[Log] Attack on Isurugi [2/2]
Watch For: Tux and Han teaming up, Aya's Itano Circus, Grand Theft Classified Data Server, Junior working on his witty banter, Ripoff attacks galore, SUPER NOOGIE, Gai!, Bride's name suggestion.
Upon seeing that shark-toothed grin, Mitsuko begins to seriously reconsider her business strategy here. While it technically (possibly) would endear Rufus to her if he was able to protect her throughout this whole ordeal, there were other risk factors to consider.
When she mentally compiles the risk assessment, she decides that the presence of the hazards here outweighed some 'crisis time' with the IPA commander. Especially if she is liable to get /eaten/.
Of course this leads to Mitsuko whimpering a 'thank you' before running the hell away.
Han Su Li is, currently, not very carying of what just happened there. That headlock was painful, but the knockback from god-knows-what was even more annoying. Still bound and relatively helpless as he follows, rather unwillingly, the strange ninja up in the air as he fires a weapon down, he thinks of a plan. He has to get free from this stuff, and fast!
He struggles against the binding, unsuccessfull at first as he uses mere muscles...but then, he remembers to do things...differently. A moment of concentration, and the young martial artist pool into his reserves of energy, pulling his legs upward in an herculean effort to ensar the neck of the air-born ninja and lock them in, then, with a relatively painful hip twist, twist them and projects back DOWN.
Ruri falls on her butt from the impact, but hey. At least her head was properly protected. "Ow... bakabaka!" Ruri spits out as she picks herself up off of the floor. Then again, Nergal does tell her which way the exit is and warns her about the ninja. "Thank you." With one last look at Nergal, Ruri starts dashing for the exit, having no intention to die in a fire.
Up on the Nadesico, Core Pits are being loaded into Aestivalis frames as the pilots climb the ladders that will take them too their craft. Soon, they'll be ready.
Erim is absolutely trustworthy and will certainly never even think of betraying her brothers. Certainly not.
She has other things to worry about anyway, like the slash that goes across her hip and around to the back. That stings, inasmuch as Erim feels pain the same way as a mortal does; it's also very annoying. "Likely," Erim says, not quite rumbling. That's really Daos' job. Her voice is a bit too high-pitched to do it properly.
Erim snaps her hand down. She doesn't need to say /words/ to cast spells. Manipulating her aura is enough. Lightning bolts answer her call, one bolt striking straight down from the blue sky and /hanging/ there for several seconds, twisting in place and drilling a hole in the ground. And possibly in Lenneth but we'll just call that collateral damage.
Erim hits Lenneth Valkyrie with her Thunder attack.
"Bye, Ruri!" Now, where do they keep the good stuff. Nergal Junior steps through the fires in the main headquarters, stopping to look up at the first directory he can find. A little burnt. "Where do I want to go...?" he asks himself.
Maybe that big unmapped area in the basement.
Junior strolls whistling to the nearest elevator, and then reduces to a thin puddle of black goo, passing through the crack between the elevator door and the wall, and crawling down the sides of the elevator shaft until he can exit at the classified basement level. The puddle is also whistling.
"But isn't - it?" Bride says, as she's shoved backwards far enough to give Rufus time to make his maneuver. "You try to preserve it; we try to spill it; the criminals in their holes try to steal their share... It all comes down to... aaahn!!"
The fireballs aren't eludable, at least not clearly. They strike Bride dead on, exploiting, perhaps, the Abyssal's cockiness. The smell that rises from her as she staggers back, head lolling forwards, is like grilled steak two days too long in the marinade. She drops the goremaul... which never hits the ground.
Instead one bare hand strikes outwards towards Rufus's midsection, the jade-and-soulsteel prosthetic following up with an effort to grab the neck. If she can heft the man up, she does, then, throwing him bodily into the side of the Calion prototype. "Haaaah," Bride breathes, the air around her shimmering faintly...
Threadbare Bride gets a glancing blow on Rufus with her Switching from Melee To M.A., or, Setting Up Ibis's Ultimate Failure jab.
"Hm." Lenneth says, lowering her sword for a moment, perhaps getting cocky?! She is from a world where you have to give like 30 second incantations to cast a spell and they expect you to stand still through the whole thing as well. As such, when the electrical assault is unleashed--she takes the blast full on. "AGgggh!" She shouts, hovering in midair as the electric blast eluminates her body!
"N, no....!" She shouts. Not the Death Goddess! The Mother! She wants to be the gu--okay, that's just a generic exclamation. Lenneth vanishes briefly--appearing in midair and behind Erim--at which point she slashes down for her back. Apparently, Lenneth can fly too. Maybe she thinks Erim can't reach her there!
Lenneth Valkyrie gets a glancing blow on Erim with her Wants To Be The Valkyrie attack.
Dynamo learns new bodies fast. (Her Assembly-mates will tell you that this is because she goes through them damn quick for an Alchemical, which is perfect truth.) As the railgun projectiles tear into the R-3, the Exalt takes advantage of her opponent's obvious emotional distress to try and intuit more of the vehicle's subsystems. It does not take her long to find yet another familiar one.
"Your emotions control you!" Pot, this is kettle, I find your color to be familiar. Dynamo does not continue her taunting, because Aya then starts firing at her; the Exalt is forced to throw the vehicle into a series of awkward 'dodges' to escape the bullets. Several tear into the Lion's legs, but none come close to hitting the cockpit. Then one hand reaches back, detaching a sword from the back of the vehicle. "YAAAAAH!" The Alchemical engages the Tesla Drive again, jetting towards the R-3 and bringing the sword down in a savage stroke. At least she has no idea how the chainsaw teeth work yet.
You hit Aya Kobayashi with your EENSY-BEENSY SWORD jab.
A knife slings in, and Tuxedo Mask isn't fast enough to retract his cane and bat it aside. It clips him in the shoulder, shredding cloth and loosing blood. This causes him to frown before he draws his cape across himself and vanishes in a burst of rose petals.
He reappears without the roses on the ground close to Han and the Saboteur. "Cease this nonsense! There is no point in harming this place!" The Black Alliance can't be reasoned with, silly Mamoru. His free hand draws back, curling into a fist. Energy, rose pink, burst to life around his fist. It glows like fire but isn't. He stutter steps, half running at the Exalt as he drives his fist forward, splaying his hand and loosing the power point blank. And, yes, it has its own call.
"Tuxedo La Smoking Bomber!"
He hates you, future-him.
Erim is already eighty percent cooler than the Valkyrie. You can tell because she's also eighty percent taller.
Erim cannot easily reach the middle of her own back. Lenneth was right there. She twists around as something jabs in, trying to dislodge it but never quite managing it. She's starting to get annoyed here; her face is getting stormy.
Erim starts to lift up, above the field. This may put her into range of anti-aircraft weaponry; she doesn't care. Lenneth can follow her, she knows that - and Erim wants her to. She's intriguing, even if she can't say why.
It also gives her air burst a little more range. Weird light radiates away from Erim, almost appearing black from the outside and purple while you're in it. People all over the battlefield might feel their energy sapped, just a bit - and it works on machines, too, eating just a bit of their power. For most people it is an annoyance, nothing more.
For Lenneth, who it is directed at, it is actually serious, as Erim tries to steal her energy away... but not as much as that ray would have been.
Erim gets a glancing blow on Lenneth Valkyrie with her Eerie Light attack.
Trenchant Brazen Saboteur loses his balance. Han's legs lock around his neck, and he falls backwards--at least he has enough grace to twist mid-fall so he can try and use Han as a cushion. Having two-hundred-odd pounds of metal and clay landing on you is not fun.
At least Saboteur lets go of Han as soon as he lands. The Exalt leaps to his feet, Tuxedo Mask's energy-powered punch glancing off his chest; it hurts far more than it has any right to, and leaves a scorch mark, but it's not like it can knock the wind out of him. Brazen Saboteur lives up to his name once again, as he reaches out to touch Mamoru's arm with two extended fingers. If it connects, the muscles will suddenly go limp, numb, and unresponsive, rendering the whole limb useless. No actual physical damage, fortunately, but that's cold comfort in the middle of a fight.
The first Aestivalis launched from the Nadesico's catapault is Akito's pink Core Pit loaded into the Artillery Frame. After being shot out of the launch bay, the too heavy to fly machine sinks down to the ground level, cracking the tarmac with its impact. Coming out behind that is Ryoko's cherry red Battle Frame. She lands next to Akito as a bodyguard for the much less agile machine with much more grace. Izumi and Hikaru launch next, the teal and orange Battle Frames taking off towards the hangars. Behind them, Gai and Akatsuki launch practically on top of each other in the blue aerial frames, taking up positions to ensure aerial superiority.
IPA reinforcements are only seconds away.
Ruri herself takes three steps out into the middle of the hangar and sees a crazy undead lady attacking people, a Lion F fighting the R-3, and an incoming Aestivalis units. She turns around and decides to take her chances with the fire.
Ruri Hoshino switches armor modes to Aestivalis Complement.
Heh heh, stormy face. Lenneth doesn't know WHY Erim is blowing up random shit, but she remembers how Hrist acted: It's probably because she CAN blow up random shit--and it's fun! This is why people like Mayhem Missions over Safeguards, peeeeeooople!
Lenneth does follow, as predicted. She floats up after Erim--not so much flying so much as levitating. She doesn't seem to fly like birds or anything--perhaps, it's not even quite like Superman's because she isn't thrusting herself forward so much as her body chooses to move in that way--it's a subtle difference.
Lenneth senses her energy draining away from her--she doesn't quite understand how it works. "How..." She grits her teeth, "Does this help you?"
She isn't sure if she has the reserves to move into melee--so she banishes her blade and draws out her bow and arrow--opening fire with several quick bolts, each tip glowing with holy power!
Lenneth Valkyrie hits Erim with her Doing the Llewelyn attack.
[Fac-Alliance] Radiant Dynamo of Invention says, "I /like/ this machine. It will do nicely."
[Fac-Alliance] Radiant Dynamo of Invention says, "--Reinforcements!"
[Fac-Alliance] Threadbare Bride says, "Can you fight them off? I am afraid that I may need some open space to do the same -"
Tuxedo Mask is far more agile than he appears to be. I mean, he can jump /stories/ in eveningwear. His body twists, but it's not enough, the fingers render is free hand numb and lifeless. He says nothing. His frown deepens and, behind his mask, eyes narrow. He swings his cane in a backhanded arc, using his closeness to his advantage as he does his damndest to dent Saboteur's metal skull in with the gold handle of his cane.
Usagi's gonna be so mad at him for this. Probably. If she notices at all.
[Fac-Alliance] Erim says, "I am in the air. I can handle the flying ones."
[Fac-Alliance] Radiant Dynamo of Invention says, "Bride, watch yourself. I'm going to use the hangar as cover."
[Fac-Alliance] Radiant Dynamo of Invention says, "There are allied forces in there, are there not?"
[Fac-Alliance] Threadbare Bride says, "Oh, here and there."
The damaged arm is brought up to fend off the chainsaw sword (which fortunately isn't going right now) to minimize further damage to other parts of the R-3. "S-shut up!" the woman shouts back, sounding as upset as Dynamo probably predicted. "You have no idea what I've been through!"
Rocketing backwards, Aya tries to earn some personal space between her and the crazed Alchemical. It works for /now/ at least, and even as Aya flees, she wastes no time. Multiple missile lock pings issue throughout her cockpit as several crosshairs align upon the compromised Lion.
Missiles follow afterwards, streaming out and swarming to converge upon the armored module.
Aya Kobayashi juggles Radiant Dynamo of Invention with her MORE MISSILES combo.
You take 21 damage.
Aya Kobayashi juggles Radiant Dynamo of Invention with her MORE MISSILES combo.
You take 20 damage.
Aya Kobayashi juggles Radiant Dynamo of Invention with her MORE MISSILES combo.
You take 20 damage.
Aya Kobayashi juggles Radiant Dynamo of Invention with her MORE MISSILES combo.
You take 23 damage.
