Not wanting to diminish Sally's spirits further, Alicia chose not to follow through on her comments about skill versus luck in cooking. Instead she turned to watching Penny as she skated around on her new improvements, confirming that they did indeed do what they were supposed to do. After all that work it would have been a shame if they needed to crack her legs back open again for modifications.

"Somebody was being very uncreative when they decided on that name," she pointed out as Penny remarked on not letting the recovered ship material go to waste. Not that she was wrong, but 'Sky Engine' wasn't particularly elegant, or informative. Probably that girl Amber, since it had belonged to her. There hadn't been any sign of her since the fight against Justine, but she had probably moved on, or she was looking for a new boat. She expected those were difficult to come by.

Listening to Penny describe what it was like to hover, she found herself distracted. The whisper of a voice reached her ears, a familiar one that caused her eyes to widen in shock. But glancing around she couldn't see the speaker. Which....was understandable, given that Janet had bombed the previous headquarters while under Janet's control.

Then even more competed for her attention. She perked up, shaking her head to get herself to focus as a new girl - Summer - entered the hangar. Alicia rose from her seat, nodding to the new girl as Sylvia took the lead. She noticed the Beckoner that appeared, but was distracted by her own internal thoughts too much to particularly notice its unusual appearance. The grin she wore was more than just a welcoming expression, there was real elation to it.

She couldn't help it, couldn't stop herself. Janet was still alive! She'd thought that she was gone after the fight with Justine, and had borne a bit of a grudge against everyone who seemed to have been involved in that last battle. But now it seemed to have been unfounded. Now she could make things right.

As Sylvia departed, Alicia took a step forward and offered her hand to Summer. "Like she said before, welcome to Beacon. It's always nice to see a new face around here." Having shaken hands, she turned her mind to Janet, and how to extricate herself from this situation so she could talk to her. "These are Penny, Sally, and Kimble," she added, gesturing to each individual in turn.

That last individual was who she turned to next, nudging Kimble to get her to let go. "Now, I have something that I need to do in private, okay Kimble? Why don't you and the others tell her a bit about yourselves, see how much she knows about the Beacon already. I'll be right back, and then we can start the tour."

She'd do whatever she had to to get Kimble off of her leg before leaving the hangar, looking around as she exited the headquarters. "Janet, where are you?" she asked in a low voice as she hurried along, hoping that her friend would provide some direction so they could meet as soon as possible. She had everything she needed, now it was time to set things right.

@t2wave@Ariamis@DarkwolfX37@Shifter_Master

Samantha did not get far from the Pitstop before she found herself approached by a rather odd girl. She did not stand out like the girl from the Pitstop because of her appearance, she wasn't conspicuous for that reason. But her nonchalant question to Sam herself did set off enough red flags, for a normal girl her age would likely join the rest of the people who were running. This time, however, Sam was a bit tense, despite not outwardly showing such. Did this strange girl know whom and what she was?

Yet just before Sam could figure out whether or not she was going to preemptively strike at the oddball, a familiar voice answered her question.

“Predators don't run from what scares them.”

Samantha immediately came to realize that the girl before her was no threat, at least not as of now. She did not, however, find herself relaxing. The voice she heard belonged to none other than Vermillion Veronica, her employer. Samantha then knew that having a peaceful day was impossible now. Resigned to her fate, Samantha followed the two back inside the Pitstop, towards the back where she'd spoken with Veronica a while back, but not before they received a couple of additions to their group. This was not the typical meeting, for sure. It was rare for Samantha and Veronica to have extras when they spoke, so Sam began to think there was a bit more than just a random meeting going on here.

Still, she remained silent as they all found themselves in a pocket dimension. Veronica wasted no time in disciplining the two girls they'd picked up inside the Pitstop for carelessly speaking about that familiar. Because this situation with the familiar-turned-magical-girl, Sam had to wonder if such a light punishment was enough. Information like that escaping could have serious consequences, she imagined. Well, if Veronica thought it to be sufficient, then it probably was. Samantha decided to remain quiet as her employer explained the situation they were in, as well as introducing the strange girl that was tagging along with her. Samantha had no questions. Though she was obviously not privy to Mika's identity or the 'plant' that Veronica had learned about, she'd at least been told to keep her trap shut weeks earlier. A normal Mint agent may have questioned why they were keeping the Ebon Mint in the dark about things, but when she thought about the situation like that, Samantha came to realize her only real loyalty lied in the woman before her, not the organization.

...that is strange.

She wasn't quite sure how things had come to that. Samantha Howard had only bothered to become a dog for the Mint because she was inexperienced with the magical world, and had no desire to upset what amounted to the magical girl Illuminati, for lack of a better term. Her reason for being here, the reason why she listened to them, the reason why she lived in a manner that far contrasted her human life was all to rid herself of this damned debt, but thinking about it, following Veronica now was potentially going against this even with the explanation that there was a 'plant' of sorts. And the fact that she realized this, yet still could not even entertain the thought of betraying Veronica must have meant... that something was wrong with her.

She wasn't sure what, though.

"Understood," she acknowledged and agreed to keep quiet about Su. She allowed Veronica to give her briefing to the other girl, Eliza, and remained silent as she did so. When it was her turn, Samantha listened attentively.

It would seem her target was one "Chloe", a name she wasn't familiar with. Apparently, she was some form of Mint agent that'd suddenly shown up after having disappeared without explanation. Such wildcards were usually frowned upon by the Ebon Mint, Sam had come to learn. But that should come as no surprise as most employers tend to prefer it when their employees keep them in the know. The Mint would be no different. Samantha accepted the documents Veronica handed to her as she continued her explanation of her next job. As expected, she was being tasked with locating and interrogating Chloe about her reasons for leaving and returning, and of course to see if she was still loyal to Mint.

"I see. Consider it done. She cannot hide from me." the girl confidently replied in a near-monotone. An important, yet often underlooked aspect of being a great assassin was the ability to locate your mark. After all, you can't kill them if you don't know where they are. Sam was moderately disappointed she had to make contact with the target, but if she was no longer loyal to the Mint, it was fairly obvious what her orders would then be after reporting to Veronica. She placed the documents she was given into her coat, and then quietly listened to the last bit of information Veronica gave. She couldn't imagine requiring help from someone else in the Mint. But if the other girl needed hers, then she supposed she would be obligated to do so. Allowing her to be defeated would probably only come back to bite Veronica in the ass, so that was not ideal, anyways. As Veronica finished up, Sam shook her head.

