One Brunch Man
Ikebukuro Russia Sushi
Tom rapped his knuckles against the table and made a horizontal peace sign with his fingers, directed at Dennis. "Two of my usual. One for me, and one for my friend here. I'm showing her around town, you see."
"Oh, so it's like that is it." Dennis said, making a noise from the back of his throat like the middle-aged Russian version of rolling one's eyes. "I'll get right on that, soon as you pay your tab for last time."
Tom recoiled defensively. "I wouldn't really call it a 'tab'," Tom said, taking the time to make finger quotes, "I was short one time. You know I'm good for it, especially since I..." let Hibachi escape into a foreign country. From another dimension. "...mmm."
"Uh huh." Dennis said, wiping down an exceptionally large cutting knife that he brandished upward to gleam in the overhead lights. "We had a saying in Russia. He who skips, doesn't walk."
Tom furrowed his brow. "How could the pun possibly translate over that well?"
Dennis scoffed, and turned around. "It just does, okay? Now wait for your damn sushi." With that, Dennis threw back the curtain to the back room and walked through, the cloth settling behind him.
Tom sighed, then turned to April with a grin. "Don't mind him. He's a little rough around the edges, but he's more bark than bite." Tom leaned past her to look at Simon, eyebrow cocked. "As opposed to Simon, he's a little..."
"They can't!" Simon said triumphantly, with an upraised finger. "It already walked away! Is beauty of octopus. Beauty, and terror! Tens of people die from octopus attacks every year! Don't let them walk over you!"
"...yeah, that probably makes a lot more sense in Russian." Tom said, shaking his head. "He's good people though. Between him and Dennis, most punks would think twice about robbing this place, even during an apocalypse." So don't try anything. Tom's explanation trailed off as April slid her phone in front of him, the loan shark blinking owlishly behind his tinted sunglasses. "This is... how did you even get to this video? I thought only other Dollars could get on the boards." He asked, even as he slipped one of the earbuds in and hovered his finger over the video. "If this is from a shock site or something, I'm not telling you which Russian sauce translates to wasabi." Tapping the icon, Tom settled back in his seat.
When the sushi arrived about ten minutes later, Tom's eyes formed full-halfglobes, sticking out of his face. "That was fast." Tom said numbly, pulling the bud from his ear.
"Yeah, well, some of it might have been pre-made." Dennis said, sliding the dishes in front of the respective customers. "There hasn't exactly been much to do around here these past few days." He gave Tom a side-eye. "You feelin' alright?"
"Fine." Tom's empty wide-eyed stare continued for a moment into the depths of the fatty tuna. To be honest, most of it had gone over his head; apparently there had been some kind of panic? Because of some guy in a blue coat? And another demon? Or something? He'd been too busy almost actually dying to worry about theoretically dying at the hands of one or more ambiguously powerful subhuman whatevers. Most people though that it was easy to get caught up in the insanity of this city, but after a point there wasn't much you could do but tune it out. Much like the rumors about the Slasher, or the Awakusu's latest power structure, or anything at all to do with Izaya Orihara, Tom had begun tuning out the apocalypse talk until it was so much background noise. He couldn't do anything about it, so he wasn't going to worry about it.
There was, however, a sticking point, and it was seven letters long: The Cure. Apparently, all those weird glances he'd been getting over the last day whenever he mentioned the Gate messing up their lives wasn't because it was supposed to be some kind of super secret reality glitch that somehow everyone knew about anyway, but because he'd sounded crazy and uninformed.
Something finally clicked in his expression, and Tom relaxed. "Okay, no, I get it. She's a Contractor, right? That's how she did the whole, the mummy thing? And she's saying stuff to throw attention away from the Gate. I mean, the Gate, it's crazy, but some guy rolling in and Katamary Damacy-ing all our countries together? That's just nuts." Tom grabbed one of the pieces of tuna and dipped it in the soy sauce before taking a bite, gently shaking his head. What he said next was a tad hard to decipher through the mouthful of fish, but sounded a lot like "Why else would they throw around a story about a Contractor saving the day?" He swallowed, reinvigorated by having something in his stomach. "Whether I agree or not, you can't deny that sounds like an agenda."
Ikebukuro Power Plant
Akabayashi's fingers rippled up and down the length of the cane lying in his lap, imagining that it was something a good deal heavier and projectile-oriented. Still, his outward face was as placid and calm as a koi fish pond, and remained that way until Minako approached. As he caught a glimpse of her power-blue frame coming in from occupied enemy territory, his single working eye swirled toward her as tempestuous as the howling eye of a hurricane, and his fingers tensed around his weapon, less than adequate but more than enough. But the storm passed as soon as it arrived, less than a second passing before his easy smile rose to the surface. "A bunch of maintenance workers pissing their pants, if I had to guess." He replied. "But I'm guessing that's not what you meant."
Delegating, Akabayashi reached down to smack on the driver's side door window beneath him. The low hum of a car window cut through the sound of Kinnosuke arguing angrily in the distance, and Shu Aozaki's
◊ face gradually came into view, looking thoroughly unamused. "*sigh* Look kid, whoever you are, if you're thinkin' about popping one of those invaders in the neck, get in line. You're about three or four places past first dibs." The muscular man said, jutting a thumb back to behind the blockade.
"That's a yes, by the way." Akabayashi continued, eye once again focused on the shuttle at rest, "but our hands are tied."
"So scram." Aozaki said, leaning his crooked elbow on the top of the car door. "This ain't a charity case for kids, even if you have some stupid-ass power too." Aozaki flashed a heavily bandaged hand at the SEES leader, as though that would carry the whole message. Neither of them seemed to have recognized her, but neither were they taking her appearance for granted.
The Offices Of Izaya Orihara—Main Office
Vorona crossed her arms and stood over the enthusiastic dark-haired girl as the weapon was taken apart, the assassin keenly listening for her take on its specs. Any sense Vorona had that the girl was underaged or inexperienced withered in the face of her Heckler & Koch spread across the ground like an autopsied cadaver. Innocence, it is relative. She reflected, considering how many lives that weapon had taken. And would take, in the future. "Tell me, what is Gambol Shroud?"
Izaya's chuckling abruptly tapered off as Weiss laid out her demands, the broker looking like he'd been suddenly brought back down to something approaching reality. He cocked an interested eyebrow in her direction, the distant look in his eyes fading in favor of an attentive gleam. "I'm afraid," he said, plucking one of the upside-down pens from his pen cup and contemplatively spinning it around his thumb, "Mr. Nakura's personal debts go in and out like the coming of the tides. However capable you might think I am, there's not much I can do about that. Furthermore—" When Weiss interrupted him, Izaya paused, before he up and pushed himself off of the desk, slipping his hands into his pockets with a tsk tsk tsk as he paced back around to behind his desk. "His personal debts are... substantial." Planting himself down heavily on the furniture, he rested his hands in front of him before pointing the pen at the girl. "Beacon supersoldiers or not, you'd have to do quite the job to guarantee Nakura walks away scott-free." Using the button end of the pen to press a key on his keyboard, and turned the monitor around to reveal a grounds-eye view of the same building the Huntresses had seen after coming through the portal earlier. "This is Raira Academy. But it's likely you already knew that. It's lately come under new management, and the tenants are whipping up a storm with the local municipal authority. There's just nothing to do but roll up our sleeves, and evict."
Sloan popped in helpfully as the next picture came up, showing the school ground. "This here, is shuttle used by occupying force." He said, using a collapsible baton as a pointer stick. "Forces are only several dozen strong, and intel from within school itself suggest they are not prepared for major combat."
"But you see," Izaya said, netting his fingers behind his head as he kicked his feet up on the desk. "There's a very good reason for that. Unlike the esteemed Academies of your homeworld, the traditional middle school student is very much helpless in the face of anyone or anything with a gun. And while we're at it, what's the one thing that will make any strapping, soldierly adult think twice about taking a potshot at some new, unkind masters?"
"The children, they are being held hostage." Sloan said somberly, drawing a circle with his stick around the building. "We cannot know where they are being held, and any overt assault will no doubt result in casualties."
"Which would, by the by, no doubt inspire any dissenting adult to action. Wouldn't you agree?" Izaya's head turned lazily toward Namie, where the former pharmaceutical heiress was busy tying to melt Izaya's brain with her eyes. Shaking his head, Izaya leaned forward, clasping his hands together as he hunched forward. "But as it turns out, Raira was my alma mater. I'd be hard-pressed to sit back and watch the graduating class of 2016 get wiped off the map by a silly mistake." His eyebrow quirked. "That, is where all of you come in."
"Preparations are already being made for infiltration." Sloan said cheerfully, his smile a stark contrast to his mood just a second ago as he used his palm to collapse the baton down. "Before the next hour is up, we may already be on school grounds, saving childrens from cold embrace of death. Is fun!"
