"Gentlemen. You've been briefed on what needs to be done. There's a lot of work to do, and not a lot of time to do it. So... let's get moving. I trust you implicitly." Raising his arm in the classic Shocker Salute, he shouted "FOR SHOCKER+, AND OUR FRIENDS! EEE!"

Stepping down, he began to make his way to the back of the restaurant. They'd need to move operations soon, and now it was time to start the legal side of it.

---

The Thunderbolt Gang had done a great thing, according to the citizens of Athas. Dwarves, humans, elves, and even the jungle halflings had flocked from the far corners of the wastelands to come to this sprawling greenery. The only permanent structures belonged to an army called "Shocker+", but they were generous with food and water. In fact, there was plentiful water here- which confused many to no end. But they would not look a gift horse in the mouth. Not given the rest of Athas' settlements. The Thunderbolt Gang brought law and plenty to the land of Athas, even if it was only a small piece of it. And it was only a matter of time before the Dragon Kings caught wind of this and stomped them out. But that was not an issue in the minds of the townsfolk.

In the town square, there was another public execution- they'd caught another Defiler trying to drain the life energy of the oasis to increase his power. Given how many innocents (well, what passed for innocents in a place like Athas) now relied on the food and water provided by this lush paradise, this would have meant the deaths of nearly two thousand people- not counting the Thunderbolt Gang.

The main source of income for many of the citizens was the excavation site. It seemed that the Thunderbolt Gang had unearthed a temple and couldn't quite fit their strange artifacts down into it. So, they paid the citizens actual copper coins- easily more valuable than gold in other worlds- to go down and bring back whatever they found. One such group had just returned to find Mr. Thunder setting up his ritual for another rain. The panting human- a psion, judging by those tattoos- was the first to speak.

"Mr. Thunder! Mr. Thunder!"

"What is it? Can't you see I'm busy?" Grumbled Mr. Thunder, as he lowered the Weather Wizard's Wand.

"We think we found something. Something big."

"Big as in important, or big as in large?"

"Both, sir. It's- we couldn't even see all of it. It's the biggest thing I've ever seen and it's in a glass cylinder the center of the temple. Buried under more sand than you can imagine."

"...This is important, lad. What color is it?"

The psion paused for a moment. "Kind of brown-orange?"

"Hot damn we've found it," Mr. Thunder was surprised. Takahara had actually been right about this thing. The biggest, baddest thing on Athas. And they knew where it was. "BOYS! The rainstorm for today is cancelled! We've found the Ravager! Contact The Chibu Corps immediately!"

---

For the citizens of a city once encompassed by walls, this was... strange. Exceller, the alien who had led the Titankillers, had allowed men with strange armaments and clothes had set up stalls in the town square, talking about working for various armies and corporations. Of course, there were also more mundane professions- law enforcement, firefighters, and even bakers. Such normal professions seemed like only a dream after the Titan attacks. But here they stood. Indeed, the busiest one- frequented by former members of the Survey Corps- was the Shocker+ Mercenary booth. It promised that participants would "Get Paid to Make Your World a Better Place! See Far-Off Lands! Meet New, Exciting People!"

In a deep pit far outside the city, however, the corpses of the Titans that were once trapped in the walls were being placed in a massive hole in the ground. The Valkyrian, the golden dancing humanoid, placed a new Sparkdoll to the Chibu Spark, laughing as the beast materialized.
MONSLIVE! BOGAR!

---

Takahara sat in the cushy chair, on the phone jury-rigged to connect to the phonelines of any multiverse. The Jawa who did tech support was tapping his foot impatiently in the corner.

"Hello, is this Genya Arikado? ...No, I don't suspect you'll recognize my voice. It's been... what, six hundred years for you? Yes. Yes, this is he. Takahara. No, I'm not a- look, I'm not a vampire. I'm not immortal either. I- yes I'm human. L- look, just hear me out. As Dracula's next of kin, you're the legal heir to Castlevania. I heard some kid went and killed Chaos, draining a lot of the castle's power. Oh, the KID is Dracula's next of k- what do you mean the kid is Dracula? Look, you're the legal owner, regardless of any metaphysical... It's simple. Dracula died. His property, by his Last Will, the one I convinced him to write in case the Belmonts figured out how to off him for good, passes to YOU. That's why I'm contacting you. ...It's trapped in an eclipse. Alright. That seems a lot like overkill, but I can see why. Look, either way, I've got a business proposition. I want to buy Castlevania. Do you have an asking price?"

There was a brief pause.

"What, that's it? Yeah, I can give it to you in dollars, yen, gold, or whatever. ...A pleasure doing business with you."

Gintoki's rolled his eyes as Nanoha came up and chastised him. How predictable it would be, then, that the girl also seemed to flare up at his comment. What did he have to go kissing up to people these days? Where did the times of 'friendly banter' and 'offhand jokes' go? There was no way that kind of thing was already gone...

As Gintoki stared at the ceiling in boredom, the mention of jewels immediately caught his attention to rubber-band back to him, snapping him awake. Jewels? She said jewels, right? Money? He could use some money. That'd be nice; he could go play some pachinko without having to worry about Otae yelling at him half the night about his rent for a while.

