_Essex_

~epilogue~

"Hal-chan, wait for me!!"

Essex sprinted doggedly through the grass, her boots thumping lightly as she ran, blonde hair tossed in the light breeze. Pausing only a moment, she glanced around, sighing in the clearing.

"You're too fast!!" she whined, stomping her foot in protest. "And now you're invisible, aren't you? It's not fair! You're such a cheater!!"

"Hey Ess, heads up!!" came Solid's voice from behind.

"Wha-" she barely had time to turn around when a tennis ball neatly thwacked against her forehead, sending her toppling to the ground in a heap.

"Uh, oops." the assault drone added with a grin. "Fore?"

"Gawd, your aim is terrible." Delphi remarked, her sword on her shoulder as she leaned on a tree, having been lined up to slice the tennis ball in half. "You throw like a blender. A -girl- blender."

"Gah, Essex!" Hal's voice came from everywhere and nowhere as his green smoke burst into existance just beside her. "Are you okay?"

Quick as a flash, his feet were scooped out from under him as Essex grabbed his legs and pulled, toppling him to the ground as well. "Got you! You're it!" she laughed, tumbling to her feet and playfully skimming away.

Dr. West walked with Reikoff in another part of the gardens, this one paved with stepping stones and wrought-iron archways. He held a clipboard in his hands and was writing studiously as the two men discussed together.

"No, I don't think I'll tell anyone about the clean energy generators." West said simply. "I honestly don't think humanity is ready to have it without abusing it. Let the world first completely ruin what it has and realize how important it is before I supply it with more to waste."

"It's your decision, Doctor." Reikoff said with a shrug. "Though once you do decide to share the technology, give us a ring. Having the Malta Group sponsor something like this for the betterment of mankind would be a PR dream."

"Thank you, Commander." West said with a smile. "Maybe someday the world will learn how to cherish what it has...so they can better remember it when it's gone."

The synth-lights above shone brightly as the two men returned to the center of the garden room for the picnic Essex had prepared. She wasn't a very good cook, but nobody really seemed to mind. Gone was the circular console, gone was the containment tank, replaced only by a grassy hill. And not far away, in an area overlooked by vines and bright pink flowers, stood a single tombstone, wreathed in greenery. On it was inscribed in neat script:

Roksana West
Loving wife, caring mother.

My Guardian Angel.

[ QUOTE ]
((And exactly HOW many times are you going to kill Essex and then bring her back? ))

[/ QUOTE ]

((D: Oh, COME, ON. I've only done it twice, barring Final Fight! *weakly slapfights Hal* Who do you think Essex is, an X-Man? ))

[ QUOTE ]
So yeah, enjoy your stay, toss a character into Final Fight, be friendly, join the Essex Fan Club.

[/ QUOTE ]

D: KHELL~ *bonk on head* *hides under tablecloth* T_T

Anyway.

WELCOME!!

"Essex...?"

West knelt over the limp android, now a lifeless doll of plastic, steel, and silicone. Her eyes stared forward unseeing, not glowing green as they usually did or blue as they did when she was frozen, but a lightless grey.

Hallucinogen's hands shook as he hesitantly approached her himself, falling to his knees. "Essex. . ." he sobbed. "No. . .I. . .I won't accept this. I can't accept this. . ." His chest seemed to be smoking...black energy lazily rising in tendrils from the boy's form.

Solid was grimly silent for once as he looked on. He had seen the little android fall into dire straits; he had seen her recover from devastating damage, but...the unlikely presence of her soul had pulled her through every time. Now, as far as the assault droid could tell, that had been destroyed, and as such he really wasn't sure what could be done at this point.

Rosalind was in shock. "Holy..." she muttered, her tail down. "Did you see that? She just ...she ...but ...God DAMMIT! [censored] dramabot ruins EVERYTHING!" she suddenly shouted in a rage, shaking. Rosalind didn't want to admit it...but she was, really, attached to Essex. As much as it annoyed her.

"Calm down." Pherelith snapped. "It's unfortunate, but this [censored] happens."

Emry was just silent, his gun slowly lowering. "...A soul for a soul." he murmured. "So be it. These crimes demand restitution...and abomination though she may be, her soul was yet innocent." He fixed his eyes on West. "...Destroy this place, lest you waste her decision."

A soft chuckling interrupted him. It was a bitter sound, amusement tempered with utter hatred.

"Why don't you tell me..." Reikoff said, his eyes sharp with loathing and disgust even as his rough face was cracked in a grin, one of his many handguns raised and tilted just slightly with the sight on Emry's forehead. "Tell me something right now to keep me from blowing your [censored] head off. Go on. Tell me something. Tell me I'm breaking a law, tell me what I can and can't do. Because I swear to Christ." The commander's voice hardened into a malevolant snarl. "I swear to CHRIST if you don't say something within the next five seconds I'm going to melt your [censored] face off for what you've done. [censored] your laws, [censored] your Soul Police, [censored] every cell of your god damned metahuman body. Just look at what you've done."

"...I regret no action of mine." Emry said simply, regarding Reikoff with infuriating neutrality.

