Jack Morgan checked the map, before sending the picture he took of it to everyone in the squad. A dull vibrating sound signified that the commandos had a new message, obviously one containing the map. Finally, Jack straightened up and addressed the squad. "Alright, crew. It looks like we're at a crossroads. Current location seems to be at... point 77. Ollanius, Hu, Microcline, and Hampus, I want you to head left and check out that large open area; you'll be Group A. As for Sindibad, Arby's, David, Rimanahson, and Clifford, you'll be with me heading to the right; we'll be Group B. Ready? Go!" Group A headed up the hallway, keeping an eye out for any potential dangers. When they reached the door, Hampus was the first into the threshold. Despite the protests of his groupmates, Hampus opened the door without a second thought. The room ahead was a largely barren arena of unpainted concrete and rebar. A ladder stretched up to the catwalk connecting to the door, with no other routes of access in sight. Hampus sighed, and began his descent just as the rest of the group moved in.

-Lucas- When they got to the restaurant, Lucas saw someone looking at him, as if they recognized him. He introduced himself as 'Gintoki.' "Nice to meet you, Gintoki. Um... yeah, I know PSI powers," Lucas said to Gintoki, taking a holographic menu and looking through it. He decided he'd have some nut bread, a soda, and an omelet for his meal, and he looked at the group, and then at Gintoki. "How did you know about my psychic powers, though?" he asked, a little freaked out that someone he just met knew he had special powers.

Black Rock Shooter tilted her head in confusion when the hat blinked at her. Few hats had ever done that as far as she knew. It was not a very hat-like thing to do. However, it seemed as if there was little time to dwell on the strange hat, as new figures had arrived. Two men, it seemed. The one in black armor threatened them with death, something that immediately made Black Rock Shooter raise Rock Cannon and train it on them without a second thought. A single aggressive move would have her fire. However, a third man appeared, apologizing for the behavior of the other two and seeming to be much more amiable. For a few moments, Black Rock Shooter wondered if it was indeed the truth... ... But Suwako's words made her wonder just why, if the coffin and the girl inside of it were so important, she had been left here in the desert for so long. Had she not been here, she would not have had even the slightest thought on this scenario. But as much as the otherself desired to recover Dead Master above all else, she would not be able to leave and ignore this. "If this is true, you left her. Why?" The girl herself seemed rather shocked and unsure of what to do. She looked up at the newcomers, then back at those who had taken her out of the coffin. "... I... have a family...?" Her words were almost doubtful. "I don't remember... there was... I think there was a woman in a labcoat... was she my mom? I don't think she was..." Now she was talking mostly to herself, as if trying to work things out. The hole closed. There. They'd have to reopen it when they exited, but this meant that nothing from this dimension could find its way in. The armored woman turned to face her squad once more. "Reynolds?" The hulking man raised his massive flamethrower up. Well, at least he was enthusiastic. He was always enthusiastic when it came to... any place with zombies. He seemed a little bit too excited about the prospect of lighting them on fire. "I get to send those monsters back to hell, right?!" He also had a tendency to, for reasons beyond the woman's comprehension, attempt to sound as much like some kind of action movie star as possible. Well, at least he was effective, that was hard to deny. "If we see any. Do not use your flamethrower unless you're certain. We've been over this already, but we're here to at least try and arrest our targets, not burn them alive. Your flamethrower is strictly for the disposal of the undead or the mutations we may find here." The huge man sighed. He was far too attached to that thing, but he moved it to his back and pulled out a rifle. "Yes, captain." "Johnson," she turned to face another man, armored similarly to herself, with dark skin. "You and Sato bring up the rear." He nodded, and Sato, a Japanese woman also clad in the same armor, grinned and gave her the thumbs up as they moved to the back. The formation as simple, and fitting for the number of people on their team. Her and Reynolds in front, Johnson and Sato behind. Bringing her shotgun up, she carefully moved down the hall with her team. She didn't need her suit's Superior Motion systems as of yet, so for the moment it was slow and steady.

