What Was Coming to Them

OoC: Whoo, finally got it up. ^^ Okay, this is NOT an open thread so don't come posting in here unless you're suppose to. That being said, the people who were interested in this thread were Nata'kar, Chozo, Zorolo, I)ragon, king daphens, Wolfen, and Kitsune. So, let's get this party going, alrighty.

BiC:

The scientist scuttle across the floor on all fours, sweat dripping from his face. His white coat was ripped, torn, and splattered with blood that, thankfully, wasn’t his own. Though, he knew that wouldn’t be the case in only a few more minutes. He leaned against the console and slapped his hand upwards, activating a distress signal that would be picked up in only a few hours at the most. But his time was only numbered in minutes. He reached down to his hip and pulled out his gun. The metal was freezing against his slick palm and he was sure he would drop it at any moment.

Then she came around the corner. “Now, now, running simply isn’t a polite thing to do to a girl,” the woman stated in a beautiful, lilting voice. It sounded more as though she were singing than simply speaking. She was tall and thin but moved with her shoulders up and head high like she was regal. Her black hair flowed like water behind her. She was dressed in a simple outfit consisting of a white T-shirt that hung freely and a pair of black, skin-tight pants. Her bare feet flatly slapped against the metal floor.

“A girl?” the scientist responded, his eyes widening in anger, “You’re nothing more than a monster, Lamia.”

She smiled a smile that had no mirth in it whatsoever and turned her deep, gray eyes on him. Even worse than the smile, her eyes had no sparkle in them like one would see in a human. They were cold and unfeeling. “You’re very rude to say something like that.” She stepped closer to him. He straightened up against the console and raised the gun to point at her head. The gun shook wildly, only actually aiming at her head for a few seconds at a time. Lamia’s grin widened and she took another step. The scientist cried out in panic and pulled the trigger. The gun cracked and suddenly the female’s left cheek was torn wide open. Part of her jawbone was shattered and visible and even some of her tongue was missing. Her head snapped to the left from the impact. However, she turned and looked back at him, the right side of her mouth still upturned. In combination with her missing cheek, her smile looked like that was someone who was utterly crazy with not one sense of moral left. The damaged tongue moved and licked the rim of the wound and a chuckled escaped. Not one drop of blood had fell from the wound and now a thick, gray liquid came forth. It formed around the opening and, after settling, turned into skin, making it look like she had never been wounded in the first place. “You should know better than to do something like that. After all, you’ve studied me for several years, haven’t you?”

The scientist back up against the machine as Lamia came closer. However, he wasn’t surprised at all by her swift recovery. Attacking her had been a futile attempt from the beginning and he knew he was going to die to matter what happened. In fact, the scientist was more surprised by his panicked reaction that anything she did. Wasn’t he more educated than that to give in to primal instincts? Lamia suddenly knelt beside him and he flinched away as she stroked his cheek gently with her hand. It was more like the movement of someone who cared and he knew the lady didn’t have anything that remotely resemble compassion. “Well, if you hate me that much, I suppose I’ll just end it right now,” she replied flatly, bored by what was going on. Her hand lashed out and she fiercely grabbed the scientists face, jamming two finger into his eyes and her thumb into his mouth. Her hand then turned into the same gray substance that had reformed her cheek and surged into the scientist’s head and to his brain, engulfing and devouring it. Then the substance retreated and reformed into her hand while the body slumped to the floor with a thud. Lamia flexed her hand, “So, you sent out a SOS, huh? That was not the best thing to do. If anybody else comes here, I’ll just eat them like I did you. Oh well, I’m not complaining. After all, it will provide me with even more entertainment.”

---------^*^---------

Shan reclined against the tree trunk, folding his hands behind his head and letting out a sigh. He recalled the conversation that had brought him here.

The mercenary barked out a laugh, “How did you guys manage to lose a whole research facility. That seems like some bad planning.” He wrapped his arms around his mid-section as he continued to laugh.

“This isn’t something to be laughing about, dammit!” a screen shouted at him. The man portrayed was probably only in his late-20s but acted more like he was in his fifties. His rumbled black hair stuck out at odd angles and a grimace, completely with a furrowed brow and narrowed eyes, warped his normally handsome features. “Everybody in that place had been killed and it’s now run by a berserk Lilim. This is a hell of a situation. Then again, I wouldn’t expect you to understand.” His features soften slightly with the last statement.

Shan abruptly stopped laughing and cocked his head in curiosity, “A berserk Lilim? You guys had a Lilim at that station?” His eyes trailed upwards and he scratched his chin, “That’s kind of interesting...”

