Catalysts: IC 2.0 Announcement in OP!

"Just smack them. Yeah.. The flying WMD. I know. The dark gods of Old say you'll be piloting that motherfucker into the ground at DC. We'll fuck the hell up out of the EAU. No fucking hope for them." He slashed through a few people getting into the main office. He laughed quietly to himself, searching about.

"Um, fuck no I'm not crashing it. I'm not eager to die that way. And I'm sure as hell not wanting to get captured. Fuck that." He followed Ragnarok around. He noticed a thumping in the vents. "Sssh- listen."

She opened her eyes with a groan. For as long as she had slept, she'd been berated with guilt over chaining up Tyler and Kate, using him for her own purposes. She got up with a yawn and returned to the hallway, looking much like the tunnel of a jungle temple. It occurred to her that she had to be better than what the humans were to the Catalysts.

Opening the door to their room, she slid in without a word. Leaning down with care, she undid the clasps around the bed leg. Leaning back up once more, she proceeded to unshackle the two. Both recoiled to the head of the bed in a terrified huddle as they woke to see her. She raised her finger, closing her eyes to relax herself.

"I am sorry for the way I treated you before. Being hunted by the military, makes things a little drastic. In the meantime, I wouldn't recommend leaving this room, the hallways are being transformed to suit my needs, their effects on humans I'd rather not test at this moment." Turning back to the door once more, she left the room and stood there, mist drifting around her coiled body on the floor.

He listened and sniffed the air. He made a severe ammount of clicking noises, and the thumping went the opposite direction. "No. You'll jump out, parachute and all, land, and look like a badass motherfucker. Trust me, you'll do great." He continued walking and typed on a computer rapidly. "Get my back would you?"

"Ragnarok, I have something important to tell you." He took a deep breath and continued. "Steph asked me to be a godfather to your children." He covered Ragnarok as he had asked, awaiting the inevitable reaction.

Her head flicked over her shoulder to look at her tail. The skin was already beginning to crawl as the eggs shuffled around. A long winded sigh escaped her as she leaned against the wall. Ragnarok had to return soon. She needed him there to help her while she birthed the snakes. There were several things that could go wrong.

Returning to her level, she checked by the lift. Fortunately the plants had avoided growing into the shaft, as per her instructions. The small trails of mist that worked their way in faded away promptly. Stopping by to make sure the other rooms were also intact, she returned to her room.

Laptop. Of course, she had completely forgotten about internet over the past few days. Slithering over to the table, she flicked it open and began scanning the news. Typical, from what she could gather, the military were struggling to cover up the progressive attacks on them. Nox and Ragnarok most likely. Taking the moment to think, she began searching for information about the catalysts, specifically gorgons...

"I concur fully with the concept and would love it if they could have a godfather such as yourself. One they could look up to in the event that me and Steph die." He continued typing furiously, accessing the databanks he needed. He printed out a copy of the change logs and some 'classifications' the virus seemed to have effects wise. Could be useful for cataloguing catalysts. He stood, grabbing the papers and sliding them into a nearby empty dossier. "Our job here is done. Free the remaining catalysts and let's get the fuck out of here. I'm not destroying this base."

Her eyes flicked across the screen as she raced through records. Most results were about catalysts wanted for crimes and such. She slowed as the results began to focus around those held on the base. Finally, the word stuck out, bolded against the rest of the text. A click marked the moment she entered the file on the gorgon who had been tagged 'Melanie'.

"Oh... shit..." She leapt for the balcony, throwing the chair away in the process. Without hesitation, she leapt off the edge of the balcony, wrapping her tail around the railing to swing herself downward onto the roof. Seconds later, she was slithering across them at break neck pace. She had to get there before Ragnarok and Nox triggered strike force attack.

Roofs raced by as she charged towards the base. Leaping down across the fence, she ducked around behind one of the buildings to avoid the attention of gathering troops, and hurried along to the building mentioned. If she had the choice to avoid such a mission in her condition, she would have taken it. No, Melanie needed help. Whether she was related or not, being a gorgon was enough.

The path through that door was very much clear, and if they chose to go left along the wall, go pass a hall way on the right and then make a right, they would see a staircase on their left, leading up. An elevator was also planted in front of them along a wall. A lone bee buzzed over to the top floor of the building on sight of Winter and Rodney, and landed on Lieo's head, communicating with the rest of the hive. Lieo would have grinned from ear to ear if he had a face, things were getting interesting.

