2489/You Live Like This

You Live Like This
Date of Scene:	24 April 2025
Location:	Crystal Tokyo Ruins
Synopsis:	Rashmi, Hotaru, Catra, Madoka, Homura, Zoisite, Amy and Nephrite venture towards the Crystal Palace in the middle of Crystal Tokyo, but a horde of Droids blocks the way. What follows is a battle against a flood of mechanical horrors, which concludes on an unsettling note. What exactly is meant by special attention?
Cast of Characters:	Chibiusa Tsukino, Madoka Kaname, Rashmi Terios, Hotaru Tomoe, Amanda Faust, Zoisite, Nephrite, Catra
Tinyplot:	Black Moon Clan
Tinyplot2:	BMC: Dimension Future

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Chibiusa Tsukino has posed:
    Mere hours ago, several of the visiting mahoujin from the past pointed out that their entrance likely drew a lot of attention.

    Unfortunately for them, they turned out to be correct.

    The response was not immediate. Chibiusa's guests from another universe had time to soak in the dreary atmosphere. There are no immediate signs of life here. No welcome wagon to greet them, no worried or concerned King or Queen welcoming their daughter home with open arms, no veteran Sailor Senshi, no celebrations or parades. There isn't even the usual throng of people going about their lives, the crowds that these streets were clearly made for.

    The architecture is a mix of postmodernism and crystalline structures. Technology once lost at the fall of the Silver Millenium has made a return here, mixing with the advancements made in the 90s. While there are signs of public transit in the form of busses, trams, and underground subways; the clear focus here is on pedestrian traffic. Wide sidewalks with plenty of room for many people to walk abreast. Patches of soil where trees clearly once grew, but now only an ashen stumps remain if anything. One can imagine a happier time where families stroll through this peaceful city amongst the trees, either soaking in the daylight or admiring the lovely city lights, laughing and enjoying each other's company.

    That's all gone now.

    Now what's left is this liminal space, made subtly offputting by the sheer contrast of how many people should be here as opposed to how many actually are. Which is to say, again, no one. No one is here except for the mahoujin from Radiant Heart.

    That is about to change.

    Those with magical senses can feel it on the wind, see it on their scanners, or just get a really bad feeling. Something dark is coming. A lot of dark things are coming. A huge swarm of lifeless things powered by dark energy are coming. From every direction, out of every nook and cranny.

    You are surrounded. As the horrors come around the corners, up out of the subways, charging out of the doors and throwing themselves out of windows; you can see them for what they are: People, or robots, or mixes of the two. Some of them look and move exactly like a real person should, almost too perfectly so. Others are clearly unfinished copies, half made before being abandoned. Then others still simply never started the copying process at all, being left as their baseline factory default Droid selves, soulless robots arranged vaguely in the shape of a person.

    They are all charging at you. You probably don't want to let them reach you.

Madoka Kaname has posed:
    Madoka and Homura are walking hand in hand through the dreary streets. Brai is hovering over Madoka's shoulder. Kamiko is seemingly absent, or rather she's present but she's hiding in her Labyrinth, which is keeping up with Madoka.

    "It's so quiet," comments the pinkette. "Reminds me of a Labyrinth where the Witch hasn't woken up yet."

    The raven haired girl hears a rumble in the distance, and immediately covers Madoka's body with her arm. "I think your proverbial Witch is wishing us a good morning."

    Brai adjusts her tiny glasses and looks to her Chara Bearer, "Um... Doka-chan?"

    Madoka's eyes are full of worry at first, but it gives way to determination. "My heart: UNLOCK!"

    Homura glances back at Madoka and begins her own henshin. Pink and purple energies splash over one another as the pair of them transform. Hope Blossom and Love Lily are now standing back to back, one with her branch bow and the other with a Remington shotgun.

    "They're here!" shouts the Puella Magi.

    "On it!" exclaims the Chara Bearer, launching a pink arrow into the air that splits and spreads into many smaller bolts, planting themselves into the ground and waiting as they pulsate with magic. They are mines, generally used for area denial. Normally the enemies that Madoka uses them on are smart enough avoid them.

    The Droids do not care, running over the pink arrow mines, and as pretty pink death rips through them and disables a few of the droids, the endless swarms just trample over their fallen cohort and continue closing in on the party.

    "There's too many!" shouts Homura, firing her shotgun as fast as it will go. There's no need for her to aim here. She literally cannot miss with this many targets. Once it's empty, she casts it aside and pulls a grenade out of her shield before throwing it into the crowd, wiping out several yet barely making a dent in the numbers. "We need an escape route!"

Rashmi Terios has posed:
Whether it's the oppressive mount of Dark Energy in the air, or the shattered and empty streets, or the touch of the alien to the general architecture... But Crystal Tokyo is *unsettling as heck.*

It's probably the Dark Energy.

Rashmi has been just over the group's head, keeping Nicomachea's passive sensors running and feeding information. Because they *did* come in hot and noisy, and there *has* to be a response, so where--?

Oh. *Everywhere.*

Juking higher up into the air to get a better vantage point, Rashmi starts walking rapid-fire Barret blasts in the direction opposite the MadoHomu assault.

    << *BONG!* >> << TELEPATHY >>

<< Working on it! >> she calls into the newly-formed telepathic link between her current teammates. << If you're new to this, just think like you're talking, I can't hear anything passively! >>

Hopefully that'll calm down any fears about reading minds? Hopefully?

The moment her blasts clear a space in the oncoming tide of Droids, she tries a gambit to give them a bit more breathing room.

    << *BONG!* >> << SOLAR SHIELD -- RED SHIFT >>

The wall of golden light that stretches from one end of the street to the other is... fuzzy, crackling at the edges as though cripplingly unstable. And it is

Because all the energy not spent on the shield's framework, has been spent on kinetic kickback, and the moment something *touches* the shield, it's going to let off enough energy to scrape the road clear for at least a couple dozen meters.

"Nicomachea: Active scan! Show me where we can go!"

And in reply, the Device lets out a brief *pulse* of magic, mapping the immediate area around them in much the same way as sonar would.

Hotaru Tomoe has posed:
Sailor Saturn turned towards the monsters approaching them. An escape route? She...

