ic A War-Torn World (IC)

[Avenger Assembled]

Rebecca swore in English, then in French, then in a language Sharl didn't recognize. "...listen, you have good taste in faces, kid, but Mackenzie King's been dead since that bastard Arcand took over sixty years ago. Are you one of Storm's people?" she asked uncertainly, her gaze flicking from Sharl to the late Prime Minister as she took a step back. "And that doesn't explain what you're doing here with one of those vacuum tube ghosts. I thought you people were back in that base testing out your new bodies." At the bafflement on Sharl's face, Rebecca took a chance and went on. "They hit us crossing the border. I thought we were headed for the ditch for sure, but instead they carted us down here to be lab rats. Something about testing a new Nazi death machine." She smiled thinly. "Turns out they didn't make their machines as well as they thought. When the killing started, we busted out and holed up their motor pool, then we made a break for it when things got quiet."

"...the killing?" asked Sharl, somewhere south of appalled as he began to make conjectures come together. If the Tronikians had struck _first_ rather than waiting for their rescue, what might have happened in that base?

"The Nazis were putting these...well, YOU, in those machines," Rebecca said, waving her free hand at Sharl for a moment. "Machine ghosts, I don't know, I'm not a scientist. But the ghosts got out of control in their new bodies and they started...well, I'm not going to say I don't like seeing Ratzis get what's coming to them, but I don't think they were on our side either. Let's just say if I ever build a killbot, I'm putting a safety on the guns. The last I saw, their leader and her right-hand man were breaking into the Nazi weapons vault underneath the base. That right-hand man being _you_, boy," she added with a significant look at Sharl.

[Gizmo]

"You know Dan?" Kimber exclaimed excitedly, her form shifting back to her usual translucent self, albeit dressed in the local style. "I should have known he'd be okay here! He fought a sasquatch once, you know," she told Sharl, bouncing into the air and hanging there. "With his bare hands!"

Clapping her hands once, she turned to Stone, her expression turning sober. "He's not a ghost. I'm a ghost. I can totally see the confusion, though, I thought the same thing when we met. See, Sharl, it's not just me. Oh! And he's not evil!" She indicated her teammate and gave the grim resistance fighter an encouraging thumbs up in turn. "If you saw somebody who looks like him, that was probably his, um, twin brother, sort of. ...wait, did you say 'her'?" The phantom blanched a slightly lighter shade of blue. "Er, black hair, kinda pasty, definitely a little coo-coo-ga-joo? 'Cause that would be really lousy news."

[Avenger Assembled]

"We haven't been introduced," said Stone dryly. "but when she's not a two-meter Nazi killbot, that sounds about right." She looked back at the base, then at Kimber, and said, "Listen, if you're one of Dan Storm's, I'm not going to ask questions. That man is like a father to me, twice over, and if he put you here, it was for a good reason. Especially if you've got another one of...him," she added, waving to Sharl. Operational security, right?" She looked back at her people, who had cleared out the truck and armed themselves. "We'll keep with our original plan; steal a transport in Branson," she put particular stress on the word, "and head back to the Rockies ourselves. If we can tell Central that this base has been hit, it'll be a good day for every free city on the continent."

"...all right," said Sharl with a glance at Kimber. Sharl was no fool; he sensed the Canadians were all deeply uncomfortable around him, with only Kimber's word having kept this from turning into a violent confrontation. Maybe she could get more out of them than he could. "We're going to be getting the machine ghosts, the Tronikians, off this planet, so you won't have to worry about them either way. I'll go get the team ready." He disappeared as he headed back into the bus.

When Sharl had gone, Rebecca gave Kimber a serious look. "Kid, I like you, but you'd better watch your back in there. That's one of the biggest Nazi bases in the continent and the only reason we're not down there right now is that I'm not putting my team up against rogue robots, aliens or not. If you think you can trust your guy, that's fine. Just keep your eyes open down there. We'll be watching your back."

