Patches (Open RP)

((Doctor Mechano's camp - waiting on Dr_Mechano's post))

The rice cakes and drinks both were highly nutritious, if the the way the odd offerers were relishing it was anything to go by. The cakes would taste like various fruits with too much sugar added. The blue one the Marbles ate had been blueberry. Similarly the milky drink, containing enough nutrients found in blood to be palatable for the spiders, had a syrup-sweet overtone.

If the Marbles were disappointed at Edward's forbearance, they did not show it. Instead they waited with baited breath as Mar downed one of the milk pods. Then they broke into howls laughter. Their prank had been sprung.

Which prank? Every time one of the pods was drunk or one of the cakes eaten the consumer would turn a florescent color for a couple days.

The Marbles were no exception. Seeing each other turn robin-egg blue bumped their laughter up into gales of humor. The gravity slug impacting nearby tumbled the Marbles down, where they rolled on the ground in the throws of laughter. For a moment it might have seemed that they would die laughing the way their bright blue turned dark. But no, it quickly became apparent that laughter cleared the prank's magic from their system faster. In seconds the Marbles had returned to normal coloration, though their laughter continued on.

Thus was the reason why Marbles were renowned as one of the greatest pests of Patches. More than that their small stature, averaging 3'8" including messy hair, was mostly impish smirks. Sure, they had a tendency to snatch unsupervised odds and ends, which was frowned upon by their victims. True, their pranks were mostly harmless. It was the way they persisted in always trying to pull another prank, especially on those who were new or had fallen victim before, that made them such an annoyance. And the way they unerringly escaped retribution. The general consensus was Marbles thought life to be a big joke.

How did they get away with it? That was hinted at as the Harvester came too near. Still laughing and slapping each other on the back, then appeared to burrowed into the conveniently dropped cake. A flash, then the giggles silenced. For now. Nothing remained of the Marbles except Doctor Mechano's underwear, now coated in pink frosting. How had they know they were not in immediate danger from the Harvester, because something as random as a gigantic falling cake would provide cover for their exit? It was a mystery for the universe to ponder. Or perhaps yet another joke on a philosophical scale.

----------

((At cliff shelter))

"Yes, I can tell now if I would be harmed by magical artifacts. And from henceforth I am only to grant the Wishes you, Jade, vocally command," Bisys intoned. Good intentions again worked in Jade's favor, properly interpreting 'tell' as 'vocalize'.

As for the first, well, Bisys could confirm it worked because suddenly she knew that the Token, the borrowed acorn symbol of her Bond to Jade, was harmful. Something between a poison and a curse was leaking from it. Though the effect was slow, eventually it would corrode away. What 'it' was that would take the damage, whether the Bond or her ability to grant Wishes or her very Being, could not be discerned. Jade's wish didn't demand that she share the knowledge, so Bisys hid this insight deep in her mind as protectively close as one would hold the gun they knew would fire their death bullet.

It was anyone's guess if knowledge of Toy's installed reset/off switch would have frightened or relieved Bisys at this point.

Toy's abrupt declaration and departure was highly charged, with Cerelassion following immediately after. Bisys was thankful that she could look to Jade to decide which path they took.

Edward had already unslung Betsy at the sight of the cake and animatronic birthday cards appearing...he did not like surprises least of all ones like that. He accepted that eating the food would turn him a different colour but then he was already grey skinned so being blue or orange would make little difference to him...and he needed all the supplies he could get.

Watching the Marbles disappear he sighed, so much for raising a standing army on this world, he enjoyed a good prank though. He knew he would probably see them again, probably the moment he ate that food, they would be there, laughing like hyenas...no matter.

Hearing Mar he smiled, "at last...technology...one does not run from technology my good friend, one embraces it...Mr Fluffers...to the trees, I do not wish to see you harmed...I suggest you find somewhere to hid as well my wounded friend, myself and Steve shall hunt this big game!"

The spider followed his instructions and clambered into the nearby trees, Steve had heard the kerfuffel and already arrived back in camp, he moved quickly despite his slow, ponderous steps.

"Betsy, time for the big dog to bark...."

The rifle spoke in a sweet yet generic female computerized voice, "Barrett mode engaged..."

The rifle seemed to switch and grow until it resembled the mode name rifle, Edward was forced to lay on the ground, there was no way he could fire this thing standing up, even with his cybernetic arms it'd wrench them out of their sockets and fly him several feet backwards. Unfolding the tripod and looking through the scope to see if he could locate this 'flying machine' of alien origin.

"There you are...Betsy...depleted Uranium rounds...I want to hit this thing as hard as I can...."

"Ammo type selected, spawning....spawning complete...ready to fire..."

He took one deep breath and steadied his aim...to be fair the target was large enough for anyone remotely competent with a gun to hit but the trees continually blocked the line up of a good shot, he waited for a gap in the trees and fired...

...the ground shook around him, kicking up dust and dirt. The gunshot peeled like thunder as it rumbled through the forest, flocks of exotic birds would probably be startled into the air for miles around as the large calibre round fired. Those familiar with gunfire would recognise the noise as a large gun being fired. Edward would probably be deaf for a few moments but it was a good price to pay for a good shot.

Edward cocked the firing bolt back, shouting as to be sure he heard himself "Betsy...another round!"

