No. 1696, Asids [DONE]

[Teeka]

A thunderous boom echoed across the abandoned pasture and a crack appeared in the air, bits of reality chipping like plaster. A hunting Serapheline was frightened into taking flight and a herd of Blazemounts bolted from the field.

Through the crack screams and shouts could be heard, some voices barking out orders, others begging for mercy. Occasionally a roar would sound out and the shouting and screaming would intensify. Suddenly, above all the other sounds, there was a noise that could only be described as an angry gargle, and something smashed against the already cracked bit of reality.

With a sickening thud like a melon being dropped onto concrete the body of a man clad in ill fitting blue clothing fell through the crack, opening it large enough for a person or medium sized Shiny to fit through.

The man, still alive, looked up at the clear blue sky of the Weyrd and felt the warm spring breeze blowing against his skin. Despite his injuries he smiled, feebly reaching out a hand to feel the grass he was laying on. The tears welling up in his eyes as he expired were of joy rather than pain, having had a glimpse of paradise before passing on to whatever waited beyond even the Wyerd.

On the other side of the crack the commotion died down and eventually the people on that side discovered the crack, which was a source of much commotion.

For the next three days not much happened around the crack. No Shinies capable of communicating their findings stumbled across it, though a pack of Fisi were drawn by the smell of the rotting body, which they dragged off to eat in safety when loud noises started up on the other side of the crack.

Shortly after sunrise on the fourth day three people wearing blue jumpsuits, similar to that the first man through had worn, squeezed through the crack. Unlike the first man, these individuals were wearing large metal collars around their necks and were carrying video cameras.

The first one though, a woman with dark hair, deeply tanned skin and green eyes, looked around before speaking into the radio she was carrying, “We make through. Here seem safe enough.”

Her accent was thick, nearly impenetrably so, and her eyes were bright with fear.

The next through, an older looking bald man with pale skin and watery eyes looked around and laughed.

“Forget this,” he shouted as he took off running.

He had barely made it twenty yards when something in his collar clicked and he fell down dead.

The person last, also male, this one tall, muscular and gray haired, looked what had happened, then looked at the woman and muttered something that sounded profane.

“What now?” the woman asked, trying not to look at her dead companion or the drag marks from when the Fisi had taken the first body.

A toneless voice came from the radio, “Continue exploring. Don’t try and run away. Once we can figure out where you are we’ll call you back.”

The pair remained wandering the area for an hour before they were called back. Two hours later three more people were sent out and this time they explored for several hours after which they too were called back. No further people came through that day, but the next day several men clad in white, obviously scientists, came through the crack carrying an assortment of equipment.

Over the next week scientists and hapless men and women in blue jumpsuits would continue to come through the crack until a sort of research station was set up. Specimens of plants, animals and soil were collected and cataloged. When possible Wyerd wildlife was captured and dissected.

This continued unobserved by the Wyerd denizens for several more days before things went too far.

---

Teeka woke up one morning to find the window of her bedroom blocked by a gigantic wall of red and gray.

They have caught Levaji.

The Steel Dragon’s deep mental voice mixed with the rumbling growl rising and falling somewhere deep within his chest.

“Who?” Teeka muttered sleepily, wondering what games her Shinies had gotten caught up in. By the sounds of it Levaji, the Unicorn, had gotten stuck in something and Brujath wanted her to go and help him out.

The men in white! Brujath roared, practically shaking the house.

The Dragon’s distress pierced her like a knife and Teeka realized that whatever was going on, it was no game. She jumped out of bed and ran from the house despite the fact that she was still human rather than her usual xenomorph self, though in reality an androgynous humanoid running around in nothing but plaid pajama pants was hardly unusual around the Wyerd.

As she ran she was joined by Sukhon the Silver Demonhound and Lithe, the Black Demonhound.

I tell’ed tha Drummer to sent out’en message, Lithe panted, No Bon’eding I know of, but it get’em outs bed.

Sukhon was panting as well, not to mention bleeding from a number of small cuts on her chest and sides, indicating that Lithe was no friendlier towards females that outranked her than she was to her underlings. Still, the Silver had to say her part.

Lithe think that Burk there too.

“Burk?” Teeka was overjoyed, she had missed the Steel Demonhound a great deal, “If he is there everything’s going to be fine.”

Lithe wagged her tail in agreement, too happy at the thought of being reunited with Burk to even think of reprimanding Sukhon for mentioning his name.

Teeka ran, following Brujath as he circled over head.

“Where are we going?” she panted, noting that the pair of Demonhounds were being kind enough to stay on the ground, running in front of her and pointing out where obstacles were.

Lithe let out a soft bark as she jumped over a fallen tree, Past tha shadows of cliffs. Far a’field

No one go there, Sukhon added, Too away away.

From far away the drums began to sound, sending out a message of a Bonding and an emergency. Almost as an afterthought a quick little patter about Asids was rattled off, but that was likely to be missed in the rest of the message.

Elsewhere in the Wyerd anyone with a Dragon was likely to be aware of Brujath’s panicked flight since Dragons tended to know what was going on with others of their kind. Those who counted Demonhounds as their friends were also likely to be aware of the event since Lithe had sent out the rest of her pack to spread the word.

Of course there were other ways for the people of the Wyerd to find out what was going on. One of the only things that was certain was that everyone who arrived was likely to have a different impression of the nature of the situation. Another constant was that unless someone was already in the area it would be necessary for them to ride on some form of swift moving Shiny to get there in a timely fashion. Otherwise they would have quite the hike ahead of them.

[Teeka]

Bond List
Albino Keira -- Grim
Ethereal Sem-rik -- T-Rae
Shadow 3 Berenice -- Geoffrey A-13
Risen 2 Mamut -- T'Rae

Asid Descriptions:

Albino 886 She’s got a temper as fiery as her eyes, as is fitting for an Asid Queen. About eight feet long, this queen is as large as an Asid can get and is even slightly less emaciated looking than most, whish isn’t to say that you can’t count all her ribs and every last bump of her spine, it’s just that she has a healthy layer of muscle over that. A big girl who isn’t afraid to throw her weight around, she is without a doubt a force to be reckoned with. The one thing she can’t stand is sharing the spotlight, especially with males and Lords most of all. Only when holding a Chase is she willing to tolerate the presence of Lords of her kind, and that’s only because all of their attention is focused on her. Oddly, she is very tolerant of females of her own kind and around them she has an almost motherly personality.
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Marked 1 843 A little over six feet long, he is of an average size, though he might be a bit large in the area of his head and shoulders. His hide is a pristine white with dark blotches around his eyes. These blotches are a bit larger than normal, and very irregular, bringing to mind the spots of a cow. Point out to him what his pattern resembles and he’ll fly into a rage. It’s not a problem though, since he likes being mad. Don’t think of him as a cow, think of him as a bull just looking for a matador to gore. Any excuse to fight is a good one in his book and his favorite fights to start are the ones where he’s up against someone smaller or weaker than he is. Run if you want, but he’ll chase you down.

Marked 2 935 Exactly six feet long from nose to tail, he’s small for his rank, but big things come in small packages. Big, nasty things in his case, but the same could be said for any Asid. His hide is the yellowish white of old ivory and the black markings around his eyes are ornate and swirling, drawing your gaze to them. If you can look away from his eyes you’ll see his venom dripping fangs, sticking out of his partially open mouth. Calling his a disaster waiting to happen would be a mistake, as would be saying that he’s bad luck. Everything he does, even seemingly innocent actions, are carefully thought out and full of malice. His goal is to make bad things happen to anyone he doesn’t like, and that covers most people and Shinies.
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Ethereal 707 True to his rank, he’s a lanky seven feet and change, with see through skin. Every muscle and tendon is visible though his shining hide, and if he rears up you can see the twitching shadows of his living organs. Look at him, he wants you to look since it makes him feel special. Feeling special is a good thing, even if he hasn’t really done anything to deserve attention and admiration. He likes to pretend he has though. If he were more motivated he’d probably be as nasty as any other Asid, but as it is, he’s too lazy to start trouble. To keep people interested in him he’s become a master at false politeness and feigning concern. The only thing he really cares about is himself though.
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Masked 1 140 Just under five feet long and very thin she doesn’t seem all that impressive at first glance. Her hide is a shining blue gray and her bone mask looks battered and pitted, like she’s been in a lot of fights. The thing you need to keep in mind is that if she’s been in fights she’s come out on the other side of them. Considering that she’s venomous, then odds are good that whoever she fought with didn’t survive. She doesn’t start fights since that would be beneath her, what she does is finish them and she finishes them good. No one will ever come back for a second round with her. Fighting isn’t something she enjoys since it’s too easy for her. Always looking for a challenge, she’s constantly finding new ways to test both her intelligence and physical prowess.

Masked 2 1102 Not quite five feet long with a full gray hide she’s perfectly average in color and build, even if average for an Asid means that she’s horrifyingly thin. Or at least she seems average until you get a look at her bone mask. The angles are kind of wrong, a bit too soft and kind of lopsided, like she was pressed up against one side of the egg before she hatched. This slight imperfection doesn’t seem to have caused her any lasting harm though, to the contrary she’s an exceptional specimen of her rank in terms of personality. She absolutely must be part of a group, be it of her own species or of other Shinies and in whatever group she’s a part of, she’ll be the one running it, no matter what.

