2347/From the Abyss

From the Abyss
Date of Scene:	21 February 2025
Location:	Plot Room 2
Synopsis:	In the early hours of the morning, when Tokyo is sleeping, a dark experiment plunges half the city into darkness. Something sinister stirs. Something wicked is waking up. And an innocent soul hangs in the balance.
Cast of Characters:	280, Rashmi Terios, Amanda Faust, Coco Kiumi, Koji Silvia, Molly Skyline

---

The Narrator (280) has posed:
Tokyo is never dark. Not really. At night there's always far too much light, especially from the downtown areas, where there's an overabundance of illuminated buildings and neon lights. This night is a bit darker than usual, with a dark and overcast sky, but the light from the city is enough that one would hardly notice. Even in the early hours of the morning when most of Japan is at its darkest, Tokyo is alive and thriving.

Usually.

But not tonight. The magically oriented population of Tokyo would notice the impending trouble first, as a shockwave of dark energy coming from Shinjuku Ward ripples about the city, making the ground rumble -- though most people just assume it to be a minor earthquake, no big deal. But then the lights go out.

Block after block, city lights flicker and die, all radiating out from the same spot as the shockwave, in a cascading power failure that expands to encompass half of Tokyo. As it spreads, traffic grinds to a halt, people stop what they were doing, and for half the people of this city at least... now it is truly dark.

At the epicenter of this darkened silence, one building stands out; a single skyscraper, still under construction, that stands brilliantly illuminated with electricity arcing up and down over the exposed grid iron. The sheeting used to conceal the construction work has been blown apart; revealing underneath, a black, metallic sphere had been built amongst the highest floors. A sphere that shimmers with dark energy all across its surface. Something has happened here; something that's maybe not quite finished.

Something terrible.

Rashmi Terios has posed:
It's not often that Rashmi is catapulted out of bed by an alert. Even Obsidian Generals need rest, and the small hours of the morning are just... practical, for getting some shuteye. But the way-too-early-in-the-morning alarm *is* a thing that can happen, and that's why Rashmi has stated in no uncertain terms, the cutoff time for audible alerts is 9pm.

Which is why it takes everything she has to keep from waking her roommates up with a shout, as Nicomachea's alarms go off inside a particularly relaxing dream involving Chrono, a flying carpet, and an orchestra.

    << *BONG!* >> << ALERT. MASTER. ALERT. ANOMALOUS CORROSIVE ENERGY SIGNATURE ACTIVE. GEOLOGICAL AND ELECTRICAL DISTURBANCES PROXIMATE. >>

Not even bothering to get out of her nightclothes, Rashmi carefully, sleepily opens her window, leaps out of the third floor, henshins in midair, and bumbles toward the source of the distress.

Before long, it's not hard to see; a patch of *absolute blackness* in the middle of one of the densest, most populous cities on Earth, and dutifully Rashmi arrows toward the heart of it.

By the time she's close enough to make out the tower, and the sphere topping it, Nicomachea reports a finding that forces Rashmi's heart into her throat.

    << *BONG!* >> << MASTER. ALERT. MASTER. DEVICE SIGNATURE 'Starcrash' DETECTED. DISTRESS SIGNAL DETECTED. AUDIO RECORDING DETECTED. >>

    << ***** *** ******----- *********** **** *********** ** * ********** ------- "Please. Please." ********** ** ******** ***** * >>

Only one word is clear enough to be understood, the rest a faded garble of static, noise, and staticky noise.

But that one word, spoken twice, has Rashmi coming to a dead stop in midair, mind absolutely shutting down around the implication.

*That was Molly's voice.*

Amanda Faust has posed:
    BEEP, BEEP, BEEP, BEEP

    Mallory is jarred awake from a dream by the beeping of the backup battery hooked up to his computer and the sudden cessation of the fan he runs at night for white noise. A storm must have taken out the power. He throws the covers off his head and faces the... wall? Where is--

    As she rolls over to look at the room, Amy wakes up more. She can't remember there ever being a power failure in the dorm. Not even during Walpurgisnacht!

    And that thought jolts her fully awake with a surge of adrenaline, as the answer is probably something very bad is happening, probably something magical.

    She rolls out of bed, seeing by the light of the LED indicators on her electronics, switches off the now-unpowered fan, and goes to check the computer. The internet is still up, at least while other batteries beeping away in network closets across campus function. She checks if there's any breaking news about the cause, or

    BEEP, BEEP, BEEP, BEEP

    or at least an outage map from the electric company saying how big this is.

    That is... big. Amy takes a breath. She was tired after a yesterday of getting yelled at for just running out of school in the middle of the day the previous day, but, she's wide awake now.

    She starts the shutdown process to stop the

    BEEP, BEEP, BEEP, BEEP

    --yes that--and checks phone messages, sends phone messages, and sneaks out into the hall. The dorm, at least, is probably pretty quiet -- most students sleep just fine without power.

    She steps out onto the cold roof, chill wind biting at her, but in a second she won't need a coat. She henshins and walks over to the undetonated rocket parked here this morning-- err, technically yesterday morning? Whenever-- and takes off into the sky towards the source of dark energy.

Text from Amy:
What IS that?

The orb thing

on the tall building

Coco Kiumi has posed:
Tonight was one of the nights where worries blocked the ways to sleep, not an unusual circumstance by any means, and one that partially tends to get soothed by a walk in a big open space and a breath of fresh air.

