2490/It Just Be Like That Sometimes

It Just Be Like That Sometimes
Date of Scene:	25 April 2025
Location:	Crystal Tokyo
Synopsis:	Masquerade Lapine, Sailor Moon, Tuxedo Kamen, Sailor Venus, and the Princess of Sarek venture forth through the ruined city of Crystal Tokyo, and are only a few hours into their travel when they are attacked by an endless swarm of droids. To escape their pursuers, they venture into the subway system... CW: horror vibes!
Cast of Characters:	298, Usagi Tsukino, Mamoru Chiba, Chibiusa Tsukino, Minako Aino, Veronica Perenna
Tinyplot:	Black Moon Clan
Tinyplot2:	BMC: Dimension Future

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Droids (298) has posed:
A few short hours ago, the mahoujin of twentieth century Tokyo arrived in thirtieth century Crystal Tokyo with characteristic aplomb - the light could be seen from tens of miles off and the screams could be heard throughout the decimated city.

More than one cautious and practical soul pointed out that they'd be sure to draw attention. To better combat that, they'd ended up splintering into groups, all of them spreading through the ruins as they ventured towards the shining crystals that encompass the palace Chibiusa calls home.

Those practical souls were right, but not immediately so. There was time, for them to travel, for them to soak in the grim and dreary atmosphere of the city, silent as the proverbial grave.

The wreckage of the buildings they pass, some utterly collapsed, some standing but devastated - some standing whole and untouched and empty, shadows where bodies fell and blood pooled and disintegrated... could be those graves.

The architecture of these buildings is a mix of postmodernism and crystalline structures. Technology once lost at the fall of the Silver Millenium 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.

Those happier times have died, and these structures, abandoned busses, empty buildings, the signs of debris and loss, they are the shed skins decorating the slowly cooling earth of a dying planet.

For much of the last few hours, they've traveled in silence save for their own voices or words shared over communicators - but now... now they hear the sound of lifeforms approaching.

A feeling comes over those with the ability to sense such things - Dark Energy, approaching in vast quantities.

And then they are upon them, surrounded as the shambling horrors come from every direction, only they aren't all shambling, and at a glance they aren't all horrors.

People, robots, terrible blends of the two - for those who fought the replicas of the Tsukino Family, it's eerily like seeing them again, only made of all sorts of people, young and old and injured and healthy. Some move and behave just like a person should, some move and behave too well, triggering that uncanny valley sense. Some look unfinished, and these are the ones which shamble along, as if they had been abandoned midway through their production. Some are magitech exoskeletons.

All of them are coming - from around corners, from subway entrances, from manholes of sewer systems, and in terrible swarming numbers, moving steadily closer.

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
Crystal Tokyo, Chibiusa's home, is... depressing. Of course it is. Her home was attacked, by the same mad crew that have been attacking her in Usagi's own timeline, but here they won - here they were more than ready and did what they were looking to do, and seeing exactly what they want... what they've done...

Her resolve to stop it here, and let them go no further, only burns brighter. Chibiusa's Mama and Papa saved this world from it's horrible destruction once - they'll do it again, especially with two of them, ready to put their power into it.

There's no other option. Chibiusa's home cannot stay like this.

...of course, that's easy said and much less easily done, especially as they navigate through this city.

"That crystal looked a lot closer than it is," she says, once, just before the world starts to feel - off. "Wait - wait, guys, do you - feel that? Something's coming!"

A little too late. The something is here - and it's horrible. Replicas, people, robots, a terrible mix between the two, shambling towards them from every direction.

"What... what," she breathes, for lack of better words, and then -

"Moon Healing Escalation!"

A circle of light carved in the air, and then beams of silver purifying light flood forward, striking out at the enemies coming to the sides of them.

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
"Oh, shit," says Tuxedo Mask immediately, and then his gaze falls on Masquerade Lapine and his eyes widen and he says, "Fuck-- er. I MEAN--"

Moon healing escalation.

