Sutoratosu

makes more sense for Cheryn to stay back and help look after the kids they just freed so yeh, staying home.

Revenant v Giant Sully and the beast looked on as the blast destroyed the space they had once occupied, still on the move even now, for they had never stopped even as they'd tried to lob the grenades. He hadn't been worried however, for even if they'd still been there to take the blast, he knew full well the unit's generator could handle such an attack and then some... such was the boon of specialty armor, after all. Such was the boon of his schematics. "Stop playing with her Sully..." The beast chided impatiently in his head. Already, Solomon could feel what he had been secretly dreading, could feel the line between himself and the demon fading ever quicker, one identity finally rejoining to another, even if only for a short time. There was a special type of eagerness in Revenant's voice, the eagerness of a hound sizing up a meal after so many days of fasting "You know how we do things- it's almost time, like the old days. Do it, you called me out here, you wanted my help, it's too late to back out." He scowled inwardly, but knew he could not deny the Beast's words. The Merge was coming, he knew it. He could feel his blood beginning to slowly boil. Blood pressure increasing. Pulse sky-rocketing. Adrenaline began to flood his veins... There would be no distinction between them soon. No boundary, no imaginary line, two would finally become one, but one would be more than enough to bring forth the hour of destruction. Nothing but blinding, brutal rage.... that would be all that filled the void...but he did not push against it. He did not exile that part of himself, as he had so many times before. No. He accepted it. Sasha, I know you'll probably give me shit for this... but I'm done playing with these kids. "Fine." he uttered in a low growl The sensor array bloomed before his eyes, as his mind became a whir, calculating the variables of the killing field, examining the signatures that had been scattered, until at last, he saw it, the path to take... the one they'd never be expecting. It was finally time to fight like he meant it. Not long after the Giant fired it's main cannon, the whirring that had been softly droning on in the background rose to a fever pitch, overwhelming all other sounds as it echoed off the cavern walls. It seemed as if it were coming everywhere at once, and with the amount of electromagnetic interference that permeated the area, it might as well have been. Something fleeting roared past in the darkness, and as it did, there was a massive peel of thunder, a flash bright as a small star as a spherical wave of electromagnetic force blasted outwards off to the side of the Giant, showering the massive FAD with an ungodly pounding of disruptive force that while it wouldn't do much of anything in the way of actual outward damage, already the burst would've been working it's way through the mech, sending a massive shock through it's electrical systems, frying, zapping, bringing chaos and electrical destruction from the inside... The Tesla Pulse at it's finest. Meant to cripple, meant to derelict, without even touching. Used as as it had always been intended, as it was done justice. "We will show you why we hold the first seat. We will show you the old ways." and indeed, as the mech broadcast the message across the battlefield, voice shifting back and forth between mania and nigh eeary calm before finally merging into one, chaotic voice calling out in a war shout, there in the black outskirts of the arena was a crimson blur of light and energy, growing faster and faster as it wove in and out of the countless stalactites and obstacles, still taking care to stay beyond the range of the minefield momo had laid down. With the massive spike in the EM levels as it did so, it was becoming painfully obvious that it was the source... "LETS GET READY TO RUUUUUUUUUMBLE!!!!!!!" The light surrounding the mech began to bend and distort, the sheer force of it's fields rising to their full levels, making it even harder to track the blur of color as it maneuvered about the arena. At any moment, about to close in, about to come for the kill.... the whirring in the arena had stopped as well.

Cheryn "Alright, let me see what I can do...." She closed her eyes for a moment, gathering her concentration as she prepared to send the signal- it had been easy to hail Blink earlier, she'd been in the same room just meters away afterall. Trying to shoot a broadcast to someone who was watcher knows where within the facility though... well, she honed her intent as best she could, focusing her thoughts on the elder mage, where ever she might be: "Hey, Merlin... you there? We found Tallow, and some of the other kids too..."

