Redding Californa Bubble Server - RPLOG
Participants
Date
28/8/2013
Log
The Classified Report went out to those that were considered the most likely to survive the task before them. The Ideal group was requested to meet in the Lab Six area of Zephyr, Inside there was a human in full military dress holding a Manila folder. He looks at those gathered, He didn't say a word as he waited for them to all gather his face was hard and his hair was grey and black. In the middle of the room was a photograph of a bleeding man with half of his face missing.
Arano walked into the lab: Zephyr had sent him another job to do, only this one had a bunch of 'hush hush top secret' stuff attached to it. While he was no stranger to compartmentalization of information and other such hazards. So he got himself dressed in his uniform, applied camo-paint to dull the shine of his scales, and marched into the lab area. He knew why he was here: he was a bigass solar dragon with a massive gun - capable of doing whatever job was set before him but ultimately replaceable, an ideal merc really. On seeing somebody else in a uniform he instinctively came to attention, "Good evening sir," he stated out of old habits before finding himself a seat at the table, setting his rifle down next to him and waiting for the others to gather.
Not long after Arano, a semi-formally dressed and somewhat large silver lion strolls into the Zephyr lab with a confident and shimmering smile upon his leonine muzzle. Perhaps not dressed very well for a potentially dangerous mission, at least he'd probably look quite well should they need to bury him in the near future. Upon his back clanks a somewhat large riot shield, more than likely scavenged somewhere out there in the wastelands. Perhaps not too great on stopping high powered rounds, it would help a bit when trying to get those pushy ferals to back off. But more curious is perhaps the feline just atop his shield and clinging to his back. Hopefully it wouldn't be too uncomfortable for the poor lady. He gives the human a short bow and soon takes a seat, placing his common looking shotgun upon his lap as he awaits his briefing. "Gentlemen," he nods.
Cookies has her hands clinging to Dio's shoulder, feet pressed up against the riot shield as though she were riding it. She actually looks like she's kind of having fun, and that riot shield is bigger than her so she's not likely to make it budge any time soon, in fact vice versa if push came to shove. As Dio takes his bow the cat leans up a bit and offers a quick wave to the other folk. She was kind of looking forward to this, she felt like a secret agent or something, although the photo made her wince slightly. That certainly didn't bode well.
Arimia slithers into the room, wearing her trench coat, various bits of tech able to be seen in the pockets, and a belt around her waist. Hanging from that belt is a a scabbard holding a thin, straight sword, a jian. She looks around at those gathered, then reaches into a pocket, pulling out a metal case. She pops it open and takes a hand rolled cigarette from it, bringing it to her lips, but not lighting it yet. She studies the photograph without any apparent shock or disgust. "Assuming that's a stiff, not a survivor. Or you'd have them here for us to talk to, instead of a picture to stare at."
Run-run-run-run-LEAP! A wee figure no larger than the span of someone's hand springs up onto the table. The fairy-sized incubus scans about, a pair of goggles settled atop his head and decked out in a variety of gadgetry and gizmos aplenty. He's certainly got hoozits and whatsits galore. From guns to performance equipment, Nutshell's decked out for whatever may come his way when he's arrived, even the grasshopper stilts on his legs to aid in moving as fast as, if not faster than, many who're twelve times or more his size. He knew why he'd been called in... he was a specialist with all things technical, proficient in fighting both within a bubble... and without a bubble. He didn't need no stinkin' thinkin' mutant powers.. he was a gadgeteer! Gandering over the photograph that was on display, the wee fellow squinted, scrutinizing the face, "Someone met the business end of something," in a piping, small voice.
"Did they die outside of a bubble? Otherwise, I'd have thought they'd have regenerated."
Pulling up the rear, the tiny plant walks in calmly, though a bit unsure about what she's getting into. Dressed in what resembles a robe crossed with a gillie-suit, her vined hair pulled back in a ponytail and her surprisingly large assortment of weapons, the minute flora soldier brightens noticeably when she sees a few faces she recognizes. With this group she can only surmise the mission will be bloody. This is going be a great day. "Saviante here and ready sir." with this whispered comment the tiny flower salutes and tries hard to look imposing.
The Man wastes no time in speaking, "I'm glad you all came, Time is of the essence so I will be brief. This is a classified mission, Any attempt to disseminate this information to the improper organization's will result in your imprisonment and possibly death by guillotine. Now that the that matter is spoken for I will introduce myself. I'm General White of the RSX Faction, I'm here as a liaison to the Zephyr cooperation for this mission. This mission is critic for our shared interests so I'll get down to brass tacks. We have Reports of a nanite bubble in Redding, California. The behavior of this bubble is strange, The scouts report that its almost completely shielded from most outside electronics. The bubble itself is said to be different than our own Fairhaven bubble, The nanite saturation is much lighter, and yet everything inside that bubble seems to follow a strange rule. The soldier in the picture was taken from the bubble in this condition, one thing to note that whatever did this didn't do it from the outside...." He looks at the group, "Unlike him, you are all much more prepared for dangerous combat and unknown forces. We would like to warm you of this though, take nothing you have learned about Fairhaven to this bubble, The rules are different, powers of the scouts barely worked out there and someone is actively pulling the strings. If there are no question we would like to dispatch you as soon as possible while we still have an ideal of where the Server is. Redding is a city with a population just under 100,000 people, that can mean many many enemies so try to be careful. And off the record if they aren't sane, eliminate them with extreme prejudice. We have a helicopter on the top floor waiting for you all." He ends his report waiting for questions and spreading out the pictures of the dead soldier.
Arano looked over the paperwork, he scoffed at the threat, "Good know RSX isn't a fan of overkill there General," he didn't know who the man was, but his initial deference vanished: not in the military anymore, so now respect has to be earned for him and he doesn't mind showing when he doesn't respect somebody... and right now he didn't respect the General, but he'll be glad to take his money, "You said whatever did this to him didn't do it from the outside, that implies something got inside the poor bastard's head somehow - will you be providing any sort of safeguards against unpleasant and/or lethal infections? Hazmats suits, perhaps some APCs that haven't been torn apart, just something to keep us from breathing in a lethal head-exploding nanite if that is what we're dealing with here?"
As the others promptly file into the room, he gives them all a respectful nod and removes the feline from his back and sets her down upon the floor. The lion needed a break from carrying all that extra baggage! Briefing flows through his leonine ears as they perk with interest, him leaning in to look at the picture and observe in compliment. "Outside of the bubble, huh? I've had a few missions in the such a condition. While I do use my powers here and there, I mostly look towards my equipment these days." He pats the shotgun upon his lap in emphasis and nods at Arano's questions. "Certainly a dangerous prospect we're heading in. Protection would be appreciated, but I'm sure we can handle what comes our way. Personally, I'm concerned as to who might be "pulling the strings" as you've put it."
