Tamayura festival - night 2 (part 1)
WHO: L, Ling Yao, Shizuru Fujino, Celene Hunter, Mashiro Windbloom, Ichigo Kurosaki, Miyu, Mai Tokiha, Takaya Akizuki, Hayate Yagami, Yuuichi Tate, Makoto Kino
Guest-starring (emitted): Alyssa Searrs, Miyu Greer, Nagi Homura, the mysterious Himitsu no Ninja, and the mighty Krispy Kreme!
WHERE: Fuuka Academy
WHEN: July 28
WHAT: Day after the festival, Searrs invades!
Early morning, the day after the Tamayura festival. Some people are still walking around campus, but they seem a bit confused. Disconnected. Partly because all communications lines were cut, so they still don't know what's going on.
Still, it's a peaceful enough morning, if you ignore the wisps of smoke that still rise from the smoldering bridge.
Makoto is already up early, helping out the best way she can: By making breakfast. She already has several bowls of steamed rice and miso soup ready at the nearest cafeteria/kitchen for whoever wants it, and there's more on the way. She may or may not still have a tinge of worry on her face for Ichigo, depending on whether or not he hopped back into his body before bedtime. Gotta keep up appearances, after all.
When she awoke that morning, Mai had hoped against hope that what happened at the festival last night was just a horrible dream. Of course, that kind of luck isn't with them. Jerking awake, she first looked to the occupants of her room, welcome and unwelcome alike (In case you didn't know, Tate, You're the unwelcome guest. :D)
"..!" Swinging her legs over the side of the bed, she grabs the cell phone on her nightstand, checking for service. Finding nothing, she opted to get changed (double bolting the bathroom door cuz she doesn't trust that Tater. +.+ But once dressed, she checked the occupants of the room, "Ne, I'm going to take another look around." It's.. eerily calm and the peaceful air around the campus that has her a bit .. on edge.
It's almost like last night didn't happen.. ..but waking up in Mai's room, now housing over twice the intended occupancy, brings it all back quickly. Sitting up in bed, where he'd been sleeping facing *away* from Mai (he's no Mikoto), he finds that she's..already up and about, which is somehow to be expected. Rubbing at an eye, he groggily nods his approval, moving to slide on to his feet, himself. He couldn't very well sleep in the borrowed festival wear, but all his proper bed clothes are back at Natsuki's, so he made do with a loaned shirt. A really long shirt.
"...I'll send Miyu if anything happens," he offers, to try and ease any feelings of doubt that leaving the rest of the occupants behind will cause. However, now more awake, and stretching, his brow furrows slightly, "Are you sure you want to go out there alone? Mai-san..."
Having spent all night on her feet, the sight of the Maid of Aries will likely be a comforting one in the dormitories at Fuuka Academy, sitting at attention in the common area of Mai Tokiha's room. Though she's back to wearing those fashion glasses, her attire is changed completely-- not a student uniform, not street clothes, not even the yukata that Natsuki had given to her.
Dressed head to toe in the attire fitting a Western maid, Miyu sits with her hands in her lap and watching over those that reside in the room. Her sensors are set to the maximum and her actual -senses- are likewise driven to a higher-than-normal level, keeping an eye (figuratively speaking) out for any problems that may dare threaten the room's occupants. Looking up as Mai dresses and heads toward the door, the MAID rises to her feet, as if to support Mashiro's words. "I will do whatever I can to assist you, Tokiha-san."
Ever since last night, Takaya Akizuki has been nowhere to be found, almost as if he disappeared off the face of the earth.
There has been, however, a flurry of rumors flying around, of a mysterious person in a black cloak and hat who's been rescuing pretty girls through the night. After all, the end of the world tends to bring out the worst in guys that don't want to die virgins. Whether it's a man or woman varies between who's telling a story, but it's always a being of unearthly beauty...
Boogiepop may or may not have 'rescued' Kyon from Haruhi at some point during the night, wherever they're wandering around.
Somewhere in the woods, Haruhi Suzumiya is making s'mores and is totally oblivious to everything.
Ling has actually been awake for a while. He's always been an early riser, and the feeling of tension that remains in the air had wakened him from a restless sleep. He remains in the corner, his long leather bag laying atop his crossed legs. He'd made no comment when Mai had awakened, and even now he seems oddly silent. His expression is serious, quite the contrast from his foolish grin and demeanor from last night.
When Mai announces her intention, the prince gets to his feet, shouldering his bag and running his hand through his messy bangs. "I'll go with you," he says. It isn't an offer, simply a statement. He glances over to Miyu as the maid expresses similar sentiment. Aside from contemplation of their current situation, the prince had spent some amount of time studying the maid-- not just visually, but spiritually. If there weren't more important things to think about, he'd probably be asking her any number of questions about what, exactly she is. No chi, no real spiritual energy... But visually she seems as human as anyone else. It's bizarre, but he'll save his pestering for another time.
Also in the common area of Mai's dorm room is one (1) Yuuichi Tate, who has probably just had the most uncomfortable night of his life. And really, there's a /lot/ of competition for that particular title. There not being an immense amount of room, and having to 'share' the floor with the ever-watchful MAID and also some supposed 'prince', Tate ended up sleeping huddled in a corner, spending a fitful night trying vainly to get comfortable. He didn't even get a blanket or nothin'! That aside, he didn't sleep well either; strangely, stuff exploding in Fuuka has reminded him of things he'd rather not remember.
But by the time Mai emerges from the bathroom after for some reason barricading herself in there - as if Tate would try anything! Especially with a heavily armed robot in the room! - the Key's dark eyes crack open blearily, and he starts to sit up, at which point there's another crack, this one from the direction of his neck.
Which would be why, bare moments later, Tate is laying curled up on the floor rubbing the back of his neck. OH GOD IT'S THE MUSCLE CRAMP FROM HELL.
Celene Hunter has been awake for an hour or more. Once things calmed down, and she realized that A) they weren't all going to die right now and B) nobody seemed to have noticed her yanking cosmo-magical energy around like a goddess on a bender, she set about getting her SWAT emergency WOrld Ending Catastrophe kit (she never leaves home without it), getting her bike somewhere it won't get stolen, and then, finally, finding somewhere to sleep.
Now, sitting on the rooftop of the Fuuka dorms, Celene Hunter has her Remington out, and is using its scope to look down on the campus below. SHe doesn't know where the others are from last night, although she's pretty much just waiting for L to show up and try to spook her.
"Dammit," she mutters, setting her gun down and leaning back against the rolled-up sleeping bag she slept in. "Every time."
Ichigo did wake up before bedtime. He did a passable job of faking confusion and grogginess. When he steps out to where Makoto is fixing breakfast, he really is confused and groggy, with messy hair and a sleepy look on his face. Without a word, he plops down in a seat and yawns. Loudly.
Sleepyberry.
L, on the other hand, in a total contrast to Celene Hunter, has yet to have gone to sleep, and has been especially busy doing entirely mundane things. A lot of it had to do with picking through pieces of busted equipment, tearing apart functional technology and carefully reconstructing certain parts into ... something.
The something was no longer anywhere to be seen by the time Celene woke up, and no sign of L, either, but now there he is, settling down on the very same rooftop, knees pulled up under his chin, a bag of sweets purchased from vendors during the festival sitting at one side, his cellphone open. He holds it between finger and thumb of one hand, poking at buttons with the fingertip of the other.
"You're a difficult woman to track down, Sergeant," mumbles the detective in greeting, without looking up.
After a few moments, he shuts the phone, pocketing it. He palms both knees, sliding the direction of his stare towards the armed Sergeant. "How are things looking?"
Well, the morning -was- peaceful.
The sounds of engines suddenly fill the campus, as APCs and tanks begin to roll down the walkways that crack under weight they weren't meant to hold up. The drivers of the tanks don't seem to care much for where they go, as evidenced by what used to be the rose maze out by the principal's residence.
Despite the fact that there are -tanks- on campus, a few of the students are more curious than scared. Perhaps because not a shot has been fired yet.
One of the tanks pulls to a stop right in front of the Crystal Palace.
A soldier hops out of a nearby APC and waves his arm for attention, holding a bullhorn. "By the request of the Japanese government, we are here to protect you all! All civilians, please remain calm and follow our instructions!"
Did we mention the soldiers all look American?
"Ah, well.." Mai hesitates a moment. "All right," she agrees to Miyu, smiling gratefully. They still don't know who attacked the Academy, so it was best if they stayed in a group. "Thank you, Miyu-san, Ling-san." She glances at Mashiro, "Mashiro-chan, you stay with Tate. And be careful." No arguments! She glances at Tate for a minute, and then quickly away again, pushing open the door and slipping out with her entourage, intent to head across campus.
Right up until she spies the tanks suddenly pouring in, messing up their landsacpe and crushiong Fumi-san's azaleas. As the soldier orders the civilians, several more military soldiers start filing out of the tanks, armed for bear as they start heading for the buildings. Some of the students already on the campus are halted, questioned while the guards consult some pictures in their hands, and then herd them away towards another building.
"What's going on?" One of the students protests as a soldier marches him towards the gym. HIs girlfriend is about to walk with him, but a soldier grabs her by the upper arm, rendering her powerless as he responds, "Please cooperate with us. We have reason to believe that the attack on the bridge last night may have introduced a viral agent into the air. We need to make certain that nobody has been infected! Come with us please, miss." The boys seem to be herded towards the gym, while the girls are being herded towards the nurse's office.
Unnoticed for the moment, Mai brings a hand to her mouth, "What's.. what's going on..?"
