit fireworks.     It's the first time he's seen Kyra push her hood aside to don headphones. The first time her rather cool piercings are revealed to him. Still, in that moment he definitely recognizes her profile. Now that he KNOWS it's her, there's no need to fear approaching the wrong girl and coming off like some stalker creep or desperate ... teenager. He is, of course. A teenager that is, not desperate or a stalker.     When he calls out, it's casual, easygoing. "Kyra! That's you, huh? What're you doing here?" he asks cheerfully. He's not selfconscious at all, apparently. It's a contrast to his earlier behavior, but only because he looked like he was doing something wrong. In his own mind he was just exercising caution that's no longer needed. 

:'''{{#var:626|Kyra Hyral (626)}} has posed:'''     A hand strays into one of Kyra's pockets and she seems to be moments away from switching on some sweet, sweet Mogstep when she hears someone call her name. Now that moment, though muffled by her earphones, she's pretty sure it was definitely someone calling her name. "Eh..?" she peels one of the headphones off and looks around, turning to find Kilik approaching her. There's a moment of recognition followed by a smile.     "Hi Kilik!" she says cheerfully. "Me? Just heading to the Robot Master museum. Though if I known there was gonna be a huge football event here I would have picked a different weekend. What about you? Are you here for the football?" Moments after she's spilled her greeting and asked her question does her smile slowly lessen.     "Oh. Um. That...who Union...Confederate thing. Um...how...much of a problem is that going to be?" she asks in a vague and extremely awkward tone. 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     After running a simple scan of the strange boy, Blurr determines that he's Confederate, which immediately raises suspicion. He continues to watch from the street, monitoring the situation closely in case the Fed has some kind of nasty surprise waiting to be revealed. 

:'''{{#var:127|Kirikou (127)}} has posed:'''     "Heard there was a big party here this weekend." Kirikou confirms with a grin. "Not sure what Robot Master thingy's all about, but..." he pauses, shrugs. He doesn't really know football either. Museums don't sound all that much fun to him though. "You sure picked a bad time to show!" he says, laughing.     His laugh fades as Kyra's expression begins to go serious, and his brows furrow at the reason. "Huh? Well, if you want it to, I guess?" he says uncomfortably. "I'm not hiding it. I guess I thought you kinda knew when you two came to see Shibusen?" he says a little awkwardly. "But ... I guess you didn't." he finishes lamely. "We could end up fighting each other any time, I guess. I don't know if you're cool with that." he says. No, he doesn't look like he's getting ready to fight. Not afraid either, just uncomfortable. "Uh... so what about you? And Dominic?" he asks, peering towards the car, expecting to see Kyra's friend inside it. 

:'''{{#var:626|Kyra Hyral (626)}} has posed:'''     Sadly, it sounds like a museum is of interest to Kyra. She must be some kind of NERD. "It's a big football game so there's going to be lots of parties. I guess that would be fun to go to if I had some friends to go with! It'd be a matter of luring them over. Completely possible though she didn't know if any of them were too interested in football.     "Well...no, we didn't know. I kind of don't want it to be a problem. I mean it's like...no hard feelings and just business, right? You're a cool guy, Kilik." Kyra's definitely not ready to throw down herself, though given her particular skillset that might not be such a surprise. "Personally, I'd rather not have to fight you because you looked pretty fierce out there." She holds up her hands in a sort of surrendering gesture. "You'd kick my ass!" she laughs.     She lowers those hands and looks as Kilik peers towards the car. "I'd have to ask Dominic. Or maybe you should chat with him again sometime. He's not here with me right now-eheheh, and that's not my car." 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     It seems a bit odd to Blurr that Union and Fed are talking in such a friendly fashion, letting their guard down? Well it just wasn't something he was used to at all. It's not like he does that with Decepticons. In fact, it would be considered fraternizing with the enemy. So this is definitely weird to him. But it's probably weird to them, especially Kyra as she glances back at the car, that now the driver whom she'd been talking to only a moment ago appears to no longer be there.     And actually, there is -no one- in the car any more. 

:'''{{#var:127|Kirikou (127)}} has posed:'''     Kirikou has friends who are nerds. One who even named himself after a dictionary. There's nothing inherently wrong with nerds, not to him. Especially nerds who don't let their nerdiness stop them from taking a stand against the bad guys. Of course some would call HIM one of those bad guys... but that's just something he has to live with.     Kirikou can see that it's not Dominic in the car. Definitely puzzling... there seems to be NO ONE in the car. That's just plain weird, but not so weird that he decides he has to do anything about it.     "Well then, no hard feelings!" Kirikou says. He even relaxes somewhat when Kyra laughs. And yes, part of that's because a girl called him fierce. He's not immune to a little ego-stroking. But he does seem friendly, yeah. No sign of hostility, and none of weapons to anyone who doesn't realize the children behind him are his weapons. Of course that's fairly common knowledge to the Multiverse by now, thanks to numerous battles and the WMAT. "I'm not here to fight, and I've got a few friends who also happen to be with the Union. As long as everyone understands that battle and personal are different, I don't see a problem!" he claims, shrugging. "Though... uh, I mean I DID tell you I killed people, right? For Lord Death?" he asks, reaching up to scratch his cornrowed head in puzzlement. In point of fact he hadn't said 'people'. He'd said 'monsters'. "I honestly wasn't tryin' to hide who I was and what I did. But it surprised me when I found out you were part of that Light... whatever club thing." 

:'''{{#var:626|Kyra Hyral (626)}} has posed:'''     Kyra frowns. Where'd the driver go? There was one there just a second ago. She takes a moment to lean towards the car and peer inside, then look through it out the window. "...wow, I guess that guy wanted to ragequit the traffic after all. Looks like he just left his car here running. That's just going to make the backup worse." She sighs, then turns back to Kilik.     "Well, yeah, I remember that. I figured it was just part of the missions you had to do for Death Academy. You know, for your 'tuition'. And I'm pretty sure you said monsters. I mean...it's not a big deal, it's not like I straight up asked 'hey are you a member of the Confederates', right?"     She brightens a little. "Light Warriors. You've heard of us? Yeah, most of the members are also Union-allied but...not all of them." Mirelle comes to mind which actually bothered her a little. Kyra had been under the impression that the club was an all-in thing else she might have tried to avoid the giant military-esque superfaction. 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     Blurr curses inwardly. Oh, slag.. he'd been so focused on watching the Fed that he hadn't noticed Kyra look back his way. Oh what to do now? He wasn't supposed to let anyone know he was here. So he follows through on Kyra's assumption that the driver had 'ragequit', and just sits there, continuing to block traffic.     ...Which doesn't make people very happy. Lots of horns go off, and several angry drivers start shouting as well.     "'EY! What's the problem?! Get moving the light's green!" Someone shouts indignantly.     ...Great. 

:'''{{#var:127|Kirikou (127)}} has posed:'''     It's all in the way you think of them. 'Monsters', when Kirikou's trying to be a decent guy and not scare people. 'People' when... well, at other times. He looks a bit sheepish. "People who're monsters." he clarifies. "Or maybe more like monsters who were people. The Union'd hunt 'em down too... Difference is a lot of them wouldn't try to kill." he says. And... yes, he sounds rather disgusted. As if the idea of offering monsters mercy is appalling.     It's a bit of an awkward topic. Even Kirikou recognizes that. Grasping for something else, he gestures to the car. "Well, people're getting pissed. If your friend took off, he's a jerk leaving the car running in this kind of traffic. Why don't we pull the car off the road so people can get around it? It's still running, right? Easier than pushing it." he grins. 

:'''{{#var:626|Kyra Hyral (626)}} has posed:'''     "Oh. Huh. Uh..yeah, it does work a little differently on your world, doesn't?" Kyra had heard that some places had a high person to monster (of the literal kind that Kyra knows) transformation rate. Kilik's was one of them, right? When someone started getting a taste for souls, they'd hit that downward spiral and bam.     She taps her finger to her chin, "That seems to be the case with a bunch of them, I agree. Not all...D comes to mind. And-" A honked horn interrupts her thoughts and she notices that people behind the now-immobile car are starting to get angry.     "The guy in that car wasn't my friend. I didn't even know his name." Kyra shrugs, "But that's a good idea. We should get the car out of the way-c'mon, Kilik."     Kyra steps out into the street and starts poking around to find some kind of release latch on the hoovercar to get into the "cockpit." Maybe she has misunderstood the whole pulling thing Kilik mentioned but it looks like she has every intention of driving it somewhere. She also doesn't seem to care that this probably counts as grand theft auto. "We'll just find a place to park it illegally so it'll get towed and the guy that abandoned it can deal with the consequences. It's not fair for him to hold up traffic like this." 

:'''{{#var:127|Kirikou (127)}} has posed:'''     Isn't it weird how in some worlds, dead people don't leave shining soul fragments, and don't have their own souls vividly tainted by devouring the souls of the innocent? It's one of those oddities Kirikou's had to get used to. In his world, it makes things very black and white. You've got monsters, and you got people who kill monsters.     D is... a very special case. "You don't know D." he says, sounding more regretful than anything. "D was merciful once. He trusted, and spared lives when he didn't need to kill. Then he got betrayed." Kirikou says. And by the tone of the boy's voice... he was there. And probably he was directly involved. He sounds regretful rather than morose, but still.     He's only cheered up by Kyra's suggestion. "Door can't be locked, not if the car's still running." he points out, moving around to the passenger side. He could drive of course, even if he's underage, but figures Kyra's probably licensed. No need to assert himself here like a jerk and try to do things she can handle just fine. "And if it IS locked, a little broken glass is better than the car running dry and blocking traffic the whole time. And the cops coming to haul it away." he adds reasonably, cracking his knuckles with a grin that's somewhat less than reasonable. 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     Ugh. Ugh. Uuughhh...     This was the most frustrating thing that has happened to Blurr this decacycle. Seriously. These -people-. Why won't they just leave him alone! He is half-tempted to just blow cover and run away, but with this kind of traffic and how crowded the streets are, he's bound to step on someone by accident. Or some valuable piece of property or something.     Well, he supposes, he can let them do what they're saying they'll do. Then maybe they'll leave him alone. So yes, the doors unlock. They were locked before, but suddenly they unlock, strangely enough. 

:'''{{#var:626|Kyra Hyral (626)}} has posed:'''     "Betrayed...?" Kyra's...curious. She wants to ask more and she seems like she wants to ask Kilik since it sounds like he knows. D hasn't exactly been a very talkative or friendly person to her lately, even brushing off her concerns of finding a proper way to heal him. "That's...sad to hear, I guess."     She tries the door to the hovercar and frowns. "Huh, it seems locked. You might have to punch a window in." She glances to him, catching that grin, and realizing that he'd enjoy that. But all the sudden-click.     "Oh." Kyra pulls the door open. "Nevermind, false alarm!" Kyra pushes her way into the driver's seat and starts to look around. It does seem like she knows how to drive though she doesn't seem to be immediately familiar with the layout of this car. Wiggling her fingers, she takes the wheel and tries to put it in drive, pulling on the first thing she sees that looks like a gear shift. 

:'''{{#var:127|Kirikou (127)}} has posed:'''     Kirikou and the Twins pile into the car. Fire and Thunder are enthusiastic, though perhaps eerily silent as they scramble through the door Kirikou opens and then into the back between the seats. And Kirikou's not really a destructive vandal or anything. He just likes karmic payback, and knocking in a window on a car left to idle in Superbowl traffic strikes him as very karmic indeed.     His expression gets a little bit worried when he sees Kyra fumbling around with the driving bits. "You HAVE driven a car before right?" he asks, wondering if perhaps he just signed a death warrant for himself and the twins. Not that he thinks she'd deliberately kill them. It's just the intense possibility of an accident that has him concerned. 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     The car is certainly not your typical Ford. It's very fancy, perhaps this guy had it custom made, or something. The inside is also extremely immaculate, as if it were brand new and no one had ever even touched it. But Kyra seems to get the right idea, and the transmission shifts as she pulls the lever, and as it shifts the vehicle lifts slightly higher off of the road than before.     It handles like a dream. Better than any car she's ever driven before. Is it even -possible- for a car to handle that well? Maybe she can even do what she'd suggested to the 'driver' before...to drive on top of the rest of the cars, since it is a hovercraft, at all. 

:'''{{#var:626|Kyra Hyral (626)}} has posed:'''     "Of course I have!" Kyra sounds slightly offended and very defensive. "Just not THIS car in particular. The controls are a little different. I don't ride chocobo all the time."     Fortunately for everyone involved, Kyra does not drive cars like she cooks. She's a reasonable, if a little aggressive now that she's in traffic, driver. "...hmmmm." She hums thoughtfully and pushes the gear shift a little more to see how much air she can get off of this hovercar. "I'm going to drive over the traffic. It IS a hovercar after all." Yes, it looks like she'll do just that before something awful happens and she gets tempted to take the hovercar for a joyride through the air. "Damn, this is a smooth ride. It's like piloting a cloud." 

:'''{{#var:127|Kirikou (127)}} has posed:'''     Kirikou raises his hands, palms open in an obvious hands-off gesture. "Okay!" he agrees, defensively. No doubt sounding like he thinks Kyra was perhaps a bit too touchy. Feelings, at least non-warrior feelings, aren't his strong point.     He does seem to appreciate the driving however. Not to mention the car. "Hey, this IS pretty cool. I got to get me one of these." he notes, grinning. "Y'know, we COULD take it for a spin before we park it back around here somewhere..." he suggests, a glint of mischief behind his glasses. 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     Up, up, the hoverspeeder goes, and soon they are indeed riding on top of the other cars. And dang, it's -fun-. It is almost just like riding on a cloud! So light, and so versatile! As for Blurr, he just lets them do their thing...in hopes that they'll eventually leave him alone. After all if the other cars get damaged he can at least blame them and say he was trying to maintain his cover.     ...And speaking of damaging the other cars, well. He'd been right about that. They may or may not notice that the tops of the cars they are riding over bend and buckle as they pass over from the heat of the upward thrusters. Well they'd better hope those people have good insurance. 

:'''{{#var:626|Kyra Hyral (626)}} has posed:'''     Damn straight she was touchy! Of all the things she couldn't do, driving was not one of them. She seems to calm down when he concedes to leave his life in her hands. Besides, if they do wreck, she's a white mage. She can heal him. Barring something super, super bad.     "...we could. I wonder just how high this thing can get. Though if it works like Float does-" which seems to be the case. A hovercar isn't exactly a /flying/ car. "-I don't think we can get it that high-hmm, let's see if we can get away from this gridlock." She hears the noises beneath and looks up in the rear view mirror. "...ooh. Uh oh. Okay, so cars cannot support a hovercar." Kyra makes a face and makes the car speed up, perhaps to minimize the damage being done and perhaps to get the heck away from the cars that were damaged. OOPS. 

:'''{{#var:127|Kirikou (127)}} has posed:'''     Cars are designed to take a certain amount of force from 'above' and not risk harm to the occupants. That's why Kirikou doesn't freak out at the blare of horns and stuff. At least no one's actually being hurt. A little denting in the roof's not actually hurting anyone, so no big deal!     Still, might be a good idea to put the car down sooner rather than later. Joyriding is one thing. Smashing up cars while doing so... well, that's not really Kilik's sort of thrill. He shrugs it off though, glancing back at the twins before looking to Kyra and shrugging. "I won't tell the Union if you don't?" he suggests conspiratorially, smirking. 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     Oh, Kyra wants Blurr to go faster? Well of course he can go faster! -Much- faster! In fact, as soon as she begins pressing down on the accelerator--     ZOOM!     The vehicle bursts forward in an explosion of speed, quickly breaking the sound barrier and leaving a sonic boom in its wake. Which shatters glass and knocks street lamps and power lines over for quite a distance around. This -definitely- doesn't make the denizens of Urbania happy, although they don't really have much time to say anything to the two, or even figure out just -who- was responsible, because they are far out of the city before long. And oh, the G-forces push hard...though thankfully not so hard that any of them turn into human pancakes. 

:'''{{#var:626|Kyra Hyral (626)}} has posed:'''     Though she's not HURTING anyone, Kyra's a little not okay with breaking other people's stuff like that. "Tell the Union what?" Kyra responds to Kilik with a grin on her face. "Last I checked I was doing a good deed." She tries to accelerate.     "WAH!" she cries out. It works a little too well and Kyra finds herself plastered against the seat, unable to move for those few moments, though not being crushed. There's an expression of surprise on her frozen face. "...definitely...not telling the Union." she eeks out as they ZOOM out of town. 

:'''{{#var:127|Kirikou (127)}} has posed:'''     "Oh SHIIIT!" Kirikou cries out as they rocket forward. The Twins, for their part, actually do manage to wail a little. They don't vocalize, but they CAN produce some sound. They're okay, but they're sitting in the back seat clinging to each other like ... well, like kids in a crashing airplane.     "What the hell are you doing?!" Kirikou demands, his voice a mixture of scared, exhilarated and angry. "No way we can go put this car back now! They'll have every cop in the city looking for us!" he claims. "... So much for the robot museum huh?" he asks, looking sidelong at Kyra and cracking a sudden grin. 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     Once they're a good long distance out of town, Blurr veers sharply off of the road suddenly, a maneuver quite impossible for any human driver. Centrifugal force has him riding sideways now, and the doors flip open, effectively dumping the kids unceremoniously out onto the ground.     As soon as that's done, the Autobot's chassis unfolds, flipping outward and upward in a series of mechanical plates shifting and gears turning. He grumbles audibly and glares at them indignantly. "Thanks, guys. -THANKS-." is all he says, before he zooms off again at that incredible speed. 

