“I did have to agree to come, actually,” Bilskirnir countered good naturedly, still following after Enceladus. “Or I wanted to, because the Negaverse is bad, but also I didn’t know how many people would be here, so I wanted to be your backup.”
Enceladus didn’t know Earth. Bilskirnir happened to think he’d made the right decision, even if he didn’t think this was a good idea. Some of these people were… well, he didn’t want to badmouth anyone, but… he thought some of them might be a bad influence on Enceladus, who was already at risk of getting himself in over his head as it was.
God, and people accused Bilskirnir of being reckless. What was the world coming to that he was one of the least reckless ones here?
Then again, risking himself chasing after tornadoes was a lot different than blowing up a bank.
“Dude, please don’t start a riot,” Bilskirnir said to the young Senshi (Anser), a bit harried, but not unfriendly. He would’ve answered all of Enceladus’s questions instead, but it seemed a little more important to try to be a voice of reason. “I get that Chaos needs to be dealt with, but there’s gotta be a way to do that without endangering people who have nothing to do with it. I agree with—... Dude, are you another alien???”
Aliens! And this one actually looked a little alien.
No. Bilskirnir was not going to be distracted.
“I mean… Dude, sorry, but you look badass. Uhh… what was I saying? Oh! Yeah, I agree with the horny alien! We should investigate! We need to know exactly what they've been getting up to here if we’re going to stop them from doing it again, right?”
Noir Songbird
Seiana_ZI
Whimsical Blue
Guine
Posted: Fri May 19, 2023 3:00 pm
Drombeg, Knight of Earth Action: Going Carefully
As much as Drombeg wanted to say that perhaps they should have checked to see if any alarms would go off just by destroying the ATMs, he kept his mouth shut. He was not the leader of this mission, nor was he one of the more experienced members.
He kept the sledgehammer at his side. "I'll be looking at one of these ATMs to see what's going on inside of them. If any of you have experience with these or other machines I would love the help." He didn't want any of the money, but he did want to see if there was something else to them besides receiving and giving money that normal ATMs performed.
Did they skim credit cards? Did they take energy somehow? He wanted to know before he started smashing and knelt down in front of one of them in an attempt to see if there was some way he could get the outside case of it off without having to destroy anything or setting off some sort of alarm.
Basic Kitty of Defiance Action: Smash, burn, destroy
Kitty didn't try to hide the little smile that settled in place as Nervous Neptune Boy lit up his oil rags off the offered firestick. Maybe it was something like petulance that inspired it (Kitty had that effect on people), but the reason was irrelevant, so like as they did what they came here to do. And it seemed like most of those who'd done as they had were acting similarly! Destroy whatever property this bank laid claim to.
It might cause a scene, might draw attention, but Kitty didn't mind a scuffle, if that's how it ended up.
He got the impression that page boy wouldn't be so into it. Too confused or too noble or whatever the case was. Kitty decided to get into the spirit by launching his own fiery bomb at the ATM machines, because really what harm could it do? And it seemed like a good enough time!
But it didn't really take much to not have anything left to throw, and it might've been nice to have something on hand to use against someone, if necessary... He shrugged, dismissively flippant.
"Kitty, by the way," He introduced himself to the page. "That's my senshi name."
Indigo_Plateau
Posted: Fri May 19, 2023 3:58 pm
Squire Rainier Action ATM - Go carefully, advising not to take any cash (agreeing with Hestia) while having an internal struggle with her role as Rainier vs her role as a DC police officer and how they are really conflicting right now.
If the goal was to be discrete then the idea of smashing these ATM’s should have been immediately dismissed. The noise alone would attract unwanted attention and jeopardize the other groups, especially the ones inside the building.
“I’ll help,” Rainier approached the Knight of Earth (Drombeg) feeling like his approach was the wisest given the circumstances.
“I agree with Hestia though, don’t keep anything. Chances are they have a way to track the cash and the last thing anyone here needs is an agent knocking on your door.” Probably best to burn it once we’re done here, but not before everyone was out safely.
Hati shook his head at the idea of stealing the cash. At least two of the people nearby had senses, the one suggesting it (Myrrha) hopefully knew better than that normally, and was just cracking a joke to lighten the air.
