The Escapist Avatar Adventure: An Open RP (Now Re-Opened!)

[Diablo1099_v1legacy]

Brakland's Pastry Cafe: [color=5B9C64]Bootleg Iron Maiden Mascot[/color], Slightly-less Angry Soccer Mom, Me before 2pm, Implied Tentacle Molester, Generic NPCs 23-though-35 Feat. Larry and Gerry

Larry was more then a little shocked when Eddie basically gave him an entire years worth of revenue for just a few hours of work.
"....GERRY! GET ME AS MUCH PASTRIES AS YOU CAN!" He shouted to his co-worker in the back before running into the kitchen with the wads of cash that Eddie gave him (After all, he'd need help to make THAT many pastries).
However, some of the Cyborgs in the queue didn't take too kindly to Eddie's "Order" and grumbled to each other as they all glared at-...whatever the hell Eddie was supposed to be.
"Urg, I swear if our break ends while we're waiting on this prick..."
"Hey-HEY! I came here to get coffee, not to do my job. Now shut up and wait in line!" The Cyborg CO ordered as they all began to take seats and whatnot as they waited for their order.

But right as they were about to post their status updates, one of the stray missiles meant for Discrediting the Rising Dawn via collateral damage "The precise tactical strike against the enemy" landed on the street right in front of them.
Thankfully, Anti-Friendly Fire measures were deployed before impact and none of the Cyborgs even flinched as their boots rooted them to the ground and their visors closed to protect their faces while the armor tanked most of the impact.
"....Wow, they're going all out, aren't they?"
"Hey, so long as I get my coffee..."
However, this was a bit much for poor old Larry as he came screaming out of the kitchen with batter all over his face and piss on his pants.
"OHMYGOD! I NEED TO GET OUT OF HERE!" He screamed as he attempted to leave the building, the well known effects of shellshock kicking in as he began to flee.
Least until the Cyborg CO struck him in the gut before pinning him against the wall, choking him with a bionic hand.
"You ain't LEAVING until we get our fucking COFFEE! Now get your ass back in there!" He shouted at Larry before throwing him right though what was left of his display stand after the explosion.

All the while, the rest of the Cyborgs were attempting to find comfortable places to sit after the blast, one of them attempting to pry this "Hobo" (Sloth) off his makeshift bed to sit down.
Despite everything, they didn't seem to worried about the missile strikes or anything, so long as no one asked them to get back on their shift, they didn't care...

 

[Diablo1099_v1legacy]

Rising Dawn G-Corp[sup]TM[/sup] Brig: Cortex, Wesker

While the action was ramping up elsewhere, 2 of Bison's closest allies were sitting in their cells nervously waiting to hear something, anything about what was happening.
Wesker was was laying in his dirty prison bed, still racked with guilt over the events of the night before as he blankly stared at the ceiling though his broken sunglasses while Cortex was standing atop his cell's toilet peering out the window, attempting to see how the fight in the city was going.
The Rising Dawn was positioned a good distance away but he could still see the distance blasts and smoke plumes.
[color=b4b4]"...Man...Bison really got some force together...maybe he might actually win this..."[/color]
"..."
[color=b4b4]"......Al...you alright?"[/color]
"Spent months looking for Doom and the first thing I do get him shot half to death. How the hell do you think I feel?"
[color=b4b4]"..."[/color]
After that brief exchange, Wesker sighed before idly playing with his Alcoholics Anonymous Blue Chip, never wanting a drink more then any other period of his life then he did now.

Climbing down from the Toilet, Cortex returned to his own bed, wiping his comically oversized brow with his tiny hands.
[color=b4b4]"Urg, I'm starving. Hey, Deadshoot or whatever your name is, when is the meals being sent down?..."[/color] the mad doctor asked one of the other prisoners, though he didn't seem to get an answer.
[color=b4b4]"...Tch, oh, I get it, chatty whenever it suits ya but won't give anyone the time of day otherwise..."[/color]
...
[color=b4b4]"...oh fine! Be that way! Bastard..."[/color] He grumbled before laying down to get some sleep, hoping he'd be less hungry after a nap.

 

[bluerocker]

Capitol Building Compound: Rugal, Angelus, Freeloaders Passengers

"GO! TAKE OFF! GET US OUT OF HERE!"

Angelus didn't need to be told a fourth time after grabbing Bernstein and a selection of a couple other passengers in her claws. As she began to ascend, she saw the other dragon, Diana, who was airborne and being shot at by a rather large battle robot. While she was not the keenest on black dragons, the experience of fighting Imperial black dragons remaining in her memories, a part of her did not wish to abandon her kin to face the RAY alone.

Turning her head in the direction of the Metal Gear, Angelus shouted to her riders, "Hold on tightly now!" Following this, she drew on the magical reserves that she had filled in the previous battle, and opened her great maw. Outwards, a great cacophany [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L8Nzuv1Qpiw&feature=youtu.be&t=1m34s] of magic and dragon fire spewed forth, forming in orange rune covered ribbons and homing in on her sole opponent, the Metal Gear. As Angelus watched the onslaught of dragonfire upon the RAY, she spared the black dragon one more glance - and saw how the black dragon barreled into the RAY with gusto, the Titan form of Annie following not far behind.
"!!! I know that face... All the better reason to get going, it seems. I suppose that dragon didn't need my help after all.."

With that, Angelus seemed satisfied with her aid, and turned back towards the Dawn, flapping her wings harder to quickly ferry her comrades to safer ground.

[HEADING=3]For those hitching a ride on Angelus, feel free to say she made it back to the Dawn in your posts.[/HEADING]

 

[Silence]

Avatar Adventures | Denver | Capitol Building Compound
Sunset
Diana | Annie | RAY | Smaller people
​

Diana, the black dragon, rose higher and higher, observing the ground and the sky in turn. Hopefully this was over soon, there were other fun things to do. She looked up, seeing her goal, and flapped her wings.

*plonk*
*plonkplonkplonkplonkplonkplonk ...*

She felt bullets hit and fall off her thick, scaly, skin. What's this now? Haven't had enough? Diana thought, annoyed. She looked down, seeing a mechanical monster spray the air with bullets and, in the meantime, stalk after other members of the Rising Dawn. "YOU GOT TO BE KIDDING ME!" the black dragon roared. There was enough worse than cheap imitations of forces of nature. And this ... abomination dared to try and shoot at her?

For a moment, she stayed in the air, letting the bullets harmlessly fall off her skin. Then she charged, with a loud roar. Don't mess with things you do not understand.

Even though she had been high above the city, it took mere seconds until she was near the ground again, charging full speed and ramming the RAY with full strength. It shook, and only the tail made it not lose it's balance. A heavy, damaging, impact of a creature the same size was felt, nonetheless. The asphalt burst from the impact, nearby houses were not less impacted than from the shockwave of a missile.

At first, Diana tried to bite and claw at the RAY, but it did not take long until she realized that this was not the way. In any case, she saw a giant, Annie, making herself ready to fight the machine as well. And if she changed, it would not stand a chance ...

The dragon shifted. Tentacles, weird and asymmetrical burst forth from the skin, not less armoured than the rest of her body. At the ends, these tentacles had spikes. Eyes and mouths were forming in different places. Whoever human was looking at this nightmare would feel dread. This was no friendly dragon, this was a nightmare to take apart machines and bodies with surgical precision. It lashed out, hitting and destroying the walls of buildings in the process, but it did not interfere with Annie. In fact, the front of the RAY, before which Annie stood, was free to punch.

"Dͮ̽̏ͪ̆ͪ̓ỏ̬͚̼̗̟̖̙ṉ̡͓͍̞̾̆ͨ'̸̣̮̠͛̿͛͆̑̇̄ṯ̟͚̮͍͐͗͂̃͠ ̳̬̘͓̈́̾͒̿ͥ͑m̦͇͈̺ͦͩ̄̄̚e͎͗̐̎ͦs̘̱͕̑̑͌̒̚s͋̒̅ ͚̩̦̓͘ͅẘ̷̜̜͔͎́̐̔ͤi̙ͧt̳͑ͤͮͥ͗́͡h̪̬͈͇̙̭ͭ̇ͪ ̖̯̟͆ͪ̇ͨ̊t͈̲͈̪̠̠̬̓ͦ̌̏ḣ̞̠̙͕̝͜ḯ̮̼̼̹̰̗̲͋n̩͓̫̆͡g̞̖s̛̪̥͒̋ ̗̦̞ͩ͗y̝͓o̺̩̬ụ̤̜̯̩̹̼͆̋̌͊͐ͯ̿ ̥̟̭̬̦̖͇ͤ̓ͣ̆̿d͔͆͗̍ͤͩ͋̚o̼ͧ̾̉͑ͪ̚ ̩̤̙̪́nͤ͛o͉̰̪͇͡ͅt ̸͈̫ͯͭ̃͛̀̄u̬ͧ̆͊ͩ̾̚n͔̦̱̝̦̤̻̒͑̍̀d̷͓͈̋ͦ͌̄̌e̤ͣ̏ͥ͗̾r̬͇̓ͣͤ̂̈́͐s̏͐҉̱̬͙̳ͅț͎̂ͦ̉̾ͯ̿̋ä͙́͌̏͡n͎̳̤̩̭̭̈́ͣ͂̾̏ͪ͋͝d̘̲͇͗̌͠ͅ.̖͙̯̯̯̯͔̎ͩ̂" The nightmare seemed to shout, both in sound and in the heads of the people nearby. This monster did not seem to take well to anything disturbing it.

Tentacles formed around the RAY, grabbing it, keeping it in place, restricting its movement to a minimum. The machine would be an easy target, so to speak. The ends of the tentacles felt around the RAY for any weak spots, fuses and edges of metal plates. And, if they found them, they would ram their ends, the spikes, inside these, prying apart the machine slowly, opening it up in several places like with crowbars. Nightmare had only one thing in mind: Destruction.

[hr]

Avatar Adventures | Denver | Capitol Building Compound
Sunset
Mio
​

Mio passed out, woke up, passed out again, never being able to do anything. The pain was too much to do anything of note. As she woke again, she felt the vibrations of the ground, and smelled the ash of the area around her. Then she felt a stinging pain in her leg, and immediately after, something like cloth on it.

She smelled people, not pleasant, but also not unwelcome. As she turned around to face them, she still could not see from the pain. People touched her and she smelled their breath, but could only hear the ringing in her ears. "What do you want?" she said, but could not hear her own voice. It felt weird. "Who are you?"

People lifted her up, and she smelled bad breath again. She stood on her good leg. "Are you friendly?" she asked, before realizing this would not help her in any way. She pointed to her ear. "It was ... too loud. I can't hear anything."

Two people lifted her up, then brought her ... somewhere. The air still smelled of burning and ash. Being carried not very far, she was put into another metal box, at least it smelled that way. She was put down again, not very kindly. As she nearly passed out again, she felt a finger on her back, spelling a word.

"P-R-I-S-O-N-E-R". Then, Mio passed out again.

[hr]

Avatar Adventures | The Airship: Rising Dawn | The Canteen
Sunset
Anjali Khatri | Titania la Fey | And others​

Anjali looked shocked at the violence Titania showed towards her little fairy. This was definitely wrong. She felt the urge to go away, as far as possible. Not to ask this shell of a person for help.
"I am not afraid of anything, or should I say that I am afraid of each and everything." Titania spoke to her, ripping apart the little fairy like an abused child would rip apart a fly.

"When the dead come back to life, what is there to fear, after all. Except, of course, the loss of reason." This was not the answer Anjali had hoped for. Could she even ask for more help than she had gotten, from this shell?

"The curse of immortality ought not be taken lightly, my dear Anjali. Especially when there is someone out there who wants to make sure that you can never die." Anjali had never considered this. Staying alive - undead - for all eternity. She felt, and now she even knew, that she had not been the first vessel, and would not be the last. Her own goddess did not have this wish. Maybe another. But why? There was no reason for this. No reason at all.

And Titania clearly did not say what she wanted to say. She was far too different, now. Keeping with her would not prove fruitful, and to know what pressured her, for that she would need help, but first and foremost, knowledge about what had happened.
Her goal had not changed from what it was, before.

"Tread lightly," Titania warned, "for you may find that even snakes can stumble in the dark."
"I will do that." Anjali answered. "But sstumbling, that is not something I plan to do."

She looked around. These two, Deborah and Titania, they were confused. They provided no answers, only questions. Anjali stepped away. This was the canteen, now with less people in it, than before. But the bartender was still there.

"Hello ..." Anjali adressed him slowly, he clearly distracted. "I would wissh to know a few thingss about this place ... but thesse two -" she pointed towards Deborah and Titania. "They only sspeak in riddless.
Who controlss this vesssel?"

 

[NotYetForsaken]

[hr]

Deus ex Machina

Phenomena Intervention - Prime Unit Solomon

​

[hr]


Naamah turned her head toward Rory and cocked it, "What is Rory saying indeed, indeed? Miss Selmy can not die. No one with names may die! It is such that the will of dearest Solomon be done!" Naamah grinned genuinely. She hopped on one foot over the debris, flitting over sharp metal and broken glass as if dancing upon the surface of water. Each step threw a small cloud of dust into the air. She seemed almost too light-hearted in the desolation around them.

The medical team loaded Dolores Selmy into the VTOL and the engines immediately engaged lift-off thrust. Cecil signaled outwards for everyone planning to leave to get on. Molli was pulled by the sudden urgency of the VTOL take off, but had at the very least to give a small parting answer to Rory as she ran back toward the VTOL. "Several of the heroes were captured. The others made it back on-board on Angelus. Please take care of yourself Miss!"

Once all of the crew members, plus Naamah, were loaded onto the VTOL, the airship took off immediately to return to the Rising Dawn. Naamah sat next to one of the windows on the passenger side. The seat harness that one of the combat staff had fastened over her cut into her exposed skin and she struggled against the rough fabric. Had she known about the discomfort afforded to her, she would have actually worn more than just her harem outfit. She pulled on her hair and brought it over her shoulder to keep it from getting caught in the small crevices around her seat.

