[center][h3]Esaka’s Middle Tier[/h3]
Lvl 15 Ms Fortune (163/150) Level 11 Big Band (58/110)
Amaterasu’s [@DracoLunaris] Roland’s [@Archmage MC] Zenkichi’s [@MULTI_MEDIA_MAN] Pit’s [@Yankee] Sakura & Juri’s [@Zoey Boey] Captain Falcon’s [@Double] Harry and Kim’s [@Eviledd1984] Terry’s [@Terry Bogard] Yayama’s [@Chevaleresse]
[b]Word Count:[/b] 2084[/center]

Her heart pumped in her chest, its rhythm accelerated by the icy grip of fear that squeezed it like a stress ball. Her breaths were sharp, serrated even, leaving her throat raw and ragged as they tore from her lungs. Her shoulder burned in an inferno of pain, exacerbated by excessive exertion and lack of treatment. Her sore feet pounded the asphalt pavement and concrete sidewalks as she darted and dodged through the city, every twist and turn another attempt to sever her pursuers’ sight-lines and lose them for good. Her wide eyes saw no people ahead of her, only obstacles and opportunities. At this time of night, there were no crowds large enough to disappear into, nor enough personal effects for her to discreetly snatch in order to put on a disguise. The night that crowned the luminous skyscrapers was dark, but the shadows cast by dumpsters, phone booths, bus stops, and streetlights weren’t dark enough, and the hidey-holes weren’t hidden enough. It had been a while since she stirred up the hornet’s nest, and she’d already paid for it dearly. But the terrible price that her enemies exacted that day hadn’t been enough, and now that they knew of her survival, there was nowhere she could go that the wolves at her heels couldn’t sniff her out.

It wasn’t long before it became clear that the thief, fleeing on foot, couldn’t outrun her foes forever. Not when they had cars to give chase in. She could have lost them in Little Innsmouth, probably, but this part of the city was the Mafia’s territory, and their legbreakers knew it like the backs of their hands. With the wolves closing in, teeth snapping, the thief did what any cat would do and began to climb. She broke into a highrise, sprinted through the lobby, and dove into an elevator. When she reached the top floor a few moments later, she risked a quick look out a window and spotted a half-dozen black automobiles parked by the front door down below. Nobody seemed to be getting in or out of them; her pursuers were already in the building. Gasping for air, her skin slick with sweat, she made for the roof, making quick work of the aged locks in her way. The chilly night wind gave her goosebumps as she ran toward the edge and looked around wildly, searching for any way out that an adjacent building might offer. On one side, it would be a hard climb up a sheer brick wall, and on the other, escape demanded a terrifying leap of faith. Jets of blood from her wrists and ankles could extend her jump, but would it be enough…?

“Enough!”

She flinched instinctively, her shoulders hunching as her muscles tensed. She whipped around to see a woefully familiar [url=https://i.imgur.com/KOCbZr9.png]young woman[/url] in a showy orange outfit, her head of short teal hair topped by that trademark hat of hers, the fearsome Living Weapon known as Vice-Versa. Even a poor, no-name alley-cat like her had seen the high-flying, death-defying circus performances of Cerebella and the other members of the Cirque des Cartes. Knowing that their troupe were actually hitmen for the Medici Mafia made it harder to enjoy their antics, though. On reflex, the thief’s fingers closed around her broken collarbone, the parting gift left by that Living Weapon’s massive mitt last time they met. She gritted her teeth and fought to control her breathing as Cerebella sauntered forward, full of energy and confidence thanks to the ride she’d hitched to get here. When Cerebella extended an accusatory finger, Vice-Versa cracked its massive knuckles. “You’re not slipping through my fingers this time.”

“Just leave me alone!” Ms Fortune spat. “Haven’t you Medici dogs taken enough from me already?”

The other woman did not slow down. Thirty feet, twenty five feet, twenty. “Not until the Life Gem you stole is back in our hands. And every last threat to Vitale is brought to justice!”

Her inflection on the mafioso’s seldom-heard first name, full of admiration and longing, prompted a derisive snort from Ms Fortune. “Vitale? [i]Justice[/i]? Hah!” Well, sorry, but you’ll be crawlin’ back to that bastard empty-handed, ‘cause I can’t give the Life Gem back!” Nadia was powerless to stop the cornered feral as she launched forward, propelled by streams of blood. “Now, get outta my way!”