"But more than all that," Izaya said, turning the monitor around as he clicked through a few more spots, "we have a sub-objective. Are you familiar with Goldeneye? Rescue the scientist, as it were." Pressing a final key with a flourish, Izaya turned the monitor around to show to the White Rose duo once more. On the screen were two faces, a boy and a girl, in Raira Academy uniforms. "The boy on the left is none other than Seiji Yagiri, my dear assistant's only brother in the world. The other is Mika Harima, his current infatuation. If you can deliver both of these students to me, unharmed, after accomplishing everything else of course, I'll contemplate the myriad and fruitless ways in which the mass that is Nakura can be made whole again." His eyes glimmered, like sun-baked snake scales. "Do we have a deal?"
edited 18th Oct '16 12:25:33 AM by Uncandescent
If I had that kind of power, I'd have dropped a meteor on your house ages ago~
Did you know this section has a character limit?
Bond - Mitakihara IFOB
"It's a laser weapon. It fires pulses of light that burns through flesh, plastics, thin metal... For your purposes, it's ammunition is effectively unlimited. A full twenty-four hours of use before it needs a recharge. Besides that, the reason why the whole world hasn't gone laser happy is that if it breaks, you need a Master's in Mechanical Engineering to fix it. Also, I'll need it back when we're done. Q's probably throwing a tantrum because I gave you one of those antiques."
Bond made his way over to the shuttle, and stood inside it. It seemed he wasn't going to buckle himself in for the ride.
White Rose - Quid Pro Quo, Izaya's Office
"Oh, Gambol Shroud is our friend Blake's weapon. It's a katana with a pistol built into the hilt. But the top half of the katana is double-edged, because the blade can fold so it can become a sickle too, and she use a really long ribbon to make it a kusarigama! Gambol Shroud's sheath is made of metal too, and one side is sharpened so she uses it as a second sword in her off-hand."
As Ruby made her detailed spiel about her friend's weapon, she reassembled the Glock much faster than she had disassembled it, before standing up and handing it back to Vorona.
"It looks okay. If you have a spare magazine, Weiss can probably make you a sample of a few types of dust."
"Ruby!"
"Yeah, Weiss?"
"Were you listening?"
"School captured, a lot of kids inside, something something infiltration, something about eyes and scientists, save two kids in particular."
"And? What do you think?"
"Well, we have to free the school anyway. That's where the portal is, right? And if they're all in the school and not around the city, once we have the school freed, it should be easy to get those guys here."
"Alright then. Mr. Orihara, you have a deal." They do have medals for almost, and they're called silver!
I have a plan.
Institute — Interior
Q2-22 was no worse for wear, as he had taken cover during the fight. He nervously pushed his back up against the wall as the Imperials once again had him cornered and held hostage. "Hey, hey, listen, I didn't know that robot was going to go haywire, I swear. Dr. Filmore asked me to clean the place."
Meanwhile, the ancient terminal that Q2-22 was using previously continued to run.
Initiating Activation Sequence...
Deeper down the abandoned bowels of the Institute were the remains of a large-scale robot manufacturing plant. None of the machines here were in working condition. Past the old robotics facility lied a series of rocky hallways, where yet another sliding door lied. More heat signatures were waiting just behind the entrance back into the Institute proper.
"@[=g3,8d]&fbb=-q]/hk%fg"
Industrial Area
Homura said nothing further, only taking in Bond’s info on his group’s intentions before hanging up and turning back towards the Imperial "advance" - she wasn’t normally one to just trust someone’s words when she only met that someone the previous night, but the continued sounds of fighting had become a greater concern for her. Plus, by the sound of it, there was probably too much risk of her being spotted if she approached now - at least if the enemy command was still there she might have been able to avoid the spotlight from these unknowns. She turned back towards the river, using the rubble as cover as she approached and looking for a higher-elevation lookout window to see how things were going - her best use at this point was probably as a sharpshooter from the Empire’s rear. And now she had a weapon courtesy of Q in which she could do so.
"Roger that, Lady. We got some reinforcements already - don’t know if you’ve seen them flying around providing fire support. Our forces are regrouping west of the river, but if what you said is true, we can handle the rest of these guys with the reinforcements. We might take a beating-" there was brief interruption thanks to a relatively faint but distinctive sound of an explosion - "-but you’re right - that thing up there's gotta come down. If you can’t wait, then go - before you do, though, we’d like to request that you and the two others with you meet with us for a debriefing when all this is finished, presumably in our favor. Be nice for us to know exactly what went on today."
Bridge Alpha
The armpit trap did its job - the head of Kyoko’s spear was rendered immobile. Kyoko tried for a moment to pry it loose, which was a moment that gave the trooper the line needed to take his swing at her. On one hand, Kyoko saw it coming soon enough to jump back further up the car to get out of range, turning what could have been a heavy hit into a glancing body blow off her side that stung but whose only lasting effect was forcing Kyoko to pirouette around to regain her footing; on the other hand, this required her to let go of her spear and give the trooper space and time to get set again...which he was going to have to, as Kyoko (if she wasn’t harassed by the Stormtroopers) would simply hold her arm out again and summon an identical spear, the one she had left in his armpit dissolving into thin air simultaneously (unlike Sayaka, Kyoko had a one-weapon limit). "Not bad," she offered simply, taking a moment to check on her surroundings. "Guess I’ll have to do this the hard way."
Meanwhile, there was a notable silence that followed Yukari’s somewhat lengthy reply. Part of that, admittedly, was Mami herself suddenly needing to focus on the here and now, as the here and now consisted of the building she was on taking one too many shots from the Imperial Crawler. Mami proceeded to prove at least part of Yukari’s point by making one last leap from the fire escape she had retreated to just as it collapsed, summoning a ribbon to act as a whip and wrapping itself onto a small ledge on the next building over and enabling Mami to land safely behind the billowing smoke from the rubble. She proceeded to use the precious moments given by that smoke to scramble for safety behind the outer wall of the building, searching quickly for an open or broken window to climb through so as to catch her breath and reorient herself while ducking behind a metal office cabinet. <...My apologies, Takeba-san - I wasn’t clear. I was only asking for help in suppressing their fire so that I could get to safety. Are you alright? Do you know how everyone else is doing?>
edited 22nd Oct '16 12:01:16 PM by megarockman
HGT Portal: Essentially This
The rescue trio would find that the space beyond the portal had seen better days. Much better days. Aside from the barb-wired fencing to a makeshift guard station, there were clear dark stains on the asphalt where Virgil made his Battleworld debut two days before. The nearest vehicles were all police caravans, two of which had been on fire just a few hours ago. There were blast marks all down the road, some creating pot holes while a particularly nasty strike left a small crater. One of the nearby buildings had a massive hole in its roof, as if a meteor had chosen this (of all places!) to strike. An Imperial shuttle rested further down the street, locked tight and abandoned by whoever used it to arrive.
Amidst all this smoldering chaos, a bone-weary police officer leaned back in his folding chair, listening to the anchorwoman on the radio as he ate a late lunch:
"...once again, all citizens are ordered to remove any and all potential weapons from their homes and workplaces, and deposit them at the appropriate checkpoints. That means all mace, pepper spray, stun guns, hunting tools, or any sharp instrument above nine inches in length. Public Security Director Horai Yoshimitsu stresses that failure to comply with this confiscation will lead to an immediate arrest."
A sound bit played from the Director's breaking announcement: "This is a gesture of good will to our protectors, to ensure the Galactic Empire that unlike our new neighbors, Tokyo wants nothing but peace. We have suffered more than enough in the past few days, but in order to overcome these trials we must stand together and swear to the Empire that we are on their side; the right side; the winning side."
"Bullshit." the officer chuckled. He went for another bite, but dropped his chopsticks when he spotted the newcomers at the portal.
He didn't leave his seat; even if he wanted to stop intruders, it wasn't like the Empire let him keep his weapon. So all he did was beckon the three visitors over and turn off the radio.
"Look, we've had one helluva day, so you mind tellin' me what you want?"
If they chose to ignore him, or escape further into the city, he wouldn't pursue them. After all the crazy shit he'd survived today, he was done playing sentinel against super-powered freaks.
HGT Shinjuku: For God's Sake, DON'T PISS THEM OFF!
"An anime, huh?" Kono's eyebrow raised at the girl's comment, "So does smashing through a roof like a human wrecking ball," his narrowed eyes turned to Robin, "or running around in a mask and cape," then to the mute girl between them, "or...actually, if I didn't know better I'd say she's from our world; looks just like a Doll to me. So let's face it, kids: we're all pretty weird."
"Bet that's what brought us here in the first place." Matsumoto smirked. "The Chief mentioned something about that in her first report—that we're all here for a special purpose. That whoever or whatever's pulling the strings here wants one helluva show."
Kono's head twitched to the driver. "And so what's the Empire, then? Another part of the show?"
