Scene #5140: Little Engine That Could

Owner	Pose
Anne Blakely	Anyone checking out the distress call should immediately figure out what's going on. The vaulted, grass-covered hill was too perfect, and had a massive door in front. A door which was... not actually being forced through. Instead an enormous, rattling, apparently steam-powered contraption on six legs has crawled atop the hill, and is currently using a mundane drill to slowly burrow downward. More slowly than it can probably go... perhaps afraid of damaging what lies inside? The nearby village was just at the base of the hill, and fairly primitive-looking... but with some surprising anachronisms. The villagers, most of them, are making a fuss and shouting at the small row of more humanoid but very simple constructs Anne has arrayed to stop them from approaching, though at the moment they're just shouting. A few of them have actual guns, though, so this could get nasty. Even so, Anne is impatiently listening to a man who appears to be the mayor or something, who is loudly explaining that the taboos of the vault are for the people's own safety, and the horrors within should never be released. Geppetto is already getting bored, the puppet boy pacing back and forth. PEnelope is nowhere in sight this time. Anne sighs, interrupting the man, "Is it a disease or otherwise virulent matter, or is it something that requires sapient intervention?" "Well..." the man hesitates, which is probably bad for his argument.
Staren	Staren feels... slightly bad to be upsetting so many people, but sealing away things for no good reason does block the progress of science, and he does need to justify his League paycheck. Besides, if someone's going to open the vault anyway, better that he be here to deal with any danger that DOES turn out to be inside than not. "So... let me get this straight: This vault supposedly contains something dangerous... and they managed to seal it... think of how hard it is to subdue and imprison a man rather than simply shoot him. If it was actually dangerous, why not just destroy it? The only reason to keep it is if it might have some purpose later. And if it IS actually too dangerous to use, isn't it better that we discover this and destroy it rather than leaving it around for someone less qualified to find?" Staren sighs. "It really would be better if your legends actually gave any specifics at all..."
Sanary Rondel	Sanary's here, too! She's been chomping at the bit for... Well, just about any chance to make some extra money outside of the pig farm, and a distress call like this one doesn't come every day. The healer's shown up ready for combat with her gunaxe and tomahawk in tow, although she's made sure to stop by the nearby village to pick up some food on the way. "So. Do we just wait and see? 'cause I charge by the hour." She takes a bite out of a sandwich, looking from person to person slowly as they speak: The mayor doing a bad job at discouraging anyone from intervening, Anne poking holes into his distress call already, and Staren boggling over why the seal was used in the first place. She certainly seems calm enough for the time being, at least.
Velvet Crowe	As nice as Rivernest is, Velvet couldn't sleep. Or stay still. Taking a bath was nice, discovering she can't enjoy food was less so, but all attempts to sleep just fell flat. Attempts to distract herself weren't working either. She fidgeted with her radio instead, and there was that distress call. Is that how this works? People just... ask for help? Openly, across worlds, no worries or concerns for who shows up? Guess she'll check it out. She's curious. And she needs something to do. Velvet pops out of the warpgate, no fanfare or ceremony. That tattered black and red outfit kind of stands out, especially with the heavily bandaged arm and the nearly floor-length mane she calls "hair" that most people would probably call a mess instead. A small village. Cozy. Reminds her of home. Except home didn't have all those machines. Had a big hole though! Just not a machine making it. Stealth? What's that? No, she's just walking right through. If you want to know what's going on, you ask, you don't hide and hope things sort themselves out.
Nort and Scar	"Told you it was worth checking out," the giant wolverine rumbles. The power-armored man atop the massive cyborg beast makes no comment, since he didn't exactly protest in the first place. He simply nods as the two slowly approach the village from the side. Magnified vision takes a look at the situation, and Nort hmns. "Looks like lost technology," he finally says. "Just humans here though. Nothi- wait. Those constructs..." Scar snarls quietly, then kicks up the pace to head toward the cluster of people. Nort already has his rifle charging up. "I suppose we can just kill her and move on, but it might be nice to stop the machine for these people." "Is that steam?" Scar grumps curiously. "Your guess is as good as mine," Nort says quite literally.
