We Can Rebuild (Open)

Rico's attempt at soothing Elisabeth did little to ease her frustration. They were exceptional people, with useful powers. They were expected to make mistakes in planning. She was not. It was how she was expected to keep up. Granted, she was new to the heroing scene, so she didn't dwell any longer on it.

As the kids were loaded onto the evacuation ship, Elisabeth would instruct the pilot to leave as soon as Robin and Rapture brought their hostages back. Then her and Rico would be off to the basement.

The basement to this school looked more like it was out of a horror movie than a school. They had to move a bit of rubble to get to it, but luckily most of the explosions had missed the entrance. Was that luck, or was the person hiding here smart enough to leave themselves an escape? Hard to tell.

"Look out for anything unusual, alright?"

There were red emergency lights on, probably from a generator somewhere. Strange, it seemed like the backup generators had been knocked out earlier... then there must be another down here. It looked like a boiler room, and the humid stickiness that clung to the air made it feel like one too.

"It has to be down here." he wasn't going to get into the habit of second guessing herself now. "These valves look off."

She'd grab one without hesitating and twist it hard. On the back wall, a keypad was revealed as the brick literally rose up into some other compartment. Elisabeth would offer to let Rico try to hack it first, but if the girl couldn't Elisabeth could. As Robin and Rapture met up with them, an elevator would open up in the wall.

"Looks like it's a basement, eh Captain?"

Robin would still be scanning for any more unpleasant surprises as he examined the basement. There needed to be some urgency here. No doubt that whoever ran this facility would have been trying to remove any and all evidence of who was involved. In that same line of thinking, they couldn't just go headfirst into it. Traps had already been set for them. Someone was EXPECTING someone to find this place. This was making less and less sense the more he tried thinking about it, his musings cut off by Elisabeth finding how to get in. "Since we came here for information, we need to find out all we can as fast as we can- but be careful," Robin said as they got into the elevator, feeling like the last one was a given but it was habitual to say.

Robin took point when the elevator doors opened, pleasantly surprise to find that they were still alive. There was still no way that there wasn't anything waiting for them down here. He wasn't getting anything on his computer, atleast nothing immediately that screamed danger. The first room they entered was little more than an anteroom of sorts, steel and concrete with a hall branching out two different ways. He wasn't going to suggest splitting up at this point, not while they were in the hornet's nest. "Computers are still running down here- trying to get through a firewall," Robin said as he shifted priorities.

If there was any security system down here, he'd be able to get through it with enough time. Choosing to go left, Robin kept his senses focused while he multitasked- this firewall wasn't just some "one and done" kind of deal. Whoever programmed it knew what they were doing. Inside the room would be a series of computer banks and a terminal. "There we go... and there," Robin said with a triumphant smile as he broke in, disabling the security system that he discovered consisted mostly of robots- with a few ceiling mounted turrets further in.

Rico walked down into the basement with Elisabeth, keeping on guard to handle any threats they might encounter along the way. They came to what seemed to be a boiler room, and Elisabeth said to keep an eye out for anything strange. Rico nodded and took a look around with her.

It didn't take long for the two of them to identify the pipes. Elisabeth was the first to determine it, admittedly, but Rico had thought back to the picture in her head of the blueprints Elisabeth had shown them. It definitely seemed out of place. "Yeah. They don't match up with the plans you showed us." Elisabeth took the initiative and turned a crank on a valve, revealing a section of wall with a computer system. "Huh." She came forward to observe it, looking to Elisabeth, who seemed to be giving her the chance to open it.

Rico slightly smiled and went to the terminal, working her magic. "Thanks." Maybe Elisabeth would have been able to open it a little faster, but she did open it in a short while. Just in time, too; as the other two members of their group arrived.

She turned and gave a slight wave to the two as they piled into the elevator. She whirled the gun a bit in her hand in the idle time, prepared to come out and cover Robin when they got there. Thankfully, it wasn't necessary. Robin took point, and Rico followed soon after, towards his right flank. She watched what he was doing, and they eventually came into a room full of computers. Upon his success, she eased up a little, looking around.

