Nicia nodded softly at the suggestion, raising her hand and opening the void, with four little Michaelmas and The Furies crawling out. He ordered the tiny winged knights to patrol the perimeter obviously and keep an eye for anything at all. The ghostly old women were to take a much stealthier position, watching over the little men and responding if they found anything suspicious,

"Perimeter defense is up. Offensive interference is prepared. Beacon here we come."

This was all rather exciting, She kept her own eyes peeled as she moved with the others. Carcinos peeking out of the back of her hat to be the eyes on the back of her head. Her fingers were tingling underneath the gloves for action. It was going to come soon. She could just feel it.

Summary: Ayame casts Ties of the Heart on Panko and Nicia. Then explains them off screen.

"...Ayame, you seem talented at detection spells, so keep alert."

The shrine maiden swept a graceful bow, "As you say." As she spoke, red magical energy flowed out from behind her, taking the form of a floating red scarf. The enchanted accessory settled its ends over her wrists. She straightened.

"Everyone keep in mental contact. Let's move." Picky mentally stated, before he and his mage took off.

Ayame paused on her hilltop for a moment, a red casting circle appearing beneath her feet. "Link us." She whispered. Red lines of magical energy appeared between herself and the other two mages. Idly, Ayame realized Nyx was harder to establish the tie to then Kid.

With that done, she took to the air to follow after her companions, explaining her latest spell as she did.

Shimizu looked around, trying to get any readings on the All Purpose Scanner. "Ponpon, do you know what any of this is?"
"Nope. You may have already noticed this, but I'm very much different from other Intelligent Devices, paya."
"Because of the Star Brand I have?" Shimizu guessed.
"Yep. I alone do not a magical girl make, paya. It takes the Star Brand to make me more useful than just a talking Intelligent Device, paya."

Shimizu walked down one of the avenues. "My little stepbrother Takuya would love this place. The kid's fanatic about puzzles."
Ponpon chuckled. "And about your underwear drawer, paya."
Shimizu palmed her forehead gently. "Chihase would have his ass on a platter if she ever found out about his crush on me. I guess that's another thing on my list of stuff I'd better take care of sooner rather than later. So, the beacon's coming from here, eh?"
"Right, paya."
"Are we supposed to use this place or simply destroy it? Something's gotta be here."
Her rocketpack activated and Shimizu flew to the structure conversion tower, hovering just outside of it. "Gotta figure out what we're supposed to do, and we'd better make it fast. I can almost smell the guardian getting ready to defend his turf."

A torrent of broken branches and twigs sprayed like rain onto the clearing floor, caught within the cutting wind that coarsed from deeper depth of the forest through the thinning trees. Menarker barged through the thicker aspects in his mad rush, blades of air protruding sideways from his forearms. He landed promptly on the dirt and bolted toward the hostage, blade ready to cut through the barrier and any opposition.

"Find yourself another stray. She's mine!" He snarled aimlessly at the coy voice as if personally offended and vexed.

"Mena, you idiot!"

["Nexus located. Analysis in progress."]

Akari brought up the rear of the Autekkan strike team, walking softly inside the magical 'factory' complex behind Shimizu and Mitsuko. It was vast, massive, and above all, quite impressive-looking, yet altogether alien. Something about looking at it filled Akari with a sense of dread, and yet also a sense of awe.

"It's too quiet in here." Mitsuko said, firmly repressing a shiver. "Like a grave."

"Yeah... It's really creepy." Akari whispered, gently levitating off of the floor as Shimizu took off towards the tower. "Ahead slow." she commanded, tilting forward slightly and slowly whizzing off behind Shimizu and towards the tower. Ceres was oddly silent.

The sensation of energy eminating from the 'pylon' increased as they came closer, and Akari began to notice that the way the walls were arranged, the pylon was indeed within view as if on purpose. Likely, since it was emitting a distress call, it was helping them get closer? Then again, given previous encounters with autekkan technology, things were rarely this easy.

"Anathema!" Ceres hissed almost inaudibly within Akari's head, "We should not be in this place..." in a tone that, for the first time sounded like fear. This, more than the alien nature of the factory nor the strange stillness of the place, sent a shiver up the hovering young girl's spine.