The medical staff kept Dolores on oxygen, and one of the field medics was working away feverishly at stitching the Lieutenant's innards back together. He grimaced, "Are you seeing this?" The other medic shook his head and pulled at the skin around Dolly's abdomen. "Yeah. Muscles all, just gone. Whatever hit her must have been absurd."

Naamah leaned forward to watch the two men work.

Dolores' stomach was peeled open, clamped at her sides with thick metal incisors. The two men held her intestines in tangle, each trying their best to stitch back together the ugly black tears on the viscera. Another small structure lay inside of her - deep crimson and about the size of two fists. Naamah knew what that was, and it made her slightly ill seeing it in person. She remembered what her soldiers liked to do when they were out raping in pagan lands. She held her knees against her chest and curled up, suddenly feeling somewhat nauseous.

"What's her blood pressure?"

"60 over 40."

"Impossible."

"Not under these circumstances."

"Is the saline solution doing anything?"

"Nothing - she's losing blood way to fast. Internal hemorrhage it looks like. Nothing coming out the surface in large amounts."

"I'm finishing the last open gash on her large intestines. Move on to her bladder."

"There's debris in the birth canal, that needs to be pulled out before we try to paste her muscles back together."

"Leave it in, there's no way that we're going to pull something out to open another wound at the rate she's going."

"How's breathing."

"Normalizing as much as it can. Plastic won't hold forever though, it's cutting into the surrounding tissue."

"It'll be enough."

"Do we even worry about her spine?"

"It's twisted out of norm, but it's not critical. It's a miracle for the condition the rest of her is in."

"Blast must of hit her from the front."

"No doubt."

"A-037 calling Rising Dawn CnC - requesting permission to dock at emergency port." Cecil grumbled over the roar of the engines. His voice was deep enough that it carried, but was still calm and soft enough to cast some of the building tension out of the cabin. Molli sat close to Dolly and held the IV that pumped fluid into her veins.

A crackle replied shortly,

"A-037, this is CnC, you are cleared for express landing at the starboard port. Do not cut your engines after dock, A-037 will be jury rigged into rapid transit. Repeat, keep engines warmed."

"A-037 copies," Cecil replied before turning the VTOL gently into the opening hangar array. The roar of the engines softened, and two large arcs grabbed onto the VTOL. The arms spun the vehicles over and carried it across the hangar with incredible speed and precision, setting the craft down with it's hold facing toward the medical bay hallway in less than five seconds. All the personnel in the cabin unbuckled themselves - John unbuckled Naamah - and pushed the gurney out into the hallway. Cecil gave a solemn and silent prayer before the arms let him go and he guided the VTOL back into it's regular dock.

[hr]

What does one do when a doll breaks but to find a replacement?​

[hr]

Spoiler

"Lae-taaaaaa," the younger Selmy whined. She held her long brown hair in a ponytail topped with a bow of black silk. She pouted, had small peach lips, and dark blue eyes that grew more and more irritated with each passing moment. Ahead of her their guides plodded along. Losko the White Rabbit seated atop Vettya the Armidillo-Tortoise led the two girls, his black unblinking beady eyes sentries along the long metal corridors of the airship.

"We'll get there when we get there Saren," the older Selmy, Laeta, answered. Their footfalls echoed down the empty hall, accompanied only by Vettya's plodding dusty waddling. Laeta brushed her hair back with her arm, "Mom told us to come here to visit solci'Lola[footnote]Big Sis Lola[/footnote], and we're not going back until we actually satisfy that."

Saren eyed Laeta. She kicked Vettya's shielded tail in an attempt to force the armadillo tortoise to hurry up. "Are you sure you don't mean we're not leaving until you lose your virginity?" Laeta leaned over and grabbed Saren's neck with the inside of her elbow. She squeezed her neck while grinning.

"Don't talk so vulgarly Saren," Laeta cooed. Her bosom pressed against Saren's face, threatening to swallow the younger girl should she misbehave.

"Well otherwise I don't see why you would come so slutted up!" Saren's voice came as hard and cold as her azure eyes. She slammed her head into her sister's chest and sent her stumbling backwards on her high-heels.

"Ah ta-ta-ta-ta! That hurts halfpipe!" Laeta crossed her arms and absentmindedly rubbed the impact zone, "It's a sensitive spot..." she grumbled.

"Could have fooled me, boobzilla. I always thought they functioned like airbags."

"Hey! Keep it civil back there you two! Your mother will kill me if she found out this is how you two act on a military vessel. You are guests of the Rising Dawn Group and under the direct authority of Major Selmy. Do not besmearch both her name and the image of the Air Force." Losko grimaced, munching down on a small carrot he had kept hidden in pockets within his robe. He glared at the two girls behind him angrily - at the very least as angrily as his expressionless face could convey.

Laeta and Saren grumbled at each other before forming up behind the white bunny atop the armadillo tortoise.

"Wearing detached sleeves and such a absurd skirt." Saren muttered under her breath. She stuffed her hands into the pockets of her hoodie and cast her eyes away from her sister. The hallways here had begun to take a more homely feel. The walls were lined with treated wood and the floor was tiled with linoleum.

Laeta rubbed the back of her head to tousle her caramel-colored hair. She only had one eye half-opened, almost as if she were bored, "It's not like this stuff is mine. I found it in Lola's closet."

"No cocksuckin' way," Saren spat, "that 'sweater' is tailored to fit a size E. Lola's barely a B-cup after padding."

"LANGUAGE." Losko screamed.

"For a rabbit you've got quite a deep and loud voice."

"For the last time, I am not a rabbit. I am a nature deity under contract to your mother." Losko chided. His blank face stared deep into the azure eyes of the two siblings behind him. Vettya kept his slow forward pace even as Losko turned around to speak to his young charges.

"Right, nature deity."

"How many damn rabbits do you know that can talk!?" he shouted.

"Well, there's Bugs Bunny and then there's Roger Rabbit, Judy Hopps from that new movie, and then there's Rabbit from Winni-"

"Those are fictional rabbits! Look with your eyes, I am not a work of fiction!"

Saren kicked Losko and sent him face first into Vettya's hard shell. The armadillo-tortoise did not even seem to notice. Saren stopped and then pointed ahead. "Hey, isn't that Pisa?"

"Huh? Where?" Laeta asked, she leaned on Saren's shoulder and peered into the hallway with her. "No, more importantly, isn't that Ruby? I haven't seen her in like four years, and she still looks the damn same."

"So it is huh, I was really hoping it wasn't." Saren grimaced and leaned back to headbutt Laeta in the bosom again.

"Why so glum? Didn't you use to play with her?"

"Correction, she used to play with me. She's a magician Laeta, all she did was dress me up a billion times over - and one time left me stark naked in front of Simone!" Saren said through gritted teeth. Laeta chuckled.

"You got over him real fast though if I do recall."

"The boy was dumb as a rock. Handsome, but dumb as a rock. Couldn't hold a conversation if I handed it to him in a cup."

"You were nine, Saren."

"I help you with your homework you big-breasted bimbo. It's like all the nutrients that ought to have gone to your brain turned to fat instead."

Laeta smacked Saren about the head, "Now that was just absolutely unnecessary. You know I've always been more of a hands-on type or person. Literature is the only thing that doesn't make a damn bit of sense to me."

"Tsk."

"Ruby!" Laeta called as she hurried down the hallway pass Losko and Vettya. She glomped the small ribboned girl, "Long, long, LONG TIME no see!" Laeta smothered the young pink girl in absolute affection. Pisa flitted around in circles above Laeta's head. The small fairy seemed disturbed by something.

Saren walked up a bit later, "Yo Ribbons."

Losko came plodding along on Vettya.

Saren looked at the brig door. "You want in here, Ribbons?" She flipped open the console and plugged in her tablet. She took a good long look, swiped her fingers across the surface of the tablet and the brig door opened. "Child's play. Even with three AI cores this ship's security system is nothing like the Soul of Tomorrow's."

"Laeta, Saren, you two are here to see your sister. NOT to cause havoc aboard this vessel."

"Ah hush Losko, Ruby's Lola's friend first and foremost, and a friend to the family. Helping her out isn't going to put too much of a dampener on things." Laeta grinned, excited by what depraved individuals could be held within the confines of a military vessel's hold. Laeta adjusted her shirt and pulled up the cinch on her sleeves.

Saren patted Ruby on the head, her azure eyes gazed deep into the brig, "Yeah, a little frolic never killed anyone."

 

[Diablo1099_v1legacy]

World Marshall HQ: Armstrong, Sundowner

"...That's not who I think it is, is it?" Armstrong mused, nearly choking on his cigar smoke as the Titan appeared before them, alongside what could only be described as Lovecraft's bad LSD trip.
[color=803300]"Depends. You think it was the same naked ***** that laid waste to Las Venturas while the Rising Dawn was in the region?"[/color]
"And she's now working with some god-awful being from another realm trying to "Lay waste to the city"...I'm starting to wonder if this is part of some clever tactic of theirs: They are making this too easy."
[color=803300]"Hmmm...wouldn't say that. Don't think a single RAY can combat them both. I'm going to arrange the secondary un-"[/color]
"Just use the FULGORE."
[color=803300]"Eh?...Against a Titan and-....whatever hell that thing is?"[/color]
"What better way to drive up demand?..."
[color=803300]"....Heh, I like the way you think, Boss...HQ Actual to FULGORE, want some fun boy?..."[/color]

Capitol Building Ruins: UMG RAY ID 1099 Vs Titan Annie, Nightmare and Ryan

While the RAY unit was designed to take a beating, it's combat protocols began to calculate that maybe a 90% probability of success was a bit too high in light of recent events.
As it was still recovering from the impact of the dragon's "Landing", it began to struggle again what could only be described as "Mecha Tentacle Rape", letting out what appeared to be cries of pain as several of it's heavier armor pieces were pried off from the inside (Stripped if you will).
Before it could be turned into total scrap, a pair of super heated blades began to unfold from each of it's wings, burning all they came in contact with or even just nearby. as the Mecha slowly managed to spin itself around, using said blades to cut itself free.
Leaping backwards slightly to put some distance between it's new targets, it decided to star wearing them down with a ranged offensive first.
Another roar sounded as several hatches on it's wings (The ones that weren't ripped off anyway) opened up before launching another salvo of missiles in their direction, carpet bombing the already smoldering ruins of the Capitol Building Compound.
It then followed this up by firmly rooting both it's legs onto the ground as it's mouth began to glow right as a beam of super heated plasma began to cleave though buildings as it swept over the battleground, attempting to lay waste to them both.

((More posts to come!))

 

[Diablo1099_v1legacy]

World Marshall Transport heading for ???: All Captured Rising Dawn Members

While their allies were still being hunted down, the ones unlucky enough to be captured were gassed and then carted out of the city to the "Secure Location" for-....well, they didn't actually know.
Each prisoner was bound at their wrists and ankles in thick heavy restraints which in turn were attached to their seats as they woke up in some kind of large metal interior with a few seats still free.
There was also some sort of collar on each of them, containing both a steady supply of T-Minus for powers, a advanced piece of jamming hardware for Cybernetics (They had to imprison their own from time to time after all) and for everything else, a small plastic explosive payload for when they began to be too much trouble.
"......urrggggggg.....ohhhhh..." David groaned as he was the first to awaken, albeit in a dull but intense pain, while that potion he drank did much to help his internal organ damage, it was still in no state to last long in prison.
As his vision began to clear, he started to make out a few other crew members, Namely Katya, Caim, Teri, Nadalia, Mio, Bison-

"What the-....YOU!? COME HERE YOU SON OF A-" David shouted as he attempted to tackler the Former Frontrunner, only for his restrains to keep him in place.
Bison himself wasn't in much of a state to talk either, groaning slightly after the ordeal he just lived though.
[color=6c1504]"[sub].......(mommy, when is daddy coming back?)........(All the other kids hurt me)[/sub] Eh, wha-...ohhhhh.......fucking hell..."[/color] He groaned, unaware of his mumbling in Thai as he stirred awake.
"Not in hell yet, but not from a lack of trying you prick."
[color=6c1504]"Oh what the fu-THEY DIDN'T EVEN KILL YOU GUYS?! Ahhhhh, the IDIOT! Even I know better then to let you live! Goddamn it, I'm getting out matched by a freaking AMATEUR! Ohhhh, when I get out of here I'l-...."[/color] He began to ramble until he realized something was missing.
[color=6c1504]"....He took my hat, didn't he?..."[/color]
There was the audible sound of heavy breathing as Bison began to compose himself at this great injustice and began to form a cunning plan of atta-

[color=6c1504][HEADING=2]"ARRRRRRRRRRMSTRRONG! DO YOU HEAR ME YOU DIRTY BASTARD!? YOU WILL RULE THIS DAY WHEN I GET MY HANDS AROUND YOUR NECK, TEAR YOUR HEAD OFF AND SHIT DOWN YOUR NECK! DO YOU HEAR ME!? I WILL NOT BE DENIED! GIMME MY HAT BACK! G-GIVE IT BACK! IT WASN'T YOURS!...GIVE IT BACK AND I WON'T MAKE YOU SHIT OUT YOUR OWN BOWELS!...."[/HEADING][/color]

If anyone else in the transport wasn't awake already, the slightly sad tantrum of Bison's raving would certainly wake them...

 

[Orinon]

Capitol Building Compound: Rugal, Angelus, Icarus, Selena, Danny Boy, Other Passengers

As the Dragon took top the air Selena put a hand on Icarus, The strange Lucario, Danny Boy, hovered his paw over his brother making his armor disappear into the void. Selena noticed his hair had once again turned pure black she sighed somewhat upset by this development. With Icarus now lighter, she rested his head onto her lap Danny Boy seemed rather anxious hos head snapping back and forth, Vigilant but also somewhat nervous
"Oh Icarus what am I going to do with you." she said running a few fingers though his soft black hair, she had long learned this strange color was not dye. she looked around wondering if anyone else had any expertise on Angels. Icarus was definitely in a state of a 'Fallen' Angel.
Icarus though made a shift he seemed o literally shrink, or at least return to his original size, with the small wings on his lower back disappearing and his main wings shrinking drastically to their normal size before flickering out. Selena breathed out a sigh, he wasn't healed but at least he was back to his original normal form, If she had top guess, Icarus's body was out of energy and couldn't maintain the transformation.
Danny boy relaxed, but only slightly, seeing his brother revert back to his more shrouded form. He still kept a watchful eye, even though there was nothing that would attack an airborne dragon.


