Potemkin Central Tower Rooftop
From a base half a mile across, this skyscraper narrows needle-like to a circular platform barely two hundred feet in diameter. A lush park filled with trees occupies the center, with a skyport station occupying the southern quarter, facing the dock where the Black Thorn is moored. Between the park and the lift tubes on the north, east, and west are wide strips of short-trimmed lawns, separated by gravel that crunches underfoot. Marble tiles line the tower's roof around the circumference.

At the top of the Potemkin Central tower, a battle royale is taking place, with strangely robed and garbed persons chanting around a statue in the center of the garden, factions split up at northern and western ends trying to assault them and push them back. The statue itself stares blindly at the proceedings, a bare-skinned man dressed in naught but a lion's pelt loincloth, his arms swept back holding a massive globe of Earth over his head. The lines that define the longitudes and latitudes have begun to glow faintly.

"Keep chanting!" a fox-morph yells at the strangely robed persons gathered around the statue. He gestures and a red-glowing symbol appears in the air to the south of the statue. "Activate your shield runes now! Nothing must stop us, the Map is almost in our hands!"

At the western point of the compass, a massive werewolf howls, and a shield rune appears. He is accompanied by three werewolves and a small army of gunmen and armored combatants, facing off against a motley crew of what looks for all the world like the Men in Black are teamed up with a mage and demons of their own. "The Map shall be ours!" he roars. "With its power, we will rule all the dimensions!"

At the northern point, a tall vampire smirks at his angelic opponent as he activates his own shield rune. "Dear Merediel, give up this tiresome opposition to our little effort and join me," he says. "Under me, you could learn so many things."

"I'm sure you could teach me to be as much a pain in the neck as you are, Lord Sebastian," the angel captain responds. "But the Map must fall into no one's hands! The Sun and the Moon must be balanced."

And at the east side, a bored-looking Fae perks up as heroes arrive. The shield rune gleams red behind him, casting a bloody light over his brass armor. Before him are several Fae - a swordsman, an archer, and a mage from the looks of it - and a were-cougar and a giant spider stand before them. "I am Lord Aubertee of the Wild Hunt." he says. "Are you friends or foes?... Please say foes, it would relieve the tedium."

As all four shield runes glow, a dome of red light shimmers into existence, protecting the casters and the statues from outside attack.

Tracer points out the four rune-keepers at the cardinal points. "They're maintaining the shield, but it only lasts for about 2 minutes," she explains. "If we take any of them out, there's a better chance of destabilizing the shield and getting through."

Irielle adds worriedly, "They must believe they can finish the ritual before the shield drops. "But that doesn't look like a normal Place of Power. What are they trying to do?"

"They're trying to activate the Map or something," Tracer guesses. "We don't have time to treat this is a normal battle. If we can stop the activation, we'll maintain the status quo. If they get the Map, then they could just portal out from inside the shield!"

"People, people, if we play by game rules, we're not going to win. Think creatively. Come up with things that the games don't plan for," Jason remarks as he eyes the shield critically. "All energy has a wave pattern, correct? Well, if any of you ever took a class that covered time-domain reflectometry you know that open ended circuits generate an inverse waveform that cancels out the wave on the wire. Now that doesn't directly apply here, but surely that shield has a wave pattern. We find it and we create the inverse form and just collapse the whole damn thing. Screw this magic mumbo jumbo."

The tiny pixie darting about near Tracer adds, "When I got here, people were just choosing up sides, but now it looks like the Army of Darkness's formed a pact with the Wild Hunt, they're either gonna stab each other in the back once they have the map or they're going to share it... Pfft, yeah, right! Everyone else is trying to stop 'em from doing it, but I give you good odds the Fiery Swords want the map for themselves."

Yappy brightens up. "Great! We just need a multiscan and..." He pats his fur down. "Did you bring one?"

"How close do you have to be to the shield to figure out whatever you're trying to do, Jason?" Tracer asks.

"Lady Tracer," Brother Cadena asks, "Monsieur Renard's lack of protection and opposition hints at a certain lack of symmetry to this arrangement. Might there be something special about the southernmost rune?"

