[url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ISM1z9BSED0][img]https://i.imgur.com/5B3hkEZ.png[/img][/url]

[sub][@Izurich][@Crusader Lord][/sub]

The Gemini agents in the apartment complex were in a bit of danger. There was hardly any time for them to consider what was going on or how to deal with it. As agitated as Silmeria was, she was able to execute a solution to their problem. Just as the paralysis was setting in, the duo ran out of the fog and to the window. Merry’s speed boost for Lilliah helped the wounded esper stay ahead of the approaching mist. They were in the air in no time. 

A lot of things were needed to fly that often went overlooked by espers. Flight required the subject to be light with aerodynamic surfaces. They might need a strong propulsion system to make up for any short comings  the subject may have. The heavier something is, the more aerodynamic the subject needed to be. Otherwise the propulsion system needs to be stronger. It was an easy formula to forget when you just had to cast a two note melody on yourself. But Lilliah would soon remember this crucial bit of data when she went to soar. It took quite a bit of effort to stay airborne, but it was manageable. She wouldn’t be gaining any altitude as she needed to “climb” to keep the two of them in the air. 

The sniper took aim at the duo, but his head jerked backwards after taking a hit from Merry's gun. Beuford was still loading his RPG when a shot tragically laid him to rest. May he continue to fire rockets in the afterlife. This only left the mysterious man decked out in armor. But he also had a grenade launcher, which was by far the least useful weapon in this situation. Without a floor or even walls to contain his smoke grenades, they weren’t going to be too effective. But he had to do something. So he fired a grenade straight at Lillia’s chest. He was smart enough to retreat before the sniper focused her aim on him.

The duo managed to finish their escape by flying into the commissioner’s office. The door leading out of the room had been shut, likely an attempt by the remaining grenadier to preserve his life. So it was only them, alone in a messy office with a drilled safe. 

But what about the pursuing yellow fog?

Behind the agents on a floor right above where they started was Viper. A yellow orb of radioactive material [i]orbited[/i] her head, casting its yellow glow on everything around her. It became clear why Beuford’s trigger happy finger was frowned upon. His rocket had hit the ceiling, but Viper must have been aproaching on the floor above them. She had her dagger pointed across the street at them, which was a lot more threatening knowing that a melody could come flying out of it at any time. But after taking a breath, she lowered her knife.

[color=#f3f82a]”There’s no reason to fight after the contract’s been voided.”[/color] Her knives slipped into some scabbards on her wrists. [color=#f3f82a]”The commissioner’s safe holds something that belongs to me.”[/color] She pressed her thumb and middle finger together. [color=#f3f82a]”There’s a green gift box inside wrapped with a gold and red bow. If you can get that for me, I’ll meet you at The Great Escape at noon tomorrow for a trade.”[/color]

[hr]

[sub][@SilverPaw]@TheGMbby[/sub]

Everything rode on the next few seconds of the operation. The approaching blood spikes impaled the inmate on Jacqueline. He hadn’t even screamed before she shuffled backwards and fired a beam straight at Lada’s torso. With her kneeling and hands in prayer, hitting her mid section was almost impossible. A stream of rusted metal blades dug into Lada's arm before ending up in her gut. Magi had higher than normal magic resistance, but the attack had done some serious damage. With a groan, she clamped her hand over her arm to stem the bleeding. The bloody tentacles fell to the ground with a splash, becoming unmoving puddles. Before Lada could put her hands together again, Jacqueline had picked up her weapon and rammed it into the blood mage. She fell backwards out of her circle, thumping her head against the concrete wall behind her. She wasn’t out cold, but she was dazed and her circle had been scattered by the knight’s charge. There would be no more blood rituals today. Lada laid on her back, growling through her teeth as she clutched her arm.

With the dispersion of the circle, the inmates started to regain their composure. Most seemed baffled by their predicament. They behaved as if having regained consciousness after sleep walking. [b]”How da hell did mah doze bake?”[/b] One said, looking around himself for someone’s fist that was as bloody as his nose was.

But not all the tension in the room had been released. Su had erected a half wall between herself and the rest of the inmates. While there were a few inmates on Su and Jacqueline’s side of the wall, they all knew enough to stand back. But Rottweiler and Su were having a bit of a standoff. Both had their pistols drawn and aimed at the other one’s head. Su hadn’t quite gotten her shield up in time, and wasn’t about to make any sudden movements.

