Team Magic, The Ship
Vault. The ship had a vault. Maybe that's where... whatever they had to find was. And these guys were more like scientists cataloguing new species instead of actually hunting people down.
Fletcher glanced at the locator on his wrist. This would tell them where to go.
"Well, I think we can help with that. We're probably heading for the vault too."

Atrocitus was pleasantly surprised Icarax had just left. While he was expecting a fight, the Red Lantern was glad he did not have to lose all the energy he had just regained.

He looked up at the pillar of light again. He finally decided to go there himself instead of trying to look for the rest of the team. It would save time, all of them will be finally out of this blasted buffet for the Butcher, and to make sure Icarax did not go anything stupid with the piece.

Though if the Makuta managed to kill himself charging in blindly, that would save him the trouble of killing the bastard himself if it came to it.

Shining bright Red, Atrocitus then flew off into the sky, heading straight for the pillar of light.....

Magic

How indeed? You have proven yourself more valuable by far than all the combat slaves combined. You are here to kill Vect, I have no allegiance to one who does nothing while my sector is overrun by the Necron... You will join me in killing Vect, and I will let you leave Commorragh, with whatever item you seek of his.

My Kabal is strong, too strong for his liking. We outnumber all others save his. And Vect has been in power so long- too long- that he feels the need to cut others down to size. It is a common strategy, he last used it when orks invaded. When the brutes invaded Commorragh in their millions, he waited for them to rampage across numerous sectors before intervening, and has done the same today. He will send his forces here to conquer once he believes I am dead, and that is when we will strike at the heart of his empire!

-Vhane's eye twitches at the mention of Icarax, who brought him so much closer to death than any other enemy in his lifespan. Though the Dark Eldar can indeed defeat death, the process is neither riskless nor pleasant, and some have been known to risk the loss of their soul than to undergo resurrection.-

I am told the creature Icarax has fled, pursued by your red confederate. Evidently he was strong enough to overpower a few broken soldiers, but knows nothing of the might of an entire Kabal!

But enough of this. You are honored guests of the Black Myriad. Food, drink, and slaves will be brought to you, and of course you must be healed before we can confront Vect.

Ayom! Makhriv!

-Two Dark Eldar in black robes step forward. Despite sharing the same face as their Archon, they manage to look even more depraved and sunstarved. Moving a fraction of a second short of perfect unison, the twin Haemonculi stand before the Seekers, eyes scanning these unusual bodies, a repulsive fusion of flesh and machine drifting lazily behind them.-

I place these mon-keigh in your care. You are to heal them, make them as deadly and murderous as you are able... without harming them.

-The faintest expression of disappointment flits across the face of either torturer before they bow assent. An underling reports to Vhane, and he leaves the Seekers in the capable hands of the Haemonculi. They get to work, inspecting Maria before the Pain Engine lifts her up and begins to repair her spine, injecting her with potent painkillers to prevent the sensations of twisting sinews, grinding bones and closing skin. Having treated the most severe case, they turn to the legless Hellion, they have a moment of sibilant consultation, beyond caring whether he hears.-

Thisss one is already dead.

We cannot resssstore him to true life.

Thissss processsss of reanimation is unknown to ussss.

Many organsss are missssing.

-They then turn to the Seekers.-

Follow usss, mon-keigh. We will make your bodiesss sssstronger...

And mussst ussse more appropriate toolsss.

Science

-After gently but firmly removing Jack from the pilot's station, the Dark Eldar flotilla takes off, surrounding the Raider bearing the Archon and the Seekers, heading back down the tunnel that leads to the surface. One of the Kabalites approaches Aurelia.-

Mistress, what are we to do with the prisoner?

He is- wait.

-The captured Reaper pulls up alongside the Raider, where two guards have their weapons pointed at the chained form of Vilstareth, his remaining limbs bleeding where his injectors and tools were ripped out.-

You survived, mon-keigh?! Lady Aurelia, allow me to work for you, let me ascend their essence into perfection! The female alone could take on a hive tyrant, and the mutant ork's exoskeleton can be harvested to-

-The Haemonculus takes a rifle butt to the jaw on Aurelia's signal before being hauled onto the Raider. She then turns to the Seekers, knowing that a tangible proof of alliance is far more effective than the mere promise of plunder.-

Humans, perhaps we should seal our alliance on more concrete terms. This degenerate has haunted the underground for far too long, and doubtless caused you no small amount of grief. Would you care to end him yourselves?

-She then watches, curious as to whether humans untainted by Chaos can match the cruelty of their twisted brethren, the gretchin already vividly planning a fate involving blunt choppas and pointy stikks.-

edited 16th Apr '14 10:27:35 PM by Chabal2

Jack saw the chained form of Vilstareth become dragged towards the group, the guy who sicced those lab made monster on them before the Chaos Marines came in. The Chaser thought for a moment.

