[Episode Two] Union

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Spatial Coordinates: Area Defined as Mountainside Village, Alipier Observatory Subsector

A3 paid no heed to the shenanigans of the would-be mutineers, despite his wide array of powerful visual and audio sensors. Squabbles of that nature usually resulted in negative consequences for those who wished to carry them out, and he knew this.

Although... the one they referred to as "Juryrig" piqued his interests for a moment. "Why", his Unit wondered, before chalking it up to the erratic and nonsensical mannerisms of this individual. Maybe some form of stabilized insanity, his Sim-Pofii™ drivers concluded. Said drivers then suggested that putting this individual out of its suffering may be the sympathetic thing to do, before this request was overridden by his Commin-Centz™ drivers.

"Events of hostile complexion would accommodate an entertainment value, define driver incompatibility as malediction."
 
Mountainside Village - Alipier Observatory

Miko pulled his attention away for a moment clearing the door and looked towards Marie and the smol. The glances given to him said something was going down. Miko thought back when he first met Marie and he recalled they got a little touchy. Was she looking for a date, maybe some hand holding? He doubted it but then again anything was possible. It was so cold in this place, a nice warm body to be next too wouldn't be a bad idea. He shook his head for a moment and got his focus back on the door. Romance can wait till after they don't die.
 
Alipier Observatory
Surface


Behind the doors laid an uneven staircase, which appeared to be carved directly from the mountain itself. The arched ceiling of the staircase was plastered with a dark blue brick, accented with ice and slush. Stray water had seeped from the walls and puddled on the steps, turning the narrow crevice into a naturally dim hall of mirrors. The staircase went down into the mountain’s core for a straight twenty or so feet, where another cracked door lied. Orange light seeped from the crack, bouncing back up the wet steps and out into the frigid night.

Dahlia pulled her scarf up tighter around her nose, glancing back at Keith. It seemed like the best option. ”Tell us what you see down there.” she said, taking a step back to allow the quiet informant to take the lead. The Scholar’s head tilted briefly upon hearing Deimos’ concerns, a blue eye casting over to look at them. ”Is everything alright?”

The resident book spoke up, sounding a bit annoying over the quiet commotion and being bumped several times. Soon, the usual holographic projection of OSC-01 appeared behind them, albeit quite dim and foggy in the snow. ”Fear, nervousness, pain, familiarity. Things I think quite a bit of your crew are experiencing.”

A moment later, the hologram looked at Dahlia, mimicking the round eye on the face of the book. ”You should learn how to read faces.”

The vulpine twitched his ears, letting them scan for any sounds that may be reverberating through the halls, but all he could hear was the gentle hum of wind between the wet icicles. He ruffled beneath his cloak, feeling as though this temple had somehow managed to be colder than the world outside. ”Unfortunately the familiarity part is one I’d rather not be experiencing right now…”

”Deimos, you seem like you would be quite adept at stealth yourself,” said Keith’s disembodied voice from the entrance, seeming to get closer to the expeditionist as he sought to cut off short his reminiscing. Many of the feelings mentioned by the overseer were ones the informant himself had gotten to know intimately during the course of the past almost decade, and yet he deemed them a burden not to be wished upon anyone. ”I understand you might be currently experiencing some unpleasant feelings, but it will be easier not to infiltrate this place alone.”

”We need your help.”
Without giving Deimos a chance to respond, the quiet sound of stretching of rubber indicated Keith had run back inside and down the staircase, his footfalls soft and muffled by the gumshoes.

Keith wasn’t wrong. As much as Deimos enjoyed the occasional theatrical entrance when things looked bleakest, he knew that keeping back and making use of the shadows’ cover always made it easier to get around these sorts of places. You never knew if you could outgun a foe, but you could always run away faster if you’re never caught in the first place.

Though his ability to sneak was somewhat impaired by the clunking of his arm, the leather and fur coat that it nestled in the sleeve of was more than adequately muffling any squeaking sounds. He pulled a headset from his pocket and hung it from his ear. ”I already have my communications synchronized with the rest of the team. If we catch sight of something, I’ll let you know.” His words were rushed. He knew good and well that if he let Keith go too deep without him, the man could run the risk of running into that thing.

Deimos immediately bolted off, his soles already built to keep his steps from reverberating. Dahlia took a step back with a light sigh, looking back down at the book.


---
Alipier Observatory
Interior


Keith and Deimos soon found themselves at the basin of the subterranean staircase, standing in a thin puddle of water to either side of the cracked door where they were joined by Reman. The large rounded door frame gave the three men more than enough cover to take a peek around. The door itself was made of a sort of cured wood core surrounded by dark ornate iron, faring much better sheltered away from the elements than its neighbor at the surface.

Through the open door, they could see a small entry room, its floor with an earthy brown tilework. The parlor was small, with a half-crushed desk laid to one side. At the end of the parlor laid a large pair of iron doors, thrown open to reveal a much larger meeting hall.

The hall had a high, arched ceiling, cast bright with a citrus orange glow that was emanating from the band of trim running around its walls. To either side of the hall laid a balcony that was in good shape, underneath which sat aged wooden pews, not unlike those that would be found in a church. The entire place seemed… brighter, more intact than Deimos remembered. Holes had been patched, balconies repaired. Most of any sign of scuffle or damage had been… covered up.

It was quickly confirmed however, that the group was not alone. About a dozen figures could be seen wandering around the hall, dressed in a variety of clothing but most sporting a firm teal and black. The men and women, presumably members of that aforementioned Union, appeared to be… working. Many lugged around toolboxes, crates and machinery as they talked quietly amongst themselves. The three scouts had to take cover once more, however, as one of them turned around. A few moments later though, the member went on their way to the other end of the hall.

