World Tree MUSH

    Kore had actually put out a posting for this with the various guilds, and was quite explicit in her clarity of who was asking. That is, she used the name Kore, but she did make it clear that there was a problem with 'Underworld Seepage' in her world. It has also sent the Vines into a riot, as this is something that COULD contribute to other worlds becoming a Thorn...

    It is far, far away from that drastic now though, apparently. The city is in a panic, but not an evacuation. Just, several blocks have been closed off, and traffic diverted, both land and the aircars in this high tech world. The influx of offworlders is also causing problems, and there's a lot of chaos visible from the little square that is the meeting place. The blocks closed off are also visible though... strangely muted in color, and with odd flying birds circling around the towering skyscrapers. Even the river flowing through the area is closed off, though it looks... kind of polluted.

    Kore is only just arriving, to take stock of who is there, and the goddess looks surprisingly flushed and out of breath. "Hah... this is keeping me busy. I apologize for being late." She takes a quick look to see what sort of people showed up.

>> GAME >> Ash spends an Edge for: Ordis. I'm taking the Opticor. Yes I'm sure.

    "So, 2B, why are we taking this job again?" 9S asks.
    "Because YoRHa didn't provide us with any money before shipping us off on our new assignment."
    "W-wait they didn't give us anything?"
    "No. And that's why we're taking odd jobs to make ends meet so we can deal with upkeep and maintenance. --Which is your job." The battle android points out.
    "Eheh heh. Right, right."
    So. A Battler unit and a Scanner unit arrive on site. They have no clue who Kore is or what she was responsible for on their world, just that a job posting had been maid and quite frankly, they needed a bit of travelling cash.
    "Still." 9S murmurs. "Underworld seepage? You don't think they mean like the Underworld, from old human history files would you? ... Wait, which underworld, now that I think of it, there were plenty of cultures that called it that."
    "I don't know, I didn't bother reading those files. I told Operator 6O about it though and she said something really weird..."

    EARLIER:

    "Oh! Take a few picturs of some spooky ghosts for me, 2B! --Unless they're too spooky, then on second thought you can just tell me about it."
    "No."

    BACK TO NOW:

    "We're here." 2B says matter of factly to Kore, straight and to the point, frowning at the readings her Pod is sending her and at the off tone lack of color to things.

"Operator," Ordis sounded worried as Ash went through varying checklists and last minute inspections of his gear, "Are you absolutely sure you want to do this?"

Ash's checks continued without a response as the ship flew towards their destination.

"I.. uh... don't mean to question your judgement but," Ordis's voice glitched, "YOu aRe GoINg tO tHE UNDERWORLD."
5rThere was a resigned sigh from Ash as he looked up from the transferrence chai's systems, a chair he had yet to sit in, and looked towards one of the palm sized drones that floated about the ship's living compartments, "She is a paying customer. The terms of contract specify leaving this 'underworld' alive upon comletion." THen there was a momentary hardness in his voice, "And if she tries crossing us..." A shrug before he settled into the transferrence chair, causing his warframe to spring to life. "Plus I'd rather keep an eye on her instead of wondering what she's up to.

Ash's Frame landed gracefully in an area crowds had largely evacuated. He checked his pistol, then his sword. Then he frowned as he unslung the bulky weapon from his back and performed one... Last ...check before reshouldering it. The thing weighed more than he rmembered as he lept for a higher vantage point, but this was literally him fighting against things from this universe's deadlands invading the realms of the living, which brought to mind something a friend of his was fond of saying.

There is no such thing as Overkill. There is only 'Open Fire' and 'I need to Reload.'

Eventually Ash would spot 9S and 2B before landing, hopefully gracefully but the bulk of the weapon slung across his back did make that difficult, before bowing, "Long time no see you two."

There is a figure here, standing as though it had been here all along, with arms folded and leaning with head down against the base of the skyscraper closest to the square. The figure wears a magnificent broad-brimmed hat that hides their head, and a brazen mask that hides their face; wearing armour of a decidedly Mediterranean bent. There is a large broadsword over the figure's shoulder, a rapier at their hip, and a buckler-like shield over their back.

They wait, and weave adeptly the illusion of having all the time in the world.

Not until Kore arrives does the head tilt upward, nominally; and a breath is blown through the mask, echoing weirdly.

The android, 2B, announces herself curtly. The masked figure does not even afford that much greeting, merely staring at Kore through the slots of the mask, eyes glittering in the shadow.

Lucatiel of Mirrah watches, and she waits; and for the moment, she says nothing.

>> SUMMARY[Lucatiel of Mirrah] >> Lucatiel of Mirrah is here. Has always been here, quite possibly. That 'right time, right place' creepy bystander vibe.

     Krystal has been taking it easy and keeping out of trouble for the most part for a while now, but food and starship fuel don't pay for themselves, so even though this posting is a bit out of her wheelhouse, she decides to see if she can help anyway. She certainly didn't like to hear of risk in turning worlds to thorns, even if not very high. After flying in on the nearest vine, she smiles a bit as she spots Ash's warframe down below. After flying over to get a view of the area, she lands her ship in as inconspicuous spot as she can find before popping the hatch of CloudRunner's cockpit and jumping out to head into the streets and head to where the posting said to meet. She's dressed in her usual rose and wine colored suit with white jacket belt and boots, and a mint green scarf at her neck. Her staff is currently collapsed down and holstered to the back of her jacket. "Well, here goes nothing!" She says to herself as she breaks into a jog.

