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S6     Crossing the sea aboard the Autoyacht has been an uneventful journey. The only thing of real note has been the oceanic Null Zones; detected by the PODs and steered around without provoking anything to surface from within them. After travelling the better part of a day, the boat's limited radar detects the opposite coastline of Norte. A coastline that cannot be seen due to a bank of mist clinging to the coast.

    Striker Six frowns slightly at the radar readout, lifting her visor-covered gaze to stare out across the waves. The closer the boat gets, the thicker the fog. A wireless command is issued and the Autoyacht slows to a more tempered cruising speed.

    "We are nearing our destination, the Walled City of Norte," She announces via the boat's PA, "Approximately ten minutes, if there is no obstruction, until we make port."

    Smoothly, the Autoyacht turns, giving a wide berth to what its radar identifies as another, far larger vessel. A ship-shaped outline on its sensor screen-- little more than a hulking shadow in the mist in the vague shape of a hull.

    S6 turns her eyes to the bow, squinting through the fog while the vehicle handles itself.
Shigure     Yuudachi has been leaping off the autoyacht and climbing back aboard periodically all day... the puppy-like destroyer girl just a bundle of anxious energy when not out on the water herself. She clearly dislikes being couped up on some other ship for so long. As the yacht comes close to its destination, the destroyer shifts to her Ocean Fitout and blares her foghorn, while the little radar dish atop her main tower begins to rotate and pulse out streams of radio to get a fix on whatever that other looming shadow of a ship is.

    She also pings SONAR, checking for subsurface problems for the yacht. Her speakers spring to life and her voice echos muffledly through the fog. <"Attention unidentified vessel, state your course and intended purpose. Repeat, Unidentified vessel, state your course and purpose.">

    But... there's no reponse. <"Striker 6... there's several ships moored haphazard in the fog... I'm having my radio operator link my radar display to your console. We will have to navigate around them... they seem inert.">
Ishirou I4 comes onto the deck at the announcement.  This is because I4 handled the sea very badly, like...VERY badly.  Which is odd, given he's an android.  Flight maneuvers?  No problem.  Shakey land?  No sweat.  Ocean travel?  Flat on his butt.

Though he looks better, thankfully because he's had time to acclimate to the boat itself.  Just in time to catch the large hull.  Well, that's...odd, maybe it's one of their fleets, but why didn't they communicate?  This fox is a problem.  

"POD, wide-area scan, let's see if we can punch through this fog and see what is around us," I4 says with a little weakness in his voice.  The POD pings in the affirmative, and produces a tiny antenna from its head.  I4 starts on trying to ID what is going on in the nearby ships first, before spreading out and trying to get a better vision through the fog itself.

Then an analysis of the fog itself, just to make sure it's natural.
Pazkar A golden knight in armor has joined, last minute. He wanted to assist after hearing what they were doing, so he stands aboard the autoyacht, large and tall. He's pretty massive. When the fog rolls in, he simply speaks, especially after Shigure alerts them of the ships.

There may be an incident. We should investigate and look for Players.

But not much he can do until they approach closer, except to unlock his thrusters - clockwork and steampunk thrusters - to get ready to fly once he has clearer visuals, actively looking for somewhere to fly to and investigate.
Reiji Arisu Even from a safe distance, Reiji has been keenly aware of the presence of those otherworldly Sargassos. It's impossible not to be. They're yawning, gaping voids in the very fabric of the world, pulling at his senses with their mere proximity. Still, Reiji has remained alert and available for most of the journey, even though a vast majority of that has involved sitting in the communal cabin and plugging away at reams of paperwork.

Even on the high seas, PA PER WORK.

The exorcist is in the middle of a sip of his favorite instant coffee when S6's voice pings across the vessel's PA system. They're getting close to their destination. Best to prepare for arrival.

It doesn't take long for Reiji to arrive above-deck. Not that there's exactly much to see; the fog is a nigh-impenetrable soup. The only thing he can make out with his plain old eyeballs is the colossal vessel sailing nearby.

"I wasn't aware that Norte was a particularly maritime state," Reiji observes at S6's rear. "That's quite a vessel they've got there." Presuming it IS in fact one of Norte's and not, for instance, a ship-shaped, parasite-ridden husk. "Have we made radio contact with the mainland yet?"
Kotone Yamakawa Kotone Yamakawa has been a bit worn down form her work on the HQ for the last little while, but she was okay with that. The travel on the boat, had let her relax a little bit as nothing tried to murder them all. That was good, she'd watch Yuudachi have some fun and didn't mind it she'd chat with the destroyers when they were on the boat and otherwise would be checking over her own kit, weapons, drones, and the like. Also thinking she really should talk to the fleet's techies about some upgrades later.

With that in mind Pazkar also caught Kotone's attention as she peers at the knight for a moment.

"Players?"

She pauses looking at the ships ahead and mutters.

She'll launch several of her remote camera drones to go start doing flybys over the ships to see just where things are going.