:'''{{#var:626|Kyra Hyral (626)}} has posed:'''     "Shit shit shit!! I didn't mean for it to go THAT fast!!" Kyra exclaims, realizing that Kilik is right. It sure as hell looks like she just stole a car and fled the city with it. "We'll just dump it out here and leave, they'll find it eventually, right?" She reaches for the wheel, about to turn the car around and hit the breaks, looking for a spot to land when suddenly THE CAR ACTS ON ITS OWN.     Kyra falls out of the opened door, faceplanting onto the ground, with Kilik no doubt falling in afterwards. If she's unlucky, on /top/ of her. She starts to pick herself up and witnesses the hovercar transform and talk to them.     Kyra has nothing to say, she just kind of lies there gaping. 

:'''{{#var:127|Kirikou (127)}} has posed:'''     Kirikou gets ejected from the car, and so do the twins. Fortunately the kids are kids, and so lack the mass to be hurt from a tumble. And Kirikou is himself; too tough to be more than shaken and maybe bruised a little.     He pulls himself up, breathing hard, and checks on Fire and Thunder first of all. The twins are fine though, and he finally glances over at Kyra. "Girl, you musta drove me crazy!" he says, grinning slightly. "Because I think I just saw a car turn into a robot and get pissed at us for stealing it!" he adds. "I mean seriously. The hell was that?" he adds, reaching back to rub ineffectually at a sore shoulder blade. 

:'''{{#var:626|Kyra Hyral (626)}} has posed:'''     "I...I don't know." Kyra finally says as she stands, her face bright red. She grabs the edges of her hoodie and pulls the hood back up over her head. "I seriously have no idea!" 

}}

1252/Metal Encounter!

2015-01-03T18:30:15Z

Zippy: Created page with "{{Log Header |Date of Scene=2015/01/03 |Location=Urbania |Synopsis=Dex faces a new and formidable foe, who severely underestimate his allies. |Thanks= |Cast of Characters=27, ..."

{{Log Header
|Date of Scene=2015/01/03
|Location=Urbania
|Synopsis=Dex faces a new and formidable foe, who severely underestimate his allies.
|Thanks=
|Cast of Characters=27, 304, 332, 459, 492, 578, 673
|Tinyplot=
|Tinyplot2=
|pretty=yes
}}
{{Poses
|Poses=:'''{{#var:332|Dex Alruin (332)}} has posed:'''     Dex sighs, gathering his weapons and gear and making his way back to his homeworld. He knew immediately what was going on, and also knew it wasn't one of the Realms he had previously fought. He leaps out of a warpgate, with his bow already in hand as his battle armor snaps into existence. The surroundings aren't extravagant, just the rippling silver alloy that, for Dex's part, he can't identify. Metallics experts might notice that it's a sort of rare material that can be found in meteorites, but not in enough quantity to form the floor at their feet.     And who are they?     One is a feminine figure, and the other is masculine. Aside from that, however, not much is clear. They seem to be comprised of the same sort of alloy around them, only a darker silver. They're humanoid in structure, but their faces are blank. Literally blank. No eyes or other facial features. The shoulders flare out a bit as though they are wearing armor, but their bodies are one solid color. They seem to be of lean build, not particular imposing. However, the fact that they seem to be living metal is enough to take Dex by surprise. He stops short, drawing his bow and nocking an arrow. "Alright," he says, "So what's your guys' deal?"     They remain silent. The male, though he has no mouth, speaks after a moment. "We will wait for your allies." His voice has an odd echo, a dreamlike quality. 

:'''{{#var:578|Freya (578)}} has posed:''' Freya hums a tune lightly to herself as she steps out the warpgate, human sized right now she there enough panic going on without her causing more! She smiles and waves to Dex. "hello!", she not carrying any weapons on her.. She looks over the two figures in armor. "I guess these are the two that put out the challenge?", she wait to see who else shows up. 

:'''{{#var:304|Black Arachnia (304)}} has posed:''' Apart from getting directions to Dex's homeworld, Black Arachnia is relatively silent about the whole process of getting there ... and even when she emerges through the warpgate, the Maximal spider doesn't make radio contact with her fellow Unionites in much of a hurry. In fact, she's inclined to maintain radio silence for a while if the situation allows; she'd rather climb up the far side of a building from the two interlopers and size up the 'invaders' without openly revealing her presence to them. The fact that they don't seem to have *eyes* is a pretty good hint that they don't depend on the visual spectrum to detect objects, obstacles, or other people ... but if that's the case, even her electro-disruptor might not let Black Arachnia stay hidden from them. Which would be annoying - stealth and surprise are pretty good advantages for her. 

:'''{{#var:459|Alexis (459)}} has posed:''' So instead of demons this time it's some sort of metallic terraforming? Still not a good thing, considering these realm invaders tend to have no concern for whoever they're messing up the world of. Dex usually appreciates the help dealing with these sort of things so might as well lend a hand in the matter. A dragonic shilouette passes over the city before banking a turn and coming at an angle towards where Dex and the others are gathering. As it draws near it becomes easier to make out as the familiar form of a Charizard. The winged firelizard pulls up to skim close to the ground just long enough to let Alexis drop off his back, hitting the ground with enough momentum to skid a bit before stopping. Redline pulls up into a loop, only to fade into a red glow as he doubles back towards her and disappears into one of the pokeballs clipped to her belt. "So." The pink pigtailed tomboy strolls almost casually up to Dex. "What unwanted company are we dealing with this time?" 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     Black Arachnia isn't the only one preferring to stay low. A small stealth vessel appears in lower geosynchronous orbit not long after the signal is broadcasted, and Blurr hits his orbital jump switch to beam down to the surface. A bright blue column of light flashes through the sky momentarily as he materializes near the Maximal and starts scoping out the situation, focusing on scanning the strange metallic substance on the ground near Dex's opponents.     He opens a comm channel to Black Arachnia. << Any idea what it is? >> Are they made out of the stuff, or is it just covering their bodies and there's something else inside? Did they actually alter the physical properties of the ground they're standing on, or is the alloy just coating the surface? 

:'''{{#var:27|Jonothon Starsmore (27)}} has posed:''' ('Ruddy Nora.') Hearing a death threat vs. someone else in the Multiverse is enough of a thing for Jono to get moving. It takes him a bit to find the place though. But he's moderately familiar with where it's happening at. So he heads there on his motorcycle. Typical earth guy on a typical earth motorcycle. Since he's got his face wrapped up anyway.... 

:'''{{#var:673|Rory White (673)}} has posed:'''     It may go without notice very easily. A tiny disk the size of a frisbee wobbles in the air like a flying saucer... though, 'wobbling' is too strong. It's vibrating and shaking but almost imperceptibly. It glints in the light, but only from the right angles.     As it's no more than the size of a frisbee, perhaps it may go entirely unnoticed.     But it's slowly circling the reported site, having come from the warp gate with all due haste. And it's rather active, radio-wise - whatever it is. 

:'''{{#var:332|Dex Alruin (332)}} has posed:'''     As Freya and Alexis join him, Dex glances back and notices Black Arachnia as well. He shrugs, keeping his bow aimed on the male figure. They don't seem to move actively, but instead pulse a bit in rhythm with the ground. "I don't know," Dex replies, keeping his eyes forward, "They're not from a world I'm familiar with yet." The female's voice echoes across the area. "We are known as Cybermetals, Champions of the Alloy Realm." She offers no more explanation than that, still seeming to wait on more of them. She does, however, cock her head toward Black Arachnia, sightless face riveting on the Maximal.     More Elites begin to show up, but the figures still don't speak. Each of the arrivals is noted, however. A small hand gesture, an almost unseen movement of the head. It seems as though they are studying the numbers. Plotting. Attempting to determine threats and possible attack vectors. Or maybe they really are as blind as they appear. Either way, as the Saucer spins overhead, Blurr drops down near Black Arachnia, and Jono approaches via motorcycle, they return their attention to Dex.     The male speaks up. "We will vaporize you, absorb you into the Metal Stream, and then add this world to our growing collection. Allies of Dexter Alruin, your energy reserves will be a welcome boost to our combat capabilities against the non-practice Realms. From the Metal Collective, we thank you." Dex rocks back on his heels, then unleashes an arrow. "I'm not practice, you fucks! I'm going to win this stupid War and make sure it doesn't happen again!"     The arrow flies true... and then is absorbed by the metal body of the male figure. There's a loud rumble, as though the entire mass they stand on is laughing. Dex recoils, hard, then gasps in pain. It seems impossible, but...     The arrow he just fired is currently lodged in the young man's right shoulder. "Do not bother resisting," the female chimes, "We have heard that Dexter has surrounded himself with powerful allies. However, this will not change the fact that you cannot eliminate us. Your defeat is assured." 

:'''{{#var:578|Freya (578)}} has posed:''' "Your kind really irriate me. Would be conquers who spout on and on about there own superity.", Freya says as she walks towards the two metal figures. The battle hasn't even started..", and quite suddenly she is huge, tall as a building huge!", she reaches down and tires to grab the female armored one. "..and don't get so cocky!" 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     Blurr listens to the conversation. Metal collective? Some kind of integration? Sounded like some crazy gestalt thing they were trying to assimilate more energy into. After tossing ideas back and forth over the Union frequency, it seems Team Good has come up with some kind of a plan. A plan that involves -ramming-. And Primus, Blurr can ram, given how fast he can move.     Abruptly, he dashes forward, transforming as he goes, his body folding downward over and over again into itself until he resembles a sleek, mostly-blue hover speeder that is heading -straight- for the male-looking slagface at an incredible speed. "Reflect -this-, scrapheaps!" he taunts. This'll be the car 'crash' of the vorn if he hits! 

:'''{{#var:459|Alexis (459)}} has posed:''' Alexis pffs softly, though it's enough to make her bangs flutter briefly. "Don't count your energy before it's collected." Though when Dex gets somehow shot with his own arrow she does take pause a moment, halfway in reaching over her shoulder for her bag. Okay, if they're gonna do that, whipping out her own weapon probably isn't going to be a good prospect just yet. So instead she opts for the typical Trainer methods, snagging a dark colored pokeball off her belt and lobbing it out. "You think you can just waltz into other worlds and 'collect' them? Not gonna be as easy as you think it is. Go, Won Ton!" From the flash of energy released by the ball a large, rotund form materalizes in front of her, resembling that of a giant panda. That clenches his massive hand-like paws into fists, twitching the twig of bamboo from one corner of his mouth to the other, and hmphs. "Pangoro." <What's this, some sort of metal bullies>" "Something like that." Alexis replies. "Why don't you rock their world a little?" <Hmph.> Won Ton winds back one of his huge arms. <EARTH SHATTER!> And slams the fist into the ground with the force of a piledriver, sending upheaving shockwaves through it with the Bulldoze attack. Sure, the shockwave can cause damage to the targets if it hits them. But Alexis is aiming more for the fact that it breaks up the ground, and hopefully will break up some of that metal formation they're trying to spread. Never let the enemy have a terrain advantage if you can manage it. 

:'''{{#var:673|Rory White (673)}} has posed:'''     A message is relayed through rapid tight-beaming, in hopes of keeping the Cybermetals from receiving it. Who it's from isn't so clear, but the voice is female.     "If they reflect energy and seek energy, deny them energy. Energy is mass and mass is energy. If you at all can, use cold. Ice!"     The Saucer apparently is also a radio relay, who knew? 

:'''{{#var:27|Jonothon Starsmore (27)}} has posed:''' And then suddenly all hell is breaking loose. If they absorb energy, Jono's not likely to be of much help in fighting them. But he can stick by Dex and try to defend him if the metal things get too close to him. So that's what he does. For the time being, he just keeps himself between Dex and the metal people, hoping Dex has a way to get himself together. 

:'''{{#var:304|Black Arachnia (304)}} has posed:''' Black Arachnia is combat-capable in a pinch, sure ... but she's really not fond of engaging the enemy directly when other possibilities present themselves, and when the opposition has the physical advantages - which could well be the case with these 'Cybermetals' for all she knows - Black Arachnia is perfectly willing to fall back on other assets, other strengths. That includes using her brain, something which a lot of fighters - and even a lot of Elites - sometimes neglect to do. And in this case, it means letting her more physically-inclined allies do the heavy lifting ... literally, in Freya's case. The Maximal spider stays perched where she is, watching to see what happens when Blurr and Freya attempt to separate the Cybermetals from the metalformed ground they were standing on. Surely there's a reason why they needed to replace the local terra firma with whatever that metal is - and as Alexis puts Pangoro to work, Black Arachnia tries to get a better look at it - particularly if it WORKS and some chunks are broken apart and dislodged. She's not terribly confident that it can be handled harmlessly (although the metallization of the ground wasn't spreading ... was it?), but she'd certainly like a better look and a chance to analyze some of the stuff. For now, though, she stays more-or-less hidden on her perch and observes what the others' efforts are accomplishing. 

:'''{{#var:332|Dex Alruin (332)}} has posed:'''     "We are not conquerors," the male says, "We merely desire to preserve our world from all threats, and that means eliminating all worlds. And so, we will do so. We just happen to be more efficient than any other world." As Freya grows and grows, the figures seem nonplussed. As the giantess reaches for the female, she doesn't move. Until right before the hand closes. Then she seems to melt down into the alloy on the ground. In response, a massive metal spike rockets upward, aiming to slam into Freya from below. The female reemerges behind Dex, who staggers right into her. He bounces away quickly as she attempts to grab him, eyes wide.     Blurr hurtles in, aiming straight for the male figure. Who is hit, and actually splatters in a great display! However, that victory is short lived. The metal seems to ripple, and two more male figures rise from the ground, both in the same neutral state the original had been in. The remains of the original twist, forming into what seems to be a brick. This hurtles itself right toward Blurr, and if it connects, it would hit with a force that indicates the density of the flowing metal can be changed, as this small part would easily crumple a normal vehicle.     Alexis brings out a Pangoro, who slams the metal earth. Unfortunately, the flowing metal ripples like water, but doesn't seem to break. Well, not QUITE like water. It soon seems to gain kinetic energy, shaking violently around Alexis and Won Ton before a /fist/ of the metal rockets upward, aiming to clock the Pokemon in the jaw on its way up before descending back down onto Alexis' skull.     As Jonothon arrives and tries to block the metal beings from getting to Dex, the female steps forward and raises an arm. "You are not our primary target," she says to him, "Stand aside and await collection." To punctuate her point, she lashes out, looking like she's going to backhand Jono. Until her arm ripples, hand reshaping into the head of a sledgehammer. That... might certainly ring his bell.     The tightbeam transmission can't be intercepted, it seems, and the theory seems sound, but given the unstable and unpredictable nature, there is only one way to know for certain if the Saucer's message holds water.     Dex backpedals, and the ground seems to wrap around his ankle. He's dragged to the ground, slamming against the alloy ground and knocking the wind out of his lungs. Before he can even regain his breath... theres a sharp crack.     And that would be Dex's ankle. He roars out in pain, clawing out at the metal blindly, tears streaming from his face.     If there's anyone capable of scanning for such, they would find there's sentience in the entire pool of metal. It is also denser than it seems, and has rapidly changing properties. It may be possible to stop it with heat or cold, but impact is likely not going to affect it, as some of the attacks may have indicated. 

:'''{{#var:27|Jonothon Starsmore (27)}} has posed:''' With no other method of attack open to him, all Jono can do is reach up and pull the wrapping around his face down. The fire inside his chest whips up around his head. And he fires a blast at the female who tried to hit him. It's not fire, though... it's psychokinetic energy. Which means it hits like a punch instead of with fire. Though the 'beam' twists, and pretty fast. So rather than feeling like getting hit by a truck, it feels like... getting hit by a truck that has a rotary sander attached to it. A rotary sander on the highest speed setting, with the lowest grid sandpaper possible. So it's likely to cause friction. Literally. 

:'''{{#var:578|Freya (578)}} has posed:''' Freya huhs in surpise as the female figures metls away from her hand ?to the ground she erks in surpise as the spike just barely managing to dodge it it scraping her side and tearing her dress just a bit. She keeps her eyes out for what they are doing to next unsure how to handle an oppenet like this. 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     Oh, but Blurr is far from a typical car! The heavy brick hurtles at him, but he transforms again, flipping back up into biped form and twisting out of the way easily. Well, it seemed these things were some kind of nanomachine gestalt, like the ancient Ammonites, but smaller. The speedster makes his thoughts known on the Union band. << If this is some kind of gestalt, maybe we can disrupt their communications. >> Extreme heat or cold was also mentioned. Well, lasers are hot. He falls back slightly, and fires at the brick that had originally intended to strike him. 

:'''{{#var:459|Alexis (459)}} has posed:''' As soon as the metallized ground ripples instead of breaking as it should Won Ton can tell something is off and quickly pulls back. It's not enough to evade the fist of metal that comes erupting out the ground, but it gives him just enough pause to make sure he takes the blow with his bulk as he staggers backwards. Which puts him in prime position to knock aside the fist as it tries to come down on his smaller Trainer instead of her skull. "Thanks, big guy, but I don't think brute force is gonna solve this one. Return." She recalls the panda-mon after considering the other bits of information coming in. Times like this, you don't worry about where it's coming from. Well other than if it's Lute, but that's besides the point. Now if we're talking about playing with temperatures, that's entirely something she can do. Swapping for a different pair of balls. "Permafrost, go. Give 'em a cold reception. Frost Breath." Fortunately she game prepared for versatility when dealing with unknown foes; now they can go for some area coverage since we're dealing with a spread out sentient mass here. The Glaceon lands in front of her, crystalline crest already glimmering. Followed shortly by a yowling cry as the ice-fox exhales her freezing breath at the metal surface, Right afterwards Alexis toss the other ball upward, releasing the Charizard she had arrived on. "Redline, turn it up with Heat Wave!" Redline spreads his wings, which are already starting to glow with ambient tempature, quickly superheating the air around them, so with a huge flap of said wings sends the scorching heat washing down towards the ground. The same area her Glaceon was just icing. There's a method to Alexis' first seemingly madness though. That metal tends to not react well with sudden intense temperature changes. Especially when it's a sharp jolt from one extreme to the other. That, and this stuff has been adapting quickly. But there's a chance that it can't adapt as quickly to such abrupt extremes so fast. 

