Did you know this section has a character limit?
Q - Common Hallway to Bond's Room
The poor man couldn't help it: a look of shock overcame his features. He quickly wrestled the look away, but it had been there, plain as they. The doors to the elevator trundled open, and Q stepped inside, ushering Homura in.
"You assume correctly. When Bond told me about a new ally who needed some equipment, I didn't expect you to be... How old are you?"
The industrial elevator trundled down for a few seconds, before reaching it's destination. The doors opened onto a brick and concrete room
◊, with various alcoves lining the walls. Some stopped dead a few meters in, others stretched off and branched out further into the complex. All around, white-coated scientists and engineers bustled to and fro, working at various benches and workstations. Some were working on things that were obviously weaponry, others on things that were surprisingly mundane. At least one scientist was fitting electronics into an umbrella.
Two groups of engineers were working on cars: one set having pulled the bodywork off a sleek sportscar, revealing inner weaponry that was in the process of being reloaded. Another group was working on what appeared to be a classic roadster (if she knew her cars, it was obviously an Aston Martin DB 5), actively trying to put it back together after some form of destruction.
"It doesn't matter. Bond said you needed equipment?"
Common Area - MI6 Section X
Homura followed Q into the elevator, glancing around for a moment while he asked her age. She purposefully kept silent on the question until Q relented once the elevator doors opened. Homura's eyes darted around the workspace as Q led her - though she wasn't much for cars, Homura wondered silently to herself just what kind of work Bond had going for him and admitting some thankfulness that she ended up coming across him first, especially with them apparently working on an umbrella over there. The fact that one of the cars was totaled suggested to her that he'd already been involved in some previous incident - quite evident that he did have other projects.
Her attention went back to Q. "Yes. What can you spare in terms of arms? Our 'benefactor' is hinting at something big happening tomorrow." Her tone underlined the fact that she had little time, especially now, for pleasantries or light conversation - quite unfitting for someone who looked her age.
edited 30th Apr '16 12:36:13 PM by megarockman
Did you know this section has a character limit?
Q - Universal Exports Room
Q merely glanced at her, and gave some orders to one of lab-coated engineers. He was honestly taken aback at the girl's straightforwardness. She was here for weapons as well, not anything else he could supply. He could very easily see why Bond had made an ally of her.
Where the hell had Bond found this girl?
Before long, several engineers came out and placed several items along a long table. Q made his way to the other side of it.
"We'll start off with the conventional stuff, shall we?" He said, picking up a small gun
◊. "Standard issue Walther PPK pistol with suppressor. Eight round magazine and uses .32 ACP rounds. Good stopping power at close range." He put that down, and moved onto a larger gun
◊. "Heckler and Koch UMP sub machine gun, using .45 ACP rounds. Thirty round magazine." Once again, he put the gun down, and picked up another.
◊ "Steyr AUG A3 assault rifle. Thirty round magazine, using 5.56mm NATO ammunition. Reliable for a bullpup, though I wouldn't recommend firing it left-handed." His hands once again left the gun to pick up the final obvious weapon
◊ on the table. "Dragunov SVU semi-automatic sniper rifle. Ten round magazine, using 7.62 Russian rounds. Russian manufacture, but quite good nonetheless."
Q moved slightly further along the table, to a pair of boxes that hadn't been there when he started. Throughout his presentation, several of his engineers had been laying out more equipment onto the table, though they seemed to have stopped.
"Finally," he said, opening the boxes. "Fragmentation grenades and flashbangs."
He quickly moved on from the boxes, and now stood behind a collection of... well, there was no real word for a collection like this. There was a polaroid camera
, a perfume bottle
, a a set of keyrings
◊, and a large radio.
◊
"Now, for the more specialized equipment. The perfume bottle is a short-ranged flamethrower. Aim it at your enemy and spray it in their direction. Has a range of about two meters. That," he pointed at the cylindrical keyring, "is a set of skeleton keys. Capable of opening ninety percent of the world's mechanical locks, including car ignitions. The black triangle is a keyring finder, whistle and it makes a noise to help you find your keys."
Q looked up and smiled at Homura.
"Of course, if you whistle ''Rule, Britannia", it emits around thirty seconds worth of tear gas. And if you wolf whistle, it explodes with the force of a grenade. It's also magnetic, so you can attach it to whatever you wish."
"If you hold the radio up on your right shoulder, and push down on the bottom speaker in front of you, it will become a single-use rocket launcher. Fire it with the red button. I call it the 'ghetto blaster'."
He picked up the camera, and snapped a picture of Homura, the flash not going off. The polaroid that began printing from it was peculiar, though: instead of an image of her, it instead showed an image of her skeleton.
"The camera is an x-ray imager when taken with the flash off. Take a picture with the flash on, and it will also fire a high-power laser beam from the camera flash."
He put the camera back on the table, before leaning on it and smiling at the young girl.
"So, what would you like to take?"
huzzaaaaaaaah
Underground
"Sir, I'm thinking she thinks we're not a threat!" Peepers hissed to Lord Hater, who was too busy looking around him. "Sir? Sir! Are you even paying attention to the question at hand? How are we supposed to rule over this land if the person we meet doesn't respect us?!"
"Peepers, don't be ridiculous. The reason she thinks we're stupid is because she's stupid!" Hater exclaimed as he ran his hands around Peeper's face (who just sighed). "We're soldiers fighting cavemen! We have guns, and they have puzzles! And I think my first decree as ruler of this land will be to ban all puzzles!" HA HA! Everyone will be forced into eternal servitude! HATE'S GREAT, BEST VILLAIN!"
Peepers just sighed again, following Toriel without saying a word as Hater did a sick air guitar riff whilst following the two.
edited 30th Apr '16 3:42:02 PM by Stratofarius
Q Branch - Battleword Satellite Office
One at a time Q presented the weapons they were willing to offer, and one at a time Homura looked over each piece. Thanks to her Time Shield, inventory management would simply be a matter of whether or not she had it - no need to worry about whether she had room to carry it. She had to suppress a little bit of relief from her face when Q took lid off the box of grenades and flashbangs - she had expended her stocks fighting Walpurgisnacht's familiars and though she had yet to encounter any Witches, bullets alone usually wasn't enough to do the job. Given the size of them, though, she may still have to burn some midnight oil making more powerful pipe bombs.