"As long as I get paid, whatever works." he said, a smile creeping onto his face. "Don't give a damn about what I'm facing or where it is, so lead the way, vamp loli."


"Alrighty then, everyone! Just leave it to me!" Suwako declared proudly before rubbing her hands together. Taking a deep break, Suwako quickly placed her hands against the ground.
A few seconds passed. Nothing happened.
...
"Wait for it..."

...

And suddenly, the desert around them immediately sunk. No, that wasn't quite it; rather, the ground they were standing on rose high into the air as the desert sands below began to violently shift around in order to ascertain the general direction of the gate.

"Mmm... There! It's gonna be somewhere there!" Suwako declared, pointing her finger in what she felt was the right direction before forming the shifting sands into a giant slide, with little boats made of leaves and a torrent of water stemming from the oasis running down it.

"Come on, then! This isn't going to last forever!" she exclaimed, hopping into a little boat and beckoning the others to hop on with her. "The journey's more than half the fun!"


Kakine nodded in response to 10032's declaration, quickly using some Dark Matter to create a copy of Marisa in her suit and sending it flying off in a random direction. Though it did take a chunk of his reserves, creating a decoy to ensure their safety was of the utmost importance. If he was lucky, he's be able to retrieve the puppet...

But that was very likely the last possible thing that should've been on his mind. What mattered now was getting to a safe location and throwing their pursuers off ASAP.

"Tell me when they've got the transport ready. For now, we need to stay low so the dupe can do its job."

Geo and Omega-Xis - Council Tower

Geo nodded to Saber and Nono in greeting . In response to the little queen's criticism of their manners, however, he bashfully rubbed the back of his neck. He didn't want to get lumped in with Gintoki's informality, especially since kids weren't known for their impeccable manners. To make up for this small offense, Geo tried to appear even more serious and attentive to the meeting. That idea went out the window a few seconds later when the queen described her world, a chill being sent down Geo's spine the moment the word "ghost" came up. "Ghosts..." he thought to himself, "Don't let me meet one, please..."

He shook his head a little to try and clear his mind, placing his full attention back on the meeting. "So we're just going to be security detail for it?" he asked, "Alright. We can do that. Right, Mega?" He looked down at the device on his side, waiting for a response.

D'oh. "Why'd he have to go and call me out like that?" thought Omega-Xis. Truthfully, he had only been paying as much attention as Gintoki, only catching on that there were jewels involved and they were guarding it or something just now. He didn't feel like gracing everyone else with his presence unless specifically called for, so for now he just responded out from the Hunter-VG. "Yeah, yeah, of course, kid. I go where you go, y'know?"

Subaru Nakajima, Yggdrasil crime scene

"Hello! Uh, Gerhardt, yes?" She asked, stopping in front of the man. "I'm Agent Subaru Nakajima, Unified Multiversal Moderation Agency. Can you tell me what happened here?"

He looked up at her for a moment, as though confused. Unified Multiversal Moderation...UMMA? This person was the one he was suppose to report to? She was barely grown. Still, the situation was urgent.

"Your men," he starts, "tell me that this is another world. I'm no stranger to the concept, I've been called to other worlds before, but before now they seemed to be slight variations of the same thing. I'm afraid this is significantly different than my usual trips. Heh heh, hehehehehe."

He shifts uncomfortably, trying to think of how to put this to a denizen of a world so peaceful that they allowed young girls to serve on their security force. "I was called to this world, I believe, for my blood. I was ambushed by the two men in the basement, and then by the one in the elevator. The bell they used to summon me should still be down there, if you can bare the mess. I suspect they've been at this dirty business for a while, collecting blood, Yharnam Blood, for its medicinal properties and distributing it without knowledge of the side effects. There's a plague, a disease I've come to believe is blood borne, that turns men into beasts and draws the attention of nightmares beyond human comprehension. If you doubt me you may use the bell and summon another hunter, they will give you a similar story. It is imperative that any treated with this blood are found and quarantined immediately."

Dlanor A. Knox – The Museum World

There was a wet, ugly thunk.

Blood sprayed out as the blade pierced Dlanor's chest, then exited her back, spattering the tiles with crimson droplets. It sprayed across her face and clothing, blood running down her body and dripping to the floor. Soon, blood bubbled up in her pouth as well, dripping down her chin. The sword had pierced clear through her chest and torn through everything within before exiting her back, resulting the gory outpouring of her vital fluids.

And yet...

Dlanor raised her head. There was pain in her chest.

But that could be ignored.

Everything could be ignored.

This was a trial. And execution.

Everything could be ignored.

Her eyes were wild. Dlanor's pupils contracted. Her mouth was open, her teeth almost seeming sharpened as her lips were spread into a wide grin, blood welling up from within her. This? This was hardly enough to even pause her duty! This was nothing! Absolutely nothing!

"This trial... is FINISHED."

Her golden arm lunged out in an instant, seeming to gleam as she aimed to latch onto the top of her opponent's head. As she did, she drew her head back to bring it fourth and slam her forehead into his, hard.