And yes, somewhere in there, Chie is madly snapping photos with her cell phone. :D
The mysterious black-cloaked figure hides amongst the trees as the soldiers flood the area. It's strange enough for soldiers to flood the school grounds (how did they get the tanks here, anyway?), but for blatantly foreign soldiers to appear 'on behalf of the Japanese government', 'protecting' people by keeping them where the most danger is instead of evacuating... and then separating them by gender. Well, it doesn't take a phantasmal bubble to see that something's amiss here. From his vantage point, Boogiepop tries to catch a peek at who the photographs the soldiers have are of.
"I try," Celene says, not even slightly surprised that L is RIGHT THERE. "I like the open air, though. I have an apartment--"
She stops, looks off into the distance a few seconds before L or anyone else notices the tanks and APCs rolling down through the area...
"F--" Celene spits, and then raises her rifle again, getting a good look at the man below. She hears things, displeasing things, sees things worse, and then says, "...Ryuzaki. You're smarter than I am." Rare admission. "How much good would it do me to go down there, tell them who I am and what outfit I'm with, and demand to know what in Hell is going on?"
She's standing up and shouldering her Remington already. She walks over to her open case, pulling out a duster (which is heavily laden with ammunation) and slipping it on. She hates the Matrix look - so, so much - but she hates running out of bullets even more. "Because the other option involves me starting a war on a crowded campus."
Those with a good vantage point may recognize some of the faces in those photos some of the soldiers are holding: Mai Tokiha, Mikoto Minagi, Natsuki Kuga, Nao Yuuki, and Yukariko Sanada, the nun of Fuuka's chapel. There's also a picture of Hayate Yagami, Celene Hunter, Ichigo Kurosaki, and Kyon. Strange.
From a rooftop in the main classroom block, a pair of fieldglasses gleam and a pair of braids twitch back and forth in time. "Grr.." mutters the red-headed girl operating the binoculars. "You SURE you're down?"
The blonde responds, "I.. I'm sorry, Arika. But Rena seems to be having problems with the interference too."
"The hovercraft is full of eels," declares the diminutive form of Erstin's Rena-mobile.
"Do we have any idea WHERE Mashiro is?"
"He didn't go to Natsuki's last night..." answers a third, dark-haired girl.
All three members of the Otome Hit Squad sigh as a unit.
There're many secrets to the tall blue-haired woman that Ling will simply have to stay in the dark about-- for a little while, anyway. With things like this happening, who's to say he won't see the 'other' side of the maid? But that will have to come later. Casting a glance upward, Miyu pauses briefly and squints-- two, on the roof? But they don't seem to be of any danger or -in- danger... Her attention returns to the room. "This is suspicious. They have yet to actually identify themselves..."
After one more glance to Mashiro, Miyu moves toward the door and pauses. "Mashiro-sama, shall I?"
"Good morning, Ichigo!" Makoto is all smiles and sparkles as she offers the sleepyberry his steamed rice. Gotta look good for the boys even if her kimono is looking horribly rumpled. She's about to ask him how his night went, when she's rather rudely interrupted by the sounds of rumbling and shouting. "Some wake up call," she mutters as she shuffles over to a window to peek out and see what's going on. "Americans? Here?" The locals are spooked of strange Japanese, this can't bode well at all. Oh hey, they're also seperating the boys and girls and checking IDs.
Makoto frowns. Yes, she's seen this movie before. She's lived it. "Ichigo, I- uh- have some baking to check on, I'll be back later!" And in a whoosh of pink, she disappears out into the hall and towards the nearest janitor's closet. There's never a phonebooth around when you really need one!
L unfolds himself from his peculiar position, tilts over, and flattens himself on his stomach against the roof, peering around at Celene with eyes wide. "The chance of that succeeding in anything but having your body ventilated with bullet holes," he deadpans, "Is about 5 percent. They seem to be here for something in this school and we," with a gesture of one finger pointing in a general 'downwards' direction to indicate the Not Japanese Army guys. "Are an unexpected and unwelcome variable."
Something catches his eye. "...?" He leans forward, his thumb pressed against his mouth. Ryuzaki then waves a thin hand at Celene, still staring at the uniformed men below. "That photograph, try to get a good look at it if you can." Why? No explanation given. "It's time the message went out," he mumbles, reaching again for his cellphone.
The confusion this morning is about to become a little more pronounced. See, by now just about anyone with a cellphone or radio has discovered there is no signal, ever since the bridge was taken out and brought the festival to a distressing close for the evening.
Some had gone to bed.
One visitor for certain had not slept, as mentioned, and the product of the night's efforts is at last paying off. Above the Crystal Dome, hidden and blending in with the gleam of its architecture lay a meticulously crafted contraption built out of found wire and cannibalized equipment. A digital watch was strapped to its side. The minutes changed. The display blinked, once, soundlessly.
Cellphones all over campus received the first of a series of text messages:
Please remain calm.
Our persistent visitors
are not aware of our
advantage - take care
that you do not expose
your cellphone.
Justice will prevail.
After a moment, the message is replaced only by an image, a stylized 'L' on a white background. (http://pics.livejournal.com/distant_genius/pic/00004ayk)
L looks to Celene, shoulders slouching forward. "...Where is your motorcycle?"
"..." Well, that doesn't look good. Ling watches the work of the soldiers in silence for a long time before he turns to Mai and Miyu. "Let's stay back," he suggests, casting another glance back towards the activity on campus. "I think we should find out a little more about what's going on." He squints down at the tanks again, and then grins lopsidedly. "Ha ha ha, forgive me, I may be a little mistrustful, but I always seem to get into trouble when it comes to foreign governments. It's some kind of bad luck!" Of course, he keeps his reasons for his wariness quiet for now. He's still working things out in his head-- he definitely wants more information first.
Ichigo barely has time to say' Hi' when Mako runs off. Then his phone goes off. He pauses to read the text message and frowns. Even when the shuffling outside gets worse.
He makes the mistake of poking his head out and yelling. "What the hell's with this racket? Jeez."
It's all happening pretty quickly...and so Mashiro just watches a bit helplessly as Mai, Miyu and Ling make ready to have a look around, giving a somewhat non-commital nod of his head as appropriate. But if it gets too crazy out there, Mai can't really expect him to just..stay here and take it! For now, though, he erks and turns to his father from another time and space, as he begins convulsing a bit on the floor, "...are you alright..ah..Tate-san?" Are they releasing chemical warfare!? ...no, just looks like a cramp from not taking care of himself!
Reaching down to give him some help in standing up, Mashiro looks back to Miyu as she asks one more time..and gives a nod of his head. "...I'm really sorry, Miyu-san. But..please take care of us for a little longer." He gives a helpless smile, one that wishes he could be of more use in this case, and that everyone else could just relax. Of course...then Mashiro happens to glance out the window at the sudden rise in commotion, and blinks. Could this possibly get even stranger, or *more* suspicious? What next, they commandeer the library as their forward base?
OH GOD WHY DOESN'T IT STOP HURTING?! Tate is left on the ground in pain, horrible pain, well after Mai, Ling and Miyu have absconded... Leaving him alone with Mashiro. That might be a little awkward, at least for the 'princess'. "Tch," mutters the Key, as he sits up, rubbing the back of his neck again. Eventually though, he gets to his feet again, walking over towards the window where Mashiro is looking out. Okay, so: Tanks and stuff. That's different. "The hell is goin' on out there?" he wonders aloud, mostly rhetorically, but if the supposed princess has any ideas, he'd be glad to hear them.
"So what," Tate then adds, this time directly to Mashiro, turning to face the younger boy, folding his arms across his chest. "You happy to just sit here while all hell breaks loose out there? If those soldier guys are comin', they ain't gonna stop just 'cause we're in the girls' dorm." In fact, Yuuichi thinks they should initiate Operation: Find Somewhere Better to Hide. "'sides which, Tokiha just told you to stick with me. Didn't say nothin' 'bout /where/."
Celene grunts at L. "I don't like that answer, but I also think you're right." She turns back around, her thickly-laden coat not moving much at all, and then walks back over to the edge of the building. She reaches into the coat and pulls out a pair of portable this time, not wanting to use her rifle's scope when she knows American troops are around. "God, I'm going to have to fill out so much paperwork..." she mutters, adjusting the focus.
She is stopped by her cell phone vibrating. She reaches down to her jeans pocket, pulls it out and flips it open...and then glances at Ryuzaki.
"You're a crafty little bastard, you know that?" she smirks, and then puts the cell phone away again, finally zeroing in on the men with photographs...the photos themselves...
"... ... /fuck/," she mutters. "We saw some of those people last night... ... ..."
She lets the binoculars fall away from her eyes, and mutters, "...and the one you were pointing at was one of me."
"I agree, Ling-san, but.. we can't stay out in the open like this," Mai whispers to Ling, starting to move away. And then she gets a message on her cell phone, which is.. confusing. "I thought.." The message itself is pretty cryptic, but Mai slides the device back into her pocket.
Ichigo makes the first mistake in doing the whole red flag thing to the enemy. One of the soldiers in the process of dragging a protesting young girl towards the nurses's office glances up at the shout, then confers with his companion, who has a handful of photographs. This man nods, "It's a match." He starts towards the window, pointing, "Please remain calm. We require your assistance. We need to make sure that you have not been contaminated by the attack on the bridge last night. For your own safety, please come with us."
