[center][img]https://i.imgur.com/JyqXhSX.png[/img] [color=#bd71e8]“Well slap my ass and call me Susan.”[/color] [color=#bd71e8]“Sil and Amaryllis also exist I guess.”[/color] [color=888888]— Veronica[/color][/center] Unfortunate. Justine escaped, Cindy was dead, and Vi/The Penrose Independent had ensured tensions would be high between Beacon and the corrupted for a while. Everything that Veronica had set out to do failed. Regrettable but not unlikely. The Mint made the event chaotic enough that it was impossible to tell what was going on. Beacon’s incompetence and Cindy’s headstrong nature were also factors that Veronica had severely underestimated. It was not an ideal situation, and she wasn’t sure if anyone could have changed the outcome. That didn’t mean she wasn’t disappointed in her agents. But there was no point in sulking about it. Something called to her attention. [color=#bd71e8]“Hmmm?”[/color] Veronica looked at Amaryllis. Though her attention returned to Dolly when she suddenly turned into dust. [color=#bd71e8]“Interesting.”[/color] She approached Amaryllis with her hands behind her back.  [color=#bd71e8]“It is difficult to say for sure. Too many things going on at once. Vi played a song that enraged the corrupts, Cindy Ford is dead and the cardinal will soon follow, and the Penrose independent has declared war on Beacon.”[/color] Veronica allowed her head to tip back. [color=#bd71e8]“That’s not even mentioning the emergence of a horror, a monster queen, and Justine’s brief appearance.”[/color] She rubbed the bridge of her nose. [color=#bd71e8]“I was expecting the Mint to orchestrate something. But this has fully subverted my expectations.”[/color] [color=778899]“The Independent?”[/color] Amaryllis frowned. [color=778899]“Thought they did news.”[/color] [color=#bd71e8]“I did too, but perhaps they’ve decided to make the news instead of tell it.”[/color] Veronica placed her fingers beside her head. It was a moment before she spoke again. [color=#bd71e8]“They sent a transmission out to everyone they could. They want a war between Beacon and monsters. Rather uncouth, really.”[/color] She used her other hand to rub her forehead. [color=#bd71e8]“Since you’re in the area, did you want to help?”[/color] Her frown deepened. She had reached out to them once, hoping that they were an organization that was neutral, if not aligned with the law. Now though...Amaryllis sighed. No point in overthinking it. [color=778899]“My Sword calls for war, and my heart works towards salvation,”[/color] the Knight of Rose spoke, twirling her beloved blade in her hand. [color=778899]“Elaborate on the situation inside that warehouse, please. And...”[/color] She paused, briefly, almost as if contemplating something. But Amaryllis was a Swordwielder, not a schemer. [color=778899]“I have only recently returned from a raid upon the Mint’s dastardly dens. Doubtlessly, they too are involved in what has transpired within that congregation of phantasmal revellers. When so many noteworthy factions begin to wage bloody battle against one another, it’s the supplier of arms, those watching off from the side, who benefit most. So says, the philosophers of war.”[/color] Veronica looked to where Dolly had been and scratched her chin. [color=#bd71e8]“I have come to the same conclusion. Yet standing down while girls slaughter each other does not feel like a good long term solution. Nor does leaving the Mint to its devices.”[/color] Her left hand never left the side of her head. [color=#bd71e8]“As for the warehouse, there is a rave in the basement. Vi played some music, it seemed to have an effect on the corrupted girls. I could even feel its effects. Fighting broke out, the ascendancy arrived to put down the corrupt girls, and then I sensed a psychic blast rip through the rave. I have no agents to report what happened, but going by the PI’s report, they killed all the beacon girls present. Something else must have happened because even more minds have blinked out. The rave is practically vacant.”[/color] Veronica snorted. [color=#bd71e8]“Fortunately, I have a mental lock on the monster queen. Another psychic user was trying to block my interference, They appear to be in the same room. They might be the one who orchestrated that attack.”