Mission: A Concerned MOM (One Gob Army)

(Meelton?! Get off the computer! I leave on vacation for one week and you- hey, sthffbg gimme the keyboa-fhdfbrhhfgjf

...Milton has regained control)

With threats taken care of and the squad regrouping to discuss the next move, this time focusing on staying together to avoid unfavorable matchups that had driven Milton and Kuzi towards Grubby, Milton gave an all clear wave as the MOMs appeared from their hiding places. Milton listened to the mothers bicker for a bit and spoke up.

"Vshnre, while I understand the concerns surrounding the neighborhood and whatever creatures tend to make their homes in it, I assure you this Determination place likely has just as many problems as living in Junction, maybe even more. Honestly, Junction would seem to be the most tame place to co-habitate in given its population... besides our homeworlds respectively, but what are the odds of that?"

As for the one called Alister, Milton went over to help treat him only for the others to come ahead of him, Kuzi offering a makeshift bandage wrap for the injury. He looked down at his hand as part of it unwrapped into floating strings, exposing his metal palm as he held it to Alister. "In case you require makeshift stitching."

"What's that? A signal?" Milton ask Azul, peeking at the screen from a distance before turning his sights to their new destination. "I'll have to ask my inquiries later, it seems. This is serious. I'll keep my ears open for Claire, but if that signal is running, looks like Vshnre has the right idea. Thanks for the save back there, Grubby. Let's see if I have any more medicines in here..." Milton started walking with the group, one hand carrying his blade with the other digging in his bag for a medicinal vial.

There were plenty of odd things appearing down here, any of which could be been seen as the killer in the night they were searching for. Skinless monster? Perhaps another victim. Those pirate-tongued monstrosities? They were spewing an ichor like Gaia's avatar, but what was the correlation? Were these types of creatures spread across the conceivable universe to appear in two such places, or maybe... based on what he read, maybe Junction could be a source of these things, leaving them behind when these beings choose to leave for a new planet to invade.

No, better to focus. Milton listened intently to Grubby before continuing to march close to him, his skin shifting like sand as it took the broken wires and pinched together new lengths.

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Following the group

The small Dreedle would listen to the green mans words closely. The guy was right, most likely if the whole seeker thing hadn't occurred he'd very much likely been dead at this point. Or, at least he would of had to run away at first sight of it and wouldn't of been able to help at all. It was true he'd been fortunate to be given a chance to defend himself, though not everyone was... "Which is why I refuse to give up trying. Those things are horrifying, this much is obvious. I'd be a little concerned if there was anyone out there that didn't find these kinds of things freaky. Or well, you know, the idea of these kinds of things attacking and killing you and those around you in horrible ways. I'm small, agile and have some tricks to keep myself hidden and out of harms way. If I really wanted to, I could probably very easily just hide myself away. Though I was given the chance to defend myself, to give myself a higher chance at surviving against whatever is going on around here these days. But not everyone got that chance, not everyone was so lucky... It's not fair. And its exactly the reason why I want to always make sure I do everything I can to help those who are unable to help themselves. I may be scared. But those who are faced with the same with no way out must be even more terrified. Soo... It just feels wrong if I don't try and help the best I can. I'll learn to get used to it eventually! I'm sure!"

As for the wounded officer, Kuzi was glad to see that the man accepted his aid. It even seemed to calm him down a little, at least temporarily. Though out of all the people he was here looking for, it was the only one of the MOMs that had seemingly gone missing... "Don't worry, I'm sure she couldn't of gotten far. We were all making sure that each of the MOMs were safe, though things got a little hectic when those monsters appeared. Clare must've just gone to find a place to hide! There was no chance any of the monsters here did anything to her, we just need to make sure we find her before anything else turns up." The fluff would say optimistically, trying to reassure the officer as he overheard the blonde haired guy mention he found a signal of some sorts. "If you stick with us, I'm sure we'll find her soon. It'd be safer for you as well, I'd be worried about you going off on your own with those injuries!"

Assuming that Alister came with them, Kuzi would follow the others. Keeping close yet making a slight detour to the side of their path if Onyx was still where he was last seen. Ensuring that the horned man came along with the group.

