2018-05-07 - SPACE JAIL: Hopping Cages

Title: Cage Hopping
Summary: In which Ami Mizuno and Steven Universe free Fate Testarossa and Sailor Pluto.
Who: Ami Mizuno, Fate Testarossa, Setsuna Meioh, and Steven Universe
Where: SPACE JAIL
OOC - IC Date: Mon May 7, 2018 - Thu April 16, 2015

<Pose Tracker> Ami Mizuno [Juuban Public School (10)] has posed.

After finding the storage area, Ami and Steven were finally able to rest, each one taking turns guarding and listening for robonoids or other people that may pass by and threaten to expose them. Luckily, for the most part the last couple hours had been uneventful, aside from their new fluffy friend wanting their attention.

Ami stands up while holding the dog in her arms, it licks her chin as she looks at Steven. "Hey Steven, are you ready to head out?" She listens intently for a minute. "The last robonoid passed a couple minutes ago so we have time to go look for the others." She had spent most of her guarding time counting and calculating when the next one would come and had finally figured out the exact patrol timing... at least that's what she hopes.

Ami grabs another drink of water before opening the door to the storage room. The other eggs in the room didn't yield much of value to them but at least it had provided a brief reprieve from their exploits. As she looks down the corridor and points, "Hrm, we came from that way before so I think we should head back down the other hallway... what do you think Steven?"

<Pose Tracker> Steven Universe [Juuban Public School (6)] has posed.

"Shoosh!" Steven lets out every now and then towards this fluffy companion, barely able to sustain his own laughter at its antics. Being able to rest with Ami helped. No dangers had arisen, though the occasional ominous woobling of a passing robonoid outside the door caused tense times.

"Ah... yeah, let's do it! If we can free more people, maybe we can figure out how to escape!" He still had to find his own family. Or... what is left of it...

...

"Huh?" Steven says, snapping back to reality. His eyes are misted up, but seems otherwise fine despite zoning out for a second. "Yeah, we should go that way. Didn't see any others from where we came." The child pokes his head out as well. Nothing but hushed mechanical noises, and that omnipresent singing. "Wonder who that is."

"Let's go!" the boy says, and with a gung-ho step in his sandals, heads in the direction Ami suggested. He can worry about what he was thinking... later. It has to wait. He doesn't have a choice. "Did you come here with any other friends?" Steven asks his partner in jailbreak crime.

<Pose Tracker> Setsuna Meioh [Infinity Institute (U)] has posed.

*scritch, scritch, scriieeeeiitch*

It's not the most pleasant sound in the world, and it keeps repeating: a shrieky metallic scraping, with a high-pitched wobble that suggests the metal involved isn't holding up too well. Echoes of it ping and whine off the spaceship's interior, reaching and potentially irritating anyone in easy earshot.

Sailor Pluto crouches before a wall of the cell she shares with Fate Testarossa -- cell 7F0A-Tau, Facet 2, their new address -- barefoot, in a violet skirtsuit. The shirt beneath gapes at the collar. A strip of red cloth crosses her eyes, and she squints at the wall through her makeshift mask, a frown of thought wrinkling the space between her eyebrows.

"There are no seams at all," she murmurs, mostly to herself, though surely her cellmate can hear her at work. She turns the silver buckle from one of her high heels over in her hand. It's bent up, ruined. The wall is both seamless and scratch-free, almost cheekily so. The senshi grumbles something about alien materials.

"I would love to take this ship apart piece by piece." Retribution or curiosity? The tone of her voice suggests the two are not mutually exclusive. She leans back on her heels and drops the buckle with a dull clank.

<Pose Tracker> Fate Testarossa [Infinity Institute (5)] has posed.

"... It reminds me of home a little."

Fate Testarossa is propped up against the wall, legs splayed out beneath her at an angle. She's in a white skirt, a yellow and white striped T-shirt, and a light black jacket. "Just... crystal rather than metal."

