Cross Effects 3.0 - June 23, 2016—April 02, 2018

[Thedoctor]

Jeanne

She nodded at their acceptance of her words, Sakura then asked her once more as she opened the door. The blonde decided to answer her verbally in an act to confund Shirou. "I think I'll pass this time master."

She was about to leave the two of them alone when she remembered something. "Do you know where Rider might be?"

[yinsukin]

Relius Clover

While the man had his gaze set towards the floor, Relius's own eyes were focused, piercing almost to the point of the perversion of observation itself.  This Aura...  Its flowing... No its exploding from his very soul.  Its a familiar passion.  He thought as he analyzed the thing before him.

Relius smiled, perhaps the most authentic one he has ever worn since coming here or at least in the last few months.  "I suppose I do.  I take it you desire a more personal order then?"

[YOLF]

Noel Vermillion

Noel had just finished dealing with the unconscious, barely alive idiot who had apparently tried to fight the monster and was undressing in the bathroom, putting on a fresh set of clothes, when she got a call from Detective Barthow.

Noel sighed audible as she heard what he was asking. "Nothing anymore..." She admitted sadly. "I was forced to retreat. Whomever he was, he's a monster. He's ridiculously powerful." Noel hadn't bothered to untransform, and had simply taken off what was easy for her to take off, leaving her floating off the ground in a police uniform with metal sticking out from the bottom of her pants.

"Heh, I look ridiculous." She said to herself, forgetting to mute the call.

Henry Barthow

The detective smothered a 'damn' behind his teeth, smacking the wheel once with a clenched palm. He opened his mouth in time to say "Listen," but the radio chose that time to blare with information from their home frequency. The old speakers scratched in update, a conflicted voice confirming the disappearance of the perpetrator and pointing available units to disaster relief on the scene.

This city had enough madness and misery without walking disasters doing their best to be heard and seen. They had lost enough people to things like that already. Bystanders and people who made it their duty to help alike. Noel had made the right decision backing off when she did, but it raked at him. He was certain it tore even deeper at her, and he didn't need to understand her tone to come to that conclusion. She had struck him as lingering painfully on her mistakes, even if it did not affect her spirit to make up for them.

He lowered the radio volume to focus on her situation for now, and was confused from his lack of visual input over her words. "What do you mean? How hurt are you?" He asked, making a steep turn through an intersection before the lights went red. "I'll pick you up, so tell me your location."

[Kat]

Mordred

Oh, wow, if that was Sakura that Mordred met back then, she clearly worked out a lot in those past 5 months. So yeah, that confirmed that it wasn't the case once more. After meeting so many strong people and being subjected to so many beatings from superior enemies, the Changeling developed a somewhat accurate skills at estimating her opponents and (hopefully) allies. And damn, it was obvious for her that she could have more raw strength than Breeze! Her arm ached from being shaken so vigorously, but she tried to not show it in the presence of another absurdly strong woman.

This Sakura looked on her with clear interest, though the Changeling had no clue what was the reason. "Uh, fine so far. Nothing unlucky happened to me so far even with my notoriously poor track record." Mordred sat again on the bench.

"I'm waiting for a certain someone, but I don't mind hanging out. I'm also sure the person I'm waiting for will appreciate your company." The Changeling tapped on the bench, gesturing to Sakura to sit down with her as well.

[Kotomine_Rin]

Vanguard

Vanguard nodded with a simple, calm smile and sent a mighty kick flying from below the table, plummeting straight towards her face like a comet. With his skill, even the slightest reaction would've sent his mighty blow down to her gun, and even if she would not react in time his blow would stop barely an inch before her face.

After all, this was all just a test, to gauge her skill and reactions.

[SINIB]

Jeanne

She nodded at their acceptance of her words, Sakura then asked her once more as she opened the door. The blonde decided to answer her verbally in an act to confund Shirou. "I think I'll pass this time master."

She was about to leave the two of them alone when she remembered something. "Do you know where Rider might be?"

Sakura Matou

Bore-ring. Sakura told her servant in a melodious tone.

"Uhm, no, I don't. She's out doing stuff, I think. I expect she'll be home sometime soon though." Sakura said. "I hope." She added on as an afterthought. "Have a good night." Sakura said as she closed the door on Jeanne."

[SINIB]

Mordred

Oh, wow, if that was Sakura that Mordred met back then, she clearly worked out a lot in those past 5 months. So yeah, that confirmed that it wasn't the case once more. After meeting so many strong people and being subjected to so many beatings from superior enemies, the Changeling developed a somewhat accurate skills at estimating her opponents and (hopefully) allies. And damn, it was obvious for her that she could have more raw strength than Breeze! Her arm ached from being shaken so vigorously, but she tried to not show it in the presence of another absurdly strong woman.