His energy blade found its mark. However, he was somewhat surprised to discover his opponent still lived after that, even smiling as blood poured out from her. She was resilient, he'll give her that. Before he can do anything else, she grabbed his head and then collided her's with his for a headbutt. Kiba's helmet rang from the impact and he backed a few paces away from her, unleashing yet another blast of energy from his left palm as he does so. He takes an opportunity to put a bit more distance between them, and quickly looks around to see if there are others waiting to jump in. Nothing so far.

Oh, he was trying to get away.

How quaint.

The energy blast ripped the air as it hurtled towards her. Grinning wildly, Dlanor raised the Red Key and swung it in an arc. The crimson blade struck the blast and sent it tumbling off course, flying apart in two halves with a strange, hollow, ringing sound before each half smashed into the ground with a crackle of energy. Dlanor advanced, grinning wildly as blood continued to pour from her mouth and the open wound in her chest, splattering in a trail beneath her as she pointed the Red Key towards her target. Oh yes. He was a fool to believe that any of those attacks would stop her.

He was not a Witch, but a Wedge would pierce his heart just as it had pierced the hearts of so many before it. The Executioner's blade would find his throat.

"This trial is FINISHED..."

Dlanor's form blurred as she suddenly threw herself towards her target, splattering blood across the tiles as she single-mindedly aimed to do... whatever she could. Sever his head. Impale him. Cut him apart. What killed him mattered little, his death was all she sought in this moment.

"FINISHEDFINISHEDFINISHEDFINISHEDFINISHEDFINISHEDFINISHEDDEATHDEATHDEATHDEATHDEATH"

Dlanor A. Knox – The Museum World

Oh, he was trying to get away.

How quaint.

The energy blast ripped the air as it hurtled towards her. Grinning wildly, Dlanor raised the Red Key and swung it in an arc. The crimson blade struck the blast and sent it tumbling off course, flying apart in two halves with a strange, hollow, ringing sound before each half smashed into the ground with a crackle of energy. Dlanor advanced, grinning wildly as blood continued to pour from her mouth and the open wound in her chest, splattering in a trail beneath her as she pointed the Red Key towards her target. Oh yes. He was a fool to believe that any of those attacks would stop her.

He was not a Witch, but a Wedge would pierce his heart just as it had pierced the hearts of so many before it. The Executioner's blade would find his throat.

"This trial is FINISHED..."

Dlanor's form blurred as she suddenly threw herself towards her target, splattering blood across the tiles as she single-mindedly aimed to do... whatever she could. Sever his head. Impale him. Cut him apart. What killed him mattered little, his death was all she sought in this moment.

"FINISHEDFINISHEDFINISHEDFINISHEDFINISHEDFINISHEDFINISHEDDEATHDEATHDEATHDEATHDEATH"

This is going to go on forever, isn't it?

Unfortunately, he didn't quite have that much time on his hands, but his attempts at ending it quickly ended in complete failure. Normally, he'd meet her charge head-on right about now, but something was telling him that might not be the best of ideas. So in response, he just roots himself right where he's standing, taking a completely defensive stance. He raises his arms in a guarding posture, preparing to block with his blade, and shifts the positioning of his feet so he'd readier to dodge an attack. All the while, he tries to relax whatever tension he has in his body in order to have smoother movements. Essentially, he's waiting for her to come to him, watching her rather erratic movements as closely as possible. If he can avoid what's coming, maybe he can effectively counter. Only time will tell, and he didn't have long to wait.

"Did you see that new foreigner," whispered one data analyst to another, engaging in the sacred business art of 'prairie-dogging', "I've never seen someone get an appointment so quickly!"
"I know, and he's so tall! It's rare that you see someone who's six feet tall without even touching one of our products!"
"He must be German. They're all--shit! Here they come now!"

The pair of office-monkeys quickly ducked their heads out of sight, as a pair of important-looking individuals came through, talking as they went. One, a nervous-looking middle manager wearing a casual polo shirt and slacks. The other was dressed in what appeared to be an attempt to make a full suit of Hazardous Environment Combat Equipment into a uniform for formal occasions. The tall, armored man spoke through a reinforced gas mask with red, illuminated lenses.

"So you see, mister... oh, please excuse me! I fear that I have forgotten your name, sir!"
"Didn't give you it. Keep talking about this... Life Fiber." The armored man's lenses bored holes through the humble middle-manager's soul. Even though he had to deal with the CEO's cronies every day... this was something different.
"R-right, sir! As you are aware, Life Fibers are one of humanity's most fantastic inventions in recent years! Even using a couple threads of these Fibers are sufficient to geometrically boost the wearer's physical, mental, and social expertise!"
"Good. Tell me about custom uniforms."
"Yes indeed, the Life Fiber is the source of-- I'm sorry?"

"Custom uniforms. Like this." The armored man presented a sewing pattern to the middle-manager. It depicted a blueprint for what appeared to be a skeleton luchador costume. The middle-manager's eyes bulged slightly as he tried to imagine the look of a whole company of skeleton-costumed wrestlers and failed miserably.

