2023-03-30: Palau Falling - Rescue Operation

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Content Warning: Violence, Lethal Injuries (healed by Triple Zero) 

<Pose Tracker> Leina Ashta has posed.


"<Spade-7. Palau is about to enter the Shoal Zone. Commence maneuvering dummy asteroids towards your assigned hangars. Short bursts, you don't want to be picked up by their exterior defenses.>"

As Palau's entry scattered debris and smashed into remnants of the old war like some colossal juggernaut, a dummy asteroid started subtly sliding towards a hangar that won't see any real activity right now with the mines shut off.

Time and time again she grimaced as she tried to accustom herself towards the sheer size of her current mobile suit. Holding her breath as she positioned it just inside, she waited for the Colony's momentum to catch the 'asteroid' against the hangar walls. Feeling the sudden jolt even through the shock absorbers, before activating her jets again, sliding it into a state of relative inertial equilibrium.

"<Clock starts now. You have two hours to find your targets and organize the evac before the rescue operation begins.>"

"<Oi Oi, two hours? That's asking a lot of us Spade-7. Whos in command anyway?>" Complained a certain youthful voice which may grate on Judau in particular.

"<Yep.>" Leina noted as she slid out of the cockpit, and parted the seam on the asteroid. "<I'm asking the world of all of you. Everything we need to pull off here? Feels almost impossible within our time constraints.>" Activating her portable verniers, she glided up and out, holding the strap on a small crate she was dragging with her.

"<But even so...>"

Despite the best efforts of the world to wear her down, Banagher Links had still rubbed off on her enough that she could still say this, when it was an operation to rescue someone she loved.

-=-=-

Within the Mining Asteroid of Palau, there have always been haves, and have nots. This was well known to Tikva Sant, driven into him through years of seeing the abject poverty the cylindrical colony has to suffer, while the governor's mansion sat in a place that felt like paradise. Still, he believed in the righteousness of his father's cause.

With the arrival of Char Aznable, it's hard to say what he believed in anymore. The word is that he just broadcast that Palau was on a collision course with Earth, which means that his he and his whole family would soon be dead. Dying for the cause seemed to take on a new context in that light.

Tikva Sant was looking for a way out. He'd always believed in the cause of the Sleeves, but the arrival of Char Aznable had changed things. His broadcast had changed things. The panic on the streets was being put down by a very, very small number of armed men that he was looking out over right now. Tikva, the man of the house while his father was away was looking for a way to get his family out, as hopeless as it seemed, it was his responsibility.

And then he received a tap on his shoulder.

"Oi! Oi! You're Tikva right?" Asked a small statured man with a staff, his form mostly shadowed by a hooded cloak, "Yeah, who wants to know?" "I'm just an old bud of your father's." Tikva gave the figure a skeptical squint, "I think my Dad would tell me if he had a pipsqueak like you as a War Buddy."

Sai Saici, extremely mature Shuffle Commander, head of the Club Division took a stance like he was ready to fight a child, "Cheeky little- YOU WANNA GO?" Tikva took a stance like he's getting ready for a street brawl against someone his own age, "Maybe I do!"

Sai, faced down with actually fighting a child, squared up, got this confused expression, scratched his chin, and - "Oh wait - wait..." Then snapping his fingers, "... right! Hey kid."

He was over by Tikva in a flash, and threw an arm over his shoulders like he was his best bud, "You wanna get out right? I wasn't kidding that I'm doing your Pops a solid. So here's what you gotta do..."

He leans over, and just starts to whisper, and Tikva, though suspicious began to just start nodding.

-=-=-

At the appointed time, a number of families were gathering over by the gates to one hangar of the civilian district, as a man with an orange hue to his eyes ordered the crowd.

"Disperse! Use this time to say farewell to your loved on-" A dark shape dropped down behind him, as a staff met the back of his head and introduced him to the concept of concussion.

In another part of the district arms the size of tree trunks put another man in a choke hold before he raised him up and threw him brutally at his fellows. While yet another met a man's infamous Left Haymaker and learned that Oath over Omega did not provide the greatest dental insurance.

"'Use this time to say farewell to your loved ones!' Are you serious? Ahahaha!" Sai laughed as he whacked the 000 infused man on the head a few more times each time he tried to rise and get back up. The crowd was already surging into the hangar, as Sai avoided being trampled by flattening himself against a wall, "Hey whoa! No shoving, make it orderly!" As Sai shouted in, "Smoking hot babes and kids first!"

-=-=-

It was all prepared, several caches of normal suits and verniers, as well as small arms stored along the way, escape routes mapped and memorized, as well as alternates set up.

And looming right in front of them was the representative of the 'haves' in opposition to the 'have nots' who would perish in fire, if Oath over Omega and Char Aznable were to have their way. The Governor's mansion of Palau, in its stately whites and palatial gardens.

"<They should have the guards good and riled up by now.>" Leina notes over the radio, "<Aznable team, in position?>" Before she announces, "<Commence the operation!>"

It was a simple split, their best fighters would head straight towards Char Aznable, hoping to purify him or take him down in a blitz attack. Whereas she would take one other with her, and track down Sayla using their connection. If she was clean, then they'd rescue her. If not, then they'd subdue her and bring her to Domon and Guy.

What happened after would depend on how well their initial moves go. Either way, the Three Ships Alliance was moving into position for an attack right now, so either they did this fast, or they let them draw him out.

Her normal suit looked, padded, like she was wearing something bulky underneath likely a vest. Holding down the trigger on the loaned Photon Pistol, she carved the window right out of the frame, causing it to wobble, then crash down on the outside as it melted.

Taking off from her cover in the bushes she leapt through into one of the abandoned servants chambers, which she very much doubted would be guarded. Running across the room, she opened the door, and cleared the hall, before taking off into a runners sprint...

... right towards where she felt her.

Sayla. We're here. Hold on just a little longer.

Even if its deception on Sayla's part after all, she can't help it. She had to let her know she was near.

"<Judau. One last favor.> She says, eschewing code names, "<Need you to hit him couple times extra for her.>"

Despite being on a mission like this, its a rare thing she ever asks Judau to do anything for /her/ that involves violence. She's always in fact, trying to get him to do the opposite.

"<... Someone ought to show him how a real big brother acts.>" 

<Pose Tracker> Domon Kasshu has posed.

Domon tightened the blood red headband on his head, spiky hair barely contained by its crimson shackle. He'd been called in to help with the rescue mission...although these days, truth be told, he was more comfortable in his Mobile Trace cockpit. He might be one of the strongest Naturals in the world, but fat load of good that does against an extra-dimensionally corrupted space zombie. He grunted. Probably shouldn't repeat that line of thought aloud around Sayla.

Eyeing the weaponry of those next to him, Domon internally shrugged. Maybe they were more lethal, for the average person. But guns jam, melee weapons snap, and one way or another, you run out of ammo.

No better weapon than the one you were born into.

So state the teachings of The School of The Undefeated of The East. Nodding back to his comrades, Domon leaps into action, his wiry frame quickly covering ground to the mansion as he kicks off a wall for leverage, leaping onto the edge of a balcony, then propelling himself forward with his momentum upwards and onto the elevated terrace before gravity could sink its claws back into his body.