Derek C. Simmons, Red Queen Control Terminal Huddled in the Red Queen's control terminal, Room 100, a mortified Derek Clifford Simmons surveyed the situation via the numerous feeds provided to him by the AI. How could this be happening to him? How could this top secret facility have been compromised, its initial wave of defenses crushed and its inner sanctum penetrated? How could the head of The Family find himself in such a precarious position? He allowed himself a moment to consider just how such a thing would not have happened had Ada Wong still been at his side, surely she would have taken care of the situation, but it was a brief flash of panic, nothing more. Soon he got a grip on himself and got to work. Derek Simmons would escape this situation on his own and further prove himself as the only man worthy of Ada Wong's love. He would bring order to the world, this was but a trifle, he was still in control. He still held the result of the facility's research, the one and only pure, undiluted sample of the C-Virus and all its potential. He was in a highly secured room that was impossible to breach from the outside, safely locked with three special keys spread across the underground laboratory, and in control of the artificial intelligence that ran the entire installation. Yes, the intruders were in his grasp. Now what might he do about them... SE Commandos, Group A Unknown to Hampus, he was the first man heading down the Sacrificial Pit. The bottom of the area was used as a testing ground for Bio-Organic Weapons, pitting them in battle against other BOWs, armed prisoners and the like. The elevated catwalk was not the regular access, rather, it was an observation point from where a researcher could personally examine the results of their creations. The massive pit made escape for the vast majority of the creatures impossible to begin with and there would usually be highly trained and well equipped soldiers ready and waiting at the bottom to prevent any potential outbreaks. Of course, they were not present at the time. As soon as the entire squadron entered, a reinforced shutter slammed shut behind them and alarms began to blare. It didn't take a genius to know that no good could come out of that. The ladder Hampus was descending began to ascend in turn, retracting into the catwalk to make it harder for creatures to climb up. Hampus could either drop down, if he was close enough to the floor, or just hang on and ride it to the top. Of course, the mutations released by Simmons did not need any help to reach those heights. From the bottom, half a dozen bird-like figures emerged. As large as a man, with a strange lizard-like head, these creatures took to the air with nary a noise. Mesets, they were called, a name derived from the Serbian word for moon. Crow-like mutations, a potential second stage of the J'avo, humans infected with the C-Virus through direct administration. Wicked and deceptively intelligent, their prefered method of attack was grabbing and dropping prey from high altitudes while they were distracted. As soon as they were released they flew towards the SE group, separating and flying in evasive patterns to avoid any damage as they swooped their targets in the catwalk, seeking to grab them in order to drop them into the pit below. Even if they didn't succeed, their talons were razor sharp and would leave a mark. UMMA Strike Team For this group of intruders, Simmons hesitated. Whatever he could send topside after the first wave of defenses would be easily dealt with, leftovers kept behind for research purposes. Activating the emergency lockdown would lower special security gates over all access points at the top of the Looking Glass shaft, slowing the intruders down but further limiting any kind of threat he could send the invaders' way, not to mention leaving him trapped in the building until outside assistance arrived. Finally, he settled. The innermost sanctum could not be compromised anymore. And he knew of one creature he could send their way...he would have to prepare it. With a sigh, he pressed the Emergency Lockdown button, clearing the action with the Red Queen. Though the groups within the Looking Glass would see no difference, those topside would suddenly find the facility had become much harder to invade. Reinforced shutters and heavy gates slammed shut one after the other, blocking access points and hindering key points of the facility. It was designed so nothing could get in or out without resorting to very heavy artillery or using Neo-Umbrella access codes available only to a select few.

