Scene #1404: An Old Friend

Owner	Pose
Alys	The location known as "The Great Ruin" was, indeed a bunch of ruins, and at this hour, most of them were dark, musty, and like the vast majority of places in the multiverse, nothing of value of interest was held in them. However, it was at certain coordinates that a faint, but steady signal was being transmitted, encrypted to the highest degree and almost indistinguishable from background noise. A Union distress signal, carrying nothing but SOS in morse code, was coming from somewhere in this particular section of the ruins, somewhere below the surface. Granted, it would probably have been a lot more routine if there wasn't something else obvious about the location: Confederate troop transports were landed all around the area as well, and patrols of Confederate troops could be spotted from a far distance away, lamps and floodlights making their location extremely obvious. Still, it seemed that most of the actual soldiers themselves were in the ruins proper, and only a token force was still topside to make sure the transports were secure. Still, it was easy to put two and two together: A Union Distress signal with a bunch of Confeds around? Obviously, someone was in trouble. Or, perhaps, there lay more to the entire situation...
Guest Psyber	Psyber yawns in the back of a high-flying transport, "Should be pretty straightforward. We go to the distress signal, check it out, maybe crack some skulls. If there's a survivor, we get em out. If there's not, we trash whatever tech might get recovered. Don't be a hero, last thing we need is some We Were Soldiers Black Hawk Down Hurt Locker Saving Private Ryan dumbass theatrics," Psyber notes as he paces around the back of his transport carrier. The pilot, a reasonably competant member of the Union's Air Force was quiet up in the front, more focused on trying to get them to the destination. Which meant Psyber was addressing most of his mini-rant to someone who came with him, "Oh right, and you fly yourself for infil and exfil. I'm not having a non-Elite pilot land and risk his life." With a tired sigh, Psyber grabs the final piece of gear he needs: A nice assault rifle. The weapon is hoisted up and over his shoulder. When the pilot up front gives him a thumbs up, the half-angel takes his signal that they've arrived. He slides open the side door of the drop ship and heads straight out into open air, freefalling straight down towards the ground. Eventually, just before impact, there's a flare of his wings to slow his descent and then he lands with a heavy 'thump', the wings gone just as fast. He looks around, mostly getting his bearings. He's nice enough to warn the few token troops topside, "Hey, Elites are here. If you wanna withdraw, that's fine by me."
Xion	There is a yawning doomdark terrorportal that belches out a few shadowy yellow-eyed creatures right in the center of the Confederate formation. Then, a black-haired and black-coated girl comes tumbling out, hollering... mostly to herself. "HEARTLESS!" She cries, chasing after one of the Shadows and clobbering it over the head with a giant unweildy lead pipe like weapon with a stupid key motif on it. The heartless itself seems to be 'busted', disappearing in a puff of shadowstuff and disgorging munny and little glowing orbs, which Xion dutifully picks up. Then she looks around. And points at a random confederate soldier. "Heyyyyyyyy." She begins, looking confused. "You're not heartless. Why are /you/ guys here?" And then ACTION HERO TOM CLANCY'S CALL OF DUTY RECON ADVANCED WARFARE FIGHTER helicopter disgorges Psyber. "Hey!" "Have you seen any heartless here? These portals keep on spitting us out where there's no /heartless/! Hey, Roxas, where are you? Did you get /lost/ again?"
Mizuki	As it usually is when Mizuki meanders into completely unfamiliar territory with no express purpose in mind save 'curiosity', she has followed Psyber. Only, today, she could actually be bothered to -ask- him whether it would be appropriate for her to do so. This is no small miracle, I assure you. Though for all her quirks and idiosyncrasies, she has at least proven herself capable of tact in times of consequence. Judging by the atmosphere, that very same observance of the tone and mood - always with the literary terms whenever they're even loosely applicable - may serve her well this evening. As one might've expected from the origin point of a SOS signal, the area is tense. Dank. Ominous. Exactly the sort of region where her usual wit and haste have no place whatsoever. It's quite a relief for her, then, that she happens to be able to fade out of existence when her personal flavor isn't fitted to the situation. She would do so well before approaching the ruins of proper, leaving Psyber's transport carrier with the promise that she would 'never be too far away'. A nebulous statement, but one the half-angel likely knows the lady well enough to trust. On her way down, she would likely linger in the air a bit longer than the figure she had come with to get a more crisp picture of the land below. And immediately, that picture would instigate a sigh. It's a battlefield, but she should have expected this, shouldn't she have? Would have been far too much to ask for a quiet ruin where a battle has already come and gone. There would have been more suspense that way -- more mystery and investigation. Still, she'll attempt to salvage that experience from this sojourn as best she can, electing to maintain her invisibility until the moment she alights on the ground. She would, as promised, stay near Psyber, ready to act as a supplemental surprise force should he need it. She assumes he will not, which is precisely why she pledged to keep near in the first place. For now, her observation would continue. The number of Union forces she can perceive the presence of would be weighed against any Confederates she might've been privy to, all while she tries to get an impression of what exactly is happening. Beyond the obvious, anyway. ... at least until Xion shows up. Her shouting might inspire a wince, though mercifully the other girl would likely not be able to notice the gesture as of now.