His partner is having a bit of trouble with the girl despite the fact that she's being held in the Princess grip. He tugs on her a little roughly. "Resistance is futile, now come along." The sooner she gets it over with..! The soldiers meanwhile, are spreading out a bit more. Some are leading the boys towards the gym, others lead the girls to the nurse's office, and still more head for the library, where they kick over bookshelves, scatter books all over the place and generally bust up Nagi's sh-- wait, no they don't. They do make it their headquarters though.
The Otome Hit Squad vanishes for the time being, seeing as how though these guys are trained commandos with special forces experience, THEY are also trained commands with special forces experience. They have no intention of getting kidnapped, molested or otherwise hauled off by these morons. They have a JOB to do as soon as they've decided the coast is clear.
Which means they totally went off to find cardboard boxes.
Ichigo Kurosaki frowns at the soldier. He frowns so hard, it could shatter plate steel. "Who the hell are you, and why should I listen to you?" If all else fails, he can ditch his body and then be free to move about, but he wants to get his rebel on for the moment.
His stance is defiant, his body language threatening. He's a freaking interplanar police officer. Besides, he'd know if he were sick. Right?
Ryuzaki climbs to his feet and slinks down after the Sergeant, picking up his laptop bag (and the bag of sweets) on his way. As she notes the cellphone message, the corners of his mouth turn up briefly in a faint smile, pleased. "...We have a lot of work to do. As for those pictures--" he points again, listening for her reply.
L fixes a long stare again on Celene, then glances down at his finger. He'd pointed at random. That he'd indicated a photograph that was of Celene Hunter, the one he'd coincidentally decided to observe first among the IPA operatives--it's just coincidence, but he drops the gesture as one might drop a hot coal. "Do we know their names? We should warn them. I can do so while we're en route. We'll head to--"
L looks up, scanning the surroundings. Somewhere hidden. Somewhere out of the way. Trees. Trees and--L leans forward again, abruptly crouching on the roof with a hand cupping one ear, head tilted. "...Bells?" It's silent, but for the rumble of engines. "There's a chapel here on campus. ...That way. I want to go there. Please verify the identities of those pictured, if you can't, I'll send out a general message."
Boogiepop sighs as Ichigo makes himself known. You can never trust a guy to keep his head down, can you? Oh well, Ichigo can probably take care of himself. That girl in the princess hold, however... the 'shinigami', for that's the name he's taken in his home gate, points at the soldier's wrist.
Said soldier will, with the sole warning of a great gust of wind, suddenly find several of the bones in his grabbing hand have spontaniously broken.
Having compromised this hiding spot by psyblasting, Boogiepop hops out of his tree and moves to find a new one.
Miyu? Cellphone? Not here, nor any internal communications systems that can work within this range. So far out of her world, and so far away from Aries... but she halts, stopping near the door and standing facing Mashiro once more. "It is fine, Mashiro-sama. Your safety is my first priority."
Folding her hands, she calmly asks, "Shall I have the Mithril Dress on standby?" It isn't as though this was a time for subtlety, no matter who was in the room. To her, this moment is no different than the assault on Garderobe...
Commandos hide in cardboard boxes. Squad tanks, on the other hand, settle for the janitor's closet. Makoto reads the message on her communicator and mutters under her breath, "Great, /he/ had to be here too." One would think that having the great detective on-site would be a blessing, but not to this sailor soldier. "Now that's two people who might find out. But I can't fight these guys like this... Argh! I guess its a chance I'll have to take."
"JUPITER POWER!"
For a brief shining moment, it was the most beautiful janitor's closet in the world.
Makoto Kino switches armor modes to Sailor Jupiter.
Somewhere on the Fuuka side of the bridge, a small squad approaches the room which Hayate had, very openly, rented prior to going to the festival. She always does this, so that she can have somewhere to change and soemwhere to rest should festivities drag on too long.
They knock on the door and get no response.
They knock again, without response.
They test the doorknob.
The door, suddenly, opens inward and sucks all of them in, leaving a scattering of black, glowing feathers across the hallway.
Then there is silence.
Ling lingers where he is for a few more moments, his attention falling on a familiar orange-haired teenager. The soldier's reactions are what bothers him the most. And as he sees Ichigo's defiance, the prince can't help but slap a hand to his forehead. As if he expected anything else, but /really/... Well, he has to trust he can take care of himself, because Ling sure as hell isn't going to bail him out of something like this. Except...
When something odd happens to the soldier in question, the prince blinks. He felt something strange just then, and... this could be a good chance to get his hands on what he'd /really/ like to see. "Miss Tokiha, Miss Miyu, fall back behind the building would you for a few moments, would you? I'll meet you there soon." He grins at both of them and, waving a hand, suddenly darts out into the midst of the crowds, not quite running, but at an obviously rushed pace. As he approaches the closest soldier, he suddenly lurches to the right, and then stumbles to the left almost drunkenly... takes a step backwards, and then stumbles and trips, arms flailing, into the unfortunate man.
"...I don't know for sure," Mashiro has to admit to the one he's apparently been left in the care of -- or to care for, it's hard to tell, here. There's a slight narrowing of the eyes, as he thoughtfully looks over the situation. "What I've heard of First District, they'd never make a scene like this. They're all about covering things up." He also highly doubts that the government is really involved, or if they were, it's only in a puppet capacity. That leaves only...! ..uh.. Tate makes a good point, though. In fact, the girl's dorm might be the *worst* place to hide out, since it seems like they have a particular interest in female residents. Just look at all those princess grips going on out there.
..and while Tate's observation is kind of bending what Mai said to what *he* wants to do, he's forced to agree, with a slight nod of his head. "..but it probably wouldn't be good to go without some backup. Let's stop by the kendo club to borrow some things." Borrowing in this case will probably entail 'stealing with intent to return'. Of course, he doesn't know that Tate was an ex-champ or something...but it doesn't take much more than a thug to swing around a wooden sword..! Obviously, the bokutou is the ideal weapon.
There seems to be some more muttering in the ranks of the soldiers. One of them is talking over a radio. Yes, they get working radios. "She -what-? How many? With her -forehead-?" The soldier seems to be getting more and more annoyed as he listens. "Only one got away? Fine, detain the first and inform the Young Miss."
Meanwhile, more and more students are being taken to the gym and nurse's office. From the latter, the occasional sound of a teenage girl sobbing can be heard. It's scary! Most of the boys are silent... but nobody notices a figure darting from one of the back windows in a streak of green.
Since they don't have a HiME or an incredibly advanced killer robot, Tate and Mashiro will just have to take care of themselves! Fortunately, or maybe unfortunately, Yuuichi is no stranger to this sort of thing. "Dunno much 'bout this 'First District' thing," the scarred young man admits, shrugging. "But after what happened last night, those guys ain't here for our well-bein'." Call it a hunch. "So get yourself ready, quick, an' we'll get outta here." The kendo club /is/ a good idea. Besides, Takeda won't mind if they nick a few practice blades, right? Right.
In the meantime, though, Tate frowns thoughtfully to himself, standing by the door. "Huh... Guess every Fuuka's gonna get invaded by somebody, sometime," he mutters to himself, darkly. And once the 'princess' is ready? Escape into the halls! They've got to go find the kendo club gym.
There's not much to change into, for Mashiro. Mostly the clothes that he came over here to Mai's to get ready in. Unfortunately, while it's a shorts and shirt combo again -- he still pretty much looks like a girl, so that's going to be hard to get around. He's also lucky that he came over in his black baseball cap, for his own disguise purposes...but this time it's offered to Tate, just in case they bump into the other. Better than nothing!? Regardless, it doesn't seem Mashiro has mastered the art of girl dressing time lapse, since he's in and out of the bath area fairly quickly. "...alright, let's get out of here."
..hope he even remembers the way to the kendo club. It's not exactly somewhere he frequents.
That's some pretty powerful frowning! The soldier tightens his grip on his rifle, "We'll be asking the questions. Now come out of there," the threat of, 'Or we'll come in and drag you out of there,' is implied but unsaid. He nods at another group of soldiers, who start to make their way towards where Ichigo's staying.
The girl meanwhile, is oblivious to Ichigo's predicament, or any psyblasting about to occur. She stomps on the guard's foot, tugging viciously at her arm -
The wind blows viciously, her short hair whipping about-
The sound of bones breaking and a howl of pain fills her ears-
She falls backward, onto the ground with an OOMPH!
For a second, she just stares at her hand. o O ( D.. Did I .. do that..? I.. I have .. POWERS..?! I /knew/ eating those Krispy Kremes would pay off! )
She stares at the man next, as he'd doubled over in pain, a hand clutching his broken arm and glaring at the girl accusingly. "You--"
"Stay back! I .. I have powers! I'll do it again!" For she is the Guardian of Fuuka, Krispy Kreme! Only not. So very not. Proven when there's a cry of, "GRAB HER!" and a scream as two soldiers converge on the girl. "Kyaah!!!"
Meanwhile, the radio waves amidst the troops are abuzz with information, all of a sudden. "Sir, we're lost contact with Squad D." Then a few minutes later, "Squad D's been found; They're out of comission, babbling about black feathers -"
Mai glances at Ling, "Ah- but what about you?" She asks worriedly. Her worries are not to last, because there's a shout of, "There are some people over there!" And soldiers start heading towards where Ling and the others are. As for the others not spotted yet - run, for great justice!
The last of the lightning arcs away, and the Sailor Soldier of Thunder and Courage, Sailor Jupiter, nearly trips over a mop pail. "Ah! I should've picked a bigger room! Now to get down to business!" Which, in a strange move for the shoujo retard, is not to bust out of the closet and charge the nearest soldier fist-first.
