[quote=@Mokley]
Before she could answer, a metallic clatter announced the arrival of the sharpshooter robot, who had leaped with Maria through the open portal only a millisecond before it snapped shut behind him. He knelt and carefully put Maria to her feet while the Queen rushed to take Maria's hands in hers.

"I'm glad to see you've made it safe. Thank you, Roy." She looked up to the robot, which stood and made a motion as if to tip an invisible hat.[/quote]

Maria gave the Queen's hands a quick squeeze, and offered her a smile. "I'm glad to see that you're all right too, milady!" She turned to the gallant robot who had saved her from the stream of monsters that she was desperately trying to put out of her mind, temporarily if not permanently. "Thanks for saving my life, Roy!" She smiled at him, hoping that she was able to convey warmth and gratitude, rather than the chaotic mix of leftover fear, a tint of sadness, and, most of all, fatigue, swirling around inside her head.

[quote=@Mokley]The Queen scanned them all once more, and she bit her lip. "I was under the impression there were more of you." She glanced hopefully to the teleportation sigil -- but she had a sinking feeling that the Grit had been more successful in their pursuits than she had been.[/quote]

At this, Maria's mood seemed to grow sadder. "There were. They... They were hit by the lightning, and got turned to stone." Her thoughts went back to her parents, and to the young man who had saved her life, way back up at the top of the world. "I hope we can save them all..."

[quote=@Mokley]She looked between Berry and Vincent, and she took a breath. "I will try to answer all your questions to the best of my ability. I hope I won't bore you, but I'd like to be fully honest with you all -- since we may be all that is left.

"Since the Grit first appeared during my father's reign, there have been . . . scientific endeavors . . . committed to understanding them." She winced a little -- it was a description much too kind for those amoral experiments. "About a year ago, one such experiment failed. If you will remember the sudden deadly explosion at the plastics manufacturing plant in winter -- that story was a coverup. Our research had been stolen and teleported out of the city. The Grit got ahold of it. Shortly after, rumors began to spread that the Grit had learned to fly. They've learned so much more than that, I fear."

The Queen stood rigid, her hands clasped tightly in front of her. She looked from one to the next of the survivors, summoning all her courage to continue.

"I don't quite know what has happened to the sky; I'm told that it only appears split to us, here within the walls, and nothing is wrong outside the city. I am not personally familiar with the research that was stolen, but it must have to do with it. But the sigil of protection that has kept us safe -- the shape taken by our roads, powered by all of us who live here -- ceased to function the moment the lightning struck the Spire. The Spire itself is the center of the protection sigil and the source of its power. [b]This,"[/b] she spread her arms to indicate the entirety of the glimmering cavern, "is the power that had been keeping us safe. And now . . . I believe it is also the power that is to blame for the statues that now stand as gravestones throughout the city."

Her eyes flashed determined, and she raised her head higher, though her voice was still meek. "But all is not lost. The stone people can be returned to their former selves. We only need to draw a rune on the statues and place a soul stone on the rune, and the person will breathe again. It is a simple rune, I will teach it to you, if you don't know it.

"But the bigger problem is the electricity hovering over the tip of the Spire that continues to nullify the city's protection. I believe it is being controlled and powered by something outside the city, near the mine. Something flashed there just before this happened. The enchanted robots and their databases agree that in order to restore the city, a company should be deployed to the mine -- to find and destroy whatever is holding the city hostage."

She looked to Vincent, at once apologetic and willing him to understand. He was the frank and hostile voice of the group. "The Grit can be defeated, as long as they have not absorbed soulstones. Their only advantage is that they can use a sigil to resurrect their fellow Grit after death. We need only ensure that their resurrection sigils are destroyed, then proceed to destroy the Grit themselves."

The Queen released a slow breath, and she paused to allow all of this information to sink in. The people could be resurrected, the city could be restored -- if only.

"My only soldiers now are robots, which are incapable of activating sigils and runes on their own. They cannot revive the cityfolk. I have sent a squad to the mine, but I have not heard back yet whether they will be able to complete their mission. I suspect they will not be able to, for the same reason. I know it is a lot to ask . . ."

Her voice faded, and she looked each of them in the eye -- hopeful, desperate, yet somehow confident that they could and would succeed.[/quote]

Maria was, quite frankly, stunned. Just that morning, her situation was that of an ordinary girl (what she had begun to refer to as her "second thoughts" butted in with "if ordinary girls were being pursued by lovesick millionaires"), and now... Now, she was part of a ragtag group that was comprised almost solely of people who had little to no combat experience. It was all they could do to merely stay alive, and all Maria could do to try and keep everyone's spirits up with judicious application of candy. But now, now that they were out of the heart-pounding circumstance of being pursued by rabid Grit, the true gravity of the situation dropped like a ten-ton weight onto Maria's slight shoulders. How could they [i]possibly[/i] manage to stop the Grit?

Almost as if in answer, the speech she had given to Kat and Moth not even an hour prior rose in her mind. The memory made her smile, and she whispered to herself, almost as a reminder, "Hey, that wasn't so hard." [url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s2vwv3m_Fgg]Maria looked up at the Queen with an honest smile, and said "You're right, it is kind of a lot to ask.[/url] But I don't blame you; we're all in kind of a pickle right now, heehee. And besides, you don't have to worry about us. We've managed to survive this long using only runes, our wits, and candy. And Roy." She waved at the robot again, the turned back to the Queen. "And just think! If we survived so long with so little, just [i]imagine[/i] what we can accomplish with real, actual weapons now! Not to mention Milady's support!" She turned around to look at each member of their little party in turn, every member of which Maria felt something almost like kinship: that special kind of bond you get with someone when you survive a life-threatening situation with them. Seeing them all, here with her, filled her with a rush of excitement and happiness. She nodded decisively, then turned back to the Queen. "Yep! With all the awesome stuff we've got, and the bond we have together as friends, there's no way we can [i]possibly[/i] fail! I promise you, Milady, we'll do as much as we can to beat back the Grit and save Periphery! And, to make sure everyone's in tip-top shape, I'm gonna share some of my candy with you all!" She tapped her chin and "hmm"ed at the Queen, looking her up and down, while rummaging through her jacket with the other. "You seem like more of a white chocolate sort of person, Milady. So, here you go! One white chocolate cream!" She proudly presented the small, spherical, white treat to the Queen, situated in the center of her palm. It wasn't entirely unscathed, with the top being one large dent, but it still looked plenty appetizing.