TITAL 2: Why did It Take Me So Long To Do This?

"Alternatively, I picked up a few Time spells from Zexion, I can just do one of these..." Lei concentrated for a few seconds, then an orange glow surrounded him. Leaning back slightly, he used Teleport to warp about the halls, quickly moving from spot to spot at an accelerated speed. (No need to break my own limiters just yet...)

"Found her! Everyone re-group!" Gaige shouted as her wrench snapped open the panel that she had found.

Xavier had made his way back to where Gaige was working meticulously with the wires inside the junction box. After a short while, a holographic display appeared from Gaige's mechanical arm, reading out a stream of code.

"Xavier?"

"Yeah?"

"Still have Mordecai's digistruct storage?"

"Of course."

"Hold still for a second, I'm turning on the visor. You'll have a map of the orbital in the HUD."

Xavier jumped backwards suddenly, "Gah! The hell! You didn't tell me it was going to shock me!"

Gaige smiled, "Sorry, it plays with your brain a little bit, just enough for you to see the same displays that I do."

"You always have a readout on your health and a map like this?"

"You've got it. Can you see the way point locater?"

"Yeah, that's pretty convenient." Xavier smiled confidently.

"Good. I'll teach you how to set your own later. For now, we should head to that room. It's where the pulse originated from." Gaige said plainly.

"Alright, looks like its on this floor. Shouldn't be too hard."

Julie shook her head as she followed along. She was only trying to help. As she thought this to herself, she relived a moment from before she was abandoned...

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< Location: Testing room #0032, Stasis Laboratories>

Julie had been selected for an elimination-style product selection. The android had a lot of a pressure on her. Millions of units with the same functions as her could have been potentially been made after this day, if they didn't come.

She had been pitted against several other models of combatants, with weapons varying from quick-firing knivery to ful on rocketry. Julie had developed a plan: turn the missiles against her foes, then the users themselves. When the buzzer sounded off, all twelve competitors sprung into action.

Julie had whittled the numbers down to two other opponents, when a unit of Red Purgatory soldiers invaded the testing. They were heavily armed, and they began to gun down all that stood in their way, both scientist and machine. The woman leaped behind cover.

"Well, this is what they made me to do..." She picked up the grenade launcher of her opponent.



"Adapt!" She fired at the soldiers, to little effect. They were equipped with trophy systems, much to her chagrin. She began to open fire, engage the enemy in close quarters combat, anything she could do to save herself, until a familiar voice rang clear through the room.

"Stop!" It was her creator. He was shot of breath.

"Why should I? I have nothin' against you, but I need th' android. Business is business."

"Because she's not just an android! " He shouted this at the man. Tears began to gather in his eyes.

"She's a sentinent human being. I have put far too much effort into bringing her where she is today to be put in the hands of terrorists." This plea for Julie's life was met with the blunt end of a Colt .45 caliber pistol, which had all identification sanded off. As the scientist fell to the ground, he grabbed a tablet from his coat pocket. With a few swipes, an authorization code here, and a PIN there, Julie felt her systems grind to a halt as she too fell to the ground. In an act of depseration, John Farkas has done a soft reset on what was five years of research and time away from his now estranged family. Julie also heard a crack of a bullet from the pistol, whom fired the round being unknown to her to this day.
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Julie simply stared off into space, reliving that moment over and over.

<Alantis, if shit hits the fan and Julie's still spaced out, feel free to have Alexei be a total douche canoe to her if you so wish. Cx>

<Was kind of planning on it happening, space cadet or not. And there's another "T" in there. Apologies for any abrasiveness. Quarter to 3am, just got off my second consecutive night shift and my first of 3 consecutive lunch rush shifts in a few hours>

<Ah, it's ok, lol. I usually work the midnight shift at a grocery store as a bagger/ cart retriver, so I feel you.>

Xavier cracked his knuckles and brought his trusty machete to bear, the miltary grade steel glimmered in the pale light of the station.