It seems like Mitsuko's decided she's going to run away after all. Having been facing the Bride this whole time and thus unable to see whatever vile mental calculations might have made hinted appearance in her expression, Rufus simply glances back slightly, suspecting she was probably too shocked at first to gather her wits and escape. He hopes that, this being her company, she knows the best way to get out of here safely; this is not a foe he can defeat quickly and then catch up with her to see her out. "Please take care!" he calls to her back, before returning his full attention to the Charbroiled Bride.
In a way, really, this is for the best.
The Bride gets a pretty solid hit into Rufus' midsection, but he jerks back in time to avoid getting his neck or uniform grabbed onto by that prosthetic. He takes a small leap backwards regardless to increase the distance between the two--with his whip, Rufus has better range--crouching down with the fingertips of his left hand touching lightly on the metal floor as the air around the Bride begins to shimmer. "I see there was little point in engaging you in conversation," Rufus, who is a man with little patience for flowery talk on the battlefield, observes coldly regarding her start at a speech earlier. "Very well."
She's likely not going to be holding back, if that aura's anything to judge by, and although Rufus is hardly down for the count, he *has* taken some good damage already--his foot, for example, which is still leaking. He stands, and begins to chant anew--this time a spell to increase his offensive power. It seems like she's powering up as well, and considering how hard she's been hitting thus far already... At least it seems like she's not chasing after Mitsuko, though Rufus doesn't discount the possibility that she'll start doing so once she's finished whatever she's doing.
Rufus buffs his POW to +2.
"It doesn't help me at all," Erim has to admit. "But it helps another. What is that your Superman keeps telling people? 'Work together to achieve your goals'?"
She smiles again. The smile vanishes when a) an arrow hits her in the stomach, and b) robots start to take to the air. The arrow actually seems to have worked pretty well; it shears through her breastplate like it wasn't there, and makes Erim yelp in startlement.
Erim once again raises her hand. This time there are no thunderbolts. She throws no firebirds. No ice appears, no water spouts from the ground. Instead, random positions in the air just explode for no readily apparent reason with a concussive blastwave and a gout of flame and smoke. Some of them are 'accidentally' over toward Gai and Akatsuki's aerial superiority robots, as Erim briefly turns the sky into as bright as noon.
Erim gets a glancing blow on Lenneth Valkyrie with her Sunder attack.
Erim misses Ruri Hoshino with her More Games Need Explosion Elemental Spells attack.
At about that time, when Han lands roughly on the ground, the remains of the binding breaks, the young martial artist immediatedly pushing himself back to his feets -- only to immediatedly duck as one of the remaining ninjas around, that were standing around and watching like idiots, decided it would be a good time to sock a punch against him.
Deadly mistake. Li grabs the Ninja's hand and pretty simply judo flip him. It dosen't end there, however as he lets go, flinging the ninja after the Brazen Saboteur's back. Too bad for that masked bloke -- he seemed pretty decent, and if he's good a this fighting thing, he'll be out of the way anyhow!
Radiant Dynamo is entirely unfamiliar with these 'missile' things. This costs her dearly.
/What is that, some manner of proj--/ Aya's missile banks open up, and Dynamo jets out of the way as fast as the Lion's Tesla Drive will let her go--but the damned things are /following her/! Missiles explode against the Lion's legs and flanks, plating buckling and melting under the attack. The Exalt feels each impact keenly, and bites back a scream of pain.
Dynamo does not respond to Aya's protestations, mainly because it's taking all her willpower just to keep the mecha functional. [Adjutant,] she transmits, [Emergency repairs.] The Lion's hatch opens for a few seconds, and a spider-like automaton crawls out. The robot starts patching up the worst of the damage, working quickly and efficiently; it's surprisingly good at this for a machine of its size.
And then, upon sighting reinforcements, the Lion... touches back down in the hangar. It's almost daring them to shoot at it. There's people in there, after all...
You heal Radiant Dynamo of Invention with your ARTOO action.
You have 29 health restored.
"Oh, my," Bride says aloud. "Really? I suppose in your plane there may not be a proper art for such things. I can see that you're preparing yourself, though... it's quite noble, in its way. In your world, you must be highly trained... an elite warrior. Yes?"
She extends one arm, the flesh one, in front of her. The fingers curl as if to grasp the air, and she says, "What you must learn to do... is to interleave your conversation with your battles. You see, combat can, in the frame of the enlightened mind, free you from the burden of emotion..." She grasps at the air, then, fingers clenching into a defiant fist as her entire stance seems to speak a peculiarly stylized defiance.
Her lips curl as her eyes look past her hand, then, towards Rufus. It's a smile, an oddly gentle one. The stance mellows as she takes a step closer to the man, the other hand extending forwards in a curiously peaceful way. Then her lips curl just a bit more, like ice spreading over a still pond. Her eyes narrow...
Then she leans back and aims three sudden kicks up at Rufus's head, leaning back enough to practically fall out of her ripped-up top as she does. "And you don't get distracted, either! So: What has brought you here?! Do you use these warstriders yourself?"
Threadbare Bride gets a glancing blow on Rufus with her Hand Of Friendship, Foot Of Fury attack.
Saboteur, meanwhile, takes the head of Mamoru's cane upside the noggin. It connects with an audible *clang*, though it seems to hurt him--he certainly recoils from the impact, dazed a little. It does not help that Han throws a mook at him like five seconds later, knocking him to the ground again. This time, Brazen Saboteur lets out a curse; something in his back just bent in a way it wasn't supposed to bend.
And then he invokes that strange super-speed technique again. The ninja is suddenly thrown into the air, and Saboteur himself is a quicksilver blur racing towards Han. One hand reaches to grab the martial artist, dragging him along towards Tuxedo Mask... where the other hand grabs at Tux's head, hoping to smash the two heroes into one another. Are their skulls thick enough to withstand the impact?!
[Fac-Alliance] Radiant Dynamo of Invention ngh. "Remind me to research those strange seeking bullet-things."
Down in the basement of the Isurugi Heavy Industries headquarters building, engineers have holed up, fleeing the fires upstairs as well as keeping watch over the prototype designs and company mainframe. Mostly the fleeing part, really. The secure basement area is nice and reinforced with stone foundation and other things that don't burn and set you on fire.
So they are in a bit of a high-strung mood when an unidentifiable black sludge begins to pour out of the doors to one of the elevators. "What the heck is that?" one engineer asks, pointing out, and another grimaces, raising a hand to her mouth in surprise and disgust. The engineers, as they become aware of it, begin to back away, stepping away nervously to make way for it to slide across the floor of the basement. "What the heck is it?" "It's getting into the mainframe!" They look back nervously at the elevator as the last of sludge exits it, even as the forward end of the sludge begins to pour over the various servers that form the backbone of the company's security database. They begin to scream when the sludge-covered machines begin to rattle and throw themselves to the floor, slamming and rubbing against each other. Metal flexes and hooks into makeshift notches. Sets of green 'eyes' form out of LED lights indicating the operation of the machines.
"Neat," Nergal Junior says.
The monster made out of mainframe forms a black high-powered drill on one arm, and then sets to slamming it against the wall and ceiling. Soon, a big old server mech bursts straight out of the walls of the headquarters building, into the clear of the battlefield, snickering in a cold, rattling voice. "So long, suckers!" It then promptly begins stomping away.
One of the engineers, hair tussled, suit partially on fire, runs out from the hole in the wall, pointing urgently. "Somebody! Our servers are running away!"
[Fac-Alliance] Radiant Dynamo of Invention says, "They look immensely useful."
Nergal Junior switches armor modes to Strong Form.
For once, Tuxedo Mask's superhuman agility /works/. The Prince of the Earth twists his body, slinging himself backwards like a certain chosen one from a computer zone. The Exalt's hand nearly takes his hat off. That's a crime. The hand with the cane in it flings downwards to prop him up and he swings his feet out at the ensouled golem's legs. Perhaps to trip?
Somehow. Somehow his shoes are still gleaming. It's got to be magic, or he's using Armor All.
On one hand, Han is not the Flash, if you catch my meaning. On the other, /he's/ pretty damned fast himself, especialy when he pools all of his Chi into doing that. The young martial artist reacts in a similar way, blurring backwards and stopping a few metres back, glaring toward that Ninja.
"ALRIGHT!" He shouts, exasperated, "Just who the hell you guys are and where the hell I am, now!? Because I'm clearly not in Hong Kong anymore!" He finishes, his fist suddenly glowing as he charges back toward the strange Silver-skinned man. The fist, bursting suddenly with deep golden flames, is thrown after as he shouts: "GLORIOUS SOLAR PUNCH!"
It's a punch. A punch that makes /explosions/.
Of course the missiles are following her. Every single one. Though she may be disappointed when she later discovers that not all missiles are target-seeking like the TK missiles.
Pursuit is contemplated, and discarded until it takes refuge /in/ the freaking hangar. Aya pursues, but she doesn't attack. She can't in here as that would risk livss and valuable equipment. "Dynamo..." she hisses, "Get /out/..."
Gai and Akatsuki break formation as the air starts to explode around their nimble aerial frames. The pair dart, bob, and weave to avoid, relyly solely on the improved maneuveriblity of their frames extra verners and airfoils and their own twitch reflexes as hotshot pilots to survive. "Where's it coming from?" Gai asks.
"I can't tell." Akatsuki replies. "Wait a second, there, that huge woman that isn't registering on the IFF. That's got to be it."
"Alright!" Gai replies. "I'll get her with my GEKIGAN FI--"
"Don't be stupid." Akatsuki interupts. "Tenkawa, you're in a prime firing position, lock onto my targetting data and open fire. Wait, hold on, there's a friendly near the target, don't shoot!"
Meanwhile, Izumi and Hikaru have gotten lost in the hangars and factories in their search for the correct one. Aaaaand then a new mech bursts out of the wall not far from their position. Clearly... /clearly/, this has to be the target, which is which Izumi's teal mech opens fire with its machine gun.
Lenneth is given a request. She is asked to deliver one (1) super noogie to Erim. She takes in a deep breath as she receives ths request and does not immediately reply to Erim. Instead, she frowns and looks quite saddened by her answer. She lowers her head for a moment and then--KRABOOM! The first one, Lenneth manages to jolt out of the way of, but the second explodes Lenneth--the fires of the deadly explosion element (and fire) consume her body! Is she finally defeated or is she just reusing the same trick she always uses?!
Of course, she's reusing the same trick she always uses. A flickering Lenneth appears above Erim and says. "Ah....super noogie!" awkwardly as she throws her fist down for Erim's head--it sort of ends up more like a punch, but she'll twist her fist upon contact!
Lenneth Valkyrie hits Erim with her Super Noogie? attack.
Ruri Hoshino gets a glancing blow on Nergal Junior with her Bullets For You jab.
Glorious /what/ punch?!
Han and Tuxedo Mask inadvertently combine to become a force of awesome. As Saboteur dodges Tux's cane, he sets himself up right for a solar (but not Solar) powered punch to the jaw. The Alchemical goes flying, twisting in mid-air and hitting the ground hard. He's bleeding a thin, iridescent oil-like fluid as he gets back up.
And then he pulls something from his belt--a sword hilt, technological in nature. Brazen Saboteur's anima glows a brilliant silvery-white as he channels Essence, igniting the beamklaive. The blade is the same shade as the energy surrounding the man, and easily four feet long and half a foot wide at the widest part. The Alchemical then spins, whirlwinding with the beamklaive. Tux and Han will be on the receiving end of LASERS if they're not careful!
Mamoru Chiba rises smoothly, pivoting to keep his useless arm out of the way. There's a quirk of an eyebrow as a beam sword is brought to play. A really wide beam sword, but...a little Tuxedo Magic should be enough. he grips his cane at t the ready, a little below the golden ball and waits for the right moment. He waits.
Then he moves, He drives the cane into the path of the beamklaive, sets his feet and grunts at the impact. He's holding it, but barely. He's not a very strong man, but it might be enough of a surprise that he /can/ do it for Han to...do something Kung Fu-y.
The number of times Erim has previously been supernoogied is zero. She has no experience with this. None, zip.
She stands still for it because she doesn't know the appropriate response. Mostly she's just staring. And then she vanishes in a slowly widening circle of red sparks.
The red sparks recontract about thirty feet off, reforming into Erim. "Are you toying with me?" she asks, incredulously. She forgot about the flying machines. "You are! I will show you not to treat the Sinistral of Death so lightly!"
