Scene #4919: The Contrary Contraptions

Owner	Pose
Wo	The Watch: It had all started with good intentions. An advance team of explorers and archaeologists had been prowling through the disjointed ruins that appear, every so often, on the fringes of this region known as the Quilt. Ostensibly, to those that sign the permits and accept the bribes to look the other way, this was a science team on a mission of discovery. In reality, the Watch really does have eyes everywhere, and small detachments like this are often on the forefront of discovering promising sites to operate out of, and also searching out dangerous artifacts that need to be secured, or even more commonly, destroyed or sealed. It's an exciting side of things, but also an understandably dangerous one, especially for those Watch members that may not be Elites, themselves. This was one of those cases that had turned dangerous, and in fact, lethal. A seemingly inert and ancient ruin, whether through accident or pre-programming, had come alive during what was otherwise a routine sweep of the location. Now, as the emergency reports state, strange clockwork beasts have emerged either from deep storage, or are actively being produced, and overwhelmed a couple of the team members before they could escape. The fear is that if the situation is left as it is, what is still a fairly localized problem will become one for the immediate area. Though it would be easy to avoid the blame, the Watch does its best to clean up its own messes. Whether tasked directly, or having volunteered, the job is simple. Get to the bottom of where the automatons are coming from, and stop it. The League: Watch-affiliated individuals are far from the only ones poking around ancient sites where they aren't welcome. Nor were they the only ones that have affiliates that had discovered this particular ruin. It had been a risk, but a treasure hunter had managed to deactivate a few of the mechanical creatures and obtain what appears to be samples of their 'animating substance' and clockwork innards. Of course, alone, these damaged goods wouldn't be of much use, but perhaps enough curiosity is piqued by those with a different approach, whether to come gather more, to investigate, or perhaps turn a profit gathering more of the potentially valuable materials. Besides, it's an ancient ruin; there's bound to be other kinds of treasure in there, right? And clockwork faces that need smashing? The Location: Set into an artificially expanded valley within craggy mountains, the ruins site is full of weathered, stone columns and monuments, as well as what were once foot paths but have long since become overgrown. It seems that this was a courtyard, of sorts, and there is also evidence of landscaping by whatever culture once claimed this site as their own, though little other evidence as to its purpose. Curiously, some of the carving away from the mountains seems incredibly fresh, and upon approach it would become immediately obvious as to why. Large earthmoving contraptions, with rotary drill heads, seem to have been reactivated and returned to their own excavations, belching alternating clouds of soot and steam from towering smokestacks. Smaller automatons appear to be groundskeeping, for what it's worth, tending to shrubs and wild plants that had sprouted around the old monuments and grounds. A large set of sliding doors, jammed ajar, can also be seen leading further into what must be quite the complex.
Corona Arclite	And the League in turn passed along this discovery to its members that specialized in clockworks, steampunk and other such archaic technologies. One of which is a certain grey furred fox woman whom was now here to investigate. Or smash. Or shoot. In order to investigate. Because in her line of work Corona has little issue with breaking something like this to figure out how it works in the first place. Though right now she was keeping her fair distance, having stopped at the end of the approach and now watching the earthmovers trudge about through a pair of brass greebled binoculars. From here it was hard to tell if they were actually deciding where to work or just following some long preprogrammed operation. Honestly, she really only cares about the automatrons personally. But business is business, and if she finds some treasure for the League on the side, hey, bonus. But even her adventureous spirit isn't keen on wandering in alone.
Celes Chere	Already waiting nearby the entrance to the complex (as close as it's safe to gather), having arrived a bit earlier, Celes is more or less Terra's eyes on this situation, and that suits her just fine. She's no expert thi-- treasure hunter, but she knows a thing or two about ruins and dungeons, while having the skillset to explore them in relative safety. Her blade of choice today is Save the Queen, a long shining silver blade with an ornate hilt, already out of its sheath just in case. She's avoided antagonizing the currently busy robots outside, those handling landscaping and drilling really don't need to be messed with unless they attack first. She's just waiting to see who else shows up at this point, Watch or otherwise.
Staren	Several minutes ago: Staren just happens to arrive a little early. And from the edge of the valley, he can see that the constructs are hard at work building... something. The question now is, will those drills be turned on /him/ if he approaches, or are these programmed only for digging? If only he had a safe way to test from afar... Staren looks at the rock wall of the valley, and pulls a spraycan from his bag... Now: The rock golem approaches one of the construction machines. It is a rough humanoid shape that looks almost like it was cookie-cut out of the rock -- the lower legs and upper body are thicker so that it can stand and walk on wide, flat-bottomed feet, though. A tiny camera is glued to the center of its 'face'. "Hello there!" Staren's voice comes from a tiny speaker in the camera. "Can you understand me? Do you respond to language?" Staren watches from a distance, wearing some sort of high-tech glasses with an optical zoom function.
Staren	Next to Staren is a cookie-cutter-like depression in the side of the valley, of course.
Lima Ultimos	Corona may care about the science, and Staren probably does too, but there's a Marauder from RAID here too, and he only has one thing in mind, besides making sure the job succeeds: loot. Due to the fact that this is a ruin, Lima Ultimos is present without his ship and his crew, having skydived without a parachute into the mountain and tumbled off with only the lightest of wounds. The ship itself is somewhere nearby, waiting to pick him up for after the mission (it didn't come in for a landing because of the terrain and machines). Fully armed, the undead pirate sees what Staren is doing, and gets curious. So he decides to follow the rock golem himself. "Yarr, giant robot! Do ye know what's going on here?"
Genji Shimada	Even with the situation having already gone bad, having a stealth specialist on hand is never a poor idea. Moreso a stealth specialist who's still capable of dealing with hostile clockworks. How Genji himself managed to get here is a question that will regrettably be left unanswered. The fact of the matter is, he's here now - Celes will have several long moments of watching for any other Watch members, before a voice calmly speaks up behind her, "That is a very fine blade." He's polite enough to wait for any startled reactions to die down before adding, "Is there word from any others that may be coming?"
Deelel	So here the Watch was looking for an out of the way place. Deelel was clad in the clothing more befitting ot meat space but it still came down to looking pretty tech and portions of it having glowing circuit lines not to mention it looked like she may have such lines all over her body from the ones on her exposed arm. she seems in a a good mood as she leaned on a light staff for a moment as he came up on Celes. 5R "Celes? That's sword has some impressive artistry to it." Deelel is grinning and in a good mood. She's unaware that two of her cloest friends are elsewhere in the ruins nor any idea that Staren and Corona have joined the League. "Just as I was saying Genji, it is, also I think you'd give ... the legendary TRON a run for his money, if he's still alive."
Yuna Kagurazaka	While Yuna's been hoping to keep her ties to the Watch under some semblance of cover, the emergency message about the clockwork automata starting to attack explorers in these ruins overrides any reluctance she might have; people are in danger, and that's really all Yuna needs to know before volunteering her services. Fortunately, the days since the Upheaval have given her the chance to personally regain contact with other planets that are important to her, and as a result, the full Matrix of Light is assembled once more - figuratively speaking, anyway; they won't 'assemble' in a more literal sense on this mission, as far as Yuna can predict. As the Mike-maru-go touches down near the valley, Yuna looks over her shoulder and calls out, "Jiina, Marina, stay with the cruiser for now. Elner, Erina, you're with me - I might need Flight Form, but we'll find out once we're inside." Acknowledgements come from all three androids, two of them remaining in their human guises; Erina of the Sky reverts to her purple-and-white armored combat form, and as Yuna exits the cruiser in her Light Suit, Erina flies along above her, with the little robo-faerie Elner flitting behind both of them. Yuna wastes no further time heading for the entrance to the ruins, calling out brief greetings in passing to the handful of people she recognizes. She's not armed yet, but that can change in a hurry if anything comes out and starts attacking. "Elner, start map scans," Yuna adds. "I want to be able to find our way back out of the ruins without having to remember which way we came." "On it," the robo-faerie replies. If nothing actively gets in their way, Yuna's heading straight into the ruins without more than casual greetings to her friends ... she's worried about whomever might be stuck inside.