YEAH. There are-- this is easier, despite some of them looking like normal people, this is easier than fighting the hordes of his own subjects on the moon. This is easier than fighting the fake Tsukinos. None of these people are faces he knows. At the same time, it's not easier, because they look like real people, old and young, sick or injured or healthy, they look like people on the bus he used to use to commute to school, they look like people on the sidewalk, just in fashion he's not familiar with--

It doesn't matter. They're not real people and they'e coming after us, he has to remind himself, and then it's easier. They're not real. They're not real.

"Tuxedo," he starts, then flings his glowing fist out in front of him.

"La Smoking," he continues, voice growing more strident, and then he opens that glowing hand and a growing ball of energy forms in front of it again--

--and then he yells out, the force of the laser blast enough to kick him back a half step, "Bomber!"

Chibiusa Tsukino has posed:
    At some point on the way, it was decided that Chibiusa should henshin just to be safe. She was hesitant to share her secret identity, but just about everyone in this group knew already except for Veronica, and trying to hide that detail from the phantom thief would have led to a lot of questions that they really did not have time to make up lies for.

    So now Veronica was told. Venus, Mamoru and Usagi already knew because of course they did by now.

    Luminous Titan notices the incoming foes and immediately relays that information to Chibiusa, who immediately looks up to the sky. When she hears her alt-papa's expletives she looks up to him and says, "Forget about the swear jar right now."

    Chibiusa isn't going to be keeping track of the swear count right now.

    Luminious Titan, however, will be.

    Lapine launches into the air as her device starts trying to count the uncountable hoard. Various bits of tactical data float in front of her mind's eye; including things like distance, velocity, ETA. Small Lady chooses to prioritize the closest targets and then launches a volley of exploding rose barrets with a swish of her cape.

    She absolutely hates how she recognizes some of the faces. She has to remind herself that they aren't real.

    She doesn't want to dwell on what it means for those who actually once possessed those looks.

Minako Aino has posed:
The city was not much of a city left. It looked every so similar to some of the zombie games that Usagi streamed. The desolate surroundings, stains that were best left unexamined, and the overall stench of things that had died but were unseen. It left Venus feeling a mixture of queasy, angry, and deep down... Horrifed. She hoped that was the feeling at least. It wasn't a pleasant feeling at all, but she had to admit to herself it was an emotion that seemed far more accepting of the horrors around her than being put off by it.

This was a battlefield. It was not her first, nor likely her last. As unsettling as it was, it was familiar.

Sailor Moon's remark about the crystalline structure being closer upon first glance earns a nod of agreement. "It must be really huge. Or maybe it's the frame of reference with everything else..." 'Gone' goes unsaid though she does allow her gaze to skim around pointedly. Everything would seem large when there were few buildings left completely intact.

That sensation of Something Wicked This Way Comes causes her to bodily shudder going from on-guard to fully tense and alert. A slight chime rings out as she unfurls the Love-Me Chain from her waist to grasp in hand allowing it's warm light to illuminate the dreariness further along with the Moon Healing Escalation.

"Everyone, in a circle!" She calls out in suggestion as she turns to face one section of the approaching horde. No sooner does she suggest it than she lashes out with her own attack sending the linked heart chain in a wide arc to lash toward any still standing from the first attacks.

"Love-me Chain!"

Veronica Perenna has posed:
Before parting from the others, Veronica would have checked nobody had missed out anything in the rush to prepare for this future trip. Very unlikely, all things considered, but she preferred to leave with the reassurance everybody had anything than keep her doubt to herself for this trip to the future.

In those silent hours when nothing happened and the city was as dead as it appeared, she had offered to act as their scout, using a mixture of her ethereal magic and disguise power to draw as little attention as possible. An unnecessary precaution in the end.

Her eyes shine with interest and relief both when told that Chibiusa is Lapine, the mysterious thief that made her appearance at that final moment with Rubeus. That goes a long way in easing her worries now that she knows the pinkette is actually able to hold her own as much as the rest of them.

Despite the silence and the creepy atmosphere that hovered over everything like oil on water, she was hoping that some vital signs they would have found, an indication that the Black Moon Clan wasn't as thorough as the city makes it seem. "Must be really big. You really don't spare expenses in the 30th century", she jokes to Usagi when the crystal palace of her future self is brought up.

What she gets is instead that there is in fact was a way to make the city look even deader, and with one of her least favourite stories even, one that makes both the small hair on the back of her neck stand alert and her tail low. Talk about different reactions.

