"...Inert. Right."
Satori gave this crown of thorns one more firm look, staring into its eyes. Those bloodshot eyes didn't look back at her, and its mind didn't return her own's attention...and she was speaking with the local expert, here. She couldn't pretend to know more about these things herself, no matter how much she wanted to.
With the same level of care that happened when it manifested on her head, she placed it up there. Now, with her pastel colors, odd umbrella, external heart/eyeball combo and bizarre hat, she looked like she was some kind of super-anomaly who was ready to destroy worlds.
The whopping total of six eyeballs on her person scanned the Disciplinary wing. It felt more like it would be the center of it all; a giant machine heart would be an apt descriptor. Veins bringing their loads to other places in the facility, the surging pistons in the distance...also it was all red n' stuff. This wasn't a good kind of descriptor, though. Would they be getting closer to escape by going towards the center?
Probably not. Did it matter how far away she was from her home? It wouldn't change that she couldn't affect her situation.
Just to drive that point home, more awful things that killed people appeared.
At least, probably killed people. The one that didn't skinned herself regularly. Looking away from it, keeping it out of sight was easy enough, especially when a buncha robots start coming in to mess with you and your peeps.
At first frozen with indecision, wondering how in the world she was supposed to kill something that looked like it could actually fight back, Satori had an idea. One that meant that all she had to do was stand still. Those kinds of ideas are the easiest ones, right?
She wielded her umbrella with purpose. It let forth a honking quack as she opened it and held it out in front of her, and started to walk to the side.
It wasn't an exact science, but she could feel the mind of the thing behind her. What it felt, what horrible things it was thinking about were something she'd have to feel as well, but that was irrelevant. To get as good of placement as she could without looking meant listening to it deeply.
She could, provided everyone else was picking up her slack and not letting her get murdered by robots, place herself in between this strange entity and the machines that wanted to look at it, blocking it out from sight with her umbrella.
"Dollars?" Suiki turned his head, and repeated himself once. "I'm...not familiar, I'm guessing it's your money?"
"Yep." Suika, off in the back, raised her gourd in the direction of the Kishin. "Dat's what they use in...the Amerigkahs," she slurred. Her cheeks were an inflamed red, and her smile was just about the only sober part of herself. "They gawd a pigtur of a bald guy on 'em."
"Well then, it's the first time I've met an American Demon Hunter, too! Hopefully you like Japan," the old oni said, beaming. "Maybe that's why you're so polite. But really, we could gamble with that, if you want. It's not like we all have anything better to use it with! I just lost a few hundred thousand yen a couple of minutes before you got here, and that really just hurt my pride, not my ledger."
"If you want to make things exciting, though...we can bet favors."
The room grew silent. The other demons in the room leaned back, some regarding him with surprise, some with quiet derision. Suika, ever the serious one, picked at her nose.
"We ante up a promise that, in the future, the loser will be beholden to the promise of help, whatever it might be. Or, a promise of goods, a promise of family, a promise of...whatever it is. All that it means is that whatever must be asked for must be matched with an equal promise. Winner takes all promises...and we are very serious about oaths, here."
Glory to Arachnos
The Spetsnaz listened to what the newcomers had to say, before the one who adressed them answered them.
"I see. Major Degtyarev is the one who can give you the clearance to pass through the Zone. I'll call him over."
The Spetsnaz would then take out his radio and call over someone in the radio, after a few moments passed, Major Degtyarev would exit from one of the buildings in the checkpoint, and approach the duo.
"Are these the ones you said were searching for a fugitive, sergeant?" He asked the spetsnaz, who nodded.
"Yes sir. Said something about the one who were looking for being wanted in many places on....whatever the hell we are."
Degtyarev would then look at Makoto and Yusuke, looking at the strange cat they had with curiosity before returning his attention back at them.
"Hello, I am Major Alexander Degtyarev, agent of the Security Service of Ukraine. The soldier told me about your mission to capture this fugitive. I'd gladly let you pass to the Zone for your mission, but I must warn you though, the Zone is a extremely dangerous place. The radiation, the mutant wildlife, the anomalies and the bandits who live here are not to be taken lightly and you must be extremely careful. Unless you are prepared to deal with this, I'd recommend to stay away from here for your safety. Otherwise, I'd let you in, but if I may ask though, who is this fugitive, and what was the things he has done to be hostile to everyone? That way, I can keep inform the military forces here in touch of this possible threat."
The spetsnaz spoke next, a eyebrow raised. "If what you said about him having a katana is true, I seriously doubt he would last a second in the Zone. Maybe he is already dead, having been torn apart by a anomaly."
The ecologists looked at each other in confusion, as then the ecologist spoke to her, stammering a bit.
"Erm...uh, we have plently of artifacts and gear in our bunker that we could give to you! Professor Sakharov would be delighted to speak to you so you could describe every single thing you know from this world, and even ask about your wings, or your strange weapon. And in exchange, he could give you information, or whatever you want! He's inside our bunker."
The ecologist would point to a open door in the bunker, the scientist waiting for Utsuho's next action.
"Most I can push is one extra clip and another grenade." He crossed his arms, looking annoyed at the idea of giving too much for free already. "I kind of have a business to mantain, and if I give everything for free, I won't have the supplies to sell my stuff to stalkers."
"And NATO guns kind of cost alot, so throwing away too much ammo will kind of hurt my stock." He sighed, before grabbing a extra clip of 5.56 ammo and a grenade and placed it on the table so Homura could grab it.
-Spider Lizard Noises-
Red Sprite, Dining Hall: Message Sent. Who Wants Lunch?
Taking the fairy tale character's lead, Maria shrugged off the stagnating skepticism and turned toward the portal. Before leaving though, she leaned over to Blake and Tsubaki and murmured:
"We said what we came to say, and we're not wanted here. Can we go?"
Even if they handed over one of their phones to the Red Sprite's crew, Maria had the lingering idea that it wouldn't do them any good. They had almost no clue how phones worked, and in the off-chance that Vergil was here, would any of them be in a state to use one? She judged that either these kids would be too stupid stubborn and insist on dealing with the one-man army themselves, or there wasn't a stowaway in the first place. Either way, she no longer saw any point in standing still at the portal.
Former Hell, Hell's Kishin: Message Sent. Who Wants to Play?
Throughout almost every little part of this interaction, Dmitri couldn't find a need—let alone an interest—in speaking up. The ladies seemed to have things under control, so he resigned himself to play the role of passive observer that he felt so comfortable in. Why work when you have a perfectly good chance not to?
Which led Dmitri to think about this unexpected form of recreation. He wasn't a gambling man by any means; trusting sheer luck went directly against what it meant to be a Contractor. That said, he wouldn't object to playing the passive observer for a few rounds...if Weiss or Lady wanted to try their luck.
To that end, he shot his companions a look. One that seemed to ask if either of them felt particularly lucky today.
Former Hell, Chireiden: Peekaboo 2: Electric Boogaloo
Soaring through the gatehouse and up to the roof of the cave, Majora wasted no time making its way through Former Hell to the house of its closest (living) friend.
Returning to knock (and knock and knock and knock and knock and knock) just as the masked child had done the day before, one might find the scene to be laced with an eerie sense of deja vu, were it not for the ancient tortoise and Koishi actually answering the door this time.
"Koishi!" Majora cheered as his friend appeared. Much like the younger Komeiji, Majora's appearance hadn't changed either; a fact that made the masked child cackle at Koishi's question.
"It's me, silly! I came back to visit you! Though we still gotta find a place to hide—they're still looking for me!"
The last detail was accompanied with a barely-contained giggle, and a little adrenaline-charged hop from one foot to the other. Seems this game was getting more and more exciting!
Common Room: Put a Lock on the Front Door
"Many states find the Common Room portal to be an essential entry and exit point." Goro suggested to Battleworld's newest delegate. "Fortifying the area on the Netherworld's end will help minimize unwanted guests, and provide a small means to monitor the comings and goings of the state's citizens. For you, Tyrant Overlord, are not the only demon in the Netherworld who can access this room."
Did you know this section has a character limit?
Ruby and Yang - Not The Last Time They'll Be Witchhunting; , Mitakihara
Ruby and Yang similarly stowed their weapons and followed along, giving thanks to the soldiers as they passed by.
"And why didn't you want them to know about Walpurgisnacht?" Ruby added to Nero's question.
Weiss - Red Flags; The Conference Room of Gambling, Former Hell
In hindsight, Weiss was realizing that letting the Demon Hunter talk to the Demons might have been the wrong idea. Even if these demons were quite pleasant, looking more like old men than monstrous creatures, they still held derision for Lady's profession.
However, the more they spoke, the more off-put Weiss was getting. The setting, the casual treatment of large sums of money, the male-dominated conference table...
It reminded her way too much of the Schnee Dust Company's Board of Directors.
