2023-02-10: .signal losT
- Log: .signal losT
- Cast: Yuliana Kafim's Lieutenants (Wen Yuan and Parminder Chaudhri), Sayaka Yumi, Athrusa Hsieh, Leina Ashta, Banagher Links, Artemisia ka Britannia, Lucine Azul, Anita Rosetta, Cornelia li Britannia, with a cameo appearance from Sophia Mayhew Castellan
- Where: Deep Jungle, China
- Date: 2023-02-10
- Summary: The REA tries to cover up its crimes by accosting the rest of the Nega Force. Britannia fully intends on keeping Wen and Parminder for themselves, though -- and several other forces show up to try and offer them redemption. Unfortunately, Wen's in a mood to shoot first and ask questions later... and by the time they realise they might not be under threat from their rescuers, the pressure of Britannia means their options winnow. As Parminder points out, one authoritarian regime is comfortable enough to another -- but at the last moment, they get a second option in the form of a dark, dangerous portal, and they elect to take it. In the face of uncertainty and danger, they choose their Captain.
<Pose Tracker> Yuliana Kafim has posed.
The REA has had... considerable troubles, with the release of so many private documents onto public communications. Details of the Nega Force as a squad of assassins performing wetwork for the REA have come to light, alongside the blacksite lab which it was secretly associated with -- the Institute for Continuing Study.
On the 4th, enemy forces -- some of which identified as G-Hound, though unknown terrorists were likely also involved -- descended on the Nega Force's offices and unveiled the human experiments conducted by the laboratory next door. The Nega Force moved to defend the Institute for Continuing Study; Major Pham was killed, Officer Cadet Wattana defected, and Captain Kafim escaped. Notably, shortly after the Institute was destroyed, India had its own troubles -- one of those strange, reality-warping dragons was sighted above Thoothukudi, close to shores which border Sri Lanka. It destroyed a single warehouse completely, and disappeared with no further damages.
Two operatives of the Nega Force, though, were unaccounted for in that battle -- Lieutenants Yuan and Chaudhri. It's these people who the REA turns their attention to, in the following week, as everyone scrambles to bury this damning evidence. The story crystallises quickly: this was all the actions of a rogue team. Major Pham's failures at Jiyuan City, acting on bad intel during the One Year War and leaving the city in tatters, clearly indicate his lack of regard for his countrymen. He would have done anything to claw back his glory -- and the Party had nothing to do with it. Chairman Jie didn't even know their unit existed...
... apparently.
It might be a little harder to believe -- with where they've tracked down Wen Yuan and Parminder Chaudhri. Sent to assassinate a prominent red-haired Hua Lian rebel in Da Han Zhong, the two of them disappeared shortly after the news broke, and they haven't been seen since.
...---...
Da Han Zhong -- China -- has many uninhabited areas, despite its dense population. The very jungles which sheltered the Hua Lian Rebels now defend the Savage II which is parked deep in the wilderness, with two disgraced members of the Republic perched on the limb of a great, ancient tree.
Wen follows the track of Parminder's finger, as it moves back and forth, and finally she slumps against the trunk of the tree. "I guess it's not... but... you know, I don't get it," she grumbles, a hand reaching up to grasp at the protective fabric of her pilot suit. Her red eyes are ringed where the pupil should be solid black, clearly cybernetic. "Why are you helping me? You'd have way better chances if you just left on your own... you never even set foot in Medical."
"Oh, yeah, I didn't get brainwashed like you suckers were," Parminder shrugs, and just says the thing out loud. "A Natural like me isn't much of a super-soldier. But even if I could get away on my own, it's not much of a challenge that way, is it? If I gotta figure out how to snap you out of this shit, well... you know, that works out way better for me!"
"Geez... I mean, thanks, I guess, but -- why don't you ever take this stuff seriously?" Wen huffs.
And Parminder grins. "Heh. Who says I'm not?"
...---...
The Deadeye -- Wen's custom Savage II, fitted for cyborg use -- nests between two more of those ancient jungle trees, the canopy spackling everything green.
(One of the routes which leads here, coincidentally, tracks over a clearing of land which is withered and black. Nothing grows, in that clearing. The land rots where it meets the edges of it. It is an old wound, torn months ago. It is best not to linger.)
Nature here is damp, and alive, and OLD. There is always something moving, here, in the trees.
And it's also where the REA has indicated they might find the Nega Force. Asking for aid from the greater Federation -- even their most loathed rivals, Britannia -- the Republic wants nothing more than for this rogue team to be apprehended and brought to justice. Those unaffiliated with the Federation will have had to draw their own conclusions and track their prey separately, but Parminder snuck out to a nearby village to buy supplies, earlier today. They haven't been able to fall totally off the map.
Across the map, a sniper's bullet fires, to lodge into an approaching machine.
Without any clear indication where she even IS -- and without bothering to open her communications -- Wen Yuan begins firing.
OOC: +bbread 684, +bbread 685 and +bbread 689 all contain IC news broadcasts about these events!
<Pose Tracker> +bbread 684 (Breaking News! Horror in The REA!) has posed.
<Pose Tracker> +bbread 685 (Breaking News: Further REA crimes exposed!) has posed.
A day following the release of news interviews recording the horrors of the Institute for Continuing Study, the REA was still reeling and performing damage control when new disclosures were made anonymously to the media:
Within these disclosures was a list of names of REA Defectors, politicians, corporate executives, and family members of prominent officials that died suddenly under mysterious circumstances ruled to be suicide, and travel logs of Captain Yuliana Kafim, Second Lieutenant Parminder Chaudhri, and First Lieutenant Wen Yuan demonstrating that they were in the area on the day before or the same day that many of these tragic deaths were discovered.
Also delivered were copies of many e-mails from REA ministers, officials, and members of Partiya Zaftra to the newly deceased Major Pham of the Institute of Continuing Study that suggest individuals on the list are being intransigent to REA interests offering suggestions that the obstacles they represent be removed, or that they suffer a tragic loss if it was felt that might cause them to finally 'see things their way'.
In the wake of these disclosures, many Corporations and Cross-bloc politicians are pulling the plug on various deals with the REA. Members of the Federation Assembly are already calling for the resignations and criminal investigations of individuals on the list.
Further news will be forthcoming as this story developments.
<Pose Tracker> +bbread 689 (Horror in India) has posed.
Some sort of dragon appeared today on the outskirts of Thoothukudi, India. Witnesses claim that 'great cloud' appeared over the city block, and from it emerged this creature. Some fifty feet tall according to reports, the 'dragon' was possessed of multiple jaws filled with sharp teeth; six-limbed, it also had two wings, and a long tail, with horns all down its back. It shrieked in a deep terrible voice, and breathed on the warehouse.
Witnesses claim that the warehouse simply dissolved, all the way down to its foundations. There is simply a hole there where nothing is left. Strangely, that's all the kaiju destroyed. The rest of the town was left completely untouched, except for the fumes from the acidic breath that caused many near the scene to report symptoms of illness. They are currently quarantined, but doctors say that they expect them to be released soon. It is currently unknown how many people perished in the blast.
A chilling report. And now, back to our ongoing coverage...
KTS: Yuliana Kafim has deployed in RK-96 Savage II Deadeye Custom. KTS: Sayaka Yumi has deployed in Aphrodite Areia. KTS: Artemisia ka Britannia has deployed in RPI-00SH Gloucester Skathi. KTS: Artemisia ka Britannia has changed loadout. KTS: Sayaka Yumi has joined Yuliana Kafim's bucket! KTS: Cornelia li Britannia has deployed in RPI-00SC Gloucester Cornelia. KTS: Lucine Azul has deployed in Dianthus Mk. 3. KTS: Lucine Azul has joined Yuliana Kafim's bucket! KTS: Anita Rosetta has deployed in VF-25 Messiah Rosetta <Battroid Mode>. KTS: Anita Rosetta has changed loadout. KTS: Athrusa Hsieh has deployed in CB-00X Impermanence Gundam Prototype. KTS: Athrusa Hsieh has changed loadout. KTS: Leina Ashta has deployed in MSZ-013 MP Type ZZ Gundam.
<Pose Tracker> Sayaka Yumi has posed.
After her involvement in the raid against the Institute of Continued Study, it's safe to say Sayaka and the intelligence networks under the OCU had their eyes on the remaining Nega Forces' activities. And so, not only one rival of the REA has showed up when news broke of their whereabouts.
Of course, Sayaka doesn't trust either the REA nor Britannia to properly put this case to justice. Which is why she used her considerable connections to push herself on the search party, with the majestic Aphrodite Areia taking flight -- symbol of peace and war in equal measure, a sign of the Photon Power Labs' commitment.
Sayaka isn't stupid, either. She walked through those labs on her own feet, bore witness to all the horrific methods of conditioning that lab made use of. So she can't be surprised when Wen begins firing on all who approach, not stopping to assess who she's firing at. Sayaka also knows that words unfortunately don't tend to do the trick in cases like these - so she makes the decision to fight and disarm Wen - hopefully making sure she doesn't fall in the hands of those who would scapegoat her.
It's because of that resolve that Sayaka's able to react quickly to Wen's gunfire. "Scarlet BEAM!" Sayaka shouts, as a pure-red beam of photon energy intercepts the gunfire, and it's headed for Wen's machine next!
KTS: Yuliana_Kafim has deployed as a Boss for 2 opponents. KTS: Sayaka Yumi targets Yuliana Kafim with Scarlet Beam! KTS: Sayaka Yumi has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Banagher Links has deployed in RX-0 Unicorn Gundam <Destroy Mode> Awakened.
KTS: Yuliana Kafim successfully evades Sayaka Yumi's Scarlet Beam
<Pose Tracker> Athrusa Hsieh has posed.
Athrusa has been deep in hiding for the last few months -- she's continued her work for the Shuffle Alliance as a surgeon, just like before, but her aboveground appearances have been... scarce and few and far between. She's been very difficult to trace, let alone find. Perhaps it's the close contact with Celestial Being that's scared her; perhaps it's the continuing development with the state of the world, and how the REA has its own fires to handle, that has her choosing to let them be distracted, but...
Early one morning, she looks towards footage of a bald woman leaving her Tiandong 3, quietly lowering her head. "Am I just running away...? I don't think I can follow where you're going, but..."
She peeks out of her apartment in Taiwan. It's a bold move, to be so close to the REA, but sometimes, hiding right under their noses is the right play. She looks towards the skies outside...
Two other agents of the Nega Force, Lieutenants Wen Yuan and Parminder Chaudhri...
"..."
Her half-eaten bowl of congee and youtiao is left unfinished. The apartment is empty.
~*~
Returning to the DHZ fills Athrusa with mixed feelings; there's no going back anymore. The state of the world is forever changing. The lab has been exposed for the corruptions and miserable misdeeds it caused; the Nega Force, for its wetworks operations. From a moral balance, Athrusa would be in the right to simply let them be.
They've chased her in the past with the intent of bringing her back to the Institute, after all.
But... what is this?
Something inside of her doesn't want them to be caught. She can't explain it. It doesn't make sense. Is it an imperative? Is it one of her directives to save lives? No, when she interrogates that feeling, it's reasonable to make an argument that leaving them alive may hurt more lives. And yet...
With no words to how she feels, the Impermanance Gundam descends from above, in a soft cloud of red GN particles in the wake of its flight. Well... half of the Impermanance -- it's still missing its right arm, which is hidden under a brown mobile suit-sized tarp, which instantly somehow makes it look cooler, because capes on robots are cool.
