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Mutants & Masterminds:Taken: All That Glitters


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They woke in heat and light, the bright star and large moon beating down on the yellow earth of the plateau with as little mercy as whatever creatures had drugged them and left them here in the first place. As people managed to shake off the drugs and sit up, a creature stalked among them, bipedal and reminiscent of the large cats of Earth in the coloring and patterns along the short fur the covered his form. His face was more bear-like than cat-like and he stood a good two feet larger than most men would; his frame was heavily muscled and his "hands" and "feet" had opposable digits on either side of each appendage.

He was picking up people from the rough circle they were laid out in around a strange large cylinder; part of the cylinder had opened up, forming a rounded section of metal with a field of energy between the edges. The alien creature pressed a furred and clawed finger to a purple-ish light on the cylinder, then pushed a body through. A light on the band on his own arm flashed the same purple color for a moment, then returned to a soft yellow glow.

Easily several hundred people were on the plateau with the leonid creature and the cylinder. Also with them were several crates made of an indigo wood and shafts leading down into the plateau itself. At several places on the edge of the plateau, primitive stairs had been built or carved into the side, though most of them failed to make it all the way to shadowed grounds below.

The plateau itself was part of a mountain range; to one side was a desert area that stretched to the horizon, only the dunes and the occasional glittering cylinder punctuated that side of the view. To the other side was a deep forest or jungle, it was hard to tell from the distance, and at the very edge of the world a silver sliver of water.

Click to reveal..
The last thing anyone remembers is an overcrowded egg-shaped dark room and alien smells. Each person has an obviously mechanical band firmly fitted around your left arm with several lights blinking or showing steady colors. You are on a sandy beach that quickly turns to loamy earth and moves into a forested area behind you, with an ocean on the other side. If you explore beyond the beach itself, please give me a chance to describe the area, as it may not react like Earth elements.

I'll give you guys a bit to react and interact, though if you want NPC interaction (or I feel like foisting it on you wink ), I'll jump in.

Characters in this thread:

Krystal

Keiko

Fiona

Ben

Maggie

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She reached up and grasped her aching head, then looked around and frowned, looking a bit confused. This situation didn't make any sense, she was on a beach, then suddenly she was snatched up and found herself inside some egg shaped room. Now, she was on a plateau, and there was some strange creature that looked like a mix of human and lion or whatever. She reached down and pinched herself, once again, for good measure, then winced in pain, this was real, just like the other room.

She still had trouble believing what she was seeing, but even so, the evidence was compelling. Pausing a moment to look at the strange bracelet around her arm, she tries to fiddle with it, to remove or make it do something. Then suddenly she berates herself internally, there are people lying around who need help, so she moves off to try and help whoever was the closest to her.

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Krystal woke to a long, wet tongue slobbering all over her face, her head feeling like it was packed with cotton. Spiky, dirty cotton. With a groan, Krystal shoved the furred face away and rubbed at her gunk-encrusted eyes with her other hand as she struggled to a sitting position.

"Not now, Fawkes, I'm not feeling well..." Krystal trailed off, her mouth hanging open at the sight of the rugged plateau, the burnt sienna light turning her skin almost orange. It hadn't been a dream. She hadn't met with Ian and the cramped, curved room over-flowing with people and acrid odours had been real.

And so was this place.

The large Husky-Wolf hybrid settled on his haunches, cocking his head at his mistress, making a soft whine, then nosing Krystal under the chin. She shook her head then scrambled to her feet, noticing the metallic band wrapping around her arm above the elbow when she went to scratch Fawkes behind the ears. Whuh? We didn't go - Holy fuck! Ian was right! "It's... it's going to be alright, boy."

Her deep green eyes widened until white showed all the way around as she saw the alien standing by the tube doing... something. Feeding people into a garbage disposal or something. And they bloody tagged us for observation. Krystal clawed at the metallic band around her upper arm, but it refused to move pass her elbow no matter how hard she tried to yank it off, and it stayed resolutely on. Shit, shit, shit! Ian was right, my mother was right! I've been fucking abducted and... ick! It tastes like I vomited in my mouth. Dry vomit.