Still got it. Cautiously approaching the closed doors, Domon tested their handles. Locked. Of course they were locked. Weighing his options, the King of Heart made a decision after much deliberation (30 seconds).

Rearing a fist back, Domon punches his way through the filigreed crystal and reaches for the handle on the other side, his hand mercifully spared the glass shards of his prior vending machine incident by the miracle invention known as...combat gloves.

  • click*


The doors to the balcony swing open, and the Fighter of Fighters enters carefully, scanning his surroundings for signs of life or hostile intent. He finds none, but Domon instead finds a grandly decorated bedroom, still pristine and untouched as if it was merely there for show. An eerie mask with red eyes and a vase with a rose adorn a desk in the corner, but aside from that, nothing. Domon cringes slightly and moves past, preparing to storm into the hall. Raising his cuff to his face, the Undefeated of The East radios in.

"I'm in. Second floor, room connected to the balcony. Nothing here but a creepy mask on a table. Where do you want me next?" 

<Pose Tracker> Char Aznable has posed.

Martial Law has come to Palau.

With Char Aznable's broadcast to the Earth Sphere, panic and unrest are stirring among the citizens. Many of his specially-selected guard, imbued with the Oath Over Omega, are busy 'maintaining order'.

Cosmic Law cares little how they go about it. One way or another, humans will die.

Palau's residents are smart and resilient, though, and know to lay low when things get bad - and the guards are still, after all, themselves, unwilling to turn their arms on friend or family. The mood, however, is low. Hopeless.

After all, the Federation would never bother to send them aid. Only destruction.

=====================================================

A Zentradi-style shuttle drifts, seemingly abandoned, into Palau's dock past dummy asteroids - whereupon its running lights come alive and it deftly repositions itself to one of the docking clamps.

Aboard, Gilboa Sant checks his engines, seals the airlock entrance to the asteroid base, and puts the ship back into its pseudo-depowered state, ready to jump to life at a moment's notice.

"Alec, Kwani, Ivan, remember: If you see any of Char's guards, don't engage directly; he's probably stuffed them with that power. We've seen what it can do to a mobile suit; a human souped up on that is gonna be nigh-unkillable."

Ivan nods as he, Alec and Kwani strap on body armour. "This is our home too, though, and we have the training they don't - and thanks to miss Ashta, we know we've got allies on-site who can deal with them. Use the city to our advantage, run rings around 'em, bait them into our friends and save them."

Gilboa nods. "Flaste and the Captain are monitoring us from the Ra Mari. They'll send us warning when Commander Frontal makes his move. We don't have long.

Godspeed."

The Garencieres Team's field operators disembark, slipping into the cramped streets of Palau like they belong there.

It is, after all, their home.

=====================================================

Char pays one last visit to his sister's bedchambers, knocking on the door.

"Artesia. We are passing through the Shoal Zone. It won't be long now."

He waits for her answer through the door.

"When this is all done... I'll see you again, I'm sure." In that space beyond where time itself is light.

He turns and starts to walk back towards the audience chamber...

        Wait.

A flicker of intent. Distinct from the low mood across the asteroid base.

        Purpose. Direction.

        Someone's coming for her.

         No. More than one.

... A thin smile appears on the Comet of Ruin's face, and he changes course, heading for the building's armoury vault.

======================================================

In the face of the force of the Shuffle Alliance, and the power of their hands burning red, Char's imbued guards are in trouble. Their biggest advantage is that Palau is a maze of tightly-cramped buildings and gantries, and the inordinate amount of punishment they can sustain - but any one of their number who gets incapacitated is one more Sai and Chibodee can Purify and get to safety.

Still. They do have firearms. Always a concern, even for the Crest Bearers of the Shuffle Alliance.

As Chibodee and Sai secure the civilian hangar, some of the Palau militia take up positions on a metal bridge overhead, automatic weapons in hand and laying down a barrage of fire to keep Neo-China and Neo-America's Gundam Fighters' heads down.

Unheard over the blaze of gunfire - the metallic clink of a support being loosened.

The bridge gives out underneath them, swinging to thump against the building, and they tumble four stories to the ground. The asteroid base's lower gravity and the Oath burning within them stops this fall being fatal, but the confusion is a perfect opportunity for Chibodee and Sai to approach and even the odds.

Kwani leans around a barrel and flashes the two Gundam Fighters a thumbs-up, before vanishing into the shadows again.

=====================================================

Domon enters through the second floor balcony, into an empty room. He transmits to Leina - and then the gunshot rings out through the feed.

Blind-fired through the door. The element of surprise, and a Newtype's ability to sense the presence of others to draw their aim, should yield blood - but the man behind the door is shooting at the Master of the School of the Undefeated of the East. No way it's going to be that easy.

Either way: The fight is on. 

<Pose Tracker> Christina MacKenzie has posed.

        Christina MacKenzie, Erstwhile Paramour of Sayla Mass, kept her eyes peeled for glimmers of distant thruster flares or signs of alarms. Her sensors were running quiet, no active pinging, and the Tristan's thruster funnels dared not roar, clinging as she was to the inside of the decoy asteroid.
        With the greenlight call, Chris initiated the asteroid's split, revealing not just the Failnaught, but the Oberge as well.
                "MAIRO, XAIRO, make sure those too frail to evac normally get priority in the hold."
                "MAIRO Pilot Gundam! MAIRO Pilot Gundam!"
                "No, that's for when I'm back. Keep him combat ready, and nothing more."
                "...MAIRO pilot ship..." a downcast whine.

        Chris disembarked the Tristan, pulling her riot shield out from the extra cockpit space. Her sidearm, too, loathe as she was to use it. But for two people in this world, she would.
                "Leina, the takeout box is in position. I'm moving to the rendezvous."

-=-=-

        There were mansions, not quite this large, but far more numerous in Ribo Colony. They were never, however, inhabited by the workers that tended "the Earth Sphere's herb garden." That's just how these things were.
                ("Shangri La also had these palatial elites, if I recall correctly.") She looked at the young woman next to her, and tightened her grip on her riot shield. "Leina, I'll take point so you can focus on sensing her. Ready? Let's go." Chris nodded, and at Leina's direction strode forward, her red and white suit just as brilliant as its first deployment in Sri Lanka. 

<Pose Tracker> Sayla Mass has posed.


        These past days, Sayla has been biding her time. Being cooperative. Going for guarded strolls around the idyllic governor's mansion. Working out the routes through. Carefully smuggling a single clip of pistol ammunition, taken at just the right time.

        The knock on the door snaps her alert. For a few moments she's totally silent. "Will you? Or will we be like Lalah, doomed to drift lonely across an empty universe?" The crack she made in Renais armour... maybe she can repeat the trick here. But there's heartbreak in her voice. She'd truly hoped... No. She had no chance against the Oath. She simply waits for Char to walk away in silence.

        Her second father's pistol sat openly on the table, as it had since Char had returned it to her. Her pilot suit was folded under her bed, for quick access. Once again she rubbed a spot on her arm where there used to be a scar. Despite what Casval said, she was still worried.

        And then she felt Leina's presence. Close. She closed her eyes... where was Casval? Moving toward the armoury. Thank heavens... She just had to hold on a bit longer.