... Luminous Titan wasn't here anymore. He couldn't give them advice, or direct them to safety. She was, in many ways, alone.

On the other hand, she was surrounded by a LOT of friends, so not quite alone. And better? Madoka had unleashed an initial volley. Her glaive sang through the air before she thrust it out.

"Silence Wall!" she called out.

A dome of purple light formed around all of them, forming a barrier for them to shoot through...

<< I can cover all of us, but my offense capabilities still need work! Especially since I can't see where survivors are and I don't want to accidentally hit any of them! I don't quite know how far my attack will go so I'd rather angle it down towards the ground if I have to. >> Pause. << Nobody tell Tuxedo Mask-senpai. >>

Amanda Faust has posed:
    It's a Good Future's Bad Future, Amy thinks to herself as she imagines what this world once looked like.

    "The palace really didn't look that far away... I wonder what would happen if we flew to it? Could there be some kind of space warping going on?"

    Madoka says it's quiet.

    "[It's quiet. Too quiet!]" Amy jokes, poorly imitating Peppy Hare. It's not like saying that will actually make anything happen--

    Amy suddenly feels extremely cursed.

    She looks around, "Where are they?!"

    Everywhere.

    "We've gotta clear a path!" Amy throws out napalm grenades to try and slow them down, then checks behind her, "Backblast clear!" before firing a high explosive shell into the crowd of machine-perople that looks like something out of a 90's TTRPG come to life. "Again!" She turns slightly and fires another shell, hoping to get a group. "Again!" She turns and fires again.

    And also sees that Madoka has called down mines. "Good idea! ...Can I do that?" she wonders.

Zoisite has posed:
He'd been right. Usually he was, but this time he loathed that he had been. Even as a few hours trickled away, as they all took their first steps into the unknown, Zoisite remained rather vigilant, remaining close to the group with a gloved hand still lingering near his nose.

Until the burst of door and life and skittering began to echo all around them. Scurrying replicas that showed no remorse, pain or question as to what their directives were.

Like plague mice. So many, ready to feast on the newcomer's corpses.

The semblance of scavenging rodents made Zoisite's skin crawl, quickly lifting himself into the air but remaining within the dome that Sailor Saturn created, trying to get a better look at how many were heading towards them.

Countless. A swarm.

At least these weren't living.

A snap of fingers as wind spun around him, rings filled with cherry blossoms ready while greens eyes focused on what they needed the most: an escape route--or the start of one. Not many options available, unless they wished to risk being trapped in the sewers below or try wasting their energy in destroying a path through. It would also depend on what some of the scanners would bring to the table.

So his eyes looked to the buildings around them. Yes, the droids came from those nooks and crannies, but as far as he was aware, the swarm was not on the buildings themselves.

"Have we considered running on the roof tops of the buildings?" And with a small whisper, the rings of cherry blossoms scattered on all directions beyond the dome and violently exploding on contact with any droid, destroying several in one go.

Chibiusa Tsukino has posed:
    Between the various mahoujin; MadoHomu's team tactics, Rashmi's barret barrage, Amy's rockets and napalm grenades, Zoisite's fiery cherry blossoms; the Droids are falling in droves. As they tear apart, they reveal the inner workings of the magictech that keeps them working. Yet there are still more. So many. So. Many. They are not an army. They are a tide, ramming against Saturn's Silence Wall and Rashmi's Solar Shield in droves. Clawing and scraping at the magical barriers, angry and fierce even as the napalm burns and melts them.

    Zoisite might notice that his idea has one complication: Some of the droids are hanging back, climbing on top of benches and rooftops, watching over the mahoujin party with dark-glowing eyes. Their arms do something that could only be described as 'opening up', false skin lifting to reveal the barrel of a gun fueled entirely by spite and malice. These special ranged Droids respond to the combined mahou firepower in kind, battering against shields with a torrent of dark energy blasts coming out rapid fire.

    Rashmi's area scans reveals several things: One, that there are no survivors nearby. No life signs. It's not that they're hiding, it's just that they're gone. There are many buildings nearby that used to be convenience stores, book shops, coffee shops and the like. They are all empty, both of food and of people. A small ways from here is a strip mall. It's hard to tell what happened to the people here, but whatever it was likely took out a lot of the food, and anything that wasn't claimed by the unknown disaster has already been scavenged.

    Two, that the subway system is vast, interconnected, and partially collapsed. With her scanning abilities she should be able to find a way through it to get to safety. Only a few of the Droids are coming from there, likely because it's almost impossible to navigate. There is also a drainage system, but it has been completely dry for a while now, and it will have the same navigation problems as the subway except also it's more cramped. Whether that's an upside or a downside remains to be seen.

    Three, that there are a lot of Droids. Not an infinite amount, but enough that they'll be fighting for a while before they get through them all. One fortunate thing is that while some of them seem special, it doesn't seem like any of them would qualify as a boss fight. At least... not yet.

    Four, the rooftops, despite being currently occupied by Droids, are at least not as populated as the streets. It would likely be easy for everyone present to jump to the nearest ones. They would have to contend with the ones firing dark energy, but at least they are fewer in number.

Rashmi Terios has posed:
<< Three choices, >> Rashmi says, glancing at the sketch of a beginning of a map forming on one of her screens. << Roofs have the gunners, also more visibility. Good and bad. There's the subway and the waterways. Both have collapses, and the drains are *cramped.* Also good and bad. I *might* be able to map the last two on the run, but we'll be moving slower and maybe get lost. Call out your choice! >>

    << *BONG!* >> << SOLAR BARRET -- BLAZE SHIFT >>

With a sweep of her hand, Rashmi summons a dozen Barrets, which then flare alight with golden fire. The shots dart out simultaneously, two each on six of the closest gunners, and on impact spread magical fire over their targets. Were they living creatures, it would only be *painful* and not actually scorching... but these are not living things.

Hotaru Tomoe has posed:
Sailor Saturn held her glaive steady, staring at the approaching droids... There were just... so many of them... Could they fight all these off?

... She'd really hoped when she had her chance to TRY her attack, she'd like... have ONE youma to fight. Un. Wa'. ONE!

But this was a horde. And she didn't know if she could minimize the damage...

Worse? The OTHER her wasn't available to help and, even if she was? She likely had no more experience in this than her.