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Least I ain't gotta worry 'bout no squabblin' no more. Say what ya want about a crisis, brings everyone fuggen together. Right now we got one goal an' that's stoppin' some wench from turnin' herself into one'a them fancy pillows what ya decorate couches with. The fuggis the point'a them? Don't make a lick a damn sense to me. But I get my green ass flyin' over the ground there, ain't no time fer dawdlin' around like a dumbass.
"Countin' on ya, Blondie. Milton there, take this here healin' potion 'fore ya fuggen keel over," I says, reachin' into my belt to fling'im one'a the vials I got. Runnin' mighty low... gonna have to start bustin' my ass again soon. Ain't no way in the hells this is gonna pay fer the cost a admission. S'what I get fer bein' a nice guy, buncha boils on my ass cheeks. But we swing wide goin' for the goodies there 'fore we meet up with what's'er face. Figure we'll need all the damn help we can get.

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"If you've got a problem with the smell of dead bodies the seeker business might not be right fir you." Azul deadpanned, keeping an eye on the signal. If it was tech he was taking it, if it was Claire, he had questions. Either way he got something from it.

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With a quick swipe of the hand, Milton intercepted Grubby's medicine vial and downed it quickly, feeling the rejuvenating liquid run through his veins as it gave him more energy to patch up the tears in his skin.

"Thank you, Grubby! I need to keep inventory in case I have one to repay you. Now, how about- hey, wait up!"

Suddenly, Grubby and Azul were making their way forward much further than the rest of the group. Milton tried running faster but couldn't quite keep up... until something under his feet started rising to give him a boost. Looking down, it looked like Phobetor's shadow was travelling under him, blazing ahead as the two made their way up to wear the group was going.

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Good, that didn't end up being more complicated than it needed to be. The officer was following them which meant he didn't have to worry about them getting hurt more or rushing off on their own, whilst also giving themselves another layer of protection to keep the MOMs safe. Also Onyx was now with them as well, even if he did seem to be acting a little strangely... The guy was just kinda staring off into the distance when Kuzi first ran up to him. They definitely didn't seem themselves, though he dared not question it too much. Honestly it wasn't like he'd judge the guy if the events going on around here were just a little too much to take in. There was so much horror and misfortune on the streets of Junction at night now... It was scary to think about these very streets are the ones people use every day, going to and from work, shopping, you name it. Why had the failed jump caused all this...

"Hey! I never said I couldn't handle a bad smell or two. No where near the biggest concern of this whole business. That wouldn't drive me off from this and I assure you as I said before I want to be here to help others! I get that I'm small but that doesn't mean I'm not useful you know." Kuzi would huff as he tried his hardest to keep up with the others, usually at this point he'd try and hitch a ride off of someone else to save energy and well. Just cause it was hard for him to keep up in general, though he still had the adrenaline from the last fight surging through his veins allowing him to push himself enough to keep up with no real issue.

"What's the plan if the signal does end up being the killer? Obviously we have to stop them by all means. But we got any plans on how to do that other than brute force?" Kuzi would pant, still concerned about how horrible the killer themselves was going to turn out to be. Let alone if it was the killer, that meant that either Clare wasn't who they were chasing and she was still out there on her own somewhere which wasn't good... Or even worse, the signal was both the killer and Clare... The fluff would shake his head, there was no point in thinking about worst case scenarios right now. He had to stay in the now and be ready for anything.

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Keepin' a good pace here. The rest'a the crew seems to catch up just fine, everythin's movin' slicker'n greased shit I tell ya. I'm takin' slow, deep breaths as I'm chargin' along no matter how quick my feet're movin'. 'Lil trick ya fuggen learn when ya get real good at this kinda work, if you ain't breathin' so hard you ain't makin' any noise. Comes at the consequence a yer heart poundin' in yer ears so ya gotta find a rhythm. I stay off the beaten path, stickin' to the shadows as we come up on the treasure. I go fer it, turnin' my body'n a circle to watch fer traps. S'fuggen by one'a the evenin' lamps. Only damn light source out here, mind ya. This's either a dead drop're someone wanted this thing to get found. I might be dumb but I ain't fuggen stupid, been at this game a while sonny. I go fer it first, steppin' away from the group in the case a it's rigged with a tripwire. It ain't. Now this is real interestin'. Ya ain't see no paper here, not like this, not in this place. Got the same insignia as the box I got there. Ain't take a genius to figure with the ship an' all this a treasure map. Think I'll give it to the whiz kid.
"Here, Azul there," I says, tossin'im the map straight an' true, "Yer a smart one, always got yer nose'n that thingamajig, you take it. Someone wanted this thing to get found I'm tellin' ya. Better you'n me, can't read worth a damn I can't."

