2362/Pecking Order

Pecking Order
Date of Scene:	26 February 2025
Location:	Obsidian Facility
Synopsis:	The Black Moon Clan's next target is a scientist within Obsidian, and Petz and Rubeus intend to finish the job. Starfall Omen, Misery Melona, Glimmer, Riventon, Catra, and Sara ensure this doesn't happen - and in the end, both sides take a loss. CW: Violence, Blood, NPC Death.
Cast of Characters:	280, Lana Voselle Miata, Takashi Agera, Melona Mizu, Glimmer Brightmoon, Sara, Catra
Tinyplot:	A Requiem of Dark Roses

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Black Moon Clan (280) has posed:
It's evening on Wednesday, the weather cool and cloudy, but at 52/11 degrees out - not that the scientists within this lab are aware of that. They've been busy with their research, heads in their data, the world passing by unnoticed - and why not? Their lab is a secure, safe, comfortable locale...

The majority of Obsidian's facilities may be in Obsidian Tower, but there are still smaller facilities scattered around Tokyo, for projects sensitive to the immense energy within the Reactor. Some of these are magical in nature. Some are mundane. All are intended to profit Obsidian in some way or another.

This one looks totally normal - clean and sterile, a lab filled with computers and equipment for chemical testing, equipped with sensors and alarms to notify superiors if something goes wrong. The three scientists within have been testing the properties of the rather mundane irradiated chemicals they've created, noting features and responses, calculating effect, and other such matters. It's going to be a long night, and they're ready for it.

Or at least, they thought they were ready for it. That perfectly ordinary day is interrupted when an alarm goes off - one that indicates intruders. That alarm isn't just going off in this remote lab, however - it's also sounding an alert at Obsidian Tower, notifying select parties that Obsidian is under attack, and where.

The who, is Petz and Rubeus of the Black Moon Clan, the power having located the lab with their own resources, and forced their way in. The mundane security are no match for them, but it's one specific scientist that they're after, and the lab they intend to reach.

Lana Voselle Miata has posed:
    It's not every day that an Obsidian facility gets attacked. Few have the nerve, and many of those that do tend to work for Obsidian. So when Lana gets tagged in for Asset Protection, her mind is already going through the list of possibilities for who it could be.

    She does not bother showing up as her usual intern self. When she appears, it's as Starfall Omen, entering through a glowing blue portal, letting her off into an empty corridor well inside the lab. Nightmare Chain quietly shifts into Needle Rifle mode, and she follows the sounds of battle in order to find out who is f-ing around.

    As she feels the use of dark energy nearby, being used against Obsidian, she picks up her pace. When her Device notices the appearance of allied dark mahou, she pings them. <<I'm on site. We will make these fools pay dearly.>>

Takashi Agera has posed:
    Takashi Agera is doing experiments of his own, in a very different lab - in his very bright distinctly mad-scientist seeming lab within the Tower, and trying to figure out... honestly, more than one thing at a time. While his computers run tests and check variables against one experiment, he's working on a different one - too many plans within plans, never enough time to do them.

    And yet his time is cut short when he is alterted to a concern with a different Obsidian lab, an email at this time - and what intrigues him isn't the intruder alarm. Those go off on occasion, there's mundane security for that. It's the simultaneous readings that Axion reports from a nearby sensor tower of his - Dark energy, being used in what should be a mundane lab, at the same time that lab is under attack. Now that... that's a problem. It's either a rogue youma, or a rogue element, or an experiment gone off the rails, but that puts it more into Riventon's ballpark.

    Two experiments are active and two are wound down, as he taps the device on his wrist.

    
    <STANDBY, READY> announces the device that sits on his wrist in a stern, mid-chidlian male voice. "Axion, Execute."
     <BARRIER JACKET>, the device suddenly becomes garbeled, and its voice abruptly switches to a Belkan female voice, continuing without a hitch. <SCHATTENRUSTUNG, AKTIVIERUNG BESTATIGT!>
    The device bursts a blast of dark blue negative energy in front of it, which Takashi punches first one arm through, then the other. That energy continues to coat his arms and body, before he pushes himself through it completly. On the other side, he is now wearing a much heavier-looking version of his lab coat, with somewhat plated looking armor beneath it - his Barrier Coat. Long pants, heavy boots, all combined to give him the look of a cross between a scientist and some sort of combat personnel. His Device assembles itself, building a gauntlet around his right arm that goes all the way up to his eblow, a hybrid of multiple kinds of technology, with Axion's jet black stone resting on the back of his hand.
        <BARRIEREMANTEL> <READY> the device reports, in its twin voices.

    Now, as Riventon, he storms out of his lab, through the section of tower that is Testarossa Technologies. On the way he spots first Glimmer, then Melona. "Someone or more likely something is attacking one of our external facilities. Civilian research, nonmagical, so the fact that I'm seeing Dark Energy there is a problem. Might just be a wandering youma, but if so it's a very strong one. If it's got intelligence, that's... worse, and in any case these folks aren't equipped for whatever it is. Come on, let's go figure out what's going down." he says as a Mid-childan circle opens up beneath him. "I'll teleport us out front, nearest Door is farther away than I'd like with our stuff under attack."

    And Riventon and those who teleport with him appear out front of the lab, before Riventon rushes in, hands already aglow with crackling Dark Energy, black liquid dripping off and dissolving into the air from his fingertips.

Melona Mizu has posed:
There was a moderate level of apathy as the alarms went off from Melona, at first. But then she was called to action by her boss, Riventon that their team was handling it. She didn't particularly grumble or hesitate once told this, relatively quickly transforming afterwards to be ready for the teleportation. "...Jawohl." She states simply in response to the explanation.

And then they are being teleported to the location of the lab. "...Please put up a Barrier so I can avoid destruction of company property with my abilities." Melona requests upon arrival, her flail resting over her shoulder lazily as she looks over the entry of the lab. A nice brisk evening, it would be a nice time for a stroll... instead, well.

She's here.

Meanwhile, she does in fact proceed to break company property relatively handily though, as any doors with any relative level of security would have their locks simply scooped out so that they can enter easier, molding the material together absently in her hands as she goes.

Which is surprisingly less violent than one would expect of her, considering the giant flail that would ALSO work for opening doors. But this way it can possibly be put together later!

... Maybe!

"My magical senses are relatively lacking for non-Witches. I will follow your lead." She comments otherwise.

Glimmer Brightmoon has posed:
The Queen of Brightmoon was... growing... plants in her room now? O... kay then? Some weird ones, too. Not dusk. Just... kind of weird. She had a heating lamp now. How had the queen managed to acquire so much junk? Was she a pack rat of some kind? So when Riventon swung by her 'office', he'd find her... poking at one with her finger.

Alas, work called. She blinked and glanced up. "Huh? Wait, who'd-- why'd--" ... It wasn't Catra, was it? She hopes not. Ugh. She jumped to her feet, hopped a few times to get feeling back in her legs, then darted out after Riventon. As she ran, she surrounded herself in a magic circle and, when she stepped through it? She was in her 'evilllllll' outfit. Sure, maybe color coding herself so her friends knew it was okay to punch her was a bit excessive... but... Well...

Had you met her friends?

"This teleport is different from like, dusk porting, right?" She COULD do it. She didn't like it, though. It still felt so *wrong* to her. "Oh, hey, we bringing the newest princess? We could--"

Of course, once they were teleported in... and she saw the... destruction left in the wake of the Black Moon Clan's attack? Oh... she really missed being able to teleport. She tried to teleport, buuuuut... she couldn't. So instead she had to RUN THROUGH THE DOOR AND FOLLOW THE PATH OF DESTRUCTION! LIKE A NORMAL PERSON! LAME!

Sara has posed:
Much like Gaito or the Dark Lovers, Sara didn't normally spend time in Obsidian, usually keeping herself occupied in her chambers in the Panthalassa Palace. This time however, she had made an exception, having heard from the Dark Lovers of the people out of Obsidian's control currently rampaging through Tokyo.

The Dark Lovers had already failed to procure any more information, and the Black Beauty Sisters were on yet another mission to try and break into the defenses of the Pearl Pier to steal Aqua Regina's harp. Hippo and Coco were really taking care of that place's protection, however.

Those people were... curious. No sign of where they could have come from, no documentation that would match with their appearance, no sign of them having ever transformed. She had been really thorough, and yet they were as much as mystery as when she started.

Taking care of this problem would provide their cause an advantage over the other departments, and as the de facto manager of the Panthalassa activities, it was mostly her who provided Gaito suggestions on their operations, availing herself of the experience she had gotten running the Indian Ocean.

For the first time in so many years, she had found herself experiencing something she never thought she would feel again. She was stumbling in the dark, not sure of how to tackle the issue in front of her. This is so irritating, it's like being back to when she was still a novice princess.

When the alarm sounds, the renegade princess' eyes glow. Have those unknowns actually dared to make a move on Obsidian? Well, time to make sure they paid for their mistakes then.