It tends to help as well that in this remote part of the city nobody was bound to be annoyed by Coco using the magic of her songs on herself, and placate those turbulent feelings with the joy of her heart.

As the city gets robbed of its lights and the dark energy surges and explodes, the light of the Live Stage reacts as well, fading slightly for a second due to the dark power itself, returning to full intensity as soon as the deleterious power has passed.

Seems like tonight is not the night to think about old anxieties and future ones, Coco grimaces dissatisfied when she gazes in the far distances at the Shinjuku Ward. The mermaid princess immediately starts leaping from rooftop to rooftop.

Combining the momentum with the Live Stage's floating works better for her than otherwise to reach the skycraper under construction.

Finding herself just behind Rashmi, Coco looks between her friend and the sphere in the construction zone. "Hello, Page Mage", she gives a glad smile at seeing her here too. "Found anything useful?"

Koji Silvia has posed:
Both Koji and the youma in the shape of a one-eyed one-horned Obsidian Construction Worker (What a sight to see!) end up staring for a long moment in the middle of their five story rooftop battle as an entire DISTRICT just... goes black as night.

    "Well... that ain't good."

Says the youma!

     "So... uhh... this mean I'mma get a pass?"

tAs the creature speaks up, the magical boy known as Hanzo is already gone, leaping through the night air, and causes the scrub-tier monster to just wipe at his brow, and then continue to stare off in the night and SHIVER...

As he goes from building to building, Koji says under his breath, mid-leap as he throws the rope-knife out to snag on an air conditioner, "What are we looking at?"

    << UKNOWN DARK ENERGY. EPICENTER LOCATED, YOUNG MASTER. >>

He huffs, "So just another night in Tokyo."

One more swing and he lands just on the literal edge of night, staring up towards the skyscraper in the center of it all...

     << This is Hanzo. Is anyone here in Shinjuku? >>

The Narrator (280) has posed:
The sphere looms, waiting. The dark energy radiating from it is starting to dissipate, and the arcing electricity is dieing down. Scattered around the sphere are... bodies, it looks like; Obsidian security personal by the look of them,but they've been electrocuted and are now just laying still where they fell. There's enough arcing left, however, to illuminate the outside of the sphere; it looks like it was formerly plated with gold, but that's been almost entirely scorched away by whatever has happened, and on one side... there's a door. Not merely some opening with a hatch swinging on hinges, but the kind of door you'd expect a ruler of the ancient world to walk through; austentatious and built with stairs under a roof held up with pillars, but the same scorched black metal instead of stone, and entirely devoid of hieroglyphs.

The dark energy shockwave came from inside. The power outage is centered on this spot.

The distress ping from Starcrash... originated from in there.

A distress call that hasn't been repeated.

All in all, everything looks... eerily still, now, and quiet, but for the tatters of construction facade, rustling in the breeze.

Rashmi Terios has posed:
It takes a moment for Rashmi to answer. Takes a moment for her to *register* that there are others gathering around her, lost in the whirling mishmash of thoughts the current moment has created.

She's dead, she was impaled and left in the Dusk Zone.

She wasn't there when searched for.

Starcrash wasn't recovered by anyone.

Starcrash may have been mentioned in an Obsidian memo.

That was Starcrash's distress signal, there's no mistaking that signature.

*Molly has never said those words in her hearing like that.*

"...Molly-chan," she finally says, breath hitching. "I... I don't know what that is but... *Starcrash* is in there. *Molly-chan sent a message.*"

And without another word, she's darting toward that ostentations entrance, sparing a brief look at the scattered Obsidian employees. Are they dead? Are they not? Might that give clues about her friend's fate?

Coco Kiumi has posed:
Coco raises an eyebrow at the style of the door in the sphere. Ostentatious, yes, but also the kind of thing she is used at expecting in a palace. This was very much not a palace. Or it didn't look like one either way. "I think I might try..." she starts saying, before she notices the troubled look Rashmi has. What is she...

Oh, that's what she is thinking. "Let's proceed slowly", Coco tries to keep her friend calm. "That is full of dark energy, let's keep looking, maybe have Nicomachea run an analysis first."

But her friend is already running ahead while she has been talking, and the blonde girl can only follow with a light imprecation. "Be careful!", she shouts, almost tempted to try and trap her in a Live Stage before something ugly happens.

She doesn't spare much of a glance to the Obsidian employees, only stressing to Coco what she has already been thinking about. They cannot get into contact with that thing out of the blue, they have to take some special measures instead.

Koji Silvia has posed:
A couple Shield-Boosted swings later, Koji lands on the roof and in front of the almost eldritch dark strangeness, the unconscious or possibly dead Obsidian employees, the huge doors, the whole ancient-motif of things surrounded in black and warped metal. Instead of moving around, he... takes a moment to take it in.

    "Ra-..." Stopping himself, "Look... whatever this is... Yellow Pearl's right. We be quiet and be careful. This is just the kind of thing that reeks of a trap."

Walking forwards at a faster pace, he moves himself to catch up with the other Devicer, and tries to put a hand on her shoulder, to stop her from just walking or flying right in, and tries to say to her, "Let me."

    << PHANTOM SHIFT. >>

Koji seems to blur and move about two meters ahead of himself, and with his knife drawn he begins to slowly pick his way forwards, a small orb of light appearing over his shoulder to try and put some kind of visual to the rampant darkness all around them. He moves carefully, making sure not to step on anything to betray sound, but if anyone is paying very close attention, they might see some of the steps might not match to the terrain around him...

