Taking a break from the Temple's cleanup, Isuelt was soaking in a few moments to herself in peace and quiet. She had climbed up upon the rooftop of Rhydin's Beastiary to look out over the Marketplace. The sun was shining on her face and bare shoulders; illuminating the smears of dirt and a little blood on her arms. One of the broken marble pillars had been sharper than she first thought when she heaved it up with her shoulder. No matter. She had the use of her hands back, with thanks to a miracle, and she was more than happy to engage in the manual labor of cleaning the charred remnants of her beloved Temple. There was something cathartic about it. Like starting over. She inhaled deeply as the wind lifted her dark hair and gently set it back down again, splayed over her shoulders. Isuelt's lashes shut as she lifted her chin to face the glorious sun and take that sacred moment of silence. The dull din of the day's Marketplace was somehow comforting. Normalcy was at a premium these days, at least for her. And she knew that her Sisters would be chastising her for going off alone. But she couldn't stand it. She needed to get her legs beneath her again, and being stuck in her room, or in the Temple amid all of the Scathachians and helpful citizens just wasn't doing it. She moved to the edge of the building and looked down as she squatted to a knee. Four stories up seemed to be enough to get the perspective she was requiring.

CRACK! CRACK! CRACK! Heavy footfalls upon a roof grumbled out over the score of a heavy thud ruining the intersected tiles, nearby. It was no spectacular sight for the Trooper, as he gripped the handle of the long, unusually shaped rifle at the trigger, while another hand towards the end of the barrel. The sun shone indeed, and it glinted from the dull silvery armor, reflecting the light annoying back into the eyes of any one that graced their gazes upon it. Calmly, the suit of armor directed its strangely coned-shaped helmet towards the figure standing atop of the rooftop across the way, and leveled its gun towards her. A low, droning whine initiated as the tip of the barrel brightened into an eerie purple glow, before the thunderous roar of fully automatic fire erupted from the weapon, spewing what appeared to be tiny purple orbs of light. What they were in fact, were the heated fragments of crystals, specifically designed to do something quite....Nasty. The first bullet missed, striking the corner of the building Issy occupied, transforming a small patch of it, into a glittering, crystallized version of its former glory.

Startled, to say the least, as the corner molding of the building exploded into an array of glittering crystal" Isuelt's balance nearly betrayed her as she teetered on the edge and nearly fell. A few cobbles were kicked out over the edge and down four floors to the Marketplace as her feet kicked out to save her balance. The Scathahian jumped to her feet and spun around, looking for ....well, she really didn't know what. Something that would tell her what in the hell just happened! Those espresso eyes flew wide, her lashes opening as she saw...what was that' A knight' A soldier" The sunlight seemed to be playing tricks on her as she spotted a figure on a neighboring rooftop. Her hands went to her hips and curled into fists. "Damn it!" She'd left all but one blade back at the Temple. After all, cleanup didn't really require weapons. Quickly thinking, she looked around and saw a stone dormer on the building. Those long legs ran to it, skidding just behind it for a little protection, while she figured out what in the hell that was.

The weapon continued its wail of bullets, peppering the path Issy left in her wake to flee from the unexpected attack. As she hid behind the cover though, after several bullets had pummeled the one side until it resembled a glittering rock glass, the weapon ceased. The Trooper lowered the barrel, and broke off into a run towards the edge of the roof. With a single leap, the armor sailed into the air over the wide street below, and landed with a simple bend of its knees upon the same rooftop his target resided. Wasting no time, the Trooper advanced, the weapon held aside, approaching with thunderous, metallic footsteps like hammer to an anvil.

Isuelt's naked hands left their grip of the stone as it transformed into...glass" What was going on' "Mother of...." Her breath was coming in shortened gasps as her brain tried to make sense of this. Her train of deductive thought, however was halted by the thunderous landing of that...knight' Armored soldier" "Sh*t!" She spat out as her cover was turned to crystal. She looked around. Hey, it was a rooftop, how far could she go' Isuelt's chin snapped back to the assailant and murmured under her breath, "I swear to Scathach, this better not be one of Batten's new toys..." Of course, if it was, she'd be a lot more secure with the end result. Suddenly she found herself wanting that! A swallow as she noticed the entire rooftop had been transformed to crystal. Drawing her single sword, those dark eyes leveled at her opponent.

