View source for Imperii finis est scriptor - RPLOG

=Participants=
* [[Ebreus]]
* [[Firecracker]]
* [[Krixia]]
* [[Mokou]]
* [[Otto]]
* [[Pelle]]
=Date=
9/5/2017
=Log=
<div></div><br> <br>With light cloud-cover and a gentle breese it is a nice day in New Dawn. Though the weather doesn&#39;t reflect the activities of the mutants of the town. They preparing their assembled information on Constantine&#39;s Compound for the Agents that have responded to their call to action. r% r% One of the hutts has been cleared of its normal use to be a more secure meeting place for this occasion and their contact, a female Alpha Husky, waits inside for the Agents she will be briefing for this mission.<br> <br>Otto was not sure what to expect from this assignment. He was looking for trouble, this much was clear, the canine out and about to test out a few new gadgets, see how they perform and how he performs with them! While he was garbed in his usual attire, those who knew the canine would note a few alterations to his loadout. No longer was he unprotected and covered with a few measly layers of cloth that did next to nothing to keep him protected. Nay, for now he wore a rather serious looking set of reinforced platemail that tied in with his usual attire quite well. His weapons were all ofcourse present and accounted for, kept in top shape, primed, loaded and ready for use at the tip of a hat. 

Looking around the peculiar settlement known as New Dawn, Otto notes its primitive charm. The Prometheans seemed to like things simple, and did it quite well. Their huts had a certain appeal to them, a charm that was hard to describe, a calling back to a simpler time before skyscrapers and parking lots. It reminded him of the Aassahke and their peaceful tribal ways. It&#39;d been a while since Otto had gone to see Chenoa, so he took a note to change that once this mission was complete. For now, he heads into the hut where they were to gather, and looks around. Once he spots the Alpha husky, he stands at attention and greets her with a nod. &quot;Soldier 1206 reporting for duty.&quot; he says with a bright smile and an enthusiastic yip! &quot;Am I the first to arrive?&quot;<br> <br>Pelle spotting somebody enter one of the huts fully armored follows after them &quot;is this the place of this mission?&quot; she looks up to the coyote &quot;and I do believe you&#39;re the first one&quot; she wakes past the coyote and into the room her body covered with weapons seemingly thrown on as she can make them fit and turns to the two &quot;I&#39;m pelle and I&#39;m ready for duty&quot; she give the two a bow she flutters into the air after she is done with the bow hovering around head height <br> <br>      A stirring in a breeze seemed too light and soft for that which Mokou prepared. The sun shone between scattered clouds and rays of light lit the ground, not even the faint touch of springs last breath seeming to touch beneath the fennecs coat. Her shirt and shorts clad about her, the ground seeming too could beneath her as she stalked toward the hut, the one in the message, a quiet shudder in her breath. There was no easy solution to this, and there was no happy ending to be found from it after all it seemed. Her comms never seemed to leave her hand, the little information she had been given read and reread a dozen times. Using them as... 

    The young lady looked back up, her hand shoving the comms back in her pocket, eyes clinging back to the hut before her. Slight, but functional... She had to admit it still brought a smile to her muzzle. It was... something akin to home. And that... is why she looked back to the Husky within the tent. Why she stood, and gave her a small nod, ears flashing to the side at that yelp of a yip! A warrior, clad in arms and armaments beyond her grade... She shook her head. That wasn&#39;t... wasn&#39;t the point. Besides, if that lass could be here... If she could fight, she should be able... &quot;Ah... Not a soldier. Here to help though. Here to... To stop this... Barbarism.&quot; Eyes flashing over to those beside, it was only a brief pause before she shot back a swift nod. &quot;Y-yeah...&quot;<br> <br>Krixia was not used to this.  Sure, she was promethean herself, but she was more of a solo worker.  &#39;merc for hire, with standards&#39; sort.  Now that some things had come and gone, it was time for her to actually swallow some of that stubbornness and work together with folks in a less &#39;improvised&#39; style.  As she approached the hut, a hand lifted up and slid fingers through her hair, the red locks not tied up behind her head or around it shifted and tussled around a bit.  When her hand dropped, she slipped it into a pocket, much like the other.  While she wasn&#39;t a military trained fighter, she most definitely had training.  Rather than a fully geared up outfit, she was wearing some light leather armor on her that had some runic symbols in celtic, giving off just the faintest hint of an aura around her to anyone that might be close enough.  Ironically, they didn&#39;t detract from her clothes all that much.  

Instincts had her checking out the hut and looking for potential traps or holes for ambush signals.  Even hearing someone speak about arriving for duty, it didn&#39;t keep her from watching for more traps once inside the hut.  &quot;Oi&quot;, was her unprofessional role call obligation.  Eyes went over who she&#39;d be going on the mission with and kept herself away from the entrance some, reaching into her leather jacket to pull out a pair of bladed gloves.  Slipping the gloves on, she pulls them on tight, wiggling her fingers.  Likewise runes to her armor show on them and she finally takes a look at the husky to adress her properly.  &quot;Krixia&quot;, wasn&#39;t hard to know the human redhead celt fighter within the faction.  A glance given to the others, she upnods them on the whole, then flashes a peace sign.  &quot;Oi.&quot;<br> <br>Firecracker arrives on the scene, landing on the coyote&#39;s head as she stands upright on her hindlegs, folding her forelegs over her chest.  Her current appearance differs drastically from the one most are accustomed to.  Gone are the joyful amber eyes and playful smile from the pegasus&#39;s face, replaced with fiery red irises and a cocky grin to match, though her eyes may be a bit difficult to see through the red-tinted triangular glasses she wears over them.  Rather than her usual nudity, on her back is a red cape with orange flame patterning on the bottom and a silhouette of a firecracker in the center.

   &quot;Alright, I&#39;m sure you have some big long speech you wanna give about this.  How about we skip all that and just get right to the ass kicking?&quot; the fiery little pegasus suggests.  &quot;Just say whose ass needs kicking and point me in a direction, we&#39;ll free those guys in no time.&quot;  She looks to the Irish lady introducing herself, nodding her head upwards in return, &quot;I&#39;m Firecracker!&quot; she says with a grin.<br> <br>The Husky woman perks up when Agents start to enter the hut. With Otto&#39;s introduction he tilts her head downward, &quot;One, two, zero, six... Ok then.&quot; she says, unuse to dealing with people by Agent numbers. When the tiny pegasus speaks up the Husky is a bit surprized and just nods quietly. When the peacock spider enters she smiles wide and answers, &quot;Yes! This is where we&#39;re having the breifing.&quot; She nods aprovingly as the Fennec woman comes to the hut and indicates she is also there for the operation and takes a halfsep back from the Human fighter when she arrives, her training to not infect those who were still human kicking in, she aknowledges Krixia with a nod. 

