International Defenders: Midsummer Gathering(IC)

[Rohane Alista]

“Did you two just seriously propose assassination as a first option? We're supposed to be heroes. We capture people so they can face the justice system, we don't just dole out death,” George sputtered out, actually looking up from his computer. “No one ever said this was an assassination, either! We don't even know what she supposedly did! And killing people is not exactly something I'm comfortable with doing,” he finished.

“I'd also think insulting the capabilities of someone you've known for ten minutes is probably a little rash,” he continued, this time looking at Tobias specifically. “Plus you probably underestimate Malgravean experience with technology in general. They're pretty damn good, you know. Almost as good as Rohanians.”

With that said George returned to his game, content to sit and wait for lunch right where he was… provided there weren't any more violent outbursts.

[Legokiller]

Defender’s Mansion

Brass Sage listen closely to Junghwa and nodded. ” A soldier of god? There aren’t any clear holy symbols or any signs of her capable to use Celestial Magic at first site, but she may surprise me.” In the lands of Silverdale and the rest of the region of Mystria, the presence of gods is real, and the people could receive divine favor to use celestial magic.
She wasn’t sure what god Junghwa referred to.

Brass Sage stared down at the man, confused on what on Earth just happened? For moment, the conference room transformed into Congresspony Fillybuster’s outrageous speech where even the regale sisters from Camelot and the Heavens can hear it. Why in the world Alexander decided it would be the best time to throw these claims? Paranoid. After the blast of outrage moment, Brass Sage adjusted her posture and calmly breathed in.

“Well then, I supposed in a few moments that it will be an excellent time for a tour through the real interior of the base. I sure you that the home we’re in is only a facade to cover a far more protected facility. “Brass Sage coughed to hide her disgust. “Which… I must disagree with the assassination plan. If such dirty work was needed, we would never gather here today to discuss former President LuvGood. She… She’s a demonic demigod sorceress and can sense such impending dangers.”

Brass Sage sighed deeply, as if the fact was painful to state. “Please don’t get the wrong idea. A person with demonic heritage, while raise some suspicion and distrust, is protected by our constitution where all sapient beings have the same equal rights. Same with demons living in Silverdale, which I know a few. Even then, former President LuvGood went beyond simply being a friendly demon who a strong leader who intervened in Valla to save my people from a violent civil war and take refugees to Silverdale in excellent acceptance program. Not to mention, protecting civil rights of every citizen, promote Silverdalean values, and see Silveredaleans reach the stars.

At the same time, she pardoned and kept her sisters’ criminal activity and dark rituals from the public eye. Said sisters are demigods themselves, and all boost formidable power to rule over far more demonic creatures and other dark beings to serve their binding. They’re known as the Dark Mothers, and from my gathering of intel, have been responsible of a variably of heist of magical artifacts, assassination, demonic incidents in the region. What I believe is that they’re planning for something big, and the key evidence we need is from one of their allies in Silver City.”

When Alexander asked who the hell names their kid Fluffykins, Brass Sage chuckled a little. "Ponies usually name their foals after punny and cute names sir, hence the name Fluffykins."

[New United States of Columbia]

Tobias looked annoyed at George. He wanted to like the man but clearly he never experienced corruption in the legal system or probably refused to believe it was possible.
“And, pray tell, what do we do when the legal system, the lawyers, the cops, the judges are corrupt and the jury is apathetic? Let the bastards go to prison where they can escape or live fat and happy off the taxpayers dime?”
He returned his attention to the Brass Sage and after she finished speaking he came to one conclusion: She clearly never experienced the Magic and Dark Forces he had when he was with The Company.
“Rights for all sapient beings and you never mention a draft. By God that can’t fail!” he said with the single biggest heaping of annoyance he could muster. He stood up as he said this, casually sauntering over to the window, ignoring any outcries from his “comrades in arms”. After thinking for a few moments he decided he should unpack, heading for the door. He opened it and was about to step out when he realized something.
If I bring anything in and the Sage disagrees with what I have... Crap.
He turned and looked at her.
Damnit. Fine. I’ll placate her for now.
“I’d argue I need all the things in there but...”
He took a deep breath and swallowed his pride.
“I’d like you to come with me to make sure I didn’t bring anything ‘illegal’ or 'overly dangerous' with me, Madame Sage."

As the two humans walked to man’s car, he pondered their assignment.
“So, if killing Cynthia is off the table, what’ll we do? Lock her up in your underground base?”
He couldn’t believe he just said that. He subscribed to the saying of ’If it bleeds, we can kill it'.
“Anyways... mind telling me a bit more about her sisters, the ‘Dark Mothers’? My gut’s telling me we’ll be running into them on our mission to hunt down Cynthia.”
He stopped suddenly as if he just remember something very important.
“If we’re fighting demons and devils, should I get silver bullets or silver crucifixes? Know any arms and religious shops that sells those?”

Arriving at the car, Tobias opened the trunk of the car and began to remove dozens of various items: Several gallons of water, a box of MRE’s (Month’s worth), Special Forces quality hiking boots, a throwing knife set, a sheathed K-Bar knife, dozens of Military Surplus Field Manuals, and more. As he was doing this he looked over at the Brass Sage and gestured to the backseat.
“Feel for the handle on the bottom cushion and pull up, would ya?”
As she did so she’d discover The Last Roman had cut out the bottom of the backseat cushions to squeeze in a modified AR-15 and dozens of preloaded magazines. On the floor of the backseat were more boxes of MRE’s and various long term packaged survival foods. Doing the same up front revealed a concealed 9mm Uzi with extra pre loaded magazines as well as a sharpened Gurkha knife. On the floor was a small military first aid bag and opening the glove compartment revealed a smaller Red Cross first aid kit along with a copy of the NATO Emergency War Surgery manual and Army Special Forces Medical Handbook. As the ebony woman brought these items to Alexander he gave a knowing smile.
“He who fails to prepare prepares to fail.” He remarked as he set down a large duffle bag likely filled with more goods and items his paranoid mind figured was “enough” for one car. He looked down at the large pile before them.
“This’ll probably take a trip or two..."

[Dyste]

The Silver Dragoon finished her meal while the Brass Sage explained a bit more about the Dark Mothers. What she told them filled her heart with a righteous fury, "It is quite understandable to give equal rights to demons. As a matter of fact, it would be wrong to oppress them just for being different; I have dragon's blood, does that make me part monster? No, your birth does not make you evil, it is your deeds that stain your soul with darkness! That makes Cynthia and her sisters' evil deed all the more heinous! They are giving a bad name to their brethren! At the same time, if she is indeed a demigoddess, simply shooting her would likely do nothing to her. Clearly we must think outside the box for this one... but perhaps we should indeed start with this intel your ally has gotten us. It is a start, at least."