"Wouldn't surprise me."
"And it wouldn't surprise me if this Cure thing simply bit off more than it could chew. Maybe all its bad joo joo's attracted a bigger fish. There's always one of those, right?"
"Not always. Maybe the Cure's the top of the food chain."
"There's never a top of the food chain!"
Amidst their metaphysical bickering, it seemed the two detectives failed to hear a very important question: where were they going? Truth be told, Kono and Matsumoto didn't expect to get this far, but that didn't mean they hadn't thought about the next step.
Apart from themselves, the Chief would be the best confidante, but they didn't want to risk getting someone else involved; they didn't say it out loud, but the detectives suspected these kids were looking for any excuse to bail. Couldn't really blame them, after the welcome party the other cops threw.
They would've thrown the idea away, if it weren't for Tenko bringing it up. After a few moments of awkward silence, Matsumoto circled back to bringing in "The Big Cheese."
"Honestly, we haven't had much direct contact with folks from these other worlds, but our boss has. Section Chief Kirihara Misaki's spent more time in that 'Common Room' than anyone else in the city. She'd know more about the bigger picture, but from what I hear she's stuck at HQ, and that's right where the Empire's set up shop."
"Then let's try something else." Kono proposed. "If you guys wanna fight the Empire so much, why not try another state? It's not like everybody rolled over, right? You guys know any of the other groups around? Mitakihara? Ikebukuro? Robot Land? That...Creepy Floaty-Mountain Place?"
"Genosha?" Matsumoto grumbled, his fingers clenching the steering wheel tighter.
HGT Police HQ Roof: Leaving So Soon?
Agent Raan might hear the roof access door burst open behind him, catching him on the lip of his shuttle's ramp. The "primitive Director" approached the shuttle at a casual pace, his calm betrayed by the cutting glare he gave his superior.
Behind the Director were two new faces: a strong-browed man with an almost permanent frown on his face,
and an unleashed black Weimaraner.
Either humans weren't the only civilized species on this planet, or this naked floppy-eared thing was some sort of domesticated creature, like a Massiff.
With some visible effort, Horai cracked a smile. "I was hoping Your Excellency would at least say goodbye."
"All right." Asriel nodded levelly, still clearly unhappy with the idea of doing nothing.
"Yes and no, Boss, I..." Asgore took a breath, clearing his mind and doing his best to phrase this nugget of bad news. "The invasion force was defeated, but at the very last moment, Sev was put under Empire control. He's made a bee-line for the Core, where Undyne is trying to detain him."
Undyne screeched to a halt, shocked by this sudden threat to her men. She raised her spear high and ready, but didn't make any attempt to fling just yet. "Don't do it, drone! This is cowardly, even for a traitor! You hurt one hair on that rabbit's head and I swear I-woah!" Undyne suddenly found herself rudely shoved to one side with great force, by a dragon knight in red hot armour with sparks dancing from his fingers.
"Get your filthy hands off my boyfriend."
edited 22nd Oct '16 3:01:46 PM by LizardOfAus
One Brunch Man
The Offices of Izaya Orihara—Main Office
As Ruby reassembled the weapon, Vorona was piecing together a picture of this Gambol Shroud in her mind, with a most curious collection of jigsaw pieces. Part sword, part gun, part sickle, part ribbon, part second sword... By the time Ruby handed the pistol back to Vorona, the blonde assassin had more questions than answers. If sword has gun, why would ribbon be needed for throwing? She pondered, closing one eye and scanning down the sights to make sure the young prodigy hadn't improperly aligned anything important. What is the point of the sheathe if it is bladed as well? And if am visualizing right, how can one aim down sights without taking eye out?
But in the end, the only thing the assassin said as she holstered her weapon and fished out a mag was "How long does modification usually take? We are not going to be staying in this chunk forever." She said, slipping easily into the Battleworld nomenclature.
Izaya's eyes glimmered like a child on Christmas morning in July. Giving his table two languid raps of his knuckle, Izaya reached out his hand for Weiss to shake. "A deal it is." He said. Whether or not she ended up shaking, he would then spin around in his chair, causing the majority of his body to face out the nearby window. "Your contact will meet you back in the lobby with the supplies you'll need for the mission. Vorona and Sloan here will guide you through the rest. Best of luck to all of you; while you'll understand if I don't tag along, I'm always just a phone call away."
Both of the assassins would nod in unison, before leading the Beacon duo out of the room. Sloan slipped his hands into his pockets as he stared up and off at nothing in particular, apparently caught in thought, while Vorona listened to whatever answer Ruby may or may not give. Once they entered the lobby proper, they might notice a familiar face.
"Owwwwww," Nakura groaned, heaving a duffel bag onto the floor with a thud before reaching up and rubbing his shoulder. "My back is killing me, ow! Man, I'm two young for spinal problems, right...?"
HGT Portal
Celty had something all ready to say to the guards, too.
Too late she realized that she didn't have her helmet with her, and that her standard appearance wasn't going to win her any favors with the garden-variety humans that seemed to be pretty much Hell's Gate Tokyo's MO. But there was the added benefit that, last time she checked, bullets couldn't do a lot to her, save for the annoyance involved at extracting them one at a time. So as long as she made things safe for her comrades by entering first (she wasn't sure how durable El really was, and it seemed like Trevor was pretty garden-variety on the human front as well) everything would be fine.
And boy, was she going to enter. Everything the Dullahan read about the Empire on her walk to the portal made her like them less and less, though she couldn't say she was totally on-board with Mikado's response either. Speaking of Mikado... I'm sorry, there's something I need to take care of. Kadota and the others have Shuji secured. Celty sent with a flick of her thumb. She felt bad about leaving him out to dry like this, but what was she supposed to do? Leave Shinra alone and hope he didn't manage to annoy the fascistic invaders with some kind of anecdote about the benefits of white/black juxtaposition when it came to outfits?
As if.
So Celty stepped out of the portal, looking every bit the specter of death that the legends painted her as, ready to whip away the guns of half-a-dozen Imperial cronies in preparation for her friends' arrival. Only to find that... someone had already done that. That, and quite a lot more, taking out their cars, chunks of the streets, part of a building, and every last bit of the lone remaining sentry's morale, as he asked them a question with no more protection than the propaganda-spitting radio by his side.
Suddenly feeling like a massive bully, Celty's scythe disappeared in a burst of quickly-disappearing black fog as she hastily tapped out a message on her mobile device. Hello. I was wondering, could you point us in the direction of the police station? After a second: Please? If it was possible for a text message to come off as bashful and apologetic, Celty managed it just then.
If I had that kind of power, I'd have dropped a meteor on your house ages ago~
As soon as Asgore mentioned Sev was under Imperial Control, his blood became cold as shivers went down under his spine at the revelation of that. His brother. Who he was born with, who he cared with all his heart, and fought together. Now a puppet for a tyrannical Empire..no..no..no...
As the squad leader, his safety was his responsibility, and he failed. If Scorch knew just what happened to him, how would he react? Blast..those two had the strongest bond of all four, if they all ended up having no choice to end his life...it would...
...
No.
They will bring him back.
"I...I see." Boss responded weakly after what seemed to be like hours. "We are on our way to infiltrate the space station on a shuttle...but.."
"I beg you my friend. Don't let him escape. Capture him until all of this is over and then we will return. Please. I do not wish to lose a brother." He responded to Asgore, making sure to speak in a secured channel and muffle his voice so the group wouldn't hear him talk. He'd rather not reveal this to Fixer and Scorch.
Especially Scorch.
"I'm not a traitor. Good soldiers follow ord-"
Sev was interrupted by the arrival of 02's in a very very, very angered mood. He looked back at 02, Lily and Undyne. As soon as he noticed he was free from Undyne's root, he immediately removed his blaster and left hand away from his hold on 01, as he would weight him down in his escape, and rushed to the elevator and pressed the button, not intending to stick around at all due to the fact he was heavily outnumbered. He shot a few blaster bolts nearby as to serve as a deterrent to being followed.
After he made it back up, he would immediately go back to the way he came, intending to go back to the palace.
Salute the freedom fairy! ._.7
Harry and co, Harry perspective — folkestone beach
I'll spare you all the details and just say we were in a beach. Surrounded by people with guns, and absolute weirdos. Which, granted, describes just about any scene from my life. I tried to take some comfort in that; it's nice to know that, even entire universes away, some things just remained a constant.
Though I had to admit, I think this was the first time I'd ever had a pantsless teenager take the part of the absolute weirdo.
"A man using magic?" The lead one, Shirley, gaped with the kind of disbelief that I was used to getting from flabbergasted vanillas when I tried telling them what I did for a living. Usually, it was the magic that floored them. For these gaping yahoos, it was apparently the manly bits that was the issue.