Cookies whines quietly as she's set down, listening carefully and letting out a soft sigh. Guillotines, huh? She was so very tempted to make a snark-assed comment but she knew better than to piss off someone who could make her day suck with or without harming her directly. An ear twitches in Arano's direction. "If you're worried about nanites I can switch on my radio pack but I can't guarantee that won't make life suck a little worse for us. For me, at least, I don't like how it feels," she murmurs out. "On the flip-side, s'a good thing I swore off mutant powers a looong time ago." She nods confidently in a real hoity toity holier-than-thou sort of way, crossing her arms. "So why are we looking at the dead guy if basically all the info we have is 'Yep, that guy is dead!'? Kind of weird it only took that much, sure, but in-bubble deaths are far from unheard of and if mutant powers aren't working right it's within reason to assume that nanites responsible for keeping you together aren't going to play along too well either. Just saying."
Arimia finally gets around to lighting her cigarette before saying to Arano, "That is only a concern for those of you who must breathe." She stares at the picture some more before continuing. "I am not sure how much use I will be, with limitations placed on my abilities. I would still have my blade, but that is the only weapon I carry. When I need to kill something my body has generally been sufficient, in conjunction with my sword. Further my technical abilities mostly stem from the NICE unit I had installed. I've some without it, but nowhere near as effective."
"Have there been any attempts to suppress the nanites using NICE units at all? It might prove to be a life-saving asset in an area with oddly coded nanites," pipes the miniature figure as he strokes his chin with a minute hand. Nutshell looks about to the others collected about, "Anyone here have a NICE installed that can perform as much?"
Saviante tries hard not to show how nervous she actually is, not remembering any other form she has become acquainted to her powers as part of normal life, not to mention her job. Sliding tow vines out from her robe, she takes the talons of the tips and mounts them on her wrists, in the off chance more than just her powers cease to work. "When the scythe comes the scythe comes." Savi whispers to no one at all and everyone at once. "We all get reaped eventually, might as well be for the right reasons. With another glance around she settles on the officer, expecting more.
"Regardless of what you think of my organization, Arano. We don't have many safe guards to the unknown. Gas masks will do little against nanite, We are unsure of what infections are about, the scouts reported mushrooms being a common sight in the bubble, APC and the like are completely useless due to the nanite in the bubble being programmed to strip the engines from any craft that enters. Otherwise we would have already just flown in with a team." He turns to Dio and nods, "Unlike this bubble where the rules and conditions are static, it seems that the other bubble can change on a whim. This is why we can't offer you much protection but this is too valuable of a resource just to leave alone or to just attempt to level the whole town." He takes off his hat and wipes his brow. "You must understand how big this find is." He turns to Cookie and points to particular part of the man skulls that missing, "I apologize, I forget that many of you are not RSX. This soldier is a hero and he died such a pitiful death so I wanted to push the message that this will not be a cake walk. I can't speak for the uses of NICE units none of our scouts have them." He presses on a intercom build into the table. "Get the chopper ready, We are sending them out." He looks at the group with a smile, "I'm not going to give you some speech about why you need to do it just understand this... Do not fuck up. The server is top priority. Kill anything that interferes with that mission." He says before dismissing the group. On the rooftop a large transport chopper takes the group in before flying to the outside of Redding, California. There is a strange sense in the air as the bubble is nearly invisible to the naked eye but everyone can feel the strain of the something being off in their bodies. The pilot smiles to them, "I won't leave here till you come back. If you can get to the Item and call me I'll land in the city itself to get you. " The pilot is a bunny boy dressed in a camouflage uniform. He shuts the doors behind the group and waves from the window.
Arano mutters to himself, "Bastard didn't even tell us what the pay is..." as he was suddenly hurried out the door. He was somewhat silent the ride over, checking his equipment, making sure his gun was in one piece. During the trip, he decided to strike up some conversation, "My name is Arano by the way... I know Dio here, and I know Savi, but I don't think I've met the rest of you," he says. After arrival, as they were hurried off the transport Arano had his weapon in hand and was sweeping the immediate area, checking for threats, that sort of thing.
"I'm sure we'll get plenty of hush-hush money by the end of the mission, assuming we come back alive," Dio nods as he's shuffled out of the room. The lion gives his shotgun a good once over, making sure it's nice and loaded and ready to fire when need be. Satisfied, he gives a tuck at his suit and boards the helicopter and sleeps most of the way to the mission location. With a cough, he breaks from his nap and climbs out, combing down his mane and taking out his riot shield from his back. "I do have Anti-Nanomagic, but we shall see how things work without it for awhile. If it's not needed, then I shall not activate it as it does have a drain upon myself. If I do activate it, I'll need a bit of protection as well."
Cookies stays more or less quiet the entire time, staying snuggled as close to Dio as she possibly can, the clingy thing. In answer to Arano, she cheerily pipes up, "The name is Monroe," she says with a confident smile, "First name Marilyn. Pleased to meet you." As they step out of the helicopter she looks around, stretching out a bit and frowning slightly. She takes a deep breath of the air and, waiting for her head to explode or something for a moment, she shrugs slightly and retakes her position next to the lion as always. "Mmh. Anybody else feel just a little off?"
Arimia pulls out her cigarette case and takes another cigarette from it. She raises it to her lips and lights it before saying, "Feel off? Apparently I'm in the presence of an idol thought long dead. So what's a little oddity in the air next to that?" She draws her sword and looks around. Let's get to high ground. See the lay of the land from a bit closer than that chopper offered. And in regards to the pay, if they don't offer enough we take what we find elsewhere. They'll try to kill us for it, I'm sure. But things have been trying to kill me for a while. They haven't succeeded. Yet."
"I'd sooner you test the functionality to see if it DOES work so that, should it come to a necessity, we can rely on it," comments the incubus wryly, rolling his wee shoulders to adjust the satchel on his back, "After all, 'tis better to be prepared and not need it that it is to need it and not be prepared." He looks around and lowers his goggles over his eyes and puffs his cheeks out for a moment, exhaling out his anxiety to level his calmitude, "Alright, then... Just don't die, folks... Heh... wonder how this'll turn out for decedent boons, too, but I'm sure none of you want me to test that right now."
Pulling up behind Dio and Cookies, Savi frowns. "Savi always feels a bit.. off." Deciding to get it over with she opens her mouth wide, tilts back her head and takes a deep breath through both her mouth and nose, holds it for a moment and tastes the air, or at least the carbon dioxide, expelling a breath of air she hopes that wasn't a bad idea. While waiting to see if there is any side effect she does a double check of her gear. "This is going to get messy I think."
The moment the party leaves the chopper and presses forward they notice something amiss with the city, Their are no trees in the ruins of the cite, There are only large mushrooms in the area they have entered. Large grubs crawl up and down the mushrooms occasionally taking and feasting on the unnaturally large fungus, A small mouse like creature with fur in the pattern of a tuxedo is currently feasting on one of the snake size gurbs while another similar anthropomorphic mouse is sleeping on a nearby park bench. The only vantage point close by seems to be a ruined building with a second floor, on the second floor is a blow out window which seems to be the remnants of a child's room. Further down the street is a large black skyscraper that seems completely undamaged while the rest of the city is in ruins. The grass even has a strange effect as it seems to change a different colors as creatures walk over it. A small cat approaches the group and begins to nuzzle along Dio's leg.