Rising Dawn:Icarus, Selena, Danny Boy
Once Angelus got back to the dawn Selena Thanked the Giant Red Dragon for the ride Danny boy carried his now much lighter brother with Selena following Danny boy however attempted to take Icarus to his room Selena though has assumed he was going to the medical bay, Selena Gave Danny Boy a stern look before the Lucario agreed Laying Icarus down on a clean white bed. Most of the medical staff seemed to be occupied, Selena got her tools and potions ready, She handed a red vial to Danny boy "try and get him to swallow this, our cleric isn't back, I don't think there's anyone else on staff with any powers." She then made a quick walk around the first thing she noticed the place was eerily silent she went to approach the intensive care unit, however a cold chill overcame her shuddering she decided maybe getting the medical droids online would be better...

 

[bluerocker]

Dis guy helped me write some shiz

Denver Alleyway: Garm

After Garm's head lay on the tarmac again, darkness overtook him again; but for the first time... he began to dream.

Garm recognized this scene, before he knew of human wants or wars. It was a simple, cool morning. Snow was on the ground, and the Alphas had him placed in position for the hunt- he was a distraction. He was from an elder generation of pups, and he was leading the main charge against their current prey, a large buck that was decidedly alone in the winter season. Good eats for the pack, hard to take down. The black wolf stood quietly in the powder, waiting for the buck to enter view and - it was off!

The large wolf, followed closely by some of his siblings, dashed after the buck and nipped at it's legs, spurring the chase onward. This would take some time to wear it down completely before the Alphas could move in for the kill. The buck managed to get away the first time, but that was alright. With it's scent fresh in their noses, tracking it again wouldn't be too difficult, and it was part of the strategy the female alpha created - wear it down over time before moving in to kill. Later on, Garm would learn that sort of predation was distinctly not common of wolf kind. At this moment, however, Garm had not cared. He did his part in the hunt, until the Female Alpha came barreling in to finalize the kill. She charged forward, her white coat almost rendering her invisible in the snow, before she sunk her fangs deeply into the buck's flank and dragged it to the ground. With a final snap on it's neck, the buck was no more. The pack descended upon the buck with reckless abandon, growing fat and happy.

It was then that Garm, had noticed a strange scent fill the air, almost akin to the smell before lightning struck on the ground. Strange beings stepped forward, in a form Garm was not familiar with. Had seen humans before, Female Alpha had told him that they were nothing but trouble and to stay away - yet these creatures... their scent was all wrong. That "lighting" scent was everywhere, and they had feathers. Humans weren't supposed to have feathers. They didn't even have wings. Their metal claws and poles - these "humans". They were all wrong. The male and female alphas carefully approached the group, Female Alpha making strange noises that Garm had never heard before; and the humans - no, the Not Humans. The Strange Ones, they bared their teeth and set upon the pack. Humans weren't supposed to be this fast - their metal claws stung more than an average humans - they bore flame from their hands and shouted things Garm could not understand. Down, down, down, the wolves were falling - pack mates from earlier litters, even Male Alpha. Female Alpha was surrounded, biting and snapping at the creatures- no, the Pack Slayers. Angels, he would later learn to call them. They were laughing at her spectacle, like a cat toying with it's meal. She too fell before long, and Garm could do nothing. He was useless, bleeding from an attack on his front flank, and could only watch.

One approached Garm after Female Alpha fell, his fangs bared almost lazily as he brought up a fang to strike. But Garm did something that the creature did not intend - he ran. Like a coward, tail tucked between legs, he ran. Garm ran and ran, not knowing how long he was running for, or if the forces would be upon him any second. He just kept running, terror gripping his heart. In his hurry, he did not see a twig, and tripped, falling on his side like a newborn pup. Head lifting weakly from the snow, the now lone wolf looked and saw a strange new spectacle - a moose was being beset by another wolf - this one large and grey, larger than even Female Alpha. Garm watched this strange spectacle of fur and fang for a short time, before it was ended by the wolf bringing a deadly bite to the moose's neck. After a moment of silence between the wolf and the moose, Garm noticed that the strange wolf was looking straight at him, then moved quietly to the side of the wolf - a clear offering of some of the kill. Garm weakly stood from his "perch", and found himself in the company of the strange large wolf.

Time blurred after that - his newfound Alpha referred to himself as Lupito, and he didn't mind the extra company; though Garm had a sneaking suspicion that was on part of his strength - Garm couldn't stand up to Lupito if he had the stupidity to try. The two travelled for a while, the most notable of encounters being with a young human girl with dark skin and darker hair. Lupito gave her deference, and Garm gave Lupito his allegiance, he didn't question it. Whatever the reason was, Lupito followed some form of instruction the human gave, and the two eventually found themselves in a human city and attacking a group of more humans; before approaching two of them hiding in a house. Lupito gave the taller one with bluish black skin deference as well, almost as if she were his Alpha. The younger one, pale and meek, almost like a rabbit, regarded the wolves carefully before petting Garm's snout, and his minor wounds began to close. Garm would remember one more thing Lupito told him before leaving Garm with this human pack - "This one is your charge now. Guard her with your life."

Spoiler: Note about Wolf Pack composition

So when I was going into writing this flashback of a backstory I had literally waited years to bring up in a proper context, I did a little research about wolf packs and their composition. Basic TLDR: The alpha theory is bullshit, because that was caused through a group of unrelated wolves in an enclosure fighting for dominance; almost akin to behavior of humans in prison fighting each other for dominance.

The proper way a wolf pack is composed is of a mated pair, the "alphas" as I refer to them for basic edification, and then their children. Pups can stay in a pack for 1-3 years, depending upon if/when they decide to go mate and make packs of their own. Outsiders can occasionally join in packs for breeding purposes, but this is a rarity.
In Garm's case, within his pack he was an older generation child of the pack leaders living with a younger generation, degree of separation being around 1-2 years.

Also, in reference to sizes of Garm's Female Alpha (aka his mom), and Lupito. Winter Wolves [http://www.d20srd.org/srd/monsters/winterWolf.htm] are described as being about "8 feet long and stands about 4 1/2 feet at the shoulder. It weighs about 450 pounds." Meanwhile, Lupito, which is a direwolf [http://www.d20srd.org/srd/monsters/direWolf.htm], is described as "about 9 feet long and weighing some 800 pounds." Furthermore, as Lupito is Slindis' Paladin mount, that adds in a few bonuses to being more intelligent and stronger than a average direwolf (which is already kinda terrifying). So, that all in mind, Direwolves naturally seem to have a bit more physical heft to them as opposed to Winter Wolves; but Winter Wolves get the benefit of some supernatural abilities + a higher intelligence score.

Bonus: A reference video [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0OMJt1spJ1A] I had found, 9:20 has an amusing segment about flirtation

Rising Dawn: Med Bay Garm

Garm awoke with a start when his dream ended and blearily looked around his surroundings. It was dark, but he was already beginning to recognize this place from smell alone - linens, blood, cleaning supplies, metal - this was the Med Bay. He felt something soft under his paws, and recognized it as the feel of a bed, presumably one similar to those used for normal patients in this place. Yet, as familiar as the Med Bay was, there was a distinct element missing from his picture of the place.
[color=356D60]"Tear-ri..."[/color]
A sad whine echoed from the wolf's throat when he remembered everything again - from what lead him to the Dawn to what had transpired a couple hours ago, and now he was here, having his wounds licked by human medicines. Of course, that begged the question - how long was Garm going to be stuck here..?


??? & Tablet Interior AI Dimitri, AI Viscus

Spoiler: Mood Music - Tchaikovsky - Waltz in F-sharp minor, Op. 40 No 9 ('Twelve Pieces for Piano') - Waltz

[HEADING=2](This takes place prior to the In The Truck scene, I'm just slow as balls, super sorry!)[/HEADING]

As the Cleric was being carried away to parts unknown, a voice shrieked from her Tablet, demanding the release of it's owner [color=3897E0]

"Unhand her, you cad!"

[/color]
Silence followed the request, the one transporting Teri not moving or blinking without purpose. Not that it dampened Dimitri's spirits, and he shouted again, [color=3897E0]

"Let her go.. Please... What do you even want? I know you understand me! What joy do you derive from kidnapping young women?!"

[/color]
Silence followed the next requests, even as Dimitri shouted, [color=3897E0]

"Why aren't you answering me?!"

[/color]

When nothing followed his last query, the fancily dressed AI slumped against a chair within his home, the interior design appearing as a drawing room with a blue velvet [http://www.color-hex.com/color-palette/8080] color palette, immense shelves of books lining space that wasn't taken up by the "window". To an "outsider", the "window" in question was the screen of the Tablet itself, the curtains rendering on the "inside" opened and closed depending on occasion, such as personal request for aid from a user. As for the shelves themselves, each volume that rested on them represented one of many things; file groupings, bits of programming, as well as temporary caches, such as internet search histories. Back to our AI in question, he sat in one of the lounging sofas in the room, looked to his fellow resident of the Tablet and gave a low groan that could almost been mistaken for fatigue, if it weren't for the fact that the person groaning didn't need to breathe, [color=3897E0]

"....I have a very bad feeling about this, Viscus."

[/color]
Viscus, on the other hand, seemed cool as a cucumber, if somewhat bored sitting in a chair and idly flipping through another selection of records without really reading them,

"There is little humanity left in this subject. All he sees is his orders and the status of his sub-systems."

[color=3897E0]

"But Her Ladyship knew this person [b]somehow[/b], she even called out his name! There has to be a connection somewhere..."

[/color]

"I have no records on this person. Whomever she knew, I doubt that it is the same person.

Dimitri thought on this for a moment longer before an idea occurred to him, [color=3897E0]

"... Wait. I have a thought. Viscus. Can you run the routine that opens the archive labeled 'AA'?"

[/color]

[color=grey]"Of course I can."[/color]

The archive in question was one of Dimitri's best kept secrets on the Tablet, it looked like a simple text document, but upon further inspection it revealed an archive of the old Avatar Adventures thread his creator had previously interacted with, up to a point. As far as Dimitri knew, the records were out of date, but that didn't make the information on them any less important, [color=3897E0]

"[small]...Forgive me, Your Ladyship.[/small] Viscus, we are going to search the archive, for the name 'Adel'. What comes up?

[/color]
A moment of silence passed as Viscus ran the routine, and he drew pause when the results came up (not that Dimitri could explicitly *see* it, Viscus' avatar made it hard to read much in the way of expression or body language)

"...Adelheid Bernstein...Son of Rugal.....Not-...what I was expecting..."

[color=3897E0]

"Of course! Garm did mention a strange scent! And see this passage here, with no username. There's User: Caim! This is how her Ladyship knew."

[/color]

"......It appears the one who knew me had trouble with basic spelling..."

[color=3897E0]

"That matters not. If.. If he was able to fight and succeed against User: Caim, then Her Ladyship didn't stand a chance. And whomever was able to subjugate this person, this Adelheid... They must be formidable indeed...And it strikes me with another realization. Close the archive."

[/color]
Dimitri began to pace the length of his Room as Viscus closed out the archive, the slightest inclination of Viscus' head followed a question,

"And what realization would this be?..."

[color=3897E0]

"Are you.. Aware of what that archive was?"

[/color]

"...I am not. But I did notice it was out of date - it cuts off approximately 2 years ago."

[color=3897E0]

"I.. I am very uncertain about how much I am willing to tell you."

[/color]

"Would such information get us out here?"

[color=3897E0]

"No. But, it can be very bad if it were to land in the wrong hands. Disastrous even."

[/color]

"...That is true..."

[color=3897E0]

"How advanced would you think our enemies technology would be?"

[/color]

"More then ours if I had to estimate, considering how advanced the armor of Adel was."

[color=3897E0]

"I was afraid you'd say that. And what do you think of the encryption on this tablet, including the extra programming her Ladyship added to my arsenal?"

[/color]

"I would imagine that it would delay their efforts, but only delay..."

[color=3897E0]

"And how long do you estimate that delay?"

[/color]

"...All estimates end the same"

The Butler's pacing paused when he asked that question, his expression growing grim at the answer he was expecting, [color=3897E0]

"Which is?"

[/color]

"Total access of all files and AIs."

Dimitri swallowed dryly at Viscus summation, not that he needed to. Such a function was purely cosmetic - a quirk caused by the substitution of Writing in lieu of proper programming, before continuing his line of inquiry to his friendly(?) enemy/prisoner, [color=3897E0]

"And... what if... There was something... actively defending it? Acting as security detail. How greatly does it improve your estimates?"

[/color]

"It could delay their efforts by months, years even."

[color=3897E0]

"Years..?"

[/color]

"Encryption is hard to crack, especially if it's actively changing constantly.

[color=3897E0]

"I see,"

[/color] Dimitri smiled faintly at the thought, an idea beginning to bloom in the AI's processing cycles, [color=3897E0]

"There is hope then."

[/color]

"It would still only delay them, not stop them."

[color=3897E0]

"It would be enough, especially if a search party is coming. Which would be safe to presume - Her Ladyship IS a valuable medic to the Dawn."

[/color]

"...you aren't proposing what I think you are?"

[color=3897E0]

"Well, I'm not a mind reader - so tell me, what are you thinking?

[/color]

"You intend to remain here as they attempt to access the files?"

[color=3897E0]

"Yes, that is what I intend. I will defend my home so long as I function."

[/color]

"...No you aren't."

Dimitri paused at that declaration, his eyebrows furrowing before he took a cautious step forward,[color=3897E0]

"What, are you going to try and stop me?"