Deep breath. Slow... deep breath... "Everyone... behind me!" she yelled. "Please, tell Sailor Moon I'm sorry for any damage this does, but I'm going to clear the ones ahead!"

"Silence Glaive Surprise!"

The barrier went down and the tip of her glaive glowed purple. As the creatures went back, she moved her glaive back, then spun it overhead, swirling it around, before launching out in a horizontal strike.

A wave of purple magic washed out forward, swirling around like a massive sawblade of magic. Except it didn't cut. It destroyed. Tearing apart stone, cement, anything that came near it, just... disintegrating as the wave of destructive magic swarmed forward.

Unfortunately, she couldn't aim that any direction but forward... Also, unfortunately, she almost fell over from it, having to dig her glaive into the ground. But... hopefully that bought them some space.

... And hopefully it would stop before it destroyed... anything... too important. She hoped. She really, really hoped.

Madoka Kaname has posed:
    Homura responds to Amy saying, "I don't know. Have you tried claymores?"

    Her conversation is interrupted by a long *brrrrrrt* of machine gun fire before continuing.

    "Or even just delaying the explosion? There's probably a few things you can try."

    Madoka looks up to the rooftops after hearing Zoisite's question and says, "Well, we might draw more attention that way, but that's gotta be better than this!"

    Homura says, "I think we already have their attention."

    As Rashmi lists their choices, Madoka tries to consider, but it's hard when she has to fire, and keep firing, and keep firing just to thin out the numbers that are already at their barrier.

    Homura telepathically volunteers. << If we go by subway or waterway, I can collapse the way behind us. Leave that to me. It's safer if I do it. >>

    Madoka says, << We're at home traveling via rooftop, though. We'll have a combat advantage. >>

    Homura responds, << Keep in mind that Amy and I have to be especially careful in how much magic we spend. There are no Witches here, just the Grief Seeds we brought with us. >>

    Madoka frowns. She knows that Homura can last. Can Amy? Her eyes go to Saturn and yeesh that magic looks really familiar.

    Right. She can't get caught up in the moment. They have to make a choice.

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Amy has practiced this situation in games, unwittingly -- it's nice that she has unlimited ammo and doesn't need to reload.

    But, falling into that groove did mean she didn't think as much about stuff like 'just jump onto the buildings', as Zoisite suggests. She looks up at the rooftops...

    "Snipers!" She warns, and a salvo of minimissiles fly out towards some of the ranged attackers to try and blow apart their gun-arms.

    Rashmi calls a vote. << ROOFS! You have shields, we'll find ways to slow pursuit once we're ahead enough like Madoka's mines! >>

    As she speaks, Amy's conjured the .59-caliber gyrojet rifle to shoot at the rooftop gunners -- if she can get one down in 1-4 shots or so, it might be fast enough to help clear a rooftop path working with the others.

    It won't work against the bulk of the horde though, even if it goes through more than one in a single shot. There's just too many!

    << The other ways could dead-end or slow us! >>

    Amy would've told Madoka her situation and bummed a grief seed or two off of her before they left the present, so she knows how many Amy has.

Zoisite has posed:
Jaws clenched at the map being generated from Rashmi's scanner. Something about being underground among the rot sent chills down his spine, beyond whatever creatures might be down there: rats and cockroaches. Even if the planet was indeed dying, he doubted the ones that lived off putrefaction would be among them this early.

Not only that, there was no guarantee they would not get lost or stuck. And for how long could Saturn maintain the shield?

Another summoning of cherry blossoms, and this time he hoped to aim it at the gunners, but halted when Saturn commanded so, and he was no fool to disobey the child with the ability to annihilate an entire planet. Swiftly landing back on the ground and watching the destructive power cut through the city and droids like butter--truly a marvel to behold.

"I vote the rooftops. We do not know what else the enemy has in store for us, and even if we can buy ourselves time down there, willingly causing a collapse could also bury us as well. The structure might not be sound." Ignoring his own phobias.

Finally, he releases the flurry of blossoms on the gunners above, letting them do their dirty work in destroying the droids.

"We have shields, some of us can teleport. I'm sure we could make the roofs work to our advantage."

Nephrite has posed:
The wave of purple washed out below, but Nephrite had been thankfully above. Hovering above the group, covering the rear flank-- shots like falling stars had been targeting any of the masses coming from behind. Truly, there was no seeming origin point for these things, they came from any hole they could crawl out of.

It was a numbers game that they were shurely losing. They needed to keep pressing forwards or find a way to break from the attention they were getting, but the latter seemed borderline impossible.

He lowered now, prepared to assist anyone to higher ground. "Agreed. We need that line of sight. The ground is thick with these things for blocks."

Chibiusa Tsukino has posed:
    Rashmi's Solar Barret impacts the ranged Droids and they fall just as quickly as the others do. Amy finds similar results. They could probably keep the rooftops clear if they kept it up.

    Saturn's new Silence Glaive Surprise cuts through the enemy hoards, leaving a wake of nothing that instantly gets filled by more robot copies, which in turn have to face the combined assault of MadoHomu. Nephrite brings up the rear, and while there really isn't a means to thin out numbers like these it's still possible with constant fire to maintain a distance.

    The oncoming crowds of Droids are now starting to trip over the parts of their own fallen, which is slowing down the approach long enough for the mahoujin to leap to safety, if they take the opportunity. It certainly seems like the rooftops are the best way, both for managing the flow of the crowd and also for avoiding cave-ins or getting lost. Yet as soon as they take that way, they face another complication: The Droids will climb up after them.

    It's not as fast as their mad charge, and they'll be climbing over each other as much as they will the walls, but they aren't easily deterred by rough terrain. Their claw-like fingers dig into the walls as they hoist themselves up, breaking into a mad sprint the moment they reach the roof.

    Should the mahoujin try to out-jump them on the roof, the Droids will jump after them. Not as fast, not as sure-footed, but they'll still keep coming. Some of them will miss their jumps and fall onto the street below, but most will keep coming relentlessly.

    There are still yet more gunners. Not as many as the standard ones, like maybe 1 Droid out of 10 is a gunner here, but they are still seemingly endless and they never seem to run out of the hate needed to fire their dark blasts. Several of them take positions in the windows of the taller buildings around, firing on the magicals who get close.