"Ooh, two people are entering already? Through the back door no less... They've must have been rather strong or... catalysts! Catalysts! Oh, this should be very fun, very fun indeed. And..." Lieo grimaced. "Bee suits. How terribly convenient for them."

The police force outside was getting ready to enter on account of Lieo's approval before the Sheriff got a call on the radio, concerning another attack somewhere around town, and more accurately, a military base off in the outskirts. Panic struck them. "Another attack?" He yelled. "Are they associated with th--"

"No sir, this one is on account of the individuals calling themselves Ragnarok and Nox."

"Those stupid kids again? They need to stop experimenting on damn teenagers, they're too rebellious. Alright We'll head out and flank them, SWAT is on their way here to take care of this bug freak."

Most of the police cars were emptied from the streets in front of the radio station, and the Sheriff sent a signal to two of the police choppers to tell them to head out and follow them array of cars heading towards the military base at would-be illegal speeds. The Sheriff took the radio and spoke a word of warning: "These kids caused enough problems already, if you see them, do not hesitate to open fire, I repeat, do not hesitate to open fire."

Lieo grimaced once more as he watched the police cars zip away, leaving only a few cops left. Luckily for his amusement though, he saw three black, heavily armored vans heading his way with white bold letters spelling SWAT on the side.

Well this will be far more interesting than he initially expected.

Two guards fell forward to the ground as she ran her knife hands through them from behind. Hopefully the police would assume that they'd been stabbed with four pronged pitchforks. Flicking the bodies off to the side, she began ramming the door with her shoulder. It was heavily bolted, resisting her charges. Changing her attention, she dived underneath a nearby jeep and tore out the drive shaft, returning to the door.

Using it as a lever at the base, she gritted her teeth as the bolts began to bend slowly. Her face was turning blue as the dark blood rushed through it. The sudden snap made her recoil back to avoid falling on the shaft, rolling away as the door bounced back. Picking it back up, she made her way into the room.

Several empty tables with leather straps barred her way to the large water tank on the other side of the room. Inside was the definite serpentine shape she was looking for. Slithering over, she motioned for the figure to move back, bringing the shaft smashing against the wall. It bounced back with a heavy jarring.

"Oh come on." Switching one of her fingers back to a knife, she began scoring the material deeply, until the cracks would form a suitable hole. Resuming her attack, she roughly smiled as the cracks grew bigger. Groaning under the pressure of the water, she slithered back as it finally gave way, the rushing of water accelerating the decay.

She glanced at the girl in the tank, now easily identified as a gorgon. Gripping onto a rock platform to avoid being sucked through the sharp glass, she waited until the tank was completely drained before dropping down and slithering over.

"Sis? Geez, how'd you find me?" Steph motioned for her to move back, making the hole bigger so she could get through unscathed. The entire room was flooded, water was escaping outside. They didn't have much time before someone noticed and they were discovered. Sliding out into fresh air, she placed her hands on Steph's bulge.

"One of the guy's who's running this rebellion. I've got a hotel which is converting into a safehouse, come." Taking Melanie's hand, she hurried towards the door, shaft gripped tightly in the other. Soldiers were all over the place, quickly closing in. Hopefully Ragnarok had a plan in mind, they needed a miraculous distraction to escape now.

"Oh my, I do believe they've left the Tyrant of Hiveminds alone and are coming to bother us instead.. Hm.. Quickly, don a uniform and a weapon. Cover your face with a gas mask, saying they had prepared tear gas. If all goes to plan, we can gain access to an APC and drive our asses all the way back home. If not, you run, and father my children. I'll become the fucking largest distraction you've ever seen with an instantaneous reassurance in the concept of fucking death."

He put on the nearest uniform and sighed. Of course he'd be fucking attacked. Why did he think he could just waltz in? But.. they had the large part of the work force, so maybe the police would have to show restraint. It wasn't entirely impossible.. In fact it was highly likely, if anything.

Her snakes flicked their head around to get a rough view of the area. Smoke was collecting from all the vehicles and shooting, Steph's own eyes were having difficulty penetrating the cover. Melanie moved around to the side, picking up a handgun and holding it nervously in front of her. Her snakes reacted, tugging in that direction.