This place really did have Precia Testarossa's aesthetic down. Even the fields looked like her brand of lightning magic. Fate looks a little worn despite having been quite out of it. Apparently her and her cell mate were on speaking terms at least.

And yet despite having grown up on another world - this place is strange even to her. Homeworld's own brand of magic and technology didn't click with her. She had no idea what she was up against other than a monstrous sadist who killed Garnet casually before gleefully decimating the rest of them.

"I wonder how Lapis is doing..."

She asks quietly, as she watches Setsuna examine their surroundings. "They can't be treating her well."

<Pose Tracker> Ami Mizuno [Juuban Public School (10)] has posed.

Ami tilts her head a little at Steven as she looks back to him and touches his shoulder, "Hey, are you okay?" She noticed the far off look even as he shakes it off but considers that it's probably just the stress of everything that had happened. Unfortunately, they don't have time to reflect and to be honest she doesn't want to now anyway. The dark dreams from while she was unconscious still haunt her and it's hard to shake the ominous, evil feelings she experienced but nevertheless, they have to press on.

As they move through the hallway, Ami can hear the singing in the distance. It's beautiful but also kind of sad. Steven's question though makes her slow her steps for a minute to look at him. "I did Steven. I need to find them." She doesn't offer anymore than that for now but she wonders if the other senshi are okay. Knowing they're in the hands of Rubeus but not knowing what he's doing to them hurts her a lot and only spurs her motivation to get to them..if that's even possible.

As they turn down another hallway, there are many cells in a row. The first couple are empty but Ami can hear the scratching from beyond their position. "hey Steven... shhh... listen..." And then more scratching. "I think there's someone down there. It doesn't sound like a robonoid." Ami's pace hastens and she finally reaches the cell where she can hear voices.

"Hey Steven! I found someone!" Ami sees the masked woman first and then Fate, "Are you guys okay?" There is relief in her voice at finally reaching someone else. "Hold tight. We can get you out..." Ami steps towards the side and it takes her a minute to find the inconspicuous box and she begins tapping away, leaving Steven to talk to the women inside the cell.

<Pose Tracker> Steven Universe [Juuban Public School (6)] has posed.

"Huh? Oh... yeah. I'm fine." Steven looks to Ami with a smile. It's pretty obvious it is forced, at least at first. But it does become genuine when he realizes she is showing a little concern. "We will find them all. I know it!" There is gusto in his response. Deep down, he just knows they can make it though this hardship spaceship! "They should be in cells as well. Might just be in a section we haven't looked. How does Jasper and Peridot know how to get around?!"

Steven begins to ponder if full fledged Gems have in-built radar or something. It would explain a /lot/.

"Uh." Scriiiitch. "Oof. Doesn't sound pleasant." Steven begins to hustle to keep up with Ami. They begin to head down the hallway, when Ami abruptly stops at a cell. "They must have been making the noise!" he says on approach. Inside are two young ladies. One, Steven can only ascertain is a corporate woman of mystery. ALmost like someone he would be wrestling as Tiger Millionaire in the ring. Heh.

The other...

"Oh my gosh! Fate!" The boy says, nearly running into the field, stopping just short! "You're okay! We're gonna bust both of you out!" he says. Ami is already working on the panel, which is good. "We gotta find somewhere safe again once we get you out!"

<Pose Tracker> Setsuna Meioh [Infinity Institute (U)] has posed.

Pluto saw glimpses of Fate's home when she delved the girl's timestream. Among other things. She draws in a long breath, then nods, a conversational sort of movement. She adds, "It does not remind me of mine at all." The menacing and uninspiring (to her eyes) form of this ship has nothing in common with the breathtaking spires of her home, material aside.

"Mmm. She is the one who stole the sea." That sort of thing makes an impression. "That could be useful. Do you think she'd give us information? A disagreement in their ranks..." The sentence dies there, unfinished, as Pluto trails off. Her gaze is still aimed at the smooth green wall in front of her, but her eyes are unfocused.