The Husky takes a breath and says, &quot;Hello Agents. I am Alissa. I&#39;ll be briefing you on the situation. From the report on our scouting mission that found his Compound we have learned that a potentially sane German Shepard answering to the name Constantine has been abducting ferals and controling them by means on indoctronation explained to him by documents stolen from RSX Solutions. Since then our scouts have detected Constantine&#39;s forces fortifying his building and... capturing progressively more dangerous ferals. From what we can tell those captured by Constantine are not loyal beyond his ability to control them. This being the case your mission is to capture Constantine and any of his supporters who might be able to replicate this effect. Should it be possible keeping the ferals captured from leaving the building before Promethean backup can arrive is to be considered a secondary objective. Any questions?&quot;<br> <br>As the group piled in, Otto took the time to look them over. He wasn&#39;t quite sure what to make of the small peacock spider, as he was slightly arachnophobic, he settled for just nodding and greeting hir with a polite &quot;Hey there.&quot; 

Then he spots Mokou, and could immediately feel his heart starting to melt. He had a soft spot for fennecs, and he couldn&#39;t help but grin goofishly and greet her with a happy &quot;Howdy!&quot; 

Before he could chat her up, another interesting fellow stepped into the tent. My my, seems the group had started to gather up! The human girl that had entered was rather charismatic, and mystifying in her own way. One couldn&#39;t immediately tell a lot about her by looking at her loadout, but she seemed friendly enough. &quot;Greetings.&quot; the coyote gives a polite bow in response. 

Yet again before he could utter one more word, he feels something land square atop his head. That familiar bubbly tone was immediately recognized the moment he heard it. &quot;Hi Firecracker.&quot; he sighs and crosses his eyes to look up at her while she was still perched atop his head. The pony was a volatile one, but she was fun to have around, that much was certain! 

&quot;I had a feeling I&#39;d be seeing you.&quot; he smiles, then gently picks her up by the cape and lowers her down into his arms to give her a squeeze before letting her go. She was roughly the size of a teddy bear compared to Otto, after all. His attention returns to the husky. 

He cracks his knuckles and flashes a grin &quot;Storm the fort, take down the opposition, retrieve the scumbag and drag his sorry ass back for judgement. Sounds simple enough. What can you tell us about the building? Have the scouts found any easier ways to get in, multiple points of entry so that we could catch the bastard by surprise and block off all his escape routes?&quot;<br> <br>Pelle turns to face the ones that enter the building and responding to the coyote &quot;hello as well&quot; before spotting the fennec and recognize her &quot;hello mokou&quot; her attention goes to the human as she enters &quot;hello krixia&quot; and as she spots firecracker  she flutters closer to fire &quot;hello firecracker nice cape you have&quot; giving them all a bow as she greets them and turns to alissa &quot;yes I have one&quot; she flutters closer to alissa &quot;is the mind control stuff going to work on us?&quot;<br> <br>      Mokou shot those mocha eyes of hers back to the last few attendants, the tall warrior style... empress like visage of the lady and... a pony? She almost shook her head, but instead simply gave them a slight smile. Who was she to say they didn&#39;t look the part for this? Besides... Promethians seem to excel in that respect. Besides... Might surprise them. Shoot, the warrior &#39;yote certainly did with that... silly little grin of his, hugging the red pony like a prized toy. Mokou gave a quiet little giggle despite herself, shaking her head before smirking to him. &quot;Ah, Hey there.&quot; Before spending anymore time chawing though, she instead simply took a step to the side, a quiet smile upon her muzzle as she looked back to the Husky. No joy or humor reflected in those eyes, only a quiet sadness and but a touch darker within. Rumors do as rumors do, but... She could only hope what she heard was false. 

      The fennec watched the... Alissa as she spoke, ears occasionally twitching between sharp phonations and the implications within such a briefing. It was simple enough. Extraction, and make certain the means was stopped. Her hands she shoved into her pockets, giving a single nod to Alissa as she went on. Keep the ferals there, stop them from... hurting themselves and others. Another few words stuck out, but in the end, she simply sighed. Peering back to Pelle, she shook her head. &quot;I doubt we will have to worry about that. If he only controls by force, we ought to be... alright. Hopefully&quot; Her gaze fell back upon the husky, a slight nod given. &quot;Only one question. This... Constantine... If they are sane... What is to be done with them. If they run. If they beg. What should we not do...&quot;<br> <br>Krixia was tilting her head from side to side, rolling her shoulders, which had her jacket and her (currently) megadeath t-shirt lifting up, giving a small peak at her flat, muscled belly.  When her clothing dropped back down again, she lifted an arm, just about to stretch it over her head when she heard Firecracker speak up.  In a very lilty laugh, she busted out and pointed a finger the pony&#39;s way.  &quot;Aye!  Now ye got me likin&#39; that method right there!&quot; Though she does calm some.  Folks were bowing, too.  That, definitely made her a little awkward.  &quot;Eh...&quot; Rolling her eyes, the redhead just let up a one shouldered shrug in response to the gestures, brushing it off for the sake of civility.  Looking at the husky, she was incredibly used to a lot of her fellow agents keeping their distance.  &quot;I&#39;m a human chick with fightin&#39; gloves on, likely gettin&#39; up in faces, goin&#39; into a shithole full of ferals, and ya think I&#39;m worried &#39;bout gettin&#39; up close?&quot; She just offers a wide grin and a wink to Alissa, trying to ease the worry, even if it might have already passed.  

