[LOG] Of Mithril and Quebleyes
WHO: Haman Karn, Nourriture, Thraskar Davidson, Midori Sugiura, Sousuke Sagara, Kurz Weber, Melissa Mao, and a brief appearance by Amuro Ray, who had to go pretty early on.
WHERE: Karakura, Japan.
WHEN: An amorphous point in the spacetime continuum roughly corresponding to 'Sunday.'
WHAT: Haman Karn's badly damaged Mobile Suit is about ready to take off again and leave this forsaken ghost-ridden plane. Unfortunately, someone's been preparing a little surprise party...
WATCH FOR: The first IC activation of the Lambda Driver!
Also, Haman Karn requires tags.
Paranormal Sector - Karakura Town
Truth be told, this town looks as one might expect of a modern Japanese suburb. The streets are clean here, and the homes usually look neat and tidy. It has a sort of small town charm, with its small, locally-owned businesses - some of which operate out of houses. The local landmarks include a large open market on the end of town close to Tokyo, a large high school, and the family-owned Kurosaki Clinic.
Indeed, if one cannot see ghosts, Karakura Town seems normal. However, those with supernatural senses may realize this place is out of the ordinary. Hollows, ghosts infused with evil energy, are sometimes on the prowl here, and they are combated by the Death Gods - invisible warriors fighting against these accursed ghosts.
For those who know better, this place may idyllic, but it is still a battleground.
Contents:
Amuro Ray
Haman Karn
Cherry Blossom Party Scene
Tatsuki Arisawa
Isshin Kurosaki
Nourriture
Urahara Shop
Chad's Apartment
Karakura Industrial
Kurosaki Clinic
Inoue's Apartment
Karakura High School
Obvious exits:
ighway leads to Paranormal Sector.
The Cherry Blossoms still drift lazily from the trees as a pleasant early spring breeze slips through their branches. Most birds have settled in as the sun sets gently to the West, casting a wan reddish light over the deepening darkness. It's also been two days since the mysterious object from space took out a communications satellite and started small fires all over town. The authorities continue to investigate.
Meanwhile, the cause of that collision has been hidden from public sight inside one of the large drainage canals just outside of town. Squeezed into one of the large tunnels, the partially dismantled AMX-004 Quebley rests under a tarp, the shoulder binders having been removed to help it fit.
The pilot of this downed MS has been busy as well. Sleeping in the cockpit during the day, she ventures out by night to procure things with which to fix her MS. Last night she 'borrowed' a crane to help with the dismantling, returning it my morning so as not to raise suspicions. In the early evenings, she finds a place to clean up, usually a hotel (it's amazing how easy it is to take money from people in this town) and after a nice shower, ventures out in clothing matching that of any other young woman to scout for supplies and keep an eye out for trouble.
So far, she's done a decent job of both. The authorities have no idea what's lying just beyond the town proper.
Something here is not like the other things, one of these things just doesn't belong...
But is it the friendly phantom in the city full of nasty hollows, or this mecha in the world of spirits? Nourriture certainly doesn't know and she has just woke up after a very long... cookery bender. Yes, once she found a ceramic bowl to confine herself to there was no stopping her and she made all manner of things with teriyaki, noodles and Japanese fare. And gave them to the homeless and things. Isn't she nice. She's in one of those hotels now! Some people might feel like there's a cold area in the dining room.
Two figures in identical gray uniforms are walking down a street somewhere in Karakura. The first one sticks out like a sore thumb--there's no mistaking the bat-winged, eight-eyed entity for anything other than an alien. He is, of course, Thraskar. And this time, he's brought along a spotter. Lieutenant Alex "Anthrax" Mitchell, a short, blonde man, is following at a distance. He looks slightly agitated, and is regularly scanning the area.
"Sense anything?" Thraskar asks, calmly. Alex shakes his head.
"No ghosts," the psychic says, "Though I'm not sure what they'd /feel/ like. This place..." The human pilot stops in his tracks, and shudders. "It feels /normal/, but there's just enough /different/..." Thraskar stops in front of his fellow officer, and shrugs his wings.
"Look, you know I'm a null-head. I'm running blind out here, and if any of those soul-eating things show up, I'm gonna need a spotter." The sesheyan taps his primary weapon--a heavy pistol hanging in a holster from his thigh--before patting his wingman on the shoulder. "We case this place, we find out what's causing the problem. If it's Hollows, we call for backup and hold out until the Aikaya arrive."
"I thought you said they were called Shinigami," Alex says, looking up at the sesheyan. Thraskar grins.
"Same thing. At least lemme have my ethnic flitter moment, here."
"...So this world has things that eat souls?" A young man is following after Thraskar and Alex, wearing the uniform of the Earth Federal Forces circa 0079 U.C. He pauses for a moment, then runs to catch up. Amuro hasn't been to this plane often, if at all, but he's heard much. Soul-eating creatures, ghosts, things he's not used to dealing with at all. And he has the extra-senses of a rock.
At least as far as he knows.
"I can go get the Gundam if we need it, but I don't know how much that would do against, um, a ghost..."
Midori Sugiura was still hanging about town and she's currently at the Hotel's cafe as well. Good bite of food before she got moving. Given how late she was up from the festival she'd slept in quite a bit to day. "Humm this town seems to have about as much problems as back home does." She munches on heer food taking in what little view the Cafe has to offer.
Haman Karn has been having a rough time of things. Being more then a little aware of things around her, she's been getting occasional creepy feelings, like someone is standing behind her, or next to her or that she's being watched. She can't really lay a finger on it but she swears every now and then she'll catch a glimpse of something out of the corner of her eye but when she looks, it's just not there anymore. Telling herself this is only because she's on a different world and she's feeling paranoid without assistance, she rationalizes it away. Still, there is definitely something Not Right (tm) about this place.
The elevator doors open and the young woman in the white, sundress with a hemline of pink roses steps out. She puts the big, floppy sunhat on over her own pinkish-purple hair and marches across the lobby, past the cafe. Haman is trying her best to blend, which meant stealing some clothes out of a dryer in the local Laundramat when no one was watching. She's just glad that red-haired girl with the goofy head ornaments was arguing with a pathetic little boy rather then paying attention to her laundry.
Passing the cafe, she shivers a bit, wondering what that feeling might be. Still, she has to get the Quebley working tonight and through that Gate thing before anyone stumbles across it. Ignoring the creepy feeling from the cafe, she pushes on the door and heads for the street, opening the door just in the path of the three uniformed men.
Nourriture wakes up. How is it that phantoms sleep? Do they need to or is it just an emulation of when they were alive? Or do they just need to do it to restore HP and mana? No matter what the reasoning behind it she's awake now. She realises with a certain jolt of surprise that she is sat right next to Midori, one of the girls who helped fight the dragon two days ago. She wonders if she is spiritually sensitive and remains very still in case Midori reacts.
Thraskar glances over his shoulder at Amuro, offering the kid the sesheyan equivalent of a devil-may-care smirk. "Yeah, Hollows. They're ghosts who've grown jealous of the living, and kill them. First time I was here, there was a /swarm/ of 'em, and even the Shinigami couldn't hold 'em all off. Fortunately, I helped one of 'em seal the big hole that the Hollows were using to come to this world." Thraskar chuckles. Alex rolls his eyes.
The little group comes to an intersection. Thraskar stops just long enough to let the light change to 'walk', and waves, innocently, as he walks past a row of astonished drivers. Alex brings up the rear, making a 'he's with me' gesture to try and mollify the natives. The sesheyan stops again once he reaches the hotel on the other side of the street, and pulls a datapad out of one of his pockets. "Alex," he says, calling up a map, "where did you say the biggest disturbance was?"
"A couple blocks away," says the psychic, talking softly so as to minimize unwanted attention. "Can we get something to eat, first? I haven't had anything since we left HQ."
Thraskar lets out a soft, thoughtful hiss, and then turns to his wingman. "There's gotta be a bar or something around here... D'you still have that translate?" Alex starts rummaging through his jumpsuit pockets. Thraskar, as of the present, is standing just outside the door--as it opens, he lets out a noise of startlement, and quickly backs off to let the woman in the sundress pass. "Sorry, ma'am," he offers.
Midori Sugiura watches as the odd young woman leaves the elevator, pay no attention to the woman watching you there. She's just got amber eyes and red hair. Nothing too off, right? Well? Midori's also looking about, she's got a funny feeling but can't find Nourriture. She does spot Thraskar and says "Hey Thraskar!"
Stopping just inside the door proper, Haman looks out and her eyes grow wide. What in the name of Giren Zabi is -THAT-? In her own world, aliens do not exist or if they do they don't mess with earth and the peoples of earth and the colonies have bigger things to worry about. Coming face to... um... face with something out of a Lovecraftian space opera is not what she was planning on doing. Unconsciously she reaches to her side for a weapon, finding only the hem of her gown instead. So, the young woman backs up, back into the Hotel, still staring with wide, blue-eyes which either make her look stunned or possibly really, really dense.
Aww. Yep, there's that one feeling that many phantoms experience- that one where nobody is around that knows they exist. Nourri puts her chin in her hands for a moment and huffs, then decides there's nothing that can be done about it. She would have liked to have spoken to Midori but she can't.
So she stands up. And the chair creaks a little, all on its own.
If Nourriture has noticed she'd done this, she doesn't stop to rectify it. She begins to walk towards the exit of the building, which is presumably within a straight line distance from her table if Midori can see Thraskar entering. As she walks towards him, his psychic might pick up something- but as Nourriture is made of spiritual rather than psychic energy, it will likely be no more than a fuzzy presence.
Geez. Thraskar quickly gets out of Haman's way, nearly backing into the street as he sees her hand dart down to the gun-that-isn't-there. Alex grabs hold of his jumpsuit's collar, and the sesheyan catches his balance, making a faint 'ahem' noise. Alex lets go.
/Right, right. Natives might be carrying./ As soon as Haman is a safe distance away, the alien opens the door. "After you," he says to Alex.
This, of course, means that the psychic nearly runs into Nourriture as he enters the restaurant. To those watching, his eyes suddenly go wide, and he darts out of the path of the ghost, ending up crouched beside a large planter.
Thraskar, of course, is oblivious to her presence; he enters after Alex, waves to Midori, and then notices that his wingman is not where he is supposed to be. "Alex?" Thraskar asks. "You okay?"
Midori Sugiura looks at the woman freaking out over Davidson for a moment. Okay mut not have seen an alien or a self aware non human before. Though he did look a bit like a Orphen she mused. "So how are you doing?" She looks to Alex and gets up, he doesn't seem too good...
Haman Karn decides that now is as good a time as any to get the hell out of this crazy world. Dealing with that nagging feeling in the back of her head was bad enough but coming face to face with some kind of OMG Monster is the icing on the cake. She had to get out of here and back to something resembling a sane place. She tries to shove past everyone and run out into the street, her hat flying off and landing in the doorway as she does so.
Once in the street, providing no one tries to stop her, the Newtype makes a bee-line for the edge of town. It might not be at one hundred percent, but her Mobile Suit should be able to make it to the gate and get her to the 'Hub' thing Wrath told her about.