I turn to the crew as they catch up, takin' things at a jog to get movin' again.
"I ain't keepin' score there, Milton. Don't know why the fug'you are. Ain't what this is about." I shift my eyes left'n right as I move through the shadows, quick'n quiet. I ain't hardly visible half the damn time, only thing makin' known I'm there is my voice.
"Ain't what I meant by that, powder puff. You too Blondie. Meant there's gonna be a lotta killin', lotta death. Could be someone ya don't know from Adam strung up in the tree branches by'is guts. Might be some'a the townsfolk all mishmashed together into some kinda tarball a wrigglin' flesh'n bone. Could be yer buddy. Might be you. Yer gonna see some horrible shit doin' this fer a livin', ain't no two ways about it. I been doin' this fer damn near 25 years, this ain't even close to the worst ah seen." I keep stone faced fer that last question. S'an innocent one. Tells me this'n ain't gonna be quite cut out fer what's comin' next. Poor bastard.
"Assassinatin's always an option, figure that ain't what ya meant. This thing's dyin' either way. Ya seen what happened to the guard cap'n over there, ya seen the movin' pictures a what it does. Negotiatin's off the table. Whatever this thing is man're beast's gotta killed about two dozen people by now. Now, that ain't a number ya get to be accident. Sure as shit weren't an accident sewin'im together to make a skin tarp neither. If'n ya think somethin' like that can be reasoned with I'll let ya be wrong all gatdamn day but I'm in the business a killin' monsters an' kiddo, I know one when I see one."

I hear Azul there sayin' it's pickin' up speed an' I stop holdin' back an' slowin' down fer the group. I take off at a dead run, just an all out balls to the wall fuggen sprint there, ain't even care about bein' quiet're combat stance. Can't lose this one. Dumbass fuggen townies, I always gotta save their asses.

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Azul was really only half listening to whatever Grubby was talking about, only zoning in to catch the...thing Grubby gave him. Ew, what even was this thing? He knew what a book was-Gridd had some, albeit rarely, and he'd seen a few in Junction, but this...this looked old and gross. Azul settled for holding it in his free hand, for the moment. He had more important things to be keeping an eye on than an old, gross, analog map. The signal...had it just moved? After staring at it for another moment or two, Azul determined it had. He rose a brow. It HAD moved, but not much. Not really feeling too much of a rush in that case, he tuned back in to what Grubby was saying. "Yeah, yeah. Dead Bodies smell. At least we don't have to hang around most of these things...too much, at least." No, Azul was totally fine leaving just as soon as whatever they happened to be fighting at the time died. Wasn't as though he knew them in life/not being freaky-ass mutants, anyway. And if he did he probably hated them anyway, so it all worked out in the end anyway, right? Yeah, sounded about right. "Dirty work means bad smells. Doesn't matter if it's assassination, or less bloody stuff. If it doesn't smell, it's not shady enough." He mused. For Azul, usually his work rarely involved leaving his Gang's Base, but when he did have to go out...well, usually the client smelt horrible. Probably because of drugs. Almost totally because of drugs, really. Honestly, he wasn't sure why physical drug deals were even a thing on Gridd. There had to be a more efficient way of doing it online. The cops had no clue what the hell went on in Gridd's deep web, because nobody hanging around on there was an idiot. Maybe physical drug deals just had some sort of inherent charm to them. Some sense of 'I could get caught for doing this'.

Anyone who threw safety to the wayside for a thrill was probably not very intellegent, thought the boy who threw his safety to the wayside for a cool cybernetic arm. Now he could watch videos on the go, and hack things without having to pull out a phone, or, god forbid, a laptop. When he looked at the Signal again, it had started getting uncomfortably far away. "Signal's moving, let's get after it while the getting's good, Verde."

