The walk home was uneventful, though Thomas was certainly glad for it. He wasn't sure how much time he had to log in to deep ground before he missed anything, though he didn't want to rush. He got to his apartment block and ascended to his room. He walked inside and shut the door, dropping the book onto the floor, undoing his shoes and taking his jacket off. He dropped them to the side before carefully depositing his drink onto a nearby table. He then sat on his bed and unlocked his phone once again. He'd gotten a message that told him about odd activity in the black city. Thomas wasn't sure why but he felt that there would be more to it than that. That was one of the reasons he bailed out, though not the only reason. There was also the new update to contend with and he couldn't fall behind on experience either. There were professions, skill cards and other stuff he had to think about, but he'd do that later.

He sent a quick reply before locking his phone and laying into his bed. As he closed his eyes he dove into deep ground.

---

Welcome, Puppet Master

---

The puppet master awoke, blinking, to find himself sitting cross-legged in a dark room surrounded by candles. He stretched his arm outwards, studying his fingers. Reflexively he turned his palm away from himself and activated his second skill.
"Puppet creation." He muttered.
A metallic form rose from the ground where his palm was pointed. Its head emerged first followed by a freakishly thin neck. Sleek limbs followed a shiny torso and it soon emerged at its full height, standing attentively. The puppet master lowered his hands and sat for a while, thinking. He would preferably have 2 puppets scout out the situation at the black city to minimise risk but the skill had a lengthy cooldown so that wasn't an option.

The puppet master rose from his sitting position and walked over to the bottom left corner of the quite large room. That corner held his stock of weapons, weapons he'd collected over his time playing deep ground. They were mostly uncommon as he sold all of his common weaponry and rares were hard to come by, though he also kept his main weapons there. He picked out some good ones, though they were only uncommon, and pocketed his own weapons before going back to his summoned puppet. His puppet's equipment wasn't limited to Stephen's weapon restrictions, though they couldn't wield 2 handed weapons. He offered the weapons to the puppet, a one handed sword and a pistol, and the puppet reached to take them.
"I don't have much of a choice here." Thomas thought. "If I want to check out the black city I'll have to do it myself."

The puppet master summoned his own blade and studied it for a moment before sheathing it to let it hang at his side, and the puppet mirrored his action.
"It's just you and me for now." The puppet mastered rasped as he turned around.

He began walking into the darkness and the puppet followed.
"You and me against the travelling system." He continued.
The puppet did not respond, though he didn't expect it to either.
"Let's see what happens."

The puppet master and his puppet began heading to the black city.

"Ho? Seems like this place lit up very well. And, just this once, it has nothing to do with me." Eclipse Princess said as the open civil war broke around her (who didn't even cared to use public chat channels). When attacks started to fly on her direction, Princess turned to Abyss Walker, saying "Are you still there? Such a lame excuse for a fighter, I have more interesting things to do. If you're not even gonna dodge... take this as a parting gift!" Eclipse Princess said as she grabbed Abyss Walker's arm, spinning before she threw the other warrior at a nearby group of weak sauce Outlaws, knowing them off their feet.

"I see that you all want a real fight, huh? Then, let me up the ante just a bit, because you guys got me really hot." Eclipse Princess said as she weaved her hand through the air, summoning her inventory and, in a matter of seconds, she had unequipped her previous set and was now donning a completely different armor and weapon set. "My Valkyrean Arms, the precious heirloom bestowed upon me by that person. If any of you think that you can best me... You are more than welcome to try!" In a matter of seconds, Eclipse Princess'... no, Eris', lively smile was back on her face, that smile that she has only when she's in the thick of battle thrashing foes with relentless crushing strikes.

That was when Princess received Broker's message, stopping her rampage momentarily, using a nearby player as a human shield, to reply:

From: Eclipse Princess.
To: Broker of Fortune.
Subject: Re: Helping Hand.

While it makes me glad tat someone else can see these vermin for what they are, I'm not interested in a struggle against the Sweepers right now. To say the truth, I'd like to allow them to burn themselves; I just recently realized that such a task is all but a waste of the time I could be using for myself.

As for new alliances, time will tell if the day for it will come. Consider this a maybe, though, at the current time, My King has not given me enough reason to break my pledge. Furthermore, the vehicles are being destroyed by themselves, you need to be fast, if you want to capitalize on that.

Having done with the message, Eclipse Princess sent it just as a last volley of projectiles drained the hit points of her shield (not that she even needed one, in first place). Turning to the nearest group of players, Eclipse Princess charged forward, hitting the nearest of them with a devastating Sunder that cleaved right through his shield, skewering him on her Lance, which Princess used as a bludgeon sending another two or three Level 01's to the respawn room.

---

Cassandra watched Eris put the dishes on the dish washer, wondering if Eris had ever done such chores before. She looked to Eris and gave her a smile, "I'll join you shortly. A shower sounds great, so I'll do that first" once she was sure Eris was emeresed in deep ground, she took the dishes, and giving them a quick rinse, put them in the dish washer, sticking the bowls securing in their rack and outing the cutlery in its container, she didn't put it on, just yet.

She showered and didn't hesitate long over clothes, putting her hair up in a pony tail as it dried, she moved about with comfort, dressing. She took a few moments to ensure the place was looked up, as they would both be in the game. It took her a few moments to figure out the security, and then she put the dishwasher on.

Joining Eris, she was soon logging into Deep ground.



[/b]



Logging in, Nies hellum hummed, wondering which way she should go. It seemed that she was always doomed to be behind, to hurry as fast as she could to only be in time for the end. Perhaps that was for the best, but Nies found it frustrating when she wanted to know, to figure out what was going on.

It wasn't that hard to find the next conflict, what was hard was staying back and looking to see what was going on. She studied the scene, frowning as she tried to piece it all together. Once more Eclipse Princess seemed to be fighting against many opponents, which was no longer surprising.

Tilting her head thoughtful, Nies wondered if she should finally become active, become known for more then just being a side kick. Not that's he could fight much, and she should reall rectify that lapse in her skills. And perhaps doing so in a battle wasn't a good idea. She would stick to healing for now, and so she watched, ready to help.

”IT’S SO FLUFFY, BUT IT’LL TEAR ME TO SHREDS IF I TRY TO HUG IT! IS THIS WHAT THEY MEAN BY DIVERGING PATHS?!” Ignoring the pooch’s ushering altogether, the one-eyed boy was deep in an internal war over whether to move towards the gang or experience that cuddly coat and probably die a brutal death. Quelling the urge, Shiro took in a deep breath and paced his way over to the gang, not without stealing a glance at the Asians showing those dance pad who’s boss. They were probably trained in the art from childbirth and were only allowed to eat even a morsel once they scored a hundred-chain perfect combo. Yes, these individuals were the culmination of generations upon generations of honing and bending one’s own will. There appeared to be a couple free spots still open, though as much as he wanted to challenge the dog behind him to a dance off, he wasn’t too certain that the other party would actually take part in the activity.

Shiro strode up to the group in a casual and collected manner, in spite of the rush of emotions he experienced not even five minutes ago. The song blasting in the background felt incongruous to the whole ordeal, but then again, he did just send two of his friends a message that contained a pretty controversial tune. Unfortunately, his hero or heroes had yet to arrive, so he seemed to be flying solo on this one. The student raised an eyebrow as he looked around, debating whether to dive into a dab-fest right in front of the gang. Thankfully, logic took the boy by the hand and forced him to decide against the prospect. Instead a cordial wave sufficed for a greeting, though the boy wasn’t all too hyped about being dragged away from the previous scene. With it still etched deeply into his brain, Shiro went ahead with the conversation. ”Hey! Since you wanted to chat, here I a-”

His verbal train was derailed by the notification attached with a message. The orange haired boy let out a curt “pardon me” before excised himself and eyed the highlighted open icon.

To: Paper Moon
From: Drauni
Subject: It hit the fan
5 attached images
”Moon! Holy crap, everything went to hell so fast! At first it was just a bit of flak, but it got blown out of proportion so fast and now the city’s a mess! Something went down at the guildhall, and I was on my way to check it out when the forums suddenly exploded. Now left and right people are going Outlaw and killing each other! A bunch of vehicles are tearing the streets apart, and I think I spotted Arms’ machine, but I wouldn’t take my word for it. I got cut off from Cerulean Knight’s squad, right now I’m holed up in the market district. Send help, please!”

A narrow eye glazed over the collection of attached images. While he read the message Shiro manifested another mental panel and pulled up the forum feed. With the circumstances’ components now assembled, it was clear as day why everything had gone into disorder. With a flick of his hand, the screen containing the forums became visible to the gang. After he sent a quick reply to the Stryker assuring him that help was on the way, the boy created a blank message and typed away.

To: Angelina Jackson
From: Shiro Kawabata
Subject: I need a hero

”Hey, Lina, looks like some work for us popped up. Everything’s going to hell in a handbasket in the black city, I’ll send you the details momentarily. Got a friend, Drauni, in need of a helping hand. By the looks of it, he’s currently pinned down in the market district by a group of Outlaw Strykers. I’ll be IG soon, but is it alright if a lowly peon asks his boss to help out a friend of his?”

With that, Shiro returned to the conversation with a nod to confirm that he was indeed finished with messages. ”Alright, I presume you’re the one doing the talking, right?” He spoke in his usual amiable voice, just in case the guy was easily set off. Right now, he didn’t know what the gang had up their sleeves, figuratively and literally. ”As I’m sure you fine lads have taken notice by now, but the ebony kingdom seems to be in a bit of a tumult. So let’s get right to it. What’cha guys need?”

