2023-05-17: The Price We Pay
- Cast: Zoltan Akkanen, Michele Luio, Puru-1, Jona Basta, Rita Bernal, Yuliana Kafim, Eight York, Koji Kabuto, Anita Rosetta, Sayaka Yumi, Trevor Teach, Naoko Suzuki, Liam 7-020, Sayla Mass, Christina MacKenzie, Lucine Azul, LiSA
- Where: Side 6: Metis College Colony
- Date: U.C. 0097 05 17
- Summary: Michele Luio lays a trap for her prize. History repeats itself.
TW: psychic horror
<Pose Tracker> Zoltan Akkanen has posed.
There came a psychic wave fainty thrumming from one part of the colony to the other, a hazy stench of malice and spite hanging in the air. Sickly, abhorrent, completely repungnant and offputting, a crystallization of whomever's feelings were broad enough, sharp enough, focused enough to so brazenly reveal his intent with such fervor.
A pause after that wave. The colony is still in an uproar; Fighting had only recently begun between the two groups of Luio and the Sleeves proper, but lockdowns were lockdowns, and the risk was too great to not immediately attempt to lockdown. The sirens. The controlled panic of a colony mildly practiced in evacuation procedures thanks to academia contained within, the crowds of university-age students and tenured (or more pessimisically, unable to migrate) professors heading for the bunkers to hide.
A second wave of hate. Closer. Palpable. Sirens echoing out in the minds eye, of forcing those same crowds to keep moving, pushing, shuffling, to have their lives suddenly ended in a spat of anger as the ground exploded underneath multiple ground-welling pops and smacks punching holes into the colony as missiles crashed on the outside. The moment between push and impact, of those same holes beginning to enact the amoral movement of depressurization on the ones still alive. The crash of the grey-clad repaired avatar of hatred ceased those thoughts; the massive, towering beast born from emotion and the Sleeves's sheer unwillingness to give up such a pilot.
Through the ground, through the bricks of sacred history, through the people those halls nurtured, the Neo Zeong II stabbed through. Silver shoulders stabbing through flesh, brick, earth, wood, paper, fabric, glass, followed by the six cannon-hands fingerhole-punching the same skin as it tore a hole into the Colony. Out came the silver beast through that thoroughly shredded hole, a scream echoing out in open comms.
"WHERE IS SHE!? WHERE IS THAT DAMN PHENEX!?"
A voice hoarse from its own will, strained with the excess of emotion, burdened by the weight of a sin that something in the future would inflict.
There was no rhyme or reason to the onslaught. To have the next barrage of missiles launch out without a regular target, to dot the battlefield in suits spotted here and there. The on-board system would (hopefully) deselect those from the Sleeves. Luio company? Here? They're hunting for the Phenex, too. No. No. NO.
The Phenex was his prey.
The missiles flew. Diverging this way and that, some so brazenly fired that even the guidance systems failed to stop them careening off course, to crash into buildings, woodlands, sancturaries, places of joy, of hope, of recreation and romance.
"WHERE THE HELL IS RITA BERNAL!?"
<Pose Tracker> Michele Luio has posed.
The fighting already began. The Phenex isn't there. A shame.
Michele Luio knew it wasn't there. After all, she sent out doctored photographs to several groups, hoping a big enough clash over her would draw Rita out.
She wasn't expecting this, though. As the colony is torn through by Zoltan, causing mass destruction and the impending deaths of many civilians, Michele grimaces.
"God fucking dammit, this wasn't the plan."
Brick Teclato, next to her in the ship's meeting room, looks aghast. "Michele, this-"
"I know, Brick. We'll have to hope the others can fix it, though. This isn't our responsibility..." Michele interrupts.
"She is."
Pressing the comms, Michele sends out three messages. One is to Jona, terse. "Sorry. I had to lie to you again." She accesses the NT-D lock codes and presses the activation button, even as Brick flinches.
"We have no other choice. Activate the birdcage."
Michele then sends the command phrase to the guest. "Banshee. Keep him away from the Phenex. Don't allow him to have her. Our utmost goal is capturing it once it arrives."
And now, it's time to put on the mask. Michele sends a broad-signal.
"Sorry for the deception. But you've drawn enough aggression that our guest should be arriving soon."
Let them hate her.
It'll make it easier to leave with less regrets.
<Pose Tracker> Puru-1 has posed.
Azure contrails light up the Colony as the flies across it. It had been eerily quiet throughout the battle, fighting the Sleeves with a sort of cold efficiency. The psychically sensitive though may have heard a child's laughter.
Then suddenly it stops, as the wave comes, floating in the air. It's not paying attention to the battle any longer, it's paying attention to that psychic wave thrumming through the air, like a hound that heard some distant noise.
it comes he comes
The Banshee is no longer laughing, as holes are punched into the Colony, as the horrifying act of rapid depressurization begins. Missile after missile comes raining down on the Colony in a brutal onslaught of random, pointless destruction.
Azure lit boosters keep it afloat in the midst of the storm, unmoving, its optical sensors fixated upon the Neo Zeong II. Until the exact moment that the command is given. Her response is mostly hissing and crackling and popping of radio static until "-Char." The distorted voice of a young girl, voice crackling over the comms under the scrambled signal.
The urgency is greater this time, and indeed the Banshee responds to the command, as its obsidian frame, suddenly spasms and shakes. There is something akin to a scream throughout the psychic plane, as it expands, interlocking plates of its armor separating into orange-gold shining Psycoframe, it's jagged horn splitting into an antler like V-Fin, faceplate shifting and rotating into the Gundam like faceplate.
And that psychic pressure rises, from a second source, a strange vision of a predatory effigy forming over it, something like a hallucination, violet borders opening to show two eyes staring upon Zoltan, and Zoltan alone, wisps of psychic energy shrouding it like a cloak, or the wings of a hunting hawk. Swathed in so many negative emotions, it fills the air like a second miasma, clashing against the psychic waves of hate Zoltan put off so as not to be drowned by them.
RAGE APPREHENSION JEALOUSY
USELESS WORTHLESS WEAK
"CHARRRRRRRRR!"
MAD DOG MAD DOG MAD DOG MAD DOG
DANCE FOR ME DANCE FOR ME DANCE FOR ME
It dives at the Neo-Zeong II sprouting a Beam Tonfa mounted on one arm, and the other? The gauntleted fist separates into plates as yellow talon like nails erupt, vibrating at hellish speed. It then flies straight at it, like a bird swooping, it's talons slashing to rake across its armor as it flies by.
And inside the Neo-Zeong, armored by so much Psycoframe, Zoltan will see more, hallucinations of hands, so many violet ones, twisting and writhing over each other, reaching for him. If they touch, they will infect him with every kind of negative emotion. But this isn't an unfamiliar feeling to him, is it? Not after everything he's been through.
...---...
On the bridge with Michele are several advisors, background nobodies of little importance compared to them, one is a mousey woman with glasses and short brown hair and a labcoat, sent by the Vist Foundation as an advisor. She hasn't spoken more than ten words since she arrived with Puru-1. Now though, she moves to the comms specialist on the bridge in a hurry and nervously asks them.
"We need to keep that comm link with the Banshee, can you amplify the signal somehow?" She mutters to herself, "She shouldn't be speaking like this in there..." More nervously, "...Dr. Murasame said..."
The comms specialist, under significant pressure speaks with a note of anxiety, "Working on it! It's not easy when they're inside the Colony! I- Oh."
LASER COMM SIGNAL LOST
The two personnel both stare at the blinking message on screen in horror as the comms specialist uttered a single word. "Shit."
<Pose Tracker> Jona Basta has posed.
Jona grimaces as he sees the Neo Zeong II burst through the colony wall, tearing a gaping wound into the homes and lives of so many innocents. Was this really worth it? He wanted nothing more than to catch the Phenex, to talk to Rita again...but not like this. Not at the cost of so many innocents. He was so tired of it all, so tired of staining his hands in blood over and over again.
The resigned, exhausted expression on his face flickers to abject horror and rage as his cockpit fills with that accursed red light once more, and large letters flicker on all of his monitors.
NT-D.
"Damn you, Michele! If I survive this... I'm going to fucking kill you!" Betrayed once more, Jonas rage bounces around his cockpit walls as his frustration morphs into animalistic screaming. His soul, personality, and essence are once again subsumed by the demon lurking within the Narrative, as the suit lights up with a hellish red glow, alighting once more as an avatar of destruction. The second coming of the White Demon waves its arms towards the Phenex, its INCOM units shedding their wires and unveiling once more their true form as funnels.
The twin armaments unfurl into claws, zooming towards the third RX-0 sibling and imprisoning it within a birdcage of light, anti-psyco fields that deny possibility and hope. As the entanglement is completed, the Narrative B-Packs turns its gaze to the Neo Zeong II. A new target. New prey.
A new means to enforce its crusade against possibility.
<Pose Tracker> Rita Bernal has posed.
The timing has to be perfect.
Soaring in a loop of the very outskirts of Side 6, the Phenex bides her time. Today is the day. If everything goes right, today, they'll be back on the path. Jona and Michele will be saved. As long as the Phenex ensures everything goes exactly as she has foreseen.
It's going to be fine.
There may be a few more heroes present than there really should be, but that's fine. Michele's... cruelty has drawn attention, as has her stunt at the Photon Power Labs. But the Phenex can work around the heroes of the living.
It's going to be fine.
Observing the Colony through the resonant plane, the Phenex watches the battle begin, watches the fighting encompass the entirety of the Colony. Everything is as it should be.
It's going to be--
Death. It slams against the firebird's soul. So much death, almost more than she's ever felt, like so many bodies battering against the golden armor of the Phenex.
No, no no. This is too soon. This is too much. There should be an evacuation order given long before the monster reaches the Colony--
With a birdlike shriek of psychic energy, the Phenex alters her course, rocketing toward the college Colony, Metis. Pushing her machine to the limit, the spirit of Rita Bernal arrives at her destination in mere moments, in time to watch Zoltan's monster fire missiles wildly.
With a great shattering noise and an even greater explosion, the Colony's mirror is struck by one of the Neo Zeong II's attacks. The interior of Metis darkens, obscuring some of the horrific damage caused by the mirror's explosion. While the destruction caused by its death is horribly awe-inspiring, it pales in comparison to Zoltan's actions.
ZOLTAN!