    Those who can see the flood from above can tell that the Droid army keeps going on for several city blocks and still more are pouring into the crowd.

Rashmi Terios has posed:
<< Up it is then, >> Rashmi says, dipping down to loop Saturn's arm around her neck, and carry her up into the hole made in the wake of the gunners. << Red-chan... We *don't know how long we'll be here,* I need for you to concentrate on getting the ones that slip the net, okay? You've got plenty of power *now,* but three days from now with no Witches? >>

The moment they gain the roof, Rashmi summons a big, shiny, golden shield at their back, to draw fire and hopefully attention. Barrets are summoned and fired ahead of them, and if two to a target are enough, then that's the *maximum* she'll allocate per launch. Her own reserves are not bottomless, and one look at the street below says that their pursuers may well be.

Madoka Kaname has posed:
    Homura frowns, which is normal for her. She's still fairly confident that her idea would have worked, but she didn't last for over 10 years as a timelooping Puella Magi by arguing over things that don't really matter. The others make good points, too. << Rooftops it is, then. Madoka, hold my hand. >>

    Madoka takes it, and in an instant they are both gone, and wow is there suddenly a huge burst of pink magic just spreading out all over the crowd. They reappear on a nearby rooftop, a sudden burst of firepower clearing out the nearby gunner droids, and the two hold the position in order to create a path for the others to come along with them.

    Homura discards and replaces another empty gun. She's on her fourth by one now. How many does she have? You don't wanna know.

Hotaru Tomoe has posed:
Sailor Saturn most defintiely appreciated the extra help getting up the building from Rashmi, not resisting as she was helped up into the air, holding onto her and lightly panting as she went. Help. Yes. Help was nice. And she was just going to let the other girl direct her a bit.

Cause she was, admittedly, NOT the best at the 'leaping over a buildings in a single bound' thing.

"I-I think those were the things I felt. I... I think they're dead. I think they've been dead for a while." She was good to keep running with them, but... "If we find a place to bunker down... let me know. I-I think I can do my shield or... or another one of those blasts if we can gather them all. B-but... I-I can't chain those. I-it takes a lot of effort to not like... wipe out everything... I don't think it's *meant* to be used like this and it feels *really* uncomfortable... like... like having a swimming pole trying to force all the water through the hole of a soda can..." she said, lightly panting as they walked.

Zoisite has posed:
Already on the roof of the nearest building, his eyes continue to can their surroundings as much as possible. He's very aware that they had limited time, regardless of which path they took. Now his main focus was not only on the speed they could move at, but where to and how the fuck to avoid summoning more droids.

Was it the line of sight? Knowing where they were? "Nephrite, how many blocks long are they? And do you think, hypothetically, if we do bunker down and make the droids think we're in one place, do you suppose we could teleport the group somewhere safer?" He looks over to his senior Shitennou, not shy of sharing his thoughts as the minutes ticked in his mind.

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Amy leaps up to the roof once a path is 'clear', motioning for others to come with and throwing more incendiaries in any nearby allies and at the base of the building. She shoots at some of the climbers, but ultimately just leaves a bomb behind that she'll remote-detonate to collapse the roof once all her friends are past. That way the droids will have made a pile of themselves to climb for nothing!

    For what little good it does.

    Tossing more burning fire into alleys and the streets below as they roofhop is one thing, but those damned snipers are a problem. She has to stop and pinpoint them to return fire -- and she is occasionally sending minimissiles out, but there are just so many, and summoning missiles for all of them will put a lot of drain on her magic. << Does anybody have a good way to deal with those snipers?! >>

Catra has posed:
Not everyone was with the main group. Catra, it turns out, was scouting ahead and creeping around apart from everyone else. Which, usually, is just fine for her to do; wait for the main group to get in trouble (like, ambushed by princesses was a pretty normal thing to happen back on Etheria). Except today it's not fine because all of a sudden Catra found herself basically swimming in droids.

The tuxedo-clad feline has been doing her best to hold them back, but she's getting all sorts of pummeled; sure she's fast, but she's surrounded and everything is basically going wrong. She's using her sword with the blade wreathed in flame one-handed to hack and slash and block and parry, while her claws on her other hand pick up the really close in work, as the snarling and hissing ball of rage does her work, taking bruises and getting thoroughly angry every time the tux is damaged (IT. WAS. EXPENSIVE.).

And then suddenly a bunch of them just disintigrate thanks to someone's Silence Glaive and she has a straight run to get back to the group (Well, after slicing a couple more droids in half anyway) which she takes, taking a running leap and doing a wall-run to get over a few more droids spilling in from a side street, to get back in view of the rest of the group.

"EAR PIECE FELL OUT AND I LOST IT!" she yells by way of explaination, as she dives in between Sailor Saturn and an onrushing group of droids, adopting Koncho-no-Kamae as she waits for them to arrive and then swinging her sword in a series of rapid cuts.

Nephrite has posed:
Nephrite hovered near as the others made their way higher, looking back over his shoulder as he drifted by Zoisite's ledge.

"There's numbers of them, but these things look pretty slapped together. we might be looking at night vision capability, maybe heat seeking at best. I'm not even sure if they'd all have the same parts. But there's every chance most of these things are just going by movement tracking--"

This was a consideration that he might've been able to confirm if he had the time to get his shadow into one of them, maybe glean sense for what the world looked like to them. But that wasn't happening any time soon. He'd be too exposed.

Chibiusa Tsukino has posed:
    The rooftop plan seems to be working out after all. As the mahoujin move, the Crystal Palace still looms overhead, taller than any of the other buildings, being a guiding beacon for the group of where to move to. It's the only place on the horizon that seems even remotely safe, and every other place seems plagued by mysterious darkness and general bad vibes.

    Rashmi's two Barret-per-target seems to work, though it might take several iterations of optimization. The first shot to unbalance the Droid, then the second to take out something vital while it trips over itself. Headshots and chest shots seem to work on these, if you can even get a clear shot at all, though not as much as you might expect. The headless ones still move, they just don't know where to go.