[i]Wham![/i] Vice-Versa’s hands clapped shut around her, trapping the thief in a [url=https://i.imgur.com/iAL6CHn.png]cramped cage[/url] of immovable fingers and palms. Powerless to fight back, she yelled at the carnie below her, her one visible eye alight with rage. “Let me go!” she heard herself yowl, the words filling her with a dreadful sense of deja vu. “I’ve gotta avenge my family! As long as the Life Gem’s power flows through my veins, nothin’ can stop me destroyin’ the Medicis!”

“Flows through your veins?”

Cerebella narrowed her eyes, and Vice-Versa began to squeeze. A cry of pain erupted from the thief’s throat. “No! Stop! PLEASE!” But those hands continued to squeeze, harder and harder, and [url=https://i.imgur.com/1kBlKwY.png]the feral[/url] continued to howl, until her screams lost any semblance of language and everything gave way to nothingness.

[hr]

Nadia jolted awake with a muted cry, fighting against a terrible, crushing weight upon the cavity of her chest. After a moment she managed to fill her lungs with air, and her head began to clear. She was in the bed in her room at that wrestling hotel, Banishing Flats. Having been sleeping on her front, she rolled onto her back, where she lay stared at the ceiling as her eyes slowly focused and her head stopped swimming. She had a hangover thanks to that ridiculous sangria, beset by insistent pangs of pain in her head just behind her eyes and a mouth as dry as the desert. When she licked her lips, it felt like sandpaper on a chalkboard. [i]Time for a ‘coarse’ correction,[/i] she thought. Groaning, she picked herself up from her bed and staggered toward the bathroom. A bleary look around confirmed that nothing seemed any different from how she left it last night, but still…she couldn't escape the feeling that something was wrong.

Rather than turn on the bathroom light and intensify her headache, she drank from the sink’s tap in the dark, then used more water to wash her face. That dream…had it been another one of those ‘bugs’ that Asgore mentioned? A memory from a previous Ms Fortune’s life? Try as she might to remember where the dream took place, the details were already hazy. As far as she could tell, it had been somewhere in New Meridian. Maybe the city existed somewhere in the World of Light after all? Or maybe the whole thing had been nothing more than an ordinary nightmare, conjured up whole cloth by her weary subconscious. Given what happened the last time she stole something important from a very bad man, she couldn’t blame herself for her lingering unease. “Who knows,” she said aloud, rubbing her eyes in the dark. 

Suddenly, there came a tremendous crash from the window in the main room behind her. Nadia flinched instinctively, her shoulders hunched up as her muscles tensed. The chill that surged down her spine galvanized her into action, and the catgirl burst out of the bathroom. She arrived just in time to see a [url=https://i.imgur.com/uogfR6B.png]big, burly robot[/url] with a blonde mohawk, military fatigues, and sculpted muscles as it ripped away the bed’s ring ropes with one one massive mit and pulverized the covered pillows with the other. As stuffing billowed into the air, the Jack-5 seemed to register that its target wasn’t there, and the next moment its baleful red gaze settled on the catgirl a couple yards away. With a terribly inhuman sound like a rumbly, metallic bark, it sprinted toward her, closing the distance in an instant to launch a powerful shoulder barge.

Nadia yelped and fell backward while trying to backpedal, then scrambled backward to avoid a series of heavy stomps. Finally, she twisted around in order to launch a stretchy [url=https://i.imgur.com/nictM28.png]Fiber Upper[/url]. Her sole connected with the Jack-5’s head, snapping it backward in a most unnatural manner. On reflex Nadia retracted up toward her feet in order to continue her offense, but the ceiling was low enough that she banged into it on the way up, and the robot’s upward gaze meant it knew exactly where she was. Its upper body rotated around so that it could stop her fall with an uppercut that drove her into the ceiling, followed by a handful of punches like jackhammers. Flakes of spackle and drywall rained down like snow as she took a beating, after which the Jack-5 let her tumble to the floor. It readjusted its head back to normal, its face devoid of emotion, then raised its huge arms and wrapped one hand around the other’s fist. Though dazed, Nadia put up her guard just in time as the double slam descended and blasted her straight through the floor and into the room below.