“If you’re wondering why she was there, Lilith gave her us specifically to study so we can better understand,” he turned his head to side slightly and let his mind trail slightly from the topic.

“Exchange for us learning about you,” the Lilim caught quickly and smiled at the knowledge, “Yeah, it makes sense that Mother would want humans to know as much about us as we do of you.”

The officer turned back to Shan, “That’s why this is a hell of a mess. That Lilim had been there for five years without any trouble whatsoever. Suddenly, she goes nuts and kills everyone there. Worst, she absorbed the other specimens held there and now has copies of them running around under control.” He let out a frustrated sigh and rubbed his left temple, “This went out of control in the worst way possible.”

The mercenary arched an eyebrow, “Wait, are you sure it was a Lilim that did this?”

“What do you mean?” he snarled, “Of course it was the Lilim! There wasn’t anything else there that could do something like this. Besides, all our scans show that Legion cells are the only living things in that facility now.” He closed his eyes and calmed himself again, “Why do think it isn’t?” After all, who else would know more about Lilim than the Lilim himself?

“Well, I suppose it does sound like a Lilim but, at the same time, it just doesn’t add up. If Mother gave the Lilim for research, than the Lilim would go without question and wouldn’t do anything that would go against Mother’s desire. Not to mention that, while we can recreate what we’ve devoured, only Mother can do it on that large of a scale. It’s far too much for one of us.” Shan fell back in his chair, “Well, I guess that would explain why you want to send me down there. To reason with... Hey, just what is her name?”

The officer folded his hands and rested his chin on them, “The Lilim is known as Lamia but that’s beside the point. We don’t want you to reason with her. We want her dead and we figured the best one to do that would be another Lilim. That shouldn’t be too hard, right?”

Shantanu grinned goofily, “Well, considering what you’ve said about her, this Lamia will probably kick my ass.” Then he starting laughing loudly at the officer’s expression, which was one of unbelief. Once he had settled down enough to talk clearly, the mercenary responded, “But I’ll try my best to kill her. It should be interesting. Not to mention that Mother would be happy to know a disobedient Lilim was dead.”

The man furrowed his brow at Shan’s nonchalant statement, “Well, we’re hiring others to aid in this mission so you’ll have some backup for his mission.”

“Wait, isn’t that a bad idea? I mean, some help would be good but, well, if they don’t know what exactly we’re up against, they’ll probably end up dead.”

He chuckled, “I didn’t think you cared, Shan. But it’s not like we’re going to call on people who don’t know what they’re doing. Trust me, we’ll get competent people.”

“Well, I suppose that will help,” he shrugged and than smiled mischievously at the officer, “Though, I bet another reason you’re sending other along is to make sure I don’t join up with this rogue Lilim.” Shan winked and the officer looked away, annoyed with the mercenary’s perception.

Shan looked out at the facility in the valley below him. It stretched out father than he could see and incorporated several buildings. It would probably take hours to find his way around the buildings, not mention the time it would take to find Lamia if she decided she didn’t want to be found. Then again, if she came out right at the beginning, it would probably be over in about a half-hour. “But that would be kind of boring,” he muttered under his breath, his eyes half-closed in boredom. The Lilim stretched out on the tree limb he was on, rolled over, and abruptly ended up face-first in the grass blow. He laid there with his limb splayed out and yawned into the grass. “I hope the others get here soon,” his voice muffled by the fluffy grass, “All this waiting is likely to put me to sleep. Then again, I suppose I could just start without them. That might even be more fun.” He grinned at the ground below him.

"Helloooo." the tall boy asked with a grin. "Can I come?"

The man glanced 'up' at the brown haired boy before him and looked away again. "Very funny kid." he said dismissively.

"Aw comeon, you let that other guy in." J pestered. The man in the dark blue militaryesqu suit turned to pay his attention to the conversation that his comrades were holding, completely ignoring the scrawny boy behind him. This very slightly bugged J, as it was obvious that the man wasn’t actually interested with what his lower ranked comrades were actually talking about.

J rubbed his chin and looked to the side, trying to decide what to do next. It was already decided that he was going to have to mess with these guys. There almost wasn’t two ways about it. But it had to be original... cleaver... maybe even scare them a little.

J loved using his armor this way. On this planet at least, he could go anywhere he wanted, dressed in his slightly baggy blue jean, various colored shirts, and tennis-shoes, and for the most part, he blended right in. In some places, he was even a little too plain. His slight height over most everyone was the only real thing that called any attention to him, then there was his decent handsomeness, with which he would catch a girls eye every so often. But most beautiful girls here most likely wanted someone slightly more exiting then J's bland appearance. Like a sword hanging at their hip at least.