"A-ah, custom uniforms are p-possible, sir, but--"
"How much?"
"For a full-body uniform like this, I'd say around 40,000 yen per unit. Depending on the amount of Life Fibers used, that number is subject to change... that '40,000 yen' number was for a 20% Fiber content suit."
"Give us that, then. Use this contact information. Deliver the first units to the location listed within the day."
"Eh? Sir, this request is, quite frankly--"
"Do it, and we triple what we're paying."

There was a pregnant pause. The middle-manager let loose a strangled noise in his throat, clearly assessing the costs of such an endeavor, and who could possibly pay to fund this. The middle-manager sighed heavily, and gave the armored man a weak thumbs-up.

"We'll do our best, sir! We'll get those suits out in just a few hours! You can count on us!"

The armored man nodded firmly. "Good. Shocker+ appreciates your efforts."

With a confident stride, the man rounded the corner and was gone in a flash of light, leaving the middle-manager only a sewing pattern, a wholly-valid check for several million yen, and a feeling that he'd just met with an alien pretending to be an earthbound human. He was entirely correct, but not for the right reasons.


Nestled deep within the forests around Mount Fuji, the Photon Power Laboratory is nearly impenetrable to all who would seek to cause it harm. However, it seems that the laboratory isn't as impregnable as it was once thought, especially once a new, unstoppable evil has shown its face!
"INTRUDER ALERT! INTRUDER ALERT! ALL HANDS TO BATTLE STATIONS!"
"Missiles confirmed no hits!"
"Shit! They snuck past the mechs! Call the pilots back-- we need them to stop these guys here!"
"How'd they get through the barrier?! They're... drilling through the door with their own bodies!"
--
"Bullets do nothing! I-it's impossible to penetrate their suits!"
"I need a medical team to section 34A-- t-the intruders knocked out Lori and Loru with one touch!"
"They're almost at the server room! They're after the blueprints!"
"They've got the blueprints! Don't let them out! This is it-- this is the end!"
--
"What?! Where did they go?! I-it's like they disappeared!"
"Impossible, the only way out of the room is through that door, and we've got that one covered!"
"Then where'd they go?!"
--
"Ha-ha! Another decisive victory for the Penguin Empire! Guess they just couldn't deal with our FRONT TAILS!"
"You got that right, boss! These people are kids compared to even a pathetic Factor!"
"Indeed! The only thing of worth inside that whole place were those lovely twins-- and these blueprints!"
"Don't know why Takahara wants 'em, especially for such a stupid name. Who the hell calls their pride and joy 'Boss Borot', anyway?"
The penguin-suited terrors laughed heartily at such a ridiculous name. Slapping each other on the back in brotherly camaraderie, they walked off into the sunset.

After realizing that their destination was an infinite span of space away from where they were now, the penguin-suited men resignedly activated their teleporters and traveled back to Freddy Fazbear's Pizzeria. Maybe now Takahara would forgive them for that little incident.




Deep in the forests of the Sanctuary Moon, a crowd of twenty-one humanoids huddled together. They were twenty students and one master. One master of such a gloriously-high power level that he could crush buildings with ease. One master who served a tyrant with hundreds of planets conquered by his hand, and hundreds more destroyed by his finger. One master who was big, purple, and very horny. One master formerly known as Captain Ginyu, but now known as the new leader of his own personal Planet Trade Organization. His students were from all corners of the multiverse, united under the banner of Shocker+.

Ginyu scanned the crowd of students with disgust in his eyes. Though they were all veterans of combat, not one of them stood up to his scrutiny. He spat on the ground, and addressed the group with a gruff, yet dignified voice.
"You are all here because you are weak! You are all pathetic! You are all here to learn to be strong, and I am here to teach you! You train with the illustrious Captain Ginyu, the right hand of the dearly-departed Lord Frieza!"

Ginyu grinned smugly, glaring at each student in turn. He knew that he owed Takahara after that little incident on Namek. Even though he had lost his original body, and all the authority that came with it, it was Takahara that arranged for a new one that was almost as good to swap into. All it would take was several decades of training, and he'd be good as new! True, all the power of the Planet Trade Organization had disappeared in one week, thanks to a bunch of apes, but now Ginyu had a chance to start his own Planet Trade. He had only two planets to his name, but that would change.

"Your first lesson will be a trial by fire. I have been given the multiversal coordinates of a special space station. Every hour or so, it is ravaged and destroyed. The cause of this destruction can be anything: revolution, aliens, soldiers, wizards, ghosts... monkeys." Ginyu held onto that word like a kidney stone, spitting it out with a venomous tone.
"What matters, however, is how the station replenishes itself. Every time it is destroyed, it is brought back within minutes. New crew, with the same names. This station is the perfect arena to test your skills. You will spend a day on this station-- living, dying, and fighting. When the day is up, I will personally test each of you."

Ginyu let out a guttural laugh, rife with sinister implications. The weaker students, ones who had not been trained for mortal combat, shifted nervously. Resigned to their fate, the crowd of students gradually warmed up to the idea of a full day to vicious combat in a hostile environment. This was, after all, how many of them had been trained before.