:'''{{#var:304|Black Arachnia (304)}} has posed:''' Truth be told, Black Arachnia didn't expect THAT to happen. The whole 'Metal Collective' thing is ... honestly, it's making her worry more at the moment. There are only so many ways you can fight a nanomachine-based shapeshifter, and given that the Cybermetals outright *said* that they plan to 'collect' the energy from those who are opposing them, energy-based attacks don't seem like a terribly good idea. And she's just seen what the Cybermetals - or rather, the Metal Collective - will do to counter straight-up physical attacks. And on top of everything else, Dex is kind of stuck in the middle of the 'field' of metal. So while the other Unionites are unleashing various attacks - and Alexis is using ice to start with, which is the best alternative Black Arachnia can come up with - the Maximal spider starts synthesizing a dose of cybervenom, tailoring it for her best analysis of what we're up against ... 

:'''{{#var:673|Rory White (673)}} has posed:'''     The freakishness of this scenario has Rory stumbling, psychologically. To push forward and risk... who KNOWS what sort of strange fate awaits anyone who gets too near this thing/ Maybe she should detonate the drone, cut even the heavily filtered connection she has going to it lest it pick up some strange virus?     Hard to say.     But several other drones have joined it. Some of the same make, others flying on tiny rotors and whizzing about through the air.     One tiny drone, carefully programmed to self-detonate if it faces absorption and wipe its memory, lands at the fringe of the metal field and attempts to collect a sample with a miniature arm!     That may or may not go HORRIBLY wrong.     Rory's quite far from the mess and looking VERY nervous. Several robots stand behind her and she's carrying some kind of pressure-tank cylinder on her back with a nozzle-sprayer in her hand attached to it via hose. Who knows what exactly is in the stuff or what she intends to do but she's slowly approaching...     The young woman has blue hair done up in a ponytail, is dressed in a stylized labcoat, and does not at ALL look ready for battle... OR used to it... 

:'''{{#var:332|Dex Alruin (332)}} has posed:'''     The female figure seems caught off guard by the counter by Jonothon. Her form seems to rock back hard, the friction of the impact causing her head to melt down. It runs into the rest of its body, before pooling at its feet and running off toward the normal earth. On contact with the earth, it bursts into flame and is rendered to smoke. The body, however, seems functional, as it seems to shift into a sword. Yeah, a full body sword. It slashes through the air, attempting to carve into Jonothon.     Dex is disabled, so they seem to be in no hurry to finish him.     As Freya seems to contemplate a counter, the metal seems more focused on the next threat, Blurr. The laser lances outward, and reduces the brick to a molten pool. Just like the other portion, this bursts into smoke on impact with the earth. Perhaps some information can be gleaned from this?     Alexis brings out the double threat of fire and ice. As the area is assaulted, the metal begins to crack under the rapid change in temperatures. Yep, crack. The rest of the mass begins to 'boil', roiling heavily as it throws a wave toward Alexis, which forms into a wall of spikes. However, some of them seem to crumble before impact.     As Black Arachnia prepares her venom, Rory appears. Her drone, which attempts to collect a piece of metal on the edge, instead finds itself crushed almost immediately. Maybe if she sends a drone to the weakened part of the mass, she might have better luck. A female figure, complete with head, roils out of the mass, then steps off of it and onto the earth. It seems unsure at first, then rushes toward Rory, before leaping and shifting its form into a cannonball. It seems the alloy can't survive contact with the earth after it's been destabilized, but has no trouble with it until then.     Dex is released, and attempts to crawl off the mass, his leg dragging behind him. As he reaches the edge, however, the metal reacts, grabbing his broken ankle again. He screams out, before he is lifted like a rag doll and vaulted off the mass, flying a good twenty yards before slamming into the dirt with all the grace of a sack of rocks. He tumbles across the ground, gasping and wheezing in pain. However, he knows he's safe now. The metal clearly didn't anticipate his friends well enough. As he draws his bow, his hands shake. He caught snippets of the radio conversation through his pain, and one thing stuck. Heat. Fire. As he nocks an arrow, the holy flames of Bel'thede ignite the arrow entirely. However, his vision wavers from the pain. He can't line up the shot. 

:'''{{#var:304|Black Arachnia (304)}} has posed:''' Black Arachnia hates being rushed. But there's never any real help for it - when time is a factor, you can't afford to dawdle or be a painstaking perfectionist; you have to trust your skills and get it right the first time, or with minimal double-checking. Fortunately, she's been working with cybervenom ever since she first came online ... so the unknown variables are really just the nature of the enemy. The Maximal spider finishes 'encoding' the cybervenom, saves the formulation in her internal datatracks, and takes the time to engage her electro-disruptor - so she should be next to completely undetectable as she skitters down the wall of the building she was on and approaches the metallic ground. She doesn't take the time to try and get closer to the already-weakened area, instead just striking at the closest edge, her palps digging in long enough to inject the cybervenom. The effect is designed to be 'corrosive' - not physically and not instantly, but electronically, spreading through the Collective's 'network' and flooding it with junk data behind the venom's spread. It hasn't escaped her attention that this is a *HUGE* risk - if the Metal notices her despite her stealth, she's a sitting digi-duck even for the split second it takes to 'bite' and inject the cybervenom - but it's a risk she's willing to take, especially with everyone else being so conveniently *obvious* in their attacking. 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     "Huh." Blurr watches with satisfaction as the laser seems to be effective against -part- of the mass. "Well then." he says with a smirk. "I guess that'll work for now." Since the 'collective' didn't seem to come back at him with a counterattack, he darts sideways, aiming his weapon first for the wall of spikes headed for Alexis, as well as for the cannonball headed for Rory.     Meanwhile, he works on a more permanent solution. << Black, I'm no comms expert, but I think I can hit it with a bunch of white noise. It might disrupt ours for a bit, but it'll be more detrimental to them than to us. Hopefully that'll get you the opening you need to get the virus in good. >> Too bad Blaster isn't here, -his- jamming field would be specific to the enemy. 

:'''{{#var:673|Rory White (673)}} has posed:'''     With no reason to waste energy and attention showing emotion, Rory's synthetically-masqueraded face gives no reaction to the strange mass flying her way. Oh there is panic behind those eyes of a sort but none of the physiological responses humans might exhibit. And without any roiling in the gut or terror to suppress, she can react utterly logically.     In Rory's sight, everything slows to a crawl. Colored auras surround all the combatants and points of interest. The female cannonball's velocity is calculated and a counter-trajectory quickly used - MEANING!     She springs back and to the side with a somewhat clumsy leap while spraying heavily at the thing. Simultaneously the four-armed robot on treads to her left and the hovering sphere to her right break in both directions. Their movements are as mechanical and optimized as a water jet following a blueprint - besides glints of light from emitter points on their bodies though, they don't seem to be shooting anything!     ... unless someone's looking carefully, anyways, and some of the lasers reflect off dust kicked up by all the confusion. REAL LASERS ARE INVISIBLE to the naked eye after all!     But their targets will sure feel otherwise.     It's a Thermal Shock assault! 

:'''{{#var:578|Freya (578)}} has posed:''' Now that the a weakness of the two amrmored figures had been figured out. Freya can't really do much to hurt them! She frowns a bit at her lack of fire or cold spells. She will at least try and keep them busy. She tires to go after the female figure again. "Don't ingore me!", she says bringing her fist down on the metallic female being. 

:'''{{#var:27|Jonothon Starsmore (27)}} has posed:''' Jonothon really thought that the loss of a head would render the body unusable. Not so it seems and Jono's caught off-guard by the swing. However the headless figure will find that his torso gives way too easily as the blade cuts deeply. It will also find more of that not-quite fire as the shirt and chest-wrappings underneath are shredded. Luckily for the metal figure the fire inside his chest doesn't burn. But the figure will also find that Jono bleeds just fine even if if did pretty much cut into a hollow chest cavity. Jono gives a mental yelp of pain and stumbles back falling onto his rear. Luckily there's no major arteries where he was cut. Still hurt like hell though. Jono does have an idea though. The kinetic force of his fire isn't going to cut it. But the friction from it will. And now that his shirt's been destroyed he has a much larger area to aim from. So while still on the ground he targets a wide, sustained blast at the headless figure's torso. He hopes the friction will melt the thing. 

:'''{{#var:459|Alexis (459)}} has posed:''' Alexis says, "How's that for a taste of the power ya ain't gonna get to assimilate or whatever the fuck it is you think you're doing?" It wouldn't be a fight if Alexis didn't get in a vocal barb or two during the process. The thermal shock method clearly worked. And clearly pissed the metal mass off as it rolls up some of it's mass and sends a wall of spikes tumbling towards them. Good thing they're not Megaman, but that's still not gonna be pleasant. "Glaceon!" Permafrost's crown-like ice crest glows again, this time ice forming up in front of her in a makeshift block. The spike wave slams into it, dispersing some of it's mass to the sides, though chunks of metal break off to pelt her and her trainer as Alexis shields her face with one arm. Being able to think quick on your feet is a key component of monster battling, pokemon or otherwise. They know the thermal shock tactic worked... And now that her pokemon has been attacked... That gets her to smirk a little to herself, even as she shakes off the remains of the spike barrier. She doesn't even have to give the command, the tactic is a well practiced one. "Gla-ce-ooon!" The icefox practically howls, almost sounding like the northern winds in itself. As she does there's a rapid cooling around her, flash freezing moisture from the air into ice, and then sending it crashing down upon the metal material in an Avalanche. Not only is it another ice based attack, but one that does greater damage if the user was already struck with an attack. This is followed up from overhead as Redline starts cranking up the heat again, swooping in lower to play panzer dragon and spew Flamethrowers at the metallic mass in the wake of the Avalanche. Then to top it off Alexis pulls one more trick out of her sleeve, or out of a pokeball as the case may be, as a large goat handlebar shaped horns and a mossy green pelt appears. "Brushguard, spray 'em with Leech Seed!" "Goo-oo-oo-." A shake of its afformentioned belt sends seeds scattering about, which quickly sprout into small tangles of roots that try to grab into the metal and suck away some of its energy. If energy is what they want to collect, it makes sense to try and take it away, right?" 

:'''{{#var:332|Dex Alruin (332)}} has posed:'''     The Metal Collective... grossly underestimated everything, which is rare for them. They had calculated a swift and decisive victory. Instead, they were losing energy and mass at a rapid rate. As Arachnia injects her venom, the Collective's mind becomes scrambled. Slowly at first, but it soon increases in speed. Combined with the damage being inflicted from all sides, another laser blast, a hyperfreeze and shatter combo from Rory that decimates the chunk of alloy she had been faced with, and a giantess punch, the odds of success are suddenly less than zero. Survival is beginning to become paramount, but...     The portal flashes, and the mass of metal seems to be unable to cross back into its homeworld. The Metal Collective seems to have severed this section from the whole in order to guarantee survival. There's a metallic scream as everything begins to take effect, and the mass roils weakly, distorted male and female forms rising briefly from it. Static can be clearly heard, alongside screaming, groaning, and some sort of alien cursing as well. The metal slows in pitch, and begins to smoke as it destabilizes. "We... we can't hear... our peo-eo-eo-ple... no-o--ooo!"     Jonothon's friction energy rends the body he's fighting, melting it to nothingness almost instantly. Another agonized scream is heard, though the female voice seems to die out of the scream now, as though only the male remained.     As Dex hears all the chaos, he releases his grip on his powers. The others had it under control. He punches the ground weakly, tears falling from his eyes for more than just his shattered ankle. He rolls up the leg of his pants and nearly vomits, bone jutting at wild angles and poking through the skin. He falls backward, staring up at the sky. 'I have to get stronger. They... they would've won so easily if had just been me...' he thinks.     Alexis unleashes all sorts of hell upon the metal monstrosity, freezing, melting, and even beginning to drain the mass of energy. There's one last, gutteral roar, that slowly begins to die off. It seems to curl upon itself, shuddering one last time... before the metal shatters and puffs into smoke. No more voices. Just... nothing. The portal shimmers, but nothing comes out. Not quite nothing. There's a small amount, about a thimble's worth, of the metal still writhing on the ground. A sample perhaps? Either way, the battle seems to be over. It might be prudent to mark this spot in case a follow up investigation is necessary. 

:'''{{#var:673|Rory White (673)}} has posed:'''     One of Rory's drones does zip down to try and snatch and secure a sealed sample of the metal, or at least the SMOKE if it can't manage anything else...     And as the Argonaut actually regains her balance, only then does she show emotion. Frowning heavily. This was like something right out of an action vid and she'd crazily strolled right at it. Being forced to resleeve from backup and losing her primary Morph would be an awful misfortune, but the others here risked real death - that is infinitely worse.     Even so, she's forced to realize her presence here has meant very little, these people are amazing in their own rights and very competent and coordinated!     So she remains on the fringes, a hand coming up over her heart - or what would be a heart were she human - and gazes about worriedly. Then... she'll beeline for the injured.     "This decision to be more adventurous was almost very costly. Fortunately nobody seems dead or SEVERELY wounded..."     Although her definition of severe might be very different from most... 

:'''{{#var:459|Alexis (459)}} has posed:''' Alexis makes a clearly disgusted expression at the forms that briefly wirth in the metal mass as it more or less falls apart at the seams. She can only imagine -why- something like that was briefly taking form along with the screams of 'our people' and it's a little disconcerting even to an experienced action girl. She quickly shoves it out of her mind for now though, focusing back on the matter at hand. She's about to let out Wildfire to put this to an end, but it looks like it wasn't going to be necessary. "Stand down guys... but don't let your guard down... If that thing tries to get away from Blurr big guy, flame it." Redline just gives a growling smoke-snort in agreement as he lands next to her, keeping his internal fire warmed up. Just in case. 

:'''{{#var:304|Black Arachnia (304)}} has posed:''' "For organics, a broken ankle is pretty bad," Black Arachnia comments mildly as she approaches the suited-up stranger. "You're not with the Union, though, are you?" 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     "Well, that wasn't so bad." Blurr remarks as the metal mass finally dissolves into nothingness. Well not -complete- nothingness. It seems there are a few thrashing globules of it left behind to exploit. As per Arachnia's orders, he moves to scoop some of it up into a clear sample vial. "We'll see what Perceptor can make of this." 

:'''{{#var:27|Jonothon Starsmore (27)}} has posed:''' Jono scoots back from the melting metal alien figure. He doesn't want to get infected with whatever this thing is. Last thing he needs is to bring something like THAT home to the Institute. That'd be a mess of EPIC proportions! He does finally stand up though and as he does he winces. He got cut pretty bad but there are more important casualties to deal with. Like the one who was here when it started. Given the stuff Jono heard from the metal people Dex's survival is probably the most important. Still everybody seems reasonably in good health. And there's someone tending to wounded so Dex will get proper care. Not a bad outcome. With everyone picking up the pieces now is a good time for Jono to scoot. He'll need to call the Institute for pickup since his disguise got completely shredded. Can't go into his world like this after all. He's not the bloody Ghost Rider.... 

:'''{{#var:673|Rory White (673)}} has posed:'''     "Syndicate Network member, Rory White of the Argonauts! One of my sensors picked up the challenge so I came to investigate and lend aid. Deploying personally wasn't originally planned though..." So what made her do it? either way, Rory doesn't seem at all perturbed by Black Arachnia's odd appearance. It's not at all by her standards. The hand over her heart lowers. "It's seriously painful but not life-threatening. Treatment should only take a few hours!" She states, simultaneously trying to sound caring and simultaneously pointing out how she just really...     ... Doesn't understand too well what pain is besides 'people hate it so I try to get rid of it.'     "Against a completely unknown threat, winning while suffering mostly cuts and broken bones is admirable, isn't it? A single nanobandage should dull the pain for now." She holds up a plum-sized sphere with a red medical cross insignia. How that's a bandage is anyone's guess. 

:'''{{#var:304|Black Arachnia (304)}} has posed:''' "Normally I'd say we've had enough nanomachines for one night," Black Arachnia replies to Rory, "but given the amount of abuse Dex took I'm surprised he's not screaming his lungs out ... Union medical transport's on the way, but if Dex wants the help before they get here, it's between you and him." She pauses briefly. "Oh, and I'm Black Arachnia, with the Union. Glad to have your help on this, Rory." 

:'''{{#var:332|Dex Alruin (332)}} has posed:'''     Dex raises a hand, waving things off. "I'm good. Doesn't hurt that bad now." Shock, perhaps? He seems pretty glassed out. 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     Subspacing the vial. Blurr turns to Black Arachnia. "Heh, nice work with that virus. You definitely know sabotage." he compliments, then watches Dex with some concern, though he doesn't really know enough about human anatomy to be aware of the extent of the man's injuries. But then Dex assures them that he will be fine. "Just let me know if you want a ride. Probably faster than Union medevac, anyway." he smirks. 

