Welcome to Gaia! ::

Eternal Fulgurite
can he stop these turrets? hm
HP: 100/100
Action: (5 + 2 (recon)) = 7)

Well, that was interesting... He glanced to Ransomite to confirm he was seeing the same thing, before turning his attention outwards and projecting to the rest of the room, partially at Seraphinite who had suggested the search in the first place, "I think the tubules with fire in here can power anything near them! Drag the terminals over here!"

That was, of course, before they got proof of it because the room turned into some bullshit out of transformers and he had to quickly dodge some glass shard rain. Fulgurite hissed under his breath at it, cursed louder when it turned into some ice turrets, and used the power it was gaining from said tubules to beam one of his theoretical team members (Alkmene, right? Alkmene.) and also Ransomite. Great. Just swell.

"You good?" hissed Fulgurite in Ransomite's direction.

These turrets were going to quickly get very annoying if they were sucking the power from everything else and aiming it at them. How the hell were they supposed to shut off Turretminator?

Fulgurite ducked down and attempted to look around for some way to end this connection, or perhaps get it to dissemble...

Captain Seraphinite
Trying to plug in cable to terminal to try and turn it on and asking Faustite a strategic question 2 + 1 bonus = 3 ffssera--
HP: 100 / 100


At least there was a general agreement that powering the fallen terminal was a good route to take. Seraphinite did appreciate the number of people who began to also look about the room after he'd indicated needing to find a way to power the thing up.

He'd spotted a bundle of the bright fibers wrapped around one of the small tubes, and it wasn't difficult for the man to pick up the terminal to bring it over. He crouched down, getting his arms more under the thing to hoist it up. Not the lightest thing, but... he was pretty sure he'd handled inventory boxes and whatnot heavier than this at the gardening department of the store he worked at.

The Captain had only gotten a handful of steps in before he began to hear things crashing and crunching up above. Looking up quickly, he was more than a bit confused to see the terminals up above... mashing together to create something-- "Oh for <********> sake," he hissed. He could see the shapes of long cylinders, guns. They were making freaking turrets.

Hearing what Fulgurite said about the tubes carrying fire, he'd considered for a second bringing the terminal over there. They needed to get that door open, but considering the turrets seemed to be fueled by the same fire-carrying tubes...

Hearing Faustite's voice over the earpiece connected to his tablet, Seraphinite swore again, carrying the terminal quickly to the low-hanging cable. Setting the device down, he grabbed the bundle of fibers to plug it into the terminal. Not that he was sure if it'd even have enough energy to power it, judging by how the lights were dimming... but considering what was running through his mind, he needed to try it. At least having a free hand now, he flicked on the earpiece.

"General Faustite, Seraphinite here. We've got turrets blasting ice beams and doors that won't open. Turrets might be powered by your fire. Trying to power up a terminal to attempt to open the door. Will it have a negative effect on you or this operation if we break open the tubes that might be powering the turrets?" He spoke clearly and calmly despite the situation, aware that if he spoke too quickly, the resulting jumble of words might result in information not transmitting properly. They needed the door open, and those weapons off. But if removing their power source the bluntest way possible might risk additional damage elsewhere...

Well. He at least wanted to confirm they had permission to do just that before testing how far he could throw his blades...

General Larimar
HP: 100/100
Helping Seraphinite plug in the cable to the terminal (6)
"We've got ******** turrets firing lasers at us, like Seraphinite said," Larimar said, airily, to Faustite's request for an update, "but besides that nothing's changed." It was - ze knew - entirely more bitchy than it needed to be, but if one couldn't be bitchy when presented with beam-firing turrets that might well be hundreds of years old, when was it ********. Okay. Deep breath. These things couldn't be that reliable -- they were ******** old, probably, and besides that they'd just been frankensteined together from who-knew-how-many terminals. So cutting their power might work; without it they probably wouldn't have much energy left -- but how tough was the glass(?) in the tubules? Trying to break those and failing -- that'd be a nasty opening, if these things were ******** disintegrating glass. Leading shots into the tubules sounded like a lot more trouble than it was worth, and also a high likelihood of being ******** shot.