((I legit missed that this response had been made for a few days.... sorry)) Cheryn "Alright, well it wasn't like we weren't gonna have to search for anyone anyway..." Cheryn replied, not... terribly concerned abou trouble. She had learned shielding, wards, and a couple illusions for a reason afterall, and besides... hopefully if she'd been sedated, it would take a while before the grogginess fully wore off, and they could try to smooth things over before it did. She thought for a moment, looking back to the pods in the room they still stood in, before turning to Blink "So what do you think, you want to go find the 3 stragglers and then come back here to get the rest of the kids out, or do it in the reverse order?"

((¯\_(ツ)_/¯ rip.... there's only so much I can realistically do about them...)) Cheryn "Uh huh...." Cheryn muttered. Geez, the second one of em to say that- were her eyes really that scary? It wasn't like she'd gotten those types of comments before or anything, so... maybe it was just the kids? But Red was the scariest color.... hmmmm. She honestly didn't know, but she couldn't exactly change her eyes now could she? Maybe keep the glow on the down low, but the color was definitely outside her control. Speaking of which, she took a second to conscious dim them even further now, to the point that the glow was barely visible at all, even in this dim light... just encase this really would prove to be something that unsettled more of the kids. She supposed that in the dark, it could have been rather easy for an impressionable mind to mistake someone with glowing red eyes as some type of monster...and god knows these kids had likely already met more than their fair share. "Well I'm.... sure she means well..." She said, returning her attention to Tallow, "We've gotta go though. If I let you out of that barrier cage, do you promise you'll stay close and won't try to run away from us again?"

Cheryn "Yeah, it makes ya sick, I heard. Don't worry, we'll figure something out for you..." She paused for a moment, noting as the boy looked around the room frantically "Whats wrong? You... kinda look like you expect someone to leap out at you or something..."

Cheryn Seeing the boy appear, she shrunk the enclosed cell down around him, hemming it in to just about enough room for a child to comfortably stand or sit down in, as the wisp continued to bounce off the walls of his prison. With the deed done, she rose from her knees, walking closer to the translucent, crimson prism. "Hey there," she said in the most amiable tone she could muster; the entire reason the kid had bolted in the first place was out of fear after all. "Look little buddy, I know you must be scared, but it's ok, we won't hurt you- in fact, we just wanna help you and the others. So what do ya say, can you change back to your normal form for me? I'll promise we'll try to explain everything once we've taken care of you guys, but first we gotta get you out of here."

Revenant v Giant Sully watched as several more hits suddenly appeared on the readouts- something at least partially metallic from the results. Mines? Hmmmm perhaps, if they were small. but with as many as were coming up now, he doubted it was that simple. Either way, It always amused him really, when folks tried to hide themselves or set up traps or whatever... as if he hadn't spent damn good resources refining and improving the rigs sensor array. Knowing was half the battle, after all... it was Tesla's moto. The old saying she adhered to when she designed the sensors for her own mech. Just as he'd sensed Supernova's heat flaring up to ridiculous levels, just as he had detected Strider activating some sort of shield around itself, firing barrage after barrage of bullets, or when they had been lurking beneath the waves, trying to climb back up to take him by surprise... he would not be fooled here. As Revenant had so manically told the other combatant, he truly did not need to lay eyes on them. For they had ample means to track, to monitor. And as he watched them bloom across the array, scattering, he could not help but consider the irony of it all. All his opponent had done was give them something to repulse back at them... had they any interest in closing in right now, he or Revenant could've easily used the fields to just launch themselves up and over the damn minefield and render the tactic moot to begin with. And then there was Ragnorok as well... But fine. If doing this made them feel safer, so be it. He would not let the opportunity be wasted either way. "I don't think they understood the first time..." the beast leered "Then we'll send a stronger message the second." As the beast cackled in concurrence, Solomon did just that. Being sure to keep their path well beyond the outer boundaries of the virtual minefield that had been set up- for regardless whether they were true mines or not, they fulfilled the same purpose, to deter direct approach -he reached out with electromagnetic force, took hold of several the smaller metallic signatures that had been scattered on the radar and with a mighty repulsion, fired them back towards the Rival Mech's position, sending a bouquet of the Giant's own explosives hurtling towards its chest. The background whirring continued all the while, as whatever was its source continued to whiz to and fro in the darkened outskirts of the arena. Though their noise was gradually building, as if coalescing into something greater, deadlier.