When they got to the gadgets Homura couldn't help but scrunch her face slightly in confusion at the seemingly ordinary equipment until Q explained their surreptitious (and not-so-surreptitious) uses. At first she didn't think she would touch them, but giving it a second thought once Q asked what she wanted she had to admit that they could still be of use. The perfume could plausibly be kept on her in her normal clothes (or even given to Madoka), though she would have to be careful not to actually use it. Homura looked rather nonplussed at Q's attempt at a joke, but the keyring would be useful if indeed it could unlock as many doors as Q said it could - with The Cure messing with her normal powers she could no longer take her time in Time Stop to fiddle with locks and swiping firearms as she normally did; Time Acceleration did nothing to enable her to stand in someone's line of sight as much as she wanted and not be seen. The booby-trapped finder could be useful as well, though a wolf-whistle...
Homura's eyes turned back to Q in an instant when he mentioned the boom-box was actually a rocket launcher. It didn't look as powerful as an RPG-7, but if that's the best she can get her hands on right now she really couldn't turn it down, silly as disguising it in a boom-box was (though even she let a twitch of a smirk come out for a moment at the "ghetto blaster" crack). The Polaroid camera would probably have to a pass - lasers might be useful but that model was so out of date it would stand out too much.
Homura looked back at Q. "A few questions, if you don't mind. First, regarding the guns - how much ammunition can you spare for them?" The more the better.
"Second, is there any actual perfume in that bottle?" Homura needed to figure out how likely it was that one of the other girls might actually try to use it on themselves.
"Third, is it...easy to change the whistle code on that?" She motioned to the keyring finder, with a face that suggested she wasn't really looking forward to wolf-whistling. It wasn't a deal-breaker for the thing if it couldn't (she'll use those codes if there wasn't time to change), it was just...she'd rather whistle something less embarrassing for her.
"Fourth: do you happen to have any machine guns as well as ammunition for them on hand? M249 or Type 89's if possible, but any would be fine." Chances probably weren't great given machine guns aren't exactly subtle, but she figured it was worth asking.
Homura glanced around the area. "One more thing - is there a room where I can have some privacy? Carrying the weapons back will require me to...change clothes." She intentionally left her wording vague to suggest something embarrassing (which it was, really), but on top of that she wanted to hide her true powers as much as possible, even from newfound allies - the nature of her magic, moreso than the other Magical Girls, meant that her effectiveness plummets the most if her opponents knew what they were.
edited 30th Apr '16 7:06:43 PM by megarockman
Calamity is a housewife
Mami's Apartment
"Hmm...sorry to say, but I haven't met other chunkless groups aside from Minako. I did meet this old guy, Breen I think. I wasn't sure if he had a place to him. Seemed really nervous, but a nice person."
Indeed, Sin had not interacted much with other folk in the Common Room, not since Sol sent him to accompany Ramlethal.
"If anyone else is willing to be allies with us though, I'll be sure to ask for their help if your city ever gets in trouble. You can count on that."
"Shake the dust." - Anis Mojgani
One Brunch Man
Common Room
Celty’s stump nodded, and she held up her phone again. By the time we come back, I’m sure he’ll have one heck of a trophy to show off.
After beckoning Shooter to follow her, Celty made for the portal, idly typing a message to her new friend describing what lay beyond. But her hand froze in mid-air as Vergil stepped out, moving past the ladies toward the Chunkless hallway. Celty was frozen with shock and indecision, the man’s wardrobe and sword sending up flags. Isn’t he the one who…? Celty’s gaze followed the man until he fell out of sight, and even after that, she stared after the spot he’d exited.
Making up her invisible mind, Celty resumed typing. Sorry, random question. The dullahan typed out, turning back to Elphelt. But have you ever seen that man before? Is he from one of the chunkless groups? He looks a lot like someone Celty paused, searching for the appropriate phrase. someone that I’ve been warned about.
HGT Stigma Bar
Shinra listened to the spiel with impartial scientific interest, nodding at key points in the story. If he was shocked at the appearance of the new arrivals, he didn’t show it, as he seemed to be wrapped up in something else entirely. “Technically, it would be Homo meliusculus. Technically technically, it would be homo sapiens meliusculus, since homo sapiens sapiens is the proper name for our offshoot of…” He continued, lapsing into something of an etymological lecture.
There was a loud snort in the corner as Hibachi’s head whipped up, followed by a yawn and a knuckling of the corner of his eye. “Amber!" He said, as if coming to some great realization. "Yeah, that was the name.” He finished rubbing his eye and squinted at the child from across the room, lapsing into a Terminator-vision esque catalog of Amber’s features and attire as he tried to form a coherent picture. After a depressingly long moment, Hibachi scooched over next to Maki, and leaned over in a whisper conspiratorily. “Just FYI, little guy, ‘m not sure how any of those tips are gonna translate over if you’re romancin’ another dude. I kinda wish you’d just got that out of the way earlier, woulda been less awkward.” He broke out in a smile and clapped Maki on the back, and then gestured at the disguised young girl. “So, you gonna introduce me? I need to see what my main man’s workin’ with, you see.”
The antics of the other humans dissolved into background noise as Shizuo failed to hide his surprise at the newest arrival. “But… you’re just a…” He braced himself against the table and bent his head to consider the tabletop. “Yeah… mercy.” He remembered his dream, and visibly sagged. He didn’t want to hurt these people. He didn’t want to hurt anyone. He was just… tired. “Look, I don’t know how I came off in that shitshow back there, but I’m nobody’s white knight. The only reason things got so bad in the first place is because…”
The truth of the situation reared up on Shizuo like a cobra, pushing him into his default reaction. His fingers tensed, and the already-existing cracks in the table grew more prominent. “I’m not where I am today because I’m a nice guy. I do this work because I’m a danger to everyone around me, and there’s nothing I can do about it!” He said, escalating into a yell. The chatter of the other humans tapered off into a dead whisper, staring at the berserker with wide eyes even as the blond-haired man jabbed a finger in Amber’s direction. “The fact is, if there is some miracle Disnyland for freaks like me, I don’t belong there anymore than I do anywhere else. I am where I am because that’s what I deserve. And frankly, all you people saying I’m wrong are pissing me off!”