An orange glow, and Sara transforms, lips curled upwards, and at her command a rainbow vortex outlined in orange opens in front of her, granting her access to the Dream Corridor and placing her right when their undesirable guests are striking.

Catra has posed:
When the call goes out, Catra was not in Obsidian Tower -- a place she has been conspicuously absent from to a growing degree, of late -- and was in fact at that abandoned dojo, that Adora had first used as a hiding place, and then she had. And then she'd set on fire.

So, now, amongst the charred timbers of the half-burnt dojo, surrounded by yellow hazard tape with a single break in it where Catra made her entrance, the feline is... meditating? Well she's certainly doing something. Actually it's not meditating. She's spent the last several hours laboring on th econtents of the dojo, ripping things apart, rearranging, and eventually building... a chair.

No, a throne.

That's what princesses sit in, right? NOT THAT SHE IS ONE. But this Spirit Ember is a thing she needs to figure out, and that's clearly not optional, and she can't keep stuffing it in her pocket and putting it off, so... she's got her chai-- She's got her throne, and she's sitting in it, lounging like it was Hordak's and she'd just claimed it, while looking into the Spirit Ember and trying to... thinkg firey thoughts, like Glimemr was saying. And stuff definitely is getting toasty around her, but then--

Then the call comes in; Obsidian Assets under attack.

The feline lets out a loud and angry growl of frustration as she hauls herself to her feet, stuffs the Spirit Ember back in her pocket, and takes up her sword as she marches outside to swing her leg over her motorcyle and rev it up. Then she's just speeding off with blatant disregard for the speed limit.

it isn't long before she arrives; and while other people seem to be teleporting in, she's just going to ride that Honda Rebel right in through the front door, sword already drawn and bike being controlled with one hand as she revs up the enginer.

"Alright!" she yells, "Who's interupting me with this crap?!"

Black Moon Clan (280) has posed:
The mundane security haven't died mostly because Petz and Rubeus aren't taking the time to ensure their deaths, first. Lightning bolts and dark blasts are enough to slam them into walls, and most of them, faced with the impossibility of those things, choose to lay down. Others are knocked unconscious.

The point is, they aren't putting up much of a fight at all, and the scientists deep within the facility are panicking a little. "What's going on? Why would someone be after this facility?! We aren't even doing anything wrong," one of them is frantically whispering as they hide under a table. Another is trying a phone line, but even as they're connecting, the alarms cut, as Petz' electricity temporarily overrides the systems after a couple of purposeful blasts.

"We -can't reach anyone," that scientist realizes, cold sweat breaking out as he joins the other in ducking.

"Someone's reached us,' the third, unknowing target, says quietly, the only one still standing. She's staring through the secure metal-and-glass doors of the facility, at where Riventon and his allies have materialized, and where Starfall Omen is slowly making her way.

"Rubeus-sama! The target is up ahead - oh, my."

Petz is the first the gathered Obsidian mahoujin will see, a tall, handsome woman with dark green hair swept up and back into a bun, her shoulders bedecked with the feathery wing-cape extending from the back of the decorative bodice of her short-skirt dress. Her hands are shielded by gloves, and her long legs accentuated by her black heeled boots and dark green leggings. On her forehead is an upside down black crescent moon.

"What, don't tell me you're losing your nerve over some resistance," scoffs the equally tall red-headed man beside her - he's dressed in a brown leather vest and dark green camo-print pants, tucked into brown leather boots. He too, is adorned by the black crescent moon. "Just mow them down so we can reach the target."

Yeah, they're just saying all of this in front of Glimmer, Riventon, Melona, Starfall Omen, and Sara - and then Catra bursts in from behind, riding her motorcycle through the halls, and Rubeus thrusts a hand behind him and calls out an attack.

"Broiling Darkness!"

It's an outpouring of broiling hot dark energy, that will seep into the skin on contact - burning, yes, but corrupting too.

Probably not the best thing to use on people accustomed to dark energy.

Meanwhile, Petz scowls, nods sharply, and thrusts her palm out.

""Dark Thunder"

The wide-forked bolt of lightning, deep green and black, surges forward to strike down the rest of the pack.

Takashi Agera has posed:
    Riventon is so used to fighting Sparkles that he instinctively throws out a barrier from one of his hands, a circular, runic thing of blue-fading-to-purple that erupts from his palm and backs it up with Dark Energy, tendrils of it seeping through his hands and coiling around the warding shield - but it's less neccessary than usual, since the lightining isn't purification energy or even just regular Sparkle Nonsense, but a bolt of Dark Energy in it's own right, and Riventon pauses as his shield has a much easier-than-expected time dealing with it on its own rights. In fact it almost seems to grab and grasp at the lightning energy, like a liquid merging with another liquid of the same time and pulling it in.

    Riventon pauses for a moment, as for once he doesn't have to pretend things are easier than they are, between his recent enhancements in power and dealing with an element that, in the terms of Glimmer's favorite game addition, is 'Not Very Effective...'.

    "Hey, idiots! You're attacking an Obsidian facility right now." He calls. "Unless you want to die it's time to stand down. You're using Dark Energy... but you're not anyone I recognize, not from Obsidian, are you?" He asks.

    The presence of Catra and Glimmer remind him not everything is From Earth. "Dunno where you're from but you can either fall in line or just fall - Obsidian is in charge around here, especially when it comes to Dark Energy - and you're attacking an Obsidian Vice-Director now, so if I don't hear apologies real quick, I'm going to show you exactly what that means. Plus you're not even facing just me - you're outnumbered by lots."

    Riventon expects everyone else to weather the storm and swing back - he came here with Glimmer and Melona, he can sense Starfall Omen, and he heard the motorcycle, plus Axion reports the energy radiating off of Sara who he knows less directly. "Behave and I'll let you pay off the property damage by gathering energy rather than less pleasant ways."

Glimmer Brightmoon has posed:
"Huh, I mean, frankly? If I were you I'd lose my nerve about now," Glimmer said before putting her hands together. Two arcane circles appeared over her hands and lightning came at them and... And...

The lightning struck. And it was... well...

"... Ummmmm..."

She'd been in the dusk zone for a lot longer than she'd liked. It burned a little, coursing along her little shield. But she'd, admittedly, expected more. Perhaps if she hadn't wreathed herself in dark energy... but... well...

"Oh... wow... sooooo..." She took a step back before putting her hands together and forming a rather large, dark purple barrier of magic, expanding it out to cover the pathway. Only she and the people with Obsidian would be able to go through it without breaking it. While she ran back and... how... did the thingy that Riventon always did work? Think, direct it... << Gonna get the non-magics out, okay? Is there a door near here? Ugggggh, I miss teleporting for real. >>

She'd head down the way, towards the scientists, while Misery locked up the way behind her! Best to get the civilians out, just in case, sliding into the lab. "Okay, hup hup! Who wants to get out of here in case the siblings grim try and like... ruin all of your research and stuff?" What was it scientists even DID? Uggggggh.

Catra has posed:
Catra keeps zooming forwards down the hallway; she isn't just riding the motorcycle, she's still gunning the engine as she rushes forwards at a speed that would be, for any other mortal with lesser agility, basically a death sentence. But she's got this motorcyle thing down pat and she's not a human being either. She's a cat.

And then there's a boiling, corrupting attack coming at her; and she doesn't have much option but just to plow straight through it, even with no actual defense against it other than just punching through it rapidly -- which she does, coming through it with residue from the boiling attack clinging to her, and leaving trails of dark energy streaming out behind her. And it burns; it does. The feline grits her teeth as she keeps coming, and the veins in her limbs glow purple and her eyes flash with dark energy.

She'd been lacking dark energy for a little while, now, but this... has it charged her up? She keeps rushing onwards, holding her sword by its scabbard, and at the last second she whips the blade out, baring Powersend and charging both blade and scabbard up with glowing Dark Energy of her own, slashing at Petz with the blade and What's-His-Face with the scabbard as she aims to zoom between them.

The blade gets slammed back in the scabbard so she can grab her handlebars and bring the bike to a skidding halt, in front of where Riventon is standing, so she can put down the kickstand and dismount. The leftover from what she drove through is still infecting and corroding her skin, but she's got her teeth grit tight and she's taking it like a champ.

"Two rules," she snarls. "Rule one, The cat bites if you make her angry. Rule two...

"Don't touch the motorcyle."

Melona Mizu has posed:
Misery Melon is mostly treating this like a somewhat hasty stroll, all things considered. "Likely he avoided duskporting for my benefit, as I am a Puella Magi, and the Dusk Zone is not ideal for my soul gem." Melona responds to Dark Glimmer. Not that she didn't tend to use it as needed anyway, it just was more of a 'When absolutely needed' teleportation method. But also she is not really the wisest of children.

Others are arriving too, one of which is slightly more notable to her. But only because she was vaguely aware there was a cat-themed ally in the team. ... Cat person ally? ... Whatever the one named 'Catra' was. Probably a cat themed person. What self-respecting cat would allow themselves to be named 'Cat'.

