Guild Wars III Roleplay (Rated T)

[Rider]

[glow=red,2,300]MOAR SKY BATTLE[/glow]

Crap, he was going for the captain. Strife's words fell on Rider like molten lead. The individual words didn't matter so much. The whole meaning was like a crushing weight. Rider, breathing heavily, took her sword again and went for the chinks in Strife's armor a second time...

And took a turret to the shoulder. It spun her 180 degrees. More bones went snap. "Today's just not my day," she grumbled, thanking her lucky stars it wasn't her right shoulder. Because if she was going down, she was going down swinging.

Going down? Part of her brain said. Shiva wouldn't have that kind of talk.

Well Shiva ain't here. If he were, he'd rip this cheesy RP a new plot hole. And he'd have Strife for dessert. And then he'd pick a fight with Sev.

And, because the injured brain does odd things, she thought, why?

Because those two are polar opposites. Sun and night. Soul and steel. Life and death.

Life and death.

The only person capable of defeating this zombie was under his control. But Sev had always been an ally, a part of her best friend. Celestial, Rikku, they had all...

No, you must not fear it. To fear it is to feed it. Do not open that part of your mind to it.

Too late, Rider realized. Too friggin late.

The most she could do was act on her fears, so she ran up behind Strife again, whooping and hollering and banging on his armor, looking for a weak point and knowing that the next blow she took was gonna bruise her up even worse.


[glow=red,2,300]Fleet HQ, a tad late[/glow]

Kienne didn't like being referred to as "The wife." But it was tough telling that to a very angry Horseman. Bikeman. Whatever. The most she could do was follow her husband, trying desperately to not touch the human statues around her. The baby still knew that something was horribly wrong and was telling Kienne that in no uncertain terms.

[Ikkin]

If there was one benefit to having spent the last six months or so in the Underdeep, it was the fact that being in the presence of one's own irrational fears for so long started to make them seem a lot less scary.

Which was not to say that Ikkin wasn't affected - she just felt the far more rational fear caused by her friends being far away, in deadly peril, and her not being able to do anything to help them. And that type of fear didn't tend to cripple Ikkin - it just made her all the more determined to set things right.

So, when the delicate silver-haired flower put her hand on Ikkin's shoulder and asked, "Why should we fight them? Ignore them. Forget them. Let's get to the people responsible," Ikkin felt inclined to agree. These people weren't the ones threatening her friends.

"Yeah, why should we fight the small fry when their masters are the ones we're really after?" she said. "They're not worth our time."

"... I need you," the girl continued. "I can't get there alone, and I... I would like someone to fight alongside. You've proven yourself passionate enough, let's work together against this new blight. Even if nobody else will."

Ikkin was still rather suspicious of the girl's motives, considering the theatrics, but that wasn't a very good reason to keep someone who was clearly a decent fighter from a position where they could help out.

On the other hand, she felt just as stuck as the girl was. The sudden fear for her friends made her realize that Tabloid Town was where she was needed... but she couldn't for the life of her think of how she would get there. She just felt so helpless, waiting for an offer that might never come...

"I'll work with you," she said, "but I don't know how we're going to get there..."

"Ahem," Sev said. "Aren't you forgetting something important?"

Ikkin blinked, stared at Sev, then blinked again. What in Fyora's name had just happened to make her forget something so obvious.

"So, anyway, like I was saying. Just hold onto Sev, and we'll be there before you know it."

"Don't I get a say in this?

"We both already know what you'll say. Unless you have any complaints?"

"Fair enough. But you could at least ask next time."

"We're running out of time. We just need to go, now. So grab on already," she finished, turning towards the girl and placing a hand on Sev's head herself.

Something still nagged at her, warning her this was a bad idea, but she shoved that aside. It was probably just the fault of whatever fear spell had made her forget Sev, and she wasn't going to let that affect her any more.

[Speck]

They were floating over Tabloid Town. There were a few remarks pointing out the two things they weren't expecting: the floating fortress that was just days ago City Hall, and the sleek warship. The ship made a quick scan for lifeforms, and found a clutter of them on the other ship, one in the fortress, and a pair on the rooftops. Nadine tried contacting the other ship.