He got to standing, pushing the table in front of him forward a few feet—a table that was, on inspection, not meant to move. His rage simmered to a slow boil, as controlled as it ever got. “So thanks, but no thanks. I’d rather hurt punks for a personal hell, than kill anyone for some kind of heaven.” His eyes flicked to the side as he considered the exception that proved the rule, the ultimate serpent in paradise. He shook his head. “You don’t want me. And you can’t have me. So if it’s all the same to you, I’m going to take my humans and go.”
Shizuo stared the miniature messiah down, not yet making a move for the door, as if daring her to contradict him—not without a small measure of hope that, in fact, she could.
HGT Stigma Roof
Tom was struck into silence for a good minute as Huang moved toward the door, though whether left speechless at his mention of the Ikebukuro rendezvous or merely contemplating the man’s impromptu comparison was hard to say. Just before Huang crossed the threshold, Tom threw out: “Is it so wrong to not want anyone to die?” Tom said, getting to his own feet. “Or so naïve to think that it’s possible?” He looked down over the edge. “So impossible to think that maybe, just maybe, we are all on the same team?”
Ikebukuro/Youkai Mountain Border
The group stared at Lee, slack-jawed, for a long, drawn-out moment—interrupted only when Horada stamped his foot dramatically. “I knew it!” He yelled. Seemingly ignorant to Lee’s grip on his shoulders, Horada turned and pointed at two of his cronies, followed by a seemingly arbitrary direction. “You two! Find the guy from the couple from earlier, and kick his ass!” He pointed to another few guys. “And you! Obviously our test isn’t working, so it’s up to you numbskulls to make a better one! Hop to it!” Finally, he turned to the beleaguered exchange student hanging off of him and buffered the man’s shoulder grip with his own, even as he broke out into a self-important grin. “And you, I want to hear every detail of everything you saw. Especially about the alien demons.” He swung an arm around Lee’s shoulders, and began ferrying him into the city as the Scarves closed ranks behind him and deliberated amongst themselves, primed to come up with a test that wasn’t quite so… arbitrary.
Ikebukuro/Mitakihara Border
“Replace wisecrack with threaten, and I might say the same to you.” Izaya murmured in kind without missing a beat, before walking past the departing half-demon to face Minako head-on. He spread his arms wide as if in adulation, but his expression carried a subtle hardness. “Allow me to be the first to congratulate you, on getting everything you wanted. You’ll be the only one, considering the lack of justice, or his head on a platter.” He whimsically paced around Minako before stopping at her side. “I’d have thought you better at reading a crowd, with all the connections you’re making.”
Even as the sun set on the horizon behind him, Mikado felt a horizon blossom in his breast. He wasn’t… ecstatic that Minako had healed Vergil’s injuries and let him go, but he trusted her enough by this point to take on faith there was more than met the eye. The important thing was that they proved that beating Vergil was possible, and that they had footage of it that they could display to the entire city.
Footage that Misaki was interested in, apparently. “C-coming!” He said, breaking out of his reverie. He made sure the footage was saved and closed the computer, tucking it under his arm for later use. He threw his legs over the side, dangled them for a minute, and then hit the ground with minimal shock. He turned to Misaki with a smile, a far cry from the paranoid pressure he’d shown coming out of the portal. He glanced at the woman who’d driven them there, who had her hand behind her back for some reason, then back at the policewoman. “The footage is incredible! Crystal-clear too, I think you’ll be impressed. Do you want to see the whole thing or—”
What Misaki could see, that Mikado couldn’t, was Namie’s expression light up like a pile of dried leaves—first in fishbowl shock, then hardboiled anger. Her teeth clenched and her eyes went wild, and she stepped forward. “How can it be,” She said, with the gun reared back in a bid to slam the butt into the side of Mikado’s face, “that you don’t remember me?!”
The boy was just slightly close enough for Misaki to tackle, and even closer if she decided to use her hands—though that ran the risk of revealing her trump card.
edited 30th Apr '16 11:55:06 PM by Uncandescent
If I had that kind of power, I'd have dropped a meteor on your house ages ago~
Calamity is a housewife
Common Room
Elphelt had been following Celty with a smile on her face, a look that certainly betrayed how much she was looking forward to her new escapades with her new dullahan friend. She almost didn't notice Vergil, until Celty asked her about him using her phone. She still had to get used to that, as it took her another second to see the typed out message.
"Hm? No, I don't know him...or what group he's from."
As Celty paused to type out her new message, the Valentine took a closer look at the man in the blue coat.
("Hmm...he's got a pretty slick fashion sense. And that cool, aloof air about him...the strong and silent type, huh?")
Her evaluation was cut short as she caught sight of the rest of Celty's message.
"You were warned about him?"
At this, her words were reduced to a whisper.
"Is he dangerous? What'd he do?"
"Shake the dust." - Anis Mojgani
One Brunch Man
Common Room
Celty recalled the Dollars bulletin as she typed out her response, trying to get the news across with a might set more finesse than the steamroller that message had become. If it is him—and I don’t want to jump to conclusions here—he’s killed anywhere from one to a dozen police officers in cold blood, while trying to protect the portal to their chunk. Celty reached up to scratch the skin on the side of her neck in a show of awkwardness. The language in the warning was pretty out-there, and for most people, it was there first time hearing about all this she spread her arms up to gesture to the room at large so it was a little hard to swallow. I was one of them, so I didn’t put any stock in it at the time. But it’s pretty hard to deny a resemblance that uncanny. Here, let me pull it up.
Celty closed the window meant for text messaging and flicked over to the internet, pulling her phone back to dive into the relevant Dollars thread. Right, here it is. She typed into the Post bar. Celty pressed her shoulder against Elphelt’s so they could both read the screen, quickly scrolling past all the doom-and-gloom toward the relevant description. While the language was a little verbose and a lot morbid about the chunk’s chances of survival, the details of the ‘cross-eyed katana jockey’ certainly seemed to match up.
Am I imagining things? Celty typed out once more, in questioning. What do you think?
If I had that kind of power, I'd have dropped a meteor on your house ages ago~
Annoyed Mode: ON
Haqua - The Worst Part of her Job
The voice echoed in her mind out of nowhere, and while she was incredibly reluctant to comply, she knew she had no choice. She had to go there and face him. The portal opened in front of her, and she let out a sigh before stepping through.
"Let's just get this over with..."
Common Room
The Common Room was bustling with activity, just like it'd been the previous times. However, there was something definitely different about it from before. Truth was she had actually seen it before, but she hadn't really paid attention to it back then, with her mind being focused on other things at that moment and all.There was a tournament going on. A fighting tournament.