:'''{{#var:673|Rory White (673)}} has posed:'''     "Oh... that entity wasn't made of any nanites by standards I know. The metal itself was animate somehow." And there her voice betrayes some worry. Nanites she understands. This strange living metal? No, that she doesn't. "... and whatever's left of it should be collected and sealed. Possibly in a magnetic containment field--" Then Dex speaks and Rory blinks a few times... only to pocket the Nanoandage again. "... If... you're sure. Just don't move the ankle!"     Now once again facing Black Arachnia, Rory tries a smile. It's not quiiiiite natural, seems a little forced. Perhaps she's just nervous. "....Does this happen often? This young man seemed to be their target..." 

:'''{{#var:459|Alexis (459)}} has posed:''' "It may not hurt much now, but you still wanna get it looked at. Trust me, I've twisted or broken an ankle enough times to know." With that said Alexis turns back to her pokemon. "Good job guys. Redline, Permafrost, return." With those two back in their pokeballs she hops up onto the Gogoat's back, grabbing his horns much like the handlebars they resemble. "Com'n Brushgaurd. Let's go make sure nothing else is lurking around after that. Not the sort of enemy to take chances with." "Goo-oo-oo," bleats the mossy goat in agreement as they trot off. 

:'''{{#var:304|Black Arachnia (304)}} has posed:''' "Magnetic suspension field," Black Arachnia echoes - making sure Blurr hears. "Like we'd store antimatter in, got it. The trick is that we don't want to re-energize the 'scrap' metal while we're at it, though ..." Did you know spiders can smirk? Well, the large cybernetic-looking spider that Black Arachnia is in her beast mode *does* smirk at Blurr. "Espionage and sabotage are my specialties," she responds with something strongly resembling pride. "Although that's the first time I've ever had to formulate cybervenom for that particular effect - I'm glad it worked as well as it did." Her attention shifts back to Rory. "That's a question you're better off asking Dex himself, when he's up for conversation. Which probably means 'not with a shattered ankle'." She pauses to check how far out the medevac is ... shouldn't be much longer. 

:'''{{#var:673|Rory White (673)}} has posed:'''     "If the Magnetic solution doesn't work the next thing I would try would be extreme cold. Though it might damage the samples, very little can happen at extremely low temperatures!" Hence why she suggested using cold to -suppress- this thing... probably... 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     "Right, I'll tell Perceptor." Blurr says with a nod in regards to the suspension field. "Well, if Dex would rather ride the medevac than -me- I guess I'd better get back to base so we can store this stuff more securely." he says, tossing the sample vial up and down in one hand despite his words. "Good work team." With that, he hits the orbital jump recall and with a flash of a blue beam he's gone. 

}}

1251/New Friends

2015-01-03T18:25:50Z

Zippy: Created page with "{{Log Header |Date of Scene=2015/01/03 |Location=Cybertron-2 |Synopsis=Grumble makes new friends on Cybertron. |Thanks= |Cast of Characters=492, 620, 677 |Tinyplot=Out of the ..."

{{Log Header
|Date of Scene=2015/01/03
|Location=Cybertron-2
|Synopsis=Grumble makes new friends on Cybertron.
|Thanks=
|Cast of Characters=492, 620, 677
|Tinyplot=Out of the Silent Planet
|Tinyplot2=
|pretty=yes
}}
{{Poses
|Poses=:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     Cybertron. Once a glowing amethyst of wealth and prosperity. Its surface was once gleaming with the light of life, its streets teeming with activity. Resources were aplenty, and it seemed as if life would just go on forever and ever, just as it was.     But alas, here we are, millions of meta-cycles (Earth years) later, staring at a barren and desolate expanse of ruined structures; pieces of a once-great civilization. Dangers lurk at every corner of the rugged terrain--and if anyone is here, it's not because they -want- to be. Most of everyone is either dead or has fled the crumbling surface.     So why is Blurr here? Hiding out in the ruins of the defunct capital city-state of Iacon? Well, he's been on a long-term investigation of the strange behavior displayed by the savage Insecticon horde that has been running wild on the planet for some time. Thus far he and his Union allies have been able to figure out that there's -something-, or someONE, in the catacombs who is manipulating the Swarm to their will. And whoever that is doesn't want anyone going down there. Whoever it is, they're hiding -something-... 

:'''{{#var:620|Grumble (620)}} has posed:''' Grumble had a problem. He was very much lost. Sniffing along the long straight road of concrete surrounded by empty half broken towers of the same material he wondered just what he had sensed that brought him here. He knew something interesting was going to happen from the energies gathering. But there was no people! Perhaps he had made a mistake in coming here. Everything was quiet and empty and so lifeless! It all smelled of oil and metal and concrete. Not a single scent of grass or sausages at all. Whining softly he stops, sitting down a moment and taking a good look around. That is when his ears catch a faint sound. A scratch noise...and a faint whir. With nothing else of interest around he takes off at a trot towards the sound. Sniffling along here and there he could sense he was getting closer...to something. Unknown to Grumble he was being observed by more than 1 set of eyes. 2 of which would belong to a certain autobot on a long term recon as he heads straight for the entrance of the insectoid Catacombs. 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     Blurr has set up a sort of temporary outpost among the ruins of the city. Thankfully, he'd stumbled across some untouched supplies from before the mass exodus from the planet in a safehouse used by Autobot intelligence. Its cloaking field had saved it from destruction by the war or by the Insecticon horde. He's managed to use it to throw out some simple probes with which to keep an opticon the surrounding area, so when he spots the strange little organic venturing toward the catacombs all by its lonesome, he darts out of he the safehouse, transforming into his more-streamlined hoverspeeder form and rushes toward Grumble, executing an impossibly tight hairpin turn to swerve in front of the canine.     "Whoawhoathere, I wouldn't go down there if I were you," he warns. "At least not without an army or something." 

:'''{{#var:620|Grumble (620)}} has posed:''' Grumble merrily trots on his way towards the odd noises when suddenly a large hovering vehicle roars and stops in a spin in front of him. Frightened and surprised Grumble reflexively teleports backwards a couple dozen feet atop a broken pillar. Blinking in and out of existence instantly. Peering down at the machine he tilts his head as he hears a people's voice! A human must have seen him and driven over in his flying car machine! A warning given about venturing further. Taking a moment to think it over he replies as he usually does. Raising a paw he waves towards the car. "HELLO! I am sorry if I have come somewhere I am not allowed. I am lost! Will you help me?" 

:'''{{#var:677|The Swarm (677)}} has posed:'''     "Well it's not that you're not -allowed-." Blurr answers. "I've been trying to get down there myself, but I never made it far. I just wouldn't want you to get ripped to shreds. The Swarm has been guarding it like a bunch of Legislators on circuit speeders."     Suddenly, it becomes very evident that there is actually no human present. The hovercar starts to unfold, over and over again, in a cacophony of mechanical sounds, until it's not a car any more but a massive, several-story-tall mechanoid. He crouches down as far as he comfortably can to get a closer look at the pug. "You're lost?" he shakes his head. "And this is about the worst place you could possibly get lost in." 

:'''{{#var:620|Grumble (620)}} has posed:''' Grumble's ears fold back as the machine suddenly unfolds...his head rearing back as he looks up...and up...and up....at a machine person! Another Metalman! But more metal than man! Shaking a little bit in subconscious fear trembles in the shadow of the large being. "umm...Hello..Y..yes I'm lost mister metalman sir......" He knows the big being has been nice so far...but he is just so big and intimidating! Then he realizes the warning and looks around cautiously. "It is dangerous here?" 

:'''{{#var:677|The Swarm (677)}} has posed:'''     "Uh, -yeah-. You could say that." Blurr confirms. That might even be a -major- understatement right there. Oh, right. "I'm Blurr. And you're...?" he asks, watching him expectantly. "You from Earth? You kind of look like it." 

:'''{{#var:620|Grumble (620)}} has posed:''' Finishing his look around for any immediate danger he turns his attention back on the tall metal being. With a name he is not nearly as intimidating and his nerves calm. Raising a paw in greeting he replies, "Hello! I am Grumble, a pug, of my burrow! It is a pleasure to meet you new friend Mister Blurr! Yes I am from earth! Is this not earth?...Or another earth?" Tilting his head questioningly. 

:'''{{#var:677|The Swarm (677)}} has posed:'''     Blurr chuckles. Where's this guy been? Well, in the multiverse you meet all sorts of people. At least he understands the concept of multiple Earths, though. "No, it's Cybertron." he replies. "My homeworld. Well, it -was-. Not much of anything -left- of it any more." The speedster sighs with a hint of a sigh. "It's nice to meet you Gr--"     Unfortunately, it seems Grumble had taken his attention off of his surroundings -too- quickly. Blurr doesn't get to finish his sentence before a -massive- Insectoid-looking creature lunges out of the depths of the catacombs and latches itself onto the Autobot's back, knocking him to the groud. It's nearly three quarters the size of him, and like him, it's metallic, only more animalistic in form. Its appearance is also rather repulsive. Multiple sets of yellow optics gleam savagely as its sharp mandibles dig themselves into Blurr's back, ripping metal armor with a terrific sound of shearing metal. Energon spews out of the fresh wound, spewing all over its mouth. Hissing, it begins to -devour- the speedy bot's back; and has already consumed a good chunk of his outer armor... 

:'''{{#var:620|Grumble (620)}} has posed:''' Grumble gasps and skips back as his new friend is attacked by a metal MONSTER!! His first instinct is to bark and yell! Which he does. "BARK! BARK!!!! HEY STOP!! DON'T HURT HIM!!! BARK!" Which he quickly realizes is pointless! Narrowing his eyes he considers his options. They are both too big to lift with his mind....but...looking around he spots a suitable sized chunk of concrete. Grasping it with his mind he lifts it. Maybe 400 lbs...but big enough. With a thought levitates up then hurls it towards the monstrosities back with surprising speed. 

:'''{{#var:677|The Swarm (677)}} has posed:'''     The Insecticon monstrosity would have been content to sit there and feast on Blurr, leaving the tiny flesh creature alone, but then the flesh creature has to go and throw a piece of debris at it! And that debris is pretty big! Okay not -that- big, but it was moving fairly fast.     The creature screeches angrily, rearing back and whirling around to face the dog. It lashes out with its claws, attempting to knock Grumble off of his feet and send him flying! 

:'''{{#var:620|Grumble (620)}} has posed:''' Nearly congratulates himself on having distracted the creature! Until he realized he did almost nothing to it. As the monstrosity turned its attention to him Grumble did not know what to do! He had never been in a fight before!! Fights were bad! But it was eating his new friend! Watching the claw descend to utterly murder him Grumble recovers from his shock at the last moment, attempting to hop backwards and fly away. But the first of the blow, strong enough to destroy the concrete is powerful enough to send him tumbling through the air to crash into a wall and knocking the wind out of him! 

:'''{{#var:677|The Swarm (677)}} has posed:'''     Oh, he's got the thing's attention, all right. In fact it's quite apparent that the Insecticon is pretty pissed off at him, now! It advances toward him, hissing and snarling as it prepares to lunge at him again. Its wings beat threateningly, attempting to send the accursed flesh thing flying once again. 

:'''{{#var:620|Grumble (620)}} has posed:''' Recovering his senses and onto his feet he is only able to look up at the mechanical bug sends a wave of air towards him. Ducking low close to the ground, he holds on and is only shaken a tiny bit. Looking around and formulating a plan. Grumble focuses and with a blink. Disappears! Reappearing higher up in an adjacent building's ledge. With the lip high enough to cover his small pug body he peers over towards his injured friend. Checking his condition before deciding that distracting the creature a good idea. Eyes searching about he spots a damaged metal post in the direction completely opposite from his current location. Grasping it with his mind he lifts it up....turns it so its jagged edge is pointing towards the creature and hurls the nearly 500lb metal beam at the creatures side! 

:'''{{#var:677|The Swarm (677)}} has posed:'''     Blurr appears to be motionless on the ground, his body leaking severely. But at least Grumble as the monster's attention for now. However, he seems to disappear into thin air! Confused, the creature is circling the area, searching for the fleshling when another piece of jagged metal is hurled its way. Its wings beat again, and it jumps out of the way, still screeching angrily as it hovers into the air slightly. It still hasn't figured out where that little dog has gone, however! So it simply starts wrecking up the area, ramming its body into the ruined buildings, and potentially the one Grumble is standing on! 

:'''{{#var:620|Grumble (620)}} has posed:''' Ducking back as he realized he missed with the jagged pole by trying to throw it to hard. Grumble is suddenly shaken as the building he is hiding in is struck! A few rocks falling down and scratching his body. Deciding the space he was in would not be safe much longer, he peers over the edge toward's his Friend Blurr's still form and teleports down. Taking cover behind the metalman's large body he paws at and lick's at his face whispering softly. "Mister Blurr...get up..you are to big for me to teleport away..." Looking around for another plan. He spots a large ledge held up by a crumbling pillar...narrowing his eyes he knows what he must do! Running under the the ledge he barks loudly. "BARK BARK!! HERE MONSTER HERE!!!" Mentally grasping the support pillar he waits for the creature to rush towards him before he pulls down the support and blinks away as quickly as he can. Collapsing the ledge towards the mechanical bug. 

:'''{{#var:677|The Swarm (677)}} has posed:'''     These creatures were never quite known for their intelligence, thus the Insecticon rather readily falls for Grumble's trick. It charges at him, aiming to grab him and devour him when he quickly teleports away and finds more building parts crashing down onto its back! The impact causes more cracks and dents in its armor--which is already not all that great. There's a reason they were thrown away, after all. Raging, it bursts out of the debris pile, searching once more for its undersized opponent! 

:'''{{#var:620|Grumble (620)}} has posed:''' Grumble peeks over the bulk of his comatose friend Blurr...at least he hopes his friend was only out. He had to help his friend. Licking his face seems to have done nothing so far. He had to get help. To get help he had to remove the bug trying to murder the 2 of them. He felt so helpless...so frustrated! He would HELP HIS FRIEND!! He would NOT LET HIM DIE! Even...even if he had to do grave harm to the creature.... Eyes narrowing in focus. His mind reaches out...this time not grabbing a single piece of debris..No...he grabs as many he can...dozens. He could only carry a single half ton object at once...but the limit to amount of half ton objects was only limited by his focus. Right now his absolute focus was on protecting his friend from more harm. The dozens of large rocks, and poles and various debris hover into the air then one by pelt the bug like creature in a rapid procession from every direction. 

:'''{{#var:677|The Swarm (677)}} has posed:'''     The Insecticon is still prowling about, searching for its foe when suddenly it is assaulted by a hailstorm of debris! Instead of one or two things at once, it's like an -army- of debris! It lunges at one when the inaminate object seems to attack the creature, but then there are others--so many others! Its metallic carapace severely battered from the relentless assault, the monstrosity shrieks in pain and anger as its own body fluids flow.     Finally, it finds and locks on to the small dog, who packs a -seriously- oversized punch, especially for a flesh creature. A scorpion-like tail rises out of its abdomen, and aims a blast of high-voltage electricity at the pug. Not enough to fry him alive, but if it hits, it's gonna -hurt-. 

:'''{{#var:620|Grumble (620)}} has posed:''' Panting at the effort of pelting the robot with dozens of small boulders and debris Grumble is unable to blink away as he is suddenly blasted by a blast of electricity! The arc burning his side and throwing him up and away from Blurr and over another pile of debris to land in a painful pile. In incredible pain and limbs twitching uncontrollably. He could barely look up as the creature stalks towards him. If he did not do something quickly he was dead...He needed to live....He needed to help his friend Blurr. This time he needed something to really hurt the creature...reaching out once again with his mind...he grasped for the sharpest, most pointy pieces of debris. No concrete, just jagged metal, gathering them together he spins them around.. and around into a tornado of metal above the creature, like a drill!! He draws the drill of metal down onto the creature with all his mental might! 

:'''{{#var:677|The Swarm (677)}} has posed:'''     The sharp metal pieces of terrain spin around and around at a blinding speed, drilling downward into the creature's abdomen. It's super effective! The makeshift 'drill' bores a deep hole in its body, and energon in addition to Insecticon innards spew even more freely.     Howling in rage and agony, the monstrosity rears back, its bladed legs flailing and writhing. Its wings beat the air again, buzzing angrily as it jumps up and lunges straight for Grumble, attempting to grab him with its spiked claws and hurl him against a crumbling building. 

:'''{{#var:620|Grumble (620)}} has posed:''' Surprised the creature is still standing Grumble is only able to flinch back the creatures claw grazes his side and leaves a long bloody scratch, skipping backwards he once again teleports away. Atop another building's ledge and looks down. What would it take to stop this creature. Any creature of flesh and blood would be dead by now. Desperation fueling his actions he casts his gaze into the large hole in the creatures back. Seeing wires and parts...he mentally grasps them and yanks as hard as he can. Hoping to break its insides! 

:'''{{#var:677|The Swarm (677)}} has posed:'''     Indeed, inside the hole Grumble has made, wires and gears can be seen. Sparks fly as he pulls at them, wreaking havoc on the Insecticon's inner workings. It writhes in pain, screeching more, but doesn't seem to fall just yet! It raises its tail again, aiming once more for the little dog, but the internal damage it has suffered has thrown its aim off, and given how small he is compared to it, it's not likely to score a direct hit on him, though it may destroy the building he is standing on, sending it tumbling to the ground. 

:'''{{#var:620|Grumble (620)}} has posed:''' Grumble's eyes widen as the creature turns towards him with the glowing tail of electric pain! Ducking back he feels the building shudder and shake under him, a rock solidly whacking him in the head and dazing him for a moment as the building begins to shake under him. Getting an idea he hovers in the air...and pushes on the shakey building, attempting to collapse it on vicious bug machine intent on ending his life. The building not nearly as broken as he first thought, he is only able to dislodge a large chunk and give it some minimum guidance towards his target. Gravity doing most of the work. 

