Skyside 6: Return of the Cheddar

[Rebonack]

[The Silken Whisper]

Okay, goblin off to collect gear.

Sister of battle off to commit homicide.

Zee sips the drink.

Hmm...

She considers it thoughtfully.

Takes another sip.

"You know, I think this wouldn't be half bad if you added some floral liquor to it," she informs the bar tender. "Maybe anise?"

She takes another sip.

"Yeah, anise with a touch of mead. Maybe fifty twenty five twenty five? Garnished with a crushed mint leaf. The menthol would give it a nice cool aftertaste."

Will Minerva kill the mutant silently?

Will Larza return with her gear for the heist?

Will the bar tender listen to Zee's drink mixing advice?

Stay tuned to find out!

[Earl of Purple]

The Silken Whisper

The hybrid is grabbed by surprise- he's so drunk, he didn't even notice Minerva's approach- and his neck is broken easily. He collapses like a rag doll, very dead indeed.

Larza snags a bag from a patron's belt, containing some miscellaneous coins and a glass orb with a miniature iron tower sealed inside it.

The bartender ignores Zee's musings on improving his collection of booze; his customers tend to prefer the stuff that gets them drunk fast rather than tastes nice.

Zee might note the sounds from upstairs; a man has just yelled in... possibly anger? Then there's a sound of glass breaking and a door slamming open. The hybrids are a little bit telepathic. Not much; they can't send anything except vague impressions and emotions, and that only to others in their cult. It's also pretty short-ranged; the hybrids in the brothel had no idea what happened to those on the shuttle. But when somebody's drunk thoughts are felt leaving and going round the back, and then his brain is snuffed out after a fleeting moment of surprise? They felt that.

[5a Violista]

[Tempest Row]

Harley Zorzo is walking up the streets of Tempest Row. Long skirt and matching blouse, hair in a ponytail, sheathed sword attached to her waist-high belt, and, obviously, a mask covering the scars on the left side of her face.

She usually doesn't hang around Skyside, but she's heard rumors of a vigilante around here similar to the one who attacked her home. She, obviously, has no idea who he is so she's looking around Tempest Row hoping she can find one of his victims or someone who's met the vigilante before.

[Purple Eagle]

Harley Zorzo is walking up the streets of Tempest Row. Long skirt and matching blouse, hair in a ponytail, sheathed sword attached to her waist-high belt, and, obviously, a mask covering the scars on the left side of her face.

She usually doesn't hang around Skyside, but she's heard rumors of a vigilante around here similar to the one who attacked her home. She, obviously, has no idea who he is so she's looking around Tempest Row hoping she can find one of his victims or someone who's met the vigilante before.

[Tempest Row]

A nondescript man in a trenchcoat walks by her, stops and sniffs the air in her direction. Humming to get her attention, he steps into an empty alleyway and calls out to her. "In here, fellow shapeshifter, I may know of what you seek."

If she answers, he'll be standing there in his base form, an eleven-year old black boy with a bald head, black sclera, asian eyes and red irises, dressed in black trousers and barechested. If she doesn't answer, he'll step out to meet her in this form and wave her in.

"So. You look like a woman in search of something." He starts, confidently. "You fit the description of someone I'm looking for, as well. How about a trade of information?"

[5a Violista]

[Tempest Row]

While the humming didn't get her attention, the 'fellow shapeshifter' line definitely did. Does...does everyone in Skyside know her? she wonders. Somehow this trenchcoat-man seems to know her, and it makes her curious about why. Sure, there's some people who she'd expect to know her, but...honestly, most people have completely forgotten about her except as a disembodied name.

So she heads into the alleyway to talk with him.

"Yes, I'm trying to find out about someone," Harley says. She realizes that by coming there, she basically confirmed that she is a shape-shifter...and based on the boy's statements, she could assume that he suspected her of being one but wasn't completely sure. And so, she basically confirmed that she is the person whose description he knew...which leaves Harley at a disadvantage.

"So what information are you looking for?" she asks in response, as she tries to tease out his intentions.

[Shadowcaller]

The Silken Whisper

That was that. She would need to burn the body too to be safe, but first she had to deal with his friends. She gently places the body in a nearby trash container and then walks back into the Silken Whisper to find Zee. She makes sure to use the front entrance this time to not make it too obvious. "He's been dealt with. But there were others, right? Have you seen anything?"

