Welcome to Beacon: Next 2.0

AZURE, ORGAN AND CINNIBAR

Azure noticed the uncomfortable silence, she frowned and then looked between the two of them. "That...was a joke...?" She offered, looking back and forth as if expecting them to suddenly burst into laughter.

The Fair

"Hard to tell with your sometimes," Cinnabar commented drily, "For all I knew you could be planning to march on in and beat them up so you could ask them one question."

"No offense, Azzy," Morgan said somewhat sheepishly, "But the joke went over my head. You do tend to ask to duel with people a lot."

Geez, this feels kinda awkward. Time to change the subject...

"So, um," Morgan said, stalling slightly as she worked out what to say next. "You guys wanna stay here at the concert? Or maybe we should check some of the other booths out while they're less crowded?"

AZURE, MORGAN AND CINNIBAR

Azure smiled, "He accepted it!" She said cheerfully, before pausing. "I can be here for as long as you all can." It wasn't completely honest, but she was determined to not bother her new friends.

Azure, Morrigan, and Cinnabar

"Might be nice to hit some of the other places before the crowds come back."

Fairgrounds

Taking note of Raggy pointing out Cerise and Gage's current predicament, Duncan growled "'Scuse me folks" before dashing off in their general direction, Claymore firmly in hand.

After a good while of dashing, Duncan spotted his tag-team partner being pursued by a gaggle of unfriendly looking sorts. Thinking quickly, Duncan quickly began unscrewing the pommel of his Claymore before gauging the wind, distance and weight of the pommel. After doing some calculations, Duncan would hurl the pommel at the skull of the nearest Rowena Hill gal.

Fairgrounds

Cerise popped the ring-tab open and the fizzing caffeinated beverage spilled out the sides and onto her hands. "Fuck—" Cerise sipped the layer of foam clean. "Alright. I can go all night like this."

Cerise drained the can and crushed it flat in her hand.

"Hey, I dealt with my ex problems like an adult," — actually mostly a lie, all things considered, since she hadn't resolved anything with Jean at all — "So you gotta, too."

To Cerise, there was always a performance art to a good brawl, and this would be no exception. Unarmed but never losing her stride, Cerise whirled around, arms outstretched, facing their pursuers. Spotlights passed overhead, putting the shine on her confrontation with Fiona—an old boss, but one who held no power over her now.

"Ladies, ladies. Merry's just gone backstage for a better view, you know?" she said. "Let's chat for old time's sake."

Maybe since we have empty team slots Yan comes back or something

Yan raised a metal fist.

"I'll crush 'em if we see 'em," he said. "But they're probably long gone. Fuck! I saw those guys at the cooking contest. Should've crushed them there."

Yan nodded.

"Let's go."

edited 7th Mar '18 3:51:39 AM by opnerf

Fair

Izzy's mood was in a whirlwind. First she was being crowded around by people who wanted to ask about Inquisitor, what it could do, how it worked, why she piloted it herself instead of remotely controlling it. And then that threat to Vale grabbed everyone's attention, and almost immediately afterwards the crowd began to disperse. But suddenly the scattering was replacing with cheering and a new crowd as a lovely concert seemed to materialize out of thin air.

First things first, she needed to get back to her group. Whipping out her Scroll, she called Morgan in a hurry. "Morgan, where are y'all?"

Fairgrounds

"which is when I just stabbed right through. W-which at the moment was cool but in hindsight weird because I call it a sword but it's like, blunt-and-bumpy-so-how-it-stab..?"
Zoe was about to try and ponder this question that was posed to her in a likely rhetorical fashion when she was so rudely interrupted by some person who didn't know how politics worked and then so wonderfully interrupted by frickin' idols from the sky! With a start she jumped up from her restless seat and gave a quick "Hold up mate I'll see you after the show yeah?" before running off to watch the show and leaving the mechanic alone to wallow in solitude once more.