The shuffle of non-Robonoid feet in the hall breaks her reverie. The sailor scout rises from her crouch in a smooth motion, evergreen hair uncoiling from the floor until she's fully standing and it sweeps past the backs of her knees. The blue-haired girl appears first beyond the bright pattern of the forcefield, and Sailor Pluto's eyebrows rise above the top of her red mask.

It's the girl from the library. But it's also... She remembers racing toward Small Lady, and Sailor Mercury was right there with her. And the blue energy merging with hers, with all the others... 'Hold tight,' she says. 'We can get you out,' she says. Sailor Pluto looks down -- bare toes against green cell floor -- and then back up. "Thank you," the Outer Senshi returns, smoothly enough for the whirl of thoughts in her head, glad to already be wearing a mask.

When Steven Universe runs up he adds to that gratitude with the lack of recognition in his eyes, too. She steps up close to the forcefield, scanning down the hall one direction as she can from this angle. "I am Sailor Pluto, Guardian of Time," she says. "And you have only one hundred twenty-six seconds until the patrol comes back."

<Pose Tracker> Fate Testarossa [Infinity Institute (5)] has posed.

"..." The question on whether she'd help them causes her to give Setsuna a serious look, "... I don't think so. I think they're hurting her to make her obey."

Fate knew grimly that when one is being hurt - you'll agree to anything to make it stop. You'll do whatever it takes to prevent the pain and abuse from coming again. There were types of people who would rage against it - fight it. But eventually everyone broke. And Lapis had not struck her as the type who would resist for long.

"Steven?" Fate seems shocked as the footsteps approach - expecting a Robonoid, or Peridot perhaps - and instead he came into view. "How...?" She looks to the girl with him in wonder. She'd thought hope was lost - Fate was one to accept helplessness quite readily when it truly seemed like she was hopeless.

But them being outside of the cell dispels that right away. "We're fine! Though... a little hungry." Forcing herself to push herself up by a palm against the wall, she moves onto a shaky legs. "How did you get out? Oh wait that doesn't matter - we can talk later."

Right now after all is the time for action.

And swift action if they wanted to save the others. Her eyes do move over onto Ami though, in wonder at her working the panel.

Pluto announces who she is though - and how much time they have and... "If you can't get us out before the count of ninety then you should probably hide then come back."

She sounds nervous.

And it's for a good reason.

<Pose Tracker> Ami Mizuno [Juuban Public School (10)] has posed.

Ami's eye widen a little at Pluto but her thoughts remain a mystery for now. Sometimes it's better to focus on the bigger picture after all. She nods though at Pluto's calculations, "Right thank you." Then she turns her focus back to the keypad. It's very hard to count in her head and figure out the puzzle too but she does her best to multi-task.

126 seconds...

90 seconds...

50 seconds...

Ami frowns at the box, "This is taking just as long as before Steven. How many sec-" And then she stops talking suddenly because from just behind their location there is a mechanical hum that begins to grow. From this distance it's hard to tell if it's a robonoid or something even more sinister than that. Those most perceptive to the sound would be able to tell that it's definitely something bigger than a robonoid, although it does sound similar.

It only takes a minute for the sound to become loud enough to cause the walls of the cells to vibrate in response. A distant wailing can be heard, followed by what sounds like the slamming of a heavy door and then angry voices. The conversation is too far away to be able to be heard but the vibrations grow stronger...

25 seconds...

Ami's heart begins racing, "Steven! Let's move now!" She looks across the hallway and finds what appears to be an empty but locked cell. "Can you get us inside?" Ami really hates to ask him but the urgency of the situation leaves no other options for them.

<Pose Tracker> Steven Universe [Juuban Public School (6)] has posed.

Seeing even more survivors of the fight is a relief to him. What have they endured? Has Jasper done anything to everyone? Besides the zapping. He wonders.