I glanced down at myself, then shot everyone surrounding me an annoyed scowl while Carlos whistled. "Man, you all are in for one hell of a show today." I rolled my eyes. I didn't come here to be threatened and made into a circus freak, damnit. I mean, I was used to both of them individually, but usually one overwrote the other.
"Try not to get your panties in a wad, sweetheart. Especially since it's the only thing standing between you and a life on the FBI's offenders list."
"Or you, for that matter", Molly muttered behind me. I grunted and shut up at that.
The bar leading out of the enclosed circle lifted. The three girls got into formation around us; Shirley, the apparent head, took charge in front. The other two, naturally, stood with guns pointed to our backs. Oh, they were all smiles, but nobody was pretending that the atmosphere was still anything but tense and wary.
I eyed the two in the back, then shook my head. "Yeah, fine. Let's get going, we don't have time to waste."
We were escorted at a brusque pace out of the circle and into the beach at large, the huge fortress rising up in front of us ahead. Rather than go towards it, we took a right and started a path around the outside wall.
I checked behind me as we set off. The soldiers stayed behind, watching us distantly and coolly as we left. The two girls behind me, I'll give them credit, moved with a trained confidence despite their uh, unprofessional getups, giving me the kind of easy looks that let me know perfectly well that they knew how to handle those weapons they carried. Professional enough, but belied by the extremely intense look of curiosity in their eyes. As our boots pounded against the sand, I noted that they were basically staring at me and Carlos the whole time. I rubbed my head.
"Right, so." I moved a little back so I was the last in the group, keeping a careful eye on the two guarding our rear. "If everything's going right, they should be here in a few minutes." I glanced at Sypha. "You prepped and ready?"
Carlos and Molly meanwhile settled into a stride at our front, glancing back at me as we completed our triangle around the stormtroopers. Heavy defense — me — at the back where most of the guns were, leaving the front to quickly return fire. I sincerely doubted we were among enemies here, but I hadn't spent years honing my carefully crafted sense of deluded paranoia to blow it on a group of half-effort streakers.
—-
Molly
"Boss?" I jerked my head over to the clone, instinctively already reaching out like I could somehow help, while my mouth ran without checking in with my brain ahead of time. It's a twitch of mine; one of the downsides of being an empath (and there were a LOT) was that when people around me experienced strong emotions suddenly, I couldn't prepare myself ahead of time against it and got to experience it like someone was hardwiring their brain into mine.
I shivered and forced it out, then slowly pulled my hand back. "Sorry", I muttered. "You just, um...Everything all right?" I asked. Then immediately regretted it. I had to work not to smack my own forehead. Yeah, great Molls, way to sound natural and helpful and not awkward at all.
edited 22nd Oct '16 9:57:50 PM by tvtropesnoob
"Your Sig is now charmingly out of date" — Vox, 7/6/2016
Lily - Hotland
Seeing the soldier she once knew, at least for a short time, grabbing a random person was bad enough, the man just simply took off to the elevator in order to make a mad dash to escape the Underground. This sent the Super Mutant on a hot pursuit for Sev undeterred by the blaster shots, regardless if they hit or not.
Boone - Santa Destroy Desert
As the helicopter crash landed, it certainly shook up the scene as he unhooked himself from the seat and made his way out of the wreckage and looked on at the enemy army looking for an opportunity to continue with the assault, but not before motioning towards any survivors, if they could still walk, to spot for him. Hopefully, he still had enough bullets left.
Raul - Shuttle 4
He looked around the Imperial shuttle, the place seemed clean, almost to professional levels. He looked around for any traps and items of interest, outside of the advanced technology, that is. He turned back to the group outside, "Place seems clean, boss. Don't know how it runs." He turned to a nearby vehicle in black with green smog, not unlike radioactive waste being thrown in the air like dust. Yep, definitely as crazy as home.
"I treasure every day with you, darling." "No need to be so sappy, love." "You know that's how she is, Nia." - AU!Pyra, Nia, Mythra
Calamity is a housewife
Hell's Gate Tokyo Portal
Elphelt wasn't too familiar with the ruin that came with conflict. She could remember what the Central Organ Tower in Illyria looked like after being totaled by the combined power of St. Elmo's Fire and Miss Dizzy (in hindsight, El should really be terrified of this woman), but only vaguely.
This, however, was clear to her virgin eyes. Poking her head out the portal, but not fully entering just yet, she took a second to gape silently.
Upon witnessing the police officer, she was glad he wasn't rushing to get backup, but was made a little uneasy by his irritation. This really was an endeavor for everyone involved.
Taking a careful step into the territory, Elphelt curtsied to the officer.
"Terribly sorry for the intrusion, sir."
"Shake the dust." - Anis Mojgani
Problem Child
Bumblebee was clinging to the wall of the building beside Yukari, his free hand in stinger-mode as he fired bright yellow electrical shots, the shots damaging the TIE Maulers and stunning the Stormtroopers that they hit. Retaliatory blaster-fire pinged off his yellow armour, some of the shots leaving black score marks, but he was able to bear through the pain. The building continued to buckle, and the yellow Autobot knew that time was limited before it came down completely. He looked to Yukari, his stinger transforming back into an outstretched hand.
"Time to find new real estate, this place is coming down any cycle now!"
If she were to accept his hand, he would scoop her up and drop down to the street, before transforming into his vehicle mode and gunning through the streets to find a better angle to harry the Imperial flanks. Bumblebee wasn't a warrior, but even his with his meagre combat training, his speed, strength and sturdiness were enough to make him an asset for the team.
edited 24th Oct '16 3:01:10 AM by SR3NORMANDY
What if there’s no better word than just not saying anything?
Suddenly, the duo of Kida and Lee would hear the sounds of heavy boots running down the hall, as 4 stormtroopers rushed down it, on their way to reinforce against the attack. Should they elect not to engage, they would have time to run to a nearby door and go into one before they troopers reached the area.
Deadshot looked at Horada, and while his expression was hidden by his hood and goggles, it would not be hard to imagine him raising his eyebrows. "Kid, if you're trying to ask if I brought a rocket launcher, what do you think? Do you see a rocket launcher on me?"
He paused a moment to let that sink in before shrugging. "That said, we don't need a rocket launcher to disable that thing. I still have a couple of grenades. A hit to one of the engines will screw things up for them, I assume. Or hell, if we can bust inside, we don't even need explosives. Hard to use the controls when they're smoking from bullet holes. You get my drift? What's the quickest way to the roof? This place got a fire escape or some shit?"
"Of course it makes sense!" Harley said, smiling. Then she suddenly lifted her rifle, pointing it at the roof and firing it directly into the ceiling.
"Well, what are you bozos waiting for!? Go distract them already!"
Down the east hallway, muffled voices could be heard.
"Enemy fire! Fall in on my position! MOVE!" Quickly moving footsteps would clearly signal incoming reinforcements.
Croc grunted as he turned and started moving forward. He didn't really know exactly what it was they were looking for, some power thing or something. He assumed it would be obvious when they saw it. Hopefully marked with a sign or something. He would continue to advance at the head of the force, no enemy forces apparent.
The window of the shuttle broke under the assault, and the pilots, with trained precision, drew their blasters and started unloading with accurate shots despite the shuttle rapidly dropping. One does not survive in Vader's direct service by panicking in the face of death.
Vader did not respond to the beings in the sky, apparently content enough in his position to ignore their attempts to betray their employer for mere credits. His blade returned to his hand as the multi-armed woman stepped forward for round 2, moving to the offensive. Vader met her challenge, blocking and deflecting her strikes, but apparently electing not to use his force trick again. Although he would continue his silence, the woman's continued defiance had impressed the Dark Lord enough that he was willing to fight her on even terms for the moment.
That said, for all of his martial skill, he only had one blade, and his strength was more in physical terms then agility. Thus, the woman was able to score a blow on the Dark Lord's chestplate, sending sparks off of it as he staggered backward from the hit. He raised his weapon, prepared to resume the fight. Then, something changed in his stance as he received a mental message from The Emperor.
Lord Vader, you are to return to the Death Star at once.
That was all that needed to be said. Vader took half a second to reach out through the force and find his escape route, already having been informed of the needs of their leader. But first, he looked at the woman before him and spoke.
You fought well, for one who is nether Jedi nor Sith, yet wields a lightsaber. Should you wish to continue this fight, or if you tire of wasting your skills on such rabble as this and desire something more, I will personally ensure your safe passage onto the Death Star.
Those in the area would hear a loud sound as a shuttle began flying over the area at high speed. As it did so, Vader would raise his hand and sheath his lightsaber, grabbing a dangling rope in the half second it flew past him before letting yanked off by it, his other hand extended to block counterattacks by those on the ground.
