_Essex_

Essex obediently followed Midas, waiting for him in the corner as he verbally sparred with Experiment.

"Why do we have to fight when we're all on the same side?" she mused to herself, a little sadly.

Luckily, she missed what Midas had said, just shifting her footing uneasily. Tam was rather close by, and the large she-cat soon found Essex's pale, white arms snaking around her fuzzy neck.

The little girl needed a hug, and she was quite willing to go to the closest thing to a plush toy she could find for it, nuzzling distractedly into Tam's shoulder.

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

Suddenly sniffing the air, Rosalind paused. Her eyes narrowed.

"...I smell an ambush." she muttered. Flipping her radio into a readied position, she threw a coded message over the secure channel. It was quite possible for the members of the other chapter of the Rebellion to pick this up, as this was only a frequency distributed only between the two divisions.

This is the Hound. Repeat - this is the Hound. Transmitting a code Crocodile - I repeat, a code Crocodile. Allied units are advised to take extreme care. Over and out.

Rosalind sighed listlessly, letting her hand fall to the side. She didn't want to admit it...and Cortianna could sense it....but she was lost. Without her clandestine fortress....well....the were-human didn't know what they could do.

Also, Virtue is an unofficial RP server, which means the players made it that way.

All you need to do to make a secondary unofficial RP server is to choose a server, and then start talking in broadcast in ((OOC marks)) or something. Make it obvious that there are RPers on the server, and the others will slowly begin to creep out of the shadows. :3

Remember, there are no -official- RP servers. It's up to the players to decide.

"Hold still."

A sharp yelp cut through the air as Rosalind snapped at Essex and the little android recoiled, startled.

"AAAGH [censored] DRAMABOT! Be careful!" the were-human whined. She was lying in Emry's lap, the magnolia spirit calmly scratching her ears as her eyes pulsed red.

"Sounds like someone needs to take Old Yeller out behind the shed." Solid smirked, though he looked rather disgruntled at the scratches in his steel body.

"Anytime." Reikoff grunted, nursing his injured arm.

"Just shut up already." Hallucinogen grumbled, sitting near Essex protectively.

Essex continued healing Rosalind's gashes until they were gone, her eyes slowly returning to light orange between her and Emry's care. Moving on to Reikoff, Essex pulsed nanites through his injured arm, repairing the bone and muscles with neat alacrity.

"Least the kid seems to be able to patch everyone up." Pherelith said with a shrug, tearing off a long strip of duct tape with her teeth and beginning to wrap it around her shoulder, re-attaching her left arm. "Found our ghost, too. [censored], if I knew it'd have been that easy we could have just -"

Glares from Reikoff and Hal made the zombie girl snicker and raise her hands placatingly. "Jeez, calm down. Bad Luck Bot seems to have enough opportunity to get herself killed without my intervention anyway."

"Bad luck bot..." Rosie mused, her tail wagging. "Yeah...I like that. Thanks Phe-phe."

"So anyhow." Solid said, pushing off the wall. "Now that we saw this ghost, where do we go from here? I mean we've utterly destroyed this room. Dr. West is going to [censored] a brick when he sees this place."

It was true. The room was in a shambles. Blood spattered everywhere, the walls scorched from explosions, some small fires still going. Essex sighed miserably. She had no idea how she could explain all this...

Emry stood, nodding his thanks to the little pink robot even as she healed his wounds as well. "Well, the ghost has shown herself." he said, tightening his left glove. "She obviously has a vested interest in the protection of Selene."

"So? So do we." Hal said defensively.

"Most of us, anyway." Reikoff said, eyeing the Dread Trio with what only could be described as a tactical hatred.

Solid chuckled and slung his gun over his back. "Now now, Commander." he said. "Don't you know that when you kill each other, you're only hurting yourselves?"

Reikoff gave the assault drone a look akin to a man who was quite willing to strangle a box of kittens with his bare hands.

"Eesh." Solid muttered. "Forget I said anything. Hey Hal, what're you doing?"

Hallucinogen had wandered over to the far wall, where he had found the discolored area that Reikoff had viewed earlier.

". . .I think there's something here." he muttered to himself. "This part of the wall seems. . .different."

Rosalind trotted up next to the boy and folded her arms, sniffing the air. "Oooh, yeah." she said. "The smell is a lot stronger here, too."

Reikoff got to his feet. "...I'm against going in there on principle." he said. "But if we've already utterly destroyed this room, I doubt there's much worse we can do."

"W-wait!" Essex cried, trotting in front of them and holding her arms out in front of the discolored spot. "Dr. West...Dr. West wouldn't hide anything without a really good reason. And whatever's back here...it might be really important. We've already decimated this room....and I don't know if he had things in here that were...I don't know. Irreplaceable."

"He did." Reikoff muttered.

"...Ah..." Essex faltered a second before continuing. "All I'm asking..." she said, clasping her hands together and looking at the Dread Trio, Solid, Hal, and Reikoff pleadingly, "...is that we're careful. I really...really...don't want Papa any madder at me than he's already going to be."

"Don't worry Essex." Hal said, trotting up to her and taking her hand. "This wasn't your fault." His eyes turned up to glare daggers at Rosalind.

"You wanna go, cradle-robber?" Rosie snarled in Hal's face before Solid cheerfully conked the two of their foreheads together.

"Owwww!!" Rosie and Hal seemed to yell in unison, one turning to Emry with a pouting whine and the other turning to Essex's worried embrace (perhaps a little too quickly).