    The sudden burst of firepower from Madoka and Homura, as well as their mysterious relocation, does manage to catch the Droids. The collapsed rooftops, thanks to Amy, are tying up a lot of them at once, though their mad scramble continues after they throw a few of their own onto the rubble in order to make a bridge.

    Catra's fight against the Droids, surrounded and isolated at first, is a pretty rough endeavor. She's capable of slicing through them for certain, but with that many it's only natural that she'd have a rough time.

    For once, it seems like the Droids are starting to thin out, but... that's... kind of odd isn't it? Weren't there a lot more than this? Surely the amount of discarded youma chassis here, numerous though they may be, isn't near enough to account for all the swarms you saw just a moment ago. A careful eye might notice that they are vanishing into buildings, running into alleyways, more or less vanishing the way that they came. There are still maybe fifty or so charging at the mahoujin, but the rest seem to have... lost interest?

    Or maybe they're planning something.

    Nephrite might get his chance to see through the eyes of a Droid in a moment, if he strikes when their numbers are thinned out.

Madoka Kaname has posed:
    Madoka and Homura leap to the next rooftop, and then the next, each jump taking them closer to the Crystal Palace. The Puella notices the Droids just suddenly bugging off and immediately doesn't like it. << I don't trust it. First they wanna kill us and now they're backing off? >>

    Madoka thinks back, << Maybe they're giving up? I get the feeling that those weren't meant to face someone like us. >>

    Homura considers telepathically, << Are they what happened to the people here? >>

    Even with most of the Droids backing off, Homura and Madoka are still picking off those that get too close. Madoka focuses her attention on the snipers, since her homing arrows can track them down, while Homura keeps firing on the melee-using Droids.

    They keep moving and shooting, only slowing down to cover those mahoujin who lag behind.

Zoisite has posed:
They're retreating.

This did not bode well. Not for a moment. Looking away from Nephrite to take another stock of their surroundings, Zoisite flew a little ahead and noted that some of the droids slipped back into their hiding spots.

Another shiver as he turns back to the group. "Look lively. We're not killing all of them, they are going back the way they came. I do not trust that we scared them, there is no reason for this to be the case."

In another summon of blossoms, he launched it towards the remaining droids, aiming for their ankles this time so they are unable to move.

It might be a good moment for them to run, as fast as they could.

Rashmi Terios has posed:
<< Catra-chan! >> Rashmi calls out, weaving between rooftop infrastructure and patches of rubble. Once the Etherian has joined them, she looks down at her screens again, frowning as the movements suggest they have either become fantastically lucky, or *supremely* unlucky.

It would be really, really awesome if it was a spectrum, y'know?

More Barrets are sent on ahead; triplets this time, leg-head-chest targeted with perhaps a second allocated between impacts; the more they can be knocked off-balance, the less they can be shooting, and under cover of her staggered, relentless fire...

    << *BONG!* >> << INVESTIGATION >>

Three more orbs streak out and away, on a straight-line path in the direction of the Crystal Tower. These are not Barrets, but sensors, with enough magic allocated to them to last a good few kilometers apiece. The sensor balls spread out as they fly, to get some proper forward mapping done and an actual route planned.

<< Saturn, it's okay. Keep your strength up, we're probably gonna need another road-sweeping soon and we don't want you tapped out when that happens. I gotchu. Zoi-san, Mado-chan, Homu-chan: keep the area in front of us clear. Catra-chan, I want you with Amy-chan, watch out for monsters that get through, Neph-san... Help me figure this out. I don't like it. >>

Homura's question is met, at first, with silence from Rashmi. << ...I was wondering that too, >> she admits.

Hotaru Tomoe has posed:
Sailor Saturn kept running and leaping with them... << I... I think they're right. I don't think these things are the kinds of things that just 'give up'. If... if working with Obsidian taught me anything it means they're likely planning something annoying. >>

Huh. What would Riventon do in--

<< Rashmi! Can you scan ahead, towards the buildings we're leaping towards? They might be trying to lay an ambush or worse, collapse the building under us when we land! >> Well, only some of them could fly.

Sure, it might just be they intend to like... swarm on them when they get closer to the castle... but welllll... she couldn't guarantee that.

Catra has posed:
Finally

Catra has a moment to rest, which she spends breathing heavily and resting her free hand against a ruined wall beside her. She lets the flames on her sword and claws die out, and shifts the sword to slide back into the scabbard (a position that makes it no less dangerous than when it is drawn).

<< Rashmi, >> the feline answers. << Oh good, you got your telepathy going. Anyway the earpiece fell out and I got swarmed. Looks like you guys have been having the same luck. By the way when the second wave comes, please do your thing that makes people faster, that'd really help a lot down here. >>

Catra pushes off from the wall, and fishes the Spirit Ember out of her pocket, holding the stone up in front of her where she can look at it.

"You can start doing your thing any time now," she hisses at it, eyes narrowed. "Big lot of help you are," she adds as she stuffs it back in her pocket.

At least the dark energy suffusing the area doesn't seem to be bothering Catra overly much. One of the very, very few perks of being only revently unemployed from Obsidian.

Amanda Faust has posed:
    So far, so good...ish. Amy's had some close calls with those damned ranged shots. So many places for them to shoot from! She fires smoke missiles at the windows she's seen shots come from -- let them move and find another place to shoot from, while the mahou move ahead!

    << I don't trust this. >> Amy says, at the same time as Homura. << Yeah, they're planning something. Or doing something, anyway. Or working with something worse... Let's keep going and hope we can outrun whatever it is before we find out. >>

    << Catra, you want a lift? >> Amy can go flight mode and bring her to the rooftops if she wants.

Nephrite has posed:
<< I'm going to need some cover fire. I might be able to get inside one of these things and get an idea of what's makingt hem tick, but it's a hard might and my body will be exposed while I'm inside. >>

Never mind any exposure to Dark Energy that may or may not come of thigs, but that was a risk he was uniquely primed to take. It was worth rolling the dice.

Nephrite would fly ahead, landing on an as yet stable but lower rooftop to target the droids hit by Zoisite's attack. A fair few downed but still mostly intact-- that was the best best. He brought his hands together in a specific sign, and began to whisper. As he did, his shadow would start to stretch rapidly down over rubble towards the nearest downed droid, forming up a line until the contact was made.