:'''{{#var:677|The Swarm (677)}} has posed:'''     The building shudders as Grumble pushes on it, though he is not nearly strong enough to collapse the entire thing. These structures were designed for giants, after all. However, he does manage to knock a sizeable chunk off of a crumbling wall. It crashes down toward the ground, and strikes its target, landing on top of one of the Insecticon's legs to crush it hard.     With its leg trapped under the piece of wall, the monstrosity hisses in distress and tries to get free, but to no avail. Finally, it twists around and chomps down on its own leg, breaking it off with a howl of pain. However, once this is done, it does not continue its assault nor does it run away; instead it whimpers and scuttles a short distance from the broken wall and just sits there, making whining noises as if it had resigned itself to a fate of certain death. Suddenly it doesn't seem so ferocious or even monstrous any more...but would -anyone- feel sorry for such a horrid thing? 

:'''{{#var:620|Grumble (620)}} has posed:''' Seeing the creature get trapped...and subsequently bite off its own leg only to scuttle back and whimper. Grumble cannot help but realize. He has harmed another living thing! Sure it had assaulted his friend. But now it was helpless and hurting. Making up his mind. He gives his reachable wounds a quick lick to clean them before he takes a flying leap off the building the flying down a decent distance form the bug like machine. Touching down slowly. He approaches cautiously. Until he reaches about 20 yards from the creature. Stopping and clearing his throat. "Hello?....I'm sorry I hurt you. But you hurt my friend. I don't want to fight anymore. So...." He takes a few steps closer. "So please stop fighting. I will stop to...okay?" 

:'''{{#var:677|The Swarm (677)}} has posed:'''     The creature looks up from its cowering, and at first it shies away, but its optics regard him curiously when he doesn't attack. He wasn't going to kill it? Not that it has the capability to understand his words, but it recognizes that his tone is not harsh. It settles down, appearing to relax, lowering its body to the ground as it lets its legs out from under itself. 

:'''{{#var:620|Grumble (620)}} has posed:''' Grumble watches the bug creature lower itself to him..body language that any canine would recognize instantly as submission....Lifting off the ground and hovering over slowly...he lands softly in front of metal creature's head...and paws at it gently. BEfore licking it repeatedly. "It is okay. I am sorry we had to fight. Please do not hurt my friend anymore. If you are good perhaps if I can revive my friend. He can help you. okay?" Once again he paws the massive creature upon the head. 

:'''{{#var:677|The Swarm (677)}} has posed:'''     The Insecticon lowers its head when Grumble lands on it and begins petting and licking it. They may not have tongues, but it does recognize these gestures of affection, and it...starts to purr? At least that's what it sounds like. Perhaps the creature is relieved that he has chosen not to end its life when it had expected he most certainly would.     Meanwhile, a short distance off, Blurr finally comes back online. Oh, Primus, his -everything- hurts. He groans and struggles into a sitting position. "Holy slag..." he mutters. Then his optics widen, remembering Grumble. "F-frag it! Grumble, you there? You okay?" he asks, looking around frantically. 

:'''{{#var:620|Grumble (620)}} has posed:''' "Mister Blurr! Mister Blurr over here! Are you alright?!" Grumble waves with his paw towards his revived friend. "I was ever so worried when you were attacked! I am glad you are not dead!" Still sitting upon the insecticon's head, he dare not leave his spot in case his new friend and his new new friend spook. 

:'''{{#var:677|The Swarm (677)}} has posed:'''     Blurr turns his attention toward Grumble, relieved that the canine is okay. "Eh I've been better. But I've also had worse." he says dismissively. "I'll be fine." He gazes curiously at the subdued Insecticon. "So I take it you tamed this one, huh?" he chuckles. "I'll admit, I'm impressed."     Indeed, it seems the giant Insectoid has decided to submit to him. It continues to purr contentedly. 

:'''{{#var:620|Grumble (620)}} has posed:''' Looks worriedly at the mechanical bug underneath him. Giving its head another lick or 2 he looks up at Blurr with his big eyes. "Mister Blurr, please! I have hurt him gravely! I am worried he will die! I do not know what to do! I know he attacked us both but I believe he has learned his lesson! Please! Help him!" Ears drooping sadly he whimpers. He would never forgive himself if he had killed this creature. Fighting was bad and this only cemented that fact in his little heart. He had no choice but it was still so bad. 

:'''{{#var:677|The Swarm (677)}} has posed:'''     Blurr sighs. "Well, I'm no medic, so I'm not sure what I can do for i--er, him." He struggles to his feet and limps over to Grumble and his new friend. Pulling out what looks like a glowing purple rectangular object about the size of his palm, he holds it out to the Insecticon, who devours it hungrily yet happily. Then he shrugs. "That should help, at least."     The Autobot begins scanning Grumble himself for injuries, and sees that he certainly has some. "You should get back to Njorun, you look pretty banged up yourself." he says worriedly. 

:'''{{#var:620|Grumble (620)}} has posed:''' "Yes. That sounds like the best idea." Wincing as he finally calms enough to feel his injuries. He turns to the insecticon and gives it a few final licks. "Please be good mister giant metal bug. Do no harm people. Metal or otherwise." Turning towards Blurr he floats up, favoring his aching legs. "Could you lead the way Mister Blurr. I am still quite lost." 

:'''{{#var:677|The Swarm (677)}} has posed:'''     "Yeah," Blurr makes his way toward the warpgate, which isn't too far off. "This should take you through the network back to HQ. I'll head back to the Ark..."     "You can take it from here, right?"     If Grumble were to glance behind, he will find that his new friend is intent on doing more than just not trying to eat people any more. It has followed him, after all he is about the only one it ever saw any kind of compassion or kindess from! It just wants to follow him home! 

:'''{{#var:620|Grumble (620)}} has posed:''' Turning around as he responds "Yes Mister Blurr, Thank you for leading me here." Pausing as he notices the insecticon behind them. Trotting over to it he pats it on the foot with a paw. "No, you must stay here my bug machine friend! I promise to return and visit! But this is your home. I do believe you will cause panic if you were to come with me to the place of healing. So please. I promise to visit." Licking the big robot's toes he turns around and heads for the gate. "Farewell mister Blurr! I hope we meet again under better circumstances! Please look after mister Giant Metal Bug for me!" With that he vanishes through the gate. 

}}

Out of the Silent Planet

2014-10-08T04:09:14Z

Zippy:

{{TPPage
|Summary=A strange signal appears to originate from the long-dead world of Cybertron. However, the Swarm, a massive horde of ravenously hungry, failed Insecticon experiments, stands in the way of those who would seek answers.
|Scale=Major
|Plot_id=10
|Runner=492
|Contacts=
|Theme=Transformers-2
|Audience=Anyone
|Genre=Sci-Fi
|Events=See the Logs section.
|Info=Cybertron is a dead world, for the most part. Ever since Vector Sigmas spark-igniting pulsewaves came to a grinding halt, and the war tore its thriving civilization apart, it has been lifeless and desolate, a husk of what it once was. Where its city-states once stood, only ruins remain. Additionally, when the Decepticons created the Insecticons, only three were considered successful. The rest, the failures, were set loose upon the ruined landscape. Starved of energy on a resource-depleted planet, these mindless savages exist for a single purpose: to devour all who happen to cross paths with them. This horde of brutes was dubbed the Swarm, and they are the only living things currently inhabiting the planet.

So when a strange yet powerful signal is detected by Autobot probes, suspicions are raised as to what could possibly be generating something that strong on a virtually dead world. Could Cybertron possibly be coming back to life? Or is something else more sinister at work here?

|State=Current
}}
==Notes==
*Individual members of the Swarm can be captured study or even domesticated, if separated from the others and taken off-planet. Let me know if you're interested in adopting a giant, mechanical, adorable, yet ugly-as-slag Insecticon pet. Once trained, it will be very loyal to its master, and has other abilities--if interested please contact for details.
*If you'd like to explore the ruins of Cybertron for the sake of reverse-engineering salvaged Cybertronian tech for your own purposes, or just want to go exploring on your own for whatever other reason, let me know! Additionally, if you're interested in this but can't make it to a scheduled scene, again let me know and I will try to accommodate you as best I can.
*Content warning: While this is open to anyone, please aware that it's probably going to be quite violent and possibly gory, depending on what your definition of gory is.
*Cybertron doesn't have an atmosphere that is breathe-able by humans. However I am not going to let that force me to turn people away. That being said it makes my job a bit easier if your character can bring some kind of protection or gear, whether it's tech, magic, or otherwise, to compensate for this. If it's not ICly possible that's okay, I'll come up with something or someone else will :)
*Radio: 198.4

Out of the Silent Planet

2014-10-08T03:09:13Z

Zippy:

{{TPPage
|Summary=A strange signal appears to originate from the long-dead world of Cybertron. However, the Swarm, a massive horde of ravenously hungry, failed Insecticon experiments, stands in the way of those who would seek answers.
|Scale=Major
|Plot_id=10
|Runner=492
|Contacts=
|Theme=Transformers-2
|Audience=Anyone
|Genre=Sci-Fi
|Events=See the Logs section.
|Info=Cybertron is a dead world, for the most part. Ever since Vector Sigmas spark-igniting pulsewaves came to a grinding halt, and the war tore its thriving civilization apart, it has been lifeless and desolate, a husk of what it once was. Where its city-states once stood, only ruins remain. Additionally, when the Decepticons created the Insecticons, only three were considered successful. The rest, the failures, were set loose upon the ruined landscape. Starved of energy on a resource-depleted planet, these mindless savages exist for a single purpose: to devour all who happen to cross paths with them. This horde of brutes was dubbed the Swarm, and they are the only living things currently inhabiting the planet.

So when a strange yet powerful signal is detected by Autobot probes, suspicions are raised as to what could possibly be generating something that strong on a virtually dead world. Could Cybertron possibly be coming back to life? Or is something else more sinister at work here?
|State=Current
}}
==Notes==
*Individual members of the Swarm can be captured study or even domesticated, if separated from the others and taken off-planet. Let me know if you're interested in adopting a giant, mechanical, adorable, yet ugly-as-slag Insecticon pet. Once trained, it will be very loyal to its master, and has other abilities--if interested please contact for details.
*If you'd like to explore the ruins of Cybertron for the sake of reverse-engineering salvaged Cybertronian tech for your own purposes, or just want to go exploring on your own for whatever other reason, let me know! Additionally, if you're interested in this but can't make it to a scheduled scene, again let me know and I will try to accommodate you as best I can.
*Content warning: While this is open to anyone, please aware that it's probably going to be quite violent and possibly gory, depending on what your definition of gory is.
*Cybertron doesn't have an atmosphere that is breathe-able by humans. However I am not going to let that force me to turn people away. That being said it makes my job a bit easier if your character can bring some kind of protection or gear, whether it's tech, magic, or otherwise, to compensate for this. If it's not ICly possible that's okay, I'll come up with something or someone else will :)

757/Out of the Silent Planet 1

2014-10-08T03:00:22Z

Zippy: Created page with "{{Log Header |Date of Scene=2014/10/06 |Location=Cybertron-2 |Synopsis=The Swarm just keeps getting weirder and weirder...what's going on here? Is someone else pulling the str..."

{{Log Header
|Date of Scene=2014/10/06
|Location=Cybertron-2
|Synopsis=The Swarm just keeps getting weirder and weirder...what's going on here? Is someone else pulling the strings?
|Thanks=
|Cast of Characters=7, 492, 513, 528, 569, 575
|Tinyplot=Out of the Silent Planet
|Tinyplot2=
|pretty=yes
}}
{{Poses
|Poses=:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     Cybertron is a dead world, for the most part. But lately, Autobot orbital surveillance probes have been picking up on a rather strong signal coming from the surface. A signal that shouldn't exist on such a decrepit scrapheap. There -shouldn't- be anything down there capable of creating such a signature, right?     Shouldn't. But there definitely is, and it is definitely coming from somewhere planetside.     So High Command had sent Blurr to investigate the source, but he's run into a bit of a problem. One that he'd expected, granted, but one can only prepare so much for a massive horde of ravenous, mech-eating Insecticon savages. He may be fast, but he can't exactly teleport. He might have been able to orbital bounce if that signal weren't jamming everything except basic communications, but such was not the case.     For the time being, he's been sneaking around the Swarm, observing them and searching for any clues as to how he might be able to trace the signal to its source. And hoping the bugs won't see him.     Prime had dropped in briefly a megacycle ago for a SITREP, and he'd told Optimus that the signal appeared to be coming from deep within the catacombs of Cybertron, but the Swarm had apparently acquired some sort of newfound purpose -besides- devouring everything in its path--that is, keeping anyone else from venturing down there. They aren't exactly durable, but they have strength in numbers, and lately there seemed to be an extraordinary amount of them prowling about. More than usual. Blurr may be fast, but he doesn't exactly have an internal orbital bounce mechanism like Skywarp does. So the Autobots have called for support from the Union, hoping that with their help, he'll be able to push through the thousands of savage Insecticons and find out just what the slag is -down- there creating such a powerful energy signature!     But perhaps the Union won't be the only ones there...the signal itself is strong and unusual enough to attract just about anyone who might have picked up on it in one way or another. 

:'''{{#var:575|Ayako Hasekawa (575)}} has posed:'''     Ayako lands lightly on her feet as she exits a warp gate leading to Cybertron. Her amber gaze whips around quickly as she takes in where is is now. "Whoa... that's something you don't see everyday..." A planet almost completely made up of ruins... After a moment, she quickly shakes her head and then starts actively looking around. "Umm... now where were we supposed to meet up with everyone? I definitely don't want to go anywhere alone!" 

:'''{{#var:569|Bitter Medicine (569)}} has posed:'''      It's easy for Bitter Medicine to draw connections between this place and Autochthonia. He can imagine the dead, lifeless corridors of Cybertron awash with the sea of humanity, throngs of mortals busily hustling through them on their way to work, or to the factories. Cybertron is barren, eerily quiet, a cold glimpse into the future of Autochthonia should the Great Maker's Gremlin Syndrome overtake him. How very like the gremlins the Insecticons seem--the only difference is that their destruction comes from hunger rather than sociopathy.      Alchemical Exalted have no need for air save for their ability to speak, and so Bitter Medicine looks much the same as he does any other day as he comes thudding through the warpgate. Ayako is paid a look of stern greeting, as well as a clap on the back from a gloved hand. Wordlessly, he produces a jury-rigged radio no larger than the palm of his hand and begins searching for friendly frequencies. 

:'''{{#var:528|Bahamut (528)}} has posed:'''      Did someone ask for a way to obliterate something from space, as it is the only way to be sure? Well, even if not, Bahamut enters from orbit. If anyone wishes, they can be riding on him, or be carried by him. "So, some sort of infestation has formed on this dead world, and we are here to eradicate it?" Bahamut says as he comes in low over the target area. "Where do we enter?" 

:'''{{#var:7|Kotone Yamakawa (7)}} has posed:''' Kotone Yamakawa is once again on this dead world but this time's she's not wearing something that's suited for clubbing, no she's wearing something that looks like some sort of body armour with notablke chucks on the torso, shoulders and legs there's also some odd lighted part and ammo clipped on hard points here and there. She had a assault rifle over her back and a pistol on her hip. She seemed on edge but was better ready than last time. She thinks she needs to look into something else form her world but this new armour that the Doc cooked up and Shen rolled out seems pretty good so far. "A dead world so alien organic life's never existed here..." 

:'''{{#var:513|Finna (513)}} has posed:'''     There is a fox following after Bitter Medicine. Twin earrings are clipped to its ears, providing a small bubble of clean, breathable air no matter where she goes. Thank the Union armory for simple gear!     She hops up onto Bitter MEdicine's shoulder and makes a forlorn whine, snout scanning every which way and ears at high alert positions for anything unusual. 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     Once everyone's arrived, it isn't long before Blurr shows up at the warpgate. He expected that's where most people would be popping up first. The Autobot examines the team that was sent. Especially that fox. Not exactly ruination tanks but it was worth a shot if they could find an alternate way down, maybe one less...conspicuous than Kaon.     He waves up at Bahamut, and nods to the others. "Kotone. Thanks for showing. Bahamut, that's the question at the moment. Kaon is the most obvious route, but there's no way we'd get past all the Swarm if we tried using it. I'm hoping to find something a little more discreet." He then glances over at Finna, Bitter, and Ayako. "You look familar," he says to Bitter. "I don't think I've met any of you before, though." 

:'''{{#var:575|Ayako Hasekawa (575)}} has posed:'''     Ayako smiles softly at Bitter Medicine when he gives a clap on the back to her. While Bitter Medicine scans for frequences, she keeps watch for anything hostile. Her watery awareness swiftly letting her know if anything out of the ordinary approaches.     She waves cheerfully to Bahamut as he enters from orbit. "Ah. That voice. Hello Bahamut! No idea. Hopefully our Autobot contact locates us soon before something else does." Ayako then giggles softly when Kotone steps in. "Nothing wrong with inorganic life." A comforting smile is given to Finna. "Relax, relax. Take a deep breath in... breathe out... breathe in... breathe out. If you're too jumpy now you'll burn yourself out."     Ayako smiles softly at Blurr as he (naturally) arrives quickly. "I'm Ayako Hasekawa, a water spirit. Please call me Ayako!" She bows politely to everyone. "If anyone needs healing, support magic, or anything water-related, I'll be happy to help-just don't expect anything... offensive from me." She nods her head once cheerfully. 

