Riverside 20: Another day, another disaster

[5a Violista]

[Tracking Rats - Amalungak, Tarim & MERC]

"Okay. That's concerning," Holly says. "No idea who these entities are, though?" Hm. Holly starts thinking. There are potentially rituals that could 'cleanse' such a large place, so that fits with her earlier assumptions, but there's also a wide variety of possible kinds of rituals so just knowing that won't help stop it. If the rats are acting as sacrifices, would killing them even help?

The half-elf gestures at some of MERC's equipment, and speaks to the pit fiend and Amalungak. "If you want to see where all the rats are with our tracking equipment, feel free to take a look." Since that was the deal, after all: tell us what you know and we'll share our data with you.

"So we don't have long until we'll be overrun by rats. Have you two seen where the rats already here are?" Other than capturing one and preventing it from self-destructing, she can't think of some other way to proceed.

...She still has the created-organs inside her to detect the radio waves from the rats. She starts paying attention to it again, to see where around them all the rats are, and how many.

[Deathkeeper]

[The Third Circle]

The imp flutters up, landing on a shelf and picking up a set of volumes despite their relative size to his shape.
”One newcomer’s guide to the Nexus, and a Planeswalker’s Guide to the Planes, annotated edition.
As for me, most of my preferred subjects are in our-well they’re not something we can simply show young folk, I’m afraid. But I do like histories myself. And sciences.” says the imp, tail moving side to side as he gets to discuss books.

[AmberVael]

The Third Circle

Noriko is not pleased by this sudden barrier to interesting literature! She frowns, and objects. "Hey, I'm not that young. I'm legally an adult now! Probably! If I can drink and join armies and live on my own, why can't I read a book?" She does accept the two offered books without question though, pausing in her objection to leaf through the first few pages of the Planeswalker's Guide. This seems to calm her down a bit, and she takes a breath and starts again.

"I have an ID you can check, if you need to see it. Where I'm from, at least, I should clear any laws about age. Or... is this more than that?" Despite the idea that it might restrict her, she seems a little interested in the possibility. "Is the idea that only people who have hit seniority have the wisdom and experience to handle those books? Is that what you're checking for? She sounds slightly skeptical of the idea, despite her curiosity.

[Deathkeeper]

[The Third Circle]

The imp sighs and retrieves the manual he was reading, and flips to a page involving GUIDELINES FOR THIRD CIRCLE MINIONS AND EMPLOYEES. He points to a section halfway down.
47) MINIONS AND EMPLOYEES WILL NOT JEOPARDIZE THE PHYSICAL, MENTAL, OR SPIRITUAL WELL-BEING OF YOUTHS.
47a) EVEN IF THEY WILLINGLY OFFER THEIR SOUL OR OTHERWISE ASK FOR IT.
47b) THIS MEANS YOU, TAIM.

”And that is why I don’t show the books on rituals and soul-magic to children.” Explains the imp, whose name is Sapesh.

[5a Violista]

[Eastside - Harley's Home, late night]

Spoiler: image of alley

Show

Finally, her neighbor's family's house has been rebuilt enough for them to move back in. Earlier today they held a home-christening party, but Harley wasn't really feeling showing up to it - so she just took her time getting back home.

She walks down the alley that her house lies on, glances at her neighbors' new house, and then - glad to finally have the place to herself again - unlocks the door to the stairs that leads up to her house. It's not really that big of a house - basically, four rooms plus two small closet-sized bathrooms: an entryway that doubles as a hallway and a front room, to the left an odd-shaped room with a hammock in front of a tiny balcony that overlooks the street; and a toilet located under the water tank, and to the right a dark room where she keeps her clothes and things, with the other bathroom and a small shower; and a small kitchen that's wider and skinnier than it ought to be and has a sloped floor and an open triangular area after between the top of the walls and the roof - which leaves it rather cold during the winter. Everything has a tile floor. And ceilings that are too high than they have any right to be, even going higher than the walls do.

She slides off her bag onto the ground once she enters and locks the door, smoothly slides her jacket off and lets her hair loose in less than a step each, picks up her romance novel and turns on the plug-fan in her next two steps, and then collapses onto the sofa on the other side of the room so she can continue where she left off.

