Destiny Drive Third, Anything Goes Sci-Fi

"Check, check...how the hell we feelin' tonight?!"

The crowd of about thirty cheered, while the rest of the bar's patrons either turned toward the band on stage or carried on with their conversations. Seth was used to this by now; he knew it would take time before his band could command the whole room's attention.

"We are Steal the Constitution!" Everyone in the band knew the name was stupid; that was exactly why they picked it. "I'm Seth, he's Vinnie,"—he pointed back at the drummer—"he's Nico,"—he pointed at the bassist to his right—"and she's Bella." He pointed his guitar in her direction like a gun. She did the same with her guitar, only she pretended to fire at him. "We're gonna open with a cover of a band that I used to go see play all the time back home when I was younger. This one's called 'When I Go Out, I Want to Go Out on a Chariot of Fire.' You guys ready?"

Seth stepped back from the microphone and took a better look at the crowd. He could read the expressions on everyone's faces with perfect clarity. He knew who was interested and who wasn't, who was into it and who already wanted them to get the hell off the stage. He even spotted a few people who actually looked hyped for the song. That was new.

He closed his eyes and looked down. Just breathe...just breathe... He wasn't nervous, exactly, but the adrenalin rush was always massive right before the first song started. Even after a few gigs, it hadn't changed much.

The moment Seth looked back up, opened his eyes, and strummed that first chord, everything melted away. Everything else barely existed; his whole focus was on playing the song. He knew it by heart now, to the point that he knew exactly how many measures in to come back to the microphone and start singing. For all the passion and energy he was putting into this song, in his mind he was in a complete Zen state. The lyrics flowed from his mouth without him consciously thinking about them, and the chords on his guitar effortlessly backed Bella's lead. For him, this was what it felt like to truly be alive.

Well, that and piloting his Armor, but that was another deal entirely.

Seth had slept in this morning. After all, he'd been up until 1 a.m. watching the other bands play and moshing with everyone else. He wasn't just wearing his Mets hat to go with the jersey he was wearing today; his hair was an absolute mess, and this was his best way of hiding it. But his exhaustion was nothing a hot bowl of lo mein and some orange chicken couldn't fix, even if he was eating them with a fork like a poser.

Where his day would go from here, he had no idea. All he knew was that he was going to have to do something pretty damn interesting if he was going to top last night.

edited 18th Sep '15 11:21:33 PM by NitrousThunder

Crossing her arms, Faith lightly sighs before letting her arms drop "Sorry, I just don't really like talking when I'm alone with unfamiliar people. Thus... Guess we both need to work on interacting. Though Serena is a little moody big sis didn't come to her birthday... Gosh I really don't get why she left..."

Clearing her throat, Faith smiles at the squad and waves a hand as she leaves "Welp, fraid I've been hanging out too long, so I'll see you guys when you're done with your mission!" Leaving the control room, Commander Sasha suddenly gets up from her seat. "Best not to keep Hatch 005 waiting much longer, and Leo will be sending a summary of the mission objective if you need a reminder."

Hera looks at Lucus, face soaked with uncontrollable tears before shouting quite pitifully "You don't feel sorry for something that works! Sorrow is only felt for broken or doomed things! I know about the First Generation! They're lucky to live, to avoid being failed enough destroying them is the only ethical action! I also know of pity... Of petting the dog before shooting it! I don't want that! Having a happy moment, then suddenly being confronted with my end! I don't want to suffer like that..."

Uncurling, Hera stands upright in mid-air with her arms outstretched and body fluttering. Some of the debris forming into spears, she launches them forth at the Wunderwaffen whilst retaining her telekinetic hold on them. Her expression shifting into something like anger, the young girl tries to regain her elegant tone "Why don't you tell me why I should be calm, hm!? Fighting me just proves I'm going to be deleted! Well, I won't let that happen! I'm the one that drives my destiny, not you or Seed Esper!"

Alan's face suddenly becoming rather twitchy upon hearing about Alexei, he sighs before curving his spine backwards. Then, he speaks, voice slipping into a feminine inflection "Yeah, I knew something was off, but it really does piss me off that bastard sent you guys. Really, there just was no way you two could run a full maintenance check on the Mentalists. Welp, tell the bastard Alena doesn't want to go home at all!"

The front door suddenly locking shut, Alan chuckles before pointing a hand at Kristen "Wait, sorry, I need Stella to ruff ya two up first. Papa Anechka ain't gonna back off if you leave intact. God why can't he just leave me alone..." With that spoken a holographic image of Stella's head is projected, curiously looking over Kristen and Irelia before sighing annoyed at Alan. ~"There's no chance the two of you will just want to leave is there?"~

Clack, Clack. Dress shoes hitting the marble floor, a black haired teen pilot drops onto the bench before her with a sigh. Piloting suit barely visible underneath her jacket, she speaks in a displeased tone "So, who has to train the noob? Cause I do not want to waste my time on any loser. Really, my elegance is unmatchable sweet doe, so maybe it'll be you that has to train the schmuck."

Flashing a mean teeth bearing smile to the twenty-two year old woman next to her, the bunny eared woman softly sighs. Sleeve covered hands in her lap, the purple stripped brown haired woman replies politely "Personally I wouldn't teaching the pilot, that's already half my job as a mother. If Einmal considers me a good teacher then I'll gladly accept, Usagi wouldn't mind anyways."

