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Chaos Sonic

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  1. "ANYWAYS! Welcome to the Jujutsu Justice Society! A Special Ops team designed specifically for eradicating high level Cursed Spirit threats across the country! My name is Bradley Williams! First Grade Jujutsu Sorcerer! Formal Job Designation: Chief Sorcerer Manager! That means I'm in charge of you little rapscallions! Pretty righteous, huh!? Now, if you read in your 'Welcome to the JJA' pamphlet, you will have read that Cursed Spirit activity has skyrocketed in the past few years here in the United States. Recession...wars...and general well being of the populace are all possible reasons. All that Cursed Energy has been swirling around like a hurricane since the 20th century. The government has turned a blind eye to most of it during the years, but now it's really flying off the rails. People are disappearing and dying mysteriously on the daily. The general population doesn't know that a majority of these are due to Cursed Spirit attacks. But that's why we're here! The first official organization of it's kind to save the public! Off the book, and off the hook!" It was pretty explanatory stuff. Virgil heard most of this from Jane during his initial training with her in honing his Cursed Energy and Technique. Nevertheless, Virgil remained attentive to Bradley Williams' opening speech. Eventually, as expected, they were going to test them now. And of course, it was combat oriented. However, instead of taking the full group on to one exam room, they split them up. Three going with the co-chief, and the remaining four (in which he was a part of) was following Bradley. "Welcome to Exam Room A. This is where you'll be graded as a Jujutsu Sorcerer. It will be a trial by combat. Any and all cursed techniques and items are allowed. You have to last at least 20 minutes fighting me. Anyone who survives passes this exam, and will be labeled a Grade 2 Sorcerer. Anyone who can land a blow on me will be labeled a Grade 1 Sorcerer. And the first one who can incapacitate me will be labeled a Special Grade sorcerer. All others in that scenario will be labeled Grade 1. Good luck with that though." "So just hit you? Guess that's something..." he muttered to himself, crossing his arms for a moment. Only downside? His Technique wasn't exactly...combat oriented to an extent. Not like others. His Demon Eyes simply was another tool he had at his disposal to lock onto a target at which he would let the powers in his Cursed Tools, Lock and Key, be utilized. It was a checks and balances kind of situation between his Technique and tool. But regardless, he watched Bradley almost immediately thrash the loud one...apparently named Garrett, who was knocked back. This would be interesting for sure. "I guess I'll try next." Virgil stepped up, giving a two fingered salute to Bradley. "Virgil Elliot, pleasure to meet ya. Now I do wanna ask..." The young man slowly unholstered Lock and flipped the chamber of the revolver out, looking at the ammunition. "...do I need to swap these bad boys out for rubber bullets? Don't wanna just shoot a live round at ya. Just bad manners." Bradley returned to the salute with a smile. "It wouldn't be fun if you weren't using the real deal brah!" Bradley traced a circle around his chest. "Aim for the center of mass!” "Iffin' you say so." Virgil chuckled, putting the chamber back and immediately spinning it before unholstering Key. "Like I mentioned, Virgil Elliot from Arizona. Now I may not be like hot-shot over there and brawl with you up close..." he motioned towards Garrett. "...but I reckon I can still work with this." His eyes were directed at Bradley, locking on to him as it were. "I do hope you won't be makin' this easy." Virgil then immediately pulled the trigger on Lock and then followed up with Key about a few seconds afterwards. The bullet seemed to go heat seeking to an extent. Now where the bullet from Lock would land was anyone's guess. "And I hope you don't bore me, dude!" Bradley threw up a Shaka sign, everyone in the room feeling his cursed energy rise. In a flash, a large manta ray-like entity appeared around Bradley, cloaking him tightly with its fins. The bullets were blocked and deflected by the manta ray, which wasn't too thrilling for the gunslinger. He clicked his tongue slightly, trying his best to assess the situation, his gaze never once leaving Bradley. So he can summon a manta ray...that's going to be harder to negotiate...however... Virgil thought about the moment he struck at Garrett, which showed that Bradley here was definitely a close combat fighter, plus the manta, which probably would potentially act as a distance attack...aside from the obvious shield. He had a plan turning in his mind, but he just needed to implement it. "Hmmm, well that doesn't bode well...still, that's interesting regardless." Virgil said, immediately firing two more shots from Lock, then another few seconds later, he fired another two shots from Key. "Unfortunately, I reckon my Cursed Technique isn't going to be too much help, not against a manta.” "Giving up so soon?" With his manta ray still enveloping him, Bradley launched himself forward to close the distance between the two. The bullets landed again, as the manta made some noises in pain. In an instant Bradley had made it into Virgil's space, practically nose to nose. "What did I say about boring me?" He groaned before trying to land the same kick he had on Garret earlier. He immediately took the bait...perfect. "Well, it's easier to do this when you get close..." Virgil flashed a small grin, pulling the trigger on Lock and shooting a bullet right into Bradley's leg. After that, the kick was delivered and he was practically sent back just like Garrett before him. Bradley sighed looking at the bullet in his leg. "Well darn it." "L-Looks that's a pass for me, I reckon..." Virgil chuckled, holstering both of his revolvers. "...let's just say...you're lucky you only got hit by Lock..."
  2. The last two days proved…almost fruitless in Ziun's endeavors. He looked in his small satchel, only two healing potions and nothing more. He could only afford the two, which in itself was just showing how things were worsening. He had thought of an idea of potentially bottling up conjured acid in bottles and bringing it, but this proved to be a fruitless, as it never lasted long. But this was par for the course. He attempted to reach out to the Apati family, seeing if Zion could help. Unfortunately…he only met Cerberus, who was a stark contrast to the head of the family. With each step he took, moments of that conversation continued to play over in his mind. The biggest part being: they wanted him to sabotage his allies in their quest to keep moving through the dungeon. What was even worse? …I almost agreed to it…willing to give even my own life for it… he thought, grimacing at the sheer thought of it. He had allies, comrades that now he was willing to do whatever he could to help out. Was it Robin's untimely passing that helped him to this point? It was probably a definitive yes. But never before would he had risked everything to help anyone…let alone offer his own life. He did ruminate a bit more, thinking back on the stark contrasts between Zion and Cerberus… Are they all like that? Zion, when I met him, didn't seem to be anything similar. Perhaps it's only that collective of individuals there and not the head? he thought, though he was still uncertain. Then his mind reeled to the big question: what the hell did Chris do to get the Kalo family on his tail? Ziun was planning to ask him that immediately, but unfortunately as he approached the entrance to the dungeon, he found not Chris…but Lana. He'd have to pull the young man aside at a later point, perhaps. “Good morrow, Lana.” Ziun said, strumming a bit on his lute as if on cue. “I see that you're the early bird on this one. Prepared to delve within the labyrinthian depths of the Dungeon once more?”
  3. The plan was executed perfectly, almost flawlessly. The Water Wall did the trick, and yet...now Gene was looking at a Drengr breaking through the Water Wall with a halberd. Now the halberd was swinging down directly at the young hero. This wasn't what he was hoping for...but he was at least prepared for it in the grand scheme of it all. "O-Okay...take this!" he said, calling Aqua Star to his hand and immediately using his Weapon Art - Quick Strike. With a quick upward slash, Gene knocked the halberd upward and immediately immediately moved forward and slashed at the Drengr's legs. Unfortunately, due to the fact that the Drengr was armored practically all over, it did next to no damage...correction, it did some reduced damage. That was still a win in his book. ...would prefer more damage being done, but beggars can't be choosers. He had another action in mind: the horizontal slash along the neck. If he could get a clean swing on that...this could all be over. Unfortunately, the Drengr was a tad smarter than Gene had anticipated and it simply moved back and parried the horizontal slash with it's halberd. Once it did that, the creature was preparing a slash right at the Exalted's torso. "N-No you don't!" Gene immediately had his Dragon Sign glow yet again as another Water Wall was summoned, blocking the torso strike. The young hero crouched slightly and in a quick movement of speed, maneuvered around the Water Wall and slashed at the Drengr's arms to drop the halberd. Once again, the arms were like the legs...armored...it was nothing but reduced damage. However, the halberd was dropped from the creature's hands. Victory! ...or so it seemed. Despite it's arm being mildly injured, it reached for a sword and went in for another attack. He raised his sword upward to block and parry the strike...it wasn't very...elegant in execution but the attack was blocked nonetheless. Once it was done, Gene pushed back and used his Quick Strike again, this time at the chest. The disengage worked and combined with his speed, Gene was able to cut through the armor on it's chest. This was the opportunity Gene was looking for right now...he shouted a bit and immediately dealt the fatal thrust into the Drengr's chest. One less Drengr... With a slight huff, Gene wiped his brow, giving Marshall a thumbs up before slowly advancing towards the door they were looking at prior. Slowly, he opened the door... The door led to a small hall that led to another door that led outside onto a raised platform with a staircase on either end. It was curious for sure, but Gene kept looking around. There were buildings and a road around, and while he couldn't see very far because of the buildings, Gene could still see a massive structure in presumably the center. "Huh...that's...interesting..." he muttered, before backing away slowly and looking in Marshall's direction. "H-Hey...you may want to take a look at this..."
  4. Something was wrong…very wrong. It was a situation where Override was a bit surprised to see the room they found themselves in. What was worse, they found the culprit behind the water: Tidebinder. It made sense on why the water was acting the way it was…it was because of her. That wasn't the part he was having an issue with though… No, the issue was… “Well, don’t you all look cute. It takes quite a bit of determination to get in here. I’d invite you to sit, but I don’t think your stay will be very long.” “I agree. We just need to beat you, and then what, a few more mooks before we get to Caesar?” “What makes you believe Caesar is here?” “We- there was a device to trace Legion’s tracking power…Legion’s always been with Caesar.” “Well, he isn’t now, is he?” The Tech Hero looked in the direction of Legion, and yet…there was no Caesar. The rotund menace was nowhere to be found. He began to grit his teeth under his helmet, starting to turn back towards Tidebinder. Override, still on guard, slowly lowered his arms for a moment. "So if Caesar isn't here, the logical explanation is that you pulled a bait-and-switch. To our knowledge, Legion is always at Caesar's side, so naturally we'd be inclined to assume he'd be with him. Just let me know if I did in fact deduce that correctly, my dear.” Override felt the remaining ice and water on his arm tighten up. He was glad he was wearing the helmet, because his face contorted slightly in pain. "I don't think you're in a position to be calling anyone 'my dear,'" Tidebinder said. "But to answer your question, I don't know anything about a 'bait-and-switch.'" Minos said, "We had two capes trying to track Caesar down using their powers, and they gave us two different locations. You were trying to trick us into choosing the wrong one!" Tidebinder gained a little smirk. "Oh, is that what this is about? All I know is Legion got left behind in my care when Caesar headed off to finalize Project Rubicon. I imagine the server room is useful for a broadcast power like his. Caesar is smarter than you give him credit for, but I don't think it's a trick.” "Finalize it?" Override asked, before remembering the tightening on his arm. He pointed at it as he looked at Tidebinder. "...if you could please release the grip on my arm, I'd be greatly appreciative. But in any case, if Caesar left his secondary lapdog...no offense, Legion...here with you, what are you even doing here instead of assisting with whatever Rubicon is?” "I would call Hellhound the lapdog, or at least I would have until this morning." Tidebinder said. She did not, in fact, release her hold on Override's arm. "But I told you what I'm doing here. I'm watching over Legion. Surely not everyone has to be with Caesar to raid Battle Labs. Gibbons is the largest gang in Scarlet City, I don't think we'd all even fit in there.” "...I suppose it was a bit much to ask for the grip to be release, fair play." Override shrugged. "I digress. What does watching over Legion here serve for you and for that matter, your boss?” That question seemed to catch Tidebinder off-guard. She cocked her head to the side and her smirk disappeared, replaced with something a little more quizzical. "It's... my job? I'm doing it because Caesar asked me to?" Minos chimed in again. "Yeah, but why Legion and why here?" "Just trying something new," Legion croaked, only now looking up from his laptop. "Wanted to see how good of a broadcast beacon I can make this place. Could be useful." "He does talk..." A.V.D. mumbled. "If we somehow get out of this, at least I get to be a hero on the wiki.” "Then...what was the point of us coming in here?" Override looked in the direction of Legion. "A broadcast beacon as of this moment is the least threatening thing we have going for us. Unless you're trying to do something specific with it." He made sure his movements weren't threatening like, moving over towards Legion. "What are you using it for, if I may ask.” It didn't look like Legion was going to respond, but Tidebinder still snapped in. "Don't describe to the tech hero how the tech thing works," she said. "As for why, I assumed it was to cause mayhem like you heroes always do. And look! You've succeeded." "Point of order:" Minos said. "I'm not a hero. And A.V.D.'s a renegade too so just the one hero, actually. I do like causing mayhem, though." A.V.D. shuddered. "I don't actually, um..." Tidebinder waved him off. "Regardless, now that you've caused a suitable amount, I'm going to repeat my request from earlier: You will be escorted off of the premises or you will be forcibly removed from them." The ceiling above everyone creaked and a bit of water dripped through the hole Minos had made. About this time, before Override could do much of anything else, he had a transmission come through. It was from the Director of all people. “They found Caesar at Battle Labs, but they're having trou-...” the rest was unintelligible static. They were too far down to really get a good signal. He began to grit his teeth again, looking more at Legion's direction. The guy wasn't lying. Using what's around him, Legion was indeed sending and receiving information. There was absolutely no doubt about it. Probably was hooked up to an antenna somewhere to do it, but he digressed. The Tech Hero went silent for a few moments, after receiving the transmission. He looked at Legion, before turning back towards Tidebinder. He pointed at his arm, before speaking. "If you could let go of my arm with the grip there, we'll kindly take our leave without the need of your escort." he turned to look at Minos and A.V.D. "Somethings going on at Battle Labs.”