[Hattish Thing]

[Eastside - Harley's Home, Late Night]

Around 3am, the roof of Harley's home shatters into pieces beneath the weight of a frightening intruder. In an explosion of wooden splinters and ceramic plates, something large and humanoid breaks through the ceiling, crashing down just outside of her bedroom and creating a small crater within her tile floor. The crash is accompanied by a strange electronic whine as various technological items throughout Harley's home will simultaneously activate at their maximal level of power, before promptly fizzling out. This causes the lights throughout her home to flash to the highest level of luminosity before the fixtures begin to burst, plunging the home into darkness within seconds. Once the power is out, an ominous grinding, clanking noise can be heard coming from the bathroom, prompting investigation.

Before much of an investigation can begin, however, a section of the wall separating Harley's bedroom from her bathroom is broken through from the opposite side, likely showering Harley in splinters as a bulky fist plated in layers upon layers of thick gray metal bursts through the door.

[Gullara]

[Descending into Darkness - Archera & KABAL]

Not-Irena somehow groans in monotone which sounds really odd. "For ****s sake... be careful! Get away from those bombs!" Whoever had planted them there would presumably be at a safe spot so if they ran there they wouldn't be in danger either. She kinda assumed that Archera would be able to deal with whatever idiot that wanted to blow a tunnel right underneath the city.

Heading into the tunnel they will come across more rats that are staring at them from the sidelines. It looks like a significant amount of mud was dragged down here not that long ago and within the darkness Archera can see what seem like humanoid foot prints, though it's hard to make out how recent they are.

The slope of the tunnel is getting steeper, going ever downwards into the blackness of this underground space. Finally, she can see what seems to be the end of the tunnel in the distance, expending outwards into what seems to be a huge underground space.

Then Archera, and whoever is coming with her, can hear a male voice calling out to them. "Lay down your weapons or I'll blow up the tunnel!" They can't see the source of the sound, but the wires are turning right around the corner of the tunnel and the owner of the voice might just be behind that corner. How they can see them or were expecting their arrival is anyone's guess however.

"Don't try any magic tricks, I have the trigger in a dead man's switch! Just surrender!"

Descending into Darkness- Archera & Kabal

Well, Spewer's not tried to go down the tunnel, so it's just Flicker with Archera going up the tunnel.

When they're challenged, Flicker drops the shotgun. She's not really a fan of it anyway; she prefers using clubs and batons to beat people. "Hey, what I do isn't magic, it's science! Weird, creepy science that I don't understand, but science!" Flicker's mistaken, a little. Her power is derived from a formulae created by chopping up magical creatures and dissolved in an alchemical mixture before it was injected into her body. So it's science and magic.

Up in the warehouse, Spewer turns to Irena. "If there's bombs under this warehouse, we should probably go find MERC or someone in charge to let them know. And maybe not stand here."

[Descending into Darkness - Archera & KABAL]

Archera stops dead just before the corner. This is about worst case scenario. Thankfully she doesn't need her weapon to fight if it comes to that. She places her bow down carefully and says. "Neither of us are holding any weapons. I'm going to step around the corner now. That's it, no funny business." If she doesn't get a response back telling her not to, or Flicker doesn't try to stop her when she meets the other woman's eyes briefly, she'll slowly step around the corner and take in who and what is there.

[5a Violista]

[Eastside - Harley's Home, Late Night]

It's well past time to go to sleep, so she's already in her nightgown and asleep in the hammock. Hearing the crash isn't enough to wake her up, because recently she's gotten used to sleeping through loud people and noisy neighbors...so she just figures it's something nearby. But then, the huge hole in the ceiling combine with the large gaps in the walls, causing a blast of cold air. She shivers and opens her eyes The huge burst of light, followed by the machinery makes her roll her legs out and sit up.

Harley holds her breath and looks at the wall as the cement and ceramic-brick splinters, along with pipe and water suddenly bursts at her.