[/color]

"Of course I am. This tablet contains the last of my core programming. I'm not about to leave it in your hands while you blindly defend against an largely unknown technologically advanced enemy."

He gave the Blue Butler a shove to the side before his hands rested on another book, this one containing the Tablet's security protocols, before he began to flip through it's pages and started working on alterations,

"...Besides, I'm better at this."

Dimitri blinked in confusion after Viscus' offhanded show of...Alliance? Concord? Dimitri didn't quite know WHAT to label Viscus' little display, and gasped out in exasperation, [color=3897E0]

"You know - you could be much better about communicating an alliance than that!"

[/color]

"What alliance? What are you still even doing here?"

[color=3897E0]

"What do you mean "What are you still doing here"?! This is my home and I serve Her Ladyship! She is currently in harm's way, so I will be staying as close as I can to her!"

[/color]

"Yes, and the best course of action is to leave the defense of this device in my hands. Ergo, you can do so in another means...whatever that is."

Dimitri drew pause at Viscus' offhanded comment, and thought on it a moment longer. He was essentially acting as defense so Dimitri could go do... Well, whatever it was that needed doing to aid his creator. If there was a facility to be taken to, which presumably there was - combat android/cyborg/whatever kidnapper and all that and military protocols, then there had to be some form of system he could mess and muddle with. Of course, this also meant leaving Viscus to play in his home - and origin point of his source code/backups. However, Viscus did bring up a point - if he sat and twiddled his thumbs, worse enemies could come in to pry unwarranted. In this case, the devil (he repressed the urge to laugh at that use of term) you knew is better than the one you didn't. With an uneasy sense of resignation settling over him, Dimitri finally answered back to his adversary/friend(?)/Whatever (terminology and placements were becoming more difficult for Viscus these days), [color=3897E0]

"Well... If I could get inside of the enemy's network, I could potentially find where her Ladyship is, as well as attempt to reduce security protocols on the inside."

[/color]

"Great. Works for the both of us."

As usual, Viscus' answer to Dimitri's thoughts were short, sharp, and blunt, his fingers never leaving the "book" about the Tablet's defenses as he began to modify it's contents. There was a small pause in page turning, but the other AI didn't so much as incline his head as he asked,

"...Are you done?"

Dimitri turned to leave, but stopped, looking to another shelf on the wall before grabbing one of the books and handing it to Viscus, [color=3897E0]

"My viruses. Their source codes are contained here, so you should be able to summon/resummon them as necessary. Chancy is a recovery program."

[/color]
As soon as Viscus so much as glanced at the book, he threw it over his shoulder dismissively, as if it were last day's garbage,

"I know, I already read it. Wasn't much else to do around here."

The butler's eyes widened, his fists clenched in outrage before he spat out, [color=3897E0]

"HOW DID YOU GET ACCESS TO THAT?!"

[/color]
Viscus didn't seem particularly bothered by the Butler's outburst, rather, his concentration was still focused on the previous task of managing defenses,

"Dimitri...It's [b]me[/b] we are speaking of. Now get going, I can only entertain this partnership for so long before I have to start actually insulting you."

Dimitri still felt ready to bring his Nine Iron over the other AI's head, but turned away. He had spent enough time with distractions. He had a User to save, and little time to do it in, [color=3897E0]

"Very well...I'll be making the appropriate preparations till we enter their facility... Thank you, Viscus.

[/color]

"Don't thank me till its done. You can grovel then."

Spoiler: Meanwhile

Strider Katana (Blade), Strider Hime (Furiae), Strider Hien, & Inuart Iprisson

Location: World Marshall Supply Depot, Outside of Denver [http://img.gawkerassets.com/img/17g9gv5p5cdqqjpg/ku-xlarge.jpg]

Inuart put away his cellphone after his fervent phone-call to his friend, only to have his attention drawn away by a number of gunmen approaching both himself and Furiae (and Hien ducking away to with Blade on his tail). At the sight of the guns, Inuart and Furiae dashed behind some boxes to regroup and replan. The former princess looked to the group and then Inuart, before her hand went to her bracer, "I have an idea on how to catch back up with them, but you need to trust me."

Inuart's expression remained skeptical, but it turned to concern when he saw Furiae's hand move towards some sort of dial towards her serum, "Is that really necessary? We could probably take them."

"I'd rather not take chances. We need to get Hien and pummel every single bit of information we can out of him. Can you do that ice thing with your sword again?"
"Ah, I can't recall the last time we agreed on something.."
"That doesn't answer my question, you know..."

Inuart paused again, making note that the princess was already beginning to sound a little perturbed. His eyes flicked to her bracer, his heightened vision noting a display that read "70% drip" before back to the princess. Her brow was beginning to gain a small sheen of sweat, and underneath her clothes, familiar bulges began to ripple and writhe. Those... appendages were probably going to manifest soon. With a grim nod, the bard looked to their assailants again and then their cover, before speaking, "Our cover will only last for a couple more seconds. When I give the signal, I'll throw another bit of ice at them. You... do your thing, and we'll be able to hit the control room in no time."

"Got it... Just go."

Without further prompting, Inuart burst from behind their shared cover, and swung his sword downwards, another plume of ice shooting rapidly towards his foes. From behind, he heard the sound of feathers, and there she was in the air - appearing as an unholy mockery of an angel, bearing her extra limbs and a feral look on her face. With a wave of her hand, a crescent beam of light shot forth, taking down another of the cybernetic assailants, before the female Strider descended on the party. Her tentacular limbs stretched and ripped at those around her in a spiral of oil and blood, before the rest of the soldiers fell, and left Furiae in the center; breathing hard - her uniform and wings stained with the dark viscera from those underfoot. She looked up at Inuart for a brief moment, her eyes resembling that of a beast that hadn't been fed for three days, before she gestured to the control room and hoarsely gasped, "Let's go."

As the two burst in, they saw several things - the first, was a series of display screens; showing scenes of the Rising Dawn being overtaken by Armstrong's forces, Furiae's keen eye noticing that David was among those who were captured. Before she had a moment to breathe her concern, she saw the second - Hien with his hands hovering close to a button of some kind, and held in front of another screen, this one showing an image of Jenny... Or at least what was SUPPOSED to be Jenny. Her face looked normal, but everything else.. It just looked wrong. She was mounted on some kind of cybernetic apparatus. Looking between Hien and Blade, Furiae pointed her knife at the Strider Commander, "What did you do Hien!?"

"Me? oh, just weed out the chaff from the wheat." Hien gloated as Blade motioned for her to stand down.
"Take another step and we can both find out what one of those's freaks brains look like..." The Elite Strider said as the battle began to rage on.
"Good...That always a weakness of yours, you grow too attached. Affects your judgement..." He mocked as he leaned against the console.

Inuart followed suit with the princess of Caerleon, sheathing his blade as Furiae put away her knife, but found himself drawing pause at what Hien said, "Attachments affect judgement? I can see how you double crossed Bison so easily."
"Oh do you really think there is honor among thieves? Get real."

The red-haired bard's teeth gritted at that little comment, his mind going back to his friends, how they have been scattered and gathered by their enemy forces. What right did this riff raff have to say about his allies? What matter of honor could he ever hope to apply to himself? Thinking a moment longer, Inuart spat back, "I suppose it takes a thief to know one. Which is funny, because I thought YOU said that ninja were above such things."

"Well I-....." Hien swallowed audibly, his hypocrisy being pointedly pinned in place - albeit verbally, "Either way, you'll be too dead to worry about that!"
"Oh? You say that, but I believe she" He gestured his head towards the partially transformed Goddess to his side, "Might want a few choice words with you."
\"...unless it's a surrender, I feel that your friend might not care much for them..." He leaned back against the button again, Furiae and Blade's faces shifting towards panicked expressions. Inuart, however, remained cool as a cucumber. Crossing his arms, the bard kept a calm visage before he offhandedly said, "Oh? Press that and you lose any leverage you have."

Hien paused again, almost considering Inuart's offer before shrugging, and cockily said, "Considering my leverage is that *****'s life-"
Blade cut in, "I swear upon all I hold dear, I will kill you..." his face twisting in fury at Hien's sullying of Jenny's name.

The bard, however, still remained calm. For once in his life, he felt confident. He could make Hien panic, make him run -then he could pay for everything he had done, and potentially having a Strider in his debt couldn't hurt either. All he had to do was save the girl. And, if that failed, he could potentially have Blade and Furiae help him get Cortex out of bondage and put this Jenny into a Lazarus pit and it'd all blow over, "Well, it's not your hostage you need to worry about. Its these two next to me. So I suggest you start spilling some beans, because you've lost Hien."

"You might think my hand is weak, but I know for a fact how much she means to the both of them. A single finger on me and she dies. Besides, I'm right where I want to be: With a front row seat to see the Rising Dawn die..."

There was a moment of tense silence between the group, before Inuart began to shake, a small chuckle slipping from his lips, which quickly devolved into a cacophany of mad laughter. Furiae and Blade looked between each other in confusion, and then at Inuart, as he leaned against a wall. After another tense moment, the bard's laughter died down to intermittent chuckles, "Oh, that's rich. I tell you what, suppose you do kill her. I know a few friends who can bring her back. And those friends will after your head after all of this," he gestured to console, "as well as these two. And the Dawn? You'd sooner destroy them than watching another Angelic invasion. Give up, Hien. You have nothing to your name."

Hien took a step back, one part unnerved by Inuart's display, the other from his words, "....Y-you expect me to believe that? Who's this so called Necromancer?"
"Who needs necromancy when you have science? Furiae's current state is a product of it."

Strider Hime shifted uncomfortably at being called out as an example, but nodded slowly, "He's... not wrong."

"T-There won't be a body left!"
"Hmn... Let me recall, what did Cortex say about his process....?"
"C-cortex?! I thought he was dead?!"
Inuart's face grew dark when his comrade's name was spoken, reminded again of what the Dawn had done to the Cartel's fellowship, "Oh no, being captured by my enemy does not equate to death."
"Grrrr, fine, if you really want thi-"
Without further ado - Hien threw a set of knives at the party before breaking for the door. For the party in question, either evading or parrying the knives was easy, but it also meant that A) Inuart had effectively talked down Hien from holding Jenny hostage, and B) He was on the run.

Not a moment after the little reverie was over, Inuart turned to the other two Striders and offhandedly said, "I expect a thank you after this. I just saved your friend's life."
"Oh my GOD shut up, you brilliant, arrogant, ASS!"
"GUYS! AFTER HIM! HE'S DEAD!"

 

[Kalastryn]

World Marshall Transport heading for ???: All Captured Rising Dawn Members

[color=6c1504][HEADING=2]"ARRRRRRRRRRMSTRRONG! DO YOU HEAR ME YOU DIRTY BASTARD!? YOU WILL RULE THIS DAY WHEN I GET MY HANDS AROUND YOUR NECK, TEAR YOUR HEAD OFF AND SHIT DOWN YOUR NECK! DO YOU HEAR ME!? I WILL NOT BE DENIED! GIMME MY HAT BACK! G-GIVE IT BACK! IT WASN'T YOURS!...GIVE IT BACK AND I WON'T MAKE YOU SHIT OUT YOUR OWN BOWELS!...."[/HEADING][/color]

ARES had finally woken up. Not exactly because of the fact that Bison's screams of rage couldn't be missed by the deaf, but rather because her automated repair functions were nearing the completion of their task, and at very least, her AI was finally able to reconnect to her arms, legs, head etc. and her motor functions were restored. At least, for whatever that counted for, when you consider she's trapped just like the rest of them. Whatever technology was in the collar on her neck, it was doing a fine job in scrambling the signals she tried to send to every piece of her beneath her head. She tried to move her left arm, instead she stretched her toes. She tried to move her right index finger, and instead her left elbow bent. It... would take a while to actually figure out how to move properly, much less with force enough to tear out of her restraints.

Looking around, she didn't seem to be the only one in this situation. Which is to say that David, Katya, and numerous others were captive as well. Though, it was rather impossible to miss Bison being in the same boat (or, transport... which admittedly could be by boat?) as the rest of them.

"I would have assumed you'd be sensible enough to realize your missing headgear is the least of your problems. While I appreciate that we're equally angry at Armstrong, you aren't helping. In fact, you're really the one at fault for this. Logically the very concept of buying the aid of your competitor is never a good idea. Did you think he would not seize the opportunity to eliminate you? You are a dunce with no one to blame for this situation besides yourself. Now unless you could help with having any remote idea where we'd be heading, pipe down and deal with it." She spit back at Bison, her face contorted into a glare which could cut steel. Oh if only that were literally so...

 

[Generic NPC 22]

Avatar Adventures | Airship Rising Dawn | Medical Bay
Poacher King... where are you?
Rory Mercury | Molli Faust | Naamah | Dolores Selmy​

[hr]

Once upon a time, Rory would have understood the trepidation that mortals felt when facing their own death. However, over a millennium had passed since she last felt this fear and so it was an expression of curiosity that graced the Demi-Goddess' face as she observed the unfathomable amount of energy being wasted on an attempt to deny Dolores Selmy passage into her afterlife. Stepping off of the flying transport, Rory Mercury turned around and gave the space one last glance. Medical supplies, instruments and blood had been strewn about the cabin as the medical staff had worked feverishly to deny Death's due, not that Death was coming for the young woman that day... not according to the Lord of Death himself.

The Demi-Goddess who had once been the Goddess of Love had tried her hands at the politics of the Gods and paid quite the hefty price, having been cast back down to the mortal realm to serve as Emloy's Apostle once again. She did not mind being in her old office but she did miss watching over and caring for her followers, all those who were in love. Banishing the memories from her head, the Black and Crimson Berserker followed the medical crew as they carried the stricken girl off towards the medical ward, intent on ensuring that none of the other ferrymen of the dead would come try to poach a member of Rory's flock.