Pilot and Gundam scream into the battlefield, darting around clashing mobile suits. Consumed with sacred blue fire, the Phenex extends both her arms, as if blocking the enormous Neo Zeong II from the rest of the Colony.
Something shatters in the Phenex's heart. This is too much. Too many are dying. Even if she can salvage this battle to lead back to the path. Even if letting these lives go saves Michele and Jona -- she can't allow it. It's too horrible.
Tear the future you want from the grasp of an unsurrendering universe... The Phenex glows brighter. There must be another way!
Take your monster away and I can seal the hole. Too many are dying, Zoltan! This can't go on!
Miraculous light gathers around the Phenex, glowing with possibility. There's enough debris here to at least stop the loss of pressure. All she needs is time.
Time is not granted to her.
With a wave of nauseating pressure, the Narrative's NT-D comes to life. The chase begins. INCOMs become funnels. Attacks are blocked with the Phenex's shields. Inside the Colony, the Phenex doesn't dare use her miraculous light to fight back, too many people are still within the city.
Jona! Jona please, wake up!
The Phenex darts up and away, closely pursued by the posessed Narrative, and at the apex of her turn--
The birdcage fires. It slams into her, sending the golden Gundam down to earth. The Narrative has learned from the last time -- making sure to pin the Phenex's wing-like shields inside the cage with her, preventing her escape.
Limp as a doll, the Phenex lays where she was struck.
<Pose Tracker> Yuliana Kafim has posed.
The wanzer which scuttles out, unnervingly like an insect, is /smaller/ than the deployed Gundams -- five metres high and eight metres long, plus the length of a wicked scorpion's tail, arching over eight grasping legs. There's a strange black set of coils, wrapped around its chest and fanning over its shoulders. Da Xukong 0 commands attention not because of its size but its danger, like the arachnids it's based on.
It cut into the colony like a scalpel's edge; it stings into the Spacenoid's defensive suits just the same, and cares little to interrupt the ants as they scuttle to safety. Where the Banshee swooped in from above, Da Xukong 0 fought from below, scorpion's tail stabbing into the bellies of so many machines.
"Fall," she decreed, her mezzo-soprano tones changed by a voice modulator to offer her some veneer of anonymity.
All this to contrast how she reacts, when Neo Zeong II crashes through.
It is heralded by psychic horror, and Yuliana nonetheless is blindsided by Zoltan's precise point of entry; the only reason she escapes being blown out is the close attention she pays to the opponent she /can/ see, the way he changes his trajectory from towards her to away so, so sharply. "Shit," those grasping tentacles working a cacophony of levers, as her hands press a clutch forward. "Shit!"
Three blasts rise up, from the ground, miles high. The dustcloud washes over her, even as she skitters away from the explosion. Cars and rebar and bodies glance off of her wanzer's green barrier, as at once everything tries to travel from the high-pressure environment of the safe colony environment to the far LOWER pressure of the hostile vacuum outside. "What the hell--!! Aren't these your people, Sleeves?!" Just because they're out in space! How rude.
She can't know that she and Rita make much the same protest, the Phenex's gold words carried on a possibility denied her.
Rude, as well -- the way a building's windows shatter, sucked in the abyss of Neo Zeong II's entry point, along with all its contents. Something which might have passed for a fax machine 200 years ago; an office chair; a ridiculous pot-plant; the workers who weren't allowed to evacuate yet. A water cooler. Several filing cabinets. But not, one notes, the boss. /He/ got to safety.
"Tch!" Yuliana barks, as she weaves under a truck sucked into the riptide of open space, and finally finds a place far enough away from the entry point that she doesn't have to focus /all/ her attention on not being thrown out like so much debris. Neo Zeong II still dwarfs her, even from this distance, scorpion both in form and size. "LUIO," Yuliana roars, her comms open for all to hear, "YOU NEVER TOLD US /HE'D/ BE HERE!" She at least stops /screaming/ into the microphones, as she sinks into the cage clutched around her, slamming a fist on the side of her seat. "Damnit! The civilian casualties after a stunt like that --"
Are too high? Is that what she's saying?
She clicks her tongue to her teeth, again, in disgust. She still forgets that her comms are open-broadcast, as she grumbles to herself: "Ugh... even if some people get hurt, it's for the greater good, huh..? Yeah..." She grits her teeth, and her eyes scrunch, and blink open, endless green as she looks out. "... I can't back out now... listen, my machine's too small to intercept him over there! I'm keeping her clear!" Elisa is trusting her; she can't put herself in that much danger for no reason at all. Let the larger Gundams handle it.
She hears that distorted strains of /another/ voice modulator -- the Banshee, with her words, screaming Char's name. Her fingers tighten, around her clutch. She knows Neo Zeong II's transgressions by hearsay and second-hand account; she wonders, is it enough to shake the Banshee from her wailing fugue, all caught in the deaths of village men?
Her mouth curls into a sneer, exposing her bottom lip, and the way her single fang bites into the calloused skin there. She leaves the Banshee to her work, singing Zoltan's demise. She gifts nothing to both parties. No, her task --
"Save your murderlust for another day," Yuliana snaps at Jona, instead, entirely unsympathetic. "Luio's getting out of this one. We have... an agreement." There's an audible snarl, across her lips, across her words, as she says it; an admission through the tactility of her words of how much she was /cornered/ into this result. And if she's bothered by the way he screams, it's not covered in the mocking way she adds: "Aww, does it /hurt?/" Her own voice modulator crackles, on the emphasis.
Suffer her existence, she thinks, savage. A woman designed to destroy Newtypes -- another angle of approach, made from flesh and bone -- she looks at the NT-D system with a mixture of anger and /envy./ How dare they?
She will grasp it.
Michele's resources, at least, work for her for now -- as the Narrative uses Jona to launch that birdcage, and Rita is rendered helpless within. Yuliana watches her crash down to what this colony calls 'earth', endless green eyes narrowing. "This is for your own good," she says, as her cameras sweep over the battlefield --
-- and a plume of flame, shot out from the tail cresting above Da Xukong 0, carves across the ground to cut a group of machines off before they can reach her. That horrible little scorpion machine springs up, on hydraulics so /like/ the ones in nature, and the wanzer lands between Rita's cage and those who would rescue her.
"It's not that easy!" Yuliana roars, her voice warped by voice modulation.
<Pose Tracker> Eight York has posed.
The Ra Mari II is on standby by the colony. "The data we received suggests the battle is..." Enba Rezza reports it to Eight York even as they stand on the bridge. "Ah. It's started," they say, eyeing the sensor reports coming out of Kall's station.
"Pitched battle," Kall reports to Eight. "Some of our allies versus Luio and company's." The Sleeves, after all, are still their allies.
"Get our shuttles out there," Eight says. "We need to help with the evacuation efforts."
"On it, ma'am."
Eight York is on her own bridge, standing in uniform as she looks to the viewscreen, supported by artificial gravity. She moves to take a seat. "Pilots," she announces over the ship's internal comms, "Anyone who hasn't deployed already, get ready--those of us who aren't battling the enemy need to be ready to help with relief efforts."
"We--"
Death. Devastation. Destruction. Eight gasps aloud as she sees it on her screen, and Kazama calls out, "It's--it's on the other side of the colony! We didn't spot it--"
The great Neo Zeong II slams through the colony wall, and Eight feels the deaths coming. Her hand shakes briefly at the unexpected psychic assault. "NEW ORDERS!" she calls.
"Chovan--get us up to that hole!" she calls, "All pilots," over the internal comms, "Scramble! Get us in there! Rezza, oversee the evacuation!"
Ships and mobile weapons begin pouring out of the gigantic Zentradi Monitor in moments, as Eight calls, "Stop those mobile suits--we'll direct ourselves to the big one!"
"This is gonna be a tight it, Captain!" Chovan calls next, as she starts to maneuver, "But we might be able to plug part of that hole!"
"Do it!"
And then she sees..
"Captain!" Kall calls. "The Phenex--!"
"...Damn it," Eight says. She weighs the costs, weighs the allocations. "...Some of you will need to defend the Phenex. I'm sorry but I can't offer you much support, so I'm looking for volunteers. The rest of you--take on that giant mobile weapon! Your priority is to prevent further loss of life! "
The orders are out. Now... there's nothing to do but see what happens. Eight has no knowledge of the future.
<Pose Tracker> Koji Kabuto has posed.
The photos of the Phenex sighting at Metis colony were widely and indiscriminately distributed. Easy enough for the Photon Power Lab to note the talk online about the golden Gundam.
Something sits ill about it, but Koji can't put his finger on it. Still: It's a priority, and something he thinks they need to look into.
Chartering a transport out to Metis was easy enough, on the justification of Londo Bell requiring an energy specialist to advise on colony maintenance.
Just in time.
"The Sleeves are here," Koji warns Sayaka and LiSA. "Their leader is the one causing most of the damage. We have to get them out of here before the colony's ripped apart." He taps the intercom. "Chris. We need to deploy now. Get ready."
The transport ship's hangar hatch opens wide, revealing a pair of Mazins standing there - Mazinger Z and Aphrodite Areia, Pilders already docked in their cranial sockets. Koji runs through the preflight checks, and a new Scrander spreads its wings behind Z - black and gold, rotary thrusters on the tips of its wings and attitude thrusters spread along its wingspan.
The completed Astro Scrander will allow the Castle of Iron to protect even those in space who require its presence.
Zoltan Akkanen roars, demanding the Phenex show herself. Jona Basta screams in agony as his operator activates his Gundam's NT-D, and broadcasts a sardonic 'thanks' to the other machines on the scene.
"Digging yourself deeper, huh?" Koji mutters, comms off, as Yuliana Kafim emerges in her scorpion wanzer.
And the Banshee streaks towards Zoltan, screaming in fury at him.
"She's talking. Lisa! Record everything that pilot says!" Koji turns Z's head to look at Aphrodite Areia standing beside him. "Sayaka... Watch my back, okay?" I love you catches in his throat, unsaid. "MAZINS, GO!"
The Astro Scrander's thrusters spin up, photonic light concentrating as Mazinger Z strides forwards and throws itself out of the transport into the void - at which point they blaze to life, sheathing the Mazin in a corona of white-gold light as it swoops towards the battlefield.
