Inside 59

[Lost_Deep]

Restrooms of Inside!

The woman climbs up toward the top hatch. "I'm still not having fun! Still going to be efficient!" She feels the hatch with her telekinesis, tries to find the most important manual lock, and then blast it with that magic-admantine-bullet "single-shot" derringer. From there, the shadows try to eat at the hatch welding, sharp points gouging along it. She might be strong enough to rip the hatch out, depends on the size and thickness of the hatch, but she might as well make it easier for herself.

"I should swap my laser pistol out for a cutting torch."

Wait, she has a laser pistol?

[Rebonack]

[Restrooms of Inside!]

The hatch's lock basically consists of a bunch of hooked finger-y bits that fit through slots along three sides to hold the whole thing in place. Said finger-y bits have all been welded into place. So there really isn't a deadbolt to shoot. More like oodles of deadbolts to shoot. The thing is pretty heavy duty, almost as if Doctor Diabolical had been expecting heroes to board his dropships and start raising a ruckus.

Hey!

Felt that lurching sensation?

And hear that sound of landing gear being pulled up?

It sounds like the dropship is taking off! Due to the machine's warp-wave drive it would be a nice, smooth ride wherever it ends up going once it lifts off. And it's totally lifting off. With a potential prisoner no less! How very neat.

Boarding the machine might not have been the best plan...

Meanwhile, outside the dropship!

The Solipsist is still blowing bubbles and rambling pseudo-philosophical nonsense. What a blowhard.

[Lost_Deep]

Restrooms of Inside!

"Starting to get annoyed..." the Maiden tries to reach into the cracks between the door and the wall and begin to saw away at the deadbolts with hacksaw-like shadows.

"No, not annoyed. Just bored. You're trying to make a city of heroes? You're going about it wrong. Seriously. At this rate the heroes are going to move to riverside."

[Rebonack]

[Flying off somewhere I guess?]

Too be fair, she DID stop fighting with the puzzle-villain and decided to jump into the dropship instead. There aren't any super villains in here, just a few mooks and machines to mess up.

And no one can respond to her, either, since she ripped apart all of the machine's important bits!

But yeah.

Now she's sawing through the bolts and doing thiiiiings. Though she is making progress!

Just...

Not very interesting progress.

And I thought most of the heroes were in Skyside?

[Lost_Deep]

Flying off somewhere I guess?

The Porcelain Maiden is patient enough to saw into the bolts slowly. Eventually she'll get through.

Either that or another henchman will come up, or a robot will come up to bug her. Any which way.

[Rebonack]

[Flying Somewhere?]

After quite a bit of effort the Maiden manages to hack her way through the hatch and will find the power core room on the other side!

It's a big, fancy looking room with an enclosed chamber which, in turn, contains the power generator. Inside the chamber room minions are feeding socks into the reactor core.

...

No.

I'm totally serious.

This robot apparently runs on socks.

How silly!

[Lost_Deep]

Flying Somewhere?

The Madien chooses something about the core that looks important and shoots it with her "single-shot" derringer. Even if it is phenomenally hot inside the room, the high-caliber armor-piercing adamantine bullet should be able to survive long enough to ruin that part and maybe a few others. What to do from there is up in the air.

[Darkcomet]

[The Radiation Pit]

PEW PEW PEW!

As it turns out, giant ants don't stand up very well against high powered plasma weapons.

Poor, poor giant ants.

Once those pests are out of the way the Romulan should be all clear to-

Wait.

What was that?

There was a sound.

A sound that sounded distinctly like something following her.

N'alae glances around, shifting through various vision modes in that helmet to try and find whatever made that noise. The plasma weapon remains readied in case a fight breaks out.

"I'm not actually here to fight, but I will defend myself if necessary, as you might have noticed with the oversized irradiated insects. Assuming this is one of you, anyway, you won't kill me, and theatrics or no, I think you are probably smart enough to realize that abducting the Union Vice Commander is a recipe for the kind of attention you cannot survive.

Unless, of course, you are a mutated spit in the face of nuclear science, in which case you have no idea what I just said."

[Rebonack]

[Radiation Pit]

Something had kicked a bottle, apparently. Made it clatter and stuff.

When the Dia-Bot-Ical stalker de-cloaks the robot has somehow managed to look sheepish. "I didn't actually mean to make that noise," the robot points out in its synthesized sounding voice. The thing looks rather like a displacer beast. You know the sort. Panther with six legs (though this thing only has four) and a pair of tentacles on its back (manipulator limbs, in this case). It's eyes look organic, though it doesn't have a mouth. Just a flat surface with some kind of fancy optical sensor built into it. A line of holes run along the thing's longish muzzle on either side, probably some combination of olfactory and heat sensing pits.