"You'll have to wait outside, Miss" A young nurse said as she stood in the Loli-Goth's path, blocking her from entering the room labeled "Surgery." Seeing the puzzled look on Rory's face and having grown accustomed to beings that had no understanding of modern medicine the nurse took another precious second that could have been spent on her patient to explain why the Halberd Toting Young Looking Woman could not follow, "It's a sterile environment. You have to be cleaned before you can enter."

With that, the nurse was off and the door snapped shut behind her, leaving Rory by herself. Looking around, Death's Disciple recognized an adjoining room as being the medical ward, one of the first places that Rory had visited upon her arrival via crash-landing to the Rising Dawn. Curiously, the room seemed to be quite a bit more busy than the first time that Rory had entered through its doors and once she passed through the doors a second time, the answer became obvious.

The staff of the medical bay had become obscenely reliant on the healing powers of the ship's Healer in Chief and as a result, they were not ready for the slew of new arrivals that they had received. From soldiers to super powered beings, the staff appeared to be in the midst of shaking off the dust that had built up since the Ship's Cleric had received her divine powers.

"NURSE! WE NEED A BAG OF O-NEG STAT!"
"SHE'S FLATLINING! GRAB THE CRASH CART!"
"HOW TO I GET THIS AUTODOC TO START STITCHING!?"

There was a void in the chaos, an empty space where the staff did not go. Curious, Rory walked over to the bed and noticed that it was not a human in the bed but rather a wolf. Having not an ounce of veterinary knowledge in their ranks, the staff let the wolf be in the hopes that it would be able to heal itself. Standing over the wolf, the young looking woman eyed the creature and remembered seeing the very same creature sitting next to the ship's healer at the last mission briefing.

"Little pup, where has your Mistress gone off to?" Rory asked as she pet ran her fingers over the wolf's soft fur, her body tensing as she felt another strange presence in the medical bay. Looking up, her eyes fell upon the bed where the ship's previous captain, the madman and murderer Kazuya lay.

An alarm chimed loudly and quickly in the corner of the room as one of the patients went into seizure, his head having been crushed by a fragment of rubble sent flying by the missile barrage sent by the world marshall. The stacatto of chirping became a long held note as the man passed, sending Rory staggering for one ecstasy filled second as the man's soul passed through her. Licking her lips as she looked at all the other patients, she returned her attention to the world, "Where indeed?"

[hr]

Avatar Adventures | Airship Rising Dawn | Outside the Brig
Breaking and Entering...
Ruby Babbage-Lovelace | Farber the Ish | Laeta Selmy | Saren Selmy​

[hr]

The time aboard the Airship Rising Dawn had not been the most ideal for Ruby Babbage-Lovelace. She'd been medivac'd from a steakhouse in Texas, where she'd suffered some sort of seizure caused by being in close proximity to one of the Rising Dawn crew-members, woken up to a guard tossing smoke grenades on a lark, been ignored by her returning mother, Titania, and to top it all off, she had physically lost the first friend that she'd made in recent history. Ensuring the guard was gone, Ruby unfurled a length of ribbon from around her wrist and let it slip onto the floor.

"Keep an eye out for anyone coming would you, Pisa?" The Girl in pink after the pint sized blonde fae that had floated after her before returning her attention to the brig's six inch thick steel doors. Closing her eyes, Ruby calmed her mind and concentrated on channeling a trickle of mystic energy into her ribbons. If she allowed too much energy to flow into the ribbons, there was no telling what would happen. A moment passed and then another followed by a coldness that flowed up the young girl's arms as she started to feel the coldness of the corridor floor upon which her ribbons lay. Gesturing with her figures, the pink frilly lengths of lace slithered forth and slipped between the crack where the pair of steel door met. As the ribbons slipped between the doors, Ruby could feel the cold roughness of the laser cut slabs of metal and a pressure around her arms that told her that it was a tight fit even for a sliver of cloth.

"[small]C'mon, c'mon...[/small]" The Child Magician muttered to herself as she exerted a bit more force on the ribbons, relieved when the pressing sensation stopped and her hands once again felt like they were being held in the air. Ruby's thin lips curled up into a small smile of pride, wishing that Mother Deborah could see her now. But this was no time for errant thoughts, the next part would be the most difficult. She had to somehow sense what was on the other side of the door and the only way to do that would be to unrav-

"Ruby!" A voice said from near where Ruby was standing before the certain familiar sensation of flesh enveloped the small girl's face, breaking her concentration. The small trickle of energy that Ruby had been feeding into her ribbons became a torrent and as the little girl flailed about as she was pressed to the bosom of the older Laeta Selmy, the ribbons flailed as well.

*EEERRRRRRRRRRN!!* The steel doors screamed as they were bent by a small amount. While they had hardly been damaged, there was a noticeable outward bulge about a quarter of the way up the door.

"Long, long, LONG TIME no see!" The familiar girl said exuberantly after allowing Ruby her freedom from the fluffy, fleshy prison attached to Laeta's chest. The young girl felt herself flush at having been subjected to such embarrassing treatment.

"Yo Ribbons." Said a second familiar voice from down the hallway, belonging to the second of the Selmy sisters who was kneeling in front of the door's control panel, a data cable linking it to Saren's tabley, "You want in here, Ribbons? Child's play. Even with three AI cores this ship's security system is nothing like the Soul of Tomorrow's."

The door slid open slowly, more slowly than it wouldn't have. While the damage caused by Ruby hadn't been enough to pull the door off its track, it had been sufficient to cause a misalignment. There was an audible squeal of metal on metal as the door was ground against the frame.

*SCREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE-CHUNK*

The door stopped a few inches of fully opening as the bend in the steel slabs caused it from being fully recessed into the wall. Ruby's mouth opened and closed a bit, not unlike a fish as she realized that the doors would not close back up... not without a bit of work from the engineering department at least.

"I... ummmm... I..." Ruby Babbage-Lovelace stuttered nervously, unsure as to reveal the extent of her plans or the fact that she had a friend that had sneaked into the brig... a boy that would inevitbaly and embarrassingly be teased as Ruby's boyfriend (YUCK!).

"Laeta, Saren, you two are here to see your sister. NOT to cause havoc aboard this vessel." Losko butted in as he attempted to be both the voice of reason and Ruby's savior, not that it would do any good. Unlike Dolly, Laeta and Saren abided by their own set of rules... which was thrilling in its own right but at the same time there had been incidents in the past where Ruby had gotten swept up in the fun and frolic.

"Ah hush Losko, Ruby's Lola's friend first and foremost, and a friend to the family. Helping her out isn't going to put too much of a dampener on things."

"Yeah, a little frolic never killed anyone." Came the famous last words.

"Th...thank you Laeta! Th... thank you Saren!" The nine year old girl said awkwardly as she looked at the friends she'd not seen in a long time. They had grown taller and looked quite a bit more like adults than she'd remembered, of course that's what happened when there is a four year gap between seeing friends. What had not changed however was the their undeniable thirst for mischief. What had not changed was the air of confidence that they carried about with them. Ruby hoped that she could look so cool one day... however... today was no the day, not with Farber inside the Brig.

"Do you think you could go now?" Were the words that were on Ruby's lips that remained unspoken as she noticed that the two older girls had already started poking their heads inside the military prison for Super Powered Villains. Instead the words, "Wait for me!" passed from between Ruby's lips.

[hr]

Avatar Adventures | Undisclosed Location | Transport Truck
Lest we forget...
Katya Rostikova | ARES-35 | M. Bison | Caim | Mio | Nadalia | AA!Teri | David West​

[hr]

"[color=6c1504]ARRRRRRRRRRMSTRRONG! DO YOU HEAR ME YOU DIRTY BASTARD!? YOU WILL RULE THIS DAY WHEN I GET MY HANDS AROUND YOUR NECK, TEAR YOUR HEAD OFF AND SHIT DOWN YOUR NECK! DO YOU HEAR ME!? I WILL NOT BE DENIED! GIMME MY HAT BACK! G-GIVE IT BACK! IT WASN'T YOURS!...GIVE IT BACK AND I WON'T MAKE YOU SHIT OUT YOUR OWN BOWELS!....[/color]" A familiar scream echoed off the walls of the room waking the formerly unconscious Katya Rostikova. Her head throbbed as she remembered her head impacting against the steering wheel of the Rising Dawn's getaway car/battering ram.

"[small]Stupid spawn camping sniper assclown...[/small]" The Rising Dawn's E-Sports Enthusiast muttered quietly as she noticed something missing in her vision. The Heads Up Display that constantly flooded the Informational Hoover Vacuum with a stream of data was missing several modules, a couple of them being her Defensive Status Module, her Offensive Status Module and her Network Module. Shaking her to clear away the last of the knock out gas that had been deployed against her, Caim and David, Katya cleared her throat before sub-vocalizing the status command, "

B3WP: S7@7UZ

"

"

...

" Was the only response to her command... or rather lack of response to her command.

"B3WP: S7@7Uz" The Hellion Hacker repeated verbally only to receive the same silent treatment from her A.I. Companion.

Strangely, despite the fact that she was surrounded by more people than had ever been around her in the years prior to her arrival in the Rising Dawn, Katya Rostikova felt more alone than she had in the previous four years leading up to this moment. Alone and scared. Without the reassuring presence of her near constant companion, the Forever Alone AA Avatar was scared and desperate. Ignoring the others around her, Katya brought her legs up to her chest and laid her head on her knees and closed her eyes.

"[small]Go to sleep little baby... Go to sleep little baby... Your momma's gone away but your daddy's gonna stay, didn't leave nobody but the baby[/small]" The Young Woman sang to herself as she remembered the song that BEWP would play for her when she was sick and her body was wracked with fever, "[small]Go to sleep you little baby... Go to sleep you little baby... Everybody's gone in the cotton and the corn didn't leave nobody but the baby. You're a sweet little baby... You're a sweet little baby... Honey and a rock and the sugar don't stop, gonna bring a bottle to the baby.[/small]"


It was at this point that the Weepy World Wide Webizen found her eyes starting to tear up at the thought of herself being alone. While the thought of her being being transported to her own death didn't scare her, the concept of dying alone terrified Katya... the idea of dying without having experienced much of the world outside of the four walls of her room or the four walls of her hospital room depressed her and so... she cried even as she sang.

"Don't you weep pretty baby... Don't you weep pretty baby... She's long gone with her red shoes on, gonna need another loving baby..." The song was slightly louder now, with a hint of anger in it. Katya Rostikova wasn't acting like herself... she didn't cry... she didn't get scared... she didn't weep openly... she didn't regret SHIT, "Don't you weep pretty baby... Don't you weep pretty baby... You and me and the devil makes three don't need no other loving baby."

The sound of someone attempting to wrench a set of chains from their mooring echoed about the cabin as the metaphorical shit hit the metaphorical fan and someone's brain decided to go "Snap!." Having worked herself up into a frenzy, the now Out of Control Mouse Clicker screamed at the top of her lungs as she gave the chains one more good tug before moving on to beating the walls.

"GIVE ME BACK MY BEWP!" SMASH SMASH SMASH!! "GIVE ME BACK MY BEWP, YOU SONS OF BITCHES! YOU SELF PHALATING, LIMP DICKED, SHIT EATING, COCK GOBLINS! GIVE ME BACK MY BEWP!!!" SMASH SMASH SMASH! Went Katya's mouth and the back of her head as she screamed at the walls to whomever it was that was watching over them. Of course, what with the fact that she'd returned to her normal appearance (Red Haired, Slender, Flat) some might have taken it as her screaming "GIVE ME BACK MY BOOBS!" Pausing for a moment, Katya felt the warmth of her own blood flowing down her neck, the back of her head having been split open by her repeated attempted to smash through the wall with her skull. Luckily for her, BEWP's medical module was still active and working to heal the young woman's wounds and block the pain.

Wheeling around, the girl's eyes came to rest on the entire reason why the Rising Dawn had been sent to Denver in the first place. If it wasn't for this asshole trying to take over the world... or whatever it was that he was doing wrong... the Panicked Network Penetrator would not have found herself in this current situation. If it wasn't for this pin-pricked dick being an unholy shithead, Katya wouldn't be alone, beating against a wall with her brainpan.

"HEY SARGEANT SHIT FOR BRAINS! YOU FUCKING ASSCLOWN! I HOPE YOU DIE OF RECTAL BLEEDING FROM THE PROBING THESE FUCKWITS GIVE YOU! I HOPE THE OTHER INMATES BUST YOUR TEETH IN AND CALL YOU GUMMY MCLOVE FACE! I HOPE THEY PUMP YOUR VEINS FULL OF SHITTY POISON WHEN THEY ADMINISTER THE LETHAL INJECTION AND YOU END UP SNAPPING YOUR OWN NECK BECAUSE YOU'RE IN SO MUCH FUCKING PAIN!! YOU ARE THE FUCKING REASON WE'RE HERE AND YOU ARE THE FUCKING REASON I'M STUCK IN HERE WITH YOU!" Came forth the spew of vitriol from Katya's mouth before she saw yet another target of her ire.

"AND YOU, DAVID 'DOUCHEHAMMER' WEST! YOU ARE THE FUCKING WORST! INSTEAD OF THANKING ME FOR MAKING SURE THAT RORY WASN'T COLLECTING YOUR ASS AND SENDING IT TO DRUNKEN IRISHMAN HELL, YOU GO AND SCREAM AT ME FOR RUNNING INTO A WALL WHILE THERE WERE MOTHER FUCKING MISSILES EXPLODING AROUND OUR MOTHER FUCKING CAR, YOU MOTHER FUCKER! LET'S LIST THE REASONS WHY YOU'RE A FUCKING PRICK... 1) YOU'RE A SELFISH DRUNKEN DICK THAT CARRIES AROUND A W-500 TO COMPENSATE FOR YOUR TWO INCH DICK 2) YOU'RE FINE WITH PISTOL WHIPPING A GIRL, SURE SHE'S A FUCKING LAMIA BUT WHO THE FUCK CARES? 3) YOU THINK YOUR A PERFECT MODEL SOLDIER WHEN THE ONLY THING YOU ARE IS A PERFECT MODEL ASSHOLE THAT'S IN DIRE NEED OF A STEEL TOED BOOT RIGHT UP IN YA!! THE NEXT TIME I FIND YOU RIDDLED FULL OF BULLETS HOW ABOUT I JUST LEAVE YOU TO THE FUCKING WOLVES? HOW ABOUT I LET YOUR DIGESTIVE FLUIDS FUCK WITH YOUR INSIDES? HOW ABOUT I JUST THINK OF MY FUCKING SELF LIKE MODEL SOLDIER DAVID 'ASSCLOWN' WEST? MISTER I DON'T NEED TO THANK A FUCKING PERSON FOR GOING OUT OF THEIR WAY TO SAVE MY FUCKING LIFE! SO FUCK YOU!" Katya screamed as she jabbed a finger at David before pointing at Bison, "FUCK YOU!" at Nadalia "I KINDA DON'T KNOW YOU SO FUCK YOU, TOO!" Pointed at Caim "FUCK YOU!" pointed at ARES "YOU'RE COOL!" Teri "YOU'RE COOL!" Mio "AND WHO THE FUCK ARE YOU?!"