The person in that room, an aged but well-known wrestler named Wolf Hawkfield, was already awake thanks to the ruckus, but when two combatants plunged through the ceiling he got straight to action. Identifying the assailant, he launched himself straight over the fallen catgirl in a spear tackle that struck the Jack-5 head-on, blasted them through the door, and deposited them both in the hallway outside. Nadia regained her feet before they did and hurtled out of the room, stopping only to deliver a quick kick to the robot’s face as she blew past. “Guh! The hell’s going on!?” Unaware of where she’d ended up in Banishing Flats, she sprinted down the hall until another Jack-5 smashed through the wall at the end of the corridor in front of her. “Whoa!” As it ran her way she slid to a stop in the middle of a hallway junction, then used Charge just in time to escape the Jack-5’s bear grab by blitzing to the right as a lightning bolt.

To her relief she found herself in the motel’s lobby, but her relief turned to horror as the front door slammed open to admit yet another Jack-5. “What!? How many of you ro-buttheads are there!?” There was no time to panic, though, as it went for her with a mighty running hook. Nadia ducked, then punished with a spin kick to the groin followed by a Cat Scratch rekka. Once two claw slashes landed to activate her Elation blessings, she changed gears with a Tornado unchain combo starter. After the upward high kick, she continued the unchain circle with a below-the-belt punch and sobat kick, then finished with a Neck Cutter upside-down grab to twist the robot’s head clean off. 

Just then, the previous Jack-5 caught up. Before he could sucker punch Nadia, though, another mighty machine grabbed him from behind and executed a flawless German suplex. When the Jack-5 jumped up, the Mecha-Zangief met him hand-to-hand in a colossal test of strength, at which Nadia could only blink in surprise. “You saved me!”

“Of course!” the robotic wrestler buzzed. “For Mecha-Zangief, customer is king!!”

At that exact moment, the Jack-5’s [url=https://i.imgur.com/jBpWfrk.png]face[/url] split open to reveal an ominous red [url=https://i.imgur.com/tCoQtCn.png]timer[/url], counting down from five seconds. From where she was, Nadia couldn’t see what it said–only that two more Jack-5s were coming in through the motel’s busted front door, which she whirled to face. Mecha-Zangief’s eyes flared with alarm. “Customer, look-!”


A huge explosion went off in the lobby, reducing a whole section of the building to rubble and flames in a heartbeat. Every Jack-5 unit breaking in throughout the motel would detonate over the next minute or so as well in an effort to wipe Banishing Flats -and every Seeker within- off the face of Esaka. Overhead, the G-Corp helicopters responsible for deploying the Jack-5s would clear out as quickly as they came, riding the thermal updraft. On a rooftop across the nearby park, a [url=https://i.imgur.com/waqwbZC.png]muscular ninja[/url] with an X-shaped scar and a stylized blonde crew cut watched with a neutral expression, the furious blaze reflected in his shades.

“The Seekers of Light…are dead.”

[center][h3]Spire 04 - Orca Space Complex[/h3]
Lvl 9 Sandalphon (35/90) Level 6 Heismay (38/60)
Edward’s [@DracoLunaris] Blazermate & Sectonia’s [@Archmage MC] Geralt’s [@MULTI_MEDIA_MAN] Ace Cadet’s [@Yankee] Roxas & Ganondorf’s [@Double], Ramattra and Tenna’s [@XoXKieroBombXoX] Mokou’s [@Goggy]
[b]Word Count:[/b] 2341

[b][url=https://i.imgur.com/p76VSWM.png]Nameless Stagecoach[/url][/b]
𖥞: 7/8 | 🛡️: 6/8 | [color=blue]◆[/color]◆◆◆ | [b]Equipment:[/b] Stewpot/Windchime/Lamps/Vegetubes/Lightning Rod/(None) | [b]Companion[/b]: Ratshaker Rat[/center]

Though they didn’t communicate beforehand, Eve and Heismay took much the same tact when it came to tackling the dam. They acted more or less as shock troops, advancing ahead of the main force to strike key targets like lightning. Discreetly eliminating problematic lookouts and sentries gave the main force of Seekers a clear shot to roll in and wipe out the Naytibas, and their allies did not disappoint.

