Celestia's Finest: So Long and Thanks for all the Love

[Miltonian]

(Continued from the last post, quoted here.)

Powder Keg gives Love a jaunty salute and suppresses a shudder. “Y-yeah! Great to be here.” Her eyes seem to have trouble looking at Love’s face right now.

Unfortunately, the corridors give no hint either way which one they should pick. All three options, left, right, and straight ahead, appear equally viable.

Chrysalis looks to the left and frowns. “This corridor looks...enticing,” she says, “Besides, I can’t imagine Hyper Thought being ‘right’ about anything.”

“I vote straight,” Sickle growls.

[DigoDragon]

(Also continued from last post)

This is a good reminder why the military doesn't operate by democratic means. While Rose awaits the lead members to make a decision, she looks up at the ceiling for any cameras.

PER [roll0] v. 14

[D.KnightSpider]

Longshot shakes his head.

"I think Rose has this correct. Basic search techniques is to go clockwise or counterclockwise. We can check two rooms by going right, minimizing or chance of an ambush from the rear. Absent any other indication of a lab, I recommend we be efficient and head that way first."

[Miltonian]

(Cutting back a bit)

Longshot's request is acknowledged with a shout of, "Get me a clear shot, Star!" from Wildcat "Working on it!" from Star.

"Lt.!" Wildcat snaps, "Quick update." He pauses to squeeze off a burst of fire. "Octavia is being escorted to the bunker by Hornet Squad. Found Sulmandeer. Engaging him with the 'Bird, Bolts, and any fliers still available. Tyrant has pulled back to avoid the crossfire." He lets out a whoop as another burst of laserfire fills the background. "Ha, ha! Winged him! You're in command, Lt, until further notice. Use your best judgement. Copy?"

The battle seems to have lifted his spirits a bit. His tone is excited.

--

Chrysalis seems annoyed, but refuses to split up down here. Powder Keg is falling in line with the rest of the squad and Sickle caves to peer pressure.

However...Rose does in fact see a camera staring down at them.

Looking a little further down each of the halls, she spots closed blast doors at the end of each one. This complex extends far beyond what is immediately visible.

[DigoDragon]

However...Rose does in fact see a camera staring down at them.
Looking a little further down each of the halls, she spots closed blast doors at the end of each one. This complex extends far beyond what is immediately visible.

Rose peels off a sticky gecko pad and with her ponykinesis she presses it against the lens.

On comm she says 'Ceiling cameras are watching us. Also, each hall ends in blast doors. This complex is big.'

[Elbeyon]

Private Comms, "I know you're here for us. I appreciate you putting in counselor time for anyone that looks like they need it. I heard what you said to Keg. I approve of the notion. Longshot, I've got to ask. How are you holding up?" She pauses. "Would you like another Riot Grenade? I can program the activation method the same as the last."

Love turns her visor dark dark gray to block out her face and returns the salute. She private comms, "Better?" to Keg.

There is some weapon swapping and reloading on Love's part as she re-adjusts after the last room. She reorganizes her BugBots and drops more into the room. BugBots crawl down the hallways to pre-scout the corridors and keep an eye on their flanks. A BugBot flies near Rose with some more Ammo.

Love looks down the left corridor to try to see what Chrysalis is feeling. She looks to Chrysalis.

She comms, "I'd like to examine the surveillance on us better after we enter a room. There may be more surveillance on us than the display cameras. If there are miniature or nano cameras in each area we won't be able to quickly disable Thought's visuals." Love would really prefer their audio to be private since that is something they can manage.

20 Normal!
I think that's how much Rose was down? 3 (from Love not full restocking her) + 15 burst + 2 from killing Loves
Is that right?

Keg
[roll0] vs 12 (Detect Lies)

Bunker Vents: 3 BugBots Flying
Elevator Top: 2 BugBots Flying
Elevator Bottom: 2 BugBots Flying
Garage 1: 6 BugBots Crawling
Garage 2: 6 BugBots Crawling
Garage 3: 6 BugBots Crawling
Garage 4: 6 BugBots Crawling
Entrance: 4 BugBots Crawling
Intersection: 6 BugBots Flying & 8 Crawling
Left Corridor: 6 BugBots Crawling
Top Corridor: 6 BugBots Crawling
Right Corridor: 6 BugBots Crawling

[DigoDragon]

20 Normal!
I think that's how much Rose was down? 3 (from Love not full restocking her) + 15 burst + 2 from killing Loves
Is that right?

Close enough. Rose will take the ammo.

[D.KnightSpider]

"Lt.!" Wildcat snaps, "Quick update." He pauses to squeeze off a burst of fire. "Octavia is being escorted to the bunker by Hornet Squad. Found Sulmandeer. Engaging him with the 'Bird, Bolts, and any fliers still available. Tyrant has pulled back to avoid the crossfire." He lets out a whoop as another burst of laserfire fills the background. "Ha, ha! Winged him! You're in command, Lt, until further notice. Use your best judgement. Copy?"

Buh-link

The Commander was trusting him again? Ha! It took some effort not to grin.

"Copy that, Sir. Good luck and good hunting. Lt. Scope out."


Chrysalis seems annoyed, but refuses to split up down here. Powder Keg is falling in line with the rest of the squad and Sickle caves to peer pressure.

And at that moment, Longshot was willing to bet bits to berries that their choosing the opposite direction would come back to bite them.



On comm she says 'Ceiling cameras are watching us. Also, each hall ends in blast doors. This complex is big.'

Reply on silent comm.: "Hornet Squadron is escorting Octavia to us. Once they arrive, we might have some better direction, so I recommend that we don't leave the immediate area."

Aloud, for the benefit of those absent comm. he says: "Re-enforcements are on the way. We shouldn't stray too far into then."


Private Comms, "I know you're here for us. I appreciate you putting in counselor time for anyone that looks like they need it. I heard what you said to Keg. I approve of the notion. Longshot, I've got to ask. How are you holding up?" She pauses. "Would you like another Riot Grenade? I can program the activation method the same as the last."

Private, Subvocal Comm.: "Me?" Longshot chuckles. "We're on a battlefield with minimal romantic drama. Since I was born to do this, I feel like I've gone home. I'm loving every moment of it.

"Another grenade would be great."

--

Longshot packages the TacNet data and forwards it to Hornet Squad alongside their GPS locations. Then, he gestures at the first door on their left.

"Should we set up for breach?" He asks over silent comm.

[Elbeyon]

After that last room, Love isn't sure if civilians being in the mix is a good idea. Octavia is a capable individual, but it's dangerous down here.

Love nods and, "Roger"'s, in acknowledgement to Hornet Squadron being on the way.

Private, Scomm to Longshot, "Hah. You seem like you're in a good mood." Love smiles. Good, Longshot should be happy. "Another grenade on the way." Love plugs a wire into a Riot Grenade, sets the programming, and has a BugBot courier the thing to Longshot.

Love's ScoutBot hovers near her head. She scomms, "Yep, let's stack and open the door. There are a lot of us here." Love will flank the door and ready to open it.

Door? Be good?
[roll0] vs 13 (Perception) +3 (Hyper)

[Miltonian]

Keg nods slowly to Love and her shoulders slump. "Sorry," she says, "I...I am sorry." She's not doing well. Even looking at Love right now is hard for her.

There is nothing immediately apparent about the hall that Chrysalis wants, but that goes for all of them. She and the changelings hang back as the others stack up.

Card Ace calls in. "Hello Harrier! Hornet on approach with the package."

The door can be opened, but it might be a good idea to wait until Hornet arrives.

[D.KnightSpider]

Longshot signals for the group to wait.

"Affirmative, Hornet. We'll wait up for you. Pardon the mess. It's been a bad day." He replies.

[DigoDragon]

Rose goes through her medicines to see if she can concoct something to help Powder Keg feel a little more... calm after her harrowing 52 Love pileup?
Pharmacy: [roll0] vs. 15

"Powder Keg, I could give you a shot of a drug mix to help you feel a bit more calm. It isn't a happy cure-all, but it could take the edge off anxiety if that'll help?"

[Elbeyon]

"We read you, Hornet."

A big old smile emoticon appears on Love's visor. "Keg, I understand. I accept your apology. You're not offending me in any way. Who needs a face, when you have a charming personality?" Love jokes to try to help Keg out.

Scomm, "We should pull back to intersection, entrance side while we wait since we cleared the area."

Love rummages through her saddlebag and pulls out some earbuds. She creates a new channel for only the people travelling with her. "Queen Chrysalis. I was having difficulty hearing you that last battle, things got loud. Would you join our radio network? It'd allow us to talk and hear each other better in more circumstances."

Love might as well break out her bug sweeper out and check what type of security this place packs

Surveillance
[roll0] vs 13 (Surveillance) +2 (Bugsweeper) +2 (Software)

[Miltonian]

Rose whips something up and, when offered, Powder Keg doesn't even hesitate. She snatches up the pill and swallows. "Thanks," she mutters. She does manage to muster a smile at Love's joke. "Yeah. Ya got that going for ya." She still remains quiet and withdrawn. It's not a good sign, but better than freaking out or shutting down.

There are mics in the walls, cameras hidden in the pipes, and other modern-day surveillance measures all around the place. Everything they do is under observation.

Chrysalis nods and accepts the offered tech. "Thank you," she says with grace.

In less than a minute, Hornet Squad arrives, walking very quickly. Their eyes snap to Love. "Okay," Angel says, "I'll be the first to say it, WHAT THE HAY IS GOING ON IN THAT ROOM?"

[DigoDragon]

Rose whips something up and, when offered, Powder Keg doesn't even hesitate. She snatches up the pill and swallows. "Thanks," she mutters.

Rose nods with satisfaction. How long will it take? Well, maybe 15 minutes? Hard to say since Rose doesn't know Keg's medical history and had to make a couple guesses on two other factors, but she's confident she got it close enough to do the job she needs chemistry to do on Keg's brain.

[D.KnightSpider]

Longshot responds over subvocal comm.

"Hyper Thought decided that the world needed more love. If a clone didn't turn out like Blank, then he turned it into an attack dog. He had a lot of attack dogs." Longshot nods to the others. "Are you outfitted with subvocals? If so, we need to keep chatter limited to subvocal as much as possible. Walls have ears."

He looks over the group. "Octavia, thank you for helping us with this raid... I know it's not your favorite place to be and I can't blame you for it. Have you ever been in this area?"

[Elbeyon]

Scomms, "Hah." The smile emoticon returns over the dark dark gray visor. "Whatever you need Keg. I want to make this as easy for you as possible."

Love puts away her bug sweeper away.

Love will try to organize the Harrier's comms and make sure people are capable of hearing/speaking to Chrysalis.

Love watches Chrysalis put the earbuds in and will offer help with the complicated device if needed. A few seconds after the earbuds are in, Love says over scomms, "Queen Chrysalis, you can speak over the comms without saying anything aloud. It's called subvocal. Speak into your throat. Here, I'll show you." Love lifts up her head and exposes her neck to Queen Chrysalis. She lets hornet in on the scomm as well, "Listening and viewing devices cover everything. We can't disable their surveillance in a timely manner by manually countering every device." She pauses. "Queen Chrysalis, would you like to try to speak?"

Love's attention is caught by Angel. She scomms Harrier/Hornet, "I can explain. Let's breath." Love motions to torso and takes a deep breath. She tries to calm Hornet Squad. She listens to Longshot. "They were brain-dead science-zombies and attacked us after we broke an illusion over them."

[Miltonian]

Even if the medicine hasn't taken effect yet, the mere taking of it has boosted Keg's confidence a bit. She knows it will kick in soon and that is enough to perk her up a little.

Hornet Squad responds as one would expect. Their faces pale a little, but the marshal their courage. "We'll get him for this, Love," Green Pine grunts.

"Sub-vocals engaged," Corby says. From now on, they will only talk via that method.

Chrysalis clears her throat. "Testing, testing, one two three." She's coming through loud and clear. "Oh good, now I can't mutter disparaging remarks about your mothers under my breath." She sighs dramatically. "Whatever will I do?"

"This is where I 'lived'," Octavia says, "I know the layout pretty well, I should think. I...do request we go to the broadcast studio before we go to the lab, however."

[DigoDragon]

"Oh good, now I can't mutter disparaging remarks about your mothers under my breath." She sighs dramatically. "Whatever will I do?"

'I just turn my comm off first,' Rose replies sub-vocally with a hefty attachment of cheeky wit.

[D.KnightSpider]

'I just turn my comm off first,' Rose replies sub-vocally with a hefty attachment of cheeky wit.

"I just make them silently." Longshot quips.


"This is where I 'lived'," Octavia says, "I know the layout pretty well, I should think. I...do request we go to the broadcast studio before we go to the lab, however."

Longshot sobers. He nods slowly and glances at the rest of the team.

"Affirmative. Show us the way to the studio, but let us take point. There's no telling what other nastiness has been turned loose."

[Miltonian]

Chrysalis raises an eyebrow, but doesn’t say anything. Secretly she begins to wonder what sly comments she’s missed about her.

Octavia nods gratefully to Longshot. “Thank you,” she says. If everyone follows, she leads the way straight ahead and to the door. She produces a keycard and wipes a bit of changeling webbing off it. “This was on one of the wolves,” she says, “You didn’t spot it, but I’ve seen the guards use them many times. I knew what to look for.” She presses it against the side of the door and it opens up, revealing a hallway that branches off to the left.

At the end of it, they step into a kitchen. To their right is a large, sealed freezer door and to the left a half-wall blocks the way into a dining hall. “This is an odd route,” Octavia admits, “But it’s the fastest way to the residential area where the studio is.”

“We could split up,” Green Pine offers, “One team secures any hostages, the other presses on to the lab.”

“Dude,” Card Ace says, “Simple movie and game logic. Never split the party.”

[DigoDragon]

'On the other hoof, this is a large facility and we're a fairly large party of skilled ponies and changelings,' Rose adds as a rebuttal, 'Two groups could handle whatever's around.'

[D.KnightSpider]

Longshot keeps his rifle up and ready. He visually sweeps each room that they enter.

"Good thing this isn't a game, then. Rose and Pines have the right idea. Too many ponies in a tight space will increase or chances of friendly fire.

"Hornet Squad, watch our back and sweep rooms as we advance so we're not blindsided by a back attack. Don't waste resources on any forced entry or wander too far. Hyper Thought might decide to drop another hundred zombies on us.

"Harrier, stay alert.

"Every pony, if you get in trouble, yell. If you have TacNet, synch up."

Longshot will follow Octavia.

Perception
[roll0] VS 16

[Elbeyon]

Hornet Squad responds as one would expect. Their faces pale a little, but the marshal their courage. "We'll get him for this, Love," Green Pine grunts."We'll stop him. There are people depending on us to capture him. We must bring him in alive."


Chrysalis clears her throat. "Testing, testing, one two three." She's coming through loud and clear. "Oh good, now I can't mutter disparaging remarks about your mothers under my breath." She sighs dramatically. "Whatever will I do?"Love gives her a hoof up. "Your voice is coming through loud and clear." Love chuckles at Queen Chrysalis' joke.


"This is where I 'lived'," Octavia says, "I know the layout pretty well, I should think. I...do request we go to the broadcast studio before we go to the lab, however."Octavia doesn't have the physical anatomy to use Earbuds? She probably can't use scomm. Love speaks out loud. "Of course, we'll head to the broadcast studio." Love will do introductions for Octavia and get everyone in the group acquainted with one another - name's at least if they need to be shouted. With such a large group, Love mostly sticks to people's names during introductions.


'I just turn my comm off first,' Rose replies sub-vocally with a hefty attachment of cheeky wit.

"I just make them silently." Longshot quips.

Chrysalis raises an eyebrow, but doesn’t say anything.Love watches that eyebrow raise. "They're joking. I've never heard them make a comment about my mother. We use scomm to talk shop, strategy, and provide support to one another. Welcome to our comm system! I'll be taking care of all your tech support needs so I'm here if you have a question or technical request."

Love soldiers on while escorting Octavia. The changeling webbing has Love switch to the camera's upstairs and zoom through the recording to see the wolves health.

She says to Harrier/Hornet, "I'll synch our TacNet. My pipes are all clear for yelling."

"Staying alert." Love stacks up on the dinning door.

She private comms Longshot, "We only have one keycard. My ScoutBot is fast. It can play courier to dual service the card."

[Miltonian]

Hornet Squad checks the freezer while Harrier advances into the dining hall. The place is clean and tidy except for a few spots along the walls that look scorched. Right around the outlets, Longshot and Love notice. Odd, but not worth stopping for. Hornet Squad reports nothing but frozen food in the freezer. Everything looks normal here. It's almost a relief to find that, despite everything, the CPI's lab served ordinary food.