Nono, Restaurant District, Yggdrasil Tables claimed, Nono looked over at the others in her group as they found the menus and made their own choices before proceeding over to join her. Lucas was conversing with Gintoki, and Nono was silent for the moment as she considered what to get, that would taste good as well. She also looked around at the restaurant itself, enjoying the decor, and keeping up her good mood overall. She was interrupted then by the approach of an employee, and she turned to face the waiter with a smile as he asked about Saber and her...peculiarities. She was used to it though, and so she was prepared. "Sorry," she replied as she rose. "She gets like that when it comes to food. Don't worry, I'll handle it." That she would, as she walked over to Saber. She'd had experience in this before as well, though she still found it amusing. But she was unable or unwilling to stop it happening, which wasn't really a problem. Fortunately the menus were holographic, meaning Nono would be visible as she spun into sight behind it, wearing something between a pout and a glare, hands resting on her knees as she looked at Saber. "Onee-sama, you're not going to get any food if you just stare at the menu all day," she pointed out in a slight chastisement, though she couldn't completely hide her amusement. She grinned then as she grabbed the menu. "That is, unless you want me to order for you," she teased, dancing away before Saber could grab it back. At least there were other menus present, and the gynoid did a quick scan before placing her own order for Mabo Tofu, the variety that were rumors to burn your taste buds off. She regretted nothing. Misaka 10,032, Client World Macross Misaka sat down to wait for her food as Kakine and Marisa sat down at the same table. She had, at the same time, placed her bag of weapons to the side, leaning against the table as she turned her attention in full to the Witch, as well as he traveling companion, as they conversed more. "Yes," she answered succinctly, echoing what Kakine had said. "'Our objective is the discovery of technologies and resources in other multiversal planes that may be of use to Academy City, as well as determining whether initiating diplomatic contact may be advisable," Misaka explains as she patiently waits upon the arrival of her meal." As one might guess, it wasn't a big deal for her, though she left some the details, such as the secondary objective of her experiencing more of the world, to herself.

Ridley's eyes were shaped maliciously thin in one very brief instant, illustrating a form of smirk that his species could not really perform considering his peak's physiology. Nonetheless, he had good reason to be satisfied as his hits were successful to an extent, his abilities sure proved to be quite efficient compared to his fight in Talon IV. While Samus was pushed back and left time for the creature to take a better combat posture, he couldn't help but think as to how the other half of his operation was going. Considering the huge amount of interference going on, he had little to no contact with his team in Siberia. Only when the Mothership would be taken down that things would go along. "Time to die." His opponent fully recovered and shot an extra wave of powerful blots of energy. Ridley was ore than ready this time. His wings retracted against his body, thinning his body as much as possible before darting his entire metal being right at the hunter, attempting a powerful stab from his claw. The speed was enough to dodge a few shots, while the strong armor of his beak tanked the remaining shots and barely slowed him down. If the claws were to hit, he would put it directly into the woman's chest in order to annihilate a part of her powersuit for good. However, he wasn't expecting such a bland and direct approach to hit his resilient nemesis. No, his real nasty attack would consist in having his first attack a decoy as he kept his tail hidden under his retracted wings. As she would dodge, or counter, he'd mercilessly stab his jagged tail right into her power beam cannon in an attempt to destroy it. They were going to bust in soon. Sure they could probably handle a dozen of GFS troopers, but there were also PED using marines who even posed a threat to the higher ups of SE (in exception to the leader). Faures was quite stressed about all this and made sure everyone was positioned correctly in order to avoid losses as the firefight would commence. Arragoz on the other hand didn't seem to worried, he actually carried out his task quite efficiently without an ounce of tension running his his movement pattern. As the three bombs were safely fastened in their respective places, the Ork had positioned himself in a way that would likely be immediate death for people of Faures' level, but this was Arragoz we were talking about, a high ranked agent of the Shadow Eternity organization. When the Ork's bomb had handled the door and made sure to ruin the day of anyone behind the door, Faures' jumped from his hiding spot with his rifle pointed at the exit. "OPEN FIRE!" Ordered the corporal to his two lackeys as they all started to shoot down the many soldiers grouped at the exit of the room. It was easy to destroy most of them as a large amount had their cover broken and were tangled by weird goop that flushed them out of the their hiding spots. That didn't mean all of them were dead, oh no, there were still a few well hidden and had already riposted with shots of their own. Sergeant Shaz, one of the two SE foot soldiers assisting Arragoz on this cruise was, unfortunately, victim to one of the flashing blue troopers who imposed themselves in the middle of the heat of battle. He was hit, more than once, but it seemed that the aura surrounding him had tanked most of the damage, only burning somewhat large chunks of his armor and nothing more. His shots, however, completely annihilated Shaz's body with just two bullets connecting. Half the man's body was vaporized in a blue flash, leaving the rest severely burnt or covered in blue substance. These soldiers were enough to even cause Ridley to take very delicate measures, so they were obviously no push overs. Faures' kept Arragoz covered, though, as the Greenskin was probably their only hope against these ruthless menaces.

