Cautiously, Thalia kept her ground, shielding Penny with her body, hoping to stop any and all attacks at whatever cost. She couldn't regenerate, and she couldn't use her Healing Artefact, but she could take hits; most Monstrous forms enhanced a girls physical capabilities, and that was all she had left to count on. But she just had to stop them... The silence in her head throbbed; the static, incessant, and empty nothingness growing into a crescendo of absent reality, but even in her lack of thought and comprehension of reason beyond her summoning, the girl knew she was reaching her limit.

Was Thalia trying somehow to escape from within the Monstrous form, silencing its urges, brought about from a desire to protect, from behind the tempest of emotion and within the spiral of silence she had so created for herself? Why would she try and do such a thing?



"G-get away from me..!" you cried, slapping away the hand that reached for you as you crawled backwards into the dark, sliding against the cold, and damp cobble you found yourself upon. Looking down on you were two girls, brandishing weapons and Monstrous Enhancements upon your sorry form, face polluted with tears from the attack.

You probably didn't know I was watching. Your Third Eye might have been able to detect me, but I hoped it wouldn't. At the very least, you were preoccupied with your predicament. I giggled in the darkness, involuntarily, but you didn't seem to notice that either. In any case, I was enjoying your little scuffle. Gosh, how long had you been a Magical Girl? It couldn't have even been two months, right? So young~! Not that those thugs seemed to mind your age; after all, why would they? You were in one of the zones Beacon didn't have such a strong control over, so they had nothing to fear.

And plus... You were a Monster too~! Not that that's a bad thing, I'd never say something like that. But I could see the abject terror and despair on your face as they got closer, grinning, prepared to hurt you even more, and perhaps put an end to your life. You were mortified, with little to no experience, and control over only one of your Specialisations. What were you going to do with the power of Beasts, summon wolves until you exhausted yourself? Then you really would die.

Instead you did something different. I hadn't expected you to pull a trump card like that, but surprise to me is always welcome. Honestly, Thalia, I couldn't stop myself from smiling~! You really were beautiful that first time. Your perfect, black coat, and your piercing blue eyes, and the way you stood, head on, facing your opposition like a hardened warrior, submerging their confident and cocky minds into the terror and despair you had felt just minutes before.

I cannot, for the life of me, understand why you chose to lock away such a power. A sudden burst of power, available in your most dire of moments, capable of destroying any one who stood as your enemy. In the face of the Magical Girls that normally hung around, you were nigh invincible. I had hoped you would be more... Accepting. The panic that threaded its way into the very fibre of your being and penetrated your soul, and the disgust and guilt you felt seeing the bodies of the two who had just attacked you. But they attacked you, Thalia! If they weren't prepared to die for their malicious and cruel actions then they deserved it all the more so.

Being your God, it was hard to watch... Every time you transformed you panicked, in the mindset that at any moment your inhibitions might shatter like a sheet of glass and you would rampage through the city, leaving destruction and death in your wake, you brought yourself closer to becoming that which you feared to become. Honestly? It was pathetic. But still you never accepted it... And in the end, you forced yourself apart from it, isolating your emotions from yourself so no one would bear witness to you. No... It wasn't my fault, but I'll take some credit for it. The Demon of Lothreen~



Thalia shook her head, regaining what senses she had lost in the moment of idle drifting. The beast shuddered visibly at the feeling of being touched, but didn't retaliate or attack, seemingly identifying whom the hand belonged to long before any words transpired. Her eyes narrowed onto Scout, who had stepped forward, unarmed, to diffuse the situation, and the wolf growled, warning her to back off. Penny was here now. Nobody would be getting any closer.

Her ears swivelled, to take in what Penny was whispering. Whether or not it made any sense was a question up in the air, eliciting no reaction from the creature physically. But inside was a different matter. The drowned voice spoke up, piercing through the tempest of emotion and into the silence that had taken over full control. She had done her job, and Penny was safe, but it refused to give up command just yet. Enemies were still on the field, in her head, and that was enough of a reason to stay vigilant against the threats. They hadn't attacked, but the beast couldn't take risks. For Thalia's sake, it couldn't take risks.

A beat passed in the dust ridden wind; and a second, followed by a third. Thalia remained steadfast, watching closely the wall and Scout, looking upon them as if they would and could move at any second. A fourth beat passed, and finally she was satisfied. They weren't going to attack, that much she could gauge, though the lack of thought that made it up classified it a somewhat unruly guess.

From her standing position, the beast turned its back on Alicia and the others, but even still her tails lit up with the same will-o-wisp of flame each had been embroidered with before. She crouched down, and dashed between her friends legs, picking her up onto her back before she could even protest to the action. Immediately, she dashed away, making use of the vast amounts of agility her body possessed, especially in her Monstrous state. She kicked from the ground, and in a second scaled the nearest building to her to the roof, before vanishing into the distance, Penny in tow.





Despite her lack of intelligence, and cognitive thought, the beast still remembered the location of their hideout; that was something she would never forget, no matter how much her mind deteriorated. She dashed in between the mounds of scrap metal, and other such rubble and junk, and between the triggers for every trap Penny had set, as though she had memorised them in the week since arriving. Her paw swatted violently away the metal sheet that made the entrance to the lair invisible to onlookers, and crawled her way inside, making extra sure nothing was knocked from the shelves due to her increase in size.

As soon as she got the chance, she gently - as gently as she possible could - laid Penny against the bed, and pushed the blanket haphazardly on top of her. The animalistic appendages made it difficult to do so, but Thalia was regaining control, bit by bit, making it easier to accomplish such human tasks.

The beast couldn't think, but if it did it would have wondered. Thalia had done this. She had set up the mechanisms, conscious or not, so that she wouldn't have to deal with the outcomes of her transformations. A safety mechanism, on top of the isolation. Her emotions were separated entirely from her reality, in an attempt to keep anything overflowing into herself. In the event it did seep in, she would engage a mental trigger, which would silence her mind and let the Monster take over. As soon as it was time to return, she would be unable to remember what had happened. Why would she want that? It only meant she was in denial, unable to accept the truth of her being and reality.

The creature blinked, over come with a fatigue that spread rapidly throughout its body, causing it to sink down into a sitting position. Within a second, it was forced to lie on its side, staring at Penny, curled up on the blanket they had shared. It was time for Thalia to take back over, it seemed, and so the creature let her. That was its purpose after all, and for now the job had been satisfied appropriately. All that was left was to drift off, deep into sleep, and let her transform back...

Julia did not respond to the -uppity light worm- other magical girl. Rather, she hovered there in silence. It took a few moments for her gaze to finally migrate away from the girl, and onto the beast that was nearby. It was clearly not natural, and Julia had some guesses as to the nature of the creature, judging by the feeling of its mind and magic. She did not move her eyes until the beast left. Once it was out of sight, she instead closed them, following it mentally for as long as she could reach.

In the end, it was Jillian that spoke first out of the two of them. Julia's other self floated forward, gesturing towards the magical girl whose presence Julia had felt before they were attacked. "You fired upon us," the obviously ghostly girl announced, her face set in a frown, "If we're not mistaken." There were few easier ways to anger Jillian than threatening Julia's safety. Despite the situation, the silent girl's lips quirked up in a smile. Her eyes opened to focus upon the offending girl.

"We demand an apology or recompense for this hostility." The time for niceties was before one had been fired upon.

The sky bastion made its second trip to the roof of the hospital. The last time Amber was here, it was to do some investigation work with Lily and Alexander. This was where Helga's body was destroyed. In an odd twist of irony, it would be where she was resurrected.

“I wonder how I'm going to explain this to Lily and Alexander?” Amber wondered out loud. “Well, I can cross that bridge when I come to it. Even if the bridge is burnt, I've got a flying ship!” Amber threw a rope off the edge of Sky Bastion and slid down onto the roof. Sure enough, Helga's ashes were right where she had left them. “Alright, I think this is everything.” The pirate pulled the pendant out of her outfit and let it rest in front of her coat.

"Yeah yeah, let's do this!" The pendant chimed. "Oh to be whole again! To fel the wind on my skin, food in my mouth! And my lips on....Hee he hee!" She giggled, unable to contain herself at the excitement.

"Good to hear" Violet said as she touch down on the hospital roof as well tossing a stray glance back at the flying ship above as she did. She had seen stranger things then the sky bastion, but not many. "Having all of this will make it easier" she added though more to herself. It was going ot be a taxing wish so every little bit helpped.

"So who wants to say the magic words?" she asked looking back and forth between Amber and The pendant with a raised eyebrow. As much as she would have liked to get stright to it, the proper protocol had to be followed

"Again?" Amber raised her brow? "Well, that should be easy enough!" The pirate girl cleared her throat before throwing her hands into the air. "I wish Helga's body was whole again!"

The moment Amber finished speaking a momentous amount of magic could be felt building around Violet as a soft white glow suffused the Mini-djinn "By your will" She intoned softly as her eyes became pools of white.

She approached the pile of ashes and gently picked them up. There was a thrum of magic and then she then began molding the ash as if it was clay. Pulling and stretching it she began to fashion the ashes in to the shape of Helga's body. Her movements were unnaturally graceful, as Violet wasn't fully in control of her actions.