"Spawning..."

The blood countess almost was kicked out of her chair by the violent shaking of the car. For a moment she remembered how much more comfortable her ride on the Orient Express was when on a trip from the East. She looked around at the people in train with her. Many had suitcases and where obviously prepared for a long time from home. She could read some sort of concern on their faces. It was clear to her that this situation was not normal for the locals either.

She looked firmly back to a female who was extremely interested in the clothing Elizabeth was wearing. But a rather unpleasant look from the vampire killed of a good part of that curiosity. Then she felt magic in the air… and close…

Looking around for the source she found the two heroes in the far back of the car. Some sort of soldier dressed in armour that seemed powered by the wondrous technology of this future. She didn’t understand the workings though… but she could imagine its effect. Was he the local constable? The other controlled mystic fire like it was his birthright. She could feel the power even at this distance. But it wouldn’t be wise to reveal herself. Not yet… she was lucky enough as it was staying out of sight dressed like she was.

It was not the first time she met people or beings possession powers beyond human. But to meet one in a train for a city?! She looked around and noted that most people didn’t even respond to the two men. Even though they where in full sight. The locals seem to be used to sights like this. Doing her best to act as casual as she could she looked out of the window. The dust storm was getting less the closer they came to some sort of energy shielded wall around a city of grey stone and steel. That must be the Paragon City Malcolm spoke off.

A few minutes later they arrived at Steel Canyon Station. Elizabeth her internal clock told her it was at least seven hours from daylight. The station was still busy with people unloading and scattering around to their different hotels and family addresses. But she had other plans. Making sure to stay out of sight of the two possible lawmen she slipped behind the station. In the darkness her body seemed to disappear and a few seconds later a bat flew over the station being amazed by the majestic tall buildings. Then she saw what she was looking for… Not far from the station, across the water… there was what looked to her as a clothing shop. It had windows displaying several colourful outfits and in large the word ‘ICON’ above the door.

The store was closed of course… but that wouldn’t stop a vampire. Along the back the bat that was Elizabeth started to shimmer and became as the misty night-air. The mists streamed into a small gap left by a window that wouldn’t completely managed to close. A few seconds later it began to reshape itself again next to rows and rows of clothing.

Elizabeth looked around for size and what would seem the best to blend in grabbing a suitcase from the shelves while she was at it. There was a lot of brightly coloured stuff… and some stretch material she didn’t like at all. But between all that she found a nice black dress not too far out of style from the women in the train. She also grabbed a long black coat and some shoes. Quickly she dressed herself. She let her long dark hair fall down and placed her old gown, hat and shoes in the suitcase.

The gown was from 1891 and had therefore a mystical link to her original time and space. There where spells that could trace that link and bring her back. But she would need her library for that. Some research had to be done before she would manage to create such an incantation. Then she heard footsteps in the back, and a beam of light came her way!

The old shopkeeper had been in the city of Heroes all his life. John Porter was his name, and hero clothing was his game. He always was the last to leave these days. All the young men and women of ICON thought him a bit weird. But he knew what the right outfit meant for a hero. And while everyone had left, he stayed finishing the new dust protecting clothes some had ordered. This weird place the city was in… Still he was done and it was time to go.

He walked to the storage to place the order on the right shelve. The bundle of clothes in one hand and his flashlight in the other. Then he saw some piercing red eyes in front of him… followed by a sudden pain in his neck from a bite. While his eyesight slowly dimmed away he saw this beautiful woman sitting next to him making a cut in her arm. The red blood streamed out while she placed it upon his lips.

“Drink Shopkeeper, drink… and be the first of my legion in this strange place.”, was the last words his living ears heard.

Dr. Mechano's round found its target with a truly vicious collision, a large cone of fine, dusty shrapnel billowing from the impact site as the shell embedded itself in the Harvester's armor. Unfortunately, that seemed to be about it. If the man peered closely enough through his scope, he'd likely be able to see the crater it had left.

If he could find it among the hundreds of others.

By human standards, the Harvester was ancient. Weather and combat alike had turned its once smoothly curved shell of armor into mottled, pockmarked, dent-ridden hill country, so to speak, the machine having taken everything from a centuries' worth of environmental assault to the impacts of heavy ballistic artillery. All of it had left its mark. Unfortunately, nothing had impeded its function. The machine was still just as operational as the day it had been activated.

However, the doctor's close observance did yield something else: the characteristic grooves of a pair of presently-closed gates around the thing's front, just below the beetle-like 'head'. In addition, it wasn't too hard to spot the large gouges in and discoloration upon the metal surrounding, and especially below them.

Claw marks and coagulated blood.

Dr. Mechano had discovered the Harvester's intake ports. It seemed the machine hadn't found anything to 'harvest' for some time now. Unfortunately, that was about to change.

Back at the elves' cliffside shelter, Jade's visage assumed a grim determination as he charged after Toy, Kethara, and Cerelassion, staying on foot to make himself more difficult to detect. He knew the machines preferred the air, and thus he'd stick to the ground. For now.

"C'mon." Akat didn't seem to have taken on any of this grimness as she gently tugged at Bisys' shoulder after jumping up, her intention to follow to the site of Dr. Mechano's camp as well, "Let's go see if we can help."