Erim makes a cutting motion with her polearm at the same instant she flares her aura, all red and yellow and orange light that dances around her like heatless flame. The sense of pressure that often follows her increases to a fever pitch as she extends her Spiritual Force; plants wither and suffer on the ground beneath her, people feel sick, and electronics die.
The force is focused in one place, though, one place where energy simply stops moving, death to living beings and beings of energy alike. That area is visible for a moment as a distortion in space, an instant before the effect intensifies; that's all the time Lenneth has to get out of the way.
Erim misses Lenneth Valkyrie with her Spiritual Force of Death super.
"Ow!" Okay, that hurts - it's like getting pelted with hail. Nergal Junior turns his 'head,' as the pool of black over the mech-looking being parts in little ripples where the bullets impact. Oh, there's a robot shooting at him. A mass of lights blink on and off, mimicking a 'mouth' of sorts. "Hey, what's the big - oh, right, robbery." Yeah, it's fair enough - you steal a bunch of company servers, robots come and shoot you. That's the multiverse. "Well... okay, I guess this is the part where I say some action movie pun themed after what I'm doing. Sorry, I'm still kind of new at this. Um..." The mech pauses to look down and to the side, and lift its hand-shaped hand to its 'chin.'
"Okay. I got it." Nergal Junior lifts his arm with the drill-shaped hand and holds it forward as he resumes barreling for the fence (he's moving pretty slow, it's going to take him awhile). There is a rush of backlash fire as the drill launches off its hand, sailing at Izumi's Aestivalis. "You know the 'drill!' Ugh, that's horrible, I'm really sorry."
Nergal Junior hits Ruri Hoshino with his Drill Punch attack.
This is the night for auras. Han Su Li also have one, a faint, quasi-invisible flow of air billowing his clothes like a small wind. He was pretty surprised to see that /thing/ draw out what seems to be a pretty energy weapon...but then, this MYSTERIOUS MASKED MAN interposed himself bettewn them and the dangerous laser sword.
This, Han thinks to himself, is a golden opportunity if he ever saw any.
He leaps off, spinning his fists as he quickly recovers from the GLORIOUS SOLAR PUNCH, crouching a bit and concentrating some more. He can do that move pretty easily now, but he preffer taking this SPLIT second of a time to make sure he get it right and not rip apart a hip or something while he does it.
"FLYING!" He shouts as he makes a dash, leaping about-midway and delivering a kick toward the Brazen Saboteur. "WINDMILL!" It is doubtfull anybody here has ever witnessed the Old Man, Han's grandfather, execute this move flawlessly. He maybe lack the experience and years of his grandfather, but Han can make a good simili of a HUNDRED PERPETUAL FLYING "KICK!"
"I see you missed my point," Rufus remarks dryly. "I meant more your pontification and continued evasion of the *real* question, rather than conversation in general."
After all, if he disliked conversation in *general*, he wouldn't have bothered to engage Bride! Even if it was generally questions on, you know, what she was doing and why. Rufus generally doesn't do friendly chit-chat with people he's trying to kill, or, in Bride's case, beat into limping away, possibly with some of her limbs detached.
As she thus begins to try to school him on the art of conversing during a fight, Rufus instead concentrates on her movements, following them. As such, when she flies into motion, he's able to move with the strikes, the three of them clopping against the side of his head and making his ear ring, but not striking as devastatingly as they might. The left side of his body is getting pretty battered, though.
To the Bride's question, Rufus merely grants her a faint smile. "Same as you, I suppose. I was out for a stroll, and then you and yours arrived to interrupt. Isn't it droll how these things work out?"
The Rook Slayer is a bit of a bitch. However, he takes this opportunity to attempt to heave his whip around and perhaps ensnare the Abyssal around the neck. If that's successful--if it doesn't just, say, whip her across the face or some such--then he will attempt to heave her bodily into one of the steel walls. Rufus might look girly, but he is one *strong* mofo.
"However, if you truly do want a conversation, why don't we do it properly?" he suggests at the end of the attempt, successful or not. "I am Captain Rufus of the Grangalian Army and IPA Military Coordinator. And whom might you be?"
Rufus hits Threadbare Bride with his Bride, get some better support, you're practically falling out of that dress. attack.
After what seems like an eternity, Adjutant scuttles back into the cockpit and assumes a position behind Dynamo's seat. The Alchemical can feel the difference already, though she still doesn't respond to Aya.
She wants her to come out, eh?
The sword is reattached to its holder, Tesla Drives burn, and the Lion comes rocketing out of the hangar again. The Vulcan guns on its body open fire at the units from the Nadiesco, spraying wildly, while the R-3 is on the recieving end...
Of a traditional ROCKET PUNCH!
Only this is more of a variant, since it's not so much of a punch as a blow delivered with the immobile arm containing the railgun. If it hits, the next action taken involves using the railgun to blow large holes in the enemy mech at point blank range.
You hit Aya Kobayashi with your RAILGUN FINGAAAAAAH super.
You miss Ruri Hoshino with your YAY BULLETS attack.
The incoming drill strikes at Izumi's left leg as she twists in the air to avoid it with only limited success. "Oh no!" Izumi says with dead seriousness. "I think we're 'screwed'."
"Don't you start that!" Hikaru chides.
"But he spun me right 'round with that taunt." Izumi continues.
"No, seriously." Hikaru grumbles, prepping her missile racks for firing.
"It cut straight to the core of my being."
"I'm serious here!" Hikaru complains, getting angry, a she launches a dozen missiles.
Ruri Hoshino misses Nergal Junior with her Missile Launch(es) Detected attack.
Now you've been 'supernoogied' once. If Lenneth had not fought Erim, she would have lived a full life without having been supernoogied--at least until Superman got around to it. She opens her mouth to protest, at first--but she doesn't get anything out of her mouth before Erim decides she /is/ toying with her. She frowns again before adding, "That was fulfilling a request."
Lenneth senses the Death Spell focusing on her for a moment--Lenneth acts immediately, throwing herself away at Erim. Perhaps Lenneth thinks that Erim won't use that sort of power on HERSELF, or she thinks that she really needs to hit Erim more before she kills everything in the area on /accident/. That it works on electronics is weird, but Lenneth doesn't devote much present thought to it.
If Lenneth manages to collide into Erim's stomach--she pushes past her and summons a holy burst of energy to hold Erim in place, the power of the magic flowing painfully through her in a set of flashing pulses--don't stare too directly at the screen!
A lance of light appears in Lenneth's hands and she shakes her head. "And also--lowering your guard!" She stabs the glowing lance for Erim's body--threatening to skewer her with it if she does not escape!
Lenneth Valkyrie juggles Erim with her Purify (Very) Weird Soul! combo.
Lenneth Valkyrie juggles Erim with her Purify (Very) Weird Soul! combo.
Erim breaks Lenneth Valkyrie's combo.
[Fac-Alliance] Radiant Dynamo of Invention says, "Ha-hah! Eat /that/!"
[Fac-Alliance] Radiant Dynamo of Invention says, "Bride, Erim, what's your status?"
[Fac-Alliance] Threadbare Bride says, "A little sore..."
[Fac-Alliance] Erim says, "I hope you have whatever it is you came for, or will shortly."
For a moment, Tuxedo Mask and Brazen Saboteur are deadlocked. The Alchemal's blade can't cut through the obviously magical material of the cane, nor can he force it out of the magician's hand. Instead, Saboteur opts for a cheap shot, lashing out to kick the guy in the shin.
And then the Alchemical is flying-kicked by Han. Once more, Saboteur is knocked off-balance, but recovers--and this time, he opts... to retreat? That's what it looks like, he's dashing right for the door the golden blur disappeared into. This, of course, leads into the hangar the fight is taking place in.
[Fac-Alliance] Radiant Dynamo of Invention says, "I have it."
[Fac-Alliance] Erim says, "Then I will be leaving shortly."
[Fac-Alliance] Radiant Dynamo of Invention says, "It got a little damaged, but there's enough of it left to study. And improve upon."
[Fac-Alliance] Erim says, "But first -"
[Fac-Alliance] Radiant Dynamo of Invention says, "If you need a ride out of here, I can come pick you up."
[Fac-Alliance] Erim says, "I do not."
A kick to the shin!? DIRTY POOL! Tuxedo Mask's facade of cool aloofness fades when he yelps in a certain intern's voice, "Ow!" He recoils a little, staring as Han kicks the thing and it takes off. Falling back to suave sophistication, Tux looks at Han, then to the door.
Without another word, he darts after, assuming the Kung Fu Kid will follow.
She needs to look into why the Nendou field doesn't seem to be working right now. It would be /nice/ to have it right now, wouldn't it.
If there was one thing the R-3 had going for it, it was that it had a small cockpit. Unfortunately for Aya, this doesn't help as it suddenly caves in, metal all around her folding inwards as the railgun suddenly penetrates through just below her feet and fires repeatedly. The personal trooper stops moving manually, shaking violently with each railgun shot.
Inside, Aya's head smashes against the walls repeatedly, blood soon tricking down her forehead and mingling with her hair. Her vision begins to blur as she begins to lose consciousness. Her mind screams in protest and in /fear/.
Now the nendou field comes, originating from the cockpit itself as the wave of green telekinetic energy spreads outwards, quickly and with force. Unless Dynamo moves really fast, it will definitely get caught against it.
Aya Kobayashi misses Radiant Dynamo of Invention with her Fly against the psychic windshield attack.
"Perhaps the same could be said of all diplomacy," Bride says as she straightens back from her flurried attack, her stray hand scything through the air as if to punish it. She is relaxed about it, at least. She sees the whip coming fast enough to raise her jade-and-soulsteel arm, pressing it near her neck - this keeps her from being strangled. She smiles - And then she's thrown into the wall.
She rebounds, though, rolling and shedding her cloak as she goes. "Nasty thing," she says, "but the sun is brutal," she concludes, looking back at Rufus with a slight smile. Her neck is bruised, but such is life. "I am the Threadbare Bride Bathed in Offal, chosen of - well, really, there are many." She feints with another kick before spinning on a heel to administer a sharp backhand with the jade hand.
"But I suppose you could say, Chosen of the Queen of Suicides," she continues, "and of course, I also help those in our great alliance with their desires and goals. You could say -" A follow up to that smack with the other hand, knuckles aimed at Rufus's midsection, "I make dreams come true!" It would be less weird, perhaps, if she said it with irony instead of what is something ghoulishly close to true enthusiasm.
Threadbare Bride gets a glancing blow on Rufus with her I was brought here by ALCHEMICALS who wished to pay ME /TRIBUTE/ attack.
Unfortunately, Erim is particularly vulnerable to holy energy. Maybe it proves she is evil. Maybe it's just a side effect of wielding the energies of death. Whatever the cause, that /hurts/.
She hisses and vanishes again, reappearing in the spiral of red light behind Lenneth. "Enough," she says. "I do not know what you are, truly - you wield death, but you are not a goddess, and you are not as I am. For that I would let you live."
Erim waits, precisely five seconds. "But for the insult, I will not." She snaps, and the sky goes black.
It is not the black of night, but instead sudden black and grey storm clouds, dreary and dark. There is a brief rumble of thunder, and then a dragon composed entirely out of lightning bursts from it, lancing toward Lenneth, past her at the ground, where it explodes in a particularly bright lightning bolt and deafening thunderclap.
The clouds vanish again.
Erim hits Lenneth Valkyrie with her Dragon: Because Our Spell Names Are Perfectly Literal attack.
"We get the point!" Nergal Junior says, chiming in with Hikaru. Who is shooting him with missiles - at least it took prep time to fire them. That means he sees them coming - and as each missile sails at the big old mainframe monster, a jet black tentacle forms out of the sludge forming the 'skin' of the mech, and whips out, catching the missile and hurling it afield, most of them detonating against open runway, only a couple against the already ailing hangars.
The engineer who warned those outside runs as close as he can get without risking his health, shouting at the Aestivalis contingent. "NO! Are you crazy?! You can't blow up the company mainframe!!" He throws his arms out to his sides in exasperation. "My level 70 shaman is in there!! Level /seventy/!!"