It didn't take long for her to finish making the body, but even so she was sweating profusely. Taking a step back she seemed to regard her work, the body she had crafted was nearly perfect. The only issue was that it was still the grey color of ash. She seemed to consider the issue for a moment before she snapped her fingers as if an idea struck her on how to finish the wish.

Turning she strode over to Amber and carefully took the pendant from the Pirate. "I shall rewrite the world" she said softly meeting the other girls eyes for a moment before she turned back to the the ashen doll with each step Violet took towards it it gain more and more color until she was standing right in front of it. She nodded once and placed the pendant on the body she fashioned.

Violet took a step back and the magic swirling around her dropped away causing her to sag to the ground. "Try not to loose that one"

"Nicely done sis. I wouldn't have thought to do it that way." Though Sakura knew what Violet had planned to do, she probably wouldn't have done it the same way herself.

"What can I say? I was inspired" Violet chirped as she sat back and just watched the out come of her handy work.

Amber stepped in front of Helga's body, seemingly ignoring Violet's presence. The pirate was observing Helga's body with a hand under her chin. “So this is you, Helga?” This was the first time Amber had seen Helga. She looked into the monster girl's eyes. “Do you feel normal?”

Helga's eyes were closed as she stood there, her posture straight like a statue. But when the pirate girl spoke, she seemed to wake from her slumber. "...Huh? What...Whoa...I...Am I...Back?" She slowly touched her arms and legs, and then planted her palm on her forehead. "I really am back...It actually worked! Yahooo!" She grinned widely, and suddenly lunged at Amber, picking her up in a hug, spinning her around in the air. "It's so hard to believe, but it's true! And to think I believed that bloodsucker! Now you're a real Lady compared to her!" She giggled incessantly, euphoric from her resurrection.

The centrifugal force caused Amber's head and legs to float away from Helga as she spun. “Glad I could help!” Her eyes were watering just a little bit.

Sakura smiled, although took a step back to avoid getting hit, or possibly hugged as well. That would be a little too close for comfort for her.

But then, something happened: she suddenly stopped spinning, and released Amber as she slunk to her knees. "UGH! What...Why does it...Hurt so much?" She clutched at the pendant she wore, but then screamed as it suddenly wept blood as hot as boiling water; even her iron-hard claws burned from the contact. The pendant snapped free from her neck, and dropped to the ground, forming a pool of blood before it was completely absorbed by the liquid. And then, from the liquid appeared an eye. Helga's eyes widened in pure terror. "Huh? "What! Why! Why do you-No! I didn't think it would work! You can't do this!" She screamed at the bloody eye. It was obvious the eye communed with her in a way the others couldn't understand. The entity closed it's eye, and dissolved into the disappearing pool until it was gone. Helga screamed as dark light erupted from her body, until she was completely enveloped in it. When the magic had passed, she was prone on the ground, breathing heavily. And as she stood back up, she had changed back to what was presumably her regular human form. She blushed, and hid her face under her scarf. "Oh no...This is embarrassing."

“Um...” Amber had just recovered from her twirl educed vertigo. “Well, Still not as embarrassing as my untransformed state.” The pirate trailed off as she walked up to Helga again. “What just happened? Can you still transform or...?”

The young girl sighed and looked away. "No...I lost my power. My Patron abandoned me, and took my magic with him." Her lower lip quivered. "Now I'm useless to you.."

Amber sighed, but her smile only grew. “First of all, you're hardly useless. I can't walk down the street without someone asking where my parents are, and Sue can only maintain her human form for about a half an hour. Having someone who can go shopping and act as an adult is extremely useful.” The pirate took Helga's hands in her own. She was noticeably shorter than her taller counterpart. “Secondly, we already decided to be friends outside of the whole magical girl business, remember? I never expected you to fight along side me, only to be a reliable friend.” She ran her thumbs over the back of Helga's hands. “Being normal isn't bad though. It's something I find myself occasionally yearning for. You don't have to worry about beacon chasing you anymore, and you certainly don't look like a freak. The option to have a normal life is open to you. Isn't that what you wanted?” Amber smirked. “But you are going to be part of my crew for life, even if you choose to never set foot on this ship again. But that would be a shame, as I already have your room picked out.”

Helga's eyes watered from Amber's kind words. "R-Really? I'm a...friend? You...actually mean it?" Her hands shivered from the shorter girl's touch, but she didn't pull them away. She smiled even as she began crying, and hugged Amber; she couldn't lift her like she did last time, but it was even more heartwarming. "Thank you! Thank you so much! I'll be your crewmate! I'll sail the skies with you! Because you...You're my Lady...You're the only one I could call that..."

Amber returned the hug. “It's not really a big deal.” She giggled before turning to look at the Djinn sisters. “Thanks guys. If you ever get together with Sue again, maybe I'll join you.”

Violet just smiled from where she was sitting "Feel free to give us a call as well if you want to meet up sometime as well it's always nice to make new friends, plus having to do it the normal way feels better." she replied happily, casting a positive wish always got Violet in a chipper mood, whether it was because of the magic or the fact she was a hidden romantic was hard to gather.

@t2wave@Shifter_Master@Ariamis

Penny let out a tiny squeak of surprise as Thalia picked her up and started bounding away from the wrecked area. Not long after, however, she let out a sigh as the tension started to ebb away, she knew she would have to contact Alicia later, possibly Suwako as well, but she would worry about that later. So she just held on to Thalia as the fox took them through the city, and used the time to continue to imprinting.

It was with the same hazy awareness from earlier that Penny realized that Thalia had brought them home. Absently the mecha mahou noted that she would have to fix her door, but once again put off that plan of action for later, she was nearly finished with the imprinting, and afterwards she could finally finish healing up.

"Thanks Foxy" she murmured softly as she realized she had placed in her nest of blankets, and helped Thalia pull the blanket up, making sure that her spear laden arm wasn't tangling anything as she did. Penny was obviously dazed, but having so little magical control meant imprinting over someone else’s Metal took a lot of processing power, so her actions and words were less filtered than normal. She wasn’t so out of it, however, that she didn’t notice Thalia slowly succumbing to exhaustion. So she reached out and pulled her friend closer, not caring about the fact she was a giant fox at the moment, and started petting the monster softly.



Sometime later Penny found herself blinking back to full awareness.'Seems I dozed off for a moment' she though before a glance at her left arm confirmed her suspicion as to why she might have done such, as the spear was no longer impaled in it. In fact the spear could no longer be seen as it had been incorporated in to Penny’s body.

Originally she had been planning on using the Metal to build herself a tail or tendril, as she had noted the advantage of such an appendage in her fight with Elroy. The spear wasn't sufficient enough materials for her to build what she wanted however, so instead she opted to lay the ground work with what she had acquired instead.

Along her back one could now find six ports running next to her spine, three on each side. Currently they were closed, but if she got enough materials she would be able fashion new limbs to install in them. What type of limbs she would build, she would decide later. Her chassis had also been fortified to better balance the weight distribution when she installed her upgrades, whenever it was she built them.

Speaking of her chassis, Penny lifted up the blanket and inspected her side, and as she expected it was impossible to tell that she had been injured at all. She smirked at that, glad that the Bates hadn't learned about her regeneration. It would be a nasty surprise for them the next time they fought.

That thought, however brought the entirety of the earlier fight back to the forefront of Penny's thoughts, chief among them was the fact that Penny had lost control over her urges. Just like that she felt sick, as every single odd sensation about her body stood out to her like a beacon in the dark. She felt wrong, unnatural, as despair started to consume her mind. Quietly she began to cry as once again she felt like a total stranger in her own skin.

Penny never fully accepted what happened to her, never gave herself time to adjust or to come to terms with what happened when Laat'AlOfan stripped away her old life and destroyed who she used to be. But here in the darkness of her home, with the memories of what happened earlier she finally started to breakdown.

But before she could truly start tearing into herself, for all manner of reasons, both real and imagined something stopped her wayward train of thought.

She had started to curl in to herself, seeking some semblance of comfort as she spiraled in to depression, and as she did she found Thalia instead. The fox girl was asleep and curled up next to her on top of the blankets.

Suddenly Penny's worries, her fears, no longer seemed so important. For all the messed up things that had been tossed her way, Thalia was one she didn't want to give up. The tears kept flowing from Penny however, as she started to recount all the ways she had been a terrible friend. The only solace had been the past week, and even that had been tainted by her actions both just barely and earlier.

Twice now Penny had over looked her friend, once when she had been injured, and again just now she had almost forgotten her friend to wallow in her own grief. Slowly Penny reached out and pulled the smaller girl in to a soft embrace and quietly vowed to herself that it would not happen again.

Slowly the tears and the grief, was drowned out by the memories of the past week, of the various games of tag the two girls had played across the roof tops, of the arcades they had been black listed from due to Penny's internal knowledge of machines, all the times Thalia caused Penny to go bright red because of something the vixen had said or done.

The cyborg couldn't help the smile that started to spread on her face due to the memories; she didn't even notice that her tears had already dried. She hadn't felt so happy, so comfortable, since she had been changed, and she owed it all to Thalia.

