(H-1) [Monday, April 11, 2039 - 0645 local time] [A ferryboat on Tokyo Bay, gliding towards an unnamed island.] It's an early morning for the team, as Princess Royal had all of you meet at the docks this morning. She said it was "training"... [session start] * LadySnow bounces excitedly, leaning over one of the side rails to look at the water. "So so where we going?" * LadyKiss is there stretching out in designer sweats that confirm to her body enough to be suggestive, but at the same time let her move. The sun is just over the horizon, casting spectacular orangish light over the low rolls of the bay. The air is cool, the wind is brisk, and it's going to be a good day. * LadyTwister is very much there, dressed more for jogging (open jacket, t- shirt and shorts) than anything. She's wearing her hat, though, so she's definitely transformed. "Feels great out here." * LadyDestiny is at the docks in her standard transformed outfit. If this is what she wears out in the field, she should wear it for training. * LadySnow is wearing a tight blue baby doll shirt with purple-ish sleeves. On the front is a picture of a cute white cartoon bunny. She has a white lined jacket with a hood and white faux fur around the edge. She also has tight white pants and a pair of shows with a rainbow pattern and soles that must be at least 2 inches. * PrincessRoyal leans back against the railing and stretches, breathing in the bay air. "You're right about that, Twister." She's wearing a dark grey mock turtleneck and pants in soft, but durable-looking cloth. * LordFate is likewise in his uniform, though the cape and top hat are nowhere in evidence. Without the jacket, the shirt is actually clearly rather comfortable and utilitarian. His weapons are nowhere in evidence, and he's showing some bags under his eyes. Even transformed. * LadySnow bounces over to Royal. "So so what are we doing? Where are we going?" * LadyKiss smiles over at Snow and starts to stretch out the other leg. It's a nice little place w--the SDF likes to use for certain tests. Tests? *thinks for a moment* Like weapons? ... and Chi, really. You're dressed for a day out in the shopping districts, not training. Some. And Ladies, too, since it's generally not good to let a Lady loose in just any old place. * LadySnow nods. Ladies -are- weapons. We are not! Lots of hot stuff goes through here, too. And, if we're lucky, I should be able to pick up a few...supplies for us. Ooh! See, Mari? We are going shopping! ...but your primary purpose here is evaluation. What are we evaluating? New weapons? No. Yourselves. Or rather, I'll be evaluating you. Oh. Rather more directly than I have been. But we didn't even get time to study! ...are the prices good? On these "supplies", I *yawn* mean. ... even still, Chi. * LadyTwister rolls her eyes, but nonetheless starts to limber up. * PrincessRoyal smiles thinly at Fate. "The stuff there is usually not for general sale." * LadyKiss smiles. "That sounds good, tell me, what should we avoid doing out here? I mean, be to obvious and we will have cameras." What is it? Like limited edition stuff? Promotional items? Exquisite. And I might not even have to pay black-market rates this time. Sounds like a fun time will be had by all. * PrincessRoyal raises an eyebrow at Snow. "I'm not talking about the kind of thing you find at a shopping mall, Snow. And you all probably won't be able to take a look at much of our inventory." * LordFate exchanges a look with his sister. So long as I can get what I'm looking for, it's all well and good. What are you looking for? Ozawa should be requisitioning the stuff you all requested. Don't worry Snow, we can go shopping after this. We still owe each other lunch. No. *If* I pick anything up, I'll be doing it myself. We'll see. Yay shopping! The ferry churns on. It approaches an island roughly the size of a couple of soccer fields, mostly covered with gravel. There is a large construction crane at one end of the island, and two low Quonset huts on the other. But I still didn't pick out what gun I wanted... There's so many to choose from... Oh my, what a beautiful view of the water they have. An SDF corvette is anchored in the bay just to the south. Looks like things are ready... I imagine there's a lookout for people approaching this place? A 155mm cannon is aimed roughly in the direction of the island. * LadySnow eyes widen as she spots the cannon. That's so big... Indeed. Let's hope nobody fires it while we're on the island. *grumpy* Now I have to ask what that's for, aside from looking ominous. The ferry pulls up at a low dock on the end of the island with the buildings. A man and a woman are waiting for you. Intimidation? Of course you can't have a secret military island without the accessories. That would be just silly, Twister. * LadySnow waves to the people as they approach. * PrincessRoyal shrugs. "Just a precaution, really." Hi! I'm Lady Snow! What are your names? * PrincessRoyal grins widely as she catches sight of the two people waiting. I'm the base commander, Colonel Lady Reaper, and this is my assistant, Major Lord Translation. How nice to meet you both. I'm Lady Kiss. Both of them salute Princess Royal sharply. * LordFate looks interested at hearing the Lord's name. Good morning, sir! Good morning! * PrincessRoyal returns the salute. "Morning, you two. How's ops?" Heya. * LadySnow salutes too, but she's not sure why. * LadyTwister salutes, lazily... then eyes Translation. Just fine, until you broke up our schedule for these civilians. Who's a civilian? We are, apparently. *unamused* * PrincessRoyal shrugs unrepentantly. "Sorry. I'll spot you dinner sometime." * LordTranslation sniffs in Snow's general direction. "You are." Am not! * LadyDestiny pretends not to notice the little spat going on. We're... well, if you say so. So you just need the rooms? * PrincessRoyal pats Snow. "Being a civilian has its advantages. For one thing, you usually get more sleep." Yup. * LadyTwister idly taps Snow on the top of the head and gives her a pointed look. And...maybe some other things. We'll talk. * LordTranslation looks around. "Six? Or do you want one for yourself, too?" We get rooms? * LordFate yawns at Royal's comment about sleep. * PrincessRoyal nods at Translation. "Yeah, I'll take one too." Great. * LordTranslation doesn't sound like he thinks it's great. * LadyTwister is still eyeing up Translation, but only with mild interest. * PrincessRoyal smiles dryly. * LadyDestiny looks rather nonplussed about this whole situation. Are we staying the night here? You realize we're delaying the South Chinese next-gen rifle eval for you, right? Ooh! Can we see those? That's how I know you really love me. NO!--er, no, Snow. * LadySnow pouts. Sooner we start, sooner we finish. Let's move. Snow, we can stop off at the shooting range too and you can tell me about all the guns....I couldn't agree more Princess Royal. Yeah, okay, come on. ...pity. * LordFate perked up at the mention of the 'next-gen rifle'. * LadyReaper leads the team towards the smaller Quonset hut. * PrincessRoyal gestures to Reaper and Translation to take the lead, still with that dry smile on her face. * LadySnow sizes up Reaper and Translation as they move idly wondering if the two are an item. * LadyTwister snickers, just a bit. "Making this quick would be nice, yeah... I need to buy some new boots...." * LordFate turns to his sister, and asks, in German, "#Think we'll be able to get a peek at those rifles Reaper mentioned?#" He's got one eye on Translation as he asks that. * LadyDestiny replies back, in German as well, "#I doubt it. We're civvies, remember?#" * LadySnow eyes Fate and Destiny. "What are you two saying?" #So they keep telling us.# As you reach the door, you get a good view of the far end of the island. The crane is lowering a huge slab of white something into a slot in the ground. Several uniformed men scramble about it, lining it up just right as it enters the ground. Nothing, dear Chi, nothing. *smiles charmingly, the effect only partially ruined by the dark circles under his eyes* * LadyKiss slips up to Lord Translation. "Oh, now that looks interesting." They're being mysterious and... German? * LadyTwister watches the slab being lowered as well, grinning a little. "Alright... if that's what I think it is..." You guys speak German?! * LadySnow probably said that too loud. Another figure, this one very small and female, has another of those slabs balanced on her shoulder despite being twenty times smaller than it is. Her sheet has multiple round indentations, and she unloads in next to a pile of other mangled slabs. * LadySnow eyes the figure. Ooh, who's that? We do? *looks at Destiny, feigning surprise* Another unwelcome guest. I'm sorry. I guess I just kinda slip into it every now and again. It's almost second nature. * LordTranslation kicks the door open, revealing a building that's empty except for a large stairway into the ground. * PrincessRoyal snorts, but says nothing. * LadySnow bounces up to Translation, opposite Kiss. "Who? Who?" * LordFate tries Navajo this time. "%Unwelcome?%" he asks casually of Translation. * LadyTwister snorts at Translation. "Really, lighten up a touch. It'll make your day brighter and your step lighter... hell, enough happy and you'll be like Snow here!" * LadyReaper lets Translation take the team in, and goes back to the other building as they go into the underground complex. * LadyKiss shoots Snow a "Get out of here" look. "That's unpleasant. I hope we don't cause you too much hassle." I'll get home tonight at two, instead of seven. That's all. AM? Sheesh. If ya like, I'll stay and help. You just have a fascination with guns. That's why you want to help. The team passes three doors on the stairway, before entering the fourth sublevel. The stairs go down farther - you cant see how far. No, Fate. How far down do these go? That's classified. * LordFate nods to his sister. "Well, yes." And then chuckles at Royal, "Somehow, I thought not." Can we go look? Pretty please? Further than you need to-yes, what he said. Snow, if you go anywhere you're not supposed to, I'm going to cut off your sugar intake. That's a pity, of course, I doubt you need beauty sleep. * LordTranslation chivvies everyone through the door, then closes and locks it behind them. But I won't tell anyone, I promise! The base is already doing us--or rather me--a big favor here. Don't get greedy. A thirty-something woman in a lab coat is waiting for the team. * LadySnow pouts. Yumi, these are our replacement test subjects. Snow, you're gonna hafta respect Royal here. We're getting tested on? Are we gonna get superpowers? You already have superpowers. Don't be ridiculous. * LadyTwister cannot help but start snickering madly. Oh. I guess so. What kind of tests do we have to undergo? Pen and paper, trial by fire, or what? Good morning, General Royal. Young crowd, I see? And you want a room too? It's been a while since we tested you out. * LadyKiss actually stays quiet, but her lips form a thin annoyed line. * Yumi smiles at Destiny. "This is basic destructive capacity." G'morning. Yeah, there's even a few new grads in the bunch. And hey, I figure, why let them get all the fun? What's a destructive capacity? How much raw damage we can do. What damage? This is more Fate's alley than mine. Do we get to break stuff? * LordTranslation rolls his eyes. "It's how much you can blow shit up. Gods, General, where do you get these kids, nursery school?" Neat! You're good at inflicting a type of damage snow. Just because it's not physical doesn't make it less damage. * PrincessRoyal suppresses a snerk. "Be nice." * LadySnow totally ignores the second part. Yes, Princess General sir! * LadySnow gives Kiss a confused look. Yeah... you're better against live targets. Cold ruins tissue quite well. * LadyKiss smiles nicely at Snow like nothing happened. "Ice, Snow." My Lord, you don't need to stick around - the original test material can still use some prep. * PrincessRoyal has a very weird trying to snort her own nose look on her face, but swallows it, and whatever