[center][h3]Team Mao[/h3]
[b]Location:[/b] Al Mamoon Northeast - Rocket Inc.
Midna’s [@DracoLunaris], Sectonia’s [@Archmage MC], Mao’s [@Potemking], Jesse’s [@Zoey Boey], Laharl’s [@Dark Cloud], Joker, Mona, Fox, Necronomicon, Braum[/center]

One demon child down, one to go. Axe at the ready and what magic remained in his reserves primed, the Dragonborn rounded on Mao to engage him in mortal combat, but found himself assaulted by picture frames instead. He turned his axe to block his head from the unfamiliar projectiles, lest a lucky corner gouge an eye or chip a tooth, and watched out for whatever else his foe had coming. When Mao took to the air the warrior expected another jump and nearly launched a preemptive attack, but somehow the demon boasted enough alacrity to run along the nearby wall itself in order to gain height. An outstretched hand reached for him. Did he mean to disarm the Dragonborn? The well-traveled Nord narrowed his eyes. This foe was both nimble and strong, but no matter his tactics, the Dragonborn could leverage the tools at his disposal to come out on top. The reach of his longer arm plus his axe meant he could intercept Mao long before those stubby fingers could seize hold of anything. In the end it was a matter of timing--of experience. The Dragonborn imagined a mangy wolf lunging at him, jaws outstretched, and swung.

Then a series of loud bangs that he recognized by now as the report of a gun sounded out from somewhere behind him. Before the Dragonborn could so much as process the thought that he was about to get shot, let alone do anything about it, his knees just about exploded. A jolt of pure agony shocked his system, paralyzing him, and the next second Mao connected his grab. The demon grappled the Dragonborn to the ground with an impact he scarcely felt and a crash he scarcely heard, then stomped down on his helmet. The blunt force carried right through the forged iron and into his body, breaking his nose in a spurt of blood and stunning him.

Any normal man would have been concussed and down for the count, but the one who devoured the power of dragons was a man of steel. He possessed enough mental acuity to switch to and call upon the power of Conjuration, and from a sudden gout of magical fire above where he’d fallen the Dragonborn summoned a [url=https://i.imgur.com/ESB1GZA.png]flame atronach[/url]. Other than that, however, he couldn't do much. Not without some help. He maneuvered his right arm to place the axehead between his own head and Jesse, a desperate attempt to stave off a killing shot, and with his other hand reached into his pouch to retrieve the magic bone he’d been given.

[hr]

Though wary without their medic, Fox and Joker took to their heels nonetheless to rush to Ciella’s aid. They even managed to get a few steps before Jinx gave a croaking laugh of derision. “What, you’re gonna leave me here? Seriously? You know I’m just gonna plug ya the second I get my hands on Pow-Pow?”

The Thieves slowed to a stop and shared a look. “...Right,” Joker mumbled, having not thought things through much more than his friend did. The crackle of shattering ice brought their attention back to the conflict in the conference room, and Joker made another snap decision. “You go ahead, but watch out for friendly fire. Even if she’s not our enemy, she’s not exactly our friend, either.”

Fox glanced back at Jinx. “What about her?”

“She’s coming with me.”

As his ally nodded in understanding and ran off, Joker returned to the fallen gunslinger. She glared at him over a vicious smile. “Oh yeah? Just try somethin’ funny! But be careful, ‘cause I bite!”

The leader of the Phantom Thieves brought out his new pistol and leveled it at her head, staring down the barrel. Jinx stared back in a cold sweat, her teeth gritted. There wasn’t anything else quite like looking at someone in this way--staring death in the face, all pretense thrown aside. It brought out one’s true essence. It did for Shadows at least; Joker never so much as touched a gun in the real world, and hoped never would. But as the eyes of his captive had turned a lambent yellow as they bored into him. Negotiations could begin.

“Lend me your power.”

Jinx was taken aback. “H-huh? What was that? I’m kinda pissed right now, ya know. What’s that ya want?” She scoffed. “You understand me, right? Ya just waltz into our territory, actin’ like you belong here...who the hell d’you think you are!?”

Joker shrugged. “I’m me.”

“Shut up, smartass!” his captive fumed. “That just makes me wanna shoot you in your stupid smug face. Maybe that’s ‘cause it’s what I’d say.” The anarchist groaned and laid her head down on the ground, face scrunched up from the pain of her wounds. “Ugh...I’m gonna be killed no matter what, right? So tell me something first.” When the young man threatening her said nothing, she continued. “What kinda impression did I leave ya with?”