So when they offered to bet things other than money, alarm bells were going off in Weiss' head. This didn't feel benign, this felt like there was something more sinister at work
"While we appreciate your offer," Weiss began diplomatically. "We really must be going. Vergil is very dangerous, and any time we delay is time he has to cause chaos. Isn't that right, Lady?"
Blake - Red In The Ledger; Dining Hall, Red Sprite
Blake couldn't fully let herself agree with Hood and Maria. Even if lying low wasn't his modus operandi, there still could be a chance Vergil was here. But they were right as well, they had other places to search, and they couldn't afford to waste any more time. She couldn't stop the other from leaving either, and if they went off on their own and Vergil caught them, they wouldn't stand a chance.
"We have to go." She admitted with a sigh, before looking Alfred in the eye. "Please, if you find him, don't approach him. Evacuate this ship if you need to. I don't need your blood on my hands if anything happens here."
With a turn and a swoop of her coat, she followed Maria out of the portal and back into the Common Room.
Jaune and Pyrrha - Belated Introductions; Lounge, Chaldea
Jaune and Pyrrha followed the Servant and her Master into the portal, through the ornate observatory and into the side room where Mash served some tea.
Surprisingly, both teens knew how to sit and handle their teacups correctly, Pyrrha from having grown up in Mistral, and Jaune from having been a frequent visitor to the Kingdom in his youth.
Pyrrha spoke first, after taking a sip of her tea.
"No, we're not from Earth. And we heard the name from Dracula, while we were helping recover some stolen property he'd come into possession of. He didn't know much more about her besides the name, and pointed us in your direction, because you apparently knew of two of him."
"He thought we might be interested because, well..." Jaune gave an awkward shrug. "My name's Jaune. Jaune Arc."
Bond - Well He Can't Exactly Be Direct About It, Can He?; Common Room
And there went mini-Lady and blue-haired boy, towards a place called "The Zone". Either they were the advanced party, with more to follow, or they were suicidally over-confident. So he expected more to follow them shortly.
"Well, it's sort of a private matter." Bond said sheepishly. "But let's just say that a mutual friend of ours, a woman named Lady, had a disagreement with her. She's had some time to think it over, realized she acted a bit rash, and has sent me with apologies and an offer of assistance on a project she knows Minako is working on."
"I should probably give the room a check, shouldn't I? There's a good chance I've missed her already and will need to track her down. But before that, what were you hear to ask me about? You've yet to say."
They do have medals for almost, and they're called silver!
Joker's eyebrow raised at the apparent news that this woman was apparently more reasonable then expected, and was apparently willing to negotiate.
"That's a pretty rare trait, to be able to admit when you're wrong. Still, pretty cowardly to send someone else to do her talking for her. You'd think that if she was serious about the apology, she'd want to deliver it herself. It's not like she needs to worry about accidentally starting a fight in a place no one can fight in."
He'd see what kind of reaction that got out of the man. Then Bond questioned what he wanted, and Joker launched into his pre-planned excuse.
"I'm looking for a Japanese male, short, black hair, mid 40s, some stubble on his chin. Goes by the name of Itsuki. You happen to see anyone like that?"
Makoto shook her head as the men speculated that he might be dead already. "Perhaps, but we doubt it. This man, his name is Vergil, he's been going around the planet for the past few days now, killing anyone who gets in his way for motives we're still unsure of. But what we are sure of is that he's a threat to anyone he comes across. And we also suspect he's not human. He may have unexplained supernatural powers of some sort. Even if he only has a sword, your men are best advised to act with extreme caution. I don't suppose you happen to know if there's anything of particular value he might want that's here? Resources, weapons, that sort of thing?"
It would seem that the demon had said the wrong thing. Lady lowered her sunglasses, and for a brief moment, he would see a look in her eyes that might give him serious flashbacks to those "Demon Hunters of Old" that he spoke of before, and have to seriously consider whenever or not he was about to be shot. Then the look vanished and was replaced with a look that more said "How stupid do you think I am?"
"Let me tell you something. I take my debts seriously too. Very important thing. So the fact that you expect me, someone who just admitted to you that I don't even know the rules of the game you're playing, to carelessly gamble something as important as what you want out of me? I'll pass. I'm not the kind of stupid human you're clearly used to dealing with."
She turned around, trusting Weiss to act if the demon attempted something truly stupid. "You're quite right, Weiss. We're leaving now. Thank you for your time."
She started walking, and would leave unless stopped.
Mitakihara — Industrial Area, towards Central Ward
Mami shook her head as she glanced back at Nero. “Ordinary humans have no ability to detect magic, at least here. Even the damage done here by Walpurgisnacht was initially thought to be a freak storm. Had we told them about Witches and magic a week ago, I think they would have dismissed us as occult freaks.”
<In my experience, such a conclusion would probably have been the least damaging scenario.> Kyubey briefly quickened his pace so that he was next to Mami, allowing her to scoop him up into her arms. She turned around for a moment to let the others catch up, allowing him to continue. <More often, when normal humans who had learned of our universe’s magic attempted to harness it for their own ends, the results were…> Kyubey’s telepathic voice trailed off, his eyes shifting to Kyoko. <...catastrophic.> Kyoko’s own eyes looked back at Kyubey, a defensive glare of cold anger.
Mami’s own expression was a little pained as well, though she hid it behind a worried smile and a move to change topics: “I believe that was why Sakura-san was opposed to letting our secret out so openly. That, and...not all of us Magical Girls have had the best of interactions with civil authorities.”
Sid’s Bunker
Homura’s hand made a swift swipe at the offered extras, collecting them into Time Shield before Sid could change his mind. Her head, however, made a move to get more: “Would you consider a swap for additional rounds? I may have something that would allow you to branch out in your arms offerings, something that is probably unique around here, unless you have already come under attack by an interstellar empire before?”
Homura didn’t recall this Zone having been around when that space empire attacked a few days ago, and she still had the collection of laser blasters inside her Time Shield that she had been able to scavenge from their assault in Mitakihara’s industrial sector. She hadn’t tried to test one, though, mainly because she had had no space in Mitakihara to be able to do so without potentially causing everyone in a one kilometer radius to call the police in panic. Hopefully they still worked, or maybe the parts could be sold towards some laboratory or armory that could reverse-engineer it — either way, if she could sell Sid that maybe lasers might be able to do better against these bloodsuckers and whatever other threats reside in this zone, or at least if he could convince his normal stalker customers of the same...
The Grand Re-Vizier
Samurai Jack and the Demon Swordsman
Jack rolled out of the way of the blades of foul sorcery lancing toward him, only to lose sight of his foe! Jack searched cautiously. Had the demon chosen to run from him, seeing that the Samurai's skills in combat were a match for his own after all? Surely, one so prideful in his abilities would not be so cowardly...
No, the sensation of a slight but instant displacement of air, the ruffling of his coat as he moved at high speed...
Without giving any other indication that he knew, Jack ducked low to the ground under Vergil's charging slash, thrusting his sword back behind him and high to try and impale him, then spun into a low, sweeping circular kick to clear his perimeter and possibly trip the white-haired killer.
"Your sorcery and cheap tricks will not save you."
Glory to Arachnos
"Non human? Supernatural? Ain't that lovely." The spetsnaz said. Goddamnit, how they wished their situation returned back to normal...well. As normal as the Zone can get.
Degtyarev meanwhile, was in thought as Makoto asked him where this Vergil could possibly search for any kind of weapons or objects, and would then answer him after a few seconds.
"If this Vergil is looking for anything of worth, like gear or prototype weapons, he would be looking in the laboratorys of the Zone. Lab X-18, which is located in The Dark Valley, Lab X-16, located in Yantar, and Lab X-10, which is located in the Red Forest. Those places are extremely dangerous, but usually many report there are treasures to be found inside there. Though other things of interest would be the artifacts of the Zone, usually found near anomalies, he'll most definetely find the artifacts closer to the center of the Zone. While we do not know if it actually exists, there is the so called "Wish Granter" in the Chernobyl NPP, who is said to grant the wish of any stalker who finds it, but still, it's a rumour, but something that could interest your target."
Sidorovich raised a eyebrow at the suggestion to a trade. He is wondering what kind of thing she is willing to trade for some extra ammo.
"As far as I remember, the Zone never had a alien invasion happen before, even though people sometimes say aliens created the Zone, but yeah, let me see what you have to trade. And if it is pretty good, then yes, you'll have the ammo you want."
Strelok looked at the other weapons by Christophe, a deafening gun, a blinding gun, and a acid spraying gun. Well, those guys are pretty interesting. His SEVA suit helmet will protect him from breathing any possible toxins from the acid gun.
Guess it could work?
"I guess the bioblaster could work. Would I need to stock up ammo on this place?" He asked.