She thoroughly decided to ignore it, as well as Nora, who was waving at her from the stands in the arena where the third place match was occurring.. There was no time for her to worry about that, for she had to talk to the Cure. She found him currently busy with someone else; a blonde woman with braided hair. Not wanting to be disrespectful, she stood back and awaited her turn, while she secretly hoped nothing wrong was going on in New Hell.
Somewhere near the Ikebukuro border, New Hell
There was a loud crash, and a thick cloud of dust rose from the forest. After a few moments, a trio of voices started echoing through the night; two of them were angry and cursing constantly, while the remaining one apologized loudly.
Rimyuel - Departure Time
"Nice to meet you," the small girl replied to sypha with a nod. "Yes, I'm from New Hell... speaking of which, I should get going. Other devils may get concerned if I'm gone for too long."
With that said, she stood up from her chair and started walking towards the door. However, she stopped halfway through, when something she was walking by caught her attention. She turned her head towards it, and examined the object with curiosity, before looking back at Dante.
"Mind if I borrow one of these?" she asked, pointing at a cardboard box that was lying on the floor. "I need it for a project I'm working on."
Did you know this section has a character limit?
Q - Universal Exports Room
"There isn't perfume in the bottle, and yes the whistle can be customized."
He pulled out a small screwdriver, and began opening up the whistle-finder. One of the engineers looked to him when Homura mentioned the M249, and Q nodded back, sending the woman off to get it. Several more engineers returned to table, depositing boxes that were opened to reveal over two dozen magazines for each weapon.
"There's a bathroom down that hall. It should be clearly marked.'
CR - UE
A bathroom would have to do. "Keep the camera - I'll take the rest." Homura immediately looked around for a handcart to start stacking everything on the table save for the declined camera and the keyring finder Q had begun working on, intending to cart everything she wanted to take with her to the bathroom. She stopped for a moment when she saw Q open it up with a screwdriver and pulled out her cell phone, bringing up her stored music playlist and attaching a pair of earbuds. "If you could, change the gas to track 10 and the explosion to track 8." Q would find Tracks 10
and 8 to be a... marked departure from what Bond would favor.
Not yet trusting anyone there enough to leave her cell phone with all her contact information of her friends on there, she would continue working on finding and stacking a handcart while she kept an eye on Q's progress.
Mami's Apartment
"Thanks, Sin-san." Madoka gave a little smile before she finished off the rest of her peach drink. She looked outside the window, letting worry start to creep into her face. "I hope the others get back soon."
edited 1st May '16 2:10:46 PM by megarockman
Eternal Princess
The crew looked down like children being lectured to by their mothers as Malika told the concubine to stop fooling around. Getting caught goofing off on the job. Lovikov was still busy screwing with the TV, switching the channel back to the battle of tyrants.
"See! This is fight! Not snow, fight! Why does robot not grab wrestler by balls, advantage since robot has none..."
When Malika mention getting back to work, Lovikov just stared at her, no idea what she was talking about. It took him a moment to remember he wasn't here to get drunk and watch tv with beautiful women.
"Da, da. Come cowards! We go! Where is angel with batwings? She must show us to master bed room. I am curious to find out if Dracula is boxer or brief man."
The crew followed their boss reluctantly, looking back at the warm haven of concubines before trudging on into the dark castle where everything wants to eat them.
As the two giants continued their fight outside the city gates, young men moving like ninjas followed to keep eyes on the action. The helicopter even came to life in order get the aerial footage. Meanwhile the scrawny nerd remained where he was, directing the others and watching through the safety of his labtop on the ground. He watched with rapt attention, only blinking when the big scary robot disappeared into the red light. He stood mesmerized, staring at the screen for a bit before suddenly standing up.
"That was so bad ass! It's like, and then, did you see the part where the hammer hit the face!? And there was that Bow! and screw you, I ain't bowing! And that sequel hook! I don't know how they are going to top this fight, going to have to do the next one on the moon or something! You know with the whole big guys beating up on each other, kinda reminds me of Ultraman in a way. Just alot more violent and metal."
He looked around, seeing if anyone else was as pumped up watching that as he was, and remembered here he was. In the middle of a wasteland city, surrounded by monster men and killer body builders. Shit, back in his school days, he had a tendency to get the shit kicked out of him when ever he geeked out like that. Man, he really hopes these guys just beat the crap out of him. He calmed himself down and cleared his throat, trying to look nonchalant but coming off looking nervous instead.
"Ahem, I mean, you know, that was cool..."
"Oh, then how ever shall we get there? I adhere to your judgement."
Margaret made a bow and gestured to the door, motioning for the countess to lead the way. She wondered how they would proceed. Take flight on wings once more? A pleasant thought. It was a wonderful time. They could take to the roofs, leaping from buidling to building with grace. If done in the moonlight, the sight would have to be divine and mysterious. Witnesses catching only glimpses, spreading word of mouth of the things that move in the night.
Dr. Naomi watched the two leave then turned to the clock. Shit, it was already that time. Too late to get sun. If she left now, maybe she could still go to a restaurant and...what was the point. She sunk in her chair and let out a sigh.
"Fuck..."
She got up and but the kettle on, opening a package of instant ramen to go with it. Looks like the lab won another day. As the water boiled she went to a mirror to fix her appearance. Maybe it was petty, but looking good did make her feel good about herself. She may die alone working in some dank lab, but at least she will leave a pretty corpse right? Fuck, that was depressing her. Screw it, just concentrate on the work, just like she always does. She grabbed her dinner and sat down at her computer, blowing on the hot noodles as she began working on through the back log.
How do you kill that which has no life?
The next room was long enough to have a couple of small rivers running through it, and bridges for each of them. Toriel headed over the first, flipping a switch on the wall with several yellow arrows pointing to it, and tried to ignore Lord Hater's raving. She sighed and glanced down at Peepers. "I'm sure you two are having a lot of fun playing pretend, but surely there are better things to play as than warlike conquerers." She flipped a second clearly marked switch, and there was a great clunking sound, as a set of spikes barring the exit retracted into the ground.
The three passed through a small room with nothing but a wooden dummy, and then on through another long corridor. Toriel had just disappeared around a corner near the end, when all of a sudden...!