[Gizmo]

"Aw, I like you too!" Ghost Girl beamed, as pleased to have made a new friend in the dark, rainy woods outside a fascist stronghold as she would have been anywhere else. "You should definitely leave the killbots to us, though, yeah," she agreed more soberly, grimacing reflexively at the prospect of facing the terrifying machines. "Dying is not a lot of fun, I would not recommend it if you can help it. On the upside, it can only happen the one time, so I'm good to go!" With all the gravitas she could muster, she saluted the battle-hardened soldier. "Don't worry, ma'am, I'll do Canada proud! Those Ratzis'll think twice about crossing the forty-ninth again!" With that, she flew back into the Wonderbus, to rejoin the rest of the team and plan their next move.

[Avenger Assembled]

It was Sharl who had the idea to just go ahead and radio the base. "We're still disguised in the bus, and we can defend ourselves if attacked. Even if something has...happened," he went on, still looking a little shaken by the news of just who it was that was leading the Tronikian rebellion, "they should still be expecting a rescue mission." And so it was that with Koshiro still keeping an eye on the weapons aboard the bus, Citizen picked up the old-fashioned wired radio mic (looking a bit like a CB) and used the frequency Miss A's clandestine cross-dimensional link had picked up to send out the signal.

"Kaiser, do you copy? Kaiser, do you copy? This is Bismark." The code words from German history had not been Sharl's idea, but they were innocuous enough (especially when spoken in English) that they could easily pass for stray radio chatter here if the bad guys did intercept it. There was dead silence on the staticky radio line before he heard a distinct response in, eerily enough, his own voice.

"Bismark! Bismark, this is Kaiser! We read you. I knew you'd come. Head for the storehouse, I'll explain everything. It's the big concrete building with the roof, uh, blown off. Just don't make a fuss on the way in, I don't want to have to explain you too early..."

-

The Nazi weapons laboratory had been torn apart, no, blasted apart by a battle so recent that the gunpowder could almost be smelled in the air. Buildings had burned and been smashed apart by giant fists, blocks tumbled about like childrens toys. Nobody had buried the bodies, what little could be seen of them, which looked as if something large and heavy had repeatedly run them over, again and again. The storehouse had recently held what looked like civilian supplies; food, spare uniforms, and the like, and now was empty. When Sharl projected his way inside through a crack in the door, using the bus's camera to tap his vision in so his team could see, he found another Sharl waiting for him.

Soldat looked...different. Tired? No, maybe...haunted. Hollow though his eyes were, the other Sharl Tulink met his gaze unflinchingly, with none of the cringing fear he'd shown in front of the National Socialist agents he'd been traveling with at their last encounter. "Welcome to Erde, Citizen," said the local Sharl, the two exchanging bows in Tronikian fashion before Citizen asked the obvious question.

"What happened?"

"The humans moved up their timetable. I think they got word," replied Soldat with a shrug. "It doesn't matter now. Me and Glace, that's our commander, we pretended to be Dudleys to take the Nazis off guard. We sabotaged the restrain units in the warbots, and then when our team stepped into them..." He suddenly looked away for a moment and said, "Well, we got it done. The base is secure, and now Tronik can be freed. Is your team with you?" he asked, seeming to guess the answer already. "She'll want to see them. I...don't think she really believed me, about you, not 100%. She'll want proof before our Tronik goes with you."

[Thunder King]

As soon as Mali saw that things were okay, she stepped out and walked towards where Sharl was, to see him talk to the other Sharl. Man, alternate worlds were weird. She was on alert, looking this way and that, and disguised her alertness under simply looking bored.

She stepped in to hear the last bit of their conversation and looked around. "Well, we should get her proof then, huh? She said, nodding politely. As soon as you guys get a plan, Sharl, let me know what my part is, okay?" She said. Despite her reasonable intelligence and ability, she knew she wasn't a tactician. Furthermore, she was completely out of her depth. She trusted Sharl and knew that if Sharl trusted the other Sharl, she should to.

[Fox]

Indira opted to remain outside, undeterred by the weather as she crouched next to the human remains, inspecting without touching.