[/color] Killed them all? Amaryllis had faced death before, enough death that this shouldn’t have been all that shocking, but still, she was stunned silent. All those who participated in the rave raid, no doubt the strongest of Beacon’s available forces, dead? Just like that? She swallowed, naked concern on her face. [color=778899]“What,”[/color] she began, swallowing, [color=778899]“what about Alicia? Penny?”[/color] Had she saved one of her friends, just to lose two others? Veronica fret her brow. [color=#bd71e8]“I do still sense their presence. Odd, since the PI reported to have killed all of them.”[/color] Veronica folded her arms behind her back. [color=#bd71e8]“Amaryllis, I have successfully provoked the monster queen. While I am sure she will be tied up fighting her captors at the moment, we need to stop her from escaping into Penrose and do something about the PI members present. Will you accompany agent Silhouette with such a task?”[/color] At the mention of Silhouette's name, Amaryllis would notice a strange, inky substance taking the form of a young woman almost right behind her. In the span of about a second or two, the tar-like individual regained the colors and textures of a human being, until what was left was a girl wearing a raven-black coat and an odd, white mask reminiscent of the kind used at masquerades.  One could assume that the girl had been there for a while as although she had manifested she didn't bother to speak. She merely eyed Amaryllis with an unreadable expression, apparently waiting for her answer. Some of the tension left Amaryllis as it was confirmed that the two Beacon members that she knew personally were still alive. Right, if things got dangerous, Penny could just straight up drop Earth Bastion on everything and squash ‘em flat, yeah? And Alicia… Alicia existed, probably? [color=778899]“I’ll take on this quest even if I were not accompanied,”[/color] she spoke. [color=778899]“Considering that this is a congregation of the monstrous, however, does this Queen of Monsters have any obvious physical traits? Or perhaps a name she responds to?”[/color] [color=#bd71e8]“I’ve never seen her. I can just see that her mind is further gone than most girls. Here.”[/color] Much like Veronica had done before, she painted the location of Eden and the monster queen in Amaryllis and Silhouette’s minds. [color=#bd71e8]“That’s where your objective is. Now…”[/color] Veronica turned around and walked towards the tower. [color=#bd71e8]“Hurry to your destination. I will do what I can from out here.”[/color] [color=red]“Affirmative.”[/color] Sil finally said. [color=778899]“I’m in…”[/color] Amaryllis paused, then turned away from Veronica. [color=778899]“Thanks.”[/color] With that, she picked up the pace once more, sprinting into the madness of the warehouse’s basement with Silhouette silently trailing her. … [sub][@Majoras End][/sub] The rave wasn’t a dead loss to Veronica. Yet, at least. With her agents failing her left and right, it was Eliza, her newest permanent recruit, who seemed to catch up to Evira. [i][color=#bd71e8]“Interrogate her, if you would. If you need a torturer I can make an appearance.”[/color][/i] A sick grin crossed Veronica’s face. With everything going to hell, you needed to take pleasure in the little things. [hr] [center][img]https://i.imgur.com/iMSEL7L.png[/img] [b]”L-Lotus?”[/b] [b]”REEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!”[/b] [color=888888]— Lotus & Faith[/color][/center] [sub]@ [s]Cindy[/s]/Beacon fiesco[/sub] Lotus instinctively floated upwards after getting grapple-shot, only to discover that she was tethered to Sylvia now. Normally Lotus would teleport away, but she had used that to jump in for a quick decisive blow. She couldn’t tear off Sylvia’s jacket, or if she could, the durable fibers of a magical girl uniform were too strong to break. It was an unfortunate turn of events. Lotus had only acted in Faith’s defense, and hadn’t expected her cannon to cause such damage to her opponent. She had overestimated her opponents power while underestimating their madness. Only the religious zealots at Beacon would find it acceptable to use suicide bombs. [b]”Hmmmm.”