Nergal Junior, meanwhile, clasps his hands together. "Okay. In trouble. Uh... I can only cast this spell once every fortnight, so I had better come out of this okay. I summon Mordenkainen's Faithful Watchdog!" The big old black mech raises its hand - that's right, it's a caster mech - and a wide encircled pentagram glows on the field between the hangars in blood red. The ground bleeds and fire erupts higher. The interstice between the dimensions is breached, and a magical watchdog emerges with enchanted powers.
The little magical chihuahua barks incessantly at the Aestivalis units. Then Nergal Junior runs up and punches Izumi's in the face.
Nergal Junior critically strikes Ruri Hoshino with his Fisticuffs! attack.
In actuality, the after mentioned Kung Fu Kid does not follow. Immediatedly, anyway. Oh no, one of the remaining ninjas decided it would be a good time to gank him in the sides and perchance grab his liver to sacrifice to his DARK LORD AND MASTER ODA NOBONUGA! Considering that he tried to do so with the boot of one of his fallen comrads, it didn't worked very well. Han socks him a good one over the face, grabs the boot and dashes off after that strange ninja and the masked man.
IMPROVISED WEAPON OF THE NIGHT: NINJA BOOT.
Mm, Lenneth thinks, she seems to be getting an understanding of her--this is also a little troubling, but not much can be helped there. The spear in her hand does not immediately dissipitate despite her follow through being interrupted. "Insult...?" Lenneth sighs--but then there's a dragon, and Lenneth can't discuss further because the dragon is not just a dragon--it is a DRAGON MADE OUT OF LIGHTNING. Lenneth's jaw drops in awe when she should be running.
She raises the spear to parry--but it flies past her and into the ground. Huh. Well, that's good lu--
*KRACKABOOM!* Lenneth is catapulted into the air from the thunderous explosion, her armor now developing black soot across the bulk of it. Unusual 'sparkles' seem to be spilling out of her body--Lenneth is having a hard time keeping this fight up!
"You should not take an enemy's actions in battle personally." She suggests--rearing back with her arm to fling the spear at Erim!
Lenneth Valkyrie hits Erim with her Erim? More like Emorim! attack.
The pair of aerial frames continue to twist and dart in the air as the Lion takes off. "Hah... just a Lion?" Gai scoffs. "I... GAI DAIGOUJI, will handle this!" The deep blue Aestivalis dips downwards below the Lion's Y axis in an inverted sine wave assault. His mech's distortion fields focus into the right fist, which glows... WITH AN AWESOME POWER. "GAI... SUUUUUPPAAAAAA.... UPP-AAAAAAAAAAH!"
Meanwhile, Izumi's mech goes bouncing backwards from the impact, crashing into the side of a building. Hikaru winces and takes to the air. The orders to 'not destroy it' are not lost on her as she lines up a shot with her sniper rifle; she's aiming to cripple it's hip joints to prevent its escape.
Izumi, on the topic of the dog, merely radios, "Well, I guess that 'Pug-is-listed' as a deadly weapon."
Ruri Hoshino misses Radiant Dynamo of Invention with her Gai Super Upper attack.
Ruri Hoshino misses Nergal Junior with her The Sniper Rifle Hurts, But Izumi Does The San Damage attack.
Oh, they can fly. Nergal Junior cranes his heavy mechanical neck up to watch Hikaru line up the shot. Where is she aiming? That's about, like... midsection, right? It's honestly a lucky guess, as Junior's black mass instinctively forms a wide berth around the midsection of the server mech, and the rifle bullet embeds itself in the dead server matter there, before the black mass washes back over it again. "Heh heh!" Nergal Junior raises his hands to the sides of his ears and wiggles his fingers, as the audio output and the lights mimicking a 'mouth' emulate a raspberry as closely as they can. Junior then pauses, looks around for something to throw, picks up a handful of the demon ninja servitors of Oda Nobunaga, and throws them as hard as he can at Hikaru's Aestivalis. Mordenkainen's Faithful Watchdog seems to have disappeared, meanwhile. I guess it wasn't so faithful?
Nergal Junior gets a glancing blow on Ruri Hoshino with his Projectiles That Throw Projectiles attack.
Dynamo does what she would do when being charged by two opponents attacking from the front. Namely, she jets backwards; Gai's distortion-powered Ripoff Punch whiffs entirely, and the Nendou Field doesn't come anywhere close. The mech keeps zipping backwards until it passes into the hangar--the hatch pops open, and Dynamo's voice comes from the machine's speakers. "Evacuate!"
Trenchant Brazen Saboteur leaps into the vehicle's cockpit in a single jump, and squeezes into the space behind the pilot's seat. The hatch stays open just long enough for any other passengers to board, then snaps shut.
Said passengers will note that Dynamo's body is strapped in tightly, and seemingly catatonic--her eyes are still moving, though, and her lips echo everything she says on the intercom.
"Just a Lion?!" she cries. "It's /mine/, now, and it will only get better from here..." Dynamo bursts into laughter, kicks the Lion's jets to maximum burn, and rockets into the sky.
The spear catches Erim in the chest - and sticks, partway into her breastplate, dead center on her chest.
She looks down at it. Reaching up with her bare hand, Erim wrenches it out, tossing it back to Lenneth - not point-first, even, she just sort of tosses it down.
And then she fades away into red sparkles. She's having no more of this tonight.
[Fac-Alliance] Threadbare Bride says, "I have a suggestion for a name!"
[Fac-Alliance] Radiant Dynamo of Invention says, "Hmm?"
Mamoru Chiba snarls as the Lion jets. He even hurls roses at it. One may even manage to lodge into the mech, but do little else than that. He taps his cane on the ground and turns, walking away into the black night, seeming to vanish into the shadows.
Probably because he teleported like a cheater.
[Fac-Alliance] Threadbare Bride says, "The First and Beloved Lion."
[Fac-Alliance] Radiant Dynamo of Invention says, "Meh."
[Fac-Alliance] Radiant Dynamo of Invention says, "Not to disparage your taste, dear Bride, we just have different customs where I come from."
Han is evantualy caught up, perhaps a little too late, but just enough to see a strange mech taking off. "YEAH!" He shouts, waving the boot in the air. "RUN AWAY, YOU COWARDLY NINJA!" He shouts, swinging that boot and throwing it off after the Lion.
Now, one must think it would be entierly, completly useless, right? Let us not forge Han is the type of people to be able to kill a man with a paper cut and solid ramen noddles.
But, hey, it IS just a boot, right?
Still burning brightly in the sky, the nendou field persists for a few moments as the R-3 hangs there. Eventually, and rather abruptly, it fades, winking out of being like a snuffed candle.
Inside, Aya's death grip on her console slackens. She is dimly aware of the woman retreating-and is thankful, personally. With a faint wail, she tries to fight off the urge to curl up and sob-the way the cockpit is designed doesn't help that very much. But at that very point, her mind is overwhelmed, drifting away into unconsciousness as the concussion settles in. Her head rolls forwards and the R-3 partially crashes to the ground. Part of it actually stays a little airborne due to the tesla drives.
Lenneth catches the weapon and watches Erim as she leaves. She doesn't give chase or try to 'peg' her as she escapes--if she wishes to do no more harm today, that's good enough for her.
"I never *was* very fond of diplomacy," Rufus replies, ironically--after all, these days he's very enthusiastic about helping the new PMB in their efforts to establish a true peace not maintained at gunpoint. Of course, this is the same man who chose to lead an assault on the old PMB when the Admonisher fell without waiting for the *official* sanction of his King, so it's not without its truth either. The Bride, who would know neither of these things but might sense the sentiment behind them both in his words, can divine whichever she likes from them.
And then the Bride introduces herself, and by her full name, no less. /That would explain the smell and the lacking bodice,/ Rufus does *not* say, because it's really a rather unnecessary comment when she's finally answered him directly. "That's quite a mouthful," he instead observes. "Would it be all right if I called you Threadbare for short?"
He hisses then, as the white jade prosthetic swings back at his face. He manages to block with his arm, but it forces him to move onto his bad foot, and so despite the impossible coldness in his foot, sharp and acute pain shoots up his leg, even as his arm gets hit with a strike that will be bruising badly in the morning.
"The Horsemen's dreams--everyone else's nightmares," Rufus responds, favoring his leg again as he pulls his whip in, holding it taut in both arms. "I'm afraid I'm not familiar with whom the Queen of Suicides might be, but I shall do my best to correct this with all due haste." Then, channeling his chi into his weapon, Rufus slams the sinuous golden body down, vital energy ramming forward in a straight line. It's a strong attack, but if she can get to one side quickly enough... Fortunately for her as well, that's also the moment at which that Lion that Dynamo had been targeting blasts off. Not a good night for the IPA tonight, it would seem.
Rufus critically strikes Threadbare Bride with his Line Attack (I need to write these names down somewhere, I can't remember what the hell they're called) attack.
The physical objects (those being ninjas in this case), penetrate Hikaru's distortion field with an ease that an energy or gravity based weapon wouldn't. The ninja impact sends the mech tumbling heels over head. Both Izumi and Hikaru fall back under heavy damage. "Whatever you are... next time, you're dead meat!" Hikaru calls back as she flees.
"And your little dog, too!" Izumi adds.
Gai, though he whiffs in an un-Gai like fashion, manages to come about gracefully at the least. He picks up his rifle and sprays bullets upward... no use, though. She's already gone.
"Idiot!" Akatsuki chides. "If you'd gone straight in, you would have had her! Why did you do that stupid anime crap?" A vicious Pro-Gekigan vs Anti-Gekigan arguement breaks out between the two.
Meanwhile, Akito finally does something useful, as he and Ryoko recover the fallen R-3, rushing it to the hanger to get the pilot to the hospitol.
A pile of highly injured ninjas accumulates behind Nergal Junior, as he looks up and calls back after the retreating Aestivalis squadron. "If you want another beating... ah, to hell with this. I'm no good at this hot-blooded stuff. I have to find a different way to banter." The big old mech watches as the Radiant Dynamo's stolen Lion takes into the sky, and then nods to itself. "Okay... now looks like a good time to get out of here myself. Heh heh. So long, losers." Gouts of flame erupt from the back of the machine, emulating a jetpack of some kind, and Nergal Junior flies low for a moment before taking off in an attempt to clear the area and get away. In the process, the boy-machine calls down to the Threadbare Bride, "Hi, Bride!"
YIPYIPYIPYIPYIPYIPYIPYIPYIPYIPYIPYIPYIPYIPYIPYIP
That, meanwhile, is the sound of Mordenkainen's Faithful Watchdog, who just popped up in the cockpit of Izumi's Aestivalis, and will not shut up. And will continue to follow her around and not shut up for another fortnight before it returns to the summoning aether.
"Most of them call me Bride," says the Abyssal with another smile. An unpleasant shape, like a double bruise, is showing on her forehead... and she bows for a moment, in the middle of her maneuver. This is foolish, and it may show that, specialized martial arts or not, she is not quite a true warrior yet. That's because she just stands there, like an idiot, as the waves of light come in...
The blows are painful. It's like being bathed in agonizing sunlight; Bride can feel her skin blister. Oh, that may scar, she hopes it won't. The raw force sends her back - helped perhaps by her own Essence - over the Calion...
... and gives her the cover she needs to turn, stumble, and dash out towards where that Lion is waiting. Even if they reject her name, which, she thinks, may be just as well - It's a fast, durable craft, and they want to leave as readily as they can. Some day, she tells herself, you'll come to one of these places, and THEY'LL be the ones to leave.
Bride's response is highlighted by the fact that Junior, in the midst of his own retreat, calls down to her and refers to her by that name. However, this is of secondary concern with the fact that the Black Alliance's members are retreating en masse, which suggests to Rufus that they came here to take something--like, oh, /that Lion over there/--and are making good on their escape now that they have it.
"Tch...!" he hisses, limping quickly over to the railing in front of the Calion in time to see the Bride dash the hell out. A call on the radio tells him that the other members of the IPA present aren't able to prevent the Horsemen retreat, either... Rufus sighs a bit, but refuses to show any weakness just yet. There is still a lot of damage assessment to be done, as well as finding survivors among the injured and so on. It'll be a long night yet.
