trans_9 | Castle Wyvern/Potential Safe Zone

Not deep inside the castle -- close enough, in fact, to peer at that gate, from the safety of cover -- Lupin stood, wand in hand though it was absolutely useless now. One part of him (the one that sounded rather like James and Sirius) strongly considered a furious charge out to operate the mechanisms that would ensure safety. The other part noted quite reasonably that he was completely without magic, and thus, absolutely useless for any purpose whatsoever.

Useless was a word that sat poorly with him, though.

What had started out as a quick trip to the City to finally find a blacksmith had turned into a venture Kyladriss could have done without. Whatever was going on with the strange spirit that ran their ship, it brought hordes of surprisingly tough gnomish experiments gone wrong.

Castle Wyvern towered over many of the other buildings in the vicinity, and Kyladriss knew castles. They were defensible. Although, as she came closer to the gates - running on all fours with her runeblade bouncing on her back - she noted that the castle gate was open.

With a snarl, Kyladriss skidded to a halt in the doorway and drew her blade. Sharkticons were beginning to close in around the castle. She bared her teeth and let out a long howl before she moved in to hack the nearest robot to pieces. She may not have her runes, or any of her other abilities for that matter, but her blade was still sharp and she still had the prodigious strength of both the worgen and the undead. She would hold the gate as long as she could.

Past sunset, Goliath finds Lupin, carrying a shotgun that is dwarfed by his large talons. He holds the shotgun out to Lupin.

"There is more where this came from, one floor down and third on the right. I hope you know how to use this."

Mostly because he doesn't, and couldn't fit his talons into the operating mechanisms even if he knew the methods to use it.

Outside, someone he doesn't recognize is guarding the gate, which needs to be closed. The gargoyle takes a flying leap out the window, racing for the mechanism to close the gate and stop the invasion in its tracks.

"I--" he began, before Goliath promptly defenestrates himself.

Well. Lupin looked down at the weapon he now found himself holding, turning it about awkwardly in his hands. It looked like a particularly long wand with a grip on one end, so he began by placing his hand on that grip. In doing so, he found his index finger was naturally inclined to placement on the guarded lever near the --

The shotgun roared as it discharged a blast into the wall next to him. Horrified and alarmed, Lupin hurled it aside reflexively before coming fully to his senses -- or as much of his senses remained to him. His hearing seemed quite out of sorts.

Abashedly shaking his head, he picked up the shotgun again. That had at least been most informative as to precisely how it worked. It was not unlike an overly large, heavy wand at its most basic -- point the business end at the object you wished to see damaged.

The wizard took a deep breath, then hastened out the doors to join the battle, more unprepared for it than he could ever know. Still, his heart was in the right place, even if most likely his ammunition would not be.

Kyladriss was more than used to fighting with the roar of a gun in her ears. More than that, she didn't flinch when Goliath added himself to the fray, for all he looked eredar - demonic. She'd fought beside many a warlock who summoned doomguards, and although Goliath looked not a thing like a doomguard, he appeared to be on her side and that was enough for her.

"Close the gate!" She roared in her grating voice. "I can hold!"

Her words might not have seemed entirely truthful. The sharkticons were coming faster now, attracted by the fighting and the open gate. Kyladriss swung her blade above her head and brought it down on top of a robot, cleaving it in two. Several more popped up to take its place, gnashing their teeth and intent on ripping Kyladriss to pieces. If the other two didn't hurry, she would be overwhelmed.

The gate slammed shut, containing a few sharkticons and seemingly locking Kyladriss out of the castle grounds.

A second later, Goliath leaped down from the outer wall, swinging a stone pillar that used to support a fountain and dispersing the sharkticons that came close to making it past Kyladriss' blade.

"We cannot hold these numbers forever, and the castle is compromised. My friends and I will hold the castle from within - will you defend with us?"

Lupin, meanwhile, had busied himself learning to use the shotgun in the most unwise way possible -- in the middle of combat. Spotting one robot that seemed intent on rending the pair of them coming up, Lupin pointed the gun through the gate, then pulled the trigger. The subsequent blast sent the improperly-braced stock slamming into his shoulder with punishing force, while only a small fraction of the shot actually struck the robot. That in and of itself was a miracle brought about only by his skill at aiming a wand, which of course had no sight.

Still, the wizard had clearly come off the worse in that exchange.