The target's up ahead. Ah good they're idiots.

... Idiots with power though. Two oncoming attacks that make the hair on the back of her neck prickle, Melona quickly forms the gobs of handle into a shield which she attaches to her rapidly-growing flail to hide behind and allow them to weather the attacks instead.

Of course, to effectively block /lightning/ she has to drop the handle of her flail which isn't ideal, the corruptive energy surging through the flail and shield combo but leaving Melona mostly unscathed... and her flail glowing a bit more than usual, absolutely humming with energy.

That... she doesn't immediately use, instead grabbing the flail and returning it to a smaller, more managable size while she runs with that shield to do the most obvious seeming thing to do: They want something, and it's clearly up ahead.

...So she shoves that shield into the doorway and spends some time molding it to be part of the doorway and keep the scientists just that /hair/ bit safer.

...Not that it would necessarily stop a concentrated effort to get through it, it was still mundane materials, even if infused with Puella magic now, and it would only last for a few minutes at most.

...Which hopefully would be enough for someone to work out a more permanent solution. "This is now high quality german handicraft. Do not believe that you shall break through it as easily as the rest."

..Mostly because the door now had a couple more inches of material to get in the way.

...That's her addition to Riventon's speech of how things will go. Yep. Definitely helpful, there, Misery Melon!

Lana Voselle Miata has posed:
    Starfall Omen starts to stick to the walls as she begins to hear unfamiliar voices up ahead, holding her Device in both hands while peeking down corners and darting down halls. At first she is slow and cautious, but as she begins to recognize the direness of the situation she begins to rush ahead. Once she eventually gets a peek of Petz, her narrowing eyes dart directly to the forehead.

    There it is. The black crescent moon.

    <<It's those Black Moon Clan jerks.>> she confirms, to anyone who will listen. <<Pretty sure that means we can use lethal force.>>

    In this particular situation, can does in fact mean will.

    < Schildarchitekt >

    The autocast shields of her Armed Device is the only advance warning she gets before the Dark Lightning comes her way. Immediately a wall of loosely overlapping shields appear in front of her, filling the entire hallway she's approaching from. Even with all of that, the sudden attack breaks through one, two, all the way through as each white glowing runed circular barrier turns dim and black, then shatters. The dark blast hits her dead on in the chest, in an attack that would potentially be deadly if she were not among the dark mahoujin.

    Unlike Riventon, she wasn't channeling darkness. Yet.

    The Black Moon isn't holding back. That's fine. She wasn't going to either.

    "Fallen Dream Star, grant me more power!" She demands, as the pendant hanging from her neck radiates darkness. A pitch black aura surrounds her as sickeningly sweet evil power courses through her. As she aims the Needle Cannon down the hall at Petz, she opens fire.

    < Schattentotung >

    The dark blast that fires from her barrel races to the space between Petz and Rubeus and then explodes, becoming a thick, black poisonous mist of harmful energy. For most, it would both blind and poison those caught within a cloud, but who knows how it affects the Black Moon Clan.

    After that blast, she rushes ahead. She shows up a little late to actually reach the scientists, but that doesn't matter too much if Misery can keep the assets protected.

    <<If they break through, I can open a portal. Just um... If that happens, don't listen to any voices in your head when you get there.>>

    <<Not that there are going to be voices! There will probably not be voices.>>

    <<But if you hear any, don't listen!>>

Sara has posed:
Sara scoffs at the green-black lightning, watching it rain down with apathy, and she starts singing, the black lightning slowing down to a crawl while she calmly walks past it, and lets it fall behind her. "So, you are the scoundrels that have been devastating Tokyo", she glares at Rubeus and Petz. "You have quite the gall, attacking Obsidian directly. That is the last mistake you will make."

"The last page of a fairy tail

is rewritten, and changed into tragedy.

I even lose sight of

the one person I believed.

Love and dreams are almost like

a sand castle.

They're fragile, and they crumble down

Rven if you don't wish for it."

Sara's song wields dark energy as its source, an oozing wave of hatred and despondency, making itself the enemy of joy. But this is not the danger that awaits the duo. For the same reason that purification does nothing to the sparkles, they are similarly untouched by the dark energy of the song.

But orange light crackles into existence at the behest of Sara's song, and a huge beam of orange light is fired right at Rubeus. "So you fashion yourself the commander of this operation? Try not to lose your nerve instead", Sara grins coldly.

People from the other departments being here isn't really a waste. Obsidian giving the illusion of a completely united front serves well for the intimidation of these two. Just as long as they don't get in the way.

."You", she addresses Petz with authority. "Tell me everything. Where you are from, your goals, and what you intend to do once you have achieved them. You are walking on thin ice, invading our facilities, so you better speak."

Black Moon Clan (280) has posed:
Petz pauses at Riventon's commands, tilting her head - the barrier that blocked her attack is irksome, but in no way a deterrent. "Rubeus-sama... do you recall the name 'Obsidian' beyond the Calamity?"

"Nope," Rubeus replies casual as anything, face twitching into a vicious grin at the promise of combat. There's not a sailor collar or bow in sight, so though this timeline has its own protectors, he can't see them being all that. "Can't be that impressive. Look here 'Vice Director', we're not falling in line for some punk too young to shave. We're not collecting energy for your worthless goals either. We're here for Shibata Saki. If you're worried about the property damage, hand her over."

Instead of doing that, Misery Melon makes the door that much thicker and hard to get through. German handicraft... well, they'll break that -

Cat person on motorcycles, coming through! There's the purr of the energy and the snarl of Catra, and then she's coming between them, and Rubeus deflects her scabbard with his bare hands, relying on the strength of being an absolute menace to keep him safe, while Petz snaps off a brief pulse of Dark Energy to keep the sword at bay.

There's another attack coming, a dark blast that bursts into poisonous mists - but just as the Black Moon Clan's dark energy does little to the Obsidian forces, their own does little to these two. In fact, having grown, livedied, and survived the poisonous hell of Nemesis, it's always like a breath of home.

"What a pleasant welcome," Petz mocks, breathing deep the poisonous, but then there's singing in the air, a song of hatred and menace, and it makes them stand straighter, cruelty sharpening their expressions. For all the havoc it would play on the heroes, these two are only strengthened by it -

But Rubeus is forced to step back when that orange beam strikes him, hitting his shoulder with a grunt. It hurts, but not devastatingly so.

"As if I would lose my nerve before a group of kids," he sneers.

And Petz, mildly surprised at being addressed directly, merely thrusts a crackling hand of lightning out once more, repeating the cry of, ""Dark Thunder!"

It won't do much, that's assured, but in the aftermath of that lightning, she'll be rushing forward, aiming to clothespin the nearest person occupied with her lightning.

Meanwhile, inside the lab, the three scientists are scrambling when Glimmer comes rushing in, only for the one still standing to call - "Wait! She's with us - and we want out, but we have to secure our data, first!"

They're just civilians, so, they could definitely be overpowered. Just saying.

Melona Mizu has posed:
     Dark mist. Familiar, not ideal really for Melona, who glances at her Soul Gem momentarily. ... Ah it's holding stable for now, thank goodness for using the ambient energy more than her own half the time. Regardless, there was talking and sneering at them being a group of kids.

Being belittled.
Mere kids.
Just children.

Drei Spitzen -- the massive three-headed flail is brought to bear as the Dark Thunder rocks through the area, launched towards them. And she weathers it. It strikes her, drawn to the metal of her massive flail and crackling along her form. The dark energy not particularly /harming/ her, though tainting that soul gem ever so slightly more as she walks towards Petz.

In spite of the fact her henshin is smoking slightly, it is a relative calm as she walks towards Petz.

Until the very last moment, when she drops low, darting in at high speeds as her massive flail becomes a tiny flail and she pulls a tool-rapidly-turned dagger from her smithing apron, intent on darting past Petz and leaving a magically-charged dagger in the back of her thigh as she darts past her.

Not charged with dark energy, instead with the more neutral energy of a Puella Magi.

The one who eats the brunt of dark energy is instead Rubeus, who has a rabid 12 year old leaping towards him with flail held high in a relatively normal size and weight for a flail -- charged with that lightning Petz had just used on her, she brings it down to attempt to strike Rubeus.

"Blitzschlag." She states simply.

It's not really a called attack, but upon impact with -- whatever the flail hits, be it Rubeus or the floor -- the flail would explode with a shockwave of the unleashed dark electrical energy.

...Similarly likely ineffective on him, but the fact their own attack was turned against them might just cause a bit of insult to injury.

Takashi Agera has posed:
    For anyone who hasn't picked up on it yet - from the way they're attacking to the way they're handling the attacks - Riventon shares via his device. <<Looks like they're gonna shrug off Dark Energy like we do. Axion is actually reading them pretty similar to a lot of us, Dark Energy at the core. They're not faking it. We'll have to put the boots to them in a more basic way...>>

    It's been so long that Riventon has been poisoning his blasts with Dark Energy to give them extra 'spice' that it's second nature and he actually has to think a little bit about NOT doing that. For a moment he considers switching to cable form and going in, but with Catra and Melona, he's sure that there's going to at least be one melee engagement for each opponent, plus Glimmer. Sara and Starfall Omen, he's less sure about.