". . .Listen to you!" Hallucinogen yelled, tears streaming down his face as he whirled to face Emry, Rosie, and Pherelith. "Look at what you did!! I thought you were supposed to protect people, and. . .Now. . .Now Essex is dead! And she can't come back!! Even if Dr. West repairs her body, she won't be Essex anymore. She'll just be another robot, another. . .another lifeless automaton. You always go on about soul this, soul that. . .But. . .Don't YOU have a soul? Look. . .Take a good look at what YOU did."

"It was her choice." Pherelith answered him, folding her arms. "That little bot made the decision to take the shot instead of West. Don't blame us for her decision."

Throughout the whole argument, Dr. West simply knelt, looking dully at the form of Essex where she lay. Her chestplate was burned slightly, as the shot from the Spirit Disruptor was rather incorporeal, but other than that she seemed undamaged.

"...Foolish..." he murmured to himself. "I tried so hard to bring back both of you, and now I can't have either of you. I am truly a fool...to think that I ...to think that I was good enough to protect you when I couldn't in the first place."

A reassuring hand put weight on West's shoulder, and he looked up to see Solid standing at his side. "...You did your best, Doc." the android said simply. "Nobody can fault you for that. And you did a damned good job of it, too. This...well, this shouldn't have happened...but it did. And now we gotta go on. It's just what we have to do."

"Heh..."

The scientist stood, lifting Essex's limp form into his arms and nodding to Solid. "...Thank you, Solid Shot." he said.

The argument among the others, however, was escalating.

"Listen to all of you!" Rosalind yelled out angrily. "You think Essex would want you all fighting in here!?"

"You think Essex wanted to be shot and destroyed?" Reikoff replied darkly.

"It was her choice to make." Emry said simply.

"Stop saying that!" Hallucinogen snarled, his hands glowing with light. The blackness was mixing with a white glow, creating a silvery effect as he stood at the ready. "Of course she'd rather die than let anything happen to Dr. West. That's who she is!"

"Was." Pherelith muttered to herself quietly.

"...That does it." Reikoff said, and the next moment bullets were flying towards the Dread Trio as carnage began to erupt, Pherelith's and Emry's guns at the ready the next moment even as --

-- the bullets stopped in midair.

"What the hell?" Solid asked in bewilderment. The others were frozen, eyes wide, not knowing what to do. The grey android approached the bullet and tapped it with his finger, surprised as it clattered to the floor harmlessly. "...?"

"...Stop." a voice cut in among them.

West gasped.

A figure materialized between the fighting parties - a woman, about five and a half feet tall, dressed in flowing white with golden hair that rippled down her back in waves. She regarded the group with clear blue eyes, and her voice was calm, accented slightly with an Eastern European tinge.

"The ghost...." Rosie murmured.

"...Roksana...?" West choked out, his eyes bulging.

The specter regarded each of them, her eyes calm, but sad.

"Yes." she said. "It is I who have been disturbing Essex's sleep and who tried to bring you here. I am Roksana West....Daniel's wife, and Selene's mother."

"...Madam." Emry said, nodding his head.

"...Roksana..." West could only repeat. The others moved back to allow him to come forward, his eyes wide and childlike. "...It's really you. You're here..."

"Yes, Daniel." she said with a gentle smile, her incorporeal hands softly entwining with his. "I am here. I have been here for years now...watching you. Watching Essex. Waiting for you..." Roksana's eyes trailed off to the side. "...Waiting for you to let me go."

"What?" the doctor breathed.

"My darling Daniel..." the ghost said, looking back into his eyes fondly. "You try so hard for me. You try so hard to bring me back...to bring me back to be with Selene. But don't you know, darling? Selene...Selene is with me already."

"W, what. . .?" Hallucinogen caught his breath, his eyes widening. "But. . .Essex is. . ."

"Essex is Essex." Roksana said with a smile. "Selene is Selene. Selene died seven years ago, Daniel. You cannot change that. The being that you created in Selene's image...She may have remnants of Selene's spirit...but her soul is her own. Selene and Essex are like...the two halves of a forked tree. They have the same base, but...after a while, they grew apart and became independant. Essex is still an aspect of Selene to an extent...but...she has grown independantly now. She is her own person, with her own soul and mind. They may be a tribute...but they are unique."

"So..." West said, quietly, "Now I have lost both of them. I was given two chances...and I failed both, miserably. I failed you, Roksana."

"Nonsense."

The ghost was beaming at him, and suddenly, she was accompanied by two other, smaller ghosts, one clinging to each of her legs. To look at them was alarming as they were nearly identical, with the exception of the color of their eyes. Both...were Essex.

"...Essex?" Reikoff murmured, looking on in wonder.

The little girl with the green eyes turned to look at him, Roksana's hand on her back comfortingly. The one with blue eyes remained happily clinging to her mother, giving her suddenly sheet-white father a small smile.

"...Daniel." Roksana said. "Essex does not belong with me. She belongs with you, and with her friends. She has become a manifestation of good; a being devoted to peace and the preservation of all living things. But...please understand, my love. I can not return to you. I must take care of Selene...and the two of us will wait for you. Forever."

"Roksana..." West said, burying his face in his hands. "Selene..."