Tilting his head ever-so-slightly, Joker replied, “An unforgettable spark of chaos.”

The Loose Cannon grinned. “Hee hee...at least I’ll be remembered fondly, huh? Finally, someone who gets it. Hey…” Her eyebrows rose as she blinked. A blue mist surrounded her, lifting her off the ground. “I remember. I was born from the human heart. My name is Jinx. As long as you know rules are made to be broken, we’re on the same team, ‘kay!” In a swell of azure flames she disappeared into Joker’s mask. Without a word he turned and sprinted through the wreckage of the office building’s ground floor to where Fox had joined Ciella’s scrap with Amara.

He arrived at the same time as Midna, who’d taken a brief detour on her own before heading over to render her assistance. They found Fox taking cover by the door, his outfit notably damp as he watched a number of giant water arrows bouncing off the walls within. “Water blast, the moment I set foot inside,” Fox explained, pausing as one water arrow shot out through the doorway and burst inside a lovingly-decorated cubicle, sending sodden papercraft everywhere.

“That’s our cue,” Joker said, and with his dagger in hand he dashed inside. Before them lay a conference room to which the women fighting inside had laid total waste. Every scrap of furniture had been reduced to kindling and waterlogged, while chunks of ice lay everywhere. Ciella herself sported a number of fresh wounds, with her dress in particular scored by bullet holes, but despite that she seemed not much worse for wear. Joker figured she must be a lot tougher than she looked.

Amara, meanwhile, wasn’t faring that well, and the arrival of reinforcements didn’t help. She spotted them immediately and went for cover, yelling, “Damn it! Fight me one-on-one, you cowards!” Her Siren power flew forth, conjuring a fist of blue energy that rose from the ground beneath the interlopers. “Be still!” The Thieves leaped aside as it closed, catching Midna if she wasn’t quick enough.

Their rabbit-eared ally didn’t look much happier to see them. “She’s mine!” Ciella snarled. “Don’t you dare interfere!” From her longbow she unleashed a charged shot to wash away Amara’s icy cover.

Joker shrugged. “Whatever you say.” He fell back, with Fox along with him, ready to strike if necessary. That just left Midna to decide whether to accede to the fighters’ shared request or take action herself.

[center][h3]Big Band[/h3]
Level 3 Big Band (20/30)
[b]Location:[/b] Al Mamoon Northwest - Obelisk Temple
Primrose’s [@Yankee]
[b]Word Count:[/b] 377[/center]

The incoming skeletons really had no idea what they were in for. Before the bony warriors even closed to melee range Primrose called forth her magic, welling up a frothing pool of black magic from the surface of the bridge itself to blow the less speedy skeletons apart in a geyser of darkness.

As the enemy’s backline fell to pieces Band took it upon himself to put his best foot forward. “AAHHAAY!” He burst onto the scene with a full-force [url=https://i.imgur.com/iTc9hvf.png]Brass Knuckles[/url], reducing the first bone rabble to its constituent components before it could even take a swing. Its friend lashed out with both swords at once but connected with nothing but air as Band backdashed. The bridge shook ever so slightly as he landed, which the detective took note of, but it hardly stopped him from launching a counterattack. “Hot socks!” He stepped into a crouch with [url=https://i.imgur.com/5S5fWPF.png]Sharp Note[/url], popping an oboe from his mechanical calf to poke his foe, then with a call of “Get hot!” sank down with a sound-blasting [url=https://i.imgur.com/HxK5fPy.png]Bass Drop[/url] to pull the skeleton closer for a crushing [url=https://i.imgur.com/H03OCYN.png]Low Rank[/url] to end it. “Few!”

Another bone swordsman came up with a jumping attack that Band blocked, then punished with a throw. “Hey, listen here!” He extended halves of a bell from his torso, one from either side, to clamp together around both the jumper and its closest friend. As he did he pivoted around to face Primrose, then rang the bell to hammer the skeletons with its rings before he released them for her to finish off while he faced the rest. Toward the rest of the lightweights he charged with another Brass Knuckles, prompting them to block, only for him to perform an Emergency Break, stop short, and strike low with two [url=https://i.imgur.com/540XjXN.png]Glissando[/url] trombones. From there an [url=https://i.imgur.com/k3Pc5gt.png]Overblow[/url] tuba blast sent them sailing.

Not counting those served up to the dancer, that just left the skeletons that pulled themselves together. As they clattered and snapped back into place (more or less) and rallied around a single [url=https://i.imgur.com/ZPT70v6.png]four-armed bone warrior[/url], Band shook his head and took a step back. “No time to clown around. Gimme a sec ‘fore I waste these things.” He deployed a [url=https://i.imgur.com/hMlzmnk.png]set of bagpipes[/url] and began to play.

