((Seneschal's have a torch and act can blow fire with it, or just smack you. There's also Illusionists who have every Illusion power except Phantasms.))
Arc ID: 475246, "Bringing a Lord to Power"
"I'm only a simple man trying to cling to my tomorrow. Every day. By any means necessary."
-Caldwell B. Cladwell
(huh thought senes were minoins. and never met an illusoinist.)
Jones readied his rifle, now was the time to strike down the rikti, with their back's turned and their front's preoccupied. Motoining for a second- "Jones you there commander Jones pick up." "[censored]" Jones said as he quickly grabbed the radio and hit the talk button "WHAT!" He shouted as he ran the opposing directoinof the Rikti. "abandon missoin. this may be too hot for us." "what" "get out of there, now thats in order"
after several curses Jones and his troops back tracked their way out of the base. Quickly returning to his skip Jones and other vanished unto another missoin.
Aaron proceeded deeper into the base. Passing through offices, he noticed that the occupants had left in a real hurry. Papers were strewn across the floor. Out of sight, a copier was still attempting to print off copies of a research paper, though now it just went through its motions with no paper. Computer screens showed unfinished games of mine sweeper, and a few still had somewhat sensitive information displayed. The whole scene creeped the hell out of Aaron. Freis, lost in his thoughts again, knocked over a mug of coffee, which shattered on the tile floors. Aaron jumped, his rifle at the ready. Freis just stood still, looking down the barrel of the rifle.
"You need to chill out Aaron. Your starting to scare me even."
Aaron took of his uniform hat and wiped his head, swiping sweat out of his hair.
"Yeah...you're right. Just this place makes me wonder what made people leave in such a rush."
"Dont worry about it. It's probably nothing."
Even as Freis spoke, he also realized the whole place was making his skin crawl.
"Now lets get this over with," Freis said, "the sooner. The better."
Aaron agreed and they went deeper into the halls. Going through a few I.D doors, the entered a small room. Inside were barrels and crates. Nothing spectacular. Freis noted that the smells had changed though. No longer the stink of bleach assaulted his nostrils, but now something different. Thicker then before. He couldnt remember what it was, but he recognized it from a previous experience. On the other side of the room was a large steel door. Aaron took note that their were dents in the door, coming into the room.
"Alright. Fusiliers, line formation on the door, Weapons at ready."
The four robots responded and hustled into place, weapons at bear. The two Jaegers stood at the tips on the line. Freis walked to the door and opened it. It buzzed, and with a chirp that reminded Aaron of a Elevator it slid up and open.
The repugnant smell hit stronger then before. Now Freis recognized it. It was the smell of death. From in medical school, where he could work on the dead with no distraction he made careful notes of all the workings. The smell always accompanied. He was at a loss for words, but Aaron spoke for him.
"Jesus Christ..."
The words trailed off his tongue and echoed in the gore filled room. Huge puddles of crimson gathered in low lying areas on the floor. On the walls thick, long lines of blood laid in Zig Zag patterns. Also noted were pistols, which had fallen in proximity to the blood. Rifles, some smashed, were tossed about as well. A pair of glasses fell under foot of the robots as the team moved in. A few shreds of clothing were scattered around the glasses. The largest chunk only had a portion of a badge signifying the wearer was a high level scientist.
"Freis...what do you make of all this? Have you ever seen things like this before?"
Freis still ventured into the warehouse. A few crates had been busted up, and shell casings rattled about his feet.
"No. Never in my life."
"Alright, well keep alert. Dont get surprised. It looks like whatever did this can make short work of just about anything."
One after another, the Longbow Guardians fell to the Rikti weapons. With no shields of their own, they were completely exposed to the energy fire, which not only damaged, but disruped systems as well, effectively 'stunning' the robots further with every hit.
As the last Guardian fell and slumped to the floor, a pile of bent debris no longer even faintly resembling what it had been before, one of the Communcations Officers walked to the injured Kul'Bere.
[The damage to my organic shell is minimal.] she conveyed to them, standing up shakily, [I shall require zero point two standard time units to recover fully. My armor shall require two whole time units.]
[Acceptable.] Kal'Merus decided, [Guardian Mel'Legar, speed the recovery. I am granting one point one time units to replenish our armaments and reconstitute damage.]