"Here's what I say." Solid said, raising a finger. "Now that we've got most of the fight out of our system, we just do what we came to do, all right? No random explosions, no destruction of property or anything. We just find where this ghost is coming from and ask her to quit buggin' Ess."

"Fair enough." Phe said with a shrug, which prompted her left arm to thump to the ground again. "God DAMMIT." she snarled, slinging her gun over her shoulder and going for her duct tape again.

"Now then." Reikoff and Emry approached the doorway simultaneously, offering each other a mild glare before they got to work. Emry closed his eyes and rested his hand on the discolored area, feeling out the structure and seeing if it was solid by checking if there were roots on the other side of the wall. Reikoff, on the other hand, narrowed his critical gaze behind his eyegear and felt along the borders of the discoloration.

"...This is a door." Emry stated matter-of-factly.

"Yep." Reikoff said. "Accessing electrical controls....now."

With that, the discolored area seemed to seamlessly separate into two panels that slid silently into slits, integrated into the inner ends of the wall.

The group suddenly blinked as they were greeted with...warm sunlight?

"...What is this place...?" Emry barely breathed as he stepped forward, his crimson eyes scanning.

"Ain't it obvious?" Solid said, stepping in behind him.

It was a contained botanical wonderland. Trees and plants, vines, densely planted together and thriving. It was warm, but not hot, and solar simulation lamps hung in a cluster from a far corner of the ceiling of the expansive room.

"...Marvin Gardens." Essex whispered.

Name: Essex - Reploid S6
Level: 36
Global Handle: @EssexS6
Archetype: Defender
Primary: Empathy
Secondary: Sonic

"Kyaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhh!! "

Streaking through the sky in Founder's Falls was a flash of black and pink, a trail of green nanites accompanying the slight vapor distortion trail of her thrusters.

Desperately dodging back and forth with her arms full of small, glowing spheres, she pivoted midair, performing a stunning barrel roll to evade the sniper fire that streaked past her.

Following behind was a contigent of Crey agents, cryo pistols firing as she flew over the Gaspee, Crey snipers on buildings taking shots at her and then dashing into large vans to follow. She had to have at least twenty agents following her by now.

"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!!"

Essex cut the power to her thrusters, frefalling a few feet before re-engaging and flickering off to the side. Her agility was amazing in the air; her siblings commenting once that she flew like a dragonfly - a really chicken dragonfly.

That nickname had lasted a couple weeks - "Chicken Dragonfly."

This thought was interrupted by a sniper laser blast clipping her shoulderguard. With a mortified gasp, she swung around again.

The Crey were closing in on her, when suddenly one was fired out of the air like a clay pidgeon by a huge blast of energy. The rest could only look on before soon they were struck down one by one by various blasts.

Panting, Essex slowed and touched down near the base portal, the poor little android panting heavily.

"What's the score?" Ginstar said, arms folded as his own sonic generators cooled down.

"Twelve to seven." Delphi said, looking up from her tally sheet.

"Yep, I reckon you still need to work on your aim, son." Burner said, proudly polishing off his huge gunarm.

"I don't know why I ever agreed to this." Essex sighed, still shaking. "You boys and your games of Creyball. You know, one day they'll actually get me and then they'll take my AI chip and you'll all have to come and rescue me again."

"So?" Burner said with a grin. "Then we'll be bowlin' for Crey cause they'll be on the ground."

"Oh, by the way." Delphi said, holding out a letter for Essex. "This came for you."

The android's eyes widened as she looked at the invitation. Letting her hand drop, she turned her green eyes to the sky.

"I wish..." she said, "For ONE DAY...that people would just stop fighting."

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

Name: Dread Rosalind
Level: 9 (dammit.)
Global Handle: @EssexS6
Archetype: Scrapper
Primary: Claws
Secondary: Regen

"I'm sick...I'm tired...
I can't sleep 'cause I'm so wired.
I don't know if I can take this,
I don't know how to love you.

Tick, Tock, in-side,
Tossing, turning; I feel blind.
Sun is up, the rain pours in,
Another day of
No end....

Bend it, break it, smash it!
Love it, loathe it, yeah, yeah!
Hold it, throw it, crave it!
Searching for my solace....

Tip, toe
Bend, break
Cold night air, I start to shake.
My eyes red, my tongue is dry,
These long nights are never kind..."

The blast of electric guitars and pounding bass. Rosalind's black hair was tossed everywhere, her eyes lightly closed as her snow-white bangs brushed over her cheeks, her canine ears laid back aggressively against her head as she sang out, her clear voice perfectly pitched, but rough enough to handle rock.

"Grab it, Kick it, SMASH IT!
Love it, loathe it, yeah, yeah...
Hold it, throw it, crave it!
Searching for my --"

The background abruptly stopped as the magnolia tree spirit ripped the earbuds out of her ears with an annoyed sigh. Rosalind whined as Emry pulled her iPod off the table and quite firmly locked it in his drawer.

"There." he muttered. "Now I've found my solace."

Pouting, Rosie leaned back in her chair, arms crossed across her chest. "You're a jerk." she said, kicking her feet up on the desk.

As she did, a letter drifted to the ground. Picking it up, she looked at the contents...and her fluffy black-and-white tail began to wag.

"...If I could be a real rock star..." she said, her eyes glittering with imagination.

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

A third figure neutrally held their invitation between thumb and forefinger.

Their face was split with a demented smile.

((Term, can I have a seeeeecret contestant? I'll send the PM with information to you directly.))

((stop fight))

Essex's green eyes widened as Experiment scooped her up and hugged her tightly. Her voice muffled in her shoulder, her deathly pale cheeks tinged pink as her feet dangled off the ground.