Roxas	"Did -I- get lost?" Roxas reacts, more-or-less immediately. He emerges from the portal behind Xion, his Keyblade held at the ready against his shoulder. He doesn't seem to be in the same hurry that Xion is... maybe whatever Heartless were harassing him are already dealt with. Whatever the case may have been in that dark portal, it seems like he's a lot more relaxed than his companion. The reason is, last time they went running around looking for each other after a weird separation it just took too long to link back up again. But, he's got no idea what's going on around them, either. He looks around the site of the portal at the surrounding soldiers, and back towards Xion. "Uhh... Xion, I think maybe -we're- the ones out of place here..." Oh boy. Roxas isn't all that familiar with the big groups around the Multiverse, but he knows that there's some pretty serious conflicts going on out there between them. He's got no intention of getting involved in that kind of mess, but from the looks of things they may have just walked right into the middle of just such a scenario. Unfortunately, the Corridor of Darkness they came through closes up behind them. They'll need to actually -try- to bail out now. Not very hard, really. But it may be risky if there's more Heartless in there and they can't see them yet. "It's pretty weird we keep ending up in these places looking for Heartless, though..." Roxas looks around at the soldiers. "You don't suppose they use them like those other guys do? Like... you know, the fire guy. Or the sorcerer with the funny staff." He gestures with his free hand, as if wielding some kind of scepter.
Alys	There's a blank look at everyone from the no-namers in charge of everything. No guns are fired, before a shrug comes from the person in charge. "You know what? We /were/ here to do a few things, but we've lost too many men, and you know what? I don't care anymore. You're our ticket out. Go have fun, and I'll just tell HQ that you came and did your hero thing and we had to go back." The officer gave a few hand signals, and the rest of the men started to pack up. "We'll stay out of your way, though I don't think there's anyone left to do that down there anyway. I don't know why you're here, but I'm not looking a gift horse in the mouth." As the preparations were made to lift off and for the soldiers to leave, the man turned to Xion and shook his head. "If you really want to know, there was an accident with some creatures, and we lost them here. Good riddance, and since I assume you're just lost and not..." He jabbed a thumb at Psyber. "With Mr. Gung Ho over there, I'd say just turn back."
Guest Psyber	"Hey! No, I haven't!" Psyber notes, "Sucks. Maybe you're here on a quest. You might be able to get some loot if you hang around or whatever, I'm just here to investigate." The half-angel notes, looking to Xion and then over to Roxas. He gives the boy a slight wave, but gets distracted a moment later. "Oh neat, they're letting us in! That's perfect," Psyber doesn't seem to mind the statement. He gives the guard a thumbs up and counter-points, "A circumvented encounter still gives XP, they say." Six soldiers, each level 3. That's 900 XP, divided four ways makes it 225 apiece. Everyone here was way far from levelling, though. "I'm going to go underground now!" Psyber shouts to them, seeming not to mind their withdrawl. For all the aloofness, he does still switch to a more serious demeanor a moment later. He flicks the safety on his rifle and then chambers a round, "You know, you can come out now. You don't need to be an invisible dork." That is probably directed to Mizuki. "I dunno what's down there, but... 'creatures' doesn't really sound safe. Everyone should try to stay on guard."
Mizuki	... no, Psyber, there's probably no practicality in maintaining stealth for the time being, so Mizuki allows her form to fade back into existence properly as the ever-so-humble detachment makes their exit. She might've done this just so that she could make Psyber privy to the look of faint irritation that she sees them off with, but you would have an awfully time getting her to admit to that. And you would have an even harder time getting her to admit to the presence of a faint rosiness on her cheeks at being called a 'dork'. Still, she would try to quash that conversation before it can begin with her usual martial device: words. "Ever so pleasing to see such gallant heroes upon these scarred grounds of war, truly." Not that she appreciates overzealous responses to this thing anymore, but at least it changes the subject. She would give Roxas and Xion a nod apiece should they make eye contact with her, maintaining the most focused expression that she can for the time being. She must choose the impressions she makes carefully, and acting as though she were some transcendental thespian buffoon would likely not be appealing to this new pair. Even if they might be too preoccupied with their own predicament to concern themselves so with her behavior, she remains ever on her guard. Though of course, Psyber going to go underground now. Patience is a virtue, you know? Though she's one to talk. Shrugging softly to herself, she would follow along, remaining in his gravitational field at all times. Another thing she would not admit is that places so wholly unfamiliar as this one can be a bit disconcerting for her, and that the presence of fr --... amicable associates can be quite helpful in allaying sensations of creeping dread. Though she'll likely not have to explain herself there, since keeping some semblance of a cohesive formation is the best policy on adventures anyway. Usually. Probably.