The black haired girl snarling annoyed, she venomously spits "Yeah, because a monster wouldn't care its meal ticket is focusing on something other than it. God, it makes me so sick seeing that damn thing run around like it deserves to exist. I can't wait for Einmal to finally-" Wicked look on the girl's face yet a politely unperturbed look on the bunny, a calculating voice broke out.

"That's quite enough Eva, my mothers and fathers will continue refusing such vile requests. Since the Bonnet girl is not a true Fey Touched, we will not forsake her or her mother." The black haired girl, Eva, turned to look highly annoyed at the approach of the blonde and stacked Ashley Edwards. Ashley merely pushed her glasses up and looked at Miss Bonnet, who just casually waved at her.

The unaging gynoid positioning herself in front of the two, a hologram is projected from her glasses. "The boy you two were talking about, Seth Stiles, will receive his training from me. My parents decided it would be best to send an emotionally controlled yet unforgiving individual, neither of which you are. They did consider you however Rebecca, but if we're going to be honest you're too nice."

Rebecca simply shrugs and gives Ashley a gentle smile. Eva, however, looks quite outraged. "Yeah, let's send the emotionless robot girl to teach a human! Surely that couldn't go wrong in any way, like the whole emotional connection thing. Yeah, this'll be fine. Just. Fine!" Getting up with force and moving in on Ashley, Eva instead finds herself curling on the floor after a punch to the gut. Rebecca picking the girl up, she briefly looks at Ashley to see her wipe her hand on Eva's jacket.

"My ability to react was also a factor. Perhaps your 'father' should give you such upgrades instead? You would surely become a better pilot that way Eva Skye, though I'm certain you and your father know best." Eva weakly trying to curse Ashley, the gynoid leaves as casually as she came.

Swaying into the joint is a young woman, blonde hair and brown eyes, wearing a simple yet functional black dress. Nestled perfectly on the bridge of her nose is a pair of glasses, with her hanging loose. Simply holding a datapad to her generous chest, her eyes calmly look over the area before settling on Seth.

Walking up to him slowly yet purposefully, the woman speaks in a falsely sweet voice "Mister Stiles, though I'm certain you're a skilled pilot Einmal needs to test you some to deduce your future role in our organisation. If you have any questions do ask, otherwise I strongly insist you come with me to the broken Social District Seventeen. Oh, and bring your Wunderwaffen, there'll be that kind of fun involved."

Social District 8

The second her cover was broken Kristen drew her handgun, flicking off the safety. It was already loaded - seven in the magazine, one in the chamber - and she aimed it at Alan. Though her finger was off the trigger, it may not be a detail Alan noticed.

"None," Kristen replied. "I was sent here to investigate the disappearance of Alena, and and I found out you are at fault. Personally I've got no problems with either of you at all. But she will be leaving with us - the real question is if you'll be leaving in body bags." Intimidation, as opposed to stealth, was something she could do.

"And don't think about fucking trying me. This thing's a forty-five - it'll stop a man and a Skyblazer in a single shot. I'll give you a free sample if you don't believe - or if you so much as twitch towards me or a weapon."

"Alright people, lets move out."

Kit then turned around and started walking towards the hangar, presuming the others would just follow. Despite the previous conversation, they had to get moving now.

Social District 8, Ars Headquarters

That's it. We've been found out - no surprises there, of course.

Irelia's muscles tensed as Alan confirmed his suspicions. There was no peaceful way out now, most probably. Kristen had already drawn her gun and Irelia flipped the flap of her bag to avoid any obstruction to her blades. The tips poked out of the bag, all shiny and silver.

She then reached for the disc on her back. Irelia took it in her left hand, ready to throw it or use it as a shield.

The room was quite still and Irelia found herself holding her breath, anticipating and fearing what was to come.

edited 21st Jul '15 8:07:14 AM by DemKimochis

Cache Main Facility, Control Room

Galen just nods and walks out the door.

Lucus hesitated as she said that, not knowing how to respond. In his hesitation he was only capable of putting the barrier in the way of the spears. Throwing him back quite the distance into a wall.

Lucus we must respond with force, she may be a young girl but you cannot just allow the Wunderwaffen to remain under fire.

Lucus acknowledged this and redirected power to the plasma pistol, he needed to destroy the debris so she didn't have more weapons. He prepared to draw and fire the gun in one fluid motion since aiming would force him to drop his defenses. Though Lucus doubted he could make all the shots in time even with Agaris' help; especially since he didn't want to accidentally hit her with the blast. After all the weapon was designed to be used against large targets, it would be pretty much instant-death for a unarmored person.

edited 22nd Jul '15 5:03:56 AM by darkdestinysoul

[[centered: Einmal Elysium, Mess Hall, July 22, 10:15 AM]]

Azazel ate quietly, his head in his tablet, reading about the maintenance of Aincrad, until Jelal sat next to him, "Hey buddy, how ya feelin?"

"Pretty good. I was thinking about going to see Ja'ren later on, I'm curious to see how he's doing."

"That so, well you'll need to finish your breakfast first, you taking Aincrad?"

"Indeed, I promised to take him to meet Ja'ren the next time I went," Azazel said, finishing his oatmeal.

[[centered: Prison Ring 03, Security Station, July 22, 3:33pm]]

Azazel sat in the chair, waiting to see Ja'ren, Aincrad's hologram next to him.