"This way! The fence is just there, lots of plant cover." Not questioning it, Steph followed her as she slithered low to the ground in the direction she had pointed. Reaching the fence, Steph hacked at it with the shaft until a suitable hole was formed. A moment of panic followed as she became caught on the fence, worried that the twins had endured enough action for one day.

It wasn't until they were back in the hotel, almost completely overgrown and covered in mist, that either spoke again. Steph took the precaution of going into the spa room and situating herself in the tub, listening to Melanie who was eager to explain her story.

"Hatched out of an egg, like a real big chicken egg, just softer and all. They cut it open because I was trapped. Most of the experiments were cut me open, take a look, sow me back up..." Steph finally noticed the long scar in her chest. It was sick to think of. It was in that moment that she realised Melanie had no shirt. Obviously they decided she didn't need one, typical.

"Good point. He's probably watching us with the bees or somesuch."

Rodney followed the route up the staircase, not paying particular attention to any one bee, least of all the one that was running surveillance. Meanwhile, he tried to think of good weapons against bees; all he could think of was fire and bug spray. Fire would set off the smoke detectors and fire alarms, activating the sprinklers, so it wouldn't do much. Bug spray was rather difficult to conceptualize in a drawing, so getting it wasn't an option on short notice. But if he could find a can of spray glue or something sitting around, he could make an improvised flamethrower without too much smoke.

Now if there was a janitorial closet... that would be best.

"Bloom, keep your eye out for a janitor's closet, or maybe any sort of spray can. I think that might be helpful."

Melanie continued on, referencing experiments she thought were noteworthy. Steph was keeping her attention divided between listening and feeling for the movement of muscles. Apart from the occasional information that she was actually interested in, nothing noteworthy came for the next fifteen minutes.

Sliding herself out of the spa, she righted herself and placed a hand on Melanie's shoulder. "Can you take human form? I only recently assumed this one because of all the fighting and battles." Leading her out of the room, she opened her door and motioned for Mel to go inside, closing it behind them. Showing little interest in the TV, she made her way to the kitchen.

"Not that I can tell. Although I felt safer like this, and I could breathe in the water." She was busying herself searching through the cupboards. Steph returned to checking the news. They were concentrating more on interactions between the public and the police than the army it seemed.

Eyeing the lone bee with caution, Winter followed Dali down the hallway, around the corner, and up the stairs. Here and there, another bee would flit by, buzzing nonchalantly down the hallway. Winter noticed that the insects flew unnaturally straight, which was a tad unnerving when one was used to the lazy pathways of bees as they stumbled through the air. There was something robotic to the motions of these bees.

"Gotcha." As she walked through the halls, Winter looked left and right for any sort of custodian's closet, and up ahead by a men's bathroom, she saw one. "Yo, Dali, on the right."

A wall of bees appeared to have blocked off a section of the corridor up ahead, in accordance with the bee-man's rules, no doubt. Winter, though confident in the obligation of said bee-man to play by his own guidelines, could not help feeling quite worried as they passed by the queer barricade of insects.

Getting up once more, she checked by the room in case clothes had been left there. Obviously a rather wealthy family had been staying here before they evacuated. "Hey Mel, there's some nice shirts in here you can wear." She looked down at her own shirt, still in the ratty condition. No, this one she was saving for Ragnarok's return. At the very least she could justify her radical moves from a fictional attack. Wasn't like he'd have reason to doubt her.

Mel slithered in with an energy drink in hand. Steph began holding shirts up to her chest, trying to gauge size for the rather unusual body shape they shared. They couldn't be too tight or too loose to avoid catching on the scales and things they slithered over respectively. Finding a nicely pattered shirt, she handed it to Mel while she sorted through some of the other clothes. Underwear...

A drawer flew out the window, landing on the ground with a crash. Panties and other items floated down around it like leaves. She clapped her hands in satisfaction and returned to the clothing. Obviously they had some party in mind, a few looked rather flamboyant, in stark contrast to some long overcoats and even a black cloak.

"What was that?" Mel peered through the window slightly, trying to catch a glimpse at what caused the sound. Steph placed her hands on her shoulders as she passed, guiding her back towards the loungeroom. Both sat down on the lounge, Steph's tail flicking the DVD back on. After a bit of awkward positioning, Mel was resting across Steph's lap, both finally comfortable.