[Rebonack]

[The Silken Whisper]

"The other three are gathering their weapons and putting their pants on, I think," Zee says as she throws back the rest of the sunshine and deftly tosses the tin cup onto the counter. With her other hand she brushes aside her coat and draws one of her tonfa from its holster. It looks like a pretty unremarkable length of polished wood with a little handle sticking off the side.

At least until she starts channeling her power through it.

The unassuming length of wood splits apart along its length, sections sliding over and around each other to expose internal conduits of green and gold. Shapes of amber light snap into existence around it until it appears less like a stick and more like some kind of crazy gun. Considering the way one end is glowing, that's probably the part you don't want to have pointed at you. From the weapon comes a hum, a singular clear, crystalline note not unlike the sound of rubbing a wet finger along the mouth of a glass.

The other tonfa is draw, the longer length held parallel to her arm like a splint. It doesn't do anything else of note.

Then?

Zee raises her voice.

"There are some infectious doom-monsters in here looking to cause the next apocalyptic doom event. We're going to be nipping this one before it gets a chance to start. All of you clear out."

Now this is a tricky one. Zee's asserting her Will pretty directly here, with her targets (possibly) deciding that Zee's suggestion is pretty much the best idea they've heard all day. And she can only assault the egos of four people at once, not everyone in the room. So she has to pick who really carefully. The most obvious choices are the two bouncers. After them, the two most heavily armed and/or meanest looking patrons. Hopefully when the others see those four bolt, everyone else will follow suit and no one will be around to get caught in the cross fire.

And/or available to be 'accidentally' set on fire by Minerva.

[Earl of Purple]

The Silken Whisper

The Luxan and the Kroot both leg it, compelled by Zee's Will. The most dangerous looking patron is a scarred blue-grey Nebari gunslinger with black hair wearing a reinforced purple jumpsuit and armed with a very long energy rifle; he gets up and leaves with them. Next most dangerous looking is a human gunslinger with purple hair, wearing a long duster over a space suit. She has at least six exotic pistols, though there may be more under her coat. She doesn't move, and stays sitting at the bar even as the others leave.

Unless stopped, all the patrons (except the aforementioned gunslinger) leave in quite a hurry, and so do a lot of the girls. Not all of them, however; there's two left inside, a young half-elf with a chain attaching her collar to the wall, and a slightly older girl that stays with her.

[Hattish Thing]

The Silken Whisper

The process of navigating back to the Silken Whisper was easy by rooftop, for Larza knew the surrounding area like the back of her hand, her area awareness aided by the extraordinarily efficient handheld grappler she made frequent use of. As she draws closer to the bar, swinging from rooftop to rooftop, she notices a number of patron rushing out of the building, terrified.

That's... a deeply foreboding thing to see. Maybe her new friends were getting in trouble?

--

Once she grapples onto the side of the bar, the goblin will winch down onto the ground before disconnecting the cable, watching it snap back into the handheld tool as a tape measure might before heading around. She'll pop her head through the doorway, glancing inside, before raising her dark red brows.

"Oh sh*t, what the hell happened here?!"

[Shadowcaller]

[The Silken Whisper]

Minerva will grab the chain the half-elf is attached to and will attempt to simply break it with the strength of her power armor to make them clear the scene. The last thing she needed was people running around screaming while she was purging. Her first instinct had to been to simply execute this xeno that clearly was some awful mix of eldar blood, but that might provoke some reactions she didn't want right now and there would still be plenty of these fouls beings out there.

If this succeds she will in a much less supernatural way order them to leave. Though considering what she was, it might still be just effective, especially considering the force in her voice.

"Get out."

Once that's taken care of she will turn her attention towards the stairs. "Is that the only exit?" She asks Zee as their xeno friend enters the establishment. Just great. "We're dealing with our 'friends'. You should take cover." Hopefully their grot wouldn't be killed in the crossfire.

[Rebonack]

[The Silken Whisper]

"So hi there!" Zee calls out to the woman with purple hair, giving her not-gun tonfa hand a wave. "There should be three bald dudes with anger, weapons, and an alien organ stuck inside them coming down there stairs here in a moment. Some of the tougher ones have some scary psionic abilities and given that you just blew off my little Jedi mind trick thing you could probably resist whatever nonsense they throw at you that isn't lasers."