Tactical analysis: 3SA ships engaging the Sleeves Mobile Armor, which is itself a tempting target... but the Banshee is there too and try as he might he can't bring himself to work with it. Yuliana protecting the Phenex proper... and the slender Gundam with large Incoms mounted on its shoulders maintaining the device keeping the golden Gundam docile.
"Sayaka - break the trapper, break the trap," he says to her, flagging the Narrative-B. "Chris... Follow your heart." I hope this works...
Mazinger Z dives down towards the Narrative, blue energy crackling on its horn-tips. "ENOUGH!" Koji roars. "THIS MADNESS STOPS, RIGHT NOW! REITO BEAM - FIRE!"
Crystal-blue rays of light pulse from Z's horns, their impacts causing an impossible thermodynamic reversal that hyperchills the surfaces they strike and freezes them solid. The Narrative definitely doesn't want to be hit by those.
KTS: Koji Kabuto targets Jona Basta with Reito Beam! KTS: Koji Kabuto has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Yuliana Kafim targets Lucine Azul, Christina MacKenzie, Naoko Suzuki, and Liam 7-020 with Infernal Arachnid Injector Stinger Salvo. KTS: Yuliana Kafim has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Puru-1 targets Zoltan Akkanen with Armed Armor VN Claw Swipe! KTS: Puru-1 has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Lucine Azul has activated the Alert Spirit Command. KTS: Lucine Azul has activated the Alert Spirit Command. KTS: Lucine Azul successfully evades Yuliana Kafim's Infernal Arachnid Injector Stinger Salvo KTS: Yuliana Kafim rattles Liam 7-020, making his next maneuvers more difficult. KTS: Liam 7-020 fails to Evade Yuliana Kafim's Infernal Arachnid Injector Stinger Salvo, taking 5200 damage! KTS: Yuliana Kafim begins a Formation attack! KTS: Yuliana Kafim rattles Naoko Suzuki, making her next maneuvers more difficult. KTS: Naoko Suzuki fails to evade Yuliana Kafim's Infernal Arachnid Injector Stinger Salvo, taking 4800 damage! KTS: Yuliana Kafim begins a Formation attack!
<Pose Tracker> Anita Rosetta has posed.
A battle in a colony - a college colony, no less... Why is this happening? Gritting her teeth, Anita runs to her Valkyrie. Suited up in her EX-Gear, she hops into the cockpit of the XVF-25I Svipul. It's... awful. She knows Eight and the others must be feeling even worse about it than she is, thanks to their senses. Small blessings, she supposes - but it doesn't make it any easier on her.
She waits for the order to deploy - and that doesn't take long.
"Right - Anita Rosetta, on the way. Good luck out there, everyone!" Anita announces. She launches from the Ra Mari II, and fixates on her target - that giant monster of a mobile weapon. She's going to have to be careful where she aims - she doesn't want to cause more damage to this colony than has already been inflicted...
...But on the bright side, a target /that/ big should be easy to hit. How much /effect/ it'll have...
...She'll worry about it later.
"Alright... Here goes!" Anita announces. She draws her gatling gun pod and opens fire on the mobile weapon. ...And she isn't the only mobile suit. The Banshee is here too, and screaming like...
...Well.
She elects to keep a careful eye on it, but doesn't make any move to bother it - as long as it's not trying to make this day any worse, she'll work with whoever she needs to to bring a stop to this.
KTS: Anita Rosetta targets Zoltan Akkanen with Gatling Shot! KTS: Anita Rosetta has completed their actions for the round.
<Pose Tracker> Sayaka Yumi has posed.
Even as civilians, the Photon Power Labs were made /aggressively/ aware of the Phenex sighting. Like Koji, Sayaka feels... uneasy about it. Is it a trap? Did Luio set this up?
It might very much be so, with some of the Earth Sphere's greatest threats locked in the ring of one small college colony. The Sleeves... even the Banshee. Allowing this to continue will cause /unspeakable/ amounts of damage, and take an /unthinkable/ amount of lives.
In their pair of Mazins, Koji and Sayaka's hearts and wills are one, they know what they must do -- put a stop to this chaos.
"I'm right behind you. Artemis Cross!!" She calls, bow and arrow forming a pair of angel-like wings to keep Areia's balance even in a colony. "...I love you, too, Koji." She transmits back. She's not a Newtype, she didn't feel what he was trying to say psychically. But perhaps she understood anyways.
Their target is the Narrative Gundam. The pattern on the Gundam is unmistakable after their time working with Banagher's Unicorn Gundam and the Phenex Gundam - it's the NT-D system. "It's time to cut that net to shreds. MAZINGER BLADE!!" Aphrodite Areia equips a massive greatsword from the hilt on her waist, aiming for the Narrative Gundam's 'birdcage'.
KTS: Sayaka Yumi has activated the Spirit Spirit Command. KTS: Sayaka Yumi targets Jona Basta with Mazinger Blade: Sweeping Attack! KTS: Sayaka Yumi has completed their actions for the round.
<Pose Tracker> Trevor Teach has posed.
Death.
So much death.
Fire and death.
Colonies are miracles of engineering, marvels of science and shining beacons of the power of technology. But they are also so very, very fragile. In an instant, lives can be utterly upended by a stray shot by a careless pilot. But only a handful of times have they been... /intentionally/ breached like this.
There's no point to it. None whatsoever except to cause chaos for political gain. But--
This isn't even that.
This is a colony being turned into little more than an unfortunate roadcone in the path of an uncaring space trucker.
Only, this isn't anime. What waits at the other end of this traffic accident isn't a fun-filled journey to another world.
Just. Death.
The pulsing cascades of terror, hatred, despair pound into his senses, but so many of those voices disappear with every passing moment. The cold silence is somehow even worse than the screams. A colony rupture...
Has caused so very much death.
The Ra Mari makes its entrance. Metal screams as the Zentraedi vessel crams itself as best it can into the gaping hole in the colony wall. Its launch deck opens, disgorging a team of mobile suits. One among them is different. Visually, utterly distinct-- a ramshackle thing painted white and green and gold. And yet, its electronic signature is... utterly nonexistent.
Which may not matter, because there's no way that the NT-D is going to miss the psychic presence radiating from it.
If the Phenex is at once a glorious phoenix and a delicate canary, this... /thing/ is a vulture. A great-winged scavenger bird. One that /should/ be picking the ruins of this whole place over in the aftermath for an easy profit.
But instead there's only fury.
"All this..." Trevor Teach's lip curls into a snarl, the psychic pollution flooding the colony infecting his soul with rage. "...Because you and yours wanted some shiny gold bauble?"
If it weren't so damn tragic, he'd laugh at the irony and wince at the hypocrisy. But here he is.
A pirate chastising someone else's greed.
In the instant that the condor races in, surging past the two Mazins at a speed that is probably ill advised given the circumstances, his IFF dissolves. JR-777 Isadore - Sleeves - Garencieries.
Wielding a goddamn beam /cutlass/ in a vicious, charging overhead strike like it were some kind of energized meat cleaver.
KTS: Trevor Teach targets Jona Basta with Beam Cutlass Slash! KTS: Trevor Teach has completed their actions for the round.
<Pose Tracker> Naoko Suzuki has posed.
It may have come as somewhat of a surprise to Eight that Nova Stellar requested to be on the piloting team this time. Her track record so far has been to pilot only when the events are literally world-threatening, which could have given the impression that she would only do so when she felt she absolutely had to. And yet, all it took was pictures of a Phenex sighting in the area to get her to volunteer this time.
In truth, she had reviewed her camera footage from Palau, and discovered the Phenex hadn't 'left', so much as 'crashed'. This development was a distressing one, enough so that she felt that she wanted, needed to help. Except that she couldn't. She didn't know where the Phenex was, and in what her condition was. Until now. She won't feel at ease until she can ascertain with her own eyes that Rita is alright.
As it turns out, pretty soon nothing is alright. In the Sukeban's cockbit, Naoko can only stare at her instruments, barely able to process what all this happening here. How did any of this happen? Why did a fight break out here? She has to assume that it's over the Phenex, but this... this all just seems to senseless.
>"...You doing alright, Nova?"<
The psychic 'voice' of the boyish half of her duo of AI companions snaps the pilot out of her thoughts. "Y-yeah... but this is... we have to do something!" Easier said than done. Where can one Arm Slave even begin to make a difference in all this?
>"Calm down, Nova. We're with you. Focus on what you want to accomplish here."<
Yes. Ariel is right, of course. There's no way she could do as much as she wishes she could. She needs to keep her eye on what she /can/ do. Which means...
"...There it is!" She spots the Phenex's signal, and Eight really doesn't even need to ask. "Defend the Phenex, yes! I'm gonna do that!"
The Sukeban wastes no time in breaking away from the Ra Mari II, seeing the distress the golden Gundam is in in short order. "Rita!!" she calls, and heads straight in that direction, not about to let anything distract her from her objective.
And then she gets distracted from her objective, in the most foolish way possible. "...Is that Mazinger Z? In space??" Look, she's a fan, she knows Mazinger Z doesn't go into space. But she's 100 percent sure that was the Castle of Iron in space just now. This is a big deal!
Nobody should be surprised that she just flies headlong into a the wall of flames that suddenly appears before her, far too late to slow the Sukeban down in time. The Arm Slave is quick to go into full reverse, but by then the damage has been done. "Ah! Ahhh! D-damn it! That wasn't there before! What's going on?!"
She can't afford to put too much thought into what she does next. There's an enemy there now, and given her position, what can she do but open fire? ...with Chest Vulcans, which are the best kind of common 'fire' she has. Not great, but she'll think of something after buying enough time to actually think again. Probably. Maybe.
KTS: Naoko Suzuki targets Yuliana Kafim with Vulcan Burst! KTS: Naoko Suzuki has completed their actions for the round.
<Pose Tracker> Liam 7-020 has posed.
It's difficult, sometimes, for an Earth-born person to appreciate just how fragile colonies can be. It's so hard, sometimes, when one of your most defining memories is watching one descend, in slow-motion, all flame-washed metal and trails of smoke and debris. A former home, torn from the heavens, and sent to make hell on Earth.
A CGUE in stock Clyne Faction colors clears the Ra Mari II's flight deck, accelerating to combat speeds in a few heartbeats. Brutal, crushing force rests against its pilot's chest, but it is nowhere near as bad as what he's /watching/ on the monitors. The Neo Zeong has left a gaping, bleeding wound in the side of the colony; air rushes into the void, carrying with it shrapnel, blobs of water, bits of piping and wiring.