Reman was intimidated by the scenery. He was taking a quiet, brisk walk through the halls, trying to be silent enough not to attract attention. The process driver on his arm had the indicators set to silent, just in case he needed to do something drastic. He looked behind him, back at the rest of the crew, not realizing how deep into the building he was. Sort of panicking a bit, he took a few short steps back to the crew, gesturing to ask if he was supposed to go further inside.

Keith moved quickly through the hall toward a far away crate near a corner, confident enough in his invisibility to not be spotted, but being careful still not to bump into any of the workers. As he hid behind it, the informant briefly turned off his bracer to allow it to recharge and jutted his hand out from cover to signal the group to move up. While waiting, he took the opportunity to close his eyes and focus on eavesdropping whatever bits he could from the hushed conversations nearby.

Reman timidly pushed forward, moving slow to get behind the would-be assassin. He pushed his key into his bracer. Besides the little mechanical click of the latch, nothing. He was thankful that for once he wouldn’t need to announce his location to everyone nearby. The mechanic slowly pressed his hand over his driver, as the process display shows a display of his armor in a faint green hue, before he closed the window, giving a thumbs up to Keith.

Further into the hall, the trio of varied scouts could see a second room towards the end of the hall, separated by a simple arch. The endcap of the hall was rounded and sported an impressive… mechanical dome. Large, iron-crested windows ran the lengths of the observatory’s walls, the dark wintry night visible beyond their open shutters. A few more members of the unknown group stood in the end cap, observing and working on some kind of machine that hung from the ceiling- presumably a telescope. The members didn’t seem to be bantering in any kind of malicious tone, but they were all notably armed- pistols, mostly. A few custom rifles here and there.

There were, however, a few small robots… drones flying around. They resembled the Pixy units OSC-01 had brought, albeit made of a black metal and sporting a more triangular set of legs. One drone sat in the corner, scanning in the groups general direction with a piercing orange gaze.

The only one here with nary a fancy power to aid his ability to avoid detection was the half-fox who lay crouched behind a crate. However, he didn’t need to peek his head over to get a good idea as to where the Union workers were. The clapping of boots on the ground told him all he needed to know. Though even then, he had some trouble making out what they were saying Deimos took a cursory glance from the edge of the crate. He weighed his options and eyed the room.

He never remembered there being a church in this forsaken temple. Hell, even the layout of the halls felt different. He worried that all of his concerns were for naught, that this dungeon may in fact be a completely separate one from where his comrades lay. He didn’t know if he wanted to be right or wrong.

He took a breath and skidded towards a pew, rolling up and pressing his back against the wood. It took all of his might to keep his breath under control as he let his ears do all of the looking for him.

Some of the members in the distance spoke in… a dialect that was hard to comprehend. If it was english, no one could be sure. Deimos could hear quite clearly a few sounds coming from the balcony above him. For one, someone was eating a sandwich. Then, a few unknown voices started a conversation. A female spoke up, with an accent that was… notably Bivonan. “You know when we’re pulling out? Place gives me the chills.” A male responded, in an accent that was more than a little far-fetched. “Boss’s chrome dome said the blizzard should be passing soon. If we finish up before the next pass, we can extract.”

Before Deimos could catch the ending, a little buzz pinged in his ear- and Keith’s too. It was Dahlia. Aboveground, the stood shelted with a few of the others at the top of the staircase. “You’ve been down there for a few minutes now, what do you see?

Reman was the first to try and properly get around the armed guards, although try is a strong word. It was more like he took a little step to move out of cover, and then hid back in when the huge orange beam came down the hall. Definitely wasn’t the scariest moment he’s had to hide in but it was definitely in his top 100. After the nothing he did, Reman gestured to Keith to do something about that big old eyebot around the corner impeding progress.

Keith pressed his index and middle finger to his earpiece, enabling the use of its microphone. He hurriedly surveyed his surroundings for any approaching sentinels before responding in a hushed tone. ”A large hall with about a dozen armed Union workers and some small guard drones. So far not much of immediate interest, but this place has clearly undergone some renovations, over.” With that, he brought both of his fingers from his earpiece to his bracer, reactivating its field and setting his sights on the corner drone.

This would require some thinking outside the box. If it was just him, it would be easier to simply rush past invisible while not bothering to disable the robotic sentinels. However, he needed to clear way for the rest of the group. If he tried to use his revolver to disable it, the grunts would hear it, and if he simply chucked a grenade in its direction, the robot would see. But, so long as the informant kept things on his person, they would also be subject to his light refraction field.

The solution was clear, then. ”Don’t panic if you hear static from my end, over.” After sending the message, Keith immediately pulled the pin on one of his EMP grenades, counting a few seconds to before its detonation and rushing past the drone, having the pulse trigger near it and halfway through changing hiding locations, reaching another crate just as his prototype bracer finished flickering its user back into visibility. The informant heaved a heavy sigh of relief he had been unknowingly holding in. One EMP left. As soon as that robot hit the ground, that would be the sign for the others to move up.

The sentry seized, falling to the ground in individual pieces with quite the clatter. A few of the folks in black and teal looking back at the noise- not with much interest however, everyone was carrying their own box of clattering tools. The surveillance disruption did catch something’s attention, however- as some of the drones in the local area stopped and turned to face the disturbance. Two of the black not-Pixy units moved to investigate it with haste.

It was hard to not hear the clatter of the robot hitting the floor. Deimos knew that any minute now, one of the guards would be sent to investigate the racket, and the entire scouting party’s hand would be forced to either press deeper or retreat before the three are left surrounded by guards. The fox boy hauled himself out of the cover of one pew, then swerved into another before flitting behind a pillar of stone. His head would pop out only to catch sight of where his teammate on the other side of the room was located. ”One drone down, but we can’t say the same about any others. Can’t hear anything of importance from these guys nearby. Over.”