[color=peachpuff]”This over.”[/color] Su’s eyes were locked on the former police trainer.

[b]”I haven’t gotten Lada out of here yet.”[/b] He didn’t take his eyes off of Su either.

[color=peachpuff]”You lucky she alive.”[/color] Su’s breathing was steady for someone being held at gunpoint. Not that her target was any less composed. [color=peachpuff]”She want you alive too.”[/color]

[b]”I would hope so!”[/b] He smiled. [b]”I get it, you think I’m a piece of shit. But the only thing Lada’s guilty of is keeping her parent's art alive. Your people wanted to study her like an insect. If that hadn’t been the case, perhaps I’d have fought to the death like some of my old buddies.”[/b] He adjusted his footing.

[color=peachpuff]”Look around. You think you get Lada out of here? Surrender and you both live.”[/color] Su clenched her teeth.

Rottweiler didn’t look away from Su, but he turned his head a bit towards Jacqueline [b]”What do you think? I hear ex-police officers don’t do too well in jail. It's a step up from science experiment though, right?”[/b]

[hider=specs]

[center]32 | Female | Gemini | Steel Gaze

Bipartisan | Handgun, Greatshield | Physical | Bullet Window

Dragon Breacher | Kevlar Vest 

Debris | Wind | Locally Sourced

[Storm , Flight ], Push, Pull, Build, Purify, Restrain, Damage

DAMAGE: D | SPEED: E | SENTINEL: C | 500

[Bronze projectile][build] = 80

PHYSICAL: D | ARCANE: D | CHAOS: E | 132[/center][/hider]

[hr]

[sub][@OwO][/sub]

Apollo’s pitch to Sofron went as he anticipated. The heavy canister slammed into his chest, and he instinctively wrapped his arms around it. Most fire extinguishers have a safety valve on them to release excessive pressure. This is often enough to prevent a fire extinguisher from blowing up in a hot environment. Though the instantaneous heat applied by Sofron’s melody overcame it. The canister exploded, throwing anti-flame foam in all directions.

It had been Apollo’s intention to find a rappel line to get to the bottom floor. But those were all at the other side of the building where the Gemini sniper couldn’t shoot them. But Apollo would still get to the bottom floor soon as the explosion pushed him out the window. He fell ten feet toward the asphalt road, half slathered in a flame retarding agent. Though Apollo was saved from a hard fall by an unexpected cushion. Several gang members had dove out the window before him, including the guy he flung outside himself. Not all of them survived, and they made for a softer surface to land on. Quiet, with the only sound being the window breaking. Just as planned! He needed to move quickly though, as a smoke grenade had fallen not too far away from him. Hard to tell where it came from with no visible combatants nearby. 

He had enough time to run inside where a trove of weapons laid before him. Among the slain gangsters on the first floor was a few pistols, one gilded gold, an AK-47 or five, anything he wanted was right there waiting for him. As soon as he bent over to pick one of them up, a voice called out to him from the floor above.

[color=0099a6]"Imbecile!"[/color] Sofron coughed. [color=0099a6]"I will not be done in, by, a fire extinguisher!"[/color] Apollo could also hear some other espers at the other end of the hall.

[hr]

[sub][@FamishedPants][@mantou][@ERode][/sub]

It was difficult for Protector to do much harassing with her spear. Shortly after diving into the first floor, Adder opened fire on her. That said nothing of the M202 FLASH Cobra had mounted on his shoulder. Protector might have seen the box shaped quad rocket launcher before if she watched many American action movies. It was designed to fire incendiary rockets, and could fire four of them within a second of each other. It seemed that the projectiles for Cobra's launcher had been modified, as the last rocket he fired was an explosive one. Bullets kept Protector locked in place, and King Cobra prepared to fire another round directly at her. 

That was when a charred zombie that kind of looked like Klava leaned into the hole to assist. She launched her melody straight at the Cobra, and ice took hold of his arm. His launcher and arm were solidified in ice. Before Adder could switch targets, Samuel phased through the floor and stabbed him in the neck, killing him. 

[b]”Not so fast!”[/b] King Cobra hopped backwards and pulled out a detonator. His thumb was resting directly on its button. [b]”This station now carries enough Semtex on it’s key structural points to blow it out of Pax Septimus at the touch of this button.”[/b] Once he was sure he had everyone’s attention, he moved his arm closer to himself. [b]”That’s right, no one has to die needlessly.”[/b]

The Cobra seemed to be retreating, but with every passing second his arm was thawing more and more. Already the ice was cracking and falling off. But could they risk attacking him if it meant dooming everyone still inside?