it was trying to hold back, down. * LordFate shoots Royal a look of sympathy. * LadyDestiny takes a good look around the room while these people babble on incessantly. I just make snow... Yeah, you're right. * LordTranslation salutes one more time, and goes further into the facility. Thank you, Major. Bye Mr. Lord, sir! * PrincessRoyal returns the salute as he leaves. * LadySnow salutes again. C'mon, Snow. You do have come combat capa---... * LadyTwister starts snickering again. "See, I'm still trying to figure out how you made it through basic training." This room has the appearance of a doctor's waiting room, though furnished with folding chairs and no carpet. I worked really hard and my instructor was nice! * PrincessRoyal catches that as she turns back and shakes her head at Snow. She looks like she's about to say something, but doesn't. Two doors are on the opposite side of the room from the entrance. Yumi opens one of them - the one that Translation did not take. * LadyKiss smiles over at Twister. "Darling, Snow is obviously the best interference any army, police, or agency could ever hope to have." * LordFate fights back another yawn. And bites back whatever he might have said. Come on, the locker room is this way. * PrincessRoyal follows. Ooh. * LordFate follows. * LadySnow follows, bouncing closely behind Yumi. Indeed, the room beyond is a locker room - not a very large one, with only twenty lockers and shower stalls for four people. So so, what's your name, ma'am? Where are you from? How long have you been working here? * LadyTwister tags along, still snickering. * PrincessRoyal eyes Snow. "Did someone give her coffee before we got on the boat?" She probably didn't have a drop. Sometimes Snow's just wired for sound, boss. * LadyTwister shrugs. "You get used to it... she's harmless." * PrincessRoyal shakes her head again. "Oy..." ...I wish I had her ener--*yawn*--gy. * LadyKiss smiles at Royal. "I can assure you that I'm saving that for emergencies." She follows through the door, still smiling. I'm in charge of testing here - I've had this job for a while... All of you need to strip, please. ... We what? * LadySnow blushes mightily. We need you to shower, and change into the standardized testing clothing. ...right. T-- Together? * LadyKiss shrugs. "Think of it as a doctors examination, Snow." With that, she slowly starts getting out of her sweats in front of a locker, to hell with a Lord in the room. * LadySnow eyes Fate. * LadyDestiny walks over to Fate and turns him to face a wall. "Now no peeking." The clothing is a couple of rooms down from here - you'll have to be completely nude for the decontamination procedures. * LordFate is turned to face a wall. "Like they're not going to." Right. * LordFate starts unselfconsciously stripping. * LadyTwister seems to not mind much at all... and basically starts to drop trou as well. * PrincessRoyal gets going calmly. She apparently keeps herself in good shape for fifty-plus. * LadySnow blushes more. "C--can I wait for them to go first?" * Yumi goes on through the door to the next room, her heels clicking on the concrete. Snow. No malingering. But! Girl, it's nothing you haven't seen before. ... I hope. * LadyTwister finished by whapping Chi with her balled-up jacket. But it's embarrassing... Girls aren't supposed to... You know. SNOW. Yes, ma'am... highness? *looks horribly sheepish* * LordFate lets the wall and his back provide what privacy they can, and goes to take a shower while the girls are bickering. * LadyDestiny proceeds to remove her outfit while keeping an eye on Fate to make sure he doesn't peek. Get. Going. I will not repeat myself. * LordFate 's clothes are conspicuously not in a pile on the floor, or anywhere else. ... Yes, ma'am. * LordFate is too busy taking a very foggy shower to be peaking. :P A speaker comes to life, and Yumi's voice fills the room. * PrincessRoyal snags a shower, having dressed pretty simply today. You don't need to get too clean ahead of time. Come on through, one at a time please. * LadyTwister gathers her various no-longer-worn bits, then sighs. "Look, Chi, it'll be fine. C'mon." And off to a shower she goes. * LadySnow hides herself in a corner and undresses slowly and doesn't look at anybody as she puts her clothes away. It looks like she was wearing another layer of warmer clothes underneath her outfit and strips it off as well. * LadyKiss puts her stuff away and goes through the basic necessities. * LadyTwister does check on Chi for a moment. "... how in the hell did you fit those on under all that?" * LadySnow looks almost like she's sweating and now that she's not wearing anything you can tell how completely pale her skin is. It's almost bluish, her long white hair does nothing to add any color to her either. She covers herself as best she can and sidles into the shower. * PrincessRoyal makes it more of a scrubbing rinse than a real shower, finishing up and stepping through the door so as not to slow people down. "Let's get through this quickly, people." It's to keep me cool. Otherwise too much hot air gets in... I know, I'm just boggling at the 'how'. * LadyTwister finishes up, and follows along behind Royal. * LadyKiss nods. "Yes, Ma'am." She follows Royals example. * LordFate steps out of the shower and moves to a locker to find a testing suit. Or a towel. He is neither making an especial effort not to peek, nor actively peeking. * LadySnow chills the air around her more to keep herself comfortable, and turns the shower as cold as it goes. The water turns to ice before it hits the floor. * LadyDestiny doesn't bother with the shower part, having showered this morning before she left. There's nothing in the lockers. Apparently that's where he was supposed to put his clothes. Come on, someone has to be first. It doesn't hurt. Much. We don't get a towel or anything? ...where are these 'testing clothes'? *irritated* Even money says they're form-fitting. You get them after the decon. * LadySnow loses most of the color from her face as well since the shower washed off her make up too. Ah. *heads after Royal, presumably for the decon* * LadySnow tags along behind the group, hoping no one really looks at her as she covers herself with her hands as best she can. Twister comes through the door and finds herself in a glass-walled room, with odd looking mirrors just beyond the glass. A helmet sits on the floor, with notes to make sure all her hair is under the helmet. ... well. * LadyTwister promptly stuffs her hair under said helmet before putting it on completely. "Why do I have this feeling this might suck a little?" The helmet covers her eyes, which is a good thing since a moment later a brilliant flash half-blinds her anyway. Gwargh! A voice announces that she can take the helmet off and move on. The room also fills with wind, and it feels like a powder is blowing off her skin. * LadyTwister kinda stumbles, nearly falling onto her ass before taking said helmet off. "... did I just get microwave'd?" * LadyTwister nonetheless moves on, making way for the next person. "And warn a girl next time." Her skin is strangely smooth, and tingles sorely. The door leads on to a small hallway, which leads past another locked door and then to a room with a deep sink filled with a bubbling, fizzing yellow liquid. The voice announces mechanically, "Please immerse your entire head and all your hair for at least fifteen seconds." ... oh, Christ, I'm being flea-dipped. * LadyTwister takes a deep breath and nonetheless complies, eyes tightly closed. The liquid feels acrid, but only burns a little. It does, however stick a little, leaving Twister's hair in gooey clumps. "You may shower in the next room." * LadyTwister quickly withdraws her head, and does her best to keep the excess from getting into her eyes (which as basically gleaming yellow slits by now) on the way to the next room. "If there's someone in there with latex gloves, I will scream." The shower is only a shower, and the goo quickly washes away. * LadyTwister does not scream, then, and dutifully chugs along. In the room beyond, there are clothes. Well, very small, lightweight bikinis. But that counts, right? * LadyTwister does not seem to mind at all, dressing up without a word. "Heehee, Snow's going to freak when she sees these." Twister steps through the final door, and finds herself in a long hallway. Yumi is waiting for her, wearing a clean room suit. Good, follow me. * LadyTwister salutes, and walks along. With her clothes out of the way, the faint aura of wind around her is more noticeable, and ruffles Yumi's suit some when Mari gets close. * Yumi leads her almost a hundred meters down the hall, past six doors. At the seventh, she punches in a code, and the door opens. Go on in. You'll have to wait a few while the others get settled. Mmm-hmm. * LadyTwister steps inside, and once there she starts to stretch again, popping a few joints. "Tell the slowpokes to hurry." The door is almost a half-meter thick, and it booms ominously as it closes behind her. The room itself is brightly lit, and reminds Twister of an over length concrete racquetball court. * LadySnow is pretty freaked out by the entire process and screams when she gets flashed with the helmet on, she's even more horrified to find her most personal of body hair missing. There are a half-dozen generic human-shaped dummies at the front of the room, made of a white foamy substance. The front wall itself also seems to be a huge slab of the same material, and she realizes that this is what was being lowered into the ground by the crane. * LadyDestiny takes the entire process without problem due to her self- control. She, however, turns beet red with the prospect of wearing the little bikini. She's used to dressing up for the occasion, not dressing down. * LadySnow doesn't find the goo dip as bad since she cools it down beforehand. Everyone should probably be thankful she went last. * LadyKiss slowly comes out of it all taking a deep breath and a moment before her normal smile is in place and she looks ready to sit and chat pleasantries again. * LadySnow does however have a problem with the bikini. "I can NOT wear this!" * LadyTwister smiles for some reason that she can't pin down. I know it's bad, but we all have to make sacrifices for the job. Just grin and bear it, so to speak. * PrincessRoyal 's voice crackles over the speaker. "PUT IT ON, SNOW." * LordFate is unable to hide his embarrassment effectively, as he's bright red. And male. But he's trying rather unsuccessfully to pretend he isn't embarrassed at all. Or thinking about his teammates in feminine versions of his Speedo. ...he moves hastily into his own room. * LadySnow grumbles and slips it on. Whoever designed this place is a horrible horrible person. * LadySnow lowers the ambient temperature even more out of annoyance. This is just one of the most hilarious days ever. * LordFate is shivering and unhappy. A panel on the back wall of each room flashes and lights up. A test pattern comes up, then the screen splits to show the view of each room and each MG inside. Yumi has a corner, too. Okay! It looks like we're all ready. * LadyTwister looks over, then waves in the direction that she thinks the camera's in. General, do you have any particular instructions? * LadySnow eeps and tries to move out of view of the camera. The camera tracks her automatically. * LadyKiss just stretches, lounging, and looks like she's sunning on the beach. Ready and able to do damage, ma'am. I want to see what you all can do when completely let loose. Go all out, spare no effort. * LadySnow gives up after a bit and just crouches into a ball, hugging her knees, trying to show as little of herself as possible. Give me everything you've got. Yes Ma'am. And Snow, stop cringing. If you're going to be of use in the field, you've got to get used to the fact that unwelcome conditions may be the least of your problems. The front wall is a special foamed metal that reacts consistently to force. * LadySnow frowns, but stands up. She does NOT look happy to be here. We can make quantitative measurements