It also has caution tape and warning stickers all over, because Athrusa wants it to be workplace health and safety compliant.
Wen fires the first shot; she opens comms.
"I... am here to assist you. There are Federation reinforcements on the way. Please, evacuate at the earliest convenience. I will cover."
Her voice is soft and low, intoned in that emotionless manner in which she speaks. But there's some confusion in it, today. It's not all a bad confusion, but... she'd rather follow where these feelings lead, because it might lead her closer to her image of what being a 'human being' means.
<Pose Tracker> Leina Ashta has posed.
It's not difficult to see what the REA is doing. Leina put together that painstaking list of travel destinations of the Nega-Force, connected them to officials of powerful people, released said proof of many many murders to the public.
So many murders.
Powerful people though had a tendency to throw less powerful people under the bus, and thus when the REA calls upon their allies for a manhunt...
"This is Spade-7 to the Shuffle Alliance, I'm on the approach. Our goals are to convince this pair to come in willingly to defect. I expect it may take some convincing..."
A sniper's bullet whizzes by as the Double Zeta's little sibling strafes sideways over the canopy, she hopes that was a warning shot. "... a lot of convincing. I'll see if I can't help Athrusa open a dialogue."
Over a general channel, she speaks through her voice modulator, "<Lieutenant Wen I presume? I understand your distrust, the REA is obviously throwing you under the bus so you have every right to be paranoid. We are not your enemy though. We are not here to take you prisoner. If you want to get back at the people making the scapegoat, we can help you.>"
Trying to descend to take cover in the trees to avoid any more 'warning shots', she continues, "<We will cover you, and afterwards if you want to come into our protection, the offer is there.>"
KTS: Athrusa Hsieh has activated the Spirit Spirit Command.
<Pose Tracker> Banagher Links has posed.
Banagher isn't fully recovered from his own experience in the Institute, but his love for Leina eclipses any hesitation he might have. After having to leave her during the raid, there's no way he's going to make her face anything else like this alone.
At the first sign of gunfire, the Unicorn transforms. White armor slides apart to reveal her psychoframe -- and where before, it gleamed with scarlet light, now it shines green. It feels so right. Banagher can't remember why he ever struggled so much.
"<Be careful, love.>" Banagher sends, just to Leina. "<We have no idea if they're -- like the others.>"
Leina will never give up on someone who needs her. As the Unicorn follows the MPZZ down to the trees, Banagher holds his shield forward, trying to cover the both of them. The least he can do is support her.
<Pose Tracker> Artemisia ka Britannia has posed.
Yeah, the REA has had a LOT of troubles, and among those troubles are the fact that a bunch of people decided to go turf a Macross scale battleoid in Pendragon.
That's not directly related, of course, but it is why Artemisia ka Britannia was angered. Because there was a certain breach of trust made here. Something had happened that had violated an implicit agreement between a real, meaningful, political force - BLUE COSMOS - and the *real* power, which is to say, the sacred bloodline of the Imperial Family of Britannia.
That is to say, Artemisia.
Artemisia drove her Knightmare Frame against the Macross for a number of reasons but one of them was that she was helpless. Helpless and afraid. For all their power and majesty, one shot from the Macross's massive weapon could have murdered her precious little brother. Murdered so many of their attendants. Murdered good and loyal Britannians. Some traitors, too, no doubt, but what is a traitor's blood worth? We'll get back to this in a few moments.
The Wild Hunt - Artemisia's somewhat ornately named personal guard - has a military role beyond simply protecting Artemisia. For that you need a staff, but perhaps a mere fifty. The Wild Hunt is larger - hundreds - but they are specialized. All terrain operations. Intelligence support. The masters of the hounds while the nobility make their move.
And sadly... there is not much time to appreciate this place. The Knightmare Frames have been advancing, slow, low, draped in camouflage. A round snaps out -- smashing into the drive train leg of one frame, which tilts to its side with alarming speed. Any visual disguse is broken when the Frame is approached by its buddy, who is pivoting round - a sitting duck for more counterfire except...
scarletto BEAM!
"hah!" says Artemisia to herself. "that's one of the Elevens! Well done! draw the fire." This statement is not transmitted. But it is thought very clearly...
Other machines are approaching. Gundam types. Artemisia notes their presence but not with passion. She sees a space, in her head; a space where her quarry exists. The long distance shooter ability of a machine is positively thrilling, she thinks, biting her lower lip as she reaches a slight dip and lowers the Skathi. One arm comes up - slow, slow, don't want to draw more attention. She had the 120-kilogram metal dart already loaded.
Wait - watch -
Someone's addressing the lieutenant.
Somewhere around where Spade-7 is communicating 'obviously throwing you under the bus' Artemisia fires. The sol bow does make a loud noise, like cracking thunder, between electrical activation and the fact that it's making the aforementioned 120-kilogram metal dart break the sound barrier by a good margin, but it doesn't make any smoke or flash!
It really is a great weapon. Artemisia loves it for a reason.
To someone else - someone who is closer to her - Artemisia says, "This is grand, isn't it? Finally a quarry - one with a real story behind it. I feel a bit like Robin Hood, you know, leaving aside the hanging part of the story."
"I'm feeling much better," Artemisia says, as she watches the optical-assist readout estimating the projectile's trajectory towards Wen's position.
KTS: Artemisia ka Britannia targets Yuliana Kafim with Pilium Launcher! KTS: Artemisia ka Britannia has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Artemisia ka Britannia enervates Yuliana Kafim, reducing her Morale significantly. KTS: Artemisia ka Britannia anchors Yuliana Kafim, forcing her into close range. KTS: Yuliana Kafim fails to evade Artemisia ka Britannia's Pilium Launcher, taking 5060 damage! KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Artemisia ka Britannia's Let this moment last forever activates, causing Sparkle! KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Artemisia ka Britannia's The Hunter's Song activates, causing Deject! KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Artemisia ka Britannia's Perfection of Movement activates, causing Nullify! KTS: Artemisia ka Britannia has engaged Yuliana Kafim!
<Pose Tracker> Lucine Azul has posed.
There's a few things the Dianthus is good at, due to its speed and versatility in specific situations, being able to switch from long range combat to melee combat quickly. It's just that it comes at the expense of decent defense.
Flying over the jungles of Da Han Zhong, it's hard to keep a low profile. Black and magenta doesn't match well with the sky, and it's not as if she has cloaking abilities.
Something shoots. Several times in fact. A sniper. Lucine's eyes narrow.
There's return fire.
She manages to evade a bullet that comes her way, making the conflict a touch personal, but her feelings remain conflicted. Should she step in? The Federation will likely take them and make them disappear, for better or worse, though there's a chance it'd be a better fate than the ways the REA may plan to make them 'disappear'.
Hearing the modulated voice come on her channel, Lucine frowns. It's voice modulated, but Lucine can feel the presence behind that voice. ".... Leina."
For those two to be taking this route, it must be significant. And it's a better plan that she herself could formulate.
< "Coming into assist. This is Lucine Azul, of the Dianthus. Lieutenant Wen, I will make it clear; I would take their offer. You may be a skilled sniper, but I was trained as well." > Taking out the albarest from its back, the Dianthus begins to charge. < "This is my warning shot." >
She fires.
<Pose Tracker> Anita Rosetta has posed.
Anita's been following the reports closely. She has a keener intuition than some give her credit for. She can see the shape of what's happening. She doesn't like it. She has some... sympathy, she supposes, for someone who's in a situation much like her own. Anita looks down at her left arm, flexing her fingers.
...If things had gone differently, she could've been in much the same situation. Her life is connected to her cybernetics, after all - it would've been easy for someone to use them against her.
And so, she did some digging. She doesn't have the same resources she once used to... and she's admitted before that this kind of investigative work isn't her specialty. But she can do a lot when she puts her mind to it, and eventually, she gets a lead.
...Of course, she knows that if she was able to turn this up, others undoubtedly have, too. So, the VF-25 Messiah Rosetta shoots through the sky in Fighter Mode, racing to the scene.
...And then, she hears the sound of gunfire. Her instincts kick in. Gritting her teeth, Anita pulls into a barrel roll. The Pinpoint Barrier flashes to life for only a brief second as a bullet grazes her wing - a bullet that would certainly have downed her Valkyrie if she had reacted just a moment later.
"...That's how it's gonna be, huh...? Guess I should've expected this..." Anita mutters. The Valkyrie unfolds into Battroid mode, hovering over the battlefield for a moment as she scans the direction the bullet came from.
...Anita's a sharpshooter, too. She knows full well that going after an entrenched sniper who expects danger, even if your intentions are good, is only a recipe for getting shot. A bullet doesn't care about your intentions.
Anita glides slowly to the ground, a beam cannon emerging over her left shoulder as she takes aim. If she wants to talk, she's first going to have to take her Arm Slave of the equation.
Anita opens fire... but it might not be Wen's unit that her shot makes contact with.
"...Athrusa?" Anita gasps, surprised.
KTS: Anita Rosetta targets Athrusa Hsieh with Beam Cannon Blast! KTS: Anita Rosetta has completed their actions for the round.
<Pose Tracker> Cornelia li Britannia has posed.
The Britannian Union does not believe in favors.
A favor is encouraging weakness. Encouraging weakness is fostering weakness yourself. Fostering weakness is nurturing evil. For a land whose cultural core condemns equality as a basic evil, to lend a hand to those who have not earned it and who have nothing to offer in return is tantamount to transgression.
However, as with everything, there are exceptions.
---
"It never fails to astound me to see how little shame the Republic possesses."
On the bridge of the Second Princess of the Britannian Union's G-1 Base, Andreas Darlton looks over the request of the REA and the dossiers of the two agents - the two criminals - currently the subject of a Federation-wide manhunt. Though his voice is wreathed with a certain, dry amusement, it never quite reaches his eyes.
"Darlton is right, your Highness," says Gilbert G.P. Guilford; unlike his bulkier companion, the only thing that reaches his tone is a certain level of cautiousness as he calls up a map of Da Han Zhong. "Regardless of what they're offering to compensate for cleaning up their own mess, this is nothing more than theater. If we hold back and wait we may be able to apply more leverage..."
"You speak to me as if I am some bloodthirsty shark, worked into a mindless frenzy at the first sight of chum in the water."
Cornelia li Britannia's voice is ever a sharp thing, but here, it comes like a sharp rebuke, even in the face of her most trusted subordinates. Indigo eyes turn from dossiers to her knights, her expression one of fierce neutrality.
"I assure you, I know precisely what they are offering us. I am tired of all this theater and spineless skulking. I would like to know what, exactly, the Republic and their 'rogue elements' have been busying themselves with." She walks past them towards the bridge's elevator, pausing only to spare a glance over her shoulder for the pair as she goes.
"I will be joining Artemisia on this hunt. After I have left, reach out to Schneizel as well. We will do the REA's work for them."
The elevator hisses open as Cornelia steps within, a smile alighting violet lips.
"We will see how grateful they are when we keep the spoils of that work, as well."
---
'I feel a bit like Robin Hood, you know, leaving aside the hanging part of the story.'
"Hah."
Amusement, rare but genuine, huffs from Cornelia li Britannia's lips from within the cockpit of her Gloucester, situated at the side of Artemisia's within the concealment of their camouflage. It only does so much, of course -- especially when their prey has prepared for the environment.
Yet the Second Princess does not so much as flinch when they first shot rings out, shattering the leg of one of the Wild Hunt's Frames. No -- that indigo gaze remains sharp and unblinking as she takes in her surroundings...