And that wondering is promptly interrupted by Pluto's announcement from in the cell. Steven... turns pale. "S-S... Oh /man/ we gotta get them out of there!" He begins to freak out from the presence of a Senshi. In a good way. "I-I... ah, thank you?!" he says towards the Guardian of Time. It is all he can say really. Her being here means she was on the field when Jasper took to it, and Rubeus showed up to make things worse.

It means Senshi got involved in Gem problems.

Of course though, he has no idea that their problems are intertwined. The boy looks toward Fate. "I... I am glad to hear that. Thank you for coming to our aid..." He offers a weak smile. "I didn't know it would turn out like this." A pause. THose storage rooms had water, but not food. "I'm not sure where we can find you something. We know where to get good water though."

And tiny dogs, apparently.

"Wh-What's that?!" Steven says, hearing noise from... not them. "Ah! Someone or something is coming!" Ami seems to have a good idea. "Yeah! Hurry!" Steven hustles over to the locked cell. Depending on its location, Setsuna and Fate can see Steven go to the edge of one of the cells, and work his body /into/ the emitter beam, cutting off a section from hitting the floor.

Similar geometric circuitry-like lines play across his shirt, his skin, his face. Much like what affected Garnet. But there's no sickening crack. No destruction. But the boy does look like he might have stuck a fork in an outlet. "G-G-G-Go-o-o!" he says, sounding akin to someone being distorted in some kind of strange way. Once Ami is through, Steven fellows suit, shaking off the, well, whatever that is, and trying to find a place to hide. Either against the wall, in a corner, or even behind Ami if need be. if the young lady gets seen, that is fine.

If /he/ gets seen with someone else, they will know something is up.

<Pose Tracker> Ami Mizuno [Juuban Public School (10)] has posed.

Steven moves to open the force field for them and Ami ducks inside the cell and she doesn't even give him a chance to move before she's pulling him inside and against a wall. There is silence as she looks to him and puts a finger up to her lips in a 'shhh' expression.

Once inside, a stray robonoid passes by their cells. It doesn't sense anything amiss though and continues on it's path. It's clear now that it wasn't that robonoid making the sound as it's still growing louder.

Before anyone can do or say anything else a whole ARMY of robonoids pass through the hallway running perpindicular to theirs. In the rush, the first patrolling robonoid is knocked backwards and skids to a stop just in front of Pluto and Fate's cell. It's fully disarmed and pieces of it's mechanical body land near Ami and Steven.

Meanwhile, the army of robonoids continue away from their cells and Ami sinks down a little against the wall. There is a tense silence as they wait before Ami finally speaks, "W-what was that? Do you think they caught someone?" It takes awhile for her to be able to calm her heart and mind enough to move...

<Pose Tracker> Setsuna Meioh [Infinity Institute (U)] has posed.

Fate gives her insight into the wielding of pain, and... all Pluto can think about, again, are pieces of the girl's past, jagged and terrible. Precia. The things that Fate said to her, even in this cell... She's nodding, slowly, and then they have company.

Having announced their window of time, Sailor Pluto then takes up a sentinel posture near the cell entrance: alert, watchful. She also positions herself so that Ami Mizuno is in her field of view, as much as she can be. To help, she murmurs out thirty-second intervals. The look of intense thoughtfulness on the other senshi's face... it feels familiar. Pluto keeps flashing back to the library, and the combined attack from earlier that day.

But someone, something, is in earshot -- loud and approaching.

The masked senshi swings her head round. "Go, go!" Low and urgent. She's expecting them to run down the hall in the opposite direction of the coming ruckus. That is NOT what happens. "What are you--" But there's no time to question them. She gives Fate a sidelong look, then steps back from the forcefield, just in case.

Steven forces his way into the cell across the way and Sailor Pluto can only watch, with sympathy and wonder. It looks painful, but... How is he doing that? The patrol clanks by, no problem, but there's still that oncoming sound...