  5. The bard exhaled slowly, taking a moment to compose himself and prepare for the conjurations. After a few moments, he began to slowly conjure out a few things. He started small, taking aim at a broken down set of abandoned boxes and slung his hands towards it...it immediately being struck by a bit of acid. After that, he struck it with a small flurry of ice strikes. It was like riding a horse...he truly never forgot how to do it. "Thank you, my goddess..." he muttered softly to himself, before turning and noticing a trio of cloaked figures coming his direction. "Greetings. We're members of the Kalo family and can't help but notice you seem to be using Conjuration magic. But I don't recognize you. I take it you're not from here? Perhaps you're here to explore the dungeon? I hope you're not here to cause some sort of disturbance, we're in the middle of some inspections you see." Ziun looked at the trio of cloaked figures, before clearing his throat and bowing slightly. "Apologies. I did not mean to cause any alarm here, sir. However in your inspections and assumptions, you did guess correct. I am practicing a bit of my Conjuration magic, trying to get back in tune with it. I am also not from this fine city you have here. Ziun Castir, a humble bard from Cheron, as well as explorer of the Dungeon. A pleasure to make your acquaintances." "Ah, I see. Well that's no problem as long as you keep to yourself...What is it?" He turned towards one of the two who told him something and he nodded. Looking back at Ziun he said, "You haven't happened to meet any...unsavory characters also exploring the Dungeon have you?" "Hmm? Unsavory?" Ziun repeated, putting a hand to his chin slightly. "Would you be referring to the undead and the skeletons that may have attacked myself and my allies whilst in the Dungeon? If not those..." he paused, before nodding. "...there was a hulking beast there with a group of, and the best I can describe them as were cultists." "No, no not monsters." he said, waving his hand. "I mean people. Thieves and cutthroats and the like." "Hmmm then aside from the cultists, as I mentioned, I did not see any thieves or cutthroats of that ilk." Ziun shook his head. The trio looked at each other and then back at Ziun. "Listen, there's someone going into the Dungeon recently who is very dangerous. He's already stolen something from members of our family and attacked others. We need to find them and get the item back. It's incredibly dangerous if left in hands of those who don't know how it works." "I see..." Ziun nodded, rubbing his chin slightly. "Do you happen to have a descriptor of this individual? If not a descriptor of him, perhaps the item he stole from you? It might make it easy to identify if we run into them." The trio began to explain and describe the 'villain' in question. A young man with a height of 5'8"...tidy but unkept short blonde looking hair... ...wait a minute... he thought, listening more and more to the way they described this thief...and he mentally facepalmed. ...oh no...no no no no...don't mention he's carrying a sw-... Apparently they mentioned the exact weapon and Ziun cursed internally. ...son of a satyr...what in the hell did you get involved in Chris?!?! He tapped his finger to his chin once he realized what it was. He did his best to keep calm and not let them know that he technically knew the culprit. "I see, I see...fret not, I'll keep my eyes peeled for such a thief." "Are you sure? After all from what we've found he began exploring the Dungeon recently so you might have noticed them and not even realized." "You may have a point. I may have bumped around a few people that fit that description, but I can't be 100% certain of it..." Ziun sighed, rubbing the back of his head. Again they glanced at each other. "Well, if you do come to the head family's mansion. We will give them your name and description so they know who to be...on the lookout for." "Of course, happy to help." he gave a firm nod. "I do wish you happy hunting for this criminal all the same." "Keep your eyes open, they've been shown to not be above violence to take what they want. Wouldn't want you to get caught unawares." Once they finally left, Ziun turned and was five minutes away from take his hat and immediately start tearing it to pieces. This was NOT what he wanted to hear or needed to hear from anyone at this point. The Apati family wanted him to sabotage everyone in the Dungeon. And NOW the Kalo family was simply looking for Chris because he apparently was wanted for whatever crimes that they were accusing him of. Does anyone else in this party have anything else with these families?! he thought, shaking his head slightly. ...seems like me and our fearless leader need to have a talk...a very insightful talk.
  6. Erie, Pennsylvania...it was a quaint little place, a city on Lake Erie...it's obvious namesake. Of course, he never really saw many peninsula's back in Arizona, but it was a nice view for sure nevertheless. The beaches, the trails, the bay air...it was a definite change of scenery from what he was used to for sure. But even all this new view, Virgil Elliot was here on business: to join the JJA after being recruited. He had a shot for sure to try and rid the world of Curses. A once in a life time shot. It was the early morning and Virgil was about to leave the hotel premise to catch a bus at least to get to where he needed to go. However, as he walked outside, he was greeted by a familiar older woman who was taking a long hit from her cigarette. "Came to see me off, I reckon?" he asked. "If the boot fits." the older woman gave a small smirk, finishing off her cigarette and putting the butt out on her boot. "More like making sure you remember everything I taught you, Elliot. And I'm not just talkin' about your powers and the training I put you through. I'm talkin' bout the weapons I tossed you." She moved closer towards Virgil, got to his eye level as she hunched slightly. Her glasses tilted downwards some as she stared down the young man. "You best maintain Lock & Key and keep their upkeep. If you don't, don't come crying to me to fix ya another pair." Virgil gave the woman a sharp stare, before smirking. "Wouldn't dream of it. You know I can't see myself without my favorite pair. I'll keep their upkeep and treat em like they were my own family." he chuckled some. "...will you at least make sure my parents are taken care of while I'm gone, Jane ma'am?" "Oh darling, I already am making sure they're taken care of." the woman, Jane by name, gave a smile before standing upright. "If any other Curses or Curse Users come in to try and get to em, I'll make it my personal business to take care of them. Anything for my star pupil." She then turned around before tossing something to Virgil, which caused the man to fumble and catch something: a set of keys. "It's in the garage. The red one you liked. Happy hunting, Virgil Elliot." "Thank ya Jane...for everything." Virgil simply said, spinning the keys in his hand some. BGM Driving through the twists and turns of the directions that the JJA gave him to the facility, Virgil felt the breeze against him as the parting gift he was presented with was DEFINITELY something he was excited about. Through the wooded areas, the scenery was definitely different for sure. But at the same time, there was a different feeling to have everything going by at a fast speed. That wasn't the only thing racing, unfortunately...as his mind was sort of racing slightly. His mind had too many things going on...would his family be alright while he was gone? Would Jane be able to handle all this by herself? ...would Jess be alright with how things happened for him now? He forcefully shook his head, knocking himself out of the stupor, his grip growing tighter on the motorcycle's handles. ...focus, Elliot...you can't just keep that going on. The what ifs aren't going to help right now. You need to focus on the moment and how you can make things better. he thought, accelerating a bit more. It wasn't long before Virgil found the location he was told about...and his first thought was... ...why did they design this to look like some sort of community college in the middle of no-where? he shook his head slightly after parking the motorcycle. Once he grabbed his bag and hoisted it over his shoulder, Virgil left the motorcycle in the parking spot and made his way into the building...apparently he was bringing up the rear...seeing about four other individuals in the room. He simply gave a two-fingered salute and a small smirk. "Howdy. I'm not late, I hope."
  7. He sat there for what felt like an eternity, just pondering the situation. Trevor could tell there was something there, something he could help with, but he was at a point where he couldn't break to it. He felt like a failure for the moment, but then again, he didn't have any magic that could easily be utilized to make the situation better. And for all intents and purposes, that was what he was good at. But even still...there had to be som-...wait were those loud thumping noises from outside the door? Trevor whipped around to look towards the door and saw...what seemed to be...a Minotaur. ...a Minotaur? ...interesting...very interesting... he thought, watching the hulking being approached him. "Heard a stranger was hanging around here, scared off a couple people and all, take it that's you?" "Scaring people off? No sir, I can't say that's me." Trevor said simply, looking at the beastman before him. "I do apologize if I actually wasn't supposed to be in here, I was in here talking to the receptionist, Benjamin, a few moments ago. I meant no harm." He cleared his throat, finally getting his bearings back together. "Trevor Masters, apprentice to Balthazar Blake, sorcerer of the 777th degree. I'm one of Mauvache's champions, well...one of the newer batch anyway." "One of....Gwaaaaaaahahahahaha!" The minotaur suddenly began to laugh. Then he clapped a hand on Trevor's shoulder a couple times, painfully, before shaking his large head. "Well that would explain it. You lot sure do like to just show up unexpectedly don't you?" "S-So it would seem..." Trevor tried his best to push through it, though he wouldn't lie...it was painful. "I-In any case, I can assure you I haven't scared off anyone presently around here...mister...?" "Mister? Gwaaaaaahahahaha!" He laughed again. "Name's Tegur m'boy! One of me waitresses scurried back to the bar saying some stranger was lurking you see." "A pleasure, Tegur." Trevor nodded, before rubbing his chin slightly. "A waitress, you say? Curious. Aside from Benjamin, I haven't seen anyone else enter or leave this breakroom...but then again, perhaps I was too engrossed in my own thoughts and ruminations to notice. If that did indeed, happen to be the case, I must apologize." "Poor girl probably didn't even get past the door. You'd think she would learn to be fine with strangers by now. Ah, well, glad to know there was no problem." He patted Trevor's shoulder again. "But you shouldn't linger around too much you know, if you've got nowhere to go I'd recommend getting a drink, gwaaaaahahahaha!" "I would definitely take a recommendation on that." Trevor chuckled, before moving out of the breakroom. However, after he past the door's threshold, he held up a finger. "A curious question from you, Tegur. The receptionist, Benjamin...what's his story? I got bits and pieces here and there, but nothing concrete. I was hoping to help the rabbit out." "Well I don't like to talk bout other folks but that kid? He's a good lad, always comes on time and does his job. Friendly too. Though I guess been a couple months since he's stopped for a chat now that you mention it." "So this is a strange change..." Trevor nodded slowly. "...truly a curious situation indeed. I know he mentioned he was trying to provide for his family, namely his old folks. Not only that, it seems he hasn't been taking care of himself in the long run...running himself through the wringer." "Mm, strange, lad always had so much energy. Don't think I noticed him working more than normal...Well, who knows this old man might just be forgetting things, not the sharpest bolt in the crossbow these days, gwaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahahaha!" "And he did freak out...thinking I was requesting a payment, saying he already paid this month." Trevor nodded again, tapping his chin. "There's more to this, I reckon." The minotaur grunted. "I see..." He grew quiet then nodded. "Well, can't say I know what that's about. Be careful not to spook the lad too much or ye'll just do the opposite of what ye want." "Would you happen to have any suggestions on how to proceed, Tegur?" Trevor inquired, raising an eyebrow slightly. "Ah, like I said I'm not much o' a thinker. I'm just a bartender these days, people talk about their problems but don't usually hafta get them to open up m'self." "I see, I see..." he sighed. That's about the time it really hit him, maybe there WAS something he could do more than magic: believe. So many adventures before his arrival here back in the Ever...so many times he saw the power of the heart and how strong it was. They had their unique and abilities...they help build strong bonds, etch memories from the past in...they were great tools for all. He had to understand the rabbit's heart if anything...that was fair to be certain. "Perhaps you are right. Maybe he'll open up in his own time..." Trevor sighed slightly, before giving Tegur a thumbs up. "Thank you for the assistance there. As for the recommendation on getting a drink, I'll happily take that, maybe offer an invitation to our rabbit friend as well." "I'll warn my waitress, gwaaaaahahahaha!" Trevor heard the laugh long after Tegur left the room. He did notice the signs about apparently Tegur's bar, which was on the second floor of the Arena. With a nod, he decided to go out to Benjamin and simply offer the rabbit an invitation to accompany him up there sometime. Perhaps there, he would be able to understand the heart of the rabbit man.
