World Tree MUSH

    Today's action takes place in a large trade city by the unfortunate name of Basilard, which just about anyone can find out hasn't been changed simply because none of the various factions of mercantile power in the city can relent long enough for a different name to be given. That is beside the point to what is happening now, though.

    The city is bustling, but some of the roads have been closed off. A crowd has gathered here, because it is interesting to see the various oddities that are arriving. Steam-powered gadgets and strangely-clad sorts, all gathering in a large meeting hall to discuss the possible opening of an Adventurer's League branch offworld from the origin world's. A convenient nearby Vine makes this a good city to stop over on a trip, though a few people have been hired just to provide security, given that the League itself agreed not to send any of its more dangerous or powerful members. Negotiations aren't for that.

    Those negotiations have been going on for a while now though, and the spectators are starting to grow bored at gawking at the various support crew, most of whom are also getting restless for a final break so the catering truck can be cracked open.

     In the crowd mixed in the with the friendly faces is a figure dressed in a well pressed and tailored pinstripe suit. His facial features are hidden in pitch black shadow of a thick brimmed pinstriped hat that only allows his smile, and chiseled chin to be visible. 

     He's just another friendly face, admitedly incredibly well dressed but still doing his part to blend in with the crowd. Those massive shoulder pads of his pinstripe suit stick out to either side adding to his intimidation factor and yet all he seems to do is relax and watch the passing vehicles. 

     Of course with the crowd so thick it's all but impossible to see the trade going on bellow waste level cash being passed from crowd members in exchange for small card box sized packages or similar packages being traded back to him. It's a small racket hiding in plain site as he does his civic duty to help get new and wonderful imports about. 

     "Who dosen't love a good parade?" He says to the open air counting cash for a quick moment before passing out a box of cigarettes from his jacket and getting a bit more of the local currency in exchange. Tax free always brought in the big bucks.

    'The Adventurer's League'. It sounds like the name of a group of heroes! And if they're job is to regulate vigilante action and they want to bring together similar groups from other worlds...
    That might be why UA is running another school trip right here, right now, to see this momentous occasion. And that's why Tsuyu Asui is in the city of Basilard dressed... In a scuba suit. It's out of place, but that's what the girl chose for the design of her superhero outfit, so there's no complaint as the amphibious girl walks along in a slouch, thoughtfully tapping a finger to her lower lip.
    "Hey, Midoriya. You know I'm seeing a few parallels, when you think about it. The Adventurer's League sounds like any pro hero agency when you get right down to the details. So this isn't too different from a bunch of hero agencies merging, right?"

 
Working for an adventurer's guild... of sorts is familiar to Temulin. Though the Dark Knight might not look impressive by stature, she's working security at the moment and the blade on her back and the armor she wears are enough to reinforce the notion that she means business, she's patrolling and paying attention to what's going on around her. Not caring unless it demands an answer from her.

She's relaxed, in a casual mood. This is familiar, simple work.

    "It's more like the American agencies branching out into countries without a hero presence," Izuku Midoriya replies, holding a notebook and a pen in his hands. He's dressed in... well, it's a green superhero suit, but it's hard to say what sort of theme it's supposed to have at a glance. His freckled face is aglow with wonder and joy at the spectacle, though he does wish he could get an inside seat to viewing the discussion. He scribbles down all sorts of notes about the locals and other fine details wherever he finds something relevant to record. "Like the early days! I wonder how they'll deal with the problems that arise from doing something like that. Some of the older heroes got so bogged down in red tape that they practically had to retire because of it..." He taps his cheek and thinks about hypotheticals, mumbling to himself.

    Mumble mumble mumble...

    Weiss took the job, but not just for the money she now needs, being a recent arrival to this world. She took it because this Adventurer's League sounded kind of like the Hunters and Huntresses of her own world, when she first heard about it. She's learned it's a lot different since, but the spirit of it is kind of the same.

    In a more utility-oriented blouse, vest, and skirt(skirt? utility?), Weiss has her rapier at her side and has agreed to watch over the place from the outside while everyone is doing the meeting thing. It's given her a chance to see some of the other strange people wandering through, but Tsuyu is a familiar face in the sea of strangers. Even if she doesn't know her very well, Weiss can't help but walk toward the blase girl and her friend. A walk toward that ends with her stalling awkwardly for lack of anything to say. "Don't I know you?" As if that distinctive set of looks is easy to mistake. Midoriya is harder to place because she hasn't met him, but she's trying to dive into her memory just to make sure that's the case. It would be embarrassing for her to forget someone who helped her out.