"A-alright. S-see you..."
He kinda just went silent and fiddled about with an oily rag as he pondered whether he was in support of this revolt. If Zoe wasn't distracted by the concert of incredibly pretty and happy and talented and... She pondered for a moment whether she had fallen in love with this gaggle of girls or just the concept and styling of idols... Before she snapped back to her previous thought about that broadcast. If the government must change then fine, she only wished that however this situation resolved it would be peaceful or at the very least only harming actual combatants... A pang of dread that even for the right ideals, a revolution would merely beget more revolutions.

edited 8th Mar '18 8:24:53 PM by Pentigan

"Alright!" Morgan said perkily. "Though Azzy, if you're starting to get overwhelmed, let me know—"

Morgan was interrupted, however by her scroll going off. "Oops! Give me a second." She answers it, hearing Izzy's question. "Just hanging out with Azzy, boss! What do you need?"

MORGAN, CINNIBAR AND AZURE

Azure refused to acknowledge her discomfort. "I'll be fine." She said, even as she turned up the sound block to avoid it, her skin itself was enough feedback. She made sure to look at their faces when she picked up their voices, reading their lips so she could respond.

Monday, Ventus 18, Fairgrounds

If Johann and his following were to begin asking around, making their way to the comms hub, they were able to piece together a picture of who the Sanction were. By all accounts, they were a mercenary company with a strong focus in helping out the little people, particularly in the newly-resurgent outer villages of Vale, Atlas, and Vacuo. He was even able to see more than a few his age wearing their brass insignia upon shirts and accessories.

The comms hub was dead center of the Unity Fair. Already, they could see more than a few specialists and police poring over the hub, trying to find out how the Sanction were able to broadcast their message. Thankfully, no Beacon professor was around yet.

In a more riotous part of the fair, the tail of the Razorgrrls' formation went down with a heavy pommel to her skull, thus prompting her closest fellows to turn around. For the moment, their faces were still, as if unsure what exactly happened. And finally, in a fit of fury and shrieking, Duncan found himself swept away in a current swirling pleated skirts, feather ornaments, and fists. He was just able to catch sight of some older man making his way through the crowd, heavily-customized guitarcase on his shoulder.

Fiona was eye-to-eye with Cerise, expression serious. "Piss off, Cerise. You know how he gets with her. We gotta stop him!"

Rolling his shoulders and hopping in place, Gage took several breaths as his eyes scanned the crowd and the flight patterns of the drones. With a last light kick to both feet, the delinquent took a few backwards steps. And with a running start, was airborne and landing upon the shoulders of the crowd. So caught up with the music of Ars Astra, they only felt minor annoyance at the sudden weight.

Seconds passed, landing in time with every beat of their song, Gage was making his way inch by inch. It wouldn't be much longer. He could see the details on Erin's dress, the way her makeup was made...

"Erin," he called, his vest flying behind him. "Erin!"

And just as he was so close, just one more leap and he was one the stage... A blow sent Gage flying, swiped by a drone that knew exactly what it was doing.

Fairgrounds

Dia lets out a small sigh as James helped to get Iris' beret back. She gives a small smile as she says something, and... keeps something to herself.

"Thanks, James."

(It looks cute on you.)

She waves a goodbye wave to the strange kid, as she hurriedly motions to James to follow their other two teammates. "We should hurry, James."

Dia glows a bit as she manipulates the crystal made from her aura within her boots, in order to boost herself forwards... towards the crowd. And alas, it was too late.

(...Really, why are you making such a fool of yourself now?)

Gage had already started running on the shoulders of the crowd. As she sees him run towards the performers, she glows a bit as she begins to use her Aura. At the edge of the crowd, a crystal pillar forms and rises up, allowing Dia to get a good look at whatever was going on. She spots Gage right near the front of the crowd.

She lets out a concerned shout over the crowd, in the hopes that he'd hear it.

"Gage, what are you doing!?"

Shouting wasn't something that Miss Rayfer did often. This was one of those times.

edited 16th Mar '18 6:19:17 AM by ironcommando

Fairgrounds

As the horde came charging toward him, knowing full well that he couldn't face them down and that he'd probably made a grave mistake, Duncan planted his trusty Claymore in the earth, nice and hard, to ensure that anyone who tried to pry it from its resting place wouldn't be able to unless they were his physical equal.