Speaking of worry, noticing the only person who seemed to really not be at ease with the situation, and also letting people who did better with not instinctual thinking ask all the questions, she made her way to stand near Mokou&#39;s side without touching her.  Her hands slipped into her pocket and she let her lips shut tight, humming a quiet little soothing celtic tune towards the fennec.  She didn&#39;t look at her, though, just doing her best to maybe give some comfort for morale, even if she was misreading Mokou&#39;s reactions.<br> <br>Firecracker squeaks like a rubber ducky when Otto gives her a little squeeze, immediately blushing at the sound as she bats her hooves around until she&#39;s set free.  &quot;G-Geez, ruin my heroic intro, much?&quot; she grumbles softly as she hovers in front of the coyote.  Quickly dispelling the embarrassment with a shake of her head, she looks to the nearby spider and greets her with a smirk and a &quot;Heya, Pelle.&quot;  She then turns to face the husky and states, &quot;Find the big bad German Shepherd named Constantine, kick his ass, kick his friends&#39; asses, and free the slaves.  Doesn&#39;t get easier than that.&quot;  She gives a little shrug as she finishes, kicking her hindlegs up to cross at the over in front of her while she crosses her forelegs behind her head, reclining in an invisible chair as she hovers.<br> <br>Alissa listens for question with perked and attentive ears and eyes. Hearing the question from Otto she takes a breath and replies, &quot;Constantine&#39;s Compound is a four story tall building in the South-East of Fairhaven, impressively well maintained and impossible to miss in contrast to its delapitated surroundings. There are four windows per floor and two doors into the building. Our scouts report that since first contact his forces have barred all windows on the first and second floor and begun work on the third. Both doors are guarded at all times.&quot; She keeps a clear and even tone in her reply giving the impression that she has rehersed responses to the most-likely questions. 

When the next question is asked she shakes her head and says, &quot;Our information leads us to belive that this is a form of indoctronation and not outright mind-control. So our Fennec associate, is correct. And to answer you question Constantine is to be brought here, alive, regardless of mental state or attempts to flee and or beg. We will decide how to deal with him once he has been detained.&quot; Her ears droop momentarily as she finished the reply, she shakes here head and returns her attention to the group. 

After a moment of no more questions Alissa nods and says, &quot;Alright then if there are no more questions then we have some maps that would be helpful to you and goodluck on your mission.&quot; he takes a binder from a compartment behind the podium and extends it toward the group, most specifically Otto, with a cautious smile.<br> <br>&quot;Not my fault you&#39;re so squeaky.&quot; Otto winks, then takes a look around the group again. They were an odd bunch, to be sure, but then again this was not unexpected. He&#39;d worked with a far stranger group of agents in the past, from a mystic who had a modified laser rifle broomstick to... well, Firecracker. She was the oddest of the bunch, there was no doubt about that. &quot;Right, at least we don&#39;t have to worry about no hokus pokus mindfuckery.&quot; he muses and crosses his arms. Illusions and mental manipulation were two things Otto always hated with a passion and actively warded against. He didn&#39;t much care for the ferals, but knowing there was some bastard out there doing some similar kind of mindscrubbing, well... that was just another reason not to fuck things up. 

He turns back to the husky and listens closely to her words. &quot;So no chance they can bail out the windows, nor are we going in through there, hmmmm. We might have to look for a fire exit leading into one of the upper floors if we&#39;re to surprise them, otherwise we&#39;ll have to knock the front door down and just raid them head-on. Either way, consider it as good as done.&quot; the confident canine states and accepts the binder from her. &quot;We&#39;ll have that bastard wrapped up and served for you before nightfall. Thank you for the intel aaand...&quot; he opens up the binder and takes a look inside. &quot;The maps and deets on what we can expect, apparently. Lots of good stuff in here.&quot; *thump* he closes it back up, salutes her and turns tail after shooting her a sly wink, and moves towards the exit. &quot;Alright folks, let&#39;s get a move on when yer&#39; all set!&quot;<br> <br>Pelle waves her hands &quot;I can probably get up to the forth story and I have a form wear I can turn myself into with is bigger than I can probably lift somebody up with me, if were going in the windows or I and fire can start on the forth story and tray and be stealthy as we move around&quot; she flies after the coyote as he exists &quot;and I can make a hole with a rocket or a grenade if needed making an entrance they didn&#39;t expect&quot;<br> <br>      Mokou gave a quiet sigh, feeling... well... if not worry leave her, then a quiet resignation take place as well. It... well, it was why she came here. Her revery though snapped swiftly, ears flicking back and to the side, a slight tune catching their notices. She didnt&#39; yet turn, trying to keep attentive to the husky lady before her. The tune though... it wasn&#39;t so much distracting as... pleasant almost? It was calming at the very least. Her breathing turning a bit deeper, having slimmed autonomically, she simply... nodded. &quot;Alright then...&quot; Peering back to the binder, she bit her lip briefly before watching Otto brows through it with a swift gaze. She reached for it for but a moment... But shook her head, dropping the hand. She wouldn&#39;t know what to do with it if she did read it. 

      Instead, she shot a smile to Alissa briefly, a nod delivered as she turned. The source of that quiet humming clear, she reached over with a hand gripping the... warrior empress&#39;s shoulder briefly, a silent look of thanks upon her muzzle. Her ears flicked back, Otto&#39;s voice clear as he spoke and began to stride off, confidence all but trying to ooze from him. &quot;I suppose that answers when... But... Miss...&quot; Peering back, the quiet vixen tried a smile to... a non-zero degree of success. &quot;We will get him. Promise.&quot; Looking back to them all, she let her hand fall from Krixia&#39;s shoulder, moving close to stand by Otto. &quot;Alright... Let&#39;s get this... Over with. Oh... Though Pelle?&quot; Looking to the bird...spider she simply shook her head. &quot;That... might not be wise. Drawing ire and thus fire from the entire side of a building by flying over may be... unwise.&quot;<br> <br>Krixia had kept her gaze on those that were talking as they did.  The moment it was clear that Alissa had said all that she had to say, and things were left in the groups hands, she shot her gaze towards Otto.  The plans were all being suggested, and the redhead simply stood where she was, silently, until the hand that left her shoulder finally did.  It wasn&#39;t until then that she herself turned and started to walk with the others.  The only recognition Mokou got of understanding any appreciation was a lifted hand flashing that peace sign.  The hand moved to join her other, both in front of her.  For a minute, she was trying to keep herself behind the group, but still close.  