These foes were, on average, a cut above the opposition the team faced at Krat Zoo; though dangerous and horrific, the mutant carcasses had been malformed and disorganized enough to undercut their lethality, and what the Arche Puppets had in versatility they lacked in raw numbers. These specialized amalgamate Naytibas, a grotesque and inexplicable union of military hardware and corruptive biomass, posed a serious threat even in small squads. Ultimately, though, these Naytibas couldn’t hold a candle to the cohesive teamwork or varied abilities of a dozen Seekers of Light, not to mention the antlers, moblins, and golems that quickly crowded the battlefield. Once they stormed onto the scene, backed by Blazermate’s healing and Sandalphon’s fire support, the heroes split the Naytibas up and cut them down, with fighters like Geralt taking on two or more at a time. Not even the withering gunfire and missiles of entrenched sentryborgs could contend with the slow but steady advance of a turbo-buffed iron golem shield wall, and once the frontline cracked that nut the rest was just clean-up.

For some Seekers, in fact, an assault like this was too easy; Sectonia’s excessive and indiscriminate use of wide-ranging magical spells soon dealt serious damage to the dam itself, threatening to blow enough holes in the barricade that the reservoir would wash the team’s bridge away. When Sandalphon noticed this, she quickly took action. She switched out the Destruction spell bullets loaded into her Hexagun for Order spell bullets, then fired at the wounds left on the dam by the wasp queen’s sorcery. When an Order bullet came into contact with destruction, it rapidly repaired the damage, restoring the structure to its original state. While the archangel doubted that Sectonia could actually destroy the dam in such a short amount of time, she wasn’t about to take chances on the Seekers’ last chance to get across this treacherous gorge.

Soon enough, the brief but intense bridge battle came to an end, with no Seeker markedly worse for wear. Those who waded through the carnage to the far side of the canyon, new acquisitions in hand, found Eve, Heismay, and Tenna waiting for them with a secured route to the Orca Space Complex’s front door. With her overwatch concluded, Sandalphon could direct the stagecoach down the rocky side road and across the dam’s ash-littered crest. She paused the wagon briefly on the other side for everyone who wanted a quick break to climb aboard, and took the chance to look over what everyone had obtained from the Naytibas. Their spirits seemed about as unsavory as the carcasses when it came to fusion, but they promised to yield better results when itemized. That said, when presented with a one hundred percent biological sniper rifle, Sandalphon seemed reluctant to touch it, let alone wield it. “I appreciate the thought, but I must decline,” she told Ganondorf, pushing the Sporothrix back into his hands. “I resonate best with inorganic, magic-based precision weaponry.”

Sadly, Heismay did not take much more of a shine to the infected Rainfall. “What are these…protrusions?” he asked as he studied the nanite growths on the blade. “Is it contaminated somehow?” The Eugief hadn’t forgotten what Eve said about Naytiba flesh infesting machines, even if this didn’t quite look the same. After comparing it to his reinforced longsaber, he passed it to Geralt for inspection. “All yours, friend.”

In the course of his stealth mission, Heismay had acquired a few spirits as well, including ones left behind by Eve in her ignorance. Though his haul was less impressive than the others’, he went ahead and crushed his Naytiba spirits as well.

[center][hider=Items Obtained][b][url=https://i.imgur.com/iPHmT6W.png]Infected Type-4 ‘Authority’[/url][/b]
Feeding on the enriched heavy metals that make up the core of this 'Authority' unit, nanites have built themselves into viciously barbed vine-like growths. The bludgeoning power of this hammer remains quite effective

[url=https://i.imgur.com/87Jgo3Q.png][b]Nano Ward Leg Gear[/b][/url]
This electromagnetic repeller has been mounted on a sturdy CREO exo-rig for maximum efficiency. The underlying technology was discovered accidentally during a top secret project yet to be concluded. Coated with a thick layer of a newly developed anti-conductive alloy, it prevents nano absorption with a staggering success rate

[url=https://i.imgur.com/T6cO7Xn.png][b]Shotgun Ammo Box[/b][/url]
It seems to contain enough vaguely shotgun-compatible ammunition to fully restore practically any shotgun-type weapon