of what damage you do. The dummies are wired with a full sensor suite in addition to their metallic properties. * Yumi looks off-screen at something. "Who's first?" * LordFate is standing in his room, frowning at the screens. He's trying not to appreciate the view of his teammates. * LadyDestiny whistles in appreciation. * LadySnow just stands there, arms crossed, quietly pouting. ...Kiss? Are you ready? Yes, Ma'am. * LadyKiss stands up smiling. "Though without a whip I can't show off everything." * LadyTwister is still limbering up, looking to be pretty much at ease. * PrincessRoyal waves her hand in a "go-ahead" gesture. * LordFate grins as Weaver crawls out and around the room. * LadyKiss nods and a large chocolate bar pops up behind her. "This is my chocolate bar, it blocks attacks for me, Though that's not it's main focus for me." Soon it breaks up into little pieces slamming against the wall. The wall starts looking chewed up. A little. And chocolaty! * LadyKiss smiles at the camera, kisses her hand, and tosses it at a training dummy, which quickly becomes a large Hershey kiss. "And that's my kiss. It's good for taking people out of the picture. It also likes to hit it's target, it's full of love. With a whip, I'd show you Twizzler, but that's me showing off." And you can reverse the process, or no? Eating it off is a favorite, but beyond breaking it off them, no. * Yumi pushes a button, and the dummy shakes around within the Kiss. It doesn't get far. Hold on a second. Yes, Ma'am? The door to Kiss's room opens, and a clean-suited figure enters, holding a standard Security submachinegun. We should test your shield. * LadyKiss smiles. "It's chocolately delicious at blocking things." It springs back up around her. The gun is pointed carefully almost-but-not-exactly at Kiss, and shots squeezed off one at a time. The chocolate bar breaks apart and tumbles out of sight after three shots. Okay... * LadyKiss frowns a bit. "The poor thing, you wouldn't happen to have a whip would you?" Does using the shield tire you out? The test gunner backs out of the room, and shuts the door again. Yes, but it takes about an hour. Okay. * Yumi works at her controls for a second. "General, would you prefer she test total destructive capacity or maximal shield time?" * LadyTwister busies herself with looking into the monitor and feeling a bit for poor Snow... and idly wondering what kind of rifle she'll end up with. Hmm. Actually. Let's see what she can do under fire. Kiss, I'll have you throwing what you can at the dummies, or whatever, and we'll also want you to use your shield to see how it holds up while you're...working. Pretend you're in a battle. Go as long as you can. Just... er... could I have a whip, please? ...any chance of getting her one, Yumi? ...about the closest I can get is a long rope, or chain. A rope, please. A minute passes, then a rope is tossed in through the door. * LadyKiss picks it up and it turns red, braided, and definitely candy looking. "Thank you." * LadyKiss twirls around, the chocolate bar up, her whip blurring through the air. It moved quickly lashing out at almost everything. She looked in her element. Aaaaah. Okay, and you can do that... indefinitely? Yes, Ma'am. It's my normal attack when I don't want something to die. ...and when you do? My chocolate bar has met the wall already. * LordFate takes a pair of pills and a swig of highly caffeinated beverage. * LadyTwister is busy watching from the monitor. "Neeeat." * LadyKiss smiles continuing to attack with her whip. "If these were any lighter I could trip them too, but they aren't." Yes, but how many times can you do that, dear? That's part of what we're here to measure. I can do that as long as I have my chocolate bar up, would you like me to keep hitting your wall? Go ahead. * Yumi is getting exasperated. "Yes!" * LadyKiss grins and starts to just summon her bar, have it break up, and slam into the wall. She'll dodge, weave, duck, and just slam it into the wall again and again not looking like she's tiring much. This goes on for a respectably long time - Yumi puts a clock up, and it's almost six minutes before the chocolate bar fails to form when Kiss calls for it. The front wall may be permanently chocolate, as well. * LadyKiss sighs. "Well then, I guess I'm out." * LadySnow tries not to look excited by the whole demonstration. She's pouting, damn it. * LadyKiss suppresses a smile. "It's too bad, I had hoped to save enough to blow your camera a kiss." * Yumi nods. "Very good, my Lady. Most Ladies can't fight with powers that long." Who's next? Thank you. * LadyDestiny pulls out an water bottle and takes a swig out of it before putting it away. Water good. I'll go next, if you don't mind. I'd rather get this over with. * PrincessRoyal nods. "Go right on ahead, Destiny." * LadySnow raises a hand. "May I have a glass of water, please?" I'm sorry, Lady Snow, we can't break decon. All right, I'm going to start with a demonstration, and then you guys can badger me about specifics. All right? * LadySnow sighs. * Yumi nods. * LordFate snerks at the comment about breaking decon. * LadyDestiny starts with balancing a 100 yen coin on the top of each of them. After concentrating for a moment, she then begins flicking the remaining coins from her hand at the balanced coins, making her way at a walking pace down the room and flicking them left and right. * LadyDestiny then, upon getting closer to the far wall, flicks one coin after another at the same spot on the wall, flinging them with far more power than one can usually toss a coin. After the fourth coin of that, she runs out of coins, so she pulls out her rifle and runs at the wall. With a mighty effort, she launches herself at the wall and then bounds off it causing herself to fly even higher into the air. * LadyDestiny then, as she's tumbling through the air, points her rifle squarely down at the center of the top of a dummy's head and pulls the trigger, the bullet impacting the target perfectly. She then lands with a bit of a tumble instead of on her feet. * LadyDestiny then stands and says, "That took quite a bit more effort than I was expecting. Is that good enough?" Isn't sniping at point-blank range cheating, Sis? Hmmmmmm! One question - is the rifle coming from somewhere you've hidden it, or is it a summoned Earth Magic weapon? I think I can guess, but... * LadyDestiny puts the rifle away... somewhere. "I've hidden it carefully. Fate, mind grabbing my rifle from storage?" * LordFate pulls it out. "Sure. But you know I'm better with my pistols." * LadyDestiny pulls out Fate's prized pistols. "You mean these?" * LordFate takes aim at his dummy with her rifle, but doesn't fire. ...hey! Give those back! Hmmm. Interesting. * Yumi frowns. * LordFate sets her rifle down in mid-air. It stays put. * LadyDestiny puts the pistols back where she found them. Thanks. * LordFate takes another swig from his beverage. At least now we know where he's keeping it. Ah. Um, Lady Destiny, can you use these powers indefinitely, or do you run out of energy? That's interesting... * LadySnow mumbles. "I want a pocket beverage..." * LordFate nods at the rifle, and it floats behind his back. And is gone. I can use them pretty much indefinitely. Tossing the coins with that much force at the wall took off quite a bit, but it's not a big deal. * Yumi nods. "Show me how many more coins you can do." ...use the rubles this time, please. I was going to spend the 100- yenners on vending machine soda. * LadyDestiny picks up a few of the coins lying on the ground. "I can do this with anything, not just coins, you know. They were just convenient." * LadyDestiny launches three more coins into the wall before saying, "Ok, I'm tapped now. If I had a living target around, I could keep going." Oh, you have a way to drain power? Yeah. It's not terribly exciting and not terribly powerful, but it does come in handy in a pinch. I've maybe seen one other Lady with that sort of talent. The door to Destiny's room opens. A clean-suited man wheels a metal cart into the room. * LadyDestiny walks over to the cart, her curiosity getting the better of her. Can you pull all the items out of your dimensional pocket and place them on the cart? We'll run some quick tests on them to see what sort of phase resonance they have. Also, I want to see what all you can fit in there. ...um, you're not keeping our guns. Oh, no! We won't keep anything. It's your stuff, after all. And the tests consist of putting them in what looks like a big microwave - totally safe. * LadyDestiny begins to pile a bunch of stuff on the cart and says aloud what she's placing there. "My rifle. My scope. Ammo. Bags upon bags of snacks. A cooler. My dress. My shawl. Fate's clothes. Fate's medication. Fate's guns. About seven clips of ammo per gun for Fate..." * LadyDestiny continues at some length like this. * Yumi looks quite impressed. * LordFate rescues his caffeinated beverage. ;_; * LadyDestiny finishes with, "And Fate's PDA which he plays too many games on." Hey! Does the right item just... come to you? Or do you have to sort of search for what you want? The more commonly accessed stuff we can pull out very quickly. The less used things, like my ninth grade chemistry book, we'd have to search for. You really should have returned that by now. The technician sweatdrops inside his clean suit, and carefully pushes the overloaded cart into the hall. ...you realize I'm not going to be able to demonstrate my abilities without my guns. And I actually use the Sword, too. So is it like an actual physical space, or just a place you put things? * The sword named Omen is included amongst the junk. ...oh. Dear. You should go next. Satoshi, back to Fate's room, please? Just a place we keep things. It doesn't have a physical location. Fate's door opens up, and the cart is just outside. * LordFate pulls it on in. And rifles through the stuff. "Er, how long will your tests take?" he asks as he pulls Omen off the cart, and puts it absent- mindedly away while he fishes for his guns and expertly checks to see that they're loaded and ready for use. They'll be done before you guys are. Good. We need this *pulls out Omen* to detransform. Okay, Weaver, you want to show off your best trick while we've got all these props out? * LordFate watches as a huge pile of the junk lifts itself off of the cart in a hemisphere, and Weaver crawls out onto Fate's waiting hand. The spider is unamused: "Lady Destiny, did you have to take ME out of there?" The junk continues to levitate, and some small trinkets spin about the room. They wanted to see everything, and I worry that you don't get enough fresh air. * LordFate lets Weaver cling to his wrist, and the junk settles itself back down on the cart. The Lord then levitates a few feet off the ground. Weaver chuckles, "Well, seeing how you and the Lord are dressed, they almost ARE." Fate swats his Pet for that one as he turns red. The pet doesn't need to get scanned if it doesn't want to. Thank you, ma'am. Alright! First, my only magical attack. Sword of Fate! * LordFate raises his arm with Weaver clinging to his wrist like a goth bracelet, and Omen rises into the air. With a sharp gesture towards one of the dummies, the sword slams itself point-first into the poor mannequin’s chest, piercing straight through. ...wow. That works better with Destiny's help. And against live foes that actually have wyrds. Just as she can siphon off some of their essence, I steal a bit of their own fated lifespan. And with her help, both hurt them more. Interesting. * Yumi is typing something frantically. Of course... could you hit the lights in here, please? ...okay... * Yumi ducks off-screen for a moment - she doesn't have a smart camera! - and then the picture of Fate's room goes completely dark. The camera changes modes, and an IR blob which must be Fate shows up. * LordFate pulls out his guns, and twin flashes of intense heat shine blindingly and repeatedly from his pistol's barrels as he moves effortlessly about the room. The way the IR image of the dummy rocks, he's hitting