Octavia keeps leading them forward. The next door leads to another hallway with barracks branching off left and right, with a few suites intermixed. The doors are all closed and locked, but they are conveniently labeled. First on the left is labeled 'Dr. Hyper Thought'. Octavia walks past it.

"Want us to look it over?" Corby asks, referring to Hyper Thought's room.

[DigoDragon]

Rose will continue to mark and cover the cameras she sees with gecko brand duct tape.

PER [roll0] vs. 14

[D.KnightSpider]

"Possibly. One moment." Longshot replies.

He pushes forward to close the distance between their guide and himself.

"Octavia, one question. When you were here was that Hyper Thought's room or is that a change from your previous experience?"

He didn't want any pony falling for a simple ruse because HT switched some nameplates. If Octavia answers to the affirmative, then he'll sign off on Hornet checking over the mass scientist's room.

They're all well aware it would probably be trapped or guarded. Then again, maybe HT always slept in the lab.

[Elbeyon]

Love sees the scorch marks and continues along the way. She repeats Hornet Squad for Chrysalis, "Freezer is clear."

She slows down when Longshot and Octavia talk. All these doors. She didn't like the set up. It's too good for a trap. She watches the doors. Her ScoutBot flies down the hall to peek/clear the corners.

Scorch Marks?
[roll0] vs 15 (Electrician) +2 (Software)

[roll1] vs 13 (Perception) +3 (Hyper)

[Miltonian]

Rose tapes up all the cameras she sees. She's certain she's missed some though.

"I have never seen him use it, but that is his," Octavia confirms.

"Right," Card Ace says, "We'll go check it out. You all...carry on, I suppose.

Love determines that the scorch marks come from somepony drawing a lot of power out of those sockets. And recently, too.

They press on, watched over by Love's bots, and reach another blast door. Octavia stops and points down the hall off to their left, which looks completely empty. "There was a door there. Strange that you can't see it now."

[DigoDragon]

Rose tapes up all the cameras she sees. She's certain she's missed some though.

Rose stops taping them. If there's That many camera around then whoever installed this network is just insane and full of too much free time.

[D.KnightSpider]

"Octavia, get behind us. Just in case."

Longshot steps forward. He stares down his rifle at the wall and attempts to ascertain off there's any deceptive magic at work.

[roll0] VS 13 Will

[Elbeyon]

Love continues managing the BotNet, stringing along cameras, after they advance/sweep a new area.

She scomms, "There are scorch marks near sockets in the dinning room. They are from someone or something drawing a lot of energy out of the sockets." A lot of things could do that.

What is she doing? They're using the opponent's keycard while the opponent watches them!

She steps into the middle of the door frame. Scomm, "Longshot, would you step back?"

She says out loud. "Octavia, would you step back?" She motions towards Rose.

She scomms Harrier/Hornet, "We don't have control over these blast doors. Hyper Thought could close and lock them on us whenever he wants unless we splice them. Since we've bumped into a perplexing obstacle, I'd like to splice this blast door."

[Miltonian]

Longshot concentrates and the illusion falls away! A black door labeled 'Wrath' appears a little ways down the hall. However, someone has written another name under it. 'Midnight'.

Chrysalis studies the newly revealed door with narrow eyes. "Hmm..."

Octavia steps away from the door and looks to Love.

"No objections here," Corby says, "All the same, we're welding this one open."

[D.KnightSpider]

"Go for it, Love."

Longshot moves away from the doorway, but he steps toward Wrath/Midnight's room. If Love has no objection, he'll send a bugbot down that direction for a look-see.

"Wrath's room is behind an illusion down the hall. There's another name on the door: 'Midnight'."

[Elbeyon]

Love presses her hoofs together and stretches them out. "Alright!"

Ah! Love takes out a pair of earbuds. She says, "Octavia, would you put these on?" Love points to her own ears. Octavia may not be able to speak with them, but she can still listen.

Love doesn't resist Longshot's actions. "You can use my ScoutBot if you want. Just be careful with it."

She sees if she can get any BugBots crawling under the bunk doors since those will be normal doors(?).

Love will start diplomacy with the door to convert it to side EDF.

Door Dipomacy
[roll0] vs 13 (Security) + 2 (Software Tool)

[DigoDragon]

Rose continues to stand as the rear guard, listening to the comm and waiting for something to happen. She's starting to hope something attacks the front line in that room, just so she has something useful to contribute.

[userpay]

Brazen posts up as well while waiting for Love to do her thing. More explosives not used the more likely they had a chance to not piss off potentially convertible allies... Not to mention saving them for the real stuff that needed destroying.

[Miltonian]

Octavia has no convenient spots to put the earbuds. Her 'ears' are not designed to hold objects the same way a real pony's is. She fixes that problem with duct tape. "Hmm. Duct tape does fix everything."

Unfortunately, Love's diplomacy on the door meets some rather stiff security protocols and, in response to her tampering, it locks itself down. Not even the keycard opens it now.

Love's bugs search the bunk rooms and find that they are literally just dormitories, though they seem unusually bare and under-decorated for places ponies live. The CPI soldiers probably made their home in there.

Longshot's bug crawls down to the named door and slips under it. Inside is a large suite divided evenly in half, almost exactly. On one side he sees training dummies, reloading benches, and all sorts of weapons, even a bazooka labelled 'Partystarter'. On the other, shelves full of books on magic and a comfortable reading chair. Odd.

Chrysalis strides up to Rose. "I do not like this," she says, "This is too easy. We are being drawn into a trap."

[DigoDragon]

Chrysalis strides up to Rose. "I do not like this," she says, "This is too easy. We are being drawn into a trap."

Rose lets out a little snort. Not mockingly or as a rebuke. It's a nonverbal cue that Rose is already a step ahead on this thought. "Course it's a trap. There's too many cameras here, so whoever's watching us has to know we now have Octavia and Hornet Squad with us," Rose whispers to Chrysalis' question. She pauses, sighs, and then turns on her comm broadcasting to both squads and peripheral units Love has been adding to their little network, so that pretty much everyone present can hear this next part.

"What better way to take out the entire EDF force, the penultimate hive queen, and recapture a missing ghost in one blow then by setting Vinyl out as the bait and wait for Octavia to unwittingly lead us into it? We're all bunched up close enough for a pincer move, and I can't tell if I'm missing conversations because we're relying heavily on silent comms with too large a group. Like, I get that we need silent comms because there's a metric frack-ton of microphones in the walls, and I'll use the tools, but I wonder if what we say isn't as important to Hyper Thought as where we're standing in this bunker."

[D.KnightSpider]

Longshot recalls the ScoutBot. Then, he takes a moment to think through the situation while waiting on Love's report.

Perception
[roll0] VS 16

Intelligence Analysis
[roll1] VS 14

Tactics
[roll2] VS 15

[Elbeyon]

Love holds the earbuds in place and chuckles at Octavia's fix. "I like the way you think. Let's not get residue on your ears by using sticky tape." Love will bring out two gecko pads. "This tape works by using millions of tiny hairs to grab a surface." Love smiles. "It has an on and off button." Love taps a wand to her earbuds and attaches the earbuds to her ears.

She adds Octavia to Harrier squad's extended channel.

Love puts some stress in her mouth at the door locking down. "The security is better than I thought. The door jammed. I'm going to disable the remote access and truly jam the door open so it won't close on anyone."

"BugBots have made their way into the four dormitories behind us. They look bare and under-decorated. It could be military rooms. I mentally checked one of the larger doors by the entrance for illusions, no positive. Should we start making that standard protocol for everything down here? Rose has magic detection abilities, but we can still fight illusions with our own foresight."

Before Love starts breaking the door, she looks at the illusory wall in front of them and concentrates until it breaks. Love will describe the mystery room for Octiava to see if that matches her expectation. She seemed surprised by the illusions, and Love wonders if that's the only surprise.

[DigoDragon]

Rose finishes her thought over the comm to the entire present group. "Teal dear is that... I believe we should find the security office first and foremost to blind and deafen Hyper Thought. Then make with the rescue operation."

[Miltonian]

Longshot becomes keenly aware that, so far, he has spotted exactly one avenue of retreat in this place. All it would take is one pony with a big enough bomb to take out the ceiling in the hallway behind them and they would all be hopelessly trapped, possibly even sealed in an airtight cavern and slowly counting down the hours to suffocation.

The room, however, is interesting. 'Wrath' definitely refers to Magpie and implies that this was her base of operations for a while. (It strikes him that he doesn't know for how long she's been active and that, given her abilities, the average guard squad wouldn't have any survivors to report her existence.) 'Midnight', however, is a new player. Newer than Magpie, for certain. The books on her shelves tell of some magical skill and a lot of them talk about illusions and necromancy. Given Hyper Thought's skill set, it is likely that Midnight is the 'assistant' he spoke of.

Octavia makes a sound like taking a deep breath. "The security office," she says to Rose, "Is not on this level." She accepts the better tape for her ears and will be able to hear things not specifically addressed to her now.

Hornet Squad calls in with a report. "Not much of significance in here," Angel says, "Got a lot of pictures of him when he was younger. He's with some other mare. Then there's some of them with a foal. Then lots of them with only him and a filly taken over a long period of time. Do the reports say anything about him having a daughter?"

[D.KnightSpider]

"Hyper Thought's bio described him as divorced. The records say he had a son and a daughter." Longshot replies over comm. to both squads.

"The door to the next area is jammed. I'm inclined to leave it be for the moment as Queen Chrysalis and Rose has a point. This feels like a trap. I wouldn't put it past Hyper Thought to mimic Wire's casino and try to bury us alive.

"Octavia, I know this isn't what you want to hear. Let's regroup and head to the security office. If this area has been abandoned, then odds are Vinyl isn't here. If we take control of the security office, then we can remove the wild goose from this chase and pinpoint her location.

"To address Lt. Croix' complaint, keep chatter to the general channels. Also, be advised that there's a new player in the game. Very new, and quite possibly only came active after Octavia left Wire's. Goes by the name 'Midnight', appears to be skilled in magic, illusion and necromancy. Midnight was Magpie's roommate in the bunker. Nothing else is known but I think Midnight's responsible for the illusions that keep tripping us up."

[DigoDragon]

Sigh, way to shove me in front of the bus, LS.

Rose continues on comm to both squads. "For everyone's reference, Miss Octavia, how far is security from our present location?"

[Elbeyon]

Love wants to rescue Octavia's lover, but she can see the wisdom in heading for the security office. Though, it being deeper in the compound might mean they had to go through much of the security anyway. A round trip may not be of any benefit. Love should rely on Queen Chrysalis gut feeling.

Thoughts office gets a look over by Love. The foal and the mare are interesting. She tries to examine Midnight's room for any pictures or identifiers. Hair on a brush, clothes, or comfortable chair to see if Midnight's hair match's Thought's photos.

Love starts trying to illusion bust on the bunk rooms while she talks. She slowly starts moving toward Thought's office.

Scomm, "Sticking to general comms." She stays in both channels.

Love comments, "If the illusions are cast by a single pony, that'd take a lot of power. The scorch marks we saw back in the dinner might have been a spell channeling electricity into a spell. A wild guess. What do you think Rose? What is your magic radar picking up in all of this?"

"There is probably a lot we could learn about Hyper Thought, Magpie, and Midnight here. That's a lot of information to leave uninvestigated."

Begone illusions!

Top Left Bunk
[roll0] vs 13 (Willpower)
[roll1] vs 13 (Willpower)

Top Right
[roll2] vs 13 (Willpower)
[roll3] vs 13 (Willpower)

Bottom Left
[roll4] vs 13 (Willpower)
[roll5] vs 13 (Willpower)

Bottom Right
[roll6] vs 13 (Willpower)
[roll7] vs 13 (Willpower)

[Miltonian]

Octavia stands firmly in front of the door. "Security is a ride down the elevator or a walk down the stairs, plus some other security measures. And I did not come all this way," she says, "Just to give up when we're a short hallway away!"

Chrysals lays a heavy hoof on her back. "Come. Don't be a foo--"

"And I don't need your advice, of all ponies!" Octavia snaps.

With a huff, Sickle picks her up and throws her over her back.

"Put me down this instant! I will haunt you so hard!"

Midnight does have some fur on her brush, though it does not match Hyper Thought's daughter. It is a rich purple instead, with a few lighter strands thrown in for good measure. Whoever she is, the mare was fastidious about organization. She and Twilight would get along well, probably.

There are no illusions in the bunk rooms.

[D.KnightSpider]

The familiar feeling of 'just can't win' came back. Longshot brushed it aside and focused on the task at hand. They needed to listen to each other.

And... Longshot reminded himself to soften his approach. There was a lot of pressure and information to sort, but if he lost the pony element then things would falter badly.

"We're not giving up on any rescue. We are trying to be smart about this." Longshot says to Octavia.

He looks to Love. "I don't see any means of processing that information in a timely manner. If you have a suggestion, we're open. We need to move first and foremost."

[DigoDragon]

"Okay, uh... thanks..." Rose mumbles as her anchor is getting hauled back by sickle. Seems like a fun ride.

She attempts to cast Mage Sight and then peek around the corner at whatever it is Love was looking at.

Spellcasting: [roll0] vs. 15

[Elbeyon]

"Bunks are clear of illusions, I think."

"Rescuing Vinyl is our priority. We're going to make sure everyone is safe."

Love nods to Queen Chrysalis in thanks for the effort.

No private messages. That's going to hamper communication.

Love thinks on it. "Red Tape could process the information, maybe?" Was he doing anything anyway? "I'll set some BugBots to gather information for later viewing." She nods to him. Love will go with the flow on this one.

Love will stay close to Octavia. They need their guide back.

[Miltonian]

Octavia abandons her vessel, which goes limp and lifeless in Sickle's grip, and pops out, fury on her face. "I know she's in there, you dolt!" she snaps, "I can feel her! I can...I swear it!" She strains against the bond holding her in place. Sickle carries on, heedless of her struggles.

Rose is looking at nothing anymore. The illusion that was over the door has failed and fades. However, as they proceed back the way they came, Rose senses powerful magic flare to life up ahead. At the same time, Love's bot spot a flash as a pony teleports into the dining area and faces the door they came through. She begins casting immediately.

When they round the corner back to the kitchen, the most powerful magic barrier she has ever seen blocks their retreat. Only dim light passes through, casting a shadow on everything on the other side. Across it stands a pony wrapped in a long cape and hood embroidered with magical sigils.

"I think," she says, "That 'rats in a trap' is the appropriate metaphor here."

If Rose passes it, she'll identify the spell as Utter Wall, the most powerful Protection Spell known to ponykind.

[D.KnightSpider]

Octavia abandons her vessel, which goes limp and lifeless in Sickle's grip, and pops out, fury on her face. "I know she's in there, you dolt!" she snaps, "I can feel her! I can...I swear it!" She strains against the bond holding her in place. Sickle carries on, heedless of her struggles.

“With all due respect, that would have been good to know several moments ago. I... don't doubt you." Longshot says. I cannot begin to tell you how tired I am of objections after the fact.


Across it stands a pony wrapped in a long cape and hood embroidered with magical sigils.

"I think," she says, "That 'rats in a trap' is the appropriate metaphor here."

"Hornet Squad, what's your status?" Longshot says over the comm.

He brings his rifle up and his eyes flick over the area. Attacking head-on isn't an option, most likely. So what about alternate means of breaching? Air vents? Hm. Maybe through the wall of the bunk rooms into the kitchen?

[roll0] VS 16

[userpay]

Hmm... Barrier, enclosed hallway/room, definitely not ideal. "Keep em busy." He mumbles over the comms before moving towards the wall separating the kitchen from the bunks. Tools come out as Brazen begins to set up a breaching charge to give them more options.

(ooc: Roll in discord dice rolls, result of 10 vs (14 skill + 2 program + whatever large tool kit gives))

[Elbeyon]

Love slips the BugBots back into the Thought's office and the Secret Suite to start exploring/gathering data.

Octavia's reaction causes Love to bite her lip. "I believe you Octavia."

Her BugBots flash a pony alert to her! She sees everything go down. She joins both squad channels. "A pony teleported into the dining area!"

Love sees the magic barrier block off their retreating advance.

Love says over scomm, "Everyone might want to consider getting a Dispel Stone in hoof. I'll talk to her." Love puts her hoof in her saddlebag. She grabs the stone but she doesn't show the stone to the room.

Love says out loud to Midnight, "Hello, Midnight, I presume! Everyone calls me Love. I've heard a little about you. We found your room. Dr. Hyper Thought has found himself a lot of talent. You even share your room with an Element."

[DigoDragon]

Rose looks back at the magic wall erected behind the group. She says over the comm, 'We're not getting past that barrier.'