  8. The start of Ziun's day was...rough, to say the least. He did eventually get free of his bindings after his meeting with the Apati, though it wasn't without it's embarrassment, as one would come to expect. It was quite the spectacle and did quite embarrass the young bard in the grand scheme of it all, but nevertheless he found himself back at the Drooling Dragon tavern, to do his now normal routine of performing as entertainment for the tavern patrons...hoping to score a bit extra coin...all the while, he kept hoping and trying to figure out what he would end up doing to better help his allies as they delved further into the dungeon. Unfortunately, when he got himself freshened up from the night prior, he double checked his coin count from the night...and to his dismay, he didn't have enough. No extra potions of health just in case, nor a possibility of getting any sort of enchanted items. He cursed to himself, but he didn't have anyone to blame but himself and his own skills. Ziun left his room and moved downstairs to enjoy a bit of food before he planned to meet the others as promised. However, what he needed to do was do a bit more practicing and freshening up on his conjuration magic. He hated the fact that he had neglected it in favor for the blade, but alas, the choice was made before and he had to move forward for this. He did ask a few tavern patrons about a good location to practice and train...and of course, he was thinking about the training grounds, but he was definitely told otherwise. One patron even suggested the docks, since no one was really down there much. Another basically echoed this sentiment...which sounded good. "You gentlemen have my thanks." Ziun nodded with a smile. "I truly appreciate the assistance." After getting pointed in the right direction, the bard made his way down in the direction of the docks. Ziun had to admit, it was a bit of a nostalgic feeling to return back to his conjuration side of magic, even though he forewent it in favor of the blade. It was like something he had lost was returning back to him...and it felt like it was completing him in the grand scheme of it all. But these were laments and thoughts he could have later. He entered the docks area and stood there, breathing the salty sea air for a moment or two. "Now, time for a bit of practice." he muttered, exhaling slowly. "I shouldn't have forgotten everything about how to do this, surely."
  9. Once again, Trevor found himself in a rather...strange predicament, the very same one he found himself in the day before. Alone in the abode with Bartleby, but honestly, not for very long. He figured today would be a good day to go visit someone: Benjamin, the receptionist at the Arena. A strange thing to do, in the grand scheme of it all, but once he bid Bartleby farewell, he left and headed to the Arena. "A curious question for you, Masters. What pray tell are we doing visiting the receptionist?" Trevor looked at his floating grimoire, before sighing slightly. "A...bit of an observation, actually." he started, the two headed off. "Our rabbit man had a bit of a tired look on his face when we first arrived here, if you happen to recall." He paused in his stride, sliding his hands into his pockets. "...I want to try and help our receptionist out and find out what's going on with him." The Cabanomicon spoke not another word...er...write out another word, but the two continued onward in silence. Once they arrived at the Arena, Trevor would notice that it seemed it was open and busy today. Seemed like there was a fight scheduled for today, but sadly, unlike other such fancy arenas, this one didn't have any screens to view the combatants to know who was fighting. Nevertheless, the young sorcerer noted the long line of people at, of course, the receptionist counter apparently buying tickets with Benjamin there selling tickets. Trevor found it best to just wait in the back and wait for the line to go down, then he'd make his move. Once a certain time hit, the bunny declared that ticket sales had ended. Of course, some people who didn't make it grumble but they ended up leaving regardless. The bunny then did something behind the desk and a red screen with text "Closed until end of match" appeared in front of the desk. Taking this as his cue, Trevor simply knock on the desk lightly and waved. "Good morrow, Benjamin. How goes it?" "Sorry, we aren't selling tickets at this moment." Benjamin replied automatically. "Oh that's fine, I wasn't here for ticket buying." Trevor chuckled, before pondering. "...at least not today anyway." "Oh okay. Merchandise can be bought online. The food courts and bar is in the floor ahead. Sign ups for Arena Contestants must go through an interview process. If you have a meeting scheduled please state your name and reason for meeting." "You seem to have that down to a science with that whole spiel." Trevor chuckled, waving his hand dismissively. "In any case, I figure I stop by and check on you, actually. If I recall the last time we spoke and saw each other, you looked...for lack of a better term, like something the cat dragged in. Bags under the eyes, just to name an example." "I'm sorry I don't understand..." He then looked panicked. "I-I already paid this month!" "Benjamin...buddy, I'm not asking for money." he tapped on the desk again, doing his best to really observe the rabbit man. "Just trying to help you out is all. Honestly seems like you haven't had a break in a while." He stared for a while, not comprehending, then said, "Oh! You're um. That guy. S-sorry I, um, thought you were someone else haha....and well actually it's just about time to take my break!" "Excellent..." Trevor nodded, before clearing his throat. "So you wanna talk about...that...?" he asked, referring to what the rabbit man just had happen. "Either that or maybe why you look like something that Morgan would work with? Ya know...dead lookin with those tired eyes?" "Oh dear, do I? Sorry I'll work on that. I don't like to have caffeine, my mom always said that I get jittery ahaha...." He paused. "Er, I should head to the break room. But it's employees only so...." "Would it technically be alright for me to accompany, considering I'm one under Mauvache's employ too?" Trevor asked. "Or would that be a no?" "Um. I don't....I don't know...I-If you insist, but it's not really anything special." The break room was simply that, complete with a bunch of tables and vending machines along one wall that had all sorts of things including full packaged and cooked meals. "Looks like Mauvache keeps her employees in good hands with everything like this." Trevor chuckled, moving to a table. "So, what seems to be the issue with you, my friend?" "Issue? There's no issue....did I make a mistake that I don't remember?" "I meant the insomnia there." Trevor said, waving a finger in the air. "Noticed it when we first arrived. Quite frankly, with everything else going on, didn't have a moment to properly look into the matter. But I have time now, thankfully." "Insomnia? Ahaha no no I guess I'm a little tired but I'm okay I'm just glad I have a job." "Uh huh..." he said, staring intently at Benjamin, trying to study him. "And you thought I was someone wanting money, when I clearly don't look like any loan shark at all...and once again, you look like the living dead...so why don't you just tell me what's up?" "Nothing is up why do you keep saying that you're being so weird right now, ahahaha." Trevor stared more at Benjamin, squinting his eyes slightly. "Uh-huh..." he said, not really believing the rabbit. The more he looked the more nervous Benjamin seemed to be getting. He began to fiddle with a nametag on his shirt. "Is...um, is that all you wanted then? I appreciate the concern but everything is A-Okay here." Trevor kept staring, noticing the nervousness that Benjamin was displaying. "You know...I've already been taught this lesson, one I'm still working on figuring out..." his mind reeled back to his training fight in the system with Morgan against Grigoriy. "...you need to rely on others, your team and friends, to help you. You can't just do things on your own. Take it from this sorcerer...trust me." He smiled weakly. "Y-yeah, that's true. Well that's what I'm working for you know, to help my family and all. Old folks getting, well, old." "Have you been taking proper care of yourself afterwards?" Trevor raised an eyebrow slightly. He could honestly get behind Benjamin's reasoning at this point, family was important for sure. But if he answered anything else here bu-... "Oh don't worry if I don't 'take care' of myself I'm sure someone will, ahaha..haha." it seemed he had made a joke somewhere in there to himself that he didn't actually find very funny. His eyes slightly narrowed for a split moment. He cursed internally, it was making sense now. With Benjamin saying he was helping his family with his parents getting old... it all made sense. And for a moment, the sorcerer was both sad and upset at the same time. "No." Trevor said sternly, shaking his head slightly. "Let me tell you this, my mentor and master told me the importance of rest. While hard work is important, don't mistake me, rest is even more important. For example, if you work out your muscles and don't give them time to rest and heal, you'll only damage yourself in the long run. What do you think will happen if you continue to go down this path of working yourself to death? Your folks most likely won't have anyone to take care of them should anything happen to you." "Ahaha, yeah, wouldn't...wouldn't want to damage myself would I. That sure would be bad....anyway, break's just about over I should get going." Trevor nodded before thinking of something. "Tell you what...provided that our top-hatted boss is alright with it, how about I help you out? Just to lessen your work load in order for you not to kill yourself in the process." "Less work? No, no no no no not at all, no way, I can't have that!" He got up suddenly and went for the door. "A-anyway break's over time to get back to it." Trevor just let the rabbit man rush past him, simply rubbing the bridge between his nose. "The poor man is overworking himself...that there is for sure. All this for his folks...and for what?" he muttered, most likely loud enough for Benjamin to hear...or not to hear, that was up to the rabbit's ears. "...perhaps casting Curaga might help? No...I believe I did that once before. It didn't seem to work then." The sorcerer just sat there in the break room, contemplating and collecting his thoughts. If Benjamin wasn't careful, he would most likely work himself to death...and that couldn't happen.
  10. Basically on cue after he said stuff (and a bit more than that as well), Sabrina went in before the rest of the party. It seemed like a rookie mistake in the grand scheme, considering the fact that the number one rule of any game with a party: Never split up the party. And yet, Sabrina took that one rule and threw it out the window. So much for the dragon blooded warrior being a team player...then again, what was he doing any different? He had been pretty distant lately after that last fight against the Guardians, least in his mind. “...Sabrina’s gone, I’m going to go look for her. ...I’m going left,” "N-No telling where she went...but..." Gene sighed, nodding slightly. "May as well see if we can find some clues on the left path..." ...maybe get some actual puzzle solving going. His decision was made as Gene followed after Marshall down the left path. Like Marshall in front of him, he scaled up the pile of rubble as best he could just to see a dimly lit hallway...a poorly lit one at that. It stretched in both ways as the previous floors had, though there was a clear lack of floor. Eventually though she would hear armored footsteps from further down the hall and it's winding castle walls, though it was difficult to make out how many there actually were. Even still, Gene had the mind of a puzzle solver in this moment. He knew there had to be something within these halls in regards to a secret or something. And he was determined to find it! He got within the hall and started to slowly run his hands along the walls. Here and there he would press on it to try and find out if there was a hidden secret within the walls. Nothing. ...okay...no secrets in the walls...damn. Let's try the next thing. Gene proceeded to move towards the collapsed floor, to see if he could find anything within the pile of rubble. Unfortunately, once again, he came up empty. ...o-okay...this is starting to really upset me... he slightly grumbled silently to himself. He figured the only thing left to do was to move forward. And that was the last thing he wanted to do. With a slow, drawn out sigh, Gene moved past Marshall in a cautious manner and proceeded forward. Walking around the bend, Gene saw them: a patrol of three armored Drengr, all carrying weapons. He let a slight gulp after seeing these creatures walking around on patrol, though they were walking on the opposite direction of him...which was a plus. Though on the right, he saw a door, though it was a bit further down. Damnit...and it's past the Drengr...just my luck. Gene thought, slightly defeated at this point. He decided to just play it safe and go back cautiously and quietly back to Marshall and just relay all the information to her. Maybe she could assist with a better plan of attack.
