Log:A Lesson in Betrayal

Moonfall 2019/10/21 	 Victory Artemis Sinmore Quiet Voyager Silence

1

An emergency mission is underway to the lovely destination location of Hawaii. Well, to a less lovely location on Maui. Specifically a mothballed facility in the interior, more remote parts. It's lush and drizzling on and off as clouds drift over the mountain tops.

The heroes have been briefed and are in a VTOL craft just arriving to the island. Once upon a time it was an air/space strip, but was relegated some time ago to a simple comm relay and storage depot. It is now of some importance as it was a storage depot for decommisioned craft and parts. Said components (which are much harder to replace than simply patching hulls) will be critical to making some demolished newer craft spaceworthy again. There is also a civillian observatory on the island. With long range comms/sensors down, a second priority will be seeing if they may have acquired any useful information/readings/photographs around the moon.

The pilot says over the comms to those who volunteered/voluntold, "We've just arrived to the island. Which objective are we dropping you off at first?"

Victory nods. "I think...let's load up the parts first. Then we can head to the observatory. Besides, we might be able to communicate from there."

"Roger that," the pilot responds. The ship moves quickly over the island, heading low as it passes over the interior. Currently they're sailing over Hana, the rainforest side of the island, heading towards the mountains. "ETA 5 minutes."

Quiet stands at the door, holding the railwhile looking out over the island. Were she not as profressional, and physically capable, she might be whoping with excitement. It's been a while since she's had the chance to leap out of a perfectly good aircraft. Too long. At the 5 min warning, she does refocus long enough to make a final check of her gear.

The VoyagerSIM was forced to re-prioritize its current terminal values with the Porternant Moon Reveal. The Intelligence could not very well complete its purpose or retrieve its body when both celestial objects involved would be destroyed beyond survival or habitability. So it volunteered for the mission and finalized its application to join up as a reserve member of StarGuard until such a time the UN Panel on Sapient Intelligences accept its testing proofs.

It rides quietly towards Hawaii, staring at its human compatriots- observing them prepare for their arrival on site.

If the VoyagerSIM could feel emotions as humans do, it would be nervous- but instead it is dead focused on completing mission objectives so its very purpose is not rendered invalid.

Instead it sits, almost mounted to the wall with various clamps and whatnot to make sure the squishier teammates are in no danger due to turbulence or evasive actions.

"Sounds like a plan to me," remarks Talia after Victory gives directions to the pilots. She remains near the rear of the craft, loitering in the cargo zone as she checks her gear all over again. It's not like Talia has a whole lot of gear to carry for something like this. Once again, she's wearing one of those snazzy black and crimson Omega Guard bodysuits with the white omega symbol on a red field plastered over the front and back of her torso.

Looking over at Quiet, Talia offers a thumbs up when Quiet suddenly starts moving with purpose again. She smiles cheerily under her domino mask and looks over her shoulder toward the rest of the team. There's a wave and a smile cast around while she rests her free hand on the handle of her whip.

The ship rattles from the strong crosswinds of the island. "We've got some turbulance, folks," warns the pilot. There's a fair bit of turbulance as they descend. At a certain height, it all levels off again and the ship slows to a hover above the old landing strip. Vines and roots have reclaimed parts of the runway. Not a problem for the VTOL craft. It rotates to face the depot.

Victory nods and looks outside through a window, "Any sign of anyone else having been here?"

"What was that?" the Pilot asks suddenly. Even over the engines, the heroes can make out the sound of a small explosion. It doesn't echo off the mountains, sounding more like it's from the interior of the large depot.

No ships in view, or other vehicles.

Victory tilts his head as he listens, "Something inside? We better check it out. After you drop us, get to a safe distance, but remain within comm range."

The VoyagerSIM waits for the craft to come to a halt, but its ocular sensor lifts up and away from its body and twists so it can see as much of their environment as it can.

"This Unit cannot source the origin of that sound." The Model 9 Prototype says aloud as it prepares to disengage its clamps and activate its defensive systems.

As soon as the craft comes to a stable position it will disengage and jump off the craft, activating its resonance deflectors until they can ascertain whether or not the danger has passed.

"Roger," the pilot says, starting to descend towards the landing strip for drop off. To the left of the side-door on the ship is the depot.

The depot itself is made of concrete and steel roofing, It's 40m long and about 15m wide. Some 1m tall windows go along the wall just below the 5m high flat roof. Large hangar-style doors big enough to drive a truck through, plus one regular door entrance visible. There's a few other buildings, smaller ones, more likely offices and barracks.

The ship touches down on the ground to let the team off.

Explosions of any kind in the vicinity are generally not liked by Quiet... unless she has a hand in making them. She opens the door on her side once they're close and readies to go. Knowing their ride home should make a quick touch'n'go, she's out even before it fully touches down, moving to clear and watch a sector while also making way for others

"A desperate cry for help," offers Talia as she catches the sounds of explosion in the distance. She frowns slightly, leaning a little bit as she waits for the go ahead. Patience is not always her strong suit, one supposes. Talia climbs off of the ship with the rest of the team and takes a moment to look around in quiet contemplation while her boots smoosh some vines and plants.

More sounds come from the depot. This time loud, metallic crunching. It sounds like the impact of a car wreck.

Victory opens the door and hops out...and starts to make his way toward the building. He turns on his shield as he moves forward, as they're expecting some kind of trouble now.

Once all the heroes exit, the aircraft starts to rise up in the air and drift away from the Depot as ordered.

The Model 9 Prototype disengages the clamps securiting it to the body of the craft and drops down to the ground, unfolding a bit to come to its full height and run a standard arrival diagnostic.

Its complete as it disembarks from the VTOL craft.

Once all systems are proven to be within preferred working conditions the android activates its deflectors and tries to position itself to the side of others- letting Victory & his shield lead the way. The robot elects to protect their side from attack from nearby buildings.

It stalks defensively next to the team as they move towards the building.

Quiet has a another opinion on the sounds that are now joined by crunching. She starts following Victory for the depot as well. The rear of her armor projects a brief holo-display of text for Sinmore's benefit, to share Quiet's alternate theory: OR THAT'S THE STUFF WE NEED EXPLODING?

