--London--

"Well that escalated quickly. Sigh. Always a hospital and why cant we fight some nice zombie kitties or something like that for a change?"

Zeb followed Jake up to the third floor cutting the heads off of any zombie that Jake missed.

Him and his trigger finger is going to kill us one of these days Zeb thought to himself.

--Hospital--

"Really! How many times are you going to get in trouble like that?"

Zeb started to run without him but passed after a few steps.

"Damit Zeb, why do I always find myself in this situation."

Zeb ran back to Jack, grabbing his arm and throwing him down the hall at Jake. He also tossed a rock near Jack with a street address (( ya can make that up))and a password. ((Pancakes and potatoes))

"Once you fine your girl meet me on the roof. If I'm not there 30 minutes after you guys get there go to that location, it's not far from here. Hurry, run!"

"I hate fighting with groups." Zeb mumbled to himself

He then grabbed a few flash grenades from his sack and big tinted glasses. He then faced the tank and got a flash grenade ready.

"Ya know zombie, I don't really like fighting with these things. There just too."

Zeb then dramatically put on the tinted glasses.

"Flashy."

He rolled the flash grenade over to the tank and it blew up. Zeb then went right for the tanks kneecaps with his sword

"Oh, SNAP!" Jake looked down the stairs at the Tank. "That is one big old- Hey, warn me about that!"

Jake's eyes quickly adjusted- a few years as a CO will leave you quite resistant to flash grenades- and he reached for his SMG again. "Say goodbye, ya overgrown corpse!" Jake aimed at the Tank's head, then held down the trigger of his SMG.

((Pi? Sono?))

((I'm not controlling the tank. Or contorting it, on the off chance you meant to say "contorting".))

((There is too many just singular places with very few people where we are getting nowhere fast. I suggest we just throw out the Towerless Terrain and Library Ruins for now. Perhaps you can put the Lag Princess's story somewhere else?

It doesn't seem Galax is going to respond to Haven, so, do you mind if I move Henry to London? What's going on there right now?))

((Sooo is anyone still here?))

((@Pi permission granted. Just try not to make Jack kill Alice *winky face*))

((I am perfectly fine with that))

((No no, I'm still alive. I have to eat stuff to let the creative juices flow. A Jamaican Beef Patty and an Empanada seem good enough for now.))

--Manor de Fieghan, Lab--

"Dark Matter?!" Sammer sent out blade shards at the spikes, however they weren't deterred in the slightest. "Uh, I don't want to hurt the good Doctor either, but I don't think he'd mind now that he's... you know." A zombie that was a little too close to Zack dropped into a pool of blood.

((Aaand there goes most of my creative juices. Excuse me while I go and eat something else.))

((Entirely understandable. It's tough to think on an empty stomach.))

--Kurduhm, Underground Vault--

"I'm not fun? Ouch. That's cold." That said, Wes had a bad feeling about this... why WAS Severa not making any comments? Did this bring back bad memories of some kind? Or... was this from something else? "Skarmory, Steel Wing!"

Skarmory charged in again, colliding with the Giltitan's fist. Both of them reeled from the impact, and Skarmory flapped back to Wes, dazed. "Skaaaaaar."

"Dang! Here, I've got a Hyper Potion..."

The Giltitan lifted its hand again, staring at Severa... only to quickly put its hands up in front of its body as it began being peppered with bullets.

"ALL RIIIIIIIIGHT!" Claptrap was haphazardly aiming bullets at the Giltitan's midsection. "THANKS, DESIDIA! THIS IS AWESOME! HAHAHAHAHAHA! NOW I KNOW WHY SALVADOR LIKES AUTOMATIC WEAPONS! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! LOOK AT ALL THE BULLEEEEEEEETS!"

Severa watched her body leap out of the way of Claptrap's spraying fire. Urgh! Claptrap, I could REALLY use a bullet to the stomach right now! Jumpluff and Skarmory flew out of the way, and DeRosa just stood, Defaulting.

"Hmm. Not bad." DeRosa took a quick glance at Claptrap. Actually, you know what I'd like, Trash Pack? Hit DeRosa. Right in the eye. With at least ten bullets.

"It's on the run!" Spy lifted his revolver. "We'll sort this nonsense out later. Bring it down!"

--Kurduhm, Underground Vault - Entrance--

"The traps are stopped up. Heyyy, nice. How'd they do this?"

"I don't know..." Rui took a quick glance at a stopped-up blade trap. "The metal was... altered, somehow. It doesn't respond to the mechanism."

"...I hear fighting. Minerva! Charge speed!" Gerome spurred Minerva to action, flying toward the... sealed vault.

"Dang! I can hear 'em on the other side..." Scout put his ear up to the door. "Yeah. That's definitely the Spy. No way I'm breakin' this crap, though."

"Right... this looks too tough for you to dig, Excadrill." Rui returned Excadrill to its Pokeball. "Rotom, get to work."