Bride doesn't say anything back to Jr. -- but she does wave with her real meat hand! Even if she did lose a fingernail somewhere along the way. D'aww, that's just what happens when you live an active lifestyle.
So to speak.
Upon seeing that shark-toothed grin, Mitsuko begins to seriously reconsider her business strategy here. While it technically (possibly) would endear Rufus to her if he was able to protect her throughout this whole ordeal, there were other risk factors to consider.
When she mentally compiles the risk assessment, she decides that the presence of the hazards here outweighed some 'crisis time' with the IPA commander. Especially if she is liable to get /eaten/.
Of course this leads to Mitsuko whimpering a 'thank you' before running the hell away.
Han Su Li is, currently, not very carying of what just happened there. That headlock was painful, but the knockback from god-knows-what was even more annoying. Still bound and relatively helpless as he follows, rather unwillingly, the strange ninja up in the air as he fires a weapon down, he thinks of a plan. He has to get free from this stuff, and fast!
He struggles against the binding, unsuccessfull at first as he uses mere muscles...but then, he remembers to do things...differently. A moment of concentration, and the young martial artist pool into his reserves of energy, pulling his legs upward in an herculean effort to ensar the neck of the air-born ninja and lock them in, then, with a relatively painful hip twist, twist them and projects back DOWN.
Ruri falls on her butt from the impact, but hey. At least her head was properly protected. "Ow... bakabaka!" Ruri spits out as she picks herself up off of the floor. Then again, Nergal does tell her which way the exit is and warns her about the ninja. "Thank you." With one last look at Nergal, Ruri starts dashing for the exit, having no intention to die in a fire.
Up on the Nadesico, Core Pits are being loaded into Aestivalis frames as the pilots climb the ladders that will take them too their craft. Soon, they'll be ready.
Erim is absolutely trustworthy and will certainly never even think of betraying her brothers. Certainly not.
She has other things to worry about anyway, like the slash that goes across her hip and around to the back. That stings, inasmuch as Erim feels pain the same way as a mortal does; it's also very annoying. "Likely," Erim says, not quite rumbling. That's really Daos' job. Her voice is a bit too high-pitched to do it properly.
Erim snaps her hand down. She doesn't need to say /words/ to cast spells. Manipulating her aura is enough. Lightning bolts answer her call, one bolt striking straight down from the blue sky and /hanging/ there for several seconds, twisting in place and drilling a hole in the ground. And possibly in Lenneth but we'll just call that collateral damage.
Erim hits Lenneth Valkyrie with her Thunder attack.
"Bye, Ruri!" Now, where do they keep the good stuff. Nergal Junior steps through the fires in the main headquarters, stopping to look up at the first directory he can find. A little burnt. "Where do I want to go...?" he asks himself.
Maybe that big unmapped area in the basement.
Junior strolls whistling to the nearest elevator, and then reduces to a thin puddle of black goo, passing through the crack between the elevator door and the wall, and crawling down the sides of the elevator shaft until he can exit at the classified basement level. The puddle is also whistling.
"But isn't - it?" Bride says, as she's shoved backwards far enough to give Rufus time to make his maneuver. "You try to preserve it; we try to spill it; the criminals in their holes try to steal their share... It all comes down to... aaahn!!"
The fireballs aren't eludable, at least not clearly. They strike Bride dead on, exploiting, perhaps, the Abyssal's cockiness. The smell that rises from her as she staggers back, head lolling forwards, is like grilled steak two days too long in the marinade. She drops the goremaul... which never hits the ground.
Instead one bare hand strikes outwards towards Rufus's midsection, the jade-and-soulsteel prosthetic following up with an effort to grab the neck. If she can heft the man up, she does, then, throwing him bodily into the side of the Calion prototype. "Haaaah," Bride breathes, the air around her shimmering faintly...
Threadbare Bride gets a glancing blow on Rufus with her Switching from Melee To M.A., or, Setting Up Ibis's Ultimate Failure jab.
"Hm." Lenneth says, lowering her sword for a moment, perhaps getting cocky?! She is from a world where you have to give like 30 second incantations to cast a spell and they expect you to stand still through the whole thing as well. As such, when the electrical assault is unleashed--she takes the blast full on. "AGgggh!" She shouts, hovering in midair as the electric blast eluminates her body!
"N, no....!" She shouts. Not the Death Goddess! The Mother! She wants to be the gu--okay, that's just a generic exclamation. Lenneth vanishes briefly--appearing in midair and behind Erim--at which point she slashes down for her back. Apparently, Lenneth can fly too. Maybe she thinks Erim can't reach her there!
Lenneth Valkyrie gets a glancing blow on Erim with her Wants To Be The Valkyrie attack.
Dynamo learns new bodies fast. (Her Assembly-mates will tell you that this is because she goes through them damn quick for an Alchemical, which is perfect truth.) As the railgun projectiles tear into the R-3, the Exalt takes advantage of her opponent's obvious emotional distress to try and intuit more of the vehicle's subsystems. It does not take her long to find yet another familiar one.
"Your emotions control you!" Pot, this is kettle, I find your color to be familiar. Dynamo does not continue her taunting, because Aya then starts firing at her; the Exalt is forced to throw the vehicle into a series of awkward 'dodges' to escape the bullets. Several tear into the Lion's legs, but none come close to hitting the cockpit. Then one hand reaches back, detaching a sword from the back of the vehicle. "YAAAAAH!" The Alchemical engages the Tesla Drive again, jetting towards the R-3 and bringing the sword down in a savage stroke. At least she has no idea how the chainsaw teeth work yet.
You hit Aya Kobayashi with your EENSY-BEENSY SWORD jab.
A knife slings in, and Tuxedo Mask isn't fast enough to retract his cane and bat it aside. It clips him in the shoulder, shredding cloth and loosing blood. This causes him to frown before he draws his cape across himself and vanishes in a burst of rose petals.
He reappears without the roses on the ground close to Han and the Saboteur. "Cease this nonsense! There is no point in harming this place!" The Black Alliance can't be reasoned with, silly Mamoru. His free hand draws back, curling into a fist. Energy, rose pink, burst to life around his fist. It glows like fire but isn't. He stutter steps, half running at the Exalt as he drives his fist forward, splaying his hand and loosing the power point blank. And, yes, it has its own call.
"Tuxedo La Smoking Bomber!"
He hates you, future-him.
Erim is already eighty percent cooler than the Valkyrie. You can tell because she's also eighty percent taller.
Erim cannot easily reach the middle of her own back. Lenneth was right there. She twists around as something jabs in, trying to dislodge it but never quite managing it. She's starting to get annoyed here; her face is getting stormy.
Erim starts to lift up, above the field. This may put her into range of anti-aircraft weaponry; she doesn't care. Lenneth can follow her, she knows that - and Erim wants her to. She's intriguing, even if she can't say why.
It also gives her air burst a little more range. Weird light radiates away from Erim, almost appearing black from the outside and purple while you're in it. People all over the battlefield might feel their energy sapped, just a bit - and it works on machines, too, eating just a bit of their power. For most people it is an annoyance, nothing more.
For Lenneth, who it is directed at, it is actually serious, as Erim tries to steal her energy away... but not as much as that ray would have been.
Erim gets a glancing blow on Lenneth Valkyrie with her Eerie Light attack.
Trenchant Brazen Saboteur loses his balance. Han's legs lock around his neck, and he falls backwards--at least he has enough grace to twist mid-fall so he can try and use Han as a cushion. Having two-hundred-odd pounds of metal and clay landing on you is not fun.
At least Saboteur lets go of Han as soon as he lands. The Exalt leaps to his feet, Tuxedo Mask's energy-powered punch glancing off his chest; it hurts far more than it has any right to, and leaves a scorch mark, but it's not like it can knock the wind out of him. Brazen Saboteur lives up to his name once again, as he reaches out to touch Mamoru's arm with two extended fingers. If it connects, the muscles will suddenly go limp, numb, and unresponsive, rendering the whole limb useless. No actual physical damage, fortunately, but that's cold comfort in the middle of a fight.
The first Aestivalis launched from the Nadesico's catapault is Akito's pink Core Pit loaded into the Artillery Frame. After being shot out of the launch bay, the too heavy to fly machine sinks down to the ground level, cracking the tarmac with its impact. Coming out behind that is Ryoko's cherry red Battle Frame. She lands next to Akito as a bodyguard for the much less agile machine with much more grace. Izumi and Hikaru launch next, the teal and orange Battle Frames taking off towards the hangars. Behind them, Gai and Akatsuki launch practically on top of each other in the blue aerial frames, taking up positions to ensure aerial superiority.
IPA reinforcements are only seconds away.
Ruri herself takes three steps out into the middle of the hangar and sees a crazy undead lady attacking people, a Lion F fighting the R-3, and an incoming Aestivalis units. She turns around and decides to take her chances with the fire.
Ruri Hoshino switches armor modes to Aestivalis Complement.
Heh heh, stormy face. Lenneth doesn't know WHY Erim is blowing up random shit, but she remembers how Hrist acted: It's probably because she CAN blow up random shit--and it's fun! This is why people like Mayhem Missions over Safeguards, peeeeeooople!
Lenneth does follow, as predicted. She floats up after Erim--not so much flying so much as levitating. She doesn't seem to fly like birds or anything--perhaps, it's not even quite like Superman's because she isn't thrusting herself forward so much as her body chooses to move in that way--it's a subtle difference.
Lenneth senses her energy draining away from her--she doesn't quite understand how it works. "How..." She grits her teeth, "Does this help you?"
She isn't sure if she has the reserves to move into melee--so she banishes her blade and draws out her bow and arrow--opening fire with several quick bolts, each tip glowing with holy power!
Lenneth Valkyrie hits Erim with her Doing the Llewelyn attack.
[Fac-Alliance] Radiant Dynamo of Invention says, "I /like/ this machine. It will do nicely."
[Fac-Alliance] Radiant Dynamo of Invention says, "--Reinforcements!"
[Fac-Alliance] Threadbare Bride says, "Can you fight them off? I am afraid that I may need some open space to do the same -"
Tuxedo Mask is far more agile than he appears to be. I mean, he can jump /stories/ in eveningwear. His body twists, but it's not enough, the fingers render is free hand numb and lifeless. He says nothing. His frown deepens and, behind his mask, eyes narrow. He swings his cane in a backhanded arc, using his closeness to his advantage as he does his damndest to dent Saboteur's metal skull in with the gold handle of his cane.
Usagi's gonna be so mad at him for this. Probably. If she notices at all.
[Fac-Alliance] Erim says, "I am in the air. I can handle the flying ones."
[Fac-Alliance] Radiant Dynamo of Invention says, "Bride, watch yourself. I'm going to use the hangar as cover."
[Fac-Alliance] Radiant Dynamo of Invention says, "There are allied forces in there, are there not?"
[Fac-Alliance] Threadbare Bride says, "Oh, here and there."
The damaged arm is brought up to fend off the chainsaw sword (which fortunately isn't going right now) to minimize further damage to other parts of the R-3. "S-shut up!" the woman shouts back, sounding as upset as Dynamo probably predicted. "You have no idea what I've been through!"
Rocketing backwards, Aya tries to earn some personal space between her and the crazed Alchemical. It works for /now/ at least, and even as Aya flees, she wastes no time. Multiple missile lock pings issue throughout her cockpit as several crosshairs align upon the compromised Lion.
Missiles follow afterwards, streaming out and swarming to converge upon the armored module.
Aya Kobayashi juggles Radiant Dynamo of Invention with her MORE MISSILES combo.
You take 21 damage.
Aya Kobayashi juggles Radiant Dynamo of Invention with her MORE MISSILES combo.
You take 20 damage.
Aya Kobayashi juggles Radiant Dynamo of Invention with her MORE MISSILES combo.
You take 20 damage.
Aya Kobayashi juggles Radiant Dynamo of Invention with her MORE MISSILES combo.
You take 23 damage.
It seems like Mitsuko's decided she's going to run away after all. Having been facing the Bride this whole time and thus unable to see whatever vile mental calculations might have made hinted appearance in her expression, Rufus simply glances back slightly, suspecting she was probably too shocked at first to gather her wits and escape. He hopes that, this being her company, she knows the best way to get out of here safely; this is not a foe he can defeat quickly and then catch up with her to see her out. "Please take care!" he calls to her back, before returning his full attention to the Charbroiled Bride.