Gintoki looked at Lucas' confused face skeptically before realizing that every universe worked a tad differently. That Smash game or whatever it was called might've just been something created due to a lot of research... Or something. Maybe he didn't know; checking seemed to be the best option. "The reason? There's a game down at one of the arcades on the lower floors that a lot of people flock there for. Apparently it's really popular or something... And you're in it. Something about a giant floating gloved hand and a bunch of random people from other universes fighting things and each other..." he trailed off before laughing. "Kind of like how we are now. 'cept with less fighting." That had just reminded him, actually- was Lucas actually aware of all those other characters in there? He seemed to be not as knowledgeable as the rest of them, but the fact that he managed to make his way here remained the same. Dio's eye twitched as he heard the always-abnormal voice of Charlotte rapidly approach him and sighed. The tone of voice she had didn't mean any better for him, given her previous reactions to his hair- it was a wonder that his son had managed to not have to deal with her as much as he did. Turning around, Dio materialized The World before noticing that Charlotte was all but ready to consume his his head... Again. Massaging his forehead, Dio sent The World to go and catch the witch as she flew towards him. "Perfect timing. You're coming with me. And no, you are not eating my hair. Not The World, either." he said, still annoyed about the mischief that the little creature brought with her wherever she went. Maybe if she was released on that ship he could have a bit less trouble dealing with the crew... Suwako stared defiantly back at the armored samurai, the dark aura around her feet growing more restless by the second. These people were definitely not here for positive reasons, especially if they were threatening them like this for a girl. Hearing that girl's musings only served to distrust the men in front of her even further. Under such circumstances, handing over the girl would be like giving her a death sentence. "You can take the coffin, but not the girl." she stated, glaring at Senbonzakura with her head held high. "You lay one hand on her and you'll regret it- we gods don't take lightly to being threatened."

Samus Aran - GFS Mothership Bridge Samus fired all that she could, but yet it all but remained futile against her beefed-up nemesis. Yet as she continued, she sees Ridley come flying right at her at a dazzling speed! She continues firing, only to see her projectiles just bounce off his metal hide. She needed a new strategy... a quick one too. At the corner of her eye, she sees several jugs of starship fuel. If she could lure Ridley close enough to where she can shoot those barrels, it should damage her nemesis to a degree. Definitely would distract him though. Samus wastes no time as she dodges Ridley's attack, NOT by jumping out of the way. No. With a flip she soon curls up into a ball as she goes directly under her nemesis and closer to the fuel tanks...

Laserbeak - Restaurant District (Yggdrasil):

Out of nowhere she was grabbed by some unknown entity right before she could get a bite off Dio's cheese-like head. When Za Warudo had caught her in the act, the strange manifestation could feel thick goo spilling all over its hand, evidently coming from Charlotte's gaping mouth as she stared the vampire's hair in awe. She was sad to hear that she wasn't going to eat anything interesting for the time being, which turned her disturbing grimace into a big frown. But then she realized something: She was going to go on another field trip! The next best thing to eating and cheese! "Ohhhh Okay! Are we going to go on an ADVENTURE????? Will we go treasure hunting too?!?!" She explained with a lot of enthusiasm and excitement as she slipped out of The World's grasp in order to land with her two little feet on the nearby floor. She then started to run in circles, obviously a little too excited for what was going to happen. When they would depart, the little doll would just cling on the Vampire's foreleg and he would just have to pray that she wouldn't randomly take a bite off his member as a pass time. His opponent had proven to be crafty, as always. Her sudden unconventional dodge made it impossible for his tail to reach Samus in the intended way. No, she swiftly passed under his body in order to make her away elsewhere and create a bit of distance between the to fighters. His head quickly turned to keep her on a focused visual and never giving her a chance to surprise attack him with a backward strike. Then his entire body turned to face her. While he was largely concentrated on her, his enhanced neural abilities and visor had quickly taken notice of the nearby explosives that could end up being problematic. If he weren't a cybernetic space tyrant, however, he would have likely fallen for it. His body language didn't translate any surprise, not that it would be noticeable given his anatomy but he didn't react to the fact that she was more than likely trying to lure the dragon into a trap. Without an ounce of hesitation, he simply used his basic fire breath to release a powerful flamethrower directly at the Hunter's backside. Though she'd be in his line of fire, he'd purposely fire a large blast in order to reach the nearby explosives and make them explode while she was approaching them. As she threw those flames, he laughed in a rather maniacal way, as if he had won the battle already. "Hahahahaha! You seem weaker, hunter. You didn't think I could see the little details? HAH!" The explosion he could cause would be far enough to leave him unaffected, not that simple explosive barrels would actually hurt him all that much from up close either, but he'd still have to consider risks. Despite being in space, he seemed capable of using his weapons without a problem whatsoever. His ability to freely move through space also made it possible for him to solicit his abilities in otherwise very restrictive areas like space itself.

