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

[Kotomine_Rin]

Vannguard

The laboratory door snapped open violently, dragging a pile of machinery and frustration from the outside world. Its glare was as cold as his voice, yet it was not hostility more than annoyance. The sort you'd expect from a gambler who just lost a high stake bet, he'd get over it. He always did.

"Would you mind keeping your mongrels in check next time?" He asked behind him with clear irritation.

[yinsukin]

Relius Clover

A slamming noise echoed through the underground lab from above, soon followed by the thunderous voice of his newest creation.  The scientist looked glanced upwards, waiting for him to descend down the spiral staircase.

"Would you mind keeping your mongrels in check next time?"  The doll asked, the irritation painfully obvious in his voice. 

“My mongrels?”  The scientist retorted almost mockingly.  “Surely you jest.”

[Kotomine_Rin]

Malcolm

Malcom's cheeks inflated and, for just a moment, he managed to hold it in. Then it burst, his laughter that is. The timing, the response, everything about this.... it was just too funny. So cute!

" *wheeze* Thanks, I really needed that."

Usually, he wasn't one for doing kindnesses. If they decided to bother that punk, it was none of his business, it ended the moment he woke up here. But even for police dogs, they seemed agreeable. He could give them a helping hand.

"Oh, there is one thing. That good mister over there, whatever his name was... sounds to me like he's just an arrogant jerkass. Strong? Absolutely, but that little attitude of his that pisses me off so much, that little pompous show he put up there, it might just do the trick. After all, he did go out of his way to step on an ant, I guess weak or strong a brat is always a brat eh? Assuming you don't do something foolish like I did, it's risky but you could bait him. You might just put him between a rock and a hard place. Mhhh, I wonder..."


Vanguard

"Do I look like a clown to you? On second thought, don't answer that. You might just live longer." He said calmly. Taking a few heavy steps, he stood against a wall and chuckled.

"Months of hard, meticulous work. A base I had taken such care and love into refining for my ends, all lost. How tragic, isn't that right? Mister Garbage Collector..." He said, but despite the context Vanguard did not seemed troubled by this at all. In fact, he seemed oddly content with it, unnervingly so.

[Aiden]

Medaka

A thought popped into Medaka's head as she watched Ron and Shinobu interact.  Ron has a girlfriend.  She had thought about it before but somehow she forgot in the heat of the moment.  Her "learning" had gotten out of hand.

The young vampire walked over to Ron.  She wrapped her self around his arm, her massive boobs encapsulating his arms.  "Perhaps its not very wise to stay with a girl that threatens to shoot you."  Medaka commented.  Then, she leaned in and whispered in his ear.  "Im sorry. I got carried away.  But it was fun right? She added, somewhat curious as to his response.

Shinobu

A giggle escaped the blonde as she saw what her prodigy was up too. It was sudden but she seemed genuinly amused by it. "Are you afraid something is going to happen to these?" A hand slid down his chest down to his groin as the blonde vampire grabbed hold of his balls. She made sure to only apply gentle pressure as she rolled them around in her hand. She looked at Medaka while her hand continued it's motion. "Maybe he enjoys the treatment. Some people do."

Ron

And, there went his hesitation again. He whispered back. "Yeah, it was." Of course, Shinobu heard every bit of it because she was insufferable like that. What followed made Ron twitch a bit, and let all out kinds of embarrassing sounds as he tried to get his composure back there. "W-Well, uh, I wouldn't call myself a masochist exactly."

Then he shook his head and tried to take a step back. It didn't work of course, because both vampires were still holding on. These are the kind of women my mother warned me about. Damn it, maybe I am a little masochistic.

[yinsukin]

Relius Clover

Rellius was leaning over a table in the center of the lab, looking at some sort of paper.  He turned his head to face the doll, a his lips stretching into an amused grin.

This event has occurred earlier than projected...

“Oh.  I see you have become acquainted with Willam.  Either that or I must locate a new facility to hold meetings.”  He joked in a polite, almost detached tone.  It was pretty clear that he was expecting this at some point. 

[Kotomine_Rin]

Vanguard

"Indeed. Although even garbage such as him does have uses, I must thank you for having brought him to my doorstep." He answered in good humor, but with a bitter tinge of regret.