Anyway.

The clone soldier stumbled upon an idea. It wasn’t the best thing ever, but it would catch the ranked mans attention. In fact, the more he thought about it, the less he liked the idea, but he decided to go with it anyway. The longer he stood there, the less cool it would be... or something. J shoved his dumb thoughts aside.

He was standing at the top of a wide flight of concrete stairs that stretched down to the sidewalk and street bellow. Before him stood a skyscraper. Odd town this was. Very high-tech and different then most of the settlements he had visited in the past month or so. In fact, this place reminded him of home more then any place he had been yet.

J looked back at the military men, making sure their attention was turned from him. This would be more fun if they weren't looking. He then activated the armor over his left hand and part of his chest and back. He then fired off a few plasma bolts at the nearest pine tree that stood to the side of the stairway. It was a decent sized tree, just one of the six or so the decorated the wide, flat stairway to the skyscraper.

After four loud consecutive blasts, he had already caught a good amount of attention. The tree started to groan. J then fired off his claw, the cord whipping and trailing behind the metallic claw as the metal hand slammed into the trunk of the tree, a little ways above where the plasma blasts had eaten into it. J then activated the armor over the rest of his body, the suit quickly spreading from his arm and chest, over his right arm and down his feet. He then yanked hard and reeled in the cord coming out of his left arm. With another loud groan, along with some cracking and popping, the tall tree gave, timbering over completely.

J had to admit, it was pretty awesome of the tree to fall exactly where he wanted it to. The top half of the pine slammed onto the ground, just between J and the three men, with pine needles spraying everywhere.

“I brought you a tree. Now can I come?” J asked with a childish grin. It was clear that the two men behind the higher ranked man where surprised, as was the man himself, but he soon masked it with a more serious one, that ended up looking more like grumpy disapproval. He opened his mouth to say something, but was cut off as one of the men behind him (the youngest and shortest) reached around the commanding officer and handed J a brochure-like ticket thing.

“Just follow the orders on the ticket. It’ll tell you everything you need to know” the young man said in a shy, slightly wavering voice. He then seemed to flinch slightly as the older man turned to look at him sternly. The higher ranked man then turned back to J and sighed.

“Very well. If you are indeed confident in your abilities...”

<~~~~>

J strolled up the grassy hill. It had taken him a day’s worth of walking/jogging to get here. Man did he need a car. Of course, he was barely tired, having an Olympic runner’s stamina and all. But he was a bit hungry. J wondered what they were going to do with that tree. He had been scolded a little about open firing in such a populated place, and right in front an officer no less. But the fact that J had already been "invite" to the mission seemed to make the men less earnest to punish him.

Suddenly something fell out of one of the trees up ahead. As J drew closer, he noticed that it was a human, a boy with pink hair. And the young man was mumbling to himself. J looked around and then back at the pinked haired man. The tall young man had stopped just far enough away to not pull the strange mans attention.

The person on the ground wasn’t moving. He just staid sprawled out awkwardly on the ground. Hesitantly, J stepped forward and nudged the man on the shoulder. “Hey... you alright there buddy...?”

OoC: Meh, wasn’t quite as good as I hoped... and J’s mind wanders too often

--crash!— The sound of metal wire frame carts and desks clashing onto the polished, gleaming floor of the establishment echoed down the endless, maze-like hallways that crisscrossed their way through Bioform Research Laboratory ‘Hydra,’ followed by several piercing gunshots, which quickly ended, very abruptly. The foxfolk, Latio had travelled to this establishment to volunteer part of his biometal for research, as well as learning what connections he had made during his long time with it, but now more pressing matters were at hand.

That’s never happened here before he thought to himself. I’ve noticed their ‘guns’ before, but they’re for killing, not containing the specimens. They’ve always had less risky containment methods, which means this is serious. I shouldn’t try to get involved; they’re much better armed for the task. The kitsune leapt to his feet and searched for a suitable hiding place, eventually picking a rather unused closet of a room, filled with extra vials and needles and other scientific equipment. He welded the door shut with his fire magic, and barricaded it as well. He pressed his ear to the floor, hearing the chirps and moans and growls and, sadly, quite a few death cries of the various specimens.

Another, lower sound was heard once the critters were silenced, and though Latio could not see it, the power to the lab had been cut. Several particularly dangerous or hostile specimens were cased in clear cylinders, made of a fairly strong substance, but could be broken with a focused, strong. However, this comparably unreliable material was not so easily broken. A high-pitched beam of sound kept the hostiles from breaking the glass by keeping them docile. But now the power had been cut, and so the monsters were free to roam.