Xion	"Yeah, well, this time I was leading! So, you know, I didn't want you to get lost!" Xion replies chipperly, even as she jams a tiny amount of munny in her pockets. ALSO IN HER POCKETS: Melted ice cream, still in wrapper. Lint. Candy. A small bottle of shiracha. Rubles (the currency). A broken pocket watch. "Pshhhh, no we're not. We're adventurers! Heroes! Keyblade weilders, here to slay the heartless, save the day, aaaaand oh hey look, everyone's leaving!" She notes, her mind leaping six tracks and forgetting what she was. "Byeeee!" She calls, as the soldiers pack up to leave. She is way too chipper. Roxas brings her back to Earth. "Oh. Uh... Probably! Weird staff guy and fire man are pretty scary, but, honestly, I think heartless just try to glom on to anything with a Heart. They're not picky eaters!" She reasons, before wandering up to Psyber and INVIZUKI. "Heyo! I bet there's heartless in the cave. Ummm..." She pauses. For a while. Long moments pass. A blank look takes ahold of her features as she sort of 'switches off'. Then, she's back, as bright as ever. "Into the cave!" She announces, gesturing outward in a 'charge!' motion with her Keyblade, before just sort of exaggeratedly walking into the place where all those men disappeared into, and the distress call went out.
Roxas	"Uh... well, it's not like what we were doing was really all that safe to start with." Roxas replies to Psyber, his expression altogether baffled at the possible bad guys just... wandering off upon running into them. He doesn't seem -bothered- by it, just immensely confused that it happened. Usually guys like these get in their way, or try to arrest them, or... something like that! He looks over towards Xion, who is pocketing some cash from who-knows-where. The heartless, maybe? He's reminded by Xion that those guys are leaving, and offers a half-hearted wave to departing soldiers without putting much thought into it. Ordinarily he'd probably spend longer trying to figure out what to do about all of this. Not much longer, but... longer than this. Xion makes the decision for them though, marching off with far too much enthusiasm. "H-hey, wait up!" He calls after her, running to catch up with her. If nothing else, he's gotta try to keep her out of trouble. Thing is, what's trouble around here? Apparently those guys lost a lot of people down here, so it's got to be pretty dangerous. A large, loose animal? A big killer robot? Lots and lots of spiders? Roxas really hopes it's not the spider thing. He's had enough of spiders for a while.
Alys	Our errant adventurers continue on! ...and it turns out that The Great Ruin is actually, seriously, a bunch of ruins. The areas close to the surface have mostly been picked over and any distinguishable markins have long since been erased by the ravages of time, but as the group starts to go down, things get a little less well traveled. The signal seems to be stemming from deep, deep inside, unfortunately, and the only "right" way to go was down. Sooner or later, the faint sound of animalistic growling could be heard, coming from somewhere. The halls and paths were more like a set of maze-like caverns, leading to the sound echoing from all around. Was it above? To the right? To the left? How far was it? As the group traveled further, more sounds could be heard. Something shifting, the patter of bare feet on the hardy rock that made up the ruins. Something was moving around, somewhere. Suddenly, something gave way above. What dropped down was the most lovely of objects: the top half of what appeared to be an unfortunate Confederate soldier. It seemed that his torso had been roughly torn from his bottom half, and bits and pieces of his flesh had been torn off in chunks. Sadly, anyone looking for a drumstick would be disappointed as strangely, his legs seemed to have completely ran away. Still, the kill looked fresh. The growling started to get a little more numerous, however, and even with the echoing concealing the exact source, it was obvious that it was getting louder.
Guest Psyber	"Okay, well yeah, it's not that safe to start with. Doesn't mean I can't caution you that this is abnormally unsafe," Psyber notes, shrugging a bit. His rifle is in hand and the light under the barrel is turned on. As they descend underground, he has a more serious look and posture, carefully stepping on the balls of his feet to try not to make too much noise. "I don't like this place," Psyber comments, running a hand along the wall. He uses a bit of his strength and gouges a mark in the wall with his fingertips, just marking their path every once in a while before his gun comes up and shines the light on that top half of a corpse, "He died recently. Must be one of their retrieval team," A tired sigh escapes the half-angel. He takes a step back as the growling gets closer. Hands tighten on the rifle as he tries to figure out what direction it's coming from, "We MIGHT be surrounded."
Xion	Xion marches onward in the darkness, even as others ostensibly use their own lights. Xion generally just sort of fumbles around in the dark, using her keyblade as part walking-stick and part wall-checker, fumbling around like a generally blind idiot. Thankfully - or unfortunately - Xion has no way to find the signal. However, she has an uncanny ability to get her neck into trouble and so finds her way through the darkness just fine. She may or may not be cheating with Psyber's flashlight, though. Which is why she practically squeals as a DEAD BODY lands next to her, splattering blood and worse all over. He is super totally dead. "Roxas! Tall flashlight guy! Look!" She announces, before... Poking the body. With her keyblade. It certainly is the very best weapon-pipe-key a girl could ask for. But nothing happens, because the dude is dead. "Surrounded?" She wonders, before rearing up with her keyblade in both hands, and bringing it down, sending out a shockwave-bubble of pale light in all directions, pressing back the darkness with a flash of radiance. "Let's see!" She is the least stealthy. Also she probably just cheesed off any predators. Whoops.