The boy plucked at the sword on his belt while keeping his eyes glued to the structure around him in hopes of finding some kind of duct or alternative means of travel. He much preferred to not kill any of the individuals in the room, but if they were going to pose a potential threat to the party, he knew hesitation would leave him at a disadvantage. “Their clothes are strange though. Bright colored teal with black detailing. You wouldn’t happen to know these guys would you, Dahli-?”

He had taken a step too far in one direction, and immediately felt his foot give way over a stretch of frozen water that had been left by the pillar. There was a loud squeak, and the fox found himself kissing the floor much like the disabled guard robot. It took all of his might to clap his hand over his mouth to keep him from crying out. He was only lucky his arm was bound in fabric, or else the resulting crash would have been much louder.

---
Surface

Dahlia spoke up again, her palm pressed firmly against the damp stone tunnel. Her train of thought slowly unraveled as it appeared she was being ignored- or something was happening. ”Yes, Ausse said they’ve been spotted around the area-, Deimos? Deimos.”

The Scholar stopped transmitting once more, resting her free hand firmly on her forehead.

A3 stood, or rather, sat at the top of the stairs, gazing down the glazed steps. His unit frozen, processing the best way he could make it down, after all, tentacles aren’t exactly optimized for stairs in the way legs are. Actually… yes, that’s how he’d do it, the solution was so easy! There’s no way this could go wrong, he decided.

With a stiff motion, he reached out with one of the segmented tubes, directing the pointed tip towards the third step down before bringing it down with a quick thrust. With an audible crack, it lodged itself into the ice. ”Affirmative, this action will yield an appropriate product” he said as he reached out with a second.

And then he felt it. The release from the unfortunately cracked and fragile solid, finally (and easily) shattering from the gradual increase of pressure from the multi-ton robot. There’s no way he could recover in time, he realized, and instead put the energy into coiling up into a lopsided and uneven ball, before continuing on a path down the stairs and eventually into whatever lay at its end. The tumblin' robot took down several members of the Downrider group with it, fortunately bouncing enough to keep it from crushing anyone flat.



Crashing through the parlor doors at the bottom of the steps came the boulder-esque A3 and sparsely flung members ot he crew, many of which landed in an uncomfortable pile as the robot came to a screeching halt. The hall was dead quiet.

Dahlia groaned, rubbing her battered head as she peeled herself off the ground- and maybe Miko, too. "Fffuck..." The nearly concussed Scholar looked up with foggy eyes, trying to take in their sudden environment. The inhabitants were now fully aware of the groups entrance, albeit more with shock and concern than any kind of anger. A few of them quietly conversed, one woman running towards the back end of the hall.

Before the group had time to recollect, they were approached by a few of the members. Except... they were offering hands. A rather gaudy voice rose up from the group as a short woman stepped to the side, allowing another to pass. "Welll... it seems we have guests."


"And quite an entrance, too." A rather tall and fit man approached the pile of wary adventurers and robot, sporting a white button-up shirt and dark green vest, just barely exposed under a black and teal longcoat. The man's face sported fairly well-sculpted features with an pale olive complexion, albeit one with quite a large nose. A black wireless headset peeked out from beneath the parted pile of sandy brown and grey hair as two goldenrod eyes peered down at the group with a humored smile. Something about the man however seemed... off, visually. They spoke again, their voice carrying an air of... distinction. "Though you could have just knocked, we aren't the mafia."

Without skipping a beat, the man continued, letting their elbow rest in the balled fist of his other hand. One eye cut back down to the group, looking for some kind of leader. "But since you're here, might I ask who I'm speaking with?"
 
Alipier Observatory
Interior
- Bottom Floor

Miko just got run over by a thick robot and he was not pleased about this. "Damn it, someone needs to put that robot on a diet." He said with a groan as he got to his feet. He had managed to deflect most of the impact with his powers but the sudden stop at the bottom still hurt like hell. He was wise to hang close to Dahlia as he managed to assist in protecting her too. Can't have the person with the money die this soon in the mission.

As the would be attackers came in close Miko rolled and hid the fact his weapon was aimed directly at them. "Who needs to knock when you can just have wide ass over there crash through a door. Surprise, we are here." He said with a laugh then grabbed his side feeling the pain. Damn, got some bruised ribs from that fall. He pushed himself up off the ground and was curious why the ground had a cushy feeling to it. He quickly noticed that he had managed to land on Dahlia. "Welp, wasn't expecting to get to second base like this. You doing alright Dahlia?" He asked removing his hand and sitting upright.
 
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"Excuse my friend here, He's not exactly quite on model."

Romulus walked down the hall, the echoes of his shoes clacking on the ground below him set a stark opposition to Reman panic standing straight up behind a small crate, trying to look around for any kind of threat. Romulus stepped forward, getting into the middle of the little cluster of members that just blew their cover. This was a strange situation to get into as the first real proper mission of this crew, probably not quite what he was expecting, but certainly prepared for.

Romulus started out with; "We're from the Downrider, and we're looking for a certain model of android." before turning to Deimos, and extending a hand to help the fox-boy up off the ground. "Surprised you or Reman didn't blow the cover first, are you alright?"
 
Aliper Laboratory
Wow, we didn't fall


Marie watched as the group tumbled down the staircase, almost rushing to follow before stopping herself, letting a smile creep up over her face. Perfect situation for what she needed to do, currently. Especially now with Juryrig up here and Romulus down there... With likely bigger things to worry about now.

She turned to the two next to her. "All according to plan. Now, we get to talk about this freely."

The black-eyed inventor clasped "Well don't keep me in suspense! What's the gossip, the favor the news? Else I have half my mind to tumble down the stairs and see what happens-" Juryrig paused, and felt his back for a moment. His estatic expression humbled after a hot second. "Hm. Forgot my haversack... Might explain why I feel a bit drafty. Aw well, I'll try it later. Now that you have my full, undivided attention - a first, trust me - what is it?"