Gaige followed closely behind, her real hand resting on her mechanical arm as she beckoned Deathtrap from its digistruct slumber, "I don't know whether Deathtrap's shielding will hold up to another EM blast like that, but it'd be better to have him back before they knock my arm out again."

The young man leading the group nodded, "Alexei, we're going to need to breach the door. Want to join me in the honor?" Xavier smirked sardonically, feeling the tension of battle starting to fill the air.

Alexei didn't say a word. A smile covered his face, and, in one smooth motion, he slipped Bogatir off his shoulder, placing the predator rifle on his hip.

Introducing his foot to the door, the hinges snapped, and the door hit the ground in a loud crash. The years spent in the Black Legion paid off. The dark room merely had a single red light in a corner. Stepping to the side, he looked to Xavier, "Lead the way, comrade."

From the darkness, Alexei was tackled by a pure white dog with an orange vest. The dog growled menacingly before a voice shouted from the room, "Heel, Koromaru!"

The dog retreated as the lights flickered on revealing a teenage boy in a uniform not unlike Minato's. He held a long cross spear in one hand and a silver evoker in the other, "Sorry about that." The boy chuckled sweeping his gun hand absentmindedly through his brunette locks, "Minato-san told me you'd be higher up in the tower by now."

He holstered his evoker and smiled at the group, "I'm Ken Amada. An ally of Minato Arisato. This is Koromaru," The boy gestured to the Shiba Inu beside him, "He's a persona user like Minato-san, Yukari-san, and I. Minato-san sent me when he heard there were robot constructs that could rebuild themselves indefinitely. My persona's Zio and Hama based skills make short work of electronics."

Xavier folded his arms, "You're awfully young to be a part of SEES."

Ken huffed looking at Xavier with a glare, "Don't underestimate me."

Gaige looked between the two questioningly, "Now boys, no fighting. We're all here for one reason. And that's to kick some Shinra ass."

Ken looked surprised as if remembering something important, "Oh, the group that Fisher-san defected from. Good to know that he's on our side."

Alexei lay on the ground, trying to remember what it felt like to breathe. He saw what looked like stars flashing in various colors, which he assumed was due to the sudden impact of Koromaru. He waved, or flapped more like, an arm in the air in an attempt to signal for help to his feet.

The Russian, not even noticing who had helped him, patted them on the shoulder and leaned forward, gasping and choking for air. Bogatir fell off his shoulder and dangled by the strap off his wrist. Once he finally found the ability to inhale properly, as well as exhale, Alexei looked to the new face, "I do not enjoy your dog."

Riku gave a quick look in Ken's direction before turning his gaze forward again. Hama...isn't that light? Strange...why does he have so much darkness, then? Still, the dog seemed friendly enough, and he was just a kid. Not to be underestimated, but probably trustworthy...probably.

Jack pokes his head in the room quickly glancing at the door on the floor before he enters the room. "Did I miss something important again?" he asks with a smile. "Oh well never mind that..." Jack stops and stairs intently at Koromaru. "Dog...I don't like dogs, especially the live kind" Jack slowly backs up until only his head pokes around the corner of the door frame, all the while never taking his eyes off Koromaru. "Why is there a dog? Make it go away! I have all of my bones exactly where I want them, I don"t need the thing running off with one of them."

Ken lowered his spear and rubbed the back of his head, "Sorry about that. Koromaru is a bit overprotective, but he's as loyal as they come. If I don't tell him to, he won't take your bones."

Xavier nodded, "That's good to know." The young man looked back at Jack quizzically, "C'mon, Skellington, if you're going to be here, I'd at least like to see you do something."

Gaige looked perplexed by the walking skeleton, "Well, we need to head up and the room past us is the elevator itself. Everyone ready for a trip to the moon?"

Ken's eyes sparkled, "We're going all the way up? Count me in!"

Jack walks back into the room "Well if you insist on me being productive I would appreciate you telling me what I'm supposed to be doing, a little direction is nice." He scratches the back of his skull "Also while you're at it could you remind me what we're doing here in the first place I kinda forgot already." Jack stares blankly at the floor slightly ashamed

"We're here to deal with a tip we got about Shinra forces in this facility... Did you just ignore the briefing board at the house?" Xavier asked slightly confused, "For that matter, how'd you even get here?"

