A Tale of Two Cities

Zell used the thrusters to get out of the way, and cut the other two branches before they could reach Lilith. "Hey I'm getting pretty good at this..." She said with a smile. With all the loud machinery, splashing in water, and ambient tree eating robot noise, the fact that the tree was made from people was lost on Zell.

Topaz: <(Just a little longer...)>

L{Thank you.}

T{It's trying to tunnel into my damn house!}

*Sure enough, the tip of the tree was spreading roots into the ceiling, dislodging stage lights & generally ripping shit apart. Lilith fires the arms of her Megadeus at the branch eating Basilisk, choking it & adding more lightning. Eventually, the snakelike Megadeus manages to blast its way free with its laser. Then it swings its tail around, cracking the trunk of the tree. A fluid from above splashes onto the Megadei & their armor begins to melt. The falling rocks from the roof starting to cave in probably don't help either.*
======================================
Beck<That's what we'll do. Give this idiot the money, then we'll leave the hostage behind & drive away with him.>

Roger<That wasn't part of the deal, Beck!>

Beck<He's not your client, is he? Then quit complaining! Unless you want to try this another day. There'll be a tax for postponing negotiations, though.>

Roger<Such as?>

Beck<Traditionally, it's a finger or toe, but since I'm not just some third rate criminal, I like to try for some originality. So, let's say we'll pull a few teeth. He'll never get dental insurance, then!>

"Pulling teeth isn't exactly original either."

[Dammit, I can't attack until he hands him over...]

Zell looked up and tried her best to avoid the falling rocks, using her thrusters and lasers to help her stay alive. When Thiera cracked the tree Zell shot off a volley of beams at the same spot to try and help the cause, but was interrupted by the fluid. Quickly Zell got out of the way of the falling liquid and shot another volley of beams at the trunk.

Luna got out a small remote and turned her back on anybody who might be looking at her, pressing buttons madly.
About a minute later, Prolix Arma burst in on them, waving tentacles around and smashing shit up.
Holding it's ranged weapons ready to blast anybody that tried to stop her to pieces, it opened it's cockpit and waited while Luna clambered in.

*The henchman starts shooting at it as the kid runs towards Roger.*

Beck<You moron, you let our hostage escape! Now we have to do things the hard way.>

*He pulls out a remote & clicks a button. A cruise missile soars out of the dam towards one of the Megadeus's tentacles.*
========================================
*A relatively small hole appears in the tree, revealing what looks like a large, pulsing heart.*

*Vega quickly stands up and wraps his arm around Beck's neck*

"You have something of mine and I'd really like it back."

Zell sees the heart and freezes, "What the hell is going on?! Since when did trees have hearts?"

Some of the shoulder mounted missiles fired out, aiming to intercept the cruise missile.

Prolix Arma then begins raining fire down on these assholes with the 50. cal and using two tentacles to jump towards them.

Beck<You moron, we have to get in the van, or else we'll be shot!>

*Roger takes cover with the kid in his own car. A goddamn laser beam shoots out of the water at the rampaging robot.*
===========================================
*As she's staring, the hole starts to close up. Several branches move over the hole & dart towards her, gnashing their teeth. Basilisk drills into a root.*

Presumably, this car is not stronger than an Humvee and it severely damaged by the 50. cal bullets hitting it.
Realizing that a laser somehow came out of the water, Luna has Prolix Arma use it's tentacles to somersault about three times and roll right over 'Roger's car to get out of it's way.

"I'm not too worried about you."

[Of course the bullets that thing is spraying around will easily turn my meatshield into ground beef.]

*After a punch to the kidney he lets go of Beck's neck.*

Zell sees the hole start to close, but doesn't know what to do, she sure as hell wasn't going to shoot or stab it. It looked too human. Instead, Zell dashed away to the side and began dealing with the branches again, slashing them with her sword as the drew near.

*One starts to gnaw at her Megadeus's arm, melting the armor at its elbow.*
========================================
*Roger drives away. So does Beck after getting in his car. Something metal breaks the surface of the dam, with fins whirring around in a corkscrew pattern. It fires another volley of missiles at the Megadeus.*

[Son of a bitch.]

*Vega takes off running in the direction opposite of the Megadeus.*

Prolix Arma stopped somersaulting and instead swiveled, firing a counter volley of missiles back and spraying some more 50. cal bullets at the thing with fins.

Inside, Luna was presumably getting tired from pressing so many buttons.

*The fins spin super fast, deflecting the shots. It then climbs onto the dam, revealing itself to basically be a fish-robot about the size of Prolix Arma's main body, with a series of rotating fins around it. The tail separates into 2 legs & the robot stands up, firing hooks from where its arms should be at it.*
========================================
*Beck's car hits a bump & Vega's gloves conveniently fall out near him.*

[Not what I was really here for, but whatever.]

*Vega collects his gloves and puts them on then continues to run.*

Zell retaliates by shooting out a volley of beams, and slicing where the beams hit to maximize damage.

*One of the branches winds around her sword-arm, rendering it immobile, & moves in to bite off the robot's head. Basilisk opens its mouth to chop off some of the other branches with its laser. And Lilith arm-wrestles with another pair. A final branch winds around the crack in the tree, adding another layer of protection to it, but other than that, it's pretty much clear.*

Zell stops the branch from beheading the megadeus by ducking, then shooting another volley of beams. She then karate chops the branch holding her other arm, hoping it would loosen up its hold.

Prolix Arma used two bladed tentacles to attempt to deflect the hooks and surged forward at the same time.

*Vega says the name Gelu Chalybs into his gloves.*