    This is a big difference from Temulin's more professional approach.

Emily Nyx arrived in a staticky portal not long ago, and after a moment of observation, she transformed surrounded by silvery glitter into a form which is a few steps to the left of a native of this world. With a height of six and a half feet, she now has black hair in a bun with a single blonde streak in her bangs, her usual glowing purple eyes, and she's wearing a steampunkish red and gray lower-class Victorian dress which looks like it's made out of preposterously expensive silks, plus (apparently) patent leather high-heeled boots.

After a moment of craning her head to look through the crowd, she floats up to sit on a lamppost (which doesn't seem to be the slightest bit affected by her apparent weight), and watches the debate curiously. She doesn't have any particular stake in either side; she's just interested. The World Tree is full of amusements for someone from a nearly-dead world, and this happens to be one of them.

    There isn't a LOT of criminal activity in the crowd, it just isn't that kind of crowd. What it does have is information and rumors, to go along with what dealings there are that are more physical. Such rumors are important though, aren't they? Also safer to trade.

    It has been a slow day so far, which is why the crowd is thinning and soon it will probably not be worth Benito's while to keep doing any business under the table. All told this has been utterly dull other than a few loud and inappropriate jokes, and a couple stories about space pirates.

    One of the members of the delegation steps out of the meeting hall, to... light up a cigarette. Yeah, still pretty boring. He does look curiously at Emily just because she's showing off, but in a place full of superheroes, her presence is not necessarily surprising... just something to keep an eye on.

    The threat does not appear to be from her though, not today. Temulin will see it first because she's actually paying attention, along with one of the regular guards, but it's not exactly hidden. A few crates covered with cloth are nearby, holding some of the materials for the dinner that will be held shortly. One of the caterers is even approaching to open one when the wooden crates split open of their own accord... dumping most of their materials out and assembling themselves into a roughly humanoid form, about eight feet tall and slender. The wooden slats form a skeleton for the construct, and the cloth wrappings swirl around to form the 'flesh' of the being. No weapon, apparently... just immense strength as it barrels toward the man lighting up, crashing through a support pillar and overturning the catering truck. With the stove on, this causes the expected screams of an oil fire flaring to life, though nobody in there seems badly injured.

    "I remember you. From the downed airship." Tsuyu replies when Weiss approaches. She stares. ... Tsuyu always stares, but right now those dark eyes are focused on the young heiress. "How's your head?" She asks, even though it's been some time. Before she motions to Izuku, "This is my classmate; Izuku Midoriya." She starts up an introduction.
    Before everything goes to hell.
    Wehn the crates open and spill out the components of some kind of machine, it's clear this isn't going to be a normal outing.
    Again.
    "... Hey. Do you have any more of that ice dust stuff?" She asks Weiss, on spotting the beginnings of a fire. "Because if you do, we might need it again."

>> SUMMARY[Tsuyu Asui] >> Basic Plan

    Izuku lifts his hand to great Weiss, but he has that typical awkward teenager smile going on, like he's struggling to manage a normal look. You can tell it's awkward because he accidentally drops his pen. "Whoops," he says, bending down to pick it up...
    And fumbling his notebook for a minute when all hell breaks loose. The crashes make him stand bolt upright, brows lifted and eyes owlishly spread. He looks like he's gone pale for a second, but he gets his wits about him quickly and flicks his eyes to look to Tsuyu. Right... she's got the fire, and this Weiss person has the ice. "I'll get the bystanders out of the way!" he announces, and red lines crackle along his skin, like veins of power surging through his body, his eyes gaining a strange supernatural glow for a second, before it's replaced with just... strange crackles of electricity along his limbs. And he surges toward the crowd, pausing only long enough to check for injuries and ask if anyone is okay, before carrying them to safety.
    But he glances away from what he's doing for a second, recognizing the nature of the creature attacking the place. "The same Quirk...?" he mumbles to himself, memories of a stuffed bear piloting junk flashing to his mind, and that bus he had to save from tipping.

    A momentary distraction. Save people now, worry about familiar golem monster motif later.

    "Hello," Weiss says, nodding politely to Izuku. "My head is fine, it barely bothers me any more," she answers, touching the back of her head. "And the pilot is in good hands. I'm just trying to find my way back to my home."

    She doesn't have time for more than a basic introduction does she? Weiss's attention is snapped back to where it should have been this entire time, and she's already drawing Myrtenaster from her side. "What is that? Is that like the golem things from the other world?" Tsuyu wasn't there with her but so many people know more about other worlds than she does!

