Skyside 7: The Big Pizza in the Sky

[Deathkeeper]

HOTEL

”Its rude to look at a lady undressed in most human cultures I know. Unless you want me to go full in character with this. Is that what you want me to do?” he quips. His face doesn’t move.

[Ironsmith]

[HOTEL]

"Ah. Well, it's not in mine." Rose says, standing up and stretching. "Sleeping pods and clothing aren't generally compatible, so there's usually a brief period where people sleeping in the same room see each other undressed. Kinda takes the taboo out of it." She shrugs. "As long as you're not a creep about it, I really don't mind if you look. Just don't stare." She makes her way back over to the sleeping pod and cracks it open, filling the room with a faint smell of cherries.

[Deathkeeper]

HOTEL

Krayger turns to glance over at her but doesn’t let his gaze linger. She’s still way too young for him.
”Good night I suppose? You got an alarm in that thing or you want me to knock when it’s morning?”
This still seems like a lot of effort to not just use a bed. It works for him, though. It means he can do the same when he needs to sleep.

[Ironsmith]

[HOTEL]

"It should wake me in a few hours automatically. If it doesn't, just pop open the door. There'll be smoke when you do that; that's normal." Rose steps into the chamber, where the glass is partially opaque, obscuring the finer details of what's happening in there, and Krayger will see the final bits of clothing get tossed into her Hotbox, along with a small fist-pump as they land in neatly. "G'night, beefcake." She says, clicking the door shut as pink gel starts to fill the chamber. Within minutes, she's completely immersed and apparently asleep.

[Deathkeeper]

HOTEL

How dramatic. And she better not keep calling him that when the job is done. Makes him feel creeped out.
Krayger can't really sleep in those scratchy new pants they bought for his disguise so those get lost and he goes to bed.
Like a normal person.
He really can't believe that this woman needed to build an elaborate science-device for sleeping.

[Ironsmith]

[HOTEL]

In fairness, the pod was doing a lot more for her than just letting her sleep. The gel contains nanites that are doing everything in their power to keep Rose healthy, ranging from exfoliating her skin to adjusting her microbiome to purging any pathogens from her bloodstream to synthesizing needed proteins and vitamins to getting plaque off her teeth. This was a bed that took the classic RPG trope of "sleeping cures everything" and made it possible.

Also?

It's reeeeeally comfortable.

Of course, it doesn't do much for psychological ailments, like night terrors. Which is probably what Krayger's going to notice at 4 AM with that persistent pounding noise coming from Rose's pod.

[Recaiden]

[Tempest Row]

Haia lets out a confused hum, looking over the alley. How had she gotten here? She couldn't remember. And her surroundings were somewhat paradoxical in of themselves; boiling water on a mild day, zombie hobos, and so forth. This was a rather disturbing place to suddenly regain lucidity.

For that matter, where was Hunter? She'd lost track of her and her own location. How was she going to find her back?
.

Well, she walked. It wasn't that long ago, was it?

One of the hobos takes a look at her, but can tell she's not really made of flesh-and-blood.

As for finding her way back, while she could try one of the back doors, the structure of the alleyway pretty clearly suggests two options: this end, or the other end.

Hunter, as it happens, is poking around on the street looking for Haia. Just looks away for a minute and the robot vanishes, huh?

[Ironsmith]

[Tempest Row]

Well, she walked. It wasn't that long ago, was it?

One of the hobos takes a look at her, but can tell she's not really made of flesh-and-blood.

As for finding her way back, while she could try one of the back doors, the structure of the alleyway pretty clearly suggests two options: this end, or the other end.

Hunter, as it happens, is poking around on the street looking for Haia. Just looks away for a minute and the robot vanishes, huh?

[Tempest Row]
Robots and babies. You can't look away from either of them for a moment.

Haia decides to stay put. Without any frame of reference for her location, movement would be counter-productive. Hunter was going to be looking for her, and it'd be easier for her to be found if she didn't move.