Mizuki	Mizuki remains fairly reticent on the journey down, struggling to bring to the surface some of the expressions of approval that she normally reserves for quiet catacombs the like of those she's poking through down. Normally they come so easily, but here... there's too much -charge-. Perhaps it's something to do with that infernal, ghastly patter of movement deeper within. Or... above? There's noise up there, too. Mizuki would slow her gait, laying a horizontal hand over her eyes to get a better look. Then something would fall. She would recoil. ... but she does not scream, no matter how much she might have wanted to. She balls her fists and her countenance contorts in ways that make her look like she's looking down the most putrescent thing she has ever witnessed in her life, but she does. Not. Whine. Not audibly. Instead, she would take a moment to collect herself, participating in a pair of breathing exercises before she folds her arms behind her back and clears her throat. "... well it is good to know that this beast, whatever unholy abomination it may be, has not chosen a political affiliation in the Multiversal conflict." She would fight to transform that look of surprise into a sneer as quickly as possible, though that would likely succeed far too well, making her look a bit more like Cruella DeVille than the 'cool, faintly perturbed' aspect she was gunning for. Oh, well. Psyber would get a quirk of the girl's brow, here, specifically when he mentions that the victim passed recently. Good analysis, she supposes, but even she can surmise that a pair of vacant, fleshy stumps pouring forth crimson -- a pair of which has descended from the heavens, no less! -- must have been formed recently. And gruesomely. The less commentary given on that, though, the better. She snaps back to attention when Psyber makes his next inference, though, making her face dip in just the most sorry, miserable way that hers possibly can. Why in the name of Creation's beauteous extremes did she elect to come here again? When she could be back home... by a fire... reading a book... 'Curiosity,' a little voice in her head chimes. /Sigh/.
Alys	SWOOSH. Xion attacked the darkness, illuminating the general area around. With the burst of brightness, the group was able to see what was stalking them, off in the distance. It looked...quatraped, like a wolf, except instead of fur and skin, there was nothing but fleshy heaps of muscle. It was eyeless, but it didn't seem blind at all as it gave a wild shriek, charging towards the group. It seemed Psyber's initial idea was right, as three similar creatures came barreling down the hallways in the junction, fangs bared while making that horrendous shrieking sound. A few blessings at least, as it seemed that the area the group was in wasn't completely cramped; there was a little room to move around and to swing a vaguely key-shaped object offensively, but still, things could get pretty dicey if more came. The high pitched calls of the creatures were soon to get the attention of anyone and anything in the cramped quarters of the ruins, but the signal still sounded deeper below. Though there was something odd as well. The feeling that something was entirely wrong. Something was off. Was it the strange markings in this section of the ruins? The eyeless, fleshy things that were charging? Something was horribly, terribly wrong about /something/ here, and everything wasn't as it seemed...
Roxas	"Man... why's it always got to be stuff like this?" Roxas asks, when the body falls from the ceiling. He looks vaguely ill, but it seems like he's seen something like this before. He doesn't talk about it very much. You don't -really- get used to things like this unless you're exposed to them way too often, but he's seen somebody go pop before, and it's not any better than the body that just fell from the ceiling. He's been using his keyblade as a torch, directing his own light elemental powers through it to produce a fairly significant amount of light. More than enough to see by, anyway. The young man stays away from the corpse, because he's a normal enough person that he doesn't want to look at or have much to do with it. Roxas moves in close to Xion when she chooses to imitate his own technique, so he doesn't get caught up in it as it goes flying out into the surroundings. It's a weird ability Xion has, to just kind of pick things up. He's not certain it's really the same as what he does, but the lightshow is close enough that it doesn't reaaaaally make a difference if it is or not. Results are all that matter when it comes to that. "Hey, um. Xion..." He whispers something to her. If they're surrounded, what she just did will let them know it. No need to spread the light around any more than they just did. COINCIDENTALLY, since he's busy whispering at Xion he doesn't really catch whatever it was that they're dealing with.
Guest Psyber	Well shit. "Well shit," Psyber echoes in agreement with his narrator. The half-angel brings the rifle up as the pulse of light goes out and reveals what was preparing to ambush them, "Good job on that, I guess." He's unsure whether to say good job for thwarting an ambush or scold her for triggering an ambush. He errs in favor of the latter. Then they're under attack. Instead of opening fire with his rifle, Psyber rushes straight towards one of the quadraped creatures. He lets the rifle drop to hang in front of him and tries to grab it by the jaws and by the underside, one in each hand as he goes low. If he can get ahold of it, his goal is to lift it up and then just start slamming its back against the wall of the ruins, trying to pretty brutally break its back and neck from repeated impacts against concrete.
