The Quest for Domination (Part 1) //Gathering Allies// [OPEN to anyone aligned with Nyarlathotep]

Phalanx looked out the window of Sky Akumura's apartment. The rain that was plaguing the streets had been going on for a good 2 days straight. The Anti-Shadow Suppression Weapon had arrived on this island almost 7 months ago now. Time had surely flown out the window. He had been living with the Akumura Siblings for at least 3 weeks now, and he had been helping Sky with a bunch of things since the two had first met on that beach. Everything from daily tasks like shopping, to excursions investigating those rifts. After that close encounter with the Lancet left Phalanx slightly worried. They knew that he was here. Worried that more of them would show up, potentially dragging the Akumura Siblings into mortal danger wasn't anything Phalanx was very happy about. He had grown quite fond of Sky, and dragging her and Oki into something like this while his battle capacity was hindered like it was didn't seem like the greatest idea.

"I'm going out for a bit."

Phalanx said to Sky as he left the building with A small nod in confirmation from his companion. What to do today? Maybe going to someplace new would help him find a solution to his current predicament... Phalanx would need allies in any places he could find them if he was going to be successful in fulfilling his own goals. SE.RA.PH wasn't going to let themselves get beaten by a lone rogue Unit...

Lunapa was an island Phalanx had only visited briefly before, so why not give it a proper visit? With that in mind, Phalanx headed for the San Malarus Station, and would soon arrive on Lunapa island...

Tick... Tock... Goes the clock... The rain made business slow for the Disfigured One, and so she hid away within the small alcove of the shop that housed her piano. She played beautiful music as the rain pitter pattered against her window. She loved to do this... Almost as much as maintaining the dolls within her shop. Though, she couldn't lie; she needed more of a hobby... People looked at her weird enough as is... Even if she did wish them all dead, if people became suspicious... The thought made her shiver, and maybe it was this that made the Disfigured One glance out her window.

If she could breath, she would have stopped for a moment. That person... W-Who was he? The Disfigured One stopped playing abruptly and made her way through the store awkwardly, grabbing her hat and placing it on to hide her missing eye. Her head of sorts slipped within the back of her dress as she pulled on a pink shawl and grabbed an odd laced looking umbrella. She began her stalking as soon as she exited her store, careful to place the Open sign on Closed.

She fallowed from a distance, careful to not draw attention, albeit hard with the pinkish clothes she was wearing. She followed him to Lunapa... Would he notice her? And what was it about him? Only time would tell... Tick... Tock...

The island of Lunapa was a big contrast to Old Town which Phalanx had gotten used to by this point. The air was different, for one, not to mention the lack of car noise and bustling masses made Phalanx feel quite comfortable. Malstu had been the same. After hopping off the train, Phalanx had noticed he was followed... Maybe he was just being paranoid...? Then again, he had to stay on constant high alert after the incident on Malstu... SE.RA.PH knew he was here now, and not wishing to be ambushed, he remained cautious about this person tracking him. He turned around, facing his 'stalker'. As he was a machine himself, he was not fooled by this tiny girl's clothing or appearance. She was another Anti-Shadow Suppression Weapon of some kind. He ran through his databanks, scanning her just to make sure she wasn't a threat, before approaching.

"Hey there. You want something?" He asked kindly. This one was the first non-human he'd seen in a long time with seemingly no hostile intentions, as far as Phalanx could tell. And even if she had any, Phalanx was prepared. If it should come to that, which would be a shame... He did not enjoy killing others of his own kind...

Her home city was growing boring over the short time she had been newly reborn; but she couldn't let anyone know anything happened to her original. Completely changing into a person who loves to be outside and talk to people wasn't doing that. Theda had told everyone that she wanted to turn her life around, which helped cover the fact that she actually went to school. After a week, she decided it was time to venture out into the island next door; going to the station to do so. It didn't take long for her to almost be there herself, which lead her to stand up and to walk towards the exit. After exiting the train, she would find herself wondering the place a bit, liking that she could finally enjoy it. Eventually she would find herself distracted by the view so much that she would bump into a man who appeared to be having a conversation himself. She stumbling back and fell downwards onto the ground, feeling as if the impact hurt way more than it needed to. Looking up, she'd laugh at her own clumsiness. "Gah! My mistake! Sorry." Noticing the girl standing there too, she felt like she wanted to say something but found her a bit... Scary.