"How long does it take to gather one prisoner?" As if to answer Aincrad's question, a rather spider-like humanoid stepped out of the door, he immediately noticed Azazel and smiled, if you could call it that and scuttled over to stand next to him, opposite the glass, his arms held back by two different cuffs, each held to a different post, "And who is the hologram next to you?" he asked.

"My new mech, Aincrad."

"So you're the famous Ja'ren, I take it."

"I am, I see you have an A.I."

"Really? Couldn't tell."

"Don't worry Ja'ren, I'm building up the money for your bail, then we can work as a team again."

"Don't count on it kid, they plan to keep me in here as long as they can, don't forget, I am a famous pirate."

A buzzer sounded, "Same time next week Ja'ren, wait for me." The men pushed Ja'ren back into the cell block and left Azazel there with Aincrad.

They began flying back, on the way they made small talk, one of which was about Ja'ren, "Nice guy."

"You have no idea, Aincrad."

"That was sarcasm, dimwit."

"I know buddy, I know."

Sending a quick nod towards Faith, and then Kit, a'Lincoln took a moment to bend down to remove its remaining clothing. Quickly folding her pants, it then quietly set them down with her remaining clothing. Now, its modesty only modestly preserved by the living suit that was fused with its body, a'Lincoln gave a final nod for Commander Sasha, before turning around.

It then followed after Kit and Galen, not sparing another word, as it walked the halls. Its steps a bit quicker than usual, it was actually rather eager to board its Seelie.

Seth held up a finger to the woman after she finished talking. He had a piece of chicken in his mouth, and he didn't want to be rude, especially to someone offering him what could be his best shot at joining Einmal...and so hot, for that matter.

"Oh, a ride with M.O.L.L.Y. in the Chariot?" said Seth, once he'd swallowed his chicken. "I'm in. But I do have to ask, has Einmal moved my mech somewhere else in preparation for this test? If I walk out of this restaurant and find that my mech isn't where I left it, I'd like to know where it actually is."

edited 24th Jul '15 1:55:43 AM by NitrousThunder

Giving no fanfare to the Fey Hearts departure, Sasha simply watched them leave in silence. The trio gone, Sasha gives a light sigh. "Just what are the Eldritchians? Sometimes I think we'll never know for certain..." Briefly smiling amused, Sasha turns to looks at Leo, asking "What do you think Eldritchians really are?" The young teen turning to look at the older woman, an almost hateful expression is painted on Leo's face. Typing up a short message, Leo shows it to Sasha whilst looking away themselves. The Commander sighing a bit sadly, she merely replies "Yeah, I can see that..."

Within a cockpit, full of buttons and levers, sits a shrimpy platinum blonde girl. Wearing a rather simple suit connected to the chair she sits in, she whistles rather gently. That's when her father's voice rings through the cockpit ~"Levi what are you doing!? The test isn't ready yet! Get out of there before you set something off!"~ Squeaking and shrinking upon herself in response to her father's angry tone, she relaxes upon hearing him sigh.

"I'm sorry, I'm just... Samson let you into Falchion didn't he?" Levi quietly nodding, Gerald mutters something under his breath before speaking once more "Please, just exit Falchion for now." Sliding out of Falchion's hatch, Levi lands on a platform to see Faith and Samson together. Curiously looking over her siblings, Faith turns to her looking clearly worried whilst Samson merely seems a bit bored. Her redhead sister suddenly hugging her, Levi listens as Faith speaks.

"Are you alright? Why did you listen to Samson? Armors can be very dangerous, especially ones under maintenance." Expressing a fair bit of annoyance with her face, Levi wiggles her way out of Faith's hug. Giving a brief look towards Samson, Levi returns her focus to Faith before speaking with a lightly annoyed tone "I don't like all this babying you guys give me! Samson knows I'm tough, and I really wanted to see what Falchion looked like inside... Besides, nobody else thinks its too dangerous. I just... She's supposed to be mine right?"

Faith sighing, she opens her mouth to speak- Except Samson goes before her "Everything now is just the finishing touches, so getting into Falchion's cockpit should be fully safe. Besides, she has to get in there eventually, and it won't be too much longer anyways. Just made sense to me that she should already be inside it instead of wondering around somewhere."

Faith turning to look angrily at Samson, she sighs before wrapping an arm around Levi. "Oh about this, I'll wait up here with you and we can watch the other pilots going about their busy. The Fey Hearts are about to go on a mission, so why don't we wave them off?" Levi looking towards Samson as if wanting an answer, he simply shrugs and Levi in turn smiles towards Faith. "Okay, that'll be fine for me. Though doesn't CACHE need you for anything?"

Faith just gently shaking her head, Levi rests her body against Faith... Yet gives a faintly sad look towards Samson, noticing the faint tension between both her siblings. "I hope I can do something about them, I don't want to be a pilot if I can't help my family get along..."

Sharply pushing herself away from the direction of the plasma shots, Hera shapes the remainder of her debris field into two pairs of hands. Soaring towards Lucus' Wunderwaffen to grasp its arms, Hera tightens her hold over the debris hands before calling out "What's the matter? Don't have anything to say now!? Come on, why not tell me what's wrong? I can handle it!" Beginning to focus her telekinesis onto the plasma pistol, Hera suddenly pulls away to avoid a jet of flame. Turning to the left, a red & gold VESTA stands with right arm outstretched. The raised arm dropping to the side, Amanda's voice is suddenly broadcasted.