-Spider Lizard Noises-
Vampire Hunter
Demitri & Jedah, Common Room
As Jedah continued their conversation, Demitri walked over to Kruglov and his group.
"When the Cure decides he's done with a chunk or chunkless, he tosses it away by making it disappear," Demitri explained to them. "Non-natives end up being shunted to their last entry point into the chunk."
"Yes, I was shunted to the Common Room from the chunk that used to reside in your location, Laharl," Jedah stated, though mostly to Laharl than to the scientists.
Grant, Trevor & Shanoa, Fairy Tail Guild Hall
"Well, I don't use magic," Grant said in response to Ozen's question. "I am better than Trevor here at moving around and climbing though."
"Oh right... You are new to Battleworld," Trevor snapped his fingers when Tatl started mentioning ground vehicles. "The various chunks are not consistent timewise."
"One of our first encounters with Battleworld's peculiarities led to use riding on what I can only describe as a horseless carriage... one far faster than the horse-drawn ones I am used to," Trevor held up the phone. "This thing also seems to be a communication device that can connect to any other device like it to talk to other people."
"The former are called cars and the later are called phones, but—" Trevor stopped when Link interrupted him, and he closed his eyes to answer him. "Yes, it does feel alive."
"An SE-Plug?" Shanoa asked Mirajane as if that was an unfamiliar word.
B.B. Hood, Dining Hall, Red Sprite
B.B. Hood stopped for a moment and dug through her basket to pull out another of those phone devices before handing it off to Alfred who seemed more reasonable than Garnet was.
"If you find Vergil in your ship, you call us immediately using the numbers saved onto this phone," B.B. Hood showed Alfred how exactly to use said phone by using it to call her own number. Once satisfied that he knew how to use a phone, B.B. Hood joined the others in leaving.
Edited by GameGuruGG on Apr 3rd 2019 at 4:41:36 AM
Wizard Needs Food Badly
Vector, Magitek Research Facility: And to Think: This is the Second Monster Lab Break-Out in This Game Day!
As they walked through a district of the city which made the portal area seem like a beach resort (albeit at low tide), Misaki and the Dog walked a generous pace behind their bizarre tour guide.
"There a reason why we're humoring this guy?" Misaki's bodyguard muttered.
"Because we're dealing with a research facility of our own." Misaki replied in the same low tone. "Nishijima hasn't approached him yet, but he soon will. Before that happens, I'd like Doctor Cid to be in our camp."
The Dog made a short calculation, and nodded. "I'll try not to laugh at him."
Misaki shot her the briefest of smiles as if to say "you and me both," before turning her eyes straight ahead.
Upon entering the research facility itself, the tourists found sweet sweet relief from that overbearing stench, and walked briskly to catch up with their guide through the factory. Granted, they only swapped one form of sensory overload for another, but at least the sound of mass production was a tad more manageable.
When Doctor Cid proudly displayed the Magitek Armor assembly line, Misaki stared down at the work, then nodded and raised her eyebrows as a sign that she was impressed. It was the reaction she judged Doctor Cid was hoping for, and while the statement was impressive in and of itself, she couldn't help but look down at the finished product and feel like she'd seen it before: the forward facing guns, the bipedal hind-legged design, it seemed eerily familiar to her, and she couldn't pin why.
She found the reason just a half-second before the alarms rang out: this factory produced primitive AT-S Ts.
The lights turned red, and sirens drowned out even the industrial clangs. As the facility rumbled with the Esper prison break, the Dog pulled out her concealed hand gun and grabbed onto Misaki's shoulder. The sudden appearance of a monster brought the weapon trained straight between Maduin's eyes, but Misaki nudged the weapon aside for now; she didn't know what this thing was, let alone if bullets could even hurt it.
Turned out that not shooting the thing was the right choice: seems the good doctor made for one terrible warden, and this creature had been one of the prisoners. That alone wasn't enough to prove it wasn't a ruthless demon or anything, but the fact it chose to spare Doctor Cid was a cautious nudge in the right direction. Not enough for the Dog to take her finger off the trigger, or for Misaki to keep her hand away from her holstered pistol, but enough to convince them that they might have other problems on their hands.
Vector, Outside Research Facility: Death of A Salesman Horned-Demon Guy
Maduin's feat of strength brought some concern, but still...this thing wasn't harming anyone yet. If they had any evidence the creature was looking to hurt the citizens of Vector—even if it was out of understandable revenge—Misaki might have given her bodyguard the order. But the monster did nothing more than push workers aside to set them free, and hobble out of the facility. This thing acted less like a hungry wolf stalking the flock, and more like a wounded dog searching for a safe place to lie down—to die.
So Misaki and the Dog followed Maduin towards the portal; the latter taking point and searching for empty routes, the former walking beside the Esper and offering to support his weight when he faltered. When the pitiful monster failed to walk, Misaki helped ease him against the facility's wall. The Dog stood guard with her gun at the ready.
No cuts, not bruises, no external wounds she could apply first aid to, Misaki released her holster and searched for her phone. If she could contact Kobayashi and get a surgeon to...to what, drive an ambulance through a foreign city? Operate out in the street? Try to save a creature that didn't have human anatomy? Or maybe she should find Doctor Cid and lock him up again? Treat the Esper's wounds with the same hands that inflicted them in the first place. Maduin was right: he was going to die here. The question now facing Misaki was what to do about it.
She stared in Maduin's eyes and felt a pit grow in her stomach. She was no stranger to death; her job before Battleworld involved investigating Contractor activity—a group of individuals that left more corpses than witnesses. Yet there had been very few instances where she'd witnessed someone die—where she'd seen the subtle transition from "being someone" to "had been someone" pass through the eyes.
When was the last time she'd watched that happen? Grand Moff Tarkin? No, the Clone Commando had been in the way. All the stormtroopers she'd seen die wore helmets, so she didn't see that shift there, either. The last time she'd seen those lights die out was at the Qing Long Tang's hotel; the eyes belonged to her childhood friend, Alice Wang. Killed for putting her faith in the wrong person.
Now, staring into the eyes of the dying creature—her rescuer, to some degree—that night at the hotel flooded back. The white dress with the crimson hand print, the betrayed look on Alice's motionless face, the smug indifference of her killer. Misaki's own helpless position in the scene—not entirely helpless, in retrospect; she could've at least told Alice she was sorry. To tell her not everyone had abandoned or forgotten her, before the light went out.
What a bizarre connection from A to B this was; if only her bodyguard could know the thoughts going through Misaki's head right now! She had no real reason to trust what Maduin had to say, let alone had any proof or authority to denounce this Empire. But those five little words—"Will you stay with me?"—sent a pin through her heart.
"Of course." she said at last.
She could do that, at the very least. So long as the Empire's forces didn't find them. So long as Maduin could still breathe. She could stay by his side, and wait for the light to go out.
The Zone, Lukash's Office: Infighting? Like THAT Would Ever Happen Back Home!
The Director's eyes narrowed as his own sign of disapproval—or was that skepticism? Hard to say what this mute was thinking; he had the poker face of a politician.
It was a good thing Lukash probably couldn't guess Horai's thoughts, too; otherwise he'd discover the newcomer preferred Duty's philosophy over Freedom's. It was the responsibility of those in power to protect those under their charge; abnormalities that could neither be fully crushed nor controlled were liabilities at best, and potential catastrophes at worst. Horai had lived through the outcome of one war against Contractors—he'd been determined to make this second one the last.
Of course, this damn planet changed everything. Everything but his need to keep his city safe, at any cost.
The Director made the (surprisingly difficult) effort to stay in the present, and typed a new question for Lukash:
Expecting the leader of Freedom to express some small protest, Director Horai held up a palm as if to gesture that he wasn't finished writing. Sure enough, he continued the message:
It was a lie, of course, but not one that Lukash could easily refute. It wasn't like the Freedom leader could point to the map of Battleworld. And the Director did seem to know much more about their common predicament than he was currently sharing.
CXZ - Sid's Bunker
Homura reached back into her Time Shield and withdrew a strangely-crafted weapon
; her needing both hands to hold it once it was out of her Time Shield would give Sidorovich a good look at it. She selected the one that looked to be in the best shape, though even then it would be obvious that this wasn't exactly in mint condition. Nonetheless, she set it down on the counter and stepped back, her right hand hovering near her Time Shield on the off chance Sid decided now was the time to use his merchandise.
Armory - Palace - Vector
Ryuuou smiled wickedly at the description of the Noiseblaster, her eyes almost lighting up like a child opening a Christmas gift.
"Humans and even monsters react hilariously at sudden blasts of noise," she said. "I can get quite a bit of entertainment out of it before I grow bored. I shall be taking it, Tatsu will carry it for now."
The serving girl with brown hair approached and put her serving tray in one hand, holding her other hand out expectantly for the Noiseblaster to be placed in her grasp.