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Kuzi would squint at the thing the green man found and tossed to one of his team mates. With everything that was going on, whatever it was that he thought was important enough to pick up he was inherently curious about. However it was hardly the time to start asking questions about such topics, let alone look at it properly at all. They had a place to be and who knows how long they were planning on sticking around for the rest of them to catch up with. If they slowed down now, Clare, the killer, or whatever else they could be possibly tracking would certainly slip away out of their grasp. Phew, man there wasn't a lot of opportunities to catch your breath during these whole Seeker things huh? Starting to feel a lot like that whole incident he encounter with the Rake down in the under. M-man, if the killer was as strong as the rake showed himself to be the pink fluff hoped the group all had the energy to manage to take on a challenge like that right now.

"Yeah, I know how bad it can get. I've already been down deep into the Under before. Fought off loads of horrific looking mutants down there, met this strange guy with a blood stained rabbit mask on that helped us out for some reason and then had to take down a beast known as the Rake. And man was he not a walk in the park to take down... Surprised everyone made it out of there with their lives. I know I was damn worried for the worst during the whole thing. The way it stared into us as if we were nothing was chilling, right down to the bone. It was like something out of a nightmare. Thought if anything was going to put me off this whole Seeker business it'd be that. Yet, here I am. Heh."

Honestly, why he was still adamant on doing this was quite the mystery for himself. If any of his parents knew about all this, it'd become way harder for him to sneak off to do so... "Heh, this time it's you that's not getting what I meant. I know we have to take him down by any means, I'm fully prepared to help do so in any way I can. I meant more the plan on how we keep those who can't defend themselves safe, plus Clare is still a concern if she isn't the one we're following. Even if we take out the big boss, doesn't mean those other monsters aren't still lurking about. She could still be in trouble." Though taking down the killer was a major thing that they should definitely get done if given the chance, Kuzi refused to give up his other responsibilities he was set with here. As such, when he saw the other two rush off ahead when the signal begun moving, the fluff would catch on that the rest of the group probably wouldn't be able to move that quickly. "Go on ahead and make sure whatever it is doesn't get out of sight! I'll stay back with the group for the moment to make sure nothing happens out of the blue! We'll catch up in no time!"

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"Sorry, can't control that part. Checklist stuck up here, y'know?" Milton started to explain, tapping his head to make a slightly muffled thunk sound. He noticed Grubby move towards the lightstand on the pathway and pull out a rather old and discolored scroll of sorts. While Milton wanted to focus his eyesight and check any details on the outside, only seeing the seal keeping the scroll contents safe before it got thrown to Azul. Milton wanted to insist on being able to inspect it, but the current pursuit of a signal would be a pretty bad time to bring it up. All he could do was travel as fast as his legs could carry him, slimming out his skin to give him less resistance to the wind.

Listening to Grubby explain the very real mortality hanging over them and how this killer would be met on the end of Grubby's blade one way or another made him recall his times back on Orbis. Grubby did this type of shadow-stalking business for 25 years and saw plenty of things that would make the rest of us gag, but Milton wasn't completely naïve. He saw some gag-worthy things before, more related to casualties of terrorism and the harsh 'experimentation' from Vel Mekor's efforts to save the survivors... supposedly. Heck, Milton has felt what very few could say they have. Losing an arm... then a leg... seeing the first failed NLP experiments before him... it was all pretty hard to believe it was only three years ago. "I agree, Grubby... This thing has to be stopped, regardless of its defense. Besides, I get the feeling reasoning would be difficult with a mindset like this one."

Seeing that Azul and Grubby were making more headway still, Milton decided to stay back with the mothers and Kuzi, motioning to the pink creature that he was staying back. As the two were making headway, Milton looked back and took inventory on the rest of the party, asking "Moms, you all good back there? Still keeping up alright, Vshnre?" Milton then offered an arm to Kuzi, lending his shoulder as is ears perked up at the mention of the Under and the beasts inside.

"Bloody rabbit mask... A rake? Sounds like you've come across some unusual sights down there. Tell me... how deep have you gotten? Any level labels you found marking off different levels to the Under?"