Arano sweeps his rifle around, something in the back of his mind clicking into place, "I don't like this..." he comments, "...I feel like I'm about to walk into a trap..." he remarks. The soldier's mind working as it takes in all the information and picks it apart, pointing out the nearby two-story building he says, "We should head there for now and get our bearings, perhaps use it as a base of operations. I'm going to make a wild guess and say the big black skyscraper is our target location." Glancing over to the strange cat near Dio, he is once again not at ease, "Alright you, get out of here," he says to the animal... hoping it can understand him.
"I'm not quite sure I wish to drain my energy by activating it now," he replies to Nutshell, taking an initial glance at all the strange figures and infections around the area. For now however, it would seem that things were safe for the time being. "I've never seen anything quite like it," he comments, and obviously so seeing as how the group has ventured into the unknown. "Very well, we shall head towards the building immediately. Don't want to draw too much attention around u- Hey..." The lion looks down at the little feline on his leg and begins backing away slowly, trying to analyze her infection but coming up with little off the top of his head. "Perhaps I should activate it then... See how it goes." After a short moment, Dio activates the anti-nanomagic program upon his NICE unit to help prevent any unwanted changes. "Now then little one... Can you speak," he says to the nuzzling feline.
Cookies is almost too busy staring at the weird mushrooms and grub-things 'til her gaze falls on the feline. She slaps her hands onto her cheeks and lets out a mewl! "OhmygoshitisaCAT! A normal looking kitty~! I don't even remember the last time I saw one!" She's so giddy and she looks horribly horribly tempted to just scoop the critter up and bathe it in attention, but instead she just practically bounces in place with excitement and peers up at Dio. When he engages the anti nanomagic, her muscles feel terribly sore, and a familiar hunger for nanites start to well up. She bounces slightly less, though she still seems excited as all hell. "I wanna pick it up lemme pick it up can I pick it up please!" At least she's asking for permission.
Arimia looks around, then pauses as her eyes fall on the ruined building. She opens her mouth to say something, only to be silenced by Cookies' outburst. She blinks and stares at the anthro feline before shaking her head and saying, "I'll be going to get a view of the area." That said she turns toward the building, making her way toward, then up into it. Once she reaches the room she looks around, assessing it for threats, before turning her attention out. She pulls out some paper and a pencil and starts to sketch a rough map, marking a few spots on it. That done she starts to make her way down and back toward the group.
"Guys," pipes up the wee incubus, "this doesn't look good. Notice that every bit of man-made material's degraded rapidly? Like... more-so than we'd get in a decade back in our normal bubble environment? The nanites here might be starving... Or, all of it was used up to build that skyscraper over there. I'm thinkin' there's something really important over there," Nuts concurs with Arano. The minute man grimaces and combs through his own tousled red hair. "I also suggest we don't linger too long before our own gear starts to get gobbled up. Stop playing with that pussy and let's get going."
Under the strain of all the anti-nanites and the odd atmosphere, Savi's petals look droopy and mildly wilted. Smiling her disturbing sideways smile she lets her eyes flow over the entrance to the building nearby, scanning from point to point watching for the slight signs that glaringly tell of tripwires or explosives. Feeling secure about their temporary destination, Saviante turns her back towards it as she begins to back up, planning to pull up the rear. "We don't know how long we are going to be here. We need to shore up the openings or post watch, sweep the building and set up any defenses we can. We need a place we can at least pretend to feel safe." Glancing at the group briefly, her eyes always return to the giant grubs, the huge grubs. Reaching down and pulling a metal tube from her robe in a small shaking hand she whispers to herself absently. "Lots of defenses." Then, turning to nutshell for a moment she raises her voice. "Charging in will be death, like it or not we need to try and find out as much as we can before we take on this thing. We need to move fast, but only as fast as we can safely." With a small frown she goes on "Savi for one wants to go home unplucked."
The moment Dio's anti-nano magic the feline gives a pitiful wail and tries to crawl away it doesn't make it very far before its fur starts to fall off in nasty patches. Its muscles can be seen as green fluid spurts out of each of its muscles. It does manage to drag itself away from the twenty feet range before looking at Dio with a vicious hiss in its throat. The Cat leans back and lets out a roar that sounds better at home on a lion than a house cat. The mouse creatures try to run away but are quickly sliced into ribbons by something that is almost invisible to the naked eyes. The air is quiet as the almost perfectly clear creature licks the blood off its claws, The air is tense and silents before the large four-legged creature breaks into a large bloody smile with its razor sharp teeth. The only thing that can be easily seen on it is its smile. The strange light bending effect doesn't effect its internal organ or teeth. The Air around Dio is displace by a large feline that steps into his anti-nanomagic field attempting to slice him to ribbons as quick as lighting the Lion Beast dodges the blow by moving to the side and placing the shotgun under the large felines chin and pulling the trigger sending the horse-sized cat brains upward in a shower of gore. Another feline attempts to skewer Nuts but is distracted by the death of its fellow creature and only manage to give the Painted incubus a slight graze with its claws as its tries to run back out of the field. The black feline roars again and sever thump are heard as more and more creatures are heard around the group.
Arano regally proclaims, "WHY! WON'T! YOU! DIE!!!"
Saviante sinuates, "Take it, take it HARD"
The Cats doesn't do much to the group as they are dispatched with frightening ease, The small black feline that started the engage med is laying with half its torso blown off. The feline twitches for a moment before its lower half starts to regenerate and its looks very pissed at the group and around at its dead companions. Its starts to press a paw on one of them and gives a pitiful meow trying to awaken the larger creature who can easily be seen as the nanite stop working in them. The feline gives a pain cry and darts off in the crowds of mushrooms and color-changing grass. For now its seem there are no more felines near by.
With a snarl, Arano raised his rifle to terminate the threat once and for all, he carefully lined up his shot. His breathing steady, no trembling, blocking out all distraction, irons lined up on the target... then, just as his finger tightens around the trigger, a sudden cloud of smoke goes up. He fires at where he thinks target was, not sure if he hit or missed - he considered trying again but didn't want to waste the ammo. Turning on the smaller medusa - puny thing only half his size, but the everybody seemed puny - eyes full of rage, but he bites it back, and instead keeps his tone low with barely contained fury: though his tone clearly indicated he was ready to snap, like a high-tension wire restrained by only loose bolts, "What... the hell... was that?" he intoned towards Arimia.
"It would appear that anti-nanomagic has a rather strange impact upon these bubble inhabitants," Dio observes as he takes a moment to flick a bit of blood of his shotgun from his previous close-range encounter. "Perhaps some of these individuals are more reliant upon these specific nanites than us? More testing may be required. I'm even more curious about these mushroom men." Smoothing and straightening out his suit in his typical behavior, the lion looks up and notices a bit of internal interference as someone attempts to take a shot at the fleeing opponent. "Perhaps the lady desires to follow it? It could lead to something interesting, good or bad. Either way, we should probably get moving before we get ambushed again."