And Spectrolite... well, it hadn't killed her on contact, so that was a plus, but from here it was hard to tell if it'd done anything. s**t. Okay. Okay. Little Lieutenant needed to get back behind cover --

Think. If Larimar ******** up zyr first relevant outing as a General, not only would ze never forgive zemself, neither would the rest of the ******** Negaverse. Probably. Okay -- okay. Seraphinite looked like he was having a bit of trouble. Ze could help there, or just do it for him, if he was fumbling. Good. Fine.

Eternal Sailor Alkmene
failing to dodge the turret
HP: 90/100

Weird tech was one hundred and ten percent not Alkmene's forte--he expected to be here primarily to brute force past magic obstacles, and also, for himself, to observe dynamics outside his own team. He was an Eternal now; presumably he'd be picking up underlings somewhere along the way. Good idea to observe leadership styles that weren't Faustite's, and whatnot.

So, he'd turned to follow Captain Seraphinite's instructions, and start investigating the cables, but apparently this place had ******** defense mechanisms.

He realized, too late, that the turret was aiming at him--and so he was a half-step behind on his dodge, and it hit him in the shoulder, making him hiss in pain.

"Son of a <********>--" He turned to the Lieutenant (Ransomite) who had also been fired upon.

"You good?" He asked, and if his tone was a little sharp, well, he'd just been hit in the shoulder by a magic lazer beam. ********, Captain!" He said, to Seraphinite, "if we need an off switch, I'll bet my magic will knock this out--but it'd be all of it."

An emergency shutdown, in case of complete snafu.

Captain Seraphinite
Going to smack some fire tubes 6 + 1 bonus = 7
HP: 100 / 100


Oh. It worked. He'd appreciated the help from Larimar when the General helped him with the cable. The screen flashed, and the system was clearly starting back up. "Thanks," he said quickly to Larimar before focusing on what Faustite was saying.

Holding a button on the earpiece, he responded, "Understood, General. We'll update you once it's done." Releasing the button so he wouldn't be shouting over the communicator feed, he turned slightly to address the room.

"Break the tubes with fire in them that connect to the turrets, if you can, those are at least closer to our level." Unless someone had a good range to get up that high to hit the turrets themselves... or those cables up there like the one they just plugged into this terminal. "If anyone's got magic to shield, bloody use it."

When Alkmene called out to him, Seraphinite considered it for a split second before calling back, "Hold onto that for now. Try to shut off it's power. If we can't do that... use your magic." He glanced up at Larimar, adding, "Unless you're thinking we should go another route." It wasn't said with any scoff or malice, but genuine I don't know what the ******** I'm doing, feel free to override that.

Looking back to the terminal as it flashed a greeting screen, he scowled. "...how the ******** does it know who I am?" The question wasn't directed at anyone in particular, but the screen flashed again... and again... files?

"...why the <********> did it drop from over eighty-six thousand, to two files?" He was snarling at this point, already trying to check if either of the two files opened the glitchy door or turned off the turrets.

"Might need you to try accessing this, you might be able to access more as a General," he shot to Larimar. He didn't have time to look through the files, but a quick glance through made him curse and stand up, summoning his twin blades to his hands. "Nothing here to open doors or stop the turrets that I can see. Data files, not anything that can send out commands. I'm going to try and just cut off their power," he said quickly to the General before heading towards where Spectrolite was waving people down.

After hearing to what she had to say on his way over, Seraphinite bit out a quick, "Move back," before he picked up the swords and slammed them higher up along the glass tubes. Mostly to... hopefully keep the fire from belching out at them.










---------


Lieutenant Spectrolite
Poking around tubules with glowing blue finger... 4 + 2 bonus = 6
HP: 50 / 50


So they could break the glass? Hearing Seraphinite say that, the Lieutenant perked up, managing to trace at least two of the crossing tubules down, down, down...

