Romanadvoratrelundar – A downcast departure

It took a while for Romana to realise what was going on with Adrian, as she was too busy dodging attacks, but as Toro stepped in to get rid of the remaining mobsters, she clicked that something had gone wrong with amplifying Adrian’s powers. She hastily switched off her sonic device and reprogrammed it so that it would no longer focus on Adrian, concerned about what she had done.

Back in the Lander, Romana listened to the others (and an earful of Charles’ grumbling) in silence. She rolled her eyes at Roy’s enthusiasm over the weapons; she didn’t see the appeal. She was still conscious of the burn across her cheek left by the sniper, but the pain was easy for her to ignore if she focused on something else.

As Scael spoke up, the Time Lady gave him a disapproving glance.
“That and a bit of self-restraint,” Romana muttered with mild scorn.

She was still concerned over what had happened with Adrian and aware of the fact that she hadn’t talked to him it yet. She glanced over in his direction apologetically. “Adrian...I’m sorry about what happened during the fight. I thought that if I could amplify your energies using my sonic it would help...I didn’t expect it to have that effect on you.”



{Romana’s telepathic extension, inside Jake’s mind}

Romana was not sure what to make of it. Of all the things she had seen so far, she really shouldn’t have been surprised. A sweet voice, a beautiful woman...she had to hold back her surprise and relief as she saw Jake there. It felt like so long ago that she had set out looking for him.

The scene was so calming and beautiful, and the woman was so striking...something felt odd and unnerving about it, and Romana wondered whether she should be here at all. But despite the feeling of wanting to walk away, she found herself making her way forwards, right up towards Jake and the woman.

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Hiryu: Doc's bag is a portal. She's actually from another dimension and when she jumped into it, she ended up at a desk with a browser open on this site. That's how she found it.
We have a Doctor Who thread now. Doctor Who threads are cool.

{Roy}

_Lander_

Roy continued to smile even when Scael growled at him nor did it fade with Charle sourpuss expression. The fabrics of his suit began to shift, changing back into Roy's old outfit of a red and black flannel shirt with onyx buttons, tan pants and cap, while the shoes remained the same as Roy moved over to Charles. " Ever heard of the saying, if it isn't broken, don't fix it. No, how about the whole being more than the sum of its parts." Roy mentioned to his cohort without looking at him. " Charles, the way we acted in the trials and now Romana's group is fused with ours, did you believe we would succeed?" He then asked his friend. " We succeeded in the trials as did they, because we acted as individuals. That way of thinking had to fail and soon, thus it needed to be broken." Roy explained, referencing what he said earlier. " If the squad realizes we have..no need to work together, then we can truly become a squad."

" It is from failure, that we learn from our mistakes and grow stronger from them." Roy added,he then, faced Charles and said " Also as much as how sweet my loot is, I also got you to agree about teaching me how to teleport using your portal system." Roy now buckled his seat belt, securing himself in his seat as they flew in the lander. " Its funny, you know. Even when, I lose, I win. I look forward to tomorrow and the next mission."

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"Fate smiles on the strange. So its a good thing, I'm the strangest of all." - William Livingstone, Cirque de la Nuit

Adrian Myoto ~ Too Drunk to Care

"Awwwwwwwwwwww tha's awright, Roma-....Roma-...Romahahahahahahaha. You gots a funny name thar, pinky," Adrian sneered in a pure drunken stupor. He didn't even notice being drug back to the lander or who had carried him for that matter. All he knew right now was that life was absolutely wonderful. At least it would be until the following morning when his head split like watermelon under a bad comedian's hammer. For now though Adrian simply didn't have the mental capacity to tell Romana off for her mistake. "Tell you whaaat, Romie. You can hith me wif that thar sonic doohicky anytime you like."

Adrian's stupid demeanor continued through everybody else's comments as well. Even the ever down Charles couldn't hope to bring Adrian's mood down at this point. Hell even Roy seemed almost tolerable. "Pfffhahaha. Roy thinks winning is losing!! Bwahahhahahaha-" Adrian's head thunked against the back of the seat in front of him as he literally passed out in mid-sentence. The lack of sleep he'd accrued over the past few days combined with his now drunken state made remaining conscious an almost impossible task. While he slept, the half elves MAGNIFICENT AND BEAUTIFUL EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAAARS twitched like a puppy dog's.

The rebuke caught Scael off guard and it took a moment for him to actually process it and reply. But when he did, he turned, glaring at Charles. "Wait a damn minute," Scael exclaimed and swung his legs off his swag as Charles reprimanded him; not because the reprimand was undeserved, but because of Charles' logic. "Are you telling me that if we waited for the mobsters to act back there we would have had no casualties? Keeping in mind that there was a sniper who almost killed Romana? Even after the fact, that's a very poor way of thinking. What makes you think that if we had held back and formulated some kind of slow methodical plan that sniper wouldn't have shot one of us dead when our time had run out and the mobsters had just started to make their move? And somehow it's my fault that things didn't go as you planned? Damn," Scael swore, shaking his dead piteously. "I hadn't figured you to be this naive. Do you know nothing about battle?"

Scael held one finger in the air. "Rule number one of battle: Do not underestimate your enemy. I was just as guilty of that as you, though that by no means led to any kind of defeat." He extended a second finger. "Rule number two: Know your allies' roles and abilities." Scael turned his left fist and thumped himself in the chest. "My role is clear. I am a tank. A big, dumb tank. I am the large, cumbersome object that people concentrate their fire on. I make a lot of noise and freak people the fuck out. If I can get the chance to kill someone, I take it, and draw more fire. I am the one that takes the brunt of the assault." He turned a be-clawed digit towards Romana. "She is the support. She enhances our abilities and provides backup from a distance. And to your credit," Scael said, turning to Romana, his hand going from an angry pointed finger to a respectful open palm, "you did what you were supposed to do and you didn't know you would be hurting him. However, a little prior knowledge of Adrian's abilities might have saved us the trouble it caused. I'm not blaming you for anything, just stating fact. Scael turned and gestured towards Adrian, now passed out. "He is our damage, I don't need to get technical here. When he's at the top of his form, he would be the one surpassing me in output; the more people he can put down, the better. Admittedly I didn't know about his electricity, I just knew that was his role." He turned his gesture to Isarabi. "She is our suppressor. Her attacks weaken the enemy without causing a whole lot of damage, but the effects are further amplified by our own effectiveness as a unit.