Cookies puts away her fancy pry bar after the battle, panting to catch her breath, and sighs softly. "Man, and I thought it was gonna be an awesome real cat too. Of course it wasn't. Silly of me to hope otherwise." The shot of the gun makes her flinch slightly and she frowns over at Arano and Arimia. She glances back to Dio and does her usual climbing onto his back routine, or at least tries to, reaching to scramble up. "All I want to do is find the server and get the fuck out of here, and our best bet is that it's hiding in the big ol' building Arano pointed out to begin with. Please let me up. I do not want to be near the things on the ground."
Arimia plucks her cigarette from her mouth and frowns at it. It seems to have been consumed by flame while she was fighting. She tosses the remnants aside and reaches into a pocket to pull out her case, getting another smoke and lighting it. She seems entirely unconcerned with the dragon looming over her. She takes a languid drag from the smoke before replying. "It is called mercy. A thing that, I understand, those in possession of empathy display from time to time. However, that is not why I displayed it. We are being watched by a woman in red. If she is neutral or potentially an ally, displaying mercy to those obviously weaker is likely to increase our standing in her eyes and encourage an approach. And if she is opposed to us it may make her hesitate to pull the trigger, knowing we are not callous and cruel. Or it may cause her to underestimate us. Either way it is a potential gain for minimal risk, as we have wiped out the things pack. It may have more of it's pack that it can run to and bring to bear against us, but that is also a small risk and one, I felt, worth taking." She holds out the map she sketched then and points to a couple marks. "This is where the watcher was. This is that big building. Likely our goal. Let us go."
"Obviously it's something held together by nanites, if I'm not mistaken in that being an anti-nanomagic bit being activated from teh feel of it. On being harmed, it retaliated in kind by calling for assistance," Nutshell says with a mildly miffed expression, "Great field test, Tex," he pipes up at Dio and quirks a grin, "At least we know that something works marginally correct here. That'll be a useful asset... I think I'm going to stick close to you,' and follows suit by sticking in Dio's shadow for the most part. "And, by the by... notice the green matter and how the glass-like critters' fur there seems to have similar striations to a fibrous, grass-like leaf? Those weren't actually animals... those were plants parading as animals. Whatever's at work here, the bubble about is weaker... and plants seem to be the best supported life forms in this environment, but the anti nanomagic, well... Without what little nanites they do use functioning right, they fall to pieces."a
Savi hears the information about the woman in red and grows very stern. Snapping of her energy blade and watching the area closely she tries to work out a few things before voicing a growing idea. Assuming the idea is still to move up the building she backs towards the wall. At Nutshell's words she nods. "I agree. This is like the lab I was... born into after P-day, but... not. I feel like I'm even smaller than before, if that makes any sense." Edging to the doorway Savi glances in and waits by the doorway, motioning the others in, she seems intent on waiting on the others before entering. "We need a defensible position first, then a plan."
From the Vantage point that Arimia was looking at a single creature in a red hood just gazes back at the group from a large mushroom. There a moment where the creature looks to the group and points to the distance where the group came from. "Leave." The voice is oddly feminine the creature turns around and jumps off the towering mushroom and dashes down a path that has a crudely painted sigh above it that says 'Beware of Grandma." From the distance its hard to tell if the sign is painted in blood or red paint. There is beach-ball sized Caterpillar that is simply spitting out small rings of smoke from many small holes in its back. Its moves lazily and eyes the group curiously before shooting smoke in the shape of flowers at Saviante and crawling back along its path.
Arano ignores the sights and sounds around him - none of it especially relevant at this time. He looked at the medusa whose name he never learned and stated bluntly, "I'd ask who put you in charge, but have seen enough movies to know how that turns out, and frankly we don't have the time to get into a pissing match over pecking order. You want to be in charge? Fine - you're in fucking charge. Now that we've sorted that out, if you want my tactical assessment..." his tone indicates that even if it was unwanted he was going to spill it anyway, "...we currently have one known hostile, has unknown reinforcements and resources, terrain is urban but unknown. Said hostile knows our position, numbers, combat tactics, and weapons loadout. Whether the hostile is capable of relaying that information to friends, or again if it has friends, also unknown. But even animals remember where prey is - and that building is the first place anybody would look, intelligent or not. Therefore - I recommend we relocate to another position to minimize the chances of another hostile encounter before we can figure out a plan of action," after getting all that information out, he then glances over to where the lady in red was and comments, "And I'm willing to bet we will be encountering a lot more hostiles here soon if we don't move NOW."
"Of course, my sweet kitten. Of course." Dio crouches down and allows Cookies to scramble up on his back, giving her a nice position to see over his shoulder. The lion listens to Nutshell's explanation with interest, idly rubbing at his chin and looking about at the area. "Plants you say? Now that is interesting. Very well, I shall keep up my nanomagic for an appropriate time. Please be sure to protect me as best you can so I can keep the effect operational." His attention is soon caught by the lady in red, quirking an eyebrow to her warning. "What a fascinating fantasy land. But yes, we should certainly get moving and take a look at that server before we become overwhelmed." Noticing the caterpillar, he shrugs his shoulders and continues on, not caring to make any conversation of sorts.
Cookies clambers up onto Dio's back and hugs her legs around him tightly, using her arms to mess around with her backpack briefly. While Arano speaks, she produces a small vial of builder nanites, opens it up and just straight-up downs it, letting out a satisfied sigh as her muscles start to feel less sore, the nanite reinforcement net in her body re-stabilizing. She also makes a point of rifling through the top part and bringing out a big nanite cannon- even for a nanite cannon. She rests it over her shoulder akin to the way one might a rocket launcher, holding it in similar fashion, but the barrel suggests it's more akin to a rifle than anything. "Weee, I can shoot anything from up here!" she declares cheerfully. She looks over at Arano and lets out a huff. "Now then. I don't think ferals are going to come skittering back here any time soon, and if they do, well shit, we sure handled those ones pretty gracefully, didn't we? I don't want to sit around all day, I wanna get my hands on the server. You have no idea how long I've waited for a chance like this."
Arimia takes her time enjoying her cigarette while waiting for Arano's outburst to pass. Once he finishes talking she asks, "Are you quite finished? Look at the remnants of that things pack. I hardly think that it will consider us prey. Further, it seemed feral, and ferals are not known for tactical genius. What it knows is that it attacked us with what seemed, to it, to be equal strength, and lost." She drops the remains of her cigarette on the ground and turns to face the woman in red, reading the sign. "Now, I'd no intention of being leader. Simply stopping an idiot more bloodthirsty than me from making a mistake. I suggest we move on to the tower as it is our only lead. We undoubtedly will encounter more hostiles. That was a given going in. And upon finding that we were being watched, setting up a camp and taking our time to scout the area was an option already nullified. Since that point our largest asset has been speed. Hit hard, fast, get what we came for and get out. And preferably avoiding grandmother."
