_Essex_

West raised a single eyebrow at Hotaka.

"You have a good point." he began. "However, we need to establish a falling-back point. A shelter, if you will. Somewhere secure."

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"Woooooo!" Delphi yelled as she reappeared with the other reploids. "That was awesome!"

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Ah, Helper. I'm glad to know you're safe as well. Dr. West is currently discussing where the main force will strike. As of right now we have units placed in the locale of Terra Volta. I am forwarding you their coordinates now. We have also recieved a distress call from Peregrine Island, though that has changed direction towards Terra Volta - ...and now its coordinates match the others.

Potential courses of action are as follows: Return to base or rendezvous with units in Terra Volta. Independent action is also encouraged; though notification is advised.

Essex just watched Kefetasura's explanation with wide, blank, green eyes, noodles half in her mouth.

She broke the silence with a loud slurp, finishing off the mouthful she'd started.

The little girl had no idea what was going on.

"Terra Volta." West responded simply. "I have been receiving distress calls from there, and it is where Delphi and the others have been dispatched to. However, it is already under heavy attack. I recommend that we do our best to create a bastion somewhere, an impregnable locale that is very difficult to get either in, or out of."

A hologram flickered to life of a tall building many of them would recognize.

"The Ziggursky Maximum Security Prison." Dr. West said. "I believe we can persuade the inmates to be of help to us as well - better than being shot like fish in buckets in their cells. Additionally, it is set up in such a way that infiltration is quite difficult."

"Yo...." an android lifted a hand, peering at West beneath its onyx blast shield. "Didn't Arachnos break into it like a zajillion times?"

Dr. West shrugged. "It is still standing at the moment. And the truth of the matter is, the inmates are all trapped there as well. I propose that we use that as a fort and proceed from there. Thoughts?"

The lights suddenly dimmed and brightened briefly. The reploids knew what this meant - Essex had taken complete control of the systems.

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The control room was completely dark, except for the illumination from hundreds of monitors in every corner of the room, some physical, most holographic. In the center of it all was what looked like a huge egg.

Essex hovered in the exact center of the massive containment tank. Her hands were extended slightly to the sides. Hundreds, no, thousands of wires and communications cables were hooked all over her body, front, back, arms, legs, all the way up to her neck.

Her eyes blazed a bright green, looking almost haunting in the technological darkness of the room. Her pupils and the inner details of her eyes were no longer outwardly visible due to the brilliant harshness of the glare.

The android was now connected with each and every one of Repliforce Paragon's systems as a powerful router, communications hub, and navigation and informational unit. Each monitor had direct feed into her processor and each internal communication line was sent directly to her.

Moonscribe found his email answered instantaneously.

Bring all help possible to base, please. I trust you know the entry code already. Do not worry if it is improprietous to know it; the time for that will be later.

"[censored] you." the Commander growled, lashing a claw sideways to neatly bisect the chunk of desk.

And with that, Rosalind's berserker status cut and the red faded from her eyes. The were-human slumped down a little, holding her bleeding chest and pulling the brim of her hat down over her eyes.

"Cortianna." she growled between clenched teeth. "Send a pulse to scramble the frequencies. We need to get out now. I'm glad we ran that drill...everyone will know where to go."

With that, she began to lurch towards the door of her office, pausing. She leaned over, resting an elbow on Corti's shoulder.

"...Thanks, C." she murmured, her eyes appreciative under the brim of her hat. "I can always count on you to have my back."

As she hastened her step towards the door, she hesitated as the crumple of paper sounded beneath her feet.

Her wedding photo...

Reaching down, she picked up the photo and shoved it into her pocket, waving it a bit to free it of the broken glass.

"That magnificent sonofabitch." she muttered softly. The next moment, she lost control of her form, and fell to all fours - the commander now in the form of a border collie with a deep, oozing gash along her side. Glancing up to Cortianna with a slight nod, the dog limped off to join her troops.