"Hello, this is the Goose Juggler, come in," No response, "Hello, can you hear me, over?"

She disconnected the comm link and rubbed her temples,"Okay... so now what?"

"There's a pair of - presumably - people over here," The currently-unnamed copilot jabbed his finger at one of the many screens in the cockpit.

"What do you propose we do? Ask if they need a lift?" Nadine cocked an eyebrow, "What if they're hostile?"

The copilot shrugged, "Shoot 'em?"

By this point, Speck had unbuckled herself and unwrapped her package: it contained a belt, worn-looking katana in its sheath, a standard issue plasma rifle (and holster), and a grenade launcher. She clipped the belt, sheath, and holster around her waist. Kneeling on the floor, she slid the silver case from under her seat and opened it. One by one, she loaded six lemon bombs into the multi-shot grenade launcher. Similarly, the other Spacefleet officers were preparing themselves, double-checking their weapons.

Nadine and the copilot continued to argue in the cockpit until finally...

"Listen, there's no way we can land in Tabloid Town. I don't know about you, but I really don't want to meet whatever turned the entire city to stone. Therefore, it would be nigh impossible for us to pick up those two little blips, da? " Nadine pointed to the corresponding lights on the screen,"Our only option is there."

She pointed to the tower. The copilot nodded, aiming the ship's weapons on the building. They fired, and within moments, there was a large hole where a wall should have been.

[Kiddo]

In Which Something Stupid is Done

Kiddo was on her feet in a heartbeat when the hole was blown into the side of the floating tower. She made up her mind in less time than that. The falling debris… was nothing more than a stepladder. Granted, it was a stepladder at terminal velocity, but with enough of a boost she could get close enough to toss a grappling hook into the newly-formed hole. Besides, she was a ninja. Defying the laws of physics was what ninjas did.

She was off the side of the building before the thermal reaction was over. Her first leap carried her over open sky, then she just… blinked… and was on top of the first major chunk of debris. A few more hops, one more teleport, and she had only open sky and the tower. Rolling to her back she threw. The grappling hook was more a barb than anything else, meant to smash into something and create a hold, rather than catch and hold. It hit, about three feet below the actual hole in the tower.

Well, it was better than nothing. Kiddo braced herself as the rope snapped taunt and then started shimmying up. She had to get inside before anyone tracked her. Get inside and then vanish, as ninjas did. Her heart was racing. This was it. She remembered how to do this, how to vanish, how to jump, that limited teleport, how to conceal more weaponry than body weight… how to be a ninja.

9.8 meters per second squared was rolling in its grave. Cause that’s what ninjas do.

Then, once inside, maybe she could get some answers. Her fractured memory told her this tower was important but otherwise… she had no idea why.

[Moonlight]

[Floating Tower of Strife]

"What th-!?" Liyer was thrown into the already cracked wall again when another explosion rocked the tower. It was close... He got up and rubbed the new bruises on his arm. "Are you trying to kill me or something?! You've got the wrong person if you think I'm that dark magic guy!" the frustrated rant was addressed to no one in particular, but clearly he was tired of nearly being blown up several times.

"Hey, can you hurry up and get down here already? My power isn't even close to being unlimited, and I can't hold that shield much longer. Just quit being a coward and jump down already." Rivanth spoke in his head. That was getting very annoying...

"Come up yourself," Liyer muttered.

"That would be impossible. I can't really teleport right now, nor would I want to. Besides," he added, "That ninja already took the only other way up. How reckless."

"What ninja?"

"Yeah, you might have company soon. Oh, and there's also the ship that blew the new hole in tower just now, too. Dunno if they're acquaintances of the other one, but you never know. Choose wisely."

Liyer drove the sword into the wall of the corridor. "Don't leave me with vague hints like that, you idiot! You're the one who wanted me to scope out the place; I'm not leaving till I want to. If I have company, then so be it." He shook the blade free and listened for any other people around the city hall.