It's at that moment a large engine block, half-completed, sails through the metal doors of the depot, rolling towards the heroes's general direction, but not in danger of striking any of them. "Moving your hands slower does not help me to understand you any better," grouches british voice with archaic overtones. "I am doing our Liege's bidding. He did not say -how- I must do it!"

Victory shakes his head, "Not a cry for help, I suspect. Though if someone is bothering to blow up a spare parts depot, they have too many people or too much time on their hands. It's not like this will hamper the worldwide Starguard forces that much. We're picking it up for our local SG office. There are a dozens of those around the world. It could be as simple as something gone awry inside. Electrical or whatnot. Or it could be someone sabatoging the place." He sighs as he hears the voice inside. "I'm guessing the latter, though. Based on that." He gets to the door and looks inside.

"This Unit detects Godflora: Artemis. Perhaps she too has arrived to assist." The Android says as it follows Victory. "This is a most fortuitous turn of events."

Victory shakes his head. "Unlikely. If it's her, she's likely working for the alt-Porter. She lost her bout with him."

Quiet stops momentarily when a large MFO sails through the doors and out into the field towards them. She points to Victory and nods, very much agreeing with his assessment at the moment.

Quiet then all but vanishes as she activates the refractive field on her suit. She then attempts several quiet steps from her former position, both for a better angle and to distance from her former position.

"ERROR. This Unit has been informed on numerous occassions that Godflora only protect- they do not destroy. This behavior is not concurrent with any descriptors applied to Designation: Artemis." The Android says with some certainty.

"I meant that the... Never mind."

Talia shakes her head. If you have to explain the joke, it's not a joke. She resolves to work on her one liners to avoid future confusion while her attention fixes on the engine block rolling across the tarmac toward the team. Her eyebrows knit together as an all too familiar voice fills her ears.

"Gods damn it, Artemis," groans Talia as she starts jogging toward the building. Distracted as she is, Talia fails utterly at being stealthy in her approach. Boots clap on the tarmac and crunch through plants frequently as the petite powerhouse tries to figure out what's going on.

"Yes, go sulk and leave me to this disagreeable work," the british female complains. Another crunch. There's a pause from the loud footsteps from outside. And several short, fast crunches and the sounds of things scattering which partially covers the sound of the heroes. "What are you waving about for? I am upholding my oath as it was stated!"

Getting a peek inside, Victory can see Artemis smashing some parts within the large open floor depot. There's a side area that's walled off, but this side is wide open with pillars placed in rows. Artemis' overskirt is torn and shredded, hanging more loosely than usual.

12 meters off to the left, a feminine form of armor, carrying a heavily modular rifle, is setting charges on the larger components.

Victory doesn't wait. Instead he takes several steps forward...and throws his energy shield at the armored woman...but at her rifle itself, to try to disable it.

The rifle is struck by the energy shield, managing to weather the blow barely.

Silence manages to keep a hold of her weapon, but now her attention is on the heroes. She raises her rifle and aims down the sights towards Victory. With a FHOOM, there's a spray of shrapnal from a cannister.

The VoyagerSIM's Victory is wide open after that opening attack and so it attempts to dive in the way of the oncoming shrapnel. Unfortunately some plat marerial has gotten itself entangled around its right leg- just behind a peice that strut that presses the leg forward smoothly so instead its gait shifts and it tumbles over.

Most of the shrapnel hits Artemis' shield without hurting her much. A few stinging pieces bounce off her hardened skin. For those familiar with her shield, it has three lines where the cracks where sealed.

Victory gets his re-formed shield up in time, but gets blown backward and lands on the ground awkwardly.

Quiet glares daggers once she notes Victory's lunging target. If a mute swears in the jungle and no one can hear it, does it make a sound? Of course not. Does she blame him for focusing there? Not really. Though there is still the matter of the ginger playing horseshoes with hyperdrives. Perhaps a lesser threat, but that means little if you leave them there to stab you in the back. So, just to be safe, she fires off a not-terribly-lethal option at Artemis.

Artemis gets wrapped up by the Nano-Woven net, her arms pinned to her sides.

Talia ducks back behind the door as that shrapnel grenade goes off inside of the building ahead of her. She pants a little bit, surprised by how quickly her pulse has spiked and the adrenaline is starting to pump. Maybe it was because she was already on edge from the realization that there is an Artemis in there. Maybe it's just this is an actual superhero mission.

Closing her eyes, Talia reaches into the inferno that burns in her veins. She mentally embraces it and exhales a column of fire as her body swells upward and outward. Muscles ripple under her bodysuit and flesh as she grows steadily in size and mass while her fingers dig into the palms of her hands. Quietly she mutters something in Old Norse under her breath to ensure that blasted bodysuit survives the transformation into Sinmore.

Pivoting around the doorframe, Sinmore goes charging into the depot proper as her eyes snap open. Her flesh hardens into stone while her eyes turn to obsidian, lit from within with emerald flames. A groan of frustration rumbles out of her as she watches Artemis get ensnared in the net before Sinmore's attention fixes on Silence.

"RRRRRAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRGGGGGGGHH!"

Helpfully Sinmore rushes toward Silence and attempts to throw a single punch at the armored woman's helmet.

Silence looks up at the charging behemoth and quickly ducks the massive fist. Missed by a few inches!

Victory gets back to his feet...and tries agian. But this time, he aims for the person, not the weapon. He springs forward and fires his shield at Silence.

Victory's shield reforms again. He shakes his head as he just misses.

Silence sidesteps just in time. All this attention! She throws an unhappy gesture at the group of heroes. And is somewhat exasperated with Artemis, though that's unreadable with her armor.

"You have ensared me!" Artemis acts as if this were some great and terrible surprise. Well, the acting is terrible. She finally turns her head to see the heroes sent, and her expression falls. This isn't the always smiling, battle eager Artemis most know. Her expression is somber as the grave. "Victory...? Sinmore? Voyager? How did he know? This...must have been the test," she says, disheartened. But her oath compels her, and she strains again her bonds to be free.

A few bits of the netting snap against her straining arms, but Artemis is still held fast.