"With all that in mind, what manner of combat do you serve, Charles?" Scael knew the answer but asked the question as if to verify his notions. His verdant snake-like eyes bored into Charles' own, searching for a reason to believe that this leader really had what it took to lead.

_________________

Kallis listened to the others argue in meek silence. He felt they had done their work fairly well, given the situation, but had to guess that the others simply used to anything less then 100 percent success, and therefore weren't taking it so well. Like always he chose to keep that theory to himself though.

Before long, they reached their destination, the Asylum's hangar doors opening to greet them. True to it's name, the Lander touched down with nary a bump, doors opening to disgorge it's passengers. To the surprise of everyone, they were greeted by the sight of Cypher waiting nearby, holding something at his side, obscured by his cloak.
"Welcome back," he said as they made their way out of the transport. " New squad member Enine did not leave with you." This was a statement, though it seemed like it should have been a question.
"You did not report him missing."

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~Charles Price: Blame~

"You honestly thought I knew anything about battle? Honestly?" Charles responded in mild surprise. "I don't know who's more naiive, me or you. Now I won't deny that I experienced my fair share of strife in the last forty-seven years I was alive, but did I ever fight? No. We fucking hid, I'll tell you that. Not just me either, a shit load of people. And there was nothing wrong with that, and I'll tell you why; I was expected to. Where I came from there were only two groups of people who could really call themselves warriors, the magistrates and the soldiers. If you were involved in a field of science or politics or a part of a guild the only place you were expected to fight at was a bar. You want to know what my role would be?"

The way he said it hinted that the next thing to come out of his mouth would probably be nothing bit senile jabber. To put things simply Scael was about to hear an earful.

"I would do what I've always done. Create two portals, one for my allies to go through and one stragetically placed either above or behind the enemy. It would have to be exact, and the enemy couldn't have seen it, otherwise we'd be dead. That was the plan while we had the magistrates after us. The thing was we knew what we were dealing with. The magistrates were cowards as opposed to the common soldier. They were used to judging and ruling over magic like gods. Teleportation is both a form of magic and a science, so we had the philosophers and scientists on our side, not researchers either since most of them were aligned with the magistrates. The scientists we had were men of action. They were the inventors. Our job was to protect them and their job was to support us. Their inventions was our mutiny against magic. And we loved every minute of it. We'd split up in teams, created our own little maze of portals, some of us were stupid enough to cross the seams and you NEVER cross the seams. But we were careful about it. The portal system was ours to control we could do anything we wanted if we had enough collaborators. Some of us got some of the researchers on our side so we could figure out cleverer ways to put the magistrates out of the loop. They were our sworn enemies, and they still are. Another thing we used to do is drop large rocks on their observatories. Some of us would travel to mountain ridges and push down rocks into portals. Next thing you know a couple of apprentice magi are reported dead. The teleporters who killed them could be tracked through the portal system and put on probation. But not by our might, an empath could track the last spot where a portal was used easily, because they were sensitive little bastards. They would fight back, we had a couple of magical incidents at the university a couple of times. Some low ranking magi would sneak in and turn a student into a ferret. They would also destroy our stations all over Rathya. We had to devise better ways to hide them. Some of us were attacked on the streets, because of our code of color. We were easily noticed, so we had to start carrying pistols, one of the first pistols manufactured belonged to us. Some of us would hide them under our hats so we could tip our hat and give thieves or magistrates a nice bullet to the heart. We had our inventor friends to thank for that. But we were never fighters. We are survivors. We spend four to six years learning to survive before we set out into the world earning a name for ourselves."

For the moment he seemed to have finished with whatever the hell he was talking about. "That's my goal for you guys. To make sure you survive whatever the hell we run into in the near future. For the sake of simplicity let's say that I'm be a support for you all to step on, a living shortcut if you will. I apologize if my line of thinking isn't exactly the same as yours. I am a stragetist; I don't act, I think. That's one of the things you need to understand about my previous line of work. A good teleporter weighs in the consequences and takes the least dangerous route. Safety always comes first. It's the first fucking thing they teach you at University, even before they open the doors to let you in. If something fails I'll fucking fix it, but the idea is not to fail in the first place!" The teleporter rubbed his temples. "Well it could have gone worse I suppose. We could all be dead." he said with that familiar tang of bitterness.


====

After the landing Charles seemed to be feeling better. Or at least that strain on his head was gone for the most part. Maybe it was the Lander that was bothering him the most. Or that dang sting that wouldn't lift from his mind. He was glad to be greeted by Cypher as oppose to any of the other veterans. He really didn't feel like dealing with that necromancer. As for Enine, well he almost had forgotten about that guy, and now that he thought about it he didn't exactly feel like dealing with him either. The last time he remembered seeing the bastard was at the lobby. "Are you sure he hasn't been sleeping the day away?" he asked. He wouldn't put it past Enine to do such a thing so he could completely skip their first mission.

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Musicmac: "Sam4Books: Always ready to cheer things up with awesome art. Terms and Conditions apply."