Mernarker exploded into the clearing where Mero faced off against an unknown foe, twigs and leaves spraying ahead of him. The debris pattered off barrier separating him from them, the energy field becoming more visible at the points of impact.

"Find yourself another stray. She's mine!" he snarled at the coy voice within the spinning links maintaining the field.

"Mena, you idiot!" Mero yelled, turning to face Menarker.

There was only a blur in the air as something tapped Mero's side with a tremendous discharge of force. Orange lightning crackled over Mero from the point of impact.

"She looks like a stray." the voice told Mernarker, the sound pulling back from Mero. "If she's yours, shouldn't you be taking better care of her?"

There was a muffled plume of orange like a muzzle flare and a needle projectile jabbed at Mero, visible mainly by the traces of orange clinging to it.

"Your cat's so weak... you truly must be worthless." the voice came from the firing point, still stationary.

* * *

At the Verda beacon, a Phantom Zone was beginning to expand. With its edges not set yet, it would be easy to slip into.

Between where Mernarker and Mero confronted the enemy and the approaching Verda mages was the Verda beacon. It seemed to have moved away from the fight. At its location, a blot of unnatural darkness stretched beneath the trees. Clinging to the trunks and lower branches that thrust out of its embrace, it was a pool of shadow, hiding everything inside.

How troubling.

* * *

Mitsuko was on edge. They were almost halfway to the tower and nothing had shown up.

["Danger."] Bright Day suddenly chimed.

A series of rotating rings of glyphs lit up, forming a cylinder around the conversion tower. More power lines on it lit up as a slow, strangely quiet claxon sounded.

Lights on the storage racks also came on as they powered up. With a clunk, the arrangement of the storage racks ahead of Shimizu began to rearrange themselves, moving to block the path to the tower.

More mechanisms on some of the closer racks, both ahead and behind, activated. The storage blanks sizzled, concave depressions appearing as the material was drawn into the centre of the depressions by energy arcs and contracted into a new form.

Mitsuko maintained a poker face as a dozen Autekkans constructs were completed. They were roughly humanoid and human sized, head just a helmet vaguely like a rhino's horn. One limb ended in an obvious cannon, the other had an oversized fist. The had massive, armoured thighs, vents and flared structures on the sides but the lower leg was spindly. It almost put Mitsuko in mind of a dog's leg.

Looking closer, there was something wrong with them. Their design suggested they should be identical, but were not. There were flaws in them, slightly lopsided as if they weren't quite set. Tiny flecks of material fell from them as they moved.

The leg vents and a single large thruster in the back flared and they lifted off with startling speed. Pencil thin jets on their bodies braced them still for a moment and they fired, unleashing a volley of crimson bolts.

A second series was already forming.

"You were right Miyasaki." Mitsuko said to Shimizu mildly.

Summary: Ayame casts a variant of her Gale spell to dispel the Darkness. Things get windy.

Wait. Ayame's mental command cut into her companion's minds.

The shrine maiden halted her flight toward the mysterious pool of shadows at, what she judged to be, a safe distance. I'll clear us a path. Ayame elaborated coolly, idly smoothing the sleeves of her Jacket. Cover me.

Ayame raised her hand, a white casting array appearing beneath her feet, "Oh heavenly winds, harken to my call." A breeze swept up behind her, enough to stir her hair and clothes, "Cleave a path through the darkness and banish the night!" Motes of light began to glimmer into existence around her and she swept her arm down.

Hold on to your talking hats!

"Shining Gale!"

Light and wind exploded from behind her, the storm of holy magic sweeping past the priestess-leaving her unaffected-and baring down on the pool of shadowy power in a rush.

She'd wipe this inkblot right off the map.

"Yeah, but I said 'guardian'!" Shimizu called down, dodging the magical bolts fired by the Centurion's cannons. "That means just one! Not all these!"

Shimizu suddenly halted in midair, struck by a bolt. One of the centurion's took advantage of her in-flight stagger and rushed her, knocking her clean out of the air with its Hammer Hand. Shimizu fell and crashed down on her back, grimacing from the pain.
"Damage received, paya. Not terribly bad, but do try to avoid their combination attacks in the future, paya."
Shimizu rubbed her head as she stood up. "I'll take that under advisement, thanks."