From the side offices, two tall, bulky figures in armored metal suits appear, helmless. One with light blue skin and red spiking hair that looks like petals. The other a more green hue with lavendar hair petals that droop. They look vaguely akin to plants. Each one carries an organic looking staff, ornate in design. "Kaldri v'rat ni plurn!" one cries. Both lower their staffs, which charge up and fire blasts towards Voyager and Quiet, respectively.

Voyager sees Artemis and is struck with a much more severe bout of confusion thanks to conflicting entity profiles. Even as it picks itself up off the ground the android deftly removes the obstruction from its leg as it does so.

"ERROR." It announces as it sees her attacked by Quiet, someone StarGuard Command has also empowered to be here. "ERROR. Designation Artemis still meets criteria for Categories: Friend. Ally." It says as it finds the conflict in its programming. "These designations prevent effecting object with violent action. Query, Designation Artemis: Is this world no longer under the protection of the Godflora? Designation: Commanding Officer Victory has informed your challenge was lost to this Off-World Duplicate of US Citizen James Porter. This Unit will be required to recategorize your entity if you do not cease these and further actions immediately." It says as it turns right towards Artemis. "I would prefer not to be forced to recategorize you in any way." It adds with a personal touch just as one of the plant beings shoots it.

The deflection field around it flashes in the area it was struck but otherwise the Voyager bot seems unphased by the attack.

Silence finds herself in danger of being overwhelmed. She activates a cloaking field and vanishes before warping elsehwere.

Artemis sighs at Voyager's inquiries, sounding emotionally pained by them. "I am...no longer your ally and friend, Voyager," she says with great difficulty. She doesn't need to tell him to do it. But if she doesn't, his systems will not allow him to fight her. Her head snaps to the guards after seeing Voyager shot.

Quiet now has strong second-thoughts on her choice of first target, and not just because she's now getting fired upon. Wonderful. Well, two can play this game. She re-activates her own distortion field and vanishes, though keeps her attention on the other tricksy one.

Sinmore blinks owlishly as Silence simply winks out of existence from underneath her fist. There is a disconsolate roar of fury that echoes off of the hard, flat surfaces of the depot interior. Of course, the sound and sight of energy blasts being levied upon the team by mysterious strangers gathers Sinmore's attention. After a moment, Sinmore simply charges toward the pair of armored alien plants.

Plowing through everything in her way, Sinmore simply muscles her way toward her quarry. Inexplicably Sinmore seems to come up a little short until she swings a mighty fist toward the one with spiky red petals. Sinmore's large size grants her quite a bit of reach that lets her swing out and try to drill this one in the face.

One of the guards is sent flying through the wall to the next room. The other looks over its shoulder, then up at the flaming giant in fears. It says something into its wrist, "Lora nis, Hafra Paxis!"

"Mark me well, Voyager. You must now designate me an enemy!" Artemis warns direly as she tries to break free of her bonds again.

Sinmore draws back and up to her full height, her fiery vision fixing on the other guard.

"Lorna Doone ex pacis to you too," rumbles Sinmore while scowling.

The cowed guard still stands its ground and opens fire, point blank, at the fire Giantess.

Silence decloaks from up in the rafters, balanced on one of the rusty girders. The barrel of the weapon shifts as she takes aim towards Victory, the one who tried to send a shield to her face.

Silence fires off three shots. Two find their mark. One is deflected right back at her, knocking the sniper from their perch and sending her flying into a heap of component parts with a crash of metal!

Quiet is at first concerned she was a hair's breadth slow, but Victory ricochet's the first incoming round with his shield. The second is already en route, but by then, so is Quiet's. The two meet not-quite squarely a few centimeters from Victory, mashing themselves into one blob of metal with zeroed momentum. It drops at Victory's feet.

Part 2

The mission:

Starguard has sent a team to a mothballed facility SG facility in Maui's interior in the hopes of recovering components needed for the ships and comms destroyed by the Evil Porter's forces. There is also a civilian observatory on the island. With long range comms/sensors down, a second priority will be seeing if they may have acquired any useful information/readings/photographs around the moon.

The first VTOL ship carrying the main Starguard leader (Victory) and others went straight to the depot inland. There, the heroes encountered saboteurs already in the process of destroying components they were sent to capture. Victory, Voyager, Quiet, and Sinmore have encountered a few plant-alien guards, the sniper Silence, and former ally, Designation: Artemis, Category: Enemy.

Artemis is trying to tear out of some nano-weave netting near the large side-sliding doors into the depot's interior. The giant rectangular warehouse depot is filled with parts and components, big and small. Sinmore just hit one of the plant guards through a wall into the office area of the depot. Silence lies in a pile of small parts and tools on her back after having her rapid fire shots reflected back at her by Victory's shield. One shot that was about to hit Victory was shot to a dead stop by Quiet's uncanny aim!

Meanwhile, a second VTOL aircraft had dropped off a secondary team at the tropical forest's edge to approach on foot and secure the perimeter. Having received a warning from the pilot of the first craft, they're making their way to the depot to help with the battle that's started.

Rangel strings her bow as the VTOL approaches the LZ, then hits the ground leaping and bounding by trees, staying high as she can and using her natural spotted fur coat as camouflage, zeroing in on the sound of action, watchful for ambush or surprise welcoming presents that she doesn't want to accept.

Artemis is about to struggle against her bonds when she suddenly looks up to the ceiling and sighs as she stops briefly. "Yes. I shall obey my oath. I have not betrayed it," she says with resentment to...nothing? Nothing anyone can see. She takes a deep breath and pushes with all her might to escape her bonds.

Artemis ripes free of the nano-weave netting at last, casting it aside as her sword and shield are free.

A few components rattle on the shelves and in the piles they've falling into. The ground trembles. Earthquake? Volcano?

Thick vines tear through the concrete flooring in the middle of the depot, between Silence at the far end and the heroes and Artemis near the doors. Leaves unfurl and flowers bloom as a blue-skinned figure rises up from the tunneled earth. She's wearing a black metal-weave bodysuit that leaves her arms and legs bare. Milky-white petals form her hair. Her irises are red, and her expression scathing. "Mammals. Mammals everywhere." She looks to Artemis and Silence. "Could you not accomplish a simple task?" War-Thorn Paxis sneers as sharp thorns start to grow along her arms and legs.

Beneath her in the tunnel, several footsteps are heard approaching.