The armored warrior stood up, posing on her chair, "A tour, you say? Well, I can view the mansion in my own unique way! Besides, I must deal with a few matters of my own before I meet up with you again... I must bid you all adieu for now, my allies! Like a soaring dragon, I depart for the skies!" She jumped upwards, and made her way to the nearest exit in the shadows.

As this was happening (and the sounds of her armor could still be heard clanging around), another mansion servant arrived to clear up the plates. She was a young half-elf woman with green eyes behind glasses, with medium-length brown hair. She wore a black vest and pants with a white shirt, with a bow tie around her neck. "Oh, h-hello," she spoke with a rather quiet, nervous tone, "I'm Ellie, one of the new staff members here. I hope you enjoyed the food, we work hard to make sure you get the best care. We shall begin the tour shortly, so please finish up any preparations you have before then." She gave a bow, still feeling a bit uneasy after all the yelling she had heard from this room.

[A m e n r i a]

Junghwa sighed. "If that swashbuckler thinks shooting a demon won't work, clearly she has never heard of silver bullets. The Black Widow has killed a fair number of demons with such bullets. Alright then, shall we?"

[Malgrave]

Erika pouted in response to Alexander's rather rude comments on her hacking abilities and the assumption made about her approach to future missions, the small neko was rather proud of the years that she had spent studying electronics with the Pioneers, the Free Democratic Youth, and the ever-present Ancestral Study Organisation, and of course her national educational system and she wasn't going to allow some foreigner to imply that she had some sort of Imerian attitude towards technology.

"Comrade," Erika said pausing momentarily to eat and allow herself to calm down, "You are quite mistaken if you believe that I simply seek to passively hack into a system, and do nothing when they attempt to track down my location or counter my work. I have quite a bit of experience hacking into quite advanced security systems, and well of course for future missions we'd also have the benefit of planning," she said slightly purring in content as she continued to eat her meal, it looked like the chefs hired by the mansion certainly knew how to cook food suitable for Malgraveans, "I also have the benefit of speed, and well being a Malgravean I also have the guidance of the ancestors."

Erika continued to lightly purr as she ate her food and listened to the rest of the conversation play out, the neko certainly agreed that killing the Former President without a trial was certainly unacceptable and she nodded in agreement with George, plus his defence of her comments was rather sweet.

"Comrade George is correct," Erika said, "You can't go around acting like a judge, firing squad and burial unit! It's a surefire way to end up on the run from the legitimate authorities, and well I can't exactly continue my work in the research colony if I am a wanted neko. You also must also have a rather dim view of the judicial system and law enforcement agencies if you think that they can be convinced to commit a treasonous act," she said, of course in Malgrave the level of intense scrutiny by the intelligence service and government and non-government transparency agencies made it virtually impossible to bribe a law enforcement official or a member of the judiciary.

As the conversation moved forward Erika once again returned to her food, the Malgravean wasn't that familiar with dealing with demons and assorted non-human threats, and so she let Alexander and Silver Dragoon discuss the particular details of that operation, of course, that changed as the Silver Dragoon had to leave the room to conduct some rather noisy chores in another part of the mansion, and she found herself introduced to an incredibly cute and shy maid.

"Hello, Ellie," Rosario said smiling as she got up and bowed in greeting towards the half-elf, "I am Erika Montagna or Celeritas," she said before giving the maid a rather uncharacteristic hug, "...sorry but you are just so cute and adorable it's rather hard not to give out free hugs." the neko added blushing as she removed herself, although she made an internal note to check if any of the maids were related.

[New Dornalia]

Things had...gotten a bit interesting since La Caballera had last spoken. The former ERIS operative was usually pretty good about keeping up with situations of all sorts. After all, The Farm taught people how to be aware of their surroundings, how to remember things, so on and so forth--the usual spy skills. That being said, it was obvious that there was a lot of ideas which had been tossed about and transpired. Especially the revelation that former President LuvGood had shielded what Brass Sage as describing as being a cabal of literally demonic gangsters, even as she was someone who did a lot of public good. The revelations made La Caballera more than a bit bothered--but not entirely surprised. After all, life had a lot of little grey areas, and there was something to be said about the duality of the sapient mind. Demons, humans, Hylians, catgirls....people had both good and bad sides. It's just that in this case, the badness had gone beyond the pale.

Of course, any further comment was soon distracted by Alexander and Junghwa's plan to effectively assassinate LuvGood. La Caballera was more than a bit divided on it, actually. Part of her wanted to side with Alex and Junghwa. LuvGood had evidently betrayed the public trust, using it to shield a potentially dangerous cabal whose mechanization threatened the security of SIlverdale--hell, maybe even the whole of Mystria and beyond. Her training had taught her that the smallest things could snowball into situations beyond anyone's control, and it was fairly obvious that this LuvGood needed to be neutralized. Repeatedly. With 7.62mm NATO shots. Hell, she'd even take Junghwa up on those silver bullets. She'd sprinkle them with holy water first though.

However, her initial rage and thinking processes aside, La Caballera's training also reminded her about why she had suggested the long route in the first place. Hearts and minds wasn't just a slogan after all. George and Erika had excellent points--kill LuvGood now, and the people would want to kill the Defenders. Big time. Also, LuvGood had evidently won a lot of public favor through her protections for civil rights and other popular measures. So, that would definitely militate against just going after LuvGood then and there with guns blazing. Besides, Brass Sage had shot down the proposals at any rate to kill LuvGood then and there, and she was the boss.

So, with that, La Caballera acknowledged everyone's points after her meal with a calm cough and a surprisingly reasoned (even if it looked like she was doing her damnedest to keep focused on the rational course of action, not the course of action Frank Castle would have approved of), "Well, given what I just heard and what Brass Sage brought up...and the fact there's a no-kill order in place for now...I think what we need to do is to find a way to expose the fact LuvGood is protecting what is clearly a secretive cabal of magical criminals whose actions are going to likely get a lot of people killed, harmed, or demonically possessed in a bad way. So, how do we catch LuvGood in the act? I mean, we do have a computer expert here, if LuvGood's got a digital trail or anything we can access on the internet--" the last part was said, looking at Erika and subtly joining in Erika and George's rebukes of Alexander.