~"I'm terribly sorry for taking so long, Madeline had to be secured. Lucus, don't be too afraid about harming her. The intensity of her power will help her to survive, so all we need to do is restrain her. If she admits defeat we can get her to understand, but the longer we play with her the more likely something will go horribly wrong. Now then, shall we work together?"~

The hologram of Stella blinking, she replies with a confused tone ~"Who's Alena? There's only the three of us so-"~ Stopping mid sentence to look over Alan, Stella lets loose an "Ah" before continuing rather casually ~"Okay then, just go check Alan's room. You should be able to find Alena in there. Honestly, she should of just explained things to her father than let it come to this."~ Alan looking up at the holographic head horrified, he lets loose a high pitched panicky voice.

"What"!? Wha- Why!? Alena can't go back yet! She hasn't met her mother yet! My god why!? You ran away from home!" The holographic Stella looking down at Alan, she responds rather dismissively ~"Sweetie, I never had a home, so I couldn't really run away. I'll laugh if you try insisting home is where your family is, since that'll be hypocritical and my only family is quite dead. Well, good luck you two, and I'll make sure Andrew takes in his VESTA soon."~ With that the hologram disappears, and Alan laughs nervously... Before his 'body' suddenly shifts, revealing it to have been a hologram.

The image now showing a five foot seven girl with long red hair and blue eyes dressed like a princess, 'she' pulls on one of her eye lids and sticks out her tongue mockingly before speaking with Alan's voice "Ha! As if I'll be dumb enough to stay down there when I let you guys in! Though I really wasn't expecting Stella to say that... Besides! I didn't kidnap Alena! She came here all on her own, to meet her mother! That's really all she wants, and she'll... 'gladly' leave once she does. So back off or else!"

Subtly bringing her legs closer together and making an impossibly brief faint look of disappointment, Ashley gently pushes her glasses up. Emotionlessly examining Seth with her eyes, she softly chuckles before politely replying "Hijacking your Armor and expecting you to track it would be very uncouth, though I'm certain some of our pilots would of found that hilarious. I'll make sure to inform you on who to avoid later. For now you need simply follow me."

With her words spoken, Ashley flicks back a bit of her hair and exits, casually looking up at the silver equine-themed Wunderwaffen crouched out of the way. Calmly strolling up to it, her body is pulled up to the cockpit's hatch. Sliding in with no effort, Ashley fits into her chair comfortably, letting it partially envelop her body. Opening a line with Seth, Ashley asks rather plainly "Do you know how to install M.O.L.L.Y into a robot body? I'm simply mildly curious if you considered the idea, it is rather popular ever since Vocaloids."

Free feel to describe what you see arriving at the Seventeenth Social District, though looters/criminals/people hiding out or exploring would certainly be found

edited 24th Jul '15 1:04:28 PM by Kkutwar

Ars Headquarters

This changes things.

Kristen kept her Colt up as it turned out Alan was actually a holographic decoy... of someone else. Or maybe the entire thing was a hologram. She lowered the handgun upon that realization - a Colt cold stop a physical being, but it wouldn't stop a hologram unless you shot the emitter.

And bullets were expensive.

Kristen raised an eyebrow as it turned out Alena came here to meet her mother. Clearly there was some bullshit family dynamics going on - either that, or someone was lying their pants off.

"Estranged relationship? Sure, I'll buy that for now." She turned her head towards Irelia. "Irelia, report that to the higher-ups. See if they're lying or not."

CACHE Elysium Main, Armor Hanger

Watching, as the fleshy seals of the Faerie Knight's cockpit closed around it, a'Lincoln was soon dropped into complete darkness. Slowly shifting about, feeling its own muscles flex and constrict, its pilot slowly settled in. Within a few seconds, the contents of the cockpit swiftly filled with fluid, engulfing a'Lincoln.

Closing its eyes, the bionoid let itself relax as the bio-nanites started slipping through its outer layers of flesh and integrating themselves with it nervous system. The lines between pilot and mecha steadily blurring, the Faerie Knight shifted about in its dock, looking almost as if it was letting out a sigh. Leaning its head back, a'Lincoln let the last level of integration take place, as it felt a slight pinching sensation at the base of its skull. In the next moment, the Faerie Knight's senses became a'Lincoln's.

Less than a minute after climbing into the unit, the Tento willed the communication organ into activity "Re-integration complete. Stable."

a'Lincoln opened its "eyes" only to be met with a full 360-degree view of its surroundings, as its own visual inputs were replaced by the bio-mech's own. Slowly flexing its hands, relishing in the underlying strength, its pilot soon focused upon the holding dock. Giving its attention back to its mission, a'Lincoln reopened communications "Awaiting external armaments. Testing communications. Fey Hearts, Ops. Are communications coming in clearly?"

Stepping clear of its dock, a'Lincoln reached the mechs limbs forward, taking on the specially-designed external weapons harness onto its form. Locking the harness into place, the bionoid took a moment to check over the small collection of weapons it was now equipped with. Three of the disruptors spears were retracted into compact forms and held across its back, while a pair of high-frequency Seelie combat knives rested at the units side. Simple weaponry, but weapons that a'Lincoln was confident that it could use until it could receive more instruction on firearms.