It seemed to have no more intention to harm Isuelt any more. It just kept walking towards her, its beady red eyes in the helm glowing hot red. Lifting the weapon high over its head, the armor attached it to a slot located in its back, remaining there for the time being. Metallic fists clenched tight as it came into arms reach of Isuelt, a hand going out to grasp out at her shoulder. Okay, maybe it was one of the Playboy's new toys. As her breathing slowed somewhat, she stared at it. No, it certainly didn't look like anything he'd produce out of his little workshop. She kept her sword in her hand and tried to dodge the shoulder grab, owing to the look of those metallic fingers against her bare skin. "Speak!" She was tried to command the situation, even when she knew she was on a razor's edge to begin with. Still, it was worth a shot, right"

Speak" Such insolence from a minor species....From behind the mask, a growl could be heard. A male. Muffled. And it did not sound too pleased that it was being ordered to speak. Either in defiance or mockery, the suit of armor would not answer back. She might had dodged that hand the first time, but the second time, it seemed, it was no longer joking around. The other hand shot up, to throttle Isuelt around the throat.

A grasp of her throat that nearly brought her up off of her feet. Her boots were on the tiptoes, trying to keep her weight from joining the pressure around her neck. She gasped but had that breath stick in her throat, the Scathachian's eyes widening. As her lips parted in a futile attempt to suck in air, the muscles in her shoulder flexed as she raised her blade and jabbed forward, aiming at the midsection of this knight.

The blade struck out against the armor, and is helplessly ceased the path of it with a clunk, and screech. She would need something much sharper than that sword to get through to the vulnerable flesh inside. All the Trooper did, was simply look down at the blade resting against its torso, and then it looked back up at Isuelt, lifting her higher off of the ground. "My Empress. Second Objective Complete. The test run was....A partial success." Then, from inside the helm, another more distant replied. Perfect. Results is better than no results. I take it you have my....Guest" The suit nodded, "Yes. Empress....SCHISM Engine locking on to Negzarcurgis. Temporal Shifting, now..." Surrounding the Trooper, a buzz of energy disbursed in the shape of a distorted bubble, that consumed both himself, and Isuelt. The Nexial energies fluxed, and then, simply both it and Issy, were gone.

An obvious grimace on the Scathachian's face as she was being strangled and hung all in the same moment, her feet left the ground and her legs swung with her futile actions. She pulled at her blade to get it once more under her control. Another swing, a hack to his left shoulder. And another, a slice toward his left side. Even her expert strikes were not met with the desired results. Her right arm, as honed as it was had failed! Her right hand was lamely gripping at the metallic claw around her throat as she gagged nearly silently, being robbed of oxygen.

...and then...they were gone. Leaving only a crystalline landscape on the rooftop behind.

When they next simply appeared, both she and the suit, were in a rather dark, dark room. So dark in fact, it seemed like nothing more than an ever expanding darkness on all sides. Releasing its grip upon her, the suit took one last look at her, and simply walked away, becoming one with the unnatural inky darkness. It's job, was done.

The Scathachian was dropped and while she tried to remain on her feet, she crumbled for a moment in a fit of coughs and gags. Once she had regained enough oxygen to stop the spots from spinning before her eyes, she reached out for the sword that had clattered to the ground. Breathing labouredly, she got to one knee, then to her feet and looked around, wondering where in the hell she was. That bravado, as it usually did, made its appearance in the face of fear. She bellowed out, "I AM A DAUGHTER OF SCATHACH! YOU WILL REVEAL YOURSELF!"

"And I....Am the daughter of Egorwrath." Came the response, her voice seemingly coming from....Everywhere! A soft, gentle chuckle passed her lips, as in the distance, in front of Issy, opened a set of blood red eyes seemingly floating in the darkness. "Come now, Isuelt, that confidence, it surely is not needed here....I do forgive the circumstance of which you came to be here, but do not worry, I don't plan to harm you. After all....I respect you, and love you for all that you have done for me." She chuckled again, a touch more menacingly, "The attack was....Well. A test. I was just pondering how my new weapons work against....Lesser foes."

That voice! From everywhere in the deepest darkness. Isuelt spun around, her eyes wide and ready to meet the source. Then...those eyes. A muttered exhale as she recognized her situation. "Renna...." Her nostrils flared as she sheathed her blade and took a deep sigh. "What is this" I thought we had an....an understanding?" She licked her lips and kept looking around, almost expecting that Renna would appear just about anywhere. "A test' What sort of test?" When faced with this sort of situation, the only prescription was to bleed as much information as possible. Since her opponent did not bleed in the traditional manner, naturally.

"We do, Isuelt. I will not hurt you....And, well. I have to field test my technology somehow and " well, you were just there. I hope you don't mind. I got some very good data out of it, even though I specifically wanted a kill shot. But. Well. I made an exception, since it was you..." Another set of eyes opened, "I'm sorry, Isuelt. I will release you soon, I just wanted to say, thank you. The last we spoke, we left on bad terms....You left me at the bar, crying. Remember?"