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Amy comes in for a landing on the roof -- since she doesn't have an enemy to explode the missile on, after she leaps off it curves up and then lands in place on the roof.

    Amy looks at a door that makes her think of the Gates of Time... and of the hidden resting place of the Rainbow Crystal in ancient times. Black metal? "What the heck is this?" Amy scratches at it with the point of a grief seed to check if it's black all the way through or just scorched, or if it doesn't scratch at all...

    And then she hears Rashmi, and turns to her, "What?! Hang on, do you mean Starcrash sent the message, or...?"

    This looks like such a trap. This feels like such a trap.

    But... if Starcrash is in there...

    If, she daren't hope, Molly is in there...

The Narrator (280) has posed:
Beyond the door, were one to brave the inside, is revealed spectacle most curious. A wall divides the sphere in two, and in this half, something has definitely taken place. Arrays of scientific and medical equipment are arranged in a circle, with temporary walls around them, all illuminated from inside and all of them littered with pictures, diagrams, and sheets of written instructions; some of it in Japanese, and much of it in languages much more esoteric. The diagrams and... x-rays, feature various parts of a person's body; these, severely broken ribs, front and back, and a broken spine. Those, internal damage to organs. Some show repairs made with enchanted thread and crude staples.

The medical equipment is ruined; some of it is still sparking, and broken power cords dangle from the ceiling, spitting arcs of electricity out at random. Within the array of equipment, an arcane circle is etched upon the floor, inscribed in red with pernicious symbols, and littered with candles of black wax, and... are those...

Skulls?

In the center of it all, an operating table, now unoccupied. Hanging off the edge on either side, chains and shackles of dark iron; shackles that are not merely empty, but broken.

At the far side of this chamber, along the flat wall that divides the sphere in two, is an obvious portal, similarly ostentatious to the one outside, but with the view blocked by a black curtain. In front of it, there is a pedestal, or the sort a master Samurai might display his weapon upon.

Cradled upon this pedestal, laying horizontally... is Starcrash.

Rashmi Terios has posed:
What Coco says makes sense. What Koji says makes sense.

And for just a moment, Rashmi wants to hit them both for making too damn much sense.

But the moment passes as quickly as it arrives, and she releases the clenched fist she hadn't even realized she made...

And Koji moves forward. As the *scout* of the one time Scout Lance Terra, Rashmi can't begrudge him for it. Instead, she simply nods, glancing at Amy and nodding downward, moving to the door herself with Nicomachea open above her hands. Screens, and the readouts thereon, blip to life above the pages and begin to display information of every conceivable kind.

But the *real* information, the *necessary* information, proves to be beyond the doors. Diagrams. X-rays.

Clinical depictions of grievous bodily harm, and equally clinical depictions of crude, magical means taken to repair it.

With every new picture, horror and hope both rise in volume in Rashmi's heart...

Then they cross the threshold, and there he is. There is Starcrash. There is Starcrash resting in state, like a trophy... or a weapon ready to be taken up.

Koji Silvia has posed:
Usually, Koji in his Hanzo persona, always has something to say, even at a time like this. Some little quip or insight to add to the fray...

For this? Absolutely nothing.

The young mage sweeps his Device in a cutting gesture, banishing his illusion and reappearing next to the others, not unlike a Displacer Beast removing it's shroud to strike.

    << WIDE AREA SCAN. >>

As Hanzo begins to record all the information in every grim detail of the chamber to recreate later for others, he walks slowly around the space, shaking his head as he eyes the skulls, the incantation circle that's moved around, the xray pictures of the various states of... harm... experienced. Of all of it as he takes it in with his eyes and his magical senses.

When he finally comes to where Starcrash is on display, he doesn't touch, he also doesn't let his scan pass over it, carving a circle around that space as a Device could be triggered if the wrong touch happens. Instead, he motions for Rashmi and finally speaks, "You've worked more with Chrono than I have, and with Starcrash. Don't touch it. Not yet. Look it over and make sure there's nothing... wrong... We don't know what happened here or why, and how it's connected."

No mention of the wake he didn't attend or the fact that he's only a few steps from being sick, somehow putting it away to be a calm voice in the middle of madness.

Amanda Faust has posed:
    It's probably a trap, but... they've got to go in and see, right?

    Amy gasps as she sees the diagrams and x-rays, and the remains of medical equipment and necromantic rituals. They tried to bring Molly back as an evil cyborg or something? She shares a worried look with Rashmi, who seems to be suspecting something similar.

    Wait... tried?

    Amy walks over to the operating table, to double check that it's not just, in really bad shape and fell apart, but that it was broken.

    That it was broken free of. By... whatever they turned Molly into. "Uhh... guys?

    But others are gathering around-- "Is that Starcrash?!" Amy runs over to stare, not reckless enough to touch yet though!

Coco Kiumi has posed:
Accidental or intentional, Coco sighs when Koji goes ahead, but at least she can trust in him being cautious, and in the meantime she can try to assist Rashmi during this situation.

She doesn't know if it's the silence or how empty the place is, but it makes the contents of the hall so much more eerie than it could have been. She doesn't spare more than a glance to the writings on the walls that are alien to her too.

She doesn't want to imagine who those scans belong to, her heart climbing in her throat at the possibility Rashmi's earlier words suggest.

She really would like to get them all to retreat from here, and return later, when they have a plan, when this is not so new, but she needs to know as well what has gone on here more than anything else, because she doesn't have any hope, any trust that what happened here was for a good purpose.