"A few issues. One, we have ourselves a very definitely eventually hostile man with a gun-shaped driver." Marie started, kneeling down to start drawing in the snow. "Two, that man has a fusion level of 48. Three, he knows a lot about two of us -- but on the contrary I don't remember much about him or whatever he made me help him with. In fact I only managed to add two and two together just now and figured out he's the guy who originally made Reman's driver currently in the wastebin back on the ship. And four, he still has two unknown keys."

"Additionally, Keith doesn't carry any lethal force. Reman's fucked his own situation, I don't trust the guy with two guns to keep his mouth shut, I don't trust Romulus's pet robot, Deimos has bigger problems, Osco has her combat body still half-broken, and what the hell is a clothier gonna do. This means everyone I trust to help me take him down is right here in front of me, barring that child. Yes, you, get over here." Maria gestured to Rhea.

"This also means we are terribly, terribly on the back foot. I've alerted our green robot friend that this man is hostile, so don't worry about our pay being cut for turning on him. Of course, that's the least of our worries." Marie concluded, for now.

She looked down at the diagrams she drew. Contrary to the pristine lines detailing circuits and energy transfer on the whiteboard back on the ship, these were crudely drawn stick figures with a roughly gun-shaped thing and a few keys around it, an angry face to top off the 'bad guy' thing. Well, she wasn't an artist.

"Now, here's a question: would you knooooow... Alpha? It was a codeword that the man uttered..."

"Yeah, Romulus liked to call himself that. His ego was so big he could barely fit through the main gates of the campus." Marie snapped.

For a time, rhea had been alternating between inspecting the roof, the land around them, and staring back up at the sky from her prone position on the roof. The cold sucked, but she had to admit that all the snoeflakes all over everything made things pretty. At least when things were far away from the dirty cities. Untill she heared the sudden commotion down below, and a few stunned moments afterward, she remained staring at the sky. And then, those two, talking about the other crew members behind their backs... She thought maybe, she had gotten in over her head with involving her self in this adventure, but it was more fun, and probably safer than staying alone on the ship regardless.

It took a long minute or two, but she finally rolled over to the edge of the roof, and peeked her head down, noting the gaping hole, and the weirdo. Oh, juryrig was there too... "Soo, you dropped everyone down on purpose to... talk about somone with level 48. This sounds like a bad video game to me."

"All part of the plan, of course, that I just made up." Marie told the child. "And I think Juryrig could probably explain how the whole mess works better in normal person terms, unless he proves himself to be wholly inadequate in which case I will proceed to shock him and then stuff a snowball in his face before explaining it myself."

"Oh sure, sure! It's basically like a scientifically quantifiable number associated with how much deader you'd be if you were taking it all in at point blank." Jury's hands rested on his belt, and sighed. "Just like that game, Jambilia Smash Bros!"

Rhea could only stare in abject confusion. She understood none of this.

And as promised, a zap and a snowball. "Awful explanation, you get nothing." Marie sighed. "And to think you're one of the more trustworthy ones."

Marie cleaned her snow-based writing surface, got her stick out, and started from the top.

"So, let's start with the very important concept of paranormal abilities in this world." Marie began. "We have magic, we have alchemy, and we have Sage abilities. There exists some strange, possible theory that links the three together, like the missing link of evolution or the Theory of Everything."

"Except unlike the missing link or the Theory of Everything, some genius a potentially long time ago actually found out what the unified theory for magic, alchemy, and Sage abilities was. Despite me coming from an institute that specialized in trying to figure this stuff out. Why? Because apparently all the data ever was very likely lost on it, leaving us with these things called keys. You know, those funny shaped glowing objects that those people down there are carrying around that look sort of like the two-dimension drawing for a nail."

"Do you understand at least half of what I'm saying?" Marie asked.

"I... think its probably all very important, but i can't stop looking at the big hole in the ground and the sounds coming from it." She looked to the hole again as if proving her point.

"What do you expect, you're a kid, you don't have the attention span to properly compre- Oh look! Wondered where Munchie went!" Juryrig waved at the plant-like contraption, munching rocks. "Don't go too far!'

Rhea just frowned angrily at the madman as he made fun of her. IF she were in a proper stance she'd teach him not to underestimate her! but alas, she was laying down ona slippery roof, too grumpy to apreciate the irony of juryrig's own actions.

"Okay, continuing on because this is all just background information." Marie skipped onwards. "These keys have a certain arbitrary measurable number that Romulus over there called Fusion Level. This basically is a number that measures how well you can handle the natural radiation produced by the gel that the keys emit when placed in a driver. Like this one." Marie placed her own Process Driver on the ground, gently.

"Or...his abomination." Marie pointed at Juryrig. "This should be much more easy to understand."

"See, that's exactly what I meant!" The mad man pointed at the physical examples laid down before them. "Just a number that identifies how much more likely you'd be dead. More natural radiation they can handle, more stuff they can do, the more likely you'd die."

"... I still think marie's explanation is better. Everything YOU say is just making me angry, somehow." She glanced down at the hole again, thinking. "So... one of us is an evil whatsit, and a few of us are in trouble becuase he's here? is that all? Can we go down now?" Rhea quickly clambered down from the roof, landing with a puff of snow around her, readying up for another run.

"Yes, specifically the one with the weird looking gun. Because last I remember, Romulus really does not like his mistakes out in the public. And this is nothing short of human experimentation. He's likely looking to...'clean me up.' Or something equally nefarious."

"And I wouldn't go down there. If we hop down we lose all advantage against Romulus." she finished.