Suddenly, Gunslinger Pete received an incoming transmission...

On our way, Doc G! came a swath of orange text.

"KEKEKEKEKEKE! DEATH FROM ABOVE!" the messenger bot cackled as she leapt down, neatly impaling her katana backwards through the chest of an attacking Rikti with her full force of momentum.

"Stop playing 'Sephiroth' and get serious." the black and yellow Regina Apia scowled at her sister as she began drawing attention to herself. The brightly colored Reploid was designed to garner attention, and was built with the most durable material West could manage - an engineered titanium hybrid. The weapons of the Rikti would be able to take her down...but not for a good long while...

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The communication light came on in the Repliforce Paragon base, and West glanced to Essex.

"Get into position." he said. "...I hate to say it, but there is no time for goodbyes."

Essex glanced down, and squeezed Hallucinogen's hand once. "I understand." Pausing just a moment longer to give the boy a lingering glance, her fingers slipped from his and she skimmed off quickly towards the main control room.

Helper's call was soon answered by a voice he recognized well.

"You have reached the bases of Repliforce Paragon. How may I assist you?" Essex intoned as she hurriedly stripped her armor and skirt off to reveal the sleek black and orange bodysuit underneath with one hand and held a headset to her audioreceptor with the other.

Essex had maneuvered herself into a seat between Kefetasura and Midas, and watched the colorful demon with wide, inquisitive eyes as her feet dangled carelessly and she slurped the noodles she'd acquired. Her left hand still held the Philosopher's Stone...almost protectively.

"Now then." Dr. West began, standing at the head of the table. "I am thankful to all of you for coming. We do not have much time to explain, however. I have already received a distress signal from some allies that must be addressed immediately with reinforcements."

"Sir!" the green and orange female android bolted upright, strapping her katana onto her back. "Permission to take a cell of reinforcements immediately!"

"Sit still for one moment, Delphi." West said. "I will excuse you after the essentials have been discussed."

"We don't have time!" she retorted. "Give us the information on internal comm, we've got to go, go, go!"

"...All right." Dr. West aquiesced. "Delphi, Orbit, Twilight, and Regina. You four go and offer support at these coordinates. The briefing will be forwarded to you shortly."

"All RIGHT!" Delphi cheered, sprinting out of the base at top speed and skidding around the corner, her squad following behind.

"Anyway." West continued. "It seems the Rikti have once again unleashed a full-out assault on Paragon City. I do not have much experience regarding the first Rikti War; I was in southern California at the time and researching for the war effort instead of playing an actively combat role. However, it has become clear that we are quickly being overwhelmed by the hostilities.

"All efforts must be made to drive off the invaders once and for all. I am mobilizing the entirety of my force, myself included, to assist in combat. The one exception is the S6 unit, who will remain at the base to serve as a central navigation and coordination unit. However, there is one point that I believe is worth making - we must establish a defensive cordon at as many hospitals as we can. As long as the mediport system is still functional, the job of the Rikti will be much, much more difficult. I have already dispatched several force shield and dispersion bubble drones to the hospitals in Atlas Park and Galaxy City - but there is only so much they can do."

Taking a deep breath, West paused a moment, taking in his reploids and guests.

"...Ladies and gentlemen..." he said quietly, "...Our world is at stake. I now open the table to discussion, though it would not do to tarry. Even now, people are dying by scores."

Essex quietly took Hallucinogen's hand.

"Aah.." Essex squeaked, fumbling the stone a little before holding it securely. Breathing a sigh of relief, she trotted into the room.

Her eyes widened in wonder at the scene before her. Everything was so...huge, and technological. The image of the gigantic blue sphere above them...The little girl's lips, pale pink against the deathly white of her skin, were parted, frozen in place at the breathtaking sight.

"...It's beautiful..." she whispered.

Then Essex smelled food and her stomach loudly gave her a polite reminder of the purpose for going to the kitchen.

