2022-05-06: Given infinite possibilities, you chose kindness. I did not. (Prologue)
- Log: Given infinite possibilities, you chose kindness. I did not. (Prologue)
- Cast: Yuliana Dispersal, Athrusa Hsieh, Rena Lancaster, Anita Rosetta
- Where: The Distant Mountains (Japan)
- Date: 2022-05-06 (0096)
- Summary: Yuliana -- in her Celestial Being disguise of Verdiska -- lays a trap for Athrusa, and catches Rena and Anita as well. She manages to land a grievous blow on Rena, but Anita stops her from doing something truly terrible, and Verdiska flees. Unfortunately, Athrusa has figured out who she really is...
<Pose Tracker> Yuliana Dispersal has posed.
"Heeey, Canary Cadet!" Yuliana leans in the doorway, waving a folder of documents, cheerfully.
"That's still not my name, Captain," Cascade Wattana replies, testily, their engagement with their work instantly sinking to something more dour on their face as Yuliana enters the room.
Yuliana, ever-cheerful, bulls in regardless and dumps the folder on their desk. "Guess who gets to demonstrate their capability with extra paperwork!"
"Great," Cascade mutters, sliding the folder over.
"That's the spirit! Have fuuun~!" Yuliana lilts, as she turns and goes off to do -- whatever it is she does when she's not engaging with the team.
That's fine. Cascade is MUCH happier when she isn't hovering over their shoulder, anyway. Luckily for them, Yuliana isn't going to be anywhere in their Sri Lankan office, for a while.
-^-
'Verdiska', in her veils, has taken up position in one of the many mountains of Japan; in her Desmatz N, she's been able to do some interesting things, with the electronic signals of the area. Primarily, right now, she's putting out...
... a distress signal.
It's keyed to a Type 96, one of the suits used in the OCU's forces, a request for pick-up after an encounter with hostiles. It is very specifically transmitting right here -- because Yuliana has identified that Athrusa is moving through this area.
Because she already knows who she's trying to catch, she doesn't have to make the signal very strong -- just enough that Athrusa can catch it. If it's a little weak and thready, well... she's a doctor, so that can only make it more effective, on her.
If anyone else happens to be in the area...
... well, she'll deal with that if it happens. She knows the OCU isn't patrolling here in the middle of the day, at least; even if this is an act of Celestial Being, Yuliana's habits die hard. She's entirely too used to doing military operations in places she's not technically invited.
The quad-legs of the wanzer bend, a spider about to pounce. Twin bazookas are mounted on it, alongside a MULS-P flamethrower; it notably isn't damaged beyond repair, and it's packing considerable firepower, to boot. In this rocky mountainous area, it might not even be entirely obvious -- out here in the boonies, there's plenty of natural cover, and not much in the way of infrastructure.
Or witnesses.
KTS: Yuliana Dispersal has deployed in Desmatz N. KTS: Yuliana Dispersal has changed loadout. KTS: Yuliana_Dispersal has deployed as a Rival. KTS: Athrusa Hsieh has deployed in CB-00X Impermanence Gundam Prototype. KTS: Athrusa Hsieh has changed loadout. KTS: Anita Rosetta has deployed in VF-25 Messiah Rosetta <Fighter Mode>. KTS: Anita Rosetta has changed loadout. KTS: Rena Lancaster has deployed in RX-94FF MP Nu Gundam (Long-Range Fin Funnel Type).
<Pose Tracker> Athrusa Hsieh has posed.
Athrusa is en-route towards Area 11, where she's received notice that her skills as surgeon is needed; given the rather sensitive nature of the conflict in the area, she happens to have the multi-disciplinary skillset of surgeon, pilot and combatant adequate enough.
... that was the plan, anyway; halfway through proceeding the mountain ranges, she receives a distress signal. A pause, as she tunes closer towards it. "Wide-band distress signal, interference six, strength 5.7..." she remarks. "There is a high chance the emitting unit has been damaged."
Sure enough, Athrusa being her own Operating System picks up on the weak and thready nature and making her own conclusions.
The Impermanence proceeds towards the signal source -- just as planned. It's a mobile suit just shy of twenty meters, with a white and off-gray colouration highlighted with glass highlights of red. Visibly, it is unmistakably a Gundam, and seems to self-propel on an ephemeral bed of bright-red particles exuding out of the pinecone reactor mounted on its back...
... or... well, it's more like it's half a Gundam. Various armour plates and safety mechanisms are missing, and it's taped all over with CAUTION markings; it's literally missing its right arm, as well. Still, this doesn't seem to deter Athrusa all that much.
Until now.
"This is Athrusa Hsieh," she speaks up. "Please state the nature of your emergency."
Just like a 111 call??????
<Pose Tracker> Rena Lancaster has posed.
Someone else happens to be in the area.
The Ra Mari isn't so close that it could come, but two members of Kakapo Squadron are on patrol, and picked up the distress signal. Bait, but not for the right prey. The RX-94 Mass Production-type Nu Gundam soars through the air -- low to the ground -- and has its fin funnels mounted on its back. The Wanzer is, currently, unnoticed; the baseline Minovsky interference keeps her radar from detecting it, and the rocky terrain hides the Desmatz N nicely.
Instead, she sends a message to Anita. "I'm not sure where this distress signal is coming from. I don't see anything."
Just as she spoke, something came through the static of the sensors. Rena's eyes widen; unknown particle types. And then, visually, another Gundam. Her brow furrows for a moment. "Anita, are you seeing that?" she says. "It's a Gundam. But..."
But she identifies herself, and she seems to be here to help. The RX-94 banks around, and Rena speaks: "This is Lieutenant Rena Lancaster with Londo Bell. We're en route to provide assistance. Just hold tight. Miss Hsieh, do you have visual on them?"
<Pose Tracker> Anita Rosetta has posed.
Soaring alongside the MP Nu is a Variable Fighter in Fighter Mode - a VF-25 Messiah, specifically, though with extensive modifications under the hood. It maintains an easy, relaxed speed as it flies - partially due to the pilot's own personality, and partially to avoid overlooking the source of the distress signal by moving too fast. But...
"...Yeah. I'm not seeing anything either." Anita confirms with a slight frown. ...Are they too late? No, if they can still detect the distress signal, then there must still be something left.
It's then that Rena draws her attention to the Gundam ahead of them. Anita looks, surprise and curiosity both crossing her face.
