Walpurgisnacht [IC/PG-16/Conditional Acceptance]

[Chaos Sonic 444]

The moment Override, A.V.D. and Minos exited the casino, Override took to the skies. "I'm going on ahead, I'll give you directions after I get a direction for everything." he said, before blasting off upward. "Director, this is Override. We've officially left the casino, I'm having P.I.X.E.L. send you the information we gathered from there." the Tech Hero flew quickly in the direction of the Battle Labs, noticing the blip on his radar. "Care to inform me on what's going on at present?"

"Roy and two of the Fates are setting up a perimeter, making sure we cut off all the escape routes before we send in a larger strike team."

"Alright, that takes care of one situation...but what about..." Override stopped mid-air, looking at the beast on the horizon. "...that's a big guy... I'm going to go on a limb and say that's Caesar's doing?"

Director Sekelsky sighed. "I don't have time for this, Override. I'm trying to save the world right now. Yes, that's fucking Project Rubicon."

"Look, I get that, but I've already had to deal with the fact I went on a wild goose chase to the casino where Legion and Tidebinder was...only to realize that was basically a wasted effort." Override replied a bit irritated, but sighed. "Give me one second..."

The armored hero put himself on mute as he looked in the direction of the Battle Labs and then in the direction of the beast known as Project Rubicon. Both were situations that needed addressing as soon as possible...if not sooner. He sighed slowly. "P.I.X.E.L., I need you to run some data for me...some calculations..."

"Finding out the probabilities and odds between the two, sir?"

"...yeah..."

"At once." the Scottish voice simply said, before going silent as various calculations and numbers started scrolling through Override's HUD. It was a few moments before the A.I.'s voice returned. "Data has been processed. The success rate between both finding Caesar at Battle Labs and fighting against Rubicon both sit at an approximate 65%." He paused, as the next set of data started scrolling on the HUD. "That said, the casualty rate for each is drastically different. Rubicon's casualty rate is approximately at a 87%, unfortunately."

"Damnit..." he cursed, weighing his options. "The bigger threat, literally and figuratively, is Rubicon. The damage that thing will do and the casualties it'll make are high...but at the same time..." His eyes drug towards the direction of Battle Labs. "He's the mastermind behind Project Rubicon...which means if anything...he might be able to know how to exactly stop it."

"In theory."

Override nodded, before resuming the connection. "...alright. I'll be rendezvousing over at Battle Labs to join in the hunt for Caesar. If necessary, I can divert A.V.D. and Minos to assist with the evacuation and dealing with Rubicon."

[radio414 910]

Abyss Angel

“Where’s DEUS?” someone asked.

“Short North,” was the answer. “But he was headed north from there, so if he takes the right turns from there, maybe?”

Clotho was in charge of the front lines facing off against Project Rubicon. She had an earpiece on, and if one was really paying attention, they’d notice a few more capes going around with similar paraphernalia. She broke off from mumbling into it when she saw Sibyl arrive, though. “Did you win?” she said, in the sort of tone that made it clear there hadn’t really been any doubt. “You’ll have to tell me all about it. Later, obviously. Right now, well…” Her tone made the conclusion of that sentence obvious too.

“We’ve got two things to worry about: Figuring out what’ll actually shut that thing down… or kill it? I guess figuring out which of those verbs is the right one is step one of that. The second is keeping it from being able to focus on the main bulk of Scarlet City. That’s what all the fliers are for.” She gestured upwards. Flying around Project Rubicon’s face were all sorts of airborne capes, some winged, some with tinker tech, some with some other power. They were like tiny mosquitos to Project Rubicon, though. Every so often, the behemoth raised its arm to cut a swath through the swarm, and they all scattered, but they came back just as determined. One of them streaked right across its eyeline, and it turned its whole body to try and follow.

Project Rubicon took a step. It was away from the main hub of Scarlet City, though that flier still had to get completely out of the thing’s sight.

A voice blasted over her earpiece so loud that it was audible to everyone in the vicinity. “Maybe we could lead it to where DEUS is?”

