AMEN L: [Insert Ideas]

[Purple Eagle]

The man raises his eyebrows. "Well don't you sound like a fun person to be around!" While the words sounds like sarcasm, the man says it with a tone suggesting he genuinely thinks personality changing voices sound fun. The man simply shrugs after saying this, then responds to the question. "Technically, you could never know unless you had some sort of lie detector. Will it help if I tell you I can raise armies of powerful undead, which, assuming you help me, can be put to work for AMEN?"

[Necromancer Recruit]

Well, that certainly sounds similar to what Shuyoru's here for, and what Yewa's going to help with apart from greeting. After a long moment, the door to the base opens to let the visitor in, and the dark-skinned and blue-eyed lady with black sclera and asian eyes looks straight at the man when he shows himself. "Colour me interested! Tell us more about this." She says, pulling out a form she intends to give him, after he replies that is.

Requiem 'hmmm's and 'uh-huh's as he tells his story and talks.

"So you're pretty intelligent, patient, and sadistic," she comments. "Good to know."

"Thanks." For the hair.
Anyway. She shrugs, in response to his 'slaves' question. "AMEN itself isn't particularly in need of any slaves as far as I'm aware," she admits, "but one person who recently joined would probably be willing to use some in his science experiments. Not to mention, we kind-of recently formed an alliance with a group who participates in the slave trade, so depending on what you can do that might be another bargaining chip we could use."

She continues to keep her head still so that he can keep on checking the hair. "Long story short, I joined with the group..." She holds her hands out and starts counting up on her fingers, "...six? seven? bosses ago. I really respected that boss -- which is probably one of the reasons the current boss doesn't completely trust me yet -- and enjoyed my time here, and I technically never stopped being a member so I figured, might as well come back here and be part of it again."

Pretty shallow reason, right?

[Front Room]

Oh, goody! Bargaining chips! Those are quite fun, much like science experiments. "And you... the first thing that jumps out at me is your nonchalance, along with your intelligence and loyalty to AMEN. You must have seen a lot, or perhaps you're naturally like this." Shuyoru says once she's done explaining how long she's been in AMEN. "Hair's done." He says, finally, after checking and being satisfied at the outcome. He's very good at cutting stuff, it would appear. "As reasons go, though..." He trails off, obviously thinking that yes, it is a shallow reason. "Anyhoo, I have a meeting with Zefir, the boss, so I have to be going. Before I go, though... any tips for dealing with him? And for being a member in AMEN, in general?"

[Yewa to Zefir]

Zefir is a bit confused as he got the basic informations of Shuyoru. Those basic informations aren't really telling him enougth to judge him.

"Send him to office 2 when he is done talking. I will have to diskuss membership with him."

"Ooookay, sirrr!"

[5a Violista]

[Front Room]

"Yeah, I guess I am pretty easygoing." It's easy to be easygoing when you don't really have very much to worry about.

Anyway. Time for some advice.
"Zefir's pretty reasonable and pragmatic," Requiem says. "Apparently, one of the former leaders of this place was a traitor who worked for one of our enemies, so he's been really big on rooting out other traitors. So long as you can explain how you can be useful and, if not loyal, then smart enough to obey and be useful, you'll probably have no problems with him." Requiem did a whole contract dealio with him because he was concerned that if a former leader tried a coup then she'd side with the coup, and that seemed to be fine enough - though she's still pretty sure he still keeps an eye on her in case she slips up or something like that.

In exchange for the haircut, she continues giving some advice: "Regarding being a member...you should probably get to know each member that you run in to: Each one requires being treated individually differently. Like, don't just assume what each person wants, because otherwise you'll probably get it wrong and be unable to convince them to help you with your own goals. For example, so far, I've met one who just wants to blow things up, one who just wanted fun, one who wanted to slay a specific demon, one who aligned himself with AMEN just because it was the only group willing to assist his research, and so on. If you make the mistake of assuming what somebody wants, you'll be disappointed when they act in a way you weren't expecting."
...
Yeah. She figures that's good enough advice. Somebody she met earlier had the misconception that AMEN's goal was to destroy everything, and that could have led to some unfortunate later events.

"Good luck meeting with him."

[Zefir]

[Office - New...Recruits?]

"ICE is an acronym. It may have been shortened at some point, it stands for Intrusion Countermeasures and Elimination. I believe the Elimination portion may have been removed at some point; it's somewhat redundant. Black variants of such software are designed to kill the hacker if they're using a neural connection, and destroy their systems if not," Zenon explains. The pair's construction is advanced, but given enough time, Zefir could probably replicate their outer forms, at least. Matching their internal construction would naturally require him to disassemble one of them, but it might be possible, depending on Zefir's level of expertise in such advanced cybernetics and robotics.