        She stood up and picked the gun off the table. She waited another twenty seconds, then slid in the clip. Thirty more seconds, then she moved quietly to the elaborate wooden doors that guarded her chambers.

        ((BGM: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lk8BMgl9vp0 ))

        Suddenly, both doors slam open as Sayla delivers a firm kick, and there's a flash of pastel blue and white as she dives through, turning to fire once at each guard- a delaying tactic primarily. As Leina and Chris charge down the hall, she'll see Sayla shoving down one of the elaborate side tables and flipping it on to it's side to use as cover- destroying what is surely a priceless vase as she does so.

        As it so happens, the fight is on. 

<Pose Tracker> Renais Cardiff has posed.

This time last year, Renais Cardiff was under the thrall of an empowering, omnicidal force older than the universe... and now, it's come back with a ghost who's decided to drop a colony, and kidnapped the matriarch of her found family.

She's not going to allow that.

She stands beside Domon equipped for battle; cooling vanes spread behind her like phoenix wings in violet, her body clad in a skintight black suit. A golden chevron spreads in front of her chest, reminiscent of a Mazin, and slung across both shoulders is a beam launcher nearly the size of the rest of her body, hooked into her shoulder by a pair of thick cables. Traces of glowing white move along the contours of her body, along the lines of the suit.



Domon finds himself under assault through the door--and Renais' hands dive into the frame mounting her 'wings', pulling out a pair of submachine guns, reflexively answering the oncoming fire with a hail of her own as a few of the bullets meant for the King of Hearts ping off of her wings. 

<Pose Tracker> Judau Ashta has posed.

Judau Ashta doesn't know Char Aznable in anything more than the abstract.

He's too young to know the OYW in anything more than the history lessons he mostly slept through or wasn't there for in class; by the time of the Gryps Conflict, Judau was mostly just working to put food on the table and save for Leina's education (and very specifically not his because see again: classes, napping, ditching).

By the time of the First Neo Zeon War... well, Char was just the ghost lingering in the background of complicated histories Judau never quite knew until after the fact. And by the Second, Judau was making a life for himself out in Jupiter, even if he felt the tremors of Axis Shock even from that far out.

So Judau doesn't know Char. But he does know ABOUT Char, and he knows two things infinitely more important: the first is what Char is -trying- to do, right now. And the second--

Judau Ashta knows Sayla Mass. He knows he owes her the world because she saved his.

And he knows she deserves much better than being stuck with a brother like this.

It's why Judau is here today with the extraction team -- and why there is an extra fire lit under him as he infiltrates Palau. Getting in is easy; it's not the first place he's snuck into -- hell, it's not even the first potentially-doomed mining asteroid colony he's snuck into with intent to rescue someone. Maybe that's why the powerful flare of his Newtype presence feels particularly honed and sharp today as he makes his way through the familiar sights of slums and rundown buildings to the inevitably richer regions of Palau that hold that palatial estate. Dressed in his piloting normal suit, loaded for bear with an assault rifle and a handgun* because Judau speaks through his fists as much as he speaks through a gun, Judau looks up at the estate with a burgeoning frown.

"Figures," he mutters to himself, and then sets about scaling the building to the balcony above. This: ALSO something he's done several times before.

  • At some time between point A and point B, Judau picked up a pipe in the industrial sector of Palau, He tossed it once in his hand, tested the weight, said "huh. nice pipe" and that was that and now it's just kind of jammed into the rifle strap at his back as he climbs his way up. Look: a nice pipe is a nice pipe. You don't just leave one of those lying around.


With a "hup!" Judau drags himself up and over the balcony with only the briefest stagger. He takes stock of the bedroom with the furrow of his brows before shrugging and moving on, a hand lifting to his ear as he hears Leina's voice crackle in across the line. She calls him by name; this is good, because Judau's definitely already forgotten his callsign.

Need you to hit him a couple extra for her. ... Someone ought to show him how a real brother acts.

Despite the situation, Judau smiles as he walks out cautiously behind Domon.

<<"Don't worry. I'm already plannin' on it.">>

From the second he found out who Sayla was and how she was related to Char.

He's about to say more, when sea green eyes narrow.

"Wait," he says to Domon and Renais, "I'm feeling--"

BAM BAM

"BULLETS AH CRAP!"

This is Judau's somewhat timely warning derailed into an untimely shout as he dives out of the path of bullets and then YET MORE BULLETS just kind of demolishing that door; he goes for cover behind a wall, hand falling to the grip of his handgun that he does not, yet, draw.

He's not quite at THAT much of Reckless Judau Levels that he's going to dive into a hellacious crossfire of bullets.

... yet. 

<Pose Tracker> Domon Kasshu has posed.

Domon leaps back from the door as bullets whiz by where his head had been prior only moments ago, but some still seek their mark...until mercifully stopped by Renais' wings. Domon is grateful, but his gratitude is quickly overtaken by his irritation at Char. "I know you're a devious son of a bitch, Char, but that was low! So help me, I'm going to make you pay worse than those damn vending machines!"

Diving behind the corner, Domon immediately disregards his previous line of thought. Guns break down. Guns are clumsy. Guns aren't as satisfying as looking someone in the eye while you beat the teeth out of their frustrating little faces. But you know what. He was a Natural. He was a regular freakin' human. Trained to the pinnacle, sure. But he also wasn't a dumbass, contrary to popular belief in the Shuffle Alliance chatrooms.

Pulling out a VEPR-12 semi-automatic shotgun from its back holster, Domon barked at Renais and Judau.

"Out of the way, kids! Domon's got a shotgun and he's packing heat!" Blitzing the door, Domon grunted as he took a few stray bullets, grazing shots to his legs and his left shoulder. In return, he offered Char and his soldiers the evergreen gift of incendiary buckshot.

BLAM BLAM BLAM!

Entire holes are blasted out of the door way and the furniture in the hall as Domon brings a very Domon gun the bear, the 25 drum mag clicking merrily as the VEPR-12 ejects spent casing after spent casing, a broadside of buckshot blowing apart the corrupted guards in a violent spectacle...until the power of Oath Over Omega begins to knit them back together.

"Eww. Really? REALLY?!"

Even worse, they began firing back before they were even whole again, one man aiming a rifle at his head even as his intestines knit themselves back together and shoved themselves back into his torso. Taking another bullet, this time grazing the side of his head, Domon snarled and dove into the room across the hall from the bedroom, blood trails following him as the essence of the King of Hearts stained the carpet and shattered furniture in ways even the most powerful of bleaches would never be able to fully remove.

"Char, you sunnavabitch! You had to do this to regular people too?! No wonder you get called cringe!" 

<Pose Tracker> Guy Shishioh has posed.

Send the heavy combatants to deal directly with someone enhanced by Triple Zero. Honestly, Guy's worried. Before, Equipped, he'd like his odds, but Triple Zero could make a support unit like Mic Sounders able to hold the line against most of GGG. What would it do to someone like Char Aznable?

Well. Char Aznable and *quite* a few imbued guards. "He's been pumping Triple Zero into the soldiers here," Guy reports into his onboard mic, the two-horned crown of his ID Suit sweeping up high above his head as he charges through the halls. Domon opts for a methodical pace, but Guy Shishioh has always been a man who favors his speed, when he can. He's been busy bulldozing his way through guards for a few minutes.