Seeing the reaction from his students, Ginyu placed his hands on his hips and spoke up. With a wave of his hand, a portal opened up to a sterile, gray corridor on a space station. THE space station. "Be ready, weaklings, for I will not forgive your failure! Today, you learn to be powerful! Today, you die! Today, you live! Today, we head to Space Station 13!"

"DEATHDEATHDEATHDEATH-DEATH-DEATH-DEATH!"

Dlanor swung the Red Key upwards in an arc. It was only at the last second that her prey's energy blade intercepted the blow. With a hiss and a flurry of rose petals, the Red Key clashed against it, force reverberating through the energy blade as she struck. Dlanor raised her blade once more. If the first blow did not do it, then she would simply add more and more and more until her opponent was dead.

"<Die the Death!>" cried Dlanor as she swung the blade down once more. It slammed into the energy blade with another flurry of rose petals. She drew it back and struck again, and again, and again, her assault relentless even as she lost so much blood. Indeed, it appeared that she had already lost more blood then her body should have been able to contain. And yet still her attacks carried on, the Red Key slamming down again and again, rose petals flourishing through the air and dissipating with each impact as she struck over and over. "<Sentence to Death! Great Equalizer is the Death!>"

@Minder@Flamelord

Kanji is to focused to see her shack her head. "Just lead the way. I got your back." As Blake moves forward go's to follow but stop when he sees the Beowolves run past her and head straight for him. Kanji jumps back as a card forms in front of him and shatters like glass when he hits it with the sheet of metal. Take-Mikazuchi appears in front of Kanji and calls down lightning to strike each of the Beowolves.

Arragoz Plisgin - 'Ome Base

"Gots it. I'z gonna need a cupple fings from ya fer dis misshun, like floor plans uv whereva da gem is, 'n' a pik'sher uv da Snakeeye or wotever it'z called. Jus' send em to da' kompoota in my quartaz."

With that, the Kommando turned around and plodded out the door. Arragoz also knew he could use some backup, but given the current state of the management, he decided it would be for the best if he did so himself. Only the toughest, biggest, strongest, meanest, and possibly greenest gitz in Shadoo Foreva would be suited for a misshun with the Greenskin, although he might bring in a puny humie to serve as a meatshield and/or emergency ammunition. Thus, the Orkoid returned to his personal residence.

After quickly depositing the bitz he'd looted from the raid on the Federayshun Muthership, Arragoz made his way to the heavily customized terminal on the far end. Originally, the Ork had been provided with a standard issue model, but that quickly proved to be a problem, and a great deal of money was lost replacing the thoroughly demolished device. Learning from this incident, the organization's resident engineers enlarged the interface apparatus, and constructed it from an alloy intended for the armour plating of a space faring vessel. The end result was a contraption that could likely survive a nuclear apocalypse, in addition to being so obscenely heavy a forklift was required to transport it. Suffice to say, this was exactly the way Arragoz liked it.

Now, whilst the Greenskin waited for the Boss to send his requested intel, he decided to take a look at the employee dossiers. While many of them served only to elicit groans from the Ork, a few caught his eye.

First, a hyper-intelligent ape by the name of Julius Aldo. Kunnin' 'n' killy, a right Morky kombi'nayshun.

Next, a massive beetle-monster hailing from the world of Eberron, known as an Umber Hulk. They were best known for their crushing mandibles, ability to dig through solid stone, and two pairs of eyes. One multifaceted, with the inexplicable quality to confuse any who looked into them, and the other comparatively normal, merely permitting the creature to see in total darkness. Looks like wunna dem buggy gitz from back 'ome, not 'alf bad.

Finally, a humie that wouldn't look out of place on Messia, or any similarly savage world in the 41st Millennium. A marauder with a fondness for high-speed motorcycles and combat chems, brought here by an accident involving a stick of dynamite and a dolphin. He'd been enticed with the offer of stuff like Velocity 9 and Venom, and had done his fair share of smash 'n' grabs for the organization. Eh, 'e culd make a nice distrack'shun, at least.

His list of candidates now assembled, Arragoz went about contacting them with the offer of joining his Skwad. "Let'z try dat Aldo git furst, I sayz. 'E seems right proppa." Booting up the terminal's communication systems, the Kommando kicked off the conversation with his usual tact and refinement.

"Oi, dis iz Arragoz, I needz sum gitz to nick a shiny rok fer da Boss, cuz the puny humie needz it fer sumfing. Ya in'trested?"

Julius Aldo, having spent the past hour or so blissfully gorging himself on pizza and soda pop, barely noticed when Arragoz sent him a call. Confused as to who could possibly want to call him, Aldo responded.

The voice on the other end called itself Arragoz, and spoke of a plan from Shadow Eternity's "glorious" Leader-- a prize like this always comes unexpected, and never knocks twice! Chuckling under his breath, Aldo gladly spoke to Arragoz.

"Of course, Arragoz! The Commandoes and I are always ready to fight for the glory of Shadow Eternity! Just give us a planet we can meet you on, and we'll be there as soon as possible! Of course, a meeting in the Shadow Eternity Headquarters is out of the question-- our hardware is a little hot for The Leader's tastes, so it would be best if we kept it out of their sight. We appreciate your patronage!"