[center][h3]Fox[/h3]
[b]Location:[/b] Al Mamoon Northwest - Obelisk Temple
Fox’s [@Dawnrider], Azwel[/center]

Against the odds Fox managed to dance through the danger, narrowly evading the myriad blades of both Es and Azwel in one daring display of alacrity. He escaped the mayhem with a special shot prepared, and as both other combatants reset to neutral with fresh wounds dealt by the other he faced Es with his blaster at the ready. 

He pulled the trigger, speeding the Friend Heart the girl’s way, but as it made contact and fizzled into nothingness he quickly realized Es wasn’t worn down quite enough yet to be restored. The fight continued as Azwel ran in and Es unleashed a crest wave that traveled through the air as a projectile, a flying sword blade in its own right. Azwel leaped over, summoning his twin swords as he took to the air. Es spun about with a flourish, creating a large crest ring around her that began to pulse, and just before Azwel fell atop her she burst upward with a splendid sword uppercut that left behind a spiral of crest blades.

The sorcerer, however, had not tried to attack, but jumped ready to block instead. Evidently he’d already learned a thing or two about jumping in willy-nilly, and as Es launched herself into the air he readied his axe for a grand punish. He struck once low as she landed and corkscrewed forward, his blade revolving around to strike overhead. Then the girl’s ring activated, expanding from a ring into a spiked crest snowflake that skewered Azwel on one of its points. He then suffered an upswing into heavy chop, and as he rolled to his feet she came in to apply pressure. 

Es did not anticipate a slow axe swing to her legs that swept her off the feet. With a grin Azwel summoned and threw his swords, one after another, from different angles to lift his foe higher into the air. At the height of her arc he leaped upward, almost to the ceiling, snagger her over his shoulders in a command grab and fell upon his floating shield in a sitting position. A crack sounded out, and as Azwel flung Es off she went in Fox’s direction. She swung as she came flying in, but it was clear nonetheless that Azwel meant for his ally to take his turn.

[center][h3]Ms Fortune[/h3]
[b]Level 4[/b] Nadia (72/40)
[b]Location:[/b] The Maw - the Depths
Blazermate's [@Archmage MC], Bowser's [@DracoLunaris], Ace Cadet's [@Yankee], Sakura's [@Zoey Boey], Frog's [@Dark Cloud], Mirage’s [@Potemking], Link’s [@Gentlemanvaultboy]
[b]Word Count:[/b] 554[/center]

The plan had been made. Everyone was in place. All that remained was to actually do it. Nadia knew that she’d be lying if she said she wasn’t nervous, but considering that she got to hang out in safety up by the ceiling while Link risked life and limb as bait, she had it pretty good. Suddenly, but not surprisingly, the little hero started making noise. Nadia’s grip tightened on her arm of the bolt cutters as the racket echoed through the Depths, both over and through its gloomy waters. A moment later the mutated Moreau made his entrance, rising to the surface with a hideous, wet-sounding roar. He plowed through the water like a mammoth shark, close to the surface, his long body gyrating in a corkscrew pattern to push him forward. Link fled back into the adjunct room as Moreau drew close. The monster’s flapping jaw-sections locked tight to form a single, solid mass, and with all his weight behind it the dread fish drove his head into the metal platform.

If the sound of Moreau hitting the water before was loud, the sound of his collision with the scaffold tower was downright thunderous. Along with the splash, which sent a wall of water across the platform and into the door Link jumped through, came the wrenching creak of buckled metal. The thin metal pipes that formed the stair tower’s supports broke without much coercion, but even the topmost platform itself bent and crumpled under the sheer mass of frenzied fish. At least with Link out of the way, there was ultimately no need to worry--unless your name was Moreau.

“Now!” Nadia yowled, perhaps needlessly, and together she and the trusty Cadet squeezed shut their bolt cutters. The final chain snapped cleanly away, allowing its former burden to drop like a sack of bricks straight for the garden of eyeballs that sprouted from the monster’s back. 

The falling metal made contact with a thick, meaty [i]thwack[/i], and the effect was instantaneous. A guttural bellow shook the Depths as Moreau thrashed, a swath of the eye-like growths burst and bleeding all matter of unspeakable substances. Even better, a giant nail soared in from the direction of the Command Center and sunk right up to its head in eye meat, scoring some extra damage! Nadia loved to see it. “Didn’t like that one, huh? Feelin’ a little fishually impaired?” As the freakshow pulled itself away from the damaged scaffolding and plunged back underwater it became clear that the kids weren’t lucky enough to put it down on one drop, but dealing a blow like that was reason enough to celebrate. Nadia turned to the Cadet with a fang-toothed grin and extended a fist for a quick bump.