With all of the forces mounted by Santa Destroy, sheer numbers combined with extreme firepower with a side helping of giant mechs, the Empire really had no chance of victory. And with all of the firepower focused on killing the leader, no amount of defense the Empire could muster in that limited time could hope to stop them. The chaos would probably make it hard to determine which unit had scored the killing blow. But what would not be in debate is the fact that very little remained of the man. As the commander fell to the assault, most remaining units dropped their weapons, although a few insisted on fighting to the death, whenever from zeal or fear of what fate may await them in captivity.
Meanwhile, the AT-AT lost whatever escort units it still had. While still active, it was clearly not very fast, and open to any number of easy kill shots from Anri.
Similarly, while the Empire had began outnumbering their foe, the sheer power of the assault, combined with the general disadvantage of being ambushed, the loss of command, and allied reinforcments arriving for them was taking their tole. Most of the remaining enemy infantry was dead or screaming in pain on the ground. What few remained tried to take cover behind the downed tanks. Thus, any return or suppressing fire slacked off noticeably.
Meanwhile, the stormtrooper stared in shock as the weapon vanished before shaking himself mentally and facing Kyoko. He looked like he was about to charge again, before suddenly pulling out a blaster and trying to surprise the girl with a quick draw to gun her down.
Lady nodded, taking in the information Bond gave her. "Got it. I'll make sure it stays in one piece."
Then she lifted the phone back to her ear. "Hmm, can't speak for the other two, but for me, that might be hard to fit in. I already had a lot on my plate before these Empire people even showed up, and I still have to deal with it all after this, so I may not have time to drive all the way back there just for a debriefing." Not to mention she wasn't really a fan of a bunch of people interrogating her, more or less. She worked as a free agent for a reason. "If you or one of your people want to come by my office when this is done or if you just want to do this over the phone, I could probably fit that in."
The team then got onto the shuttle, and as they did or did not strap in, Han lifted off and proceeded south, passing.
Raan turned to face the Director, his own glare apparent.
"Director. You were told to remain in your office. I see basic comprehension of instructions is beyond your ability."
The two stormtroopers behind him stepped forward, raising their rifles at the trio.
"Down on the ground, Director. Perhaps a decade as a slave will teach you how to follow instructions."
Boss was quite surprised to see Molly put a hand in his shoulder for a moment before asking him if everything was alright , even though he muffled himself so nobody would be able to listen to what he was saying... though knowing Jedi's since he worked with them before, she must had somehow sensed his distress in some way.
Lovely.
While waiting for Asgore's response, he unmuted his helmet's voice systems and spoke to Molly, attempting to gain his aura of composure back.
"I'm...fine. Don't worry about me. It's just that this Empire thing is a little too much to take in for me. Knowing that it once used to be...you know."
edited 23rd Oct '16 9:23:52 PM by Darkomega245
Salute the freedom fairy! ._.7
Molly, folkestone beach jog
I felt him tense, not needing to feel his head to know how surprised he must have been.
I bit my lip, and he straightened a bit, going back into more of his usual composure.
"I'm", he paused, and it didn't take a nosy wizard to see that he was forcing it. "Fine", he finally said, sounding vaguely affirming. "Don't worry about me."
I nodded. "I know. Still, this can't be easy, all of this."
He was quiet for a moment, and I winced inwardly. I hoped I wasn't crossing some kind of line by mentioning it. But after a second, he said more quietly, "It's just that this Empire thing is a little too much to take in for me."
His helmet dropped a little, and his voice went very low, and I doubted anyone could hear us anymore. "Knowing that it once used to be...you know."
I paused, frowning down. God, I'd never thought I'd be trying to reassure a clone trooper. What could I even say?
Well, a lot. But I don't know how helpful any of it could be.
"Yeah, I know", I said softly. I pursed my lips. "It...I know you don't have any reason to trust me. But I promise, it comes back, and it will be way better for everyone than it was before." I looked at him, hard, trying to assure him that I meant it. Then I cast my eyes skyward and puffed out my lips. "Just, after cleaning out what it's become."
I stared up at the big ball of death in the sky. It was so ominous in real life, knowing that this great big, merciless thing was always hovering above me, always ready to kill me and that there wasn't anything I could do about it. In a lot of ways, it was way more terrifying than anything I had ever fought.
But the same goes for us to it, in the end. "Plus, we can end it here and now. Once palpatine and his generals are gone, the empire and all its horrible crap will be no more."
edited 23rd Oct '16 10:07:10 PM by tvtropesnoob
"Your Sig is now charmingly out of date" — Vox, 7/6/2016
Folkestone Air Base - Welcoming Committee
As the Imperial shuttle entered Folkestone airspace, an effort was made to hail it over the radio. A wasted effort, as it turned out, because the on-board communications systems were incompatible with Folkestone's 1940s radio technology. The presence of an unidentified aircraft heading for Folkestone that was not responding to communication efforts caused a bit of stir in the control room, and soon an entirely different call was being made.
Meanwhile, somewhere outside the fortress walls, Eila's radio was ringing. She picked up the receiver while still watching the wizards nervously, and soon she too was adressing Sypha.
"Excuse me, Sypha?" Eila said. "We've got an unidentified aircraft coming in from the north. Err, do you think you could get in touch with the Lady and make sure it's her? If not, command is kinda gonna have to start shooting at it, heh."
Shirley looked confused at Harry's comment, and his and Carlos' awkward gazes did not go unnoticed. Having that on top of the wizards' clear discomfort over the armed escort worried her. The 17-year old turned around and gave them what she hoped was a reassuring smile.
"...is there something wrong? Sorry about our reactions back there, it's just that a man using magic is completely new to us. Different worlds, yeah? Also, please don't worry about the guns, we're just kinda on high alert right now what with the war and everything. We consider you our allies in the fight against the Galactic Imperium."
Mitakihara - Assault On Alpha
With the infantry almost all cleared away, Mio and Trude switched their focus back to the tanks themselves. Gertrude switched back to her missile launcher, and while her accuracy with unguided shots was a far cry from when she had a spotter it would be hard to miss at this range. After deflecting a volley of gunfire with her shield, she found an opportunity and used it to fire off a missile towards one of the tanks.
Meanwhile, Mio was going all out. The fact that she had been absent for the battle for Folkestone still rankled, but it also meant that her magic was almost entirely untapped. Switching off her new Deployable Pack Gun to draw her sword, Mio deflected a flurry of bullets then charged the blade with magical energy concentrated in the edge.
"Reppuzan!"
With a swing of her sword, she discharged all the magic in one blow and from the blade was born a cutting magic wave aimed at a second tank. It had been strong enough to cut through entire Neuroi back home; she wondered how it would fare against these tanks.
Join us in our quest to play all RPG video games! Moving on to disc 2 of Grandia!
Boss looked over at Molly, though his facial expressions were hidden by his helmet, his body language clearly showed that he was thankful of Molly's words. In this Empire, the clones would surely be merely treated as disposable weapons and tools, barely acknowledging them as actual people and only as numbers. But the people here...they actually care for them. They respect them. Acknowledge them. Treat them as actual sentient beings.
"Thank you." He gave a small nod. "I know I can be with people I can trust. And when Palpatine dies to our hand after all the war crimes and mental torture he caused to every single clone in the galaxy..." He took a small deep breath, as Boss stared at the Death Star for a few seconds, filled with Determination and vengeance.
"The spirits of our fallen brothers will sleep soundly tonight."
He will have to tell these "Wizards" what happened to Sev, but not near his brothers. Not right now. Boss glanced over at the shuttle flying nearby and listened to Eila. Seems they're unable to call the shuttle, and they don't know if it's either hijacked or still belongs to the Empire.
"Fixer over here might be able to call the shuttle. He is our tech expert, so he could be able to hail the shuttle's communication systems and find if they belong to this "Lady" or the Imperials." Fixer nodded to Boss. "On it, sir."
Thanks to Fixer being the designated Slicer and tech expert of his team,, he was able to find a way to link up from a long distance to the Shuttle's communication system and sent a communication request. If someone accepted, they would hear Fixer's voice coming from the intercom.
"This is Clone Commando Sergeant 1140 Fixer on Folkestone Air Base. Are you the hijacked imperial shuttle intending to bring us to the infiltration of the space station?".
edited 24th Oct '16 2:35:09 AM by Darkomega245
"You won't, Boss, I promise you that," Asgore replied. While Boss talked to Molly, Asgore pondered silently for a moment or two. "...I will not keep you much longer, but can you still reach Sev's communicator? I thought perhaps the sound of your voices might help to bring him out of his trance."
The clone was on the move again. Undyne leapt to her feet and tried to catch him, dodging most of the warning shots, but reached the elevator the moment it closed, and thumped her fist against the door. "I'm taking the long way round. Get in that elevator the minute it comes back down!" With that, she raced through the door on the left, and into the labyrinthine bowels of the Core.
02 stayed behind to make sure 01 was all right, while 03 and 04 followed Lily into the elevator. From there, of course, there was a short corridor to the second elevator leading up to New Home. Here, Sev might have found his shots responded to by fishbone and aphid projectiles.
edited 24th Oct '16 2:43:27 AM by LizardOfAus
HGT Portal: They Went Thaddaway!