Nourriture is very surprised that a stranger reacted to her, but surprise is about as far as it gets. She realises that it is probably not a good idea at all to try and go all Casper on military persons who might try and shoot her with a proton beam. She gingerly sidesteps out of the middle of the worried group and slides through a wall... and perhaps coincidentally, begins moving in a manner that will mean she walks parallel to Haman. She intends to go to the Gate, but who knows who else she might run into.
Someone is observing.
"Uruz Seven to HQ. The target is moving."
"Roger. Prepare to intercept if necessary, Sergeant."
"Affirmative."
A figure that had been on an the roofs opposite quickly begins making its way to somewhere else.
After a moment or so, Alex stands up again; he's leaning heavily against the planter, and one hand is pressed to the side of his head. "Someone was there," he says. Thraskar holds up a finger in a 'one sec' gesture, and then hurries over to tend to Alex. Haman's sudden departure only gives him that much more evidence that Something Bad might be going on.
"Was it a Hollow?" the sesheyan whispers, glancing furtively about the room.
"No, it didn't... It didn't /feel/ angry, it was just kind of /there/." Thraskar considers this for a moment; evil ghosts should /feel/ evil, and he trusts Anthrax to be able to pick up on said evil. "I need a drink," the psychic mumbles. He takes a few wobbly steps before straightening up, making his way across the lobby to the little restaurant. Thraskar gets there ahead of him, flags down the startled bartender, and places an order.
"Two seltzer waters," the sesheyan says, "One with lime." Alex makes his way over to Midori's table, sitting down opposite her. Thraskar waits a few moments to pick up the drinks, and then carries them to the table as well. Taking one drink for himself, he passes the other to his wingman. "False alarm," he mumbles.
Midori Sugiura lets Haman go, she's got no real intrest in her after all. She turns to the other IPA operative she knows still not aware of Nourriture. She looks over to the other two." Midori starts to look about. "So we're being watched I thought I felt something." she heads back to her table and sits down. "Humm well if they are not hurting anyone and don't have a hostile intent? We should leave them be."
Running through the streets is tiring for Haman, especially since she is still getting used to real gravity after a lifetime spent in space. She tires easily but knows she has to get to the drainage canal as soon as possible. There's a man nearby, getting into his car. Her eyes narrow and the young woman makes her move, leaping forward to shove him out of the way. One hand snatches out to grab the keys from his hand. "Excuse me, I need this more then you do right now!"
She guns the car and slams it into gear, the gears grinding in protest. A moment later, the small yellow car is rocketing down the road, the former owner blinking and trying to figure out what the heck just happened.
"It might be a friendly ghost," Thraskar suggests. He looks across the table at Midori, and stirs his drink with its straw. "But yeah, if it's not eating people's souls, we'd better leave it alone. And report it to the Aikaya so they can send it home." The sesheyan leans back, wrapping his wings around the back of his chair--he seems remarkably unperturbed by all of this.
Alex takes a sip of his drink, and makes a face. "What /is/ this?" he says. "I thought you were going to get me some sake."
"The last thing we need is you getting drunk," Thraskar says, "Aikaloska? I hope /not/."
"Can you get me a soda, at least?" The sesheyan considers this.
"Fair enough." The pilot heads back over to the bar, and returns a moment later with a glass of Coke. He slides it over to his wingman before taking his seat again. "Anyway. That's the worst disturbance we've found this evening. No clue what took down that satellite."
Midori Sugiura says "Most likely the case, and ya. The Hallows are something a bit worse than what I normally deal with." She says "Humm what about the satellite? I didn't get a chance to check the news or the IPA net last night or this morning."
The figure that was on the roof is, by now, sprinting along the alleys to reach an old, vacant lot with a large tarp-covered object in it. He begins to climb inside.
Nourriture has been walking for a short distance before she realises she has been going in the wrong direction. Oh, dear, so where does this mean she happens to- woah! She knows that's not a good thing! That person is a bad person! She gives a glance to the driver of the car to make sure she's alright... and then goes after the vehicle. Now Haman's finding herself... haunted! Hee hee hee!
A distance away, there's nothing to be seen. Nothing at all.
But someone is responding over the radio. "Uruz Six in position."
Midori Sugiura says "Sounds like it is." She then pauses "Satellite?" She says, "Seems I missed something, I should have checked the news and the IPA message net when I got up this morning. So care to share what happened?" The last time she delt with an satellite, it was a orbital weapon constructed by the shadow group that controlled the USA where she was from.
Steering the car wildly through the streets and nearly running down several pedestrians, Haman knows something is up. There are aliens and now she feels like she's not alone, it's that creepy, prickling sensation at the back of her neck again. Flooring the accelerator, she almost destroys the little car's engine but manages to push it up to over 150 kmh. The canal lies ahead, seperated only from the road by a guardrail. Slamming on the breaks, she turns the steering wheel and skids to a stop, just short of the metal barrier.
Leaping over the barrier and skidding down the concrete bank, the young woman breaks into a sprint, heading into the gloom of the drainage tunnel. She won't have time to put the shoulder binders back in place, but she should have the Quebley up and running before anyone gets to her. If she's lucky.
The figure in the tarp gets inside fully, and the tarp is thrown off by whatever monstrosity hid inside. But whatever it is is hidden quickly; a flash of almost radiantly white paint is all one can see, before in a spark of electric blue, the object becomes invisible to all but ultraviolet sensors, indetectable but for the faint smell of ozone.
"Uruz Seven. Arbalest is active. Moving to the intercept point."
You switch armor modes to Arbalest.
Somewhere a bunch of birds fly away. From what? Who knows. Maybe a cat. A very large cat.
"Understood Uruz-7. Uruz-2 to headquarters, moving to intercept point from the northeast. Uruz-2 to Uruz-6. Maintain visual. Don't let her out of your range."
((Citizen's Band)) Nourriture's voice is not easy to understand. Mainly because she's channeling herself through local radio systems. '...ere i... -anger in kara-.... ...wn. If you .....are to face it.... come t.... (IC location!)...'
"Something knocked a satellite out of the sky," Thraskar says, after taking another sip of his drink. "It might've been a meteor, but that would've had to have been an awfully lucky shot." The sesheyan is, for the most part, oblivious as to the chaos going on outside.
Unfortunately for him, this might not last for very long.
(Desc) Description ECS now installed as your current character @desc.
Sousuke Sagara(#386PenACF)
You see nothing special. No, really.
Leaping into the cockpit of the Quebley, Haman flips some switches, closing the hatch behind her. Her fingers dance nimbly over the controls, her eyes on the viewscreen, her attention not even on the startup sequence. Grabbing her helmet, she slides it on, though it looks odd with the flowery sundress she is wearing. "2 kilometers to the gate. Moving at top groundspeed, I should be able to get there in 30 seconds if nothing gets in my way." She's going over this aloud, trying to focus on the objective at hand. All of the lights in the cockpit go green.
Forcing forward one of the arm servos, Haman flips a switch on the stick. A hum sounds, a small white object leaping forth from a hidden panel in the forearm and into the waiting hand. Seconds later, a pink beam shoots forth forming an energy blade. The arm archs upwards, the blade slicing neatly through the roof of the canal. Then, it rises, the giant form of the AMX-004 Quebley, towering over any conventional vehicle, a staggering 18.5 meters tall. Rubble falls around it's bare shoulders, dust rising from the area in a heavy cloud, obscuring it's form.
Midori Sugiura is unaware of the mecha slinking about here at the moment. "Who knows with that, but what sort of satellite? Was it Coperate? Military? Privately owned?"
OK. That's a bad thing.
Nourrite saw dragons. And that's both bolder and badder than any dragon. But this time, there's something she can /do/ against it. Time to make up for lost heroism. "Phantom brave, I will aid the good in battle! Co-n-fine!"
And Nourriture confines herself with a mighty flash... to the Gundam. And all of a sudden, bad things will happen for the psychic pilot, no doubt. The full effect of it Nourriture has no idea, but she certainly decides to make herself seen on any internal screens. "I won't let evil forces from any other world threaten this town! Begone, you marauder!"
Nourriture tries her best to cause the Gundam to seize, paralysed perhaps!
Nourriture switches armor modes to Powerful Object.
Haman Karn switches armor modes to Quebeley.
Well, that's subtle. Some wind kicks up as nothing whatseover leaps from building to building en route to the Gate.
"Uruz Seven here, I see the target machine. Estimated...eighteen point five meters tall." Big. Much bigger than the Arbalest. But not nearly as big as the Behemoth. This is still very much possible.
Nourriture successfully targets Haman Karn with her The Ghost In The Machine action.
"Don't think I'm going to have to worry about that, Uruz 2." Just where is that radio signal coming from? Couldn't be from that vacant spot on a grassy knoll near the canal, there's nothing there! "Its at least twice the size of an M9. Checking for a weak point now..."
Mao whistles, "I though the only Behemoth came in that size." She adjusts her sensors a bit to make sure she captures the Quebeley in all it's glory on tape. "Headquarters, are you getting this? It looks like that thing's packing some sort of short range laser."
"Copy that. Keep recording Uruz-2."
"Roger. Uruz-6, fire at will. Preparing to jam communications." Mao doesn't want this thing to talk to whatever ally might be out there. One 18.5 meter mecha is more than enough for her.
Thraskar takes another long swig of his drink, and then turns to look out the window at the darkening cityscape. /Finally/ it decides to get dark enough to see. The sesheyan blinks behind his glasses, and then turns back to Midori. "I'm not sure, honestly. I'd have to--"
Alex turns to look at the hotel door, suddenly seeming distant. "Bad feeling," the psychic says. The sound of Haman's vehicle tearing free is muted, but Thraskar just manages to catch it. A moment later, the police scanner utility he attached to his comm-gear starts buzzing; there's a disturbance out there.
"We got trouble," the sesheyan says. He's out of his seat a moment later--he stops just long enough to pay for the drinks, and then he's on his way out the door.
Knowing that the key to keeping her location hidden is to disrupt local communications, Haman pushes a few switches and floods the area with Minovsky particles. These energy dampening sub-atomic bits dampen radio, confuse radar and make conventional communications nearly impossible. Once that is done, she pushes forward on the pedals, the massive Mobile Suit stomping forward, the feet cratering the concrete with each step. Sadly though, the thrusters on this thing were meant for space and not to lift the bulk into the air planetside.
One hand holds the beam saber threateningly while the other sweeps the area, looking for hostile targets. She checks the recharge level on her funnels, saddened that only five made it through the atmosphere. She just hopes they can fly in gravity. She notices something wrong with her suit, something inside that shouldn't be there. Concentrating on the psycommu, she tries to force out the alien presence.
Midori Sugiura sets down her drink at Thraskar's words "Well I better lend a hand then." She drops some money to pay for her food and leave a good tip. She's done waitress work before after all, and then she's off got the door to get outside.
BIFF
And suddenly, Nourriture is sat on the ground wondering what the number of that cart was. She's never seen people with psychic powers before, or experienced them. But now she has, she has learned a valuable lesson- don't touch their stuff. She feels achey all over. Ow. Ow. -oh look, people here to save the day. She waddles rapidly through the group. If she happens to ghost through Sosuke's AS, he might get a familiar presence. But she's drawn the heroes to the monster, and she'd love to stick around, but... ouchies! And besides, she doesn't want to confine herself to rubble or sewer grabage to fight, ick!
