[b]Alex [@Flamelord], Měihóu Niángniang [@The 42nd Gecko], Stark Zealot [@TheWindel], Farris [@KoL][/b]

"What do you mean by that," Alex asked as he walked along towards the prepared exit, more than a tad confused by the statement 'how they were in life'. For the human that had appeared to him out of the Blue Relic before, weren't they still just objects? Spooky abilities kinda came with the territory, and being a sentient artifact was hardly unusual compared to the other things he had seen on his trip. 

Unfortunately all his hard work was basically wasted as his companion walked through the wall beside him, taking it out on the way. "Nice to meet you Monkey," he concluded then with a quick adaptation to that particular fact. But there was no time to worry about that, or to casually converse, as they found themselves cut off with the sudden collision of his face into an invisible barrier, courtesy of his quick movement to leave before Zealot tried using a window. "Ow, geez," he huffed, rubbing his face and blinking fairly rapidly until he was sure that his nose wasn't broken.

The source was quickly revealed, indicating that his wariness for additional support had been well deserved, but not enough. Now they were pinned, and with how she was advancing the wall kept coming with it, causing him to back up so he could avoid her and the half dozen guards she had with her. A quick test of his tome revealed that it encompassed them and ended at the building, which wasn't really a winning option for escape given that they would most likely meet Zealot on the way back in. 

So, limited options, and time rapidly running out. Checking to make sure that Meihou didn't have any ideas, he then did the only thing he could do as he glanced down at the hidden Relic. "Alright then," he said in a soft tone to keep the guards from hearing. "You said you could protect me. Show me what tricks you've got." He braced himself for whatever would happen next, all the while hoping that this didn't escalate into something ridiculous. He didn't need a replication of the Church thing, only with all those guards headed specifically towards him. 

Well, it seemed that none of the soon to be prisoners decided to resist in the end. A wise choice if there ever was one. Anyone on this world knew that standing against the might of the Imperium was suicidal at the very least. Either way those weren't concerns that Farris had to pay much mind to, she was here to do her job and that's what she was going to do.

Or so she thought, as the sound of heavy footfalls behind her denounced the approach of none but Stark Zealot, the one who was actually responsible for this operation. "It seems that my presence here is not necessary anymore, is it? Do as you see fit with these two, the barrier  set up will remain there until I get a few blocks away from here," Farris said to Zealot as he came in. "If you don't mind, I'll be back to my station at the Royal Guard." With these last parting words, the dark-skinned soldier took her leave from the scene. Yet as she walked, a pause was given in her step and she furrowed her features in confusion.

[color=f6989d]"Ow..."[/color] Monkey said, as she bonked off an invisible barrier, setting her balance way off and sending her falling to the ground.  She took a moment to review her options. ~The barrier is made of a transparent material. That meant light passed through it! Maybe? Could be other stuff. Maybe I can use that!~ Monkey tried to transform into light. This did not work. ~Darn.~ There were so many things in the world to transform into that sometimes she forgot which ones she could and couldn't turn into. So, to outside viewers, such as Farris, Zealot, or Alex, Monkey was passively lying on the ground with her tail flitting back and forth.

[color=f6989d]"Well, you see, the legend relics hold the legacy, so to speak, of the heroes who stopped the great beast. I'm not sure whether it's just magitech constructs based on their personalities, or if it's a thing like me where even if I transform into an unliving object, it's still totally me and has my soul. I wasn't present when they were made. Dunno. There was a lot going on, couldn't pay attention to it all. Not to mention my memory's pretty terrible 10 years back, much less near the beginning."[/color]  Měihóu answered Alex's question as she pondered and tried out a few other transformations. ~Welp, no luck, let's go back to the old standby.~

Transforming her staff into her armor/strength boost coat, Monkey was just about to try punching through the floor when Alex activated his Relic. On cue, the blue artifact pulsed a slow beating as if it were a living heart. Whatever it was trying to do, it needed to do it fast because the heavy footfalls of Stark Zealot signifed the arrival of his presence. And come closer he did, closing the distance between him and Alex. Despite the explosion from earlier, his armor was still a stark white, albeit charred in some areas. He reached for his blade, eager to strike Alex down...but then he paused. Soon enough the soldiers all around them followed suit, looking at the two prisoners as if in a confused stupor.