In his mind's eye, Liam sees the flames. He sees the silhouette of a one-eyed giant striding through the city streets. He hears the screams. Eight's words keep him grounded, but even that is a near thing.
Voices Liam recognizes join the chaos. Koji, Michele Luio. Yuliana.
The CGUE maneuvers into the heart of the cylinder, and speeds up as he sees the grounded Phenex. For a moment, radio discipline goes straight out the window. All this, because of--
"RITA!" Liam screams. "Let her go. Stop this. STOP THIS, KAFIM!" He is furious, terrified, pleading. But--
The stinger races out. The CGUE is a blur, putting itself between the Dianthus and Da Xukong. It stabs into the machine's side, and an igniting chemical cocktail floods into its systems. Liam feels the phantom of the heat on his brow, though the cockpit temperature is still tolerable.
Liam forces himself to breathe. Tears bead in his eyes, and he blinks them away, where they float inside his helmet. He's losing it, he thinks. He's losing it, that means he's dead. The CGUE trails flames from its wound as it charges the much smaller Wanzer, swinging its solid blade one-handed in a strike with the /flat/. He's trying to swat the arthropoid machine off its feet, and send it tumbling away from Rita.
KTS: Liam 7-020 targets Yuliana Kafim with MA-M4A Heavy Sword Disorienting Blow! KTS: Liam 7-020 has completed their actions for the round.
<Pose Tracker> Sayla Mass has posed.
PARIS. 2:20PM YESTERDAY
Sayla stared at her schedule, before looking up at her EA. "Is that really it for today, Sakura?" She seemed... offput somehow. She'd had less and less work to actually do lately. Meetings were being resolved without her, and others were taking on more. She was pretty sure Advanced Logistics were already eying off one of Tsutsujidai's student volunteers with the amount she had taken to handling.
Sakura Isogai, Secretary of Braves, gives a small shake of her head. "No, you're due at the spaceport in two hours, Dr Mass." Sayla's eyes widen as Sakura shows her the travel itinerary- something she had failed to notice she had deselected. Seeing her employer's expression, Sakura continues. "You have the keynote speech at Metis Academy of Medicine tomorrow?"
Sayla mutters under her breath, and Sakura realizes she has a new addition to her mental dictionary of the AEU's most vulgar cursewords. "Tell Mr Colley to send me the speech, I'll learn it on the shuttle. And tell him if we have a repeat of Johanneseburg's 'joke' that I'll be looking for a new speech writer.
METIS COLONY. NOW.
"...of course, the enrolment standards were a little higher on Loum. Back then a 15 year old in Medical School was a big surprise, and not the average second year student." The smile on Sayla's face is small, and a little forced. Now was a bad time for speaking engagements. But the joke seemed to land, as an 'appropriate' amount of laughter for this sort of speech. "I all honesty, it was a trying few years- as it was for many-"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KlRxAIYy-WU
Sayla stops mid sentence, and her eyes open in shock. That feeling...
Casval...?
"Shelters! NOW!"
The fighting starts in earnest- and minutes later, a Luio and Co Dijeh crashes into the building Sayla was helping evacuate. Wordlessly, she runs to the cockpit and hits the external release with practiced familiarity. With help from a security guard, she hauls the pilot out- whether he makes it or not will be up to her colleagues.
She looks up at the monster in the sky. It's not him... so why did she feel his presence-
'-Char.' The name crackles over the radio. 'CHARRRRRRRRR!'
Thirteen seconds later, there are cries of alarm as the Dijeh bursts to life, and launches into the colony's 'air'.
Scrambled messages come through as she tries to identify the IFF that sent that message. When she sees it, she swears again. That unit.
She can't feel the hands yet. It's probably for the best she left the psychoframe sample with the PPL.
She opens the laser comms of the Dijeh to link to the Ra Mari II- as she tries desperately to re-establish that lost comm. She may still distrust the Three Ships Alliance but right now and ally is an ally. Especially against that monstrous reimagining of that Zeong. "Sayla Mass to Ra Mari II. Dijeh, launching to support! I'll help pull it's focus from civilians!"
The Dijeh's cockpit is familiar, and the stock loadout may not be what she prefers, but she knows it well enough. After all, she flew one off the books for years before the Saint Lance, before the Hi-Nu. The vulcans burst to life as she opens fire on the Zeong- an insult more than anything else to something that monstrous.
KTS: Sayla Mass targets Zoltan Akkanen with Vulcan Phalanx Dash-and-Fire! KTS: Sayla Mass has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Yuliana Kafim charges into the attack! KTS: Yuliana Kafim's EN Barrier activates, negating 1500 base damage. KTS: Yuliana Kafim partially guards Naoko Suzuki's Vulcan Burst, taking 1035 damage! KTS: Yuliana Kafim's EN Barrier activates, negating 1500 base damage. KTS: Liam 7-020 rattles Yuliana Kafim, making her next maneuvers more difficult. KTS: Yuliana Kafim blocks Liam 7-020's MA-M4A Heavy Sword Disorienting Blow, taking 660 damage! KTS: Liam 7-020 has engaged Yuliana Kafim! KTS: Yuliana Kafim rattles Christina MacKenzie, making her next maneuvers more difficult. KTS: Christina MacKenzie blocks Yuliana Kafim's Infernal Arachnid Injector Stinger Salvo, taking 2400 damage! KTS: Yuliana Kafim begins a Formation attack!
<Pose Tracker> Christina MacKenzie has posed.
Christina MacKenzie, Itinerant Ribo-born Spacenoid, tapped her fingers on the console, impatiently waiting for the green light. Phenex at Side 6 equals fighting at Side 6. Rita in trouble. But, as she's so often insisted, she can take care of herself. The last time she chased after the Phenex, it took a month to recover, anyway. Was this a professional analysis, or just sour grapes? And, more importantly, /why/ aren't they at the Colony yet!?
"Koji," she gripes into the comm for, perhaps, the ninth time. "Side 6 is--" --Finally, his response comes through. "Launching!"
She doesn't wait for confirmation from the Londo Bell bridge technician before slamming the catapult trigger. The MP Mazin sallies forth from the launch bay in the wake of its fancier, more formidable siblings, and experience in zero-G minimizes the thrust needed to adjust her trajectory to the inside of the punctured O'Neill. No, no instead, all the blazing fire and light is contained on the /inside/ of this Mazin, erupting forth as the chaos fills her view.
<"What the HELL are you all DOING in a civilian zone?!"> blasts over the global comm channels, fury resonant in the woman's voice, harder than those familiar with her would know her voice to be.
Though her chest aches to see her flighty friend chillingly still, Koji and Sayaka are more suited to the fight there. Instead, she immediately pivots, spying a large panel of shrapnel and grasping it, angling towards her nearest puncture hole. Near Rita. The fighting is the worst around the Phenex, but she has to seal the hole!
She's halfway there, when the Mazin is blinded by a violent gout of flame, and the panel she's holding is flung into the path of the flames, suddenly out of reach as she hammers the pedals to back away.
"What the--" <"You! In the Wanzer! Get out of my way!">
KTS: Zoltan Akkanen fails to react to Puru-1's Armed Armor VN Claw Swipe, taking 4050 damage! KTS: Puru-1 has engaged Zoltan Akkanen! KTS: Puru-1 begins a Formation attack! KTS: Zoltan Akkanen fails to react to Eight York's Pass, taking 0 damage! KTS: Zoltan Akkanen fails to react to Rita Bernal's Pass, taking 0 damage! KTS: Zoltan Akkanen fails to evade Sayla Mass's Vulcan Phalanx Dash-and-Fire, taking 3240 damage! KTS: Sayla Mass has engaged Zoltan Akkanen! KTS: Christina MacKenzie has activated the Accel Spirit Command and Has Engaged with Yuliana Kafim KTS: Zoltan Akkanen fails to evade Anita Rosetta's Gatling Shot, taking 2775 damage!
<Pose Tracker> Lucine Azul has posed.
Lucine and Rita had managed to talk, thanks to Liam and an arrangement with Koji, Sayaka, and LiSA. It provided an insight into the true core that lay at the center of the normally amiable Rita, bringing into focus that Rita wasn't just the spirit of a young woman who had withstood her own death thanks to her own abilities and the powers of the Phenex. Rita didn't simply fall into the Phenex; she was an experiment, much the same as someone like Liam.
She didn't have the proper words then. But now, coming to the Phenex's aid, in lieu of her inability to speak mind to mind, Lucine can always count on her actions speaking louder than words.
Piloting the Dianthus now, Lucine fights back nausea as she watches Zoltan's unit tear through the colony. Exposed to the vacuum of space, there'd be no chance of survival for anyone caught within, even if they survived the onslaught. Lucine can't communicate, but she can feel those distant deaths like a sponge soaking in sour vinegar. For a moment, like Rita, Lucine is overwhelmed, her mind flashing back to the violent fields of Mars.
It's a moment of delay that could have proven deadly, if not for Liam's actions giving her the split second Lucine needed to evade. The pilot gasps, instincts taking over to allow her to retreat before she even realizes the dnager Liam placed himself in. .... For her sake, no less.
The Dianthus is no shield. It is a dagger.
It seems like a scant seconds later that the Dianthus goes at Yuliana's craft, its glaive held out blade first.
< ".... _That's enough_!" > Lucine's words echo the pressure she feels, both psychically, mentally, and emotionally.
KTS: Lucine Azul targets Yuliana Kafim with CL0-V3 Glaive Ram! KTS: Lucine Azul has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Christina MacKenzie targets Yuliana Kafim with Ichinana CQC Strike! KTS: Christina MacKenzie has completed their actions for the round.
<Pose Tracker> LiSA has posed.
Meanwhile, in the Astro Scrander, LiSA is quietly amused at Christina acting like she sometimes does. Siblings much?
"Recording and ready to go, Koji!" She declares from her back seat driver position. (Is it wrong to phrase it like this?) "I'm getting lines up and going for further data, just do your thing. Miss Sayaka, Koji, mm..." She opens up a comm towards Trevor. "Hallo! I'm in the Mazinger with Koji, I'm his subpilot! Let me know if we need to keep an ear or eye out for you!" She calls out to Trevor.