it. "Okay! Lights back on, please! --ow!" ...that last is accompanied by a clatter as he bangs into the cart. After a second, the lights wink on. All right... you hit the dummy? You see in the dark, then? No. *winces, rubbing a bruise where he ran into the cart* But I don't have to see my target to hit it. At least, not if I know where it is. *he points to the dummy, which has a neat cluster of shots near the heart and head areas, and missed the sword that's still impaling it entirely* * Yumi nods once more. What else? ...it's weird actually -demonstrating- this stuff. Hm... There's also slow-time, and the fact that projectiles tend to miss anyone Weaver's protecting. Weaver's got a couple more tricks, too, if he feels like sharing. * LordFate puts his guns and the sword away without thinking about it. Weaver sighs, "Give me a minute..." and begins weaving a visible web that just sort of...hangs in mid air. After a minute or so, Yumi is standing there, and waving at the camera. She's wearing a bikini like Lady Destiny's. * LordFate blushes and glares. "Weaver..." The spider seems unrepentant. ...yeah. Ooookay... Illusion, or a projected being, or some sort of summoned creation? Just an illusion. Weaver hangs them on his webs. And what about your combat duration? *leans over and kisses Fate on the cheek* But I'm such a -cute- web! She is, isn't she? Combat dur--stop that, Weaver--duration... most of my combat is just guns. There's a reason I have so many clips with me at all times. *gestures to the cart* Ah. Slow-time and Sword of Fate both are tiring. I've never had to push them to their limits, though. I usually don't fight transformed. Can you show me this slow-time thing? * LordFate shrugs, and suddenly red-shifts. He turns just a little darker, as if in his own personal shade. And zips across the room superhumanly fast. By the time the report from his guns clustering neat little holes in the wall as he passed echo, he's stopped and at the other end of the room, looking normal. Well, as normal as a twenty-something platinum-blond Lord in a Speedo can look. I could keep that up for a good while, I think. Longest I've gone is three minutes; the target escaped at that point. And using the sword is also an effort... why don't you finish off by hacking a dummy for as long as you can. Very well. *vanishes and reappears at the other end of the room, Weaver on his wrist, and demonstrates the Sword of Fate against six more dummies. The seventh, while the sword does fly at it, it doesn't do nearly the damage* That last one *huff, huff* was all Weaver. * Yumi is typing constantly, now. "Excellent, my Lord. If you could put your gear back on the cart, we can take care of that while the rest of the team works out. * LadySnow does her very best to not clap at this point. She really wants to still be pouting. It's almost too enjoyable for her though. * LordFate finishes off his caffeinated beverage, and reaches behind himself before blinking, then going over to the cart to pull another out of the cooler. ...very well. *puts his guns and the sword back on the cart, looking exhausted* Not bad. Not bad at all! Oh, if you want to shoot at me, feel free. You'll miss with anything short of tank rounds. Melee's a bitch, though. We may try that later - that's hard to test safely, though. * LordFate grabs his pills off of the cart, and keeps his most recently acquired beverage. "Mind if I keep these?" Uh... how much do they weigh? Oh, and how much does the spider weigh? I'd say each is less than a kilogram? * LordFate looks at the bottle. "20 fluid ounces, and the pills... 50 100 mg tablets." Okay. The technician wheels the load away, leaving the door to close behind him. [break session] Session Close: Sat Sep 16 19:21:55 2006 Session Start: Sat Sep 23 13:04:34 2006 [resume session] * Yumi glances between multiple monitors, and types a few notes as the cart is wheeled away from Lord Fate's room. Yeah, that's interesting... * Yumi peers up at the camera. "Do we have a volunteer to go next?" * LadySnow mumbles something non-committal. Hmm? Is that a yes, Snow? I suppose I can go... * LadySnow is still putting on a show of acting glum. * LadyTwister resumes watching the show through her monitor, looking almost bored. Well, don't let us stop you. Come on, Snow, show us what you've got. Okay. *her voice changes to a slightly showier kind of mood.* First things first... Heh, there we go. C'mon girl, show 'em your stuff. * LadySnow concentrates for a moment and snow starts slowly flutter into the room from every conceivable angle. It starts of lightly at first and gradually builds up in intensity. There's um, not really enough room in here to show how big of area I can cover, but I guess you get the idea. How long can you keep it up? If I'm just making snow, a really long time. I haven't really tried holding it for more than a day though. There was just this one day I was home sick from school so I decided to play with it... And have any ski resorts offered you a job yet? * PrincessRoyal snickers. * LadySnow walks around a bit on the snow, her feet not leaving any tracks or sinking in at all. In fact she looks more balanced and comfortable than she does on ordinary terrain. Does it just snow in a natural pattern, or can you mess with that? I um, I haven't looked into that sort of thing, no. I can make it snow harder and softer. If I try really hard I can make it really hard to see. * LadySnow demonstrates this, and the camera into her room finds it hard to track her momentarily as the room becomes a swirl of whiteness. If there's not enough room here, how big an area *can*--oh, nice--you cover? Um... Well, I haven't really tried to push it, because I don't think The Queen wants me covering her city in snow, but probably out to about 100 meters or so. Once again, the camera flips to IR mode, but it still has a hard time tracking her, and eventually just pans out. After it snows for a bit, I can summon a more intense blizzard, but that drains me a lot more. As the snow subsides, the camera blinks back to visual range. How intense? And for how long? * LadySnow looks over to a group of target dummies and a blackish storm cloud forms above them and shards of ice and hail rain down heavily upon them, shredding the foam metal. Once it starts going, she stops focusing on it and just lets it rage for about 30 seconds or so. Well I could keep doing it over and over in one spot. My record though is three of them going at the same time. * Yumi looks at the readouts. "That would sting a little." You can say that again. I can't move around a lot though when I'm getting it going. What about after you've already got it started? It'll keep going for about 30 seconds or so. I see. Can you do your other attacks while keeping that up, or just with the normal snow? I have a couple other attacks that don't require it to be snowing. * LadySnow does a little bit of mahou shoujo gesturing and throws her hands out at one dummy, shouting "ICE PRISON!" and the dummy finds itself mostly encased in a chunk of ice. Can you use them while you're making it--ah hah. Brrrr. And do people usually survive that experience? They just get chilled. It's more for holding them in place and stuff. * LadySnow those who are paying attention would notice she isn't shivering in the slightest and looks in fact more comfortable than you've ever seen her in the tiny little bikini with all the snow and ice around her. And then there's this one... * LadySnow steps in close to a set of 4 dummies and gestures a bit before fanning out her hands and shouting "CONE OF COLD!" and from her extended fingers a flurry of ice shards fly outward in a wide cone catching each of the 4 dummies in it's area. * PrincessRoyal whistles. * LadyTwister is, naturally, quite used to Chi's chilled nature, and just enjoys the show. "See, you can actually do something in a fight, girl." * Yumi snickers at the shouting. I, um, don't have to shout though. I just like doing it. You'll get over it. Indeed. In fact, you'll pretty much have to, in most cases. Do you have anything else? I said I don't have to! I wouldn't do it when we're being sneaky or anything. Well I can freeze water, but you said I couldn't have any. But you already saw me freeze the hot tub before, Royal-sama. Also... * LadySnow focuses for a moment and the air around her condenses and freezes against her skin creating a sort of blocky suit of frozen ice armor. I can do this to protect myself. For how long? That might be a little too close-fitting to do the ballistic tests with it... Just over two hours if I don't do anything else. But using all this stuff sorta adds up. ... Y-you mean shooting at me? How strong is the armor? It can take a hit or two... It doesn't affect me, but it freezes whatever else touches it. If you touched it with your bare hand you'd get some nasty frostbite. * Yumi makes some notes. "Is that it?" Um... * LadySnow thinks for a moment. I think so. ...whatever? Hm. But it couldn't stand up to things traveling with a lot of kinetic energy? I mentioned the water freezing. That takes a lot out of me to do it in large amounts. Mari still makes me do it for parties though. What, like bullets? Or other projectiles. * LadyTwister snickers and mutters 'walking ice machine'. If they do go through, it'll at least make them hurt less. ... I hope. All right... can I get you to do that cone of cold thing some more? Do one at the left side of the front wall, then blast at the right side until you're spent. Yes, ma'am. * LadySnow dismisses her ice armor and the chunks of ice just fall off her to the floor puffing out little clouds of snow. She walks towards the wall tracklessly and throws her hands out against it, this time showing she can do it without shouting. She does 9 more before she can't carry on any longer. Tuckered out, she sits down in the snow and sighs. Can I put some more clothes on now please? And I'd really like a glass of water... You can wait, dear, we're more than halfway done. * LadySnow the snowing around her slowly starts to dissipate as she stops concentrating on it. The patch underneath her doesn't seem to want to melt though as her natural aura of coldness keeps it solid. Yes, ma'am... I'm glad we installed the drains... of course the Ningyo that come through here make even more mess. Bleagh. Yeah, the salt water is hell on the equipment. * LadyTwister sees that the show's mostly over for Snow, and proceeds to start rolling her right shoulder. I'm sorry if I broke anything, ma'am... *sheepish* * Yumi finishes writing up Snow's initial notes. No, no, Lady Kiss's mess is going to be more work to deal with anyway. Three left. Next? Go Mari! I got it. * LadyTwister cracks her knuckles and waves to the camera. Lady Twister. Go ahead. * LadyTwister smirks. "Right! I don't have much in the way of combat techniques, but what I do have does the job well enough... DRAW!" She suddenly strikes the classic gunslinger stance, hand hip-low with index and middle finger out. Quick reaction time. Guess it's the cowboy thing that snuck into my Becoming... * Yumi blinks, nonplussed. * LadyTwister then produces a grapefruit-sized ball of 'visible' white wind, a violently-swirling mass that streaks out with a bang and strikes... the floor to the right of one of the targets. Instantly it skates along the ground and ricochets hard left, tearing into the target's shoulder. Can bounce the Calamity Shot off of walls and the ground if I have to. No lobbing, though. Oooh. That's nifty. What she said. For my next act! * LadyTwister raises her fist and charges at the same target, drawing the fist back as a howling 'drill' of wind bursts into being around it. Her arm muscles are visibly tensing to try and keep her aim in check... before she slams the attack dead into the target's chest, the wind seeming to literally pull her along as it tears and grinds away at the foam. Still... can't quite... control this damn thing! ...whoa. ...that would be quite... messy against a live target. It's not ranged at all, really, though? You have push it into the target? * LadyTwister finally pulls back (it almost looks like she has to fight against the attack!) and shakes her arm out. "You're telling me." Yep, I have to be in striking distance, and I still can't aim it well against a moving target. How long does it stay...active? Long enough to tear the shit out of whatever I have to hit. Mebbe a few seconds. Hmm. Now, before I do the big bad shot... lemme test something. * LadyTwister cups a hand to her ear and closes her eyes. "Whisper something." Who, me? Yes, ma'am. Uh... {this is not something we're set up to measure.