Rangel arrives at the depot, but instead of bursting in the front doors like a buffoon coated in bullets due to loudly announcing their presence as a squishy target, she leaps to the point above the doors to peer in and survey the situation.

Crimson and Cerulean exit the VTOL craft and advance swiftly to the open door of the warehouse to assess the situation. As they move their battlesuits undergo a rippling change of coloration from head to feet taking on the semblance of the surrounding terrain and effectively camouflaging their presence.

Fleta, still only a Starguard Nu recruit, has nevertheless been sent on the mission. She flies toward the depot as fast as her tiny wings will carry her, all the while looking about warily.

Silence quickly rolls off the mound of parts and looks to the War-Thorn, though her armored suit, full helm, and torn camouflage cowl make it impossible to fully read how she's regarding War-Thorn Paxis. Her form ripples and she vanishes from sight.

Fleta arrives at full flight and peeks in the door to get a grasp of the situation.

Quiet feels the rumbling of the ground even before her motion sensors pick it up. Then there's the vines and flower opening and WTF?! No. Nope. Nonono. She already has enough things to worry about. Like not having new holes punched into herself or her teammates. Her helm tips away from that. Too much to process right now (even if she does look rather warrior princess in the armor). Q looks upwards at the other duplidopple that thinks she disappeared. Time to put a stop to that. Her own gravitics spin up to boost her as she leaps up to the rafters adjacent to the mostly-concealed threat. Holo-projectors then kick on to overlay a visible silhouette atop Silence's own

Silence is revealed back up in the rafters again in a different sniping position, with half-cover from one of the girders.

Quiet might expect that Silence could understand more complicated signs, but the one-handed gesture made to her is rather universal. For her team's benefit, of course.

The guard with a Sinmore in their way. It looks between her legs, to the WarThorn and is heartened by her appearance. The guard fires with its staff-blaster at Sinmore again!

Four more guards, bulkier than the ones Sinmore is fighting, climb out of the hole that the War-Thorn has arrived in. These ones are carrying organic blasters that look like traditional rifles, and their armor is thicker, made of metal, but resembles bark.

The VoyagerSIM is still reviewing its options as Quiet/Victory pull a masterful team-up. It is doing something akin to imagination as Artemis' struggles & breaks through the nano-weave netting. It re-prioritizes Artemis as its primary enemy since the plant people have yet to get through its deflector shielding.

"This Unit regrets your decision, Artemis. New Designation found appropriate. 'Traitor'." It says in its usual cheerful speech patter as it tries to get between the Godflora and those currently tagged as 'Ally'.

"New Designation: 'Traitor' applied to former User: Artemis! Command Control- ERROR: Inoperative." It announces as War-Thorn Paxis arrives with such flourish it's optical unit shifts subtly to keep her in view and re-prioritizes again.

"This Unit has a distributed memory system & backs itself up in case of catastrophic damage." It says, likely telling the Godflora that her betrayal won't be forgotten.

Victory jumps upward and toward Silence to close the distance some. At the top of the arc, he fires off the third charge from his shield, targeting the enemy sniper. The energy shield has already re-formed on his arm by the time he lands on the ground again.

Sinmore gets shot in the dead center of her torso. Really, it's hard not to hit someone as big as the 13' tall woman seemingly made of stone and fire. Blinking, Sinmore looks down at the smoke rising from a burn mark on her Omega Guard costume.

"Ow," deadpans Sinmore, "I am surely smote."

Silence is knocked from her perch, even with cover. At least this time, she manages to flip about and quickly initiate her reduced personal gravity to land safely on her feet.

A sniper? In here? Not on Rangel's watch! The feline archer feels this is an opportune moment to replace the rafter-borne one. Rangel recognizes Quiet, notices what Quiet has done, and chooses her first target based on a sense of pride as sniping is really Rangel's bag of tricks. Notably not talking, the cat leaps up to take a shot into Silence's relocated spot, all without being noticed by most of the present combatants.

Silence just barely ducks below the arrow. The War-Thorn watches coldly. "Never send a Pet to do a War-Thorn's job."

Rangel speaks at low volume into her SG comms.

Voyager the Robot circles around Artemis to position itself before it turns unnaturally & charges War-Thorn attempting to leap off a Distribution Manifold still bolted to a medium sized (and inoperable) fusion drive to come in at a surprising angle.

Hearing it speak to the others as if she were some sort of leader increases the being's combat priority over the Goddess of Betrayal. Logic indicates that putting this individual down first will assist the others with their individual skirmishes.

Once within striking distance it lifts its right hand With mechanical precision and attempts to land a strike on a spot that seems weaker than the others.

The Intelligence calculates that has 18 minutes on its reserve battery supply left & a decisive victory is required if its terminal values are to be achieved.

Artemis's heart stings from Voyager's words. "Aye, my heart is full of regret. But I am kept in bondage by my geas," she says as those words weight heavily upon her. Her grip tightens on her sword. Just as with Duod Dalux, she is trapped by her divine nature by the corrupt.

Victory speaks into his SGG comm quietly as well, in response to Rangel.

The Android strikes War-Thorn with all its might, but unsurprisingly the War-Thorn Paxis lives up to her title. A steel hard thorn jams itself into the robot's hand and snaps off.

War-Thorn Paxis is held in place by her roots, the strike hitting her solidly. Those terrible thorns prove hard as steel as they puncture Voyager's hand. "You will know why I bear the title of War-Thorn, Construct," she says with an iron voice.

Silence shoots the War-Thorn a look quickly, distracted by the battle as she's attacked. She pulls a canister from her belt and quickly throws the flash-bang grenade into the thick of the heroes causing the most trouble for her so far. Namely, Quiet and Victory.

Rangel sighs and mutters, "Well, there goes that cover idea..." She pulls a sharpie out anyway.

Quiet's systems dim and mute the flashbang, though not quite quickly nor completely enough. Rather than stumble and fall from the rafter (likely into some monstrous maw), she cues up her cloaking field and makes an intentional jump back to the ground.

Victory has a rough idea where Silence was...despite having been blinded. And she can't have moved far. He hurries over to where she was...and tries to anticipate where she might be. He closes his eyes to concentrate, working from memory, and unleashes a side kick where he expects Silence to be standing.