"Everyone, allow me to assist in this mess, let's see if we can't coordinate ..." A pause, then, "Koji, is something wr--"
OF NO APPARENT (BUT ACTUALLY EXTREME) CONSEQUENCE:
'I love you too, Koji!'
In the Astro Scrander, LiSA abruptly mutes her comms so no one can hear her squee. Koji can ~probably~ definitely hear her squee.
<Pose Tracker> Michele Luio has posed.
"Shiny gold bauble?" Michele responds to Trevor, indignantly. She's already stressed by how off course they are.
"I couldn't care less about the Mobile Suit itself!"
"This is far more important than any of you will ever understand."
"This is important enough to condemn myself in your eyes forever. Watch me!"
Michele has prepared for this mission. The Banshee knows how important it is. They may not have laser anymore, but she has confidence that the Banshee's pilot thas been impressed upon with the importance of this mission.
"You were perfect bait for her, Zoltan Akkanen. But did you have to put these people on my conscience, too? I'll just have to accept that, it seems. Now, perish like the fucking animal you are."
A subtle laugh to Chris. Time to dig the knife deeper. She's almost won so.
"Ah, the lady who busted my door in. It was the best clearance I could get to have access to a colony. I didn't mean for these people to die, but... I *will* finish what I started."
"I don't flinch."
KTS: Koji Kabuto has activated the Spirit Spirit Command. KTS: Koji Kabuto has activated the Spirit Spirit Command. KTS: LiSA targets Koji Kabuto, Sayaka Yumi, and Trevor Teach with Coordinate. KTS: LiSA has completed their actions for the round. KTS: LiSA coordinates maneuvers, raising Koji Kabuto's Piloting! KTS: Jona Basta has activated the Wall Spirit Command. KTS: Jona Basta has activated the Wall Spirit Command. KTS: Koji Kabuto rattles Jona Basta, making its next maneuvers more difficult. KTS: Jona Basta blocks Koji Kabuto's Reito Beam, taking 2200 damage! KTS: Koji Kabuto begins a Formation attack! KTS: Jona Basta blocks Sayaka Yumi's Mazinger Blade: Sweeping Attack, taking 1080 damage! KTS: Sayaka Yumi has engaged Jona Basta! KTS: Sayaka Yumi continues a Formation attack! KTS: Jona Basta blocks Trevor Teach's Beam Cutlass Slash, taking 2880 damage! KTS: Trevor Teach has engaged Jona Basta!
<Pose Tracker> Jona Basta has posed.
The NT-D Narrative merely stares ahead at the barrage of attacks headed its way. There are no words, because they are unnecessary, like the golden bird caged and trapped behind it. Noting the desperate attempts to free the Phenex, the Narrative exerts its psyco-force and levitates off the ground, meeting the assault head-on with sheer, unbending force. The NT-D will not tolerate those that try to break free of its absolute law, its unerring crusade against these aberrations, these unneeded offshoots of humanity.
A massive pulse of pure will exudes from the tortured core of the B-Packs, the sheer rage and subsumed wrath of Jona Basta providing ample fuel even as he once again screams his vocal cords bloody, crimson trickles falling from the corners of his mouth as his eyes go white inside the cockpit. "RAAAAARGH!"
One of the psyco-field funnels peels off from the birdcage, its partner extending the force of the field to compensate. Moving faster than the eye can comprehend, the lone psyco-field funnel rains destruction on all those who threaten its birdcage, a barrage of Minovsky mega-particles raining down upon Koji, Sayaka, and Trevor as each of their units focuses their strikes upon the NT-D Narrative and its imposed prison.
Punishing heat, for those would dare to impede the purge.
KTS: Jona Basta targets Koji Kabuto, Sayaka Yumi, and Trevor Teach with NT-D: Punishing Heat. KTS: Koji Kabuto fails to charge. KTS: Koji Kabuto partially guards Jona Basta's NT-D: Punishing Heat, taking 4428 damage! KTS: Jona Basta begins a Formation attack! KTS: Trevor Teach fails to react to Jona Basta's NT-D: Punishing Heat, taking 5400 damage! KTS: Jona Basta begins a Formation attack! KTS: LiSA coordinates maneuvers, raising Sayaka Yumi's Piloting! KTS: Michele Luio targets Puru-1 with Awe! KTS: Michele Luio has completed their actions for the round. KTS: LiSA coordinates maneuvers, raising Trevor Teach's Piloting! KTS: Michele Luio inspires awe, increasing Puru-1's Morale! KTS: Sayaka Yumi's EN Barrier activates, negating 500 base damage. KTS: Sayaka Yumi fails to react to Jona Basta's NT-D: Punishing Heat, taking 3675 damage! KTS: Jona Basta begins a Formation attack! KTS: Jona Basta has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Yuliana Kafim's EN Barrier activates, negating 1500 base damage. KTS: Yuliana Kafim blocks Lucine Azul's CL0-V3 Glaive Ram, taking 690 damage! KTS: Lucine Azul has engaged Yuliana Kafim! KTS: Yuliana Kafim's EN Barrier activates, negating 1500 base damage. KTS: Yuliana Kafim blocks Christina MacKenzie's Ichinana CQC Strike, taking 1540 damage! KTS: Christina MacKenzie has engaged Yuliana Kafim!
<Pose Tracker> Rita Bernal has posed.
The heroes of the living, who the Phenex had casually discounted, spring into action. Eight doesn't hesitate for a moment, using the Ra Mari II's bulk to attempt and block the hole in the Colony. Heroes of all kind, from all sides, unite to save the people of Metis.
And the Phenex stays collapsed through it all. With her wings bound inside the psychoframe-canceling cage, she's helpless to save herself as she did previously. And with half her spirit incinerated as fuel to prevent the fall of Palau...
Rita Bernal's floats just outside the birdcage, radiating distress at the carnage playing out before her.
Bound as she is, there isn't /much/ she can offer. Rita can only split herself a few times without the risk of dissipating her spirit entirely. It's a terrible risk. Chancing her own permanent spiritual death in order to offer support?
But everyone is taking that same risk here. Why should she do anything different?
With a breath, Rita points at three of the heroes in the battle. Eight, Sayaka, Liam. Energy rises from her spirit, forming into the shape of long-tailed canaries and soaring toward her designated targets.
As the Ra Mari II approaches Zoltan's site of destruction, a golden, glimmering bird flies through the walls of the bridge and alights next to Captain York.
Captain York. You're doing the right thing. Please focus on saving the civilians. Thank you for coming to help them. Please, keep yourselves safe. Zoltan's monster is very, very powerful. If he launches a cable at you, be sure to shoot it down.
With that, the first canary collapses into flame, vanishing without so much as a speck of ash left behind. Her light glimmers outward, seeping into the walls of the Ra Mari II. A blessing left behind.
Sayaka.
Within the Aphrodite Areia's scrander, a little bird perches on one of the lesser-used levers. Her long tail feathers trail on the controls behind her, leaving glimmers of golden radiance in their wake.
I'm fighting. Just as you and Koji told me to. I'm fighting for the future I want, for the people I love.
The bird tilts her head, almost seeming to smile.
Right now, I'm safe. But there are so many people in danger. Please save them. Please save Jona. He's hurting so terribly.
Raising her wings, the canary glows brighter, imparting a splinter of her spirit to strengthen the Aphrodite Areia.
I never got a chance to say thank you for protecting me. Thank you, Sayaka. It was like I was a little girl again.
The second canary vanishes much like the first, in a conflagration of mystical fire.
Lucine's emotions echo through the resonant plane, reaching Rita's heart. The luminous bird sent her way redoubles in speed, quickly reaching the Dianthus' cockpit.
I'm okay. Please tell Liam for me.
The feeling of warm, soft wings falls around Lucine's shoulders, somehow perfectly clear through her normal suit.
There are people who need you. I'm going to be okay. Please, save the people of Metis. And please don't be too hard on Yuli. She's fighting for me, in her own way.
After a pause, the echo of a laugh reaches Lucine's heart. Warmth spreads through the cockpit as the canary gives up her form to give her energy to the Dianthus.
But she definitely deserves some hits in return. I just want everyone to come home safely. Be careful.
A third time, the canary vanishes. Rita's greater self, floating beside the Phenex, looks winded. She's more transparent than usual, and she lowers her arm. It will take a moment for her to regain the strength she needs to empower her heroes.
KTS: Rita Bernal has activated the Foresee Spirit Command targeting Lucine Azul KTS: Rita Bernal has activated the Trust Spirit Command targeting Eight York KTS: Rita Bernal has activated the Trust Spirit Command targeting Sayaka Yumi
<Pose Tracker> Zoltan Akkanen has posed.
Out rose the beast from the darkness of the cosmos, howling as that Sinanju Stein glanced about. Where, where, WHERE!? A man with bloodshot eyes in that pilotsuit, muscles aching with the pain of the brig, the sting of shame, the sheer distaste of the Sleeves barely restrained. The fighting quickly escalating with his actions, with his fervor...
...This was what that Phenex said he would be, wasn't it? To lash out onto the battlefield, to leave destruction behind.
The comparatively small suit swung its head around, trying to find its prey. Its sacred hunt interrupted by the sheer density of psychic waves hurtled back, that mentally-screeching Banshee catching him off-guard. Unable to do anything but to brace for impact, tonfa bashing against that metal skin, that same skin rent by claw. "CHAR!? WHO'RE YOU CALLING THAT!? I'M NOT THAT DAMN FAILED BASTARD!"
BGM - HATEFUL - HEALTH - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4cZkGMsZQMQ
The hands. They reach out. They grab, snag, the psychic visions flashing in his eyes. Hallucinations? Real? Fake? the skin crawls, the mind yells, the frustrations boil, yet he refuses to release his grip on those controls, to allow sweet, sweet, release. No. Not yet. NOT YET. He'd been scorched once before.
"GET THE HELL AWAY!" A swing, a latch released to pull out that beam axe to clip at that Gundam, that Black Sheep, that damned sheep...! "One after another after another, you all...!"
After another. That familiar voice. He can't help it, the smile that cracked at his dry lips, to take one precious second to laugh at that golden bird. "This is YOUR fault, you know!" Even while clawed by those hands, the mirth is still there. The screams of hate boiling within. "You're the one pushing for all thi-" Jona. JONA. "And look who's heeeere..."
There is the barest sense of that Wazner. Damn mosquito. What, she's surprised? ...Figures.
