The entirety of the room was tense and Amaretto was not sure what was going to happen next. The queen sat on the bed, old body and the Stone of Communication clutched within the hands and arms of the new body. A frown creased her lips and the furrow in her forehead spoke volumes more of her fright than of her concern. Even still, Amaretto was sure that the queen was more concerned about her new body than the older one. The gleaming metallic floors seemed to have no effect on the woman who had only a few minutes ago, been crowing about cheating death.
Amaretto looked back towards the door where the IronMen were all standing ready to attack as Mother chime had ordered them. Their capes should have gotten in the way of where they were standing, with Mother Chime off to their left hand side pointing at the interlopers in her kingdom.
Amaretto wanted to move towards the others who were there, but she as blocked off by Johanna and Alice, who were both standing in front of her. Johanna had a murderous look in her eyes. There was no way around it; Amaretto was more than sure that they would not make it out of here without at least some casualty. Alice took another step forwards and then shrugged her coat off of her shoulders. It fell to the floor with a thunk that Amaretto thought made it sound weighted. She looked up and noticed that Alice had on a thin blouse that was mostly see through, but something seemed to writhe underneath the surface of the thin translucent cotton. Something that seemed to be made of blue and trace itself all over her skin.
Katherine hissed in anticipation. "Those are brands! They are considered illegal here in the Empire."
Amaretto's eyes widened and she looked back at Alice with a whole new level of clarity. Johanna reached forward to the center of Alice's back and there was a sort of chie sound that seemed to light up the entire area and Amaretto looked around to see if she could determine where it was coming from. At that moment, all hell broke loose.
An IronMan jerked his body forward towards the small group while the Queen screamed out in fright. Mother Chime jerked her whole body backwards, not fluidly and gracefully like she had shown before, but almost like a puppet who had it's strings pulled too hard. She stood in front of the bed, her arms outspread as if to protect the queen. The IronMan had no such compunction however. His left arm was thrust forwards and almost too late, Amaretto saw that instead of a hand, he had a rather large two pronged metal attachment that spit sparks. Amaretto was almost reminded of a rather large stun gun.
Amaretto screamed as the arm lashed upwards towards Alice who seemed to just be standing there with her guns at the ready, with Johanna still standing behind her. Johanna's right hand raised just a little bit from her waist line and Alice's skin seemed to glow. There was a jagged sparking in the air almost like a bolt of lightning that seemed to leap off of Alice's skin and there was a blur in the air just in front of the IronMan. Amaretto blinked and the next thing she saw as her eyes opened up once more was the IronMan flinging itself across the room.
In the opposite direction. Alice had a grimace on her face and Johanna seemed to be a little amused.
A second IronMan threw himself forwards towards the pair. The same blur in her sight and the bolt of light slammed into him and soon, another dodged forwards with two others behind him. The one in the front had a large bronzed sword that he had at the ready on his side. As he came closer he thrust it forwards, Alice pulled up her right arm and aimed a gun at him and shot a bullet. the gun blazed forth like a flower with bright orange flames before the bullet blasted its way through the IronMan's skull. There was a dull crack and shatter as the second IronMan jerked his body forwards and then threw his jaw forwards as if to catch them off guard and bite them into two pieces. Johanna tried to strike out, but suddenly remembered that she had no rapier anymore. She frantically flailed and Alice jerked herself backwards in order to shot the IronMan again. The gun clicked. The third Iron Man had flown under the radar. While his fellows had leaped through the air in order to catch the ones that Mother Chime wanted he had crept low to the ground.
His hand ratcheted out and gripped firmly of Alice's leg and yanked at her. She fell downwards to the ground, a stray shot from her pistol flying out at the world around her at random. There was a shriek and a crash and Amaretto turned to look at the Queen. Part of the four poster bed had been blown away. At this, Katherine licked her lips and looked at Amaretto. "That was a little dangerous."
"Dangerous?" Amaretto hissed at her aunt in indignation. "We are so going to get killed here!"
Katherine shook her head. "Not without a little dust of help. Use the glass."
Amaretto's eyes bulged. "We can't do that!"
"Then use our damned ring! That's what Tempus gave it to you for right?" Amaretto's thoughts were jarred by her aunt's harsh words and she suddenly realized just how close she was to the Stone. She made a dash across the room as quick as she could. She heard Johanna muttering under her breath and soon the whole floor began to glow with unnatural lines. Mother Chime seemed to sense what was going on and began a chant of her own, red lines crossing Johanna's blue. Amaretto hoped that nothing else would explode.