The mermaid princess approaches Rashmi, and cautiously places a hand on her shoulder, offering her what she had considered the other day. "I am sure you are getting all kind of unpleasant thoughts and emotions right now. Sometimes it helps having them anyway, but I don't think that's the case right now."

When Coco make contact with Rashmi, the Live Stage would pass over her as well, but not as any of separation. She is free to take a step outside with ease. "As your friend, I think you should take a step back, and let me use my powers to lessen your burden. Will you let me?" she asks without hesitation.

Rashmi Terios has posed:
The touch of Coco's hand on her shoulder causes Rashmi to jump; clearly the Devicer was so locked in she'd forgotten others were there, for just a moment. A complicated tangle of emotions pass over her face. But in silence she stares at Coco, and as the Live Stage envelops them both, tears begin to fall from her eyes. "...I can't not look, Koji-kun," she whispers thickly. "But I can listen when people say this feels like a trap. I can tell you right now, I'm gonna look as closely at Starcrash as I can... Because I don't want any kind of a fight here... now... I don't want it to be a surprise."

In the enveloping arms of the Live Stage, where terror is forced to loosen its grip enough for her to feel *safe* to feel, Rashmi sniffles, scraping at her cheeks with one arm of her Barrier Jacket. "Yellow Pearl-chan? Thank you... but... don't take them away, just... can you like... make them softer?" Then she draws in a deep breath. "N-Nicomachea. Thirty second delay: Depot Investigation. Target... St--" Pausing, Rashmi swallows the lump in her throat. "...Starcrash."

She has to know. She *has to understand.* If Molly's dead and her best friend's body has been turned into... some... kind of skinsuit for a Dusk Zone demon, she *has to know* because those X-rays look too much like an inside view of what she saw happen to Molly's outside. And, privately, she resolves to lock those images from her ability to access. Setsuna can make better use of them than she can, and might have fewer nightmares.

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Amy is slightly relieved to feel the Live Stage around them, and nods to Rashmi. "If we're taking it and running later, I could try to conjure a bomb that weighs about the same to leave in its place."

    Amy hasn't even considered they might use Molly's body to host something else. She figures either this is Corrupted Undead Necrotech Cyborg Molly, or the body was someone else they found and are using Starcrash to empower for whatever reason.

Koji Silvia has posed:
After a long moment of consideration, and pacing back away from the Live Stage and then back once more, Koji blinks and looks again... and once more he paces from where the circle is, to where the door is, and looks back, then seems to frown under his mask.

Not looking back at the others, he traces his fingers just over some of the busted examination equipment without touching it, "Whatever was here... it did not want to be, or it got woken up too soon. If I had to wager a guess, the containment circle got busted when it broke free, and that was what caused the blackout. Dark Energy doesn't mix well with... anything... so infecting the grid and knocking out the power for a whole district is pretty on-brand."

Standing back up, he starts walking towards Starcrash and the curtain once more, "I don't think it's here anymore... but we don't know what else is."

Coco Kiumi has posed:
Coco nods at Rashmi's request. She can simply limit the effects of her magic to make it not as bad. There is a look of relief that her suggestion was actually accepted. The yellow mermaid wouldn't have blamed her at all if Rashmi had taken it badly.

The Live Stage glows softly with the beginning of Coco's song and the oceanic melody would touch lightly on the stress and worry going around right now, lessening them, making them seem less oppressive and daunting to deal with.

"I will be on the lookout", Coco nods to Koji once she has finished her song. If what Koji fears shows up, either she can try to restrain it, or she can use the Live Stages as protective barriers.

The Narrator (280) has posed:
So far, it has seemed silent in this place; that whatever happened, happened, and now it is over and done with. They simply missed it. But, one would have to wonder; why bring Starcrash, just to leave him here?

Perhaps Nicomachea can answer that question. At first, the Depot Investigation proceeds normally. Starcrash is revealed to be online and fully charged. Then, the scan would report that Starcrash's internal components are shielded; something -- perhaps even Starcrash himself -- is blocking the scan. After that, two things happen, one almost immediately after the other.

First, Nicomachea will receive a sizeable packet of files, transmitted from Starcrash; and they are being transmitted in a hurry and in a condensed fashion, in such a way that almost guarantees that most if not all the information contained within will be corrupted to a degree that a device -- like Nicomachea -- will be likely be able to unravel it given enough time...

But it will take time.

The second, is that Starcrash lights up and his often silent nature is broken with a loud snarl;

<< UNAUTHORIZED SCAN DETECTED. ARMING COUNTERMEASURES. FIRING IN FIVE SECONDS. >>

"Or perhaps, you simply shouldn't play with what isn't yours," suggests a voice from the other side of the black curtain. And it's a familiar... very familiar sounding voice, but there's something about it that just... isn't right. It's familiar but it's somehow foreign at the same time. Incorrect. Alien.

"Hold fire, Starcrash, don't blow up our guests. Come."

Starcrash lifts up off the pedestal and abruptly flies through the curtain, which settles back into place after offering only a slight glimpse of what lies beyond; a well lit space, with... something in it.

And then, one might realize what is so wrong about the voice.

The British accent is gone.

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Koji says it's not here, but... "That doesn't make sense. If they're not here, why leave Starcrash?"

    Amy can't see what Nicomachea's doing, but... "Starcrash, no!" She's not sure what to do, and then

    That voice. That is and isn't familiar.

    "...Molly?" She asks, hopeful, but worried. Just how changed is she? Why is her accent gone, is someone else in the body?!