"Don't cry, Daddy." the blue-eyed Selene piped up cheerfully. "We love you. We'll be waiting for you at home."

"I understand." Dr. West said with a sigh. "But Essex..."

Roksana glanced down at the green-eyed Selene. "Go on, now." she said gently. "Go and be who you were meant to be."

With that, and an unsure glance, the green-eyed Selene let her hand slip from Roksana's...and vanished. The older specter looked up, and smiled.

"Goodbye, Daniel." she said. "Take care of Essex."

With that, she faded into nothingness, the soft giggle of the girl clinging to her echoing into the area.

Silence reigned for a few more seconds until Dr. West sighed heavily.

"Roksana..." he only murmured. "...Goodbye."

Suddenly Rosalind perked her ears. "Wait..." she muttered. "I smell--"

"Aanh..." Essex's voice piped up demurely as her eyes flickered back on, the electric green returning. "What...I..."

". . .Essex!!" Hal shouted, almost tackling her back to the ground. This was followed by Solid giving her a soft whack over the head.

"Don't DO that." he said, folding his arms.

Reikoff let out a breath, closing his eyes slightly. Everything was back to normal, more or less...the group of them a bit wiser for the experience. But, there were, of course, loose ends to tie up. His gaze turned back to the Dread Trio, his eyes narrowing just slightly. Now would be an inappropriate time to shoot them, he knew...but there was never any harm in releasing their profiles to any and every group that he had the slightest ties to.

"...Well, looks like your ghost problem is taken care of." Pherelith said with a grin, hoisting her gun up on her shoulder."

"Quite." Emry answered, holstering his pistol. "Very well then...a job well done. We will depart, then."

"Yeah, let's bail." Rosie said, her tail wagging and a simple smile on her face. Quietly, she was releived that everything had worked out. "See you guys around." With that, the Dread Trio seemed to melt into thin air as Emry traced a rune into empty space.

Essex sat up, rubbing her eyes as she glanced around at the ones she loved standing over her. Hal, Solid, Reikoff, Dr. West...she felt her cheeks reddening as they smiled down at her. Blushing, she stood, tossing her arms about West's leg and burying her face in the long end of his labcoat.

"Welcome home, Papa." she said.

"...Thank you, Essex." he said softly, resting a hand on her head.

--The End.--

((<.< *tablecloth*

Also, I'm terribly evil for posting something that ISN'T a story post. XD XD

Might as well take this opportunity to explain things to Grey.

Essex is an android, yes, but she was created with Selene's DNA. Over the course of her existance, her sentience built and grew in sophistication to become -true- sentience, and not just simple AI.

Remember the obnoxiously long discussion about items and objects having spirits that the Dread Trio had? It's like that, except as she started with a sort of artificial sentience, she earned her 'soul' upon 'awakening' into organic sentience. If that makes any sense at all. <_<

This happened in Final Fight, by the way. >_> The awakening thing.

...Gah, I don't know. Next chapter should be done soon.))

Rosie smirked as more people began to filter in, her tail beginning to wag furiously at the sight of Ghoul.

"Ghoulie-ghoulie!!" she yelled. "Merry [censored]' Christmas!!" The were-human barrelled into the large bacterial 'undead' as large dogs often do. "Good to see you could make it!"

When Void Brawler and the ghost twins came with presents, she smiled broadly. "Awesome! Pull up a cup y'all, and hang around! Let's get this party started, aww yeah."

Walking past AD and patting him on the back with a grin, she nonetheless paused at the sight of Blind Messenger with mistletoe over his head. "Hehe, mistletoe." she said with a smirk.

The next thing Blind Messenger knew, he was being smooched quite enthusiastically. Rosie didn't seem to care about his skeletal state, but after an awkward moment she released him and made a face.

"Listen, bucky." she said, sticking her tongue out. "I've put a hell of a lot of things in my mouth that don't go there. I'm a dog, that's what I do. But I have NEVER...EVER. EVAAAR. Tasted something that nasty before."

She reached into her pocket and dug out a five dollar bill, pressing it into Blind Messenger's skeletal hand. "Go buy a toothbrush for Christmas. Bleh."

With that, she grabbed a gingerbread man and shoved it in her mouth, following it down with a liberal gulp of hot apple cider.

-----------------------------------------------------

"Ah..." Essex said, looking dismayed at the house that seemed to have 'exploded in blood' near them. "I really, really hope that's Christmas cheer. <_<"

When Solid streaked over them, she laughed, cringing a little and holding onto her earmuffs as her hair was tossed about.

"Hello sir!" she called out. "We were just about to go up to this house and carol. Do you want to come along?"

"Hooray!" Essex chirped cheerfully, scooting around Hal and turning him around by the hand and taking Experiment's hand in her other one. It was a little unnerving not to see puffs of steam come up from her breath, as she didn't really breathe, but it was all right.

"And sir Experiment and Miss Jenny are here too!!" she practically sang. "Hooray!"

At Experiment's question, she nodded in turn. "I'm doing very well sir! And how are you and yours tonight? Are you here to accompany us?"