"Please tell me you aren't getting too nervous to transform again," says the golden-furred catlike and vaguely squirrel-like form of Spiral.

"I am not getting too nervous to transform again," says Anna, in her usual vaguely androgynous voice. "I'm also lying. Ughhh ..." The tall, lanky college-aged girl is running through the city at the speed of a motorcycle, dressed in a cobalt blue T-shirt, a black pleated skirt, and blue jeans under the skirt; as she runs, her legs are surrounded by a pale blue glow, but those who've seen her run around like this will probably notice that it's flickering somewhat, and her speed is directly proportionate to the brightness of the glow at any given moment.

Spiral frowns as they approach the group. "Breathe, Anna," she says quietly. "It'll be okay. This is like ... well, it's not exactly like a Distortion, but -- Actually, wow, it does seem sort of like it's the same distance from that 'youma' we fought with Yumi, but in the opposite direction from Distortions? If that makes sense?"

Anna comes to a stop, takes a deep breath, and laughs weakly. "So, not what I became a magical girl for, but within acceptable bounds for my World Tree adventures," she says. "Don't worry about me, I'll be fine by the time I need to transform, it's just ... yeah."

She looks around at the others present. She recognizes Kore from Princess Peach's party, of course. "Hey, Ash!" she says; this is not even close to the first time she's joined him for halfway-mercenary work. And ... there's a blindfolded maid and schoolboy with hovering robot buddies, and a foxy lady. (She doesn't actually notice Lucatiel, though they have met before.) "Um, hi, I'm Heart Mage Anna Freeman, and this is Spiral," she says, smiling faintly awkwardly.

    "Hmm... more than I expected. Good! And I know at least one of you is good at shooting things." Kore looks over everyone... and squints at Lucatiel a moment before dismissing it. Does she know? If she does, she says nothing, and instead is looking at Krystal for a long moment as the fox approaches. Fortunately there are a lot of offworlders here, so while she gets a few stares, most are preoccupied with other things.

    2B and 9S get a vague look, then a nod before Anna's introduction breaks the ice. "I am Kore, and I am in a hurry. I need you - all of you - to go in there and find out who is riling up the dead. You can freely shoot the dead, they'll simply disperse for a while without extra steps being taken. Really I suppose it would be fine to kill the living too, for me, but you should be aware that they are the ones with more color." She sighs, "Sorry for the quick review. The Underworld is seeping through and I have another spot nearby I need to close quickly. If this continues, the living trapped in there will be forced to stay. I can grant some exceptions, but not hundreds or thousands at once. All of you should be fine, but I would advise against eating any food you did not bring with you if you get the munchies."

    She looks distractedly around. "A good mix of technology and magic... and I hope Heart Mage means inspiring. If the living beings in there reject the underworld it will be easier to seal the breach. If too many cross over, it will make things worse instead of better, unintuitive I know."

    She looks directly at Ash now. "CERBERUS is patrolling the perimeter, so should not interfere. Ideally you find any way to stop this 'lord of death' from continuing what he's doing, and shooting him should work, but if you have another way I don't care. This just needs resolved quickly. I trust you all can get past the police barricade."

Ash smiled within his ship's transferrence pod as his warframe's attention turned to Anna, "SO what happened, these things trp the same sort of alarm those tears at your home trigers?" Then a look around the mess around them, "I'm seriously hoping me stepping through isn't going to cause my warframe to just collapse because... " Well a lot of reasons actually, but chief amongst all of them was he would be obligated to step out of his hsip and take this problem on face to face and he felt more tha na tadd underprepared for a lteral invasion of the damned into the world of the living.

Then Kore's rather... abridged mission briefing caused Ash's eyes to narrow and his suit's lights to dim as he considered the vague 'go in and if it isn't alive make it even less alive' nature of what she was talking about. "So... who or what would be able to cause this kind of opening?" He looked Kore over briefly, waiting for an explaination and only moving ahead at a brisk jog if none was provided.

Kore squints at Lucatiel, and Lucatiel goes right on staring at Kore, hidden behind the brazen mask. The fact that it conceals her features is convenient enough, and it also allows her to study the others without actually turning her head. Each is given a long and appraising look.

After listening to the introduction, the fencer pushes off from the wall and begins striding for the police barrier without another word.

Halfway there, she draws the rapier and shrugs the buckler down onto her arm, flexing gloved fingers into its grips. She gives an experimental roll of her arm and reaches out with the rapier to test its balance, all without breaking stride.

If she has any fear of the place or its nature, she says nothing.

Actually, she doesn't say much of anything, at least until she's gotten closer to Kore.

"My name... is Lucatiel, of Mirrah. Remember that," she says, in a low, hard voice, before striding on towards the entrance.

...Huh.

Weird.

The fencer looks straight ahead, planting her sword hand on the nearest wooden police barricade and vaulting neatly over the top, landing heavily on the other side.

    Kore answers questions quickly, preparing to move on. "I don't know what could do this, but I would suspect an artifact and a weak barrier to begin with." She peers toward the dull-colored area. "It is NOT my husband or any other Reborn with power over death. So it is either an upstart messing with things that are not his business, or perhaps a cranky monster or hero trying to escape. I've accounted for all the famous Greek ones, so it is either someone new or a mythos I am unaware of..."

    She shakes her head, then pauses. "Mn... I like that name, Lucatiel. Trust me, I will remember." She sighs, "If you worry of being caught in the underworld, don't. The food warning is a precaution, but I CAN and WILL give you an exemption if you somehow get stuck there otherwise. Just don't die in there, that would make it much harder.