She tries to alter her eyes so they can see in the dark, but...it doesn't work.
Right.
She pricked herself with that Shapeshifter's Bane knife just before going to sleep: she's found it the only way to actually sleep well at night without waking up as a random mess of who-knows-what.
She won't be able to shapeshift for another four hours, which means most of her weapons are inaccessible and she can't even stitch together the cuts she just got from the shrapnel.

Oh.

This is really bad. She stands up and looks around: are there any mirrors nearby? Weapons she could grab? That fireball thing? She doesn't have anything of that sort in this room. Luckily her nightgown is - somehow - bulletproof, but...if she gets hit anywhere else she won't be able to stop the stitch back for hours.

"Get out of here, or I'll call the cops," Harley threatens, even though her phone is in the other room where she dropped her bag earlier.

[Hattish Thing]

[Eastside - Harley's Home, Late Night]

As broken pipes spray water throughout the house, the armored fist retracts from the wall, accompanied by the sound of a whirring motor. A second or so later, the hulking frame of what appears to be an enormous, futuristic suit of armor crashes through the damaged wall, sparks flying off the glossy starmetal suit as building materials grind up against the metal, unable to penetrate the multi-layered material. The armor is highly bulky, all hard angles and blocky designs complete with spikes and sharp ridges.

Beneath the monolithic suit of armor, barely visible within the protected joints, complicated technological and hydraulic systems pump molten metal beneath layers of thick plating, fluid pressure rising as the armored figure staggers forward. As the figure lumbers forward, every step cracking tile beneath him, noxious black smoke rises from various vents across the suit. While slow and seemingly weighted by the hexagonal-patterned cloak it drags behind it, the suit moves with unexpected grace and precision.

With one large gauntlet, each metal finger as thick as a lesser being’s wrist, the armored figure retrieves a disconcertingly large double-barreled pistol from his belt, patiently lining up a shot before firing, releasing a cascade of deadly shotgun pellets.

[5a Violista]

[Eastside - Harley's Home, Late Night]

Harley sees the shotgun-pistol as he raises it. Glad that she got into the habit of wearing this bulletproof article of clothing, she quickly raises her arms to protect her face. She, of course, still feels the force of the ones that hit her nightgown, but luckily it distributes it out safely. Her arms also take a handful of pellets. It hurts, but...it's not deadly. As for the ones hitting her chest, it's rather fortunate she has a stable stance. The hammock behind her legs also helps.
The glass behind her definitely shatters, though. The concrete walls around get chipped, as well.

She figures she has three choices: One, she can turn around and dive out the balcony. She'll probably be able to get away so long as he can't fly...but he probably can judging off his entrance, and there's not much places to hide except for in someone else's house around here. And even if she does get away, she'll have no idea why this guy's here and what they want. Just random destruction? Going after her specifically? This area of town is too poor to bother stealing anything from, and if he's after her, there's no way she could just run from him for four hours straight.

Two, run after the phone. It's basically directly behind this guy, so running there would be just lining up a second shot, so long as he doesn't care about breaking the supports for the water tank and flooding everything. Besides, the police would take too long to get here, anyway - they always do, and the threat of the police is all she'll have left. He obviously doesn't mind either of those, so that's also an awful plan to do.

That leaves three: run into another of the rooms and even though he could easily take down the walls, hope the cover of the wall gives her enough time to find something she could use, while also finding out why he's here.

Since there's really only one plan that could work, she decides to go with it.
Sure, there's also option four, but...not what she wants to do. No way. It's too similar to magic.

So she runs off to her left, going to another room in the house - the one she keeps her things in. There aren't really any doors between here and being out-of-sight of the intruder, so there's no need to waste time fumbling with doorknobs. Calling back as she runs, she says, "There's nothing you would want, anyway."

[Hattish Thing]

[Eastside - Harley's Home, Late Night]

The armored figure quickly reloads his firearm as Harley attempts to flee, special canisters sliding within perfectly oiled twin rear barrels. Once the ex-AMENite turns the corner and disappears from sight, special motors within the suit roar to life, the frightening sound echoing throughout her home. Rocket boosters built into various sections of the suit belch flames, and as numerous exhaust ports release thick, black smoke, the suit begins to rush forward, gaining momentum as it stomps through the small home, crushing tile beneath it and reducing nearby obstacles to rubble.