"Aha!" Immediately, she sprinted for the other side of the room, lifting an arm to wave towards Seraphinite--well, and everyone else, really. "Two of those tubes feeding the turrets are over here!"

Her silly little weapon materialized in her hand--a set of stacking rings, pft--but she couldn't help but keep... looking down at the glowing blue light coming from her finger...

"...oh this is super stupid for me to do," she murmured to herself, aware that glass could get hot. But... her finger was glowing with magic. After she'd touched an icy symbol. Maybe... it could... transfer again..? Gulping, she began to reach for a lower point of one of the tubules with the glowing blue finger...

Of course, right after she did that, she had to smother a yelp as Seraphinite freaking was a stupid brute and struck the glass with his swords higher up. "You idiot, I'm right here!"

General Larimar
HP: 100/100
Using the terminal (4)
"Don't ******** die before those doors open," Larimar called after Seraphinite, which was about as much encouragement as ze was willing to give to anyone else, ever; "if you don't have a good way to break the tubes or shield yourself, look for cover, or keep moving!" It'd be a pain in the a** if Lieutenants and basic Senshi went and died in the laser death room; no need for anyone to try and get too big for their britches. No need to try and get fancy when powering down these hunks of junk would do the job. (Hopefully.)

It was tempting to go break the tubes -- zyr rapier was a piercing weapon, chilly-cold, made of who knew what -- but, well, Seraphinite had had a point. As a General, ze'd probably have more options. Scowling, Larimar took over the Captain's place at the terminal, seeing if it'd respond to zem with any more options than it had him.

When Valjean [1] touched the flaming tubules, his touch stirred a readout that echoed back the building's power stats to him. POWER LEVEL 48% it said, followed by a SYSTEMS OPERATIONAL FOR 2.58 HOURS. They felt delicate under his touch, however, as if they were brittle and easily broken.

Seraphinite's [7] blow struck true, shattering the glass tubule at a higher juncture. Delicate glass shards rained down from the impact, showering the Captain where he stood. Given newfound freedom, fire spewed out and rippled harmlessly toward the upper portion of the room, and little made it back into the tube that aligned with the turrets. The cut-off portion of the tubule flickered out its LOW POWER messages before that, too, faded. If the turrets were to continue drawing power, they would have to do so from another source.

Spectrolite [6] touched another tubule, which immediately frosted over from her glowing finger. The ice cracked and chimed before it shattered, likewise breaking the embrittled tubule. From there, more flame had fluttered out and up toward the top of the room.

Mizuki's [1] magic provoked no damage to the turrets themselves, but something about her magic interfered with their ability to track the rest of the team members. The turrets shifted this way and that, but upon finding no targets, they hadn't opened fire yet again. Then they began to stall, before finally falling completely silent. The turrets had begun to fall apart, sending pieces of irreparable terminals hurdling down to the floor below. Linnaeite and Larimar may be struck with debris if they didn't dodge out of the way.

When Larimar [4] accessed the lone terminal, it did not greet him by name, but rather returned to its evaluation. By the time the terminal had recalibrated itself, it reported that General permissions had been indexed. Now it read 4 AVAILABLE FILES.

As Fulgurite [3] caught hold of the glowing bundles of light that plugged into some of the terminals, he would find that they didn't unplug quite so easily. They felt steadfast; perhaps he would have to yank a little harder to get them to come out of their slots. There was little for it now, though, with the tubules having been shattered.

The room fell dark, but for the eerie white glow of the bundles of fibers that connected to the electronics. The electricity across the ceiling still crackled and snarled, illuminating the team members in a flash of washed-out white. Their lone fallen terminal still retained power, though its display dimmed as the rest of the room was starved of power. The broken areas of the tubules belched open flame into the air while the other tubules ran empty. Text etched over their beautiful glass curvatures, reading off a power level as it fast dropped to zero. At this point, the tubes flashed LOW POWER in red text before that, too, wore out.