"There's a smaller bedroom if you like. My mate, Ragnarok, will probably be back in several hours, so we've got time to chat. Down two levels are some, friends of mine, rescued them from the fighting and all. Still shell-shocked, haven't said a word. Other than that, the snakes are almost ready to hatch, once they're around the place we'll be safe from intruders." Mel nodded sleepily, pulling the blanket tighter over her.

Nox decided to take the matter of the WMD into his own hands. He ran out, strangely left alone. All the soldiers had evacuated before them. He got to the satellite. He began cutting wired and breaking solar panels.

Ragnarok returned to the hotel, sighing. He escaped with nary a problem, thanks to his uniform which he abandoned upon entrance to the familiar Abandoned city. He opened the door and shouted loudly. "HONEY I'M HOME!" He freaked out at the plants and jumped back. "THE MOTHERFUCKING HELL?!"

Steph lifted Mel off her lap carefully as she got up upon hearing Ragnarok. Wasting no time, she slid down the stairs at a risky speed. Reaching the lobby she slid up and embraced him tightly. "I'm so glad you're back." She held him for a while before releasing him. "About the plants... I became worried about where you went, so I prepared a safer environment for the catalysts, and the kids."

She began sliding around the room, handling the plants. "I'm close to spawning a large number of snakes, they'll hang around the lower levels, the mist will keep them alive. They're the second line of defence if humans breach the doors." She glanced upward at the three others above. "Also, I rescued some friends of mine, as well as another gorgon."

She sat down on the lounge. "The twins absorbed the energy of people that are better off gone to grow the plants at a fast rate. They're probably four months along now. I didn't want to distract you while you executed your plan, but I had to defend myself." She got up again and slithered over to the stairs. "The gorgon's named Mel, Tyler and Kate are on the floor below in their own room. Hope you don't mind the adjustments to the spa, I need a safe place to release the snakes from after all."

After the entertaining vandalism Nox ran back to the entrance. Some cop had left his car idling. He drove off to the hotel. He opened the door, then stepped back. "What the FUCK?!" He stormed through the overgrown hotel. "You guys are terrible roommates!" He grabbed his stuff and began to move to the door.

She rolled her eyes at his remark. "Try living by yourself for several days when there's a war going on outside. The rooms are intact anyway, as is the elevator." She wandered over to the desk and held the pen above Nox's name. His choice as to whether she removed it or not from the ledger.

He ignored the passing remark and walked out of the door. He began the walk back to the haunt. Arriving in the old metro station, he sighed. Back to this. But then again, maybe it wasn't so bad. He leaned against an old pillar. He began to flip a coin.

She scratched his name with the pen and threw it away. Why had she asked him to be the godfather in the first place? Returning to the lounge, she lay down on it in anticipation of a long rant from Ragnarok. She wasn't in the mood, what had to be done had been done.

"Nice!" Dali immediately began rifling through the cart for anything of use. There was bleach, which would be caustic, but wouldn't do much... a whole bunch of cleansers that couldn't even irritate skin in their present concentrations, a bunch of paper towels... and there it was: a can of air freshener, mostly full, and a can of disinfectant spray, slightly less full. Coupled with Rodney's lighter, that would be good for a good bit of fire; hopefully enough to give bees a problem, if it came to that. Looking for another one, he found the jackpot - a can of Raid. It was the kind meant for cockroaches, but that would do, hopefully. When he picked it up, however, he realized he wasn't as lucky as he thought. It was nearly empty. Judging by the weight, it had one or two decent spritzes left in it before it crapped out.

Rodney turned around and presented his findings to Bloom. "Take what you like, just leave me something. Do you have a lighter?"

Winter, having observed perplexedly as Dali rifled through the cart, brightened her face at the sight of the can of Raid. "Ah, I see what you're going for."

At his request, she patted down her pockets, but no lighter presented itself. "Afraid not. Used to have one, but I think it ran out of fuel so I scrapped it." She pondered for a moment - there was not likely to be any reliable source of flame in a television station.

A thought struck Winter. She turned to Dali, brow creased in thought. "Say - have you ever tried to draw fire?"