Still, he arrives with Domon, leaping directly from the ground to the balcony, forward-flipping onto the marble. He scans around, cautious. "Don't see anything," he mutters. "No sign here."

And then the gunfire starts.

Guy surges to one side - quick as a blink. He can't count on them not packing something armor-shredding. "Ambush!" he barks, like it were not incredibly obvious to the only other person present.

Domon produces a Freakin' Gun, and Guy can't help but grin. "Renais' finest, huh?" he says. "Cover me, then."

"WILL!! KNIFE!!" he cries, and rips the shining green blade from his bracer, sweeping low and around the doorframe to charge directly at the assailants.

He's not going to carve them up or anything. He'd never do that to a normal person, especially someone afflicted beyond their control.

He'll totally try to slash their guns in half and then punch them out, though. 

<Pose Tracker> Leina Ashta has posed.


('Even the well off on Shangri-la wanted to get off Shangri-la.') Was Leina's soft reply to Chris.

What they had was more than Judau and Leina could have ever had in a hundred life times back then, and it was still never good enough.

"Alright." Leina agrees, falling in line behind Chris. Leina was never truly military despite 'technically' being a part of the AEUG for a few weeks as a child.

Sayla trained her in self-defense and marksmanship after convincing her that yes, she either needed to pick up a gun or accept a bodyguard.

Thus Chris taking point is appreciated.

Smiling despite herself at Judau saying he already planned to, she responds to Judau there, "<Keep going until->" A gunshot rings out over the comms, "<-Domon!? Judau!!>"

Leina has to remind herself that the Undefeated of the East can catch bullets. Lots of bullets.

With Oath over Omega though, that knowledge is cold comfort. Especially as she hears the gunfire break out, far more rapidly.

Motioning for Chris to turn with a hand signal, they head up the stairs, Leina double timing every step until at the top they turn and...

... she doesn't even need to assess the situation with Sayla so close, with the Guards' attention turned, she raises the Photon Pistol and plugs one on the right side of their chest with it.

Oath over Omega will likely save their life, she tells herself. But if not, she'll bear that weight too. And then Leina points the pistol at Sayla. Not at any vital point, just ready, just in case. "Sayla. Show me your eyes, right now."

She doesn't think it's the case, but right now she can't trust that that wasn't just an act to lure them in. Leina advances, seeing her in that blue and white pastel dress with that vibe of innocence...

...a flash of herself, in a ruffled red dress and matching hair ribbon in front of a mirror, a blonde haired man with his hand squeezing her shoulder...

... despite the gravity of the situation, anger spikes out of her over this, like a hot knife. Even as she closely examines her eyes and...

... without being asked, she bends over to pick up a combat knife from one of the downed Guards, and hands it over to Sayla hilt first, her expression saying it all.

Of a secret now kept between them. 'We will never speak of this part ever again.'

"We've got normal suits stashed on the way out. Domon, Guy, Judau, and Renais are engaging him right now." Unsnapping a pouch in her suit, she gives her an earpiece Comm too.

She wants to hug her, even with the upcoming talk looming over them, some part of her /needs/ to. All the same, she makes herself defer for now.

He needs to be stopped.
"<We've secured Sayla. She's not affected by Oath over Omega, will link up shortly.>" 

<Pose Tracker> Renais Cardiff has posed.

'Renais' finest?' Renais blinks once as she drops her empty magazines, slamming a new pair into her guns and checking the guns on her back, vaguely puzzled, as she looks at Domon. Where did he--

No time to worry now. He's armed, that's important.

"Understood!" she calls back to Guy. She's stoic and stone-faced as she sprays high to suppress the defenders, keeping pace behind him as they advance. Domon's reaction gets a glance from her, and a nod. "As long as we can keep them secured, they'll be fine!"

She advances and slides in behind a corner, hefting the beam cannon from her back to sling under her arm, held alongside one of the submachine guns. "Stay clear of my firing line," she states simply. She's ready for whatever comes down that hallway... and she's ready to pull the big trigger if it looks male and blonde. 

<Pose Tracker> Char Aznable has posed.

The doors collapse in a hail of gunfire from Renais and Domon, and Guy Shishioh surges through the flames of the incendiary rounds, Will Knife gleaming green - To be intercepted by a sabre wreathed in the light of dawn.

"So it is you," Char Aznable remarks as his guards fall back from the flame. One of them, caught directly in the blaze, crashes through the railing of the upper floor, falling slowly to impact on tiled marble and a rug, which begins to smoulder. He has an exo-flight pack strapped to his back, and is holding a handgun in his other hand. The strength of the Cosmic Will infusing him and the pack's thrusters give him enough momentum to push back against Guy's Evolual strength, and his expression is... placid, despite the dawnfire glow surrounding him.

"I was wondering if that GaoGaiGar at Kowloon was a recreation, or a mockery, but now I know: It was the genuine article.

"... And it lost." He looks over Guy's shoulder to Domon. "As did the God Gundam. How do you think you'll fare without them, now?"

Renais, the Ace of Chausseur... He does not know. But he respects that she has come loaded for battle. Pushing Guy off him, Char jets backwards, firing rounds towards the G-Stone Cyborg to prevent her firing that beam cannon over her shoulder.

He does not see Judau, but... "Four people, just for me? That's hardly fair, don't you think?

"You ought have brought an army, Evoluder. The Oath will overcome."

He fires a tight burst of three rounds directly at Guy's centre of mass.

================================================================

The air sizzles as the beam of wave-particle light lances forth from Leina's pistol, boring a hole through one Oath-imbued Guard - and the second behind him. And a good few inches into the wall behind the second guy.

The Photon Pistol was designed to stop the cybernetically-enhanced, pain-ignoring Iron Cross soldiers, after all.

They groan in pain from the floor as the true nature of the Power from Jupiter knits the lethal injuries back together - but that will take Time.

Two more guards are laying down fire while Leina hands Sayla the knife.

================================================================

The advance by the evacuation team, meanwhile, is making slow but steady progress. Deft sabotage by the Garencieres team exposes Oath-imbued soldiers to the direct, purifying will of Queen the Spade and the Ace of Clubs, removing their will to continue oppressing their own people - and their consciousness.

Little by little, building by building, the aegis of the rescuers extends through the mining town. 

<Pose Tracker> Christina MacKenzie has posed.

        As the gunshots ring out in the labyrinthine hallways, Chris's shield comes up, and she scans behind Leina for ambush before she checks the slim visor ahead of her and barrels onwards. Hearing the cacophony over the comms, she grits her teeth but presses on. Can't lose focus-- combat specialists on that side. She'll trust in them. She has to.

        Her momentum carries her up the flight to the next floor, where the doors burst open--it's her. Breaking her stride only to give Leina time to aim, she body-slams her riot shield into the other guard, smashing him backwards into the room Sayla had busted out of.

                        -'Sayla. Show me your eyes, right now.'-

        The grim determination in that voice. Chris leaves her back, and Sayla, to Leina, and grabs the other guard that Leina shot, dragging him in an arc to hurl him at the other guard she pushed back. Break their line of sight.

                        -<'Sayla. She's not affected...'>-

        Good.