"I do have some questions, but they can wait until a better time when there's less company," she told the Mint. "I'll go ahead and take my leave, then." she immediately did so, and wasted no time in the Pitstop, either. By this point, most people had caught onto the fact that things were getting crazy because of the unknown to the public, spirit magic. It didn't take a genius to figure out who was causing that shitstorm, so half of Sam's job was going to be easy. The other half was probably not, however.

She once again exited the doors to the Pitstop, this time in a hurry, her feet carrying her as fast as they possibly could --- in the direction of the conflict!

---

@Izurich@ERode

---

Arriving at the scene rather quickly, Annabelle wasted no time in tapping a foot on the ground as she watched the spirit flit about. Well, fleeing. In her direction. With blind terror. Out from the inky orb floating around her poured darkness, a darkness infused with the essence of "the Void" itself. A barrier she was forming in the air that would erase all that touched it, though in this case her lord was involved in it as she could feel. He was making it where the essence of the spirits would be gathered to him in this case as the spirits were "erased" so he could conserve that portion. Annabelle began to walk forward, the barrier twisting and stretching before her as it absorbed the fleeing spirits, the large amount of them doing such in the face of this....other magical girl who had seemingly consumed the bodies of the slain people.

It was such a macabe thing to do she got a bit giddy over it.

"Ooh! Boss, is she the servant of someone similar to ya? Is she? Is she?"

At first there was silence, before the back part of her orb facing her seemed to open up towards her.

'Indeed, my servant. Such consumption and endless hunger i feel here, this variant i know of in only one particular being. For now, proceed as you would normally.'

A hum came off of the red-robed girl's lips, the wail of fleeing spirits who clambered into her barrier without looking was....a delicious thought as it were. Ah, only made her want that burger she was craving back at the base. Regardless, she pulled back the barrier after a bit, the black wall shrinking back into the orb it has emerged from. Eerie, but normal for Annabelle when it came to her work. Her boss didn't seem to be worried at all about the situation, so she wouldn't be either. Seemed rather reasonable a thing to do anyways.

Though the other girl seemed to be stabbing up some of the strays she hadn't taken up, and that was fine. She wasn't here to fight them over dead bodies or anything. She'd gotten a good haul of spirits in the meantime, and that seemed to be the case since her boss was usually silent when she was doing a good job unless he wanted to say something about things. Interesting habit, and she didn't mind. However, it seemed the other two were about to have a showdown of sorts. Simply with her orb near her, Annabella put her hands behind the back of her head and sauntered over with a casual stance and a grin on her face.

"Cmon' girls, you're both pretty, honest," Annabelle said, grinning nearly ear to ear now before she continued to speak, her voice becoming a little sing-song after she continued speaking, "Though it looks like soooooooomebody poked at a local taboo here if i had to guess~"

---

---

"Mmmf?" Alice said, a grimace on her face as she swallowed her last bite of breakfast, continuing to watch with her scope and its abilities at the scene, "Seems a confrontation's goin' on. Someone with little bat wings decided to eat up dead bodies, maybe, after putting up a barrier, another one with a sword seems to be confronting her. Then some other freaky girl with a barrier walked up and snatched up a lot of those spirits, maybe most of em' or just a good amount of em'. Hard to tell from ere'."

Cannibals. Any magical girl who partook in the consumption of other humans was a cannibal, even if they had been twisted into a monster in her mind. She'd seen some in the past, a couple of whom had just simply gone insane to stoop to that level. Some mostly served horrors of some kind, or other beings that sought to taste the flesh of mankind among such things. Disgusting. As much as she didn't flinch at such things, it was still as ever disgusting to her as a concept.

".....Yare yare. See how the fight goes. Or if they even fight," Nina said in response, body having frozen at the idea of cannibalism catching her attention abruptly in the middle of cleaning dishes in the sink. However, her tone had a rather subtle tone of disgust to it, which combined with the furrowed brows was a sign of her anger. A minor sign, but as Alice knew by the tone it could escalate soon depending on how the situation went.

She'd heard Alice's opinions on such things, and she was of a similar mindset. Disgusting filth, garbage of the higher kind. However, losing her cool right here on it was stupid. Yare yare, daze. She couldn't believe that such a situation was developing now as she wanted to just get back to watching her channels for the moment, at least until that little chuuni of a patron of her and Alice came back to them with the next mission. But if it was "wait in line for this new anime being sold at this store" for the second time this week.....well, she would have words with the goddess. Few but strong words.

”Haaaaaa... mmmh~” A hum of pleasure escaped the golden-haired Harbinger’s fanged lips as she fed. The nourishing essence literally flowing into her body via her Effluvium, while more of the creeping taint seeped out from her at the same time, gathering up every consumable organic material around her. Plants, bugs, and even discarded food and drinks in trash cans, none escaped the shadow locusts’ hunger. By the time she was done, the area would be an urban wasteland. A simple enough task, Noir had done this countless times by now. She should be done soon...

If not for the arrival of this... stick-wielding girl. The Harbinger felt a twang at the back of her neck, the kind that instinctively sent her on alert. Her slitted pupils turned towards the unknown blunette. Oh, she was one of those, huh? Nosy self-righteous white knights who has nothing to do but intruding the businesses of others. Sigh... what were the odds she wield the accursed power of Metal too? Although... she did look like a tasty treat. Heh, if she wanted to play the heroine then fine, Noir would humor her. Who ever said heroes always triumph?

”Oh? Thee seeth yourself as a heroine? How absurd!” Noir grinned, spreading her effluvium-coated wings in a grand display, even as more and more began to surround the blue-haired girl. It wasn’t just for show as Knight of Rose could feel the taint sapping away at both her body and soul. ”Tis’ most amusing to see thee hunting after me, even when I hold no responsibility for the severing of these mortals’ coil. A foolish heroine parading on equally foolish notions. If it be true thee wisheth to square me, then com-!”

”Oh, Noir~” Her Mistress playful mental poke suddenly interrupted her from the blonde’s impromptu play, ”I don’t mean to rain on your parade, but a certain someone’s servant is here. Mind if I borrow your body for a little bit?” Of course, it was a rhetoric, under what notion would her Harbinger refuse her wishes?

