Skyside 3: Explore, Experiment, Explode

[Recaiden]

[Towers - Dormitories]

Atorre nods.
"Can you, now, Aja? I think Kai will find a place for you, then. How about you head over to the green tower, first floor, and show us?"

[Tempest Row: Preston Avenue Bar and Grill]

"Heh. Nah, Joe hasn't done anything to get our attention for two whole days. Anyway, these Tenjin guys have recently made some patheticly inneffective attempts at killing important people up here, and we gotta look into all of those." The guard shrugs. "Can we get whatever you know on the people who hired, and then fired you? The places or people you were securing?"

"As for the 'Dastardly Agents of the Reign of Terror', they're an anti-technology group operating out of Inside."

[Tempest Row: Mother Mary's Thrift Shop]

((I think we've been done here. ))

[Raindrop District: Apartment block 254-A]

"Thank you for your co-operation, sir." She takes the pamphlet with its actual information, collects the others, and heads off. Like the other team, they get a report that the warehouse squard might need more eyes, and a pair heads off to assist them.

[Thunderhead: Who leaves these warehouses empty??]

Luckily they have the ropes and grapples. A few moments securing a knot to some pipes, flicking on of a flashlight, and down the first guard goes.

[WarKitty]

Mortico's

Alright then. The woman brings out some more paperwork, along with a small tablet. Fill out this form, and then you will sign on the tablet once your paperwork is processed and money checked. The tablet changes control of the magical tattoo. Mortico's spiders prevent running away and the disobedience of direct orders. If you are representing someone else you will need to list them rather than your name.

[Fenric]

[Mortico's-Showroom]

Agent 47 sighs at even more forms, takes out a First Bank of Inside Platinum Preferred card, and sets to work on filling them out.

If we need to change it later, can we?

---

[Towers - Dormitories]

Aja smiles

Well... Kal always liked them but the masters were vicious if they caught me at it... But, sure, let's go.

---

[Tempest Row: Preston Avenue Bar and Grill]

(( DART hates magic, they love technology ))

Heh. The guy who hired us has his funeral tomorrow. The guy who told us to pound sand is in the old FlakeyCake warehouse down on Arbiter street in Thunderhead.

---

[Thunderhead: Former warehouse of FlakeyCake, Inc.]

Down, down: into the dark. Which abruptly becomes not at all dark as lightningbolts come at the descending officers from several directions at once.

[WarKitty]

Mortico's - Showroom

The winged receptionist produces a rather emotionless smile. The control over the spiders can be changed, although you would have to return the product here for repurchasing. She takes the card and looks it over, then turns to Jackolope. Come here and say hello to our customer. She turns back to the agent. I do have to say this is a nicely docile specimen.

[blackouttwo]

[The Heights]

Arthur glanced at Willow.

Then at the hand on his chest.

Then at Jessica.

To be fair, the situation was rough, and warranted a bit of encouragement and emotional support. After all, here Arthur was, assembling a small army on the fly in preparation for a potentially-massive undertaking and drawing on every resource or contact he could beg, borrow or steal, running the logistics involved, and simultaneously gearing up, all on short notice and with no real prep-work in advance. That was hard to do on a good day.

Willow probably was just being supportive. Reassurance went a long way.

Then again, it was Willow, and there was another woman in the room.

Arthur opted for evasive action in this situation. Something to keep everyone focused and useful.

He gave Willow a quick peck on the cheek and a short hug. "I know. We're going to all this trouble, after all. Just give me a second to get my head on straight; running all the logistics is hard right now. We need to get all of our gear ready to teleport through the dimensional-fold cloth. It'd be good if you got it out of the way." Letting Willow go, he gave Jessica another quick glance. "Jessica, another way you could help is if you gave Marcus a hand with some of the lighter armor after finishing that cloak. It might not be sized to fit him, and if you could check some of the other stuff, it'd be appreciated. I might need to outfit a few other people with some decent armor when they show up. If you could find a way to make sure of it all fitting by getting their measurements when they show, that'd be a huge help. We're gonna need it."

Drafting a fashion designer to double-check the fittings on your miniature, cobbled-together, paramilitary force's armor was probably a decent idea.

Doing it while the evil corruptive force in your head was quietly laughing at something you didn't quite spot may have warranted a brief moment of reflection that Arthur was too busy to have.