As she re-assessed the situation, however, it looked like repeat performances would be difficult. Even without the damage to the scaffolding and the platform atop it, which looked just about ready to fall apart and sink at the drop of a hat, the little team would need another conveniently-positioned bridge to drop. And right now, no more contrivances seemed forthcoming. “Looks like we can’t just rinse and repeat,” she observed. “Now what? Back to distractions?” Her bright eyes turned to survey the depths, but they turned up nothing. Wherever her friends were, she hoped they were okay.

[hr]

Down in the depths, Mirage did not waste time fretting about the phantom corpse in the water, but instead renewed his diagonal journey with heightened alertness. Aside from the occasional bit of structure or machinery impeding his progress, no other issues confronted him as the BULL continued its descent. The vortex motor it utilized turned out to be a quality piece of tech, even if not quite up to the standards of the Legend’s own world, and it propelled the Universal Helper steadily onward. With stressful time passing slowly, the bottom floor of the factory crept up before Mirage knew it, and his light fell upon the door to the room whose water-eroded sign barely identified it as Flow Control, just where Peach said it would be.

As the BULL drew near, however, a beam of light originating from somewhere behind it moved frantically across the wall in front of him, and for a very brief moment he could see a dark shape housed within. It was humanoid, feminine, with a head of hair so long and swirled that they obscured a good chunk of the silhouette. It was a familiar shape, and one made much, much worse by the fact that it was moving. If Mirage put two and two together, he could realize what the cast light and shadow meant: that Junior’s submarine was both behind the BULL, and making contact with a potential enemy. Going forward meant reaching Flow Control and fulfilling the missing; going back meant potentially saving Junior’s skin, if the clunky Universal Helper could do anything about it in the first place.

Behind him, Junior attempted to take matters into his own hands, with the help of his Pokemon partner. The abrupt blotting out of the submarine’s searchlight did for a moment seem to convince the long-haired girl it had another chance to get closer, but with that darkness came a flurry of pain. Dark talons suddenly scratched at the soft white skin of her torso and face with a vengeful fury, with no source the wraith either saw or understood. Rather than attempt to fight back she fled at full speed, darting away into the darkness. With all the clutter around it was all too easy to lose track of her again, which left the daring duo right back where they started. Any moment now their attacker would come again, and maybe this time they wouldn’t flush her out fast enough.

While this unfolded, the Mockingbird was having troubles of his own. A light-sensitive horror blocked his path, but rather than let the gel-infused angler meander on by, the Mockingbird went on the offensive. It seized a piece of pipe and thrust it into the creature, but the water resistance and the less-than-ideal sharpness of his blindly-chosen weapon bogged him down. Its pipe pierced the horror’s twisted flesh, but no more, and the thing reacted. The eyes of the human face grafted into its eyes snapped open wide, followed shortly by the disfigured fish’s mouth as it lunged for the Mockingbird’s head. Instinctively it threw up an arm to protect its head, and when the nightmare jaws closed the angler took a chunk of forearm with it. Then it beat its tail, pushed past, and was gone. Shock flooded the Mockingbird’s mind, not from pain, but dissonance. Its copied mind needed to rectify its human visualization with its missing part and ruptured diving suit, and it needed to do it now, or go mad from the whiplash.

[center][h3]Cold Monastery[/h3]
[b]Location:[/b] Frozen Highlands - Alpine Skyline
Linkle’s [@Gentlemanvaultboy][/center]

After laying eyes on Skadi, Albedo quickly became convinced that the problem before him was far beyond his abilities to solve. His domain was matter and science, researchable, quantifiable. Regular people were hard enough to come to grips with, but a being who didn’t operate on human terms even before she became confused? No chance. Once he reached the edge of the strewn-about drawings that blanketed the lion’s share of the floor here, he’d gone no closer, as if an invisible wall existed around Skadi through which neither could reach the other. Her appearance and behavior, so utterly alien and bizarre, made it seem to him that nobody could penetrate the barrier, but in retrospect he should have expected Linkle to try anyway. And somehow, against all odds, she had succeeded.