Maeve, however, was less impressed by the new items.
"I'm not partial to the means used by these new weapons," she explained to the Quartermaster. "Your crossbow is already quite the impressive feat."
Mitakihara Mall(?)/Weird Place
"I've been drinking since I was twelve and nobody's ever thought that was too young, you kids look older than that," Cana shrugged, and pulled the bottle back, taking another swig of it. She exhaled, her breath heavy with the stench of liquor, then capped the bottle again and set it down.
"You know... I'm starting to think that you girls have something you're trying to hide...." She gave Sayaka a quizzical glance after her 'explanation'. She yawned and stretched her arms out, reclining slightly from her seated position.
"So a witch, huh? Like some sort of mage?" she added as she stretched. "You gals got any idea why she was trying to mess with me and Kanda over here? And you seem to have some way of finding her, if you're here and all that, think we can find out where she's at and give her a good beating? She's bound to have a decent-sized bounty on her, isn't she?"
Fairy Tail Guild Hall - Mirajane
"Yeah, an SE-Plug. Self Energy Plug? For channeling your magic into a car or train to power it?... You don't have those, heh?" Mirajane simultaneous explained and asked. Was Grant really calling in a horseless carriage? Just what did these people even use magic for if they didn't even have that - just for killing things?
She reached into her dress and pulled out a small rectangular device that fit in her palm, holding it out with the screen facing up. A bunch of little squares with pictures of her friends were on it, like Erza, while some grayed-out pictures were at the bottom with images of people like a girl who had the same hair color as her, and a bulky man whose face filled up the entire contact box.
"This is a communications lacrima - a tiny one - for calling people," she explained, looking at Trevor and the other Castlevanian. "It kind of works the same way as an SE-Plug in a car does, but it uses a lot less power. Think you guys and your fones can call me on it?"
Duty Base - Rostok - The Zone
"Argee Six, huh...." Lucy thought out loud. "Yeah, sure, that sounds like something we can do."
"Aye... sir...." Happy said sluggishly, sort of rolling over to give a salute before slowly getting back to his feet.
"What do you need it for?" Lucy added. "You want to have it just to have it? Or are you trying to build your own. If you are then it might be easier for me to sneak some schematics out than a whole... you know, a whole thing."
She tried to make a gesture with her hands like she was indicating a giant bag and then slinging it over her shoulder.
"So then you want me to destroy the ones they have while I'm at it? Or if I'm not able to sneak out with one, that sound like a good backup? You know, for getting paid and all that... what were you thinking of paying, anyway?"
Sakura Dungeon Gardens
The Tribeswoman shrugged her shoulders and shook her head.
"I don't know," she said. "Tiny over here just came over and started asking things. Wants to be tough and fight things. We could always use more people to be fighting things alongside, I think."
Bamboo Forest/Panda Town - Sakura Dungeon
The Panda looked a little concerned at the Fox Knight, then looked down at Twitch and Veigar, then back to the Fox Knight, once more to the two shorties for good measure, and then back to looking at the group as a whole.
"If you say so...." she said, not sounding particularly confident. "I've never heard of a Yordle...."
"Well I know what a Fox Knight can do," she added, smiling at Amalie, then frowning a little when she looked back at the yordle and rat. "But what about you two? How can you help out? You don't even look big enough to help with building anything, and too tiny to really be fighting monsters."
I have a plan.
Vector Armory — The Doors
General Christophe lightened up when his guests took more interest in the gear on display. Even Strelok took some curiosity, and given how high-tech his armor was, he must have had come from a pretty advanced place. "Well, Strelok, there's a few full canisters of Bio-formula in this box right here. Each can should last you for a few days each. I wish I could offer you more, but we don't make much ammunition for prototype weapons that might not even see the field."
General Christophe walked over to a crate made from corrosion-resistant plastic, and carefully opened the lid of the crate so Strelok could take some spare ammunition. There were about six small canisters in the crate, each no larger than the average soda can, and all were designed to be placed on a special slot under the barrel of the bulky weapon, easily feeding the corrosive contents into the weapon.
"Some of these weapons were created to have non-lethal applications. It's a sound strategy to take as many of the enemy aliv—" Before the good general could continue, the bright lighting in the armory suddenly turned an overbearing red.
"Another false alarm?" General Christophe muttered. "Excuse me, everyone. I'm afraid I'm going to have to cut this demonstration short. Our security system is going off, and who knows how long it'll take until it's over. It's nothing to worry about, this sort of thing has been happening a lot recently, and we've never found ourselves to be in any sort of danger here in Vector. You can keep whatever interests you. Leave through the south door when you're done. There will be some men in the hallway to escort you."
General Christophe left the guests for the bowels of the Imperial Palace. He assumed that everyone would be wise enough not to take more than what they were offered. After all, stealing experimental Imperial weaponry was punishable by death at the gallows.
As soon as Christophe left, the armory was now devoid of any Imperial personnel. One door sat in the north side of the room, which was left open as General Leo passed through. There was the door to the south, which lead back through the halls and into the dining room, still open if anyone wanted to head back towards the entrance. And another door was off towards the west, also open.
"Don't trust the Empire..." a deep voice rang from the western door. "The Empire will soon find out that this is no 'false alarm', and when they do... They'll be looking for someone to blame... It could be you..."
The lights in the armory flickered off for a few seconds, and the floor shook and rumbled, knocking a few priceless weapons and suits of armor over. Once the floor stopped shaking, the voice spoke again.
"You can follow the General's instructions, and take your chances with his men... Or you can follow my voice. I know a way out of this horrible place..."
After the voice spoke, voices started to emit from the southern hallway, along with multiple heavy footsteps all approaching towards the armory.
"Make your choices quickly!" the voice shouted.
Vector — Outside Research Facility
Maduin started to cough again, with a bit more blood running down his lip. But though it was clear he was in excruciating pain and fading away quickly, there was a look of relief on his face. "Thank you," Maduin said, shifting a claw onto his chest.
"I suppose I should start by telling you everything the Empire has been trying to keep secret. My kind are known as the Espers. We were created over a thousand years ago by the Gods, who used us as their soldiers as they went to war with one another. Eventually, our creators realized they were on the path to ruining the world, so they sealed themselves away, and granted us free will. But without the Gods to steward us, humanity moved to take our powers for their own gain. A second war broke out, and that time, the world was destroyed, just as the Gods feared. We decided then that it was no longer feasible to coexist with mankind, so we created a new world where we could oversee the sleeping Gods."
Maduin closed his eyes.
"This all happened before my time, honestly. I'm... not as old as I look," he joked. "One day, about twenty years ago, a human found our world. I was the guardian of the Esper world, so it was my job to keep any prying eyes away from our home. But I couldn't do it. She was young, and badly wounded, and she had no other place to go. I nursed her back to health, knowing full well that if I sent her back to her homeland, she could tell the rest of her kind where we lived. In the end, she decided to stay with me. We... had a child together... We wanted to show both worlds that coexistence really is possible..."
Maduin's fists clenched a little. The memories here were far more painful than his internal injuries.
Gestahl found our world soon after. Before we could defend ourselves, his army took most of us captive. Gestahl... killed my wife... Took my daughter... There were so many of us when Gestahl invaded our world. Now there are six. While we were trapped inside of Cid's machines, the few of us left made a pact. If we were going to die in this living hell, we'd do so on our own terms. I found a way to break us all free, but after everything Cid has done, I doubt any of us are going to make it much longer."
Maduin suddenly sprang with a bit of energy, taking Misaki's hand forcibly. "Listen to me. My daughter is alive. I know it. If the Empire isn't using her to fuel their war machines, then they've raised her as a living weapon. Her name is Terra. Terra Branford. She has blond hair, like her mother... She'd be eighteen years old by now."
Maduin's bloodshot pierced straight into Misaki's soul. "These are my final requests. Don't let our powers fall into the wrong hands. Don't let the Empire destroy everything that is good and true about the world. Find Terra... Protect her... She's the only one of us left..."
Maduin went silent, his eyes still looking into Misaki. He was no longer moving or breathing, and his hand went limp.
As soon as it seemed Maduin was dead, he vanished into the aether in the blink of an eye. There was no sound, no rush of air, nothing to suggest that he had ever been with Misaki in the first place. All that was left in his place was a deep green crystal with a red core, now lying on the ground where he sat.
Edited by TailsDoll on Apr 4th 2019 at 11:47:59 AM
"@[=g3,8d]&fbb=-q]/hk%fg"
Vampire Hunter
Trevor & Grant, Fairy Tail Guild Hall
"Oh, we know we can," Trevor said confidently to Mirajane. "We are pretty sure that the Cure is actually enabling communications between similar devices."