} Sorry about that... maybe there's another place we can go to afterwards, then? The point is that you have good hearing? Or that you can magically pick out what someone is saying from afar? ...is that always on, or do you have to concentrate for it to work? And is it any range, or do you have to focus it on a certain person or area? * LadyTwister un-cups and steps back. "It's magical, really. And I have to concentrate. I can hold it for a while, but it'll eventually wear me down a little. All-range, but I haven't tested how far." Hmmm. *This*, however, I have tried out on my own. Like, out of sight range? Kilometers away range? Well out of sight. More than maybe... ten city blocks? Doesn't that get chaotic? * Yumi raises an eyebrow. "That will come in useful, Princess." * LadyTwister smirks. "It gets annoying to filter things out, but I'm used to it by now. It might help when trying to pinpoint someone." She promptly draws both hands back, a sphere of wind howling to life between them. Indeed. This... this is the Widowmaker, and for it being so powerful, it has the problem of me needing to sit tight for a bit to charge it up. Not too long, but it's not something I can just pull out of my ass. * LadySnow watches Mari do her things and smirks at her expressions. * LadySnow does feel a bit better now that she was able to play with her powers. * LadyTwister takes a moment to finish up---the sphere doesn't grow, but its swirling becomes louder and more violent. Finally, she thrusts the wind ball forward and lets loose a loud kiai... and said orb becomes a roaring tunnel of wind, streaking out quickly at an unmolested target. Said target quickly becomes anything but unmolested, foam flying everywhere. * PrincessRoyal whistles. * LadyTwister finishes up, sweeping her arms back and exhaling as the storm blows itself out. "Whew." Hmmm. I'm going to want you to do all of those attacks against the front wall, I think, to get a better measurement on them. Yes'm. Shouldn't take long to do! * LadyTwister proceeds to approach the wall, starting out with a Calamity Shot while prepping that nasty-looking wind-punch of hers. That quickly follows along behind the projectile, and as soon as she finishes there, she draws back to prep a second Widowmaker. That is then unleashed, leaving behind a somewhat- bushed Mariko. Oh, I'm sorry - were there any other powers? No, ma'am. That about covers it, sorry to say. You've got an interesting mix... * PrincessRoyal nods. I could stand for a little more variety, but I'm fine for now. Could you give me a few more of that punch thing? I haven't seen a lot of attacks like that. I could! One sec... If you could execute it without hitting anything, that would be particularly interesting. Do you have to be doing a punch, or does it just make it easier to focus the attack? Er, making a fist, I mean. * LadyTwister takes a breath, then turns and unleashes a Twister Punch at empty air. The attack does indeed seem to carry Mari a little---her feet actively leave the ground for a moment or two. "I actually have to punch. This just supplements it." Ahh. * LadyTwister then returns to the wall and hammers into it a couple more times. By the time she's done, foam is everywhere, and her shoulders are heaving a little. "Okay, I'm tapped." * Yumi nods silently as she taps on an input pad. Excellent. You've got a nice mix here, Princess. Not everyone has really great efficiency, but the mix of styles should work well. You could have a real wrecking crew on your hands. * LadyTwister schleps back over to where she was first standing, and sits down, wiping her brow. "I could go for some ice cream right about now." * LadySnow can't help but smile proudly at that comment. Lessee... Lady Bob-omb? Is that what I think it is? [break session] Session Close: Sat Sep 23 15:12:09 2006 Session Start: Sat Sep 30 14:03:16 2006 (H-1) [resume session] * PrincessRoyal nods. "Probably, yeah." * Yumi finishes her summary of Lady Twister, and looks up. Princess, do you want to go... last? Yes, actually. It'd be best anyway. * LadyBobOmb , for her part, doesn't seem to notice that she's wearing practically nothing except some strings and glasses. She nods at the representation of Yumi. "They're cute." Show me! * LadyBobOmb suddenly has 2 Bob-Ombs, one on either shoulder. They're both black. One's got some scary-looking teeth, the other has some miniature wings. They're both adorably cute. Cute is in the eye of the beholder, but... Aw... Do they blow up? * LadyBobOmb frowns. "They can. I don't like it when they do." Why is that? It's... *she pauses* They're curious, and innocent. And it seems like a waste to use them as a weapon unless it's necessary. They're just magical... constructs, my Lady. Things that you create with your power. * LadyBobOmb reaches with one hand, and sets the one with all the teeth on the ground, glancing at the dummies. Are they that intelligent? * LadySnow watches with a weird sort of fascination. ... not yet. They're like 5 year olds. * LordFate yawns, and frowns when he realizes he doesn't have a soda. That's pretty intelligent, in biological terms. They think in impulse and instinct, and they're eager to please, and they understand simple concepts and travel. I see that you got one out of the room... could you tell it to please not track decontamination solution out of the dip room? * LadySnow giggles but tries to cover it. * LadyBobOmb blinks, then giggles. For a moment she focuses on something.... else. * LordFate grumbles irritably. Well, could you get one to detonate? Against the far wall, please, not the dummies. * LadyTwister does watch, and looks a bit curious to see how BobOmb'll react. * LadyBobOmb taps the remaining one on her shoulder. * WingedBobOmb rolls off Kasumi's shoulder, then takes flight, going up to the ceiling and off to the left-ish side, traversing the distance to the end of the room. * LadyBobOmb suddenly makes a fierce expression - for just a moment. * WingedBobOmb EXPLODES, right as it drops down to about the level of the dummies, against the far wall. Twister and Royal, in the nearest rooms, feel the floor bounce a little. * PrincessRoyal raises an eyebrow. "Well, now." * WingedBobOmb 's explosion doesn't die down - it rages on, re-exploding over and over again within itself, lasting for nearly 30 seconds. Coooool... ...how... eh. Magic. * LordFate 's eyes widen, and he's suddenly more awake. "Impressive. You been trained in demolitions, BobOmb?" * LadyBobOmb frowns, and just as the first explosion dies, another one erupts from the floor, just as large, in-between a few of the dummies. They're so closely timed that the explosive sound doesn't stop, and anything in the area- including the floor - is thoroughly wrecked. * Yumi narrows her eyes. Is she impressed? Or just calculating the repair bill? * The new explosion continues exploding within itself, and still the sound echoes as the explosions finally die down, nothing of note left where the explosion was. I have. * LadyBobOmb says that rather curtly. I see. And do they detonate after a time, like their namesakes? Without your prompting? * LadyBobOmb shakes her head. "They explode when they want to. They're constantly watching my thoughts, and emotions. If I ... dislike something sufficiently, or think appropriate thoughts, say, about how much I hate that wall, they'll pick up on that." It was a mean wall. ...okay. What else can you do? I can see through them. Rather... they will show me what they see and sense, if I ask, or if they feel like showing me, and they can look through me at any time. They have some variety. Depending on which one, they can get just about anywhere they want to. Right. And you, personally? What other attacks do you have? I've got two close range attacks, which are both explosive. I'm also a very good shot, if I've got a gun. * LadyBobOmb starts walking over to one of the surviving dummies. * LadyTwister whistles, and casually things about ways to make BobOmb and some plastique useful. * Yumi makes go-ahead gestures. * LadyBobOmb , once she gets to a dummy, announces, "Dynamite Touch!" And one of her hands starts -glowing-. * LadyBobOmb waits a moment, then touches the glowing-ness to the dummies neck - there's a small explosion, and suddenly there's a big chunk of neck missing. Does it work with gloves on? It takes a moment to charge, but I can do it indefinitely. It doesn't matter how thick it is, or well protected. * PrincessRoyal whistles. "Could come in *very* useful." * LadyBobOmb shakes her head. "It affects the first thing my hand touches." Ah. Explodey glove. * LadyBobOmb nods. "It's a direct contact transfer." What else? * LadyBobOmb then suddenly spins, and yells, "DYNAMITE PUNCH!" Her hand glows instantly, and is curled up into a fist, which slams into the same dummy's torso. Her -hand- explodes, into a decently sized - and extremely BRIGHT - explosion - it rocks the dummy, and it rocks Kasumi, too. Not very stealthy, is it? But definitely impressive. * LadyBobOmb steps back, and the dummy’s still on fire. The scratches that Kasumi incurred are slowly healing. That takes some stamina to use. And it's just contact based, so it's easy to connect with. Can you give me some of those against the front wall? We can measure your kinetic output more accurately there. * LadyBobOmb nods. She quickly steps over, and quietly this time, slaps an instantly-glowing hand against the wall - it again explodes with Kasumi incurring some scratches from it. C'mon, girl, let it all out. * LadyBobOmb steps back, changes position, and does it again - this time with just a pointer finger. Another small explosion, and she looks near spent, and the scratches are adding up. There's no way you can do it without scratching yourself up? * LadyBobOmb does a couple of the first one - the precision one, transferring smaller, precision explosions to the walls, before letting out a final Dynamite Punch. She steps back, breathing heavily. No, ... *she takes a moment to catch her breath* ... Royal-sama. Hm. Not huge endurance, I guess. * LadyBobOmb shakes her head. "I prefer to use a rifle." * Yumi clicky-clickys at her keyboard. "Okay, finally. Princess Royal, you may proceed. It's been a couple years since you worked out here." * PrincessRoyal has been stretching. "Tell me about it." Well, first things first, let's start with the basics. * LadySnow looks almost giddy in spite of the pouting to see a Princess use all her powers. * LadyBobOmb walks back from the wall, and the ruined floor, to the more-or- less intact end. She sits down heavily. * PrincessRoyal throws out her hands at the dummies, and a cloud of playing cards flies out at them, exploding as they make contact around them. Dummies bounce. * PrincessRoyal then, as the cloud of explosions dies down, whirls around with eyes closed and lets loose two cards at two of the dummies' necks. You always did like going for the jugular. As Midori would say, "It's efficient." The cards spike into the dummies' necks. You wouldn't want to be those dummies. * PrincessRoyal then summons a deck of cards from thin air. It lengthens and forms into a whip-like string, which lashes out at the dummies. Kiss would like that. ^^ One of the dummies finds itself wrapped in cards, and tumbles over. Neat! * LadySnow idly wishes she had something to take notes with. Do you use that one on Kojiro? * PrincessRoyal barely spares Yumi a glare before retracting the remaining cards and doing a quick blink-and-you'll-miss it one-handed shuffle. The cards spring