[b][url=https://i.imgur.com/0r98Sbm.png]Sawtooth Circlet[/url][/b]
A flexible belt of serrated metal teeth. Not suitable for throwing or use as a weapon. An inventive tinkerer could find some use for it[/hider][/center]

“Ah, ‘tis another one,” Heismay reported wryly, dropping the infected hammer by the stagecoach. He couldn’t even lift this weapon, though perhaps one of the team’s physical powerhouses could make good use of it. The armor, meanwhile, was sized for a human frame and equally unsuitable for someone of his stature. As for the other items, Heismay couldn’t tell what use they might be to anyone, let alone him. “Oh well.”

The team soon got moving, slowly rattling up the rocky slope from the dammed canyon back to the main roadway. Now well-versed with the Naytibas’ firepower and penchant for ambushing, everyone was on high alert as they approached the main entrance, but surprisingly they found no additional obstacles. After the road evened out, the reindrix could pick up the pace and pull the stagecoach into Spire 04’s outermost complex.

[center][img]https://i.imgur.com/pVYISkI.jpeg[/img][/center]

Once the Seekers crossed the grounds and entered the main building, they found themselves on the ground floor of a huge, multi-level, high-tech facility. As the primary access point for Spire 04, it seemed to be a massive depot and support center, responsible for the security screening and processing of all incoming resources and personnel prior to shipment to the Space Logistics Complex via hypertube. Thanks perhaps to the hydroelectric power generated by the dam outside, the hangar-like structure was reasonably well-lit inside, with its many interconnected systems online. The place appeared highly industrial, with huge machines, glaring floodlights, and yellow-black warning stripes everywhere. Despite the original safety inspectors’ best intentions, though, Orca Space Complex would be highly dangerous thanks to the Naytibas scattered throughout the building. Just as with the dam outside there were houndborgs, sentryborgs, and droids, but this time the mechanical warriors’ ranks included fearsome [url=https://i.imgur.com/TQMv5LL.png]battle droids[/url] with dual plasma swords, shoulder-mounted rocket launchers, and tougher armor.

At the end of the day, though, these foes were just Naytibas that could be dealt with, and it did not take Sandalphon long to identify the real impediment in her team’s path. The hypertube that represented the quickest and easiest route deeper into Spire 04 was completely sealed off, with three heavy, mechanical locks like giant clamps in an equidistant arrangement around its circumference to prevent unauthorized access. While she conceded that the strongest Seekers probably could budge these locks if they worked long and hard enough, she judged that it would be much faster to take advantage of the facility's powered state to simply disengage them instead. Of course, there was no telling what security measures might be in place to complicate that task.

“Over here!” Eve called, waving.

Sandalphon looked over just in time to see the swordswoman descend a ladder at the end of a catwalk to her left. When she walked over, she spotted a couple computer stations on a lower platform, and without a word the archangel hopped down, using Heavensent to slow her fall. Adam’s drone forced a remote connection and got the system booted up, allowing Sandalphon to bring up a map of Orca Space Complex. “We’re looking for three terminals,” she reported to the team, her sigil in use to proliferate her discoveries to any allies out of immediate earshot. “One is in the security office, second floor, back by the main door where we came in. Access requires a keycard, and it will go into lockdown if we attempt to brute force entry.”

Adam’s voice emanated from his drone as it perked up. “I can handle the door, but there may be other security measures inside. Better keep a low profile.”

The archangel nodded. “Another terminal is in the maintenance bay, on the far side of the first floor. The machines in the area are generating high volumes of error logs, so expect some sort of malfunction. The last is in the operations center, top floor, overlooking the whole facility. The elevator is out, though, so the only way in is by air. Be careful once inside, though. The system reports large quantities of unidentified foreign matter in the room.”

“Probably free-form Naytiba biomass,” Adam piped up. “Nasty stuff. Spreads like mold.”

Sandalphon pursed her lips. “Then it is fortunate that our fliers wield fire.” She conjured a couple screens of her own, each bearing images of White Team’s members that she quickly sorted into four groups. “I recommend three teams of three, not counting Adam’s drone. Sectonia, Blazermate, and Mokou to the infested operations center. Heismay, Roxas, and Geralt to the security office. Ramattra, Edward, and…perhaps Tenna can handle the maintenance bay.”