"Plants, not animals, though they seem to like mimicking them, to a degree. Rather theme-y, if you think about it... So, who's up for killing a plant dressed as a wolf dressed as a granny?" Nuttshell rolls his shoulders and looks around, "What?" he pipes with those small vocal chords, "Were the less than subtle references not clue enough?"
Shrugging at Arano's suggestion Savi relents with no argument, she now understands the target is down the path. With an envious glance the seriously co-dependent plant crushes down a stab of pain over her teammates, whom she hasn't seen in longer than she can recall. "Im not sure the antimagic is a great Idea. We weren't attacked until your field melted the cat, then we were hit instantly. I'm betting that field will have that affect everywhere here. While it may help out in a pinch this is obviously fairy tale land, a land of magic and dreams. We may not want to piss everyone off." Pointing down the path Red ran she continues, "That way is Nutshells wolf in a dress, but it may also have any number of benevolent creatures like ol' who-are-you up there" glancing his way she tosses him a greeting. "Klaatu Barada Nikto." before looking back towards 'Deeoh'.
With their notions of setting up dismantled by the first wave of attacks. The group starts to move further towards the tower going to the only path that seems open. The Mushrooms hears are tall and do a excellent job of filtering out the light. For the most part the walk is peaceful, There are fairly like creature having mock sword battle with mushrooms, there is a large Spider web in the middle of path. On the web is seven small sacks of webs with one human sized sack, The is a large half woman half spider tangled in her own web, "Oh no oooooh no. A Little help please." A bunch of small anthro rabbits with spears are attacking the spider creature. The Rabbits appear to resemble the clock work foxes of Fairhaven as they lodge a spear into the spiders ladies hand. "AAAAAAHHHHH. PLEASE STOP!!" She screams desperately.
"If you don't want the responsibility, then don't get in my way again," Arano says to the medusa before they set off - he deliberately takes point as he reloads his weapon. It was going to be a loooooong day...
After a brief walk, Arano glances around, eyes ever alert for danger, "Anybody feel like they're late for a very important date..." he comments with an obvious reference, still on point as they continue on. With the screams of the spider lady he holds up a hand in a signal meaning 'stop', looking over in that direction he turns back and whispers to everybody while making gestures indicating where they should go, "Spread out, Dio - I want you near me until this turns bad: don't want them melting on us. Ugly medusa lady - since you've got a sword you're out front, Savi and... small man person... take the flanks. Marilyn, with ugly, no hostile actions unless they attack," he says - clearly deciding to take charge since nobody else wants to.
"My lady!" Dio snaps his head back as he watches a rather large weapon protrude from Cookies' backpack, looking taken back just slightly with widened eyes soon returned to their standard form. "Just be careful with that thing please." The lion listens to Saviante's case and crosses his arms, wondering what he should do about the situation. "You are correct, my lady. Perhaps it was my fault we were attacked. I must apologize if that is the case. But still, I wish to test it just a bit more. If it becomes more harm than good, we'll know the solution." Ignoring the pointless argument, Dio continues on the path with Cookies still securely placed upon his back and looks upon the particularly gruesome scene. He watches Arano's hand gestures, and doesn't seem to react or care very much for whatever reason. Perhaps he hadn't earned the lion's respect yet. More importantly, a lady was in danger! But then again, the party could be in danger if he decided to foolishly jump in. For now, he keeps his shotgun prepared and near his shoulder, spreading out just a bit to prepare for a battle and to watch events unfold.
Cookies jerks her head back slightly at the sight of the spider and rabbits. "Wwwow that's several kinds of unpleasant," she murmurs out, keeping her cannon at the ready. She doesn't seem to budge from Dio's shoulders despite the orders. "How about we just go right the fuck around and let ferals be ferals? I don't know what's so hard about that," she sighs out. "Don't get all wobbly kneed because she's a lady screaming for help. She has /victims/ there. For all we know she's getting her just desserts and it's none of our business. Let's just... go around." Her legs tighten around Dio and even if she's doing her best to be callous she's obviously bothered by the sight of someone getting stabbed to death, if nothing else.
Arimia shakes her head slightly and replies, "I said I did not desire to lead. Not that I would follow. Especially not one so ill mannered and immature as you. Not when I could break you in half." She glances at the spider then turns back to the path and replies, "Let us keep moving. We were not brought in to play hero, and our attack now relies on speed. Stopping here would cost us some of that, not to mention some of our strength. Further, it could easily be a trap. That is a spider and they are known for doing such things. Snaring prey with webs and the like." She turns and starts to continue down the path, musing to herself, "Will you walk into my parlor?' said the Spider to the Fly, 'Tis the prettiest little parlor that ever you did spy; The way into my parlor is up a winding stair, and I've a many curious things to shew when you are there.' 'Oh no, no, said the little Fly, to ask me is in vain, for who goes up your winding stair, can ne'er come down again.
"Stuff it, ego dude. Don't hit the spider... she's not a native to this area, from appearances. Those wascally wabbits, however, are certainly of plant origin... Mulch'm, guys," pipes up the wee incubus who, rather than taking the big dragon's orders, keeps close proximity to Dio and says, "Hey, wanna see how well they dissolve if you charge right through them with your field up?"
Hearing an order Savi instantly drops to the left flank, trying to watch the area around the group as much as the little... things. Being rather fond of all vermin destroying insects, the flower has to hold back band not instantly cut down the arachnid from her webbing. Seeing the Spider lady close up, the plant thinks of the weaver, creator of the world and wonders briefly how far this goes before snapping back to 'reality'. her numerous weapons at the ready Savi becomes very wary as she realizes the little clockwork things may actually have a reason for hurting the Spider queen.
Its doesn't take long for one of the Rabbits to hit a Hit one of the smaller sacks. It explodes in a shower of webbing and a half pig-half spider monstrosity falls to the ground. It gives a pained squeal before the rabbits leap on it and attempt to skewer it. There spears make a solid clang and they chatter in confusion, That moment is all the pig-spider needs, it rises on eight spindly legs and looks the rabbits. "SQQQQQQUUUUUUEEEELLL!!" IT bellows before cowardly running away into the woods. The rabbits looks concerned as they watch the pig retreat to the direction of the group and leap over them in a single large jump. The Rabbits spot the group and chatter amongst themselves before moving one of them is pushed in front of the group. He points to the spider and chitter while making shooting motions with his hands as if asking one of the group to shoot the spider. "Wait Wait. Please don't kill me!!" The Spider scream watching the exchange and trying to free herself from the spears in her limbs and her own web.
has his weapon aimed down at the ground, and to the side, finger straight and off the trigger. Everybody clearly ignored him, but managed to keep from grumbling about it - such would be a bad idea in this context. He hoped they would at least have enough of their minds to understand a very simple question and the context, "Why?" They seemed mad about SOMETHING, but what he couldn't be sure...