"As to how they know who is friend and foe, I've already taken the liberty of imprinting you, myself, and Omiko as command level authority, and for them to recognize our own vehicle and soldier identification protocols. I've also added a few of the known VIGIL members that Omiko and I encountered in Riverside as known enemies, but they will add more to their databases as we give them orders. We can, of course, add specific personnel manually as both friend and foe as well. Currently, only you, Omiko, and myself have authorization to add or remove friendly or non-friendly personnel to their databases outside of their own limited learning protocols, but this can be expanded to other trusted personnel as needed. One of us will need to enact the change, naturally."

[Office - New...Recruits?]

"Sounds good to me so far." Zefir nods.
Zefir is a skilled man in this subject, but he isn't as far as Zenon is. He himself would guess he couldn't copy the inner structure with his current knowledge.

"You mentioned you can make many of them. How many do you got already ?" he says while walking back to his seat looking at them from a distance. "There sure will be trouble here soon. Depending on their number we should pair them with henchman so they won't get lost. AMEN is after all a big maze."

[Meeting Room]

Zenon leans back in his chair for a moment, his expression unreadable.

"And who will be guarding the prisoner, then?"

[Meeting Room]

Requiem, a blonde woman in a white dress and with a recent hair-cut, is attending the meeting.

She listens.
Like Zenon, she too has a comment - even though her's isn't a question. She volunteers: "I probably won't be as useful as our cameras and sensors, but I'll keep a spare body by the cloning tanks. So long as they're not soulless husks, I should be able to sense them if they come near."

Keeping her attention divided like that would make it a bit harder for her to concentrate, but it should be better than nothing.


Meanwhile
Around the Base

Maria doesn't seem like the kind of gal Zefir would've invited. In the first place, he never inducted her or handled any of her paperwork or - unlike Requiem - filled out any sort of updated contract with Zefir.

Plus, honestly, "important meeting" and "crazy witch whose only enjoyment in life is to blow things up" usually don't go well together.

Instead, her own ashes just drift around AMEN's valcano and interior just like any other ash. She hasn't re-materialized yet.

[Meeting Room]

Zefir looks at Zenon.

"Some of us will do. Our main goal isn't keeping the hostage. AMEn had suffered a lot under the last leaders which put us into a weak position related to those attacking us." Then Zefir grins. "But we won't just hand them their price. I 'prepared' our hostage. She should cause them more trouble in the long run then she will be worth. As we talked I'd like you to be around the tanks."

Then he turns to Requiem.

"Sounds good, but you should keep one at a save spot. As I said we don't know their numbr and I want as less loss as possible. This fight will be about resources."

[5a Violista]

[Meeting Room]

Requiem nods. "I'll do that," she says. It's a good idea - she doesn't want to be stuck without a body again and have to expend all her powers to start all over again. It's not really a pleasant experience. She makes a mental note to set up a safe place not too far away that she could escape to if necessary. There used to be a village not far from here, right? She wonders if it's still there. All else fails, she supposes she could just find a henchman or somebody like that, but that's not preferred.

She turns towards everyone else and does an iconic pose. "Hear that, guys? You can count on me to be the sacrificial lamb if your life's in danger." She's only half-joking. She still laughs, however.

Meanwhile
In Requiem's room, a red-haired woman blinks herself awake. Hey! It's Requiem again!
After stretching to make sure her tendons and neurons and muscles and everything else is all still properly connected, she takes a shower, gets dressed, and then leaves the room.

She heads off to where the cloning tanks are located.

[Recaiden]

Omiko is here after all! Watching everyone with a distinct pair of eyes.
"That's right. Just keep yourselves mostly alive, and I can patch you up good as new."
She laughs along at Requiem's iconic pose, almost a moment late, but not quite. Now there's a villain with the right attitude.

"We haven't gotten to hold onto a prisoner this long in a while, so when they actually show up, I'm going to head them off in the very dungeons. Can't make it too easy on our 'heroes'."

[Nova_Eclipse]

[Office - New...Recruits?]

Zenons nods, obviously pleased.

"About 50. I needed to run the line for few hours to ensure no problems anywhere on it, but I wanted you to inspect them before building more. I'm currently set up for the production rate I quoted when I mentioned it before, a dozen an hour, and I have enough reagents to make about 500 of them, if my estimates are correct. The reagents are the limiting factor, but more are easily acquired, either from Skyside and Inside, or possibly through our own scouts." He smiles.

"I agree, they should be paired. How soon do you think the trouble will come? I can depart to acquire more materials right away, if you believe we'll need more than I can currently make with what I have, and if we have the time to make them before the troublemakers show up." The crystal on his helmet flashes for a brief instant. "I've sent word to the first batch, they should be here in a few minutes."