-Frank-
Frank sat in the lander, one leg up on the other and him just nonchalantly calming down after the fight, He'd grabbed a few bags of his belongings, everything he could take, and stuffed them under his seat. Two large bags and one fine suitcase. Leaning his head back, he thought about what happened. "Didn't think the boys would come after me that fast, coulda sworn I'd made a clean break. Ah, well, they're mostly dead now, and I'm alive, out and with the goods. All in a day." The fucks nearly got him, that was sure. He hated to say it to himself, but he was fairly lucky the Lunatics had shown up when they did. Well, the apparent bosses among their little group, anyway. The others... eh. They did ok, he supposed, but on the other hand the dumb fucks had split up too fast and then made their watches clean up what they couldn't handle. He couldn't believe he was being stuck with them, the kids group or so it sounded. Sighing, he opened his coat to pull out a box of cigarettes, taking one for himself and lighting up in the Lander, quickly filling it with the smell of smoke.

Luckily for those with sensitive smell, they landed soon after. Grabbing his stuff, he walked off the lander first, turning back to say his first words all trip to the others. He smoke slightly muffled through the cigarette still clenched between his teeth. "The problems not roles or plans or even the drunk dog." With the last bit, he nodded at Adrian. "It's that you're fucking pussies that don't know how to fight and kill. Jeez, the guys I get stuck with." Half sighing, half inhaling smoke, he walked off the lander and stood just a big away from the man that greeted them. "Hey, don't know about this Erine or Enine or whatever guy, but there a room for me around here? Maybe an intro on how things work around here? Little outta the loop, nobody sent a brochure or anything." Frank finished the last sentence with a half-laugh.

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=Pre-landing Lander=

Scael listened seriously to the entire dialogue from Charles; he nodded understandingly at intervals when he described his background; he got lost when Charles got into his portal magic/science but said nothing; he craned his head curiously when he described the social structure of his society and the fact that its magi would use guns, rather than spells, to defend themselves on the street--although at least it was understandable that they would; finally, Scael smiled when Charles described himself as a survivor and a strategist. "That's it," he said with no small amount of praise. "That's what you are. A strategist. That is your strength. You have little battle prowess but great potential to lead us to victory. You do not have to act; you think, and we act for you. That is your role, and that's how you should fight. Evaluate the situation; tell us who to attack; weigh our strengths and weaknesses; surprise the enemy; let us act for you. Just don't be afraid to."

=Post Landing Lander=

Scael blinked at Cypher's declaration. "Enine's not here? I could have sworn..." He looked over his shoulder, back at the Lander. Hadn't Enine been with them?

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Romanadvoratrelundar – That's done it.

Romana frowned at Adrian, staring at him in a mixture of amusement and mild annoyance, and then brought a hand to her face. “...I think I’ll try and apologise again when you’re sober,” she sighed. She watched him fall unconscious and tried not to smile at the movements his ears made. He looks simply adorable like that.

As she listened to the conversations going on in the Lander, Romana was a little surprised and impressed by Scael. He seemed much more respectful and reasonable than he had done at the Space Port, and he clearly knew a lot about battle. She didn’t say anything, but when she was mentioned, she did express her gratitude and understanding with a slight nod of the head. Romana might not have liked everything Scael did, but she was learning to respect him a little more now.

_____________

Of course, there were others in the team that were losing her respect very quickly.
She hadn’t had an opportunity to speak to Frank since...well, since that incident with the portal. As he departed from the Lander, his remark didn’t impress Romana in the slightest. She’d had just about enough of him.

“I beg your pardon!” Romana spoke in an acidic tone, storming out of the Lander after him. She marched up to Frank, and in one swift movement slapped the cigarette away from his mouth, half-slapping him around the face in the process.

“I don’t know what the customs are where you were brought up, but where I’m from, the conduct you’ve demonstrated so far is despicable. You’ve done little but insult and condescend everyone on our team since your arrival, and I have yet to see any demonstration of what makes YOU so much better than any of us. Your manners are appalling, your attitude and maturity is something I would expect from a Time Tot...If this is how you behave, I hope you don’t expect anyone to respect you or take you seriously. Whether we failed in our mission or not, we put a lot of effort into getting you out of there, and this is the kind of gratitude you give? Insulting your ‘would be’ rescuers? I think you need to change your behaviour here, and very quickly. You’re doing yourself no favours by being so rude and disrespectful to your co-workers. If you have trouble with that, I would be only too happy to give you a book on etiquette to read, and get you to write an essay on the importance of manners and good conduct in the workplace. If you insist on insulting everyone and behaving with the maturity of a teenage boy, then I’m sure you won’t object to being treated like one. And smoking is terribly bad for you, and others. If you want to inflict damage on yourself that is entirely up to you, but at least have the consideration for others and NOT light up in a confined space. I’m lucky I have a respiratory bypass system and didn’t have to breathe it in, but others are not so fortunate. So please think next time.”

Romana stood boldly, eyes glaring fiercely at Frank. She had scolded people with weapons pointed at her head before now, so she had absolutely no fear in telling someone like Frank off. After all the rude comments to everyone and the deliberate attempt to make a fool of her, Romana wasn’t going to stand for Franks attitude, and she wanted to make that quite clear.

As for the current situation, Romana frowned. “Enine?” She had assumed there was a reasonable explanation for his absence and hadn’t thought much of it. But now she was confused and a little concerned that apparently no one seemed to know where he had gone.

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Hiryu: Doc's bag is a portal. She's actually from another dimension and when she jumped into it, she ended up at a desk with a browser open on this site. That's how she found it.
We have a Doctor Who thread now. Doctor Who threads are cool.

Isarabi White: Woah

She sighed as Adrian drunkenly rambled on, and was about to kick him in the ribs when he fell asleep, and the strangest thing happened: his ears were twitching. She didn't know what else to do but stare, and she felt this urge to touch them. Not even in a way that could be misinterpreted, but in the simple way that they moved. She wanted to poke them. She was tired and all of the smells were getting to her now. She was sure that somebody's B.O. was getting her high, but she tried to ignore it. Charles began a rant that she barely listened to, her eyes drawn back to Adrian's eat-twitching, as some of what the guy said actually sunk in. Blinking hard, she reminded herself that losing attention wouldn't help matters, and looked away from the twitching temptation with a lot of effort.