His attempt to possess it, however-- to see through its eyes and understand whatever directive it may have-- would leave him totally open.

Chibiusa Tsukino has posed:
    The mahoujin in this party have good instincts.

    Clearing out the remaining Droids does take time and care. One or two of them turn out to be playing dead, only to jump at the mahou at the first sign of a lowered guard. However, it's not the sheer unrelenting nightmare that it was a moment ago. They have a chance to take a breather.

    Rashmi's scan maps out the area ahead, and she can find a couple of rooftop routes. Some of the buildings are clearly structurally unstable, and it wouldn't be hard for her Device to mark them for her, but there are relatively safe paths forward if she wanted to lead the way.

    Saturn's callout is a good one, and if Rashmi follows it up she might discover something interesting. The Droids are waiting. Standing upright, perfectly still. Just... Waiting.

    Nephrite's attempt at looking through the Droid's eyes would reveal... honestly just how slapped together these things actually are. These aren't the specialty designed copies of the Spectre Sisters seen in combat earlier. These are mass produced models, with no real personality of their own. Their scanners are a mix of optical, heat, audio, and there seems to be some kind of garbled transmission being received. Whatever the transmission is saying, it seems to be telling the Droid to Wait. Wait for a signal. For a specific trigger. They are receiving orders, which they follow without question.

    On a nearby rooftop, a door opens. A man in his mid twenties opens the door and shouts out them. "Hey! Over here! Hey! Come quick, before they come back!" He looks at the piles of scattered Droid parts just filling the area and asks, "Did you fight all of those? Hurry over here! We need help!"

    Nothing is attacking them at the moment. A new face is here, possibly a survivor.

    Something doesn't really add up, though.

    Mostly it's just that...

    ... Rashmi never found any survivors...

    ... so who the curse jar is this guy?

Nephrite has posed:
He doesn't linger about inside, recoiling as quickly as he feels he understands. There's a retreating of the shadow, and even the release has spent a deal of effort, audible in his suddenly heavier breathing. Nephrite's finger goes to his ear.

<< Rashmi-- There's some kind of feed here, they're recieving orders... to wait for a signal. I can't tell where that transmission is coming from. But whatever put them together's mangling scrap. Some have eyes, some have ears. Some look for body heat, but it's a mixed bag. Look alive, trick's coming.>>

He's moving again, running to leap to higher ground.

Rashmi Terios has posed:
<< Understood, >> Rashmi answers Neprite, brow furrowing in deeply concerned confusion. << Also I've got us some routes. Follow the Barret, I'll put it a couple roofs ahead of us so you know where to go. Catra-chan, *please get up here* I do not want you swarmed *more.* >>

    << *BONG!* >> << SOLAR STINGER >>

A single Barret, tuned for endurance and range, zips ahead to its designated location... Then slows to match pace with the group.

And then the *person comes onto the roof,* and *asks for help.*

<< ...Saturn-chan, Nicomachea, look for life signs, >> she thinks, her mental voice guarded, as she floats forward to address the man. "Sir...? How many people are you with?"

<< I hate that I hate this, but... If we can help, we need to. Don't think I don't think this is a trap, but... if it's *not,* Chibiusa-tan would want us to help. >>

Madoka Kaname has posed:
    Homura knows.

    She doesn't have any scanners. She doesn't have any special insight. All she has is her experience to guide her. All she has is her instinct.

    << That entire building is rigged to explode. Don't go anywhere near that guy. >>

    Madoka's pink eyes widen and she takes a step away from the strange man as she looks at Homura. << E... explode? >>

    Homura closes her eyes. << It's what I would do. Lure the enemy then blow them up. It might not be an explosion persay, but it's some kind of trap. >> She reaches up behind her neck to flip her hair to the left as she explains her reasoning. << Something intelligent is guiding these things. They expected to overpower us, but that was more costly than they planned. Now they want to trick us, but they are underestimating our abilities. Something like this would've probably worked on the locals, as long as they weren't Sailor Senshi. >>

    Madoka frets for a moment as she grips her branch bow, and then she takes a step forward towards the edge of the roof she's on. Cautiously, she calls out, "Excuse me... How do we know you're not one of them?"

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Catra does not want a lift, but the immediate threat they're running away from is over.

    ...Isn't it?

    A door opens and someone calls out. Amy looks over.

    She makes her way that way, planning to stop at the next rooftop over. "Why did they stop? What's happening? How are you alive?" << Is it possible whatever hides someone from the bots hides them from your scans for survivors, too? >>


    Homura's warning makes her stop in her tracks and not approach any closer than she already has. She looks at the building in the distance for any obvious bombs.

Zoisite has posed:
A feed. Someone was communicating with the droids. Who could it be? And for a moment, the image of Saphir came to mind, along wit Rubeus and how the sisters all broke apart in the last fight. Again and again and again and--

Zoisite still didn't trust it, how they were so neatly hiding back in the shadows again. And as the new stranger waves as them, he agrees with Madoka's approach to not entirely trust the man.

Proof was need.

"A survivor would be a good distraction. This could be the trick indeed."

More rings of cherry blossoms surrounds him, ready as he looks over the building. "How do they even know they can trust us?"

Catra has posed:
Catra doesn't need a lift. She's not a paralyzed monkey. Much as she might appreciate the offer, she's not going to show it, becuase accepting help means admitting that you can't take care of yoruself which is a sign of weakness and THAT IS NOT ALLOWED.

And this is how Catra's brain works.

Instead, the feline digs her claws into the wall and scrambles her own way up. And, she totally messes up the knees of her tux in the process, but whatever, it's not like it's not already in need of a tailor with beyond ordinary human powers of needlework. (She's still annoyed about it mind you.)

Once she's up top, she rests one hand on the hilt of Powersend, and regards the newcomer with eyes narrowed to suspicious slits.

<< I don't trust him, >> she... thinks at everyone, or however that works. Telepathy isn't her area of expertise. << I mean, sure, it's probably a good idea to go with him before whoever's been taking his inspiration from Hordak sends more robots, but if he twitches funny I'm sticking him. >>

Hotaru Tomoe has posed:
Sailor Saturn glanced towards the droid and blinked. And lifted the glaive and... << That? That's bait. I don't know what that is, but that's not a person. It's... I don't know. But I don't feel... anything... from that. >>

Chibiusa Tsukino has posed:
    The man looks up to Rashmi and says, "Are you flying? Actually, nevermind that. Just come here, we need--"

    Saturn and Nicomachea aren't detecting any life signs, and they say as much. Especially not from that guy. Several mahou warn against getting close to him. Homura seems to have seen this trick before.