"You gonna use his remains for fertilizer or incinerator fuel later?" he asked Aurelia. "Cuz I can easily make chunky salsa out of him......" He then unsheathed Gator Tooth just to show off his potential. However, he wanted for his other team members to volunteer before chopping up the Haemonculis. Common courtesy is all.

MAGIC

Maria looked confused at Vhane offering his help to them, though when Icarax was mentioned, she did pick up his eye twitching due to thinking about him. When he talked about healing, her own interest had peaked, but then after the Haemunculi inspected her, the Pain Machine picked her up suddenly!

"Hey now!" She began to complain but was then injected with potent painkillers which made her feel numb and loopy. The Pain Engine cut into her back and then began to fix up her spine up before it was sealed up again. It was brutal and messy, but... she didn't feel a thing and when all was said and down, she was standing and moving without the jerkiness that she had due to the injury. She still looked rather numb and loopy, though that was more a consequence of the pain medication that anything to do with her injury.

SCIENCE

"Your choice," B.B. Hood glanced over at Gavrill, as if she figured that Gavrill should have first shot at him. He did seem to have the most interest in Gavrill so B.B. Hood thought it would be a fitting end. But if she doesn't, she'd be okay with Jack doing it.

Rayman had to admit, he hadn't seen this coming. Teaming up with the Dark Elder, a force they'd been fighting vehemently the entire day, to take on Vect? Rayman couldn't help but feel a little apprehensive about the whole thing.

Still, if they were offering to heal them all up, Rayman wasn't going to pass that opportunity up. "Hey fellas, think you can take a look at my feet? Rayman said, houlding out his stabbed up feet.

Seiga smiled slightly. Finally, things in this cutthroat society were starting to favor them. Glancing over at Maria, and then at Kharak, she was suddenly reminded of his condition.

"Lord Vhane, do you happen to have anyone expendable at hand? I need body parts to fix Kharak up with; and freshly killed is usually best for that. Actually, now that we're on the subject, you wouldn't happen to have lots of corpses conveniently stashed away now, would you?"

Gavrill had boarded the vessel and sat down on the deck without comment. She looked up as Vilstareth was dragged in front of them.

"Oh yeah, that guy..."

She stood up and approached the Haemonculus, sniffing disdainfully as she did so.

"Ugh, he's hardly worth eating at all. Stinks of chemicals and implants, all sorts of nasty shit."

She reached forward and took hold of one of his remaining arms, and with some care tore it from his body. She took a bite, grimacing as she chewed, before spitting the hunk of flesh to the floor.

"Just as I thought - disgusting. All those additives can't be good for you. Or me."

She waved dismissively at the others.

"He's all yours."

Team Science - Ship

At the arc of her jump, Satsuki cut the turret to bits with clean, precise strikes from her blades, landing rather gracefully back on the platform a small distance away from Ryuko and the unknown man. If one was very attentive or was outright looking out for that sort of thing during her jump, they may have noticed that Satsuki seemed to lack any underwear under that coat. Either way, Satsuki Kiryuin did not care.

Standing up straight, but keeping her weapons ready for whatever might come next, Satsuki began making her way towards Smug and Ryuko. However, the relative peace did not last long; soon, they arrived at what seemed to be their destination - some sort of alien town? - and it was not long before its denizens made a hasty retreat into their homes surrounding the massive body of water that encompassed most of the area, leaving them in relative, foreboding silence.

Satsuki readied her blades, scowling as every muscle in her body prepared to move however it needed to in order to react to whatever was coming its way. This kind of silence never lead to anything good.

Though she knew ‘’something’’ was coming, the sheer ridiculousness of the mechanical Statue that rose from the depths almost caught her off-guard. In any other context, it would have maybe even been funny. But it was here, real, and a threat. And she would treat it as such.

She first chose to observe as the smug man and Ryuko attempted to attack the mech directly. Ryuko’s scissor - why did she only have the one? - barely dented it, but the man’s own blade seemed to do a bit more real damage before being repelled by the bone structure of the machine. Resilient, and armed with bladed limbs and cannons. While they were easy enough to evade -

As if on cue, the machine fired its cannon at her and Smug, and she dodged effortlessly. Smug somehow had maintained that same shit-eating grin through the entirety of his time here. This guy had an ego bigger than Ragyo Kiruyin and Nui Harime combined.