While the Headless Texter was pretty damn unsettling, the poor cop's experiences over the past few days all but burned out his fight-or-flight reflex. Once the Dulahan started acting civil—with a busty blue-eyed chick curtsying to boot—the jaded officer decided there was no need to leave his seat.
He rested his chin on a palm as he read Celty's message. "So you're after 'em too, huh? I'm guessing you're looking for HQ, then. It's at the old Nippon East building in Shinjuku, the one right next to the Opera Tower. I'd be careful heading over, though: that's where this Space Empire's running the city."
The cop shrugged as he gestured to the rubbled chaos around them. "Not sure if you're with 'em, but the guys who did all this were looking for HQ too. Hell, the way those pipsqueaks moved, they might be there already. With any luck, you'll be too late for the party. But if you don't know 'em, watch your back. Kinda goes without saying that they weren't as 'polite' as you three."
Assuming they had what they needed, the cop would rise from his seat as the group prepared to leave.
"Just one more thing," he added, this time with a shade of pink in his cheeks, "Could you...not tell anybody I told you this? I don't wanna get fired for pointing folks in the right direction."
Underground, Dreemurr Residence Basement: Screw That! Care to Do the Honors, Bender?
Mao hopped off the stairs onto the basement floor. "I'm not ready to give up just yet. If this woman wanted to negotiate, she probably has the rank to do back her words; no grunt could pull a bluff like that and get away with it. If she's alone, this might be our chance to take down one of their officers."
The cat's head turned to Arcade. "Even if she's just a foot soldier, she now knows there's people here; I doubt she'll keep that to herself."
Mao's bell collar jingled as he dashed towards the basement's exit. "If we hurry we might reach her before the Empire does. C'mon!"
Death Star: ...Goddammit...
Havoc mimicked the trooper's salute and followed them out of Tarkin's office; best to start proving she could behave herself.
At the firing range, Havoc's eyes immediately shot for the blasters. She preferred her newest toys to something so hi-tech, but they were still fun to watch. The blood-orange blast bursting from the barrels, the sleek black design, and the cross-eyed fuck-ups struggling to hit a ten meter target with them. Havoc tried to stiffen her neck to keep her head from shaking condescendingly; no good, they were too ridiculous!
Turns out, that was just the tip of this crazy ice burg. The title Commander Mott used to address Havoc sparked a passionate reaction in her generally distant demeanor: a mix of "what did you just call me?" and the lighter "are you fucking kidding me?"
Nope, no, noooo, she was supposed to behave! She sprung into a salute immediately after her CO's introduction. Maybe he'd overlook it; that was probably the typical raw recruit's reaction, anyway. It wasn't like these troopers went by letter/number codes their entire lives. Right?
So as she stood there, stiff as a statue till Mott ordered otherwise, a few thoughts ran through Havoc's mind:
1: Somehow, Nyarlathotep was responsible for this.
2: Somewhere, Nyarlathotep was laughing his ass off.
3: Nyarlathotep was a fucking prick.
Genosha, Main Streets: Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaand Boom Goes the Dynamite
Maki refused to move, apart from brushing the bottom of his nose with a thumb as his outline glowed blue one again. Paired with Nora's distracting launch, he'd have the spare moments needed for his powers to activate. The troopers arresting him might have a split second to spot lots of bright child-sized hand prints on the bust stop shelter before half the structure shattered. A lucky piece of shrapnel might strike one of the troopers, but otherwise the attack wouldn't be more than a very close, very loud surprise.
And that was just the diversion Maki needed. Before the troopers could turn back around, Maki dashed down the sidewalk into the closest open building: a glassy skyscraper that served as headquarters for the motion picture company, Wynegarde Studios.
Genosha, Palace Stairwell: Later Gators!
With the escort either dead or unconscious, the ambushers turned to step 2: drag the troopers somewhere inconspicuous, and strip them for anything of worth—most importantly, the blasters and armor.
While Wei, Brita, and the vanishing Mutant picked away the spoils, the blue woman turned to the Southern Belle and motioned a silent order. She nodded, then waved to the others.
"Gotta check with the King; see y'all in a bit!"
"Have fun, schwester!" the vanishing Mutant waved back.
Meanwhile, Jaune would hear Amber's voice from his earpiece.
"Jaune, you there? I finished setting up on my end—what's your status?"
Genosha, Palace Lounge: Phoning a Friend?
Magnus didn't seem to grasp the holocom's full abilities, but he understood the need for privacy. He stood up and motioned towards the hallway.
"Of course, Your Excellency."
Vickett would find the doors rather heavy, but obviously not unmovable; they weren't automatic, but otherwise the Agent probably wouldn't find anything odd with the palace's constant metallic theme. She did hail from an Empire that long outgrew wood and the like.
Once out in the empty hall, Vickett would be free to answer her call. In the lounge, Magnus quietly hugged the wall beside the door, eavesdropping and ready to disable the device when needed.
edited 24th Oct '16 3:18:59 PM by TheodoreHastings
Did you know this section has a character limit?
Folkestone Beach
The guards at the Folkestone portal were not finished this day, as a young man, dressed casually, walked onto the beach. In his hands was a suitcase, which he had to resist the urge to drop as the guns were inevitably aimed at him.
"Uhhh..." he stammered as he stared at the barrels. "...delivery for a Mr. Bond?
White Rose - Where did he get all these wonderful toys, Izaya's Lobby
"Only a couple of hours." Ruby replied, following Vorona and Sloan out. "But Weiss is really good with dust, so it might be less."
Weiss shook Izaya's hand, and followed everyone else. "Besides, every chunk has a portal to the Common Room, where we're staying. It would be easier for you find us."
Weiss marched up to Nakura as soon as she saw him, and effortlessly picked up the bag in one hand... before throwing it towards Ruby. She caught it without much effort herself, and opened it with a gleeful smile.
It wasn't every day you were handed extra-dimensional toys.
"Unfortunately, you're never too young for back problems. Not that I would know."
"Yang says Aura helps."
"Well she would know, wouldn't she?"
Martial Arcs - He Comes The Pain Again, Falling from the Stairs, Genosha Palace
Ren pulled the blade from between the Trooper's fingers, and let the StormFlower slip into his sleeve once more. With his now-free hand, he disarmed the Trooper, tossing his guns back down the hallway, before pulling himself and the Trooper to their feet. He pushed the Trooper back towards the mutants, before hooking his foot under the device the man had been reaching for, kicking it into the air and batting it in a lazy arc towards the mutants too.
"Is everyone okay? Jaune?"
"I'm fine! Oww..."
Jaune staggered to his feet, head swimming from hitting the ground quite quickly, stabbing his sword into the floor help stabilize himself. He felt slightly guilty about that, then spotted the remains of the staircase and felt less so.
"Amber? Yeah, we're finished here. The explosion wasn't my fault, okay? The Stormtrooper guys threw a grenade."
He pulled his scroll from his pocket, and brought up the aura app. He winced twice at it, first at the chunk taken out of his own aura (not a dangerous amount, but not good for what was promising to only be the first battle in a day of them), then at the ever-present reminder of his failure as a leader.
He let it attach to the back of his shield, then tapped the "New Message" icon. One from Blake.
The Team RWBYJNPR Group Chat - The Return
Watch out for these ones. They have lightning guns.
You guys okay?
We're fine. Blake took a hit, but she's still in the green. You?
Had to split from Ren and Nora, met up with Ren again.
I'm fine. Jaune, your aura has been reduced.
Explosion.
I see.
Explosion?
Grenade.
Speaking of grenades, Nora appears to be in combat. Her aura has taken the usual amount of damage as it does when she grenade jumps.
How do you know that?
Actually, nevermind.
BTW, Blake grabbed one of the lightning guns for Nora.
Thanks.
Speaking Of - Genosha Streets
Nora grinned. Jetpacks! Flying bad guys with jetpacks! That totally made up for the big mech not falling!
Nora spun her hammer again, returning it to it's grenade launcher form. Three grenades left in Magnhild, and three grenades she used: one went flying towards the remaining tank, one flew upwards at the Jet Troopers, and one detonated at Nora's feet, sending her flying through the front window of a nearby restaurant.
She quickly found and hit the stairs, reloading her grenades as she went. They do have medals for almost, and they're called silver!
While waiting for Molly's response, he heard Asgore's response and went to muffle his voice on his helmet, to not let the others hear him.
"Thank you ner vod." He then listened to Asgore's suggestion about contacting Sev. "I believe I still can...and I hope our brother buried inside can listen to us. He may be rough, brutal and harsh....but I know that he's still a good man who would do the right thing. Thank you for warning us."