out again, this time reforming into the approximation of the shape of a traditional kodachi. * PrincessRoyal does a quick salute with it, then runs towards the dummies and proceeds to slash 'em up. It's not flashy or explosive, but that dummy sure looks sliced. I think you're getting better with that one. * PrincessRoyal , only breathing hard a little bit, makes a motion like to sheathe the card-kodachi in an imaginary scabbard. The cards disappear as she does so. "Thanks. Though learning to really use close combat at my age is kind of strange." * Yumi types a bit, then bares her teeth. "Okay, now let's unload on the front wall for a burst test. Rapid Flurries, please!" * PrincessRoyal shakes herself. "Right." * PrincessRoyal unleashes Flurry after Flurry into the poor, innocent front wall, doing it so that it makes a cute pattern. * LadySnow oohs and aahs appropriately. Wave after wave of explosions ripple across the wall, blowing Royal's hair back from the differential pressures even in this enclosed space. * Yumi looks like she's counting. * PrincessRoyal makes a nice flower-looking shape, and Cuts thin lines for stems and connectors and such, for good measure. She finishes, panting. "Now that's a sight better than I used to be able to do." * LadySnow claps when she's all done. * LadySnow raises a hand. "Miss Yumi?" You managed one more than last time, Princess. Good job. Impressive, Royal-sama. ^^ * PrincessRoyal does an ironic little V-for-Victory sign. When the dust settles, Royal's front wall is actually less damaged than Kiss's or Snow's... but she took an eighth as long as Kiss, and probably half as long as Snow to do it. Yes, Snow? Um, can I have a copy of the recordings of all this after we're done, pretty please? Hmmm. We'll have to see. * LadySnow nods and smiles. "Thank you very much, ma'am." * PrincessRoyal goes through a couple of cool-down stretches, her neck and back cracking. Can we change now? All things being equal, I'd say yes, but I'm afraid there's some... difficulty. * LadySnow blinks. "Difficulty?" * LordTranslation bangs open the door to Princess Royal's test chamber, stepping into the camera range. ... * LadySnow watches. * PrincessRoyal starts. "...Major?" * LadyBobOmb frowns, and focuses... elsewhere for a moment. Difficulty. If we could all just stay calm for a second... ...Yumi. What's this about? * LadySnow sits patiently, keeping her arms crossed over her body. Is something happening outside the base? General. While it is nice to see you, it is not nice to have Security poaching on Defense's territory. And you wanted to take the suits! We really can't let you have the suits, Mina. What suits? * LadySnow looks down a the tiny bikini. "These?" * LordFate reaches for his guns, and frowns when they're not there. * LadyDestiny remains quiet lest she miss some of the conversation. * PrincessRoyal grimaces, pinching the bridge of her nose. "Oh, come on, is this really the time?" A half-dozen guards armed with rifles step into Royal's room. It's for the Hierarchy, not playtime. ---what the hell? * LadySnow stands up. * LadyBobOmb stands up, slowly. She's still a bit tired, but that's not stopping her. You know how these things work. You also know the games that the Duchesses play. * LordFate whispers something to the spider on his wrist. * PrincessRoyal 's eyes glint as the guards come in, and she straightens, jaw clenched, looking decidedly discontent even in the bikini. This. Is. *Ridiculous*. Do they really have time to bother with this bullshit? * LadySnow goes and tries to open her door. The doors are locked. * LadyKiss frowns and extends her whip and starts to slash at the door at it. "You must really learn better hosting skills." Hey, let us out! This isn't nice at all! We're all on the same side here! * LadyBobOmb tries her door as well. Upon finding them locked, her hands start glowing to 'pick' them. This isn't very fun anymore. We would like to leave, please! * LadyDestiny sighs. "The games people play." I am -really- not in the mood for this. * PrincessRoyal crosses her arms and looks steadily at Translation and the guards. Stay quiet, and stay in your rooms. Princess Royal, you are instructed by the Duchess of the SDF to surrender yourself for the duration of this... conflict. * PrincessRoyal doesn't move. "And my team?" Princess, Orders? * LadyBobOmb hand continues to glow. Though the exit door is unscarred. ... for the moment. They'll be kept... here. It all should be over in a day or two. * LordFate is keeping his face as expressionless as possible; he's kind of failing to hide his irritation. * LadyTwister huffs where she stands, still to worn down to do much. "Absolute bullshit... what in the hell is going on? H-hey! Answer me already!" What conflict? One of the guards tries to grab Royal's arm. What's happening? * LadyDestiny remains composed. "Feels like the time for words has passed to me." * PrincessRoyal growls under her breath and snaps over her shoulder at the team. "I'll settle this." She moves her arm away from the guard. "Right, fine, I'm going. Lay off me." * LadyBobOmb frowns. The Princess is led out into the hallway, out of the camera's view. The door bangs shut, leaving the picture of her room empty. * LadyKiss slowly settles down, obviously VERY unhappy about this. That's better. ^Absolute bullshit. I swear.^ This is a very serious 'game,' Yumi-sama. Let us know the rules, or release us, please? ^^ * LadySnow continues tugging on the door. "Let us out! I want my clothes back!" ^Indeed. Give her 10 more seconds, Twister?^ * LadyReaper joins Yumi in the monitor frame. This is not a game, dear. Not from your end. Royal has enough seniority that we can't really hold her forever. But we can hold onto you, her project in security. Then what is it? I don't like being in the dark as much as anyone else! We're not a project! * Yumi frowns. "Do you have any idea how much Sakura poaches from the Defense budget every year?" This is about politics? * LadyDestiny moves forward to the door and feels it for any obvious structural weaknesses. * LordFate walks up to the door to his room, and leans next to it. If it opens, the person who walks through will be right next to him. I do not, but that doesn't even matter! How're we supposed to just take being walled up for something we don't know ^jack and shit^ about?! * LordFate puts his arm behind his back for a moment. It's sick. And now she thinks she's going to get Royal's pet R&D project for free, never mind the fifty billion eYen Defense has spent on it. That's stupid! We're on the same side, gosh dang it! * LadyBobOmb frowns. "Then consult her. We do not appreciate being used as bargaining tokens, nor guns being involved in a civil budget dispute." In theory. But Sakura doesn't always remember that. And she really doesn't play nice when there's something she wants from us. So this is simply... preemptive defense. That doesn't mean you have to be mean about it! This is grade school antics with larger price tags. Give it a few days. We'll probably know how we'll... dispose of you by then. * LadyBobOmb turns, and examines the door for a moment, looking for the best place to blow the locks. Then applies observation to action, and touches her glowing hand to the door. The door explodes! A little bit. Actually it's just kind of dented. No, I believe this is The "How Nice, How Very Very Nice" approach. * LadyBobOmb tries again! It can't hold out forever. * LadyTwister doesn't like how 'dispose' sounds, and scowls. "... I cannot believe this. So just because we're in the way, we're expendable?" It probably can't. But it is going to take her a few minutes. If you want us to talk to her about it we will! I'm sure we can come to an understanding. * LadyDestiny leverages her weight against a spot on the door. "Nope, not there." Snow, ZIP IT. They aren't going to barter and it will get us in worse trouble. Oh, you're very expendable. But what we're betting is not that expendable. Ta! ... I am not expendable! * LadyTwister quietly fumes, fists clenched. "Absolute bullshit..." The screen blinks out, leaving everyone alone, unable to even see each other. No, You are not. You are a unique and delicate snow flake and I am personally going to manicure my nails on their faces when I get out of here. I'm going to tell my uncle on you! ... they had us wear ourselves out on purpose. And the decontam... why in the hell would decontam be necessary for combat testing? * LadyTwister starts pacing. "Mmmmnnn." * LadySnow bangs on the door a bit futilely before she just sits down and leans against it, crying. * LadyDestiny pushes on the door again and finds the spot she has apparently been looking for. After a moment of pushing, she disappears for a moment, reappearing on the other side of the door. * LadyBobOmb continues working on the door. Boom! Boom! Boom! ...the hallway is dark. Pitch black. She can hear Bob's pounding. * LadyDestiny follows the sound to what she thinks is BobOmb's pounding. She then knocks on the door in three short, loud raps. The door is starting to bulge outward, distorting its frame. * LordFate vanishes, and appears outside, as well, and makes his way over to his sister by feel and hearing. * LadyBobOmb pauses at the knocks, and puts her ear against the wall, listening for a moment. * LadySnow curls her arms around her legs, hugging them to her chest as she cries. * LadyDestiny knocks on the door again. "Knock knock." * LadyKiss just waits, in a huff. Destiny. Can you get me out? I'm close to getting it open myself. * LadyTwister continues to pace, occasionally looking towards the door. "... but if it's about money, there's easier, cleaner ways to solve this..." Weaver, go get her. *the spider appears on BobOmb's head* Ready to leave, my Lady? * LadyBobOmb blinks at the spider, then smiles brightly. "Sure!" ^^ * Weaver and BobOmb vanish, reappearing in the darkness near the Twins. * LadyBobOmb blinks at the sudden darkness. "Hello." ^^ If you can finish making your hole, it would make seeing out here much easier. I think I'm the only one who can shoot in the dark. Now, let's get the others, and retrieve our weapons. * LadyBobOmb gets her hand glowing again, prepping another small explosion, seeing if it has enough light to navigate by. I can't see anything. Too bloody dark. If I had my rifle, that would be a different story. Kasumi's hand makes a fairly bright lantern. Just don't touch it. ...that works. Come on. * LordFate heads to another door, and sends Weaver to the other side to see who's there. * LadyBobOmb smiles, and walks by Fates side, shining hand help up. With light, they can see the large door release handle to the side of each. * LadyDestiny walks along side. "That certainly helps things. We should hurry up and get everyone out as quickly as possible to fix this misunderstanding." She leaves the 'in our favor' off the sentence, but it's obviously there. First we need to regroup, then we need to find Royal-sama. We should rest, or re-arm ourselves beforehand. * LordFate starts pulling the release handles. "Resting's not an option. We need the others, then Destiny and I need our weapons." I don't think we have time for rest. ... doesn't make any sense. We're all on the same side, after all... * LadyBobOmb nods. "If we're lucky, we might come across the experimental rifles." * LadyBobOmb sounds... a little overly happy about that. * LordFate grins. "If that is our fate, so be it. These fools have sealed theirs." * LadyTwister blinks at her door opens, and warily (albeit quickly) steps out. "... hey. Y'all as pissed as I am?" Yes. Good. You're only pissed? I'm down right angered. I don't show it well, so I don't expect you to have noticed it. We will also want to apprehend Yumi-sama and Reaper-sama. This cannot be allowed to escalate. * LordFate whirls and heads for the exit. "Let's go. Stay close; they won't be able to hit us." * LadySnow wipes at her eyes as best she can when she hears the door starting to open, trying to cover up the fact that she was crying. She stands and does her best to cover her body with her hands as the door slides open. Snow, are you okay? Destiny will feed on them; their fates will be severed for a time. * LadyKiss steps out, bright red whip dangling behind her. "About time, if some one was holding back I would have bet on you two. Of course it's a Lady's prerogative to keep some things hidden, but I expected more from a gentleman. I lack proper tools for that, but I'll make due. 