"We have our work cut out for us", she holds the rim of her hat sighing when the huge mass of droids appear. Were these always here, or did Black Moon only make them after their victory?

"Seven...", she starts saying holding her cane ahead of her as the brilliant moonlight becomes rainbow flame while the ruby of the ring on her finger glows brighter and brighter. "Hued Flame!" A stream of fire roars then, consuming the distance between itself and the droids.

Droids (298) has posed:
Masquerade Lapine's data scanning will reveal that there are dozens, hundreds, of Droids coming to their position, moving from far and wide, honing in on them. Whether it was the noise, or the magic they'd used earlier, something they've done has drawn the horde in, and the horde isn't stopping.

Moon Healing Escalation strikes down a dozen of them, their bodies slowing, their eyes dimming, and the rest simply walk over them - the shambling ones stumbling, but only because their feet don't rise enough to clear the gap.

Tuxedo La Smoking Bomber tears limbs apart, sends pieces of flesh and metal and darkness flying through the air, but still, they come, stepping over the fallen, those damaged and injured carrying on.

Seven Hued Flame bursts forth and more droids go up in flames, their human exteriors melting away to reveal singed and damaged magitech interiors -

But they're still coming. And Luminous Titan can report that there are still more of them.

From behind them, there's movement. From beside them, movement. From all around, movement.

Sailor Venus' Love Me Chain lashes out, again and again, and the Droids are thrown back, damaged, dented, bleeding dark matter - but still coming.

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
"Lapine-chan, don't be silly," Sailor Moons says, and her voice shakes - oh, she hates zombies, she hates zombies, these aren't zombies, she reminds herself, they won't eat them, but they are a shambling horror coming for them - "You're going to full off that jar before we're done here."

The Swear Jar is going to be full, alright.

Sailor Venus calls for them to circle up, and Sailor Moon falls back, trying to keep her back to the others so they can angle together.

"There's too many of them to fight! Even when we take them out, they just keep getting replaced, or getting back up! We've got to - figure out where to go, I wish Mercury were here to tell us what they're sensing -"

"Mercury might not be here, but I am," Luna reminds them, from Sailor Moon's backpack. The mau cat has been tucked inside, but she's poking her head out now, frowning. "Of course, trying to analyze them in the middle of combat will not go well, for me, but if Luminous Titan can record data on all of this..."

Chibiusa Tsukino has posed:
    << There's so many! >> calls out Masquerade Lapine telepathically. A lot more than she can count, by a whole lot.

    Oh wait, that's right! Luna's smart! She can figure out what to do with the data that Luminous Titan is feeding her.

    << Luna! I'm going to make Lumie transmit his data to you. This might feel kinda weird... >>

    Lapine takes a moment to figure out how to best do this. Direct telepathy doesn't work that great outside of verbal communication, unless you are the one who is actually using the device. Tapping into Luna's communicator would have similar limitations... but oh!

    Masquerade snaps her fingers as a thought occurs to her. She dips down out of the sky to fly next to Luna, pulls the Luna-P hairpin out of her hair and says, "Abracadabra Pon! Become a holographic display! For cats!"

    After a puff of pink smoke, Lapine offers Luna a sized-for-cats tablet that feeds her data from Luminous Titan.

    Then she launches back into the air, staying above the defensive circle that Sailor Venus wants to create, and keeps firing spray after spray of Rose Barrets at the oncoming forces.

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
"Can we kettle them into a building somehow?" yells Tuxedo Mask, taking his place in the circle Venus called for, keeping an eye above on the little girl in the air, and continuing to fling out attacks. And then Moon says what he was actually thinking and something in the back of his spine relaxes. He's not particularly ready to die and that's what this would be.

"Tuxedo Glittering Rose Bomber!"

With his own cape flung out, Mamoru sends a barrage of roses out as well, only his aren't barrets with firepower-- they're his own magic-breaking exploding-glitter red roses. "Nevermind the kettling-- if we get ourselves about 10 meters west, there's a subway tunnel underneath that we can block off and clear!"