"I so don't like the looks of this, it reminds me of my first real outing in the multiverse and that ended with. Zombies and fishmen."
S6     -DATA STREAM RECEIVED-
    -RELAY COMPLETE-

    Yuudachi's radar is far more powerful than the set on the Autoyacht and far more precise due to its intent as a combat support system. And with this information filtered through the Type 4X POD, the screens in the Autoyacht's bridge gain significantly more detail. All the hulls floating around them for miles, highlighted and marked. When they're revealed to be stationary, possibly abandoned, S6 lifts a hand to cradle her chin.

    "Inter-city trade has ceased for some time. Perhaps they are simply abandoned as they have no purpose..." She turns slightly, glancing towards Reiji (presumably, given her opaque visor), "It is a coastal city. Even Indus once had a large harbor, though that was abandoned when the wall was constructed." She then shakes her head, "But no. There has been no contact from the city or GUARDIAN. We may not have been noticed yet, amongst all of this." She glances briefly at Kotone, but says nothing, her gaze returning to the familiar shape of Yuudachi alongside the much smaller Autoyacht.

    I4 initiates a wide area scan. The fog is normal, just thick with the humidity. The nearby hull is deserted. No human, android, or Nullborn signatures. However, while the Type 6X is shifting to a less focused scan, the device starts chirping an alarm.

    S6's Type 4X, a moment later, chirps in the exact same, familiar tone.

    -NULL ZONE DETECTED-
    -APPROACHING BORDER-
    -APPROXIMATE SIZE CANNOT BE DETERMINED WITH CURRENT DATA-
    -FURTHER DATA REQUIRED-

    "What?" S6 is visibly shaken by what the PODs reveal, shooting her look back to the bow. The fog's density suddenly lessens, as if crossing some unseen barrier, and the looming darkened shape of massive walls, their harbor-gates wide open, fills the horizon.

    -A UNDOCUMENTED NULL ZONE BORDER HAS BEEN IDENTIFIED-
    -COMMENCE SURVEY OPERATIONS-

    From the console of the Autoyacht, a different synthesized voice speaks: "Destination reached. Welcome to Norte, The Walled City of Lights."
Ishirou "Fog is normal.  Thank goodness for that, let's see..." I4 starts to go through data.  "No life signs on the ships.  At all.  Nullborn, human, android.  Nota," he says, but S6 makes a good observation.  If they were expecting attacks from the sea, the ships would create a good barrier that just got better over time.  Station some cannons on them..."

However, the fog starts to lesson, and he gets an alarm.  A nullzone?  Wait how can that be..!

The destination is revealed, as his sensors confirm the worst-case scenario.  There is nothing here.  

At all.

"Not even nulls..."
Kotone Yamakawa Kotone Yamakawa pauses "Ditched that much functional ship or at least that much metal? Odd."

She figured processed materials would be worth more given all the issues the Nullborn caused. She accepted things though for the moment as there were other things she had to pay attention to the party's new surroundings. She frowned a little bit she did not like this were going. Kotone shoves the memories of her first misadventure into the multiverse aside and focused on the feeds from her drones for the moment nothing so far of note. Then the dawning horror, at what seems to be going on.

"Oh hell."

Kotone scrambles to secure the rest of her Kit. She'll order her drones to fan out now and will patch in I4, S6 and anyone else who can take their feeds if it becomes needed.

She had only felt something like this once, the first time she'd seen the ruins of old Tokyo an empty dead city. Yet there was worse horror. At least there she had known what happened. Here? It's the most terrifying thing in the world, the unknown.
Reiji Arisu There were a number of worst case scenarios that Reiji had been expecting. A city under siege, armed battalions repelling an encroachment of null zones from the walls. But this-- this is something else. The invisible boundary between living and unliving world is crossed, and Reiji feels it like a punch to the gut. He doubles over abruptly, retching and dry-heaving as the contents of his empty coffee mug threaten to surge back up out of his gullet.

Barely. He barely keeps it down. Reiji groans as he staggers back upright, dizzy from the shock. It takes him a moment to push back the horror and confront the reality of the situation.

And what a grim reality it is.

"It's... Dead," he murmurs, his voice ringing hollow even to his own ears. "All of it. It's one big Null Zone. But if that's the case... Where are the Voidborn? A place like this should be crawling with them...!"

Though the prospect is utterly gutwrenching, Reiji reaches out with his senses, 'pinging' the surrounding emptiness for something-- anything-- that might tell them what happened here. "...S6, a city like Indus would have... A central power station, wouldn't it?"
Pazkar As they approach, and find out that it is a 'null zone', Pazkar's thrusters fire up more. Once the gate is finally in sight, and everyone's worried, he speaks. I will scout ahead. Do not worry.

And then, he leaps, and the big janky thrusters lift him up. He'll fly through until he reaches more fog, or somewhere to land, where he'll step and start poking around.

Is anyone there?
Shigure     Yuudachi crosses the threshold of the fog bank, her turrets begin to lift and track around, seeking targets.