Mizuki	Mizuki mentally chides herself for not maintaining her invisibility... until it becomes abundantly clear that that really wouldn't have been as much of a boon as her flustered mood might've at first suggested. She would immediately draw her revolver from one of her Chameleon pockets, lapsing out of time long enough to quickly unload a volley or three shots at the two beasts nearest her. Still, it's terribly obvious that she would not be making the best use of her abilities to only contribute her own strikes, so she adds a little something more. Quick as she can, she would conjure a monochromatic sphere in her right hand which soon extrapolates itself to encompass the whole of the area that the four elites currently occupy. The bizarre, distorted lights of this pulsing sphere would - assuming there are no objections from the others present - sink into the forms of the other elites present, quickening their motions and making the world around them seem as though it had been forced into slow motion. She would leave the rest to the others, for the most part, but there's something else she wants to try first. So she would look to Roxas and Xion, since Psyber has already gone off on his way. "You two!" She would fervently wave a hand in their direction. "Pardon the vulgar referential term -- I've no idea of what your preferred pseudonyms might be. Though, yes, my issue. I will not say how, or why, but I believe I would be able to place myself behind our foes. If one of you would deliver a blow from their front or otherwise keep them occupied, I might be able to lay some more consequential scars upon our foes. Does this sound acceptable?" -- ah. But with a glance back, she can tell they're getting close, so... for now, she'll work on the assumption that they'll work with her. She would then vanish, traveling upon an isolated channel of time... ... to reappear behind the trio of charging beasts. Here, assuming the three of them are still preoccupied with the others, she would unload several volleys of gunshots from her revolver to the back of the one in the center. If time permits - and if it wouldn't be ludicrously dangerous or stupid given the situation - she might also attempt a quick jab at the same target with a rapier she summons into her right hand.
Xion	Xion ATTACKS THE DARKNESS, revealing. "Hey!" She announces, pointing at one of the Musclewuffs. That's what they are now. Musclewuffs. Wuffs made of muscle. Alternatively, muscles that wuff. "Those..." Her levelled black-gloved finger wavers, as Xion looks really confused "That's not a heartless at /all/. DECIEVED!" She cries out, shaking her fist at the air. "Stupid portals, you're supposed to show us to heartless! But your zero for four now! Or... was it five? Maybe one in six?" She grumbles, the leg-eating beasties growl and keen and generally do Monster Things as Xion does dumb Xion things. Roxas reminds her to act more normal and not mess with dead bodies. Nodding firmly, she flips her keyblade into a reversed grip, sliding it across her left hip before clasping it along the length with her hand. In a muted metallic 'shwing', her keyblade changes shape, from weird ass lead pipe to... An aged katana in a lacquered black sheath, with the same odd keychan hanging off the wrapped hilt. Then she leaps at the NOW FLANKED musclewuff, drawing her HUNDRED THOUSANDFOL NIPPON STEEL to make FILTHY DOGJIN GO HOME! As she does, her now wavey-edged katana flashes with dark lightning, arcing into the beast as she strikes. It's Souji's Murasame Blade! It's a super weeb katana.
Alys	Psyber's attempt at literally slamming one of the creatures into the solid rock works rather well, jamming the now broken body of the musclewuff right into the wall in a rather violent affair. Still, it's quite effective, and the thing didn't seem to be getting up. Mizuki's shots pepper the creatures as well, and they whip around to face her, only for the one in the center to take several bullets to the face. It attempted to pounce on her, lunging in the air, only for Mizuki's rapier to quite neatly pierce the roof of its mouth, stopping the creature in its tracks. Xion's blade went snickersnack, wounding the two fleshy beasts as the blade flashed, the smell of burnt flesh rising through the air as the lightning coursed through the bodies. Wounded, but not out, the two beasts leapt back and started to pace back and forth, growling and snapping. Unfortunately for them, it seemed that they would not get a second chance to attack as the ground shook for a second. The feeling of wrongness suddenly came to a peak in the back of everyone's head as a gigantic black spike erupted from the center of the chamber. It seemed to be made out of some chitinous, organic material, but just as suddenly, countless organic tendrils burst from the spike, each tipped with a hooked blade. A large number of them drove themselves into the bodies of the creatures, both alive and death, snaking through the air as they sought their targets. Once hooked, the limbs withdrew, drawing their prey into the spike itself, and just as quickly as it arrived, it withdrew into the darkness. A few moments passed, before what only could be described as horrible squelching and crunching sounds came from the hole in the floor. Still though, the horrible feeling of wrongness would suddenly and magically pass. Maybe it was the dogs after all. Before anyone could meditate on what had happened, however, someone came clambering up the hole in the middle of the room. It was a young woman, but the most obvious thing about her that everyone would notice was that her shoulder-blade length hair was completely stark white. Accompanying it were a couple of blood-red eyes, but her skin was slightly tanned, so perhaps it wasn't true albinism at all. The woman was tall, perhaps not about Psyber's height, but only a couple of inches short of six feet, and she stood with the stance of a soldier as she dusted herself off. What she wore was a rather odd ensemble of a pair of dark cgrey olored cargo pants, a black sweater, and a pair of similarly colored combat boots. A harness containing what looked like a combat knife and a pistol in an underarm holster was worn as well, and the woman gave the group a quick once over, before her eyes finally landed on Psyber. "Oh, hey! It's been a while, hasn't it? ...years, actually." she said with a grin, folding her arms under her chest. "I didn't think it'd be you who actually responded, but go figure." She looked to the others before raising an eyebrow. "This isn't really the type of thing to have a field trip about though, is it? But ah, we've kind of got an issue here, so the more help, the merrier!"