---

Meanwhile

Drauni cocked the marksman rifle and rested his shoulder against the stock. Despite the fright he was experiencing at the moment, he composedly held his breath and squeezed the trigger, dispatching a lead envoy straight for an Outlaw’s head. Even though these were his fellow Strykers, rumor had it that the player and a few others were in cahoots with the Sweepers, so he was practically deemed to be one of them. The ranger dove to the side as gunfire bounced off the window pane and the brick facade that enveloped it. The second story of a tavern was the only refuge he could defend himself in. He crept along the grimy concrete floor on all fours as the barrage of bullets continued to ping or soar into the room, letting out a cry through his gas mask with every round. After slamming himself against the wall next to another window, he quickly held his gun out with an outstretched hand blindly fired one shot before retracting it. ”Well… Wonder if they’d take cookies as spoils.”

Just then, the ranger’s ears picked up the gradually closing sound of an engine. With a quick peek around the pane, Drauni confirmed that a machine had pulled up before the complex. It wasn’t anything to really gawk at. Crudely fashioned from the remains of a wheel cannon employed in the conflict last weekend, the four wheel vehicle with a wooden exterior only served as a light transport. At least that was what he had assumed, before he spotted the mounted LMG that wheeled around in his direction. ”Uh oh.” Drauni dropped to the floor as an even higher intensity of bullets painted the room. From what he caught sight of, the LMG was in close approximation to the driving controls, and on top of that, there was only one individual in the open-top vehicle. The mounted weapon itself rested on a rotational post in the center of the vehicle, a foot behind the driver's seat. Its placement provided the operator with a full scope of the surrounding area, but left the Outlaw fully vulnerable.

@Lucius Cypher@Kimiyosis

"Professions? What the hell...?" He said.

Kosuke was back in Deep Ground. He was pretty tired but there was still a great deal of time until the day was over so he'd logged back. Apparently there had been a major patch and now they had Professions, and he also he found out he was level 4. He still wasn't sure what had happened to him these past few days but for now he was chalking it up to some kind of bizarre amnesia. It certainly looked like it would've been him who had been doing stuff these past few days. He'd taken Titan's Grip which he'd been planning to do for a while now, and 'Bounty Hunter' was right up his alley as well.

"Wonder what the forums are like these days." He said, flicking his stats screen to the side.

It seems there were a couple of rant threads running around about the new update. He used to play a bunch of other MMOs when he was younger so it wasn't that surprising. There was always a few after a major update and most of the time there was a "Taking a break/leaving because of x update" thread front and center on the forums, but that wasn't exactly a choice you could make in Deep Ground so at least he was spared that kind of cringe.

However, there was one front page thread not about the update that did catch his eye however...

BLACK GUILD UNDER ATTACK FROM WITHIN
By: Candid Eye

I don't know what's going on but there seems to be infighting amongst the people in the Black Guild. It seems like the general outlaws are trying to stage a coup or something, heck if I know. Here are some pictures:

There were four pictures each seemingly from the same building but facing a different direction, and the last one had him in it...

"Dude..." Kosuke said, turning around. "What the hell?"

On the rise behind him, Candid Eye stood.

"What? I need it." He said, putting his camera down for a second. "If I make a good enough offering, maybe the newspaper club will finally let me in..."

Candid Eye had applied for the Newspaper club at some point but he'd been rejected on the basis of being a creepy-ass motherfucker in real life. He also had a penchant for... taking pictures of things that shouldn't be taken pictures of, which was a reputation the Newspaper Club didn't want. His personal motto was "No photo too risqué" after all, and sometimes he forgot he didn't have an x-ray camera in real life.

As for why Kosuke knew him, well the dude asked him whether he could take pictures of the sweepers he was working with at the time and then apparently he stopped going to anyone else because Kosuke had been cool with it. He was probably here for more than just the pictures. The Newspaper club was always understaffed and just recently everyone knew how much they'd missed with Corpse Collector and whatnot. If Candid Eye got an inside story here, then he'd have some good ammo for the Newspaper Club.

"Don't think I could use yours though," He said, "It makes it look like you're jumping in but you haven't done shit, have you?"

That was true. When he'd logged in, the conflict had already started so he had been waiting for it to die down somewhat before asking.

"Getting some good shots of Eclipse Princess though... And that... Abyss Walker?" He said, stepping in closer for a better angle. "Why don't you jump in and make it a three-way?"

Kosuke and Candid Eye were directly above the two he had mentioned, and there was also someone else off to the side who didn't seem to be doing any fighting so he ignored her presence for now. He wasn't familiar with any of them, but at the very least he was a sweeper, and it's not like he was doing anything else right now. He wanted to do some sweeping here and he'd really love some of that exp.

"Fine, whatever, I'm jumping in." He said, placing his foot on the edge of the building.

He heard rapid camera shots behind him as he jumped off. He hopped onto his lance mid-air and boosted straight into a level 2 outlaw trying to attack Eclipse Princess, killing him instantly.

"You two mind telling me what's going on around here?" He asked.

---

@KoL@VarionusNW@Caits

Hellflame was having a blast. Sure, his health was quite low now, and was currently still dropping from the incoming attacks, but his enemy was also on the run. There was only a small distance left before he would come into melee range. As he was nearing the mage, Hellflame also realized that the cooldowns on his abilities had ended. Wasting no time, Hellflame activated his <Binding Hellfire> Ability, creating the three rings of hellfire to bind around the mage and applying the continuous damage debuff. The mage said something about the Green Rogue being an Outlaw and how both he and Hellfire were Ebony Strykers, but Hellflame had only one thing to say about that.

"I don't give a crap about that! I'm just here for your sweet, sweet EXP!" Hellflame yelled at the Outlaw mage as the distance kept shortening, casting his <Hellfire> Ability and creating his usual six hellfire-balls. Once Hellflame was sure he was close enough, he began to use all six of his hellfire-balls to flamethrower away any health the mage still had left. Rarely did Hellflame have an opportunity to use such a move, at least on actual Players, since the move was incredibly risky to use due to its close-range requirement, but also very rewarding if he could get away with it.

As he was pounced on by the apparently thirsty Emma, the color rose in Aaron's face once again. "Oh, it's no big deal really. It's just a drink." He replied humbly. As the offer was made to head to the movies and later game with her and Thomas took his leave, the American readily agreed. "I'd love you." It took him a moment to realize how his brain and mouth had not been on the same page there, at which point his expression blanked entirely.

One social suicide later, Aaron was in full-on panic mode for a solid few seconds. "I-I mean, I'd love to see a movie with you! Yeah, the movies, yes! And then Deep Ground, yeah, I'd bet there's plenty of XP to claim! He calmed down with a nervous laugh and the fleeting hope that no one had just heard his accidental confession instead of agreeing to see a movie.

They say there's a phrase for someone that's about to die. Someone that's fully aware of his imminent demise. Yet, that person can do nothing to stop it. Aaron Fletcher, the American transplanted into Japan, defender of the Black City, and the literal head of an entire club at Purple Crown Academy, was a dead man walking.

@KoL@Lord of Evil

---

Jiro Katsurou

Jiro, who had been scrolling through the social lives of many people on his phone, perked up as he got a message from a Shiro Kawabata. As far as he knew, he had no idea who this was, but he knew his Avatar's name...

After a long moment of consideration, he nodded to himself and tucked his phone back into his pocket. He looked over his shoulder and shouted into what was apparently the back room of the fast food joint in the Academy's food court. "Yo! Jack! Can you cover the register for a little bit! I have to run a quick errand!" Not even waiting for a proper response, the Japan native hopped the counter and started snaking his way to the arcade, looking for bright orange hair within the crowd. Given where they were in the world, it wasn't a hard color to miss.

A short walk past a few old machines from the 1980's and the dance pads that were being brutally murdered, the blue-haired boy came up behind who he assumed was the sender of the message. The eye patch certainly fit the bill, so this must've been the guy. "I'm not late, am I?" He crossed his arms and shifted his weight to his left leg, looking over the gang in front of him.

@Jedly

He's blushing! Oh, this was one of Lina's favourite sights, teasing poor Shiro, until his face was red enough to put even a tomato to shame, and watching his reactions. Of course he would be rather nervous having his arm embraced against her chest. She silently observed the results of her actions, her smile showing just how entertained she was by it. She had almost counted up to half a minute before Shiro managed to even voice out a coherent word.

"Well, glad you enjoyed it~" Cheerfully responding back, with a teasing smile, as she allowed the arm to leave her grasp. However, it seemed that Shiro was willing to amuse her whims, with the response of 'twenty minutes'. "Ara~? Well aren't you a brave man~" Laughing as she spoke, while entwining her pinky around Shiro's, she sighed, before waving the boy off.

Carefully watching him, the moment she was certain that he was out of the line of sight, she slapped both her hands against her cheeks, holding them there. She could definitely feel her face becoming slightly hotter. "Entire night, he says...does he realize the implications of that?" Muttering softly to herself, slightly flustered. While fretting over what the boy could have possibly expected, if he really planned for an entire night, Lina was pulled out of her daydreams by a notification. With a curious look, she opened the mail, with her expression of curiosity changing into one of amusement.

To: Shiro Kawabata
From: Angelina Jackson
Subject: Re:I need a hero

”No need to fear~! This great boss of yours shall help~! Anyways, while I can match the enemy team in hardware, that doesn't offset numerical disadvantages. But sounds like fun~ I'm on my way~”

Sending her response, she sighed, before stretching out her arms. "Ehehe~ always something troublesome~" Despite her soft words, her expression revealed that she was enjoying the 'troubles'. Without hesitation, she laid her head down on the table, using her arms as pillows, before delving into the world of DGO. It probably made for an unusual scene, the sight of a girl in a dark blue dress appearing to sleep at the table in the mall.