Veronica Perenna has posed:
Some of them looking like magic robots is an improvement, surely? Probably, even if she tries her best to keep off her mind that these looked like people before. People "turned" into robots aren't any better than zombies to her, and she would like to keep both of them at arm's length.

"Lapine!", the Princess of Sarek calls out to the pink mahou. "Do you see any good hiding point from up there?" She could try super-jumping for a similar effect, but she doesn't know what welcome would await her upon her landing. Certainly not a good one by any means though.

Was that an actual bona fide magic trick from Lapine? Oh, if they weren't busy fighting the horrors of Black Moon, Veronica would be so interested in talking with Chibiusa more. Extra motivation to finish this faster!

"That was very nice, Lapine!", the princess of Sarek shouts enthused. "Allow me to regard our audience with another!", she says, taking off her hat and tapping on it with her cane. "Steel yourself for this!", she shouts to the droids.

An explosion of calling cards come out of it, raining down on the droids around her. If it sticks? Feelings of confusion will magically assault the droids, and Veronica will take advantage of that to punch and strike at them with her cane.

Minako Aino has posed:
Too many of them. They were overwhelmed by the sheer numbers-- Boy this was taking her back to memories of times long ago that she didn't really enjoy at all. It was different this time at least: They were all on the same side. That alone would make a world of difference. Venus truly did believe that! The alternate wasn't worth thinking of.

A quick glance over her shoulder assures her that everyone was in a circle of sorts, doing their best to handle the quadrant they were covering. Luna did need time though. "If we stagger our attacks it ought to help us not run out of steam as quickly," she suggests.

"And--" Oh god was she going to actually say this? "If we can build their bodies up enough it out to make a bit of a barrier." Ugh. UGH UGH UGH. That felt rather vile to say even if they were mechanical in nature. Right now it was about buying time for Luna to observe the information that was being gathered though.

She waits until the other attacks have been fired and pauses with eyes focused, unblinking, on her own quadrant.

One.

They shambled forward a step.

Two.

Their other legs came forward.

Three.

"CRESCENT BEAM!"

Her aim is slightly low intending to take out their legs of as many as possible while given the breif moment to catch her breath.

"Also--Don't forget sewers too! Even a city like this has to have sewers I-know-don't-hate-me but it's true! Kamen, can you tell if they're intact also? If we can't get to the subway above ground then maybe we can tunnel?"

Droids (298) has posed:
With each of them attacking in quadrants, Sailor Venus' gruesome vision is coming to light - between the Rose Barrets, the confusion-inducing cards, the magic breaking roses, and Sailor Moon's continuous bursts of purifying magic, the Droids are falling in droves and the bodies are piling up. Starting to form walls around them, between the buildings walls, and they are climbing over one another.

Sailor Venus' leg sweep of Crescent Beams is taking them down without taking them out, resulting in more and more being stepped on and over by the enemy, but also resulting in crawling droids that are struggling to climb the growing walls of corpses.

And then - a blast of dark energy. And another. Another -

Some of the droids have climbed nearby buildings. This crew are all the humanoid looking ones, completely and perfectly resembling humans. One of them is a little kid, no older than six. Another is a young woman, belly round with child. Their arms are extended, their hands flopped backwards to allow the guns in their forearms to fire.

Luminous Titan transmits vast quantities of data - his scans, transmitted through Luna-P and Luna's own equipment, the three magitech devices functioning together to create a picture of the scenario. Luna will have to analyze the data in depth, later, but what she can see now is that the enemy is coming, and that more and more are coming from farther off, being drawn to the conflict. It would seem that the longer the battle carries on, the more enemies are drawn to the area, an inevitable swarming of prey.

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
The fighting goes on, and the worst part is how endless it all is, how despite the many blasts of magic, the enemy doesn't stop. Sailor Moon's never exactly been glad for all her fighting experience, but she's grateful for it now, especially for the memory of wandering a terrifying maze in dark dreams, because the experience of firing off so many bright lights, the constant pull and dispersal of magic, makes it easier for her to fire that purifying ray again and again.

Still -

"Luna, do you have anything? Can you tell if there are any down in the subway Kamen-kun is suggesting?"

A moment of quiet, an endless span of time in this battle.