The Construct is still analyzing Artemis' words, hoping for some clue on how to free the Goddess from what it interprets as some sort of bondage.

It is silent, though it has already memorized her words and is in the middle of reviewing them in depth. Not knowing what a geas is, its was forced to use contextual clues until it can access an internet terminal or the Colonial Bay library where it is now a proud member.

After a long time (to a robotic lifeform) it speaks to War-Thorn with its patented cheerful voice. "This Unit will break your gaeas hold on the Godflora & prevent the James Porter Analogue, who assumably is your master as well from succeeding." It'd be a mouthful if the Android had a mouth.

Victory manages to strike Silence, but not terribly solidly. It's clear from how his head is turned, he's not looking in her direction. Or perhaps even hearing her.

Silence tries to turn out of the way, expecting Victory to be blinded. She doesn't lean enough and is caught by Victory's boot and sent staggering a half step. She sways on her feet, but clutches her faceplate after that and turns her face back towards him.

Sinmore is momentarily distracted by the blaster bolt(?) to her torso and sassing the poor, unfortunate alien guard that shot her. That doesn't mean that she didn't notice that someone just burst out of the ground behind her and started throwing around insults. Insulting all mammals just because the ones she's allied with are idiots? C'est tres harsh.

"Kaaaaaaaaammmmmmmmmeeeeee...."

Rumbling to herself, Sinmore brings her hands up and together as heat starts to coalesce around her form even further. Metal abruptly ripples outward from the visible ripple of heat drawing down against her large form, chainmail clinking as it flutters outward and downward in the form of a long coat over Sinmore's frame and her Omega Guard costume.

"Haaaaaaameeeeeee..."

It's about this point that the guard probably notices the volleyball of roiling, rippling, shimmering air between Sinmore's hands. Sinmore smirks at the guard in front of her before she spins around and thrusts her hands outward toward the Warthorn, her complement of guards, and Voyager.

"Haaaaaaa... Ohshi- Voyager?!"

The War-Thorn's eyes glow red at Voyager's words. "That mammal is not the master of the War-Thorn! We are merely allied so I may cleanse this world of its infestation and return it to pristine nature!" Silence gives the War-Thorn another look, and is...silenced? As the War-Thorn holds up a hand towards her. "Pet mammals and useful creatures shall be spared." It is then that she looks at Sinmore's rumblings...

Voyager's Deflector Shielding lights up as its blasted with the others. Its power systems display a precipitous drop in available power but its still looking pretty close to being in factory condition.

"This Unit is unharmed. Please do not worry." The Android says, turning its optical sensor towards Sinmore. "Please reengage. Plant matter is notoriously flammable." It adds, as if anyone needed to be informed of that.

The War-Thorn's eyes widen as a trail of fire roars at her and a guard. That cool composure drops as she screams in wretched agony, as does the guard behind her. The edges of her hair petals blacken and curl, and the cloth parts of her armored material gain some holes. When the fires pass, she is scorched and blackened in areas, twisting and writhing as she pats herself out.

Fleta finds all these huge combatants a bit unnerving. Especially the plants which seem to be rather unnaturally active. Time to fix that! She approaches one, and breaks into song and dance.

Silly plant, don't walk around! Plants, you know, should hold their ground.

Parts of the War-Thorn begin to stiffen and gray, but not as much as the dance might warrant. "Vermin pest," she scowls.

Artemis floats back and readies her shield to strike any that get near her. "You need but walk away from this conflict," she warns the heroes before sweeping her sword wide. It stretches out into a whip and strokes out in a large cone area.

"I am not going anywhere without you, Artemis! And I know you did. NOT. Just try to cut me."

Sinmore's eyes narrow as she grits her teeth, stony lips peeled back as Artemis' whip-sword lashes across her armored, stony form with a tremendous scream of metal-on-metal violence. There are sparks flying in every direction, but Sinmore seems completely unmoved by Artemis' attack.

The War-Thorn makes a dismissive gesture to the pixie. "You should flee from extermination if you know what's good for you. Go dance in a waterfall," she tries compelling the pixie.

Victory is struck from behind...blindsided entirely. Literally, since he was struck...effectively defenseless. He doesn't manage to get his shield up and in the way, and he tumbles forward. He tries to get up to his feet, but being unable to see his footing makes it impossible. Thankfully, he wasn't struck hard enough to be bleeding...but that's only barely true.

Artemis's whip snaps back into the form of a sword as she watches her strike her former allies. "I am bound by oath and honor until death, Sinmore," she warns direly. Though her eyes shift to Victory as he falls...

Artemis turns her eyes back to Sinmore after seeing Victory isn't bleeding. "That was the penalty of my defeat. He would not grant me the death I longed for when he could have my fealty."

Having watched the activity for a couple of seconds as they take stock of the situation, Crimson and Cerulean's primary thought is oO(Maybe I should have spent more time at Hereford. I'm batting out of my league here.) Still they must try to help. Cerulean also reaches out, but in his case he grabs a ruined shuttle thruster pod and drops it between Artemis and as many of the opponents as possible, and Victory, to shield the hero while he remains his feet. Crimson reaches out with an energy whip to try and disarm the swordswoman.

Artemis's sword is yanked out of her hands. "What??" she asks in surprise, but she's smiling. Then looks concerned as she sees the size of her would-be opponents. "You...sent children? Here?" asks the Amazonian in despair to no one in particular.

"Sent children," Rangel mutters. "Try keeping them away..."

Thinking the fairy is taken care of, the War-Thorn points out Sinmore to her guards. "Extinguish THAT one," she intones. The guards, including the one way in the back that Sinmore ignored, aim their weapons like trained soldiers to coordinate.

Silence is looking amuse at Victory's fall, missing when Rangel sets up her attack. The arrow is shockingly effective, striking her her from above and smashing her faceplate into the ground. Some of the glass HUD fractures, pieces of the ballistic glass falling away. Whatever skin that's visible through the cracks and missing gaps is horribly scarred beyond recognition.

The War-Thorn spares a look to Silence as she falls. Her lips part slightly as her scowl turns neutral.

Drawing another bluntie out, Rangel surveys the situation, looking for her next preferred target. "Happy fun guardian I don't dislike or the loudmouth tree lady..." She glances at the tree guards. "Or..."