    The cylinder on Myrtenaster, her rapier, spins and the blade takes on a blueish hue. "I saved a lot of the dust from the crash, I should have enough for this." The rapier's glow intensifies, and several small glyphs appear in the air around Weiss, showering the fallen truck with ice shards! Maybe this isn't the best idea for a grease fire, but it should stop anything else from catching.

     There's suddenly chaos in all directions. It all seems to go south so fast. Benito was in the midst of one last transaction before heading on his way with things having slown down so drastically as far as business was concerned. 

     "That's the way it is huh?" He gravels in that Italian accent as everything happens at once. Lifting his jacket up a bright silver plated Thompson SMG falls into his hands. It's done up along the sides with all manner of catholic iconography etched into the surface. Slotting a drum mag into place he's thinking fast. 

     "Not exactly going to be making any friends here." He hops into the drivers seat, a vehicle left open in the chaos as the driver as fled. Roaring the engine to life as he sends a fist crashing through the windshield sending a shower of glass out onto the outside of the car. 

     His hand slams down onto the horn as he peels out on the spot before ramping up faster and faster speed into one of the dividers meant to protect the civilians from the show. At the last moment he lets go of the steering wheel and angles himself just right. 

     The force of the impact sends him flying right through the now empty hole where the windshield had been. Flying through the air with his Thompson in one hand and the other free he catches onto a lamp post spins round it and flings himself into the air further using the existing momentum to propel himself to a rooftop. 

     "Hey, sorry in advance for the property damage." Before just opening a full magazine into the supports for that small water reservoir. "Timber!" As the metal is sliced through with 45 caliber rounds splattering into it, allowing for a quick topple of the structure.

 
There are many things going on at once here. First, Temulin raises the alarm to help make sure everyone knows it's time for business. She may be tiny compared to that thing but she has a big sword. The darkness already spreads from her, clouding her aura and forming initial shields as she runs and then leaps towards the massive construct, blade covered in swirling darkness as she brings it to bear with an opening strike. "Hold it right there." She commands.

Emily's so startled by the monster she falls off the lamppost!

-- into a staticky portal. She comes out right next to Temulin. "Hello, Ms. Dotharl!" she says; she has the same voice she had during the swamp visit. "Releasing capacitor seals three and two!"

She's surrounded by three distinct auras, one golden, one silver, and one pearlescent; the first two shatter, and the third fades -- replaced by butterfly wings made of shadow. Surrounded by silvery glitter, her dress changes into a ballgown, and her hair grows longer, unties itself, and falls down her back.

She thrusts one hand into the air, summoning a phalanx of bolts of golden light. "Are you sapient?" she asks the construct. "If not ..." The bolts lance forward into its body. "... I apologize."

    "What in the blazes?!" The man who started all this, or triggered it rather, drops his cig and dives for the intact pillar, not crazy enough to take on the construct head-on. That's what the bodyguards are for. "HEY! WE'RE UNDER ATTACK!" That's getting the crowd to panic but move, and inside the members of the delegation get to trying to move as well. Which they do, while some of the other guards are knocked aside or move to help evacuate the other civilians.

    The screams from inside the truck become sputters, as first they are frozen by the chilly but welcome wave, and then Benito crashes past, the water cistern creaking after bullets chew through the supports, and a roar of water rushing into the street. Several people have their shoes ruined, but most of the water hits the truck, making the fire flare up briefly before the sheer volume, plus the ice crusting everything else, makes the grease too dispersed to keep going. The crew is utterly waterlogged, but tumble out to shiver and stagger away as well.

    The guards helping the civilians have a superhero helping out, and one of them calls Deku over. "Here!" Looks like in the bustle, a boy has an injured leg, and gets a quick leap out of the way. They're helping out Deku as they can.

    Temulin's leap has her blade bite deeply into... cloth? That has a LOT of resistance for cloth! It's like some kind of armor, or magical reinforcement, but she sitll gets a significant gash cutting through the thing's arm... and it's attention. It doesn't immediately retaliate, because Emily has decided to join the fight, and her beams of light slam into the construct hard enough to make it stagger. If it is sapient, it can't speak... but it moves like one. Sort of. At least, it notices the other guards hemming it in, surrounding the thing, and it takes countermeasures.

    Leaping into the air, the construct punches downward, the lanky build hiding some kind of impressive strength. Strength enough that the shockwave blasts outward and upward in a wave of concussed air, a very familiar display of power that blasts into anyone nearby with a shove that sends most of the guards flat on their backs.

