Ikebukuro Russia Sushi

Tom couldn't help but chuckle. "Port key, huh? Figures that you would be a fan... of..." Tom's smile burnt out like a candle flame as he figured out what April was doing on her phone, having seen exactly how much access she had to the Dollars boards just moments before. Then, he abruptly remembered the real reason he'd brought them here in the first place: beyond security and good sushi, it had phonelines that weren't inevitably bugged out the ying-yang.

"While you ponder that and other mysteries of the universe, I'm going to hit the can." He said, aiming for nonchalant but ending up pretty damn chalant nevertheless. He spilled out the glass of water into the storm drain, using the motion to mask him shutting off power to his phone in his pocket. Saying a mini-prayer for the perfectly good cigarette he was about to waste, he flicked that into the storm drain as well, before heading inside.

"And then," Dennis said mid-laugh, in the middle of telling some kind of story to Huang, "I look up at 'em and he says, 'You were right—throw em' back in!" Dennis would take a swig of beer he'd poured for himself, before letting out a grim chuckle and waving a knowing finger. "And that's why you don't let your bait live in your tacklebox, true story."

Simon was having a tougher time, having propped open a book on July's lap and encircling the diminutive doll with his large arms as he turned the page. "Here, we get sense for post-collapse yearning, the way you yearn for mommy when she is gone, da?" .

Tom broke up the ineffectual lesson plan (or maybe the kid was into it, it was hard to tell) by taking out and dropping his phone, smashing it against the ground. "Oops, oh my god, I'm such a klutz, oh hey Simon, can I use your phone for something?"

The oversized Russian blinked blankly at him, something strange pulsing through his features, before breaking out that oversized grin again. "Of course! The property of my friends is already his!"

"Yeah, uh, thanks." Tom quickly snatched the phone and made his way for the restroom, dialing a number as he went. Then, he paused at the threshold, remembering all of the things that Yin could do with water. Or was water just the catalyst? Is July near water right now? Better not chance it. He was only a little bit sure they were distinct entities in the first place, nevertheless what the differences in their powers were, he reflected with a shake of his head as he started up the stairs for the next level, pressing the phone to the side of his head.

Meanwhile, April would find the search slow going, as anyone who was both a member of the Yellow Scarves and the Dollars were predominantly the former, and made an effort to keep the portal off of the airwaves. She would find a few promising leads, but they were all locked behind password protected boards. All, except one: Portal to Heaven.

Predictably, it was porn.

Genosha Palace Bar

Shizuo sneezed into the arm of his hospital gown, before giving the combined cups another rough shake around the constraints of his casts, his fingers wriggling for purchase like little worms. "If there was an Olympics for growing back bones," He said, a look of concentration on his face as he swished the concoction around, "I'd probably medal." He said to Amagiri, on the other side of the counter. Shizuo had decided he'd had enough of sitting on his butt, and had asked Amagiri to come with him. "I could medal in everything else too, but who the hell cares?" Shizuo ceased shaking and uncoupled the cups, before pouring the concoction into a glass. "I haven't trained a day in my life. Who gives a shit, what some random guy from Ikebukuro can do. Give it to someone who's earned it." He would slide the drink over to Amagiri, before attempting to sit back down on a barstool behind the bar itself, the general background screaming of his injuries getting incrementally less tolerable as time went on. "It's been a while, and I don't drink, so I don't know how it'll taste. Your choice."

Just then, Shizuo's phone would go off from the stool next to Amagiri, from inside a bag filled with the the things he'd had in his pockets when Brita had teleported them. "Could you get that?" Shizuo asked, closing his eyes for a moment as he longed for something like a cigarette.

If I had that kind of power, I'd have dropped a meteor on your house ages ago~

Far below the Death Star, Battleworld was at war with the invaders, and all fought to knife or hatched plots to clear the skies. Lonely Kaon was like so many, its defenses tried and tested by the Empire. The Imperials had judged them a threat worth a Star Destroyer. It would prove sufficient to set the city alight. Though most of Kaon's capital grade defenses were offline, many Decepticons sold their lives dearly to repel ground-bound forces, and 30% of their available guns could reach the Destroyer. Starscream's Seekers and Air Warriors rent apart swarming TIE fighters of all their kinds, and were instrumental in disabling the capital ship's port bombardment cannons. Shockwave successfully returned the north island's walls and capital-grade guns to temporary power. Those were punching holes in the Star Destroyer's hull, and smoke billowed from the dying giant. However, the damage to the central spaces of Kaon and Kolkular had been done. Hundreds of Decepticons lay dead, and hundreds more were too wounded to fight on. Kolkular, while still functional, now missed most of its guns. Sections of the Mine had been filled with collapsed towers, and several prisoners were at large. A great warrior was trapped below, and would need digging out if he were to wake again. Kaon would need weeks to repair itself.

But its sensor systems yet functioned almost intact. While most of the system focused on the invaders still present in Kaonic skies, a portion had followed a Cybertronian ship for some time. Until the ship slowed and was drawn toward the hulking battlestation, no actions but one were taken. Calculations were made, coordinates set. A lord of war waited with eternal patience while fighting on the front lines. And then, they found him.

"My Lord, we have confirmation: Optimus Prime is deployed."

" Acknowledged. Alone?"

"One Autobot, my Lord, Subject Bulkhead. Heavy melee combatant. Do require an escort?"

"No. Keep watch on the ship, and send me to Prime's position. Put Thunderwing and Skywarp on standby. Send them to the ship at my word."

"My Lord. Commencing orbital jump in ten..."

---

Death Star Surface

Space crackled and warped some fifteen meters away from the dark grey hull. Red lightning snapped off the sundered turbolaser. Sensor noise would fill Autobot audioreceptors with a keening scream. Power surged through the dusty void, a column of hellish crimson light bounced from a point in the distant sky to ten meters above the hull, some twenty meters behidn the Autobots. It remained steady for a second, wavered, and then vanished.

In its place, a silver-grey giant floated, pocked with burn marks and covered in a layer of fine dust.◊ The Decepticon brand and filigree shown brightly on its chest. Its right arm bore a great black cannon, its red-rimmed barrel cooling slowly, on its left was glowing morningstar on a chain, ready to swing. Red optics burned down at the Autobots from out of an impassive face. They quickly drifted over the reluctant warriors before fixing on one. Its gun arm clenched a fist. The giant leaned forward, boots pointing down. It opened its mouth, dental plates gleaming white. The cannon pointed to Bulkhead. A voice spoke, a deep, growling, authoritative boom which held a deadly calm.

Optimus Prime. I have found you at last.

The cannon spat a bright bolt of purple light downrange at Bulkhead's torso. One millisecond later, thrusters in the giant's boots roared to life, and Megatron raced through the void, his flail raised high. The cannon then aimed at Optimus, and screamed again. As he cleared the distance, the flail would lash out...

edited 7th Dec '16 10:25:19 PM by Colonial1.1

Proud member of the IAA What's the point of being grown up if you can't act childish?

Damian Wayne-HGT Police Station: Ooh! Looky, a dead body!~ Damian glanced over at the allegedly disguised Ranma as she exited the car, mouth quirking into a half-amused, half-irritated grimace at that ridiculous wig and over-blown reaction. Still, it seemed to work on the rest well enough as whatever she was afraid of occurring failed to occur.

As soon as they were let out of the car, Damian immediately knew where to go. His concern wasn't for the smoking, headless woman, the few in medieval clothes or even the police officers who so foolishly tried to object or bar his way despite the fact that he'd proven he could rip through them if he chose. No, all of those things were incredibly typical to the current Boy Wonder.

On the other hand, a short lifetime's worth of training and conditioning meant that a dead, mangled body with blood and cerebrospinal fluid soaking through the tarp was in his mind more fun and interesting than any toy, video-game or fantastic journey through dimensions. Without waiting for permission he crouched down and lifted up the tarp, activated the scanners in his mask and went to work, tongue poking out from the corner of his mouth in concentration.

The subject died via a fall from the police HQ's rooftop, that was for certain. But the landing pattern suggested he'd been thrown, not that he'd fallen accidentally or jumped to take his own life. Furthermore there were extensive pre-fall injuries all across his body: Shattered ribs, a fractured jaw, extensive damage to the throat as if he was being strangled to death and both hands shattered as if under a sudden, precise impact as far as his own training and his forensic technology could re-create the injuries and their timing. With his throat and ribs both crushed, the man probably died before meat met street.

It was about as much as he deserved, though whoever tortured him had been wastefully inefficient in terms of information, considering the crushed throat. That meant that it had been very angry and very personal.

"He didn't fall, he was thrown. After he was already nearly dead from a severe beating and strangulation strong enough to leave his throat somewhat crushed. Whoever's up on that rooftop right now wanted this Imperial very painfully dead. " he dropped the tarp back nonchalantly and straightened up to look at Trevor.