As Harley ducks into her storage room, her attacker drives an armored shoulder directly through the eastern wall, the force of his assault shaking the house to its very core. Rubble begins to fall from the ceiling, with electrical wiring now exposed to the cold nighttime air. Unconcerned with the damage, the vigilante reaches towards the dresser to his right, fingers outstretched to reveal a labyrinth of pipes and pistons hidden beneath heavy, spiked plating meant to crush, grind, and utterly pulverize with brutal efficiency.

He effortlessly buries a few fingers into the wooden dresser before tossing it as one would a bowling ball, directly at Harley.

[5a Violista]

[Eastside - Harley's Home, 3am]

Harley, in the room, had immediately run to the left to the cabinet. There's something in there that she needs...

Sadly, she was unable to grab what she was looking for by the time the armored guy smashes through another of her walls, knocking down the bar holding up all her hanger-clothing up and moving to her dresser. Shoot, that's all her clothes again: how much more is going to have to be thrown out?

When she hears what he's doing, she tucks her head and raises her right arm behind her to prevent anything from hitting her head. The dresser crashes into her, smashing her between the cabinet and dresser. Dang it, she can't even force herself to have an super-natural adrenaline burst until the Shapeshifter's Bane wears off. Just normal adrenaline from the pain - a handful of ribs just cracked, her right arm just fractured, and her face really hurts right now. Not to mention the small - so far - amounts of blood loss earlier from the shrapnel and pellets.

Now with a short time of cover under the cabinet, she figures she needs to find it right now. Luckily, in addition to crushing her, the dresser also crushed parts of the cabinet - and through the hole, she can see the scabbard she was looking for.

"Why, then?" she asks, reaching her unbroken arm through the splintered wood, to grab onto the empty scabbard.

[Shadowcaller]

[Descending into Darkness - Archera & KABAL]

"No! Stay where you are!" The voice shouts back, then a gun goes off. The bullet ricocheting against the tunnel floor just where the tunnel ends.
"No. Closer." The man on the other side hisses.
But if they approach even just a little bit they can see that the tunnel opens up into a smaller cave and they hear the faint rippling of water somewhere though they can see it's source.
The cave floor isn't quite as flat as the tunnel they've been moving through. Just a few meters into it a wall of salagmites are obscuring the rest of the cave. They can hear the soft rippling of water coming from somewhere deeper inside however if they listen closely.

After a longer pause, the man continues. "...back away from your weapons. Waaaay back into the tunnel and then turn around. We'll come and collect them." He doesn't seem interested in adressing Flicker's argument.

---

Meanwhile, back at the tunnel entrance Spewer gets a glare from Not-Irena. "MERC? Seriously? We don't need their help. They'll probably try to arrest us or something. Let's just get out of this damn building until it's clear." Last thing they needed was Archera worrying about even more people.

[Tracking Rats - Amalungak, Tarim & MERC]

Far more than should be in the city after they tried to deal with them for so long. There are a few dozens nearby, but hundreds where they are gathering. They seem to be gathering close to a large sectic tank connected to the sewers.

"We were following them in this direction." Tarim states as he gestures further in, towards the sectic tank.
The MERC-members follow his armored hands with their gazes. Looked like that's the place they had to go... it was just rats right?

[Tracking Rats - Ruby and Fade]

The web is strong. It's difficult to cut even with the sharpest of swords as it only seem to bend and shake with each swing or struggle. Thankfully, it doesn't seem like the creature is seeing Fade. It only have it's two plate-sized eyes focused on Ruby. It backs away slightly as the more she seem to struggle with the web the stronger it pulls against her. It's waiting now they might realize. Waiting for her to become completely immobolized by the webbing.

Now having more than just a few seconds to look at it. They can see that the beak is not a birds or anything that belongs in the air. This is the beak of a squid and it also has one's eyes. It's legs that first appeared to be of a spiders now seem more like a mix between ones and a squids. They're hairless and spongey, far too thick to be spiderlegs even if they have their shape and form.
They can hear more scittering and can see another of the creatures emerge from within the cave they were entering. It's also keeping away from Ruby until she seem to be unable to struggle.