    <<I think the singing is helping them as much as us... Gods, where are you when the yellow girl fish sings at me?!>> he says to Sara in her mind (which she may be unprepared for). <<Melona, Catra, see if you can get them to turn their back to me.>> Riventon says, instructing Axion to ryn actually try to not let the Dark Energy seep into his attacks like normal. He floats up to the air, to get better vantage and to keep an eye out for sparkle disruptions, which means he, at least, is not the target of Petz's engagement.

    Instead he channels an only slightly darkened ball of blue energy into his palm while circular bands rotate around his palm, and goes back, way back, to the basics, to the most simple shooting spell a mage learns.

    <<Shoot Barret!>>Axion announces. "Fire!" Riventon calls as a simple compressed bullet of blue energy surges out towards Rubeus, hopefully when he turns his back. Why him rather than Petz? He's the talky one, and the talky one is usually in charge. Just ask Riventon.

Lana Voselle Miata has posed:
    Starfall watches her own attack get nosold, but also... the enemy's attacks also got nosold by everyone who had the foresight to use darkness in their shields. Only she, who has been out of combat for a long while, actually took any damage from it.

    <<So... if we use dark magic defensively it absorbs their attacks, but if we use it offensively it does nothing.>>

    With a frown, that slowly becomes a scowl, she forms a strategy in her mind. "I think perhaps you have failed to grasp the severity of your mistake. Claw Mode!"

    < Ja Mutter >

    Nightmare Chain, the rifle/cannon in her hands, glows with a bright off-white light for a moment as it changes into a pair of claws. Three blades on each hand, they gleam with an almost golden shine as she falls into a pose.

    "If you were even half as sharp as these, you would have already fled!"

    Darkness surrounds her costume, but not her weapons. She sprints down the hall, towards Petz (because she is closer), running with arms spread wide and claws gleaming. Lightning nearly strikes her, once again being absorbed by an auto-cast dark powered shield, as she meets Petz halfway, slashing with her left hand, and then following her right.

Glimmer Brightmoon has posed:
Oh. Great. They were Entraptas. De-light-ful. "Right, get the data backed up. You have about... one minute. I'd set it to backup, or whatever. Because data is a lot easier to get again than the people."

Glimmer was a queen. She'd been in a war situation. And... she prioritized the people first. No matter how much she WANTED to be out there, punching bad guys, the people here had to be protected. She walked towards them, before putting her hands together. A dark, etherian symbol appeared underfoot, before expanding outwards.

She'd only done anything like this... once. With Shadow Weaver. But... it wasn't that hard. It just was going to take longer than normal. So long as she wasn't interupted, well... "So get to backuping, NOW," she said. As she focused on readying the teleport spell.

Ughhhhhh. This was SO ANNOYING and SLOW! She could have teleported ALL of them out of here like... five times by now. And then some! If she could do her NORMAL powers.

Instead, she had to do this... whatever this magic was.

To the scientists, it likely just looked like she was in meditation to avoid punching them in the face for wasting time on a backup system when there were people trying to KILL THEM out here.

Catra has posed:
Catra, for her part, just rides out the lightening like she did the boiling corrosive attack; and it scorches her a bit, but her veins are glowing purple just a bit more intensely now. Someone's been lacking dark energy for a while and has just been charged up.

Well then.

Catra is about to snap off something sassy, when there's a pfhsssssssss from behind her, as one of her motorcycle's tires goes flat, with the entire piece of machinery crackling with electricity.
f Catra's eyes narrow.

Slowly, the feline swings back around to face the two Black Moon Clan members. "You broke rule one," she states, flatly. Powersend comes back out of its scabbard, with the latter being tossed aside, where it clatters across the floor; she puts the tip of the sword to the floor, and there's a loud 'screeetch' as she draws a semi-circle with it in front of her, with her gaze turned off to the side, away from the two Clanners. "Alright, Carrot," she growls. "Get ready."

And then Catra is wreathed in flames; dark purple flames, but flames, and then... there's two Catras, but the second one is closer to Petz, and then there's three Catras with the third one closer still, and then the original one charges forwards, rushing through her doubles and executing a rapid charge, swinging her flame-wreathed sword at the green haired woman; and while she's at it, her doubles rush forwards in her wake, btoh of them feinting at Petz before turning to slash at whatever his name is, Catra wasn't paying attention. Are the doubles real? No.

Is the dark energy mingled with flame on their blades real? Oh yes.

Catra herself keeps going, running past Petz and using the fact that otehrs are attacking her as well to make a series of quick slashes at the green haired woman, aimed at her arms and legs as she moves to get on the other side of her from Riventon.

"Over here," she snarls. "You screwed with my bike! IT'S BRAND NEW."

Sara has posed:
Disappointment appears on Sara's face when Petz chooses the way of resistance. Not unexpected, but keeping things simple is always best, and she loathes a waste of time. Well, if she wants to be hurt before she speaks, so be it. She has no problem delivering.

"Oh, I am really sorry if most of our entourage offends you so", Sara looks at Rubeus with disdain. "I will be sure to report it to our offices after we are done with you. I am sure they would love to hear all about your failure to assess worth. Is that why you keep attacking places at random as well?"

Sara is unprepared for Riventon speaking into her mind, but not unperturbed, and a scowl can be seen on her face at the scientist's words.

Petz's lightning is falling down, and once more, Sara sings, messing with their flow of time, slowing it down while she talks with Riventon. <<Riventon, was it? Vice-Director... Congratulations on your promotion. Stick with what you are good at, and there will be problem with your career.>> Sara thinks back to him, walking out of the lightning's range.

<<I am sure that if you ask us to lend you the Black Beauty Sisters, we can consider your request. I do want to make clear that calling a mermaid a fish girl is an insult, so unless you want me to make of you an ape with no prospects, you will avoid doing that again.>>

<<I am not surprised to hear Coco is hard at work. She has always been really persistent...>> Sara bites her lips. <<But no matter. I will send a Dark Lover afterwards to talk with you. I had agreed to meet up with Yuri in a few moments. She should suffice.>> Opening the Dream Corridor again, she enters it and appears next to Petz, ready to knee her in the stomach if the other woman doesn't dodge.

Black Moon Clan (280) has posed:
Petz should have made Calaveras come to this fight - at least with her whips she'd be equipped to fight in a battle of weaponry - but Petz is the eldest, most experienced sister, and she won't back down just because she's been stabbed in the thigh by a gremlin!

She bites off the cry of pain and twists about to face the Bitter Melon that is Melona, raking lightning wreathed gloved hands down her back, intent on forcing the lightning into her body.

"Rubeus-sama-"

"Don't," Rubeus snaps, as he eats the flail explosion of lightning and metal - in the aftermath his face is dusty and there's a scrape over his cheekbone, but he's still standing strong, a Dark General indeed, and he goes to hurl the small-statured girl at Catra as she comes slashing at him.

Petz takes a few more slashes from Catra, but even with a knife in her leg she's not stopping, creating whip-like lengths of lightning between her fingers and snapping them out in echo of her sister, trying to snatch Starfall Omen and just missing, the lightning making it difficult to follow behind Starfall, who's claws gleam bright as they slash at her. This time, she cuts Petz open to the bone, blood and meat exposed, and one arm goes limp, the lightning diminished, and in retaliation, Petz uses her other hand to slash three ribbons of lightning at Starfall Omen's face and torso.

Rubeus, having been thus far ironically under less threat than the others, takes a moment to make decisive action, and launches himself in the air, in a soaring flip over much of the fight - he eats Riventon's barrets, in doing so, and Riventon will see the way they bruise, his exposed arms, but he's flying straight for Riventon, aiming to use the Vice Director's body as a bludgeon against the beefed up door.

No, they won't immediately break through. Yes, this will put Rubeus at excellent direct range for an attack from Riventon.

"Assessing quality isn't exactly my job, Sparkles-" this is called to Sara, who's attire screams sparkling princess to him.

Meanwhile, Sara is able to land a hard knee to Petz stomach - but as the woman doubles over she headbutts the orange-haired singer, intent on making this as painful for her as it is Petz.

And there's lightning, growing in her limp hand, power building up.

Black Moon Clan (280) has posed:
Meanwhile these scientists are kind of Entrapta like, because they immediately start running around to secure their experiment, stowing chemicals, downloading data from their computers via flash drive - they aren't trusting the cloud -

"Data can only be replaced if you have the budget to replace it, and explaining to our supervisors that we saved ourselves, over all this information? Not going to end well," one of the scientists calls to Glimmer as he types frantically.

Then there's a CRASH as two bodies hit the door, and he sweats as he drags things over - DING! There goes the computer and he tears the the flashdrive out -

"BACKED UP!"