She felt nearly naked standing there in only a black tank and black pants. No leather, no cloak, and only one seemingly ineffective weapon. Her heart rate was through the roof as she looked from one set of disturbing red eyes to another. Her brow wrinkled with confusion, then even more so as realization set in. Was there...more than one" Yes, there was. Once more her nostrils flared and her muscles flexed, like a cornered puma. There was no telling what Renna was capable of. "Yes," quietly, almost as if she were biding the time until she was pushed off of a cliff, "I remember..."

"Isuelt....Without you, I don't think my eyes would had been opened. You showed me something recently. Something I never thought I'd get back....All because you inspired me..." Her tone was gentle, almost....Loving. "Isuelt, without you, I never would had admitted to myself that I was nothing more than a tiny little girl, all alone, wrecking what I wanted, when I wanted, all to satisfy my....Urges. I blamed everything on those urges. My desire for flesh and destruction....But because of you, you made me think back....All the times we fought. You had someone to stand beside you " your sisters, the people you love, to defend you....I lost, in the past, because I was missing that. I was missing, that love. That devotion....I thrived on my own ego, my own stupidity. But not any more. No....No Isuelt, you opened my eyes. Because you get to be you, and retain all of those friends. All of those loves....But I" I get nothing for being myself....So. I'll make them love me."

Her weight shifted as she listened. A compliment from Renna" The Judge was more uneasy about that than if Renna had come screaming out of the darkness at her with all the weapons in the world! Isuelt breathed as she listened, stalling on the last line. "Make them love you? Renna, you're missing the point of love. Love does not come when it is beckoned. It comes when it wills itself. One cannot force love to do its bidding. We do love's bidding." Wow, the warrior waxing poetic.

The darkness suddenly lifted. The dark hall was....A sight, indeed. Stretched alone the edges of the expansive hallway, were outgrowths of large white crystalline growths seemingly forming from the black onyx hallway, and inside of them' A neon liquid, and floating inside of that liquid, were varying stages of maturation. From children, to full grown adults, and standing within the hallway, were several other figures, again, in varying states of age. But one thing was for certain. Those black cloaked figures" They were all Renna. "But Isuelt....They will love me." The voice of Renna continued to speak around her, rather through one of the Proxies. All of them, had turned to stare at her. "But they will love me! They will all love me! Like I love you..." The voice groaned, and then devolved into a maddened laughter, "My new Virus will make sure of that....Each word. Each phrase I utter! Bliss! Bliss....Bliss will show them that they do love me! And you'll love me too! Like I love all of you!" In unison, the Renna's approached Isuelt, one of the youngest of them, brandishing a syringe. "You can be the second person to love me....Like Lesinda..."

As the illumination commenced and her surroundings were revealed to her, Isuelt's lips parted as her jaw slacked. "Sweet...heavens above...." Her whisper barely left her tongue as she looked at the menagerie of what appeared to be human experimentation. As one of the Renna's approached, she drew her blade and held it between them. She saw the syringe. "Don't....don't make me do it, Renna!" She threatened with that razor-sharp blade of Scathach.

They paused. Then, took a step back. "No....No. Not like this." Renna mused. Oh, wait. Her voice was now directly behind her" A set of lips hovered over Isuelt's earlobe, as she whispered. "Why do you resist, what you helped inspire?" She nipped at that earlobe, playfully.

With a grunt she elbowed behind her when she felt the tug at her earlobe. Her teeth bared, she spun around to look at who...or perhaps "which" would have been a better word choice...was behind her. Her blade was still out and poised, ready. Renna's lips on her always left a sinking, sick feeling.

In her whirl, Isuelt, was....Standing in the Glen" Was that all....An illusion' Whatever it was, one of the illusions stood right before her, nursing a spot on her stomach where the elbow had connected. A fully matured Proxy. She beamed softly at Isuelt, and regarded her with sad eyes. "....I'm nothing more than a copy of a dead woman created by the technological mishap of two idiots. I want to be loved, too. Like you do. The only way I am going to get it. Is if I make them." She beamed, "We'll play soon, Isuelt." She licked her lips, her voice turned sultry, "I'll have you drooling before my feet....Licking them. Begging for me to love you back..." She licked her lips, and turned away, her body shifting as she returned to Negzarcurgis.

The Judge winced like she'd eaten a lemon. She took a knee in the middle of the beautifully green Glen as the lustful Renna proxy took her leave, back into the darkness from which they had been delivered. The scent of sweet lilacs wafting through the air was no match for the sickness she felt as she rested her forehead on her fist. She heaved a sigh, feeling like she'd been underwater for the last hour.