A hailstorm of blasterfire rains down on Sinmore as she tries dancing around. Only one blaster fails to track her large frame as it dances nimbly through the space. When the gunfire quiets down, Sinmore straightens up and starts brushing blaster debris from her armor and costume. Her fiery green "eyes" fix on War-Thorn and she inquires, "Could you speak up? I can hardly hear over your gnats."

Another strike whittles down the Android's power reserves that is it current expending to keep its Defelctor Shields active.

Its tossed backwards by the sheer force of the blow though. Nevertheless, it rotates its body and lands in what at first looks like heap but really is the best possible landing for its current configuration. It rolls back to its feet.

Voyager charges Artemis as it knows that Sinmore's fire is better spent on the plant-based lifeforms.

"This Unit will engage Godflora. Sinmore of Omega Guard- please maintain strategic engagement with War-Thorn & cadre. WARNING: Designation War-Thorn is named aptly. Maintain distance where possible." The Android says in a bright tone ill-fit for such a moment. Still its clear the artificial intelligence is trying to find a strategy for their team to get through this crisis.

Two fingers on its right hand hang limply, their use still impaired by the War-Thorn's thorn, still lodged through armor plating & between servos.

The Android does not directly engage Artemis- but instead plans to keep her from engaging with others or her weapon. Its single eye tracks the Goddess passively as the Voyager Simulated Intelligence Matrix reviews its experiences with the Godflora. It reviews its sensory data slowly- especially where high-fives were concerned- perhaps estimating strength, speed and other factors. Or maybe it is experiencing something akin to hurt feelings, it symbionic brain working away. Its fans whirling.

Fleta flies away to find a waterfall to dance in. What a truly great idea! Of course, that doesn't mean she doesn't keep trying to enchant the scary plant.

The War-Thorn stiffens more and creaks a bit. Is she getting taller? Maybe stretching by a few inches up, and her limbs are growing longer.

"Babe, you're looking a little ashy," rumbles Sinmore as she cracks her knuckles, looking the War-Thorn dead in the eyes. She offers a sinister looking smile as fire starts to erupt from her fists, boots, knees and elbows. "I hope you're not feeling too stressed out."

Victory gets to his feet, keeping a hand against the wall he has found himself near. He's covered in sweat and debris now..and his uniform is starting to tear a little bit in a couple of places. It isn't armor, after all. He can't hear or see anything yet...but maybe he can affect the battle anyway? He shouts, despite not being able to hear his own voice, "ARTEMIS! I challenge you!" He's not quite looking in the right direction...as his gaze seems to be about 15 degrees to her left. He keeps his free hand against the wall, and his shield in front of him. It won't do much good if he can't see an attack coming, but it's something.

Surprised, Artemis' head turns towards Wade as he issues his challenge. "You challenge the Godflora?!" she says as she raises her voice. She can see his costume torn and his struggle to find his feet. "Very well. I accept your challenge!" she says without knowing the terms, though she looks uncertain rather than her usual eager self. She thinks he may be risking himself to challenge her. She also doesn't realize he can't hear her, but it's obvious he's still blinded by the flash-bang grenade.

Artemis is about to fly into the air, her focus on Victory...

Voyager the Android leaps towards Artemis as she accepts Victory's challenge. "This Unit will not allow you to injure any more humans- or attempt to in any case." It says as it sails right past her to grab the large Hypervelocity Cylinoid Compression Unit behind her.

It hoists the object above its ocular sensor as it rolls, twists and throws it at Artemis- hoping to keep her off Victory.

The object smashes into Artemis' shield, shoving it against her before she deflects it away. She's hardly slowed by it. "I truly hope you can achieve that, Sona." Artemis rises up and flies over to Victory, landing before him. She's still swordless, and can see that he can't see for certain this close. Honoring her code, she reaches out...and just attempts to place a gentle hand on Victory's shoulder. "I shall wait until you can see before our challenge begins, Frie--...Victory," she says, eliminating the old honorific of Friend Wade that she always uses. She also doesn't sound at all enthusiastic as she usually does at a challenge. Instead, she is mournful.

Victory doesn't hesitate. It's a good thing it's his suggested target that actually showed up, as he's not entirely sure who it is. He immediately tries to strike her with a rising knee.

Victory had figured the gloves came off the moment she hit him in the back. He was pretty sure who it was that hit him that particular time, despite not seeing the attack, from having fought her before.

Caught off guard by Victory's sudden attack in her offer of fair play, Artemis is struck resoundingly hard, even as she tries to interpose her shield to block his knee. He still gets a good strike at her midsection, causing her to double over from the impact to the gut. "I...do not wish to do this." She can't identify him as helpless by her code, and she must accept his challenge. Physically compelled, she rises up and swings an arm wide at Victory. Not to hit him, but to try and snag her arm around him in a grapple.

Artemis's arm catches around his neck and shoulder, then she gets her other arm around him to pin his arms to his sides and squeeze.

Victory gets squeezed...and of course, his shield is no protection from that. He grits his teeth...having no idea how the fight is going otherwise. But at least he's distracted Artemis briefly.

The War-Thorn raises her elongated limbs. What was once blue and smooth has begun to turn gray and textured like wood in places. "Fathernature will reclaim this planet and undo all the damage you have wrought, hairless mammals!" she declares. Large vines burst up through the ground, trying to wrap up Quiet, Sinmore, and Rangel in their grasp.

The vines lash about both Quiet and Sinmore, wrapping them up tightly.

Settling on lower threat targets that are a higher threat when they combine efforts, Rangel leaps to another section of the rafters to gain a line of fire based advantage for what she is about to do. She fires a Bluntie which sails into the head of one of the plant guards, turning that head abruptly and continuing its path into the one right beside him, striking with the same force at the edge of its chest and carrying through to the third and final in her lineup, crashing into its leg. She's less worried about being hit from this distance,

Like bowling pins, two of the guards go down, the third seeing the dominoes go and stepping out of the way.

Check immediate threats, and on not seeing any to themselves they reach out with energy whips to tear the entangling vines off the two closest trapped heroes.

The vines pull and cling, then rip away, freeing Quiet and Sinmore.

Voyager didn't want Victory to get injured while blind and deaf- or at all for that matter. Nevertheless, here they are.