"State your business," Stark said, the shrill of metal only an adding factor to the words he was speaking. He sheathed back his blade and stepped away, as if not too concerned for whatever answer Alex could give him. "You two. Stay out of trouble," he said before turning away and motioning for the rest of the soldiers to draw back. Whatever had happened, the Blue Relic still pulsed with light, an indication that this phenomenon was its doing.

Alex wasn't sure what he had thought would happen, but plenty of things had sprung to mind. It could have been anything from beam attacks to explosions to straight teleportation itself. But ultimately he was left in impressed confusion as Stark seemed to be placed under some sort of mental control or illusion that made him think they were two different people who had done nothing wrong. Just what he had been hoping for ultimately, and he was left wishing that he had something that could do that without the personality/sentience/ability to do whatever it wanted without his input. That would have made a significant chunk of his life a whole lot easier. 

"Okay then, fair enough," he muttered to the Relic before turning back to Meihou. "I think it's time to get out of here before someone else realizes that Zealot doesn't actually have us with him," the thief offered as he looked around and mentally planned out what he wanted to do next. Fine then, if they wouldn't leave him alone for a bit then he figured he didn't have to leave them alone either. He'd make sure that she was ready before heading out, taking side streets and back alleys to dodge any official Imperium presence as he moved towards one of his other safehouses. 

At the same time, with the passing of danger he found his curiosity rising once again. "Wait, so you were around at the beginning of the Imperium? Wow," he said aloud, still keeping up the fairly swift pace just in case. He didn't know how they were exactly tracking the Relic, so it was best to keep on the move. "You'd think that you and the Imperator would be best buddies, with that sort of connection." Well, what did he know? It wasn't like there were many people in the Imperium who could make that claim.

[color=f6989d]"We don't exactly see eye to eye, or at all, I don't think I've ever actually been worth her attention."[/color] Monkey walked alongside Alex. [color=f6989d]"And the answer to that question is 'yes and no'. I've lived many lives, as I have complete longevity. But my memory capacity isn't  similarly infinite. I can only expand it so far beyond the human norm.  So, I've lived a LOT longer than I can remember, and a lot of my lifetimes are summarized in the memory equivalent of a few lines of text. And between all of it, I'm not terribly reliable at memory. My Tome here.."[/color] Měihóu showed the inside of her coat, revealing cryptographic text. [color=f6989d]"It's my back up knowledge, but anything put in there's literally just text, so, no getting it back as real actual memory. I'm pretty good at it and can get close, but still, not real."[/color]

"Oh, I see." That was unfortunate, honestly, and he couldn't help but feel some sympathy for his companion. Having lived so long but not being able to remember it? While it was probably a blessing considering what had happened in all those lifetimes, it also seemed like a burden as well. At least she had some way to record things, but unless it was particularly strong he had the feeling that she didn't get to choose which memories she wanted to keep. All of that lost forever, frankly it was kind of depressing.

Quickly he shook himself out of that though, as they exited their current path to blend into the crowds of the main street, with him slowing now to a walk. That had been answered, but there was definitely something else that needed to be talked about now that they had some relative safety from their pursuers. Really, she was proving to be a pleasant conversationalist, and he could appreciate that. It was less disconcerting than talking with the Twins. "Anyway, you said that you found two other Relics? What's the story there?"

[color=f6989d]"Yeah, the first one, this librarian Chen, grabbed from this rhinocerous in Rexicorg. There was also this wolf-lady who was really ungrateful about being rescued. Then, me and General Titania walked up to Yggdrasil, and then Titania yanked his relic off his belt and we hightailed it. Seeing he's supposed to be some super strong dude, I'm betting it's all part of some sneaky plot to track the other relics by letting us have one. Which was a side reason I ditched that group. But then, lo and behold, you have one too. Guess it's my destiny to come across everyone who has a relic, which is fun, I've got a historian persona or two that'd probably love to write a book about all this. I'm still mulling over what kind of poetry I think I should go for."[/color]

Well then, that was quite the tale wasn't it? He didn't mind, of course, but even he would admit that if that was mere chance then it was very coincidental when it came down to it. Then again, with what the Relic had told him earlier there was probably a bit more to it than that. For now though he'd just continue on and see where he ended up. Fate or no, he'd try to carve his own path the same as always. "Ah, interesting. Though from what Zealot said in our chat it sounds like they can track the Relics on their own anyways, so it's probably a bit unnecessarily convoluted for a plot."