Heavy breasts rising and falling with her panting gasps, Krystal slowly backed away from the giant cat-man-bear, praying she wouldn't attract its attention, Fawkes by her side, teeth bared in a silent snarl. Still, her artist's eye couldn't help but study how it was built, how it moved. Whatever it was looked like something she might have inked and coloured, yet here, it was flesh and blood (presumably).

Her gaze locked on the... thing doing... whatever, Krystal couldn't contain a short yelp when she backed into an indigo crate and tripped over its bulk. She landing smartly on her ass, and perilously close to one of the shafts descending into the plateau. Fawkes barked in warning.

"Fuckshitcrapfuck!" she swore, scrambling away from the edge on her hands and knees, Fawkes helping by catching her shirt in his mouth and tugging. "Stupid! Stupid! Stupid! What the hell did Ian say you do if you're ever abducted by aliens?" Krystal lowered her dark red brows in concentration, full mouth tight. Then she snarled fiercely enough to do Fawkes proud. "Fuck! I never listened when he went on on that garbage. Only... Only it isn't garbage, is it?"

Her sense of place in the world crumbling, Krystal tried to still her hammering heart, her nails biting into the palms of her hands. Looking around, the alien thing didn't seem to notice her, or care. There's that, at least.

"Fawkes, warn me if that... thing starts coming this way, 'kay? I'm going to see if I can get this crate open." Other than a shoulder bag with some sketch pads, pens and pencils, half a pack of trident, a doggy treat or two, less than half a bottle of water, and a key-ring dangling full of knick-knacks, she didn't have much on her.

Hopefully, whatever was in here would be helpful. And as long as she was focused on a task, she could keep her mind off the alien. Or at least, worry about it less. Krystal looked for a seam, something she could stick a key or nail-file in to try and pry the crate open.

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Keiko awoke with a startled squeak of horror and jerked around, as if flailing her limbs while falling in midair. That's when she realized she wasn't still falling in midair. Breathing hard, she looked to her left and saw another person, apparently unconscious lying not far from her. She looked down and frowned at the powdery yellow soil. Yellow dirt? Where was this? Then she looked to her right...and froze where she was.

There was a lion pawing at someone just a few people over from her! Keiko squinted. No, more like a bear. A bear that was the color of a lion? She was lying still, watching the bear-lion, trying to figure a way out of this, when the creature stood up onto its hind legs, pulling the human body up with it. She tracked it, moving as little as possible, as it walked its burden over to some kind of metal building, only fairly small. It opened a door or panel, and shoved the person in, and Keiko caught a glimpse of the inferno within. Horror gripped her.

It's like an incinerator! she thought. It's burning people up!

And then the comforting, cushioning shock that had enfolded her brain started unravel. She'd been bungee jumping. Bungee jumping. And now she was sprawled in yellow dirt under an orange sky watching a bear-lion-man incinerate people?

"I'm dead," Keiko realized dully. "This has gotta be some kind of stupid...death vision thing. I'm lying on a hospital gurney, all smushed up, under anesthesia, and this is what I'm dreaming as I die. Oh my god."

She sat up and realized she was still wearing the bungee jumping rig. Plastic pieces over her knees, elbows and chest, with a helmet as well. Lightweight plastic...wouldn't help much if she fell all the way, but then...what would? A questing hand behind her verified that the bungee cord itself was snapped very close to her waist. Or, not snapped. The cutoff point was very straight, very precise.

Craftily, Keiko slipped her hand into her fannypack and the comforting charcoal-grey plastic housing of her little stungun. She wasn't sure if the Bear Lion would even feel it, but it was all she had.

She then sat up as the creature turned around and padded back towards the people strung out in a long line to either side of her.

With a quivering voice, Keiko called, "Hey you! Stop it! We're not all dead!"

Behind her back, the stungun was ready to go.

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Unused to taking medicine of any sort, Ben took a little longer to wake up than the others. When he did wake, though, his mind was somewhat more clear. He had been waking up in pain as far back as he could remember, so it didn't slow him down any. Ben reflexively felt for his forearm crutches, even as his senses registered that there was something off about the light, and the environment.