Most people have a bit more trouble resisting lasers since they are made of meat.

"I dunno if you're just going to watch or feel like helping BUT if you do there's a big space ship we're going to be staging a hostile takeover on to clear out the evil alien infection so that they don't spread it all over the place. There will probably be monetary rewaaaards~"

Everyone likes monetary rewards, right?

Zee does.

They're really useful for procuring goods and services.

"I'm Zee, by the way. The bartender over at Trog's Tavern? I'm not sure if I've seen you in there before. Do you come here often?" Zee asks as she glances around looking for cover. There probably isn't anything in here that would count as cover against absurd 40k weapons.

[Purple Eagle]

While the humming didn't get her attention, the 'fellow shapeshifter' line definitely did. Does...does everyone in Skyside know her? she wonders. Somehow this trenchcoat-man seems to know her, and it makes her curious about why. Sure, there's some people who she'd expect to know her, but...honestly, most people have completely forgotten about her except as a disembodied name.

So she heads into the alleyway to talk with him.

"Yes, I'm trying to find out about someone," Harley says. She realizes that by coming there, she basically confirmed that she is a shape-shifter...and based on the boy's statements, she could assume that he suspected her of being one but wasn't completely sure. And so, she basically confirmed that she is the person whose description he knew...which leaves Harley at a disadvantage.

"So what information are you looking for?" she asks in response, as she tries to tease out his intentions.

[Tempest Row]

Shuyoru looks back at her, staring into her mask's eyeholes as though he can see through it. "Harley Zorzo." He simply says, remaining silent for a while to gauge her reaction. "I'm old enough that I've learned to detect a potential shapeshifter by scent - there tends to be some malleability that can be sensed - but without proof all I'd have is a hunch." He continues, pacing left and right while continuing to look at her, unblinking.

"I suppose I'll reveal my hand, then. I am a member of AMEN. My interest was piqued when Zefir made mention of a shapeshifter that used to lead AMEN. Further research I conducted revealed the appearance of her base form, MO, things like that. I've not met many evil-aligned shapeshifters here." Then he smiles, bearing his metallic fangs, but there's no malice in it directed at her. "Let's be friends." He finishes, giggling.

"Besides, I'm not the only one looking for you in the Nexus, but I seem to be the only one that doesn't want to kill you. A bounty hunter called Svetlana, for instance. Her sadism and evil would be interesting if she didn't use those gifts to go after villains. My sources tell me she would like nothing more than to get her mitts on you. I can help keep her off you." Best to sweeten the deal. He has no way of knowing that they've met, but he has ways of knowing Svetlana's modus operandi. "Whaddya say?"

[Earl of Purple]

The Silken Whisper

Zee will note that the walls and floor are marked with pockmarks from automatic weapons fire, but the salvaged spacecraft hull plating used to build the brothel is reasonably bullet proof- at least regarding the common weapons used by people who spend a lot of time on spacecraft that they'd rather not put a hole in. The alcoves and the bar are made of the same material as the walls, though usually painted differently. So there's lots of cover, though how much of it holds up against a boltpistol and a plasma weapon isn't clear. The gunslinger nods and jumps over the bar, grabbing a bottle and tucking it into her coat; she doesn't otherwise respond.

The half-elf's freed! And both girls flee the building as fast as they can. Just in time, too; the first of the hybrids has come down the stairs, wearing a pair of tattered orange shorts, a pair of sturdy boots and a flak vest over his bare torso. He's carrying a triple-barrelled boarding shotgun, which he fires at the closest target. All three barrels are fired in a single cacophonous roar straight at Minerva. Shotguns probably aren't the best choice to use against power armour, however, but the sheer amount of shot might just find a weakpoint. He's a bit tipsy, and didn't brace himself properly, so he's fallen over and dropped his shotgun, which is empty regardless. He's scrabbling for the laspistol that's fallen out of the waistband of his shorts.

