_Essex_

Then we need to finish this NOW. Rosalind thought back to Cortianna. The troops need our support. I will not have any more of my men die in their own enclave.

As her spell continued to work, the were-human took a deep breath. Her eyes blazed red the next moment, and she snarled with renewed strength as her berserker instincts were allowed to take over.

This was no cause for her allies' alarm, however. Over the years, and with Cortianna's help, Rosalind had actually forced herself to control her berserking status, making her ten times more deadly than she had been before. It was like flipping a switch now - when the required conditions were in place, the were-human could let herself go wild on her opponent...but when the time came for her to back down, she could rein herself back in.

And so it was with the full force of this controlled fury that she unleashed her wrath on the Ivory Engine...

"Ah, wait, no, sir!!" Essex cried as she dove for the egg, catching it herself in midair. "You may compromise your victory!"

"I...Ah..."

Essex's eyes widened even further as the raptor-headed lizardman with the knifelike teeth put his clawed hand on her frail, white shoulder.

The rune on her forehead blazed as she trembled, just watching Acid with wide eyes.

"Remember....Vern?" she murmured. She bit her lip, trying to steady her heart's frantic beat in her ears.

Okay...What DO I remember?
For six years...I don't...know. My mother...
Then something happened...She died...And then I...I don't know.
And then I was in the lab for I don't know how long.

But then, I was outside, too. And things happened...but they couldn't have. I'm not a robot. Were they dreams? ...But these people were in my dreams.

"...Maybe..." she said, inconclusively, her voice still very small and intimidated.

"Ah, wait for me!" Essex cried, looking to Naga and hurrying after Hallucinogen.

"Something doesn't seem right here, though. Do you really think Linn would be involved in such a thing? He may seem unfriendly but he also seems so devoted to the family..."

Nena didn't even notice Hotaka go. Her mind was on other things.

"Xander! Are you and your papa okay?" she shouted, the unconscious Pariku still draped over her shoulder. "Where did Ryuji go?"

Her eyes scanned the area for the others, particularly Wielder. He would know what to do...

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

The lights in the underground laboratory flickered and generators hummed to life.

"What the hell?" Dr. Daniel West muttered, glancing up at the lights in his workroom. "...What's going on up there?"

[ QUOTE ]
"Okay, now that the drama-girl's sob story is out of the way, what is next on the agenda?"

[/ QUOTE ]

Essex looked up at Experiment in surprise, a little hurt. She hadn't even been talking to him...and she wasn't trying to get attention. She was simply answering a question.

He sounds like Stepmother. I had better be careful...

"...I understand." she said quietly, slowly moving herself so that Midas' left leg was directly interposed between her and Experiment. "I suppose I am being self-centered again. I won't speak of such things any longer. Please accept my apology, sir."

Her grip tightened on the man's leg when Vern entered, swallowing uneasily. This was getting more and more frightening by the moment.

"Sir!" Essex cried in concern, instantly jetting over the building with her own thrusters. "Are you all right?"

Healing light exuded from her busters as she frantically worked to repair the Mastermind, who was faceplanted quite neatly in the front lawn.

"Level two, eh? Well, well, [censored]' lol gratz to me, then." the were-human growled, taking a stance.

"Discedo Subvenio Dolor Finis!" Rosalind hissed as her claws locked with the claws of the Ivory Engine. This was not a good situation. She had already been injured and with her claws locked in its, it was hard for her to have any sort of offensive capability.

Except for her jaws.

Her canine teeth rather larger than a normal person's, she lunged forward, shredding at the Ivory Engine's faceplate with feral alacrity even as her spell began going to work...

...untying, quietly, one by one, the spells at work on the white construct. She was standing in a pool of her own blood, acting as an amplifier to the magic...

Essex relaxed a bit.

She couldn't explain it...but Dr. Phillis reminded her, if only slightly, of her father. It made no sense. Her father was a magibiologist, and Midas was a roboticist...but...

"Um..." she said quietly. "...My father is Dr. Daniel West...A magibiologist. He....works on a lot of projects involving...um...the supernatural. H-he got a research grant from somewhere to pursue some....uh... very specialized subjects. My stepmother, Dr. Gretchen Fleischman-West, helps him. They don't....get along very well.... but I think it's mainly because she...um.... doesn't like me."

The girl's voice was soft and hesitant.

"...I am his daughter, but I am also his prototype. But my stepmother said I was...illegal... and needed to be destroyed. So he took me out of the lab this morning. I thought...he was going to kill me."

She reached her hand up to touch the long cut on her cheek from the bullet's path.

"...It would have...made his life easier....less dangerous, I think. But he didn't...instead, he...he told me to run away. S-so I did."

Essex trailed off at that, as if unsure of how to continue.

Rosie barely had time to dodge out of the way, resulting in a deep cut right across her waist.