"So, you're looking for me? I go by Robin and if you're here to punish me over a few scared policemen and some maimed soldiers you're going to have to work very hard for it. Otherwise, I happen to be the closest thing to anti-Imperial resistance in the area. You can ask Rosencrantz and Guildenstern over there for my credentials." He pointed at Kono with one hand, keeping the other close to his utility belt in case these newcomers wanted a fight.

Trevor, HGT Police Station

"Wow, you really are a—" Trevor cut himself off before he could finish and shook his head. "No, I'm not here to punish you... Instead, we will need all the able-bodied warriors we can get if we are to fight the Empire."

---

Grant, Carmilla, & Alucard, Shuttle #3

Soon enough, Grant and Susie were kicked out of the Shuttle by Alice... Grant seemed pissed off.

"Little Miss Multiarmed and Dangerous is insisting that she go alone!" Grant walked over to Alucard to complain, while Alucard continued to confront Carmilla, sword at her neck.

"Unfortunately, the Young Master insists we see his newly-revived mother," Carmilla looked over at Margaret and Susie. "However, it would take quite a while to return to Castlevania from here with all of us, so how about Margaret and Susie—"

"No, keep your spawn where I can see them," Alucard stated bluntly to Carmilla, before she smirked and wings exploded from her back, smacking the Alucard Sword out of his hand in the process. Alucard quickly grabbed Carmilla's neck as she took flight... which was what Carmilla intended to happen.

"Shit!" Grant panicked, grabbing the dropped Alucard Sword and then chasing after the two vampires who were now struggling against each other in mid-air, causing a very wonky flight path.

Unless Margaret and Susie decided to follow Grant, they would soon be left alone. In Carmilla's mind, she hated to see a very loyal pet like Susie go to Dr. Naomi's experiments, but there were always opportunities for more pets. Hopefully she will be able to find Margaret in Santa Destroy again once she's done with dealing with Alucard and the stupid human following him.

edited 9th Dec '16 1:49:50 PM by GameGuruGG

Wizard Needs Food Badly

Teen Titans—The institute—But we just arrived :( .

The arrival of the soldiers caught the Titans off guard. After they noticed how thewere aiming their guns they began to prepare for battle, Raven's eyes had already become white, Cyborg was beginning to aim his canon and Beast boy had just transformed into a wolf.

Robin took out his metal staff, spinning it at his side. " Titans G—" His battle cry was interrupted by the research director who ordered his men to stand down. "Try to find those civilians. I'll try to figure things out," he ordered the other titans. Robin was the first to walk towards the Nijishima and the others. The boy wonder then walked toward him with his hands wide open to show them he didn't mean any harm.

"Bro, did you see that?" Cyborg asked Beast Boy.

"Yeah, those soldiers have some ugly armors," Beast boy replied.

"No, I mean this place." Cyborg looked at the screen in his arm. "The radiation levels are insanely high."

Raven simply touched the column and then she spoke without showing any emotion . "This place has scars of war." Raven then began to caress the solid rock with her left hand. " This was probably some kind of university. Whatever happened here, we're too late to do anything."

Then when the man in the suit asked Robin his question, the boy wonder tried to be more diplomatic, "We might've started on the wrong foot. I'm Robin and we're the Teen Titans, superheroes." Robin offered his hand to him and then he pointed at the people Aigis had mentioned before. "We don't want to fight;we just came to rescue those civilians."

Meanwhile the boy that was staring at them would soon notice a green humming bird that tried to sneak past Nijishima. The bird tried to talk with him. " Hey what's up? What's your name? I'm Beast boy."

Raven turned around. She frowned at the flying green bird, using all her willpower to resist the urge to face palm.

edited 9th Dec '16 4:12:15 PM by FallenLegend

Make your hearth shine through the darkest night; let it transform hate into kindness, evil into justice, and loneliness into love.

The Institute Portal

The Institute Courser who was still on the surface turned his head away from Nishijima, momentarily placing his hand to his ear, before facing back to face him. As usual, he still carried a lull, monotone voice.

"I have been informed that we are in the final stages of neutralizing the opposition. Dr. Ayo is very pleased with the results PANDORA has made on the surface front. The Directorate is looking forward to having an audience with you and anyone else you wish to invite to the Institute. I will leave momentarily—"

The Institute Courser was interrupted by the sudden arrival of five youths clad in a variety of colorful outfits. He did not take his weapon from his thick armored coat, but instead looked at them with the usual level of disinterest. Witnessing Beast Boy change his shape and form into a considerably smaller bird didn't even make him flinch.

But as soon as Cyborg mentioned the heavy amount of radiation pollution in the area, the bald man singled him out. He kept the permanent frown that was common for Coursers to wear, but his eyes were lit with curiosity, studying every feature of the young man's armor plating and the blue-tinted cybernetics that decorated his head and limbs.

"@[=g3,8d]&fbb=-q]/hk%fg"

Ikebukuro General Hospital—2nd & 3rd Floor Stairwell

Kida let loose, with grit teeth and a dead spark in his eye, a torrent of high-velocity metal that would officially take him from ruffian to killer. There would be time enough to reflect on what that meant later; to him, to his boys, to Saki. It wasn't something he could deal with just that second.

Mostly, because he hadn't actually killed anyone yet.

Watching the single Storm Trooper go down, from a blow to the shoulder no less, left Kida staring in stunned disbelief, and the middle schooler almost got his head blasted off before throwing the fire hose door open and pressing flush against the hose enclave itself. Automatic fire is bullshit! He thought to himself as he fumbled with the next magazine, pulling it out of his pocket while the whine of laser fire filled the small space and the glass next to him pitted and spiderweb-cracked all too close to his head. Then, the door jolted and knocked against his hand, sending Kida's eyebrows up and the magazine clattering to the floor. Kida hastily dived forward the snatch the piece of metal in his hand, after which slammed the magazine in place, and toggled the switch to Semi. I think?

Rolling over onto his back, and bracing his elbow with his free hand, he fired an easy three-bullet burst at the hose's pump valve, the trigger a tad kinder to his probing grasp. A smirk braced his features as a flow of water surged out and spread down the stairs like a miniature waterfall, hopefully making it harder for the Troopers to climb up in all that armor. Kida then stretched his arms out in front of him as he rolled in a quarter-circle, emerging neatly into an amateurish prone position with his gun-gauntlet arm pointed at the lip of the stairwell. Kida steeled himself, and at the first Storm Trooper head he saw emerge over the edge, he would unleash another three-bullet burst at said Trooper's head/shoulders area. "Yeah! COME GET SOME!"

Ikebukuro Rooftops

"Fucker!" Horada yelled at Deadshot, regaining some of his lucidity if absolutely none of his composure, as he used one arm to nudge himself back toward something solid to lean on. The other, remained glued to the side of his head. "I get my ear shot off, and you're just going to leave me?!" Quickly realizing that someone who killed people for a living probably couldn't give less of a shit about his injury, Horada hastily reached into his pocket for his phone, brandishing the item before him like a safety baton. "L-look! We got new orders on the way up! We're not supposed to leave this rooftop, for any reason, got it?" The phone's screen was black, meaning there was no proof of this, and Horada quickly stuffed it back into his shirt before any more questions could be levied.

Ikebukuro General Hospital—Fifth Floor Bathroom

Nasujima was puking his guts out, bracing his hands against the toilet seat in-between bouts of full-body shivering.

He wasn't sure how he'd done it, but he'd managed to sneak his way onto the roof, syringe in hand. Escape was one drugged-up pilot away; all it would take was one prick from the syringe he'd pilfered, and some very insistent yelling about getting as far away from this hellhole as spaceman-ly possible. But just as he went to step out onto the roof gravel, smelling the outside air for the first time in what felt like weeks and thinking about how he was going to talk his way past the guards before him, they started shooting at someone off the roof. And then, their heads exploded!

Nasujima heaved again at the memory, but there was nothing but empty bile left. A string of drool hung unceremoniously from his lip as he shook his head gently from side-to-side. It was probably the worst, most terrifying thing he'd ever seen. After all, a few seconds later, it would have been him!

I did not come this far, suffer this many knife-wielding bitches, to die like I'm in some kind of sci-fi serial. Nasujima wiped the string of drool off with the back of his hand, then rose to his feet. One way or another, he needed a new way out of the building. It might have been a tad easier if that Saki girl was still around, but she had disappeared into the aether (that was the word he was going to feature in his lesson plan, he thought distantly) and there was no way he was going to spend any time risking his own neck to find her. It was hard enough to move around as it was, and with the explosion downstairs, and the chatter in the halls about a group of kids attacking—

Nasujima paused, his head jerking up in realization. If we're under attack by one of the color gangs, then at least a few of them would probably be in my class. "I know that boy; I taught him Social Studies last year." Nasujima said aloud. He waited to hear how it sounded in the crowded space of the stall, then smiled broadly. It didn't matter if it was true, just at long as it sounded believable to a group of armored occupying soldiers.