Samus Aran - GFS Mothership Bridge Samus quickly escaped certain doom thanks to her flexibility of her chozo DNA and was indeed ready to finish the battle with a blast! Yet she failed to realize that the maniacal space tyrant had indeed realized of her trap and failed to fall into it. Indeed, Samus should've known that Ridley was no fool, especially after they fought countless of times. The explosion managed to lunge the bounty hunter several meters, rolling into a ball as she caught herself on one knee. She growls as Ridley taunted her. Yet suddenly, with no warning, Samus' ship came slowly up behind the two. Samus's eyes glances at the ship slowly hovering behind Ridley. If it were not for her visor, his nemesis would've picked up whats going on. I bet you were not seeing that coming... she thinks to herself while making a short and soft nod. Then the Hunter-CLass Starship began firing several missiles, all of them locking target on Ridley!

Suwako stared defiantly back at the armored samurai, the dark aura around her feet growing more restless by the second. These people were definitely not here for positive reasons, especially if they were threatening them like this for a girl. Hearing that girl's musings only served to distrust the men in front of her even further. Under such circumstances, handing over the girl would be like giving her a death sentence. "You can take the coffin, but not the girl." she stated, glaring at Senbonzakura with her head held high. "You lay one hand on her and you'll regret it- we gods don't take lightly to being threatened."

Kiba in turn begins to intensify the aura he surrounded himself with earlier, and emanates a more visible dark red aura. The amount of hostility and tension here is absolutely delicious, and he struggles to keep himself from laughing at how this situation is slowly spiraling out of control. "I'm pretty sure we're ordered to take the girl too," he responded, trying to keep his tone as neutral as possible. He continues, "You don't get to make the arrangements here, but if it makes you feel any better, we're told to keep her intact. Frankly, I don't even know what she's for."

Jericus "Ing" Ignace Client World 576143290-B

Ignace keep his lasgun at the ready towards the people to show up and demand/ask for the girl. Years in the imperial guard had imbue a sense of minor paranoia when dealing unknown groups. The guardsman lowered his lasgun walking up to the group of agents showing his imperial Aquila. "Im sorry sir but this area is under Imperial investigation. If you have a problem take it up with your local Ministorum adept," he said to the Shadow Entity agents. He walked over to the young girl that is with them "don't worry your probably just a vat born human and were put into a stasis coffin by an uncaring magos," he said to the girl being less than helpful.

Guts - Konoha Outskirts With Konoha decimated by multiple tons of rotting flesh falling onto it, and the subsequent fallout as the surviving residents of its entrails began to crawl forth, the time was ripe. It was ripe for the Akatsuki to make their move. Guts looked overhead as several shadowy figures leaping overhead, dressed in long, cloudy robes. One stood out, resembling a giant plant. As soon as Guts stared at it, his Brand tore open, and a fresh trickle of blood leaked out. This was no doubt a powerful apostle, and he landed on a nearby building to observe the whale apostle Guts had just murdered. Climbing a ladder, Guts stood on top of a slightly taller building. This would work. Guts took a few steps back, and sprinted forward. His muscles pumped, and his legs propelled all several hundred pounds of weight flying off the side of the building. His right hand reached over his shoulder, and swung the Dragonslayer with enough speed to turn him forward in midair. -------------- "Oh, Zetsu! Do you think Deidara-sama would be proud of me if I caught the Jinchuriki?!" Tobi said, before he was interrupted by a terrible crash and a splatter of gore. Looking to his side, he saw half of Black Zetsu twitch towards him, and a one-eyed man lift an impossibly large sword over his shoulder, staring him down with a look of contempt. "Z-Zetsu!" he shouted. "MANGEKYO SHARINGAN: KAMUI." A shadowy energy spiraled forth from the orange mask, and consumed Guts. The Black Swordsman found himself in a new world, one pitch black with a floor made of white cubes. This wasn't good. It reminded him of a much tamer eclipse.