She shoved against Hal playfully with a grin. "You choose the next carol, then. I think I scared the last family with my song about programming."

------------------------------------------------------------

"C'mon in, c'mon in." Rosalind said grinning at Blind Messenger and Moonscribe. "I set up everything in advance 'cause I knew I'd probably be late. Can I get you guys some cider? Cocoa? Squeaky newspaper?"

"Aaaaah...." Essex gave a little cry as Midas pulled the tablecloth off her. "T_T Give it baaaaack...I'm embarassed."

Flailing weakly for it, she finally settled into a slight pout, her cheeks still red from the compliments.

"Kyaaah!" Essex squeaked, losing her balance and faceplanting humorously in the snow. Getting back to her feet, she dusted herself off with a sigh. "Hal-chan!! You startled me..." she said, sticking her tongue out at the now-visible boy.

"Do you want to go caroling with me?" she asked, taking his hand in her mittened one and dusting the snow from her scarf.

-----------------------------------------------

"Oh hey, the DJ is here already." Rosalind quipped, nodding to Moonscribe with a grin. "Sorry I'm late. Let's get this party started!"

After a brief fight with the door, Rosie made her way in, and soon a warm, inviting light was exuding from the windows from both candles and electric lights, the smell of cookies and cakes heavy in the air, and the soft sound of the Christmas station on the radio.

"I would appreciate an explanation for all this." Emry said coldly, his hand frozen on its way to his pistol. Hallucinogen and Solid stood, tense, unsure of what to expect. Reikoff just regarded the doctor levelly. He knew that they were more than capable of killing West if it came down to such things, but the weathered military man was truly loath to lose an ally in this way.

"I owe you no explanation." West said, his eyes trained calmly, almost lazily on the group. "Essex." he suddenly said sharply. "Come here."

"Ah..." the android murmured, looking rather frightened up at Solid and Reikoff, and then levelly at Hal, her eyes wide with apprehension.

"It's all right." Hal muttered, his eyes distrustful on West.

With that, she trotted over to him, standing just before him, her head bowed. "...I'm sorry sir. This is all my fault."

"What happened." West stated. It wasn't a question, it was an order. "I want an explanation for why you were here. Now."

"...It was an accident, sir!!" Essex suddenly broke down, burying her face in her hands. "I saw a ghost, and I got scared and Solid came an we had a seance, and it was writing things in Russian so Solid brought the Spirit Police and then Hal-chan was injured so he came here and they were helping us but everyone got into a fight and-"

"...Yes. I saw the aftermath." West said dryly, in reference to the carnage in the other room.

"...Uh...yes." Essex said meekly.

"The scorch marks were mine." Solid said cheerfully, waving an arm over his head.

"I will get to you in a moment." said Dr. West, his eyes flicking malevolantly to the assault drone. "Go on, Essex."

"And...um...then there was this room and I begged everyone not to destroy anything because I didn't know if it was important, and...we...um...Who...Why is there a woman there?"

"I think that's the question of the hour." Pherelith snarled neutrally.

"...Essex." West said, his eyes on the rest of them. "...Selene. That woman...Roksana...Don't you recognize her? She is your mother."

Essex gasped, looking up at West. "You mean..."

West kept his gun extended, but his eyes softened a little. He was silent for a moment before speaking again.

"...When Dr. Fleischman released the Nova to destroy my wife and daughter, she first killed Roksana and abducted Selene. There was a short period of time before I was able to track down where Selene was. During that time, I tried desperately to save Roksana. Anything I could do, anything I could think of...but she was gone. But I couldn't give up. I just...I couldn't. Roksana and Selene...They were everything to me. More important than my research, more important than my very life. My beautiful wife, my sweet daughter...Nothing meant more. Not even the laws of science. So I put Roksana's body in stasis."

"...She looks strangely like one of your androids for that, Doctor." Reikoff calmly said, his eyes rested on the scientist seemingly neutrally. In reality he was ready at any moment to draw his own weapon.

"...Yes." West continued. "...A lot of the techniques I used to create Essex, I used on Roksana first, in the desperate hope that I would be able to restore both of them to me. In essence, it was really Roksana who allowed me to create Essex in the first place, as working on her taught me many the techniques I used on Selene. I made many mistakes...and...I have never been able to complete Roksana's legacy as I have Selene's. I made too many mistakes - mistakes that I would have made on Essex if not for Roksana. I know she would have wanted it this way...but...she doesn't deserve to suffer because of my inadequate abilities."

"That doesn't change the fact that you are committing a horrible wrongdoing." Emry said. Hallucinogen elbowed him in the knee, and the tree spirit was silent once more.

"Shut up." Daniel said, eyes narrowing as the barrel of the laser moved to rest on Emry. "I don't care, and I don't want to hear about your arbitrary laws."

"Papa..." Essex whimpered, her eyes wide.

"I will restore her someday." West said. "One day I will see her again. One day she will be able to see Selene again, reborn as Essex and able to live the life that was so callously taken from her -"

"You're insane." Pherelith snarled an interruption.