[/b] Dying wasn’t something that scared Lotus. When you constantly search for stronger foes, the day will come when you find one stronger than yourself. Though in an odd twist of fate Lotus was denied that pleasure and would die to a swarm of weak meddlers. If Lotus had a single regret, it was that she hadn’t faced her fear. She was unable to beat Connie’s creature, and thus was unable to reconcile with the darkest part of herself. But, that wasn’t entirely true. The only thing that scared Lotus was something happening to Faith. Even when Connie made her “fear” appear before her, it was only frightening because of who it was going to attack. Perhaps that was what Connie’s magic had picked up on. In which case, that was not a fear that Lotus would ever slay. She didn’t want to slay it, for that matter. If Lotus was going to die, she was going to do so on her own terms. She didn’t hear the suicide bomber rambling about their friend. She didn’t care either. Hers were the last words of some lunatic hell bent on harming Faith. Instead, she smothered them with her tentacles. The adrenaline along with her building hatred for this coward triggered her metamorphosis. Her pale skin turned brown, her tentacles bulged, And thorns shot out of her skin. She grew more eyes, more teeth, bigger, less human. There was nothing human about her left. The other girls always said she was ugly, phallic. Faith was the only one who could look past her monstrous nature. Before Sylvia could trigger the explosive, Lotus bellowed into the heavens… [center][img]https://i.imgur.com/6q42dSX.png[/img] [b]”I end my life protecting Faith, the TRUE Queen of Penrose! LONG LIVE THE QUEEN!”[/b] [color=888888]— Lotus[/color][/center] The explosion vaporized Sylvia, but Lotus’s durable monster form was split into burning chunks. Most of her sizzled away into nothing, but her massive eye found its way on the other side of the battlefield. … Faith had looked away from Reaver entirely when Lotus took to the sky. After her deceleration, Faith’s eyes have become transfixed on Lotus’s form once it detonated. Her eye flew clean over the hedge and rolled to Faith’s feet, looking up at her with an unblinking stare. Her mind went blank, her face went pale. Faith wanted to do a lot of things in that moment. Cry, hug someone, call Connie again, but she couldn’t do any of those things. Not now that she was surrounded by strangers. She had no options left to her. She could feel a pain race through her chest, but she made no move to quell it. [b]”Alright… Alright.”[/b] Faith placed her hand on her harp. [b]”Beacon has made their intent known. Those won’t let us leave without a fight.”[/b] A tear rolled down her cheek, but Faith forced a smile regardless. [b]”So let’s give them what for everyone ~ !”[/b] She attempted to coax the remaining monster trope before moving to get around the giant hedge. The druid hornets went in to attack. Normally they would be far too weak to do any real damage to a magical girl, but between Faith’s song and her encouraging words, they had been frenzied to the point where they were a threat. The wasps descended upon Hilaria and Isthar in droves, attempting to finish off the weakened cardinal. But they weren’t the only target. Anyone with a spark would find themselves assaulted by the giant hornets. They flew through the air before diving stinger first. Their movements were predictable, but their stingers were filled with a potent acid, and would burn a hole through a normal man in seconds. Aighorost continued to stir in the sky, it’s stationary leg doing nothing but releasing more hornets. It stretched out a giant talon, but remained stationary. [center][img]https://i.imgur.com/NgWhiMr.png[/img] [color=cfff04]”Neener neener neener!”