"...Yeah. It looks like it either had a really bad day, or just walked itself off of the factory line." She comments. She's curious... but before she can consider it any further the pilot speaks - it sounds like she's responding to the same incident they are...
"I'm gonna go higher - see if I can't spot anything from above." Anita says, pulling the Valkyrie higher into the air. It gives her a better vantage point with which to see things... but, it makes it easier to see her, too.
<Pose Tracker> Yuliana Dispersal has posed.
Oh, Yuliana's entirely familiar with the Gundam Athrusa is piloting.
Saying that much would spoil the plot something terrible, though.
"Hello, hello," duplicates the voice inside the wanzer as it transmits over local wide-band radio. Like the veils she wears over her eyes, 'Verdiska' uses a voice modulator to make sure she can't be vocally printed at the scene of the crime, but the disguise can do nothing for the way she speaks. "A terrible emergency!"
For one: there are three pilots here, not one. That's something of an emergency, particularly given the fact that the second Gundam and the VF seem to be working together. Yuliana notes, breezily, that the two of them must be used to it; they've got eyes on the sky and eyes on the ground, as if it weren't any issue whatsoever.
... actually, isn't that Messiah's signature one of Londo Bell's? Yuliana thinks back to the last time the Major told her not to start an international incident, and finds she can't remember him saying anything for like a week, which means it's entirely fair game.
(Besides, it's not as if she doesn't cover up her hobby. It's fine.)
Inside her cockpit, Yuliana sighs, with a too-loose grin. She reaches up to flick a switch above her head, turning a knob to stir up a dancing line on a readout which is just about visible at the top of her vision; the MP Nu and Variable Fighter will subsequently find a blast of electrical interference in their systems, making targeting things something of a conundrum. She can't very well stop Anita from physically sighting her, up there, but she can certainly make fighting back difficult for the both of them.
"But you see, it's quite a shame," the wanzer transmits. "This was a crisis emergency for one!"
From the rocks, a robot on four legs leaps into the air -- and from there, launches clay bazooka rounds at the Impermanence. They're adhesive, and restrictive, cooling from their heat quickly enough to be excellent at capturing live targets.
"I don't think you want these two involved, Athrusa," Verdiska snaps, her name a sufferance on her lips. The wanzer comes to land atop the rocks, all bent down on its quad-legs. "Now, Celestial Being has some questions for you -- it's time to go."
This, itself, is giving something of the game away; if she weren't playing this game on so many levels, Yuliana would never have told Athrusa who sent her. But given her other orders, well... Athrusa is an intelligent woman, and Yuliana can't have her putting the pieces together, after Yuliana just tried to retrieve her to the REA. Even so, she's still brought a flamethrower to this fight, despite being so fond of them in her day job...?
KTS: Yuliana Dispersal targets Rena Lancaster with Jam! KTS: Yuliana Dispersal targets Anita Rosetta with Jam! KTS: Yuliana Dispersal targets Athrusa Hsieh with MULS-P Adhesive Bazooka Pellet Spray! KTS: Yuliana Dispersal jams Anita Rosetta's sensors, reducing her accuracy. KTS: Yuliana Dispersal jams Rena Lancaster's sensors, reducing her accuracy. KTS: Yuliana Dispersal rattles Athrusa Hsieh, making her next maneuvers more difficult. KTS: Athrusa Hsieh fails to evade Yuliana Dispersal's MULS-P Adhesive Bazooka Pellet Spray, taking 3500 damage!
<Pose Tracker> Athrusa Hsieh has posed.
Athrusa detects the Nu Gundam and the VF-25 Messiah before she sees them. She pauses as Rena declares her names and affiliation; her eyes narrow for a moment, and then she answers, "Negative. There is significant interference in the area..."
The Valkyrie pulls up just in time for the wide-band radio to crackle, an odd voice speaking up. A sudden blast of electrical interference washes over the area, and Athrusa, at this point, finally has eyes on the Wanzer just as it raises a clay bazooka, rounds sailing swiftly across the mountain range and slamming onto the Impermanance's leg. The adhesive expands, and then restricts, tangling it into an awkward twisted position as it crashes onto the forest on the side of the mountain.
"Celestial Being..." Athrusa whispers. She frowns. "Athrusa to RX-94 MP Nu Gundam, VF-25 Messiah. This is a trap aimed at me and only me. Please disengage. I do not wish to involve you in this."
She has an inkling, but she isn't sure. ... no, she wants to be sure. This is reckless and dangerous, and will expose her further, but she must be sure. The identity of this assailant...
And that is why Athrusa is a ghost in electronic space, a moment later. She hops from frequency to frequency, ironically utilising the large blast of interference as a guide that brings her closer, closer...
There, an open port.
If she succeeds, she becomes part of the Desmatz' hydraulic actuators; from there, she hops further, becoming a sub-camera, travelling down the intranet of the Wanzer's systems... and then becomes the main screen.
"Yuliana Dispersal... it is you," Athrusa whispers, ruefully. There's a strained, difficult noise. "I have been trying to summon what I have forgot, with all my power, since our last meeting."
She hesitates. "I was your doctor. I was responsible for your medical care, was I not? In that regard... I neglected my duty and left you. ... Yuliana, I am the one you are after, are you not? Please do not involve these two."
She's so distracted by Yuliana herself that she doesn't immediately jump on the Celestial Being cover. Not yet.
Athrusa's not particularly trying to play with the Desmatz' systems, but, uh, even as she's speaking, she's occupying valuable screen space with her mug, which might make reacting to the Nu and Messiah harder.
KTS: Athrusa Hsieh targets Yuliana Dispersal with Demoralize! KTS: Athrusa Hsieh demoralizes Yuliana Dispersal, reducing her Morale drastically.
<Pose Tracker> Rena Lancaster has posed.
"Thanks. We'll let you know what we see," Rena answers Athrusa. Then, she answers Anita. "Roger that, Annie. Let me know what you see."
Things go pear-shaped quickly after that. Rena doesn't pick up a flash of insight from the Wanzer's pilot -- just, suddenly, a burst of electromagnetic interference that makes her sensors mechanically sputter. Rena's eyes blink once. "What in the--"
The four-legged machine leaps, bazooka shots hurtling for the other Gundam. Rena sucks a breath in, then she shakes her head quickly. "Anita, it's a trap! It looks like it's Celestial Being! I don't know why the way want her, but..."