Rashmi Terios has posed:
    << SCANNING. >>

    << CHARGE STATUS -- OPTIMAL >>

<< STRUCTURAL INTEGRITY -- 100-5% >>

    << DOWNLOAD BEGI--DOWNLOAD COMPLETE >>

All of these reports flicker up one of the screens, and Rashmi has *just* enough time to register confusion, at which point the Device *snarls at her,* and threatens to fire.

One hand is out to place a Shield between the Live Stage and the Device, because unlike Riventon's Axion, there *is not* Dark Energy inherent in Starcrash's construction. And Coco's Live Stages are wonderful defenses against the dark... but there is *no* data on how effectively she might be able to protect against a friend.

Rashmi's face grows ashen as the voice sounds from beyond the curtain, tears stopping abruptly.

<< Yellow Pearl-chan, >> she says to her friends via Telepathy, << Can your Live Stage hold us all? Because... I think we're at the stage of 'it doesn't matter how wide we're spread out.' >>

But she doesn't same the name. Amy can manage it, but Rashmi... doesn't dare. There's a part of her that sees *saying the name* as the end of her dream of a peaceful rest for her friend.

Some illusions, we need to cling to up until we simply can't, anymore.

Koji Silvia has posed:
Immediately, Koji's right hand comes up, and in front of it appears the steering-wheel sized hybrid magical circle for his Disruptor magics, the three smaller circles connected via Belkan tri-gram inside of a standard Mid-childian circle. The three inner circles begin to rotate, lock, and shift back and forth as he keeps it aimed towards whom- or whatever may be on the other side of the curtain. In his left stays the knife-shaped Device, slipped into a backhand grip as he stays focused on the new threat.

Unlike the others, his interactions with Molly were not much, despite her getting him the gift that now sits on a shelf in his new room, next to a folder of notes and printouts, some unpainted models, and a few other things. His eyes do not show any fear, but also no worry or compassion. They have a hardness to them.

Instead of using Telepathy, Hanzo employs a tricky little use of his illusions, only the three on his side hear his voice...

     'If there's even a snort of aggressive movement, Pearl, Live stages for cover. Faust. Blow out the ceiling on it. Then both of you grab Rashmi and RUN.'

His last thing to do? Flick his detail scan of the chamber and everything he has to Nicomachea, 'I am the best person to buy time here, and we don't have time for a better plan.'

Coco Kiumi has posed:
The marine idol did promise Koji she would be on her guard, and when the device threatens fire, Live Stages blink into existence, ready to try and repel the device's offensive. She is not aware of the files that had been transmitted, and thinks that what they have in front of them is completely hostile.

And yet, that hostility is deterred, Molly's familiar unfamiliar voice causing a shudder up her spine with the realisation, and her mouth turns downwards with a sigh. Is this their cue to start running? "You are being quite secretive with your 'guests'", she reproaches the voice.

"It can, but I can also create more of them", Coco replies to Rashmi. While her songs can only purify the darkness, the Live Stages can be platforms, shields, or prisons. "As long as I keep them around you, I can use them to repel attacks that come your way, unless they are overpowered", Coco explains.

"So if you want to put your shield over them, Page Mage, that might be wise", she remarks to Rashmi. There is no telling just how strong what they have to protect against might be.

Koji's suggestion makes Coco shake her head. "Idea accepted, Hanzo, but you are coming as well. I don't think anybody here wants to leave you behind."

Amanda Faust has posed:
    << Blow the ceiling on it?! >> Amy replies; Kyubey must have been drawn to the building too, close enough for Puella Magi telepathy to work. << I have no idea what it's made of! >>

    The voice... doesn't reply? "Who are you?!"

    If silence continues, she just... yanks the curtain aside. (With the arm that's not got her soul gem on it.)

Rashmi Terios has posed:
Hanzo may not employ Telepathy, but Rashmi has neither the A/V wizardry nor the inclination to get fancy with her secrecy. << Hanzo if you are *not* on a Live Stage when we take off *I WILL TELL MAMORU-KUN ON YOU.* AND THEN SETSUCHAN. AND-AND-AND THEN USACHAN. >>

There is real heat, in her mental voice, and not a little bit of panic. Amy might guess why, given that *she* was present the *last* time one of Rashmi's friends covered their retreat.

The fact that she's holding onto Coco's shoulder for support, as if the weight of her anger and fear might take her legs out from under her -- even with the bolstering effect of mermaid song, and even though her Flier Fin is active and gravity doesn't care about her anyway -- probably says something too.

And for a moment she just stands at Coco's side, leaning on the mermaid and catching her breath.

But as the panic begins to recede, logic comes to the fore, and it occurs to the Devicer that they are here. And that the truth is on the other side of the curtain.

And they have been named 'guests.'

And just as she's about to tell everyone to go in anyway, Amy yanks the curtain aside and THERE GOES THAT RUN-UP.

Rashmi sighs deeply. "...Let's go in," she croaks.

She is *so* going to ask Setsuchan for a day off so she can get sleep, after this...

Koji Silvia has posed:
It's simple... he keeps his magic at the ready, but moves in closer to the curtain swept open, staying towards the rear of the group. Rashmi's response doesn't get a reply, but there's an eyetwitch from him as he doesn't step any closer than where Starcrash was sitting at that time, the backlight of blue energy playing over his henshin'd form as he stays ready...

Coco Kiumi has posed:
Coco places a hand on Rashmi's that is on the mermaid's shoulder for support, letting her know unspoken that she is here, and to rely on her as much as she wants. She doesn't think she is going to give Hanzo a choice not to get his own Live Stage - she is going to form it around him if she has to.