:'''{{#var:569|Bitter Medicine (569)}} has posed:'''      The Alchemical reaches into his coat and produces an Autochthonian artifact. It looks a bit like a breather, designed to fit over the mouth. He opens a panel up and plucks out two wires, scraping the rubber coating off. The wiring is then crudely intertwined with the palm radio, which is crammed unceremoniously into the breather mask. Closing the panel, he places the mask over his mouth. "Testing," he says. His voice is transmitted through the air provided by the mask, into the radio, and thus into those of his allies.      "We've met," says the Alchemical to Blurr. "Bitter Medicine, Chosen of the Machine God. This is Finna Snowdancer, Chosen of Luna." He gestures to the fox on his shoulder. "I'm currently equipped for threat engagement and mobility." 

:'''{{#var:7|Kotone Yamakawa (7)}} has posed:''' Kotone Yamakawa tilts her head a little bit as she looks about ans shakes her head a little bit. "If it wan't for those things? I think this planet would be stripped bare by salvagers at this point. Just the alloys making it up alone would be worth someone's efforts to attempt this." She admit's she's tempted this stuff could do some pretty cray things she thought but she's not oging to press too hard on it. "Kaon huh? all right I'm going to keep a map app rolling on my cyberbrain humm hey any intact orbital sats we might be able to use to help map things as we go?" 

:'''{{#var:528|Bahamut (528)}} has posed:'''      Bahamut carefully moves down to land near the group, then he smiles to those that have greeted him. "We may be able to find another way in, but a distraction may be more useful. I could attack somewhere and draw their attention. But, this is your world and your operation. I will follow your directions in this matter." he says.      Bahamut looks around at those gathered, picking out those he knows. Finna is the only one he recognizes by sight, but Ayako is familiar by voice. He offers both a nod of acknowledgement, then looks to those he doesn't know. "So, what alternate routes might there be? Where should we start looking?" 

:'''{{#var:513|Finna (513)}} has posed:'''     The fox offers a sort of chirp-croon at Ayako, Blurr, and Kotone as they arrive. A friendly little melodious sound of welcoming. For whatever reason, Finna doesn't seem to interested in normal speech right now, but that will do easily enough. She nudges Bitter Medicine with some nose-on-cheek action, apparently ready to help with whatever. 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     Blurr nods to Kotone and uploads a topographic map of the area to a local broadband frequency for all to see. The terrain is very rugged, covered mostly in ruins of a time long past. There are a lot of holes that might lead underground, where they are hoping to go, but most of them are just dead ends that don't go far.     The Autobot shrugs at Bahamut's idea. "If this were a typical anti-Swarm operation, I would've been 100% sure that would work. But lately they've been acting weird. Like organized, as if they're trying to keep us out of the catacombs for some reason. But it's worth a shot."     At Bitter's reminder, Blurr seems to finally recall. "Oh, right. I did meet you once. Sorry I just have a bad time with names. Hmm...Maybe Finna can scout out the ruins for a tunnel that goes down deeper than just subsurface, since she's small enough that she'll be the most likely to go unnoticed. The rest of us can watch her perimeter--the Insecticons could come from any direction." 

:'''{{#var:575|Ayako Hasekawa (575)}} has posed:'''     Ayako looks over the broadcasted map on her radio. "Hmm... lots of holes." She looks up from the radio and inclines her head to the side gently. "I've been releasing water vapor since I've arrived... I can see, hear and feel out of it, but only when it's so close to me. The radius isn't super far, but... if I can help scout that way, then I could do that." Ayako smiles softly. 

:'''{{#var:528|Bahamut (528)}} has posed:'''      Bahamut looks the map over, then hmms. "So...what is our plan?" Bahamut asks. "Simply wait for Finna to explore? If this Swarm is as dangerous as you say, it seems irresponsible to send anyone into the darkness alone." he says, looking over at Finna before back at Blurr. "With so many possible entrances, I could expedite the process, but...it would draw a lot of attention.      "It would involve firing a charge down each hole in the nearby area, seeing how deep it goes." he continues, regarding his claws as if the idea is perfectly valid. 

:'''{{#var:7|Kotone Yamakawa (7)}} has posed:''' Kotone Yamakawa is keepinga move ona s they head out and she looks over the map she's packing reaper rounds for what it' worth it should have a better chance to deal with thos ebugs she's wondeirng how she ended up like this. "...splitting up is suicide in my experiance." Xcom teaches NEVER SPLIT UP /ever/ seriously don't you'll get an alien french of death if you do. "Either way we should move onwards." 

:'''{{#var:569|Bitter Medicine (569)}} has posed:'''      "Don't mention it," says the Alchemical to Blurr. He imagines she's in fox form for exactly what Blurr suggested, so he'll just let her speak her objections if she has any. "I don't care either way. I came here ready for a fight. I'll stand by whatever decision the Assembly makes." Bitter Medicine rolls his neck, then cracks his knuckles. 

:'''{{#var:513|Finna (513)}} has posed:'''     Finna hops off of Bitter Medicine's shoulder, tail wagging slightly. Seems she's up for the 'scout ahead' role if Blurr pushes for it!     Everyone who sees that will get the feeling she is, anyways, whether they want to or not. 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     Blurr shakes his head, looking slightly impatient. Weren't they listening? "Which is exactly why I said we'd watch her perimeter so that if the Insecticons approach from -any- direction she might not be looking at the moment, at least one of us would see them. But I guess you're right, maybe we shouldn't send her down there alone. Ayako, since you can use water as a detection method, why don't you accompany her. Bahamut, in all fairness they're probably going find us at some opint, but the longer we can go undetected the better. We'll probably need your firepower on the offensive moreso than on the scouting side anyway."     When Finna seems eager to get on it, the Autobot starts off toward the porous terrain. "Let's get going." Blurr isn't one to stand around waiting, either. As they make their way toward the ruins, Finna could probably easily dart in and out of a million little nooks and crannies and chasms here and there, while Ayako's water could likely do the same.     For the rest of the team, glowing yellow optics are starting to appear in the distance... 

:'''{{#var:575|Ayako Hasekawa (575)}} has posed:'''     Ayako nods her head once. "I'll go with her! Just remember to call out on the radio if you do see something. I... I'm not much in a fight on my own..." She smiles awkwardly and follows after Finna. "Let's go, Finna!"     Once she gets to the holes, she kneels down for a moment, looking down into it to direct her water vaopr through... and then stands back up to go to the next one when she doesn't find anything. However, she's so focused on what is inside the holes, she doesn't even notice the glowing yellow optics in the distance. 

:'''{{#var:569|Bitter Medicine (569)}} has posed:'''      Straight to the point. Bitter Medicine likes this guy already. As soon as the Autobot makes his impatience apparent, the Alchemical is not far behind him, walking at a brisk pace. His right hand moves to his collapsed weapon, a disc of dark, blue-black steel--Voidbane, his gyroscopic chakram. His fingers slide into the grooves at the weapon's center, and he holds it at the ready.      The yellow eyes are a warning sign, nothing more. The Swarm can see them, and they can see the Swarm. For the /moment/ it doesn't seem like they want to engage, but he'll damned sure be ready when they do. Their motive, according to the Autobots, is hunger. There must be some way to use that against them. He broods upon possibilities as he walks, casting suspicious glances to every alley and abandoned facility they come across. All of them seem good places to mount an ambush.      "You'll be protected," he states assuredly for Ayako's benefit. He let Armsmaster down with his shameful attempt at apprehening the Undersiders. He /won't/ let anyone else down. He takes a brief survey of the other Elites. Bahamut looks like he could be equally useful on the air or on the ground. He's not sure of Blurr or Kotone's capabilities, but he's sure everyone is going to do what they're best at. With that in mind, the Exalt from the culture with milennia of experience fighting in close quarters picks a choke point and guards it. 

:'''{{#var:513|Finna (513)}} has posed:'''     Indeed, Finna does just that. She separates from the group, darting about through the ruins and scouting at tremendous speeds. The little fox is FAR faster than any normal fox has any right to be - a ghost in the ruins, drifing from place to place like debris carried by hurricane winds. Scurry scamper zip, leaping over small buildings and scouting out the area - and any enemies... 

:'''{{#var:528|Bahamut (528)}} has posed:'''      Bahamut hmphs. "On the surface? Isn't the danger underground?" he asks as he starts to scan the area. And notices yellow optics. "...hmm...it seems our operation may already be compromised." he says as he walks, his bulk creating loud footsteps despite his best efforts at being stealthy. Okay, his slight efforts to be stealthy.      "He is right, Ayako. We will not allow any harm to come to you or Finna if we can help it." the big dragon says, grinning. "No bugs, big or small, will hurt you." 

:'''{{#var:7|Kotone Yamakawa (7)}} has posed:''' Kotone Yamakawa humms and keeps an eye out at this point she looks around somethi8ng that might seen off also these things seem to be hive minded she will check for wirless signals or other forms of communicaiton she might be able to pick up. She keeps her rifle ready she notices the optics and narrows her eyes. Yup there they are watching them but she takes comfort in they'd just eat her, unlike those other things the Sqadies run into 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     "The danger is everywhere. I don't know what's underground, that's what we're trying to find out, and that's where we're trying to go. But, you know, bugs." Blurr answers the dragon, as he keeps watching Ayako's and Finna's backs.     The yellow optics stay focused on the group, not moving for the time being. "See if this were a typical situation, they would have attacked us by now. But look, they're just waiting..."     As for the two scouts, Finna would find a tunnel in a ruined warehouse about the diameter of three humans in size, that doesn't seem to lead to a dead end or be blocked by rubble. If they can make that hole bigger, then the larger members of the party might be able to fit through.     Kotone's scans of the airwaves for forms of communication reveals that strange signal that drew them here in the first place. Now that the Swarm seem to have approached, she might be able to tell that they're actually receiving it somehow... 

:'''{{#var:575|Ayako Hasekawa (575)}} has posed:'''     Ayako continues searching the holes, and then she pauses for a moment. Her gaze turns outwards as she just now notices the yellow optics watching everyone. "A-ahh... W-well... they certainly know we're here..." She takes a deep breath... and then resumes searching the holes. 

:'''{{#var:569|Bitter Medicine (569)}} has posed:'''      Bitter Medicine grunts. He's more than ready for the Swarm. Hell, he was built for almost this exact situation! This place is very similar to the reaches, and the Swarm are like gremlins with bigger numbers and less murderous glee. /Almost/ this exact situation! "Got nothing here. What about you, comrades?" 

:'''{{#var:513|Finna (513)}} has posed:'''     Finna announces over her radio, "I fooooound something!" While bounding around the tunnel and examiing it herself. She doesn't really know all those machines, but she knows that glowing buttons and levers usually do stuff, so she's got her eye out for any of those.     And of course, she's still in fox form as she scampers around.     And uns around into the tunnel and starts walking UP THE WALl to get another look from a different angle... 

:'''{{#var:528|Bahamut (528)}} has posed:'''      When Finna radios that she has found something, Bahamut turns in that direction. When he gets there, he hmphs. "It might be hard for Blurr and myself to fit in there." he says as he regards the warehouse. "Unless we are going to do some smashing and really make our presense known." he says, looking around at the eyes watching them. "Which I can do, of course." 

:'''{{#var:7|Kotone Yamakawa (7)}} has posed:''' Kotone Yamakawa Says "Yes I get the idea it's eveyrwhere and I suspect it's stuff we don't want to deal with down there." She shifts her rifle a bit and move to keep with the group when Finna calls out she's found something? Kotone turns to see just what has she found? 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     "Good work, Finna." Blurr moves over to the opening she has found, and examines it. "Yeah, anyone have any abilities that'll let us make this hole bigger without alerting them t--"     So much for that.     Quite abruptly, a mechanical bug resembling a dragonfly seems to soar out from behind an adjacent ruined building and latch itself onto the Autobot's upper body. It's about three quarters his size, so by Cybertronian standards not that large, but to others--quite massive. Caught off guard, the speedster flails but can't seem to get it off right away. Can his allies get the better of it, without harming him? Probably! But where there's one, more will most definitely be on the way! 

:'''{{#var:575|Ayako Hasekawa (575)}} has posed:'''     "Ahh, good job, Finna! I'm on my way there!" Ayako happily makes her way to the hole and then blinks at the dragonfly on Blurr. "Uhh... That's... That's not a friendly one, is it..." She glances around quickly. "Umm... someone help, please!" 

:'''{{#var:569|Bitter Medicine (569)}} has posed:'''      Smoking the bug off might not be the best idea. While it's true that some Cybertronian creatures apparently have olfactory senses, there's no guarantee this one will--its purpose is unknown to Bitter Medicine. That leaves one option.      The Alchemical hoists his chakram, holding it level with his face and using it as a makeshift ironsight. The blades extend, giving it the appearance of a buzzsaw. They set to spinning with a puff of steam, and Bitter Medicine sends it hurtling towards the insect. The soulsteel weapon hungers for the essence of the insect, banking towards it. 

:'''{{#var:528|Bahamut (528)}} has posed:'''      Bahamut blinks as that giant dragonfly flies out. "Blurr!" he growls before charging. As the next closest in size at about 15 feet high, he feels he is best equipped for this situation. He closes in quickly and his powerful claws lash out, trying to cut the bug to ribbons. If the cutting doesn't work, he would grab it and try to yank it off of the Autobot.      "I can widen the entrance, but it will be dangerous. You guys may want to be deep underground or outside about 100 feet from me." he says even as he struggles with the giant dragonfly. 

:'''{{#var:513|Finna (513)}} has posed:'''     Finna's not late to respond to the massive insecticon-thing because it got her THAT much by surprise. No, it's the OTHER's responses that got her by surprise, while she was preparing to pounce and strike it in the eyes or something , claws gleaming silver...     Wel;l, the claws are gleaming, but she hasn't launched. Instead, she's on the lookout for anything ELSE that muight approach in the confusion. If it does? She'll zap THAT bug instead. "So much for trying to sneak past 'em all!" 

:'''{{#var:7|Kotone Yamakawa (7)}} has posed:''' Kotone Yamakawa get her rifle ready she aims it and is trying to keep back she knows she shouldn't be sitting still even as that goes on. Another part of her mind is tracking the converstation about the horrible black stuff from Kingsmouth, suddenly? Cyberton seems like it's the land the Ponies come from now. She fires off several controled bursts as she moves but what good could they do well? She's going to have some data for Shen and the doc at this rate. 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     The dragonfly-look-alike is blasted off of Blurr by Bitter's voidbane attack, screeching angrily and now with a smoking hole in its side. But before it can recover and charge at its attacker, Bahamut charges in and rips at it with his claws. A few of its legs are sheared right off, though it seems undeterred in its frenzied hunger and attempts to sink its mandibles into Bahamut's leg, venom squirting out of its mouth.     Kotone's shots miss, but hopefully Bahamut has that particular one well in hand. Or should we say claw? As soon as the bug is off of him, Blurr shakes his head. "Heh, yeah. You've got that one right." he comments in response to Finna. Speaking of Finna and looking for anything else that might come their way, there certainly -are- more coming their way! The Autobot's own weapons are out in a flash and blasting at the incoming group of Insecticons, who immediately charge the group, with the one at the front swinging a massive bladed claw at Bitter and Finna in an attempt to knock them off of their feet.     "Bahamut!" Blurr shouts. "Can you get that tunnel entry bigger or not? We need an opening before they get in front of it!" There's a bit of a sigh at Ayako's lack of action, however. "Look, Ayako I know you don't like hurting things or whatever but can't you make an exception especially if they're trying to eat us? Or at least, I don't know, don't you have something that'll make us hit harder? I mean you look very...magic-y?" She must have some kind of, oh what do they call it, 'spell'? 

:'''{{#var:575|Ayako Hasekawa (575)}} has posed:'''     Ayako quickly moves towards everyone else for cover. "I... well... that sort of thing takes time to make! And... well, I have to do this first!" She closes her eyes for a moment... and then sweeps her hands outwards. "Water Bubble!"     A bubble of water forms around everyone for a moment and then fades away. A strange barrier that doesn't appear to do anything but slow enemy attacks a negligible amount. "Uu... give me a while to get the right barrier..."     Her gaze does turn upwards to Bahamut who just got bit by a venomous bite. "I can help with that, though! Healing Water!" Ayako cups her hands together in front of her body and glances down at her hands. Purple water forms in the cupped hands-which is swiftly thrown at Bahamut. 

:'''{{#var:569|Bitter Medicine (569)}} has posed:'''      Speaking of magic-y and spells, there happen to be two Exalts here, and while Bitter Medicine is certainly of a flavor more familiar to Bitter Medicine, he is by no means less magic-y than his peer, or, for that matter, less outrageous. The buzzsaw cuts through the tough synthleather of his trench coat, a light cut now visible in its wake.      Knocked onto the ground by the force of the attack, he retaliates with the pinnacle of the outrageous--Exalted martial arts. Thousand Wounds Gear style was designed specifically for fighting gremlins. It's cold and merciless, striking hard, fast and clean to eliminate threats.      The Alchemical's booted feet thrust toward the looming insecticon in a vicious ground attack, introducing it to a technique known as Linear Flight Principle--a favored 'get out of my face' charm among practitioners of the style. It tends to live up to its name. 

:'''{{#var:513|Finna (513)}} has posed:'''     With more giant robobugs coming in, Finna gives them an unimpressed look. They're big, but she can read their intentions from a world away! Unamused by its approach, she adopts a rather dull expression and--     Leans forward, ducking UNDER the big blade and grabbing onto it. using the momentum she swings up and about, shifting into her Warform as she moves and bringing a tremendous kick using the creature's own power and her Claws of the Silver Moon right for its head! "down you go! Bug off!" 