    He starts to sense the party's hesitation. Starts to see that he's not getting them to come any closer. At first he frowns and even glares at them, but then he smiles the most wicked grin. He taps his temple and says, "Ooh, you're thinkers, aren't you? You're going to need some extra attention."

    Then he goes back into the building and closes the door behind him. He does not explain himself. He does not come back out. Something Bad is still being planned. You don't get to know what it is yet.

    For now, the streets are silent.

    Maybe it's a good time to move on? Rashmi's guidance is right there, providing a stable path to the Crystal Palace, and the only thing you can trust here is each other.

Rashmi Terios has posed:
And perhaps the worst of all possible outcomes happens.

He just *goes back inside.*

<< ...Yeah let's *go,* >> Rashmi urges. << Nicomachea: Alternate Path Kepler, please. >> Obligingly, the Barret ahead of them pulls back some, then blips across a street to another rooftop, taking their path away from that building entirely. Just to be safe.

But it has been an *exhausting* rooftop scramble, and Saturn still isn't looking great. Catra's seething, but, in Rashmi's experience it's a Level 2 Seethe at best. << New plan, >> she says as she picks her way across to the new route. << Let's look for someplace with thick walls and maye one entrance to defend. Something we can barricade, preferably. I don't know about you, but... I need calories. >>

Zoisite has posed:
"Food? Really?" Zoisite blinks over to Rashmi, frowning. "Perhaps after we make some good distance. The closer to the Palace, the better. Then I'll accept whatever tea you have."

Little by little, the blossoms around him begin to safely scatter as he approaches Sailor Saturn. "Will you be alright? I don't know if I can freely share my reserve energy with a Sailor Senshi, but I could attempt if you need any. Or I could carry you until we find a place to safely rest."

Nephrite has posed:
<< Going forward, nobody approach survivors without confirming with the group. If the scans aren't showing lifesigns, we should take Sailor Saturn's word or... push comes to shove, look for blood. >> Draw some from a distance, even, he didn't quite say. Gently, of course. A petal from Zoisite would do, even a rock thrown... He sighed.

Nephrite was already moving to fall in behind Rashmi, jumping from one building to the next to step closer. "I doubt my illusions are going to help us hide from these runners, either. From people, sure, but... I might have it in me to set up a more permanent ward on an entrance, if we find something."

Hotaru Tomoe has posed:
Sailor Saturn nodded, moving with Rashmi and glancing towards where the man had been. The fact he'd gone back inside... that was concerning. She was with Rashmi on that. If he didn't wanna stick around... Who knew what other monstrous things he had intended?

Or, well. Whoever was controlling him.

<< Food... sounds good... >>

She then blinked and smiled at Zoisite. "O-oh, no, y-you don't need to do it like that. It's... I'm fine. really. I'm just not used to.... that. I mean... My glaive really seems to have a lot of 'all or nothing' in it setting and... Sailor Saturn really only lets me use it at all below the bench mark and well... it's a lot harder than it looks..."

"... I'll try not to slow everyone down... but... actually... if I could... de-henshin for a bit? Maybe... carrying wouldn't be so bad."

If she was told it was okay? She would. And would even let Zoisite carry her for a bit... The fact she practically fell over the moment she ended her henshin, though, told just how tired she actually was.

Amanda Faust has posed:
    When he says "you're going to need some 'extra' attention" Amy doesn't wait, she turns and fires another explosive shell at the door he's going for / just went through.

    "Well, that's horrible. The people of the future were attacked by these things... pretending to be people?"

    She shakes her head at Nephrite's comment. << The ones with fake flesh probably have a little fake blood, too. >>

    She turns away from the probably-explosive building and roofleaps after Rashmi.

Rashmi Terios has posed:
"Device Mage," Rashmi answers Zoisite, lifting a shoulder in a casual shrug. "We don't *literally* run on our stomachs, but, food's the best way to replenish mana. That's why I brought five flats of Cup Noodle, got a preferred flavor?"

As Saturn confesses her exhaustion, Rashmi nods gently... but then Zoisite offers to *carry* her, and that's the most genuinely kind thing she's seen him do yet. So it's with a smile and a sincere "Thank you, Zoisite-kun," that she turns her attention to the route ahead of them.

When Nephrite voices the limits of his ability to cover their tracks, the redhead simply nods, shakes her head, and draws in a deep breath. "All we can do is the best we can do, everyone. As long as we look out for each other, we'll get there okay."

Chibiusa Tsukino has posed:
    Amy hits the dude square in the back. He explodes. He was a Droid. The doorway is gone now.

    The vibe is still creepy af, tho.

Madoka Kaname has posed:
    Madoka stares at the doorway that the man just vanished through. She looks at Homura, who looks back at her with knowing eyes.

    I told you so.

    It's not a telepathic message. Just the kind of unspoken bond that these two have by now. Madoka asks, "Are Medo, Sio and Rens still with you?"

    Homura nods, "Yes. Are Tia and Lydian still with Kamiko?"

    Madoka nods, then says, "Guess that's all of us then. I'm with the others. We should head out."

    Homura grabs Madoka by the hand and says, "I'd love to."

    The two of them keep roofleaping together to keep up with the group.

Catra has posed:
"See I knew that guy was full of it," Catra declares proudly when the man goes back into the door and slams it shut. She falls in with everyone else, for the most part, still keeping her distance just in case someone, oh who knows, lobs a grenade at them or something. Or if Amy has a failure of explosive launching (like that one video on the internet of the army dudes trying to fire a mortar bu the think just goes 'bloip' and drops the mortar round six inches away from the tube).