Jason taps his helmet. "Modify the sensors," he remarks. "I just need to find the frequency at which they operate."

"It could only mean Renard doesn't have any allies outside of the inner circle," Tracer points out. "Do you think you can deal with him, Cadena?"

"I think he is likely to give me a sound thrashing," Brother Cadena says, "and the only me I can think of who might be able to give him a run for his money would probably cause just as much trouble for you. All the same, perhaps I can distract him, as he might be too tempted to demonstrate his abilities on me." He starts walking.

"Alternatively, just blowing up one of the runes might collapse the shield at a point," Jason points out, "or have it open a short bit so that we could slip in. So we could have a group help slap that fox guy around a bit while I rig an explosive on the rune."

The fancily-dressed Fae lord sweeps his gaze across the heroes gathered opposite him. "Is my question difficult to comprehend? You have either come to join us in defense of the Map, with which no prey will be able to elude the Wild Hunt, or else you stand before us as opponents." He frowns. "Declare yourself now!"

"I hate these guys," Tracy says. "Jason and Cadena, you deal with the Fantastic Mr. Fox while we shut these guys up, okay?" Then she pats Fuseli's side, and says, "Now for our reply. Fuseli: Maze of Horrors!"

"Right. I guess it's us against Renard. Inari, you can come with us or help Tracy. RIU, you're with me." Jasond ecides and follows after Cadena. "Don't get yourself killed," he remarks.

Inari responds, "Tracy will be fine. I figure you need a fox to fight a fox." She follows Jason, hefting her rifle.

The Nightmare crashes down to the ground, unleashing a wave of indescribable shadows filled with red eyes! For a moment they draw back...

But Lord Aubertee rallies his forces, yelling, "For the Wild Hunt! Slay them all!" The Fae mage and archer at his side shake their heads, as if dismissing phantasms of their imagination. Only the swordsman appears to have succumbed. "No-- no, not in the face!" he whimpers.

The spider hisses as it slashes at the phantasms, parting the wave of darkness before its claws. The were-cougar crouches, preparing to pounce!

"Try to draw them away from the rune, and keep them from noticing everyone heading for the Cafe," Tracer says, and moves Fuseli to get a better line of fire. "Fuseli; Speed of Darkness. We'll need it."

Renard turns about as a familiar face apears. "Why, it's my old friend!" He waves a paw behind him. "Baelfire! Allow me to introduce you to a friend of mine, what was it... White Puppy? Servant of the White? Oh! Brother Cadena." He smiles toothily. "How have you been? I'd feared that you'd forgotten all about poor little me."

The demon turns about and spies the intruders. "Imps! After them!" He flaps his gigantic bat wings and takes to the air.

PAF POOF Two tiny replicas of their demonic master appear in sulphurous clouds next to Brother Cadena.

"Why hello there!" Brother Cadena says politely to the imps, in between coughing from the clouds of sulfur. "Yes, I am Brother Cadena. And you are...?"

"Hurt!" one imp squeaks. "Pain!" the other chimes in. "Which is what we'll be bringing you!"

Suiting their words, the imps spring at the white-furred dog in the robe! He had been expecting their attacks however, and uses his staff expertly to deflect one; the other barely manages to swipe at the hem of his sleeve, doing no damage.

Baelfire flies toward the fox and his newfound friends, looking not at all pleased. "You told me to help hold off those blasted Shadows and their Hellfire Club friends! Now you want me to deal with these pests?"

Lord Aubertee smirks at Lady Tracer, then begins to move forward. "Mercy, to the left, Sorrow, to the right. We'll teach them not to underestimate the Wild Hunt!" He pauses next to the swordsman, then slaps him on the cheek. "Pika! Awaken, we have foes to best!"

Brother Cadena twirls his staff, occupying the frenzied little imps. "Ah, I suppose this means you're not inclined to parlay first? At the very least, if Monsieur Renard is going for the arch-villain trope, a stage-setting monologue could be ever-so-enlightening right about now."

The swordsman blinks, then snaps alert. "At your service, Lord Aubertee! I... I don't know what came over me."

The Fae lord smiles, and then returns to his shield rune. "Deal with our intruders. They have declared themselves foes."