"I can't do anything from up here though... Unless we are uh, making ropes? or something?"

"We don't have to charge down there right now. Right now we need to figure out how to steal some of Romulus's keys so we can instantly turn the fight on him. But before then...put your hand on my driver." Marie explained.

"But, you just said its... radioactive." She takes extra care to actually say that word right, obviously. "I'm not sure that I wanna..."

"Not if said radioactive thing is contained by a shell that prevents the radiation from leaking out." Marie explained. "It's perfectly safe, trust me. I've been handling Reman's key for a while now and it doesn't upset any sort of radiation multimeter until it's used in a driver. Even then it only hurts you if you don't have a fusion level of at least 30. For instance..."

Marie put her hand on her driver and flicked a certain switch, linking it with her watch, whose face lit up with a bright blue 31.

"This means I'm perfectly safe to use the current ones we know of." Marie finished.

"Of course, I may have neglected to add SOME of those features, more so by choice, when making this wonderful Driver," Juryrig patted the belt, and dropped his hands to his sides.

"You had a fucking music player on the components list for yours." Marie sighed.

"Trust me, there's a good reason for that! You just can't comprehend it... Yet. Depending on when I actually dare to use such a mighty weapon."

Rhea had to admit... there WERE good reasons to loudly play music when one was getting ready to do... well, whatever it is they do with those keys. She still wasn't intent on touching them though. "I... think I'll uh, pass on the, key touching but... Well, i don't think i'd need it anyway, yes?"

"Hopefully." Marie stated. "But if things go to hell, test yourself. You might have to grab Reman's driver and use it."

"If i touch the thing will you stop asking me? its weird." Though, at least she reached her hand out.

"I mean, either way I have to plan with you in consideration." Marie stated as her watch flashed with a 30.

"Evidently, you pass the bare minimum." Marie stated. "So we can at least take Reman going down into consideration. If it comes to, just tug on his watch. There's a latch underneath that releases the strap, that'll let you put it on and use it."

Rhea just kind of tilts her head at the readings and shrug. Maybe she's underestimating these 'drivers' and the guy with the wreird gun, but... she's pretty sure most people can't do what she can any way... maybe she wouldn't need it? "That's neat."

"Alright...I think we're ready to fight the dragon." Marie stated. "We need to steal as many keys of his as we can; the more we get, the more flexibility we have with what we can do in the fight against him."

"And that's all right? We can go down there and, make sure everyone isn't, sufficating under snow or something now?" She said as she edged closer to the hole, and leaned over it to peak down.

"...they'll be fine." Marie replied. "It's pretty hard to kill weirdos like them."

"Like them huh?" She muttered under her breathe, marveling at how they were the ones calling somone else weirdos... And how she was calling THOSE people weird, of all people.

"Yep! Weirder you are, the harder you are to kill and vice versa! It's as constant as gravity!" Juryrig whistled loudly, summoning Boy Scout, Horsie, and Munchie by his side. "TroooooPERS! Move move move, Canyon Craver Forma-SHUN!" The alchemical table promptly folded, and Boy Scout lifted it up with it arms before going down the hole. Juryrig grabbed Munchie's neck, and dived down the hole, using the turret's massive tongue to 'bungee jump' around like a copper-haired lemur on coffee. His last famous words: "YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEeeeeeeeeeeeeee eeeee..."
 
Alipier Observatory
Interior - Bottom Floor


"... eeeeeeeeEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEHAAAW!" From above the colorfully bruised pile his comrades, Juryrig came in the cavern, swinging about on... Some mechanical carnivorous plant scaled to the size of a small child, like it was a improvised grappling hook. Boy Scout, the (cursed) alchemized hybrid of some kind of anthropomorphic box and a Pixy, swooped in, setting a table down. The table sucked in air, unfolding and becoming the alchemical, jittery golem that is familiar sight for some of the Downriders.

Juryrig dropped the ceiling, landing on Horsie and using Munchie's strong tongue in order to cushion the blow. "WOOOOOOAH! Absolutely wicked, all of ya! Wonderful precious beans, all of you!" After giving the contraptions his congratulations, the orange-veined alchemist dusted himself out of habit, and looked about. He still smiled, but, you know, this wasn't quite what he expected. This has a 'temporary base of operations' feel to the one true Juryrig, and it's clear they're probably, most likely outnumbered. Not much concern for him, really, but he does need a boss that'll pay him and lead the way to other sites of interest.

"... Oh. Hi! Nice to meet you wonderful people! Name's Juryrig, alchemical extraordinare and ... Something something about wood lice... I had a title regarding that... Bah, I'll remember it eventually. So, um, I see no stand-off, so... Who are you wonderful people, exactly?"
 
Alipier Observatory
Interior - Midway down a hole


Rhea's descent was much, much quieter. It was slower too, but that was a sacrifice one must be willing to make for the sake of, well, not falling to their death. Rather, she was actually climbing... or sliding really, in a circular motion, down the wall. Of course, there was one heart stopping moment after another where she would slip or stumble off beat of her own tune, but she didn't let out so much as a squeak as she descended, untill she stopped near the bottom after hearing the crew talking to... somone, down there. Not of her own volition though. She almost fell again and caught herself on the seemingly flat surface.

Ah... there wasn't any shooting yet but, maybe it would do to keep out of sight and out of mind for now, a little ways up the hole. She found a marginally comftorable crack to poition herself in, and looked down intently, juust incase something started going wrong, she could hop down and save the day. Or just one person in particular, like the captain. That was a good way to 'earn your salt' whatever that meant. She wasn't too picky right now. From what she could gather... a group that wasn't the mafia was wondering what they were up to down here? Well, she certainly wasn't going to be showing her face to them any way. Not that somone could figure out who she was under the winter gear anyway.
 