Never would he have thought to do what the Skullgirl did and try to reach her on her own terms, through the act creation. Her approach left him bewildered, and even ashamed. Creation[i]was[/i] something he could do. Through the power of alchemy he could achieve things that amounted to fantasy for the average person. But for all his power, he didn’t even think to use it in such a way. As Linkle seemed to connect with Skadi, and began speaking to her, Albedo looked down at the floor, his face blank. [i]Isolation stems not from a lack of ability, but a lack of perspective.[/i] If this Skadi could connect with people but he could not, she was far more human than he.

As Linkle questioned her, Skadi scrunched up her face and tried to remember. The general airheaded look that clung to her slunk away as her new friend’s descriptions ran through her mind, disturbing the ground beneath which heinous things were buried. “Red-haired man...lots of tattoos,” she repeated, tapping her head with a marker. “Whore...son.” A few moments passed by quietly. Then her eyes jerked to face straight ahead, widened ever so slightly. A pained look crossed her face. “Ah...agh!” She clutched her head with both hands, jostling her multicolored pigtails. “No! Much hurt! Don’t wanna talk about it. Don’t wanna think about it!” The goddess twisted herself away from Linkle’s ice sculpture, as if the sight of it now invoked an awful memory, and buried her face in the sublime mass of her dog’s body. Looking sad, the creature nuzzled her.

The kerfuffle brought Albedo out of his stagnation. Clearly, whatever the Stranger did to her made her reluctant to even consider what happened. That made sense; anything that led to such a drastic personality change had to be heavy. The alchemist couldn’t say he understood the human heart very well, but if gods like Skadi were essentially human, he could apply what he knew. History said that the Archons of his world behaved rather like humans did after all, plying their powers in petty squabbles and bloody wars for dominion. This beaten-down goddess needed a change of perspective. He stepped forward. “What about revenge?”

Skadi opened her eyes, looking at him with bafflement. “Huh?”

Albedo crossed his arms. “The person who hurt you is an evil man, but worse than that, he is a bully. Capricious and cruel, without any care for picking on those weaker than himself. It is past time he got what is coming to him, and it is our mission to do so.” As he paused to draw breath, the eyes of Father Guerra fell on him with their brows raised. The priest knew that the Monastery’s guests opposed the Stranger, but to hear a declaration like this was something different. “You want this man destroyed as well, yes? You have the power to make that happen by telling us everything you know about him. That means you can take your revenge.”

In quiet Skadi mulled over the alchemist’s words, looking somewhere between hurt and alarmed. “Revenge.” As she lowered her hands her brows fell, casting her eyes in anger. She still knew the meaning of the word. “Yes. He ought to hurt, too. Make me feel a little better if that man were dead. Such blood. Very corpse.” She balled her fist.

Relieved that his words seemed to be reaching her, for more reasons than one, Albedo took another step forward. He half-expected her to question his and Linkle’s ability to actually accomplish this feat, but maybe she didn’t think about it that far. “Then tell us about what happened.”

“Maybe it’ll make you feel better if you let it out,” Linkle suggested. “You know, get it off your chest.”

Another couple moments passed before Skadi took a deep breath. “Okay. I’ll...I’ll try.” As she sat up her dog scooted up beside her for support, and after laying down against the creature’s belly the goddess began. “He came one day. Asking about gods. But he didn’t care about most of them. Only...Norse.” She said the word slowly, as if its touch numbed her tongue. “That me. I mean, I’m Norse. I said yes, and he...confronted me, very anger. He asked if I knew some names. I said yes. He asked if I knew him. Said no. Then he asked one more name I know, and where...where she is. I asked why. He said...so he could kill her. For...what she did to him.” She shivered. “Such rage in them eyes. Made me shivery. Afraid for my daughter. I said no, I won’t tell him where she is. Then…” Skadi fell silent. Her gaze fell, and one hand went up involuntarily to her face. Then she cradled herself.

It wasn’t hard for Albedo to imagine what happened next. He exchanged glances with Linkle. “I am sorry,” he offered, knowing what people ought to say in that situation. “But we can make him pay for it. Every inch. Just...if you can tell us, what is your daughter’s name?”

Skadi looked up at him like a cornered animal, wary. “D-daughter? What do you...what do you want with her? Are you with...” As she shrunk back her eyes unfocused, and a smile crept across her face. “I don’t have one, silly! All I have is doge! C’mere, boy!” She turned to tousle his ears.

Albedo sighed. Perhaps his line of thinking had been wrong from the start, after all. Or maybe he just pushed too hard at the end, trying to get a little concrete information. “Unfortunate.” Hopefully Skadi hadn’t totally closed herself off.