The nightmare easily avoids its strikes however, dancing back and to the side. He snorts with contempt as the Speed of Darkness begins to blur his movements.

Irielle shrieks as the were-cougar launches itself upon her! While not visibly injured, she seems to be giving all her attention to shaking it off herself.

As Yappy turns to Irielle with horror, trying to get a clear shot at the cougar, the Fae mage and archer sweep out to attack Tracy and her friends from both sides!

Mercy unleashes what looks for all the world like a rainbow, sweeping colorful streams of light through the area before her!

Jack Fisher activates a tiny switch and blurs out of visibility, diving for cover! Irielle, while wrestling with the cougar, catches sight of the attack and successfully times rolling across the tiles so that it strikes the were-cat.

WHAM! It's lights out for kitty. She slumps, leaving Irielle partially trapped by sleeping cat.

Fuseli leaps to intercept the rainbow, using the power of Goth (and armor) to blunt its force and protect Tracer's comrades!

Smiling maliciously, as she arrives at the opposite position from Mercy, Sorrow fits what looks like a fan of arrows to her longbow. The dark fae rapidly fires arrows across the crowd!

Arrows whistle through the air narrowly missing Cait and Yappy! Irielle struggles with the snoozing cougar, then yelps as one of the arrows smacks into the pavement next to her.

Finally Pika, recovered from his attack of the shakes, charges to engage Fuseli! He whirls his blade overhead, which looks as if it were made of ice.

The tiny pixel grins. "You need a distraction, eh?" She darts down at the archer, buzzing around Sorrow's head. "IT'S SHINY HAPPY DISTRACTION TIME!"

Sorrow yelps, trying to swat the pixie. "Ow! Get away! Ack, what are you doing-- stop that!" Her quiver drops off, unfastened, spilling arrows in all directions.

Lord Aubertee narrows his eyes at this and studies Lady Tracer. In the right light, she might look a bit like Tracy...

Bullets sing through the air as the werewolf holds the trigger down! Even distracted as she is, Sorrow manages enough presence of mind to throw herself to the ground and avoid the fusilade.

Inari whispers from right behind Jason, "We've got a big ugly inbound. Who do you want me to take out first?"

The werewolf continues to spray fire toward the archer, fangs bared in a rictus that half-says "I can't believe I'm actually trying to shoot something" and half "Dammit, I'm a terrible shot!"

"Any chance you could put a shot between his eyes? I've seen you take it nice and slow ... with explosive effect," Jason replies in whisper. His right hand shakes and the electrical emitters pop out of his gauntlet. He's going to give one of the imps a shockingly good time! So .. he targets the imp on Cadena's right and lets him have it! "RIU, also join in, we're going to take these jerks down!" he orders.

Irielle struggles out from beneath the cougar. Out of reflex, the angel summons a shield. "Blessed Light, protect my friends!"

Cait draws her rapier. "It's nighty-night time for you, Miss Sorrow!" she yells. The dark fae yelps, rolling around wildly, trying to get back to her feet.

Meanwhile, Jack is... Tracy realizes in the ruckus, she's lost track of where he went.

Inari chuckles. "On it." She crouches in the shadow of the cafe's outside bench, taking aim on Renard.

Elsewhere, werewolves fling themselves with wild abandon into battle against a mix of marines and government agents and mages.

Targeting lasers lock onto the imp at Cadena's right. They pulse once, ionizing a path through the air. Cadena sees it before he hears it, a flash of light, then a crack of electrical energy as it slams into the imp, causing its skin to bubble and hiss as the imp howls in agony! No sooner as one flash faded, then another, brighter, one follows in its wake! Kerblam! And down goes that particular annoyance. "Oh yeah, team dragon wins again," Jason croons and high-fives RIU as he perches on his shoulder. Well, it's sort of a high five, anyway. If it was too hard the poor dragon would be knocked off!

As Fuseli starts shaking off the effects of the rainbow, Tracer keeps up her dueling with Pika using Regret.

The saber comes down hard, shattering the ice blade of the elf and chopping into his shoulder.