"We think Jaune's group and their friends use a different sort of technology for their devices as well since he was surprised that his device worked in space," Trevor shrugged again while Grant put in Mirajane's contact information into his own phone.
"Done," Grant said as he then called Mirajane's communications lacrima.
"As for cars, apparently those on Battleworld work because of a non-magical solution," Trevor once more shrugged again. "The people at Devil May Cry says it is because of an internal combustion engine, which seems particularly dangerous to me."
Edited by GameGuruGG on Apr 4th 2019 at 10:24:51 AM
Wizard Needs Food Badly
Netherworld, Laharl's Castle: Peckish for Pudding
Princess Jai studied the fridge's contents with a heavy heart. Of course there would be no royal pudding here. This refrigerator was only fit for a baron; maybe a viscount, at best. After all, what king or queen in their right mind would make room for flan and not pudding? What kind of bumpkin trash owned this refrigerator?!
No. No, she couldn't bear the sight of this muck. Avert your eyes, sweet sunbeam child—these are the desserts of heathens. So closing the refrigerator door with just the tip on her fingers (mitigating her contact with the chilled garbage can), Princess Jai shook her head and asked Flonne:
"Know where I can find pudding?"
Vector, Outside Research Facility: RIP
Throughout Maduin's confession, Misaki tried to hold at least some form of professionalism, though she kept the sympathy where it belonged. She tapped a button on her phone before the Esper began speaking, and held it out between Maduin and herself. Judging by the ascending numbers on the screen, the dying creature might deduce that it was recording his voice.
Whatever Esper power the Gestahl Empire still possessed was likely in their machines. If their supply had just whittled from six to possibly one, then it was only a matter of time before Vector ran out of power.
...or until they seized a new source from somewhere else.
If Maduin was telling the truth, then Misaki and the Dog had just walked into a city about to take a drastic step—they were going to invade another state.
With the thought of war on her mind, Misaki watched the light fade from the Esper's eyes. But before she could check for a pulse, the creature had vanished. She studied the little crystal that lay in his place, and picked it up.
"Where'd he go?" her bodyguard asked.
"I don't know." Misaki said as she stared at the object in her hand. "But we can't stand around here. We need to find Doctor Cid."
"Why?"
"Because one way or another, he's probably our best chance at stopping Vector from starting a war."
As they walked back towards the door Maduin smashed through, Misaki sent the Esper's confession to her associate in the Common Room, along with a warning that Vector was likely about to get aggressive with its neighbors. The message ended with two words:
Common Room: Make the Call
As Jedah explained one of the grizzlier common phenomena of the planet, Goro felt his cell phone vibrate in his inner suit pocket. He retrieved the machine, studied the message, and then the globe, and politely excused himself from the conversation.
He had a phone call to make.
Fairy Tail, Guild Hall: "Master: by My Calculations, 27% of This Post is Composed of Headcanon Shit."
Mirajane's explanation of the Self-Energy plug was probably a bit more grim than her tone suggested.
"So you feed your magic to this...thing, and it gets you to places faster?" Tatl's voice sounded almost nauseous. For a creature composed of magic, the description sounded like using a mechanical horse powered by feeding it your blood.
The introduction to another (but somehow different) magic rectangle only fueled Tatl's interest in the machines more.
Floating over to Grant, the fairy watched how he used the device to contact Mirajane through her device. "It's starting to look like everybody on this planet has one of these magic rectangles. You know where my partner and I can get one? I don't think there's a postman running around like there is back home."
Meanwhile, Link studied Mr. Belmont's response with an empathetic (and a rather tender) expression. He returned to his notepad and started to quickly scribble out his reason for asking:
He paused to gather the right words, then added:
Edited by TheodoreHastings on Apr 5th 2019 at 2:14:08 AM
Anti-Gnosis Weapon
Manhattan, East Midtown Rooftop
"Hey, I didn't choose the name!" the object of the Contractor's ire protested, holding up his palms defensively as the rookie hogging the doorway moved aside and let her pass with no hassle. The Man-Who-Would-Have-Been-Arachna-Lad turned to the lady who had made the snide comment earlier. "Hey, you don't think it's a stupid name, do—Uhhhhh..."
She had vanished into thin air, just like Molly. And he hadn't even gotten her name this time. "Okaaaay, let's not freak out..."
The rookie freaked out, and our hero decided it was past time to get out of dodge.
Manhattan, East Midtown Streets
Immediately in front of Anna and her 'pappy' as they exited on the ground floor was a blue wooden bench upon which two people were sitting, the street just in front of them declared "BUS STOP" in typical yellow paint. A few cabs of precisely the same shade of yellow crawled down the road through multicolored but mostly nondescript traffic from her left to her right.
On the lady's immediate right was a high-end dress shop, though there seemed to be nothing remarkable down that end of the sidewalk beyond. To her left there were a number of posters advertising events pasted to the wall, followed by a pizza parlor, and a liquor store. In front of the latter was a red newspaper dispenser selling its informative contents for $2.50 (a steal, or highway robbery?). If she bothered to glimpse inside, the high-minded woman would be met with the front cover
◊, upon which a number of headlines were printed, along with today's date: October 31st, 2018
Manhattan, Times Square
"Yes, I'm sure your trident and plasma cannon are very dangerous," the Asian woman replied to the Omega Squadmates dryly, hands on her hips "but just because you're super alpha commandos doesn't mean you're allowed to play where the police have said not to go, understand?"
"Sure thing, Miss!" An officer with a pencil mustache tipped his hat to the blunette wizard, then pointed directly behind her. "Just cross the street here and then to your left, and you'll find an information booth on the sidewalk to your right. Bright yellow; can't miss it!"
Before anyone could make another move, one of the other officers cleared his throat nervously. "Um, Ma'am?"
"What is it?"
The apparent source of her subordinate's discomfort became clear as the source of the childlike voice she had filed away as a Spider-fan walking by on the street appeared in her line of vision and asked his question. On the other side of the tape. She sighed in exasperation, but smiled in spite of his transgression. He was such a polite little boy! And his costume was so well-made, too! Low-budget, but creative. It was just her style. Resting her elbows lightly on her knees, she crouched down to the level of the kid with two-colored eyes.
"Listen, I don't know exactly where Spider-Man is right now, but if you promise to keep it a secret, I can call him for you, okay? But first, you have to come back out under that tape, deal?" She offered her hand under the barrier.
"They came out of that blue light, Ma'am," the officer to her right said tightly.
"What?" Her head whipped up, and she took in the details of the two other new arrivals who were suddenly near the anomaly. Black hair, Asian, thin, green outfit, two guns(?) at his hips. Red hair, Caucasian, thin, white and pink outfit, giant hammer(?) strapped to her back.
Out of that blue light, Ma'am. We just came from that portal. Trident. Plasma cannon. Pistols. Hammer—
She was already rising to her feet when a hand grabbed the collar of her jacket and pulled her, stumbling, behind her quartet of men. "Captain, get back!"
By this point, all of the uniformed officers had drawn their sidearms, moving seamlessly as a team to aim one each at Tristana, Fizz, Ren, and Nora. "Drop your weapons!" one of them barked, gaze hard, "Now!"
Manhattan, Sugar Hill, Church
Before Balthier or anyone else could reply, Father Frost suddenly gasped and pointed behind the sky pirate. Realizing what the priest was seeing (or rather, not seeing), Officer Ward's eyes widened in shock as well.
"Your skeletal friends! They've... they've disappeared!"
GM of AGOG S4: Frontiers RP; Sub-GM of TABA, SOTR, & UUA RPs
Tatsu watched the girl's reactions with a faintly amused smile, not looking insulted or upset in the slightest. After she looked like she was cringing so hard her face might get stuck that way, he chuckled and put his hand on her head. "Don't worry, we do know the limits it has. It's not a perfect thing, but it removes a big problem with being stealthy in an airship. Since if they don't know we're there, they've got no reason to be suspicious of anything. And we have ways of keeping track of where other ships are, or if they're nearby."
Removing his hand, the young captain then question. "What is a plane? You say aircraft, which I'm guessing is something different to an airship?"
Alfred relaxed slightly when he heard that the man's ability to teleport was likely limited in range to some degree, the seriousness of the situation lessening. He wasn't going to treat it any less seriously, but he felt that being hidden away within clouds at least a thousand feet up at minimum since they'd arrived was probably beyond this Vergil's ability to reach. But if these people were this worried, it meant they weren't aware of that fact. And he wasn't going to divulge it too them, either. The other one, Nyarlathotep, was more of a worry.
"Thank you for the information. We won't forget your help." He addressed Tsubaki, nodding. "We'll start a search for them soon, but it will take some time to do properly. If they're as dangerous as you're saying, then we want to be as ready as possible for the worst outcome."