    But the area is completely dead. "Nothing's left..." the thought is somber, the usually boisterous destroyer going quiet at the gravity of the situation. S6 and I4, despite being off duty, determine to find out what happened, and Yuudachi is quick to reassure the pair. <"I am here to escort you."> she states, turning in towards the nearest pier, or area to get out of the water. She transforms back into her human-sized and shaped form, and gets onto dry land. Red eyes track for movement, and her hair 'flaps' stand up with electricity arcing between them as she continues to rotate and radiate.
S6     S6 is suddenly unsteady. When the Autoyacht turns to dock, she staggers, gripping the console to steady herself as she stares up at the cracked walls of Norte's coastal buildings. An MCS warning appears in her vision, highlighting the lack of ambiant mana. She disables the subsystem, casting the alert to the far corners of her vision. It won't serve her any purpose here.

    The noise behind her prompts her to turn, and she reaches out to steady Reiji when he reacts so violently to the Null Zone's ambiance. Despite the visor covering her eyes, she still looks quite grim, giving the geomancer only a light nod, "It should. I do not know why it is not."

    Pazkar's flight ends at a concrete dock. It'll take a few minutes for the Autoyacht to reach it, so the Gearknight has a fine headstart into the empty city. He calls in text, but there is no response to it. The streets are empty, with powdery dust building up against curbs and the sides of buildings and parked, rusted vehicles.

    As the Autoyacht docks itself, S6 disembarks, reaching the pier only a few moments after Yuudachi. She turns to offer assistance to I4 and Reiji, one recovering from seasickness and the other recovering from the shock of what they've found, "Yes. Norte would have a power station. I do not know if it is the same sort as the one used by Indus. Perhaps it would be a good place to start." She turns, her POD floating up beside her, "...I would also like to investigate GUARDIAN; the local android defense force. They may have records of what happened, and when." She glances towards Yuudachi and Kotone, then turns to look at where Pazkar's dialogue boxes indicate he is, "...Given the lack of hostiles, we may consider dividing our forces to investigate both at once."
Shigure     Yuudachi nods to S6... "Tell me where you need me." she replies to the Striker unit, she'll go with whichever team needs her most.
Reiji Arisu Reiji is grateful for S6's support, both figuratively and literally. He offers her a look that suggests he's trying to keep his chin up and put on a brave face, but the fact remains that the direness of the situation is something he can't possibly ignore.

How could he? This-- this is exactly the kind of thing he was hoping desperately not to find. He hoped that Indus was a special case, a special /kind/ of awful. That other cities would be in less dire straits.

Not... simply empty and dead.

"I'll be alright," he says, finally, and manages to disembark on his own power. Within a few footsteps, he seems to find his footing, even as the full scope of the city's devastation etches itself into his memory.

S6 proposes splitting their forces. Reiji nods, "Agreed. I'll head to the reactor. If it's similar to the ones used by Indus, then it should tell us at least /something/ about what happened here. I'd like to be accompanied by at least one of you two, though." He looks between S6 and I4, "In case we need to access the computer network. I don't think I have the skills to crack a central power station's security systems."
Ishirou I4 takes the offer of aid getting off, giving a thankful nod and smile to his partner in crime.  Thankful for land under his feet again, but less so for...the land they had found.  It was like the day after tomorrow was yesterday, following that there are no signals.  There is nothing...

I4 collects some of the dust for later examination.  He turns towards I4, "There is a third place we should check.  The administration building, the seat of Norte's government.  GUARDIAN may have answers, but there may be questions they didn't ask.  Just a gut feeling."

The incredibly sad state of this place is not lost on him, but someone's got to push forward.  This is already hard on S6, he can tell even if she won't admit it.  Course, who can say if he can even help her shoulder this.  He's not exactly dependable, I4 thinks to himself.  Maybe this place is getting to him.
Kotone Yamakawa The sombre mood does not leave Kotone as she has finished making ready to go to shore she'll get off the Autoyacht. The moment she has her feet on the dock she'll start moving ahead trying to keep an eye out for anything. Kotone is uneasy about splitting up but agreed it would save time.

"All right I'll go where you need me but I think I would be of more use at the HQ with my skills."

SO she'll join whoever is heading for GUARDIAN's local base here.

"We shouldn't delay."

She will move out as soon as she's ready llooking to I4, then Reiji. Followed by Yuudachi.
Pazkar Pazkar pokes around. When he finds the powdery dust, he takes a sample on his gauntlet, and brings it to the others immediately. Do you know what this is?

Afterwards, they start splitting up. I will head to see this GUARDIAN, then.

And then, Pazkar waits to be told 'where that is', before heading off there without further pause. He doesn't care about dangers. He has things to do.
S6 GUARDIAN--
    The dust Pazkar asked about is just... dust. Concrete dust, shedding from the buildings due to the effects of the Null Zone.

    Kotone and Pazkar opt to investigate the GUARDIAN headquarters. Some direction is given based on Kotone's drones and scans run by the two PODs, which leads the pair to a structure built into the massive protective wall surrounding Norte. The sign over the entrance is barely readable, tarnished and rusted, but still legible: G.U.A.R.D.I.A.N.

    The doors are destroyed, torn off their hinges years ago. The lobby looks like it was ransacked. Anything decorative has been destroyed, a reception desk has been smashed in multiple places, with the console laid out in pieces. The elevators are a non-starter, but there is a sealed door to a staircase, its access panel long depowered.