”Our humblest apologies, o’ Harbinger of the Infinite Abyss.” The Effluvium-coated girl turned slightly towards Annabelle, her voice carrying an otherworldly echo not present just before, her eyes glowing dimly red. Yes, one look at that Barrier of Nothingness, no Horror wouldn’t recognize Soth’s fearsome reputation. ”We have claimed this territory. In good faith, we would have to ask you to leave... or just stand idly and watch. Much appreciated~” With that, Mistress Hazak released her possession over Noir’s body, leaving the winged girl blinking then chuckling in mirth. ”Yeah, you heard us. This one’s mine.”

With the fellow Horror addressed, the villainess returned to the dashing heroine, ”Then come! Come and abandon all hope!” With her wings unfolded in full display and arms outstretched, the storm of Effluvium rushed towards the Rose Knight. Soon, she shall wilt and be consumed, such was the ultimate fate of all roses.

It seeped into her bones, the repulsive darkness that spewed from the demon’s poisonous words, but that blackness met steel instead, fatigue chased away by the biting pain of her Patron’s reminders. Another had appeared, an existence less foul, but disgusting all the same. What was up with magical girls and Darkness these days? Amaryllis could barely suppress a sigh at the sheer amount of inhumanity that surrounded her, from the man-eater to the void-born, but...she wasn’t in a place to question inhumanity herself.

No, this was simply her deciding that she didn’t like what someone else was doing.

“Nay, maiden,” Amaryllis spoke, the tip of her sword drawing a line through the air, “Tis taboo, true, but I do not draw my sword for the laws and sensibility of modern society. If this wench be grave robber instead of scavenger, I would turn an eye, but an individual should always be provided proper funeral rites after their demise.”

This was simply an extension of her own regrets.

“I know exactly how much of a difference a body makes at a funeral.”

It was neither three seconds nor five seconds, and her formless Patron rattled her left lung in irritation, but Amaryllis smiled. It helped, truly, to verbalize her resolve, hm? One breath, and she lunged, diving into the storm, her Patron guiding the silverlit tip as Darkness consumed her vision.

The Noble Swordswoman was alone, surrounded, entrapped in the Vampire Queen’s miasma, certainly this would be a short dance. As much as Noir wanted to prolong the ball, alas, all good things must come to an end. At least, she’d grant the heroine a painless death. Truthfully speaking, her resolve and words sounded sincere, but willpower alone wouldn’t save the day by itself.

”!?” Nor does arrogance apparently. So confident in her power, the golden-haired dark countess failed to notice the gleaming silver light, shining through all the effluvium choking the air. At least not until it was too late. Ngaaaaah?!!” A bestial roar - akin to a distorted cry of a dragon - erupted from the miasma-coated Harbinger of Decay. The Divine rapier’s tip had sheathed itself in her chest.

”Ara, ara~ Noir, are you alright?” The Mistress made a proverbial head tilt, half-amused, half-concerned.

”Haa… nnngggrrrh!!” The blonde bared her fangs, failing to notice how just an inch to the left, the sword would have pierced her dark heart. Her pride sullied, her facade humiliated, Noir dropped the elegant charade right then, using her arms and wings to hug the blue-haired insect instead, attempting to drain her dry of everything she had. T’was ultimate a mistake to close their distance and Noir would make sure she’d pay for this grave insult!

The fact that such a blow was not enough to end the fight was proof enough that her opponent was monstrous, but Amaryllis was accustomed to irrationality. Sensing danger before even her Sword clawed against her sides, the fencer pivoted around, dropping low as demon claws grasped only strands of hair. Close, but never close enough to be a problem.

As polished steel slipped out of the wound, iron ivy trailed not far behind, the gap in the vampire’s torso becoming a new anchor point for Amaryllis’s chains. Like a careful gardener, she wrapped them around her offhand wrist.

She had the feeling that whatever might she had was insufficient to slay this monster.

But removal?

That was a different story altogether.

Was it the grace of a knight tossing a bouquet? Or was it the might of a peasant tossing a sack of flour? With superhuman strength granted to her by the steel oath, Amaryllis yanked hard upon the leash and swung the monstress skywards, through the black of the miasma and into the blue of the day.

”Nnngrh!!” A furious grunt slipped through Noir’s clenched fangs as her claws found nothing but air. Even though their size gap should give the smaller blonde an advantage in clinging to her foe, apparently, the Rose Knight was agile enough to evade her bear hug point blank.

A hiss, pain throbbing from her chest as her wound refused to heal, regeneration disabled by the divine Metal anchored there. Annoyed and enraged, she used a claw, long nails dripping with miasma, to grab the chain and yank it off her torso. An endeavor denied by the magical fencer as her petite frame was heaved up, launched haphazardly into the air.

Noir’s winged form shot through the dome of effluvium she made, exposed to the open air and the searing light of the afternoon soon. Gritting her teeth, she managed to stabilize herself using her massive wings, then proceeded to do what’s most urgent, yanking the chain off her chest. Therefore allowing the wound a chance to mend itself. However, the effect of having a piece magical metal impaled in her body was still there, halting her healing factor for the moment.

”Oh my~ you seem to be doing well, keep it up, my Huntress. Fufufu~

Well, thank you for the words of encouragement, Mistress. Noir barely fought back the strong urge to roll her eyes. Then again, wait… her Mistress was right, by tossing her away, the knight unwittingly put her out of reach and trapped herself in the miasmic dome, now truly alone. ”Heh…” She smirked, a single fang glinting at the left side of her lips.

A clawed hand reached out towards the effluvial sphere below, palm opened, Perish.” then closed into tight fist. At the same time, the dome shrunk rapidly, inversely proportional with its density. Soon enough, it shall be her tomb. Nay, a tomb implied a body was held inside. Not a tomb, not an urn, an empty coffin instead.

With a bang and a whimper, the dark dome imploded upon itself, scattering rusted petals in its wake. As for the Knight of Rose, however, nothing remained.

---

@Izurich@Crusader Lord

@Izurich

---

Chaos.

That's what the people had been reduced too. Katarina moved towards the scene of the supposed spirits attacking people. She grit her teeth as she ran, arriving on the scene, nearly running straight into some sort of dark miasma blanketing the area. What was this? Some sort of - it burned her lungs to even get near it. Whatever this was, it was the obvious work of some horror. Changing course, Katarina headed into one of the buildings nearby.