... and her gaze falls upon the unmistakable sight of the Unicorn, glowing profoundly in the middle of the jungle like a beacon. Cornelia's eyes narrow.
"That is because you are in your element, Artemisia," Cornelia finally says, gloved hands tightening on her controls. "And I would see you stay in it. We have unknowns; keep on target. Make sure to take them -alive-."
And with that -- Cornelia's Gloucester suddenly -peels- off through the jungle, only ramping up to obvious accelerations once she's good and clear from Artemisia's Gloucester to make an obvious show of herself ripping through the damp wet of this ancient jungle.
"I'll run interference."
Through the dense foliage, bullet fire ripples out to either side of the mass-produced ZZ Gundam and the Unicorn as a much smaller, violet machine approaches fearlessly.
<<"Unknowns! You are interfering in a Federation mission -- in the name of Britannia, you will stand down for questioning!">>
She is not allowing anything to interfere with this hunt. No matter what it might be.
KTS: Cornelia li Britannia targets Leina Ashta with Assault Rifle Pot Shot! KTS: Cornelia li Britannia targets Banagher Links with Assault Rifle Pot Shot! KTS: Cornelia li Britannia has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Banagher Links blocks Cornelia li Britannia's Assault Rifle Pot Shot, taking 2280 damage! KTS: Yuliana Kafim fails to evade Lucine Azul's Argen-21 Beam Arbalest Aim, taking 4464 damage! KTS: Leina Ashta has activated the Trust Spirit Command. KTS: Leina Ashta blocks Cornelia li Britannia's Assault Rifle Pot Shot, taking 4180 damage!
<Pose Tracker> Yuliana Kafim has posed.
No wonder, perhaps, that one of Photon Power's greatest minds is able to look at the trajectory of those bullets -- and fire through them. It's not quite enough to hit the Savage II, but Wen does have to move from her comfortable sniper's nest to do it. The lack of a hit is, itself, information for the clever hunter. This will be important -- soon.
The Impermanence is closer than she'd like an enemy to be, and she aims her rifle at it, just the same, when --
"Hold on," Parminder warns her, from his seat behind her surrounded by sensors and communication data. He isn't transmitting, now; it's a private aside. "Isn't that Hsieh Baihe? Yeah! Remember her? Changed her name to an anime? Love that!"
"The one we were tracking down before?" Wen frowns. "But, the Captain quietly buried that case back in August..."
She clicks her radio channel on, and to Athrusa, she's sceptical. "I put a bead on you," those little red lights which guide sniper's shots, from hundreds of metres away. "Why would you ever help us!?"
Darth Leina, through her voice modulation, adds in her own --
never
mind
that,
Because Wen, at least, stops paying attention the instant Parminder says, "report north-by-north-east six degrees," and she has to jerk her limbs to try and leap the Savage II out of the danger. But detecting a noise can't prepare either of them for the pilium which skewers out, cracking into the Deadeye's leg, and electrocuting.
Above Wen yelping: "Shit! Shit!!!" in the background, Parminder's lazier voice comes through the radio to address Leina -- and Banagher -- belatedly: "Well, you're half right," about whether they're 'like the others', presumably. "Workin' on it. Anyway, it's way more convenient to take a prisoner if they think they're being saved, isn't it?"
While Wen is trying to regain control of her systems, well -- she can't quite get out of the way of Lucine's warning shot, either. (Thankfully, Athrusa gets in the way of Anita's.) It's only when she KICKS, sharply, that the connections finally re-align, and the machine interrupts the canopy for moments as it leaps and lands.
"Oh, shit," Parminder's voice comes through the radio, because as their sensors re-align, he's momentarily too flabbergasted to remember to turn it off. The Nega Force have a lot of similarities, given they've worked together for a few years, now. "Fuck, dude. That's Cornelia's Gloucester. What the fuck!?"
"She's distracted," Wen replies, both tense and relieved. "Calm down. We're not done yet."
"Uh, YEAH we are," Parminder actually sounds bothered, "you know that shot came from the Skathi, right?! The frying pan and the fire are both hot! Game over, man! Game over!"
"There's no way I'm giving up," Wen grasps her rifle, and hoists it up. "You want to tell us to take your offer?! Well, I'm not in the mood to buy anything--!"
Three shots, aim and fire. Sniper bullets are high-velocity things, but Wen can't use her sights, joined in combat like this and unable to clear the distance due to Skathi's pilium; they're designed to track over much longer distances, which is a liability, here. She has to rely on her own eyes... but as Anita surely knows, a cyborg's eyes can be designed for many specialist tasks.
KTS: Yuliana Kafim has activated the Alert Spirit Command. KTS: Yuliana Kafim has activated the Focus Spirit Command. KTS: Yuliana Kafim has activated the Strike Spirit Command. KTS: Yuliana Kafim targets Artemisia ka Britannia with Degtyarev Anti-Suit Sniper Hip Shot! KTS: Yuliana Kafim targets Sayaka Yumi with Degtyarev Anti-Suit Sniper Hip Shot! KTS: Yuliana Kafim targets Lucine Azul with Degtyarev Anti-Suit Sniper Hip Shot! KTS: Yuliana Kafim has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Artemisia ka Britannia fails to rush. KTS: Artemisia ka Britannia partially guards Yuliana Kafim's Degtyarev Anti-Suit Sniper Hip Shot, taking 2550 damage! KTS: Lucine Azul has activated the Alert Spirit Command. KTS: Lucine Azul successfully evades Yuliana Kafim's Degtyarev Anti-Suit Sniper Hip Shot
<Pose Tracker> Leina Ashta has posed.
"We don't." Leina agrees in short order with Banagher, "Even so, we have to try."
Staying low amongst the trees now, her thrusters darken, she feels the presence of Lucine as well, part of her wondering what side she'll be on today.
Wen asks the proper question, but she's soon distracted, and Parminder answers instead, "<You're not wrong to be paranoid. However - it is the truth. We're currently sheltering your former comrade. If we must prove our intentions by helping you, then we'll do it.>"
The Second Princess takes her off guard, not because she doesn't receive warning, she does, but because the Knightmare Frame cuts a tiny target that she has difficulty tracking.
The bullet fire riddles the side of the MP until she twists it towards the flap like shield. All the same, she catches very little.
"It couldn't be..." Leina says to herself, shocked at the familiarity of the voice, as the leg thrusters of the Double Zeta activate again, rising her into ascent as she pivots to desperately try to follow the Gloucester's movements.
"<In the name of Britannia? The REA has pinpointed a convenient scapegoat for their latest atrocity, and Britannia just happens to show up to help them with the cover up?>" She says through her voice modulator, a micro missile launcher at the hip of the Double Zeta beginning to pepper the area with a salvo of smaller ordnance, better suited for causing less collateral damage.
"<Yeah. Nah. You're welcome to question these if it suits you.>"
KTS: Leina Ashta targets Cornelia li Britannia with MP ZZ Missile Pod Micro-Missile Fire! KTS: Leina Ashta has completed their actions for the round.
<Pose Tracker> Sayaka Yumi has posed.
The Scarlet Beam isn't a very high powered attack - the main aim of making use of it is to catch opponents off-guard with a pure burst of bright photon energy. But for Wen to even dodge that... she's good, that's for sure. And this battle certainly won't be an easy one.
More mobile weapons approach from behind, notably Britannia's Knightmare Frames. "Tch, the Britannians are already here..." Sayaka says to herself, as Artemisia rolls right in with that pilium launcher. And although she can't hear her frankly derogatory comment, Sayaka can still somewhat feel that haughty, 'royal' aura from the Knightmare Frame.
The Britannians aren't the only ones to make appearance, however - Sayaka catches sight of the Mass-Produced Double Zeta and the Gundam Unicorn - even with the voice changer she knows who these belongs to... and worryingly it doesn't look like they're on the same side here.
And so, Sayaka quickly opens up a comm with the two as to clarify the situation. "I don't plan on using lethal force on the Lieutenant..." she starts. But Wen just keeps on shooting and shooting, discarding that offer right along with it. Talking through to her really just isn't feasible much as they'd like it. "And I think taking her in on your own terms is a fine plan. I'll see if I can't disable her machine to make your jobs that much easier." She concludes firmly, and confidently before Cornelia makes her own move, firing on Leina...!
"...Damn princesses." She mutters to herself. "In the meantime... guess there's no choice but to hold them off, too."
And while Leina and Banagher assuredly contend with that, Sayaka continues her fight against Wen. "You're pretty good." It's a genuine compliment. The Scarlet Beam was a no-go, and if she keeps staying from a distance, she'll surely get picked off by that Arm Slave's endless stream of bullets. "You don't give up? Well, neither do I! So let's see if you can dodge this MAZINGER BLADE!" The Areia's wings seem to close in, turning into thrusters, as the Mazinger Blade is drawn towards the Arm Slave, Sayaka taking care not to hit the cockpit of that distressfully tiny machine.
KTS: Sayaka Yumi fails to Evade Yuliana Kafim's Degtyarev Anti-Suit Sniper Hip Shot, taking 4050 damage!
<Pose Tracker> Banagher Links has posed.
Violent intent flashes across Banagher's awareness a moment before Cornelia fires. He turns his shield just in time, blocking the pot shot.
Who even is this? Glancing back to where Wen's shots came from, the Unicorn turns to face the new threat. If Wen keeps firing, they're going to be in trouble... Hopefully the other mobile suits will be able to draw her fire.
"<We're not standing down for Britannia, or any other place!>" Banagher retorts as the Unicorn draws her beam magnum. "<Can't you see you're in the wrong? We're trying to save people!>"
Leina backs him up, and Banagher grins at her indomitable spirit, laughing in the privacy of his cockpit.
Psychic pressure rolls off the Unicorn and her green illumination, increasing by the moment. Lining up a shot, the beam magnum fires at the violet machine, devastating the surrounding landscape. Trees are torn to pieces. A few small fires burn in the path of the magenta beam.
Shock echoes from the young pilot. "<I -- I've got to get in close, I can't use the beam magnum here. It's too strong.>" Banagher calls to Leina, even as the Unicorn stores away her gun. "<Cover me!>"
KTS: Sayaka Yumi targets Yuliana Kafim with Mazinger Blade: Sweeping Attack! KTS: Sayaka Yumi has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Banagher Links: Will Barrier Activates. KTS: Banagher Links targets Cornelia li Britannia with Beam Magnum Shot! KTS: Banagher Links has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Cornelia li Britannia fails to evade Leina Ashta's MP ZZ Missile Pod Micro-Missile Fire, taking 4400 damage!
KTS: Cornelia li Britannia fails to evade Banagher Links's Beam Magnum Shot, taking 5220 damage!
<Pose Tracker> Athrusa Hsieh has posed.
Athrusa listens intently to Leina's approach, though she hasn't seen her in long enough that she's mildly surprised to see her in a mobile suit. Wen points out that she put a bead on her -- hundreds of metres away. Why help them?
"... ... I do not truly know. I am following what my heart tells me. Spade-7 has more eloquent, logical words for you; but on my part, I..." Athrusa pauses. "I do not wish to see your end be to be discarded by the Republic, just as I was, long ago. You can... you can trust these people. They provided me an out as well, when I ran away from the laboratory."
That's the most she can say at the moment, though -- the streak of beam fire ripping through the jungle's canopy roars towards her, and her eyes widen as she draws the cloak and reduces her profile at the last moment; smoke rises out of a hole in the Impermanance's cloak where the exposed machinery's starting to melt and burn.