Since there aren't any humans around to impress, she slumps against the wall and powers down her cloak. Hunter knew what she looked like anyway.

[Deathkeeper]

[HOTEL]

In fairness, the pod was doing a lot more for her than just letting her sleep. The gel contains nanites that are doing everything in their power to keep Rose healthy, ranging from exfoliating her skin to adjusting her microbiome to purging any pathogens from her bloodstream to synthesizing needed proteins and vitamins to getting plaque off her teeth. This was a bed that took the classic RPG trope of "sleeping cures everything" and made it possible.

Also?

It's reeeeeally comfortable.

Of course, it doesn't do much for psychological ailments, like night terrors. Which is probably what Krayger's going to notice at 4 AM with that persistent pounding noise coming from Rose's pod.

HOTEL

See, this is exactly why you don't sleep in a sealed container.
Krayger rolls over and groggily attempts to open the latch on the pod. He's also ready to wave the bedsheet like a fan since Rose warned him there would be smoke.
He's not going to worry about being in his boxers if she didn't.

[Ironsmith]

[HOTEL]

It turns out, Rose didn't prepare him very well for the sheer amount of smoke there was going to be. The second it hits the air, the gel boils off into a thick, pink gas, flooding the immediate area and carrying that cherry smell with it. Clearing the air takes some doing.

When it's finally clear enough to see, Krayger will find Rose pressed against the back of the pod, curled up in a fetal position and shaking uncontrollably. She's mumbling something under her breath, though she's too quiet or perhaps too asleep to make anything coherent to Krayger. She's shaking fitfully, her left hand pounding against the glass; presumably, that was the source of the sound.

[5a Violista]

Temple of Lead

June only needs help for the very first bit, so she accepts the help from Samantha (oh that's one of her favorite names!) and Fifi to get started.

She points at the lorry and trailer, and whispers, "Think you guys can make it in that way? I'm thinking about waiting until you're in then flying over," June says.

[Earl of Purple]

Klaus' Minibus

Unfortunately for Klaus, the Guild has a very similar reputation already. So if they can get an image or drawing of his face, they'll add it to the 'enemies of the Guild' poster, alongside images of known Vigil members, a crude photocopy of a MERC license, an image of several local superheroes, and similar things. Those only go inside Guild properties, however; guard posts, sorting warehouses, and the back rooms of the shops and security offices in Skyside, and the barracks of their outposts elsewhere. They might not actively hunt him, but if he's caught there's going to be a reward to whoever manages it.

Temple of Lead

The two animalgirls nod and get down, Fifi jumping and Samantha climbing, before running across to the lorry. They've got some cover from the fallen boxes and rubble, and they're fast and stealthy besides. They'll manage to get inside without being spotted, Fifi and then Samantha.

The robot's managed to get a blast of lightning to hit the woman in crude armour, and she's collapsed twitching on the ground. The good news (for her) is that the voltage wasn't quite high enough to kill her, but it does mean she's just fired her crank-powered laser gun into a box of bullets, cooking some off and causing a small explosion.

[Deathkeeper]

HOTEL

Krayger opens the window a crack and returns to Rose, whom he drapes the spare bedsheet over. If the change in environment doesn't break her nightmare he'll have to gently reach out and touch her on the shoulder to wake her up. He's not the best at this sort of thing.
He generally sleeps alone.

[Ironsmith]

[HOTEL]

Rose... does not react well to this. At all. When Krayger goes to throw the blanker over her, she starts thrashing wildly, unable to properly percieve it in her current state but clearly not appreciating the skin contact. Her mumbling is getting louder, and now Krayger can hear what she's saying.

"Stop it! Stop it! I'll tell you everything, just stop it! Please!"

[5a Violista]

[Temple of Lead]

The merbatmaid waits for them to get through.

She scoots over to the edge and spreads her wings, ready to leap off the roof and fly.