She ran through the doors, easily locating the stairs and quickly sprinting up the spire of steps towards the roof of the building. She barreled through the door to the roof, just in time to see someone fly out from within the dome. She paused for a moment as her steps momentarily faltered upon seeing the girl. Kat could immediately tell - that thing was not human. Whatever it was caused a primal, unsettling and unreasonable fear to crawl across her skin.

"Blood of Iron, heart of steel," She began the chant, the steel bow of her resolve forming in her let hand, grey metal forming into existence from nowhere. "Unwavering resolve - so as I pray -" Her black leather jacket elongated, becoming red as her clothes disappeared, being replaced by a black skin tight body suit as she hefted the bow in front of her. A large metal object was forming in her other hand. The shapeless grey metal began transforming, forming into an almost comically large javelin that would surely almost kill anyone unlucky enough to be pierced by it. "Fly true, sword of justice!" She knocked the javelin on her bow, quickly taking aim at the girl flying in the distance before she was spotted.

The snap of the bows metal wire was heard, launching the projectile as it whistled through the air. Quickly, she formed several more smaller ones, knocking them and firing more before her opponent could get very far hopefully. If she ran - Katarina would give chase until the hunt was successful.

---

Fufu, it seemed her spirits caused quite the stir! Judging from the chaos, it had attracted other people as well! Glorious! Chloe smiled as she continued to head down the street. To anyone else, she'd just look like your average happy little girl dressed far too oddly. Of course, to anyone who might even have a modicum of sense they'd probably realize she was, in fact, not. Ah, what to do, what to do....the Mint should come knocking sometime soon so she'd have to deal with them. Not that she cared too much, she wasn't concerned about them. If they wanted to blacklist her, she'd just slaughter every last one of them.

...hoho, but she could also do something else.

"Say, what do you think of me having a bit of fun with someone the Mint sends?"

"Those are limited resources - do not waste them."

"I know, I know! But we could gain a powerful ally if we're successful."

"We might also turn the entire organization against us. Until we accomplish our original task, I forbid it."

"Tsk, no fun...and so demanding." Chloe sighed, shaking her head. "...and if they ask?"

"Figure it out yourself."

With an abrupt silence, Chloe smiled, chuckling to herself. So impatient.

A young girl deftly traveled further into what seemed to be a war zone rife with conflicts between magical girls, with seemingly no concern for her own wellbeing. Her appearance suggested nothing out of the ordinary, yet her actions made her conspicuous. By this point, any normal person who was not deceased had long since abandoned the area, leaving any and all magical beings in the area to do as they please --- which they did. A fight had already broken out and had concluded, its victory fleeing the area and then subsequently being targeted by yet another girl.

And yet none of these occurrences entertained the girl, who continued quickly making her way further towards the epicenter of the original disaster that had begun all of this, only giving the quickest of glances towards each and every girl as she did so.

It was because she cared not who they were. To the girl running towards an apparent objective, these girls were only a concern should they decide to target her. Otherwise, they were not her target and likewise of no importance to her. Their dreams, their ambitions, their tasks... all of them, meaningless before her. But things were indeed getting quite dangerous out there. It was perhaps time to don her persona!

Her transformation process was rather simplistic, compared to most other girls'. But such elaborate transformations were for fools. Her was efficient. She froze in place for a few seconds, not even muttering a word before doing so. And a moment later, the space she occupied seemed to shatter, revealing her transformed state!



Now cloaked in her flamboyant, yet sturdy magical girl apparel, Sil resumed her course towards the source of this commotion. It would be simple to find her target. From her dossier, she knew the general information of her target. A name, a face, and her specialization. It made tracking her down rather simple, as there was only so much distance the girl could place between herself and these apparitions patrolling the area. Especially so now that a large number had been promptly disposed of by the other girls. But it also drilled home the fact that Sil could just as easily be found were she to warrant the Mint's ire. They were not a foe to be taken lightly, but then again she'd known that for quite some time now. It's why she bothered to be their dog.

"Ah, there you are. Found you."

She spotted a lonesome girl walking rather nonchalantly down the street. Silhouette's eye had no problem discerning just what kind of girl this was. Such spiritual energy could only mean one thing, after all. But Sil's job was not to slay the girl, only to interrogate her and find out where her loyalties were. That's why she even bothered announcing her presence, and why she stopped a few steps in front of the one known as "Chloe", holding one of the documents she'd been handed earlier as she blocked the girl's path. The document revealed a face that was indentical to the girl before her, so no amount of trickery would convince Silhouette otherwise.

This was her target.

"Chloe Irving, missing agent of the Ebon Mint." Sil's tone was assertive, but she did not brandish her weapon just yet, still holding onto her paper. "You are required to explain yourself. The Mint wills it and you will answer." It was best to ensure the target understood that she had no choice. The Mint did not often forgive those who wronged it, and when called, one should never say no. In being an agent for the Ebon Mint, Silhouette, too, had to provide the image of one you should not cross.

But it was not just an image. Sil hoped for the sake of the girl before her, she was a bit more rational than her actions thus far had led the assassin to believe.

For her sake.

“I’ve got it from here; it’ll give me something to work on in my down time.” Penny waived off the offer of further help with her augments “I’m looking forward to this flight mod though” she added before stepping back as Sylvia’s Beckoner popped up. Penny had gotten in the habit of taking a step back whenever a Beckoner showed up mostly to watch them, but partially because she felt that most of the Beckoners only tolerated her presence. The exception was Alicia’s angel, but she didn’t often see that one.

Penny opted to power up her legs and take a few laps around the hanger while she waited for whoever it was that was going to show up. She didn’t have to wait for too long, as part way through her second lap as a petite blunett walked in. Slyvia calling out a greeting to the girl informed Penny that she was a new member of Beacon, as did Alicia’s reaction.

Penny hadn’t encountered enough Beckoners to really note the odd appearance of this one, but seeing as it was a Beckoner she hadn’t seen before she did what she normally did, she took a picture of it. With her phone now more of a com-link/scouter it wasn’t that hard to do without people noticing just look and silently snap a picture. The mechanical girl wasn’t sure if her recording the various Beckoners she encountered was something that would come back to bite her, but she wasn’t planning on asking to find out.