:'''{{#var:528|Bahamut (528)}} has posed:'''      Bahamut growls as those mandibles bit into his leg, and he winces as he feels the burn of poison in his veins. "The machina of your world are much more fearsome than those of mine." he says before he grips the bug firmly, then gives a flap of his wings. "You guys had better clear out! I can still do this without putting you in danger. Get at least 100 feet from the warehouse!" he shouts as he rises.      Bahamut rumbles pleasantly as he feels that healing magic wash over him. He nods to Ayako before he takes up a position about 100 feet in the air. Then, he holds the Insecticon firmly as he builds energy. His mouth hangs open as grey-white energy builds between his jaws. If they can't get out of the way, hopefully they have a good magic shield. Bahamut throws the insecticon downward, then follows it up with his Mega Flare!      A column of energy at least as thick as Bahamut fires downward right at the warehouse, taking the insecticon with it, and when it impacts it starts to expand, burning its way into Cybertron, obliterating the warehouse in the process. Objects in its path are saturated with energy to the point that they actually explode to some degree, and the depth the beam burrows is limited only by how tough the area is around the hole. 

:'''{{#var:7|Kotone Yamakawa (7)}} has posed:''' Kotone Yamakawa is not having much luck it seems but she's still trying to avoid getting hit first she's still got ammo in the clip as she's not firing wildly thankfully. She tries to keep on the movve firing more shots are she goes but this isn't hte best way to go then again she's able to even attempt to do this without worrying about the recoil s much as she could. "How many of these things are there can they breed!?" She calls out to Blurr wanting to know if this is like an endless tide sort of situation. 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     Blurr's weapons keep blazing full speed, the Insecticons blow up several at a time, but still--there are just so many of them. Finna and Bitter's melee attacks cut into the bug's thorax, causing purple body fluids to go spewing everywhere. "I don't -think- they breed...but somehow I feel like there are more here than there were last time." They'll have to figure that bit out later, though.     Ah, that poor, poor dragonfly that bit Bahamut. Thanks to Ayako, the dragon almost immediately regains full strength, even after the toxins were injected. The Mega Flare -incinerates- the bug and turn the wreck of the dilapidated warehouse into bits of slag. The torn-down walls light up with golden energy before exploding in a magnificent display of destruction, taking out most of the bugs with it.     Mission accomplished, the hole is now large enough to fit several full-sized Cybertronians down there at once. The only disadvantage of that, though...     ...Something is happening to the few remaining Insecticons. The one Finna and Bitter had been fighting suddenly turns and seems to flee, heading straight for the entry to the tunnel Bahamut's just widened. In fact, all of them seem to be headed there. But are they fleeing, or gathering? After a few seconds, it seems more likely to be the latter--in fact, are they -forming up- on each other? Yes, the few Insecticons that didn't get obliterated by the mega flare appear to be joining their bodies together into one MASSIVE Insecticon gestalt about the size of Superion!     Blurr stares up in horror at the first-ever Insecticon combiner he has ever seen. And slag is it -ugly-. "Holy scrap..." 

:'''{{#var:569|Bitter Medicine (569)}} has posed:''' Bahamut's warning is heeded by Bitter Medicine. He knows that Finna is quick enough to escape. There's got to be some kind of creature on Creation that can outrun a fireball. Kotone and Ayako, though? He's not sure of their capabilities. He /is/ sure of his own.      The Alchemical takes to the air, jets of dark purple plasma erupting from the soles of his boots. Trails of ash and cinder follow in his wake as he swoops in to grab both the squaddie and the elemental, taking each by the scruff of the neck--sorry!--and flying away from the warehouse at a brisk 45 miles per hour. The classical blunder of Exalted combat is starting a naval war near the Blessed Isle, but less well-known is this: always protect your sorcerers! Once the... /most/ imminent danger is done with, he toouches down, posthaste, and unceremoniously drops the both of them on the roof of a building, where they can do their thing from the high ground.      That done, he jumps off of the building and... sticks to the side of it, running down the length! Extending his arm, he calls for his weapon, which comes screaming through massing insecticon after insecticon to return to his hand. 

:'''{{#var:528|Bahamut (528)}} has posed:'''      Bahamut grins at the destruction down below, but that grin disappears as he sees the giant bug form. "Well...that is impressive." he says before flying downward rapidly. If the camera zoomed out, it would probably look like a fighter jet trying to bring down Godzilla. Except this jet has more firepower. Bahamut roars as he flies around the creature. He builds energy in his hands, then thrusts them at the giant Insecticon. "Flare!"      Just a normal Flare spell. There is not even a projectile. There is just a sudden explosion of energy on the Insecticon. The same kind of energy as the Mega Flare, just not nearly as much of it. 

:'''{{#var:575|Ayako Hasekawa (575)}} has posed:'''     Ayako blinks her eyes quickly as she's picked up by the scruff of her neck and flown off away from the warehouse. She eeps softly when she notes the gigantic energy blast that Bahamut just spewed out of his mouth! Once she's dropped, she lands lightly on her feet and bows politely to Bitter Medicine. She walks to the edge of the roof and watches the battle carefully. "Eep... really, really big one..." Figuring out the correct barrier to use is never easy, and it still isn't extremely clear to her which she should use. The size of the new opponent doesn't help either! 

:'''{{#var:7|Kotone Yamakawa (7)}} has posed:''' Kotone Yamakawa is having terrible luck with the bugs at this point she's getting hits but it's not doing much in the way of damage even with using the reaper rounds she's flips the round selector up to a higher rate of fire power pausing as she sees them combing. That was not osmething she was erxpecting she's got this look of fear on her face. "That should not happen!" he's then grabbed by Bitter Medicnie and she's dragged to higher ground. She try to get off a wild shot at the thing as she's grabbed however. 

:'''{{#var:513|Finna (513)}} has posed:'''     Two immediately WOWZER things happen. The first is a freaking DRAGON.     Finna scatters far away from the blast zone out of pure instinct and BOY was that a good idea.     But then... the other is... the sight of dozens, perhaps countless Insecticons forming up into one big monster. ".......... Fffffffffffffffffffuuuuuuuuuuah... mammoth shit. That's something else! Uhh...."     The foxwoman hops and springs off various rubble and metal outcroppings, all while firing off silvery silk from her palms. Aiming to circle the creature, entangle its legs, and bring it down by... well, attaching the silk to a building foundation!     Argent-Weaver Art! Take that! 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     The Insecticon combiner takes a few seconds to form up. The team's attacks tear into it as its many members link up together, knocking bits of armor off, but it manages to hold out. Finna's silk causes some annoyance in the way of interrupting a few of the interfacing processes, but is of little consequence.     By the time it has finished, it resembles an enormous hornet with spokes all over its back and legs, and a scorpion-like for a stinger.     And boy is it -gigantic-. Ayako's words are a bit of an understatement.     "Hit it with all you've got, I'll see if I can't keep its attention for you!" Blurr calls out, and zips off, running in circles around the monstrosity while taking potshots at its legs. However, this seems to be to no avail. Its rage is focused upon Bahamut. Well, wouldn't yours be, too?     The scorpion tail rises, and shoots what basically looks like a bolt of lightning at Bahamut. Though the strongest bolt seems to be focused on the dragon, it also seems to split in midair, arcing across the entire area and threatening to strike anyone within its reach! 

:'''{{#var:575|Ayako Hasekawa (575)}} has posed:'''     Ayako winces as the split lightning bolt strikes her! Although it seems she doesn't conduct electricity as well as could be expected. She does quickly note how badly Kotone was hit by it, though! Luckily Ayako is extremely close by!     She holds her hands out towards Kotone. "Water of Life!" A ball of golden water forms out of it and floats in the air. "Drink this of your own will, please! It will heal you a lot but... it doesn't work when just splashed on you..."     Her gaze then returns to the battle... was that electricity? Still... more information is needed before she can make a decent barrier! 

:'''{{#var:528|Bahamut (528)}} has posed:'''      Bahamut is struck squarely by the attack, which sends him spiraling downward with electricity arcing over his body. He roars as he regains his posture and resumes his flying attack. He is glad the others made it out before Mega Flare hit, but he couldn't wait any longer to use it.      With the new joined creature obvious quite dangerous, Bahamut joins Blurr in trying to draw its attention. But, rather than going for the legs, he goes for the face. Like an eagle striking its prey, Bahamut flies in, claws and talons outstretched, and tries to use all his bulk and his sharp metal claws to dig into the giant Insecticon's face, hoping to blind it or at least draw its attention away from the others. Especially poor Kotone. 

:'''{{#var:569|Bitter Medicine (569)}} has posed:''' The lightning strikes the Alchemical, leaving a smoldering, ugly wound across his face. He /really/ needs to have a Perfect Defense built. The Scourges of Autochthon are not so easily dismissed, however much the weapons of their enemies burn and scorch. He grits his teeth, his soulgem sparking slightly.      The Alchemical /leaps/ into the air, which causes his soulgem to arc visibly with purple lightning. Midway through the air, he seems to... change direction, his feed flipping up over his head. It's almost like his relative gravity has changed! Hurtling through the air towards the giant wasp, he sends Voidbane after it.      The gyroscopic chakram tears through the wasp again and again, ceaselessly attacking it. Soulsteel weapons hunger for the Essence of living beings, and eagerly drink it up for their owners. If the wasp has any to steal, it's in for an unpleasant sensation indeed--well, arguably as unpleasant as what's about to happen.      BOOM! Bitter Medicine touches down on his new center of gravity, slamming his heels into it with all of his might. Juuust visible around him is a thundercloud, dark blue and ominous. 

:'''{{#var:513|Finna (513)}} has posed:'''     "One of these daaaaaays--" Finna goes flying past Bitter Medicine as she says this, fur all standing on end and body charred...     She reorients in midair, scraping claws along the metal ground, and brakes her momentum. "You've gotta teach me some of those things, Bitter Medicine! This one's a BIT too big for my tastes!"     She has a bow, claws, a sword... even a pistol, and this is a HUGE ROBOT. What's any of that gonna do to it? Dent it?     She repeats the tactic from before, but THIS time slings silk up at the creature's upper reaches, trying to drag it off-balance. This is akin to a fly trying to grab a dog's tail, but... 

:'''{{#var:7|Kotone Yamakawa (7)}} has posed:''' Kotone Yamakawa is wearing body armour tht on it's world would laugh off even assault rifle fire or partially a grenade hit here it's just enough to keep her alive it does that but ther's not the sound of flesh burning there is not the sent of chared flesh at all just the smell of burnt metal and plastic along with Kotone's scream of pain. Ayako doe act fast as Kotone's vision is a sea of pain, static and glitching HUD parts she tries to get up she attemps to issue the command to disable her pain receptor and while that might risk more injury it does make things... more ... bearable for her. There's smoking comeinf from under her armour and some even from the back of her head some of her hait has melted away she pulls something the grenades she has on her and lobs the entire belt of them at the huge insect thing. 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     The giant wasp-scorpion hybrid Insecticon howls as Bahamut claws it its face, and as such it is unable to avoid Bitter's voidbane attack and Kotone's grenades. The ensuing explosions create deep cracks in its armor, energon and corrosive body fluids spurting everywhere. That can't be good for those who are in close proximity to the mechanical monstrosity!     The thing flails, attempting to drive its bladed front legs into Bahamut's midsection. But now what is it doing? The creature's wings begin to beat, and it takes to the air, flying fast with Bahamut and Bitter still on top of it toward ...the smelting pools. Designed for melting down scraps and well...-unwanted- mechs. If it was hot enough to melt metallic beings--well perhaps we shouldn't think of what it would do to an organic. Unfortunately, Finna's silk spinning again does little to harm or slow the creature down. 

:'''{{#var:528|Bahamut (528)}} has posed:'''      Bahamut roars as those legs slice at him, cutting into even his thick armored hide. Of course, he isn't about to just ride this thing into a giant melting pot. He lets go after the intended target becomes clear, and flies by to pick up Bitter if he needs it. Then, Bahamut turns to keep pressing the attack. But, he doesn't fire a normal spell. He uses Gravija, a spell that inflicts damage through use of gravity to crush those in the blast radius. And, he makes sure not to fire it anywhere near his allies this time.      He shoots it in front of the Insecticon so that hopefully in addition to the crushing damage it will pull the thing even more strongly toward the melting pot. If it wasn't intending to fly in, maybe that will give it the push it needs. Then, he flies back toward the hole. "If we are going in, now might be a good time! That thing won't be able to follow us down, with how big it is!" 

:'''{{#var:575|Ayako Hasekawa (575)}} has posed:'''     Ayako eeps as she's splashed with the corrosive bodily fluids leaking from the giant wasp-scorpion thing! She swiftly creates water and washes the icky stuff off of herself before it can eat away at her body and clothing too much. She puffs out her cheeks in a pout, and opens her mouth to say something-and then slowly closes her mouth.     Her eyes widen when the Insecticon is fiannly taken down and she sighs in relief... "Everyone who's hurt, come over to me and I'll treat you!" 

:'''{{#var:569|Bitter Medicine (569)}} has posed:''' The corrosive fluid splashes onto the Exalt's face, taking all that it hits and melting it away. Now sans an eye, and morbidly enough, an arm, the Alchemical narrows his... eye.      "We'll see," he replies to the Lunar over the radio. With that, he leaps off of the insecticon, his anima flaring. The acid from before melts off his remaining sleeve, revealing the synthetic soulsteel musculature beneath it--and the pale faces of the dead trapped within. He twists his body in the air, calling the chakram back to his hand before tossing it again. Snik-snik. It flies through the falling creature's wings then returns to him.      Looking very much worse for wear and sporting a full anima banner, he activates his plasma thrusters again and touches down next to Ayako. He... looks even more menacing than usual. One-eyed, one-armed is not a good look for him. 

:'''{{#var:7|Kotone Yamakawa (7)}} has posed:''' Kotone Yamakawa is very glad she's got the armour though the doctor isn't going to be /very/ happy about this level of drame the body sluids eat into the carapce armour, and Kotone is forcesd away trying to get the stuff /off/ of her before it can eat throught the armour and get into the workings of her body she doesn't even bother to attack there's a panicked look on her face as she tries to get it off. Some of it oes catch and eats through her cheek but she doesn't notice... due to her pain receptors being off. "I... I... shouldn't ... have been here..." 

:'''{{#var:513|Finna (513)}} has posed:'''     "Owwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww!" So Finna ends up sizzling as the creature breaks down. Splish-splash! She somehow, however, manages to counter this after a few moments by LAUNCHING ALL OF HER FUR as thick needles at high speed in a pulverizing barrage at the thing as it flails, and then drops to the ground panting and gasping, while... the white fur grows back in remarkably quickly.     "....Owwwwwwwwwwwwwww...." She's NOT happy. 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     The gravity attack does the creature in. It screeches as its wings are sheared clean off, and it goes plummeting toward the smelting pools. Bitter's and Finna's attacks tear it up even more before the hot chemicals quickly consume its frame, and it sinks into the depths, melting away as it goes. For now, it seems the Insecticons in the immediate vicinity have been taken care of, but at a price to the Union and its allies.     And where's Blurr been all this time? Well, he's been scouting out that tunnel, to see how far he could get. It seems he wasn't very successful. <<Yeah I took a peek down that tunnel, and it's -crawling- with them. There's no way we'd make it...Pull back for now--I'd like to keep this from turning into a suicide mission. In fact get back to Njorun if you can...this might be a long haul.>> They'll have to find a more secluded entry that -doesn't- require blasting or other attention-drawing activity in order to be made useful. 

}}

698/Report on the Swarm

2014-10-06T23:24:50Z

Zippy:

{{Log Header
|Date of Scene=2014/09/29
|Location=Cybertron-2
|Synopsis=There's a mysterious signal coming from a dead Cybertron, and the Swarm has been displaying some strange behavior recently. Who or what could be behind it all?
|Thanks=
|Cast of Characters=492, 568
|Tinyplot=Out of the Silent Planet
|Tinyplot2=
|pretty=yes
}}
{{Poses
|Poses=:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     Cybertron is a dead world, for the most part. But lately, Autobot orbital surveillance probes have been picking up on a rather strong signal coming from the surface. A signal that shouldn't exist on such a decrepit scrapheap. There -shouldn't- be anything down there capable of creating such a signature, right?     Shouldn't. But there definitely is, and it is definitely coming from somewhere planetside.     So High Command has sent Blurr to investigate the source, but he's run into a bit of a problem. One that he'd expected, granted, but one can only prepare so much for a massive horde of ravenous, mech-eating Insecticon savages. He may be fast, but he can't exactly teleport. He might have been able to orbital bounce if that signal weren't jamming everything except basic communications, but such was not the case.     For the time being, he's been sneaking around the Swarm, observing them and searching for any clues as to how he might be able to trace the signal to its source. And hoping the bugs won't see him. 

:'''{{#var:568|Optimus Prime (568)}} has posed:''' Blurr had not report in for a bit and that was starting to concern Optimus. The swarm upon Cybertron's dead surface was a major problem and having very few Autobots on the surface kept things easier for those to move around undetected, but it also meant if something went wrong--- This now means that Optimus Prime now arrives on the world he once called home and some part of him still does. He will never forget the betrayal, the sorrow, watching as so many left--- while he held onto a dead hope-- a hope he had to come to face. Some part of him... perhaps still does. Maybe it is for this reason when he returned to Earth at last to join with the rest of his Autobots, he-- never wanted to look back here really, but he had to at times. Had to keep searching. Hope. It was a driving force. Just like right now, Prime is hoping Blurr is alright, but with the swarm around, even in trying to follow the speedsters tracks, it wasn't easy. Each step had to be calculated. Each movement careful. Rifle at ready and keen observation required. Only when times looked safe, did he tap his comm trying to break through the silence, break through the signal jam to reach Blurr. Something had to give here. Either that signal, blurr, or getting jumped by a hundred hungry metal munching bugs. 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     Fortunately not -everything- is jammed, communications seem to punch through, at least. <<Prime?>> Blurr's voice comes through, and he might catch a glimpse of the speedster--a blue and white streak, moving across the ruins ahead.     Strangely enough, the Swarm haven't yet attacked, though plenty of them can be seen prowling about. <<They didn't tell me they were sending any backup.>> he says with a slight chuckle. 