Perhaps sensing her uncertainty, Eve volunteered. “I could accompany them. I may not have Adam’s hacking skills, but I know my way around machines.”

“That would be most appreciated.” Sandalphon gave her a courteous bow. “In that case, Tenna can remain here at the hypertube entrance with the Cadet and Ganondorf to secure the stagecoach. I will do my best to coordinate the operation from here, as well.” She looked around the Seekers, her expression neutral. “...Is this arrangement satisfactory?”

Heismay nodded. “Works for me.” He then turned to go, gesturing for Roxas to accompany him and Geralt on another adventurous outing. “No time to waste!”

As Sandalphon stepped away from the workstation, she used her powers from Leanne to run a scan of her own, her pupils replaced by radar scanners. “...One more thing. I’m detecting a strong signal in all three locations. It is simultaneously biological and mechanical, similar to the Naytibas we’ve encountered, but far more dense. I cannot ascertain any more than that. Be cautious.”

One minute later, only four Seekers remained by the stagecoach on the second-floor platform by the hypertube. They watched as the three teams took out the Naytibas in their way as they dispersed in different directions, gradually disappearing from view. Sandalphon’s eyes remained glued to her screens, the first and foremost being a top-down view of the facility constructed from the computer data she’d studied, onto which she projected dots representing her comrades as they moved through the facility.

The depot was far from silent thanks to the clicks, thumps, and whirs of countless machines, but it was quiet, so the archangel could focus. A little more sleuthing in the facility’s systems revealed that each terminal would require the completion of a timed captcha in order to deactivate the locks: a [url=https://i.imgur.com/1sQaMY1.png]hex cipher[/url] in the security office, a [url=https://i.imgur.com/xuM6Bm2.png]flow simulator[/url] for the operations center, and a [url=https://i.imgur.com/h0vjgLc.png]TermLink Protocol[/url] in the maintenance bay.

What she could not anticipate, however, was the threat awaiting each team in each location. In the security office, [url=https://i.imgur.com/6gah7K7.png]Vauban[/url] (armed with a Ferrox speargun and Cycron radiation raygun) stood guard, his automated Tesla Nervos prowling the room under the watchful gaze of his various turret spheres. In the operations center lurked [url=https://i.imgur.com/dRwHWTI.png]Nidus[/url], juggernaut and manipulator of infested flesh, with a Boltor in hand and viral Pulmonars nunchaku at the ready. Finally, in the maintenance bay the Seekers would eventually encounter the tricky gadgeteer [url=https://i.imgur.com/ifd6Dmg.png]Protea[/url], her Velox automatic pistol and Tenet Envoy rocket launcher guaranteed to spell trouble.

Engrossed in her duties, Sandalphon also missed one other variable, skulking just outside her view. Only once enough time had passed that the defenders were less on edge did the monster drop from its hiding spot in the rafters and land with a calamitous slam in front of the stagecoach. [url=https://i.imgur.com/j2vHCxs.png]It[/url] was Orca’s state-of-the-art, flagship combat robot seamlessly melded with crimson Naytiba flesh, with a blinding spotlight in place of a head nestled amidst a mane of cables and tendrils. It stood ten feet tall, and in each hand clutched a greatsword the size of a human. Stunned, Sandalphon could only watch as the Belial unit raised one blade and decapitated a Reindrix with a single, fatal slash. The next second its other blade dispatched another beast, and after wheeling around, Belial dealt the next two Reindrix behind them a mortal blow. By then the pals were panicking, running straight toward the yellow railings at the edge of the platform, even if a fatal drop to the first floor awaited them on the other side.

Sandalphon’s screens vanished in an instant as she cast out her hand, sending forth a Frost Lock aimed at the floor in front of the Reindrix. Slowed down by their extra burden after the death of two companions, they slipped on the ice and fell to the floor, unable to drag the stagecoach to its destruction.

Without a sound, Belial turned toward Ace and Ganondorf, its greatswords hungry for more blood.

[center][youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PoeWX_hBqiA[/youtube][/center]