Gaige stopped him, "Don't answer that. The last thing we need is an explanation of how your halloween magic snapped all known laws of physics in half."

Ken looked at the two bickering about Jack and then at the others, "Is this normal? I knew Minato said you all were a strange group but..."

"Totally normal," replied Riku. "At least as far as Jack goes. He just kinda comes and goes as he pleases."

Xavier groaned, "This plan is slowly falling to shambles." He shook his head, "Ken, you know anything about those robots that we fought in the main room?"

Ken Amada nodded, "Yeah, they use a strange electrical signal to reassemble themselves and repair damage. My powers can disable them for a while but the collapse isn't permanent. Koromaru has taken a liking to bathing them in Mudo while they're down. That seems to stop them for good."

Gaige swallowed slightly, "The dog's a persona user?"

Koromaru yapped enthusiastically.

Gaige nodded slowly, "Alright then... Magic is real. But, that doesn't mean science isn't." She chanted, reassuring herself.

Xavier rolled his shoulder loosening the joint, "Let's get moving. The sooner we have answers, the better."

Alexei slung Bogatir back over his shoulder, the predator rifle's weight making a thud against his back. He turned to Jack, "Go to see you, my skinny friend." He nodded and followed the group out the door.

Julie nodded, taking in the information relevant to the mission. After all mental note-taking was finished, she turned to Jack. "Pleasure to meet you." She extended the greeting to the new member of the mission, and followed Alexei.

The group passed through a doorway and arrived on a landing attached to a track that spiraled upwards slowly.

Xavier whistled, looking up as the track spiraled away into darkness, "Damn. That's some elevator."

Ken nodded, "The Jakobs Elevator attached the planet below to its moon. I'm not sure how it doesn't snap in half but I'll assume they have some sort of anti-gravity tech."

Gaige smiled, popping open a service panel, "Kid knows his stuff. We'd normally need a key card to get this thing moving but I think I can do something to override it." She leaned into the mess of tangled wires and electronics, tinkering with the equipment, "We're going to need a power source though. Ken, you said you do electricity stunts. How long can you last as a battery?"

Ken looked perplexed for a moment, "Kali NemI can sustain for about 30 minutes at full power. That's a Maziodyne."

"How about a tier lower? We charge this platform that hard and not only will we all fry but we'll spin so fast we'll be thrown off." Gaige questioned, still waist deep in wires.

Ken thought for a moment, " That's about a third the spirit cost. I should be able to do 90." He estimated.

"Plenty. Run on over to the center. When I give the word, fire it up." The mechanist requested.

"Got it!" Ken ran to the center of the disc shaped platform, Koromaru following eagerly behind.

<Not a one of my characters is involved in this - and it looks like it's a little late to jump in - so, Admin, mind just starting up the elevator?>

Alexei shook his head as he listened to the technical jargon. He had nothing against electronics in particular, but androids and cyborgs gave him a bad taste in his mouth. The automated divisions of Black Legion had once been his friends, volunteering to be turned into super soldiers. He never forgave any of them. Strength was not worth giving up your humanity. He spat at the ground and spoke to himself, "There are always ghosts in the machine."

Jack leans over and rests his arm on Alexei's shoulder "There's ghosts everywhere my friend, the trick is knowing where to find them and how to get them to talk." He smiles and turns to Gaige "Well Red what will you have me do?"

[HOLD THE FUCKIN PHONE! DID JACK JUST MAKE A TRULY PHILOSOPHICAL POINT!? MISTER "DO YOU HAVE THAT IN RAZZBERRY?" JUST PULLED FUCKING SOCRATES OUT OF HIS ASS!? everythingiknowisalie]

[Actually I did kinda pull that post out of nowhere. I was on the last few minutes of my lunch break and decided to post to try and keep thing kinda moving again, it sounded good in my head.]

[I'm not mad lol I honestly enjoyed it]