Cheryn She snapped her fingers in response to the question, and immediately before them a perfect cube of crimson, crackling light formed, hovering there in the air. With a mere thought, she dismissed the barrier cage, turning to Mint "Restraining his movement won't be a problem. Barriers are my specialty, besides, we don't have the time to sit down and chat anymore, judging by that surge of power just now. We can explain shit later, for now, getting him and the others out safely is all that matters. So...." She wasted no time, clapping both palms together as crimson static erupted from them, before slapping her hands upon the cold floor of the room. There was a crackle, a pop, a brilliant flash, and from her palms a shimmering field of crimson spread out over the floor in the general direction the boy had been located in. And as they did, two solid walls of similar light began to expand outwards from cheryn as well, until finally even the ceiling and a section of the back wall was cloaked in a rad barrier as well, and the containment zone was complete. The end result was a structure resembling that of a triangular prism, cutting off a small section of the room from all the others, hopefully with Tallow caught somewhere in the middle of it. She made a conscious effort to keep the ambient radiation as low as she could though- the whole point was to restrain the kid so they could get out after all, not to try and make him glow in the dark. Cheryn watched the interior of the enclosed space all the while, looking for even the slightest hint of movement, or something actively trying to push against the shields... "C'mon, where are ya?"

Cheryn "Huh- oh...." In all honesty, she hadn't even really noticed up till now. Guess with... all the stuff they'd heard, things had gotten a bit heated whether she knew it or not, but sure enough when Cheryn held up a palm to her face... the entire thing was bathed in crimson light. Taking a breath, she steadied herself, willing the Favor to die back down to reasonable levels; there was really no need for any spell right now anyway... didn't seem likely she was gonna have to create a barrier inside someone's heart right now or throw up a shield to block something so... "yeah, sure....sorry." she said, "just try and make this quick, ok?" Though the glow had dimmed considerably upon being called on it, there was still just the slightest bit of illumination cast from her eyes as she nodded, turned and walked a few paces away, keeping her back to Chip so the girl could do her work.

Cheryn ".... yeh anyway..." Cheryn broke the silence, "Judging by that second explosion, I think that's enough questions for now, we need to find Tallow and get back to Merlin... or whoever we can find. Watcher knows what the hell is happening out there." She turned to look Mint Tea directly in the eyes "Now are you absolutely positive you don't have a clue where he might be hiding? You heard that explosion, a few more of them, and this place ain't gonna be standing much longer. The less time we spend having to find him, the more time we have to get back to the others, round up any of the remaining kids we can, and get out. I don't know about you, but I'd like to not die under the collapsed rubble of some workshop of genetic horrors."

Cheryn "... Chernobyl" Tamar responded. So... she was wrong then- Ansuz wasn't some test tube baby bred to be a guinea pig... or at least, if he was, he hadn't been made in this specific facility. Odd how the techie kept referring to the traitor as a "she" though, but Cheryn wasn't terribly surprised... it made sense in a way, the kid had always looked kinda girly at a glance so... "And uh..." she looked over at Blink, and for the first time, realized she didn't even know the speed God's name... hadn't merlin mentioned it before though? Eh, if she had, it had probably been when they were standing around doing fuck all but talking and trying both the time the other group had bought them and the patience of everyone who wanted to actually get the mission done in a timely manner. "Well, I'm sure she'd rather introduce herself."

