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Griffin looks the thing up and down. Finally he’s makes the choice, that perhaps this thing will be useful. He shakes his shaggy hair out of his eyes and looks back at his sister. She shrugs her shoulders and smiles warmly, happy that they seemed out of danger.
“You…thing. State who sent you and to whom you serve.”
The doors to the tower swing wide. Four swat members enter, carrying a rather bloody red headed queen. Luckily the room had been cleared at Griffin’s outburst and no one was here to witness the queen’s arrival. Ceres shrugs off the swat team and rushes over to her son. She pinches his cheeks and ruffles his hair.
“Oh my poor boy! I’ve been dying to meet you!” She gives him a peck on the cheek and hugs Bell tightly.
“And my lovely little girl! We really need to put more red in your wardrobe!” She then proceeds to poke at the ninja.
“I believe I gave you the okay to go and buy toys!” She mutters pouting her red lips and narrowing her scarlet eyes, already playing the protective mother.

"Oh bother....." Turing sighed, depressed now that he'd gotten away from that horrible mix up. He was in the wrong, and he wouldn't hide from that. Perhaps someday he'd make up the emotional roundabout he'd given Griffin, but that would take time. And what was he to do anyway? Send flowers? Griffin didn't seem like a huggy person.

Now where to start again.... he would have to search the whole region over again to find the city he was looking for, now that it could be just about anywhere. Taking a seat on a bench, he ignored the looks and comments of the high class people who'd never understand why Turing was the way he is. It was a small bump caused by someone sitting next to him that made Turing once again pay attention to his surroundings, turning to the new arrival.

"Hi~~" Heine's unusually chipper voice chimed to the old man, completely contrary to any greetings given to Turing so far today.

"Good.... day......" Turing seemed unable to respond, believing that the hello was merely a one time thing, and that Heine would go about his business as usual.

"Is that silicon? It smells familiar but it seems different somehow...." Heine continued to enquire with the man.

"......No.... it's-- well what do you care; it's the smell of a wretched old man, isn't it?" Turing grumbled, moving back to settle on the bench again, and hopefully wait for a bus to take him to the edge of the city.

"I like things that are interesting, is all." Heine chuckled back. "I take it you're an experimenter of kinds."

Turing didn't respond.

"Hmm..... Could I convince you to stay and give me a few pointers on cybernetics?"

"How did you know I was a cybernetics specialist?" Turing sat up, wondering about this lad himself now.

"There's a half assembled mechanical arm hanging out of your bag....."

Turing looked to his backpack, and found he was indeed correct. "....Ah.... right....."

When asked to jump. one simply asked, how high? Or so seemed to be the case as the optic locked onto Ceres, an aggressive vibe coming from the thing in palapable waves as it readied itself. Sliding its left foot back to square its stance, the right arm came across in front in a shielding pose, the deadly blade along the forearm there coming alive. A gentle and nearly impossible to see effect, the steady vibration of the blade caused by the machanisms within that would allow it superior cleaving ability and motion. The left arm of the thing remained in front, near to its side. The bottomost two fingers curled in to the palm, leaving the pointer and middle finger to frame the bloodied Queen.

It would begin then in an intense, speedy manner. Entirely aggressive despite the order, the thing would take the first steps towards her even as the right arm became a blur, a series of alshes being made as each and every small angle of the twisting arm was brought into play. An upwards slash followed by a straight downwards slice, followed by a bending at the knees and a twisting of the wrist that would bring a horizontal cut from her right to the left. Due to the Ninja being dedicated to speed, the effect was a nearly invisible blur of an attack, only the partial shimmer of the blade following in its wake.

Assuming the Queen to have regenerative properties, the Ninja had chosen a nonlethal mode of attack. With Ceres facing it, the first slash would have come up at her left arm, attempting to sever it at the shoulder. The downwards slice attempting to severe her right arm near the elbow, and the slash from her right side towards her left intended to remove both her legs at her knees. Ceres would prove herself quite restrained if she was a wriggling dismembered torso and head laying in the lobby, quite alive, but quite useless in combat.

The Ninja would not stop of course, for the thing was designed for extreme lethality. Ceres' movements would be adopted into its strategy, always driving to incapacitate her in a way that was merciless, yet efficient. This test would serve two pruposes, one, to guage the effectiveness of Griffin's new toy, and two, to teach both the Ninja and Griffin a lesson of each others motives and requests.

Fortunately for both the Ninja and Ceres, her claws would prove rather fruitless against its swordarm. She succeeded in raking across its lightly plated chest, causing for it to backstep at Griffin's order. Moving with the force of her blow the thing backed away, the right arm raising vertically so that the hilt was up near its head, the blade facing Ceres and running downwards with the point towards the ground. This was its most passive stance, a pose that it could hold indefinately as its left arm dropped to its side. Feet together, the thing turned the single orange optic on Griffin and awaited his next words.

Casually it would observe Ceres, though it didn't turn to look at her. The peripheral vision of the HUD watched her wounds carefully, attempting to accrue further information on her. Other elements such as Bell were of little consequence at the moment, though she was maintained in the registry as one that could convey orders and recieve the Ninjas special skills. The small and odd family now had a sword to wield along with their other toys, something to help even the odds against the trials that would surely come.