Look, up there! On the grassy gnoll! It's the G-Man! No, wait, it's something more insidious, an eight-meter tall mecha fading into view with a crackle of electric blue arcs. The M9 is lying flat on the ground, bracing a bipodded 57mm sniper rifle. "Sensors are getting fuzzy," its cheerful blonde pilot notes as he flips a couple switches. "Going to manual mode. Shoulders look to be the weak point, looks like someone left the armor at home!" A moment later, the rifle opens up with a single shot aimed for the Gundam's exposed joint. Sensors? Who needs sensors?
"Damn it!" An electric crackle similar to the one on the hill appears near where the Gate to the area. A beige Mecha with a single horn sticking out the back is holding a massive Mecha sized shot gun. Inside, Mao winces slightly as she suddenly falls into complete radio silence about halfway through Kurz's report and begins fiddling with some of her controls, "Boost signal and get the comm. units back online."
"Affirmative. Reception level rising. At maximum level. Communication is back online."
Mao watches Kurz open fire on the Mobile Suit and waits for the results before firing. "Uruz-2 to Uruz-7. Looks like the jig is up. Open fire once you're in range. Do not engage in close combat unless forced."
Nothing at all comes to a stop on top of a building. "Negative," comes the reply. "A-21's Behemoth was at least twice the size of this machine--"
The static level on the radio skyrockets almost beyond the point of usability. Scrambling the Mithril radio network...? Impossible! Or it should be...
The ECS shudders but doesn't quite break. >Recommend disengaging ECS and switching to Military power levels< the machine's AI warns.
Inside the cockpit, a scarred face scowls. "Begin bringing the power plant up to Military levels. Deactivate the ECS and deploy the 'Boxer' shotcannon on my mark."
>Roger<
|||||| CAU
|||||||||||| MIL
Mao's orders receive only a "Roger," in response, as radio contact is restored. "Mark!" There's a sharp crack of electric blue, and the pure white Arbalest is standing on a building top, just within firing range. One of the armor panels slides aside, and the "Boxer" shotcannon drops into the machine's hands. The Arbalest leaps forward to another building, slightly closer to the Quebeley, and then opens fire with the shotcannon, missile-like shots streaking out toward the enormous Mobile Suit.
(Desc) Description ARBALEST now installed as your current character @desc.
Sousuke Sagara(#386PenACF)
A behemoth in white, the Arbalest stands fully eight meters tall when active. Most of its armor is a vivid white, with panels of blue accenting it at various points. However, from the rear the blue is more evident. It is a humanoid machine, bipedal with two arms and a head. There are noteworthy panels of armor on the shoulders and back lined with yellow. The face is also somewhat odd, slightly set back the rest of the head, as though a face peering out of a helmet. The eyes are green, and glow when the machine is in use; where the mouth would be were the machine a human, there is instead a clamp containing a monomolecular cutter, which is basically a to-scale chainsaw dagger. While in its default state there is no visible weaponry aside form this dagger, the Arbalest is nonetheless loaded out for war, equipped with numerous storage bins throughout its body from which weaponry may drop into the machine's hands.
Sousuke Sagara just looked at you!
The huge white mobile suit somehow moves to dodge the attack fired by Kurz. In space, it would have been graceful, here though, it's barely a move. The Quebley takes a glancing shot to the shoulder, cutting the effectiveness of that arm a great deal. Damn! That was the saber arm.
Sensing a new threat, Haman closes her eyes and the tail binder lifts. Five tiny pink prjectiles shoot out. They look almost like spiked funnels of the kind one would use to pour oil into an engine. Instead of moving smoothly through the air, they dance and dart. Before the missle-like shots can reach her, Haman commands each funnel to fire. Megawatt beams fire from each small funnel, cutting down many of the Boxer shotgun shells. Two still manage to strike home, knocking the towering suit backwards. Undeterred, Haman tries to charge forward.
Thraskar's radio suddenly goes dead. The sesheyan pauses in his tracks, retrieves it, and checks the status display. "Something's jamming it," he says. "Bad candy." The pilot turns to Alex. "Unless the Hollows suddenly came up with a way to baffle multiband comm gear, something else is up." He pauses a moment, looking thoughtful. "Is it scrambling your telepathy?"
"No," Alex says, "But I'm--"
"Good," Thraskar says, cutting his wingman off in mid-sentence. "Because I want you to get back to the Gate, warn the IPA that there's shit happening in Karakura, and ping me as soon as you get back."
"What about the Hollows?"
"That," Thraskar says, "Is where you alert the Shinigami. Got it?"
Alex makes a face, but nods nevertheless. The blonde pilot takes off, rounding a corner and heading down the street towards the Gate.
Meanwhile, Thraskar turns his attention to Midori--the sounds of gunfire startle him, and he flares his wings open and hisses. "I don't suppose you have a giant robot?" he asks, half-sarcastically.
Midori Sugiura own radio goes dead. "Mine's out too." She looks to Thrasar for a moment." She says "I have something that's on par with giant robots, and I have taken out creatures as large as them with nothing more than my Element." She grins at this. "Want me to go run some interfearance?"
"Uruz 2? Uruz 7?" Kurz grunts and tries a few more command sequences, "First go the sensors, now the radio. Uruz 2, can you hear me? I'm going to put a few more rounds into that shoulder, it can't knock down all our bullets at once." Or can it? Let's find out!
The sniper rifle barks back to life with a succession of rounds aimed for the same shoulder, one bullet on top of the other. If anything, it might distract just enough attention away from Sousuke and the Arbalest.
What!? The funnel-shaped laser.../things/ catch Sousuke off guard, blasting through the Boxer Shotcannon's shells easily. Even though a few do slip past, Sousuke's still scowling now. "Lambda Driver," he mutters. "Can't even escape that damned device out here." Switching the radio on again, he says, "Uruz Seven to Uruz Two and Uruz Six! Watch out for those laser drones, they're a defensive system! They might be on par with the Lambda Driver." Implication: It might also be able to make you die. The Arbalest begins charging closer - not quite into melee range but closer, and begins rapid-firing shotcannon shells. "AI!" Sousuke yells. "Start the Lambda Driver!"
Silence. Sousuke growls, "Useless machine!"
"I hear you Uruz-6. I don't need to remind you two that we're only supposed to disable it, not destroy it." Mao's Arm Slave pumps its shotgun and takes a step forward before unloading rounds towards the arm with the beam saber. If Sousuke is going to end up having to go hand to hand with that thing, she'd feel much better if he didn't have to go up against a nasty looking laser sword.
"Oh and headquarters? I want one of those laser things."
What!? The funnel-shaped laser.../things/ catch Sousuke off guard, blasting through the Boxer Shotcannon's shells easily. Even though a few do slip past, Sousuke's still scowling now. "Lambda Driver," he mutters. "Can't even escape that damned device out here." Switching the radio on again, he says, "Uruz Seven to Uruz Two and Uruz Six! Watch out for those laser drones, they're a defensive system! They might be on par with the Lambda Driver." Implication: It might also be able to make you die. The Arbalest begins charging closer - not quite into melee range but closer, and begins rapid-firing shotcannon shells. "AI!" Sousuke yells. "Start the Lambda Driver!"
Silence. Sousuke growls, "Useless machine!"
Gritting her teeth as more shots pierce that exposed shoulder, rendering it incapable of movement, Haman mentally calms herself. Three of the tiny funnels shoot towards Kurz, blasting at him the entire time in rapid succession and they dodge and weave to avoid being aimed at. Two others head for where Mao fired from, doing much the same. The Arbalest however, is in Haman's way.
Charging forward, she extends the undamaged arm of her MS, fingers extended. A hatch opens on the bulge above the wrist, firing a powerfully concentrated beam right at Sosuske's Arm Slave.
/God, I hate playing cop./ Thraskar looks up at the sky, trying to triangulate the explosions and gunfire--hopefully, it's far enough away to keep him from being blown out of the sky. "If you can break this up, do it. I don't think the Shinigami would like it if their town got trashed."
The lieutenant spots a nearby mailbox, and hops atop it, moving with catlike grace and landing in a three-point crouch. "I'm going to do a bit of recon, see what we're up against." The sesheyan vaults into the air, wings beating loudly as he gains altitude. As soon as he reaches a safe cruising height, he settles into a glide, spotting Haman's Mobile Suit. Thraskar hisses out a curse in Sheyan, and hopes that the mecha are too busy blowing each other up to notice him.
He's undergunned. /Way/ undergunned. It's about time he corrected this. With a flip of his wings, Thraskar starts flying in the direction of the Gate--he left a little something parked there... It's no giant robot, but it'll do in a pinch.
They don't have to worry about being aimed at. The instant the funnels took an interest in Kurz's M9, its off and running, the 57mm cannon still cradled in its arms. "I've been spotted, setting up new-"
ZAP. Fritz. Whoop. Whoop. ((Direct hit, upper left arm.)) "Damn," Kurz grunts, whirling the Arm Slave's cannon about to take a few snap shots at the funnels. Off-mic, he shouts, "This isn't a Pink Floyd concert! Take your fancy lasers somewhere else!"
Can't call the Iron Fang out in a mess like this, he'd not have enough room to work and those attacks he could pull off? Would likely put people at risk. She now focuses for a moment, and aball of fire seems to leap up from the ground infront of her. It then forms into an Halbred which she grabs, then she starts to run towards Mao's mecha. No time for justice speaches, no time to give them a warning, these things gotta be put out of the fight. She then leaps up on to a car to use as a spring board. She's then air born once more heading for mecha, and she manges to land on its shoulder. The machine reminds her a bit of a few mecha pictures she's seen when she was younger, well more a fusion of several. Anyway she now swing her weapon aiming the business end for the thing's optics. oO(This thing's about as big as the Orphen that was sealed at the Shinre.)
"Damn it!" Mao dives out of the way of the first funnel, the second one zapping the shield plate off her right shoulder. "Uruz-6, you heard Uruz-7! Shoot down those drones! I'll run interception." The AS spins rather gracefully for a giant mecha and she begins blasting at the funnels aiming towards Kurz. She switches to an external speaker, "Oi! Smelly Dumbasses! Over here! Come on! Or are you too 'fraid that a woman's gonna beat you up?"
Mao fires off a few more shells to emphasize her taunt. When she comes close to emptying her clip, her monitor being to blip. "A human has just landed wielding what seems to be a bladed weapon of some sort."
"WHAT?!" Mao screams towards the mentor just as her visual monitors go off line. "Damn it! Switch to secondary camera." A part of the chest's armor slides open to reveal a single large lens. The woman shouts into the radio, "Uruz-6, Uruz-7, I've just lost my primary visuals to somec somec hitchhiker! Be careful."
She begins to reach up with the arm slave's hand, trying to grab at Midori while switching back to the external mic, "To the stupid dumbass hitchhiker. Withdraw now. This is your only warning. Any more attacks and I will be forced to take drastic measures."
Oh...no. Sousuke growls as his sensors detect the incoming attack. It's coming right at him. There is no time to dodge. The Arbalest crosses its arms in front of its chest, trying to guard the pilot from the incoming blast. Except...
|||||||||||||||||| MIL
||||||||||||||||||||||| MAX
...it never hits. Fins erupt from the sides and back of the Arbalest, and a tremendous field of blue-white luminescence surrounds it. The laser from the Quebeley impacts this field, and simply...dissolves into nothing. As the shuttering impact passes, Sousuke calls, "Damage report!"