The Guardian nodded and went to work, repairing the suit as best he could. In human scales, the time Kal'Merus had allowed was a measure of roughly twelve minutes...
"If I had Force powers, vacuum or not my cape/clothes/hair would always be blowing in the Dramatic Wind." - Tenzhi
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"Let's move it." The OpOfficer snarled, "This place gives me the creeps. Feels like some catwoman or angsty [censored] super's gonna jump outta tha frikkin' rocks."
"Quit that talk, soldier." Marcus sighed, "You know we could take 'em."
"Yeah, still don't like it though."
"Shh."
Marcus heard...
Plasma, somewhere near.
Not many groups use plasma.
The rest of the group cought up with rob when they entered the first sighns of combat. Rob stood still and obediantly as diana oproached him. "Good work dear, the dutchuss would be proud of you." she said further seducing the Iron man. the attendant walked over to the decimated turrent and stared at them before speaking, "I believe there are Rikti here my mistress."
"The Rikti, we must do our dutchess good and defeat her enemies. She defeated them easily so must we." Diana raallied her fellow carnies together. They all cramed into the elevator. "Jack hit them with everything you've got when we get up there." Diana said to the illusoinist before hitting the elevator button. Jack came to the front, if the Rikti were there, they wouldn't kniow what hit them.
(Ummm.... I have no idea what the illusoinist powers are and can I get a discriptoin. Also can he (assuming it's a he) attack the rikti.)
((Hmmm...not sure, the illusionists always die too fast for me to notice that. They're squishy. 
But I would assume that illusions would wrok on Rikti sinde heroes can attack them with illu controllers.
Also, the turret they destoyed is already beyond the elevator, which is where the Rikti are resting up right now. You could notice the grease spots on floor and ceiling that the cleaning drones left, though.))
Kal'Merus heard the elevator move back up. Someone had called it, he knew that much. As a strong Mentalist, he sensed minds - and they were radiating emotions of destruction.
[Prepare for engagement.] he conveyed to the others, [Standard formation.]
As his troop got into position, the headmen first, then the others behidn them to back them up, along with the cloaked drones to the right and left, Kal'Merus got an idea.
The elevator doors were little more than scattered remains from the autocannon earlier, and the Mentalist forced them away with ease, and fully open they remained.
He could already see the cabin, many floors up, on the way down again. Stepping back into formation, he ordered Gunman Kul'Bere to shoot the cables - ALL the cables.
With the tell-tale sound of energy fire, her arm cannon tore the cables to shreds, and the elevator dropped like a stone...
((Just so you know, it probably has safety systems, so it'll stop about half a second from now. You'll be a few floors above the bottom at that point.))
"If I had Force powers, vacuum or not my cape/clothes/hair would always be blowing in the Dramatic Wind." - Tenzhi
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The Maltans heard the elevator.
"Defensive positions!" Barked Marcus. They waited.
((So, which door did the Malta enter on their flight of stairs? And where are yall anyway? I wrote the Rikti about 20 or so stories down.))
"If I had Force powers, vacuum or not my cape/clothes/hair would always be blowing in the Dramatic Wind." - Tenzhi
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((We're in the caves, so we're close.))
((Caves? Um, Khel threw this your way about 2 pages ago:
[ QUOTE ]
What faced the Malta now were several flights of stairs going down. There were four landings including the one Marcus would walk onto and each landing had a door. The door on the 2nd to lowest landing was reinforced and had a red "Authorized Personnel Only" warning painted on it. If the Malta picked that door, they would have to trick their way past an ID scanner or blow open a door that laughs at C4.
The other upper two doors would lead to large rooms partitioned into cubicles with various other office equipment strewn about. The door on the bottom leads to a cafeteria. Probably some of the food is still edible but it wouldn't be that advisable to try.
And if the Malta did get past the blast door, they'd have to get through an identical, though less strong, blast door that operated on an airlock system. If the first door was open, the second door would stay shut. The small room between the two doors could hold four people, six if they squeezed.
[/ QUOTE ]Might wanna solve that first 
))
"If I had Force powers, vacuum or not my cape/clothes/hair would always be blowing in the Dramatic Wind." - Tenzhi
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((Bing!))
There was no sound.
"Okay, let's get on this door." Marcus growled, his Maltans happily rising and moving to the scanner-locked gate.