[/color] [color=888888]— Tonya “Mac” Murphy[/color] [hider=Tonya “Mac” Murphy] [b]Age: 24/11 | Gender: Female/Female | Illusion, Gravity Body | Power of Friendship, Regeneration, Third Eye | Moirai Coercion, Soul Jar, Martial Training, True Sight, Parasite, Gifted, Awareness, Overcity Shift, Mystic Artifact Magical Overload, Paragon, Blessing, Gifted Item | Monster Form, Big Brother, Arrogance, Vendetta Redirected Magic, Second Specialization | Non-Standard Limbs, Destroyer[/b] STR: 05 | AGI: 04 | VIT: 05 | MAG: 03 | LCK: 03 +44 STR: 21 | AGI: 21 | VIT: 21 | MAG: 20 | LCK: 15 Earnings this post: Zilch Remaining: 0 Gold, 2 Silver, 2 Bronze Total: 7 Gold, 118 Silver, 130 Bronze [/hider][/center] Wow, punching out an octopus was hard. Kinda sucked that Faith was so traumatized, but hey, this deception was required to ensure that things continued to move the way her patron willed it. She'd make sure Faith and Lotus met up eventually. For now, she'd just wait for her next big moment. The cardinal was safe, so Mac was free to terrorize Beacon as much as she wanted. Time to make a paycheck. [hr] [center][img]https://i.imgur.com/SbnCKDQ.png[/img] [img]https://i.imgur.com/3BsCbZX.png[/img] [color=75c159]“How come I can’t meet any nice guys?”[/color] [color=CCBFFF]"Hey! I use to be a guy!"[/color] [color=888888]— Tetrad & Trixy[/color][/center] [sub]@ [s]Cindy[/s]/Beacon fiesco[/sub] [color=75c159]“Son of a BITCH!”[/color] Try as she might, there was little Tetrad could do to stop Reaver from eating Cindy’s head. A split second distraction was enough to compromise her mission. No sunrises there. [color=CCBFFF]"What happened?"[/color] Trixy had been so busy trying to keep everyone safe, she hadn't been paying much attention to her objective. When reaver healed Cindy, he was sure he was on her side. but now... [color=CCBFFF]"He ate a cute girl!"[/color] [color=75c159]“He ate our paycheck!”[/color] [i][color=#bd71e8]“Miserable failures, the lot of you.”[/color][/i] The irritation in Veronica’s voice didn’t go unnoticed. [i][color=#bd71e8]“New objective, you’re fighting a monster queen. Try to keep up with agent Silhouette.”[/color][/i] [color=CCBFFF]"My girlfriend!"[/color] [color=75c159]“My Idol!”[/color] As a dark shadow swirled around them, the two prepared to leave. Tetrad kicked the bush Tetrad was rolling causing it to collapse. It dropped Janet, Anaya , Shane, and Ronin on the ground. [color=75c159]“Done sleeping? We’re gunna kick a monster queen’s ass and save the world. If you want to stay here, that’s fine too.”[/color] She grabbed Shane by the wrist and smiled. [color=75c159]“Cept you, you’re coming with me!”[/color] She couldn’t dance with that fancy bastard back at the rave, but this was the second magical boy she saw today and Tetrad wasn’t about to let him escape. Trixy wasn’t about to let Reaver off the hook. She understood that everyone had their objectives. But duplicitous people that worm their way into someone’s heart and rip it apart from the inside were the worst kind of people. She fret her brow and raised her gun to fire. Trixy fired a gaebolg shot straight at Reaver’s chest. The bullet was armed with a small acorn that would grow once the bullet penetrated as deep as it could. From there it would grow into a ball of roots inside the wound. It wouldn’t stop growing either, not as long as the the tree was still alive. Trixy, Tetrad, and Shane all stepped into the black portal and emerged elsewhere. The portal would stay open just a moment longer before closing. [hr] [sub][@ERode][@FamishedPants][/sub] While Silhouette and Amaryllis were running to their destination, three more people came out of the shadows beside them. [color=CCBFFF]"Hi Sam."[/color] Trixy paced herself with her girlfriend. She was still agitated with what happened a moment ago, but wasn’t going to let that cloud her mind. [color=CCBFFF]"This is going to be our first big thing together, huh?"[/color] [color=75c159]“Amaryllis!”[/color] Tetrad wore a smile on her face as she pointed at Shane. [color=75c159]“Look look! It’s a magical boy! B-O-Y! Pretty cool huh?”[/color] [hr] [center][img]https://i.imgur.com/pTuL75z.png[/img] [color=CCBAAA]"Dun, dun, dun, pah, another one greets the dust!"[/color] [color=888888]— Dusty[/color][/center] [sub][@ERode][@Flamelord][/sub] [color=CCBAAA]"They aren’t going to know any of this took place. So if you’d please, get on Glimr and drop Trixn’Traps a message. I’m sure she’d enjoy that."[/color] Dusty was already steeling herself to do what had to be done, what [i]must[/i] be done to save a magical girl’s life. When all you wanted to do was live, you needed a moment to surrender those impulses so that you could make a sacrifice. Once Dusty’s focus was maximized, she stepped into the room. Only for her concentration to be broken when Ren yanked on her arm. [color=CCBAAA]"Let go of me!"