Aldo clamped his big, furry hand over the reciever and called out to Takahara From Accounting. "Sir, we got a meeting with a potential mission! I'm gonna get a rendezvous point, and I'm gonna meet our 'client'. If you want to come help 'negotiate', I certainly won't stop you!"

Arragoz Plizgin - 'Ome Base

"Wondaful, we'z goin to sum planet call'd Nox, da Boss wants a shiny rok dey 'ave dere called da 'Eye uv da Sirpent,' or sumfing like dat. Sez 'e needs it fer krumpin' dem Ummey gitz. Az fer da meetin', I knowz a place a few klickz souf a N'dromeda, grub ain't 'alf bad. See ya dere in a bit, gotz ta do sumfing furst." After sending the coordinates, the Greenskin cut the transmission, and made his way back to the Boss' room, in search of further intel.

"Oi, Boss, I gotz a few more questions for ya. Wot sort a gitz will I'z be krumpin'? S'allways nice ta knowz which gubbinz to use afore 'and. Iz da manshun close ta a city 'r' anyfing like dat? Also, If'n dey haz 'ny flash s'kurity bitz, Iz dere a way to shut em off?" The Ork was being rather inquisitive, but that was merely his usual routine. As a Kommando, he always preferred to know what he was getting into, rather than blindly running in. There was certainly a time and a place for that, but raids to acquire valuable artifacts were not one of them.

Julius Aldo chuckled sinisterly. This brutish-sounding "Arragoz" fellow didn't know a thing about his allegiance Shocker+, and possibly Shocker+ in general! Knowing the high command of Shadow Eternity, it would take at least a month for news of Shocker+ to spread through the grapevine, if ever. Taking him down and sabotaging the mission on Nox would be a cakewalk, if the Leader had gotten this desperate for troops!

"I'll see you there, Mister Arragoz. I hope you find our skills to your liking. Remember, sir: if we can't satisfy your expectations, we demand only half of our payment. Hail Shadow Eternity and hail The Leader!"

With a sly grin, Aldo yelled to the patrons of the pizzeria. "We've got a location where we can meet the Shadow Eternity stooge! Any of you boys want to stomp a mudhole in some two-bit thug, you come to me! We move in five minutes!"

"Right, lemme grab some stuff. Arragoz sounds like an orc name. That means there's only one way to get him straightened out."

Takahara headed to the lockers in the men's restroom, grabbing his gear. Most of it, anyway- his Sengoku Driver had never left his belt, but he was putting the Fifteen Lockseed in his pocket. Next, an old-fashioned looking smartphone that Smart Brain had given him during his tenure with them. No less than six missed calls from Ragyo, probably trying to get him to help sort out the financial clusterfuck of building her daughter a town. He STILL didn't understand how she didn't realize that was not a financially sound decision. Sighing, he shook his head. This was why he'd quit. But now wasn't the time for that. He grabbed his briefcase, shuffling a few papers, before returning to Julius.

"Okay, I'm set. Is this the place that makes those horrible fruity drinks with facehugger yolk?"

Nono, Council Tower, Yggdrasil

"You can count on me too," Nono added as she stood by Saber. If that was the vow of the King of Knights, then the greatest protector that humanity (Her version) had known could do the same. It was only fair to help out, and part of her adapted programming to boot.

That said, she settled down to listen to what the task itself actually was, which might have been a smart idea before volunteering, but she was confident that it was worth it if it was from the council. She knew that she could trust these people.

She listened calmly, eyes widening slightly as the projector was produced to display the gem in question. She could confirm in a second that it was a perfect geometric sphere, no visible blemishes or imperfections that she could detect. Quite a piece of work then, if the thing matched up to it's picture in person.

Suspecting the Shadow Eternity was no big deal, but it left Nono to wonder what exactly they wanted with these sorts of things, if they were unique in the mutliverse. Probably nothing good, based on all her previous experience with the Shadow Eternity.

She grinned then, flashing a salute as she bounced on her heels. "No problem Your Majesty, you can count on us," she proclaimed, much more eager than Gintoki. Well, it wasn't as if she cared about money now that she was with the UMMA, so she wouldn't complain about his attitude. Miss Takamachi would probably sort him out anyway.

---

Misaka 10,032, Client World Macross

Well, Kakine hadn't objected, so it seemed that it was Marisa's lucky day after all. Given the circumstances, a breach of protocol was probably acceptable. And if not, then, well, there wasn't much that could be done about it. Misaka did make sure to communicate ahead and inform the command on the other side that they should expect a guest, so she wouldn't be zapped on sight by the guards there.

"Deploying beacon," she informed them as she reached into her pocket, pulling out a small device that looked like a long metallic tube. A push of a button on the side caused prongs to deploy from it and a hum emitted from the device as the beacon activated. She pulled to a stop as she tossed it forward, waiting for the people on the other side to do their part.