Shadow 1 338-ARC Three and a half feet short, this little girl has discovered that her small size allows for stealth. Her coloration also helps a great deal. Swirls of dull purple and grayish black allow her to vanish into any patch of shadow she can find. She’s a thief through and through, but she has an odd sense of fairness. On occasion after she steals something she will replace it with another object. The replacements may be of greater value of what was stolen in the first place or they might be nothing more than junk. There’s no logic behind her choice of replacements, though they tend to be objects of unknown function, possibly dangerous things that she finds during her explorations of the jungle.

Shadow 2 596 A long and thin four feet, not that you’d be able to tell since she usually keeps herself coiled up. More black than purple, she’s a nasty looking thing with her narrow eyes and long fangs. Don’t let her appearance fool you though, she’s focused her natural cunning into something productive. Her knowledge of medicinal plants and different treatments is vast. The only problem is that she’s an old school healer and believes that anything that alleviates the unpleasantness of a treatment also reduces their effectiveness. Her cures aren’t without a price though, not that she’ll mention this until after treatment has begun. If you don’t have anything to pay her with she’ll just bite you and be done with it.

Shadow 3 785 Under four feet long, but not by much, she still manages to appear a bit on the stout side for one of her species, probably because her black and purple coloration has organized itself into wavering bands of different thicknesses. Her fondness of food doesn’t help either. She has embraced her carnivorous nature and sees it as a sign of superiority. Things that eat plants are not worth her time and are the lowest form of food. The best meats are from other meat eaters and the very best of the meat eating creatures are those that are larger and more aggressive than she is. Much of her time is spent plotting how to take down creatures bigger than her, but in the mean time would you like to see her skull collection?
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Risen 1 1035 Like most of his rank he’s five feet long, though it seems that he became kinked in his egg and is unable to straighten out to his full length. He has several bends in his back and his tail looks like it has been broken multiple times. Even his ‘halo’ marking is sort of crumpled, with a dent on the back and a point at the front creating an almost heart like shape. He’s a very nice fellow though and would love nothing more than to wrap himself around you, if you want a blotchy golden brown, bendy looking snake Shiny wrapped around you. If you don’t he won’t be too upset, he’ll just find one of your Shinies and tag along with them. The only time he’ll bite is to defend you or one of your Shinies, which is a good thing since his venom is unusually potent.

Risen 2 560 A bit over five feet long, too much of it tail, to say that he’s awkward is putting it too nicely. It’s a shame that he’s so awkward since he really is sort of pretty with his golden scales more iridescent than metallic and his ‘halo’ marking a series of amazingly thin concentric circles. The thing is, you can’t trust him alone with anything, especially fragile objects. None of it’s malice, he just seems good at breaking things, especially appliances. He wants to find out if the little light in the refrigerator stays on when the door is shut or what plays the music in the radio. If you don’t use technology he’s perfect for you, amazingly helpful around the house even if he tends to drop and spill things.
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Risen 3 837 Under five feet long and very delicate looking, he’s a disaster waiting to happen. His golden hide is especially deep, almost orange if the light hits it just right and his ‘halo’ is a sort of lacy looking. Pleasant in appearance and personality, he also has the problem of getting bored too easily. All he wants to do is play and have fun with you and your Shinies. Despite how he looks he really loves physical challenges and rough and tumble sports. Outside this is fine, but try keeping him indoors on a rainy day and he’ll be bouncing off the walls and getting your other Shinies to join in the fun. On the bright side, he’s good at team sports, though this might mean that he’ll let a Pegasus into the house to have even teams.
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Additional Information Inspired by SCPs, though not always perfect fits.

A word of warning, I do not like the SCP wiki, I just thought it would be fun to theme a Bonding around it. I will probably have some of the characters from that wiki show up as well.

[Geoffrey A-13]

For once, Geoffrey was already preparing to leave the house on assignment before the sound of a single drum had reached his ears. First of all, Odrath was no stranger to keeping tabs on the flights of other Dragons, and while he might not have the same investment in Brujath as he had Maliketh, the Steel's unexpected sighting was certainly cause for Odrath to be concerned. Second of all, Geoffrey had a collection of criminally inclined Demonhounds (and others, Asids included) who had a rather extensive network of communications, and it was a pair of Blacks that joined Odrath on the front lawn just as Geoffrey was double-checking his gear.

The first, Trouble, he wasn't remotely surprised to see had her nose in somebody else's business, but Tie-Die associating at all was a tad surprising; it shouldn't have been, remembering that she wanted to be anywhere somebody else was unhappy, and between Odrath's report and the words Trouble passed on from one of Lithe's pack, this definitely qualified as a situation where nobody was very happy about what was taking place. Whatever it was exactly that was taking place.

«I don't care,» Odrath asserted as Geoffrey settled on his back. «Do you remember what happened last time we found more men in white?» Geoffrey stared steadily back at the Sapphire's twisted head. "We have to see any way." And there we got to why Geoffrey was so keen to go himself. No matter how badly it had gone back with the Requiae and Arathlial on the trip to hell, he couldn't resist a desperate fluttering hope that they really might be people from his Institute who had found a way here.

Going to enjoy watch you get yous dreams crushed, Tie-die muttered as she took off, flying ahead, not that the violet-winged Black would stay ahead for long once Odrath was airborne. That only left Trouble. Going with too. I wanna know what this about. Her company was much more reassuring. As much as the circumstances of their bonding had been about as bad as they come, Geoffrey had come to have a pretty close relationship with the Black who had set herself up as leader of his Thieves Guild. He relied on her more than he or she ever openly, or even secretly, acknowledged.

With everything squared away, off they headed, one cyborg, one Sapphire Dragon, and two Black Demonhounds, to see what all this mess was about, heading northwest from the house to an unknown location somewhere in the general vicinity of the cliffs. It was too bad Odrath couldn't simply between there, but he was still a much faster ride than pretty much any except his Gryphons, and the Dragon had too much of a personal curiosity and mostly too much anxiety about Geoffrey to let either of them go in his place.

[Grimm]

It wasn't completely uncommon for Grimm to not make it to bed at night. Sometimes, the doctor just fell asleep wherever he sat down when he got home, and that was that. After long and stressful days, it just kinda...happened. Which would explain why the man was sprawled out on the couch in the morning, one arm dangling over the edge of it, and one of the Pyokith curled up on his chest. And needless to say, when he felt Isayonath startled emotions, it was enough to shock Grimm awake and make him fall off the couch, much to the unhappiness of the Vita.

"Wha...?"

You almost squished me!

"Huh?"

Grimm shifted to his knees, rubbing a hand over his face, and tried to figure out what the hell was going on. He blinked at the pissy Vita, and then looked around, figuring out that he'd fallen asleep on the couch. That didn't explain what had startled him awake, though, at least not until...oh.

Get up, mine. Something is wrong. We must go. Isay's voice was clear, but concerned, and he could feel the Bronze's restlessness. The drums are sounding, and I felt another's distress. Hurry. I...have a bad feeling about this. The Profound Salvation lord rumbled, and it was enough to get Grimm moving. He wasn't entirely sure what was going on, or what he needed, but there was a tension that was making him wary, and he was one to be prepared.

He changed out of his scrubs quickly, going for jeans and a teeshirt. Boots were quickly laced on, and his hunting knife was slid into the sheath that was strapped to his leg. His medic bag was quickly grabbed, and Grimm went through it quickly, adding a few things, making sure the basics were restocked, and that his little goody-baggie of things was tucked into a side pocket, but mostly he was worried about making sure he had plenty of medical supplies. Throwing that over his shoulder, the doctor headed outside to find the Bronze already settled, surrounded by several other shinies. It only took a moment of eyeing him to understand how he'd be getting to...wherever they were going. So, the next little bit was getting Isay all harnessed up, and being thankful he hadn't eaten anything.

"Do you know what is going on?" Grimm asked with a frown, even as he uncomfortably settled onto the Bronze, strapping himself in. He really hated this part.

The Bronze shook his head. I do not.

I am going with you. The Alpha Male Toku spoke up, his ears flat as he watched Grimm get settled. The doctor merely shrugged, not at all that concerned for the company.

"Fine."

Hold on.

The Doctor really hated this part. Clinging to the straps, Grimm closed his eyes and tried not to think too much as the Bronze took off, and the trio made their way towards the cliffs and the meadow. Once Grimm had gotten into the pattern of the flight, the doctor managed to open his eyes a bit and not have such a death grip on things.

Breathe, Doctor! Issac called from someplace below them, amusement coloring his tone, while Grimm could feel Isay rumble his amusement. Right. Breathing. He had to remember to do that. God, he hating flying.

Thankfully, though, the flight wasn't too horribly long. They spotted the meadow soon, and the Bronze swooped lower, though didn't quite land yet. Instead, the large dragon merely called out a greeting to Odrath. They might not know what the hell they were getting themselves into, but at least they weren't the only ones there. Now, whether or not that would help them or make things worse, that was anyone's guess.

[T'Rae]

[I hope the beginning of this is alright Teeka! If it doesn't work for you then I can change it, I did try to keep it so T'Rae knows little to nothing though, but I can change it pretty easily if you need.]

There was a disturbance. She noticed it only out of the corner of her eye as she sat at Da Vinci's main station, the little red light flashing to alert her to a problem. At first a flash of shame went through the Vulcan woman as she pulled that particular panel up on the main viewscreen. It could have been flashing for days and she would have no idea, it was only now looking at it that she was realizing how much she had slacked on checking Da Vinci's constant monitoring of Planet and the surrounding area. Staring at the information she was realizing how much she had let herself slack in general, she needed to find a better balance. Yes her life with her household and the rest of the weyrd in general was important, but it was not a reason to let her research and data collection slack.