A quick and sharp nod was the affirmation, and with that the Ninja swivelled on his heel and exitted via the main doors. Once outside, he would leap into the air and make quick work of scaling the building, leaving no visible trace of his route. Soon the Ninja was atop a balcony, crouched to a knee. There his single optic would overlook the rail, his head remaining motionless even as his HUD widened and began to slowely track back and forth. A direct link to the drifting satellites above made everyything in the distant area noticeable, though priority was given to those within proximity of the tower itself. After a few moments there would be a slight crackle, before the Ninja disapeared completely. The stealth generator was activated, allowing superior camoflouge to almost every form of perception.

He left a memo with Griffin's computers of course, noting his location above in case he had further demands.

Ceres was a curious creature of course, but her flirtations with her son seemed to go unnoticed by the machine.

After a while, the door to Griffin's tower opens. Through it wanders a florist of Twice Royal with two large bouquets of flowers consisting of, white lilies, light blue bell flowers, light purple french lilacs, some broad green leaves, and to contrast some bright orange-red poppies. One bouquet was addressed to Bell, and the other to Kaiori. What ever security there was, they could quite happily check the bouquets for bugs, listening devices, poisons or anything else they wanted, the bouquets of course were simply normal. Attached to each of them was a simple note, it appeared they were from The Count. The note read as follows:



Bell may however be unfamiliar with The Count unless Griffin had filled her in; just the same Kaiori may not have been filled in on who The Count was either. However from his meeting with Griffin and their short search for Bell in space, he found out a thing or two about Griffin's family. Hopefully the flowers would arrive unscaved at both Bell and Kaiori's personal bedrooms or bed chambers. Where ever it was that they spent time alone. Hopefully Bell wouldn't think The Count was a suitor, as really he was just being polite and courteous.

With a sudden flurry of activity, a kick to a hornet's nest would have produced a very near similar result, the units stationed on the out skirts of the Twice Royal roared to life. Growler units, these massive twenty foot tall bi-pedal units, heaved up into a standing position and began a slow and steady march towards the city's inner limits. Armed to kill each one of these sturdy vanguard units boasted a full compliment of high explosive POD missiles (Pilot Optic Detonated, a device originally used when humans piloted these behemoths, now on board combat AI units determine the most effective blast location and detonates on command) coupled with their already grueling gatling guns made these monsters all the more deadly to the Twice Royal and it's inhabitants. Along the wake of these dozen monstrous beasts strode the giants of the battle fields, the T-2 units! Who, with their air cooled .50 machine gun mounted on one arm and the rapid fire, rechargeable, laser cannon on the other, strode through the fields of battle. Reaching out with their arms of death, shoulders mounted launchers seeking armor and cooking them in their place, these savage monsters of machines easily matched the Growler's forty mile an hour pace and going even so far as to position themselves against the machine's flanks.

Something was happening, these machines suddenly full combat mode and making every advantage of their scientific enhancements. Let the Twice Royal strike, this force would hold and hold! And even if these units died, wrought under the flames of the massive tower before them, the Admiral came with his own force with enough firepower to topple the tower and again!

Even from the distance they were at, the night as dark as pitch, the machines would have little trouble in advancing across the ground. Specially designed sights allowed them to absorb the heat and magnetic signatures from their surrounding, filter it through a low light amplifier and compare it to spy eye images taken from recon drones flying about the planet's surface to make a nearly high noon image of their environment in their HUDs. And yet, even with this vision, the machines seemed undeterred by the Tower's reaction or even the presence of one being who, very likely could draw from some infinite reserve of energy located up satan's butt hole of very near the sort and smite all the machines with a single flick of their fingers. But no matters! Ground flew beneath their feet as they advanced at their earth devouring pace. Missile range became optimal and ballistics calculations reported throughout the squad's AI...they were in range to level the city. With as much notice they had given to their sudden activity, which was nothing, the Growlers and T-2's halted, full combat power and sensors to high mag to scan the area for any potential dangers. The Admiral could have smote the whole squad himself, regardless of the fact Rookin and Kah were with him, but orders were given and obedient slave computers asked no questions, only followed.


Against the night's sky a form blotted out the stars, the whine of turbines screeching against the velvety expanse of space above and anti-gravity systems held the shuttle aloft. Kah and Rookin were nearly in position to advance, Tegral noted in an off handed manner as a team of 'Elites' repelled from the shuttle to secure the ground. Advantages and disadvantages to rank, he had to deal with this crap! With the ground secured by his body guards, HA, the shuttle descended towards the planet, dirt and grit flying away as gravitons fought against one another, the shuttle's artificial winning and the planet's being forced outwards, and Tegral deassed the boat. The night's darkness wrapped around his body, the blackness of his immaculately cut suit blending seamlessly with the night around him and were it not for the glow radiating from the city's lights not a single being would be able to see Admiral Tegral Kartos, frontal commander to KB's forces, captain of the GFN. Leviathan, and a totally psychotic war machine!