Guest Psyber	In the aftermath of taking out the creature, Psyber has a few moments to soak in that wrong feeling. The half-angel's natural predatory instincts going into conflict with in-born survival mechanisms. He carefully looks around, expecting something big to show up. He, obviously, drops the creature unceremoniously. Red eyes carefully peer around the cave. "Something else is c-" And that's when the floor explodes into a massive spike. Psyber jumps backwards, landing in a crouch and raising up his rifle as the corpse that was formally at his feet gets dragged down into a hole. He keeps his eyes on that hole even as the feeling dies down and things start to go quiet... well, relatively quiet, again. Taking a deep breath, he starts to stand up. And then a woman comes out of the hole. One who looks really familiar, even if he can't put his finger on it right away. It's when she speaks that it all clicks for him, "Holy shit. I haven't seen you in like... five years." "Looks like you're doing well for yourself, at least," The rifle is let to fall on its combat harness, hanging in front of him, "Almost didn't recognize you, you look more grown up." "If there's more to deal with, lead the way."
Roxas	Having FAILED HIS INITIATIVE ROLL, Roxas doesn't actually get the opportunity to do anything before all of the beastly musclewuffs are extremely dead. He stands there looking bewildered and a little bit stupid, and finally just decides to banish his Keyblade with an echoing chnk. He looks towards the strange, white-haired woman who crawled out of a hole in the ground, and then towards Psyber, and then back towards Xion. The conclusion that he draws from every ounce of information he takes in here is that he has absolutely no idea what's going on. "... Huh?!" Is the first thing he manages to get out. Eventually though, he starts to explain, "We're not on a field trip! This is just where our portal opened up to. We're not with that guy, or... or with the guys who came here before. I think we scared them off, or... no, they wanted a reason to leave, because somebody down here was messing them all up or... something." Evidently Roxas did manage to piece it together, though not enough to actually determine that this person is the source of all the trouble. He does not, after all, know there was a distress beacon to begin with. "So, um. Hi, I'm Roxas. Why were you in that hole?" He asks, straightforwardly.
Mizuki	It's probably a good thing that Mizuki is able to simply desummon and resummon her sword rather than going through the whole process of yanking it out of a wolf carcass because, in about the time it would've taken to do just that, a large, pitch spire rises out of the ground and snatches the corpse away. These visual leaves her dumbstruck, and not just because it's horrendously Lovecraftian. In truth, she has a painfully pervasive foe in her world who fights with a set of inky vectors nearly identical to those she just saw. So that look of shock isn't just from this experience alone, but is in fact exacerbated by some rather gruesome flashbacks and deja vu sensations that she typically embarks on sojourns of this one's ilk to get -away- from. She shakes her head to banish that feeling as soon as possible, though. That was -NOT- what she needed, but there's a marked calm now. A relative silence and placidity has grasped their small corner of this massive ruin, and this is precisely the sort of situation that gave birth to the saying 'calm before the storm'. She remain wary, moving her revolver and resummoning that sword of her in her left hand. She remains apprehensive, glancing down the winding halls, until... GAH! Something on the floor! Is that a zombie? Another corpse that feel from someplace? A phantom? Mizuki instinctively points her gun in their direction with a severe look that belies the majority of her paranoia. Though much to her surprise - her rather pleasant surprise, for a change - the person that emerges from that hole is... actually quite sapient. Or at the very least, they... she... is not flailing tentacles or fangs their way. Yet. She lowers her firearm when they prove that they are linguistically capable, because certainly no being that is in possession of some modicum of good diction could not be out to get her. Absolutely not. Certainly not. But... well. She seems amicable enough, doesn't she? Much of the tension would leave Mizuki's countenance, shifting instead to a look of soft curiosity. Each word would bolster a glimmer gathering behind her eyes, culminating in the end with a tilt of her head, and a question. A verbal reply is somewhat delayed, though. Delayed, but it comes eventually in the form of a muffled, distant, "Who...?". Psyber recognizing them straight away only adds to her confusion, but since she's better acquainted with him, she addresses the half-angel instead. "You... -know- this woman? Could you provide me with some sort of an explanation, then? This is all extremely vague and confusing, and goodness knows that I do not like to be on the receiving end of mysterious coyness." She would fold her arms, giving him a 'look'. She would glance to the newcomer again, too, but she would be sure to maintain a more polite expression with them. "Ah... but I suppose if I'm going to demand so much, I should at least introduce myself. I am Mizuki. It is..." She contemplates her word choice a moment, but ultimately defaults to, "... a pleasure."