     Krystal nods as Kore greets them, but mentions being in a hurry and given the circumstances there wasn't time for introductions so she doesn't bother giving her own name. She does pull out her staff and operate the hidden switch to extend it to full size. "So, make the dead deader, and find out who or what is making them seep over into the surface world. Got it. Any idea at all what we're looking for down there?" She questions, figuring that either way her telepathy might help her sense the culprit, but having something to go on before hand sure wouldn't hurt. She briefly looks around at the others, she didn't know any of them besides Ash, but considering the unknown they were up against, it did appear they had a pretty well rounded group here. 

    "So, who wants to go in first?"

    "Yo, Ash!" 9S greets, holding up a fist for the dap.
    "Ash." 2B, curt and professional as ever.
    The two androids take a moment though to have a lookover the others arriving to respond to the call. 2B's gaze lingers on the silent, masked, woman for a long moment; though it's difficult to tell just where she's looking while wearing the dark fabric 'blindfold' visor standard to all YoRHa units.
    "... What's a Heart Mage?" The ever curious 9S is quick to ask at Anna's introduction, but 2B's attention is elsewhere.
    "So we're just supposed to kill the person who's responsible for this?" She asks, making absolutely certain in no questionable terms the most straightforward way to handle the issue."
    This is when 9S barks a laugh, "Don't be silly, 2B! You can't kill the dead! Right?"
    She pauses at this and frowns. "There's only one way to really test that, isn't there?"
    Sure, Kore said they would dissipate, but 2B's hand migrates to the sword resting in a lazy hover at her hip.
    "Oh right! For those who don't know us, I'm 9S! Miss Grumpy-skirt is 2B."
    2B's frown deepens, but she answers Krystal well enough, by beginning to stride right onwards.

When Kore brings up that there's no harm in attacking the dead, Anna looks visibly relieved. She opens her mouth to vocalize it ... and then immediately narrows her eyes when Kore mentions that she's fine with killing the living. "Y'know what, if there weren't people to rescue here, I'd turn right around," she says flatly. "And it's ... 'Heart Mage' is more of a cause than an effect. Okay. Uh." She takes another deep breath, looking towards the discolored light.

She shrugs at Ash. "I just saw the bulletins and wanted to help."

Spiral nods. "It did ping my radar a little bit once we actually got here," she adds. The Starbringer looks around, eyes flickering with pearlescent light as she gauges the abilities of 2B, 9S, and Krystal. "-- Oh! Anna, those two are robots," she says. "Anyway ..." She rises off Anna's shoulder and floats away.

Anna nods. "Right," she murmurs, and then she immediately jumps in surprise at sudden Lucatiel, and she laughs weakly. "Hi, Lucatiel!" she says. "Long time no see! Okay. Uh."

She raises her hands, and pale blue light begins to surround her, gathering more of her own power into herself. "What's done ... cannot be undone," she says softly. "But here and now, I can make a difference in what comes after!"

The light briefly forms a column, and when it clears ... her hair is pink, and she's wearing a sky-blue frilly dress with pink and white trim, and with pink and white heart-decorations. Ash might recognize the new color scheme as being exactly like that ribbon she wore to the party. She's actually smiling more freely now, too. "This is a Heart Mage," she says. "I'm a magical warrior powered by positive emotion. Spiral, you coming with?"

Spiral considers this. "I'll stay here," she says. "Just in case."

"Right!" Anna gives Krystal a thumbs-up at her question, then leaps over the barricade after Lucatiel, her entire body surrounded by a pale blue corona.

>> SUMMARY[Heart Mage Anna] >> Despite her objections to Kore's philosophies, Anna transforms and rolls out.

>> SUMMARY[2B] >> Going on ahead. I remember to +summary too.

    Kore looks at Anna giving her that dirty look. "It's to my advantage if people die. I told you how to distinguish them because I know many of YOU don't want to kill the living. I want the underworld strong, not to force good people into being murderers."

    Krystal asks a good question! "He seems to be trying to make his own little underworld, so I would check anywhere... ostentatious. Where they can feel important!" She gestures. "Probably high in one of the towers."

  The fencer stops nearly mid-stride, head tilting down just a fraction. It isn't visible from beyond the mask, but it's so Lucatiel can fix Anna with a look from the corner of her eye. She holds her position for precisely three seconds of silent staring.

  Lucatiel's mask turns just slightly, enough to suggest she's looking directly at 2B. Much like the android's blindfold, though, the brazen mask makes it difficult to say just where she's actually looking. The two study one another in silence until, at some evident signal, or perhaps the Scanner's question, the spell is broken.

  She looks at Kore for a long moment, too, before shaking her head as though dismissively; or as though she had expected a different answer from the Reborn.

  So the swordswoman strides forward, heedless of whether anyone else follows her or not. Her stride is brisk but not rushed; purposeful but not aggressive. The rapier is held securely in her grip, and while others transform and leap past her, she merely tilts her head up a fraction in what might be either a greeting or an acknowledgement to Anna.

  Or maybe she's just watching where the girl lands, so Lucatiel can make sure that she isn't standing there.

  After a moment she stops, turning back to face Kore.

  "Just to be clear," the masked woman states, coldly, "I would strike an agreement with you, before I venture into this place."

  "I do not belong to this place. My soul is my own. I do not care of the dead, or the living; but I will not linger in this place. Am I clear?"