It's cut and dry, in a way: don't let them kidnap a woman. "We've gotta stop this." She hesitates a moment. "I'm sorry, Miss Hsieh," she says, "but I can't do that."
She isn't aware that Athrusa is inside the wanzer's systems, now.
The Mass Production-type Nu Gundam's flight ends, as the Mobile Suit sets down on the ground. Its feet crunch into the earth; the Mobile Suit sets down, and then brings up its beam rifle. The barrel gleams in the sunlight -- and she fires a lance of mega particle energy at the wanzer.
"You'll do no such thing! We won't allow you to cart her off!" she snaps at Yuliana, even as she grits her teeth. A wave of strange pressure hits her -- that sudden awareness that she doesn't feel anything from her. But it goes deeper than that, too.
She tenses, in the cockpit.
KTS: Rena Lancaster targets Yuliana Dispersal with Beam Rifle Shot! KTS: Yuliana Dispersal successfully evades Rena Lancaster's Beam Rifle Shot
<Pose Tracker> Anita Rosetta has posed.
A voice responds, declaring a terrible emergency. In her cockpit, Anita raises an eyebrow. That's pretty casual... but, there's any number of reasons why that could be, so it's not immediately suspect.
Anita is, of course, the last person who can accuse anyone of being too casual.
She pulls up, and with a clearer view of the area from the Messiah Rosetta's cockpit she can spot something. It blends in with the surrounding terrain, but...
"...There, I see-" Anita starts... when suddenly, there's a burst of electrical interference, briefly cutting out her communication. Targeting systems go off-line, briefly - but she still gets a good view as a wanzer leaps from the rocks and lands in full view.
"Looks like we've been tricked." Anita notes and frowns, slightly, as the wanzer pilot speaks again. Celestial Being, huh...?
"Right behind you." Anita says, as Rena declares that they have to stop this. There's no question, really.
"Sorry, you heard her. No can do. There's no stopping her when she gets like this." She asides to Athrusa. It's affectionate, though - Anita really doesn't mind that side of Rena.
Her targeting systems might still be scrambled, but Anita can still see physically - it's always been both a strength and a weakness of the Variable Fighters that they still use a plane canopy rather than the 360-degree internal monitor set-up of modern mobile suits. The Messiah Rosetta dives for the Desmatz, beam vulcans blazing, before pulling back up and circling through the air around it.
"...Besides, we'd be pretty bad at our jobs if we just sit back and let this happen." She adds, alongside Rena's declaration to Yuliana.
KTS: Anita Rosetta targets Yuliana Dispersal with Focused Beam Vulcans! KTS: [Lucky] Anita Rosetta's Serious Mode activates, and luck goes her way! KTS: Yuliana Dispersal fails to evade Anita Rosetta's Focused Beam Vulcans, taking 4100 damage!
<Pose Tracker> Yuliana Dispersal has posed.
And all a sudden, there's Athrusa, on her main screen. Not, to wit, the communication screen; the one which is supposed to tell her very important things like her structural stability and remaining ammo and balance ratio and whether she's engaged the clutch.
Her pilot image, now she's cut to within her cockpit, is also veiled -- a literal dark fascinator over her eyes, held in place by a golden bejewelled tiara under her helmet. It sweeps the hair away from her face, though, and underneath --
Yuliana wasn't always a veteran. She came into her own during a period of high intra-Federation strife; she came back from one of those missions against people who are her allies, now, with a piece of her own cockpit introduced to her face. Thanks to the work of one particular surgeon, everything still worked by the end -- even her eye.
The scar's still there, though, down one side of her face; the fascinator can't hide it, not entirely. No wonder she sweeps her bangs to one side, most of the time.
Luckily, Yuliana is familiar enough with Manual units that she can make all those moment-to-moment adjustments by muscle memory -- like the way she cuts the microphone when Athrusa appears. She doesn't want to transmit what she says next.
"IS THAT HOW YOU ESCAPED?!" Well, depending on how good Londo Bell's audio sensors are, they might pick up the hint of outrage coming from the cockpit anyway. Yuliana manages to ratchet her voice down after that, at least. Her brow knits; her lips lift, to expose her teeth, grit tightly together. "You... you..."
So she was trying to remember, was it? So she remembered that much? So? So? SO!?
"Right now, it's Verdiska!" Yuliana snaps, the anger in her voice shaking at its apex with something not quite rage. "And yeah -- you left us! You left me!" She adds, a spike of pain through the word. "And now everyone wants a piece of you, so you'd better meditate real hard on who you'd rather answer to, and pray I'm in a listening mood! -- SHIT!"
That's the sound of Yuliana spying the particle readings out of the corner of her eye. She plunges down the lever and JERKS it back up, cranking another forward -- the Desmatz crouches and leaps, leaving its perch to be obliterated by a round of beam rifle fire, courtesy of the MP Nu.
Unfortunately, those evasive actions take her right into the air, which happens to be Anita's territory. With the wanzer leaping up, and the fighter swooping down, they meet in a hailstorm of bullets which smoke at the side of the mech. Thinking fast, Yuliana angles her flamethrower up, and jets a blast of fire up towards the fighter's belly as it swoops away.
Inside the cockpit, some warning lights come to life as the Desmatz lands, but Yuliana is used to ignoring those.
"Stay there, and shut up," Yuliana orders Athrusa, cold, and then she toggles her radio transmission back on. To the enemy units again, she transmits: "One way or another, you two are leaving!" They are, in fact, words which come from nothing -- no emotional resonance, no signature, no intent. Is she an AI..?
... but if she's an AI, she sounds much more rattled now than the last time she spoke to them, with only a period of radio silence to explain it.
"Really," her voice smooths out to something more background irritated, entirely suiting the ugly excuse of a smile she forces onto her face. "Do you expect 'we won't allow it!' to work?" No, this is fine; she can get a little housekeeping done on the side, she tells herself. It's fine. It's fine. "Let alone 'we'd be bad at our jobs!' Have you even once convinced your enemy to back down on the force of one brave statement? Even then, it's still a better showing than the laziness of you in the sky!"
(This is an unorthodox time to bully Londo Bell into being better at killing spacenoids, but Yuliana is nothing if not an opportunist.)