While Love plays bait, Rose studies this sorceress; protection spells she has on and about where on her artifact is located if she's an anti-element. [roll0]

[Miltonian]

"Finishing up in Hyper Thought's room," Corby says, "Green Pines found some a trap. Nothing major, just want to make sure it's not going to blow us up if we try to leave the room."

Longshot looks around. These vents are too small for anyone by a filly to fit through, but the walls might be thin enough to blow through. Maybe. They do look rather thick.

Brazen pursues that line of reasoning and goes to blow the place apart. Hopefully, it's not load-bearing.

Rose studies the sorceress, but finds that the magic of the Utter Wall prevents her from reading the spells that Midnight has active. Nothing passes through this spell, not even magic, save for light, though even that is dimmed and a laser shot would become little more than a laser pointer.

She looks up sharply when Love mentions that they found her room. "If you touched my books," she growls warningly. There is a purple glow under her hood from her horn that illuminates only her eyes, which are full of annoyance. She is actively channelling magic, but whether that's a new spell or maintenance on another, who knows?

[DigoDragon]

"Hard way, then." Rose pulls out her dispelling stone and attempts to be the Reagan to her Gorbachev.

Dispel check: [roll0] vs. 15

[D.KnightSpider]

"Copy that. Be advised that we're having a stand-off with Midnight just off the dining room." Longshot informs Hornet Squad. "Octavia, step back."

Wait a minute.

Longshot concentrates on their surrounding area. Was Midnight or Hyper Thought trying to pull a fast one?

[roll0] VS 13/14 (13 Will +1 Magic Resistance?)

[Elbeyon]

Love continues to step closer to the wall.

Scomm, "Attempting to capture."

She says out loud, "We haven't touched your books. Your library is organized your way, every book in its proper place. Why don't we drop the magic threatening us, and talk? There is a lot we could learn from each other. I have books you haven't read and would be glad to share with you. Let's reason through any problems."

Scomm, "Sickle, protect Octavia."

Love keeps her hoof in her bag's pouch.

Love is trying to talk things down.

Love spends her turn crushing the stone. It takes a second for the spell to activate. "At the beginning of his next turn, roll
against the spell stone’s Power."

[Miltonian]

Brazen continues to examine the wall for the optimal spot. This is definitely going to take at least a few minutes.

"Hornet Squad copies," Corby says grimly. Unfortunately, Longshot is sure there are no illusions in play here, at least not at the moment.

Midnight cackles. "Ha! I'm not falling for that trick. You think you're so clever, but I'm the clever one here! I trapped you."

At the dual attempts to dispel her shield, Midnight takes a wary step back. But the wall holds. "Ha!" she says triumphantly, "I knew my magic was stronger. This wall is weaved to tightly together. Your skill cannot unravel it."

Having gathered enough power, she lets it flow out of her, sketching a circle on the floor. A book floats out of her saddle bags, titled Elemental Spells Vol. XXXII The Art of Practical Tectonics. "And now," she says, smug, "Your fate is sealed."

Chrysalis has been aloof, giving her haughty glares, but her eyes narrow. "Hmm," she says.

Chrysalis knows a thing? [roll0]

[D.KnightSpider]

Longshot has very little understanding of how magic works. Buck, he barely knows how to use these spell stones. One thing he does know, however, is that he's getting very, very annoyed with these spellcasters.

He reaches into his bag and crushes the dispel stone given to him.

[roll0] VS 15

[DigoDragon]

"I could try pounding at this wall again, but I suggest we leave her line of sight and form an escape plan," Rose declares to the squad. She backs away and around the corner, deciding the idea of checking Midnight's room for a possible solution.

[Elbeyon]

Love keeps her hoof in her bag.

Scomm, "Queen Chrysalis. You see something?"

She says out loud, "No tricks. I'd simply love to have a peaceful conversation with you. I recently joined a magic school. They've taught me a lot about magical theory. I don't have a horn though. You should see their library. It's huge! It's bigger than the room you're standing in. It could fill your entire room with books, floor to ceiling." Love notes the failures on the wall. "Your magic is very strong. Do you plan to seal us in the dormitory?"

She crushes another dispel stone.

Scomm, "Breaking line of sight might provide some safety." A lot of spells depend on seeing the target.

Dispel
[roll0]

[Miltonian]

"I'm going to suck destroy all the air that section of the bunker," Midnight says, "And then, I will watch as your internal air supplies dwindle and you suffocate."

Chrysalis responds on scomms. "I don't think you were the only one Hyper Thought cloned," she says, "I am amazed he managed to do it, really. I tried to duplicate Twilight once. It did not go well."

Longshot's spell stone shatters and, once more, the spell stands strong. "You might as well give up," Midnight says smugly, "You won't be able to--"

Love's stone shatters the barrier with the sound of cracking glass. Midnight's eyes go wide and her horn flashes. She disappears and reappears at the other end of the room, running into the kitchen.

[Elbeyon]

Chrysalis confirms it. Love scomms, "I had my suspicions. I'd recognize Twilight's hair anywhere."

The first stone turns to worthless dust. An orange magical aura forms around Love's broken horn. She slings the orange force forward on the wall where it pounds with a few ringed outbursts that denote the invisible punches. She crushes her second stone. Love's broken horn alights. She feels the magic gathering around her. This spell is a great. She charges forward with her horn glowing and rams through the utter wall, breaking the glass.

She yells after teleporting Midnight, "Wait! We don't have to fight!"

Scomm, "Midnight is running! I'll keep an eye on her and try to bug her!" Love launches her ScoutBot to chase Midnight. She tries to get some Flying BugBots to land on the teleporting mare.

[D.KnightSpider]

"So Hyper Thought has a variety of clones. Wonderful. When do we run into the Chrysalis clone?"

Longshot's rifle snaps up to a firing position.

"Sorry, Love. I'd prefer Midnight not run away to fight another day."

Ten stun shots rip away from his gun barrel and head toward Midnight.

All conversation takes place over subvocal comm.

Attack
[roll0] VS 23 (15 Skill, +5 Weapon Mods, + 2 Ten Shots, +1 All Out Attack)

Damage
[roll1]
[roll2]
[roll3]
[roll4]
[roll5]
[roll6]
[roll7]
[roll8]
[roll9]
[roll10]

[DigoDragon]

Rose trots to the named room from the earlier search and enters.

[roll0]

[Miltonian]

"Oh you would, would you?" Chrysalis rejoins with a smirk at Love, "and why would that be?"

Something interesting to note, the cloak and book lie abandoned where Midnight stood. She didn't take them with her when she teleported. She ignores Love and books it, charging up another teleport. Unfortunately, Longshot's barrage all miss. Improbably so. It's probably magic. She's not even trying to dodge. Then, she disappears.

Powder Keg puts down her rocket launcher. "Okaaaay. Disappearing mare."

Rose enters the room right as the wall goes down. It is exactly as she saw it before via the bot's cameras. If she still wants to look through Midnight's things, there are the books, her reading chair, and her bed. The shelves have the most books, but the chair and bed hold ones of more personal interest to Midnight.

[DigoDragon]

She opens her comm to both squads. 'So what's going on on your end? Did Midnight get bored of friendship and leave?'

Rose turns on her camera recording for this part. She looks around the room for magical auras, traps, taking a few slow steps into the room, going for the bed.
(Per 10 vs. 14)

[userpay]

Brazen grunts. "Hmm... Wonder how well that barrier would have stood up to explosives..." He'd also have to look into digging up some ready to stick explosives for the future, custom placed ones just weren't quick enough for the job. That said Rose headed off on her own... Brazen follows her to make sure she doesn't get ambushed.

[D.KnightSpider]

"Oh you would, would you?" Chrysalis rejoins with a smirk at Love, "and why would that be?"

Longshot quietly rolls his eyes.


Powder Keg puts down her rocket launcher. "Okaaaay. Disappearing mare."

"Teleporting mare. Teleportation is a fairly obnoxious magical spell, although not as obnoxious as the one that lets them reflect bullets and rockets back at their target. If Hyper Thought cloned Twilight, then she'll know a lot of magic tricks." Longshot explains. A frown works his way across his face. Something was bothering him but he couldn't put a name to the feeling yet.

He nods his head at the remaining book and cloak. "Any pony think Midnight Sparkle trapped her possessions? She was rooming with Wrath."


She opens her comm to both squads. 'So what's going on on your end? Did Midnight get bored of friendship and leave?'

Longshot replies over subcomm. "Love managed to dispel the wall and Midnight teleported away. We're on our way to collect you and get Vinyl."

He'll leave time for the magically adept to take the cloak and book, then urge everyone back toward the studio.

[DigoDragon]

Longshot replies over subcomm. "Love managed to dispel the wall and Midnight teleported away. We're on our way to collect you and get Vinyl."

"Collect me? You make it sound like I'm a prize," Rose replies using the same method, but with cheek. She also keeps the channel open so everyone can hear. "Not that I ain't. Oh, looks likes Brazen's ahead of you there."


Rose nods to Brazen's arrival. "I haven't set off any magical traps yet. Was waiting for an audience."

[D.KnightSpider]

"That... yes, that was a poor choice of words on my part. Sorry." Longshot admits over the comm. "We'll be there to regroup shortly."

[Miltonian]

Powder Keg frowns. "That's a...cheap trick. Left her clothes behind though." She goes to reach for them.

"Wrapping things up in here," Card Ace comms, "Will join you at the rendezvous shortly."

--

Magical auras? Magical auras!

Stepping inside the room, Rose is almost blinded by the sheer magic in here. Each book has some contingent spell on it, matching the school that it details within. Touching any of them without the proper procedure would be a bad idea.

Suddenly, Midnight appears in a burst of magic/ Her eyes go wide and a look of surprise crosses her face. She seems just as startled to see the two of them as they are to see her. She recovers very quickly though. However, she is quicker on the draw and fires a beam of purple magic right at Brazen. Due to the nature of it, it would be unwise to try and parry or block it, he will have to dodge.

Both of them, however, get a very good look at her. She looks very similar to Twilight, yes, but smaller: the size of a normal pony. The supernatural aura of grace and power that all alicorns develop is distinctly lacking in her. Plus, her wings are clearly cybernetic, not flesh and blood. She's a neocorn, not an alicorn.

[DigoDragon]

Rose immediately jumped at Midnight with outstretched forelegs. "Come 'ere, sexy!"

Rose will use All Out Attack (Double) and make two grapple attempts.

Attempt 1: [roll0] vs. 12
Attempt 2: [roll1] vs. 12

[userpay]

Brazen half rears as Midnight appears out of nowhere and before he can adjust the stallion is blown backward into the wall. As soon as his hooves touch the floor however Brazen immediately counterstrikes and launches himself at the neocorn with a hoof crackling.

All out determined attack! Move 4 meters and one melee to bop her with a zap glove stun.
Brawling [roll0] vs 19
HT-6 (2) aff

[Miltonian]

Rose runs up at Midnight and lunges for her, but her hoof catches on the edge of the carpet. She stumbles past, back to Midnight, and unfortunately does not get her second attempt to grapple.

Brazen, however, comes in hot and heavy. Midnight's eyes go wide. Her horn flashes to life and she teleports one meter to the side, putting Brazen right behind Rose instead of her. Her horn charges up and fires a weak lightning bolt at Brazen instead of her previous attack.

--

Love spots one of the doors in the Dining Room open. Through it steps none other than a very ticked off Magpie, walking with a gun held in one forehoof. She seems to have mastered the earth pony art of walking on three legs.

[userpay]

Well Brazen's fur would certainly be standing on end after that, if it wasn't for his armor holding it all down. Brazen drops his riot shield as he turns to try and deliver a one two shocking tap against the wiggle Midnight. "If you'd bucking just chat we wouldn't be doing this."

All out double attack! Double the zaps!
Brawling [roll0] vs 15
HT-6 (2) aff
Brawling [roll1] vs 11
HT-6 (2) aff

[D.KnightSpider]

"Forget her possessions!" Longshot says over the Harrier/Hornet comm. channel. "We have eyes on Wrath!"

He drops back to the local channel as he switches his rifle back to 'kill'. Then he says aloud so that Magpie can hear: "We're giving you one chance to surrender, Magpie. Stand down now and no pony has to get hurt."

Tactics
[roll0] VS 15

[DigoDragon]

Rose judges the room layout and then makes another attempt to grab the unicorn in spite of her teleporting dodge trick.

Rose will use All Out Attack (Double) and make two grapple attempts.

Attempt 1: [roll0] vs. 12
Attempt 2: [roll1] vs. 12

[Elbeyon]

In response to Longshot, she scomms, "It doesn't take much to clone a person with the right tools. No need to apologize." Longshot is using non-lethal.

Love keeps an eye on everywhere they've put cameras in case Midnight teleported to a close by location.

She scomms to Chrysalis, "Twilight is famous so a pony sees her mane a lot." Love isn't embarrassed to know her friend. "I like to know the little details."

In response to Keg, "I wish I could teleport. I could be everywhere at once." Love puts her hoof up to her mouth and laughs, "Mwhaha."

Love looks over the cloak and book. "They could be trapped." She approaches them.

"Longshot, here. A refill." A bugBot crawls out of her saddlebag into a pouch then flies a Dispel stone to him.

She says out loud, "Hiss, what do you think? Are they magical?" Love lost her ability to detect magical items by magery sight.

Scomm to regrouping, "Let me grab the cloak and book first."

If Hiss says the book and cloak are magical, she'll try to analyze them.

====

Love's attention snaps to the opening door. She smiles real big when she sees who walks through the door. She says out loud, "Magpie!" Oh, she looks grumpy. "I'm glad to see you in good health." They last left off with a painful goodbye. "Wait! This might be too good to be true. Let me check for illusions." Love stares at that side of the room.

[roll0] vs 13 (Willpower)

[Miltonian]

"I think I have a far higher chance of forcing you to surrender if I beat you into it rather than talk, thanks," Midnight says. She disappears right from under his hooves and appears at to the other end of the room. Rose goes for her, but she teleports once more. Magic flares to life in her horn. "I'll take you both out at once!" she declares, a smug look on her face, "You see, I am far more powerful than either of you. Which means I'm going to win! Power always wins."

--

Currently, Longshot has a good line of sight. Magpie has a bunch of tables and the like to clamber over if she wants to get in close.

Hornet Squad drops whatever they are doing and begins running towards where Magpie is. As for the mare herself, she grins. "Filly, please! This time, I brought grenades!" She snatches up her pistol in her mouth and whips out a yellow grenade with a smiley face scrawled across it. "Queen Chrysalis! Hyper Thought would like to invite you to head down to his lab. All you have to do is leave the others behind to me."

Chrysalis laughs. "Well if that isn't a blatant trap, I don't know what is."

Magpie shrugs. "Suit yourself." She breaks into a sprint, heading right for the party.

The cloak is magical! But Love doesn't have time to examine them.

[DigoDragon]

Rose draws up her carbine. Midnight might be a better spellcaster, likely even awarded from bullets... So Rose takes aim at her books on the shelf.

"Cast that spell and your knowledge gets it."

Ready action--If Midnight casts, Rose shoots her books.

[D.KnightSpider]

S.Comm.: "Octavia, get back. Keg, we're going to need non-explosive support. Sickle, we might need your close combat expertise. Love, tangle the heart. Any magic adepts that can raise resistance would be appreciated."

Longshot fires five shots at Magpie.

Attack
[roll0] VS 18 (15 Skill, +5 Weapon Mods, -3 Targeted Vitals, +1 Rapid Fire, -Distance)

Damage
[roll1]
[roll2]
[roll3]
[roll4]
[roll5]

[Elbeyon]

S.Comm, "I don't think she is an illusion."

S.Comm, "Be cautious of her grenades' spread. If we capture her, prevent her from killing herself."

S.Comm, "Roger. Attempting to capture her heart."

She says out loud, "Magpie! Do you remember my face? It's me. The receptionist pony! I've been worried about you."

Love will wait until after Longshot attacks (hopefully exposing the heart) then fire off a shot.

[Miltonian]

Magpie dives forward, getting behind one of the tables for cover. As such, almost half of Longshot's hits miss. The others cause her to grunt, but the heavy armor she seems to be wearing (spray painted yellow and brown with another smiley face on the side, though this one has the eyes x'ed out) absorbs most of it. She fires off a few wild shots, but they ping off the wall instead of Longshot's face.

"Buck you!" she shouts at Love, "With a red, hot poker!"

"Flanking," Chrysalis says. She and the changelings run and dive for cover, hiding behind one of the tables. There's still a good 20 meters between Magpie and her various opponents, but the changelings are set to close that distance.

--

Midnight freezes. Her eyes fill with panic and in response she says, "I...uh...I..." In a flash, she teleports and disappears out of the room.