    Kore spins about suddenly, meeting Lucatiel's gaze. She tilts her head. "I can make no /guarantees/ with this place, but if it falls under my dominion again, I will not let the Underworld keep you. Alive or dead. I will return your souls to your natural afterlife, if any. If you have none, well... we can discuss that when you are dead, but you will all have the choice if you want to stay in my world. You are doing me a favor, it would be rude of me to trap you here." Her husband might have, but Kore is more compassionate than that.

Ash looked etween Anna, 2B, and anyone else around. "So while Pommagranet lady there and edgelady have their moment..." He makes a sweeping gesture towards the greyed out lifeless lands they were headed towards.

Then he would spin on one heel and sprint off towards where things looked all washed out. Neither sword nor gun were drawn at this point since, fine thngs were happening but his thoughts were on avoidance rather than engagement. The one target he had wasn't here. Onward.

     Krystal almost laughs at the absurdity of all this, how reassuring that if they die, at least they'll have some choices about where to spend their afterlife. The prospect of getting to see her family again was almost tempting. But no, she wasn't planning to die today. 
    "Alright, I'll see if I can pick up anything that might lead me toward this person who is trying to make their own little hell, hopefully they are thinking loudly about all dark and creepy stuff they have planned for the future." She half jokes as she follows the others in, vaulting over the barricade with her staff and running a bit to catch up. All the while, she is reaching out with her mind for any stray thoughts, but of course also trying to keep an eye out for undead that want to eat her brains, or whatever these undead do to the living.

The brightly-colored pink-haired magical girl smiles back at Lucatiel in response to the staring. "Yeah, sorry," she says. There isn't anything else to say, really.

And then Anna just ... sighs at Kore. "Okay, y'know what, I'm ... gonna be generally understanding," she says. "Death is just part of how the world works, and you're in charge of that in this particular Blossom, and. I'm. I'm not gonna hold that against you, so ... uh ..." She shrugs. "Yeah, peace out." She then turns to catch up with Ash, and runs off ahead.

She starts sort of scouting ahead. She zips back and forth, moving this way and that, but always returns to the group a few seconds later. She isn't sure what she's looking for -- the magical warriors of her realm usually have a very straightforward set of goals that doesn't have much room for scouting -- but hey, she's enthusiastic.

  Well, that's reassuring, that Lucatiel won't be unfairly trapped in this place if anything unfortunate should befall her. The fencer does not look particularly reassured, but she does turn away from Kore and continue on towards the entrance to the Underworld, as though nothing had happed.

  "Very good," she says, without looking back.

  Lucatiel resumes her forward march. Her head turns faintly in response to Anna's statement, but she doesn't say much else. There isn't much to say. There are dead things that require being made more dead, and if there's anything that the masked woman is good at, it's making things dead.

  Deader.

  ...Whatever.

  "Death takes many forms, and operates in many ways. Never mind that we are here dealing with many different worlds, as well," Lucatiel says, softly. It's probably the most any of these people have ever heard her say. Why she says it, it's difficult to say, but maybe it was in response to Anna's less than enthusiastic avowal to not hold it against Kore. Yeah, and we all buy it, magical girl...

  The mask turns toward the entrance. "Shall we...? Best we have this finished sooner, rather than later."

    The area washes grey very swiftly... not fully grey, but very muted. It's not hard to get IN actually, it's getting out that the police are trying to stop. Kore is already waving and running off to take care of things. "Sorry! I REALLY have to keep this from getting worse."

    Everyone passing in will feel a faint... pressure. But otherwise it's fine? No strange tugging at life force for Lucatiel, and 2B and 9S also feel that pressure, since they have souls. It's not uncomfortable, just like a heavy atmosphere... it can contribute to feeling dreary though.

    Emotions are also muted, and most thoughts are either panic or relief? It's easy to see why, as a young man with a man and woman who resemble him is walking and laughing with them... the young man is alive, but the woman and man beside him are not. However, his colors are... faded quite a lot.

    On a balcony above, a man is screaming, "STAY AWAY FROM ME!" at another man, anger raging hot. HIS colors are fine, though the one glowering at him from the other side is obviously dead. None of the dead look old, either, each an ageless sort of middling age.

    Going inside is the easy part. And finding the 'Lord of the Dead?' Even for a non-telepath there's an easy guess. Kore wasn't able to find the time to investigate herself, so wasn't able to know that there's a tall building with a nice hotel in it that seems to have a lot of Spartans guarding it. Though closer look will show that the 'Spartans' seem to be of all nationalities, so they're probably just dressed like Spartans. There are definitely thoughts of greed coming from that direction though. Finding the Lord is easy. Getting in there? Well.

    2B... 2B feels perfectly at home in a place where emotions are muted.
    "2B... This is kind of creepy." 9S complains. But the Battle android pays him little mind as they forge on ahead, taking in the sights of the living and the dead.
    Emotions are forbidden, after all.
    "Assessment:" The pod floating at 2B's side pipes up in a smooth, masculine tone, "A high concentration of armed guards indicates the presence of a person of importance." The helper AI states the obvious, and 2B starts heading for the tall building. The only thing that might stop her?
    Maybe those Spartans.
    Maybe.

  Although she spares a look over her shoulder to see whether or not the others follow, Lucatiel does not slow. She observes the steady leaching of colour with detached curiosity but otherwise offers no reaction. It isn't too dissimilar to Drangleic, a once-proud land reduced to a decrepit shadow of its former glory.