The hole continues to suck, to decompress, to act in accordance with the natural laws of nature. It demands everything from the colony.
There's the faintest bit of recognition flashing in his eyes at the sight of the Dijeh. Something like that? Here? He was familiar with that suit, not that he ever piloted one. But the pilot of the White Devil... "AAAAAAAMUROOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" It wasn't him. It wasn't even a man inside that cockpit. But the idea. The inspiration. The devil that had plagued his entire being, the thing that firmly locked his life to the way it was...!
It peppered the Neo Zeong, the bullets bouncing off of the reinforced plate, off of the exposed metal. Pockmarks here and there, a few successfully punching through for visible repairs. "YOU'RE NOT SUPPOSED TO BE ALIVE, SO SOMEONE'S IN THERE!" The waves of anger soaring high in the sea of stars, to push and rush against everything that dared to stand in its wake. "But if you're here..." The click, the hum, the slow charge of that waist-cannon charging...And blasting, a loathing beam of foul bile lashing out to Sayla's machine, damn whomever was in front, damn whatever area was behind that same suit.
That Valkyrie was brazenly an afterthought, the gatlings crashing away against the monster. Damage, attrition, the marks of someone being so solidly attacked. The churn of the pauldrons, the repeated clicks as missile after missile was loaded back into place, those six arms spreading out wide.. "And who're you...WHO THE HELL ARE YOU!?" And out came the lasers, to raze the land, to carve swaths of desolation among the sacred halls of education. Damn bastard, damn Valkyrie! I'm not here for you, I'm for that damn Phenex, for her, for HER ALONE.
Those yellow beams were slowly reddening, slowly transforming, the psycommu pieces slowly rattling, slowly setting into place with purpose and intent...
<Pose Tracker> Trevor Teach has posed.
"No, /all/ you're doing is chasing a bauble!" Trevor snarls into his radio, his hands gripping tight around the Isadore's controls. "Charging after a shining treasure, damning everything and everybody in your way! Mobile suit, pilot, it doesn't matter! All this death, all this misery-- doesn't even begin to balance out the scales. And for what!?"
"At least when /we/ had to kill people," the Isadore is faced with a prospect of utter immolation. A conflagration of mega particles pounding down in a rain. One scythes into the mobile suit's arm, striking a critical conduit. Its hand goes limp as its beam cutlass crackles and dies, falling to the ground with a hiss of dispersing plasma. With a furious sneer, he slams his fist into a nearby panel, secondary systems reconnecting to the machine's limb. "We did it so we could /eat./"
"But you? All this death for a /bauble!/" Particle beams continue to rain down. The Isadore breaks back, another weapon falling into hand. This one is some kind of... overtuned former mining tool. Maneuvering thrusters twist and spit, blasting a calligraphic scorchmarks across the colony interior as Isadore dances through the burning raindrops. Lances of fire sear its shoulders and armor, but it takes aim through the deluge-- and fires.
It's not a beam weapon, or a gun.
It's... a an anti-asteroid stake-launcher.
One fitted to launch at /hypersonic/ velocities.
"Important or not-- it doesn't /matter/! Are these peoples' lives less important than your /obsession!?/" The NT-D has a clear lock on that mobile suit. Crystal clear. And yet-- it seems to waver. To flicker. As if there were a heat-haze there every time it moves and stops and fires and moves again.
It only grows as Trevor's rage surges.
"Just give me firing lines that don't make this situation worse, missy," he answers LiSA, only halfway paying attention to her offer. There are more pressing matters on his mind right now.
KTS: Zoltan Akkanen has activated the Alert Spirit Command. KTS: Zoltan Akkanen targets Puru-1 with Sinanju Swings! KTS: Trevor Teach targets Jona Basta with Hypersonic Bolt! KTS: Trevor Teach has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Zoltan Akkanen targets Sayla Mass with Targeted Malice! KTS: Puru-1 has activated the Strike Spirit Command. KTS: Puru-1 has activated the Alert Spirit Command. KTS: Zoltan_Akkanen Changes attack to Anita Rosetta, Puru-1, Sayla Mass, and Eight York with Beams Of The Inferno. KTS: Puru-1 retreats from the attack! KTS: Puru-1 fails to evade Zoltan Akkanen's Beams Of The Inferno, taking 3960 damage! KTS: Zoltan Akkanen begins a Formation attack!
<Pose Tracker> Yuliana Kafim has posed.
A panel flies out from the flames to strike the Da Xukong; the green barrier around it arrests its speed. "No can do!" Yuliana snaps, to the Ichinana, as she orients on who she's caught. She doesn't immediately recognise Chris's voice, heated as the moment is. "I --"
Only when the world is threatened, huh?
Oh, Naoko's world will be threatened.
Da Xukong 0's cameras zero in on the Sukeban -- all to match Yuliana's intent attention. Nothing. Nothing surrounds her, caving in around her!, and the real wonder of these horrors is why no one else recognises that SHE is the one who has crashed a hole in existence. Yuliana sees the carved-out space around her, crowding her, drowning her out --
and her blood
BOILS.
"YOU!!" Yuliana roars, and in this instant it is clear how much danger the Daughter of Bridge was IN, back when Gayatri D'Cruze was escorted to that party by the Nega Force. It is white-hot rage all packed to a word, all for HER, for her and her and her and her and her. She has scarcely finished her flamethrower assault before she's throwing her machine forward again -- LUNGING into the clutch -- to charge into Naoko's Vulcan-fire. Much of it glances off that strange, sickly green barrier around her; and when she reaches Naoko, she brings with her silence.
Absolute silence.
"You absolute wretch of existence! Is the Colony's hole not enough?! Whence do you capsize /carve/?! SHE IS NOT HERE!"
Yuliana is screaming, but the /pressure/ around her is oppressive and disorienting; her isolation prevents all psychic activity, and quiets the whispering voices. That's why Shari Loom likes being beside her so much, did you know? Shari, who Yuliana so often escorts to events, or works alongside without any violence whatsoever --
Questions for later.
Now Yuliana is knocked away from Naoko by Liam's blow -- despite her voice-changer, he recognises her machine, and names her Kafim. She doesn't quite /notice,/ because it's only after he forces her away with the flat of his blade that she remembers he's, well... /here./ "Ah," she says, and the blink-blink-blink is audible, "Liam, was it? This really is a shame," she says, as she re-orients her machine from where it had tumbled and started sliding with the pressure of that hole into space. (Not terribly fast, at least -- Eight's efforts to block the hole have made things easier for small creatures like herself. And the humans around here, hopefully.) Her tentacles grasp the levers and crank them down and to the side as her legs grasp the ground, and bring herself upright again. "My memory's a touch fuzzy about the whole thing, but if I recall, you helped save me from Hell... though I was rather vicious about the whole affair. I don't suppose I can convince you to go help the shelter..."
Yuliana trails off, as she looks back, to the ship keeping Michele safe. "You KNEW?!" She demands, and she /is/ upset, judging by the way her voice tears at the edges of her modulator. "You rat /bastard!/ Using me for bait is one thing, but that fucking--!! Don't think I'll forgive you just for commanding his death!" And why, Yuliana wonders, a shade more distantly, does it /matter/ to her?
Maybe the reason Michele extracted that agreement from her was to stop /her/ from killing her, here.
She's not disoriented enough not to turn, sharply, to bring her Cleave Axe up to block the Dianthus's glaive. "Hmm?" She asks, as she finally manages to force it away, and slams the axe into the Dianthus as punishment. "Oh, yes, one of the Nadesico's pilots. Of course you don't understand," she says, withering, and proximity to Yuliana is no less pleasant for her even without any particular intent behind it.
"We must retrieve Rita," not the Phenex, "and she'll not stop running, so we had to go this far." Her tone grows sour, as she adds: "... not that putting a new sunroof in the colony was part of any plan /I/ was privy to." It's clear Yuliana resents what's happening, here, despite her known anti-Spacenoid sentiment. "Just -- let me take her, and you can see to this. All right?"
The devil's bargain.
KTS: Yuliana Kafim targets Lucine Azul with MULS-P Cleave Axe Topple Strike! KTS: Zoltan Akkanen targets Eight York with Rightful Blaze! KTS: Zoltan Akkanen has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Zoltan Akkanen has completed their actions for the round. KTS: [Spirit Defense] Eight York's This Path Was Our Choice activates, and her spirit endures. KTS: Zoltan Akkanen enervates Eight York, reducing her Morale significantly. KTS: Eight York partially guards Zoltan Akkanen's Rightful Blaze, taking 4800 damage! KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Zoltan Akkanen's You Think I'm Not Good Enough!? activates, causing Deject! KTS: Yuliana Kafim targets Naoko Suzuki with Prevent! KTS: Yuliana Kafim targets Liam 7-020 with Goad! KTS: Yuliana Kafim targets Christina MacKenzie with Goad! KTS: Yuliana Kafim has completed their actions for the round. KTS: [Lucky] Anita Rosetta's Serious Mode activates, and luck goes her way! KTS: Anita Rosetta successfully blocks Zoltan Akkanen's Beams Of The Inferno KTS: Yuliana Kafim goads Liam 7-020, reducing his Intuition drastically. KTS: Sayla Mass has activated the Alert Spirit Command. KTS: Sayla Mass retreats from the attack! KTS: Sayla Mass successfully evades Zoltan Akkanen's Beams Of The Inferno KTS: Yuliana Kafim prevents Naoko Suzuki's maneuvers, reducing her Skill drastically.
<Pose Tracker> Koji Kabuto has posed.
Koji's heart stops for a split second at Sayaka's words. His face goes scarlet.
He should be incandescent, righteously furious, but despite the severity of the battle, for a moment in the Pilder cockpit, everything seems... serene, even despite the Narrative raining megaparticle fire on the Mazins. Mazinger Z protects itself with crossed arms, persisting in the face of the abominable heat. Its armour can withstand it; after all, the Mazins are masters of the flame themselves.
Do Z's eyes shine brighter as its pilot's heart takes those words in? Perhaps.
Those chest-mounted crimson radiator plates also begin to brighten as Z weathers the Narrative's bombardment. Not yet, Koji thinks to himself. Get in close first, where he can't escape. He dives his machine towards the Narrative, raising Z's arms for a mighty two-fisted strike to knock the Gundam's psycofield off balance and sending it crashing into an already battle-scarred part of the colony surface.
