CAVE: Conquering Alliance of Villainous Evil!

[Halae]

[Red Base]

Kaydara smiles and stands, extending a hand.

"Excellent! We will be looking forward to your report."

[Red Base]

Emily will extend her own hand, and given its size the closest she can come to a real handshake with Kaydara is to take the robotic woman's hand between her index finger a thumb and shake like that, "Then if there's nothing else, I suppose I'll take my leave."

[Nova_Eclipse]

[Red Base]

Kaydara nods, shaking Emily's hand.

"Good luck."

With that, Kaydara turns and heads into the hall. The way back to the hangar with Emily's bike is clear, though she does happen to see a few android soldiers here and there, in case she gets lost. Kaydara didn't seem to be concerned about leaving Emily to her own devices, so there might be an opportunity here. Then again...it could be a trap, if Kaydara caught on to the ruse in the meeting room....


[CAVE HQ - Slipstream]

From out of nowhere, a squad of soldiers seems to materialize, surrounding the woman. Some of them seem to be androids; others are clearly human or metahumans of some kind or other. All of them are pointing weapons at her, but the one closest to her, clad in green, calls out to her.

"This is a restricted area! State your business!"

[Blue Dragon's Peak]

Chaeron smiles, but says nothing more. The trip to the dragon's head isn't terribly eventful; while the trail is fairly easily found, it's rocky and steep nonetheless. The mechanical wheezing grows louder as he approaches. Finally standing in front of the great beast, one look can tell Malice that the dragon's been injured; there are scars and pockmarks cratering over the great beast's entire skin. The head lifts slightly as Malice arrives, and seems to bob at him just a bit, before looking down at him. The dragon's voice seems to come from all around him, though its mouth doesn't move.

"Welcome, Malice. This shouldn't take long."

[Valley Approach]

"Roger that, Commander," the squad leader says, before nodding to the catgirl, and speaking aloud this time. "Commander Malice will see you. This way, please."

He begins heading towards the Blue Dragon's peak. Lots of new construction is evident in this area of the base; some still not finished. Finally, after a long trek, the squad brings the catgirl and her entourage into Malice's office. Once they've entered, the squad stands aside, in the back, to be precise but remain present until dismissed. They're dedicated and professional enough to know better than to leave a new prospect alone with one of the Commanders unless asked to leave. They do salute, however, then stand at attention whilst being out of the way.

[Laboratories]

Baumhund acknowledges the mind, but isn't foolhardy enough to try to issue it a command yet. Instead, she returns her focus to Larukh.

"I am...able to touch it," she says, "But I do not know what commands it might take from me. I believe it may need to feel some kind of comradery with me. Clearly, it remembers its purpose, but it also remembers brotherhood, and much betrayal. I believe if I try to command it as I am now, I do not think it will end well."

[Hattish Thing]

[CAVE HQ - Slipstream]

Once the soldiers appear around her, the colorfully dressed super casually shifts her weight to the side. Androids and metahumans, just like her contact has said. Do androids bleed like normal people do? Do they scream when you break them? Her knuckles itched. Ah, but now was not the time. She'd get her kicks another way, another time. Slipstream sighs before rolling her eyes and scratching at the rose-colored nail polish she wears. "Mm, down boy." Her eyes flicker with gleeful malevolence as she speaks, her voice low in tone and raspy. A disarming grin appears on her face. "This is no way to treat a guest, now is it?"

At this, she steps forward towards the soldier. It's slow and calculated, a more or less nonthreatening movement.

Risky, still - but that was the point. The excitement was intoxicating.

"I want a piece of this. All of this."

[Nova_Eclipse]

[CAVE HQ - Slipstream]

The soldier seems wary, until Slip says she wants in. At that point, he nods, and puts his hand to his ear.

"One moment, I'll summon one of the commanders for an interview."


A few unintelligible squaks from his radio later, he nods, as a red beam of light seems to streak down out of the sky and materializes into a raven-haired woman with irises that seem to burn like lava for a moment. Her amor is similar to some of the androids in the squad, and she looks to Slip as the squad leader salutes.

"Kaydara, of the Red Dragon. You're interested in joining us? Tell me about yourself."