[Elbeyon]

Last Turn

Longshot fires. Love jumps four yards closer to cover then she fires off her stun shots into Magpie's exposed foreleg.

All-out Attack!
[roll0] vs 13 =13 (Skill) +5 (Targeting) -2 (Foreleg) +1 (All-out Attack) +2 (Rapid Fire) -6 (16 Yards) +/- (Other(s))

Stun (3)
[roll1]
[roll2]
[roll3]
[roll4]
[roll5]
[roll6]
[roll7]
[roll8]
[roll9]
[roll10]

[DigoDragon]

"Um... well technically you complied..."

Rose studies the bookshelf. "Brazen, we need a couple of these as bargaining against midnight. Let's see if we can grab some that aren't trapped, because they all give off a magical aura."


Perception [roll0] vs. 14

[D.KnightSpider]

"Roger, QC, I'll try to keep her pinned down."

Longshot starts putting shots into the area around Magpie's disappearance.


[roll0] VS 14 (15 Skill, +5 Weapon Mods, +1 Rapid Fire, -7 Distance)

[Damage]
[roll1]
[roll2]
[roll3]
[roll4]
[roll5]

[Elbeyon]

Love's ScoutBot moves to track Magpie.

Scomm, "Magpie's magnum uses advanced armor piercing rounds. It'll shoot through power armor."

She says out loud to Magpie, in an exaggerated tone not to confuse her teammates, "Ow! That sounds painful."

Out loud, "I'm sorry we couldn't rescue you! I didn't want you pulled through the portal and punished."

Love will wait until after Longshot attacks (hopefully exposing the heart) then All-out Attack.

Basically. If Magpie red mists, Love will shoot tangler (teamwork!); otherwise, she shoots Stun.

Attack [roll0]

[userpay]

"Ah've got ah better idea than touchin books that might bite back." Brazen moves over to an unoccupied cubby hole or the bed, whichever provides the best hiding place, and sticks a block of C4 and a sleep grenade out of sight. The triggers tied into his suit. He puts another set in another hiding spot before deploying a few bug bots to watch the room. "Aaaand there. We'll know if she comes back and we still got our bargaining chip."

[Miltonian]

Literally every single book in this room is trapped in some very lethal way. The variety and imagination that must have gone into some of them is impressive, but very daunting. Brazen's idea, however, has much less risk to it.

==

Love's shots miss and Wrath keeps her head down this turn. On the bugbots, Love sees her drawing several more grenades and placing them out in front of her, ready for whatever she has in mind.

The changelings creep forward. Five turns until they reach a good flanking position.

[D.KnightSpider]

Subvocal Comm: "Setting up overwatch. Stay clear of my line of sight. Keg, any chance you can put a flash-bang behind that table?"

Longshot trains his sights on the table. His focus narrows as he watches for any sign of Magpie. If she or her grenades so much as twitch into his field of view, he'll hit the trigger.

Wait + Aim, declining the -2 friendly fire modifier.

[DigoDragon]

Brazen moves over to an unoccupied cubby hole or the bed, whichever provides the best hiding place, and sticks a block of C4 and a sleep grenade out of sight. The triggers tied into his suit. He puts another set in another hiding spot before deploying a few bug bots to watch the room. "Aaaand there. We'll know if she comes back and we still got our bargaining chip."

"Brazen, you mischievous little colt," Rose says with complete approval, "That's brilliant. These books are pretty much all trapped, so I'd have to burn off a bunch of Dispels to safely disarm them."

"Maybe we should go help the others with Magpie until Midnight comes back."

[Elbeyon]

Last Turn:
Love advances and puts her ten bolts through the table at Magpie's torso, ignoring cover.

This turn:
Scomm, "Roger, Longshot."

Scomm, "She is placing grenades on the ground in front of her behind the table." Love is going to try to punish her for that decision.

She says out loud, "I see you've got a new style. Did you design everything yourself?"

She charges closer to passing Magpie into a flanking position. The gap closes between Magpie and her as much as desired. Love keeps the distance on her HUD at a nice round ten yards. She raises her rifle and fires off two 40mm tangler rounds. One meant to splash on Magpie and glue all her grenades to the ground and the other to glue the table to the ground.

Magpie
[roll0] vs 17 = 12 (Skill) +4 (Targeting) +4 (Floor) +1 (All-Out Attack) -4 (10 Yards) +/- (Other(s))

Table
[roll1] vs 16 = 12 (Skill) +4 (Targeting) +4 (Floor) -4 (10 Yards) +/- (Other(s))

[Miltonian]

Brazen spends a short time putting down explosives. It’s a simple matter of planting them in convenient spots. It will take a few rounds, but he’ll have three down by the end of his mine-laying session. If he wants to spend the time, that is.

In the meantime, the battle continues.

Love’s shots, being stun bolts, dissipate harmlessly across the table. If someone were wearing the table as armor, they would have worked. But since Magpie’s not really touching it, there’s no way for the table to conduct the stunning pulse to her.

However, the grenade strikes true and tangles her up. The table is also stuck to the ground, even though it doesn’t land exactly where Love wishes. Magpie grunts in annoyance, but the tangler immediately starts to dissolve. “Idiot!” she shouts, “Same tricks as last time, eh? You’ll never beat me like that!”

She sets off a smoke grenade, obscuring her from view. Electrically charged particles make it hard even for Hyperspectral vision to penetrate.

The changelings advance, Powder Keg ducks out and takes cover behind the first table, and Hornet Squad comes running up behind Longshot.

Two doors slide open on Love’s view. One, the one Magpie came through, opens to reveal a small platoon of skeletons, spilling out with their ancient arms and creating a firing line along the very back of the room.

The second door she sees over her network. The one that she got locked out of slides open and the familiar face of Question Mark appears. He holds a pistol in his mouth and moves forward cautiously. Beside him, a mare made of white-metal with a mane of blue wires clomps along, the very concept of stealth lost on her.

New map! (https://docs.google.com/drawings/d/14jUjk5QMpsVINjHxfIfEZGSjl7XbjTy3YZOXRBGCeZA/edit?usp=sharing)

[DigoDragon]

Rose comms both squads, "How are you holding up?"

She doesn't want to leave Brazen alone, so Rose keeps over-watch to protect him while he decides on his trap-laying plans.

[Elbeyon]

Scomms, "Rose. Brazen. Question Mark and a metal, material, pony have entered from the jammed door."

[D.KnightSpider]

"We're holding." Longshot answers Rose. "We'll leave QM to you. Could use your help sooner rather than later."

He refocuses on the immediate battle at hand.

"Hornet, the skeletons are magic. They'll go down if you shoot them but they'll resurrect unless you break their skulls. Sickle, you feel like helping with that? Ace, if we expose the Anti-Heart, can you encase it in ice? Any pony who can shut down that door gets a gold star.

"I'm moving forward and targeting the right side of the room."

Longshot charges forward and takes up residence at the corner of Love's table. He empties ten rounds into the skeletons on the right side of the room.


15 Skill, +5 Weapon Mods, +1 All Out Attack, -6 distance = 15

Using AOA's half move to take cover behind the corner of Love's table. Utilizing spraying fire to target the skeletons on the right side of the map.

1) Attack
[roll0] VS 15

Damage
[roll1]
[roll2]

2) 1) Attack
[roll3] VS 15

Damage
[roll4]
[roll5]

3) Attack
[roll6] VS 15

Damage
[roll7]
[roll8]

4) Attack
[roll9] VS 15

Damage
[roll10]
[roll11]

5) Attack
[roll12] VS 15

Damage
[roll13]
[roll14]

[Elbeyon]

"Magpie, in the words of Null. That's cheating! Hey, did Null make you that armor?"

Scomm, "Magpie and skeletons have an anti-tangler coating."

Same tricks, eh? Love grabs a grenade from a pouch and throws it between Magpie and the Skeletons (prioritizing Magpie). Something new, eh? The grenade is meant to explode into a blinding paint.

Love takes a step to the right and crouches down.

She sends a her Flying BugBots into the smoke cloud to land/mark Magpie so she isn't firing/throwing at the team from full concealment.

Throw
9 (in the roll thread) vs 11 = 12 (Throwing) +4 (Floor) -5 (15 yards) +/- Other(s)

[Miltonian]

Longshot sprays down the skeletons and knocks over half of them. Powder Keg runs up and dives behind the table behind him and Love. Sickle begins skating right up the middle while Hornet Squad gathers themselves and prepares to advance. The remaining skeletons fire off a volley, but it strikes the table instead of anything or anyone important.

However, Love's bugs dive into the smoke to find...Magpie is no longer there.

"Peekaboo," Magpie says from right behind her before a bullet tears through Love's armor and strikes her in the shoulder. There is no chance to dodge, only pain.

Love takes six damage.

Rose hears ponies advancing up the hall outside.

[DigoDragon]

Rose utilizes her cameras in her helmet and her carbine to peek around the hall both ways while keeping as much as she can of herself under cover of the doorway.

[Elbeyon]

Love grits her teeth, "Aaugh," as fire spreads through her shoulder.

She asks out loud, "Peekaboo?," as she whips around to face Magpie. Love chuckles with a pained voice. "You Magpie'd me! I was not expecting that!"

Love steps to a more advantageous position. Her weapon swings on her sling into her hoof and she unloads stun bolts toward Magpie.

Attack
[roll0] vs 16 = 13 (Rifle) +5 (Targeting) +2 (10 shots) -2 (Shock) -2 (Limb) +/- (Other(s))

Stun (3)
[roll1]
[roll2]
[roll3]
[roll4]
[roll5]
[roll6]
[roll7]
[roll8]
[roll9]
[roll10]

[D.KnightSpider]

Hearing Love cry out, Longshot risks a glance and blinks as he realizes Magpie has teleported. Right. Pinkie Pie clone.

He swings his line of sight, away from the skeletons and onto Magpie.

"Engaging Magpie!"

He fires at Wrath's gun and attempts to reduce it to slag.


Attack
[roll0] VS 14 (15 Skill, +5 Weapon Mods, +1 All Out Attack, -5 Break Weapon, -2 Distance)

Damage
[roll1]
[roll2]

[userpay]

Question Mark? That seems to good to be true. "Movin on Mark." Once everything is in place Brazen follows Rose.

[Miltonian]

Down the hall a bit, Rose sees Question Mark and the metal mare step out into the open and look around. Question Mark's eyes settle on Rose and he leaps back into cover. "Ms. Scratch, get down!" he shouts.

"Huh?" The metal mare whirls and spots Rose. "Aw ponyfeathers, a guard."

Brazen finishes his task and sets up behind Rose.

--

Magpie ducks under Love's gun and only gets hit by one of her shots, but that hardly seems to faze her. Longshot, however, reduces her gun to slag. Powder Keg joins in and pops up with her pistol, but it doesn't penetrate. The changelings pop up and shoot at her. Chrysalis wreaths herself in green flame, growing larger and more terrifying by the millisecond. Corby flies forward and stabs at Magpie with her combat knife while the rest of her team gets into position. But through it all, though she takes some hits, Magpie remains standing.

Her face contorts in rage. "You know what?" she says. Both her hooves fly to her sides and pull two grenades out. "Buck you! Buck you all! Buck this! And most importantly, BUCK YOU ALL AGAIN!"

Eloquent, isn't she?

She bounces back to the other table and makes an all out attack to toss two grenades. One lands right near Longshot, Love, Powder Keg, and Corby. The second lands among the changelings. It is time to make like Piccolo and dodge.

[DigoDragon]

Rose shouts down the hall. "Question Mark is that you? You lady-killing rat-bastard. Just like you to love and leave a mare to find another one!"

No, Rose isn't being serious with this.

"How did you get free?"

[D.KnightSpider]

"Grenade!" Longshot yells a warning to the others.

He's being helpful!

He vaults backward, throwing attempting to throw himself clear of the impending explosion.


Aerobatic Dodge
[roll0] VS 16

15 / 11 (9 Base, +3 Retreat, +1 Airborne retreat, +/- 2 Aerobatic Dodge)

[Elbeyon]

Love steps forward and unloads ten Stun shots toward Magpie.


[roll0] vs 17 = 13 (Rifle) +5 (Targeting) +2 (10 shots) -2 (Limb) -1 (3 Yards) +/- (Other(s))

Stun (3)
[roll1]
[roll2]
[roll3]
[roll4]
[roll5]
[roll6]
[roll7]
[roll8]
[roll9]
[roll10]

[Miltonian]

Question Mark brightens and lowers his. "False alarm, Ms. Scratch! Please don't dubstep her to death."

"Hey!" Vinyl pauses, "Wait, no, what am I thinking? That sounds awesome!"

Question Mark bows slightly to Rose. "As it turns out, our guards suddenly started fighting each other. They wandered too near the bars. A quick chop and down they went."

--

Sickle crashes through the remaining skeletons and starts cracking heads.

Love's barrage staggers Magpie and her eyes glaze over for a second, but she recovers and stands firm. She draws out two grenades and chucks it at the back where Card Ace and Green Pine are. Another on her belt goes off, covering her in more smoke.

Everyone else takes the opportunity to scramble away from the grenades.

[DigoDragon]

"As it turns out, our guards suddenly started fighting each other. They wandered too near the bars. A quick chop and down they went."

"Ah, I think I know why," Rose comments, assuming that occurred at the point Love disabled the chip network. "Well, just to make sure you are you, do you remember what I ate at our dinner date?"

[D.KnightSpider]

Longshot turns and flies toward the center of the room, although he remains to the left of center. He gains three meters of height in the process.

He scans the north side of the room in the process.

Perception
[roll0] VS 16

[Elbeyon]

Love sends another Flying ButBot into the smoke to fox out the pie.

She scomms, "The grenades aren't detonating yet. We can use telekinesis to move them to more secluded areas. Use caution in case she can set them off prematurely."

She scomms, "Use TacNet to cover as many blindspots as possible. Do not depend on a robot's camera's to cover a blindspot."

Love keeps her eyes open while shouting, "Magpie! You've always had a way with expressing yourself. You're a very talented pony. The art on your chest and bombs show. You put a lot of time into your craft and skill."

[roll0] vs 16

[D.KnightSpider]

Longshot: "Copy, that."

He adjusts his rifle to 'Stun' and turns in place to cover the other pony's backs.

[Miltonian]

Sickle continues to stomp head. Card Ace snags the grenades closest to him and tosses them away. "Check your fire," Green Pine warns. Magpie's maneuver, even if it didn't pose immediate threat, scattered the EDF and its allies across the room. If they miss Magpie, they could hit an ally instead, if they aren't careful.

As for Magpie herself, Longshot and Love don't see her. Nopony does this round.

--

Question Mark shakes his head. "A lot of it, that's what." All jokes aside, the GM does not remember, but since this is the real Question Mark, he does. The agent rubs his mane. "I really need to stop being rescued by you lot."

[DigoDragon]

Question Mark shakes his head. "A lot of it, that's what." All jokes aside, the GM does not remember, but since this is the real Question Mark, he does. The agent rubs his mane. "I really need to stop being rescued by you lot."

Rose is perfectly okay accepting the narrator answer, it accomplished what she needed.

"Well I'll just tell the others we met up in a random hallway. Speaking of, They're fighting your former captor and could use our help. Brazen, you ready to rock n roll?"

[D.KnightSpider]

Longshot retreats to the right edge of the top left table-- the one behind Sickle. He turns about face to survey the bulk of the room and studies it for Magpie.

Perception
[roll0] VS 16

[Elbeyon]

Love scomms, "Rose, keep an eye out. Magpie is missing."

Love calls out while, "Magpie! Where are you?", she moves closer to Magpie's original smoke cloud.

She scans the ceiling for the pony.

[roll0] vs 16 (Perception)

[Miltonian]

"Which one?" Vinyl asks, "The creepy Pinkie-Clone, the Twilight-Clone who's just as hot as the original, the mad scientist, the crazy singer, or the zebra necromancer? It's a bit of a list. Gotta narrow it down for me."

Question Mark chuckles, but it's not a happy one. "My friend here has a point. Let's walk and talk. Who're we dealing with? Because if it's just one of them, we have a chance. If they're all working together in, uh, harmony, we might be screwed."

--

Both Love and Longshot catch sight of Magpie right as she steps out of her original smoke cloud and levels another pistol, a different one from her signature magnum, at Sickle's back.

[DigoDragon]

"The Pinkie clone," Rose answers, doing a brisk trot-and-talk with them to reach the fight. "Brazen and I scared off the Twi-clone earlier, but I know she'll be back."

Suddenly Rose remembers. "Say, uh, Ms. Scratch? I think we have your significant other, Octavia if i'm guessing you're the right mare she sensed earlier."

[Elbeyon]

Longshot sees Magpie.

Scomm, "Sickle, Duck! Pistol" If possible love pushes information to her hud to try to help her avoid the attack.