None of them can be left behind, not like she can. At least in her case, she could trust her heir to pick up her slack, and to fill the void she would leave.

She was hoping their host would accept her objection and step on this side of the curtain, but they are not going to have it that easy. "When I have guests over, I make sure they get introduced to their hosts", she criticizes the voice's behaviour.

Since the curtain is now open, let her make some preemptive preparation. A few words of magic, and Live Stages shine into being, enveloping her friends in their light, and she just needs a few more words for them to start protecting them.

Molly Skyline has posed:
The curtain is pulled aside; the other half of the sphere revealed.

It is a far cry from the first, with its horrors. Beyond the curtain, a wood-floored room that looks like it belongs in a Japanese temple; and at its center a raised square dais, about a foot high and stepped around the edge. The room is lit with candles all around the walls, and more lights hung from the ceiling; leading up to the dais is a wooden walkway over a still pool of water filled with koi.

The dais itself is just large enough for a chabudai, behind which kneels a single, purple-haired occupant, clad in a dress that is not actually a kimono, but clearly inspired by one; wrapped right over left, tied with a white sash, but with a skirt that is slit up either side to show legs with thigh-height boots and fishnets. The woman wearing it looks... just like Molly; or rather, what Molly would likely look like ten years from now. The low neckline of her kimono-styled dress shows no hint of the damage that occurred to her in the Dusk Zone, and where Molly favored silver jewelry and glasses, this woman has gold, and her eyebrow piercing is gone entirely.

Set out on the chabudai is a small stack of empty plates, but there is one left that has four pieces of Salmon Nigiri, artfully arranged. The woman who looks like Molly picks one up with a pair of gold chopsticks, dips it lazily into a little bowl of soy sauce, and lifts it to lips wearing a considerably more vibrant shade of red than Molly would ever have considered.

"Mmmmm," is the sound that escapes her as she chews and swallows. "Delicious. I really must ask where they got this sushi from, it's fantastic," she comments, as she picks up a little white vessel and pours the contents into a masu until it overflows, which she lifts, holds up in mock-salute, and drains in one gulp.

"Oh do come in," she beckons, and pats Starcrash, where the staff now rests on the chabudai, just beyond the sushi. "Come now, let me get a look at you."

Amanda Faust has posed:
    She's... older?

    Did cyborg necrotech Molly get lost in a fast-time dimension for a decade?!

    Amy notes the changed fashion sense. Is it someone else, or would Molly's tastes change after a decade of being who knows where?

    It's not like anyone would recognize Amy from seeing her ten years ago...R
    Amy steps into the other half of the sphere, but doesn't approach. "You... live right next to the table you escaped?"

    Amy crosses her arms. "No, bigger question: Explain. If you remember me... or even if you're someone else who knows anything about us... you must be able to guess what we're thinking. It's... kinda hard to trust you in these circumstances, you know?"

    Beat.

    "Besides, shouldn't a proper host introduce herself?"

Rashmi Terios has posed:
When the realization came to Rashmi, that Molly might not be dead and -- or might be dead but *also* -- her body possessed by... whatever it was that was being fed all those civilians, it was... hard to take. Surely not even Obsidian could be that horrible. As Amy and Coco challenge this... woman's... hospitality, Rashmi stays silent, trying to *explain* all of this to herself. It's how she processes reality; makes it fit into a story. So underneath the horror, the terror, the mind-twisting *existence* of her dead friend, aged-up and eating sushi, Rashmi is trying to tell the story that makes this all make sense.

And the thought that causes a new emotion to rise up underneath it all?

'Molly-chan would *never* be this tacky.'

That emotion is anger, and right now it is but a spark.

Koji Silvia has posed:
Hanzo just makes it -LOOK- like he's letting his guard down a little, but in reality, the readied circle just shrinks down to fit inside his palm, and then dims to where the glow doesn't bounce off of anything. Taking a couple steps closer, until he's nearby Coco, he looks up towards this... being... that has a passing facade of the girl that was supposed to be dead.

But to Amy's words, he shakes his head, and then says softly, "Don't assume... that's the trick with darkness. It lies to hide it's teeth."

Eyes go back up towards the being, and he points with the kunai-shaped Device towards it, before saying in a slightly louder voice, and in English nonetheless, so not all of the crowd here may understand, carrying a vague Brasilian accent in the tone, "Just so long as you remember to look... some people here do not react well to being touched."

Coco Kiumi has posed:
Coco frowns at the sight of the person laying there, a person that is of course supposed to be dead, and she doesn't know if that's actually the case, and someone else took over her body, or if she is simply Molly corrupted by dark energy.

"If you aren't Molly, showing up in her body is quite in bad taste", Coco stares warily. Rashmi's anger and comment over the girl's fashion sense make it much more likely this is not her, even if there might still be a chance. She has seen what dark energy can do to a person.

"What motivates you now? Revenge? Power? Freedom?" Maybe she feels chatty, and she certainly feels in control of the situation at least, after she likely killed those Obsidian people. Would her revenge stop there, if that's what she is after?