"I saw," the rider responded "yeh they always leave nasty wounds... if the scum wielding them can even land a hit. The damn things even tend to be heavy enough that they can break a wyvern's hide better than just about anything other than bows or magic. Or... explosives..." He paused for a few moments, looking off into the distance, looking off at... the runic cannon still pointed their way. In a lot of ways, the damn thing was far worse than a mere shell propelled by a powder charge. He had a hunch that now that they'd been rediscovered, they'd never truly go away ever again. Just thinking about it- sure, it might've been leagues more complicated than a mundane one to construct, but the costs and resources that could surely be saved thanks to it's ammunition being virtually nothing but pure Animus energy itself, guided by a Mage's hand... sooner or later, those damn things might be gracing the decks of every major naval vessel of every country capable of assembling a fleet. Maybe not anytime soon, obviously, maybe not even until a few decades from now... but he could see it. See it as clear as day, as if the elder ones themselves were showing some vision. Commander Eragon had been wrong... War did change, and War was changing even right now. And with this new development he saw on the horizon, he could not help but thing... how many more years would the likes of the Wyvern Knights perservere? How many more would any of this persevere? How long until those cannons are miniaturized, turned into handheld versions, refined enough to be reliable primary arms on the field of battle, and instead of rushing into massive melees, somedays armies instead stood stock still opposite another on the killing field, leveling their hand cannons in perfectly disciplined formation and all opening fire at once. He did not know how long. Perhaps this realization was part of whatever reason the Elders had been so reluctant. Either way, it was a future that was still seemingly far off... and he had bigger worries, concerns about what lay immediately before him. As did they all. Turning back to Elise, a stare in his eyes that seemed as if for just a moment or two, he had been in another place, another time entirely, he shook his head, examining the worst of the still remaining injuries. Even as he tried to brush it off however, the wyvern knew. She sensed the change, the brief but nonetheless shaking of something that had long laid the foundations of this arrangement. And she grumbled at the Rider...something only he seemed to truly understand. "No...no, enough..." He told the great lizard "there's nothing we can do about it right now. Or maybe ever. But we've a job to do here, so lets get back to it." and with that said, he searched with his eyes for the troubadour... "Oi, Hermman!" he called "we could use your help over here, she'll live, but this is about the best I can do for first aid."

Cheryn "WAIT WHAT!?" Cheryn practically leapt out of her boots at one of the mentioned names towards the middle of the list, the dim glow of crimson in her eyes seeming to intensify two fold, "Hang on hang on hang on juuuust a damn minute.... Natasha... Ansuz? Ansuz? You mean... fucking hell..." She took a step back from the girl, sighing as she gripped the bridge of her nose. Well shit, perhaps that explained why the traitor would've chosen this facility in particular to defect to. ....he was fucking made here. Like the rest of these kids...like her. Like those 16 other kids... "We're not your enemies by the way...." She said once she'd gathered herself, voice measured, though she couldn't help the rising sensation of disgust in her belly, the more and more she talked about this. It was the lab techies whole demeanor that set her off more than anything else, how... nonchalant she was, how unflappable in light of all the shit that had gone on here. Cheryn guessed it really was as Blink had said- the bastards had probably been bred into this system for so long, no one had the sense or the moral character to actually see what was fucking wrong with what they were doing to these kids on a regular basis... their own damn kids on a regular basis. "Like my friend here said, we won't hurt the kids, infact we're here to try and do the opposite... and we won't hurt you either. If you don't cause any problems for our first directive, at least. Look around you, your colleagues trapped you in this pod and left ya for dead while they ran like cowards. But neither of us are attacking you right now, now are we? And it can stay nice and civil that way, if you just keep complying and answering our questions like you've been doing." That said, there was still him to worry about.... none of them had ever... really heard terribly much about where merlin found him, how they met, and in all honesty, Cheryn had personally never cared enough to ask either of them about it. To her, he had always just been that kinda weird but seemingly not too threatening guy in the background, Merlin's shadow... "So" Cheryn continued, "there's been what... 17 trials so far? 17 subjects...well I want you to tell me everything you know about the subject called Natasha... Ansuz."

Cheryn "Photosensitivity... so he's got Albinism then? Well it would make sense I guess, with the white hair and how pale he is..." she briefly shoke her head though, clearing the distracting thought, now was the time for more pressing questions "Not important right now though. Just outta curiosity... how many other kids like Tallow did you try to make here? How many other kids you pump ungodly amounts of raw information into or did Watcher knows what else to them to try and force some magic outta them, how many before him turned out as failures, or worse? And how the hell did you end up trapped in one of these pods, if your colleagues have all apparently upped and noped the fuck out of here?"