"I wouldn't mind the extra cash, except that they'll know the serial numbers, and if I spend it somewhere and it gets deposited at a bank like normal, they can review the store tapes, probably. Not worth the risk."
Aurelius0815
Fiction1119
tefla
Posted: Fri May 19, 2023 5:18 pm
By the safe, Tanais, Anser, Enceladus, Bilskirnir, Shedir,and Daedalus chose to investigate.
”Even in an emergency, is it really that helpful to turn every civilian in the building into a youma?” came the voice, from the files that the Technology team was working on.
It really was some technology that the Negaverse had hidden here, then, and the group had stumbled upon something that was both dark and magical.
In the depths of the safe, in a broken-open lockbox, was a dark red crystal with a dim light inside that pulsed as if it had a heartbeat. When they got close, the feeling of Chaos that they were feeling got stronger and stronger.
It reacted to their presence, to the power in their souls. When they got close, it flared.
Chaos came off of it in waves. If they’d been civilians, it might have been enough to turn them into youma. Their powers gave them some protection, but not immunity.
Their starseeds ached, a familiar feeling to anyone who experienced corruption in the past. The Chaos came for their minds, as well. Those who could not shake it off could find their emotions shifting towards primal rage, towards darker thoughts.
Did they try to get away and recover as quickly as possible? or set some explosives around the crystal before getting out?
---
Outside by the ATMs, Drombeg, Myrrha, and Rainier chose to go carefully.
There was no key readily available for Myrrha, and the group inside the building was preoccupied with something else. Opening the ATM was going to be a matter of force or nothing, and it wasn’t even that simple.
When they approached the ATM and touched it, even without extreme force, the cameras flickered, and then turned on. It seemed these ones were on a slightly different system than most of the other cameras in the area, and the disrupting devices weren’t working quite as well on them.
However, their close proximity to the machines showed them something that the other group might not have noticed.
Touching the machines made their fingers feel cold. Tired.
It was definitely a draining enchantment that the others were releasing.
Did they smash the cameras? or ignore it all and just keep fiddling?
---
Hyperborea, Antares, Undine, Hati and Kitty chose to smash, burn, and destroy.
There was something satisfying about putting sledgehammers through metal. The explosives were effective, and some portions of the outer walls began to crumble, alongside all but one of the ATMs being dented and destroyed.
Then, as one of the sledgehammers got a direct hit on one of the keypads, something shifted and released.
It exploded.
It was a different kind of explosion than their mundane ones. This was something dark, and full of static, and they weren’t ready for it. Some of them might have stepped out of the way just in time, and some of them might have taken the brunt.
It was proof, though, that there was something sinister here, and proof that they were making progress on it.
Did they keep going? or slow down to check on any injured?
As the ATM exploded, Hati threw himself to the ground, wincing as the heat caught across his back and bits definitely embedded themselves into him. ********. That sucked.
"Yo, we might need to tackle this s**t more carefully. They're booby trapped," he called out to the group of people smashing the machines. "One of them was rigged to the keypad, for sure, but the others might be wired to something different. Not likely, maybe, but..."
He looked around, standing on shaking legs, to see if anyone else was badly injured. He could take his own pain; mostly, he worried about everyone else.
EchosSweet
Indigo_Plateau
Fiction1119
Aurelius0815
daekie
Posted: Sat May 20, 2023 8:18 am
Knight Tanais Action: going inside the safe, getting smacked with chaos, and staying to get explosives set up
Tanais grimaced a little at Cybele’s response, but decided not to say anything about it. She likely had her reasons, and Tanais was here to help, not argue about it. She still didn’t take any explosives herself, preferring the surety of her own strength.
Shedir, Anser… the others that also looked so very young… The messages the other teams had found hinted at a trap and that thought hovered at the back of Tanais’s mind. At least a couple of them seemed to have some age on them, if not as much experience in the war yet. It tugged at that protective part of her. Anser offered a distraction from this worries in the form of calling attention to the cool horns one of the senshi wore. Which turned out to be real?