"The Radiation Pit is not healthy for organic life," the robot points out. "Unless you have proper radiation shielding you should leave at once."

They probably already know that she has radiation shielding.

But it's still polite to to point it out.

You know. Just in case.

Huh... Is that a dropship coming in for a crash landing? That sure looks like a dropship coming in for a crash landing.

[Falling Somewhere!]

BLAM!

"Radiation shielding compromised. Emergency HDC shut down. Switching to auxiliary power. Executing emergency landing protocol," drones a voice from the walls. "Waring! This room has been contaminated with dangerous levels of gamma radiation. Please seek medical attention immediately."

And then there comes a rather nasty lurch as the dropship crashes into a burned out pickup truck in the middle of the Radiation Pit.

[Lost_Deep]

Falling Somewhere!

"Mmhm, that's very nice." the Maiden looks for a door into the next area... preferably a control area.

[Darkcomet]

[Radiation Pit]

"No, I'm fine, thanks." N'alae looks over at the crash-landing. "Anyway. I would like to speak with this leader of yours concerning the conflict between our organizations. I'd go on, but I feel like it would be rather rude given...that. Is anyone on that thing?"

[Rebonack]

[Radiation Pit]

What, like a control room?

There isn't anything like that. The dropship is wholly automated and its 'brain' can be found on the next level up. Though of course the shutter at the top of the ladder leaning to the CPU chamber is sealed shut as well. This thing just doesn't make anything easy, does it?

And to make matters even worse all the lights just went out. Looks like the dropship has completely shut down.

What a wholly non-exciting robot space ship thing.

Meanwhile, outside the dropship...

The stalker impassively watches as the dropship hits the ground in a (somewhat) controlled crash. Technically it was an emergency landing, but it could only be called a landing in the most generous of terms. Before the machine has even stopped moving the stalker is bounding toward it, firing up a cutting torch on one of its manipulator limbs. Once it reaches the downed craft it begins cutting into a steel access panel disguised to look like the rest of the ship's much more durable armor.

"There are four survivors inside," the robot says as it slices into the panel. "Three lackeys and the vigilante that disabled the dropship."

[Darkcomet]

[Radiation Pit]

N'alae snaps a helmet cam photo of the crashed dropship. Mostly, for intelligence's sake. If that access panel is consistent on the other dropships it'll be useful for any potential future hostilities, given that it presents a weak spot.

"Here, allow me." The Vice Commander's plasma gun dematerializes, and is swiftly replaced by a disruptor pistol in her hand. If the stalker bot backs off she'll just blast the panel with it at a high setting.

[Rebonack]

[Radiation Pit]

The stalker backs away a few steps and-

PEW!

The access panel gets vaporized and some of the surrounding GOP armor warps a bit. Within a matter of seconds the armor has already cooled down to levels safe enough to touch. Craaaazy thermal properties on that armor. Seriously.

Without missing a beat the stalker climbs into the access tube not particularly unlike the sorts of crawl spaces one might find on a starship. It heads straight in and grabs onto an interior panel, shoving it open and allowing it to clatter to the floor. The whole drop ship is laying on its side, causing the interior of the (rather ripped up) craft to have a somewhat disorienting look to it.

Several lackeys are piled against the wall/floor of the chamber.

"I have found the injured lackeys, they appear to be unconscious. The vigilante appears to still be inside the reactor chamber. The chamber is located through the hatch on the next level," the robot says.

[Lost_Deep]

Radiation Pit

"Give me a minute, I'm trying to get to the good stuff. Also apparently this area is irradiated so fiy on that."

The vigilante is trying to get into the next room, working away like she did on the last door, but honestly expecting that whoever it is won't just let her do that.

[Darkcomet]

[Radiation Pit]

"This-"-UNTRANSLATABLE PROFANITY-"-mess is going to get a lot of people killed, between us, your Doctor, and the 'heroes.' Messes like this crash are only the beginning." N'alae sighs. "I will go have a talk with our vigilante. Engaging scanners." She proceeds to do a limited scan of the dropship with the helmet's various vision modes and a mapping system in her helmet's HUD. Provided nothing in here (or the radiation) interferes with that, she's going to skip ahead and beam right up to where this vigilante is.

Unless the beam is blocked or something I guess, but given that the dropship is pretty much dead, that seems unlikely.

"Hi, I'm the Vice Commander of the UDN, here on a diplomatic mission," she introduces herself, as if that was the most casual thing to drop in the world. "...First off, what absurd nonsense did they get up to this time, and second, what are you doing?"

[Rebonack]

[Radiation Pit]

Gamma radiation is transient radiation! It doesn't leave radioactive fallout all over the place, so once the reactor was shut down the reactor room was safe. Besides, it seems like everyone is able to shrug off rads these days.