Ryuu mentioned that she sensed someone, which warranted a glance from Rico. "Then let's not let them sneak up on us." With the security systems down, Rico had the urge to access the terminals, but would glance to Elisabeth. She had given her a chance, after all. Rico would give her the same chance, only going forward if asked to or if Elisabeth didn't want to so that she could access the computers and find out what they were dealing with.

Everyone was pulling their weight, which was a pleasant sight. Rico opened the elevators, and Elisabeth did her best not to backseat hack her as she did. A feat, really. Her patience was again tested as she let Robin hack the security systems. He was good at it, admittedly. He caught things most would miss... but as they were preparing to go deeper towards the energy Spikes felt, Elisabeth resisted. She noticed Rico look at the computers too.

"Hey, maybe we should investigate a bit first? See if we can get a clue as to what this place is before we go in blind..."

She asked it as a question, but before anyone could answer she'd be headed to the servers and putting her hand on one of them. GIR would immediately connect and start downloading. It'd just be a matter of time before she was able to see what was worth going through all this trouble to hide.

"Stay on your guard. They might not sit around and wait... whatever they are."

Robin would upon hearing that they weren't alone from Rapture, start scanning around. Elisabeth was already trying to go through the computers' databanks. And with the security system off, he could do his own investigation. Chief among his list was fingerprints. It was probably unlikely that any of them would be found in a record, and taking into account the scale of this underground lab made him very concerned. He already had names of a few possible suspects, STAR Labs being high up on the list- it wasn't impossible to imagine that with their branch in the city to keep up appearances, they'd try to sneak another lab for more... illegal research.

Elisabeth's findings when viewed would indicate that much of what had been stored here had already been removed- it was still in the process of removing the rest but had been delayed due to a glitch caused by the facility's power going out earlier and forcing the system to reboot.

It would be then that some doors would suddenly open, prompting Robin to go onto the defense as A White Creature forced it's way in before the doors opened. It immediately went after Robin, bringing both of it's fists down to try and flatten him. Robin quickly rolled out of the way, quickly springing back to his feet. "Everyone be careful! That thing can copy whatever material it touches," Robin exclaimed quickly drawing his bo-staff as he charged at it with a few swipes that it parried with one of it's hands. It then changed targets, smashing through a couple databanks as it charged Elisabeth- aiming a fist for either her, or the terminal...

Upon hearing that the creature could turn into any material it touches, Rapture quickly assessed that fighting steel from chakram or bronze from nightmare knuckles would be unacceptable. Praying to the Spirit of the Red Dragon, the petite powerhouse’s eyes began to glow crimson, her clothes became completely black, and two sets of horns erupted from her skull, followed by a mighty roar that caught the monster’s attention. Once it had fixated upon her, she drew the might Blood Spirit Blade from her chest, brandished it, then set upon the beast. If she had used her full energy, the blood would be boiling, but the last thing everyone needed was that. Instead, she cooled the blade until it became solid, vaulted from a nearby chair to gain some height, and descended into bloody madness as she pierced the blade through its shoulder. The creature seemed to growl as it turned into a heaving mass of blood, spraying the ceilings, walls, and floors with viscera.

She might not have killed it, but at least Rapture had forced the monster into a less… physically dominant form. However, once she realised she had only made a giant bloody mess, it was too late.

Rico agreed with Elisabeth, who was opting for them investigating more about this place before they carried on too much further. She followed Elisabeth over to one of the terminals, looking at what she would find. She made an effort not to read over her shoulder, it was frighteningly rude, but she did see whatever information had appeared on it. Which was that the data banks was being removed; but by some miracle, they had managed to catch it before everything had carried over. She knew Elisabeth would probably get the information taken care of, and so instead decided to heed her words about being wary, turning to watch Elisabeth's back.