The two lady scientists are grabbing their laptops, putting them into bags, and their samples - one of them has just securely stowed the sample when she hears the crash and yelps, dropping her computer bag.

The calmest of the three scientists - and the true target - catches it.

"We're ready," she informs Glimmer, though she keeps looking at the fight on the other side of the doors rather nervously.

Takashi Agera has posed:
    Riventon's used to being divebombed by Sparkles, and while he's got enhanced strength from his Body By Dark Energy, so does Rubeus, and the two of them wrestle for a moment in mid air as Rubeus drives him into the armor-plated German Engineered door. Hard enough Riventon's breath leaves his lungs along with an undignified sound that turns into a snarl halfway through, and the sound of the boy's body on metal groans against the armored door, even if it doesn't break through - surely echoing to all inside.

    Riventon's a little staggered but now he's at least as angry as Catra is, and Rubeus is all up in his face.


iventon's usual method of close-ish combat is the cable form of his device, and that's what he's trained so much with Fate to utilize... but it's not in that mode and things are a little too close up for a whip-like weapon. At this range, Riventon's options are more narrow, and while they are normally very good options, against Rubeus, another Dark Energy weilding opponent - his best option is either very good, or very bad, or both.

    Riventon grabs Rubeus with his left hand, the hand that isn't armor plated, reaching for his throat but settling for shoulders or an uncovered arm.

    "You worthless sack of crap with bad fashion sense! Dark Energy obeys ME. Age doesn't matter because I'll easily outlive you. I'm the Firstborn of the Dusk Zone! And Dark Energy which you inartfully throw around like a child spilling paint on a tile floor, is what I use to create masterpieces - but even your cheap-ass child's paint can be used to great effect by a MASTER." Riventon monologues as he starts trying to drain the Dark Energy, specifically, out of Rubeus, like he did with Adora when she was infected with it, but against a much more natively Dark Energy target.

    This won't go poorly for either or both of them.

Melona Mizu has posed:
On the upside, the knife in Petz' leg isn't a knife for very long! On the downside a pair of pliers probably isn't any more pleasant than a knife really. What's /ALSO/ not particularly pleasant is the clawed lightning brought down Misery Melon's back by Petz in retaliation for the stabbing. Which really, makes sense really. Her attack doing... relatively... minimal damage to Rubeus gets a somewhat sour look on the bitter melon's face. "Tch. Surprisingly good defenses for a mage clearly not used to having to brawl." It's almost a compliment.

And then she's being chucked at Catra. She is not a particularly nimble mahou, her main method of getting around not particularly helpful as she's being chucked at the cat. So she opts to do... the most vaguely helpful thing she can in the situation, being chucked at someone...

She makes her flail heavy, letting it drop to the ground and drag her with it. It doesn't /stop/ her from being chucked at Catra, but it /does/ mean a lot of the impact is reduced by the Puella Magi as she jerks from her momentum being suddenly stopped.

She's going to feel that in her shoulder for a couple of days, standing up she holds one hand over her shoulder to roll it around a bit, just to make sure things are still working well enough.

<<Pretty boy is tougher than he looks, the lady is much more vulnerable. I recommend focusing.>> Melona comments over the telepathic network.

Sure, she was pissed at Rubeus for belittling them and tossing her like the smol pink lady she is, but... well.

Her dagger bit flesh. Her flail barely scratched it.

And so she does as she suggested on the telepathic link.

She charges towards Petz, reaching for a convenient table which she morphs mid-charge into a crude spear, attempting to bring the spear to bear much like she had the dagger before -- this time intent on using her surprising strength to pin Petz to a wall using that spear.

As the hum of magic charging can be heard once more. And once more, Melona channels Petz' own lightning. This time? Into her. Through the spear.

...This time it doesn't explode though, which is a plus! Possibly.

Kind of like how the pliers is a plus.

Glimmer Brightmoon has posed:
Dark Glimmer pulled her hands apart once more. The circle expanded once more, enveloping all three of them. "This... will be a little uncomfortable. I'm sorry."

She really should have led with that. But wellllll...

A moment later magic would envelop all of them and the three scientists would find themselves... In a smoking circle on the Obsidian Tower campus. Their bags and everything with them. Honestly? It probably had been just disorienting.

For them.

Glimmer, on the other hand, had pulled back and... maybe... thrown up, just a little bit, bent over one of the desks, supporting herself with one arm. Welp. At least nobody would know. And she'd mostly just... thrown up... dark sparkles.

... She hated dark energy. She missed being the GLIMMER queen, not THIS. But... But this gave her an idea. A terrible, awful idea that she SHOULDN'T do. But well... she had... to get better at dusk porting eventually, right? And it was... kind of like that. Not exactly like that. Close to that. Just... wronger and... Well. Screw it.

She teleported and AGHHH OH GOSH IT WAS SO WRONG IT WAS SO SO SO SO SO SOOOO WRONG! And worse? She did manage to teleport! Right by the door, practically on Rubeus and well... She was too close to punch him. So she did what she could.

She grabbed onto him like a koala and just *bit* him. "GRRRR! YOU'RE IN BRIGHTMOON KINGDOM NOW JERK FACE!"

... She'd been watching some movies.

This. This gremlin was who Catra had been fighting. And no, she was NOT intending to let go.

Lana Voselle Miata has posed:
    Starfall Omen doesn't have time to track what's happening between Rubeus and Riventon. Nightmare Chain might be able to track them, but Lana is intentionally ignoring the data to focus on Petz. Ganging up on her, slicing her, getting attacked in return.

    The dark lightning, this time, once again gets through Lana's defenses because at this range and in this mode, she doesn't have the time to throw up even an autocast shield. Yet even as the lightning burns her henshin armor and sears her face, she remains unstoppable, with the dark power of Hatred For All That Is coursing through her veins. She does not have darkness in her blood stream. She has traces amount of blood in her darkstream.

    ... and also some leaking down her face, but that's just how it goes.

    Her own Device does have a whip spell, though it's not a full mode. She's in the right form to use it, too. < Dichtungsketten > As magical chains fall from between each of her claws, two per hand, four in total, she takes a step back from Petz and lashes out with one hand, and then the other, aiming to wrap them around her limbs and body.

    If they manage to wrap around her, or even if they manage to connect, they will try to take some of her darkness for Lana's use.

Sara has posed:
With how close Petz is to Sara, she doesn't have the time to avoid the headbutt in response. Maybe if she had been affecting the green-haired woman with her time slowing powers, but she hadn't, and so she stumbles back, holding a hand to her head with a grimace, looking up at her enemy with a brief fog over her eyes.

Riventon doesn't reply to her, and getting slammed into a door isn't really conducive to it, just like her being headbutted. Really, how does she hate that he had to wait until now to bring up that complaint. Really speaks to the inefficiency of Prestarossa's department.

"You should know well than to pay heed to that", Sara tells Rubeus. "I have left that behind, else I wouldn't be here. Though you not being tasked with assessing things, explains a lot more." She would consider firing another beam at him, but there is Riventon attached to him like a bloodsucker. She guesses she should be supposed to wait.

With Petz charging that dark energy in her hand, Sara's song reaches out again, another beam of orange light crackling strongly and sizzling through the air in its path to Petz.

"Only love can overcome anything"

"It can even change the constellations that decide fate."

It should just vanish, that cowardly lie, and the present too...

Catra has posed:
Suddenly, Catra is struck from behind by someone hurled in her direction. (That said, it sure was nice of Melon to take steps to lessen the impact.) Catra is bowled over, and sprawls out on the floor; her wreath of purplish flames snuffs out as she shakes her head, clearing a cobweb or two as she stands up. Still snarling, she holds out her hand and Powersend lifts up from where it lay after she lost her grip on it, and flies right back into her hand.

"You need to learn to count," she snaps, as her illusory doubles pop into view once more, and make a series of feints at Petz; all while the real Catra slinks forwards, Powersend up on her shoulder and almost lazy in her approach. "Actually, it doesn't matter. I could've taken both of you alone. I bet all of them could've too." She shrugs, and waits for her moment; the moment while Petz is distracted. Focused on one of her doubles, with illusory claws smorldering with very real flames, ready to make very real wounds when they hit.

But, the real Catra has the very real Katana, and she chooses the moment when Petz' back is turned to make her attack, leaping forwards and delivering a kick to the small of the green haired woman's back, just enough to put her off balance; and then she swings Powersend around in a rapid circle, the blade making a soft schwing as it sings through the air.

"Let's see how well you bleed!" the cat snarls; the blade is aimed straight for Petz's limp arm, with its building power, just above the elbow. Catra means for it to go straight through.

Black Moon Clan (280) has posed:
So Petz, Petz is having a bad time right now. It's not that she's weaker than her opponents, it's that they cancel each other's energy out and she doesn't have anything sharp and pointy -

And then she's speared through the bad shoulder and the lightning strikes.

It hurts. Oh it does. But there's a clarity of purpose in the pain, in her own energy flooding her, because suddenly she has a weapon. The arm on that side is still building power - focused, intent, vicious - and then she's wrapped in Starfall Omen's binding attacking, which begins to drain her.