Dio reaches back and scratches Cookies right behind her ears, just in that perfect spot to hopefully get out a purr or two from his target. "It's my sworn duty to help ladies in need as a gentleman. You know this. But..." The lion looks towards the rabbits and carefully reads their expressions and body language, a practice that's helped him in his decades of living in certain special environments and conditions. "I can tell... You're quite afraid of this lady, are you not," he says in a friendly and smooth tone, words dancing and alive with splendor. "I can tell if you're lying, so answer me this: Has this lady been terrorizing your people or have you disturbed her to the point of having to defend herself? If it's the former, then I will explain that me being a gentleman doesn't mean I shall protect those who commit crimes despite the gender. So is it number one or two?" His feline eyes pierce into the bunny before him, looking at his ever motion and listening closely for any kind of response, even if it's just body language.
Cookies does indeed purr at the scritchings, snuggling up against her lion and letting out a siiigh of defeat. "Fine, fine... Do your thing. 'Gentleman', yeah right!" She mumbles and nuzzles at his mane, remaining fairly docile for now, though her cannon is always trained on either one of the rabbits or the spider. She keeps mumbling to herself under her breath in complaint, but other than that she's rolling with it, reluctantly.
Arimia shakes her head slightly and turns back around. She lifts an arm and points it toward the spider. Then a blade shoots out of the metal covered appendage, flying toward, then into the spider's neck. Possibly not immediately fatal, but it will undoubtedly kill her eventually. "We were told to kill anything that got in the way of the mission. This delay was getting in the way. It has been handled. Let us continue now." The serpentine woman then turns back and continues down the path.
Reaching to gingerly tug at Dio's furred ankle, Nutshell says, "Um... hey... big guy... I just realized something, and it's important... That thing that came out of the sac... it was converted. That wasn't a baby or anything... that was someone purposely converted to be more like that spider lady," the incubus gulps a bit and looks up, "if that helps the decision-making process...." And then blinks a few times, "Well, um... if you're going to do that... wouldn't you need to... kill all the converted, too? Including the one that ran off?" He pipes over at Arimia.
Nodding and putting her weapon away, Savi follows. "Don't blame her much, I was about to do the same thing." With a glance at the group she hurries to catch up with Arimia. "Life is hard sometimes, we have a job to do."
The Rabbits look at Dio and all of them put up a one finger before they watch Arimia stab the creature in the neck. They cheer around the gurgling spider before leaving. The group leaves the rabbits to their celebration as they continue walking. They finally start to get close to the tower and there is a single creature sitting in front of the tower. Its a humanoid woman that looks to be made completely out of crystal like scales. She is dress a simply black dress and leaning against the tower door. She is using a scavenged fingernail file which snaps as the group approaches and she looks at them, "Ah. Outsiders, From the looks of it, I guess the crazy shit must have happened in your city too. Heh. Well I think I lucked out, At least I didn't turn out like that." She waves her fingers at the whole group, "I don't know why your here or what you want but turn around and go home. Nothing here for you except a swift death and blood on my nails." She pulls another file from her bosom and tries to sharpen her diamond like nails and snaps it. "Shit." She gives up and looks at the group. "Well... Any reason you're still here?"
Arano turns to look at the medusa and asks, "Don't suppose you happen to have a long lost sister who was living in Redding on P-day do you?" in something of a snide tone before turning back to the lady and saying, "Thought I'd get some fresh air, a little exercise maybe - do you know how HARD it is to find a good place to get some PT where we're from that doesn't have a high chance of rape involved? I also heard Redding was an absolutely FANTASTIC place to go shopping for computers." His joking was really just a cover as he examined the lady to make a quick assessment of just how bad this could get... and the word he was looking for here was 'bad'. Glancing over at Dio he says, "She absolutely reeks of nanites, makes me think of an adept... shapeshifter maybe, we'll probably need that anti-nanomagic field of yours," before looking at everybody and saying as low as he could make it so everybody can hear without the lady hearing what he was saying, "She definitely has some kind of breath attack at her disposal... also, her scales are as hard as that of a diamond drake, so if any of you have any abilities that can pierce such a hide we'll probably need them. Threat level... somewhere around 80 I'd say." His tone wasn't one of command imperative, just information.
Feeling something tugging at his leg, Dio looks down at the tiny individual and carefully listens to his account. "Is that so? Fascinating." With this in mind, he looks towards the bunnies for their answer and was satisfied. "Very well. Justice has been served I feel. Let us continue." Striding up the path and eventually near the tower, the lion gazes upon the lady and rubs his chin, taking note of her 'features' and such. For battle purposes of course. Yes. "What a very lovely dress," Dio simply had to admit despite the lingering feeling of danger. "Ah yes, hello my lady," he says, dipping into a somewhat short bow. "We've come quite a ways to investigate this strange tower. If there's nothing inside like you say, perhaps you wouldn't mind us taking look? Maybe some information as well? And then perhaps we'll be on our way." Hopeful words, but Arano's explanation over her powers didn't make the lion think they'd finish this mission without a bit more violence. His anti-nanomagic field was still quite operational and deployed over its twenty feet radius.
Cookies winces at the sight of Arimia more-or-less killing the spider. She just buries her face in Dio's mane and pretends she's somewhere happier. "Did she just kill Charlotte because if she did I think we're all going to hell," she murmurs into his mane, cannon pointed up towards the sky as she snuggles in against him for comfort. She kind of wants to berate Arimia but it isn't like she didn't think about doing the same damned thing. Hell, she would've just walked off and let her get tortured, that doesn't exactly make her the bigger person. So, as before, she snuggles against the lion's mane and ignores the ethically gray spots that seem to make up the modern world. No suggestions, no remarks, no nothing. Just cuddling and pouting and being carried off. When the diamond lady's voice fills her ears she looks up and growls softly, leveling her cannon with the lady's head in response to the threat, simply pointing and waiting. Taking in the information from Arano, and knowing that Dio's anti-nanomagic was still operating from the godawful soreness permeating her body (though completely ignorant of its range, which the lady was out of!), she holds her breath as she stares through the scope. Wordlessly, she pulls the trigger, sending a bullet shaped by nanites rocketing out of the cannon's barrel at supersonic speeds straight for the diamond woman's head. Whoah. Wasn't this chick /just/ feeling bad about a dead spider person?
Arimia tilts her head slightly and replies, "No. My sister would have been on a military base, nowhere near Redding." She pauses at the diamond woman and stares at her in silence. Once the female is finished talking she says, "You are in the way." And looks about to attack. Until a bullet flies out of the cannon Cookies is holding, causing the robo-medusa to pause and watch.
Spring... spring... sproing... Nutshell follows along with the group after the arachnid ordeal, and when they come upon the self-assured, semi-translucent serpent, Nuts says, "Oh, great... ANOTHER blasted self-important reptile." The wee incubus gives a sad shake of his head.
Savi watches in silence, her hands crossed patiently, but her vines coiling to strike, even a blind man could see where this is going. In a moment of odd thinking she focuses on the rude diamond before the group and almost forgets about her mission as the full force of her willpower, lost in the possibilities of this world swim through her head and she tries to mentally drop an Anvil on the diamond like a cartoon. Just as her level of concentration reached headache inducing levels she is brought back to the task at hand by the loud crack of a large weapon.