She'd given up trying to maintain human-looking eyes for the time being, and it didn't really help her expression be any more readable. The young woman's face was oddly passive for so much death, looking out over the signs of fighting with an unsettling mix of curiosity and remorse reflected in her solid black lenses. "It is my understanding that you are monsters," she said aloud to nobody that even her own superhuman vision could see. "Still, I cannot help but feel that you may have deserved better than this."

[Scuffles]

Kristin paused next to Indira and a faint green light shimmered above her head as she adjusted her telekinetic defenses to ward off the worst of the rain. Grim faced the young Australian regarded the mangled bodies for a long moment, then spoke quietly in reply to her friend's assessment.

"Some of them might be monsters, but some of them are probably just normal men and women who happen to be the enemy just because they fight for the other side." she said sadly. "I guess there's no way to tell which ones are monsters in the heat of battle, and you sure as heck can't tell now. The warbots that did this must be pretty powerful. I hope they're all on our side."

She turned to move inside towards where Sharl was. "Hopefully we can just get this over with and get out of here."

[Electra]

Mindful of the rain and the hazardous situation, Koshiro stayed in the front of the van, monitoring Sharl's conversation over comlink and video. "Who's this Glace?" he asked through his own comlink, his brow furrowing with concern. "Is that an Erde codename for someone we know on Prime?" Sharl didn't know a lot of women, at least not that Koshiro knew of, but the ones he did know tended to be real good with computers. He wondered if they were going to meet the Erde version of Miss Americana or something. Whoever it was, they didn't seem to quibble at slaughtering humans, but in his heart Koshiro found it difficult to place blame. For the people of Tronik, this was the last defense in a genocidal war. If the Nazis won, there wouldn't be a Tronik left at all. Killing enemy soldiers was something that happened in a war.

[Gizmo]

Kimber didn't stay outside with the bodies for long, gulping almost audibly and focusing very, very hard on not using the necromantic abilities she's learned from her mentors in the occult community. Instead, she floated back into the van with Koshiro, opting to hang back in case Rebecca Stone's understandable wariness of the local Tronkians was well founded. In a pinch, it wouldn't take her long to rejoin the others, after all, being able to fly right through the intervening walls. "I ink-thay she ight-may be Ouge-ray," she whispered worriedly to the origami artist, even if they weren't currently transmitting and there wasn't anyone else there to hear them. It made a certain uneasy sense, after all; in this reality, the digital terrorist's rabid anti-organic sentiment would actually be perfectly understandable. "Maybe... she's nice here, though? That could happen, right?"

[Avenger Assembled]

With the Wonderbus stealthed and hidden from electronic eyes, a small group of heroes joined Soldat for the short walk to the above bunker where Erde's Tronik was waiting along with its defenders. Soldat and Citizen kept exchanging uneasy glances as they went, their secret conversation privy to no one else there. There were advantages, even here and now, to being a machine.

<...all of them do you think>

Soldat admitted,

The bunker was more like a parking garage than a bunker for humans, row after row of military vehicles stretching off into the darkness on either side as the doors opened. At least the rain had stopped outside, Sharl mused, though as cold as it was getting that meant things would soon be ice.

On the far side of the bunker, there was another scene of battle, this one still occupied by the victors: humanoid robots emblazoned with swastikas and the other symbols of the Reich, the smallest of which were the size of a man. The biggest towered as big as a van on its feet, ducking low inside the massive structure. The robots seemed to be working on something, stacking piles of crates into the backs of more vehicles, and though they looked suspiciously at the new arrivals with red, segmented mechanical eyes, they didn't speak.

As the lights flickered on, old-fashioned incandescents up and down each aisle, illuminating the robots as they worked, a voice sounded from a wall-mounted speaker in an alien language. It was feminine, serious, and altogether familiar for the older members of Young Freedom.

""

Switching to English, she went on. "Personally, I thought it was ridiculous to trust humans with our lives. But I suppose things might be different..." She stepped out of the wall, then, the primitive device built in showing where her holographic body was projected from a small row of cameras and lights near the intercom. "...in another reality." There was no mistaking that tall, rangy woman with the short black hair and gleam in her eye, even with the vivid scar across her face and faint German accent. She gave Citizen a Tronikian short bow, then smiled faintly. "Another Tronikman. Welcome, brother of my friend. It says good things for your Tronik if you're anything like your counterpart. Things must be...very good there." She shook her head. "So, let's see your quantum unit," Rogue told Citizen seriously. "If you are holding our city while we fight our war, I need to make sure it holds up."