The man whistled and gestured towards Ryuko, his message clear as he made his next move against the hulking Statue; he wanted Ryuko to help him flank it from both sides, and Ryuko seemed to reach the same conclusion. Satsuki readied herself, prepared to support her allies, and dashed towards the mech’s legs at an astonishing speed, curving her path so she’d be approaching it slightly from the back.Though she knew attacking the more solid portions of its limbs - upper arms, forearms, thighs, and calves - would be meaningless, the joints however could still potentially be more vulnerable. Structurally, unless the designers had been smart enough to take the right precautions, the joints should be one of the weakest points on the machine’s body. And either way, whether or not she did any actual damage, it would hopefully be distracting enough to help create an opening for her allies.

As she reached the back of the Statue’s legs, she jumped to gain some height, letting out a Hot-Blooded battle shout that served as a true testament to the strength of her respiratory system as she slashed at the back and sides of its knees, hoping to cripple it or at least be enough of a nuisance that it ignored Ryuko and the Smug Man.

edited 17th Apr '14 4:08:09 PM by Motree

It was about then that Urza decided he had listened to them debate about killing the prisoner for long enough. Tucking the crystal fragment away, he rose to his feet, turned and strode over to where the bloodied Dark Eldar sat. If he had time, he would have preferred to study the creature through an extended dissection/vivisection process and learn how exactly how to kill his species. Regrettably, they did not. So he opted for the most efficient way of ensuring death.

Extending his staff's halberd blade, he stabbed, impaling the mad artificer through the chest. Then, with no apparent sign of effort, he lifted the Dark Eldar upwards until the staff's cannon was lodged squarely under his chin. Finally, he set the cannon to its narrowest possible setting and to a red mana beam. Complete incineration of the brain was usually enough to cause death in a Phyrexian. He pressed the trigger, and an intense crimson beam lanced out, strong enough that those close enough could feel the heat.

"Dammit! Not this again!"

Sky ducked down and got into a prone position while he prepared to fire the Delta Enforcer.

Where do I take cover?

SCIENCE

"So Gavrill doesn't have a taste for Red Dye No. 2," B.B. Hood said as she watched the carnage that Gavrill and especially Urza inflicted onto Vilstareth leaving him very much dead. "Wow, remind me never to peeve you off, Urza."

B.B. Hood then turned to spot Sky crouching and holding out his weapon, which led to her getting between him and the others.

"Oh, stop that," B.B. Hood said as she smacked him upside the head. "We're... err, allied with them right now."

One could tell that B.B. Hood forced out the word 'allied,' but it was true in a certain point of view.

MAGIC

Maria appeared to have decided to start poking at Rayman's nose. Then, she wagged her finger, still looking and sounding rather loopy, "You... have a big nose."

Obviously, Maria Renard was not in the best sort of state for any kind of rational conversation, but she, at least, looked happy with the current situation.

edited 18th Apr '14 4:27:03 AM by GameGuruGG

Shantotto shook her head at Armani's yelling. Why did adventurers have to make a big deal out of everything? "Believe me boy, I would love nothing more than to stop their squabbling and get on with the mission. And... that seems to be what's happening now. We've found some friendly natives." she waved at the three weirdoes.

She looked up at Loki. "Can you see the vault on that map? It might correspond with whatever our beacons are pointing to."

"That won't be needed." Donatello said, smiling to Aurelia. "You see, he's not going to do much damage. Plus, revenge is not a reasonable solution to any problem. It'll only bring up additional problems, so it's best to look towards a non-violent outcome to—"

Of course, the turtle was interrupted by the sounds of the Haemonculus being killed by Urza. "Why..." Donatello mumbled, before putting his hands up to his head and shaking it. "Why did you do that?! The guy was never going to fight back!"

Toph smirked again. "Please, Animal Girl. I'm the greatest earthbender in the world. You think something like that is going to make me cry?" She asked, pointing at her eye with an inquisitive eyebrow being raised.

When Maria was suddenly picked up by the Pain Machine, two sharp chunks of rock sprouted from the ground behind Toph and flew towards the Haemonculi, stopping right before hitting them when she noticed that Maria wasn't in pain, but rather being healed. The chunks of rock hit the ground, although the glare remained on Toph's face. "Don't do that again." She snarled.

"Do you really think so?"

Gavrill looked towards Donatello, a contemplative look on her face.

"Are you forgetting already, Donny? He wanted to kill us, didn't he? In fact, he wouldn't have stopped at killing us. He wanted to take our genetic material and make new monsters. And I don't think he wanted to use them for peaceful purposes, do you?"

"T-that's not the point!" Donatello pointed at Gavrill. "He was already defeated, and he wasn't going to do much in his current state... why should we kill him?! Doing that only... o-only lowers us to his level!"

"So then, what should we have done? How could we have stopped his monstrous actions, permanently, without killing him?"