[Fraze]

((Mage Manor
I'm retconning this in right after Ikkin told Spacefleet to get out. Because I should have been more active. Yeah.))
"Very well," the head of the evacuation team said. "We won't deny anyone help, but nor will we force it on them. Let's go." He turned back to the ship, and the rest of the team followed. He sent a message to Spacefleet HQ. "The Mages no longer recognize us as allies. They seem to think we attacked Tabloid Town. Due to high levels of hostility, I deemed it unsafe to stay at Mage Manor any longer until we can get reinforcements to speak with them again."

((Zagora's Shop of Horrors))
Fraze knew it wouldn't be that easy. He knew Strife would somehow manage to get out of this attack. However, he wasn't sure what it would be. Just to be safe, he kept a metaphorical finger hovered over the virtual "emergency abort" switch all during the attack.
As soon as the beams began to be deflected away, Fraze ceased the attack. It still took a second for the plasma and laser cannons to cease firing, and several more before they were completely spent. Deep furrows now scarred the landscape, some of which had claimed lives. Several dozen, Fraze estimated. He wanted to swear, but nothing came out.
A panicked voice stammered in his ear. It was the chief of external security. "I--I'm so sorry, s-s-sir, I t-take full responsi--"
"No way," Fraze cut him off. "You followed orders, and did well. Neither you nor anyone else in your team is taking the fall for this."

"Anyway, we're grabbing a ship and coming planetside, catch up with you there."
Stealing a ship from a military organization and happily informing the leader of said organization of this fact. Maybe that was why Fraze loved this woman.

The small woman in the shop, who had politely waited as Fraze stared off into nothing and attempted to save the world, set a cup down in front of him. Fraze took the drink. It tasted deep and earthy--which, in this case, meant that it was not unlike boiled, strained soil. If it was, it was particularly rich soil. It was at first an exercise in gag reflex control, but Fraze soon thought of it as an aquired taste. The fatigue that had built up over the past 30 sleepless hours faded away, and he found himself with a clear head and renewed energy.
"Thanks. The ones you have now would be excellent, and with any luck I'll have someone bringing you that tree soon.
He picked up one amulet. With a bit of creative rearranging, he managed to get it to fit under his carbon fiber armor a bit above his navel. It wasn't the most comfortable thing, but it would work. Tentatively, he took a step toward the ooze-covered ground outside Zagora's shop. Before he touched the ground, the thick liquid seemed to retreat from his foot, curling angrily an inch or two away. The way it hovered there, it almost seemed as though it was consciously trying to touch him, but somehow couldn't.
"I'll have someone come to pick these up in a few minutes. This will be an immense help, thank you again."

He contacted the 'Fleet, asking them to send down a shuttlecraft to get the amulets from Zagora, and then contacted the science team with Scientist Merpo, telling them to get to work. These things both happened quickly and efficiently because it's boring to type that stuff up and Fraze doesn't like to do too much filler.

He checked his radar. He had been tracking Haggoth's ship, since it seemed clear that this was the one the Pirates had commandeered. Now it was in the vicinity of Strife's tower.
Strife's tower?
Oh, crap.

Fraze admitted that "leap before you look" can sometimes be useful. Instinct is a powerful tool. But this was one of the times when instincts can steer you wrong.
He leapt onto the spacebike and headed toward the floating citadel. It took under a minute to get there. He was about to make a snarky comment when he saw just what was going on. Looking through the open hatch, it was clear who was losing the battle. And that drunken idiot and amiable-acquaintance-slash-maybe-friend-of-some-sort...was trying to get herself killed.
Fraze spoke through the ship's comm system, desperately hoping it would come through and that crazy woman would hear. "Rider. OFF."