[5a Violista]

[Tempest Row]

By scent?
Harley suddenly starts imagining sneaking up behind someone to sniff them really hard. Or, worse - what if someone decides sniffing is too hard and just starts licking people? Wait, didn't sniffing like that happen back at Thanksmas?
Harley decides she needs to find out what this 'scent' smells like and...find a way to counteract it.

"If you're in AMEN and he told you that, then he probably also told you what he thinks about that shapeshifter," she says. What Harley thinks about Zefir's assessment is a whole other matter.

Not wanting this other person to hold all the cards, Harley decides to reveal some of her own and explain why his deal isn't as sweet as he thinks it is. "I've actually met a bounty hunter Svetlana before," she says, shrugging. "She's a sweet girl. Not really worried about her: I'm actually here to find about someone else." Sure, Harley thinks Svetlana is too fanatical and sadistic, she also thinks shes pretty easily tricked. Definitely something she could handle, she figures. No, it's this other vigilante she's worried about because he somehow figured out where she lives and small details that happened at GLoG.

[Purple Eagle]

By scent?
Harley suddenly starts imagining sneaking up behind someone to sniff them really hard. Or, worse - what if someone decides sniffing is too hard and just starts licking people? Wait, didn't sniffing like that happen back at Thanksmas?
Harley decides she needs to find out what this 'scent' smells like and...find a way to counteract it.

"If you're in AMEN and he told you that, then he probably also told you what he thinks about that shapeshifter," she says. What Harley thinks about Zefir's assessment is a whole other matter.

Not wanting this other person to hold all the cards, Harley decides to reveal some of her own and explain why his deal isn't as sweet as he thinks it is. "I've actually met a bounty hunter Svetlana before," she says, shrugging. "She's a sweet girl. Not really worried about her: I'm actually here to find about someone else." Sure, Harley thinks Svetlana is too fanatical and sadistic, she also thinks shes pretty easily tricked. Definitely something she could handle, she figures. No, it's this other vigilante she's worried about because he somehow figured out where she lives and small details that happened at GLoG.

[Tempest Row]

Shuyoru senses her reaction at being detected by scent and quickly adds: "I, Shuyoru, am centuries old. I'm also a shapeshifter who's been with other shapeshifters. That I can smell it is due to centuries of practice. As for Zefir's opinion of you, your actions made it difficult for me to convince him of my 'honest' intentions. Fortunately for him, I have no desire to take over. There are ways to corrupt ones into decadence without needing to lead." He shrugs, as if to say 'too much work'.

The vampire 'boy' can't help but let out a Joker-like laugh when she seems not to take Svetlana seriously. "Sure, she's rash and has no means of detecting shapeshifters supernaturally, but you shouldn't underestimate her just because you can disguise yourself, Harley. That being said, my offer of friendship has no strings attached, I just wish to befriend another shapeshifter. Is that so hard to believe?"

He raises up an eyebrow when she reveals her motive for being here. "Oh? Who is it you seek? Two heads are better than one, let me assist you."

[5a Violista]

[Tempest Row]

Harley also has to laugh: "My actions? Is that what he's telling people now?" Of course, since Shuyoru is part of AMEN, she doesn't elaborate: saying what she thinks is going on to Shuyoru will violate the promise she made with him the last time they met.

"Sure, we can be friends," she finally says. To be honest, she hasn't had all that many good experiences with other shapeshifters - and not that many experiences in the first place. She won't trust him, but they can still be friends.

"There's a vigilante who usually hangs around here," she explains. "Wears power armor. I want to find more about him and what he's been doing."

[Hattish Thing]

The Silken Whisper

Zee will note that the walls and floor are marked with pockmarks from automatic weapons fire, but the salvaged spacecraft hull plating used to build the brothel is reasonably bullet proof- at least regarding the common weapons used by people who spend a lot of time on spacecraft that they'd rather not put a hole in. The alcoves and the bar are made of the same material as the walls, though usually painted differently. So there's lots of cover, though how much of it holds up against a boltpistol and a plasma weapon isn't clear. The gunslinger nods and jumps over the bar, grabbing a bottle and tucking it into her coat; she doesn't otherwise respond.