Only a minute or two afterward, doors opened and burst inward before a creature came barreling through, charging Robin. Rico stepped forward to draw her sword, but Robin quickly told them that it could simulate whatever material it touched. That made her weapons a clear no. "Then..." Rico began, but Ryuu had already sprung into action, transforming. She stabbed the creature, which then- exploded? Gross. She didn't get sprayed by much of it, luckily, but it was still a very unsettling situation for her.

But the blood began pooling. She suppressed a sigh, standing by to see what the creature would do next. She didn't have Suzuki's powers at this moment, so there was little she could do before it had a solid form again. "Elisa? Do you have anything really cold or really hot?" Then she had an idea. She looked at Elisabeth. "Actually...if it really turns into whatever it touches, we could turn it into metal and then you could contain it." If Elisabeth gave the go ahead she would draw her weapons and start shooting it, keeping her distance for the moment.

The information on the terminal was better than nothing, but only by a little. Most of everything that was important was purged, but she wasn't just after the obvious. She felt confident that with time she could piece these scraps into something more useful. Ideally figure out who was behind all this. That would be a good gift, but-

A loud crash distracted her. Something had pounded through the door and charged at Robin. Elisabeth trusted the boy to handle himself, so she focused on getting the information... but the beast had a different plan.

AND IT COULD COPY WHATEVER IT TOUCHED?!

That was unacceptable. As the creature came, Elisabeth would hug the terminal, careful about her magnets as she tore it apart and dodged at just the last second. The computer was torn from the network, but the hard drives could probably still be salvaged. She hoped.

"I'm afraid I won't be much use."

She admitted, hitting her wrist twice. Her suit faded away, going back into her bracelet and leaving her in her vulnerable human form.

"I absolutely cannot let him mimic my nanotech. It'd be a nightmare."

She'd toss a few discs at Robin as the creature was hit by Spikes. It wasn't done, no way. It seemed to be regenerating.

"If you can make it metal, attach those to it. It should hold him in place. Unless he's very strong."

Rapture had done little but make their adversary... basically unaffected by attacks as it casually regenerated back to it's normal size and shape- it was just bloody. The creature looked around, assessing it's next course of action as Robin caught the discs Elisabeth tossed him. Seeing Elisabeth clutching the terminal, it started on the move again as Robin slid under it's legs and got between the two. Robin already knew he had no way of harming it now that it was liquid, he was just trying to give Elisabeth a chance to get away as he started swinging at the creature's limbs. Every blow that went through it's body simply regenerated as if nothing had happened until it grabbed Robin's bo-staff and tried throwing him out of it's away. It then stretched one of it's now liquid arms right at Elisabeth, trying to get ahold of the terminal...

Robin when he was thrown righted himself, landing on the wall as he threw his bo-staff for the back of the creature's head. Piercing it did little, only distracting it for a moment as it used it's other hand to remove the debris. It otherwise did not change it's material, as Robin said it COULD copy what it touched, not that it had to.

Alright, it was fair enough to categorize Rapture’s decision as… faulty, but at least she hadn’t hit it with a hard metallic substance that could be alternatively harder to deal with. However, this was her blood they were dealing with, and therefore, it could be controlled. “Blood is thicker than water,” she muttered, a command to the Red Dragon who, in turn, made the entirety of the monster into bloody shard, much easier to attack and something she should have thought of before but had been sidetracked by blocking the beast.  It now stood rigid, if only but for a moment, but that should allow another fighter enough time to take the reins. “I can only hold this for so long,”  she gritted her teeth as the monster pushed to change form. “Anyone got any brighter ideas than mine?”

This creature had been down here for a reason, and already proved to be a worthy adversary. As Rapture focused on maintaining the strange being’s physical form, should could not help but think of how little any of this made sense –– human hostages, booby traps, the computer room, and now this pain in the ass. No scientists, no other spiritual signatures, just… abandoned basements and unanswered questions. What if another creature appeared? What would they do then, cornered as she had feared? She looked to her temporary teammates –– the fanciful billionaire, the girl with the intriguing arm, and the human called Robin.