        When the soldiers get up again, her sidearm is in her hand, at their forehead.

                <"Leina, go time.">

                "Sorry."

        BAN-BANG.

        She holstered her gun and began running before the shells even hit the floor. Clink, clink. Two bullet casings, two victims of 000 left to Palau's greater fate. A cost she knows she'd pay over and over for those two.

        After all, it's not Villa Mass that is Chris's place to return to. 

<Pose Tracker> Sayla Mass has posed.


        She can feel Leina closing in, and the blast of the photon pistol dropping a guard. The follow up fire from Chris puts down another- only for Leina to point a gun at her- and Sayla to hold up a hand to not get too close. She looks up at Leina, her blue eyes perfectly blue- but concerned.

        "Char," not Casval, not Edouard. To everyone here he's Char. "Said he exposed me to the energy of the Oath to heal my injuries after the battle. He claimed not enough to take away my will, but..." she shakes her head. "I think I'm still me but we need to take this seriously."

        She looks up at Chris with a wordless request. Don't make Leina do this if it comes to it.

        Sayla takes the knife and wordlessly uses it to cut the skirt of the dress short enough to move, and cut off the puffy sleeves.

        She is not going to be walking around enemy territory in her underwear with her ex and her ward. Especially when the enemy is her brother.

        Chris putting the killshots in snaps her back, as she puts the ear comm in. <"I'm here. What's our evacuation plan?>" Leina's in charge of this mission- and Sayla's trusting her. 

<Pose Tracker> Judau Ashta has posed.


<<"We're okay Leina!">> Judau's voice comes loud but clear over the comm lines over the sound of heavy weapons fire and -- was that a beam cannon sound--?!

<<"Pretty sure we're doing most of the blowing stuff up!">>

This is -- somehow... reassuring.

Maybe it's just the natural gift of Judau's inflection.

Fire bursts forth in a distracting blaze as Guy collides with Char. Judau may not be a crazy super-cyborg, but he does know the value of timing. And when Renais and Guy both push inward and Domon goes about creating distractions in a way only Domon can--

Judau capitalizes on a moment of opportunity, springing from that cover to run at Char's recovering guards at full speed. He unclips his handgun, aims --

And fires off two shots at one of the guard's knees. He'd feel bad, but -- he just saw how much abuse these people can apparently recover from.

Which is why the gunfire is just a distraction --

CRACK!

--for the well-timed pipe that Judau swings with his free hand, aiming to crack it directly over the guard's skull to knock them out.

He's in a melee with monsters, but, well -- Judau doesn't even blink. Seagreen eyes are wide, but they're alert, because, at the end of the day -- craziness like this is just the former junk trader's element. And besides...

... he can feel the Oath, seething all around him. If he lets his guard down for a second...

So, trusty pipe in one hand, gun in the other, Judau remains alert -- alert enough, to hear the taunts of an unfamiliar-yet-familiar voice fill his ears. The Oath will overcome, claims the Red Comet -- and that claim comes as, from across the estate, Leina's anger spikes. He feels it. Impressions of another blond aristocrat who abducted -her-, and here's another just-- just--

There's a little shimmer of pinkish red around Judau. Just the beginning of a spark as he impulsively swings that gun up--

"THE OATH CAN OVERCOME MY ASS!"

--and makes his introductions to Char Aznable by shouting in a fit of anger and unloading his entire clip directly into the man's jetpack.

<Pose Tracker> Renais Cardiff has posed.

Renais catches sight of Char, and the light tracing across her suit speeds up, the beam cannon whining as it powers up--

And she's pushed back around the corner as Char fires back. "Fuck," she grumbles, releasing the cables on the beam cannon and letting it drop to the floor. "I used to be like you. I know how seductive it is, Aznable... and if it were anyone else, I'd have some sympathy." She unsheathes a large combat knife instead--and while the Red Comet is occupied with Guy, she dashes at him, knife-first, with superhuman speed. "But you--"

"I'm more than happy to kill you AS MANY TIMES AS IT TAKES!!" she yells, the lines on her suit all glowing, as she leaves a trail of shimmering heat behind her. 

<Pose Tracker> Guy Shishioh has posed.

The Will Knife stops, the all-slicing blade finding its equal in a blade enhanced by the Aura of Dawn. Guy's eyes open wide. He'd felt that it should be possible, but still...to be pushed back by Char Aznable is so unexpected he actually loses a step to it.

"I wasn't here for Axis...but now you've given me even more reason to overcome! Galeon and I are more than ready to take you on as many times as we need to!"

Char shoves him aside and Guy stumbles a few steps, keeping the Will Knife up in a guard position, just in case.

Should've brought an army, Char says.

Guy's smile splits wide. "I've never been the type, you know? Sayla's the one who thinks about armies, for me. But I think we'll be more than enough for this!"

So saying, he moves to strike--!!

And gets blasted several times in the chest for it, bullets with penetration empowered by Triple Zero boring into the ID Armor deeply enough one might fear for the man beneath. Maybe it ought to kill him on the spot. Guy goes flying, alright - knocked completely into the wall, crushing a bookcase as he collapses into it with a gurgling, "HRK!"

The Will Knife scatters to the side, knocked from his hands. Guy huffs and groans as he forces his fist to the ground, struggling to his feet. "Yeah," he says, and wipes his lip with one gauntlet.

"Our Oath will overcome this, Char," he says. 

<Pose Tracker> Leina Ashta has posed.


Judau's okay. She didn't feel him die of course, but hearing him say it causes something to untighten in her chest.

"I felt it. I think it's how I found you so easily once... you were awake." Leina comments of Char utilizing the energy in that way to Sayla, before adding, "If it hasn't taken hold by now, it'll be fine."

Her tone is terse, obviously stressed about the idea of Sayla being taken over by 000. She was still ready to subdue her and drag her to Domon and Guy.

The moment Leina sends out the comm, she gets a Newtype flash and suddenly- 'Leina, go time.'

Quickly moving behind a column with a bust of Palau's ex-Governor in the hallway to take cover-

BAN-BANG

-despite her walls being partially up, she feels the pain of two people. And not the two reinforcements.

While she could just hold it down and utilize it like a laser, that's not the kind of shooting she's used to.

Instead, now having some idea of how much these men can take, two shots buzz out instead, as each one gets a double tap of Photon Energy to the chest.

She avoids the instinct to add a third shot each to the head, like Sayla taught her. Even as they fall, probably temporarily, she tells her the gameplan, "<Our mobile suits are hidden in nearby mining hangars. Sai, Chibodee, Nastasha and Argo are heading the civilian evacuation with the Garencieres crew. The Three Ships' Alliance and the Sleeves will be attacking soon. If we can stop Char before then...>"

She trails off, it's the best case scenario, but not the only one. Judau's battle fervor suddenly hits her, that little shimmer, and Leina finds this sort of grim pleasure in that moment.

Like the smallest touch of Schadenfreude at the Red Comet's misfortune at facing her brother being that hyped up..

"This way!" Leina tells them as if it weren't obvious from the sounds of battle, as she steps over the guards in question, running down the hall, waiting for them to get to a double door. Motioning for Chris on one side, while she takes the other.

Reaching for the handle, she cracks it, and when it opens, her first glimpse of Char is met with a blast of photon power as her introduction.

