The lieutenant nodded to Klaus in approval as he seemed to give the go-ahead for the escort; of course, his reaction was a bit less reserved when Stark flew around, given that the superhero was a far more familiar sight to him than the entire rest of the colorful cast that had gathered in front of the police.
"Ah-er... Mr. Stark--you
are Tony Stark, right? Iron Man? I'm sorry to say that Secretary Gutierrez doesn't exist in our world... Unless you mean as a character in the comics, but I guess that's not as relevant right now. In any case, if there are no objections my men and I will bring you right over. I can't do anything about paying you, though--my check's from the government, after all..."
Leo gave a pensive nod as the man in front of them gave a sheepish smile before turning towards his subordinates--or, at the very least, those who weren't busy cleaning up the mess in the area. Everyone was quickly led to the array of police cars and, assuming they wanted to, promptly boarded one before the squadron drove off, leaving the corpses of the wyverns behind them.
Given the amount of insanity that had only just subsided, the roads of early-morning Manhattan were abnormally empty. Most of the news had given warnings to stay inside until the situation passed, and most were willing to oblige. It wasn't long before the group of police cars slid up to the UN, where there was an abnormal showing of military muscle from the US troops assigned to stand guard. As soon as everyone had left their respective vehicles, an older man in a suit calmly motioned towards the group to follow him.
"My apologies for the urgent call; as soon as the representatives for China, Japan, and the UK relayed reports of similar incidents, we could not help but call you all here. My name is Stanley Sharpton, and I represent the United States. You can introduce yourselves in front of the rest of the delegates; there is little time to waste."
There was an audible gulp from Leo as the group was led into the building and, subsequently, to the main chamber of the building where all the representatives from the other nations were anxiously speaking amongst one another.
The second that they had all wntered, the panels almost instantly quieted down, and Mr. Sharpton calmly took his seat as the proceedings began.
The pre-discussion briefing was fairly short, all things considered; the declaration of a worldwide emergency coupled with clips from the recent wyvern fight and other similar incidents the world over only served to emphasize the importance of their meeting here today.
And thus the proceedings began, with each character introducing themselves as they might to the politicians.
"Now, with that settled... Gentlemen. Ladies. I propose we form a temporary special dedicated council to aid in resolving this crisis. This is under the assumption that they give their assent, but given how our own firearms did little against those enemies just now, I would like to hear any arguments for the latter."
There was a bit of murmuring amongst the crowd, but given the lack of outright objection Mr. Sharpton nodded and turned towards the group.
"My apologies for the sudden proposal, of course, but we will surely give you ample compensation for your a--"
"Hm? I should have hoped you older folk wpuld know better than to interfere in matters like these."
The culprit of the statement was nowhere to be seen, and the room grew deathly silent as everyone began to turn their heads around to look for the culprit. After a few seconds of empty silence, the politicians began to relax.
At least, until a large rift opened up in the middle of the room and slowly pried itself open. The inside of the gap was dyed a deep purple, with a large amount of eyes that seemed to flit about, staring at everyone they passed over as a
single figure stepped out of the hole.
"Well, then... Altair, I leave this stage to you. Let me know when the proceedings are over," the voice responded from inside the gap before it closed behind the figure. The woman, Altair, glanced at the group and, eyeing Meteora with a wary expression, held up a hand as if to motion everyone there to stop.
"Rather than fight you all as I have done in the past, I will instead welcome you newcomers to this world. It is not my own, but even so, it is one full of abundance and beauty—or, rather, it would be. I am not here to destroy this world, nor do I seek to destroy any others—no, instead, I am here to protect it. To seal off these gardens from the insects that may pervade throughout—it is for that purpose that I stand before you today. Should you fail to see likewise, I am afraid that it is your throat that I shall come for next."
"That's a rather harsh ultimatum. If anything, shouldn't the opposite be true?" responded
another woman, who, at first glance, seemed to be wearing a blue elevator attendant's uniform. "Oh, but if this is to be a place of peace, then let me introduce myself. I am Elizabeth, and I will be the first to oppose your selfish impositions upon all of humanity, Ms. Altair. Should man not be free to seek the answers so barely out of reach? To deny them of such a thing... I will not tolerate it."
"...Hmph. I am under orders not to harm any of you right now, but you, Ms. Elizabeth, may be an exception. Alas, I need only say this much. All of you gentlemen should know what sway your words have on the world. I sincerely hope that you should not make an enemy of me."
"Likewise. I won't show any qualms about stopping your farce the next time we meet, and I won't hesitate in defeating all of you should the need arise."
The two women glared at each other for a few moments before they both turned around and left the same way they came, leaving the whole hall in chaos.
Leo simply stood by, slack-jawed at the whole affair. They came like a storm, but even so...
"Erm... So, uh... What should we do, everyone?" he asked, almost certainly expecting a flurry of arguments from all sides. "I don't really understand the whole situation, but... I don't know what to say about this situation anyways..."
Almost as if to break the tension, another gap soon appeared right next to Youmu's ear, speaking just loud enough for everyone to hear.
"Oh, by the way Youmu, Yuyuko has gone missing. One moment, she was asking me for some food from the Outside World, and the next, she was gone. If you find her, please let me know."
And with that, the gap closed back into nonexistence, leaving Leo staring blankly at the space thereafter.