The crutches, though near, were not positioned as they should have been, in easy reach and ready to use. Forcing his body to sit up, Ben placed them properly, and noticed that his newly-printed (and unopened) box of business cards were in the pocket of his wrinkled suit-coat. Then he caught sight of the giant.

Ben froze. He had been researching dreams and sleep disorders lately, and he certainly didn't want to wake up to find that he'd managed to sleepwalk into trouble. Maybe this was a night terror? He didn't really think that he fit the profile. Besides, the the scene in front of him, with bodies laying around in orderly fashion and a few people starting to get up and move was surreal, but not especially terrifying. Yet.

Ben pinched himself. It hurt. Sure, it was a cliche, but he had to gather information as safely as possible. That seemed to rule out a dream for now. Stealth was just about impossible with his crutches, so he stayed where he was for now, and concentrated on studying the giant, and the exact sequence that he used to interact with the brace on his arm, and the cylinder.

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The joke in Maggie's family had always been that she could drink Irish boys twice her size under the table.. but that she always had twice the hangover in the morning. It was such a state that the petite, curly-haired detective awoke to. She let out a low groan, then managed to roll over with a slight whimper and push herself up before the retching began. For several moments, she could think of little but the pain as her body did it's best to purge itself of the drugs that lingered in her system.

Eventually she collapsed backward and rolled over, her body moving instinctively away from the nauseating smell of vomit. She lay there for a minute as the confused jumble of memories began to sort themselves out in her head.

I wasn't out drinking last night, was I? I don't remember a party, I remember.. darkness.. a room? And the smell, what was that smell? Think, Maggie - what do you remember before that?

"You think he's in there?"

"God, I fuckin' hope so. I'm gettin' sick of trackin' this guy down, aren't you?"

"Yeah, no shit. Wait, look - that's him, right?"

"Yeah, I think-"

"It's him. I'll follow, you circle around and we'll cut him off at Sullivan, okay?"

Daniel? Shit, where am I? Where's Daniel, what the fuck is going on?

She tried to push herself up then, lifting a hand up to try and block out some of the brightness as her eyes squinted against it.

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Krystal (who is near Maggie)

The crate had a lip along one vertical side and one side of the crate swung open easily under Krystal's touch. Stacked neatly inside were a dozen or so bags that each held a helmet, jumpsuit, harness, and an odd object that was of the same design as the band wrapped around her arm. With the number of crates on the plateau there would be more than enough sets for each person there.

The unknown item had strange multi-colored symbols paired with glyphs made only of carved circles; the material felt something like metal, though not quite as smooth or cool to the touch.

Click to reveal..
Give me an Expertise: Physics or Chemistry roll (just base INT if you don't have either) for the glyphs and a Tech roll for the item in general.

Keiko (who is near Ben)

The creature's ears twitched and it looked in her direction, though whatever expression it had was impossible to decipher. It seemed to deliberate for a moment, then set down the body it was holding and tossed the armband in her direction. It looked exactly like her own, except now she could see two distinct differences: one, there was a small square with a bar of purple light moving across it over what could now be seen was the seam of the device; two, there were several needle-like projections on the inside of the device. The ones on this band were crusted with a red-black flakes. Her own armband was flashing yellow like the creatures, but paler.

The creature picked up the middle-aged business man he'd been carrying before with a grunt and motioned Keiko to follow him.

Fiona

Tugging on the armband hurt, after the third time she felt a rush of nausea that had her back on her knees. Before she could put her own plan of helping others into motion she felt a hand on her shoulder.

"Είσαι καλά;" asked a tanned young man in nothing more than swim trunks and sandals. He was obviously Mediterranean, dark curly hair, dark eyes, nicely toned swimmer's body....this wasn't really the time to be thinking about that, was it?

He smiled encouragingly at her and waited for a response.