Used to gunfire she might be, but if Kyladriss were made of lesser stuff she would have flinched at how close the shot passed to her ears before impacting a sharkticon intent on ripping her arm off. It knocked the robot back several feet and Kyladriss took the opportunity to swing her runeblade in a wide arc in front of her, driving back the other robots along with the eredar who had landed outside the wall.

"I only seek a place where I may hold out safely against this attack," she said. "If your castle is such a place, I will defend it until my final death."

The robots were starting to come thicker - but the gate was closed now, and there was no sense remaining outside to be torn apart. Kyladriss sheathed her sword and took a running leap at the gate, hitting it with a rattle about halfway up. She would perhaps apologize for startling the human with her sudden movements later - for now, she scrambled to climb up the iron and pull herself over the battlements. The sharkticons weren't built for such feats. It was unlikely they could follow.

Goliath followed her up the gate, leaping into the courtyard to deal with the few sharkticons that had gotten past Kyladriss's stand.

"Then I welcome you to the Castle Wyvern," he said, when the remainders were dealt with. "And I thank you for your aid in this battle. Is there anyone else in the streets in need of shelter?"

Lupin made a very valiant effort at lifting the shotgun to personally address one of the robots -- but he was very glad when Goliath burst back onto the scene. He let his right arm drop, still gripping the gun, while his left went to the opposite shoulder to rub at the ever-increasing pain. He hadn't dislocated his arm, but most definitely had strained it quite badly.

He thought of making an apology for his failure, but truthfully was embarrassed enough that he didn't want to draw attention to himself.

"There are many in the City, but the streets are nearly overrun. Those who are there would be wise to stay where they are, as would we. I am Kyladriss of the Ebon Blade." She did not offer her hand to shake.

Now that they could get a better look at her, they would see that she was almost as tall as Goliath, and the runeblade across her back was at least as tall as Lupin. Although she sported gashes on her arms, they did not bleed as a live person's would. She examined the human with her unsettling blue eyes, trying to decide whether she thought him foolish for using a weapon he obviously had no proficiency in or brave for taking up arms.

"The hunters I have fought beside advise me that guns that fire shot are better held to the side of the hip," she said finally.

"I am called Goliath, and my companion is Lupin." Neither did Goliath did not offer his hand to shake, but perhaps when this was over they would clasp forearms in a warrior's grip. It remained to be seen.

He turned to Lupin, considering that the human's shooting had been of assistance, but clearly was not what he felt comfortable doing. "Elisa can give you instruction in the use of that. I am to blame for not asking her to find you sooner."

He would make it up to Lupin somehow, but that would have to wait until they had mastered their foes.

To Kyladriss he continued, "Our defenses are intact for the time, but do you know of machines that could make it past them?"

One of those robots might be able to fly, or might be strong enough to crash through stone walls.

"It worries me greatly than any power exists which can remove a wizard from their magic," Lupin said. "Not that anything surprises me at this point, but if it can take away something inherent to a wizard, we should assume that anything is possible."

"My runes, also, are useless," Kyladriss said with her teeth bared at the thought. "A death knight is almost nothing without her runes - almost."

She eyed the gate with an air of mistrust. Several of the sharkticons had transformed into their humanoid forms and were attempting to replicate her and Goliath's gate-climbing. They were unsuccessful so far, and were reduced to shouting rudeness at those in the courtyard. "The round gold constructs with the single eye can hover, presumably high enough to clear the gate. If they are blinded, they panic and fire wildly, which destroys their comrades. Some of the human-shaped constructs might be able to jump the gate the same way we did. I propose we withdraw into the keep."

Death Knight - now there was a title to ask the origins of.

Later, though. For now, their greatest priority was defending the castle from being breached. Goliath considered Kyladriss' advice, disliking abandoning the courtyard's first line of defense so soon in the battle.

"If you are familiar with guns, my second can outfit you with a weapon and ammunition as well as a post at the inner walls."

His second, of course, was Elisa, who was visible on the walls above them, taking aim at the sharkticons as they ascended the gate. He looked to her, considering as he did the matter of his stone sleep.

Either the measures that had deprived Lupin and Kyladriss of their magic would prevent him from healing with rest, or he might still be bound to sleep no matter the convenience of the battle.

"I too feel diminished," he admitted, thinking of the last time he'd felt artificially weakened, when the Nightmare King waged a similar war on the ship. Fortunately for him, even when weary he had strength enough to master his territory, though this would not have been a night for gliding even if there had been wind to support him. "If I should sleep before this battle is ended, Elisa is to make decisions regarding the castle. If she orders you to flee, do not let her stay to fight alone."