"The subway is our best option," Luna calls her eyes fierce as she goes through all the data. "It's possible that the tunnels have been invaded, but the enemy is being drawn by the battle. I can't yet tell if this is because of the sound or the magic, but either way, they're coming from farther and farther away, and you all won't be able to hold out. If we can block off their path and well, hunker down for a while, it may cause them to disperse, and we could use the subway routes to continue on towards the palace."

Right. Because being underground is just so - perfect.

"Kamen-kun," she calls, "Can you open us a hole in the ground? If we try and take the normal entrance, they'll just swarm down with us!"

Chibiusa Tsukino has posed:
    It only just now occurs to Lapine that this might be the first time Sarek has seen Luna-P do anything with any sort of complexity, or maybe she just hasn't had a good look at the trick yet? << Oh! Right. I can turn Luna-P into stuff. She's a transforming magitech robot, so turning her into a different form of computer isn't that difficult. >>

    Sewers and subway systems are suggested, and Lumie starts scanning for the clearest path to one. Tuxedo Kamen might be able to feel one, but Lumie can't really see it well enough to map it out yet. << If we can get to the subway, then Lumie can map it out for us. We might be able to find an exit. Or make one. >> Lapine has to stop talking in order to unleash a Moonlight Message onto the swarm when it gets too close, hopefully pushing the crowd just a little bit back. How long can she maintain this? << Just gotta make sure we don't mess it up or it'll drop rocks on our heads. >>

    Luminous Titan calculates what 10 meters west means, according to Mamoru's direction, and she sends a special Barret to that location that hovers in the air instead of attacking something. It acts as a beacon, just so the others can plan around it. << Is it around here? >> she asks.

    All of this is done, of course, with her constantly launching more attacks from her cape. When the ranged Droids start shooting at her, she has to put up a shield to absorb the dark energy blasts.

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
As soon as he's being asked and his dottir is floating a barret over the place, Mamoru outright cackles. "Ahahaha! I can make a hole!" he calls out with an inordinate amount of cheer over the sounds of battle and magic and screeching metal and yelling.

Then he drops to one knee and puts fingertips on the sooty, salted ground and coaxes up power, pouring his own in and pulling up what this Earth can spare. And then he slams his other fist onto the ground and yells out, "Tuxedo la Smoking Crater!"

There's a silence then, with the quality of the air before a thunderstorm, the air right before a foreshock. Underneath the barret and beneath the swarm of droids and droid bodies piling up, the ground rumbles. For a half second, there's that silence, and then there's a thump downward like something large and invisible hit the ground, and then--

--the reverse, a column of dirt explodes upwards from what's now a sinkhole right into a subway tunnel.

<< Run. >> The prince's voice is clear in everyone's head, spoken, close, visceral, and he starts running himself.

Veronica Perenna has posed:
<< That is a very neat trick still, no doubt your Luna-P has helped you a lot >> Veronica smiles despite the increasing number of roids. << Even if there are droids in the subway, defending a smaller place will be easier than standing out here in the open. >> she agrees with the other while punching a droid back.

These things really are troublesome. And offputting. And uncanny. The sooner they get away the better. And she has an idea on how to open a way to the subway while also taking out a good group of them at a time.

The moonlight starts gathering again on her scepter, prismatic shimmers occasionally glimmering and shining, and it is but a matter of a second when it is projected outwards. "Prismatic Wall!", the blonde thief calls out and a wall of moonlight is created in front of her.

Next? Next she runs without hesitation as fast as she can towards the hole Tuxedo Kamen has opened, ramming through the droids and hopefully throwing as many of them aside as she can, and damaging them in the process. If there is a point she cannot make it that way any further, she will drop the shield and become ethereal, covering the rest of the way like so.

Minako Aino has posed:
Sailor Venus whips her head around at the first dark energy blasts that come from the rooftops spelling their further distaster. The wall of corp--bod--MACHINES wasn't exactly helping to slow them and it was in fact making it harder for them to right as well. She'd hoped it would at least allow enough time for a better plan to come up.

Maybe one had.

Luna's assessment earns a small breath of relief even as she braces herself preparing to attack again. Why then was it almost reassuring that Kamen's reaction was reassuring somehow? Then again, the idea was to get underground. At least there things were a tunnel and not 360 degrees around and above! They could funnel things as they'd learned to do in the catacombs of Paris those months ago.