CENTRAL ADMIN--
    Most cities might call this City Hall. A squat building with a cracked facade harkening to older design aesthetics. The doors are closed, though the windows are all broken so there's no real point to the locks. The main lobby is a ring of counters and consoles, some destroyed or collapsed. There's a hole in the ceiling where the upper foor had given way, though there are also decorative staircases leading up, and weak wooden doors leading further in. Everything is lacking in power.

POWER STATION--
    Located in what must have been Norte's industrial district, a tall and forboding structure that almost looks like it's made entirely out of pipes of varying sizes; from as small as one finger to large enough to walk through. Heavy metal doors appear to have been forced open. One is wedged with a metal beam that must be ducked under. A narrow two-man corridor opens out into a vast room, largely lit by various pipes glowing an angry orange-red. A deep, dull hum vibrates through the floor, more pronounced the further the pair travel.

    S6 pauses, resting her hand on the railing and gazing out across the machinery, "...This is...the same design. This is a mana reactor..." Something hisses, a piston moving upward slowly and drawing her attention. After an arduous journey up, the piston rolls back down. Briefly, the pipes glow brighter in response. The android's face hardens.
Ishirou Usually, I4 might have been more talkative to Yuudachi, there was a lot going on here.  Too many questions, not enough answers.  Worse, the feeling this may get worse before it gets better.  Once at the Central Admin building, the building is in shambles, the windows are shattered.  The android forgoes the door and just walks through a window inside, breaking any glass in the way.

Consoles are found, but the ones here are likely going to be of any use.  Well, maybe.  Instead, he continues upstairs.  Right now he's looking for any important documentation, terminals that would be in highly secured areas, reports from what happened.  Right now, just trying to piece together what happened here.

And how they tried to stop it.  And what caused them to fail.  "This is just so overwhelming. I never thought a walled city could fall like this..." he says, with a slightly bewildered tone, "Sorry, this was just...so much worse than I expected."
Shigure     Yuudachi is on high alert the entire time. Radar sweeping, eyes tracking even the slightest movement if she spots it. It's far too quiet.

    The boisterous destroyer is unusually subdued, so doesn't really blame I4 for being quiet himself. As he searches for information, she tries her best to help. Flipping through documents, or forcing open any stubborn drawers and the like.

    "Yuudachi has an idea... but i's just a hunch. I have no proof, or any way of finding out proof on my own."

    She glances at I4. "You might not like what I'm about to, like, say... but maybe this was an inside job..."
Kotone Yamakawa With Pazkar for company and aid? Kotone makes for the GUARDIAN headquarter. She's clearly on edge and has an SMG or an assault rifle of some sort out as she goes. She's not shooting at shadows. Yet she's ready for trouble as she makes it there with Pzakar she'll pause making use of her drones to scout ahead. The doors are cracked open and it looks like things have been looted or wrecked here.

"See if you can find anything of note I'm going to see if I can get the door powered up even if I have to hook myself up to it to act as a battery."

She notes. So she'll shoulder her rifle pull out a tool kit and set to work trying to get the door fixed. If she has to she'll find a way to use her own power systems to give the door enough power to get it open.

"So you're from the same world as Shyra, right? What's it like?"
Pazkar Kotone and Pazkar head into the building. The doors are cracked open, everything is smashed and looted, there's no one to talk to. But still, Pazkar presses on. As Kotone moves for the door, Pazkar moves over to the console. It's smashed into pieces, but does it have any hard drive or the like still tangible and workable? He doesn't exactly know what modern or futuristic tech looks like, but 'a machine has storage' makes sense to him.

Afterwards, if he can't find anything, he'll go to support Kotone, try and pry open the door while she powers it and does all the heavy lifting. The music is nice. The lands are beautiful. The sun is bright and shining.

That's it. That's all nice he has to say about it.
Reiji Arisu With Indus as cagey as it is, Reiji has never actually seen one of the Walled City's mana reactors before. Its mere silhouette is intimidating. A massive, sprawling, utilitarian thing, like a featureless black octopus, or a dying, gnarled bramble. The exorcist regards the machine with a hard stare. His fingertips brush the air near those glowing pipes, feeling the thrum of mana there. It's... Weak. Anemic, even. "...There's barely anything here. It's sucking on a dry spring. I'd say that this machine is... probably responsible for the state of the city. Look." He gestures at the pipes as they pulse ever so slightly brighter-- before dying down again. "It's barely running. Anything it draws up is sucked away by the Nullzone. How is it still moving...?"

"We need to shut it off," he concludes, then. "Let's find a console and dump whatever logs we can pull up. Where would the local plant administrator's office be? I want to know if they knew this was going to happen. Everything they knew, we need to know. This... This abomination can't be allowed to repeat."

"S6," Reiji murmurs as he continues the search. "You said that Indus hasn't communicated with the other Walled Cities in quite some time. Do you think... Do you think it's possible that they've all fallen to the same fate? Is Indus the last of its kind? Whatever the case, these reactors-- if they're still running-- all of them need to be shut down."
S6 CENTRAL ADMIN--
    The lobby is skipped. Upstairs, the organic elements of the flooring have dissolved, leaving only ceramic tiles and sandy grout. Even so, weakened by the Null Zone's effect, this crunches uncomfortably underfoot. The state of the building does make access easy though. This is the sort of place that was, at one time, fancy and had nice looking wooden doors. Wooden doors that are now barely holding together, easily forced open. One even collapses into gritty powder when touched.