And that they did, for a few moments after it left her possession, the space next to the tube was engulfed by a shimmering hole of air, two dimensional, in which the membrane between the universes had been thinned out to a point where they could punch through. "Portal established," she said back to Kakine before rocketing through. Time to go home.

"Yeah, I'm an electromaster," the Railgun answered, somewhat surprised by the girl's knowledge of her ability--and promptly distracted by the sheer scale of landscape change that had been enacted by the blonde girl with them. Just what the hell was her ability? She could rearrange the ground, make an oasis, and now make boats out of leaves. Not wanting to be left behind though--or miss out on the journey--she hopped on, making sure to bring the other young girl with them.

Dlanor A. Knox – The Museum World

"DEATHDEATHDEATHDEATH-DEATH-DEATH-DEATH!"

Dlanor swung the Red Key upwards in an arc. It was only at the last second that her prey's energy blade intercepted the blow. With a hiss and a flurry of rose petals, the Red Key clashed against it, force reverberating through the energy blade as she struck. Dlanor raised her blade once more. If the first blow did not do it, then she would simply add more and more and more until her opponent was dead.

"<Die the Death!>" cried Dlanor as she swung the blade down once more. It slammed into the energy blade with another flurry of rose petals. She drew it back and struck again, and again, and again, her assault relentless even as she lost so much blood. Indeed, it appeared that she had already lost more blood then her body should have been able to contain. And yet still her attacks carried on, the Red Key slamming down again and again, rose petals flourishing through the air and dissipating with each impact as she struck over and over. "<Sentence to Death! Great Equalizer is the Death!>"

Kiba felt the impacts ringing through his right arm as she attempts to hack away through his defense. Again, this can't go on forever, otherwise someone else might shoot him in the back again. It's already happened twice, after all. There's also the fact that he was sent to help someone in the first place, which he almost forgot about. However, he was doing his part here anyway by keeping this one off of Cinder Fall's back and she's likely handling herself just fine wherever she's at.

After her blade crashed against his yet again, Kiba switched from defense to offense, responding with a vertical downward slash intended to cleave her in half.

@clanjos



Sawyer was walking around the job fair looking for the group of mercenaries that she heard was here. She had no idea why they would be at a job fair but it didn't really matter to her. After walking around she spotted where they had setup their both. She walked up to the both, took out her Ultra voice and put it up to her throat. "Hello, I heard you were looking for people to join you."

"'Vamp loli' is a pretty rude way to refer to royalty..." Queen Tepes frowned, putting her hands on her hips, her crimson eyes giving Gintoki a rather stern glare. It ended with yet another huff, before she turned to address the assembled agents at large once again. She smiled, which quickly grew into a wide, cheery grin. Naturally, this showed the full extent of her fangs, the razor sharp, pointed teeth clearly visible. "It's settled, then! I'm taking you home with me!"

Tadroth let out another small sigh before speaking again. "We apologize for the short notice, but it's possible that Shadow Eternity is already moving in an attempt to capture the Eye. We can't miss this chance."

Saber nodded, calmly. Of course, she was both a knight and an agent of the UMMA, so serving in her duty was of the utmost importance. In addition, it would be rather easy to request any supplies that that could be transported, as the UMMA was happy to teleport anything an agent required to them provided there was a safe uplink. Given that they had transported the Queen here, there likely was a safe uplink to her home.

Still grinning, the vampire queen snapped her fingers. A cloud of bats flew from behind her, and fluttered about for a few moments before forming a ring in the air. An inky black haze formed in the center of the circle, before finally reaching the edges, looking as if it was a doorway into pitch blackness. Well, if doorways were made out of bats. With a short giggle, she beckoned to the other agents before stepping through.

The white-haired form of Monument smiled, her head tilting to the side slightly. "Good luck."

Without hesitation, Saber followed.

There was a brief moment of darkness, accompanied by strange cackles and the howl of a wolf for whatever reason, before she stepped out onto solid ground.

It was night here. Clouds filled the sky, but the pale, hooked shape of the moon was framed in them, the only natural form of light at all visible. Ahead, an iron gate was lit with torches, and adorned with a bat decoration at the top of the metal, and wolves carved into the stone supports. Craggy rocks and twisted, leafless trees dotted the landscape. A much more healthy-looking forest was visible down the slope was visible down the slope, but it seemed as if it would be rather foreboding to anyone easily-frightened. The road that lead to the gate also seemed to emerge from the forest.

Of course, the real eye-catcher was what lay beyond the iron gate. Lit by the moonlight, it was a massive gothic mansion, spired rooftops and elegantly carved stone walls looming up from the hill. From here, Saber guessed that it was perched upon a cliff. Below seemed slightly brighter, as if there was a town beneath the gigantic castle.

Standing at the gate, the slight, pale, childish form of the Queen Tepes looked rather pleased.

"Welcome... to Castle Tepes," she said, gesturing beyond the gate.



Well, now was the time! Marisa watched with excitement as Misaka tossed out some kind of device, and then... something happened and there was a hole in the air. That was quite a bit different then her method of dimensional transport, which was 'shoot holes in things until you got to a new place', but it was still pretty nifty! Grinning under the suit's helmet, the Perfectly Ordinary Witch acted with little hesitation. She rocketed through the portal after Misaka.