If the castle was overrun while he slept, then his life was forfeit, but Elisa's should not be as well.

"I hope that does not come to pass," Lupin said. Though he didn't intend to give voice to it, he held a great deal of concern for the effects of a loss of magic on Goliath's sleep cycle. (The sheer alarm he felt at Kyladriss's presence -- or nature, rather -- he kept under a brittle-thin facade of calm.) "May I suggest two lines of defence? As few of us as there are, we still need to prepare for anything that can bypass the outer walls without real effort or opposition."

Kyladriss's eyes tracked over the gate, the wall and Elisa defending above, the openness of the courtyard. She was evaluating their chances. This was Goliath's castle, and so his orders were paramount. She may be lacking somewhat in social graces, but every instinct told her not to challenge the other within his own territory. If he did not wish to abandon the courtyard defenses, she would hold with him.

"We must eradicate the force that is currently at the gate," she said finally. "It will only attract unwanted attention if it is left to make needless noise. Additionally, these constructs seem to have some kind of acidic weapon. If left to their own devices for too long, they may find some sense in their hollow metal skulls and attempt to use it."

She felt an almost overwhelming urge to jump the gate again and wipe out their attackers on the other side of the gate. Kyladriss was not impressed with this particular construct. They were foolish and ineffective, and any invasion force that used them was equally foolish and ineffective. It was insulting that they should be cornered by such rabble, and it made her blood heat.

She didn't have time for a loss of her temper right now. She could already smell the human's nervousness around her. She took a deep breath in through her nose and felt for the cold chill of her own undead core, using it to steady herself. "Between you and I and Elisa on the wall, we can take care of this force," she said to Lupin. "Once they are gone we can turn our attention to barracades."

"Then we shall clear the gate. Elisa will cover us. When we have finished, we must turn our attention to the crew outside these walls."

He turned to Lupin one last time. "I will ask you to learn what you can of the state of the rest of the crew and report to me when I return. Guarding this castle means little if none of the crew survive to shelter in it."

"I can start on that from here, or at least I hope so." Lupin reached into his robes again, producing from it his omnicomm. Hoping it still worked, he lifted it to begin what was still a tedious navigation of its contents. Full competence with the Muggle device was still a long way off.

Unwillingly, Kyladriss felt a moment of kinship with the human. She couldn't understand the ridiculous devices most of the time either, although at least she was competent enough to utilize them.

She bent down and picked up the shotgun he had dropped, turning it over in her hands. The long, razor claws on the ends of her fingers made manipulating the trigger mechanism difficult, but once she managed to grasp it properly she strode forward to the gate, eyeing the robots impassively.

One of them fired his acid weapon at her and she ducked to the side and then pulled the trigger, baring her teeth in a vicious smile. Finally, there was battle on this ship, and she could take part in it. She tilted the shotgun, jumping out of range of the acid weapons until she figured out how the pumping mechanism worked, and then she was back in front of the gate blasting away. Luckily this weapon did not require accuracy, just a direction.

When Goliath woke up, he would find the ship in chaos and dozens of different types of robots swarming across the city like locusts. But he would wake up. Elisa, armed with an array of weapons that Xanatos had left behind in the castle, would make sure of that.

She loaded a third shotgun, setting the safety - Broadway would have approved, she was being careful with guns even in the midst of a crisis - and propping it up against the stone parapet. She wouldn't fire anything until the robots drew closer - she didn't want to attract them to the castle, though she was prepared to run and try and lead them away if it came to that - but she'd be ready when they finally arrived.

Shortly before the false sunset, the first robots reached the castle. Elisa picked up a shotgun and aimed. It wasn't her usual weapon of choice, but, when there was this much at stake, she wouldn't miss.

As the false sunset faded, Goliath awoke and took in the signs of battle around them in an instant.

"Is the castle secure?"

He could ask how this started later. Acting was more important than reacting.

"That depends on whether the gates will hold," Elisa replied, firing and taking down one of the sharkticon that had started to turn it's attention to the castle. There seemed to be robots of every imaginable description spreading out across the city, although she'd yet to spot the steel clan or any of the other mechanical enemies from their own world. "Maybe."

This wasn't her the sort of fight she was used to - she was a detective! - but she was in the middle of it whether she liked it or not. Fear was something else that would have to wait.

"Who else is here, and do you have what you need to hold out?"

They would have to devise a plan to retrieve what they needed, if their supplies were not sufficient. He could not go on his own any more than she could, not safely in this fray.