  11. “So it’s a floor and change below the restaurant? I wonder if people know that when they decide to eat there…” “I mean, it kinda makes sense. If they’re using water as their main fire suppressant because Caesar’s got that woman on staff, like, you still want a different suppressant if the restaurant’s got a fryer. I don’t think even Caesar could convince a health inspector otherwise.” "I wouldn't put it past the rotund psycho at this point..." Override sighed, his suit finishing the expulsion of the water from his suit. "Regardless...we should be able to work with that at least..." “And the control room’s probably got a lot of tech. You don’t want water leaking through the floor into that. She can’t be here all the time to keep it out if something goes wrong.” Override was silent, as he turned towards A.V.D., waiting for a moment. Things started turning in his head, about the time he realized what was meant, Minos seemed to come to the same conclusion. “Oh, so it’s like a blind spot! She’s in the Control Room, but she can’t let too much water get in there. We could probably just make a hole in the kitchen floor then, right? Go down through there?” “You know where the kitchen is?” “Duh! My superpower-Cassie-says-isn’t-a-superpower, remember? Also, there were signs for the restaurant when we came in. Anyway, yeah, if you’re real anxious, I could probably close up the floor when we’re done with it too,” "...that's...a fair point. I think I must've missed those signs specifically, considering I came through the roof." he said, prepping himself. But at least now they had a plan, though it wasn't too much of a great plan, but it was something. “I don’t want to get into all that water on the floor, though. I guess we’re running across the machines, then? I’ll try to conjure up some handrails in case we lose balance because that doesn’t look safe either…” “Good idea! Well, we’ve got a goal and a plan to achieve it. What else are we waiting for?” Override gave Minos a nod, beginning to rise into the air again. "At this point, nothing. Though I am going to say this..." he noted the display on his H.U.D., seeing the layout of the kitchen he had gotten. The restaurant area was a series of tables circled around a lavish buffet line. There were a couple of mercenaries/mooks/whatever they were standing guard near the kitchen doors, one by the buffet, and three tables also have someone nearby for a total of six hostiles. The tech hero already started flying off in the direction of the restaurant. "Okay, we have about six hostiles in the restaurant area. One by the buffet, a couple standing guard by the kitchen doors and three tables have someone near them. Do either of you have a proper plan to take care of this? I'm open to suggestions." A.V.D. looked back behind himself and saw a rush of water flowing out of the casino pit and giving chase. "I don't know if we have the time to make a plan..." he said. "No, it's okay!" Minos said. "That's just one or two each. Dibs on the buffet line one!" "Guns blazing then, alright." Override nodded, before hearing some stuff behind him. He glanced backwards and saw that the very slot machines they were starting to run on, the ones behind start sparking even further and explode behind the last person running along. "Shit...that's not good at all. Kick it into high gear, people!" The moment he got to the restaurant doors, Override burst through and aimed at the two nearest ones, the ones by the tables...and he fired two pulse bolts at them. One connected with a mook and they were knocked down. The other, dove behind a table. "The table isn't going to save you, buddy." he said, immediately firing another bolt at the table, blasting a hole in the table. And yet, the hole was sealed up by a freeze ray. "...charming." He took aim at another thing in the room...a chandelier above the table in question. Override fired another bolt at the chandelier, having it crash down onto the table...or the plan was that... The mook fired the freeze ray up at the falling chandelier which froze into a platform for the chandelier to crash into instead. The tech hero immediately noticed something, in where the mook was giving a thumbs up to the camera in the corner of the room. "So they're keeping tabs on them from the cameras, eh? Clever girl." Override took this opportunity to immediately fire bolts at the cameras. "Time to blind you lot. No more freebies." "Sir...sir!" "In a minute, P.I.X.E.L." "But sir! Incom-..." Override heard the alert too late as he was struck in the left arm by the freeze ray, which knocked him for a loop for a moment. He got careless, which caused him to curse under his breath and helmet. "P.I.X.E.L., get the suit to attempt to pull power to go into a defrost." he said, before immediately firing another bolt at the mook with the ray, knocking him out. He landed for a moment, before checking on the others...Minos had managed to deal with the two by the kitchen door in addition to the one she called dibs on and A.V.D. had left the one remaining one shivering in the fetal position. Plan well executed. "O-Okay...good work...now...while I get my suit to at least deal with the frozen side... Minos! You're up." he pointed in the direction of the room, towards the kitchen. "If you don't mind." Minos gave a little salute. "You got it!" she said. "One and a half floors down we go!" She marched through the swing doors into the massive casino kitchen, where she picked out a spot, punched into the floor, and widened and deepened the hole until the first basement could easily be seen. It seemed like a standard office hallway underneath. She hopped down and repeated the process with the basement floor. The hole she created there did not reveal any details about the control room, though. It was pitch black below. It took a second but Minos decided to climb back up to the kitchen. "It's a bit of a jump, and I'm gonna guess she's not alone down there 'cuz that's gotta be a power," she said. "Fantastic..." Override sighed, the suit finally able to heat up enough to defrost the left side. "Then we should get down there and see what we got." Once he was fully defrosted, he immediately followed after Minos.
  12. Ziun’s head throbbed with pain. He had been hit before, sure, but this was a new sort of sensation. As he started to come to, he felt the area around him jolt up…was he…in a carriage? It seemed so, and a very VERY fancy one too. Red colored sheets covering the windows, long cushioned seats, several feet between him and the other side…which the little girl was, a bird cage with…a…fish…and water, and a sword in a…stone? He blinked a few times, wondering if he really did wake up or was still in the land of dreams. Well, he would be enjoying this more...if he wasn't bound...lovely. "Finally awake are you? I didn't think I hit you that hard, not much of an explorer huh?" "Now now. You just don't know your strength sister." "Does it matter? He's up ain't he? Let's get to it." "Come on brother, can't you see the pathe-....poor thing is still out of sorts? So, about what you said about 'offering your life'...." "W-Well..." Ziun finally spoke up, once he finally got his bearings and wasn't as groggy when he first awoke. "Am I to assume you represent the Apati family, my dear?" he asked, as calmly as he could (despite basically being abducted). "Considering your appearance and voice don't quite match up now, that and the fish in the cage..." The bard motioned with his head to the cage and the fact that the water was still there in one piece. "Top it off with a talking sword...which most of this doesn't just happen. Now if I'm speaking nonsense, I suppose I'll make due and assume I may still be dreaming after seeing this." "Maybe you are dreaming, you were out for a while after all." The girl said. "We wouldn't presume to 'represent' the family, as it were." the fish said. "But yes, we are members." "A pleasure to meet you, in that case...albeit, perhaps would be a bit more of a pleasure if I wasn't currently in this predicament." Ziun shrugged, namely referring to the fact he was bound. "Nevertheless, you answered my question...so I'll respond in kind. I would say it was nothing but a slip of the tongue with my words, but perhaps..." he paused, before sitting upright and letting out a sigh. "...due to me not having anything but my own life to offer, why wouldn't I attempt to bargain with it? For some, this could be construed as madness. I myself know not why I said it when I did, but nevertheless...I uttered those words and therefore, made my bed. If I could not be a hindrance to my allies while delving further for the Spark, to be of service and help to them instead of cowering like a scared child in the face of watching a...friend...perish in the line of adventure...then I suppose...I would gladly submit and work for the Apati family." "I told you he talks a lot." The girl said to the sword. "Yeah I didn't quite get all that." "Simple, he's saying he wants to do work for us." The fish answered. "And he doesn't even know who we are yet." The woman said with a derisive laugh. "Hey, who even are you?" The sword asked. "...I'm sitting right here, you don't have to talk like I'm not here..." he muttered, before clearing his throat to avoid that. "Apologies. My name is Ziun Castir of Cheron, Bard of the College of Glamour, at your service." "Oh a schoolboy, cute." The girl said. "Why I think I know of the place, it's a quaint instutition." Said the fish. "Ugh." Grunted the sword. "Oh, right, you can call us Cerberus." The girl said, and giggled. "Cerberus...?" Ziun lulled that name around in his mind some, nodding. "That sounds familiar, or at least it rings a small bell, more or less...I believe my peers at Steelhorn used it as a term rather than a name, however." "Nonetheless that is what you can call us." The fish said. "Anywho, so you want to work right? And I recall you said you don't have much in the way of outstanding skills to mention yes?" "Aside from illusions and conjuration, though unfortunately I pale in comparison to such as the likes of Zion." Ziun lamented, but nodded. "Aside from that, I am but a humble bard." "Humble, bah." The sword said, clearly not liking the word choice. "Well we can have you play some music, perhaps spice it up with some fire and spikes..." the girl said. "Sister, did you not bring him here for a reason?" The fish prompted. "Yes, yes, I know I was just thinking of other ideas." The girl leaned forward, elbows on her knees and chin on her hands. "How far have you gotten in the Dungeon? Do you think those....companions of yours intend to try and go all the way?" "Fifteen. However, I only joined with my companions for five floors." Ziun explained. "So before I joined them, it was ten." "Ah, it's a start as they say." The fish said. "Well, do you think that they have what it takes to go all the way? Or are they gonna just give it up on their own?" the girl asked. "With these three, I am as sure as the sun sets and rises the next day, that they'll go all the way." Ziun smirked confidently with this. "They're a most impressive and formidable group." "Hm." "Hm." "Heh." The three practically said in unison, before the little girl spoke once more. "Then that makes it simple. There's an easy thing you can do for us to earn some money. All you have to do. Is sabotage them." She laughed and then, as if expecting a certain reaction, continued "you don't have to get them killed or anything just make it a bit harder on them, enough that they decide it's not worth it." Ziun gave a blank stare at them, as if in...disbelief. "I'm sorry...please, I must be mishearing, Cerberus. Could you repeat what you said?" "Do I have to?" She asked, sounding suddenly childish again. "It's simple really." The fish answered. "Use whatever tricks you can to make their next expedition to the dungeon hard. Hard enough they decide to stop going through it. That's all." Ziun was silent, almost deathly silent. His gaze seemed to go from the trio known as Cerberus to the floor in contemplation. The opportunity was here, he could have the coin to get what he needed to assist his companions through the dungeon...but...it was at the cost of them not being able to progress. He had to sabotage them, which at this point, he would've been better off without doing this...on the count of his last five floors with them. He thought hard on this, his eyes darting slightly around as his gaze remained fixated on the floor of the carriage. Finally...the bard spoke with a sigh. "...I must apologize...but, I don't believe I'm the man for this kind of job." Ziun confessed, seeming slightly dejected. "In truth, I sought the Apati out to be able to assist my fellows in their dive through the dungeon. If I was to simply sabotage them...well, quite frankly I would've done so without trying to fix anything. That is to say, with the last five floors, I proved to be nothing but a hindrance. I sought a way to help them, not to be a hindrance once more." His gaze returned to Cerberus. "I apologize that this may not be the answer you hoped for, but I cannot do that." "Well that's stupid." The sword said. "A very unwise decision indeed." The bird replied. "And here I thought you were willing to do anything. Why did you bother trying to find work if you're not willing to do what it takes? Who would want to hire someone like that?" The girl said, sounding annoyed. "We have plenty of grunts if that's all you intended to be." Ziun sighed but simply shrugged. "I was, but not to the point of practically screwing up the reason I was seeking you out in the first place. I was doing it, not for my sake, but for theirs. I lost one...compatriot, ally, friend, whatever you wish to call her because of my..." he paused, shaking his head. "...because of my incompetence. So I am truly sorry, but I cannot do that. But perhaps you'll indulge me in another question. Why are you opposed to this group going further through the dungeon?" "Ew." "Ew." "Ew." The three groaned. Then the girl answered. "Why wouldn't we want to stop anyone else reaching the Spark? That's pretty simple stuff." "Apparently not to someone such as myself." Ziun said plainly. "Quite frankly, I figured most of the families, from what I was told, mind you, were hiring people to get the Spark...and yet, you wish to keep those from reaching it. It's a strange situation for sure." "Less people in the Dungeon means less competition." The fish said with a chuckle. "Even I know that." The sword said. "But I suppose you are just a musician." The girl snickered. "So why don't you just...hire someone to get there before the others?" Ziun inquired. "As you said, I am just a musician, but even I can understand that if you want it...you would hire someone to get it, right?" "Well that would be stupid." They all said at once. "At least, it would be right now." Said the sword. "Without competition we can simply take our time." The fish said. "So impatient." The girl said, shaking her head. "You really don't know what you're getting yourself into. Trust me, you should take this deal. It'll be a lot better for you and your...." she snorted. "...friends." "At least WE aren't trying to kill ya." The sword said. "Now now, brother, don't say anything about the other families. You wouldn't want to be rude." said the fish. "Well, in any case, guess we have no use for you right now, do we?" asked the girl. "It appears so..." Ziun sighed yet again. "Seems we are truly at an impasse and it's a shame. Part of me was truly wanting to learn from the great Zion Apati, but alas, it seemed to be too good to be true." "Ah, he's not so great really, but I guess he would seem like that to you huh." The girl said. "Well, I suppose you should be on your way." Said the fish. Then one of the carriage doors opened up. If Ziun looked he'd see the carriage was still moving. Even still the sword said "Go on then." "I take it you won't at least unbind me?" Ziun looked out through the door, seeing it still moving. This would be the way this day would be for him, wouldn't it? "Part of me is assuming you won't at this point." "Of course not, we're not even sitting in front of you." The girl said with a laugh. "Maybe if you had taken the offer." "I figured as much." Ziun sighed, before doing his best to stand up and keep his balance as he made his way towards the carriage door. "Very well, Cerberus...twas a delight meeting you, until it wasn't, but I shan't hold that against you. Do give Zion my regards." he said, trying his best not to mentally kick himself for not taking this offer, but he wasn't going to ruin the other's chances like that. With nothing else to say, he walked out the carriage door. "See you later, schoolboy!" The girl said and began to laugh more. "You might not see us though." was the last thing he heard before stepping out and tumbling onto the ground. He bounced a few times before coming to a stop. As he rolled slowly to a stop, after bouncing a few times, he found himself back on the ground to where he looked up at the sky. His face, while he did have a smile on his face with talking to Cerberus...it was now gone. Ziun just laid there...partially not caring if he was a road block or anything (considering he was still bound), but he laid there...feeling defeated. He felt stupid on multiple levels. Stupid on how he thought this would work. Stupid on almost selling his soul to the proverbial devil(s) just to do it. And stupid how he ALMOST agreed to sell his allies out and sabotage them just to "help" them. If there was a low point...this was it...and any lower, well, Ziun probably would be descending there too. "...back to square one..." he muttered to himself, sighing slightly. "...how the hell am I supposed to help them now...?"