However, his words had no veil or deceit to them, strangest of all was the fact he was truly thanking the scientist. His tone, even if typical of one on the losing side, was not any less joking or detached. The two were no different than a pair of old friends, exchanging casual banter.

The man of metal shrugged and held his hand out, as if to tell him to stop for a second.

"You might want to be careful though. I don't know what you are scheming or where does that boy fall into things, but it is a dangerous game you're playing. Still, if you had the skills..."

For a second, Vanguard chuckled angrily, bitterly, and stepped forward, walking calmly around the scientist, observing him. It was no different than a vulture observing prey. Perhaps he had waited a little too long, it was time to start putting the cards into place. If he waited any longer, a castle and precious opportunities would not be the only things he'd lose.

Foul, too foul for his liking. He shrugged and resumed his speech, but the irritation overcame the calmness, even if slightly.

"I did expect someone to eventually break it. Nothing lasts forever, and the defenses were only mundane. Anyone could have taken the castle if he so wished for it, as long as the drive was there. Is it truly so impressive if the result was determined from the start? I still live, nothing has changed. Things are moving exactly as they are meant to, castle or no castle. How abhorrent."

[Aiden]

Auspicious Breeze

What.

Wow. Okay, that was something. Her arm was stinging a bit, and her hand felt like it had been kinda crushed. Breeze winced at her own defeat after staring at her hand a bit. "I uh... I don't normally have this problem," she told them sheepishly while rubbing the back of her head with the other hand. "You're really really strong, Sakura! I guess that means you win."

She'd been looking forward to that dessert, too. She tried not to slump over it.

[Aiden]

HospitNoel

Noel sighed. "Unfortunately, the police force here is just like any other. Some good, some bad, some competent, some incompetent."

She then opened the door to the squad car, and motioned for them to get in the back.

Gadreel

"That is, indeed, unfortunate. At least they can say they have you there to assist them." He inclined his head to Noel for more than simply the necessity of looking down at someone lacking in height compared to himself, and made to enter the vehicle. Unfortunately his own height made this a very uncomfortable experience, and he ultimately had to bend his head and fold his legs up somewhat.

[yinsukin]

Medaka Kurokami

"Oh definitely.  You can see it on his face."  She said with a mischievous smile.  With a swift motion, she sidestepped behind him and jumped on his back, hooking her legs around his waist. Turning her attention back to Shinobu, her face grew more serious as she softly stroked Ron's furry shoulders.  "When I met you before, you were talking to Theodore.  Did anything in particular stand out?"  She asked in a more business like tone.

She needed information.  In order to figure out where he is, she would have to understand all of the resources she had available.  Of course, there was also the spiritual connections to consider. 

Relius Clover

It was interesting to observe the warrior’s emotional state stabilize as he appeared to come to terms with whatever mistake he made prior to his arrival in the lab.  He listened to the creature’s words, retorting only within his own mind.

Thank me?  So he did get his information from Hightower. 

He stepped away from the table, rolling up the paper and placing it in his cape.  Relius took a few steps forward, an almost calculated grace in his step.  The distance between them closed, if only slightly, with Vanguard still in the corner of the room by the staircase and Relius at the edge of the table in the center.

He watched as the doll circled him, listening intently as he related his own experience to his ‘advice’.  “That's awfully kind of you Vanguard, to give me such heartfelt words of wisdom.”  He said sarcastically.  Then, his smile faded a bit as he recalled his own encounter.  “He conquered a castle?  Tell me, what happened.  I believe it would be pragmatic to compare notes."

[Kotomine_Rin]

Vanguard

Vanguard scoffed at the ridiculousness of it all.

"Hmph. Why waste my breath telling you, when I can just show you?" He answered coarsely, far beyond hiding derision. He believed he would have been wiser than that, but this proved that he did not bother to watch over him. Or perhaps he couldn't. Of course, it could all be an elaborate bluff, but something about Relius's look told him otherwise.

More importantly, two metal fingers stroked his forehead, and a bright blue light emerged from the contact. In that moment, millions of sensory images assaulted Relius's mind, the collective memories of his encounter displayed so clearly, so boldly through his soul that it seemed like it was actually happening.