BASE-WIDE

Other members will probably start noticing new henchmen around the base, often paired with AMEN's mortal soldiers. These new henchmen seem to be advanced androids of a sort. They wear gauntlets and greaves, while a more cloth-like armor covers the rest of their androgynous humanoid bodies. They lack faces, their entire head seems to be a helmet of sorts, a smooth, seamless black surface where their face should be, and only small raised domes mark where their auditory sensors are. They can speak, but rarely do so, instead seeming to observe everything, only asking questions when orders are unclear.

((These new henchmen are NPCs and can be god-moded if needed. They're somewhat more durable than normal mooks, but not by much; they can survive losing a limb or two, but no more than that, and of course, head-shots are still an instant kill. The only other notable quirk is that they're EXTREMELY difficult to hack. Not impossible, but PM me if you have a character who wants to try so I can give the run down on just what it will take. They don't have much for personality, but if one needs them to speak, they speak in Lucida Console in whatever color you feel is appropriate.))

[Meeting Room]

Zenon nods.

"Very well, then." For once he's not making suggestions. After all, if the cloning tanks are that important, it makes sense that he should be one of the ones to guard them. He looks to Omiko. "Sounds like you get to have all the fun again. Do be careful, won't you?"

[Zefir]

[Office - New...Recruits?]

"50 schould be good for now." Zefir says. "500 will be more then enougth. If we deploy so many it will draw to much attention. Stay around as the enemy can be here every day." Zefir then returns to his papers and other administration work. Befor Zenon goes he will add "Good work"

[Meeting Room]

"That's it for now." Zefir explains. "Prepare now."
With that he leaves the members to their own tasks and returning to his own preerations. After all he is sure Adir will appear. He needs to think of a way to deal with him.

[Recaiden]

Most of Omiko's eyes blink out and disappear as the members and minions depart the meeting to their stations.
"I'm sure you'll see some action."
She give Zenon a grin.
"And don't worry. They keep underestimating me."

Now, off to the dungeon!

[Nova_Eclipse]

[Meeting Room]

Zenon chuckles briefly.

"Indeed." With that, he drops into an inky black shadow that appears beneath him, teleporting to his assigned post.

[5a Violista]

[Meeting Room => Kitchen]

Requiem nods, then gets up and heads towards the kitchen.

Hey, a gal's gotta eat sometime today, right?

As she starts preparing food to cook for herself, she starts thinking through her plan. Sure, she probably should get an easily-accessible body (or, at least, find someone suitably weak-willed nearby) in case everything goes wrong. Unfortunately, that would take extra care and planning and would probably leave her too distracted as she does that. Heck, even right now, controlling two bodies at one is distracting enough, even though one is literally just standing there and sensing.

...Where should this one go, though? If she gets too far away, it would be more difficult to properly sense if anybody's coming in. She could just ignore her body at the cloning tanks and just hang out in her "office" - namely, the front room's couch - and then she'd be able to sense anyone approaching from the front, so long as they weren't soulless things or otherwise disguising their spirits. However, she did promise to keep an eye around the cloning tanks. And seriously, they probably wouldn't be stupid enough to enter through the front door when there's other entrances available - unless...they don't know about the other ways in? Sure, that's possible.

She grabs a knife and starts cutting up a Evil^TM vegetables for her salad as she waits for the other stuff to cook on the stove.

Besides, it's probably better if they get caught out while inside the base, rather than at the entrance. If they're at the entrance and are caught, they might just leave.
Ah. Food's done.

She packages a meal of it in a tupperware container, and then forms a purple bird out of some spare souls she had lying around. "Take this straight to the cloning rooms; no detours," she instructs. She stores most of the rest in the fridge in case anyone is brave enough to try random things in tupperware they found in the fridge, and then takes her plate and her own meal off to the couch so she can lounge around and eat and watch TV.


near Cloning Tanks

When the purple bird-thing reaches the cloning tank room, the red-haired freckled woman (who is also Requiem) summons it towards her, absorbs it into her hands, and catches the tupperware. She opens it up and smells it - it smells good.

It wasn't just food that was being transported, though: since this body has been around unused, she had only minimal power with it, so the bird helped boost it. Food's useful, too. From the purplish stuff that was the bird before absorbing it, Requiem creates silverware and starts to eat. This sort of thing will continue going on until their powers are more balanced and equal...which, this Requiem sends out tiny purple soul-stuff threads as "scouts" to more easily sense when somebody approaches this room.