Shin Tokuyama	"Shin. I have picked up a distress signal like you asked me to watch for." "Not interested, Siri." "It indicates a breaching crime underway at a small village with something sealed underneath it." "FUCK. SIRI. START UP UBER. We're going protagonisting!" --- "Dude, are you sure this is the right area?" says the Uber driver as Shin gets out. "Yeah! It's totally the right area. Good job!" Shin gives him a 500 yen bill as a tip before hopping out with a backpack over his back. He adjusts his tie. --- With his backpack over his back, Shin jogs his way towards the standoff, "Oh wow. Look at this. Two sides, standing off, having narrow-minded ethical debates about keeping something sealed versus letting it out in totally transparent self-interest they're only thinly trying to disguise as actual concern for anything other than themselves." He clenches a fist and a ripple of ki comes out as he bounces on his feet and talks to himself, "Alright. Let's see if this one starts a quest."
Samantha Middleton	"Well, it's her all right," Samantha says to her pilot, leaning on the rail as the airship crests the nearby hill and turns to circle the drilling machine. "That's definitely her handiwork. Wanna drop me off over at the edge of town?" The teenager piloting gives a concerned look, "Please don't tell me you're just going to rush in. You still haven't repaired all your turrets." Samantha shakes her head, "Not this time. I see a face or two I recognize down there. I'm going to approach more peacefully... but I /am/ going to take Fido." So it is that the heavy suit of 'power armor' thooms to the ground like a Titan Falling. Except smaller. Holding hands up for now, the contraption thuds toward the group... mostly so she can see what /Velvet/ is up to before she tries to murder Anne today. "Heeeey, what's going on here?"
Anne Blakely	Great, now a collection of heroic sorts is appearing, Anne thinks. "Oh great, heroes," Geppetto says out oud. Anne makes a shushing noise while the mayor tries to explain, "No, it isn't that! It's... look, the warnings are very clear that the vault is sealed with a creation within that will bring nothing but misery to those who unleash it. Exactly /what/ it is is... not as clear, but every other writing has been accurate." To his credit he is trying not to lose his temper. "But no, not a plague..." Anne rubs her face. "Well, whether or not these villagers stop me, it looks like we have company." Sigh. She recognizes some of them, and she quickly steps behind one of the guardian constructs. "Miss Middleton! Shin! And... Nort, was it? Who is your friend?" Velvet is greeted with a quick and hurried motion from someone nearby. "Are you here to help or hinder the witch?" they ask nervously.
Staren	"Well, if it only brings misery to those who unleash it, then what do /you/ care if /we/ open it?" Staren asks. Oh shoot. Seriously, heroes? "Come on, guys. Don't do this. We're not here planning to bring some devastation to the land. If anything, whoever left this here in the first place was irresponsible. If we can learn something here, great, but if it turns out to be bad... we'd do the same as you! Well, I mean... we'll /destroy/ it, I dunno if you'd opt to seal it instead or something, but then we'd just be right back where we started..."
Velvet Crowe	"Not sure yet," Velvet answers honestly, continuing to walk after ignoring the hurried bystander. She vaguely recognizes Samantha, but only barely. 'That person was at Titania' isn't very informative on its own. She makes no effort to conceal her arrival, going straight for Anne (and Staren, and the mayor, and Sanary!). It's probably not safe depending on how trigger happy these people are. She has no idea. "Don't lump me in with anyone," she barks at Staren, before looking at the half-concealed Anne. "So what's your plan once you open the vault? What's in it and what's the prize for not interfering?"