In a way, really, this is for the best.
The Bride gets a pretty solid hit into Rufus' midsection, but he jerks back in time to avoid getting his neck or uniform grabbed onto by that prosthetic. He takes a small leap backwards regardless to increase the distance between the two--with his whip, Rufus has better range--crouching down with the fingertips of his left hand touching lightly on the metal floor as the air around the Bride begins to shimmer. "I see there was little point in engaging you in conversation," Rufus, who is a man with little patience for flowery talk on the battlefield, observes coldly regarding her start at a speech earlier. "Very well."
She's likely not going to be holding back, if that aura's anything to judge by, and although Rufus is hardly down for the count, he *has* taken some good damage already--his foot, for example, which is still leaking. He stands, and begins to chant anew--this time a spell to increase his offensive power. It seems like she's powering up as well, and considering how hard she's been hitting thus far already... At least it seems like she's not chasing after Mitsuko, though Rufus doesn't discount the possibility that she'll start doing so once she's finished whatever she's doing.
Rufus buffs his POW to +2.
"It doesn't help me at all," Erim has to admit. "But it helps another. What is that your Superman keeps telling people? 'Work together to achieve your goals'?"
She smiles again. The smile vanishes when a) an arrow hits her in the stomach, and b) robots start to take to the air. The arrow actually seems to have worked pretty well; it shears through her breastplate like it wasn't there, and makes Erim yelp in startlement.
Erim once again raises her hand. This time there are no thunderbolts. She throws no firebirds. No ice appears, no water spouts from the ground. Instead, random positions in the air just explode for no readily apparent reason with a concussive blastwave and a gout of flame and smoke. Some of them are 'accidentally' over toward Gai and Akatsuki's aerial superiority robots, as Erim briefly turns the sky into as bright as noon.
Erim gets a glancing blow on Lenneth Valkyrie with her Sunder attack.
Erim misses Ruri Hoshino with her More Games Need Explosion Elemental Spells attack.
At about that time, when Han lands roughly on the ground, the remains of the binding breaks, the young martial artist immediatedly pushing himself back to his feets -- only to immediatedly duck as one of the remaining ninjas around, that were standing around and watching like idiots, decided it would be a good time to sock a punch against him.
Deadly mistake. Li grabs the Ninja's hand and pretty simply judo flip him. It dosen't end there, however as he lets go, flinging the ninja after the Brazen Saboteur's back. Too bad for that masked bloke -- he seemed pretty decent, and if he's good a this fighting thing, he'll be out of the way anyhow!
Radiant Dynamo is entirely unfamiliar with these 'missile' things. This costs her dearly.
/What is that, some manner of proj--/ Aya's missile banks open up, and Dynamo jets out of the way as fast as the Lion's Tesla Drive will let her go--but the damned things are /following her/! Missiles explode against the Lion's legs and flanks, plating buckling and melting under the attack. The Exalt feels each impact keenly, and bites back a scream of pain.
Dynamo does not respond to Aya's protestations, mainly because it's taking all her willpower just to keep the mecha functional. [Adjutant,] she transmits, [Emergency repairs.] The Lion's hatch opens for a few seconds, and a spider-like automaton crawls out. The robot starts patching up the worst of the damage, working quickly and efficiently; it's surprisingly good at this for a machine of its size.
And then, upon sighting reinforcements, the Lion... touches back down in the hangar. It's almost daring them to shoot at it. There's people in there, after all...
You heal Radiant Dynamo of Invention with your ARTOO action.
You have 29 health restored.
"Oh, my," Bride says aloud. "Really? I suppose in your plane there may not be a proper art for such things. I can see that you're preparing yourself, though... it's quite noble, in its way. In your world, you must be highly trained... an elite warrior. Yes?"
She extends one arm, the flesh one, in front of her. The fingers curl as if to grasp the air, and she says, "What you must learn to do... is to interleave your conversation with your battles. You see, combat can, in the frame of the enlightened mind, free you from the burden of emotion..." She grasps at the air, then, fingers clenching into a defiant fist as her entire stance seems to speak a peculiarly stylized defiance.
Her lips curl as her eyes look past her hand, then, towards Rufus. It's a smile, an oddly gentle one. The stance mellows as she takes a step closer to the man, the other hand extending forwards in a curiously peaceful way. Then her lips curl just a bit more, like ice spreading over a still pond. Her eyes narrow...
Then she leans back and aims three sudden kicks up at Rufus's head, leaning back enough to practically fall out of her ripped-up top as she does. "And you don't get distracted, either! So: What has brought you here?! Do you use these warstriders yourself?"
Threadbare Bride gets a glancing blow on Rufus with her Hand Of Friendship, Foot Of Fury attack.
Saboteur, meanwhile, takes the head of Mamoru's cane upside the noggin. It connects with an audible *clang*, though it seems to hurt him--he certainly recoils from the impact, dazed a little. It does not help that Han throws a mook at him like five seconds later, knocking him to the ground again. This time, Brazen Saboteur lets out a curse; something in his back just bent in a way it wasn't supposed to bend.
And then he invokes that strange super-speed technique again. The ninja is suddenly thrown into the air, and Saboteur himself is a quicksilver blur racing towards Han. One hand reaches to grab the martial artist, dragging him along towards Tuxedo Mask... where the other hand grabs at Tux's head, hoping to smash the two heroes into one another. Are their skulls thick enough to withstand the impact?!
[Fac-Alliance] Radiant Dynamo of Invention ngh. "Remind me to research those strange seeking bullet-things."
Down in the basement of the Isurugi Heavy Industries headquarters building, engineers have holed up, fleeing the fires upstairs as well as keeping watch over the prototype designs and company mainframe. Mostly the fleeing part, really. The secure basement area is nice and reinforced with stone foundation and other things that don't burn and set you on fire.
So they are in a bit of a high-strung mood when an unidentifiable black sludge begins to pour out of the doors to one of the elevators. "What the heck is that?" one engineer asks, pointing out, and another grimaces, raising a hand to her mouth in surprise and disgust. The engineers, as they become aware of it, begin to back away, stepping away nervously to make way for it to slide across the floor of the basement. "What the heck is it?" "It's getting into the mainframe!" They look back nervously at the elevator as the last of sludge exits it, even as the forward end of the sludge begins to pour over the various servers that form the backbone of the company's security database. They begin to scream when the sludge-covered machines begin to rattle and throw themselves to the floor, slamming and rubbing against each other. Metal flexes and hooks into makeshift notches. Sets of green 'eyes' form out of LED lights indicating the operation of the machines.
"Neat," Nergal Junior says.
The monster made out of mainframe forms a black high-powered drill on one arm, and then sets to slamming it against the wall and ceiling. Soon, a big old server mech bursts straight out of the walls of the headquarters building, into the clear of the battlefield, snickering in a cold, rattling voice. "So long, suckers!" It then promptly begins stomping away.
One of the engineers, hair tussled, suit partially on fire, runs out from the hole in the wall, pointing urgently. "Somebody! Our servers are running away!"
[Fac-Alliance] Radiant Dynamo of Invention says, "They look immensely useful."
Nergal Junior switches armor modes to Strong Form.
For once, Tuxedo Mask's superhuman agility /works/. The Prince of the Earth twists his body, slinging himself backwards like a certain chosen one from a computer zone. The Exalt's hand nearly takes his hat off. That's a crime. The hand with the cane in it flings downwards to prop him up and he swings his feet out at the ensouled golem's legs. Perhaps to trip?
Somehow. Somehow his shoes are still gleaming. It's got to be magic, or he's using Armor All.
On one hand, Han is not the Flash, if you catch my meaning. On the other, /he's/ pretty damned fast himself, especialy when he pools all of his Chi into doing that. The young martial artist reacts in a similar way, blurring backwards and stopping a few metres back, glaring toward that Ninja.
"ALRIGHT!" He shouts, exasperated, "Just who the hell you guys are and where the hell I am, now!? Because I'm clearly not in Hong Kong anymore!" He finishes, his fist suddenly glowing as he charges back toward the strange Silver-skinned man. The fist, bursting suddenly with deep golden flames, is thrown after as he shouts: "GLORIOUS SOLAR PUNCH!"
It's a punch. A punch that makes /explosions/.
Of course the missiles are following her. Every single one. Though she may be disappointed when she later discovers that not all missiles are target-seeking like the TK missiles.
Pursuit is contemplated, and discarded until it takes refuge /in/ the freaking hangar. Aya pursues, but she doesn't attack. She can't in here as that would risk livss and valuable equipment. "Dynamo..." she hisses, "Get /out/..."
Gai and Akatsuki break formation as the air starts to explode around their nimble aerial frames. The pair dart, bob, and weave to avoid, relyly solely on the improved maneuveriblity of their frames extra verners and airfoils and their own twitch reflexes as hotshot pilots to survive. "Where's it coming from?" Gai asks.
"I can't tell." Akatsuki replies. "Wait a second, there, that huge woman that isn't registering on the IFF. That's got to be it."
"Alright!" Gai replies. "I'll get her with my GEKIGAN FI--"
"Don't be stupid." Akatsuki interupts. "Tenkawa, you're in a prime firing position, lock onto my targetting data and open fire. Wait, hold on, there's a friendly near the target, don't shoot!"
Meanwhile, Izumi and Hikaru have gotten lost in the hangars and factories in their search for the correct one. Aaaaand then a new mech bursts out of the wall not far from their position. Clearly... /clearly/, this has to be the target, which is which Izumi's teal mech opens fire with its machine gun.
Lenneth is given a request. She is asked to deliver one (1) super noogie to Erim. She takes in a deep breath as she receives ths request and does not immediately reply to Erim. Instead, she frowns and looks quite saddened by her answer. She lowers her head for a moment and then--KRABOOM! The first one, Lenneth manages to jolt out of the way of, but the second explodes Lenneth--the fires of the deadly explosion element (and fire) consume her body! Is she finally defeated or is she just reusing the same trick she always uses?!
Of course, she's reusing the same trick she always uses. A flickering Lenneth appears above Erim and says. "Ah....super noogie!" awkwardly as she throws her fist down for Erim's head--it sort of ends up more like a punch, but she'll twist her fist upon contact!
Lenneth Valkyrie hits Erim with her Super Noogie? attack.
Ruri Hoshino gets a glancing blow on Nergal Junior with her Bullets For You jab.
Glorious /what/ punch?!
Han and Tuxedo Mask inadvertently combine to become a force of awesome. As Saboteur dodges Tux's cane, he sets himself up right for a solar (but not Solar) powered punch to the jaw. The Alchemical goes flying, twisting in mid-air and hitting the ground hard. He's bleeding a thin, iridescent oil-like fluid as he gets back up.
And then he pulls something from his belt--a sword hilt, technological in nature. Brazen Saboteur's anima glows a brilliant silvery-white as he channels Essence, igniting the beamklaive. The blade is the same shade as the energy surrounding the man, and easily four feet long and half a foot wide at the widest part. The Alchemical then spins, whirlwinding with the beamklaive. Tux and Han will be on the receiving end of LASERS if they're not careful!
Mamoru Chiba rises smoothly, pivoting to keep his useless arm out of the way. There's a quirk of an eyebrow as a beam sword is brought to play. A really wide beam sword, but...a little Tuxedo Magic should be enough. he grips his cane at t the ready, a little below the golden ball and waits for the right moment. He waits.
Then he moves, He drives the cane into the path of the beamklaive, sets his feet and grunts at the impact. He's holding it, but barely. He's not a very strong man, but it might be enough of a surprise that he /can/ do it for Han to...do something Kung Fu-y.
The number of times Erim has previously been supernoogied is zero. She has no experience with this. None, zip.
She stands still for it because she doesn't know the appropriate response. Mostly she's just staring. And then she vanishes in a slowly widening circle of red sparks.
The red sparks recontract about thirty feet off, reforming into Erim. "Are you toying with me?" she asks, incredulously. She forgot about the flying machines. "You are! I will show you not to treat the Sinistral of Death so lightly!"