Several crashing sounds were heard as the cylinders shattered like a glass tube, and roars and squeals could be heard from the far corners of the site, where these monsters were kept.

An unexpected sound then came in the form of a growing silence. Whoever, or whatever, had been shot, and then cut the power, also wanted everything in the lab dead, for no reason Latio could possibly think of…

OoC;Char link here.

The sound of snoring echoed over the valley as a single man lay in a tree, completely unaware of what was going on below him. Time passed silently, as it seems to do when it isn't being watched, and left the man to his own devices. A long, black trench coat swayed in the wind as it hung off the branch of the tree. The man stirred every so often to take a rather obscure breath, but little else.

For all the sleeping man knew, or in this case didn't know, all hell could be breaking loose in the laboratory he had been sent in as a mercenary guard for, and he wouldn't know the difference. Monroe's security card hung on a retractable and extendable string he'd been given. Even so, the bounty hunter had only seen the rooms he was authorized to see.

He had been doing jobs so similar to when he had worked for the FBI it was ridiculous, and he knew just as much about what the hell they wanted him to do. After all, so long as they signed his check, he didn't give two cares as to what happened. Anyway, from the dark clad man's waste hung a sword that pointed towards the ground, safely secured to him by his belt, and a visible gun and knife, in their respective places.

The modern fencer rolled over, ever so slightly, and fell off the tree, face first into the ground. The fall from almost twenty feet barely fazed him, but it did wake the man up. Monroe sat up and yawned, stretching his arms and looking out at the facility. The dark clothed man stood up and dusted himself off slightly, wiping the sleep from his eyes alternatively, and wondering what was going on down there.

Vossler, and anyone near, could hear his stomach noticeably growl. After all, he hadn't eaten in three days. He'd only gotten this job about ten hours ago, and he'd decided to get away from the stuffy laboratory and get some well deserved, on the job, sleep. After all, it wasn't like there was anything going on down there, was there?

The former FBI worked could now hear alert sounds, which meant something was wrong. What could be wrong though? After all, the parts he'd seen were all basic scientific laboratories, although other guards had spoken of alien life forms being in other parts of the labs, Monroe hadn't seen any of that stuff. Well, for now, he'd go investigate. After all, he could get in, right? He did have a key card.

Dybia was lying face down on the bar he’d just spent the night drinking in.

“Sir!, get up! We’re closing.” Said the Bartender.

“Yeah, yeah, I’m goin.” He got up and walked out, looking very moppy , and took a quick look into his wallet. “Haven’t seen it this empty for a while.”

He kept walking down the mostly empty street, trying to think of where to go next. He looked up and saw the sun coming up, “God, not the first thing I want to see after a night like that.”

“Well, hopefully I can find some work soon. Let me think, where to check first.” He said sitting down on a bench on the side of the road. Suddenly a man wearing a short white coat, on a motorcycle parked in front of Dybia.

“Sir can you tell me where I can find a man named Dybia?” He asked.

“Who is asking?” Dybia asked.

“I’ll take it you’re him then?”

“Yeah, so what is it?”

“A man named Kevorc said you could help me with a problem I have.”

“Well, Kevorc huh? So what kind of job would he pass on?”

“Well, let’s just say a very well paying one, and you can guess the rest.” He said getting off his motorcycle to talk to Dybia.

“High risk huh? Guess I have been bored lately. So where exactly is this, and what do you want me to do?”

“Willing to take the job so easily? Well I’ll fill you in when we get there , but you have a ride?”

“Yeah, I’m parked over there.” Dybia said pointing to an alley behind him.

“Well, I’ll show the way then.”

“Let’s talk numbers on the way.” Dybia said walking over to his motorcycle in the alley.

They both got on their bikes and took off, Dybia following the man who was hiring him. They finaly reached the edge of a forest after about 30 minutes of riding. The man quickly explained the basics of the job to Dybia. “So anything I really need to know before I go into this lab?”

“The others that are going in should be able to explain the rest, just head that way through the trees and you’ll see the valley where the lab is.” He said pointing off through spacey edge of the forest.

“Ok then, I’ll see you back in town for my pay later then?” Dyia asked.

“Of course, I’ll be off then.” The man said turning his bike around

“Well let’s see who I’m working with here,” Dybia said to himself slowly going through the trees on his motorcycle. He kept going and found a couple of people one with pink hair. He rode up to them and said, “Hey, are you the others going in?”

OoC: I was never great at making an entrance, but my entrance is done so whatever.