The image comes up on his screen, all green. >No damage.<
"...was it active?"
>Lambda Driver activation confirmed.<
"Such a useless device...never works when I want it to." So grumbling, Sousuke raises the Boxer shotcannon again, except THIS time - now that Sousuke is, for lack of a better term, in the zone, the shotcannon shells are surrounded by a blue-white luminescence, very possibly ripping through the Quebeley's Fin Funnel blasts with some brilliant, unnameable force. Hopefully, even with the Lambda Driver active he won't have to go hand to hand with this monstrosity; he's not totally sure the Arbalest's monomolecular cutters could take it.
You switch armor modes to Lambda Driver Arbalest.
(Desc) Description ARBALEST LAMBDA now installed as your current character @desc.
Sousuke Sagara(#386PenACF)
A behemoth in white, the Arbalest stands fully eight meters tall when active. Most of its armor is a vivid white, with panels of blue accenting it at various points. However, from the rear the blue is more evident. It is a humanoid machine, bipedal with two arms and a head. There are noteworthy panels of armor on the shoulders and back lined with yellow. The face is also somewhat odd, slightly set back the rest of the head, as though a face peering out of a helmet. The eyes are green, and glow when the machine is in use; where the mouth would be were the machine a human, there is instead a clamp containing a monomolecular cutter, which is basically a to-scale chainsaw dagger. While in its default state there is no visible weaponry aside form this dagger, the Arbalest is nonetheless loaded out for war, equipped with numerous storage bins throughout its body from which weaponry may drop into the machine's hands.
The Arbalest's shoulder plates have opened, revealing gray fins that flicker with some kind of energy. The backplates have likewise opened, revealing identical fins which fan out behind it. From these fins, a backwash of pink-tinted power can be seen. Now, as it attacks, its strikes are often likewise enshrouded by this coloration. Attempts to harm it are met with a tremendous wall of power composed of this energy, like some sort of invisible barrier; munitions caught in this barrier often either explode harmlessly, or are eradicated by it.
Carrying:
Haman stares in shock at what happens ahead of her. They can't have Newtypes on this plane! She would have sensed them before now! Still, she gets knocked back again and again, almost toppling over as blast after blast impacts on the armor of the Quebley. Smoking impact marks dot the front of the chest area, one even cracking the coating outside the cockpit. Enough of this crap.
Pushing a few buttons, Haman charges forward, the cannon in her good arm ejecting to become another of those dangerous beam sabers. The hand holding it begins to spin, faster and faster and faster, creating a whirling mass of charged particles in front of her. She's not attacking though, her intention is simple, at the last moment, she will flip a maintenance switch, dump all of her outer armor, kick in the thrusters and leap over the insanely charge Arbalest, using the spinning blade as a kind of shield. She might just buy herself enough time to get through the Gate... but the cost will be great.
Midori's element slices into the mecha's optic systems. Okay that might take it out of the fight for the moment. Or not! here comes the thing's hand as she says "Sugiura Midori! IPA! Your fighting in a civilian area with military grade weapons Stand down now! Unless you want to add to the charges!" She's going to have to leap away to avoid the hand, she's about fast enough but not quite as she get clipped by the hand and no swan dives into the ground.
The funnels return to their Mistress, defending her as best they can against incoming attack while she prepares her escape strategem.
"Ooooooooooh. IPA eh? I'm scared. Really. Heh. You can tell them we're on the same side then." Mao switches to the team com, "Grrrrr. Uruz-2 to headquarters. Seems like the IPA boy scouts are here. One of them even took out my primary camera. Che... They're worse than the UN!"
She watches the mobile suit attempt to escape, "Uruz-7! Don't destroy it! Remember, we're in a civilian area! Who knows what kind of engine that thing's packing!"
Alas for poor Haman's worldview, Sousuke's just this guy. He's crazy, by some accounts, and almost impossible to kill, some say, but he's certainly not a Newtype or anything like it. But that trick...Sousuke wasn't expecting that. Ejecting the outer armor to lighten the load...ingenious. As the spinning blade comes his way, Sousuke drops the shotcannon, and another compartment in Arbalest's armor slides open, dropping a monomolecular cutter - a chainsaw knife, more or less - into the machine's hands. The other hand draws another cutter from a sheathe on the machine's waist. It brings the knives up, crossed, to defend against the spinning sword-shield. As the cutters connect with the laser sword, an enormous field of blue-white power flashes into being, protecting the Arbalest's arms from being shorn off. The Quebeley's retreat is halted for about six seconds by this, as the Lambda Driver's barrier halts the two in midair. Sousuke screams into his radio, "NOW! SHOOT NOW!" And just as he finishes saying it, the barrier fails, and the Arbalest is sent careening away, crashing into the streets and skidding a short distance.
Mao will apparently not have to worry much about Sousuke destroying the thing.
Midori Sugiura says "Fine if you want to do it the hard way? Then so be it." The red head grins slightly. "Fine, if you want to play." She gets up sloly looks like she's still good to go and now she takes her element again and throws it aiming for the right elbow joint of Mao's mecha. It's spinning so fast it blurrs as it moves, the spinning blade may very well have a chance to take off the arm if it connects.
The bat-winged silhouette ducks behind a high-rise, disappearing entirely. Thraskar hits the ground hard, landing in another three-point crouch on the concrete outside a... parking garage? That's what it looks like from the outside. The sesheyan ducks past the gate, giving the panicked IPA official manning it the "OK" sign. From there, it's a long run up three flights of stairs, to the roof of the structure.
Of course, this is a long run--Thraskar has to pause for a good minute to catch his breath.
Then, a dash across the remaining distance to /something/ concealed by a more advanced version of one of those cammo tarps. The sesheyan enters a passcode; locks release, and the tarp falls to the ground, revealing the sleek form of a Gull-class launch. A few more minutes pass as Thraskar performs the most slipshod preflight check of his entire career, and then straps himself into the pilot's seat. Induction engines hum as the craft takes off, 'falling' upwards into the air. It hovers there for a moment--the Lieutenant keys up the comm unit, and starts trying to sort through the bizarre radiation. He /does/ have its IPA beacon active, though.
Where's Kurz? The rapid fire sounds of a sniper rifle blazing away is one indication of what he's up to. Then, after a moment of silence, the radio comes back to life. "Alright, situation clear here. What next, Uruz Two?"
Finding her strategem to have worked, Haman smiles. It's not long lived though, as she's now without her protective armor. Still, this does help with speed and she sprints for the Gate, the funnels providing covering fire to her rear. As she passes through the gate, the funnels clatter to the ground, the psychic waves controlling them cut off by the barrier between worlds. Haman has escaped... but the cost is... horrible for her. It will take ages to repair the Quebley, ages to get it back into fighting shape. A week!
"Sousuke!" Mao's about to issue orders when Midori's element comes flying out of nowhere. Now, a normal poleax wouldn't do anything against an Arm Slave, much less an M9 Gernsback. Unfortunately, Midori's poleax is not a normal poleax. As such, it cuts off the right forearm and hand of the M9.
"****!" Mao screams, causing even those back at the supersub to wince. "Those IPA bastards are really starting to piss me off! We're getting out of here now! Uruz-6, cover us! Use the damn flash grenade. Uruz-7, ECS -now-." As she says that, she is already starting up the M9's ECS protocol. With another electrical crackle, the mecha disappears from view.
"Flash grenade incoming!" There's a whine as the grenade comes in, and then comes the flash. BOOM. The sniper M9 disappears in the explosion of light, engaging its ECS to beat a hasty retreat as well.
((Citizen's Band)) Superman says, "Allright, that's it!"
((Citizen's Band)) Superman says, "The next time something explodes in Karakura, I am flying down there, lining all the criminals up in alphabetical order, and punching them all in the face. Knock it off!"
((Citizen's Band)) Orihime Inoue says, "Ah! Really? Thank you very much, sir!"
"Ng. Roger! Al! Activate ECS!" >Roger<
The Arbalest disappears completely in another crackle of electric blue, the Lambda Driver disengaging at the same time. There is no trace of the white machine as it moves away - although if Midori's eyes are sharp, she may notice that that piece of arm she cut off disappears, the Arbalest picking up the severed part - as per Mithril protocol - before sprinting full-tilt toward the Gate.
You switch armor modes to Arbalest.
(Desc) Description ECS now installed as your current character @desc.
The launch is little more than an unarmed excursion vehicle; it's designed for courier jobs, not straight-up combat. It quickly closes the distance between the garage and the combat zone, though there's nothing it can do to stop the fleeing mechs. Thraskar leans back in his seat, curses softly in Sheyan again, and pauses as a familiar 'ping' sounds in the back of his mind. Yep, Alex made it back in one piece.
/Fortunately/, there is a smart-tinted windshield between Thraskar and the flash grenade. The sesheyan is spared an embarassing reenactment of the incident that got him his callsign, and blinks, furiously, to get the little spots out of his eyes. "Dammit," he hisses. He quickly homes in on Midori's signal, and brings the Gull down about two hundred feet away from her position. The hatch slides open, and Thraskar pokes his head out, surveying his surroundings.
Midori's element flies back and she catches it she's now speaking on the radio then BLAM flash grenade. When it finally clears she's rubbing her eyes and it takes her a moment to realise her prize is gone.
--------
Whispered Earth(#387Ten)
An Earth much like many others, this planet is possessed of an uncanny level of technology for an Earth circa early twenty-first century.
Contents:
Jindai High School(#404Tn)
Melissa Mao has arrived.
Kurz Weber has arrived.
"Whew..." Mao climbs down from her arm slave. The mechanics are already complaining about the damage done and the work they have to do to fix it. She glares at them and if looks could kill, each and every single one of them would be dead. She's not in a happy mood, not at all. "Che. Who the hell knew those boy scouts had something that could slice a stupid arm off? Oi! Kurz, Sousuke, you two alright?"
Sousuke is already working on climbing down from Arbalest. As his feet touch the ground, he gives the machine one last unhappy glare, before turning his usual emotionless eyes back on Mao. "Affirmative, Sergeant Major," he replies. "I am unharmed. I also recovered your severed arm as per protocol." He gestures up at the spot next to the Arbalest, where Mao's M9's arm is indeed lying.
Kurz stands next to a mechanic, pointing out the damage to his own unit's shoulder. That done, he walks over to Mao with a beaming smile and a nod of his head. "I'm fine. A little laser light show damage, that's all."
Mao glances at the arm and sighs, putting a hand on her forehead, "Jeez." She can just imagine the reaming she's going to get for her carelessness, "Thanks Sousuke. I owe you one." She nods to Kurz, "Good. Whatever that machine was, it wasn't an ordinary Arm Slave. It was probably of doing much more damage. Oi, Sousuke. When do you need to be back in Tokyo?"
Sousuke Sagara checks his watch. "Tomorrow morning," he replies simply. "At 0800 hours, Tokyo time." He looks around. "I will go prepare my report, if neither of you have need of me."
Mao waves her hand, "Go on and get some sleep too. Say hi to Chidori-san for me. I'm gonna go change and write my report as well." She glares at Kurz, "And you better do a good job at yours. Think about what I have to go through every once in a while."