Quietly, and unknowingly, Penny's heart was stolen by the sleeping Monster girl.

Alicia Hayden

The light magical girl waited with bated breath to see if Scout would be successful, or if the interloper would be attacked by Thalia in exchange for her efforts. She was ready to strike back on a moments notice, fully expecting this to come to nothing. Everyone from Beacon knew the futility of arguing with someone who had fallen under their Monstrous Instinct.

It ended in a flash. Thalia turned and picked up Penny before running off, laving the assembled girls behind. "W-Wait!" Alicia cried as they vanished from sight, but it was too late. Anger flared, born in frustration with herself as she grit her teeth. Damn it, now what were they going to do? Penny was gone, and they couldn't help her if she needed it. And who knew that monstrous Transformation would last.

She did appreciate the effort though, and shot the new girl a nod. "Thanks for the help," she said as she sent her bow away. There was no need for it anymore, so far as she could tell.

As if her day had not been going well enough already, the girls who had demolished the building had not left, and instead felt like it was the best decision to demand an apology. Alicia was already not in the best of move, and frowned as she turned once again to face the duo. "You decided to approach an ongoing fight while flaring an aura like you were trying to be a badass. You have no one to blame but yourself, and I am under no obligation to provide you anything for thinking that I needed to defend myself," she shot back with barely held restraint. Maybe it would result in another fight, but at this point she didn't care.

@ShyDot@Hammerman@Majoras End

Alexander Shields

Alexander rose an eyebrow "Pushy? You?" He paused "actually...I'm not sure" scratching his head, he continued "I mean, you already do things that should bother me. Like when you stole my bed. The last time someone stole my bed it was an older kid at the orphanage that was making a power play. I responded by attacking him. Then there's your peppy attitude; people like that used to drive me nuts. Honestly. I should find you irritating and unbearable...but I don't. Hell, I actually like having you around, and I have no god damn idea why." Alexander sighed "so yeah. I'm not sure if you're pushy...but I also don't care. Is that weird?"

Lily sat up and listened to Alex with a small smile, and giggled. "But even after I stole it you don't seem to mind enough to want it back. Hehe, it is weird...Just like me~"

Alexander grunted under his breath "and now we have a serial kidnapper on our hands. Great, just what we need; more problems"

The green-haired girl turned on the TV.
"It's not like I'm absolutely sure if Mariette's kidnapped others, it's just a gut feeling. Well, not that it matters since I messed up. We'll just have to look elsewhere for a shifter."
She tried to distract herself with a nature documentary about bats, but for some reason that only caused her to think of the eyepatched girl more. After five minutes, she turned it off, and dozed off in her room. Instead of dreams that night, she saw a nightmare.

---

Even days after the big fight with several other magical girls Janet felt like she was recovering. Not that she was still injured from it, but the whole idea of this mounting hostility was turning into some kind of war. And it seemed like there were other parties starting to jump in.

Even more than before, Janet had started to visit one of the Beacon's meeting places. She was able to train there with her fellow Beaconites to try and prepare for what was coming. The exact details were still not revealed. The Beaconites were quite secretive and had procedures that they had a way of following. Which was fine in Janet's mind. They knew better what they were doing, having been at it much longer than herself.

Like after the initial meeting things had gone quiet again. It was somewhat unsettling. Clearly there were at least two or three out there specifically against the Beacon, but with their numbers they could repel them. A benefit that Janet was glad to have, someone willing to back her up.

But right now Janet was back home and it was getting late. Sighing and getting dressed for bed she headed to the bathroom and brushed her teeth. Her parents were insistent that she keep up her hygiene even though she already knew that well enough. Admittedly she was becoming used to this life. Sure she had to go to school and listen to her parents but neither one of those was really hard. If anything this was the best deal she ever made. A nice home, loving family, friends, and youth. Pretty sweet deal from the alternative. It was sleep time now though and she lay down in bed to get some shut eye.

... Then, all of a sudden, she fell.

It didn't matter if she was awake or asleep. It didn't matter if she woke up or screamed. If she looked up, she'd see a circular shape in complete blackness leading to her room, a portal that was swiftly closing. Where she fell, what felt like hundreds of tentacles suddenly enclosed around her. Not violently, they merely gripped around her limbs and torso, holding her in place. She'd be free to scream, but any attempt to transform would be met with a tentacle wrapping itself around her head at mouth-level to shut her up. Here she remained for a few seconds, in complete blackness.

At first the magical girl was utterly confused. Was this a dream? Or a nightmare. She felt herself being restrained and determined it was the latter. Or was it? There was a magical presence which meant that this was real. How was this happening? Janet struggled to break free but that wasn't happening, and her efforts to transform were thwarted. It seemed that wherever she was the one that put here there knew what they were doing and weren't about to let her escape..

Then another portal opened, one leading to somewhere with a bit of light. The tentacles carried her gently through, and she found herself... in a parking lot, surrounded by walls and dampness. If she knew this place, she'd know it as the Penrose underground parking lot. To her right and left she'd see plenty of more restrained magical girls, held by tentacles from numerous mirrors that had been placed along the road on parking spaces. There were a lot of them, many looking panicked, despairing, or glaring angrily or defiantly at the present individuals. Which were...

‘And here's tonight's star, so freshly abducted she's still screaming!’ Deni, black liquid harpy with huge grin and tiny body raised her slimy wings to gesture at Janet where she now hung in mid-air. Not that Janet was necessarily screaming. Deni was currently in 7.5 year old harpy-form, because potential of needing to battle shortly.

‘Name, Janet Howell. Specialization, Water. Affiliation, Beacon.’ Another liquid harpy, Eli was saying as she was looking over her paper notes that she was holding with a slime-wing while presenting the data to whoever they were presenting her to.

‘I'd like you to note how she's completely unharmed,’ Deni walked over with a grin and ran the tip of her slimy wing over Janet's cheek. ‘Beautifully uncorrupted,’ Deni said obviously not knowing Janet's past. And then the harpy slid the wing back to pull on Janet's hair, lifting it for the public to see. ‘And just LOOK at this amazingly smooth and long, long hair...!’ She said in honest amazement.

‘All delivered just the way you like it~!’ Deni spun away from Janet facing those she was selling her to like a car-salesman or something. ‘Do admit, we've done good~!’

‘…’ On the side of Janet's vision, stood a girl about her age (compared to the tiny 7.5 year old harpies), a girl with exceedingly long white hair, dark dress, single blue eye present as the right was covered in an eyepatch, her arms clutching a single large stuffed bunny. Underneath her, shadowy tentacles were extruding pulling themselves into multiple small mirrors, which could be assumed to be those extending to wrap around the many Magical Girls inside the room. Mariette held her single eye on Janet during Deni's presentation, before she turned and looked at the audience.

A brief moment of struggle played out as Janet tried to free herself once again. What was all of this? Why was she kidnapped? Who were all the other magical girls similarly trapped? None of these questions could be expressed though as her protests were still being stifled by the shadow wrapped around her face.

Of course, by now Janet was a helpless observer to the scene that was presented to her. Which was Mariette, Deni and Eli presenting their catch to Justine, who clapped her hands, giving a courteous small smile.



She was accompanied by Caroline, who seemed to drool at the sight of all the girls, Sonia who held a clipboard and made notes with a knife-shaped pen, as well as Minnie, whose clock eye had its hands spinning in various directions, smiling widely with teeth bared at the sight of all of these girls.

"How magnificent; it is like I am window shopping for the perfect magical girl~", Justine spoke as she slowly walked past the parking spots. Caroline was behind her, and giggled incessantly as she looked at all of the captured girls, focused on the long-haired ones in particular, her eyes staring at them with disturbing interest.
"Oh yes, my mistress, these are lovely, with such a tragic end meeting them!" As she passed by them, Minnie lifted her massive revolver, and shot at the girls; the girls seemed to completely freeze once they were hit with something invisible. Sonia then placed a hand over each one of them, and muttered a magical spell that caused them to disappear. One by one, the parking lot turned empty, until finally Janet was left.

As the captured girls were being taken away, Mariette watched the actions of the girls under Justine's control. Minnie could freeze them, and then Sonia transported them away... Eli was watching with her Third Eye, Mariette confirmed, it'd be something to collect for after. In any case. She glanced briefly to Caroline, confirming she was enjoying the show, and then turned to Justine, to say her part.

‘Our part is done.’ Mariette declared. ‘Your turn.’

Justine had her hands behind her as she leaned over and looked at Janet closer, her smirk growing. "Sonia, how many magical girls were in total?"

"Thirty-nine not counting the Beacon, my Lady. Out of them, twenty-eight had hair reaching past their shoulders." Justine smiled.
"Excellent~ You are truly worthy of your reputation, Reflective Witch. To have collected so many fine vessels, and in such a short amount of time, as well. Justine reached out towards Janet, and stroked her cheek with her fingers; the bound girl could see her long nails, crimson red and sharp like claws.