Before she could say anything further about her take on the situation, La Caballera turned and saw Ellie coming in, just as The Silver Dragoon had stepped out and Erika decided to engage in what the Dornies would call a "glomp"--the term used for sudden displays of hugging. La Caballera thanked Ellie, and said, "Sorry about the shouting, Ellie. Sometimes...debate can get a little heated." She also couldn't help but find the whole scene adorable, as well.

[Rohane Alista]

George ate his meal quickly and silently. He'd had enough arguing with the dangerous psychopaths on the room, though he was glad to discover at least the Malgravean seemed to have a cooler head. In fact, she interested him quite a lot. If he remembered correctly she'd mentioned being a scientist right as he entered the room. Perhaps she'd like to talk about their careers?

Otherwise, however, George felt he needed to do something important, sobering he'd been putting off that couldn't be delayed any longer.

“Well it seems we're done for the day, so I'll leave you all to your own plans,” he stated to no one in particular before stepping out of the room behind Ellie. He quickly flashed himself to his room, dropping off his computer gear and changing into a loose fitting t-shirt and lightweight shorts. When finished he proceeded to wander the halls, looking for a gym, or a training room, or at least a treadmill.

After a short search he found a training room perfect for his needs. Basic workout gear, from treadmills to punching bags to weights were available, allowing anyone to train however they needed, at least at a basic level. George quickly approached a treadmill set it to a medium-low speed, and got jogging.

His master plan included more than just jogging to build stamina, though. As he got into a comfortable peace he introduced the real endurance training- hitting the punching bag via his teleport while maintaining an even peace. It was, to say the least, very difficult. Teleporting already required a good bit of concentration, which was all the easier to lose when tired from travel and exercise and focusing on keeping his feet underneath him, but George persisted.

As time passed he grew more and more confident. After half an hour he was hitting the bag as hard as he could, which was not very hard at all, and not losing a step. Until he tripped over his own feet, went sprawling, and forgot to move his hands back to catch himself. The impact was luckily not that hard, but it ejected him right off the treadmill. “Right, well. That's enough of that, I guess,” the man said to himself, turning off the treadmill and preparing to leave the gym.

[Legokiller]

Defender’s Mansion

In her civilian identity, business meetings like this would have all the attendants stay there from start to finish. Only an urge emergency would bring someone out of it. But as Brass Sage, she couldn't help it but watch how unprofessional people simply leave and go out when the conference wasn’t even finish. Brass Sage wondered for a moment on how in the world does the superheroes in the cartoon shows do this work professionally. However, there is still work to be done.

“Silver Dragoon is correct. Not only does Cynthia could sense our murderous intention, an assassination would bring a lot more trouble from the nation than it’s worth. Without evidence of her wrongdoing and put her on trial to answer to her crimes, and possible other horrors, our lives will be dangerous and pursued by other heroes. The White Heart Duo, two famous magical girls of the nation, would be one superhero team that may investigate and purse us.” Brass Sage said. She wasn’t willing for that to happen as she was aware of the sweet but “working girl” attitude.

Given a few people planned to leave and Tobias wanted to show Brass Sage something important, there was one magic trick she had on her sleeves. After all, the Last Roman had trouble comprehending the magical world of Silverdale. “As we’re facing magical threats, I shall guide and give pointers on how to handle them. I do specialize the art of summoning, but I also have a few tricks.” She snapped her hand to call forth an eldritch silver bracer with a red ruby on it, which teleported right in her hand. When the Brass Sage pressed the red button, another Brass Sage appeared out of thin air!

Brass Sage Two nodded at Tobias. “I’ll accompanied you until our finish here is done.” As the clone, who shared the same awareness as the original, went out of the room, the maids returned! All with the requested orders as they passed the beverages and food out to each member. Brass Sage took a sip of Silverdalean brew peppermint tea before she continued onwards.

“As for our lead suspect who knows the inside of the Dark Mother’s plan and my informant reported that she would be meeting a high ranking ally in Silver City. Our suspect, Voidstar or simply known as Darkness.” She coughed as the name sounded a little cheesy. “Yes, she called her super villain identity Darkness. Now she is a Lich whom caused previous incidents across the country. This includes a defilement of a national heritage site named Pinefell Castle to be her crypt and caused a local zombie outbreak. A Lich a tad tricky to completely destroy if the phylactery isn’t destroyed as well, but it should be a nice bargaining tool. Thankfully our informant also reported that such item is at the locale of the Nightclub at the wharf. I believe the Dark Mothers and their ally might have taken the phylactery to achieve an exchange for a magical item, which I’m not sure, but let’s be cautious. We expect there to be mortal henchmen to demons and undead afoot in this place. If we catch Darkness, we will have an idea of what the Dark Mothers are up to, and can gather any information of the exchange, history, and any planned location to get them red handed.”

When the suggestion of the classic Silver bullets is brought up to the Brass Sage, she nodded. “Yes indeed. This nation isn’t called Silverdale for nothing. My informant, Detective Spyglass, has a stock of such silver bullets and other items that can be used for firearms.” Brass Sage crossed her arms as she moved on to the subject of the base’s wares. “I myself conjure up magical weapons, but my summons is far more effective at that field.”

When Silver Dragoon left the scene, and in her place, came Ellie the newcomer maid, Brass Sage quickly noticed she was new around here and knew who she really was. “Aaah Miss Devorae, I believe we’re almost at the stage to begin the tour. I hope everything is prepared down in the base.” She winked at Ellie.

---

Outside

“As I said in the conference room, attempt to bring her to justice and put her on trial for the crimes she committed Tobias. Although I fear there may be more horrific deeds committed as my sources got into dangerous waters for classified dossiers.” Brass Sage frowned. “Although I do have my own conspiracy theories on them, which everyone needs to know. I prefer that to be explained with the team, so no one is left in the dark. However, I will mention each one of them specialized in different unholy powers. Cynthia uses an array of dark sorcery. The other sister is an anti-paladin who has brute strength and wields heavy weapons like greatswords to firearms. The other is in between the two.”

Brass Sage’s clone winked as she smiled as the task of holy symbols were easy to obtain. “The local churches do have silver icons of their faith, and weapon and magical stories do have silver bullets. However, there is anti-demon rounds that can be a bit expensive and my hopeful answer to this problem is Detective Spyglass’ wares. He should lend in a hand with such ammunitions. Free of charge of course.”

After she examine the entire contents of the car and the arsenal stored inside, Brass Sage got curious. “So, I assume you travel across country and the globe Tobias? I imagine this would last our first mission and have room to spare for the next.”