Tugging at the lapels of his pilfered polo, looking every bit the esteemed educator, Nasujima pushed open the stall door and beheld himself in the wall mirror. Now, I just need an appreciating audience, and I can get out of here. Then— he shivered in delight at the possibilities, the sky's the limit! The Awakusu will surely have better things to do than collect on my debts, and even if they don't, who cares? I'll just whisk away to one of these other new Japans they've been talking about on the news, where they surely have just as many beauties to choose from... I can't wait...~

Ikebukuro General Hospital—First Floor Ambulance Receiving

There was a one-second gap in his reaction to the blaster bolt over his head, where's Egor's expression was still and tranquil as a standing summer pond. Then, abruptly, his expression sagged and his countenance melted into self-debasing fear, as he hunched his massive shoulders down to cower before the armored guards. "T-there was no answer on the hailings, and I just thought—I'm an EMT, I can't not do my job."

He smiled thinly at the two men. "T-the only thing that'll happen if you throw me in a cell, is that this man will die. Isn't that a little... pointless?"

Passing it off as a nervous tick, the large man began loosening the ring on his thumb.

Ikebukuro General Hospital—Second Floor Psych Ward

"You're all here because you're sick." The downward stroke of a pen earned her a post-graduate student.

"And I am here to tell you, that the cure is love." A nick from a bonesaw got her one of the security guards.

"Not love for me, or for each other, or even for the world." She threw her glass down at the entrance, and the four or five (they were so hard to tell apart now...) patients rushing to escape stopped in their bloody tracks, a veil of red descending over their eyes.

Haruna looked up in smug gratitude as her empty hands were supplied by one of her faithful orderlies handing her a knife from over her shoulder. It was jagged, and mean, and would cut someone many times as she drug it through them. It's perfect. She thought with a light blush to her cheeks, before raising it high above the crowd. "But for Nasujima-sensei!"

"Nasujima-sensei." Her children crooned as one. Newly born, they were hardly brainiacs, but the people they were occupying were very, very smart. She could feel them now, memories bubbling just out of reach like a stray drop of sweat on her upper lip. If she could only just reach it, then they could tell her where—

All of Haruna's myriad thought process tapered off as her favorite orderly was summarily kicked in the face. Turning about in a swirl of unwashed bangs, Haruna suddenly found her neck in a chokehold, and something glinting in her peripheral vision. "Drop it." Intoned a voice, harsh and very unamused, directly into her ear.

Haruna let out a low growl, and most of the rest of the room growled with her. But when she dropped her serrated treasure to clatter on the ground, their claws sheathed, and a command filtered through their newborn senses.

Ikeda was left to watch with a growing knot in her stomach as the rest of the room followed suit, and more than a dozen razor-sharp implements dropped to the ground with a sound like rattling chains. She could feel the demon girl preening in her grasp, as if taking some kind of comfort from the macabre display. "You've seen what I can do. There's really no point to this part."

"Shut up." Ikeda said with a jerk at the girl's neck, and she clammed up right quick. Some of the other non-infected (How else am I supposed to think of them? she thought) rose from their hiding spots and made for the door, dashing madly for the exit.

Haruna watched their exit with annoyance. "You'll never get as far as them, you know." She said as the woman stepped back toward the door, taking the frail-by-comparison teenager with her. "My children are ready. They'll love you, even though you clearly don't deserve it."

"Your... your children? Christ..." One of said children on Ikeda's flank made a motion to lunge, and the glint in Ikeda's hand came to the fore as something pricked the side of Haruna's neck. "Not a step further! Any more, and I'll cut her!"

Haruna's eyes darkened, and lowered. "You'll... what?"

Ikeda tilted her head to the side toward Haruna, confusion entering the stream of adrenaline pounding in her ears as she stared down the offending Saika-ite. "What's that? You say something?"

"The only one who gets to cut me..." Haruna's hand balled, and felt five points digging into her palm.

"I swear, if you don't cut it out, I don't care if you—"

"IS NASUJIMA SENSEI!" Ikeda scarcely had time to react before feeling something plunge into the soft web of her thumb. Haruna's thumbnail, long from nearly a week's worth of growth and sprung out like a switchblade, compressed the skin, squeezed it, and finally, broke through.

Haruna's bare feet slapped onto the tile, and she made to clutch her throat and catch her breath as the woman behind her stood stock-still in a red haze, mouth falling slightly open from the shock.

"On your knees," Haruna commanded brusquely over her shoulder, and immediately Ikeda was looking up at her new mother, bleached red eyes meeting in the mist. Haruna turned to her, rubbing her throat, sizing up her newest scion as snippets of military knowledge began flooding into her brain. She is definitely the most dangerous person in this room, and probably the most useful. "Stand back up," She said at last, getting a sense for the woman's height, before nodding her head. As the rest of the room settled down, she took the time to tackle some trickling anxieties the room seemed to share. "Tell me what's going on." And after a moment, Haruna tugged at the hem of her hospital gown in disgust. "And get me something prettier."

edited 9th Dec '16 9:24:45 PM by Uncandescent

If I had that kind of power, I'd have dropped a meteor on your house ages ago~

HGT Police Station, Elphelt

"As Sir Trevor has said, we aren't with the Empire. And... yeah, I'd have a hard time imagining a military group dressing like we do."

The Valentine happened to glance in the direction of the Imperial officer's body, and noticeably winced, her skin getting a little paler. Enemy or not, he had gotten an undeservedly brutal end, and so she clutched her hands to her breast and closed her eyes, a wordless prayer in her thoughts.

"Shake the dust." - Anis Mojgani

Small Park

“Uh…” Kyoko actually looked a little dumbfounded at Sin’s question. “It’s...just...a kind of story? Like, in the future with really hi-tech stuff like lasers and spaceships and giant robots and aliens and stuff. I dunno, Sayaka might have a better idea about what exactly is in it.”

Mami looked back at Ramlethal and stared for what might have seemed like forever, until she hung her head with a chuckle and a facepalm. “That could work, yes. I wouldn’t have thought of that.” She let her hand slide back to her lap and returned her look to Ramlethal, the previous mirth melting away almost as soon as it came. “Though I’m not as sure as you that he would simply be so generous, it would still be worth looking into if...events like these are going to happen so frequently in the future. We would still have to deal with the issue of Witches, however.”

“What are you talking about looking into?” Homura had somehow already gotten most of the way from the alley she had exited towards the group at the park when she spoke up, overhearing that part of what Mami had said.

“Valentine-san just brought up an idea, Akemi-san, of asking The Cure for Grief Seeds.” To Mami at least, the rather similar look of surprise followed by a closing of her eyes accompanied by a sigh brought her a little bit of relief from embarrassment. At least she hadn't been the only one missing the obvious solution. “It may not work, but sometimes it's the simple solutions that work best, isn't it?”

“Sometimes.” In truth, Homura had to work to hide that the suggestion had caused her some measure of panic. It didn't seem like they knew about The Cure’s wish offer from yesterday that she had been sitting on all this time. Homura quickly changed the subject to something more pressing: “I will look into when I have a chance, but there is a more pressing issue. That space station is almost ready to fire its giant laser here.”

“Wh-what?!” Mami instinctively looked up at the Death Star. “When?”

“Probably sooner than we could find a way to go to space. The Cure has offered a portal to a shuttle heading for the station for for one person from each group fighting the Empire.”

“How do you know this?”

“I was told by him.” Homura looked back at Mami and the Soul Gem she had out. “...how bad is it, Tomoe-san?”

Mami followed Homura’s eyes to the Soul Gem as well. “I have been through worse, Akemi-san. Are you considering sending one of us to join the fight?”

“I don't think at this point we can afford to skip out.” Homura kept her normal even tone even as she herself felt the disappointment that this wasn't the end of it. “Even though most of us have already expended a lot of our magic.” She looked over Kyoko a few meters away for a moment before looking back.

Mami picked up on the modifier. “‘Most’. Does that mean…”

“Yes, I am considering contacting Sayaka Miki.” Homura this time did not hide the hint of distaste she had at the prospect. “Raw and simplistic as she is in fighting, she is still strong and should be close to full power if the Empire was contained to here.” Would that be enough, though? Homura needed to make a call soon, now that skipping out on the fight wasn't really on the table anymore.

Batman-Shuttle to the Death Star: "Time for my cunning plan!"

As still more arrivals were teleported onto the shuttle for their amusement of their seemingly omnipotent host, Batman took a break from keeping a careful eye on Jason in order to finish formulating the plan that he'd been drafting mentally in case their group was too big for the wizards to cloak or any other contingency came up where pure stealth wasn't a likely solution. It wasn't the most optimal approach, but it was likely the best one they could manage with such an eclectic and disorganized boarding party. At least the best one he might be able to get them all to agree to try.

"Everyone! We'll be attempting to board the enemy space station soon. I've given it a great deal of thought and our best chance to make it aboard without having to fight an almost certainly losing battle is to pose as a group of defectors brought in willingly by these soldiers" He gestured to the remaining members of Delta Squad "as the enemy believes them to be under their control. As long as everyone's willing to play along, we should be able to gain access to the Death Star under a decreased level of suspicion. We'll say that we've each fled our respective zones to join the empire with them as our escort and that our defection was rushed due to the advancing resistance. Understood?"