Moments later, the spacebike rocketed into the shuttle through the hatch, straight toward Strife. Five feet from the back wall, the bike instantly dropped from 500 kph to 0. Fraze, on the other hand, didn't. He flew off the bike, grabbing the handlebars just soon enough to rotate so that he hit the back wall of the passenger section of the ship with the flat of his back. He was wearing three layers of protection--portable personal force field, top of the line Spacefleet lightweight carbon fiber armor, and microthin skinsuit. All of these helped to absorb the impact, so what he felt wasn't much worse than falling out of bed onto the floor. The ship didn't fare so well, as panels crumpled or shattered under the force of impact. There wasn't much in the way of electronics in that part of the ship, but Fraze nonetheless put out of his mind how much of a fit Haggoth would throw over the damage done.
"Surrender now and you will stand trial for your crimes," he recited, looking Strife straight in the eye. Of course it wouldn't work, but it was protocol. "If you refuse you will be killed."

[Draco]

<<Mage Manor - Phantom Merc>>

Gil doesn't wait any longer, and hits the 'steam.' The ship drives forward only a few feet before the newly installed rotors begin to spin and lift the Phantom Merc into the air. It begins to lift higher and higher before it stops and hovers in place. Gil presses a button, and the wings the rotors are installed on begin to turn, placing the rotors forward similar to a plane. The ship lurches forward as it begins to move forward. At first it moves slowly, and then it speeds up. After a little directing from the NNPC, the Phantom Merc II flies in the direction of Tabloid Town.

"My head is becoming clear now... Weren't we just accusing Draco of being one of those possessed people?"

The NNPC nods his head and turns to look back at the group that got onto the PM-II.

Draco gaze turns to the two pilots and glares under his glasses.

"Yes you were, but in the end there was no real proof behind it. Besides if I was working with the Underdeep, why would I want to help take down Strife?"

---
<<Mage Manor - Nameless Ship>>

Leena was helped up and taken to the bridge. She sat there waiting for Gil to take off, and for her head to clear. She hated that feeling she felt while outside in that wind. A feeling of emptiness and nothingness.

"Captain. What do we do?"

Leena looks up at the man speaking to her and sighs.

"We wait for Mr. Maxwell to take off. Someone keep a eye on where he goes. Meanwhile, we wait for people to enter the ship. We need to get them out of this spot as soon as possible."

She thinks for a few moments, remember the Fleet officers.

"Also, prepare all pilots who are able to battle to get their ships ready. Also any type of fighters the ship has."

The man nods his head and runs out of the room to spread the word. Leena just sits back in her chair.

"What did Brassport get itself into?"

She watches as the PM-II takes off and flies away, taking note on it's direction of flight and sighs again.

[Strife]

((Battle in the Skies of Tabloid Town))

Strife's horizontal swing made impact once again with the pirate captain's blade. ((Too much is happening for me to wait on this one, Hunty. Sorry. ^^;; ))

Meanwhile, Rider had simply run up to him and started banging desperately on the sides of his armor, looking for a weak spot. He immediately turned, his cloak whipping into her face, and grabbed her by the collar of her shirt while stepping backwards, making sure that he was against the wall so nobody could sneak up behind him.

At that moment, the Spacefleet Commander came to the rescue. His hoverbike zoomed inside the craft almost instantaneously, stopping just short of the wall. Fraze slammed on his back into the wall, but quickly recovered from the rough landing and composed himself, delivering a stern message to Strife.

"Surrender now and you will stand trial for your crimes," he recited, looking Strife straight in the eye. "If you refuse you will be killed."

Strife let out a deep and quiet laugh. "Think about what you are saying, Commander." Strife spat the last word out with utter disgust. "This body is already dead. If you destroy it, I will acquire a new one, far more powerful than you could ever imagine."

"I will, however, surrender this girl," he lifted the red-caped pirate that was now firmly within his grasp, then placed the edge of his sword at her throat. "Provided that Spacefleet and this worthless band of thugs you call Pirates cease their attacks immediately and leave the vicinity of my fortress indefinitely."

He paused for a moment, his static, lifeless eyes staring into Fraze's. "Only you can save them from a fate worse than death. It all depends on your cooperation."

[Deleted]

Mage Manor


Somehow, the proud warrior had gone from standing tall and glaring at Draco, suspicious of the man's behaviour... to nearly being on the ground, his head gripped tightly. Words danced through his mind, taking on the voices of people dead for over ten years - taunting him, calling him the things they had called him for much of his life.