"Mice foo shee foo moo..." she said tentatively, her voice muffled by the tight hug.

As he released her, she looked up at him and Midas as they bantered back and forth.

"Ah... I can still heal people...even if I'm not a robot." she said to Experiment, pulsing a green wave of magical energy as if to show him. "And my father is a magibiologist, though his lab is full of all sorts of technological stuff."

Suddenly her eyes widened.

"Wait!" she said. "We should go to my father's lab! He's got all sorts of things that could help us out, and I'm sure he would help us..."

She murmured as an afterthought, "...As long as my stepmother doesn't find out."

((Wait - they met up with Vern - but I thought he was underground in the - and below the university there was - but now we're in a ship and -

...

WHAT?

T_T

Where are we, and did Essex just get temporally shoved through that "lol, meet your former self" barrier?))

Essex's eyes widened as she was swept deftly up by the cybernetic woman. "O_O Nnf..." was all she could say as her thin, pale legs dangled listlessly in midair.

Teleported back aboard the ship, she let out a breath. That was disorienting. Glancing over to Dr. Phillis, she tilted her head sympathetically upon noting that he was still in a stunned state of disorientation from the whole ordeal.

"...Don't worry, sir." she said, resting her small, chilled white hand on the side of his arm. "I'm sure everything will make sense eventually." As she did, a burst of soft blue energy pulsed around his temples, the magical energies attempting to bring the scientist some clarity.

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

Rosalind shook Bear's hand, her own gaze firming.

"Good." she said. "Now then. We've got a long trip ahead of us."

Walking back to the others, she gave them a quick nod. "Lieutenant Bear has been issued Codename Ursa Major." she said to Cortianna and Richter. "I'll be keeping an eye on his progress personally."

Cortianna could tell via Rosalind's mental signals that the were-human's intention was to make absolutely sure he was not a double agent. She trusted him enough to let him join the Rebellion, but....Rosie hadn't gotten this far by being foolish.

"...Now let's go." she said, shifting back into dog form and tossing the shaggy fur on her head, ears alert and nose in the air.

"Ah....!"

Essex's eyes widened.

"Sir..." she said to Midas, looking up at him. "...I think...Well...You know how that stone is an alternate version of you? ....I think that this Reyna is an alternate version ....the...the counterpart of the Midas Phillis inside the Philosopher's Stone."

She opened her mouth to continue speaking and protest...but she hesitated.

"...It's your decision, sir." she said quietly. "But know that if you absorb the stone...you'll cease to be....and you'll become that which is in the stone. But it's your perogative..."

Essex's gaze lowered. She knew that, if he absorbed the Philosopher's Stone, the man who had rescued her would be dead and gone...only a memory.

"...I won't forget you."

Essex looked startled upon being addressed by Cyba. The little girl glanced to the side meekly, bowing her head under the cyborg woman's cold stare.

"...I'm not important." she said. "I'm just a kid...'Essex.' My...stepmother wanted to have me killed, so my father sent me away. Dr. Phillis found me and helped me. Then...all this stuff happened...um."

She sighed. The little girl really didn't know what was going on, for the most part. Essex loosened.

"...I'm sorry I'm such a burden. If there's a way to take me back to my father, then...I'll just stay with him...and...um....go back to the lab."

With that, she turned and smiled up at Midas, her face wan and apologetic.

"...I'm sorry you got dragged into all this, sir. I really appreciate your help. It was nice to get out...even if only for a little while. If you do take me back..."

She glanced down.

"...I'm glad to have met you."


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


Rosalind just stared at Bear for a moment.

Glancing down, she let out a little mirthless laugh.

"...I'm not a hero." she murmured, looking at her hands with a humorless smirk. "...I'm just a sheepdog that'll die without somethin' to herd."

Looking up at Bear, she tilted her head...regarding him with her orange eyes.

"Y'know, I could have sworn I've seen you before. Earlier I called you 'Big Bear.' ....I think I've figured it out."

Glancing down at her feet again, she cleared her throat.

"...These dreams I've been having. Emry and Pherelith are still alive. The world is a much...I don't know. A much simpler place. Happier. People I've never seen before, but I somehow know. Even the Overmagus and some of the Soulsworn turn up on occasion. And...."

She looked up, eyeing him again. Rosalind frowned, but the nub that had once been her tail wagged genially.

"...You."

She held out her hand, her gaze firm.

"...Welcome to the Rebellion, William Bear. You'll be assigned codename Ursa Major. We'll get you hooked up with some cybernetics once we rendezvous with the secondary forces."

Hallucinogen's flash of light dissapated among the sharp chatter of dozens of bullets simultaneously streaking through the air. Reikoff had dived behind the work desk, kicking the heavy steel piece of furniture up like a barricade and throwing papers everywhere, only to be shredded to ribbons in the abusive dance of the gunfire.

"Sorry that it had to come to this!" Reikoff called over the desk with a gruff smirk. "Eh..." he continued, ripping the pin out of a grenade with his teeth. "Who the [censored] am I kidding? I'm always happy to take you [censored] metas down a couple notches."

Flinging the grenade over, it exploded in a burst of fire and smoke that quickly caught onto one or two of the experimental weapons. These also detonated along the line with frightening flashes of colored fire, and through this, Emry soared forward, eyes determined as he fired at Reikoff with the Spirit Disruptor.

"Resisting an officer is not a crime to be taken lightly..." he murmured, even as Rosalind snarled and dodged around the gunfire to come at Reikoff from the side.