OoC: Bah, short and crappy, but I wanted to get something in, despite what I PMed you Ranny.

IC:

“Oh my god.”

Heishuro Maruchi wasn’t normally one to voice his thoughts, but when such an obvious one pops into your mind — uninvited, of course — you have to speak it out loud, just to retire it.

A boxed room; barely three metres cubed, sat before Maruchi. Plain-grey wallpaper and dusty brown floorboards and a cream-sheeted bed inhabited the room. As you can guess; a thoroughly boring hotel room.

Heishuro’s emotions mirrored this; in boredom.

Four months! Four months since anything has happened! No mercenary missions; no big events in a town; no excitement whatsoever, the fighter mused this time, not summoning the energy to speak.

Rising from his bed, the reddened fighter willed something to happen; mentally striking the door with willpower — but taking careful precautions not to use magic.

To his own astonish-and-amuse-ment, the door opened.

“Heishuro Maruchi?” words of the receptionist hissed from beyond at the door as she herself appeared from the hallway.

“Yeah?” he responded instantly, trying to belittle his enthusiasm.

“There’s a man at the front desk for you,” she finished as she closed the door.

Leaping over to the door, Heishuro swung it open in a hurry, before racing down the stairs towards the reception; a hastily conjured coke in his hand.

“Maruchi?” A bearded man in a white coat asked as Heishuro appeared at the doorway.

“If I am?” the fighter asked with his usual 'mysterious-man', act.

“I’ve been sent to find Heishuro Maruchi, hoping he can help us deal with a problem we have,” he responded in intolerance.

“I’ll help;” Heishuro answered quickly, forfeiting his act to his curiosity. “Explain things on the way, and lead the way too.”

Nodding, the white coated man began to walk out of the hotel, Maruchi quick on his heels.

“Well,” the man began, “where can I start…?”

***

Jogging up a steep hill, Heishuro’s mind pulsed with all the new information it held. Thoughts of “Lilims” and “Lamia” floated through his mind randomly, but the fighter had consumed the knowledge well, and understood everything.

“Hey everyone,” he said, reaching the top and seeing his soon-to-be-group. “How’re you all doing?”

OoC: Yay for extreme lateness! Ahem, I don't have good excuse for taking as long as did other than the fact that I'm very lazy. << Honestly, if I ever take even a fraction of that long to post, just skip me. One person shouldn't hold up the thread forever. That goes for everybody, but mainly me. And you guys don't need to post in the exact order that you first did. If inspiration strikes, use it. Just try to have only one post per round. With those things said, let's get this thing going. It's been too long.

BiC:

The little nudge on the shoulder gave the Lilim an obvious hint that the other people who had been hired to come on this mission were starting to arrive. He promptly sat up and saw that the newcomer was looking at him with a confused expression. “You’ve been hired to venture into the lab, right?” Shan looked the human up and down, taking in his appearance. With all the armor he wore, it was certain he wouldn’t exactly be a pushover in a battle, which was needed for this excursion.

“Yeah,” the newcomer answered and held out his hand, “I’m J.”

The mercenary took J’s hand and pull himself to his feet. “Just J, huh?” he smiled, “Well, you can call me Shantanu. Or Shan if you like shorter names.” Then he scanned the area, “I hope you aren’t the only one coming. It might be a little hard with just the two of- nevermind.” At that point, two other people joined them under the tree.

“Hey, are you the others going in?” the first one asked. His outfit wasn’t anything outstanding but the gauntlets and ruby-studded sword stated that he could obviously take care of himself. “The name’s Dybia.” He didn’t offer his hand like J did but sized the other two up. Shan couldn’t help up grin; this group was comprised of some very different characters. It could be interesting to see how it would affect them trying to take on Lamia. The Lilim chuckled lowly at the thought.

The final person almost looked like fire might sprout around him with the red clothing, “Hey, everyone. How’re you all doing?” He seemed cheerful enough but his eyes lingered on Shan for a little longer than the others. The mercenary hoped not to much had been given out his personality. “I’m Heishuro and, don’t worry, I’ll take care of stronger things roaming around.” Dybia scowled slightly at Heishuro but J and Shan both smiled.

Once the pleasantries were taken care of, Shan motioned to the group, “Come on. It seems like no one else is coming so there’s no time like the present to get started.” He started jogging to the facility when an interesting idea occurred to him. This might be a good test of personality and, if all else fails, it’ll be interesting. He called back to the others, “Race you!” and started sprinting. Not to his surprise, J quickly came up beside him, grinned widely, and ran past. The Lilim couldn’t help but laugh. The other two were running as well but their expressions were ones more of confusion. After all, Shan had started game under some rather serious conditions. Everything practically was a game for the mercenary.