A large white frog monster, about the size of Peepers, hopped out in front and blocked the path. It bobbed its head back and forth, staring complacently at the newcomers.
Did you know this section has a character limit?
Q - Universal Exports
Homura would easily find a hancart nearby. By the time she was nearly finished stacking the equipment, the female engineer had returned with an M249 and a box of ammunition for it.
As for the phone, Q handed it back nearly as soon as he received it. With the whistle finder opened up and plugged into the laptop at his desk, all he had to do was log onto the Q Branch server, dig out the old "song to whistle" program from the archive folders, run wave files of Time Warp and Hit Me Baby through the program, and then set them as the new triggers.
He had to admit the girl had eclectic taste in music. Classic musicals and nineties pop was a strange combination.
"Are you sure you don't want the camera? Polaroids have come back in fashion with hipsters, I'm sure you could pretend to be one."
Universal Exports
Homura dismissed the offer with a short wave of her hand. "We'll see if I'll have time to play pretend later," she replied before she took her phone back and started to push cart the whole freakin' pile - slowly - towards the bathroom, tapping quietly into her magic reserves for extra strength if necessary. Assuming nothing stopped her, she'd maneuver the whole cart into the women's bathroom before locking the door and checking it out for any obvious cameras.
Assuming she had her privacy (either by verifying there were no cameras or standing in a blind spot if there was one as best she could), she would go do what she wanted to keep so secret. With a hand out, she summoned a somewhat-subdued-but-still-elegant outfit, complete with a small circular metal device unfolding on her left forearm - her Time Shield. And one by one she would take each weapon, along with their associated ammunition, and place them inside her shield, each item disappearing like they were being placed into another dimension...which in effect they were. It would take several minutes to get every last item off the cart and into her own little hyperspace arsenal, though she kept her eyes peeled around for any indication these guys were trying to sneak a peek.
Stigma Bar: Battleworld's #1 Motivational Speaker Strikes Again!
"Amber's a girl!" Maki spat back to Hibachi. The boy tried to hide his blushing face behind a snarl.
Amber, however, wasn't offended. If anything, she perked up when Hibachi called her etiquette student his "main man."
"Maki, did you make a friend? I'm so proud of you!"
The boy couldn't snarl at Amber, so he just covered his head with the hood of his sweatshirt and pretended his face wasn't burning.
"Amber. This is Hibachi. Hibachi. This is Amber." Robotic as usual, though Amber didn't seem to mind much.
While Amber made pleasantries with a pickpocket, Shizuo vandalized the lounge table. Amagiri was the first to rise, but Amber shot a hand at him just as the big man shot a hand at Shizuo. Slowly, Amagiri obeyed his leader and dropped the threat, allowing the bartender to speak his mind.
Amber stared at Shizuo the entire time, quiet and empathetic as a confidant. She only raised her voice once the bartender prepared to leave.
"And where will you go?" Despite being rhetorical, the words held compassion. Like they were used to comfort a suffering friend. "Whatever world you're from, it's gone now; replaced with this cluster of nations called Battleworld. Even if you have somewhere to call home, it's not like you can go back to your normal life. Nothing will ever be the same; nothing can ever be the same."
Amber slid off the couch's back to face Shizuo on her feet. "But that's not a bad thing. It's a chance to redefine yourself: who you are, where you belong, what you believe in. 'What you deserve,' as you call it. There's a whole new world to explore, one that knows nothing of your past: why waste this chance to start over?"
She paused for a moment, then turned to Kurt. "Mind showing us your hands, Kurt? Or your real skin?"
If he complied, Amber would wait as the Contractors and humans stared at Kurt's shocking mutations. The Contractors tried hiding their reactions, of course. But Amber saw the shifting feet, heard the stunted breaths, felt the rock in their stomachs. Their response was as natural as it was predictable; empathy towards the disfigured often backfires, as the impulsive fear of harm brands deformity as a disease. "Stay away from that," the brain says, "or you'll catch it." It's a faulty impulse in modern times, but it helped to prove Amber's point.
"Homo Superior come in all shapes and sizes. Some, like King Magnus, are just like us—they possess incredible abilities, but aren't physically different from normal humans. Others, like Kurt and his mother, have inherited visible mutations, which made them prime targets for human witch hunts. But despite the stigma against their appearances, Kurt's family and thousands like it were able to redefine themselves in Genosha. They weren't "deformed" or "misshapen," they were "whole" and "unique." They tore themselves away from their old ways of life to embrace a new one. A better one: one they shaped with their own hands."
"It's unlikely you were the first person to call yourself 'a danger to everyone around you.'" The shrine maiden noted. "Others said it, and you heard it so many times from so many people you started believing it yourself; a sort of societal hypnosis.
"Our kind suffered the same self-infliction. 'We are Contractors: cold, rational beings. We have no dreams, we have no guilt, we have no souls. All we care about is living another day, no matter what it takes.' That was all determined by humans, of course. We never decided that's what we deserved."
Amber smiled at the shrine maiden, who gently bowed her head in turn. "I don't know who you are," the pint-sized leader continued, "I don't even know your name, but—"
"Shizuo."
Every member of The Evening Primrose turned to the young woman with white hair. Like Wei, many of them seemed confused at what commanded the Doll to speak. Others like Amber and the shrine maiden, were happily intrigued.
"Do you know Shizuo, Yin?" Amber smiled.
"He found me." the Doll replied. "He saved me from three women."
"Were those women harassing you?" asked the shrine maiden.
Yin nodded.
"For being different?"
Another nod.
"Mercy and chivalry?" Amber mused with a twist back to Shizuo. "Sounds to me like you're not as bad as you think."
edited 1st May '16 11:01:19 PM by TheodoreHastings
Calamity is a housewife
Mami's Apartment
Sin followed her gaze out that window.
"Yeah...hope there aren't any more of those crazy giant robots out there..."
The Common Room
Elphelt's mouth hung open, silent as Celty described Vergil's deeds. As she read the post, she could feel the fear Ikebukuro's citizens must have felt when they read this for the first time. It was true, these people were being invaded, by Vergil, by Elphelt herself. The thought of not being trusted put her on guard, but she decided she'd settle that matter later.
"No, I don't think you are Celty. He could be...yeah. I mean, he's just got this dangerously aloof aura about him...I'd easily believe he really was that frighteningly skilled."
El kept her whispering low, but unsure where to direct her voice (due to Celty's lack of ears, Elphelt briefly wondered how she heard and saw things like that).
