For a second Auxilia blushed at Darclight's question and he could practically see hearts popping off Auxi-Prime's head, but she quickly got a mischievous little grin. "Darc," she said playfully, stroking his arm, "any time you feel the itch... just ask, and I will buy you Taco Bell<em>whenever you want</em>."<br/><br/>---<br/><br/>"Aw yes, cyborg! How about a laser eye?" Sofiya nearly leaped into the air at Tabs' suggestion.<br/><br/>"What?!" Sultana said, "I-<em>We</em>absolutely forbid-"<br/><br/>"Ha ha! Too late! You already made me her apprentice!" Sofiya hugged Tabs, "I definitely want a retractable gun-arm too, if it shoots magical girl beams that's a fair compromise."<br/><br/>Sultana put a hand to her head. "This is going to be worse than the tattoo incident, isn't it?"<br/><br/>"A million times worse. Come on, let's get started!"<br/><br/>---<br/><br/>Kanina, whether through use of her Space Hopper or a lot of jumping, was well behind Ace's flight. It wouldn't take her long to catch up once Ace had stopped for a breather, though. Either way she got a good look at the island from the air (or at least a good height). It... wasn't large. She could probably leap across it in half an hour, if that. The towns (cities? they wouldn't really qualify as cities) started to run together the further East she looked, as well. She could easily make out the blue bullet that was Ace, except that she started flying straight over the bay. It wasn't wide, though; Kanina could totally swim across if she happened to feel like getting her fur wet prematurely.<br/><br/>As indeed, now that Auxilia was flying she directed Ace over a bay of sparkling blue water and a couple of sandy beaches, toward a sand-brown town of low, Italian-style buildings. If Ace had wanted to be subtle about her entrance, the Auxilia-drone going "WHEEEEEEEEEEE" in-flight might have ruined that a little as she touched down on the outskirts of  People stopped and stared and a couple asked for autographs, but it didn't look like the paparazzi had arrived (possibly one of the ancillary advantages of Malta).<br/><br/>"All right," Auxi pointed in the appropriate directions, "plenty of small shops selling swimwear and alcohol. Two diving centers if you want to go exploring wrecks on the seafloor, which could be fun as long as Atlantia doesn't show up."<br/><br/>Ace's super-hearing caught a snippet of people talking to each other. "And I'm not going to the beach, I hear there's<em>mer-people</em>there. What happens if they start trying to carry people off?"