Red Hood grumbled under his breath about who exactly died and left Batman in charge AGAIN, but nodded his agreement anyways. Meanwhile the Caped Crusader turned to Boss.

"Do you think you can do it? If so, now might be a good time to contact the enemy and let them know we're coming.'"

—-

[[Damian Wayne-HGT Police Station: No really, it's alright! I know how great I am!]]

He'd never admit it, but these bizarre strangers admitting they needed his help and that his work against the Empire was appreciated was fairly gratifying to Damian. He smirked in a way that might almost have been a smile at one point if nine years of arrogance hadn't suffocated it.

"Well now that you've asked, I suppose I could become the leader of your little resistance band. It's only natural that you'd want to seek me out after all and that ship may prove useful as well. Very well, I accept your offer!" The masked boy would hold up a glove to shush any immediate reply

"Ah-ah-ah, I know my generosity in descending to your level is overwhelming but there's really no need to thank me! Now, where should we start for dismantling the Empire...." He seemed a bit too distracted to really notice that wasn't at all what Trevor had meant, if he even could comprehend that he wasn't intended to be the leader.

Most Everybody Else - The Bigger They Are, the More That They Bleed, Genosha Streets

In the world of Remnant, things can happen fast. That seemed to be a trait that our intrepid heroes were passing on to Battleworld.

Jaune's sword missed, but the trooper he targeted had fallen out of pure shock. He called that a win.

Ren reached the insides of the walker... but the lurch he felt immediately afterwards convinced him to jump out.

In any case, the three former Beacon student made a frantic dash out from under the AT-AT, only coming to a halt once they were clear of the metal Goliath's fall.

"Everyone okay?"

"Yup!" "Yes."

"...anyone see my sword?"

"I think it's further down the road."

True to his word, Jaune could indeed spot his sword further down the road. He felt a small sense of pride in the fact that it had landed point-in, but the pride turned to confusion as a passing pair of motorcyclists pulled it out of the asphalt on their way past.

Said pair of motorcyclists came to halt beside the trio, and took off their helmets to reveal Yang and Blake, as if their outfits hadn't given it away.

"I see you guys had fun." Yang quipped, staring at the wrecked AT-AT laying behind them.

"Yup! I got to ride a jetpack!" Nora chirped.

"Don't you mean use a jetpack?" Blake asked, handing Jaune's sword back to him, along with the Arc Caster she had liberated from a Dark Trooper back in Zi-Jin Cheng.

"No, no she doesn't."]]
"Ooh, what's that?" Nora zipped over to Jaune, looking at the Arc Caster. "Is Jaune finally getting a gun?"

"It's a lightning gun." He replied with a smile, and received a grin in turn from Nora. He sheathed his sword, and returned his shield to sword form before replacing it on his belt.

"Oooh, nice thinkin' Blakey!"

---

Bond - Gee Golly Wilikers, Batman!, Shuttle Approaching Death Star

Bond smiled at Lady, and let out a soft chuckle.

"Spy movies. Never would have thought of that. But no, that's how it usually goes down on my world."

The man with the bat ears, cape, bat-symbol and obviously uneasy relationship with Red Hood made his case to the rest of the shuttle, saying the trio who were dressed like Stormtroopers should pretend to be so, and say they're taking in defectors. It was a good plan, not one that would stand up to much scrutiny, but enough to get them further than the hangar.

"One of them should pretend to be in the pilot seat." He commented to the man he assumed to the be the Batman of the Batfamily. "It would look strange if they let one of the defectors pilot their spacecraft."

They do have medals for almost, and they're called silver!

Mitakihara, Small Park, Sin and Ram

A... kind of story?

"Oh! So it's like a genre!"

Surprisingly enough, Sin did in fact know what a 'genre' was, being one of the first words he'd come across when his mother began reading books to him. He still remembered the book rather vividly, it was the story of a budding writer trying to make it big in the world. You see, Sin loathed studying, and he gathered details much more effectively from a compelling story rather than a textbook. And despite the fact that his mother had started him on novels at least ten years beyond the ability of a one-year old human, Sin's Gear heritage meant he was no ordinary one-year old. The really advanced (and thick) books, however, Sin hadn't gotten to read before he was left in Sol's care.

Sol never let him read anything more complicated than a wanted poster. Well, other than textbooks. Frankly, it sucked.

Looking up and listening as Homura made her appearance and brought up the more 'pressing issue', Sin and Ramlethal knew that despite having finished their battle, the danger had only increased. At the suggestion of sending Sayaka to the Cure's gifted portal, Ramlethal stepped forward.

"I can back her up. I am still functioning at full strength."

Sin stood up, his hand nearly on the Valentine's shoulder.

"Woah, hang on Ram. I know that you'd have Sayaka with you, but wouldn't you think it'd be better if we got the old man to go?"

"Sol doesn't need to trouble himself. Just give him a call and tell him that I'm going."

Sin hesitated, but then summoned his communicator and dialed for the old man, awaiting his answer.

edited 10th Dec '16 10:00:00 PM by LatverianBadger

"Shake the dust." - Anis Mojgani

Hero Shuttle - Henry

Henry knew that look, that if this were any other situation, I would be feeding you your guts about now look. He used to be married to Sylvia after all. He returned lady's glare with a friendly nod and a wink. To be civil, they were going to have to be working together after all, and because in his experience nothing drives a person who hates your guts up the wall more then smiling at them.

As the Brit talked, Henry took note of his equipment. The UMP was an interesting choice. Conventional wisdom suggests the compact design of a SMG makes it better suited for interior based operations, and the .45 ACP ammunition delivers a nice punch and is as good as you are going to get in the weapon category. But given their opponents are going to dressed up in more or less riot gear from here to other side of the moon, perhaps a larger caliber with better penetration was in order. There was weapon familiarity and availability to consider, so he could respect the choice. On the other hand, the spy would see the Irish man practically stifle a laugh as he holstered that pea shooter of a side arm.

When the Brit wrapped up his drivel, Henry looked at him and pointed a thumb toward Lady.

"What she said."

Henry could appreciate gallows humor, but with the tone of the ship being closer to a slumber party, it was hard to tell how serious he was being. Still, for all the putting on airs, he still got some info from the rambling. First, there was no plan. Or more specifically, the plan was to hope that wizard who some how knew all this stuff had a plan. The fact he didn't bother to bring it up before take off suggest either the guy didn't plan for them to make it even this far or that he next phase of the plan was so fucked he wanted everyone trapped with no way out but forward before telling them what was to be expected of them. Don't suppose it involves some spell that calls for virgin sacrifices? Would explain all the young girls hanging about.

Second, Bond revealed a bit more of him self then just his bullocks.

"I do have to wonder, how many elaborate nefarious bases do you come across in the export business?"

The little blonde side kick piped up, offering some solid advise to the plan. Destroying the thing could mean mutual destruction. Too bad the opposite couldn't be said the same

"So we don't only have to worry about not succeeding in sabotaging the thing, but have to worry about succeeding too much and killing everyone in the process."

He folded his arms and thought on it.

"So we have three targets.

The Vader fellow is a real warrior type. Fit right in Santa Destroy. Comes in, one man army, looking for a fight. We give him one, he walks a way with a few nicks for his effort and a bit burnt to boot. Can't say how wounded the fellow is, the guy seems more suit then man. Might catch him nursing a wound, might find that all he needed is a change in armor to be up to par.

Point is, he's a warrior, and that warrior mentality can be exploited. You don't charge the enemy forces by your self because its smart. We call him out on a fight, chances are he answers. Not the first card we should play, but good to keep on mind. Know your opponent and all that.

May have a line on him. Save us the trouble of knocking door to door for the guy. If she's up to the task, may even save is the effort entirely, but I wouldn't count on it. Need to see how it pans out before we can see if it is any use to us.

Next we have Tarkin. Weakest of the bunch, but chances are he knows it, which brings its own set of problems. Pragmatism can be a more dangerous tool then strength. Like the king piece, this little slimy bastard isn't going taking any pieces himself, but we are going to have to out smart and out maneuver the bastard if we want to call check mate.

Last we have the old man him self. Supposedly some space wizard, not my expertise. But if we are going to day dream plans, he is decrepit old man. Perhaps he will have a heart attack, fall on the obvious self destruct button installed with no apparent safe guards, and when the thing blows find out this Death Star was actually filled with candy this whole time."

He looked at Bond, seeing if the man approved of his plan. The Brit's standard operating procedure of finding an easy win button then strolling out like it was no big deal was just as likely, but his plan had candy in it.

Before he could get a verdict, the cape and mask made a suggestion. Henry was glad that a discussion was actually going, rather then talking about hair. He thought on the suggestion before shaking his head.

"No good.

Chances are most us were instrumental in kicking the Empire's ass on the ground. Even if they don't have reports already written up on us, to have a couple dozen of us decide after putting them on the run that we want to suddenly switch sides is more then alittle suspect. Especially since the only ones we have vouching for us is newcomers from Battleworld themselves. We end up putting ourselves under heavy scrutiny and a compromising position. Nothing is stopping them from keeping us under lock and key until after they destroy the planet. It ties our hands, both figuratively and literally, things don't pan out right, we fail.

