[Nexus] AMEN XLV: The Zoo

[Mindfreak]

Main Room
The Mechano-Panthers, upon seeing their fire isn't effective, switch to their razor sharp claws and teeth.
Moving as a group, they attack!

---

BioLab
Megan continues getting dressed, putting on her bio-armor. Which is, of course, a suit developed for space station repair but you know, Megan uses it for other stuff.
Megan switches a few tools out of the suit for others and then locked them in.
She was ready to help deal with the base-wide attack now! Well, help a bit more. The Mechano-Panthers should be doing a rather good job right now. Megan's just gonna be going out to repair them as needed.

[Gnrlshrimp]

[Isabelle's Room]

It takes a moment for Isabelle to respond. She takes a deep breath, still facing away from them. "I don't...I don't hate you. But ever since it happened, I just...can't feel comfortable around plants. I keep dreaming of plants doing horrible things to me, or Cedric, or any of my animal friends..."

Isabelle flops back down on her bed, the springiness of the bed causing her to bounce slightly.

"I think even if nothing had happened, your vines would still be kinda creepy. There's just...something weird about them. But I don't think they'd be making me uneasy at all. I just can't seem to get what happened out of my head, and I don't know what to do about that."

[UncleWolf]

Isabelle's Room

Cin's expression softens from a bit of sadness when Shayan gets off his lap, but he listens intently. He doesn't know what happened, but he knows what could have. "I'm not going to say that being attacked or escaping death is no small thing, but here...well, I think it's somewhat expected. It's kinda why I avoid most of the other psychopaths here. The point though is that you did escape harm." Cin says, trying to reassure her. "If you can't get past this time, then the next might be worse. But if it helps, I can swear that Shayan's word is good. If she says it won't happen again, it won't."

[Slii Arhem]

Iabelle's Room

"I've been cutting off chunks of myself every few days to fool the plants into thinking I'm still in the lab at all times so they remain docile. It's a blessing that I can't feel anything from my hips down in this case, otherwise it would be nearly unbearable. I have learned my lesson though." Those are rather extreme measures to go to just to keep accidents from happening in your lab Shayan.

"I... understand how you feel I suppose. The actual attempts on my life, when they come, have become rather routine to me. I suppose for someone not used to that danger your priorities shift and you become much more sensitive to it, but I don't remember a time when it was still that fresh to me. We're just... sensitive to different stimuli I suppose." Shayan fidgets with the hair over her ear. It's longer than she usually wears it due to her absentmindedness.

"I'm sorry."

[Gnrlshrimp]

[Isabelle's Room]

"I know in a place like this, you can often be put in danger. I've been thrown into a couple of hairy situations while I've been here already." Like that stupid plant with the flamethrower... Isabelle sighs and wipes her eyes, "But I usually feel prepared, you know? I usually have some sort of spell or animal or something that can help. But what happened with the plants? I just...panicked. I had no idea what to do. I felt helpless. And it's been a long time since I felt like that."

Isabelle falls silent for a moment, pondering what to say next. Eventually she speaks up again, turning back round. "I think you've apologised enough, Shayan. That you'd go to such lengths to make sure this doesn't happen again is...is...it shows you care."

[Hattish Thing]

Main room

The first rocket hit the beast and staggers it. The second hits and blows it wide open. The beast wheezes than stitches itself back together. It faces Zefir and howls angrily. And then it starts getting shot by Thenardier. It turns back toward Thenardier and lunges at him, attempting to knock over and pin him to the ground.

The remaining undead in the room resist his attempts to dominate them. Their summoner has a strong hold on the beasties, it seems.

Thenardier growls maniacally. The undead are mostly obliterated, and mechano-panthers are closing in. Thenardier drops the pistol as the bear closes in, and Thenardier sticks the blade in front of him. The bear might skewer itself if it tries to attack him and carries through with it's lunge. Come on, afta thi', I'll eat yer guts.

BioLab
The BioLab is, unfortunately, next to the Main Room.
That means Megan has the unfortunate pleasure to wake up to the sound of the fighting in the Main Room.
She's not quite happy. She begins getting dressed.

---

Main Room
Oh dear...
You see, when fighting or an intruder is in AMEN, Megan's Mechano-Panthers are hanging around to put a stop to it.
This is unfortunate for the people in the Main Room.
Anyone who isn't an AMEN member or being accompanied by an AMEN member and is in the Main Room will find themselves being set upon by Mechano-Panthers. 5 right now, but more are coming.
They breath fire, among other things, but that's what they'll be using here. Along with their razor sharp claws. Their flames will make short work of any non-AMEN thing.