She didn't really know if they'd be able to, or even if she should, but what she did have was a feeling - and Khelari listened to their feelings. Luckily. For at about the time Jade arrived within sight of the Harvester, standing there with a fist pointed at it at the end of an outstretched arm, he realized they'd need all the help he could get.

No more arm cannon.

"Aw spit..." he muttered with gnashed teeth...

((You know... I actually never considered the possibility that Dr Mechano might have been in some completely different forest... Oops?))

The resounding boom of Mechano's firing almost caused Toy to miss a step, skidding across a moss covered stone and only recovering by blasting a force bolt forward. The bolt kicked up a huge burst of dirt and leaves, but balanced the android out. Grumbling for a moment about someone bringing an anti-material rifle to a bow and arrow fight, he took the time to glance behind and see who was coming. Jade, Cerelassion, and Kethara. Acceptable.

"Do what you do best, folks," he called out to them as he moved to sync with their formation. "This'll be a good test run to see how our combat styles will fit, yeah?"

Things were shaping up to be interesting, especially since the defenders appeared to be a mad scientist, a Shivan, and a pair of giant spiders. Also a giant cake. Huh.

"Hi there! We're here to help!" shouted the rainbow colored android as he got close enough to Dr Mechano and company. "Just don't hit me and keep being a deliciously distracting human, ok?"

Without waiting for a reply, Toy vaulted into a tree and started climbing. He needed to get high enough to jump down on top of the Harvester. Generally the maintainance ports were on the back of the neck and since the machine was flying, Toy needed the height. And just to cover all his bases, he started trying to jam the Harvester's communications and sensors. Without his bots, he was running with an annoying amount of free processing power, so playing games with an alien system would be fairly relieving.

Edward was not best please, loudly cursing at the fact his best shot hadn't done anything but leave a large crater.

Edward looked over his shoulder to Toy and gave a thumbs up before returning to sweeping the giant flying thing for any weakness with his scope...hmm there was something that would normally allow his shots to find a place.

"STEVE, ATTACK PATTERN OMEGA!"

He was obviously still partially deaf from the last shot fired.

The Shivan begun it's work, clambering up the trees and seeing the Harvester, the skull of the Shivan was, as ever, impassive and impossible to read. Steve loosened his red and black tie a little, this was going to be interesting.

Now this thing was obviously too large for the Shivans inherent radiation to weaken over all...even Steve didn't have that kind of power, he'd need a pack of Shivan friends to do that.

However he could make a soft spot, it would take all his concentration to maintain even the large spot needed to weaken a part of this mighty mechanical behemoth. Raising his hand outstretched the cosmic radiation begun to manifest as a bubbling, boiling point on the Harvesters armour, the center of the beetle like head seemed like an obvious choice.

Edward switched on the laser targetter, a risky move since it would give away his position...if the large boom and muzzle flash already hadn't. He tried to yell at the incoming crowd and hoped they would notice not only the Steve's radiation but the bright red beam lancing through the trees, marking the same point.

If they were to bring this thing down they needed to work together, This thing was like a bigger Jade Spider...and Edward had taken out that with help from some friends...and Steve. Admittedly the Jade Spider was focusing on a big brute of a man at the time and not him...

"I wish I'd packed some of those nukes from warburg for this..."

The Hunter shook its upper body in disapproval as Paxtera flew off without even aknowledging him.

'And that other primate even introduced us. Rude.' The hunter sighed inwardly. Had it been paying even the slightest bit more attention, it would have noticed its sensor suite pointing directly at Paxtera. However, for that one moment, it had been too busy insulting the local specie's physiology. The hunter started to wander at random, looking for somebody to point it in the right direction.

***

Toy Dispenser may have then heard the audible noise of rocket thrusters firing.

If he were to turn his head ninety degrees to the right, he would find that the cake was floating right next to him, still playing the annoying birthday jingle. Closer inspection (read: apparently obvious) would reveal that the cake was seated upon a small circular metal plate embedded with manuverable rocket thrusters, which were now being used to keep said cake afloat.

Cerelassion came running up with what appears to be a toy sling shot. He loaded a vile of black liquid and fired sending the vile at the Harvester.

The effects was stunning as soon as the glass broke the liquid expanded into a dark gas making it hard for the Harvester scanners to detect anything (Darkest Night). "Perhaps we need to focus on the same spot! You know pound this thing in the same place till the armor fails." He eyed Edward's weapon "What a marvelous example of mechanical creativity."

Mar simply couldn't attack something in the air but he could do something to even the odds. He claimed up a tree and shifted his abdomen and sprayed the Harvester with a good bit of webbing trying to clog up it's engines. (Web Grenade) Mar then looked to the growing group "I do hope none of you desire to have spider for a meal."

Lady Aineruda arrived as well and started casting her magic on the people there increasing there speed (Speed Boost). "Keep an eye out this is only a Harvester there will be a Bomber coming to attack!" The elves have never seen a Harvester do anything but scout so the idea this would change just didn't dawn on Aineruda. She moved to wave at a group of elves on the cliff top. They began to light Bonfires each one was placed a fair distance from the first. The reason was simple for the elves. "Lets hope our plans on repelling these things work."