Noticing the less than friendly reactions and demeanours of some of the girls, Alfred glanced aside at Garnet, looking unimpressed. Meeting Blake's gaze once he turned his attention back towards the group, the young soldier looked almost apologetic. "We'll try. But, with the way things are here, neither of those things may be possible I'm afraid."
They'd come to learn that only certain people could leave through the portal, and if a fight broke out, chances are it would be over before they could start getting people evacuated. Regardless of who won.
Alfred thanked the young girl that handed him a wireless phone, one that managed to fit in the palm of his hand. It was far beyond anything he'd seen before, and the possibilities of its use was mindblowing. You could get in contact with someone almost anywhere, at almost any time. It was an invaluable asset.
Once the girls had left, the teen turned to look at Garnet sternly. "We'll talk about that later. For now, start grabbing whoever you can spare from here for a search."
"Yeah yeah, alright..." The young man grumbled, knowing he'd messed up.
As she glanced back over her shoulder to reply, Delfi's tone was calm. Almost too calm. "You talk like you know what it was like back home for me. And like your situation was in any way similar."
The comment on how she would feel about being forced earned Ceri a flat, cold stare. Leaving the books for the moment, the tanned girl spun herself around to face the other woman. Curious about the apparent lengths the girl would have went to avoid marrying a man, in a morbid way. She didn't see how it mattered.
Drawing on her power, Delfi stared silently at the adventurer for a moment, reading what she could. It was disappointing.
She was tangled mess of awkwardness, somehow uncomfortable or uncertain about near any thing she said or did. Right at that moment she was even embarrassed and annoyed at herself, for how she was speaking it seemed. The girl was a pushover, and Delfi wondered just how she'd been an 'adventurer'. It seemed she had been less ready to end it, and more simply resigned to whatever happened. "Was death really so preferable to going home?"
Glory to Arachnos
"Really?" Fizz said quite annoyed to Juvia, both Tristana and him giving a look to Juvia that make them look not that pleased at being considered kids by the officers, and having them held by her like some kind of misbehaving kids. Worst of all, it seemed like the officers still didn't took them seriously! Ugh, this is beyond embarrasing.
Suddenly some humans and a kid appeared out of nowhere from the portal, and finally the officers realized they were not kids, but yordle...though then the officers pointed their guns at them and threatened them to drop their weapons.
The yordles would try to break the hold Juvia had on their hands, and would raise their arms in the air, as if showing they meant no harm, though they didn't seem that concerned about the fact they had guns pointed to them.
"Come on, we come in peace, we even told you!" Fizz said to the officers. "Is this how you treat non humans or what?"
"I think you folks might wanna calm down." Tristana spoke next. "I ain't gonna drop Boomer to the ground, considering that one of Bandle City's military rules are to always stick with your gun to the end. We don't wanna fight you, but we will if you keep that rude atttitude!"
Sidorovich examined the weapon and looking at the scope, it seemed pretty decent and the design was something that he never seen before, it kind of had the style of the weird prototype guns the Monolith stalkers had that could kill a exoskeleton wearing stalker in one shot.
He rubbed his chin after a moment, before reaching for a crate, placing 6 5.56 ammo clips and 5 m203 grenades on the table for Homura to pick it up.
"Pleasure doing business with ya, miss."
Veigar ears and eyes started twitching once the Panda dared mention the word "Tiny" to him. Twitch took notice of that and laughed, before he spoke to the panda.
"We're pretty good at fighting actually! We fought against things that were larger than our size during the great war, and we are experienced in many kinds of combat tactics. Guerilla warfare, hit and run, spray and pray, hand to hand, whatever you call! We can promise you that whatever troubles you have, we'll handle it with ease with our skills!"
"We need one of those to help us in combat with our enemies," Voronin answered Lucy. "Whenever it'll be mutants, bandits, or whatever the Zone spawns to fight us, due to the destructive powers it has should serve us greatly. And the idea sounds fine, actually. If you can't sneak them out, then sabotage works too. Still, your safety comes first, so do be careful. There is still a chance that they have that weapon outside their base though, so try speaking with Chef and give him some vodka so he can talk."
He rubbed his chin at her question about reward.
"How would 50,000 sound? That, and we can give you a item of choice, such as armor, weapons or ammo. We also can put a good word for stalkers and people in here."
Lukash nodded when Horai asked him if Strelok was a free agent.
"Yes, he could be considered one. He is part of the Loners, or Free Stalkers. They're the most common stalker one can find in the Zone here, usually roaming the Zone for adventure, treasure or money. As for the other factions of the Zone, there are the Bandits. The worst of the worst, most of them are criminals or members of the russian mafia that travelled to the Zone to escape from the law. Many of them are hostile and not worth your time, though thankfully the have barely any presence here, only noticeable in the south of the Zone. There's the ecologists, a group of scientists from Ukraine who are studying the Zone for the benefits it can bring to the outside world, whenever it is technology, science or medicine. They are a quite friendly bunch and we sometimes aid them out in the researches. Then there is the Mercenaries. A PMC with members from all parts of the world. Russia, Germany, Spain, France, the USA, you name it. The name of the firm they work for is not known to us though. They are a....complicated bunch, some of them act like professionals, some of them are basically heavily armored bandits. We try to be reasonable to them the best we can, though we had conflicts sometimes in the past with some groups of them."
After Horai would take in the information, he would speak once again. "Other than the possible mutant roaming about, monolith invasion or rare bandit raid, there's not much trouble to be had here. We have a strong control of this place, so trading here can work with no problem here."
Strelok gave a nod to Christophe as he explained him about the ammunition, and took the ammo to spare, examining the gun before the general suddenly had to leave for some kind of alarm.
...This gave him a bad feeling for some reason.
A voice rang out of one of the doors of the room, warning them of the Empire and to follow it. He looked at Ryuuou and Maeve. "I'm not sure about you two, but I want to know what's happening with this place."
He would take out his AK-74 and went to the way of the western door, looking for where the source of the voice was.
-Spider Lizard Noises-
Armory - Palace - Vector - Maeve and Ryuuou (and Staff)
"Very well," Maeve said, picking up the crossbow and looking over it; the serving girl secured the Noiseblaster for future use. Maeve was so caught up with inspecting the crossbow that she nearly fumbled it when the new voice came, zeroing in on where it was.
"Fascinating..." she said to herself, thinking on it. It seemed like this Empire didn't have quite the grasp over its people as they claimed. Figured. Governments were always putting on airs. And the lack of an Adventurers Guild definitely made them suspicious.
"Same," she said to Strelok. She slung the crossbow over her shoulder, as well as a quiver of bolts for good measure, and started to race towards the western door... and then came to a stop ten feet later, looking back.
"Fuwaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa," Ryuuou yawned, stretching her arms up and pressing her shoulder blades together, standing in place. She blinked, and looked at Maeve staring at her. She shrugged. "Make me."
"I swear..." Maeve grumbled, then ran over to Ryuuou, threw her into a bridal carry, and then followed after Strelok, her legendary gams working doubletime to make up for lost time until they caught up, then keeping pace alongside him. "Guess we're in this together now, I'll keep to the right, you watch the left."
The two serving girls, of course, maintained a respectable distance behind, as servants should.
Fairy Tail Guild Hall - Mirajane
"Ooooh," Mirajane said, her lacrima communicator lighting up. She held it up and pressed the button to speak into it. "Hello, this is Mirajane, teehee."
She hung up and held it up so the camera was facing ahead. "Say cheeeeese," she said, snapping a photo. Then she zoomed in on Trevor's face and assigned it to the contact number he dialed with. "You have one of these too?" she asked Shanoa.
"I don't know where you can get one of these specifically," she added to Tatl. "Cana could make you spell cards for talking to certain people at least, but she's not in here at the moment. I'm sure you'll find some, though!"
Times Square - Manhattan - Juvia
"Why thank you, we'll just be on our way and... and... damn it!" Just when it looked like they could just pretend to be normal tourists, things all went to hell. It was just like the Alvarez Empire. Thankfully these people seemed a lot more normal, so hopefully there was an easy way out of all this. She followed suit and lifted her hands up, though at around shoulder-height instead of all the way up, like she was trying to ask them to calm down with her hands. She sighed.
"Why does everything always go wrong! First I'm stuck here without Gray, and then I... I have to go to someplace that treats us like we're criminals!" Juvia grumbled and complained, frowning. Quite a ways up above her head, a small raincloud formed, lightly sprinkling down on everything in the area within a few dozen yards of Juvia.
Sakura Dungeon Library
"We don't," Yomi explained to Morrigan with a smile. "At least, not in the sense you're thinking of. All of us monsters are ultimately what you might consider to be nature spirits. We are born from nature itself into immortal bodies, and don't have to deal with that pesky birth and childhood business the same way humans, elves, and animals would have to."
She twirled her umbrella slightly.