Pherelith flung her EMP grenades at Solid, who promptly fired them out of the air in drastic bursts of electricity. "C'mon, you can do better than that!" he said with a bemused tone of voice, beginning to pepper the slim undead with gunfire.

Essex cowered in the middle of the gunfire and explosions, fists clenched in frustration and eyes wide in fear. "Everyone settle down!!" she cried out in vain, her small voice easily drowned out by the boom of detonating weaponry.

Suddenly, she was grabbed from behind by invisible hands and yanked backwards roughly, perhaps a little more roughly than was intended as shrapnel flew past her small form. Out of reflex, the android shrieked in surprise and alarm, her sonic generators propelling her voice to cut through the audio carnage.

This attracted both Reikoff and Solid's attention, and the paramilitary commander turned his gun towards the area Essex had been pulled. "Essex!"

Bullets tore through the air, and a cry of pain filled the room seemingly in all directions as Hallucinogen was struck, blood splashing from the new wounds.

"Dangit!" he yelled in frustration, his voice reverberating around the room. "Watch where you're shooting!!" With that, the wounds closed and he was fully invisible once more, a brief vision of purple flame all that had been seen before his cloak of illusions descended once again.

Solid took the opportunity to fire on Emry from behind and to the side, who pivoted seemingly flawlessly and propelled himself forward into the bot. Magnolia petals flew through the air, assaulting Solid's steel body with a soft clinking and scraping as the sharp projectiles scratched off him relatively harmlessly.

Reikoff raised his gun to fire at Emry, but soon found his left arm yanked to the side, his aim disrupted, by a very angry border collie. He could feel the strength in Rosalind's jaws as she bit down on his body armor, snarling aggressively even as he fired wildly, holding his gun in the opposite hand and cursing.

Essex picked herself up, beginning back towards the conflict as her hands began to glow green with nanites. "Aah!" she suddenly cried as a tentacle of blood lashed around her like a whip and swung her into the air.

"This ain't no place for kids!" Pherelith cackled, dangling Essex helplessly over the battle (though out of the range of the explosions, thankfully). Hallucinogen saw this and gasped invisibly, his eyes burning protectively as he lashed his hand out to the side, silently summoning his Phantasm.

The glowing figure came into existance and smirked, flying up to confront Pherelith. I don't think Essex is into dead chicks. the Phantasm quipped as it released twin light beams at the undead girl. Phe cursed as she dodged one but was blasted by the other, recoiling as the blood tentacle whipped to the side. Essex was flung out of it and sent crashing into a pile of wreckage in the corner, more or less unharmed.

Reikoff and Rosalind continued to wrestle on the floor, the Maltan TacCom forcing his injured arm farther into the border collie's mouth, pressing against the joints of her strong jaws as he straddled the dog and its legs kicked in fury with several strangled barks. Reikoff grit his teeth as he tossed his gun aside and drew a long, durable-looking combat knife, stabbing it into Rosalind and slashing at the dog in close range. This elicited a muffled yelp of pain from the were-human as her blood began to seep onto the floor, and her eyes began to glaze red as she writhed violently, trying desperately to bite him harder as he forced her to stay down.

Reikoff found deep green vines wrapping around him and yanking him off the dog, flinging him aside and at a far wall that had not yet been touched by fire. Solid hit the wall a moment later, and the two of them looked at each other.

Between them was a large, vicious looking energy rifle of some sort.

The two of them lunged for the weapon simultaneously, Reikoff gaining control of the back end as Solid's steel finger intersected the trigger. Energy blasts fired everywhere as the two of them wildly fought over the gun, Reikoff trying to aim it at Emry and Rosalind as Solid tried to pull the shots towards where Hal was fighting Phe.

Suddenly a loud creaking interrpted all of them - a loud ominous sound that drew their attention to the far corner where Essex had been flung earlier. The corner with the mecha.

On one side, Reikoff's combat knife had been flung and embedded itself in the wall, neatly slicing through the restraint cable. On the other, an energy blast had weakened a cable just enough to make it splinter.

Before their eyes, it snapped...and the cables whipped around like infuriated serpents as the multi-ton mechanical beast ominously lurched forward.

On the ground, trapped under Dr. West's steel work desk, was Essex.

"ESSEX!!" Hallucinogen cried out, reaching out a hand just as Pherelith's blood tentacle knocked him back.

"[censored]!!" Reikoff yelled, mashing his hand on his teleporter frantically as it sparked, deep toothmarks embedded in it from Rosalind's assault.

Solid cursed as well, barely able to get to his feet before the mecha lurched forward.

Essex let out a terrified shriek as she desperately struggled to get out from under the desk. As the supports gave completely and the huge mechanical beast crashed forward to crush her, the group could only helplessly look on...

...And a flash of light disrupted each of their vision for a split second as a glowing figure stood over the shivering childlike construct. The figure was of a woman, dressed in flowing white with waves of blonde hair trickling down her back. Her hands uplifted to hold the gigantic mecha with seeming effortlessness, her eyes shone an opaque white. With some surprise, they found they could see completely through the figure.

"...The ghost...." Emry said quietly, his gun lowering.

As she held it up, the mecha began to shake and shiver....and a loud crash sounded as it began to crumble to the ground, piece by piece. Essex, shielded from it and whimpering in wide-eyed fright, watched as the gigantic steel figure degenerated into large heaps of scrap on the ground, as if it had been completely and carefully disassembled.

Once this was done, the figure lowered her arms and turned to face those gathered, bowing her head only slightly before vanishing into thin air.