Realization aside the data itself wasn't very helpful. It was different from the usual strange readings that the shuttlecraft picked up, but beyond that information she couldn't pinpoint the location, or what kind of disturbance it was, or really anything information other than the fact that Da Vinci thought it was some kind of cause for concern. So T'Rae shrugged and resolved that she would simply keep track of it. So every day she started checking on it along with her usual updates about the weyrd and surrounding area. For the most part she got spikes here and there but nothing more that might help her actually locate, and Da Vinci may not be the best thing ever but he was capable of picking up a surprisingly large area, larger than T'Rae was willing for search to figure out what this was.

At first the blip startled her, a noise that she hadn't heard in a very long time and she had gotten surprisingly engrossed in her work, updating logs and files and general updates about the weyrd, the sound was surprisingly loud over T'Rae's quiet muttering to herself as she worked. Immediately she was drawing up the display panel on the main viewscreen again, a slight grin spreading across her face. Finally she had a location, and if this was anything to go but then it was a surprisingly large disturbance, larger than her initial information had led her to believe. Maybe she should have put more effort into locating it when the information had first cropped up, or maybe it had grown since she had first seen it, she had no idea. Either way she wasn't going to waste her time, logging the coordinates in her tricorder, snagging up a charged phaser and her machete, the Vulcan was out the door.

What she found there made her even more nervous. Penny was staying tucked close to Naolys, the Gold Unicorn standing protectively over the Red Demonhound. There is… trouble. He informed her quietly, a nervous twitch to his tail and fear in his eyes. "I know." Slowly T'Rae knelt down and immediately Penny was laying a head in her lap, whatever she had been told had obviously shaken her. "Penny, can you tell me anything?"

Big troubles. The Red whined, Sukhon pack, Teeka gets in big troubles. Doesn't says anything else. Gently T'Rae stayed still and quiet, petting the Demonhound long enough to at least calm her down. She assumed it was someone in Teeka's pack that had told her then, "I'm going to see what's going on, alright. I want you to stay here and make sure everyone is okay." This disturbance was clearly a hell of a lot more than the Vulcan had thought if it was enough to get Naolys up in arms. The Red nodded, Wills do, everyones be safe. WIth the initial fear gone the usual cheerfulness and resolve was leaking back into the Red as she bound back for the house. T'Rae watched her go before turning back to the large Gold.

I want to go with you. While she wasn't exactly shocked she was a little bit surprised, the Unicorn was still fairly wary about straying too far from the house or getting involved in large gatherings. T'Rae could understand why he was a bit skittish, considering what he had shared with her. "Are you sure?" If this was going to get dangerous, and though she knew little she was inclined to believe that it would be, she didn't want him getting in over his head. The last time you went… He trailed off, the pain clear in his eyes. That was all he had to say, it wasn't the kind of thing either of them wanted to remember or think about, gently she rubbed his nose and then pulled herself up on his back. She may not have a Dragon, but Naolys was quick and had a surprising knack for relocation magic, a skill that had already irritated a certain cyborg. With his innate knowledge and the coordinates on the tricorder the pair didn't take particularly long before they were coming out of the trees, though by that point they were both nervous and tense, the calls of Dragons having already reached them.

[Teeka]

Geoffrey and Odrath got an aerial view of a camp in a state of panic. The arrival of a Dragon had not gone unnoticed and the response was what one would expect of people not familiar with Dragons. On the upside of things, the panic created a clear flow of movement, making the layout of the camp obvious. The crack in the air was invisible from above, but its location and nature was obvious as researchers in white coats were rushing towards it. One instant they were there, the next they were gone, revealing that there was a portal that the strangers were coming and going through.

Elsewhere in the camp, men and women in blue prison style jumpsuits were being herded to the far side of the camp. Several put up a struggle, only to fall to the ground, seemingly dead. From the way they milled about in the area designated for them it was clear that they would riot if they had the chance, but something was preventing them from leaving the area once they were brought to it.

Across from the blue clad individuals were a number of pens and cages, some of which were quite large. One of the open pens was occupied by a small, bright golden equine, heavily bound and restrained to the point where it was difficult to tell much about the nature of the creature.

Too late to really matter an alarm started blaring as a computerized voice announced that ‘This is a type three situation – researchers are to evacuate – d class personnel are to be evacuated last – this is not a drill’. The message repeated over and over.

Grimm saw all this and more as Isayonath swooped in lower. The two of them would be able to recognize the golden equine as a Unicorn and if they looked even closer they would be able to see some of the occupants of the cages. The largest of the cages contained something large and angry in it. Isayonath was the most likely to notice that the mastiff like creature had stubby little wings and patches of gray and white fur. What was more likely to get his attention was a series of glass enclosures containing Asids, twelve tanks for twelve Asids.

T’Rae’s ground level approach meant that she would arrive last and would get a very different view of things. Her path brought her to the back of the pen where the bound Unicorn stood. Slowly and carefully the Unicorn moved to use its body to partially shield her from the view of those in the camp, not that they were likely to notice her with two Dragons circling over head. Bands of some strange metal encircled the Unicorn’s horn, the areas on either side of them dry and cracked looking indicating that they were doing a great deal of harm to him.

The Gold Unicorn looked at T’Rae and let out sad little laugh, The metal blocks magic. Hurts too, but mostly it blocks magic.

His voice sounded hollow and far away, as though the metal bands were interfering with that as well.

((Now you all can post as many times as you want, and I'll be posting as often as I have time. Do what you want, make things up as you go and I'll let you know what happens. This should be as much in your hands as it is in mine.))

[Geoffrey A-13]

Regardless of Geoffrey sour expression, Odrath was more than willing to return Isayonath's greeting, glad he wasn't the only one who had noticed something strange going on in glad to have backup whether Geoffrey liked that backup or not. Everybody and Geoffrey's party was almost annoyed enough with each other in some fashion that Tie-Die could stay happy, at least once she snapped at Trouble and brought the excitedly curious fellow Black down a few notches. Tie-Die may or may not have had a slight grudge against Geoffrey's first Black, her own injured wing a source of great bitterness when it came to her flying skills.

T'Rae's arrival would not get the same attention, however, as it did not take long at all for the place to come alive with chaos. Geoffrey and Odrath instinctively stayed back, until they could have a better idea what they were dealing with, although trouble and tie-dye showed no fear in diving as a pair straight into the middle of things, Trouble with a mischievous grin and Tie-Die with a huge curl of her lip. The Demonhounds would give these strangers something to stare at and worry about if they wanted it.

What we got here? Trouble asked with delighted surprise and wicked intentions as she slowed her running and chasing among the people to pause in front of the Asid tanks. She cocked her head to one side. Lenore, Zenobia, even at times Egaeus; if Geoffrey's Asids were a typical set, this could make this shindig a lot more interesting.

While she was causing her own brand of chaos, Tie-Die was causing hers, drawn like moths to a flame to the unhappy workers or prisoners or whatever those people and jumpsuits were. Without paying attention to the obvious danger of it, Tie-Die flung herself at them in a furious storm, clawing and snapping biting and whatever she could reach as she barrelled towards the holding zone.

From on high, Geoffrey's anxious hope was quickly you taking into anxiety of a much worse kind. He didn't know what was going on, but he could recognize the portal, something he never ever trusted ever again, recognized the way nobody was leaving the far side of the camp, and most alarmingly, recognized the kind of alarm blasting loud enough he could hear it even from Dragonback in the sky. He didn't know the exact meaning of the message; it had taken only a few seconds to realize that, even if this was a scientific, research institute's field camp, they were (painfully) disappointingly not from his home; but he was familiar with evacuation situations. He was pretty sure an evacuation message had never been played as a precursor to anything good.

"I hate them, I hate them, hate dogs I hate being wrong hate people I hate--"

«We can't let them get captured,» Odrath interrupted in a surprisingly even voice despite the orange swirled with slight yellow in his eyes. If men in white were taking others away...

Geoffrey felt sick to his stomach despite his under-his-breath swearing. Bitches they sometimes were not, the two Black Demonhounds were his specimens and God be damned if anybody was sniping them. «What can you see?» Odrath called out to Isayonath and Grimm as they made another circle around the camp, not yet ready to dive in headfirst.

[Grimm]

"I don't like the looks of this..."

There was something about this area that made Grimm's head hurt and his stomach clench. The suits, the cages, the blaring warning to leave. It was something he'd always avoided, some deep fear that had long since been buried once he'd come to Planet. But it had been a very real fear when he'd gone from being a normal solider in a rapid response squad, to one of two survivers of a failed mission, and no longer human. What his own government would have done to him if they'd gotten wind of the drug he'd been given, the mutation and the synthetic chromosome it had given him, the healing abilities and the heightened abilities. There would be no belief of the evil it could bring, if given to the wrong person. The Grimm twins had burned the lab and everything in it. No trace. A made up, plausible story as to why he was the only one alive from his team.

Labs hadn't been a real fear until after he'd come home to learn of his family's death, but it had cropped up again.

But, as a doctor, with the belief system of Do No Harm, Grimm found the sight below him even more sickening. There were cages, and as Isay swooped lower, Grimm could see the flash of gold and metal, and he knew what that was. Unicorn. He didn't know who's, didn't know if he was bonded, or not. But it was a Unicorn...and that most likely meant other shinies. Grimm cursed.

