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"There's plenty more where those came from," confirmed Misa as they walked. "And other things. Some of them better, some of them worse." She led them deeper into the forest until the canopy of trees was all but blocking out the sun. The few rays of evening sunlight that managed to penetrate gave the forest a surreal twilight. "Tracy is our leader and yes, she's the one who called you here. She calls the shots around here since she's the oldest and the first to escape. As for lasting long....we're very careful. And Lucrum Labs was trying to make us into super-soldiers after all. That's paying off now." Misa looked over at Nero as she proposed her plan. "You're free to do whatever you want so long as the Labs are a smoking crater when you're through. But there's no need to split up here; we're almost there."

After a few more minutes of walking, they stood before what looked like an abandoned warehouse. It had clearly been left in disrepair for quite a while and it was almost completely overgrown with vines and moss. The windows and paint were long gone, giving it the feel of an empty shell. "In here," Misa told them as she walked up to one of the ruined windows instead of through the gaping entrance. "Walk through the front doors and you'll get a face full of high-octane nitroglycerin. Followed by a healthy dose of dead." She waited until they had all made their way through the rather small window before turning back to the warehouse. The inside was just as bare and dead as the outside would suggest, without a soul or even a piece of furniture in sight. "This is one of the few buildings left standing from when Lucrum Labs had a base here in the forest. Eventually the wildlife forced them to leave. They were taking too many casualties and it wasn't worth being closer to their testing grounds. So they just took whatever they could carry and helicoptered out. We came across it completely by chance. Or rather, Tracy did."

Misa walked to a corner of the giant, empty warehouse. "April moon," she said simply, seemingly without any context. After several moments there was a loud grinding of gears. Slowly, the cement ground of the warehouse began to pull back and reveal an opening of darkness below them. Something was coming. After several moments a lift carrying several people rose out of the darkness until it was level with the warehouse, filling the spot where the cement had pulled back.













[[Their machine familiars are not present yet]]

The tallest of them stepped forward as Misa took her place beside the other two. "My name is Tracy Red," the tallest one said without formality. "This is Rielly and Tessa," she continued, pointing to the other two respectively. Rielly gave the group a nod and a small grin while Tessa looked away nervously, her hands clasped behind her back. The one named Rielly was hefting a massive weapon, easily holding it point-up with one hand. She didn't even seem to notice the weight. The one named Tracy looked over at Misa. "Is this all of them?" She asked. Misa shook her head. "One of them got themselves captured on purpose to try and infiltrate it from the inside out. Dunno what happened to him." Tracy nodded, making no further comment on the issue. Rielly leaned forwards, a slightly teasing smile on her face. "You brought a chain, a girl in a collar, a maid and a schoolboy. Are you sure Death didn't think this was some kind of field trip?" Misa shook her head with a small smile of her own. "That's what I thought at first, but I saw them fight. I think they're up for it." "I'd love to test that theory but I don't want to wreck our house," Rielly replied. Tracy merely nodded, accepting Misa's answer.

Tracy looked at the group of students. "I'm assuming you're ready to go right away. Lucrum Labs is sure to know there's intruders by now, especially since one of you got themselves captured." Just then a long, dark shape shot past the WeaponMiesters from behind, not stopping until it had reached Tracy where it began twining itself around her in the air, hissing softly. It had been watching the WeaponMiesters from the window behind them and probably some time before that. How something that big could stay undetected was a mystery. Tracy gestured towards the ground. "This is a partial layout of Lucrum Labs," she told them. As soon as she spoke the snake-like creature twining itself around her looked down where she had gestured, its multiple red eyes flashing. Suddenly a red, transparent blueprint of the complex they had seen from outside the forest lay before them. "It's only partial; none of us have seen the entire thing, but it should help." Lucrum Labs was clearly too big to be searched all over. There were twenty floors in all, ten above ground and ten below. The most important and complicated parts seemed to be in the center of the complex, naturally. The massive fence around the complex was also displayed.

"Don't worry about the wall," began Tracy as she looked down at the blueprint. "We have an agent on the inside. Her name is Bella-Donna. She'll meet up with you once you've reached this section of the wall." Tracy pointed to a specific section of the wall. "She'll let you in from the other side. Misa and Tessa will go with you, Rielly will cover you from behind and I will follow later. Once you're inside, Bella-Donna will be able to tell you where the best places to destroy the labs are." She paused for a moment as she began walking around the blueprint, the snake creature uncoiling to allow her to walk freely. "Your main opponents will be other supersoldiers like us. The difference is that we are the first generation, they are the second and third; improvements on ours. Most of them are based on elements, so pay attention to their names and what kind of attacks they use. Use those clues to find a weakness. Unlike us these super-soldiers are completely brainwashed and loyal to Dr. Faust, the head of Lucrum Labs. You'll have no choice but to kill them." The diagram faded as she turned back to the group, the snake coiling around her once more. "There are also guard-bots. They used to be people or other creatures before they were changed. Now they're killers. Kill them first." Tracy's tone was emotionless as she spoke.

Rielly nodded, her tail lashing as she spoke up. "I have beef with some of these super girls. I'll be on the look-out for them." Tracy looked over at Rielly. "Remember the mission," she said. Rielly nodded. "Yes mother." Tessa shuffled her feet nervously before speaking up herself in a quiet, halting voice. "Umm....Cinder is ready to go whenever..." she said, not looking at the others. She pulled out a small, circular device with some kind of red gem in the center. It glowed softly. Tracy nodded to her. "Good," She replied. "One final thing," said Tracy as she watched the WeaponMeisters. "One of the hard parts will actually be reaching the wall. The outside of the complex is patrolled by a beast known as The Black Warden. It's incredibly powerful so don't try and fight it. You'll lose. You'll have to avoid its patrols if you want to get in. You should be safe from it once you're inside." Tracy paused for a moment to let the information sink in. "Any questions?" She asked them, looking to each one in turn.