Erim makes a cutting motion with her polearm at the same instant she flares her aura, all red and yellow and orange light that dances around her like heatless flame. The sense of pressure that often follows her increases to a fever pitch as she extends her Spiritual Force; plants wither and suffer on the ground beneath her, people feel sick, and electronics die.
The force is focused in one place, though, one place where energy simply stops moving, death to living beings and beings of energy alike. That area is visible for a moment as a distortion in space, an instant before the effect intensifies; that's all the time Lenneth has to get out of the way.
Erim misses Lenneth Valkyrie with her Spiritual Force of Death super.
"Ow!" Okay, that hurts - it's like getting pelted with hail. Nergal Junior turns his 'head,' as the pool of black over the mech-looking being parts in little ripples where the bullets impact. Oh, there's a robot shooting at him. A mass of lights blink on and off, mimicking a 'mouth' of sorts. "Hey, what's the big - oh, right, robbery." Yeah, it's fair enough - you steal a bunch of company servers, robots come and shoot you. That's the multiverse. "Well... okay, I guess this is the part where I say some action movie pun themed after what I'm doing. Sorry, I'm still kind of new at this. Um..." The mech pauses to look down and to the side, and lift its hand-shaped hand to its 'chin.'
"Okay. I got it." Nergal Junior lifts his arm with the drill-shaped hand and holds it forward as he resumes barreling for the fence (he's moving pretty slow, it's going to take him awhile). There is a rush of backlash fire as the drill launches off its hand, sailing at Izumi's Aestivalis. "You know the 'drill!' Ugh, that's horrible, I'm really sorry."
Nergal Junior hits Ruri Hoshino with his Drill Punch attack.
This is the night for auras. Han Su Li also have one, a faint, quasi-invisible flow of air billowing his clothes like a small wind. He was pretty surprised to see that /thing/ draw out what seems to be a pretty energy weapon...but then, this MYSTERIOUS MASKED MAN interposed himself bettewn them and the dangerous laser sword.
This, Han thinks to himself, is a golden opportunity if he ever saw any.
He leaps off, spinning his fists as he quickly recovers from the GLORIOUS SOLAR PUNCH, crouching a bit and concentrating some more. He can do that move pretty easily now, but he preffer taking this SPLIT second of a time to make sure he get it right and not rip apart a hip or something while he does it.
"FLYING!" He shouts as he makes a dash, leaping about-midway and delivering a kick toward the Brazen Saboteur. "WINDMILL!" It is doubtfull anybody here has ever witnessed the Old Man, Han's grandfather, execute this move flawlessly. He maybe lack the experience and years of his grandfather, but Han can make a good simili of a HUNDRED PERPETUAL FLYING "KICK!"
"I see you missed my point," Rufus remarks dryly. "I meant more your pontification and continued evasion of the *real* question, rather than conversation in general."
After all, if he disliked conversation in *general*, he wouldn't have bothered to engage Bride! Even if it was generally questions on, you know, what she was doing and why. Rufus generally doesn't do friendly chit-chat with people he's trying to kill, or, in Bride's case, beat into limping away, possibly with some of her limbs detached.
As she thus begins to try to school him on the art of conversing during a fight, Rufus instead concentrates on her movements, following them. As such, when she flies into motion, he's able to move with the strikes, the three of them clopping against the side of his head and making his ear ring, but not striking as devastatingly as they might. The left side of his body is getting pretty battered, though.
To the Bride's question, Rufus merely grants her a faint smile. "Same as you, I suppose. I was out for a stroll, and then you and yours arrived to interrupt. Isn't it droll how these things work out?"
The Rook Slayer is a bit of a bitch. However, he takes this opportunity to attempt to heave his whip around and perhaps ensnare the Abyssal around the neck. If that's successful--if it doesn't just, say, whip her across the face or some such--then he will attempt to heave her bodily into one of the steel walls. Rufus might look girly, but he is one *strong* mofo.
"However, if you truly do want a conversation, why don't we do it properly?" he suggests at the end of the attempt, successful or not. "I am Captain Rufus of the Grangalian Army and IPA Military Coordinator. And whom might you be?"
Rufus hits Threadbare Bride with his Bride, get some better support, you're practically falling out of that dress. attack.
After what seems like an eternity, Adjutant scuttles back into the cockpit and assumes a position behind Dynamo's seat. The Alchemical can feel the difference already, though she still doesn't respond to Aya.
She wants her to come out, eh?
The sword is reattached to its holder, Tesla Drives burn, and the Lion comes rocketing out of the hangar again. The Vulcan guns on its body open fire at the units from the Nadiesco, spraying wildly, while the R-3 is on the recieving end...
Of a traditional ROCKET PUNCH!
Only this is more of a variant, since it's not so much of a punch as a blow delivered with the immobile arm containing the railgun. If it hits, the next action taken involves using the railgun to blow large holes in the enemy mech at point blank range.
You hit Aya Kobayashi with your RAILGUN FINGAAAAAAH super.
You miss Ruri Hoshino with your YAY BULLETS attack.
The incoming drill strikes at Izumi's left leg as she twists in the air to avoid it with only limited success. "Oh no!" Izumi says with dead seriousness. "I think we're 'screwed'."
"Don't you start that!" Hikaru chides.
"But he spun me right 'round with that taunt." Izumi continues.
"No, seriously." Hikaru grumbles, prepping her missile racks for firing.
"It cut straight to the core of my being."
"I'm serious here!" Hikaru complains, getting angry, a she launches a dozen missiles.
Ruri Hoshino misses Nergal Junior with her Missile Launch(es) Detected attack.
Now you've been 'supernoogied' once. If Lenneth had not fought Erim, she would have lived a full life without having been supernoogied--at least until Superman got around to it. She opens her mouth to protest, at first--but she doesn't get anything out of her mouth before Erim decides she /is/ toying with her. She frowns again before adding, "That was fulfilling a request."
Lenneth senses the Death Spell focusing on her for a moment--Lenneth acts immediately, throwing herself away at Erim. Perhaps Lenneth thinks that Erim won't use that sort of power on HERSELF, or she thinks that she really needs to hit Erim more before she kills everything in the area on /accident/. That it works on electronics is weird, but Lenneth doesn't devote much present thought to it.
If Lenneth manages to collide into Erim's stomach--she pushes past her and summons a holy burst of energy to hold Erim in place, the power of the magic flowing painfully through her in a set of flashing pulses--don't stare too directly at the screen!
A lance of light appears in Lenneth's hands and she shakes her head. "And also--lowering your guard!" She stabs the glowing lance for Erim's body--threatening to skewer her with it if she does not escape!
Lenneth Valkyrie juggles Erim with her Purify (Very) Weird Soul! combo.
Lenneth Valkyrie juggles Erim with her Purify (Very) Weird Soul! combo.
Erim breaks Lenneth Valkyrie's combo.
[Fac-Alliance] Radiant Dynamo of Invention says, "Ha-hah! Eat /that/!"
[Fac-Alliance] Radiant Dynamo of Invention says, "Bride, Erim, what's your status?"
[Fac-Alliance] Threadbare Bride says, "A little sore..."
[Fac-Alliance] Erim says, "I hope you have whatever it is you came for, or will shortly."
For a moment, Tuxedo Mask and Brazen Saboteur are deadlocked. The Alchemal's blade can't cut through the obviously magical material of the cane, nor can he force it out of the magician's hand. Instead, Saboteur opts for a cheap shot, lashing out to kick the guy in the shin.
And then the Alchemical is flying-kicked by Han. Once more, Saboteur is knocked off-balance, but recovers--and this time, he opts... to retreat? That's what it looks like, he's dashing right for the door the golden blur disappeared into. This, of course, leads into the hangar the fight is taking place in.
[Fac-Alliance] Radiant Dynamo of Invention says, "I have it."
[Fac-Alliance] Erim says, "Then I will be leaving shortly."
[Fac-Alliance] Radiant Dynamo of Invention says, "It got a little damaged, but there's enough of it left to study. And improve upon."
[Fac-Alliance] Erim says, "But first -"
[Fac-Alliance] Radiant Dynamo of Invention says, "If you need a ride out of here, I can come pick you up."
[Fac-Alliance] Erim says, "I do not."
A kick to the shin!? DIRTY POOL! Tuxedo Mask's facade of cool aloofness fades when he yelps in a certain intern's voice, "Ow!" He recoils a little, staring as Han kicks the thing and it takes off. Falling back to suave sophistication, Tux looks at Han, then to the door.
Without another word, he darts after, assuming the Kung Fu Kid will follow.
She needs to look into why the Nendou field doesn't seem to be working right now. It would be /nice/ to have it right now, wouldn't it.
If there was one thing the R-3 had going for it, it was that it had a small cockpit. Unfortunately for Aya, this doesn't help as it suddenly caves in, metal all around her folding inwards as the railgun suddenly penetrates through just below her feet and fires repeatedly. The personal trooper stops moving manually, shaking violently with each railgun shot.
Inside, Aya's head smashes against the walls repeatedly, blood soon tricking down her forehead and mingling with her hair. Her vision begins to blur as she begins to lose consciousness. Her mind screams in protest and in /fear/.
Now the nendou field comes, originating from the cockpit itself as the wave of green telekinetic energy spreads outwards, quickly and with force. Unless Dynamo moves really fast, it will definitely get caught against it.
Aya Kobayashi misses Radiant Dynamo of Invention with her Fly against the psychic windshield attack.
"Perhaps the same could be said of all diplomacy," Bride says as she straightens back from her flurried attack, her stray hand scything through the air as if to punish it. She is relaxed about it, at least. She sees the whip coming fast enough to raise her jade-and-soulsteel arm, pressing it near her neck - this keeps her from being strangled. She smiles - And then she's thrown into the wall.
She rebounds, though, rolling and shedding her cloak as she goes. "Nasty thing," she says, "but the sun is brutal," she concludes, looking back at Rufus with a slight smile. Her neck is bruised, but such is life. "I am the Threadbare Bride Bathed in Offal, chosen of - well, really, there are many." She feints with another kick before spinning on a heel to administer a sharp backhand with the jade hand.
"But I suppose you could say, Chosen of the Queen of Suicides," she continues, "and of course, I also help those in our great alliance with their desires and goals. You could say -" A follow up to that smack with the other hand, knuckles aimed at Rufus's midsection, "I make dreams come true!" It would be less weird, perhaps, if she said it with irony instead of what is something ghoulishly close to true enthusiasm.
Threadbare Bride gets a glancing blow on Rufus with her I was brought here by ALCHEMICALS who wished to pay ME /TRIBUTE/ attack.
Unfortunately, Erim is particularly vulnerable to holy energy. Maybe it proves she is evil. Maybe it's just a side effect of wielding the energies of death. Whatever the cause, that /hurts/.
She hisses and vanishes again, reappearing in the spiral of red light behind Lenneth. "Enough," she says. "I do not know what you are, truly - you wield death, but you are not a goddess, and you are not as I am. For that I would let you live."
Erim waits, precisely five seconds. "But for the insult, I will not." She snaps, and the sky goes black.
It is not the black of night, but instead sudden black and grey storm clouds, dreary and dark. There is a brief rumble of thunder, and then a dragon composed entirely out of lightning bursts from it, lancing toward Lenneth, past her at the ground, where it explodes in a particularly bright lightning bolt and deafening thunderclap.
The clouds vanish again.
Erim hits Lenneth Valkyrie with her Dragon: Because Our Spell Names Are Perfectly Literal attack.
"We get the point!" Nergal Junior says, chiming in with Hikaru. Who is shooting him with missiles - at least it took prep time to fire them. That means he sees them coming - and as each missile sails at the big old mainframe monster, a jet black tentacle forms out of the sludge forming the 'skin' of the mech, and whips out, catching the missile and hurling it afield, most of them detonating against open runway, only a couple against the already ailing hangars.
The engineer who warned those outside runs as close as he can get without risking his health, shouting at the Aestivalis contingent. "NO! Are you crazy?! You can't blow up the company mainframe!!" He throws his arms out to his sides in exasperation. "My level 70 shaman is in there!! Level /seventy/!!"