    A lot of the documentation Yuudachi finds is in awful, faded shape. Paper didn't fare much better than the wood, though some things are at least legible. The most recent reports keep hinting at something being wrong with the power station. A graph showing decreased output. A hastily scrawled message about an emergency meeting, dated six years ago.

    While the terminals are all offline, they could be repowered temporarily if I4 devotes the power to it. Alternatively he could just yank their dataplates and read it later. The terminal in the office Yuudachi finds the reactor info has one such dataplate. It's not a tomestone, naturally.

GUARDIAN--
    Amidst the wreckage of the lobby terminal, Pazkar obtains 1x DATAPLATE. Its Key Item description reads 'Data storage used in the Walled City of Norte. Found in the GUARDIAN office.'

    Kotone gets the door unlocked. When it opens, a body falls out and clatters against the floor with a metallic crack. Clad in a white and blue uniform, it isn't rotted-- rather, the skin is cracked like brittle plastic. An offline android. There's a substantial gouge ripped out of the android's torso, in the side where a human's kidneys would be. Proceeding upstairs uncovers several more androids in similar states of disrepair, all with the same side wound. Some two dozen just in the hallways, scattered about, discarded.

POWER STATION--
    "Nnh," S6's response to Reiji is that uncomfortable noise. Golden sparks erupt behind her as her swords come out of storage, runes swirling around their hilts, "...Administration is probably on the top floor. But I'm not cleared to operate this kind of system. If this cannot continue..." She shifts her stance, both swords whipping forward into ready positions, "...Then I will ensure it can never be started again."

    The question makes her hesitate, though. The visor hides her eyes, and so all that can be seen is her biting her lip, "...If everyone has died...then we can't afford to fail." Her hands shake up until she closes her fingers into fists, tensing her entire body, "...Now more than ever. We must not fail." Her posture straightens, hand extending. Both swords lurch forward and into the machinery below, carving gleaming lines through strained, aged steel.
Ishirou I4 has to conserve his power while he is here because if he goes down here it might be very bad for him.  But he can power terminals and get a feeling for what data there is before digging deeper or deciding to pull their data for research later.

So terminal by terminal he starts going over each data, powering it up long enough to do a brief scan of what is in there, and keeping it powered if it's related to the power output of the plant, null attacks, the emergency six years ago, or the final days.  Other interesting data as it pertains to the situation.

"It's not impossible.  But with the dates, we're getting...I don't know.  This would be easier if there was some entity actually doing it, something we could fight even it was hard or nearly impossible.  However...the idea that it's the power sources we have..."

Then he goes quiet.  
Kotone Yamakawa Kotone Yamakawa gets the door open and she just leaps back as the body falls. She'll almost fire on it, thankfully she does not. She'll pause for a moment and call out as Pazkar has found a DATAPLATE which is good news to her.

"umm I got it open and keep alert."

She pauses to look over the body, wonders for half a moment about trying to pull logs off them and thinks better of it. She notices the injuries though and wonders about the ... things from a previous mission.

"Let's head up."

She'll call a drone to go ahead s she'll start up but will wait for Pazker if he joins her. She will also check any other bodies on the way up.
Shigure     Yuudachi collects the papers... but takes pictures with her onboard fairies first, in case the paper crumbles away into nothing when touched. She dislodges the Dataplate from its housing, then makes her way gingerly over to where I4 is working. Even now she's continuing to scan with her RADAR. It's far too quiet for her liking. That usually means something really small and sneaky is stalking them.

    She daren't use her SONAR in the building. The sonic pulse might cause it to destabilize faster.
Pazkar Pazkar pockets the DATAPLATE, and then heads over with Kotone. He sees the broken androids, and kneels down to lift one and check their injuries, briefly, before dropping them back down. He nods to Kotone, and then starts heading up afterwards. This was an attack. Try and find what might have done it, or more remannts of it.
Reiji Arisu S6 is taking this hard. Maybe even harder than Reiji himself did. She might not sense the same visceral emptiness that he does, but there's something to be said for learning that the civilization you were born to protect is slowly killing itself. Reiji frowns and gently squeezes her shoulder, "...We mustn't. But we also mustn't lose sight of the here and now. Be careful. Who knows what destroying this equipment might do?"

He shakes his head, then. "I'm going to head up to Administration. Even if we can't control the machinery, I'm sure they have data that corroborates what I4 and the others have found. We need as much as we can to build our case. Yell if you need help," he taps at his communicator, "I'll come running."

With that, he... leaps, travelling directly upward to the highest access point he can find. The faster he can get to Administration, the faster they can all get out of this place.
S6 CENTRAL ADMIN--
    Dataplates are collected. Papers are photographed. Some papers even survive being handled, though it's very tenuous. That these would survive the trip back on the Autoyacht is anyone's guess. The photography is probably a very good idea in this case. Meanwhile, I4 gets some of the terminals running; getting data on the reactor decline up until it apparently and very suddenly shut off six years ago. Among other things he gets these records, the names of the staff involved, even some personal logs, final accounts, or last words recorded on those Dataplates.