The Clone kept firing one handed at 03, 04 and Lily while running away, though due to mainly firing one handed and the fact he was more focused on projectiles sent at him rather than hitting them, the shots were not as accurate, and there wouldn't be any worry about being shot, the shots being more focused on suppressing them and scaring them off any further chase.
After dodging a few attacks and making it to the elevator in the hallway after a few minutes of being chased down like a rabid dog who needed to be put down, Sev quickly entered the button and pressed the button that would take him up to New Home. Without any delay, he quickly reloaded his blaster and started firing at the 3 chasing them, not wanting them to enter the elevator before it closed down.
Eternal Princess
The nerds with bags on their heads continued their charge, beam katanas in hand, only to have the shuttle to begin closing its doors on them. The ramp was already too high for them to enter, not that it stopped some from trying. The lower grade beam katanas scratched uselessly against the ships armor as colorful insults to the storm troopers mothers were heard all the way up to the sealing of the door. Those who managed to get an arm in or held on to the ramp by fingers suddenly found them severed as the door shut. The removed body parts a gruesome souvenir the imperial vanguard. The troopers were safe, only the patter of gun fire and the sound of other objects fruitlessly being thrown against the hull let them know those psychos were still out there.
Should the storm troopers make no other actions in their retreat, the masked nerds would simply watch as the craft flew away. The screams of the wounded and dying falling upon deaf ears.
"Well that was fun. GG."
"Ha, they got owned."
"You sure...I mean the KDR kind of lopsided in their favor."
"Dude, we forced them to rage quit in RL, that like the ultimate form of victory or something."
The man with the knives slid the blade out of his latest victim, knees bent and ready to move to the next. When he saw the two storm troopers staring right at him, weapons ready, he froze. His mind went blank, desperately trying to figure a way to survive. Nothing, he was dead. He realized this was going to be his last thoughts. A pleasant memory of a best friend, a lover, hell he would even take a pet, anything! Instead the last thought going through his mind as lasers sliced him apart was how shitty it was that being unable to think of a meaningful last thought would be his last thought.
The hairless gorilla in a suit wielding a chain saw merely chucked and smiled like an idiot as the man desperate butted his face with his gun. Even as blood trickled at out his nose and the gun manage to dislodge one of his teeth, the large man just continued his big stupid grin, knowing the man was in a lot more pain then him.
Then a swarm of hot metal ripped open his back. The man screamed out, tears streaming down his cheeks, holding nothing back in his expression pain. Pulling his broken chain saw out of the man, he swung the thing around, using the motor as a bludgeon to any one in range. He didn't even bother to distinguish friend from foe in his rampage, as another of the thugs found his sun glasses and half his face smashed into his skull.
The panicked stormtrooper stepping into Buster cannon's path would find himself tackled to the ground. The earth beneath him was still warm from the blast. His attacker would try to pin him, slamming his brass knuckles against the helmet again and again. He was an ugly son of a bitch, his dirty yellow teeth almost the same as the gold ones.
Down the path, the Italian stood behind the controls of the weapon.
"Move out of the fucking way you moron! You know what, fuck it..."
The controls were simple enough. Killing made easy, so simple an old woman could do it. The miniature nuclear reactor hummed and out of the massive cannon came another stream of light. It was as big as a train, and just as fast. Not even slowing as it vaporized the two instantly, leaving only the stench of burning flesh where they used to be.
Those smart enough not to jump in the way of death would feel the immense heat from the giant beam. Like some suddenly stuck them in an oven. The air crackled with electricity, making one's hair stand on end. It smelled of ozone. Bathed in the unnatural orange and purple hues of the beam, the thugs in suits continued to chase down the storm troopers. They were like a pack of dogs with a taste of blood. Leading the charge was the muscular Asian, screaming a war cry as he closed in.
"ARRRRRRGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHH"
"AAAAAAAAHHHH Hhhhhhh....."
The small blonde child covered her yawn with her hand. She didn't want to be rude. But she couldn't help it. This place was...kinda boring.
There was initial amazement and awe of the impossibly white room. A different dimension, like in the story book where they go into the wardrobe. But after twenty minutes or so, it started to kinda feel like the waiting room at momma's place of work.
The cure was real scary. But momma warned her about him. As long as she behaved her self and was a good little girl, he wouldn't eat her. In fact, no one was aloud to hurt anybody in this room. It left a certain detached feeling, like watching a tv. Even when things got scary, you know they couldn't jump out and hurt you.
The child passed the time drawing. Just like the other waiting room, people here liked to wear a lot of neat outfits. Momma also dressed in alot of nice clothes, but the ones she wore and the ones every one else wore were different. Momma dressed in the clothes you find in magazines, everyone else dressed in the clothes you find in comic books.
She drew her impression of different outfits from the people passing through. A gloomy devil looking man in black. He looked like he was really mad, so she drew him smiling instead. A blonde girl who seemed like a doll. She drew her with ballerina frills. She kinda wished she had a wind up key on her back. The orange girl with green eyes she drew a cape on, and a tiara, and big ol belt to make her look more like super hero. For orange girl's friend, she just drew a cape and cloak with a frowny face
◊.
"More tea young miss?"
With a smile and a nod, her cup was filled. To either side of the small child were two men. One
, just under five feet, the other
, around seven. The smaller of the two was the one who spoke in a monotonous voice befitting a butler. He forced a smile on his face for the girl's sake, or at least what passed for a smile on his emotionless mug. However, his eyes stared off like a man waiting execution. After this was all over, it was doubtful they were going to get a break for the next week with all the bodies left over from the war. The larger man looked around the room nervously, looking almost more fragile then the little girl drawing next to him.
With the Santa Destroy table occupied, the make shift tea party set up in an unused booth. The little girl's seat labeled for some unknown person called Akemi Homura. Other Japanese may wonder why only this chair had the name written in the opposite way of the other Japanese names.
At the Santa Destroy table, the information booth remained set up. The woman
at the booth watched the room behind her shades. She was glad she had them, so her disappointment at a all the new blood wouldn't be so obvious. All a bunch of kids. Not that she was entirely against the use of child assassins, but all these ones were useless. Squeaky clean with bright wide eyes. What was the Cure doing bring in these brats. Didn't he want blood? Then again, seeing their smiling faces was kind of pissing her off. Perhaps he was trying to bait the wolves with sheep. She wasn't blood thirsty like the psychopaths in her employ, but even she wanted to walk up to one of those stupid naive little...
"Can I help you?"
The french woman was all smiles to the Japanese girl browsing the booth's selection. She took off her sunglasses to show her bright blue eyes. It was so easy to make them look kind and friendly. She accompanied the look with a welcoming smile, the lip gloss really helps with that.
"See anything you like? I know we are no Ibiza, but I hope that if you decide to visit, that we can still make you feel welcome and safe."
It was hard to tell what Japanese girl's specialty was. Body type didn't suggest any type of fighting style. Pilot? Engineer? Maybe magic? Hmm, Team Anglerfish? Bait and ambush tactics? Perhaps that naive school girl look was just a lure? She could be dangerous. You can't be too careful in this line of work. Still, friend or foe, you keep them close whether you want to tie a leash around their neck or strangle them to death.
Then her phone buzz. She checked the message and smiled.
"Just a moment."
Sylvia pulled out a single party popper, activating it with a pop and pathetic show of confetti. She stood up as if to address the room. The war council was a complete bust. Hardly any one was here. Like they couldn't afford a single secretary to keep every one informed and on the same page. Still she carried on.
"I am happy to say that the forces of Santa Destroy have all but eradicated the invasion force sent there. We have also successfully captured at least two of their space shuttles intact. Within the hour we will launch a counter attack and hope to have this whole incident resolved before the day is out so we can return to our daily lives. Thank you for patients during these turbulent times and know that the UAA and Jasper Batt Corporation is working diligently for your safety.
A little PR work. She sat down and placed a sign up saying that spaces were still available in the shuttles for the counter attack efforts. She was confident in UAA assassins capabilities, but there was an awful lot of room in those ships. Might as well fill it, and charge them for the effort of doing so.
How do you kill that which has no life?
"Eh, your place looked like it had gone to shit the most from what I saw from the other side of the portal. Heroes always go for the ones that seem to need the most saving. That and I come from Nerima Ward of some alternate Tokyo so I guess it was patriotic spirit that motivated me to come on over here. What kinda Japanese person wouldn't want to save their homeland from alien invaders?" Ranma all but smirked as she quite honestly told the coppers what a shithole the place had looked like before her face morphed into something akin to a grimace upon remembering all the violence prior. "Hell's Gate Tokyo lived up to its name, yanno. Was it like this due to the bucketheads or even before that? Place seems way too broken just from an invasion that happened the same day and all. Also what's a Doll, some sorta person that acts all woodenly like Do-chan?"