((I'll post for Karl in my next post...))

[Hattish Thing]

[Eastside - Harley's Home, 3am]

Noticing Harley's struggle for her scabbard, the vigilante grimaces from beneath his helmet before stepping slightly closer and firing his bulky firearm once more. The thunderous pounding of an industrial pin striking the starmetal primer within the handheld shotgun echoes resoundingly throughout the house, dozens of industrial-sized pellets burying themselves into furniture and destroying sections of wall. Although he had been aiming for Harley's outstretched arm, the spread of the pellets means that there's just as likely a chance that a majority of the burst struck her middle, rather than her arm.

Either way, the handheld shotgun packs quite the punch.

[5a Violista]

[Eastside - Harley's Home, 3am]

Some of the pellets dig into her arm, one hits the the side of her neck, and a handful pound into her nightgown. It stings and it hurts and there's not enough give in the gown to prevent it from causing large bruises. "Okay, sure, but how about some hints on why?" Since this is playing out really close to past nightmares she's had, but each of them seems to have a different reason.

Harley, in spite of all the pain and the wood being shoved into her arm, manages to pull out the scabbard. She's heavily breathing. "I'll give you...one chance to...run, okay?" she says.
...
She really doesn't want to do this. But would a sword even work against that power armor or whatever it is? A couple explosions, would that work?

Since she needs a couple moments to set up whatever she's going to do, she needs to get out of his gunshot vision again. She glances at the doorway she came in from: she's going to dart back through there.
And, that's what she does. She runs back to the door so she can turn left and avoid getting cornered.



[Tracking Rats - Amalungak, Tarim & MERC]

giving Morty a chance to go first

[Hattish Thing]

[Eastside - Harley's Home, 3am]

The armored figure grimaces before clenching his free hand into a bulky technic fist, ridged fingers grinding against one another as he lumbers forward with surprising agility. Once he notices Harley's attempt to flee, he dodges back and through the wall he'd rent an entrance through, crushing pipe and rubble alike beneath heavy starmetal boots. In the same movement, he locks his handheld shotgun within the magnetic holster at his belt, though the extra movement causes him to slam an armored shoulder into the side of the perforated drywall.

Fortunately, the wall simply crumbles before him, allowing him to rush forward in an attempt to cut Harley off mid-flight. As he rushes forward, he speaks, his electronic voice rife with disgust.



--

Provided the vigilante managed to block her way, he'll use the momentum gathered during his rush towards her to leap upwards and into the air, aided by the small boosters built into the suit. As he begins to land, he'll reach out with an enormous technic gauntlet and attempt to grapple her, aiming to grab her by the front of her nightgown and pull slam her directly into the tile below.

Should he succeed, Harley will find herself hitting the ground hard, with the vigilante's additional weight and momentum shattering the very floor beneath them, causing them to crash down into the building below.

[5a Violista]

[Eastside - Harley's Home, 3am]

Actually none of the walls are drywall - they're flimsy hollow bricks coated with a thin layer of cement. Breaks just about as easy as drywall, however.

The armored vigilante beats her out to the entrance room and successfully manages to grab her nightgown - after all, nightgowns are pretty easy to grab, with all the loose fabric. She should have run to the kitchen instead: at least then, she might have bought enough time.
Regardless, she realizes what he's talking about: right. Them. Then.

Under his weight, she's crashed through the floor into the in-home bakery of the family below. She hits the corner of a counter, knocking knives everywhere, and then continues to the floor. In pain, she groans.

"Ha," Harley says, nearly out of breath.

There's two knives within reach, so she grabs them both - even with the hand on her broken arm. Very much out of breath, she still manages to say, "You shouldn't gossip about something you don't know."

With her broken right arm, she swings the knife at the vigilante: aiming at a joint in his hand and trying to stab under the armor plating and into the more important bits.
Meanwhile, her left hand stealthily moves the knife to her own chest, ready to cut inside.