Kurz, as usual, will skip on the report. He didn't get to see anything cool, anyways.
WHERE: Karakura, Japan.
WHEN: An amorphous point in the spacetime continuum roughly corresponding to 'Sunday.'
WHAT: Haman Karn's badly damaged Mobile Suit is about ready to take off again and leave this forsaken ghost-ridden plane. Unfortunately, someone's been preparing a little surprise party...
WATCH FOR: The first IC activation of the Lambda Driver!
Also, Haman Karn requires tags.
Paranormal Sector - Karakura Town
Truth be told, this town looks as one might expect of a modern Japanese suburb. The streets are clean here, and the homes usually look neat and tidy. It has a sort of small town charm, with its small, locally-owned businesses - some of which operate out of houses. The local landmarks include a large open market on the end of town close to Tokyo, a large high school, and the family-owned Kurosaki Clinic.
Indeed, if one cannot see ghosts, Karakura Town seems normal. However, those with supernatural senses may realize this place is out of the ordinary. Hollows, ghosts infused with evil energy, are sometimes on the prowl here, and they are combated by the Death Gods - invisible warriors fighting against these accursed ghosts.
For those who know better, this place may idyllic, but it is still a battleground.
Contents:
Amuro Ray
Haman Karn
Cherry Blossom Party Scene
Tatsuki Arisawa
Isshin Kurosaki
Nourriture
Urahara Shop
Chad's Apartment
Karakura Industrial
Kurosaki Clinic
Inoue's Apartment
Karakura High School
Obvious exits:
ighway leads to Paranormal Sector.
The Cherry Blossoms still drift lazily from the trees as a pleasant early spring breeze slips through their branches. Most birds have settled in as the sun sets gently to the West, casting a wan reddish light over the deepening darkness. It's also been two days since the mysterious object from space took out a communications satellite and started small fires all over town. The authorities continue to investigate.
Meanwhile, the cause of that collision has been hidden from public sight inside one of the large drainage canals just outside of town. Squeezed into one of the large tunnels, the partially dismantled AMX-004 Quebley rests under a tarp, the shoulder binders having been removed to help it fit.
The pilot of this downed MS has been busy as well. Sleeping in the cockpit during the day, she ventures out by night to procure things with which to fix her MS. Last night she 'borrowed' a crane to help with the dismantling, returning it my morning so as not to raise suspicions. In the early evenings, she finds a place to clean up, usually a hotel (it's amazing how easy it is to take money from people in this town) and after a nice shower, ventures out in clothing matching that of any other young woman to scout for supplies and keep an eye out for trouble.
So far, she's done a decent job of both. The authorities have no idea what's lying just beyond the town proper.
Something here is not like the other things, one of these things just doesn't belong...
But is it the friendly phantom in the city full of nasty hollows, or this mecha in the world of spirits? Nourriture certainly doesn't know and she has just woke up after a very long... cookery bender. Yes, once she found a ceramic bowl to confine herself to there was no stopping her and she made all manner of things with teriyaki, noodles and Japanese fare. And gave them to the homeless and things. Isn't she nice. She's in one of those hotels now! Some people might feel like there's a cold area in the dining room.
Two figures in identical gray uniforms are walking down a street somewhere in Karakura. The first one sticks out like a sore thumb--there's no mistaking the bat-winged, eight-eyed entity for anything other than an alien. He is, of course, Thraskar. And this time, he's brought along a spotter. Lieutenant Alex "Anthrax" Mitchell, a short, blonde man, is following at a distance. He looks slightly agitated, and is regularly scanning the area.
"Sense anything?" Thraskar asks, calmly. Alex shakes his head.
"No ghosts," the psychic says, "Though I'm not sure what they'd /feel/ like. This place..." The human pilot stops in his tracks, and shudders. "It feels /normal/, but there's just enough /different/..." Thraskar stops in front of his fellow officer, and shrugs his wings.
"Look, you know I'm a null-head. I'm running blind out here, and if any of those soul-eating things show up, I'm gonna need a spotter." The sesheyan taps his primary weapon--a heavy pistol hanging in a holster from his thigh--before patting his wingman on the shoulder. "We case this place, we find out what's causing the problem. If it's Hollows, we call for backup and hold out until the Aikaya arrive."
"I thought you said they were called Shinigami," Alex says, looking up at the sesheyan. Thraskar grins.
"Same thing. At least lemme have my ethnic flitter moment, here."
"...So this world has things that eat souls?" A young man is following after Thraskar and Alex, wearing the uniform of the Earth Federal Forces circa 0079 U.C. He pauses for a moment, then runs to catch up. Amuro hasn't been to this plane often, if at all, but he's heard much. Soul-eating creatures, ghosts, things he's not used to dealing with at all. And he has the extra-senses of a rock.
At least as far as he knows.
"I can go get the Gundam if we need it, but I don't know how much that would do against, um, a ghost..."
Midori Sugiura was still hanging about town and she's currently at the Hotel's cafe as well. Good bite of food before she got moving. Given how late she was up from the festival she'd slept in quite a bit to day. "Humm this town seems to have about as much problems as back home does." She munches on heer food taking in what little view the Cafe has to offer.
Haman Karn has been having a rough time of things. Being more then a little aware of things around her, she's been getting occasional creepy feelings, like someone is standing behind her, or next to her or that she's being watched. She can't really lay a finger on it but she swears every now and then she'll catch a glimpse of something out of the corner of her eye but when she looks, it's just not there anymore. Telling herself this is only because she's on a different world and she's feeling paranoid without assistance, she rationalizes it away. Still, there is definitely something Not Right (tm) about this place.
The elevator doors open and the young woman in the white, sundress with a hemline of pink roses steps out. She puts the big, floppy sunhat on over her own pinkish-purple hair and marches across the lobby, past the cafe. Haman is trying her best to blend, which meant stealing some clothes out of a dryer in the local Laundramat when no one was watching. She's just glad that red-haired girl with the goofy head ornaments was arguing with a pathetic little boy rather then paying attention to her laundry.
Passing the cafe, she shivers a bit, wondering what that feeling might be. Still, she has to get the Quebley working tonight and through that Gate thing before anyone stumbles across it. Ignoring the creepy feeling from the cafe, she pushes on the door and heads for the street, opening the door just in the path of the three uniformed men.
Nourriture wakes up. How is it that phantoms sleep? Do they need to or is it just an emulation of when they were alive? Or do they just need to do it to restore HP and mana? No matter what the reasoning behind it she's awake now. She realises with a certain jolt of surprise that she is sat right next to Midori, one of the girls who helped fight the dragon two days ago. She wonders if she is spiritually sensitive and remains very still in case Midori reacts.
Thraskar glances over his shoulder at Amuro, offering the kid the sesheyan equivalent of a devil-may-care smirk. "Yeah, Hollows. They're ghosts who've grown jealous of the living, and kill them. First time I was here, there was a /swarm/ of 'em, and even the Shinigami couldn't hold 'em all off. Fortunately, I helped one of 'em seal the big hole that the Hollows were using to come to this world." Thraskar chuckles. Alex rolls his eyes.
The little group comes to an intersection. Thraskar stops just long enough to let the light change to 'walk', and waves, innocently, as he walks past a row of astonished drivers. Alex brings up the rear, making a 'he's with me' gesture to try and mollify the natives. The sesheyan stops again once he reaches the hotel on the other side of the street, and pulls a datapad out of one of his pockets. "Alex," he says, calling up a map, "where did you say the biggest disturbance was?"
"A couple blocks away," says the psychic, talking softly so as to minimize unwanted attention. "Can we get something to eat, first? I haven't had anything since we left HQ."
Thraskar lets out a soft, thoughtful hiss, and then turns to his wingman. "There's gotta be a bar or something around here... D'you still have that translate?" Alex starts rummaging through his jumpsuit pockets. Thraskar, as of the present, is standing just outside the door--as it opens, he lets out a noise of startlement, and quickly backs off to let the woman in the sundress pass. "Sorry, ma'am," he offers.
Midori Sugiura watches as the odd young woman leaves the elevator, pay no attention to the woman watching you there. She's just got amber eyes and red hair. Nothing too off, right? Well? Midori's also looking about, she's got a funny feeling but can't find Nourriture. She does spot Thraskar and says "Hey Thraskar!"
Stopping just inside the door proper, Haman looks out and her eyes grow wide. What in the name of Giren Zabi is -THAT-? In her own world, aliens do not exist or if they do they don't mess with earth and the peoples of earth and the colonies have bigger things to worry about. Coming face to... um... face with something out of a Lovecraftian space opera is not what she was planning on doing. Unconsciously she reaches to her side for a weapon, finding only the hem of her gown instead. So, the young woman backs up, back into the Hotel, still staring with wide, blue-eyes which either make her look stunned or possibly really, really dense.
Aww. Yep, there's that one feeling that many phantoms experience- that one where nobody is around that knows they exist. Nourri puts her chin in her hands for a moment and huffs, then decides there's nothing that can be done about it. She would have liked to have spoken to Midori but she can't.
So she stands up. And the chair creaks a little, all on its own.
If Nourriture has noticed she'd done this, she doesn't stop to rectify it. She begins to walk towards the exit of the building, which is presumably within a straight line distance from her table if Midori can see Thraskar entering. As she walks towards him, his psychic might pick up something- but as Nourriture is made of spiritual rather than psychic energy, it will likely be no more than a fuzzy presence.
Geez. Thraskar quickly gets out of Haman's way, nearly backing into the street as he sees her hand dart down to the gun-that-isn't-there. Alex grabs hold of his jumpsuit's collar, and the sesheyan catches his balance, making a faint 'ahem' noise. Alex lets go.
/Right, right. Natives might be carrying./ As soon as Haman is a safe distance away, the alien opens the door. "After you," he says to Alex.
This, of course, means that the psychic nearly runs into Nourriture as he enters the restaurant. To those watching, his eyes suddenly go wide, and he darts out of the path of the ghost, ending up crouched beside a large planter.
Thraskar, of course, is oblivious to her presence; he enters after Alex, waves to Midori, and then notices that his wingman is not where he is supposed to be. "Alex?" Thraskar asks. "You okay?"
Midori Sugiura looks at the woman freaking out over Davidson for a moment. Okay mut not have seen an alien or a self aware non human before. Though he did look a bit like a Orphen she mused. "So how are you doing?" She looks to Alex and gets up, he doesn't seem too good...
Haman Karn decides that now is as good a time as any to get the hell out of this crazy world. Dealing with that nagging feeling in the back of her head was bad enough but coming face to face with some kind of OMG Monster is the icing on the cake. She had to get out of here and back to something resembling a sane place. She tries to shove past everyone and run out into the street, her hat flying off and landing in the doorway as she does so.
Once in the street, providing no one tries to stop her, the Newtype makes a bee-line for the edge of town. It might not be at one hundred percent, but her Mobile Suit should be able to make it to the gate and get her to the 'Hub' thing Wrath told her about.
Nourriture is very surprised that a stranger reacted to her, but surprise is about as far as it gets. She realises that it is probably not a good idea at all to try and go all Casper on military persons who might try and shoot her with a proton beam. She gingerly sidesteps out of the middle of the worried group and slides through a wall... and perhaps coincidentally, begins moving in a manner that will mean she walks parallel to Haman. She intends to go to the Gate, but who knows who else she might run into.
