[center][h2]Elise Kim[/h2][h3]Sydney — Coastline[/h3][/center]
Slow as she was to catch up with the others, Elise found herself able to slowly hover over the ocean below with a virtual HUD in front of her to supplement her vision. Though she could not naturally see into the ocean, her Chi-Mechframe would at least allow her to peer ever so slightly into the depths. Diving in would obviously be the best method of getting a glimpse within, but given the situation, that would be nothing if not suicidal.

In the midst of her search, though, Pyralis' voice would ring loud and clear to her communications channel—and given that Teodora seemed to be moving into position, it seemed prudent that she should do much of the same. Temporarily closing the display in front of her, Elise looked at the map in her peripherals before responding.

"I think it would be best to examine it together, then. Selene, heading to your position now."

After a short cruise in the skies above towards the other two Chi-Mechframes, Elise slowed to a stop next to both of her companions. Unlike the other two, she had no real way of increasing her flight speed, which meant that they were left trying to identify whatever was underwater without any real visual aids. Now that she was [i]here[/i], though, whatever Pyralis had found was most certainly visible to the naked eye—and stretched well beyond that of even the largest aquatic animals.

"...Huh. I see what you mean," the young woman said, slowly moving about to gauge the size of the monstrosity for herself. "This thing is... [i]Huge[/i]."

After finally slowing down again, Elise once again activated the HUD in front of her face and attempted to get a better look into the waters below, hoping to at least get some sort of clearer visual beyond all of the oddly-glowing lights underwater. What she found, though, was a bit more disconcerting than what she had hoped.

Some sort of odd fist-sized blue ball with a dark blue center seemed to be floating about connected to [i]something[/i] translucent—or so she saw with her first look within. As she flew on above to get a better grasp for as to what that might have been, though, that [i]thing[/i] seemed to be one of dozens, if not [i]hundreds[/i] more attached to the body of the beast below.

And worse still, one of them seemed to be [i]pointing[/i] towards her now. And another. And more still—

"...There's no way it noticed us, right?" Elise muttered, half out of a faint hope in her heart before the lights beneath the water began to grow brighter and brighter.

"I think it's hostile! Evasive maneuvers!"

With barely any time to react, Elise twisted her body around and to the side, dragging her Chi-Mechframe with her as a multitude of lasers seemed to pierce through the ocean below and towards her position. Through gritted teeth, the young woman pulled out her sniper rifle and took aim—

Only for one of the lasers to [i]curve back around[/i] from behind, smashing into one of her wings and sending her hurtling towards the ocean.

[@Izurich][@Medili]

[hr][center][h3]Perth — Provisionary Office[/h3][/center]
"..."

Staring silently at the map that Hoshiko had marked up, Sherry seemed to have tuned out everything that the Pilots were saying as a frown slowly crossed her face.

"...There's no way I could have overlooked that... Could I...?"

Fingers tracing along the locations where Hoshiko had marked up and checking [i]what[/i] map she had been using, the woman simply shook her head and stated her thoughts to the three present.

"The sewers. All of these are close to the main sewage canals in the city," she said, taking a deep breath before stepping back. "There are a few clusters at these two locations, given what has been marked, but even the more scattered incidents do line up with that."

Of course, [i]traversing[/i] said sewers on foot could be a task that would take days, but at the very least, this might narrow down their choice of action somewhat.

[@Mole][@Laduguer][@VitaVitaAR]