The fires were soon housing the dangerous Fire fey thought it was true Fire is a chemical reaction the HEAT it generated provided a shelter for the fey who's magical force seem to be fire like. These fey could be very happy in the heart of a sun. (Basic mix of fire blasters and fire controllers.) At the same time the Sky directly over the Forest became filled with Sprites and pixies they flew in wild patterns but clearly swarming the most heavy where the Harvester was hovering. Why weren't they attacking was simple it wasn't a direct threat. The incoming bomber was and the Fey were holding their firepower for that foe. (A mix of Ice/storm controllers and Energy/storm Defenders)

((Added some more flushed this post some when I got home.))

Bisys needed no second urging. Walking would be at a crawling speed, running still impossible, so instead she quickly chased after Jade alongside Akat in her upside-down-sideways-up zigzag hover.

Coming into the clearing the ancient mammoth Harvester could cause jaw-dropping fear with its visage, especially the carnage around the intake ports. If not that, the Shivan with a red and black tie certainly deserved a double-take. But Bisys no longer had a jaw to drop, lungs to be frozen, or allowed enough emotions to be stunned. Her secondary choice wasn't much more helpful, though.

Hooves towards storm-darkened skies and horns closest to earth, Bisys bobbled over. She reached for Jade's outstretched arm, her own waving unsteadily like a scuba diver in a strong current, "Jade! Have you been hurt?"

Those with some imagination may very well have seen a crisp and clear exclamation point pop into existence above Jade's head upon taking note of Bisys, the Dragon quickly nabbing the metal satyr and zipping behind a thick tree with her in tow.

"Hurt?" he ran through what she'd said in his head again, trying to shoo away the convoluted thoughts her words had fallen into, "Um, uh...no. I'm fine. Well, feeling kind of dumb, but no, I'm okay."

He looked back to the Harvester, spying around the tree at the building-sized machine. Feeling dumb indeed. What had he been thinking? Now what? Without his energy artillery, he didn't stand a chance of putting so much as a hole in this thing - and to his great chagrin, it didn't look the others did either. If the Harvester even took note of all the destructive energies being heaped upon it, the floating beetle-warehouse certainly wasn't showing any evidence thereof.

Unfortunately, this was a rather accurate indication of the truth. The thing was just too big, its armor - the material properties of which were already impressive - meters thick. Steve's radiation-induced in one spot did weaken the stuff, but not enough to make much of a difference. Much the same applies to Mar's webbing. The turbine intakes alone were each bigger than a house. Even if they'd been running (at present, the monolith maintained altitude with and received propulsion from its unseen energy field), it was doubtful the web would've accomplished much.

Of course, that didn't go to say the machine hadn't noticed anything.

ERROR
AMBIENT ELECTROMAGNETIC INTERFERENCE IS AFFECTING COMMUNICATIONS
FOREIGN SIGNAL DETECTED
ANALYSIS VERDICT: COMMUNICATIONS ADVERSELY AFFECTED BY FOREIGN SIGNAL

SEARCH MODE
[LOCATE SOURCE OF SIGNAL]

SOURCE OF SIGNAL FOUND
MODE CHANGE

MAINTENANCE MODE
[INCREASE SPEED]
ANALYZING ALTERNATIVES
[INCREASE TRANSMITTER POWER]
[NEUTRALIZE FOREIGN SIGNAL]
[RESET_

PRIMARY DIRECTIVE OVERRIDE
TARGET DETECTED: DROKAR
MODE CHANGE

CAPTURE MODE
[NEUTRALIZE FOREIGN SIGNAL]_

Even as Toy and the cake were on their way up a tree, the Harvester had already taken action. Power surged through its insides, preparing the works in its 'guts', and the mechanical monstrosity changed its slow, lumbering course in the direction of the Dragon peeking out from behind the tree down below. While this in itself made the android's plan to get on top of the machine easier (previously, it had been hovering above the treeline, and climbing a tree would get one near its underside at best) as it began to descent into the forest proper, the Harvester's other actions certainly did not.

Not only did the machine now deploy six large 'legs' from its sides and ventral body, the large, flexible appendages each terminating in vicious-looking clamps and claws, not to mention several bright-red-glowing lenses, but the behemoth also electrified itself with some sort of lightning field, the charge of which of course carried and radiated in proximity to the capture legs. Being caught in one of those things' shocking grasp now might not have been fatal, but it certainly wouldn't be pleasant - and at least one seemed to have it out for Toy, deploying numerous smaller grappling arms in his direction even as the main claws swept toward him.

Thankfully, the Harvester's reactions were a little delayed right now due to Cerelassion's dark gas making it hard for the machine to get an exact fix on its targets. Just how long that would hold out against the thing's sheer amount of raw processing power, however, was anyone's guess.

Akat for one guessed 'not long', looking upon the descending monolith with concern. No way she could take that on with claws and teeth. She needed more. Leaping behind the same tree that Jade had chosen as cover for Bisys and himself, she gripped the crystal hanging from her neck with one hand and laid the palm of her other flat against the moist soil of the forest. Then she closed her eyes and concentrated.

The call was sounded...

Bisys floundered alongside Jade, hovering upward to give Akat room to crouch below, "You held your arm stiffly and were upset and... oh." Slow she may be, but not impossible. "You don't have any weapons."