The one that struck her with its fist rushed her again, but this time Shimizu wasn't distracted. Acting quickly, she trained Ponpon on her offender and opened up with her Star Bolts, causing the centurion to shudder. Her rocketpack reactivated and Shimizu met the centurion, using her Star Blade to cleave it in two at the waistline. The legs fell to the ground while the torso rocketed into the cavernous ceiling and exploded, kicking up a sizeable cloud of dust.
"I don't think we can use this place for anything," Shimizu said, taking cover behind the nearest slab. "We should destroy it. I mean, those're Autekkan magichines but they're still attacking us, right?"

She confirmed Mitsuko and Akari's locations and then whirled out from her cover, slashing in the general direction of the centurions with her Solar Slasher. The thin, high penetrating beam cut a cannon off of one of them, and slicing both legs at an angle of another. The laser would've eaten all the way through the cave wall, but it vanished at the border of the Phantom Zone.
"Spreiga!" Shimizu shouted, ducking back out of danger. The Star Brand was already uncomfortably warm, and there were many targets, and even more on the way. Spreiga would be great for allowing her to neutralize multiple targets with only the cost required to take one out. Spreiga arrived like a bat out of hell, halting over Shimizu's right shoulder.

Shimizu took the cooldown moment to formulate her plan. In order to defeat the factory, she would most likely have to destroy the conversion tower, and that meant getting through all the defenses that now stood between her and it. She mentally listed her own spells, and picked Meteor Impact and Boom Burst. They were the best at getting through tough armor, Meteor Impact moreso than Boom Burst.
"Spreiga, this is going to be pretty touch and go here," Shimizu said to her Intelligent Device. "Meteor Impact should allow me to breach the defenses protecting that conversion tower, but I've gotta be in melee range. I can use Boom Burst at range, but it won't be as effective."
"If the Shimizu sisters can provide a reasonable enough distraction then it's very possible, paya. But what does Spreiga have to do with it, paya?"
"Boom Burst Buckshot," Shimizu said with a grin. "If we don't get through those defenses fast, we'll be overwhelmed by the Centurions."

Menarker was already heading toward the barrier as the dart grazed painfully against Mero's skin, her movements only preventing it from direct penetration. She growled with indigination as the searing pain left burnish marks on her side.

"Your cat's so weak... you truly must be worthless."

I can't be bothered to care about what you think of us anymore. Your behaviour against the one closest to me... UNFORGIVEABLE!!!

Menarker shot along the ground, hovering slightly above the air as if skating with arms outstretched along his side as he charged headstrong toward Mero.

"First, I gotta get Mero out of that barrier. She's a sitting duck within that field. As much as I would love to punish that thing, I really don't have any training against invisible foes."

Menarker swerved to one flank of the barrier, shoving his left bladed forearm against the wall as he dashed alongside it, intent on cleaving a new weakspot.

"Pretty damn sturdy... But if I can find a point where my blade digs in deeper than the rest as I push inward, then maybe that'll be the point where the least energy gathers... and where I should focus on."

"Mena!" Mero staggered along, attempting to chase the mage, her battle form looking weary and slightly battered. "You won't be able to fight back as you are now. I couldn't sense any energy signature from it, so I couldn't track it!"

Mern looked back quizzically. "It doesn't have a signature?"

Mero gaped widely as the situation seeming to have gone from bad to worse.

"You mega-retard! You're going over your head! How the heck did you even find me?"

"Now is not the time! Trying to get you out!"

Rei arrived at the edge of the park, letting his bike fall to the ground as he dismounted it in a run as Taken informed him that the others had already made their way to the source of the signal. As soon as he felt he was far enough from any public paths the shade of the forest was destroyed in a globe of blindingly bright light, with the form of a boy within it. As the light faded, Shoda Rei dropped to the ground, though he was no longer recognizable as such, his barrier jacket and mask protecting both his body and identity.

He quickly scanned over the area, his mask searching for Autekkan energy signatures, and it quickly found them. Flared into combat no less.

Rei became a blur, leaping through the tree branches as he sped toward the entrance to the cave as quickly as he could. He only hoped he could make it in time.

(OOC: I'm going for the stylishly late just in time to save the day arrival here)