At the end of the room, the static-laden double doors began to go dark, and the Mercury symbol over top of it grew defiantly bright before it blew out, fading away to nothing. The forcefield blocking their way to the next room had been dispelled, and agents could finally gain access.

Those who chose to go on would find the room similar to the Negaverse database room – a smaller area with minimalist obsidian and glass desks that framed three of the four walls, each featuring several large terminals with glass plates the size of a keyboard on the desks themselves. Most of the chairs looked cast about, as if a fight had broken out in the room, and some of the glass plates had been smashed across the floor. The terminals themselves were each dark, save for two that had bundles of light plugged into their ports.

In the center of the room, a collection of smaller screens hung down from a central black cable like some kind of light fixture. Each screen faced a different direction, though most of them showed static with a smattering of stars that floated off them. These stars were similar to the pseudo-stars in the other room. Further inspection would reveal a symbol like a P that was gouged into one of the smaller screens.

A second symbol of the same sort was carved into the doorway as well.

Captain Seraphinite
Checking out one of the large terminals 3 + 1 bonus = 4
HP: 100 / 100


Spectrolite's shouted complaints got little more than a grunt of acknowledgement as Seraphinite closed his eyes and turned his face away from the shattering glass raining down. He lowered his arms, sending away one of his swords to keep a hand over Spectrolite's head to avoid glass in her eyes or something.

He urged them both back, brushing some of the glass off of their heads as he did so and glancing up at the fire streaming up into the air. Not fueling the turrets, at least. He did frown though at the shattered tube down low, and glanced back at Spectrolite. "...good job spotting those."

Metal cracking and crunching drew his attention again, and he cursed, pulling the Lieutenant along with him as he ducked away from the falling scrap metal. The lighting around them dimmed, though it wasn't entirely surprising given they'd just cut off a section of power. He paused near the newly opened doorway, glancing towards Larimar by the terminal that still seemed to be running at least. The General's orders to head into the next room made Seraphinite give a snort--nearly a chuckle, if you... squinted. "Give a shout if you find anything, or if something else starts attacking you," he called to Larimar before heading into the next room.

He went slowly, eyes scanning the area for more turrets, or electric traps or... anything, really, that might pose a threat. Only computers really stood out to him. Similar, he thought, to those he'd seen before. He approached one of the large terminals, fingers resting on the glass plate before it like a keyboard and trying to see if he could access this terminal at all...





---------


Lieutenant Spectrolite
Poking the second P symbol on the doorway cuz the last time worked out well! 6 + 2 bonus = 8
HP: 50 / 50


The fact she hadn't burned her finger against hot glass was astounding enough, but seeing the magic transfer from her finger to the surface, breaking the glass... that was so cool! She might have gleed and squealed, minus suddenly finding black blades swinging over her head, crashing into one of the tubes.

Sure, Seraphinite's hand kept the glass from hitting her face... by shoving her head down. Sure, they both cut off a good chunk of the turrets' power... but he still could have given her more time to back up! Huffing, she swatted his hand away as he brushed some of the glass out of her hair, carefully taking to the task herself. Though he'd given her a complement, she still was unimpressed at the moment. "You are such a jerk," she grumbled, even as she eyed the plumes of fire uneasily, and... well, got dragged along as more s**t began to break.

"Holy s**t, holy s**t--" Her sputtering words were drowned out by the crashing of metal as the turrets broke down. And... just like that, it all was over. Well. For that room. Spectrolite knew better than to whine, there's more? out loud, but the deep frown as she eyed the new place that opened up probably said enough for her.

While Seraphinite went right on in, she wavered by the doorway, more... waiting to see if anything started to attack people in there before she just walked in...

Glancing about, though, she froze, tilting her head as she stared up at a P symbol carved into the doorway. "Huh... you're not glowing though," she murmured, still reaching up to touch it. Just... y'know. Just in case!