"Anita?" Athrusa sounds surprised. "Anita, is that you? What are you..." A pause. "If I remember correctly, you are a member of Londo Bell, are you not... thus, you have your orders to arrest these people...?"
Artemisia and Cordelia are pressuring them; she has Anita to worry about, though. Her Messiah Rosetta... she has to try.
"I'm sorry, Anita, I am going to try to disable your machine."
And just like that, Athrusa is a ghost travelling through the waves; touching upon the GN particles hovering around her machine, through the radio waves... and then she sinks into the Rosetta, trying to search for the least-hardened communication ports. If she finds one, she enters, and tries to turn off various systems onboard the Valkyrie -- starting with any weapons, guidance systems... she doesn't want to hurt Anita, though, so she's deliberately not cutting any verniers or thrusters.
At some point, if she does find access, Anita can see her face hazily appear on one of her monitors, digital and ghost-like. "It is... nice to see you again. Thank you for protecting me that one time. But... I have someone I want to protect too, this time."
She disappears a moment later, because she has to swim back to her Gundam before someone takes a potshot at it. Being a digital ghost is hard!!
KTS: Athrusa Hsieh targets Anita Rosetta with Demoralize! KTS: Athrusa Hsieh has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Athrusa Hsieh demoralizes Anita Rosetta, reducing her Morale drastically. KTS: [Spirit Defense] Anita Rosetta's Easygoing activates, and her spirit endures.
KTS: Yuliana Kafim fails to evade Sayaka Yumi's Mazinger Blade: Sweeping Attack, taking 4320 damage! KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Sayaka Yumi's Light of the Future activates, causing Sparkle! KTS: Sayaka Yumi has engaged Yuliana Kafim! KTS: Sayaka Yumi begins a Formation attack!
<Pose Tracker> Artemisia ka Britannia has posed.
"Oh-h, Cornelia," Artemisia answers Cornelia, with a -- girlish?? -- giggle. "You're flattering me! I'll do my level best, and I mean that; but I see I'm not the only one here. I hops Miss Eleven has the same guidance."
But then --
The tension is starting to break. Artemisia curls her fingers. Unlike Cornelia, who is in her full regalia, Artemisia has a jacket in the corner of her cockpit but has taken it off. She is wearing a silk under-shirt along with her uniform slacks, high-waisted and pressure-assisting. She sees movement -
(TRIGGER: THE VOCAL BGM OF THE NIGHT - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tg6Vv1ZwzQ0)
A gunshot SPANGS! near Artemisia, and all she has to do is hear that sound to immediately slam her foot on the accelerator and surge forwards into the (relative) open. The camouflage net tattering behind her as the KMF screams its way upwards, Artemisia letting out a ragged rippling cackle as she chews on her lower lip, veering to the left, firing the Harkens to breach the trunk of a tree and PULL the Skathi upwards -
To fire off another shot, from *uncomfortably nearer*. Another one of those damn darts!
"Kiyyaaahahahhahaha! Come on, Miss Brain Dicer! I've seen where you're going - you'll find it quite agreeable!!"
She clicks to the comm to Aphrodite, and says - slightly less sadistically, or at least without any dragging thrills in her voice, but definitely still "gleeful" - to say, "Get to the northeast! She'll run that way if she's dumb, and I'd say we're dealing with a VERY DUMB SMART PERSON, DARLING!"
KTS: Artemisia ka Britannia targets Yuliana Kafim with Pilium Thrust! KTS: Artemisia ka Britannia has completed their actions for the round.
KTS: Artemisia ka Britannia enervates Yuliana Kafim, reducing her Morale significantly. KTS: Yuliana Kafim parries Artemisia ka Britannia's Pilium Thrust, taking 840 damage! KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Artemisia ka Britannia's Let this moment last forever activates, causing Sparkle! KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Artemisia ka Britannia's The Hunter's Song activates, causing Deject! KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Artemisia ka Britannia's Perfection of Movement activates, causing Nullify! KTS: Artemisia ka Britannia has engaged Yuliana Kafim! KTS: Artemisia ka Britannia completes the Formation attack!
<Pose Tracker> Cornelia li Britannia has posed.
"You have nothing to fear there, Artemisia. Just ensure they end up in our hands."
If ever there was a psychic impression for Cornelia li Britannia, it would be easy to sum up with two words:
Blood and iron.
Implacable will rolls off the violet-haired princess of Britannia even in the face of those larger, more advanced mobile suits. She is not psychic - far from it - but she knows Psycho-frame, and she knows of the machine before her by reputation alone. And the other, well.
She is a veteran of both Neo Zeon wars. Some silhouettes are difficult not to recognize.
And yet still, the horned Gloucester tears towards the pair without even a second's hesitation or even the inkling of doubt. Cape rippling behind it as it weaves between trees, perhaps Cornelia pays for making such an obvious target of herself.
But if she does, it's a consequence she faces unflinchingly.
There is no immediate response, to Banagher -or- Leina. Micro missiles ripple across the battlefield, explosions rippling heat across moist flora and churning across the Gloucester with enough of an impact that the kinetic force sends it off its intended path. The Knightmare Frame spins out --
-- just in time for that magenta beam to IGNITE trees within its wake.
The Gloucester swerves. But it's not enough to completely outmaneuver the magnum's beam; Cornelia's machine is lost within the brief blinding flash of magenta, as burning trees crash all along where it had stood. Fires crackle, heat and smoke belching into the sky as the particle haze dissipates.
<<"You misunderstand my warning for an interest in your mewling.">>
If Banagher is interested in closing the distance, he doesn't need to worry about -how- to manage it:
Not a second later, a pair of Slash Harkens LAUNCH off wire lines from the flames, intent to IMPALE into the chest of the Unicorn Gundam.
It's not a second later that the Gloucester is BURSTING from the flames, violet armor partially melted, cape on fire, using the Unicorn's greater mass to let the retracting wires of the Gloucester's harkens to send -it- careening through the air for the mobile suit --
-- where it looks to -RAM- a great gold lance straight through the torso of the Psycho-frame-laced machine with a discharge of electromagnetic energies.
<<"Or that I, or anyone, have any use for your feeble ideas of salvation.">>
The Gloucester will impact feet against the torso of the Unicorn upon impact, and then, Harkens freeing themselves, PUSH off --
To send it soaring for the Double Zeta's head sensors, lance-first, bearing a disruptive charge of electromagnetic energies thrumming at its tip.
<<"You. Will. Stand. DOWN!">>
KTS: Cornelia li Britannia has activated the Accel Spirit Command and Has Engaged with Leina Ashta KTS: Cornelia li Britannia has activated the Accel Spirit Command and Has NOT engaged with Banagher Links KTS: Cornelia li Britannia targets Banagher Links with EM Jousting Lance - Implacable Assault! KTS: Cornelia li Britannia targets Leina Ashta with EM Jousting Lance - Disabling Blow! KTS: Cornelia li Britannia has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Leina Ashta has activated the Rouse Spirit Command. KTS: Leina Ashta has activated the Strike Spirit Command. KTS: Cornelia li Britannia rattles Leina Ashta, making her next maneuvers more difficult. KTS: Leina Ashta fails to Parry Cornelia li Britannia's EM Jousting Lance - Disabling Blow, taking 3225 damage! KTS: Cornelia li Britannia has engaged Leina Ashta!
<Pose Tracker> Anita Rosetta has posed.
Anita's beam soars through the jungle, striking the cloak of the Impermanence Gundam. Athrusa's voice reaches her. ...Yeah, that's her alright.
"...Yeah. It's me." Anita confirms, and hesitates for a second. "...Not anymore. To put it simply, some things happened, and now my friends and I are on the outs with the Federation."
She shakes her head.
"...Preferably I'd just talk to them, but... it's not gonna happen like this. I get it, I don't blame 'em for it... but if they're shooting at me, I gotta shoot back, you know?" Anita replies. And Athrusa... says she's going to try to disable her machine. Anita frowns. As promised, warnings start to pop up all over her screen. Ammo read-outs, aim assistance... One by one, things start going down. Anita fights back to moderate success, but it's going to take a while to get everything back online.
Meanwhile, Athrusa's face appears on one of her monitors. Anita looks up, offering her a sad smile.
"...Yeah. It's good to see you, too. I was kinda worried. ...Oh, and Rena's doing pretty good, too." Anita replies... and then, nods. "...Yeah. I get that. I've got people I'd fight the world for, too. So, I don't blame you, either. ...But, I still gotta do this."
Once Athrusa's face disappears, though, Anita grimaces. ...She knew it probably wasn't going to be easy, but she never pictured things going like this. Was she thinking too simply...? Still... with her weapons still gradually coming back online, she's left with more direct methods of attacks. Anita accelerates toward the Impermanence Gundam, using the momentum to deliver a lunging punch with her.
Multiple fights have begun to break out elsewhere, too... She can't focus on them right now, but it's hard to tell who she can think of as an ally in this.
KTS: Anita Rosetta targets Athrusa Hsieh with Lunging Punch! KTS: Anita Rosetta has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Athrusa Hsieh partially guards Anita Rosetta's Lunging Punch, taking 2088 damage! KTS: Anita Rosetta has engaged Athrusa Hsieh! KTS: Banagher Links has activated the Rouse Spirit Command. KTS: Banagher Links fails to rush. KTS: Banagher Links's Will Barrier activates, negating 500 base damage. KTS: Banagher Links partially guards Cornelia li Britannia's EM Jousting Lance - Implacable Assault, taking 4371 damage! KTS: Cornelia li Britannia has engaged Banagher Links!
<Pose Tracker> Lucine Azul has posed.
Tension is rising. Lucine can feel it as everyone's paths begin to cross enroute to Wen and Parminder.
And with the tension, so is the danger. Another shot comes at the Dianthus, this time more direct. Lucine's senses twitch, and through her controlling, the Dianthus soon twitches with it, twisting in the air over the forest and swooping down over the treetops.
"..." A strand of teal blue hair dips into her view; Lucine can only blow at it with annoyance as she attempts to contact Leina and Banagher's machines. < ".... I'll keep the pressure on Wen. I don't think I can stand taking on either of the Knightmares by myself, but pressure from afar is a role I'm made for. If you need support beyond that, I will do my best." > She pauses. < ".... I'm putting my faith in you two. I know I shouldn't say this, after everything that's happened, but... please don't make me regret it." > She doesn't realize Sayaka's own intents to side with them as well, or Anita's own struggles.
So much is still left in the air when it comes to alliances.
Now closer to the tree canopy, the Dianthus's five petals unravel from its back and glow a bright magenta, expelling a noisy blast of energy to rattle the area. Seeing the trees sway and the scampering wildlife flee, Lucine's stomach turns. ".... I'm sorry... this isn't any of your faults here... Perhaps it's better if you're fleeing anyways..."
KTS: Lucine Azul targets Yuliana Kafim with Lunate Crown v.2 Howl! KTS: Lucine Azul has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Yuliana Kafim successfully evades Lucine Azul's Lunate Crown v.2 Howl
<Pose Tracker> Sophia Mayhew Castellan has posed.
The Hyperion has gained a new reputation as the flying iron boot of G-Hound, after she savagely obliterated an entire facility. Her captain, a ruthless woman of ferocious convictions, who threatens in open daylight things she knows perfectly well will make her enemies above her reach. This iron woman, a relentless enemy of the Federation's enemies, the very person who began the chain of events that led to this moment...
Is two thousand kilometers away, and closing slowly.
"Report," Sophia Mayhew Castellan says, bobbing slightly in her seat from the turbulence.