Robonoid stampede! In its wake the poor patrol spins to a demolished stop, a bit like a hubcap rolling away and thudding to the ground after a tremendous car crash. Then it's quiet as the dust (well, lack thereof) settles.

Ami speaks up. "Maybe... It's hard to say. Are you both alright?" Pluto calls, low, across the hall. "I think this one out here is... neutralized. If they report back somehow, though, it might be missed soon."

And then, with another glance at her cellmate: "Have either of you seen the others who got captured?"

<Pose Tracker> Fate Testarossa [Infinity Institute (5)] has posed.

Ami works at the box and Fate looks at her fretfully as she works but then - 'get them inside?' "Eh!?"

And that's when Steven puts himself in the beam and Fate gasps as she tries to step forward on shaky legs - "Steven!" It's not really a shout - but it is a cry of concern as he willingly puts himself in a destabilizer field. Even if it does get Ami inside. Looking to them in wonder, she moves to interpose herself so that people will have a harder time seeing them.

She keeps quiet, trying to keep facing forward - but is really just kinda all a little mystified by this.

How did he do that?

Hope felt closer than ever - but she had /so many questions/. Like even who the girl with him is.

The Robonoids take her attention as suddenly a whole army crashes into the patrolling one. Gawking as it's run over she - looks over her shoulder and murmurs, "I don't know... I don't know... I just have so many questions. Maybe they know you're out?"

She looks back in that direction nervously as the army keeps going. "... but they couldn't find you because now you're in here..."

Pluto asks a good question though and she falls quiet to wait for an answer.

<Pose Tracker> Ami Mizuno [Juuban Public School (10)] has posed.

When Ami feels certain the coast is clear she raises up to a standing position and walks back towards the front of their new cell. "I-I'm fine." Then she looks over at Steven. "Do you think you can handle it once more?" She sighs a little. "I am sorry you have to keep doing this but...I am glad you're here."

To the question of seeing others, Ami shakes her head. "I haven't seen anyone else but Steven just helped me get out and we had to stop looking. You two are the first ones we found." Ami wonders just how many of them had been captured and were on board. Maybe if there were enough they could overpower Jasper and Rubeus but even then that could present more dangers.

Ami looks to the smaller girl with yellow hair, "Are you okay over there? We are going to have to be extra careful." Even moreso than before, she thinks. The thought of getting re-captured makes her shudder a little. She can't imagine any of their captors showing any kind of sympathy or mercy.

Once Steven opens the cell, Ami immediately begins working on the keypad again. "Pluto, let me know if another patrol is coming please. I think there is enough time though..." She works feverishly on it and finally a switch opens up and Ami quickly presses it. The yellow forcefield keeping Pluto and Fate inside dissipates completely and they are free!

<Pose Tracker> Steven Universe [Juuban Public School (6)] has posed.

Making his way to a hiding point, it seems to be.. just a Robonoid. "Ah..." They were kinda neat. If they weren't such a threat, he might have tried to keep one from previous encounters at the Galaxy Warp.

And then the louder noise arrives. a large number of the marble bots, walking in unison. The stray patrol one gets bowled over as though it being there wasn't recognized. The only though that comes to mind is they were in a rush somewhere. Perhaps others were trying to escape? "At least it wasn't anyone else," he says, waiting to make sure that sound is /long/ gone before talking. "I think those just care if people are in cages."

"Okay," the boy stats, patting his ear as though there was water sloshing around in there. "Hoo, feels kinda funky. Let's get them out of there!" The boy looks to the other two. He heard their calls. "Look, I am just chalking it up to being related to both mom and dad. Gem stuff just works weird with me!" Steven states with a cheeky smile and a shrug. "Paid off this time!" Okay, yeah, one out of like, the hundred other times it didn't go well.