With everything important taken care of, Duncan cracked his knuckles and fell into the wave of Razorgrrls, throwing wild haymakers, headbutts and elbows in every direction until either he or the Razorgrrls stopped swinging.

RWBY Story: Royal Cyber Sleuths

After searching around for information on Sanction, Johann stopped to think for a few seconds resting his chin on his left hand.

"Mercenaries for small villages huh? Even if they're popular their economic prowess shouldn't be too high if they're so focused on helping the little guys. We need to see how they pulled the comm disturbance off"

Jo gestured for the rest of the group to stay put "Alright I think I have a way to get in but only I can do it so stay here alright?" as he walked towards the hubb looking at the policemen around he frowned, he was hoping that it wouldn't be necessary to use his station to do this.

Leaving traces behind for an unknown enemy is a bad idea. He searched for his military credentials. He walked towards the entrance to the tent, stopped, stood upright with his hands behind his back and saluted before he talked.

"Greetings, I'm Second lieutenant Sullivan Grey of the Valoran Armed Forces, 35th Valoran Air Company, 11th Section in the Echo Platoon, I happened to pass by the area and thought I could give you guys some help seeing as I am specialist in the required field. May I join your investigative efforts?" He showed his credentials to the officers and with their permission moved inside to investigate the scene

Fairground- Jo's group.

As they heard more about Sanction, the more confused Scarlet's face seemed to become. "Ya know...the whole thing doesn't make sense. I mean sure, they could affect some change by deposing the royals but why do it like this?" She asked gesturing around, particularly at the video screens.

"They're mercenaries which would imply they were hired, at least normally. But this isn't how a mercenary would do things. I mean the big statement, the clear figure to rally around, it's more like how revolutionaries or terrorists. So why the shift in tactics?"

Morrigan, Cinnabar, Azure

"Hmm. Well, I guess I'm outvoted," Cinnabar shrugged, turning back to face the concert.

Izzy: Looking for Group

"Just tell me where you are exactly," Isabelle replied, hoping she could be heard over the crowd.

"I got a little lost in the confusion and I'm trying to get back to y'all." She added with some embarrassment.

Suzune; Confused and Chaotitc

Not having a clue what she had managed to end up in, and the chaos not helping at all, Suzune did the only thing that she could really think of to sort this whole mess out, attempt to trace the communication that had caused all this back to whatever device ha originated it, perhaps it had more information.

"Oh!" Morgan said in response to Izzy's question. "I'm over at the concert — Azzy and Cinnabar wanted to see the band in action and I tagged along. You want me to fly up so we can find each other quicker?"

Monday, Ventus 18, Fairgrounds, Central Comms Hubb and Assorted Nodes

The officer Johann met, a pot-bellied sergeant by his stripes and manner, scowled at "Lt. Grey." "Army boy? Piss off, this is a crime scene. What makes you think you can butt in here like you own the place?" At that moment, his superior, a Faunus with goat horns upon her brow, stepped up.

"Can it, Colon," said the officer sharply. "Echo Platoon is the fifth designation. And the fifth's usually got solid tech-heads." She turned to Johann. "I'm Lt. Cho. Our own techs aren't here yet, but if you help us out, I can look the other way or even get you cited. Let 'im in, Fred." With a scowl, Sgt. Colon let Johann pass.

The comm hub was the largest tent in the festival. Terminals and all manner of comms esoterica were arranged to make the most of the space, the occasional wire on the adapted flakboard floor. Other than the technicians hired for the event, the VPD were everywhere. Often times giving the aforementioned techies a hard time. There didn't seem to be any sign of forced ingress. And the police were having the technicians scour their own gear and their roster for any signs of tampering or outside interference. Lt. Cho led the way for him, having one of the harried workers shift so that he could do his thing.

Plugging into the comm node was no hard feat for Suzune. The feed wasn't even locked down to better facilitate any tracing efforts. In the tech space, the fox-eared gynoid could make out the attempts of the VPD of their own tracing.