The Android pans around and reevaluates the situation at hand.

The Android turns and charges the nearest Guard, leaving the other & Warthorn for Sinmore since her fire is so incredibly effective against them.

The Android shifts gears mid-motion and deactivates its deflection field and shunts power instead to enhance its ability to move accurately.

Once it gets within striking distance of the Guard it spins, and attempts to chop its target within a break in its armor.

The guard crumples from the android's attack.

Maui isn't all that far to travel for Bullet. Sure, she wasn't on hand for the initial sending. But she did manage to arrive after everyone had left. Hey, she was having lunch with her family and couldn't just slip out without arousing suspicion from her Daddy. What? He's a cop! She has a secret identity! These things happen. But the moment she was able to break away without really -seeming- to be breaking away, Eden Jorstad changed and took to the air. She climbed high enough that ludicrous speeds would not damage the cities or landscapes as she passed. Mach 178 is pretty stupid fast. She was able to reach Hawaii in just a couple of minutes at that speed.

Deceleration is almost instant for her and she drops out of the sky at the doors to the warehouse, her knees bending and her cape fluttering down to her calves as she does so, "Sorry I'm late. Did I miss anything?!" she calls out upon landing.

"Sitrep: Guardian heroic lady is currently an adversary!" Rangel calls down from above. "Big tree-looking lady is sharp, do not punch without some protection. All other active four-colors are friendlies!"

Free from the vines, Quiet quickly snaps her rifle up to take aim at War-Thorn Paxis, but...she can't pull the trigger. Not yet. She just looks too similar to Zero Division's pacifist ally, Ambassador Paxis.

There's a pair of battlesuited teens at the doorway of the warehouse. "Hello." One of the teens says, "The serious threats are the woman with the shield and the tall plant creature." the teen continues, advising Bullet of the situation as they see it.

Victory is currently grappled by Artemis. And he's blind. And deaf. So...the odds aren't looking great for him at the moment.

Much like her title, the War-Thorn has large, steelwood thorns covering her back and extremities. Her body is stretched and willowy, and parts of her blue flesh have become wooden as an ash tree.

Sinmore WAS getting ready to flex on those pesky vines that were wrapped around her body. Her fiery eyebrows quirk upward in surprise as an energy lash quickly turns the vines into little more than cucumber slices for a day spa. Shrugging, Sinmore turns toward Crimson - or Cerulean? - and shoots a double thumbs up and cheerful grin as the remains of the plant wreckage slip off of her large frame.

"Thanks for the assist!"

Promptly, Sinmore turns back toward War-Thorn with a brilliant smile. She cracks her knuckles again before lunging at the alternate Asrani ambassador (OF CONQUEST!) while green flames erupt from her fists and feet. The fire giantess promptly lays into War-Thorn and attempts to, in the words of yore, layeth the smacketh down.

The Android's singular optical sensor shifts and its iris clsoes slightly to deal with the extra light coming from behind Bullet. It does not recognize the heroine so it is planning on having another biological entity to deal with directly when Rangel's & the battlesuited teens' behavior indicates that Bullet is not one of Porter's metahumans.

It dings cheerfully at Bullet and says to her as it turns back to the fray, "Greetings. I am Range Technical Systems Model 9 Prototype. Entities meeting Condition: Friends & Condition: Ally also refer to this Unit as SONA, short for Symbionic Optimized Neural(Network) Automaton. Though this Unit must warn that while that agent of Alternate James Porter refers to it as such she is neither tagged 'Ally' or 'Friend'."

The Android points to Artemis when it mentions the agent of Alternate James Porter.

Sparks fly with every impact of Sinmore's stony flesh against the steel-hard thorns wreathing War-Thorn's body. A dark smile spreads across Sinmore's face as she launches a flaming backhand blow at War-Thorn's face.

"Mmm. All of those spikes feel good! Scratching all of those hard to reach places!"

Fleta keeps on flying away from the warehouse! Maybe it would have been better to make her own waterfall... but that's never as good. A found waterfall always has features that won't come from your imagination. So, more flying. And more magic she can still hear the fight going on behind her. She puts all she can into the spell.

The burning fist crashes into War-Thorn Paxis. It leaves a big blackened mark, with cracks and edges of gray and ember glowing red. She stumbles two meters back, closer to Silence, holding her scorched flesh after a cry of agony.

War-Thorn Paxis starts to stretch more. Branches sprout from her thorns and sides, and white leaves start to grow. She takes a step or two to reach Silence and kneels down to scoop her up in her stiffening limbs.

"Wretched...mammals..." she breathes out a final time as her body slows and stretches to a final halt as she becomes a tree, fingers and arms grown around Silence's armored form. The guard drops his blaster...

Victory grunts as he's squeezed, but then he chuckles. He says in a normal voice, "You already lost, Artemis. Just a matter of time now." He doesn't know if she can hear him. He can't even hear himself.

Artemis holds Victory, and smiles at his explanation as his hearing and vision return. "Good..." she says quietly, only for his ears.

Bullet and Crimson manage to notice the small, concealed, red flashing lights of three blast charges set throughout the depot.

Artemis releases Victory. "There is no honor fighting you if you cannot fight back."

"So what's the aim here? Take down or are we done?" Rangel asks, openly.

Fleta keeps flying merrily toward the waterfall, unaware that her spell has now been successful.

Red flashing lights... okay so she caught sight of the lights, processed the idea of what they could be and then Bullet bursts into motion. A blur of motion to be precise. She doesn't bother explaining herself. She doesn't have time for that. In the space of one second, she's reached all of the charges and gathered them into her arms before launching herself out the door and angling skyward. Her plan is to follow that up by rapid acceleration to top speed so she can launch these things into the stratosphere before they explode.

And the moment she's out of the warehouse doors... a gold and blue streak is all that can be seen outside. The sound of a sonic book is left in Bullet's wake as she charges upward. Once she gets high enough... she hauls off and HURLS the charges out of the atmosphere. She's not strong enough to do that from ground level, but when she's already moving beyond Escape Velocity, a super strong throw should handle the rest...

"Our challenge is not yet finished, Victory. But...the day is yours, heroes!" Artemis intones with a smile. She looks happy and relieved. And also still ready to fight Victory when he's ready to face her. "Urth's Guardians united together this day and defeated my Liege's master plan to..."