Cheryn "N-Nani?" cheryn stuttered a bit, not quite expecting to turn around and find someone...calling themselves "mint tea" standing there. Well ok, 'Genealogy' was apparently her name, but gods, these eggheads were guilty of more than she even thought... naming one of the subjects... "Mint Tea" damn, there were few naming crimes a parent could commit that were worse than that... but wait, wasn't she... "Uh we're... looking for a friend of ours who wondered in here..." Cheryn finally answered, looking the woman- nay, a mere girl... screw it, yes, she was definitely her, without a doubt. A subtle shift lit up Cheryn's eyes as the recognition finally dawned, glowing with dim crimson "Genealogy though, eh? so you're the one who was asleep in that pod just a few minutes ago..." Shit shit shit... she cursed mentally all the while. Damn their luck, of course the fucking lab techie who got frozen woke juuuuuuuust when they were trying to find Tallow... she shot a look over to Blink on the other side of the room, silently asking for help, but in all honesty? she was beginning to question if she... well if she was all there in the eyes. Not that she'd had anything concrete to base the feeling off of- she navigated well enough, and god knows how she pilots that giant... fucking wheel thingie if she was, but... there had still been little things, here and there... like when she had came into this room and the only things she had really been able were impressions of what was inside here, not definite descriptions, and it wasn't like this place was... particularly dark enough to hinder sight. Either way though, it didn't matter, she didn't feel like waiting to see if she was right or wrong in her hunch. "Hey, we got company..." the mage called to Blink telepathically "that Lab tech who was in one of the pods, she woke up..."

Cheryn "Trouble..." Tamar sighed beneath her breath. She doubted most of the eggheads here could put up enough of a fight to cause this much ruckuss. And if what Merlin had told them all was true, "we uh... came here to stop a traitor, get rid of any research we could find about magic, and well... I'm pretty sure the rest of them just found him. Or will soon." With that said, she turned back to the bank after bank of tubes and pods lining up and down the rooms interior, eyes scanning for even the slightest bit of movement in the dark. "We need to find him quick, get back to them... either Merlin's just destroyed like half the facility- she was pretty pissed last I saw her -or shit just really hit the fan. Maybe both." with that said, she started to search through the rows of pods, looking for any particular spaces where a frightened kid might be inclined to hide, calling out "Tallow" all the while... God this was probably gonna take too damn long. But she didn't really know how else to search- she was a Shieldmeister after-all, not some Pyschic. Well, some basic telepathy yeh, but... not like she could just sense him if he was in the room or something.

Revenant vs Giant "so sully... whats it gonna be?" "...fine. Do it. I'll take care of everything else." "Glad to hear it... partner." The mech bucked with sudden motion as the beast settled into control, launching itself sideways and slipping past the stalactites as its glow faded into the shadows of the cavern, deactivated by the pilot. And as the blast collided into the earth and rock where they had once been, a subtle whirring was masked by the far louder cacophony of ruined stone... A whirring that soon split into several, smaller noises, each echoing off the rock face and various obstacles of the arena. When the Giant unleashed it's rockets, a matrix of lightning fanned out from the around the cave as they flew, striking the payload and detonating the barrage of explosives prematurely. And as the dust cloud emerged from the wanton destruction the FAD had unleashed, there was still no sign of The Revenant. The whirring echo continued from all around however... **"I don't need to seeee yooou~"** the message came with a sudden, chaotic burst of static over the comms, the voice cackling to itself after the declaration with a nigh religious fervor, causing even more chaotic static before total radio silence took hold once again. Already though, sully was having a bad feeling about all this. Even as he tracked the electrical signature and other readouts, something Asmo usually did- and something the sheer amount of Electro-Magnetic interference his own mech created prevented most opponents from doing the same -he couldn't help but wonder just how long it would take the AI to get back to him, how long he'd have to let the beast have its day on the field.