Someone is observing.
"Uruz Seven to HQ. The target is moving."
"Roger. Prepare to intercept if necessary, Sergeant."
"Affirmative."
A figure that had been on an the roofs opposite quickly begins making its way to somewhere else.
After a moment or so, Alex stands up again; he's leaning heavily against the planter, and one hand is pressed to the side of his head. "Someone was there," he says. Thraskar holds up a finger in a 'one sec' gesture, and then hurries over to tend to Alex. Haman's sudden departure only gives him that much more evidence that Something Bad might be going on.
"Was it a Hollow?" the sesheyan whispers, glancing furtively about the room.
"No, it didn't... It didn't /feel/ angry, it was just kind of /there/." Thraskar considers this for a moment; evil ghosts should /feel/ evil, and he trusts Anthrax to be able to pick up on said evil. "I need a drink," the psychic mumbles. He takes a few wobbly steps before straightening up, making his way across the lobby to the little restaurant. Thraskar gets there ahead of him, flags down the startled bartender, and places an order.
"Two seltzer waters," the sesheyan says, "One with lime." Alex makes his way over to Midori's table, sitting down opposite her. Thraskar waits a few moments to pick up the drinks, and then carries them to the table as well. Taking one drink for himself, he passes the other to his wingman. "False alarm," he mumbles.
Midori Sugiura lets Haman go, she's got no real intrest in her after all. She turns to the other IPA operative she knows still not aware of Nourriture. She looks over to the other two." Midori starts to look about. "So we're being watched I thought I felt something." she heads back to her table and sits down. "Humm well if they are not hurting anyone and don't have a hostile intent? We should leave them be."
Running through the streets is tiring for Haman, especially since she is still getting used to real gravity after a lifetime spent in space. She tires easily but knows she has to get to the drainage canal as soon as possible. There's a man nearby, getting into his car. Her eyes narrow and the young woman makes her move, leaping forward to shove him out of the way. One hand snatches out to grab the keys from his hand. "Excuse me, I need this more then you do right now!"
She guns the car and slams it into gear, the gears grinding in protest. A moment later, the small yellow car is rocketing down the road, the former owner blinking and trying to figure out what the heck just happened.
"It might be a friendly ghost," Thraskar suggests. He looks across the table at Midori, and stirs his drink with its straw. "But yeah, if it's not eating people's souls, we'd better leave it alone. And report it to the Aikaya so they can send it home." The sesheyan leans back, wrapping his wings around the back of his chair--he seems remarkably unperturbed by all of this.
Alex takes a sip of his drink, and makes a face. "What /is/ this?" he says. "I thought you were going to get me some sake."
"The last thing we need is you getting drunk," Thraskar says, "Aikaloska? I hope /not/."
"Can you get me a soda, at least?" The sesheyan considers this.
"Fair enough." The pilot heads back over to the bar, and returns a moment later with a glass of Coke. He slides it over to his wingman before taking his seat again. "Anyway. That's the worst disturbance we've found this evening. No clue what took down that satellite."
Midori Sugiura says "Most likely the case, and ya. The Hallows are something a bit worse than what I normally deal with." She says "Humm what about the satellite? I didn't get a chance to check the news or the IPA net last night or this morning."
The figure that was on the roof is, by now, sprinting along the alleys to reach an old, vacant lot with a large tarp-covered object in it. He begins to climb inside.
Nourriture has been walking for a short distance before she realises she has been going in the wrong direction. Oh, dear, so where does this mean she happens to- woah! She knows that's not a good thing! That person is a bad person! She gives a glance to the driver of the car to make sure she's alright... and then goes after the vehicle. Now Haman's finding herself... haunted! Hee hee hee!
A distance away, there's nothing to be seen. Nothing at all.
But someone is responding over the radio. "Uruz Six in position."
Midori Sugiura says "Sounds like it is." She then pauses "Satellite?" She says, "Seems I missed something, I should have checked the news and the IPA message net when I got up this morning. So care to share what happened?" The last time she delt with an satellite, it was a orbital weapon constructed by the shadow group that controlled the USA where she was from.
Steering the car wildly through the streets and nearly running down several pedestrians, Haman knows something is up. There are aliens and now she feels like she's not alone, it's that creepy, prickling sensation at the back of her neck again. Flooring the accelerator, she almost destroys the little car's engine but manages to push it up to over 150 kmh. The canal lies ahead, seperated only from the road by a guardrail. Slamming on the breaks, she turns the steering wheel and skids to a stop, just short of the metal barrier.
Leaping over the barrier and skidding down the concrete bank, the young woman breaks into a sprint, heading into the gloom of the drainage tunnel. She won't have time to put the shoulder binders back in place, but she should have the Quebley up and running before anyone gets to her. If she's lucky.
The figure in the tarp gets inside fully, and the tarp is thrown off by whatever monstrosity hid inside. But whatever it is is hidden quickly; a flash of almost radiantly white paint is all one can see, before in a spark of electric blue, the object becomes invisible to all but ultraviolet sensors, indetectable but for the faint smell of ozone.
"Uruz Seven. Arbalest is active. Moving to the intercept point."
You switch armor modes to Arbalest.
Somewhere a bunch of birds fly away. From what? Who knows. Maybe a cat. A very large cat.
"Understood Uruz-7. Uruz-2 to headquarters, moving to intercept point from the northeast. Uruz-2 to Uruz-6. Maintain visual. Don't let her out of your range."
((Citizen's Band)) Nourriture's voice is not easy to understand. Mainly because she's channeling herself through local radio systems. '...ere i... -anger in kara-.... ...wn. If you .....are to face it.... come t.... (IC location!)...'
"Something knocked a satellite out of the sky," Thraskar says, after taking another sip of his drink. "It might've been a meteor, but that would've had to have been an awfully lucky shot." The sesheyan is, for the most part, oblivious as to the chaos going on outside.
Unfortunately for him, this might not last for very long.
(Desc) Description ECS now installed as your current character @desc.
Sousuke Sagara(#386PenACF)
You see nothing special. No, really.
Leaping into the cockpit of the Quebley, Haman flips some switches, closing the hatch behind her. Her fingers dance nimbly over the controls, her eyes on the viewscreen, her attention not even on the startup sequence. Grabbing her helmet, she slides it on, though it looks odd with the flowery sundress she is wearing. "2 kilometers to the gate. Moving at top groundspeed, I should be able to get there in 30 seconds if nothing gets in my way." She's going over this aloud, trying to focus on the objective at hand. All of the lights in the cockpit go green.
Forcing forward one of the arm servos, Haman flips a switch on the stick. A hum sounds, a small white object leaping forth from a hidden panel in the forearm and into the waiting hand. Seconds later, a pink beam shoots forth forming an energy blade. The arm archs upwards, the blade slicing neatly through the roof of the canal. Then, it rises, the giant form of the AMX-004 Quebley, towering over any conventional vehicle, a staggering 18.5 meters tall. Rubble falls around it's bare shoulders, dust rising from the area in a heavy cloud, obscuring it's form.
Midori Sugiura is unaware of the mecha slinking about here at the moment. "Who knows with that, but what sort of satellite? Was it Coperate? Military? Privately owned?"
OK. That's a bad thing.
Nourrite saw dragons. And that's both bolder and badder than any dragon. But this time, there's something she can /do/ against it. Time to make up for lost heroism. "Phantom brave, I will aid the good in battle! Co-n-fine!"
And Nourriture confines herself with a mighty flash... to the Gundam. And all of a sudden, bad things will happen for the psychic pilot, no doubt. The full effect of it Nourriture has no idea, but she certainly decides to make herself seen on any internal screens. "I won't let evil forces from any other world threaten this town! Begone, you marauder!"
Nourriture tries her best to cause the Gundam to seize, paralysed perhaps!
Nourriture switches armor modes to Powerful Object.
Haman Karn switches armor modes to Quebeley.
Well, that's subtle. Some wind kicks up as nothing whatseover leaps from building to building en route to the Gate.
"Uruz Seven here, I see the target machine. Estimated...eighteen point five meters tall." Big. Much bigger than the Arbalest. But not nearly as big as the Behemoth. This is still very much possible.
Nourriture successfully targets Haman Karn with her The Ghost In The Machine action.
"Don't think I'm going to have to worry about that, Uruz 2." Just where is that radio signal coming from? Couldn't be from that vacant spot on a grassy knoll near the canal, there's nothing there! "Its at least twice the size of an M9. Checking for a weak point now..."
Mao whistles, "I though the only Behemoth came in that size." She adjusts her sensors a bit to make sure she captures the Quebeley in all it's glory on tape. "Headquarters, are you getting this? It looks like that thing's packing some sort of short range laser."
"Copy that. Keep recording Uruz-2."
"Roger. Uruz-6, fire at will. Preparing to jam communications." Mao doesn't want this thing to talk to whatever ally might be out there. One 18.5 meter mecha is more than enough for her.
Thraskar takes another long swig of his drink, and then turns to look out the window at the darkening cityscape. /Finally/ it decides to get dark enough to see. The sesheyan blinks behind his glasses, and then turns back to Midori. "I'm not sure, honestly. I'd have to--"
Alex turns to look at the hotel door, suddenly seeming distant. "Bad feeling," the psychic says. The sound of Haman's vehicle tearing free is muted, but Thraskar just manages to catch it. A moment later, the police scanner utility he attached to his comm-gear starts buzzing; there's a disturbance out there.
"We got trouble," the sesheyan says. He's out of his seat a moment later--he stops just long enough to pay for the drinks, and then he's on his way out the door.
Knowing that the key to keeping her location hidden is to disrupt local communications, Haman pushes a few switches and floods the area with Minovsky particles. These energy dampening sub-atomic bits dampen radio, confuse radar and make conventional communications nearly impossible. Once that is done, she pushes forward on the pedals, the massive Mobile Suit stomping forward, the feet cratering the concrete with each step. Sadly though, the thrusters on this thing were meant for space and not to lift the bulk into the air planetside.
One hand holds the beam saber threateningly while the other sweeps the area, looking for hostile targets. She checks the recharge level on her funnels, saddened that only five made it through the atmosphere. She just hopes they can fly in gravity. She notices something wrong with her suit, something inside that shouldn't be there. Concentrating on the psycommu, she tries to force out the alien presence.
Midori Sugiura sets down her drink at Thraskar's words "Well I better lend a hand then." She drops some money to pay for her food and leave a good tip. She's done waitress work before after all, and then she's off got the door to get outside.
BIFF
And suddenly, Nourriture is sat on the ground wondering what the number of that cart was. She's never seen people with psychic powers before, or experienced them. But now she has, she has learned a valuable lesson- don't touch their stuff. She feels achey all over. Ow. Ow. -oh look, people here to save the day. She waddles rapidly through the group. If she happens to ghost through Sosuke's AS, he might get a familiar presence. But she's drawn the heroes to the monster, and she'd love to stick around, but... ouchies! And besides, she doesn't want to confine herself to rubble or sewer grabage to fight, ick!