[A m e n r i a]

Yoo Junghwa polished her rifle and made sure her silver bullets are right where she needed them. From her bag, she produced a crucifix and wore it. She tapped her own forehead, then shoulders and began to pray. After that, she was prepared. Her rifle is ready, and so are her mind and body. She remained quiet after her preparations, observing her would-be allies and waiting for the leader to give orders.

[Dyste]

Ellie was shocked but also impressed with Brass Sage's cloning technique. She knew it would be a boon for keeping a secret identity intact, she could have one go as her civilian identity while the other did crime fighting, though she didn't know the exact specifications for how it worked. Perhaps she could figure out how is worked someday, though this did also mean that she knew that if she saw someone that looked a lot like the Sage she couldn't discount it even if she was in the same room as the heroine. At least it wasn't as bad as that thing with clones Spider-Bold had to deal with...

Any more musings were put to a halt by the sudden huggles she got from Eirika, causing her to nearly drop the plates in shock by the sudden affection. Thankfully another maid managed to help her get the plates, giving her a chance to pet the neko's ears, "Um, th-thanks... it's nice to meet you too. I... heard your thing is super speed? That's a really cool power, would make my job much easier to be sure. Hard to be the best maid when you have a cute penguin and a robot to compete with, after all." She would make a note to be assigned to clean Eirika's room at the base to give them a chance to hang out more.

She turned around and saw Amelia apologizing to her about the noise, "Oh, um... it's alright. La Caballera, right? I expected it to get noisy in here, and while I have these big ears making me sensitive to these sorta things, you get used to it. Besides, you probably have sensitive kitty ears yourself, and you're closer to this than I was."

True enough, even with her talking to the nekos, she was still able to hear her boss calling her, causing her to rush up to the Brass Sage and give her a bow before answering, "My Lady, everything is going smoothly. We are ready to accept people in the base whenever they are ready. I will be at hand to assist in any means necessary." She adjusted her glasses, having been make askew by Eirika's glomp; she knew that the Sage knew who she was, but for the time being she didn't believe anyone else had figured it out, which was good. Not that she mistrusted them, but she only just met them, and she knew how the loss of a secret identity could affect heroes.

[New United States of Columbia]

Defender’s Mansion

Alex rolled his eyes, getting more and more fed up with their cheery idealism and naivety. Surely they had opened their eyes and removed the scales from them.
“Look, I trust your legal system as much as I trust mine and that is not much at all. I’d kill all the corrupt judges and cops before handing one drug dealer, murderer, hitman, or gang member over to them. If you want me on the team, know this: I kill evil people no matter their station or excuses. I don’t play nice with them.”
He looked down at the main door as some random elf chick in a maid outfit strode by.
“Time to get to work.”

Outside Defender’s Mansion
In response to some of her comments, Tobias snorted in derision.
“Bet she can’t sense a .357 magnum round coming at her from two miles away.”
As he said that he did a mental head count. The ammo would last him perhaps one mission. Two if they were quick and he didn’t need to shoot them too often. Kinda removed the fun but helped when he didn’t need to expend lots of rounds, shells, and explosives.
“One or two missions. Gonna need to find more rounds and materials. Or find some way to bring them in from overseas...”

Defender’s Mansion

Once his room was set up, having sufficient booby traps planned and making sure he locked it down as much as he could (locking the door, testing the alarm, and ‘blacking out’ the windows), he returned to the conference room only to notice the giant armored chick was missing.
“Where’d pyro girl go?” He asked aloud to no one in particular as he took his seat and waited for the briefing.

Sniper Rifle or a Light Machine Gun like the M60 for Sage there, gonna need a .50 Barret Sniper Rifle for Callabera, definetly explosives or a lot of armor piercing rounds for Dragoon, George has not proven to be a threat yet, make a small scale E.M.P. for Elektra before finishing her with either my Gladius or a decent 9mm...

[Legokiller]

Defender’s Mansion

Good grief, this man could be a bane in the Brass Sage’s rear if not left checked. She trusted the court system well enough, but she did needed solid proof and stories to make the best case. While Darkness is a villain and a dangerous lich, she can serve as a witness in the Dark Mother’s trial. That if her phylactery item is still in check. But there was another problem with the Dark Mothers that Brass Sage hasn’t decrypter the truth about…

“Understand.” Brass Sage looked back at the elf maiden. “ Ah yes, about the tour-”

The loud speaker of the Aegis interrupted the conference as an urge message was announced.

“Incoming Call from Spyglass.”

A small smart speaker box popped out from a secret compartment in the conference table as a hoarse voice spoke up. “Hate to interrupt Brass Sage, but I’m in a dire pickle as of late.”

“What’s the trouble Spyglass?”

“The cat’s out of the bag miss. Darkness found out about my latest snoopings, and now sent her greatest skeleton rock band with her demonic friends.” A blast of a unbearable bam jammed up the signal between the phone and the Aegis. “M-meet me at my office quick! I need help now!”

“Fear not my friend, I gathered our allies and we’ll be there asap!” Brass Sage looked a the other heroes. “I expected our enemy is the infamous Soulmusic band who uses their magical istruimists to disrupt and unleash terrible sonic attacks. Darkness is very fond of them. In fact, they used to be the Shining Force band until a tragic break up that was lead up by a mysterious killer that killed them. Ever since Darkness tomb raided and raised their bodies, they lost most of any resmineces of their former past lives and unleash dreadful performances with no regard for the living. The best we could do for them is put them at rest.”

“Now our tour will be quick, but we’re heading out to the underground hangar bay. Don’t worry, there is a small garage opening at the barn for your vehicles to go in and be carried inside of the plane. Now, please stay seated.” Brass Sage asked as Lila stood beside her master.

“Computer activate 25150, Password: By the light of the stars, guide us across the savanna.”

“Access granted.”

The hero team noticed the entire conference table and chairs around an oval shape started to sink down underground . Like something out of an amusement park, the elevated floor continue until a mechanical lock closed the floor with an summons of the missing furniture return as if nothing happened. As it descended further down, a clearing of an entire luxurious yet militarized command center bunker was visible. It was completed with strange magical gizmos that is difficult to understand without the knowledge of the arcane arts. However, there was an obvious battle ready android that wielded a long bladed sword, and a classic large cobblestone rock golem that patrolled the local room.