  There's a little less rot around here, but it's less of a physical change and more of a bizarre, psychological weight. The pressure brings her stride to falter, but only briefly; Lucatiel apparently decides it isn't painful, and carries on.

  Her head tilts up to the balcony, where two men are having some manner of altercation, with angry words and hot, bright emotion painting the area -- less literally and more subconsciously, drawing the attention away from the miasma of grey.

  "I suppose we've found our 'Lord.'" Lucatiel's statement is a bland sigh. "Shall we engage a frontal assault, or shall we employ deception to achieve our goal...?"

  She's not that interested, as her bored tone attests. She's really just here for the cash, because it gets expensive staying at inns.

  Maybe she feels comfortable here, too, much like 2B. The masked fencer gives 9S a bit of a look, before shaking her head -- the movement trails down the blonde braid at her back -- and shifting her weight, putting up both sword and shield, folding her arms. Since there's no horde of dead souls to greet her and claw at her to return to life, well, there's no need for weapons just yet, is there?

  A slow look is turned to the pod floating beside 2B.

  "That thing of yours is incredibly astute," she comments, and her tone is so laced with sarcasm one could choke on it.

  The Elite Knight of Mirrah sighs, shakes her head, and trails along after 2B. If they're taking the direct route, well, she's down with that. "You wield a blade?" she offers, in a leaden tone. Obvious question, but it's not the answer she's after; it's how 2B answers. It'd be good to have an idea of her capabilities if this turns into a battle royale.

Ash grumbled at the landscape and the people. "Look. If your'e not dead get moving!" He clung to the wall of... Well he didn't care what the building was as his pistol was aimed at one of the dead, "I don't care what business you have. Buzz-" The woman lunged at him and took two rounds to the face." He was grumpy. Too many small incidents he would have really wanted to help with, but... His eyes looked upward. 

"Operator I am unable to send your archwing through," Ordis voiced Ash's thoughts as the cephelon looked at Ash's sensorum. "Waypointing a route out."

"Thanks," Ash started sprinting towards the very obvious 'Important Muckamuck here' position. Then he noticed he was seperated from the group and grumbled. "Never split the group..."

He then fell in near 2B just in time for the Podto make its asessment, "Ordis isn't able to forward any of the rest of my gear through. You able to get anything sent in?" He wanted to check wit hthe YoRHa because one never knew. "Affects how we approach this."

then a glance around at the other 'allies.' "I could get through that army fine. Assuming they stay down when run through...." He had thoughts of each dead 'spartan' reforming into some part of a greater chimera abomination. What? It's less weird than you might think.

Anna's smile becomes more of a smirk. It's strained, but she's holding up just fine. Muted emotions are very different from being attacked on all sides by hostile emotions; compared to what Heart Mages have to deal with as their nominal job, this place is almost a walk in the park.

She finds herself nodding, though, at 9S's offhand comment.

She walks up to Ash, Lucatiel, and 2B. "I've got my fists," she remarks casually. There's a flicker of pale blue light around her hands. "Or I mean blasting stuff with Heart Power lasers, but." She shrugs. "I'm not used to diplomacy or stealth, my Blossom only has raging face-eating monsters to worry about, as far as the magical warriors are concerned." She shrugs. "... and anything else is our own problems, but, uh, yeah, I'll stop rambling."

... Maybe the place is getting to her.

     The muted emotions actually made Krystal's attempts at probing with her telepathy easier as there were less distracting strong emotions flowing around. At Lucatiel's question about whether they should engage or not, she holds up a hand. "Before we go rushing in, let me see if there is a weakness in their defenses. No sense doing more fighting than we have to. Easier we get in, quicker we put a stop to this all." She offers as she focuses on probing the thoughts of the faux Spartan guards. It takes her a bit of time because there are quite a lot of them, but eventually a picture of the hotel defenses starts to become clear. 

     "Alright, the main front and rear entrances are the most heavily guarded, as expected. However there seems to be some sort of disturbance on the east side of the building, and some of the guards that were patroling that area have left their posts to investigate. If we move quickly we should be able to get in by breaking a window without too much resistance." She says before looking around at the others to make sure everyone was on the same page. "Sound good to everyone?"

Ash nodded to Krystal and even if she couldn't see his grin she probably would feel a surge of amusment at her plan, "Sounds like a plan. Anyone else here able to do stealth? Or do we just smash our way instead of me trying to sneak in and try opening a door?" He looked about the group, his warframe's shoulders slumped as he was confused on the better course of action. "I didn't hear Kore give us any exact timetable beyond 'sooner is better' and in my experiance usurpers tend to not give up their thrones peacefully because true or not they operate under victory or death rules."

A glance around at the group at large, "That track with what any of you have delt with? I don't wanna act like I'm the end all be all," And depending on how Krystal's telepathy worked she just might hear the finishing thought to that statement, <Even though I'm older than every single one of your civilizations.>

    Just a little peek is enough to show that Krystal is right. There's a ruckus of some kind. Restless dead? Hard to say, but a few of the guards are wandering down that way. It looks like there is a brief window of opportunity. It's an older building, too, so the window shouldn't be hard to break into... though there might be a security system. And the target is almost certainly up high.

    "I don't know what I'd do without it." 2B replies to Lucatiel, tone as dry as the Sahara. But then she pauses. The guards wandering off elsewhere makes her pause entirely for a beat.
    "Well. If the guards are going to be sloppy, we may as well take the welcome mat." 9S points out as 2B is already moving into action with Krystal's assessment.
    She rushes for the side of the building, motioning Pod to get to work on the window, the floating machine manifesting a hard-light cutter that starts to melt through the glass and create an opening.