"Your machine is feeding off your own hate! Snap out of it!" The NT-D in the Unicorn has a five-minute time limit. Does this one? It doesn't matter - they don't have five minutes, not while the devil in its pilot's heart is being dragged out for all to see.
Force-shutdown it is, then.
KTS: Koji Kabuto targets Jona Basta with Astro Mazin Strike! KTS: Koji Kabuto has completed their actions for the round.
<Pose Tracker> Eight York has posed.
"Patch it through," Eight says to the unidentified laser comm headed her way--but especially once she hears who it is. "Acknowledged, Dr. Mass. We have shuttles out to aid the evacuation effort. We'll support you as best we can, too."
Rita, next. That little bird... "Rita," Eight answers her. "Be careful." The rest of her bridge crew only glances; they have their own jobs to attend. Licia doesn't even do that, focused so tightly on maneuvering the ship, like Rezza is now directing shuttlecraft with full telemetry from the ship's sensors.
"A cable... Kazama. If it fires any cables at us, shoot them down."
"...Captain," Astelian says, grimly. "I'm picking up--" He pauses. "...This entire matter was--" "Replay it for me," Eight tells her comms officer, and listens to the things that Michele says over the comms channels. The perfect bait. And how she 'didn't mean for these people to die'...'
Eight's hand slowly curls into a fist. "I won't forgive this," she murmurs to herself, not on the radio.
But the gigantic suit fires out at them. The Neo Zeong fires thoseterrible yellow beams.
"Annie!" Eight calls. "Look out! I'll watch your back!"
She has no such words for Puru-1. But she can deal with those beams. "Captain, I can't evade and plug this hole at the same time!"
"...Prioritize the colony's safety. We'll trust in our armor."
"Yes, ma'am!"
So, the Ra Mari II takes terrible gouges from those lasers in its outer hull, searing red paint to black. And Eight narrows her eyes. It should be enough, to dissuade her--but she chose this. She isn't giving up yet.
"Kazama! Ready missiles!" Eight stares--she looks for weak points, trusts in her intuition, "My coordinates," she says, tapping in a few to the console at her side, "On my mark--MARK!"
The missiles pour from the sides of the Ra Mari II, aimed directly for the points in the Neo Zeong most likely to be weak points by her guess--joints, openings, anything they can find.
Rezza, meanwhile, keeps coordinating efforts; the shuttles land, and start to gather people.
While Eight has nothing to say to Zoltan, yet. Only a rising presence of anger.
KTS: Eight York has activated the Spirit Spirit Command. KTS: Eight York targets Zoltan Akkanen with High-Power Missile Armament System - Penetrating Barrage! KTS: Eight York has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Lucine Azul retreats from the attack! KTS: Lucine Azul successfully avoids Yuliana Kafim's MULS-P Cleave Axe Topple Strike
<Pose Tracker> Puru-1 has posed.
The Ra Mari II plugging the Colony may offer respite, but the pilot of the Banshee cannot focus upon the mitigation of the damage save in one way. There is only one way she is allowed to perform mitigation, and she has only one method by which to accomplish her orders at the moment.
Michele's orders.
She will not fail here, indeed she cannot fathom a future where she does fail, she can only comprehend the moment. THIS moment. Angrily the mobile suit bellows as its target.
The hands crawl on the edges of Zoltan's vision in the Psycoframe resonance, even as the childlike laughter begins anew, uproarious at his denial of being Char. A swing of the Beam Axe however arrests the Banshee's flight, as suddenly it backthrusts away rapidly, swiping upwards with its arm, it still carves into the obsidian armor anyhow, raking a molten trail across its armor.
The hands stop. Momentarily disquieted perhaps, as it turns and looks at the Dijeh, if there are sensations of hands, they are featherlight, ephemeral. There is no emotional vampirism like last time, and the Banshee does not stop its flight, but the pilot of the Dijeh might swear at times its looking at her. That it knows. The feeling of POSSESSIVENESS heavy in the air around her, but unable to take hold.
Puru-1 turns away, back to its true focus after the momentary distraction.
WRATH DISAPPOINTMENT RAGE SORROW FEAR DESPAIR
YOU DON'T WANT TO DANCE
YOU DON'T WANT TO PLAY
WHAT GOOD ARE YOU
WHAT ARE YOU EVEN FOR
The Banshee draws its Beam Magnum in that moment, as its barrel expands, and the muzzle charges with a gathering of energy, crackling crimson with auroral blue. "-en disappear." Crackles over the comms, half formed, as the Banshee fires the shot of horrendous energy, trying to penetrate its I-Field outright and strike the Neo-Zeong II center mass.
The siren's call of two other Psycoframes has reached the Puru-1's senses, but through its wave of anger it only comprehends its distress, he is an ally, the hands do not reach him, though the wave of his suffering strikes cross her senses like a spark caused by flint striking rock. Fire results.
And so too does the birdcage, as the Phenex finds herself trapped within. Puru-1 hisses across her senses with a sense of triumph.
YOU KNEW YOU
COULDN'T RUN FOREVER
YOU KNEW
M I N E
The hands try to reach, but their greedy fingers find themselves cut off by the Psychojammer that is the birdcage, a wail of distress that it cannot possess her in the way that matters to her.
DON'T LEAVE ME ALONE
YOU PROMISED YOU PROMISED
LONELINESS POSSESSIVENESS DESPAIR
"Ri...ta..." A hiss pop of comm white noise, a distorted, breathless voice "-t hurts."
KTS: Puru-1 targets Zoltan Akkanen with Beam Magnum Shot! KTS: Puru-1 has completed their actions for the round.
<Pose Tracker> Sayaka Yumi has posed.
Sayaka too, braves the storm of the NT-D system's piercing flames, Photon Barrier emitted even as the flames swath against Areia's sizeable Super Alloy Z armour plates.
The light shines brightly, perhaps because of the weight of the promise carried in the words she just had for Koji. She's going to fight tooth and nails to keep it. It's something LiSA's willing to fight for too, as she sends them valuable combat data to get out of this battle alive.
A little bird named Rita reminds Sayaka of another promise. "You're welcome, Rita. I hope you know the Photon Power Labs will always welcome you again should you need it." She urged them to save Jona - that must be the pilot they're up against, fighting in the Narrative Gundam. She bears it in mind - the pain from unleashing the NT-D system must be so strong.
As Koji gets in close, Sayaka plans to bolster his assault, seeing the clear opening he's left her. "Iron Cutter Missiles - FIRE!" She shouts, as the chest missiles reveal blades of their own to cut at the Narrative Gundam's armor - but not the cockpit.
KTS: Sayaka Yumi targets Jona Basta with Iron Cutter Missiles! KTS: Sayaka Yumi has completed their actions for the round.
<Pose Tracker> Liam 7-020 has posed.
Flame pours from the CGUE's side for a few seconds more--then comes the smoke, the results of the machine's internal fire suppression and dwindling oxygen. Liam forces himself to breathe, and tries to shove Zoltan's ranting somewhere it can be safely ignored.
He can't manage that. Zoltan's goading and fury entangle with Michele's cruelty. It's happening again. People are dying because bad people had a plan, and they were in the way.
Meanwhile, the CGUE follows Da Xukong, its shield raised and ready to intercept reprisal. It does a little jet-assisted skipping, which Liam's reflexes handle, because most of his higher functions are an increasingly-furious storm. "Yuliana," Liam chokes out. Anguish, horror, and rage boil off of him as he sees her laying into Naoko. "I wanted to trust you."
He's losing it. He's losing it, and that means he's dead.
"She tried to save you! If. If you care." The words grow tight, strangled, like Liam's forcing them out. "Let. Her. Go."
'I don't suppose I can convince you to go help the shelter...'
The words echo in Liam's head, even as Yuliana swings at Lucine. "Don't you DARE TOUCH HER!" Liam's voice rises to a howl. The CGUE jets forward, shield-first, trying to slam into the smaller machine and break the legs, disable the tail, do /something/. Liam would go for the rifle, but he doesn't trust himself to account for backdrop /now/, much less in an environment like this.
KTS: Liam 7-020 targets Yuliana Kafim with M7070 Shield+28mm Vulcan Bash! KTS: Liam 7-020 has completed their actions for the round.
<Pose Tracker> Anita Rosetta has posed.
There's a voice. Anita doesn't recognize Michele's voice. She doesn't know who she is, but - she did this? The damage to the colony wasn't her plan, but she's after Rita - the Phenex... Well, she puts a pin in that thought for now.
They've got back-up that isn't the Banshee, pinging the Ra Mari II. Sayla Mass, huh?
"Then I'm with you, Doc. I'll back you up." Anita says. Before she can say anything further the Neo Zeong begins to move - and Zoltan speaks. ...Maybe it's just her, but he sounds like he's gotten worse since the last time they met.
"...You don't remember me, huh? Guess I didn't leave that much of an impression. Oh well - let's fix that." Anita replies. The Neo Zeong's arms spread out wide - and Eight sends her a word of warning just in time.
"Got it, thanks!" Anita calls back. Terrible beams rake the land. The Svipul dodges at just the last moment. She's not quite out of range - but the Pinpoint Barrier System flickers on for just a brief moment as the beam connects, limiting the damage.
Still... it's pretty clear she doesn't want to take a direct hit if she can help it.
In GERWALK mode, the Svipul accelerates - flying around the Zeong and peppering it with more bullets. If that was /all/ it was for, that'd be one thing - but ultimately it's more of a distraction, to provide an opening for the others to capitalize on.
KTS: Anita Rosetta targets Zoltan Akkanen with Leading Fire! KTS: Anita Rosetta has completed their actions for the round.
<Pose Tracker> Sayla Mass has posed.
The laser comms finally link up, as she hoped- and she hears two familiar voices. She expected one. But that laugh...
"You really take after your sister after all, don't you." Her voice is hard, cold, harsh. Little does she realize all three victims of her ill advised arrangement with Stephanie Luio those years ago are here.
But she does know who was commanding that Banshee. And thanks to a mystery voices furious screaming, who was responsible to. She feels her heart steel and venom rise in her voice. Venom and disappointment. "I'll have answers after this, Miss Luio." Sayla's not hiding who she is. There's no point after announcing herself-
But the Neo Zeong II is a bigger problem- and a man screams that he isn't that failure. But she can feel her brother, ever so faintly. She can hear him screaming for Amuro- and the hell of beams coming for her in his place.