Considering we aren't currently dodging lasers, I am taking it we have an entry point? We do have one don't we? Blind spot in their sensors? Tricking IFF with the ship? In any case, right now we don't have their attention. We want to keep it that way. They are retreat from the Battleworld. Got to get off the rock before it explodes. That means, they are processing hundreds of ships just like this one in the coming hours. No need to let them think we are anything different from the others."

He stopped and thought a bit more. Its no good to offer only criticisms with no suggestions.

"Their numbers is an overwhelming obstacle, but we can use it to our advantage. They have to spread their forces to cover the whole structure. They have something like fifteen thousand turrets on that thing, and that just security on the outside. The only way to manage numbers of that size is through a bureaucratic military structure. That means there is a lag between the feet on the ground and the shot callers. On top of that, they can only reallocate so many troops before other areas become dangerously undermanned. We strike faster and harder then their command structure can juggle their forces to stop us, we might have a chance. We don't need to take on the entire Empire, just deal the lethal blow before they can adapt their forces to stop us.

Of course, any plan and how conceivable they are is based on Intel. Now we got a nice pamphlet, but we are going to need specifics for this to work."

The Irish man shot the tall nerdy wizard and the resident space soldiers a look. For the most knowledgeable, they were oddly quiet on the matter.

edited 10th Dec '16 11:52:31 PM by ImmortalNeet

How do you kill that which has no life?

Trevor, HGT Police Station

"Please m'lady, just call me Trevor... No Belmont has held a title of nobility since our ancestor had given up his knighthood and barony to save his would-be fiancee," Trevor corrected Elphelt on thinking he was a knight as he stood beside her and prayed for the soul of the man who just had a horrible death. Afterwards, Trevor blinked a few times at Robin's response, before he laughed heartily at what he had just heard and shook his head.

"Sorry, kid, but you are just too young to be leader," Trevor said to Robin, shooting down any idea that he might be leader of the group. "I'll admit you're a skilled fighter from what I had seen and heard of your work, but that doesn't make you a skilled leader."

---

Sypha, Shuttle

"Do not underestimate a wizard, especially an old one!" Sypha warned Henry and the others. "You got quite a number of wizards and witches on this vessel right now, including myself, and I will tell you right now that age is no obstacle in wielding magic."

"Magic is based on intelligence, not strength, so the older and more learned a wizard, the more easily they could manipulate magic to do all sort of horrible things to you," Sypha concluded to the others. "If you want to defeat an wizard who is on the same level as a warrior like Vader, you beat them before they can get a spell off at you because if they succeed in firing a spell at you, you will lose."

Wizard Needs Food Badly

Bond - An Englishman Lies To An Irishman. In other news, Pope is Catholic.

Bollocks.

"Yes, you wouldn't expect an export company to come into contact with many of those. A mercenary group, however? It's happened to me, say, ten or fifteen times? This isn't even the first time the nefarious base has been a space station. Though, that one was filled with a deadly bio-weapon rather than candy."

"And while you do have a point, I don't think anyone here expected that we'd be able to waltz the entire way through. This will turn into a shooting gallery eventually, might as well bypass a few layers of security by deceit."

He did have a point about the people leading there enemies, but so did the young miss who had spoken out against his nudity. Despite her more modern clothing, she was likely from a medieval sort of world, given her wizarding knowledge. Perhaps the same one as Alucard and Grant?

"You're both right about their Emperor, however. He'll be physically frail, enough to overcompensate with a massive superweapon, though thankfully he didn't go so far as to make it phallic. But he will be powerful. Think of him as an artillery piece. If he fires, someone will die or something will be destroyed. Make sure he doesn't fire."

"Their leadership is important to defeat, but the weapon is more important. You're right about them spreading their forces thin, however. An assault on their leadership may distract forces from defending the weapon. Alternatively, defending the weapon may distract them from defending their leadership, and their capture could end this war immediately."

He leaned against the wall, and crossed his arms.

"We all know what they say about eggs and baskets, and I'd rather not have to fight energy-sword wielding telekinetics. Two fronts, then?"

They do have medals for almost, and they're called silver!

Underground, Dreemurr Residence: Something to Go Back to...

The swelling water in Yin's eyes betrayed her blank expression, though for now she said nothing.

Mao tried to follow Asriel's advice, but in all honesty finding "something positive" in his life was easier said than done. He lost his humanity when he woke up a Contractor eight years ago, and ever since then things just kept getting worse. He lost his home, his job, his family, and less than a year after his transformation he lost his human body too!

Plus it wasn't like Battleworld made his life any easier! The Syndicate cut his team loose; Huang was probably dead, Hei was God knows where, and the only ally he had left was a Doll who couldn't—

Yin's tears reflected in the television's glow. Mao stared at the Doll in disbelief, both in the fact she could cry at all, and the notion she'd cry for him. It wasn't like they were friends or anything; they were coworkers, and not even sociable ones. Whatever friendliness he'd shown her was either in her defense against Huang's prejudice, or because he valued her assistance over heading out on his own.

Suddenly, Mao felt a familiar comforting sensation just behind his ears. He could feel Yin's fingers scratching his head, in just the right places. He felt the urge to purr as Yin indulged him with his guilty pleasure—funny how she knew that's what he wanted the most right now: a calm hand to show him there were still things to enjoy, even when half your body was pulsing with pain.

Something to give me hope...

Mao closed his eyes and started to doze off. At that moment, it was hard to think of anything hopeful that didn't involve Yin...

When Asgore asked about a place to help Mao recover, Yin turned her dampened face towards the Monster King. At first, she simply shook her head; no one in Tokyo would be able to help Mao unless she had money to pay for treatment, and she didn't have a cent to her name. Ikebukuro would be a similar problem; maybe even a worse one if Mao suddenly spoke out of turn. That left only one state she knew that might be able to help, little to no questions asked.

"Bring him to Genosha. Amber can find help."

The Institute: Superheroes, Meet Super Sociopaths

The "civilians" around the building's entrance were remarkably diverse, from the heavy-lifter wearing an orange bandanna over his head, to the dame who must've fallen straight out of a film noire picture. For the most part, they didn't bother to even look at Raven or Cyborg; they were too busy dealing with their own problems.

The Titans might notice that every Imperial pilot present was either dead or dying, except for one: the poor fool was spilling every scrap of information he could to a young woman in an olive tank top, who was holding (of all things!) a taut rubber band to his forehead. The Imperial seemed to be treating the elastic like a gun, stuttering in his explanation and begging his "Jedi" captor to let him live. The woman was...considering it, though she was clearly having fun with this not-quite-hilarious prank.

Sitting against the only downed walker with smoke bleeding from its cockpit, a Latina woman grimaced as the heavy-lifter applied pressure on her broken ankle. As she cursed at him, the man's body started to glow a cold light blue, his eyes sparkling with an unnatural red gleam. The tension in the woman's face began to relax, as if whatever the man was doing was relieving her pain. She tried to stand up, but the pain spiked back and she quickly fell back down.

"Don't stand on it yet, Maria. The tissue needs time to grow; give it half an hour."

"I'm not staying here with these gilipollas."

"And you're not coming in with us." the healer frowned. "We can't afford to wait around for you. Consider this a lookout post—we need someone covering the rear in case more of these bastards show up."

"Besides," he continued, turning to a blonde man passed out on the ground and a man in winter clothing shivering in the fetal position, "Dmitri and Jai need someone to keep them safe while they're paying off their price. I don't trust PANDORA, but I trust you."

Maria turned to her vulnerable comrades, and after a light pause, she chuckled, "You trying to tug on my heartstrings, Daichi?"

"Not sure. Is it working?"

"Maybe, idiota." she smirked. "Just try not to lose too much hair worrying about everyone else."

The heavy-lifter pulled off his bandanna to reveal his short salt-and-pepper hair, which was somehow scabbed and balding in a random, unnatural way.

"Too late for that." Daichi sighed. Without warning, he grabbed a tuft of hand and yanked it as hard as he could, ripping the hair straight off his skull. A small dab of blood pooled then trickled off the side of his face, though it seemed he'd hurt himself this way so much he hardly felt it anymore.

His price paid, the man put his bandanna back on and approached the PANDORA group by the portal, keeping his silence with intimidating crossed arms.

The green hummingbird would get very little response, apart from the purple-eyed boy staring at the creature with faint curiosity. However, a little girl in a green track suit bolted towards the boy and tried to swat the green superhero straight out of the air.

Half running, half hopping in place, the girl turned to her companion as her face lightened to something almost friendly.

"What'd you lose?" she asked him, though her voice bounced with her feet.

The boy read her lips and pointed to his ears; apparently he'd gone deaf.

"Figures." the girl's frown returned. "Least you're not blind this time; we'd have to leave you with the stupid humans."

In case Beast Boy hadn't learned his lesson and turned into something bigger, the track-suit girl would resume her attempts to swat the hummingbird away like it was a hornet threatening her comrade.