"I don't care!" he snapped back, whirling to point the gun at her. "On that day, seven years ago, I lost everything!! My family was more important to me than my mind - if in gaining my family back I lose my mind, then so be it!! None of you have any right to say I am right or wrong. Call me wrong, call me a sinner, but I am a husband and a father first. And I will be damned if a day goes by that I don't do everything in my power, with every cell of my being, to love and protect my wife and child!"

"Dr. West. . ." Hallucinogen murmured, surprised.

"That's why." the Doctor continued, his voice now cold. "That is why, I work here, fighting the bounds of futility to the full extent of my power. This is why I made this place, this quiet, peaceful place where Roksana can rest. That is why I commit countless iniquities in the name of science."

Reikoff was silent. There was nothing to say in this situation. It was obvious that the Doctor was driven nearly mad with grief, but was determined to do his best to remedy things once and for all.

"...Doctor West." he said quietly. "Your wife is dead. Bury and mourn her."

"Commander, please." West said, turning towards Reikoff.

"Listen, you [censored]' psycho, she ain't coming back to life!" Rosalind argued. "You already said you failed your experiments on her."

"Someday I will learn the ways in which to fix my mistakes!" West answered, his voice escalating to an angry tone.

"Father..." Essex said fearfully.

"Listen, man, you just have to learn to let go!" Solid said. "Move on with your life. You're never going to be happy if you keep dwelling on the past." The gunner pointed forward dramatically. "The future is NOW. Besides, you have Essex. Most people wouldn't even -"

Solid was interrupted by a sharp whirr of a laser shot, skimming the end of his finger.

"Her ghost is haunting Essex." Pherelith said coldly, eyeing the scientist. "She doesn't want to be brought back. She wants to move on."

"Shut...up...." West hissed.

"Daniel West." Emry said, gun fully raised. "You have been convicted of unauthorized soul obstruction, experimental occult behavior without a permit, and the disruption of the natural order. Serve your sentence."

A shot rang out through the air as Emry released a perfectly aimed shot at Dr. West's head.

"Papa!!" Essex shrieked as she flung herself forward, instantly shoved back against Dr. West with the force of the soul-piercing shot intercepting the little android's chest.

Early evening had fallen on Paragon, and as was the way of winter, it was already quite dark. There were a few clouds, but just enough breaks in them that the moon and a few stars were visible, even as snowflakes gently drifted down from the heavens. A thick layer of snow was on the ground, and people bustled to and fro from the brightly decorated shops as they went about their holiday business.

Among the houses, a single figure was gleefully crunching through the snow, a scarf thickly wrapped around her neck and bundled in warm outdoor clothing. A pair of earmuffs adorned her ears and her large green eyes danced with happiness upon seeing the bright lights that decorated each house. Essex...was out Christmas Caroling. Her brothers had no interest in such things, but it was one of her favorite yearly activities.

Approaching one house, the android rang the doorbell and stepped back. As the door opened, the warm light of the house illuminating the doorstep, she smiled and broke into song.

"The first time I ran my class the compiler gave to me –
A semicolon on the last line!

The second time I ran my class the compiler gave to me -
Public and private statements,
And a semicolon on the last line.

The third time I ran my class the compiler gave to me -
Three parse errors
Two stream operators
And a semicolon on the last line.

The fourth time I ran my class the compiler gave to me -
Four “I=0”
While I < 3
Increment I by two
And a semicolon on the last line.

The fifth time I ran my class the compiler gave to me -
Five un-signed iiiiiinnnnts!
Fo-ur infile streams
Three floating points
Two vectored strings
And a semicolon on the last line.

The sixth time I ran my class the compiler gave to me -
Six binary search trees
Fiiiiiive vec-tor types!
Four linked lists
Three includes
Two ifndefs
And a semicolon on the last line.

The seventh time I ran my class the compiler gave to me -
Seven double equals
Six greater-less thans
Five overloaded bits!!!
Four does not equal
Three or two
while four is undefined
And a semicolon on the last line.

The eighth time I ran my class the compiler gave to me -
Eight jars of advil
Seven cups of coffee
Six pounding headaches
Five hours of sleeeeep!
Four packs of ramen
Three in the morning,
Two different alarms.
And a semicolon on the last line.

The ninth time I ran my class the compiler gave to me -
Nine C++ files,
Eight awesome Perl scripts
Seven Omnis Programs
Six assembly pages
Five Ja-va scriiiiiiiipts!
Fortran really sucks
Three-D AutoCad
Two Pascal Lines
And a semicolon on the last line.

The tenth time I ran my class the compiler gave to me -
Ten is 1010
Nine is 1001
Eight is one - thousand
Seven is 111
Six is one-ten
Five’s 1 - 0 - 1!!!!!!
Four is one hundred
Three’s one-one
Two is just a ten
And a semicolon on the last line.

The eleventh time I ran my class the compiler gave to me -
Eleven Goto statements
Ten nested for loops
Nine recursive functions
Eight Do-While loops
Seven Union or-structs
Six null pointers
Five in-line bools!!
Four parameters
Three dimensional arrays
Two class templates
And a semicolon on the last line.