"Big."
"No [censored], private."
"Cut the chatter! I always knew this thing would come in handy."
Marcus produced, from a small pouch on his side, a finger in a test tube. Uncorking the bottle and drawing disgusted faces from the grunts of the cell, he presses the lifeless finger firmly against the scanner.
Welcome to A13, Agent Kurst.
The door began to slide open. Craig looked to his commander, who laughed.
"Kurst was a Longbow cryptographer in Mercy. After me 'n Curtis disposed of him I imprinted some of his DNA on this finger. I've got dozens of dead Longbow genetics stored on this thing - only problem is, Longbow's security computers register them as KIA after one use after they die. So I gotta get some new prints every now and again."
As the Maltans walked into the open door, Marcus muttered a thanks to the "Idiots who built this stuff."
((Okay...As much as I try, I can't resist the siren call of another RP thread... <.< Especially one that I can use for practice.))
"Hen kuai le..." the boy muttered from his perch far away from the location. "I can't believe how soon everyone descended on this place."
He leapt down, rejoining the small task force that had gathered in an alley not far away. The Tsoo were careful to assess the threats before moving in for a calculated strike.
The scout glanced between the members of his squad. There were only six of them, but he knew they would be all right.
He himself, Peng Wei-li, was still fairly low on the hierarchy, an Enforcer of the Tiger school. A quiet boy no older than 19, he was sent on most of the scouting missions. He was cordial, diplomatic, and likeable, but when the claws came out there was almost no stopping him.
His sister, Peng Na-li, noticed him returning almost immediately. She was older, 23 to be exact, and had joined the Dragon school a bit earlier than he had joined the Tsoo. The two of them were very close, and worked well together so it was no surprise that they were in the same squad. She was hot-tempered, however, and her sword was quick to find the vitals of any who opposed her or threatened her brother.
Hajime, a Yellow Ink Man of the Crane school, read through a small notepad he had brought along with him. The undisputed intellectual of the group, he was proud and bull-headed, arguing with Na-li constantly. In combat situations, however, his psychic resonations and ranged weapons proved invaluable backup to the others.
A little ways apart from the minions, their superiors discussed what would be done with this place. Han Da-wei, the second-in-command, was a Sorcerer who tolerated no slack from his enemies or his subordinates. He had a dark, sadistic sense of humor and unmatched control of the stormclouds that hurried to his command. He was discussing strategy (and politely disagreeing) with Haoxiang, the group's guardian Ancestor Spirit. Haoxiang had been a great warrior in life, but was a little loath to admit that the same tactics were not always applicable in present-day battles. The squad respected him, but he certainly was not good company.
Overlooking everything was a slim woman in red robes. Black hair was draped over one eye, and she was covered in tattoos depicting Phoenixes. Akabane Hakuzora was a Far Fire, and a damned good one. For such a fiery person, however, she was very cold. The only one she really got along with in the group was Na-li, as she despised men. She knew she could trust her squad, however, and she drew nearer as Wei-li began to report.
"So...others have already began to bicker over the location. Shou ga nai wa. It doesn't matter. This will only weaken them while we take it."
"Laoshi," Da-wei addressed Haoxiang, "An entrance has been located. Would you say it is fortuitous to move now?"
"Storm the door, wherever it is." Haoxiang answered with a sure nod.
"Very well." Da-wei answered with a bow.
The group of Tsoo had mobilized in the blink of an eye, towards the twelfth-story fire escape door that had been left open by a careless secretary in a nearby building.
((*cough* Base is underground. I'm such a moron. XD;; ))
Japancakes.
Art - Theme 005 - Seeking Solace
The Elevator came to a screeching halt. the attendant and a few others fell over at the sudent stop. With the snap over her fingers Diana began to order people about. "Steve door" The other Iron ripped open the elevater door with ease. climbing out he took piont. Snapping her fingers again rob lifted her out over the five foot wall where the elevator stopped a bit to late. While the others did acrobatic tricks to gain their freedom.
