[center][url=https://i.imgur.com/gmRTrWA.jpg][img]https://i.imgur.com/5ZqyPyV.png[/img][/url][/center] [color=9b83de]‘Wooooooooooo!’[/color] Ronin sounded out in delight inside the party. This, THIS was the kind of thing she never had gotten old enough to visit! At her oldest, Denise Walton had only ever become 15 years old, so she’d never been able to attend a proper bachelor’s party, if one could call it that. This, THIS was everything she could have dreamed it to be! Such a glorious event! Lots of dancing and drinking, and… And Ronin couldn’t take part of it all! There was a decent probability some agent of Mariette’s was present here, but that aside, Ronin had a mission to accomplish! She had to keep Cindy Ford safe, that was her mission! Fortunately, Cindy Ford wasn’t exactly hard to find. It was the lady made of blue electricity with a whole little legion of followers over there. And… what was this!? She was confronted by a random dude!? Had her assassin already arrived!? Ronin excitedly skipped and stepped to stand attentively as audience just a bit to the side between Reaver and Cindy, a wide smile on her lips as she paid them full attention. Don’t mind her, Ronin’s just gonna pay absolute attention over here! [@Ariamis][@AtomicNut] [hr] [center][url=https://i.imgur.com/sqHfYs3.png][img]https://i.imgur.com/qXVwWBs.png[/img][/url][/center] [color=4e5478]‘… Here,’[/color] Taihei said, as she handed over the earring to Mariette. [color=4e5478]‘The final protective artifact, more potent than the prototypes that I’ve distributed among our other forces. It should protect your soul and mind from intrusions of the mystic kind,’[/color] the chief engineer of Mariette’s forces explained, as the portal girl took the item. She inspected it for a couple of moments, before bringing it up to her ear. As expected of something made by Taihei, it painlessly attached itself and Mariette could feel its effects immediately. She felt far safer. [center][url=https://i.imgur.com/Y8OSnvr.png][img]https://i.imgur.com/OPMf9l2.png[/img][/url][/center] [color=077ae6]‘Well done, Taihei. You may now rest,’[/color] Mariette told, and Taihei nodded before turning around the exit the room. Truly, the items she designed were priceless… but today Taihei couldn’t be allowed to visit the city proper, lest her bad luck would cause a calamity to their plans. With that, she could turn her attention to the party, and those watching it, her own eye in the sky through a portal watching from a distance… right among Sylvia’s drones, perhaps. Perhaps higher. Perhaps lower. Who knows. Regardless, she saw Lily arriving, and Su, and Amaryllis on a building nearby, and Nuncio… very well. With a final glance at the computer screens prepared for her, Mariette confirmed the other activities tonight were proceeding as planned. She opened a portal to a separate room, where she’d recover Fabio, because unfortunately the cat was a potential risk and she couldn’t have him with her during important meetings, but reunited she picked him up, and with that she was finally prepared as she opened her own portal. [@BrokenPromise][@ERode] Mariette arrived before Amaryllis and Nuncio, stepping out of a portal that opened in mid-air, wearing her usual dress, eyepatch and with Fabio on her arm, temporarily replacing bunny. Bunny was enjoying some quality time with his new partner in Mariette’s room, so there was no reason to worry. In any case. [color=077ae6]‘Quite a night this is shaping up to be,’[/color] Mariette abscently commented, looking over at the warehouse. [color=077ae6]‘I wonder, if I open a portal from within there directly to a Mint fight, what would happen?’[/color] Mariette mused, since the backup she prepared would be attending the party… but in any case. [color=077ae6]‘… I interrogated Nightwing, as intended. In a perhaps anticlimactic twist of fate, you’ve already defeated the one who killed Valerie and snatched Sammy from the alley. It was her,’[/color] Mariette told Amaryllis, and then looked to Nuncio. [color=077ae6]‘Nightwing didn’t know why she did it, however. It was but a job, handed to her by the prominent coin-broker of Penrose, Al Scarpe. Their meetings never took place in the same place, avoiding that Nightwing as an active agent learned anything vital. They are very thorough,’[/color] Mariette commented, before throwing a glance at the party again, then back at Amaryllis. [color=077ae6]‘Nightwing handed Sammy over to a fellow Mint agent, a partner named Ajna, and said partner was to deliver Sammy to a warehouse. Nightwing didn’t know which warehouse, but this information matches my own findings from my first briefing which say that Sammy was taken to Warehouse 9. I don’t know how much more we could learn unless we examine it directly,’[/color] Mariette said, patting Fabio a bit on her arm, then offering the cat back to Nuncio, because… taking care of a cat on top of everything else is a hassle, even if they’re cute. [color=077ae6]‘So. What are your thoughts?’