The senshi does come flying down the hall, though, sprinting at full tilt until she rounds a corner and hits her first encounter: Soldiers being borg-like, Ichigo being a rebel, and Ling being drunk. Wait. What? Her ponytail swings with a shake of her head, then in her best I'm Someone Important voice, she announces to the soldiers, "I'm Sailor Jupiter of the IPA! I heard there was a problem, so I came as fast as I could. Is there anything I can do to help?" MAKOTOOOOO JEEEENKIIIIINS!
Celene grunts. "Well, one of the others was Hayate Yagami, she's pretty big. With comms down I couldn't identify much of anyone even if I had the pictures in hand. I think I saw the ugly one a couple times. As for me...It's not uncommon for evil people to be trying to neutralize even lone SWAT agents. We're pretty scary."
She turns on her heels and heads for the stairs. "We're taking the stairs down to my motorcycle. It's not far, but they might try to intercept us on the way."
She picks up the pace as Sailor Jupiter crops up. "Hurry, Ryuzaki. If we're not gone soon, I'm going to have to start killing these people before you're safe."
Implication being that she'll probably end up killing them either way.
Ichigo sneers at the soldiers. They'll have to come and get him. He's not afraid of guns. Let them come get him. It'll feel better when he does /his/ worst later.
Keeping her eyes peeled as they proceed along the campus, Miyu starts trying to track everything that she can immediately percieve-- through sight, sound, whatever means that she can accomplish. Reaching ahead to touch Mai's hand, the maid whispers, "Please, stay back. We should move quickly and give him the time he needs." Stepping back toward the back of the building, Miyu grasps the length of her dress and picks it up a little bit-- then backs up with careful, light-footed steps. "If we can find their command posts, we may be able to formulate a plan..."
Boogiepop glances to the side as the girl proceeds to NOT RUN AWAY when he gives her the perfect opportunity. Sigh. He'll have to find a better hiding place later. Veering back towards the group, he ducks low to the ground and brings one hand to the brim of his hat to hold it in place. To any of those around or above, he's little more than a shapeless black form blasting across the ground.
He says nothing as he approaches the two soldiers, letting his feet do all the talking. With a surprising level of speed and agility, the phantasmal bubble places himself between the Krispy Kream lover and the two soldiers trying to grab her, his leg arcing straight up in the sort of kick you'd only see a scantily-clad ninja doing in a video game. Boot to the chin!
Oh, Tate can probably find it; the layout of the different Fuukas are actually pretty similar, and he'd seen the one back home on more than one occasion. Either through Takeda trying to get him to join, or Takeda trying to murder his ass because of Natsuki. LIFE IS COMPLICATED. "Let's get the hell outta here then," Tate says, leading the way out of the dorm room, leaving the shutting of the door to Mashiro. Leaving by the first side door they come to, Tate leads the way onto the grounds, and then... It's a careful beeline to the Kendo club.
And in the meantime, Tate will just have to ensure their safety with furious punching, and maybe kicks to the groin. He... Doesn't have a lot of finesse, you know?
Mai Tokiha nods at Miyu with a worried glance for Ling, "Hai.." She hopes the others are all right (and then the group are assaulted by a swarm of goblins and a seamonster OMG!! -wait. no) as she hurries towards the back of the building.
When Ling trips into one of the soldiers studying the photos, he stumbles a bit, almost dropping his belongings. Irritated, he shoves Ling back with his shoulder, "Watch it you --" He breaks off, a hand reaching out abruptly to Prince Grip Ling. "You'll have to come with us, sir." He offers a tight smile for the drunk-- well he doesn't smell highly of booze so maybe he's just really really uncoordinated.
What's that dark thing? It's not one of theirs! As Boogiepop makes his presence known... kinda... sorta... well, there's -something- there! In any case, a few of the soldiers waste no time in opening fire. They might not know what that is, but it seems they're no strangers to the paranormal, as there isn't any panicking.
Well, there is a little. A girl nearby lets out a shriek as the soldier 'escorting' her unslings his rifle as well. The man next to him grabs the girl and hurries her off to the nurse's office so she doesn't get shot.
Er.. yeah. Hostages. There are a lot of them.
"Then it can't be helped," exhales L, ducking his head down as he pockets the cellphone. There's little else to do but head down from the roof; he picks his way carefully -- yes, he's still wearing his shoes, and yes, they're still worn without socks as always -- down the stairs without losing either bag of sweets or laptop bag. Before long, he figures, those whose images could be found on those photographs will be well aware of the soldiers' intentions.
A warning at this point may be a little late. "The chapel is undoubtedly part of the Academy's network. I will try to reroute things from there to keep an eye on the proceedings through the campus security cameras." Can he really do that? He did just jury-rig a highly localized cellphone network in one night, maybe he can! "I leave our escape in your hands, Sergeant," adds Ryuzaki with some hesitance.
Or awkwardness. He isn't very good at connecting with people.
Ling wobbles in the soldier's grip, swaying a little. "Ah...?" He looks up at the man uncomprehendingly for a moment. "... So solly? Me no speak you country ranguage?" He closes his eyes, and suddenly opens them with an expression of panic. He purses his lips, eyes going slightly crossed. "W-where bathroom..?!" He clutches at his stomach with his free hand, and quite suddenly LURCHES forward as if he were about to vomit all over the man-- but instead gives the man a hellacious headbutt!! His free hand darts out to swipe the photos out of his hand, and if he manages to grab them, he'll throw himself backwards on to the ground, attempting to either pull himself out of the man's grip or pull the poor soldier down with him.
Celene swears quietly, and says, "/So/ lucky there's not..." under her breath. She keeps walking down, down, down. She is reasonably quiet, but while Celene is many things, a stealth expert is not one of them. Moreover, she is focused more on speed than on stealth, knowing that now she is entering the enemy's domain.
She is taking the stairs, and as she nears the bottom floor, pulls out her Desert Eagle, disabling the safety and chambering a round. She is, despite the situation, the very image of calm composure. "Ryuzaki, if a gunfight starts, get behind something thick and stay there."
Boogiepop is an agile little sunova, and that cloak of his is awfully large. Though several holes are pierced through it as it flares with his movements, and a couple of bullets even manage to graze his skin, no serious damage is done to the phantasmal bubble as he whirls around, giving a roundhouse kick to one of the other soldiers before looking to Krispy Kream girl and... dammit, looks like she got carted off after all. There are far too many of them, he should have known better than to play his hand now. Stupid girl.
Leaping backwards, he dances around the bullets for a moment before trying to dart into the trees once more. Hopefully he'll be dismissed as something paranormal, but he hasn't had any opportunity to build up the rumors in this world to guarantee it.
Presumably, the escape from the dorm itself is successful...but it's best not to linger, since the soldiers, whoever, they are, will likely be heading this way soon! Mashiro moves as stealthily as he can, trying to stay low and behind groudn cover, stopping only once at a comfortable distance from any obvious 'enemy' forces to take a good look at the situation on the school grounds. "...what a mess this is," he mumbles lowly, so as not to give away their presence! Those markings on the tanks, they're not anything he recognizes from Earth-era magazines, and yet...he's seem that symbol somewhere before.
He focuses intensely on that for a moment, but..they can't really afford to stop and think about it, can they? A glance is given to Tate, waiting for him to take the lead, for once, since he 'seems' to have it more together. If only he knew.
Sure, you know, Tate does this kinda stuff all the time! ...Though that's sadly more true than he'd prefer, especially with his being a squishy, and at the moment functionally powerless, human being. But the scarred teenager isn't inclined to let that get him down. Instead, he keeps low, and makes sure Mashiro's behind him, as he leads the way to where he /thinks/ the kendo club gym is, nearer to the tree line behind the school. It's not easy, avoiding all the G.I. Joes with their tanks and their APCs and stuff, but Yuuichi is surprisingly good at rising to the occasion.
He does notice Mashiro's focus though, stopping to glance back at the younger boy, and then in the direction he was looking... And there, Tate's eyes widen faintly. "That looks like..." Nah, it couldn't be. Could it? But he shakes his head, gotta focus on what's in front of them, so he forges ahead once more, leading Mashiro to what is /hopefully/ not their horrific doom. "Mmph... I wonder what that midget chairperson is doin' 'bout all this," he mutters to himself, one Mashiro reminding him of the other.
So he wants to test them? One of the guards points at Ichigo, then at his eyes with two fingers. Or at least one would assume since he's got that helmet on. It's the general area anyway. Three remain outside to keep an eye on Ichigo, so he doesn't get cute and jump out the window. Three more from the squad peel away and head into the building, tromping all over the posies, roses and carnations.
While Sailor Jupitor approaches the soldiers, she is ignored at first. One of the soldiers however, finally turns to the senshi, "There was an attack on the Academy last night, by an unknown person. We have reason to believe that there may have been a viral agent in that attack, so we are isolating the civilians to conduct our investigation." He turns as shots are fired, pauses, and turns back to Jupiter. "If you were here the previous evening, we may need to bring you in and make sure that you haven't been infected as well."
"Damn foreigners." The man matters under his breath, "OI!" He starts to lean out of the way when Ling seems to be about to chuck his cookies on his shoes, and instead the soldier finds the world spinning from that hellacious headbutt. His grip on the photos loosens enough that Ling is able to swipe them. When the Prince falls back, the guard recovers his senses, losing his grip on the man. "AUGH -- SON OF A LEPER!" He snarls, pulling a foot back to kick Ling in the ribs. "Give me those you-" Whether or not the kick was successful, he's going to try and PrinceGrip(tm) Ling again.