Eyes opening and quickly adjusting to the digital world of DGO, Levi's gaze flitted around rapidly, gauging the surroundings, and making sure she wasn't in immediate danger. While she could hear the sounds of battle going on, it wasn't in her vicinity, as she had logged off atop a building. Probably an odd habit, but she enjoyed the view of the surroundings from a high place being her last sight before returning to the real world.

"Now...where would Drauni be...? While glancing over the edge of the building, she only witnessed chaos. There was no way she was going to find Drauni easily without assistance. However, suddenly coming up with an idea, Levi opened her inventory, and pulling out ten grenades, before setting them on the ground. "HE, White Phosphorous, Incendiary, CS Canisters, Fragmentation. Two of each. Should be enough."

To: Drauni
From: Leviathan
Subject: Paper Moon sent me~!

”Paper Moon sent me~! He's coming as well, but he'll be a little later behind~! Oh, also, I have no idea where you are, but you can come find me. I'm on the tallest building that alot of different explosions will occur beside it~! Don't get caught in the blast~!”

Sending off her message, she smiled, holding a frag and a high explosive grenades in her left and right hands respectively. "Now...let's see how resistant those vehicles are." Speaking in a tone that made one think that Levi had watched too many mafia-based American movies, she pulled the pin on the grenades, before tossing them over the edge and down towards the streets below, repeating this with all ten grenades, before pulling a rifle that resembled a Vintorez out from her inventory. "It's been awhile since I pulled you out~! Now, it's time to have a bloodfest~!" Once again pulling more quotes from movies, Levi fired at the Outlaws in the streets.

Things escalated quickly. Eclipse Princess had severely damaged Abyss Walker within a short period of time, and several Strykers had begun to scatter around. Even her orders had changed. She needed to destroy as many of those vehicles as possible, but couldn't risk her HP dropping any lower. From two of Eclipse Princess' attacks, Abyss Walker's HP had reduced to 40%. Given the surrounding chaos, Abyss would be unable to survive if she stood around and stabbed at passing vehicles like an idiot. The only option was to get out of there as fast as possible, and attempt to complete her mission on the way. With her plan decided upon, Abyss Walker drew her attention back to reality.

The force of Eclipse Princess' attacks hit Abyss Walker like a truck, and the brute suddenly found herself flying through the air, landing on top of a group of strykers. She so desperately wanted to kill Eclipse Princess, and inflict revenge upon the other player for throwing her around so mindlessly. Sadly, she could not. Her orders were to destroy the vehicles, and she could not risk dying.

Abyss Walker jumped up from the pile of nobodies around her, and reached her hands behind her head, activating Crown of Thorns. From behind her face-plate she pulled two massive glowing blades, staring silently at the group of Strykers who were just starting to stand back up. One of them aimed their weapon at Abyss Walker, and before they could fire, she dived headfirst into their ranks, and quickly sliced through their numbers. She was attacking at 210% speed with high base damage. Only an absolute miracle would allow them to smite the rampaging brute before she could mow them down. Well, that would be if killing them was her goal. Luckily, all they got were several stab wounds as Abyss Walker strode past them, blades out at her side.

As she sprinted away, Abyss Walker was sure that she could here someone asking her something, but decided to ignore it in favor of making her escape. Her escape, however, was also dealing her damage. As she ran through the streets of the black city, she made sure to attack every vehicle she saw, and avoid as many attacks as possible. Every attack had a chance to deal her damage, and if she didn't take damage, Crown of Thorns would dissipate.

When her ability finally ran out, Abyss Walker found herself at 20% health, chasing down a vehicle that seemed to be heading nowhere in particular. She was eventually able to catch up to it, and strike down the driver. Luckily, she was already on the outskirts of the city, and the few Strykers who were still attempting to attack her meant very little to the brute. And so, as her health crept to 10%, Abyss Walker jumped into the vehicle and drove off into the distance, hoping to find anyone with a healing skill that didn't want her dead. Certainly, it was a terrible day to have forgotten health potions.

~Maribel Harper~

---

Alex blushed when he heard Bel's words regarding the copier and before he could try to explain himself his hand was already gripped by her and he was dragged along, any semblance of resistance fleeing from his body at her touch.

"B-Bel? Where are we... oh..." the words taken out of his mouth as he saw their destination. The Arcade. More specifically that Dance Dance Revolution machine. Looking at Bel and then back at the machine, Alex couldn't help but feel his heart race and his initials in that second place position, right behind hers like all the other machines there.

"DDR again Bel? You beat me last time, in fact you beat me at everything last time. What's the special occasion? You're already at the top of the leader-board, why are you looking back at the one just behind you?"

"What's the matter Jukey? Don't tell me you're-gasp! You're scared of being beat by little Blue Bell again, are you? >:3" the girl said in teasing exasperation. Before he could protest any more she was already inserting some coins into the game machine. Where she had gotten the coins was best left not to question, assuming she didn't just carry game tokens on occasion. Scrolling through the listings, she looked around for a good warm-up song. After all as queen and victor, she got first pickings.

"Hmm...Jukey, I found a good one," she said, punching in the icon and grinning deviously as the song blasted on, loud enough to be heard by most of the denizens in the Arcade. "You ready to have your pants drop?"

"Scared? Why be scared of the inevitable? Nothing good comes from worrying about it" watching Bel insert the coins, Alex smiled softly as he realised there was no escape from this fate. So putting his jacket on the back of a nearby chair, Alex stepped up and looked at Bel and rolled his eyes as the grin got wider as he was on stage.

"Still, stop calling me Jukey, I honestly have no idea where you get that name from Blue Bell~♪" with a wink, Alex took a deep breath and began playing the game keeping an eye on Bel to make sure he was keeping pace "So what made you choose this song? I don't feel particularly 'pants dropping' at the moment~♪"

"That's cause you're not losing yet. Figured I'd give you a fair try >:p" Bel said back, moving in the rhythm of the rather fast paced song. She was totally not scanning around the Arcade and taking note of the individuals there. She was totally not taking this opportunity to study the actions of certain people. She was totally not here for some ulterior purpose. She was only here to have fun and beat someone who couldn't even play a copier. Totally.

Rolling his eyes at Bel, he watched her totally not watching anyone else, keeping an eye on the score, keeping within about 100 points wondering what Bel was doing. Looking around himself, Alex couldn't see anything worth distracting Bel over, so he returned to look at Bel, as if he could some how look into her mind.

"I have to say, I'm distracted by the enchanting opponent I have. I have to wonder what her excuse is~♪" chuckling Alex decided to play a bit nipping at the heels of Bel's score. The fact that Bel wasn't even paying attention and was still beating was really a feat all on its own. What she did notice though was an albino boy playing some Doctor Mario and occasionally giving the both of them peak sneaks. Well now, so they had an audience after all. Smirking, Bel sought to impress by actually paying attention to the game...and then proceeding to rank up her score to a whopping 200 points above Alex in a blur.

Feeling like someone was spying on him, the albino boy gave the arcade a quick once over, and he could swear one of the players that just got on a Dance Dance Revolution machine looked over in his direction. Intuition told him that someone was analyzing the Arcade just as much as he was for some ominous reason, but reason told him he was paranoid, someone noticing him didn't mean anything, in addition to stop being a dummy. There was a more pressing matter at hand, so Donovan kept peeking back and forth between the annoying GAME OVER screen and the orange-haired boy till the stranger he was watching so closely started conversing with the gang. He had to act quickly. Picking up his stuff off of the floor, the boy attempted to look casual as he walked to machine next to the gang, the Dance Dance Revolution machine being used by the stranger that he swears looked in his direction.

"Howdy! Uh, can I play one of you next?" Donovan asked as he scratched the back of his head. "I'm Donovan by the way." He stuck his other hand out for one of them to shake after putting his stuff onto the floor.

Alex's eyes almost rolled out of his head as Bel finally decided to play, personally deciding that whatever Bel was up to, he would find out if he waited. Getting back into the swing of things, Alex quickly caught up, but either couldn't or wouldn't overtake Bel. After all, if he won she would probably keep on dragging him up here to be put on display like this. Hearing the boy come over Alex craned his neck around to look at the albino. Frowning a bit Alex wasn't sure what to make of him but mentally sighing, he reached back to shake Donovan's hand.

"I have no problem with that Donny~♪" releasing his hand Alex looked at Bel "If my guess is right my lovely Blue Bell has found what she was looking for~?" questioning the girl that he was never sure if he could take seriously, Alex left the question open ended.

"Mhhm, maybe. Or maybe I just came out here to have some fun. You can never tell with someone like me," Bel said just as the screen flashed and the song ended. The high score was ever the same with Bel's name reigning at the top. Not even breaking a sweat...ok, maybe a little. Bel glanced at the two boys before jumping off the pad and grinning at Alex.

"Sorry Jukey, but loser has to redeem themselves for me. Maybe if you win I'll show you the proper methods to tame and wrangle the school copiers. But you gotta impress me first," she said before turning to Donovan and nudged him. "Try to go easy. I still need to beat my Jukey in the other games >:3"

Following the smile that came across his face when greeting Alex, Donovan's face sorta twitched at the mention of his "lovely Blue Bell" looking for him. His intuition was correct! Except, she didn't seem to have noted him for any menacing reasons, but he was still curious as to whether she had some sort of motive past beating her friend's scores.

"Don't worry, I usually suck at these types of things," Donny stated cheerfully, but he felt that she already knew about how he fared at the Doctor Mario machine. The boy hopped on the pad and looked at Alex. "Ya wanna pick?" he said gesturing to the machine as he took a quick glance at the gang, wanting to make sure the orange-haired kid didn't get shot or stabbed while he was playing games and making acquaintances.

"Me pick? I don't have a problem with that. Buuuuuuut, Blue Bell's words put me in a sour mood, so I'll do this so we can both choose. I'm thinking of two songs. One is fun, the other is mean. You can choose between the two~♪" putting an arm around Donovan's shoulder Alex feigned being emotionally hurt.