The doors opened, and she was distracted by Cypher's voice. "Shit" she said, biting her lower lip and looking down a bit. Not reporting or even noticing that a team member was missing was really bad, even for beginners. How could she forget something like that?

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Doctress Who-CURSE YOU AKAINE AND FENIX. *Shakes fist*
Musicmac-INNUENDO... STRIKE!
Innuendo Squad Leader
Dare to join?

Cypher observed their reactions silently, and appeared satisfied, insofar as any emotion could be read from him. " You did not know. There is a possibility that his ability was utilized somehow to ensure this." He said this almost as if ticking off points in his head, before turning to face the group as a whole.
"Enine Estel failed to board the Lander as ordered. Once take-off had been initiated, he made his way to the confiscated items vault and used his powers to break into it." Cypher paused as if gauging their reactions, barely half a second before continuing.
"Once inside, he proceeded to disturb several dangerous artifacts, and finally, one became agitated by his abilities. This proved fatal."
Cypher then held up the object he had been holding at his side, And Kallis barely stopped himself from being sick all over the floor.
It was Enine's arm, shorn off at the shoulder by some unknown force, leaving a series of smooth grooves in the wound and clothes at the area. Oddly the grisly remains seemed to be almost devoid of the usual blood and tearing one would normally expect, but it was doubtful that would be the first thing on anyone's mind.
"This was unfortunately the only recoverable remains." Said Cypher, lowering the arm again, "Burial arrangements are already underway. This should serve as a lesson against ignoring orders." He turned to Frank. "Frank Vic. Your registration has been completed. Due to recent events, Enine Estel's position is now vacant. You will be placed in his former quarters." His task complete, Cypher turned and silently walked out of the hangar.

Kallis, getting his roiling stomach under control, turned to the Instructors, noticing them to be conspicuously silent, only to flinch at the look of anger on Toro's face.
"Look," the one-eyed gunman said, his voice pregnant with anger and disgust, "Youre free to settle in now, but Lunar wants to talk to you about your performance later, so go to his office when your ready. Just do me a favor," he said, pushing his way past them, " And none of you speak to me for the rest of the day. You obviously dont listen to a word I say anyway." Having said his piece, he stalked out of the hanger. Marus simply stared at the squad of newcomers before turning around and returning to the work he had been doing when they had first entered the hangar.

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Adrian Myoto ~ Time to sleep

Adrian snorted awake when the Lander touched down. The half-elf massaged his ears, had someone been touching them while he was asleep again? Didn't matter, slowly he rose up, still drunker than a skunk on Saturday. Carefully he wobbled out the back hatch, almost stumbling into Cypher in the process. It took him awhile before he was even able to begin to process what was going on. Something about some guy named Enine. Was that that annoying fellow from before? Cypehr's waving around of what was left of Enine's arm answered that question. Adrian blinked before bursting into another drunken spree of laughter. "Oh that's rich! The idiot ditches us and gets himself blown apart. Oh I wish he were alive so I could rub his face in it. Hell if not alive, I at least wish he still had a face!! Bwahaha-" Adrian stumbled, using his sword to prop himself up lest he fall flat on his face.

When Toro gave his little hissy fit of an order, Adrian simply rolled his eyes. He was still too drunk to know or care about anything that was going on. Why should he anyway? He'd done his job just fine. Or at least he had until Romana nearly killed him. "I'm gonna make sure she gets a looooooooong lecture once I'm sober enough to give one." he sighed to himself, hobbling off down the hallway as he did. Somehow he managed to find his way back to the garden the group had visited on the tour. It wasn't a room with a soft bed but there was just no way he was going to be able to find the barracks at this point, much less debate over who he'd share a room with. Thus the young half-elf passed out on the floor of garden, his head resting on a nice soft patch of grass.

Frontier - Wildlands - A little outside town.

Chris clicked his tongue as he hid behind the tree. He'd spent the last two hours creeping deeper into this little acre of land. Apparently the little nearby town had been having some trouble with the shrubbery lately, earth found on broken down doors, leafs in empty beds, broken branches in run-down homes, etc. Worst place for it really, an insolated lonely town surrounding by unmapped, untamed woods, perfect place for an insane necromancer to set up shop though with a fetish for biology and experimentation though. The reason he'd been going so slowly lately towards that little shack in the centre of this area was because, if he ran in, random trees tried to take a bite out of him. He was reasonably sure the one he was pressed up against wasn't alive...undead, whatever, if only because it hadn't tried to eat him yet, not great logic to rely on but short of breaking it in two, there wasn't any ways he could be sure. Plus, being 6 foot 6, white as a ghost, having blood red hair and looking like a cyborg didn't make good camouflage in a forest. Thankfully the trees were stupid as hell on their own, tending only to react to sudden movement. The only animal he'd seen since he got deep in here was a grumpy-looking hedgehog. Probably wondering where the heck everyone else was and whether or not he hadn't been invited to a party or something. Very suspicious creatures hedgehogs.

Anyway, back to work. He could just hear humming in the distance, from the smells that were making his nose tingle and causing him to fight against sneezing, probably her own little herb garden full of whatever other biological abominations she'd created. He crept forward, his bare feet taking about twenty seconds per footstep, just to be careful he didn't hit any branches, god, it was hard to fight against the instinct to just rush for her and finish this quickly. I'm going to take a loooong bath after this. he thought, fondly looking forward to the moment he could wash all this woodland filth he'd spread all over himself, in case this necromancer had a sensitive nose like him. He had to finish this quickly too as he'd turned most of his machinary off, he couldn't risk any sudden "whirring" noses or the injections jabbing him at an important moment. He could see her now, she looked young and was bobbing from side to side and cooing at her plants, it would have been quite sweet until you noticed the plants were snapping hungrily at her and she was dropping fingers into their ravenous maws. Shame she has to look so young. he thought as he stared at the red-cloaked woman, there was no way she was a girl, probably just kept herself looking young somehow, damn magicians.