While not built for electronic warfare, Imuka had nonetheless programmed enough know-how into her finest creation. And her senses were even able to pick out the rogue spidery code that linked every screen and speaker, all leading back to the hub. Closer inspection revealed the pervasive genius of the data, capable of riding and inserting itself into larger streams as harmlessly as a lilypad in a pond.

Whoever released this code was obviously an expert.

Monday, Ventus 18, Fairgrounds, Unity Fest Concert

The Razorgrrls besetting Duncan were no slouches, even capable of making their brawl look like a dance. had clamped onto his arm, another wrapping her arms and legs around his trunk and attempting to sink her teeth into his shoulder.

Rolling to his feet, Gage was met with a wall of transforming drones. Attempting to bull his way through them was met with them forming a wall and pushing back. So intent was he in trying to get to the stage, that the delinquent didn't notice that they were herding him away from the crowd of happy concert goers.

All the while, he kept calling her name, but the cheers and music drowned out her name.

edited 22nd Mar '18 7:34:59 AM by KR_Vandal

AZURE, CINNIBAR AND MORGAN

Azure stood, silently. She cocked her head, sniffing like a dog...Fear? No, not fear. She knew fear, it smelled acrid. This, was sweat...adrenaline...worry. She instantly crouched down, the exposed balls of her feet and her hand picking up a set of...termors...footsteps. Heading away from the main crowd.

She stood, grabbing Morgan and Cinnibar's shoulder, pulling them back so she could whisper in both of their ears. "There's something odd going on over there..." She whispered, pointing in the direction. "A group, walking away from the crowd. One is worried."

edited 22nd Mar '18 8:12:49 PM by TroyandHawk

Fairgrounds - Dealing with bitey types

Duncan's first reaction to being bitten was one of confusion. While he wasn't unaccustomed to being in scraps and brawls with all sorts of wild types, being bitten like this was a first (though in hindsight he'd blame it on the fact that he'd run into a fight without a shirt on). Deciding that barbarism begets barbarism, Duncan would respond in kind, chomping down on the Razorgrrl's arm while throwing haymakers at her head.

Fairgrounds.

The blonde haired boy seemed to sulk somewhat at the duo ignoring him before simply giving up as they walked off. But...that didn't matter too much as he seemed to remember the messenger bag by his side and snapped to attention...before cheerfully walking off to put up what seemed to be 'Missing Person' posters.

Of course, with Dia rocketing forward, James did his best to keep up and make his way through the crowd.

"....getting...himself in to trouble...by the looks of it. ...I think...trying to get on the stage for...some reason..." He quietly remarked, trying to get a glance of what was going on. "And I see one those girls...from the cooking contest, too...considering her...attitude and how...she used those knives, we...should try to keep her away from...Gage in case she's one of...those...sort of girls." James commented.

Although reaching the stage with the crowd in the way was going to be difficult to move through the normal way...and if that...careless team-mate of his wanted to get onto the stage, there had to be a reason.

"...So I guess we'll...d-do what he's done and go...over them." Grabbing Sunset and taking aim, the young fired the grappling hook, hoping for the chain to at least attach to the very top of the stage. If he was lucky, he could simply fire it from his new position and help haul Gage up onto the stage and away from the crowd.

...Assuming that the grappling hook mode didn't short circuit and fail.

Fairgrounds

It was pretty clear that Gage had been getting into some serious trouble with the security. Dia sighed. From her position, she looks around as she spots James... trying to do something. He looked like he was aiming something at the top of the stage.

She worriedly thinks to herself.

(What is James trying to do!? Get him on or away from the stage?)

Seeing the drone wall push Gage away from the crowd, Dia could finally do something about this without having to jump in the middle of the crowd and potentially hit somebody with her Semblance.

She jumps off her pillar and quickly runs with semblance-boosted crystals in her shoes towards Gage's direction, transforming Corona into a spear and using it to vault/shot boost her way towards her partner who's being singled out.

As soon as she was within distance of her partner, Dia calls out to him in a worried tone.

"Gage, what exactly are you trying to do? Get into trouble with the security?"

She'd wait for Gage's response, as well as see what James would try to do with Gage before making an action. Having used a fair bit of her semblance to get to him, she's slightly tired already.