The two electronic aliens spoke in Lor for a moment before Sharl said, "I really should talk in English in front of them?...anyway, this will hold it all." Behind him, the giant robots were still stacking those crates, emblazoned with warnings in German, Japanese, and finally English. WARNING! BIOHAZARD! TAKE EXTREME PRECAUTIONS AGAINST CONTAGION. "This can hold all of your Tronik for years, long enough for it and mine to...make contact with each other. We still have to figure out how to do that," he admitted. "But that's a matter of culture, not technology. We can hold your Tronik, and all of you, where the Reich can't find you."

[Thunder King]

Mali was fairly certain she was missing something, but said nothing. Everything seemed to be going according to plan. She figured it was best to follow the person who was more or less in charge of the operation. Even though that meant not understanding the conversation at hand.

There was a strange interaction between Sharl and the other Tronikian, and Mali wasn't sure why or what was going on, but she figured she'd learn soon enough. It would probably be counter-productive to ask about it just now. There would be time for that later.

Things, however, were suspicious. The robots, the containers, everything. She'd have to ask Sharl about that as soon as they were out of earshot. Killing Nazis might be a necessary evil, but biological weapons didn't care about the difference between Nazis and other humans.

[Fox]

Indira paid the Lor conversation only half an ear, instead focusing on not crawling up the wall to get a better view of what was going on. She would have especially liked a better idea of what exactly was being done with those crates - a better sense of scale, maybe - but she settled for inspecting one from as close as she could get without being underfoot.

"'Contagion'. 'Contagion'." She hummed for a moment, frowning. "Is that not... - Sharl?"

She turned her head, frowning. "Is this not...what is the term. A biological weapon? Is it being moved for safety, or for use? I am surprised it is here at all - I would not have thought it a good idea to use a weapon like this in areas with civilians."

[Avenger Assembled]

Glace looked at Wraith, her eyes narrowing. "That's for our use, not yours." She waved dismissively at the crates. "It's nothing you need to worry about. We have no quarrel with your people," she said as if that explained everything. "After all, thanks to the two Tulinks, you're saving the future of our people. Saving Tronik is what matters. And now that you're here, and now that I've seen your gear, Citizen, I'm beginning to think you can do it. Come, let's talk machines."

Despite her easy smoothness as a response, the other Sharl was looking visibly unsettled at the sight of the crates, evidently knowing all too well what lay inside. Looking closely, Wraith could just make out the German words "RAGNAROK" printed on the exterior of the crates. As she was speaking, Glace was stepping into a robotic body along the wall, a slim, gracile form that mirrored what the humans knew her real body looked like. "Aaaah, delightful," she said with a mechanical cast to her voice. "Say what you will for the National Socialists, they do know how to build machines, primitive though they may be."

"The National Socialists put it here to keep it out of the way," the other Sharl finally offered, not looking at anyone in particular. "It's so no one connects it with the space fleet they're building in the Rockies."

"Were building," said Glace without hesitation from her mechanical shell. "With the loss of our data, they won't be able to viably digitize their population. And by the time they try to figure out something else, it'll be too late for them. Sharl, keep our guests entertained while your double and I get this loaded, would you?" Another robot had arrived, this one carrying a familiar-looking piece of alien hardware.

Citizen gasped in horror at the site of this Tronik, its casing having been drilled open and copper wires "Copper freaking wires!" he exclaimed out loud inserted inside in several places. Perhaps they ran AC current into it to try and power it! he thought with horror churning in his gut. "I see what you mean about their butchery," he offered to Glace and his counterpart as he stared at the other Tronik with something like horror and awe mixed together. "By the red sun, I'm surprised the matrix survived at all."

"It nearly didn't," replied Glace with a hard shrug, and as she and Sharl began connecting wires it looked like the two machine intelligences had completely forgotten about the box.