The Woman looked at Dio, "I can't allow you to take a step inside this place, It would be bad for AAHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!" The Force sends the woman rocketing backward and into the tower wall. The woman got up from the small crater her body made, "Oooooh." She vomits out some corrosive fluid from her mouth. "I can't see.." She says quietly before she starts laughing, "I'm going to kill you when I heal up. I'm going to dismantle you all and make you eat one another from the smallest to the largest." The smoke and rubble flow away from her form and her face has most of the skin peeled back, with only her melted eyes sockets looking back. "You want to go in so badly? Then go. I'll be right behind in a few hours." She turn dramatically the wrong way and begins laugh before she reaches inside her pocket and presses a button on a small remote. The towers open up and lead to a long hallway that is covered in golden fibers. At the end of the hallway is a Single person sitting in a chair with a pair of headphones on, she is also eating a small cup of ramen. The female is putting up the horns while singing in front of a door. The sheer brilliance of the room is magnified by the golden fibrous which glow and shimmer like led lights.
Arano snaps his head around at Merilyn, following the sound of the bullet hitting the lady in the head. He then gives a thumbs up and says, in all seriousness, "Damn fine shot," before looking to the lady, now threatening them, explaining how she plans to murder them all in a few hours, "So what you're saying... is that you need to wait for a few hours to heal up and THEN you're going to kill us?" He considered walking up to her, shoving his weapon's barrel against her 'skull', and pulling the trigger... but getting that close seemed most unwise, but as she is greatly wounded... turning to the group he says, "I wouldn't recommend getting close to her... but under the circumstances, I'm thinking 'shoot it until it stops moving'," before he aims his weapon at the creature and proceeds to shoot at it center-mass until it stops moving, rounds impacting target with his well-practiced aim.
Coming up from his bow, Dio is met with the loud crack of a large cannon right near his ears. He had expected such a sound when he chose to carry a cannon wielding feline upon his back, but the sound was still rather jarring to his sensitive leonine ears. "Well then," he murmurs, reaching back to pet at Cookies' head again, almost as if it were a reward of sorts by this point. "A fine shot, ma'am. I'm glad to have you upon my back." As the door opens he peers inside from a large distance, his inspection suddenly cut short by a storm of bullets. "Very well," he shouts over the loud noises. "I'm afraid my weapon won't be very effective at such a range, so I'll trust you to it."
Cookies lifts her cannon back up to point upwards again, wincing at Arano's further gunfire, and tugs on the lion's mane gently in encouragement as she mewls into his ear, "Time to go. I do not intend to be here when the thing that survived a supersonic nano-bullet to the skull gets back up." She even nudges her heels against his sides as though she had spurs or something, still staring at the diamond woman. "At least not without a much... bigger weapon. Sorry about the noise, by the way," she says, brandishing her cannon about a bit in the direction of the now open front doors. "In! In in in, go!"
Arimia slithers toward the creature, then stops and waits. Once there is a lull in the firing from Arano's gun as he reloads she reaches out to pick the thing up, almost effortlessly, and hurl it down the hallway, sending the crystalline body flying toward the golden threads criss crossing in the passage. She tilts her head and watches, wondering what will happen when the form makes contact with one of those gilded strands.
Okay, while people are blasting at other people and there's rargh and blargh and blammo and stuff, Nuts decides to take the smarter approach. Leaving the big-headed crystal dragon person to bellow and belly-ache and probably pulverize those who hit their heads against a brick wall multiple times in the face of a challenge, Nuts sneaks his diminutive self along the hallway... over to the distracted guard-type person... and up to where the bulge of a remote is... and pushes the button.
Seeing the chaos erupt all around her Savi slumps her shoulders and looks up at Deeoh. "I'm going to hide behind you now." she says in a soft voice, without waiting for a reply she steps one step to the side, sliding her, now terrified form, cleanly behind the large Lion.
The moment that the Scaled woman hits the Golden strains the entire area turns from gold to red. Then the woman stand up the room, her blonde hair coils around her body and moves her close to the body, "Cindy..." She curls up against the body and looks at her sadly, "Why didn't you call me if someone was hurting you." She looks at the people outside and inside the towers but doesn't notice Nutshell behind her. "Did she have to die? Are you proud of yourself? SHE DIDN'T WANT TO BE HERE, YOU MONSTERS. YOU KILLED MY SISTER YOU KILLED A PRINCESS!!" The fibers in the room start to whirl around her her she removes the fibers from the door behind her in her rage. Her body disappears in the cloud of fibers as she attacks the group from dozens of areas at once. Each fiber is in the shape of spears and axes and even Cindy's corpse being used like a puppet.
Arano quickly reloads his weapon, confident the target had been vanquished, after he does so and pulls the charging handle he comments, "Well now... THAT was anti-climatic..." As he walks up towards the building and sees the blonde lady walk up to the corpse. His first words being, "This is bad..." then when the lady vanishes, "...this is very bad..." and when the attacks became imminent he cried out, "WELL THE WORST SHE CAN DO IS KILL US!" After the apparent non-sequitor he admits, "...those were the best last words I could come up with..." before firing.
As the sister curls around her sibling, Dio puts a hand over his face and begins rubbing. Hard. "Ma'am, I'm going to have to teach you to be less gun crazy. You use weapons for defense, else things like this happen," he says, taking a moment to look back at Cookies and then raising his shotgun to his shoulder. "If need be, we can attempt a retreat. But for now, we'll see what we can do."
Cookies feels a slight twinge of horror at the sight of the grieving sister which grows and gnaws at her worse and worse with every passing moment. That wasn't what she meant to happen at all. "Oh, no." She presses her face right back in against Dio's mane and shudders briefly with remorse, then lets out a long, dreary sigh. "We- we need to get in there. Any means necessary. Have to get past her." She clings to the lion's back and peers at the whirlwind of hair. "If there's a way through all /that/..."
Arimia tilts her head slightly and replies, "Pride, much like shame, is a luxury that is not very useful in regards to survival. As for the matter of if she had to die, the answer is technically no. If she had been willing to start a conversation rather than immediately jump to threats. Further, I suspect she did not call for you due to being too busy getting shot in the face and the chest. Such activities tend to be a bit distracting and jarring to the thought process." She fishes in a pocket and pulls out a cigarette lighting it and taking a drag before saying, seemingly to those with her facing the woman in the hall, "Remember what we came here for. Let us not let a distraction such as us fighting keep us from our search."
Yeah... Screw dat noise. with the doorway no longer blocked thanks to the irate sister's vengeance-spree directed at the others that'd come with him. Perhaps he could pick up their remains on the way out with enough time to salvage them from total demise... Or, hey... maybe they might even win! In either case, he had more important matters to attend to than fighting needlessly for a bunch of murderers. On wards through the open doorway. They may have balls of steel out there... But Nutshell? Nutshell.. he's got Tiger's blood.
Savi doesn't waste any time or stop to think, in part confusion, part fear, she breaks for the tower opening at full speed, hoping to get to wherever Nutshell made it to.