GUARDIAN--
    On closer examination, the damage to the destroyed androids isn't really consistent with the parasite Nullborn from the CARI institute incident. It looks more like they were killed, and then some parts were carefully extracted. The flank openings are the most dramatic and immediately obvious damage, but there are other more precise, smaller wounds visible here and there. Pazkar's conclusion seems the closest to correct; these androids were attacked.

    There are several floors of offices, places where the Operators would have worked. A repair bay with components scattered all over. At the top, right above the repair bay appears to actually be a hanger. Several gangly vehicles occupy the space, clearly designed to interface with androids. Some kind of cross between a robot and an aircraft. The secret to Norte's military power before it fell, perhaps?

    Perhaps the Dataplate will have more information, but that'll have to wait until I4 gets his hands on it.

POWER STATION--
    "Nnh," S6 responds to Reiji with a curt nod, even as her blades dance amidst the turbines. She leaves him to his own devices, fixated on tearing the machinery apart.

    The main office of the power plant has more of that ancient paper and remnant organic material. There's a terminal with a Dataplate he could take, but with S6 destroying the machinery downstairs, the terminal itself is unpowered. Sifting through the hard documents, those that survive being handled, produces detailed graphs and lots of MATH presumably linked to reactor operations. The graph in particular looks very similar to the one Yuudachi shared through the communicator, though it's more detailed.

    Downstairs, S6 wheels back with her swords, panting softly. Machinery sparks. Pipes hiss out the remaining pressure they had once contained, red-hot metal cooling rapidly to a less luminescent shade. A device creaks, then topples from the damage it had sustianed, smashing itself open against the floor and scattering some two-dozen cubes, each one glowing a gentle blue. As these scatter around S6's feet, she takes a step back, eyes locked on them.

    "...Mana batteries..." she mutters, even as her HUD starts flashing the charge levels of each mana cell in her field of vision. Her POD chimes. Her response is instantaneous.

    In the main office, Reiji hears the screeching of metal cease. And after a pause, the sudden, distinct, and unmistakable clashing of blades.
Ishirou I4 puts out the call, as he gets to the last days of the city.  It's shocking, especially after what has been said very recently.  This can go through later, he looks towards his POD, "Download everything to go through later."

Of course, S6's call for help causes I4 to snap his head back to reality.  "Belay that, we have to go support S6," he comments to which the POD questions. -Current operations would be in vain if we were to not gain any new information on what is happening here, the risks were understood when this mission was taken by all parties.-

"I said come on," I4 isn't even listening, running down the stairs to catch up with Yuudachi.  I4 goes onto try and search the area, looking for something, anything that could get them their faster.  
Shigure     Yuudachi snaps to alert when S6 calls out she's engaged. The ship spirit darts off as fast as she can muster on land... which is pretty damn fast. I4'll probably have a hard time keeping up with her on the straight-aways. She comes in hot, breaking through the outer door of the reactor and charging down towards S6's signal source.

    Once she's got line of sight she pulls her short blade and falls on the Brawler with an animalistic fervor, aiming to at least knock it off balance if not do real damage.
Reiji Arisu Never before has Reiji been so thankful that his foxy partner demanded that he keep his electronics up-to-date. Reiji's cellphone might not last very long in this kind of environment, but it's probably a sight better than anything that might be running on mana. He takes pictures of what documents he can find before even attempting to preserve them in a usable state. The null zone has not been kind to the paper that these calculations were scrawled out on. It takes some very clever application of wood-aspected shotgun shells to reinforce them to the point that he feels confident about packing them away.

Reiji just finishes stowing the dataplate away when he detects that the ever-present sounds of machinery finally grind to a halt... Only to be replaced by something else. Something much, /much/ more troubling. "S6," Reiji growls as he turns on a heel. "Sitrep, what's going on-- you're fighting a what?"

An android...!?

Reiji turns and darts back toward the main reactor chamber. He erupts from the corridor and leaps into the air! A crimson blade slides out of its sheath, Reiji silently quelling and containing the fiery elemental energies within. He needs to conserve that power for when he needs it, and right now-- right now he might not need it...!

Because he's not striking. Rather, his blade moves to intercept the Norte Brawler's own. "Android of Norte," Reiji yells, "B8! Stand down! We are not your enemies-- we've come to investigate this city, not to snuff out what little life it might still have! I am Reiji Arisu, a human mage from across the sea! Stand down or we will be forced to employ lethal force!"
Pazkar As they pass the corpses again and reach the repair bay, moving towards the vehicles, Pazkar hears the commotion over the radio. They have to get there, quickly, but how...

We must hijack it.

Hoping that Kotone knows what he means and will use her robot abilities to help him gain control, Pazkar approaches one of the vehicles, looks for a console or 'brain', and puts his gauntlet on it. Weird, hard-to-explain greenish energy pulsates through the vehicle, and any interfaces on it start to spout junkcode, visibly glitching /terribly/.