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With Fawkes intermittent help - the large dog still keeping an occasional eye on the... alien - Krystal was neatly removing each bag from the crate, making sure there was nothing else in hiding inside. The helmet and jumpsuit certainly wasn't what she expected, though the device with the weird glyphs and symbols was appropriately... alieny. She eyed the nearby by shaft, then the gear in the bags. Spelunking gear? Then why no rope and stuff? Then what's this? She looked over the device, comparing it to the armband encircling her bicep.

Just then, Krystal heard retching, then noticed a nearby woman sitting up and squinting from the light, about her own size, though with redder hair. Fawkes, curious, trotted over to the woman, circled her twice, sniffed the bile on the ground, then shoved his snout under her hand, nosing at her face. For a huge dog, Fawkes was damn suck.

Well, just in case this is all a hallucination - and that really shouldn't be comforting thought! - maybe I should ask her if she's seeing the same thing I am. Krystal put the bag she was looking through down, then strode over to the woman's side, giving her a hand up.

"Um, yeah, hey! Here, let's just move over there," Krystal suggested, leading her back to the crate, and the relatively softness of the stuffed bags. "I'm Krystal, and... this may be a stupid question, but what colour is the sky, and what do you see over there?" the pretty co-ed asked, lips curved in a sickly grin as she pointed at creature, who had another body in its arms.

Shit! What if she's a hallucination too? Eww, the vomit-breath smells real enough. Krystal reached into her book-bag, pulling out a half bottle of tepid water and offered it to the woman. "Uh, here, seems like you can use it. Just... don't take more than a sip, 'kay? I'm not sure when we're gonna get more water."

Click to reveal.. (Tech Savvy)

Expertise: Chemistry/Physics: Roll: 1 +2 Modifier = +3

Technology Roll: Roll: 3 +5 Modifier = +8

FAIL! Damn you, Dice Roller!

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Maggie took the bottle gratefully, opening it up and taking a small drink. It was more than a sip, but not by much, and the pallor of the other woman's face made it hard to begrudge it to her. She lingered before swallowing, as if she were allowing the water to coat the inside of her mouth before finally conceding to the necessity of consumption. It was then, as she handed the bottle back to Krystal, that her expression seemed to clear a bit and she finally took a good look around.

It was kind of interesting, in a way, watching the same emotions flick across this woman's face that Krystal knew had probably passed across her own only moments before. She saw curiosity, and then confusion, and then disbelief, followed by a flicker of fear. Her hand moved up and slipped inside her jacket, as if she were feeling for something, and the college girl got a brief glimpse of a leather strap worn under the business-like vest. When she finally spoke, her voice was a little bit Irish, a little bit New York.. and sounded just as freaked as Krystal felt.

"What the hell is this shit? Are we drugged up or somethin'?"

She really took it all in then, with the practiced ease of someone used to surveying her surroundings. Krystal saw her take in the creature, the landscape, the band around her arm. She spoke with her, even as she continued to study her surroundings, trying to take the edge of panic out of her voice and keep it muted so they didn't draw any attention.

"What's your name, miss?"

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"Krystal. The big suck at my side is Fawkes." Krystal scratched the large dog affectionately behind the ears. "You?"

Considering where they were - no even knowing where they were - last names hardly seemed necessary, or warranted. If she was going to stuck with these guys for however long it took to get back home - and she would get back home, somehow - there would be plenty of time to get to know people.

Krystal took a small sip of water, swishing it around in her mouth to get the gunky taste out, then put the bottle away. Rubbing the material of one of the jumpsuits between her fingers, her gaze grew distant, focusing on nothing. After a moment, she chuckled wryly, though it was tinted with near-hysteria.

"Guess the jokes on my boyfriend, eh? He believes in aliens and all that shit, but I was the one who got abducted. Ha ha."

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Originally Posted By: Malachite Drake


Fiona

Tugging on the armband hurt, after the third time she felt a rush of nausea that had her back on her knees. Before she could put her own plan of helping others into motion she felt a hand on her shoulder.

"Είσαι καλά" asked a tanned young man in nothing more than swim trunks and sandals. He was obviously Mediterranean, dark curly hair, dark eyes, nicely toned swimmer's body....this wasn't really the time to be thinking about that, was it?