However, the little game ended quickly when they ran into, almost literally, another man dressed completely in black. The man quickly pulled out a gun but didn’t point it at any of them, though he could quickly shoot them all if he deemed necessary. “Who are you guys?”

Monroe, lost as he had been, had managed to wander outside of the complex. He glared at the building as it set in that he was actually lost. He opened his mouth and raised the index finger of his left hand, but soon closed his mouth, preferring to keep that thought to himself. The dark clad man, instead, chose to rest his hand on his gun. Something definitely odd had been going on inside, but now he was, for lack of a better thought, locked out.

"God damn security doors," the bounty hunter mumbled as he rested his left hand on his photon sword. It'd do the trick very well, considering the high frequency the blade of the sword was at, but still, heading inside alone could have been a very bad idea. With his enhanced ears, the former assassin heard people nearing him, and quickly turned as he was almost overrun by a gang of people heading towards him.

Monroe stepped back as one of them stopped an inch from him, almost causing the mercenary to fall backwards. They were, all in all, from the first two people he saw, not too threatening. However, that outlook soon changed as he glanced at two of the other people. The modern fencer took another step back and drew his revolver, whirling it around his finger and pointing it at the two closest to him. "Who are you guys."

"Calm down, guy. We're just here to deal with a disturbance," the first man said.

"Yeah, it isn't like we came here to fight you," the second man, a tall and thin man, said as he looked down at Monroe.

Finally, the two others were in full view, and the bounty hunter aimed his gun at the two. He had met both in the past, and neither of them he had very fond memories of. "Um... hey," Heishuro said as he kinda smiled at the mercenary.

"What?" Dybia replied when Monroe pointed his gun at the dual colored haired man.

Monroe sighed and spun his gun around, holstering it and stepping back. "Not even gonna waste my time," the dark clad man responded as he turned towards the door he was standing in front of. With a slight move, Monroe flicked his photon sword into the air, the blade not active, and grabbed it quickly, flicking the weapon on and cutting the door twice. The former assassin stepped back, kicking the door and sending the cut door flying inwards.

"Well, it's open now," the bounty hunter muttered as he stepped inside. As Vossler took another step, he found himself staring down a group of sharp claws, with his knife held against the neck of a fox faced creature. What had he gotten himself into. "I'm not sure what you are, but if you're looking for a fight, you'll get it," the enhanced human said confidently.

OoC: Not a great post by any means, but it's something.

IC:

This was just what Maruchi needed… a fancy ass mercenary like Vossler running around. I was wrong to think this might be easy money... The fighter ran a hand through his dark hair, and untied the ponytail at the back, letting any strands of lost hair fall into place beside his ears.

Not taking his eyes off Monroe, Heishuro nudged the man towering next to him. “It’s Dybia,” he muttered, “right?”

“Yeah,” he replied slowly.

“So how d’you know Vossler?” the martial artist began. “He seems to know you-“

The fighter had to stop mid-speech to prevent himself from wincing as shards of wood showered him. Not particularly painful, but irritating, nonetheless. As he turned to the Vossler, he saw the door that had blocked the way—hitting the ground.

Squinting further, Maruchi noticed the mercenary grabbing hold of a fox-like creature in the doorway.

"I'm not sure what you are, but if you're looking for a fight, you'll get it," the black-clothed mercenary boasted arrogantly to the beast.

“Hey!” the reddened fighter barked with confidence—determined to step on Monroe’s toes—“What’re you doing?”

“I don’t really like getting attacked, so I’m defending myself,” he replied in a belittling tone, layered with sarcasm.

Rolling his eyes in an attempt to frustrate the fencer, the crimson artist turned to Shan, and—whilst restraining himself from laughing at the man’s hair—raised his shoulders and arms, using his body to ask the pink-haired person what to do next. Because Heishuro himself had no idea.

Now almost certain the hostile alien woman had passed by his comparatively safe hiding place, Latio took a moment to relax. I left some of my biometal with the scientists; if I have to fight, I might be at a disadvantage. But maybe if I make a break for it, I could get to it. No, that’s a bad idea. Too much risk for something tha— A hollow, far-off ringing, like thick blocks of metal hitting the floor, brightened up Latio for a moment. Backup! he thought. Quickly tearing down his makeshift barricade, he ran to one of the building’s exits, where the loud sound came from, hardly thinking about the noise he himself might have made. Upon reaching where the rather obtrusive event had occurred, Latio was quickly pinned against a wall with a knife to his neck, a foot long biometallic spike from his palm pinching the neck of his attacker.