She's not just firing words, though. The bazooka bays open up, and both of them fire -- clay rounds for the Impermanence, and much more permanent explosive rounds for the MP Nu.
KTS: Yuliana Dispersal has activated the Daunt Spirit Command targeting Rena Lancaster KTS: Yuliana Dispersal has activated the Daunt Spirit Command targeting Anita Rosetta KTS: Yuliana Dispersal targets Anita Rosetta with MULS-P Small Flamethrower Panic Shot II! KTS: Yuliana Dispersal targets Rena Lancaster with MULS-P Grenade Launcher Narrow Volley! KTS: Yuliana Dispersal targets Athrusa Hsieh with MULS-P Adhesive Bazooka Insulation Shot! KTS: Rena Lancaster blocks Yuliana Dispersal's MULS-P Grenade Launcher Narrow Volley, taking 2350 damage! KTS: Athrusa Hsieh successfully evades Yuliana Dispersal's MULS-P Adhesive Bazooka Insulation Shot KTS: Anita Rosetta successfully avoids Yuliana Dispersal's MULS-P Small Flamethrower Panic Shot II
<Pose Tracker> Athrusa Hsieh has posed.
Time seems to sit perfectly still for Athrusa, face to face with Yuliana and reminded of that scar down the side of her face, unhidden entirely by the fascinator. Visibly, onscreen, she places a hand on her head and grimaces as a spike of sensation, emotion, memory--
~~
"Give it up, doc. What do you care? It'll be hours of work when we can just graft a cybernetic. Cleaner. Faster. Better."
Doctor Baihe is not one prone to emotions, but in rare occasions, she wields a cold fury as she raises from the foot of the surgical bed and levels a piercing gaze towards her colleague.
"There is a patient here whose suffering I can reduce. If you will not assist me, stand aside."
She turns and looks towards a nurse. "Prepare the operating area. There is extensive external damage, but I am certain that the neural damage to her optics can be addressed through surgery. Hurry!"
~~
--she's cut from the sharp throbs of her own 'mind' (whatever that entails, given her electronic presence at the moment) as Yuliana roars at her. Each word is like a stiletto jabbing into her skin.
You left us!
You left me!
"Who I... answer to..." Athrusa answers, distracted, before the Desmatz begins moving again-- and her image starts to flicker, then disappears. She's abruptly hurtled back into her cockpit as the clay rounds sail towards the Impermanance again.
"Sub-routing power to verniers two and four... emergency manoeuvres," Athrusa spells out her plan to herself, as the Impermanence sails through the air and narrowly misses being a gunky fixture of beautiful Gunma Prefecture countryside's mountain passes.
It is at this point she hears that Rena and Anita won't back down, that they can't do that. Her heart twists further. These lives will be endangered... because of her. How does that make her feel?
Something hurts, real bad, underneath. A directive flagrantly ignored, an outcome she can't influence...
"Please-- exercise extreme caution, then," Athrusa answers. She leaves the mobile suit coasting as she focuses on the communications, climbing back aboard.
On a tightbeam to Yuliana -- Verdiska: "I... wish to become my own... person." The way she finishes that sentence is awkward, like she's still trying it out at the clothing store. "I do not know what that entails, at present, but... I cannot afford to stray from that goal."
Even as she speaks, the Impermanance proceeds into close-quarters; with a single glint under the sun, a metal blade -- very clearly poorly sized for it -- emerges out of a storage space on its waist. Yuliana can identify it as something Athrusa scavenged, probably from Area 11 territory.
"But neither do I wish to abandon you... I never wished that upon you!"
Improperly-sized weapon or not, the Impermanance still has the GN Drive to its advantage, allowing for mid-flight manoeuvres that would be difficult with traditional verniers and AMBAC; she twists, slashing once at the Desmatz' legs, then wrenching around and letting herself be carried by momentum to slash deeper.
KTS: Athrusa Hsieh targets Yuliana Dispersal with Salvaged Blade Rushing Strike! KTS: Yuliana Dispersal successfully evades Athrusa Hsieh's Salvaged Blade Rushing Strike KTS: Athrusa Hsieh has activated the Spirit Spirit Command.
<Pose Tracker> Rena Lancaster has posed.
Rena smiles a little when Anit talks about her. It's a brief thing, though, in the height of battle.
The MP Nu has its shield out, which proves wise. The wanzer leaps up high, and Rena tracks it carefully, as her eyes narrow. She follows -- and he grits her teeth, as her eyes do. She feels nothing from her. It is intensely alarming; like one of her senses was cut off.
"In this case... yes," Rena answers Yuliana. "I did. And, if you missed the memo, we're an autonomous corps. We've got the authority to go somewhere, if we see a need!"
Rena is aware it might be more complicated, but it was the answer she and Eight settled on.
The explosive rounds slam into the Gundam's shield -- compressing even, leaving it blackened and cratered as they explode violently. The Mobile Suit is hurled backward, smoke pouring off it. The MP Nu slams its feet into the ground, thrusters firing to stabilize it.
"I'm not planning to die here," Rena answers Athrusa, with a hint of calm. The Impermanence rushes in; the MP Nu hangs back, but the fin funnels detach. They drop away from the Gundam, fan out, and then blitz in to every side of the wanzer.
Blasts of energy follow -- three lances of pink light, hurtling at the wanzer from different sides.
KTS: Rena Lancaster has activated the Spirit Spirit Command. KTS: Rena Lancaster has activated the Spirit Spirit Command. KTS: Rena Lancaster targets Yuliana Dispersal with Fin Funnels! KTS: Yuliana Dispersal successfully evades Rena Lancaster's Fin Funnels
<Pose Tracker> Anita Rosetta has posed.
Flames spew forth from the Desmatz's flamethrower, forcing Anita to react quickly. With a grit of her teeth the Messiah Rosetta banks to the side at the last moment, grazing the flames rather than taking the full lick. Her Valkyrie's underbelly ends up a little scorched and blackened for the effort, but it could have been much worse. She'll have to be a little more careful going forward.
"Don't worry, we'll be careful. You be careful too, though - don't go doing anything reckless on our account, now." Anita replies to Athrusa.
The woman in the Desmatz speaks again... and, she sounds a little rattled. Curious.
"Well, it would be nice if it did work." Anita comments, with a sort of verbal shrug to her tone.
She lets Rena handle the official talk. She's the commander, after all... and besides, Anita's never been too good at that, herself.