The Doctor says he sees "a fuckin' Unicorn". The Bronze called out, the humor dry, but the Grimm impression spot on. There are other cages, a...demonhound?...and Asids. There might be more shinies down there. The dragon told both Odrath and Geoffrey, the anger in his mindvoice crystal clear. A slap from Grimm's hand on his neck made his attention draw to the people in blue beind herded, how the ones that struggled ended up dropping...though neither dragon nor doctor could tell if they were dead.

They could guess, though.

"Issac, go down there. Check out the other cage, and be careful. Call for help if ya need it." Grimm ordered the Alpha, who said nothing as he went lower. The pair of them could see T'Rae near the unknown Unicorn, and Geoffrey's demonhound near the Asids. Thus, for the moment, Grimm's attentions were on what he could only guess were prisoners in blue. Trapped, and restless, and yeah, the doctor had a bad feeling about it. "We need to free them." Everyone here needed to be freed, but common sense told him going after one or two cages would make them an easy target.

Rioting prisoners? Especially if they decided the men in white were the enemy, and not them? That culd be a huge help.

He wants to free them. Isayonath called out to Odrath and Geoffrey again. We do not know what is holding them back. Any ideas? The dragon swooped low again, but like before, retreated upwards to survey the chaos higher. They needed a plan, and whether the other dragonrider and his bond would help, they didn't know.

But Grimm had found something he disliked even more than Geoffrey. And he, at least, was willing to work together.

Issac had landed quickly, the large Alpha peering around suspiciously. Ears back, he crept forward, hackles raised as he slunk over to the largest cage. He kept aware of his surroundings, aware of where T'Rae was, and ready to help her if she needed it. But for the moment, he paused in front of the mastiff-like creature, and sniffed at the cage. We are here to help, friend. I am Issac. Issac assured him. How he was going to do that, yet, he wasn't sure. But he was going to think of something.

[T'Rae]

The first sign of the compound sent Naolys isn’t a panic, she could feel him tense beneath her, steps becoming less shirt and ears pricked forward. As they actually came into view the Gold shied backwards, eyes white with fear and nostrils flared. Humans. He didn’t trust humans, humanoids, strange groups. T’Rae had only just gotten him to accept the weyrd, with no help from a certain cyborg that was for certain, without a word she leaned forward and placed a hand over the gnarled scar at his shoulders. The Vulcan knew the story, she understood his fear, and she wasn’t going to let anything like that happen again. “Easy Naolys, what do you hear?” She questioned him, barely above a whisper though she knew that the humans beyond would not be able to hear her. Alarm bells, evacuation notices, she wasn’t getting any closer just yet.

Geoffrey and Grimm. After he had taken her hearing it hadn’t taken long to realize that he had also picked up T’Rae’s abilities to hear the bondsongs, in an attempt to make him more comfortable she had been trying to teach him to recognize the sounds. T’Rae nodded, both people she could trust if this got out of hand, people that would have her back. Teeka, faintly. He added quietly, opening his eyes again t osurvey the compound again. T’Rae knew what he meant, the sound of a Unicorn.”Let’s go.” She murmured, the Gold hesitated and T’Rae almost thought he was gong to refuse, but slowly he stepped forward from the trees.

A quick clip carried them across the grass and on a direct path to Levajii, T’Rae had long since stoppd questioning how Naolys knew something, instead she was reaching mentally fo the cyborg to let him know she was near, a brief snapshot of her location. It was better she stay quiet, not draw attention to herself in the middle of all this chaos. Stealth was her friend, and what carried her right up to the other Gold’s cage. When he laughed T’Rae automatically bristled, she never did have agood interaction with Unicorns, but she was also aware of the broken laugh of someone with little to no hope. The fact that he moved to shield them as well, the Vulcan was willing to give him the benefit of the doubt.

Well it seemed her first order of business was going to be getting him out of this situation. T’Rae slid easily from Naolys back, drawing her phaser form her hip and double checking the situation beyond the pen. “Let me see.” She murmured, examining he bands and the damage that they had done to him closer, “I don’t recognize it.” That wasn’t saying much, she wasn’t aware of that many metals after all, and she knew there were enough plantets out there that for all she knew it could be something she had never seen. They appeared human though, and that was al that T’Rae needed to know. “I’m going to try and sever it, this might hurt.” She warned him, raising her phaser for his examination before fiddling with the dials and settings. She had no idea if it would or not, but it seemed fair to warn him. Strengthening and refining the beam carefully, testing it on the fence in front of her.

Naolys took his cue, now would be a good time to distract Levaji, What can you tell us? What is all this? The more they could find out before anyone noticed that they were there, the better. As much as he hoped that they would not be discovered at all, he still wasn’t going to go into this unprepared.

[Geoffrey A-13]

Geoffrey tuned out the subtle amused hum from Odrath at Isayonath's Grimm impression. They were f-cking not remotely alike and he resented any remote implication that they might be. He's more in common with Maeko than that man.

Okay, maybe that was going too far. Nevermind. The point still stood.

«The Demonhounds are ours,» Odrath explained, assuming he was referring to Trouble harassing the Asids or Tie-Die harassing the... prisoners? He dropped lower to look for the Unicorn in question, more surprised than Geoffrey was to see T'Rae down there. The cyborg had automatically assumed any f-ckin' Unicorn would be Naolys, simply because that's how he always thought of Naolys. And clearly Geoffrey's assumptions were always right (lol).

It was Geoffrey who answered first, however, when it came to ideas. "Is he going to do what the goddamn hell I tell him to?" Geoffrey grumbled back when consulted, a message the Sapphire related back verbatim. Hey, he was just the messenger. Geoffrey could speak to them without having to worry about what he was saying being reworded. And Geoffrey would play nicely, enough, but not after putting his suspicion to rest a little bit.

On the ground, the aforementioned Demonhounds were making progress of their own kinds.

While Trouble noted Issac nearby, he was being boring. The other winged canine needed to be out, too, to join the party, so she'd just trust the Toku to handle that while she handled the reptilian side of things. Stretching her wings, she found a way to leap on top of the glass cages, scouting about for any kind of latch or slide lock or any mechanism at all to get some of them free. The skeleton-patterned Black doubted she had approved force to simply smashed through, although she was determined enough and the cages were stop her enough, she might just try. She hoped the cunning way would work better, though. Let's get pretty faces out here, she cackled before asking the Asids themselves, You know how?

Tie-Die, on the other hand, was making as much bad progress as good. Good for her meant she had sunk her teeth into someone's leg. Bad for her meant she had not been able to operate long without the people in charge taking notice. She didn't her what was being shouted, but there was electric pain suddenly in her side and she released her victim to snarl and flare her wings, hairs all on end more from anger than from the shock, and she snarled at the white coats. Gonna make sure you has very bad day, she snarled.

[Teeka]

The chaos in the research camp was growing rapidly, even as the majority of the researchers left. Those that remained ran back and forth, trying to gather various pieces of equipment and notebooks. The Dragons above still drew the most attention, though Trouble and Tie-Die were starting to get some looks as well. People scattered when they drew near, or at least they did at first. Eventually one of the white clad researchers picked up a metal pole and jabbed it at Tie-Die. Electricity crackled at the tip of the pole, clearly some sort of stunning device.

In its cage the large, Mastiff-like Shiny let out a booming bark, LOOK OUT!

Its warning came too late. As Tie-Die was struck the captive Shiny let out a deep, rumbling growl, its lips pulling back to reveal a jumble of crooked teeth. Just off center on the top of its head what at first might have been mistaken for a ridge of bone spines shifted slightly, pulling apart to reveal that the ‘spines’ were actually teeth in a second, vestigial mouth like structure, GIVE THEM HELL.

It very much approved of Tie-Die’s statement and fighting spirit, not that its approval would do much to help as two more individuals rushed to join the fray. These two were rather surly looking men dressed in vaguely military looking uniforms, one of them carrying a tranquilizer gun, the other armed with a far more deadly weapon.

In their tanks the Asids hissed and paced. One of them, a large yellowish looking Marked rose up and hissed, Break the glass. The lids are locked down. A white coat man has the keys, but all humans look the same. Ugly.

Some of the Asids nodded in agreement, others remained still with expectant expressions, and the largest, an Albino simply looked at the chaos as though it was all below her. It was in her opinion, unless she were able to get out and join it, then, like most Asids, she would take great delight in joining in. In truth all of the Asids would have liked to join in. They had been kept in tanks, poked, prodded, tormented and generally treated like dumb animals despite their fierce protests.

In its cage the canine Shiny let out a wet snort when Issac approached. ISSAC IS GOOD NAME. IF WANT HELP KILL DOCTOR MUSIC.

Keenly aware that up close it was pretty terrifying due to its multiple deformities, it wagged its stumpy tail and tried to look non-threatening. Deep-set little stones on its thick wings marked it as either a Denonhound or something very similar.

Over in their enclosure the blue clad men and women helplessly watched as the Dragons flew above them. Unaware that Dragons were peaceful they were very nervous that as soon as one of the Dragons landed they would be attacked.

An offhanded comment from one of the white clad scientists did nothing to help.

“Do you think seventy-six two will be able to kill one of those things when they land to eat?”

Another scientist sighed, “Damned if I know. He and the rest of Omega-7 got their asses kicked pretty bad when they captured that horned horse. It might be years before Able gets out of his coffin again.”

Several of the prisoners shouted profanities in an assortment of languages at the two scientists.

And speaking of the ‘horned horse’, Levaji, for that was who the Unicorn was, fixed T’Rae with a tired stare, My horn or the bands?