"...Oh, shi-..." Solid barely was able to mutter.

((The one time I don't copypaste my post is the huge fight scene.

This form is no longer valid.

*HEADDESK HEADDESK HEADDESK*))

Well, I don't have a very good understanding of golden/silver/bronze heroes...but I know I like Scordatura. XD

...It seems you have dropped your hero into my pond. Did you drop this Golden hero, this Silver hero, or this plain hero?

If anyone gets that reference they win an Essexcookie. XD

Anyway.

Since I think Silver Age is more along the lines of the OMG MASKED CRUSADORZ timeline....I don't know. Scord seems to me like she's more modern than that. I really like the mix of cultures you put in her - the Japanese style of 'henshin' (The word literally translates to 'transformation' for readers who don't know - I assume Term does), along with her Scottish accent and her (taking liberties for the purpose of humor here) Soviet Russia sense of personal privacy.

So I guess, despite this rant, I'm really not a good person to ask. D: But I am very interested in the answer.

Can anyone define the terms used?

Rosalind's eyes shifted to Cortianna's, expressing distrust in Bear. The border collie yawned, but didn't respond until they were in an area with slightly more cover...checking around neutrally before shifting back to her humanoid form once again.

"...Listen." she said to the archer. "...Sub-commander Cortianna and Lieutenant Richter are two of my most trusted associates. Each of them has saved my life multiple times and I would trust them...trust them as my old partners."

She turned her eyes to the two of them, thinking back. It was true. Richter had the quiet, determined leadership that she recalled from Emry all those years ago...And Cortianna had that violently mischevous streak that Pherelith had had before the artifact containing her soul had been destroyed and the lichlike zombie had crumbled to dust permanently. Still...

"...So you will understand if you do anything...I have the utmost faith in their ability to neutralize you. Cortianna will be monitoring my thoughts as always as a precaution; though I will request that she leave yours untouched."

Turning to eye Bear, she frowned. "...My last condition is that we speak in an area where we are inaudible...but we are fully visible by both of my soldiers at all times. ...I don't usually do this. I have a gut feeling to trust you. But I've had gut feelings before that've come back and turned out to be...quite painful."

The were-human's orange eyes narrowed slightly in rememberance.

Angel's blood...

"...So you'll understand if I remain somewhat cautious." she said, beckoning him away from the others to a visible location to chat.

"What the hell is this place?" Solid muttered as he took in the small, secret room. Rosalind was nosing interestedly through a stack of papers, and Emry and Phe were glancing around with stony expressions.

Even Hallucinogen looked bewildered as he took in the room. A desk stacked with papers. Wildly futuristic looking weapons, large containment tubes full of eerie experiments, a large mecha strapped up against the back wall with reinforced cables.

"We're not supposed to be in here!" Essex cried, trying to shoo everyone back out the door. "Even I'm not allowed in here! Dr. West made me leave when the Commander and I found this room!!"

"She's right." Reikoff said quietly, shining up his gun casually, making sure it was still fully loaded. "And I'm afraid there's some highly classified material in this room. You're all going to have to leave."

"W-what?" Hal said, his face pale. "What's he talking about, Essex? What's this. . . all these papers in Russian? These blueprints, these diagrams. . ."

"I told you..." Reikoff said calmly, his gun lifting to lazily target Hallucinogen's head. "...that it's time to leave."

A stunned silence hung in the room for a moment as they all realized that the paramilitary commander was not kidding. Reikoff's finger rested quite confidently on the trigger and none of them doubted he would fire.

"...I am afraid..." Emry's calm voice said as it cut through the silence, and a flash of silver revealed the pistol aimed at Reikoff's head. "...that that is impossible. This area is now under investigation by the Soul Police Chapter, as it has been revealed as an area of illegal soulbinding and unauthorized paranormal activity.

Solid's gun raised a split second later, though he seemed undecided on a target - first pointing at Emry, and then at Reikoff, who was still aiming at Hal. "I don't know what the hell you all are talking about." he said. "But nobody points a gun at Hal but me. Or I shoot 'em."

Pherelith's eyes turned malevolently to Solid and she grinned unnervingly. "'Zat so?" she said. "I see what you did there." Her wrists rolled at unnatural angles and a pair of EMP grenades rolled into her hands. "Nothing personal. But there's enough information here for us to take a vested interest in what's going on."

"Papa didn't do anything wrong!" Essex cried out, her hands balled into little pink fists. "I don't know why you're all so angry with him...He's only doing his best for science!!"

"There is much you yet need to learn about the ways of the world, kid." Emry said flatly, his eyes still resting on Reikoff.

Rosalind had frozen, the border collie's nose still in the air. She kept perfectly still, breathing evenly and allowing the scents in the room to drift past her.

The scent of anger.

The scent of fear.

The scent of despair, lingering from who knows when.

And pervading everything, the smell of something supernatural beckoning them onward and of the touch of souls. It wasn't strong, but it definitely circulated throughout this area.

Hallucinogen remained still, looking at Reikoff distrustfully as the Malta TacCom's gun remained flawlessly targeted on him.

"Every single one of you. . ." the boy enunciated, his form tense beneath the green smoke, ". . . is a complete psychopath!"

The next moment, a blinding flash rendered all those in the room sightless as gunfire erupted from every direction.

"Ah, thank you sir!" Essex said to Acid with a little bow. Skimming over to Hallucinogen, she concentrated.