He smiled encouragingly at her and waited for a response.


She winced slightly at the pain in her arm, seriously, whatever this armband was, it wasn't something that liked to be fiddled with. The man who stepped up to her and put a hand on her shoulder had her blink slightly as she looked at him. "I'm sorry, but I don't understand." Whatever language he spoke, she had no idea about, but maybe it was something Arabic, Egyptian, or something?

She blushed a moment as she realized that she was wearing jeans and a bra, nothing else, even her feet were bare, she'd taken them off to feel the sands of the ocean and wade in just a bit, before she ended up here, and wondered what he thought of her. Then she mentally berated herself, it didn't really matter what he thought of her in this situation, did it? Working together was the best thing they could do at this point.

"We should help everyone we can." She pointed at the folks laying down and made motions like going over to them, the followed her words with action, moving to the nearest unconscious individual to try and help them to their feet.
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Fiona

The man nodded. "You are American?" he asked, his own accent a mix of British learning and his own native Greek.

He walked with her over to the people still stirring along the line, stooping down to help a teen-aged looking boy to his feet. "I'm afraid I'll not be much help other than getting people to stand up." He flashed a smile at Fiona. "I am Mikail, and I used to be a model in Athens."

He shaded his his eyes and looked up towards the sky, "So, what do you think? Hell? Purgatory? I must confess, I never quite knew the difference. My poor grandmother, she's so devout to the Church, but it's never quite taken with Father or us kids."

Click to reveal..
Perception check, please.

For everyone else: I'd like a bit more back and forth or a post (for those that couldn't this week) before I post more. If you need more to go on, just say so in OOC and I'll get to it.

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Keiko stared, wide-eyed at the device for a second, wondering if it was going to explode or something. When it didn't she leaned over to inspect it more closely. It was with some surprise she realized she had another one ON her. Seeing the needles arrested her natural desire to fiddle with it though. Those needles were in her now...or perhaps they WOULD be if she misbehaved. Was that what the monster was trying to tell her?

She looked up, and the creature made an oddly human gesture, a kind of beckoning shrug combined with a toss of its head, that clearly indicated she was to follow. Keiko looked around as she got unsteadily to her feet. Others were waking up. More and more people coming to and reacting to the situation.

I don't think I'm imagining this, Keiko realized sickly. I think I'm really here. So either I'm -dead-, and this is what happens next...which would be WEIRD...or something else is going on.

She kept the stungun in her hand as she cautiously started moving away from the circle, following the Thundercat.

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"I'm Maggie. Maggie Fitzgerald."

As she looked around, she noticed the armband gracing everyone else, and glanced down at her own arm for the first time. Her own armband was affixed under her clothing, and she felt it more than saw it, moving her hand to it and running it over the area where it was secured. She took her lesson the first time though, uttering a quiet curse when she tried to fidget with it, and letting it be for now.

"Your boyfriend could take my place, if he likes. Far be it for me to begrudge him any extra-terrestrial experience."

Her tone was sardonic, and yet Krystal could hear the anxiety hidden beneath it that the other woman was trying to conceal from her. Maggie reached into her pocket, and pulled out her cell phone, flipping it open and checking the display, just out of habit, and morbid curiosity.

"Do you remember wha' happened? I don't remember anything, other than a sort of room, I think. I was working, an' then I was in the room, I think.. an' then here. That's it."

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"Uh... yeah, he believes in them, in the 'the aliens are coming to get us - the aliens are here and experimenting on us - government cover-up, conspiracy-theory' kinda way," Krystal countered with a snort that was actually more fond than derisive. "I think he'd be willing to pass up the experience. But I wouldn't have minded to see if any of his conspiracies held water."

I wouldn't mind having I knew besides Fawkes with me either, Krystal added silently, knowing it was selfish wanting to put someone else, someone she cared for, into the same situation she was in, and yet, wanting it anyway. Maggie could see the thought flicker through Krystal's expressive green eyes as she shook her head, her fingers still scratching Fawkes behind the ears, a tether to back home, to normality.