Sanary Rondel	It's not a huge surprise to Sanary that not everyone here might be interested in just keeping whatever's sealed away sealed. Velvet's actually a familiar face considering what had happened just a few nights ago, and Sanary does seem to be slightly on guard as she approaches. Velvet isn't attacking yet, though, so... Maybe she can be trusted? Sanary's been running into Samantha and Shin quite a bit lately, too, hasn't she? They each get light nods in greeting, and then her attention turns back to the mayor. Well, might as well see where this all goes. "So you... Don't want this thing getting out, right? It'd be a lot easier to do anything if you actually told us what it is you've got down here." She shoots an irritated stare at the mayor while approaching the group, nodding slowly in Staren's direction. "See? Even him and..." Sanary pauses, glancing over at Velvet again. "... Arm-lady get it."
Shin Tokuyama	"Don't project your insecurities onto me in a way that allows you to moralize your actions and justify your behavior by placing any stance I have either expressed or not expressed into an antagonistic light so that you can demonize a potentially dissenting opinions, jackass!" Shin shouts over to Staren, adjusting his backpack as he looks around a bit. And then he's distracted by something else. Before Velvet can continue to approach Anne after asking her question, there's a Shin Tokuyama between her and her destination. He seems to have closed that distance out of nowhere. It's actually a little bit unnerving how fast and quietly he just seemed to dart in while no one was watching him. He closes one eye, his orange one, and stares at Velvet with that single red eye looking over the edge of his sunglasses, "Well well. Look at you with your three fourths of a pair of boots, your nine total belts between all clothing, your incredibly long hair, your top displaying underboob, your bare midriff, your tatttered clothing, and your like one-tenth of a pair of pants and one arm in bandages while the other is in armor." "I thought I had this protagonist shit on lock, but then you show up with an S-class protagonist outfit like that. Good work. You are the most protagonist-looking motherfucker I have ever seen."
Staren	"I'm not demonizing you." Staren replies. "I just want to point out that... we can all be the good guys here."
Samantha Middleton	A formal greeting! "Miss Blakely," Samantha replies in a tone that almost causes the joints in Fido to freeze up. Staren she recognizes, and Sanary too. Working with Anne, huh? The displeasure in her voice is almost great enough to taste. Internally she's judging the best way to assault Anne without killing the mayor too. Velvet is a wild card though. And... maybe she can kill two birds with one stone! Or one Anne with... one Crowe? Something! Maybe overestimating the attachment the two older women have, Samantha's voice chirps out, "Would you stop her for Charity?" Which sounds completely different to everyone else, almost certain.
Nort and Scar	Talking. About... vaults. "Things like that... sometimes better left sealed for other reasons," Nort replies, not even bothering to dismount. He's looking at the whole tactical situation... and then decides to put a bit more in. "If nothing else, they might be saving it for when they need it. Plenty of reasons to keep something shut tight, especially if it isn't yours." That's all said conversationally. What isn't is how Nort just raises his rifle and blasts a crackling laser beam at the construct shielding Anne. He, apparently, doesn't care for chitchat about it.
Velvet Crowe	Well, Shin is nothing if not energetic and outspoken, apparently. Velvet stares, and takes it surprisingly well. She's not especially ashamed of her outfit, mostly because she didn't have a choice. He does remind her she should look into getting more clothes at least. Something about his choice of words, and Staren following up, even ends up making her smile. Samantha hits something too. Velvet doesn't like debts. She owes Charity for getting Seres to her, and then for the housing. This can pay one off, then. Better now than being put on the spot sometime later. "You have me classified wrong," she finally answers Shin, taking another step towards Anne. "He has the right of it," she motions towards Staren. "It's Velvet Crowe, and I'm not a hero, I'm a daemon!" Her left arm bursts out of its bandages, growing into a huge, glowing red and black clawed arm that looks more like it's made out of energy than flesh. She lunges straight for Anne, trying to swipe through her construct as it's getting shot at. The arm rends as well as any sword, but it also drains life. Whatever or whoever's hit is going to feel the strain of that... plus an extra benefit for Velvet depending on the target. Omnomnom people.