'm fine... Right now, I just want to punch someone a lot. A lot a lot. * LadySnow tries to stay back and out of the light though so no one can look at her. Snow, when we catch them you can force them to wear that. Can we just go get our clothes now? I don't think we should be mean to them. We should just talk to them. We're supposed to be on the same side... * LadyBobOmb frowns. "The Lord, as well." * LordFate blushes when he glances at Snow due to her comment. "...if possible." He tries not to let it affect him. "We've got more important things than that, though. ...can't you just detrans and retrans to get your costumes?" The first person we subdue will loan you theirs. I'm sure of it. Priorities first. Weapons, figure out the situation. The situation is I'm angry and have a nasty candy whip in my hand that likes to draw blood. What weapons? Any we can get our hands on. Let's move quickly. The longer we stand here, the more likely we are to be found. * LordFate is at the door, and (attempts to) throws it open. Following. * LadyBobOmb stops paying attention for a moment. "One of the little ones is lost in a warehouse." * LadyTwister is... indeed following. "A warehouse?" It's near enough that I know the way, and there may be weapons there, as well as one... really small one. * LadyBobOmb allows herself a small smile. The door opens, revealing the shower chamber where you changed into the bikinis. That sounds like a good place to start, then. If you can send others out to find where they took my cooler full of soda, I'd appreciate it. My guns are probably nearby. * LordFate stalks through. "Again, stay close. BobOmb? If you'd make us some scouts?" I would like to do so, but... I'm exhausted as the rest of you. * LadyKiss slowly stretches. "This shall be fun. Lead on." * LadySnow looks around for anything else she can wrap around herself. She's sweating a bit now. Um... we had our clothes in our storage space, remember Fate? Good planning on their part. Nothing is left in the room of use - not even the towels. They took everything... So they'll be with our weapons. Yes, they will be paying for that outfit too. Wow. Thorough fuckers. Of course they did. They've been planning this trap since our Princess trusted them. My thoughts exactly, Twister. Let's try the warehouse. * LadySnow sees if they can get through the decon area. * LadyTwister slams a fist into her open palm. Lead the way, BobOmb. The decontamination area is spooky in the low light. The outer locker room has been similarly stripped, and nobody's clothes or gear remains. Those with viable attacks, get ready to use them. * LadyBobOmb starts walking, holding up her glowing hand. Well, that's not me. Shit. Stay back for a few seconds after we see them. Trust me. Dagnabbit! They took all my stuff! That watch was a collectable... Keep eyes peeled. Kiss, if you can pull up your shield, be ready to do so. --we'll take your word for it, Kiss. Heh... you can always buy more. * LadySnow sounds like she's about to start crying again. Don't get sad, Snow. Get angry. Use it. I can't pull up my shield, The bastards were good, but I got other things up my non-existent sleeves. Use it how? I'm not good at hitting people... You'll get your watch back, or you'll have a new MG face to put on one. Ripped from an MG, if necessary. We'll get you a weapon. Kasumi heads back down the testing room hall, to the far end. A large sliding metal door caps that end of the hallway. * LadyBobOmb checks the door. Easy way to open it? I don't want to hurt a Lady! We may not have an option now. Snow, they have proven themselves to not be Ladies in ANY sense of that word. The door rattles a little. She gets the sense that it is chained shut from the other side. This is just too much for inter-department squabbling. I knew it existed, but *shit*... ...BobOmb? * LadyBobOmb frowns. It's held from the other side. * LadyBobOmb frowns, thinking for a moment. Weaver, take her over. Get it open. *the spider crawls over to BobOmb* * LadySnow frowns. "I don't like it when you talk like that..." A little light spills around the edges of the door now that it's been jostled. Snow... Chi. Right now, things have taken a turn for the weird. If this is a legitimately bad instance, we need to expect and prepare for the worst. * LadyBobOmb jostles it again, getting a sense for where the chain is. I know that! That doesn't mean I have to like it! You think I do? * LadyDestiny waits for Weaver to do its thing. "They seemed to be paranoid about us escaping. I wonder why they should ever worry about that?" Weaver-sama? Can you give me a lift, please? ^^ * LadyTwister reaches over to pat Snow on the head. "... hang in there, Chi. We'll be through this in a moment." * Weaver salutes with a little leg, and both he and BobOmb vanish. * LadySnow huffs. "I know we will. We're on the good side." * LadyKiss gives Lady Snow and Lady Twister a look and then nods waiting. * LadyBobOmb breaks what needs to be broken on the other side, quickly. Small, quiet explosions can be heard. * LadyBobOmb opens the door, stepping back to let the others through. * LordFate steps through, as Weaver crawls back onto his wrist. "Where's our Warehouse, BobOmb?" The door reveals a long, stories-tall warehouse. * LadyBobOmb looks around, and calls out, "Here!" Convenient. Are there any clothes? I am not sure. * LadySnow looks around. Indeed. * LadyBobOmb looks around for weapons, clothes, and the lone Bob-Omb lost in there. This is... off. Where are the guards? * LadyKiss slowly follows behind more on the look out for targets for her anger. Multi-level shelves are everywhere, stacked with what appear to be bulk samples of various armor types for testing. * LordFate starts looking for weapons. "Find gear you can use, then we're going to find the Princess. Or a way to contact Sakura or Her Majesty. I am sure neither will be pleased with this. If I were aiming to pen in a bunch of MGs, I'd have people with killing irons all over the place. This doesn't feel right. * LadySnow digs around for something not too heavy and covering and puts it on. * LadyTwister is nonetheless looking, but she sees very on-edge. You're right. They might assume we did indeed show all our tricks. To the east, there are shelves with cardboard boxes, marked with UPC codes. Even still... doesn't feel right at all. There is nothing at all here to wear, unless one likes to drape oneself with plastic wrap. Killing irons might kill us. I think they cannot afford that. This, however... something is off. They'll tell us why when we catch them. Wait... she said that it would take days before they decided what to do...didn't she? They were foolish to underestimate a team of MGs. Yeah. * LadyTwister approaches the boxes, giving one a curious shake. She SHOULD have known we would get our power back. You're right, this is wrong. * LordFate rips open a cardboard box with a UPC label. I think it was intentional, no self-respecting member of the defense force would do that. It rattles slightly, though it is much too heavy to shake properly. They also should be watching us. But... why? * LordFate looks in his opened box. I suspect Royal-sama planned this. * LadyTwister growls. "Too drained to listen to the wind... dammit, I shouldn't have volunteered that..." Lord Fate finds a chunk of the foamy test material with a bullet indentation. * LadyBobOmb looks at the plastic-wrap for a moment. "Kiss, can you make a whip out of this?" ...hm. Keep at the boxes--they have 'samples' from our rooms, I think. * LordFate rips open a few more, seeing if any contain anything from the Twins' repository. * LadyBobOmb picks up some plastic wrap, trying to make a rope out of it. * LadySnow tries to make a hap-hazard suit from the cardboard boxes. * LadyDestiny walks around the warehouse to make sure that no one is in fact watching them. Took you long enough to get out of those rooms. They must not be making magical girls like they used to. Yumi's voice comes out of an unseen speaker. * LadyTwister peers over at what Fate's looking at. "... you know... why? I mean... unless they're trying to make sure they have the means to... deal with our attacks---hey!" Where are my clothes? * LadySnow shouts at the voice. You make a good stereotypical villain, Yumi-sama. ^^ If this is a test, Yumi-san, kindly tell Royal-sama she's going to have to regenerate an ear when I'm done with her. You got the selfish gloating and speech making down just right. ^^ You'll find food at the west end of this warehouse, as well as the little lost BobOmb. It should be plenty to keep you in good health for a few days while we negotiate. * LordFate continues to rifle through stuff. I see. ... heh. I assume the warehouse itself is armored to hell and back, then. Weaver, find me a window. *the spider vanishes* * LadyBobOmb starts making tracks to the west end, not -quite- running. That was still very much not polite. What about clothes! You have the run of this level of the complex. If you try to leave, we will not hesitate to severely hurt you. At least they're willing to level with us. The lack of real deception is refreshing. ...and find the cameras and speaker, while your at it, Weaver. It's so handy that MG's can regenerate - we can take your arms and legs off, and you'll be back to normal in a month or so. Refreshing, nothing. They're overconfident. Pfeh. I knew politics was a mess here, but this is fucking ridiculous. And remember, Yumi. You do not regenerate. * Yumi chuckles, and then falls silent. * BobOmb glomps with as much force as it can for a fist-sized explosive, latching itself to the top of Kasumi's head. I don't understand this at all! Why are they doing this? We shall find out one way or another. * LadyTwister gives a nearby box a kick. "We're just chips in a pile, Snow. This is Princess and Duchess stuff, looks like." They told us, Snow. Find the cameras, find the speaker, and find an exit point. BobOmb, how long until you're able to make a swarm of BobOmbs again? I'm NOT being paid enough to play bargaining chip. Lord Fate finds more boxes with variously sized and damaged chunks of test metal foam. As he moves down the rows, the boxes appear older and the test materials change to more-solid steel plating. My uncle is going to be so so mad when I tell him about this. * LadyBobOmb comforts the BobOmb with happy thoughts. "It will be a while. They're ... draining to make, and I don't recover as fast as a regular MG." ...right. * LordFate takes a deep breath, and stops destroying the boxes. * LadyBobOmb looks around, trying to get a bearing. * LordFate moves over to the food and looks for anything with caffeine. Everything is fruit-derived juices and snack crackers. * LordFate grits his teeth, and takes another deep breath. * LadyTwister does go to check on what's there to eat... and grimaces. "This is for when you give blood. This is cruel and unusual punishment!" * LadySnow finds something to drink and drinks it. BobOmb, can you destroy us a hole to the floor below? WEAVER! FOUND ANYTHING YET? I can't believe they wouldn't even give me a glass of water... * LadyBobOmb frowns. "I've got one shot for now. You're sure it's down?" No! * LadyKiss walks over to se the food and laughs. "Chocolate doesn't power me." ...only one shot? Hm. You can't do that forever? A large hole will take a while, depending on how thick the floor is. * LadyDestiny walks over and eats some crackers. No need to be hungry when we have an alternative. Apparently, we've got plenty of time. When you get close, we'll protect you. I think any guards we meet deserve a handshake from you. * LadyBobOmb sets the Bob on a shelf, and does the hand glowy thing, picking a good spot and taking a chunk out of the floor. You need a rest then BobOmb? * LadyTwister , grumbling various expletives, eats a bit as well. "^Absolute bullshit.