Base-Wide
Anything non-AMEN better watch out! The Mechano-Panthers are on high alert and will take out anything that isn't AMEN.

Thenardier might count as non-AMEN, though he is accompanied by the door ferret. Thenardier is terrified of fire. But he is in combat with the bear, and not worried about the panthers. Stay away from me!

[Jacklu]

Main room

The mechano panthers' claws and bites tear deeply into the beast. But the wounds heal almost instantly and don't even bleed. The spike-tipped tendrils take advantage of the close range to stab at the panthers, packing enough force to puncture even hardened steel.

The beast thing is spared being stabbed by Thenardier by its fight with the panthers, as it comes to a stand still to fight them off. It hasn't forgotten Thenardier, though, and lashes one of its back tentacles at him.

The tiny, seemingly insignificant and weak bites from the ferret, however, are still bleeding profusely and getting worse by the minute.

Strange.

[Murkus]

Magtok's Office

Jack is taken off his feet by the suction. There's a resounding crunch as his fingers dig into the doorframe. He glances down along the length of his body, suit flapping in the wind, and tries to see what's really inside Magtok's office. He fully doubts that it's an office anymore, and if it is, the real office is somewhere else.

[BladeofObliviom]

[Magtok's Office]

Cyrus somehow isn't swept off his feet by the suction; He must just have a very stable stance or something. In any case, he's still dragged toward it as he ponders the situation.

He isn't communicating with Jack, but they've come to similar conclusions: Cyrus has seen enough of planar interactions to know that this isn't normal at all.

[Mindfreak]

Main Room
Well.
It's a good thing that Megan didn't make them with hardened steel then!
She made them with a mixture of adamantine and titanium to make a lightweight, yet strong and durable metal. A metal made with the Nexus in mind!
The spikes will leave small dents in their frames, but they won't penetrate into their inner body.
It does seem like the creature and the panthers are at a standstill!
They continue to attack the beast!

Megan exits from her lab and grimaces at the scene.
"What's all this then?"
She fires a repair-bot at the beast. It'll hopefully land then burrow inside its flesh and try destroying it from the inside.

[Jacklu]

Main room

The panthers and beasts continue to fight. But, oddly, it seems that the stronger the panthers' attacks, the less effective they are.

The repair-bot will find that its attempts to burrow into the body of the beast are... mixed. The harder it attempts to break the flesh, the tougher the flesh becomes.

Magtok's office

The wind dies down. The office appears to be in similar shape as the hallway outside. The walls are covered with a flesh the pulses and squirms. It looks as though everything has been pushed out of the center of the room and is piled against the wall. The air is thick with magic, so much that the air is shimmering with a purple hue from the raw energy. Fissures in reality have cracked all across the floor and things are beginning to push through. At the center of the room, hovering off the floor but a foot or so, is Zulfirous. The skeleton is wearing his cloak with the hood pulled down over his head, hiding it from view.

I was right in the middle of redecorating. The place is a real wreck. Come in, come in. Would you like some tea?

If either of them can detect such things, they should be able to tell that the office is not in another dimension. But another one might be spilling into it.

[Zefir]

Main Room

Zefir just looks at Megan.
She didn't wait for an answer and started shooting the bear. Well not that such a creature is common, but at least it could be a pet of someone.
With the panthers going after the beast and megan's new toy, the beast seems to be dealt with. Watching them is very boring, but he don't wants the panthers against him.

"As far as we know there is one of Magtoks minions trying to kill everyone here. Oh and the green smoke down there is poison gas."

[Slii Arhem]

[Isabelle's Room]

"I know in a place like this, you can often be put in danger. I've been thrown into a couple of hairy situations while I've been here already." Like that stupid plant with the flamethrower... Isabelle sighs and wipes her eyes, "But I usually feel prepared, you know? I usually have some sort of spell or animal or something that can help. But what happened with the plants? I just...panicked. I had no idea what to do. I felt helpless. And it's been a long time since I felt like that."

Isabelle falls silent for a moment, pondering what to say next. Eventually she speaks up again, turning back round. "I think you've apologised enough, Shayan. That you'd go to such lengths to make sure this doesn't happen again is...is...it shows you care."

Isabelle's Room

"I... do care." the admission, for those words are as much a revelation to Shayan as they are a statement of fact, is clipped by a sharp inhale of breath as the oracle bites back a sob of her own before it can be heard.

"Maybe we should do another reading? Isabelle, you haven't asked one yet, or you could ask on behalf of your animals I suppose." Yes, change of subject. That's better.

[Gnrlshrimp]

[Isabelle's Room]

There's a moment of awkward silence on Isabelle's part.