The answer was obvious to her. Painfully so with the Voices chorusing for release. But telling Jade what Wishes to make was wrong. Especially as he seemed to find the whole system distasteful. It appeared that he thought they bound her, instead of grasping the truth that granting Wishes gave Bisys freedom. Could she nudge Jade in the right direction?

"How about you ASK" the word 'ask' being so strongly emphasized that Bisys all but said 'wish' in her urgency, "that I use up to the extent of my abilities towards your battles?"

That should mean Bisys could have full power, or less, as the situation required without dangerously overextending herself beyond capacity. If she was right, it would also mean she could have access to supply Jade with battle weapons. The details and mechanics of which would take too long to explain, if the impression Jade was giving was any indication.

((with permission from Devious))

As the Harvester attempted to escape the wormhole by firing up it's turbines, Edward looked through his scope and grinned for a moment, he had an idea. Winding out the USB port from his arm once more he plugged it into the back of nanite vial, it was his last sample, after this he'd have no more nanites and no means of healing himself...but this was going to a good use.

He stared into space for a few second longer before shaking his head and pulling the cord.

"Betsy, tranq jacket, high power...we're going to be firing something unusual..."

He slid the Nanites into the rifle as he opened the ammo feeder. Clicking the bottom back into place the nano-lathe of the rifle worked to coat the glass vial in a protective jacket to stop it shattering when fired but that it would shatter on impact of the object.

He figured the lightning field would ignore anything like another bullet, after all what did it have to fear from another blast of Ordinance. Besides glass was always a handy insulator...he just hoped it would hold for the brief second it would be in there.

Edward took careful aim at the Turbines, slowed his heart beat down and gradually shut out all the noise going on around him.

"Now..."

There was another earth shaking boom as the vial launched on it's trajectory path, the jacket coming away in flight as the it sailed through the air and smashed into pieces onto the turbine...the effect wouldn't be obvious at first...moving around atomic particles would take a bit of time but the nanites were good at munching through stuff like this. If he couldn't bring the thing down, he could atleast get it sucked through that wormhole.

"Sure would be nice if I could fly right now," Toy remarked in a casual fashion as he hopped from the tree, which soon suffered from a painful case of death by spider leg, and onto the flying cake.

Toy was light for a combat android, clocking in at only four hundred or so pounds, but the cake didn't have to hold him up for long. Half a second to regain his balance and then he was jumping onto the outside of the attacking leg. His lightning aura seemed to explode into activity as it interfered with the Harvester's own field, mitigating most of its effects as Toy planted both feet and started running up the leg.

Anti-grav at 10%...

He had been able to finesse enough capability out of his mostly burned out systems to give him what amounted to gravitic boots. He still had to fight against normal gravity, but this way he could climb the machine quite a bit faster.

"You know, if I had any more resources with me, your face would have a very angry assault bot stuck in it right now," he continued in a conversational fashion as he sprinted up as fast as he could toward the main body. He also directed the full force of his sensors at the path ahead, making sure that the Harvester wouldn't be able to spring any tricks on him, but also effectively giving him tunnel vision. His allies would have to just hold on on their own.

The cake did not seem to mind Toy Dispender using it as a platform, only wobbling a bit as he landed and launched back off. And then, just because being a flying cake wasn't enough, it suddenly became hardcore. The upper layer lifted up from the first, elevated by four metal rods that hissed as they moved. The lower layer of the cake was apparently hollow, because an auto-turret suddenly arose from the depths to position itself in the newly provided gap. It then targeted the Harvester - But rather than aiming for the main body, it went ahead and aimed for the probably less durable claws and clamps, focusing on one at a time until it was either neutralized or 'target lost.'

The moment the cake opened up, the harvester's sensors would detect another human present in the fight. Somebody was riding around inside the cake, still hidden from view.

11:52 30th April 2010, Steel Canyon, Paragon City, Patches

In a small family apartment close to the university Elizabeth woke up. The king-size couples bed had relaxed her well and she stretched a bit. Looking out the window she saw that the sun was up over the city, it was time to take some action. She stepped out of the bed and over the drained dead woman lying on the ground to wards the wardrobe. Opening it she was delighted to find a black wide-brimmed hat there. For a second she smiled to the corpse on the ground… “Well Rachel, I see you had some classy taste in clothes.”

Elizabeth grabbed her clothes and the hat and got dressed. She walked over to the living room where Theo was sitting lifeless in his chair. On the table next to him where some folders over Paragon City. She picked them up and read them. They talked about the citizens needing to gather inside the city walls and families inviting and housing their own where and when possible. A danger outside of deadly machines and some sort of police force called ‘the Freedom Phalanx’ giving advice to the mayor.

“…newly arrived without any family in Paragon City should report to the hero licence desk in City Hall which for the duration of this event has been turned into an immigration office. Places to stay will be created for them.

The various offices and resources there, like M.A.G.I. will be closed down until further notice.”

The vampire-witch re-read the last part… magi resources?! They might just have what she would need to get out of this strange place. She looked out of the building window over the street and saw a sign pointing out the direction of Atlas Park. That was the location of City Hall according to this briefing!