"Ggh!" she growled with a sort of choking sound as her blood liberally sloshed down the white blade. "You're gonna [censored] pay for that, you [censored] tin soldier."

As the Ivory Engine's back was now to the were-human, she whirled and plunged her left claw directly at its midsection, aiming to hold it in place or at least grab onto it while her right claw went for a particularly damaging blow to its arm joint controlling the sword, aggressively attacking the couplings and finely honed machinery that made up the assassin.

Rosalind, noting that this area was getting WAY too dangerous, leapt off of Mini Bot and made a neat three-point landing a few feet away from the conflict, crouching and using her right hand to stabilize her landing.

"Suuuuuuure." she said to Hallucinogen, winking and tapping the side of her face with her forefinger. "That's exactly why you decided to take a shower at the same time. Awwwwh, kids are so cute when they're in love."

"I-I believe you, Hal." Essex said rather meekly, though her cheeks were burning red.

((Lol, Rosie and Cortianna are ALSO in Europe. XD))

"Ah!" Essex said, startled as Hallucinogen popped into existance right next to her. "W-were you there this whole time?"

Rosalind gleefully barked at Mini Bot, grabbing onto its tentacled arm and wrenching hard to try and disable it, not wanting to cause any -permanent- damage to the little drone. After a brief bout, she shifted back to humanoid form in time to yell over at Hal and Essex.

"Don't worry bout it, Ess, he was prolly jus' watching you shower or something!"

Indeed, Essex impacted Solid's leg with a soft thump, the android's buster arms wrapping snugly about.

"It's so good to see you!" she chirped. "Me and Rosie were shooting zombies and she let me have my own gun and it was really really cool!"

"Ahehe..." Rosie trotted after, Essex's smoothie in hand. "Yo, Solid. What's up?"

Rosalind sprung into action.

"Hey, TD!" she said playfully. "I'mma get that egg!" With that, she shifted into her dog form, letting out some happy barks before taking off after the mastermind.

Essex, in the meantime, returned back down, having taken a quick shower. Wearing a cute little sundress, she watched the last phase of the immunity challenge with interest.

"Be careful..!" she called out.

Essex let out a startled squeak as she was flung over Midas' shoulders, landing neatly in his arms from the front. As he put her down, she quietly skittered next to him, clinging to his leg, her bare feet making pattering noises on the steel floor.

The blanket lay discarded on the ground, as it was actually quite warm in the hangar - uncomfortably so. The girl looked around in quiet despondancy at the amazing technological advancements around her.

"Even Papa's lab wasn't this...techy." she said quietly. Her eyes rested on one device after another.

I know what that is.
And that.
And that.
But that one-...Wait, no, it's an astrascope.

....Wait...how do I...

"Or...Maybe it was?" she added, in unhappy confusion. Her eyes fell on all the members of the group in turn. Essex would have recoiled from the twins wearing the clothing of the Secret Police - but she had no way of identifying them as such.

"...Why are we here?" she asked quietly. "What is this place? ...I ...I wish my father were here." Essex's last words were punctuated with the motion of hiding just inside Midas' labcoat, the long garment draped over her like a tablecloth as she hid against the scientist's side.

"There's something going on at City of Gyros..." Essex said, her eyes wandering away from her smoothie.

"Eh." Rosalind said with a shrug. When she looked back...the little android was gone. "[censored] [censored]!!"

"Mister Solid!!" Essex squeaked in glee, her thrusters taking her quickly towards the tall grey android.

"I trust you, sir..." Essex said, clinging tightly to Midas. As they broke through the window and the searchlights focused on them, she shivered in fear, hiding her face in the crook of the scientist's neck.

Okay, one of these comes up every three weeks or so. Can we get a sticky on one of them, please?

I think it'd be a wonderful reference for people who show up in this forum looking for an in-game RP group. :3

"Miss! They're surrounding us!!"

"Don't worry, kid, I'll take care of you! [censored] zombies!"

The sound of gunshots.

"Aaaaaaaaaah!!" A terror-filled shriek.

"Essex!! [censored]!"

"I'm done for, Rosie!! Go on without me..."

"[censored] no, kid! I ain't leaving you hangin'!"

"I'm sorry...I...I.... I let you down..."

"DON'T you [censored] give up on me!! Dammit, Essex! I need you!"

"Take my gun..."

The were-human grit her teeth. Her partner, Essex, had been damaged severely, and zombies were everywhere. Time was running out...

Snatching the gun from the little girl, Rosalind used the expertise of years, scattering the zombies with well-placed shot after shot. Dual-wielding the pistols like a master, she continued firing and firing until all was once again still.

Essex looked on in awe.

"W-wow....!" she gasped, her eyes wide in surprise. "That has to be a new high score!"