It's an uncomfortable, unusual feeling, because she's more likely to be on the other end of draining - but Starfall will begin to take in some of her power, lightning-tinged, dark and rich and viscous, the hatred of one born to it, nurtured in it, the power of -

Petz's earrings spark, and a bolt of dark energy strikes Starfall's face in self-protective punishment.

That's when Catra comes swanning in with her katana and her vicious mockery, and when she cuts through Petz's arm - which falls limply to the ground, energy still building, blood spurting over them, Petz howls, and does something ill-advised with her remaining arm:

She tears the spear out from her flesh, in a spray of blood. The feathery-fur of her capelet is instantly slick and reddened, but now she has a weapon in hand, and this is a problem.

For her enemies. This is a problem for her enemies.

Catra is rewarded in the form of a kick to her thigh - a magically enhanced kick, from a foot ending with a heel, and it breaks skin and enters muscle, rivulets of blood spilling from the puncture site, and Petz snarls -

"You think anything you've done matters? You pathetic, mangy creature, die with your masters!"

And then her arm blows up.

The one with all the energy that's been building and building, it blows, in a wave of lightning energy - that is dark, but mostly lightning, mostly life-force, in an expanding dome of lightning that will chain strike Starfall Omen, Catra, and Melona, and knock them back. The water in this hallway - and the other lab behind it - are wrecked by the aftermath.
Itsetz is left standing there, furious, ablaze with energy from hatred and rage and her own dying, burning out her life force to continue the attack.

And then she's shot through with orange energy, and lunges for Sara, spearing her through with the weapon that Melona launched into her, bringing that terrible energy to bear on Sara.

Meanwhile, Rubeus is facing a threat of his own - Riventon, yanking at his Dark Energy, and finding that Rubeus is Dark Energy - not quite in the same way that Riventon is, nothing is quite the same way as Riventon - but in a very familiar way. It means that the more Dark Energy he takes, the more he finds, more and more and more, and he's got a hand on Rubeus' throat, but Rubeus looks not bored, but unconcerned, malicious, letting Riventon take, as if he too wonders how much there is to take -

And then Petz screams, because she's been dearmed, and Glimmer appears, biting him, and his nonchalance dies a brutal death, as energy little crackles over his skin, from his eyes -

"Overriding Dark Pulse!"

The corruptive pulse of Dark Energy will slam Riventon back, but probably also power him up. But for Glimmer? It will forcefeed her even more Dark Energy than she's ever tried to consume, even as it launches her off of him.

"PETZ!"

It's a roar of anger more than worry, as he turns towards her - but there's all of them between him and her.

Lana Voselle Miata has posed:
    The thing about wrapping your opponent up with a weapon that is, itself, wrapped around your hands, wrists and forearms?

    Well, it's kindof a two way street.

    This is, notably, a problem that Starfall has had before, though the last time the enemy wasn't quite as directly vicious as Petz. Lightning and darkness courses through Starfall's chains as she drains a bit of the energy, and another bolt heads directly towards her face that she could not possibly dodge. Lana knows, from the moment it rips across her cheek, that one is going to leave a scar.

    While she's distracted by the pain, a dark pulse smacks her directly, shattering her chains and throwing her against a wall. That impact, at least, was absorbed by the darkness seeping into her henshin and strengthening it as it cackles with dark lightning that is very much now Starfall's but not really meant to be.

    As Lana slowly picks herself up, as she gives into the rage and hate that is her constant companion, and as she allows the pain to strengthen her resolve... her intent...

    "Staff Mode."

    < Ja Mutter >

    Starfall wants to use her ultimate here. Her real Finisher... but Heaven Destruction inside a hallway like this would probably deal more property damage alone than this entire fight otherwise would have. Especially with no barrier. Traumlos would be foolish for the same reasons her Dark Mist didn't work. So that leaves her with...

    < Boser Stern >

    Lana breathes in, breathes out, and lets the darkness leave her for a moment. Well, it's not really leaving her, it's just getting absorbed into her pendant, which in turn transfers the gathered dark energy back into the Fallen Dream Star. Then, with her defenses down both in the form of less dark energy and also in a mode with weak shielding, she points her staff at Rubeus and says, "You look like the leader of this bad decisions squad. Enjoy your Darwin award. Fire!"

    Then, for a brief moment, a ball of white hot intense flame forms above the head of her Device Staff, as fire mana swirls and gathers into it, before suddenly being launched at Rubeus and exploding either upon impact or as it passes him.

    Someone else is going to have to get Petz.

Melona Mizu has posed:
Huh usually that's not the response that someone gets in being stabbed with a spear, having them look more focused instead of panicking and grabbing at it and, unfortunately.

Being smaller means that when the spear is teared out of Petz' flesh, the better leverage gets it out of her hands. The fact that there is also a shockwave of lightning doesn't help matters either, the smaller Puella knocked back and hissing as she impacts a wall from the force, lightning coursing over her body for the third time today. Parts of her were feeling numb.

Most of her didn't care. Her body was a puppet anyway, what did it matter if it was feeling numb. It's not like she could get nerve damage anymore. Her body would repair it.

Still, it takes her a few moments to get back up, long enough that she's not even trying to get in the way of Petz' counter attack on others. ... The spear would not remain a spear long after said counter attack, having had little to no effort into it, it would return to being a metal tube torn off of a table.

This is likely no less pleasant to be stabbed with though, let's be honest. The jagged edges much less clean than the spear Melona had fashioned of it.

Misery Melon pushes herself back up to her feet, having taken a little bit of extra time to assess the situation. She grips the handle of her flail calmly, giving a soft exhale. The familiar cold steel she'd worked on near-daily, infused with so much of her energy it almost pulsed with a life of its own.

But that one... that one was... well, not no longer a threat, but a significantly reduced one, considering everything. Likely she could change targets again.

To the person who had just blasted her team leader.

Energy begins to crackle, the audible hum of pure energy beginning as Misery Melon begins to pour energy into her familiar weapon. Her energy, not the ambient energy, the energy of creation that flowed through her puppet body.

And she leaps through that torn hallway/room. "Drei."

"Spitzen."

It was likely good that her other allies were blown away by Rubeus' attack.

Because as she brings that tri-headed spiked flail down towards Rubeus, that gathering energy would cause an explosion that likely rocks the building to its foundation. Though she'd 'shaped' it to mainly shoot at Rubeus and Down, the sheer energy of it spills out to the sides that leaves a large crater in its wake, as well as rather handily freeing that door from its hinges for Rubeus to see what's become of his target.

"You fight for nothing."

"Spitzen Blast."

...And she unleashes a second, much more focused and shaped blast, this one more like a focused energy attack than a shaped explosion.

Yeah she's trying to (Likely unsuccessfully) core Rubeus.

He hurt her boss.

Takashi Agera has posed:
    Riventon's convinced - and he grows more and more, perhaps madly, convinced as he drains - that he can pull energy from Rubeus until the man is a dried up husk, like a seahorse left out of water on the beach sands - the more energy Riventon steals the more sure of himself he becomes, an almost mad surety. Somewhere in the back of his mind he knows he'll have to bleed this off, that he's taking enough that focus might be at risk, even for him, even with his ego, but that's Later Riventon's Problem.

    Then Riventon's pushed back - thrown back - because there's a little more to Dark Energy attacks than just what Riventon's made of, there's also pure force, and the fact that when it's compressed into an attack it's different than as it flows through people, and he's tossed back into that very same door, making the divot even more Riventon shaped. But now he's full of Rubeus' energy, overfull, more dangerously powered than before, and Rubeus is trying to get to his ally.

    And Riventon, so full of Dark Energy, snarls. "Your idiocy has cost you, but now you'll get to struggle to get to her right before you die yourself." he says, the hostility dripping from his voice. "Or maybe she's the one that will hear you die first... but in any case, both of you have stood against me and neither of you can remain."

    Riventon's gauntlet is flaring with Dark Energy, drenched with it, and he grips a spot lower on his arm, where a glowing red gem reveals itself, brilliant and red like dripping blood. He holds out his hand and a sphere of energy forms, but it's growing rapidly, flaring like the surface of a star but in negative coloration, until it's at least as large as he is, putting off a concentration of Dark Energy that might make the other wielders feel as though he should calm down.

    "You're a part of some kind of clan? Worthless trash, hear me in your last moments - I'm Dusk Zone royalty, the savior of this world, the savior of the Dusk Zone, chosen for greatness, and you are nothing but ashes." he says as he channels the energy he stole from Rubeus plus his own, into the gem. The gem he got from another fallen Dark Energy weidler who proclaimed herself royalty.

    <<STRAHL DER SCHWARZEN SONNE>> (Ray of the Black Sun) calls Riventon's device, shortly before a truly unholy feeling blast of inky yet flaming black energy, like a liquid plasma, rushes out towards Rubeus, annhilating a semispherical divot in the ground on its way - and also likely to annhilate the wall behind him. And probably any bits of any buildings in its path behind that wall.