The blonde didn't flinch at the touch, and simply glared at Justine. Who was this anyway? Some names were being thrown around but that didn't really help explain that much. So far it didn't look like she was in a good place to make many moves. She was outnumbered and overpowered in her untransformed state. Even transformed she probably wouldn't be able to fight them all, but she might be able to escape. She mumbled something that couldn't be made out.

"Mariette Pedersen, you have earned your reward." She stepped back, leaving room in front of her, and lifted her arms up. "Oh, merciful and just Father, who will dye this sinful world in a pure color, heed your daughter's wish, and grant me a fragment of your supreme power; a shard of your endless scarlet." A crimson portal opened before her, swirling blood pouring out of it, and out of it stepped huge monsters; their every step caused the ground to slightly tremble as their heavy frames stepped out, their heads hitting the ceiling. They walked into a formation, and soon the underground parking lot was filled with the four-legged abominations. "For every every long-haired magical girl, I shall grant one of my Gorelions, and one for three magical girls with shorter hair. How many does that equate to, Sonia?"
The maid-like woman nodded and quickly wrote on her clipboard.
"Thirty-two Gorelions, my Lady.

"And for granting me a member of Beacon in such short notice, I shall give this." She carefully picked out something from a pocket in her dress, and lifted it up: it was a crystal just like the black ones the Visceral sisters use to keep in touch with their contacts, but it was a deep red in color. "I will give you the means to summon something even more powerful than the mighty Gorelions. However, I will warn you, that it may not follow your commands."

Mariette nodded to Justine's words, and then simply watched as she summoned the large monsters which quickly started to fill the room. Hm. These... would be adequate, they could help her forward the cause. Gorelions... Mariette connected portals and started opening wide portals to take the large beasts and ferry them into Asengav's dimension. It was straining to her to open portals that wide to that dimension from here, but she had multiple mirrors around her to assist her, so it worked out. So, guiding the portals with her hands, she took in the Gorelions, guiding them to a place where they'd wait until she needed them.

‘Oooh...’ Eli made a bit of a noise as she inspected the Gorelions, writing a couple of notes in her notebook. For sure, their collective prowess in battle had just increased substantially.

‘Wooo. They'll be useful.’ Deni grinned, before looking towards Caroline. ‘Aren't you lucky, little maniac? Mistress went through a lot of effort gathering these long-haired dolls for y-’ Deni blinked a little as she got a premonition, watching Caroline's gaze. ‘Eh.’ Deni could only make a light noise of realization, looking at her from a distance, and trying to reason of what that would mean.

After Mariette was done moving the Gorelions, she gasped out a little, before turning to Justine. So, her reward for bringing a Beacon girl...

A tiny smirk appeared on Mariette's lips as she was offered the crystal and warned of what it might be. That... that's excellent. A portal opened from Mariette's hand to the crystal, and she reached through and quickly gripped it and pulled it back before dropping it into a portal to her Hammerspace Handbag, which was really just a dimension where she kept all her things.

‘Thank you, Justine von Visceral. You've certainly delivered on your part of the deal.’ Mariette said, keeping her smirk.

"A true lady keeps to her word, after all. Besides, I don't have the slightest care for how you will use these forces. After all, I am now ready to turn this world...into a pure one. Isn't that right, my sweet Caroline?" Justine looked over her shoulder to her little sister, and raised an eyebrow; the girl in red seemed to be staring at something to the exclusion of all else; she seemed to be slightly drooling as her mouth was left open.
"Caroline, you're making a mess! What is it now!" Justine snapped at her, and her teeth were bared in anger; her regal composure dropped and turned more ferocious.

Caroline lifted a hand, and pointed. "So long...So...pretty..."
It was then that Justine realized who it was that she was so fixated on; Mariette herself.
"Pretty doll...Caroline wants to play with pretty doll...with long, long hair, and...sweet, sweet red...sweet...RED!"



Before Mariette could react, Caroline leapt at her, her wings now fully unfolded and shining as she charged straight at the eye-patched girl, forcing her to defend herself on the spot as she was unable to escape from the incredible swiftness of the monster girl.

Mariette's immediate instinct upon immediately being charged would be to thrust up a wall of tentacles between herself and Caroline, but that likely wouldn't be enough. The second instinct was to open a portal between herself and the incoming winged girl, both as a shield and an escape route, as if Caroline flew through one end she could escape through the other, but it was unclear if she would be able to open said portal quickly enough.

Eli was too startled to act quickly enough, her eyes widening and her arms quickly deforming into a rifle to interfere, but nowhere near fast enough to fire in time, and her notebook which had been in her wing-hands got caught in the slimy rifle which forced her to pause to get it out of the firing line.

Deni did react, however, and quickly deformed her entire side into a large, round and solid shield before jumping to attempt intercepting Caroline's flight from the side in order to give her mistress the time to escape, her face having a little grin of excitement of "guess we're doing this~!".

Blood flowed out of Caroline's open palms as she flew like a plane, and it formed into a oversized claymore that she wielded like a toothpick, slashing through the tentacles in spinning motions like a giant whirlwind of death, scattering the tendrils. The crazed girl bared her fangs and laughed in glee as it kicked Eli right in the face during her moment of vulnerability, causing her to fly back towards Mariette. She seemed to fly on pure instinct as she attempted to flank the portal and catch Mariette.

"Hahaahaaahaa! SWEET...RED!" She laughed, and stabbed.

Mariette blinked as her awareness told her of Caroline’s dodging to the side. Eli had been standing on that side, but was kicked back in pain in behind Mariette. She knew where Caroline would appear, but her own reflexes couldn’t keep up. She was neither fast enough to dodge nor able to summon a new portal quickly enough, and even if she did Caroline would but sidestep that too.

Deni, however, had been ready since noticing the change in Caroline earlier. She charged straight into the way of flanking Caroline with her whole side having deformed into a solid shield, successfully predicting where she’d go. Deni grinned widely, responding to the other girl’s energy. ‘Quite the energetic one, eh. Sorry, can’t let you have-!’ She responded, but cut short due to the impact of claymore against her shield.

The sword stabbed right through Deni’s shield and her behind it. The amorphous harpy endured the strong blow as it passed through her.
But then, in an insane move, Caroline released her grip on the weapon, causing it to melt into blood, and in turn it was absorbed into Deni's body.

The foreign liquid seething with vile, corrupt magic caused her excruciating pain; it felt like poison as it burned inside Deni, and she was stunned from the pain, her body solidifying in an attempt to reject the blood.

While all of this was happening, Justine simply observed with an annoyed look.
"Tsk tsk...Caroline, you simply can't control yourself, can you?" Sonia had a tray of teacups appear on her cupped hand, and she offered one to Justine. She picked it up and sipped calmly on it with an outstretched pinky finger like a sophisticated lady, even as she was witnessing something nightmarish.
"Well, no matter. I have what I wanted. I can let my sweet sister play her little games for now~"

The sword went straight through the shield and impaling Deni’s body behind it, making her blink in surprise. Okay, so Caroline was significantly stronger than her, no issue. Fortunately, her body was fluid, so being impaled wasn’t that bad. Deni grinned and gripped the sword inside her, smiling at Caroline. ‘No issue, I’m just gonna have to hold you until- eh…’ Then Caroline let go of the sword and the sword started dissolving into blood inside Deni.

Now, Deni’s already corrupt to the core. But the blood was a volatile magic injuring her from within. She flinched, feeling the searing, pulsing pain, before screaming out from the burning magical poison within her, trying to stumble back.

In that moment, Caroline gripped Deni's shoulders, followed by her sinking her teeth in her neck, drinking the blood back to her, like something out of a horror movie. As Caroline was now occupied with slimy harpy, Deni managed to give Mariette a chance to escape before she was next on her dinner menu.

Deni’s immediate instinct was to become intangible, her last defense against enemies that got too close, but somehow the blood prevented her magic from taking shape, and unable to act, she could do nothing as Caroline grasped her shoulders and bit her neck, other than stare up in fright and shout out in pain.

‘DENI!’ Eli cried out in fright, even as Mariette was already heading through a portal of her own. Mariette blinked in realization, spinning about and looking with an alarmed glare. Deni was in trouble. Her own magic would be insufficient to help her at this point. Tentacles were too weak against Caroline, and a portal would just take Caroline with it because she was attached to Deni. It was annoying, but she had to rely on their last resort. Mariette channeled her dark power and swung her hand. Her portal-magic could be used to send messages through the dimensions, in rare occasions.

Barely had the message been sent, before a huge surge of magic poured into the room. Vast portals swung open, each to a different dimension, but through them all thrust Asengav’s great black tentacles of darkness down at Caroline and Deni, first order of business being separating the two. A cry without sound echoed through the underground parking lot, and those in it would feel how powerful the being that had been called was, yet… this wasn’t even close to its full might. This was only a jab of the hand, to recover a lost underling in a distant dimension, far from its home.

Mariette frowned as she saw them descend, knowing that Asengav would forever remember that she had needed to ask for his help. But, there had been no choice. She opened a quick portal that swallowed the panicked Eli and sent her far away, while herself she quickly jumped back into her own portal, decreasing the size of it so she could but look through to see as the tentacles of Asengav did their job, to make sure Deni would be alright…

Justine scowled, and placed the cup of tea back on the tray. She then and lifted her arms, and dark magic coursed through her palms.