[Hattish Thing]

[Eastside - Harley's Home, 3am]

Unfazed by the crash through Harley's floor, the vigilante merely drives his knee into the floor below, shattering tile under his weight. With one knee supporting his bulk, he looms over Harley, his face obscured beneath his helmet, the hexagonal-patterned cloak which hangs from his shoulders draping over the both of them. As she slashes at him with her knife, she drags it along the vigilante's potent armor, causing sparks to fly before the tip of the knife embeds itself within a section of the suit's inner workings exposed by the angle of his arm. Something sparks within, prompting the vigilante to straighten his arm, snapping the knife within armored plates.

To prevent similar attacks, the armored figure grunts before attempting to pin both of her arms to the floor with skills suggestive of some sort of military background, his natural strength augmented by his powerful mechanized suit as well as by his extraordinary weight. He starts with her broken arm, his palm directed towards the break within her flesh, aiming to maximize pain. Provided she is successfully pinned, rendering her grasp of her knives useless, the vigilante will attempt a brutal headbutt with his helmet, bashing her head against the floor.

[Earl of Purple]

Descending into Darkness

Flicker does as she's told, backing away and encouraging Archera to do so, if she looks like she won't. Flicker's main weapon is her speed, the shotgun and bludgeons she usually carry just help. Not that she's got anything but the shotgun right now. She even turns around, though she's a little more nervous about that part of the instructions.

"Says the burglar found lurking in the sewers to the supervillain from Skyside. I know they'd probably try to arrest us. I also think they probably have a better chance of disabling the bombs than we do, and potentially evacuating as well. We don't know how far this tunnel goes, nor how many bombs are in it." Spewer's genuinely a little concerned about the risk to civilians. His power isn't naturally a fatal one, and he's a bit squeamish as a result.

[5a Violista]

[Eastside - Harley's Home, 3am]

There was just enough time to cut down her sternum and a little below. It would have been better if she had a free hand to reach inside, but...

...but she grimaces in pain as her arms are pressed and pinned. Her head is bashed, and she coughs up blood. "So you haven't run yet, huh?" she asks, her voice hurting now and blood on her lips from the internal damage.

All she's got to do is maneuver something out of her chest. In there, there's a fist-sized ball...geez, this is so much easier when she can shapeshift. She really needs to have a plan in place for when this happens again.

Harley tries to force a smile on her face and another laugh. "I'll give you ten seconds to get away." Without her hands available, she has to use her internal muscles and shoulder blades to push down the hard orb past her organs, in the direction of the hole. "Ten...nine...eight..." She coughs again. All she has to do is get that out, and she can turn this around.

[Hattish Thing]

[Eastside - Harley's Home, 3am]

The vigilante's frustration grows somewhat more apparent as Harley begins her countdown, with his grip upon her broken arm only becoming firmer, likely squeezing tight enough to snap her arm in dozens of places. What follows is a devastatingly swift pattern of rapid fire strikes upon her, with the armored figure only growing more and more aggressive as he believes himself to have won the upper hand. To begin the onslaught, the vigilante lifts a bulky arm up into the air before lowering it with the force of a guillotine, boosters built into his gauntlets all but rocketing the jab forward towards her head.

Provided she survives, he'll press his leaden knee hard into Harley's hip, the force and weight threatening to crush bone as he uses her to rise up, all the while maintaining his grip upon her unbroken arm. As he climbs up to his feet, he'll handle her as an adult would a child's toy, an enormous hand wrapped around her unbroken wrist. Breathing heavily beneath the suit, he'll attempt his final strike; a brutal move which begins with the twisting of Harley's arm in exactly the wrong direction, the force of which likely causes bone to puncture through the back of her elbow.

In the same movement, he'll utilize the momentum harnessed during the twisting of Harley's elbow to throw her bodily across the room, directly towards a refrigerator. His assault is powerful and relentless. However, should Harley have been launched, she'll find herself free to manipulate her body.

[5a Violista]

[Eastside - Harley's Home, 3am]

With all that happening, Harley can't keep counting down. It just hurts too much. A shattered arm, the self-inflicted cut in her chest, and whatever he's doing to her head...