This Sakura looked on her with clear interest, though the Changeling had no clue what was the reason. "Uh, fine so far. Nothing unlucky happened to me so far even with my notoriously poor track record." Mordred sat again on the bench.

"I'm waiting for a certain someone, but I don't mind hanging out. I'm also sure the person I'm waiting for will appreciate your company." The Changeling tapped on the bench, gesturing to Sakura to sit down with her as well.

IRON=SAKURA

Sakura finished looking her over and smiled. She sat down on the bench next to Mord carefully, making sure not to break it. It groaned audibly from her weight, and maybe even bent a little. "You seem pretty strong yourself, Mordred. Sorry if I hurt you with my strength, I'm not exactly used to being this monstrous, heh."

Sakura crossed her legs and leaned back against the poor bench. "So is your friend strong as well?"

[SINIB]

Noel Vermillion

Noel had just finished dealing with the unconscious, barely alive idiot who had apparently tried to fight the monster and was undressing in the bathroom, putting on a fresh set of clothes, when she got a call from Detective Barthow.

Noel sighed audible as she heard what he was asking. "Nothing anymore..." She admitted sadly. "I was forced to retreat. Whomever he was, he's a monster. He's ridiculously powerful." Noel hadn't bothered to untransform, and had simply taken off what was easy for her to take off, leaving her floating off the ground in a police uniform with metal sticking out from the bottom of her pants.

"Heh, I look ridiculous." She said to herself, forgetting to mute the call.

Henry Barthow

The detective smothered a 'damn' behind his teeth, smacking the wheel once with a clenched palm. He opened his mouth in time to say "Listen," but the radio chose that time to blare with information from their home frequency. The old speakers scratched in update, a conflicted voice confirming the disappearance of the perpetrator and pointing available units to disaster relief on the scene.

This city had enough madness and misery without walking disasters doing their best to be heard and seen. They had lost enough people to things like that already. Bystanders and people who made it their duty to help alike. Noel had made the right decision backing off when she did, but it raked at him. He was certain it tore even deeper at her, and he didn't need to understand her tone to come to that conclusion. She had struck him as lingering painfully on her mistakes, even if it did not affect her spirit to make up for them.

He lowered the radio volume to focus on her situation for now, and was confused from his lack of visual input over her words. "What do you mean? How hurt are you?" He asked, making a steep turn through an intersection before the lights went red. "I'll pick you up, so tell me your location."

Noel Vermillion

Noel blushed a bit in embarrassment. Shoot, I didn't mute that did I? She crouched on the ground and covered her head in shame. Well, she crouched. She was still floating slightly off the hospital bathroom's floor.

She recomposed herself and stood back upright, responding to Henry. "I'm not badly hurt, don't worry. Just a few bruises. I've already taken care of them." Noel looked down at the bulging metal along her legs, and with a snap decision, deftly cut the legs off her uniform, sitting down on the air as she did so.

"I'm at the hospital off 50th street." Noel told her partner. "I'll meet you outside shortly, I'll just finish getting dressed real quickly." Noel told him. She then did the same thing to the forearms of her shirt, and then put that on, buttoning it up quickly. Finally, she put on her hat, threw away the scraps, and walked(floated) towards the exit.

[Kat]

Mordred

What she was made of, out of lead? Normal human body really shouldn't be that dense. It was good anyway that she was resigned about becoming the strongest Enforcer or any such idealistic bullcrap. She was content with her own pace during those 5 months. Some effects of her training were visible to the naked eye as she finally had  noticeable muscle tone from all that general training. Boosting her own strength to supernatural levels was now less straining.

"Uh, well, in terms of pure strength, she is roughly equal to me, but her skill and potential means she is full of surprises. If I actually cared about fighting for the sake of fighting I would have been jealous."

[Kat]

Julius

Unfortunately, he couldn't. Just how crazy this new generation was? To surpass him, Julius, the knight of Holy Roman Empire, at such young age? Were those few philosophers who spoke of evolution right after all? Those insects seemed to have focused on the girl faster than the holy knight, but while this was a chance he could exploit, it was dishonorable to abandon his younger comrade so readily. But the swarm compressed into more uniform being, seemingly, so that was his chance.

"Please break those flasks I am going to throw!" He shouted, throwing the remainder of his holy water at the concentrated swarm afterwards. The water wouldn't hurt her, but those few leftover bottles could spray the water all over them when shattered. He trusted her speed and aim to pull off that.

[Thedoctor]

William

He could feel the other's man's gaze on him, staring right through him, all the way to the bottom. It made him shift in his seat, however his expression didn't change. What did change what the that he looked up from the floor. He looked at the masked man and studied him in turn. Not making clear what he was looking for as he kept quiet, dragging it out to the point where the atmosphere almost became awkward.