    The fire is handled. That's well and good, but the situation is only marginally better than it had been a moment before. There are still people in a panic and tizzy, but the evacuation is already in progress, helped along by Deku, so there's that.
    Tsuyu takes a metaphorical step back, taking the time to analyze the situation. When she sees the construct.
    She sees its attack.
    A wordless look is shot Izuku's way. Anyone even mildly observant could have picked up on how familiar that show of force is.
    "Midoriya. That's an awful lot like your quirk." 
    Tsuyu is not afraid to say what people might not like to hear.
    But then she's in the throng of the evacuees. She can't stop a building from collapsing, there are a handful of people she knows who might be able to. But... She's already beginning to usher people away from the scene when she muses. "Sure would be great to have Ochako around about now..."

 
Temulin steels herself for the shockwave, digging her heels into the ground and refusing to budge. "Leave the civilians alone. You face me." She tells the machine, and she closes in again, swinging her blade upwards between its legs, trying to see if that destabilizes it. Good thing it doesn't have any reproductive organs, presumably.

    That worked! Weiss breathes a sigh of relief as Benito pulls something more like Ruby to aid her in freezing over the fire. "Thanks!" That's a guy who looks kind of villainous and is carrying guns, but she can't complain about his effectiveness! Suspicious or not, the fire is contained.

    Saluting with her blade, Weiss starts toward the construct golem! The explosion of air whips her skirts about and her ponytail out, with a shriek of surprise and almost bowls her over! Of her team she is the least physically imposing, so she barely keeps her feet even though she is much farther away than the guards.

    That's when she sees that the evacuation has a crumbling entrance to consider! "Hey, can you guys handle the golem?" Might as well call it that! She turns her rapier over, thrusting it toward the ground.

    This time, a bright white light fills the blade, and the glyph she summons is beneath the shattered pillar. Rising up from within, an armored figure comes into view, shining white like a ghostly presence. Very solid, though! The Arma Knight catches the crumbling pillar, using its great strength to hold it... as long as Weiss can maintain enough concentration on it to keep her summon there.

    "That should buy us some time!"

     Looking down over the edge Benito pauses for a long moment. He taps his foot on the edge of the building. Looking down his cool eyes glance across the surface of the construct. He places a hand down into his pocket whistling quietly. 

     "That's one ugly son of a-" Part of the metal left next to him falls over with a loud clatter catching his attention causing him to pan on the spot and look towards it half thinking it to be another encounter readying to sneak up on him. He glances from one corner of the roof to the next, looking over as a young woman just peaks out from the door to the rooftop. 

     Her face says it all: She's really concerned at the fact there's a guntoating man who just blasted his way through a section of their roof. Benito looks over towards her and without a moments pause just offers a slight wave. "Trust me, if I didn't take it down the rust would have, at least this way insurance pays for it." A quick strike of a match on his own boot to light a cigar. 

     She just blinks a few times at him concerned and a bit afraid. Yet as she goes to speak he takes a step backwards off the ledge of the building as if it just weren't an issue. 

     Using his leather belt Benito hooks onto a flagpole on the side of the building. As momentum spins him round once he uses it to do a one handed reload, while his other grabs out an m1911 pistol. 

     "Geronimo!" He shouts down at the construct the pole snapping right on schedule sending him falling the rest of the way as he lights up the metal monstrosity down bellow. One shot after another as he plummets using an awning to break his fall before landing flush atop the construct.

    "Thanks!" Deku says to the guards, whose cooperation makes this whole thing a lot smoother. He checks on the boy, to make sure he can be moved, remembering some of his studies. "Let's get you to safety," he tells the kid. He helps him up, and continues leading all the non-combatants out of the danger zone, moving with a singleminded purpose. Until briefly confronted with the reminder of the being's familiarity... and the presence of an attack that looks like the Detroit Smash, the very move he used the last time he encountered something like this. His eyes widen as horror scenarios rapidly wind through his mind.

    Did someone copy One for All?!

    No... it isn't moving fast enough for that, it seems to only be using its strength in bits and pieces. An imperfect mimickry. He refocuses his eyes and his mind on the kid, who he gives a brief smile to, and then starts verbally directing people toward safety, pausing now and then to see if anyone needs help or carrying out of the danger. He shuffles away that oddity for later consideration... they could copy anyone that ends up fighting one of these constructs, and weave some aspect of their powers into the next beast. He'll need to keep an eye out for that in the future... these aren't random monster attacks, if that's the case. Someone is doing this intentionally, and he needs to keep an eye out for culprits.

    "Follow me, everyone!" he calls to the panicked bystanders. "Let's get to safety!"