[/color] Mariette asked. [hr] [center][url=https://i.imgur.com/iLfQK1p.png][img]https://i.imgur.com/2C1b19j.png[/img][/url][/center] [color=57a345]‘Alright, here I am…’[/color] Eli said, breathing out heavily as the slime-harpy had entered the rave. Honestly, this was all a bit too much for the somewhat introverted slimy bird. Her appearance had been slightly edited, she’d extended her hips so she looked like she was wearing a decently fancy slime-dress, talons underneath moving carefully. Still, as shy about this as she was, she had a mission. See everything. Embedded within her slimy not-transparent head was a communicator using which Eli could immediately tell those standing by what was going on. Even if her Third Eyes were rendered useless from a massive amount of magic, which was very annoying, Eli went around and investigated, seeing all the security in place and perhaps also glancing over the horizon for potential threats sometimes. Mariette would want to know EVERYTHING that happened in here, and while that wasn’t achievable Eli would certainly do her best to be Mariette’s representative in here. Mariette herself would never come, too likely to become dangerous, so Eli had to stick her neck out. She could but pray that things wouldn’t become dangerous. Oooh, Deni would have been so much better suited for this… Little did Eli know that Deni passed her by only a couple meters as the little samurai girl darted to see Cindy. [hr] And technically, there was one more agent of Asengav here, with a completely different objective. [center][url=https://i.imgur.com/N53ToUw.png][img]https://i.imgur.com/5TcL6Af.png[/img][/url][/center] Lea floated by many of the inhabitants of the rave. She had no intention of interacting with any of them. She deftly dodged any that were about to touch her, for she didn’t actually have the mass to push them out of the way. In her hand she had something to deliver, and their reports had told the location of their target was within this building. And so, the elfin monster-girl with a couple butterflies flying around her floated up to a specific target, and- [@Shifter_Master] [color=c1eb9b]‘Vivian,’[/color] she stopped as soon as she arrived by said dark magical girl, Lea’s blank eyes staring at the girl as if unimpressed. This is just Lea’s basic expression, don’t worry. [color=c1eb9b]‘I’ve come with a message from Lamashtu.’[/color] Lea would then wait for Vivian’s acknowledgement. [hider=If nothing unexpected happens…]If she received any kind of acknowledgement, Lea continued. [color=c1eb9b]‘“Spread my gifts and lash out at the light”,’[/color] Lea recounted with perfection, before holding forth the blood egg that she’d received from Lamashtu for Vivian to receive. And that was about that.[/hider] [hr] There was a generic Beacon patrol, keeping the streets cleared of monsters. Maybe it did have named characters in it, who knows. But it was not Ascendancy, and it was about to be yelled to by a strange young creature. [color=657b9e]‘Um, excuse me, Beacon?’[/color] a shy soul hiding behind a corner of a building called to them, sounding exceedingly unsure about what she was just saying. Looking in that direction, it would become immediately apparent that a monster girl was looking at them. … A monster girl in the shape of a furry rabbit, looking very scared. [center][url=https://i.imgur.com/o4NLe3T.jpg][img]https://i.imgur.com/JO1abev.png[/img][/url][/center] [color=657b9e]‘Don’t attack, and don’t come any closer! If you do, I WILL run! I just want to talk! … On a distance!’[/color] the girl declared to them, fear clear in her tone. [color=657b9e]‘I… I’m Dorothy. I heard you were giving away coins that turn monsters back to normal? I… I’d be interested in having one of those?’[/color] [color=657b9e]‘But I won’t follow you to your HQ! I’m worried you’ll just kill me after you’ve locked me inside, like you’ve already tried to murder me multiple times in the streets!’[/color] she declared, anger in her voice. [color=657b9e]‘That said… I don’t want to be a monster girl anymore! Feel free to bring your Light-specialized, they’ll know I mean it when I say I want to change! This form of mine has given me nothing but trouble! Please! Please help me rid myself of this blasted curse…!’[/color] So the shape of Dorothy cried for help, her bunny-like shape crying behind the corner, as she awaited the reply from the Beacon members. Under the assumption she hasn’t come under fire yet, she continues. [color=657b9e]‘Er, I know you grunts probably can’t decide that yourselves, but… P-please discuss it with your bosses or something! I’ll wait for you in the park! Th-that works, right!?’[/color] Dorothy asked, looking over at them with wide eyes, ready to bolt, but also with the slightest bit of hope in her voice as she looked towards them. Now what would they do?