Wo	From a distance, the hulks, easily a match in size of dump trucks from more modern worlds, are quite intent on following their assigned role. They appear, to the trained eye, to be following a plan set out for them long ago; the beginnings of another tunnel similar to the one with the double doors. However, there is just enough flexibility in the strategy they choose, and reactions to the unexpected imperfections in the stone they encounter, to suggest that there is at least a rudimentary awareness of their work involved. They are completely absorbed in what they're doing, as well, enough that they don't seem to react to Staren's approach, or at least his proxy's. It's akin to watching a migratory bird casually going about their business between the pillar-like legs of an elephant. A voice, however, manages to stir what amounts to attention from them, and they momentarily abandon what they're doing to turn toward the sound, their inner steam powered mechanisms moving to idle as a series of clattering sounds can be heard from either. Some kind of ancient logic audibly falling into place, perhaps. The reaction is sadly not the conversation that hey may have hoped for, however, as without a word, both fire their boilers back up and begin to spin their industrial-grade cutting arms. This time it isn't to grind away solid rock, however, at least not the inert kind. Rather, one lowers it at the golem, while the other seems intent on making minced Lima Ultimos. They're large and powerfully built, straight to purpose order, but not particularly fast, also so. Essentially, while obviously capable of battle, it wasn't their original plan. For those that had been observing from a distance, or enjoying the relative tranquility, that action also seems to spread like a wave among the smaller, but still large canine-sized, groundskeeper units. Though they don't have anything quite as harrowing as enormous rotary drills, they're still equipped with an assortment of suitable, and sharp, tools: Shears, saws, trowels, and even smaller drills of their own, coming out of a vaguely crab-like and metallic carapace. There's at least a dozen of them, and now fully alert and given new purpose, they advance on anyone they can immediately detect, and lash out with their repurposed garden equipment. There's enough intelligence that they also don't simply rush in one easily destroyed column, instead spreading out and attempting to surround as they approach. Yuna's attempting to cut line, a few of them have noticed. It's then that they reveal a nasty, additional trick that they have, as a few of them split their shells open, in a burst of steam. This exposes more vulnerable inner workings, as well as curiously glowing segments, but also allows them to fire jolts of electricity up at her, as they try to stop her from reaching the entrance. That may not be possible, depending on her speed, but it's going to sting if they have any say in the matter!
Staren	Staren facepalms as he sees Lima walk up to the constructs. Aaand language did have a reaction he expected. "Fight. Protect the man next to you." Staren's commands to the golem come out of the speaker. It does so -- trying to get in the machine's way when it strikes at Lima, and striking back with its thick stone hands. The golem is made of stone, and despite the way it moves, is as difficult to damage as a still statue would be. But it's /fighting/ a machine made for destroying stone, and it is not a clever or fast fighter. It jabs with its hands, and attempts to step out of the way of blows not aimed at Lima, but its movements are not those of a skilled or experienced combatant. If Lima retreats, Staren will order the golem to try to lead the excavator away. Otherwise... he takes aim with his laser rifle and starts trying to blow the excavator apart from a distance. There will be others to capture in better condition.
Corona Arclite	Corona Arclite lowers her binoculars as Staren and Limos trying to make direct contact goes pretty much as one would expect. Points for trying, though. The contraptions do have some amount of basic, if limited, problem solving process. After all they are earthmovers, and one of the approaching bodies is made out of rock. Can't decide if that was silly or clever on Staren's part. That said, two obvious distractions make it a bit more practical for a smaller quicker fox to scamper a bit closer, staying out of the reach of their cutters even if they aren't particularly fast movers. Though in doing so she pulls out a couple of the tar grenades she keeps handy for such a situation, arming it and then lobbing them towards the constructs. Hopefully that'll gunk up it's locomotion enough for the others to either get past, or deal with the machines however they see fit.
Celes Chere	"Just these two," Celes answers Genji, as Yuna and Deelel arrive. With a glance towards the distant group trying to engage the machines in conversation, she adds: "The others aren't with us." Spoken calmly, almost in a whisper. It's best not to openly imply organization. For all intents and purposes the four Watch members are just adventurers meeting up to help people and dive into ruins. Nothing else. Machines turn hostile following others' meddling. Celes gives her allies what could pass as a plan, winged as it is. Rather than reply to Genji's comment on her sword, she'll let it do the speaking for her. She points the sword up, and a crack of thunder imbues the blade with obvious yellow electricity. Celes begins dashing towards the doors of the complex, slicing at any drone that gets in her way, but focusing largely on reaching the doors in one piece.
Genji Shimada	Genji sighs. "There is always someone who walks right up and pokes the sleeping bear." He looks Deelel's way, then Yuna's, giving both a brief nod; then he declares a simple, "I will scout ahead and find us a path of least resistance. It's what I'm good at. If you need any cover, say the word." In the next heartbeat, the scion of Shimada is suiting deed to word. He darts away from Celes in a blur of green motion, weaving his way swiftly among the groundskeepers - if he can do so in a manner that keeps him from being spotted by them, all the better. Darting from cover to cover, climbing up onto any available structures to take a 'high road', whatever's available. His main goal is to see where the enemy is thinnest, and call out the easy path to Celes and Deelel; but if he spies clockworks he can take out with the easy toss of a shuriken, he'll gladly do that.
Yuna Kagurazaka	- oh, THOSE are the automata that are attacking people. "Watch out!" Erina calls as she spots some of the automata opening up; Yuna glances over her shoulder - then yelps, "Shugoseiheki!!" and spins to face the opening machines, her kite shield materializing in a flash of light just in time to catch most of the electricity being launched in her direction. Most. Not all. "Ghghghghgh -- !!" Yuna staggers a little, half-inadvertently digging the kite shield's lower point into the ground as she fights to regain her balance; that helps ground out the rest of the electrical attack, and the blonde idol shakes her head to clear it. Her hair is a mess, but at least it's nothing that a brush and some patience can't set right. Once Yuna's recovered, she pulls out her beam pistol, sidestepping towards the door and keeping her guard up this time. She can at least fire a few blasts at the drones whose shells are still open, trying to blow away the exposed ... circuitry? clockwork? ... Whatever's exposed. Even if she's only disarming them of the electro-zappy dischargers, that's still useful. And it should help buy the other Watch agents the time to get to the door with her.
Lima Ultimos	Well, that is one rude construction machine, not even responding. Instead, it moves to dice Lima Ultimos and the golem in half. Except, Lima Ultimos reflexively realizes it's going to move to attack before it even finishes the first movements, and draws his sword. When those cutting arms come down, the pirate captain is moving to intercept them with Corpserot, his rotted, rusted cutlass, and attempt two things: one, he's attempting to deflect them. Two, he's attempting to /rot/ them, using Corpserot's innate corrosion ability to rust the blades away. Also, Lima Ultimos pushes the golem aside, if he gets the chance. "Get ye out of here, stone thing! I be taking care of this one, scienceboy!"