[Reinholdt]

[Necromeowncer]

The catgirl's ears perk up. "They will?" She quickly looks away as impassively as she can and flicks her hair over her shoulder. "I mean- Of course they will." Obviously.

With another wave of the hand, the bearers of her chair resume moving forward. She doesn't say anything else during the trip, following the squad while her attention lazily takes in the construction.

When they arrive, the catgirl's cyberzombies kneel, lowering the palanquin. The catgirl finally stands and steps out, flicking her umbrella open in a smooth, well practiced flourish and holding it above her as if overhead light was somehow offensive. She moves forward and stands at the head of her retinue.

[Hattish Thing]

[CAVE HQ - Slipstream]

Once the soldier in green nods and calls for backup, Slipstream snickers to herself. "Now that's more like it." Already meeting with one of the commanders? Mm, now that was the sort of response she was accustomed to. But out here, in the middle of nowhere? She had been hoping for something a little more formal - air conditioning, at least. Slipstream allows herself a small sigh. Then, a beam of scarlet light shines down from somewhere overhead. Ahh, now that was suitably dramatic! A small smile forms upon her heart-shaped face. It only grows wider - slightly crooked - as the raven-haired woman appears.

Was this some kind of magic? Something more technological in nature? It hardly mattered. As Kaydara steps forward, Slipstream curtsies sardonically. She takes a moment to eye the other woman, her response slow and deliberate. "Skysiders call me Slipstream. I don't care for titles personally." Titles make you lazy. When you're nothing - nobody - you're hungry; the kind of hunger that changes the world. "You know, I've watched you die." Another small grin. "Watched you burn all of Inside to the ground, too." For seconds at a time, of course, but Kaydara didn't need to know that.

She'll step forward towards the other woman. "There are infinite possibilities." The super's eyes glint somewhat. "I've lived them all in bits and pieces." Her body flickers as static for a second before she becomes fully corporeal once again. Doing so didn't hurt - not anymore. But it still made her nauseous. "In a few, you kill me. Right here - right now. Shoot me dead." It was quick, nearly painless. "In others, well." At this, Slipstream points towards headquarters beyond. "You take me there." Unless stopped, she'll get close enough to Kaydara to whisper. "I've seen cities burn, and I've been there beside you."

"It's our destiny, Kaydara." At that, Slipstream will confidently stride past Kaydara, blowing a kiss back towards her. "Are you coming?"

[Morty]

[Laboratories]

Something like interest gleams in Larukh's stoic, inhuman eyes.

"No, most likely not. Betrayal and brotherhood... it is no surprise they still remember both. They were betrayed several times over. We will need to devise a way to make you and others seem familiar to their minds. The memory of betrayal could be a method, though I do not know if there are any servants of the Corpse-Emperor here in the Nexus."

[Halae]

[Red Base]

Kaydara nods, shaking Emily's hand.

"Good luck."

With that, Kaydara turns and heads into the hall. The way back to the hangar with Emily's bike is clear, though she does happen to see a few android soldiers here and there, in case she gets lost. Kaydara didn't seem to be concerned about leaving Emily to her own devices, so there might be an opportunity here. Then again...it could be a trap, if Kaydara caught on to the ruse in the meeting room....

[Red Base]

Emily is an opportunist at heart, so when she sees that security is lax, she deliberately takes a wrong turn to go exploring. The better an idea she has of the layout of this place, the better she can move through it at speed when necessary. Plus, she may be able to plant another one of those devices if she can find a good location...

[bc56]

HQ Readers

Someone else enters the room where Nemo is reading. She's a short woman with chin-length hair dyed pink, wearing long black robes. Her rope belt has a dagger fastened to it, made of a greenish metal. She has a book as well, an odd volume with stone covers, engraved with elaborate geometric patterns and apparently quite sharp. Maybe a watcher might glimpse the nearly-invisible entity following behind in her shadow, a creature with smoky form and three baleful eyes like burning cinders. "I am going to sit here." She takes a seat not far from Nemo, but doesn't open her book yet, instead balancing it on its spine in her lap.

[5a Violista]

[HQ Readers - prolly a book club or something]

Nemo hears that declaration of where they'll sit.