The half-elf's freed! And both girls flee the building as fast as they can. Just in time, too; the first of the hybrids has come down the stairs, wearing a pair of tattered orange shorts, a pair of sturdy boots and a flak vest over his bare torso. He's carrying a triple-barrelled boarding shotgun, which he fires at the closest target. All three barrels are fired in a single cacophonous roar straight at Minerva. Shotguns probably aren't the best choice to use against power armour, however, but the sheer amount of shot might just find a weakpoint. He's a bit tipsy, and didn't brace himself properly, so he's fallen over and dropped his shotgun, which is empty regardless. He's scrabbling for the laspistol that's fallen out of the waistband of his shorts.

In response to all the chaos, Larza yelps and scampers backwards and out of the doorway, managing to avoid the hail of shotgun fire aimed for Minerva. This was not exactly her forte, but she was hardly helpless either. After a second or so of deep though, the thief will rush towards a nearby window looking into the tavern before retrieving a trio of mechanical spheres slightly larger than a marble.

With a grand throw, the goblin will toss the spheres into the room beside the attackers! The instant that the spheres connect with the surrounding area, they'll burst in an explosion of electricity several times stronger than any taser.

"Go to sleep, uggos."

[Shadowcaller]

The Silken Whisper

Minerva wasn't enough of a fool to stake her life on her power armor unless she absolutely needed to. She ducks behind the best nearby cover she could see as the mutants starts shooting which so happens to be a table.

She certainly hadn't expected the moron to use such a weak weapon against a power armour, or to drop it in the very same motion. It will will take her a moment to return fire, in which explosions are already going off. Had that mad-grot just thrown them? She couldn't be disappointed in mutants being exploded to death even if the deed had been done by a xeno.
If the gene-stealer mutants remain alive after that, she will open fire with her bolt gun at them to make sure they were absolutely dead.

[Rebonack]

[Silken Whisper]

"The other is still up there. You guys cover this side, I'm going to flank 'em from behind," Zee says as she ducks around a corner and out of sight.

Why?

Because she prefers to be unobserved when she jaunts off a few steps sideways in time. She doesn't have to be unobserved. But she knows that anything close to teleporting (Not that she's teleportiong, she's walking! Shut up Libra you don't know what you're talking about!) is related to the Warp. And she would rather maintain Minerva's misunderstanding that she's a human psyker and that's it. Knowledge more than that might make this little adventure trying.

And the Imperium likes ignorance, don't they?

Anywho!

Off Zee goes.

That feeling of looming awe, equal parts wonder and fear, settles over the area. Like some huge thing is lurking just out of sight. Which she is. She checks the second floor, getting an idea of where the hybrid is and where innocent civilians are. She'll wait for the next hybrid to begin heading down the stairs to step back into reality again, popping out from behind cover and firing series of bolts from her gun-tonfa at him while his attention is on the gun-battle below. If there isn't much in the way of cover up here she'll be holding up her defensive tonfa in anticipation of a counter-attack.

The bolts are fun. Because 'bolt' is pretty literal. A central solid spike surrounded by molten glass which in turn is surrounded by an oxygen-silicon plasma. It is moving rather quickly with significant force in addition to being quite hot. Getting hit by it would not be comfortable.

[Earl of Purple]

Silken Whisper

The mutant wasn't exactly expecting to fight someone in power armour. He thought it was a bar fight or something, not witch hunters. He screams as the electricity courses through his body, kicking his pistol further away, and he's unconscious. Until an explosive bolt round hits him, punching through his flak vest as though it were cardboard and detonating in his ribs. It's messy.

Upstairs, his compatriot wasn't going to use the stairs; he's got the vague idea that somebody's looking for them specifically. The fact the only gunshots he heard started with the shotgun of his dead friend is a bit of a clue. Instead, he's planning an escape by setting a krak grenade at the rear wall of the small bedroom he was using. There was another bouncer on this floor, a human woman with crude cybernetics, but she's got a knife marked with the wyrm-shape Zee saw on the shuttle's graffiti stuck in her kidneys. There's a fair few innocents on this floor, more girls in collars (and often without the skimpy outfits elsewhere) cooped up in the rooms, which have been locked from the inside. Either by girls not wanting to get involved, or spacers not wanting to be disturbed. The hybrid's also locked himself in, and taken the key from the bouncer. He's currently sheltering behind the bed, next to a pale human woman naked save a steel collar about her neck. She's clutching an ephemeral nightdress to her chest, and sobbing gently. In addition to the krak grenade, this hybrid has a double-barrelled lasgun and a large revolver.