The twelfth time I ran my class the compiler gave to me -
Twelve parse errors
Eleven missing colons
Ten stack overflows
Nine syntax errors
Eight missing data types
Seven access faults
Six linking errors
Five undeclared ints
Four the love of coffee
Three seg faults
Two expected vars
And no semicolon on the last line!"

She finished her Christmas carol cheerfully, Essex's voice high and sweet. The couple who had come to the door to listen to her caroling exchanged glances and unsurely clapped for her a little as she ducked her head in gratitude and skipped along to the next house....

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"DOWN! I said, GET DOWN! In the name of the Soul Police Chapter!!"

A sound of ice on pavement as Rosalind body-checked a fleeing figure into the ground, snarling as her claws pinned through the ice and snow and shredded its limbs off.

"Frosty the Snowman, AKA Jack Frost, you're under arrest for the unauthorized death of the Little Match Girl!"

Pherelith stepped up behind her, sucking on a candy cane and gun over her shoulder. "You shoulda paused more than a moment when you heard us holler 'stop', sucka."

"Oh crap!" Rosie cursed to herself, glancing up at the sky. "Man, I was hosting that party in Siren's Call tonight. I gotta book it, guys. Take 'im down for me?"

"Our pleasure." Emry intoned, stepping up and levelling the Spirit Disruptor cleanly at the now-nervous snowman's head.

With that, Rosalind leapt off to the lake house in Siren's Call she'd decked out just for this occasion...

((OOC: Happy Holidays! This is a thread just for fun. There doesn't have to be a plotline or anything; I've set up a couple activities. Go caroling with Essex (And feel free to embellish any old carol you want to fit your character, as I've done), go to Rosie's Christmas Party, give gifts, drink hot cocoa, smooch under the mistletoe, HAVE FUN!

You're free to come and go as you please. Come carol for a little while, and then when everyone gets too cold warm up for a bit at the party. It's time we had a little holiday cheer around here. ))

The little girl gave Experiment a truly thankful look and a warm smile. "I really appreciate it sir." she said, bowing her head. "I know it's difficult to get along, but...A little while of this is better than life under the Overmagus, isn't it?"

At Dr. Phillis' words, her eyes widened. "...Er." Essex reddened, shrinking slightly under Midas' hand. "N-no need for all that..." she murmured, more than a little embarassed. Her gaze darted around, until it rested on something hanging limply on a worktable outside the teleport bay.

It wasn't really a tablecloth per se, but it would suffice.

She carefully pulled it off and hid beneath it to cover her burning cheeks. "L-let's get going."

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((And Ace, Rosie, Richter, Bear, and Corti are in a rural area in France. Their base was located in some of the underground catacombs - you know, the ones with like, tunnel walls made out of skulls and bones. <_< <3 Yay for the tactics of the French Resistance!))

The group moved silently through the strange, wooded room. The light from above filtered through the trees and vines, and the area seemed huge.

"I'm amazed...I've never even known this room existed." Essex murmured quietly, pushing aside a flowering vine gently as she walked alongside the others. "I mean...the surveillance systems don't even acknowledge the presence of this area. There's not even a power sink on this end of the base to allow for something like this."

"Organic power." Emry said quietly, his crimson eyes relaxed as he carefully examined a leaf of a tree beside him. "The plants are generating energy. They are hybrids. A clean fuel source...it's ingenious. The plants power the tech here...which in turn helps to nurture and feed the plants. A self-perpetuating ecosystem. And..."

His fingers gently stroked the leaf once before letting it go. "The plants here are quite happy. They are well taken care of and contented. Though...I am getting the distinct feeling that we are not supposed to be here."

"Well, no [censored], Sherlock." Solid said, rather annoyedly waving branches away from his face. "I don't think that Doc West would create this ultrasecret room hidden away from sensors and with self-generating power sources if he wanted someone to find it."

"Clean, self-perpetuating power." Reikoff mused. "I will have to ask the Doctor about this later. This could lead to...who knows? Self-perpetuating ecosystems able to provide living conditions underwater, in deserts, atop mountains....even in space."

"Humans would [censored] it up." Pherelith said with a shrug, not missing a beat. "They always [censored] everything up."

"Yeah." Rosie grumbled, sniffing the air. "There's only enough power here to fuel the ecosystem - they'd probably try to use it as a power plant or something so they could power their microwaves and treadmills and stuff. Treadmills piss me off. Why not just go walk outside? Sheez."

"Why wouldn't Dr. West tell me about this place..?" Essex wondered to herself, her hand in Hal's.

"I don't know. . ." Hallucinogen said quietly, himself wondering at the beauty of the room. With a little smile, he reached over, pulling a bright orange flower from a nearby vine and placing it in Essex's hair. "But I'm sure glad we found it. It's really pretty."

Essex blushed a little, but Emry picked the flower out of her hair carefully, looking to Hal with mild disapproval. "Flowers are our reproductive organs, you know." he said as he knelt down to place it at the base of the tree. "Just keep that in mind."

Behind his radiation, Hallucinogen turned slightly grey, nodding briefly before continuing on in stiff silence.

"Haha. Hal molested a tree." Solid snickered a little, poking the boy from behind.

"S, shut up." Hal muttered back, glancing back at the assault droid.