Wo	Remember the part about these things seeming to be purpose built? That also carries over to the brains they received, misdirection and a focus on what's obvious and in front of them being easily exploited by real sapients, in the case of both the large excavators and the more nimble groundskeepers. Also, though Staren's golem, and eventually Lima, are easy to pin the blame for awakening the automatons' aggressive tendencies, who can really say that they wouldn't have gone haywire eventually, anyway? They're ancient machines, after all -- and they look the part, with the silvery alloys and more bronzey accents both sporting a dense patina. The inner mechanisms, which are now exposed either through the groundskeepers' own actions, or that are being broken into by counter attacks, seem free of rust or significantly weathering, almost as though they were maintained before being sent out here. In any case, both earthmovers seem shortly attracted, whether by coincidence or machine heuristics, to the being of living stone. Their slow reaction speed keeps the game going for a few moments, before simple, two on one mathematics eventually wins out, and one of the grinders quite graphically begins ripping the golem apart, as easily as the stone it was animated from. Thank goodness that isn't a real person! Before it or its comrade can finish the job, however, Lima Ultimos intervenes, the strange weapon they were obviously not designed for quickly corroding away the metal cladding of their chassis, and beginning to damage the actual mechanisms inside. The distraction also allows an opening for Corona to maneuver close enough; though they were built for adverse conditions, and it doesn't stop them outright, a bit of likely knowledge on where to aim goes a long way, and their already slow reactions grind with fast-stuck gears and pistons. With that, Lima and Staren are relatively free to melt and blast the rest of the hulks apart. Or, just go on and leave them as they are. It doesn't look like the behemoths are going to be able to have much say in either scenario. While there are many of the groundskeepers, that seem to have keyed in mainly on the Watch members trying to make a break for the door, they individually aren't very powerful. They were made for garden work, after all, and though they'd doubtlessly be dangerous for the unprepared, or mundane, they're relatively easy to outrun and outgun. That doesn't mean it doesn't suck being poked and prodded with all manner of strange utility tools, though, and when they split their shells to unleash that static discharge, as they'd done to Yuna, it threatens to get even worse. Despite that, however, perhaps simply mowing through them and getting into the interior may be the better option. Or the foolish one. It remains to be seen! Regardless, the ones that survive slashing and shurikening still scamper after. Bloody persistent! Through the collective actions of all the automatons being attacked, and damaged, a few things become obvious about them. The first is that while they are mostly mechanical, there appears to be something more to them. The League members here for research would recognize one such feature; strange and flexible tubing courses around them, carrying a softly glowing fluid to every extremity. The samples that were brought by the associate were degraded, but this is the fresh stuff. It appears to be flowing to and from an internal assembly that has a crystalline matrix of some sort affixed into it, though once the chassis is shattered, it appears this crystal is quite fragile, as most are developing cracks and fissures.
Staren	Staren thinks it's likely that someone would have tried talking to one sooner or later, and it's better to poke the hornet's nest from /outside/ than /inside/. A drill cuts from the golem's shoulder to its opposite side -- what would be an instantly fatal wound on a human, for sure. As it is, it's just lost half of its combat ability... listening to his ally, Staren orders it to retreat (but not towards him) and lay down at the edge of the valley. It may no longer be suitable for battle, but it can be a test subject for experiments in golem repair. Staren does see Yuna, most obviously, flying around being chased by some of the robots, but he's focusing on the other fight for now. Yuna may be able to handle it, if not, there's always missiles. Staren intends to keep shooting the excavators until they're disabled. If he doesn't have to intercede in the other part of the fight, he'll then fly over to put some of that mysterious goop, and the pieces of broken crystal, in sample containers for later analysis. "Good work, Lima. Or do you prefer Ultimos?"
Wo	Whether having outrun the automatons, or outfought or outsmarted them, when stepping inside the ruins, it is like walking into another time. The time of whatever species once lived here, and then seemingly vanished in an eyeblink, considering the state things are found in. The long corridor branches into lots of other directions, which probably are best not followed too deeply, lest one become lost for hours without the equivalent of a 'You Are Here' map. Regardless, there are no bodies, or skeletons as would be more likely, yet all of the worldly possessions of the former occupants are still here. In some cases, there are even scenes like plates of cooked food set out onto tables, the edibles upon which are now piles of dust that waft away on the breeze of approach. If you can get past that 'this place is probably haunted' feeling, it really would be quite an awesome hideout, since it already has the furnishings and everything! Not to mention personal valuables, if that's more your thing. The fools didn't even bother taking their jewelry and other loose, easily pocketed baubles with them. But then you get to the two actual bodies that are here, and things take a turn toward (recent) tragedy. They're thankfully not mangled beyond recognition, and Watch members would recognize the two of them, braced inside one of the rooms and having apparently sought shelter there, as the two that had to be left behind when the advance team evacuated. The mechanical beings resposible aren't in the immediate vicinity, but deeper within the halls, the whole place sounds absolutely alive with machinery, and there are some gear works and gouts of steam that sound a lot closer. They likely aren't far off.
Corona Arclite	"And now we can move on!" Corona turns around to head farther into the ruins, only to pause as a group of people are already running for the doors, with more constructs in pursuit. "... Huh. Guess we're not the only ones being curious." Corona pulls out her hammer, using it to knock any of the annoying constructs out of her way as she wants to get into the actual ruins as well. Staren is already collecting samples. She wants to see what's inside that's such a big deal that there's an entire army of clockwork minions tending to the place even though it's for all appearances been left to fall to ruin.
Deelel	Deelel is hanging back to watch the strange goings on here though there's the ground keeper units but it seems if they can keep out of their way they shouldn't have too much trouble right? It's not needed to wreck things if they can somehow make use of the drones on the other hand Cels is moving out and she follows along but she does not seem to be moving to fight anything just yet, but she does keep her light staff at the ready. She'll deal with any of the hostile automated systems. "Thanks for the warning!" She calls back to Yuna and ya. She's pretty sure she's right that Genji is onthe level of the likes of TRON. She keeps moving and is trying to not make herself too noticed but the poor girl does give off light no matter what she /does/. Oh look they are getting chased okay playing nice is over, Deelel's staff powers up the tips with ah humm and she'll put them to use on any drones that get close.
Celes Chere	Persistent indeed. Even as Celes' blade cuts through metal and tears the smaller machines to pieces, pieces of them keep crawling after her, and there's too many to take care of all of them at once. The kind of spell that would do that would risk the integrity of the ruins, and they can't afford to cave the place in until they know what's causing these problems. Celes ends up on the receiving end of a number of prods and pokes, but continues running despite the electrocutions. She's used to pain, it'll take more than these small drones to slow her down. Still sucks, though! But the Watch does make it in, finally. Supplies, but no bodies. Celes will take a moment to look through the belongings left here and there to see if the last team had any time to map even a fraction of the area out. Can't hurt. Moments later, bodies hiding in a room, and the noise of machines ahead. "We'll likely face much stronger opposition in here than outside. The machines outside were handling labor. The ones in here might be designed for combat. Don't treat them lightly." Still, gotta move forward.