Street of Slavers- Night

Even the most despicable road in Skyside rests sometimes, and that time is now. All the shops are shut and locked down, and a heavy steel gate at each end has been swung shut denying entrance to most pedestrians. There's a small gatehouse at each end, however, and occasionally somebody goes through; either a slaver returning to an apartment on the Guild's private street, or a bounty hunter returning escaped slaves for a fee, or sometimes a desperate civilian dragging a prospective slave behind them. There's about five guards at each gatehouse, and there's probably more guards on the street behind the gates- it's hard to be sure, but the Slaver's Guild of Skyside tend to be more than a little paranoid.

Any individuals in power armour will be challenged as they approach, and if they don't stop, shot at by net-launchers.

[Hattish Thing]

Silken Whisper

As the unconscious mutant is utterly annihilated, Larza ducks beneath the window, back up against the bar's outer walls. After bearing witness to the armored woman's merciless slaughter of the downed foe, the goblin will proceed to nearly retch, only just managing to force everything down for the time being.

What an absolutely awful thing to see. Burglary was completely her style, but Larza had always found wanton violence unjustifiable. With a gulp, she breathes in deeply before shaking her head and electing to climb up the side of the bar and burst through a window above.

"What the f*ck was that. What the f-"

---

Street of Slavers- Night

At around 2:00 AM, the quiet monotony of the night is broken by the grating noise of a powerful engine roaring to life down a distant street. The sound, more akin to the boom of a jet exhaust port than the rumblings of a traditional automobile engine lingers for several seconds before ultimately becoming drowned out by the sound of a rapidly approaching vehicle. About thirty seconds later, an armored vehicle twice as large as the average automobile turns the corner, eight wheels screeching, bright lights blinding all in its path. It is a war machine masquerading as a car, every inch covered in plates of varying thickness which form a steel shell.

With little heed for its surroundings, the armored vehicle turns yet another sharp corner, taking out a chunk of brick which forms a corner of a nearby building, blasting dust all over. Once the dust cloud settles, any individuals sequestered within the forward-facing gatehouse which overlooks Slaver Street will find themselves facing the metal behemoth. It is parked around sixty feet from the gates, with its lights facing forward, threatening to blind all who look its way.

A second passes.

The headlights go dark. An engine fires.

The armored vehicle rockets forward at an alarming speed, aiming to crash directly through the gate and crush anyone and anything unlucky enough to end up in its way. A few seconds after impact, the armored vehicle stops, and a hatch atop the metal monstrosity raises up with an eerie hiss and groan. Yet, nothing emerges.

Spoiler: Armored Vehicle

Show

[Shadowcaller]

((Totally teleporting! Percieved instantaneousness counts!))

Silken Whisper

Minerva feels only satisfaction as the man's insides are torn apart by her bullets. A fate well-deserved.
That was two down, one to go.

"Zee! Where's the last one?" She calls out. As they weren't heading down the stairs right away they might have gotten the idea to use a window to flee through or hide somewhere. Minerva hadn't seen any fire escapes as she had survied the building but it's possible she had missed it. "Still upstairs?" She's going to head there either way but it would be good with some heads-up first.

Hopefully Larza or Zee can reach them first as Minerva would probably just shoot through the poor girl or something.

[Rebonack]

[Silken Whisper]

It isn't even instantaneous! She has to WALK! When it comes to moving short distances like this drifting from one place to another is actually slower than strolling since it takes a few seconds for Yezekiel to unfold and then refold herself!

ANYWAY the other mutant wasn't where she was expecting it to be. This is one of the really obnoxious problems with how her perceptions work. If she doesn't get a good read on worldlines she just has to kind of guess and her constructed surroundings might not really match what's actually there. It's a giant pain.

Also a giant pain is the fact that she can't just jaunt around the locked door, either. Local space gets kind of... unhappy when she drifts. She either needs to move to a new location that she [i]hasn't/i] disturbed or wait for things to calm down before she can do it again. And time is of the essence since that hybrid jerk has a hostage and is planning on using a krak grenade (what the heck is a krak grenade?) to blow a hole in the wall and make his escape. That means whatever Zee is going to do she needs to do pretty quick.