Venus braces her feet apart on the ground when the dirt and debris suddenly explode upward creating a dirt-screen to hide their escape. That urge to run is met without complaint as she whirls around, hair snapping behind her like her own personal cape, to bolt for the newly created crater. There's no hesitation as she leaps in. The sooner they were out of sight the better.

Droids (298) has posed:
The droids fire upon them, as the others encroach, fighting through the bodies of the fallen, sweeping towards them, silent as the grave save for their steps, crunching, their hands, cutting through air, the blasts, striking ground and occasionally striking at them -

And then the ground erupts, ten meters west, under a shining rose barret, and the mahoujin begin running.

They're faster than their pursuers, even with having to vault over the bodies. This is helpful - because as they pour into the sinkhole, more of the droids are trying to follow them in, or being caught in the Earth, but not in those great, terrible, swarming numbers.

This just might work. No. It will work.

The ground that Tuxedo Kamen has opened up is indeed a subway tunnel, and they'll be relieved to see that it's empty - both of a subway, and of corpses. There's dirt and twisted metal, from La Smoking Crater opening the Earth and the tunnel itself, tearing through electrical wire and the materials meant to stabilize this underground tunnel in a country occasionally rocked by earthquakes, but it seems mostly solid, mostly stable. There's a path stretching North and another South - the palace had been in the northeast direction from their previous position.

When they fall in, only a few of the droids are initially in with them - not quite a dozen. The Princess of Sarek's shield wall has blocked the path, keeping more from following.

Chibiusa Tsukino has posed:
    When Tuxedo Kamen laughs about being able to destroy something, the Luna-P holo-display marks his location with a happy cat face. As soon as the hole is made, the barret beacon disperses. There's no need for it.

    Sarek is saying nice things about Luna-P, and in better circumstances Chibiusa would be happy to brag about the catball, but right now she can only give short replies. << She has! She's my favorite toy. Also one of the reasons I'm still alive. >>

    When the hole is opened, Masquerade flies overhead and strafes the enemy, keeping low to better avoid the dark blasts coming her way, though that may not work as well as she hopes. Does the Droid flood really care about friendly fire at all?

    She ducks behind Veronica's shield and also puts up her own behind them, giving them both a bit of extra cover as they make it to the subway. If Sarek goes ethereal, Chibiusa goes up, past the hole, loops upwards and then dives straight down into it.

    << Everyone get in! Further in! >> she telepathically projects.

    Luminous Titan pings with its too-deep horror movie voice, < Calculating demolition. ... Targeting solution found. >

    Small Lady waits for everyone to get safely away from the entrance before she fires barrets into nearby support structures, using projected shields to keep things from collapsing too quickly on them but still making sure that they wont be followed.

    She's gotta focus on this. The Droids who made it in will have to be someone else's problem, unfortunately.

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
The second the Earth erupts, Sailor Moon is running for it, stopping just long enough to make sure that everyone reaches the hole before jumping in with her Spiral Heart Moon Rod thrust upwards and a cry of the attacks name -

"Moon Spiral Heart Platform!"

The platform forms, similar to the last one - a solid pink heart, plugging the hole, preventing the droids that were able to get past the Princess of Sarek's shield from continuing to flood in.

Chibiusa - Masquerade Lapine - gives the call, to keep going further in, and Luminous Titan starts calculating demolition. Sailor Moon and Luna squeak together and Sailor Moon scrambles as Luna continues to collect data -

"Try not to completely destroy one of those droids!" The Mau Cat commands. "We should try and do some research, while we're down here."

"Good idea," Sailor Moon pants, and then turns to the others, continuing on backwards (she is begging to trip and fall) so she can face them.

"Once we're a little further away, I think I'm going to try and open Moon Space. They aren't here, so they won't get sucked in, and then we won't be here, either." She takes a deep breath, grimacing. "I might not be able to hold it up as long as last time, I've never tried it after a fight, but whether it's our noise or our magic - maybe all the enemies we drew will leave, if we're not here at all."

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
"Sure," the extremely dusty and grinning Tuxedo Kamen says in Luna's direction, and he starts throwing roses at foreheads as he uses his cape to block attacks and blasts of dark energy, splashing them off to the tunnel sides.