Proving that she wasn't just a superpowered freak of nature and that her ability to connect the dots were in fact working, the pigtailed girl continued to while away the time as she waited for wherever the two were gonna take her and the group. Glancing back at the latest boy wonder, the girl bit down on her lip as she waited out her brief surge of frustration, not hearing the thanks expected. Still, kid did act like a man despite his age and it waa the sort of thing she would have done in his shoes so she let it slide just this once. "Eh, was just providing insurance fer ya. Us meddling do-gooders gotta look out for each other, yanno. Think of it as building up futue connections or something."
"Good, good. You're apprehensive and cautious, which means you have a good head on your shoulders." Stroking his beard in an unruffled manner as he enjoyed Dante's skepticisim and Nero's shock, the headmaster took out a wand before flicking it towards the treasure chest. A single doubloon flew on over towards via telekinesis the man who simply flipped it into the air and then raised an index finger towards the falling object, a brief flash of light happening before the round object was cut in half- splitting into two thinner coins with the insides as solidly golden as the outside while revolving around the old man's finger like celestial bodies about the Sun to show off all angles. "Like I said though, feel free to tinker around with the wares as much as you want- quality is assured. Though if you still can't believe this, we can go for paper currency... perhaps the dollar since it's the universal Earth tender?"
"A magical shapeshifter of malicious intent? That does sound rather serious, de gozaru?" The ninja mumbled as her attention sharpened at Akihiko's words, knowing full well what a perfect mimic was able to perform in sabotage from past experience. "Many thanks for your warning, Young White Hair-san. The higher ups listening in on this conversation has heard it and thus we will raise our security even further while casting illusion seeking magics about as a precaution. Still, might we share communications frequencies in order to obtain help in this matter, de gozaru?" Kaede asked as she began taking out a phone, a radio, a laptop, and homing pigeon from her scarf to see if they could keep in touch."
"...R-right, there's also people I'm worried about. I-I'll try to ask around for help for your Chunk after I check up on Hades, sorry." Bowing down after hearing the man's words, the mechanician ran through the portal as though she was bitten by fire-ants to check the map... only to find that Hades had literally disappeared from the area. Upon frantic searching about, the blonde would indeed find that the portal to the Netherworld was indeed vanished. Her mind putting two and two together instantly, the teen staggered back in shock as she realized that they had either been destroyed or that she was now stranded in such a crazy world by her lonesome. "N-no... it can't be..." The beginnings of hyperventilation setting in once more, the girl hoped with all her heart that it was only her that had been left behind and that her comrades were safe even if she felt lonely and helpless at the moment.
Vampire Hunter
Lisa, Common Room
"May I join in?" The bride of Dracula asked the little girl and her two guards. The girl seemed lonely and, like Lisa, was in the Common Room for her own protection. No matter who enters this place good or evil, no one can harm anyone here in this place. Lisa had been unsure what to do in regards to the Empire, though... She had wanted to help the people who were being attacked by the Empire, but she was skilled with medicine, not with healing wounds caused by open warfare. It annoyed her to feel so useless when people were dying. At the least, she was a mother so she knew how to raise a child even if Adrian was a dhampir.
Dracula & Death, Imperial Camp, Castlevania
"Other than sending our prisoners of war to the dungeon, we should head to the Common Room as that will be where the victors against the Empire will be, and it would be the best place to coordinate a counterattack against the Death Star," Dracula explained, his tactical mind already coming up with a new plan to invade the Death Star, but then... A certain Stormtrooper showed up. Dracula smiled broadly at him.
"Ah, the runner!" Dracula laughed out loud almost pleased at the situation. "I was going to let you flee as it would be too much work to chase down one mere enemy, but since you came willingly to me, I shall let you join your allies in the dungeon with the knowledge that you would have been able to escape to a neighboring land if you did not come here to your allies."
"I... shall call this a success," Dracula noted to Gaige and the others. "The invaders were successfully beaten."
Trevor, Hell's Gate Tokyo Portal
After following Celty and Elphelt out of the portal Trevor seemed to be staying quiet as he observed the area around the portal. It was obvious that this place had seen hell, but the officer brought up others who had came here before the three. While he was content to let Celty lead the conversation, he knew that there were nasty beings on this planet who could end up interfering with the mission.
"Tell me, officer," Trevor spoke to the poor cop who saw perhaps the worst day of his life. "Could you describe who had entered the portal before us?"
In terms of his allies, he had to give Celty credit for being menacing. Certainly, she was undead, a Dullahan if he had to guess, but she seemed to be like Alucard... A creature of the night who chose to use her powers to help humanity rather than eradicate them. Meanwhile, Elphelt seemed to be a true lady or at least attempting to be one. However, Trevor was concerned that she may not be able to fight like he and Celty obviously could.
What intrigued him the most about this situation was the lack of Imperial Forces guarding the portal. It was just a single poor overworked police officer. Given the lack of any Death Star Portal in the Common Room, it was very likely that the Imperial Forces could not see the portals. This meant they had the element of surprise... At least if they can convince the poor overworked police officer to play along with the plan.
"We will not tell anyone you helped us on the condition that you do not tell anyone that we are here," Trevor offered the conditions to the officer and looked at Celty and Elphelt. "If you're willing to trust us, we are willing to trust you."
Sypha, Folkestone Air Base
Sypha seemed to be deep in thought again, until Harry talked to her asking if she was ready, "I am not sure how I feel about attacking humans yet, but unlike the others here, I have not been in battle yet."
"Unfortunately, my knowledge of magical flight, either by broom or on my own is nil," Sypha explained to Harry her issues in this particular battle. "The Empire chose a aerial battle and the witches here are skilled in aerial battle with their advanced magical devices."
When Eila asked her to call up Lady again, Sypha nodded to her and pulled out the cellphone to call Lady, "Right..."
"Lady, this is Sypha," Sypha said into the cellphone once she got Lady on the line. "Folkestone says an unidentified aircraft coming in from the north... Is that yours?"
Alucard and Carmilla, Santa Destroy Shuttle 3
Right before the red lightsaber hit Alucard, he vanished from Vader's sight in a glowing pillar of light, appearing to the other side of Vader in the same glowing pillar. Obviously, Alucard had his own tricks up his sleeve, but the frown on his face betrayed his emotions. The fact that even in a 5 on 1 fight, this Dark Lord of Another World had minimal damage meant that a continued fight against this particular foe would be long and hard.
Carmilla looked rather shocked that Vader took both Alucard and her own attacks. Carmilla stepped backward from Vader slightly, wary of such a powerful Dark Lord of Another World. Unlike Alucard who was blessed with the tactical knowledge of his father, the vampiress was unsure how to continue. Margaret wanted to continue to protect her sister, but her sister was the preferred target of Vader. Maybe she should end her alliance with Margaret and leave the two sisters to die.
Thankfully, it seemed like Vader was leaving to return to the artificial moon in the sky. Alucard was willing to let him leave, while Carmilla tried to blast balls of darkness at Vader which he blocked as he fled.
Grant, Santa Destroy Inside The Shuttle
Grant seemed to turn around at hearing the voice of Susie... Noting that neither Margaret nor Carmilla were there, Grant relaxed somewhat. Susie would notice that Grant, also, had claimed an E-11 Blaster of his own which was being held in his pocket at the moment.
"Trying to hijack this thing, but I can't make heads or tails of the controls," Grant admitted to the vampire, imitating her very neutral tone. "After all, if they are to stop this invasion, they gotta attack the artificial moon head on."
"So how'd a girl like you get to become a vampire?" Grant asked, curious at why Carmilla was forming her own little squad of vampires when that wasn't really her or Dracula's usual way of operating. Usually, Dracula would just make Lady Bats but both Margaret and Susie here were vampires proper. Neither fit what his preferred women to turn to Lady Bats were, but at the very least, Margaret could fight. Susie looked about a normal as a vampire could be.
Wizard Needs Food Badly
New Hell > Hell's Gate Tokyo
"Hm?"
Worry seemed to spread on Elphelt's expression, as she nearly stammered out her next sentence, even as she followed Celty.
"O-oh! I-I'm terribly sorry Mister Belmont! I-I didn't mean to insinuate anything like that!"
("Did I insinuate anything like that?")
Mitakihara
Ramlethal took note of Mami needing to get herself some space, and re-positioned herself closer to her position.
<Sin, I'm going towards Mami's position.>
<Okay! Leave this area to me!>
Ramlethal kicked her flight ability into high gear, flying straight for the forces firing at Mami Tomoe.
"Velva."
The balloon shaped familiar responded to its master's beckoning, and appeared by her side, titanic sword already clasped in its jaws. The familiar swung it, intending to take out a swathe of targets all at once, all while Ramlethal herself slid under it and attempted to rip at the legs of the Stormtroopers outside of her sword's range.
Sin, in the meanwhile, having found little resistance, got a little flashier with his attacks. He held his open palm out, and out of it came an arrow of lightning, flying at one of the Empire's tanks.
"Shake the dust." - Anis Mojgani