Anne Blakely	Shin, at least, Anne can sort of handle. "It's nothing like that, it's just a simple expedition to-" Okay, Shin is NOT going to be handled, because instead someone decided to start a firefight! Mainly Nort and Scar. A centuries old war veteran with a high-tech laser rifle shooting at one of Anne's menial laborors. Needless to say, the entire side of the mechanical construct is blown off. "WHAT DID I EVEN DO TO YOU?!" Anne shouts. Usually people have reasons like 'you killed my parents' or 'you kicked my dog,' but this seems completely random! Which means there's not much left to stop the giant hand slashing toward her. Anne's hand comes up to raise a mystical barrier, but even so Velvet's claws open up deep cuts along Anne's thighs... and get a taste of uh... Life energy? It's there, but there's a weird resistance and 'thickening' to draining Anne. The mayor shouts, and the various townspeople dash for cover, at least for now. It actually looks like they're rallying into some kind of militia.
Shin Tokuyama	"If you don't want people to assume you are demonizing their viewpoints for dissenting opinions, don't immediately tell them to be cool in a derogatory sense when they show up to disagree with you! Sounds pretty supervillainous, bruh! No one believes you're a good guy when you go 'Oh rats, come on guys, just be cool' when people show up and disagree with you. That's the same kinda shit a drug dealer does on an after school special as he's trying to pressure people into trying meth." Shin shouts back to Staren absently, not really paying a terrible amount of attention to the catboy since Velvet is way more up his alley and way more engaging for him. And then Velvet is dashing away to go attack Anne when Nort and Scar do, "Yo! Timmy and Lassie! I didn't know you were on a team with Protagonist McMainCharacterFace over there." Shin jerks a thumb towards Velvet as she runs off while Nort and Scar just fire a gun. "Oh and Protagonism is not solely relegated to heroes, yo!" He shouts after Velvet, taking his teachable moment to correct her, "Being the protagonist of a story is not a judgment of moral value, but an assessment of relative narrative impact, yo! You can be both a daemon and a protagonist." He isn't fighting anything yet, though.
Staren	Staren turns to face Nort. "Yeah, seriously, what's your problem?" He could well have one, but Anne doesn't seem to know what it is. And then the demoness attacks. Staren turns and fires the armor's beam cannons at her, then draws his plasma saber... then thinks better of getting in melee with her, and backs away, looking between her and Nort. Anne can probably handle at least one of them, right? After all, she kept /him/ from killing her for long enough...
Samantha Middleton	Wow, that actually worked? Samantha was just trying to buy time for setting up her turrets, she didn't expect it to really work! Not like she's complaining. Of course now she's assuming Charity and Velvet are good friends, which is not exactly the idea right now. But hey, at least the villagers are getting out of the way. A firefight wasn't quite what she ahd in mind quite yet... but Samantha can still work with it! Two spheres drop from Fido's sides, rolling off to either side in a V pattern, then planting legs into the ground and popping up into small turrets. She doesn't want to get Velvet, but with Staren shooting at her, he'll find himself caught in a crossfire between the turrets... and the much larger gun of Samantha's power armor levelling at him. "Hey, I remember you. Are you sure you want to leap to her defense?"
Sanary Rondel	Things are certainly getting weird fast, aren't they? Shin commenting on Velvet's... Outfit does have Sanary glancing over at the giant-armed woman right around when she lashes out at Anne in a sort of tag team with Nort and his laser rifle. She jerks back and away from the growing fight as Staren gets into it as well, then starts making a beeline towards... ... The townspeople! Possibly the mayor, too. Either way, Sanary slips a bit before skidding to a stop, keeping herself between the civilians and the Elites while conjuring up what looks like a wall made of colorless plasticy bricks. "I got you covered! Now does someone mind explaining to me what the hell's going on?!" Like Shin, it seems as though Sanary's also opting not to start fighting anyone just yet. She just seems more confused than anything else with the way things are going at the moment.