The fae gasps. "No, I-- retreat! I've failed you, Lord A--" The last of his words are cut off as he disappears from sight, swallowed up by a momentary portal.

Lord Aubertee frowns. "Tracy... Why does that ring a bell?" Then his eyes widen. "Ah! You are the one so highly desired by our Mistress of the Hunt."

Brother Cadena has a hard time finding an opening in the imp's flurry of attacks, and hasn't any time for banter in the middle of it. He makes a desperate thrust, leaving himself exposed for counterattack, but fails to connect solidly enough to have any noticeable effect upon the little imp, as his staff, ultimately, is just a big stick, and has no "special effects" to enhance its damage-dealing properties.

"Mercy! Sorrow! Focus your attack on the rider," Lord Aubertee yells. Then with a smirk growing on his face, he says to Tracy as he traces runes onto the air, "Did you think you could play with the mind of Fae and remain unscathed? You shall learn differently. Dream Prison!"

"What minds?" Tracer replies to the elf lord, but her cheeks pinken a bit at being recognized.

Wisps of green dance up from the stone tiles around Tracy, sprouting curling tendrils that try to entwine around Fuseli's legs and her!

Still recovering, Fuseli staggers when Tracy leans over hard, moving them both into the protection of Irielle's shield.. and just out of reach of the tendrils.

The dark fae archer manages to roll back onto her feet, despite having to evade Cait's tiny little stabbing blade! Rather than pick up her arrows, she switches to her dagger and tries to deal with the immediate threat first.

Unfortunately for Sorrow, the pressure of having to dodge bullets leaves her whiffing at empty air. Cait laughs. "That all you got?"

Mercy frowns at the shield. "Hiding behind a wall, mortal? Well, we'll see about that!" She raises her staff-- no mage should be without one!-- and then calls out, "Lightning, destroy my enemies!"

The sky is partially obscured by clouds. The clouds grow suddenly thicker, as a giant lightning bolt cracks down... And shatters the protective sphere! Irielle cries out in pain as her spell perishes.

Baelfire touches down between Brother Cadena and Renard, his giant bat wings beating to soften his landing and send a breeze of uncomfortably hot air their way. "So, you're a 'friend' of Renard, are you?" he says to the comparatively smaller dog. "You look a bit shrimpy! I was hoping for a real fight."

Renard laughs. "Now now, haven't you heard the story of David and Goliath, Baelfire? Besides, he's got friends - I wouldn't take the gentleman behind him too lightly if I were you!"

Baelfire smirks. "Nothing to say? Let me show you how I got my name... BAELFIRE!" He holds his clawed hands together, forming not one, not two, but three dangerous-looking fireballs, then unleashes them toward Cadena, Jason, and RIU!

RIU narrowly dodges a fireball! The other fireball slams right into Jason's golden fox armor... And leaves nothing except temperature warning sensors going off on his HUD.

And the last fireball hits Cadena, scorching the cloth off of his chest... Revealing something he hadn't noticed before: a blue-and-gold suit of armor, made of overlapping scales. In a different milieu, it might look like an Avatar LLC security guard's armored suit.

The robed-and-armored canine is bowled back into the patio furniture of the rooftop cafe, sending wickerwork flying, as smoke rises from his chest.

To the north, Merediel calls for a charge against the vampires and demons holding the line against her! "We must destroy the Map!" she yells.

"You know. ... I'm not terribly impressed by your great balls of fire. I guess what they say is true, size doesn't matter," Jason claims as he nonchalantly 'brushes' off his armor while the alarms warnings are flashing all over the inside of his helmet., " A few too many girls in hell been visiting you? Well, that's what happens when you love with no glove. I hear if they're burning that bad I hear there are lotions they provide for that. Tsk tsk."

Baelfire looks enraged. "What mockery is this? YOU TRIFLE WITH A LORD OF DARKNESS!"

As Fuseli shakes off the last of the spell effects with a snort, Tracer says, "They're ganging up on us, so let's give them more of what they want: Cloak of Phantoms."

"Lord of Darkness? In what universe? More like Jester of Darkness? Baffoon of the Black Hearts. Demon of the Dorks ..." Jason rattles off, "Pansies of penance."