"O Father, will you let this lesser being, filthy and craven, deny Caroline her salvation? Please, teach them their futility before the power of purity!"

Then, crimson rifts appeared, like gaping wounds of reality, and giant red arms with sharp claws emerged from them and began to wrestle with Asengav's tentacles. Red claws and black tentacles slammed into one another above where Caroline held Deni, their massive power struggling against one another, a battle on a scale beyond the Magical Girls below. Suffice to say, the scene was unbelievable to behold, with two Horrors coming to a clash, something only seen but once in millenia. And, as one might imagine, it was a stalemate, neither side gaining the immediate advantage in their titanic bout for supremacy.

"Hmm, this is turning troublesome...Sonia, if you may."

"Understood, my Lady."
Sonia first lowered her hands, and then threw them up; a chandelier suddenly appeared, and was thrown high into the air, with a long chain running after it.. Sonia then jumped, and tied the chain up on one of the pipes in the ceiling, letting the chandelier and its countless candles shine directly upon Caroline and Deni.
With Asengav's Bane brought in full force, the Horror's tentacles flinched, screeched as the flesh burned from the light of the candles, and the huge tentacles untangled themselves from the claws and slipped back through the many portals which swiftly closed, leaving Deni behind. Mariette herself had to flinch in alarm and immediately close the portal, as to not suffer the consequences on the other side.

‘Ah...’ Deni suddenly felt the burning of the candle-light on top of the sensation of the burning blood within her and Caroline draining her from her supposedly liquid neck. She had felt a bit of relief when Asengav came crashing in... but it wasn't meant to be, was it? Sorry, Eli, big sis is going to leave you alone for a while, but if Mariette had been kept safe because of it, it was worth it. Oh, right, she was supposed to meet with Sue, too... D-don't worry, she'd be back eventually! The eternal cycle assured it! She'd make it all up for them...! ‘Hahaha...!’ Deni managed a final grin and little laughter, even as everything burned. Didn't feel right when she wasn't grinning.

Then she dissolved.

"Hehee...yummy..."

Caroline slowly descended on her emaciated wings down to the ground, smeared in what once remained of Deni, and shivered. She dropped to her knees, and looked at her open hands; her manic giggling echoed through the underground chambers.

Justine observed the ending with a look of boredom and apathy.
"How banal. Now then, let us prepare to leave, Minnie, Sonia." She walked once more to Janet, and pressed a finger to her gagged mouth.
"I have big plans for this one~" Before the bound magical girl realized it, somebody hit her in the head, and everything went dark.

---

The next morning, Lily woke up with a loud groan, and shivered; for some reason she felt like she dreamed of something terrible. Since she didn't remember the contents of her dream, however, she decided to brush it off.
She was eating breakfast when Ixion's rumbling voice emerged in her head.

Lily, the forces of darkness have emerged in mass! You must go to the iron horse! Hurry, bring balance to chaos!

"What? Are you sure?" Lily suddenly shouted at the breakfast table, causing Alex to wake up if he didn't from her earlier noises.
"Ok, got it! Alex, where's the train station? There's monsters that need asskicking!"

True to what the Lesser Force and other Patrons in the city say, the train station was infested with monsters around the area; locals reported strange red unicorns without skin, their bodies coated with fresh blood. They were galloping around, attacking any poor civilian who happened to veer too close. Something had to be done, and fast.

Julia's face finally contorted into a frown as her gaze refocused upon the other magical girl. Jillian raised a hand ever so slightly away from her side, a subtle gesture towards Julia accompanied by a small pulse of emotion. This time, however, the girl did not remain silent. Jillian was yanked backwards in her grasp, coming to a stop closer to Julia.

She spoke, ignoring Jillian's disapproving frown. "Do you often blame the victims of your reckless activities, servant of the Beacon?" She crossed her arms, not waiting for a reply. "Perhaps that explains how you sleep at night, collaborating with hypocrites that seek the destruction of peace." Or so the wild rumors went. "A massive conflict erupts, and you expect it to not draw attention? That there would be no consequences for lashing out at all comers without regard for if they could be friend or foe? You have much to learn still."

Julia tilted her head up at the other girl despite already floating somewhat off the ground, the air around her one of great disdain. "You alone are to blame for your poor judgement. You will apologize and let this end peacefully, or you will kneel." Julia's magic pulsed within the final word, the weight of gravity made metaphorical. Though also somewhat literal, with how the dust beneath her flattened.

Jillian winced, her nervous gaze passing rapidly between both the Beacon girl and Julia herself. This was far from diplomatic, but the empath's other self rarely responded well to being told that she was to blame for anything. The girl was very forceful. Jillian loved her, but sometimes she couldn't be restrained. Or rather, Jillian was bad at doing the restraining.

She waited tensely.

@Flamelord @Hammerman @Majoras End

The Bates were unable to contact their beacon hunting allies. It was safe to assume Umeko was put off by Regina's last outburst. Umeko bragged about her ability to track anyone, and two monster twins with a huge aura should have been an easy target. But Regina did not sleep on the streets that night.

In the morning, Regina was sitting in a lavish home, specifically the guest bedroom. She was sitting on the corner of a bed sketching pictures on a notepad. Elroy was completely reclined on an adjacent bed, lowering grapes into his mouth.

Regina had persuaded an older woman to let two poor, homeless runaways take up residence in her house. This was one of the few times Regina didn't need to use her powers to persuade someone to help her. Any good samaritan would help a bruised and burnt pair of twins. They were welcome to stay until they recovered, which was going to be a very short time with Regina's healing artifact.

“Is there something you want to talk about Elroy? You've been awfully quiet.” Regina didn't look up from her drawing. As soon as she finished it, she just flipped the paper over and started drawing a new one.

“You made me think you were dead.” Elroy didn't look away from the ceiling. “You manipulated me.” He looked unusually stern, not even a hint of a smile.

Regina looked between Elroy and her artwork. “I... Was angry.” She continued to draw. “You haven't been very obedient recently. You were right to ignore my order about teasing Caroline, but you insisted on fighting Ilia and you nearly killed each other.”

“So we did fight.” Elroy shifted his gaze onto Regina. “That's twice you toyed with my head. That I know about anyway.”

Regina promptly stopped drawing, her lips curled inside her mouth. “Yes, he was going to divide himself up into a bunch of clones and severely injure you, if not kill you outright. You might have hurt him pretty badly, which wouldn't have helped our situation either.” She looked directly at him. “But I knew you were too proud to stop fighting, so I ended the fight.”

“Thanks mom.” Elroy started to smile. “But then why did you put me in a far more precarious situation? I mean, Beacon actually would have killed me if I stuck around for it. And you know I would have after you died.”

Her grip tightened on her pencil. “You weren't going with the plan, and you seemed like you were cooperating with that miserable beacon girl. Meanwhile, that disgraceful monster was preparing to attack one of us.” She scoffed. “I wanted so badly to fire first, but I trusted you would make the right choice in time. All you had to do was grab her and run. It would have been easy, she had no way to resist. But you waited too long, and that monster girl could have killed me.”

“You also told Umeko that you didn't want to confront Beacon because you didn't want to appear on their radar.” Elroy sat up on his bed, looking straight across at Regina. “So what do I do in those situations?”

“I was scared, okay?” Her voice cracked. “If that cyborg had chosen to fire on you instead of me, I would have been alone. There's no one else in this world that I can trust.” There was a shutter in her breath. “I'm not sorry for what I did. What you felt last night is exactly how I would feel if anything happened to you. Who am I going to go back to? My father? My mother? The beacon killers?”

Elroy's smile faded as his fellow twin went on. “Alright. So what should I do?”

Regina's lower lip was trembling. “I want you to remember how horrible you felt.” She inhaled deeply. “Also, y-you should give me a hug.”

“Excuse me?” Elroy raised an eyebrow. “You really want one, or is this your way of saying sorry?”

Regina tossed her drawing pad off to the side and stood upright. “Stop antagonizing me and just do it!” Elroy was confused, but stood up in turn. He approached his sister and wrapped his arms around her shoulders. Regina placed her hands on his back, pulling herself to him. “It was interesting though.” Regina spoke in a quiet voice. “Seeing you fight so hard to avenge me. That's definitely not something I’m going to forget either.” She looked at the side of Elroy's head. “A-and you can't say I never hugged you now.”

“I guess we both have something to remember then. I'll forgive you.” His smile was starting to return.

“Well, I forgive you too.”

”Hope I'm not intruding.”



Tonya did not appear before the bates as herself. While she did assume a form that closely resembled her own, that of a wolf monater girl, everything else was different enough that no one would assume that the two were the same.

"Excuse me!" Regina shouted. "What do you think you're doing here?!"

”I could say the same to you. But instead I'm going to comment on your amazing fashion sense!” Tonya spun in front of them. She still had a Bikini top on, specifically so that she could open with that line.

"O-oh!" Regina looked away with a blush. "Y-you don't look so bad yourself."

"Didn't answer the question, wolf girl." Elroy fret his brow, but kept his smile up. "You here to squat with us, or what?"