"Okay..." she barely breathed, releasing an energizing wave in the middle of the group - the polarity such that it would hit her allies, but not the Consumed copies. Hallucinogen felt her fingertips rest on one of his shoulders as she sped up his adrenalin a bit more, and she turned her attention to the more active fighters.

"...Okay..." she murmured to herself, beginning to augment the strength of her allies one after another, but staying near Hal just in case.

((OOC: OMG, is that...? I don't want to jump the gun. o_o))

"Permission granted." Rosalind said with a nod. "C'mon, Big Bear, Corti, ((Lieutenant Recluse!?)), it's a long hike."

She paused, and then looked over at Bear with an inquisitive tilt of her head. "...I have no idea where that came from."

With that, and a poof of smoke, she shifted back into border collie form...walking on three legs, and sneezing briefly to get the dust out of her nose.

Dammit...I hope someone has a radio. The other base has gotta be prepared for us showin' up on the doorstep after all.

((And I think Essex is waiting on Midas and Cyba, unless I missed a post. Which I'm very good at doing. ))

((Oh, and by the way -

Watch your turkey.

Yes, I know it's Christmas fanart. <_< Lay off. Verithe is amazing.))

Essex fired down the table, hugging as many people as she could (and spending a little extra time on Hal), before pausing at the end of the table, looking terribly flustered.

"I'm thankful that I don't have to eat!" she cried. "I don't have time to sit down for a big meal on Thanksgiving if I want to say 'Happy Thanksgiving' to all the people I hold dear!"

She paused, thinking about this.

"Though maybe that's something to be thankful for in itself..."

And with that, she fired back out the door towards Peregrine island, flanked by two large baskets of pumpkinbread muffins that hovered alongside her in a pulse-width modulated teleport sequence.

Rosalind just kicked her feet up on the table with a smirk.

"I'm thankful that I'm not [censored]' on active duty today. Bring on the MEAT!!" the were-human said, wagging her black and white tail wildly.

"I suppose..." Truefeather said, smiling from a seat at the table that really didn't stand out at all, "...that I am thankful for the opportunity to make the world a little more just. Oh, and for sweaters. I do dislike the cold."

"How long are we going to wait here?" Rosalind complained. "I want to investigate! There's already paranormal residue on the recharge pod, and there's ALL sorts of crazy crap in the air around here, and I can't sense any plants besides Emry, and I'm hungry!"

"Patience..." Emry intoned, leaning against a wall of the laboratory with his eyes closed.

"Stroke of good luck if you ask me." Pherelith said, watching her disembodied hands boredly as they did a cat's cradle with a length of yellow cord. "I was hoping I wouldn't have to call in a favor with that Matroyshka doll spirit again. Duplicitous [censored]."

"What the hell kind of spirit are you talking about?" Solid asked curiously, leaning against an opposite wall from Emry. Essex was frantically working at a communications monitor, her fingers flying across the keyboard at a ridiculous speed and Hal standing behind her supportively.

"Well..." Rosie cut in, "You know what a Matroyshka doll is? Or whatever? It's one of those little wooden dolls that has like, another one inside it, which has another one inside it, and another one inside it, and another one inside THAT one, and -"

"Yeah, yeah, I get the point." Solid said, waving a hand dismissively. "But there's a spirit for that?"

"Everything that has been given any sort of significance beyond basic monetary value has a spirit." Emry cut in quietly. "This is one reason why humans are so important to this world. Humans have an ability that very few others have - the ability to, without anything but the sheer force of will, give inanimate and previously insignificant objects a spirit of their own. Humans do not realize that they do this, and indeed it is one of the greatest secrets that we keep from mankind."

Hallucinogen was quiet, his eyes flickering to the floor.

"Consider, if you will..." Emry continued, opening his eyes and regarding the group, "...a child's doll."

With that, he reached forward, gently lifting the stuffed bunny that Essex had been carrying around.

"If a child loves a toy with all her heart - gives it a name, confides in it, shows it affection - the force of her own spirit will form a spirit in the toy in turn. But also consider the one who gifted the toy upon the child. If the toy is given with the mere intention of a simple gift, the giver's spirit will not affect it at all. But if it's given with a heartfelt reason, if it was carefully chosen specifically for the child as a companion, then it will be affected by the giver as well."

"That..." Solid said, musing thoughtfully, "Is about the fruitiest thing I've heard, ever."

"...You mean that Glenn has a spirit, sir?" Essex said, glancing over her shoulder at Emry in surprise as she typed.

"Yes." the magnolia spirit answered, ignoring Solid. "Though it has not matured yet. Most items given spirits do not mature unless exposed to strong circumstances that seem to 'shake' them out of dormancy. Let us use the doll as an example again. Its spirit may become active if the child's parents die and the child increases its dependance on the toy, clinging to it desperately as a remnant with all her heart. Or, it may become active if the child is needlessly cruel and irresponsible to the toy."

"Yeah." Pherelith cut in. "Remember that [censored]' teddy bear spirit? Little boy soaked it in gasoline and lit it on fire just for [censored] and giggles. Then it came back and burned down his house. It was brutal."

"...The point I'm trying to make here..." Emry said, "...is that humans create spirits with their words and deeds, and spirits exist in order to protect, watch over, inform, or even take revenge upon humanity. It is a delicate balance, the two worlds..."

"Yeah, but plant, animal, and sentient being spirits are different." Rosalind piped up. "See, living things are BORN with spirits. Sentient beings are born with their spirits awakened, but plants and animals have to be affected the same way inanimate object spirits are in order to mature."

"What does this have to do with anything?" Hallucinogen muttered, still looking at his feet. "I mean, it's interesting, but. . ."