Meanwhile! (tm) Over by Mai and Miyu, the HiME and her friend have made it safely behind the building. Mai peers around the corner briefly, and glances towards Miyu, "Ne, they're separating the people they've captured -- you don't think.." She touches a hand to a spot just below her collarbone.
Guest-starring (emitted): Alyssa Searrs, Miyu Greer, Nagi Homura, the mysterious Himitsu no Ninja, and the mighty Krispy Kreme!
WHERE: Fuuka Academy
WHEN: July 28
WHAT: Day after the festival, Searrs invades!
Early morning, the day after the Tamayura festival. Some people are still walking around campus, but they seem a bit confused. Disconnected. Partly because all communications lines were cut, so they still don't know what's going on.
Still, it's a peaceful enough morning, if you ignore the wisps of smoke that still rise from the smoldering bridge.
Makoto is already up early, helping out the best way she can: By making breakfast. She already has several bowls of steamed rice and miso soup ready at the nearest cafeteria/kitchen for whoever wants it, and there's more on the way. She may or may not still have a tinge of worry on her face for Ichigo, depending on whether or not he hopped back into his body before bedtime. Gotta keep up appearances, after all.
When she awoke that morning, Mai had hoped against hope that what happened at the festival last night was just a horrible dream. Of course, that kind of luck isn't with them. Jerking awake, she first looked to the occupants of her room, welcome and unwelcome alike (In case you didn't know, Tate, You're the unwelcome guest. :D)
"..!" Swinging her legs over the side of the bed, she grabs the cell phone on her nightstand, checking for service. Finding nothing, she opted to get changed (double bolting the bathroom door cuz she doesn't trust that Tater. +.+ But once dressed, she checked the occupants of the room, "Ne, I'm going to take another look around." It's.. eerily calm and the peaceful air around the campus that has her a bit .. on edge.
It's almost like last night didn't happen.. ..but waking up in Mai's room, now housing over twice the intended occupancy, brings it all back quickly. Sitting up in bed, where he'd been sleeping facing *away* from Mai (he's no Mikoto), he finds that she's..already up and about, which is somehow to be expected. Rubbing at an eye, he groggily nods his approval, moving to slide on to his feet, himself. He couldn't very well sleep in the borrowed festival wear, but all his proper bed clothes are back at Natsuki's, so he made do with a loaned shirt. A really long shirt.
"...I'll send Miyu if anything happens," he offers, to try and ease any feelings of doubt that leaving the rest of the occupants behind will cause. However, now more awake, and stretching, his brow furrows slightly, "Are you sure you want to go out there alone? Mai-san..."
Having spent all night on her feet, the sight of the Maid of Aries will likely be a comforting one in the dormitories at Fuuka Academy, sitting at attention in the common area of Mai Tokiha's room. Though she's back to wearing those fashion glasses, her attire is changed completely-- not a student uniform, not street clothes, not even the yukata that Natsuki had given to her.
Dressed head to toe in the attire fitting a Western maid, Miyu sits with her hands in her lap and watching over those that reside in the room. Her sensors are set to the maximum and her actual -senses- are likewise driven to a higher-than-normal level, keeping an eye (figuratively speaking) out for any problems that may dare threaten the room's occupants. Looking up as Mai dresses and heads toward the door, the MAID rises to her feet, as if to support Mashiro's words. "I will do whatever I can to assist you, Tokiha-san."
Ever since last night, Takaya Akizuki has been nowhere to be found, almost as if he disappeared off the face of the earth.
There has been, however, a flurry of rumors flying around, of a mysterious person in a black cloak and hat who's been rescuing pretty girls through the night. After all, the end of the world tends to bring out the worst in guys that don't want to die virgins. Whether it's a man or woman varies between who's telling a story, but it's always a being of unearthly beauty...
Boogiepop may or may not have 'rescued' Kyon from Haruhi at some point during the night, wherever they're wandering around.
Somewhere in the woods, Haruhi Suzumiya is making s'mores and is totally oblivious to everything.
Ling has actually been awake for a while. He's always been an early riser, and the feeling of tension that remains in the air had wakened him from a restless sleep. He remains in the corner, his long leather bag laying atop his crossed legs. He'd made no comment when Mai had awakened, and even now he seems oddly silent. His expression is serious, quite the contrast from his foolish grin and demeanor from last night.
When Mai announces her intention, the prince gets to his feet, shouldering his bag and running his hand through his messy bangs. "I'll go with you," he says. It isn't an offer, simply a statement. He glances over to Miyu as the maid expresses similar sentiment. Aside from contemplation of their current situation, the prince had spent some amount of time studying the maid-- not just visually, but spiritually. If there weren't more important things to think about, he'd probably be asking her any number of questions about what, exactly she is. No chi, no real spiritual energy... But visually she seems as human as anyone else. It's bizarre, but he'll save his pestering for another time.
Also in the common area of Mai's dorm room is one (1) Yuuichi Tate, who has probably just had the most uncomfortable night of his life. And really, there's a /lot/ of competition for that particular title. There not being an immense amount of room, and having to 'share' the floor with the ever-watchful MAID and also some supposed 'prince', Tate ended up sleeping huddled in a corner, spending a fitful night trying vainly to get comfortable. He didn't even get a blanket or nothin'! That aside, he didn't sleep well either; strangely, stuff exploding in Fuuka has reminded him of things he'd rather not remember.
But by the time Mai emerges from the bathroom after for some reason barricading herself in there - as if Tate would try anything! Especially with a heavily armed robot in the room! - the Key's dark eyes crack open blearily, and he starts to sit up, at which point there's another crack, this one from the direction of his neck.
Which would be why, bare moments later, Tate is laying curled up on the floor rubbing the back of his neck. OH GOD IT'S THE MUSCLE CRAMP FROM HELL.
Celene Hunter has been awake for an hour or more. Once things calmed down, and she realized that A) they weren't all going to die right now and B) nobody seemed to have noticed her yanking cosmo-magical energy around like a goddess on a bender, she set about getting her SWAT emergency WOrld Ending Catastrophe kit (she never leaves home without it), getting her bike somewhere it won't get stolen, and then, finally, finding somewhere to sleep.
Now, sitting on the rooftop of the Fuuka dorms, Celene Hunter has her Remington out, and is using its scope to look down on the campus below. SHe doesn't know where the others are from last night, although she's pretty much just waiting for L to show up and try to spook her.
"Dammit," she mutters, setting her gun down and leaning back against the rolled-up sleeping bag she slept in. "Every time."
Ichigo did wake up before bedtime. He did a passable job of faking confusion and grogginess. When he steps out to where Makoto is fixing breakfast, he really is confused and groggy, with messy hair and a sleepy look on his face. Without a word, he plops down in a seat and yawns. Loudly.
Sleepyberry.
L, on the other hand, in a total contrast to Celene Hunter, has yet to have gone to sleep, and has been especially busy doing entirely mundane things. A lot of it had to do with picking through pieces of busted equipment, tearing apart functional technology and carefully reconstructing certain parts into ... something.
The something was no longer anywhere to be seen by the time Celene woke up, and no sign of L, either, but now there he is, settling down on the very same rooftop, knees pulled up under his chin, a bag of sweets purchased from vendors during the festival sitting at one side, his cellphone open. He holds it between finger and thumb of one hand, poking at buttons with the fingertip of the other.
"You're a difficult woman to track down, Sergeant," mumbles the detective in greeting, without looking up.
After a few moments, he shuts the phone, pocketing it. He palms both knees, sliding the direction of his stare towards the armed Sergeant. "How are things looking?"
Well, the morning -was- peaceful.
The sounds of engines suddenly fill the campus, as APCs and tanks begin to roll down the walkways that crack under weight they weren't meant to hold up. The drivers of the tanks don't seem to care much for where they go, as evidenced by what used to be the rose maze out by the principal's residence.
Despite the fact that there are -tanks- on campus, a few of the students are more curious than scared. Perhaps because not a shot has been fired yet.
One of the tanks pulls to a stop right in front of the Crystal Palace.
A soldier hops out of a nearby APC and waves his arm for attention, holding a bullhorn. "By the request of the Japanese government, we are here to protect you all! All civilians, please remain calm and follow our instructions!"
Did we mention the soldiers all look American?
"Ah, well.." Mai hesitates a moment. "All right," she agrees to Miyu, smiling gratefully. They still don't know who attacked the Academy, so it was best if they stayed in a group. "Thank you, Miyu-san, Ling-san." She glances at Mashiro, "Mashiro-chan, you stay with Tate. And be careful." No arguments! She glances at Tate for a minute, and then quickly away again, pushing open the door and slipping out with her entourage, intent to head across campus.
Right up until she spies the tanks suddenly pouring in, messing up their landsacpe and crushiong Fumi-san's azaleas. As the soldier orders the civilians, several more military soldiers start filing out of the tanks, armed for bear as they start heading for the buildings. Some of the students already on the campus are halted, questioned while the guards consult some pictures in their hands, and then herd them away towards another building.
"What's going on?" One of the students protests as a soldier marches him towards the gym. HIs girlfriend is about to walk with him, but a soldier grabs her by the upper arm, rendering her powerless as he responds, "Please cooperate with us. We have reason to believe that the attack on the bridge last night may have introduced a viral agent into the air. We need to make certain that nobody has been infected! Come with us please, miss." The boys seem to be herded towards the gym, while the girls are being herded towards the nurse's office.
Unnoticed for the moment, Mai brings a hand to her mouth, "What's.. what's going on..?"