”I'm here to give you some back up, actually.” She folded her arms. ”You seem kind of lost. Wouldn't you like a patron to help look after you and teach you about this magical world you've found yourselves in?”

The red haired woman folded her arms. ”I don't know. Those little things...”

”Yea, the little rodent guys aren't my favorite thing to deal with either. To avoid that, you'll want to work with the Mint. Or more specifically, Veronica.”

"Veronica?"

”Yea, wanna meet her?”

The look on their faces said it all. Her anonymity from the mint was hers. At least for now.

---

"Now, Now, there's no need for an argument."

Scout clapped her hands to get Alicia and Julia's atention, reverting back to her normal form. Theresa flew from the girl's shoulder and perched on top of Suwako's head. "Oh, and no problem! Kill em with kindness, right?" she replied to Alicia a grin on her face.

"Allow me to get introductions out of the way. Call me Scout! And the owl is Theresa, my familiar." She said, hands behind her head. Meanwhile, Maura watched the group for awhile, before dissapearing inside the shadow she hid in.

"At the train station!? Alexander jumped in surprise, almost dropping the dish he was washing. "The fuck!? Why there? There should be a ton of people there at this...huh, I just answered my own question, didn't I?" He shook his head "anyway, we need to get going" chanting his transformation phrase, he was soon in his normal outfit "granted, I'm sure that other people will be going there to clean them up, I'm still not willing to just sit back. Even though this reeks of a trap. Sure, this might just be a play to rack up a body count...or it could be an attempt to gather a bunch of magic users in one place. Just...just watch your back, is what I'm saying.

Mariette quickly reached for the red crystal she could use to contact Justine, getting a grip of it but stopped herself from using it. … She could already imagine how that conversation would go. It wouldn’t help. Instead, she threw it across the interdimensional apartment. It could remain there for a while.

‘Deni! Oh, Deni…!’ Eli was loudly sobbing, for as far as they knew she had died. Caroline wasn’t the type to leave her victims alive, as far as they had gathered. The harpy-girl was on her knees in their interdimensional apartment, while Mariette stood by the wall. The only sound in the room was Eli’s sobbing.

‘…’ Mariette stared into a wall. They had known this meeting could have been dangerous. She had warned Asengav that she could need recovery, if the deal went south. It was possible Justine had intended on double-crossing her, after all. She had not expected the deal to both go through AND that she’d be attacked after it. But, to think not even calling Asengav could… Mariette had gained the firepower she needed, but she had paid with…

Mariette started walking steadily across the room, and opened a portal in the direction she was walking.

‘Eli. We’re leaving.’ Mariette told her. This time without Deni’s cheerful encouragement towards whatever they were leaving to do.

‘B-but… without Deni… I can’t…’ Eli was sobbing, the liquid harpy looking over at Mariette with tear-filled eyes.

Mariette merely turned her head towards her underling.

Eli recoiled, eyes blinking wide as she saw Mariette’s eyes. They were… flaring with anger. Frustration and pain, and a willingness to use it. There was no loss of control, her cold, underlying logic still working, but there was a new, burning intention, that was ready to hurt. There was no way their next venture wasn’t decisive in nature. Eli’s insides were still quivering from loss, but… that look on her mistress was entirely new to her. Mariette was going regardless of if Eli was coming or not.

‘… Yes, Mistress.’ Eli said, fishing up her pen and notebook with her wings, before treading slowly after Mariette. The eye-patched girl nodded with satisfied determination, before turning and walking through the portal. It was time for a new direction, a change of pace. She knew what to do.

Alicia Hayden

In spite of the vow that she had made, Alicia was finding it very difficult to hold on to patience at the moment after everything that had happened. The rising tension over the past days, the fight, Penny getting injured and Thalia running off wit her, it did not put her in the best of moods to say the least. So she was not overly inclined to be considerate to the duo confronting her right now.

"My, how quickly we're at the threat of violence, in spite of you supposedly having the moral high ground if the way you're talking right now is any indication," Alicia replied with her fingers drumming at her hip as she glared at Julia. "Not that I'd expect even the slightest effort at understanding since you clearly don't have a clue what you were walking into besides trying to prove that you were some big shot powerhouse."

After a moment she decided that it wasn't worth it, and took a step forwards. "Well, I'm leaving. It was nice meeting you Scout. I'm Alicia, I hope we'll see each other again in the future," she said back to their unexpected ally with a genuine smile, before her focus returned to Julia. "Feel free to try and stop me so you can have your ego trip. I'm sure the group of Beckoners across the street will have something to say about that."

Without waiting to see if Julia would call her bluff (If it was indeed a bluff and not just fact. They were near Beacon territory after all), Alicia began walking away. Perhaps she would pay for this later, but in the moment she just didn't care.

@Majoras End@ShyDot@Hammerman

---

To her surprise, for once, everything went better than she had expected.

She had expected Thalia to lash out and try to attack Penny. However, she instead decided to retreat and run away with her from the scene.

Suwako looked at Alicia. She seemed distraught and worried. As should she be. Who knew how long that transformation would last and who knew if Thalia would be able to keep herself under control for that long? She just hoped that at least she recognized Penny and would not harm her.

Alicia did not decide to chase after the two however, so she would not too. She wasn't exactly in her top condition anymore, especially after that blasted mana drain mortar.

Suwako then saw Alicia thanking the new girl. Suwako did the same as well, bowing lightly in thanks for her assistance.

However, their newlyfound peace was soon interrupted by a pair of magical girls who demanded compensation for firing upon them. Who were these bunch, Suwako wondered? Alicia was clearly offended by their remarks, as she lashed back, saying that it was their own fault, flaring their aura like that in the middle of a fight.

Ah, so they must be the source of the unfamiliar aura she felt back then.

As she had expected, the pair didn't react well to Alicia's response. Now they outright demanded her to apologize or else they would make her kneel.

Suwako sighed. Would this really end with another fight?

Thankfully, the situation was somewhat defused with the new girl that had helped them interrupting their argument, though Suwako didn't exactly approve of her familiar just landing on top of her head so casually. She didn't shoo the owl however, seeing how she was quite used to it, having an owl familiar on her own.

In the end, Alicia left, though not before saying some more harsh words towards the pair. Suwako soon followed, not forgetting to introduce herself to Scout as well before she went after Alicia.

"Well, that ended reasonably well," she said to her once she caught up. "That mana-draining attack was dangerous though. I am quite dependant on my mana to do stuff so without it, I could only use my bow, and I couldn't even enhance the arrows. Well, at least with your power, you could dispel the effect. We'll be seeing them again for sure, and when that happened, I'll make sure that I wouldn't be caught off-guard. And I'm still worried about Penny and her friend. Should we check on them?"

@Flamelord@Majoras End

Boteg had contacted Amber about the train station. While the dragon was primarily concerned with the security of its own lair, he did view large crowds of monsters as potential threats. Amber expected a group of monsters making this much noise would likely have attracted a few magical girls already. That was good, as she was still recruiting for Lily's siege on Helga's former employer. Sky bastion was already on it's way to the train station, leaving Amber and Sue some time to talk before touching down. Amber was standing topside with Sue perched on her shoulder.

“Helga is still in bed I trust?” Amber was supporting herself on the ship's railing.

“I didn't see her when I got up, so she must be. We need to pick up some furnishings for her room later.”

Amber nodded before changing the topic. “So, what did we learn yesterday? Mariette is kidnapping magical girls for some nefarious purpose, and she works for a horror.”

“A-and that Deni is gorgeous!” Sue hopped so that she could face Amber. “What did you think?”

The pirate groaned. “I still think she's fake... Anyway, you're being way too anxious.”

“You're right, I hardly slept at all last night, I was so excited!” She fluffed up her feathers. “Well, terrified and excited. That meeting called upon the full spectrum of my emotions. I'm hoping next time I meet Deni it'll be a little more relaxed.”

“You had one conversation, and when you first met she was trying to gut me like a fish.”

Sue hopped closer to Amber's ear. “You can't say anything! You gave Helga a body, and she attacked a hospital!”

Amber chuckled. “I understood her position is all. Hearing her story reminded me of myself. I helped her out of pity is all.”

“You're just a big softie, aren't you Amber? You even spared Mariette when you knew how much that bunny meant to her.”

“Hmmm.” the pirate raised an eyebrow. “Seems you've gotten a little bolder after last night. I wonder if that's something that needs correcting?”

“D-don't be mean!” Sue hopped to turn away from her.

Amber smirked. “Just keep your eyes open for some magical girls. Preferably ones that can reach the overcity.” The ship started to slow as it reached the train station. “Well, this looks like our stop. I hope you're ready.”

“I don't think I'm ever ready.” Sue flew into Amber's hat before the pirate dove off the side of the ship. The sails on her back opened up and let her glide down to earth.

Alicia Hayden

Striding away from the scene of the fight, Alicia noted with some satisfaction that she had not been attacked. It seemed the duo were not willing to put themselves to the test, which was understandable considering what they would have been up against had they tried. Even she would have been reluctant to try. But that was no longer her problem as she made her exit.