[hr]

[url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_oMNwI4Gyq0][img]https://i.imgur.com/rtlB6LL.png[/img][/url]

[sub][@The World][@Hammerman][/sub]

Marrie’s gambit, once again revealing her human identity to all in the vicinity, paid off.

But only somewhat.

After all, what did honey-flavoured restraints seal? The outfit of an individual, or the flesh underneath? As her legs rematerialized beneath her, the only portion of her body that wasn’t physically sealed off by the honey due to her esper form not having any ‘real’ legs to begin with, the [i]human girl[/i] suddenly felt the crushing weight of the hardened honey even more than before, her roll more of a clumsy tumble than a drastic shift in movement. She fell to the ground heavily, gracelessly, the impact fracturing her left elbow while shattering a portion of the honeyed restraints as well. The pain was unbearable. The pain disappeared the instant she re-initiated her transformation. The distance wasn’t optimal, and the four muscled drones were seconds away from rushing at her, but the [i]esper’s[/i] left arm was free now. Her left arm could grasp her instrument, and the Melody on her lips did not require another arm to cast.

A hand, grip vice-like and sticky, grasped her arm and…

…a cold storm expelled from her form, blowing back that hand in the same instant. Forceful winds swirled around Marrie like armor, a dense barrier that did not force back the quartet of full-sized adult men but prevented them from getting a grip upon her instead. And though the Queen of Bees was fast, her impractical dress and her predilection with letting her manservants carry her around everywhere made it so that she wasn’t nearly as fast as a sprinting Esper, restrained or not by honey. Apex Predator found its mark, the entire length sinking into the Queen’s chest as Marrie lunged in with the entirety of her body weight. With a thud unheard amidst the cacophony of falling debris, the two crashed into the ground.

Blood soaked Marrie’s body. It wasn’t her blood, but rather the blood of the Queen, gushing out from her ruby red mouth. It opened and closed, rasping out unheard words as a ferocious light gleamed in the mortally-wounded woman’s eyes, her arms having wrapped around Marrie’s body. At point-blank range, it was impossible for any blocking or dodging to happen, and through the crystallized honey on her back, the Esper could feel those arms begin to vibrate, larvae reawakening at the dying Queen’s command, ready to avenge her demise at the hands of this blue-haired assassin.

But this was point-blank range, and Apex Predator was already in her chest. All it took was a twist of the knife to finish the Queen off.

And as Marrie turned, fully prepared to face the four full-sized adult men who were most likely totally going to kick her ass for killing their idol, what she saw instead was an upside-down bulldozer and a bloody smear of flesh and bone equivalent to that of four human men, while Tetrad, covered in vomit and honey, sat inside the second bulldozer atop a thoroughly traumatized old geezer.

Now what happened here?

…

[b]“Mrhghmrhgmrggh!!”[/b]

Pressed against the chest of a psycho-bitch who threw a hammer at him, the man struggled for a moment, the bulldozer swaying dangerously while Tetrad unloaded half a clip towards the final-ape. The bullets missed, of course, a testament towards the accuracy of a handgun while situated in a swaying bulldozer atop of a jelly-bellied coward, but thankfully, the final-ape didn’t seem focused on taking down Tetrad either. There was a bigger menace, a demolition-sized one, and the final-ape took off, arms hanging loosely behind him as he dashed for the crane. And as for the unarmed construction worker?

[b]“Oh god oh god please don’t kill me I’ve got two sons to t- HEEEEK!”[/b] Shrieking at the kiss of gunmetal against flesh, he defaulted immediately towards survival mode and turned the bulldozer around, flooring it without any thought of long-term consequence. So long as the gun was pointed to his neck, the man eschewed all thoughts, driving it faster and faster…towards another bulldozer.

Tetrad went ‘Yas queen! Slay!’ The wrecking ball lightened up significantly, crashing into one of the remaining support pillars of the warehouse but only denting it instead.

And then, while she was still forcefully jubilant due to the nature of her Draw 4, one bulldozer crashed into the side of another, sending it flipping rightwards into the quartet of half-naked manservants who had just dodge rolled eloquently out of the way a mere half-second ago. None of them were able to get out a word of surprise or saltiness, before eight and a half tons of steel turned them into paste.