Look, up there! On the grassy gnoll! It's the G-Man! No, wait, it's something more insidious, an eight-meter tall mecha fading into view with a crackle of electric blue arcs. The M9 is lying flat on the ground, bracing a bipodded 57mm sniper rifle. "Sensors are getting fuzzy," its cheerful blonde pilot notes as he flips a couple switches. "Going to manual mode. Shoulders look to be the weak point, looks like someone left the armor at home!" A moment later, the rifle opens up with a single shot aimed for the Gundam's exposed joint. Sensors? Who needs sensors?
"Damn it!" An electric crackle similar to the one on the hill appears near where the Gate to the area. A beige Mecha with a single horn sticking out the back is holding a massive Mecha sized shot gun. Inside, Mao winces slightly as she suddenly falls into complete radio silence about halfway through Kurz's report and begins fiddling with some of her controls, "Boost signal and get the comm. units back online."
"Affirmative. Reception level rising. At maximum level. Communication is back online."
Mao watches Kurz open fire on the Mobile Suit and waits for the results before firing. "Uruz-2 to Uruz-7. Looks like the jig is up. Open fire once you're in range. Do not engage in close combat unless forced."
Nothing at all comes to a stop on top of a building. "Negative," comes the reply. "A-21's Behemoth was at least twice the size of this machine--"
The static level on the radio skyrockets almost beyond the point of usability. Scrambling the Mithril radio network...? Impossible! Or it should be...
The ECS shudders but doesn't quite break. >Recommend disengaging ECS and switching to Military power levels< the machine's AI warns.
Inside the cockpit, a scarred face scowls. "Begin bringing the power plant up to Military levels. Deactivate the ECS and deploy the 'Boxer' shotcannon on my mark."
>Roger<
|||||| CAU
|||||||||||| MIL
Mao's orders receive only a "Roger," in response, as radio contact is restored. "Mark!" There's a sharp crack of electric blue, and the pure white Arbalest is standing on a building top, just within firing range. One of the armor panels slides aside, and the "Boxer" shotcannon drops into the machine's hands. The Arbalest leaps forward to another building, slightly closer to the Quebeley, and then opens fire with the shotcannon, missile-like shots streaking out toward the enormous Mobile Suit.
(Desc) Description ARBALEST now installed as your current character @desc.
Sousuke Sagara(#386PenACF)
A behemoth in white, the Arbalest stands fully eight meters tall when active. Most of its armor is a vivid white, with panels of blue accenting it at various points. However, from the rear the blue is more evident. It is a humanoid machine, bipedal with two arms and a head. There are noteworthy panels of armor on the shoulders and back lined with yellow. The face is also somewhat odd, slightly set back the rest of the head, as though a face peering out of a helmet. The eyes are green, and glow when the machine is in use; where the mouth would be were the machine a human, there is instead a clamp containing a monomolecular cutter, which is basically a to-scale chainsaw dagger. While in its default state there is no visible weaponry aside form this dagger, the Arbalest is nonetheless loaded out for war, equipped with numerous storage bins throughout its body from which weaponry may drop into the machine's hands.
Sousuke Sagara just looked at you!
The huge white mobile suit somehow moves to dodge the attack fired by Kurz. In space, it would have been graceful, here though, it's barely a move. The Quebley takes a glancing shot to the shoulder, cutting the effectiveness of that arm a great deal. Damn! That was the saber arm.
Sensing a new threat, Haman closes her eyes and the tail binder lifts. Five tiny pink prjectiles shoot out. They look almost like spiked funnels of the kind one would use to pour oil into an engine. Instead of moving smoothly through the air, they dance and dart. Before the missle-like shots can reach her, Haman commands each funnel to fire. Megawatt beams fire from each small funnel, cutting down many of the Boxer shotgun shells. Two still manage to strike home, knocking the towering suit backwards. Undeterred, Haman tries to charge forward.
Thraskar's radio suddenly goes dead. The sesheyan pauses in his tracks, retrieves it, and checks the status display. "Something's jamming it," he says. "Bad candy." The pilot turns to Alex. "Unless the Hollows suddenly came up with a way to baffle multiband comm gear, something else is up." He pauses a moment, looking thoughtful. "Is it scrambling your telepathy?"
"No," Alex says, "But I'm--"
"Good," Thraskar says, cutting his wingman off in mid-sentence. "Because I want you to get back to the Gate, warn the IPA that there's shit happening in Karakura, and ping me as soon as you get back."
"What about the Hollows?"
"That," Thraskar says, "Is where you alert the Shinigami. Got it?"
Alex makes a face, but nods nevertheless. The blonde pilot takes off, rounding a corner and heading down the street towards the Gate.
Meanwhile, Thraskar turns his attention to Midori--the sounds of gunfire startle him, and he flares his wings open and hisses. "I don't suppose you have a giant robot?" he asks, half-sarcastically.
Midori Sugiura own radio goes dead. "Mine's out too." She looks to Thrasar for a moment." She says "I have something that's on par with giant robots, and I have taken out creatures as large as them with nothing more than my Element." She grins at this. "Want me to go run some interfearance?"
"Uruz 2? Uruz 7?" Kurz grunts and tries a few more command sequences, "First go the sensors, now the radio. Uruz 2, can you hear me? I'm going to put a few more rounds into that shoulder, it can't knock down all our bullets at once." Or can it? Let's find out!
The sniper rifle barks back to life with a succession of rounds aimed for the same shoulder, one bullet on top of the other. If anything, it might distract just enough attention away from Sousuke and the Arbalest.
What!? The funnel-shaped laser.../things/ catch Sousuke off guard, blasting through the Boxer Shotcannon's shells easily. Even though a few do slip past, Sousuke's still scowling now. "Lambda Driver," he mutters. "Can't even escape that damned device out here." Switching the radio on again, he says, "Uruz Seven to Uruz Two and Uruz Six! Watch out for those laser drones, they're a defensive system! They might be on par with the Lambda Driver." Implication: It might also be able to make you die. The Arbalest begins charging closer - not quite into melee range but closer, and begins rapid-firing shotcannon shells. "AI!" Sousuke yells. "Start the Lambda Driver!"
Silence. Sousuke growls, "Useless machine!"
"I hear you Uruz-6. I don't need to remind you two that we're only supposed to disable it, not destroy it." Mao's Arm Slave pumps its shotgun and takes a step forward before unloading rounds towards the arm with the beam saber. If Sousuke is going to end up having to go hand to hand with that thing, she'd feel much better if he didn't have to go up against a nasty looking laser sword.
"Oh and headquarters? I want one of those laser things."
What!? The funnel-shaped laser.../things/ catch Sousuke off guard, blasting through the Boxer Shotcannon's shells easily. Even though a few do slip past, Sousuke's still scowling now. "Lambda Driver," he mutters. "Can't even escape that damned device out here." Switching the radio on again, he says, "Uruz Seven to Uruz Two and Uruz Six! Watch out for those laser drones, they're a defensive system! They might be on par with the Lambda Driver." Implication: It might also be able to make you die. The Arbalest begins charging closer - not quite into melee range but closer, and begins rapid-firing shotcannon shells. "AI!" Sousuke yells. "Start the Lambda Driver!"
Silence. Sousuke growls, "Useless machine!"
Gritting her teeth as more shots pierce that exposed shoulder, rendering it incapable of movement, Haman mentally calms herself. Three of the tiny funnels shoot towards Kurz, blasting at him the entire time in rapid succession and they dodge and weave to avoid being aimed at. Two others head for where Mao fired from, doing much the same. The Arbalest however, is in Haman's way.
Charging forward, she extends the undamaged arm of her MS, fingers extended. A hatch opens on the bulge above the wrist, firing a powerfully concentrated beam right at Sosuske's Arm Slave.
/God, I hate playing cop./ Thraskar looks up at the sky, trying to triangulate the explosions and gunfire--hopefully, it's far enough away to keep him from being blown out of the sky. "If you can break this up, do it. I don't think the Shinigami would like it if their town got trashed."
The lieutenant spots a nearby mailbox, and hops atop it, moving with catlike grace and landing in a three-point crouch. "I'm going to do a bit of recon, see what we're up against." The sesheyan vaults into the air, wings beating loudly as he gains altitude. As soon as he reaches a safe cruising height, he settles into a glide, spotting Haman's Mobile Suit. Thraskar hisses out a curse in Sheyan, and hopes that the mecha are too busy blowing each other up to notice him.
He's undergunned. /Way/ undergunned. It's about time he corrected this. With a flip of his wings, Thraskar starts flying in the direction of the Gate--he left a little something parked there... It's no giant robot, but it'll do in a pinch.
They don't have to worry about being aimed at. The instant the funnels took an interest in Kurz's M9, its off and running, the 57mm cannon still cradled in its arms. "I've been spotted, setting up new-"
ZAP. Fritz. Whoop. Whoop. ((Direct hit, upper left arm.)) "Damn," Kurz grunts, whirling the Arm Slave's cannon about to take a few snap shots at the funnels. Off-mic, he shouts, "This isn't a Pink Floyd concert! Take your fancy lasers somewhere else!"
Can't call the Iron Fang out in a mess like this, he'd not have enough room to work and those attacks he could pull off? Would likely put people at risk. She now focuses for a moment, and aball of fire seems to leap up from the ground infront of her. It then forms into an Halbred which she grabs, then she starts to run towards Mao's mecha. No time for justice speaches, no time to give them a warning, these things gotta be put out of the fight. She then leaps up on to a car to use as a spring board. She's then air born once more heading for mecha, and she manges to land on its shoulder. The machine reminds her a bit of a few mecha pictures she's seen when she was younger, well more a fusion of several. Anyway she now swing her weapon aiming the business end for the thing's optics. oO(This thing's about as big as the Orphen that was sealed at the Shinre.)
"Damn it!" Mao dives out of the way of the first funnel, the second one zapping the shield plate off her right shoulder. "Uruz-6, you heard Uruz-7! Shoot down those drones! I'll run interception." The AS spins rather gracefully for a giant mecha and she begins blasting at the funnels aiming towards Kurz. She switches to an external speaker, "Oi! Smelly Dumbasses! Over here! Come on! Or are you too 'fraid that a woman's gonna beat you up?"
Mao fires off a few more shells to emphasize her taunt. When she comes close to emptying her clip, her monitor being to blip. "A human has just landed wielding what seems to be a bladed weapon of some sort."
"WHAT?!" Mao screams towards the mentor just as her visual monitors go off line. "Damn it! Switch to secondary camera." A part of the chest's armor slides open to reveal a single large lens. The woman shouts into the radio, "Uruz-6, Uruz-7, I've just lost my primary visuals to somec somec hitchhiker! Be careful."
She begins to reach up with the arm slave's hand, trying to grab at Midori while switching back to the external mic, "To the stupid dumbass hitchhiker. Withdraw now. This is your only warning. Any more attacks and I will be forced to take drastic measures."
Oh...no. Sousuke growls as his sensors detect the incoming attack. It's coming right at him. There is no time to dodge. The Arbalest crosses its arms in front of its chest, trying to guard the pilot from the incoming blast. Except...
|||||||||||||||||| MIL
||||||||||||||||||||||| MAX
...it never hits. Fins erupt from the sides and back of the Arbalest, and a tremendous field of blue-white luminescence surrounds it. The laser from the Quebeley impacts this field, and simply...dissolves into nothing. As the shuttering impact passes, Sousuke calls, "Damage report!"