Immediately, duplicate Tracer and Fuseli images appear around her, each moving off in a different direction!

Rounds of laser fire stab across the lawn! With the decoys shooting as well, the gaudily dressed fae lord tries to dodge to evade one set... And gets nailed by another. The other shots impinge against the shield behind him, and are soaked up without a sound.

Lord Aubertee gasps with pain, reaching up with one hand to clutch his scorched side. "You'll... pay for that!"

"Must be fun having to stand out in the open for the duration," Tracy taunts back, and hopes Jack is stalking the other mage for her.

"Besides, with the bounty on me you can afford better armor," the goth knight adds. "Assuming you can bring me to Artemis unharmed to collect it!"

"You'll answer for your mockery, never fear," Lord Aubertee retorts. With his free hand, he seems to be rummaging in his belt pouch for something. Perhaps a healing potion.

"I've been through several Universes. I've given deities the finger. I've killed their champions. Do you really think all your laugher, smoke, and bluster impresses me at all?" Jason asks the demon as both gauntlet assemblies snap open and whine as they charge, "Let me tell you of one universal constant. Opposites attract." His hands come up and the target lasers sync on the demon. "RIU, lets send this jerk back to the devil's loincloth..."

Their combined electrical strikes crash together on the demon, causing him to reel back in pain! "ARRRGH!" he howls, writhing.

Brother Cadena sits up from where he's sprawled in the midst of the patio furniture, and frowns disapprovingly down at the imp chewing on his boot. "That's a very bad place to be, you know. You could get hurt." He reaches down and grabs the imp with one hand, propping himself up with the staff in the other as he struggles back up to his feet. "I regret that this is a less-than-dignified way to part ways, but I really must be seeing your master." With that, he stuffs the struggling imp without further ado into the trash bin. Fwup-fwup-fwup. Swatting the flames licking at the chest of his robes, he straightens himself and strides in the direction of Renard ... well, generally-speaking, since there is currently a large (and slightly electrocuted) demon blocking his immediate path.

The golden vixen, crouched at the edge of the patio, coolly holds her fire until she has a clear shot... Then lets off a tight round of three bullets, aimed for the demon's head. POW! Reeling back, Baelfire yells, "Impossible! I cannot be..." He stumbles backward into an escape portal, disappearing from sight.

"And lo, forevermore they called him 'The Neck', because he lost his head over a woman," Jason quips. Bow is he grinning inside his helmet ... and feeling rather proud of his former enemy-turned-friend.

Brother Cadena strolls through the space previously occupied by the demon, frowning disapprovingly at Monsieur Renard as he approaches.

Renard raises an eyebrow. "Well! Now it's just you and me, and your friends of course" he tells Brother Cadena as he draws his rapier. "By the way, did you ever decide which master you were serving?" He glances over at Lady Tracer pointedly.

The Fae lord struggles to his feet. A glint comes to his eyes as he draws forth a vial of some reddish substance.

Cait and Sorrow, engaged with one another, continue to whiff air-- of course if any of Sorrow's dagger strikes hit, it's hard to see how the tiny pixie wouldn't be gravely wounded.

"Seeing as Lady Tracer has accepted her role as the Champion of Light," Brother Cadena says to Renard, "I see no further conflict in that matter. I regret that implies that we, however, are rather at odds. Just what do you hope to achieve by aiding the BLACK in bringing chaos and senseless death to Earth?"

Yappy hoses more bullets down the circumference of the tower -- and manages to tag Sorrow, despite her wild gyrations!

The dark Fae screams as bullets rip across her left leg. "Wretched puppy!" She triggers her escape portal, despite Lord Aubertee's highly disapproving look her way.

And just as Mercy is winding up for another attack... A shadowy man appears behind her. "Let's not have any more of that," he says quietly.

A tiny glimmer of metal appears in Mercy's chest as she looks down at the sword which has pierced through... And then Jack Fisher steps back, whipping his sword back. Blood forms a neat red line across the pavement. The mage crumples.

The spider, hissing, peers about at the duplicate images of Tracy and Fuseli... Then singles one out and leaps to attack Tracy on her horse!