"But let's not jump to conclusions, anything is possible in a situation like this. We should keep an eye on him, but we shouldn't be in a hurry to chase him down, lest we start up some unnecessary trouble."
"Shake the dust." - Anis Mojgani
Problem Child
Bumblebee tried his best to suppress an unnerved shudder when Ramlethal leapt right in front of him, and when she raised her hand, he knew she had caught onto his attempt to hide. He'd been well and truly rumbled, as if he wasn't already in enough trouble with Optimus Prime. Maybe if he was lucky, this organic wouldn't call the cops. Not that there was much option to stay quiet any longer.
Bumblebee was always awful at staying quiet.
"O-okay, fine, you got me red-servoed. Just promise not to melt me down, please!"
Optimus returned the salute, relieved to see yet more friendly Autobot faces. Though he had never heard of a unit called the Combatibots before, he saw no reason to doubt their claim.
"Well met, Captain Onslaught. I am Optimus Prime, and I have been selected by Iacon to represent our capital in these deathmatches. Though, between you and me, winning these combats and the prizes we've been promised should come secondary to encountering new potential allies."
He looked over to the arena, where Aegis had already taken position.
"Speaking of which, you will have to excuse me. Let's hope I do Iacon proud. Or at the very least make a powerful new friend."
Well that had been a disaster. Not to say that Optimus hadn't given his opponent a run for her money, but the fact remained that Aegis's willingness to strike the fatal blows had given her a solid advantage over the Autobot. Still, there was still an opportunity here. She seemed somewhat hesitant to strike the last attack, and that gave Optimus hope. Hope that she and her cohort might be willing to strike an alliance with Iacon.
To her question, he answered, "Because killing you wasn't my intention. I didn't come here to become the ultimate deathmatch champion. Even if the death isn't permanent, I'm not willing to harm potential friends. Battleworld is dangerous, and the one thing that will guarantee the Cure's victory is hatred between the chunks."
"Sir?" remarked Blaster, finding faint amusement in the term. "There's no sirs between us, Summerfields. Nothing drags outta perfectly good set o' communications more than stuffy honorifics, na'ameen? Now, how'sabout we see about getting all your gear integrated into our systems?"
Cliffjumper paused, considering April's offer. Whatever was going on, it involved the organics at war, something he'd only ever read about in the sparse Autobot records pertaining to non-mechanical civilisations. And the Council had tasked him to be April's escort - what better way to protect her and gather some useful information than joining her.
"Alright, April, you've got yourself a deal. Consider me your official Iacon observer in this conflict. I'll get you where you need to go in short order, you can count on me."
And with that, he was in vehicle form, his door open and seats beckoning.
What if there’s no better word than just not saying anything?
Iacon - Metroplex Communications Centre
"Alright, Chief," Marygold answered with a smile. "In that case, you can just call me Mary. And Primrose here usually end up as just Pri when things get busy."
The middle sister gave a nod and a grin in confirmation.
"Okay, gals, enough introductions, you heard the guy, let's get to setting up. Pri, consoles, Lily, cables."
As the two younger girls got to work, Marygold started to explain the setup.
"So what we got ourselves here is what passes for near cuttin' edge radio communications and navigation technology back home. Keeps us in touch with our girls both in the air and back home, and acts as a navigational beacon if they're in a pinch. Compared to the stuff you got here, it's basically a can with wires, but it gets the job done, and it's dashed reliable. We got coverage of basically half the continent from 'ere, and quality should be alright to boot."
"Of course, as promised, we're not bringing any strategic stuff. No detection, IFFs, mappers, landing aid, stuff like that. I bet you got everything you need on that front anyways. This here's pure comms, which we can easily operate on our lonesome if we can't integrate it into your systems."
Sanya hanged back as the Summerfield siblings started getting stuff up and running. There had been no communcations from the Commander's team since leaving for DK Island. Of course, that meant no distress signals either, which was good. She hoped they were okay.
Join us in our quest to play all RPG video games! Moving on to disc 2 of Grandia!
Iacon (Several Hours Ago): A Quick Recap
April buckled July inside before hopping into the driver seat. She held the cell phone in one and and the steering wheel in the other, as if the cosmetic mechanics would somehow drive Cliffjumper to Tokyo faster.
"I'm afraid there's no time to get the Council's assistance." April sighed as she pushed a button on her phone.
"You're on speaker, sir."
"And who am I speaking to, exactly?" the phone replied in a tinned English voice.
"Just myself, July, and our Autobot escort, Cliffjumper."
"I see. Well, Mr...Jumper, the details I'm about to disclose are strictly confidential. Relay them to your superiors only with the utmost discretion; Iacon's reputation may very well depend on it.
"At approximately 1140 hours, a Genosha citizen was recovered on Tokyo's side of the border. The man was apparently traumatized, malnourished, and desperate to escape his homeland as quickly as possible. He was brought into the MPD's custody, where he debriefed the police on Genoshan society. Apparently, the self-entitled 'King Magnus' is a tyrant with supernatural abilities. He and his supernatural elites reign over Genosha on the backs of human slaves, and now that their capital has been cut off from its traditional supply of labor, Magnus has set eyes on Genosha's neighbors to fill the gap."
"Such as Tokyo?" April tightened her grip on the wheel.
"Precisely. In fact, Magnus may already have the upper hand; Astronomics has diverted its resources into scouting the Genoshan wall, and a network of tunnels has been discovered underneath the city streets, stretching far into Genosha's territory. What's worse, it appears that these tunnels have been completely abandoned."
April pressed harder on the accelerator. "So either the Genoshans postponed their invasion..."
"...or they already walk among us. Unfortunately, the latter seems almost certain: only minutes after speaking with the Public Security Bureau's Director, that refugee I mentioned was assassinated. Frozen solid in a block of ice."
She tried shifting to a higher gear. "Any leads?"
"Perhaps. Considering they share a common enemy, it's possible that the terrorist group you and November have been tracking will attempt to contact the Magnus regime, perhaps even flee the city for Genosha. Should they join forces, Magnus will have a bounty of intel on Tokyo's figureheads, population, and infrastructure. Genosha will know everything it needs to mount the perfect invasion."
"February never was one to overlook the details." April chuckled, even as she frowned. "Or to stay loyal to one side."