In this case, he is willing to make a compromise and call it even. This really counts. The boy opens the way for Ami to escape her prison. All the while he tries to force a smile, though it just makes a creepy, cross-eyed face during the shocking effect. "EW." he says afterward.

A de-powering sound signifies the release of Sailor Pluto and Fate, which is good. "We got you out! Now, we gotta be careful. There's gotta be one of those rooms nearby. They always seem to be around a buncha prison cells." A look to Ami. "Don't worry! I'll be fine. I think I am getting it a lot less than everyone else did." Some people looked like they instantly blacked out. Others screamed in pain. It hurts for Steven, but not like /that/. He would much rather take it than them.

If they end up fighting Jasper and Peridot, he may have to.

<Pose Tracker> Setsuna Meioh [Infinity Institute (U)] has posed.

Sailor Pluto does not show her disappointment, upon hearing they've spotted no one else, but she feels it as surely as the drop in her stomach. She just nods, garnet eyes solemn behind the mask. Then they're back with another demonstration of Steven's strange ability to pass or disrupt the forcefields, and Ami's working at the panel again.

The Inner Senshi asks for teamwork, and just like joining garnet light to blue, it feels only right to reply, "Five hundred forty-two seconds and counting, assuming no other... irregularities come crashing through." She announces thirty second intervals once more. Between, she watches Ami Mizuno. The intensity of her regard might even be palpable.

Gem stuff just works weird with Steven, hmm. "Useful, though I would not say I envy you, Steven-san." She is very tall, this particular senshi, and her voice conveys empathy.

The odd hum of the forcefield ceases along with the barrier itself, and Sailor Pluto feels better, just a little. A single smooth stride on still-bare feet carries her outside; she leaves her shoes, one ruined and one whole, in the cell behind them. She spins immediately, to take a close look at the panel Ami has been working at.

Then she looks back to the other senshi and inclines her head for a few seconds. "Puzzling out alien technology is no mean feat. Knowing what I know of you, I am both impressed and unsurprised." There's a touch of formality to her speech which in no way detracts from her sincerity. It looks like she's about to say something more, but a flicker in garnet eyes, a pause, and instead...

"We have four hundred thirteen seconds left. Plenty of time, but... talking in the hall seems unwise." She can't help herself, though, and stretches her arms above her head, arching into the long-boned stretch of a tall person freed from cramped quarters. There's a touch of a quiver at the end, a lingering effect from the Destabilizer, but she's mostly steady now.

Her cellmate, though... she glances in Fate's direction. After a moment, she asks, "Is there someplace nearby to hide?"

<Pose Tracker> Fate Testarossa [Infinity Institute (5)] has posed.

"I'm fine." Fate can't be older than ten. But certainly seems mature for her age. "Don't worry. I can handle this - and I'll be able to keep up."

She has to.

"You're sure you're alright Steven?" She asks as he passes through the field again and she winces at that look - but then the field is down.

And she forces her legs to work.

"Really? Well... so long as it doesn't hurt that much. But all the same if anything changes. Tell us."

Fate for her part passed out nearly instantly and was out for hours. She doesn't fight it when a sadist has her helplessly caught. She just accepts what's coming. Looking to Ami and nodding as Setsuna praises her, "Are you really from Earth? Or did you come from another world yourself?" She asks in wonder.

But... things are grim - and as Setsuna raises her first concern - she brings up her second, "After that... we should find a way to get to where they're storing our things..."

She winces at calling Bardiche a 'thing' but...

There's a sort of determination and resolve in her eyes now that they're out. She might have accepted helplessness before.

But they weren't helpless now. And she aims to make them pay for everything they've done.

<Pose Tracker> Ami Mizuno [Juuban Public School (10)] has posed.

"Gem Stuff huh?" Ami appears to be intrigued by Steven's remarks. "Steven, do you know exactly why these guys came to Earth? I mean... I heard a little of their conversation on the beach but I can't remember all of it or make sense of what I heard." Probably a side-effect from being crucified and then later knocked unconscious. It's a wonder that the sailor guardian is even still able to function at this point.