She didn&#39;t really like the lack of details given to them.  She might have been a bang your head through the door and ask questions later type herself, but this wasn&#39;t a simple escort mission.  Eyes would lock with the husky with a straight face until she stepped outside and then she looked forward again.  Seeming more relaxed out of the hut, there was a snort heard from Krixia before she lifted her arms high to stretch.  &quot;Aye, well whatever, ya plan, I&#39;m good at bein&#39; up in faces and knockin&#39; heads, or causin&#39; distractions if&#39;n ya need somethin&#39; distracted.&quot; She smirked a little, the irony of how little information she herself just relayed amusing her for a moment before her arms folded over across each other, forearms resting atop her head.  She walked that way for now, upper arms blocking some of the sound out from in front of her just enough she could hear her fellow agents, but listen behind best she could.<br> <br>Firecracker rolls her eyes at Otto&#39;s comment, flapping up to land on his shoulder and lean against his head while checking out the binder as the coyote flips through it.  Her ear flicks at Mokou&#39;s words, causing the pegasus to look in her direction with a dangerous grin.  &quot;Heh, that sounds like a challenge to me!  I can get in one of those windows easy and take out Constantine before he even knows we&#39;re there.  Not all of us are stuck to the floor, y&#39;know, Soldier Twelve Oh Six.&quot;  Upon hearing Krixia speak, the pegasus laughs lightly and responds over her shoulder, &quot;I like your style!  Kick first!  Ask questions while kicking!&quot;<br> <br>As the agents make there way out of then hut and then out of New Dawn as a whole heading south toward the building indicated on the map of Fairhaven. The wind begins to pick up as they travel provinding them little comfort as they aproach the Compound. As they travel south the infulstructure and builings show increacing signs of ware, P-Day and its aftereffects being particularly unkind to this section of the city. Then as they aproach the signs of the presance of Cnstantine&#39;s Cult become progressively more clear until it is apparent that should they continue they will be at the building in a matter of a minute or so.<br> <br>The coyote uietly walked along with his companions, the binder still in his hands. He openly presents it to anyone who wants to take a look and nods once Mokou speaks up. &quot;She&#39;s right, you know. Let&#39;s us first have a good look at the building before making any rash decisions involving explosions. The element of surprise is a formidable asset, so if we can catch those ferals and their leader off-guard, well that would make things a lot simpler.&quot; the canine addresses the entire group, most of which looked ready to just run in and bash skulls around. 

He takes a moment to look over the fennec, noting the hesitation in her tone, a reluctance to her that was unmistakable, uncertainty laced within her speech and expression. Lifting one paw, the coyote places it on her shoulder and flashes a reassuring smile. &quot;Hey, are you doing okay? We weren&#39;t properly introduced, so... my name is Otto. I&#39;m with Zephyr&#39;s military devision. We do these kinds of things all the time. Trust me, it&#39;ll be fun!&quot; 

That said, he reaches up to give Firecracker a boop on the nose. &quot;Oh you&#39;ll get plenty of opportunities to bash some heads in!&quot; he tells her and Krixia with a jolly tone and a wide smile &quot;The way I see it, whatever it is we do, we&#39;re bound to run into some ferals along the way. They&#39;ll need a firm ass kicking, and we&#39;ll ALL get a piece of that action. For now though, let&#39;s try to keep cool about our approach. The way I see it, we might end up kicking down the front door anyway. Tsk. This Constantine guy has the whole building on some serious lockdown.&quot; 

The signs that they were drawing near grew ever more apparent as they went onward, causing the coyote to reach for the semi automatic rifle on his back. Once it was in his paws, he flicks the safety off and aims the weapon down so as to avoid any accidents while still being ready for any surprises. He turns to Firecracker and asks &quot;Mind flying up and see what you can see? Check for enemies, but don&#39;t engage yet. Let me know what you find.&quot;<br> <br>Pelle flies a bit into the air before looking back to otto &quot;I take a look as well I seen the building as well and four eyes are better den two&quot; she takes of towards the building at take a look and returns back after a sum sounds &quot;the building looks like it did wen I first saw it and the information alissa gave was true&quot; she turns to otto &quot;and I think I can make a good distracts if you want otto&quot;<br> <br>      Ah, how the winds of change blow. How it sweeps between the broken streets and beneath the feet of those swift upon a path not of redemption, but something akin to justice. Though, those words the others gave, a kick first, questions later attitude, it led the fennec to wonder of this. Perhaps this was not justice they sought, but a fight. A war to be waged against those unknown and unprepared. Her eyes lit upon the others, a particularly unkind few thoughts finding root. What is a warrior after all... without a war to fight? Someone lost amid time, violent and aggressive... 


      She shook herself, ears flicking in the wind as the buildings about seemed to decay with every step. No need for such... questions now. Not right now... Even as the &#39;yote turned and spoke, asking her and prodding her, she simply shook herself, a slight nod given in return to his grin. &quot;Mokou... And... I am alright. Just... Heh, you could call it nerves. Just something to... worry about is all.&quot; Giving Otto a slight nod, those last few words held her gaze, locked over his cheek before she turned back to him. Smile glassy and empty, she leaned forward, words but a whisper. &quot;I don&#39;t know how you do it in Zephyr... But it is not /fun/ to go in and attack those who can&#39;t think. It is not /enjoyable/ to break those whos minds are gone. It is not /pleasant/ to feel flesh and blood beneath your hands, or behind your bullets, and knowing that at somepoint... You could have been the one down range. I&#39;m here because someone didn&#39;t understand that. Their name is Constantine... I hope you understand that... &quot; After a moment passed, she leaned back and turned...  

      Mokou focused ahead. The buildings had decayed, shattered flagstones and weathered rubble seeming the norm as they went on. Step by step, it degraded, the nantes having seemed to weaken, undermine, or simply strip bare the land they walked now. Yet... as everywhere within the bubble was... it did not feel dead. Only subdued. Overhead, and omnipresent. Even when the word to give the pegasus something to spy, to check and find, she quietly stood, trying to keep it here. To be there and... To be ready to help when called.<br> <br>Krixia found herself smirking at Firecracker and upnodding the woman.  She let her arms drop and her gloved hands moved out in front of her.  Taking in a deep breath, but keeping her eyes opened, she stayed behind Otto and Mokou in particular.  The woman was preparing herself in the way she knew how.  Her hands held into fists at stomach level and opened up flat, fingers together, thumbs tucked against her hands.  Her hands both lifted up so her fingertips pointed skywards, then spread out a little in a fan like look, then came together until palms pressed into each other, fingers now fanned out.  Both of her hands lifted up and turned some... but then the movements were more like some sort of martial arts form, with the upper body, anyway.  She continued this for a while, starting to hum that same sound that she&#39;d hummed for Mokou earlier, except this time is was just loud enough to be heard around her.  Her aura seemed to be present while she did.  