It was a poor attempt at humor on his part, but he did wish to try and keep some levity in the situation, if only to keep from dwelling on how hopeless it all was.

Teeka and her Shinies were still some distance away as they had the greatest distance to travel.

[T'Rae]

Weak as it may have been the attempt at humor did something to win the Vulcan over to his side. Of course she would have attempted to free him based purely from a moral standpoint, but this did something to particularly encourage her to get him out, preferably with as little damage as possible. Not that she could guarantee anything, but she would try. "I'll aim for the bands." She offered back in a similarly nervous tone. If Levaji would let her, T'Rae reached carefully for the horn, both to steady it and her own aim, squeezing the trigger gently. With any luck if the metal didn't break entirely then she could at least hope that the metal would expand enough that she could slip the bands off.

Her focus was unbroken by Odrath's pass above her, noticing more for the shadow that passed over her work than from anything else. She had to admit she did wonder what exactly he was planning to do about any of this, but from her vantage point and her almost complete focus she was mostly unaware of the Demonhounds nearby. She could hear them, yes, but only slightly out of all of the other bonds in his mind. No, for the time being the trapped gold was her primary source of information, though no doubt she would end up with Geoffrey and Grimm at some point, if only because she would never shake the idea that they obviously needed some kind of mediator between them.

"What can you tell me about the person in charge?" She questioned him, no doubt it would be better for him to high-tail it out of here when she did get him free, might as well get all the information out of him that she could while he was right here. "This is a military compound correct? Do you happen to know the affiliation?" Really anything he could tell her would be useful in some way as she went about starting to formulate something of a plan of her own in the back of her head.

Beside her Naolys was fidgeting nervously, pacing occasionally to get a view around the pen to the chaos beyond. People trapped, Demonhounds running free causing problems, electric rods. The Unicorn's scarred shoulder twitched nervously as he watched Tie-Die get electrocuted before ducking back out of view. T'Rae… He hurried her quietly, as much as he would like to nose her along he knew better than the touch her at all less he unsteady her. "Almost free." T'Rae responded quietly, or at least she hoped as much, at least free enough he might be able to wiggle out of it, she suddenly doubted very much that she would manage to snap it completely. Finally T'Rae let go and backed off a little. "Can you shake it off at all?" Even a little, it was still just that much too hot to touch from the phaser, any amount of loosening would make it much easier for her to pull off.

[Grimm]

Not them. There might be another in a cage down there. Isay called back, circling above the cages. He knew the two demonhounds were Geoffrey's, but there were still something else, something he couldn't entirely pick out from his spot up here, but with Issac down there, he didn't have to worry about it. But everyone seemed to be handling themselves fine, for the moment. They still needed a plan, and Grimm still wanted to get the prisoners out of there, along with whatever caged shinies this place had. The doctor was angry, furious, disgusted over all of this, wanted out of the air and down on the ground and he wanted to cause problems. Burning this place to ash would make him feel better, but only have those that needed saving were out of harm's way.

The Bronze passed the message to Grimm, and the other dragon-bonded pair would get the reply without any hesitation. Yes. What does he have planned? Oh, there were conditions, of course. Grimm didn't really think Geoffrey was the type to actually help people, without something to gain. And he wasn't entirely sure there was anything for Geoffrey to gain here.

But that didn't mean he wouldn't at least hear the plan. And if it worked for him? He'd totally follow it.

Well.

At least, that was the plan. To, you know, follow whatever plan Geoffrey might have. Stay in the sky, plotting, and all that? That...wasn't going to happen. Because Grimm saw those military outfits, saw the gun, and saw one of the Demonhounds get hit with what kind of reminded him of a cattle prod. He didn't know the gun had a tranq in it, but the body language as the military men approached the Demonhound? He knew that. He could read that, could imagine what it meant, and well.

Guns. They had f-cking guns, and Grimm planned to get his hands on them.

First, though...

It only took the slightest mental nudge, and those military men would find themselves not simply facing down a possibly stunned Demonhound, but they would find a big ass Dragon landing behind her. The low, rumbling growl was impressive, and Grimm took only a short time to slip out of the straps and land on the ground.

"Hey, assholes. How about you pick on someone yer own size?"

Isay wasn't terribly happy to be told to go back to the skies, but the Bronze still obeyed as Grimm put himself between the two men and the Black.

Unhappily, the dragon rumbled at the Sapphire. What will you have me do?

Issac was trying very hard to figure out just what he was looking at in the cage. His head jerked towards where Tie-dye and the men were, but with Grimm nearby, he didn't have to worry about that. Instead, he nosed around the cage, looking for a weakness to break the demonhound-thing out. Do you have a name? The Alpha asked, then frowned. He didn't understand what was being asked of him...but he could understand and read how much the creature was trying to appear nonthreatening.

Doctor music? He asked, ears going flat in unease. I will help, but I do not understand. Hopefully, it could be explained?

[Geoffrey A-13]

That wasn't good.

Maybe Geoffrey, and by extension Odrath, was operating under a biased opinion, but the mention of additional Demonhounds did not reassure either of them. They seemed to be a mischief prone species at best a chaotic bunch of terrors at worst, use of in unfamiliar one down there didn't mean anything good. If nothing else, and meant that the whitecoats would indeed capture Tie-Die and Trouble if they could.

This assumption was proven correct as the Dragon and rider pair turned as one at the sound of a bark down below and what they recognized as a pained howl from Tie-Die. She had heard the Mastiff's words, and she was the last creature who needed encouragement, jumping forward only to get knocked back. Damn her bond, damn him for weakening her wings with scarring tears in the fight when they met.

All bets of the hunter Sapphire being peaceful were off. He was by far the more patient, more merciful and forgiving complement to Geoffrey's stubbornness and rashness, but even Odrath had his limits. Isayonath would not be the only one landing. The difference was that Odrath would not be returning to the skies.

Tie-Die twisted, snarling in an almost constant stream, trusting and liking Grimm no more and no less than she did the others. She didn't even like Geoffrey, he was going to be sorely disappointed if he thought for even a second that she liked having him there. Only way to make useful self, take bullet, she snarked with fake approval at Grimm before whirling back around to bark as she saw the prod move out of the corner of her eye, pointedly ignoring Geoffrey on dragonback there with them as well, knowing it would dig in to him.

She was totally right. He was here to help her sorry ass, the least she could do was blink at him.

Geoffrey fixed the one with a cattleprod with a cold stare. "Drop your arms, or die." Geoffrey had a law against murder, but there was no murder on a battlefield.

«You've got the bigger firepower. They are trying to free the cages, keep an eye on them in case these people realize they're doing,» Odrath informed Isayonath. He and Geoffrey could hold down protecting Tie-Die from capture, death, or other. Grimm could do whatever he wanted; Geoffrey assumed as a doctor he had some stupid humanitarian feelings about helping the herded people.

And freeing the Asids Trouble was indeed making progress on, she may be a small Black Demonhound, but she was a tough little devil. Caring that the blocks work worth wasting her time on, Trouble nodded and leaped away to fly up and gain altitude before rocketing back down kamikaze-style with a yell to smash into the glass over the tanks. Screw pansy, useless banging around, she was going to get this taken care of in one fell swoop if she could. No sense wasting time on it; the sooner more trouble was out with her, the better.

[Teeka]

Levaji stood as still as he could as T’Rae set to work removing the bands from his horn. Despite his best efforts, small tremors ran through him, a combination of pain and nerves, as well as the typical instinctive, equine reaction to contact that he found unpleasant. As a thinking being he knew that T’Rae meant him no harm, but after what he had been through it was hard for him to suppress the more animal aspects of himself. Talking was a good way to do that though.

Normally he would have given his head a slight shake as he spoke, to make his mane shimmer in the sunlight, but settled for a soft snort and a click of his teeth, I’m not really sure who’s in charge exactly. The people are strange and they run things strangely. There are different groups of them and whoever they all answer to isn’t here.

Then he laughed despite himself, I can tell you though, there’s one fewer group than there was when they first got here. The dolts that got me hadn’t counted on Unicorn magic. Back to what you were asking though, the man in charge of the science stuff is the one you have to worry the most about. I never really got a good look at him and he doesn’t have a name in the way a person like you has a name. There’s what he calls himself and what he says others can call him. What he is is another matter all together.

Pausing to think Levaji let made a series of clear, resonating sounds, music in isolation, that he should have lacked the physical means of making, That is my best approximation of the sum of what he would introduce himself as. To use words he calls himself Dr. Alto Clef. I do not know his affiliation, not do I know the affiliation of this group as a whole. They never made a point of explaining things to me and I can only go by what I overheard, which is not much. They are, to put it mildly, selectively professional. To put it bluntly, they are sadistic bastards who do a good job of playing researcher.

The little rant seemed to have done him a world of good, for at her next question he let out a happy little sigh, It feels loose enough to fall off. Please stand back.

The last bit was added as an afterthought as he reared up and tossed his head, sending the band around his horn flying.

As soon as the metal left his horn there was a flash of light and the rest of his restraints turned clear as glass and shattered into dust.

Well, my magic still works, he laughed merrily, I think now I should show them the business end of my horn, what do you think?

He winked at T’Rae and took a few little mincing steps as he got used to the feeling of being free again.

It went without saying that, when the armed men found themselves facing a Dragon, shots were fired, or in the case of the man with the tranquilizer gun, misfired. In his haste to get to his actual weapon, he dropped the dart gun in such a way that the weapon went off. Where the dart ended up was a mystery, maybe it hit someone, perhaps it fired harmlessly into the ground, all that was certain was that none of it mattered because an angry Sapphire Dragon was truly a sight to behold. So much so that it was easy to miss the man getting off of him.