Rapture had no plans on dying. But if one of them were to? The Red Dragon hummed within her, wondering what their individual spirits would taste like.

The creature had come barreling towards them now. Random selection? Or maybe it was for some particular reason it had changed its target? Rico didn't take more than that moment to think about it. Whatever the case may be, it was charging towards them now. But it genuinely took Rico by surprise when Elisabeth said that she would be of little help, almost leaving her dumbfounded. "What do you me-"

Luckily Robin was keeping the beast busy now, swiping with his staff. Rico briefly looked between the fight and Elisabeth, before gritting her teeth and clenching her right hand as it glowed, advancing to the fight to keep it away from her as she drew her sword. "Robin, what is this thing?" Ryuu started condensing it using her powers, asking if anyone had any plans. "Just this one."

She then darted forward from her walking pace, swiping down with her hand and using the projection of it to give it a twenty ton smack into the floor. "Sometimes, a magic sword's all you need!" she said with a bit of flair, and started smashing the chunks of the creature with her sword. It was a bluff, of course; the sword wasn't magic. But maybe the creature would think magic steel was a little more useful than blood which one of their makeshift team could control.

Elisabeth was getting more and more frustrated as the events went on. The creature could change, but they couldn't FORCE it to change... annoying. Now it was blood, and making a mess everywhere while being immune to damage? Even worse. It was lunging at her, but it seemed the others took it upon themselves to protect the heiress, which was nice because she was about to be forced to sacrifice the terminal. Instead, she needed a plan.

Rico, worthy of number two, started a bluff that Elisabeth deemed as obvious from her facial features... but she was something of a prodigy. The creature had a brain, it didn't change from the blood form, so it was clever enough to think. Maybe not clever enough to think ahead, though.

"Hit it where it hurts, Rico! That sword can kill anything, I ran the tests myself. This plan is foolproof."

Elisabeth kept the bluff going, and while Rico distracted the monster (hopefully) she would pry open a control box on the wall. Inside were a lot of HIGH VOLTAGE signs, as the genius had hoped for. She grabbed one of the safe wires, metal appearing over her hand as she did. If they could turn it into a liquid again, then maybe shocking it would work. So if they could turn it to metal or liquid again, then she had a plan. Until then... she could bide her time? It didn't look like Spikes could hold it much longer.

The creature had not anticipated a bloodmancer- albeit simply a minor nuisance. But it's brief moment of being solid did enable Rico to smash through it's currently more fragile form, where it started to quickly shift it's body back into blood and start pooling back together. Robin used this chance to try and call the others, realizing that it looked like none of them were making any headway as the creature whipped a whip of blood at him and knocked it out of his hand. It was smarter since the last time he had encountered it. "It just attacked us one day and we still only managed to force it into hiding," Robin called back, quickly launching a couple flash-freeze discs into it's still writhing mass- freezing most of the blood and trapping it in ice.

It was only for a moment though as the creature's body pulled into itself, quickly reverting to it's natural form as it broke free and tore one of the other computer banks, it's body adopting a glossy sheen as it copied the metal lining of the computer bank. It started swining it around like a makeshift club as Robin would quickly reach for the magnets Elisabeth tossed him, waiting for her to then shock it before he moved in to slap them on.

Rico kept smacking the creature with her sword but it didn't seem to be working as well as she had expected. It wasn't transforming. Was it so intelligent that it knew that she was bluffing? Elisabeth had even went along with it flawlessly. But then, even as it looked like their improvisation had failed, it latched onto a computer in its natural form and became metal. This was their chance.

Rico clenched her right fist again, it glowing once more as the ethereal arm made its appearance. She gave the creature a quick three piece punch to put it down on the floor and get it set up to be shocked by Elisabeth. Robin relayed the information that the Titans had only been able to drive it off once before. That was a little disheartening. She had been expecting to hear solid attack plans and key weaknesses. But perhaps this would work well enough? She kept her sword at her side and at the ready, while giving the creature another quick punch to deal with.