"Rotooom." The small electrical ghost stared at Rui for a few seconds, before abruptly floating into the set of steel walls that had risen to block off the entrance to the treasure room. Sparks began bouncing off of said walls.

"I'd avoid touching that for a bit. My Rotom... is a bit over-eager."

"Hmm. Sounds like a few people I know. Let's try to stay quiet... maybe DeRosa won't hear us, and we can catch him by surprise."

--Manor di Fieghan, Lab--

The enormous zombie roared and began charging, arms crackling with electricity.

Zack quickly switched back to Magnetic Push, aiming his Gauntlet at the enormous zombie. "My father... would never turn to attack his daughter!"

"Is something going on out there? Hey! E-1! Tell me!"

The giant zombie stopped, slowly moving toward Zack despite the Magnetic Push effect. Alf drew his Blunderbuss and blasted the zombie's chestplate, but it only made a small dent. "Dang! What's this crap made of?!"

"Bronze? Maybe? I don't know!"

The zombie growled, pushed back a little by the blunderbuss, but now moving forward with more fervor. Zack shuddered as it came closer, closer, closer...

FWOOOSH! A jet of fire forced the zombie to jump back, riding the Magnetic Push away from the blast.

"Hey! Just who do you think you are?!" Floating next to Zack was unmistakably his sister... but she was different. Parts of her body- mainly her face and arms, and what could be seen of her upper body- were made of a strange brown metal. She was about a foot shorter. Her hair was still there, albeit shorter and, after that procedure, definitely in need of combing. Her eyes now had a strange... pattern over them. But most notable were the four insectoid wings on her back.

"...Sarah?"

"Whoa, did I just drive back eight zombies? Wait, there's eight of you!" Sarah, almost casually, floated upward... then gasped. "Yaaah! Did I just start flying?! No, no, stay on the ground!"

"Sarah, there are... wings on your back." Of course. Zack had read about this. The original Faeries, named after the "Fair Folk" of myth, were in fact humans who'd been implanted with Sylfite technology... this was exactly how Sarah's damaged body structure had been replaced. And the first Faeries hadn't been quite... level-headed... "Does... your head hurt?"

"Nope."

"Good." So E-1 had kept her brain protected from any ill effects of the Dark Matter... that was good. Zack returned his gaze back to the giant zombie. "Right, big zombie over there. Keep your distance."

"Okay! Hey, how come I'm seeing fourteen or fifteen different images? This is... strange..."

((I'd really like to get the ball rolling again.

Pi, I'm going to wait three more days in the vault before skipping you again. I can understand the Inkling not having any particularly notable reactions, but Cynthia is about to have no excuse for NOT reacting to something.

Sono posted recently (and planning gear in Machinauts is probably taking up some of his time), and is the only one doing anything in Kurduhm and the Manor di Fieghan, so I'm willing to wait on him; instead, I'll be satisfied with a little foreshadowing on the Twins' (and, by extension, Sir Rossenbach's) story.

And Frostylord, if you get back, there is an entire story arc (Remember Eta? Or Upsilon? OryoumightrememberThetathemostbecauseshe'salwaystalkingreallyfastlikethis.) that has been left behind, that I will promptly move elsewhere in two weeks if you don't get the heck back to the fight with the Great Oak. Pi, this goes for you too. I'd really like to know what that screaming was in that hole that Eta and Upsilon are investigating.)

Right. The aforementioned foreshadowing.

EDIT: I added more.))

--???--

The town was behind her. Luckily, her helmet didn't draw attention. Attention was bad.

Few other thoughts went through Shell's mind. The woodlands of southwest Virantova were quiet, and Shell wasn't one for navel-gazing...

"Well, well, well."

Shell turned her head immediately upon hearing the vaguely hostile voice. "Greetings. Please state your business." There were four men, heading through the trees. They had smaller firearms as well as various melee weapons. It was not yet safe to assume they were highwaymen, but...

"You ought to be careful, girl." The leader of the four men walked forward. "There are people out there that would do a lot of things for money. And that helmet looks pretty pricey. Not to mention how much they could make from you."

Very likely to be highwaymen, considering the man's 'reassuring words' and the way the other three were spreading out. "I am assuming the last sentence is a reference to the now-illegal slave trade while the two sentences preceding it refer to the act of highway robbery. I assure you that my personal defenses against both acts are more than adequate." Ideally this would be taken as a threat, and Shell knew it had backing, mainly in the form of the aforementioned helmet.

"Speak like you're not crazy!" The probably-highwayman growled, "The ones that talk funny don't sell for as much."

Obviously a highway robber and slave trader. The other three were fanning out. A classic intimidation maneuver, but against Shell, it was quite ineffective. "Netting a lower price on the slave market is a benefit to the victim, and the only persons that such a lower price may hinder cannot be defined as persons. Terms such as 'waste of oxygen' and 'target practice' are more applicable to these entities." An insult would either lower their morale, cause them to lose their temper, or both, which would make combat significantly easier.

"Target practice. Pfft." The men, all at once, drew their firearms, and the leader snapped, "Come with us or we'll show you 'target practice'!"