She watches the unfinished Gundam move in. She knows how Rena moves, but she's unfamiliar with Athrusa... she has to be careful not to hit her. The Valkyrie pulls back into the air, briefly unfolding into GERWALK mode to stall as she takes aim and fires a volley of missiles at the Desmatz, timed alongside Rena's Fin Funnel fire. Once the missiles are done, she reverts right back to Fighter Mode to keep moving.
KTS: Anita Rosetta targets Yuliana Dispersal with Missile Launcher! KTS: Yuliana Dispersal successfully evades Anita Rosetta's Missile Launcher
<Pose Tracker> Yuliana Dispersal has posed.
"Don't you worry, we won't be apart for much longer," Yuliana answers Athrusa, and in her anger forgets entirely to close Londo Bell out of the message. She sucks her breath in through her teeth, clicks her tongue against the back of them -- no matter.
But Rena and Anita's response to Yuliana's goading is entirely plain: they're an autonomous corps. "So, what?" The voice scoffs, on the other end of the line. "You have all the choice in the world, and you decide to be kind, just on the off chance it does work? You think I'm just misunderstood? We can work things out?"
It stands in stark contrast to Yuliana's autonomous activities; she uses her independence to achieve the things her country would rather not be officially associated with, and on occasion exploits her particularly long leash to disappear from the office to go and do things for her new friends in Celestial Being instead.
... by the way, who does Yuliana answer to, anyway?
A question which may one day consume the Fin Funnels which detach and come for her -- but not today. Today, when the Funnels come for Yuliana, she cranks her wanzer into motion: straight up, since all directions are filled with beam-charged defeat. (Though not, it seems, death.) It lands on a stand of old oaks -- and crushes them under-foot, but not before she uses the unstable footing to launch herself to the side, in order to escape the targetting path of those missiles.
The Impermanance meets her at the end of her evasive manoeuvres, with that ill-gotten blade. But the Desmatz has an awful lot of legs, and one lifts, where the Gundam would slice it, as its weight rolls onto the others. Skitter-scatter, it comes behind her -- and takes its holdout knife to stab into the Gundam's unfinished chassis. Grasping at it, Yuliana positions Athrusa between herself and the woman's defenders -- a salvo of explosive missiles flying out to meet them.
The implication is pretty clear. Do they want to fire on Athrusa?
... it's not even something she has to do, with the mobility of her suit, and that might make it all the crueler.
"I don't buy your approach in the slightest," the wanzer transmits, and her irritation hasn't faded. "True victory is achieved by taking every opportunity afforded you -- or by making one, by any means necessary! How can you hope to challenge someone like me if you won't?!"
Maybe it's a little personal now. Maybe she's projecting just an eentsy, beentsy bit.
KTS: Yuliana Dispersal targets Rena Lancaster and Anita Rosetta with MULS-P Grenade Launcher Zone Bombard. KTS: Yuliana Dispersal targets Athrusa Hsieh with Desperation Strike! KTS: [Spirit Defense] Athrusa Hsieh's Inner Stillness activates, and her spirit endures. KTS: Yuliana Dispersal enervates Athrusa Hsieh, reducing her Morale significantly. KTS: Athrusa Hsieh fails to parry Yuliana Dispersal's Desperation Strike, taking 3740 damage! KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Yuliana Dispersal's Black Hole activates, causing Jam L1! KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Yuliana Dispersal's Minovsky's Woman activates, causing Deject! KTS: Yuliana Dispersal has engaged Athrusa Hsieh KTS: Anita Rosetta has activated the Strike Spirit Command. KTS: Anita Rosetta successfully Intercepts Yuliana Dispersal's MULS-P Grenade Launcher Zone Bombard KTS: Rena Lancaster successfully evades Yuliana Dispersal's MULS-P Grenade Launcher Zone Bombard KTS: Athrusa Hsieh has activated the Spirit Spirit Command. KTS: Athrusa Hsieh has activated the Spirit Spirit Command. KTS: Athrusa Hsieh has activated the Alert Spirit Command.
<Pose Tracker> Athrusa Hsieh has posed.
Athrusa's combat capabilities are all engineered, and hardly any of it is earned through experience; there's corner cases like this where Yuliana manages to just outperform her, with the legs lifting and her blade deflecting against the weight of the legs and throwing it off-balance -- long enough for the holdout knife to stab onto its chassis, easily ripping into unfinished arm hydraulics and twisting it. Caution tape fluttering in the wind as it's exposed between Yuliana and Londo Bell.
"Yuliana..." she grimaces faintly, rattled from her failed manoeuvre. She pauses as she engages mentally on the chatter happening. Being 'kind'...
Has she ever done anything in her life out of kindness?
She doesn't understand what virtue is. She doesn't understand what motivates someone to do something purely out of the selflessness of the heart. She has the directives:
'Save lives.'
'Reduce suffering.'
As fortune would have it, a lot of it ends up aligning with what people popularly believe to be altruism, but still... she doesn't understand... what truly drives a human heart.
"I think many people did misunderstand you. No, rather... they did not care to understand you at all," Athrusa finds errant strands of memory returning to her in sharp and painful spikes. "Why do you stay with them, Yuliana? They only care to use you. Just like they used me..."
She still sounds like someone grasping at her words, uncomfortable with them. She doesn't feel ready for combat right now, but she has to manage.
"Rena Lancaster, Messiah Pilot. It may not be possible for me to avoid risk at this situation. However, I will prioritise your safety," she answers Anita's urge to not do something reckless. "Engaging."
A glint follows as she stabs the blade backwards, trying to drive it straight through the arm holding the holdout knife and dig deep into the machine's inner chassis; if she finds purchase, she'll dig that blade as deep as she can manage on her way out.
KTS: Athrusa Hsieh targets Yuliana Dispersal with Salvaged Blade Combo! KTS: Yuliana Dispersal rushes into the attack! KTS: Yuliana Dispersal fails to react to Athrusa Hsieh's Salvaged Blade Combo, taking 8520 damage! KTS: Athrusa Hsieh has engaged Yuliana Dispersal
<Pose Tracker> Rena Lancaster has posed.
"Yeah, no kidding..." Rena answers Anita. "S-Still. We've got to try to talk to them."
She hisses as the four-legged wanzer proves so deceptively mobile. "It's fast!"