Ammo switches to lethal. Love runs to an angle that prevents friendly fire, real close to Magpie, and tries to shoot the gun out of Magpie's hoof.

Love will All-Out Attack for +3 skill if movement allows a friendly free/close shot; otherwise, she uses her full movement to get into the most advantageous spot possible.

Attack
[roll0] VS 13 = 13 (Skill) +5 (Targeting) +2 (10 Shots) -5 (Break Weapon) -2 (Move and Attack) +/- (Other(s))

Beam (3)
[roll1]
[roll2]
[roll3]
[roll4]
[roll5]
[roll6]
[roll7]
[roll8]
[roll9]
[roll10]

[D.KnightSpider]

Longshot snaps his rifle around to target Magpie and fires.

All Out Attack!
[roll0] VS 19 (15 Skill, +5 Weapon Mods, +1 All Out Attack, + 2 Rapid Fire, -3 Targeted Vitals, - 1 Distance)
Longshot's elevation halves the -2 distance penalty.

Damage
[roll1]
[roll2]
[roll3]
[roll4]
[roll5]
[roll6]
[roll7]
[roll8]
[roll9]
[roll10]

[Elbeyon]

Love says loud enough so Magpie can hear, "I'd read a book if you wrote one.."

[Miltonian]

Vinyl freezes in place. "YOU BROUGHT HER HERE?" There's a strong note of concern in her voice.

From around the corner up ahead (where she had been obediently waiting), a voice calls, "Vinyl? Vinyl, is that you?" Octavia's metal form comes running around the corner. "Vinyl!"

Vinyl breaks into a run of her own and the two of them leap onto each other, which would be romantic if it weren't for the disastrous 'CLANG!' that shakes the room at their impact. Both of their chests are a little dented now.

"I propose we don't do that again," Octavia says.

"Agreed."

--

Magpie yanks her pistol out of the way, wise to Love's tactics. However, Longshot's hail of fire catches her in the back and along the side. She cries out and stumbles, but with a glare she disappears back into the smoke. Once again, she's gone.

[DigoDragon]

"Pretty sure Octavia haunted us to be here," Rose says, tongue-in-cheek. She clears her throat, still making her way towards the battle. "This reunion is sweet, but we still have enemies trying to make ghosts of the rest of us. Mind helping us spot them?"


Comm to both squads: 'Ghosts reunited. Update on the fight, please?'

[D.KnightSpider]

Longshot moves forward, takes a glance about the area and then attempts to disperse the initial smoke cloud.

Harrier/Hornet comm: "We're basically playing whack-a-mole with Magpie hiding in smoke clouds. She can teleport around the place as long as no pony can see her. It looks like she can only reappear directly behind some pony. Watch your back.

"Once those frag grenades go off, Magpie will have a lot of cover and places to teleport. I'll try to clear the air as fast as I... can..." Realization hits.

"The other half of Midnight's room was full of Magpie's arsenal. That's where she's resupplying."

Perception
[roll0] VS 16

Meteorology
[roll1] VS 12 (12 Skill, +2 Software, -2 Non-Weather Cloud)

[Elbeyon]

Scomm, "Let's keep those grenades away from people."

Scomm, "The BugBot's glitch whenever Magpie is appearing in their view. We can create a blindspot only watched by BugBots then use their glitch to determine if Magpie is entering the area. It'll take some set up."

Love will start setting up a BugBot Net to serve as an early detection system based off their failure to function.

Perception?
[roll0]

[DigoDragon]

Rose stops and turns over to Brazen. "B, can you confirm if guns vanished from Mag's half of the room?"

[Miltonian]

"Uh, sure," Vinyl says, "Hold my body, Tavi."

Octavia tilts her head to the side. "What do you mea--"

Out of the white robot pops a translucent mare with the wildest blue mane that Rose has ever seen. The body collapses on top of Octavia, who lets out a yelp of surprise. Keeping one foot on top of her 'vessel', Vinyl sticks her head through a wall. "Not in here!" she calls helpfully.

"Vinyl Scratch," Octavia says, an edge to her tone. It softens. "Oh Celestia, I've missed you."

Brazen can, in fact, confirm that a few grenades and a pistol have vanished from Magpie's side of the room. As Brazen watches, the cameras glitch and a rifle disappears.

--

All the grenades go off at once. The fill the room with a thunderous explosion and send fragments everywhere, but everyone's far enough away for it not to matter. Longshot, meanwhile, deals with one cloud, but there is one massive one that takes its place.

Magpie could be inside it...who knows?

[D.KnightSpider]

Subvocal: "Here's the plan, ponies. Decoy, Ninja, your job is to keep an eye on Wrath: don't let her break your line of sight. Ace, Pines, you're on weapons detail: if Wrath grabs a weapon then you break that weapon on break her limb. Love, keep trying to injure or Stun her. I'm going to move that cloud and switch ammo, then become Magpie's worst nightmare. Every other creature, get your back to a wall and watch the halls for re-enforcements."

Longshot will charge forward, gaining whatever altitude possible, and attempt to grab hold of the cloud. If successful, then he'll spread it across the ceiling to provide a thin layer of cover for the airborne among us.


Perception
[roll0] VS 16

Meteorology
[roll1] VS 12

[Elbeyon]

Scomm, "Roger."

Love moves closer to the middle of the room so she can reach most places when needed. Her rifle in hoof.

Love says out loud, "Magpie?" She tries putting her back to a blindspot with a bugbot watching it. "I'm not use to you being so quiet."

[userpay]

Brazen checks his feeds and frowns. No wonder he hadn't noticed it before. "Ah can only half confirm, no visual on Magpie herself as somethins happenin with the cams but there are weapons disappearing when the interference clears up. Ah'll see about movin back and breaking her ability to get in there." He sends before looking between Octavia and Vinyl. "Apologies but rescue will need to delay ah touch till we can deal with Magpie. We'll have to spread ourselves out ah bit... Some of us in their room and some of us out."

[DigoDragon]

"I'll go with you, Brazen," Rose speaks up, "In case Midnight returns for a round two. Do you have any of those Dispel stones Love gave us? I used up my last one on her dumb wall."

Rose will follow Brazen back to the room.

[Elbeyon]

Scomm, "Queen Chrysalis, are you reading anything?"

[Miltonian]

Brazen and Rose move back towards the room they just vacated with Octavia, Vinyl, and Question Mark in tow. Vinyl insists on sticking her head through every wall while Octavia carries her body. It is not very efficient.

However, upon entering, they find none other than Midnight with a cloud of books hovering around here. She jumps almost out of her skin when she sees them. "Uhhhhh...hi!"

There is no sign of her or the books she's carrying on the cameras.

--

Chrysalis frowns. "I detect," she says.

"WHOOOOOOOAA!" Magpie screams as she falls, flailing to the floor. A rifle falls out of her hooves and skitters under a table. She doesn't seem terribly harmed by it, but it is enough to knock her flat and knock the wind out of her.

"...A big, juicy target," Chrysalis finishes, "Fire!"

Everyone does just that.

[D.KnightSpider]

Longshot allows the edge of the cloud mist to overtake him. Then he empties a full Stun spread into Magpie.


Stealth
[roll0] VS 22 (15 Skill, + 2 TacSuit, +5 Abundant Cover

Attack
[roll1] VS 18? (15 Skill, +5 Weapon Mods, + 2 Rapid Fire, -3 Targeted Vitals, - 1 Distance?)

Damage
[roll2]
[roll3]
[roll4]
[roll5]
[roll6]
[roll7]
[roll8]
[roll9]
[roll10]
[roll11]

[Elbeyon]

Scomm, "Roger."

Love would say something to Magpie, but it's probably way too loud for her to hear. She is kind of busy anyway too.

Attack
[roll0] vs 13 (Skill) +5 (Targeting) +2 (Rapid Fire) +/- (Other(s))

Stun (3)
[roll1]
[roll2]
[roll3]
[roll4]
[roll5]
[roll6]
[roll7]
[roll8]
[roll9]
[roll10]

[DigoDragon]

"Uhhhhh...hi!"

"Sit!" Rose commands Midnight. She crushes the stone Brazen just gave her and zaps Midnight with a targeted Dispel to try and reeve her protections.

[roll0] vs. 15

[Miltonian]

Longshot, Love, Chrysalis, Hiss, Whisper, Green Pines, Corby, Angel, and Powder Keg all pour fire into Magpie's back. Card Ace summons ice that binds her hooves to the ground and Sickle...hangs back, out of the line of fire. Magpie's regeneration works overtime, trying to keep her in one piece as the sheer amount of fire directed at her tears her armor apart faster than it can possible seal. It falls away from her, exposing her body to their wrath without anything to protect it. With a scream, her shattered body turns to red mist and reveals the red Anti-Element of Wrath, hovering in mid-air.

--

Brazen releases the gas. Midnight takes in a sharp breath as Rose points her gun at her and seals her fate. The gas overcomes her system in moments, her eyes roll up into her head, and she falls to the ground, asleep.

[userpay]

The door opens up... And the mare falls down. Brazen can't help but chuckle as he steps inside. "Well ah suppose that's one problem dealt with. Rose could ya git Midnight all tied up and horncuffed while ah deal with the weapons?" He checks for any potential weapons on the racks before working to remove all magazines and ammo from the assorted weapons.

Perc [roll0] vs 12 + 3 hyper

[DigoDragon]

"With absolute pleasure, B," Rose replies, daggers in her eyes and hoof going for the roll of gecko tape.

[D.KnightSpider]

Near the beginning of that barrage, Longshot switches to lethal and puts a few shots into Magpie's eyes. Just in case.

The entire display put a stick feeling in the pit of his stomach. He understood the necessity of their actions, but to bring such overwhelming force against a captive target wasn't honorable combat, but near torture.

He prayed that he'd never lose that sense of shame. If he did, then he'd be no better than the enemy.

Finally, however, the Anti-Heart revealed itself. Longshot takes a hard look at it.

"Hold fire!" Longshot orders the group. "Ace, put her on ice!"

Perception
[roll0] VS 16

[Elbeyon]

Love Waits for Ace then to grapple Magpie.

She scomms, "Her magnum comes back with the red mist." Love will call out the hoof the gun has appeared in every time if it's always appeared in her dominate hoof. "Be prepared to neutralize the weapon."

Love asks out loud, "Magpie. Are you doing alright?"

[Miltonian]

Brazen sees many weapons he can use. Mostly pistols and rifles, but there does seem to be a LMG with a shoulder mount available, if that tickles his fancy.

Rose can tie Midnight up at her leisure. The mare is very unconscious.

--

Ace slams both hooves into the ground, horn aglow. Ice races across the tile and surges up, encasing Wrath's heart in a frozen prison. Red mist pours out of it, trying to batter away at the walls, but Card Ace has only left her an inch to spare. She is trapped. "Snow globe," he says cheerfully, "Should keep her contained."

A scream of rage comes from within the sphere. "I AM GOING TO TEAR YOU ALL LIMB FROM LIMB!"

[Elbeyon]

Love examines the sphere to see if she'd be able to carry it around. She frowns at the result of their fight. Magpie hasn't run low on wrath. She is ready to fight, wanting to fight. It's a relief no one has died though. Everyone is safe (including Magpie) for now.

Scomm, "Anyone injured?"

Love sends some scouting Flying BugBots into the room the skeletons came from in their attack.

Scomm, "Rose. Brazen. What's the situation?"

She says out loud to the screaming, "Magpie..."

[DigoDragon]

Rose can tie Midnight up at her leisure. The mare is very unconscious.

Can't spell pleasure without being sure.

Rose will take the time to tie Midnight up as so:
1. Forehooves tied together.
2. Hindhooves tied together.
3. Mouth taped shut.

After that, Rose will administer a sedative to numb Midnight's horn, in order to make it harder to cast spells (dunno if that's a thing, guessing here ooc).



Scomm, "Rose. Brazen. What's the situation?"

Rose comms a reply, 'Midnight is down. Brazen gassed her. He's securing Mag's guns while I tie Mid up.'

[D.KnightSpider]

Longshot drops to the ground. One hoof stays on his rifle.


A scream of rage comes from within the sphere. "I AM GOING TO TEAR YOU ALL LIMB FROM LIMB!"

"Take a number." Ordinarily, that snark would remain silent. This wasn't ordinary.

"Good job, Ace. You've earned your pay for the week." Longshot says to him. "How long will that hold her? Or..." He redirects to Chrysalis and the Changelings. "... do you think you could drain the power from the Anti-Heart?"

Reply comm. to Rose: "Affirmative. Wrath is... contained. We should regroup as soon as possible."

[Miltonian]

Midnight is not going anywhere. The sedative will make it hard, but not impossible, to cast spells. Only the most skilled of mages would be able to attempt it. However, Midnight is a clone of Twilight Sparkle, so that might still be a concern. However, if she's kept unconscious, it won't be.

--

The sphere is stuck to the ground. It could be removed, but if dropped it could shatter.

A round of 'no injuries here!' greet her question. Meanwhile, her bots reveal a long hallway with a 'decontamination' chamber off to the side, one that is currently filled with filth and ichor. It looks to be where the skeletons and not-zombies were kept.

The only reply Love and Longshot receive from Magpie is incoherent screams of rage.

Ace grins. "Should hold until it starts melting. A good bit, especially cause I'm gonna reinforce it with more ice."

Chrysalis steps forward. "Oh, we can try. But then, we'd be the incoherent rage-monsters. If we wanted her drained dry, that is."

[DigoDragon]

However, Midnight is a clone of Twilight Sparkle, so that might still be a concern.

Rose slowly winds up her hoof...


However, if she's kept unconscious, it won't be.

...Rose slowly relaxes her hoof.

She'll collect the books, to be used later as bargaining chips for Midnight's complicity; i.e. behave and the books will be protected. If she's a clone of Twilight, then she probably holds these books in high regard.


Rose quietly comms both squads, 'Midnight and Magpie's arsenal are secure. Where do you wish to meet up?'

[D.KnightSpider]

Comm to both squads: "Meet us at the dining room. We're still working on finalizing Magpie's containment."

"Do it." Longshot nods to Ace. "Maybe we'll get lucky and add five more snow globes to your collection."

Longshot shakes his head at Chrysalis. "We don't want her dead, just incapacitated. If any of Hyper Thought's forces try to sneak around and free her, I'd like her too drained to be of immediate help to them. You know your limits better than I."

Beat.

"Then again, maybe two failures would be enough for Hyper Thought to abandon her altogether."

[Elbeyon]

Scomm, "Rose, is your Mage Sight spell still active? Midnight left her magical cloak in the cafeteria."

Everyone is uninjured. That's good news.

Love looks over the globe. Scomm, "Good job, Ace. An impressive feat."

Love rubs her mane. Her gaze shifts from the globe to Queen Chrysalis. Scomm, "That's a lot of wrath to hold." The idea of Chrysalis, Hiss, and Whisper absorbing Magpie's wrath seems like it'd be putting themselves in danger. She can't ask them to put themselves at risk like that. "Is there a way to use up the emotion?"

Thought will want his heart back. Magpie seems to be a good match for it.

The ScoutBot retrieves Midnight's spellbook.

[DigoDragon]

Scomm, "Rose, is your Mage Sight spell still active? Midnight left her magical cloak in the cafeteria."

'Yeah, I can keep it up for a while longer. Brazen and I will meet you there.' Rose is gonna firemare-carry Midnight unless Brazen offers.

[Miltonian]

Chrysalis looks to Hiss and Whisper, who nod. "We will give it a try," she says, "Though I, of course, have no doubt we will succeed." She grins at Love. "All I need is a valid...target." She chuckles to herself.

While the three changelings begin siphoning off Wrath's power, Card Ace keeps making her prison thicker and thicker. A baleful eye, more energy than flesh, watches them with spite in its gaze.

Soon, the party is reunited. Vinyl and Question Mark, however, freeze when they lay eyes on Chrysalis. Question Mark's hoof lingers near his pistol and Vinyl outright lowers her horn in an aggressive posture. "So what's the scoop here?" she asks frostily.

"She's...helping," Octavia says.

[D.KnightSpider]

Longshot breaks the seal of his suit and removes his face mask.

"Mrs. Scratch, I presume? QM." He nods at the spy. "Chrysalis and company are our allies. We're grateful for their assistance given how difficult we, and myself in particular, have made life for them recently. As you can see, right now they're draining Wrath of her power to help keep her contained."

Longshot turns to keep his eye on the draining process. For obvious reasons, he wants to see how this plays out.

"Good work taking out Midnight."

[DigoDragon]

"She's...helping," Octavia says.

Rose chuckles. "Aye, justice makes strange bedfellows," she comments. Her cargo is gently put down on the ground and Rose waves for magic-inhibiting restraints.