Shell lifted her hands, as if surrendering... but the motion was serving a dual purpose, flicking a switch on her helmet. As soon as the familiar sight of Liquid Ether flowing through her visor came, Shell made the ear motion that activated the helm's Sylfite arrangement, producing a blinding flash of light and a loud bang, with the helmet insulating her eyes and ears from her own Flash Bang. Simultaneously, she rolled between two of the highway men, staying low to avoid responsive gunfire.

"Unacceptable. Desist immediately."

Shell surveyed the situation. One highwayman must have fired, because another took a hit from a bullet, sending him crashing to the ground.

Shell quickly fled the area. She didn't have time to fight highwaymen. But as she fled, she heard shouting and footsteps behind her.

I warned them.

Shell wheeled about, then switched the Sylfite Helmet to a different arrangement. "I warned you."

Shell proceeded to activate Nanokelvin, unleashing a sweeping line of hypercooled air in front of her. The effects were immediate. Nanokelvin was effectively a short flash-freeze that thawed relatively slowly, and thus would cause immense tissue damage. The three remaining highwaymen crumpled to the ground.

"I... warned them." Sorrow. Why? These men invited their own death. They did evil things to defenseless people... and yet, even their deaths brought her this... sorrow...

Shell shook her head. She had an important task and it would not wait. This... could come later.

((Sir-Kazookia, are you going to keep doing things in Ashwood Forest?))

--London--

Rumble, rumble...

"Aw, crap!" Jake leapt off the stairs, feeling that familiar rumbling before something fell out beneath him, landing on his feet as well as he could.

"All right, Zeb, let's mow this thing like the lawn!" Jake aimed at the Tank's head and unloaded his SMG's clip.

((This comment and the one below it. Of course, we were actually waiting on Pi, now that I think about it...))

--London--

"No worries, man! Zeb's right here!"

--Ashwood Forest, where the scream was heard--

Upsilon dropped a tow rope down to the bottom of the hole, in case Alex wanted to jump out of the way of Anna's dynamite, while still hovering out of range of the dynamite. "Have to wonder what she's thinking..."

"Upsilon, how is it down there?"

"All right. Hey, that might be a zirconium!"

"Whoa, nice! Try and mine it out!"

"'Fraid I can't do that. They don't give me mining tools."

((Hey, where's the last Vault post?))

--London--

But it just so happened that any entrances to the roof were locked with hexes. If they listen closely to the door, they should hear crows coming from the other side

((Yeah, it's Henry. Idk if there's another way to the roof that you can take in one post, I'll pretend there is.))

((I dunno about Cynthia though, I haven't been really thinking about what she should say in my last Vault posts. I guess I'll try, if I aren't able too, I'll definitely have something for her to say when Gerome comes in, or we could say that DeRosa applied his perfume (Forgot what it was called) to her too.))

"Over there!" And Jack pointed to a door to the side. Suddenly he heard a crack. "God damnit!" the floor broke in two.

((And yet I STILL can't think of a thing for Cynthia to say :(

EDIT: Just skip me in the vault...))

--Kurduhm, Underground Vault--

"Bastard!" Sonus reached out to grab DeRosa but was too late. He launched a random sound wave out of frustration. Sonus turned back and just barely dogged Severa's first attack. He flinched and grabbed his left hand which now had a cut a little. He managed to doge the next six but lost his footing and fell down.

"CLANG!" Desidia blocked the blade with his hand before it connected with Sonus. "Yo Sonus, I just had an idea."

"Oh yeah? And whats that." Sonus asked

"You shall see... im getting free dinner after this."

"What?!"

Desidia tightened his fist around Severa's blade.

"Severa? I have an idea, lets make a bet. Loser buys winner dinner hows that sound?" Desidia got into a fighting stance. "Ready when you are."

Sonus just stared at Desidia with a blank expression. 'I was wondering when he was going to make his move' Sonus thought to himself. Sonus then stood and extended his right hand. Out of the ground came a giant tuning fork about a yard in length.

"Ima go kill that red haired basted (DeRosa), brb."

"Try not to break anything if you find him."

"No promises." Desidia rolled his eyes and Sonus ran off looking for DeRosa.

((Forgot completely about this. You know, Smash 4

I would like to keep posting there))

((Yes, I would))

((It's crazy how all this started with a slayer of thin who was ambitious (and has sadly left this thread (probably even the forums (although that could just be school))) and a doctor who decided to bring his weapon-making job into the mix.))

((Well, I've (possibly) gotten myself into yet another RP (I need to calm down with all these RPs), this one being on deviantART no less. And seeing as I still have motivation to do the characters, but however have lost interest in them instead... Even then, that's not even counting "Machinauts" and "Immortals: Dawn of Time". So it's an indefinite maybe, at least.))

((if you guessed Zhaver then your right!))

((Doc, I am disappoint. You didn't get that reference?

"a doctor who decided to bring his weapon-making job into the mix."))