"Oh yeah, the Matroyshka doll spirit." Pherelith said. "Anyway. She speaks Russian 'cause she came from there. That's all."

"That was a huge, pointless discussion." Solid said. "Remind me never to ask you guys anything about spirits again."

Emry placed the bunny doll back down near Essex just as the little android sighed. "Okay..." she said. "The Commander's had it translated, and should be -"

"-right here." came Reikoff's voice from the nearby teleport bay.

He froze in the doorway, eyeing the crowd. His eyes rested on Rosalind, primarily, who grinned cheerfully and waved.

"Don't...push things, Rosie." Emry said quietly with a warning tone. "Go lay down."

"Aww." the were-human grumped, shifting into her border collie form and curling up in a far corner of the communications bay to sulk.

"...Anyway." Reikoff said, his voice gruff and his gaze suspicious as it rested first on Solid, then Emry, and then Hallucinogen. It remained on Hal for the time being, and the Malta commander's eyes narrowed just slightly.

"...The Soviet translated the writing on the board. It seemed to be a poem of some kind." he finally said coldly, directing his words more at Essex than anyone else. "It says...

Tell me why the stars do shine,
Tell me why the ivy twines--

Essex's eyes widened. Her small voice interrupted Reikoff's, lifted in timid, clear song.

"Tell me why the sky's so blue,
And then I'll tell you just why I love you..."

The Commander's face paled slightly. "...Yes." he said, clearing his throat. "...Exactly."

"The song in my dream...." Essex murmured.

"Creepy." Solid said, polishing his gun. "So ....what now?"

Solid's inquiry was answered by a sharp intake of breath from Rosalind. All at once, the border collie leapt to its feet, orange eyes fixed in the direction of the hallway and ears straight up. A feral growl ripped from her throat the moment before she tore off, quickly dashing out of sight.

"She's got a bead on something." Pherelith said, even as Emry spun his pistol into a readied position. "Follow her!"

With that, the group headed deeper into the cold silence of Dr. West's laboratory...

"Aaah..." Essex squeaked quietly as she stumbled slightly, and then picked up her step into an awkward trot to keep up with Cyba. At the pace they were going, however, she didn't have time to watch her footing, and she drew in a breath as she stepped on a sharp object in the floor she didn't have time to identify.

A few spatterings of blood were left on the carpet before the little girl pulsed with green healing energy and the wound closed without incident - though Cyba would find that pulling her had become significantly easier. Essex was skimming now, almost unconsciously, in an attempt to keep up, an inch of space between her and the floor now allowing the cyborg to effortlessly tug her through the air.

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

"...Hmph."

Rosalind was sitting up now, doing significantly better thanks to the efforts of the medics. She eyed Bear neutrally again, raising an eyebrow.

"...You're a ballsy guy." she finally said. "I can respect that. But you need to tell me if you're serious about this or not. I'll be honest with you; if this gets back to your bosses, you're [censored]. But my trust ain't so easy to gain either. So if you're really serious about swapping sides..."

She scooted up to her feet and took off her Mao hat, dusting it against her upper leg before replacing it smartly on her head over her sharply clipped canine ears. Her orange eyes appraised him semi-malevolently through her snow-white bangs.

"...Cortianna and I will be keeping an eye on you personally."

Essex just stared fixedly at the spot where Blightlord's projection had been.

"I know I can't save everybody." she murmured. "But I'll be damned if I don't try."

When Acid fell to the ground, she twitched slightly and opened and closed her hands, but did nothing.

"I hate it when he does that..." she murmured, skimming a little closer to Alpha.

"Wha-" Essex said, her eyes wide as she took in Cyba with a wide-eyed gaze of wonder. This woman was beautiful...stunningly so. And from the way the Doctor reacted, it was quite certain that he was in love with her.

"...Ah... You don't need to worry, miss Cyba..." she said with a nod of her head. "He's not my father...he is just taking care of me until I can go home."

Still, behind Midas, she glanced helplessly back at the supply closet. She didn't want to leave the others too far behind...

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

As Rosalind received the full extent of medical attention from the head medics, she glanced over at Bear.

"One of you mugs, go an' fix him up a bit." she muttered. "Someone who can peg me that bad with one hand's gotta be somethin'."

She didn't take her eyes off the Inquisition soldier, her eyes narrowed.

"...Why'd you do it?" she said finally. "Bring back my corpse and you'd be a hero. The Bonermeister would give you so many medals you'd hardly be able to walk. 'Sides..." Her voice turned cold. "You're just a human, ain'tcha? ....I just...wanna know why."

Waving a medic away from her to go attend to Bear, she sat up, looking at him with a fixed gaze, trying to figure him out.

((No, no, not saying it like that - I was just surprised that he posted. O_O *L* You're fine, Laz. XD))

((D: That's the real Emry! *glomglee*))

"A-are you sure this isn't too much trouble?" Essex fretted, wringing her hands. "Dr. West told me not to let anyone into the base..."

She was met by a trio of nonplussed stares.

"Do you want your freakin' ghost problem taken care of or what!?"

"Hehehehehehe. What's a-matter, Dramabot? Baby gonna cry if Daddy gets pissed?"

"You need not worry. We are professionals, after all."

The Dread Trio stood in the entrance lobby of the Repliforce Paragon base, the group looking around impassively. Essex and Hal stood nearby, the little pink robot nervous and twitchy, and Solid stood opposite the newcomers.

"Draaaaaaag." Rosalind muttered, rocking on her heels with her hands shoved in her pockets. The were-human's ears were down and back in mild annoyance and she blew her white bangs out of her face.