To that end she tosses her main-hand tonfa into the air, catching the other end of the shaft. Quick as a wink it's a stick again! And now the upper L-shaped portion is splitting apart into a glaive-like blade of glass and plasma. One of the problems with glass blades is that while they are stupid sharp they break easily. But when you're blade is able to basically regenerate itself...

Zee shoves the weapon straight through the lock, carving out a molten slot in the door and kicking it open. Her defensive tonfa arm is held at the ready here since she is pretty much one hundred percent certain that she's going to get shot at.

Getting shot at really isn't any fun.

"Howdy! Would you care to surrender peacefully?" she calls out to the hybrid. She's pretty sure she knows what the answer is but hey! Doesn't hurt to try.

[Gnrlshrimp]

[Back at the Mad Fronts]

"Hmm. Excellent. I can make sure I'm ready whenever you are. And, mmm, to make sure you're found innocent in the end, obviously I know how to make hard-light projectors too." Affy spreads his arms and chuckles, making his appearance momentarily flicker. "So on the offchance that anything is recovered afterwards, and I'm sure I can make sure enough pieces are left lying around somewhere, close inspection will reveal that it's, mmm, not quite the same as yours." He leans forward on his cane. "Just name the date and time, and we'll go pay our friend a visit."

[Earl of Purple]

Silken Whisper

There's a loud crack from upstairs as the grenade set up against the wall detonates, the shaped explosive (apparently? I thought krak weaponry imploded, rather than exploded) ripping a hole in the metal wall. The hybrid's up quite quickly after, and he's about to jump out the new hole as Zee cuts the door open. The girl he was with is screaming and cowering, surprised by the noise and the woman cutting down the door.

Minerva heading up the stairs likely won't help, but Larza's position at the front of the building does mean she's in a good position to stop or slow the hybrid before he recovers from the fall. He's jumped but managed an awkward roll to avoid injury, but Larza might be able to stop him.

Street of Slavers- Night

The radio is used to alert the Guild as soon as the vehicle stops, headlights blinding the guards, but not much of a message is transmitted before it accelerates through the gates, which aren't intended to stop an armoured vehicle. The guards rush up to it after it stops, about five right now with ten more on their way. They've dropped their nonlethal weaponry and drawn pistols, and one with a good aim throws a bottle filled with a magical sleep-gas towards the open hatch. If anyone breathes the gas in, they should fall asleep, though it requires inhalation and it can be resisted.

[Hattish Thing]

Silken Whisper

Larza lets out a frightened squeak as the final mutant jumps through smoke and imploded wall in order to plummet down an entire story and land upon the cement before her. The goblin chokes a little on both dust and surprise as the mutant begins to rise up from the ground, though she regains focus just fast enough to reach for a pronged metal device at her belt.

She now holds the large, fork-like object before her in both hands. She'll growl towards the mutant, fangs visible, before pressing a button on the device, causing electricity to spark between the prongs.

"Surrender, you'll be fine. Just... let this be easy?"

"Don't... struggle."

--

Street of Slavers- Night

The hastily thrown canister of sleep gas easily makes its mark, clattering down into the vehicle before going off. A second or so later, the hatch collapses once again. The vehicle seems to deactivate entirely, systems winding down with a low thrum and a soft hiss. All is silent, safe. Then, a large red button belonging to a complicated remote control device is pressed from atop a nearby building.

From within the vehicle, a platform is raised up, and upon this platform, a powerful-looking chain gun turret can be seen. It unfolds within seconds before proceeding to belch forth bullets, firing an endless stream towards guards and buildings alike.

It will continue to fire until emptied, which shall take some time provided ample targets exist.

[Shadowcaller]

Silken Whisper

Minerva will start heading up the stairs as Zee seems to have disappeared. Where had she gone off to? Had she turned invisible?
As she arrives upstairs she looks around for any clues to their whereabouts. She could just start killing everyone and let the Emperor sort them out. They were all heretics, mutants, heathens and xeno's after all. But that would likely lead to disasterous results in the long run so it was best if she just focused on the worst of them.

She will simply start to slam open doors and look inside to see if she can spot the cultist or an open window in which they might have escaped.