...Honestly, it's rather fortunate that compared to the average person, her skull is much stronger due to being laced with many different materials, and her head is significantly less necessary than it is for the average person. Still hurts like mad, and most other people would have died from that...not her, though. This allows her the pleasure of having her hip crushed, her dominant left hand also broken by twisting and having the bone moved wrong, and being thrown into her neighbor's fridge. Man, it's been a long time since she's had a fight like this. It's pretty exhilarating, actually.

Recognizing this as finally her chance, she moves her less-broken arm to below her ribcage, and reaches in to grab the object.

With all her bones and muscles in the wrong place, you'd imagine it would be hard for her to still move her hand where she wants. But, you'd better believe that she's actually gotten used to this before.

What she grabs is a a dark-red gem-thing with blackness swimming around its surface. Since her legs are still whole, she makes herself stand in front of the fridge, using the appliance to help keep herself up. She tries to smile but all she gets out is a grimace, and mouths the word 'one'.

The gem flashes with a bright light, and is gone. Once the light fades, her nightgown has been replaced with an entire other outfit: a red tunic on top of a short pink dress, boots that go way too high, the kind of duelist cloak that covers one shoulder and is blue, and a blue-and-red witch's hat. There's also a sheathed sword at her waist, tied and locked closed. "Pain: zero percent," she commands, barely getting the words out. Blood drips down her lips, but her breathing becomes regular and controlled. Dozens of swords materialize around her, levitating in the air, they almost look like wings around her. "Time's up: Last chance to run."

[Morty]

[Tracking Rats - Amalungak, Tarim & MERC]

"Wherever they are going most likely isn't safe, so we should stick together," Amalungak says. This mission is already not as secret as he'd like it to be, so he'll just try to ensure safety. "And there's not much time."

[5a Violista]

[Tracking Rats - Amalungak, Tarim & MERC]

Holly nods and looks in the direction the rats are gathering.

"Yeah, it looks like that's where they're gathering," she says. To the other MERC guys, she adds, "Looks like there's nearly a hundred there so far: be ready before the rest arrive."

Holly is okay with being first - she's got toxins in her skin right now, so if the rats try to bite her it won't be as bad as if they bit someone else. So, she pushes ahead towards the septic tank.

[Hattish Thing]

[Eastside - Harley's Home, 3am]

The vigilante clenches his large, gauntlet-clad hands into fists as Harley rises up once again. Although unconcerned with her new outfit, and the blades which surround her, Harley's potentially regenerative shapeshifting powers render his usual tactics largely ineffective. A muscle twitches in his face, and as it does, he responds coldly to her.





--

With that, the armored figure utilizes the rockets built into the back of his suit to blast straight upwards through the punctured ceiling, vanishing into the night.

[5a Violista]

[Eastside - Harley's Home, 3am]

Oh, good. Harley sighs in relief once the power armor guy leaves. If only she could have actually used her shapeshifting, then it wouldn't have nearly gone that bad. Or if she had thought this could happen and didn't keep her soul gem inside of her.

She steps forward and leans against a counter. The levitating swords vanish. She really needs to get over her dependency on that anti-shapeshifting dagger to stop the nightmares. Maybe go see a therapist or something.
And find a new place to live. And sort through her clothes...but she also still has work she needs to catch up on, and a date to mentally prepare for, and a phone number to get. Why couldn't this have just waited a week to happen? She just barely got her place back to herself, too.

"Hey!" she calls out as loud as she can to her neighbors whose house she crashed into. Oh, right. She needs to help them pay for repairs, too. There goes all her savings and her money for the next few months, too. "Jô! Could you call an ambulance for me? And help me out of the alley to the main street, too."

She puts her head down, feeling more light-headed than she had in a while. She had to depend on this again. Just survive three more hours...I'll be fine if I stay conscious for three more hours. And then get ready for work, call Magtok, pick up a few more things, and she can figure what to do next during her lunch break.

[Morty]

[The Streets]

At the turn of the new year, the bird-like mad prophets wandering the streets of Riverside will suddenly fall to their knees and all turn towards where (unbeknownst to anyone in the city) Tauron's laboratory is located.

"The prince is come!" cries one of them in exultant, mindless joy.