Outside the Base

Meanwhile.
Maria, who has previously been informed by Zefir to try to not blow things up inside the base, decides to head outside. Her ashes blow in the wind until they finally reach the slopes of the mountain, until they re-form into her witchy self.
Once again, she begins gathering rocks to experiment with new kinds of explosions, new spells, new rituals, and so on.

[Morty]

[Approaching the Volcano]

All seems quite around the volcano that AMEN calls home, save for the crying of birds. It seems to carry pretty far in the heavy fog that rolls in, pushed by the wind that carries old leaves with it.

Inside the fog are Wenomir, Anika and Adir, hidden by the King in Rags' glamour from the eyes of everyone but themselves and each other. Anyone looking will find it very difficult to perceive them as anything but wisps of the fog. Sufficiently sharp senses, supernatural sight or technology might help. The glamour will certainly be easier to pierce the closer they get to the base and once they're inside it, as well.

Even before the three would-be rescuers arrive, though, the fog will fill AMEN with a strange atmosphere. The birds' cries seem foreboding and laden with uncertain meanings that are threatening, mocking or frightened depending on the moment. The air grows heavy with suspicion; what if someone here is already a Vigil member in disguise or working with them? It's happened before, after all. Isn't it what Ilpholin did once? Even if not, who's to say they're not sneaking around the tunnels right now?

[5a Violista]

[Front Room]

The blonde Requiem is, once again, lazing on the couch waiting for it to finally happen. Gosh, this is boring. She starts idly thinking: hey, wouldn't it be interesting if the rescuers were one of all those people who recently joined? Or maybe one of the henchmen? If that happened, then they probably would have been at the meeting, so there's a good chance they already know and will never show up.
But what if they're already in?
...
Well...if they're already in, she would have already noticed them. She's got invisible threads spread nearly everywhere, not to mention her passive sensing ability. Or maybe they somehow already knew about that and found a way around her? Then she can't do anything anyway. No point in chasing after someone she can't affect.

Then, she notices something. She turns off the TV. There's...three approaching? Or maybe four? here. She can't tell, but they set off her 'threads' around the area. It seems much harder to tell than it ought to be...huh. No, there's only three. Yup, she can feel their existence, but it feels much...harder. She withdraws all her senses from everywhere else so she can concentrate. There's a human, an...elf, it feels like, and what seems to be a fae of some kind. Sort-of. She can't tell for sure at this distance, especially with her powers split as they are now. She doesn't know who they're affiliated with, but

Requiem sits up. "No." There's some other being somewhat present. It feels like some kind of fae lord. "Nope." She suddenly pulls back all her power that came from this body. This could potentially be bad for her. She stands up. She was also ordered to have a body a safe distance away, right? Is Inside far enough away to be safe? Regardless of who that group is, if she sticks around there's the chance she could be a liability. She heads out the front door, closing it behind her, and 'nope's her way out of there, directly away from where she sensed the group.

Meanwhile, Cloning tank room

The red-headed Requiem who got left behind stays here, as was ordered. She focuses her sensing 'threads' in the hallways leading in this direction.

To Zenon, who is presumably here with her in this room, she inform him (which may not help with the feeling of suspicion the King in Rags is giving): "It's a good thing you're here: They may already be here, and I've just found out they have someone supporting them who I'm probably bad against."

[Nova_Eclipse]

Cloning Tank Room

Zenon's presence is most definitely felt before he shows up, despite not coming through the hallway. The sheer amount of power at his command is probably more than enough to trigger this Requiem's senses, so she has ample warning when he arrives, simply shooting up from a round shadow on the floor. He nods to her.

He sniffs at the air for a moment, and his eyes flash green for the briefest instant.

"Yes, I can sense it, too. Bad how, though?"

[CosmicHobbit]

[Necromancer Recruit]

Well, that certainly sounds similar to what Shuyoru's here for, and what Yewa's going to help with apart from greeting. After a long moment, the door to the base opens to let the visitor in, and the dark-skinned and blue-eyed lady with black sclera and asian eyes looks straight at the man when he shows himself. "Colour me interested! Tell us more about this." She says, pulling out a form she intends to give him, after he replies that is.

The man walks in, taking in the greeting area. "My name is Manzul, and I was recently transported here from a world where I had almost fulfilled my plans." He stops observing the room and turns to look at the lady. "In that world, they called me a god. However, being transported has sapped my powers. I am now a powerful necromancer, but I certainly do not have the powers of a deity. I have observed myself getting more powerful the longer I have stayed here, so I may yet become strong again."

[Zefir]

((To all: We should add "RESCUE" to the location tags for a better overview. What do you think?))

[RESCUE - Inside the Base]

After the meeting, Zefir prepared a room close to the prison fo himself. Putting in a computer with access to the cameras to watch his soldiers do their work. He doesn't immediatly head their since there aren't signs. So he remains in his office working on new devices.