Staren	The turret shots ricochet off Staren's forcefield, but he looks like he's about to jump or something. "Against the demon or random cyborg animal guy? Maybe, I dunno them!"
Nort and Scar	"We aren't on a team," Nort replies to Shin, simply. Scar leaps suddenly, landing with a crash several meters away. Nort doesn't shoot again though. Not with his rifle... or at least not shooting as Nort. Instead Nort simply continues to talk. "You want in the vault? I don't care, that's your business." He doesn't seem too bothered by Velvet's arm though. Odd. Oh, but someone is attacking. Nort grips the saddle as Scar snorts, and laser beams lance from the wolverine's eyes, aiming for Geppetoo. Very distinctly aiming for Geppetto.
Velvet Crowe	Velvet momentary feasts on a tiny bit of Anne's life force. Odd, how she resists it. That's new. Worrying. But it worked, so she's not going to complain. She doesn't seem in the slightest bothered by any judgments rendered onto her as a result of attacking either. Less convenient for Velvet is when she takes beam cannons to the face. Well, side. Staren's weapons impact the daemon and send her blasting back several meters, bouncing off the ground. Her claws dig in, stopping herself, and with the rest of her momentum she flips herself back upright, growling. Her skin is badly singed and bleeding now, courtesy of those beams. "Don't care! Debate about narrative roles later!" she shouts at Shin, which is probably a terrible idea because it comes down to promising him a debate on the matter later. She looks towards Anne, towards Staren, towards Sanary. Then she looks up, towards the massive drill. Velvet starts running towards the machine, making an impressive leap for it no less, with the goal of ending up on top if nothing stops her. "Someone invoked a debt, I honestly couldn't care less what happens here otherwise!"
Anne Blakely	Debt? What she makes? Anne raises an eyebrow, and then raises a stronger, shimmering barrier that... isn't actually needed at the moment, because nobody is going right for her. Just, you know, Geppetto. "Oh fuck me-" The puppet says. That's ALL he has a chance to say before his leg careens off and he falls right over without even having threatened anyone today! That must be pretty humiliating. And a first. "EVERYONE STOP!" THe mayor calls as the guns start to level toward everyone from the villagers. They've got about... ten of them? Feel free to ignore them. "PENELOPE!" Anne shouts, yanking a pistol from under her dress. The pistol she fires off toward Scar's leg, trying to wound, but the shout... From the drilling machine, a tiny little copper girl leaps out, blades whipping from her arms. "Demon blood! Wonder what I can make with /that/?" The shrill voice sounds a little unhinged, much more so than even the last time she'd been in public. The vicious inward stab of both blades is just as deadly though.
Samantha Middleton	"What do you mean, what she makes?" Samantha calls out, echoing the others. It looks like she has no interest in SHOOTING Staren after all... though she's sorely tempted. She's more interested in shooting Anne. In fact, one of the turrets whips about to fire at HER, though... well, it doesn't have the same advantage that Sam herself has against Anne's powers, and is low caliber. The shield will probably take care of it! But her bigger guns... Samantha has no problem with just shooting forward, rockets firing behind her! So she can use her claw-hand on the power armor to grab at Staren, intending to hurl him off to the side.
Staren	Staren leaps into the air! Thrusters and wings getting him out of the line of fire... but he doesn't seem to be trying to stop Samantha right now. He's sure Anne's creation can handle Velvet, and Anne... either she can handle Samantha, or she'll tragically get what's coming to her. Staren deactivates and stows his plasma sword, pulling his laser rifle off his back and firing beam weapons at Nort and Scar from the air. They look like they can take some hits, if this turns out to all be a misunderstanding. Samantha took the words from his mouth, though -- He'll just have to see what Nort says.