Tanais was skeptical, even when the man confirmed it, narrowing her eyes at the top of his head. She ran a hand over her hair in unconscious motion, smoothing one of the streaks of red among the black as a sense surfaced out of her hazy memories. It felt strange, suddenly. Flat and smooth. It made her shudder, just a little, and firmly push it out of her mind.
“I’d like to go see what that signature is before we do anything drastic. I want to make sure we don’t set off anything with the party favors.” She said, agreeing with the horned alien(??) and the dark haired page. When had aliens started showing up? Wasn’t he a senshi?
When they headed in, she moved towards the front, red eyes scanning quickly over the area. Nothing living… no youma. Just… a crystal that set alarm bells ringing in her head. That was what was giving off the signature. It oozed malevolence and wrongness… familiar feelings that ate into her and made the knight grimace. Hefting her sledgehammer, Tanais approached it with purpose, fully intent… before it flare and pain lanced through her chest.
Tanais gasped as she pressed a gauntleted fist to her breastplate, metal grating on metal, and dropped her hammer to clutch at her head. Something dark stirred, somewhere deep. A memory of hunger…
“Get those explosives over here!” She snapped, a growl in the back of her voice. “We need to destroy this thing. Now.”
Flames flared in her fists as Tania’s began to channel and it washed up her arms, wrapping her chest and dripping down her legs. It shaped itself into a set of armor that moved and rippled, finally dancing up over her head into the shape of a snarling lion’s helm, its maw obscuring her face. Did it help the gnawing chaos? No. But she felt better for it’s protection, reaching to pick up her hammer again and settle herself, preparing for anything that might come out of that damned crystal.
Noir Songbird
Seiana_ZI
Sunshine Alouette
guine
chi honda
Magic: While channeling her magic, Tanais summons the spirits of her knight line for protection and a suit of magical, shining armor licked with ghostly flames appears on her. While channeling (around 45 seconds) her defense is increased and she’s better able to take hits.
Enceladus, Senshi of Reservoirs Note: Enceladus is a DSS but looks human. Choice: Stubbornly staying to set up explosives, while being poorly affected by the Chaos.
Enceladus huffed and crossed his arms over his chest as Bilskirnir chatted up everyone else. That was fine. Whatever. He had no idea who these people were and not many of them were introducing themselves so he wasn’t going to introduce himself either.
“What is with your obsession with aliens?” he scoffed at Bilskirnir’s enthusiasm as he glanced warily at the others in the safe, crossing his arms a bit tighter across his chest.
And then he felt it. As they moved further into the safe, he could feel the sickening aura of Chaos radiating from some crystal like poison.
He hissed and pressed his hand over his chest, as though that could stop it from seeping into his starseed. It hurt, but obviously they needed to get rid of the crystal as quickly as possible.
“Good thing someone brought explosives with them,” Enceladus snapped back at the woman (Tanais) who thought she was so cool swinging around a useless sledgehammer, along with the rest of them who picked up the large hammers instead of any of the explosives.
“Don't ******** act all high and mighty when you need others' help. Take them,” he bared his teeth and brandished the bag he was still holding in his other hand, not pressed to his chest, and he would have thrown them at her if he didn’t think they could break. He definitely didn’t want to end up smelling like alcohol.
“Why the ******** are we blowing stuff up anyway? Why not smash the damn thing? Muscles useless in this situation? What about you?” he turned his fast growing irritation from the red Knight to Bilskirnir. “You’re pretty damn useless too--”
Enceladus somehow managed to cut himself off. But that was mostly because he felt like he was going to throw up from the Chaos around them. He took a step back to steady himself, trying to reach for a wall of little metal doors to keep himself upright.
Sunshine Alouette
Noir Songbird
Whimsical Blue
Seiana_ZI
chi honda
Posted: Sat May 20, 2023 12:39 pm
Bilskirnir, Page of Jupiter Location: Safe Choice: Getting away to recover as quickly as possible, trying to drag Enceladus with him.
Oh, Bilskirnir didn’t like this.
He didn’t like this at all.
First was the voice. Who was turning what into youma? But why? What was the point? It didn’t make any sense for the Negaverse to do that, did it? Not from anything he’d been told. If they were supposed to be masquerading as protectors of the Earth, it didn’t seem like a good idea to do the opposite in broad daylight, where just anyone with a will and a way could stumble upon it.