But first a bit of house-cleaning…

She looked at the two bodies and started to concentrate waving her hands with stretched fingers. Slowly a dark energy started to surround her lifting up her hair building up power. The tendrils flowed over the floor to the bodies of Theo and Rachel. There it moved into their mouths while Elizabeth muttered some incantation in ancient Latin. Suddenly the two dead bodies started to move. They walked slowly to wards their new mistress and stood there silently waiting for orders.

“What a friendly couple you two are…”, she said. “I don’t have any need of you yet! But that might change later.” With that she grabbed the wide-brimmed hat and put it on. Then she took the keys and Rachel her sunglasses and went out…

Kethara seemed highly unsurprised when her sister and mother fell into line on either side of her, the three of them emerging from the forest together and coming to a sudden stop in almost perfect unison at the sight thus presented to them. "Well", Paxtera commented simply.

"Yeah.... I think they started the party without us!", Ildela answered, before flipping over in midair and diving toward the harvester. Well, more like toward the harvester's claws. She doubted anything she had access to would put much of a dent in its armor, but the claws were much smaller, thinner and (presumably) more lightly armored. And she'd yet to find something those Vanguard energy swords couldn't cut through if she swung them hard enough. So she may not be able to take it out, but she thought she could at least de-fang it. The harvester's sensors would likely not detect her coming until possibly too late, cloaking field and all.

Paxtera merely sighed, watching her go. "Someday it'll get through to her that not all problems can be solved by violence", she commented to Kethara, who had been about to follow her sister but at that stopped.

She looked back at her mother. "Shouldn't we help them?", she asked, sounding a little concerned. That thing they were fighting was huge.

"Probably, but the goal was to make peace with the machines. We'd rather that not require destroying them." She appeared to be considering other options. Exactly what other options there might be Kethara didn't know, but she'd learned not to question her mother on such things. If she thought there were other options, there probably were. Just might take some effort (possibly more than simply destroying them) to find them was all.

If one spoke feelings to the Harvester, its reaction to Toy's run up its leg could've been called spiteful. Surprises it may not have had embedded in that limb, but it did have a logical and very predictable response.

Swinging the arm.

Unless Toy's boots could attach him very firmly to the metal, the speedy swing - quite uncharacteristic of the mass of the arm - would fling him into the distance in the manner a human threw a baseball. If that didn't work, the limb behind this one was already in pursuit of the android, stretching its grapplers toward him to nab, crush, or toss the mechanical being to the ground. Fortunately for Toy, the elven darkness impeding its targeting systems didn't make its grip too reliable right now.

Other than that, the gargantuan machine didn't show much response, continuing to descend into the forest, course toward Jade. The splintering of wood could be heard just barely through the roar of its massive turbines, trees bursting to shivers under the pressure of the machine. It utterly ignored the cake and its occupant (its job description regarding humans was to report their location, and it had already done so for these two earlier; no need to repeat an action it knew had already yielded the desired result), the in comparison tiny gun barrels of the auto turret unable to harm it, and though Ildela's blades did indeed cut easily into the claws' material, they ran into much the same problem: size. The thing was just damn big, and so was everything on it. She'd have to cut away at that claw for quite a long time before she got the 'fang' away from it. All in all, it seemed the Harvester greatly had the upper hand here.

Until its left engine exploded.

Dr. Mechano's nanites had gone for the easiest atomic particles to move around: the shaft lubricant. And without that, the turbine was history. It failed catastrophically, overheating and seizing up in a matter of seconds, its insane rotational velocity becoming its own doom. From there, it took less than a tenth of a second for the couplings to fail and the whole thing to tear itself to pieces, red-, yellow-, and sometimes white-hot pieces of shrapnel (formerly turbine and compressor blades the size of minivans) bursting their way through the engine casing and ripping it to shreds in a gout of smoke and flame. The sound was deafening, like the clap of thunder caused by a lightning strike not a meter away, and the flash of light had barely subsided when the pieces came down.

"Look out!" Jade barely had time to scream and grab-tackle Bisys out of the way as a red-hot compressor blade sliced its way vertically through the meters-thick trunk of the tree he'd chosen for over, leaping it her with arms extended and wrapping himself protectively about her not two instants before the car-sized blade fragment burst from the wood in a hail of shivers.

And smacked right into Akat.

The roar of dirt and debris thrown up by the fragment's impact suffocated and squelched out her shout of surprise and fear in a fraction of a second, earth and pebbles tossed ahigh and afar as the piece dug its impact crater several deep meters into the ground.

The Harvester itself was of course worst-affected, bobbing and swaying in an unstable fashion, yawing heavily as a result of the suddenly very unequal thrust coming from its rear, where molten slag and sharp blade fragments jutting from its armor now dominated the machine. It couldn't feel panic of course, but it must've very much appeared so, trying seemingly frantically to escape the wormhole to no avail. With just one main engine, it simply didn't have the propulsion required anymore, and was thus disposed of by the elven magic, sent away to distant parts...
__________________

Paragon City Hall

Hectic.

That was the word that summed it all up. People were running, jogging, leaping, jumping, and balancing stacks of papers anywhere and everywhere up and down the corridors of City Hall. Understandable, really. The city was in a crisis, even though few of its people had realized that yet. Thankfully, this was still Paragon. The city was always in a crisis. The only thing that really varied over time was the severity thereof. Plans had been made, revised, enacted, evaluated, reevaluated, reenacted, and so on and so forth, for as long as there was red tape to go around.