"Imagine that, Bel saying I need to redeem myself of all things! There was barely 50 points in it at the end... if only she wasn't so bewitching I would definitely score higher~♪" with an exaggerated sigh, Alex grinned in a rather Jukebox like manner at Bel and reached into her pockets, rummaging around until he found her tokens... maybe accidentally fumbling with them a bit too long...

"Don't look at me like that. You're the one who dragged me here and there is no way I'm going to use my lucky token on a whim~♪"

Bel nodded to the boastful words of these two boys. Boys and their toys. Well at least Donovan was being a bit humble, though a confident Alex wasn't necessarily a bad thing either. So she gave the both of them two thumbs up...while also noticing how the albino boy's gaze kept flicking back to a group with an orange-haired boy. Shiro? Well now, what could possibly going on there?

"Seems best to choose the fun one," Donovan said with excitement. His only experience with Dance Dance Revolution was watching others play up until now, and as a newcomer he should be as bad at this as he is at all other video games, excluding Deep Ground Online. However, the game seemed basic enough that as long as he gets the timing down he'd have some chance at winning... hopefully. Feeling like he was being observed once more, he quickly peeked to see if Bel was by any chance noticing him noting the orange-haired boy before turning to face the machine's screen. "Alright. You ready?"

Pulling his hair back out of his eyes, Alex rolled his eyes at Bel and Donovan's cloak and dagger play. Mind games were tedious, people were hard to read and it usually gave him a headache that it wasn't worth, so instead he selected the 'fun song' and grinned at Donovan.

"Oh, I'm ready. Careful, you're not Bel, so I'm not likely to be as distracted. Also, if you're going to play, please pay attention. It feels gross beating someone who's half assing it, but if you want to use me as a distraction, just say so at the top. Either way, I'm going to have a fun time and not worry about whatever machinations Bel has planned~♪" with a wink the game started properly when the lyrics kicked in and Alex began, letting the rest of the world fade in a way he couldn't seem to when playing with Bel.

"Heh, was it that noticeable? I'm sorry... I'll still have fun playing you, though." Donovan said before noticing that the game had started already in addition to the fact that his opponent was getting a head start! Finally starting, Donny kept looking at the screen then back down at his feet, trying to make sure that he was hitting the parts of the pad that the game told him to; the albino boy's noobiness was unmissable. However, after a short amount of time of learning footwork along with managing to keep his eyes on the screen, Boo and Miss turned into Good, Great, and even the occasional Perfect. While still behind, he was getting closer to his opponent's score. "If ya aren't careful I might actually win this thing," he teased.

"Eh, I half assumed Bel has some objective coming here. I should be the one hounding for a rematch after all! And going by the spy games it wasn't that hard to make the leap of logic, honestly." Alex wasn't particularly paying attention, it was a song he had played many times before and new roughly the sequence of movements in his head, letting himself fall into the zen like state of simply moving that rhythm games can evoke, eye faintly glazing over. Compared to Donny, Alex never Missed, let alone was Booed, but the absentminded consistency allowed Donovan's occasional Perfect spikes in score to close the gap.

"Hmm?" Donny's warning waking Alex from his reverie and glancing at the scores "Well, normally I wouldn't be too bothered, but Bel keeps on teasing me and if I let that happen I will never hear the end of it~" narrowing in his focus, Alex soon had his score slowly but steadily draw away from Donovan "If you want to do your cloak and dagger game then I won't be offended. You've actually been playing so that's nice. Lucky you didn't pick mean, we might have drawn a crowd and that wouldn't be good for your game at all~♪"

"Yeah, lucky me," he said. Donovan grinned when given the okay to use him in his facade as just some guy at the arcade, whose only intention was to suck at Doctor Mario and... lose at Dance Dance Revolution? Score lagging behind, the albino boy accepted his inevitable defeat, but he kept up his efforts till the end. It was all in vain. The song was coming to a close with his opponent being too ahead of Donny for him to catch up. Finally, the newcomer witnessed what he figured was the most likely outcome: his score right behind Jukey's.

"Oh well, I still had fun. We should do this again sometime," the loser said as he hopped off the pad. "I just realized I still don't know your name. I presume Jukey is just a nickname, right?"

"You guys did so good out there!" Bel exclaimed, glomping them both from behind. She made sure to give extra attention to Alex, no doubt calming the stoked flames of his "Jukey" personality. Her eyes still shifted though, as if studying...something. But whatever it was, it surely would be revealed later, right? Maybe?

"Yes, Jukey is a nickname that only Bel calls m-EE!" shocked by the glomp Alex was almost sent careening forward, but managed to catch himself "Y-you can just call me Alex... Jukey is more of a pet name anyway"

---

Nies continued to watch, and as Abyss Walker fled, she briefly considered following but knew she would be no match to her, nor would she be likely to track the other player effectively. As someone else joined the fray asking what was going on, Nies decided to join in as well. She couldn't just stand by anymore and hope things would be alright.

"I never know" she said with amusement, as she walked up, glancing about she wished she had had the chance to get a better staff rather than the spare she had. She was a little uneasy being so out in the open, but it wouldn't be the first time, nor would it be the last.

Holding her staff, she lay a hand on her dagger as well, the only true weapon she had not that it was powerful in anyway. As a healer she had to rely on others to protect her, but she still needed something. "most of the time I just go with the flow, and hope it will all work out."

The guy didn't seem to be a threat, but Nies watched him still. Just because he had killed an outlaw seeking to harm eclipse didn't mean anything these days.

"I'll tell you what's going on. Exactly what we needed to liven this place. Now, make your choice, get out of my way or, challenge me. I don't care either way." Eclipse Princess regarded Rocket Lancer with a challenging grin pointing her own lance right at his face, before turning to face Nies, smiling in a much less threatening way. "Come forth, Nies, do you want to pass on this chance to have some real fun on this game, just for once? I may be no Tank but, I'll be your knight, you don't need to fear anything; and I swear on my life, no one will harm you." Princess placed herself between Rocket Lancer and Nies, extending a hand to bring Cassandra's avatar closer in a near embrace. Since she didn't had any abilities geared toward tanking and protection this was the only way she could uphold her promise.

Suddenly, some grenades began to rain from the roof of the adjacent building. Seeing that as a chance for some target practice, Princess swung her lance, waiting until the very last moment to have a better chance of hitting some of the grenades. "This is just like a full course meal, if only the dessert could show up instead of allowing her own kingdom to fall in such a disarray, the night would be perfect." Princess managed to hit the grenades that could actually do anything more than scratch damage to her, four in total, knocking two of them under the improvised APC, one towards a random mass of players and the last one (actually, a critical strike) was returned right to where it belonged. Whoever threw the explosive would find it very kind of Princess to have it returned back to them.

However, Eclipse Princess noticed a notification on her HUD and after opening it she saw that it was a message she sent to herself. A reminder about a meeting she should have gone to already. "Cassandra, I'm going to leave this place, I just remembered what my real objective was. Come with me, please." Eclipse Princess kicked he door behind her and got inside of the building, taking Nies with her (if she wanted to follow) as she made a beeline to the other side of the construction, simply smashing the thin, non-fortified walls that were in her way as she made her retreat. Princess' destination being one, the White City, hoping to meet with the one person that had invited her to a direct talk.

Well, that had been entertaining, both the movie and the extra treat that Aaron so carelessly let slip by. If Emma knew that such a random trip to the mall would be this fun, she would have brought a proper camera to record it after all, that was prime material for future teasing. Either way, as it turned out, time ran by and soon enough the two of them would be out of the cinema, ready to go their separate ways. Unless of course, Aaron was willing to extend their encounter for just a bit more.

"Hey, Nixon, now that you already spilled all the beans and I have been looking for you doing it all this time..." Emma whispered at Aaron's ear since she didn't wanted to disturb the few other persons that were watching the movie as well. "Do you wanna... make tonight a bit more interesting? Grandma will be out to a club with her cougar friends, y'know... manhunting. But I don't think that she would care for me bringing my boyfriend back home, even if she was there. After all, Grandma's only rule is 'Don't do anything that I wouldn't~'." Emma took another swig of her drink before adding the last nail in the coffin, chuckling in a way that made she look just plain evil for enjoying such teases, saying, "Or, we can go play Deep Ground, on our homes, alone..." The fiery headed half-Irish continued to watch the movie as if nothing at all happened while she waited for Aaron's reply.

---

Asahi ran over to the arcade as fast as he could. Sure it wasn’t that fast, but he didn’t stop. Eventually he arrived and took a breather and tried to not make himself look like he ran a mile (Doesn’t help that he was still rather out of breath from chasing Train all the way here). He peeked inside and sure enough, he was able to find Shiro pretty easily. And that was despite the fact that he was surrounded by a bunch of shady guys and their dog. There was another there too, some blue-haired boy in a fast food uniform. He must be Phantom. ”Wait a feck...” The dog was familiar to Asahi. Namely, he’s seen that dog before.

That dog didn’t belong the the guy Shiro was talking to. Asahi knew this guy was a Cleaner and that he liked collecting “Trophies” from his mark. Unprofessional and left too many trails that could be lead back to the Cleaner, which is why Asahi never does it. But there was no doubt this guy was good at his job. He was at least as good as Asahi was, with the advantage of looking like a slim athletic pretty boy as oppose to a barrel of meat.

But Asahi also knew this guy wasn’t just a Cleaner. He knew this guy had taken jobs before to target other Cleaners. Mostly silencing loose ends, but even Asahi didn’t touch those jobs. Too much at risk, and he didn’t just mean the possibility of losing a fight. Chasing after a Cleaner required one to do the job quickly, quietly, and without anyone none the wiser. The only reason Asahi even knows about it was because he was offered the job, rejected it, and kept tabs on it. Knowing this, Asahi kept careful watch for the guy, but hasn’t heard much from him for a while. He nearly slipped his mind up until now.