She continued her stalking from afar, her umbrella opened and propped over her shoulder. Her hands where poised so they held its handle with the utmost elegance... Well, as much elegance as a crippled like her could have. She stumbled from time to time, always quickly recovering afterwards though. Her progress was slow but she never let the man get out of her sight... But an unexpected turn happened. He walked towards her... A scan would have been made if only the scanner was still within her head and not part of the mass that now sat within her body. She sighed softly, staying stiffly still as the man spoke to her.

Who was he? What was h- That feeling... She looked up at him, her eye taking him in... His eyes... They... H-He couldn't be... H-How...?

"Y-You're... I-I... Thought I-I was... A-Alone..." she said in a soft and stuttering voice, unable to properly speak due to half of her voice box being within the rest of her insides. She was almost scared... Was he sent to kill her? She never thought the scientists would even try and find her... It had been five years sense the incident... And two of them she had gone off the grid entirely. She stayed quiet, lowering her head so that it was hidden by her hat completely.

Though, it would seem the two ASSWs wouldn't be alone for much longer as a girl bumped into the man. The Disfigured One glanced her way and almost gasped. I-It was a malfunction... There was no way one of them where here... She knew of the rifts and the shadows that lied within, but no accounts of them getting out was ever mentioned... A-And this one looked like a person... Could they do that? The Mauled didn't know, and so stayed quiet, glancing the girl's way once.

"... A-Are... You both... Okay...?" she said quietly again, looking up to the man for a moment before lowering her head again. She was terrified right now... But if he was a friend... I-If he was like her...

"Oh. You noticed it? Well... Yeah. We're not alone. Altough, I didn't expect to see another Anti-Shadow Suppression Weapon here. Well... maybe a SE.RA.PH unit..." He said gently. The poor thing. What had happened to this unit? Phalanx was suprised it even functioned properly. "I don't want any harm. I really dislike hurting ones of my own kind needlessly."

Then someone bumped into him. He turned around, seemingly unfazed by it. "Hm? Ah, don't worry about it." The newly arrived had fallen over. "Be more careful next time, though." He chuckled slightly. Something about this girl was... strange. He couldn't exactly put his finger on what... But she was definetly different from Sky, that much was certain. "What's your names?" He asked bluntly, helping the girl back on her feet. He normally didn't care much for humans, but this one, like Sky, piqued his interest...

They defiantly had to keep thinking about it for a second, the guy's body actually hurt her like hell, as if she had been punched by a sumo-wrestler and thrown into a wall. It must have been a strength equivalent to the one she showed when she switched into that other form; it was unnatural for a normal human. But it’s not like he actually hit her, the strength was just the force that knocked her down, it was like his body wasn’t natural itself. Taking his hand, she’d feel something that was unfamiliar to a human’s, it was way colder than the natural coldness hands got from time to time; there defiantly was something about these two. As she got up, the other girl would speak rather slowly, as if she had no choice in doing so. “Well, my name is Theda, Theda Malice.” Yes, she had to introduce herself to them, she had to figure out what made them different to her.

H-He was one... She wasn't alone... A-And he was a friend... The relief the Disfigured One felt made her smile lightly from behind the shadow of her hat. She produced a quiet sighing sound before turning her attention to the girl. Where names being given? She didn't know... She only knew the one like her had asked the... Girl...? Regardless, the Disfigured One stayed quiet, still analyzing the one like her with occasional glances.

"The name's... Phalanx." he said. Was there really any harm in telling them his name? Not really. "What about you, little one?" He crouched down to the small girl. "You have one?" The silence given by the robot was... understandable. It didn't exactly burst with confidence. "To be perfectly honest... I've been looking for someone like you. One of my kind. One that... isn't out to kill me, that is." Phalanx's thoughts flew back to the Lancets. Sure, they weren't a big threat on their own, but if there were more than one... things could get dangerous quickly... How was he gonna go about this...?

Thinking for a moment, she would accidentally blurt out something, not even bothering to fix herself. "One of your kind..." It took a few moments, especially trying to piece together all of the small facts they had gathered in a matter of minutes. Body that is sort of cold, not really squishy like a human, imperfect speech patterns. After a moment, she'd smile, catching the thought quickly. "You both are robots! Most likely one of those made to defeat things like me." That was something she shouldn't have slipped up on; they could take that the wrong way and try to take her out on the spot. Though Theda was sure that her fighting skills would be enough to take them down, maybe not both at the same time though. Getting ready to transform, she would slightly take a fighting stance. Though it wasn't enough for either of them to even notice, especially when she wasn't acting hostile at all.