[Rebonack]

[Silken Whisper]

Zee dashes through the room, now filled with smoke and screams and dust such that it is.

"Hidon'tworryeverythingwillbeokayI'llberightbacksi nceyoumightbeinfectediwthaliendoombabies!" Zee calls out rather quickly as she dashes past the terrified woman and leaps out of the hole in the wall herself.

Now, she's doesn't like splatting on pavement.

It's hard on the knees!

So she stabs her glaive into the wall next to her, carving a molten furrow into the outside of the building to slow her decent to a reasonable degree.

Oh hey look!

The goblin is trying to distract the evil omnicidal alien hybrid thing!

That's very brave of her.

Hopefully he'll be distracted enough not to notice Zee sneaking up behind him, since that's what she's aiming to do here. She doesn't want to start shooting when Larza is standing right there. She might hit her! So instead she aims to stick the pointy end of her glaive right through the hybrid's brain-stem. She finds that, under most circumstances, this stops things from being threatening.

[Earl of Purple]

Silken Whisper

The hybrid snarls at Larza and tries to run, ignoring the threat. He's limping, so can't run very fast.

Meanwhile, Zee's melting a rift in the wall, and chasing! She can catch up quite easily, he's broken one of his toes and he was in too much of a hurry to put his shoes on. She also stabs him in the head, which certainly stops him being threatening. Might traumatise Larza more, though.

Good luck finding out where the last two are; the three in the brothel are dead.

Minerva can see the door Zee hacked open quite easily, but if she wants she can kick down the other doors. There's no windows, and every room contains a bed. Most are also home to a naked or nearly naked male and a similarly attired female; most of the men are holding weapons, which they are going to fire when the door's kicked in. Most of the weapons are pistols; either low-powered energy weapons along the lines of laspistols (though there's also phasers, blasters and microwave-guns) or solid-shot weapons, mostly automatic but a few revolvers and a single flintlock.

Street of Slavers

The guards on the scene die, but at least it's quite quick. Maybe one of them survived by diving and remaining still amidst the corpses of their colleagues, but probably not. The ten guards that were headed this way have also all died, but between a quick scream on the radio and the sound of the chaingun, another group of guards are getting activated. There's not so many of them, and they're starting further away, but they're hopefully able to actually stop the vehicle.

Bearing in mind this is a street known for slavery, and most of the shops are filled with as many single-person enclosures as possible to maximise the amount of slaves they can store, and a brick wall won't stop a heavy machine gun (or even a light machine gun), is the chain gun actually shooting the buildings?

[Purple Eagle]

Harley also has to laugh: "My actions? Is that what he's telling people now?" Of course, since Shuyoru is part of AMEN, she doesn't elaborate: saying what she thinks is going on to Shuyoru will violate the promise she made with him the last time they met.

"Sure, we can be friends," she finally says. To be honest, she hasn't had all that many good experiences with other shapeshifters - and not that many experiences in the first place. She won't trust him, but they can still be friends.

"There's a vigilante who usually hangs around here," she explains. "Wears power armor. I want to find more about him and what he's been doing."

[Tempest Row]

Shuyoru grins and claps once happily, sounding please. "Alright then, friend! I hope we get along swimmingly well and you don't try to betray or hoodwink me..." Then he grows momentarily dead serious, staring intensely at her with a frown. "... like the others." He finishes menacingly, holding the gaze for a second before returning back to friendliness. Can never be too prepared as a shapeshifter.

He taps his chin in thought at her reaction to Zefir's claims, looking down at her feet, then looks up at her. But first, to help her with her mission, they could walk and talk. "Alright then, lemme help. Where do you think he might be? Lead on, I'm right behind you." He shapeshifts to look like he could be her child - that happens to look a lot like her, but male and about 13 - and dressed in a shirt, trousers and sneakers. "Blend in better."

"Meanwhile, I'll guess what the actual issue is: you joined AMEN and eventually took over - if you weren't put there by the last leader - but got deposed by someone else. Eventually, Zefir becomes leader but fears that you'll return to take your rightful place - and what AMEN leader isn't power-hungry, amirite, not that I mind too much - so he mistrusts all shapeshifters and makes you look like some sort of tyrant... is that correct?" He asks, following her as she leads.