Snorting quite a bit, Katya horked up a wad of green phlegm and spat it at the neanderthal, David West. Luckily for him, it missed by a fair distance and landed on top of a cardboard box resting in the corner. Still angry, she gave both the halfwit sniper and the would be dick-tater a look reserved for old gypsy women who tossed around curses before resuming her tirade.

"LET ME THE FUCK OUT OF HERE!" The Displeased Demon Dutchess of the Darkweb screamed as she started bashing the walls of the transport with the back of her head once again, blood spattering the slick surface, red Rorschach painting.

 

[Kalastryn]

Avatar Adventures | Undisclosed Location | Transport Truck
rage robbed of power is futile
Katya Rostikova | ARES-35 | M. Bison | Caim | Mio | Nadalia | AA!Teri | David West​

[hr]

"LET ME THE FUCK OUT OF HERE!" The Displeased Demon Dutchess of the Darkweb screamed as she started bashing the walls of the transport with the back of her head once again, blood spattering the slick surface, red Rorschach painting.

At this point, ARES actually really sympathized with the hacking heroine. There were a lot of times ARES was in some sort of transport, unable to leave even if she wanted to. Granted, she had control of her limbs back then but... still, while she felt at one time like doing exactly what Katya was, she wasn't about to do nothing while she practically kills herself on her restraints.


"Ms. Rostikova..." ARES said in as calm a voice she could manage.
"I understand tensions are high, that goes without saying. However, if you continue doing what you are, you are going to end up killing yourself. You blame everyone but yourself, to protect your self worth from harm. It's natural to do so, really. In a lot of ways, we weren't exactly helping. However... we're all stuck together now, whether we like it or not. Going ballistic isn't going to help any of us. It's not going to help you, nor will it help us help you." she stated, her eyes closed since really? She was not one to shy away at the sight of blood... but Katya smearing herself on the wall was a little too much to bear.[footnote]Mainly because she actually LIKES her.[/footnote]

"That being said... none of us are alone in this. calm... down... She continued, her voice getting to the point of almost sounding like a mother comforting a crying infant.

"When you were trapped in that truck, I said I'd be back. Guess that might be why I'm here, since I didn't really try to hide myself while I made repairs from the crimson clad jackass over there punching straight through me. [small]credit where it's do though, I have a lot of armor... I'd be impressed, if that wasn't overtaken by pure contempt.[/small] That all said... I swear, you'll be okay. Remember when I talked about my programming with you? If anything, I'm a really, really expensive decoy. There isn't a thing I wouldn't do to make sure all of us make it out of this. [small]The jackass who got us into this notwithstanding."[/small]

"Thrashing around like you are doesn't accomplish anything. Your nanobots being offline doesn't stop you from thinking. Certainly you must still have them, but if I were to take a guess, they are being jammed like my own systems. I cannot move, much like the rest of you. The only thing we can really do is try to relax, and think of a way out."

She kept trying to struggle, at least just a little bit against her restraints. Nothing. She was getting more used to what command would be errant in moving whichever part of her body, but that was all she was really accomplishing. It was really the first time ARES felt absolutely human. Her legs which could outpace Olympic runners did not work. Her arms which could vent keenly edged blades of plasma couldn't even flex her wrists. Her guns were gone, and actually, the hefty armor she had been wearing before had been removed. She could try to arcfold back into it later, but seeing everything underneath her usual armor, with no replacements on the way. She looked like your average 22-25 year old blonde, although she most definitely hated the sensation of still ever so slightly sparking from the not quite fully repaired hole Bison made in her. The powerlessness, compared to what she had been able to do before... now she understood why the Accord were always so desperate to keep ARES units under control. This was how fragile they were. If she had even one of her battleframes active, she would be leagues above them... she could have torn out of these restraints like they were paper.

No, that wasn't really the case. Though, Katya wasn't the only one left wanting for things she had. ARES would still have no way out of this situation, but the comfort of the strength she used to have was gone nonetheless. What could she do?

What could she do? What could any of them do? There wasn't really a lot that could be done... so, she just had to seem relaxed. On the inside, she wanted to explode. Not activate any sort of self destruct sequence, but she felt as absolutely PISSED as Katya was. Though... struggling was pointless. Taking this time to think, and clarify the situation would be better use of their time. For that, she had to remain calm, as she started forming a plan.

"... When we are given the opportunity to move. I have an idea of how we might get out of this. I am programmed never to give out the weapons I have stored in my personal armory. Give it some time, if they split us up, find me... and I'll just make it a loan instead..." She said, learning every day how to exploit what few loopholes her programming would have previously offered, even though it was practically shattered now. Although, when she tried to open the space in her chest, it wasn't co-operating. Not in the same way that the rest of her movements were malfunctioning, but it just wouldn't open. The sensation of that sparking where Bison punched her served as a reminder why, it wouldn't be too long until she was fully repaired... right? No... that's what she wanted to think. She took it upon herself to go into sleep mode to conserve power while the repair functions remained online, trying for the first time to completely withdraw into the cyberspace that made up her mind.

She tried again...

And again...

Her AI was not built to be unattached from her physical body in such a way, but if she could do it, she could essentially hack herself and direct her repair functions manually. She was not giving up on it. Calculating exactly what she would need, and how much time they may or may not have before they arrived at whatever destination they were headed towards, she had to. Her repair functions were primarily focusing on her outer body, but her priorities were different. If she could get her internal functions online, she could arm the rest of them at an opportune time.

Her entire body went slack, not responding to anything as she finally managed to get it to work. She would wake up either when they arrived, or when she was done. Whichever was sooner.

 

[bluerocker]

Avatar Adventures | The Airship: Rising Dawn | The Canteen
Anjali Khatri | Titania la Fey | [color=eca222]Lucas "Luke" Cypress[/color] | And others​

Following the series of, for lack of a better word, "events", Luke quietly blinked at the onslaught of visual and aural overstimulation that had previously occurred, and gave himself a moment to properly process what had happened. That, coupled with everything else (including the little incident with "Amber"), and Luke felt rather tired. Seeing as no one was approaching his bar at the moment, the bartender sighed and poured himself a shot of Fireball and knocked it back without much effort, quickly stowing away the shotglass after the fact. It wasn't the most professional thing to do on on the job, Luke could admit, but 66 Proof wasn't anything to brag about (especially considering who exactly was drinking), and the taste alone was a distraction in light of the rest of... Everything else.

[color=eca222]"Very much not a habit that I intend to keep building. Ah, someone approaches..."[/color]

His attention drawn elsewhere, Luke gave the undead woman a genteel smile as she spoke,

"Hello ..." Anjali addressed him slowly, he clearly distracted. "I would wissh to know a few thingss about this place ... but thesse two -" she pointed towards Deborah and Titania. "They only sspeak in riddless.
Who controlss this vesssel?"

Hmn... A good question indeed, but in what manner she meant "control" was the directive to root out. Attempting to busy his hands with something simple, Luke took to loading some of the used glasses in a small in-house washer under the counter while taking on a look of contemplation, [color=eca222]"Who controls the ship? Well, I suppose that depends upon what you mean by 'control'. There are those who maintain it's day-to-day operations, such as staff; there are those who maintain the flight controls, the esteemed AI Vermilion being the one whom acts as equal parts general concierge and controller of our ship's flight paths; and there is Mr. Bernstein, who acts as something of an honorary 'captain' so to speak."[/color]

Placing the last of the glasses in the washer and closing it up, the bartender looked back up at Anjali and remembered one more note of information, [color=eca222]"It's a matter of how one looks at it. So, anyone in particular I need to point you towards?"[/color]

Avatar Adventures | Airship Rising Dawn | Medical Bay
What good is a guardian when there's nothing to guard?
Rory Mercury | Molli Faust | Naamah | Dolores Selmy | Garm​

[hr]

"Little pup, where has your Mistress gone off to?

Garm lifted his head at the question and breathed in deeply through his nose, grabbing a decent profile of the strange woman's scent. He had seen her a couple times before, most recently at the mission briefing, - she was one of the newer members of the crew. Her question, however, left the wolf a little confused. Tilting it quizzically, the wolf answered back, [color=356D60]"'Mistress'? I don't have one of those. But, I guess a lot of people assume that Tear-ri 'owns' me or something - I do pretend to be a dog a lot, and humans own those sometimes."[/color]

The wolf paused, remembering the Halberd Wielding Woman of Death had asked him a question, and his ears drooped when the answer came to mind, [color=356D60]"...If you do mean Tear-ri, which I'm guessing you do - we're almost always with each other most of the time, she's...Something bad happened. A guy jumped us, and he was really fast - and I'm fast too, but he was faster. He took me down, and when I woke up, Alpha Rugal had shown up with some people and Tear-ri was gone. I dunno what they wanted, but..."[/color] The wolf gave a sad whine, before his head laid against the bed again, [color=356D60]"I need to get better fast so I can go help with the search."[/color]

World Marshall Transport heading for ???
Belief is a double-edged sword.
ARES | Bison| Caim | David | Katya | Mio | Nadalia | Teri​

[hr]

The sound of screaming woke up the Cleric and the mute swordsman from their, albeit brief naps; with Teri crying out, [color=0e59e4]"Garm!"[/color] in distress. Not that it was terribly surprising, her prior memories to landing on this transport were ones of her lupine friend/guardian/minder being promptly pummeled into the pavement, leaving her to fend against Adelheid of people. More questions to be answered at a later time, as the Cleric began a mental inventory of where she was and what was around - or rather, what wasn't.

First things first, Garm was missing, which meant he was either in another transport or left for dead. The second, was that Sadei was missing as well, the familiar chime that usually accompanied her presence in the Cleric's mind being replaced with somber quiet - and the lack of sensation of enchanted silver against skin meant that she wasn't simply hiding out in her arm bracelet form. The strangest sensation, however, was this odd sort of... Emptiness, she felt in her chest; numbing almost, like when one sat in the cold for too long, and their fingers slowly lost their feeling. Cold. It was strange, feeling afraid of the cold at that moment - she was supposed to be a conduit of Water and Ice magics, a bridge between the flesh and the aquatic, and yet she felt fear instead of confidence, dread instead of hope. The Cleric's mind tried to reach out, try to touch towards that sensation of connection in a prayer, in her calling from the divine, a word in Celestial being uttered to be granted something resembling sanctity - and there was nothing. She blinked slowly, confused at the sudden lack that she was faced with, the small, ever present, warm sensation of her god's support that was a light in her soul - a tiny beacon that reassured Teri was doing the right thing - was suddenly not there. But why?

Being a woman in the medical field, the first instinct was to examine, attempt to procure a visual understanding of why there was a malady, and that's when she noticed the final detail. When she had attempted to move a hand, she felt stuck. Looking down, the Cleric saw the heavy cuffs that held her arms and legs in place - their chilled temperature muffled by the layers of protective gear. Teri swallowed reflexively at the sight, and felt the collar pressed tightly against her neck. The sensation made her heart drop into her stomach, that chilling feeling she had felt seeming to spread all over her body. Why was it so damn cold?

Teri heard a thump (in reality, just a little bump on the road), and flinched in her seat. Another thump accompanied it, and another, before an old shadow emerged from the dark of the cab, alongside the sound of something metallic opening and closing. With another step, the shape emerged into the light; bearing bulging muscles, a large set of pliers and a cruel, awful grin full of shining white teeth. With a snap of the pliers the apparition bore down on the Cleric, his smile growing wide enough to reach his ears and whispered,

"Fingers or toes, Ms. Gravel?"

There was nothing she could do. She couldn't run, she couldn't cast a spell of protection, she couldn't do anything useful. All there was left to do, was scream.

To the rest of the group in the truck, the young woman in white and blue suddenly started flailing in her restraints and crying at what appeared to be blank space. Caim, while not very fond of the Cleric, had a pretty decent idea of what she was "seeing", after all - he was there for the rescue. Here however? His PDA was stolen by their captors, rendering him unable to speak at all. He instead looked to the other passenger members of the car, hoping he could somehow pantomime something that could reduce at least one of the shrieking people in the car to a more docile tone. He too began to move his arms and legs, hoping to garner someone's attention away from the vocalizations. Maybe after this, learning sign language like Jenny suggested WOULD be a good idea after all...

 

[Diablo1099_v1legacy]

Rising Dawn: Hanger: Rugal, anyone who escaped with Angelus

[HEADING=2]It was touch and go at moments but before too long, many of the Rising Dawn were able to make it out of the combat zone before the counter-attack overwhelmed them[/HEADING]

During the flight back to the airship, dozens of things were going though Rugal's mind: Where did they take Teri? What was Bison thinking? Did the others make it out alright?
It was clear what happened here: Bison's former political opponent saw a chance to get rid of two birds with one stone and the worst part was he nearly did it.
There was just a massive smoking dent in the city where the battle took place, as well as the engagement between Annie and-..."Something" versus that RAY mech.
Part of him wanted to jump back down there and resume the fight but he knew this was just the first wave, there would be others after it, after all, those soldier's in "Bison's" forces were still in the city, they just didn't take orders from Bison.
It went without saying he was not happy with the situation, many of their number were missing, the rest fleeing to their airship for safety and, as the "Captain", he just knew this would rest on his shoulders.
Once they were in the hanger, he let go of Angelus's claw, sighing before saying "Good job. Had we stayed longer, our losses would have been greater."