(Umm.. did you take the elevator down as far as it could go devious)
((Yes. The elevator took a few minutes, and at present-day lift speeds I gunned for a number between 10-20 floors. It's not really that important, since I'd imagined this: the first elevators go through the office floors and end on the very top of the 'secret levels'. The second set start at that level and go down further in stages. It's a proven design that forces intruders to taek certain paths, and sicne Longbow is by no means stupid, I had them employ some clever architecture ))
Sur'Lakat peered into the elevator shaft has they had cheard the cruniching sound. The cabin was stuck ((insert random number here)) floors up. Unless the Longbow blasted their way though the floor of their own elevator, or there was a hacth in the bottom, no assault would be coming from this direction.
[The vertical-shaft-box is disabled.] Sur'Lakat reported, [It is clear to proceed.]
[Good.] replied Kal'Merus, [Move out. And leave bait.]
As the Rikti squad again proceeded, their scout drone out in front, a small orb on the floor started to chirp on multiple wavelengths. It was desgigned to attract attention, and it did just that - the two Longbow Guardians that arrived down another hallway a little later found only their destroyed comrades and what appeared to be the intruder.
A linked photon cannon blast practically vaporized the noise drone, followed by the back-mounted plasma artillery cannons. If anyone was listening in this sector, though could hear the thunder echoing clearly from below...
((Hey Soviet, since the Malta seem to be heading in the general direction of the Rikti, I'll leave it up to you to write the encounter if you'd like. We know the 'evil' side of the Rikti factions works with Arachnos now, but there are hints at working with other groups as well, so I'll let you decide whether the Malta have their own ambassador or not 
))
"If I had Force powers, vacuum or not my cape/clothes/hair would always be blowing in the Dramatic Wind." - Tenzhi
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((Heheheh.))
"Shh. There it is again." Marcus breathed. The thrumming of plasma. He couldn't tell how close it was, or from what direction, but his attention was just about to shift, as six Longbow Minigunners came stumbling around the corner, safties off.
The Engineer Commander had barely begun to yell his favorite curse when the OpOfficer, an African man by the name of Williams, dove forward, ducking several bullets and flinging a flashbang at the Longbow's faces.
When the agents of good could see again, they would only see the barrels of a chaingun of their own design.
Msgt. Williams made short work of them. Marcus clapped. "Good going."
Williams didn't even look up, only saying: "I'm keeping it."
If the plasma-users didn't know they were there before, they sure did now...
Wei-li and Na-li tumbled forward, each taking one end of the hallway. The building nextdoor had been mostly abandoned, and the Tsoo had found an emergency escape tunnel that linked directly in with the service basement of the abandoned building. Hajime had managed to decrypt the access codes and get past the traps, and now the squad hurried through the escape.
It let out into a small closet on one of the lower-security floors. Eerie silence lay beyond the door. Invisible, Haoxiang spirited through, confirming that it was clear, for the moment.
"Shizuka ni." Akabane warned, instructing her squad harshly in whispers to proceed quietly. The Tsoo were a Vietnamese group by and large, but their squad was composed of Japanese and Mandarin Chinese speakers (because that's all I know. D: ). Luckily they were well versed in each others' modes of communication, so nothing was lost...
...Except for the life of the unfortunate homeless man exiting the bathroom just in front of Wei-Li. Only a startled gasp escaped his throat before a shuriken reduced it to a dying gargle.
Wei-li withered under Akabane's narrowed glare. The silence had been broken.
Japancakes.
Art - Theme 005 - Seeking Solace
((I thought the base was abandoned by all personnel?))
Kal'Merus could have smiled. The tiny bait drones hummed about in corners and air shafts, keeping the security system off their trail - for now, at least.
Still, there were others here for sure. It looked like the Rikti squad was the furthest down so far, but that could change very quickly.
They came upon a storage room into which several freight elevators fed. The ones at the left side of the room went down while the right sides' went up. This was a transfer point - just what they had been looking for.
But this was not what made them stop. The long trails of blood across the floors and walls were the cause. Even though they were logical thinkers, Rikti still had a core of emotions - and now they experienced fear. Whatever had done this had not left a trace of its kills, apparently consuming everything it had slaughtered.
[Calm your senses.] Kal'merus told the others, [This unit can meet any threat. We are combatants. The WAR is not over.]
The others agreed, proceeding to the locked doors of the freight elevators they wished to take down into the lower levels of the base.
However, ID scanners foiled this. Unlike the light security at the 'public' elevator before, this one was locked, encoded, armored, secured, internally blocked, and then some.