Clotho winced. “Levels, watch it,” she said as she tapped her headset. “We’ll call that Plan B.” She returned her attention to Sibyl and produced some Tinker tech that Sibyl would hopefully recognize. It was two of the items she had pilfered from Dee Moxley’s warehouse a week ago, the toy-looking ray gun one of them had wielded, and what looked like a puzzle box with a bright red button on top of it encased in a safety glass dome. “Catch,” Clotho said, though she only held the items out for Sibyl to take. “Maybe we’ll try these too, whatever they are. Can’t hurt.”

Project Rubicon took another step. Clotho turned to watch this one, and one could practically see the gears turning in her head. “Oh that’s a thought,” she said. She turned back. “Hey, gotta run and find a Tinker or a Thinker or… something, but yeah, we’re in ‘throwing stuff at the wall’ mode right now. If something does work, make sure to let someone know, yeah?” And she went off.

But Sibyl was not alone for long. In Clotho’s place, drifting down from above, was Cassiopeia. Cassiopeia looked like she had just fallen across the sky about as fast as her power could manage, though her clothes still somehow looked no worse for it. She gave Sibyl a light smile and tapped her cheek like she meant to say, “You sounded like you really want to punch that thing in the face. Need a lift?”

The Killer

Battle Labs was a pretty unassuming building just looking at it from the outside. It was of the brutalist school of architecture -- an all-concrete exterior that had been painted white to give the faintest impression of an aesthetic beyond that. It was mathematically interesting in that the part of the building that was above ground was a perfect cube, but only the sort of nerd who eventually wanted to work there cared about any of that. Many of the windows on the ground floor were broken, but it was safe to assume that, on a normal day, they were perfectly intact.

Roy was in the middle of his second lap around the makeshift perimeter surrounding Battle Labs when the capes arrived. “Lavender… Ochre…” He kept mumbling even more colors to himself as Sarah and Lachesis trailed behind. Lachesis had altered her gait into an exaggerated lockstep, arms swinging wildly back and forth. She was just careful enough to not whack Roy in the back of the head but was more careful not to distract Sarah, who was taking notes on Roy’s musings on a legal pad. They passed by the original strike team, who had pulled themselves back out to the perimeter and were in the process of licking their wounds -- metaphorically in most cases and literally in one.

It was Lachesis who noticed the two heroes first, somehow, despite her blindfold. “Heyyyyy,” she called out, making sure to pronounce each and every one of those ys as one of her arm swings turned into a lazy wave. “World’s ending and Captain Rainbow over here thinks we have time to go cross-checking every entry point. Atropos is by the main entrance back that way, if you care, which, you know, apparently we don’t.”

Roy stopped and sighed. “We’re not going in the main entrance. I don’t care if you mistrust my power or not, that’s also how they -- the original strike team -- went in, and look where that got us. Azure.” He made sure Sarah made a note of the new color and kept walking.

Lachesis put her hands up, and her tone and posture immediately changed. “Hey, I’m not doubting anything. We’re both Thinkers. I get it. Rubicon’s first beam hit near the old fairgrounds and went north-north-east, right? I know you don’t think I- my sisters and I can be altruistic, but at least believe my selfish desire to protect our territory, huh? And we’re not just that strike team anymore. We’ve got an actual force now, and we know where we’re going.”

“A larger set of capes is all the more reason to have a plan in place,” Roy said. “Especially with you two here. That’s two extra sets of orders when we need continuity of motion.” He took a few more steps and grimaced. “Gamboge. No, Amaranth.”

Roy still wasn’t looking at Lachesis, so she stuck her tongue out at him before turning her attention back to the new arrivals. “No hard feelings about me being right about where Caesar was, right Override? That Tinker guy built a cool trinket, we were just looking at two different things. But I know you were hanging out with that guy, I’d understand if you were upset on his behalf or whatever.”