Anna shrugs at Krystal and Ash. "I'm cool with trying stealth, it's just ... I'm very brightly-colored. I can be quiet, but in this dreary-colored world I'd stick out like a sore thumb."

She frowns as 2B starts tearing through the window. "... Also, will damage to the scenery carry over once this place goes back to normal?" she adds. "I feel like that's something we ought to be worried about, I don't wanna go full demolition-derby and transform into Heart Mage Collateral Damage." She moves to follow 2B. "... I mean, this much is probably fine in an emergency like this, but ..."

Ash looked up at the structure. the overly large gun was almsot comically holstered there. then a look to 9S as 2B was trying to cut her way through before he unholstered his pistol and offered it to Krystal, "If nothing else I can try drawing fire away from you." That orset off every trap the place has.

In his transference pod Ash frowned, he couldn't muster the focus enough to shroud everyone. Would've been handy to give them a few seconds invisibility during breech. 

Instead he put his hands together and rubbed them. His warframe hopped back several meters. "OK this is either gonna be brilliant or really stupid." Then he started running full tilt towards the building. Lept, and then kept running straight up the structure as smoke shrouded his frame beforehe was invisible to everyone's sight. Anything that pinged emotions, minds, life, or the like would still know he was THERE but visually? Completely invisible as he ran up the side of the hotel. <At least the lady that runs the place likes us! No wait that's not reassuring at all!>

  Now that there is somewhat of an understanding between beings of infinite sarcasm, the fencer opts to follow the YoRHa operative in relative silence. She follows 2B's gaze, frowning behind her mask at the guards leaving their posts. Where are they going, and why are they going?

  More importantly, who cares? It's an opening, and so Lucatiel strides on forward. Of course she's going to take an opening if it's presented to her, yes, absolutely. Her gauntleted hand does rest on the pommel of her rapier, though, and she's watching the area just in case.

  The YoRHa operatives break into a sprint, and so does the Elite Knight of Mirrah, although her gait is heavier, as befitting that armour and all that equipment. It's still a ground-eating stride, which takes her to the side of the building, where 2B is busily instructing her minion to cut a hole in the window. Lucatiel can't pretend to know how that thing works, but it works for her.

  "Quickly," she urges the Pod, smoothly drawing her rapier from its scabbard. She leaves her shield on her back, though, and makes no motion to touch the cavalry greatsword over her shoulders. The slimmer blade will be of more use in tight quarters; indeed, she almost curses herself for not bringing some kind of knife.

>> SUMMARY[Lucatiel of Mirrah] >> C'mon, we love you, Captain Obvious Pod, but hurry it up before the guards get back.

     Krystal shakes her head. "There probably isn't time for us to be terribly stealthy anyway. The guards could resolve or get bored with whatever is distracting them anytime and come back, and then we'll still have less to deal with than the front door, but enough that they'll probably call for backup, and then we're screwed. I say we go for it, and with all of us together we should be able to handle the few remaining guards, and find a way to bust in without drawing a ton of extra attention." She says as she starts heading toward the east side of the building, trying to avoid being spotted by the guards at the front of the building while making her way there. 

     She does also hear Ash's thought about being older than not only everyone here but entire civilizations, and she decides to send a thought back his way, only he would hear it in his own mind. <Just because you've been around for millennia, doesn't give you a right to get all high and mighty and think you're better than the rest of us, particularly when you were in stasis for large chunks of that time, and clearly remember even less. But maybe, if you ask nicely, I can try to help you piece together some of your old memories, the ones that aren't actually totally missing most of the parts. Also, if you want to try and be a further distraction and draw the fire, be my guest.>

    Well this is interesting. A Warframe is running up the side of the building. That is a good distraction! No, it doesn't have grease or tar, but the building DOES have pop-up turrets for dealing with threats. What kind of hotel IS this?! Thing is the turrets are apparently meant for vehicles approaching it, not a smallish figure running up the side(and Warframes are small compared to cars!), so they're kind of cover fire trying desperately to hit. Ash can't drop his guard, but so long as he keeps moving the fire shouldn't be lethal.

    The others are going in through the window. The guards aren't a problem. Once inside the lobby area, keeping to the sides can also approach the elevator where only two guards are standing. However...

    "You appear to be living, so I must ask you all if any of you are deities," comes a calm and polite voice. A shimmering holograph forms, showing a middle-aged man smiling politely.

Ash snorted at Krystal's response to thta errant thought in spite of himself. <Hey, I love all of you. Which is why I don't try acting like this billion year old know it all waltzing around everywhere. Here's hoping I don't get you lot killed, totally wanna take all of you out for tacos or something after we get done.> The turrets started tracking and firing as soon as his brief window of invisibility faded, but as with many threats against Tenno the best defense was constant motion. The occasional round would hit him, causing a flash of blue as his warframe's shields absorbed the impact. Then, assuming the roof wasn't full of things that shoot at him, Ash would stop to take stock of the situation before unslinging the comically large device from his back.

In his warframes hands it would split lengthwise, revealing a spinning cylindrical interrior emitting a pale blue glow. Then he would shoulder it, grimacing inside his ship's transference pod. "Ordis... why did I want to bring this thing again? Warmup's taking forever, it takes aeons to charge, and it's a target painted on my head."

"Because, and I quote." Ordis then made an approximation of Ash's own voice, "Ash Wants Big Boom."