<< ...Wait hold up, >> she broadcasts to everyone, << Food? Nobody told me we were literally travelling to the future and I didn't bring any. Rashmi your noodles sound great and all but do they have large amounts of chicken or tuan or something in them? I'm an obligate carnivore and I do not eat robots. >>

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Now that she has a moment away from the horde, Amy makes her way over to Catra. "Rashmi and probably Chrono and Madoka brought extra food. If we're really foodless you can have some of my sandwich. I can probably survive on magic long enough to make it to the palace."

    She probably can but she doesn't want to find out what starving feels like.

    "Here." She conjures a couple of bandoliers of grenades, like she did in the dream, and holds them out to Catra. 9 incendiary, 1 each frag, high explosive, smoke.

    Amy's weapons are magic and can't misfire, but Catra doesn't know that, and Amy doesn't know Catra's worried about it.

Zoisite has posed:
The moment she shows she might topple over, Zoisite is quick to give her support and carry her carefully in his arms--bridal style. Might be more comfortable. This way she would be able to rest and they would not have to slow down as they move.

But he did make a face at Rashmi when she addressed him as -kun. "No. Zoisite or nothing at all." There was no aggression in his voice for now, mostly so Sailor Saturn wouldn't have to worry herself. He's already clocked her as the strongest of their particular group, so to him, she deserved the recharge.

<< I have MREs if you want meat. Rice and chicken if what Rashmi brought if not to your taste. >> He telepaths back to Catra.

Madoka Kaname has posed:
    Homura Akemi reaches into her shield, pulls out a bag of beef jerky, and offers it to Catra.

    "Here. This will keep. Hold onto it just in case."

Nephrite has posed:
A gloved hand did come to clap upon Zoisite's shoulder for a brief moment. Sapphire eyes took in the state of the girl with some concern, his glance rising to the other Knight's face.

Then, a nod to Rashmi. "I'll get some air, and see if I can spot anything... sturdy along the paths you've mapped out."

Rashmi Terios has posed:
"Zoisite, then," Rashmi says, though with the twist in her voice that all but shouts 'You did a nice! I saw it! No takebacksies!'

When Catra brings up her dietary needs, Rashmi frowns, one screen swapping to a view of her Device's 'inventory.' "Shrimp, Cheese Curry, Hokkaido Milk Seafood... oh hey! Promotional Double Mystery Meat, I'm surprised I didn't see that when I got it! Aaaand Tom Yum."

A full flat of each. If not for a Devicer's stomach, she might very well have provisioned for half an army.

"And all the loose tea I had stashed in my dorm room... Maybe a month's worth, if I used it for every drink for myself, so plenty to share."

As Nephrite volunteers to scout ahead, Rashmi grins. "I don't have to tell you to be safe, but be safe anyway?"

Catra has posed:
Catra's ears perk up as the beef jerky is offered to her. She looks down at it, and the ever-present impulse to refuse help because she can take care of herself immediately fires in her brain. At exactly the same moment, her stomach's overwhelming desire to have something filling put inside it also fires.

There is this palpable look of indecision on Catra's face.

The stomach wins.

"Thanks," she mumbles, ears going flat as she looks subdued for a moment, taking the jerky and without any particular hesitation, biting off a big piece of it and chewing it up, all while Rashmi is talking about what's she's got in her device's storage. "...Wait, what? Hunh? What is 'Mystery Meat' supposed to be? I haven't been on Earth long enough for anyone to offer me that before. Is it like, meat but ou have no idea what animal it's from? What if it was human? What if it was...!!!"

Catra hurries to keep up, and when Nephrite volunteers to scout ahead, Catra instantly responds with "Me too."

And then, after chewing it over, she sighs and shakes her head. "No, you go, if we have too many people scouting the group looks like too easy a target. You scout this time, I'll stay with everyone and make us all look tough. And," she glances at Amy, and struggles with that word again. It's a hard word for her. "Thanks. But I think you can keep your sandwich. You need to eat too even if you can survive on magic."

Hotaru Tomoe has posed:
Hotaru Tomoe nodded and didn't even object when she was carried in the slightest, her eyes closing and... "You smell nice..." she mumbled after a minute. Of course he did. He didn't smell like death, which was the number one thing that people could smell here.

Though, it wasn't long before he'd likely realize her breathing had gotten entirely steady...

And she was, very, very softly, nestled up and sleeping in his arms. She had been far more tuckered out by that attack than even she had realized.

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Amy nods to Catra, smiling a little at the way she says 'thanks'. Since Rashmi has spare food, she's keeping her sandwich for herself anyway, she was just saying she would offer if things were that dire.

    "What's Hokkaido Milk Seafood and Tom Yum?"

    Amy looks to Catra. "Radiant Heart has excellent food, but sometimes the food at schools, airplanes, hospitals, and prisons is of... not great quality. 'Mystery Meat' is usually the sarcastic, colloquial term by those consuming such food for the meat available in such situations. If you're in America, it's probably beef that's had who-knows-what done to it. Here, I don't know."

    "Usually, a promotional 'mystery flavor' applies to candy or something, and just means the different flavoring powders got mixed up at the factory or something... ah. Since this is ramen, that's probably the case here -- no actual meat, just flavor, and it's probably somehow derived from meat soup stocks but doesn't actually taste like any particular meat."

    Beat.

    "It's not human meat. We never eat human meat here. That's how you get prion diseases."

Nephrite has posed:
"Well... You all heard Catra. Keep yopur mean mugs on." There's a slight smirk and a wink back, as Nephrite walks past Rashmi towards a ledge. "I won't do anything that'd upset the little Princess."

As he looks out over the wreckage of the city, however, the expression fades. After a brief scan, he steps off and drifts into the air, innately aware of his position-- for the stars above showering him with their light, and his connection to the Earth grounding him in that cosmic dance-- and taking off at some speed.

Rashmi Terios has posed:
"They mixed ground pork and soy, then dried it in little crumbles actually," Rashmi chuckles. "For the longest time it *was* a mystery, but then they revealed the recipe in a cross-promotion with a popular detective manga. And, eh... Tom Yum is like... a Thai hot and sour shrimp soup, so it's kind of spicy? The Seafood one just gets made with milk powder made from Hokkaido dairy cows."

Nephrite's promise is met with a chuckle. "I'll hold you to that!"

It would probably upset the little Princess *greatly* if he didn't come back, after all.

They're gonna get *special* attention, now.

Just... swear-jarring *wonderful.*