Waiting on its squadmates to report in, the bionoid let its mind intermingle with its mech, letting itself feel the poking and prodding work that had been done to it, since it last been aboard.

edited 24th Jul '15 1:46:24 PM by dungeonguy88

Once he reached it, Kit ascended the grating around Lunar Symphony and removed his shirt, throwing it onto the railings as the hatch opened. He then slipped on his pilot suit, which just covered the part of his body that wasn't cybernetic to protect it. He entered his armour, the machine closing behind him as he descended deep into it. Although the mecha had a very well-protected cockpit, one consequence of this was that it took a while to get into it. Once he reached it his legs split into 8 and locked into place, while his back cybernetics shifted, armour plates moving backwards to allow mechanical plugs to emerge, which inserted themselves into the wall behind him. Great quantities of information swept through his mind as the mech booted up and he connected to its workings. A blue light appeared on his heads-up display as he started seeing through the sensor rig, his AI assistant loading.

Hey Kit. You ready?

"You know I am, Alice. Literally, you're right in here with me."

Lunar Symphony loaded up with its various weapons, its dual shields attached and its guns loaded, as well as several of the disruptor spears being added in. Once he was satisfied that the mech was ready, the mech stepped forward and initiated communications, hearing a'Lincoln as he did so.

"Hearing you loud and clear. Communications stable?"

Kit waited for Galen to patch in, readying himself for the upcoming mission as he did so.

edited 24th Jul '15 2:15:33 PM by TenebrousGaze

Galen removes his jacket, revealing that the shirt he's wearing is backless. Two oblong gray things are on his back, running from his shoulder blades to his mid back. He also changes his pants. It seems as though what he was already wearing was pretty much his pilot suit.

He climbs into the cockpit and unfurls his wings. There's a space behind him occupied by a harness-like apparatus which he fits them into. It seems that that controls the deployment of his mech's wings. He inserts a plug from the mech into his neck, synchronizing his movements with it. Ashen Phoenix shudders a bit as he does.

Aeon boots up.

You ready?

“...Yeah, I guess.”

He waits for the external armaments to be strapped in before responding to his squadmates.The familiar weighted sensation he got from it comforted him, though he wondered how he'd fare with the disruptor spears.

“I can hear you all.”

"All right, just making sure," said Seth. He closed the box his food was in and followed the Wunderwaffen out of the restaurant.

"To be honest," he said as he closed the door behind him, "I hadn't even thought about a robot body for M.O.L.L.Y. I'll have to look into it once this test is over with." In truth, if he created a physical body for M.O.L.L.Y., he would probably only use it so he had a backup copy of her...but this woman didn't need to know that.

Social District 17 was one of those places that was clearly designed with the intent of looking good at night, but not so much during the day. At night, the neon signs and colorful advertising billboards popped against the black and gray skyscrapers, drawing the eye away from their structural flaws. This, however, was the district at 2 in the afternoon, and the neon was off, so the broken windows and chipped concrete stood out just as much as the eyesores of marketing ten stories above and the elaborate graffiti below.

The safety of Seth's Wunderwaffen detached him from the scene, and as he followed Ashley, he noticed that the only people not giving off a vibe of desperation here were the ones who'd come here from bland upper-middle-class parts of Elysium. For them, this was mere tourism, a chance to gawk at the poor and downtrodden like this was some sort of socioeconomic zoo. One such idiot, dressed like he was fresh off of a golf course, walked right past a homeless man digging through a restaurant's dumpsters in search of any sustenance he might need. A block away, a short man in a cowboy hat was conducting a drug deal with two of his customers out in the open in front of a 7-Eleven. If those two guys met...Seth didn't even want to think about it. Tourists from suburbia were easy targets. If he hadn't grown up in the one of the world's ultimate tourist traps, he'd almost feel sorry for the idiot.

Does this remind you of home, Seth? said M.O.L.L.Y. She wasn't projecting her avatar anywhere on his HUD, but it didn't matter, since she always sounded like she was right behind him.

"Yeah," said Seth, "if Vegas was a complete wreck."

You say that like it isn't one already.

"Only parts of Vegas are like that, and none of them are this bad. Or this ugly-looking, for that matter."

So, when do you plan on talking to the person we've been following this whole time?

"Riiiiight, I never switched the link over. Can you handle that for me?"

As if I wasn't programmed for that... In one of the HUD's many side-panels, an icon appeared indicating that the connection had moved over to go through the mech directly.

"Thanks, Moll." He paused a moment and cleared his throat. "Check...check...Seth Stiles, Chariot of Fire speaking. Sorry about that, miss. I hadn't realized the comm link was still going through my cell phone."

edited 24th Jul '15 7:07:31 PM by NitrousThunder

Socual District 8, Ars Headquarters

Went to meet her mother... But without a word to her father. It was entirely viable and she would've bought that excuse herself. However, they couldn't know that for sure and the fact that they wouldn't meet them in person must mean it was more than that... probably... Or maybe pulling a gun on them was a rather rash move? They were first to threaten us... Honestly, if her excuse truly were the case, this could be resolved with dialogue.

With Kristen telling Irelia to contact Seed Esper, her hand went to her ear and she sent a message to Ryan - or whoever that was that contacted them.

"We'd like to know if any of this rings of the truth. Ars is saying that Alena ran off to meet her mother.''

Irelia then turned towards Kristen, "Jander..." she said half-heartedly. She didn't like people calling her by her first name. It would help neither of them to get close to one another. Kristen might not view it that way, but Irelia somewhat did.

"Good to see someone else here, it was getting lonely." Lucus broadcasts, releaved to the VESTA enter. Using the distraction to activate the Wunderwaffens high mobility thrusters normally designed for flight to escape the hands grips quickly. "Also understood, I wont hold back as much then." Lucus says with quite a bit of false confidence.