Freakish little brother. The weakest. The most mindless. The idiot. The one who would never amount to anything.

And then, somehow, the voices were fading. Breathing in deeply, Kovaran noticed now that the air felt... foul, somehow. It had to be the work of--

Be silent.


The warrior suddenly felt a clarity in his mind. For a precious few moments, all was clear - all made sense. Then the clouds that had come to his mind began to roll back in. The poison fog of the Underdeep, the mission of the metal-haired being, the others present... soon they had occluded his sun once more.

With a loud grunt, Kovaran slammed his fist into the ground, and pushed himself to his feet. He looked around at the others, as though deciding on what he should do.

And then, there was a decision.

"I will go. There is a threat that endangers our world... and yet--"

After hestitation and watching the vehicles leave, he walked towards Ikkin and Sev - and that being.

"--though the bonds of the guilds we trust may be tested, in the end, it is where the heart of a being beats that makes them hero or villain. If we stand and fight for one cause... then what are the boundaries of guilds? Meaningless."

Interestingly, he seemed to be talking to himself as much as to the others.


Somewhere nearby, Cop-Out the horse snorted.

*

D-Man hadn't gone far into the building. The dragon was currently walking down a corridor lined with animated paintings; he was clearly surprised and impressed with what he saw. Among others, there was a painting of a battle between two armoured figures, with dozens of beings fighting in the background.

According to the plaque beneath it, it was inspired by a Guilds' War.

A Guilds' War?... There was more than one of them?

[Kiddo]

Inside the Tower


Kiddo moved fast, skirting up to the next floor along the broken debris and down the hall. She didn't feel like being in range of the next shot that ship fired and the further she got into the interior, the safer she'd be. At least, that was her theory. She reset her grappling hook as she moved and once she was far down the hall enough where she couldn't see the hole, she paused to find some shadows. She crouched motionless, taking stock of her situation. The tower was... depressingly normal. In fact, she thought she recognized some of the architecture style. But why was it floating? And why was the city petrified below?

It was at that point that she noticed frost starting to form about her feet. Interesting. It wasn't cold. Yet...

Oh bloody hell.

Which was an appropriate curse, considering she had a really bad feeling what was powering this tower. She had to keep moving, not let her subconscious start coming up with ideas. And she did, up until the point she heard something moving up ahead in the passageway. She ducked into the nearest shadow, stilled her breathing, and silently hooked her crossbow string to a hook on her belt. It let her draw it back with little to no effort, silently, and she loaded an arrow and readied it.

Shoot first, ask questions later.

[Zylaa]

((Mage Manor))

Kassandra placed one hand gently on Sev's wing, thus freeing her author from retconning her into this position after the teleport.

((SKY BATTLE))

On the whole, Zylaa felt rather useless.

She'd leapt back from Strife's original kic, but not quite quick enough, and the glancing blow sent her careening off balance to the side of the ship, where she had to double over her aching ribs.

Then Hunty's Sue Sword kinda took over, and Rider started beating Strife, and before Zylaa could do anything, the ship rocked again with a reverberating impact. She looked around wildly and saw Fraze hop in.

Handy timing, she thought. Then she noticed that Strife had Rider hostage. Don't panic. Don't panic. Think, she repeated over and over in her head as once again, diplomacy commenced.

This body is already dead. If you destroy it, I will acquire a new one, far more powerful than you could ever imagine.

Don't the good guys get to use that line? Anyway. This is the Underdeep. It's so human though... taunts and hostages. We've made this. We feared this. But how do we stop it?

Zylaa really didn't want to ask what the fate worse than death would be. She could imagine... and therefore so could the Underdeep.

But this isn't primal fear, she thought. It's evolving. And humans... humans can be destroyed. Humans have emotions. We can manipulate them. So the more human it gets, the weaker it is. She felt the first faint glimmerings of hope. Granted, these glimmerings were about as bright as a firefly in a cave, but it was there.

Only you can save them from a fate worse than death. It all depends on your cooperation. Zylaa stirred.