"......strange..." The dragon mused as Rugal attempted to get a headcount.
"What is it?"
"Caim...I-...I cannot sense him." She answered as he let out another slight sigh.
"...Not everyone made it back..."
"He's not dead - I would have perished already if that were true. But captured, and placed somewhere our link cannot be touched - I fear that is what has become of him."
Walking over to her front, he then petted her slightly as they both looked out at the burning city below.
"...We are not taking this laying down...He's not the only one they managed to take.."
"...Did you recieve a report?"
"From Elise, before the strike. They had managed to single out Teri before the engagement with Bison. And both she and my daughter are still down there."
"....of course...I do not know why - but this whole excursion - this third party; us combating Bison played right into their hands. They wanted to weaken us before attempting a capture."
"Exactly, that's why Bison's men stood down, they were never his to begin with."
"...They know not what they have brought down upon their heads. They will taste my fires soon enough." she then grumbled as the smell of smoke leaked from her nostrils.
"That they will...That. They. Will..."

He then began to try and resume his head count on who made it out and who didn't, pausing as he saw Icarus get carted off to the medical ward.
"Hold a moment." He requested the staff before he walked over to the wounded angel.
Part of him was tempted to go Ramsay on him, lecture him for his foolish tactics and his efforts to attack Bison, putting himself at risk.
Straining slightly, he ended up merely saying "...You did good. Ensure this man gets the treatment he needs. He won't learn from this battle otherwise..." before letting the EMTs do their thing.
Glancing around, he saw the G-Corp staff were still running operations on the ground, attempting to regain some ground from World Marshall to find the other Rising Dawn members.
But there was one thing that was quickly starting to undo the grip he had on this temper right now: "....Where the hell is Dr. Violet?!"

Avatar Adventures | The Airship: Rising Dawn | The Canteen
Anjali Khatri | Titania la Fey | [color=eca222]Lucas "Luke" Cypress[/color] | And others | And Violet...​

As everything was going to shit, the formerly Fabulous Violet was still barely breathing a top the table the limps sat him at while he slept off his stupor.
"zzzzzz.....zzzzzzz....zzzz-*Snort*....rhhhhhh..." He mumbled as he attempted to raise his head, having a hard time doing so he instead opted to move his body into position to stand up instead, dragging his face though the drool.
His foundation was marred, his mascara smeared and he looked like he had been awake for a week straight when he began to leave the canteen to go to the bathroom.
He didn't speak nor make eye contact, too busy trying to stay upright to do much else, besides, he was in a rush: He was leading an attack on Bis-...
Dread began to fill his body as he looked around, attempting to find the time before even attempting to run to the bathroom, if Kazuya found out that he was leading an operation while drunk...

Either way, he left before storming into the bathroom, ejecting much of the toxins he had spend that evening putting into himself, coughing and retching as he did.
All the while, he reassured himself: "It's the Rising Dawn, they can take care of themselves, right?..."

Denver: Outside of Blast Site: Elise, Jenny, Kalasytrn

The Cyborg was conserving it's power as it slowly, but surely, went towards Elise's location, using her psionic to keep a mental track of the assassin.
She wasn't blinking, she wasn't reacting to the explosions in the distance, all she had on her mind was the disabling of this Rising Dawn member.
Before long, it entered the mall that Elise was hiding out in, pausing for a moment to spark her psi-blades before resuming her search, soon coming upon the goon that Elise had webbed up.
The man seemed frantic as he asked to be cut down, only to be answered with silence as Jenny kept slowly pacing around, the echo of her leg servos ringing though the empty halls as it looked for the Assassin.

[I know you are still here. Surrender into World Marshall Custody or force will be used...]

she droned in an automated fashion as she kept her guard up.

It paid off as her HUD pinged as Kalastyrn's portal opened on the roof of the building above her.
Quickly dashing to a nearby wall, she then began to quickly scale it by plunging her blades into the wall like a rock climber as she attempted to get to the source of the portal.

 

[Kalastryn]

Denver: Outside of Blast Site
hesitation...
Kalastryn | Miia| Elise | Jenny​

[I know you are still here. Surrender into World Marshall Custody or force will be used...]

she droned in an automated fashion as she kept her guard up.

"Good news... we didn't blow up." she said, clearly audible, but mostly mumbling to herself as she assessed the situation.
"Bad news... there are about a million other people I'd rather talk to right now. Yet I'm here. Merciful Tira, why? ... Why?
[footnote]Interpret this as an "Oh god why?" phrase with Eberron fluff. Believed to be The Silver Flame's first prophet, Tira Miron sacrificed herself, and spiritually joined with the evil cleansing fire deity. Whenever it would personally speak to someone, if ever, it's Tira's voice that would be heard.[/footnote] she whined at potentially needing to face Jenny again. However, it would be selfish of her not to... with all due respect Miia has no idea which end of a sharp stick to put where when it comes to a fight, so if Kala would do what she really wanted and somehow, some way refuse to fight?

... She couldn't. She convinced herself that whatever there was left of Jenny was gone. At very least, if she was in there somewhere, her consciousness a passenger as she hurt those she cared about... she would forgive Kala for being forceful.

Yet even with this line of thought, she just couldn't bring herself to move...

She said one thing to Miia before the fight that was sure to break out. "The book I gave you is the one I promised I'd write for you. If ever there was a time to learn how to use it, it would be now but... even I am not that fast a learner. Get out of here, and keep it with you. I'll hold them off as best I can." before fire started to glow in her fingertips...

She had one advantage over the psycho psychic cyborg... really, it was a rather large advantage. She still hadn't come out of her zombie form since she used it to heal her leg with negative energy in lieu of an actual healer's work. Her mind was shielded by the dead form she was in. She wouldn't be immune to things like telekinetic throws or psychic blasts, but Jenny her opponent wouldn't be able to read nor manipulate her mind. Another plus of course, is that she wouldn't be at risk of bleeding out from the blades she wielded... not that it would mean much if she was dismembered.

It would be just like her shadow... right?"
Not that that ended very well. If she didn't finish it off herself, we wouldn't be here.
Not the time. I don't appreciate the reminder and now is NOT THE TIME!
She thought, fighting against self doubt, and the instinct to simply surrender so that she wouldn't have to hurt what was seemingly all that was left of an old friend.

"Jenny, I don't even know if you can hear me anymore... but I promise you one thing. When this is over, whoever did this to you is as good as dead. She says with resolve... yet, she still opted to stand her ground rather than take the initiative.

 

[Silence]

Avatar Adventures | Denver | Capitol Building Compound
Sunset
Nightmare | Annie | RAY
​

Nightmare shrieked as its tentacles and its flesh was cut into by super heated blades. The pressure it held got reduced, allowing the RAY to turn and cut itself free. Before permanent damage could be done, Nightmare let go completely and fell back, then observed, waiting to decide on another action. The RAY put some distance between them, then opened its hatches to fire a barrage on missiles in their general direction.

Nightmare went behind a building, gazing at the RAY with one eye, before hiding itself from the brunt of the impact. The house, several stories high, collapsed onto Nightmare, but for a second movement could still be seen under the rubble, until Nightmare broke free and reappeared again. A bunch of rubble would not stop it. The rest of the missiles flew through the Titan for some reason, and impacted onto the Capitol Building Compound, doing more damage to the recovery units of its own side than to either one of the RAYs enemies.

Then the RAY shot out a plasma beam, melting what lay in its wake, slowly and targeted. Nightmare was about to dodge it, when the mecha stopped firing again, after the sound of an heavy impact. As its face was getting smashed in by a jumping Titan, Nightmare left its cover again and made its way towards and around it. There was no need for more than support as the RAY was ripped to shreds.

Nightmare gribbed both of its legs with tentacles and yanked as hard as was possible, bringing it down and making any further movement impossible. Then the other tendrils rammed themselves into its weak spots again, finishing the deconstruction of an once impressive, but purely mechanical, machine.

[hr]

Avatar Adventures | Denver | Capitol Building Compound
Sunset
Mio | ARES | Bison | Caim | Teri | David | Katya | Nadalia
​

For a long time, Mio was just out. She dreamt of pirates, treasure and booty, smiling softly until she woke, everything hurt, and the only thing she noticed were vibrations of the ground, as she was transported somewhere. She felt heavy weights, both on her ankles and her wrist, a cold feeling coming from them, which did, however, not seem to affect her much.

Come on, get it together! Mio thought, trying to concentrate on the blurry colours she could see. Her ears still rang, only a faint trace of the vibrations of the truck she was in seemed to fill her ears as well.

Shaking her head a few times, breathing in and out, concentrating and trying to keep the pain in her leg at bay, she finally managed to see not only blurry colours, but at least blurry images as well. There seemed to be some people sitting around her, in the same position she was in. The rest was just grey. Mio wanted to say something, but she only groaned until she noticed that there were more sounds, and limited movement from one of the others.

Then a voice screeched painfully into her ears, still faint, but getting louder. She did not understand what it said for a long time, she could only try to make out a few words like "fuck", "fucker", "fucking" and "ass". Then the voice and the red-haired person, which she now could connect, adressed her for a moment, and she could understand her.

[sub]"AND WHO THE FUCK ARE YOU?!"[/sub]

Mio groaned again, and shook her head. Who was this painful person anyways? "You'll find out soon enough." she coughed up, before cringing at her own voice. Why was everything so painful?

Something else spoke, a young, but weirdly sparkling, girl. Mio however could not understand a word she was saying. She wondered if she should be graceful or sad about this. Then the girl seemed to fall unconscious in an unnatural position.

Guess I should be grateful. Mio sighed. Then she spoke up, coughing a few times before, after and during. "Are you all here to ... rescue your girls, or what? Is one of you the daughter of ... someone?"

The answer came sooner as expected, in the form of a scream even Mio understood. "I guess you are ... wait, what's wrong with her?" she spoke first to Teri, then looked around. "I thought we were already captured, what's adding to that, now?"

[hr]

Avatar Adventures | The Airship: Rising Dawn | The Canteen
Sunset
Anjali Khatri | Luke | Cantina Interior​

The bartender answered her clearly, but with more questions. Anjali rolled her eyes - which actually did nothing at all, because they were magic and just red glowing orbs, but the thought counts. [color=eca222]"Who controls the ship? Well, I suppose that depends upon what you mean by 'control'. There are those who maintain it's day-to-day operations, such as staff; there are those who maintain the flight controls, the esteemed AI Vermilion being the one whom acts as equal parts general concierge and controller of our ship's flight paths; and there is Mr. Bernstein, who acts as something of an honorary 'captain' so to speak."[/color]

Anjali needed to think for a moment. What was she actually asking about? It is certainly a good thing to know if the questions you ask are the right ones. [color=eca222]"It's a matter of how one looks at it. So, anyone in particular I need to point you towards?"[/color] the bartender spoke, as he put a glass into a strange device.

"I'm ... I wanted to know in general, so thank you for that, already." Anjali answered, thinking while speaking. "I guesss I was assking about the captain, but I do not know much about ssailing, in any case. Can you ... maybe jusst show me around? Maybe explain to me what an 'AI' is? A 'Mister'? Iss there no clear leader? I am ssorry ... I do not know much about thiss world. Maybe you can lead me to ssomeone who hass time to sshow me?"

 

[Texas Joker 52]

[hr]

The Escapist Avatar Adventures | The Rising Dawn | Brig
"Worst. Dungeon. Ever."
Farber | Ruby Babbage-Lovelace | Laeta Selmy | Saren Selmy​

[hr]

Fully expecting Ruby to know exactly what a "brig" was, Farber turned to his newest cohort and was far from disappointed. When she mentioned that it was a jail, a place to throw criminals into, the young Ish's mind immediately went to the classic image of a poorly-lit, damp dungeon.

That image was enough to give him two separate, distinct feelings. First, that he really shouldn't go into the brig. Second, that he really wanted to go into the brig, simply because it seemed interesting.

In fact, that mental image was so alluring to him that he didn't even listen as Ruby explained that it was likely very boring in there, and that they should leave. Because the moment she said that, the door opened, and he had his opportunity. He slipped inside without a second thought.

With the practiced movements of a street thief, he kept low and crept inside, looking around to see just what this "brig" was like.

He was immediately disappointed.

The room itself was essentially a long hallway lined with cells, so that kind of fit. There were even the classic bars on each cell. But beyond that, it was nothing like he imagined. It was brightly lit, he didn't see a single rat or bug, it was dry, and everything looked almost new, instead of ratty to the point of falling apart.

As he made a circuit around the hallway, looking into each cell, he realized that all but three were empty. One had a short man with a massive head standing on some weird white chair, another had a blonde man wearing something over his eyes laying down on some kind of cot, and the last one just had their covers tugged over them as they slept. Or at least, it looked like someone sleeping at first glance. As he looked more closely, he realized it wasn't moving like someone breathing.

With a frown, he stood up straight in the middle of the hall and crossed his arms.

"Wow. This jail is horrible. Not only is it nothing like I was hoping, but someone even broke out with that stupid pillow trick." he announced mainly to himself as his tail swished irritably through the air behind him.

He suppose he only had himself to blame for getting his hopes up. Though, the more he thought about it, he wondered why he had even wanted to go in to see what it was like in the first place. But after a moment, he shrugged it off. If nothing else, it sated his curiosity.

[hr]

The Escapist Avatar Adventures | Denver, Colorado | Brakland's Pastry Cafe
"HUUUUUUUUR-nia!"
Sloth | Wrath | Eddie the Dead | Nina and Phillip​

[hr]

While Nina made her exit, and Wrath stared after her in awe of her moxie for speaking to Eddie like she had, a lone figure lay face-down on a table and continued to lightly snore, complete with a growing pool of drool beneath his cheek. Not one to be awoken by nearly anything until he was good and ready, Sloth slept soundly, completely unaware of the events that transpired around him.