X sat almost motionless as he sifted through various reports, reports he decided he would read later until they all loaded. However he paused as a camera feed on another agent came up. The automatic recording AI had reported an event about a giant carcass materializing right above a town, this caught his attention as dozens of people began running around in panic. Then multiple figure's in coats entered the area as well, but the bigger human cut down one of them and was seemingly killed by the other. Rewinding the recording X studied the attack. He has an audio cue? I'll watch out for that then. Tapping a button on the console X began to speak on the general radio frequency. "I've got action at some place called Konoha, a giant corpse has landed on a town I could use some help with the cleanup. There's also a fight in progress, I think I'll need back up." Finally standing up X made his way to the teleport pads. Talking to the man running the station X told him he needed to got to Konoha, approaching the brightly colored pads. "I'm ready." Nodding his head the teleport manager flipped a couple switches to account for X's machine body and sent him on his way. X disappeared in a blue light, and moments later reappeared in small town. Launching himself up on top of a rooftop he began to search for the man. It hasn't been long, he should still be here.

"Unexpected, unexpected~! We have new players, ehe~" Obito laughed, before making a retreat. Between the black swordsman and the azure robot, it was best to play it safe. "Kekkai Genkai Mangekyo Sharingan: Kamui." he said, as his body disappeared in a spiral-shaped portal. A few scant seconds later, the top half of his head was violently ejected from space, sliced off at eye level, followed by the rest of his body. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Guts watched the body of that apostle-consort fly from space. He'd barely had time to go over a new escape plan before this strange dimension trembled, as gigantic rips appeared in the black sky. Destroying the eye that had created the dimension had rendered the world itself unstable, and it was slowly crumbling around the Swordsman. Guts took a cautious step back, then swung at the Nothing. Immediately, the Dragonslayer distorted the space-time warp, and Guts was also sucked into a quasi-dimensional set of imaginary numbers. The Black Swordsman found himself yelling, not in panic, but a battlecry, as he shot through a wormhole at the speed of fast, frozen in the space of himself but traveling through the distance of infinity.

When the ladder drew itself upward, Hampus panicked. His already-pathetic grip loosened by both fear and motion, Hampus fell. Landing on his head with a sickening crack, Hampus lay still on the sullied concrete floor. Meanwhile, back on the catwalk, Group A sprang into action, firing their rifles at the flock of monstrous birdmen and spreading evenly across the catwalk. Private Ameye and Sergeant David Leatherhoff were the first to tag one, explosive shots rippling across the beast's mighty wings. Its wings now ventilated, the beast plummeted to the ground in much the same way as Hampus did. Microcline and Pious, being less experienced in the sharpshooting field, opted to lay down suppressive fire. Their bullets mostly went wide, but one of Pious' shots managed to strike one of the Mesets in the chest. Shrieking in something roughly-approximate to pain, the monster swooped towards the group with significantly more bloodlust in its eyes. Leaping to the side, Pious just barely managed to avoid being dashed against the walls, as the Meset clambered to its feet. The stairwell was, predictably, abandoned. The faint roar of industrial fans deeper in the complex formed a soundscape for the group. "Keep your eyes peeled, boys," Jack Morgan announced, his steps measured and slow. The group passed the upward staircase with little fanfare, and peered into the paradoxically officelike area ahead. Drywall cubicles filled the vast room, blocking all view of any potential ambushes lying ahead. The only signs that this area still belonged to the labyrinthine facility it connected to were the thick concrete pillars pock-marking the room. This room couldn't be anything but a trap. The important question was when would it be sprung?