Agaris transmitting directly to Amanda's VESTA. "Our main pistol was damaged but otherwise everything is fine. We shall begin to use our high mobility thrusters to make it difficult for her to target us. If we time our strikes one after another it should tire her out and also make it difficult for her to avoid all the strikes." Echoed informatively.

Lucus retracted away the slightly damaged pistol and continued to use the main thrusters to simply accelerate at high speed towards Hera. Agaris' tracking any flying debris on Lucus display to aid either avoidance or targeting. Using the two hard-light barriers not only for defense but for ramming. In theory the goal is to go through any kind of rubble she tries to form in the way; then to either slam her towards the wall or to force her to dodge into Amanda's attacks.

edited 25th Jul '15 5:50:09 AM by darkdestinysoul

"Warning: Metatron Energy at 35%. I recommend switching to close combat. Or we could loose, all the way back here." Victor checked for an opening in the Eldritchian's danmaku-esque wall of steel shards. Seeing none, he opted to grab a large, structural plate from the scrapyard that he was fighting in. He could feel the plate tearing apart as he rushed into the wall, and he dodged left and up to compensate. "EGRETT, status check, how much damage did we take?"

The little emblem representing the AI pulsed, and replied, "Minimal structural damage, but the sigil on the right shoulder has been scratched." Victor rushed in and extended Blaze Champion's energy blade. Three quick slashes burned themselves into the steely shell of the Eldritchian, and it tired to retaliate with a series of large spikes. By then, Victor had already moved a dozen meters back. He had also transformed Blaze Champion into jet form, and started a strafing run. "That doesn't seem to be terribly effective." Victor sighed. "You're an AI, not an AGI. Why and how are you so sarcastic?"

Victor checked the metatron levels once more; they had recovered to 41%. Not much, but enough to skewer Impaling Steel, as they called it. "Activate the Harvester. Half extension, full strength." Victor adjusted his heading and flew at full boost right at Steel. Vic cringed a little when he heard the metallic pings on the Champion's armour. Then, just as suddenly, the pings stopped. Anyone on the outside would've seen bright green lance extending from the front of the jet as it ripped a respectable hole in Impaling Steel. Vic switched back to Mech form, and surveyed the carnage. "Yes indeed. EGRETT, how much Eldritchian material is covering us?"

"You seem to have forgotten that this is a simulation. That makes three times total. Regardless, you have shown a 12% Combat Efficiency increase."

"I think that will do for today. Exit training exercise, EGRETT," Vic said. He unlocked the double-sealed hatches, climbed out, and stretched. It was only a simulation, but hell if that soreness wasn't real.

edited 26th Jul '15 1:14:41 PM by OmegaShadowcry

Slam! Some of the people in the overview room turning to look at the white haired man, he brings a hand to his face before sighing into it. "We only need your daughter to test it, to prove the Life Siphon System is capable of infinitely powering a Seelie. We wouldn't of desired this if we believed she would be truly endangered. Tch, having trouble figuring out what the remaining Meteorite Technology does? Like there's an answer for everything in them... Who the hell do I think I am? Monster pretending to be a person... Makes me sick sometimes."

Patting down his outfit, the green eyed man checks to make sure his ponytail is still in place. Beginning to rub his brow, he stops upon noticing three Seelies have disengaged from their locks. Checking for their names, he proceeds to call them "This is Gerald Long, did Sasha specify which transport ship you should be using? If not, you better take the Caledfwlch, the piloting AGIs will take you to your destination. Best of luck with your mission, though do try to be quick about it."

Pulling away, Gerald looks out towards the Falchion, eyes narrowing as he watches his children interacting. Sighing one last time, he opens an application on his phone. Showing an image of his son with various statistics, Gerald's eyes fall onto 'Infection Activity: 12.7%'. Putting away the phone, Gerald goes back to rubbing his brow. "I hope this doesn't end up like last time."

Beneath the water, a scarred monster calmly glides about, devouring fish and mammals smaller than it in one bite. It keeps looking around, as if waiting for something to attack it. Its back rippling a little, like an arm ready to pop out but desperately trying to be still, it briefly surfaces for air. One wobbly tentacle mounted by its mouth twitching in the air, with the stumps of five others, a soft cry is loosed from its jaws. Those hearing the cry could almost call it melancholic, a wounded mighty beast wanting to be left alone. Felicity Luella however quickly shows disdain.

"Damn thing, that's what you get for attacking humanity! Tch, we should just kill it, there's no honor to that thing's existence. Sickening, pathetic coward! Running away from the very people it attacked, just how stupid is that thing!?" Standing at five foot eight, adorned in a tight black suit, the red haired woman clenches down on her teeth. Red scale-tipped tendrils covering the left side of her face like a bad rash, the grass beneath her feet begins to burn- Before dirt suddenly smothers the flames, with a brown haired girl slipping in front of Felicity.

The younger girl suddenly hugging Felicity, she blushes before the teen speaks gently & quietly "The only thing that matters is that the Eldritchian is stopped. There hasn't been any sapient causalities between then and now, so there's no reason to be so enraged. Besides, they don't even understand human concepts, so what's the matter? Are you worried what'll happen to you?" Felicity Luella sighing, she strokes the brown hair of the younger girl to calm herself. Breaking off the hug and looking out at the water, Felicity then turns to look towards Hatch 005 before speaking with her own melancholic voice.