Afterwards she waved to Summer as she was introduced by Alicia and she hovered over before turning off her thrusters. “Don’t worry too much about me and Kimble, the Beckoners have granted us exemption from the standard rules” The cyborg said with a soft smile.

Penny was rather curious as to what it was Alicia needed to go deal with, but figured that it wasn’t anything bad with the smile the light user was wearing. Gave Penny a good excuse to step away as well for a moment and check out if she was right when it came to the Key she was carrying “Does seem like you popped up an awkward time though, as I’ve got to step out for a bit as well. I should be back in an hour or so though so I’ll catch you later” She continued before heading out of the hanger as well.

As she left she immediately headed for the roof access, not that Penny was heading to the roof mind, but it would be the easiest to place to return to without raising too many eyebrows. Standing in front of the door leading to the roof Penny palmed the Key she had gotten months ago, closed her eyes and focused. After a few moments she could hear the clicking of a latch in her mind and without opening her eyes she stepped forward, opening the door as she went.

She didn’t have to open her eyes to know where she had ended up; the lack of wind told Penny what she needed to know. Still, Penny couldn’t help but feel a wave of relief when she opened her eyes to a familiar room. Her friend was back; a smile settled on her face but was almost wiped away as a dark thought wondered for how long until She lost this one as well.

Shaking the dark thoughts from her mind Penny stepped father in to the home calling out as she went “Chloe? You here?”



Kyle was sad. It seemed that this HQ had recently been betrayed and only just got finished with most of the repairs. That was not what had the rather plain looking kid down; no he was down because the cafeteria was still not fully repaired so it was currently closed. This meant there was no food for him to eat, thus he was still hungry.

His ‘Parents’ wouldn’t be in town for a few more days and his allowance wasn’t enough for him to be able to spend it frivolously. Thus he was left wandering around this new HQ hungry. It sucked. Still he had met a few new people as he walked around. Helped out here and there, but was mainly wondering around getting a feel for this place. He wanted to meet this Sylvia Starshine, as he heard she was the person in charge at the moment, but hadn’t made it a priority.

Eventually his wondering led him to the hanger, he missed most of the conversations that were happening, and was only peripherally aware of the two MonsterGirls in the room. His focus was fixed on what, to him, was the most important thing in the room, the plate of sandwiches. Moving to introduce himself, he was instead interrupted by Sally who kindly offered him one of the sandwiches. “You are a life saver!” He cried as he accepted the food and quickly took a bite and savored the delicious gift “A gift from a goddess. This is wonderful!” He said after a few moments before he devoured the rest of his meal. “Just what I needed, Thanks” he thanked Sally again before taking stock of the room finally. There was a Catgirl, a tiny blue hard girl, and his blond savior everyone else had left or was off working on the other end of the room.

He blinked in suprise at the sight of Kimble, but didn't react all that much to her presnece. He figured there was propably a good reason she was here. So he offering his hand to the small group that still remained with a bright smile “Hiya, names Kyle. Pleasure to meet you all”

"It's nice to meet you." Summer said with a slight bow. Her face was covered in a huge grin as Penny explained her and Kimble's presence. It looked like this branch of Beacon had some supporters, like herself, of change. She quickly brought out a small sketchbook and began drawing the girls in the room. After a few moments she stopped and looked at the rather cartoonish versions of the three girls. Summer's eyes widened in shock and she stole a glance at both Sally and in the direction Penny went before closing the sketchbook and giving the remaining two girls her full attention, ready to answer any questions they might have for her. That was, until a magical boy entered and had an orgasm over the existence of sandwiches. She quickly drew a caricature of him as well, but was somewhat non-impressed. "So... what's with the robot and the catgirl? Can I get a more full story?"

---

---

Shion watched the chaos that unfolded through her phone, but switched her attention when another copy went nearby during her own sweep.

\\\Overheard mention of the Mint{ Streaming audio now{

The two Dark Magical Girls had an eavesdropper.

In noticing Veronica waving over to them, Eliza and Theresa walked over and sat on the other side of the booth. Only to be hit with a psychic smack upside their heads. The witch cursed under her breath while the familiar idly turned back into her owl form in pain. Turns out Veronica overheard their conversation on the roof. Well shit. "Our apologizes, Ms. Veronica. We're still getting used to all this." Theresa apologized for the both of them. Eliza waved at Samantha, and the new girl, Mika, before turning her attention back to Veronica.

Her mission was one from the mint itself. Two magical girls, Shion and Makoto, to be sentenced a swift execution for abusing the debt system. Yet since Makoto had dissapeared, Shion had to be captured for interrogation. Eliza nodded in understanding, leaning forward a bit to let Veronica tie a communicator bow in her hair. While Samantha had to figure out why one of the other mint girls, the one causing the spirit attack, had returned to Penrose. After the two were dismissed, the witch finally spoke up. "Now to go help stop the attack, right?" she turned to Theresa. "There's a good chance one of Shion's clones will be on the scene. I want you to do a sweep around that area to find her, then regroup with and inform me of your findings. Okay?" she asked, the familiar nodding her head. Eliza gave her a quick smile, before following behind Sam.

Tonya didn't have much of an opinion on what was going on around her. Noir had consumed a few of her illusionary civilians, fought a swordwoman, and was under the very false impression that she had killed her. She was too digusted with Chloe to really care about what happened to Noir at this point. She could live or die, it didn't factor into her objective at all.

But it did look like things were going to wrap up shortly. More magical girls were arriving, if a bit late. But not everyone could be punctual. Or maybe they could if they stuck to morning workouts.

---

Mika misinterpreted the girl's slight as a genuine comment. "Oh yea, I'm here for my boss's breakfast. I'm just sort of a gopher. But you're right, I don't look that much older than you." But she left without saying a word back. Something else must have been distracting her. Mika hoped that she didn't upset her or anything. She just wanted to make friends. But Mika soon noticed the food left on her plate. "Is this... for me?" Mika circled around to the other side of the table and looked at what was left. There was a waffle with a bite missing from it, some melting cream topped with a strawberry, half a slice of bacon, and two eggs sunny side up. Mika's keen nose was able to smell the melting butter, and there seemed to be some cinnamon in there as well. She picked up the utensils the girl was using and proceeded to finish her food. How sweet of her to leave all of this for Mika. She wasn't going to let everyone's screaming deter her from eating, she would enjoy ever bite.