The tune was pretty enough, but it was a calming in the wind.  &quot;I don&#39;t remember much...&quot; She speaks a little quietly.  &quot;But I remember words from who I can assume was me master at the time.  He&#39;d always say somethin&#39; akin ta &#39;ya don&#39;t fight water ta fight water, cause you&#39;ll lose.  Ya fight water on account o&#39; learnin&#39; how foolish it is.  Once ya realize that, ye can go into findin&#39; out why ya fight, an&#39; why there&#39;s a purpose to save folks, nay matterin&#39; who&#39;s holdin&#39; over &#39;em.  It was a small little bit o&#39; the teachin&#39;, but it helped.&quot; Her words might have been random to most folks, but she let her hands move to push, tug, and massage at each of her fingers in turn, some of them popping in the process.  &quot;Ye just tell me if ya want me to knock on the door an&#39; say hello.  Cause otherwise, I&#39;mma just jump in front of the big nasties &#39;at come our way and do me guard job, aye?&quot;<br> <br>Firecracker wrinkles her muzzle at the nose booping, crossing her eyes to track the finger&#39;s movement as it makes contact with her snoot.  The actions together put a sickeningly adorable little look on the pegasus&#39;s face, no matter how much she may not like it, before she flails her forelegs about in front of her to shoo the booper away.  &quot;Gah!  Fine!  I&#39;ll do ya one better!&quot; she huffs before springing up off the coyote&#39;s shoulder and into the air.  Before going all the way up, however, she stops about a foot above Otto&#39;s head, slowly descends, flicks the coyote&#39;s ear with a forehoof, and then shoot back up into the sky.  As the pegasus flies overhead, a tiny, unseen pink dot in the sky, she relays all the visual and auditory information she receives directly to Otto through her Sensory Upload Nanomagic, including the state of the area, the patrols going around, and the building itself.  At the same time, she downloads what he is hearing and seeing, giving her a view from the ground and the sky at the same time.  &quot;Alright, you can sneak right by em when they leave openings or ya can just jump em when they&#39;re not expecting it.  Doesn&#39;t really matter to me,&quot; she says to herself, and therefore to Otto as well.<br> <br>&quot;Thank you, Pelle.&quot; Otto replies with a smile as they continued along the way to the building. It wasn&#39;t much to go on so he hoped there would not be any sudden unexpected surprises along the way. 

He listens carefully to Mokou as she spoke, his smile fading as she opens up about her reluctance. Seemed that the poor girl had found herself in the wrong place at the wrong time. While he respected her outlook on things, he nods and replies with quiet words her large ears would definitely pick up on. &quot;I&#39;m not here to senselessly slaughter, if that makes any difference. I&#39;m simply here to do a service for the betterment of others. One does what one can to keep a positive outlook on life, if that makes sense. Yes, I said it would be fun, but not because of the slaughter. It would be fun to do something exciting with people you&#39;ve never met. It would be fun to test your skills on the field of battle, and it would be fun to do what&#39;s right and resolve a situation that demands some sort of intervention. The fighting is simply a means by which we may have to remove an obstacle in our path. I trust that high morale is one of the necessities for the proper execution of any such dangerous venture, so yes.&quot; he nods &quot;I like to think that missions like these are fun, but not for the reasons you might think.&quot; a light sigh escapes him as he looks away, his features softening a little as they went on. 

His ears perk up as he listens to Krixia. He turns to her once she&#39;s done talking and nods. &quot;That&#39;s a lovely tune. I&#39;m not sure I understood that saying correctly, no doubt you&#39;ve drawn some wisdom from those words that is quite alien to me, but I&#39;m just a dog with a gun.&quot; he snerks and shakes his head &quot;Unfortunately it might come to that. Try not to bash too many skulls in, I hear big Z isn&#39;t too happy about, well... murder.&quot; 

Once Firecracker does her magical bit of scouting, the coyote blinks a few times and rubs his eyes. He was not fond of that motional nano hokus pokus, but it served its purpose well enough. &quot;Ah, seems we can either sneak around, or just jump the patrols. Looks like we won&#39;t be idly strolling for very long, folks. I&#39;m not the best sneak, but we can try that. Unless you&#39;d like to get your knuckles bloody right away. We&#39;ll alert Constantine a lot sooner if we do, though.&quot; he rests one arm on his hip and thinks for a moment, eyes wandering around his crew. &quot;We really shouldn&#39;t split up, though.&quot;<br> <br>With Firecracker prodiving the party with a birds-eye-view of the compound and the minion&#39;s of Constantine patroling the area it is apparent that first of all only two of the six patrols are security and the other four are salvaging operations like what was found on first contact with Constantine&#39;s Cult. 

After several seconds of watching the partrols a rout that leads beside the building that would avoid all patrols becomes clear to the party. From this airborne view it becomes apparent that there is a weak point in the roof that might provide an enterince should they have the ability to reach it.<br> <br>Krixia snorts.  &quot;Aye, I wasn&#39;t plannin&#39; on killin&#39; anyone if I didn&#39;t have tae...&quot; The tone was serious, but she was a little disgruntled, watching people fly up and do recon and what not.  This really wasn&#39;t her style.  She was getting a bit antsy.  Each step was met with a bounce from foot to foot.  She prepares herself, and listens to Otto for his battle plan... patiently.<br> <br>&quot;Thank you, Pelle.&quot; Otto replies with a smile as they continued along the way to the building. It wasn&#39;t much to go on so he hoped there would not be any sudden unexpected surprises along the way. 