Normally, Tracer would scream at having a giant hairy spider on her face.. but that would involve opening her mouth, and right now everything she can close is staying closed!

"Remind me to get a giant spider pillow when we get back, I can use it to shut Tracy up," Jason remarks to those around him.

Its ichorous fangs scrabble against her armor as it tries to bite into her flesh! For now, her armor seems to be holding it off, and a moment later, it drops back down, crouching and preparing to attack again.

Renard smiles. "I'm glad you asked me that! You see, chaos and senseless destruction is not what we here at Team Black are trying to achieve. Rather, we believe in healthy competition, testing our skills against each other, bettering ourselves through experience that can only come through doing, not learning. The White would coddle everyone. No one would ever have to work for anything!"

But it appears he doesn't just want to talk Cadena into joining his side, as his speech is accompanied by a dazzling flourish of his rapier... And a lunge!

The chanting rises in intensity from the shield. The lines that define the globe of Earth on Atlas's shoulders are definitely glowing now.

Cadena moves too slow to stop the rapier with his staff, as the blade slices across his cheek, rather than through his neck. Blood stains his white fur, and the blue chain marks on his face writhe. "True, the WHITE in its original form would do that, if left unchecked. But the Spark I serve has seen the error of trying to turn Earth into a paradise. We are not simple-minded perfectionists. On the other hand, unchecked destruction will not strengthen. It will only, of course, destroy."

Battle continues to rage wildly from the west and north sides. It appears that Merediel's forces are pressing hard against Lord Sebastian, forcing them back across the lawn. The battle of the werewolves versus the Shadows and Hellfire Club is harder to judge, as both sides are now enmeshed in a titanic melee.

Renard draws his rapier back. "Such wisdom! Let's see if you can prove the strength of your position, then," he asys, baring his fangs in a grin. "Don't take too long."

Inari eyes Renard-- but Cadena's in the way of a shot. She glances over to Jason.

"I swear, why is it every evil side that when they fight has to look like a mosh pit?" Jason remarks a bit dryly as he heads towards the shield rune. "Inari, help Tracy with her admirer, then come help Cadena. I've got to break the shield..." He starts fiddling with his suit sensors as well as linking up to RIU to use the dragon's built-in sensors too!

The golden vixen turns and unleashes another tight 3-round burst, shattering the vial that the gaudily dressed fey lord held! The other bullets smack into the armor of his gauntlet, causing him to gasp in pain.

Yappy peers down at the ground, then looks around for Tracy. "Hey! Tracy! I got that one pretty good, didn't I? Er..." He notices, for the first time, the multiple mirror images of Tracy. "Which one are you?"

Gritting her teeth, Tracer forces herself to ignore the spider rather than try to stamp into it a stain - and has Fuseli charge at Aubertee instead, intent on stamping him into a stain..

The spider, reluctant to let Tracy go-- they'd almost shared a first kiss!-- pounces after her! But just at that moment, the Cloak of Phantoms generates another mirror image, splitting apart from her to confuse onlookers on which way she's going... And the spider smacks right through the illusion.

Lord Aubertee cries out as the massive horse crushes several ribs. He was trying to pull a horn from his belt pouch-- that goes skittering across the grass now, bouncing and catching the light with its gold inlaid rim and mouthpiece. He aborts his action to a quick gesture, disappearing into an escape portal.

Irielle glides toward the fight with Cadena and Renard. It looks to her as if someone's going to need healing soon!

The shield flickers fitfully. Renard glances aside to where Lord Aubertee was. "Ah, dear me-- but he always seemed a bit of a weak link to me."

"I'd love to discuss the merits of our respective causes," Brother Cadena says, stepping to one side and taking his staff in both hands, "but time is a factor."

The robed canine lunges forward with the staff in a rush, but the sly fox is far too fast for him, easily darting out of the way.

The fox smirks. "You're so predictable! You always charge head on. You should learn to look at things from..." He teleports to behind Cadena. "A different angle!"

"You do realize you just asked a weerwolf to be horny, right?"" Jason calls out.

Brother Cadena ducks the attack, spinning his staff over his back. "Here's a free tip, Monsieur Renard," he says, batting the rapier blade away with the headpiece of his staff. "You wait until AFTER you hit your target with your sneak attack to make the witty one-liner."