"I gave Midnight a sedative to keep her quiet for a little while, but she's obviously not going to behave all day. Well, she might if I can get her to agree to such in exchange for protection of her book collection."



"As you can see, right now they're draining Wrath of her power to help keep her contained."

"Is that safe?" Rose asks. "I mean, Chipotle isn't fatal, but I try not to eat it if I can help it."

[Elbeyon]

There is a tense air about Love as Chrysalis confirms her willingness to go through with the draining Magpie. Love is worried about Chrysalis. She nods in acceptance at her determination. "I've been on the end of one Magpie's rage induced conversations and survived." Love lobs a soft volunteer for being the target. Chrysalis may have different ideas, but Love wants her offer in the air. Chrysalis can do this! Love wants her to come through this unscathed. She keeps her eye on the trio.

There are too many people off the network, and Love didn't bring that many extra earbuds. She switches to talking until the current situation changes.

Love steps between Rose's party and the changelings as an insurance if anyone has an itchy hoof. She vigorously nods, "We're all working together", in confirmation with everyone else. "Hey, everyone. I'm glad to see everyone. All of you have really had us worried."

Midnight gets a look over by Love before she turns to face Chrysalis again. Midnight is in perfect health. "Amazing work. Rose. Brazen. S+ material." She has her BugBots bring Rose two magical cuffs, Suspend Magery & Stun, for her forelegs and backlegs. "When she wakes up, she might be able to tell us more about her roommate." Love points to the cape. "The cape is over there. We're in the thick of everything, but when things calm down I need medical assistance. I've been shot in the shoulder." Red stains her leg's coat underneath her transparent armor.

Rose's comment has Love watching Chrysalis intently. She searches for signs that draining needs to stop.

[DigoDragon]

Rose will give the magical restraints to Question Mark so she can look at Love's injury. "Here, put these on Midnight."

"You wanna doff some of that armor so I can sew you back up?" she asks Love.

[Miltonian]

Vinyl turns to him and rears on her hind hooves, a forehoof to her chest. "The one and only," she says proudly, "But I also answer to 'Bass Master', 'Rockin' Hottie', and a lotta others."

Octavia makes use of the one expression available to her and rolls her eyes. "Yes, you are very special."

"I super am!" Vinyl agrees. Even with Chrysalis in the room, being reunited makes it so neither of them can stay sad for long.

Chrysalis does not remember the background ponies, so she ignores them and continues at her task. The glow of Wrath's globe has dimmed a bit.

Question Mark nods to Longshot, takes the cuffs from Rose, and further trusses up Midnight.

[Elbeyon]

The timing could be worse. Chrysalis is handling herself well. They are surrounded by allies.

Love delays for a second. "You can have my back. Stop the bleeding. The rest will take too long." If Rose is going to use a bandage spray, Love opens the back of her armor. The articulated plates of metal-matrix composites with an inner layer of reflex armor fold away to reveal her shoulder and spine. Love elects to keep her helmet on as she continues looking elsewhere.

The wound betrays Love's pony nature. The shot is a solid hit by handgun standards, but the LoveBot seems minimally affected. Her coat and tissue gave more resistance than expected, slowing the bullet. If the bullet did reach her bone, it was stopped by her superpony bone strength. Love sits there on the cutting edge of pony-like robotics and SCIENCE! There is no way Rose could mistake Love for a normal flesh and blood pony.

Love doesn't want a 10 minute shock treatment.

[D.KnightSpider]

"Is that safe?" Rose asks. "I mean, Chipotle isn't fatal, but I try not to eat it if I can help it."

"If they were trying to kill her, apparently. But since they're only trying to incapacitate her, I've been told it's safe. I trust them not to overdue it."

Longshot is still watching the procedure.


"I super am!" Vinyl agrees. Even with Chrysalis in the room, being reunited makes it so neither of them can stay sad for long.

"And the original talk show host. Your reputation precedes you." Longshot pauses for a moment. "Now, if you'll pardon me being 'that guy', whose all business, what's the layout of this facility? What can we expect going forward and how far to either the security room or Hyper Thought's lab?"

[DigoDragon]

"You can have my back. Stop the bleeding. The rest will take too long."

"You will be healed and you will like it," Rose counters in the tone a mother would use with a fidgeting child needing bandaging. She takes a full 601 seconds to administer field bandaging and application of magical healing. "Can't have you bleeding in that suit like a trash bag full of raw beef."

First Aid 10 minute treatment: [roll0] vs. 21 (Heals +1 HP)
Minor Healing Spell check: [roll1] vs. 16 (3 FP for +3 HP)

(Part of the reason for needing to use up 10 minutes is that rose needs to recharge her EP)



"If they were trying to kill her, apparently. But since they're only trying to incapacitate her, I've been told it's safe. I trust them not to overdue it."

"I just don't want our allies getting ill on Magpie's negative energy," Rose explains as she sews close the bullet hole in Love's back. "Concern as both a friend and medic."

[Elbeyon]

"Don't forget the magic cape needs analyzed before the spell fades."

"I wouldn't bleed out that fast. My blood isn't that thin. A light touch of magic should do it." Love will stop Rose when she readies to use her magic. Love will literally step out of her armor. Alright, now Rose can use her magic.

Love keeps watching Chrysalis. Longshot is right. They need to trust her.

The pain starts to disappear after any magic and a bandaging. Love takes some pain meds if Rose is alright with that. After the process, Love will start putting her armor back on.

[DigoDragon]

Once rose is satisfied that Love is patched up, she'll study the cloak.

Perception: [roll0] vs 14?

[D.KnightSpider]

"Call it off, then." Longshot replies to Rose.

[userpay]

Brazen unloads as many of Magpies weapons as he can, destroying them would possibly endanger the books and invalidate his promise. The LMG however gets carted along as unloaded or not it's to dangerous to leave behind. The ammo gets deposited in a separate room as they go along and they're back with the others. "Still, if it's gonna affect them ah don't know ah like the changelings gorging on anger. We need cooler heads for this."

He turns to Question Mark while Love gets patched up. "While we wait lets get ah few security issues out of the way. Hold still ah sec while ah scan ya for any surprises you might not know about." Brazen scans Question Mark, Midnight, then Magpie in detail.

[DigoDragon]

"Queen Chrysalis, are you and your guards going to be alright feeding off anger? You're not gonna like... go berserker mode on us, are you?"

[Miltonian]

Vinyl bobs her head up and down. "Yep. The Or-ig-in-alle! That's me." She tilts her head to the side, thinking. "Hmm. Ya got a map? I can work with a map."

Chrysalis' lips curl into a snarl for a moment and she doggedly digs deeper, pulling out more of the wrath. The heart's glow has dimmed to about half its original intensity. "That's enough!" she snaps, stepping back. The two other changelings glare, but sullenly retreat.

The cloak is almost perfectly ordinary, except that it has a few enchantments on it to regulate the air temperature around the wearer. They will always feel warm and toasty, never too hot or too cold.

"Of course," Question Mark stands at attention for the scan.

A little, filly version of Twilight pops up in the side of Brazen's visor. "Agent REDACTED, AKA Question Mark, of Celestia's Secret service. His wings are cybernetic, but he is otherwise a healthy, normal pegasus stallion. Normal being a relative term as he has over REDACTED successful missions to his name."

"This is..." The little Twilight pauses. Her face turns to a frown. "This is NOT Twilight Sparkle. All scans are reporting that this is Twilight Sparkle. She is a perfect genetic match for Twilight Sparkle. This mare is not an alicorn. Which is impossible, because Twilight would never lose her alicorn status! That would mean she's no longer the princess of friendship! That would mean something horrible has happened! That would mean...bad stuff!" The projection pauses before she hyperventilates.

"This is Magnum Pie, aka Magpie, aka Wrath. She is one of the six Anti-Elements, of which one other has been identified and captured. The others remain at large. She is considered dangerous at all times and unauthorized personnel are barred from interacting with her."

[DigoDragon]

Chrysalis' lips curl into a snarl for a moment and she doggedly digs deeper, pulling out more of the wrath. The heart's glow has dimmed to about half its original intensity. "That's enough!" she snaps, stepping back. The two other changelings glare, but sullenly retreat.

"Sounds like a yes. Okay, well then, suppose we're done here." She levitates the cloak up into the air. "So, I can figure out an enchantment to keep you comfortably warm no matter the ambient temperature while wearing this. Can't see anything else on it. I guess the bunker gets cold at night."

[D.KnightSpider]

Longshot shakes his head. "We don't have a map. I guess we'll have to take it as it comes."

At Rose's explanation, there's a prickle in the middle of Longshot's back. He suppresses a shiver and quietly adjusts the temperature controls of his suit.

"It looks like we're about ready to move out. Ace, how's your energy level?" He turns his head one more time. "Queen Chrysalis, would you mind if we talked as we walked?"

[Elbeyon]

Love says to Rose, "Thanks for the heal. Good to know the cape seems to be safe."

The map they do have is woefully under developed.

"How are your batteries, Ace? I have some extras in reserve." In case, his power drain supply is running low.

Love steps closer to Chrysalis as she stops absorbing Magpie's emotion. "Queen Chrysalis!? We need to dissipate that rage."

[DigoDragon]

Rose will wrap the cloak and hold onto it for Midnight.

[D.KnightSpider]

Longshot mentally face-hoofs.

So this is how it feels to be Wildcat. He sends the Commander a silent apology.

[Miltonian]

"Well..." Vinyl points to the door the skeletons came from. "Through there is the elevator. Just keep going straight when you reach the intersection. I, huh, I think I've been down there once. Don't really remember anything about the layout."

"Neither do I," Octavia says grimly, "Though I know the lab is down there. It should only be one level."

"We know what's down there, we just don't know the layout," Vinyl adds.



Ace grins. "Aw shucks, you all worrying about me." He whips out a metal wand with a large crystal at one end, like a scepter. "I'm good. Used up pretty much all of my powergem here, but I've still got all my energy left." He clears his throat. "Besides, I...couldn't use a battery anyway."


Chrysalis nods, jaw tense. "Yes, let's walk and--" Chrysalis rounds on Love, a snarl on her face and mane filled with red fire. "I AM PERFECTLY FINE!" she roars.

[DigoDragon]

"Queen Chrysalis!? We need to dissipate that rage."

"I AM PERFECTLY FINE!"

Mission accomplished.

Rose quickly digs out a battery and siphons energy from it before the group moves too far ahead or feels she's slowing things down ([roll0] vs. 15). She grips the charm around her neck and the battery, feeling that numbing metallic coconut flavor of electrons.

[D.KnightSpider]

"At least we have a direction." Longshot tells Octavia and Vinyl. "That alone will save us some aimless wandering."

He nods to Ace. "Good work on the ice carving." He broadens his comments. "Let's move out. We'll let heavies take point. Any pony want to carry the unconscious Twilight clone?"

And Chrysalis' reaction was entirely expected. Longshot shakes his head. It was nice to know where he stood in relation to the squad members. They didn't trust him to work with Chrysalis or have a contingency for the Changelings post-Wrath consumption. Ah well. After all the mishaps at Down to the Wire, he couldn't blame them for their suspicions.

He'll let the others file forward and then fall in alongside Chrysalis. Once things get settled, he can say what he came here to say.

[Elbeyon]

Love nods. "I understand." Love looks at Chrysalis, Longshot, then Chrysalis again. They seem confident. Love gives an encouraging smile and a hoof up.

Love has a few things she needs to do before they... do whatever they are doing next.

[Miltonian]

Card Ace clears his throat. “With, ahem, all due respect, I should at least stay behind. Ice is only ice, after all. It would take one person with a flamethrower or blowtorch to cut through this thing.”

“And I’m not fond of the idea of dragging an unconscious mare, enemy or not, through a warzone,” Angel adds.

“I fail to see how those two are much more useful either,” Corby says, pointing to Vinyl and Octavia, “Unless you want them to stand in front and tank whatever bullets Hyper Thought throws our way.”

“I can be very loud,” Vinyl offers, “Very, very loud. And...distracting.”

“Point made,” Corby says, dead-pan.

“All of us going down at once is asking for trouble,” Green Pine mutters, “But if we split our forces, we could secure this level. Make sure nothing else pops out of the woodwork and catches us between a rock and a hard place.”

Chrysalis scowls at them. “Ah, I see what this is. You’re all cowards, afraid of facing Hyper Thought!”

[DigoDragon]

Rose lifts Midnight up and Firemare-carries her along. She'll end up at the back of the marching order since she'll be slower carrying a four-legged collection of carbon-copied pony.

[D.KnightSpider]

Longshot holds up a hoof to quiet the others. One objection at a time, please.

"Let me confer and clarify a few things." He says. First and foremost, steps closer for a private-ish audience with the Queen. Longshot lowers his voice and the emotional walls that have been building the past several minutes. "Queen Chrysalis, you're right. Right about many things, actually. When the Pacification Protocol exploded and nearly killed me, it took my edge with it. I was rattled and lost the arrogant belief that I could walk into any situation and turn it to our advantage. I was rattled enough that I caused major harm to the mission and our relations."

He shakes his head. "Now that I've got my head on straighter, I can see that you were right about other things. Ponies have been hypocrites. I've been hypocritical. I've acted the same as Hyper Thought and Polaris trying to force change but thought that I was better because the motives were different. You knew it the entire time and it was masterfully revealed when I crashed your party several days ago.

"I used to think that the worst I would ever be was a mass murderer. Now I know the worst I'll ever be is a coward who draws a line and then retreats because I find myself standing alone. That was then, this is now. It's time to be better.

"And as a part of that, I admit that you win. This manipulative struggle that we have between us? I concede defeat. I won't try to outmaneuver you any more... although I won't let you walk all over me, either.

"I'm still afraid, but in a different way. Instead of being afraid that I'll be abandoned for not being good enough, I'm afraid that some pony will die if I'm not fast enough or a good enough shot.

"So there you have it. You were right. You win. I mean that."

He steps back and turns to the others. It was time to be better.

"Hornet Squad, use your discretion to secure Wrath and this floor. Watch our back. Our lives could depend on it. Octavia and Vinyl Scratch are with you until they can evacuate.

"Harrier, we're going to go shut Hyper Thought down hard. Heavies will take point. We'll follow you. Rose, are you planning on bringing Midnight with us?"

[DigoDragon]

"Rose, are you planning on bringing Midnight with us?"

Rose was two meters farther down the hall toward the elevator, which might not be much in the grand scheme of things, but when you're got the world and a clone on your shoulders...

"Yeah, I think her brains will be useful to us. We just have to convince her to make the logical leap to our side."

[Elbeyon]

Without a interruption, Love's armor seals again. Her meat is all contained.

Love will step away from Chrysalis and Longshot so they can have their private conversation.

While she waits, she SCANs everything Brazen scanned and SCANs Rose for more commentary. She also gets a more acknowledged temperature reading on Midnight to see if anything is out of the ordinary. Is there an obvious reason for her cape Love wonders? Love knows about cloning.

"Brazen. Rose. How many stones are you missing?" Love will restock any supplies people are missing as long as she knows they are missing.

Love looks around for Keg to make sure she is doing alright. She can block out her own face for Keg's benefit.

She stands up on her back legs and jogs over to the new group. "Hello, Vinyl! It's a pleasure to finally meet you." Love sticks her hoof out for a bump and smiles real big. "I've heard so much about you. Everyone calls me Love. I'm an engineer pony. I can help buff out any dents later." She puts a hoof to her mouth and whispers, "I'm a robot - sorta."

She nods to QM. "You're a tough one. Thank you for helping Vinyl and yourself escape."

=====

Love makes it known, "I agree with everything Hornet Squad said." They'd be faster with their hoofs and presence of mind without carrying an extra 100+ pounds.

"Does anypony have a horn cuff?"

Love starts moving closer to Midnight.

[DigoDragon]

"Brazen. Rose. How many stones are you missing?"

She stands up on her back legs and jogs over to the new group.

Rose would answer, but Love is running around wearing herself thin, so Rose doesn't answer. Instead she waits by sitting Midnight down and studying her prisoner for any kind of chips or tracking devices (perhaps by way of surgical scars?). A clone this valuable has to be insured!

Perception: [roll0] vs. 14

Diagnosis [roll1] vs. 19

[Miltonian]

Chrysalis frowns, eyes searching Longshot's. There is a long pause after he finishes. Then, she slowly nods. "Thank you, Longshot," she says, "For your...honesty." Her eyes betray her slight confusion, but she is more than willing to accept a 'win'. "For what it's worth, I am glad...I could help." She lays a hoof on his shoulder and a brief smile appears on her face. "And I mean that."

She and the other changelings prepare to head out.

Hornet Squad salutes. "Sir!"