He listens carefully to Mokou as she spoke, his smile fading as she opens up about her reluctance. Seemed that the poor girl had found herself in the wrong place at the wrong time. While he respected her outlook on things, he nods and replies with quiet words her large ears would definitely pick up on. &quot;I&#39;m not here to senselessly slaughter, if that makes any difference. I&#39;m simply here to do a service for the betterment of others. One does what one can to keep a positive outlook on life, if that makes sense. Yes, I said it would be fun, but not because of the slaughter. It would be fun to do something exciting with people you&#39;ve never met. It would be fun to test your skills on the field of battle, and it would be fun to do what&#39;s right and resolve a situation that demands some sort of intervention. The fighting is simply a means by which we may have to remove an obstacle in our path. I trust that high morale is one of the necessities for the proper execution of any such dangerous venture, so yes.&quot; he nods &quot;I like to think that missions like these are fun, but not for the reasons you might think.&quot; a light sigh escapes him as he looks away, his features softening a little as they went on. 

His ears perk up as he listens to Krixia. He turns to her once she&#39;s done talking and nods. &quot;That&#39;s a lovely tune. I&#39;m not sure I understood that saying correctly, no doubt you&#39;ve drawn some wisdom from those words that is quite alien to me, but I&#39;m just a dog with a gun.&quot; he snerks and shakes his head &quot;Unfortunately it might come to that. Try not to bash too many skulls in, I hear big Z isn&#39;t too happy about, well... murder.&quot; 

Once Firecracker does her magical bit of scouting, the coyote blinks a few times and rubs his eyes. He was not fond of that motional nano hokus pokus, but it served its purpose well enough. &quot;Ah, seems we can either sneak around, or just jump the patrols. Looks like we won&#39;t be idly strolling for very long, folks. I&#39;m not the best sneak, but we can try that. Unless you&#39;d like to get your knuckles bloody right away. We&#39;ll alert Constantine a lot sooner if we do, though.&quot; he rests one arm on his hip and thinks for a moment, eyes wandering around his crew. &quot;We really shouldn&#39;t split up, though.&quot; He looks thoughtful for a moment as he contemplates what he had seen through Firecracker&#39;s eyes. Opening up the binder, the coyote traces a path down one of the surrounding area maps and says &quot;Yeah... if we go through here, we won&#39;t encounter any patrols. I don&#39;t think so anyway. We can make our way down this path, niiiice and quiet like. We&#39;ll approach the building from here, and if we&#39;re lucky, we can find a fire exit or something to get to the roof. There is a weak spot right here.&quot; he points at the specific spot where they could gain entry on the map. &quot;I think that&#39;s what we should do.&quot;<br> <br>      Mokou felt her ears twitch, those wide ears of hers twisting up at those words that he spoke. Confirmations not of fears or of irritants, but of trying to find the light in a dark situation. Trying to help and to do what would be impossible right now. Trying to pick up the pieces, she peered back to him, a slight touch of a smile upon her muzzle as she felt those words rebound and echo, twisting and revolving within her mind. Whether it was direct, honest and clear as Otto had given, now gazing away and determining a battle plan, or the mysticism wrapped in honest truth that Krixia&#39;s words were shrouded in, it was the same message. It was simply... not well delivered. They were violent, yes... But violent in a violent world. They did what they had to... Pulling her hands out from her pockets, she peered down, a slow nod given. &quot;Alright Otto... I&#39;ll give you my best then. Just...&quot; Her eyes lifted, falling to them before nodding to the plan... &quot;... Don&#39;t make the wrong call.&quot; 

  Popping her shoulders, the fennec slowly stepped forward at the plan having been given, only half a dozen steps forward when she turned, a quiet little smirk upon her muzzle. &quot;Well... come on then. Dunno the right path, that&#39;s you with the eyes in the sky. But sitting around here sure ain&#39;t gonna help...&quot;<br> <br>&quot;Heh, sounds like someone else gets it,&quot; Firecracker sends directly to Otto after hearing his response to the fennec.  The pegasus does a quick loop around the building overhead, looking for any way the group could get up to the ceiling without being seen, then goes right back to tracking the patrols in order to guide the group through to the building unseen and unheard.  &quot;You sure you don&#39;t want me to just crash in through one of those windows and lay down the hurt?  I&#39;m gettin&#39; pretty bored up here and that would be really awesome,&quot; she relays to the coyote.<br> <br>With the pony-in-the-sky advantage Otto manages to lead Krixia and Mokou to the side of the building. Once there they notice the fire-escape, it&#39;s ladder pulled up to prevent entry from the ground and it appears that there are two locks holding it in the raised position. One of the salvaging Huskies follows around the corner, but Otto&#39;s keen senses alert him to this with just enough time to act.<br> <br>Otto curses silently as he is forced to pull his companions out of the line of sight. He huffs quietly and looks around, panic starting to overtake him once he notes they are but a few moments away from being spotted. Thinking quickly, he reaches into his pack and pulls out a device he had found a while ago. It was a working electronic gadget he had used many times in the past for his own amusement, a priceless item to be sure, full of functioning electronics and a charged battery no less. &quot;Stay here.&quot; he whispers, then very silently creeps through the alleyway and manages to set the bait without the husky realizing he was there. Hiding back in the shadows, he holds his breath and crosses his fingers, hopeful the husky takes the bait and moves away to deliver his finding.<br> <br>      Mokou winced quietly as they were pulled away and close to the wall, slinking out of the way from what, she could not tell. Slinking close against the wall, she glanced down either way, trying to parse what exactly they were hiding away from. Nothing much seemed... presently endangering them. Only the commonplace shuffling of the wind through the alley is what her ears caught. Sniffing quietly, she couldn&#39;t seem to catch wind either, but... She told Otto to make the right call. If he wanted them to not move, she would try and slink there, remaining away from threats unknown. Peering up though, she frowned. So close to that blasted fire escape... Perhaps if she... No. Would need to get them up too. A mute grumble all but slipped from her lips, stretching up on legs meant for anything but, she tried to reach, not quite managing it. Blasted ladder...  At least Otto was... Where did he go?<br> <br>Krixia was far less paniced than Otto had been when the husky was coming close.  She wasn&#39;t exactly sure what was going on though, and when she was told to stay there, she simply stepped back against the wall, her back to it, watching.  She was antsy, ready to jump on whatever was potentially around the corner and punch it into unconsciousness, if possible.  Calming herself down, she uses a moment to take in a deep breath.  Luckily no blood pumping action was happening.  Looking up at the ladder, she might be able to jump her way up there... maybe... but it would be iffy, and probably not quiet at all.  Noticing the way Mokou started to grumble and react, a hand moved out to place her fingers against an arm gently.  Though her gaze was hard and ready for anything but comfort, she did offer the fennec a sweet, sincere, and attempting-to-reassure smile.  She wouldn&#39;t be using words.  