After a moment he shrugged, dismissing that. "Well, it's the Imperium. Convoluted is their way of dealing with things. Like this hunt for the Relics in the first place I guess." Considering how it had gone for them, the Imperator was probably regretting making it an open invitation for people to look for them. Nonetheless, her loss was his gain, and that was fine by him. "I've been away in Arcadia the past couple days myself, which is actually where I got the Relic. Hauled it out of an ancient war machine with a scholar and a pair of Twins. But we got separated when we returned, so i don't know where they are now. I hope nothing to bad has happened to them." 

[color=f6989d]"See, that's got me super confused. If they can track relics, why didn't they already have all of them? No one can match the imperium for sheer firepower unless someone's been hiding half a dozen Guardian class warriors in their back pocket, so if the Imperium knew where the relics were, they should have had them."[/color] Then Monkey's tail twitched at the mention of twins. [color=f6989d]"Were these the fire hair twins or the ones with fox bits?"[/color]

That was a question Alex had been musing on as well, though he had no real satisfactory answers. What she was suggesting made sense, to be fair. "If I had to guess, they can only track them when they're being used. And maybe it's possible to shield from those sensors. Without knowing what they're using I couldn't give you a definitive answer," he admitted, turning down another street to continue on his way. "Fox bits. Pretty nice people, albeit a bit eccentric. Then again who is normal these days." 

[color=f6989d]"I'm definitely not one to talk about eccentricity. I have a preprogrammed disposition towards having a monkey tail and I don't remember why. Think it was somehow important at some point."[/color]

"Fair enough," Alex ceded. That was one of those things where he would just have to accept it, because he didn't really have those kinds of problems. His biggest worry tended to be getting shot, not wondering why he had a monkey tail. Though he had to imagine that it was useful for some things. "So, is there anything you can't transform into?" It could come in handy for what he had planned, if she was willing to join in. 

[color=f6989d]"Quite a few things actually. I found just recently that I could not create transparent glass, light, or nerve gas. But, I definitely can transform into most animals. Also, strength-defense enhancing coat, and flying cloud. Immortality and increased memory capacity's nice too. But the real kicker is that I can transform other people, if they're willing. Oddly enough, people almost always turn immortality down for some reason. Personally, I enjoy it, but I guess other people have more friends and family and connection to the here and now than I do."[/color] Monkey shrugs.

"Well then, that does sound convenient." So she could transform other people too? That seemed like it could provide some benefits even without the immortality in consideration. Alex would admit that the thought was alluring, but he restrained himself. He'd ask after he was done with this particular job, and then see where they went from there. either way, it seemed that she had quite a few advantages, the downsides of forgetting your past lives notwithstanding. She certainly seemed to think it was an acceptable cost to pay.

Having addressed that, it seemed like as good a time as any to move on to the primary consideration in his mind, before they actually got to the safehouse where he had his gear stored. It was going to be tricky, especially with them being unable to use the Blue Relic, but he figured he had a good way to make up for it. "Anyways, I was originally going to rest and recover for a few days after the harrowing stuff in Arcadia like the airship crash, the death traps, the giant robot, but since the Imperium doesn't seem to want to leave me alone, I figured I'd give them the same courtesy. Want to help out?"

[color=f6989d]"Oooh!, Would I ever! Sounds like fun. I joined the librarians because it seemed like a way to cheese them off, but the librarians never actually did anything."[/color]  Monkey clasped her hands together. A chance to do some real honest to goodness mayhem? It sent shivers down her tail.

"Excellent," Alex replied with a grin and a thankful nod as Meihou agreed to take part in the heist. He couldn't really comment on the Librarian of course, but if it got her to come along with him then who was he to argue? It was just another card to help stack his side of the deck against the Imperium. It might not make up the shortfall, but with them working together he was sure that it would make things even easier than he had planned them out to be when coming up with this idea. 

With that he waved, gesturing for her to continue following him as they moved along. "Now then, I need to stop in with a friend to make sure that the thing I was planning to go for actually showed up in the first place, but once I do that we'll be stopping by a safehouse of mine to grab some gear before heading on our way. it shouldn't take very long, and we'll probably need it if the Blue Relic is too dangerous to use. But hey, it'll be fine. I've done this sort of thing before." 

[color=f6989d]"No objections here, I could try making fun gear, but sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. Not sure why. I can make gunpowder and fireworks and smokebombs, but not glass."[/color]  Monkey shrugs, [color=f6989d]"Best not to rely on it."[/color] Together they headed off to go make this heist a reality.