"Whatever she's up to, February's forces have been unusually active in the past few hours. We have reason to believe they have a means to transport themselves to Genosha instantaneously, possibly through teleportation. They have begun gathering in Tomigaya, in an office building a few blocks east of the train station. SWAT teams are preparing to assemble as we speak, and I want you, July, and Mr. Jumper to support them."
"Understood. Permission to use lethal force?"
"Denied. February and her 'Evening Primrose' are our only potential leads on Genosha's plans. They're of no use to Tokyo dead, and they most certainly know that. Should you apprehend any of the targets, protect them at all costs—their associates will most likely attempt to assassinate them to prevent an information leak. Am I understood?"
April stopped grinding her teeth for a moment to answer. "Perfectly, sir. Over and out."
The Contractor flattened the accelerator on the floor, even though it did nothing to make Cliffjumper go faster. "You leave home for one drink and everything turns to shit..."
Stigma Bar (Present Time): Uninvited Guests
As Amber and the others waited for Shizuo's response, Dmitri spotted an uncomfortable amount of SWAT helmets hiding behind bits of cover. The front door's glass peephole let him see much of the street and the office buildings opposite him, but it didn't let him see what was down the street, on in the neighboring alleyway, or immediately next to the damn door! But he guessed that if a half dozen troops were dumb enough to squat behind a trash can, a newspaper dispenser, and a nearby fast-food sign, it probably meant all the good cover was taken by someone else.
And there was a lot of good cover around here.
Dmitri cursed under his breath. If he went to alert the others, the strike team could break in and wipe them out before they left the bar. There wasn't a chance in hell they'd survive in such close quarters. He had to start this outside, while they had the element of surprise.
Dmitri took a deep breath as his fingers quietly removed the locks. He clutched the air in his lungs like it was the last breath he'd ever take. Because in all honesty, who knew it wouldn't be?
The door cracked open and Dmitri threw the basketball by his hip out into the street. As he desperately fumbled the locks back into place, he activated his ability: a massive hard vacuum that would absorb and obliterate anything in its blast range. By the time he sealed the last bolt, the unusual bomb's timer hit zero.
...except it wasn't what he expected. The surprisingly loud "BANG!" made Dmitri jump away from the door; his power never made noise before! He made out the words "smoke bomb!" over the sound of approaching boots.
"The hell?!—" It was all Dmitri could say before the door blasted inwards, locks and all. Thrown on his back with a searing pain in his ribs, the last thing he saw through the fog was an armored officer shoving a heavy bag over his head.
Inside the bar, all eyes turned to the bar's entrance.
"Our time's up." Amber turned to Kurt. "It's too dangerous to warp here—follow us outside, and stay out of sight."
"Get to the kitchen!" Amagiri roared and the Contractors obeyed. Out of his open eye, Amagiri caught glimpse of a little blue orb on a whiskey bottle. He shot a blast of air at it and shattered half the self, but at least the Specter vanished.
Brita was the first to reach the kitchen's far end. Without any hesitation, she whipped open one of four industrial refrigerators and held the heavy door open. There was no food inside; there was another empty room, with another door on the other side.
"Go!" Brita ordered. Most of the EPR continued towards the exit, but Amber, Luca, Maki, and Wei lagged behind. In a rapid fire effort that proving she was no stranger to battle, Amber gave her orders.
"Wei: take the truck and get the Dolls out of here. Bring them as close to the Genoshan wall as you can without being spotted. We'll come to collect them soon.
"Maki: trap ten things in this room,, then start counting. By the time you reach twenty, there should be at least some troops in this kitchen. Just make sure you're out of the exit by then.
"Luca: you're our rearguard. Keep them off our tails, and watch out for flash bangs. There's a narrow hallway up ahead—use it to pick them off.
"Now go!"
edited 2nd May '16 1:38:23 PM by TheodoreHastings
Toto Bunny - Shopping
Seraphina definately noticed how Havoc had avoided the question but she was also distracted so she let it go for now. But a man that can resist her gaze? She wouldn't believe Havoc's supposition had she not witnessed the power of this Cure guy first hand interfering with Christo and Red Magnus. That she did not like at all, but at least if her powers to charm fail she knows that it isn't her but The Cure blocking her powers. Not so unlike those demons from the Carnage Dimension. She said in response to this "That may be but I will just have to use my natural charm then! True Brionac Gaze isn't the only asset I have."
Usalia exclaimed, "Usalia wishes she were older so that she could have a sexy body too!" She imagined it would be fun to be in Sera's position. She might be a nice girl but she was still a demon and loved the power to manipulate others.
These land-less people were an interesting tidbit. Seraphina said, "Well, if they have no place to call home than it should be easier to recruit their services. But you still haven't told us who you are and what land you serve. You know, I will be checking these facts. There should be a few ninja around here I can hire to verify everything. No offense but we can't completely trust you yet."
While Havoc looked at the guns and Seraphina continued to gain information, Usalia walked up to the guy at the counter. He said, "Ah yes, Lady Usalia. The last shipment of Mana Potions did arrive before this whole mess." Usalia nodded, that was exactly why she approached in the first place. "Good, please hold them until my guards come to pick them up. We may need them now that our supply is going to be limited. I also want any medical supplies you have in stock." He replied, "Okay no problem, here is the bill." He handed her a quickly printed list of items and the price tag with them. No small amount of change, their stock was quite large, but she would have to afford it given the circumstances. "They will be by shortly." Usalia hopped off of her Prinny and handed him the list. He nodded and rolled off to inform the guards of the request and to retrieve some Prinnies to help carry everything.
Hades - Chilling
Killia nodded and smiled. Things were going well so far in Battleworld. Hopefully the others near Toto Bunny would be as inviting as Valvatorez to an alliance. "We should head back to Toto Bunny and let the others know. Thank you for your hospitality. I'll bring back Usalia sometime soon so that you can meet the leader of Toto Bunny. She may want to arrange for new batches of Prinnies to be delivered." Standard procedure in the Netherworlds was for Hades to supply the others with Prinnies. While Usalia's world did not keep a steady supply line of Prinnies with Hades normally, it was likely Toto Bunny would face challenges ahead and Prinnies would need to replace the other Prinnies that fall.
Zeroken signed. "Is it time to leave so soon? I wanted to check out Hades a bit more." He was more interested in taking a look around this future world and seeing what kind of martial arts they used based on his teachings. It might give him some insight for how to change them.