Pherelith just nodded to Solid with a jagged grin. "'Ey Solid." she greeted. "Do a barrel roll?"

"NO U." Solid responded in turn, knocking knuckles with the willowy, gaunt zombie girl. "Glad to see you guys could make it on such short notice."

". . .I rarely know what you're talking about." Hal muttered, standing between Rosalind and Essex protectively.

"It's best just to leave them to their idiocy." Emry intoned, his crimson eyes scanning the laboratory with a bored sort of neutrality as the magnolia tree spirit spoke. "Now then...let us get down to business. Please describe the supernatural activity that you witnessed here over the course of the last few nights."

"Well..." Essex said hesitantly, counting off on her fingers. "When the Commander was here, I saw a white figure right in my face while in my recharge pod - like it was half in and half out of the door. But the door was locked and properly sealed, much to my surprise. Then, I watched as a set of tools on my father's workbench spelled my name. Last night, Solid and I conducted a seance...um...of sorts, and-"

"...And they ruined my [censored] Monopoly board." Solid said, holding up the scribbled on game-board with one hand.

Pherelith took the game board and narrowed her eyes, scanning the markings with a practiced gaze. Rosalind's nose was in the air, her eyes closed as she followed trails that were unsensable even by science's greatest instruments. Emry merely regarded Essex, the little android inching uneasily closer to Hallucinogen under his steady, cold gaze.

"Ghost. Definitely a ghost." Rosie muttered, nose in the air. "I can smell the despair."

"...Russian." Pherelith said with a raised eyebrow, still studying the scribblings. "One of the few languages I didn't study in finishing school."

"And by the sound of the encounters..." Emry mused, "Whoever it is, they are attempting to reach you, Essex. ...Or ...Selene."

With that, the magnolia spirit's eyes hardened as he stared at the android. Rosalind's eyes opened and she glanced back, suddenly catching her breath.

"...What exactly are you?" Emry asked Essex as she shrunk under his gaze. "...Because whatever it is, it's unauthorized. You reek of mankind's hubris and of grief-borne desperation. You're not just a mechanical being."

His fingertips twitched towards the blunt, silver pistol that hung at his side.

"...She's fine, Emry." Rosalind said, edging towards the tree spirit. "Ain't her fault her father-"

"The law is the law." Emry said, his gaze cold and unwavering on Essex. "And calling back a soul once it has already fully ascended breaks more laws than I care to describe."

"Emry." Rosie argued. "Leave her be, she's just a kid."

"...The illegitimate child of technology and spiritual energy."

The next moment, Essex found herself staring down the barrel of the Spirit Disruptor. The silver pistol was angled point-blank between her eyes such that the shot would enter her forehead and exit the back of her neck, cleanly firing through her AI chip.

The entire room seemed to freeze. Solid's hand was halfway to his gun, watching warily. Rosie looked lost, not knowing how she was supposed to react. Pherelith just eyed the situation neutrally, distracted from her task of deciphering the marked board. Emry's unblinking gaze was steady on Essex, who was staring up at him in turn with wide, frightened green eyes.

All at once, Essex vanished from sight. Emry's eyes narrowed, but his gun was now pointing down at a different person - Hallucinogen, violet fire hungrily crackling over his form and burning red eyes levelled at the tree spirit.

"I don't care who you are." Hal said coldly, returning Emry's stare with one of his own. ". . .And I don't care about your laws. You came here to help her. If you're going to help, help. Otherwise. . .leave. I'm not a patient person."

There was a stunned silence for a while, before Pherelith and Rosie seemed to sidle up to Emry out of nowhere.

"OooooOOOOOoooooh." they taunted, seemingly in unison.

"Look out, Emry!" Rosie said with a smirk. "It sounds like Hal-chan is calling you out."

"Don't call me that!" Hallucinogen yelled, turning his attention to the were-human.

"'Hal-chan'? You gotta be kiddin' me." Pherelith snickered, folding her arms.

"Ah...Please..." piped up Essex's voice from seemingly nowhere. "...Could we not argue? I ...I'm not sure what I did, but if there's something I could do to fix it, I'd be happy to cooperate....um...Maybe if I-"

There was a soft thump as she invisibly thunked into one of the nearby shelves, and a secondary thud as she lost her balance and fell to the ground.

"...Hal-chan, I can't see myself...." she squeaked despondantly.

Emry watched Hallucinogen as he fumed, and turned his eyes to where he could sense the invisible Essex. He brought a hand to his nose and mouth as if to stifle a cough.

"....*snerk*"

Rosie and Phe stopped in their tracks, looking up at the magnolia spirit in shock.

"Dude, did Emry just laugh?" Pherelith muttered. "Someone [censored]' shoot me."

"No freakin' way." Rosie said, one ear perked, giving her a perplexed expression.

"Heh heh heh..." Solid chuckled. "I guess that means I won't have to shoot his [censored]."

"Dangit!" Hal fretted with a scowl. "What's so funny!?"

Emry shook his head, his serious face now somewhat loosened into a very, very slight smile.

"...We will see what can be done about this situation later. For now, we have a job to do."

He raised his eyes to his partners, once again serious. "Pherelith, we need that Russian translated immediately. Rosalind, I need you on full alert. We need to know the location of any large concentrations of plants in this laboratory."

"Plants?" Essex asked quizzically as she slowly became visible again.

"Of course." Emry said, his eyes resting on her again. "...What else would you expect 'Marvin Gardens' to mean?"