She grits her teeth, trying to track Yuliana the best that she can. "Even if you decide to not listen... it is better to try to talk!" Rena answers, her brow furrowed. Missiles come flying out, as Yulia twists to position the Impermanence between the wanzer and the Londo Bell units.
The MP Nu Gundam's thrusters fire -- and it twists sharply to the side. Missiles slam into the ground, leaving fiery blasts in its wake, as it darts sharply to the side. She looks back at Athrusa's Gundam, and then blinks at her words. "Be careful, Miss Hsieh! Don't get yourself hurt...!"
The MP Nu Gundam lifts its beam rifle -- and this time, fires another beam rifle shot. It shoots past the other Gundam and the Wanzer.
Two of the fin funnels spin out, forming a barrier between them. The beam rifle shot hits it, then bounces off at the right angle--
--and shoots back across the wanzer.
KTS: Rena Lancaster targets Yuliana Dispersal with Reflector Trick! KTS: Yuliana Dispersal fails to evade Rena Lancaster's Reflector Trick, taking 7260 damage! KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Rena Lancaster's Ultrasonic activates, causing Control Bonus!
<Pose Tracker> Anita Rosetta has posed.
Something comes over the communications that sounds like it probably wasn't supposed to. Anita raises an eyebrow, at that. It seems like there's more to this situation than what's obvious on the surface...
The Desmatz pilot scoffs, though, at their words. Anita thinks about this for a moment.
"Why not? We'd all be a lot better off that way." Anita comments. "And if it doesn't work, it doesn't work."
As for whether or not they thinks she's just misunderstood... Rena has it right on the money.
"Now, that's a good question. But like she said - we're not gonna find out by just shooting you full of holes first chance we get, right?" Anita replies.
She has to say, though... whoever she is, she's pushing that machine a lot further than Anita thought it would go. In one swift movement, she's managed to evade all of their attacks and put them at a disadvantage. A barrage of missiles are sent her way and Anita opens fire, beam vulcans blasting apart missiles before they can detonate.
...But, suddenly, the vulcan volley comes to a stop as Anita realises the position they've been put in. She grits her teeth, flexing her fingers for a moment. It's serious enough even to dim her usual casual mood.
"...Hey now, we're the ones supposed to be prioritizing you, you know?" Anita replies to Athrusa. "...And, it's 'Anita'."
...But, she can't shoot from here, out of risk of harming Athrusa. Rena has her cool reflector trick - which is always impressive every time -
"...I've gotta close into melee." Anita reports. The Messiah Rosetta accelerates forward and as it draws close it unfolds into Battroid Mode, in one swift motion drawing out its combat knife and unleashing a series of quick, precise stabs - both to keep her guessing, and to make sure she doesn't hit Athrusa.
"Victory at all costs, huh...? If everyone thought that way, there'd be nothing left." Anita comments.
Anita Rosetta transforms to VF-25 Messiah Rosetta <Battroid Mode> KTS: Anita Rosetta targets Yuliana Dispersal with Wasp Stings! KTS: Yuliana Dispersal fails to evade Anita Rosetta's Wasp Stings, taking 4650 damage! KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Anita Rosetta's Keen Eye activates, causing Nullify! KTS: Anita Rosetta has engaged Yuliana Dispersal
<Pose Tracker> Yuliana Dispersal has posed.
"I know that," Yuliana hisses through the radio, as Athrusa tells her she's being used. Her tone is incisive; this time she leaves her radio on wide-band intentionally. It's a spite thing. "But here's the secret, Athrusa: everyone's always using each other. Do you think I'm not aware of that? And really, really -- do you think I'm not using them, too? I'm sure you've encountered many suckers victims, in your line of work... but remember that I chose this. I'm not some wilting flower, plucked from the ground to be changed against my will!"
The Orchid bloomed into darkness, in all its strange shapes and unspeakable colours.
It's something she believes, at any rate; and there is a line of truth, to the things she says, even if they're all complicated at the edges. She chose something, and she does have her own aims, separate to Celestial Being and the REA both.
"After all," she adds, breezily, "I act independently, myself. Do you see anyone else here? This is the way I've decided to do things! Working with people who understand how effective it is suits me just fine!"
Even if Athrusa isn't entirely wrong about how Yuliana is being used... she had many points where she could have chosen the same hope Londo Bell holds. The hope of the Gundam Fight -- the hope of a world which can be made better by one person's actions.
She saw one path, and took the other.
Impermanence engages. The Desmatz doesn't dodge this one -- really, if anything, it lurches forward to steal MORE of the blade into itself, grasping with what hydrolics haven't yet been severed, and the other silly little arm bolted on its side swings around and reaches out to grab the hilt and try to keep that sword in place even as the Gundam escapes. It speaks to the pilot's entire ethos: she'll take more damage, just for a chance to leave her prey defenceless.
She might not manage to get a good grip, of course; the other arm of her wanzer WAS just carved through by a blade.
"Are you even trying to hit me?!" Yuliana yells, at Rena, as her beam rifle shots go wide in the aftermath. What kind of idiot, Yuliana thinks, can't hit a wounded opponent? But, of course -- the MP Nu is using those damnable Funnels, still. From behind, the particles make reflected contact, with the Desmatz; its EMP Backpack fizzles and sparks, sending up the kind of smoke which spells the end of all that electronic warfare.
Yuliana looks at the readings screaming at her on the electronic interference screen, and -- just punches her fist into it, crumpling the monitor and handily disabling all its tortured warnings. "Tch... don't think your tricks will work that easily!" She snaps over her radio, an edge of pain to the words. "You want to talk to me?! Get real! Someone like you could never understand me! But if it will make you shut up -- call me Verdiska, if you get out of this alive!"
As for why she couldn't -- well, it's for entirely the same reason why the Desmatz tries to get out of range of Anita, when she closes into melee. This pilot doesn't have a vast hollow where information ought to go around her, luckily, so maybe it's not entirely obvious why she'd rather not be in close quarters with her. "When the world is this sick, extreme actions are needed! You'll never save anyone offering charity to everyone!" She says that, but there are even more holes in her wanzer, now, leaking something dark and thin. Without the fluid to cushion the movements of pistons and cranks, the wanzer is screaming.
Even though the Battroid is that close -- the bazooka still cranks forward. Is she going to insist on a point-blank shot..?