Illo stopped grinning after hearing the two speak. They were serious, and it was high time he came clean. He wasn't ready to rumble yet; he was just in need of time and space, which is a bit ironic for a person that believed both were illusions. But, as was his way, he had to do it with style. He walked over to Misa, and with a shackled hand gave her a light karate chop on the head, saying, "Reaper chop." As he did this, he never broke eye contact with Athena. Inside he was still weighing Bella-Donna's tone, her reaction and subtle expressions. "I am simply wishing to be fixed, right Misa? What will you do with me?" He created a small whirl with his energy, and it blew his hair before doing out. "Drafty, isn't it?"

Tracy looked over at Kaoru, the snake creature twining around her slowly. "She will actually. She'll be on the other side of the access hatch, ready to open it for you. I imagine she'll identify herself as soon as you're all on the other side. Misa and Tessa will be with you so they'll be able to identify her as well. As for the improvements, we are strong enough to have a chance against the second generations and I imagine that if you're as strong as Misa seems to believe, then you should be able to beat them one-on-one. But the third generations will be too difficult to fight alone. You should have two or maybe three people to fight them." Misa put her hands behind her head and stretched. "We can take 'em. Ready when you are." "Yup," added Rielly. Tessa gave a barely perceptible nod, holding onto the glowing orange disk in her hand tightly. Tracy looked at the WeaponMeisters. "You know the plan. Unless there's anything else, let's begin."

Illo took the time he had left with Misa to ask her about Bella-Donna without them dectecting his telepathy; he didn't want those mechs catching on, and this imprisonment was perfect cover for the moment.
Misa, Don't act surprised. Act like we aren't talking, and don't say anything out loud. He dictated his thoughts to her hoping she wouldn't give him away. What can you tell me about Bella?

Half-way through his mentation, he began speaking to Athena so that the pause wouldn't seem like anything more than what it was.
"Oh, I'm sorry. I was told that the doctor makes those of reasonable talent better. After all, I've seen what it did for the little one here." He used Misa as an armrest for a second, giving her a smile.
"I would like to know what can be done about my abilities. You see, my third eye cannot be closed once it's open. Well, it can, but it takes a while. You can see how this would be inconvenient in situations where I'm not in a prison cell," he stuck his tongue out as he said this.
"I would like to know what can be done about me. If you don't what to, that's fine, but your partner there makes a good point."

Misa V2 stood silently, scrunching up her face as she thought. Wellllll Bella is one of the only V1s left. Dust is the other one. The rest ran away when they decided not to be grateful to the doctor anymore. Since they were the first ones Dr. Faust made better, the V1s were all really close and friends and stuff and so Bella and Dust were sad when the others ran away. But they stayed behind. Bella is kinda nice sometimes but sometimes she can be mean. The Doctor gave her the power of poison or something like that. It's in her name. Dr. Faust usually names us after the powers he gives us. Not me though. Or Athena. She talks to me nice sometimes but not too often. A lot of times she does stuff with Athena. The Doctor will always tell them to put the "kibosh" on people. He'll say: "Athena, go put the kibosh on them!" And then they'll go out and do it. I'm not sure what that means though. She has these funny flower things that follow her around sometimes and I think they're poison too. They can blow up and cause lots of explosions and spread poison stuff all over the place! Also, the four needle thingys coming out of her can stab you and make you poisoned! Oh, and she has that big gun that shoots poison spikes really fast! She has her sword and when she turns it on it glows and the sharp part gets COVERED in poison. Umm....oh yeah! Her coolest thing is the floating things behind her. If she wants she can make them spin really, really fast and they'll start spraying all this purple poison into the air and it chokes ya if you breathe it! Now that I'm talking about it I wish I had powers as cool as hers! The Doctor says someday I will! She was rocking back and forth on her heels now with a big smile on her face. Sometimes I think she's lonely though...

Meanwhile, Athena listened to Illo without a word. "It has nothing to do with talent, reasonable or otherwise," she informed him after he finished. "If your third eye is causing you to have some kind of life-threatening condition, then the doctor can take a look at it. But if you're just looking for upgrades, you're in the wrong place." She looked over at Bella. "There are two others who have joined the traitors. I expect they will launch an attack soon." Bella-Donna nodded in agreement.

Illo began to rock back and forth with Misa. Her cheeriness was infectious. After a moment of Athena's speech he resolved to provoke a little more. After all, he had a steady hand to play, and all he should be doing is watch his ticks; see that they don't escape his countenence, or his newly annexed confidant's, and watch for tells so that he could call a bluff. Or of course, he could bluff, himself.
"Worth a shot... So, you were saying? About questions?"
He waited for a moment. The one called Bella-Donna looked like she was trying not to look worried.
"I don't know where my friends are in here, but if I were to be out of this screen I could locate them. You have nothing to lose." A blink, and more watching followed.

(I got the PM, btw. Here's something crazy, someone in my dream last night told me I had a guild post waiting for me. Nuts, right?)

Again, Bella-Donna didn't seem to notice Illo's teleportation again. Athena, however, simply remained silent. "Are you saying you'd cooperate if we let you out?" Bella Donna asked. "Absolutely out of the question. Bella, you should know better than that," replied Athena immediately. "Right, of course. Sorry." Athena watched Illo carefully. "When are your friends attacking. What do they want and how are they going to get it? And why did you allow yourself to be captured?" She asked, getting to the heart of the matter. Yeah, why are they attacking? Misa V2 asked in his head curiously.