With the brigand and his little mage friend dead, marek made his way to the fallen pegasus rider. Unstoppering a vial as Erce landed, he dismounted and set about applying first aid to the worst of the wounds, old training immediately coming back to the forefront of his mind. Not the first time he'd had used it by a long shot. It was troublesome trying to fly a wounded soldier out of a combat zone while they bleed out in torrents afterall, so it was better to do what one could to stop the most immediate of the complications right then and there. "Easy, don't try to move too much right now," he advised once the work was done, "give the stuff a minute to do it's work, else you'll just make the injuries worse" K29, use Vulnerary on Elise

Do I even really need to declare my intentions here at this point? I think it goes without saying that I'm game for just about anything you run... a sheet will replace this post once I get done reading through anything

TURN 3 Melina heals Enma, Dackly, and Halley for [10] hp. Officer D attempts to slash at Tama, but hits his phalanx instead for [14] damage! Though he manages to break through the shield, the remaining force in his stroke is nowhere near enough to harm the ancient god... Tama, laughing at the Officer’s ineptitude, proceeds to ignore the man and unleash another storm of black lightning upon the DT Archer Battalion C, dealing [40] Damage! Another archer quite literally bites the dust! Soldier Battalion B rushes at the storm god, slashing at Tama for [7] damage! DT Warrior Battalion A swiftly strike Hiroki and Kino, dealing [1] and [8] damage! DT Warrior Battalion B follows up the assault, Slashing the same two for [2] and [14] Damage! Enma again curses the DT Archer Bat C for [7] damage, marking them for a… bad time. Kino follows it up for [21] Damage and healing Enma for [9]! Another Archer crumbles! Her sick burn flares up one more time before fading for good though, dealing [2] damage. Soldier Battalion C flanks Kino, slashing at the priestess for [15] Damage! Hiroki melts Officer B for [27] damage! DT Archer Battalion B fires wildly into the crowd, fletching Tama, Morgan (78-failed), and Melina for [0], [9], and [0] damage! DT Archer Battalion D fires upon the same three for [0], (37-failed)[5], and [0] Damage! DT Archer Battalion C brings the volley of (admittedly quite negligible) pain home on, you guessed it, the same three, for [0], (39-failed) [8], and [0] damage! Halley fires on DT Archer Bat C, dealing [8] damage! Soldier Battalion A flanks around and slashes Halley, dealing [16] damage! Officer B conjures a spear of ice and launches it at Halley, dealing [5] damage and lowering her Initiative by 2! Morgan slashes at Officer C, dealing [18] Damage, bringing him to his knees Officer A comes to the defense of his colleague, attempting to slash morgan (13-pass), however the mage’s reaction time proves to finally be adequate, and he warps out of the way, only to reappear just behind the officer and strike him for [5] damage! Soldier Battalion D continues to guard Officer C, blood blinding one of his eyes, raises a battered gauntlet up towards Morgan, a small arc of electricity gathering there. With a defiant shout, he fires a blast of crimson lightning at the mage (46-fail), electrocuting him for [11] Damage! DT Warrior Battalion C attempts to do what so many others had failed thus far and slash at Tama, dealing [1] damage for their trouble. Dackly throws a killer glare at DT Archer Bat B, inflicting them with [150] Hate Stacks! Gozer meanwhile charges the bombs for another [6] points! A flickering light blooms from the fortress as the forces, and those who can sense magic might detect a particularly strong surge of arcane might as the beacon only grows and multiplies along the wall. Within moments, the forces of house Asterlux are unleashing a barrage of support fire- the very literal kind -that sweeps across the field with a merciless roar. The blast carves its way through the enemy, scorching DT Archer Bat C for [47], Officers A, B and C for [32],[16],[23] and DT Archer Battalion B for [41] Damage. Nothing is left of DT Archer Battalion C when the flames die, not even cinders. Likewise, Officer C lies scorched and still steaming on the burned earth, cooked within his own armor, and DT Archer Battalion B seems to have lost a unit during the intense blaze… and as quickly as the distant surge of force came, it fades away again, and the battle continues... But howling echoes in the distance. Skeletal paws dash through the ashes. 5 Dragontooth Beast emerge onto the field. [DT units killed this turn: 5... the reinforcements stay] STATUS Notes

Aurora-Goddess Mode4/42Con 1| Res 10| Dex 6| Int 0| Str 4| Syn 10|Immune to Poison; Regenerates 10% mHP at the end of her turns Aurora uses Starsign: Virgo on herself and Mitsurugi, restoring 1d4+(Syn((10))*1.25->1d4+12) health and curing 1 ailment on each