"Sudden air currents over the mountains, ma'am! We can get the Helios ready, but even using it as a subflight unit it'll take a couple hours for you to get there!"
Sophia's head hits her chair's headrest, watching the map data they're receiving from the battlefield. It updates once a minute, or so.
"...Fine," she says, lacking her usual roaring conviction, and stands. "I'll be in my quarters. Amata, you have the bridge."
KTS: Sayaka Yumi has activated the Trust Spirit Command targeting Leina Ashta KTS: Sayaka Yumi has activated the Spirit Spirit Command. KTS: Artemisia ka Britannia has activated the Spirit Spirit Command.
<Pose Tracker> Yuliana Kafim has posed.
"Valid fucking question, to be honest," Parminder transmits, on the heels of Leina's scepticism of Britannia aiding the REA to Cornelia. "Since when have we been friends, and when can we stop?" Beat. "Oh, yeah, I guess I'm not really part of the 'we' any more. Hey Wen, you know we're stateless now, right?"
"Little busy, Parminder!" Wen barks out, as she tries to dodge away from the larger Aphrodite's Mazinger Blade -- but the disruption to her systems has left things just a little unresponsive, and Sayaka is keen enough to see just where to slice. (And where not to slice, because while the armour of Wen's Arm Slave is shorn through, the cockpit is untroubled.)
"We're not going with you," Parminder helpfully transmits, to Sayaka, even though Banagher's trying to save people. "Not now, anyway. Track me down when I've dyed my hair and changed my name, and sure, I'll box with the OCU. Might be fun to work with them instead of counterforcing them for once."
He drums his hands, on the sensors, as he transmits disruptive patterns to Aphrodite and the Skathi, marking out their weak spots. "Oh yeah, you were one of the early escapees, weren't you?" He transmits to Athrusa, idly. "No hard feelings about the hostage-taking and trying to shove you in a sack and all that. That's just kinda our gig." He's not talking to Banagher, but it might explain a few things, anyway. "Anyway, status update, a bunch of Londo Bell defected pretty recently when the Federation decided to point a gun at Orb to get all their tastiest research. Plus, like -- Anita? Wasn't she that one you were talking about a while back, Wen?" Parminder has a mind like a steel trap for these things, when he can be bothered to remember.
Wen is a little busy, still, but her hands still in reloading her rifle for a brief moment. "Yeah... we're both cyborgs. We got along pretty well... but... one friendly conversation isn't going to fool me into a trap! I don't trust any of you--!!" She yells, as she finally manages to pull away from the Aphrodite --
Only to turn right into the Skathi.
"YEEP" is the exact vocalised noise Wen makes as she has to pull her Heat Hammer out VERY quickly to deal with the pilium thrusting in. To her credit, despite the surprise, she's fast enough to catch it before it injects its payload into her Arm Slave this time -- but it crackles around the Heat Hammer, instead, and Wen frowns as she sheathes it again. "You!" She barks, to Artemisia's goading. "So you're the ones who caught the Captain?! How can you even show your face to us, when you couldn't even protect her after you neutralised her?!"
Of course, the one really responsible for that is...
... so, this is now a TIMED BATTLE, huh?
Wen and Parminder have until the Hyperion gets here to figure a way out of this one.
The Deadeye backs up, and Wen GRIPS her controls, reflected in the way the Savage II grasps its sniper rifle, in order to try and shock the machine into doing as she bids. Finally, finally, she's able to clear enough space to juke to the right and evade Lucine's beam; she has the skills, even if her machine's being preyed on. "Not bad," she transmits, to her fellow deadeye. "But I've been at this for eleven years, you know..? You've got talent, but your aim feels young." Wen isn't a Newtype; she's using other methods of feeling entirely.
She does not, in fact, dodge north-east, even though Artemisia has solid ground to guess it -- given she damaged the leg which would lead Wen to the west. Perhaps that's precisely why she makes the effort to move in the opposite way they'd expect.
She's hunted enough people down in her day, too.
Once she clears that space -- she fires on Lucine's machine, as if to demonstrate her meaning.
KTS: Yuliana Kafim targets Sayaka Yumi and Artemisia ka Britannia with Designate L2. KTS: Yuliana Kafim targets Lucine Azul with Degtyarev Anti-Suit Sniper Critical Shot! KTS: Yuliana Kafim has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Yuliana Kafim designates Sayaka Yumi, making her easier to target and opening her to indirect fire. KTS: Yuliana Kafim designates Artemisia ka Britannia, making her easier to target and opening her to indirect fire. KTS: Lucine Azul has activated the Alert Spirit Command. KTS: Lucine Azul fails to evade Yuliana Kafim's Degtyarev Anti-Suit Sniper Critical Shot, taking 6000 damage!
<Pose Tracker> Leina Ashta has posed.
"<We appreciate the support. Honestly we were hoping to convince them without violence but... I'm not sure they're in the mood to settle things peacefully right now. ... Honestly, can hardly blame them.>" She transmits back quickly to Lucine in the heat of battle, eyes searching around for where the Knightmare Frame is in the dense foliage.
She's... worried with these combatants on the field, Athrusa already risked so much to defect, what happens if she gets dragged back to Celestial Being? To the REA?
The appearance of Aphrodite Areia both heartens and alarms her. The PPL stepping this far into the political arena makes her wonder what the consequences will be - fortunately the OCU will have their back...
... but suddenly she worries about Area-11. Either way, best to just appreciate her support currently, with a laser transmission she sends to her with a laser transmission, "Couldn't leave things half finished at the Institute?" Leina inquires without modulator, her tone light, "Glad to have you here Sayaka."
And maybe Wen's statement about working with the OCU is promising? Honestly she'd accept a defection there, though she hopes the OCU would use them to do fewer murders.
A lot fewer murders.
Soon enough though the focus is on the battle at hand, "Alright. Be careful, that voice... this could be someone very dangerous Banagher." Leina cautions him, as she tries to keep some further distance to cover him, she's better at long range support anyway. "I have your back."
It is one thing to have someone's back against an opponent, it is quite something else against the Viceroy of Britannia. She sees the Slash Harkens coming, and- "Banagher look out!" Firing off a few quick shots from the rifle of the Double Zeta, she misses entirely, even as she bounds off of him straight towards her.
She has time enough to grasp the hilt of a Beam Saber from the hardpoint off her shoulder, to lower it, right before the Lance impales into the Double Zeta's head, discharging electromagnetic energies. There's barely time enough to twist the head to preserve the main cameras.
Inside, she shrieks, lightly electrocute despite the insulation.
Muscles still twitching and spasming, in the aftermath abruptly reversing the Double Zeta to wrench it off her lance as she reaches for a lever at the side of the seat.
"<That's-> Bzzt <-it isn't it...?>" And the chest paneling of the MP suit suddenly strobes. The diffuse mega particle cannon suddenly erupts with an array of beamfire like a shotgun blast, that then sustains it, the beams moving from their projectors in utterly random patterns and sequences that try to rake the area around her Knightmare Frame..
"<You don't care. That would the Britannian way, right, Viceroy?>"
It might be her venturing a guess, but right now she's starting to feel it's a really educated guess.
"<You could tell the First and Second Lieutenant 'your' ideas for salvation instead if it pleases you. I imagine that will convince them to give themselves up to the mercy of your lance.>"
KTS: Leina Ashta targets Cornelia li Britannia with Diffuse Mega Particle Cannon Storm! KTS: Leina Ashta has completed their actions for the round.
<Pose Tracker> Banagher Links has posed.
Banagher grits his teeth nervously at Cornelia's spiritual resonance. The NT-D expands his psychic awareness to an immense degree, revealing the truth of the princess: this is not a woman they could talk down.
At least their attacks are landing. Banagher urges the Unicorn forward, drawing her beam saber--
But Cornelia beats him to it. Two Slash Harkens fly toward him, and though the Unicorn's I-field activates, it isn't enough. They force their way through the barrier and dig into the Gundam's chest armor, making Banagher cry out from the hit.
Before he can recover, the electrified golden lance follows through, forcing the Unicorn back. She nearly falls backwards at the Gloucester using her as a spring board, going down to one knee. Electricity arcs across the Gundam's form, Banagher squeezing his eyes closed. It hurts... He's okay, but it hurts.
Leina's shriek echoes through their bond, and Banagher lurches forward, forcing the Unicorn back into the fray. "<LEINA!>" He yells, thankfully through the private line, igniting the Unicorn's beam saber.
"<I'll make you pay for hurting her! You're just... some kind of wealthy Britannian, against saving people in need.>" The Unicorn looms above the Gloucester, magenta light intertwined with her green glow. "<What a surprise! We haven't fought this hard to take orders from a spoiled bigot!>"
Lucine's voice reaches Banagher just as the Unicorn lunges forward, aiming to stab her beam saber into her enemy's shoulder. "<Lucine...>" He replies to her, privately. "<Thank you. Please be careful. We won't let you down!>"
The full force of the Gundam's momentum is put into her thrust forward. Banagher has achieved an unbreakable bond with the Unicorn, now, but the NT-D still loops his aggression back into his heart again and again, sharpening his feelings and his reflexes.
KTS: Banagher Links targets Cornelia li Britannia with Beam Saber Slash! KTS: Banagher Links has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Cornelia li Britannia successfully evades Leina Ashta's Diffuse Mega Particle Cannon Storm KTS: Cornelia li Britannia parries Banagher Links's Beam Saber Slash, taking 600 damage! KTS: Banagher Links has engaged Cornelia li Britannia!
<Pose Tracker> Athrusa Hsieh has posed.
"I understand," Athrusa answers gently to Parminder. Should you really be so understanding, Athrusa?? The kidnapping and the trying to take her back to the labs where horrible things would happen to her! But... no, Athrusa doesn't have hard feelings about that. But...
"I... am not asking you to trust me, but it is a fact that this position is not defensible. I believe a warship may be en route to reinforce. Please withdraw while we can still cover you." She has to hope Leina's words can reach them, if her own cannot.
Athrusa has the wrong of it. Anita is on the outs with the Federation!
"I see... you still came here, even if you are also being hunted. But I am glad that Rena is fine, given what happened last time I met her," Athrusa answers, even as the Valkyrie cuts on in to deliver a lunging punch towards her. The Innovade arrives just in time, operating at radio-speeds, but not fast enough to make a clean getaway; there's a grimace as she calls, "Pinions!!"
Anita can spot several long, sleek feather-like remote weapons launch from the Impermanance's back; perhaps surprisingly, however, they don't operate like funnels, shooting at her. Rather, they form around the machine and--
*BOINNNNNNG*
Becomes Round?????
The Variable Fighter's fist connects with the Pinions ballooning around the Gundam, forming a spherical shield that caves in like rubber; whatever they're made out of, they can shapeshift on demand, splitting apart into feathers once more after the attack is absorbed... mostly. A little spark on the Impermanance's chest reveals she didn't get to it in time.
"Very well. I shall also try my best. Please defeat me to the best of your ability, then!"
I--is that what you should be saying, Athrusa? Has anime truly corrupted her brain?
"Go, Pinions!"
Those feathers -- Pinions, as she calls them -- are out again, seeking to trap the Rosetta from either side in a pincer attack. This time, they're coming in close to form... cartoon hands? Like, complete with the little grooves on those chauffeur gloves? There's even only three fingers, true to the animation style. They seek to just... ...hold the Variable Fighter in place and give a little squeeze, crunching at the non-essential limbs. Maybe if she's gentle, the machine won't explode or anything bad...!
Yes, Anime has truly rotted her brain.