It's not guaranteed to work, but Pazkar's goal is to get this vehicle to both power-on, and be able to work for one of the two (presuambly Kotone, as he can fly). If it succeeds, it would probably behave how he wants it to.
Kotone Yamakawa Progress is being made fairly well here they push deeper into the complex the hanger gets her attention she makes note of how they could interface with androids and wonders if she might be able to jack into one she'll look into this for a moment. At least until the call comes in that there's a hostile around and it needs dealing with. Then Pazker points out a very important fact they won't be able to get there in time without some sort of ride.

"Right let's get to it."

Kotone will attempt to get into the most intact looking of the machine will attempt to jack in and start trying to do what she can to help Pazkar in taking over, hopefully, she's right about he being able to interface with it properly.

"Here I go again plugging myself into strange technology."

It really had become a thing from her earliest days of being in the multiverse. Hey, Ko can you jack into this strange alien device and see if you can do something with it. It had become a habit at this point and it was time to move.

She would have to trust in her new ally's abilities to get this going and she knew they had a wild ride ahead of them. If they pulled this off somehow.
S6 POWER STATION--
    The android S6 is engaged against is a female model. Slightly taller. More solidly built. A tattered white uniform with blue accents, the opaque visor broken-- only covering one of her crimson eyes. Her weapons are weilded in her hands, contrasting the floating weapon system favored by the Indus androids. Twin swords, mismatched and damaged; one curved, the other straight. Ostensibly an older model with no support POD or the like, B8 keeps her advantage through her initial surprise attack and then applying unrelenting pressure, keeping S6 on the defensive.

    It isn't until Yuudachi pounces on B8 that S6 gets any kind of reprieve. The bulkier melee fighter wheels around with the destroyer clinging to her back, reaching up to grasp at that uniform in an attempt to hurl Yuudachi off.

GUARDIAN--
    Once powered on, the flight unit manages itself alright. Kotone's interface is incompatible...but the unit supplies its own interface as a backup once the chestplate folds down to lock her in place. Additional panels move into place to hold her arms and legs steady so there's no risk of injury. Turns out this unit is transformable, between a jet-like mode for fast travel and a robot-like mode for agile combat, though it's not much heavier than a small car nor is it actually very large. It'll probably take some experimentation, but the controls are forgiving enough to get her to the power station.

BACK AT THE POWER STATION--

    I4 arrives about when B8 hurls herself at S6 again, only to be denied by Reiji's intercession. Her single visible eye jerks towards him, narrow and hostile, widening when he identifies himself as human.

    S6 gives the aggressive android a solid kick in the chest, then plants her foot and swings her floating swords up into an aggressive posture, "I am Striker Six of FANTOM. I am only defending myself. If you continue to attack, I will not hesitate."

    B8, however, doesn't topple over when kicked. She slides back, leaning forward, bracing herself until the inertia is gone and she stops sliding. Her gaze shifts, focusing on Yuudachi, then I4. The sound of the flight unit launching from GUARDIAN headquarters draws her attention next, before her gaze at last settles on Reiji and S6.

    The android hesitates. After a moment, she spins her swords and slides them into their sheaths. Without a word, B8 then crouches, gathering the discarded mana batteries close to her feet, cradling them in her arms.

    Not every battery is gathered. B8 doesn't move. When she's gotten the four or five that she can reach, she curls up around them, shoulders shaking, muttering softly, "...It's over... It's over..."
Kotone Yamakawa Kotone knew her interface might not work, and she pulls the plug out letting the line snap back into her neck thankfully there's an interface that thanks to Pazkar's efforts is brought up and she's able to work with it. She seems to like how the machine works to hold her in place she makes note of the controls and will after some experimentation helped by her use of power armour from time to time she's confident enough she can get both her and Pazkar to the power plant.

"Okay you are going to have to trust me here Pazkar."

She'll move to get hold of the Knight if he lets he and then will launch for the Power Plant, at least once she makes sure the doors are open.
Ishirou I4 arrives, though feeling far too late to actually help.  Though far too relived that well, nobody was hurt.  This causes him to turn his attention fully on B8, to her odd behavior.  He raises a hand to the others and makes a bold move...

He walks to the android and offers a hand to her.  "No, it's not over yet.  A city still lives, there are people who still cling to life despite the world's state.  Anything you can tell us about what happened here can and will make a difference."

"So, come with us out of this nullzone and help us save what is left."
Shigure     Yuudachi is a tenacious clinger, but B8 manages to get a grip and hurls the blonde shipgirl across the room. A wall earns a decidedly girl-shaped imprint, but YUudachi is quick back to her feet, red eyes narrowed at the aggressive android.

    The entire exchange is over quickly once B8 apparently concedes... and gathers her fallen comrade's batteries to cradle them. "Yes... it's over. We'll take you with us." she says, relaxing her guard and sheathing the short blade at the small of her back once again.

    Yuudachi kneels down and carefully picks up the couple of cubes nearby, then carries them over to B8 with a glance at the others. "I knew it was too quiet."
Pazkar As Kotone moves to grab Pazkar once they have the machine working again, he nods wordlessly. If the doors are still open, they fly to the power plant, to bring the vehicle and team up with the others. Once they're there, he'll disengage...