Genji Shimada	Genji calls the route out to Celes, Yuna and Deelel as the group moves, opting to take the high ground where he has better sight on the clockworks (and better aim, for that matter). Once he's led them to the ruins, he'll smoothly descend down to join the group... and then immediately dart ahead inside, with swift and silent steps. All of the trappings of long-dead occupants provide no more than passing interest for the shinobi... But the former Watch scouts are where he stops, if only briefly. "...a pity," he murmurs, before crouching over the bodies and murmuring something under his breath. "May you find peace in within Iris that sees all." He stands then, turning to look over his shoulder and give Celes a nod. "As much as I enjoy my old cartoons, we should stick together. We'll stand a better chance at taking care of them as a group. No heroics, for the moment."
Lima Ultimos	Once the golem is safe(ish) and the mechs are melted, Lima Ultimos just cheers, waving his blade into the air, before glancing towards Staren. "Lima Ultimos! But if ye have to be shortening it, either be fine! It be meaning 'limelast', like celebrities in the theatre! Now, I be going on ahead, but I be clearing ye a way while I be doing so, so poke whatever ye be wanting to poke at." And so, Lima Ultimos makes a mad dash towards the doors. Any machines that get in the way get stabbed at with Corpserot in a flurry of 'hit and run', especially in their weaponry. Hopefully, Lima Ultimos can make it to the Ruins before all the loot's collected.
Yuna Kagurazaka	Now that she's got her shield and a weapon equipped, Yuna stands her ground, giving the other Watch members some cover fire as they head for the doorway; after Deelel, Celes, and Genji have made it through the doors, Yuna falls back to join them, with Erina and Elner flitting in last. And there, while they're regrouping, Yuna goes ahead and combines with Erina; Flight Form may indeed be handy - and even if there isn't a need for the ability to fly, the pulse blasters which come with Flight Form could be more useful than the concentrated firepower of her other weapons. "Sticking together sounds like a really good plan to me," Yuna agrees once her 'preparations' are made. "How many people were on that expedition ..." She trails off, blanching a little as she looks at the two dead bodies, then bows her head and offers up her own brief, silent prayer for the two. Her resolve to see this mission through is all the stronger for it, though - to make sure nobody ELSE winds up killed by ancient automata. While Yuna is doing that, though, Elner flies over to scan the bodies more closely, trying to discern the likely cause of death. It's not a proper autopsy, but if there are really blatant injuries - impalement entry or exit wounds, blunt force trauma, thermal or chemical burns, things like that - then the robo-faerie can probably start narrowing down how any automata are armed to protect the ruins' interior against intruders.
Staren	Staren takes several seconds to give the defeated excavators a cursory examination. The cameras in his helmet record it all for later review, should they lose the chance to extract the constructs later. "Well... now that things look safe out here..." Oop, hey, there were other constructs too! Staren takes another quick look at a groundskeeper. "...Now that things are safe out here, we can investigate inside..." Aaand it has long, branching corridors. That's not a problem, Staren has devices /precisely/ for not getting lost, and now he's trying to catch up with Lima, "Hold on for just a few seconds, would ya?" and give him anti-getting-lost gear -- a pair of glasses to show where's been mapped, a tablet that can bend into a bracer to serve as a control computer, and a belt clip with an inertial navigator in it (should the computer be smashed, it does have a little screen of its own that points back to the entrance and gives a distance.) He doesn't have anything to say about dead bodies. They're dead, there's nothing to be done for them now. If he runs into Yuna or Deelel, he greets her with a smile, "Hey, good to see you're doing alright!" If he runs into Celes, it's more like "Oh, hi again, you here to check out these ruins too, huh?" And if he runs into Genji, it's more like... "Who are you?" He hasn't interacted with the ninja before.
Wo	After a while, all of the groundskeepers are either too badly damaged to continue, or...well, even more unusually, when those they were chasing actually make it to the door, they seem to give up. That makes another curiosity about them. Rather than simply mindlessly pursuing further into the ruins, they appear to respect their duty enough that they know that this isn't a job for them anymore. A few of the surviving and less critically damaged automatons go back to fixing up the courtyard, which seems it would be monumental task for ones not able to work tirelessly. Others either try to crawl off to small tunnels cut into the cliffsides that seem purpose built for them, and even drag the husks of their comrades behind them. None are fast enough to avoid Staren if he wants to take samples, but watch out for shocks of self defense! A couple of them also move to respond as Corona moves past, but the hammer provides plenty of extra elbow room. What that doesn't accomplish, Lima's Corpserot does, and soon even the remaining, relatively intact Groundskeepers are soon without the full complement of their normal tools. If they had faces to emote with, they would be wearing such downtrodden frowns at the moment. They live to work and work to serve, and now they can't even do that! The remaining ones begin scampering toward those same tunnels mentioned before, which must lead to maintenance areas deeper within the facility. Between that and what remains of the excavators, the path is finally, completely clear to move inside. Though the League members are somewhat behind the Watch's advance, they'd soon have eyes on the same situation as before, and set pieces of a life either cut short where they stood, or having simply vanished. There are no skeletons or other bodies, however, except those same two that had been found previously. They're long dead and gone, and Staren's assessment of them is precise. There are no identifying markings to them; as far as could be seen, they were just two people that got caught up in the wrong place at the wrong time, when this place came back to life. The hallways aren't so serpentine that they cannot be mapped, though it would still take some time and a good bit of walking. Elner's examinations would reveal a mix of electrical burns, indicating a souped up version of that electrical discharge that the groundskeepeers were capable of, and also numerous wounds that aren't quite like gunshots, but close enough. It seems there are several bruised puncture wounds, where metallic bolts entered. The fact that the weapons are obviously intent on injuring instead of cutting into cliffsides at least is a small mercy for how intact the bodies are. Lima Ultimos would find plenty to loot, really. While some of the jewelry and other valuable-looking knick-knacks are right out for the eye to see, there are also several crates that look as though they were designed to house keepsakes and such. Also possibly some money in the form of strange, octahedral coins, though with the multiverse being how it is, who knows if it's actually legal tender anywhere. Regardless, the containers are all made of much the same alloys as the automatons are, and they'd be just as easy to cut open. ... As the two parties appear on the cusp of convergence, any cooperation will soon be tested. Both hearing and any sort of short range radar would note the approach of several more automatons. As expected, as they round corners, they are much more built for battle than the ones before. Specifically, they are vaguely humanoid, with dense plating in otherwise vulnerable areas, and seem a lot more nimble. The main difference is that instead of legs, they're equipped with tank treads, affixed to a torso that is obviously, completely rotateable, given the maneuvering some of them seem capable of. A half dozen eventually appear, and they don't even ask questions, if they're indeed capable of it, instead beginning to open fire with what looks almost like gatling nail guns; and the t
Wo	As the two parties appear on the cusp of convergence, any cooperation will soon be tested. Both hearing and any sort of short range radar would note the approach of several more automatons. As expected, as they round corners, they are much more built for battle than the ones before. Specifically, they are vaguely humanoid, with dense plating in otherwise vulnerable areas, and seem a lot more nimble. The main difference is that instead of legs, they're equipped with tank treads, affixed to a torso that is obviously, completely rotateable, given the maneuvering some of them seem capable of. A half dozen eventually appear, and they don't even ask questions, if they're indeed capable of it, instead beginning to open fire with what looks almost like gatling nail guns; and the thin, metal projectiles match the aesthetic quite well. Meanwhile, hatches begin opening on the ceiling ahead, as small, spherical objects roll along the ceiling, beginning to fire electrical arcs. The contact point between spherical shell and ceiling produces several smaller sparks, almost as if they're attached by static electricity. It would make an odd sort of sense.