Joined by Suwako, Alicia nodded in agreement with what she said. It was good that things had ended fairly well, but the duo they had fought were concerning. With how things were going in this city, she had the feeling that the assumption they would face each other on the field of battle again was probably correct.

She then shook her head as the topic shifted. "We don't know where they ended up. They'll be in touch I assume, so we should focus on getting back to base. Before everything went down Penny gave me some intel the Beckoners will want to know about." That was the path she charted, to quickly get them back into safe turf. The sooner she delivered this information the better.

@Hammerman@Majoras End

@Flamelord
"Very well then," Suwako answered. "I agree that we hurry and return back to the base. I'll come with you. Who knows if some other magical girls decide to ambush us because they think we're weak from the previous battle."

And so the two headed back to the Beacon base. On the journey, Suwako's mind was filled with dread for the days to come. She had a feeling that the situation would only get worse and worse. Magical girls that were opposed to the Beacon were gathering, and she just hoped they would have enough manpower to handle them all.

...Well, there's no use to think about it right now. We'll deal with it when the time comes.

Penny quietly slipped back to the pile of blankets, she hadn't wanted to leave the nest of them as she had been very comfortable curled up with Thalia but the fact that her lair's entrance was exposed had started to bug her.

Now that it had been taken care of, she simply put the door mostly back in place. She was ready to join her friend; she had taken the time to send a text to her Beacon allies to let them know she was alright.



Penny was about ready to curl back up in Thalia's tails and fall asleep when she noticed a shadow. Such a thing was hard to do, especially at this hour of the night. But with a full moon, there were a few beams of lunar light shining into her lair. But something had momentarily obstructed them. Something was coming into Penny's lair. Their lair. And it was difficult to say what it was.

But it would soon reveal itself.

Leaning up against the wall was a girl in red. She would have blended into the darkness perfectly if it wasn't for her crazy blond hair. It seemed to twirl about the wall she leaned against like they were vines. Her vermilion red dress was too ornate to belong to anyone other than a magical girl.

“Don't worry, they didn't follow you two.” She didn't look at Penny. Instead the mystery girl looked out towards the moonlight while running her thumb over a pair of shades. “They could have though. Your friend was pretty sloppy. You're pretty sloppy too if you think this is a good place to hide. A tap in the right place and this lair becomes a tomb.” After giving her glasses one more look, the shades bubbled away into tar and smoke. “Do you know who I am?”

The unexpected voice in her lair caused a chill to run down Penny's spine as most of her color started to fade away. Slowly she once again slipped out of the blankets, keeping a close eye on the outsider.

"It couldn't become one for me" She replied evenly even as she held back her desire to violently drive the intruder out. She was well aware of the fact that her lair could come crashing down quite easily, it was a last resort measure as it wouldn't be much of an issue for the mechanical mahout to be buried in a few tons of her own element.

"And no, I can't say that I have any idea" Penny replied her hands half curling at her sides, she was ready to strike at a moment's notice.

“I was concerned that would be the case. No matter, but I'm going to insist that only you are capable of hearing our conversation.” Without any visible movement on the vermilion girl's part, a black dome closed around Thalia's head. It was difficult to see in the darkness, but it was there. “Just a little soundproofing, so we don't accidentally wake her up.” The girl pushed herself off the wall and turned towards Penny. Her movements were slow and non-threatening. “I'm Veronica, a representative of the Ebon Mint. Laat’AlOfan has told me a lot about you. But I had to do my own research to learn the really interesting parts.”

The subtleties of Veronica's spell were lost on Penny at first, and a quick glance back at her sleeping friend almost had the brawler lashing out at her uninvited guest. What stayed Penny's hand was the casual mention of her patron deity.

Names have power, and few names are guaranteed to call their owners attention like Laat'AlOfan's will and since there wasn't any indication of Laat's displeasure at Veronica presence. Penny relaxed, for the most part, and her coloration returned.

"Ebon Mint huh?" She replied giving Veronica and apprising look "What brings you to my lair Coin Broker?" She asked after a moment not rising to the bait, for as ignorant of the magical world as Penny was the Ebon Mint was one of the few things she had a fair amount of knowledge on as some of her first friends on this side either were in debt to the mint, or had a coin form the shadowy organization.

“Cutting straight to the chase.” Veronica's eyes didn't wander off of Penny for a moment. “Your patron and I have goals that align with each other. What it boils down to is that we would both like you to join the Ebon Mint.” Veronica fell against the wall again and folded her arms. “We have a reputation I realize, but it isn't all true. If you have any questions I'll answer them as best I can.”

Penny let out a sigh and ran a hand over her face at Veronica's statement "One of these day I will get a warning or so help me..." She muttered under her breath. It was not a surprise that Laat was once again looking to network Penny in to all sorts of things, just as once again He hadn't warned her.

"Most of what I know of the Mint comes from other members of the Mint, which leads me to wonder why you are scouting me or are you just trying to curry favor with The Enforcer?" She asked forcefully, not that she was expecting a straight answer. Chloe and Isana both mentioned the Faustian ways of the Mint, so Penny was planning on playing this one aggressively.

“In serving a Deity yourself, I'm sure you already know that you don't 'curry' the favor of gods. They either approve or disprove of your actions.” Veronica allowed her body to slide down the wall to a sitting position, with her wrist resting on her knee. Veronica's hair created a golden puddle where she sat. “The unmaker approves of what Ebon Mint does. While having a god in your back pocket does sound nice, it is difficult to actually force them to do anything. No, I am far more interested in you, Penny.” She rolled over onto her side. “You're the only monster girl I can think of that is allied with Beacon. It's says directly in their rules that working with monster girls is forbidden, yet here you are. You would make for an interesting member.” She moved her hand onto her hip. “And I would be careful putting too much stock in members who speak ill of us. Most active Ebon Mint members owe us, some more than others. We helped them, they can't pay back the favor, so we become the bad guys. Those that have worked off their debts or find us easy to work with have no reason to voice their true opinion. Beacon is also out to hunt us down, so there is little to gain for standing up for the mint. As a monster girl I'm sure you understand. We really aren't all that different.” Veronica pushed herself into a kneeling position. “Except by some stroke of luck, your patron was able to convince Beacon that you would work well in their employ. I wonder if they will continue to permit the existence of your friend. Will they continue to tolerate monsters, or is it just a matter of time before Thalia becomes a target?”

Penny couldn't help the snort she gave at the very apt description of working under a god. She could also see why Laat would approve of the Ebon Mint as all of the stories she had heard happened to have someone going through a drastic change, either in form or life style. She also conceded the point about spurned members with a nod, but remained quiet.

Slowly Penny sat down as well, obviously examining what she was hearing carefully. It was very apparent how she felt at the thought of Thalia being put in danger however as her eyes turned a blazing red at the offered thought. Silently the mechanical maho turned to look at her sleeping friend. "Something is out there that is threatening The Beacon" she said softly still gazing at Thalia "That is all I know about why they sought out Laat for an alliance, and until that threat is gone I want to say I'm sure they won't move against Thalia." The thought of Thalia being attacked or hurt caused something to twist painfully inside Penny, and it was something that had nearly happened earlier today. She turned back to face Veronica her eyes once again shifting through the color spectrum "So, Veronica I'm willing to hear you offer, because I'm not sure I can, because as you said I got lucky." Penny locked eyes with Veronica as she made that declaration, and if one looked they could see the hint of madness that lurks within all monstergirls flickering in the girls eyes. For Thalia meant the world to Penny and there is nothing she wouldn't do to protect her.

"You got very lucky. My friends were never granted a pardon like that." Veronica's eyes momentarily wandered before returning to Penny. “As I said, our goal is to get you to join the Ebon Mint.” Veronica stood up. This put her head above Penny, only because the cyborg was still sitting in bed. “But our organization is a bit like a bank. You request something, we give it to you, and then you become a member. A service would be ideal, something like a task for an agent to complete, temporarily ownership of something. Anything like that would be most ideal. But due to the circumstances, I'd be willing to give you a rain-check if you can't think of anything at the moment.” Veronica took a step towards Penny. “But as someone who's been in your position, I think we both know that shouldn't be necessary.”

"I need you to get me magically charged metal" Penny said after only a moment "Four beams, three feet long, and 6x6 if you can manage" Ideas were now spinning through Penny's head. This was how she could get the rest of the materials she would need for her new limbs, as well as a few things she would need to keep an eye on Thalia. "Would I also be able to get a GPS chip? Military grade would be preferable and some tungsten, gold plated if possible" She rambled off absently as she started hammer out the ideas more fully in her mind reaching out she pulled a piece of scrap metal to her and started etching necklace designs on it.

The magical metal she was going to use to build two pairs of spider limbs. The rest of her requests she was going to use to build a necklace, or a bracelet, for Thalia. Embedded in said gift was going to be the GPS chip tuned specifically for Penny to home in on it. She would be able to protect Thalia if she was there for her, and the gift would allow Penny to never lose track of her.

“That's quite the shopping list. It will take some time to get the more exotic items. However, nothing mentioned will be impossible to get.” Veronica extended her hand to shake on their deal.