Mika was happy to have this feast, but she was disappointed she didn't have a chance to exchange names. Anyone who was willing to give their breakfast away was someone Mika would happily become friends with. Of course Mika wasn't oblivious to the deeper implications this could have. Sharing food in the animal kingdom was typically part of a courting ritual. It was a realization that hit Mika so hard, she physically froze. She wasn't sure if she had unknowingly consented to something or not. Regardless, she would have to find this girl again and get her name to find out.

After she finished everything on her plate, of course.

Yes, Alicia heard her! And even more was in a rush to find her discretely it seemed. Janet had to admit to herself she was a little surprised. They were friends and all but there was the chance that the girl would have alerted all of Beacon about her presence. This was going much better than anticipated. "Go to Lake Prairie. It's not too far but it should be safe for us to meet there. I'll be on the South end near the old fishing dock." Before saying anything else she slipped away. Likely no one would find her but being so close to the Beacon HQ the water girl didn't want to take the chance that someone with Third Eye might pick up on her presence. It was lucky that the mark she once had was gone otherwise it would have been much more obvious.

---

Lake Prairie was one of the lakes dotted around the Penrose area. The city wasn't known for its lakes but they were nice to have around to visit. This one had neighborhoods on the East, some camping to the North, and scattered dwellings and private property along most of the rest. The old dock on the south was something of a local landmark. Nothing special about it really, as no one used it because it was falling apart, but the land it was on had a trail that ran by it. Back in the day people would come by and fish since the owner let the locals use it. But as things do it fell into disrepair and was replaced elsewhere.

Kids still knew about it though as a "secret" place to meet up. Ridiculous stories were made up about the place that everyone knew weren't true but were fun to tell anyway. Either way this is where Janet now waited for Alicia. Submerged the girl's body blended with the water. While she particularly like what she'd become it did have its perks.

Waiting impatiently for a response, Alicia perked up once again as the voice of Janet provided her with directions for a meeting. While dimly aware that it could have been a trap or a ruse, she didn't even stop to consider that as she departed Beacon HQ for the meeting site. It was some distance away but she could make it there and back fairly quickly to handle the other business she had. This was her unfinished business, she wasn't going to leave it to someone else.

Moving towards Lake Prairie, she soon found herself engulfed in the grass, the trees, and the and the nearby lapping of the water against the shore. She had spent time here before, though never as a kid. She'd grown up in a different city so she had her own particular places to hang out, but once she had been relocated to Penrose she got to learn at least a few of these spots during her time as a member of Beacon.

Her mind raced as she walked along, oblivious to anything that might serve as a distraction. In her head she was busy preparing, deciding how she was going to present this, to explain everything to Janet and Beacon once she had been returned to normal. She'd resigned to this moment never coming, but now it had. She wasn't going to let herself screw it up by not anticipating some potential response. Janet would wonder about the potion, Beacon wouldn't trust that she was back to normal. Through it all, Alicia was confident that she would succeed however she had to.

Arriving near the old pier, Alicia stood at the edge of the lake as she looked around, trying to find Janet. "Alright, I'm here," she called. "You can come out now."

@t2wave

@FamishedPants

---

Chloe didn't have to wait long for the Mint to find her, as she had assumed. Efficient as ever, it seemed. Aha, how boorish. Wouldn't even let her have any fun without questioning what she was up too. Gazing at the girl in front of her, Chloe didn't immediately answer. A small pang of annoyance was felt at the back of her mind, the dragons emotions bleeding over into her own a bit. She was fairly certain he'd just want to crush her - but that's why she was here. To temper the dragons rage with a more measured approach. At least the girl in front of her was cute, heh.

"Ha, speak of the devil and they'll appear." Chloe smirked. "I was wondering when the Mint would sent one of their hit men after me. At least you're a cute one." Chloe nonchalantly replied, seemingly not concerned with the situation. Only stopping for a second, Chloe began walking again. "Come on then, walk. And lose that getup. If any of those silly hero wannabes happen by while we're so close to the party, we're going to be found out and that will complicate things more than I like." She wouldn't say much if Sil didn't, but she wouldn't idly stand there and wait for someone to happen upon what was obviously an agent of a Mint. At least if they was accosted by a magical girl, she could likely convince them she was just a cosplayer and the gloomy girl in front of her was a creep accosting her, heh.

"What was I up too, though? Hmm, I wonder." Chloe giggled. "Lets just say a cranky dragon wanted me to secure something for him and it required a bit of time to complete." Speaking of that mission, might as well try and appear more cooperative than she normally would be. "Ah, Isana's currently still involved with something - apparently she found some work outside of Penrose. She still hasn't used her Black Coin, but I figure the Mint is still keeping tabs on that, fufu." Stopping a few feet down the road, Chloe motioned to an alley. "If you want any more information, best we discuss it away from prying eyes. Join me for tea in my apartment? You look like the type who prefers coffee as black as your soul, though. I have that too."

---

@Izurich@ERode

---

Soth didn't seem to respond to the respect another horror was paying to him, though to Annabelle this was rather normal. He only spoke as he saw fit, and in this case he didn't see fit to respond to the "humble apologies" given to his emissary/harbinger for doing what they were. However, Annabelle felt a feeling creep into her, somewhat like a desire to not get involved in this little "battle" that was to take place before her between the other two magical girls. Mentally shrugging at her patron's subtle enough hinting in this manner, her orb merely floated next to her as she walked over to lean on a wall. More than that, the broken store window next to her had an abandoned bag of fresh popcorn, perhaps left my some unwitting patron who'd been eaten up out here! Ah.

Snatching up the small bag happily, Annabelle began to watch the battle commence from her position.

Seemed the little vampire didn't like metal, if that sword was any indication. Sword girl seemed to get in a few good blows, even, as things went on. Not bad, though the old and/or Shakespearean type of speech she was going on with was kinda annoying to the void-harnessing magical girl herself. However, the moment that range was created between the fighters, Annabelle smirked a bit at things. Ah, that was a mistake. Sword girl was great in melee from the looks of it, but this little vampire of a girl seemed far better at range, or at least more range than sword girl herself. That much, at least, was Annabelle's observations of the situation. However, the end of the battle swiftly seemed to follow, leaving naught a trace to the rose knight.