Saviante makes a mad dash past the enraged woman who tries to grab him but misses every step of way as Saviante makes it out of the hair. She turns her anger to the party that remain and begins to lash out wildly, Inside the next room is large Server that looks like something out of a science fiction novel. There is a glowing monitor and a single man dressed like a king. Nutshell and Saviante notice that the man is type and looking at the monitor which displays the bio reading of Rapunzel. He doesn't seem to notice them at all as she keeps pumping up her nanite level as warning blare over the screen. He is cursing to himself and speaking in random tech jargon as he adjust his crown.
Arano looks around the group and sees everybody... well, falling, and cries out, "Screw the mission... RETREAT!"
Saviante Sends her Talon-tipped vines busting out of her robes towards the throned man, veering off at the last second she screams "ENOUGH!" and sends the points, with all the force she can muster, around him and into the control panel. "LEAVE THEM ALONE!" she screeches as loud as her voice will carry. without waiting for a reply she drags her claws across the console again.
Well, a computer, huh? Well, with the good king all tied up by the plant, diplomacy seems a moot point, so Nuts takes a stab at the server. Flitting his gaze over the console and the interface, the wee incubus purses his lips. Okay, not too dissimilar from some computer setups he'd seen with mainframes... Let's see, if that's the network chip set and that's the... Wait, wait... the program script running seems. Huh... Well, that's all borked up. "I know how to fix this," and draws out a massive (for him) hammer with an drill cone with alternating segments along its length with arced blades. Whirring to life, it crackles, "With pwnage..." and heaves, slamming the crackling tool right into the circuitry supporting the network relays and protocols. Down with the system... down with the machine!
As the fight went on relentless some of the fighters decide to run away while others faced the Threat of the long hair woman alone. The was a loud boom from the next room and an even louder explosion that sent both Nutshell and Saviante into the fiber room. "Wha?" The enraged woman grips her head and starts screaming as her hair goes slack. She lets out another screech as her nanites begin to dissolve her hair leaving her completely bald and the fiber inert. The Body that Saviante had in her grip is nothing more than a corpse as a shard of metal from the explosion leaves him with only have a face. Outside there is chaos as the mushrooms unable to support the massive weight and nutrient the nanite provide begins to topple over and die, The invisible felines become visible as their skin slogs of in large tufts of fur and flesh. Rapunzel looks at the group in sheer surprise, "Why is my princess power not working?" She attempt to will her hair to attack the group and when nothing happens she just drops to her knees and start crying. The golden hair becomes gray all over the room and soon is no harder than cobwebs.
Arano looks around in amazement... and more than a little guilt... as the city around him seems to... die. He looks around in amazement, then walks slowly back into the room. The creature they had been fighting, like something out of a story book, was... well, significantly weaker now. Still, glancing over at the rest of the world and seeing the chaos that had erupted, seeing the results - he slung his weapon over his shoulder and frowned, "What... what have we done..." he says to himself quietly. He sighs and says, "I'm heading back to the chopper... you all can meet me there when you're ready to leave," before turning to head out to walk the now dead and decaying streets - confident he won't be attacked, but is that a good thing?
With quite a clear number of wounds upon his body, Dio returns shortly after the shutdown with various makeshift band-aids used by ripping apart pieces of his suit. Crude, but it would have to do for now. Everything dissolving and fading away... Did they really have a good justification for such an act further than it was simply a mission? No point in debating things now. "Good thinking," he says as he slowly enters the room and walks towards Nutshell with a bit of a limp. "Is this the server? Do you think you can get it out?"
Cookies actually seems to look on the dying landscape with something resembling joyous awe. The fact that everything around her was dying in and of itself was fairly depressing, of course, but... the nanites were all just giving out. It brought hope to her heart that she had not felt in what seemed like a very long time. "That's.. that's amazing," she whispers out even as Dio carries her back in, momentarily forgetting the fact that her lion was wounded. She hops off his back to take some pressure off him, though she's still nuzzled up against his side, doing her damnedest to not step in the dead nanite hair and failing miserably. When she sees the damaged equipment, her expression goes from one of hope to one of horror. "Holy fuck what did you /do/!"
Arimia slithers past the crying girl and looks at the destroyed equipment. "Mmm. Gather what you can." She turns back then and fishes in one pocket with a hand. She pulls out a leather glove and works to pull it on, struggling a bit as her other arm is hanging limp by her side, dripping a mixture of black and red blood. It takes a bit of work but she finally gets the glove on. She then offers her hand to Rapunzel and says, "Come on. Up. And careful not to touch any part of me that is not covered in doing so. The electricity and heat would be unpleasant. We are headed to another, different, nanite bubble. You may regain your powers there, or get some new ones. Or perhaps you will fade with the loss of this bubble. I don't know. But it's a chance."
Using the haft of the maul to right himself, Nutshell coughs a few times and pats his own chest with a balled fist lightly to knock off soot from the explosion. Regaining his breath, he says, "We came... we saw... we kicked its ASS," while still leaning on the crutch of the malevolent mallet of machine massacrery. "Mmmph... we'd best salvage what we can and ..." he shifts his voice to do an Arnold impersonation, "Get to the Choppah!" grinning. Sure, an entire bubble went down... an entire ecosystem is now kapootski... but, Nuts is still mirthful despite it all, "Hey... is anyone up for a pizza? No mushrooms, though. Definitely no mushrooms," he cajoles even as he heads back to the wreckage for the salvage work. Everyone grieves in different ways... some with tears, some with silence, and some with forced smiles and busywork.
Savi turns back to the computer room pausing to slap Nutshell on the ass. "Good work cutie." With that half hearted flirt trying to hide her true emotions she pauses for a moment before the true sadness she usually feels bleeds through. "I have become death, destroyer of worlds." Sorrow for the death of everything around her welling up inside she stops by the graying ex-princess. "For what it's worth, I'm sorry." she says softly as she places a cat girl infection vial in the weeping woman's hands. "Go Roland for there are other worlds than these." With that she turns to the server to add her, not tiny, computer skills towards the task of salvaging whatever is salvageable before returning to the chopper with the others.
Their is a big of commotion outside as a few of the creatures look about confused, There is the hooded figure from before currently fixing the broken leg of a large monster that looks like a cross between a snail and a dragon. An hour later Inside of the tower the woman looks at the vial and takes it, she grips her head and gives out a feral yowl and begins touching herself, her mind is not inoculated to the Fairhaven strains of nanites. She looks at the corpse of Cindy and give it a sniff, sensing something unfamiliar she hisses and leaves. Hours later in the conference room within zyphers walls the team is given a cheer by the scientist and many of the other agents "Good Job. We are scouring the city for anyone that isn't insane to take back to Fairhaven." The lead scientist is an Alley cat dressed in a lab coat. "Soon as this went down our radios went back up. So we've seen out teams behind you case there is more to salvage. You've done a good thing here and we would like to give you our thanks." He pats them all on the back and hands them each a credit stick for a very heft amount. "We will make our findings public as soon as we get through the proper channels. Someday we might even have a cure with this knowledge or at least something to give our soldiers and scouts an edge in the field." He says before walking off and heading to lab six.