At the time the fog and bird cry rise up, the henchman contact him. "Keep the doors shut and the weapons ready. Don't shoot. This may be a big distraction." In his mind it's like a 'look at me' distraction to get their attention away. "Watch the hangar and vehicle bay."

As he reaches the room, the atmosphere also arrives by him. They are already here in disguise? Well, wouldn't be new. But then again it would be to fast, the time to short to think up something like that. No, if there are any spies around they hide as henchman. But how should that go? They haven't really done anything outside the base now. Why am I so suspiciouse, Zefir asks himself. It's worst then normal. Is this some kind of magic? Yes... Yes it's something like that... Well let's have it their way. They might be a little suprised at the end.

[Purple Eagle]

"Yeah, I guess I am pretty easygoing." It's easy to be easygoing when you don't really have very much to worry about.

Anyway. Time for some advice.
"Zefir's pretty reasonable and pragmatic," Requiem says. "Apparently, one of the former leaders of this place was a traitor who worked for one of our enemies, so he's been really big on rooting out other traitors. So long as you can explain how you can be useful and, if not loyal, then smart enough to obey and be useful, you'll probably have no problems with him." Requiem did a whole contract dealio with him because he was concerned that if a former leader tried a coup then she'd side with the coup, and that seemed to be fine enough - though she's still pretty sure he still keeps an eye on her in case she slips up or something like that.

In exchange for the haircut, she continues giving some advice: "Regarding being a member...you should probably get to know each member that you run in to: Each one requires being treated individually differently. Like, don't just assume what each person wants, because otherwise you'll probably get it wrong and be unable to convince them to help you with your own goals. For example, so far, I've met one who just wants to blow things up, one who just wanted fun, one who wanted to slay a specific demon, one who aligned himself with AMEN just because it was the only group willing to assist his research, and so on. If you make the mistake of assuming what somebody wants, you'll be disappointed when they act in a way you weren't expecting."
...
Yeah. She figures that's good enough advice. Somebody she met earlier had the misconception that AMEN's goal was to destroy everything, and that could have led to some unfortunate later events.

"Good luck meeting with him."

[Front Room]

Shuyoru listens attentively, a thoughtful look on his face. "I see... thank you, Requiem. That'll do nicely." He gets off from the couch and shifts into a more respectable form, that of a skinny 30-year old version of what could be Yewa's brother face-wise, but with red eyes and his vampiric tells still visible, a conscious decision. Standing taller and wearing a pinstriped suit and fedora, he turns to the blonde. "Nice meeting you, Requiem. I hope we can work together, sometime. I could be useful to you in your quest with your brother... but that's after my meeting with the boss." With a final wave, he turns tail and leaves, heading straight to Zefir's office, where

[Shuyoru meets Zefir]

Shuyoru steps into the office and remains standing behind a chair. "Greetings, boss of AMEN, I am Shuyoru, Yewa's boss and handler. Like my little sister, she is, but I understand that she can be grating to strangers. My apologies for that, on her behalf. She might be mad, but she is useful, and loyal to me. I have no desire to go against AMEN and every desire to work with AMEN, so you can be assured that my loyalty to AMEN assures hers as well."

Then he leans in. "I was turned as a boy, but I have lived long enough to learn some wisdom as regards how to conduct activities one would consider 'evil' or 'nefarious. My goal: as a newcomer to the Nexus, I wish to spread the influence of my business over to the Nexus at large. Slavery, spies, assassins like Yewa and those not as unpredictable as she; I deal in smuggling as well if you would prefer. You want to sneak in a drug that slowly turns its addicts into brainwashed slaves that AMEN can use, I'm your man."

Then, he shifts back into his original little boy form, dark-skinned, black sclera and red eyes surrounded by Asian-shaped eyes, wearing a simple black and red robe, the 10-year old looking up at Zefir. "I also hear you have an interest in rooting out traitors. A shapeshifter you can trust will come in handy in that task, and I am willing to prove my trustworthiness." Indeed, all he has planned are contingencies if it all goes south, but he truly is pledging his alliance, if Zefir can sense that sort of thing.

The man walks in, taking in the greeting area. "My name is Manzul, and I was recently transported here from a world where I had almost fulfilled my plans." He stops observing the room and turns to look at the lady. "In that world, they called me a god. However, being transported has sapped my powers. I am now a powerful necromancer, but I certainly do not have the powers of a deity. I have observed myself getting more powerful the longer I have stayed here, so I may yet become strong again."

[Necromancer Recruit]

"Oo. That's, like, so interesting. The-" Yewa starts to say, before her more serious personality decides to take charge of this situation. "Ahem. The pursuit of power. A relatable goal." She says, pulling out a form for him to fill.