Looking up, she took stock of where firecracker was, and if she was making her way towards the ladder, she took a short step ready to catch it if need be, prepared.  Thinking that&#39;s where the pony was going, one hand flashed a peace sign while the other was held out in position, if it would keep her still out of the vision they were trying to hide from.<br> <br>After watching the husky take the bait and leave without any problems, Firecracker returns to the ladder.  Looking over it quickly to find any hinges or areas that may make noise when released, the pegasus gathers up some lubricant in her mouth via Secretion Nanomagic and lubes up those areas real good.  Once done, she releases the ladder to the girl below, hopefully not making too much noise while she goes back to watching from the air, reconnecting her links with Otto.<br> <br>The husky takes the bait, very pleased with finding something she&#39;d be rewarded for finding, and rushes off back to their salvaging party. As the Huskies begin to further distract themselves with the uncommon salvage one of them found the fire-escape is quietly lowered and the party is able to climb to the roof. As the party reaches the section of the roof Otto noticed it begins to distort lightly under the weight of the party making it clear that although it won&#39;t be quiet to breach the roof it certantly won&#39;t be difficult.<br> <br>Otto was indisposed at the time, however. He was carefully watching the husky from a distance, ensuring that if it were to take a turn into the alleyway, he would jump it and try to take it down before chaos ensued. For now though, things seemed all clear. He quietly waited for Firecracker to do her thing, and the ladder to drop, trusting that his team would be the first ones up there. 

And indeed they are! Once they arrive at the roof, he looks at the spot they&#39;d found and scratches his chin. &quot;One moment.&quot; he instructs and kneels down, pulls out a small screwdriver and manages to pry some of the old loose tiles out of the way. It was an easy feat to open up a hole for them to pass through with a little use of his sculpting nanomagic, large enough for any and all to jump right in and onto the top floor. &quot;Alright...&quot; he whispers quietly to his team, readies his firearm in his hands and nods &quot;I&#39;m going in, I&#39;ll let you know if it&#39;s safe.&quot; That said, he sits at the edge of the pit, and quietly lowers himself down onto the ground below.<br> <br>      Scampering up the fire escape, Mokou arrived to the roof with but a quiet patter of feet. Lighting upon it, she winced at the feeling beneath her paws. This... this was unsafe. Exceptionally so. She shook herself. Of course it was unsafe, they were stalking into the edge of a base of slavers who were capturing ferals for... She blinked. Why were they capturing ferals? As the husky had said, they were only really capable of the same thought process of ferals, and were only swayed to their side via power. So... what were they doing...? And how... 

  She shook herself, a quiet grumble at her lips. Not the time. Not the time nor the place. No, now was the time that she could watch them. Watch the nanites part underneath the &#39;yotes touch like water, revealing the ground beneath. Standing close, she neared the precipice, aiming herself down once the word was called... or danger reared its ugly head. She tried to shoot a smile up to the human, a small toothy grin before she leered back down... Close... Soon they would be there. She would get answers...<br> <br>Krixia was letting her mind wander at the moment.  Thinking about everything that could go wrong at once.  It was a dangerous tactic, but it helped her from focusing on the fact that she was doing what she wasn&#39;t good at.  This whole sneaking business was getting to her.  She&#39;d prefered if the others went in and she punched or kicked the front door in.  The thought had her snarling for a moment.  Just about that time, she made eye contact with Mokou, of which that toothy grin made the redhead lose her snarl, then she can&#39;t help but smile.  If nothing else, the trouble-minded woman was putting up a fight this time, instead of letting it get to her.  That was good.  

With a crouch, she put her hands on the edge of the crafted hole and lowered herself down slowly with barely any visible effort before putting herself down to her feet along with the others.  She tried to go slow so her body wouldn&#39;t cause too much noise.  Luckily she was as light as she was deceptively weak looking.  Once settled, she arches her back and her fingers clench into a fist, her thoughts roaming to the anticipation that is egging her on a little more towards battle awareness having her jump the first thing that posed a threat.  Eyes had to close for a brief moment as she shook her head, her tenseness passing slowly.<br> <br>Before Otto even finishes making the hole wide enough for the rest of them, Firecracker dives in and starts looking around.  With the party together again, she shuts off her Download and Upload as she directs the group towards the end of the hall opposite the guard with a pointed forehoof.  &quot;Make another hole down, we can just keep doing that and drop right on Constantine&#39;s head!&quot; she tells the group telepathically.<br> <br>With the party desending into the building, quietly thanks to clever use of the Sculpting Nanomagic, they are now in Constantine&#39;s Compound. The interior has a blatant Roman theme but this floor, the attic, has had minimal care put into maintining the theme resaulting in it looking almost delapitated. The heavy footfalls of a large guard can be heard slowly progressing further from them.<br> <br>&quot;One guard, he&#39;s big, but not unmanagable.&quot; Otto murmurs, certain that Mokou would hear. Her fennec ears were quite acute after all! &quot;Nevermind, though... we&#39;re not tackling him.&quot; he whispers, then smiles lightly. &quot;Aye, I like Cracker&#39;s idea. Let&#39;s us have a peek.&quot; he murmurs and as silently as possible, he slowly opens up another hole just beneath himself, scarcely large enough to peek through, and slowly growing larger assuming they don&#39;t stumble across a lot of guards just below them. He is cautious with his efforts, and waits a few moments before opening it up widely enough to be discovered. Once the hole is wide enough, the ground beneath them seems clear, so Otto takes the initial descent as quietly as he could, his firearm ready in his hands.<br> <br>      Why did they capture ferals? Why did they scavenge for salvage amid the ruins? Why did they rebuild this ruin? Why did it remain... remain... Mokou didn&#39;t know. She didn&#39;t know at all. As she slipped down though, her eyes scouring the room with a swift gaze. It didn&#39;t make sense. None of this made sense. Roman. Poorly constructed, and poorly built if her memory told her well... Not Grecian, but Roman. It was... Why. Her brow furrowed, her fists clentching beneath her as she slowly tried to stand, eyes scouring the place. What... Why? Why was this... Think, damn it, think! She nearly winced, ears snapping forward and back, trying to piece it together. Constantine was capturing them for what? What was this... Constantine... Hazel eyes turned down, a silent shake of her head told any who looked what she might have thought. A single word. &quot;No&quot; 