Red Magnus nodded. "Yes, we should see what Lil' Usa wants to do now. Red Magnus will leave it up to her to decide what we should focus on." Red Magnus was still a little disheartened from what he was told earlier. He wasn't sure at all what to do but helping Usalia would cheer him up.
Did you know this section has a character limit?
Q Branch Bathroom
Homura would find absolutely no cameras in the bathroom. Not because they were well-hidden, but because they didn't exist.
Ironically, it seemed MI 6 valued it's personnel's privacy.
Once Homura was finished, and returned to the main room of the complex, Q would be waiting with the refurbished keyring finder.
One Brunch Man
Common Room
Celty used her fingers to spin the phone in her palm, clearly caught between the cold (well, colder than normal) pit in her gut and the logic in Elphelt’s words. Finally, she gripped the phone tight and typed out a short message. You’re probably right. There’s nothing we can do in here, anyway. She typed, though the steady stream of shadowy fog emitting from her neck hole twisted and swirled to betray her discontent. She beckoned the artificial woman over to the portal as she resumed walking, typing out a response to hold out behind her as she walked through. It’s not pretty, but as long as we don’t hang around too long it should be fine. She disappeared through the swirling green threshold, and after a moment to verify that there wasn’t a pile of freshly-mutilated policemen waiting for them, stretched her arm back through the portal to beckon Elphelt through.
HGT Stigma
Hibachi gently knuckled the sides of Maki’s hoodied head, grinning. “Hey dawg, it’s the twenty-first century! I don’t care who your squeeze is. Love is deaf, or somethin’.” He looked up to the disguised rebel leader, about to explain to Amber that it wasn’t the first time he’d made best buds out of someone trying to kill him (and how it probably wouldn’t be the last) when Shizuo had his outburst.
Shizuo stared down Amagiri like they were competing bonobos, gripping the edge of the table and prepared to start Round 2 if he saw so much as a hint of blue. But his grip loosened as Amber’s reason won out, and Shizuo found his hands unballing despite himself as Kurt’s true nature was revealed. The bandages around his brow uncrinkled as his expression went slack, and he gently rested his hands on the table in front of him. He felt like an asshole, for even insinuating that anything about being a hair-trigger block of human cement made him a victim. He was the world’s problem, not the other way around. He let out a soft sigh, unconsciously reaching for cigarettes that were no longer there. No matter how many kind words these people had, however much they thought they could handle him, however much they talked about ‘societal hypnosis’—he knew the truth. He didn’t want their pity, or their solutions, or their acceptance. He just wanted to live as low-impact of a life as he possibly could.
As if to underline his point, the table in front of him finally gave from the strain, and collapsed down the middle as it cracked in two. Shizuo removed the sunglasses from his face as a small cloud of wood dust kicked up from the break, and he tossed them to the side before stepping over the fracture. He walked up to Amber, and then past her, before stopping. “It doesn't matter.” He said softly. “Thanks, but no—”
The bartender perked up and turned his head around as Yin chimed in, having honestly forgotten that the girl was there. He stared at her blankly as the memory flashed by, one of his countless explosions of anger that escaped off of him like a steam valve. Sure, he hadn’t hurt those girls, but he hadn’t wanted to. He was just—
The bartender jerked as though he’d been shot, Amber’s words flooding through a carefully-constructed levee he’d built up through the years. His bandages rustled and ripped as his face contorted, staring down at the ground in a fugue state of untethered expectations.
At that moment, there was a bang! and a crash! at the doorway, and the people around him scrambled to action. Hibachi leapt in his seat, instinctively making to pick Maki up by the armpits and hold him like a football as he booked it toward the exit.
For Shinra’s part, getting caught in the middle of a raid wasn’t exactly a new experience, but it wasn’t something that’d grown on him in any way, shape or form. Shinra ducked his head down and scurried out of his seat, crawling out from underneath the table he’d been sitting at and elbow-walking over to Shizuo to tug at his sleeve. “C’mon! This place is going to be swarming with cops or death squads or whatever!”
“No.” Shizuo said softly, coming out of his thoughts to look toward the door. “Head toward the exit with the others. I’m going to do something…” He reached up and ripped off the bandages covering the lower half of his face, revealing a dead-set expression of frightening calm and leaving the partially blood-red section of his forehead bandages to flap behind him like an old-school martial arts headband. “…merciful.”
Shinra brooked no argument, wishing him luck before scrambling to his feet and joining the flood of kitchen refugees.
Shizuo walked over to the broken table, hooked his foot under the nearest section, and with a subdued growl, contracted his Adonis-like leg muscles to kick the half-a-table into the entryway, making to wedge it in and impede the encroaching soldiers’ progress.
Whether or not he was successful, he would reach down with his non-cast arm and pick up the other half-a-table by one of the underside beams and hoist it up like an oversized shield. He would jerk his head toward Amagiri. “How much time do they need?” He flicked his eyes upstairs, as if waiting for Tom to come scrambling down. “And what’s the plan for getting out of here?”
HGT Stigma Rooftop
Tom drank in the other man’s silence, and prepared to make a follow-up comment, when suddenly a commotion broke out downstairs. The building shook, ever so slightly, but the loan shark found it was more than enough to collapse his balance.
His palm struck the concrete surface before finding purchase, and Tom cried out as his arms jerked taut under the force of his own body weight. He grit his teeth as he attempted to pull himself back up, his knuckles turning white as he managed to push his forearm onto the lip. “Ah! D-damn it!” The strangest things flashed through his head, as he stared up past the lip at the rose-red sky. He remembered the toast he’d had for breakfast that morning, vividly recalled the phone number of a woman he’d met in a bar three weeks ago, and realized that they were being attacked and he’d trapped one of their allies in the body of a frickin’ seagull.
“Damn it, get inside!” He yelled out, as he began valiantly attempting to pull himself up. His face burned with exertion as he began pulling himself up, his face rising above the lip in an inverse mockery of the sunset going on behind him.
edited 2nd May '16 5:30:13 PM by Uncandescent
If I had that kind of power, I'd have dropped a meteor on your house ages ago~
Common Room - Conference Rooms -> Chunkless Rooms
Homura nodded. "Thank you, Mr. Bond," was all she said before she left right after he did, making a more brisk walk towards the room in question. The speed meant that her and Q would reach the room at pretty much the same time: "Q, I assume?"