Either way, Arthur pulled away from Willow, squeezing her hand gently, and moving over to the gear pile. "Marcus, what would you say your specialty is?" He called over to the half-drow and started picking through some of the helmets and armor suits in the big bags Jeff had brought back from the workshop. He needed to pick out his own stuff; even if he wasn't gonna walk into that meeting with it, he needed to be able to get it through the cloak and prepare it on the fly.

The logistics were getting annoying already, and it was only gonna go downhill if the rescue mission hit a snag at any point.

[Recaiden]

[Towers - Dormitories]

"We'd like to encourage art here, actually." Within reason.

Atorre will lead down the staris and point Aja in the appropriate direction.

[Tempest Row: Preston Avenue Bar and Grill]

"Alright. We've already got an officer looking at his place. But I bet there's some people we'd like to see showing up at the funeral. They holding it down in Riverside?"

((Close enough))

[Thunderhead: Former warehouse of FlakeyCake, Inc.]

The officers find their decision to send only one person down first to be reasonable.
In order to avoid the lightning, he lets go of the rope momentarily, plummeting away from the bolts before grabbing on again to a now wildly-swinging rope. If there's more coming after that burst he has little to do but jump and hope for the best.
One left on the roof puts in a proper call for backup, as they're under some apparently magical attack.

[TechnoScrabble]

Mortico's-Showroom

Jackalope lowers the bars back onto the rest and stands up, striding over to agent 47 and giving a small bow, a ribulet of sweet rolling off his forehead and onto the floor.

"No use getting worked up if I don't get to have fun doing it," he says, a bit of tease in his voice.

[Fenric]

[Mortico's-Showroom]

The card says "Derrek Avrey's Rental Tools", and is signed on the back by one Derrek Avrey

Yeah, that's fine. And yeah, he's been pretty quiet.

Agent 47 looks up from the paperwork.

Right... can you dance?

---

[Towers - Green Tower Level 1]

Aja walks in and looks around

Hello? I'm supposed to meet someone named Kai?

---

[Tempest Row: Preston Avenue Bar and Grill]

Yup: I guess that's their headquarters, down in Southside somewhere. Never been there, never want to be.

---

[Thunderhead: Former warehouse of FlakeyCake, Inc.]

One of the annoyed priests uses their other granted ability, and plants a fireball at the mouth of the hole. Mind your eyebrows! And I hope that was braided steel rope...

[WarKitty]

Mortico's - Showroom

The receptionist takes the paperwork and the card and heads into a back room. Listen to the customer for now, but don't leave this room she tells Jackalope.

[TechnoScrabble]

Mortico's Showroom

"You tell me," Jackalope says before slowly rolling backwards a few meters and spinning on one palm, legs straight up for the handstabd and then spreading into a split as he twists to lower himself back down. From there he snaps up and shakes and twists to a beat only he can hear.

[Recaiden]

[Towers - Green Tower Level 1]

Aja walks in and looks around

Hello? I'm supposed to meet someone named Kai?

This room is brightly lit; once past the stairways the room opens out to all windows.
There is an expertly sculpted replica of a coconut tree in the center of the room, but it is otherwise empty. Momentarily Aja will hear footsteps descending on the stair case to her right and a human woman's voice calling down it.
"Yes, yes. Welcome, Aja. Pardon our lateness; I had to restart my eye."

[Tempest Row: Preston Avenue Bar and Grill]

Yup: I guess that's their headquarters, down in Southside somewhere. Never been there, never want to be.
"Yeah. Well it's Riverside's problem first. Thank you for your cooperation."
With that, the officer nods to the men and stands up to leave.

[Thunderhead: Former warehouse of FlakeyCake, Inc.]

The others scatter back in time to avoid more than minor singing, but unuickily for the descending officer, the rope is not braided steel. It's actually rather meltable, and he starts falling from about halway down. Ouch.

[Fenric]

[Mortico's-Showroom]

Agent 47 blinks in amazement.

Right... you can dance... still not sure how I'm going to explain you to the boss... but...

---

[Towers - Green Tower Level 1]

Aja smiles awkwardly

Nice to meet you. Um... the other Atorre said I should show you my drawing... I'll have to make a new one, since the few I had were at the camp and they've probably burned them by now.