She looks up, and...notices the book, first, and then that it's just balancing.

The patterns on it look nice, at least. But Nemo hasn't read that book yet so she doesn't really know what it is. That is why, of course, she asks: "Um...what are you reading?" she asks. "It looks interesting."

[bc56]

HQ Book Club

"It is called the Thirsting Chronicle. It is a history, of a cult which worshipped no god, in a city without any buildings, on an island with no shore." Gem mutters something under her breath and runs her hand along the sharp edge of the cover. Her blood wells up in the grooves, which seem to soak it in. Then she opens the book, finding a specific page and beginning to read.

[5a Violista]

[HQ Book Club]

Come on, you can't just give a description as interesting as that, and then leave it!
"Oh, yeah?" Nemo says. "That sounds pretty interesting. Like, how did that work? What happened?" She starts peppering her with questions.

[Lord Magtok]

[Blue Dragon's Peak]

Chaeron smiles, but says nothing more. The trip to the dragon's head isn't terribly eventful; while the trail is fairly easily found, it's rocky and steep nonetheless. The mechanical wheezing grows louder as he approaches. Finally standing in front of the great beast, one look can tell Malice that the dragon's been injured; there are scars and pockmarks cratering over the great beast's entire skin. The head lifts slightly as Malice arrives, and seems to bob at him just a bit, before looking down at him. The dragon's voice seems to come from all around him, though its mouth doesn't move.

"Welcome, Malice. This shouldn't take long."

"I suppose I should be upfront with you now, before you probe my subconscious and find everything out for yourself," Malice sighs, resigning himself to the shedding of all his white lies and deceit and duplicity.

"I've never done anything like this. Magtok certainly has, so I know that, as he and I are branches from the same tree, on some level I should be capable of things on this sort of scale. Still, a certain degree of braggadocio was on display earlier, and I can't promise you everything will be perfect. I am, as the saying goes, only human," he admits, his ego visibly bristling as he puts himself through enormous discomfort to admit any sort of imperfection at all.

"I also don't really care that much about destroying Magtok. To be honest, I've been finding it hard to care much about anything at all lately. Mostly I've just been looking for something to do, something that matters." Krystal's been gone long enough that Malice is pretty confident she's never coming back. There's no one left to guilt trip him if he assumes a seat of power within a foreign army bent on conquering the entire Nexus.

"The rest wasn't bull****, though. The other commanders, they don't know what they're getting into, they don't understand the Nexus like I do. I have the home field advantage. I know how these people think, how they act, what you can expect from them and when. The name Malice is destined for greatness, and together, we will be first among equals, even if the others don't yet believe me," he insists again, reinforcing the promise he had made earlier.



Necromeowncer

"In the old days, we would force the newcomers to sign an oath in blood," Malice declares as the visitor walks in, taking a ritual dagger from his desk, twirling it between his shiny golden brass fingers. "It was largely ceremonial, a hazing ritual kept for tradition's sake more than anything else, because hardly anyone would ever sign with their own blood, and all of us, down to the last man, woman, and misbegotten foundling child, were scoundrels and liars, oathbreakers and cheats whose word was worth less than the papyrus it was splattered on. Who among us had ever kept so much as a single promise? What could a declaration of loyalty mean in a family of rogues, cuthroats, and murderers?"

"Nevertheless, we persisted. It was the official greeting for every new associate who dared cross the threshold. Everyone signed, one way or another. Blood for the blood gods. A pledge of allegiance to an assemblage of society's refuse, united only by our mutual contempt for the world beyond our unhallowed walls." Malice finally looks away from the dagger, his beady little eyes darting to the catgirl as if he only just noticed her arrival now.

"You're my first potential recruit. I could bring the practice back now, if I felt so inclined. I could lay out some parchment on this table, hand you the knife, and one of us, or maybe one of the soldiers, would be leaving this room with gauze wrapped around our wrists. It would have to be now, though. This is the interview that decides it, this is where precedent is set." He drives the knife into the table, and leans forward in his seat, fingers steepled and mad eyes waiting for her reaction. Everything's all up to you now, recruit. The ball is in your court, and Malice is eager to see your response to this utterly ridiculous curveball of an introduction.