Xion	Xion is ready to unleash her ULTIMATE TECHNIQUE, but then from OUT OF NOWHERE... Tentacle-hook-thingy spires up out of the lower level, and reduces the muscelwuffs to, uh... Food. Xion takes a moment to look aroud, as the horrible CRUNCH CRUNCH sound. She looks really taken aback, though it's not for the reason that you think. "Wait..." She lets her sword become the Kingdom Key again with a light ~shwing~ before looking around. "Where'd the dogs go?" Then... SUDDENLY, AN ALYS! "Oh, hello! Did you see where those monsters went? I don't know if they're heartless or not, but I'm pretty sure they're bad. I'm Xion, and this is Roxas. We're Keybladers! We hunt heartless." She gestures to Roxas, and indicates her Keyblade respectively. "I really like your hair!"
Alys	"I'm Alys. It's a long story, but I'll give you the quickie version of it. We did a little thing where we managed to rescue some veeery high value prisoners from the Confederacy, and we managed to hide in a transport. Unfortunately, it just so happens that the transport was a biological weapons transport, and we're talking, well...creatures and monsters, not viruses or bacteria, thankfully. Still, one thing led to another, and we crashed all the way out here. The issue is, we've got a load of people who're injured, so..." The white haired woman gave a nod, furrowing her brow. "We couldn't exactly just walk the rest of the way back. Anyway, now that you're here, we should be able to get them out of here." At the mention of where the dogs went, Xion received a blank stare for a moment before a shrug. "Well, they're gone. And...oh, thanks! It's kind of...well, a thing. It's always been this way. Heartless, huh? You'll have to tell me about them later." She flashed Psyber a grin as she looked around. "There'll be time for better introductions later. The pleasure's all mine, really. And yeah, I've...well, had a lot of time to grow up. I've been busy, you know. Just doing things that arn't mentioned often. You of all people should know that I'd have a knack for th-" The woman froze mid-word as she looked downwards. Another tentacle had whipped out of the hole in the ground, piercing the woman right in the midsection before wrapping around her, snatching her down into the darkness. Oh dear.
Guest Psyber	To Mizuki, Psyber explains simply, "Alys, right. Alys is a girl with a very unique skillset. I met her five-ish, give or take, years ago when she was first kinda getting her footing in the Multiverse. I'm surprised she even remembered me, I only gave her some dumb advice about power being what you use it for, not where it comes from." So basically the advice he still gives to this very day. Roxas gets an inquiry from Psyber, "Hey, you okay, man? You really sure you want to be here, because you keep saying that you kind of just showed up." But then Roxas gives his name out, and Psyber replies, "Psyber, by the way. Investigator, among other titles. Nice to meet you, Xion and Roxas." He notes to the young man. To Xion, he explains, "Dogs got dragged off. To Alys, Psyber says, "Oh, yeah. If you have wounded, I'll signal my transport to come back around and get ready to land for evac. The guys outside don't wanna mess with us, so it should be just an easy j-" Again, cut off. This time by her getting impaled and pulled downward. "Shit shit shit!" Psyber takes a good half-second to say that before he immediately runs towards the hole in the ground and jumps down it, fully intent to follow after the woman. Can't have her just vanish like that so soon after a reunion.
Mizuki	A deluge of information comes far too quickly for her to craft a reasonable reply, as has quite frequently been the case this evening. She makes a mental note of the presence of 'biological weapons', though to be honest, Mizuki is likely one of the very few beings in any reality who would actually /prefer/ the viral-bacterial iteration. Well, for herself anyway -- she wouldn't wish the torturous onslaught brought along by the plague upon anyway, but she's... exempt from that sort of thing. Being that as it is, something quiet like an illness is vastly preferable to some snarling beast that may tear her into pieces, though since she's working off of the assumption that those in her company are of a more biological persuasion she won't bemoan the terrorhorrors. Or at least, not audibly. Ah, but that aside, she might finally have a reply ready. "It is good to meet you, Miss Alys. I'm certain we can work toge --" Blink. Wait. Is she imagining this? Or is this woman on the wrong end of the Devil's skewer? She just stares for several moments, unable to respond in any way more substantial than the faint bobbing motions of her head as this... thing, drags Alys down further into the depths. She doesn't know -why-, quite, but that gesture seems terribly, horribly aggravating. Normally she would not care overmuch about the fate of a complete stranger, but this was an especially -interesting- stranger. And that changes things. These tentacles had not only harmed a person, but they had robbed her, personally, of an opportunity to learn about an individual who had piqued her curiosity. This is a gross abberation to her codes of conduct. Unconscionable; now, more than ever, she has to see to it that this merciless poseidon? Kraken? is dealt with accordingly. Though Psyber beats her to the punch as usual, she is not far behind as he goes rushing down that whole. Her wings would appear in a flourish of shimmering black feathers, allowing her to soften her landing once she makes her way to the other side. Let's just hope that there isn't something waiting to eat them on the other side. That would be irritating. And maybe a bit mortal.