*GRRWWRRL...*

"Nnh..." she said, hurrying over to the microwavish machines. She observed Acid using the machine, and stood on her tiptoes, her eager eyes taking in the menu.

Essex was lost for a brief moment. A lot of this food she hadn't eaten since....since before the incident. When she was a tiny little girl. Even then, her memory was fuzzy. But then, she could nearly taste some of the sweet things as she looked at the pictures. It was strange - she'd never eaten them before, but she remembered their taste.

"...!"

As the 'microwave' produced a little bowl of hot noodles, her eyes lit up. Essex shifted the stone from hand to hand, unable to hold the bowl with both hands AND the stone...

"Aaah!" Essex cried as Kefetasura roughly yanked the stone from her fragile grip. "Y, you mustn't!!"

Flailing around to try to catch the stone, her wide green eyes darted to follow the juggled shards in desperation.

The glare faded into a subtle glow once again, the stone's amplification gone.

"Ah, I'm terribly sorry..." Essex said, hastily pulling out the stone again. She looked to Midas helplessly as if to say, "It can't be helped" and trotted after the group, still carefully holding the stone.

As the Philosopher's stone was held close to the little girl's chest, Dr. Phillis' soul embedded inside began to feel the power of the stone resonating and pulsing slightly with a strange energy from Essex.

Her power was growing as she held the stone, and the rune on her forehead began to subtly glow...then less and less subtly as the glow became a bright glare.

"My shadow is green?" Essex cried, turning in naiive bestartlement.

"N...No it isn't..." she protested quietly upon observing that it was, indeed, just a regular shadow.

As Cortianna pelted it with objects, Rosalind connected eyes with her for a split second. She could feel the Ivory Engine beginning to give beneath her assault, and launched forward, forcing it down on the ground with a knee up on its chest area, a leg back to stabilize herself, and her claws firmly locking its blades into the ground.

"Black Queen to White Knight." she growled with a hint of malice. "Checkmate."

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Essex looked utterly surprised at the appearance of Kefetasura. He was so colorful! His purple skin, brilliantly colored clothing...it made the child very curious.

Carefully tucking the Philosopher's stone into a fold of her little white shift, the frail little girl's feet made pattering sounds on the metal floor as she hastened her step after Kefetasura and Moonscribe.

"...H-hello." she said shyly, her large eyes taking the two of them in curiously and eagerly.

Essex sighed in relief and handed the egg off to Kaloaten.

"I'm sorry for being so rude." she chirped apologetically. "I just didn't know if this would disrupt anything. Please keep the egg, as requested."

Rosalind was having a good time the best way she knew how. The border collie was rolling about in the grass, kicking up blades of it and sneezing as her legs kicked about in the air.

Essex's eyes widened as the mention of food caused her stomach to loudly proclaim its approval.

*gurrrgggllllleeee...*

"...Um." she merely said, quietly, unwilling to speak up any further.

The portal seemed to concede at Hallucinogen's words, and allowed the group in one after another.

"Are you guys coming?" Nena asked the group behind her cheerfully, tapping her armored foot in mock impatience at Xander, his father, Svetlana, and any of the others that had followed from the sewers.

Once inside, the area got a lot more sterile - bright LED track lighting lining the floors and pathways. Hallucinogen knew the base well by this point, and it was merely a short jaunt to the meeting room.

Dr. West stood at the head of the large meeting table, a contigent of colorful androids filling more than half the seats, up and down. Black and yellow, red and blue, purple and green, black and white, blue and gold...and all of them had different functions. Some of them seemed geared for land work, some for sky and sea, some even for outer space. The signature pink of Essex was about halfway down the table, flanked on either side by a lounging green and orange female Reploid with a sleek frame and a long katana carelessly leaned against the chair and a larger one with a strange, metallic wolflike helmet.

"Ah." Dr. West said, nodding to Hallucinogen. "Glad to see you safe, Hallucinogen. Nearly counted you among the lost..."