Then there was Chaos. Something in Bilskirnir’s chest ached. His starseed? He grit his teeth against it, staring around wildly, feeling something bubble up within him — anger and hatred and distrust. What were these people doing? How could they be so depraved? Chaos was dreadful, but these people were just as violent, just as spiteful and repulsive…
He didn’t feel right. Bilskirnir hated it. He almost snapped back at Enceladus, almost told him exactly what he thought of his piss poor attitude—
No. That wasn’t—...
Bilskirnir shook his head. This was all wrong.
“We’re getting out of here,” he told Enceladus, a bit more roughly than he intended. “You’re all going to get someone killed!”
He grabbed at Enceladus, trying to drag him along. If Enceladus wanted Bilskirnir to put his strength to good use, then this was as good as it was going to get for now. He’d hoist Enceladus over his shoulder if he had to. The kid was scrawny. (And not a kid, but whatever.)
Guine
Enceladus
Noir Songbird
Proximity to Daedalus
Whimsical Blue
Proximity to Tanais
Seiana_ZI
Proximity to Queen Goose
chi honda
Proximity to Shedir
Sunshine Alouette
Eternal Senshi
Offline
Fiction1119
Original Lunatic
Offline
Posted: Sat May 20, 2023 5:45 pm
Antares, Super Senshi of Scorpions is slow down to check on any injured
Antares nodded along with the others that also were also warning about taking the money. Tracking the serial numbers really was a concern. At least that was the case until the ATM's that were just being trashed reviled that they had been boobytrapped.
It washed over her, throwing her back and to the ground as darkness just expanded around her. The static crackled and popped. If the darkness didn't mark it as a abnormal explosion the static would be a dead giveaway. As it was Antares was achy and sore, she felt various parts of her exposed skin sting which meant she likely got several cuts from various debris., both from the explosion as well as from the damage to the ATM's they had been doing.
Hurt she carefully got up and asked the group in general, "Anyone hurt?" She coughed and cleared her throat. "What he said," nodding towards the super senshi in green (Hati). "Not normal explosives either. Somethings really messed up with it. Whatever they did to them definitely has a Nega bend to them."
Aurelius0815
Hype
lizbot
Hestia
daekie
Onnie
SSBrosB
Dromberg
a-disgruntled-dragon
Siegfried
Indigo_Plateau
Undine
EchosSweet
Kitty
tefla
Myrrha
genovianprince
Hati
Shanyume
Rainier
Orangeish Sherbert
Albireo
Posted: Sun May 21, 2023 7:04 am
Super Sailor Onnie Action: Keep Going [who knows when i'll be home. placeholder. onnie is basically uninjured For Now but she did get some scrapes.]
"Yoooo," those horns were legit! As were the fangs! "So you're one of those aliens! My brother would be so excited," and he would be, Anser knew it. Space often had a way of refocusing him even when the PTSD mire got the most intense. That and like. Stories of Order winning, so they needed to get to work on that one-- "Well, welcome to Earth and the horrors of evil capitalism--"
That sounded like a redundant statement.
She had wanted to blow it up, but the general tendencies of the group around her wanted to try and inspect it a bit, so Anser stood back and held the explosive in her hand instead of immediately launching at it. She was uncertain, in the end, if it was the best idea, with the way she heard what the technology team recovered and the way the crystal felt like it was absolutely pulsating with... chaos.
Is it really that helpful to turn every civilian in the building into a youma?
Anser could feel in her soul, for a moment, the rage she imagined her brother might have felt at the concept, and then, the rage she felt for him, for those who had been turned, for those who had been being turned, for herself, always for herself, because these monsters couldn't get over their damn love of monstrous transformation, and her grip on the explosive became alarmingly tight.
Perhaps it was the push of Anser's homeworld itself that brought her some clarity in the rage, and there was a stoic calm on her face.
"Agreed," she said, as she stomped forward and started setting charges with Tanais. "I don't care how it gets taken out." If that one pale boy wanted to punch it to death he could do what he wanted. "Blow it to ******** smithereens."