The skin on his hands began to stretch out as underneath, his hands began to turn into claws, the skin being pulled taught against the black...whatever the hell it was, ivory or something, and then bubbled away as the toxins started seeping from the black claws. He tensed, and then paused. He then looked at the tree his hand was on and the smoke coming from it as the toxins ate at it. Pleasedon'tbeacarnivorousundeadtreePleasedon'tbeacarnivorousundeadtreePleasedon'tbe- He stopped thinking this as a hole broke open in the tree to reveal a long, dry purple tongue with rows of broken shards of wood as teeth and a long, dry and dusty screech echoed through the forest. ...Fuck. Chris said as every other tree around him opened up it's mouth and started screeching too, a whole symphony of undead, hungry howls for flesh echoing throughout the forest. He could hear that bitch's high-pitched chuckling too in the distance. He tentatively took his hand off the black scorch-mark on the angry tree's bark as glowing green cracks broke open above it's mouth and glared at him. It's branchs growing thorns and cracking as they began to move towards him. Yep...Fuck.

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“One day you wake up and realize the world can be conquered.”

-= Just outside the Lander: Scael's reaction =-

Scael turned back to Cypher just as the arm was brought into view. Scael looked at the arm for just a few moments before finally scoffing. "Huh. Looks pretty tasty. You got any salt, Cypher?"

He waved his hand dismissively. "Well anyway, he got what he deserved... back-stabbing S.O.B." Wiping his hands of the matter, he changed the subject. "Best not keep Lunar waiting, guys." He began to head towards Lunar's office.

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{Roy}

_Where ever we are to Somewhere else_

" Hmm, quite a pity. I actually liked him, he actually listened." Roy remarked about their fallen comrade. It was surprising for Roy to hear that Enine's ulterior motive was looting the place, and to do it so soon, disappointing. He should have cased the place and the staff a bit longer, Roy figured as this was obviously a tactical error on Enine's part. Nothing to do, but move on as Roy changed the subject just as Scael as he said " Toro, said when we're ready and I'm not. I have a few things that I want to work on. However, its not like we can't go individually for his lectures. " to Scael and to everyone else. Speaking of everyone, Roy glanced over to Romana, who is starting something with their new "addition" to the squad. " You're really going to let someone like that get under your skin, Romana. Come on, if he doesn't realize he's just as bad as us, he's idiot." Roy mentioned and then went on to say " Now let's go and get our first lesson from Charles."

" Yes, Charles, I want to get started on that as soon as possible. I also would like some combat sparring with you as well. " Roy said to Charles while on his way out. " Let's head to the training room, and if that's filled somewhere off grounds, very far away from the base. I want as much room as possible." He suggested to Charles as he really wanted to see the full potential of teleporting as well show his Charles teacher, that his teleporting power is far more deadly than he lets on. So much to look forward to, Roy thought as he strolled with his hands in his pockets and a big grin on his face. " Come on, let's go!" He said, acting a giddy school boy, as he turned around and gestured to Romana and Charles to follow.

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"Fate smiles on the strange. So its a good thing, I'm the strangest of all." - William Livingstone, Cirque de la Nuit

~Charles Price~

Charles sighed at the news of Enine's demise. He supposed that it only goes to show that not everyone is as powerful he claimed to be. He couldn't say he wasn't surprised. The guy had a terrible ego and it was no secret that Charles wouldn't miss him. Seriously, he was a jerk. While the drunken Adrian laughed his head off, Charles merely took of his hat in a mock sign of respect, shooting Adrian an unamused gaze. "What a fucking shame." Placing his hat back on his head, Charles let Toro's words of anger bounce off of him. He had a point, but as Scael had said now was probably the best time to dwell on such matters. In fact, to put it simply, he'd rather not anyways. His mind was under enough strain as it was. The last thing he needed was-

" Now let's go and get our first lesson from Charles."

Somewhere out there in the vast and empty universe, a god of fate was laughing horribly at Charles. He had even winced at the words. 'Right now?'

" Yes, Charles, I want to get started on that as soon as possible. I also would like some combat sparring with you as well. "

Once again the teleporter sighed, unsurprised by his friend's request, but still a bit bemused. 'I suppose I might as well.' In any case it was better than waiting for whatever unfortunate news Lunar might have, and Charles was certain he wouldn't like it one bit. Then again, when did he ever like any news?

When Roy suggested using the training room, Charles was okay with opening a portal for them. Except Roy took off already and Charles just stood there, his arms outstretched in a questioning position. "It would be easier to open a portal." He didn't spend all night last night mapping the perimeter of the Asylum for no apparent reason.

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Musicmac: "Sam4Books: Always ready to cheer things up with awesome art. Terms and Conditions apply."

Scael stopped when Roy said he wasn't ready and that he wanted a lesson in portal-making from Charles. He blinked, watching Roy as he made his way towards the training room. Personally, Scael didn't think this was going to turn out well. It was generally not a good idea to keep the boss of your organization waiting when he wanted an audience with you, particularly on matters regarding one's job performance.

Scael said nothing though. In fact, he was feeling a bit peckish and decided to take a trip to the galley to get something to eat.

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{Roy}


_ Training Room_ Later On, after the Portal Lecture_ Combat Sparring


It really fascinated Roy, how the training room can replicate things like sights, smells, and touch a of city. Truly a show of how advance the world has become since his time as a warlord, centuries ago. Roy in all his glorious robotic form falls from the sky to crash lands into a parked black car. Shards of glass and shrapnel from the car flew as Roy landed right into it. His electric yellow eyes are swirling as he realizes what just happened. " Not bad for an old timer, Charles." Roy remarked, shaking his head as he rises from the remains of the car. The computer generated bystanders continue their pace as does the traffic around them. " Few people, really bring in the best in me so let's make it exciting." He said as DIM started to take effect. Roy then, picked up the damaged vehicle and hurled it in the general area of Charles. Electric blue digital blocks formed into his barrage blaster right into his right hand while his chainsaw saucers hovered around him, and on his back now was his Tesla gear with the Tesla wand in his left hand.