"No."

He suddenly said, cutting through the silence with his voice.

"I did not come to make an order. I came to make an offer. "

The mage rose up from the chair as he begun pacing around the room with the hideous design. "Maybe we should have this conversation in your actual 'shop' instead" He said with a laugh. "I'm William Hightower and I'm going to change things."

[Aiden]

Gadreel

The fallen angel could not help but admire the tenacity of the security guard's mind. This was in a sense a pure display of human determination, a fine glimpse of the strength he had long hoped to see more of among their species. It was most unfortunate that they had chosen to display this wonderful quality in opposition to Gadreel and his companion, but he would still respect it.

He intercepted the bullets with his body by interjecting himself between them and Forest. It would cause unfortunate damage to his coat, but his flesh would do little more than bruise from the impacts. Then Gadreel reached out almost faster than the man's eye could see and wrapped his hand around the gun's barrel. "Gentlemen! I believe we have gotten off on the wrong foot."

Nothing was done to actually harm the security officer at this point. Nothing would be done, either. It was not as if any of them inflict injury on him after all.

That suggestion was mistaken on my part, it seems. Let us attempt honesty and hope that they do not hold this one as a mark against us.

[Kotomine_Rin]

Mobb Boss

Heh, amusing.

He picked up a filthy drape that had been left nearby by a friend and wrapped it around their bodies with a single gesture, whipping it to overlap them entirely as it twirled. For a second there were three, and then there were none.

The drape dropped on the floor, all traces of the two gone from the building as if it had been an elaborate magic trick.

When he opened his eyes again, she was sitting on his lap inside a luxurious Lamborghini, hiding in plain sight. Not a single trace of soot or filth stained them, as if they had suddenly teleported.

"Pretty cool, right?" He said with a satisfied smile before tickling her. One would think it was careless of him to use his ability in such an open sight, but in truth this had been a calculated move. Because if she knew of this ability, he would know that Lucy could not be trusted. But he didn't think of that, or rather, it had all been an instinct. Betraying and being betrayed had always been as natural to him as drinking water.

For now, he was just thinking of a catchy song about pina coladas.

[Aiden]

Auspicious Breeze

Five Months Later

A lot of things happened! There was probably too much to talk about it all, but some of the important stuff needed to be said. Most of that time got spent learning how to fight even better than Auspicious Breeze already could. It took a lot of time, and there were a lot of sneak attacks and timed courses the former gladiator had to get through. She only had a little time to spend with her new friends, but she didn't let those cute girls down there! She made the time even if she had to punch her way to it, which she usually did. Michael was kinda strict about schedules, but punches grazing the face were apparently progress so that got her some time. Spending time with Mordred and Oren was fun.

She got faster that way. It was like her body could keep up with her sense of danger now, and she could keep up her speed for more than just a moment. It was really cool, but it left even Breeze kinda sweaty for a few moments before her collar cleaned her body up. Michael got his best hits in when she got distracted by her mistress' gift doing its job! Well, that and when he attacked her while she ate; that was almost mean but Breeze had experience fighting to keep people away from her food.

Sometimes she helped out with the monsters she knew Mordred was trying to go after. That part was pretty sad; they looked a lot like people. But as her mistress had always told her, sometimes monsters would pretend to be cute girls so you wouldn't want to hit them. They weren't really cute girls, though, so there wasn't any reason to let herself feel guilty about it. Thinking about her mistress just made Breeze upset though, so she got a little more angry than she meant to while they were fighting things like that. She paid for the broken window at least!

Now Auspicious Breeze was just running late for a meet up with Mordred, and the Exalt swallowed the bad things she wanted to say about the crowded streets of this crazy city. Making her late for a meeting with one of her girlfriends, could you believe it?! Ah well, there she was by some neat looking swings that Breeze couldn't help but run up and hop onto, planting her shorts-covered butt there to get comfy. The muscles in her arms flexed as she grabbed the chains.

"Hello! Talking about me behind my back~?" She settled down on one of the swings and smiled for her girlfriend. And the new girl with the pretty purple hair. "Oh, hi to you too! My name is Auspicious Breeze. You can just call me Breeze."

[yinsukin]

Relius Clover

How does he know?  He thought to himself.

The smile on Relius's face faded instantly, replaced by a concerned frown.  With the tension in the room so visibly high there was no need to hide his emotions.  Doing so wold only be superfluous at this point.

"I see, so you are that sort of visitor.  Well then follow me."  He said turning to the backdoor.  His voice was less vibrant the normal, perhaps even a bit foreboding.  That could be as a matter of caution. "Be sure to watch your step, the entrance to the lab is set with a few traps."

Relius walked out of the shop and into the lab hidden within the shed, expecting the man to follow him.