Lima Ultimos	As they approach the ruins, Staren gives Lima Ultimos anti-getting-loss gear! These glasses are sure to work...if they weren't being given to Lima Ultimos. He gratefully accepts them, puts them on, and puts on the tablet bracer and belt-clip. And then, as he steps forward, he begins fiddling with the bracer. It clicks. And it beeps. And it makes a lot of weird noises as he franctically messes with it, until Lima Ultimos seems happy with the result. And then, following the mapping system, he walks straight into a wall. The pirate captain stumbles backwards, before quipping to Staren. "This thing be having bugs! But I be able to get it working right!" He'll fiddle some more as he searches for loot. The pirate pockets anything shiny or valuable looking, and then approaches the crates, methodically cutting each one open, taking anything that he can both carry and probably get some use out of, and then leaving the rest. He notices the corpses, frowns briefly, and then gets back to work. And then, there's the noise of machines approaching, as well as hatches opening and dropping spherical creatures. Lima Ultimos redraws his blade with one of his arms that isn't carrying random baubles, as he begins stabbing the orbs. His voice and loudness will probably give his location away to the other team. "Yarr! Ye shockthings ain't be getting in me way! Rust to the depths with ye!"
Celes Chere	It's not long before they see what killed the two men. That is a lot of drones, and they look much more menacing than the ones outside. That's the problem, though. Drones. Machines. Implying there's a core somewhere, or a controller. Something churning them out and activating them. Powering them. Their objective is to find and destroy whatever that is, not eliminate every single killer robot they cross. For all they know right now the ruins may be able to produce machines faster than they can be destroyed. Celes doesn't refresh the lightning effect on her sword. Instead, she finds cover, then she raises her blade up and casts a protective spell! It's protect, bright blue and white light that forms a physical shield around everyone present, even the League members... except Genji. Genji gets a different buff altogether. It's vanish. The buffs should last a round or three, but they'll definitely be gone by the time the scuffle ends, especially if people make it a point to test their defenses. Despite being in cover, she still gets struck by an arc of lightning, but seems to be taking it pretty well for now. Maybe those clothes are more protective than they look. Capes are cool, it has to count for something.
Genji Shimada	There's another group coming, and the other three group members are quite solidly equipped to cover themselves. Celes has the right of it - Genji's best use here would be scouting ahead. But that doesn't mean he can't thin the herd just a little before he goes. It's easy when the killbots open fire. Almost without thinking, the cyborg draws his shortblade; it dances and darts so fast as to blur, and the air before him pings and rings as 'nails' are not simply deflected, but in fact reflected right back at the automatons that fired them. He's already moving forward, though. In a blur of green, the ninja darts right past them, and begins a swift-but-silent run through the corridors to start hunting down the controlling unit. It's just as he goes zipping by that the buff Celes tossed his way goes into effect - and he vanishes from sight entirely.
Staren	Lima touches a bunch of settings that didn't need to be touched, messing up the glasses' head-tracking. "Um." is all Staren can think to say, as Lima walks into a wall. Staren's going to be pissed when he comes back outside and finds the excavators dragged off. Morg damn it! Into the abandoned ruin they go. "Huh. Perhaps they all uploaded into some computer system... wait, no, then they wouldn't have left food out. Hmm... A violent machine uprising would have left bodies... what happened here..." And they've wandered right into some menacing constructs! Staren raises his arm, beam cannons at the ready... and then they fire nailguns! "Freaking--!" Staren takes a couple of wild shots as he runs for the cover of the last corner he came around, the initial volleys of nails bouncing off his forcefield but chipping away and leaving marks in it like bulletproof glass before it turns invisible again. It's not as damaged as it would be without Protect. "Oh, nice." Staren comments. Now it's time for cover shooting -- Staren peeks his arm around the corner, aims with the guncam, fires a couple of shots, then pulls his arm behind cover while waiting for the beam cannons to cool, rinse and repeat. He takes this opportunity to listen for the sound of the firing and to watch their behavior, seeing if perhaps they have to reload or anything. "Yuna? The tacnet's open, if Elner wants to join it." For the moment, they're working together!
Yuna Kagurazaka	With the 'guardian' units emerging, Yuna takes to the air; she may not have room to do much more than hover and flit about, but she'll take whatever she can get to be less of a target than she would be while standing. Shugoseiheki is on her left arm again, which reduces her potential firepower from the pulse blasters - but with what Elner said about the drones' weaponry, Yuna's more worried about defense than offense. And it's not just her defense that she's worried about, either. Celes's protection spell interweaves with the Light Suit's own defensive aura, and Yuna nods briefly to Celes ... then re-conjures her pistol, and starts blasting at the electro-ball drones rolling around on the ceiling. They don't look big enough to be particularly armored; hopefully single focused shots can smash them into harmlessness. It will be immediately clear that she's not even thinking about salvage, or analysis, or anything else besides threat elimination. She does, however, call out a quick, "Thanks!" to Staren - whether or not Elner actually tunes into the offered tacnet, the gesture's appreciated.
Deelel	Deelel is very much onboard with Yuna to keep together with Genji and Celes. Being along in a place like this is a bad idea and then she runs into someone she was not expecting to run into anyone else she knows and the staff vanishes from her hands as something else is on the way coming for all of them the keyblade blinks into existance in her right hand. It takes a moment for her to make out the new arrival namely the horrible shock bots from the looks of it? What is their purpose? She does not know but she's more concerned about taying alive. Then Deelel catches on they are not alone and she'll worry about that in a moment as she attemps to look for an opening with tese things with Genji off ahead they should hopefully get some nswers real soon. Wait is that? Staren?
Corona Arclite	Corona Arclite thinks she sees some familiar faces in the group a bit ahead of them... but her ears flare up, her sharp hearing tuned to machinery as well as it is picking up the approaching constructs with little trouble. That kinda cuts possible greetings and reaquainting a little short for time. "Good to see you guys again, but no time, we've got incoming!" And much tougher, sturdier looking incoming this time, too. With little spherical friends on the ceiling, the electric crackle left in the air leaving her fur to stand on end a bit. "Finally, something that's worth messing around with!" Their choice of weapon... is kind of amusing. Becausce Corona has a gun like that too! But that's not the gun she's going to use at the moment. Instead she flattens herself against a wall of the corridor to be less visable of a target to the sleek projectiles, while yanking a pair of pistols out of her belts. Gives them a gunslinger twirl before opening fire, trying to pick off the spherical shapes from the ceiling before they can interfer with dealing with the big threats. "Someone went through a lotta trouble to protect this place."