Arragoz Plizgin - Enjin Room With a boom, a shout, and a hail of projectiles, battle was joined. The Goo-bomb had done its work, entangling a number of the muhrines, leaving them vulnerable to the fire of the Ork's humie comrades. As for the return fire, most of the ones that struck Arragoz harmlessly pinged off the massive pauldrons that were part of his disguise, while the rest only succeeded in leaving largely superficial burn marks on his hide. Hopefully the remaining ones would find a way to put up something vaguely resembling a fight. Arragoz wanted to enjoy himself, after all. Fortunately for the greenskin, and less so for the now very dead Shaz, this hope was fulfilled, as the PED Muhrine chose that moment to display their capacity for death-dealing. Before throwing himself into battle, however, the Orkoid decided to do the kunnin' fing, and assess the threat. The muhrine's shoota seemed to be comparable to one of the humie's Plazma Shootas from back 'ome. Furthermore, the muhrine appeared to possess a kustom force field of sorts, greatly increasing their durability. Finally, he had a snazzy looking backpack that the other muhrines didn't possess. In conclusion, the muhrine was ded 'ard 'n' ded killy fer a humie; and that backpack was now next on the list of fings to be added to Arragoz' slowly growing collection of junk. With that in mind, the Ork concocted a battle plan, which took a grand total 2 seconds, and put it into action. Unsheathing one of his choppas, the one with the spiked knuckle-duster, to be specific, Arragoz began to slowly advance towards the muhrine. This plodding pace didn't last long, however, as the greenskin suddenly broke into a run, shortly followed by a leaping tackle once he was close enough.

"Mellow cola and rainbow fruit," the waiter brought up a stylus and a holopad, swiftly scrawling the order out. "That'll only be a moment, sir." In the same fashion he took down Lucas's order, with a swift nod and confirmation to the boy. Saber paused for a moment when Nono spoke to her, then looked towards the girl just in time for the menu she had been intending to pick to be snatched away, as the pink-haired girl danced towards the table. "Ah..." Realizing she had gotten so distracted before even reaching the table, and feeling a mild sensation of embarrassment over this realization, Saber hurried towards the table and sat down as soon as she could. Realizing she had forgotten a menu herself, she leaned to the side and peered at Nono's to confirm her order... Ah, good. She would be having that... and that... and that... and that... and that... it was all-you-can eat, correct? Therefore there was no limit to how much she could indulge in excellent cooking. So these four dishes looked like a perfect and familiar start, as they resembled Shirou's cooking. From there she would pursue new territories. "I will have numbers three through six on page four of the menu," she stated, looking up at the waiter, her expression almost determined in her desire to eat. "... That... that many? Already?" the waiter was rather stunned. He shook his head. Orders were orders, after all, even if he doubted the blonde could eat that much. "Very... very well." He turned to put the orders in. Saber's excitement was practically radiating off of her in waves. "Huh, that's pretty much exactly what I thought!" Marisa replied, with a confident grin. She'd been pretty sure it'd been something like that, it made sense with how much these two talked about the whole Academy City thing and all. She didn't know about any diplomacy stuff or anything like that, but she sure as hell knew about grabbing useful stuff! That kinda glowy thing that made all the noises she found last time she went out had taken up permanent residence in her home. She didn't actually know what it did, but it was nice and warm at least. Marisa would find out sooner or later! "I'm here for the same reasons! ... Well, kinda, I'm exploring and stuff!" Marisa replied cheerfully. The small blonde witch leaned on the table with a happy smile. "I'm kinda new to the whole multiverse thing, so I wanna find out what I can about all these places and stuff! It's been pretty awesome so far! Hehe, next time I go home I'm gonna tell Ari-chan about it. She's gonna be so jealous!" The mere thought of that was a motivating factor for the Perfectly Ordinary Witch.

Space warped, and forced itself to be turned inside out as it spat out a black-armored swordsman into the ground. Guts rose from the crater, massaging a cramp in his neck. He was in a courtyard, surrounded on all sides by a surprisingly elegant school, almost resembling a castle. The Sun began to set over the horizon, and the brick buildings cast a long shadow over the berserker. "Great. Where am...?" Guts' knees trembled. He'd gotten to used to Puck being ready to heal him, and his cuts and burns were left untreated. Guts swore, as the edges of his vision grew black. It faded out, then in, as he noticed himself moving onto a bed. Out, then in, and he saw a tiny, egg shaped object on the ground. And then, out once more. Ah, shit. Where am I?