KTS: Athrusa Hsieh targets Anita Rosetta with Flurry - Lian Formation! KTS: Athrusa Hsieh has completed their actions for the round.
<Pose Tracker> Sayaka Yumi has posed.
Sayaka understands Leina's worry, she really does. But there's no way she could turn her eye away on this one. They've exposed so deep into the REA's corruption, it'd be a shame to fall short and leave it all pinned on this young lady.
""Never have, have I? That can't change, even if there's a little hand-to-hand involved. Still... glad you're here too." Area 11 doesn't escape her mind, either, though, with the Britannian princesses throwing around their weight here. "Just... be careful, okay? They're relentless...."
Beep, a transmission from elsewhere. "I might have to take you up on that offer," Sayaka replies calmly to the new voice, Parminder. "Only if you're willing, of course. Unlike some people, the Photon Power Labs don't prefer to work people against their will." And indeed, if after they lose, they're still unwilling, Sayaka will see to it that they don't have to see her face again.
Still, he's a clever man, and Sayaka can feel Areia's being watched. Artemisia tells her north-west - Sayaka doesn't like the woman but there's no reason not to bank on her advice, either. Even if it pisses her off seeing what her sister is doing. "Very well. Just try to keep up, alright?" She compromises on peppering in some sass there. "Iron Cutter Missiles - go!" Aphrodite Areia gets into position, preparing to fire off a pair of rather sharp missiles, threatening to further cut the Arm Slave's tendons.
KTS: Sayaka Yumi targets Yuliana Kafim with Iron Cutter Missiles! KTS: Sayaka Yumi has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Yuliana Kafim fails to evade Sayaka Yumi's Iron Cutter Missiles, taking 5760 damage!
<Pose Tracker> Artemisia ka Britannia has posed.
Wen avoids getting immediately cored out by the pilium. Good, Artemisia thinks.
And when Wen begins to speak back, there is another thought - strong and manic over the doubtless-substantial presence of her sister. It may stand out, like a distant flash of gamma radiation. Another echoing of that same thought:
GOOD.
What a thrill, Artemisia thinks to herself, before she answers Wen even as the KMF comes down into a crunch on top of a tree fallen long ago, disrupting a thriving beetle colony. "Let me explain something we've invented in Britannia, to explain your answer," Artemisia continues, with a sort of gleeful buoyancy in her voice. "You see, in Britannia, there are those who *guard* the prisoner, and then there are those who *take* the prisoner."
"We call this the 'divison of labor,'" Artemisia continues. "It's quite retro, I know. Why, I think they don't like it at all! Probably very anti-socialist of us to do it, but here's a secret for you, madame:"
So how DOES Artemisia take it when Wen circles around and moves, not where she expected, or predicted anyway, but rather somewhere else?
"We're very good at it."
Two erupting harkens on their long carbon-and-metal cables smash outwards with a burst of explosive propellant towards the Arm Slave. "I'm afraid that's not how this is going to go--"
"Keep up?" Artemisia then says, glancing towards Sayaka. Then there's another one of those frankly bizarre laughs. "Why-- let's find out--!!"
KTS: Artemisia ka Britannia targets Yuliana Kafim with Slash Harken Bludgeon! KTS: Artemisia ka Britannia has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Yuliana Kafim retreats from the attack! KTS: Artemisia ka Britannia enervates Yuliana Kafim, reducing her Morale significantly. KTS: Yuliana Kafim fails to evade Artemisia ka Britannia's Slash Harken Bludgeon, taking 6240 damage! KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Artemisia ka Britannia's Let this moment last forever activates, causing Sparkle! KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Artemisia ka Britannia's The Hunter's Song activates, causing Deject! KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Artemisia ka Britannia's Perfection of Movement activates, causing Nullify!
KTS: Anita Rosetta blocks Athrusa Hsieh's Flurry - Lian Formation, taking 4290 damage!
<Pose Tracker> Lucine Azul has posed.
Leina and Banagher give their thanks, and Lucine feels relieved. < ".... I'll do my best." >
When Wen finally transmits back directly to her, Lucine blinks, not expecting the praise. She changes her frequency, and transmits. < "..... I trained on Mars, with bounty hunters. Before the Jovian Lizard invasion." >
She tries to wear the statement to further expand the threat of her presence, but Wen may likely see the marks of someone being a little flush with pride. Though how this fact potentially syncs with a soft-spoken pilot piloting a unit more akin to a cross between the humanoid Aphrodite Areia and a younger girl's idea of a fairy princess is--
That daredevil dodge the Dianthus just attempted can say how, even if it fails due to Wen's own skill. The Dianthus had tried to pivot away right then, skirting away with a dose of gravity, but Wen's targetting hits it square on.
"Ngh..." The Dianthus tumbles, but then leans into the fall, the tops of the canopy swaying as her boosters kick on. < ".... This will be an interesting challenge..." > The reply goes wide, Lucine not having had time to adjust her signal.
Static echos of emotions fall over from Banagher and Leina, only reaching her because of her mental focus on them. It's enough to make her nervous.
Maybe a gamble is in order, if she might not be able to take another shot.
Switching to Banagher and Leina, Lucine's voice sounds tense. < "..... I can fire a shot that will aim at the Knightmares and the Wen in a little while, but I'll likely need to retreat afterwards for my sake. It will depend if I can gain a sense of their locations." > Another shot comes from the Albarest, this one more an afterthought, as she concentrates. < ".... Will that help?" >
KTS: Lucine Azul targets Yuliana Kafim with Argen-21 Beam Arbalest Shot! KTS: Lucine Azul has completed their actions for the round.
<Pose Tracker> Anita Rosetta has posed.
A trap...
"That's... not why I'm here." Anita says. ...She knows it's going to take more than words, though. If it were that easy, this wouldn't be happening right now. She nods to Athrusa, though.
"That's right. And... I'm glad to hear that." Anita replies. It's good that she still remembers Rena.
The Messiah Rosetta lunges forward, and its fist makes contact with the Impermanence Gundam's Pinions, which...
...bounce like rubber?? The Messiah Rosetta is actually bounced back a little by their springiness
"'Please defeat me'... Geez. Shouldn't you be trying to defeat me?" Anita comments. She can't help but crackle a little smile at that. "Still... if you want my best, I'll give it to you."
First, though - she's going to have to contend with Athrusa's pinions. They transform into... gloves?? The cartoony hands reach for her machine, trying to grab it from either side. When attacked from both sides, she's forced to make a choice on which one to protect. She swats back at the gloves with her hands, but still others manage to grapple at her, their firm grip crumpling the armor wherever they grab hold.
They have her limbs - but she can still move her head. The Valkyrie's head shifts toward the Impermanence Gundam, blazing with beam turret fire!
KTS: Anita Rosetta targets Athrusa Hsieh with Focused Beam Vulcans! KTS: Anita Rosetta has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Yuliana Kafim fails to evade Lucine Azul's Argen-21 Beam Arbalest Shot, taking 2610 damage! KTS: Athrusa Hsieh fails to react to Anita Rosetta's Focused Beam Vulcans, taking 6110 damage!
<Pose Tracker> Cornelia li Britannia has posed.
You don't care.
That would be the Britannian way, right, Viceroy?
Electric arcs dance along the golden point of the horned Gloucester's lance as the Knightmare Frame -rips- it back out, the improbable acrobatics of the small, purple machine bringing it twisting backwards through the air as it disengages from the Double Zeta. Within the cockpit, Cornelia's eyes flare with life as they catch sight of those panels crackling with a buildup of energy.
"Tch--!"
The Gloucester is not an aerial unit. In mid-air, it might as well be a sitting duck without thrusters. But what it does have --
*pssssh!*
Is Slash Harkens.
The sound might as well have been lost in the fury of those scattershot mega particles blitzing the jungle in a short, raking burst; the hydraulic hiss that is issued is followed shortly by a wooden CRACK as harkens embed into a fallen, burning tree and send the Gloucester -careening- downward rapidly past the shotgun burst of the ZZ's mega particle cannon.
It lands with a splintering CRACK upon that burning log, -narrowly- evading Leina's offensive just before its pilot hears the accusatory, angry roar of the Unicorn's pilot.
<<"You leave yourself too exposed, baring your nerves like that.">>
The beam saber stabs downward just as the Slash Harkens snap back into place at the Gloucester's chest. Cornelia has seconds to react -- but war has been her home for nigh on a decade now, and it shows in the way she almost reflexively moves -- not -against- Banagher's attack, but -with- it. The swift, seconds-long imposition of Cornelia's lance makes its golden shell -bake- until it begins to melt, just so --
--but it gives the prongs at the base of that lance enough time to catch the beam saber's hilt and YANK the Unicorn's offensive to the side, attempting to leave her and her pilot overextended as beam burns a glancing scar across the KMF's shoulder.
She could tell them. Couldn't she?
<<"Very well.">>
And with that perhaps startling acquiescence, Cornelia -lunges- her machine backwards. The Gloucester hefts its lance up against its palm even as she begins to speak.
<<"Fugitives of the Republic, hear me! I am Cornelia li Britannia, Second Princess of Britannia! For you dogs who have been forsaken by your masters, I offer this salvation!">>
Aims...
<<"Submit to Britannian judgment and spare yourself whatever indignity the REA has in store for you! These people will not protect you. The OCU cannot protect you. But this I promise you:">>
And -hurls-.
<<"I and my men would sooner salt the earth fallow with our blood than relinquish anything in our grip.">>
She throws that lance, aiming to IMPALE it straight into the torso of the Double Zeta.
Not a second later, regardless of success, a Slash Harken flies -- and loops around that lance, ensnaring it...
... and YANKING it through the air just as Cornelia charges for the Unicorn.
The horned Gloucester lunges not a second later, intent to snatch that soaring lance seconds before it sends it driving down to spear it straight for the chest of the Unicorn, in all its psychic splendor, as Cornelia transmits to Banagher and Leina.
<<"THAT is who I am, cur.">>
KTS: Cornelia li Britannia has activated the Alert Spirit Command. KTS: Cornelia li Britannia targets Leina Ashta with EM Jousting Lance - Strategic Strike! KTS: Cornelia li Britannia targets Banagher Links with EM Jousting Lance - Piercing Thrust! KTS: Cornelia li Britannia has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Leina Ashta has activated the Strike Spirit Command. KTS: Leina Ashta has activated the Strike Spirit Command. KTS: Leina Ashta parries Cornelia li Britannia's EM Jousting Lance - Strategic Strike, taking 1230 damage! KTS: Cornelia li Britannia has engaged Leina Ashta! KTS: Banagher Links has activated the Strike Spirit Command. KTS: Banagher Links has activated the Strike Spirit Command. KTS: Banagher Links's Will Barrier activates, negating 500 base damage. KTS: Banagher Links parries Cornelia li Britannia's EM Jousting Lance - Piercing Thrust, taking 720 damage! KTS: Cornelia li Britannia has engaged Banagher Links!
<Pose Tracker> Yuliana Kafim has posed.
"News flash," Parminder transmits, to Banagher. He's a transplant from Intelligence -- which really just makes him king of all the gossip. "That's the wealthy Britannian. Cornelia li Britannia -- the Second Princess of Britannia, and a tour de force on the battlefield. This battle was decided the second she showed up... so try not to die, would you?" His grin is audible: "I'd say I don't want that on my conscience, but honestly, that's not really a problem for me."