"Does that answer your question, or do you need to go more in-depth?"
"W-what, I... I wouldn't word it like that," Ceri replied to Delfi, somewhat surprised. "That's just how adventuring goes, you need to keep going into deadlier and deadlier dungeons until you're a strong and famous hero like Maeve. But... we can't all be her, so if you don't get lucky enough to find a dangerous monster to slay or princess to rescue, you have to keep on finding new dungeons to delve into. And if you fight things that are strong enough to overpower you and win a fight..."
She blushed slightly.
"Well things worked out for me in the end so I'd rather not think about back then anymore."
Panda Town - Sakura Dungeon
"I don't think we'll have to fight any gorillas," the Panda explained, somewhat confused at all the words. She scratched her head.
"Come on, give them a shot!" the Fox Knight pleaded. "I would really appreciate it, and you don't have anything to lose by having more people helping you."
"Well okaaaay..." the Panda was still a little reluctant. "I know."
She walked over to the edge of the bamboo forest and lashed out with her paws, cutting one of the bamboo shoots right out of the wood, and then slicing out a few sections with another few slashes. When she was done, she had a pair of staff-sized bamboo shoots held in her hands, and she walked back over to Twitch and Veigar.
"Spar each other," she said plainly, and held out the two bamboo staves. "I'll watch."
Did you know this section has a character limit?
Bond - Coming To A Close; Common Room
"She's unfortunately busy at the moment." Bond answered. "Something urgent came up. Old enemy wreaking havoc, had to be put down, something like that."
"And unfortunately I can't say I've seen him, though I have been spending a bit too much time on this." He pulled his phone from his pocket and gave it a little wave. "Might have missed him. Sorry."
Ren and Nora - Five Seconds Into Their First Trip to America, and They're Held At Gunpoint; Times Square, Manhattan
The words "same world as Genosha" did not inspire confidence in Ren and Nora, given their much different experience with the place. They'd reserve judgement for when they met this hero themselves, but for now they followed behind Maki and tried to control their grimaces.
They followed Maki as he walked up to a friendly woman who seemed to be a police officer, though she didn't seem to understand they'd come through the portal. And when she was told, their reaction... wasn't the greatest.
Nora would try to grab Maki by the shoulder and pull him behind her, knowing her was considerably less bulletproof than she was, and then both teens would put their hands in the air.
"The last time we went somewhere without our weapons our friend was attacked by a giant bird." Nora replied.
"Please, we mean neither you or the people of this city any harm." Ren pleaded. "But only yesterday a friend of ours was attacked by someone I trusted. You can understand why we wish not to leave ourselves defenseless."
"Would it help if I told you that we're a Huntsman and a Huntress? Do you have those? People trained to fight bad guys and protect the innocent with our awesome superpowers?" Nora added.
They do have medals for almost, and they're called silver!
Manhattan, East Midtown Streets: Anna's Face Right Now
◊
No accusatory arachnid-aligned annoyances could stop Anna from fleeing the scene with her Doll in tow. At last, sweet deliverance! Manhattan lay before her once again!
Trekking down the street with her head held high, the Contractor remained ignorant to the change the friendly neighborhood Spider-Man had tried to warn her about. Despite the abundance of digital signs, the two-decade jump forward in fashion, and the myriad of pedestrians with their eyes locked to their cell phone screens, the mirage still captivated Anna.
In all fairness to the Contractor's rational mind, the contrast she saw between the city of Peter Parker and David Xanatos were rather minimal, in no small part because Anna's exposure to both were also minimal. The lines were even further blurred with her own expectations; she was a modern woman after all, and found cell phones and hi-def screens as commonplace as window mannequins and the blaring horns of city traffic. This was Manhattan, and—both in her mind, and in the present facts of Battleworld—there was no other.
So when the scales finally were lifted from her eyes, it was by something everyone else might find utterly significant. The news, the tech, the spandex-sporting vigilante, she was deaf to these alarms—what woke her was a plastic jack-o-lantern placed in the front window of a pizzeria she almost walked past.
She stared at the cheap decoration with sharp befuddlement. Funny—just last night, Mr. Xanatos had offered to show her the blooming trees in Central Park. How could a full six months pass in a single night?
Spurred by curiosity, the Contractor turned to the newspaper dispenser and checked the date on the front page.
October 31st, 2018
That tiny detail plunged the final nail in the coffin. Reality-warping superbeing be damned; there was no explanation for why (let alone how) a single city would jump skip months in less than 12 hours. The only rational conclusion was that she wasn't in Manhattan anymore—or rather, not the Manhattan she'd watched the sun set upon from her Eyrie Building balcony. Whether it were sheer coincidence, or the Cure's idea of a joke, two boroughs of the same city had been snatched for this planet—just from different dimensions.
...and she'd been duped by the switch from the very start. Walking around a city she'd never truly seen before now, her mind full of luxuries provided by a benefactor who would not (and could not) give her another penny.
She had nothing. Four gruesome days, two separate incarcerations, and the complete destruction of her safety net, and Anna was back on square one.
She didn't take the news very well. Thank God newspaper dispensers were mostly obsolete.
Manhattan, Times Square: "It's Okay! We're with Your World's Model of Big Brother!"
You'll call Spider-Man, huh? Yeah, that might work on normal kids, but not a Contractor. Maki calculated the probability that a woman in street clothes would just happen to have the web-slinger on speed-dial. The chances were subterranean, they were so low. So he tried his very best to keep the word "Liar" from expressing on his face, and made a face the Captain might consider "cautiously skeptical." Perhaps for the Captain's benefit, the polite little boy wasn't born yesterday.
Then the delayed reaction seemed to finally kick in, and the cops sprang into action. Maki stumbled behind Nora as she tried to shield the little saboteur, and threw his own hands over his head.
"It's okay!" Maki joined his friends and the strangers in trying to ease the tension. "I'm a Hellion-in-training. I worked for S.H.I.E.L.D. You know superheroes like Wolverine? Or Rogue? We worked for the same organization!"
Hopping on board of Nora's definition, Maki amended: "That's what S.H.I.E.L.D. does: protect the innocent and bring down..."
The Sapien Resistance
The words weren't his own; it was a script prepared for the new agents and staff, but still. A part of himself still found Director Shaw's words appealing. Even if it wasn't for enforcing natural order, keeping the peace was a noble thing to do, right? Nobody wants to die, or watch their loved ones die. If you pin any violent resistance under your thumb, fewer people want to fight back. Fewer fighters mean fewer fights, which means both sides win in a way, right? Peace isn't exclusively a one-sided gain.
So with a small, pensive frown, Maki murmured:
"...the bad guys."
Red Sprite, Cloud Ruler Chamber: Planes, Planes, and Uhhh...Planes
Amber involuntarily tensed and shut an eye as the Captain patted her head. How long had it been since someone had patronized her like this? Five, maybe six times the length of Tastu's entire life?
"An aircraft is..." she began, settling down her nerves as the hand was removed from her head, "I guess you call it a certain type of airship. It's an overarching term for vehicles capable of flight. We've been experimenting with flying machines for ages back on my world, but we've only achieved true means of flying about a century ago. Since then, the capabilities have..." she chuckled, "well, skyrocketed!"
Curiously turning her attention to the Cloud Ruler, Amber continued:
"Judging by the Red Sprite's interior structure, I'm tempted to compare it to a blimp or zeppelin back where I'm from. They were some of the first large models of aircraft developed, and they combine the steering of earlier, smaller flying machines with the lift of particles lighter than normal air. They're mostly a giant oval shaped balloon" here she traced the wide shape with her index fingers for Tatsu's benefit "with a much smaller cabin where the pilot, crew, and supplies are. It was supposed to be a beautiful mode of transportation way back when, but the problem with blimps and zeppelins is that they're low-altitude and very slow. Kind of like flying a cloud!"
The comparison tickled her, but she was sharp enough to catch the potential interpretation:
"My apologies, Captain. I honestly couldn't say what the Red Sprite is, and shouldn't compare apples and oranges like that."
With that base covered, she turned to the rest of the lesson:
"After blimps and zeppelins came the commercial airplanes. Early airplanes were mostly made of wood and had only one engine to generate power for lift and thrust and the sort, but after about thirty years of tinkering they began to produce metal planes with enclosed interiors. From there they added more engines, improved them, shifted the designs, and eventually you get the bird-shaped airplane design you see everywhere nowadays. They're used for everything from travel, to transporting supplies, to espionage, to warfare, but they generally have the same shape and use similar engines. Though the biggest plus for planes is that they fly high, and they're fast. Most commercial flights can enter the stratosphere, and the more powerful ones can break the sound barrier without trying!"