And yes, somewhere in there, Chie is madly snapping photos with her cell phone. :D
The mysterious black-cloaked figure hides amongst the trees as the soldiers flood the area. It's strange enough for soldiers to flood the school grounds (how did they get the tanks here, anyway?), but for blatantly foreign soldiers to appear 'on behalf of the Japanese government', 'protecting' people by keeping them where the most danger is instead of evacuating... and then separating them by gender. Well, it doesn't take a phantasmal bubble to see that something's amiss here. From his vantage point, Boogiepop tries to catch a peek at who the photographs the soldiers have are of.
"I try," Celene says, not even slightly surprised that L is RIGHT THERE. "I like the open air, though. I have an apartment--"
She stops, looks off into the distance a few seconds before L or anyone else notices the tanks and APCs rolling down through the area...
"F--" Celene spits, and then raises her rifle again, getting a good look at the man below. She hears things, displeasing things, sees things worse, and then says, "...Ryuzaki. You're smarter than I am." Rare admission. "How much good would it do me to go down there, tell them who I am and what outfit I'm with, and demand to know what in Hell is going on?"
She's standing up and shouldering her Remington already. She walks over to her open case, pulling out a duster (which is heavily laden with ammunation) and slipping it on. She hates the Matrix look - so, so much - but she hates running out of bullets even more. "Because the other option involves me starting a war on a crowded campus."
Those with a good vantage point may recognize some of the faces in those photos some of the soldiers are holding: Mai Tokiha, Mikoto Minagi, Natsuki Kuga, Nao Yuuki, and Yukariko Sanada, the nun of Fuuka's chapel. There's also a picture of Hayate Yagami, Celene Hunter, Ichigo Kurosaki, and Kyon. Strange.
From a rooftop in the main classroom block, a pair of fieldglasses gleam and a pair of braids twitch back and forth in time. "Grr.." mutters the red-headed girl operating the binoculars. "You SURE you're down?"
The blonde responds, "I.. I'm sorry, Arika. But Rena seems to be having problems with the interference too."
"The hovercraft is full of eels," declares the diminutive form of Erstin's Rena-mobile.
"Do we have any idea WHERE Mashiro is?"
"He didn't go to Natsuki's last night..." answers a third, dark-haired girl.
All three members of the Otome Hit Squad sigh as a unit.
There're many secrets to the tall blue-haired woman that Ling will simply have to stay in the dark about-- for a little while, anyway. With things like this happening, who's to say he won't see the 'other' side of the maid? But that will have to come later. Casting a glance upward, Miyu pauses briefly and squints-- two, on the roof? But they don't seem to be of any danger or -in- danger... Her attention returns to the room. "This is suspicious. They have yet to actually identify themselves..."
After one more glance to Mashiro, Miyu moves toward the door and pauses. "Mashiro-sama, shall I?"
"Good morning, Ichigo!" Makoto is all smiles and sparkles as she offers the sleepyberry his steamed rice. Gotta look good for the boys even if her kimono is looking horribly rumpled. She's about to ask him how his night went, when she's rather rudely interrupted by the sounds of rumbling and shouting. "Some wake up call," she mutters as she shuffles over to a window to peek out and see what's going on. "Americans? Here?" The locals are spooked of strange Japanese, this can't bode well at all. Oh hey, they're also seperating the boys and girls and checking IDs.
Makoto frowns. Yes, she's seen this movie before. She's lived it. "Ichigo, I- uh- have some baking to check on, I'll be back later!" And in a whoosh of pink, she disappears out into the hall and towards the nearest janitor's closet. There's never a phonebooth around when you really need one!
L unfolds himself from his peculiar position, tilts over, and flattens himself on his stomach against the roof, peering around at Celene with eyes wide. "The chance of that succeeding in anything but having your body ventilated with bullet holes," he deadpans, "Is about 5 percent. They seem to be here for something in this school and we," with a gesture of one finger pointing in a general 'downwards' direction to indicate the Not Japanese Army guys. "Are an unexpected and unwelcome variable."
Something catches his eye. "...?" He leans forward, his thumb pressed against his mouth. Ryuzaki then waves a thin hand at Celene, still staring at the uniformed men below. "That photograph, try to get a good look at it if you can." Why? No explanation given. "It's time the message went out," he mumbles, reaching again for his cellphone.
The confusion this morning is about to become a little more pronounced. See, by now just about anyone with a cellphone or radio has discovered there is no signal, ever since the bridge was taken out and brought the festival to a distressing close for the evening.
Some had gone to bed.
One visitor for certain had not slept, as mentioned, and the product of the night's efforts is at last paying off. Above the Crystal Dome, hidden and blending in with the gleam of its architecture lay a meticulously crafted contraption built out of found wire and cannibalized equipment. A digital watch was strapped to its side. The minutes changed. The display blinked, once, soundlessly.
Cellphones all over campus received the first of a series of text messages:
Please remain calm.
Our persistent visitors
are not aware of our
advantage - take care
that you do not expose
your cellphone.
Justice will prevail.
After a moment, the message is replaced only by an image, a stylized 'L' on a white background. (http://pics.livejournal.com/distant_genius/pic/00004ayk)
L looks to Celene, shoulders slouching forward. "...Where is your motorcycle?"
"..." Well, that doesn't look good. Ling watches the work of the soldiers in silence for a long time before he turns to Mai and Miyu. "Let's stay back," he suggests, casting another glance back towards the activity on campus. "I think we should find out a little more about what's going on." He squints down at the tanks again, and then grins lopsidedly. "Ha ha ha, forgive me, I may be a little mistrustful, but I always seem to get into trouble when it comes to foreign governments. It's some kind of bad luck!" Of course, he keeps his reasons for his wariness quiet for now. He's still working things out in his head-- he definitely wants more information first.
Ichigo barely has time to say' Hi' when Mako runs off. Then his phone goes off. He pauses to read the text message and frowns. Even when the shuffling outside gets worse.
He makes the mistake of poking his head out and yelling. "What the hell's with this racket? Jeez."
It's all happening pretty quickly...and so Mashiro just watches a bit helplessly as Mai, Miyu and Ling make ready to have a look around, giving a somewhat non-commital nod of his head as appropriate. But if it gets too crazy out there, Mai can't really expect him to just..stay here and take it! For now, though, he erks and turns to his father from another time and space, as he begins convulsing a bit on the floor, "...are you alright..ah..Tate-san?" Are they releasing chemical warfare!? ...no, just looks like a cramp from not taking care of himself!
Reaching down to give him some help in standing up, Mashiro looks back to Miyu as she asks one more time..and gives a nod of his head. "...I'm really sorry, Miyu-san. But..please take care of us for a little longer." He gives a helpless smile, one that wishes he could be of more use in this case, and that everyone else could just relax. Of course...then Mashiro happens to glance out the window at the sudden rise in commotion, and blinks. Could this possibly get even stranger, or *more* suspicious? What next, they commandeer the library as their forward base?
OH GOD WHY DOESN'T IT STOP HURTING?! Tate is left on the ground in pain, horrible pain, well after Mai, Ling and Miyu have absconded... Leaving him alone with Mashiro. That might be a little awkward, at least for the 'princess'. "Tch," mutters the Key, as he sits up, rubbing the back of his neck again. Eventually though, he gets to his feet again, walking over towards the window where Mashiro is looking out. Okay, so: Tanks and stuff. That's different. "The hell is goin' on out there?" he wonders aloud, mostly rhetorically, but if the supposed princess has any ideas, he'd be glad to hear them.
"So what," Tate then adds, this time directly to Mashiro, turning to face the younger boy, folding his arms across his chest. "You happy to just sit here while all hell breaks loose out there? If those soldier guys are comin', they ain't gonna stop just 'cause we're in the girls' dorm." In fact, Yuuichi thinks they should initiate Operation: Find Somewhere Better to Hide. "'sides which, Tokiha just told you to stick with me. Didn't say nothin' 'bout /where/."
Celene grunts at L. "I don't like that answer, but I also think you're right." She turns back around, her thickly-laden coat not moving much at all, and then walks back over to the edge of the building. She reaches into the coat and pulls out a pair of portable this time, not wanting to use her rifle's scope when she knows American troops are around. "God, I'm going to have to fill out so much paperwork..." she mutters, adjusting the focus.
She is stopped by her cell phone vibrating. She reaches down to her jeans pocket, pulls it out and flips it open...and then glances at Ryuzaki.
"You're a crafty little bastard, you know that?" she smirks, and then puts the cell phone away again, finally zeroing in on the men with photographs...the photos themselves...
"... ... /fuck/," she mutters. "We saw some of those people last night... ... ..."
She lets the binoculars fall away from her eyes, and mutters, "...and the one you were pointing at was one of me."
"I agree, Ling-san, but.. we can't stay out in the open like this," Mai whispers to Ling, starting to move away. And then she gets a message on her cell phone, which is.. confusing. "I thought.." The message itself is pretty cryptic, but Mai slides the device back into her pocket.
Ichigo makes the first mistake in doing the whole red flag thing to the enemy. One of the soldiers in the process of dragging a protesting young girl towards the nurses's office glances up at the shout, then confers with his companion, who has a handful of photographs. This man nods, "It's a match." He starts towards the window, pointing, "Please remain calm. We require your assistance. We need to make sure that you have not been contaminated by the attack on the bridge last night. For your own safety, please come with us."
His partner is having a bit of trouble with the girl despite the fact that she's being held in the Princess grip. He tugs on her a little roughly. "Resistance is futile, now come along." The sooner she gets it over with..! The soldiers meanwhile, are spreading out a bit more. Some are leading the boys towards the gym, others lead the girls to the nurse's office, and still more head for the library, where they kick over bookshelves, scatter books all over the place and generally bust up Nagi's sh-- wait, no they don't. They do make it their headquarters though.