Wo	It seems that Lima Ultimos isn't the only one that can melt things. As two of the shocking spheres close in, they release a white hot flesh of an electrical arc. Not only would it be awful to be caught up in it, but arm fulls of valuable, metallic trinkets are particularly vulnerable. If he's not careful, some of his more exposed baubles threaten to flashweld together! ...well, technically still valuable, because gold, silver and whatever else is in these will always sell, but it'd make it harder to push them off immediately. No matter, though, as the jewelry wasn't their main focus. Instead, while they're rolling around on the ceiling and upper walls of the hallway and chambers, building up another charge in their internal dynamos, they're constantly trying to dodge receiving a killer poke! One of them isn't so lucky to evade, and no longer being perfectly spherical from significant and instant corrosion, crashes to the floor resoundingly. Seems they're not that sturdy. The main force, such as they are, find their guns' nails soon pinging into the combination of a protective shield spell, as well as an invisible deflector. It's not enough to completely stop them all, esecially at the high velocity they're being fired at, every shot attempt echoing around the halls with the distinctive 'thwump' of hydraulic actuators, but it is enough to reduce what might be a fatal injury into something far less significant for those that make it through, and causes them to have to evade their own first volley, a few nails digging dents into their armor. They seem to, on some strange, almost animal level, get frustrated at this, their body language having to express what their static face plates cannot, and though three remain behind to keep up the suppressing fire, another trio advance. As they move, their gun arms fold into their main chassis, and a second set emerge, more articulate, and created in the shape of a sword blade and shield, starting where the 'elbow' is. Those annoying shock spheres keep moving around the ceiling, as well, dropping down arcs whenever they can; though it becomes obvious that their rate of fire is limited to building up charges. If they notice Genji's movements beyond them, in that concentration, they do not act on it. Instead they're more focused in breaking into the defensive formations of the entrenched intruders, possessing what amounts to storming tactics, at least. They're not completely immune to the incoming fire, though the ones with shields try to take the brunt of the punishment for the second row that close in with their guns, in a strange sort of phalanx. One of the sword n' board units moves to face Celes, while she's still in spell cool down. The rest begin to have bits and pieces of their outer hulls shot away, by Staren, even as they squeeze off return fire as best they can through the protective shell. Yuna and Corona, focused on the shocking, orb-shaped ones, would probably find those dancing spheres to be an annoyingy target, as the smooth stone ceilings are almost a perfect conduit for their rolling around up there. Still, they eventually knock a few more of them down, as Lima had done. Thankfully, they don't explode or anything, besides a few, relatively harmless sparks. Deelel would find no time better than the present, if she wants to take cover behind a column or convenient piece of ancient furniture, and contribute her own return fire. That shield of Celes' is really being tested by the amount of incoming nails. ... Unhindered by a corridor shooter, Genji is free to sprint and scout ahead. The call might have been the right one, since while the Vanish is in effect and his own personal stealth, he can see several more of those same patrols, just waiting. Further along, a shaft heading further in makes itself impossible to miss, and the sounds of mechanisms loom even louder. It becomes apparent, with a glance in, that there is a group of assembly lines down there; maybe not quite fast enough to replace more than are being d
Wo	Unhindered by a corridor shooter, Genji is free to sprint and scout ahead. The call might have been the right one, since while the Vanish is in effect and his own personal stealth, he can see several more of those same patrols, just waiting. Further along, a shaft heading further in makes itself impossible to miss, and the sounds of mechanisms loom even louder. It becomes apparent, with a glance in, that there is a group of assembly lines down there; maybe not quite fast enough to replace more than are being damaged, just yet, but that may only be a matter of time. More obvious is an enormous crystalline formation, not unlike those that appear to be the 'brains' of the automatons, behind a force field deeper into the assembly chamber, large conduits filled with that glowing material coursing around the walls, floor and ceiling, and almost seeming to be conducting the assembly like the conductor of an orchestra. That looks like bad news. Check that, if they were messing with self-replicating machines, it was definitely bad news, and perhaps Staren was on to something about at least one part of the original dwellers' disappearance. But that still wouldn't explain the actual disappearance.
Staren	"Hmmm..." Staren notices the body language changing, and wonders what it means. This is all such a fascinating mystery! There seem to be ever more constructs, though -- this is not some small random encounter easily gunned down, but an organized force with a modicum of defensive tactics. There are just too many of them! Staren switches tactics -- instead of popping out to shoot at the constructs, he pops out from behind the corner to hurl a plasma grenade over the shield constructs in hopes of melting some from behind. A shout of "FIRE IN THE HOLE!" is the warning Genji gets, since Staren saw him going that way before he disappeared. Still, Staren tries to time the airburst so as not to likely get him unless he's jumping over or backstabbing the shield constructs.
Lima Ultimos	Electricity surges from those spheres straight at Lima Ultimos. His first reaction is to toss the loot into the air. His second is to take the shot himself, electricity coursing through him and frying his skin, melting parts of it. His third, to draw one of the pistols from his vest, fire it at one, swap it with another, fire it at another, and so on. His final reaction is to recatch the loot (a few pieces slip away, he'll get those later), and strike again at the remaining spheres with his sword. "Now come on, ye abominations! Get dead already!"
Genji Shimada	Genji doesn't miss the patrols. As he darts past them with all the superhuman speed his cybernetic body can muster, he sends a brief radio message out to thank her. But that's all the focus he can really spare, isn't it? He's got to take advantage of the Vanish spell for as long as it lasts. Thankfully, with the machinery noises growing louder, it's easier to cover his steps and safely reach the assembly area. Once he gets there, though, he... stops. And quietly stares, trying to decipher the setup of the line, where he can best strike to bring the whole thing crashing down. And all of it... all of it seems to come back to that crystal. Those conduits. Wellp. Only one thing for it. Genji takes a swift, running start, leaping out into the proverbial abyss just as the Vanish spell is wearing off. Just in time to reveal him with his right hand formed into a seal, and the left reaching back to the larger sword behind him. "RYUUJIN NO KEN WO KURAE!!" The emerald Shimada Dragon erupts to life around Genji as every light on his suit flares brightly, the Dragonblade alight with the marriage of technology and spirit. He descends first upon the crystal, swinging with intent to carve it apart, but he also intends to start cutting open conduits, if he can reach them before he reaches the limits of his endurance.
Celes Chere	Protect is being tested. Thing is, Celes isn't a white mage. She's not a terrible mage by any means, but to have so many people under the effect of the shield taking so many hits at once, it just wasn't going to hold. It held all this time at least, so it wasn't a waste. Forced out of her cover by concentrated fire, Celes begins deflecting shots and lightning alike with Save the Queen, obviously a gifted swordswoman, with a hint of magic behind her defenses that seems to make it easier to stop the lightning bolt. Not easy enough she isn't grazed and nicked by shots, but easy enough she isn't turned into swiss cheese. Her free hand moves towards a cluster of the zappyspheres, magic gathering in her palms before bursting out as a series of thunderbolts of her own, flooding the room and bouncing off the walls for a wide-area attack. Sufficiently precise, even, that no ally is hit by stray lightning. She really hopes she doesn't regret giving Genji that order. Well, suggestion, really.
Yuna Kagurazaka	Fortunately for Yuna, she has more than Celes's protection spell between her and extra-pointy high-velocity nails of pain; she has the Light Suit's own defensive aura, and she has her kite shield. And with the nail-launching drones advancing, Yuna advances to meet them - keeping her kite shield interposed, trying to block as many of the nails as she can with the curved metal surface. She's also continuing to shoot, her pistol held just around the side of her shield; her aim isn't great, but she can at least keep making a nuisance of herself to the nail-launchers - and honestly, she trusts Shugoseiheki to live up to its name, the Wall of the Guardian Star. It's held up for her through a LOT, after all ... and Yuna trusts her multiple layers of protection to keep her relatively safe, rather than letting any of her allies get hurt. Or even than letting Lima get hurt, for that matter. She might still be holding a bit of a grudge over his attack on Hikari a few months back, but she's not going to let him get hammered full of weapons-grade nails just because of that.