Asahi worried for Shiro. He didn’t know the kid for long, but he was a friend. If this guy was here to take out Shiro for whatever reason… Asahi wasn’t going to accept that. He cursed himself; he didn’t have any weapons on him. Didn’t even have his bag (Left that at school). He couldn’t drag over a chair either without looking too suspicious either. Asahi was fine using just his fists, but he’d need an extra edge if the entire posse decides to get involved. But now wasn’t the time for hesitation or fear. Asahi needed to act now and act fast. Fixing up his clothes Asahi walked over to Shiro and the boys. The only weapon he could take was a cue ball from a pool table. He stuffed that into one of his pockets, hiding its presence by leaving his hand in his pocket as well. He went to one of the games that was within sight of Shiro and the gang as well as within earshot.

When Asahi got close however, he was spotted by the Cleaner. ”Ayo, Asahi!” This nearly made Asahi flinch, but he kept his cool for now. He approached since his cover was blown, causing the Cleaner and smirk. ”It’s my lucky day. I was hoping to talk to you too. So… Shiro and Asahi. Paper Moon and Arms Slave. Who are you?” The cleaner looked at Hiro. He shrugged it off however; didn’t make much of a difference to him. More importantly, hearing his avatar name mentioned immediately put Asahi on edge. Keeping one’s identity a secret was important in Deep Ground, more so for a Sweeper. Their work was dangerous, and secrecy was their armor. It was obvious that the Cleaner wanted something from the both of them to call them by their Avatar names.

”Well, now that you’re all here, I won’t need to beat around the bush. To answer you Shiro, yeah, I know what’s going on in the Black City. Good riddance.”

The young man stepped off the DDR pad and walked over to Shiro, putting an arm around his shoulder. “There needs to be changes. The Ebony Strykers reopening with the old black king, that’s just going to be history repeating itself. Hell, it’s already happening. In-fighting because no one knows who’s on who’s side. The Black King and her cronies are nowhere to be seen leaving toughs like Eris to rule the streets. Even the Sweepers aren’t as unified as they could be, without any Erasers leading them. So what I say is this. You, me, and Arms Slave here, we leave. We start our own guild, a true Black Guild. I can bet you that we can bring a whole hella lot of Sweepers with us. AIn’t like they like the Ebony Strykers much either.”

The boy patted Shiro on the chest and hopped onto the dance pad. He started picking sons and was getting ready when he spoke again. ”I wanted to give you that offer, Shiro. And if you think there’s anything left saving from that piss of a guild, then go ahead, hop into Deep Ground and check things out. All you’d find is ruins. And you Asahi… You have way too many enemies right now. You’d do well to make friends while you can.”

Asahi glared at the stranger. He knew he was at a disadvantage here, more so with Shiro nearby. Although he was also a Sweeper Asahi wasn’t going to put him in harm’s way. ”Shiro, Phantom, go to Deep Ground and take care of things. I’m not finished here yet.”

@Jedly@Mega Birb

---

Alas, Retsu’s work was never done. What she hoped would have been a nice night out with Yoshino turned into a small disaster. Because she wasn’t there to mediate things, now it seemed like the Black City had become a civil war. No doubt the armies were being fought with Sweepers and Strykers. Admittedly, Retsu should have predicted this knowing that there were other Erasers trying to secede from their guilds. They needed to act fast. So Retsu danced into Yoshino, intimately close to her body. But this was just a ruse so Retsu could get close and whisper a message to her. ”The black city is under attack. I have to go. I’ll be at Room 564.” Slipping a key to Yoshino, Retsu took a step away from her and walked away, earning the disappointing boos from onlookers.

As she walked Retsu opened up the chat box with Broker. Retsu believed Broker had nothing to do with it, but now the objectives have been changed. Asahi didn’t matter to Retsu anymore, or rather, that grudge was going to have to be put aside. While the Sweepers and Strykers were always a volatile bunch, this blew up way too quickly to just attribute to existing tensions. The Ebony Strykers have only been formed for about a week, if even that. Fortunately Broker did give Retsu some sort of a lead to work with.

>Problem Child: Find Abyss Walker and capture her. I need to speak with her in person. I’ll make it worth your while.

Retsu flashed her bracelet at the worker managing the private rooms. Locking the door behind her Retsu logged into Deep Ground to try to fight this wild fire. First she needed to stop the Sweepers and the Strykers. Then she’ll figure out who is responsible for this chaos.



@TheWindel@Lonewolf685

---

The warlock tried to fend off Hellflame the best he could. He was flying too fast, the tentacles couldn’t catch up to him. The warlock didn’t know why Hellflame was closing the distance until he saw his shortsword. “What the fuck!?” The warlock couldn’t make anymore portals and the best he could do was shoot Hellflame point blank, but just as he was about to fire off a magic blast he was engulfed in flames. Being a squishy wizard he was, it wasn’t long before the warlock burnt to ash. However his final act of defiance was getting off his magic blast, and at this range it was going to hit Hellflame if he couldn’t dodge that exact second.

“Little pissant! Quit running away!” The duelist tried to chase after Arkacius to no avail. With no mobility moves that didn’t rely on having both feet on the ground and no weapons he could throw or use at range, it seemed like the two would be stuck in their limbo. The mage, having just spent a round charging his spell, had to resort to regular magic blasts against the lone rogue. But that’s when the second phase of her spellcard activated. In the distance was a shooter star- No. It was a meteorite. And it was flying straight towards the group. It looked like it was going to get there in the next round, and thus everyone needed to move before that meteor got to them.

For Arcadius it seemed like he had no hope. But suddenly, green light glowed from Christopher, restoring his health by a small percentage and removed his stunned status. His cooldowns were reset as well, despite whatever their times were before.

@RoflsMazoy@Scarifar

As the Cobalt Brsuiers rode to battle, a highly ornate knight called her over the radio. ”Big Berry to Lucky Bloo, I’m seeing a large black orb over in the distance. Would you like us to investigate?” The knight sent over coordinates of where they were seeing the anomaly. No one in the crew knew exactly what was going on, some were concerned that it might come and attack them from behind.

@Lonewolf685

Meanwhile the city was still in chaos. Word of Eris’s arrival came quickly, and most of the smart outlaws knew to stay away from her. They didn't know her exact location aside from her last known position, so most of the Outlaws made sure to clear out. But others, fueled by anger or simply ignorant, choose to seek her out to do battle with her. Most of these people had tanks, hoping to even the odds.

What they found instead was Rocket Lancer and Cait, though this would be more than enough for the bloodthirsty outlaws. "Die die die die!" The avatar manning the cannon fired at the players before the tank charged forward. He imagined he could crush them within the narrow streets, and failing that there were a few more gunners hanging on top top of the ramshackle tank, ready to gun down anything that got over or past them. More tanks were converging on her position, though there was still plenty of others roaming the city hoping to occupy it long enough for them to rally their forces.

While the tank came charging, a gang of three Outlaws opened fire on Rocket Lancer and Nies Hellum from behind. They opened fire with a hail of bullets, but just as quickly as they came they fled when they saw the tank charging down the lane. Mines were hastily left behind, obvious, but if anyone intended to chase they’d have to be careful to avoid them.

@RoflsMazoy@KoL@Caits

The Puppet Master's journey seemed an empty one. Nothing but the barren wastelands of the Black City all around. While the ground was rich with minerals, it wasn't known for it's flourishing topside. It was still going to be a long walk when there were shrill screams above the puppet master and his toy. Above him were a flock of harpies. These dissolutions had the appearance of a woman's naked body and head, but with a grotesquely long neck and the rest of her features looked more like a hawk. These were level 1 dissolutions, easy enough to kill with a good blow. However they fought from the skies, using their magics to make avatar's fall asleep before dragging them off to their doom. A flock of five flew towards the Puppet Master and started their haunting lullaby, and if he didn't escape soon even he would fall for their enchantment and be at the mercy of the beasts.

@Lord of Evil

But to make matters more difficult, the turrets on the walls turned inwards, firing inside the city. Many places players thought were safe on the roof were now killzones as the turrets aimed for anyone on the rooftops, then they tried to shoot whatever they could between the streets. They had little regard for the buildings in the way, and would attempt to shoot through them to get their targets. Fortunately it was only one set of turrets near the gate itself, making it four turrets firing into the city. Notably, this only happened after Abyss Walker had fled the city.

@VarionusNW@Kimiyosis

Thomas's journey was rather uneventful so far, which he was glad for. It gave him time to think and finalise his plan. Not his assault plan, because that was quite simple. He was sure he knew the reason the conflict began, though his theory wouldn't explain how it blew up so suddenly and so quickly. He had some suspicions, so he had to investigate. When he got to the city he wouldn't have to worry about normal players, though there may have been outlaws here and there if the updates he'd been given on the situation were entirely correct. Nevertheless, all he'd need to do was get in, investigate and get some screenshots.

Instead of his assault plan, he was thinking about his plans for the journalism club. There were a lot of things it needed to pick itself up again. It needed manpower, it needed contacts, it needed lots of things.
"One step at a time." Thomas thought.
He needed the manpower first. He wouldn't be able to rebuild it back to its glory days, but he could change the foundation. It would grow over time, even after he graduated, and it would come back. He just had to take it slowly and carefully, and if he did he could ensure that it never disappeared again.

Thomas was taken out of his thoughts by the a familiar flapping of wings and a wailing voice.
"Harpies." Thomas muttered under his breath.
The infamous newbie killer, the dreaded harpies. They were aerial based with a form of crowd control that was difficult to defend against and they were often encountered in packs.

In short, they were rather annoying.