Cheryn "Yeah.... I can see you weren't kidding..." an ugly weight formed in the mage's gut as she took stock of the few speci-.... kids that were trapped in the room. she approached a few of the stasis chambers, peering at the faces of the children within. The boy- Tallow -wasn't anywhere in immediate sight, but in all honesty as the sight of it all dawned on her, the whole fiasco with how she had released the terrified kid took a back seat, as her eyes instantly narrowed on the girl- ney, more a young woman really -occupying one of the chambers, her coat a dead giveaway of her likely involvement in the facility. Eye's burning a faint scarlet, she stepped closer to the tank, looking up and down at the young scientist, lips curled in disgust "I think... that these sick fucks are growing kids here or something... like literally, making embryos and sticking em inside these things until something happens to their current subjects... or they start a new project and need more guinea pigs. Why the hell is a lab tech here though- unless...." slowly, but surely, the full implications of it all donned on her "... these have to be their own kids, right?" she asked the Speed God "Like... kidnapping someone else's kids, that would draw too much attention wouldn't it.... but if they use their own stock, make them from scratch as needed, do... something to them to accelerate the growth... and maybe... maybe a few out of each batch is smarter than they expect, and they turn them into another member of the team instead of just another subject. Fucking hell, these bastards could have a potentially infinite supply of kids to cut up and do whatever they want with.... and wouldn't have to worry too much about recruitment either."

Revenant vs Giant The black mech stood at the ready on the killing field, visor burning with crimson light. Even as he ran the diagnostics in the back of his mind, he could feel that old presence stirring, that dragon, that demon, his awakening within the prison that was the darkest depths of the mechanics mind like a unholy flight of flame and shadow, the vast and quaking roar of a beast long since starved for blood. Solomon sighed, putting pressure against the mental bindings, if only to remind the beast of it's place. "Asmo still ain't back, sully boy...." no matter many times he heard it, there had always been something... tempting about the voice. Something deceptive. Something to be resisted. Without Asmodius' presence in his mind, it only now struck him just how so. "Just like the old days... when it was just you and me, before all this stuff about Tesla or that windbag... but, I forgive ya, sully. You can lock me up, seal me like some genie in a bottle, ignore and suppress me until you need me to sic something... but see, thats the thing. Unlike that little servant you conjured up to try and replace me-" "Restrain you." the Mechanic muttered gruffly. He seemed to be doing it alot lately, in all honesty he thought more and more he was picking up the habit from the old man... "Asmo was supposed to be the counter-balance, the thing that helped me keep you in check, shut you up... he only began to replace you because you wouldn't let go, wouldn't get with the program afterwards. You only got yourself to blame for that." "Pity" the beast responded, "to think what David would think now, if he knew his son was so damn dysfunctional with his own Doppelganger, so afraid to embrace the family technique... but see, that's the thing sully. Even despite all our ups and downs, here I am for you, still... waiting... can you say the same for your manservant now? You two were supposed to be working together, getting to the bottom of Arcturus, and he upped and left you without a word. What are you going to do now, Sully?" The mechanic stayed his tongue for once. It was a good question, but honestly, one he had already known the answer to. As much as he didn't like it... no, as much as he hated it... it might've been time to finally do it... he'd been losing this thing so far, aside from the debut match, and like Asmo had said, if just one little thing had gone differently... If he stopped holding back, stopped the constant push to make things interesting... stopped putting himself at such a constant handicap... perhaps it was time. Time to stop neglecting what his father had taught him. Time to give what had ended so terribly so long ago, another try. He was a man now, afterall, not some child... the beast would not overtake him, not now... not ever again... He only wondered what Sasha might think, when she saw it. Well... that's a worry for another time. This thing infront of him, it was easily the biggest and beefiest FAD he'd ever encountered. The raw ferocity he could offer, the savage resolve bordering on foolhardiness... "If I set you loose, will you shut up about Tesla and Asmo?" "You set me loose, and I'll be too damn busy tearing this thing apart to even remember those two."