"Go away! Leave him alone!"

Finally, Robin would find that his hand would remain unshaken. Instead, the grey suit man greeted the Boy Wonder with a slightly firmer leer.

"The only 'civilian' here is myself, and I am in no need of rescue."

Much like the Courser, the suited man glanced at the cyborg behind Robin. That glance turned into a stare, but before his interest became obvious he blinked and turned his attention back to Robin. Miraculously, his mood lightened up; he even bothered to shake Robin's hand!

"Eric Nishijima: Research Director of PANDORA. My associates and I are here to assist the Institute's counter-attack against the Galactic Empire. What you called 'civilians' are in fact Contractors recruited from our territory: the city known here as Hell's Gate Tokyo."

Nishijima gestured to the ruined Imperial walkers (and the corpses) by the university entrance. "As you can see, they are more than qualified to handle this mission. I suggest you practice your 'heroics' elsewhere."

Genosha Streets: Well, I'm Not Cleaning This Up!

A chest-pounding shock wave that accompanied the AT-AT's fall shattered windows three blocks down the street. The machine's crash utterly destroyed the road it fell on, but by some miracle the damage wasn't as bad as the Spider-Woman feared: the think fell front first, and not into one of the dizzying skyscrapers to either side. Toppling one of those would've at least ruined the city block; who'd know how many lives and homes would've been lost. Whatever luck Genosha seemed to be running on nowadays, Jessica was grateful that well hadn't run dry just yet.

That being said, there was still a massive mess to clean up. Agent Wolverine did the honors of tearing through the giant walker's "eyes" and climbed in to deal with any survivors. There were none, but that didn't mean Logan left the machine empty handed...

Soon after the dust settled, the Hunters would be joined by the other two Red Guard members. The web-woman smiled as she extended a hand for Jaune to shake.

"You've got a sharp mind, kid—the Hellions would be proud to have you someday. I'm Agent Arachne, and this is my partner, Agent Toad. The...hairy man clawing his way through that ship's our leader, Agent Wolverine."

"Gotta say," smiled Toad, "I wasn't expecting us to have much support; the Red Guard's almost never deployed in friendly territory."

From the Wynegarde Studios tower came a boy with mismatched eyes. He squeezed himself into the group between Nora and Ren, sulking.

"I'm sorry I couldn't help more, Nora."

Genosha Palace: Let Me Tell You All About My Evil Plan...

The Mutant King brushed a hand to the side, and a sheet of metal pulled over Vida's mouth, silencing her.

"That 'chance' was thrown away when your Grand Moff threatened my kingdom. What were his words again, he would 'burn my city to ashes and annihilate all resistance'? These are the words of a man who cares only for his own immediate gain, no matter the consequences; these are the words of a tyrant. Now I have survived under tyranny once before, Agent Vida, but I shall die before my children are forced to do the same!"

A loud knock came from the door; perhaps Vida thought it was her escort, but the King's smile would burn that hope away.

"Please, come in ladies!"

The two female servants from earlier entered the lounge, not at all surprised to find Vida bolted to the wall; in fact, the one with a streak of white hair looked a bit giddy!

"I realize you three have not been formally introduced." Magnus smiled. "Agent Vida, these are Agents Rogue and Mystique: they belong to my elite task force, the Red Guard, and they are here to ensure you serve your new homeland to the best of your abilities."

The blue-skinned woman's body began to unnaturally shift, molding itself into a new shape: Agent Vida's.

"Do you need her to speak?" Magnus asked as he raised a hand, ready to briefly remove the metal sheet over Vida's mouth.

The new reflection of Vida shook her head. "That won't be necessary, Your Majesty." the doppelganger said in the Imperial's precise voice. "I heard more than enough when she was babbling through the tour."

"Resourceful as always, Mystique." Magnus smiled. "Rogue, would you be so kind?"

"Right on it, boss." the Southern Belle grinned as she removed her gloves. As the Mutant approached her, Vida might be confused as to why Rogue was simply placing her fingertips on each of the Agent's temples. Fortunately, Magnus seemed to be in a talkative mood.

"Agent Rogue has quite a unique gift: rather than possessing an ability of her own, her mutation allows her to sap the powers of others through physical contact. However, she can steal far more than X-Gene abilities: she can take skills, languages, even memories from her targets."

"Yep!" Rogue chuckled, "Aaaaaaand judgin' from your empty noggin', I'd say we're better off cuttin' your throat and payin' your personal pilot a visit."

"We are not going to hurt you, Vida." Magnus sighed; he wasn't a fan of apologizing, especially on someone else's behalf. "Despite your allegiance, you have been nothing but civil to me and my people; I recognize good character when I see it, and show mercy to those who would do the same for me. Yet for the time being, I must insist you remain where you are; the Red Guard and I have other matters to attend to."

"We'll need this, sir." Rogue added, seizing Vida's holocom from the Imperial's pocket. "Turn it to frequency 225, and request an evac from Command Post Alpha...damn, these guys need to get more creative."

So without much more thought for the stranded Imperial on the wall, the three Mutants left the lounge to prepare for Step Three of the Xorn Maneuver.

HGT Outside Police HQ: You Headin' My Way?

Kono's shoulders relaxed once it became clear these strangers weren't weird alien Imperials, though he was clearly not pleased with Damian ripping off the tarp and playing detective...especially because he was damn good at it.

"Nobody's leading anything until we get to the bottom of this." gruffed Matsumoto. He turned (a little uncomfortably) to the Dullahan he assumed was this "Celty" the medieval not-knight mentioned.

"If you don't mind uhhh...Ma'am, we would like to commandeer your vehicle to reach the rooftop ASAP. After your appearance, I doubt the murderer's eager to stick around."

"You two..." Kono started by pointing to Robin and Tenko, but then reconsidered. "You five, come with us. You're...honestly better equipped to handle any trouble up there."

Assuming there weren't any objections, the group would be back inside the Shooter shuttle and ready to zip up to the rooftop.

Death Star: This Thing Better Have GPS...

Havoc took the map and saluted Commander Mott one final time. Then she turned and briskly left the shooting range, shoving the watermelon-shaped helmet over her head to hide whatever dignity she had left.

...of course, that dignity would soon be lost anyway, since there was no chance in Hell she'd arrive at the hanger in time to greet the new arrivals. Even though maps are mostly illustrated, it seemed Commander Mott had underestimated the text's power as a source of reference. Havoc had to learn from experience that these characters meant "elevator," and these characters meant "trash compactor," even if (from a novice's perspective) the two looked a little too similar for comfort!

So for at least an hour longer than what was expected, poor Recruit BK-201 wandered the mostly vacant halls of the Death Star, only arriving in Hanger 105's general area after a trooper reluctantly gave her the proper directions. So much for punctuality.

edited 11th Dec '16 5:17:39 PM by TheodoreHastings

Boss, Scorch and Fixer- Shuttle

"Fixer and Scorch are the best candidates for sabotaging this space station weapons thanks to their slicing and demolition expertise. You can expect me to help those to assassinate the three imperial di'kuts" Boss told Bond as he suggested for this group to split up in two fronts.

Boss listened to Batman, who gave the idea for the he and his brothers to pretend as if they were under the effect of the control chip to trick the Imperials that they were on their side and they were extracting defectors to their space station...

This was a harder punch to the gut considering Sev's situation. Hopefully Asgore and his forces contained him before he could escape.

Facing Batman and taking a deep breath, he nodded to the Caped Crusader. "Yes, I can do it. Hopefully Imperial protocol is the same as it was back on the Galactic Republic. I can also act like I'm piloting too."

Boss walked near where Han and Chewie were. "Have the Imperials tried to contact us? I shall answer them if they do so considering the man's plan over there."

"I do not what the capabilities of this Vader is, but I'll assume that Palpatine will have the same skills as Count Dooku, the leader of the CIS. Meaning he will be a extremely dangerous threat and we shouldn't take him lightly, no matter the age."

-Spider Lizard Noises-

Jaune, Nora, Ren, Blake and Yang - Do You See Why I Use Ship Names?, Genosha Streets

"It's alright Maki." Nora said, kneeling down and hugging the young Contractor. "I think you did great!"

Ren raised an eyebrow at Nora's new friend, an action Nora herself noticed. She broke the hug and stood back up, before grabbing Ren and pulling him over to the boy.

"Maki, this is my best friend, Ren! Ren, this is Maki."

"Umm... Hello."

"Jaune Arc." Said boy replied, shaking Jessica's hand. "These are my teammates, Lie Ren and Nora Valkyrie, and that's Blake Belladonna and Yang Xiao Long of Team Ruby." He motioned to each of his friends in turn as he named them. "We're Team Juniper."

"And that's Ruby, R W B Y, and Juniper, J N P R." Yang added, walking up to Jessica and offering her hand.

"Yeah. We got brought here together. And, thanks."

"Yeah, Jauney-boy here is pretty smart when it comes to battlefield tactics. And he's been getting better at fighting, too. Just don't ask him for dating advice."