Thomas was beginning to feel drowsy from the harpy's song. He drew his sword as they closed in before silently commanding his puppet to shoot at them. They dodged most of the shots but one of them was clipped twice and disappeared into a small pile of xp crystals.
"..."
There were still 4 more, and his puppet didn't have that many bullets. The harpies's songs grew in intensity and the puppet master held his head in an attempt to stay awake. He staggered a few steps before collapsing on the ground, his puppet following suit. The winged women came in for the kill, their voices becoming deeper and more insidious as they approached. They swooped down to the prone figures aiming their claws at their vulnerable forms.

Suddenly the metallic forms sprang up and spun in the air, blades lashing out at the feathered targets. They dropped to the ground as the xp crystals fell to the floor.
"Looks like I was right." The puppet master said at last. "Sense share makes it easier to resist."
He shared his hearing with another player lowering his ability to listen to the harpies and making their ability have less of an effect.
"Didn't think it'd work out so well, and you probably can't hear me anyway, but..." Thomas said as he picked up the crystals. "Thanks."
He terminated the skill as he picked up the last of the crystals. (+200 XP)

"Well, that was a pleasant diversion." Thomas said, stretching his arms above his head.
His puppet stood silently next to him and Thomas liked to think that it agreed. It hadn't been affected at all by the song of the harpies but he'd made it fall anyway to fool their AI. There were a lot of useful things he could do with his puppets, though there were a lot of things it couldn't do as well.
"Let's get going." He told it as he began walking.
The puppet followed him silently.

(Gonna spell check the hell out of this tomorrow morning.)

His backers surely weren’t anything to gawk at in awe, but the fact that they decided to stand beside him was enough of a sentiment to boost his confidence. Then again, it’s not like Shiro aimlessly waltzed his way in here without a Plan C, D and E. Why no B? Because B is for betas. And Shiro Kawabata was no beta. Nor was he really an alpha… maybe a sigma? Anyways, seeing the two players’ IRL counterparts was an interesting encounter in itself. The orange haired boy was part of the minority, as most Purple Crown students strove for a disparity between their actual and binary bodies. Though when the head honcho called the two by their handles, oh boy did his head perk up. Rather than chiming in, Shiro followed suit and crossed his arms while attentively retaining every word. He silently listened as the guy’s diatribe transformed into an offer, and even kept a deadpan expression when the character brought him in reaaaaaal close. The guy didn’t strike him for a negotiator, but he couldn’t help but to shake off the words that slithered their way directly into his ear, as if they didn’t require air as a medium in the first place. An uncomfortable sensation crept its way up his spine as he proceeded to extend the offer, the cherry on top being a quick pat to his chest before he briskly swaggered his way back onto the dance pad. The bunny stitched into Shiro’s eyepatch seemed almost amazed at how coordinated the hop was. He continued to listen, end-noting with the fact that the offer still stands.

To this, Shiro characteristically sported his amiable, borderline wry smile. ”Well, I couldn’t agree with you more. I mean, who opens up a fabled guild and barely moderates it? What kind of bull honkey is that? But y’know, they say if you forget history, it is doomed to repeat itself.” The boy gave a quick tap to his head before proceeding, ”But, I’m not so certain that letting history run its course is the best option. Beautiful thing about history, as shown over centuries, it can easily be rewritten should enough word get around. So, I mean, hey, no point on giving up just yet. I’ll keep the offer in mind until Asahi decides to turn it down. Anyways, enough prattling from me, I’mma grab some joe.” He nonchalantly threw his hands behind his head and swivelled around on the ball of his knee, shooting a quick glance to Asahi. ”Jiro, you’ve been at work all afternoon I imagine? Sure you have a little something built up during your shift. What better time to relieve yourself than now?” That was his way of bidding farewell. From there, the student backtracked to the cafe to find his boss with her face buried in her arms. There was nothing more incongruous than a young maiden draped in a captivating dress in the middle of a super mall. Shiro quickly surveyed his surroundings, making sure that nobody had their hunger locked on the girl. A sigh escaped his lips as he slid off the school jacket, gazing down at the student innocently “sleeping.”

”Jeez, logging on in an open place like this? She crazy or something?” Or perhaps she had faith that her loyal Sweeper would return to her side as soon as humanly possible. Shiro took the Purple Crown uniform by the shoulders and placed it over the girl who could easily be mistaken for indulging in dreams. A light smile pulled at the ends of his cheeks as he took his own seat beside her and slumped forward. With a quick glance to the upper right of his cranial chip’s display, he felt relief in the fact that he didn’t run out of time.
@Lucius Cypher@Kimiyosis@Mega Birb

---

”So anyways, what does this “Leviathan” chick look like? And we still need to find Drauni. He didn’t specify where in the market district he was!” Strawberry Baby’s voice had crescondoed to what was essentially a yell to trump the winds wildly colliding with them. Her fingers remained tightly wrapped to the extra set of handles on the saddle. She envied the goggles Moon just so happened to always have on him. Through watery eyes she stared at the strap cutting through his uncontrollably flowing locks of orange, ”Well, that’s a good question. She tends to be a pretty easy person to spot. Usually makes her presence fairly known…” His voice nervously trailed off as he squinted even more in an attempt to discern his boss’ location. Fluffy held fast to its course and was quickly approaching the walls of the Black City.

The place had truly fallen into disarray. He was aware that the denizens were fighting among themselves, but now the guns designated to defend the city against assailing forces were now fixated on people within its walls. The situation had most definitely been exacerbated with this addition, and would need to be remedied sooner rather than later. ”So she’s trigger happy?” The mage nonchalantly blurted out without a single shred of remorse. Moon autonomously held up his hands to prove his innocence, ”Hey, your words, not mine.”

Heated streams of bright yellow instantly whizzed past the dragon once it crossed over the boundary into the city. ”Well, glad to see that today wasn’t uneventful in the slightest. I mean, who wants an ordinary day and all of the relaxation and normalcy it entails? Pffft, preposterous, right?” The rogue sardonically complained in self-deprecation as the mount evaded oncoming fire. The players’ grips tightened as the AI dictating Fluffy's flight patterns engaged maneuvers to keep its riders alive. ”Hope you guys enjoy holding onto something and not being held onto!” A voice cried from below as the dragon banked hard to the side, moving faster than the trail of gunfire could keep up. Sky Knight had the privilege of relying on the dragon’s claws to hold him for the duration of the flight. It wasn’t their fault the guy was bad at rock-paper-scissors. Moon felt a pat on his shoulder and focused his gaze in the direction of the jutted finger.

On the rooftop of a building overlooking the market district stood a blue-haired girl, firing down on players below with a marksman rifle. He didn’t even feel the need to clarify that this individual was undeniably his boss. A shootout was panning out in the street below. Their eyes instantly gravitated over to the rudimentarily designed vehicle. He’d spotted a few of them in the guild hall, but never imagined that anybody would be so daring to apply such frail rides in combat. He presumed that their other objective was currently barricaded within the building receiving all of the fire. Leviathan’s diversion sliced the Outlaws’ attention in half, and to make matters worse, reinforcements were moving in, fast. A War Machine powered its way through the streets, effortlessly traversing the paved road with its all-terrain drive. Paper Moon and Strawberry Baby exchanged glances and nodded in silent agreement. ”Well, looks like it's go time?” Moon questioned aloud as he managed to gain a footing on the dragon’s hide despite the winds broadsiding his body. ”Only a maniac would jump off of this perfectly safe mount.” She sarcastically deprecated the idea as she too got to her feet, stretching out her arms with a faint grunt. ”Takes one to know one.” The boy replied with a crescent moon smile.

While this was all transpiring, Sky Knight powerlessly strained to pick up whatever words he could. ”Wait… They can’t be- CRAP!” The ranger cursed as two players zipped past him, their forms descending at an alarming rate. ”Are those two insane?!” His words fell upon only empty air as he traced the quickly shrinking figures. He gritted his teeth as he extended his hands, taking his comrades’ dwindling profiles into the breaks in his fingers, as if he was about to reach out and grab them. Sky Knight, as his name implied, had the ability to alter the effects of gravity on entities, dubbed Defying Gravity. Although he surely wouldn’t be able to slow them down completely, he’d be able to bleat their speed enough so they wouldn’t take any damage upon impact. Soon he came to the realization that the two players weren’t aiming for the ground.

A barrier of fire abruptly rose from the pavement out of nowhere. The driver pivoted the War Machine so abruptly to evade the obstacle that he lost any handling altogether and sent the vehicle on its side, spilling its contents pitifully onto the uninviting asphalt. The machine then proceeded to tumble belly up, with the embers still violently blazing beside the players. The four new additions barely had any time to get a bearing of their current situation before an orange-haired boy dropped onto one of their numbers. ”Hey, did you guys hear the news? Ten percent off of gun optics at Pew’s and Joe’s. Better get on that deal fast!” The Outlaw Strykers stared at disbelief as Paper Moon straightened out his stature. One broke free of his trance, drawing a knife and charging the rogue head on. His target was quick to act, briskly side-stepping the blade and followed up with a roundhouse kick to the back of the Outlaw's head. Another was about to react and dispatch the new assailant, but before the player could do so, Strawberry Baby landed on him without a moment to lose, while simultaneously slamming the rod into the remaining Outlaw’s head. Just like that, they had incapacitate four Outlaws. Well, it was almost four. The last one staved off the mage’s weak melee attack, and nearly lashed out, but his offensive was ceased by a bolt straight to his face.