This was traumatizing. Tetrad may have been fine, but the whiplash of the impact, as well as the general massacre he had caused, ended up with the man throwing up his half-digested lumberjack sandwich all over his and Tetrad’s laps.

But hey!

Both espers were still alive, and as they turned their attention to the crane, they saw perhaps the tug-o-war of the century! With Tetrad’s weightlessness spell lightening up the load somewhat, the final-ape had inexplicably managed to catch the wrecking ball on the rebound, grabbing both ball and chain with hammer and spear. In a group, the Ape Gang was able to push around shipping containers like it was nothing, but even alone? He was somehow able to stall the crane! Man versus machine! Brute strength versus mechanical force! The chain let out the tortured grown of steel being pushed to its very limits! The hammer and sword both began to bend, to break, as the final-ape’s costume tore at the seams to reveal the dynamic anatomy beneath!

[b]“RETURN! TO! MONKE!!!”[/b]

And then, the final-ape fell back, wrecking ball and chain both following behind him, and then on top of him, crushing him beneath the weight of crude iron. There would be no paradise found by him and his brothers. It was not even his own strength that had tore the wrecking ball free from the crane.

It was simply cold calculus.

The crane had released the wrecking ball of its own volition, and now raised itself erect as a shark fin. With the rumbling of a monstrous engine, the massive vehicle roared into the warehouse now, its intent clear: ram through the rest of the warehouse with the crane alone and let this house of cards come tumbling down.

But in this bloody affair, two souls still stood to resist the tyranny of land ownership and demovictions.

If Marrie and Tetrad could stop the crane before it got halfway into the warehouse, then Bastion was theirs!

[hr]

[url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d4Pzx1NDTtI][img]https://i.imgur.com/OYSa6cT.png[/img][/url]

[sub][@Majoras End][/sub]

The shock lasso that Fable cast was capable of holding the troublesome crabs in place. As they had been secured right over the portal, it was impossible for more crabs to come through. Fable had stalled the nearby crab rave for now.

Mary looked at Fable, if only for a moment, when he started talking. But averted zir eyes as soon as he looked in zir direction. But ze gave a small nod when he finished mentioning that splitting them up did something. Mary reached into Danny’s mouth and pulled out two slimy, wiggling tentacles. They were red in color and had a flat side, which might have made them look more like tongues to some people. Ze heaved one at a distant crab rave, and the other ze squeezed into zir palm until it burst. A red surge of energy flew out of her finger, slamming into the side of a building. There were now two additional portals in those locations. The crab rave lost its footing when it stepped inside one of the portals and came out the other as a shower of defenseless crabs. Binky was quick to capitalize on this moment and waited under the portal with her bone saw high above her head. The crabs that touched the saw were cut in half, falling to either side of Binky along with hundreds of their brothers and sisters. 

[color=1462ba]“Seems like that worked.” [/color] Ze said more to zirself than to the boy standing a bit further away from them. 

There was only one crab rave left, and Elroy was having the time of his life knocking it’s legs out from under him. When it collapsed on top of him, he emitted an explosion that blew the surrounding rave apart, and cooked a few crabs in the process. [color=c9272c]“It’s raining crab! Hallelujah!”[/color] 

Among the scatter shot of cooked crab meat and burning shells was a single blue crab holding onto a ukulele. it tumbled across the concrete, shaken but otherwise unhurt by Elroy’s last spell. Anything with a functioning brain might have use the opportunity to retreat. But much like the creatures this monster chose to impersonate,  the crab rave instigator only knew how to feed and destroy. Some might find it’s small stature cute, but its thoughts were anything but. With a strum of it’s ukulele, more crabs started to join the fray. Drains, sewer covers, all were places where more crabs could emerge from. There were no assembled crab raves, but the crabs would coat the streets before long. 

Binky groaned. [color=baddab]”Think we can wrap this up soon?”[/color]

Elroy didn’t stop smiling, but he did raise one of his eyebrows. [color=c9272c]“How soon?”[/color] 

[color=baddab]”In the next six seconds?”[/color]

[color=c9272c]“Uhh...”[/color] 

The blue crab was defenseless as it played its song on friendship and destruction. The instigator of this entire event had been revealed, but it would not be long before its legions returned in full strength.