Staircase, that at some point got pretty empty

Arbles was lucky, really. When she saw the large robot fooling around at the top of the stars, she knew it was a matter of time before something was gonna go wrong. That, combined with the backpack she was dragging along, was enough of a concern for her to try going after it, instead of before. She was right to do so, as well; with an ear-splitting crack, and then many more crashes, the machine tumbled into the darkness - some surprised shouts coming afterwards confirming a few people getting knocked down. If she was down there, she'd probably have been killed - if not by the bot itself, her backpack would probably deal a finishing blow.

That being said, she started making her way down quickly, just careful enough to (hopefully) stop a second landslide of crew members, and made it to the steps as the current occupants started asking questions. She just stood in the back, though, to avoid getting involved in this mess... and because it was the easiest escape route that she knew of.
 
Deimos took the man's hand, using it as leverage top hop onto his feet, keeping in mind the frozen puddle just behind him. His deep-set, blue orbs scanned the suit as an archaeologist would scan a counterfeit artifact. It wasn't hard to assume that this man was the one in charge of this group of workers that had been hard at work inside of the temple.

If anything, the look of scorn strewn across his face wasn't caused by this guy so much as his teammates barging in without much of word from the three sent to scout ahead. They were lucky the ruckus didn't cause a cave-in, and luckier this guy didn't just shoot every last one of them on the spot.

What he didn't know was whether or not the thing in the depths of this godforsaken place would have been disturbed by the commotion. That was the one unknown he preferred to not find out.

He turned his attention to the pile of associates strewn across the floor like toys left behind by a careless child. He came to wonder if the concept of consequences was even familiar to the band - and while he tried to find the words to cast like a net across them, none of them felt appropriate for the moment. Instead, a glare of disbelief felt like enough to communicate his distaste before turning his attention back to the man dressed as a tycoon.
 
Alipier Observatory
Interior


Ausse stalled on revealing himself for a while after almost the entirety of the crew had come barreling down the stairwell, abruptly and instantly busting the stealth operation. He knew better than to reveal himself just because his companions had foolishly done so themselves, whether intentional or not. Shit. Surely he'd hear the sounds of gunshots any moment now...

And yet none rang out. Instead, the extravagant voice of a man spoke up from the crew's general direction as the nearby Union workers sounded curious and concerned at their unannounced visitors. Peeking from over the crate where he hid behind, he could see that none of the guards had even so much as raised their weapons towards the crew and, instead, were offering to help them get up from the floor. Certainly not the most comfortable place to take a nap, much less when lying in a pile underneath a heavy robot.

The informant glanced over to the corner eyebot he had disabled through use of an EMP pulse mere seconds ago, before grabbing his used grenade and choosing to discard it by chucking it at the bits and pieces of the drone in a brief fit of indignant anger. Damn it all, not going to pay for that. There lies wasted a perfectly good grenade.

He quickly rose from his hiding place afterwards, arms outstretched as he stared back at the rest of the crew and workers, his incredulous voice resounding throughout the hall. "Seriously?"
 
Alipier Observatory
Exterior


Above-ground, the patient hologram of OSC-01 waited at the top of the stairs, the projecting unit having just witnessed the spectacle that unfolded down the tunnel. At first, they were still- the stiff projected fabric giving them an other-worldly stance amidst the current of snow and wind. Then, their silence broke with a quiet, abstained chuckle.

The android's triangular head turned lightly, catching wind of the plan forming nearby her. The hologram dissipated breifly as the silent Pixy unit hovered over the grouping, like the little observant drone it was. When the meeting was done and concluded, the holographic Overseer reformed, facing the observatory as the madman and his toy galloped away.

"I'm not leaving." the white-haired scientist told the hologram. "It's not worth it going down there."

The hologram remaiend still, but the Pixy unit controlling it rotated to better face the scientist. "Very rational," they stated simply. They were fully prepared to move on, they had to- but there was a nagging curiosity in the back of their mind. "If you may, I've been meaning to have a chat with you on your... research. Marie, was it?"

"Yes." she replied. "I assume you've been peeking at my whiteboard when I...pass out on the bench."

The security android gave a quiet, humored hum- knowing full well of it. "It's difficult not to. But I believe it may be right to call it familiar." The triangular head shifted, looking down at the normally equally-tall woman. "Call it a hunch, but I believe you and that insolent man have been playing in a fire older than you realize."

"How old?" Marie asked, no surprise in her voice. It was, after all, the duty of science.

The robots head realigned once more. "I have no number for that. Older than you and even I, that much is for sure. Have you heard the word... Echyllis, thrown your way before?"

"Not at all." Marie replied. "What is it? I feel like you're going somewhere with a term that I should know, but I forgot...?"

"A nasty old material, some would call it a force. At least a little bit of it can be found strained down into anything and everything of worth. Creatures, planets, stars. Though it lived long before them, the Arcadians and Nepherians found ways to cultivate it in their technologies, and lives."

The robot paused, before cutting back to the point. "I too am designed around a core of the substance. A condensed, crystallized fuse, to be exact. It may be a hunch, but I believe some of it has trickled down to these... keys you two keep mentioning."

"And..." Marie was a little lost. "What special properties does it have? I'm still very unclear on it, although I understand why it ended up in Amperia Institute. It seems like it's part of the Unified Arcane Theory."

The robot hummed. "It comes in many forms,often in solids capable of the storage and manipulation of electrical and thermal current. In large doses, however, it's quite mutative. Almost poisonous with the amount of radiation it can put off. The force behind it can be called without aid by the resolute, though even the Arcadians strived to find out how."

"So...not even the Arcadians knew how the Unified Theory worked." Marie observed. The robot fell silent. "And what you're saying is...Romulus is the least of my worries."