Sanary Rondel	After a brief exchange with Shin over the radio, Sanary's looking just a little less confused and-wait. Are the townspeople aiming at them now? She lets out an irritated sigh while waving at the militia. "Oh, put those down before you make yourselves targets. You really think any of them-" She gestures pointedly at the Elites fighting not too far behind her past the wall of bricks.. "-are going to be threatened by that? Just get out of here before you get yourselves killed or something!" Alright, she might be snapping just a little bit. Sanary needs somewhere to let out her pent up energy, even if it's yelling at civilians! After a moment, though, she does turn around again to watch the show, even maneuvering some of those bricks out of the way to give herself a window to watch it all from relative safety. "Just let 'em fight it out and... Hope they don't shake that vault loose or something. If it does, I'll take care of it." Just in case that really does happen, though, Sanary starts ever so slowly inching her way towards the vault and the drill with her plastic-looking shield wall moving along with her. It's not very inconspicuous, but at least she's trying to show she's not a threat to anyone, either!
Velvet Crowe	"Don't recommend you mess with my blood, but I'm not going to stop you from messing yourself up if you're so inclined!" A silver blade pops out of Velvet's right bracer. She halts one of Penelope's blades with it in a mirror clash of arm-blades, while the other plunges into her left shoulder-- at the cost of Penelope being up close. Velvet's massive, glowing arm reaches forward to grab the girl, squeeze, cut, and drain, or at least to attempt to. Penelope might figure out very quickly she should avoid it. If she succeeds, there won't be any assimilation of powers this time. Leeching health and life. To regenerate the layer of skin Staren completely burnt off her, to seal up the hole that arm blade is in the process of making. To weaken and harm Penelope, of course. "Believe me, this isn't a gift."
Shin Tokuyama	Shin has no real strong interest in stopping or helping anyone here. He wants to potentially poach whatever is in the vault and use it for his own, personal narrative. That means that he's not attacking anyone, he's not defending anyone. He's just eating a protein bar and casually walking back towards the vault in a casual sort of way. "It better be something cool in there." He says to himself as he goes.
Nort and Scar	Scar raises a claw... and it is a claw, partially metal. THe bullet pings off of it leaving a furrow of red, but the wound is pretty shallow. It isn't Nort who answers, though. It's Scar. "Mechanical monsters. The artificial. The Created." A hum sounds from the saddle, and when Staren's volley explodes around Nort and Scar... the mount and rider's own force field flares to life, blunting the impact so that his armor is singed and scorged, and Scar's body burned somewhat, but yes, he can tank quite well. Nort glances up. "Stay out of this, kid. You're in over your head." He doesn't shoot. Instead, a mental assault of pain lances out, the mental blast aimed at Staren to keep him busy instead of with technology.
Staren	Staren frowns. A forcefield... great. On the other hand, this isn't freelance heroism -- he has League backing, so he can afford to use the missiles... And apparently this dude has a problem with constructs. And they want /Staren/ to stay out of it? "No. YOU'RE in over YOUR AAAAAGH!" He holds his hands to his head, then fires again, adding a grenade to the laser rifle and beam cannon shots this time. How can he fight psychic powers? He looks for somewhere to get out of sight. Maybe Nort needs to see him to target him, right?
Anne Blakely	The villagers are understandably annoyed, but... once the fighting REALLY kicks up, they do consider their options. Seen Nort and Scar take that attack, and that Samantha hasn't even /shot/ her big gun yet, plus the obvious signs of magic... they pause. But the Mayor, fortunately, can see reason. "Let them fight it out, she's right." He's not sure WHO is defending the vault yet, but it's obvious some of them are fighting those who would despoil it. Anne tugs out a potion... but it's less impressive than one would think. Throwing it down causes a smoke bomb, so she can scurry away. A direct fighter she is not, and her remaining 'laborors' - obviously unintelligent drones - line up to shield her as she heads for cover. Meanwhile, at the drill... Penelope lands a hit, giggling. "Oh it isn't for me, I don't have blooAAAAH!" It's true. What Velvet is squeezing and crushing is full of springs and mechanisms, without even oil beyond a small amount of lubrication. What she DOES feel is that there is some kind of life force to drain, despite this. Nothing biological at all, but /definitely/ alive. Also. Made of metal. Which makes the HEADBUTT a little bit more concerning.