Glimmer Brightmoon has posed:
Dark Glimmer was flung BACK! She hit the wall, hard, sliding down it... slooooowly... "Ugh... you taste like It's Food... with the same terrible after taste... Who do you... jokers think you are?" she asked before slowly getting back to her feet, a hand on the wall as she wobbly stood.

"With your stupid crescent moon... tattoos. What, you mega fans of that Sailor Moon girl? Or is there another moon person running about? Just how many moon things does this place have?"

Ugggggggh. She could still taste itttttt! And it tasted ickyyyyy! She couldn't get it off her tooooongue.

And he was trying to go after... The orange girl? And... WAIT CATRA! She put both her hands together, forming a triangle, the magical circle forming in front of her, before tendrils of dark magic erupted from her hands, lancing out and trying to coil around Rubeus and hold him...

That wasn't a spell she learned from Shadow Weaver.

It was one Micah used on her, when he was controlled by Horde Prime. But she was NOT letting Rubeus get across the room if she could stop it.

Admittedly, if she was thinking clearly, she might realize he was going towards Petz, not Catra. But, well... Catra was HERS, and she'd be DAMNED if she'd let some primped up little red headed jerk who tasted like It's Food lay a hand on her!

Catra has posed:
Catra did not see that coming.

Petz kicked her with high-heels. Who does that? After getting her arm lopped off. That's usually a combat-ender. Once people don't have an arm anymore, they usually stop fighting. There's something wrong with this woman.

That said, it also wiped the smug look off Catra's face.

The feline staggers back a couple of steps, the first on reflex and the second to keep from falling down (cats don't fall down, that'd be embarassing), and she shoots one hand down to press down on the wound. "You're one to talk!" she snaps back. "Worrying about wether or not what we do matters? You're about to die in some whatever hallway and nobody's even going to know your name! You'll just be green-haired wench number eight or nine or... whatever I lost count."

And then the arm explodes and feline grace doesn't mean anything against that. Catra is flung back against the wall and then falls on her face, with Powersend skittering out of her grasp across the hallway. For a moment, Catra just lays there, thinking about things.

What's happening again?

Why are we here?

Did Glimmer actually just bite someone?

Well maybe there's hope for the Queen of Brightmoon yet. Catra pushes up from the floor but is content to stay on all fours for a moment, as she watches what's unfolding. Petz looks like she's on her last legs. What's his name (who cares) is over there getting his face pushed in by Glimmer and Riventon. Looks like Melon, Starfall, and Dark Pearl have things handled, otherwise...

Which basically just leaves Catra to summon Powersend back to her, sword and scabbard both, with the former getting sheathed in the latter. She uses it as a crutch to hault herself back to her feet with -- and, ow, that really hurt actually.

"That's the best you got?" she inquires, as if she were demanding to know why the cafe was out of chocolate pie. "I don't even need to do anything else. You're finished."

Sara has posed:
That stab comes out of nowhere, her thoughts lingering with the hatred and disdain for that single event that always fill her when she sings her song. Heartless, cruel and with no kindness for most of anyone, that's what she feels has always been for her ever since that day.

And getting stabbed with that spear holding Petz's own lighting after Melon's trick has her scream in pain while she gets surrounded by a sphere of orange light, instinctively separating her and shielding her from the rest of room, and she is copiously losing blood as the energy of the lightning loses potency, shut out by Sara's magic.

She stares blankly at Petz, surprise and enmity mixing in her gaze. Perhaps she has been playing around too much, getting hit in the head earlier, losing her blood now... Has she been actually getting troubled by some woman with no history or relevance to her name? Has she been not giving it her all?

She has, but if she needs to put the entirety of herself into it, she can do it. Even if she comes back with the corpse of Black Moon, that's better than letting them slip by, and it will be their own fault for refusing to speak.

Gaito... He will probably regret not having been here. He has always been the warmer out of the two of them, and going above and beyond for her. She can see him pacing back and forth, wondering where she is, or consulting the far sight of that oyster demon of his.

Isn't this worry she won't make it back actually the sentiment she had claimed to have discarded long ago? Even after Mitsuki, she really has fallen deeply in love again, hasn't she? Why is she thinking about this now? Did she really have to come face to face with death to realise?

Perhaps she hasn't changed as much as she thought she had. The irony of finding it all out here, fighting against an enemy that doesn't want to save, when she is the one trying to save what she has.

"Well done", she looks at Petz. "I shouldn't have let down my guard, but this is as far as you go. You have come into my world, and I will kick you out of it. I don't want to know your secrets anymore. Out."

The sphere of energy she has been surrounding herself disappears, gets condensed in the pearl at her necklace, where she is not sparing anything, despite the deep pulsing wound trying to distract her. What comes out of it is a beam far larger than any other, while her hair slowly loses the dark colour it had gotten in favour of her original orange.

Wrapped in the kindness and love of the Mother Sea,

Who sparkles like a jewel, I was born.

There is a dream that seven lives gaze upon.

That is why I came here.

I can't lie to myself anymore.

Because I have a person to protect.

And a world to protect.

Black Moon Clan (280) has posed:
There's a lot of attacks coming at Rubeus - but he's fine. He's fine. He is the Vanguard Commander, the strike team leader, he's the one Prince Demande has entrusted this too, and as the attacks come forth?

He takes them.

Not directly, of course, he's not a madman - but there's a gesture, and then a dome of darkness comes up -

"Dark Dome!"

Which is then promptly cratered by Melona's flail - but it doesn't crater Rubeus, which is what's most important. Starfall Omen's attack does shatter the remaining shielding though, with much of the force bled off. He tilts his head at the last moment, and the remainder of the attack leaves a gash in his face.

This too, will scar. He and Starfall have something in common now.

Glimmer creates binds, which hold him in place as Riventon strikes him down with the force of a god, of a royal born of the Dusk Zone... and Rubeus survives it, and in fact, is still standing, though smoking. He looks unscathed. He acts unscathed, snorting in disdain and crossing his arms afterwards.

(This allows him to hide that his fingertips are shaking, because though he's acting unscathed, on the inside he is rather scathed. It's been a fight, alright, and with all the extra power packed in, from the drain, from the red jewel, from Riventon himself - they're near abouts on equal playing fields.

"Was that all you had?" he mocks anyway, because like hell is any villain worth their salt going to admit they're nearly tapped out.

And then -

Petz knows she's dying. She knows her life is coming to an end, that she won't leave this place. She doesn't care. Giving everything for her clan is worth it -

And the surprise and pain in the orange singer's voice makes this worth it. Makes this death that's coming to her, this end - worth it.

"This will be your end," she says, as the light builds, "But I will carry on for so long as my clan needs me."

And then she's hit with the beam she isn't even trying to dodge. The blood's been draining out of her, the wounds have been dragging. She was never going to make it out.

Her body collapses alongside Sara's.

Rubeus walks to her, still smoking but upright and straight and tall, and he kneels to lift Petz's broken body, and looks back at them all with an amused smirk.

"We'll get the doctor next time. You lot being able to take down one of the Sisters is actually amusing."

And then he duskports out, leaving the facility a mess - but not as bad as it could have been. When he gets back to the ship - well, that's when he drops to his knees and groans in pain, letting Petz's body slide away.

"Fuuuuuuuuuck...."

Glimmer Brightmoon has posed:
Dark Glimmer growled when he took all of it. AND HE WAS STILL STANDING! HOW DARE HE! She saw red. She actually saw red. The dark energy in her only amplifying the anger and, worse, the possessiveness. "You have no *idea* how much we have. I'm JUST GETTING STARTED!" she yelled, running at him, the dark energy coursing through her hands and...

And he took his stupid little dumb girl and he left.

WELL FINE! She was going to check on HER stupid little dumb girl! Running past where he'd been, kneeling down by Catra. "Are you okay?" she asked. "How much does it hurt? You need to be more careful! UGH! I'm going to *kill* that jerk next time I see him, how dare they do this to *my* Catra!" she snarled, reaching out to grab her arm. "Let's get you to a hospital or a medic or... whatever! You're bleeding. Stop being so reckless! What if you'd gotten serious... seri... seriously..." And then?

Then she let her go and wobbled back slightly, toppling fully onto her butt before then rolling around onto her hands and knees.

And they all got to watch Glimmer literally throw up dark sparkles. All over the ground. Dark, shining, twinkling sparkles that were corroding the ground a bit as they were, more or less, forcefully purged from her body.

Takashi Agera has posed:
    Riventon's fingers are smoking with wisps of Dark Energy and raw heat, after he launches his gem-empowered stolen-energy-empowered attack and Rubeus handles it, along with everything else going at him.

    Game recognizes game, there, in a moment, where Riventon can see the telltale signs of impact and can see a little bit of himself in Rubeus' 'I'm totally fine but I'm also gonna leave now' energy.