There's a definite humming noise from the statue now. Energy crackles in the air, growing thick with potential as if a portal were about to be formed.

Renard salutes Cadena. "Touche! Let's see if you can guess which trick I'll pull out of my bag next then."

Tracy takes Fuseli down towards the Cafe and Irielle, and takes aim at the enemy fox before firing off a laser burst.

High-energy laser fire rips through Renard. The fox crumples to the ground, smouldering, burning in agony...

Or is he? He creaks an eye open and whispers, "Takes more than that to stop me!" He stands unsteadily, then snaps a finger. (PAF!) (POOF!) (ZOIT!)

The first Renard gasps. "It's up to you guys! Carry on the good fight for me!" He expires theatrically.

The Renards look around. "You, go for the wanna-be fox," one says. "You, take the girl on the horse. And I'll introduce myself to our old friend here! Hello, I'm Renard, and you're about to be sorry!"

Irielle gasps, moved with apparent pity by Renard's demise, but then her look changes to one of shock as the new Renards appear. "That's..." She looks at Tracy. "That's not possible!" She moves to stand by Jason, preparing herself to cast a new spell.

Yappy dashes for the horn! The spider that was near him shimmers and fades away; perhaps it was the pet of the Fae lord.

Inari grimaces as her line of fire finally clears... Only to reveal a multiplicity of targets. "Did he just cast a mirror image?" she whispers insistently over the headset to Jason.

"Duplicated himself, looks like. Cadena seems to think they're real. I've got an idea..." Jason says over the headset.

The golden vixen sighs. "Understood, holding fire." She squints through the sight of her assault rifle.

"No need to hold fire!" Jason says into the headset. "I've just got an idea depending on if they go down easy or not!"

Inari fires straight down the middle, but the bullets do little more than graze the middle Renard. "Ow!" he cries out, switching his attention from Jason to her. "You little minx! Come here and try that!"

Brother Cadena smacks Renard on the backside with the tip of the staff. "I can see you still breathing. Your acting is lousy."

"Ow!" Cadena's attack draws a grunt of pain from the supposedly dead Renard. The nearby Renard tells him, "Dude, you just gave yourself away!"

The original Renard snaps his fingers... And is suddenly on the inside of the shield. "Did I? Terribly forgetful of me. Sorry about that! Carry on, my friends."

Renard 3 flourishes his rapier at Cadena. "En garde! Hitting a helpless man, or fox, how's that going to look in the daily newspaper, eh?"

Cadena, already extended with his attack against the shamming Renard, leaves himself open to a pinprick from the third Renard clone! Fortunately it doesn't do more than scratch the paint on his armor.

The first Renard clone considers Tracy and Fuseli, then hops up into the tree and leaps from its branch at her, screaming a battle cry of "FOR THE BLACK!"

Having been busy with her laser gatling, Tracy is unprepared for the leap of vulpine fury that tackles her off of Fuseli. The nightmare whinnies and rears up, but they roll about engaged in hand-to-hand combat, making it too difficult for him to be able to strike without hitting Tracy.

The second Renard lunges toward Inari, causing her to backpedal! "You're beautiful, miss," he says, sweeping a bow. "Allow me to present you with..." He sweeps off his floppy wide-brimmed hat, then whips out an armful of flowers, which he tosses up so that the petals land around her, on her.

Inari, stunned, doesn't manage to get out of the way before they touch. "I-- er--" she stammers.

"Oh hell no," Jason says as he forgets rewiring the grenade for now and goes after the fox who just threw flowers! "RIU, shock his tail into the next century!" he orders as he charges up his own systems and lets loose on Renard!

"No one touches her," Jason growls through his armor as his bolt ignites as his hand slams into the back of Renard, sending a massive surge of electrical energy through his body and literally lifting the fox off his feet in a blue fireball! A second surge of electrical energy shrieks in and slams into that ball, sending it reeling across the 'park'. It hits the ground and disperses and a very charred looking body goes flopping along the ground like a rag doll and leaving a horrid stink in his wake.