:'''{{#var:568|Optimus Prime (568)}} has posed:''' Optimus catches glimpse of the speedster in the distance, he almost takes a moment of relief in seeing he is alright, but he does keep his own voice down as he observes a few of the bugs on the prowl near his own location. <<"That is because for once, Blurr. You were taking longer then expected.">> There was a mild case of relief in Prime's voice as he then went to take a few more careful steps to see if there was a mean to cut across to get over where Blurr was-- or is-- depending on how fast the speedster moves. Then again, give Blurr time and he'll get over here! <<"Any luck finding the source of the signal?">> 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     Give Blurr some time, yes, but not a lot! He doesn't need that much. It isn't long before Optimus finds the speedster at his side. He glances about their perimeter to make sure no more bugs are headed their way, then turns to his commander. "Well, I can trace it, but--" he pauses, looking back over toward the ruins of a building that was once a large hotel. "We shouldn't talk out in the open. Fortunately I found an old safe house I used to hide in before Zeta Prime was killed that's still intact."     He transforms, folding up into a hover speeder. "Follow me." He starts moving toward the former hotel fairly quickly but not so fast that Prime wouldn't be able to keep up. 

:'''{{#var:568|Optimus Prime (568)}} has posed:''' The Autobot Commander pauses, his optics flicker and then he looks directly at Blurr who is now by he side. Hello there. He gives Blurr a firm nod, though when Zeta Prime in brought up, Optimus-- looks off toward the distance to examine a few of the movements of the swarm. Yet when Blurr goes to transform, Prime responds with a calm, "Lead the way." Before he too transforms and follows suit. Thankfully, he can move slightly more faster then the alternate mode he is based off of-- though sadly no where at the speeds Blurr can, but Blurr at least is making it easy to follow suit. So-- to the old safe house they go! 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     Among the ruins of that massive hotel, a trapdoor in the ground retracts to reveal a hole with a series of rungs installed into the sides of it. Blurr climbs down into it, and activates the keypad next to the door at the bottom.     All these vorns, and the access codes are still in the system--no one else has touched it, because no one else every found it.     The doors retract as well, sliding open to reveal a fairly decent-looking room. Not large, but at least it isn't in ruins like the rest of the city. There's comfy seating, a couple of recharge slabs, and even a small stock of energon rations. Wouldn't last forever, but certainly better than nothing. Small armory with standard weaponry and grenades, cleaning drones for repaints if necessary. Never know when you might need to erase evidence of a scuffle, at least in the business of information warfare. They have yet to see if the drones are still functional, however.     Lights flicker on as they enter, and Blurr sits down at a workstation that lights up with perimeter surveillance. "Incredibly lucky this was still here. I'd have imagined it would've gotten destroyed, but I guess the cloaking field that was just designed to keep running idefinitely has done its work. And is still doing it. Anyway, yeah. The signal. I can trace it, and it seems to be coming from the catacombs. Somewhere underground. So Kaon's the best access point if that's the case, right? Only every time I get anywhere close to heading down there, the Swarm just...amasses there. It's like they don't want me to go down there." he frowns. "Which doesn't make any sense, because they've always just been mean eating machines, but now it's like they've got some other -purpose- in mind." 

:'''{{#var:568|Optimus Prime (568)}} has posed:''' Optimus Prime follows Blurr to the location and down the shaft, he also makes sure it locks up nice and tight-- just encase. Once down there, the Prime may first have to watch his head only cause sheer height difference, but he finds himself a place to sit down and resting his arms across his legs as he listens to Blurr. His optics narrow at some parts of it. It was-- confusing. Why would the swarm switch gears like this? What would cause they to act defensively when, Blurr was right, they have been just munching angry machines. His pose changes as his 'elbows' come to rest on his 'thighs' and his hands clasped in front of his battle plate. The Autobot Commander seemed to deep thought at the information he was presented, including a very gentle tap against the plate. His true blue optics flickered for a moment before he looks to Blurr. "And so far-- up until this signal activated, the Swarm has been acting as primitive as primitive can be... correct?" He was pretty sure Blurr already answered that, he already knew the answer in his head, but to double check, maybe even triple check the facts. "And now with this Signal on, they are.. protecting perhaps the one best entrance to where the signal is... This is.. concerning.. deeply so." 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     Blurr nods. "I'll say. The Swarm was never on -anyone's- side but their own. They never acted as a cohesive unit, they were always just after food. Devouring anything and everything. Now they seem to be trying to do something -other- than devouring. Which can only mean that someone or something's got a hold on them, and whoever it is doesn't want us going into the catacombs. And I've been watching them, Prime. They've been organized into groups, almost as if someone's put them on patrol routes. It's crazy." 

:'''{{#var:568|Optimus Prime (568)}} has posed:''' "That is what concerns me." Prime says to Blurr as they seem to be maybe on the same line of thinking here. "If someone or something is controlling the Swarm, it then turns into not only a question of who, but for what reason." Optimus closes his optics in thought, as they dim to no light as his tapping on the plate comes to an end at last and only resting his plate against the edge of his index finger. He is silent for a moment in thought, before moving his hand away and sitting up a bit more straight before he goes back to talking again, "There could even be a probability that the signal itself could be controlling the swarm-- but then that comes back to the whys and whos." Prime then shakes his head gently. "We will need to get a larger team on this then just a simple scout unit. Perhaps one group to try and distract the swarm, while another then goes down to the Catacombs. Though no way to know if such a plan would work. I'll need to run it over with Prowl and see what he thinks. But that seems like the best option we have at this juncture. A team to distract and a team that descends." Optimus then looks directly at Blurr, "..and that also means putting full trust in the Union in aiding us with this matter, because if someone... or something.. can organize the Swarm in this manner.. there could be a chance then that sooner or later, they could turn them on the Multiverse itself." 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     Blurr keeps watching the perimeter surveillance. A few bugs wandered close, but none of them seem to have gotten any ideas yet. Good. He nods, listening to Optimus.     "I know one thing. Whoever this is, if they've managed to create something powerful enough to control the entire Swarm, they're a force to be reckoned with. Which could be a good thing or a bad thing. The only thing I know for sure at this point is that they don't seem to want us going underground." he shrugs.     "It could be that they're trying to avert disaster or that they're trying to hide something. Or both. The signal itself could be controlling them, but we can't know that for sure without some real evidence. Black Arachnia would know how to figure that out." Or Soundwave. But of course, the Autobot is not exactly eager to ask for his help. He's not exactly sure what's going on here. For all he knows, the Decepticons could be behind it. "If we get a team of Elites here, we might be able to break through. Maybe. There are a lot of Insecticons. Someone small -might- be able to slip past them, though." 

:'''{{#var:568|Optimus Prime (568)}} has posed:''' Optimus gives a faint nod to what Blurr has to say, before he goes to stand up. "Well. Let us get back and see what we can plan up. Try to get a team together for the operations and do this with a larger group." Prime then looks around before he looks to Blurr, "With no idea what is going on and the high possibility that whatever is commanding them could not be an ally-- we need to solve this quickly, before it does somehow get out of hand." 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     "I would have to agree." Blurr says, standing up as well. "I just hope no one gets eaten. I'll stick around here for a little longer, do a bit more recon. Maybe find a different way down that isn't so overpopulated. I'll report in with whatever I find." 

}}

698/Report on the Swarm

2014-10-06T23:24:32Z

Zippy:

{{Log Header
|Date of Scene=2014/09/29
|Location=Cybertron-2
|Synopsis=There's a mysterious signal coming from a dead Cybertron, and the Swarm has been displaying some strange behavior recently. Who or what could be behind it all?
|Thanks=
|Cast of Characters=492, 568
|Tinyplot=10
|Tinyplot2=
|pretty=yes
}}
{{Poses
|Poses=:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     Cybertron is a dead world, for the most part. But lately, Autobot orbital surveillance probes have been picking up on a rather strong signal coming from the surface. A signal that shouldn't exist on such a decrepit scrapheap. There -shouldn't- be anything down there capable of creating such a signature, right?     Shouldn't. But there definitely is, and it is definitely coming from somewhere planetside.     So High Command has sent Blurr to investigate the source, but he's run into a bit of a problem. One that he'd expected, granted, but one can only prepare so much for a massive horde of ravenous, mech-eating Insecticon savages. He may be fast, but he can't exactly teleport. He might have been able to orbital bounce if that signal weren't jamming everything except basic communications, but such was not the case.     For the time being, he's been sneaking around the Swarm, observing them and searching for any clues as to how he might be able to trace the signal to its source. And hoping the bugs won't see him. 

:'''{{#var:568|Optimus Prime (568)}} has posed:''' Blurr had not report in for a bit and that was starting to concern Optimus. The swarm upon Cybertron's dead surface was a major problem and having very few Autobots on the surface kept things easier for those to move around undetected, but it also meant if something went wrong--- This now means that Optimus Prime now arrives on the world he once called home and some part of him still does. He will never forget the betrayal, the sorrow, watching as so many left--- while he held onto a dead hope-- a hope he had to come to face. Some part of him... perhaps still does. Maybe it is for this reason when he returned to Earth at last to join with the rest of his Autobots, he-- never wanted to look back here really, but he had to at times. Had to keep searching. Hope. It was a driving force. Just like right now, Prime is hoping Blurr is alright, but with the swarm around, even in trying to follow the speedsters tracks, it wasn't easy. Each step had to be calculated. Each movement careful. Rifle at ready and keen observation required. Only when times looked safe, did he tap his comm trying to break through the silence, break through the signal jam to reach Blurr. Something had to give here. Either that signal, blurr, or getting jumped by a hundred hungry metal munching bugs. 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     Fortunately not -everything- is jammed, communications seem to punch through, at least. <<Prime?>> Blurr's voice comes through, and he might catch a glimpse of the speedster--a blue and white streak, moving across the ruins ahead.     Strangely enough, the Swarm haven't yet attacked, though plenty of them can be seen prowling about. <<They didn't tell me they were sending any backup.>> he says with a slight chuckle. 

:'''{{#var:568|Optimus Prime (568)}} has posed:''' Optimus catches glimpse of the speedster in the distance, he almost takes a moment of relief in seeing he is alright, but he does keep his own voice down as he observes a few of the bugs on the prowl near his own location. <<"That is because for once, Blurr. You were taking longer then expected.">> There was a mild case of relief in Prime's voice as he then went to take a few more careful steps to see if there was a mean to cut across to get over where Blurr was-- or is-- depending on how fast the speedster moves. Then again, give Blurr time and he'll get over here! <<"Any luck finding the source of the signal?">> 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     Give Blurr some time, yes, but not a lot! He doesn't need that much. It isn't long before Optimus finds the speedster at his side. He glances about their perimeter to make sure no more bugs are headed their way, then turns to his commander. "Well, I can trace it, but--" he pauses, looking back over toward the ruins of a building that was once a large hotel. "We shouldn't talk out in the open. Fortunately I found an old safe house I used to hide in before Zeta Prime was killed that's still intact."     He transforms, folding up into a hover speeder. "Follow me." He starts moving toward the former hotel fairly quickly but not so fast that Prime wouldn't be able to keep up. 

:'''{{#var:568|Optimus Prime (568)}} has posed:''' The Autobot Commander pauses, his optics flicker and then he looks directly at Blurr who is now by he side. Hello there. He gives Blurr a firm nod, though when Zeta Prime in brought up, Optimus-- looks off toward the distance to examine a few of the movements of the swarm. Yet when Blurr goes to transform, Prime responds with a calm, "Lead the way." Before he too transforms and follows suit. Thankfully, he can move slightly more faster then the alternate mode he is based off of-- though sadly no where at the speeds Blurr can, but Blurr at least is making it easy to follow suit. So-- to the old safe house they go! 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     Among the ruins of that massive hotel, a trapdoor in the ground retracts to reveal a hole with a series of rungs installed into the sides of it. Blurr climbs down into it, and activates the keypad next to the door at the bottom.     All these vorns, and the access codes are still in the system--no one else has touched it, because no one else every found it.     The doors retract as well, sliding open to reveal a fairly decent-looking room. Not large, but at least it isn't in ruins like the rest of the city. There's comfy seating, a couple of recharge slabs, and even a small stock of energon rations. Wouldn't last forever, but certainly better than nothing. Small armory with standard weaponry and grenades, cleaning drones for repaints if necessary. Never know when you might need to erase evidence of a scuffle, at least in the business of information warfare. They have yet to see if the drones are still functional, however.     Lights flicker on as they enter, and Blurr sits down at a workstation that lights up with perimeter surveillance. "Incredibly lucky this was still here. I'd have imagined it would've gotten destroyed, but I guess the cloaking field that was just designed to keep running idefinitely has done its work. And is still doing it. Anyway, yeah. The signal. I can trace it, and it seems to be coming from the catacombs. Somewhere underground. So Kaon's the best access point if that's the case, right? Only every time I get anywhere close to heading down there, the Swarm just...amasses there. It's like they don't want me to go down there." he frowns. "Which doesn't make any sense, because they've always just been mean eating machines, but now it's like they've got some other -purpose- in mind." 

:'''{{#var:568|Optimus Prime (568)}} has posed:''' Optimus Prime follows Blurr to the location and down the shaft, he also makes sure it locks up nice and tight-- just encase. Once down there, the Prime may first have to watch his head only cause sheer height difference, but he finds himself a place to sit down and resting his arms across his legs as he listens to Blurr. His optics narrow at some parts of it. It was-- confusing. Why would the swarm switch gears like this? What would cause they to act defensively when, Blurr was right, they have been just munching angry machines. His pose changes as his 'elbows' come to rest on his 'thighs' and his hands clasped in front of his battle plate. The Autobot Commander seemed to deep thought at the information he was presented, including a very gentle tap against the plate. His true blue optics flickered for a moment before he looks to Blurr. "And so far-- up until this signal activated, the Swarm has been acting as primitive as primitive can be... correct?" He was pretty sure Blurr already answered that, he already knew the answer in his head, but to double check, maybe even triple check the facts. "And now with this Signal on, they are.. protecting perhaps the one best entrance to where the signal is... This is.. concerning.. deeply so." 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     Blurr nods. "I'll say. The Swarm was never on -anyone's- side but their own. They never acted as a cohesive unit, they were always just after food. Devouring anything and everything. Now they seem to be trying to do something -other- than devouring. Which can only mean that someone or something's got a hold on them, and whoever it is doesn't want us going into the catacombs. And I've been watching them, Prime. They've been organized into groups, almost as if someone's put them on patrol routes. It's crazy." 

:'''{{#var:568|Optimus Prime (568)}} has posed:''' "That is what concerns me." Prime says to Blurr as they seem to be maybe on the same line of thinking here. "If someone or something is controlling the Swarm, it then turns into not only a question of who, but for what reason." Optimus closes his optics in thought, as they dim to no light as his tapping on the plate comes to an end at last and only resting his plate against the edge of his index finger. He is silent for a moment in thought, before moving his hand away and sitting up a bit more straight before he goes back to talking again, "There could even be a probability that the signal itself could be controlling the swarm-- but then that comes back to the whys and whos." Prime then shakes his head gently. "We will need to get a larger team on this then just a simple scout unit. Perhaps one group to try and distract the swarm, while another then goes down to the Catacombs. Though no way to know if such a plan would work. I'll need to run it over with Prowl and see what he thinks. But that seems like the best option we have at this juncture. A team to distract and a team that descends." Optimus then looks directly at Blurr, "..and that also means putting full trust in the Union in aiding us with this matter, because if someone... or something.. can organize the Swarm in this manner.. there could be a chance then that sooner or later, they could turn them on the Multiverse itself." 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     Blurr keeps watching the perimeter surveillance. A few bugs wandered close, but none of them seem to have gotten any ideas yet. Good. He nods, listening to Optimus.     "I know one thing. Whoever this is, if they've managed to create something powerful enough to control the entire Swarm, they're a force to be reckoned with. Which could be a good thing or a bad thing. The only thing I know for sure at this point is that they don't seem to want us going underground." he shrugs.     "It could be that they're trying to avert disaster or that they're trying to hide something. Or both. The signal itself could be controlling them, but we can't know that for sure without some real evidence. Black Arachnia would know how to figure that out." Or Soundwave. But of course, the Autobot is not exactly eager to ask for his help. He's not exactly sure what's going on here. For all he knows, the Decepticons could be behind it. "If we get a team of Elites here, we might be able to break through. Maybe. There are a lot of Insecticons. Someone small -might- be able to slip past them, though." 

:'''{{#var:568|Optimus Prime (568)}} has posed:''' Optimus gives a faint nod to what Blurr has to say, before he goes to stand up. "Well. Let us get back and see what we can plan up. Try to get a team together for the operations and do this with a larger group." Prime then looks around before he looks to Blurr, "With no idea what is going on and the high possibility that whatever is commanding them could not be an ally-- we need to solve this quickly, before it does somehow get out of hand." 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     "I would have to agree." Blurr says, standing up as well. "I just hope no one gets eaten. I'll stick around here for a little longer, do a bit more recon. Maybe find a different way down that isn't so overpopulated. I'll report in with whatever I find." 

}}