Emily, who wasn't bracing herself against anything except the air, goes flying back through the air! Fortunately, this isn't actually a problem for her, and she quickly rights herself and flies back over to it. She spares a glance for the rest of the arena, noting that the civilians and the collapse are being handled, but her main focus is on the construct.

"I think you mean us, Ms. Dotharl," she says dryly -- an instant before Benito lets out his cry. "Well, then!" She peers at the construct. "Various weapons have ... roughly-equivalent effects," she notes. "Let's see ..."

She thrusts her hand into the air. In a cloud of silvery glitter, a giant, oversized sword appears, nearly fourteen feet long and two feet wide. She then lets gravity take hold of it; it swings right down onto the construct with a massive CLANG.

... And then in a smaller cloud of glitter, it transforms into a much smaller four-foot-long and proportionately narrower sword. "Okay," she says dryly.

    The facade of the meeting hall, with the fancy overhang, is starting to sag... but then the warrior of light(not Temulin, the summoned one) catches it and holds it steady, righting the overhang enough that several people can make their way out... though most use another exit, because the fight is going on out here!

    Crowds are weird though. Most are trying to leave on their own, but there are always a few rubberneckers trying to film the fight or get a closer look. Izuku ushers a few away who sigh and grumble about it, especially with him being a kid, but they do relent eventually. Tsuyu has an easier time because she catches some kids trying to sneak close for a look at the 'cool battle' and they mistake her expression for a stern one.

    The construct needs attention... and it is getting it as the crowd slips by. The other guards are leaving it to the more competent people as Temulin gets a satisfying SPLIT down the wooden support, making it stagger. It may not feel pain, but the things that assembled themselves don't seem to have the ability to put themselves BACK together, and the creaking from the multiple bolts earlier is louder now. So when Emily's strike CRASHES down into it, the frame cracks and splits, showing some ragged chunks tearing through the cloth 'flesh' it has.

    The cloth flutters when bullets tear into it, and there's a loud 'PING' as a screw shoots out from the side. Unfortunately that's because it tries to kick Temulin with a powerful leg, while scrabbling to grab Benito, and either hurl him toward Emily or just crash its body into her.

     Benito is caught around the midsection as he's in the midst of pelting the construct with lead. He's lifted up and brought ready to be thrown right down to eye level. As he's being lifted he slowly screws something onto the end of his Thompson. 

     Brought face to 'face' he looks towards it and jabs the end of his SMG into the nearest eye like socket he can find on the thing pulling back the trigger to send the grenade popping back into the socket as he's let go and thrown tumbling through the air. 

     He looks back towards the beast as he soars back first. "Hope you enjoy the splitting headache." A single shot from his pistol aimed right at the lodged in grenade on a spike aimed for the flat surface of it in order to set it off.

    The Arma Knight isn't strong enough to hold up an entire building, but it does try its best... and holds for a little while! It's enough of a support that she thinks the civilians are out of the way, letting her summon disperse and the crumbling to continue.

    More glyphs, but these aren't summoning creatures. They allow Weiss to leap, bounding from one to the other in a ricochet of herself with a rapid acceleration upward, flipping up and over before hitting one above... and using it to launch herself downward.

    It's a penetrating strike from above, the smoke sliced in two and letting Myrtenaster aim directly for the cracked head that Benito's explosion tore open. Her velocity and entire body mass are behind that single shining, artifact-sharp point, thrusting down the middle in a deep stroke to join the others in taking down this threat.

Emily's response to this state of affairs: fly through a staticky portal! She comes out just ahead of Benito, and catches him, letting the impact send her back slightly before she slows to a stop. "Howdy, partner," she says with a smirk, before setting him down.

And then she turns to face the monster. "Okay, time for you to collapse!" she announces. She slips through another staticky portal, and comes out right behind the monster. She swings her sword, intending to lop its head clean off!

    With the collapse delayed, the crowds are finally getting free, especially with the junior heroes there to guide them! Now the construct is all that needs taken care of, getting just a moment of attention toward Benito before...

    The explosion splits the wooden head, but not fully. This thing is unnaturally tough! It still obeys the laws of physics though, and when it tries to grab again, the crack travels further down, Benito's explosion having damaged something very load-bearing.

    The opening allows Weiss to rebound downward and slice through the spine, making the constructs cloth 'armor' start to unravel. It staggers blindly, reaching for the young heiress before it gets a final insult from Emily's blade.

    The nanocolony slices through the neck, and the head, already damaged heavily by all the assaults, cracks and topples offward, making the creaking construct collapse to the ground.