In the midst of these praises, Amber turned on a dime and shrugged:
"But they still have some of the same drawbacks that blimps and zeppelins do: you need a big empty space to take off and land from. There's other forms of aircraft like helicopters, which are a lot slower than planes but are much more maneuverable and can move in vertical lines; that means they don't need a big runway just to get on or off the ground."
She turned her eyes from the Cloud Ruler back to Tatsu.
"There's obviously a lot about my own world's aircraft I don't know, but we're no strangers to the air."
Zone, Army Warehouse: A Call to Certain Doom Adventure!
Director Horai kept his statue stoicism through the summary of Free Stalkers, Bandits, Ecologists, and Mercenaries. What a colorful blend of ideologies this hellhole had, though he couldn't help but wonder why the most populated camp belonged to the "undecided" loners. Perhaps these camps were less trigger-happy as he feared, and as Lukash tended to imply.
Regardless, the suggestion that any trade routes (real or imaginary) were safe from Point A to Point B was likely ridiculous. Even if the other factions didn't raid supplies, that didn't mean the Zone was free of problems. After all, the fact he'd run across one such problem was the only reason Horai was here in the first place!
Which made a knock on the door all the more appropriate; Ariel had returned with news on how to rid themselves of their problem.
"Sir, the mechanics have volunteered to help us with the car, but they request our assistance in fear of an ambush while repairs are made. With your permission, I would like to escort Yar back to the crash."
Horai shifted his eyes over to Puck, who lurked just behind his partner in the doorway. "Yeah, I uhhh..." he paused, clearly considering the pros and cons, and finally resigning himself to do some actual work. "Well, it's probably not the best idea to let the lady run off on her own. I'll go too."
The Director nodded, and offered Lukash his hand to shake as he rose to to leave. Typing out one last message, he might surprise the Leader of Freedom with the request:
Edited by TheodoreHastings on Apr 9th 2019 at 3:40:18 AM
??? — Mitakihara
“Still doesn’t make it right…” was all Sayaka would mutter in reply as Cana took another swig.
It was left to Madoka to answer her first couple of questions: “Well, not exactly...they spread negative thoughts in people and trap them in Labyrinths like in here.”
“‘We’? ‘Bounty’?” Sayaka looked back at Cana in disbelief when she expressed interest in actually getting into a fight. “Look, I don't know how you got in here and apparently managed to fight off her brainwashing, but these things are dangerous — the only way to fight them is with magic, and even then…” She turned away from Cana to look down one of the hallways leading out from the elevator, biting her lower lip for a moment. “...that's no guarantee.”
“Sayaka-chan…” It was times like these when Madoka really wanted to say something to her friend, the one she had known the longest and knew was taking what happened yesterday at the pizza place hard.
Sid's Bunker — CXZ
Homura took a look at what Sid offered in exchange for the blaster, then nodded and took a couple of swipes to collect Sid's offering. A total of eight grenade rounds and ten clips of 5.56 ammo would be a decent haul, and she had pushed her bargaining luck enough for today. Besides, she needed to get back to Mitakihara by evening — how many more times would Sayaka Miki get herself (and Madoka) into trouble before they wade themselves too deep?
“Before I leave, may I ask whether you've heard or seen of anything strange lately around here?” She paused, looking down at her own rather out-of-place Magical Girl outfit. “Besides myself.”
Labyrinth - Mitakihara - Cana
"Um... do you girls need a minute or something?" Cana teased, slowly hoisting herself back to to stand on her feet. Kanda was still leaning against her, though. That... was going to be a problem if left unchecked.
She pulled a magic card out of her pack, using a quick spell to enchant it with the Card Dimension spell, and then tapped it against Kanda's forehead. The officer disappeared, and the art on the card updated with a drawing of her on it.
"Well, she'll be easier to carry around like this until she wakes up," she said, safely tucking the card into her shirt.
"Anyway, you were saying these witches can only be hurt by magic? Guess I'll just need to hold off on punching them," she added, shadowboxing a punch in the air to accentuate her words.
Duty HQ - Rostok - The Zone - Happy and Lucy
Lucy grit her teeth together to avoid jumping up and down and flailing her arms around. Fifty THOUSAND!? Plus an item and reputation?
"S-sure, sounds like a fair payment," she said quietly, still trying to think about what she'd do with all that wonderful money. "Just give me the map coordinates and I'll get right on it. Pleasure doing business, I'll stop by the bar to get some more of that vodka and head out."
And then she nodded a few times and left to go do exactly that, dragging Happy along as she left.
I have a plan.
Vector Armory —> Vector Upper West Side
Those who were wise enough to go through the western door would find themselves entering yet another metallic hallway that seemed to go through the entire span of the palace. At the end of this hallway were another pair of huge iron doors.
The strange voice rang yet again. "I am right through these doors. I can lead you all out of here."
Opening behind the doors, Strelok, Maeve, Ryuuou, and the servants would be able to see the entire skyline of the western part of Vector as they entered out onto a balcony. There were many factories spewing smoke above various the tenements, condominiums, and other large-scale buildings. Flying in the air right in front of them was a whale, its skin blue as the ocean
◊.
"There you are!" The whale said, somehow managing to speak without opening its mouth. "I am Bismarck. Hop on my back, I can bring you to safety!"
Bismarck floated over to the edge of the balcony, so everyone could climb over the short guardrails and hop on his back. When everyone was aboard, Bismarck drifted away from the palace, high above the smokestacks and smog, maintaining a slow speed so nobody lost their footing. Far down below on the streets, the city of Vector seemed to be having some sort of parade. Many men in brown uniforms were marching down south through the streets,.
Bismarck continued to fly, towards the northwest part of the city. This part of the city boasted skyscrapers that were almost twelve stories high, and huge mansions sat beside opera houses and state-owned offices. Bismarck eventually began to descend down towards an open street. Once everybody disembarked from the flying whale, Bismarck suddenly dropped onto the streets, belly first.
"I... I don't have much time left to explain what's going on here," Bismarck said, weakness apparent in his voice. "I am an Esper, a creature made by the Gods themselves. The Empire has tried to harness my powers for their own uses, but I've escaped, along with the rest of my kind. But I am weak now... Listen to me. You cannot let the Empire continue their plans. They want no less than the entire world in their grasp... But I can help..."
Bismarck moved its huge eyes to look at Strelok. "You seem like a powerful warrior. Yes... You will do just fine... I hope I can bestow my powers upon you, human."
Bismarck suddenly vanished. In his place, besides Strelok's feet, was a small shard of crystal with a bright red center. As soon as Bismarck vanished, an old man with a long gray beard approached Strelok and the rest of the group, creeping out of a back alley.
"So it's true... The Espers exist, and they've escaped." he said, stroking his long beard. He turned to face the group. "The Empire will be on full lockdown when they find out about this. If you all want a good explanation on what's going on here, and a safe place to stay, come with me."
Vector — Research Facility
Misaki and the Dog would find a large group of Imperial soldiers clad in blue stirring about inside the facility, which was now fairly quiet as the manufacturing machines had been disabled. In the middle of the group was none other than Dr. Cid, who was carefully assessing the damage done to his facility. It didn't take too long for the scatterbrained doctor to notice the two women he had met earlier, and he approached Misaki with both hands in his coat pockets.
"Did... Did you see where the Espers went?" the doctor asked. "When the Emperor and Kefka find out about this... Just tell me if you know where the Espers are!"
Edited by TailsDoll on Apr 10th 2019 at 1:07:39 PM
"@[=g3,8d]&fbb=-q]/hk%fg"
It was clear at once that the previous excuse of "We're taking a tour around the planet" wasn't going to cut it here. Makoto spoke first.
"Greetings. We're here searching for someone, a man in a blue coat who carries a katana, he's a wanted fugitive in a few of the areas of this planet, and we received a report that suggested this man may be somewhere within this....Zone. We'd like to request permission to investigate the area, if possible. If he is here, he's likely to be hostile to you. If not, we'd like to be able to firmly rule this area out so we can narrow our search accordingly."
Both of them were being very careful not to make any sudden moves as Makoto explained.
Nero put his weapons back, and followed along as the girl instructed him to do so. He waited until they were out of earshot of the military.
"So, these people, they don't have any idea that these "Witch" demon things are out there? Or didn't until all this shit happened, I guess?"
Well, they took it about as well as she could hope. She was fine with a little teasing if they were willing to keep an eye out. Then she was invited to join their game. It was true that she diden't have the greatest amount of time on her hands, but just bumbling around Former Hell without much idea of where to look was likely to be about as effective a use of her time. Not to mention, making a good impression on these demons could help in the long run. That said.....
"I don't have an objection to accepting your invite, and I do thank you for it, but I should put it out there that I'm usually more into card games then dice games, so I'm probably going to need a primer on the rules. Also, I'm not exactly sure what kind of currency you deal in, but something tells me it's not Dollars, so I might not actually have any money to gamble with."