Luckily for Isayonath none of the weapons used were what one could call ‘armor piercing’ so the shots that hit probably hurt like hell and if his wings got hit the rounds would probably go through the delicate membranes, but none of it was lasting damage to a Dragon.

When Isayonath took off and the armed guards found themselves facing Grimm alone training reasserted itself, as tended to happen when a truly frightening foe left and a more mundane looking target came into sight.

“You are trespassing. Surrender now. Do not try to resist, we are authorized to use deadly force,” one of the men spoke up, leveling his rifle at Grimm. Clearly this individual was the leader of the group and was used to having what he said be listened to. Odds were good that he was in for a very rude awakening when he realized just how far outside of his control things had gotten.

Geoffrey arriving only gave the armed guards another small target, much better than the huge Dragons circling and landing. He too would find himself at gun point, though now the guards had their attention divided between him and Grimm. With the two of them, and Geoffrey making threats the guards were getting twitchy and would likely open fire again at any moment.

And speaking of things getting out of control…

Over by the cages the captive squinted its deep-set, watery little eyes at Issac, I HAVE NAME. AM BURK.

He let out a deep grumble after this, though whether it was at displeasure of having to introduce himself under such circumstances, or whether it was due to his considering Issac’s next question.

DOCTOR MUSIC. DOES NOT HAVE PROPER NAME. IS MISERABLE BASTARD. LET ME OUT. I KILL HIM THEN.

His stubby tail wagged as he finished. Whoever Dr. Music was, it seemed that Burk very much wanted him dead.

Trouble was indeed living up to her name, under the force of her attack the glass shattered and the Asids went tumbling to the ground. Most of them went scurrying off to cause trouble, though the three Risens lingered for a moment to look around.

Thank you, the orangish Risen said while his metallic golden brother picked up a particularly large shard of glass apparently intending to arm himself beyond his claws and fangs. The last Risen raised his kinked body up to give Trouble a quick kiss on the nose before the three of them also ran off to join the fray.

((If you want you can tell me which of the Asids you like the most since in my next post they’re going to start moving around and getting really active. Also, if any of you are fond of the SCP wiki feel free to tell me your favorites. I won’t guarantee that I can make them show up, but things are going to start getting chaotic soon and there’s no telling what will happen.))

[T'Rae]

Levaji didn't need to tell her twice, T'Rae was already stepping back as soon as he started talking, frowning with a furrowed brow as she went through all the information that he had given her. Nothing about this group sounded good, but she thought she knew enough to form a plan. "I think we're not going to have a whole lot of choice." She agreed with Levaji, giving Naolys an apologetic look that he was going to get dragged into all of this. It was the last thing that he needed while she was still trying to get him acclimated around the large population of the Weyrd and be calm around people. Her options were fairly limited though, and with only two unicorns at her disposal, having lost track of where Geoffrey and Grimm and the dragons got off to in her focus on the Gold, the general chaos of everything else being just out of her site, she was going to have to put them both to use.

With a deep breath T'Rae pulled off her satchel and draped it over Naolys neck, buttoning up her labcoat and pulling the necklace out of her shirt. "Alright, I have a plan but I'm going to need your cooperation. We don't know exactly what those bands did to your magic, I know you want your chance and I'll see that you get it, but I need you to stay back. Out of sight, see what you can, see if you can get anyone or anything out." She wasn't exactly deaf to the chaos or the shattering glass after all, "Naolys is going to come with me, I only have the one invisibility ring and he hasn't been through what you have. Keep an eye out, I'll give you a signal when it's time for all hell to break loose." Of course the Gold was going to want to get his vengeance, but it seemed he should at least have a chance to try and rest and see just what kind of damage had been done. That and she needed a surprise up her sleeve.

Whether Levaji was going to agree or not, things were escalating and she needed to move. Pulling the ring off the necklace she tucked the IDIC symbol back underneath the labcoat and took a deep breath. It had been a long time since she had pulled something like this, she hoped that she still had the skill and resolve to pull it off. Naolys at her side she was offer around the edge of the enclosure and around the back of the men, but once she did it was only a matter of second before she took in the whole scene and sighed. Men. Well, looked like she need a change of plans.

"Ready Naolys?" She glanced at him again, it was seconds before they would be seen, she needed to hurry. On the bright side Geoffrey and Grimm seemed to have distracted them for a little bit longer. Yes. He lied, and T'Rae knew it, but her options were limited. Adjusting the collar of the labcoat, making sure it covered the Starfleet insignia, she stayed very still as he brushed his horn over her hair, the strands settling into a shade of slightly-to-bright red, it wouldn't last but it would have to do. With a reassuring smile she dropped the ring over the Gold's horn. Watching for a split second as the Gold vanished. Then with a nod she drew herself upright, made sure her hair fell properly to cover her ears, and cleared her throat. This was either going to work or be incredibly stupid.

"What the hell is going on out here?" T'Rae snapped, storming in behind the group of men threatening Geoffrey and Grimm, "Just who exactly authorized you to use deadly force against my escorts? This was hardly the kind of welcome I expected, but from an operation like this I suppose I shouldn't set my hopes to high." A quick glance was cast between the cyborg and the doctor, she hoped like hell they would get the idea and play along, there was quite a bit of danger in play like this but she couldn't exactly stop and explain to them. In fact she couldn't exactly stop talking at all, these were military men trained to receive orders, she couldn't really give them time to start thinking for themselves. "And just where is the good Doctor, I suspected he would at least be here. One of you bring him out here now, I have a few choice words for him." She picked one to her right to focus a sharp glare on, "That's an order." In a tone that indicated it would be in his best interest to cooperate.

At least she managed to keep her voice and hands steady, despite the fact that fear and anxiety were coursing through her veins. It had been years at least since the last time that she had tried to infiltrate like this, trick them into cooperation by being pointed and forceful, that seemed to be the way this whole thing operated near as she could tell. This was either going to work or be incredibly stupid, and she was really hoping at the moment that it was going to work.

[Out of My Mind - Anxiety - 877 Words]

[Grimm]

"I can take a bullet for ya." Grimm muttered, though his attention stayed firmly on the military men. He wasn't worried, not for himself, nor really for his Bronze. Isay could take care of himself, and they both knew it. Ignoring both Geoffrey and as Isay took off, Grimm just smirked as the men in front of him seemed to gather their courage. Couldn't blame them, without his dragon right there. "Oh? I think not." Anything else that might have been said was suddenly cut off when T'Rae came storming over, acting like she owned the place and started demanding everyone around. Grimm paused, wary of the gun still pointed at him...the last thing he wanted was it pointed at her. But T'Rae clearly had a plan, and who was he to argue with it?

Crossing his arms over his chest, he just scowled at the men in front of him. He was tense, ready to act if he needed, but for now, he just stayed silent and let T'Rae work her magic. It might just work, get these men to lower their weapons and perhaps even get them some answers. He could hope. T'Rae was a damn good actor, at least.

Issac still had no idea who the demonhound wanted, but he had a feeling whoever it was, deserved the hell he was going to get. Nodding once, the Alpha circled the cage a bit, eyeing it. He needed to break the glass. Hm. Hey, if that little Demonhound could break the glass, so could he. Watch your head. It took him a couple of tries, trying to lunge at the glass just right, but it finally did shatter enough that, hopefully, Burk could work his way through. Though he doubted the army men would be totally happy about is.

(I kinda just...assumed Burk was trapped like the Asids. Hope that's okay.)

[Geoffrey A-13]

Admittedly, compared to the Isayonath, as Odrath himself had admitted he was not exactly an impressive specimen, but the small Sapphire was still a Dragon, and could still glare down at the unfamiliar humans with faceted eyes a dangerous orange-touched red that stood out unusually compared to his dusky blue hide.

Before Odrath or Geoffrey could spit out their own opinions about who was trespassing on who and the use of deadly force, T'Rae had finally decided to show up and join the two Weyrdmen.

Unfortunately, Geoffrey would be vastly disappointed she didn't start knocking them out with her machete one by one or pulling her phaser gun on them. No, she was going to make the worst bluff of all time, and his opinion. Yeah, sure, her escorts, that's when they arrived completely separately, didn't remotely acknowledge each other, and was accusing them of being an 'operation like this' when they had the technology and/or abilities to capture a Unicorn of all of Planet and negate his magic.

Plus, why the devil would anyone listen to an unknown figure without any introduction or display of certification.

«Geoffrey...» Odrath whispered privately, but it would be no use.

The cyborg looked at the man with the cattle prod, completely nonchalant. "I'm not with them." Oh for God's sake man. "And I don't need any authorization to use deadly force," he added with a little more menace in his voice. He may not be in Germany, but he still considered himself retaining every single right he had there as a leading officer in the military, and he was his own authorization These were clearly not friendly forces, ergo, destroy.

A sentiment the impatient Tie-Die apparently shared, as without warning she charged past Grimm with a howl to make a dive to rip off the leg of the cattle prod man. Considering the reach he had on her, is extremely unlikely she was going to be the winner in this fight, but damned if she was going to sit around while they all talked. That son-of-a had hurt her, and she was going to hurt him back ten-fold.