"No." Essex said matter-of-factly with a little smile. She, however, did not elaborate.

Essex shook her head.

"I'm sorry, sir." She said to the stone, looking to it apologetically. "I must not have been listening. Though..."

Glancing for a moment to the ceiling, wide eyed, she thought. "If my alternate self was indeed robotic, and this...iteration of myself is not robotic, I can see why you are puzzled by it, particularly if you knew me."

Essex ducked her head to the stone once again. "Please be patient with us, sir. While it seems that you, and your alternate self are two seperate people with two seperate sets of memories, many of the rest of us are yet in a situation where we have both sets mixed together in a quite confusing manner."

Suddenly self-conscious, she flushed, sitting down quietly. "But...Ah...I'll be quiet now."

OOC: Can I 'develop' the Ivory Engine a few new holes? <_<

As Hallucinogen typed in the passcode, the air between the split of the tree rippled slightly with the presence of a portal, which would take him directly into the base.

Repliforce Unit Hallucinogen. was displayed on the small screen of the touchpad. Warning. Several witnesses detected. it continued, referring to the group that had followed him.

"I can sense his psyche." Pariku muttered irritably with a wave of his hand. "He went that way. His worry's so palpable I can taste it."

"Yay Pariku!" Nena chirped, trailing along with his direction and Reginald's.

Hallucinogen would soon lead them to a small grove of trees, one tree in particular seemingly split into a V by a lightning strike. As the smokey boy approached, it seemed to sense his coming and a bit of bark slid away to reveal a passcode system.

*Gleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee*

"Um." Nena waved a hand over her head. "What are Rikti?" The little knight's foxlike tail wavered uncertainly.

Pariku just groaned, still coming back to himself, though the fresh air was doing him good.

Hallucinogen's communicator began to beep...It seemed Dr. West was calling all his affiliates to meet in the laboratories of Repliforce Paragon.

Essex hurriedly took the Philosopher's Stone from SENECA's now empty proc-bot shell and watched the group, silently despairing.

Watching them fight made her heart race and her blood pound in her ears with anxiety, but she forced herself not to say anything. She knew she was oversensitive and considered herself merely...swept up in all this at random. Still, though... so many of these people knew her...somehow.

"Um..." she finally piped down once the main conflict was over and awkward silence reigned.

"D..Does anybody know how we know each other? I mean...Besides...uh... Dr. Phillis, was it? I'm sorry, I'm just picking up names - but the Acid person and the Stone seem to know the most. I'm sorry to be a burden, and I know I-i'm just an idiot, but...if someone would explain it to me...I promise I'll be quiet from now on."

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Rosalind scowled amid her berserk haze. She hadn't let the clawed blades go, and yet he had managed to slip out of her grip! As the blades stopped an inch from her chest, she didn't give the Ivory Engine the requested ten seconds to 'complete her termination.'

If Ivory Engine wasn't magical, as her spells came back unused, then he was merely a piece of finely honed, precise machinery.

Machinery was breakable.

As Engine's wristblades were turned about, she whirled, locking them into her claws once again. She brought up her right leg and unleashed a powerful kick at the chest area of the robot, attempting to shove it over with the force of her enhanced strength.

The were-human took great care not to release the blades from the grasp of her claws - though her hands were sliced up and bleeding, she knew that if she released the blades, her life would become a lot more difficult - and likely a lot shorter.

Nena just blinked at Svetlana.

"You talk funny!" she said cheerily as she marched over to Wielder.

"Ughh..." Pariku's voice groaned from his limp form. "Stupid poison.."

Essex reached her hand up to rest on Midas' forehead.

"..."

Closing her eyes, violet energy pulsed around her, resonating with the rune. Midas would feel a wave of comforting clarity wash through his mind like a waterfall.

Retracting her hand after a moment, the little girl scurried off to retrieve the stone. Carefully lifting it, she murmured, "I'll tell you whatever you want to know if you just wait, please. I want to know what's going on, too..."