  13. This was it…the moment of one of the many big scores that Neal had on his list. He stood there, staring at the same sign that John was, who seemed to just be taking long drags of his cigarette. CLOSED HOURS: TUE-FRI: 7AM-11PM SAT-MON: 8AM-9PM “Luckily for me…I’m not using the front door.” Neal smirked, preparing to go off to round the corner and begin the heist, but John stopped him and handed him a small device. "Do not lose this. Or else we'll both get fired, deported, and sent to prison. In that order, if we're lucky." Neal nodded at this, only giving a small chuckle. “Quite the order to be caught in if that were the case. But don’t worry, I’ll make sure to bring this back in one piece.” he asked, remembering the instructions he was given of the device and the inner machinations of it. Grapple hook, flashlight, flash bang, smoke grenade…all in one little device. It was a beauty of an invention and piece of work, fitting for the Gentleman Thief Arsène Beau. "Now get in there and show me how a thief would use this thing." “Wish me luck.” Neal gave a two fingered salute before moving off to round the corner of the museum. He pulled his mask from his pocket, adorning his face with it, removing the outer layer of clothes he had on…revealing a less baggy outfit, resembling some sort black suit. He proceeded to spin the grapple hook a bit and having it launch him up to the ledge with the greatest of ease. He looked at his watch, it showed the military time presently: 22:04. An hour and four minutes since the museum closed, so all that was to remain were the security detail for the exhibit. This would be the biggest moment he ever had to deal with…and he was planning to make every second count. It was time. BGM He moved along the rooftop of the museum with the grace and agility of a cat, making his way through until he arrived at the skylight above the exhibit, seeing his prize below. You’ll be mine soon enough…now, let’s have some fun. he thought, attempting to assess the situation. From what he could see, it wasn’t too pretty. Like he saw earlier, it was a room with two levels…but what he saw this time was there were two guards. One guard was on the top floor in the back while the second guard was on the bottom/ground floor near the front wall. They were both facing the center, which meant access into the room using the doors was near impossible. Scratch that, it WAS impossible. Luckily for him, he was using the skylight. But now, this poses a new problem. How in the hell am I going to get down to the spearhead with this layout? Beau rubbed his chin slightly. It was a conundrum for sure. Just dropping in would alert both guards, while the usage of the smoke grenade capability of the grapple hook would simply cause the guards to alert the rest of them. The only other option was the easier one. And what was the “easier option”? Simple: a utilization of his ability “Phantom Thief”. Beau would simply “call” the spearhead to him with it, with the greatest of ease. While this was the easier option, Beau did hope to make it more grandiose than this, but alas…one had to do what they had to do. Once he finally had his strategy, he began to dig into his bag as he pulled out a glass cutter, starting to gently cut into the skylight’s glass. Normally a thief, when doing this, would have those vacuum suction cups to keep the glass from falling and making a scene…but not this thief. For him, Beau simply used his ability to snatch the cut glass to his hand without much of an effort. I truly love my ability sometimes. he smirked. Now came the big moment. Beau slid his hand through the hole in the skylight and aimed it at the exhibit. With a deep breath, he began to concentrate. “Come on…come to your new owner, my little trinket.” he muttered softly to himself. And just like that, by force of psychic will, the spearhead Beau so craved found itself no longer in its exhibit, as if it simply disappeared from inside. Instead, it was now in Beau's hand. The guards below seemed to be none the wiser, their line of vision on the spearhead's case blocked by other exhibits within the same room. Truly convenient. ...terrible placement for them, really. But alas, that's on them, not me. "Like taking candy from a baby." Beau chuckled to himself, already putting the spearhead away in his bag, standing away from the skylight. "And now, we make our escape.” Making his way from the skylight, Arsène Beau heard the dreaded sound of the alarms inside going off. He cursed under his breath, moving over towards the edge of the museum roof, to which curiosity got the better of him, he glanced over...and he was quite shocked. What he saw was another museum thief, who simply barged out the front doors with swaths of the guards following right after. This was a puzzling sight to see, as he didn't expect to see a fellow thief around here, specifically at this time of night. But, knowing this was happening gave Beau another revelation. "That means more than likely...the cops will be making a move here soon." he muttered, already doing his best to scale off the museum building. He needed to change his outfit and rendezvous back with the now 'innocent and intrigued bystander'.
  14. Apparently Override timed it just perfectly as the moment he crashed through the casino ceiling, the others in his group came running in as well. Just as the tech hero planned...okay maybe it wasn't but it was a well timed and thought out coincidence for sure. And thanks to his efforts with the roof, there wasn't a counter-assault in that aspect. Once again: just as planned...maybe. “Classic move. Always wanted to do that someday except, well, also like having my feet on the ground.” “Maybe you could do it again? That’d get us underground better than dealing with the backrooms. Surely they’ve got security.” "I'm sure you'll get an opportunity to do so, Minos." Override chuckled, trying to assess the situation they currently found themselves in. "But AVD is right...we should be able to get down below here without an issue. Provided nothing else gets in our way to impede our progress." It was at this point that Override wished he kept his mouth shut, as the sprinkler system began to go off. He cursed under his helmet as the water started coming in...then he heard the voice over the intercom. “You seem like a troublesome bunch. Casino policy states that we can refuse service to anyone for any reason, and that means you, I’m afraid. If you don’t voluntarily exit the premises, you will be escorted out by security, and we will not be responsible for any injuries caused by me or my colleagues in the carrying out our said duties.” The water pooling at their feet receded...but it was only to get worse. Over the horizon of the casino, Override saw it: a massive tidal wave of a flood. "Minos! We need to be above that...STAT!!" he shouted, watching Minos nod and immediately digging deep into the ground and pulled everyone up via a new earth...or in this case...vinyl pillar. The wave crashed into the new pillar and it began to wobble, clearly not architecturally sound, but they narrowly avoid that particular assault for now high on the casino floor. "Good work, now..." How the hell do we fix this? Override thought, his eyes darting around him as they lay behind his helmet. This was a conundrum, but he had two options, except one option was not good. That option being the fact that they could blow a hole right into the ground, that way the water would just find a place to drain. However... ...our goal is down below, so that's going to make things even worse...we won't be able to obtain Caesar and finish the mission. Plus, the person that was over the intercom, more than likely...controls water, so even if we attempted it, it'll fall flat. He thought about it a bit more, before finally coming up with an idea. "P.I.X.E.L., I need a scan of the area. I need to try and pinpoint the control and/or security room. We can pinpoint that, we should be able to make a plan of action." "Processing now..." P.I.X.E.L. spoke, before a ping was heard. "I am afraid that the current area is giving us a reading of slot machines." "Expand the range of the scan and immediately remove the frequencies from the slot machines." Override sternly replied. Another ping sounded, and to the tech hero, there was the CCTV security cameras scattered throughout the pit. It was faint at first, but this was due to the water and distances. ...can't believe I'm about to do this...but I'm going to need to hack into those cameras. If I do...I can trace it's signal to locate the control room. Without another word, Override rocketed over to one of the corners to attempt to hack the camera. However, as he started to fly to it...the water beneath began to spring up and fire off like a geyser. "D-Damnit!" he shouted, narrowly dodging the geyser, immediately landing back with the others, though he noticed the strain from the sprinklers after doing that. "Geysers...of course it wouldn't be easy." Override cursed under his breath, before trying to figure out another course of action. His gaze, however, turned immediately to AVD and he had an idea. "Can you conjure up appearances of people?" "I can try...," A.V.D. said. "It's easier if I know the person well, but... what do you need me to do?" "I need a few illusions of me..." Override spoke directly to him, quietly though to not arouse suspicion from the control room. "I need to use them as cover and a distraction while I attempt to interface with the cameras so I can get a read on the control room. Our water manipulator is there...if I can pinpoint the location, we can continue the assault. It's an option, at least." A.V.D. looked Override up and down, trying to take all of him in at once. "You tech heroes have stupid complicated stuff..." he muttered to himself. But they complied. A.V.D. took out some keys from his pocket and knocked them against various parts of Override's armor, trying to listen to the sound they made over. Then he went over to each corner of the pillar everyone was on and made the same motions. He knocked against the air and sound came out. The illusory suit came after. A.V.D. stopped after the second one. "I... I think that's about as many as I can handle if you want them to actually do stuff," he said. "Honestly, this should suffice." Override gave AVD a thumbs up, starting to hover slightly. "Let's have them fly and we mix em up a bit." Without a second to lose, he and the two other Overrides began to fly around and move quickly, much to the patterns and styles of a bunch of flies. Soon, the three would separate and fly to different areas of the room. The real one, would eventually make it to one of the cameras (as did the other two) and he proceeded to hack his way into the camera. It was simple for him, interfacing with such a simple type of machine. 0v3rr1d3 connected to address ########## username: ******* password: ********** Access granted... Beginning trace... It only took a few moments before he finally got through, which was a good thing too. The moment he finished his hacking through the camera's system, he was struck by the geyser, which apparently struck him and the two illusions. The geyser definitely seemed weaker than the very first one, but it was still an issue nonetheless. Once Override got his bearings and immediately landed down back with the others, he got the nanomachines in his suit to begin work on expelling the water from the NOVA Armor. "Alright...where's she located?" he muttered, pulling up the results...though they weren't anything he liked to see. "...damnit... The control room is underground. It's situated in a half floor between basement floors -1 and -2, strangely localized beneath the casino's restaurant. Damn...they thought this through." he shook his head. "Anyone else got any brilliant ideas on how to fix this?"
  15. The castle, Gene had to admit, was pulled straight from the shows and games he always played…least in his mind. If one had to guess, he figured it also seemed like something that came from his dreams, then again…everything at this point had that feel to it. But even that feeling had a bit of a worry to it. And rightfully so, considering the Drengr that were at this castle specifically. It made Gene's stomach queasy just seeing the Drengr standing at attention at the gate. Nevertheless, Gene only sat there with the others, watching the scene before them. He was abnormally quiet, not really saying much up till this point, until he heard Marshall speak up to the group. “...Don’t attack yet,” “N-No arguments there…” he muttered. “Every other enemy has attacked us on sight, or made themselves out to be aggressive in some manner. They have not, which suggests one of two things. Either they know something we do not, and have some sort of defensive measure set-up-- or worse: know themselves to be strong enough to not need to come after us. ...Regardless, charging through and attacking will do nothing but give them the upper-hand, which leaves us with some options.” This was some sound logic from the conductor for sure. And she only kept making sense, bringing up basically the choice of either fighting to get stronger and more experience OR avoid the conflict completely. It made Gene rub his chin slightly. “S-Sounds like basic gaming logic.” he nodded, looking at the Drengr then back to Marshall. “A choice between conflict and avoiding it. …part of me, at least the gamer in me, wouldn't mind getting more experience.” he said with a slight sigh. “H-However…considering the fact that, like Marshall said, we'd just be wearing ourselves out before we even get inside, I thiiiiink we may need to side with the side of caution and just not fight yet.” He didn't want to make it sound like he was chickening out on this, but Gene was thinking he was. He had to immediately rectify this. “T-That is to say…well…in most fantasy based games…and even anime…they normally want you to waste your energy to brute force it. N-N-Not that that's a bad thing! It's just…m-maybe we should go the optional stealth route. M-Maybe there could be bonuses to a stealthier strike against them?” Gene was fairly sure he was probably talking himself into a corner at this point, but hey, he had to at least try and persuade them to Marshall's non-combat side of things.