The subway tunnel itself looks, despite the rubble, remarkably clean -- and it doesn't smell of rot, or of sewage, or of stagnant air. The rail -- such as it is -- is similar to a modern Japanese maglev train rail. Mamoru sharply misses Kunzite for a hot heartbeat, and not just because of missing Kazuo, but also because the ability to perceive energy would be super helpful right now.

The remaining droids shouldn't take THAT long to dispatch, among the lot of them, and then the explanations start coming as the demolition falls on the tunnel floor beneath the giant heart platform. "If we go that way," he points down the tunnel away from them, "we can find a place to dig until we hit another void, and I can keep checking to see if we've got one close by. There are basements and sublevels and stuff. And besides, we might find more survivors."

He glances toward Usagi, chewing on his lower lip. "Are you sure? It takes a lot out of you and we have a ways to go. Unless you think maybe you can move Moon Space around? Let's start walking either way."

Veronica Perenna has posed:
With the improvised ram working just as the Princess of Sarek had hoped, there is no reason to go ethereal, so Chibiusa will be spared the effort to seek an alternative path. Though, the moment Lapine had started taking the same path as Veronica, she would have never left her behind to fend for herself, regardless of her having her own means to go around the droids.

When all of them are safe in the tunnel, the Prismatic Wall is projected further away, being used with Moon Spiral Heart Platform to block the droids from following them in while Chibiusa works to collapse the opening behind them. If any droids do make their way in, she will take shorts at them with her Transient Lunar Flare, or cane strikes if they get particularly close. "So your Moon Space doesn't have a opening like a Witch's Labyrinth does then?", the cat thief asks the soldier of the moon while they get further in.

When Mamoru brings up the energy the Moon Space takes out of Usagi, Veronica thinks about the energy bars in her back. "I have snacks with me to restock on energy if we want to take a break. And maybe we could head inside Sarek. It's a real place, so it won't drain my power to keep it up." But it's also not somewhere she would be comfortable bringing droids in to fight.

Minako Aino has posed:
Sailor Venus dispels the Love-Me Chain as she runs along but only so she can free up her arms. Sailor Moon's backwards run is being watched with skeptical wariness as she prepares to swing an arm out to catch her Princess and KEEP RUNNING should the need arise. She wasn't as strong as Jupiter, but she would do in a pinch until someone appropriate took over.

The rumble of the rubble falling behind clears up enough that she can properly hear the others talking again. Absently, she is careful not to run around that third rail. It may be maglev but it LOOKED the same and she wasn't sure... Best not to find out.

"You said it might be the magic that's drawing them to us. We could try to unhenshin if that's the case. I know that's dangerous but if that's what they're fixing on we might make more ground that way." At least until they need to use their powers again. The way they were going though they would at least need to rest at SOME point.

"Is that something you can figure out, Luna? How they're following us?" A glance is cast back at a head-exploded droid. Oops?

Droids (298) has posed:
The droids that were trapped with the heroes quickly become the downed droid frames, trapped with the heroes - destroyed by a variety of attacks. Venus and her whoops confirms that many aren't in the best shape - but Tuxedo Kamen did well with his roses, and there are several intact forms.

And best of all?

The tunnel did close, with demolition handled well. Luminous Titan and Masquerade Lapine were a brilliant team, and though they can hear the beating of fists against the collapsed debris, the further they travel, the quieter those noises become. There's too many layers of earth between the space above their heads and the surface to hear the swarms of droids.

At least for now, they're in the clear.

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
"It will take it out of me," Sailor Moon confirms grimly, "And I know it's the first day and we shouldn't be reckless, but - escaping down here was a good idea, but it means we don't really... have an easy way out. Moon Space only has entrances and exits if I want it to have them. It's a little more secure than a labyrinth that way. Not sure how it compares to a barrier, though?"

Which is something she's trying not to get scared about, and is very grateful she's not claustrophobic, all things considered. They're underground now and they only have one way forward for the time being.