Not entirely, though the threat suits her well enough. Yuliana forces her mech to leap back a few spans, and her fingers stretch along a tapestry of switches and levers to fire -- and fire -- and FIRE; every single one of her explosive rounds pours out, tracking towards the MP Nu and the Battroid. Her other bazooka isn't idle, either, though she doesn't unload all her ammunition to lock down the incomplete Impermanence. That's still an awful lot of munitions, though.
Loud and vicious, she screams, into the radio: "THIS IS THE END!"
KTS: Yuliana Dispersal has activated the Alert Spirit Command. KTS: Yuliana Dispersal has activated the Alert Spirit Command. KTS: Yuliana Dispersal has activated the Alert Spirit Command. KTS: Yuliana Dispersal has activated the Strike Spirit Command. KTS: Yuliana Dispersal has activated the Strike Spirit Command. KTS: Yuliana Dispersal targets Anita Rosetta and Rena Lancaster with MULS-P Grenade Launcher Barrage. KTS: Yuliana Dispersal targets Athrusa Hsieh with MULS-P Adhesive Bazooka Barrage! KTS: Yuliana Dispersal anchors Athrusa Hsieh, forcing her into close range. KTS: Athrusa Hsieh fails to react to Yuliana Dispersal's MULS-P Adhesive Bazooka Barrage, taking 3375 damage! KTS: Yuliana Dispersal has engaged Athrusa Hsieh KTS: Anita Rosetta's EN Barrier activates, negating 1000 base damage. KTS: [Spirit Defense] Anita Rosetta's Easygoing activates, and her spirit endures. KTS: Yuliana Dispersal enervates Anita Rosetta, reducing her Morale significantly. KTS: Anita Rosetta blocks Yuliana Dispersal's MULS-P Grenade Launcher Barrage, taking 6600 damage! KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Yuliana Dispersal's Black Hole activates, causing Jam L1! KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Yuliana Dispersal's Minovsky's Woman activates, causing Deject! KTS: Yuliana Dispersal enervates Rena Lancaster, reducing her Morale significantly. KTS: Rena Lancaster fails to react to Yuliana Dispersal's MULS-P Grenade Launcher Barrage, taking 7800 damage! KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Yuliana Dispersal's Black Hole activates, causing Jam L1! KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Yuliana Dispersal's Minovsky's Woman activates, causing Deject! KTS: Rena Lancaster's RX-94FF MP Nu Gundam (Long-Range Fin Funnel Type) has been disabled.
<Pose Tracker> Rena Lancaster has posed.
"All right... be careful, Annie!" Rena calls back to her friend, and takes a deep breath as the VF-25 closes in so fast. It's impressive, she thinks, how fast she can do that. She looks back at the wanzer, tracking it as best as she can in the melee.
She scores a hit, and there is a flash of satisfaction at that. It doesn't last very long. "Someone like me? What--what is that supposed to mean?"
She can only muse on that for a second. The bazooka opens fire, and Rena hits the thrusters, but her timing is off; she is rather distracted, it would seem. The shells slam into the Mass Production-type Nu Gundam, exploding all at once. For a moment, the Mobile Suit is lost in the fireballs that erupt. Then, it flies backward, out of the flame and smoke.
It's in a couple of pieces. The right arm smashes down into the ground well behind it, bouncing and rolling. The husk of the Mobile Suit smashes into the ground. The faceplate is a mangled wreck; one eye flickers and blinks, but the rest of it is darkened. The machine hits the ground, on its back, and smoke pours off it.
Rena slams backward in her cockpit. Her eyes are wide; the panoramic cockpit has cracks all across it, and the images on it pixellate and flicker. "Gh--" Rena reaches a hand out, ignoring the way her back protests with pain, for controls.
The console finishes short circuiting and explodes in her face. Rena's head whips to the side as glass and sparks explode out from it, causing skin and hair on the left side of her forehead to singe black. Blood splashes across her cheek and down onto the cockpit, and the entire thing goes dark just before she screams.
"Oh, shit," she swears.
<Pose Tracker> Athrusa Hsieh has posed.
Yuliana drops a statement which on its surface is bitter and cynical, but has profound questions to Athrusa.
Everyone's always using each other.
Yuliana in turn is using them, and that she isn't a wilting flower waiting to be plucked and changed against her will; she chose this life, willingly. Against one's will... choosing it of her own will...
"I..."
The Impermanence is lurching forward with surprising ease, owing to the Desmatz in turn lurching forward as the two machines grind rather horribly into each other. She doesn't manage to escape, and Yuliana gets the upper hand on her: the salvaged blade is stuck in there, and in that moment, it certainly looks like Athrusa's clean out of weapons, only bringing a single sword to a missile and flamethrower fight.
"I cannot," Athrusa answers. "I am... I have always been here... to save lives and reduce suffering." Her tone wavers oddly for a moment, and she doesn't declare it with ease like someone full of courage, hope and love in their chest does. Instead, it feels difficult and awkward.
"I understand. I understand the world you and I both lived in. A world of subterfuge, cloak and dagger; a world so drowned by the heavy weight of the milieu that saturates even the day-to-day of our lives. But... I..."
She's momentarily distracted by the Desmatz leaping back, rattling the Impermanence along with its ride like a rag doll; Anita proceeds in close for the melee, and she takes advantage of that moment to twist onto the other side beside some of the Wanzer's legs and grapple on. The consequence of being this close is the bazooka shell exploding at point-blank range and leaving the centre armour a pitted mess, though the crystalline GN shell stands strong.
Her eyes widen, however, when the MP Nu comes under heavy fire. When she spots it coming out of the fire, it's in pieces --
save lives
save lives
yOu muSt... SaVe liVEs
The Impermanance's eyes flash with an abnormal red hue; bereft of its only weapon, Athrusa does the only thing she can and--
ccCCCREAAAK
--wrests that holdout knife of the Desmatz' with both of its own two manipulators, a burst of GN Particles streaming as its output dramatically increases as it seeks to just drive its own weapon somewhere hopefully disabling.
"Anita," she declares, "I am a surgeon, and I possess medical tools with me. It is likely Miss Lancaster will need immediate medical attention. I must assist as soon as possible...!"
<Pose Tracker> Anita Rosetta has posed.
...So that's what she thinks, huh? Anita frowns slightly, tapping the fingers of her left hand against the console as she listens to Yuliana's words to Athrusa. As for what she says to her...