Anne Blakely	Shin approaches the Vault! Wht's in the Vault? Well, it's not open yet! But the drill has been going a while. He could probably climb up and be the first inside when it breaks through... which shouldn't be long at all.
Samantha Middleton	Samantha... actually laughs? Staren taking to the air doesn't seem to bother her. She fires a few shots with her actual /good/ gun toward the smoke and the line of servitors, and that does bother her a little. Enough to decide hey, she can take care of the one she sees as Anne's lackey, right? Staren will find that the clunky-looking power armor is, in fact, extremely agile. And fast. And also, it flies, rocketing up with a roar to resume the battle... this with a blade involved, springing from the arm to skewer the power armor.
Shin Tokuyama	Shin is offered the most dangerous thing Shin can be offered. A choice. Agency. Shin stares down at the drill for a bit and then tilts his head. Thoughts flash through his mind. Moral decisions. Blue and Red. Hero or Rogue. Paragon versus Renegade. Shin finds the hottest girl in the room by his standards and then tilts his head a bit. Thoughts continue to mill through his head as the world slowly becomes a Bioware RPG. Shin visualizes reputation meters for everyone present. And then he decides to roundhouse kick the drill, ki trailing from his heel as he tries to take it out with a devastating blow.
Velvet Crowe	CLANG. Velvet is thick-headed but not a robot. Penelope has no trouble smacking her away and leaving her stunned long enough that the glowing red and black claws loosen their grip, letting her escape. Blood drips down her forehead a bit. She grunts angrily, as she is wont to do, glaring the automaton down. Shin strikes the drill. Perfect distraction! "TWIN WHIP!" Oh, she shouts attack names. That's a thing. Mostly for martial artes though. She surges forward, flowing along the ground like... actually, like a torrent of water? It's a rapid movement, sliding to Penelope's left, attempting to punch her in the stomach, and then suddenly sliding to her right as water splashes about in that same zipping, liquid motion, spinkicking Penelope towards the drill as hard as she can.
Sanary Rondel	Sanary lets out a relieved sigh when the townspeople do actually listen to reason, and she's able to even drop her brick wall to break into a run. It doesn't take that much longer for her to catch up with Shin at the Vault, and once she's there... She's actualy not quite sure what to do. The drill's not done yet! Then again, considering what those townspeople were so worried about in the first place, maybe it'd be better not to open that thing. As she readies her gunaxe, however, she notices the martial artist's ki trailing from his foot. "I thought you...? Ah, whatever. Breaking stuff's more fun!" In one broad motion, she follows up on Shin's kick with a big downwards swing of her weapon from the other side of the drill! With any luck, maybe she'll get a reward by the time this is all over.
Nort and Scar	Grenades and the like. That's a mess. Scar snarls, leaping through and landing with a louder noise when he smashes through one of the laborer machines... and bites another with jaws that don't seem to care they're metal. He's already bleeding from what got through his force field from the barrage, the thick pelt keeping it from being lethal but now quite matted. The drill isn't a concern to Scar, nor to Nort... and with Staren out of the way for now, the mounted cyborg launches a stream of micromissiles from his shoulder, into the smoke, to see if he can't land at least one hit. It is, however, pretty inaccurate... especially since he's tuned them for human heat signatures, and he's pretty sure Anne's heat signature is not right.
Staren	Staren flies away! Ignorance and brute force have triumphed over curiousity and science this day :(
Anne Blakely	Anne... probably did not get away clean. Penelope scrambles to grab what's left of Geppetto, but there's a fair amount of blood when the smoke clears. That's what's happening down below. Up above, the two assaults that slam down onto the drill... succeed! It isn't a Souled Construct, just very large, and it doesn't take much to cause it to tilt and snap the drill, tearing the thing apart with earth and stone spitting everywhere before the spinning stops. The whole place is a wreck, but it's safe for now.