Spoiler: AMEN Form

Show

Name:
Age:
Purpose for Joining:

"Fill this for me and then go see the boss, sir." She says, pointing to Zefir's office. "The pursuit of power. We respect such a goal..." She gestures to herself, to indicate what 'we' means. "... but the boss won't take kindly to property damage. I hope you can convince him you mean no harm to AMEN in the long run. I gather the Nexus is filled with gods, already."

[Murkus]

[Approaching the Volcano]

All seems quite around the volcano that AMEN calls home, save for the crying of birds. It seems to carry pretty far in the heavy fog that rolls in, pushed by the wind that carries old leaves with it.

Inside the fog are Wenomir, Anika and Adir, hidden by the King in Rags' glamour from the eyes of everyone but themselves and each other. Anyone looking will find it very difficult to perceive them as anything but wisps of the fog. Sufficiently sharp senses, supernatural sight or technology might help. The glamour will certainly be easier to pierce the closer they get to the base and once they're inside it, as well.

Even before the three would-be rescuers arrive, though, the fog will fill AMEN with a strange atmosphere. The birds' cries seem foreboding and laden with uncertain meanings that are threatening, mocking or frightened depending on the moment. The air grows heavy with suspicion; what if someone here is already a Vigil member in disguise or working with them? It's happened before, after all. Isn't it what Ilpholin did once? Even if not, who's to say they're not sneaking around the tunnels right now?

[Approaching the Volcano]

Adir is dressed in full-body ballistic armor and a mask of the same material, a featureless and fearsome black covering that conforms to the shape of his face. He's laden down with a pair of sidearms and two longer weapons crossed on his back.

He strides forth, his warlike exterior betrayed by a whimsical tone. "So are we just going in through the front door, or what?"

[Shadowcaller]

[RESCUE: Approaching the Volcano]

"I don't see any other doors." Anika don't have any special gear for these occasions but she does wear some kind of camouflage poncho and her leather armor underneath it. And of course, that magical stone "magnet" she was going to use to get Ilpholin with. "So that's the one we're going for!" She runs forward, gesturing them to follow. "Come one, before they can prepare their defenses!"

[5a Violista]

Cloning Tank Room

Zenon's presence is most definitely felt before he shows up, despite not coming through the hallway. The sheer amount of power at his command is probably more than enough to trigger this Requiem's senses, so she has ample warning when he arrives, simply shooting up from a round shadow on the floor. He nods to her.

He sniffs at the air for a moment, and his eyes flash green for the briefest instant.

"Yes, I can sense it, too. Bad how, though?"

[Rescue - Cloning Tank Room]

Red-headed Requiem responds: "They've got some kind of fae lord helping them," she says simply.

...
In case that's not clear enough on why that's a problem, she continues: "Now, a fae lord isn't necessarily dangerous, but there's a good chance it could easily counter everything I do if it notices me. Many fae lords have that ability." It's not so much a question of 'overwhelming power' as it is 'they can accidentally do this one thing that hard-counters her and leaves her useless'.

"...There's the possibility that the fairy lord supporting them is incredibly powerful, or very specific. Either way, they've got some supernatural aid helping them get in. And it looks like they're going to try sneaking in instead of breaking in, so keep your eyes out for anything that looks off."

After enough time to take a deep breath, the woman calms down a little.
"Well, now that one of me is going to a safe distance away, I suppose I should probably get back to watching the front door." It'll just leave her more spread apart. "They'd be pretty dumb to just go through the front door, though."


And so, Requiem's Room => Hallway
A much younger (15-17 years old) and nearly-completely-powerless girl in Requiem's Room suddenly wakes up and starts to get dressed and ready to head out of the room, towards the front room. Sure, she thinks they'd be dumb to head through the front door when there's so many better ways in, and with no time to prepare she'd be no match for any of them - in fact, the King in Rags would be able to nearly completely prevent her from noticing them - but at least she could watch the door to see if they open it.

And nonchalantly lounge across a sofa and say something ominous when/if the door opens.
That would be cool.
She just hopes she can reach the front room before they get to the base, and have enough time to look calm and recollected. And maybe finish that TV show.
And then maybe she could throw them off-guard by offering them a membership form or something, especially since she wouldn't be able to do anything to them in the first place. That would be funny.
She quickens her pace in throwing together her hair, washing her face, etc etc and then leaves her room. There's no time for make-up, or a bath, or any other number of things she would have preferred to do. If only they had sent a RSVP informing they'd be bringing a fae lord, then maybe Requiem wouldn't have had to panic.

Honestly, now she's kind-of hoping they'll go through the front door. But only if they go slowly.