---

[Thunderhead: Former warehouse of FlakeyCake, Inc.]

Owie... half way is still a bad drop. He falls hard onto cardboard boxes of old stale cake: softer than concrete, but still not nice.

[TechnoScrabble]

Mortico's-Showroom

Jackalope slides up close to 47 and whispers in his ear in a dangerous tone, "Maybe you could let me explain?"

[Fenric]

[Mortico's - showroom]

Agent 47 nods

Yeah... that's a great idea. Thanks!

[WarKitty]

Mortico's - Showroom

The receptionist returns, hands back the card along with a business card, and presents the tablet and pen. It appears to be a black stone tablet and has a silver pen. Sign here please. Would you like to take the merchandise home yourself or would you like to take advantage of Mortico's delivery service?

[TechnoScrabble]

Morrico's-Showroom

"Glad you like it!" Jackalope says with a wiggle of his little button nose. He seems to be enjoying this, if nothing else.

Kinda helps that his view on life is 'hey let's see where this goes before we make a decision, huh?'

[Fenric]

[Morrico's-Showroom]

Agent 47 signs "Derrek Avery" in exact match to the card (after all, he did sign the card)

No... he seems well behaved enough: I'm sure my car will be fine. Uh... what's his name?

[Recaiden]

[Towers - Green Tower Level 1]

"Right, right. I've brought you the things for that." THe first things down the stairs are a sackful of pencils of various weights and a very large sketchpad.
Kai follows them; she's a heavyset woman in her late twenties, no hair on her head, wearing a hundred different shades of red and with her wings dyed and painted in spiral patterns.
She also has had most of her face and skull and aprt of her neck replaced with metal and plastic and crystal prosthetics; her left eye glows green.
"Let's see how you work and what you do."

She looks into the room and a plain, rounded chair and table rise up out of the floor.

[Thunderhead: Former warehouse of FlakeyCake, Inc.]

Owie... half way is still a bad drop. He falls hard onto cardboard boxes of old stale cake: softer than concrete, but still not nice.

The officer collapses onto the cakes and lays still for a while, winded and bruised and not really fit to stand up.
On the roof they're working on making another entrance through the roofing and tying a new cable, but not putting it through the hole. They'll need to go down fast.

[TechnoScrabble]

[Morrico's-Showroom]

Agent 47 signs "Derrek Avery" in exact match to the card (after all, he did sign the card)

No... he seems well behaved enough: I'm sure my car will be fine. Uh... what's his name?

"Harkness," Jackalope says, a sly glint in his eye, "Jackalope Harkness."

[Earl of Purple]

Confronting the Queen of the Night

"The City has no laws. That doesn't make her actions right, and that is what makes her a criminal. Nobody is above judgement, and that is why I do good here. Nobody else tries bringing justice and rightness to the this City. That death was accidental; it does not count." Her words are spoken with a remarkable strength of conviction. It's almost naive, or perhaps programmed.

The Queen of the Night has dropped into a battle-ready posture, however, with her hands clawed out to either side and a wide, stable stance.

[Lost_Deep]

The Specified Time, the Specified Place

Gattle and his right-hand, Betty, arrive. The pair are definitely Freakshow: Gattle has given up his arms and replaced them with giant guns, one futuristic rifle and one minigun. His right hand, Betty, is a swiper: her left arm is replaced with a giant, metal claw.

Get it? She's his right hand.

Anyway, they arrive at the time and place that Arthur directed.

[Recaiden]

[Confronting the Queen of the Night]

"Her actions increase the order of Groundtown. That is the only right here. You...aren't a person, are you? Not worth talking to."

Nevertheless, Chevin will try. As she does so, though, she approaches the mugger, hoping to get his knife. If the Queen isn't between her and it.

"Each death counts. You didn't have to kill him. You could have tasted the weakness in his blood, and stopped. But you didn't. You say no one is above jugdement. That includes you. You hurt the innocent without consideration for their wellbeing. Maybe you have some lie that justifies it, do you? You kill as punishment for any little crime you imagine deserves it. Don't you think you should be judged for your terrible judgement?"