"Point of interest? We pirates do have a mind of our own, you know. It's not like we're doing this under his orders. We'll save ourselves or not as we please," she said. And hopefully this'll distract him from Rider, she thought. "Oh, and 'thugs' is positively complimentary compared to some of the things we've been called, but you're not one to talk. Who's the one puffed up with brute force here?"

And if this doesn't work, we all might die, Zylaa thought, bracing herself to dodge. Joy.

[Huntress]

((We're soooaring, we're flyyyying- *brick'd to neverneverland and beyond*))

The cold, sharp sound of metal clashing against metal brought Hunty out of her murderous rage-fit. She didn't battle often because she usually preferred to talk herself out of it or simply hightail, whichever way was more convenient, but when she had to, she fought with a clear head. It was as thought the danger made all her senses band together and focus on the common goal.

She locked glares with Strife over the crossed swords.

"Look at what I am doing to your crew. In less than a minute, I have brought your single greatest fear to life, right in front of your eyes. Imagine what I can do in the next few minutes."

Hunty gave him a small, completely humorless smile.

"You know nothing about me and my greatest fears," she said, and backed away as the swords broke free, the Sue-sword leaving a silvery white trail in the air as always. "You try, props for that, but you're too human. I don't think this whole fusing business has done you good."

She didn't know a whole lot about swordfighting, but she could see how Strife's sword had plowed through the roof of the ship before colliding with her sword and she could tell what it meant. This guy was fighting with oomph. Half of his moves were for show. He was still a considerable opponent, sure, but he wasn't quite as efficient as he could've been. Which meant a weak spot, a personality she could understand and work with. Therefore she could also foresee the second swordstrike as it came and parried it with relative ease.

In the meantime, Bloody Mary had climbed up to the control panel, squinting at all the dials and levers in the howling wind. The ship was now flying in a big aimless semi-circle, left mostly to its own devices. The meepit, who'd never liked flying in the first place, eyed the ground down below with a sinking feeling in his stomach, spent a brief moment thinking and then edged over to the nearest microphone. He looked around to make sure that nobody was giving him unwanted attention, then whispered a few commands.

The warship remained mostly on the same course, but the semi-circle got wider. It was now headed west, away from the city hall, and slightly downwards.

"Please don't crash, please don't crash," Bloody Mary mumbled fervently, skipping along the control panel. The ship was still airborne but its quiet electronic voice was now listing all the damage it had been dealt, and the list got longer by the minute.

"Attempted contact by another ship," the voice suddenly stuck in the middle of the rest of the list. "Long-range communications down, unable to respond."

The meepit gave it a moment's thought. He lived on a ship, after all. "Send morse," he snapped.

As the ship sent a row of beeps at the Goose Juggler that transcribed into a rather brief 'battle situation, send backup', Bloody Mary was already checking out other dials. This was cut short, however, as a spacebike rocketed in through the door and a loud crash made the ship jolt backwards, sending the meepit face-first into the panel.

"-three back panels deformed, hydraulics partly damaged," the ship hummed coolly. Bloody Mary dragged himself up.

"Oh look, it's the muffinpie," he said weakly and dropped himself on the floor. "As you were."

Hunty had lowered her sword when Strife took Rider hostage, if only so that the blade would form a protective shield in front of her, and she edged up to Fraze's side as she watched the whole scene play out. The meepit reappeared on her shoulder. With Fraze around, the captain could fight like the demons of the underworld, but she also tended to be far more reckless, and Bloody Mary, as usual, considered himself to be the only wall between her and Bloody Stupid Actions.

But right now she looked mostly thoughtful, listening to Strife's demands. Cease attacks immediately and leave at once? Hey now, there was a plan in there somewhere.

"Point of interest? We pirates do have a mind of our own, you know. It's not like we're doing this under his orders. We'll save ourselves or not as we please," Zylaa pointed out. Hunty shifted her weight to one leg for a more comfortable - and less threatening - position and nodded.