Of course, it was just a little trick, a mere tugging of the link between the two akin to telepathy. It truly wasn't that impressive.

[Aiden]

Petra

"Confiscating from dealers is a given, I don't think I should be present when you are collecting donations. I'm a law enforcer after all, not a volunteer for such enterprises." In a veiled language, she suggested that he should illegally gather whatever arms he could supply without her direct presence and involvement. "When and where we should meet for the start of the operation?"

Liam

Well, she were definitely the corrupt type of cop as of right now. Whether that was the sorta thing a corpse like Liam could damn her for in God's name or not was still up in the air. He nodded to her. "Give me two hours, meet up 'bout where we did before. I'll have a bit o' the good stuff ready. I'm tellin' ya, Petra, this is gonna work out just fine."

And indeed, he had every intention of making it work out fine. He was gonna go get a nice baseball bat for himself, and then Liam was gonna shake down some of them hooligans with the shotguns he knew lived in adjacent streets opposite the one they were gonna hit. It was as simple as ordering the punks to give them to him, and soon he'd gone through the neighborhood and come back with a couple tote bags full of pistols, shotguns, and ammunition. He had close to a half dozen of each and quite a few rounds and shells to work with there. None of the folk remembered he'd done it, of course, because he'd made that slip right out of their heads.

He was gonna have to grab a bite later.

[Kat]

Petra

The not-so-lawful cop patrolled the district until it was time to meet Liam again. The patrol was uneventful but she realized that it could be a silence before the storm.

As she didn't want to be late, she arrived about 15 minutes before the time. Soon, Liam arrived toting bags that looked pretty heavy. "Yeah, it worked out just fine. I guess I owe you a favor. Do you fly solo or have any subordinates? I'm pretty low on the totem pole in the force, but if any of them gets into trouble, I could arrange more lenient treatment."

She honestly didn't see anything wrong about striking deals with criminals if that in the end did more good than brought harm.

[yinsukin]

Relius Clover

The light caused a massive amount of sensory data to flow into the confines of Relius’s mind.  The huge influx of data causes his mind to be somewhat disoriented as he tried to sort it out.  After a moment or so, he managed to organize the information.

Relius frowned.  “So this is his power, a sort of darkness magic.  So then he was a mage rather than a telepath…”  He trailed off as he spoke aloud and got off of the table. The scientist walked to a computer at the edge of the room.


“Go to the table.  I require more data.”  He said, clearly in a state of focus.

[Umbra of Chaos]

Paladin

Ah, working marriages. It was always such a wonderful thing for Paladin to hear about. While it was true that all marriages were legal under the rule of Stribog that rarely guaranteed happiness, even for those who fled other lands simply to be with their beloved. It did his heart good to know that such people weren't always separated in the Nexus.

He was about to speak up once more when a man approached them with a quick question. "Well, we are on the lookout for suspicious activity. I've encountered a beast in this area before and slew it with some aid, but I do not think that the malicious presence here has faded. Do you live around here? Any information would be incredibly useful in this endeavor."


Oren

A fierce growl escaped the Lycan as the change in style unbalanced her for a moment, and she had a few shallow cuts to show for it. Backpedaling, Oren retreated to the edge of the roof before falling right off. She slammed a hand into the building to form a handhold before swinging herself straight through a window.

Glass shattered as she hurtled herself through the abandoned house, and using her copied movement techniques to their maximum capacity as she ran through the building. The other girl had to give up eventually, right?


Lucy

"Alrighty, master. But shouldn't I be dressed up just how you'd like me first? Unless you don't want people to know I'm one of yours?" She shrugged her shoulders in an almost carefree manner as two Messengers sat on her shoulders and played with her hair. This seemed like it could be quite fun.

[Aiden]

Liam

He placed the bags down on the pavement and started opening one of them. "Mostly I do my own legwork. I just know how to make make the locals more peaceable and cooperative, takes a little persuadin'. Some of them know there's profit in doing jobs for me."

Liam pulled one of the shotguns out. "Take a gander here. Really take the whole thing, but this one's a gift for ya, Petra."