"I think I'll tag along," Question Mark says, "If you'll have me, that is."

Powder Keg snorts. "Hay, I'm still coming with you. Seeing this crazy train through to the bitter end."

"I as well," Sickle growls.

Love's SCANs see the return of Little Twi. She pops up, a strained smile on her face. She repeats the same information, speaking very quickly when going over Midnight, and is almost relieved to talk about Rose. "Lt. Rose Croix, EDF. Decorated member of the military and noted for her appetite. Known affiliate of changelings and a pony of personal interest to King Thorax."

Card Ace levitates a horn cuff towards Love. "Never leave home without one," he says with a smirk.

Edit: There are no surgical scars Rose can see, besides those expected from a Neocorn modification. Hers are consistent with cyberware added as a filly and expanded upon as the subject grows up, though.

Despite that, there is an anomaly. Her horn has a few, very small, black crystals growing near the base. And right near the fetlock on her right hoof is a slight bump, indicative of a tracker chip.

[D.KnightSpider]

"For what it's worth, I am glad...I could help." She lays a hoof on his shoulder and a brief smile appears on her face. "And I mean that."

Longshot nods in understanding. "And I'm glad to have you with us."

He salutes abs dismisses Hornet Squad.


"I think I'll tag along," Question Mark says, "If you'll have me, that is."

Longshot barely resists a smirk. "As long as you're not under a post-hypnotic suggestion to stab us in the back, you're welcome aboard."


Powder Keg snorts. "Hay, I'm still coming with you. Seeing this crazy train through to the bitter end."

"I as well," Sickle growls.

"I never doubted either of you."

Longshot adjusts his rifle, switches out the battery and suits up.

"Let's go."

[Elbeyon]

Love slows her advance when she notices Rose examining Midnight.

The allies' topside get a discreet check on their health.

A swipe takes the horn cuff out of the air. Love laughs. "I left mine on the Thunderbird. I'll need every binding available." Midnight's magic won't give up without a fight.

Love smiles real big at the three offering to join them. "I'll gladly take all of you."

Two hoofs point to her own ears. "Octavia. Could I borrow those earbuds? I can return them later."

Dispel Crystals. Batteries for Rose and Longshot are readied.

She messages her armor. "AvatarTwilight, do you respond to questions?"

[DigoDragon]

Despite that, there is an anomaly. Her horn has a few, very small, black crystals growing near the base. And right near the fetlock on her right hoof is a slight bump, indicative of a tracker chip.

Rose will take notes on the crystals. Seems like she has seen something similar in a textbook once. The tracker chip is an easier issue to deal with. Rose will attempt to extract that chip.

"Forgive the delay, I'm removing a tracking device from our captive audience."

Surgery: [roll0] vs. 19

[Miltonian]

Question Mark runs a quick hoof through his mane. "Not that I'm aware of, though I guess you'll have to take my word on that. Funny how that works, eh?"

The party forms up. "Let's go!" Powder Keg repeats. Rose's statement brings her to a screeching halt. "After...whatever Rose is doing." However, Rose is able to easily and successfully pull the chip out with a quick, five minute procedure.

Love's actions turn up some interesting, perhaps sobering, things. There is no signal from Zero's suit. Wildcat's comm channels are filled to capacity. Seafire vitals read 'unconscious'. Kittyhawk's show elevated levels of stress. A quick patch into the Bird shows a sky blazing with lightning and lasers as pegasi and changelings do battle with an invisible dragon.

Octavia returns the earbuds with a mutter of thanks and wish of good luck.

Love's onboard AI pops into view. "I can respond to over 10,000 inquiries, with analytic heuristics to pick up on the many variations of them common in pony speech."

[DigoDragon]

"After...whatever Rose is doing.

"Removing this tracking chip," Rose explains as she holds the chip up momentarily. "One less thing Hyper Thought can use to follow us."

She'll sew up the incision and bandage Midnight ready for transport.

"Okay, any objections to me waking Sleeping Beauty here for a quick Q&A as we forge ahead to the next level?" Rose asks.

[D.KnightSpider]

"None on my end." Longshot replies to Rose.

He'll feel a lot better once they start moving again.

[Elbeyon]

"Roger, Rose." Love busies herself while Rose performs a minor surgery.

Love's heart skips a beat when she probes upstairs. The wonderbolt's signal gets examined. The scene has Love move her hoof atop the armor over her feather.

A more solidified thank you goes to Ace for the horn cuff.

The earbuds in hoof, she thanks Octavia. She gives her a confident nod. They've got this.

She says to Rose's question, "Let me put this horn cuff on Midnight first."

She trots over to Magpie's sphere. "I meant what I said about your writing and art. You're talented. I'd like to talk more with you in the future." Magpie's sketch filled journals stick in Love's mind. She gives the sphere a nod and runs off toward Midnight.

She puts the ring on Midnight's horn, noting the black crystals.

A BugBot flies over to Longshot with a battery. "I'll take your partially spent battery."

She asks Rose, "How many used batteries do you have? How many crystals are Brazen and you down?"

Love will offer to carry Midnight.

[DigoDragon]

Rose lets Love put the ring on Midnight's horn. Hee hee, it might be love.

"Used up two batteries so far. I'm out of Dispel crystals. Had to use one of Brazen's to slow midnight down." Yeah, slow... we'll go with that story, Rose.

Unless there's any major dissension, Rose attempts an Awaken spell on midnight, but she keeps the gag around her muzzle on just to prevent her from screaming initially. Let's see how she reacts first.

Awaken: [roll0] vs. 15
(if successful, subject hets an HT roll to wake up, with a bonus equal to the margin of success)

[Miltonian]

No matter what Love does, she cannot get a response from Zero's suit or comms...

(Ace did reply, the GM forgot to note it. He said 'you're welcome'.)

With the horn cuff on Midnight, the mare is going nowhere fast. Magpie's misty 'eye' glowers out at Love, but the screaming seems to have stopped at least...

Midnight's eyes flutter, but do not open. Her breathing changes, becoming faster, more regulated. She's awake, but trying to pretend she's not. (Though if that's an attempt to deceive Rose or deceive herself, it's hard to say.)

The party can move out whenever.

[DigoDragon]

(Though if that's an attempt to deceive Rose or deceive herself, it's hard to say.)

"I just want to let you know that I brought your books with us. I didn't want them getting lost in case Hyper Thought has some sort of self-destruct in this facility. You okay with that?" Rose asks.

[D.KnightSpider]

"We can talk on the way." Longshot notes. "Let's start moving."

He's ready to advance, obviously.

[Elbeyon]

Love touches her feather again while looking down at Midnight. The signal being gone is worrying to put it into the least amount of words.

Rose gets 3 dispel crystals and 2 batteries (she will take the old ones if Rose doesn't want to carry dead batteries) BugBot delivery. She gives Brazen his 1 dispel crystal.

Longshot receives an image of the black crystals growing around Midnight's horn. Love herself starts another SCAN, not on Midnight, but on the crystals if she is able to select them as an object of interest.

Rose's magic seems to have worked. Love explains in a calm voice, "Midnight, Rose canceled the sleeping effect. You've slept for less than ten minutes." Love will undo the gag.

Rose gains!:
3 Dispel Stones
2 Batteries

Brazen Gains!:
1 Dispel Stone

[userpay]

Eyuuup that was about the response Brazen expected from the changlings after feeding on wrath though they seemed to back down readily enough once the feeding was done. Dispell stone is tucked away. Mulling. "Alrighty so one more showdown and hopefully we can call this op complete. Ah'm ready when yall are."

[Miltonian]

Realizing she's fooling no one, Midnight's eyes burst open and she springs into a more upright (but still very tied up) position. She sends a burst of magic to her horn, which fizzles and dies. Her breath catches in her throat. She tries again. Nothing. "Wha...? I...?" She lets out a low whimper and tries to curl up into a protective ball.

Little Twi shows up on Love's view again, looking somber. "These crystals," she says, "Are officially called Umbrum Crystals. The occur naturally, but only appear on the horns of unicorns if they have been dealing with Sombra's magic. They are a clear sign of a necromantic spellcaster."

Sickle clomps on past her. Powder Keg steps around carefully. Chrysalis lets out a huff and passes by without a word.

All that needs to happen is for someone to pick Midnight up,

[DigoDragon]

Rose pockets the fresh batteries and keeps the new stones close. She gathers her gear to start walking. "Okay, Love, if you wanna carry Midnight, go ahead."

"Look, Midnight, we're here to take down Hyper Thought. Nothing is going to stop us; not you, not your creations, not whatever other clones Hyper Thought has been baking. Flip to our side and we can grant you clemency in this war."

[Elbeyon]

Love frowns. Little Twi and Love both. Love for more reasons than the Umbrum Crystals. Love's ears twitch when Rose talks.

Longshot receives the crystal information in a forward.

Explaining again, "You are in good health and safe. The spell fizzles are caused by the restraints. Rose wants us to take you with us. Do you have any questions? I'll need to pick you up to carry you. I don't have telekinesis." Love will pick her up. "I'll answer as many questions as I can. Do you have any questions?"

Love will start slowly moving toward the group.

[D.KnightSpider]

Love's picture is received, examined and acknowledged.

Longshot leaves the interrogation of Midnight to Rose and Love. He takes up a position near the front of the pack and keeps his eyes moving, looking for any sign of ambush.

Perception
[roll0] VS 16

[Miltonian]

Midnight is, at the moment, too terrified to speak. She glances up at Rose, small sounds trying to make their way out of her mouth, but her throat is too tight. She averts her eyes eventually. She lets out a little squeak when picked up, but makes no other sound.

The group moves forward and quickly finds the elevator. It is smaller than the last one, which is hopefully a good sign. Maybe this one isn't boobytrapped. Maybe Hyper Thought is out of ambushes. Maybe.

The military doesn't count on 'maybes'. Not if it can help it.

[D.KnightSpider]

"Brazen, mind checking this over for any signs of explosives in the elevator?" Longshot asks.

He'll direct some Love Bugs to start heading down the shaft for a look-see. Meanwhile, he'll look over the elevator for anything obviously amiss.

Perception
[roll0] VS 16

[DigoDragon]

Rose will do her Mage sight spell on the elevator. You never know when there's a 7th circle three-ring hex of violence imparted in an elevator.

Spellcasting check: [roll0] vs. 15

[Elbeyon]

Love checks over the bindings to make sure they are secure and activated.

"Question Mark, I have earbuds for you." Love has a BugBot dig them out of a pocket and fly near him.

She gently rubs Midnight's back and quietly hums to her. An eye hovers over the kid.

The ScoutBot joins the elevator search.

Midnight? Are you alright?
[roll0] vs 16 = (Body Language) +3 (Hyper)

Elevator Traps
[roll1] 16 = 13 (Perception) +3 (Hyper)

[Miltonian]

The party takes a quick look around and, after a thorough check, discovers some wires that run from the button panel to the under the floor. A Lovebot check confirms that there are explosives wired up down there. Pressing the button would seem to trigger them.

There is no magic on the elevator itself, however Rose does detect a little resonance on it, as if spells were cast around it frequently.

Question Mark takes the earbuds and pops them in. “Now I feel like I’m a real part of the op again,” he says with a chuckle.

Midnight is terrified. Of course, many unicorns react poorly to having their magic taken away. It’s not only like losing a limb, it’s like losing a whole sixth sense. Love remembers what it was like...

[D.KnightSpider]

"Love, this looks your field of expertise. Think you can get us to the lower level without getting blown up to the sky?" Longshot asks.

He'll send the bugbots further on to get the lay of the land. Maybe they can get an early start on mapping out the next floor.

[DigoDragon]

"Picking up trace magical signatures, consistent with spells going off frequently around the elevator. Nothing active on the ride itself though."

Maybe Rose can count herself among the unicorns with the good fortune to have military training with their magic bound. Though it was less about losing one's magic and more about how to deal with opponents that no-sell your spells. If the team weren't attempting to get down this elevator without killing everyone, Rose would offer a comforting meditation technique or something.

"Hey, QM, did you happen to see any other anti-elements besides the pink one while you were down here?"

[Elbeyon]

Love switches her Harrier/Hornet grouping back to the expanded Harrier squad channel.

Scomm, "Glad to have you Q. How is your throwing leg? Do you want some grenades? I have some supplies."

Love frowns again when she gets a better read on Midnight. She reassures Midnight, "The restraints are temporary. Your magic is perfectly intact. The world is full of magic."

Scomm, "I can crack an egg."

If needed, Love will move inside the elevator; otherwise she holds position and works remotely using robots. Assuming she needs to move; she looks to Longshot as if to ask him if he'll hold onto Midnight while she works on the elevator. If he doesn't seem keen on the idea, she'll ask Keg to watch after Midnight. "I'll get to the bottom of this!" Speaking, "Midnight, I'm going to step away so I can work on the elevator. Someone else will take care of you for a moment." Love moves forward and tries to wire around the bomb so they can use the elevator without issue.

Elevator
[roll0] vs 17= 13 (Electronics Operation) +2 (Tools) +2 (Software) or 15 (Electronics Repair) +2 (Software)

[Miltonian]

As Love works and Longshot oversees the scouting, Question Mark chuckles wryly. "You're looking at her," he says, pointing to Midnight, "Behold the Element of...Dark Magic, I guess. They never gave it a name." He nods to Love. "Good with a pistol, but thanks."

Love is able to fully disable the bombs without entering the elevator.

[DigoDragon]

"You're looking at her," he says, pointing to Midnight, "Behold the Element of...Dark Magic, I guess. They never gave it a name."

Rose looks at Midnight.

Then at Question Mark.

Then to Midnight.

And back to Question Mark.

"That's not a thing," she finally settles on saying. "Magic isn't the magic of spells and enchantments. It's the magic of friendship and the bonds of love that bind us. Anti-magic would just be ... the opposite of friendship. Like... enemies. Or, betrayal? I'll go with betrayal. Her name's Midnight, by the way."

[D.KnightSpider]

"I'm no magic expert, so I'll have to defer." Longshot doesn't look away from his watch as he speaks.

He nods toward the elevator.

"While we're debating semantics, let's move forward."

[DigoDragon]

"Apologies. That wasn't meant to be a dig at ya, QM. More annoyed at Hyper Thought's lack of... you know. Forethought."

[Elbeyon]

Love holds onto Midnight as she works remotely through her robots and hums. The insects fly to and from Love and all over the elevator control panel.

Rose's reaction is unexpected. There might have been a misunderstanding.

She looks down and asks Midnight, "Would you like your cape?"

She scomms when she is done working, "I've circumvented the trigger. It simply needs that bomb pony stamp of approval."

Love will take two seconds to focus on the elevator and Midnight to check for illusions then travel forth.

I added Love checking for illusions.

[userpay]

"Well... At first impressions it don't seem like Hyper Thought messed with Midnight's head as much as he did with the other anti-elements." Brazen shrugs while Love gets to work. "And Midnight? Ah don't know what Hyper Thought and the rest told you about us and Equestria but we're just tryin to help ponies. Part of that is puttin ah stop to Hyper Thought's experiments such as his little chipping program cuz it ain't right to be takin away ah pony's free will. If it makes ya feel better yer library is still fine and we can see about gettin ya access to new reading material back in Equestria."

He moves to double check Love's handywork.

[Miltonian]

Question Mark sighs. "I was referring," he says, "to the Element, not the mare." He gives his detractors a reproving glance. "There was another Sombra-scare a few years back, you see, and we were all given crash-courses in some of the basics concerning him, the Crystal Heart, and a few other things. Princess Twilight's magic is the magic of friendship, magic done on behalf of others. This is, well, magic done for the sake of power. And as the saying goes, Power corrupts. Absolute power corrupts absolutely."

"Except with her." He points to Midnight. "Poor girl is so desperate to please Hyper Thought and Andromeda that her magic swings right back around to an odd form of friendship again. She's, I guess, the weakest Anti-Element because she can't even use the heart inside her."

Midnight's eyes appear from behind her hooves. "How do you...how do you know all that?" she asks softly.

Question Mark inclines his head in a quick bow. "Finding things out is my job, my dear, especially when others don't want me to."

Midnight shivers. "I would like my cape," she says softly.

Love and Brazen are confident that the elevator will not explode on them anymore. As there are no illusions currently active, the group can now continue forward.

[DigoDragon]

"I'd consider that kind of desperation to be something like Stockholm syndrome, but towards a creator rather than kidnapper," Rose comments, pulling out Midnight's cape. She gently wraps Midnight in it to keep her warm like a mother would do. "In any case, Midnight can be helped with the right resources. Once this mission is complete I want to tap my friends in the cardiac surgery field and see about a prognosis to free these ponies from their artifacts. Oh, and we'll have to deal with the Sombra scare too at some point. He's still around... in piecemeal I guess."