The image comes up on his screen, all green. >No damage.<
"...was it active?"
>Lambda Driver activation confirmed.<
"Such a useless device...never works when I want it to." So grumbling, Sousuke raises the Boxer shotcannon again, except THIS time - now that Sousuke is, for lack of a better term, in the zone, the shotcannon shells are surrounded by a blue-white luminescence, very possibly ripping through the Quebeley's Fin Funnel blasts with some brilliant, unnameable force. Hopefully, even with the Lambda Driver active he won't have to go hand to hand with this monstrosity; he's not totally sure the Arbalest's monomolecular cutters could take it.
You switch armor modes to Lambda Driver Arbalest.
(Desc) Description ARBALEST LAMBDA now installed as your current character @desc.
Sousuke Sagara(#386PenACF)
A behemoth in white, the Arbalest stands fully eight meters tall when active. Most of its armor is a vivid white, with panels of blue accenting it at various points. However, from the rear the blue is more evident. It is a humanoid machine, bipedal with two arms and a head. There are noteworthy panels of armor on the shoulders and back lined with yellow. The face is also somewhat odd, slightly set back the rest of the head, as though a face peering out of a helmet. The eyes are green, and glow when the machine is in use; where the mouth would be were the machine a human, there is instead a clamp containing a monomolecular cutter, which is basically a to-scale chainsaw dagger. While in its default state there is no visible weaponry aside form this dagger, the Arbalest is nonetheless loaded out for war, equipped with numerous storage bins throughout its body from which weaponry may drop into the machine's hands.
The Arbalest's shoulder plates have opened, revealing gray fins that flicker with some kind of energy. The backplates have likewise opened, revealing identical fins which fan out behind it. From these fins, a backwash of pink-tinted power can be seen. Now, as it attacks, its strikes are often likewise enshrouded by this coloration. Attempts to harm it are met with a tremendous wall of power composed of this energy, like some sort of invisible barrier; munitions caught in this barrier often either explode harmlessly, or are eradicated by it.
Carrying:
Haman stares in shock at what happens ahead of her. They can't have Newtypes on this plane! She would have sensed them before now! Still, she gets knocked back again and again, almost toppling over as blast after blast impacts on the armor of the Quebley. Smoking impact marks dot the front of the chest area, one even cracking the coating outside the cockpit. Enough of this crap.
Pushing a few buttons, Haman charges forward, the cannon in her good arm ejecting to become another of those dangerous beam sabers. The hand holding it begins to spin, faster and faster and faster, creating a whirling mass of charged particles in front of her. She's not attacking though, her intention is simple, at the last moment, she will flip a maintenance switch, dump all of her outer armor, kick in the thrusters and leap over the insanely charge Arbalest, using the spinning blade as a kind of shield. She might just buy herself enough time to get through the Gate... but the cost will be great.
Midori's element slices into the mecha's optic systems. Okay that might take it out of the fight for the moment. Or not! here comes the thing's hand as she says "Sugiura Midori! IPA! Your fighting in a civilian area with military grade weapons Stand down now! Unless you want to add to the charges!" She's going to have to leap away to avoid the hand, she's about fast enough but not quite as she get clipped by the hand and no swan dives into the ground.
The funnels return to their Mistress, defending her as best they can against incoming attack while she prepares her escape strategem.
"Ooooooooooh. IPA eh? I'm scared. Really. Heh. You can tell them we're on the same side then." Mao switches to the team com, "Grrrrr. Uruz-2 to headquarters. Seems like the IPA boy scouts are here. One of them even took out my primary camera. Che... They're worse than the UN!"
She watches the mobile suit attempt to escape, "Uruz-7! Don't destroy it! Remember, we're in a civilian area! Who knows what kind of engine that thing's packing!"
Alas for poor Haman's worldview, Sousuke's just this guy. He's crazy, by some accounts, and almost impossible to kill, some say, but he's certainly not a Newtype or anything like it. But that trick...Sousuke wasn't expecting that. Ejecting the outer armor to lighten the load...ingenious. As the spinning blade comes his way, Sousuke drops the shotcannon, and another compartment in Arbalest's armor slides open, dropping a monomolecular cutter - a chainsaw knife, more or less - into the machine's hands. The other hand draws another cutter from a sheathe on the machine's waist. It brings the knives up, crossed, to defend against the spinning sword-shield. As the cutters connect with the laser sword, an enormous field of blue-white power flashes into being, protecting the Arbalest's arms from being shorn off. The Quebeley's retreat is halted for about six seconds by this, as the Lambda Driver's barrier halts the two in midair. Sousuke screams into his radio, "NOW! SHOOT NOW!" And just as he finishes saying it, the barrier fails, and the Arbalest is sent careening away, crashing into the streets and skidding a short distance.
Mao will apparently not have to worry much about Sousuke destroying the thing.
Midori Sugiura says "Fine if you want to do it the hard way? Then so be it." The red head grins slightly. "Fine, if you want to play." She gets up sloly looks like she's still good to go and now she takes her element again and throws it aiming for the right elbow joint of Mao's mecha. It's spinning so fast it blurrs as it moves, the spinning blade may very well have a chance to take off the arm if it connects.
The bat-winged silhouette ducks behind a high-rise, disappearing entirely. Thraskar hits the ground hard, landing in another three-point crouch on the concrete outside a... parking garage? That's what it looks like from the outside. The sesheyan ducks past the gate, giving the panicked IPA official manning it the "OK" sign. From there, it's a long run up three flights of stairs, to the roof of the structure.
Of course, this is a long run--Thraskar has to pause for a good minute to catch his breath.
Then, a dash across the remaining distance to /something/ concealed by a more advanced version of one of those cammo tarps. The sesheyan enters a passcode; locks release, and the tarp falls to the ground, revealing the sleek form of a Gull-class launch. A few more minutes pass as Thraskar performs the most slipshod preflight check of his entire career, and then straps himself into the pilot's seat. Induction engines hum as the craft takes off, 'falling' upwards into the air. It hovers there for a moment--the Lieutenant keys up the comm unit, and starts trying to sort through the bizarre radiation. He /does/ have its IPA beacon active, though.
Where's Kurz? The rapid fire sounds of a sniper rifle blazing away is one indication of what he's up to. Then, after a moment of silence, the radio comes back to life. "Alright, situation clear here. What next, Uruz Two?"
Finding her strategem to have worked, Haman smiles. It's not long lived though, as she's now without her protective armor. Still, this does help with speed and she sprints for the Gate, the funnels providing covering fire to her rear. As she passes through the gate, the funnels clatter to the ground, the psychic waves controlling them cut off by the barrier between worlds. Haman has escaped... but the cost is... horrible for her. It will take ages to repair the Quebley, ages to get it back into fighting shape. A week!
"Sousuke!" Mao's about to issue orders when Midori's element comes flying out of nowhere. Now, a normal poleax wouldn't do anything against an Arm Slave, much less an M9 Gernsback. Unfortunately, Midori's poleax is not a normal poleax. As such, it cuts off the right forearm and hand of the M9.
"****!" Mao screams, causing even those back at the supersub to wince. "Those IPA bastards are really starting to piss me off! We're getting out of here now! Uruz-6, cover us! Use the damn flash grenade. Uruz-7, ECS -now-." As she says that, she is already starting up the M9's ECS protocol. With another electrical crackle, the mecha disappears from view.
"Flash grenade incoming!" There's a whine as the grenade comes in, and then comes the flash. BOOM. The sniper M9 disappears in the explosion of light, engaging its ECS to beat a hasty retreat as well.
((Citizen's Band)) Superman says, "Allright, that's it!"
((Citizen's Band)) Superman says, "The next time something explodes in Karakura, I am flying down there, lining all the criminals up in alphabetical order, and punching them all in the face. Knock it off!"
((Citizen's Band)) Orihime Inoue says, "Ah! Really? Thank you very much, sir!"
"Ng. Roger! Al! Activate ECS!" >Roger<
The Arbalest disappears completely in another crackle of electric blue, the Lambda Driver disengaging at the same time. There is no trace of the white machine as it moves away - although if Midori's eyes are sharp, she may notice that that piece of arm she cut off disappears, the Arbalest picking up the severed part - as per Mithril protocol - before sprinting full-tilt toward the Gate.
You switch armor modes to Arbalest.
(Desc) Description ECS now installed as your current character @desc.
The launch is little more than an unarmed excursion vehicle; it's designed for courier jobs, not straight-up combat. It quickly closes the distance between the garage and the combat zone, though there's nothing it can do to stop the fleeing mechs. Thraskar leans back in his seat, curses softly in Sheyan again, and pauses as a familiar 'ping' sounds in the back of his mind. Yep, Alex made it back in one piece.
/Fortunately/, there is a smart-tinted windshield between Thraskar and the flash grenade. The sesheyan is spared an embarassing reenactment of the incident that got him his callsign, and blinks, furiously, to get the little spots out of his eyes. "Dammit," he hisses. He quickly homes in on Midori's signal, and brings the Gull down about two hundred feet away from her position. The hatch slides open, and Thraskar pokes his head out, surveying his surroundings.
Midori's element flies back and she catches it she's now speaking on the radio then BLAM flash grenade. When it finally clears she's rubbing her eyes and it takes her a moment to realise her prize is gone.
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Whispered Earth(#387Ten)
An Earth much like many others, this planet is possessed of an uncanny level of technology for an Earth circa early twenty-first century.
Contents:
Jindai High School(#404Tn)
Melissa Mao has arrived.
Kurz Weber has arrived.
"Whew..." Mao climbs down from her arm slave. The mechanics are already complaining about the damage done and the work they have to do to fix it. She glares at them and if looks could kill, each and every single one of them would be dead. She's not in a happy mood, not at all. "Che. Who the hell knew those boy scouts had something that could slice a stupid arm off? Oi! Kurz, Sousuke, you two alright?"
Sousuke is already working on climbing down from Arbalest. As his feet touch the ground, he gives the machine one last unhappy glare, before turning his usual emotionless eyes back on Mao. "Affirmative, Sergeant Major," he replies. "I am unharmed. I also recovered your severed arm as per protocol." He gestures up at the spot next to the Arbalest, where Mao's M9's arm is indeed lying.
Kurz stands next to a mechanic, pointing out the damage to his own unit's shoulder. That done, he walks over to Mao with a beaming smile and a nod of his head. "I'm fine. A little laser light show damage, that's all."
Mao glances at the arm and sighs, putting a hand on her forehead, "Jeez." She can just imagine the reaming she's going to get for her carelessness, "Thanks Sousuke. I owe you one." She nods to Kurz, "Good. Whatever that machine was, it wasn't an ordinary Arm Slave. It was probably of doing much more damage. Oi, Sousuke. When do you need to be back in Tokyo?"
Sousuke Sagara checks his watch. "Tomorrow morning," he replies simply. "At 0800 hours, Tokyo time." He looks around. "I will go prepare my report, if neither of you have need of me."
Mao waves her hand, "Go on and get some sleep too. Say hi to Chidori-san for me. I'm gonna go change and write my report as well." She glares at Kurz, "And you better do a good job at yours. Think about what I have to go through every once in a while."
Kurz, as usual, will skip on the report. He didn't get to see anything cool, anyways.