[bc56]

HQ Book Club

"It is full of impossibilities, yet everything written within is true. Or perhaps it is the ravings of a madman, who stumbled upon some arcane secret. Either way, it is quite informative, at a cost." Maybe Nemo can hear the creature in Gem's shadow whispering, strange disjointed gibberish that, when you listen long enough, begins to hold a terrifying, blasphemous truth, though what that truth is depends on who's listening.

[5a Violista]

[HQ Book Club]

Since talking about this book is so interesting, Nemo closes her own book - but keeps a finger in her page.

"Yeah? That sounds interesting. Which do you..."

Nemo pauses.
She appears to be listening to something - maybe to the shadow? "No - no, that's not...no, that's not what it said," she claims. "It said, no, I know, but..."

Is anything she saying making sense?
"...Sorry." She apologizes. "It sounds like an interesting book."

[bc56]

HQ Book Club

"Ah, you can hear it too." Gem smiles, but not in a good way. "What did it tell you?" She's curious. The spirit of madness bound to serve her sometimes reveals unexpected truths.

[5a Violista]

[HQ Book Club]

"Nothing really," Nemo says. "Or, rather, nothing important. Just stuff I already knew."

[bc56]

HQ Book Club

"That's a shame. You can learn a great deal from what it says." Gem turns back to her book, but the shadow continues whispering. It could grant Nemo power. Secrets hidden to mortal minds. All she has to do is strike the occultist down. To release it from its bond.

[5a Violista]

[HQ Book Club]

Since it appears Gem is interested in getting back to reading, Nemo stretches her wings and then opens up her own book.

...

After a few moments, she looks up at Gem. "Hey. You're an occultist, aren't you?" she asks, judging based off the things the shadow is saying.

[bc56]

HQ Book Club

"Yes, I suppose I am. Why do you ask?" Gem seems kinda disappointed that her reading is being spoiled by questions. The sacrifice she gave to the book won't last long.

[5a Violista]

[HQ Book Club]

Oh.
Nemo can tell she doesn't want her reading interrupted.

So, she tries to answer as succinctly as possible, and to leave room for as few questions as possible. "I was just wondering if your shadow was talking about you or someone else."

Nemo looks back down at her book, as if offering to not interrupt again.

[bc56]

HQ Book Club

"Are you going to do what it says?" Gem knows. Nemo isn't the first person the shadow has tried to convince to kill her. The occultist fingers the dagger at her waist. "What did it offer you? Immortality? Power? Knowledge?"

[5a Violista]

[HQ Book Club]

"Nah, not interested," Nemo says. She turns a page. "It offered both power and knowledge, but it sounds like a hassle."

She shrugs.

[bc56]

HQ Book Club

Gem looks interested. "A good choice. It would have turned on you as soon as it was free." She looks pointedly at the shadow. "Show yourself!" She commands. The smoky spirit rises from her shadow, and the whispers reach a crescendo. It hovers in front of Gem, a cloud of inky smoke with three angry eyes like cinders.

[5a Violista]

[HQ Book Club]

Nemo finds it a little interesting that that woman commented on betrayal of the shadow instead of consequences for attacking her.

...

It must do that a lot, then.

She looks up from her book to see what's going on, and sees the floating shadow, watching to see what happens next.

[bc56]

HQ Book Club

"Go back to my chambers. I will return shortly." The cloud flies away, flowing into an air vent and disappearing. "It is a useful but treacherous servant. Most spirits are, but that one especially."

[5a Violista]

[HQ Book Club]

Nemo watches it fly away.

"I see." She looks back down at her book, to find where she was. "Traitorous servants actually don't sound very useful."

[bc56]

HQ Book Club

"It must obey any command I give it, though not happily," Gem explains. "Its treachery is predictable and limited to goading fools who believe its promises into attacking me."

[5a Violista]

[HQ Book Club]

"Hmmm." Kind-of makes sense.
She keeps on reading.

If it has to obey, then it probably isn't that bad. If it bothered her, she could just tell it to stop asking people to kill her. Which implies..."So you like it when people attack you?"

[bc56]

HQ Book Club

"More blood to sacrifice is always useful. Fools trying to get me just give me an excuse." Gem smiles sickeningly.