Lachesis turned around and started heading the opposite way to Roy and Sarah. “There’s a side door back around this way,” she said. “There is kind of a plan. We’ve arranged a couple of waves, one after the other. That way if someone needs to fall back again, they can do so with confidence that someone is right behind them to take their spot. And if someone –” she looked over her shoulder at the heroes again, a clear knowing look on her face even through the blindfold “-- cuts a swath through whatever Gibbons are down there for us, well, we’ll all be that much closer to apprehending Caesar down there. Not that you need me telling you what to do, right?” She smirked.

“Wait!” Minos’ voice rang out running after the three as she tried to catch up with everyone. “I’m coming too!” she said. “Sorry I’m late, had to make sure A.V.D. was okay and talk to Ophiuchus a bit, but I’m here now. I know Override’s got those floor plans like he had for the casino, but I can help too. Hey, were you just standing around? Let’s go!”

---

Spoiler

Subtitles are songs by the band glass beach

We're all in new fights now, so I just moved everyone to where they said they wanted to be and set the scenes a bit. Seems self-explanatory where I might expect you all to go from here, but feel free to tell me to kick sand if you really want. That's always been an option, I promise. Just let me know,

-r

 

[LordCowCow 842]

Thessa arrived just in time. That is to say the boost from the time she had used was wearing off so had she not gotten there before then it would have taken more time, one way or another, to get to her destination.

The building itself wasn't much to look at. Certainly not a place that lived up to the "Battle" part of its name. "Labs" was still fitting enough she supposed. Still if that was where Caesar had gone she could forgive the boring exterior.

Her information must have been good after all given that there was a large amount of people gathered outside the place. Apparently they had found out where he was hiding as well. It was a bit weird they hadn't gone in yet but maybe they were waiting for something.

She frowned a bit as she listened to Roy and Lachesis speak and explain the situation. Apparently they had tried to go in after all and just failed. From the sounds of it she would have to use some more of her power to get inside, maybe even before meeting Caesar, which she supposed had its upsides as well as downsides. After all lately it seemed that she was being challenged, as in people trying to fight her not that they were hard fights of course, more often than she liked. Having to waste her time like that was starting to be a bother.

Perhaps if she made a show of it today that might shift a bit. Like an investment for the future.

It seemed that Roy was about to head off. Before he did Thessa spoke up. "Honestly didn't think there would be other people here. I was just gonna go through the front door."

"You're not the only one with a bone to pick against Caesar," Lachesis said, smiling a little.

Sarah added, "Director Sekelsky's call was for two locations, the other one a bit more obvious as to the scale of the fight. There are any number of reasons why a cape might choose this one over the other."

But Roy was firm in his conviction. "I'm not sending another team in the front door when there are so many other possible options. We just have to pick the right one."

It didn't surprise her, really, that Roy would say that. He was cautious. Which was probably good for the many lesser heroes he had to manage.

"Oh, there was a call. Guess that makes sense then." She looked over at Roy and giggled. "Oh, silly boy. I never said anything about a team." She began to walk in the direction of the main door. "I'll go myself."

In response to her words Lachesis looked at the other two capes who had just arrived and back at Aeon but said nothing.

Roy sighed. "Take a walkie talkie with you at least, so you don't miss another call. Not that you tend to listen. Sarah, do you have a spare?"

Sarah hesitated. "They're all.. by the main entrance, actually."

"Aight Roy Boy I'll pick one up on the way then. T B H I'm glad you guys are here, it's a long time coming that you actually see what I'm about." She waved and started picking up her pace.

Lachesis waved back, Roy did not, as she headed for the door. She noticed a cape handing out walkie talkies on her way there and called out to toss her one. She could at least carry it with her, though it was likely to get broken at some point during combat anyway, to appease Roy. It wasn't as if she hated him, or at least she didn't think she did, and it WAS on her way anyway.

She continued to the door. It was a revolving door, which she vaguely remembered enjoying using as a child, with one handicap door on either side. A sudden urge to see how fast she could make the door spin came over her but she decided against it and simply pushed her way through it and into the building. "Honey, I'm home!" She called out as she pushed on the door.