“I’m not sure what you are, but if you’re looking for a fight, you’ll get it,” the rather imposing man with the knife spoke with a perfect mix of monotone and threat.

Latio struggled for some solid footing; he didn’t want to fully engage this foe until he was sure he was in a more favourable position. “Hey,” he managed to get out, making sure the knife wouldn’t cut his neck. “What’re you doing?”

The threat in the man’s voice turned to sarcasm. “I don’t really like getting attacked, so I’m defending myself.”

Latio quickly responded, puzzled by the mercenary’s response. “But I didn’t attack you,” he said as he drew a small bit of biometal from his hand to the knife pressed to his neck. As the attacker opened his mouth to respond, a blob of biometal grasped the knife and threw it aside. In sync with the silver blob’s movement, Latio withdrew the spike to his hand, gripped the black-clad man’s knife hand with one hand, his neck with the other, and tackled him into a pin, blobs of biometal holding down any other limbs that needed pinning.

“Like you, I don’t really like being attacked. Now, what are you, and those others, doing here?”

No one else seemed to be in the mood to make sense of the whole situation, so, as usual, the job fell back on J.

“Wow! Hey now.” The armored man called, stepping foreword. “Foxman is most likely not the enemy, and dark arrogant man is not making any sense. What’s your name?” He asked the strange fox.

“Latio,” He stated, glancing at the tall boy and easing up, but just slightly. “And I'm a Foxfolk,”

“Right. And are you one of the bad-guys we were sent here to take care of?” J asked.

“Not likely...”

“Alright good, th--” J started.

“How do we know that for sure? Isn’t that exactly what the enemy would say?” Monroe cut in, jerking his arm to reach at the foxfolk, only to have it pushed back down by more of the metallic substance.

J rolled his eyes and lifted the blind worrier off the darkly clad man with almost ease, the biometal starting to lift Monroe up with him, but the foxfolk released the man reluctantly and the liquid metal sunk again into his white fur... That’s kinda gross

“The fox is certainly no lilim. And I would assume he meant us no harm had he not been so rudely assaulted” Stated Shan, still smiling.

The fencer let out a hrumph as he got to his feet, eyeing the foxfolk suspiciously.

“He seems ok by me.” Dybia commented, turning to the foxman. “What were you doing here, anyway?”

Latio eyed the group for a second, seemingly contemplating whither he could trust them or not. “... I came here to volunteer my biometal for research” He stated, lifting his hand as a metallic skin spread over it. “But it looks like I picked the wrong day to visit.”

“So it seems” Heshiro stated, grinning slightly. “Well, we should get back to killing the real monsters then, eh?”

“Yes, your free to join us if you’d like.” Shan said, smiling at the foxfolk.

OoC: Short but allows progression.

“Well, now that we have a little circus of hired help together should we just get to work?” Dybia said feeling uncomfortable leaving his bike alone up on the hill. He wanted to get this job done quick because after Chinatown he felt uncomfortable leaving his new one alone.

“Well you’re suddenly in a rush aren’t you?” Shan said, “Well go ahead then.”

“Appearently you’re the expert on these things, lead the way.” Dybia said.

The group started in as close to a line as they could get because the halls weren’t very wide. Shan at the front, and Dybia was right behind him with Monroe following behind him and Maruchi behind him with the fox folk in the back. It was a long hallway with a door on each side every once in a while. Dybia saw the group would eventually have to split up with how large the building looked on the outside.

Shan at the front started to get a little annoyed, and he turned around and said to Dybia, “Could you be any quieter?” He was referring to the clinking Dybia’s boots were making on the hard floor because of their metal soles.

“Yeah, it sounds like an armored knight sneaking in through the air ducts.” Maruchi said jokingly behind them.

“Fine,” Dybia said softening his step to lower the noise.

As They were walking Dybia turned his head back to look at Monroe. “So where’s your arrogant little keeper from the other day, Vossler? I haven‘t seen him since the city was destroyed.”

The emergency lights bathed the metal hallway in a pale blue light. This could be a problem. He glanced back at the group an noticed that Dybia was chatting with Monroe. It was interesting to note that they had met each other before. Whether or not that would impact their performance in this mission, though, was yet to be seen. Just as long as they don’t attack each other or something. Shan sighed with a slight smile. Humans are far too volatile for their own good.

“Latio,” the Lilim called. The foxfolk shuffled past the others in the group. “Do you know anything about the lay out of this place?”