That same howl caught the attention of Trouble. She had been busy studying herself after the crash and double checking that she hadn't grievously injured either herself or any of the Asids, and generally looking very pleased with a slowly wagging tail at the thanks from Risen. The Demonhound gave a muffled bark to the third Risen, her effort at a friendly appreciative laugh in response to his kiss, before stretching her sore wings and getting herself out of their to go join the fray as well. Trouble and Tie-Die may not get along, because Tie-Die didn't get along with anyone, but Black Demonhounds under the same roof had to stick together, especially if it meant living up to her name. While Tie-Die was making her frontal assault, trouble came sprinting across the ground from behind to try for prod-man's other leg.

[Teeka]

Levaji was somewhat disappointed that he wasn’t getting the chance to harass his captors and show them just what a Unicorn was able to do when it was really angry, or at least he wouldn’t be able to do any of it right away. He could wait, though if T’Rae had needed him to be invisible he could have just done it himself. Unlike many of the Unicorns out there he wasn’t at all shy about using his magic, to the contrary he was a bit of a showoff when he felt that he could get away with it.

Still, he accepted the ring without protest. His horn was starting to heal itself already, but he still had a bit of a headache from the injury and all of his magic being blocked off for as long as it had been. A chance to recover unseen was an opportunity he wasn’t about to pass up, especially not when it let him sneak over to the pens where the human captives were being held. As long as he had been at the research camp, he understood that they were there against their will and that they were frequently killed for disobeying, not to mention how several of them had been used to test the effects of Asid envenomation on the human body. Levaji had a feeling that they would be as happy as he was to be free and would be as willing to cause trouble.

What was happening with T’Rae and the others was far more important than Levaji’s plans though. Against all logic it looked like the guards might halfway believe her. The head of the group squinted at her, taking note that she was hiding something under her coat.

While this was happening the metallic looking Risen armed with the shard of glass got up behind her and glared at the guards. He didn’t want to fight, really, but these people were helping and their Shinies had freed him and his siblings so he did owe them that much.

“Bright, you know full well I could get away with terminating you on the spot for a stunt like this. Hell, I should do it, just to remind you that – ”

And then Geoffrey went and put his two cents in, which brought things to a worse place than they had to begin with.

The lead guard took out his radio as the rest of the guards took aim at Geoffrey.

Just as Tie-Die lunged in for her attack the lead guard began to radio in a report of the situation, “We are under attack by an unknown agency, send – ”

The Tie-Die’s howl sounded out, followed almost immediately by a cry of pain from the guard she attacked. With all the weapons being pointed at our heroic Whazzitians things could have gone very badly, if not for Issac succeeding in freeing Burk at that exact moment. Unlike the Asids, when Burk was freed an alarm sounded. Apparently Burk was regarded as a much more dangerous entity.

THANKS

Burk charged out of the cage that had held him and rushed to the nearest group of guards.

CALL DOCTOR MUSIC. I KNOW THIS IS HIS.

Because his demand was accompanied by thunderous barking and a great deal of growling, it was very unlikely that he would get the desired response, though it did not seem to bother him too much, not when there were so many targets for him to take out his rage on.

Hey, hey you! if Grimm were to look down, away from the chaos and weapons pointed at him he would see a particularly angry looking Albino Asid looking up at him, She demands that you have those Dragons attack.

For good measure she reared up to better glare at him.

The other freed Asids were starting to get in on the action as well, though none were quite as confident as their Queen and therefore were less direct in addressing the assembled humans.

A banded Shadow slunk over to Geoffrey’s feet at the mention of deadly force. She was trying to figure out how to ask him to throw her at the guards, preferably at head height since she wasn’t tall enough to bite anyone in the face without help, but she just couldn’t figure out the right way to make the demand without sounding stupid or admitting that she needed the help of some dumb omnivore.

Of course this commotion wasn’t going to go unnoticed by Teeka and her companions. Brujath had been forced to land to allow the tired Teeka to climb up on him, but Sukhon and Lithe kept running on ahead, meaning that they arrived quite some time in advance.

Sukhon was taken aback by all the violence, but Lithe pressed forward, eyes bright with rage and hope.

My Burk’eth here. Give’n him back! she howled before joining the fray.

((Go wild with what you do, say anything happens that you want. In my next post Bonds might start being made.))

[Grimm]

So much for that.

Grimm wasn't at all surprised when Geoffrey didn't play along, and what might have almost worked went all to hell. Tie-Die had lunged, guns had gone off, and then Issac had done something to set off an alarm, and there was this....thing lunging towards the guards they were facing. Not to mention another dragon and person showing up, neither of whom he recognized. The shit had hit the fan, and things needed to be taken care of now. No more games, no more standing around, trying to play nice. This was a military operation, and it was obvious it wasn't a good one. He didn't know where these people came from, but he knew they weren't welcomed here.

The Demonhound-thing was lunging towards the guards, and Grimm himself had focused on the man-in-charge, the one trying to radio for help. Backup would be a very, very bad thing at this point, even if it was already likely to be on it's way. He rushed forward, catching the man off guard, and the next minute or two was spent grappling for the rifle once the radio had been knocked away. It was a contest of strength Grimm won, and with little hesitation, he slammed the butt of the rifle into the guard's head, knocking him out.

Grimm barely had time to turn, when he heard another gunshot go off. It took him a moment, the blossom of pain in his chest that had him stumbling back for a moment. He lowered his own stolen rifle, and just stared down at his chest blanky, where blood was already staining his shirt.

Ow. That had caught him by surprise.

But the military man was more surprised when Grimm all but ignored it, raised his rifle, and took aim at the man's chest, and fired. It was....odd, in a way, taking another human's life after so long away from that. As his own injury healed, Grimm lowered the weapon to stare at the fallen solider for a moment, an uncomfortable itch of guilt in his mind. But there wasn't much of a choice here. It was all but a battle, and times like this called for the doctor in him to step aside.

He could feel Issac's shock, and Isay's fury that someone had shot at him, but what cut through the white noise in his mind was an unfamiliar voice. The doctor turned, stared at the Albino as the female ordered him around. He frowned at her, then tilted his head up as his Bronze circled, restlessly, and finally smirked. "I can't make 'em all attack, darlin'. They ain't all mine. But him?" Grimm pointed at the Bronze. "I can make him attack. With pleasure."

It was time to get those prisoners freed.

"If you wanna tag along, you better hold on." Grimm told her, allowing the Asid to climb on him if she so chose to, but he didn't really stick around to give her much time to think about it. And whether or not she came, Grimm was storming through the chaos, unafraid of anyone taking any shots at him. Isayonath was already diving down, landing with a snarl as he swiped at more of the guards. Whatever it was that was keeping the people in the blue jumpsuits corralled, was quickly destroyed by the pissed off dragon, and anyone that dared to get close to him was taken down without hesitation.

Grimm stepped around the mess Isay was making to address the captives. "He ain't gonna hurt you, just don't hurt him, or me." A quick description was given of both T'Rae, Geoffrey, and the shinies, "Don't touch them, either. Now get the hell outta here." Grimm offered the rifle he carried to the closest person, as a sign of good faith, before he turned to Isayonath. "There are more cages." Grimm pointed out as he strolled towards the dragon. Within minutes he was settled onto the Bronze, though he didn't bother with the straps this time, merely clinging on as the Dragon rose again. Whether or not there were more animals in the cages around here or not, it didn't matter. They could just destroy the shit out of everything.

Are you okay? Isayonath asked quietly, privately, to his rider once they were back in the air.

"I'll be better once we're home." Grimm grumbled, and pointed towards a cluster of cages that the Dragon promptly swooped down and landed once again. He was a large dragon, and it didn't take much to throw his weight around to destroy all the things. No one felt like being subtle anymore.

[T'Rae]

"I'm sorry to hear that."

T'Rae could work with this. She was sorely disappointed that she had to work with this, of course, and once they were out of this she could anticipated being royally pissed off at him. She very nearly had them, she could at least use him to make an example and reinforce the idea. She couldn't really say that she wanted to do this as she was pulling the phaser out of her pocket, her thumb flicking it down to a stun before any more trouble could crop up.

It wasn't going to work, unfortunately, because Trouble seemed to have a different idea, quite literally as she came charging through everything with Grimm not a split second behind her. Because a proper strategy was apparently not something that either of the men had ever heard of, somehow she could start anticipating that this was going to get more than a little bit nasty. It really was unfortunate, they might have been aware of something useful or otherwise been willing to compromise in some way before they decided to make a mess of things.

When Grimm moved T'Rae was only a step behind, snapping out and grabbing the nearest by the shoulder, driving her fingers into the nerves until she felt him go slack and unconscious, dropping him and raising the phaser, the charge originally meant for Geoffrey taking out the next man in line. T'Rae watched him drop regretfully, it wasn't anything permanent of course, she never shot to kill, but that didn't mean she liked it when violence broke out like this. When the gun shot broke her out of the thought her first instinct was to snap to Geoffrey, and then to Grimm, but both seemed fine.

It got her moving again though, snapping up the radio, "This is going to get out of hand." She pointed out casually before dropping it back to the grass, striding back towards the collection of cages. She had to admit that it would have been an almost impressive collection if it hadn't been the entirely wrong way to go about it, it was amazing what some of them would agree to if you went through the right methods. The Gold on her heels, even if she couldn't see him, was proof enough of that, his nerves putting her on edge even if she couldn't see him.