Outside the cells, Ami thanks Steven again and then as Pluto comes towards the mechanism that freed them, Ami feels a twinge of pride inside with the compliment. "It's a little complex and foreign to me. I mean I don't know gem technology but I think I have the hang of it. Unfortunately, it still takes awhile to make it work..."

She continues to explain, "We don't have long enough to completely open a cell but I can try and show you the gist of it." Moving over to another locked cell, Ami points out how to find the box that controls the mechanism. It's not completely visible unless one knows what to look for.

Ami laughs a little at Fate, "I am! I don't know about Steven though!" Something in her tone shows that she is kidding about that. Of course, she just met Steven and she definitely could be wrong but she'll leave that up to him to clarify.

As Ami presses more buttons, she shows Pluto each combination that works and indicates which ones she knows doesn't. "It's hard because we don't have the luxury of time but it's still good to know that there is a way to open cells like this."

"We can show you where the storage closet is that we were in earlier, Fate." She doesn't think that any of the stuff they found would be what the younger girl was looking for but it couldn't hurt. "There's water in there but like Steven said... not much in the way of food." She doesn't mention the adorable fluffy puppy they left behind.

There is a slight pause, "Or we could keep moving and look for more prisoners...with four of us we'll have to move more carefully but once we get to a storage area you guys could rest and maybe you would find what you're looking for. I am looking for something too... it's important." She frowns, wondering how hard it would be to find the small pen in the vast ship.

<Pose Tracker> Steven Universe [Juuban Public School (6)] has posed.

Steven looks toward Pluto after their rescue. "Wow! How are you able to count that many seconds so accurate-- oh." The boy slaps his forehead. "Right, Time." What kind of Senshi fan is he if he can't remember their cool powers?! /Man/ he would love to talk to her about that, but sadly, no time. Perhaps when they escape.

It seems like Sailor Pluto knows Ami! Hey, good to have friends in high places! Especially when they are so tall. "The best place we found is in those egg rooms! They have water, and the only places that have doors. Robonoids rarely go inside, too."

Steven gives Fate a thumbs up and his usual winning smile. But it is obvious by the look trying to be hidden behind that smile that it is definitely fatiguing him. Whether the pain is getting to him, or if some sort of half-Destabilization effect is taking place is uncertain. "Now that you say that though, those eggs were holding all sorts of things as well as aliens. Maybe they are inside one?"

"Let's check that storage room! We didn't open nearly all of those eggs," The boy suggests. To Ami's question, Steven looks thoughtful. "I don't fully know. Peridot mentioned something earlier, whatever a Cluster is. But Jasper changed her mind when she say my mom's shield. She thinks I am her. It must have something to do with the fighting so long ago, I think..."

The boy watches carefully as the two check a control pad for how to operate it. Way over his head. But he has a skeleton key! Made of... his skeleton, he guesses? "The doors to the storing rooms aren't complicated like these. They are easy switches."

<Pose Tracker> Setsuna Meioh [Infinity Institute (U)] has posed.

At Fate's suggestion of finding their things, Setsuna says, "Indeed. The sooner our captors are made to regret taking us alive, the better." The Outer Senshi's bloodyminded take matches the fist she makes.

"Time," she replies to Steven Universe with the closest thing to a smile any of them have yet seen on the senshi's face. It is kindly, inclusive. Something about the boy's cheerful innocence...

Ami offers the thing that Sailor Pluto could not quite bring herself to ask, and in return she receives a rapt audience. The tall senshi follows to the other cell, oriented on her Inner contemporary and fellow brainiac. She's paying close attention to two things: Ami's explanation, and the way that Ami explains.