"...but Sarek would probably be better," she says once Veronica's suggestion is made and she wobbles on her feet and quickly turns around, just slowing a bit so she can walk with the others after dragging a Droid by the arm - one of the more robotic ones - and pulling it along with them. "If we went in there, could we come back out here? How does it work?"

Her eyes are bright with curiosity, and she's looking at the Princess of Sarek with interest and consideration.

"I don't know that I recommend dropping your henshins outside of a sure safe space," Luna says warily, "You might need to fight again, and every moment would count. But your energy is limited... and though we may have only just arrived, a break so that I could analyze this... thing, could be helpful? Or I could walk and work!"

"You might I could walk and you could work," Sailor Moon says dryly.

Chibiusa Tsukino has posed:
    "That's why Lumie and I gotta map stuff out," says Lapine. "If we scan ahead we can at least get warning before something bad happens, and p-- Kamen's abilities can stop us from getting trapped here if we reach a dead end."

    She almost called him dad. Almost. All of the mahoujin here know her secret identity. She trusts nearly everyone here... except for that droid head that Luna wants to hold onto.

    While they pass by some of the fallen droids, Masquerade holds out her cape and seals a few of their spare parts inside... whatever subspace Intelligent Devices have for storing Lost Logia that have been contained. Just in case they need to study it later, and by they Chibiusa means... someone smarter on this topic than her.

    On the topic of Sarek, Small Lady turns her attention to Veronica. Alt-mom is already asking the questions that she would, but it might be nice to have a place where they can hide that wont exhaust one of their magical heavy hitters.

    "I think for right now we do need to pace our energy reserves. If Luna finds evidence of magic-tracking in the Droids, maybe we can talk about it then, but if not then it might be best to only drop henshin when we stop to rest."

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
"How about," says Tuxedo Kamen, watching bits of droid being lugged around or otherwise carried, "we stay here for a minute to recharge and catch our breaths, for long enough for Luminous Titan to scan the whole thing and try to map it out. I can do it in a pinch on the spot, but there's-- there's a lot of distracting things going on. I'm tracking a lot."

And then he thumps against the wall and slides down it, taking his gloves off and digging with his fingernails into the dirt ground of the tunnel. "I also want to check in on the boys. Then maybe we can go to Sarek -- I've wanted to see it for a long while, Sarek-chan. I didn't know you could actually go there."

Veronica Perenna has posed:
"I would also prefer not to drop my henshin out here. We never know when we might have to book it", she considers. They are much faster like this after all.

Veronica smiles when Usagi looks at her suggestion with interest, though she is not sure if dropping them back here would be an advantage or a limitation considering the observation she preceded it with.

"The way it works is by using a passcode I know on any two paintings. Remember the small ones they found on me back at the exhibit? I carry them around to make sure I always enter Sarek. But then you are forced to come back out the way you came in", she explains while taking out the paintings she mentioned from her bag.

Once they have taken the time for Lumie to map out the subway and the others have been checked on, Veronica places the paintings on the ground. "My predecessor used it too. I don't know why I never brought it up before", she replies to Tuxedo awkwardly.

Once everyone looks ready, she rapidly taps on them in an alternate order of 3-2-3-1-2, then she walks inside the silver doorway that opens then with haste, motioning for the others to follow them.

When they come in too, they will find themselves with a beach at their back and a path in the middle of plants in front. Following it will lead to the hideout within the cave some may have seen in Hallward's Évanescence: A tender goodbye at the exhibit.

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
The Princess of Sarek's answer is listened to with keen interest, Sailor Moon dragging along the droid as Luna uses her tools to try and investigate its systems. She's focused on the task at hand, trusting the others to make the decisions now.

"That's a really handy trick," Sailor Moon says decisively, "And coming out back out here is great. We'll be able to just - keep moving forward."

It's dark, here in the subway tunnels, but their communicators have a bit of light. Once the Princess opens the pathway, it's easy enough for all of them to follow her.

And later, once Luna has finished her examination, she'll explain to the group -

"It appears that each of these machines has slightly different functions, and different methods of tracking. This more advanced, human-looking one has sensors that respond to magic, while this more degraded specimen has sensors that respond to sound. It might be why they were grouped together; rather than making a singular mechanism that could detect anything and everything, it would seem the enemy has created a pack of hunters that together can search for... anything that lives."