“Welcome Back Master Brass Sage.” The Aegis spoked as highlights lead to a concrete reinforced steel hallway towards a massive old grand door. An engrave redwood wood that was fine crafted with flora silver patterns, and arcane enscripture of old Silverdale runes.

“This path way shall lead us my family’s dimensional doorway, created by an old mage a century ago.” Brass Sage explained.”This would take us anywhere in mainland Silverdale at a pitch, and meet with Spyglass’ location. Lila, please set coordinates to Silver City.”

“Understood.” Lila bowed as she began to input numbers to activate the door to open into the city itself.

---

Back outside, the Brass Sage clone began to fade as the duration of the magical spell withered away due to the distance of the original. The barn seemed to open up a secret ramp inside for a car to slip inside and close without anyone notice. “I see… Well, your supplies will come in handy about this time Last Roman. Please take drive your vehicle and take easy turns within the base. We’re departing now to face skeletal minions of our enemies.”

With that last sentence, the Brass Sage duplicate poofed into smoke as it vanishes into thin air. There was a job to do for our rather big grumpy anti-hero! At least it would do so after he set up a booby trap in his own aside room. Surely that won’t trigger anything bad while our heroes were away. Of course, one plucky penguin maid tried to tempt fate as she tried to help make sure Tobias’ room is clean and neat...

[A m e n r i a]

With a quick nod of her head, Junghwa followed her leader closely. She was grateful the first enemies she had to face in this mission were undead. She would have no remorse in killing them. Not that she ever had such problems with living targets after what happened in the Third World War. She did, however, slightly regret not bringing her motorcycle with her to this universe. It certainly would help.

[New Dornalia]

Defender’s Mansion

In her civilian identity, business meetings like this would have all the attendants stay there from start to finish. Only an urge emergency would bring someone out of it. But as Brass Sage, she couldn't help it but watch how unprofessional people simply leave and go out when the conference wasn’t even finish. Brass Sage wondered for a moment on how in the world does the superheroes in the cartoon shows do this work professionally. However, there is still work to be done.

“Silver Dragoon is correct. Not only does Cynthia could sense our murderous intention, an assassination would bring a lot more trouble from the nation than it’s worth. Without evidence of her wrongdoing and put her on trial to answer to her crimes, and possible other horrors, our lives will be dangerous and pursued by other heroes. The White Heart Duo, two famous magical girls of the nation, would be one superhero team that may investigate and purse us.” Brass Sage said. She wasn’t willing for that to happen as she was aware of the sweet but “working girl” attitude.

Given a few people planned to leave and Tobias wanted to show Brass Sage something important, there was one magic trick she had on her sleeves. After all, the Last Roman had trouble comprehending the magical world of Silverdale. “As we’re facing magical threats, I shall guide and give pointers on how to handle them. I do specialize the art of summoning, but I also have a few tricks.” She snapped her hand to call forth an eldritch silver bracer with a red ruby on it, which teleported right in her hand. When the Brass Sage pressed the red button, another Brass Sage appeared out of thin air!

Brass Sage Two nodded at Tobias. “I’ll accompanied you until our finish here is done.” As the clone, who shared the same awareness as the original, went out of the room, the maids returned! All with the requested orders as they passed the beverages and food out to each member. Brass Sage took a sip of Silverdalean brew peppermint tea before she continued onwards.

“As for our lead suspect who knows the inside of the Dark Mother’s plan and my informant reported that she would be meeting a high ranking ally in Silver City. Our suspect, Voidstar or simply known as Darkness.” She coughed as the name sounded a little cheesy. “Yes, she called her super villain identity Darkness. Now she is a Lich whom caused previous incidents across the country. This includes a defilement of a national heritage site named Pinefell Castle to be her crypt and caused a local zombie outbreak. A Lich a tad tricky to completely destroy if the phylactery isn’t destroyed as well, but it should be a nice bargaining tool. Thankfully our informant also reported that such item is at the locale of the Nightclub at the wharf. I believe the Dark Mothers and their ally might have taken the phylactery to achieve an exchange for a magical item, which I’m not sure, but let’s be cautious. We expect there to be mortal henchmen to demons and undead afoot in this place. If we catch Darkness, we will have an idea of what the Dark Mothers are up to, and can gather any information of the exchange, history, and any planned location to get them red handed.”

When the suggestion of the classic Silver bullets is brought up to the Brass Sage, she nodded. “Yes indeed. This nation isn’t called Silverdale for nothing. My informant, Detective Spyglass, has a stock of such silver bullets and other items that can be used for firearms.” Brass Sage crossed her arms as she moved on to the subject of the base’s wares. “I myself conjure up magical weapons, but my summons is far more effective at that field.”

When Silver Dragoon left the scene, and in her place, came Ellie the newcomer maid, Brass Sage quickly noticed she was new around here and knew who she really was. “Aaah Miss Devorae, I believe we’re almost at the stage to begin the tour. I hope everything is prepared down in the base.” She winked at Ellie.

---

Outside

“As I said in the conference room, attempt to bring her to justice and put her on trial for the crimes she committed Tobias. Although I fear there may be more horrific deeds committed as my sources got into dangerous waters for classified dossiers.” Brass Sage frowned. “Although I do have my own conspiracy theories on them, which everyone needs to know. I prefer that to be explained with the team, so no one is left in the dark. However, I will mention each one of them specialized in different unholy powers. Cynthia uses an array of dark sorcery. The other sister is an anti-paladin who has brute strength and wields heavy weapons like greatswords to firearms. The other is in between the two.”

Brass Sage’s clone winked as she smiled as the task of holy symbols were easy to obtain. “The local churches do have silver icons of their faith, and weapon and magical stories do have silver bullets. However, there is anti-demon rounds that can be a bit expensive and my hopeful answer to this problem is Detective Spyglass’ wares. He should lend in a hand with such ammunitions. Free of charge of course.”

After she examine the entire contents of the car and the arsenal stored inside, Brass Sage got curious. “So, I assume you travel across country and the globe Tobias? I imagine this would last our first mission and have room to spare for the next.”

Defender’s Mansion

Good grief, this man could be a bane in the Brass Sage’s rear if not left checked. She trusted the court system well enough, but she did needed solid proof and stories to make the best case. While Darkness is a villain and a dangerous lich, she can serve as a witness in the Dark Mother’s trial. That if her phylactery item is still in check. But there was another problem with the Dark Mothers that Brass Sage hasn’t decrypter the truth about…

“Understand.” Brass Sage looked back at the elf maiden. “ Ah yes, about the tour-”

The loud speaker of the Aegis interrupted the conference as an urge message was announced.