There's a chuff of a 'heh', through the radio, as he considers Sayaka's offer. "Depends what kinda offers I get, honestly. Right now I'm liking the ones where I don't die, but, see, I decided to shake Wen upside down until she stopped screaming 'THE REPUBLIC IS STRONG' and trying to jump right into the kidnapping sack, and you know I can't just leave that half-finished. What kind of monster just leaves a puzzle half-solved?" Or leaves his friends to be doomed? No? Just the puzzle thing? Okay, Parminder.
"The Republic is strong," Wen replies, rote.
Parminder blows her off with: "Yeah, yeah, whatever. Better than 'all hail Britannia!', I guess. Oh shit, hang on --" he pings Artemisia and Cornelia's machines, to belt out, "ALL HAIL BRITANNIA!", before his laughter cuts through the radio. "Oh man, if I start a fucking chain effect from that, I might even forget we're dead meat out here!" He thinks the similarities of authoritarian indoctrination are hilarious.
He narrows his eyes, though, as Athrusa makes those transmissions. Querying his sensors, he says: "... yeah, you're not bullshitting, there. I'm sighting the Hyperion en route... well, shit. Say, what is with Britannia wanting our asses all a sudden? The union's not big on favours, last I heard."
"High-value targets," Wen says, voice still tense, and she's not having a good time. The Iron Cutter Missiles lance through the Arm Slave's arm connections, and one of those arms hangs limp, in the aftermath. "Shit!"
She frowns, looking to the Messiah Rosetta. "I... I want to believe that," she says, and they can see the way she sinks as she says it, because the Savage II translates her movements. "You were kind to me... I wish the Captain hadn't taken it out on you. But -- but even if I believe you -- even if I go with you, there's no way Britannia would let that happen."
Cornelia's judgement, echoing imperious across the battlefield, is proof enough of that.
"... yeah," Parminder says, a shade more muted than his earlier joviality, as he watches Wen's tightly drawn expression. "It's... not a bad pitch, honestly. Like, I'll tell you what I'm seeing: you're saying all the right words to throw Wen right into a tailspin, here. Me, I've always been a bit more loosey-goosey with the whole authoritarianism thing, what with being thrown in prison and all, but even I can tell it's a compelling argument. 'Course, I'm also of my right mind to actually say shit about it instead of segfaulting, like --" There's the sound of him snapping his fingers, leaning forward to click them beside Wen's ear. "Hey. Hey, idiot, there's two of them!!"
He's not quite able to shake her out of it before Artemisia capitalises on the weakness of her prey, though. Wen yelps, as the harkens explode out, and dig into her Arm Slave. "Ugh! So-- so that just means -- your guards are insufficient!" She yells, to the Skathi's pilot, as she wrestles with the harkens. "I know that well enough... since we've killed enough of your people!"
Her struggle means she's in entirely the wrong position to dodge from Lucine's arbalest shot, of course.
And then, reality parts.
Behind the Deadeye, a green portal tears through the sky, roiling dark and demanding. "I'm getting some weird readings -- what the hell?!" Is Parminders assessment, from his sensor array. "A cold portal like that... it's like the ones around the Captain, back in JOSH-A. I saw the data. So, that means..."
"It's the Captain," Wen supplies, grim.
"Yeah," Parminder agrees. "All right, Wen. Ball's in your court. We going to Britannia, or skipping out to see a witch? Between Artemisia and Cornelia... we're not gonna make it out with Magical Athrusa or the third-strongest cyborg, here."
"The third-strongest?" Wen pauses, for one precious moment, to look back at Parminder with a deeply sceptical expression.
"You know, Three Ships, it's -- you know what? Normally it would be hilarious to dissect this frog for you, but we've gotta make a move." Steel enters his voice, as he barks: "Forward or back, Wen!"
In that instant, Wen takes up her crackling Heat Hammer in her one working arm --
DRIVES it down on the harkens, to force them out of her Arm Slave's metal flesh --
-- and lets her machine fall, back, into the call of the Void.
Given the choice, she moves backwards.
She's been an active soldier of the REA for longer than even Yuliana, after all.
<Pose Tracker> Athrusa Hsieh has posed.
"I do not know either," Athrusa admits to Parminder. "But perhaps swift success to spin into a story has always been the approach the Republic prefers. Footage, a sacrifice..."
Her attention is on Anita again.
"Well... to be honest..." Athrusa speaks to Anita, "These people used to try to kidnap me back from the laboratory I escaped from -- the one you may have seen in the news. So I suppose the 'right' thing to do would not be to try to defend them. That is why I said, 'please defeat me', because I was trying to take on the villainess role. But... it is not that clear, is it not?"
The focused vulcans fire beams at the Impermanance Gundam, and Athrusa is caught off-guard; several of the beams lance through the surface of her armour, but Anita can see the GN condensers -- more or less red, smooth and circular crystals on the joints of her machine -- work overtime to create a repelling barrier, avoiding the worst of the damage; still, internals are now even further exposed, and caution tape is flapping and tattering in the winds in the wake of the blast.
"I do not know if I can explain why I came here, exposing myself to risk and danger when I could have stayed hidden... but I wanted to follow these feelings. Because these feelings... feel like my own, rather than the directives imprinted within me!"
The Pinions raise again, but... but...
"Pinions! Give it your all! I-- um..."
Here's a (not-so-terribly) secret:
Athrusa... Athrusa has never actually used these Pinions to really go all-out before, because they aren't built as weapons, being effectively sheets of liquid metal she's controlling with cybernetic prowess, and she lacks the brain and impulse of an experienced fighter, with all of her combat knowledge being literally uploaded into her brain from day one she came out of the Innovade tank.
Come on, Athrusa! Anita's expecting you to do your best. What's the most devastating, most powerful weapon you can imagine from the bottom of your heart?
The Pinions gloop together and manifest...
The dramatic and powerful Sparkling Witch Staff of Magical Girl Athrusa (the fictional character)!! (Minus the colours. It kinda looks like a bootleg resin kit of the real thing. You can also kinda see a beam rifle's muzzle sticking out of the part where the Magical Love Heart would be, because she still has to make it work.)
"E-er, well... excuse me. Please take this powerful attack with all your might, Anita."
The Sparkling Witch Staff erupts in an incandescent (and slightly fake) flare of beam-fire, at the same time Athrusa spots the portal and suddenly sees the Deadeye fall into the portal. "W-Wen? Parminder?"
Oh...
"We should... probably retreat, Spade-7..."
KTS: Athrusa Hsieh has activated the Valor Spirit Command. KTS: Athrusa Hsieh targets Anita Rosetta with Finale - Baihe Formation! KTS: Athrusa Hsieh has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Anita Rosetta fails to react to Athrusa Hsieh's Finale - Baihe Formation, taking 8280 damage! KTS: Athrusa Hsieh roots her unit, coming to a standstill and leaving her vulnerable.
<Pose Tracker> Leina Ashta has posed.
Banagher's outrage is like a second shock through her system, feeling it acutely as a result of her bond to him. "Banagher-! Calm down! If you let her get under your skin she'll start goading you into making mistakes."
It falls to her to try to stay calm for the both of them, even if her anxiety is building, and building, try to hide it as she might, Banagher will feel it.
She's scared.
"<... Y-Yeah.>" There's a sort of tinny anxiety now to Leina, now that it being Cornelia the Second Princess is confirmed. The plan is no longer winning, holding her off, it's surviving. "<Retreating is very much in the cards if it gets to be too much.>"
Lucine makes her offer, and despite her usual inclinations to shoulder so much by herself, "<Please... help.>" She asks for her assistance, "<We may need it to get out of this one.>"
Surprisingly, as she's recovering from Cornelia's assault, she... acquiesces!? Leina moves from fear to being especially startled by her offering amnesty to Wen and Parminder.
She almost gets caught off guard by Cornelia's throw, almost. The Beam Saber that's ignited sparks against the side of the Lance, as the move towards impaling the Torso instead catches its side, spearing a section of the armor plating without digging into anything more vital.
The Double Zeta is still yanked forward, but a chunky piece of armor is torn off as a trophy as it departs.
She can see Parminder considering the pitch, but and she steels herself, if she lets fear fully take her, this mission is a bust. Who knows what Britannian will use the information the pair give them? ... For nothing good.
"<... I admit I underestimated you, Viceroy. That is a canny way to turn the tables on the REA by taking advantage of their call for assistance. I only take issue with one part of your pitch.>"
The Double Zeta starts trying to gain some distance from the Gloucester, "<Do you think that two people who killed people in the custody of powerful individuals like yourself and made it look like a suicide on a regular basis will be swayed?>"
And then it's that feeling again. the feeling of viewed by something unknowable in the dark. That void crack in reality opens, and the Arm Slave falls... right in... and Leina just blanks at the sight of it. She doesn't even call out for them to stop.
A girl must have her friends.
Did Elisa and Yuliana just save them, or damn them?
It's Athrusa that jolts her out of it, "...No probably about it, Athrusa. Banagher! Retreat! We're getting out of here! If Cornelia pins us down long enough for the rest of her forces to back her off we're goners!"
They may be goners even if they don't. She feels like Cornelia is dominating HER at least.
Briefly she contemplates trying the trick Judau pulled. The one that got Yuliana to back off. Briefly. Her hand touches the lever.
If her timing is even a split second off though, she's doomed. The Reactor will recycle, she'll be a sitting duck, and Cornelia won't miss.
Descending abruptly, she instead activates the thrusters and cuts a tight path through the dense foliage, before ascending straight up, just high enough to try to get out of Slash Harken range - being sure Banagher too is clear, before she'd try to fly away.
"God. ... What a mess that was."
KTS: Leina Ashta targets Cornelia li Britannia with Pass! KTS: Leina Ashta has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Leina Ashta has activated the Dash Spirit Command and has disengaged. KTS: Leina Ashta has activated the Dash Spirit Command and has gained proficiency bonus.
<Pose Tracker> Banagher Links has posed.
Banagher growls in frustration as his beam saber thrust does almost nothing, Cornelia all-but dancing away from it. The Unicorn recovers quickly, placing herself between the MP ZZ and the Gloucester.
"<I'm okay. I'm okay.>" He reassures Leina, her fear knocking him away from his battle-rage immediately. "<We can do this! If we need to run, we can. I'll cover you.>"
Parminder reaches out to Banagher, who blinks in surprise. A princess? The second princess..? What's the difference? <"...thanks. Try not to die, yourself. We won't let them take you.">
Cornelia introduces herself, moments later, with all possible fanfare -- but fails to reach Banagher's heart. All he can sense from her is malice and violence, in this moment, and he's never been one to be impressed by titles.
But, before he can say anything in response, the Gloucester is attacking again, launching its lance and then recklessly throwing itself at the Unicorn. Banagher has faith in Leina -- he doesn't turn to watch the Lance fly, instead bracing for Cornelia's attack.
Raising his beam saber, Banagher repels Cornelia's attack. Though some of the Unicorn's armor breaks away, she's still in fighting shape, and Banagher doesn't seem intent on backing down.
"<Do you really expect -- that to mean anything, to anyone here? To mean more than we care about saving people? I'm not even from the Earth! Just because you were born into some fancy name... It doesn't mean anything!>"
The Unicorn draws a second beam saber, and two more ignite, mounted on her frame. This battle can't continue. He can't bear seeing Leina hurt by this... intense, confusing woman any longer.
Before he can move forward, the sky cracks apart. Banagher groans, the void pressing against his expanded awareness like a firebrand in the darkness. Just like that, Parminder and Wen are gone. Banagher watches Cornelia warily.