  16. Prior to Triumvirate Meeting True to his word, he and John went museum hopping, namely to the one that his prize lay waiting for him. But to the outside and even to John, Neal was simply acting like an enthusiastic tourist. Of course, it was a facade that he played well, considering he had done it so many times…and yet, just enjoying the sights as a tourist was a fun thing too. It would give him nothing really to strive for, a sort of time to just enjoy himself and the atmosphere around him. Unfortunately, one of his “grails” resided here in this museum and he wasn't leaving Rome until it was in his grasp. After walking around with John, Neal saw it: the room where his prize lay…the Spearhead of the Lance of Longinus. The room was a big one, that went without saying, as well as having a mixture of both Roman history and some Christianity exhibits. Only natural, considering that according to texts, this spearhead was the very one that pierced the side of Christ during the Crucifixion. Something that had to do with Christ, it was definitely a big deal, least from what Neal thought. Nevertheless, the focal point with the spearhead exhibit was directly in the middle…naturally. Just looking around nonchalantly, Neal noticed that the room in question had a balcony-like second floor. It had Roman related historical items, but nothing religious like it was down here in the main room, but no staircase to said balcony…curious. The wall that Neal noted was facing towards the museum's front door had an arched doorway to two other rooms on the right, and one in the back…he noted that. There were no windows, but the room only had the two stories and NovaRoman architecture really liked skylights. The big one overhead…neat. Neal thought, appreciating the exhibit and the architecture present. Of course, Neal was already aware of the next part: guards and security. He was able to sneak a peek at a schedule he happened to see by “accidentally” walking into the wrong room thinking it was a bathroom…stupid tourist stuff, the usual. From what he noticed, it was well guarded at all hours. He'd have his work cut out for him for sure. Plus there was also the enigma of WHAT these security guards had at their disposal in the terms of abilities. Regardless, Neal had gathered the information and was set. Now he needed to formulate a strategy and plan for this heist. It would be a challenge, but the fact that his heart was beating as much as it was…he knew he wanted this…he NEEDED this. “This was an educational experience here for sure.” Neal smiled, looking over at John, chuckling. “Now, let's get to the Triumvirate, before Austin has a freak out.” And thus, the two proceeded to rendezvous with the others at the appropriate meeting place. "Finally, you're here! I've been twiddling my thumbs here for like an hour waiting for at least some of you to show up! Come on, I already got us arranged, and I doubt the Triumvirate will be happy we've left them hanging for so long." "But we made it, nonetheless!" Neal stifled out a chuckle, already following after Fay. Meeting the Triumvirate As he and the others stepped into the office of the Triumvirate, it immediately was apparent to Neal specifically... "...is this an office or a throne room?" he whistled to himself, getting a good look at the digs in this place. The room was large, featuring an oval table with numerous chairs in the middle of the room, and a glass roof to let the sun illuminate the room directly, setting though it was. At measured intervals around the walls of the room, the flag of Novaroma hung proud, often flanked on either side by its vertically-oriented cousin, the national standard. And of course, against the back wall, atop a quarter-circular set of stairs, were three thrones, the bases and surroundings of which were intricately carved in different fashions. Truth be told, if he wasn't on business nor having his eyes on a different piece of treasure...he'd be on this place and everything inside like his life depended on it. Just a handful of this would make him richer or maybe as rich as any Caesar. "Thus does the pride of Roma return to us. And you've brought the American agents with you, no less! As much as we'd love to have Íroas regale us with stories of his adventures abroad, and hear how the rest of you are finding our city, we have more pressing matters at hand with the Americans. Business that does concern the intelligence we promised your people, make no mistake." Neal was brought back to the current moment, seeing two out of the three Triumvirate speak...and noticed that the third throne was vacant...and for the reason why. He winced a bit at hearing something like that. And the fact that the MIRROR forces attacked during the centennial...which was why Vox Ingenium was no longer around. The young thief shifted his position, his hands in his pockets as he started thinking. ...it was well orchestrated...masterfully orchestrated at that. he thought, his left foot tapping slightly and silently. Does this mean that MIRROR took the time to carefully and methodically attack not the centennial, but moved in a way to also strike other locations? That's a risky gamble...but damn, that sounds like a pretty hefty pay out if that's indeed what happened... Naturally, he was lost in his thoughts, only to be brought back out of them by the conversation at hand yet again. "You say that as if you came up with it all on your own. When a Triumvir dies, replacing them is top priority. In the case of Vox Ingenium, the process is simple: The other two Triumvirs must agree on who will sit upon the throne, and what we hope they can bring to Roma. And not only do we have our candidate, but by good fortune, we have an associate of his as well. This is Avis Alba. She should be able to help you track down our target, Doctor Frederick Carson." Neal glanced over, seeing this 'Avis Alba' in question... "Nice to meet you! I've already been introduced by the Vox Populi, so I will say that I was recently interning with Dr. Carson and the now deceased Vox Ingenium. I may have some ideas as to where the good doctor has gone, though... I wasn't privy to much information, but I paid attention to some stuff I probably should have forgotten, hehe...But all is well that ends well, you know?" ...she seemed...alright...for the most part. Least that was the first immediate reaction of meeting her. But she was an intern for Dr. Carson, which was an impressive little bit of trivia that he decided to log away. "A pleasure to meet you, Avis." Neal shot her a smirk. "I'm Neal. I'm sure we'll get along swimmingly." He didn't feel like giving too much away about himself right now, least...not yet anyway. But after a bit, they were finally dismissed. "Fay just sent me orders from the boss. We head out tomorrow at o'-six-hundred, so be sure to rest up and do whatever else needs doing in town tonight!" Neal took that into consideration, noticing that John gave him a small nudge with his shoulder and a slight nod. He knew what this meant. The thief gave a slight nod back with a quick smirk, before returning to his poker face like facade. "Also, he said to tell all of you that if he knew it would take so long for you to meet up with the Triumvirate, he would've done it himself. Between you and me, I think he's just talking a big game and is just as eager to check out the town as anyone else." “He's just like the rest of us, I'd venture to guess.” he said with a shrug. “Then again, I can sympathize with his worries. After all, he let a ragtag team just go meet the Triumvirate rather than someone higher up. The last thing he'd want is for anyone to say something wrong or out of line. Thankfully for us, that didn't happen.” As they exited the lobby, Neal gave the group a bit of a wave. "I'm gonna do some more sight seeing. John here had some more places he wanted to show. We'll catch you all later." With that, with John in tow...Neal proceeded to return to the museum. He had a job to do...and one hell of a heist to pull off.
  17. BGM True to his plan, Ziun Castir attempted to find any leads on the Apati family's whereabouts from any who could potentially help him. Unfortunately...his search wasn't panning out like he had hoped or planned...at all. By either not wanting to talk about them, much to his chagrin, or just wanting to complain...even MORE to his chagrin. "For two years, two years I thought she was a redhead but turned out it was actually grey this whole time!" "Truly a saddening thing to hear, good sir..." "That little devil girl keeps stealing my bread and making it look like nothing was gone. Then I go to grab one for a PAYING customer and poof, gone." "I-I...see...perhaps you misjudged your hand?" "Don't get me started, but let me get started...." "Oh! Would you look at the time, I really must be going. Another time then!" This went on for a while, so long in fact that Ziun was already starting to wonder if he'd ever get into what he'd wanted. The young bard rubbed the bridge between his nose, sighing slightly. "...one would think this would be easier than it is. No one wants to point me in the right direction..." he sighed again, looking up to the sky somewhat. "My sweet Goddess of Poetry and Music, Xara...please aid me in this trying time." He was planning to head on back to his room at the tavern, but however...someone took interest. Albeit, this was a young little girl of seven or eight years old...this was unorthodox to say the least, but if this was his goddess' will...maybe it would be alright with that. "Mister. Why do you wanna find them? Do you wanna arrest them like the scary guard lady?" "Nothing of the sort, little one." Ziun gave a small smile, crouching down to be at eye level. "Quite the contrary actually. I wish to meet with them to inquire about potentially working for them. They're a family of renowned illusionists, and I also wish to better myself along with help my newfound allies as we dive further into the Dungeon. Having them as a sponsor for the expedition could prove beneficial for all parties involved." He chuckled, shaking his head slightly. "But, alas, that's only if I can find them. I only found Zion on a passing whim the first time." "U-um...does that mean you are a really strong loo-zun-est?" "To an extent..." Ziun rubbed the back of his neck a bit sheepishly. He shifted slightly and waved his one hand in front of him to make an illusory butterfly fly from his hand and around the young girl. "I will say, I am no where near their level. My previous dive into the dungeon definitely showed me that. But, it's a trick of the trade I was given. Perhaps while working with the Apati's...perhaps I can learn even more from them and become better myself." The girl put a finger to her chin and tilted her head "If you're not as good what are you gonna do for them?" "Whatever I can, if I'm to be really honest." Ziun sighed a bit, waving his hand slightly as the butterfly slowly began to dissipate. "Fact of the matter is I'm simply doing anything I can to help those I've allied myself with. My normal method of doing things proved to be...unfruitful...so much to the point where I lost a dear comrade. I went through there haphazardly and it costed us dearly. Therefore, I have to be better prepared, and I feel as if the only way to do that...is to seek out one of the families and try to get them to sponsor myself and my allies." He paused, sighing again. "I know not much of the other families, but I have had the pleasures of talking with the Apati head at least once..." The girl looked confused "You talk a lot, mister..." He paused, before chuckling. "Apologies, I guess I do." Ziun was actually surprising himself...why was he talking so much to this child to begin with? Honestly, he felt like he was giving a bit too much information to the young child. "But but...but mister, if you can't...if you can't do somethin for them then a-are you just trying to t-take advantage of t-them?" she asked, and began to cry. Ziun noticed the young girl start to cry, as he immediately pulled his lute out and began to play just a few chords, having quite a few small cute illusions dance around the two of them. "It's more of, I know not what I can really contribute to them. This bard can only provide what he can, and I'm not even sure that'll even be enough. But no, I assure you, I'm not taking advantage of them." "B-but d-daddy says" she sniffled. "Daddy says that if you want somethin from someone you hafta have something to offer..." "Well, your father would be right." Ziun nodded. "I'm simply afraid I don't have much. All I can offer is my services as a bard. I'd offer my life, but something tells me the Apatis may not find it worth much. That and I don't believe they're in the business of slave labor...least, not to my knowledge." ...why did he say that? "Your life mister? You'd go that far?" She looked fascinated by the statement. Ziun did notice the fascination behind the girl's eyes and was a bit worried, but he relented. "...aye, if that's what it took to make sure my allies were taken care of and not be in the situation we found ourselves within the dungeon earlier, I suppose I would." He paused playing, the illusions fading around them. "I'd rather not lose another like I lost the dread pirate Robin...not again." Again, why did he even say that? What was possessing him to say that? Or was it...he actually wanted this that bad? Either way, perhaps it was for the best that he stop while he was ahead. The girl nodded, and then she spoke, in a less childish voice, "Might be able to arrange that." She started to fade away and then Ziun felt something hit the back of his head and everything went dark. ...fuck...