It would take quite a while to break through the encryptions...
((Soviet, just so you know: the Rikiti's reaction when they first meet the Malta is dependent on the ambassador thing. If they have one, they'd say something like, "Malta Operatives: Peace." If not, they'd just open fire without syaing anything.))
"If I had Force powers, vacuum or not my cape/clothes/hair would always be blowing in the Dramatic Wind." - Tenzhi
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"Looks like we're late." Said Special Agent Spiral of Crey Industries, while looking out from behind a bolder with shiny black binoculars. The other men in the squad had hidden themselves behind trees and the like. Compared to his comrades, Spiral looked out of place. They all had the fancy blue crey suits and kevlar with a wide variety of weapons, ranging from cryogenic to pyrotechnic. In some respects, spiral felt somehow outdated. He didn't have a fancy Crey outfit, instead he wore a vest packed with magazine, holsters for his shotgun and pistols with plain jeans and a knife strapped to his shin just above his boot. Overtop of all of this however, was a long overcoat which held grenades in all pockets and an M16 with attached grenade launcher. He was decked out in all sorts of firepower, but he still couldn't help feeling old fashioned. The man behind the rock with him, Agent Asephice, had extra armor and a passant look in his eye.
"What do you see Spiral?" He asked in a gruff voice as he checked his rifle, Asephice was a big guy with an attitude to match. He didn't much care for Spiral, or anyone else in the squad. To him they were just stepping stones to his next promotion. Spiral agitated him especially though, mostly because of his attitude.
"Well [censored]-face,I see a small structure, and what appears to be the remains of a door." Said Spiral, his voice leaked agitation. He didn't want to be here, and he wasn't exactly hiding that fact. He also didn't like Agent Asephice, but that was mostly because Spiral felt he was too eager to get into a bad situation.
"That's Agent Asephice, and I can see that from here, do you see any retaliation." Asephice spoke with contempt for his companion. They were both in charge of this operation, both lieutenants. They had 7 men under them, Spiral swore they were clones or something. He had not bothered to learn their names.
"Do misshapen lumps of steel count?" Said Spiral with a heavily condescending tone as he looked out over the bolder. There was a slight breeze and the leaves ruffled, Spiral heard one of the men jump at it.
"I don't appreciate your attitude, Spiral."
"I don't appreciate your face." Mocked Spiral, the medic behind a tree close to them giggled. Asephice looked at his minion with rage as he fired on the medic's tree. He flew back from his cover and landed on his rear, trembling with fear for his superior. Asephice smiled and turned to look back over the bolder, but as he did Spiral grabbed his gun and got in his face.
"I don't care if you're stupid and crazy on your own time, but please don't go around shooting medics and giving away our position." Spiral commanded, speaking with power, Asephice shook him off his gun and snarled at him.
"You don't outrank me you ugly [censored]." growled Asephice with hate.
"Whatever agent [censored]-face, let's move out." Spiral commanded the men as he threw the binoculars to one of the other men. He caught it with ease and put it away, and gave Spiral a smile. It's amazing the loyalty you can inspire by sticking up for the men. He was worried about his relationship with Asephice, if worse came to worse things might get very ugly.
With a smooth action, Spiral loosened the strap of his rifle and held it firm in his hands. He and the others looked twice and ran over to the exposed door. They pressed themselves against it's sides, peered in, and then examined both the door itself and the doorway it had been removed from.
"Looks like the door was ripped from it's hinges sir." Said one of the men who was kneeling by the hunk of steel.
"Astute observation my dear Watson, question is, what tore it off?" Said Spiral calmly and he ran his fingers over a piece of the doorway.
"Name's Harris sir, and I assume it was pulled by something large, and I think it ran into the trees when it was done." Harris spoke with great respect for his superior.
"Harris, for the purposes of this infiltration, you're Watson. Something big you say? Like, a big [censored] hero big, or minions of some [censored] organization big?" Asked Spiral, never turning around to face Watson.
"Sir, I'm not sure." Watson spoke with a little fear for the possible consequence of not knowing. Asephice turned to look at him with a face that screamed "Wrong Answer." Spiral beat him to the punch though.
"Fair enough, let's go." He said, as he made his way into the underground stairwell. Asephice looked at him with disbelief and shock, Watson however ran after his new favorite lieutenant with zest and vigor. The others in the squad were not far behind. Asephice snarled to himself, his displeasure so thick you could touch it. He grudgingly followed suit into the fortress.