"[censored] yeah, it is." Rosie said, untangling herself from the arcade's red and blue guns. The House of the Dead credits high scores began to roll, and three initial-sets were quite prominent on the roster - MRY, ROZ, and PHE.

The top set blinked, awaiting Rosie's entry. Firing the gun expertly, a new set was placed at the top - RNS.

"Rosie 'n Essex." the were-human proudly proclaimed as the high-score was displayed for all to see. Ruffling the android's blonde hair, Rosie grinned. "You ain't half bad, kid."

"Hahaha..." Essex replied with a blush. "Thanks."

This babysitting gig ain't half as bad as I thought it was! Rosie thought, her tail wagging genially.

The arcade was alive with lights, blips, clicks, clanks, beeps, and all sorts of assorted noise. In reality it was only half arcade, the other half a smoky karaoke bar. Both were run by a mysterious woman who seemed to be eternally frowning - her hair and clothing jet black, her eyes almond-shaped and hard, and her skin a deep, rich red.

"Back again, Rosie?" the woman said with a quirk of her eyebrow. "Papers are all up to date."

"Awh, I know I can count on you, Hiko." Rosalind answered with a dismissive wave of her hand. "We gotta stick together, girl. I've got the boys out looking for that water elemental that displaced ya in the first place anyhow."

"Thanks." Hiko said with a nod. "Word from the guys back in Japan is that the next HotD is going to be out in a couple months. Come back and dominate that one too, why don't you? I like seeing my customers frustrated that they never get anywhere near you three's scores."

Essex just watched the exchange with a tilt of her head. Rosie suddenly blinked down at her, and facepalmed.

"Ohyeah, I'm babysittin'." she said. "Essex, this is Hiko. She's a Japanese fire elemental who owns this place. Hiko, this is Essex. Robot with a soul. Big man says I gotta keep an eye on her, so eh."

Leaving the Flameout (which is what the bar/arcade was called), Rosie ruffled Essex's hair once again. "C'mon, kid, I'll buy ya a pretzel."

"Ah..." Essex said, glancing down. "I'm afraid I can't taste -"

"Oh, that's right. Okay, a smoothie then."

"Yay!"

Essex had quietly slipped off to clean up, and Rosalind was watching the whole thing in excitement.

"This is the freakin' coolest thing I have ever seen, EVER!" she gaped. At Lyden's admonishment, she scoffed.

"Listen, Ly, it was your boss' idea to drag all the superpowered ones here in the first place. What the hell did you EXPECT to happen?"

Nena, immune to the poison, caught the foul-smelling vial with a blink.

"Come on, everyone!" she chirped, scurrying after Hotaka with the sword neatly sheathed on her back. As she went, though, she nearly tripped over a figure half in and half out of the water...

...Pariku. The man was facedown, quite unconscious. Nena scowled.

"Come on, you big load." she said, swinging the man over her shoulder, and holding the cloth to his mouth as she bull-rushed through the door.

"Yes sir!" Essex said, though her voice shook.

Odd, I feel as if that's something I say a lot.

Quickly, she swung herself around so her arms hung around Midas' shoulders, clinging around his neck.

Now how did I...

The emblem on her forehead flashed brilliantly as she concentrated, and Midas felt his feet leave the ground once again.

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

"Same [censored] difference." Rosalind growled as she dodged the slash. Hearing Cortianna's grunt of pain angered her even further, and distracted her momentarily.

"Corti, get the troops OUT of here." Rosalind snapped, and then yelped as a well-placed slash lashed across her chest, throwing the were-human's blood to the walls.

"Use the Hallowed Halls." she said, her voice tinged with pain. "I [censored] warded them myself with the strongest spells I could manage. There's no telling what the Overmagus knows about this place now. It's not safe to take the standard exits."

With that, she lunged for the Ivory Engine, claws glowing with the strength of her determination as she moved in to 'disable' the assassin bot the best way she knew how.

Essex just sighed.

"...Listen..." she said. "I...don't know this world very well. I haven't experienced it. All I know is that it's not right. But until a few minutes ago when you explained the Malleus Mundi, my mind wasn't on changing it. It was on escaping, on living, on surviving."

Walking over to Midas again, she took his hand in her tiny white one.

"And if following my father's instructions makes me self-important...then I will accept that label."

For a moment, though, she looked doubtful and looked up at Midas with large, worried green eyes.

"...The world doesn't depend on it...does it?"

Essex showed no fear as the crimson lightning extinguished an inch from her nose. Instead, her green eyes rested on the stone.

"It's a shame that in the real world, Dr. Midas Phillis..." she said quietly, stalking forward. "...you are such a self-important, obstinate, self-absorbed and obtuse tyrant."

She blinked at herself in momentary surprise. That had been unexpected. Essex didn't even know she had learned those words.

"...When this gray world is changed back into the blue skies of my dreams...I will miss you."