Molly Skyline has posed:
"Oh I know about you," the woman answers to Amy first, as she picks up the second piece of nigiri, dips it in the soy sauce, and then gesutres towards Amy with it before putting it in her mouth. She chews, slowly, and swallows before continuing. "Two of you... are the ones who left a very brave but sadly very foolish little girl to die in the Dusk Zone. Very unfortunate. But!" She smiles, "You're quite right," she adds, pointing her chopsticks at Coco. "Little Molly isn't present. Oh, don't fret; I wouldn't worry about her, I'm sure she's enjoying..." She pauses, casting her eyes upwards in thought, "Valhalla, that's the one you go to when you fall in battle, right? I'm sure surrounded by Valkyries serving her non-alcoholic drinks for the rest of eternity will be just fine for her."

The woman repeats her ritual with the nigiri, taking the third piece and eating it, chewing slowly and savoring its flavor. "With a little science, a bit of magic, and maybe a slight disregard for certain... annoyingly restrictive conventions, even a dead Mahou can be of use, however. You see, I required a host body, and Miss Skyline... rather no longer needed hers."

She pauses, glancing in Koji's direction. "Please. I would never engage in such tawdry behaviour. When I fight you, it will be with magic." She reaches forwards to pat Starcrash once more. "But there's no need for that just yet; I'm still eating, and it would be dreadfully rude to interupt my dinner. But I suppose you are right, I should Introduce myself.

"My name is Seriss Nyx."

Rashmi Terios has posed:
'You left her to die.' For all that Rashmi has been insisting otherwise, that it was truly Molly's choice... That is a knife that lands *solidly* in her gut. And it fans that spark a good bit higher, in the doing. "Seriss Nyx," she repeats, the first time she's spoken up in the presence of their 'host.' "Seriss Nyx." Closing her eyes, she nods slowly. "Seriss. Nyx. ...Okay."

Opening her eyes, she looks, stonefaced, across the intervening distance. "I won't forget that name. So... What *are* you, then, if you're not Molly-chan?"

She's trying very, very hard to speak in conversational tones. But it's growing pretty clear, that she might begin to really understand why some people make jabs just because they can't stop themselves from doing it.

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Amy tenses as the woman before them refers to Molly as a foolish little girl. And the not-yet-burning embers of hope are snuffed out at 'Molly isn't present.'

    The accusation that they left Molly to die is so false Amy can't even wrap her brain around it.

    "Who are you?!" Amy blurts out as the woman eats, anger in her voice now.

    She keeps her arms crossed through the talking, and the introduction.

    Seriss Nyx? Nyx means night, but Amy doesn't know the root of Seriss.

    "As my friend said, if you're not Molly, showing up in her body is rather rude; Were it honest desperation and no other choice, you'd be begging for forgiveness. ...Kind of pokes a hole in the whole 'I'm cultured and fancy and polite so I'm better than you' thing you're going for."

    "I dare say, treating people as nothing but potential hosts rather undercuts that whole affect from the get-go."

    What are you, asks Rashmi.

    "And what are your goals?" adds Amanda. "This show is for you, not for us; it wouldn't do to leave it incomplete."

Coco Kiumi has posed:
She is feeling chatty, yes, but not in the way that gives them any information. Are they here for her bragging rights? "Leave Red and Page alone. You have no right to make fun of them for seeing a friend die", Coco grips her E-Pitch. She really wants to kick things up a gear with her Super Idol form and sing until that's all she can hear.

"Do you really think they wanted any of it? Of course, you probably never thought about any of it, and you probably don't have anybody special to you."

Of course she can't really do that, she would only put everyone else in danger, assuming Nyx would even care about that.

<<Please, try not to listen to her, Rashmi, Amy. Molly wouldn't want you to believe that, especially not from the monster spoiling her memory>>, Coco relays to them before speaking to everyone.

<<What should we do now? Should we try to call others in, or escape so we can form a better plan?>>

Koji Silvia has posed:
There is...

One.

Piece left.

So Koji exhales and moves forwards towards where Rashmi is, sideslipping a bit so that he is more at one point of the diamond, and then tilts his head with a faint grin. The being retains Molly's understanding of English... especially since the book he was bought was in English. An oversight for most, but not when you can speak three languages.

From under his mask, he says, "Now..."

The pause in his tone just hangs in the air, as he reverts back to Japanese, "You'll have to forgive my friends. You've caused a lot of shock and so all the staging you've done isn't quite hitting the mark. You aim to either kill one of us or beat us so badly that we can barely escape. Either way, you set all this up knowing someone would show up. Someone would appear from our side and you could make your grand entrance."

Koji tsks, "Pardon me for spoiling the whole event... however... you're not choosing your words well. You already GOT what you wanted. A Body. An escape. Everything else now is just... however long it lasts."

His tone is clipped the whole time, edging polite, but he holds up a finger from his knife hand, "Before you go thinking we're being rude, or impertinent children... I propose this. You let us leave. We can have a nice grand fight with lots of speeches, and the right mood... but not here and now."

But at the end he shrugs, "I mean... you still haven't had your last bite. Things are still civil, and excusing us would be the civil thing to do."

Molly Skyline has posed:
Seriss picks up the last piece of nigiri, dips it deliberately in soy sauce, and puts it in her mouth to chew slowly, enjoying it in silence as she regards the small array of heroes before her.

"Tell you my plans," she muses. "Let you all go. Don't cause a fight. Tell you what I am. ...My my you do all make a lot of demands." She drops her chopsticks onto the now empty plate, ignoring the one that falls and rolls of the table as she rises from where she was kneeling. "Well... maybe you'll get what you want, maybe you won't. I suppose we shall see. But first..." She takes a deep breath, and lets it out slowly, before tilting her head to one side and then the other. "First... I have something to attend to. ...Starcrash, your current configuration just won't do."