“Incoming Call from Spyglass.”

A small smart speaker box popped out from a secret compartment in the conference table as a hoarse voice spoke up. “Hate to interrupt Brass Sage, but I’m in a dire pickle as of late.”

“What’s the trouble Spyglass?”

“The cat’s out of the bag miss. Darkness found out about my latest snoopings, and now sent her greatest skeleton rock band with her demonic friends.” A blast of a unbearable bam jammed up the signal between the phone and the Aegis. “M-meet me at my office quick! I need help now!”

“Fear not my friend, I gathered our allies and we’ll be there asap!” Brass Sage looked a the other heroes. “I expected our enemy is the infamous Soulmusic band who uses their magical istruimists to disrupt and unleash terrible sonic attacks. Darkness is very fond of them. In fact, they used to be the Shining Force band until a tragic break up that was lead up by a mysterious killer that killed them. Ever since Darkness tomb raided and raised their bodies, they lost most of any resmineces of their former past lives and unleash dreadful performances with no regard for the living. The best we could do for them is put them at rest.”

“Now our tour will be quick, but we’re heading out to the underground hangar bay. Don’t worry, there is a small garage opening at the barn for your vehicles to go in and be carried inside of the plane. Now, please stay seated.” Brass Sage asked as Lila stood beside her master.

“Computer activate 25150, Password: By the light of the stars, guide us across the savanna.”

“Access granted.”

The hero team noticed the entire conference table and chairs around an oval shape started to sink down ungoundard. Like something out of an amusement park, the elevated floor continue until a mechanical lock closed the floor with an summons of the missing furniture return as if nothing happened. As it descended further down, a clearing of an entire luxurious yet militarized command center bunker was visible. It was completed with strange magical gizmos that is difficult to understand without the knowledge of the arcane arts. However, there was an obvious battle ready android that wielded a long bladed sword, and a classic large cobblestone rock golem that patrolled the local room.

“Welcome Back Master Brass Sage.” The Aegis spoked as highlights lead to a concrete reinforced steel hallway towards a massive old grand door. An engrave redwood wood that was fine crafted with flora silver patterns, and arcane enscripture of old Silverdale runes.

“This path way shall lead us my family’s dimensional doorway, created by an old mage a century ago.” Brass Sage explained.”This would take us anywhere in mainland Silverdale at a pitch, and meet with Spyglass’ location. Lila, please set coordinates to Silver City.”

“Understood.” Lila bowed as she began to input numbers to activate the door to open into the city itself.

---

Back outside, the Brass Sage clone began to fade as the duration of the magical spell withered away due to the distance of the original. The barn seemed to open up a secret ramp inside for a car to slip inside and close without anyone notice. “I see… Well, your supplies will come in handy about this time Last Roman. Please take drive your vehicle and take easy turns within the base. We’re departing now to face skeletal minions of our enemies.”

With that last sentence, the Brass Sage duplicate poofed into smoke as it vanishes into thin air. There was a job to do for our rather big grumpy anti-hero! At least it would do so after he set up a booby trap in his own aside room. Surely that won’t trigger anything bad while our heroes were away. Of course, one plucky penguin maid tried to tempt fate as she tried to help make sure Tobias’ room is clean and neat...

La Caballera was finally glad to be getting some action. She was keeping busy taking in the events and making assessments of her fellow International Defenders--so far the Last Roman, having gone outside with a clone of Brass Sage, was proving to be quite loud and belligerent generally, and the others were pretty good. The new maid Ellie certainly seemed to be a surprise, but La Caballera did wonder where she came from.

At any rate, La Caballera rummaged around her bag of tricks, and acquired some gear for the mission ahead. She had a feeling that silver bullets would be required, given the nature of the enemy they were facing. La Caballera’s expertise was in battling human monsters that exploited the weak--not undead rock bands that launched sonic attacks on behalf of a lich. She’d need help with the magical aspect of things, down the line.

La Caballera made a note to speak to Detective Spyglass--assuming he’d live through the attack he was undergoing at the moment. She also cursed herself privately for not bringing a vehicle, given the garage. However, this was really more out of a momentary envy soon corrected by common sense. After all, she did not miss having a vehicle--she was after all raised in Luxembourgia and fought crime there, and so didn’t really require one in the dense urban confines of the Habs.

Wargear readied, La Caballera hoped she would be able to make some sort of difference. The key would be snatching the phylactery, so as to induce compliance and bring Darkness to trial, not to kill her. How to do that was her main thought, as she wondered if a phylactery needed any special handling protocols.

[Dyste]

Ellie was about to start the tour when the speaker came on, causing the poor half-elf maid to jump once more in shock. "S-sorry, I'm still getting used to that..." she listened as they talked about an undead rock band. "O-oh my... that sounds horrifying. But I have faith that you all can stop it! I wish I could help you, but... I'm not a warrior of anything..." she slunk back in fear, hoping not to get in the way.

As the team went down into the base, they had some time to looked around before another figure landed next to them; it was the Silver Dragoon, appearing from who-knows-where, but evidently finding her way into the underground base. "My apologies for my earlier departure, but there were some matters I had to attend to. But when I heard about these maestros of mayhem, I knew it was my job in order to cancel their tour! The Silver Dragoon is ready! For! BATTLE!" has she was she posed with her spear dramatically.

"So you say we're using a teleportation device to get there, hm? A brilliant stratagem if I ever saw one; one of the greatest downfalls of a superhero is when they are unable to get to a location in game, like failing to save their loved ones from a trap or stopping a bomb from blowing up a hospital! But with this, we shall be able to get to the action quicker than you could by merely flying or driving there! Comrades, we must not falter in our duty to stop the chaos of the cacophonous chorus that awaits us!"

[New United States of Columbia]

Defender’s Mansion

---

Just as he was thinking of what potential weakness’ his ‘friends/teammates’ had (Having already determined a rocket launcher damaging or destroying her armor would leave Silver Dragoon defenseless) he heard an alarm go off. By instinct his hand rapidly reached for his pistol as his eyes immediately eyed the windows. Soon he heard the Brass Sage speaking with someone named Spyglass. He listened. An undead rockband? What were these “villains” smoking?
“Why did I agree to this looney toons bullshit?” He cursed to himself as he returned his hand to his pocket.
He kept listening (despite very much not wanting to) and learned they could be a real threat due to their sonic “weaponry”. He’d admit at least that made them a threat, a dangerous one too, though he doubted Brass Sage or the others would understand. He heard the radio and read the websites about sonic weapon attacks in various third world nations. Devilish stuff, a silent weapon that can not only screw with one’s hearing but damage the brain and organs of the body. He looked down at his pistol.
“Fuck capture. Kill on sight.” He said to himself.