Takahara was pleasantly surprised to see an elderly man with a purple robe and helmet walking out of the restaurant's kitchen wearing an apron. The elderly man spoke up in Japanese, drawing an understanding "EEEE" from the Shocker Goons working the pizza ovens. "Now remember, the cheese blend needs two parts mozzarella, 1 part other cheeses so that it melts properly. That way you can do the stuffed crust with as little fuss as possible! Bye-bye!" Takahara began waving the other old man over. "Vamp! General Vamp! Long time no see!" "Oh, Takahara-san!" General Vamp replied, shuffling over to the Shocker Grunt's booth and taking a seat. "It's been too long! How is it working for Shadow Eternity, or whatever the latest evil organization is?" "...Well... about that..." Takahara sighed. ==20 minutes later== "I... I'm going to be honest. Everyone in the organization... Well, we know that the goals of the leader are counterproductive and self-defeating. Given the objectives she's chosen and her insistence that we not question her orders on many things, and considering my experience working for previous Evil Organizations, she probably has a goal that is REALLY not something I want to help accomplish. But the pay's decent. So we've been counting on her incompetence with logistics, stupidity in choosing mission objectives, and her seeming hatred of initiative to guarantee her goals fail. But then, over the last week, I've learned JUST how she treats her subordinates. I was left stranded in a post-apocalyptic hellhole. No shipments of food. No water drops. No check-ins from command. It... it was SUCH HORSESHIT!" Takahara shouted, slamming a fist into the table. "T-t-Takahara-kun... That sort of treatment is a disgrace!" Vamp said, putting a hand on Takahara's shoulder. "There's no way a proper Evil Organization would treat its employees like that!" Takahara sighed, putting his head into his hands. "That's the rub of it, Vamp. The sociopaths in Shadow Eternity and the directed mob of the UMMA are the only Evil Organizations in operation right now. So I'm stuck." Takahara took a long swig of his drink. "I miss the old days." "Ah, the old days... When you knew who you were fighting!" Vamp shouted, raising his spear and laughing. "When you knew your goals and they weren't stupid!" shouted a Hydra goon from the DDR machine. "Where you could honestly fight towards them with all your heart and soul and go on smiling even when you lost. Because you were doing something worthwhile," Takahara said, draining the rest of his soda. "Just... I miss Dai-Shocker." The Shocker Grunts on the karaoke machine came to a new song. However, General Vamp put his hand on Takahara's shoulder. "You know, Takahara-kun... Dai-Shocker isn't dead. Not as long as you keep your friends and past in your heart. Florsheim has gone through some rough patches in the past, but we've always pulled through. Maybe it's time to give those misguided kids at Shadow Eternity a chance to join a real Evil Organization?" Though we've lost before, we'll keep on fighting because... Vamp nodded and began shuffling to the restrooms, heading for the spare communicators used to head home. But... as usual, he was right. Takahara realized that now. All those kids, working to kill themselves. It wasn't acceptable. He drained a beer, and made his way to the karaoke machine. Today, things were going to change. One more text went out before he grabbed a mic and joined in, shouting in Japanese. "WE ARE SHOCKER! LET'S GET TOGETHER! WE CAN'T ALWAYS WIN, BUT WE'LL ALWAYS FIGHT TO PROTECT OUR BROTHERS... EEE! WE ARE SHOCKER! LET'S FIGHT TOGETHER! WE'LL CLENCH THE WORLD IN EVIL'S GRASP! HEARTS RACING AS ONE AS WE FIGHT BESIDE OUR FRIENDS... EEE! WE ARE SHOCKER! LET'S STAND TOGETHER! NOTHING IN THE WORLD CAN STOP US NOW! WE'LL STAND HAND IN HAND... BECAUSE THAT'S OUR OWN KIND OF COURAGE! EEE!" Today, Takahara, Shadow Eternity accountant, died. In his place was born Takahara, the new Great Leader of... SHOCKER+. There were many calls to be made. Many favors to call in. But things were looking up for the toadies of the multiverse today.