A glance at the room though tells her what kind of pandemonium it is, with Guy hurt. Judau firing at his jetpack. Domon being Domon and Renais... trying to engage him with that knife at high speed.

"Char! Even now. EVEN NOW! Mineva's hoping to talk you out of doing this all over again!"

This time, even if it's not what she's used to, this time she holds down the trigger, trying to sweep it across him without striking anyone else in the room, "But even if Oath over Omega left you, you'd just continue being a disappointment to her and Sayla, wouldn't you?"

She has her own choice words, her own outrage for what he did during the Axis Shock, for her own happiness that he tried to shatter in pieces again while she was still healing from the first war. Yet that is buried under her anger over what he did to the two of them emotionally.

<Pose Tracker> Christina MacKenzie has posed.

        Bolting out of the room, she finally--for the first time since before Kowloon--locks eyes with Sayla as they organize the extraction. Sayla's solemn words overheard, Chris's expression tightens, one long long moment before she nods. She'd kill her for as long as it takes, to save her. Both she and, she's certain, Leina came to Palau having prepared themselves to. If Sayla didn't yet recognize her ward's strength of will... Well, that's its own lesson to learn.

        Striding past the downed guards, Chris takes the rearguard now. Inspired by Sayla's stylish property damage, Chris knocks over or rips down literally every table and any large portraits into the walkway.

        Once they reach the door, even Chris can feel the massive forces clashing within. Not to mention hear them, as not just automatic fire, but the howl of a shotgun just keeps ringing out and ringing out, like a blazing challenge. Chris takes the handle, primed, and once Leina opens fire, Chris presses in and takes an oblique-advance position to cover her without obstructing her bead on Char. Buffeted by the covering fire of the amber-wreathed guards as she obstructs the doorway, the vibrations rattle her arm, rattle her whole body really, and more than one bullet cracks against the shield's visor, but she isn't made to falter yet. Not yet. Unfortunately for Guy, but fortunately for her and her merely-standard-grade protection, the heavier dawnshrouded rounds are at least aimed at someone who can take them. But if even he is thrown astray by them... Chris braces her other arm against the shield. She'll do what she has to.

        "Char!" she snarls, "Coming back again... You're the wound that never closes!" 

<Pose Tracker> Char Aznable has posed.

Perhaps they don't need an army, indeed. Guy is forced back, but Judau unloads his entire clip into his flight pack, and Renais is closing in fast. Char's options are becoming limited.

He drops to the landing, unslinging the alarmingly-smoking backpack, and flings it directly towards the cyborg before it explodes dramatically. As he falls back from the explosion, though, Leina's blast of Photon Power catches him in the chest, picking him up and slamming him against the wall, where he slides down ungraciously. No trail of blood - the Photon beam cauterised the hole.

Bruised, scorched and battered against the opposite wall, Char's wounds and uniform begin to stitch closed.

He raises his head and opens his eyes, seeing Leina with the pistol trained on him - and Sayla behind her.

A sardonic smirk quirks his brow. "... So she's the one... You'd rather die than hurt." He fishes a device out of his pocket - a detonator?

"I suppose you really are as much of a coward as I am, Artesia, if leaving her behind is your first thought."

He clicks the device's big red button.

There is a telltale hum, of a Zeon-style monoeye sensor coming to life, and the mansion shakes - before a crimson fist the size of a man smashes through the landing beneath Renais, and the Zero Robo Ruin Sazabi launches upwards through the foundations of the building, its single eye blazing orange.

Staggering to his feet Char ducks behind a doorframe for cover, letting the machine that is, in this moment, his extension run rampant while his injuries heal.

The rug that one goon landed on has now caught fire.

"As long as humanity exists," he yells in response to Chris, voice somehow carrying over the sound of the Sazabi's violence, "the universe will continue to bleed! I am but one symptom." 

<Pose Tracker> Sayla Mass has posed.


        "Right..." She's still concerned but the fact that Leina considered it meant she talked to the experts. As they move through Sayla is carefully counting her bullets, and calls for a clip part way through. She doesn't exactly have carrying capacity right now.

        "<Acknowledged.>" She can hear them fighting. Against her brother. The idiot... Sayla moves close behind Leina, and when Leina dives out, Sayla is right behind her, pistol aimed at Char's torso. "Chris!" She looks to the red-haired woman taking cover from a barrage. She can see Guy pulling himself up, Renais aremed to the teeth, Judau getting ready to strike again. But before she can wade in-

        But even if Oath over Omega left you, you'd just continue being a disappointment to her and Sayla, wouldn't you?

        Sayla's eyes widen and her head turns to look at Leina. "Leina-" All that anger and hurt... not even her own.

        "... So she's the one... You'd rather die than hurt."

        Sayla puts herself between Leina and Char, blocking Char's line of fire. "Don't you dare!" She fires three rounds from their fathers pistol at center of mass, then two for his head. Her second clip empties, even as she continues to pull the trigger two more times. But she's too slow. The Sazabi makes it's entrance and all her thoughts are around protecting her friends. Her family. Her daughter. With all she has left-

        Forgetting, for a moment, that they all came here to save her. 

<Pose Tracker> Judau Ashta has posed.

The exploding jet pack is hurled with speed and reaction time that Judau Ashta would find genuinely pretty impressive if it wasn't being used against them all at the moment. As it stands, he pivots away from it, shielding his face as the explosion ripples heat across his back. Teeth gritting, he casts his handgun aside; he doesn't have time to reload right now, and so he reaches behind him for that assault rifle. He turns around, readying--

--and that's when he sees Leina just stone cold beam gun a man.

"Whoa! Leina!" Judau declares, eyes widening as he is briefly distracted from his battle fervor.

"--I want one of those!"

It's a short-lived realization of the Cool Potential of Photon Properties; soon enough, his gaze is narrowing on Char as he listens to the man talk to his sister -- the WAY he talks to her.

"..."

Judau's hand slowly leaves his assault rifle. His other grips tighter on his pipe.

He feels the rumble before the rumble. There's a sensation of something coming -- expanded awareness exerts a sting of danger along his synapses a handful of seconds before the floor beneath them starts to tremble.

Common sense says to get away. Common sense says to--

"People keep sayin' this orange crap doesn't change anything about a person except how they feel about our right to exist--" the rumbling intensifies in perfect time to the swelling of red around Judau. "I bet you got a lot of excuses for all the stupid crap in your life, an' this is just gonna be one more of it, but--"

The sound of a monoeye sensor bwomps with life -- and Judau Ashta breaks into a sprint. Not away.

-Right for- Char.

"--THERE'S NO EXCUSE FOR BEIN' SUCH A SHIT BROTHER!"

The hand EXPLODES just as Judau -LEAPS-. And a stifling aura of Newtype Pressure BOOMS around him in a flaring specter of red--

"THIS IS FOR SAYLA AND HAMAN, YOU DICK!"

Just as he looks to tackle into Char as the other man tries to heal. Head to head.

Literally.

If that thing is moving because of Char -- a good blow to the head ought to help. Right? 

<Pose Tracker> Guy Shishioh has posed.

The hit pinned Guy to the wall, but he's got his feet again once he's got his breath back. He steps over to the Will Knife, stepping on the handle to flip it into the air, where he catches it with Evolual speed.