The Otome Hit Squad vanishes for the time being, seeing as how though these guys are trained commandos with special forces experience, THEY are also trained commands with special forces experience. They have no intention of getting kidnapped, molested or otherwise hauled off by these morons. They have a JOB to do as soon as they've decided the coast is clear.
Which means they totally went off to find cardboard boxes.
Ichigo Kurosaki frowns at the soldier. He frowns so hard, it could shatter plate steel. "Who the hell are you, and why should I listen to you?" If all else fails, he can ditch his body and then be free to move about, but he wants to get his rebel on for the moment.
His stance is defiant, his body language threatening. He's a freaking interplanar police officer. Besides, he'd know if he were sick. Right?
Ryuzaki climbs to his feet and slinks down after the Sergeant, picking up his laptop bag (and the bag of sweets) on his way. As she notes the cellphone message, the corners of his mouth turn up briefly in a faint smile, pleased. "...We have a lot of work to do. As for those pictures--" he points again, listening for her reply.
L fixes a long stare again on Celene, then glances down at his finger. He'd pointed at random. That he'd indicated a photograph that was of Celene Hunter, the one he'd coincidentally decided to observe first among the IPA operatives--it's just coincidence, but he drops the gesture as one might drop a hot coal. "Do we know their names? We should warn them. I can do so while we're en route. We'll head to--"
L looks up, scanning the surroundings. Somewhere hidden. Somewhere out of the way. Trees. Trees and--L leans forward again, abruptly crouching on the roof with a hand cupping one ear, head tilted. "...Bells?" It's silent, but for the rumble of engines. "There's a chapel here on campus. ...That way. I want to go there. Please verify the identities of those pictured, if you can't, I'll send out a general message."
Boogiepop sighs as Ichigo makes himself known. You can never trust a guy to keep his head down, can you? Oh well, Ichigo can probably take care of himself. That girl in the princess hold, however... the 'shinigami', for that's the name he's taken in his home gate, points at the soldier's wrist.
Said soldier will, with the sole warning of a great gust of wind, suddenly find several of the bones in his grabbing hand have spontaniously broken.
Having compromised this hiding spot by psyblasting, Boogiepop hops out of his tree and moves to find a new one.
Miyu? Cellphone? Not here, nor any internal communications systems that can work within this range. So far out of her world, and so far away from Aries... but she halts, stopping near the door and standing facing Mashiro once more. "It is fine, Mashiro-sama. Your safety is my first priority."
Folding her hands, she calmly asks, "Shall I have the Mithril Dress on standby?" It isn't as though this was a time for subtlety, no matter who was in the room. To her, this moment is no different than the assault on Garderobe...
Commandos hide in cardboard boxes. Squad tanks, on the other hand, settle for the janitor's closet. Makoto reads the message on her communicator and mutters under her breath, "Great, /he/ had to be here too." One would think that having the great detective on-site would be a blessing, but not to this sailor soldier. "Now that's two people who might find out. But I can't fight these guys like this... Argh! I guess its a chance I'll have to take."
"JUPITER POWER!"
For a brief shining moment, it was the most beautiful janitor's closet in the world.
Makoto Kino switches armor modes to Sailor Jupiter.
Somewhere on the Fuuka side of the bridge, a small squad approaches the room which Hayate had, very openly, rented prior to going to the festival. She always does this, so that she can have somewhere to change and soemwhere to rest should festivities drag on too long.
They knock on the door and get no response.
They knock again, without response.
They test the doorknob.
The door, suddenly, opens inward and sucks all of them in, leaving a scattering of black, glowing feathers across the hallway.
Then there is silence.
Ling lingers where he is for a few more moments, his attention falling on a familiar orange-haired teenager. The soldier's reactions are what bothers him the most. And as he sees Ichigo's defiance, the prince can't help but slap a hand to his forehead. As if he expected anything else, but /really/... Well, he has to trust he can take care of himself, because Ling sure as hell isn't going to bail him out of something like this. Except...
When something odd happens to the soldier in question, the prince blinks. He felt something strange just then, and... this could be a good chance to get his hands on what he'd /really/ like to see. "Miss Tokiha, Miss Miyu, fall back behind the building would you for a few moments, would you? I'll meet you there soon." He grins at both of them and, waving a hand, suddenly darts out into the midst of the crowds, not quite running, but at an obviously rushed pace. As he approaches the closest soldier, he suddenly lurches to the right, and then stumbles to the left almost drunkenly... takes a step backwards, and then stumbles and trips, arms flailing, into the unfortunate man.
"...I don't know for sure," Mashiro has to admit to the one he's apparently been left in the care of -- or to care for, it's hard to tell, here. There's a slight narrowing of the eyes, as he thoughtfully looks over the situation. "What I've heard of First District, they'd never make a scene like this. They're all about covering things up." He also highly doubts that the government is really involved, or if they were, it's only in a puppet capacity. That leaves only...! ..uh.. Tate makes a good point, though. In fact, the girl's dorm might be the *worst* place to hide out, since it seems like they have a particular interest in female residents. Just look at all those princess grips going on out there.
..and while Tate's observation is kind of bending what Mai said to what *he* wants to do, he's forced to agree, with a slight nod of his head. "..but it probably wouldn't be good to go without some backup. Let's stop by the kendo club to borrow some things." Borrowing in this case will probably entail 'stealing with intent to return'. Of course, he doesn't know that Tate was an ex-champ or something...but it doesn't take much more than a thug to swing around a wooden sword..! Obviously, the bokutou is the ideal weapon.
There seems to be some more muttering in the ranks of the soldiers. One of them is talking over a radio. Yes, they get working radios. "She -what-? How many? With her -forehead-?" The soldier seems to be getting more and more annoyed as he listens. "Only one got away? Fine, detain the first and inform the Young Miss."
Meanwhile, more and more students are being taken to the gym and nurse's office. From the latter, the occasional sound of a teenage girl sobbing can be heard. It's scary! Most of the boys are silent... but nobody notices a figure darting from one of the back windows in a streak of green.
Since they don't have a HiME or an incredibly advanced killer robot, Tate and Mashiro will just have to take care of themselves! Fortunately, or maybe unfortunately, Yuuichi is no stranger to this sort of thing. "Dunno much 'bout this 'First District' thing," the scarred young man admits, shrugging. "But after what happened last night, those guys ain't here for our well-bein'." Call it a hunch. "So get yourself ready, quick, an' we'll get outta here." The kendo club /is/ a good idea. Besides, Takeda won't mind if they nick a few practice blades, right? Right.
In the meantime, though, Tate frowns thoughtfully to himself, standing by the door. "Huh... Guess every Fuuka's gonna get invaded by somebody, sometime," he mutters to himself, darkly. And once the 'princess' is ready? Escape into the halls! They've got to go find the kendo club gym.
There's not much to change into, for Mashiro. Mostly the clothes that he came over here to Mai's to get ready in. Unfortunately, while it's a shorts and shirt combo again -- he still pretty much looks like a girl, so that's going to be hard to get around. He's also lucky that he came over in his black baseball cap, for his own disguise purposes...but this time it's offered to Tate, just in case they bump into the other. Better than nothing!? Regardless, it doesn't seem Mashiro has mastered the art of girl dressing time lapse, since he's in and out of the bath area fairly quickly. "...alright, let's get out of here."
..hope he even remembers the way to the kendo club. It's not exactly somewhere he frequents.
That's some pretty powerful frowning! The soldier tightens his grip on his rifle, "We'll be asking the questions. Now come out of there," the threat of, 'Or we'll come in and drag you out of there,' is implied but unsaid. He nods at another group of soldiers, who start to make their way towards where Ichigo's staying.
The girl meanwhile, is oblivious to Ichigo's predicament, or any psyblasting about to occur. She stomps on the guard's foot, tugging viciously at her arm -
The wind blows viciously, her short hair whipping about-
The sound of bones breaking and a howl of pain fills her ears-
She falls backward, onto the ground with an OOMPH!
For a second, she just stares at her hand. o O ( D.. Did I .. do that..? I.. I have .. POWERS..?! I /knew/ eating those Krispy Kremes would pay off! )
She stares at the man next, as he'd doubled over in pain, a hand clutching his broken arm and glaring at the girl accusingly. "You--"
"Stay back! I .. I have powers! I'll do it again!" For she is the Guardian of Fuuka, Krispy Kreme! Only not. So very not. Proven when there's a cry of, "GRAB HER!" and a scream as two soldiers converge on the girl. "Kyaah!!!"
Meanwhile, the radio waves amidst the troops are abuzz with information, all of a sudden. "Sir, we're lost contact with Squad D." Then a few minutes later, "Squad D's been found; They're out of comission, babbling about black feathers -"
Mai glances at Ling, "Ah- but what about you?" She asks worriedly. Her worries are not to last, because there's a shout of, "There are some people over there!" And soldiers start heading towards where Ling and the others are. As for the others not spotted yet - run, for great justice!
The last of the lightning arcs away, and the Sailor Soldier of Thunder and Courage, Sailor Jupiter, nearly trips over a mop pail. "Ah! I should've picked a bigger room! Now to get down to business!" Which, in a strange move for the shoujo retard, is not to bust out of the closet and charge the nearest soldier fist-first.
The senshi does come flying down the hall, though, sprinting at full tilt until she rounds a corner and hits her first encounter: Soldiers being borg-like, Ichigo being a rebel, and Ling being drunk. Wait. What? Her ponytail swings with a shake of her head, then in her best I'm Someone Important voice, she announces to the soldiers, "I'm Sailor Jupiter of the IPA! I heard there was a problem, so I came as fast as I could. Is there anything I can do to help?" MAKOTOOOOO JEEEENKIIIIINS!