"Stop." Reikoff said, pausing in his step. "I hear a hum."

"Yeah, I hear it too." Rosalind said, her nose in the air. "And the smell just got stronger."

It was true. A hum on the subharmonic scale seemed to be reverberating through the area, and the others could only barely pick it up after listening hard for a few seconds. Pherelith glanced to Emry with a look of bored neutrality, and Emry glanced back coldly.

"Continue on." the tree spirit said quietly.

A cluster of trees made themselves evident up ahead, trees and vines, but behind it the group could barely see the flickering of electronic equipment. It towered quite high, and it was clear to see there were vents and piping reaching up almost to the ceiling of the room.

Upon entering the center area, it was like the atmosphere changed completely. The light from the artificial suns dimmed to nothing at the detection of their presence into the inner area, and the room was plunged into darkness. Pinpoints of light flickered into existance above them like stars, further indicating the electronic lights up ahead.

"Could be trouble." Reikoff muttered, cocking a smaller gun as a safety measure. "I'll take point."

"Right behind ya." Solid said, his fists crackling with electricity. "Time for a rumble in the jungle if you know what I mean."

"Technically this would be considered an arborarium, wouldn't it? Which is closer to a forest?" Essex piped up.

"Ssh." Solid waved a hand at her dismissively.

Peeling back the branches carefully, Reikoff's eyes widened. His gun lowered as he stepped forward.

"Holy hell." he barely breathed.

Before him was a large, circular work area with low panels and monitors covered in blinking lights, buttons, meters, output screens, everything. In the center of the circle was a gigantic tree, the center of which seeming to be grown around a gigantic egg-shaped containment tank. The substance of the tank was clear, like glass, but it seemed more like a flexible transparent membrane holding in a solution of clear bluish green plasma. But within the tank was a single figure.

A woman, or, more accurately, a Reploid, floated in stasis in the tank. Her eyes were closed serenely, and the metal and plastic forming her audioreceptors and various robotic parts were a bright, pure white. The woman was slim and fair, with long golden tresses of hair floating ethereally around her form, swathed in a white dress with trailing sleeves. Her humanoid skin was deathly pale, and the only sign of any kind of life was a soft, rhythmic blipping from a single monitor. Wires, cables, and tubes were stuck into her from every direction of many and varying colors, and the roots of the tree and the nearby vines seemed to wind about the top and bottom protectively. Most remarkably, her back seemed to be adorned with two steel wings - not angelic wings, but wings resembling a butterfly's, delicate and inlaid with what looked like stained glass.

"What...the [censored]...is this?" Rosie murmured, her eyes wide.

"...An abomination..." Emry's voice came levelly. "...Another attempt to restore the dead."

"B-but. . .who. . ." Hal was barely able to form words from his surprise, his hand clasped in Essex's tightly.

"...Roksana Khastrovich." came a calm voice from behind them. The group turned as one to face a familiar figure - Dr. Daniel West.

It was Sunday, and he had returned from his trip.

The doctor shook his head slightly, the dim artificial starlight reflecting off his glasses as he slowly raised his laser pistol.

"I will now ask you to step away from my wife." he said calmly.

Essex bowed her head to Midas, her cheeks flushed.

"I would be happy to learn from you, sir." she said, shyly but rather earnestly. "I hope I don't let you down."

When Experiment cut in, she looked rather injured, and regarded him with a pleading, frightened look.

"Please, sir!" she cried. "Can't we just get along for once? Everyone can go back to killing each other when the world is fixed..."

((D: *Fidget fidgets*

But we didn't! T_T Neither of us are /psi or mind/!! I'm only empathy/, which means I know you want something but I don't know whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat......

.....Solid = love. MOAR SOLID STOREES PLZ))

Essex blinked, her eyes wide at Vern's words.

He heard me, he knows everything and I'm so dead.

Nevertheless, he seemed not to mind keeping it a secret, so she just regarded him warily.

She was actively stifling the voice inside her that told her to trust him now; Essex didn't trust the being any farther than she could have thrown him - and it was questionable if she was able to even lift the being.

As they headed towards the teleporters, Essex paused, taking the small hologram generator back into her hands.

"Circuit overload..." she murmured to herself, walking back to the projection of Cobalt. Disassembling the back end, she painstakingly and haltingly began to repair it, continually glancing at the main communication module for reference.

"...Um...Here..." she said, as the hologram flickered to life once more. It was greyscale, but seemed stable -...mostly.

"...Now you can at least come with us in spirit." she said, looking up at the girl and apologetic that she couldn't do more. "Um...Unless this explodes."

She unconsciously inched away from Experiment as she said that, and the next moment trotted off towards the teleporters, hand clasped in Midas'.

-----------------------------------------------

Rosalind raised her head, sniffing the air.

"...Maybe not an ambush." she grunted, her eyes still narrowed. "...But something's coming."

Turning towards Richter, Cortianna, and Bear, she frowned, her gaze tactical. "And we have to be ready for it. Corti, I want psychic cordons up for a 10 yard radial sphere around us. Bear, if you've got any stickies in that pack, get 'em ready. Rick, I need you to get ready to stretch your legs a bit if you know what I mean."