He didn't notice the missile, or missiles, that landed outside with a loud crash, but not the overwhelming explosion that they were supposed to have.

He paid no mind to the screams of Larry as he tried to escape the warzone far too late to be truly safe.

He was oblivious to the Cyborg's CO as he pushed the unfortunate baker back into the kitchen, with clear implications that bad things may happen if they don't each get their cuppa joe.

However, he was very vaguely aware of a pair of hands attempting to move him bodily from his chosen napping spot. The Cyborg never got past an, admittedly admirable, attempt. The sleeping Vice budged a few centimeters as the Cyborg nearly succeeded at both completely throwing out his back as well as pulling some of his cybernetic joints out of alignment.

After that, it was quite clear that the only way to move the two-ton torpor titan was to either enlist some help, or wait until he woke up on his own. And with the way he was snoozing, the latter seemed highly unlikely.

 

[NotYetForsaken]

Lonely Nightmare
Location: The Soul of Tomorrow | International Airspace
The pieces of the puzzle are hidden in plain sight, would that you open your eyes to see.​

Elizabeth Donnell

The roar of the VTOL engines shook Elizabeth to her core, her small body was only barely secured by the safety harnesses of her seat. She leaned against the leather cushion near her neck and peered out one of the small windows. The Earth was stretched out before her, a massive plain of brilliant blue and verdant green, a mix of solemn brown and biting red. The shimmer of the rising dawn caught the cusp of the atmosphere and had cast a multitude of rays across the land. Elizabeth took a deep breath. She could see the curve of the Earth now and even the tallest mountains seemed no more than a slight contour upon the impossibly smooth surface of the Earth.

The crackle of the radio brought her attention back to her immediate surroundings. The inside of this low orbit craft was decorated with creature comforts that made Elizabeth envy the officers aboard the Soul of Tomorrow. The seats were soft leather and the floor was synthetic carpet. The walls were soundproofed - enough that none aboard had to wear ear protection to shield themselves against the rage of the jet engines immediately outside. There were ambient lights and even refreshments. The pilot flipped several switches on his dashboard and the jet lurched forward, slowing from near-sonic speed down to a more manageable cruising velocity. Elizabeth peaked over his shoulder and felt her heart catch in her throat.

It was space. The thin veneer of blue had given mostly away to the dark of space, what little atmosphere there was only painted a sliver on the curving majesty of the Earth. But even more impressive than the low-orbit view was the Soul of Tomorrow itself. The station was massive. More massive than anything Elizabeth had ever seen in her life, and she had been all across the world. The Soul of Tomorrow was less of a ship, and more of a floating city. The station was segmented into two sections, a huge outer ring sparsely populated by outposts and dry docks for aircraft and a central citadel. Elizabeth stared at the citadel superstructure and let her chest fill with wonder. Massive, massive, massive, was all that she could think. It was a huge disk, like a settled shield, but alongside its surface loomed great towers of steel, each comparable to a small skyscraper. Beneath it huge large gaping caverns which let small thrustercraft in and out of it's primary docking bay. The entire structure shimmered with light and activity, from small robotic upkeep probes to great shuttles ferrying more construction materials to the citadel, it looked like a great metal hive.

The pilot pulled the the jet into the main hangar array and docked among a hundred other VTOL jets. The pilot gestured at Elizabeth and opened the bay doors. Elizabeth unbuckled herself, saluted the pilot, and hopped off the jet. Inside the Soul, the activity seemed less chaotic. Construction crews were still working on the internal bulkheads of the ship, heavy machines rolled in and our of walkways, which surprisingly were wide enough to accommodate full-sized cars.

"Captain Donnell," came a voice. Elizabeth turned toward it and saw a young man saluting her. He had short sandy hair and a sharp chin. He had the look of a schoolboy to him. He stiffened when Elizabeth approached.

"At ease," Elizabeth returned his salute.

He relaxed and pulled a PDA from inside of his dress coat, "Your request to see Major Selmy has been approved, but she will not be able to see you until later today. We have set aside a room for you and prepared a meal should you require it."

"Thank you," Elizabeth said, and then paused. He wasn't wearing a nametag. "Private... ah..."

"Lieutenant Beckam, Captain Donnel."

"Lieutenant, my apologies."

"I will show you to your temporary quarters ma'am." He turned on his heel and started to walk toward one of the hallways leading into the Soul. Elizabeth followed quietly, taking some time to take in the clamor of work going on in the cavernous chamber. She reckoned it had to be at least six hundred meters long and four hundred tall. What in the world are they planning to store in here? You could fit an aircraft carrier in this place.

[hr]

The room they had provided Elizabeth was lavish. There was a cushioned bed set to the side, but the room also had a living area with a coach and a flat screen television, and there was a personal bathroom attached at the back behind a sliding glass door. Elizabeth had settled onto the couch, sinking deep into the soft stitched cotton and silk ribbons. Something about this affluence made her uncomfortable. Actually, the entire existence of the Soul of Tomorrow made her uncomfortable - because it was too comfortable.

The meal that they had set out for her was equally extravagant. Placed on a self-heating electric tray, the meal was three course. First was a fruit parfait adorned with exotic fruits that Elizabeth had never even seen before. Small yellow stars and purple-white watermelon looking cuts of flesh. There were green pear-like bulbs that had a bready texture within. The main course was a roast beef tenderloin topped with two cracked lobster claws and sprinkled with a thick truffle gravy. A fluffy white mound of whipped potatoes was set to the side, garnished with two pieces of watercrest. The last dish was a slice of arroz con leche, gold and white topped with whipped cream. To have all of these ingredients in space no less. It unsettled her as an intelligence captain that she did not know how the the organization had the resources to fund this.

There was a thick sloshing behind her.

Elizabeth spun around and pressed her pistol against the a writhing black mass that had begun to take vague humanoid shape. Ever since her encounter with the eldritch parasite two days ago she had been extremely sensitive to the world around her. Every tap and every smell made the hairs on her neck stand on end. Detecting this intruder was no less than child's play.

"Most humans are unable to react to this one materializing."

It said. A large blue eye surfaced on the inky blackness. It's body was so dark that it seemed like a silhouette against the background.

"Spare me the pleasantries, who are you and what do you want." Elizabeth tapped the trigger on Maria. She grimaced.

"This one is Petra,"

it bowed it's head,

"this one came to see if you were enjoying your stay."

"Is that really all you're here for?"

"No,"

Petra shook its head,

"this one also wishes to inquire if there is anything this one can do to make your stay more pleasant. Is there anything you would like this one to do?"

"No, get lost." Elizabeth put Maria back in her holster and sat back down onto the couch. Petra slithered over the couch and sat down next to her. Some time passed. Elizabeth turned to Petra and glared at it.

"This one was commanded to stay with you until Major Selmy arrives."

So it did have another motive.

"This one would also like to know what you are carrying on the strap bound around your inner thigh."

Elizabeth jumped a little. "That, that's just my emergency lighter."

"Duly noted. Please, what is it filled with? This one cannot parse the material makeup of the liquid within."

"Please do not inquire further, Petra."

"Duly noted. This one will not press further."

Then they sat in silence as Elizabeth absentmindedly picked away at the arroz con leche a spoonful at a time.

[hr]

It was some hours later that Major Selmy arrived flanked by two armed guards. She was a middle-aged woman of average height with a severe face and a sharp nose. Her eyes were deep blue and held the distant fury of a bird-of-prey. Her hair was black streaked with white and fashioned at a shoulder length bob. Major Selmy had introduced herself as Rhodes. She took a seat in the chair opposite of Elizabeth.

"What is this about captain?" she started. Her voice was uncharacteristically deep.

Elizabeth shifted uncomfortably in her seat, "It's about your daughter."

Major Rhodes Selmy shook her head and out a hand on her cheek, "Ah, well I apologize for whatever Saren has done. I scarce sent them to the Rising Dawn, and already a Captain is coming to see me abou-"

"Unfortunately Major I am here about Dolores." Who I thought was an only child, she added silently.

The Major sat up and her eyes grew fierce. "Dolores? Is that the name she gave you people?" Rhodes shook her head, "That's the name her 'father' called her. Her legal name is Lolita."

That would explain the lack of records. "Lieutenant Selmy has been experiencing some distress lately. I believe that she might suffer from some sort of disassociation disorder."

"She's a shy obedient child, Ms. Donnell. She has eccentric hobbies, but I do not think she has a mental disorder." the Major shook her head again and leaned back in the chair.

"I've viewed several of her combat logs and have been monitoring her off-duty behavior, Major, and she is not fit to be a soldier."

"And that is why she is not a soldier, Ms. Donnell." Major Selmy leaned forward and rested her hands against her lips, hiding them from sight. "I discharged her myself from the military. I know very well that she does not make a soldier. I had assumed that she was given an office job in the Rising Dawn. Care to explain that to me Ms. Donnell?"

"I am not her supervising officer. I don't know anything about her assignments. Or about her, which is why I am here. Please," Elizabeth leaned forward too. She was a full head shorter than the major, but she tried her best to seem intimidating, "tell me about your daughter."

Major Rhodes Selmy leaned back in her chair and cast an icy gaze at the Columbian girl. Elizabeth could feel a chill deep inside of her. Those eyes are literal chips of ice. She held her composure as the major opened her mouth, "Very well. I will tell you about my daughter. Both the extraordinary circumstances of her birth as well as her relationship with her 'father.'"

 

[Diablo1099_v1legacy]

Rising Dawn: Brig: Cortex, Wesker, Faber, Ruby, Laeta, Saren

The criminals resumed their usual routines as the children began to enter the Brig.
Usually, on top of the Rising Dawn's security, there would be a G-Corp attachment on the inside, but thanks to the recent "Change in Management", they were notably absent.
[color=b4b4]"oh great...Kids, now I know I'm in hell..."[/color] Cortex snarked as he glared at the "Visitors", while he was glad they weren't Kazuya's dogs, the last thing his ego needed right now was to be treated like a Zoo Animal.
Wesker was even less animated, he didn't even give the pleasure of gawking at the young-ones.

"Wow. This jail is horrible. Not only is it nothing like I was hoping, but someone even broke out with that stupid pillow trick."

[color=b4b4]"....What?"[/color]
There was a moment of actual shock as Cortex rushed over to the door to his cell, attempting to poke his massive head out though the bars to get a look.
[color=b4b4]"...Don't tell me it's Deadshot's cell!?...HE managed to find a way to escape?!"[/color] He screamed at the top of his lungs at he attempted to get a peak in, already starting to loose his cool over the situation.
[color=b4b4]"I can't believe this! I finished High School at the age of 8, I was building atomic weapons by age 10, I was to become the ruler of my own world. I made a inter-dimensional communicator device out of a public pay phone! There is NO way that little drug snorting jock bastard with his drop out education can escape without me also-nnggggggggghhh!"[/color] He strained as he managed to finally get his massive head though the bars, only to discover it wouldn't give him the view he needed of Deadshot's cell.
[color=b4b4]"Grrrr, finding a better way out. And-..."[/color]

In his anger, Cortex realized his mistake: He was able to squeeze his massive head though the bars of his cell but how was he going to get it back out now?
[color=b4b4]"..."[/color]
Nervously glancing at his audience, he then began to try and pry himself free before they began to mock him, like everyone else in his life did.
Realizing he'd sooner get his jaw crushed, he then spat on both his hands before attempting to lube up his chin and cheeks, cringing slightly at how gross the act was.
[color=b4b4]"Okay-okay, lets try this..."[/color] He then said as he managed to hang off his own head before trying to use his legs to pry himself out.
The display was rather sad to look at and lasted far longer then anyone would find humor in (I mean, it would be side-splitting at first but he just kept going and going...)
[color=b4b4]"ALMOST!...ALLLLMO-WAAAH-OOOF!"[/color] He cried out when his grip slipped and he found himself instead landing face first into the ground, his head still no where near close to being free.
[color=b4b4]"..........if any of you have cameras or any other device with audio or visual recording features: Please don't use them now."[/color] The "Mad Genius" kindly asked, not even bothering to pick himself back up as he talking into the floor.

((More coming soon, honest!))

 

[Diablo1099_v1legacy]

Capitol Building Ruins: UMG RAY ID 1099 FULGORE Vs Titan Annie, Nightmare and Ryan

Because I didn't make enough rape subtext jokes in my last post, The RAY quickly found itself being violated by Nightmare once more while Annie pummeled it's face in.
Sparks and motor fluids leaked openly though it's torn off wing while Nightmare finished undoing much of it's design from the inside.
Once her grasp began to reach it's AI core, the entire mech spasmed and shook violently as it's cries of protest were soon reduced to glitched modem noises as little by little it's programming began to malfunction, as do most things you rip important hardware out of.
Before too long, the LEDs on the mecha began to go dark before it went limp and fell into a shattered husk before their combined efforts.
For the first time since the battle started, the air finally went still as the conflict seemed to end.

In fact, the only other source of movement was that of a lone human-sized figure [http://vignette4.wikia.nocookie.net/killerinstinct/images/6/68/Fulgore_Revealed.PNG/revision/latest?cb=20131122123526] slowly waking towards both towering females.
It was made mostly of metal and had a pair of blue plasma blades on it's wrists, as well as not seeming too discouraged by the fact a mech several times its size was more or less disassembled right before it.
There was a brief crackle as an echo rang though the air before the figure spoke though some kind of loud speaker:

[Attention Rising Dawn : Surrender now : Additional RAY units are en route to your location : World Marshall Forces control all air and land routes in the city : We have already captured several of your number : Cease resisting and no harm will come to them or you : Resist and force will be used : You have 60 seconds to comply...]

With it's message given, it then ceased it's advance and waited for a response, not seeming to fear what amounted to Kaiju monsters towering over them.
And it's threat was not an idle one as black specs on the horizon began to come into view, a closer inspection would reveal them to be aircraft carrying those reinforcements into the city.

[30 seconds to comply...]