He remained seated as the conference room table was taken underground. He smirked as he saw the magical objects and artifacts but he mostly was grinning at the waste of a battle android. It had been 500+ years since the development of blackpowder firearms with perfections of ammunition, smokeless powder, rate of fire, and portability. He kept the Gladius as a handy way of fighting in close combat. Unless this android had some tricks up it’s metal arms he denounced it’d last five seconds. Especially against sonic weapons.
“Well, Miss Sage,” Tobias began as he finished listening to her mention the garage and teleportation room “have you considered our plan of attack? I’m no expert of magic or darkness but I’d suggest sticking to higher ground. Might help us catch the bastards unaware and, if this undead thing is true, allow us to shoot ‘em in the head and kill ‘em instantly.”
As he said this he eyed her up and down, coldly analyzing her. He didn’t trust her. Not one bit. There was more to this than she was letting on. Only those committed to evil and ruination practiced magic, from his experience in New York and New Orleans. He had better find a way to get better weapons in this strange foreign land and quick. His rifle and Uzi would be no match against a sorceress like her...

A SMAW or M82 Barrett would do just fine though.

[A m e n r i a]

"You're on the right track there." Junghwa said. "Sonic attacks have a wide area of effect and it's best to use ranged weapons against them. I have the Black Widow. I suggest you use a sniper rifle or something else with a long range. Oh, and don't get in my way."

[New Dornalia]

La Caballera couldn't help but notice the return of the Dragoon. She smiled at the Dragoon's antics, with their dialogue straight out of a Golden/Silver Age comic book and an optimistic tone. She had been that way once--before she moved back to the neighborhood. Before the wars she waged against crime. She could only say to the Dragoon, "Of course, but bear in mind, we're going to have to do a lot of fighting I think once we get there. These magic musicians sound like trouble." She then muttered to herself, "What I wouldn't give for a Sierra India device about now..." as she looked out into space.

Of course, the talk of Junghwa and The Last Roman's strategy broke her concentration. She understood what they were getting at. It should be easy enough to shoot these demons in the head to deal with them from a distance, especially if the game was to try and stop these guys before they killed an ally and murdered innocent people. Were they normal humans, or even sapients with flesh and blood, she'd be all over sniping at them until they weren't a threat anymore. Civilians needed to be defended, and justice demanded these thugs be brought to justice.

Still, while they had a point, La Caballera's own experience and her training with the Company--not to mention the fact Junghwa and the Last Roman's delivery of a perfectly good idea....wasn't the most professional--lead her to ask an important question. Had anyone bothered to ask about whether these skellingtons had any particular vulnerability they should keep in mind. After all, Dornalians always had a feeling that if the supernatural had their druthers, nothing would affect them.

It'd be something to ask Spyglass. Or maybe even Brass Sage? Walking up to Sage, Caballera asked their fearless leader, "Do you know anything about this Soulmusic group? Are they known to have any particular weaknesses?"

Also, where did George go? Caballera wondered, with more than a little worry, if perhaps he hadn't been scared off....

[Malgrave]

OOC: apologies for the wait for this post but :work:

Erika coughed and moved backwards with a deep blush on her face, as a Malgravean she still wasn’t used to outward displays of public affection with relatively strange people but she couldn’t help but feel as if the recent arrival was somewhat familiar, although she guessed that they could have crossed paths in the airport without noticing each other? In any case she was impressed that the staff members of the mansion new specific details about her powers, although considering the strange email she received when she was invited to join the organisation she had to guess that Brass Sage had some form of intelligence service that could gather information on powered and non-powered individuals across the world.

“...I guess you could call it super speed,” Erika said with a cough, once again in true Malgravean fashion the neko had struggled to think of a name for her new gift, “I just wonder how useful it will be during our future missions.”

Alex’s interruption found Erika blinking in disbelief, certainly, the situation in his homeland was dire if members of the judicial system were so liable to corruption, “I don’t know how your country operates but my homeland has a competent anti-corruption agency. It would be quite impossible for any member of the government to take a corrupt payment so I am confident that anyone brought before the courts would receive a fair trial.”

After that Erika made a note to listen to the impromptu mission report given to the rest of the team by Brass Sage. It appeared that her earlier theory about the Sliverdalean having access to some sort of intelligence network was correct, and one of these individuals had gotten himself into a bit of trouble while investigating a villain named Darkness.

“An undead band that utilises their old instruments to unleash sonic attacks upon their victims?” Erika said to nobody in particular, “It sounds rather eccentric but those sonic weapons could have a rather disastrous impact on people, especially if they are not expecting to get attacked by a sonic weapon.”

Erika’s eyebrows rose at the mention of an underground facility, especially since she didn’t think that every member of the recently assembled squad was here. If she remembered correctly the Rohanian team member had left a few moments ago due to some poor communication over the actual length of the first meeting, and the rather non-planned nature of the emergency call just made by Spyglass. It would be rather unfortunate if George ended up missing the first mission because he was relaxing in his room, and so the Malgravean neko quickly sped out of the room in search for the Rohanian.

Of course as Erika was gifted with the power of superspeed it didn't take long for her to get into her supersuit, race around the mansion and find the Rohanian in question, apparently, he thought it was fitting to test out his recently acquired teleportation skills on the equipment in one of the training rooms, something Erika had thought about doing after the successful conclusion of the introductory meeting, although she hoped to the ancestors that her neko traits would ensure that she wouldn't lose her balance and trip over her own feet.

"George?" Erika said somewhat hesitantly, she had the feeling that the two would get on rather well due to their somewhat similar career paths but she was rather unsure on how the Rohanian would act to being spotted falling off a treadmill, "When you left we received a message from an individual named Spyglass," the Malgravean said not highlighting the rather obvious codename for the Silverdalean agent, "Apparently he was gathering information on a villain called Darkness and managed to draw the attention of his target, now he claims that his location is being attacked by a group of undead that utilises sonic weaponry. In short, you'll need to report back to the conference room because that table you saw earlier? It's a lift and it's going down towards an underground base."

In normal circumstances, Erika would've waited for George's responses but she didn't want to end up missing the elevator herself and so once again she utilised her superspeed and returned to the conference room and the surprise elevator, with only a few seconds passing since the machine had started moving downwards.