The fennec&#39;s ears snapped up, the sound of those heavy boots delivering step after step towards them, but she wasn&#39;t moving. Ears sensitive and ever alert twitched, something further below sounding as well. Eyes empty of that mild worry, drained of that touch of fear looked back to Otto, a nod given to him before she leaned down. Not yet... They shouldn&#39;t leap yet... They wouldn&#39;t jump yet... There was another patrol. &quot;I&#39;ll be at your side,&quot; was all she said, quiet and listless in the dark. &quot;We have... minute tops before they notice holes. Pick the path well...&quot;<br> <br>Krixia was waiting.  This had grown into quite the ordeal.  She had to remind herself why she was here.  She didn&#39;t live to fight, but there was a line between not fighting if one didn&#39;t need to and being dead weight amongst a group that were seemingly less oblivious and better at... every subtlety that there was to this kind of... thing.  Hands balled up into fists and relaxed again.  She had to calm down.  There&#39;d be time to worry about missions on her own versus missions with others another time, hoewver.  Finding her ability to really be useful in picking up on things not in her field of vision, she just focused on looking up above them and down below, repeating the motions, looking for any of this &#39;Constantine&#39; being&#39;s goons to come flooding down on them.<br> <br>Firecracker dives on in once again when the coast is clear.  &quot;Alright, let&#39;s see if we can get right above the throne room in the next two floors,&quot; she mumbles, picturing the floorplans in her head as she aids Otto&#39;s efforts with her Nanite Manufacturing Nanomagic.  &quot;Alright, should have to go this way then that way then that way some more to be right above him...&quot;  She grins a bit wildly as she trails off, looking up to the Irish woman, &quot;Ever heard of the Fastball Special?&quot;<br> <br>Following the directions of Firecracker the party walks down the hall then takes a turn into an empty bedroom before she decares that they should be above his Thrown Room. The bedroom is nicely furnished and even has carpetting in decent condition. It is a real shame they&#39;re about to sculpt a hole in the floor. The keen senses of Otto detect no movement from the floor below them and so they will be able to procede with their plan.<br> <br>&quot;Fall on his head and take him by surprise? Well... I guess that&#39;s the element of surprise.&quot; Otto shrugs &quot;And this way none of the ferals get hurt.&quot; The coyote tries to reason with the plan. His eyes dart around the room and he lets off a quiet whistle. &quot;Fancy. I wouldn&#39;t mind one of these. Well anyway.&quot; he clasps his paws and crouches down to the ground. There, he presses his paws against it and feels the earth start to give way. &quot;Everyone ready? This might get wild.&quot; he warns his group, then takes a deep breath, focuses all his attention on the task at hand and the earth immediately gives way, revealing a large passageway beneath his very paws. His paws latch onto his weapon and he jumps right down through the hole. The moment his feet touch the ground, they don&#39;t! He lands in a large pile of doodads and beepops of various sizes, soft clinking noises the result of his impacting the ground. Otto aims his firearm and looks around... to his disappointment this was NOT the throne room. &quot;Uhhh, Fire? You wanted us to arrive at the throne room, right? This... isn&#39;t it?&quot; he asks with a confused stare. &quot;Just a buncha salvage down here.&quot;<br> <br>      Mokou&#39;s steps were swift and careful, following the pink pegasus with little adue as they wandered. Rooms passed by under her piercing gaze, each one proving only a little more and more of what they imagined. A bedroom finally, they entered. She stood, trying to piece together... no... She wasn&#39;t piecing together. She had an idea. A terrible terrible idea why. She was simply trying to grapple with it now. To accept the fact that she knew now. Peering up to the human lady, she gave her a small, empty smile. A hand rose, placing it upon those still clenching gauntlets of hers, hardly quite minding that it cut, flesh sending a faint drip of pain from her pawpads. &quot;Almost...&quot; she whispered, looking slowly back down to the &#39;yote that bored through the ground again. It was... They were nearing. They were closing in. Peering back over, the hole giving way swiftly, she slid down over a few moments, a quiet sigh as she lingered in the room... empty of anything they were looking for. Goods, opulence and abundance that was... far more than needed. She stifled a growl, peering back down, laying to it and trying, hoping to hear something beneath. It... it had to...<br> <br>Krixia was ready to just punch a hole right through the floor and be done with the whole thing at this point, but it wasn&#39;t just some guy to beat up they were here for.  A glance snapped towards Mokou when she reached out like that, but she didn&#39;t react.  &quot;Almost&quot;, she whispered back in turn.  Though when the fennec turned her gaze away, and the empty smile thankfully went with it, she watched her for a moment then nodded a couple times.  &quot;Aye.&quot;  She was speaking quietly still.  Glancing around at the other three, she smirks.  &quot;Have to gab with ya all later, when we&#39;re not all sneakin&#39; &#39;bout.&quot; A small snort escapes her nose, and she gives a peace sign over at Firecracker&#39;s way.  &quot;I can throw ya pretty darn hard there, Firecracker, but my aims not the best, heh.&quot;<br> <br>Firecracker rolls her eyes at the confused coyote as she drops down the hole after him, slowly descending with the use of her wings.  &quot;One more hole to go, Soldier Twelve Oh Six,&quot; she flatly informs him.  &quot;And come on, you&#39;re gunna try and steal the spotlight like -that-?&quot; she chuckles a little.  &quot;You gotta say something cool when you jump in.  Watch, let me and Krixia here show ya how it&#39;s done!&quot;  She flits over to land in the Irish woman&#39;s hand, crouching down in her palm with her legs bunched up under her in order to spring off it with the right timing, adding to the force behind the girl&#39;s arm.  &quot;Meh, something something horses and hand grenades.  Close enough to both, so it&#39;ll count!  Just remember to shout out something awesome!&quot;<br> <br>As the clattering of salvage from Otto&#39;s landing subsides a voice can be heard from the floor below, &quot;What was that? Guards, investigate!&quot; is yelled by a stern, commanding voice. Two quieter voices reply in unison, &quot;Yes Czar!&quot; and the sound of men marching in plate armor can be heard rushing from the room below them to the staircase in addition to the heaviest footfalls yet slowly lumbering in an unrelated direction.