And so she jumps off!
Her wings catch, and she starts flying. She goes higher to minimize being noticed.
While flying over, that's when the bullets shoot off. Luckily, she's high enough that a majority of them go nowhere near her, but a few do shoot through her wings, putting small holes in them. Luckily, bats can still fly pretty well with holes in their wings, so...it doesn't take much for her to keep on going.

Definitely stings, though.

She bites her lips (ouch! Forgot that her teeth are sharp) to power herself through the sting and keeps on flying over, and tries to get in to the place from above and land close enough that she get to Fifi and Samantha easily.

[Shadowcaller]

SPAAAAAAAAACE!

It's not a xenos gun? The stormbolter was mounted to a defence servitor that died as a result of the same thing that killed all the humans on the ship.

"Help the militarum onto the train, if we're taking them with us. If not, stand in the corner and try not to touch anything. Say a prayer to the Emperor, too." Her mechadendrite snakes out and plugs into one of the consoles, and the Gunners will climb onto the train. It's quite a step, since the train usually stops at a monorail platform but there isn't one here. The monorail is a metre off the ground, held up by steel posts, and the train's doors are a little higher still.

[SPAAAAAAAAACE!]

"Honestly this has all gone pretty great so far. Really only one major injury on our side," Zee muses as she keeps watch, waiting for anymore foul xenos of which she definitely isn't one. "Could have been way worse. Whatever that toxin was, it was meant to kill anything human on the ship. Which meant the hybrids went down, too. And... everyone else."

She sounds disappointed that 'everyone else' is included in the list of casualties.

"If we had to fight through a whole cult of hybrids and the all the full blooded xenos that would have been rough."

Way more violence, for sure.

But more death?

She isn't sure.

How many people were on this ship? It's huge. How many died?

"I guess... they died to make sure the plague didn't spread. I can understand the sentiment."

She offers Minerva an apologetic look.

"This didn't work out quite as I had planned. We found a ship from your home, but... now we've got to blow it up. But don't worry! I'm sure with a little hunting something you can use will turn up."

SPAAAAAAAAACE!

((Whoops, I misunderstood. Ignore that comment then.))

Hopefully the people they have with them can get onboard on their own. But if they can't, Minerva is more than willing to lift or push them on board. Not to mention that she has memorized plenty of prayers for them to recite in case they'd needed that too.

The obvious solution was just for Zee to rip out a chunk of metal from the hull and use it as a plank for everyone to walk over though.

But regardless of how they choose to solve it, Minerva will help out in any way she can to make the process go faster.

"The Emperor provides for the worthy." Minerva remarks, having faced far more daunting odds than this in her lifetime. "For those willing to sacrifice, like we might end up doing." She turns to look to Zee. "And whatever my goal was when I came upon this, it's unimportant right now, Zee. As you said, there will be other times."

[Deathkeeper]

HOTEL

Krayger needs to wake Rose up before she smashes her head against the side of the pod while thrashing about. He tries to get ahold of her as gently but firmly as he can.
"Rose! Wake up! You're in Skyside." he hisses, shaking her a little.

[Ironsmith]

[HOTEL]

Rose's eyes shoot open as she stops moving, though she's still making shallow, rapid breaths, looking around her surroundings in a daze.

She was in a hotel room somewhere. Just outside her sleeping pod. Not that horrible place she'd been dreaming about. She arrived here just last night with Krayger.

...With Krayger.

The minotaur was holding her, and the expression on his face implied some amount of concern. No doubt about it; he'd seen her thrashing around in her sleep. Which meant he could probably also tell she was having a nightmare, and reacting badly to it. If he wasn't questioning her fitness for duty before, he almost certainly was now.

Rose sits up a little straighter and pulls the blanket around her. Okay. Maybe she could still salvage this. "Sorry, beefcake. I didn't mean to wake you."