Seriss's feet leave the ground as she rises, holding her arms out to either side of her, as Starcrash lifts off the table and hovers vertically in front of her. Seriss' dress changes, becoming a Barrier Jacket underlay instead, while a series of golden armor plates materialize around her and snap into place, many with backswept spikes, espeically the otherwise featureless mask that conceals her face. The armor on her back takes on a spinal motif, along with heat vents; more than Molly had on her own armor.

"You are no longer Starcrash. I christen you the Cygnus Lich." As she speaks, Starcrash reconfigures, transforming into a considerably... crueler looking piece of equipment, his haft taking on the same spinal motif and the end changing from a star to a bladed bident. The central jewel cracks and shifts, transforming from a blue star to a red sphere, with a hairline crack of blue down the middle.

<< AFF-FF-IRMATIVE MISTRESS >>

A pair of translucent, red, bat-like wings flicker into being on Seriss' back, before she drops back to the dais, smashing it into splinters as she lands in a half-crocuh and goes straight through to the metal beneath the floor.

"Yes... this is much better," she declares as she rises back to her feet. "This body has so much potential. Your friend really ought to have taken better care of it; but she never used it the way it was meant to be.

"But I will."

Rashmi Terios has posed:
When one is a Device User, one comes to care a great deal for one's Intelligent Device. They may not be *truly* alive, but they are thinking machines, feeling ones in their own fashion. Devices are people, *partners,* and bringing harm to one is like kicking a puppy.

The *average* Device User feels this way. But Rashmi has been training to be a *Meister.* She knows how a Device is constructed, inside, out, and in all five dimensions.

So what Seriss just did, to a Meister, is very much akin to magically rearranging the assembly of bones, organs, and muscles, on a whim, *for aesthetic purposes.* In this moment, there is so much rage in Rashmi's heart it is *actually* producing static along the Telepathy channel.

<< ...We need to go, >> she says through the channel. << We need to go before I try to tear this woman's throat out with my bare hands and die trying. >>

"...That was *her life,*" she grates out, "and she lived it how *she deserved.* And you've taken... *everything*... that was hers. And you tell us she's gone forever?" Closing her eyes for a moment, Rashmi takes in a long, deep breath. "There is no world in which you will find forgiveness."

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Molly wouldn't want you to believe that. << I already don't. >> Amy reassures her.

    Amy watches. She glares at the proposal to reconfigure Starcrash. Notes the more armored barrier jacket. She frowns more at the renaming, and winces when Starcrash speaks, words chosen to make it clear to all that Nyx has control of it, or worse, has corrupted it.

    "Don't you badmouth Molly. You owe her everything."

    Amy tries to keep in mind that, as far as the talk of body potential, she is the scariest thing in the room... right?

    Necromantic magitech is a bit of an X-factor...

     And don't talk like you didn't make changes, to do whatever you're going to do." she fishes.

    Please. Brag more and tell us about your capabilities, she thinks.

    She also senses that they'd better leave soon, watching for sudden movements by her comrades out of the corner of her eyes.

Coco Kiumi has posed:
Disgust is visible on Coco's face when Seriss Nyx rearranges Starcrash as she pleases. She might not share the deep understanding of Devices Rashmi has, but all the same, that's Molly's Device, after she has desecrated Molly's body. Anything she could do to spit on her memory, she has done it.

She really wants to believe that there is always a reason in everybody from which evil is born, and by her duty as a princess she is called to find it and heal that which has gone wrong, but she is really not sure anything like that exists here, and above all, that woman has hurt Rashmi, and caused her anger in a measure she is not she has anything to compare it with.

<<There will be a time for that too>>, Coco tells Rashmi, closing her eyes for a second, knowing she shouldn't be saying that, and the Live Stages follow her cue, bringing the four of them, carried and sealed from their surroundings by her song. <<The Live Stages should also protect us.>> As long as they hold.

Molly Skyline has posed:
"Now, then," muses Seriss, either oblivious to the vitriol being directed her way or simply uncaring of it. "How did Molly do this... Ahh, yes. Cygnus Lich, charge... Stellar Buster, maximum explosive output."

<< ARMED >>

"Fire."

Seriss points her staff straight up; an unstable beam, charged with everything Molly could have thrown into it and a generous helping of dark energy besides, fires upwards and there is a violent explosion as the top third of the sphere is blown off, blasting shrapnel up into the night sky. Seriss' wings beat furiously to carry her upwards, through the ragged hole she just made. "Cygnus," she instructs, "Charge... Magnetar Beam. Maximum attraction, maximum range."

<< AFFIRMATIVE MISTRESS. ARMED >>

Seriss continues to climb, until she is well above the top of the partly-constructed sky scraper frame; and then, she points her staff downwards.

"Fire."

A brilliant blue beam blasts downwards, missing the heroes entirely and lancing straight through the skeleton of the building, from top to bottom; and at first nothing seems to happen, except for a pulse of energy that flies down the beam a second after it first.

But then, the building starts to creak. The metal groans, as iron girders deform and bow inwards; bolts snap and fly like bullets in different directions, and the remains of the sphere bow inwards. The general crumpling picks up speed, with the groaning turning to shrieking as iron and steel give way, bending and breaking in ways they were never meant to as the entire structure collapses inwards with increasing speed.

Watching for a moment, Seriss smiles, unable to contain her joy at what she has just wrought, before she turns to fly up and into the night.

"Yes... this is gonig to be fun."