And then the whole building rattles. "What!?" Guy yelps --

And watches the Ruin Sazabi take to the sky, humming with purpose. Guy turns to watch Char, but...

"...I'll take care of it!" Guy yells. "Renais, cover me!"

The only one he knows for sure is armed to try.

Guy rushes to the edge of the balcony. "Char," he says, knowing the powerful Newtype will hear his intentions across the sea of souls, even if the sound waves won't reach his ears. "You won't have seen what I became. What I can do now!"

Guy vaults into the air, and just when he'd slow down for his jump to apex, he turns a bright green, flashing into Purification Mode and continuing climbing. "CURATIO!" he roars, and thrusts the two-fingered gesture of might toward the Sazabi. "TENERITAS!"

Green light streams from him in an unfocused cone, washing across the Ruin Sazabi. He can't purify it just himself...but he can pump enough purification energy into it that it'll be useless for combat. Between that, Domon, and Renais, he should be able to keep it locked down.

That'll leave the others to handle CHar. 

<Pose Tracker> Renais Cardiff has posed.

Renais' eyes go wide as the damaged pack comes toward her; thinking fast, she ducks down onto her knees, shielding her head with her hands and her body with her wings. It still knocks her on her front--and the lines on her suit glow bright as steam vents from the base of her wing-cape.

She's just managed to regain her footing when the Sazabi activates underneath her, and she leaps back, yelling out, "FUCK!" She speeds back to retrieve her beam launcher as the mobile suit rises from below them, and takes refuge long enough to reconnect it to her power supply, muttering discontented curses in French as she does. Under the din, the beam launcher's power supply whines as it powers up...

They don't need to win. They just need to buy enough time to escape, she thinks to herself as she moves out into the hall on one knee.

She gives Guy a salute as he asks for cover. "GET CLEAR OF THE SUIT!" she yells at the top of her lungs, sighting the thing's eye as the first vulnerable thing she can find...

The air shifts around them, and the room fills with the explosive, booming magenta light of a megaparticle beam. It lances across the room toward the Sazabi--and hit or miss, she racks it on her back, looking visibly fatigued as she swaps to a weapon bordering on 'heavy machine gun' and sprays it over the Ruin Sazabi! 

<Pose Tracker> Leina Ashta has posed.


"Borrowed it from Koji!" Leina quickly asides to Judau.

Chris' comment on Char is right. A wound that never closes. Even she didn't realize the depths of that wound until recently.

When Char slams against the wall, part of her wonders if this might be over, but that is because she does not know the horror of 000. Not really. Even encountering it, it's not the same as being experienced against it.

Photon Pistol still trained upon him, she watches, and waits, and- alarm floods her, as her eyebrows shoot up. 'Die than hurt.' 'if leaving her behind is your first thought.'

Incredulity becomes this sense of hollow despair. That in his eyes, she's only a thing that can be used to hurt her.

And he might be right.

Whatever retort she might have made is bitten off as Sayla steps out in front as a shield, drowning it out with her gunshots.

A flash of warning hits her even before she hears that hum, "DOWN!" And suddenly she's leaping out, tackling Sayla down flat, even as the Sazabi crashes in and sprays debris all over the room from its impact.

Hooking her arm under Sayla's shoulder, she gets halfway up, and starts trying to draw her back into the hallway, relying on Chris for cover (But how do you cover against THAT?). All thoughts of offense gone.

Judau's words reach her and she is HIGHLY APPRECIATIVE of those words but that is drowned out by the severity of his intent. She asked him for a favor earlier. SHE MAY BE REGRETTING THAT RIGHT NOW!

"JUDAU GET OUT OF THERE!" She cries out, in alarm, always the more pragmatic and less hot blooded sibling. She may have faith in Judau, but she also has faith in the Zero Sazabi's ability to maul Judau's fleshy body if he can't knock out Char first.

Could Judau take on the Zero Sazabi if he were climbing it and his teeth were attached to it? Well the jury's still out on that one but she really hopes that Judau won't try.

Hearing Guy's Purification chant and Renais' assault, this is the moment where she knows things are WELL beyond her. Her priority is trying to protect the people who are more vulnerable here until they can get the job done. 

<Pose Tracker> Char Aznable has posed.

As Judau yells, Char turns, bewildered. "For Haman?"

A moment's distraction is more than enough. Judau lunges forwards and meets Char head-to-head even as Sayla's barrage of fire catches her own brother centre of mass, the combined impacts sending him staggering backwards behind the doorframe.

Badly wounded and gasping, the Comet of Ruin reaches out for Judau. "Perhaps you... should... understand," he manages to grunt out the threat as he grasps, hand glowing with that terrible dawnfire, eager to claim a new host.

The Sazabi is unarmed, but it is twenty metres of steel armour, fists as tall as Guy at full height.

However, 3G has come with new weapons at their disposal.

Renais's beam cannon comes into use again and the shockwave of the violet megaparticle barrage snuffs out the burgeoning flames, the beam forcing the Sazabi back and blowing out its monoeye sensor. It flails wildly as Guy leaps up, and shimmering green joins the violet of Renais's bombardment as he begins to incant the ritual of the Green Planet. The crimson mobile suit shudders, a pained howl emanating from somewhere within its chassis as it thrashes, knocking down wall after wall with its flailing fists.

Things have certainly escalated beyond the capacity of Leina, Sayla or Chris's ability to control them. 

<Pose Tracker> Sayla Mass has posed.


        Leina tackles Sayla to the ground, and it's enough to save her from coming fire. For a second, she's stunned. But she's alive. They're both alive. When Leina starts dragging her back, Sayla is at least agreeable.

        Leina's scream for Judau though, Sayla grabs Leina's hand and squeezes it tight. "He'll make it." She reaches up to her comm.

        <"Extractation team, we need to leave this to 3G and the crest holders. Evacuation team, if you can spare anyone... The King of Hearts might need it. And every damn one of you better come home safe. Please.>"

        There's nothing more she, Leina or Chris can do. Hell, she's the target. She knows if she doesn't get out the mission was a failure, and they all did this for nothing. She just has to trust in Judau... Trust that he can handle her brother.

        Casval... please. At least don't do this unforgivable thing.'
        "Let's... get out of here."

        She doesn't stop squeezing Leina's hand until she has to. 

<Pose Tracker> Christina MacKenzie has posed.

        She's no Newtype, and she can only respond so quickly, but her situational awareness still catches the sudden change of expression in every psychic in the room. Something was happening, something big, something BIG but, there were two VERY different responses to it. Judau and Sayla... Chris can't keep up with one's blazing leap, and Leina is already dragging the other back out of the danger she keeps putting herself in. Guy, Domon, and, Renais, was it? seem to be unreasonably composed about facing off against a mobile suit much taller than Tristan. The walls and ceiling are in splinters as the Sazabi screams and rages, and Chris pushes herself to her feet to deflect shrapnel away from the three of them. The floor is slowly giving way as rubble begins to smash down, breaking it apart and compromising its stability. It's true, there's really only one direction that makes any sense.

                "RUN!"

        Chris slings her shield over her head and shoulder, protecting her back as she helps Sayla and Leina find their footing again, at least into the next set of load bearing beams. She follows Leina's gaze back towards Judau, unsure how to help in any other way.