"So your answer is to not even try, huh?" Anita replies.
The wanzer jumps back. Thankfully, this distance is a bit more agreeable to her. Anita some distance between the two of them, as well... but not enough, because she doesn't expect what happens next. The Desmatz unloads everything - a massive volley of explosive rounds, and there's not enough space for her to shoot them all down. Anita raises her shield, a quick motion bring her Pinpoint Barrier to full power even as explosions detonate all around her, rocking the machine this way and that. The Messiah Rosetta is looking worse for wear, after that - if it weren't for the Pinpoint Barrier, it might not be standing right now.
"Rena, are you -" Anita starts... and then, she sees the wreckage of the MP Nu being through wide. "RENA!!"
She grips the joysticks of the Valkyrie tightly as she accelerates toward the broken Gundam, but it's Athrusa's declaration that brings her back to the here and now.
"...Right." Anita says, taking a moment to breathe. She has to stay calm, and focus on what's important right now. The Messiah Rosetta stands protectively over the fallen MP Nu, whirling upon the Desmatz as she draws out her gatling gun pod.
"...You're right about one thing. I'm ending this now." Anita says, worryingly calm, and opens fire. And fires, and fires, and fires.
KTS: Anita Rosetta has activated the Strike Spirit Command. KTS: Anita Rosetta targets Yuliana Dispersal with Gatling Full-Auto! KTS: Yuliana Dispersal has activated the Wall Spirit Command. KTS: Yuliana Dispersal successfully evades Anita Rosetta's Gatling Full-Auto
<Pose Tracker> Yuliana Dispersal has posed.
If nothing else -- if nothing else -- Yuliana's struck a grievous blow against her favoured foe, this day.
Rena didn't know what Yuliana meant, when she called her out, specifically, but Yuliana knew. She saw the space carved out around her, the place where empathy ought to go. To her it is a hollow, an absence of information, an utter lack of understanding...
To her, it is the most disgusting thing in the world.
"That's one down," she remarks, with satisfaction.
But the Impermanence has latched to her, like a barnacle or a child; Yuliana thought little of it, in her firing, because she's already disarmed her. She has no need to concern herself with an enemy who can't fight. Except --
Except she really should have worried, because the GN Particles burst out, as the Gundam's hands grasp over the one which Yuliana still has. She manages to pry the knife out of the Desmatz's hand -- it's not even a contest, in this moment. But the wanzer plants one of its four spidery legs, and dances around the Impermanence, using the very leverage Athrusa used to yank in order to evade the coming blow.
"Keep it," Yuliana remarks, with dull irritation. "It's too small for you, anyway." Indeed, the Desmatz is dwarfed by the Gundam, and it's not entirely because it has a lower centre of gravity.
(But then, Athrusa might prefer a shallow cut.)
The frown on Yuliana's face, though, all a sudden becomes carved in a grin -- as Anita grows so calm, after her anguish. "Ha...hahaha!" Her laughter pours over the radio, as the Desmatz commits to its brutal dance. It's too fast to be hit by any sustained burst, but all the bullets which rip through as she moves from one point to another only make her laugh more.
"YES!" She crows, as a siren wails in her cockpit. The lights have gone from caution-yellow to emergency-red. "That's how you do it!" But what is Yuliana's approval really worth..?
Worth enough that once Anita runs out of ammunition -- which may take a while, and give the wanzer credit, it never stops moving through the hailstorm -- Yuliana doesn't advance.
"I should really make you choose," she grins, all feral-wild, "between your friend, and your damsel in distress! It would be funny, don't you think!?" There's a light touch to her voice which suggests she thinks it would be, anyway; it wouldn't be the first time she's offered a bargain like this, on the battlefield.
But in a state like this, all her sensors screaming, one arm sliced open -- the other twisted and crushed to free her knife, useless for directing the flamethrower she has left... she'd need to do something drastic to take the Battroid out, let alone whatever power Athrusa is able to access when her pet peeve is itched. Well, Yuliana isn't opposed to doing something Shari will particularly hate to get rid of Anita, but...
... she really was fond of Athrusa, back then. She was one of her very favourite characters. There's a reason why so many of her doctors today have the same style of detached benevolence, when they're dealing with her.
(Yuliana responds best to those memories of her, the doctor who stood up for her health and wellbeing when she was suffering.)
It's a shame, she reflects, not to go further. Not to twist the knife. It feels like ceding ground to their philosophy, even if she's out of lethal options to continue the fight, even if fighting anyway will just give Athrusa more patients when the Desmatz inevitably fails.
"... but it will be a pain to retrieve Athrusa when she's agonising over her directive," Yuliana follows up with, smoothly, as if she'd never paused to think. "So -- fine, then. Go take care of that sentimentalist." It's a word she spits with the same regard one might give to a slug which got caught underfoot.
With less contempt, she adds: "Consider it the respect I'll offer you, since you emptied your clip just the same. It's too bad I can't pretend you've seen my point of view... but hey, you're pretty strong!" Somehow, Yuliana sounds like she's shrugging, as she commands her groaning wanzer to turn. "... even I'll admit Londo Bell is better with that sort of talent."
With that, it takes its unfair amount of legs and skitters off into the mountains; it's still too fast to pursue, even if Anita pierced one of the more essential belts keeping the mechanism together under its metal skin.
Whoever is on the hook to fix this thing is going to be incensed.
<Pose Tracker> Anita Rosetta has posed.
That cruel laughter... it's enough to tear through even Anita's patience. A frown crosses her face, and her grip tightens on the joystick, hands shaking a little.
...At this point, the barrel of her gatling pod is glowing red hot, even designed as it is to cool even while firing, and gradually it begins to whir as it finally runs dry. Even so the weapon remains pointed at the dancing Desmatz, the Battroid's gaze fixated upon it.
Anita doesn't respond to Yuliana's - or Verdiska, rather, as she has introduced herself - goading, her suggestion of that grim choice. She doesn't say a word, doesn't move until Verdiska repeats at which point the gatling pod slowly lowers.
...A part of her is tempted to attempt to pursue... but she feels like doing so would only bring her greater joy. She can, at least, deny her that much.
Anita sinks back into her seat, shutting her eyes for a moment and taking another breath. Right now, the best thing to do is to see to Rena's safety.