"The chip and the tungsten aren't too important right now, so feel free to put priority on getting the metal" Penny replied looking up from her designs.
"One question before I shake; how would I be expected to pay the debt back?"

“You would do work for us. Depending on your situation, some of your work would go towards your debt, and the rest would go to rewards. That's a common set up for magical girls without patrons who can't get by without coins.” Veronica continued to hold her hand out.

"This debt will be easily cleared then" Penny said as she took the offered hand and gave it a firm shake
"As I'm not in need of much" she explained with a grin, thinking that for the first time that Laat's rites came in handy for something.

“I hope you are right.” When penny shook Veronica's hand, she could feel something being pressed into her palm. The ebon vampire turned their hands sideways with Penny's on the bottom. When she pulled her hand away, Penny could see a black coin was left in her hand. It didn't shine at all, and seemed to be darker than the shadows. “I'm sure you've heard of our black coins, if you've spoken at length with Ebon Mint members.” She pointed at the coin. “The coin lets you loan amazing power. You do not technically own it until you've used it. In fact, if you give it to someone else, you don't even have to pay us back. But whoever inherits the power of a black coin will have to pay for that power.” Veronica folded her arms behind her back. “I personally recommend using it only when you need to. However, the choice is ultimately up to you.” She gave a nod. “So you work for the mint now. That makes us comrades. Did you have any more questions?”

Penny looked at the black coin innocently laying in the palm of her hand, It wasn't the first time she had seen one of the coins but it was the first time she hand held one. She spent a few moments just examing it before she stashed it away with her other coins, she would work on making another adjustment to her frame later so she could keep the coin hidden on her person at all times.
"I've got a question about the coin, how easy are they for others to detect? and now that I am thinking about it you mentioned you had to do some researche to find the interesting things about me, what interesting things did you find?"

“The coins are virtually impossible to detect by normal means, even by people gifted with the ability to detect such things. Now if you actually use one, that's a different story entirely.” Veronica shrugged her shoulders. “I'm sure you know how your Deity is. He very much wanted this to happen, but he didn't really describe you in a way that I found very fascinating. So I just watched you from a distance for a while. Or at least one of my agents did. I know what our reputation is like, but I do genuinely care about the magicalgirls that work under me. Your care about Thalia, and I want to help you as best I can.”

Penny nodded at the information about the coin, it meant her idea to hide in in her chassis was a great one as no one but Penny would know about it. She doubted she would ever use it, but an Ace in the hole is always nice to have.

"Yeah, Laat can be very sparse when he feels like it." she agree as she looked back at Thalia her features softening as she did "And thanks" Penny still wasn't sure when she started falling for the fox morph, but she knew Thalia was precious to her now. More than she could say really, though she wasn't going to try and explain it to anyone yet. Not until she had told Thalia.

"I take it The Mint is they type of group that will contact me rather than the other way around if needed?" Penny asked shaking away the urge to go curl back up beside Thalia "You need my number? Or do you already have it?"

“Phones are extremely easy to trace and bug. I prefer good old fashioned face to face communication. If we need you, an agent will find you. If you have something to report, we're currently using 'The Pit Stop' as a rendezvous point, and you'll typically find me there in the hours leading up to closing. If you need help quickly, that's what the coin is for.” Veronica turned to face the exit. “For the time being, you will collect information on beacon and continue to assist your patron. That is all for now.” Veronica then sunk into the floor and disappeared from sight. The barrier on Thalia's face had also vanished. They were alone again.

"Good to know" Penny said as Veronica disappeared. Quietly she pulled the black coin out once again and just spun it around in her fingers, thinking over what had just happened. A roll of thunder brought her out of her musings, to most it would be white noise, the beginning of a storm. To Penny it was a message, for hidden in the clashes of thunder was a statement from Laat, coded so only his champion would notice.



Softly Penny snorted at that and spun the black coin around in her hands a few more times, with a nod to herself she made a small incision just above her collar bone and slid the coin inside seconds later the cut healed away with no proof of it ever being there.

Penny could still feel the coin if she focused and she doubted she would ever truly forget about it but for now she had more important matters to attend to. Thus she finally ventured back to her nest of blankets and curled up next to the person she had fallen for, and just laid there basking in the warmth as she listening to the falling rain.

Alicia Hayden

The day following the fight was more interesting than Alicia had hoped that it was going to be. They had arrived back on beacon turf for a debriefing without any issue, with Alicia explaining what had gone down before requesting to speak with the Beckoner leadership so she could relay the information that they had gotten. They were going to want to hear this considering how important it was to their own problems, and she held some small relief that she wasn't held to any violation of her oath in the meanwhile.

So she told them what Penny had told her, how she had heard from someone else that there was a girl named Justine hiding out in the Overcity who was apparently the mastermind behind the recent events that had plagued Beacon, including the girl who went crazy at the meeting in the park before.

Their reaction was not what she had been expecting. How could she have known that they had fought someone with the same name hundreds of years ago? And on who was supposedly destroyed at that. She held silent, listening to the discussion as they debated whether it was the same person and if one could survive in the Overcity that long. This was way before her time, so she was content to just take in information and prepare for whatever came next.

They got their orders at the end of the meeting. They were to investigate these rumors and determine if they were true, and if this Justine was really a threat to them. She was happy to oblige there, but for the moment returned home to get some sleep and relax after the tough fight. It was during that time she got the text from Penny, indicating that she was fine and apologizing.



Unfortunately her morning was not so lucky, as she was woken up to a crisis in motion courtesy of the Beckoners as there was apparently an attack going on in the city. Not only that but Janet had vanished, and they wanted her found. That news saddened Alicia, who felt she had grown fairly close to he former ex-convict since they had met before. She was left to decide what to do, whether she should help the search or pursue Justine first.

Then it occurred to her that if it was a large attack she might find those two again, and if she found Alex and Lily then she could find out where they got their information from and track it back to the source. Not only that but the monster attack still put people in danger so perhaps it was best to handle that before getting to the search. Hopefully Janet would understand.

A smile flitted to her lips as she hurried out and transformed, settling into a fierce determination. Finally she had the chance to be proactive rather than respond to whatever crap happened to them, and it felt good. She just hoped their companion was alright

For now she headed for the train station at a run, energy surging through her body to bring her to a wakeful state. She didn't want to miss them if they were going to show up, so hopefully she was not too late.

Ever since arriving the girl had been gathering information. Not that she didn't care for what was going on to get involved but there was clearly more than the magical girls and boys that had assembled already. There was also that too many things were going on and she had to recover her magic from a previous engagement.

She had yet to meet up with Lily or really anyone else. They seemed content with coming up with reasons for fighting each other. Other powers were at play as well. The Djinn Sisters were here. Not a pair she'd ever had the pleasure of meeting but their reputation for someone as connected preceded them. Unsurprisingly the Beacon and Mint were around. And others she was not yet familiar with. But the whole thing that brought them together was an evil force creeping in. Judging by the activity though they were getting bolder.

After stopping by the Beacon HQ there in Penrose, Shannon set out to find other magical boys and girls. Unlike the others she wasn't looking for a fight, but more to actually gather info and make connections. Talking and force each only get you so far but there was already enough of the latter. Rather than seek out anyone on their turf, that they might be protective of, she picked out a field just outside of town. Placing herself out in the open she wanted to make it clear she wasn't hiding. Anyone willing to accept the invitation would find her sitting on a rock with some meager food items. Eating wasn't much her thing and she didn't have that much money but she made do with what she had. At least she might have something to offer while they spoke. Of course there was the chance that no one would come but no harm in trying.

---

When they returned back to the Beacon headquarter, they had no time to rest as they had to explain to the higher-ups on what just happened right away. Alicia's explanation also filled Suwako up on some things she didn't know, like the existence of this girl named Justine who were supposedly the girl behind it all, hiding in the Overcity, who was this alternate dimension some magical girls could access.

And then, they got the news from their superiors that the Beacon had fought someone with the same name hundreds of years ago. If it were true, and this Justine was the same one as the Justine from way back then, then they were facing an even greater foe that they had thought. Supposedly she had been destroyed but if she came back, that meant she was the kind of magical girl with amazing survivability ability. Or she was just that good at deceiving the Beacon.

The meeting adjourned with them being ordered to investigate whether or not the rumours were true. Well, Suwako decided she would think about her new assignment later, as she was now absolutely tired and in a dire need to sleep.

...Only to wake up early in the next morning with a message saying the city was under attack, and that Janet had vanished and they were ordered to find her.

Curses.

She actually had planned to skip school today. But now, she had to work right away instead of sleeping peacefully in her soft and fluffy bed.

Grumpliy, she transformed back into her magical girl outfit. She hadn't even taken her morning bath yet. Her maid would certainly be panicking with her disappearing like this.

And so before she went, she wrote a short message on her table, saying that she was perfectly fine and she was just going out with a friend to an excursion to the mountains. She would probably be back before sunset, and if not, that meant she would be staying in said friend's house.

With that's done, she leaped out of her balcony, heading straight to the train station where the attack occured. She readied her bow, knowing that there would be a fight there for sure.

@Flamelord