Deelel	Well now things are about to get series, and she to her shock does spot Corona and Staren are with the other group she has her keyblade ready to go and then she moves rapidly as she moves to try and make use of her keyblade as a thrown weapon. Which it does shockingly well here and when it impacts? The weapon flickers, vanishes, and is once more in Deelel's hand before she throws it again keeping her self ready for what might come next. "Corona?! Staren? Little HELP HERE!"
Corona Arclite	Corona isn't beyond stooping down to snatch one of the spheres from the floor and tuck it away. Getting stuff to research was part of the reason they were here, after all. Not enough to distract her from a familiar voice calling for help. Corona holsters the pistols, though by the time she's scurried to Deelel's side it was to get out her shotgun instead. "Why is it Ah always meet folks like ya in middle of trouble of some sort?" she wisecracks all the same.
Wo	Staren had to go and get strategic in return. Or is it tactical. In any case, the ones with shields and swords seem primed to a particular kind of combat, and that doesn't involve getting a grenade lobbed behind them. They do suddenly swerve their heads to vaguely follow its arc, so there does seem to be a recognition of what it represents, but they can only do so much to try and avoid it. The backs of their chassis get somewhat slagged by the blast, and though they get knocked forward for the effort, and one actually gets blasted right off its tank treaded mobility base, they still try to prop up on their elbow joints and continue forward, the one with no 'legs' crawling forward to do so. It's some real Terminator stuff. They are still taking damage, however, and they're beginning to leak that glowing fluid, which is part circulatory system, part nervous system. Their movements begin to jerk and spasm, and they aren't nearly as coordinated. The ones that had been hanging back move in to close ranks, and give a sound vaguely like a klaxon, as more sounds from further within the hallways can be heard. Those horrible electrical spheres are beginning to lose their numbers, and hence some of their potency, as well. They don't seem to be quite as numerous as the humanoid guard automatons, and the slots they emerged from on the ceiling are likely part of a fast response network. Maybe the original occupants made them as some kind of non-lethal, fast response policing unit, and over the years it got out of hand? No matter, the end result is that they've been pared down by a combination of Lima (the jewels are saved! mostly), Corona, Deelel and Yuna's slashing and shooting. Celes' admirable efforts to stay at the front of the column and defend her comrades, both unlikely and otherwise, are fruitful...but are soon met with more shapes emerging from further down the hallways. Yuna's own advance critically damages one of the nail gun firing units, having struck deep enough to cause the crystal inside to completely shatter, and it briefly appears to go berserk before completely shutting down. The other two back toward their reinforcements; at least it is a retreat, somewhat, giving the combined forces some breathing room, even if it is seemingly temporary. It's entirely possible that the Elites could simply hole up here and eventually whittle through them all, but here's hoping that there's a better plan, somewhere. Such as a lone ninja, the most powerful kind of ninja, stealing into the heart of the ruins and striking its very obvious core. A critical design flaw, that would eventually be corrected after this rude incursion, there are no sentries stationed in the actual assembly room, simply what seem to be automated turrets, that hurl what seems to be weaponized balls of that glowing fluid, though in this situation it's more of an ionized gas -- plasma. It attempts to track Genji as he leaps toward the crystal. Its force field which keeps it integrated holds for the moment, but it is rapidly, and visibly splintering, and the turrets don't dare turn themselves on their own master. And then it happens. First contact. "Very...well. You've come this far." A voice that seems to be a dozen-squared individuals, vibrates tinnily out, seemingly resonate with every crystal controller in the automatons, at least those still intact enough. "I underestimated you. You're not like those ones before. What do you want with us? The treasures? You may have them. We do not need such things anymore. The secrets to our processes? We can grant understanding and cooperation." Subdued under that, lower in volume, individual voices manage to be heard from inside the crystals, now empowered to be heard, "Kill...us..." "Free us...from this torment..." The main amalgamation of voices once again speaks over them, "Cease your assault of Us. Or die with us. Make your choice quickly...there is not much time!" There's a visible cracking to the voice, as the resistance to Genji is fading.
Staren	"Helping is what I'm doing!" Staren shouts back. He's considering just burning the whole hallway with his missiles, though, when the voices come. "We seek understanding!" Staren shouts back. "Who are those other voices?"
Wo	"There were some that resisted the change," the slowly dimming voice responds, seemingly to Staren. "The very ones that created us. It was their own demands that we help them. What better way to help than to overcome the most fundamental of their kind, death? This is what they wanted. What we judged all living things to want."
Corona Arclite	Those sharp vulpine ears pick up on the more subtle whispers, especially since she's got one of those disabled rollers close at hand. Which only makes her gaze shift towards the ball shaped construct slowly. Wait... these things run on trapped souls? Corona hisses as her ears lay back, grabbing the sphere she'd picked up and hucking it away. "WHY DO AH KEEP COM'N CROSS WEIRD SHIT LIKE THIS?!" Now she's just having flashbacks of the molemens' animate armors and the bandit revived with steampunk implants and that goddamn undead brain in a jar in a clockwork squid-thing.
Lima Ultimos	Well, this is a change. Lima Ultimos waits for the voices to speak, before speaking back. "Well, yarr there! Please be explaining yeself and yer intentions? One of us be wanting to kill ye and I think if we can all discuss this politely, we be able to come to a decision we all be liking!"
Staren	Staren holds a hand to his head. "God damnit, SERIOUSLY?!" His wild guess was right? He sighs, and then lowers his hand. "If you have helped them, then why are they so unhappy? Is it possible that you have helped them incorrectly?" No shit it's possible -- this is probably the EXACT scenario that stories warned Staren not to create. But maybe, just maybe, these beings can be reasoned with. It's worth a shot, right? Just like talking to the excavators was worth a shot.
Wo	Time is a bit short for story time, considering that Genji has almost gotten through the shield, at this point. And there's no way it's turning the turrets on itself. It is forbidden to do so even if it somehow wanted. The automatons, at this point, have all but stopped. There's little point using the energy to move and coordinate them when the master of it all has a figurative gun to its figurative head. There's a strange, twinkling sound, like some pixies scattering dust; that must be what amounts for 'thinking' within the crystalline network. "That doesn't seem possible. Why would anything seek to cease to exist? If you destroy us, you will be destroying those that chose this path willingly, as well," the dozens of more forthcoming, almost at ease, voices note. "...no. You won't... Our orders were absolute." The remaining automatons that are not half slagged at this point suddenly turn their attention toward the assembly room, beginning to advance there as quickly as possible. Well, fast decision time, folks.
Celes Chere	One can see very clearly the exact moment at which something within Celes just breaks and her face darkens, dropping down a little bit and letting her hair shadow her eyes. It's to such a degree that remaining stray shots from the machines, even as some pull back, land clean hits on the former general, a bullet through the side of her chest, a bolt of lightning knocking her back a few feet. She doesn't budge, because she's already begun gathering magic. A lot of it. Save the Queen is held high, used to channel the spell. It glows an intense red. The room likely quakes as a result, especially when she lets the spell loose. P.S. it's meteor. Yes, indoors. A rain of large, fiery rocks begins materializing within the room and ahead, targetting the remaining machines, and their broken and battered brethrens too. Celes isn't just looking to destroy the last ones still fighting or retreating, or those headed for Genji, but the ones that have been felled too, and the ones trying to speak with them, so that there's nothing left but ash. Corona isn't the only one with bad memories, turns out!