"E-eh? Who? Fate?" the Celestial asked in a half-panic as she watched the magical girl fly off towards some odd figure in the distance. Without giving the matter any further thought, Tenshi followed suit, only to find that Vita was already there with Emilio to discount Nanoha's initial theory. The tall woman in front of them was rather imposing in height, but given that she was currently flying, Tenshi felt no sense of inferiority. Rather than that, this girl felt INCREDIBLY abnormal, in all senses of the word.
"Ah... My apologies; it seems you have mistaken me for someone else. My name is Priscilla. I found myself here rather suddenly, surrounded by all of these odd creatures. I humbly thank you for dealing with the rest of them; it gave me some time to gather myself off to the side. May I ask for your own names?"
"Priscilla... Was it? I am Hinanawi Tenshi, a Celestial from Heaven. You said you were fighting off those 'creatures'—do you have any idea what they might be?"
"What they are...? I apologize, but I am just as clueless as you are. They simply came towards me like a bunch of Hollows, and despite my own warnings, they continued to mindlessly attack. It was as if they had no minds of their own, in fact—a far cry from what I know of. Mayhaps they were golems of some sort?"
The response Emilio would get in the midst of this was a simple one: if they were sapient to any degree, attempt to retrieve them for questioning and cross-examination. Unless their lives were at stake, it was made explicitly clear that, if possible, no one was to be 'exterminated' in any way, shape, or form.
Once Inuyasha had arrived at the designated location—the same apartment complex that everyone had come to a while earlier—the man who had contacted him over the earpiece was there waiting for him.
"I apologize for the roundabout method to get you here; the city's currently in a panic, and my men are all over the place trying to keep some semblance of order," the Captain stated before glancing at the buildings behind them. "In any case... Inuyasha, was it? I'll keep things brief; this is not the Japan you know of in any way, shape, or form. The subordinate that I have stationed here should be able to give you a better briefing than I, but to keep things simple, a group of people in a similar situation to yours have already contracted with us, the Japanese military, to help keep the peace in exchange for lodging, funding, and direct support from us. The offer is also extended to you, should you choose to accept it. The choice is yours and yours alone."
Unlike with the politicians earlier, there was no need to dance around the topic—the heart of the matter was most important, after all.
The moment that Mordred re-entered the sewer, the sound of something gurgling began to resonate quite loudly from the direction that the slime creature had moved off to.
Something was happening, of course, but in the darkness here what that something
was remained to be seen.
Of course, once anyone arrived with any sort of light, they would see that the slime had tripled in size over the few moments that they had gone off to deal with Menomaru.
The Anguished One smiled at the three as they gave their names in turn before nodding in silence.
"Ah... Ben, Hibiki, and Misaki, then? I shall keep those names in mind for the future. As for your questions... I do have another name, of course, but this current title is what 'suits' me the best at this moment. As for alternative actions... Well, sadly, I believe it is a little later for that now," he stated, glancing off to the side towards the incoming police lights. "I believe it is in all of our bests interests if I withdraw for the moment. However, Ms. Hibiki, it should not be long until you find what you seek."
Without another word, The Anguished One floated back off into the distance, far away from the police that were only now arriving on the scene.
"Ah... We missed our chance..." Misaki sighed, shaking her head as she tried to figure out how to get out of this situation as the policemen ran over on foot (over the broken road, of course). There was one oddity, though—namely, the
black-haired girl who was crying out Hibiki's name.
"Uh... Who?" Misaki asked as she watched the girl leap into Hibiki's arms in a hug.
"Hibiki! Hibiki! Thank goodness you're all right!" she said, a wide smile on her face as one of the policemen nodded his head in turn.
"So you're this 'Hibiki' she kept talking about? Suprisingly informal outfit you have there. Ms. Kohinata helped us evacuate some of the citizens from the area before... All of
this, really," he said, gesturing towards the road. "In any case, though... You should get somewhere safe. Who knows if whatever caused this might do it again..."
Misaki stared at the officer, half in amusement and half in shock at his assumptions.
"Is he... Is he an idiot?" she asked herself before shaking her head.
"Actually, this might work in our favor...""Excuse me, but... Are there any shelters nearby for us to head to? I'm afraid my home was caught in the crossfire here..." she said, discreetly slipping out a remote from her bag and pointing it at the officer. With a small 'click', the man seemed to have stars in his eyes as he turned to address them.
"Oh, of course. It's just down that way. Walk three blocks, take a left, walk two more blocks, and you should be there."
"Thank you very much, sir."
"No problem. Now, if you young ladies... And your chaperone, I assume?" he asked, to which Misaki nodded before he continued on. "Right, if you could get going to safety, I assure you that we'll get to the bottom of this."
And with that, the officers left, to which Misaki let out a deep sigh and massaged her forehead.
"Hm... By some miracle, I managed to get rid of any liability for this incident... Or so it seems. I really have to question law enforcement sometimes," she said, shaking her head before turning to the other three.
"Well? I don't think that pressing him for any details on the situation would have helped us much, and I would much prefer gathering information from a crowd; far less conspicuous," she stated, placing the remote back in her bag before beginning to walk off. "Shall we get going?"
@VitaVitaAR@Raineh Daze@Dezuel@KoL@Rin@TheFake@TheUnknowable@Crusader Lord