Scans indicate that something has really ripped up the inside of the ship pretty badly. Enough so that distinguishing what various components were supposed to be doing is difficult.

"The vigilante posses tactile telekinesis and the ability to manipulate objects outside of line of sight, exercise caution. She vivisected and lobotomized one of my counter-parts when she attempted to restrain her," the stalker cautions as it checks the vitals on the lackeys. Was that... anger? The robot sounded angry while reporting that particular incident. What sort of crazy person gives automatons emotions?

Apparently crazy persons like Doctor Diabolical.

As for the gendered pronouns, that's probably just there to make them more personable. Calling something an 'it' and thinking of it as an object often makes it more difficult for a person to make an emotional connection.

That, or these robots are self-replicating. Which would probably be a terrible idea.

[Lost_Deep]

Radiation Pit

Upon hearing the Vice Commander's title, the woman drops to the floor and stands up straight.

She's wearing a black dress, and has black hair. Not a single inch of skin is exposed. She looks beautiful; like whatever the viewer thinks of as the feminine epitome of beauty. This is an illusion effect, and the commander might notice this given that she likely ends up looking differently from how she looked in the scan.

"Replacing public bathrooms. Supervillain: The Solipsist. I assume his powers are psionic, given the psionic pressure he exerted, but I didn't bother to engage him for long. Lots of pink bubbles, some kind of teleportation or decoy power? I honestly expected to find the real him in here, but it seems that I overestimated him."

"As for what I'm doing, I'm trying to get into the next room. Find information, etc. I was intending to write a detailed report and submit it anonymously to Remnant. Perfect memory; I could even include information on how the tech looked before I messed with it."

"Finally, yes, I am prepared to cooperate with law enforcement."

[Darkcomet]

[Radiation Pit]

<Oddly cooperative.>

N'alae...snaps a helmet cam photo again. The camera might get the true form, which could be useful for identifying this one later. "I see. I would prefer it if you left now. You're near their base, and they already have someone here retrieving the injured from the ship. Sticking around is inadvisable...as is resorting to lethal measures in a conflict so ridiculously pointless."

<...Who wears a dress like that into combat, anyway? Eh. Probably not worse than the insects.>

[Lost_Deep]

Radiation Pit

The maiden nods. "Agreed. I wouldn't kill unless I literally didn't have any other choice, and that would save at least two lives. Should I leave you out of my anonymous report to remnant? Also, do you want some sort of contact information for some reason?" My, she is quite eager to cooperate, isn't she?

Plaza Meeting
(Closed scene)

Kate arrives at the designated spot. She's unsure about the why... Copi told her that there was someone she should meet, but left out who it was. Kate assumes that it was someone who she met in her previous life.

...that the previous her met? Eh.

A small garden plaza, with flowers, benches, a fountain... overall, this place was very beautiful, and not too far from the apartment. It's a nice place to meet someone. Kate hoped that whoever it was would recognize her, because Kate might not recognize them.

[OrchestraHc]

[Vallery's Location]

Vallery gestures into the horizon. "I will you decide my agent of fate, whatever you think of first is where we should go! For now I am but a follower to your lead!"

Configuration Clinic:

He thought it was a cue at least!
The dwarf stands in a defensive fighting position, shaking his fists in the ogre's direction that aims to swing at him as the still not named woman comes to the rescue and sticks the needle into one of the ogres veins. He screams and attempts to grab onto the woman, it probably while take a little bit before the tranquilizers take affect.

Configuration Clinic:

Unlike before, the woman, who is unnamed because I usually wait until the character introduces themself but if you need it, Lola, has no need to run away. "Thank you. Go!" Is all she can say to the dwarf becore engaging the ogre in a fist fight.

The ogre manages to grab her arm, but she retaliates by punching out at his face.

[Darkcomet]

[Radiation Pit]

"What you tell Remnant is not my concern. If they cooperate, it'll get forwarded to us anyway." N'alae shrugs. "That being said, I'll take the contact info."

She has kind of a record of collecting non-strictly-affiliated agents to call on when the need arises. Though mostly thus far it's involved giant robots.

[Lost_Deep]

Radiation Pit

"I do not currently have a method of contact that will permit me to remain anonymous. Understand that I desire this at this point in time, and know of a way to get one. I can get one within a week, in fact. Simply give me information on how I might get it to you, and you will be the first to receive it." That's... kind of odd. Why did she offer contact info if she didn't have any to share yet?

That said, she did guess right that N'alae would want the info.

[TechnoScrabble]

[Bombed-out Zone]

The intruder was kind of expecting that. They duck back into the crater for a moment, adn then scramble up behind the shield. Not that they want to accept the help of the spider-bots, but it beats getting this armor all shot up. And the enemy of your enemy is your friend, right?