  18. "Ayyyyy Gobby! Been a bit! What's the plan this time? Drag me into a new dimension, attempt to squash the spider? Ooooh! Or are you planning to open that Goblin themed restaurant you've always wanted??" The shout came from a nearby water tower that stood atop a building, almost level with where Oren hovered upon his glider. Spider-Goblin pivoted in the air, instantly locking onto the target. Another Spider-Man. Lowering himself into a crouch, he clutched the front of his glider and rocketed toward the new arrival, "Can't say this was my doing. That mean you're from another world as well, Spider-Man?" Despite his ostensibly cordial greeting, Oren had already pulled out and armed a pumpkin bomb, just in case. "..." Multi-Threader looked inquisitively at the "Goblin", tilting his head and squinting slightly. "...you're not Norman, I take it. Let's see, Goblin Glider...check. Pumpkin Bombs...check. Weird spider themed outfit? Yeah, you definitely ain't Norman. The spider theme would definitely clash with his fairy/goblin totem shtick." He rubbed his chin, looking directly at the stranger. "Also...Spider-Man? That sounds kinda...bland. The Magnificent Multi-Threader, at your service." he gave a bit of a bow. Oren narrowed his eyes at this 'Multi-Threader' who seemed comfortable abandoning everything about Parker's moniker but the hyphen. Hell, I don't even think he has a shocking clue who Parker is. The spider spoke of fairies and totems, which Oren immediately discounted as some kind of nonsense superstition from Multi-Threader's native world. The strange spider gave a bow, and as he brought his head back up the two spider-men made eye contact (albeit through lenses) for the first time. It was then that Oren felt it. His spider-sense, or Arachnofrequency as Richards had once called it, was buzzing in a way he had never felt before. He could feel it bouncing off of and interacting with a similar signal coming from this strange person. In a second, he could feel how different the worlds they came from must be, and at the same time felt how the two young men were the same. "You're... Like me." | BGM | "You're... Like me?" Multi-Threader was surprised, feeling the same sort of feeling he felt while fighting Mysterio, and yet...it was bouncing off and interacting with this "Goblin". "...wait...there's others like me? Er...like us?" "Seems so." Oren stood up straight, disarming his pumpkin bomb and dropping it back into his pack. "Spider-Goblin, by the way. Think there are many more of us here?" "Spider...Goblin..." Multi-Threader had that name roll off his tongue, shaking his head slightly. "Yeah, that's a combination that I didn't think would work...buuuuut that would explain why you're rocking the Goblin's tech." he shrugged, before looking around. "Honestly, if I had to guess, I'd say there might be. This Manhattan lookin' location of Metro City may actually hold some more answers about it." "It's something of a hand-me-down. Trust me, the name's got some baggage where I'm from, too." Looking out over the city, Spider-Goblin rolled his shoulders, culminating the motion in a clap in front of him. "You got that buzz from me too, right? I'm thinking if we tune our arachnofrequencies together we might be able to pick up the locations of any others like us. You and I make for two antennae, with a bit of math we should be able to track any others down easily enough." "Archnofrequencies? So that's what you call it?" Multi-Threader asked, chuckling some. "May have to add that to my lexicon now...in any case, you're right. We may be able to get our Spider-Senses to link up with others, iiiiiiif there are any others." Multi-Threader was going to suggest a pair of particularly tall buildings to potentially hold up for the moment and see if they could potentially find more like them…cause if there were two, perhaps there were more. It was pretty sound logic if anything. But the key of all this was: he WAS going to do that. The original plan was thrown out the window, because of one thing. "GOBLIN FLYER!!!! TODAY WAS MY DAY! HOW DARE YOU TRY TO FINISH HIM INSTEAD OF LETTING ME?!" Whipping his head around, Multi-Threader found the source of the yelling: a man clad in rhino garb and paraphernalia. This looked like the Rhino, all things considered, buuuuuuuut his Rhino from his universe came from…technically was a full on man turned rhino. Crazy how that worked, but even still. Oh, there was also the fact that the cars were being launched their way. “Alright, I’m going to take it that this ain’t a friend of yours.” he chuckled, cracking his knuckles a bit. “Let’s do a quick split up between the two of us. I’ll keep Aleksei occupied, you head to those tall skyscrapers over there…wait…crap, is he even Aleksei? I shouldn’t assume.” Multi-Threader was about to leap into action, but was stopped and tossed a little radio at him. “A radio, that’ll definitely keep us in contact. Sayonara for now, ‘Gobby’.” he gave a two-fingered salute as he jokingly called Spider-Goblin this before leaping off the water tower, narrowly dodging another car as he swung towards the rampaging nutjob. “Bonjourno!” he laughed, shooting a web right into the Rhino Ruler’s face. “Allow me to properly introduce myself…the Magnificent Multi-Threader, at your service!” "Wait, which are you?" Rhino Ruler roared as the webs covered his eyes. "You sound too girly to be Scarlet-Rider, but too manly to be Ghost-Rider!" He swung blindly at the air, trying to swat Multithreader like a fly. "Eh, it doesn't matter! GIVE ME SPIDER-RIDER!" "Scarlet-Rider?” It definitely checked out that this wasn’t the same Rhino he was used to. Never even heard of a Scarlet-Rider. However… “Ghost-Rider? We talking about the one with the flames on his head?" Multi-Threader dodged the blindly swinging Rhino-man. "And girly? That's just rude!" He swung around towards Rhino Ruler's back and stuck to him. "Now how about we just take a deep breath and calm you and your well defined suit muscles down?" "Calm down? Calm down?!" Rhino Ruler tried to reach Multithreader, but the hero was just out of his reach. "Even if you're some new Spider, you know the rules, and so do I! A full commitment is what I was thinking of! I won't get satisfaction from crushing other guys!" "Wait...are you..." Multi-Threader was silent for a moment. He almost had a dumbfounded look on his face…or, at least from what one would be able to tell on a masked vigilante. "...did you just Rick Roll me?" "... Oh! That's a great idea!" Rhino Ruler smirked as he fell to his stomach. He began to roll around, trying to crush the spider on his back. "I dunno who Rick is, but I shoulda rolled a long time ago!" "Me and my big mo-WOAH!" Multi-Threader yelped as he immediately jumped off landing on the wall of a nearby building. "Sheesh, and I thought Mysterio ripping off both Mick Jagger and Elivs was bad...you're just a plain ol' hater of music from the sounds of it." "Music is for the weak!" Rhino Ruler growled as he rolled around. "It's for people with delicate fingers that strum strings, or... people without super strength that don't break the drums... or..." He paused, laying on his back as he suddenly heard a new voice cry out. “The SPIDER is swinging into action, baby!! Whoo!!” "Another new Spider?!" Rhino struggled to get back on his feet, tugging at the webs at his eyes again. "Where is... SPIDER-RIDER?!" A new Spider entered the fray, so his general assumption was correct. Seems like the spiders attract one another. Ooooooh, that would be a great hook for a novel! Chosen warriors found and brought together by a singular common factor... Multi-Threader thought, glancing down at his hand, seeing a spider seeming to look like it was writing down notes. "Mental notes, for sure. Gotta love the mental link." he nodded, looking in the direction of this new Spider. "Buenos días! Or would it be Buenas noches? Can't tell with this locale...came to help with the Rhino over here?"
  19. The bard made haste to the marketplace, with his mind set on selling rapier. He wasn't hoping for a whole lot for this weapon, of course, but it should be enough to assist in purchasing some items for the next trek into the Dungeon. His mind, of course, was to purchase some healing potions. That was his main priority, that way they could mitigate the chance that people could not succumb to their wounds during their floor challenge. Ziun refused to have that happen again, he made sure of it. Nevertheless, when Ziun located the local Blacksmith, he proceeded to begin the selling process of the rapier...only to find that it sold for less than he would've generally hoped for. Ziun left the smithy and reevaluated his coin situation. He knew that with the rapier profit and his tips from the night before when playing his lute for the tavern's patrons would only bring up enough to pay for two healing potions...max. He lamented this conundrum, but he figured it was better than nothing at the moment. Regardless, the bard made his way to the magic shop, entering it and was entranced by the paraphernalia that lined the walls and shelves...quite the spread of potions, draughts, and tonics...along with many magical items. There, behind the counter, stood the shopkeep. The moment Ziun walked in, the shopkeep was basically already attempting to sell him as much as possible with all the magical items...simply to get a leg up over the other adventurers. It was an intriguing offer, but he had limited funds...he needed to remember that. He let him do his sales-pitch for the time being, knowing this was the man's bread and butter in a sense. "I appreciate the suggestion, my good sir." Ziun gave a half hearted smile. "But alas, I only have enough currently for the healing potions. My rapier did not bring the profit I originally hoped for, nor my tips for my music be enough." "There's plenty of ways to earn money if you look for them, trust me trust me with all the families working towards the Spark, a regular guy with no sponsor has quite the uphill climb. Perhaps you should try and get together as much as you can there's many fine choices when it comes to magic items." "Hmmm you seem to be knowledgeable in that regard." Ziun nodded, rubbing his chin. "Pray tell, how terrible is the uphill climb for one such as I? Surely it can't be as bad as you say." "Oh but it is, the other families send veritable armies of gifted mages and expensive mercenaries into the Dungeon after all. They all very badly want to be the one to find the Spark." "How many return?" he asked, inquisitively. "Aside from that, I'm afraid to say that my last dive into the Dungeon proved to be, less fruitful and full of coin as I would've liked." "Well, enough to keep the expeditions going at least. But it is rather dangerous...especially for those not armed with magic items." "I gathered as much..." he paused, sighing with a shake of his head. "Alas, before I decided to forego my blade and return to conjuration, all I had were my illusions, my lute and my rapier. I do agree with you that it is dangerous for those not armed with magical items." "I see I see. Well you can never go wrong with a powerful item or two you know. Make sure to keep that in mind next you find yourself a windfall of gold." "When I do, this will be the first shop I visit, no question on that." Ziun laughed, handing over the coin for the two healing potions. "In the meantime, perhaps there's a job around town that could befit my talents. Who knows, I may return quicker than you think, my good sir." "Why I would be delighted if that turned out to be true." Ziun handed the coins that he exchanged for the two healing potions, before bidding the shopkeep farewell for the moment. But what he said did stick within the bard's mind: the families had gifted mages and mercenaries that they sponsored to the Dungeon in order for glory as well in an effort to look for the Spark. This actually "sparked" something in his mind. While he didn't know very many of the other families outright...he knew one and what was more, he knew the head. The problem being? The Apati mansion location was an enigma. It would pop up here and there, but it was usually a fake mansion. They were a family of Illusionists, so naturally this would be the case. But Ziun was determined to figure something out...perhaps Zion and the Apati family could assist in some manner... "Aye...it wouldn't hurt to try." Ziun smirked, adjusting his hat and flipping his cloak's collar up before making his move through the marketplace...where he began to ask about the Apati family as best he could to anyone and everyone. He'd find them, he figured he would. After all, the last time he "found" Zion, he simply was enjoying the atmosphere of the city. This time, however, this time he was actually seeking him and his family out.
  20. Before getting to the casino, Override made a stop by his workshop. He needed to grab something that could potentially help against those at the casino. A little project he was working on: a power dampener. “Sir, are you sure that it's wise to pull this out now?” P.I.X.E.L. asked inquisitively. “Better now than never.” Override pocketed the dampener. “This should give us a bit of an edge against them…especially if it works like it's intended to.” “Aye sir.” Without much of anything else, Override took off and blasted off in the direction of the casino to properly rendezvous with the others in his squad. Now initially, the plan was…if things worked properly…he could do a surprise fly-by, drop the power dampener and then crash through the nearest ceiling window and make a grand entrance. At least…that was the initial plan. “Alright, I'm nearing the site. Let's attempt to do this qu-...” “Hate working with asphalt, but it’s only polite to knock.” …oh no… CRASH!!!! Override heard the crash in the background of his radio transmission and sighed. “P.I.X.E.L., did the raging bull do what I think she just did?” “So it would seem, sir. I suppose we forego the stealth aspect?” “May as well.” Override sighed, grabbing the power dampener. “Do me a favor…if we're going in loud and hot like this, let's get a bit of a rock into this.” “At once sir. Playing the quote, Ass Kicking Playlist, now.” Caesar... You miss me? Override's HUD displayed the roof of the casino…it was hot with Gibbon security, total of five from what he could see. Four on the four corners of the roof and the fifth in the middle, above the giant slot machine. Given the trajectory of the path he was flying at, also factoring in the spacing of the goons as well as the wind speeds…he'd be able to drop the dampener and have its field of effect hit at least one of the corner guards and the slot machine one. “Here goes nothing.” he flew overhead, immediately dropping the power dampener. Once it left his grasp, he activated the dampener via his suit. Within second of touching down on the roof, the two goons were in it and were feeling the effects immediately. “Bullseye.” He got closer, the slot machine one produced a bow made of golden light…but the problem came that there was not a shot fired off. The dampener was working splendidly. The goon shouted something to the corner one who immediately threw himself off the roof. Override thought this was a desperate tactic or just insane, but immediately understood what was going on: falling out of range of the dampener's field. Once that happened, the goon had his flight ability regained. “Impressive…maybe they aren't all talk. Still, the power dampener worked perfectly. Mental note: make more...” Override muttered, watching the bowman scramble to get out of the area of the dampener. The other three began to mobilize and take cover. One taking cover by the stairs, one taking cover behind the ventilation pipes and the last was fiddling with a belt. It seemed to be a forcefield projection belt. First thing was first. He focused on the bowman and fired a pulse bolt at the right angle, knocking him down and out cold. “Alright, now there's only three.” he nodded, before slowly descending towards the three, while also seeing the one flying overhead. Make that four...right... The one goon who finally fiddled with the belt long enough to get a forcefield up stood there triumphantly. Override took this moment to test something. He fired an immediate pulse bolt at the bubbled goon and watched as the bolt hit the shield and sort of…dissipated. It was spread out and nullified. “A nullification of any energy when it hits the forcefield. That is impressive, for sure.” he smirked under his helmet and continued. “Stand down or I'll drop another dampener. Things will be much easier for you lot if you just surrender.” Of course, Override was bluffing…he only had the one dampener currently, but they didn't need to know that. After saying this, the one at the stairwell immediately bolted. Apparently that one was having none of this. The one who was in the air seemed to keep quiet, which he figured was for the best. Regardless if he got out of the last one, there was always a chance to clip someone's wings as it were. The forcefield one though, he had a mouth on him. "Yeah, I got Tinker tech too, why don't you come down here and let me show you some?" The one by the pipes, now emboldened, spoke next. "You think everyone Caesar stashed in this casino can't handle four guys?” Override only touched down on the roof and crossed his arms, staring at the loudmouth with the belt. He might've looked like he was just staring him down, but within the suit, he was going to work. His technopath power was serving him well as he could see the workings of the belt and its inner machinations. He knew how this belt worked now…and with a simple thought, he had it work for him: “Disengage”. The belt seemed to power down quite a bit, and the forcefield shut off. The goon looked down and around him before beginning to whimper slightly. “So you were gonna show me Tinker tech, huh?” Override said with sarcasm dripping from each word. “Seems like it's having performance issues…not uncommon…one out five…” “Sir I do not wish to alarm you, but it appears we are sinking into the roof.” Override noticed it the moment P.I.X.E.L spoke, clicking his tongue slightly. Seemed like the roof was the Tinker tech that the loudmouth was talking about, he figured. Regardless, least the party started off right. “So it would seem…well, guess we're doing the one plan regardless.” he sighed, as he proceeded to crash through the roof.