        "We have to get to the mobile suits. We can't help them right now." She tipped her head towards her comm as she smashes through any aural soldiers that bar their way. "MAIRO, XAIRO, fill the hold with anyone left to evac, we're bugging out!" 

<Pose Tracker> Guy Shishioh has posed.

The Sazabi, pressed and semipurified, goes wild. If he only had GaoGaiGar--but then, this might be a much uglier fight, if that were the case. Guy strains against the limits of his own spirit and body, the G-Stones in every cell interlinking and resonating.

"SECTIO!" Guy roars. "SALUS! COCTUUUUUUUUUUUUURAAAAAAAAAAAA!!"

Mamoru always spoke it like a prayer; Guy roars it like an attack, releasing all the Purification power he can channel through himself into the Sazabi. Before it tears the whole place apart...he doesn't have to do it the whole way, but he has to make it useless to Char! Even just that much could prove to be the Key to Victory! 

<Pose Tracker> Judau Ashta has posed.

AND for Haman.

Sometimes you say things in the heat of the moment and you're not exactly sure why you did. Subconscious impulse; it's a powerful thing, even for - especially for - a Newtype.

In this case, Judau shouts that one, last name. He didn't intend to. It just came out in the heat of the moment.

... But he knows exactly why he did.

He's not REALLY thinking about it right now, though; right NOW, his thoughts are reeling and a little jumbled from concussing his powerful skull against Char's. He stumbles as Char does. He hears the man speak as Leina shouts out to him. He sees a hand wreathed in the orange dawn of previous existence that seeks nothing save the denial of his and all the things he cares about, seeking to make him another of its disciples.

Judau looks at all that orange -- and his eyes widen. For a brief moment, all of time and existence seems to still. Calls to evacuate fall into numb blares against his ears. It's not the first time he's seen this aura; it -is- the first time it's been so CLOSE, though -- so eager to CONSUME him.

"Wh... ... what...?"

He feels a flash of sickening cold that contrasts the dawn-like orange heat that burns in that grasp. Within it, he sees a warm nothingness.

Perhaps he should just unde"HELL NO!!"

The response is kneejerk. Visceral. More than a little panicked.

And it's also accompanied by Judau looking to evade that hand by hurling his trusty pipe DIRECTLY into Char's poor beleaguered face with every ounce of force he can muster.

It's pure serendipity that, the second that pipe leaves his hand, the shockwave of megaparticles BURGEONS across the already unstable grounds of the mansion as the air fills with violet light. Judau stumbles backwards, looking to gain distance -- and even as walls collapse and crumble, Judau glares at Char.

"You can't make me understand any crap I don't wanna understand!" he shouts, in reflexive, belligerent defiance.

"... And I'm not the one who has to really understand."

There's so much he wants to say. To yell. To punch. About Sayla. Leina. Kamille, even. ... Haman, especially.

But he can't. ... He can't.

He tries to run. If not for himself...

... then, at least, to not force Leina into the terrible situation Sayla is in now. 

<Pose Tracker> Leina Ashta has posed.


'He'll make it.' Sayla says.

Leina would like to believe that. Judau did survive the whole war. Survived Haman. Yet something about the looming spectre of 000 and Char makes her worry after seeing its horrifying effects here today.

Even if he survives, she's worried about what else he might take from him. And as the power of the Aura of the Dawn is invoked by Char and she feels it, part of her pales at the realization of what more could be taken.

With a squeeze of her hand, she tears her eyes away.

"<... Right behind us, Judau. Be right behind us. ...please.>"

She pleads, even as Chris' call warns her to break into a run. She holds Sayla's hand, white knuckled as they go, Chris shielding them as she tries her best to match her gait. And then...

... something about his intent, even as the manse starts to crumble, something about it, even if she's now out of earshot. Leina relaxes, what's seized her heart, that throb of fear just leaves her.

As she smiles and...

"He's going to be okay." She says, a touch breathless, even as the trio are well on their way to the hangar.

They'll stop long enough so that Sayla can put on a normal suit. And she has no doubt in her mind, that in the pause...

... that her brother will already be catching up to her. In the end the greatest favor he could do her was never giving Char Aznable a black eye, even if she asked him for that in her anger over this whole mess.

The greatest favor he as a big brother could do for her as his little sister was seeing him rounding the corner yet again, alive and well and whole.

Every. Single. Time.

And she doubts that will ever change between them. 

<Pose Tracker> Renais Cardiff has posed.

Her attack does the trick, with the purifying help of her Evoluder cousin. She dumps the machine gun once it clicks empty, sending it spinning across the rapidly-crumbling floor. She watches as Char reaches out to Judau, horrified, unable to get to him in time despite her speed... but he rejects it. There's a grin on her lips at that, as she grabs him mid-run, holding him against her with one arm beneath his back and the other beneath his knees.

"You're right. You don't wanna understand," she tells him, bitterly serious as she leaps down a flight of stairs to make her exit, sprinting as fast as those pistoning legs can take her to the extraction point.

Once they're finally able to suit up and get out--Renais just puts on a helmet for herself--she breathes a sigh of relief.

They've made it. Sayla's safe. Everyone's alive.

... but the hardest part is yet to come, she knows, as the baleful orange star of Palau falls silently toward Earth. 

<Pose Tracker> Char Aznable has posed.

The Sazabi is shaking as Guy pours all his will and strength into it and Renais hammers it again and again, the orange haze that suffuses its armour being pushed away from the mobile suit - but still clinging, tenaciously, like a barnacle to the hull of a ship.

Then from behind the mobile suit, brilliant gold joins courageous green and a second voice joins Guy's chant - with a different pronouncement entirely: "THIS HAND OF MINE IS BURNING RED...!"

The Sazabi's shaking intensifies, Renais's beam bombardment continuing to force it back. The howling, terrible scream of the Oath Over Omega clinging to it desperately grows louder and louder.

The former Governor's estate is being shaken apart by the forces at play here.

The Comet of Ruin reaches out to claim Judau Ashta as a Ruin Apostle - and a spinning pipe hammers Char Aznable square in the face as the junker beats a hasty retreat from that terrible inevitability. This, after everything, finally overcomes Char's consciousness, and he slumps backwards as Judau runs towards Sayla, Chris, and his beloved sister. Renais swoops in and picks him up, the cyborg's powerful strides propelling them to the fleeing women.

Behind them, part of the ceiling caves in, burying Char.

He'll survive - he has not yet been Purified, so the Oath Over Omega will keep him alive, and strong enough to dig himself free.

The only thing left is to trust in Guy and Domon's combined powers to keep the Sazabi at bay, or even cleanse it of the dawnfire driving it, and flee to the hangar...

... Where an amber-hued tear in space is beginning to open - an Escape Window, with another awful silhouette forming within...

... Far away on the Orbital Ring, a desperate song of defiance is quieted, a weapon intended to save the Earth at an unthinkable cost blessedly silenced...

... And on approach to the asteroid, a pair of colossal mobile suits patterned in the image of Zeon's final weapon of the One Year War - and a gold-armoured Gundam desperate to prevent an unpredicted tragedy...

The Battle for Palau is far from over...

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