And move to approach the others, in order to survey the situation.
Reiji Arisu Reiji meets the android's gaze. His eyes are human, undeniably so. The little imperfections in his face and eyes say all that need to be said. Sparks fly as the two blades meet, and a split second later knock one another back. Reiji returns his sword to its sheath, his hand lingering there for a long moment as the situation evolves... Until B8 ultimately decides to see reason. He breathes a relieved sigh, relaxing his stance. "Good... Good."

I4 moves in to console the android, and Reiji... Nods. "We have a vessel moored in the harbor. One way or another, we're going to be shipping out soon, before the Nullzone drains its power cells. You're welcome to come with us. I'm sure that you have... Quite a story to tell."
S6     When B8 stands down, S6 does as well. Her swords flip up and back to hover just behind her shoulders, paired up and secure. Looking down, she crouches, collecting one of the discarded batteries at her feet. Her HUD tells her it's only 40% charged-- and drops to 39% even as she holds it. She lifts her gaze to I4 when he addresses the other android, setting her jaw.

    B8 shudders, dipping her head. Someone offers her something, prompting her to look up at Yuudachi. Gingerly, she reaches out, collecting the battery the shipgirl offers, muttering, "...H22. B19. T27." Her grip on the mass of power cells in her arms tightens, rattling the devices against one another, before they start winking out into her storage system. When she rises to her feet, S6 offers her the last battery, which she accepts, "...And G9." Her head lowers, cradling the final power cell in both hands, "...Oh G9... Always causing trouble for me..." The cell is lifted, pressed against her cheek, and then it disappears as well.

    "...Everyone that wasn't destroyed is accounted for," the Brawler states, casting her eyes to the wreckage of the charger station and the shattered cells pinned beneath it. Her gaze returns to Reiji, "...As your prisoner, I will go peacefully. Just... let me keep them. Please." Raising a hand, she places it on her chest, visible eye closing, "...I'm only alive because of them."
Ishirou I4 lets a slight sigh of relief out.  They'll at least get a better understanding of what happened, the last days of this place.  Maybe even some real answers and movement towards the truth.  Turning to move with the group away, he turns his gaze towards S6 for a moment.  

"You alright?" he asks, quietly, "Sorry I wasn't here sooner," he says, perhaps a bit guiltily.  
Reiji Arisu Those power cells-- they were there for a reason. This old machine, the reactor, it was all that was keeping them charged. The androids that they must have given life to are likely all long gone by now, but... But there's still one here. One who's very much still alive. Reiji watches in respectful silence as the power cells vanish into the android's storage system. At first, he wonders if she's consumed them outright, but-- no. His shoulders sag slightly at the display. "I'm sorry," he says, then, "This... Must have been difficult for you. I can't even imagine how hard it must have been. Keep them. I wouldn't feel right, taking them from you."

But... He looks to the others. This place is taking its toll, even on a band of elites. Especially on /this/ band of elites. "I think it's time for us to go. Come on, then," he says, reaching a hand out to help B8 to her feet. "Let's get out of here. There's... Nothing left for us here, I think. Nothing but dust and painful memories."

There will be time to hear B8's story on their way back. And... He can decide, then, whether it'd be wise to give her over to Indus. This might be an occasion where protective custody is the better option...
Shigure     Yuudachi reaches out and places a hand on B8's shoulder. "It's hard, losing comrades. All you can do is honour their memory, and continue living for your own sake." she says to the taller android. She then looks at the others. "Yuudachi will carry us home, that yacht is too slow." she states.
Kotone Yamakawa it doesn't take long for Kotone to arrive but but the point she sets down in her salvaged power armour of sort it sems the fight is over at this point, just untime to see that B8 has stood down and surrender she lower the machin down to let Pazkar get off without much issue and notes. "I can't even guess to think what it's been like for you."
S6     "Nnnh..." S6 hesitates, then nods once to I4, "Y-yes. I'm undamaged. It was ...very surprising, though." Her head shakes, then, reaching out to rest a hand on her fellow android's shoulder, "You didn't do anything wrong." Her gaze shifts towards B8, "...She surprised all of us." She takes in a breath, letting it out unsteadily to try and calm herself.

    She glances towards Yuudachi, nodding once, "...Please, and thank you, Yuudachi." Raising a hand, she rests it briefly on B8's shoulder, then steps past the surviving android, towards the docks.
Shigure     Yuudachi steps outside, and heads toward the docks where they first made landfall. She skates out onto the water and with a flare of blue-white light, a sphere engulfs her. It expands, and the frame of her full sized Ocean Fitout gracefully hits the water, causing a pair of wake waves to cast from either side of her bow. Smoke stack begins to emit, and the destroyer backs into the pier before extending a gangplank. <"All aboard."> comes her voice from somewhere within the belly of the warship, transmitted via her loudspeakers.

    The Shiratsuyu-class weren't the biggest or most powerful, but they were fairly large for a destroyer. She can easily carry a bit of cargo and still have space for the Elites.