Roy switched on his Tesla gear as he pulled the trigger of his barrage blaster, firing several rounds of molten hot plasma at Charles while he charging towards him through moving traffic. However, Charles knows despite this onslaught, that Dual Armor of Roy's is lurking somewhere in the city blending in and waiting to strike. Despite how the day started, the day was becoming much better with every pull of the trigger as he couldn't wait to see, Charles's counter attack while Charle's earlier lecture of how portals work echoed in his thoughts.

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"Fate smiles on the strange. So its a good thing, I'm the strangest of all." - William Livingstone, Cirque de la Nuit

Romanadvoratrelundar – Moving on

Romana grimaced a little at the sight of Enine’s arm. She had seen far worse things, but imagining what might have happened was still unpleasant...and despite her dislike for Enine she was shocked to hear about his demise. She wouldn’t wish a death like that on anyone.

In fact Romana would have even felt saddened except for the fact that she knew what Enine was. Whether she bought any of what Enine and his demon girls had told her was irrelevant; Romana had perceived what Enine was – what he really was. Even though the Enine in this world was dead and they would never see him again, Romana knew that there were many more Enines still out there, running around other universes...now THAT was an unpleasant thought. She supposed Meta-Enine had got a kick out of letting her know that.

What Romana couldn’t understand why someone like Enine had taken such actions and ended up getting himself killed, except for the notion that he’d possibly just been...bored.
Well to him a risk like that would mean nothing, I suppose, she surmised derisively. But still...what a way to die... She shuddered to herself.

As for whatever Lunar had to say to them all, she didn’t want to think. From Toro’s angry tone it didn’t sound good.

Concerning Frank, Romana shot him another cold glance. “You’re right,” she admitted to Roy, seeming to turn away from Frank and dust her hands of him, letting her anger drop. She’d said all that she had felt needed to be said to Frank, anyway. Pursuing the issue further was not worth it.

The time lady was a bit taken aback by Roy’s enthusiasm to be taught by Charles, particularly right of this moment. Not to say that she wasn’t excited by the prospect but now? Right now? Both of them? It wasn’t quite what she had expected.
She opened her mouth to say something, then closed it again. She guessed it made practical sense.

“The walk would probably do you some good, Charles,” she casually shrugged at the green teleporter. Although Romana really was not bothered about how they got there.

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{Later on, in the Training Room}

Romana watched with interest from a distance as Roy and Charles sparred with each other...currently she was situated on a park bench from where she had a reasonably good view of the fight, provided they didn’t move around too much, in which case she’d have to vacate the bench and find somewhere else to either stand or sit...which had already happened quite a few times. K9 was currently out and observing events beside her, after several pleas that he would be a ‘good dog’ if she let him out of her pocket and observe.

She looked down at the notes she had made about teleportation, rereading them before tucking them away again out of habit. At least she would have a new project to work on now. While Roy was keen to show how Charles’ portals could be used as a weapon, Romana was far more interested in the idea of using the portals to travel the fourth dimension. She was pretty sure it could be done – it was just a matter of how long it would take. The theory and calculations should be simple enough for someone like Romana to crack within a night, if she buckled down to it – it would be putting it into practice which would be the challenge. But that was partly the reason Romana wanted to try it anyway – to challenge herself. Sure there was the risk of it all going horribly wrong – there were probably several good reasons why her own people used time capsules and not portals ordinarily, but Romana was no stranger to risks. She was just curious whether she could make it work.

Of course, the novelty of just being able to create a teleportation portal was an exciting idea as it was, anyway. What was it about old-fashioned things that made them so interesting, Romana didn’t know, but for her they were.

For now, she was just content on observing Charles and Roy, and watching closely what they were doing. Although combat wasn’t something Romana was overly keen on, nor was it her strong point, she recognized its usefulness. And what interested her more was the use of portals, so although she was currently staying out of the action, the time lady was paying close attention – as was the dog-shaped automaton beside her.

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Hiryu: Doc's bag is a portal. She's actually from another dimension and when she jumped into it, she ended up at a desk with a browser open on this site. That's how she found it.
We have a Doctor Who thread now. Doctor Who threads are cool.

??? - Somnambulist

As everyone walked away in order to tend to their own respective purposes and objectives, a member of the Kiddie Squad had become left behind and forgotten. Back in the Lander, a man lied comfortably in one of its seats. His face seemed so peaceful and calm that it seemed like the danger that had barely taken their lives moments ago did not even disturb him the least to prevent his rest, probably because he had stayed out of the whole thing entirely.

After a few minutes of quite and peace in the hangar however, his eyes blinked rapidly and his body sat up straight immediately. Bright, green eyes scanned the surroundings in which he was in before the man stood up, patted his clothing for any unseen, imaginary dust and slowly made his way out of the transport. He walked in a manner of grace and perfect posture, every single step he took was in a dignified, controlled pace and lacked any signs of an uncultured mind. It was almost as if he enjoyed making every step count as he made his journey, finding amusement in making sure each and every step was in careful calculations and coordinated without fault. Of course, the truth was far from something to be amused about.

"Calm yourself, Vincent. I do not find the entertainment you have in gaining control over the boy's body. I am only doing this as a responsibility, as it is yours also. You know very well about your own injuries," the man spoke as if there was somebody in his company, but there was barely a single soul left at where he was. He frowned slightly as he walked on after that, as if he was uncomfortable with a non-existent reply to what he had said earlier.