[Earl of Purple]

Confronting the Queen of the Night

"But she does so by ruining countless lives and damaging property. I am a person! Of course I'm a person what else would I be? It was an accident; it doesn't count. Not all vampires taste the blood. I bring punishment on the guilty, and for that I am absolved. I kill only evil-doers, in self-defence or by accident." She seems content to let the conversation continue; Cherin is allowed to approach the dagger.

[Recaiden]

[Confronting the Queen]

"Ooh, property damage! That's so much worse than draining someone's blood from their veins or letting desperate Groundtowners eat each other."
Chevin is kind of a jerk. And now she's a jerk with an object-cutting dagger.

"There is no absolution. We are all guilty. Only death can cleanse your soul."

[Fenric]

[Morrico's-Showroom]

Agent 47 hmms

Er... how about I call you Jack. Come on, we've got to get back or people are going to wonder where I've gone.

He stands up and adjusts his suit-coat.

---

[Towers - Green Tower Level 1]

Aja takes the supplies and heads over to the table, her training serving her well as she manages to not react at all to Kai's appearance.

She begins: laying out some basic construction lines, she swiftly roughs out the Temple garden as seen from the bridge. Her lines are strong and clean, drawn smoothly from the elbow as is proper and she uses a basic rule of thirds composition. A series of circles and boxes soon resolves into a Vulpan in the primary focus, already gazing back out at the viewer even in this rough state.

---

[Thunderhead: Former warehouse of FlakeyCake, Inc.]

Another fireball decorates the opening, even though there is nothing yet to see.

[TechnoScrabble]

Mortico's-Showroom

Jackalope clings tightly to 47, practically hugging him if able. The smell of dark chocolate and cinnamon is particularly strong up close, and is on the bunny boy's breath as well.

"Oh! I love meeting new people!"

[Earl of Purple]

Confronting the Queen

"I need blood to survive, and can do nothing about Groundtown's hunger. I can stop crime and criminals... Like you." The Queen of the Night dashes forwards superhumanly quickly and tries to pick Chevin up by the throat and throw her into a wall. She's not quite as graceful as vampires are typically described.

[Recaiden]

[Towers - Green Tower Level 1]

Kai watches, nodding slightly. Best to let her draw without interruption. Does she think that this scene is what they want to see? Either way, a promising mastery of technique.

[Thunderhead: Former warehouse of FlakeyCake, Inc.]

The fallen officer, recovering a bit, draws his weapon and aims towards where the fireball came from. Zzap!
And as soon as the flames clear, another person from above is sliding down the rope as fast as his gloves will let him.

[Confronting the Queen]

Very fast. But very predictable. Chevin extends her sword out towards where the Queen has to be coming from, hoping that she will have to be close enough to be run through, or back away. And if the bizarrely potent flesh-eating acid is effective on her dead self, all the better.

[Earl of Purple]

Confronting the Queen

The manoeuvre is successful, the Queen of the Night impaling herself upon the sword blade. However, it is less effective than might be hoped, because (and I've been trying to hint at this, but I don't know how well I've done) the Queen isn't actually a vampire- she's a robot, powered by blood. The sword goes straight through her synthetic chest, hitting a few minor systems but, due to several redundant systems and a construction that placed the important bits lower down, missing anything vital. The robot vampire retaliates by balling her left hand into a fist and aiming it at Chevin's head; the blow, if it lands, will hurt a lot, due to metal fingers travelling faster and with more force than a human could achieve.

[Fenric]

Mortico's Parking Lot

Agent 47 leads Jack over to a parked, hover-converted black Lincoln Town Car. As they approach, the driver hops out and opens the door

Welcome back, sir. I see everything went...

He looks at Jack

... well.

Agent 47

As well as could be expected. Get in, Jack.

---

[Towers - Green Tower Level 1]

Aja is drawing what is in her heart...

Now the garden takes shape as she refines the lines, erasing lightly and carefully, filling in the details: it's Caroline, and she looks her usual serene self with a small but welcoming smile. The hint of a koi in the pond, a bird in the air, smaller figures around in the garden... is that Katrina?

a tear falls onto the paper.

---

[Thunderhead: Former warehouse of FlakeyCake, Inc.]

The shot is rewarded by a strangled sqwak followed by a thump. Meanwhile, another bolt of lightning misses the rapidly descending officer.
But overall, there seem to be fewer people here than one might have expected.