"They tried many times, and... that's a story for after this little incursion." A few seconds later, the hologram flowed forwards a few feet as OSC-01 spoke up, turning their head. "Despite my appearance, I was never much of a science type. But, I would advise you to be careful."

"How careful." Marie asked. "What precautions do I need to take?"

"The best advice I could give would be to stop now, but you don't seem like the type to run away, For now, stick with the small things: the machinery." Osco paused. "But if this little plan to steal the man's toys works out in your favor, I'd like to observe one of them."

"That might not happen. He has two unknown keys, and the key I'm the most familiar with has exhibited an...unusual property." Marie replied. "Super speed."

The robot gave a disjointed chuckle once more, moving under the arch of the observatory entrance with a passing remark. "Then perhaps he'll blast himself into extinction as well."

"I'm not planning on death." Marie returned. "Why do you think I disagree with him even if he wasn't a dangerous schemer?"


Interior

The man looked up and down at the group as his associates helped them to their feet, though the infrequent flashes back to his wrist denoted some kind of impatience under that smile. To the surprise of some, the man not only welcomed- but appreciated Juryrig's prompt self-introduction (though they kept their distance). "Now there's the sign of a man with some gumption. Good to meet you then, Juryrig."

As Ausse moved to rejoin- and berate the remainder of the crew, he could feel- and see one of the black drones pushing him on with a series of disgruntled beeps and boops. The robot was indeed similar to the Pixy units they had encountered before, but of a clearly different manufacturer. An angry orange eye edged him on.

The blue-haired scholar peeled themselves off the floor, cradling their head in one hand as a short. dark-skinned woman helped her up with the other. The black and white Pixy unit Osco inhibited peeked out from the main entrance doorframe, not yet entering the room. "Sorry... my name is Dahlia, Morgan. This is the Downrider expedition. Except-"

She waved a hand down at the multi-limbed robot. "They aren't ours. We just found them outside and..." 'the scholar grit her teeth briefly, standing up straight. The man in the coat stood back, looking at the others in the group with a tinge of annoyance before returning the favor. "Not to worry... and I haven't introduced myself, how rude. Bryce. Captain Bryce Arvero."

Bryce Arvero, as he was named, brushed a hand down their coat, causing an odd... blip or two along the way. Their wide, pearly grin returned as he raised a hand, motioning to the others of their own group. "And this is the Arcandum Union. I must say we weren't expecting this many visitors to make it to our little restoration committee!"

Dahlia looked up at the man, still dazed. "Restoration... committee?"

Bryce laid a hand on his breast, standing a little higher. "Why yes! This is a heritage site, you know!" They paused for a moment, before their chin cut down to look at the group. "But that begs the question- what are you doing here?"

Dahlia straightened up, looking back at the group briefly with a now pale face. "We were following a... heading, from a fffriend. We're looking for the civilization of Arcadia."

The man remained in silence for a few moments, looking back at their posse with a grimace turned grin. Dahlia prepared to take a step back towards the defense of the group- whatever they could provide, as the mans head snapped back. Arvero raised a finger, tapping the air twive as he looked at them. "Well- I'm sorry, but you're a little late to that one!"

Several members of the Union joined the man in throwing their heads back with a short but sweet fit of laugher- one that echoed up and out of the halls of the ancient shrine.
 
While all the men were distracted, Reman was doing something to try and communicate with the few up top who remained. He took a little picture of the black and orange pixy-like unit and sent it to Marie, tagging it with a little note in text. It read; "Look Familiar? It's like a bulkier version of Osco's drones. Show this to her and get me a message back."

Immediately afterward, he looked around at all the hyenas surrounding him and the rest of his crew. Not sure what was going on at all and completely bewildered, he immediately asked a rather obvious question. "To clarify, what do you mean by restoration? Like a museum type of thing?" He then followed up that dumb question by turning to Deimos and giving a good hearty shrug as he is glared at. The stare forces out an uncomfortable nervous smile from him.

Romulus isn't too impressed. Curious, but not impressed. The smug man walked around and started looking down the halls, before coming to a stop back at his original position. "Anything interesting you have found here so far? I'd like a picture or two."
 
Boy Scout eyed the Pixy drones, feeling this connection to them that it never had before as a mere dispenser, like this brotherly bond that cannot be named.

"Well somebody has some charisma around here!" Juryrig combed his tousled hair back, and ultimately failing to get that greaser look that he desired; not that he seemed to mind. "You're that fine group associated wiiiiiiith... The metal Arcandum, right? The fabrication and distribution of that black metal, and all that wonderful jazz that's music to my ears!" The madman leaned on his table, not so easily demotivated by the mockery of the Union.

"I mean surely we could share the knowledge that's lying around, no? If you're that group, then perhaps a deal can be struck that can make us both happy people!" His abyss-black eyes scanned the room, though his attention is to the opposing captain before them.
 
Mikodimus got to his feet and sized up the group around them. Other than the hurtful pride for wanting to find the lost city of Arcadia there was no other hostile action. "So find anything in this freezer of a place?" He asked curious if during the restoration they might of found something.

He took a moment to see about looking past the group. After which he moved to get past them while they answered his question. He had no plans of staying at the bottom of a stairwell when there was treasure to find.
 
Rhea did, not particularly trust these new people they had encountered, and thus decided it would be best to clamber across the ceiling... with difficulty, as all eyes would be presumabely locked on juryrig. She was at least, doing better than the last time she tried this. It certainly helped that this time, the... things, whatever they were that kept appearing, fully enveloped her hands and feet as she moved to the cieling... and begn crossing it steadily. She hoped her snazzy suit would blend in with the background of the ceiling, but even now her arms felt weak. Rather than keep going, she took a break and somewhat loosely hung from the ceiling, hoping no one would look up.
 