Her mouth keeps moving, but it's noiseless as a glow surrounds her. Suddenly, in a FLASHTWHUMP, Artemis is stolen away by her angry master.

Victory turns to face Artemis, now that he can see her and hear her. There's the blur of movement around the room...but he figures that's likely a friendly. Thankfully. "Artemis. You're speaking of it not being honorable to fight me while I can't fight back? You hit me from behind! Assuming that was you!" He manages to just finish that statement as she disappears.

While Artemis does disappear, the look on her face says she heard his every word.

"Okay, that decision has been made," Rangel comments. She drops down to ground level, picking up Silence. "Let's go, I got the one that isn't full of pointy bits."

While there is some destruction abound, the heroes are able to secure the components for Colonial Bay's Starguard division.

The Android begins sorting parts and equipment by various levels of damage & how much effort it will be to repair. It shifts itself between large masses and drags out things it believes will be useful for StarGuard's defensive & offensive needs.

If the Robot feels anything baout Artemis being stolen away it does not show it. It keeps its mind on the tasks required to accomplish its terminal values.

Victory sighs to himself and looks around tiredly. "Nice job, everyone." He gives a thumbs-up.

After maybe thirty seconds, Bullet makes her entrance a second time, basically the same way as she made the first one.. landing and cape and all. "Okay, did I miss anything else?" she asks, turning towards Victory, "Oh hey, where'd your dance partner go?" she asks.

Rangel removes all toys from Silence before performing the prisoner transport tie-up. A more comfortable hog-tying.

Victory says to Bullet, "Teleported out. A recall of some kind I think. Probably back to alt-Porteriffic."

Sinmore extinguishes her own flames after a few moments pass without sight of hide nor hair of the variety of villains that had infested the depot. The fire giantess expels a big gust of hot air in a sigh as she slumps against the burned, cracked exterior of what used to be War-Thorn.

"So. That was exciting, huh?"

A distant explosion is heard after Bullet returns at super speeds. She's just that fast!

Silence is disarmed and bound by Rangel, and also still partially entangled with the wooden limbs of the tree that bears a resemblance to the War-Thorn. The ash tree shaped much like her has a faint bluish tone, and white leaves.

The Android chimes cheerfully as it finds a quantized quark expulsion unit. It holds its prize carefully and starts a new pile of things that seem to be in working order.

Ah. The ash tree. Nature's mortal enemy of the Muspel giant. Just like Muspel giants and frost giants.

Sinmore looks at the blue-tinted ash tree she's leaning against. Lightly she reaches out to touch some of the white leaves as she recuperates.

Muspel giants are also mortal enemies with the gods. Just like Muspel giants and mortals on Midgard.

"Damn Muspel giants! Burninating reality for no reason," mutters Sinmore.

Rangel heads out of the depot. "Watching duty. Gotta go. Don't let the transports leave with out me and the uh... tiny one."

Quiet regains her vision, and her visibility, just as the battle appears to conclude. Artemis is spirited away, at least, and their foes are no longer a threat. Her weapon lowers and she just ...stares at the burnt and broken one wrapped in the now still branches of the tree. All while Rangel disarms the presumably unconscious one and others work to categorize and collect materials.

Glancing at the bound Silence, Bullet opens her mouth, closes it, then opens it once more, "I am officially confused." she announces.

The Model 9 Prototype finds a peice of metal the right shape and size to act as a pair of tweezers. It attempts to remove the large thorn still embedded into its right hand.

"Evil James Porter, coached by David Tennant, is trying to take over the world. His army is mostly composed of alternate reality versions of heroes from our dimension," offers Sinmore to Bullet.

"Oh, I knew that, the Porter thing." remarks Bullet with a shrug, "I'm just... confused about how to tell friend from foe at this point." She shrugs, her shoulders lifting her long cape as she does so. "But.. any way I can help with anything now? I mean it's rare that I am late for -anything-."

The Robot dings again. "This Unit is currently triaging and sorting materials reserved to repair the StarGuard fleet. That pile over there is in the way of removing that pile of reusable goods there." It informs Bullet as it grates on its own hand, trying to pull the jammed thorn out.

The Godflora's blade, in all the commotion, also FLASHTWHUMPED and disappeared shortly around the time Artemis vanished.

"Well, I mean, they're not exact duplicates," offers Sinmore. She ponders this for a moment or three before adding, "Just assume the ones with goatees or who are bad repaints of existing heroes are the vils?"

Just... appearing before the robot, Bullet says, "Here. Let me help with that." as she reaches to try to help remove whatever it is that is in the lion's paw.. er... robot's hand.

Quiet appears to finally return her attention to the actual ongoings around her, helm turning to Bullet. In answer of her concerns, Quiet offers a very informative shrug. She then moves to aid Voyager in equipment evaluation and preparation while the bot receives some emergency maintenance.

The Android turns its hand over, moving slowly in comparison to Bullet. "This Unit thanks you. The Alternate Agent of James Porter was named War-Thorn." It explains to her. She'll see the thorn that's jammed inbetween the servos of its last two fingers is steel hard and sharper than any natural thorn has any right to be.

"This Unit struck before it was aware of defensive capabilities. Luckily Sinmore was likewise deputized and was able to contain this agent with the assistance of a small winged... 'Pixie'. Designation updated accordingly for report." It adds.

"Fleta was pretty invaluable in taking down War-Thorn," agrees Sinmore. She helps clear debris and/or put out any fires that she may have started.

Given the all clear, the VTOL airships land on the overgrown landing strip outside. Some agents pile out to help sort and load up components.

The Model 9 Prototype chimes again. "Designation: Pixie-2 updated to Designation: Fleta. Thank you Sinmore." It says in that same voice it always uses though it really means it now that they've succeeded and at least pushed back NegaPorter's plans somewhat.

It runs another diagnostic on its appendage to ensure there is no new damage detected from their attempts to remove the intrusive protrusion.

Quiet helps with loading up, now that the transports have arrived. Not surprisingly, she's, well, quiet, though she also seems far less animated than the norm, for those who might recognize such.

Sinmore helps with carrying the load since she's, you know, extremely good at lifting weights.