"All exaltations and blessings unto him!"

"How fortunate are we to see this!"

Then they're all gone, disappearing in a flurry of feathers, dead leaves and crying of birds.

[Arkhosia]

White Rose Health Clinic

It takes a short taxi trip and a couple minutes of awkwardly silent walking - but all in all, it isn't long before Ithuriel finds herself being led through the streets of Eastside. The duo find themselves in a section that almost feels like some sort of market center, with restaurants and mom-and-pop stores flanking the street. It's a section of the city that saw itself hit fairly hard in the invasion; a few spaces are still undergoing repairs, with new structures being prepared where a couple storefronts had been completely razed. Even the spots left seemingly unscathed have signs for those who look hard enough; a streak of light scorch marks across that section of cobble, a few window frames noticeably newer than the walls around them, and chips in the pavement from a stray round or errant strike.

"Well, er, here we are," Caelynn informs as they round a corner, coming to a stop at one of the newer additions to the area. It's a modest structure of bright bricks and white metal, with a fairly large window inviting a fair bit of natural light into the lobby within. A hand-painted sign hangs above it, displaying "White Rose Health Clinic" in gentle red script. She unlocks and opens the glass door for Ithuriel, guiding her into a simple little lobby space as she flicks on the lights.

[Gnrlshrimp]

[White Rose Health Clinic]

Ithuriel has had some strange days before.

She's used to weird happenings at Trog's too. She's accepted the tradeoff that going to one of the few places that can get an angel drunk also means risking all sorts of bizarre events that could only happen at Trog's.

Bumping into the partner of some guy she pranked and somehow letting herself be convinced to go back to her health clinic a little while after is still way, waaaayy up there in terms of odd things that have happened to her.

"Uh, yes. Here we are." Ithuriel steps inside, her wings twitching slightly in agitation. She's still not really sure why she agreed to this. She can't even really blame it on drink - she hadn't even had that much. "I guess you've got to be pretty good at what you do to have opened your own clinic here?" She manages to keep the inner voice questioning whether it was all just bankrolled my Magtok from becoming an outer voice.

[Gullara]

[Descending into Darkness - Archera & KABAL]

"No! Stay where you are!" The voice shouts back, then a gun goes off. The bullet ricocheting against the tunnel floor just where the tunnel ends.
"No. Closer." The man on the other side hisses.
But if they approach even just a little bit they can see that the tunnel opens up into a smaller cave and they hear the faint rippling of water somewhere though they can see it's source.
The cave floor isn't quite as flat as the tunnel they've been moving through. Just a few meters into it a wall of salagmites are obscuring the rest of the cave. They can hear the soft rippling of water coming from somewhere deeper inside however if they listen closely.

After a longer pause, the man continues. "...back away from your weapons. Waaaay back into the tunnel and then turn around. We'll come and collect them." He doesn't seem interested in adressing Flicker's argument.

---

Meanwhile, back at the tunnel entrance Spewer gets a glare from Not-Irena. "MERC? Seriously? We don't need their help. They'll probably try to arrest us or something. Let's just get out of this damn building until it's clear." Last thing they needed was Archera worrying about even more people.

Descending into Darkness

Flicker does as she's told, backing away and encouraging Archera to do so, if she looks like she won't. Flicker's main weapon is her speed, the shotgun and bludgeons she usually carry just help. Not that she's got anything but the shotgun right now. She even turns around, though she's a little more nervous about that part of the instructions.

"Says the burglar found lurking in the sewers to the supervillain from Skyside. I know they'd probably try to arrest us. I also think they probably have a better chance of disabling the bombs than we do, and potentially evacuating as well. We don't know how far this tunnel goes, nor how many bombs are in it." Spewer's genuinely a little concerned about the risk to civilians. His power isn't naturally a fatal one, and he's a bit squeamish as a result.

[Descending into Darkness - Archera & KABAL]

Archera knows better than to push her luck too far in this kind of situation. She will go back down the tunnel, leaving her bow in place. That said, once she's down there she doesn't face away like instructed. She'll risk that small amount of defiance in order to see what's going on. Chances are these goons don't really want to blow themselves up.