  Everything had been going according to nonexistent plan, until a hologram shimmers into being and asks the intruders whether any of them happen to be deities. The masked woman blinks owlishly behind the bronze concealing her face. Should she lie? Would this person have any way whatsoever to tell whether or not she were telling the truth?

  Does she have anything to lose?

  Lucatiel of Mirrah smiles thinly behind her mask, and evidently decides that discretion is the better part of valour. She smoothly slides the rapier back into its scabbard and folds her arms, waiting to see what the others say, and what this strange glowing man says.

  What? Mirrah doesn't have that kind of technology...

>> SUMMARY[Lucatiel of Mirrah] >> Lucatiel plays nice and waits to see what the others do.

    A hard light cutter gets through glass like a hot knife through butter and soon enough the group is in and headed for the elevator.
    Only to be paused by a hologram asking them if they're gods or not.
    "Uh." 9S hesitates.
"..." 2B is silent for a moment.
    "Fact: YoRHA troops are not deities." Pod answers 'helpfully'.
    Well, there goes any chance of deception.
    "No. We're not. Can we go now?" 2B says.

>> SUMMARY[2B] >> FACT: Pods would be infinitely more helpful if they shut up for the rest of forever.

Anna's first thought is to say yes. Then 2B's robot buddy speaks up.

And then Anna wordlessly takes a step back with her hands at her sides, ready to spring into action at the drop of a hat, because she just knows this is going to end up with someone getting blasted out of the building or off the rooftop ...

     Krystal assumes that the hologram is the image of an actual person, hopefully nearby, and searches for the mind behind it, but finds nothing. As a plan B, she considers lying and saying yes also, but after 2B's response decides to be honest. "We are strong, each of us having our own unique abilities, but we are not gods, no. Who are you?" She affirms, ears alert, eyes scanning everything around them, telepathy searching for any conscious thought besides their own. She expects this to get violent after having seen the turrets on the outside, and would prefer not to be caught off guard.

    What's on the roof? Well the turrets can't track inward, thankfully. Perhaps some can, but this is a hotel, not a fortress or prison. The penthouse is visible, and there are some guards there... but they're armed with slugthrowers and swords. Two of them call out, but a third halts them and suggests they tell the Lord. Because dead or not, that's obviously military hardware and they are not in power armor.

    These guards are a little smarter.

    So Ash can either try to flush him out, or bust through the window of the penthouse. Doesn't look like the Lord is coming out.

    Down below, the man waits... and then nods. "I see. My... guest instructed me to keep any unhappy dead out, or anyone claiming to be a deity. He said nothing about those who were still alive and wished to see him. I presume this is what you would like? The service elevator is this way."

    He gestures, and a small corridor leading to an /unguarded/ elevator is now available.

Anna furrows her brow at this turn of events. And then she bursts out laughing. (Her laughing voice sounds slightly off from her regular voice.) "Okay, yep, that works!" she says, and starts heading towards the elevator with a grin. "Don't worry, we'll get him out of your hair!"

As Ash held the weapon at the ready it started emitting a faint wrrring noise. "Look. I don't know if your boss understands what's happening, but a rift is opening between the living and the dead." His voice was perhaps surprisingly young as he slowly walked towards the penthouse. "Maybe that's his plan, but it's like mixing matter and antimatter. Even assuming the lady running the show here can keep the worst of it from happenign short term, what's yoru boss gonna do when the whole of existance falls down around his ears and all that's left is Void?"

The gun's wrrring noise slowly grew louder.

"I've been there. THat all black abyss of nothingness. Drifting in a colony ship, the adults gone mad. The children left to fend for themselves." Anyone emotionally sensetive could almsot feel the emotional wound reopening. "And out there. Past the burning hulk we lived and died in. Nothing. No stars. No structure. Nothing but black emptiness! You want that to be the whole of EVERYTHING?! You think it'll stop with just your world?" 

The gun's wrrring started to turn into a scream, a thousand mosquitoes angry wanting to be loosed.

"It'll spread," Ash didn't know this, in fact he doubted it, but his emotions spoke of this being a terrifying fear in his chest. "From this world, to others, and still more... Existance cascading into Nothingness. IS. THAT. WHAT. YOU. WANT?!"

Then he braced himself as the weapon fired. Blinding prismatic light containing all colors shifting and swirling within the second or two the beam lasted. A weapon designed to pierce through fortresses and whole battle formations of power armor wearing troops in a single salvo.

>> SUMMARY[Ash] >> I am the one who Knocks!

  Well, that was unexpectedly easy. Lucatiel glances warily at her impromptu fellow party members, before turning to follow the hologram's direction towards this 'elevator' thing. That is to say, she mostly follows 2B and 9S, while the YoRHa operatives make their way to it.

  Yeah, elevators aren't a thing in Mirrah, either.

  So she waits, to see what the others do.

    "... Did that actually just get us a pass?" 9S asks incredulously.
    "Statement: This pod is not programmed to give false statements."
    2B rubs at the back of her neck. "Let's just get to the service elevator and get this over with."
    Well that was easier than anticipated?
    "Hey, who are you exactly?" 9S decides to ask, on the way. "And who is your guest?"

     Krystal might not be able to read the mind of an AI, but she could hear in the voice that this entity didn't like his new guest, so she didn't expect any deception, and it seems the others didn't smell a trap either, as they were all moving to get in the elevator. Finally they were getting close to meeting the being responsible for all this. Her fur bristles a bit, standing on end, as her mind races to ideas about what they might be up against. "I don't know about the rest of you, but I have a bad feeling about this..." She admits, only to suddenly be distracted by hearing a large energy blast above them. "Sounds like Ash came packing something big..."