Leina calls a retreat. Banagher hesitates, for a long moment, wanting to finish this fight... But Leina's fear was real. He won't worry her any further. Waiting until the MP ZZ is clear of the trees, the Unicorn slowly extinguishes her sabers, one at a time... Though one stays in her hand. Just in case.
Racing forward, the Unicorn follows in the MP ZZ's path. Britannia... Princesses. There's more yet to this world. Banagher has so much to learn.
KTS: Banagher Links targets Cornelia li Britannia with Pass! KTS: Banagher Links has completed their actions for the round.
<Pose Tracker> Anita Rosetta has posed.
"They tried to kidnap you, huh...?" Anita considers. And she's still trying to defend them. Anita cracks a small smile. "...Yeah the situation's complicated all around... I guess if you put it that way, we're both kinda the villainess here."
Anita shrugs. She doesn't sound all too upset about the idea taking on that role, though.
More communications occur. The Hyperion...? Anita frowns a little. They really have got to stop meeting like this.
But... Wen actually addresses her. Anita wasn't expecting that, so it takes her a second to reorient herself. What she says, though... Anita smiles a bit sadly.
"It's alright. I don't blame you for that. I'm glad we got to talk, it made a boring trip that much better." Anita replies. As for Britannia, though... "...Yeah. Yeah, you're right."
It's not easy to admit, but things are stacked against them.
Her attention is turned back toward Athrusa as she speaks - and for her, Anita smiles.
"Yeah, you gotta follow your heart. That's more important than any directives. If this is what your feelings lead you to, then you gotta do it." Anita agrees. Athrusa sends out her Pinions again!
...It, uh. It takes them a while to form into a weapon. And the form it takes... is the staff of a magical girl? Anita has never seen 'Sparkling Witch Athrusa', but she recognizes the general form factor.
"No, no, it's good. I like it." Anita assures. "Don't worry... I'll take it right on the chin!"
Anita braces herself against the incandescent flare of beam-fire. It blasts into her machine - hammering even through the Pinpoint Barrier! She grits her teeth as she holds on. And in the end...
...The Messiah Rosetta is still standing. Whether or not it's still capable of fighting is another matter.
...But, that may be a moot point. Because very near by, a decision is about to be reached.
A portal appears near the Deadeye. Anita frowns. She doesn't know what that is... but that's probably not good, right? Though, 'third-strongest cyborg'...
...Anita chuckles, just slightly. Someone got the joke, at least.
They disappear into the portal, and Anita exhales, leaning back in her seat.
"...Looks like... that's it. I dunno where this leads for them, but..." Anita murmurs. She can't help but feel some trepidation. "...Guess there's no point in fighting anymore right now, huh? It was nice seeing you again, Athrusa. I'll let Rena know you're doing alright, too."
She takes a step back - she wants to make sure Athrusa can escape under her own power, then she'll do the same.
She doesn't want to be here for longer than she needs to be when the Hyperion or the Britannian team close in.
<Pose Tracker> Lucine Azul has posed.
It's unmistakable.
"...!" This is the same presence. Lucine felt it back on the beach in the Frontier colony with the dragon, the same when the Dianthus was stolen from her on a remote colony, the same when they managed to recover it, the same in Alaska.
A violation, like the occasional smell of wax, despite NERV's labs cleaning the Dianthus completely, looking for any trace of something that could spell a possible contamination.
The Dianthus is _hers_. All she has was what she brought with her, in the Dianthus.
It's
her only
link
back home
< ".... why.... why did you...." >
Burning anger seizes Lucine like a woman possessed.
There's nothing to shoot, nothing to fight.
Naturally, there's only one direction all that unresolved anger, fear, and tension can go: the two princesses of Britannia, who had absolutely nothing to do with any of it.
Her fingers hover over the buttons. Gold eyes note their positions. They're unaware of her. She could deliver both of them with a clean shot.
Leina and Banagher have already disengaged.
"......"
Quietly, she moves her hands back from the controls.
The Dianthus retreats quietly, as Lucine screams into the cockpit's space.
<Pose Tracker> Sayaka Yumi has posed.
"Can't blame you," Sayaka replies to Parminder, with all his dry tone. "A lot of people want your heads right now, but I'm not really interested in that. Nor am I interested in leaving your work half-finished, no."
The Iron Cutter missiles make a clean hit right where Sayaka aimed them, and all is going well on her side of the battlefield... but she worries for Leina and Banagher, against the Cornelia and all her cruelty. Would it really be appropriate to intervene? To save some friends, of course.
But she can't really think about that as that familiar green portal descends, and Wen follows. Once again, Photon Power momentarily fluctuates in that ominous way, and Sayaka really isn't taking any more chances.
With the rescue target escaped, there's nothing left here, and she'd prefer not to convene with stuffy Britannian royalty any longer than necessary. So she makes her retreat as well, covered by a Photon Barrier, as she checks to make sure Leina, Banagher and the others made it okay. "Geez... what a pointless battle, in the end. But thanks... for seeing me through it Areia."
KTS: Lucine Azul targets Artemisia ka Britannia with Pass! KTS: Lucine Azul has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Artemisia ka Britannia fails to react to Lucine Azul's Pass, taking 0 damage! Artemisia ka Britannia tosses a coin: Tails
<Pose Tracker> Artemisia ka Britannia has posed.
Artemisia comments to Cornelia and Cornelia alone:
"Hah! Do you think they'll take it? The results have been mixed," Artemisia continues with a grunt of exertion as she wrestles the Skathi (which is, after all, a ruggedized frame and requires a certain amount of FORCE at times) into a more level posture, "when I've given it a try -- but you know, you always were better at public speaking..."
Parminder pings her machine at this point, and Artemisia hasn't been paying close attention to that guy at all, so hearing him say All Hail Britannia makes her expression lighten up. They're taking it! They're taking it. Finally, she thinks. Payback for this humiliation.
"Ooo-oooo," Artemisia answers to what Wen says. "That sounds an awful much like a confession, DARLING. Surely you must be CONFUSED. Or you mean that you UNFORTUNATELY were forced to, hm, strike down terrorists who had been carrying Britannian PASSports, yes? You mean that, don't you?" An axe - not a heat axe - is raised up --
And there is an olivine rift in time and space itself.
Artemisia's good eye turns upwards to look at it.
"Eh?" she says.
This is an outside context problem for Artemisia who stares at the aperture. Something in her expects something to come out of it, and she raises up the sol bow as if to cover the entrance, and in that moment of hesitation there is a SMASH, a burst that ruptures' the Harken's grip and then -
The Arm Slave is falling into...
INTO...
The sky.
And --
The Skathi doesn't really show it. Knightmare Frames, unlike Areia, are not very emotive machines.
But Artemisia says -
"It's not fair," as she gazes upwards. "It isn't *fair*."
"Genetic men from space, with their stupid - stupid white - disappearing bombs - bad enough with all these GUNDAMS... mystery armor I can't even understand... why can't you just FIGHT? Why do you have to do all of THIS? Why can't you just fight back?!" Artemisia -- sort of shouts, but it's petulant, somehow. There's a thing she cannot have.
There's something else in there, too, but 'thing I can't have' is definitely a primary ingredient. Like peanut butter and a mystery flavor - you can certainly taste the peanut.
"Now they can -- can fold space, or -- it's like something out of a BAD FILM!" Artemisia spits out. "And this is what the REA throws away!?"
Silence reigns for long seconds. Lucine retreats. Artemisia may have barely known she was there. Artemisia's eye closes. Her lip pooches out.
She folds her arms.
Nothing else happens.
"There's never a *conclusion*," she mutters.
All of that was on a general frequency. The Skathi may need to be manually recovered, despite only modest hull damage.
<Pose Tracker> Cornelia li Britannia has posed.
Does she think they'll take the deal?
"They have no choice," Cornelia transmits to Artemisia. "If they refuse, we will drag them back. It's as simple as that..."
'ALL HAIL BRITANNIA!'
Will Parminder start a chain reaction?!
"All h--
<<"Spit out those words with such disrespect again and then next thing you will be spitting out is your wormish tongue!">>
Well.
Almost.
"Irritants," Cornelia exhales within the comforts of her cockpit -- but she can ill afford to keep her attention off the battlefield for a single moment. They may fear her -- but a war-forged reputation comes from a level of instinct. She knows the silhouette of the Double Zeta; even if that might not be the -original-, she knows what a model like that is capable of.
And the Unicorn...
...
Cornelia li Britannia was at the Axis Shock.
There are some things the mind has difficulty accepting, even plainly demonstrated to it, beyond 'exceedingly dangerous.'
'Exceedingly dangerous,' however, is enough to keep the Witch of Britannia's focus honed sharp as a blade, however. Her offense deflected, the horned Gloucester lands in a shrieking skid of Landspinner wheels that defiantly refuse to carry Cornelia away from the very heart of the battle, where she is most in her element.
<<"Any laurel I have ever held pride in I have earned with my own hands, through blood and tears and strength. -That- means more than sentimental words spat into the empty air by a child who knows nothing of the world.">>
<<"That means -everything-.">>
It has to mean everything. It has to.
In the aftermath of Cornelia's offer - her ultimatum - the princess listens to Parminder's words. With -great- reluctance. It isn't just the things he says, it's the -way- he says them that make her teeth grit in unstated annoyance.
Something about the flippant have an unerring way of getting under her skin.
She is about to press on Wen and her co-pilot, when Leina speaks. Still prepared to push her offensive, Cornelia's indigo gaze narrows as that modulated voice speaks to her. Her lips draw taut.
--two people who killed people in the custody of powerful individuals like yourself--
--made it look like a suicide--
--killed enough of your people!--
Like bile, foul memories bubble up and press against the back of her mind. A bloody body. A traumatized child.
The person she was sworn to protect. Dead.
And no -justice- to ever -show- for it--
<<"never.">>
Cornelia catches the beginning of those muttered words in her throat. Her lips twist.
<<"... My knights have never faltered,">> she course-corrects in a slow, measured step. <<"They will not now. Anyone who does not know this to be true will learn it.">>
There's something to be said about jinxes, but Cornelia has never believed in superstition. Or super-much-of-anything, really.
Which makes what happens next more than blindsiding.
Reality parts.
It demands attention; and attention is what Cornelia li Britannia gives it, eyes widening in sudden alarm as that battle-honed instinct tells her there is something WRONG on her peripherals. The Witch of Britannia PIVOTS her Knightmare Frame, glimpsing that green dark. Instantly, her eyes narrow.
"NO!"
To her credit, she moves fast; on that selfsame instinct, the Gloucester -tears- forward without fear of that horrifying unknown, attempting to cut the distance of the burning jungle and intercept the Savage before it can be swallowed. But --
--too late.
always too late in the face of things beyond human comprehension aren't you
Cornelia is a woman of wrath as she wheels around just in time to see the mass-produced ZZ and that oh-so-coveted Unicorn fall back. The Gloucester's assault rifle swings up, firing a broad arc at them -- but it's too late. Too late because she was DISTRACTED. Again.
Geass. Newtypes. Kaiju. Psycho-frame. 'Miracles.' Whatever this -- this-- maddening FARCE is.
Victory eluding her again. How can she even keep Euphemia safe -- or Nunnally, or Lelouch--
Cornelia's shout of frustration never leaves her cockpit; the sound of her fist cracking against metal is absorbed by the protective alloys of that cockpit as she feels split skin bleed against the fabric of her gloves. Her head hangs, lips parting out slow breaths.
"............"
<<"... Artemisia. We are falling back. Now.">>
She is not going to forget this. Not ever.