[Earl of Purple]

Temple of Lead

The merbatmaid lands in the ruined, burnt-out wreck of a warehouse. The ceiling's gone, the walls are covered in pockmarks and soot, and the floor is bare concrete under the occasional piece of sheet metal ceiling, glob of molten lead, bullet casing, and burnt wooden crate. There's bodies in the rubble, but they're hard to spot; the explosion did a lot of damage to the people caught within it. There's the remains of some machinery and equipment, and a pile of molten lead ingots in the corner near a furnace that would have melted them down and cast them into bullet shapes. There's also a lot of copper bullet cases littering the place.

There's a few things that look a unusual, however. First is the burnt riot gear standing near a doorway into another room; it seems to be moderately fireproof, though it's also badly damaged by fire and bullets and there's lead pooled about its feet. It doesn't move, the cracked black glass visor hiding whatever might be inside, and one of its gloves holds a strange polearm- it's a circular saw-blade on the end of a pole, powered by a small engine at the bottom. It's not active right now, probably out of fuel or potentially broken. Another is the lost looking young man with a hoverboard, wearing a white t-shirt and black joggers, with bare feet. He's been here a while, and is staring at the three newcomers.

They could talk to the man, investigate the riot suit or go through the door it seems to be guarding, which leads to another room- one hopefully more intact than this one, as this is where the bullets were cast, the cartridges made, and then all boxed up for shipping and use by the Followers of Joy.

[Deathkeeper]

HOTEL

"Looks like that fancy tech of yours doesn't stop nightmares. You need some water or something?" He makes sure the window is closed once the smoke disperses. Don't want them to be eavesdropped on with something as simple as an open window. He is not going to bother minding Rose seeing his boxer shorts.

[Ironsmith]

[HOTEL]

"Coffee, actually, if you don't mind." Rose points to her Hotbox, which is still sitting about three meters from her sleeping pod. "It'll be under 'favorites'. Second item." She pulls the blanket around her tighter; now that she's out of her pod, the room felt way chillier than she was ready for. She'll be up in a minute; she just needs time to warm up and think of a decent excuse for Kraygor. Unless he was just used to his assigned partners waking him up with nightmares.

...Actually, he might be. There's bound to be a lot of things in the Nexus that can cause nightmares. Maybe she'll luck out and no explanation will be necessary. She absently massages the back of her left hand as she thinks about this, part of her brain still back in her dream.

[Deathkeeper]

HOTEL

Krayger nods and attempts to figure out the controls on the box to spit out a coffee for Rose. He wouldn't want caffeine this late but who is he to judge?
"You okay? I can get your clothes from here too if you want." he mumbles as he messes with the buttons.

[Ironsmith]

[HOTEL]

Not having caffeine at this hour would sort of be predicated on the notion that she wanted to get back to sleep. No, thank you.

"I'm fine." Rose lies, standing up, wrapping the blanket around her bust to form a makeshift dress. "It was just a bad dream. Nothing to worry about." She gives him a small, sad smile. "Don't worry about the clothes. I can handle that."

Thankfully, the Hotbox isn't too terribly unintuitive to operate. The display gives Krayger a hierarchy of files to work with, and "mugcoff~03" is indeed the second item in the folder marked "favorites". Printing it off doesn't take too long, either.

[Deathkeeper]

HOTEL

Krayger gets the cup and hands it over to Rose.
"There you go." he says simply before sitting back down on the bed.
From the sound of it she was dreaming about getting tortured or something. If she's worried about it that's one thing. If it's a memory she really should talk about that to someone. But he doesn't think he's qualified himself.
That...seems like it. It doesn't seem like he's pressing the issue. Even if he thinks if this is a regular thing that pod is only sounding like a more terrible idea.

[Ironsmith]

[HOTEL]

Rose nurses the cup between her hands, taking a moment just to appreciate the warmth of the beverage. Then she takes a small sip, looking over the rim of the mug at Krayger, trying to gauge his reaction.