    The guards scatter at Ash's speech. "H-hey! We're just not wanting to get rekilled! We don't have any idea what's happening!" Ash's statements are... not really going over well with them, but they sure aren't going to try to stop that! Which means it goes off...

    In the elevator, "Ah, glad you asked. I am the hotel, and unfortunately I cannot divulge any information about my guests. I'm afraid you will need to knock and convince him to open up quickly, as I can't provide a key, and your friend outside appears to be-"

    The man winces, and briefly grows staticky. "Oh dear, the deposit won't cover /that/," he sighs. The elevator lights flicker, but then come on again as it speeds upward, opening up to a... wall with a large hole in it, and a ruined penthouse. A slender young man, grey like the other dead, has hurled himself down to the ground and is picking himself up, covered in dust. "W-who do you think you ARE?!" Though there's outrage in his voice, he's realizing he's out of his depth after that. Maybe he's hoping it was a one shot.

Anna looks up at the ceiling at the sound of Ash's noise. "... yeah, at least it seems like he's gonna keep the attention on himself for the time being," she says. Though Krystal would be able to detect the worry in her mind about Ash's recklessness.

She puts on a bright smile for the man. "Hi!" she says. "We were sent here by the queen of the dead to stop the Underworld from spilling into the land of the living! So do we do this the easy way?"

She punches her fists together, and they glow with pale blue Heart Power. "Or the magical girl way?"

The lights on the differing parts of the warframe brighten as Ash marches ahead. Its systems marking each guard he sees as he again lifts the weapon. "Be somewhere else." There was a firmness to his voice as the weapon again started to whine. Apparently there is more than one charge to this thing after all!

As he stepped through the hole he just made there was an almost cheerful tone to his voice. "Knock. Knock."

Then, even though it would cause the weapon's charge cycle to reset, Ash exerted his will. Clones made of smoke and air appeare in front of each guard just long enough to stab at each with a wrist mounted blade before their substance blew apart. 

"We can either talk as Men, or I will hunt you like a rabid Animal." THere was no room for negociation in Ash's voice as he paced through the penthouse, holding the overly large weapon idle in his hands. "Choose."

MEANWHILE, ON THE WAY UP:
    "This elevator better not have bad music." 9S says.
    "Elevators have music?" 2B Asks, genuinely clueless. Most elevators are non-functioning for thousands of years, on her Earth.
    "Playing 'Elevator music.mp3' now." Pod announces.
    "No!"
    "No."
    But then the elevator doors open. And there's a huge hole in the wall. 2B and 9S step out just in time to see the dramatic tale of Ash and the Ghost Who Is About to Re-Die. Probably.

>> SUMMARY[2B] >> Pod, plz.

     Krystal holds her staff at the ready, though with Ash's weapon she wonders why they even need to participate as anything more than a distraction if it comes to a fight now, and it certainly did look like it was going to head that way unless the young man decides to surrender. However, Krystal does her thing and reaches out to probe the man's mind, searching for motive, intent, anything she can use. She strongly doubts there is a way to resolve this peacefully and keep everyone happy and not destroying worlds, but she's been surprised before.

    Stumbling to his feet, the man braces, pulling out a... knife? He stands in front of Anna though, voice a little shaking. He's betting Ash won't shoot that and hit his friends! "You'll never take me alive! ... um... dead. Whichever... YOU KNOW WHAT I MEAN!"

    He's desperate. He is not really BAD with the knife and could probably take any of the guards easily, but he's probably just a little warlord causing trouble. And afraid... Krystal just gets a glimmer because his thoughts are racing, but he's terrified of being dead and what his punishment will be.

    He is not really up for fighting more than one opponent though.

Ash reholsters the comically large terrifying gun of destroying lots of big things and just inhales deeply. THen. He facepalms, not sure what to make of this. "Would you believe me if Itold you I'll try talking to the lady that runs the place see if she can step back from the whole rolling stones up infinite hills... thing?" He then looked to Krystal, terrified he's making this even worse before stepping back, leaving his hands in plain view. "I'm.. .uh... Krystal over there is better at negociating than me. I'm kinda not kidding about Bad Things happening though if we can't make it stop so... Help us out? Please?" He was suddenly far less resolute and implaccible sounding than eh was. He was expecting some would be warlord not... A Gu trrified of being dead.

Anna blanches and steps back. There's actually a flicker of light in her magical girl costume, and her hair darkens for a split second.

She sighs. "Yeah, uh ... so, easy way it is, then?" she says, looking over to Krystal at Ash's prompting.

She does glance askance to Ash, realizing that the two of them are having ... very similar reactions here.

     Krystal frowns a bit, actually feeling sorry for the man, she doesn't need to read his mind to see how scared he is, but it does give her a small insight into why he's so afraid, but Ash guesses that for the most part as it is. She nods, lowering her staff. "If you help undo this mess, I promise to help you, is that agreeable? Please put down the knife, we won't hurt you if you don't force us to defend ourselves."

    Gulp. The man slumps. "Ah... f-fine..." He knows he can't win, so the hotel breathes a fake sigh of relief. As the knife drops, the man looks even more dull.

    The Hotel hms, "Well, hopefully this will stop being a dead zone. I really prefer... living clients. I hope someone will explain this."