"Nah, I was just heading from the park with Fawkes then... Yeah, there was another room - I think - I remember the reek, it was dark - then I woke up here, just like you, Maggie." Krystal leaned forward, picking up one of the sacks from the indigo crate and offered it to the other red-head. "Found these in the crate though - what do you make of them?"

Krystal pointed around the plateau with her delicately pointed chin and Maggie could see the other scattered crates. "There's at least enough for all of us - oh, and watch out for the shafts. I almost fell down one when I was... watching that alien-thing."

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  • 2 weeks later...
Originally Posted By: Malachite Drake
Fiona

The man nodded. "You are American?" he asked, his own accent a mix of British learning and his own native Greek.

He walked with her over to the people still stirring along the line, stooping down to help a teen-aged looking boy to his feet. "I'm afraid I'll not be much help other than getting people to stand up." He flashed a smile at Fiona. "I am Mikail, and I used to be a model in Athens."

He shaded his his eyes and looked up towards the sky, "So, what do you think? Hell? Purgatory? I must confess, I never quite knew the difference. My poor grandmother, she's so devout to the Church, but it's never quite taken with Father or us kids."

Click to reveal..
Perception check, please.

For everyone else: I'd like a bit more back and forth or a post (for those that couldn't this week) before I post more. If you need more to go on, just say so in OOC and I'll get to it.


She smiled back "I'm Fiona, an art student, I was down at the beach for inspiration when this all happens, as the rest of your question." She helped the first person she could back to her feet.

"I don't think it's either, as much as I believe in the Creator, I don't believe that this is heaven or hell, we're somewhere else in the universe, I think. But, if I'm wrong, this is too weak to be hell, and too full of pain and sorrow to be heaven, and if this is purgatory, then it's a test, so we should do the right thing and make we chose of it. I'm going to treat it as real though, as crazy as it might be, that looks like some strange alien or something over there."

Click to reveal..

Critically failed the perception roll, so whatever if was, she missed it, shoot, she may have misinterpreted it completely.
http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3117638/
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Keiko

Once the two of them (three, if you counted the body Thundercat was toting) got near the cylander, the bear-lion laid the body down and motioned Keiko over again. He reached out, lightening fast, and took hold of her arm; he turned her arm, peering at the band with intense scrutiny almost long enough for the young photographer to recover and stun him her stungun. He pressed the orange glowing section on her band and then released her with the same suddenness and impersonal disregard as he had grabbed her; he turned and pressed several different buttons on the cylinder, which closed down from man-eating Portal of Death and became one tall, thick actual cylinder.

Several sections swung out like draws, revealing bottles filled with clear liquid, what appeared to a canteen kit of some kind, a compressed package made of something fibrous or cloth-like, and a clear box sectioned off with what any good military or disaster survivor would recognize as food rations. The orange square on Keiko's armband faded to a bright pink.

Thundercat reached down to her again, pressed the bright pink section, pressed another blank section next to a symbol that was an oval with short spikes coming out of the top, sides, and bottom; the cylinder opened back up to its Portal of Doom configuration and the alien creature chucked the body through with less than little ceremony. He then held Keiko's arm up to where she could see as the pink slowly turned orange again; not as orange as it had been, but still far less pink. He caught the young human's eyes and waited for some sigh of comprehension.

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Keiko was petrified with sheer terror at first. By the time the monster released her, she remembered the stungun, but no longer needed to use it. It wasn't until the end that she realized that this creature was trying to teach her. She quickly ran over what she'd seen in her head again.

First, the weird thing on her arm had had a glowing orange button. It had pressed that, and the machine opened up to show...equipment. And bottles of liquid. Water?

Then her armband had turned pink, and it had turned back into the portal. The monster had thrown a body through, and the armband's pink hue had faded a bit, replaced with a ghostly orange tinge.

It almost seemed like the machine was PAYING people to clean up the corpses. Throw a few bodies in, get your goodies. But why?

She looked at the cat-thing and asked just that. "Why is this happening? Who are you? Can you understand me?"

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