Nergal Junior, meanwhile, clasps his hands together. "Okay. In trouble. Uh... I can only cast this spell once every fortnight, so I had better come out of this okay. I summon Mordenkainen's Faithful Watchdog!" The big old black mech raises its hand - that's right, it's a caster mech - and a wide encircled pentagram glows on the field between the hangars in blood red. The ground bleeds and fire erupts higher. The interstice between the dimensions is breached, and a magical watchdog emerges with enchanted powers.
The little magical chihuahua barks incessantly at the Aestivalis units. Then Nergal Junior runs up and punches Izumi's in the face.
Nergal Junior critically strikes Ruri Hoshino with his Fisticuffs! attack.
In actuality, the after mentioned Kung Fu Kid does not follow. Immediatedly, anyway. Oh no, one of the remaining ninjas decided it would be a good time to gank him in the sides and perchance grab his liver to sacrifice to his DARK LORD AND MASTER ODA NOBONUGA! Considering that he tried to do so with the boot of one of his fallen comrads, it didn't worked very well. Han socks him a good one over the face, grabs the boot and dashes off after that strange ninja and the masked man.
IMPROVISED WEAPON OF THE NIGHT: NINJA BOOT.
Mm, Lenneth thinks, she seems to be getting an understanding of her--this is also a little troubling, but not much can be helped there. The spear in her hand does not immediately dissipitate despite her follow through being interrupted. "Insult...?" Lenneth sighs--but then there's a dragon, and Lenneth can't discuss further because the dragon is not just a dragon--it is a DRAGON MADE OUT OF LIGHTNING. Lenneth's jaw drops in awe when she should be running.
She raises the spear to parry--but it flies past her and into the ground. Huh. Well, that's good lu--
*KRACKABOOM!* Lenneth is catapulted into the air from the thunderous explosion, her armor now developing black soot across the bulk of it. Unusual 'sparkles' seem to be spilling out of her body--Lenneth is having a hard time keeping this fight up!
"You should not take an enemy's actions in battle personally." She suggests--rearing back with her arm to fling the spear at Erim!
Lenneth Valkyrie hits Erim with her Erim? More like Emorim! attack.
The pair of aerial frames continue to twist and dart in the air as the Lion takes off. "Hah... just a Lion?" Gai scoffs. "I... GAI DAIGOUJI, will handle this!" The deep blue Aestivalis dips downwards below the Lion's Y axis in an inverted sine wave assault. His mech's distortion fields focus into the right fist, which glows... WITH AN AWESOME POWER. "GAI... SUUUUUPPAAAAAA.... UPP-AAAAAAAAAAH!"
Meanwhile, Izumi's mech goes bouncing backwards from the impact, crashing into the side of a building. Hikaru winces and takes to the air. The orders to 'not destroy it' are not lost on her as she lines up a shot with her sniper rifle; she's aiming to cripple it's hip joints to prevent its escape.
Izumi, on the topic of the dog, merely radios, "Well, I guess that 'Pug-is-listed' as a deadly weapon."
Ruri Hoshino misses Radiant Dynamo of Invention with her Gai Super Upper attack.
Ruri Hoshino misses Nergal Junior with her The Sniper Rifle Hurts, But Izumi Does The San Damage attack.
Oh, they can fly. Nergal Junior cranes his heavy mechanical neck up to watch Hikaru line up the shot. Where is she aiming? That's about, like... midsection, right? It's honestly a lucky guess, as Junior's black mass instinctively forms a wide berth around the midsection of the server mech, and the rifle bullet embeds itself in the dead server matter there, before the black mass washes back over it again. "Heh heh!" Nergal Junior raises his hands to the sides of his ears and wiggles his fingers, as the audio output and the lights mimicking a 'mouth' emulate a raspberry as closely as they can. Junior then pauses, looks around for something to throw, picks up a handful of the demon ninja servitors of Oda Nobunaga, and throws them as hard as he can at Hikaru's Aestivalis. Mordenkainen's Faithful Watchdog seems to have disappeared, meanwhile. I guess it wasn't so faithful?
Nergal Junior gets a glancing blow on Ruri Hoshino with his Projectiles That Throw Projectiles attack.
Dynamo does what she would do when being charged by two opponents attacking from the front. Namely, she jets backwards; Gai's distortion-powered Ripoff Punch whiffs entirely, and the Nendou Field doesn't come anywhere close. The mech keeps zipping backwards until it passes into the hangar--the hatch pops open, and Dynamo's voice comes from the machine's speakers. "Evacuate!"
Trenchant Brazen Saboteur leaps into the vehicle's cockpit in a single jump, and squeezes into the space behind the pilot's seat. The hatch stays open just long enough for any other passengers to board, then snaps shut.
Said passengers will note that Dynamo's body is strapped in tightly, and seemingly catatonic--her eyes are still moving, though, and her lips echo everything she says on the intercom.
"Just a Lion?!" she cries. "It's /mine/, now, and it will only get better from here..." Dynamo bursts into laughter, kicks the Lion's jets to maximum burn, and rockets into the sky.
The spear catches Erim in the chest - and sticks, partway into her breastplate, dead center on her chest.
She looks down at it. Reaching up with her bare hand, Erim wrenches it out, tossing it back to Lenneth - not point-first, even, she just sort of tosses it down.
And then she fades away into red sparkles. She's having no more of this tonight.
[Fac-Alliance] Threadbare Bride says, "I have a suggestion for a name!"
[Fac-Alliance] Radiant Dynamo of Invention says, "Hmm?"
Mamoru Chiba snarls as the Lion jets. He even hurls roses at it. One may even manage to lodge into the mech, but do little else than that. He taps his cane on the ground and turns, walking away into the black night, seeming to vanish into the shadows.
Probably because he teleported like a cheater.
[Fac-Alliance] Threadbare Bride says, "The First and Beloved Lion."
[Fac-Alliance] Radiant Dynamo of Invention says, "Meh."
[Fac-Alliance] Radiant Dynamo of Invention says, "Not to disparage your taste, dear Bride, we just have different customs where I come from."
Han is evantualy caught up, perhaps a little too late, but just enough to see a strange mech taking off. "YEAH!" He shouts, waving the boot in the air. "RUN AWAY, YOU COWARDLY NINJA!" He shouts, swinging that boot and throwing it off after the Lion.
Now, one must think it would be entierly, completly useless, right? Let us not forge Han is the type of people to be able to kill a man with a paper cut and solid ramen noddles.
But, hey, it IS just a boot, right?
Still burning brightly in the sky, the nendou field persists for a few moments as the R-3 hangs there. Eventually, and rather abruptly, it fades, winking out of being like a snuffed candle.
Inside, Aya's death grip on her console slackens. She is dimly aware of the woman retreating-and is thankful, personally. With a faint wail, she tries to fight off the urge to curl up and sob-the way the cockpit is designed doesn't help that very much. But at that very point, her mind is overwhelmed, drifting away into unconsciousness as the concussion settles in. Her head rolls forwards and the R-3 partially crashes to the ground. Part of it actually stays a little airborne due to the tesla drives.
Lenneth catches the weapon and watches Erim as she leaves. She doesn't give chase or try to 'peg' her as she escapes--if she wishes to do no more harm today, that's good enough for her.
"I never *was* very fond of diplomacy," Rufus replies, ironically--after all, these days he's very enthusiastic about helping the new PMB in their efforts to establish a true peace not maintained at gunpoint. Of course, this is the same man who chose to lead an assault on the old PMB when the Admonisher fell without waiting for the *official* sanction of his King, so it's not without its truth either. The Bride, who would know neither of these things but might sense the sentiment behind them both in his words, can divine whichever she likes from them.
And then the Bride introduces herself, and by her full name, no less. /That would explain the smell and the lacking bodice,/ Rufus does *not* say, because it's really a rather unnecessary comment when she's finally answered him directly. "That's quite a mouthful," he instead observes. "Would it be all right if I called you Threadbare for short?"
He hisses then, as the white jade prosthetic swings back at his face. He manages to block with his arm, but it forces him to move onto his bad foot, and so despite the impossible coldness in his foot, sharp and acute pain shoots up his leg, even as his arm gets hit with a strike that will be bruising badly in the morning.
"The Horsemen's dreams--everyone else's nightmares," Rufus responds, favoring his leg again as he pulls his whip in, holding it taut in both arms. "I'm afraid I'm not familiar with whom the Queen of Suicides might be, but I shall do my best to correct this with all due haste." Then, channeling his chi into his weapon, Rufus slams the sinuous golden body down, vital energy ramming forward in a straight line. It's a strong attack, but if she can get to one side quickly enough... Fortunately for her as well, that's also the moment at which that Lion that Dynamo had been targeting blasts off. Not a good night for the IPA tonight, it would seem.
Rufus critically strikes Threadbare Bride with his Line Attack (I need to write these names down somewhere, I can't remember what the hell they're called) attack.
The physical objects (those being ninjas in this case), penetrate Hikaru's distortion field with an ease that an energy or gravity based weapon wouldn't. The ninja impact sends the mech tumbling heels over head. Both Izumi and Hikaru fall back under heavy damage. "Whatever you are... next time, you're dead meat!" Hikaru calls back as she flees.
"And your little dog, too!" Izumi adds.
Gai, though he whiffs in an un-Gai like fashion, manages to come about gracefully at the least. He picks up his rifle and sprays bullets upward... no use, though. She's already gone.
"Idiot!" Akatsuki chides. "If you'd gone straight in, you would have had her! Why did you do that stupid anime crap?" A vicious Pro-Gekigan vs Anti-Gekigan arguement breaks out between the two.
Meanwhile, Akito finally does something useful, as he and Ryoko recover the fallen R-3, rushing it to the hanger to get the pilot to the hospitol.
A pile of highly injured ninjas accumulates behind Nergal Junior, as he looks up and calls back after the retreating Aestivalis squadron. "If you want another beating... ah, to hell with this. I'm no good at this hot-blooded stuff. I have to find a different way to banter." The big old mech watches as the Radiant Dynamo's stolen Lion takes into the sky, and then nods to itself. "Okay... now looks like a good time to get out of here myself. Heh heh. So long, losers." Gouts of flame erupt from the back of the machine, emulating a jetpack of some kind, and Nergal Junior flies low for a moment before taking off in an attempt to clear the area and get away. In the process, the boy-machine calls down to the Threadbare Bride, "Hi, Bride!"
YIPYIPYIPYIPYIPYIPYIPYIPYIPYIPYIPYIPYIPYIPYIPYIP
That, meanwhile, is the sound of Mordenkainen's Faithful Watchdog, who just popped up in the cockpit of Izumi's Aestivalis, and will not shut up. And will continue to follow her around and not shut up for another fortnight before it returns to the summoning aether.
"Most of them call me Bride," says the Abyssal with another smile. An unpleasant shape, like a double bruise, is showing on her forehead... and she bows for a moment, in the middle of her maneuver. This is foolish, and it may show that, specialized martial arts or not, she is not quite a true warrior yet. That's because she just stands there, like an idiot, as the waves of light come in...
The blows are painful. It's like being bathed in agonizing sunlight; Bride can feel her skin blister. Oh, that may scar, she hopes it won't. The raw force sends her back - helped perhaps by her own Essence - over the Calion...
... and gives her the cover she needs to turn, stumble, and dash out towards where that Lion is waiting. Even if they reject her name, which, she thinks, may be just as well - It's a fast, durable craft, and they want to leave as readily as they can. Some day, she tells herself, you'll come to one of these places, and THEY'LL be the ones to leave.
Bride's response is highlighted by the fact that Junior, in the midst of his own retreat, calls down to her and refers to her by that name. However, this is of secondary concern with the fact that the Black Alliance's members are retreating en masse, which suggests to Rufus that they came here to take something--like, oh, /that Lion over there/--and are making good on their escape now that they have it.
"Tch...!" he hisses, limping quickly over to the railing in front of the Calion in time to see the Bride dash the hell out. A call on the radio tells him that the other members of the IPA present aren't able to prevent the Horsemen retreat, either... Rufus sighs a bit, but refuses to show any weakness just yet. There is still a lot of damage assessment to be done, as well as finding survivors among the injured and so on. It'll be a long night yet.
Bride doesn't say anything back to Jr. -- but she does wave with her real meat hand! Even if she did lose a fingernail somewhere along the way. D'aww, that's just what happens when you live an active lifestyle.
So to speak.