"I don't know," she admitted, "I headed straight up here when I realised what was going on."

She knew that she didn't need to explain why she'd done that. It was nothing to do with the fact that her security briefings had never covered ship wide robot attacks.

"And that depends on how long this lasts." And how heavily they were attacked. "I've got enough ammunition for a day, maybe two. And I'm guessing there's more in Xanatos' stores."

Until he checked the comms, he had no way to know what the rest of the conditions on the ship were, either. The castle could be a safe retreat for other crew members, but not if they couldn't get inside.

And the castle would still be useless as a fortress if it didn't have supplies to sustain refugees. A day or two of ammo would not be enough in the event of a shipwide attack. Regardless, these were concerns to address after the initial attack was cleared.

"I'll break into Xanatos' stores and clear the gate." Maintaining the castle for the duration of the attack might not turn out to be as important as lending their assistance to areas where there were more noncombatants to defend, but clearing the castle of attack was still their immediate concern. "If anything should happen to me, you are my second regarding the castle's defense. I'll be back."

He lingered just a moment to touch her hair out of affection, his expression asking her silently to be safe.

It was a very brief moment, but it said all that needed to be said. Thanks to the time they had spent sharing one body, they knew – if there had ever been any doubt – how much they cared for and worried about each other. Right now, they didn’t have any time to waste.

“I’ll cover you from up here,” she said, turning away from him to fire another shot and take out another one of the robots advancing below.

She didn’t comment on the fact that he’d appointed her as his second. Nothing was going to happen to him. It couldn’t.

Shrill battle cries sounded outside the castle gates.

Starfire was clearly struggling with the robots chasing her, clearly unused to how vulnerable and weak she now was. X'hal, she was already bruised and sliced. That never happened so easily before.

She'd come running in this direction hoping to find Peter, to see that he was safe, but the castle walls were already closed. The choice was to fight her way in or out---and the robots were driving her in, against the wall.

She roared again, driving at a joint hard with all her meager strength.

Peter was having a much better time dealing with the horror that was going on in the City. For one, he was used to not having powers, and even when he had them he was usually at a disadvantage fighting other superpowered folks.

Second, he currently had one-and-half tons of composite armor between him and the robots.

As such, he felt more of a calm determination rather than the start of a freakout as he drove the Spider-Mobile straight into the machines that were attacking Starfire.

Starfire was very, very glad that they had gone to the effort of fixing up a new car for Peter at that moment. He was using it well!

She rolled out of the way and stabbed at a robot on her way out, wide-eyed. But that didn't last long. They turned on his car, and her hard work had to be protected!

The arms were angrily swatted away with the most powerful swings Starfire could muster with her pole. "You cannot touch!"

Peter kicked the passenger side door open and into one of the B1 battle droids, slamming it against the robot a few more times for good measure.

"Kory, I know you put a lot of work into the car, but I'll take it getting damaged over you getting hurt any day of the week. Come on, we gotta go."

Starfire smiled just a little, as she always did when he used her name.

"I will repair it," she promised hastily, locking the door and bracing herself---buckled in, safe. For a given value of 'safe'.

"Does it still hover?"

"We're about to find out." The teenagers comment sounded a bit more confident than he actually was.

Peter pulled the car into reverse, backing over the battle droid that had just started to get up.

Backing just far away enough to get safely over the wall, he activated the hover jets. They flickered briefly, and then roared to life. Peter hit the gas pedal, and the Spider-Mobile zipped safely over the wall...

And dropped like a very heavy rock into the courtyard as the jets cut out.

"Well that probably could've been a better landing." Peter said weakly, as soon as his heart and lings had extricated themselves from his throat.

Starfire peered through the window the entire time, more frightened than usual. She felt so defenseless, unable to help with a blast.

"Ah!" Her head bobbed up and down as they crashed, pounding. The pain was rough, but how was Peter? She reached over and wrapped her fingers around his wrist, eyes wide with worry.

"Are you well enough? We should enter the castle," she advised, first checking for any signs of robot activity outside. None. Good!

"I'm y'know, relatively fine. It hurts in places I didn't even know I had, but nothing that'll stop me from getting inside." Peter replied, unbuckling his seatbelt and popping the door.

"I will ensure it," Starfire promised, throwing open the door and running over to his side. She held out her hands, steady, waiting just in case.

"Let us enter," she urged, hurrying over to the doors. Wherever they were. She looked at Peter for help on this subject.

Castle Wyvern/Potential Safe Zone

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