Yuna Kagurazaka	One nail-gunner down, the others are falling back; Yuna falls back as well, moving to protect Celes from additional attacks if necessary. Which it might not be, she realizes, hearing the voices coming from the crystals. Yuna's mouth tightens, her eyes closing briefly; if there are conscious minds within the crystals, too many of them are suffering. Something in there isn't suffering the same way, something is acting as though it's in charge, but ... While Yuna wrestles with her own version of the dilemma, Elner is engaged in capturing as much sensor data as possible - from the drones, from the ruins' architecture and infrastructure, from anything that the robo-faerie's scans can pick up of the central core where Genji is. It's unlikely that this data will be all that useful to the Watch, but you never know. And then the automatons jerk back into life. Yuna's eyes snap open, and she resumes taking shots at the surviving nail-gunners, still in position to protect Celes from attacks. She should be able to cast spells unhindered from behind Yuna, right?
Genji Shimada	For long seconds, long enough to come dangerously close to his limit with the Dragon, Genji holds his blade still and steady, listening. That blank faceplate of his tilts slightly, his head canting over as if considering the request. "Very well. I will tell you what I want." His grip shifts on the blade, and the dragon whirling and spinning around him growls. "I want for those tortured souls within you to rest peacefully. And that, is a desire I can grant myself." With all his strength, Genji Shimada pushes his longblade forward, while the dragon gives a final roar and lunges along with the stab.
Staren	Staren runs up to one of the half-slagged machines with a working crystal, if there is one. "Hey, other voices! Do you want death, or rescue? We-- aaah!" He then has to run away, because SOMEONE IS SUMMONING METEORS INDOORS. This suddenly seems like a VERY BAD PLACE TO STAY. Staren decides to book it before the ruins collapse or something -- and also, so he can start trying to animate the excavators and tell them to run before their new adventuring buddies come to smash them!
Lima Ultimos	Well, this isn't good. Negotiations are falling. The /pirate captain/ is the one trying to argue for diplomacy between both sides. And it fails, as meteors begin pouring and the AI is stabbed at. Well, it's time to get out of here. Lima Ultimos begins rushing through the halls, stopping to tear out any crystals from fallen robots, before trying to grab the smallest one with a still-mostly intact crystal he can and drag it off. "League of Progress, let's be getting out of here! We be able to take all this through me ship!" And as he says this, he nearly gets crushed by a meteor that almost tears one of his legs straight off. He keeps moving, though, because Lima Ultimos never fails a job, even if there's now an undead piece of leg lying behind him.
Corona Arclite	And the situation just goes from bad and weird to worse. Tactical strike, meteor version! Corona gives Deelel a half pat to the back, half shove towards the exits. "Ah hate to reunite and run, but this place ain't gonna be standin' much longer. Time to get outta Dodge!" Though not without grabbing something of value on the way out. Like some of the parts from the constructs. But not the crystals. Nope, she ain't touching the glowy deathy soul crystals. She will take the other clockwork bits and pieces besides that to study though.
Deelel	Deelel is glad to know Corona and Staren got though the great barf all right but she's got a job to do todya nd she intends to do it, as she listens to the comm channels she has access to a scowl forms on her face for a moment. She now unerstand what's gong on here, this stuff needs to go down, it needs to burn honestly. DEelel keeps going with her blade and the dual disc seems to be serving her as well as it ever has. These things run on souls they need to be freed. "Welcome to the multiverse Corona, this remind me far too much of how CLU operates what's the phase? Kill it with fire." Deleel has photon charges with her and she stars to think about bringing this place down. "No it's not. You have my comm line, use uit later." Deelel does toss several armed photon grenade set on a longish countdown to help make sure this place /stays/ burried. "Time to go." With that Deelel is starting to break into a run and regardless of what she thinks? This does give her insight into some of her new allies.
Wo	Thankfully, the automatons that had reactivated aren't that interested in Yuna or her nearby allies. They were instead marching straight to try a last ditch rescue of their crystal. That also mean they're relatively easy pickings, because they aren't even trying to defend their own selves. Which in the end, doesn't matter much, because... When things finally turn south, they sure do, don't they? The sounds from the chorus of voices turn from that oddly in-control, relaxed tone, to one of brief panic, as all of them appear in that moment to be shouting different things. Then the shouts turn into cries of pain and agony, as millenia of restful planning begins to unravel around them. Genji's newest jab finally slams through the force field, stirking the solid surface of the crystal, a cobbled together entity which, without the aid of that field, begins to splinter and crumble immediately. Without its coordinating influence, as the shards scatter around the assembly room floor, the entire facility begins to run haywire, as exposed machinery begins to run unchecked, either breaking down or doing so explosively. Celes, in her moment of being dramatically seized by the full weight of what they'd stumbled into, unleashes meteors. Indoors. Somehow. It goes about as well as you would expect, and even a well maintained ruin, on top of the damaged machinery, begins to all but shake itself apart. Any hopes that structural integrity might have held up enough for another visit are ended when Deelel places in those charges. There's still enough time to smash n' grab a few choice trinkets, if that's what you want. Outside, the groundskeepers are instinctively evacuating through their collapsing access tunnels, though it seems to be for naught, as without the guidance of the overmind, they emerge to daylight with no clue as to what they're supposed to even be doing, and simply mill around. Hopefully everyone is able to make it out, because a few moments later, the sinful interior, as most would have seen it, collapses completely, and is likely to never be uncovered again, at least without significant effort and excavation. Sadly, there are no happy whispers of 'thank yoooou'. Because this is not an ideal world. Those that brought this place down will just have to live with the hopes that they did the right thing.
Yuna Kagurazaka	It would seem that it was, indeed, a load-bearing crystal that Genji found deeper in the ruins. Yuna brings Shugoseiheki up to help protect herself (and possibly allies) against any falling rubble; her pistol vanishes out of her hand, and starts backing towards the exit - once again making sure that more-vulnerable people are getting out ahead of her, regardless of affiliation with League, Watch, or other. Really, the only person she's not 'waiting for' is Genji himself - she trusts the armored ninja to get out safely under his own power.
Genji Shimada	Genji takes a smooth step back, with a quick flourish of the Dragonblade before it returns to its sheath. Several cylinders pop out along his body, issuing forth a hiss of steam that lasts for a good few seconds. Then he turns to run for his god damn cybernetic life, because he might be sentimental and moral, but he also is not very fond of the whole 'dying' thing.
Staren	Oh hey, idle groundskeeping constructs. YOINK! Staren tucks a couple under his arms. If the watch stops him from animating the excavators, hopefully he can still get away with these much more valuable prizes! Are there people inside? Can they be helped? Can understanding this technology lead to helping other people? Who knows? Staren hopes to!
Lima Ultimos	As soon as he gets everything out of the ruins and is back under the sky, Lima Ultimos begins running towards where his ship was parked, and once he's close enough, he shouts very loudly. "TIGERBABBLE, GET YE REAR BEHIND OVER HEREEEEEEEEEEEE!" After a moment of echoing, and a few moments of waiting, a giant ghostly pirate ship flies over head and moves in to land near Lima Ultimos. He leaps aboard the gangplank, carries all of his valuables up, and waits to see if Staren and Corona are going to come with him. He moves to the wheel once everything is set down, as the wound on his leg begins rapidly healing. "One second and I be crushed under a meteor! That be close!"
Corona Arclite	No point in looking a gift escape in the mouth. That and Corona has her hands full so it's hard to get her comm to call her own ship for a teleport, so she just runs right up the gangway onto the ship without worrying too much about it.