Even though his forward momentum had stopped, A3's curled-up body spun on its Y-axis, tracing a lazy circle around itself. Somewhere else, a chunk of him had released itself from his carcass and slid somewhere, mirroring the same spinning motion on the floor, a singular light splayed a dim red glow across whatever was near it.

Meanwhile, A3 contemplated what to do at this point. Perhaps pretending that he merely didn't exist would play to their advantage, although sooner or later someone would point out his presence. Even though, him making any kind of moves at this current moment would probably spoil the mood, even though one doesn't exactly exist, so he decided to wait until called for.

Instead, he checked his own diagnostics. From his point of view, he couldn't really see any damage on his frame, besides the occasional dent. It was rather hard to get a good look with all the spinning, as well as being so far away.

Wait, spinning? Being far away? Something seemed wrong. He shouldn't be having any of tha-
"Current circumstances dictate that cranium attachment mechanism has resulted in failure. Immediate retrieval necessary." He said to himself, rather annoyed.
 
Arbles, having stated thankfully out of the bulk of attention so far, spoke up. "Well, we know that. We're looking for what's left over, basically. Y'know?" Despite looking like a literal child, the way Arbs spoke made it clear that she, too, was an adult. Not like it wasn't hard to take her seriously, being so tiny.
 
Ausse stumbled forward slightly as he was suddenly nudged on by the black not-Pixy, but quickly regained his footing as he continued to approach the laughing Bryce, stopping just a few inches away and establishing eye contact with the tall man from his own height. Despite the almost lack of personal space between them now, the informant didn't seem to be confrontational- merely inquisitive, scratching his chin as he took in the man's overall appearance. "The Arcandum Union. I must say I was expecting, for their spokesperson, someone a little more... ominous."

He then took a step back to look over his shoulder at the eyebot fixing him with an angry stare, staring at it in return with a piercing gaze almost to match its own, though glancing sideways back at the Union captain as he spoke. "And what's with the drones?"
 
Alipier Observatory
Ceiling


The high ceiling of the room was quite natural, like the top of a cave had been preserved and sculpted to complete the Observatory's fit into the mountaintop. Thanks to this, Rhea had plenty of places to keep herself surefooted above the conversation below.

Nave

As the laughing subsided naturally, Captain Bryce Arvero returned a glance to the black-haired mechanic, sliding his hands together before extending a finger towards the skies above. "Why, this is a heritage site, boy! And an old one at that." The man gave a wide grin at the return compliment from the resident alchemist, but kept a bit of healthy protective space between him and Juryrig. "It seems like you all know a thing or two. If only we had more like you at the recruitment drive, we could have been in an out of here already."

The man's smile resolved in a grimace for a moment as he eyed the rest of the returning crew- including one that had been squatting for some time before that crash. One new face caught his eye, however. "And It seems like you've found some scraps yourselves."

Behind the group, a holographic Overseer floated very cautiously towards the group- but it wasn't OSC-01, the visage was different. Their frame was more thin and androgynous, accented by dull grey plating that was fastened together by exposed bolts. Their distinctly sharp triangular head lacked curvature, and no longer sported the mask-like band of arcandum metal wrapped around their flat black eyes. Two wide pupils of white stared on from those sockets at the Union members as it approached, masking the real surveillance being done by the white Pixy drone- which had found its home in the ceiling not far from the hiding Rhea.


Dahlia lifted an arm as she leaned back to look at the unfamiliar robot, a glint of concern lighting in her eyes. A flash of green from the Overseer's eyes was all she needed, however, promptly facing the captain once more. "Yes, this is, the Scholar was interrupted by a brief and incredibly quiet message that had been relayed to her earpiece, without her permission. "OStA-4124. We found them amidst some salvage, and are looking for more Oakland Industries models." She smiled.

Bryce nodded, giving a firm "Uh-huh,". Then, a smile flashed across his face once more. "Well, we sadly haven't found anything of the like here. " The man leaned back, brushing a hand down his coat once more. The hand left behind a brief flash of... static in it's wake. It quickly corrected. The man looked back at Keith and Juryrig, shaking his head. "We're a little pressed for time as it is, but if you're looking to make a donation to the cause, I'm sure we could work something out."

"As for the drones..." the man said, straightening up. He clapped his hands twice, though barely any sound was made. "Satori!"


---

A3 could hear a set of heavy footsteps leading up to his... misplaced head. Then, a large metal hand wrapped around the loose neck fitting, hoisting the round head off the floor. The hand in question belonged to a rather large automaton, standing at around seven feet tall. The robot was constructed from a mix of grey metal and black artificial muscle, giving them the silhouette of a heavyweight boxer. The artificial muscle tied into a set of dark teal armor plates around their chest, shoulders, and forearms. The head of the robot was flat and curved, with two glassy orange eyes glaring at the loose head from deep within their goggle-like inserts.

The robot... 'Satori', dropped their heavy arms to the side, walking towards the group with booming footsteps. They stopped just short of them, looking at the captain. No words were spoken, but Bryce looked at the android, albeit their gaze was off. "What do you mean?"

The Captain looked back at their men, pointing to the heap of metal that was A3. "Satori says this used to be connected. Did anyone lose this?"

One man looked up from his current job, replacing tile further down the hall. They grimaced upon seeing the amount of work the newcomers had given him, as well. An irate voice echoed back, probably belonging to a man named Todd. "He kept disconnecting, and when it happened wouldn't shut up!"

Bryce pursed his lips and nodded, looking back to the group. "It seems like you found an old slave, though maybe not one of good quality." The captain gritted his teeth, looking at them, and back to Satori. A moment later, he sprang back with a proposition (and a shifty grin). "Let's get this over with. I'll give you two hundred for the big one, and another one for the Overseer. What do you all pander, gold, paper?" The Overseer's eyes immediately squinted.
 
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