Awkwaaaard.

"Um, readings, right." Isabelle scratches her head as she tries to think of something to ask. "Um, alright, I have one. All the animals I've worked with have been relatively mundane things. So, I want to know if I'll ever get to work with something really exotic. Like a phoenix, or a unicorn, something really unusual like that."

[ThirdEmperor]

Main Room

Somehow, amidst Zefir's explosive bombardments nearly turning him into a collateral casualty and all the other chaos that's been going on, the Cat Burglar has managed to miraculously escape serious injury and take cover beneath the couch.

I doubt he'll be leaving anytime soon. It's not exactly comfortable, but that's more than made up for by the lack of anything more perilous than dust bunnies.

[Murkus]

Magtok's office

The wind dies down. The office appears to be in similar shape as the hallway outside. The walls are covered with a flesh the pulses and squirms. It looks as though everything has been pushed out of the center of the room and is piled against the wall. The air is thick with magic, so much that the air is shimmering with a purple hue from the raw energy. Fissures in reality have cracked all across the floor and things are beginning to push through. At the center of the room, hovering off the floor but a foot or so, is Zulfirous. The skeleton is wearing his cloak with the hood pulled down over his head, hiding it from view.

I was right in the middle of redecorating. The place is a real wreck. Come in, come in. Would you like some tea?

If either of them can detect such things, they should be able to tell that the office is not in another dimension. But another one might be spilling into it.

"I would, actually, yes," Jack says, picking himself up off the floor after the suction simply dropped off. The liquid from Zulf's floor-pustules seems to have stained his jacket. That part of Empty ripples, and the liquid simply sloughs off, hitting the floor as if he weren't even there. He approaches the floating skeleton and grins. "Hot, please. I can't go killing demigods without something warm in my belly."

[Hattish Thing]

Main room

The mechano panthers' claws and bites tear deeply into the beast. But the wounds heal almost instantly and don't even bleed. The spike-tipped tendrils take advantage of the close range to stab at the panthers, packing enough force to puncture even hardened steel.

The beast thing is spared being stabbed by Thenardier by its fight with the panthers, as it comes to a stand still to fight them off. It hasn't forgotten Thenardier, though, and lashes one of its back tentacles at him.

The tiny, seemingly insignificant and weak bites from the ferret, however, are still bleeding profusely and getting worse by the minute.

Strange.

Oh no. Tentacle cthulubear. Well, Thenardier takes -5 Sanity Points, and blocks the sword up high. The vorpal, necrotic blade will try to sever the tentacle, though Thenardier is off balance. The black blade might fail to block, in which case it'll leave a hole in his defense by his right hip and abdomen. He's a messy fighter. Argh! Ye think ye c'n jus' kill me?! Haha! I am Captain C. Thenardier! I'll eat yer canine liver! Er...bears are canines, righ'?

[Mindfreak]

Main Room
Megan frowned and nodded at Zefir.
Looking at the beast, she gets an idea.
She gave a voice command to the Mechano-Panthers, who then all aim at the beast.
And then they spray liquid cement at it. It's the kind that will instantly dry upon impact and hopefully incase the creature completely.
It'll hopefully slow it down, at least.

[D_Lord]

Base

Well it's been awhile since, D has paid attention to this part of it's existence. But D's is awake.
Que undead crushing by the walls, floor and roof or being eating by said walls, floor and ceiling.

What, what now isn't time for this, it's almost time.

Magtok's Office

While the walls, have flesh, this isn't the first time, that Dark Lord has broken through, other strangeness. Black threads poke little holes in the walls, and wined into Dark Lord's hooded form.

Yes, yes prove yourself, join, the group, can you wrap this, up quick, I want to get things ready?

[Jacklu]

Main room

The cement hits the beast. The stream send ugly bruises across its body.

Strange. An attack not meant to do any physical harm hurt it considerably... Much like the tiny bites of the ferret inflicted devastating wounds.

The cement causes it to miss Thenardier with the brunt of its attack.

For a moment it appears as though the cement is going to work. It slows to a halt and is encased.

For a moment. Then the cement cracks and it starts to break free of its tomb. They only have a few moments before it is free to tear them apart.

Magtok's office

If Lord D is trying to port into the office, he more than likely finds himself shunted to the corridor outside the office as well. Not that it matters, as the door is open anyways. But it is the principle of the thing, really.

Yes, of course. Do you take cream or sugar?

Four hulking demons erupt into existence and swing cruelly curved swords at those in the office. If they are quick on their feet, Jack and Cyrus should be able to dodge the attacks.

Meanwhile, the skeleton floats over to one of the tables that was shoved against the wall and begins preparing a pot of tea.