[CosmicHobbit]

[Necromancer Recruit]

"Oo. That's, like, so interesting. The-" Yewa starts to say, before her more serious personality decides to take charge of this situation. "Ahem. The pursuit of power. A relatable goal." She says, pulling out a form for him to fill.

Spoiler: AMEN Form

Show

Name:
Age:
Purpose for Joining:

"Fill this for me and then go see the boss, sir." She says, pointing to Zefir's office. "The pursuit of power. We respect such a goal..." She gestures to herself, to indicate what 'we' means. "... but the boss won't take kindly to property damage. I hope you can convince him you mean no harm to AMEN in the long run. I gather the Nexus is filled with gods, already."

Necromancer Recruit

Manzul considers stating what his real goal is, but decides he'd rather not risk being removed from Yewa's good side. And either way, he has always loved power, so it's not that far of a stretch to consider it a goal. He grabs the form and quickly fills it out.

Spoiler: Filled-Out AMEN Form

Show

Name: Xena/Manzul/Skamos, depending upon form.
Age: ~3.5 million
Purpose for Joining: I wish to gain more power so that I can fulfill some goals of mine, and while doing this I can help AMEN with my powers.

Manzul looks up at Yewa. "Do you think it would improve my chances if I looked more powerful than I do right now?"

[Morty]

[RESCUE - Front Entrance]

As the door closes, a wisp of the mist reaches out to slide in between it and the wall and hold it open just enough for the three rather large intruders to enter, if they're quick. The trio in the mist will see a flurry of black fathers jam itself between the door and the wall to keep it open.

"...I guess that answers that. I can't believe I'm sneaking into AMEN with the help of something from my grandfather's autumn equinox stories."

[Recaiden]

"Someone's here." Omiko's skin whispers in her ear.
She uses her fanciest eye to look around the dungeon, but no, there's nothing.
"They've infiltrated the base somehow. I can feel it."

"It was obviously that biologist guy. You saw what a pansy he was about experimenting on the kid." comments something unspeakable. "Clearly an undercover good guy."
"Quiet, all of you."
He immune system rears its ugly head. "No, something's wrong. Even I can feel it. You know, I think I need a drink to settle my nerves before the fightin'."
"You just had a whole bottle. Now shut up." Omiko growls, jamming the unruly thing back down through her fur.
"Is it us? Did Ilpholin get to you with all that talk about Zefir and dying out? Worried about losing our fun?"
"We're all just excited by the big battle presumably coming up. I am not the traitor. In fact, I feel confident that no one is going to betray us at all."
"..."
"Today."

[Nova_Eclipse]

[Rescue - Cloning Tank Room]

Zenon raises an eyebrow as he listens to the explanation, then smiles.

"Shall I order some of our troops to that area to assist? Some of our new recruits might make useful shields, at least. And, I should say, that, should they be foolish enough to come here, you may want to stay at a distance. I can be rather unruly sometimes."

[Murkus]

[Rescue - Front Entrance]

Adir grins under his mask and jogs after Anika, swinging one of his long weapons off his shoulder as he barges through AMEN's front door. "Nexus, huh, Wenomir? Gotta love it!" The stag presses a button on the side of his weapon and a wide metal crescent pops out of the front, creating something like a massive crossbow. A creaking steel cord winds back on its own, guided by some internal motor, and fixes in place at the crossbow's rear with a clang. "But I wouldn't exactly call this sneaking."

If any of the attending AMENites have the ability to see through the fog, they'll see a soldier holding the center of the VIGIL formation, just over two meters in height and swivelling his ominous mask to survey the room. The top of his head is festooned with a pair of short antlers.

Meanwhile, if Adir can see through the fog, he'll calmly and happily shoot anything in the front room that looks threatening. The result of that will have to be determined after seeing if they can dodge the flying metal missile his weapon hurls. The thing travels faster than a bullet and is glowing like a sword fresh off a smith's anvil, leaving ominous afterimages in the swirling mist.

The stag just wants to clear this room as fast as possible. Even an obvious threat might not receive more attention than one attack. It's on Anika to get them moving quickly with that 'magnet'.

[Zefir]

[Rescue - Front Entrance]

Sneaking would mean tehy used another entrance, like the Garage or maybe the bay for ships. Thought those doors are shut all the time and not opened by an escaping AMENitie.

Anika might have the right idea, but they didn't really come uninvited. After all AMEN did await their arrival. So there are a bunch of henchman already in the main room coming out of some hiding spots befor the Vigil members enter. Thought they aren't prepared to see through a fog. So Adir got the first shot if he can see them. The henchman aren't fast enougth to dodge. But they aren't that stupid so they seak cover and randomly shoot at the mist and where the missile came from.