"Put him in prison, of course! Somewhere he could never leave or escape from! Surely these guys have something like this." Donatello said, before glaring at Gavrill. "And what do you care? I thought you, of all people, would be happy seeing him dead!"

"Prison? Do you really think that would have stopped him? In a place like this?"

"Especially in this place! They... they probably have something even worse keeping prisoners in there.. and... why am I arguing this with you?!" Donatello yelled, clenching his fist and punching the air foolishly.

Seiga looked at Toph with a look that plainly stated her incredulity.

"What in the world was that for? I'd rather Maria didn't end up a cripple, thank you very much."

Team Science - Commonrragh

Sokka put his hand on Donnie's shoulder. "Hey." He said, calmly. "I know. I agree with you. Now, calm down." He said, nodding solemnly. "He's gone. There's no use getting angry over this, especially not right now. Got it?"

Team Magic - The Ship

"Oh yes, in fact, I can." Loki pulled his hands back, showing Shantotto a map made up of various rooms. "We seem to be in the... steam room, that's here." He pointed at a far corner of the map. "And the vault is here." He pointed to a red spot not five squares away from them. "Each square seems to be a room... and from the looks of it, we have two options. One, we go through the upper route, which will take us right through the Security area... or we take the alternative route, which takes us through Maintenance, where surely a bunch of tight spaces and deadly traps await us."

Team Science - The Ship

The sword slashed through the thighs, and just like before, nothing but sparks and scrap metal. As Sam started moving to the back of the mech, its giant head spun around on its axis, following it (although slowly) to the point when Sam's attack had been delivered, it was charging up another cannonball.

The cannonball did leave the Statue of Killberty's mouth, but not in the way one would have expected. Because not one second later, Golden's cannonball hit her right in the back of her head, sending the giant statue leaning forward. The cannonball fell out of its mouth, spinning in mid-air and hitting the ground, revealing to Sam something even more bizarre: there were people inside the Statue of Killberty's head. Two long, squiggly arms waved and wiggled for another cannonball.

Of course, all of that didn't matter, because both Sam and Ryuko's attack hit the statue. An attack to the ankle revealed some kind of vital spot, because not only did Sam cut through sparks and metal, he also cut through some highly explosive material. How did he know that?

Because the ankle almost immediately exploded.

The statue almost toppled back, raising its right arm (which was now missing a foot, since it had detached itself from the leg) and spinning around in her left leg, attempting to literally kick her enemies away. At this point, the owner of the squiggly arms had been revealed, as a squid hanged onto the edge of the Statue of Killberty's mouth, trying his best not to fall. Satsuki climbed the spinning right leg, letting out her defiant yell just as the squid let go, falling through the sky as the majestic metal beast spun around on its left leg like a ballerina, as sparks flew out of its leg... just before the squid creature hit Satsuki right in the face.

It squiggled, oh, did it squiggle. And by squiggled, I mean that its suction cups attached themselves to Satsuki's face and didn't let go. The squid's 'face'◊ frowned and yelled for help in its squid language, trying to breathe in as much air as possible. This would lead scientists in the future to guess whether or not the squid was trying to kiss Satsuki. The scientists came to the conclusion that yes, this could be considered kissing, and in the movie version of this moment, the scene was painted as a deep romantic moment, key to the development of the squid's character arc. The squid's parents decided to sue, but it was all settled out of court, when they were teleported into a Benihana and served on that afternoon's Special Surprise. The customers were not surprised, and did not feel special.

"Is that right? And if they do, if they have some horrible, cruel means of containing their prisoners, how exactly would death be any worse?

"Why? Oh, I don't know..."

With booming footsteps, Gavrill approached Donatello, looming over him with a grin.

"...maybe because you're feeling a little worried. Unsure of yourself. Worried because, as much as you hate me, I just might have the right idea about this place. Look around you - we may as well be in Hell itself. Everyone here is either suffering, or making other people suffer. For the former their deaths will be a relief, and for the latter their crimes should be ended as soon as possible. There is no moderate solution. Look deep inside, and tell me I'm wrong."

Donatello started walking back, until he hit Sokka. His eyes widened as Gavrill got closer and closer, and he tried to get smaller and smaller as she loomed over him. Once she finished, posing her final question, Donatello was quivering on the ground. "You can't be right... there's always hope... I-I... I want to get out of here!" He hugged his knees, shaking back and forth, sobbing.

Sokka held out a hand, not to put on Donatello's shoulder, but on Gavrill's shoulder, holding her back. "Stop it." He said, glaring at her. "This world has already damaged us enough, we don't need you driving a drill into his morals." His hand hovered over his sword, and he squinted his eyes, as if saying please don't make me do this.