After all, going to this new place... it had to be pretty awesome, right?



Black Rock Shooter cocked her head to one side for a moment as the ground seemed to deform, and they started to rise above the rest of the landscape. It was mildly surprising that Suwako could control that much at once, but it was swiftly shaken off. This was to be their path to escape, wasn't it? As the boats formed, she stepped into one without any hesitation, sitting down on the leafy surface and awaiting their departure.

The little blonde girl smiled. "I knew it! It's just, with those kind of powers, you had to be one!"

She didn't take a moment to question exactly why she immediately knew what Mikoto was, nor why she felt that this kind of landscape alteration was to be expected from someone like Suwako. However, the creation of what was absolutely a waterslide immediately sparked excitement inside of her. That looked like so much fun! Her eyes shown as Mikoto helped her into one of the leaf-boats.

"Haaah~ This looks amazing! So much better than sitting in that pod... I'm glad you woke me up, now!" she said cheerfully.

... Of course, their destination would be... more desert, except even more barren then it was before. However, any attempt Mikoto made at sensing their exit would immediately lead her to locating a massive amount of metal directly beneath them.



Dlanor didn't miss a step. As the armored man adjusted his footing ant attempted to cut her in half, she responded by swinging the Red Key to meet his blade, a flurry of rose petals erupting from the spot in which they clashed. Dlanor's plan was simple, really. She would hit him. Over and over again. Until he gave way and she cut him apart. It didn't matter how long it would take, not to Heaven's Executioner. No, all that mattered was his death. Among the disciples of Heaven, Dlanor herself was considered to be a Death Sentence. Though working with the UMMA had lead to her deployment in less assuredly-lethal missions, she still had that lingering feel.

The feel of someone whose duty was to kill those who had been judged irredeemable. The feel of someone who, when pushed, fought to kill without remorse.

Dlanor moved to force the blade aside, and strike again.



The Leader took a deep breath. She prepared the viewscreen, she opened the communications channel. Naturally, those on an active mission would only receive this message in full upon their return, though they would receive a brief rundown of the immediately-important portions of it in text as she spoke, which they could access when they were not actively fighting.

Now was the time.

"As you may know," she spoke, addressing Shadow Eternity at large, "There are those who have betrayed our organization, flying under the mantle of 'Shocker+'. They have actively assaulted a currently-ongoing mission, and it is likely that they will again. I have compiled a list of their suspected members based on the original transmission of their secession, as well as my own viewings of their attacks on the mission in progress. This list has been deployed to your communications systems for review. Be wary of these people. I will reward those who apprehend any known members of Shocker+."

She paused for a moment. That was merely a necessary announcement. However, the next part was where she felt excitement well up in her heart.

"The next matter of business, however..."

Those on active duty would only, of course, be able to see the images later. For all others, the view of an immense machine came into view. It was serpentine, its body composed of interlinked circular chambers. Scale was difficult to know, but it appeared truly enormous compared it its pristine metal surroundings. It was dark gray, and its head seemed incomplete. It had a single, empty socket at the front of the head, and the 'skull' was open to reveal a series of inner chambers.

"This... is Nidhogg," she began, grinning under her mask, "The Serpent that Gnaws the Roots of Yggdrasil. I apologize for withholding its nature from you for so long, but I had to be certain it would be impossible to sabotage. I cannot pretend to know for what reasons that its original creators created it, nor why they dismantled it and cast its pieces across the multiverse. But my analysis, and the analysis of our top scientific operatives, has confirmed that it is a weapon of incredible power. Enough power to utterly eradicate the restrictive forces of the UMMA by destroying their tower."

She paused a moment, before finishing.

"I hope this answers some questions you may have had about the direction of our organization."

The transmission ceased. The location of Nidhogg was still hidden, but now the entirety of Shadow Eternity would know of its existence. It was about then that she had noticed Arragoz had returned.

"I'm sending a map to your communicator. The Eye's location is at the mansion's lowest point," she began. Sure enough, the map would soon be fully accessible, showing just how enormous the structure truly was. Navigating it would be a challenge, to say the least. Along with it would be a picture of a single blood red gem, perfectly circular... and judging by the measurements given, large enough that it would require being manually linked to a teleporter in order to transport it. "As for security, it seems mostly magic-based, difficult to disable but not impossible. There are a large amount of guards, but ideally your attack will be fast enough that there will be little time for them to respond. Hopefully the ruler of this world has not gained assistance from the UMMA. Finally, the enemies you can expect to face are... I will send you the data."

Once again, further data streamed through. The Leader would have preferred manually explaining it, mostly because the Ork did not seem to be the type to patiently read, but perhaps she underestimated that aspect of him. Regardless, there was a synthesized vocal version as well. The various beings located on this world fell under a variety of, well, horror cliches. Vampires, ghosts, revenants, some variants of zombies... And that was only a fraction of them, and only in the country that the mansion was located in. "Also... be wary of the former operatives on the list I sent you. I imagine you'd hate it if one of them tried to take you by surprise."