But was she really dead, consumed by the darkness? Heh, Annabelle had no idea.

Instead, the magical girl waved to Noir once casually, and began to walk away to go back to her base. Not much to see now, not really the mood to talk. Maybe.

@Erode

Thus, the tragic story of the Knight of Rose had reached its conclusion. She tried so hard, so much. A foolhardy heroine walking the path to certain doom, her bravery was commendable, but hardly mattered. Within the implosion of effluvium, she was gone without a trace.

”Heh...” With a satisfied smirk, the golden-haired Harbinger, retracted her hand. The swirls of tangible darkness flowing back into her, feeding the Queen with their gathered materials. Well, time for her to go. ”I’m done here, Mistress.”

”Ara, ara, Noir~ are you sure about that~?”

---

@Rune_Alchemist



”Wha-?!!” A glint of steel at the corner of her eyes was the only warning. Noir only had time to turn her head there before an oversized ‘arrow’ - a javelin really - made of enchanted steel tore right through her right arm and wing. In less than a second, said arm and wing were gone, effluvium spilling out of the missing limbs like a broken valve.

”Aaaaaaaaaaaargh!!” A roar, louder than the one elicited by the Knight of Rose, violently reverberated through the air. A horrifying wail of agony, shock, and most importantly, rage. Noir fell through the air, plummeting towards the asphalt as smaller metal projectiles grazed her petite frame. ”Nnngh...!” She slammed against the ground with a wet thud, effluvium splattered around her like a ruptured water balloon.

”Our little swordswoman had friends~“

Oh... oh, so this was it’s going to be, huh? Fine then, she’ll slaughter each and every one of these Metal fools! ”Rrrrrgh!!” Seemingly losing all traces of her elegant goth-loli facade, she fueled her fury through pain. The loss of her arm and wing didn’t seem like much of an issue as the darkness raged on around her.

The blonde Harbinger melded with them, slipping into the tangible shadows, then like hordes of angry wasps, the darkness sped rapidly towards the red-clad archer, aiming to surround her, and then, the wounded monster would emerge, swiping and biting to tear Katarina into literal pieces.

@Shifter_Master

With Veronica's agents having dispersed, she was alone again. While Veronica had intended to get all of her agents together, she wasn't really ready to entrust all of them to her secret. Sam and Eli already knew, so there was nothing wrong with them knowing about each other.

But this did not conclude her business with all of her agents.

Veronica lifted a hand up to her ear and dialed into penny's frequency. After the events at Justine's castle, Veronica did manage to pass the robot a device which they could communicate with. On Penny's largely metal, magical body, such a device would likely go undetected by Beacon. There were always risks using such devices. But using a communication device was only a big no-no if they knew it was mint on the other side. To this end, Veronica had her ways of getting around such things. As an example, her 'com' actually went through a series of relays and distorts. Even if someone was to follow the signal, they wouldn't know where it was coming from or who was actually speaking on the other side. Not without a considerable amount of detective work. Not that she really cared if Beacon knew she was talking to Penny. But penny probably did.

“Penny, it's me.” There was no reason for Veronica to announce herself, as she should be the only one taking advantage of the device Veronica implanted in her. And it was likely too quiet for most to hear. “I have some information in regards to... Thalia Alvoy. You will meet me in Penrose's central park. I hear they are almost done rebuilding everything.” Veronica started to move towards her destination.

---

The talk Su had with Boteg was short. In truth, she didn't really understand most of it. Boteg's strange way of speaking made it difficult to convey certain ideas. Everything had a nickname, and it didn't help that he couldn't remember it's original name. Su was “sky scare,” and he use to call Amber “sea scare” as examples. The only thing that she understood was the mention of “sky bastion,” which was Amber's old ship that he had named himself.

Su decided to see if she could track down Helga. It would probably be a good idea to relay what she understood from Boteg to someone else. If just to help confirm that she was right about what he said.

In a world where magma flowed, the skies burned red and temperatures were naturally high enough for the average lifeform to spontaneously combust, existed a cavern filled with creatures full of might and magic. They were dinosaur-like monsters with large, cooking volcanoes on their back, which was constantly brewing magical energy to blast beams of lava to eliminate their invaders. This was the nesting ground for such creatures, and… it was currently frozen solid.

The room was round, several of the gigantic volcano-creatures were sleeping in a ring, and now sleeping for longer than they had intended. In the middle a mirror had been placed, a specially prepared mirror which drained the surrounding area of its magic, and with the creatures cooking magic within them it meant this room was manufacturing magic for the mirror to collect. A little magic factory that had been prepared by the two individuals present. Two girls stood at the entrance of the room, one tall and one short, and behind them rose a similarly gigantic creature, a dragon made of ice.

‘Heh, I totally saved your ass there,’ the shorter one commented.

‘No way, I had that handled,’ the longer one retorted. ‘Also, you should act like you look and not use that word.’

‘As if there’s a kid out there these days that doesn’t say “ass”.’

‘Fine, then avoid using it as a sign of maturity. You’re older than you look, after all.’

‘Acting like a kid is, like, my one privilege in life! Buzz off, old lady!’

‘Hey! You know that- ugh, you know what? I’m not even going to bother.’

‘Yeah! Score one for “Frostbite”! Haha!’

The visually sixteen year old girl admitted defeat for the attitude of the visually nine year old. The taller was Tullia Barese, the shorter was Victoria Tretyakova. Tullia had long grey hair, and wore a white dress that ended in short black frills in a skirt as her magical girl outfit, meanwhile Victoria was a tiny purple witch with rough, purple hair and a nasty little attitude. Tullia had a staff of great power planted to the floor, while Tullia held nothing at all, seemingly unarmed.

Victoria had her arms crossed and looked pleased with herself as Tullia took out her phone and sent her message. They had completed their missions. Tullia did her best to keep focused, but the constant capturing of giant monsters for Asengav’s cause was wearing her thin. The two of them were experts at freezing giant monsters. Victoria distracted them, Tullia froze them. So they continued, being sent to hazardous world after hazardous world, sent to defeat the strongest present adversaries… They couldn’t do this forever. Yet, she knew. They weren’t worth anything to Asengav. They’d eventually be killed, and it’d be of no consequence to the interdimensional horror. She could but admit defeat as she heard the phone signal that they’d received a new message of orders. She looked it up. Her eyes went wide.