"I am as worried as you are about Miss Romana, but I trust that she will be able to accomplish what we cannot. We have been doing this for too long, someone needs to know," he spoke again some time later, in a slightly more assertive tone as compared to before. As he reached a door, his hand was carefully placed on its knob and slowly turned. So slowly, that every single creak and screech of its springs and gears could be clearly heard. It was like a beautiful symphony to his ears, it made him remember how long his captivity had been up until today. Sadly, his moment of freedom was not meant to last.

"Someone real," he muttered before the door was firmly shut.


??? - The Thorn

There was movement at the bench the moment Romana moved towards the couple. At a fair distance from her, Jake's eyes blinked as if a strong light had been placed right in front of his face. When his vision cleared and his mind became less fogged from his sleep, the first thing he saw was her. He remembered how it had been before, he slept on her lap while listening to her songs until the day's end. Her beautiful, heart-shaped face, her smiling lips and her red hair shifting like the leaves of tree from the occasional wind. How many years had it been since then?

This has to be a dream, he thought to himself and smiled. His dreams were the only place where he could relive this moment, the one moment in his life when everything had been perfect. The woman brushed a hand across his face and giggled. Jake closed his eyes again and felt the warm, familliar touch. Whether it was a dream or not, he was happily willing to stay here. But then, everything changed.

He had felt it immediately. The air, calm and soothing before, was now thick and black like a poisonous fog wrapping around him. Jake opened his eyes immediately and saw that her eyes were no longer on him nor was he hand. Instead, she was staring towards something nearby with an expression he was far too acquainted with. Quickly, he sat up and looked in the same direction to see what had produced such a reaction.

R-Romana? the sentence came out in complete surprise. To Romana, his voice would sound like a far away echo to her ears. Before either of them could say anything else however, another voice was heard among them. Go away, the words sounded angry and impatient.

Jake became noticeably alarmed and looked to his left, the woman was suddenly glaring at Romana with an intense anger in her eyes. It almost seemed as if she was an animal, angry that someone had stepped into her territory. The calming sensations she emitted moments ago was completely gone now and what replaced it was like a cold hailstorm that had suddenly turned the time traveler's body stiff and unmoving.

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Captain of Innuendo Strike Forces & Founder of Innuendo Striking Technique

Isarabi White: Oops, sorry Enine: Group, room, galley.

She continued to listen to Toro's reprimand about leaving Enine behind, and sighed softly. A rookie mistake, and something that shouldn't have happened. However, in her defense, she wasn't used to working in teams, especially one as diverse as this one, and this was something new to her. After feeling guilty for a bit, she noticed the drunken Adrian leave to sleep off his 'high', and began the walk back to her room with Roy. She hoped that her 'bunkmate' didn't have any urgent need of the shower, because she felt as if she hadn't taken one in years. It was partially the physical grime of the trip and the explosions and the dust, but some of it was the psychological 'grime' of losing one of their team members. She felt that there was something that she could have done, if only she had paid more attention to the team.

As she got closer to the room, Isarabi saw that Roy didn't beat her to the room, and hurried into the shower. Turning the hot water on all the way, she stood there and washed her hair methodically and scrubbed her feet with a pumice stone. She tried to ignore the dread that was building up in her chest about meeting with Lunar. He was kind of creepy, and gave her chills. She got out of the shower, that odd note souring the sanctity of her warm haven, and she didn't loiter in the nude like she would have done in the moist and warm bathroom, but quickly threw on clothes before making her way into the hallway and was on her way to Lunar's office when she walked by the galley and the scent of food hit her nose like a truck running over a groundhog. Needless to say, she was hungry.

She took quiet steps into the galley and made herself some steak so rare that it was still bleeding and slapped it on a plate for herself. Snatching a fork and knife before walking over to a table and chair, she sat down softly, despite how tired she was. Her wet hair made her shiver slightly, despite the warm clothing and the hot steak that she had taken a bite or two out of. She noticed Scael getting food also, and gave him a nod as she semi-hastily began to stuff her face. "We should get a move on soon to the meeting, right?" She phrased it as a question, because she hadn't really run into anyone else since she had hopped into the shower no more than ten minutes ago, and she hoped that she wasn't late. She wiped her mouth gently with the paper napkin after taking another bloody bite of the steak.

_________________
Doctress Who-CURSE YOU AKAINE AND FENIX. *Shakes fist*
Musicmac-INNUENDO... STRIKE!
Innuendo Squad Leader
Dare to join?

Scael turned his head to Isarabi, still holding on to an oversized leg of lamb, only yet rare, which he had been heating and meanwhile basking in the warmth of the industrial-strength convection oven in front of him. The giant flail he had procured in the last battle sat on the floor next to the bench that the snake girl sat at. "Ah, Isarabi," he countered cordially, and turned back to the leg, which was so large that the bone barely fit into Scael's hand. It was now dripping greasy, bloody droplets from the side, which sizzled sharply as they hit the oven floor. Deciding he had cooked the leg just enough, he pulled it out, tapped the door of the oven closed with his leg, and shut it off with his free hand. He took a bite, savoring the still-bloody, tender meat from the thinnest portion around the bone by his hand, before waving the giant leg dismissively and swallowing. "Charles and Roy've been sparring for a little while now, shouldn't be too long. " He took another bite, letting juices drip down from his jaw over his chin, chewing only a few times before swallowing, and letting out a low, delighted growl, wiping the leftover juices away with his forearm. "Good tendons. But you're right, we should be hurrying, not taking the time to spar or whatnot." He reflected briefly on the dirt from the battle, as well as the juices from his meal covering his face and body. He was basically shirtless now but with some tattered pants, having discarded the now-useless bandoliers and most of the straps that had once held his weapons--which were now bent and dulled and in need of repair--in his room. And the grime of battle was caked on his scales and dug underneath them, and the grime of lunch was slowly ebbing its way down his scales like water over cascading tiles.