"When I look at that thing, I just feel really shitty inside, because... I just can't help thinking 'what if I betray everyone', I just... You're a good pet Liliana." Now Liliana's turn to blush, the green eyed girl brings her hands to her face before straightening her spine and saluting at Felicity. "I-its no problem Miss Luella, I just think y-you shouldn't be so angry is all. So, um, how much longer until the Fey Hearts arrive to deal with Aurora Destroyer?"

Felicity briefly closing her eyes in thought, she replies in a much calmer voice "Well, they'll probably be taking the Caledfwlch to get here so... They'll probably be delayed a minute or so by the AGIs banter with each other. Seriously, sometimes I wonder if we're just in a cartoon, things can get pretty weird here don't you think Lily?" The younger girl nodding her head in agreement, Felicity scoffs and lightly shakes her head. "Though they should get here soon, I'm getting a troubling feeling with the increasing frequency of it coming up for air."

Visibly distraught by the improved mobility of Lucus' Wunderwaffen, Hera struggles to dodge all the attacks. With blasts of flame coming from the VESTA Amanda is piloting, Hera gradually grows more panicked the harder dodging becomes. Finally getting slammed into a wall, Hera stops focusing on staying afloat... And instead the room begins to shake some, cracks trying to open in the reinforced ceiling & floor. This provoking a look of surprise from Doctor Ingress and Melinda, Ryan's expression is instead something between horror & excitement. Then, Hera speaks with a strained voice.

"I... will not be killed! This place, I'll put everything I got into collapsing it! So go ahead, try me, I won't be-" Suddenly she screams clutching at her head, Melinda's right arm outstretched as she focuses intensely on Hera. Giving a look towards Amanda, the gynoid broadcasts to Lucus ~"Melinda is making Hera lose focus, but Hera will struggle against it. We don't want to blame you, but since you are the one that set her off can you try explaining to Hera now? Long as she's too terrified of being eliminated she'll never calm down, so will you please?"~

With Irelia's message sent, one in return is sent to both of them "~Sorry, Hera is freaking out, can't give in-depth response. Don't remember them saying anything about Alena's reason for leaving, just that her father wants her returned home. Though her father is single, so a missing mom is possible.~" The hologram, however, pulls at their hair annoyed before speaking loudly. "Why the hell would I lie about a missing mom!? Besides, you morons aren't even the first people he sent! Hell, his first idea was to forcibly kidnap Alena to bring her home! I refuse to let him win, so just give up you two! Even if Stella won't do anything, I still got my Armor. So, what're you going to do?"

Ashley just calmly took everything in, seamlessly moving around objects and making movement changes without stopping. Giving a single soft chuckle once Seth activated his link, she brings her Wunderwaffen to a stop and turns it to face a broken church before speaking false sweetly to him "Your objective will take place there. We have scouted the building regularly to see if Eldritch cultists or any distorted religious groups go for it, which unfortunately have happened. There's only two Armors in their possession, though rather shockingly they somehow came into possession of Eldritchian parts. Equipped with remnants from Immovable Wall and Skeletal Conqueror, we have deemed them Super-Class Armors. Your objective is thus to destroy these Armors, so go lure them out however you will. If things get too difficult for you, I will provide you aid, though hopefully you won't need it."

Today is a very busy and loud day, with the air filled with noise as the first official Infinity Engine gets installed. The twelve foot tall Schiedsrichter himself watching the work be done, he casts his gaze down to the giddy human Angelique Kristen. "Very unrefined, reserve excitement for when it is done. Cheer will not accelerate work, use energy productively." The heterochromatic black haired girl pouting and then sighing disappointedly, she replies much more emotionally.

"Come on boss man, don't be so alien. Its just so exciting, Krieger Kaiser getting such a cool upgrade! I am so honored you believe me and my sweetie Kaiser are good enough to get the first of the Unendlichkeit. Ooh, this really makes me want to give you guys something! What would you even like though? Don't think I can really top Papa Skye in getting your interest, though am I too fond of that route to be honest. Hoo boy, having-"

"Stop, secrets must remain as such. Human trolling is also annoying, do not employ it with me." Angelique making a mischievous smile, the knightly unicorn man continues "Though yes, be honored. Few humans met our standards to be first. Azazel though was considered, figured diverting power to him would be useful. Where is he Angelique?" The young woman crossing her arms behind her head, she closes her eyes in thought before replying sweetly: "No idea!"

The Arbiter unamused, he calls out commandingly "The one known as Azazel is to receive an objective from I the Arbiter directly, so allow him to come to me now. I would like him to start this objective sooner than later, so make haste."

Just a short way from Victor's pod are two individuals, a black clad nineteen year old man with only half his face shown being the most annoyed. The tabby eared and tailed woman, scratching behind her right ear & purring is the stranger looking individual however. Her eyes suddenly opening to show green once Victor climbed out, she smiled a toothy grin and started waving at him almost as if wanting his attention... Then the black-clad Hispanic(?) young man spoke.

"Hey, the bosses want us to check in on The Flesh Weaver. Freaky guy's been cooking up a bone durability Mod from my blood, yet since there's been attacks on him lately they wanted to send a trio of freaks to go collect. So! How are ya with fighting degenerative Fey? There could be Aegis users as well, so..." The brown haired kitty girl hissing at Gabriel Jones, she clears her throat before briefly covering her face in embarrassment. Holding her hands close to her face like they were paws, she calls out in an almost musical tone.