Now, however, it seemed to be running out.

"Raymond...just how much can we really rely on this Blackwind of yours?" Statesman said with a sigh from his chair at the long conference table, massaging his forehead with the fingers of one had. He didn't even know how long he - how long they; nearly the whole Freedom Phalanx - had been here in this dimmed room now, watching over and over the material Positron had presented to them via the table's holographic projector.

In essence, it wasn't much. Coordinates, layouts, images, and so on that Jade had taken and periodically sent to the techno-armored scientist in the form of databursts. A map of Rauk was among them, as were topographic reliefs of where the formerly robotic Dragon had ventured to. Presently, the projector showed the eleven forest's relative location to Paragon's present position, along with a small red blip that indicated the position from which Jade had sent the databurst - the hot springs.

"Look, I'm not saying we should rely on him wholly." Positron replied wearily, pointing to that blip, "But he may very well be the only one around who knows what's happening around us, so I think we should listen to him."

"Everyone behind the war walls..." Sister Psyche rested her head in her hands, elbows on the table and fingers spread about her eyes, tips in contact with her cheeks and forehead, repeating those words.

"Yes, everyone." the armored Keyes intoned with another nod, "According to Blackwind, so long as those machines don't find any humans or others from his planet, they will leave us be. That buys us valuable time we can use to figure a way out of this mess. Furthermore..."

They were tired. They were spent. Time took its toll upon them all. If a certain vampire happened to be eavesdropping through an ever-so-slightly cracked door, chances were even Manticore and Sister Psyche wouldn't have noticed...

Jade's tackle completely overpowered her weak control of limbs and they crashed aside.

Things were going from bad to worse. Bisys began to suspect Jade regularly got into situations that were more than he could deal with.

She wasn't going to ask if he was hurt. How could he not be? Unrestricted by her position, her echoing voice addressed her Master clearly. "Jade, I am the one that's armor, you are flesh. Remember? I should be protecting you. I am supposed to be protecting you.

"But until you TELL me, my abilities are locked. You yourself doubled the restrictions by limited my actions to your verbal Wish."

Once more Bisys tried to point Jade in the right direction. "Why won't you ASK," again the word 'ask' being so strongly emphasized that Bisys all but said 'wish', "that I use up to the extent of my abilities towards your campaign? Help me help you. Please, Jade!"

Then the elfin portal relocated the Harvester. But that hardly diminished the immediate peril. Movement of any kind, even flight, was fraught with danger from the remaining shrapnel and shredded trees. She couldn't even scramble to search for Akat, ponder what became of Toy, or look anywhere for that matter since Jade was atop her. Even if he had not been Bisys must await Jade's answer and assess his safety first and foremost.

Oh EarthMother, spare and shelter Akat.

The android wasn't about to be disposed of so easily, his left bracer glowing a bright white as a hoop of energy wrapped around the limb like a lasso. His feet certainly left the metal, a slight relief given how the defensive lightning was starting to do some damage, but he held on. The moment the leg returned to its at-ease position he was up and moving again, dodging nimbly around some of the attacking grapplers and slicing several others completely through with a runed hand-and-a-half blade that had emerged from his right bracer.

Things were looking good. If he could keep up this pace for a bit longer, he'd be off the leg and on something that the machine couldn't reach as easily. And with all his sensors still focused on scanning for traps, surprises, and other useful things, it wouldn't take him long to find an access port.

It was somewhat unfortunate that the engine chose that moment to explode, lurching the Havester about and sending it into the wormhole, one very surprised passenger clinging to it.

"Oh not agai-!"

Lady Aineruda leaped out of the way as the engine exploded. "That didn't go as I hoped. That person who jumped on the Harvester who is he?"

Standing up she looked to Jade "I never seen a Harvester attack... Are you two alright?" she asked both Jade and Bisys. " I wouldn't have used that spell if that thing hadn't gone for you. Clearly we are lacking information I don't blame the Humans but their knowledge is focused from their own view. We don't have time for you to fill us in going by what we know the Hunter Killer bomber will be coming any moment now. Perhaps the Harvester halted the Bomber to.. collect you?"

Cerelassion rushed to where Akat was touching a bit of the turbine he yelled and shook his hand "HOT... " He looked around and to a Gnome who at the time was jumping up trying to get to the cake. "You there come and help remove this will you?" The Gnome came running up and showing that those little Gnomes were more then one would expect picked up the turbine and tossed it aside as if it was a Frisbee. Of course it tossed it where it wouldn't harm anyone. Once it was clear Cerelassion went to Akat. "Tell me what hurts let me fix you up."

The Archers arrived then and Lady Aineruda issued her orders. "Get into a defensive stance That incoming Bomber would attack once in range. I want those special arrows ready to fire on my command." Then she looked around "The Rest of you I want to be filled in! You seemed to have a plan of attack and because I didn't know it I have sent one of you into the waste."