[Zefir]

Main Room

Zefir packsthe rocket launcher away.
He notice if something is useless and he also notice the reaction of the beast.

Just one test is needed to proove his theory. While the beast is in cement he concentrates to create a needle out of the dust. Then, while the creature is braking through he sends it against the beast.

[Mindfreak]

Main Room
Before the beast escapes, however, Megan begins to type in the approximate coordinates of the beast and the cement into her wrist computer.
The beast, while encased in cement, should find that it has been teleported to the bottom of the ocean far away from AMEN.
Yeah! Personal teleportation systems rock

The Mechano-Panthers will then look at Thenadier and release a growl.
It looks like he may be encased in the liquid cement soon enough too.

[Hattish Thing]

Thenardier glares at the Mechanopanthers. That's bad. Angry metal felines. Thenardier puts his pistol down, but holds up his blade. He raises his hands up, his left one holding the magical sword. I'm a friend! Don't shoot me, M'a frien'. His blade is pointed upwards, and then it flashes black and a cloud of black smoke might fill up the area where Clegg was. The smoke will disappear eventually.

Meanwhile, Thenardier used the smoke to turn invisible. He begins to inch his way to Magtok's office. Hopefully he's not spotted and shot.

[D_Lord]

Magtok's office or part of Dark Lord

D is already there, the whole base, you could say is it. D or the thing in the walls as some call it.

Both please, I want things nice before the day.

Base

While most people just ignore the black lines, that are everywhere in the whole base. There is a reason to see them again, because well the lines are acting like Christmas lights, multicolored blinking lights, from the black lines.

[Jacklu]

Main room

Well, having ones mechano panthers turn their backs on an enemy mid fight is just bad strategy. The beast sloughs off the teleport with a shudder and sends the cement far far away instead. Then it unleashes a series of devastatingly powerful attacks at the panthers, who have now stopped paying attention to it.

Of course, Zefir's attack does do something. Something nasty, in fact. The tiny needle hits, leaving a huge wound. Right, so the weaker the attack the more damage it does? Zefir ought to try lightly patting the beast, next.

Magtok's office

If D is in the office in a physical sense ((Is he actually there separate from the building or is he just the building itself? I don't really understand)) then he will also get a helping of demons wielding swords at his face.

[BladeofObliviom]

[Magtok's Office]

Cyrus somehow manages to keep his pleasant tone up while fighting.

"Tea sounds lovely, actually. Oh, and glad to see you could make it, D'lord. Thing in the wall. Whatever name you prefer to be called by."

In any case, the Demons will likely find their assaults arrested by a rippling black field that utterly destroys things that touch it, while the bored Planeswalker attempts to simply incinerate them.

[D_Lord]

Magtok's office

A bit of both, D is an Elder Evil, an weird abomination, an eldritch force. As for the sword to the face, well, it looks like it hits the hooded head, but there is now two parts of the sword, the part that went beyond the face, and the part that the demon was holding, the middle is just going.

*Snap*

Que demon screaming, as it starts to burn with something that only looks like it shaped like fire.

I don't care, what name. Needs more icing on that sword.

(Sorry, throught it was more like the sketeons, which you did say would go down easy.)

[Jacklu]

Magtok's office

((I would appreciate not having my character god modded, D...))

The demons fighting Cyrus are incinerated. Which is weird, because demons... fire... huh. They don't stay down long, though, as they reform and continue their attacks.

The one facing D doesn't scream. Screaming is undignified. It does explode, though, releasing a blast of arcane energy in all directions. A moment later, the demon rises from the floor and gets right back to swinging a sword at D's face.

Either they are reforming or are being replaced as fast as they are killed. Looks like the fasted way to end this is to take out Zulfirous. Speaking of, the skeleton hovers back over to the adventurers. A tray with several tea cups hovers before him.

Here you go. Enjoy.

[Zefir]

Main Room

He can't say that right now. At least he knows that attacks who cause smal wounds do cause big ones and big wounds heal fast. He has to run other tests.

Just in case Megan wants only to leave the bear scene Zefir points at the floor Thendir went. (Assuming his invisibility is magic based)
"You could go hunt this guy down."

Then he picks one of the couch pillows and throws it against the bear thing.

[Jacklu]

Main room

The pillow hit the bear and....

Well, it looks a lot like if Zefir had just fired a cannon through it at close range.

The pillow hit and flesh explodes away from it, laying bare the beast's skeleton which fractures and splinters. The beast gurgles and staggers under the savage pillow blow. It almost falls over and tries to face Zefir, its back tentacles waving weakly in his direction.