Both leave her even more impressed. It makes so much sense, that Sailor Mercury would be the same as the girl she discussed both history and astronomy with. "Do you often work with puzzles? This is a clever solution..." She follows along, missing not a beat. "It's a good start, and from here... maybe there are more patterns to be found. If we locate another sort of control panel, the same principals may apply as well."

When Ami's done, Sailor Pluto says, "You are a /very/ good teacher." Setsuna Meioh made the same observation of the genius's tutoring in the library. Here, the senshi adds, "Thank you," more quietly. There's a reserve to her demeanor, a sense of subdual, after a brief peak during shared nerdery.

After having enjoyed the Inner Senshi's company, Sailor Pluto is now considering how she might best escape it soon, for her own purposes. Maybe after they find one of these...

"Egg rooms, you say? And doors. Please, lead the way." She pays keen attention while Steven talks about their Gem captors. "A Cluster, hmm? The green one passed by earlier--" (Sailor Pluto was preoccupied by a certain Small Lady on the beach) "--but she didn't say anything helpful."

<Pose Tracker> Fate Testarossa [Infinity Institute (5)] has posed.

It seems that while these two were on different sides - they can agree on that much. Though she's not certain she wishes to punish them for their /mercy/.

She definitely wants to punish them for Garnet.

Fate nods to Steven. "She never loses track of time. She was able to always say accurately when a patrol came by with only a margin of error of about half a second. But that's probably only because she had to speak it aloud for me..."

Wait was Fate really keeping track of Pluto's counting that accurately? And accounting for her margin of error and the reasons /why/ she had one? She has a strangely good grasp of math for her age.

"Wow." Fate says as if awed by Ami's intelligence as a girl coming from Earth - figuring out this alien technology so quickly. She couldn't imagine someone doing that with Midchildan technology even though it's close to Earth in so many ways. To do it with an unknown like these gems... She watches Ami at work purely because she wants to figure out how to work this out in case they get seperated.

She then nods, "Let's go to the storage room and figure out our next move..."

Following behind them... she listens as they walk along. "Cluster..." Fate goes cross-eyed as she considers and speculates on that silently, but she comes to no conclusions other than. "They came with one ship... and even though it's powerful... they must have a different strategy in mind..."

<Pose Tracker> Ami Mizuno [Juuban Public School (10)] has posed.

Even if it's not obvious, Ami is enjoying having a captive audience and she speaks clearly and sounds much like a teacher in a classroom. Even if she is not confident in her skills at opening the cells, at least she's managed to get two opened so far. The /way/ Pluto speaks to her though has her wondering if there is more of a connection between the two of them than she realizes right now.

"Sometimes puzzles yeah... probably not the kind that you would think of when someone mentions that word though." As Sailor Pluto goes on about finding different patterns and such, Ami nods. "That's right. Both of the locks I have done are different so it's not just a matter of memorizing the same patterns..." Of course not, that would be way too easy.

Unaware of Pluto's plan to split off, Ami nods at the group. "We haven't gone too far so I have a pretty good mental map of how to get back to the closet we were at earlier." She waits for Fate and Steven to join them before heading back down the cold, dark hallway.

It doesn't take long for them to arrive back at the locked storage area. Ami waits for Steven to push the button to open the door and then steps inside. Immediately, a tiny bark greets them. The puppy rushes Ami and she bends down to pet it before it goes and explores the rest of the team, sniffing and wagging it's tail so furiously that it's whole body wiggles.

Ami laughs at the tiny pup, "Oh yeah. I forgot to mention this little guy. He was in an egg... poor thing!" She wonders if he's hungry too. Maybe there was actually food in here and they just hadn't found it yet. There are a lot of these weird eggs lying around after all.

"Fate, if you want to check out the other eggs I can help. It seems we're both looking for something valuable." She smiles warmly at the younger girl. The smile seemingly indicating she had some idea of what Fate could be looking for. She does warn though, "The could be other alien creatures in them so be careful..." The puppy bats at her hands as she works. "Not everything will probably be this cute and docile..."