"I'm Kate Miller, telekinetic 2nd Gen Esper! I'm mostly coming along cause I thought it would be nice to meet The Flesh Weaver, though learning a bit more about creators would be handy for my acting. Though, um..." Rubbing her hands together nervously, Gabriel speaks up rather dismissively "She pilots the Sonic Nekomata, girl apparently has a real cat obsession going on. Kind of wondering if she would have kittens instead of babies..." Black material bubbling to cover his exposed face as Kate tries to claw him, she settles for telekinetically pushing him before covering her face in embarrassment.

Pulling her hands away and shaking them, Kate starts lightly hopping in place before stopping bringing her hands together. Letting loose a breath, she speaks sweetly "He's just a weirdo, don't mind him! So, are you ready to go? Seed Esper would like to acquire the Gene Mod from our good friend as soon as possible, though we can probably dilly-dally for a bit."

Ars Headquarters

Kristen took a few moments to think. Officially her mission was to return Alena home. But in the end, considering that no details had been given - especially considering the CACHE Russia base commander was single - she didn't feel like she was doing a job. She felt like she was intruding on family matters she didn't belong in.

There was a quiet flick as she turned the safety of her handgun on, before holstering it..

"Alright. I'm trusting that after her visit she'll return home willingly. Jander, weapons away, we're done here."

Listening to Amandas words, Lucus with a sigh of agreement desyncronises himself from Agaris; returning to his natural senses and the control panels of the Armor lighting up around himself again.

"Lucus your idea is dangerous, please reconsider." Agaris says knowing the final thoughts of Lucus before the desync.

"Hey I trust if anything happens you can get me back safe." Lucus says with a trusting but sad tone to just Agaris; live speaker off at the time. Then Lucus unbuckles himself and opens the hatch climbing up balancing on top of the ladder. His body and face clearly visible to Hera.

"Hey Hera can you hear me?" Lucus calls out in a loud but cheerful voice; far more confidence in his voice than before with both his facade and the adrenaline running. "What are you yelling about? I never said there was anything wrong with you, that is not what I meant. Sorrow is not for only broken or doomed things, it was of understanding. All I meant was it seemed like you have had enough of training, but they wanted you to continue because I was observing today. So can we please not have talks of collapsing things please? I mean this spot is really high up and i'm kinda nervous up here..." Lucus says with some mild humor and a smile; still balancing precariously on the ladder.

Agaris was keeping a lock on anything that could be launched towards Lucus, herself kind of afraid for his safety. She prepared to try and block with the hard-light shield or to catch him if something was to happen.

edited 26th Jul '15 6:36:19 PM by darkdestinysoul

Victor chuckled a little, in his oddly vampiric way. "I'm Victor Auron, the mildly amnesiac, vampire-esque transhuman. I'll come along with you, sure. I've got more a bit strength than my body would suggest. Also, knives. I have a ton of throwing knives."

He brushed aside his cloak to reveal one of his several pouches packed full of thin, matte black, kunai. "Hopefully, we won't actually need these. Still it never hurts to be prepared. I pilot the Blaze Champion-00, by the way. Nice to meet you, Kate." He gestured to the black-clad man. "And you would be...? Why do I feel like I should already know your name? Ah yes, you must be Gabriel. I've some very interesting things about your capabilities."

edited 26th Jul '15 6:56:02 PM by OmegaShadowcry

Social District 8, Ars Headquarters

Jander raised an eyebrow at the hologram. Why wouldn't she lie? If her purpose was to get away from her father, it was as good a reason as any. With Kristen backing off and herself a bit doubtful, there was nothing more they can do.

She flahed a skeptical look at the hologram before returning the disc to her back and closing the flap on her blades. I guess that's it. Thankfully, the voice hadn't reacted the whole time we were here. She took one deep breath before walking towards the door. Even if they did try to forcibly take Alena now, they had no armor... and no means to fight one. Leaving with the mission a failure of sorts, they were going to get some kind of penalty from that Alexei person, for sure. She sighed in resignation.

edited 26th Jul '15 7:53:57 PM by DemKimochis

[[centered: Alpha 9-6, housing district]]

Azazel looked at the small boy who stood in front of him, waving his hand overly excitedly. He stepped forwards slightly, unsure of whether or not he should really be here. "Ummm, hey buddy." The small kid seemed rather familiar, but he couldn't remember from what. "Hey mister, I never did get to thank you for saving me." Azazel had to look again, then he could see a small resemblence.

The boy had grown about three inches and his hair had changed from red to blonde. Though his basic square chin and large cheek bones made him almost unforgettable, he never expected to see him again, nor did he, of all people, think he would forget the face of the boy.

"It's my job. Don't thank me for what I get paid for."

"I thought we were going to meet your old master!" Aincrad's small blue hologram was perched on Azazel's shoulder, he flew around in front of the face. "We don't need to be side-tracked, we need to go and meet him dimwit."

"I know, but it'd be rude to ignore him."

Aincrad attempts to slap him in the face, but, being a hologram at the moment, can do no such things. "Fine, let's go." Azazel waved goodbye to the not so small kid.

[[centered: Alpha 9-6. Scotty Mc Krieger's home.]]

Azazel tapped lightly on the door, "Sensei, are you in there?" The return was faint, "Do enter." Azazel stepped through the door spotting Scotty lying in bed, a rather old man, weak from the age. "Hello sensei..."