Jaune stiffened, and Yang looked at him queerly, obviously not expecting that response.

"Aww, c'mon Jaune, you have to admit that your flirting with Weiss was a disaster-"

"Yang." Blake said heavily, which drew the blonde's attention to her. "I don't think this is about Weiss."

"...oh." Yang turned back to her fellow blonde, her eyes wide. "Jaune, I-"

"It's nothing, Yang. I'm fine." Jaune replied, in a "I'm not fine but I'm pretending I am" voice.

They do have medals for almost, and they're called silver!

Setting off from home...

Asgore nodded. "Very well. Come on, let's all go together, and keep our little friend company." Asgore put an arm around Yin's shoulders, in a noticeable semi-hug, and lead the children out of the home.

...to a fork in the road...

The three reached the Common Room in good time, with Undyne lugging the webbed trooper along behind. She quickly found a blank wall well in view of everyone, and set to work plastering the purple webbing against it. As always, it was through her own strength and sheer force of will that she was able to stay free of the sticky webbing. Once Sev was well and truly stuck, Undyne dusted off her hands, strode proudly away, and came to a lurching halt as the Tank for Hire caught her eye.

"Time and place, Undyne!" said Asgore

"Right, sorry." Undyne carried on, coming to a halt in front of the Cure. "All right, Cure, which way for volunteers to kick the Empire's teeth in?" The reply, no doubt, would be accompanied to a portal aboard the shuttle. Undyne immediately started marching towards it, only to be stopped by a paw on her shoulder.

"Undyne," said Asgore. "I just wanted to tell you good luck...and be careful up there."

"Only for you, big guy," said Undyne with a smirk. She patted Asgore's hand, then put her helmet on and marched into the portal.

Asgore went back to Yin and Asriel. "Yin, I'd like to escort Mao personally to Amber-"

"But Dad!" blurted Asriel, "What if you're needed back in the Underground? There's still a war going on right now, after all."

Asgore's confidence drained for a moment. "Well, I suppose..."

"Let me go instead."

"No, absolutely not." He was particularly adamant on this point. "The Common Room is the safest place on the planet right now, for both of you." He looked back to Yin, his expression softening a little. "Still, if you'd like to accompany your friend, it could be safer and faster for the two of us to go together."

...and into to the jaws of almost certain death

Meanwhile, the shuttle was graced with the presence of a new combatant, clad in dark medieval armour. "My name is Captain Undyne, head of the Royal Guard for the Underground Kingdom of Monsters. I have come to fling spears, and kick Empire ass...and I've got plenty of spears to go around."

Boss, Scorch and Fixer- Shutle

As Boss waited for Han's response, Boss looked over to see a familiar fishy face in that of Undyne, who he assumed that she was sent by Asgore to aid the infiltration of the Death Star.

"It's good to see a familiar face here, Captain Undyne. We'll arrive to the space station in a few moments, but you'll have to save the stabbing and impaling until we pass the hangar station we'll arrive in with our plan."

"And that plan is tricking the Imps that we're defecting to their side. I would prefer going in explosives blazing, but I guess it'll have to wait until we're in the clear from their suspicion."

-Spider Lizard Noises-

Hell's Gate Tokyo Police Station

Celty found herself nodding her stump along as Matsumoto requested her help getting to the top of the building, distracted somewhat by Damien's display as a soft smile adorned her non-existent features. Despite the somewhat unnerving spectacle of a young boy going gaga over a collection of bone fragments and viscera, she hadn't seen anyone quite so enthused about the human body... since...

Celty straightened, abruptly realizing that the other cop had totally blown her off. She reflexively pressed a black-gloved hand to his passing chest before craning her other arm back so he could read her phone. Hey, it read, Just because I can't talk out loud doesn't mean it's not rude to ignore what I say. She made to take a step back into better "conversation" range. We'll be back in a minute. When we do, I'd really appreciate it if you could have him ready for processing. His name is Shinra Kishitani, and he should be wearing some kind of white labcoat. Unless something's gone horribly wrong.

Message delivered, Celty turned to regard Shooter, and the flurry of new passengers he was to ferry to the upper levels. But to her dismay, Shooter had already drawn up its entrance ramp, and was accosting those approaching with harsh, bull-like snorts of air, that unfortunately came from a pair of rocket thrusters. Hey, hey, it's okay, Celty communicated with arms outstretched, walking up to press her body against his pitch-black hull while gently stroking his flank. I know you've never given this many people a ride before, but it'll be okay. I'm sure they're all nice people. Shhhh, shhhh...

Slowly but surely, Celty was able to coax the ramp down, though the prospective occupants were accosted with an unhappy gust of air from the defunct life-support systems as they made their way onboard. Celty would get on last, partially to make sure Shooter didn't buck anyone as they got on, and partially to make sure that Kono fulfilled his promise, though she wouldn't stop him bodily if the red-haired detective decided to get on anyway.

As the airlock clicked shut and they rose into the sky, the police station windows flashed in the sun and reflected the metal behemoth crowding out the moon in the sky. It was strange to admit it, but Celty felt out of her depth, with the encroaching threat of military occupation. How long was this going to go on? If that guy down there had been a military official, did these people just make things worse for themselves? Was there any way for her to help, even if she made it up there?

Distracting herself with logistics, Celty stepped to the front of the cabin and turned to address the impromptu crew, comprised of fighters from half-a-dozen different dimensions. And a girl in a dress, for some reason. I don't think there's enough room to land on the roof. Celty would type, holding the phone up in Large Text format for all to see. So everyone just sit down, and I'll have Shooter transform into something that can. She stopped, realizing that a fair number of her passengers had no idea what Shooter could do, then resumed. It won't hurt, I promise. Just, hold tight.

Once the passengers were seated (You know what, I brought a woman in a dress too, who am I to judge) the ship's nose would turn to the rooftop itself, sending waves of gusting air over the surface of the roof akin to the gale of a hovering helicopter. Then, abruptly, the shuttle would pitch forward just as a familiar, swirling black mass erupted from its chassis and engulfed it, turning the hulking black mass into something... smaller.

By the time the steed landed on the rooftop proper, it had taken a drastically new form, akin to a pitch-black horse and carriage, though the horse was—of course—headless. Those who had been inside the shuttle would find themselves in the considerably-more cramped space of the carriage itself, though there would be enough space for them to sit across from each other comfortably, and windows absent glass that would allow them to see the rooftop itself. Celty herself was positioned on Shooter's back, feeling his phantom back muscles between her thighs like shifting plates as his hooves braced and absorbed the fall to the ground, transforming their earlier momentum into a running start that carried them across the rooftop proper toward the most visible figures on the roof thus far. Wrestling their momentum into a skidding stop that trailed the carraige's wheels sideways across the roof, Celty leaned down to croon in Shooter's spectral ear, giving his mane a good rustle. Good boy, who's a good boy...

edited 12th Dec '16 11:55:05 PM by Uncandescent

If I had that kind of power, I'd have dropped a meteor on your house ages ago~

Teen Titans—Institute—Nice to meet you sociopaths.

Cyborg could feel the gaze of everyone on his face. First it was the institute Courser. He scratched the back of his head and then he gave a loud nervous laugh.

"This is not a good time for one of your jokes, Cyborg." Raven glared at him.

Cyborg gave Raven a nervous smile. He tried to shrug it off. Luckily for the teen there was a perfect excuse for him to distract himself from the staring. A young woman was speaking with an imperial pilot that seemed to be scared to dead. Without a second though he tried to jump between the two. "Hey relax! nobody is going to kill anyone right?" He waved his hands in front of the young woman with the Olive tank top.

Raven was flying close to him but her attention was elsewhere. "You might have a point, Cyborg. Whoever they are, they seem to be interested in you," Raven said to Cyborg as Eric's glare hadn't gone unnoticed by her. The half demon girl had been staring at Maria and Daichi the entire time; hearing their entire conversation silently. His blue glow caught her attention and after hearing their whole conversation she finally dared to float towards them after they had approached the portal. "You aren't from around here are you?" She asked them with her arms crossed. " What is this Pandora you're so worried about?" Raven asked them bluntly.

Meanwhile Beast boy was flying in circles to avoid being harmed. "Hey watch it!" Beast boy complained as he was being scared away by the kids. "Geez I get it, you don't like birds." Beast boy transformed into a dog in the middle of the boy and the girl, really not getting the message that the boy was deaf or that they weren't human. " I like when others rub my tummy," he said laying down upside down. Dog-Beast-boy panted a little while moving his tail side by side. "Come on, I know you want to."

"A friend of ours told us those people were in trouble," Robin told Nijishima as he was about to close his hand away after his rude gesture. But the boy wonder returned the shaking as soon as the man's demeanor became slightly warmer. Though, the research director, Eric, might notice that Robin wasn't exactly cheerful. Robin raised his eyebrow at him with his lips pressed at his side.

"I rather ask them myself if you don't mind, Mr Nijishima, " Robin said with his arms crossed and a slightly deeper voice. He walked near the group the portal and then he asked them, "Are you guys alright? Are you here against your will? Just say the word and we'll rescue you."