The Disfigured One looked at Phalanx, her missing eye being seeable by him and only showing a black hole with a white light glowing lightly within it. Her right eye seemed scared almost, the human like quality of it illuminating the soul that laid within her body. She smiled lightly though, a sense of peace coming over her as he spoke directly at her. She felt safe now... Something she hadn't felt in so many years.

"I... Call myself... Mauled..." she said quietly, only loud enough for the man to hear. She had never told anyone the name she refereed to herself as. Not even her dolls knew... Her mind was a flutter as she looked at him. She couldn't believe there was someone like her here... Someone that wouldn't hurt her either... "I-I... I've been alone... F-For so long..." she said once more, not sure what else to say to the man at his final words. Though, the girl spoke up... And what she said...

"Y-You're a... S-Shadow...?" the Mauled said, taking a stumbled step back. She had not fought a shadow in over five years... And her Clockwork Flock had been out of order ever sense she fainted... Worst yet... The Persona she had was locked away deep within her fractured psych... W-Would she attack? W-What did she want...? This was one case the Mauled had wished she could be only a little less broken... She would try and hide behind Phalanx if he'd let, shivering lightly as she did so.

"Mauled, huh..." Now that was... suprising... How did he not realize it before? This had to be one of the discarded Mark IV units... A Sica... Considering the condition her body was in, Phalanx assumed she had gone Rogue like Phalanx himself. There's no way they would still use a discarded unit to track down Phalanx. "May I ask you a question? You're... a Mark IV right?" He had a bunch of information about these units, but they were so incredibly rare due to programming errors forcing a vast majority of them to be discarded, like the unit in front of him, that this was the first time he had actually seen one. "Well, I'm glad to see an older sister that's not out to kill me... Damn SE.RA.PH."

"Don't worry... I don't think she's willing to pick a fight with both of us. And we don't wish you any harm either. My Shadow hunting days are long gone. All I seek is revenge upon my creators for what they put me through..." It honestly didn't bother him that this girl was a shadow. Sure, it was a bit strange seeing a shadow talking to them in human form... But as Phalanx had mentioned, as long as this shadow didn't actively try to attack them, there was no need for him to strike either.

She had wondered why she wasn’t as aggressive as most of the other shadows were, especially since they seemed blood thirsty and unable to think for themselves. So what made her so different from them? Was it because she was based off the suppressed feelings of Theda and therefore was made to be so? She had felt a power surge through her when she was denied, as if she had been ripped from the chains that held her to the original and became her own person. That might also explain why she got those powers in a matter of seconds; was that why she was different, because she killed her original and became her own person? It really was all confusing, though she’d rather not think about it until she knew for sure what had happened. “Well yeah I’m a shadow, but I feel more human than anything. Plus I don’t feel like you two are my enemies, more like you align yourself where I do… If that makes sense.” She knew her father was the crawling chaos, but she didn't know if they even had any power.

H-How... This man was truly astonishing... Wasn't he? He was capable of reading the mysterious behind the Disfigured One as if she was an open book... Someone like that was truly dangerous... But... She trusted him... She wanted to be right beside him no matter what... She didn't know why... Was it because he was like her? A rouge ASSW? Or... Was it because she had been away from her kind for so long... She almost needed to be near one like herself...? She didn't know, only that she wanted to be near him...

"... Yes... I am... What you say... I-I am..." she said to Phalanx, barely an audible whisper as she did so. She looked up at him as he called her 'sister.' What an odd thing to be called... No less older. She was barely passable for being physically older than he and her height didn't help that fact... Regardless, she nodded lightly to him, a weak smile across her face. She focused back on the shadow girl though, sighing in relief as she stepped out from behind Phalanx, her missing eye also visible to her now. She kept her weak smile on, a frail one that only added to the Disfigured One's patheticness in a way...

"... Aligned...? W-What do... You r-refer t-too...?" she asked with a light tilt of her head, still holding the umbrella over her shoulder in as delicate as one with her disfigurements could. She was confused by the girl's words... She knew something? It would seem so, yes... Hopefully she would share... Tick... Tock...

"Well, I'm a unit made by SE.RA.PH themselves. A newer model mind you." Phalanx said in a calm tone. It was a miracle this one still functioned properly. It was missing so many parts, yet somehow it was still walking and talking, albeit very limited. "Well, I assume you're on the run from them as well? I should warn you, I've seen a Lancet on San Malarus. There may be more of them." Yeah... That had been a close encounter with it. At the train station, and in those woods... Why did they pop up here now? Well... Things were messy over here, with all these rifts, SE.RA.PH is bound to pay attention...

"I'm not sure I follow who it is you're talking about?" He raised an eyebrow at Theda. What she said was confusing...