Rose adjusts the cape to fit comfortably and gives Midnight an assuring smile that she's safe.

[D.KnightSpider]

Fortunately, DKS realized that QM was referring to the heart and not Midnight and edited his post yesterday. :smallsmile:

It doesn't change the fact that all this was beyond his pay grade. Oh, right, they're retroactively getting paid now. Guess it wasn't.

Longshot steadies his thoughts. Equipped for this or no, it was his problem to handle.

"Midnight, you may or may not have heard things about us. That's fine, I'm not deciding things for you or telling you to believe anything. All I'm asking is that you keep an open mind and decide what you believe and want on your own. We'll look out for you regardless."

He heads into the elevator and prepares to descend.

[Elbeyon]

Scomm, "Do you know anything about Sombra's horn that you could tell us?"

A surgeon alone isn't enough to help Apps. It's doubtful a surgeon would do any good for Midnight. This is a matter of the heart.

Love puts some BugBots on the cuffs for security if the cape is going to partly obscure Midnight. She sets a robot to alert her if Midnight suddenly disappears. The cape will hopefully do its job.

After Longshot speaks, Love smiles real big. "I'll protect your back!" She gently pats her on the back. Midnight's anti-heart not working means she may not have regeneration. Love will need to be as careful with her as planned.

Love will enter the elevator so they can head down. She stays towards the back.

I might be rolling Body Language a lot on Midnight. Love is keeping a very close eye on her.

Midnight
[roll0] vs 13 (Body Language) +3 (Hyper)

[Miltonian]

They board the elevator and begin to descend.

Question Mark raises an eyebrow. “Still around, hmm?” he asks, “Well that’s comforting.” He shakes his head. “The horn, yes. It’s the one piece of him that always survives no matter what happens. Whenever some crazed cult tries to bring him back, they always go for the horn. Pretty sure it’s a necessary part of the ritual.”

Chrysalis studies Midnight. “I need to test something.” Quick as lightning, her hoof lashes out, striking Midnight lightly across the cheek and drawing a thin line of blood. Midnight screams, more in terror than pain, and shields her face again. The wound does not heal. Chrysalis smirks. “Good news,” she says, “They can pry that thing right out of her, assuming they have a replacement to put back inside.”

Question Mark takes in a deep, very unhappy sounding breath. “Brutality of the changeling queen aside,” he mutters, “That does remove one obstacle to her…” He gestures vaguely and disappears with a pop. Several more pops follow, taking Chrysalis, Hiss, Whisper, and Sickle with them.

The elevator door slides open and reveals what appears to be a waiting room.

Midnight’s eyes go wide. “No, no! Why didn’t you take me too?”

[DigoDragon]

Midnight’s eyes go wide. “No, no! Why didn’t you take me too?”

"Okay, exactly where did they get taken to?" Rose asks Midnight.

[D.KnightSpider]

Longshot closes his eyes; in the resulting blackness, he studied the ceiling. Rose had a horrible bedside manner. Midnight had been threatened, drugged, restrained and now they were openly discussing a heart transplant without Midnight's buy in.

He didn't blame Midnight for her terror.

A popping sound opens his eyes. He switches to all business as Chrysalis and the Changelings disappear.

Rose has already asked the money question. So instead of pestering Midnight, he signals the others and steps into the waiting area.

A nasty feeling manifests. His rifle is ready.

Perception
[roll0] VS 16

Illusion Check
[roll1]VS 13/14

[Elbeyon]

Love focus her eyes on Midnight and her ears listen to the group. Queen Chrysalis' scientific inquiry has Love disapprovingly sigh. Queen Chrysalis seems well informed about the hearts. No regeneration might mean the heart hasn't started to fuse with her body. That very well could be good news. "We should treat Midnight with the utmost care."

The allies in front of her disappear. They got teleported away?

Scomm, "QM. Chrysalis. Sickle. Do you copy?" She sends her ScoutBot and some Flying BugBots out into the room.

Love focuses on her Identify Spell bracelet to get a read on the magics at work.

She continues to rub Midnight's back while she tries to figure out what is happening.

Identify Spell
[roll0] vs 15

Identifies what spell or spells have just been cast (within the last five seconds), or are being cast at the moment, on or by the subject. It does not identify the spells on a permanently enchanted item. One casting identifies all spells cast on or by the subject. However, if any of these spells are totally unknown to the caster – not just spells he doesn’t know, but spells he has never heard of – the GM should provide only a vague description; e.g., “Some kind of physical protection.” Wizards have heard of every spell in this book (unless the GM rules that some are secret) but not new spells created by the GM or players.

[Miltonian]

"I...I..." Midnight's eyes well with tears and her throat closes on her words. She lets out a choked sob and wipes at her cheek, smearing a bit of blood on her hoof. "I don't know! Away from here! Somewhere...somewhere safe!"

Love receives no response on her comms. In fact, there's no response from any comms.

"Oh, they can't hear you," Hyper Thought says, voice coming from a nearby speaker, "In fact, no one can. Only your signal, Love, is allowed to reach this far down." He chuckles. "So welcome to my lab. Your friends are in another part. You might run into them again. But I'm afraid to say you're too late. All my files have been transferred now. All my research is saved. Even if you catch me, which there's only a slim chance of, my part in this affair is already played out."

Love senses powerful, yet inaccurate, teleportation. Which is probably why Hyper Thought didn't teleport Midnight away. She was too close to Love for a good lock.

There are no illusions currently at work. The room is, oddly enough, a waiting room with a single exit out the back.

[DigoDragon]

"I...I..." Midnight's eyes well with tears and her throat closes on her words. She lets out a choked sob and wipes at her cheek, smearing a bit of blood on her hoof. "I don't know! Away from here! Somewhere...somewhere safe!"

"Safe from us... or from him?" Rose says, making clear the 'him' with a nod of her head to the speaker. She is not expecting a useful answer. Rose takes out an alcohol wipe and cleans Midnight's hoof and wound. She'll bandage it gently. (First Aid [roll0] vs. 21)


Rose looks around the room for cameras. (Perception [roll1] vs. 14)

[D.KnightSpider]

Comms were potentially compromised. Wonderful. Hyper Thought had eyes and ears on them. This put them at a disadvantage. And they were bringing the Element of Anti-Magic back to him. Joy.

He resorts to military signals and motions for Brazen to join him at the door. They'd set up for an entry.

Along the way, he keeps his eyes open for traps.

Scomm: "Hyper Thought's voice might be a recording."

Perception
[roll0] VS 16

[userpay]

"Oh for bucks..." Brazen starts to put himself between Chrysalis and Midnight when suddenly the bugbutt in question is gone. "Sake..."

Brazen rolls his shoulders after Hyper Thought's comments. "Somepony remind me to school Crysalis about not hurtin... Guests when we all meet up again." This was bugbutt they were talking about, whatever Hyper Thought had cooked up for the changelings it probably wasn't enough especially with them hyped up on wrath. For the moment he observes the room for possible traps before leading the way, shield out.

scomm: Maybe, or maybe he's talking out his ass.

Perc [roll0] vs 15

[Elbeyon]

Scomm, "The magic was a powerful, inaccurate teleport." Love tests her ability to reach Sickle's power armor radio. "I'm trying to connect to Sickle's radio."

Love rubs a hoof over Midnight's cape. "Midnight, we will keep you safe."

She raises her hoof and stops Rose. She looks at her like she is asking for a second.

She says to Midnight, "You have a scratch on your cheek. I'm sorry about that. We want to take care of your cheek. Are you alright with us applying a bandage?" If she agrees, Rose is free to continue.

She moves into the room and out of the way of the doors so she isn't in a blind spray of bullets.

Love speaks to the room for Thought, "Hello, Dr. Hyper Thought. I was surprised you didn't reach out sooner after our last talk. How considerate of you to allow my signal." Love keeps a mental hoof on her BugBots. "I admit. I've been looking forward to seeing your lab. I believe I've met your lab assistant. She is very exuberant and skilled." She rubs Midnight's back.

She keeps focused on Midnight and gives her an encouraging forward head movement.

Body Language
[roll0] vs 16

[DigoDragon]

Rose closes her eyes and takes a breath, pushing away the desire to punch Love square between the eyes. She goes back to he search.

[Miltonian]

"Safe," Midnight repeats, but she doesn't clarify. She draws closer in on herself and shivers. She gives an almost imperceptible nod, but recoils anyway at Rose's touch. However, in the end, her cheek is bandaged.

As for the cameras, there is one very obvious one hidden in a glass dome by the door and a not-so-obvious one poking out beneath the receptionist' desk.

Sickle's radio is also out of contact right now.

"Yes. I can see you met her," Hyper Thought says, voice turning sour, "And I would appreciate you dropping her off somewhere. Isn't it against the Equestrian Military Code of Conduct to take prisoners into an active war zone or use them as living shields?"

[D.KnightSpider]

Longshot signals Brazen and then checks the door controls. If they're unlocked, then he'll enter the next room. He'll cover the right side of the room with his rifle.

If not, then he'll finally put those lockpicking skills to use.

Perception
[roll0] VS 16

Lockpicking
[roll1] VS 16 (12 Skill, +2 Software, +2 Tools)

[DigoDragon]

Rose will cover up both cameras with tape. She then uses Equestrian sign language to tell her squad that she found two cameras and is confident on that.

Rose now wonders if her squad actually knows sign language. They probably don't? Oh well, hopefully they'll see what she did and read her actions and body language.

[Elbeyon]

Love might as well check for hidden cameras again. She takes out her bug detector and sees if the camera intensify down here matches upstairs.

Midnight gets a reassuring smile from Love. "There. All fixed."

She frowns, dissatisfied with their actions, at Thought's excellent point. She protested bringing her down here. Almost everyone did. She didn't like the idea of Thought and Rose referring to this scuffle as a war. It's too late to return Midnight upstairs. It's not like upstairs isn't a combat zone.

Midnight gets that encouraging nod again, "Feel free to talk to Dr. Hyper Thought."

Love sees if she can establish her BotNet's laser communication upstairs by bouncing lasers between Flying BugBots and patching any necessary breaks with radios.

She promises Thought, "We won't use her as a shield. I'm personally taking care of her safety."

She asks Midnight, "Are you cold? Thirsty? Hungry?" Love looks around for something in the room to warm her.

Operation (Surveillance)
[roll0] vs 13 (Surveillance) +2 (Software) +2 (Tool)

[Miltonian]

The door slides open thanks to Longshot's deft hooves. Beyond it is a long, smooth hallway, not a rivet or bolt in sight. It ends in yet another door, this one looking very strong and sturdy.

Oddly enough, the cameras Rose covered appear to be the only ones in this room. However, Love's trick does re-establish contact with upstairs. They come in right in the middle of Angel's worried message. "-ier Squad, do you read me? Rose!"

Midnight does not reply to Love, but she does raise her voice. "Doctor?" she says with a trembling tone.

"Midnight," Hyper Thought replies, almost tenderly, "Do not worry. I will resolve this matter. If they hurt you again." His voice turns downright sinister. "They will pay dearly for it."

[DigoDragon]

Rose responds on the comm. "Harrier is here, with Midnight. We're near the lab. Where'd you teleport to?"

[D.KnightSpider]

Longshot gives then a moment to resolve their transmission, although he gives them a signal to form up for an advance of the non-monetary variety.

He peers down the hallway and checks for illusions.

Perception
[roll0] VS 16

Will
[roll1] VS 13/14

[DigoDragon]

Rose can and does form up while she's radioing the other squad.

[Elbeyon]

Love continues to refine the laser comms. And, that's another reason why everyone has BugBots on them.

She slowly forms up on the side of the wall, taking the 5th person slot. She uses the ScoutBot to look into the room to try to figure out what they're dealing with.

Scomm Harrier/Hornet, "We hit a teleport trap. Queen Chrysalis, Sickle, and QM have been separated from Harrier squad. Hornet, anything to report?"

Scomm, "Do you see any magic, Rose? Anyone want to use their signal whistle?"

Love says out loud, "A lot of people want you safe Midnight." Love adjusts Midnight's cape to better cover her. "No one wants you hurt." She explains, "Queen Chrysalis was physically examining your regenerative abilities. I'm sorry about your cheek."

She says to Midnight, "I heard you gave me my Subject name, Specimen Zero. Have you seen the newest Dead Rising?"

[DigoDragon]

Rose will maintain her Mage sight to check the area.

[userpay]

"Ain't nopony gettin used as ah shield cept me." Brazen growls. "Unfortunately there's ah pony on the loose whose name starts with H and ends with T that wants to keep subjectin folks to inhumane experiments so it just so happens Midnight is safer with us." He sticks close to the front of the formation with riot shield at the ready.

Perc [roll0] vs 15

[Miltonian]

"Teleport?" Angel repeats, "We didn't teleport anywhere. We're still here. Just lost radio contact with all of you at once."

There are no illusions nor magic. The hall is, at least physically, what it seems.

"Nothing to report," Card Ace chimes in, "Things are pretty barren up here. Kinda creepy."

Hyper Thought sighs dramatically. "And yet, thanks to you, I can't just flood the room with acid or something. So yes, you are using her as a shield, like it or not." He huffs. "I had this whole deathtrap planned and you ruined it. Just ruined it!" He lets out a long, dramatic sigh. "Still...I can do this."

The door to the waiting room closes behind them. The walls fall away, revealing a much larger room around them.

"Aw buck," Powder Keg says.

[DigoDragon]

"Changelings and Kirin got teleported somewhere. Likely trapped. Can I call you back? We're about to fight a dungeon boss."

Rose picks up her rifle and sticks with her squad, moving back to back with someone while she sweeps an arc of the room.

[D.KnightSpider]

Ruining death traps is sorta what we do.

Longshot turns about to put himself back-to-back with Brazen. His eyes follow the line of his rifle as he sweeps his arc-shaped area of responsibility.

Let this not be what he thinks it is.


[roll0] VS 16

[Elbeyon]

The BugBots are ordered near the door so they can transmit the shorter distance through the wall.

Love readies to protect Midnight.

Edit

[Miltonian]

"We can...call back," Card Ace mutters. The line goes dead.

"Let me get somepony else on the line," Hyper Thought mutters. The sound of a phone ringing plays. "Queen Chrysalis! How are you--" Feedback blares out of the speakers. "She shot the speaker. One sec."

The dial tone plays again. "Now, now," Hyper Thought chuckles, "Look at the screen, would you?"

Chrysalis' voice is cold, hostile. "I see it."

"Your allies are in a bit of a pickle," he says with a chuckle, "So I will give you a choice. Before you are two buttons. One opens the way directly to where I am, but will kill everyone in the room you see before you. The other one, well, will fill your room with acid and probably kill you, but allow them to proceed. You have a minute to decide."

Chrysalis is silent at first. "It's no contest," she says with a wry chuckle. The sound of a button depressing comes over the comms. The door opens in front of Harrier Squad.

"I...what? WHAT?!" Hyper Thought stammers.

[DigoDragon]

"I could kiss her right now."

Rose signals for the squad to move forward to the open door. Go go go!!

[D.KnightSpider]

"Save the smooching for when you're off the clock. Run, jump or fly if you have to but keep up. Go!"

Longshot's wings snap and he takes off up the hallway. Although he throttles himself back so that he doesn't leave them behind entirely.

Perception
[roll0] VS 16

[Elbeyon]

The shot speaker filters through her power armor. Chrysalis! she happily thinks.

Love looks around for the camera displaying them. What is Thought threatening them with?

She doesn't like the sound of Thought threatening Chrysalis and Harrier none too much! Chrysalis finds her answer before Love finds a solution. She is in danger! Love shouts, "Queen Chrysalis! Stay safe! We're tackling this together!" If Thought is speaking the truth, they need to hurry!

Her hoof leaves her weapon and she holds Midnight with both hoofs. She rushes an explanation, "Midnight, I have to jump. I'm holding you tight." As quick as she explains, she jumps after the team, keeping pace with Rose.

Love will try her best to leave a trail of BugBots to secure a BotNet.

[DigoDragon]

Rose will keep in stride with Love so no one is left behind by themselves.
(not counting midnight, because she's bound up)

[Miltonian]

The team charges ahead, allies in tow, and makes it through the door a moment before it slams shut. "Darn, darn, darn, darn, DARN!" Hyper Thought curses, "Alright, gloves off now. You all are getting a little close for comfort."

The place they enter next seems to be an atrium. Several ways forward lie before them, each conveniently labeled. One door reads 'Death Trap'. Another reads 'Labs'. Yet another reads 'Extraction and Implantation'. And a third reads 'Teleportation Matrix'.

[DigoDragon]

"Hmm," Rose muses. She studies the room for magic.

Per: [roll0] vs. 14