[Gizmo]

When the identity of the local Tronikian's leader was confirmed, Kimber gave Koshiro a look that suggested she was very magnanimously avoiding mentioning to the others that she'd told them so, right before disappearing from view and flying through the physics-warping walls of the Wonderbus and into the occupied base to take a closer look around. She knew it wasn't entirely fair to mistrust a completely alternate version of Rogue, but the trip to Sharl's hometown had made an impression. Slipping through the hallways and locked doors of the base caught her up with the rest of team in short order, stealthily getting a better look at the crates and their worrisome labels. 'RAGNAROK' in particular caught her eye, jogging the memory of a lesson on pantheons of mystical power and spreading an invisible look of horror on her face.

Soon, Wraith heard a disembodied voice whispering in her ear urgently. "Indira, those chemical weapons are labeled with the name of the big, everything-dies end-of-the-world from Norse mythology! The Nazi's back home were totally obsessed with that stuff," the phantom explained, pitching her voice low enough to avoid giving her presence away to anyone else. "It's totally a doomsday weapon codename!"

[Electra]

Koshiro frowned as he watched the scene unfold from the somewhat dubious safety of the bus. It made tactical sense for someone to stay with their mobile HQ, and it made sense that it be the squishiest member of the team, but it still felt uncomfortably like chickening out. He used Sharl's visual and audio pickups to follow the action, blinking and frowning at the rows of crates. "Hey Citizen," he suggested into Sharl's earpiece. "Ask her what her deal is with staying behind if her Tronik is sent on. Are there prisoners that need to be freed, or are she and her people joining the resistance, or is this some kind of big revenge thing? It's not like this world is their home or something that they probably feel a lot of emotional attachment to, right? There's gotta be an angle. Not like they aren't owed some revenge, but if she's anything like what we know, they may not differentiate between organic human bodies."

[Avenger Assembled]

Loyally doing his best to keep the new arrivals busy, albeit looking more and more reluctant as he spoke, Soldat said, "Well, we didn't make the stuff, that was just something the Nazis were cooking up. Bastards," he said with real heat, the tension in his voice fading. That was one thing he evidently shared with his local allies without reservation. "Anyway, we've worked really hard to keep this stuff secure, so there's no risk of you guys getting exposed while you're here," he said reassuringly to the visitors from another dimension. "They...they made us help with this, so we know about the containment systems."

From the look on his face, Citizen desperately wanted to focus on the Tronikian upload he had just begun, but he couldn't ignore either the tone he heard in his counterpart's voice or the question his friend has asked. He was saving his people, he was doing the right thing no matter what the consequences...in his mind, he pictured an upload bar like those on Miss A's computers as they made the last connection. 10%..."So what are you guys going to do here?" he asked Rogue. "Are you uploading yourselves in here before we leave, or are you staying?"

"Staying," replied Rogue in that mechanical voice, looking down at Citizen and the others impassively. "And if you're really that curious about the virus, it was Part 3 of the Nazi plan for escaping this war. First they finish their space fleet in the Rockies, a fleet they learned how to build from _us_, with _our_ science, and then they build their own version of Tronik for people in coldsleep. Enough that their population, or the parts of it they choose to save, anyway, can survive with their sanity intact." She stepped out of the robot suit and walked towards the box, a holographic projection pure and simple. "And then they go out into space with a bio-weapon adapted to Lor medical technology. They become a virus of conquest spreading through the cosmos. But that's not going to happen. The plague stops here, with us, with this planet. Whatever we have to do. And in the process..." She ran her hands over the box of bottled death and her smile turned cold. "if we use their weapons to take our revenge for twenty-five million men, women, and children, I think that's no more than we deserve, don't you?"

"It's still genocide," said Soldat suddenly, making Rogue's head snap around to look at him. "You saw what this virus could do! It's a biosphere cleanser! On a planet this primitive, it could-"

"It won't be that bad," she said with a wave of her hand. "We have the cure, after all, and the facilities to synthesize it if necessary. Foolish Nazis, using organic and on-site backups when we could rise. I am sure the anti-Nazi resistance here will welcome our assistance, just as the Nipponese will once we make it clear who has the power to save their world. And quite frankly, boy, you managed to fight this war without getting your hands dirty," she said to her Sharl sharply. "And that's very noble. But the rest of us, all of our people, have to live with what we have to do."