For good measure, Strawberry jammed her staff into his stomach, successfully nullifying one more threat. ”Well, can’t say they didn’t get what they deserved. Though I didn’t think you were the type to spare Outlaws?” She raised an eyebrow at the boy, who return the gaze. ”TSSSSSSSS Wait what are you- UUUUUUNNN Don’t you even sa- DEEEEEE This staff’s gonna go so far up your as- REEEEEE I hate my life.” Breaking the moment, a round came flying between the two. Oh, right, there were still a few more to be taken care of. ”I got your back. C’mon, let’s save the pitiful excuse of a Ranger.” Strawberry’s words, for once, carried an honest determination. She was actually enjoying this high-paced moment, relishing the adrenaline rush. The gunner of the provisional carrier was still focused on the building Drauni sought refuge within, but as one party cropped up after another, the Outlaws soon found themselves having bit off more than they could chew.

---

Fluffy veered down and landed on the rooftop right after letting go of Sky Knight, kicking up dust everywhere. Before he hit the solid ground, he singled out the incoming grenade and redirected it into a few stories below. Shattered glass was promptly followed by a muffled explosion, making him automatically flinch. The ranger raced his way over to the girl bombarding the Outlaws over the edge, summoning his marksman rifle as he skidded to a halt beside her. "Leviathan, I take it? Sky Knight. Wish we could've met under different circumstances." The player slicked back his hair and rested his chin on the firearm's stock, "Moon wants us to aim for the knees. Better to wound them instead of letting them respawn and just start killing people again." He focused the optics on his two comrades, who weren't currently taking cover behind the flipped over War Machine. Shifting his line of sight down the block, he quickly spotted Drauni blind-firing around a window pane while machinegun fire peppered his building. "Alright, let's get off this rooftop. Only a matter of time until those turrets look our way." Sky Knight slung the rifle's carry sling over his shoulder and motioned for Leviathan to follow. "Alright Fluffy, we're coming!" He yelled as the dragon began to lose its patience. Bullets drilled through the stories below them, the intensity of gunfire gradually grew closer.
@Kimiyosis

There had been no response from the Cobalt Bruisers leadership, IE Absinthe and Titania, which was all that was needed for Broker to lead the Blue Guild with a clear consciousness. It was better this way if Broker thought on it, since she could fully utilize the Blue guild to complete her own objective. As the group trundled down the dessert and were quickly approaching the Black City's walls that were already in sight, Broker had the time to peruse the files Problem Child sent her in more detail and found a good target for them to aim for. The issue was that they had to get deep into the guild hall itself, but if they succeeded then Arms Slave would be deprived of a weapon that would destroy the balance of power on Deep Ground Online. It was something that Broker wasn't even going to take the chance of stealing, complete destruction being the only course of action for them.

”Big Berry to Lucky Bloo, I’m seeing a large black orb over in the distance. Would you like us to investigate?”

Aroused from her thoughts by the crackle of the radio, Broker left the controls to a tanker she picked up along the way to pop the hatch and stick her upper half outside. Broker grabbed a pair of binoculars that were in the 'glove box' and zoomed in where the black sphere was indeed present over the approaching city scape.

"Negative Big Berry. We're smashing through the Black City's front gate and I need every gun available to knock out the cannons and punch through. If the sphere makes to leave the city or fires on us, then you have my permission to shell it into the Atari era. Now keep your eyes forward because I want you following behind this spearhead." She switched the channel from the two way with Big Berry to a message to the entire peace keeping force. "Listen up cause I'm only saying it once. We are here to quell the civil war as best we can by capturing their Guild Hall and forcing both sides to cease fighting. We're authorized to fight through them, but we don't want bad blood so keep the killing clean or we are going to be stuck here for a long time. The Ebony Strykers and Cobalt Bruisers are allies and we want to keep it that way, even if we have to break their toys to keep them safe from themselves."

"Once we bust the gate we will drive straight for the Guild Hall, and from their expand outwards to tranquilize the fighting. I want the respawn points all safe and secure to keep any idiots from rejoining the fight. Besides that, keep the tanks alive and don't do anything I wouldn't do."

Order's were given, speeches made, and there may or may not have been some raucous applause afterwards. Either way the piece wouldn't last long before they sighted a vehicle speeding towards them as it fled the warring city. Broker's binoculars zoomed in through the driver's side window and revealed the likeness of the player described on chat as Abyss Walker. If Retsu hadn't sent her most recent message the instigator would have taken a salvo of HE shells, so it was their lucky day. "Skirmisher Detachment Alpha, capture that driver all costs."

A trio of light tanks followed by another trio of dune buggies with mounted gun emplacements broker off from the column to corral Abyss Walker, bearing down with overwhelming fire power and better vehicles not marred by escaping a warzone.

It would have been better to capture Abyss Walker in person, but the gates were upon them and that meant she couldn't afford to leave the offensive. This proved all the more prudent when the walls mounted cannons, though only half as some were already shelling the city, angled themselves to fire upon the approaching column. Plumes of dessert sands were thrown up in violent gouts of force and flame, Broker forced to close the hatch or be scorched herself. "All units! Take out every emplacement on those walls that's still shooting. Fire on my signal."

Throwing herself into the gunner's seat, Broker of Fortune refreshed her Overhaul ability to apply it to the tank's guns as well. The sights were lined, distance compensated for, and shells loaded. The barrel of every tank in range that didn't get wrecked by the opening cannonade raised in a deafening rebuttal.

"Fire!

Aaron Fletcher

Aaron had sat placidly through most of the movie, occasionally munching on a piece of overpriced, over salted popcorn. Believe it or not, he was one of the few people with the ability to make a bag of popcorn last the entire film, and it was something he was proud of. Relatively, anyhow. I mean, how many people can say they've survived a trip to a cinema and still had food left over? His drink, on the other hand, had lasted about a minute. For one reason or another, probably the popcorn, his mouth was as dry as a desert.

Either way, the movie was almost over. The antagonist had gotten his, the hero got his business done, the same ol' song and dance for a decent film. Just as the American ran out of movie theater brand popcorn, he felt Emma's lips near his ear and blushed heavily. He still wasn't quite used to how direct she could be, but he wouldn't complain. As the options were sultrily whispered to him, the redness of Aaron's face could be seen even in the low light of the theater. He lowered his voice and leaned over to his girlfriend, ready with an answer. "Well, I'd love to come over to your place for a little bit. It'd be pretty fun, I think." His reply given, the boy sat back in his seat and settles to watch the wrap-up of the movie. Sure, he was on the verge of a heart attack based on all the different things that had happened that day, but that could be a good thing. Rarely.

@KoL

---

Jiro Katsurou

Jiro listened patiently to what the Eraser had to say, looking to make an argument in the Stryker's defense once he was done. But, the more he listened, the more he realized that the guy was right. The Black King had taken in new members, then proceeded to do nothing when shit hit the fan. "You've got a point, but I try to stay out of the darker aspect of things. Just wanna keep the newbies safe, y'know? Bring it back to what the Sweepers were found on." His two cents put in, clasped his hands behind his back and nodded to Shiro as he left. The blue-haired boy turned heel as well, mouthing a 'good luck' to Asahi before returning to the food court.

A short walk back to his position behind a cash register, Jiro stopped dead as a horrifying spectacle unfolded in the back room. The manager of the place, the previously mentioned man of about twenty-five that was formerly a Berserker, was staring straight at him with a hunger. A hunger to flex his managerial muscle. Jiro knew what was about to come, and before the man could get a word off, the native strode into the back room and tossed the stupid, triangular hat he formerly had to wear onto the table. "I quit. I know what's about to happen, and I thought 'Y'know, I'll save my future resume and deny you the satisfaction of firing me.' So, consider this hat my resignation, bud." The brute of a manager, stunned by the insubordination from a cashier, couldn't formulate anything besides something along the lines of a confused growl.

A moment later, he dropped down into a vacant seat at the same table as Shiro and whoever that girl was. Putting his legs up and easing into the seat, the newly unemployed member of the Katsurou family logged into Deep Ground for the second time that day.

---

Phantom Regality

Chaos reigned as Phantom Regality logged in, his health finally recovered from the battle he had lost earlier to Eclipse Princess. He took a moment to stand up and stretch his tired limbs, and leaned forward just as a bullet pounded the wall where his head had been two seconds ago. The Necromancer took that as a sign to stop standing in the middle of a battlefield and scrambled into cover behind a planter on the side of the road. "Fucking Christ, not even in the game for a minute and I'm already being shot at... I need to find someone I know..." Making a sort of plan on the spot, he bit his lip and looked around for two corpses in heavy armor. From his position of relative safety, nothing of the sort could be seen. "Dammit, looks like I'm stealthing th-." Suddenly, an Assassin jumped the planter with a dagger raised high over his head. A rookie move, drawing back your strike for more power. In a quick moment, Phantom had his short sword locked in the dagger's cross guard. "Alright, why the hell is there an Outlaw Raid on the Black City? Is two in one week really necessary?"

The rogue, having the advantage of not being support-based, smirked slightly. "I don't know exactly why, but there's an EXP gold mine here, kid!" That smirk was erased as the mage on the ground swung his foot into the sneak's knee and drove the sword into him.

"That's what you get, dumbass." Proceeding to stab his opponent into a corpse and subsequently bring his body back to life via Grave Digger, Phantom Regality stood up and held his thrall in front of him as a bullet sponge. "Congratulations, you're useful now!" The Necromancer then ran up the street, largely safe from ranged attacks due to the undead being under his control. In the distance, he could see the bright orange hair that represented an ally, and picked up the pace. Paper Moon was probably the only one fully capable of staving this battle off, aside from Arms Slave if he showed up. Given his situation, Phantom doubted he would any time soon.

@Jedly@Lucius Cypher

Nies returned eclipses smile, and replied, "I am not afraid" indeed Nies wasn't afraid, she rarely was in the game, and was working to not being afraid in the real world. Not that she was afraid much anymore. "I know you won't let anything happen to me. Just as I won't let anything happen to you, either" she allowed Eclipse to pull her in, amd lead her away when she said she had something to do.