[/color] Dusty protested. It didn’t help that Ren was making vague remarks about her intelligence. She was tempted to break free and fling herself into the room. But she decided against it because [s]that would be one hell of a retcon. I mean can you imagine? Flame would get cucked out of half a Ren post, and then Erode would be fully cucked out of a Liss one. It would be like arena battle memes where 40 posts later we’d still be trying to resolve the fate of Dusty while the RP is at it’s conclusion[/s] she suspected he had a good reason for it. And as it turned out, he did. [color=CCBAAA]"What kind of bull crap is this?!"[/color] Dusty threw her arms around in the hallway. No heat, no smoke, no problems. [color=CCBAAA]"Hur dur ‘always so hasty without thinking’ like magic is ever a [i]rational[/i] thing! And before you run off gimmie my damn boots back ya perv!"[/color] Dusty yanked her boots out of his arms. While he turned away to get Liss, Dusty fell onto her but and did her best to put her shoes on. Such tight shoes were already a pain to put on, but when you were depressed on top of that, it was infuriating. With a sigh, she kicked the boots off to the side. She almost killed herself for nothing. What was worse was that it all could have been cleared up a lot faster if Ren bothered to explain how the door trick worked in the first place. But Dusty wasn’t really upset with Ren, it was this situation. She should have known the rave was going to be bad. It was just a shame she was powerless to do anything about it. Ren had a magical dimension, Liss was strong and fast, and Dusty just kind of existed. That was probably enough. It wasn’t like Dusty came to the rave to do anything more than steak out an area or two. It was just unfortunate that the only people they could save were themselves. While Dusty sat there sulking, Liss approached and introduced herself. [color=CCBAAA]"Liss the flash fist?"[/color] Man, Dusty (and by extension, Trixy) had a weakness for girls like this. It was pretty easy to get Dusty to check the cutie box on a girl, but some of them went above and beyond. These high energy types with bubbly personalities just melted away any sadness Dusty was feeling. That was probably why Dusty liked Shade so much. Though unfortunately she was tethered to Silhouette, who fed on things like happiness and good vibes. Maybe if she worked with her enough she’d open up and be more like Shade, but she really had her work cut out for her. But Liss didn’t seem to have those hangups. Dusty felt a little guilty being locked in another dimension with a girl that wasn’t Shade or Samantha, but like Shade had said, it wasn’t like Sam had the capacity to get jealous. Not like she was going to date her or anything. [color=CCBAAA]"Well!"[/color] Dusty stood up and dusted herself off. [color=CCBAAA]"I’m Dusty Brooklyn. Duplicate of Tr-"[/color] She froze. [color=CCBAAA]"W-wait. The contender? You mean that guy that beats up teenage girls for fun?"[/color] This was Dusty’s break. She had slayed the Contender. Well, Trixy had, but Dusty had all of Trixy’s memories, and anything Trixy did without her counted as the two of them doing it. Thus, she had slain the contender. And in doing so, they had protected Liss the flash fist. She would live until the contender rose again a year later. At which point Dusty would just have to kick his ass again. But this was a wonderful feeling. Sure, Dusty hadn’t done much during the rave, but she still had worth to the people here. But it would be insensitive to rain on miss Liss’s parade with that. Right now wasn’t about celebrating Dusty’s accomplishment, but Liss’s life. [color=CCBAAA]"He’s dead for a whole year, isn’t he? You’re invincible!"[/color] Dusty’s eyes were practically glowing as she said this. She wanted to hug Liss, so very badly wanted to give her a fist bump, or a pat on the back, but also knew 99% of woman were put off by her sickly pale skin, shark teeth, and yellow eyes, All Trixy could do to keep calm was fold her hands over her chest. She hopped over to Ren before her urges overtook her. [color=CCBAAA]"I’m all for alien booze! Mommy needs a drink right now!"[/color] She kissed Ren’s cheek. [color=CCBAAA]"Though I’ll take a pizza or a BLT if you’ve got one."[/color]