So this stuff seems to have belonged to the aliens. That makes it probably dangerous. The armored figure takes an instant to turn and hurl something over the shield towards the largest group of aliens they can remember. A little not-quite round metal thing, two halves twisted slightly apart, with a red ring of light flashing faster and faster.

That's actually all it does. It won't explode or anything; the intruder is fresh out of proper explosives.

The spider bots brace themselves, expecting an explosion, but the aliens have no such experience with thrown devices. The fire continues, but one alien grabs the odd object and shows it too his fellow, eyeing it curiously.

ayy

lmao

????

Jakkal does not partake of any treats or offerings, no matter how delightful. Such things are not his forte.

What he does do, however, is start scanning the room for positions of cover, sources of information, and anuthing that could be useful as a weapon.

[Recaiden]

[Bombed-Out Zone]

The aliens acquire an empty shell with flashing lights!

The intruder keeps fleeing, checking that the shield is still there. Good, good. They should get behind that collapsed building and be out of direct alien fire soon.
"Can you talk? What is this stuff?"

[Halae]

Plaza Meeting
(Closed scene)

Kate arrives at the designated spot. She's unsure about the why... Copi told her that there was someone she should meet, but left out who it was. Kate assumes that it was someone who she met in her previous life.

...that the previous her met? Eh.

A small garden plaza, with flowers, benches, a fountain... overall, this place was very beautiful, and not too far from the apartment. It's a nice place to meet someone. Kate hoped that whoever it was would recognize her, because Kate might not recognize them.

[Plaza Meeting]

"Kate?!"

That's a voice that Kate will likely recognize. It's not someone from "ky's" life. Oh no. It's someone from Kate's own universe.

"Kate!" Will likely find herself being hugged rather hard by a woman with somewhat droopy eyes, looking a great deal younger than she actually is, "I didn't think I'd ever see you again! How are you doing, cousin? How'd you end up here?" She's wearing a long sleeved shirt, jeans, and some nice combat boots on her feet. Her typical style, really.

[Lost_Deep]

Plaza Meeting

No- it couldn't be!

But it is!

"Marley!" Kate hugs back. "What am I doing here? What are you doing here? Last I had heard you had up and vanished-oh." duh. "Well, I've up and vanished, too." Kate shrugs, and then thinks a minute.

"...let me guess, Copi set this up, huh?"

[Darkcomet]

[Radiation Pit]

"The contact information for the Office of the Vice Commander is public. Getting anything to me isn't the problem so much as dredging through all the nonsensical mail on my end is, but we deal with that all the time," N'alae explains. Contacting her isn't really hard, but officials like that get all sorts of hate mail and other nonsense. She seems pretty used to it, though.

[Halae]

[Plaza Meeting]

"Yeah. She said there was someone I should meet and didn't say anything else, and now here you are!" Marley's all kinds of happy, "Oh man, how've you been? I was looking forward to having you come over, but then I got swallowed up by the Nexus. My AC's currently being docked by the Irregulars, who've had it on Standby forever now. What about you?"

For note, she's still hugging.

[Theatre of Masks]

Certain is entangled by the webbing but simply laughs, amused and says, "Impressive..." as her body heats into an inferno, hopefully melting the goop. If she's successful, she'll unfurl her wings and fly at Trick, trying to tackle the tiefling.

[Theatre of Masks]

The Goop wasn't hardened against heat, so turning on the flames will quickly force it to become brittle; pieces will still cling to Certain's clothing and body, but without the adhesive quality it had before it'll simply start breaking off like mud that's dried on someone, meaning Trick has to deal with a demoness rocketing towards her.

Well, that's easier to deal with than you might expect; the reason fighters only go for a tackle when they've stunned their opponent is how vulnerable it leaves them to a counterattack. Trick is heavily fortified against fire, both from her heritage and her remaining enchantments, meaning it's mostly the physical aspect of the other woman she has to worry about.

Trick will roll out of the way, and reach inside her jacket for something on either side of her body, though she doesn't have the time to pull it out just yet, given she's doing this in the midst of a dodge roll.

[Lost_Deep]

Radiation Pit

"Very well. I'll refer to myself as Porcelain Maiden in my message. And now, I think I should get lost." And unless stopped, the Maiden will rush out, trying to rush straight past the Stalker and out of the area.

Plaza Meeting

Kate, usually only able to take so much hugs, isn't going to stop Marley yet. "I was on my way, the Spacebus had just gone into T-drive, I'm putting my stuff in the room, and suddenly... everything goes odd and I'm on grass. Hard to think that everything has only gotten more confusing from there. Say, how did Copi find you? And how did she know that..."