Xion	Xion has a moment to 'talk' to Alys, as the two EXTREMELY WEIRD girls sort of... Be weird at either. Alys is far more coordinated in her demeanor, and has her head screwed on right. She's direct, and task oriented, and getting grabbed by tentacles! She's much better than Xion, who just sort of stands there and nods, and even for long moment afterwards, standing and smiling and nodding. After Alys is grabbed, only then does Xion really register the rest. To Psyber: "Oh! Okay." She responds, re: Psyber and the dogs. She even waves as she's introduced. Then... "Oh wait! The tentacles aren't her?! I thought she was like... Some really cool... kaiju... person!" She gasps, a hand brought to her mouth. She looks honestly shocked. But that's because Xion always looks honest. She dashes forward, before hopping neatly down the hole to give chase. Does she look where she's leaping? HECK NO! Gotta Be The Hero!
Alys	Down the hole everyone goes! It lead to a chamber that was lit with torches and glowsticks. It seemed that this was where Alys had put her rescuees, as they were huddled in one rather remote corner. What the tentacle was attached to was a gigantic blob of flesh the size of a car, with mouths, eyes and beaks in the wrong places. Alys' body lay limp, impaled on a limb, but somewhere along the line, her eyes opened. A soft growl escaped her mouth as she reached for the tendril that was holding her up in the air and simply tore it apart, landing on the ground. That odd sense of wrongness started to scratch at the back of everybody's head again as Alys approached the creature, an odd smile on her face. She drew her arm back, as if she about to throw a punch, but as her fist went forward, her arm suddenly grew, developing an odd chitinous quality, before her entire arm morphed into a simple but huge limb, ending in a massive set of jaws with hundreds of needle-like teeth. It launched forwards, taking an entire chunk out of the creature, and the woman advanced further, a sort of calm smile on her face even as the impromptu mouth greedily devoured the large hunk of monster. As she drew closer, her left arm was plunged straight into the open wound she had made, and suddenly, several of her own black tendrils, just like the ones that had eaten the dog burst forth from every direction inside the creature, tearing it apart from the inside. With a heave, Alys threw the creature against one of the walls, letting what was left of it impact with a rather wet slap. Thankfully, her arms quickly turned normal as she dusted them off, before pausing to simply rip the limb that had impaled her out of her midsection. Strangely enough, the sweater she wore grew back, just as good as new, rapidly concealing any gross bits that may have been visible. "Yeah, that's...been happening for a while, which is why we need to get all these guys out." Alys stated in a matter-of-fact voice, turning to the four. "There's a lot more where that came from, and I've been trying my hardest. Another one might just come out of nowhere, and...well, yeah." She grumbled for a moment, brushing a bit of monster out from her somewhat messy bangs. "So, when's that transport coming?"
Guest Psyber	Psyber lands down at the bottom of the hole with a tumble and the lift of the rifle. It comes across a dead Alys that promptly revives and does... that gross stuff. Not that he can much judge her for it on account of the whole 'he regularly gets impaled too', thing. But he can at least admire the fact that her sweater grows back. That's also really weird, come to think of it. Note to self: Regenerating Coat? He takes an onlooker stance when she chews through the monster and then heaves it against a wall. Finally, he looks on to the survivors, blinking a few times as he tries to imagine what the people down here have been putting up with. He raises a hand to wave at them sheepishly and then rubs the back of his head. "Uh... transport, right," He takes out a small keyfob from his jacket and hits a button, activating the signal for the pilot to come back around to pick em up, "He'll be here shortly." And then he takes something out to hand it to Alys. It's a business card, "You know, if you're surfacing again, I still hire freelance contractors. Consider it. You'd get along with some people."
Xion	Xion drops down in the hole, landing in a little crouch, drawing up in a dramatic flourish and levelling her now GLOWING keyblade at the GIANT... Monster? Oh wait, Alys murdered it! She lets her keyblade fall as she walks up, the shorter girl staring right at Alys's red eyes. And then she crouches down, plucking at Alys' sweater. "WOW! Your clothes fix themselves! Teach me how, Saix /always/ gets on my case about that." She exclaims, not getting that she is UP IN HER PERSONAL SPACE. Xion is very impressed.