    But Rubeus also took the best Riventon had, empowered, PLUS the strong brutalizes strikes of the rest of the group and didn't collapse, and Riventon has to begrudgingly respect that.

    And it helps that he burned off a lot of that excess dark energy in the process, helped clear his head... so he can be fully aware that both 'teams' have lost someone today, when he turns to witness Petz and Sara finish each other off.

    "Shit!" Riventon articulates, and moves over quickly to where the two fell, picking up Sara's body with a little bit more care, perhaps, than Rubeus did, regarding the downed woman - merfolk - ally - with a sort of quiet, irritated, complex emotional state.

    He's quiet, now. Glimmer checks on Catra. Axion tells him everyone else's condition. Sara wasn't one of his. She was pretty far removed from him. She's not in his department. He has no supreme affection for her. But also, she's part of his team, and she fell as part of a fight he was there for. Riventon knows this is war even though he tries to keep it a low intensity one. He knows people will fall. A lot of people have been falling. But this is the first one to do so on his actual side. Between that and what happened to Hotaru... are things slipping away from Obsidian? From him?

    He's there, holding the body of the mermaid girl for some time. Eventually he looks up. "Gaito's going to be 'pissed'." he says, flatly. "They didn't get what they came here for, but going 1-for-1 is not a great victory..." he muses aloud to nobody.

Melona Mizu has posed:
Once again, her flail strikes, and damage is... minimal. Really, the assessment that she'd made earlier did prove true. The pretty boy was weirdly durable. And she had spent about as much energy as she was willing to on this fight, which was... not even why she just watches as he walks to pick up the fallen comrade.

Mostly just she could recognize the look as Petz collapses.

She instead is checking her Soul Gem. Yeah, she's going to need to get another Grief Seed soon.

Oh well.

Oh and one of the people on her 'team' was now corroding the ground with their vomit. Huh.

Yep.
That's enough mahou for her tonight.

"...I'll meet you at the tower later."

Aaaand she's starting to leave now.

She does, however, briefly stop at Catra's bike though. To give it a quick little patch job.

It's not great, but it'll last until she can get a proper replacement.

...It's literally a bit of plastic shoved in along with some tape and rubber cement over it that probably only half works because it was put on it by a tinkerer Mahou, really.

...She can't do anything about the repeated electrical attacks though, but the tire's not completely terrible now.

Lana Voselle Miata has posed:
    Lana sees the destruction of the facility, and curses herself for a moment because there was no reason for her to hold back if no one else did.

    Then again, maybe there still is. Wide area saturation attacks are bad in close quarters.

    Seeing the Dark Dome go up, and seeing it absorb most, but not all of their attacks, makes Starfall wish that she had just a little more power to fight with.

    Then it doesn't matter, because Rubeus is gone, and Petz is gone gone, and Sara is... down? Dead?

    "Oof," is all she says. Trying to sound sympathetic to the plight of her comrade when in truth there's no way she could ever really care. She feels like she should, but... the more time passes, the more she realizes that her empathy is just... missing.

    < Essen >

    Nightmare Chain's voice changes, channeling that of Voselle, as the remainder of the absorbed dark energy is sent into another world, Lana's pocket dimension, where the Fallen Dream Star waits and feeds.

    Within that other world, in a shadowed corner that Lana has never let anyone else see, the Fallen Dream Star grows yet another spike on its back. This one jagged, malformed and crackling with dark lightning. An unintentional tombstone for Petz, and proof of their combat.

    Then, because Starfall Omen can never fully purge the darkness from her system, the prickling warmth of darkness begins to seep once more into her skin.

    She looks around at the others, looks at where the scientists once were, and then at the huge hole in the lab's walls. "Well. So much for their budget. Oh well, looks like a them problem." Then she walks next to Riventon, looks down at Sara, and frowns. "I don't suppose anyone has a sparkly magic gem that's going to bring her back to life?"

Catra has posed:
"...Sparkles."

Catra resists the urge to smack Glimmer away. Afterall, the Queen of Brightmoon is trying to help, even if she's being an over-active nanny. "I'm fine. I'll be fine. It's not like I haven't gotten hurt before. ...YOU have hurt me worse than this." She pauses, and the gears turn in her head, thinking about how Glimmer is going to look, like, expression-wise in a moment. "I mean, physically, when we used to be trying to win a war against each other."

She opens her mouth to say something, and the shuts it again, as Glimmer just... throws up... sparkles.

"Alright, are you sure you're not the one who needs to see a doctor? I just need a bandaid."

Catra rises, a bit wobbly, to her feet; and limps over to where her bike is. A recently fixed bike, thanks to Melon. "Thanks," she mutters, as she walks past.

Catra didn't know Sara. Doesn't look like that's an option anymore, unless something changes that doesn't usually change. But... whatever. Not her concern, and she's not going to make it her concern.

She's not.

Nothing she could've done anyway.

"See you back at the tower," she mutters to... whoever.

Well. Eventually. As she revs up her motorcycle and rides it back out of the building, she's definitely on her way back to the dojo, not the tower.

Sara has posed:
Sara smiles as she sees Petz fall, but it's not a joyful smile. She really gave her all in the attack, and even as she presses her hand against the wound, she can feel her blood seeping through her fingers, and when she falls to her knees, she understands.

Sara looks at the girl rejoicing and vomiting sparkles. Literally so. That's a weird sight. Things sort of ended well. This should still help Gaito over the other departments. "I guess I am leaving Gaito behind", Sara sighs as he feels the forces abandon her.

She can see someone approaching her while her sight fades and she falls down. She knows what she is happening and what is going to happen with her pearl.

Another mermaid princess would know what to do with her heir, but there is little chances of her pearl getting to Coco with the people around her. Not that Sara deserves that. Even so... Taking her shell locket off her neck, she extends her hand. "Someone, please, give this to Coco. She deserves to have it."

And Gaito... he is going to hurt from this. "You, please, tell Gaito I am sorry, and to keep looking forward", she murmurs her last words to the figure.

Takashi Agera has posed:
Riventon listens to what Sara says as she gives what he is reasonably sure are her last words, unless Gaito has some way to return his lackey/mermaid to life. Riventon doesn't know their true connection or interaction, just who she reports to and a little bit about office rumors. He takes the locket, for now, and looks to Sara. "I'll tell him." Riventon says.

    The figure that appraoches is a young girl in a formal black and red robe with long, green hair. Another one of Gaito's employees. Riventon turns away from her for a moment. "Everyone else, you did good, considering the circumstances - we stopped the enemy from doing what they wanted, and we made them pay too." he says. Then he looks down at the figure in his arms. "I'll see you back at the office later, those of you who report to me."

    Because Sara fell in a situation where he was, at least to his mind, the 'ranking officer' so to speak, even if she didn't report to him or come here on his words. Which makes this partly his responsibility - if not what happened, then the notification and interaction with her people back at Obsidian.

    Riventon knows better than to Duskport holding a body, so he turns away with the body that was Sara in his arms and he and Yuri quietly make the walk back to the nearest Obsidian Door.

Glimmer Brightmoon has posed:
Dark Glimmer did, eventually, clear enough the darkness from her system that she was able to function and, well... sit up properly, shaking her head. "Oh... that... that was uncomfortable..." she muttered.

And then she realized... wait... one of them was...

And Glimmer... Glimmer just stared. "She's... dying?" Glimmer asked softly. "That can't... she can't have..." she whispered. "But... that's not... we won..." she whispered. She was one of them. Wasn't she? I mean, well, technically, she was a part of Obsidian but... they'd, in a strange twist, been the good guys this time. And.... and she'd... She didn't...

"Sara?" she asked and, despite how terrible she felt? She rushed to her feet and pushed away the nausea, intending to run to the girl and... And let out a sigh, when Riventon did it. He'd been there... and made sure that the girl knew that... someone would keep her wishes in line. Would... tell them....

... Coco... and Gaito...

She felt like shit, and ached, and all that dark magic... and then being force fed it... and then force expelling it... She was NOT feeling good AT ALL.

But she got up and followed behind Riventon... And... "Do... you know who Coco is?" she asked softly. "If... you can give me some directions, I'll give it to her while you..." Deep breath. "Deal with... the stuff... at Obsidian..."

She'd been the commanding officer before. She knew how rough it could be. Gaito... wouldn't be easy. And well... She could at least help with the burden.

... And frankly... she knew how obsessed he could get at times with magic things. He WAS an Entrapta, after all, moons help them if the two ever met. And there was no way she was letting that poor woman's last wish... not happen.

"... Someone at the school, right? I can head there now..." she offered.

Lana Voselle Miata has posed:
    Coco? Lana considers. "I don't know who this 'Coco' is, but I know there's another mermaid like her around. A magic singer, too. Yellow Pearl Voice."

    Crossing her arms, Starfall Omen tilts her head to the side, causing her head ornaments to shift to the side. "She's one of our enemies, but... perhaps if she's feeling generous, she may be able to tell you. Especially if you explain."

    That's about how helpful she's willing or able to be right now.