Shin Tokuyama	"Do do do doooo dooo doo. Doot doot dooot!" Shin raises his arms above his head as the drill is slammed, "Taking Paragon actions, duh. Doin good stuff to try to win rep points with complete strangers whom I may never interact with, but if I do I may need social capital with later." "Plus that chick is like ridiculously hot and she seemed to want this place not to be unsealed." He points at Velvet, "So I was hoping it would impress her."
Velvet Crowe	Well, that takes care of the vault. Now they can't get through without using... bombs, or whatever those cannons the guy in the weird armor had? It doesn't sound like a great way to open a vault though. Plus, they're retreating! That's good. Velvet wipes the blood from her forehead with her good arm, while the people-eating arm shrinks back to human size as bandages cover it up again. Don't ask how the bandages keep coming back. Seriously don't, it's never explained. Her blade also pops back into her bracet. She heads for Shin and Sanary, since they are nearby and talking. "I, erm. Thanks?" Daemon or not she can still feel awkward, and Shin's hitting the right buttons with the straightforward compliments. "Sorry, it takes a bit more than that to impress me, though." A glance towards Samantha, in the wake of the fighting. "You can tell Charity we're square for what she did for me. I'll figure out some way to repay the hospitality before you can play that card on me again."
Sanary Rondel	Sanary grunts lightly as she draws her gunaxe back, surveying the damage caused by the drill and the combined assault on said drill. "That worked. Do what now?" It takes her a moment to realize that Shin's doing some kind of reference to... Something or another she doesn't quite understand, then quirks an eyebrow once he continues. "Good rep? Yeah, that makes sense. Better than having a bad one, especially with... Uh." Her gaze shifts from Shin to Velvet when she's pointed out, squinting a bit and finding herself nodding after a few moments. "... Yeah, I getcha. She is kinda-... Wait. You saying I'm not?" It's not quite clear if that long, disapproving stare she's giving Shin is a real one or not.
Samantha Middleton	The armor opens up, and Sam hops out at last. She's wearing lighter clothes, so her prosthetics are easy to see. "Hey I didn't actually think it'd work. I don't know Charity that well." She shrugs. "But I'll let her know." She eyes Nort and Scar though. "You aren't gonna go ape on me because I built a power suit, are you?" She doesn't think so, since Nort is wearing power armor as well, but she has to check. The flesh arm waves to Sanary, again. "I keep running into some of you..."
Shin Tokuyama	"I'm not saying you're not. It's just comparing an 8 to a 10, really." Shin pats Sanary on the shoulder a couple times and gives her a thumbs up, "If I was a pirate or a viking, I'm sure I'd really dig the whole one-eyed axe-girl motif you've got going. Remember, Sanary. You're always a waifu to someone."
Nort and Scar	Nort reloads his launcher, ignoring everyone until he's asked a question. "What? No. Not a fan of cyborgs, but those look medical to me. The things Blakely makes.... she shouldn't make them. That's all." No real vindictiveness there, though. Not like what Scar said. "Guess I'll head back to the Delta Fragment. I was on my way back when I heard the call. You need me, Shin there knows where I'm from. The natives know how to find me."
Sanary Rondel	"E-eight? And.. Ten?" Sanary looks completely taken aback by that, and if it was anyone else in any other circumstance? Shin would probably be getting a fist in his face right about now. It takes a few moments before she snaps out of that, and instead of responding badly? The axe cleric actually seems pleased! "Huh. Eight's not bad. That's not bad at all..." She even puffs up a bit with some sort of RENEWED CONFIDENCE. She'll ask about that waifu thing another time. She's still looking rather smug as Samantha greets her, giving her a broad wave in return. "Eh? Heh, yeah. Doing alirght in... Wait, were you always wearing that?" She blinks slowly, looking over that suit of power armor before nodding slowly. She approves! She probably doesn't understand how any of it works, but still.