Zefir in that time watches the main room from his hideout. Nothing unexpected for now. He gets his gear ready, in some case he might need to pick a fight.

[Purple Eagle]

Necromancer Recruit

Manzul considers stating what his real goal is, but decides he'd rather not risk being removed from Yewa's good side. And either way, he has always loved power, so it's not that far of a stretch to consider it a goal. He grabs the form and quickly fills it out.

Spoiler: Filled-Out AMEN Form

Show

Name: Xena/Manzul/Skamos, depending upon form.
Age: ~3.5 million
Purpose for Joining: I wish to gain more power so that I can fulfill some goals of mine, and while doing this I can help AMEN with my powers.

Manzul looks up at Yewa. "Do you think it would improve my chances if I looked more powerful than I do right now?"

Necromancer Recruit

"Don't act too crazed. He didn't like our mad baby personality." Yewa suggests, and that personality then decides it's time to come out to play! "What's not to liiike about thiiis? Not now. I'm the main personality, sooo shut uppp! Anyhoooooo, he's a bit stern, sooo, just get on his good side!" She squeaks in a higher-pitched cutesy voice.

If he turns back to face her while leaving, he might be able to surmise that a third personality has surfaced, but this one just watches him as he leaves.

@Zefir

[Shadowcaller]

[Rescue - Front Entrance]

"We can punch out the autumn fairy guy later if it makes you feel better, Wen." Anika proposes but doesn't wait for an answer and instead continues to run straight up to AMEN's front door (which apparently is unlocked) and pushes it open.

Once inside, she will turn to Adir and hand him the magnet and hold out her arms towards him. "Just strap it on my right arm after I change form, 'kay?" Then she will enter her huge bear form and if Adir straps on the magnet (which Anika has set up with a bear-sized wrist band) on her bear-arm she will turn and start going in the direction the magnet was pointing at. Only occasionally stopping to look at her bear-wrist.

[Morty]

[Rescue - Front Entrance]

The attacking trio can see through the fog just fine. As for the henchmen, it's certainly much easier to spot the attackers through the fog once they're up close and taking aggressive action. The henchmen will have some difficulty aiming, same as if they were shooting into a regular thick fog, but other than that they can see their targets now. Zefir's camera will also show them, but in a distorted and unclear way. They will seemingly swap places, change their features or grow larger and smaller. Sometimes there's someone else with them fora split-second, then they disappear.

However, the King in Rags keeps working his glamour on the rest of the base. The fog rolls out of the room ahead of the attackers, and with it sounds of rapid footsteps approaching - in several directions. More than that, the sounds of firearms and combat will appear distorted. Some will hear them coming from the garage, others from the ship dock or one of the side entrances. He also adds some indistinct voices that might resemble those of the three attackers... but also different AMEN members. But never those that hear them. The sounds of birds are mixed together with it, along with scurrying of rat feet and chittering of insects.

Meanwhile, under the cover of the fog, Adir's firing and Anika's bear-charge, Wenomir draws his sword and moves out. He stays low, moving left and right with dizzying speed to be a more difficult target and will cut try to down any henchmen that take aim at Anika. Like the others, he wants to keep moving rather than stay and fight.

[CosmicHobbit]

Necromancer Recruit

"Don't act too crazed. He didn't like our mad baby personality." Yewa suggests, and that personality then decides it's time to come out to play! "What's not to liiike about thiiis? Not now. I'm the main personality, sooo shut uppp! Anyhoooooo, he's a bit stern, sooo, just get on his good side!" She squeaks in a higher-pitched cutesy voice.

If he turns back to face her while leaving, he might be able to surmise that a third personality has surfaced, but this one just watches him as he leaves.

Manzul nods, no sign of emotion on his face as he sees the personalities fight for control.

Walking toward the boss's office, he does turn back to face her, and he smiles as him and his clothes shift into a slightly taller young man whose shape borders on that of a bodybuilder. His suit turns to armor that looks to be made out of bone, his eyes turn gray, and his thinning hair grows out and becomes messy. His skin tans, and at his side appears a morningstar with the head made of a skull with spikes, which seemingly comes out of a hole in his body which then closes up. His transformation to his true form complete, the man who will now go by the name of Skamis walks into the office.

[Murkus]

[Rescue - Front Entrance]

Being mostly immune to small arms fire even outside of his heavy armor, Adir calmly straps Anika's device to Bearnika's forelimb. As he rises from his crouch, he swings his weapon about and looses a couple more bolts in the henchmen's direction. "Let's go, big girl!" The stag shouts, ready to follow her wherever that Ilphy magnet leads. He takes off with her at a loping run, the motion and his bootsteps disguised by the King's magic.