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Alister let out a held sign as he ran a bloody'd hand over his face, the tension of the night slowly beginning to leave him. His grim expression softened slightly as he prepared to berate the woman for her actions, only to be cut off. "Please let me go, I don't want you to drip on this outfit. Honestly, I go through the trouble of falsifying a police report to protect you from your own incompetence tonight and yet you still manage to injure yourself so severely." The small woman's words seemed to dumbstruck Alister as his intense gaze fell into a defeated one rather quickly. Clare quickly changed the focus of her gaze to the two seekers who had accompanied come to her 'rescue'. "As for you two, I take it most of his injuries were do to his own meddling in affairs not his own, however I am noteably upset that you were not able to protect him... Also, where are we exactly? Where is Sir Onyx? And wh-"

Fought some monsters he says. Real bad oogie boogies sounds like too, typical a the Underdark. That's some mean ass bush I tell ya, it ain't get not much worse'n that. Maybe the Hells but I'm bettin' ya can see in them at least. But there's always worse'n that. Monsters ain't scary lessin' they can hurt ya, an' the worst can do it in ways yer not expectin' there. Torture ya. Make ya think yer goin' loony, that kinda thing. Worst thing ah seen ain't even happen to me, happened to Hilderbrandt. Poor 'lil girl, he weren't the same after that. But if powder puff there's dead set on this line'a work ain't gonna be my job to stop'im. S'gonna be the world's job. Hopin' these boys ain't gotta see it 'fore they hang up the sword, but this job here leaves its mark on ya, good're bad, good mix a both there. But the bad parts, they'll stick with ya in yer sleep an' they ain't gonna go away no matter how hard ya squeeze yer eyes shut. Can still see some'a the stuff I done, got used to it. Long as I keep mah feet movin' it ain't gonna drag me down. Gonna keep tellin' myself that til I kick the damn bucket.

We catch up to whatever's movin' lickity split, s'a fuggen redhead gone missin'. Better her'n one a them skinless wonders. But somethin' ain't right, can tell that from a distance by the way she's movin'. I turn my knife in my fingers fer throwin' just in case, puttin' my arm back an' aimin' fer where the bridge a the nose is in my head there. Been suspectin' this from the beginnin'. When she turns 'round there with'er eyes all buzzin' I figure she'd been Charmed. I turn my knife back 'round. Ain't wanna kill no Charmed person if'n I gotta but I'll knock'er damn lights out. But she comes too with'er husband there, fuggen guard cap'n.


I let'er babble on like she's doin', don't give a damn what she's sayin'. I ain't hold it against'er to hard cuz she's been Charmed, 'least not fer bein' out here'n confused. Ungratefulness chaps my fuggen ass. Damn townies, ain't no respect in their 'lil toenail.
"Damn straight ya was gonna join the crew, get yer ass over here 'fore ya get it bitten off. An put a leash on yer damn woman there, guardsman. Hard to do my job when these hens is runnin' 'round with a fuggen death wish, ain't no place fer goddamn townies, thinkin' we both know that by now."

I hear the roarin'. S'gotta be it. Right by the damned exit a'course. Now this thing's gotta die, no two ways about it an' we's got a job to do. Not the job we took but the good kind, doin' the right thing'n puttin' gapin' assholes six feet under. So's I get thinkin' 'fore we move.
"So here's the score: we's gonna go fight that big bad motherfucker, whole lot'a us is gonna team up fer it. When the fight starts, gonna need ya to take the women folk'n get outta the damn park while we take care'a business, guardsman. Go get some more guards while yer at it if'n ya can, this shit ain't gonna be pretty an' we's gonna need a 'lil help if'n we're gonna walk outta her on the same number'a legs. Fer the rest'a us get yer swords shinin', high time we kill this thing'n go the fuck home. Freezin' my damn ass off out here."

I dig in my satchel there. Down to the last three, an' I'm gonna need my strength fer this one. I drink down one'a the healin' potions, readyin' my knife as we all get movin'. Shoulda never fuggen come here I tell ya. Ain't takin' no jobs from no damn townies s'long as I live. Might not be too long neither.

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Oh, Azul got 'his sword shining' alright. He closed his hand, dismissing the display, before calling his soulbound. "After Gaia, I guess I can't complain about being roped into killing a monster." He mused. "Before you go, Little Red...just one question. Pretty simple, even someone zonked out like you should be able to answer it." A brow raised, as he turned his attention to her fully. "What do you have on you that's making such a strong signal? More juice than any CWIS terminal, you know. If I survive this, I want answers." No, Azul wasn't dumb enough to keep up a conversation with the Monster of the Week behind the corner. He took a deep breath, and adopted a more ready stance. All he had going for him in a fight was keeping his cool, he couldn't let much else effect him. "Oh-and nice job blaming us for your husband getting messed up. Maybe you should've just kept your busy-body asses out of Police business."

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