((OOC: I hope this is good enough. I'm following in after CptCommie's Nemesis guys. Spiral also has some powers Crey "gave" him))
Little did the Rikti know, the Maltans were directly below them, hacking the same elevator.
((Yeah, Devious, we can say they have ties.))
((Maybe he missed the memo? Nah, I edited.))
"Elevators." Dawei stated. They had gone all over the floor, making sure that no others hid in the shadows.
Upon reaching the elevators, Akabane stepped forward to inspect them. "There is no other way down?" she asked her second-in-command sternly.
"No."
"......Open it manually."
Haoxiang moved to the door, using his massive hands and strength to pound it in. Far below, they could hear the sounds of tools faintly...and cables reaching from far above to far below.
Na-li hesitated, glancing down. "...If someone else is trying to use these elevators, I doubt it will end well if we attempt to use the cables as our transportation."
Akabane glanced to Na-li, her eyes expressing disappointment. "I thought you incapable of such cowardice." In one step, she had cleared the distance to the door and grabbed one of Na-li's swords from the Dragon Enforcer's back. One swift motion and an uttered ki-ai saw the severing of the thick elevator cables. They whistled loudly as the elevator, whether above or below, suddenly found itself unsupported...
Japancakes.
Art - Theme 005 - Seeking Solace
"Done!"
Not half of a second after the elevator door was forced open due to dedicated Maltan technology, the elevator shot past them.
"The hell?!" Marcus screamed, looking up the shaft. He saw...
((We'll say the freight elevator is just a large platform made of a metal grating then.))
...tall figures and greenish-glowing energies through the spaces in the platform floor. Marcus didn't have to look twice to know who they were dealing with. he was an experienced soldier, and knew a Rikti when he saw one.
A few seconds later, the elevator platform headed down again, and the Malta took up defensive positions. Ever since the Rikti had split into two factions, there was no telling what they would do anymore.
But as the platform stopped on their level, Mentalist Kal'Merus stepped forward with his weapon lowered, the seemingly hollow black eyes of his battlesuit staring straight at Marcus.
"Malta Operatives: Peace." he said, the words coming slow and clumsily. He may have sensed that they were Malta, but he couldn't communicate telepathically with them, and amking use of the 'antiquated' form of communication by speaking definetely gave him some major problems.
"We are: Restructurists. Ambassador Mahr'Kamat: contact of: Malta Group. We come: seeking. Answers: in your posession?"
"If I had Force powers, vacuum or not my cape/clothes/hair would always be blowing in the Dramatic Wind." - Tenzhi
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...Nothing.
The Tsoo had overheard Marcus' enraged scream. Their mission was to secure the area via stealth - and thus, they all froze at the sound of the voice.
A single noise made its way down the shaft - the satisfying ssshink! of Na-li's sword being placed back into its sheath by Akabane. It was an unnerving sound, like someone sharpening a razor-sharp claw.
Da-wei and Hajime exchanged unnerved glances. The elevator had dropped from a few floors lower than them, so they hadn't seen the Rikti.
But they could hear them.
Japancakes.
Art - Theme 005 - Seeking Solace
Diana walked down the street as if it was nothing. and the most surprising thins, to anyone who had never meet the carnaval of shadows before, is to evereone else they looked like normal people. But, Diana stopped and the rings jiggles for a moment. "Jenna" Diana said to a harleyquin fancer, "How does my mask look." Jenna, having been in the sevice of Diana for a long time knew exsactly what to say. "Oh it is beutiful beyond believe, not to mentoin how strong it makes you look. You could rival the dutchess." "Oh my I love the Dutchess, i could never do something like that." Diana quickly responded.
Then shifting he attentoin off the dutchess after a few moments of imagining her beutiey. "Yes, rob" The Ringmaster said putting her finger on an iron mans chest, "Would you be a dear and go ahead." Like he had a choice. "Yes" He said with excitment as he pulled out his gian mallet and marched ahead.
Diana looked at the carnies the dutchess has given her. one attendent a single bronze strongman, two iron strongmen Rob and steve, two harleyquins Jenna and Amy. among others.
(Whats a COS LT.)