"So how long did it take to construct this underground bunker?" Erika said in an attempt to avoid her recent usage of her powers, "I imagine it must have been hard to keep its construction silent as well."

[Rohane Alista]

“Oh no,” George thought and said simultaneously, staring at the air where Erika had been moments before. Someone had seen perhaps his most embarrassing moment of his recent life, and he was apparently missing some kind of super secret first mission, which he was sure would go swimmingly with the absolute lack of teamwork so far displayed.

Sighing, he walked to his room, taking the time to rest his body and stretch out slightly, grabbed a bandana he had brought along, and teleported into the meeting room. He focused on the table, since he’d thought he’d heard Erika mention it as a secret elevator, and went. His jump was accurate, perhaps more so than he would’ve wished, as he dropped from half a foot up onto the top of the table, winding him. “I thought this was supposed to be an elevator…” he grunted out, picking himself up and looking around, coming quickly to the realization he was quite a lot higher off the floor than he should’ve been, and also rapidly approaching it.

“Ah shit,” he said mostly to himself. “Ok, I guess it really is an elevator, but I’m on the wrong side. Let’s see if this works…” As he finished, he tried something that always left him feeling nauseous- jumping a certain distance, instead of to a specific location. Down about 2 feet should do it, he thought to himself, crouching low and tight ‘for safety’s sake’, and going.

The jump itself was successful. George ended up a few feet down and in the elevator. Unfortunately, he was in midair, not on the floor, and gravity decided to remind him he wasn’t capable of flying by pulling him crashing down. Luckily for him, his landing was padded by the much less fortunate Ellie, crushing her before he could react.

“Oh no, are you ok?” George asked her, rolling off and trying to help her to her feet. He had no clue who this maid was, but he still felt bad about managing to abruptly turn her into a landing pad. “Please tell me you’re not hurt.”

[Legokiller]

Defender’s Mansion

“As you’re aware, Soulmusic is after Spyglass in the daylight of Silver City. Our current objective is to intercept the skeletal band and save our informat Spyglass, as they have made chase for him. I must remind you all that Silver City is the largest metropolitan region of the country, so we must proceed with caution as civilians will be intertwined in this battle. The best chance for a setup in a position from a high rise building for long range, while half of us will confront the band directly and hold them in a single area. “ Brass Sage explained gleefully as if they’re students of hers.

However there was someone missing, and that would be George who… Well, he went off someone where in the mansion as the meeting about their threat seemed to be uninteresting? Was Brass Sage too dry on that explanation. You be the one to decided! “Ahem, Lila please tell Pearl to look for George-”

Like on cue, Eirika decided to go to get George and BAM, he teleported back into the conference! “Welcome back George. We’re about to head out about now, and…” Brass Sage quickly gave him a brief overview as Lila set the coordinates. “Now, I suggest you keep an eye out for an silver Earth Pony in a trench coat, a spyglass cutiemark, a black vest with a blue tie, and wearing a Fedora. That will be Spyglass.”

When everything was said and done, there was no time to lose! As blue and other mystic arcane energy fuel up the door with Lila gave the group a thumbs up. “Now there is no time to lose!“

When the door open, the heroes can see a metropolis with shining silver buildings and glasswork. Of the great ancient civilizations of the ancient Cherialans to the golden herd, to all the colorful styles and modern day architecture was reachable at this every moment. They can hear the crowds and buzzing traffic with… the cries of terror and mass accidents as the rocking song of despair boomed across the street!

From the gleaming white buildings ahead from the interception of the lavish and green park, the group can see a modern taxi car being chased by a punk rock skeleton riding a flying levitation rock and a skull theme white van. It was heading right at the team and fast! The panicked crowd of ponies and other beings desperately tried to dodge the manythem of the now traffic jam, and booming metal guitar tones that shatters the glass and left a large dented marks on vehicles.
“Alright team, let’s follow the plan!” Brass Sage advised. “Which I’ll do one small quick summon to aid us.” She said as she prepares a spell to summon a valuable ally.

[Dyste]

Before Ellie was able to leave, she found a Rohanian on top of her! "ACK!" she yelped as George landed on her. "C'mon, really..." she rolled out, seemingly not much worse for wear from the sudden landing. "Oh, my back... ouch..." she hobbled a bit, but it seemed a little forced. "Try being a bit careful next time, alright? Ugh, I might have to lie down after this..." thankfully for her she had to get going anyways.

When the Silver Dragoon reappeared, she overheard the plan, taking in all the details. "If I may suggest something... we should make sure not to solely save Spyglass, but also make sure to be on the lookout for civilians in peril. Avoiding catching them in the crossfire is a good start, but helping them evacuate would help improve our chances to minimize casualties. Based on our powersets, I would say those of us with more mobility-based powersets," pointing to George and Eirika, and also thinking of herself, "Would be among the ones focused on this alongside saving Spyglass. That would allow the more offense-focused among us to focus their efforts on stopping Soulmusic." The Silver Dragoon did put a high value on tactics, knowing from her comics that poor team management could lead to disaster.

[A m e n r i a]

Things were starting to heat up. Lila opened what would be called a "warp gate" in Junghwa's world. She didn't know the exact name of it in this world, but she assumed it works similarly. She looked at her comrades and nodded, as if saying "let's go". She calmly stepped outside the door, cocking the Black Widow.

She stood at a vantage point before kneeling and aiming for Soulmusic's lead guitarist. Not bothering to look behind her, she started giving orders. "Silver Dragoon is right. George, Erika, get down there and assist Dragoon in the rescue. I'll be your eyes in the sky. Make sure we have as little casualties as we can. I suppose you can be trusted not to fight like amateurs. Well, good luck." Just as she said her last remark, a glowing, yellowish circle with strange symbols and Latin words and numerals appeared around the barrel of the Black Widow. She pulled the trigger, releasing a blessed bullet which she hoped would pierce her target's skull and result in a one-shot kill.

[New United States of Columbia]

While he wasn’t particularly fond of his team, he was a bit relieved to see George had come back. He chuckled a bit seeing him comically land on the Silver Dragoon and apologetically help her back up. Upon seeing the magical door open and seeing the metropolis before them, Alexander had already decided, orders or no, that “rock band” had to be permanently canceled. Upon sighting the van he yelled “VICTORIA AUT MORTE!” Before taking aim at the windshield of the levitating van and firing off several 5.56mm rounds. Seeing it heading straight for them he then gave a shout to hit the deck and leapt out of the way. It zoomed past them.