"Well, I can't quite speak for the Spacefleet's lasers," she said rather matter-of-factly, as if they were all sitting around a comfy table with coffee and bisquits, "but speaking as the commander of this ship," she gave Fraze a somewhat apologetic, if still cheerful smile, "sorry 'bout that, and since it's by now pretty obvious that you're stronger than us, not to mention have a hostage and the ship's weapons are out cold, there doesn't seem to be a whole lot we can do. So if you'll let her go and get out, we can get lost no problem and," she scowled, "dunno, move to the moon or something, the seas don't really look liquid enough to sail any more. Come to think of it, what are your intentions? After we leave, will you just sit here in your tower looking all evil for the next twenty years? Might get awfully boring."

[Rider]

[glow=red,2,300]The Skies over Tabloid Town[/glow]

Oh good, the cavalry was here.

Unfortunately, the arrival of the cavalry meant that Strife had to take desperate measures as well. Rider froze stiff as that sword (why wouldn't it stop shrieking?) pressed against her throat.

And everyone was being a lot calmer about it than her. Especially Zylaa, who Rider swore was deliberately trying to get her killed.

Hunty was showing no indication of whether her intent to leave the planet was genuine or not, but the only answers to be had were here. On this planet. From the mouth of this... man.

Then again, it didn't look like he was too willing to give answers. Or that she would be able to hear them over the sound of that hideous sword. Besides, sitting evil in a tower was not the Underdeep's style. The deal would not hold. Not to mention - Oh crap.

"If I could just make a point - how are we going to get back in such a severely damaged ship? We'd have to ask the Fleet to pick us up, and I doubt you want another of their ships on your turf."

[Ikkin]

As those who chose to come along walked over to him, Sev reached out his senses to feel where, exactly, he should teleport to.

It seemed like there were two groups of people in Tabloid Town. The signatures of the first group were moving rapidly, at approximately the same speed - Sev figured they must have been in a vehicle of some sort. The other group was spread out over a wider area, and two of the three signatures involved were hard to distinguish, as if they were hiding them. But, they were clearly on solid ground, despite being far over the level where the ground should have been.

Apparently, someone had decided to redecorate Tabloid Town while he was away.

In any case, it was much safer to land in the tower (or whatever it was) than on a moving vehicle. He could always get take everyone the rest of the way later if need be.

Sev felt the silver-haired girl press a hand to his wing, and suppressed a shudder. There was something just not right about her - which was weird, because there was also something entirely comforting about her touch, as well.

Oh well. He'd figure that out later. It would be trivial to repair any damage a betrayal could do.

So, as soon as everyone who wanted to was holding on, he focused for a moment, and disappeared in a flash.

They all reappeared a moment later in Strife's tower, in back of the person* Sev had used to decide where to teleport to. Sev kind of doubted that this person was responsible for everything that had happened, but maybe he knew something about the one who was.

"I don't know if you're the one who's turning the world to stone and destroying Tabloid Town," he called out, "but if you're not, you'd better tell us who is." His voice made the threat implicit in that very clear.


* Is Liyer still a cat? *is a bit confused about this*

[Speck]

Just Above Tabloid Town

As the wall-that-once-was crashed down to Tabloid Town in large chunks, the Goose Juggler picked up a signal of beeps. The copilot scrunched his eyebrows together, sounding out loud each letter of the Morse message, "B... A... T... T--"

The moment the message ended, the Goose Juggler's AI piped up, "Message decoded: battle situation, send backup."
The copilot looked flustered.

"I guess our plans for landing have been cut short," Nadine said, flying the ship down to meet Haggoth's. One large passenger door opened up, while a platform shifted out and down. Some of the Spacefleet officers were able to clearly see the ensuing battle, while others had to unbuckle themselves and move forward a few feet. The ships were just barely out of jumping distance from their respective openings.

Speck's eyes widened. It couldn't be. He was supposed to be dead! Or, at the very least, locked away in some other dimension. She was a little hazy on the details, to be sure.
Well, if he wasn't dead now, he was going to be shortly. She carefully aimed her plasma rifle and fired... right at Strife's head.