Whimsical Blue
Tanais
Noir Songbird
Daedalus
Guine
Enceladus
Sunshine Alouette
Bliskirnir
Posted: Sun May 21, 2023 11:31 am
Page Undine of Neptune Action: Slowing down with the fire. He doesn't wanna get burned. :<
He didn't know how it happened that he felt so incredibly out of his element. Undine had thought he'd be pumped! He'd always known he was a special, unique snowflake, and the knight powers coming to him just proved it unquestioningly. If he was supposed to use them to defend the world from evil- Well, of course he would, but that in particular wasn't a focus he'd ever thought he'd have. Still!
Still...
Undine had shown up to get a better feel for what was going on, and the feel didn't really... ring right with him. Even the people here... He watched his new friend, Kitty, through pale green eyes that were incredibly blatantly judgmental. A lot of them seemed destructive to a fault, and yes, he understood that was what they signed up for, but there seemed like more eagerness than was warranted to essentially bomb a part of the city. And he didn't think he trusted Kitty, no matter how 'friendly' the senshi was being to him.
It was while he stared at the pink-clad man that all of their firestarting efforts really began to bear fruit. In response to the name he'd been given, the page replied, "And I'm Undiee-!" Cutting off in a sharp squeal as the senshi snared him by the arm, twisted, and dragged both of them back toward the corner of the building as a rolling tumble of flames barreled toward them. It licked at the apparently very flammable ruffled fabric at his shoulder, and the wind kicked up to knock a billow of smoke in his face.
Heat completely ensconced him, but... he was alright. He didn't know if anyone else was. Undine was quick to disentangle himself from Kitty, flippantly shoving away with a spit of, "That's enough, enough." Someone was going to get hurt, even if it did seem incredibly suspicious that ATMs would be booby trapped.
How could they possibly press on so casually when one, or several, of their own were certainly going to be hurt- maimed!- from this? Undine wasn't looking forward to scarring or burning up his pretty face.
"We have to be careful," he snapped at Kitty. "Stop looking so pleased about all this...- This."
EchosSweet
smol Kitty pilot with permission!
Indigo_Plateau Crew
Offline
Shanyume
Anxious Friend
Offline
Posted: Sun May 21, 2023 11:49 am
Squire Rainier Action ATM - Using her Mercury Magic to either ice over the camera or jam the magic to disable them.
“Careful,” Rainier quickly turned her head to the side, away from the camera, and took a step back. But the warning came too late as one of the ATM’s exploded beside them. Idiots, the lot of them She pivoted on her heel and took note that a number of Senshi and Knights who chose violence over a tactical approach were injured by the blast.
Fortunately, it appeared that the Egyptian-looking senshi (Antares) and the Norse-looking Senshi (Hati)had things under control.
Rainier turned her attention back to the Earth knight (Drombeg) and senshi who had been asking for a key (Myrrha), “Subtle as it may be, these things are draining energy, and I think those cameras are now on. Step back for a moment, please. I don’t know if it’ll work but I’m going to try using my magic on these.” Since becoming a Squire, she had only used her magic once and it was on a monster. This being a machine, she had no idea if it would work the same.
Withdrawing her weapon, she stabbed it into the camera lens and began channeling.
”SSBrosB”
Drombeg
”tefla-”
Myrrha
”genovianprince-”
Mention
”Fiction1119-”
mention
stari_maga-
Squire: The weapon design doesn't change however the cable cord is more sturdy and can reach up to 10' in a single direction. Accuracy goes down after 7' with a higher chance of missing the target unless they're not moving. Once it has hit its target, ice will expand from the crescent shape in about a 6"R to help it not just fall off the opponent with a simple shrug.
Magic: The weapon functions almost like a taser, however, instead of an electrical current it sends an overload of random data sent into the individual which may cause confusion if the opponent tries to make sense of it but ultimately it is meant to short circuits their magic.
Data examples: Symbols, pictures, mathematical formulas, fragmented sentences, or memories. None of which makes sense, at least not at the time. Effect examples: Inability to teleport or walking into mirrors instead of through. Magic may start sputtering, lagging, weaken, or stop altogether.