  21. Rome…the City of Seven Hills. Quite the beautiful city, one of many in fact. Not even the Crisis could ruin its beautiful scenery of the ancient civilization's architecture that continued to stand the test of time. For Neal, however, it was an untapped fount of potential things to be stolen… Historical relics, art, even historical records of days past…all of it, ripe for the stealing and taking. The thief lamented, however, that he was here specifically under the watchful eye of this Anti-MIRROR team. Such a wasted moment… Neal sighed quietly, exiting the train with everyone else. I curse my lucky bag for just opening and spilling it's contents so easily. Nevertheless, he was present (somewhat) as Austin spoke. "You can gawk at it later. We have a job to do first. John, you take Íroas and the new members and make your way to the Triumvirate, the girls and I will see about finding a hotel to stay in while we're in town." Neal watched Austin leave, shaking his head slightly. Part of him wished that he would go about this another way. In his mind, he could treat this whole operation like a big heist. Survey the area, know routines and patterns, find the best time to move…profit. Sure they could just go to the Triumvirate and be done with it, but where was the fun? They could easily survey the area on the way and just make sure no MIRROR people were around. Basic stuff really. Regardless, he heard John and Sita start talking. "Alright. So. Boss says we gotta meet up with the Triumvirate, and he's not wrong, buuuuuuuuuuuuuut... we're in Rome! The chance to essentially get an all-expenses-paid trip to this city doesn't come along every day. If we happened to get a little distracted along the way, I'm sure he'd understand, as long as we got to that meeting today. There's a lot to see, after all, and I've been studying the layout of the city for the entire week it took to get here." "I have always wanted to see some of the sights here up close. But the Triumvirate doesn't feel like a group we should keep on hold...It's gonna bug me if I don't get to it. I'll go find my way to their headquarters and meet any sightseers in the team there." Neal saw this as an opportunity, a good one at that. He gave a sly smirk, a quick one to where no one could see it at first. Then, he made his move. "Relax, Sita. Live a little!" Neal waved Sita's concerns off for a bit. "The old saying is, 'When in Rome, do as the Romans do', it'd be a crime to just rush into the Triumvirate's presence without enjoying the view." He was telling the truth, in a sense, but part of him did want something more from this. One thing particularly, and it was on his list...here in Rome. "Plenty of museums to learn the rich history of this land...breathtaking scenery...what's not to love?” "Yeah, I know," Sita sighed. "It just feels weird being here for some kind of official business." The girl took a deep breath, steeled her nerves, and shook it off. "Right, that's not me at all! There's sights to see, and not only have I been here a couple times, but we've also got a local hero in our midst!" Sita enthusiastically gestured toward Íroas at that final mention, and indeed, some folks within the crowds of Mercurius Grand Station started taking notice of the tower of a man within the group. "That's two guides!" "Three," John corrected. "Three guides! I'm sure the Triumvirate's busy with... Triumvirate stuff... so let's hit the town for a bit! Pick a guide and let's roll! I'm more of a "scenic views" type girl than a fan of huge monumental stuff, so if that's your vibe, come with me and let's hit the streets!" With renewed vigor, Sita began marching off away from the group, intent on finding viewpoints around the city that wouldn't look out of place on a painting in some rich man's mansion. "I was thinking of a quick museum trip, myself," John mused aloud. "Roma's pretty proactive about rounding up anything connected to the historical Roman Empire, and a lot of that history is kept in this very city. Plus, we've got a bit of a museum enthusiast in the team, don't we?" John gave Neal a nudge with his elbow at that, before leaning in to whisper additional words of advice to the crew's criminal. "A newer saying in this city is "Caesar's eyes are everywhere." Officially, I need to tell you not to do anything illegal, but I'm also powerless to stop you, so I'm letting you know that's not just some conspiracy theory. Be careful if you try to steal anything important.” "Forever the museum enthusiast, can't help that fact whatsoever." Neal gave a chuckle, smiling widely, before leaning in slightly and gave a whisper in response. "Caesar's eyes are everywhere? Thanks for the tip...just makes things more exhilarating for me...but do know this, there's something in this city...and per my wants and desires, I refuse to leave without it." He pretended to stretch and gave another smile, pointing to John. "I think I found my tour guide. John and I will just have a grand ol time!” Neal may have worn a genuine but excited smile on his face now, but behind it and within his own mind lay the biggest Cheshire Cat grin. One of the biggest scores he could gain on his personal list was here, and a chance to have his name...Arsène Beau's name...propelled into the higher echelon of thiefdom: the spearhead of the Lance of Longinus. He knew this would be a difficult thing to work with, but the chance of a thrill...it made his blood boil with excitement.
  22. It seemed that Fen decided to join him and Melissa, and proceeded to answer his question first. Of course, he didn't mind, considering they both were out together at the same location. He'd get the information about it regardless. "Good morning, Trevor and Melissa. Oh yesterday was wonderful. I learned about this new card game called Yugioh that, well, Melissa herself seems fairly well acquainted with. We even had a match against Fiona though, I'm uh, I'm afraid I might've just been weighing her down." “Oh, don’t sell yourself short, Fen. You held your own. I don’t think we would have won without your input. Besides, you beat your half of the Spike Brothers, right? And Trevor, I’m sorry we didn’t invite you. The message was addressed to us. I guess we just didn’t think about it.” Trevor nodded, giving a chuckle, noticing that their resident fish-man finally returned from his mission. Good on him for sure! "Ah, fret not, Melissa. There's always the next time. And I'm quite intrigued...it sounds like a game that people would've played in my own home-world. Wouldn't mind a look into that game at some point." he sipped his coffee once more before turning to Aduain. "And welcome back to you, my fishy friend. It seems like your mission went swimmingly..." The grimoire flipped it's pages. "...tell me you did not just make that joke." The sorcerer was silent, before clearing his throat. "...I realize the context in those words came out...unintentional." he said, drinking more of his coffee. "Nevertheless! So, what's on our agenda for today, on the count that our top-hatted benefactor has not given us any new news or missions."
  23. Neal practically watched his entire thieving career go down the tubes at this point. He was now basically a pawn in this Anti-MIRROR force for the government...this wasn't the kind of roll of the dice he was expecting to deal with. But it was the way things would go, the dice fell where they lay, and he had to deal with it. Besides...it'd all be his for the taking anyway. Best to just play along with these folks for the time being...just until he can profit properly. "Alright team, we've got new members. I want each of you to introduce yourselves one at a time, name and area of expertise, to help our new faces get familiar." "I'm John West, an engineer. Officially, I'm actually a civil engineer - or, was I guess, before joining up here - but to be honest I know more about weapons than infrastructure. If you need something built or fixed, I'm your guy." "Dayna Miller, nousology specialist and the woman who runs our analytics. I'm completely useless in a fight, so unless you need me to look at something, don't bother me. Especially not for poker night." "Definitely don't bring her, she cheats! Doesn't even try to hide it!" "Yes, yes, we're all aware. Sorry for her little outburst. We're May & Fay Schneider. May is our combat expert, and until about a week ago, I've been spying on MIRROR from the inside." "And I'm Abby. Abby Collins. I can do some mechanical fixing up too, but I'm actually here as the team doctor. I can't perform any surgeries, but I can fix you up if you get ripped to shreds out there. Try to avoid that, though." "And that's our team. You've joined just in time to get to see the world, in fact. Now that our job at the centennial is wrapped up, we're being deployed to Novaroma. The Triumvirate's also in on our little operation - they were even kind enough to send the twins our way, in fact - and a few days ago, a letter arrived saying they have some intel we'd be interested in. Hope none of you are prone to seasickness." Well this was certainly a motley crew if Neal ever saw one. They seemed to each have their own niche in terms of a coherent team...though he doubted that theirs would fair any better in the grand scheme of things. "I expect introductions at the level of our seniors by the time I return!" The young man watched the dino man walk off, shaking his head slightly. ...I highly doubt that'll be the case. Not like most of us are going to be exactly friendly towards one another in an instant...unless he thinks we will. Might have to ask what he's on and if he's got more cause I may need some. he smirked at this thought, hearing the others starting to chatter some more. "That dino's got a point. I just realized I don't even know your name. Mine's Sita, so mind filling me in on yours?" "Yeah, you can call me Ta-...er, my name's Tsurumi." "And just like that, we're friends! Officially, I mean. Actually... does anyone here know their way around a fight?" "Kinda," "Hm. What about you three?" "Depends." "I suppose I may as well give an introduction, seeing as we'll be working together...albeit against my will..." Neal trailed off at the end of that sentence before he cleared his throat, giving a smile. "Neal LeBeau, though I suppose...considering you may not know me by that name, I'll say the persona I go by in my line of work: Arsène Beau, gentleman thief extraordinare, at your service." There was some quiet murmuring from behind the table, between the team members seated back there, at the mention of an "Arsène Beau." However, none of them seemed to have any comments on the matter worth sharing with the roster's new additions. Sita, however, did. With a tilt of her head and a raised eyebrow, she asked "Who?" Neal was quiet before rubbing the bridge of his nose slightly. "Surely you jest. Surely you know of Arsène Beau, the gentleman thief that's been stealing quite a bit important things. An example, my previous exploits in Chicago...I stole the entirety of their Chinese Jade exhibit...making a profit by returning them to their rightful homeland. It was in the papers and tabloids." "Sorry, I haven't been in or near Chicago for a while before today. I must have missed that edition." In somewhat of a contrast to Sita's failure to recognize the story, there were at least a couple "Ohhhhhh"s of mild realization from the table. "Let me guess, you got caught red-handed?" Dayna asked from her seat. "From that? Certainly not, my dear." Neal pointed at Dayna, wagging a finger. "I was in and out without much of an issue. Now a chase, yes, but was never caught...until...today." He let out a bit of a sigh, waving his hand dismissively. "I suppose every thief is to be caught eventually." "Most criminals get caught sooner or later. Preferably sooner, no offense." "I feel like there was some venom behind those words there, but you are correct." Neal shrugged. "Regardless, tis a roll of dice I was presented." "And now you're here, working with a top-secret federally-sanctioned team to try and stop a bunch of terrorists. I'm sure a thief's skillset will come in handy sooner or later." "That is the hope, if I'm honest." the young man chuckled, as he glanced in Iroas' direction, hearing him speak. "Oh, I'm probably not going to work with you all." Iroas said as he ate another burger. "More than likely. Nova Roma will have their own Anti-MIRROR strike force and I'll join that." "A wonderful addition to the conversation, my stoic ally." Neal sighed, glancing at the plate of food Iroas had. When he shrugged, he lifted his arm up to him to show...a burger now in his hand, most likely to Iroas' shock, but the young man never moved. "Pity that we won't be working together, but...oh well." He took a hefty bite from the burger, taking a moment to have it process before continuing. "And to answer your question, I'm more of a...non-combatant with my skill set. But, doesn't mean I don't know how to. I just prefer not to."
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