She swore as she rubbed the arrow scar in her chest ruefully.

Rosalind would not be caught by surprise again.

Essex flushed a little, looking down at her bare feet.

"...My papa taught me how to make them. I used to work quite extensively with remote communications systems as the navigator and communications tech for the laboratory. It was important to implement them onto my brothers so I could keep in close contact with them in the field - and Genki would always break his - so I had to build them over and over and over again. I had to build one with one hand one time because I was installing it into myself and..."

She paused at this, quite abruptly. Her vision hardened a bit.

"...But I don't have any brothers...And...what?"

Essex looked quite confused at herself for a moment, just mulling over things.

"...I don't really KNOW how to build them...and...umh..."

Cobalt's words shook her out of her reverie.

"I'm sure there's one around here somewhere." she piped up. "And if not, there are a lot of scientists here - I'm sure we can come up with something."

Trotting up to the image of Cobalt, she peeked over at her in concern.

"Are you okay down there?" she fretted. "You don't need anything, do you?"

Hal-chaaaaaaaaaaan. T_T

Well, y'know...do what you have to do. And yeah, Khell, I've been posting less lately as well - but I have no intention of leaving. XD;; I'm way too addicted for that. Let's just say I was a little disgusted with the whole thing for a while. <_<

So let's see....
Truefeather and Zealstorm will be on hold for you in Final Fight.

WtWB...I guess Hal could stay on the ship or something. <_< Maybe finish up things with Moonscribe?

SH101 it should be simple to melt into the crowds of students for a while...

CoT is on hold...

*taps chin* D:

HEY, you better still be doing the Carlucci Combat thing. >_>

I hope you get your inspiration back soon. D:

Essex just bowed her head in response.

"Thank you sir." she said quietly, though still audibly at this point. "Um...and my stepmother's name is...Gretchen. I think she still keeps her maiden name...That's Fleischman, I think. But if not, her last name would be West."

Her eyes kept flicking to Cobalt, stuck there in the time pocket. She felt bad for the girl...

"...But...hang on a second."

The next moment, the little girl's eyes were analytical as she descended on a pile of spare parts. Carefully looking at the communications system hooked up to the monitor, Essex seemed to analyze them.

Her hands moved quickly as she began to assemble a small device. She seemed almost more analytical and precise as she did, her eyes focused on what she was doing and her small fingers moving quickly.

After a few minutes, she held a small remote-like device, assembled amazingly quickly.

"Ah...I did something." Essex said rather nonspecifically, a hint of fearfulness in her voice. "I hope it doesn't explode."

She turned it on, and for a moment a dual image of Cobalt flickered to life as a hologram, projected above it. Cobalt would receive a small picture-in-picture of the view from the small remote quietly blipped into view.

Then, a thin plume of smoke rose from the device as the images on both sides faded. Essex backpedaled from the remote, leaving it on the floor and scurrying around behind Midas.

"....I made something but it doesn't work." she said quietly, muffled by the tail of Midas' labcoat.

Essex sighed.

The presence of herself from within seemed to sigh in unison.

"Why does this always happen?" she heard herself say with some degree of annoyance. "I like everyone; I wish everyone could just like each other too."

Surprised at her own little mini-outburst, she glanced to the side a little, blushing.

"That is to say..." she backpedaled a little, rocking on her heels, "...that I hope that everyone's arguments get worked out soon. Also, so we can help the poor girl who's trapped down there. Why can't we teleport her out again?"

To Midas' question, she hesitated. Standing on her tiptoes, she pulled the scientist farther down towards her gently, and whispered something in his ear...

((Which means - PM forthcoming. :3))

((Well then in that case, extend the deadline? Some people might still be mulling over whether or not to join. Maybe place the deadline for entry as December 18, and the deadline for forming teams an alliances as Christmas, and then we'll be all set?))

((Actually, Devious, Essex wasn't announcing her story to everyone. She was just quietly telling Midas, because he asked. >_> Though I suppose Vern could have heard if his hearing was sensitive.))

SIX FEET? D:

*hangs head, shuffles away* D:

Essex glanced down, recalling the words of her father.

Run.

"...He took me out to an alley."

It's too late for me.

"He seemed very frantic...and he told me I could never tell anyone my real name. He told me to go by 'Essex.'"

Run and find the Resistance.

"...He put a ward on me. So the Overmagus' wizards couldn't find me. He said that...if they found me, they would kill me...or 'harvest' me. I don't know what that means."

RUN, DAMN YOU! RUN!!

"...And then he yelled at me to run... and pointed his gun at me. He shot just past my face...but he had this look in his eyes. Like he ...he wanted to protect me from something so bad, he had to kill me. But he couldn't kill me. So...I ran away."

Essex hung her head, shifting her footing. "...Then, Papa was laughing...but he was crying, too. I could hear him."

"Don't give up!" Essex's voice cried out invisibly from where Hal was protecting her.

Waves of regenerative energy exploded outward from her, refreshing and rejuvenating the group, even as her sonic energy generators hummed to life.

"Go AWAY!!" she screamed at the Consumed, a visible distortion int he air as she slammed him with a sonic blast.