She might not be one to be stirring up the kind of trouble that the others did herself, still more of a pacifist at heart despite her tendency to self defense, she could break open these cages with less collateral damage than a dragon, let Grimm handle the people she could cut through these locks just like Levaji's horn. Wherever the other Gold had gotten too she hoped he got the message that the plan had fallen apart, let him enact whatever kind of revenge that he wanted. T'Rae went quickly about it, it was obvious that they didn't have a whole lot of time if they were calling for backup, and with her phaser losing charge she needed to get out as many as she could before the thing died. Skipping over those unconscious or those that seemed too weak to do much and were safer in the cages, with promises that she would free them when it was all said and done.

To each her murmured message was the same, "Cause chaos, do damage, draw him out so we can end this." And more than once she was defended by Naolys shielding magic. Mentally reaching for the Kosaire clan and her Shadowguard pack, calling them out and putting them on alert. Ultimately the more that they had on their side for this the better, there were a lot more people around here than she had been anticipating.

"Alright Naolys." She reached up, feeling for the Gold's horn and drawing away the invisibility ring, clenched in her hand rather than put away as she made for the main complex. If this Doctor was in charge then the sooner he was located and dealt with then the sooner they could have this whole thing done with.

And perhaps T'Rae would actually have a chance to examine the disturbance that had brought here out here to begin with, her original mission not entirely forgotten in the midst of everything else.

[Where's Your Head At - Unconscious - 728 Words]

[Teeka]

((Posting tomorrow))

[Geoffrey A-13]

Geoffrey didn't know what the alarm meant. There was about a hundred or two hundred things that could have warranted it right now.

There was no point ducking that many muzzles, so Geoffrey just glared down the lead guard with the radio and prepared for a real life bullet hell shooting. And then grinned twisted lay.

Tie-Die was clearly having none of it, darkly satisfied with in everyone being confused and paranoid and outraged, snapping at whatever was in reach, knocking aside and tearing down any obstacle to getting to the radioman. The last thing she wanted to see was anybody getting a morale boost, after all, which made her first priority destroying the radio before they could call in more optimistic support.

Trouble on the other hand was having all of it, her glee at joining in and jumping into the fray clearly only allowed to last because Tie-Die had too many other people to keep upset right now. Trouble was the first of Geoffrey's group to acknowledge Sukhon and Lithe's arrival, the Silver glanced at giving her pause for a moment, but then Lithe was diving in and Trouble was back in action, clearly eager to join a like minded Black.

Odrath roared as one of the men kept their aim steady and shot Geoffrey and the arm, the bullet ricocheting away. He was adjusting his aim without even blinking at the metal prosthetic revealed by the ripped clothes when Odrath had him unconscious with a heavy sweep of his skull into the man's. Sapphire, tiny, and still way bigger than your skull any day.

Then another gunshot one off, the pair turned to see on his side, and stared with matching shock at Grimm. Not the fact he was bleeding shooting, that was pretty standard, but that the fact that the soldier shot had fallen as dead weight.

"«Thou shalt not kill,»" they shouted in unison, even as another soldier was raising a gun and Geoffrey jumped off of Odrath's back, in one-two knocking aside to shoot wild and then driving the pickax's spike into the base of the neck. Paralysis, probably still alive? That was what Geoffrey was going for anyway. He didn't stick around to find out. Religion was a hard thing to let go of no matter how often he insisted he had renounced it.

He was still going to insist on trying to keep them alive though. Alive and crippled. Geoffrey preferred prisoners to corpses, he could study them, use them, he'd had a severe lack of human test subjects for over two years now, he was going to torture every last son of a gun and but them to good use if they didn't all get killed by their own actions or by the three Whazzitian officers and their shinies first.

On the ground, though, Geoffrey had noticed the Shadow Asid, and while he didn't read her mind exactly, with the pickax in his left hand his metallic right, all sharp tools and ready injection, grabbed at her in disregard for her safety. Asids had scales and got in vicious fights all the time, she'd been fine. "You going to get out of the Weyrd do something, or should I crush your skull too and make you into dinner?" It was possibly an empty threat, but if anybody would eat prettyshinies, it probably was Geoffrey.

ooc| Sorry this is super late, hope it's still okay to post now. If not please just let me know and I'll remove it and post after you Teeka.

[Teeka]

The Albino, though not normally fond of males, had likely just found the love of her life. Not only was Grimm able to take horrific injuries without reacting, he was willing to kill without a second thought. It was almost more than an Asid could hope for. It was enough to make her forgive him for only having one huge flying death lizard. The Albino did want to watch the Bronze in action, but Grimm’s invite for her to climb up on him was enough to distract her. Already it seemed that he knew his place.

She can run fine, but perhaps when there is a chance she will ride that Dragon. No sense in thinking small and she did want to see how much she could get away with. Finding out how far she could push her new Bond was an important step in their relationship.
Albino Bonded to Grimm!

The prisoner Grimm had given the rifle to, a rather short and homely older woman, looked nervously back at the rest of the group. Their restraints went beyond the pen they had been kept in, implants having been injected at the base of their necks allowing for them to be killed at the press of a button. It was likely only an oversight that they had not all been killed yet, and they knew it. They could run and the wild places of the Wyerd did seem very inviting, but there was no telling how far they would make it. Murmuring ran through the group, many fled, but a good number stayed to fight, the woman being one of them. After all they had been put through, being taken from their homelands, forced into servitude and treated worse than lab animals, they had a lot to repay their captors for.

Over at the remaining cages T’Rae was having an easy enough time freeing the specimens. Most of the creatures were mundane wildlife, though there was the occasional Shiny, most of them clearly owned by NPCs. Some of those capable of speech thanked her, but the majority silently did as she said, causing commotion to cover her actions and allow the rest of them to be freed. The whole setup was disgusting, but professional, the sort of thing that could happen with science when traditional morals went out the window and cognitive dissonance took hold in a big way.

The Risen that had been willing to back her up had continued to tag along behind her and when he got the chance he cleared his throat, hoping to get her attention. He would have said something if he had anything of consequence to say, but what was there that he could hope to contribute in a situation like this? Perhaps she would give him something to do so that he could help out, especially if the helping out involved breaking something.

Teeka’s arrival had Levaji contemplating the next part of his plan, though he was uncertain if he had to the magic to take care of it just yet. The sticking point was he had enough juice to do one of two things, he could disable the ‘kill switches’ in the prisoners or close the crack in the air. Managing both was out of his range at the moment.

Brujath circled above, keeping Lithe and Sukhon updated on the situation around them as well as keeping an eye out for Burk. So far the Dragon had yet to see the Demonhound in question, but he could tell that Lithe was convinced that Burk was there. He hoped that she was right as it would be nice to have the Steel back home again and helping keep things in order. Without Burk’s prodding Teeka was starting to get lazy and sink into depression over her changed form.

You would eat her? The Shadow forgot all about her plan when Geoffrey told her that he was going to eat her. Was it really that easy to find one’s soul mate? The Bond was a foregone conclusion. Hopefully that would be enough to change his mind, and if not, well, she was willing to fight and see who ended up doing the eating in the end.
Shadow 3 Bonded to Geoffrey

In all of the chaos Lithe and Burk continued their respective searches, though it was soon apparent that there was no true parallel in their actions. She was searching for him and he was searching for the mysterious Doctor Music. The guards had told him nothing, which came as no surprise, still, he hoped to find his nemesis. He had no plans beyond that, confident that the situation would take care of itself from there.

((No problem Geoffrey, that was why I gave the warning. I didn’t want to post before you did.))

[Geoffrey A-13]

Geoffrey was just a little bit busy here, so perhaps he could be forgiven for not immediately noticing Teeka and company, other than Odrath reporting Brujath's arrival matter-of-factly, simply keeping tabs on who was where the background Geoffrey's mind. Neither of them were familiar with the fact Teeka was not the alien figure they recognized her as.

The cyborg's attitude towards the Shadow shifted slightly at her words and very sudden bond. That wasn't the response had been expecting. It was a response he could work with, though, at least. He was still annoyed with her, though." So are you getting out of the way or what, Berenice?" Geoffrey demanded of his new bond brusquely. There was no time for nice getting to know you chit chat. In case she hadn't noticed, there was kind of a fight/general mess breaking out.

Berenice had definitely noticed, however, delighted at how easy this would now be and how much less demeaning to work with another vicious eater. Throw her to them, she will tear them apart for us to feast on, the Shadow commanded. It was a strange request, but heck if Geoffrey was going to decline. She could go do her own thing, he'd do his, and they could meet up again afterwards. So, with all his might, Geoffrey through the Shadow Asid into the face of a confused cluster of guards trying to figure out who they should be going after – subduing the prisoners? The crazy man with pickax? The scheming woman? What or who was priority number one? Well, now it was the cackling Shadow trying to claw them to bits.

Geoffrey himself was keeping Odrath to his back, the Sapphire Dragon his defense and Geoffrey the lookout, neither of them straying from where they were stationed. Their goal together was simply to ward off anyone who thought they looked like an easy fight, since currently they had no guns and the smallest Dragon. Geoffrey was definitely sweating. A gun would be way more useful and lucky right now than a repurposed rusty tool from an old shed.

Trouble and Tie-Die, on the other hand, had also accidentally teamed up briefly, the pair of Black Demonhounds, in their haste to go after anything insight ending up in a clash with each other. After quickly reorienting themselves in getting back to their feet, it looked like everyone else was doing a passable job at not getting killed versus the strange invaders, and decided to see if they could lend their assistance in the searching, although they both quickly realized there was actually two searches going on.

They split, with Trouble running to join up with Lithe. Heard him give name to Toku! We seen him over here! At the same time, Tie-Die was tracking the very odd looking Burk. What you look for? she demanded to know, having missed the conversation he had had with Issac.