Scael furrowed his brow. "I should probably take a bath, too."

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{Roy}

_ Lunar's Office_ Current Present


With a combination of the mafioso confrontation, fighting Charles to master his technique, and using said technique, nearly drained him, which is Roy admitted defeated. He learned much from his mentor and friend, not just a new ability, but ideas of different ways of using teleportation. A lot of those ideas, Romana would not favor, but really Roy thought she was too idealistic. Sometimes, you have to get your hands dirty, and sadly enough it usually is the right method to handling people. This fact has changed, even from before he asleep.


On his way to Lunar's office, Roy had with him a tray of food. His true self, the mechanical shell that housed his organic parts was carrying the slumbering Adrian and absorbed the sword, using his handy dandy DTM. He had burgers with cheese and pickles on sourdough bread, greek yogurt with blue berries, with streamed broccoli and carrots slices on the side. His drink of choice was simply a water with a lemon slice floating inside. He called the others, using the PDA installed inside his body to join him or not to Lunar's office. Personally, Roy felt he just needed to go as this started with him from the mission to the mafia and they are his team so its more his fault then theirs, at least that's what he thought. So they had the option, which is why Roy left Adrian to sleep instead of waking him.

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"Fate smiles on the strange. So its a good thing, I'm the strangest of all." - William Livingstone, Cirque de la Nuit

Isarabi White: Dodeedo

"Ah", she said, about Roy and them sparring. She had half-a-thought about joining them, but decided against it, as the shower had been far more appealing. That and food, of course. She looked at Scael's food and then at the remnants of her own meal and noted that they were similar, and gave his a nod of approval. She still continued to eat, and gave a nod in agreement as to the heading off to the meeting. "It would be best not to be late...I don't think that a shower would be a bad idea either." She had noticed his dirt and food mess and to her it looked almost comedic. She didn't give any signs of this aside from a lifting of her eyes and relaxing of the brow muscles that usually were furrowed in thought.

"I'll be heading out as soon as I've finished here, but I'm sure you'll have time to clean yourself." Somehow, she didn't think that their boss would want to have a meeting with the odor of battle and blood in his office. She quickly swallowed the large piece of meat that should've been too large to fit down her throat unchewed, and put her utensils and plate in the dishwasher. If Scael looked with enough attention, he could see her throat muscles expanding to facilitate the large hunk of meat to slide down her gullet without so much as a gag. "I'll meet you there", she said after the bulge of meat had disappeared and presumably fallen into her stomach.

:Office:

Isarabi looked around found her way to Lunar's office, after making a wrong turn or two. She noticed Roy ahead of her and kept walking at her pace, not really feeling the need to rush. She had heard the PDA and had already been on her way, and felt that the notice had been redundant. She was forgetting that not everyone had a good sense of time, or memory, but that was Isarabi being a little forgetful herself. Her black hair was still damp, and her musanthske was still slightly damp as well, from her hair that was combed and not in a ponytail for once. It fell to her lower hips, and swayed gently with her movements. If it had been dry, it would have made a soft rustling sound, but as it was still damp, it made a soft slapping sound instead.

_________________
Doctress Who-CURSE YOU AKAINE AND FENIX. *Shakes fist*
Musicmac-INNUENDO... STRIKE!
Innuendo Squad Leader
Dare to join?

"Mm." Scael nodded in acknowledgment at Isarabi's comment about him having time to clean up, and took a rather large bite of meat off the femur in his hand. As he chewed, he glanced up and watched Isarabi swallow a portion of meat about as large as he had just bitten off, and she swallowed it in one gulp. His eyes followed the bulge in her neck as it expanded and traveled down her throat, then disappeared. He stopped chewing, and stared at her, nonplussed. As she leaved, he finished chewing and swallowed the food in his mouth. For some reason he was a little excited by watching her do that, and he wasn't sure why. "The advantages of being part snake," he mused, and took another bite.

After wolfing down the rest of the lamb's leg, he made his way to his room for a shower. It took him a moment to find a brush that he could use to get under his scales, but he found one. It was under the sink, mixed in with the cleaning supplies. The brush itself was teardrop-shaped twisted wire with white plastic bristles. It seemed rather old, but it looked perfect for getting under his scales. There was some kind of bluish bottle of body wash in the tub that smelled of oranges and grapefruit, which he thought would do pretty well. So he turned the hot water on full-blast, stepped into the stream, and started scrubbing.

About 10 minutes later he emerged from the shower, discarded the now-empty bottle of shower gel, and returned the brush where he had found it. He stretched, hearing the pleasant popping of his muscles in his arms and legs. He cracked his neck from side to side and leaned down, touching his chest to his thighs, and then stood up, looking himself over in the mirror. He smiled and double-checked to make sure he had gotten most of the grime off of his scales, then toweled himself off and left the bathroom to find some pants.

Minutes later, he walked down the hall wearing a pair of black sweat pants and leather sandals. He could still smell the citrus from the body wash, and hoped it wasn't too strong. His scales, still slightly damp, glistened in the fluorescent lighting of the hallway. His wings were tucked gently against his back, careful not to unfurl, but dripping water onto the floor as he walked. He made his way towards Lunar's office and came upon Isarabi. He raised a hand in greeting as he got close. "Hello again. How do I look? A little better?" He flexed his muscles and struck a pose, one arm curled in the air, the other akimbo, pressing his knuckles against his hip, and puffed out his chest. He looked like a half-dragon version of Lou Ferrigno. Then he relaxed with a playful chuckle and fell into step next to her.

Walking towards the office with Isarabi, he tried his hand at simple conversation. "So... you got any hobbies? Besides shooting people full of poison, I mean." He said it half jokingly, but as a snake who fired glass bullets filled with toxic compounds, she really did shoot people full of poison one way or another. Plus he was legitimately interested in what she did for fun.

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