"Starfire—Shuttle—Behave yourself Star"

Starfire looked down after Sypha replied to her. The alien princess was twiddling her index fingers between each other.

But then the caped crusader spoke. He seemed dark and gloomy like her friend Raven. But there was no question of who he was.

"You must be the one they call "the Batman". Robin speaks highly of you. I shall do as you request."

There were many other strange people that got her attention in the shuttle like a man that was undressing perhaps as an eating ritual, and even fuffly demon that only escaped a warm hug because he was hidden from her soft hands.

What got her attention the most was this furry alien she couldn't understand. But apparently his friend could. The Tamaranean princess flew nearby him. Starfire looked at him with her eyes half closed and, without any warning, she attempted to hold the Wookiee from the back of his head and press her lips to his for a kiss.

edited 13th Dec '16 9:14:34 PM by FallenLegend

Make your hearth shine through the darkest night; let it transform hate into kindness, evil into justice, and loneliness into love.

Dante/Nero-Mahora

To anyone who knew him, his first request would seem odd. But anyone who did know him would not in the slightest.

"You guys got any good pizza places?"

Gaige-Castlevania

"Ohh, sure, I know what you mean! We had our own archnemesis for a while too, a real dick called Handsome Jack. He ran Hyperion, a massive mega company, and not only did he try to kill us a bunch of times with a robot army, but he constantly called us up to troll us! You have no idea how annoying it is for someone to keep calling you to troll you and no be able to shoot him."

Deadshot-Ike Rooftop

Deadshot stared at the kid for a good 10 seconds, face unreadable behind the mask. Then he shrugged.

"Fuck it, whatever, not my problem then. Out of the way, you're in my spot."

Pushing Horada aside if necessary, Deadshot took up a sniper position, missing the doctor who saw the bodies as he did so. Silence would last for all of 30 seconds.

"God this is fucking boring. Kid, remind me what the exact orders were? All they said is "Stay on the roof"? Nothing else?"

Kida-Ike Hospital

This time, the shots had more scucess, and the man went down with a bullet in his throat. His body fell and rolled down the stairs, knocking over another man, leaving one left standing for the moment. He staggered as he slipped on the water, falling to one knee and putting a hand forward to steady himself.

"No! Blasted rebel scum, die!"

The man's hand went to his belt, where a grenade lie, but he was a bit slower to draw and throw it then normal, giving Kida time to retreat, or, if he was truly daring, time to try to shoot it out of his hand.

Igor-ER reciving

One imperial shook his head, clearly unmoved. "Doesen't matter. Orders are orders. If he dies, that's not our problem. Blame the rebels attacking the hospital if you need someone to blame. Now, hands beind your head, get down on the ground."

Said imperial lowered his gun to slowly approch Igor with the intent of cuffing him, while the second man kept his gun aimed at Igor.

Shuttle-Lady

Lady nodded as the plan was laid out by....some guy in a bat suit? What the hell? Then, to her supreme annoyance, Henry made some decent points about the plan. She now felt obligated to counter his criticisms.

"It's not going to be any faster going guns blazing if they bottleneck us in a heavily guarded hanger for an hour, even if we do manage to beat them. All we need to do is keep up the act until we're past the greeting party, then once there are less defenses, we can break out the big guns."

Lady also took note of Henry pointing out the obvious weirdness of Bond the export company guy knowing all about military bases and their kill switches. She'd have to make a note to question him later on that.

"And yes, I think two fronts is a good call. I'm thinking we split our forces among basic power levels. We've got both normal people and superpowered people here. Us non-powered people should be able to take this Tarkin guy if we work together to take down his troops, and then maybe we can secure their firing room, assuming they don't just have a backup. Meanwhile, the more powerful among us should go after this powerful wizard leader guy, whatever his name is, since they'll have a lot better chances against him then we will, and if we wait too long and move as one group, we might not have time to get him, or he'll have time to assemble massive defenses to stop us."

Then she stopped to stare at Undyne as she made her entrance, lowing her sunglasses to give her a look that suggested she was unsure if she was being serious.

"I'm sorry, did you say "Kingdom of Monsters"? You're being serious here?"

Then Delta got the same look as they said hi. "Wait, you space people know her? Is she, er..., you know, on the level?." Lady vaguely waved her hand, trying to subtly ask if she could be trusted without directly saying that.

Shuttle-Han

Meanwhile, Han got out of the seat and handed Boss a holodisk with the codes on it. "Not yet, no, but they'll probably-"

At that second, the holocom rang.

"-call right now. Good luck." Han stepped to the side, just in time to see Starfire coming for a now roaring chewy. Han quickly jumped in front of her, arms outstreched.

"Woh, are you crazy, princess? You don't just go up and kiss a Wokkie out of nowhere! Especially without asking! Don't you know Wokkies have a habit of ripping off the arms of things that annoy them? And what in blazes are you thinking, just kissing without asking? That's considered a crime in some systems, you know!"

Chewy roared again.

"Hey now, this isn't about me and minor crimes I may or may not have committed. Stay focused."

As for Boss or whoever responded to the call, they would be met by a stiff backed Imperial in an officer uniform.

"Attention transport shuttle, this is Imperial Flight Command, we have you on radar. Transmit your codes, and be advised there is currently a minor incident happening near hanger 74 with an unidentified shuttle that has been intercepted and is now deploying giant war droids to the surface. Avoid that area, and mind the skys for passing TIE fighters."

Havoc-Hanger 105

Havoc, on entering, would quickly be greeted by a bald, old, and very angry looking general, whos age had not reduced the intensity of his booming voice that would put many drill instructors to shame, which he made use of as he walked up to her..

"BK-201! You are over 45 minutes late for duty! I'm going to give you 3 seconds to explain yourself before I have you shipped off to Ilum to freeze with the wamprats!"

He finished by stopping about an inch from her face, leaning down and getting some accidental spit on the face of her helmet.

Trish-To Former Hell

Meanwhile, Trish, once again bored, left the room to check out what was going on, stopping iin front of the globe to look at the changed map. One name, however, drew her attention.

"Former Hell? Well, this should be interesting."

Without so much as bothering to call Dante and tell him she was going out, she adjusted her giant demonic sword on her back, and entered the Former Hell portal

edited 13th Dec '16 10:56:50 PM by Meanken

Sypha, Shuttle On Route to Death Star

"Yes... Let us assume that both have the powers of this... Count Dooku?" Sypha said, questioningly to the three Clonetroopers. Count Dooku sounded like some bad psuedonym for Count Dracula. Soon, the thought of a SPACE Dracula floated through Sypha's mind.

This left as soon as Captain Undyne, head of the Royal Guard for the Underground Kingdom of Monsters showed up. Sypha gave Undyne the stinkeye as she had admitted to being a monster and looked to be a Merman of some sort. Sypha had to remember to steel herself to keep from just attacking the Monster on sight, and decided to speak to prevent anyone from being too hasty.

"I think we should make one thing clear before our infiltration happens," Sypha began to explain to the others, more to aid herself in accepting Undyne's help. "So long as this Death Star threatens Battleworld, we are all allies, no matter if we are good or evil... We need to treat each other as such on this mission."

For some reason, when Sypha said 'evil,' one got the feeling a good number of people there were looking at Shang Tsung, the representative of Outworld on this particular mission. Soon, the shuttle was in contact with the Death Star and Sypha remained silent as the more experienced members with this sort of thing dealt with this particular part.

Wizard Needs Food Badly

Scorch and Fixer- Shuttle- Oh, you pre-spaceflight civilizations, always so silly.

"Settle down, she's on our side. No need to kill ourselves right before even we are even able to infiltrate the shuttle."

Judging by the fact that Lady and Sypha gave nasty looks to Undyne, Scorch could only assume that Undyne's species name would basically made them think that Undyne would immediately attempt to kill them on sight.

"Oh my stars, Pre-Spaceflight civilizations are...ugh, He facepalmed on his helmet for what seemed like minutes before answering. "Yeah, she's on our side, and by the Force, has the concept of "Alien Species" ever rang in you guys mind? I mean, Monsters is only the name of their species, otherwise they're all nice people since our squad we're on the Underground. Wait."

"...Are you a human supremacist?"

Boss- Shuttle— hey its me ur brother

Boss nodded to Han as he gave him a holocode and went to give him his seat, Boss sat near it and answered a call. While his expression was hidden in his helmet, he knew he couldn't screw this up. Otherwise they're all doomed.

Buy'ce olar, kar'ta ogir. Helmet on, heart gone.

Facing the hologram of the Officer, he responded on his seat to him.

"Understood, Flight Command. Uploading the codes now. We shall avoid going near hangar 74." Boss answered him with a monotone and professional voice, atleast what he would assume they would sound like under the effect of the chip as he uploaded the holocode to the caller. "Be advised, we have pre-spaceflight defectors on our ship who understood the glory of the Empire and defected to our side as we evacuated. Where should we send them when we land?"

-Spider Lizard Noises-