[Thunder King]

Mali could stand it no longer. She was no genius, but the words 'biosphere cleanser' sounded bad. World-ending bad. "But can you guarantee it?" She said, her tone firm, but calm. "Can you guarantee a minimum loss of life? That the only people who die are the ones that absolutely need to? I'm nervous being in the room with this stuff. People die in war, that happens. It sickens me, but you do what you have to to protect yourself and those you care about. I get that. But there are good people out there, not just the Nazis, but innocents. What if someone messes up? What if a stray shot or explosive causes a rupture or, I don't know, any number of mistakes or problems to happen. How fast does it work? Do people die right away, or does it take time? Please, just, be careful with how you use it. I understand that you want to see the Nazis pay for what they did, but there aren't just Nazis at risk."

[Avenger Assembled]

Sharl looked down at the upload readout again, thinking about the data that was now being transferred to the storage drive. For the people of this Tronik, it would seem as if impassable storms had locked them into their city until they were safely uploaded to the full emergency drive waiting for them in the Sanctum. 25%... Despite his focus, he looked up as Rogue addressed Mali's question directly. "They have made no such distinction with us, child. Why should I, we, not do the same to them? They have killed us in our number, they have killed us for fun, they have killed us for their science, they have warped bodies and minds and even _souls_ simply to see the consequences of the alteration of programmed life!" She took a moment to calm herself, cocking her head and taking a settled breath. "And so now we show them those consequences. This is a war, and how we choose to win it is our own affair."

fired back Soldat immediately, but his counterpart heard that faint undertone of hesitation. He swallowed, shoving his hands in his uniform pockets. "

[Fox]

"I do not believe the concern is that you do not deserve your revenge," Indira said, frowning at Rogue with no small concern, especially after hearing Kimber's translation of 'Ragnarok'. "Terrible things have been done, and you deserve justice - and we do realize that we are outsiders, and have only so much right to judge you. But what you are talking about, it...."

She frowned, trying to phrase her thoughts properly. "Even if you can manufacture a cure, it is my understanding that bioweapons are extremely difficult to control, especially on a world so rich in life. You would kill those who did you no wrong - possibly even those who would be your allies. And - ah, I do not believe you will like me saying so - you will become closer to being what you seem to hate?"

[Scuffles]

Kristin eyed Rogue cautiously, then looked at the crates uncomfortably. While she wasn't an expert on psychology or Tronikians in general the woman sounded like she was willing to go to extremes, and if the biological weapon truly was as dangerous as Soldat seemed to think then the collateral damage would be immense even if there was a cure on hand. Worse, it didn't sound like the woman even cared that huge numbers of innocent people might die. Her willingness to talk about what might amount to genocide so coldly was a truly frightening thing.

"How can you even target the use of this stuff in a war like this?" she asked in support of Mali and Indira. "It's not like there's clean battle-lines drawn up, every single place that might be a good target is going to have allies or innocents nearby, you'd end up killing as many people on your own side as you would enemies."

"Surely there's better ways to make war than to use weapons that kill indiscriminately?" she asked quietly, her eyes fixed firmly on the Tronikian leader.

[Avenger Assembled]

50%...

"Sides? What sides?" demanded Rogue of Glow. "We are alone on this planet. Alone in this part of the galaxy, even. The Grue have overrun all of near-space, and the stars are silent. We may be the last outpost of Lor civilization in the galaxy. As for the humans, would you have me believe that after twenty-five years of watching us do the dirty work of the Reich, the Resistance will just accept us with open arms!?!" She waved her hand in frustration. "We were used to kill them, you know, and they returned the favor. They've sent assassins after us in the past, you know. People with bombs. Magnetic powers. They were dealt with. And you tell me that they'll side WITH us, after all this?"