The fox shoot his head, “Not really. As soon as I came, they led me back into one of the labs. I wasn’t really able to see where anything was.”

Shan scratched his head, “Well, that’s not very helpful. How were you able to avoid getting killed by Lamia?”

“Lamia?” he questioned, leaning his head to one side, “oh, you mean the alien woman.” Latio shrugged, “I just hid from her. No way I was going to try and fight her by myself. Not have she took out everyone else in this place.”

“You just... hid?” Shan was rather surprised. Something that simple shouldn’t have worked. The foxfolk should’ve been dead by now if he had just hid. Surely Lamia had surveillance throughout the facility. It was probably that there was some creature watching the group at the very moment, reporting their actions back to her. If she didn’t, there was no way the rogue Lilim wouldn’t have noticed her front door being knocked down. About the only way the foxfolk could’ve avoided Lamia was the idea that she hadn’t searched out every room but instead sent lackluster copies to do so. No point in worrying about it know. He survived which is good for us.

Eventually the group came to large, open room that had several corridors branching off it. “So what now?” Dybia demanded. Shan got the sense that the human didn’t like him.

“I would say the only way we’re going to make any progress is to split up.” Shan turned around in a complete circle to survey the room. “Of course, we should probably get the main power back first. I bet there are doors that won’t open unless they have power and our target is probably behind one of them.” Well, at least Lamia wasn’t come out right up front. Things this interesting don’t need to be finished quickly. “So,” the Lilim grinned widely at the group, “who wants to go with who?”

Monroe glanced at Dybia and continued to walk silently through the facility in silence. That wasn't a question that the bounty hunter was about to answer, mostly due to how many fallacies of logic it had. No, instead the mercenary simply placed his hands inside of his pockets and moved with the group, listening to the other bumblers speak and discuss business of their own. These people weren't the enhanced human's friends, so he wasn't about to pretend like they were.

However, the mention of the Aura Master did bring back memories to the dark clad man as he walked along. The modern fencer, with the aid of Tracey de Carlo the detective, had managed to kill a clone of the fencer and the man that had created it. This didn't mean anything to the bounty hunter, who walked silently through the halls, waiting to find something... anything of interest. Or at least that would shut Heishuro and the tall kid next to him up. Dear God, they were loud and annoying. Or maybe that was just Monroe's perception since he disliked the martial artist.

The group stopped suddenly when the guy in the lead ceased moving and looked at the five others. "So, who wants to go with who?" the guy with rather queerly (in the proper use of that word) colored pink hair asked as he looked at the group.

Monroe didn't acknowledge the question as he walked past and began to head deeper into the facility. The modern fencer had no interest in fighting along side those idiots. After all, except for the fox guy, not a one of them looked even remotely strong. Monroe removed a pair of earbuds from within his jacket and placed them in his ears, turning up his music as he walked. Maybe one of the others had followed, or maybe not, the bounty hunter didn't know. All he knew was there was a job to do and he'd make sure it got done.

OoC: I know, short, but it keeps us moving, right?

This little expedition was finally starting to get somewhere. They were in, they had their reinforcements, more people then they actually needed probably, and they were moving into enemy territory. The team seemed to be made up of a decent verity, save for the loners, who are better off staying loners.

Most of the people looked average enough, with no apparent skills and some without even weapons so it was hard to place everyone just yet.

“I would say the only way we’re going to make any progress is to split up.” The group had now stopped in a large room, and Shantanu continued. “Of course, we should probably get the main power back first. I bet there are doors that won’t open unless they have power and our target is probably behind one of them.”

“So,” the Lilim grinned widely at the group, “who wants to go with who?”

After glancing at eachother, and watching the darkly garbed fencer stroll off down an adjacent corridor, J decided to speak up. “... I’d like to see a door that could hold back everything our little party has to throw at it.” he stated with a small grin. “But it wouldn’t hurt to make sure we can get it open.”

Dropping his visor over his eyes, the armored mans vision immediately changed to show him exactly what he was looking for.

“I’m guessing the reactors the big red glowy thingy in the basement.” He said, pointing at the ground to his left. “I can lead a group down there, and the others can follow wandering boyo... or leave him.” He finished, gesturing towards Monroe who was stalking away through the darkness.

Suddenly, something caught the tall mans eye and he spun his head around in the direction of the distraction, only to find that nothing was there. One or two of the members of the party looked curiously at what J had noticed. “... Yeah, their watching us alright. Probably just waiting for us to split up before they make their move.” J explained as he turned back to the group and raised his visor. “So, shall we ‘lure’ out the baddies?”