He really was just letting the matter drop. Huh. Thank heaven for small blessings, she guesses.

"...Go ahead and go back to bed." She says finally. "I'll be fine. It's nothing I haven't weathered before."

Lord knows that was true.

[5a Violista]

[Temple of Lead]

The merbatmaid uses her fishy tail to readjust slightly whenever she feels the rubble might get in the way of moving on the wheels properly.

So,
She knows they were told to retreat if there were people still there.
But she's not sure if 'random guy with hoverboard' counts.

June gives a small smile to him and a small wave, trying to not intimidate him. (Her claws and teeth can be a little scary! But also he looks like he's already intimidated.)
"Um, hi," she says to him. "Sorry, this place yours?"

She figures that's the best way to start off a conversation.

[Recaiden]

[Tempest Row]

Robots and babies. You can't look away from either of them for a moment.

Haia decides to stay put. Without any frame of reference for her location, movement would be counter-productive. Hunter was going to be looking for her, and it'd be easier for her to be found if she didn't move.

Since there aren't any humans around to impress, she slumps against the wall and powers down her cloak. Hunter knew what she looked like anyway.

Stay still and wait to be found. Very reasonable. You wouldn't see a baby doing that.
At least not without a lot of crying.

She's not waiting long before there's a terrible crash from one of the shops to the side of the alley. Like many shelves full of glass shattered all at once.
A moment later Hunter slides down the nearest fire escape into the alley, one hand on the ladder. With her other arm she's carrying a child, and the child is carrying what's supposed to be a superconductive induction coil. All around them is a distortion of the air and light. That old, unmaintained fire escape is starting to tear free from the building now that it's tested at all, and up on the rooftop one can hear rapid mechanical footsteps.

So maybe she's not here to find Haia, exactly, but she's here. That counts for something,right?

[Ironsmith]

[Tempest Row]

Stay still and wait to be found. Very reasonable. You wouldn't see a baby doing that.
At least not without a lot of crying.

She's not waiting long before there's a terrible crash from one of the shops to the side of the alley. Like many shelves full of glass shattered all at once.
A moment later Hunter slides down the nearest fire escape into the alley, one hand on the ladder. With her other arm she's carrying a child, and the child is carrying what's supposed to be a superconductive induction coil. All around them is a distortion of the air and light. That old, unmaintained fire escape is starting to tear free from the building now that it's tested at all, and up on the rooftop one can hear rapid mechanical footsteps.

So maybe she's not here to find Haia, exactly, but she's here. That counts for something,right?

[Tempest Row]

It does at that. Haia doesn't especially care how Hunter finds her; just that she does.

Haia looks up at that ungodly noise and stands when she realizes it's coming from Hunter, turning her cloak back on in the process. That didn't take as long as expected. To make sure Hunter finds her, she waves her arms and calls out, running toward her.

[Deathkeeper]

[HOTEL]

Rose nurses the cup between her hands, taking a moment just to appreciate the warmth of the beverage. Then she takes a small sip, looking over the rim of the mug at Krayger, trying to gauge his reaction.

He really was just letting the matter drop. Huh. Thank heaven for small blessings, she guesses.

"...Go ahead and go back to bed." She says finally. "I'll be fine. It's nothing I haven't weathered before."

Lord knows that was true.

HOTEL

Krayger shrugs and lays down. "Sure. You need anything just wake me up."
Due to his horns and the shape of his face, Krayger sleeps on his back. This is likely not a revelation for Rose.

[Ironsmith]

[HOTEL]

When Krayger wakes up again in the morning, it's to a much-more-cheerful Rose sitting at the foot of the bed. "Hey, you. You're finally awake!" She greets, beaming broadly, the previous night's troubles seemingly forgotten. She's already dressed and seems to be raring to go, bouncing lightly in her seat in excitement.

It might have something to do with the half-dozen empty coffee mugs behind her.