Outside the warehouse, Koshiro heard the jets against the backdrop of the still, cloudy night a moment before there was a flash of light in the sky, bright enough that for a moment it was bright as day outside. A second later, every light in the Wonderbus went out and the door popped open. In English, a warbling voice said from the dead screen in front of him "Beginnning eeeeleccctrooomagnetic repaaaaaiirrssss..." Inside the warehouse, both Sharls, Rogue, and the other Tronikians screamed and clutched the sides of their heads when the light flashed in the sky. "EMP!" Citizen yelled as he pushed past the wash of pain that had nearly knocked him out, frantically checking the connections to make sure they were all secure. "We're still live here! Transfer underway!"

"They've come for us!" said Rogue, her holographic eyes wide as she stared up at the warehouse roof. Sure enough, everyone could hear the distant sound of helicopters. "You children wanted to see the war?" she asked as she stepped into the armored robot behind her. "Well, here it comes!"

[Electra]

"Nazis, we've got Nazis incoming!" Koshiro shouted into his comm before realizing it was as dead as everything else in the bus. Running to the door, he could clearly see the helicopters outlined against the dark sky. Cursing under his breath, he rummaged in his pockets, pulling out cranes by the handful. At least the rain had stopped, or he'd not only be a sitting duck, he'd be a dead duck, sitting in the inoperative bus without a thing to throw at the Nazis but angry words.

A command from him had the cloud of cranes taking to the sky, brief flares of white in the darkness. They spiraled upwards like the cone of a tornado, spreading wide at first to avoid the downdrafts of the choppers. Once they'd achieved the necessary height, though, they spiraled in, purposely letting themselves be sucked into the blades and rotors where they cheerfully jammed themselves into every crack and crevice and moving part they could find. It was an inventory-heavy trick, but Koshiro could fold more cranes a lot faster than he could fold himself back to life if those Nazis landed safely. Leaning out of the door, he looked towards the facility, hoping the cavalry would arrive before he had to improvise any more tricks.

[Avenger Assembled]

Under siege from a bombardment of paper cranes, the helicopters crashed to the soggy Earth below amid muffled roars and explosions! Papercut couldn't see the crashes clearly from his vantage point, just catch glimpses of red and black armored vehicles tumbling to the Earth and falling to pieces on impact, at least until the last helicopter exploded on the ground with a deafening roar and torrent of flames! Lit by the continuous red light pouring from the burning, wrecked chopper, he could see a now truncated group of commandos pulling themselves out of the wreckage and gathering their high-tech looking weapons. The Nazi hit squad had come expecting a fight, but not from a horde of magical paper cranes! The broken chopper had fallen across the perimeter fence, knocking down a hole big enough for the commandos to advance through and sure enough they seemed intent to do just that.

Inside the warehouse, Citizen called to the others. "Upload's at 65% percent! I can't leave this now, and if they use another magnetic weapon near the building, all of this could be for nothing! I'll stay here, you guys deal with the Nazis!" For their part, the Erde-Tronikians were grimly taking up defensive positions at the perimeter of the building, from their raised steel fists and improvised weapons like a whole car ready to strike lethally and fast against their attackers. From the damage to their bodies, and marks on the walls and floor near where they stood, it looked like this wasn't the first time they'd ambushed Nazis in this building.

[Thunder King]

Alternate dimensions, arguments on the ethics of biological weapons, possibly insane sentient A.I., dead people. This whole situation was beginning to make Mali feel small, and concerned that they were only helping the better guys, instead of the good guys. As such, while the sudden attack was a cause for concern, she was glad to focus on something other than the situation they were dealing with.

She took off like a shot towards the Nazis, intent on striking as many of them down as she could. She hopped slightly off the ground as soon as she reached them and extended her right knee. The first soldier collapsed from the impact, sending him flailing backwards.

She lashed out to the right of her with a fierce elbow, striking a second soldier in the temple, and knocking him out. She twisted her torso around and delivered a powerful backhand to another man with her left hand, smashing the back of her hand into his face.

Turning back around, she lashed out with a vicious snap kick to the midsection of another soldier. She glanced at the other two, and realized they might get a chance to take a shot at her before she could get to them.