‘Uh-oh.’

‘What now? We fired?’ Victoria grinned a bit. Tullia looked at her, her face blank.

‘The… the time is approaching. We’re being sent to Penrose City. We’re being put on defensive duty.’

Victoria’s eyes widened in realization, before she let out a cry of excitement.

‘YYYYYYYYYYYYEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEESSSSSS! Real world! Actual population! Magical Girls to fight! I’m getting pumped up…!’ Victoria looked happy as could be, bouncing on the spot. Seeing this, Tullia sighed a bit in relief, and texted back her affirmative. The “Bifrost Sculptor” and “Frostbite” would be accepting their new mission. Not that they had a choice, but still.

But, this worried her. Every other step of the two’s journey had been one planned by Asengav, who she knew was an expert at planning. He’d known they could win every other time. However, this time, it was the conclusion of his big plans and he was just sending in all the tools at hand, probably not even caring if he lost a couple. It would likely be their most dangerous mission yet.

She could but hope they were ready for it.

---

Helga was quietly whistling to herself in the locker room under the Golden Trove apartment complex, looking back at a mirror behind her as she finished tying the apron on her new maid uniform. Ever since the Justine incident, and the small funeral she held for Amber, the former shipmate had made a promise to herself; to live a fun life without regrets, just like Amber had. She thought about giving up on the magical life, and to go back to living as an outcast, but Boteg was there to comfort her with the promise of a nest. She was thrilled to get back to working again; she found a life of servitude something more fulfilling and meaningful than as a wanderer.

When she finished up dressing, she twirled around the mirror, and grinned.
"I wish Amber had got to see me like this...all pretty..." She spoke to herself, just a Su Fang walked in. She jumped, and turned around with a blush on her face. "I mean, I wish she saw how hard I still work, haha!" She excused herself, and laughed a bit. "Anyway, do you need something, Sue?"

---

Kimble mewled in discomfort when Alicia tried to detach the catgirl, and then made funny cat noises when Alicia shook her leg. "Nyaa! Mistresss!" But then, when Sally came over and scratched Kimble behind her ear, she dropped to the floor, landing on her arms and feet. She looked sad as she saw Alicia leave. "Nhyaah..."
Sally gave a giggle, and continued petting Kimble. "There, there...Alicia can't play with you all day. She must be on an important mission."
Kimble sighed, then turned towards the other. "My name's Kimble!" She greeted with the lift of a curled hand. "I'm a cat! Mistress saved me, so now I'm her pet!"

---

During the short ride to downtown, Lily was quiet, which was unusual for her; she was the kind of girl to talk a lot, especially when riding with Alex. She bit her lip as she made a jump off a ramp, having never shown concern over more dangerous stunts; and then, for the very first time...She stopped at a red light. She nervously reached for her pocket, where she held the ring he had given her.

"Hey Alex..." She began speaking, one foot on the ground, nervously tapping.
"Do you remember when we first met? It was right outside of Penrose, when I was on my way to Victoria's meeting." She chuckled.
"You were so dorky back then, with your misbehaving clones. It was embarrassing...But I'm glad I picked you up that day." The lights turned to green, and Lily took to full speed, dashing madly through traffic.
"Anyway, we're soon there! Get ready!"

With a great slide that tilted the motorcycle so close to the concrete that Lily could touch it with hr hand, she and Alex turned the corner to a a scene of magical girls fighting each other. Despite the chaos, however, the energetic bow-wielder immediately took aim at the vampire girl using what Lily could only describe as advanced darkness. Like a horse-archer, she circled around while firing off her lightning arrows, causing small flashes of electricity around her. Lily then realised she was about to crash into a building, and jumped off it, landing on a lamp post.
"Stop fighting, you two!" She shouted. "Now what the heck is going on here?"

Alexander was blown away. He had seen and experienced a lot of strange and mystical things since he entered the magical world, but even this was too out there for him to comprehend 'Lily...is obeying traffic safety laws.' It stunned him so much, that he didn't even respond to Lily calling him dorky.

Once they arrived, he found that things didn't look like he was expecting. Not only were there no monsters at all, but some magical girls were fighting instead. Instantly, his mind flashed back to the whole Justine incident 'Fuck. It's only been a few weeks. Is...is this going to be a regular thing now? ' A small part of him wanted to cry tears of bitter frustration 'This is so fucking stupid...'

Judging by her rather dismissive reaction to her appearance and demands, Silhouette would have to assume that her target was expecting the company. But this was nothing more than convenient for Sil. The girl presumably knew where she stood and would ideally be cooperative, instead of turning this into a conflict neither of them needed. But then again, she was a magical girl. And most, if not all of them, were mentally unstable in one way or another. Considering how many humans she just killed, Silhouette would feel safer in assuming that there may be some sort of problem with this girl's mind. But that was just par for the course at this point.

Sil knew she was not better.

"Whether or not I am a hitman depends on your actions and your answers." Sil answered, ignoring the 'compliment' or at least not showing any outward signs of acknowledging it. She wasn't too keen on transforming back into her human form out here, but if something did happen she could certainly change back in a moment's notice.

As if losing this outfit will make us any less conspicuous.

Giving only an unspoken complaint, she went ahead and did change.


She still had the document in her hands, but if Chloe bothered to look at them she'd likely notice they were now affected by Sil's magic in some way. Silhouette was not under any delusions that she could trust this girl. Rather, it was quite the opposite. In her experience, the calmest girls were more often the most dangerous. But she would accept any risks associated with this task so long as it gained her the information Veronica and the Mint desired.

"Very well, lead the way." she instructed. What else could this be but either a really poor attempt at a trap or a girl desperate for socialization that did not involve the slaughter of defenseless humans? "But if I'm going along with this, then there'd better be a good explanation waiting for me..." she sternly told the girl. Being rather business-oriented as a human being and as a magical girl, Sil desired little in the way of socialization, especially against someone who could become her foe in the very next second. Her features betrayed not a hint of emotion, and her voice had always resembled a monotone or sometimes leaked irritation. So when her next few words lacked the prior tension, one might find it a bit entertaining.

"...as well as good coffee."