Celene grunts. "Well, one of the others was Hayate Yagami, she's pretty big. With comms down I couldn't identify much of anyone even if I had the pictures in hand. I think I saw the ugly one a couple times. As for me...It's not uncommon for evil people to be trying to neutralize even lone SWAT agents. We're pretty scary."
She turns on her heels and heads for the stairs. "We're taking the stairs down to my motorcycle. It's not far, but they might try to intercept us on the way."
She picks up the pace as Sailor Jupiter crops up. "Hurry, Ryuzaki. If we're not gone soon, I'm going to have to start killing these people before you're safe."
Implication being that she'll probably end up killing them either way.
Ichigo sneers at the soldiers. They'll have to come and get him. He's not afraid of guns. Let them come get him. It'll feel better when he does /his/ worst later.
Keeping her eyes peeled as they proceed along the campus, Miyu starts trying to track everything that she can immediately percieve-- through sight, sound, whatever means that she can accomplish. Reaching ahead to touch Mai's hand, the maid whispers, "Please, stay back. We should move quickly and give him the time he needs." Stepping back toward the back of the building, Miyu grasps the length of her dress and picks it up a little bit-- then backs up with careful, light-footed steps. "If we can find their command posts, we may be able to formulate a plan..."
Boogiepop glances to the side as the girl proceeds to NOT RUN AWAY when he gives her the perfect opportunity. Sigh. He'll have to find a better hiding place later. Veering back towards the group, he ducks low to the ground and brings one hand to the brim of his hat to hold it in place. To any of those around or above, he's little more than a shapeless black form blasting across the ground.
He says nothing as he approaches the two soldiers, letting his feet do all the talking. With a surprising level of speed and agility, the phantasmal bubble places himself between the Krispy Kream lover and the two soldiers trying to grab her, his leg arcing straight up in the sort of kick you'd only see a scantily-clad ninja doing in a video game. Boot to the chin!
Oh, Tate can probably find it; the layout of the different Fuukas are actually pretty similar, and he'd seen the one back home on more than one occasion. Either through Takeda trying to get him to join, or Takeda trying to murder his ass because of Natsuki. LIFE IS COMPLICATED. "Let's get the hell outta here then," Tate says, leading the way out of the dorm room, leaving the shutting of the door to Mashiro. Leaving by the first side door they come to, Tate leads the way onto the grounds, and then... It's a careful beeline to the Kendo club.
And in the meantime, Tate will just have to ensure their safety with furious punching, and maybe kicks to the groin. He... Doesn't have a lot of finesse, you know?
Mai Tokiha nods at Miyu with a worried glance for Ling, "Hai.." She hopes the others are all right (and then the group are assaulted by a swarm of goblins and a seamonster OMG!! -wait. no) as she hurries towards the back of the building.
When Ling trips into one of the soldiers studying the photos, he stumbles a bit, almost dropping his belongings. Irritated, he shoves Ling back with his shoulder, "Watch it you --" He breaks off, a hand reaching out abruptly to Prince Grip Ling. "You'll have to come with us, sir." He offers a tight smile for the drunk-- well he doesn't smell highly of booze so maybe he's just really really uncoordinated.
What's that dark thing? It's not one of theirs! As Boogiepop makes his presence known... kinda... sorta... well, there's -something- there! In any case, a few of the soldiers waste no time in opening fire. They might not know what that is, but it seems they're no strangers to the paranormal, as there isn't any panicking.
Well, there is a little. A girl nearby lets out a shriek as the soldier 'escorting' her unslings his rifle as well. The man next to him grabs the girl and hurries her off to the nurse's office so she doesn't get shot.
Er.. yeah. Hostages. There are a lot of them.
"Then it can't be helped," exhales L, ducking his head down as he pockets the cellphone. There's little else to do but head down from the roof; he picks his way carefully -- yes, he's still wearing his shoes, and yes, they're still worn without socks as always -- down the stairs without losing either bag of sweets or laptop bag. Before long, he figures, those whose images could be found on those photographs will be well aware of the soldiers' intentions.
A warning at this point may be a little late. "The chapel is undoubtedly part of the Academy's network. I will try to reroute things from there to keep an eye on the proceedings through the campus security cameras." Can he really do that? He did just jury-rig a highly localized cellphone network in one night, maybe he can! "I leave our escape in your hands, Sergeant," adds Ryuzaki with some hesitance.
Or awkwardness. He isn't very good at connecting with people.
Ling wobbles in the soldier's grip, swaying a little. "Ah...?" He looks up at the man uncomprehendingly for a moment. "... So solly? Me no speak you country ranguage?" He closes his eyes, and suddenly opens them with an expression of panic. He purses his lips, eyes going slightly crossed. "W-where bathroom..?!" He clutches at his stomach with his free hand, and quite suddenly LURCHES forward as if he were about to vomit all over the man-- but instead gives the man a hellacious headbutt!! His free hand darts out to swipe the photos out of his hand, and if he manages to grab them, he'll throw himself backwards on to the ground, attempting to either pull himself out of the man's grip or pull the poor soldier down with him.
Celene swears quietly, and says, "/So/ lucky there's not..." under her breath. She keeps walking down, down, down. She is reasonably quiet, but while Celene is many things, a stealth expert is not one of them. Moreover, she is focused more on speed than on stealth, knowing that now she is entering the enemy's domain.
She is taking the stairs, and as she nears the bottom floor, pulls out her Desert Eagle, disabling the safety and chambering a round. She is, despite the situation, the very image of calm composure. "Ryuzaki, if a gunfight starts, get behind something thick and stay there."
Boogiepop is an agile little sunova, and that cloak of his is awfully large. Though several holes are pierced through it as it flares with his movements, and a couple of bullets even manage to graze his skin, no serious damage is done to the phantasmal bubble as he whirls around, giving a roundhouse kick to one of the other soldiers before looking to Krispy Kream girl and... dammit, looks like she got carted off after all. There are far too many of them, he should have known better than to play his hand now. Stupid girl.
Leaping backwards, he dances around the bullets for a moment before trying to dart into the trees once more. Hopefully he'll be dismissed as something paranormal, but he hasn't had any opportunity to build up the rumors in this world to guarantee it.
Presumably, the escape from the dorm itself is successful...but it's best not to linger, since the soldiers, whoever, they are, will likely be heading this way soon! Mashiro moves as stealthily as he can, trying to stay low and behind groudn cover, stopping only once at a comfortable distance from any obvious 'enemy' forces to take a good look at the situation on the school grounds. "...what a mess this is," he mumbles lowly, so as not to give away their presence! Those markings on the tanks, they're not anything he recognizes from Earth-era magazines, and yet...he's seem that symbol somewhere before.
He focuses intensely on that for a moment, but..they can't really afford to stop and think about it, can they? A glance is given to Tate, waiting for him to take the lead, for once, since he 'seems' to have it more together. If only he knew.
Sure, you know, Tate does this kinda stuff all the time! ...Though that's sadly more true than he'd prefer, especially with his being a squishy, and at the moment functionally powerless, human being. But the scarred teenager isn't inclined to let that get him down. Instead, he keeps low, and makes sure Mashiro's behind him, as he leads the way to where he /thinks/ the kendo club gym is, nearer to the tree line behind the school. It's not easy, avoiding all the G.I. Joes with their tanks and their APCs and stuff, but Yuuichi is surprisingly good at rising to the occasion.
He does notice Mashiro's focus though, stopping to glance back at the younger boy, and then in the direction he was looking... And there, Tate's eyes widen faintly. "That looks like..." Nah, it couldn't be. Could it? But he shakes his head, gotta focus on what's in front of them, so he forges ahead once more, leading Mashiro to what is /hopefully/ not their horrific doom. "Mmph... I wonder what that midget chairperson is doin' 'bout all this," he mutters to himself, one Mashiro reminding him of the other.
So he wants to test them? One of the guards points at Ichigo, then at his eyes with two fingers. Or at least one would assume since he's got that helmet on. It's the general area anyway. Three remain outside to keep an eye on Ichigo, so he doesn't get cute and jump out the window. Three more from the squad peel away and head into the building, tromping all over the posies, roses and carnations.
While Sailor Jupitor approaches the soldiers, she is ignored at first. One of the soldiers however, finally turns to the senshi, "There was an attack on the Academy last night, by an unknown person. We have reason to believe that there may have been a viral agent in that attack, so we are isolating the civilians to conduct our investigation." He turns as shots are fired, pauses, and turns back to Jupiter. "If you were here the previous evening, we may need to bring you in and make sure that you haven't been infected as well."
"Damn foreigners." The man matters under his breath, "OI!" He starts to lean out of the way when Ling seems to be about to chuck his cookies on his shoes, and instead the soldier finds the world spinning from that hellacious headbutt. His grip on the photos loosens enough that Ling is able to swipe them. When the Prince falls back, the guard recovers his senses, losing his grip on the man. "AUGH -- SON OF A LEPER!" He snarls, pulling a foot back to kick Ling in the ribs. "Give me those you-" Whether or not the kick was successful, he's going to try and PrinceGrip(tm) Ling again.
Meanwhile! (tm) Over by Mai and Miyu, the HiME and her friend have made it safely behind the building. Mai peers around the corner briefly, and glances towards Miyu, "Ne, they're separating the people they've captured -- you don't think.." She touches a hand to a spot just below her collarbone.