^" * LadyBobOmb pauses a moment, gets the Bobs attention, then focuses. Find out how thick the floor is, please? ^^ * LadySnow sits quietly off to the side and lets the others do what they can do. * BobOmb promptly disappears, vanishing Down. * LordFate glances at his sister, and nods over to a clear section of the floor, sipping at a juice. * LadyBobOmb continues working on the floor with continuous small explosions. * LordFate sits down cross-legged, looking downright pouty. This sucks, I know. This is going to take a long time. Fate, Destiny, can you two scout the rest of the floor, and find any other exits? Weaver's working on it. *snapped angrily* ...sorry. Weaver's working on it. I'm... let's see if we can figure out how the pawns -should- move. * LadyBobOmb suddenly winces, and stops. This is going to take too long. It's... * LadyBobOmb pauses. "... too thick." * LadyDestiny finishes eating a cracker. "I'll look about and see what's up around here." BobOmb?---meh. Not surprising, really. The huge cannon outside suddenly makes sense. The spider reappears on Snow's shoulder. * LadySnow looks up at the ceiling to see if there are any vents or anything. * LadyKiss sits down closing her eyes trying to clear her head. * LadyBobOmb blinks, and wipes a couple of errant tears from her eyes. * LadySnow eee's slightly, and then realizes what it is. This only helps her fear slightly. Your um, spider is back... There's a way up, and a way down. We need to find them. There are no windows in this room. At the far east end, there is an elevator platform, but the hole in the ceiling there has been covered with an armored hatch. How armored? Not as armored as the floor. How would I know? How high up? As high as the ceiling. *looks up* I wonder if we even have any tools for forcing open an armored hatch. * LadyBobOmb glances around, for a ladder or rope or such. "Can you lift me there?" The ceiling is at least six meters up. I wonder how much snow it'd take to get up there... * LadyTwister finally sits down and... starts doing sit-ups. Looks like she's trying to keep herself busy. "... the thing is... even if we make it up... we might hafta deal with... unhappy guards with rifles, or worse... need a plan..." I'm going to look around more. The spider blinks away. We have crates. We could stack them if we really wanted up there. Get to it. * LadyBobOmb frowns. "And a path down?" Anyone want to give me a hand? Some of these are kinda heavy. Should we wait till we have all our power back? Would be... a good idea... * LadyBobOmb shakes her head. "We'll recover as we work." * LadyTwister has yet to stop. She's at around rep 25. * LadySnow goes to help Destiny as best as her little body can. It's better than doing nothing. * LadyBobOmb heads over to the east end to take a closer look at the hatch. * LordFate rises to his feet, and starts helping his twin. "If any of you have super strength, speak now. I'd love to move those shelves." Weaver, can you lift someone up there? I wish... Not it... but I can try to help. * LadyTwister rolls to her feet and goes to see just how heavy the shelving is. Only for about a quarter of an hour anymore. If he can lift me and hold me, I'll be able to take care of the hatch. There's a huge explosive impact above you. The entire warehouse shakes, bouncing everyone off their feet, and boxes fall off of shelves all around you. The power blinks for a second or two, then comes back on. You spider thing, can you find Snow a dress? Give me a minute. And not while I'm hel--wah! * LordFate looks up. "What was that?" I'm betting those are negotiations. Likely the main generator. Feels like old times. Snow, can you make ice and snow in here? ... bet that was the gun. Weaver, back to work on your web. Yes... Destiny, you can hit things square on, can you also find weak points? * The spider bobs in what is probably a nod, and starts...weaving. Little tendrils of webbing flow out in patterns from him, vanishing as they spread out. Another massive impact rattles the room. The metal plates that cover the ceiling fall, along with many of the light fixtures. * LadySnow dodges under some shelving. We might want to take cover. ...yes, let's not stay here much longer. * LadyTwister promptly moves the hell out of the way of whatever decides to fall nearby. "This is getting ridiculous." Now what are they doing? *whimpers* * LordFate picks up Weaver, so he's clinging to his wrist. Folks, that's the hurt us badly part. I want clothing for Snow so she can work. We need to rest up. I believe the gentleman would like a big gun. Two little ones would be preferable. My sister likes the big ones. Well then she can have the big gun. I want ourselves a bargaining chip if negotiations are going on. To do that we need out of here. Exactly. You done yet, Weaver? Here's to hoping there's no one upstairs, then. If there is, they will be armed. The roof supports begin to fall, knocking over some of the huge metal shelves. This warehouse is rapidly becoming a deathtrap. We should get out of here... Everyone near Weaver. NOW! * LadyKiss moves to Fate at his call. * LadyBobOmb frowns, and makes tracks out of the warehouse - then turns on a heel, and runs for Fate. * LadyDestiny grabs a big slab of metal and runs over to Fate. * LadySnow does what Fate asks, not wanting to be dead. We'll be safe unless the ceiling itself comes down on us. BobOmb, Weaver can get you up there. You ready to blast us an exit? Yes. The bare ceiling turns out to be plain concrete. It has cracks in it, cracks which are widening and extending as you watch. * LadyKiss moves and whispers into Twister's ear. Maybe they're doing this on purpose... What if this doesn't work? Dust begins to cascade through the cracks, and the ceiling bulges in places. ...that's going to be a problem. Let's get under the elevator shaft; it probably has the least that can fall on us. * LordFate starts that way, herding the others with him. "Kiss, can your chocolate hold off that armored plate if it collapses on us?" ... hm. Yeah, that might be a good idea. * LadyBobOmb follows. Not yet. * LadySnow heads for cover. You pass by the hallway to the test rooms. It doesn't look like it's collapsing. * LadyTwister moves out of the way of the ceiling. I'm soft and don't take things falling on me well... You'd be surprised how few people do. * LadySnow ducks into the test rooms. ... going back to go forward. Figures---Snow, wait up! * LadyTwister is soon tailing Chi. ...curse it. Snow's got the right idea. * LordFate heads that way, too. * LadyBobOmb stops off in one of the test rooms. "If this is a test, then they're expending a high amount of materials to replace." * LadyKiss follows stopping once she gets in side wincing. "Snow, could you help me up, I think I twisted my ankle." That just means this is going to get fun. * LadySnow helps Kiss as she asks. * LadyBobOmb frowns. "There's some places beyond the locker room we haven't checked yet." What happened? * LadyKiss leans up whispering in Snows ear as she stands up. Then let's go. Weaver, keep you web up for five more minutes. Don't exhaust yourself yet, though. * LadyBobOmb looks around the test rooms. "And there may yet be things unknown here." * LadySnow whispers back. There's an incredible roaring sound as the warehouse roof collapses. Concrete and dirt gushes through the door, ten meters into the test hall. ... ^holy shit!^ We don't have any food now... Glad I ate those crackers. * LadyTwister is promptly backpedaling. "... we have a problem, yes." Really? The hallway lights up as they reach the northern end again. The warehouse is filled with debris. We'll have to tunnel our way back into there. Or we can try for the--what's this? Unless there's another way out. Getting through that much debris would be crazy without tools and supplies. * LadySnow looks around at the lights. "Well that was nice of someone..." The decon rooms are also lit, as is the locker room beyond. * LadyBobOmb heads for the lockers, decon room and beyond! Well, it looks like we're expected. Let's go. * LordFate heads that way, too. * LadyTwister frowns, and starts walking, back to wariness. It's like we're being herded. * LadyDestiny follows along with a look on her face like she's lost in thought. * LadySnow follows. There's a door between the two decontamination rooms which is still locked, which no one has gone through yet. The locker room is not locked, but the door to the stairwell beyond the waiting room is. * LadyKiss frowns more. "Okay, my plan is not going to work. We are being herded." Lovely. * LadyBobOmb wastes no time in 'unlocking' the doors. Then let's not disappoint them. They did put so much effort into this. So, soooo many faces to punch. The decon door reveals a lab/office area which looks like where Yumi was during the test. There are computer consoles, and phones, and lots of paperwork. I had hoped to work together, Snow freezing things below their shattering point, Destiny and I breaking it open, Twister then as it all falls on us blowing it straight up. BobOmb, if you can spare some property damage, please do. If not, let's keep going. The stairwell door is very well reinforced, but a few minutes of Bob- Omb’s work splits it open. * LadySnow looks around the office area for anything wearable left behind. "Shouldn't they have labcoats or something?" ... paperwork. * LadyBobOmb lets her hand drop. It's not glowing. Wait, wait. Maybe we should see about some of that. A light pink jacket is draped over one of the office chairs. * LadyDestiny thumbs through the paperwork. * LadySnow snatches it and puts it on. * LordFate has utterly forgotten about his state of undress, and after quickly scanning for weapons, is impatiently waiting for the others at the stairwell. Destiny finds test results of a lot of different Ladies. It appears this really is a testing facility. The team's preliminary report is right on top of several stacks. * LadyKiss looks over. "What do you have there Destiny?" * LadyDestiny begins to file away the paperwork into her mystical storage space. "Papers like this shouldn't be lying around for just anyone to see." Does lend evidence to the theory that this is an actual testing facility. And odds are they have data anyway. But one has to wonder what's done with it all. Perhaps a reference for investigative purposes? I don't doubt it. Stash any computers that are convenient. BobOmb, destroy the others. I don't think they need all this data about us. One of the consoles lights up. * LadySnow wraps the jacket tightly around herself and goes to check on BobOmb's progress on the door to the stairs. * LordFate is putting action to words, and seeing if any computer towers or data drives are convenient to stash. "Hello, what's this?" he asks of the lit up console. * Yumi is wide-eyed, though what she's worrying about is hard to say. There you are! * LadySnow pokes her head out to the stairs. There's some noise above, but it's hard to say what it is. What's going on? If you've something to say, say it fast. We're not staying. * LadySnow calls back towards the office area. "Can we go up now?" We were worried you didn't get out of the warehouse. Bargaining chips are useless dead. ...you don't want to leave. Yes, we do. Let me show you why. * LordFate turns and leaves. "BobOmb, destroy everything in here." Girls, let's go. The screen flips to show an external camera view of the top of the island. * LadyBobOmb puts a glowing hand to the console before Yumi can finish. Wait, wait, let's at least see this... We'll see the truth ourselves when we get there. I think I'm through trusting this person. There's a brief glimpse of Princess Mallet before the console blows up. ... actually, I think I saw everything I needed to see. Let's go. * LordFate is heading up the stairs. "Stay near or behind me. Weaver'll keep us relatively safe." Okay... [End session] Session Close: Sat Sep 30 17:31:38 2006