She looked into the distance "It wouldn't be far just a hundred yards or so but I wasn't focused on landing that thing gently the wormhole would have opened in the air." Motioning a swarm of Sprites and Pixies came down flying around her "My friends I have need of the strongest of you to fly out to where I sent that Harvester and find that brave fellow." A look of worry appeared on the pixies childish faces "Yes I know it's far and you be weakened but it's important. Please be brave and find him."

With that 10 of the Pixies went flying out beyond the forest border looking for Toy Dispenser and the Harvester crash.

Edward hurled himself behind a fallen tree as bits of shrapnel went everywhere, Steve got hit by some of it but it barely seemed to register as his gelatine like out body structure just resealed itself. Thankfully Mr Fluffers had kept a safe distance.

Edward let out a sharp whistle. Steve shimmed down the tree and then appeared from the undergrowth straightening his tie and making a coughing motion before wandering over. Edward slung Betsy over his shoulder as it slowly formed back into an assault rifle with underslung grenade launcher. Mr Fluffers descended from the trees...unfortunately this meant most of the supplies from the Marbles had been smooshed into an edible, if rather garishly mix coloured, paste.

Edward begun his advance towards the new comers, Steve in tow behind him.

"Alright Steve...act casual..."

The cake turret collapsed on itself, returning to its original appearance of a normal cake...with rocket thrusters.

***

The Hunter munched on some bark it had pinched off of a tree.

"...Fibrous." It said after some consideration.

***

Elsewhere...

WARNING, FIVE DAYS, ZERO SEVEN HOURS, THIRTY SIX MINUTES AND ZERO FIVE SECONDS UNTIL CONTAINMENT BREACH...

***

"Bastards." Tafari spat as he tromped through the desert.

Atlas Park, Paragon City

Elizabeth didn’t have any modern currency on her and in full daylight it wouldn’t be smart to draw too much attention… So she walked through the tunnel to wards Atlas Park. The huge concrete buildings and especially the statue of Atlas amazed her. Humanity was still able to make such wondrous things. It still excited her, even after all these years.

The Paragon Police Department had fenced off a good section under the big statue of Atlas and there was a big line forming to the offices. Cabs and buses stopped regularly and the Green line was unusual full with people carrying bags and suitcases.

Not needing to stand in line for a counter she walked up the stairs. A PPD officer stopped looked at her and asked her where she needed to be. “Excuse me miss… You will have to get in the line!”, he said. Obviously a little stressed by the whole event.

“Young man… I just arrived in this beautiful city of yours and only need to use the ladies room for a second. My husband is standing there in line holding our place.”, she answered in the friendliest of tones. Looking back to the line she waved to a random man in line. The man was obviously bored and surprised by having a beautiful woman waving at him. So he waved back. Convinced, the officer let her pass. He waved to the side of the hall. “The ladies room is over there, miss.”

Elizabeth walked in the general direction the man had pointed out but already scanned the place for any signs to where this M.A.G.I. could be. There where offices down the stairs that didn’t have a waiting line. It had to be… A distraction was in order though.

She looked down the line until she saw a child. A young girl she thought. Although the short hair and jeans had Elizabeth almost confusing the girl for a boy. She took down her glasses and stared the girl in the eyes. Sheer panic came over the child, dragging her already stressed out parents with her. She screamed loud enough to draw attention of the whole line… Hell… maybe the whole hall. And at that moment Elizabeth pulled herself to a shady corner of the hall and seemed to disappear in the shadows.

Hidden out of sight she came to the lower area’s where most offices where closed. The signs above one said M.A.G.I. though. A woman was doing research at a desk in there. Next to the M.A.G.I. was an open door and a lot of commotion came from it. Curious Elizabeth walked in and passed the officials unseen. There she found the conference room the mayor and the Freedom Phalanx where using. She peeked through the cracked door just enough to see the projection.

“So to review our situation in short… something pulled this whole city to this unknown place... and we don’t know anything about what happened. But all evidence we have point to this Blackwind knowing more!”, Positron stated. Elizabeth noted the map and the red dot and quickly memorised the layout. She looked around to the different persons in the room. Their strange attire could well be a statement of power. So it was better to stay unseen.

The man in red, white and blue stood up… “I think I would be the best choice to go and make contact with him then Raymond… being able to fly and generally being able to take whatever they throw at me beyond the war walls.”

“Everyone behind the war walls… Everyone beh…”, Suddenly the Sister Psyche stopped. “Wait, there is some mind close that doesn’t belong here!”

Elizabeth realised she was noticed… somehow this red-headed witch was able to scan her by her mind. No shadow meld was protecting her from that. The door was opened with incredible speed by Synapse, guided to the vampire through mind link. “Who are you!”, the speedster yelled out. “your worst nightmare!”, Elizabeth answered and placed the same fear inducing effect upon Synapse as she had done to the little girl in the hall. He let go of her throat only for a second… but that was enough for Elizabeth to turn into mist and float untouchable upstairs.

Statesman readied a bolt of lightning but while Elizabeth passed the hall filled with people panic broke out. People ran over each other… screaming. All trying to get out... or in… or anything. All the thoughts echoed over the hall preventing the already tired out Sister Psyche from stopping the woman in black. Statesman tried to calm the people in the hall. Manticore looked over Psyche. And Synapse was cursing himself for being taken by surprise. But it was too late, Elizabeth was already gone.