She followed Eclipse, glancing about them. She heard gun fire, and flinched, an involuntary reaction to the sound, gripping ner staff. The gun fire sounded close, but it didn't seem to be anything they needed to worry about. Still, Nies quickly shut the door as if that could give them a few more seconds. Not that she wasn't afraid, Eris coupd handle the outlaws well enough. But why tempt fate?

She waited a momemt to see where Eclipse was going, trying to figure it out but Nies did not know enough about the city to be sure. She finally said "where are we going?" as she followed Eris through the destruction she was making, easy enoigh to do.

"That didn't tell me jack shit!" He shouted down the path Eclipse Princess had made. Then he turned around and he saw the tank. "What the fuck?!"

The hell was this situation? Duelist vs tank. In terms of raw power, of course he didn't stand a chance. There was no way he'd be able to pierce through it with his lance, and as long as they held the hatch closed he didn't have a way of going in. Even if Eclipse Princess hadn't done a runner on him he didn't think it would be easy to fight a tank. Even after all that she said about 'fun'… The fun came right after she asked for it and she wasn't even there.

There were even gunners on top of the tank so he wouldn't be able to fly directly at it without getting swiss cheesed. It looked like he might not have much choice in the matter though, as from the other side of the alley there were three more goons who wanted to make some cheese.

"Oh fine, whatever!" He said, holding his lance straight up.

He boosted into the air and the volley of bullets missed him, instead they just ricocheted off the tank. He raced through his memories trying to find something to help him in this situation

Come on, come on… wasn't there something I read a while ago about tanks? Something about it blowing up…? He thought frantically.

Then he spied the grenadier which had attacked them before. He was knocked down by the force of his own grenade. Eclipse Princess sure laid people out without mercy. He didn't want to be on her bad side until he had a few more levels under his belt.

Then suddenly, a certain segment from the Deep Ground update thread sprang to his mind. Exp crystals enemies dropped could be traded in for raw materials to craft items. Anyone could do simple crafting for things like potions and whatnot, but his specialization was bounty hunter and right now all he had was rope for a net. What the hell could he do…

"Wait a minute," He shouted, his head snapping in the direction of the grenadier. "That's it!"

He abruptly changed directions and made a beeline for the downed grenadier. The enemy outlaw groggily got to his feet but the only thing he saw was the point of Kosuke's lance. Kosuke swiped what remained from his body, but it wasn't exp crystals that came out of the grey light, instead, Kosuke held two small glass bottles filled with some kind of liquid in his hands. This next part was going to be tricky.

A fresh volley of gunfire erupted from the gunners on top of the tank. He went hands-free as he opened up his inventory and swerved to dodge, then he stashed the bottles inside. He took out his net rope and pressed the 'craft' button. The novice bounty hunter crafting knife appeared in his right hand, and the tip of his rope emerged from the inventory screen. He cut three lengths of rope; two equally short, and one fairly long, but not too long. He stashed the long piece in his inventory again, and took out the two bottles. He stuck one piece of rope inside each bottle's neck and <<Improvised Molotov x2>> was complete.

"Now we're in business!" But then he had to abruptly change direction as the tank fired a shell in his direction.

Taking the long piece of rope from his inventory, he tied one end to the first bottle and the other to his lance. It was time to attack. He pulled his lance upwards, all the way into a nosedive aimed straight at the tank. He used his other hand, still holding a molotov, to slide a piece of equipment to his free hand. He let go of his first lance and jumped, setting it to swerve upwards as his other lance formed in his left hand. His first lance rocketed forward, molotov lit. The payload struck dead on and fire sprayed all over the top of the tank, as Kosuke activated the rocket booster on his second lance and reapproached the tank.

Titan's Grip was serving him well, lances were two-handed meaning he could dual-wield them with Titan's Grip. But that didn't mean that he had to have both lances in his hand at the same time, and along the same vein it didn't mean he couldn't two hand the other one even if he had two equipped.

The gunners jumped off in panic, and finally Kosuke could deal with the tank.

"Eat this!" He shouted.

The threw his last improvised molotov at the tank gunner's sight opening. He remembered now one of the greatest weaknesses of tanks was their enclosed environment. Starting a fire inside a tank meant death for everyone on board. It wasn't easy to put them out, and molotovs had been commonly used in real wars to deal with a tank instantly.

However, it was not impossible to fight a fire from within a tank, and if any of the players inside had a good enough water ability, his molotov would fail and the gunners would be on him right afterwards. Whether or not his tactic would work was up to fate to decide.

@Lucius Cypher

---

"Woah… It's so big…" Arkadian said.

He couldn't help but admire it. As a mage, this was the kind of thing he was supposed to be capable of, he felt like he wasn't really supposed to be throwing his cat at people. It was unexpected, sure, and it took people by surprise sometimes, but the difference between a surprising ability and an actually powerful ability was something he felt in his soul.

A green light shown from Christopher and the stun status was removed. He looked around to see who could've cast it, but Hellflame was most definitely not a healer and none of their enemies would've healed him. It could only have been the rogue.

"Thanks!" He shouted. He didn't know whether she could hear him, but it didn't matter too much to him. "Let's go up, Christopher!"The other outlaws fell away before him as Christopher began to fly upwards. Their enemies didn't have a flying ability, so as long as he and Hellflame went upwards, they would win this fight, but Arkadian was sure he didn't need to tell him that. He hadn't been around Hellflame for very long but he could tell at least that he had much more experience in Deep Ground Online than Arkadian did.

@Lucius Cypher@Scarifar

~Yoshino and Maribel~

---

Well that was…anti-climactic. Yoshino wasn’t annoyed, she was just…well, no. No, she was plenty annoyed because she too thought this was going to be a fun night to relax. But the entity that was Deep Ground Online always found subtle or direct ways to ruin her time. Figures. So she nodded to Retsu, leaving the other girl be while she danced alone. A pretty sad sight all things considered especially since the crowd had since disbanded when the challenge was cancelled.

She considered maybe sending a message to her client about the recent developments in the Ebony Strykers, but felt that would just be redundant. With a heavy sigh she continued to dance and sway, unbeknownst that she was in fact being watched after all. Some random guy who probably stunk too much of alcohol but a free score was a score all the same.

He wouldn’t have to try hard too, not with Yoshino sulking to herself as usual. A few smooth words, maybe a couple of obviously non-alcoholic drinks, and things would go his way. All he had to do was make the first move and since her red-headed friend was gone, now was the perfect chance. So he moved to the beat of the music, approaching Yoshino inch by inch.

A good distance away from that waiting disaster was another one in the form of the Student Vice President. Maribel had ended up being by Alex and Donovan’s side one moment and already zipping to the door in the next. She had busy, busy stuff to do after all and had left Alex a sticky note on his back saying to just pop on in her dorm whenever he felt like it. She didn’t mention the fact that she might be in some trouble tonight anyway.

A quick trip to her dorm and she found Misato in her room still logged on. Probably arguing with a certain blue fairy. Not wanting to disturb her imouto, she hopped into her room and logged on immediately. Right then. It was time to check out this new member to her Guild.

An informant of hers-the same one who notified her she’d be getting two members in the first place-had said something about strange things that might occur around the newbies. Obviously it wasn’t Misato who was to blame so it had to be this Joker fellow. A few moments later, and she was sitting in her Guild Throne Room as Mercury Titania.

And just like she had predicted, Blue Joker himself was in the room with her though he was looking at the walls as if studying art work. Now that was creepy and Bel knew all about being creepy. So either he was waiting for her or just wanted to talk to the leader himself. In any case…

“Eheh, how’s it going Blue King? Bet you weren’t expecting me here all by myself. I mean, in my book, the tour’s not over till you visit every space right?” he said with mirth.

“Nah, it’s totally cool. I mean, it’s not like you had anything to do with Broken suddenly attacking the Black Guild, right?” Mercury said with her usual grin to match his. Oh yes, she knew about that. She would facepalm and reprimand Broker later.

“Eheh, maybe I did. Or maybe she just rolled with your “shit rolls downhill” mentality. Hard to say really,” Joker replied. The more he spoke, the more unnerved Mercury felt and she didn’t know why. What was this sensation creeping over her…and then she gasped, her vision going black.

“Well, I did say I wanted to speak to you kid. Let’s have a chat in more private manners, eheh.”

As if things couldn’t get worse, another Colored King had logged on into her Throne Room. But this King was garbed in black, the form of Moon Rider herself sitting on her throne with a sneering grin. That in itself was odd given the King’s usual stoic nature so…just what was going on?

A few quick keystrokes and she had accessed the intercom to sweep forward her voice all over her Guild as well as the outside borders. Perfect. Now then, it was time to make things a little more interesting. She wouldn’t know it, but the other Colored Kings had been notified, wherever they were, of this moment as live feed. One of them would be grinning to themselves as Moon Rider spoke loud and clear.

“Attention denizens of the Black Guild, Strykers and Sweepers alike. Steel your resolves and turn your weapon not on your brethren but on the enemies of the Ebony Strykers. Our Guild has become assaulted by the Cobalt Bruisers. Defend our Guild from these heretic invaders! That is a direct order from your King.”

Back in the real world, at Eris’ apartment, Dana had long since got fed up with watching and merely just decided to break in. She was fairly certain she hadn’t left any tracks of the sort and even if she did, so what? Not like anyone could do anything about it. Already bored, she decided that she might as well entertain herself in this mission or whatever she was being paid to do.

So she strolled up to Eris herself, noting that the girl was currently logged in along with her friend. Perfect. Now she could do this without being yelled at. Looming over Eris, she raised a single digit…and proceeded to poke Eris’ cheek. She would do this until she got bored which would be quite a while. Yeah, totally worth it.

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