With a flash of newtype intuition, the Dijeh jets away, as those beams barely miss her- as she focuses, no pilot suit to protect her if he cockpit is pierced, from the coming vacuum. She needs to get away, to evade. So she does-
Even as she avoids the feeling that those hands could grab her out of the sky again. That they could desperately to claim her again at any moment.
"So. They made two ghosts." Her comms open to the screaming Zoltan, and him alone. "I'm not Amuro. And you're not Char." She draws the dual ended beam naginata-
The red Gelgoog's Beam Naginata strikes against her cockpit, shattering the glass, as the blow is pulled at the last second.
"...And there's no Lalah here to stop either of us. She won't talk to me... or to you. And she won't hold us back." In a way this feels like a trial run. A trial run for what she told herself she would do nearly 10 years ago, when her brother unmasked himself at Dakar.
She dashes forward- not for the body of the Neo Zeong II, but for the mobile suit that puppets it. She sweeps with one blade, aiming to cut into- but not, against this armour, through- the Sinanju Stein's cockpit.
t hurt's
Sayla can't help herself, hearing that pained distorted voice. For all that that suit has tried to take her... if that is truly the ghost that has haunted Leina...
"Elpeo Puru... Are you Elpeo Puru?"
Her will to kill Zoltan falters in the face of the chance to reach the Astha's other sibling- or whatever's left of her. "It'll be okay."
KTS: Sayla Mass has activated the Rouse Spirit Command. KTS: Sayla Mass targets Zoltan Akkanen with Dijeh Beam Naginata Single Blade! KTS: Sayla Mass has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Yuliana Kafim's EN Barrier activates, negating 1500 base damage. KTS: Yuliana Kafim parries Liam 7-020's M7070 Shield+28mm Vulcan Bash, taking 285 damage! KTS: Liam 7-020 has engaged Yuliana Kafim!
<Pose Tracker> Naoko Suzuki has posed.
For the next few moments, Naoko Suzuki does not have an earthly idea exactly what is happening. To start with, that reaction. That one single word directed at her, filled with more venom than she's ever had directed against her. All she can think is 'why?' It's as if this is someone she knows, someone who despises her. But... she doesn't know anyone like that. She may have mildly antagonized a few people, but... she's pretty sure that she's never done anything to deserve the hate-fueled rage dripping from that word.
She can't even manage a response before her machine is violently crashed into, and everything goes dark. In a spiritual sense. Yuliana screams, but even that, she doesn't hear. For the first time in her life, she can't hear anything. Some Whispered might find this a relief. But Naoko... her situation is different. She has two constant companions, offering soothing words when she needs them, spurring her on her needs it... dispelling the loneliness, which she desperately needs.
And now... now she can't hear them anymore. She can't /feel/ them anymore. Her stabilizing influences have been taken from her, suddenly and without warning. Leaving her in a state near to catatonic, losing her sense of where she is and what she was doing. Frozen up, wide-eyed, no longer in control of herself, let alone her machine.
"Wh... no... Uriel... Ariel... where are you...?"
Were she able to think clearly, she would know that they haven't actually gone anywhere. Without them, the Sukeban would not still be operational. Her two friends are desperately trying to respond, but within a psychic void, they have no way of making themselves heard. While plugged into the Arm Slave, they are not capable of directly showing any other signs of life. They've vanished entirely from Naoko's perception. And Naoko... does not take it well.
"No... no no no no no no nonononononononoooooooOOOOOOOOO!!!"
Grasping her head with both hands, eyes impossibly wide, the Whispered girl wails against a loneliness far greater still than she's ever known in her life. Even as Yuliana's Wanzer is forced off her machine, the Sukeban just... floats there for a moment, before it starts to back away. Slowly, as the machine's twin AIs can't move it very well on their own, without the aid of its pilot. Only to stop abruptly. In the cockpit, Naoko slowly raises her lowered head.
"...give them back..." Stated barely above a whisper. And then, abruptly becoming evolving into a scream. "GIVE THEM BAAAAACK!!"
Responding to the pilot's will, the Arm Slave /launches/ itself towards the Da Xukong 0, its super-heated hands seeking to violently tear into any part of the other machine that it can managed to grab hold of.
This isn't an attack. This is an attempt to physically retrieve something that was mentally taken away. There is no logic or reason. Only pure desperation.
KTS: Naoko Suzuki has activated the Valor Spirit Command. KTS: Naoko Suzuki targets Yuliana Kafim with Heat Harrier! KTS: Naoko Suzuki has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Zoltan Akkanen fails to react to Rita Bernal's Pass, taking 0 damage! KTS: Zoltan Akkanen successfully Intercepts Eight York's High-Power Missile Armament System - Penetrating Barrage KTS: Zoltan Akkanen charges into the attack! KTS: Zoltan Akkanen partially guards Puru-1's Beam Magnum Shot, taking 5084 damage! KTS: Zoltan Akkanen fails to evade Anita Rosetta's Leading Fire, taking 3150 damage! KTS: Anita Rosetta begins a Formation attack! KTS: Zoltan Akkanen fails to evade Sayla Mass's Dijeh Beam Naginata Single Blade, taking 3750 damage! KTS: Sayla Mass has engaged Zoltan Akkanen! KTS: Sayla Mass completes the Formation attack! KTS: Yuliana Kafim's EN Barrier activates, negating 1500 base damage. KTS: Naoko Suzuki anchors Yuliana Kafim, forcing her into close range. KTS: Yuliana Kafim blocks Naoko Suzuki's Heat Harrier, taking 870 damage! KTS: Naoko Suzuki has engaged Yuliana Kafim!
<Pose Tracker> Michele Luio has posed.
"You don't know my motives. This obsession is the only good thing I can do, no matter how much bad it takes."
Michele laughs biterly, as she responds to Yuliana. "Of course. I'm the one who sent out the leak, after all."
She drinks the poison like it's wine.
"We'll see about that, Dr. Mass. I'll check my schedule for June."
She has no intent of following through.
Michele instead turns her voice on Zoltan. "Is little Mr. Slaughter so caught up in his own world? You can't have her. You'll never have her. You just want to tear her apart."
"I'm going to put her back together. Piece by piece."
Her words are scathing, and there's a bit of data sent to anyone who can grab it, giving calculated trajectories for hitting the Neo-Zeong II better.
KTS: Michele Luio has activated the Rouse Spirit Command targeting Puru-1 KTS: [Spirit Defense] Zoltan Akkanen's Spirit Endurance activates, and the spirit endures. KTS: Michele Luio has activated the Daunt Spirit Command targeting Zoltan Akkanen KTS: Michele Luio targets Zoltan Akkanen with Goad! KTS: Michele Luio has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Yuliana Kafim goads Christina MacKenzie, reducing her Intuition drastically.
<Pose Tracker> LiSA has posed.
LiSA's eyes track not just the Mazinger, but also the trajectories of the other two on the Gundam. Being as familiar as she is with the PPL machines, she's able to gently ease her attention more towards on her other two - opponent and ally alike. Getting called Missy doesn't phase her - better than Gamia, but her eyes narrow as she winds back Aphrodite's trajectory, and her eyes widen.
"Oh - Director, Sayaka, follow her lead! Watch out getting so close, but take your shots carefully. Aim for disabling, not total distruction, please!"
Then, more urgently, leaning forward in her seat directly to Koji: "Master, do you think we could do like what we did for Miss Rita? Whoever this is... they need us as much as she did!" She says, that clear appreciation for the life on this planet, learned from he and Sayaka, clear in her voice.
KTS: LiSA targets Koji Kabuto, Sayaka Yumi, and Trevor Teach with Caution. KTS: LiSA has completed their actions for the round. KTS: LiSA suggests caution, raising Trevor Teach's Intuition!
<Pose Tracker> Lucine Azul has posed.
"Rita.... are you sure, about this?" Lucine speaks to the quiet cockpit as the warmth of feathers settle around her shoulders. ".... If Luio & Co. capture you..."
No. She won't choose between the two.
< "Liam." > A direct message to Liam's CGUE, this time, which Lucine prays transmits properly. < "Rita says she's okay. She wants us to save the people of Metis--" >
Glaive meets axe; there is no atmosphere to carry sound, so there is no satisfaction of two metals clanging together. < "....And to not be too hard on Yuliana. She's fighting for Rita in her own way." >
It's a hard case to make as Yuliana's influence infests the psychic space around Lucine as they engage. Lucine *can* deny Yuliana the satisfaction of her axe hitting, however--
Liam's anger proves a touch faster, but it only ensures the Dianthus pulling back successfully.
< "But that Yuliana deseerves some hits in return." >
What is notable is Yuliana's rage towards another ally engaging with her-- that is, Naoko. What is going on there? And Naoko herself-- though Lucine herself doesn't know her well enough-- is having trouble dealing with Yuliana's sphere of influence.
< "Pilot of the NS-1 Sukeban. .... I will hazard a guess that you're feeling the effects of the power of the person piloting the Da Xukong 0. If you have certain... abilities, her power will mute them. She cannot take them away, however. Once you leave her sphere of influence, they'll return." > Lucine keeps her voice calm, perhaps a little too calm, but it's a task that's much easier with the warm of Rita's laughter in her heart.
Her words of hope said, Lucine forces herself to focus on the task at hand, commanding the Dianthus to draw out the albarest. It powers up, Lucine aligning her aim with Yuliana's craft. < ".... Hold on for a little longer, for the sake of the people of Metis." >
Just a little more.... and she can pierce that shield. Yellow eyes gleam, and a hint of a smile creeps on Lucine's lips. "..... Got you."
A bright ray of magenta pierces the dark, as Lucine attempts to do the same to the Da Xukong 0's defenses.
KTS: Lucine Azul has activated the Spirit Spirit Command. KTS: LiSA suggests caution, raising Koji Kabuto's Intuition! KTS: LiSA suggests caution, raising Sayaka Yumi's Intuition! KTS: Lucine Azul targets Yuliana Kafim with Argen-21 Beam Arbalest Orion Shot! KTS: Lucine Azul has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Jona Basta has activated the Wall Spirit Command. KTS: Jona Basta has activated the Wall Spirit Command. KTS: Yuliana Kafim successfully evades Lucine Azul's Argen-21 Beam Arbalest Orion Shot KTS: Jona Basta has activated the Dash Spirit Command and has disengaged. KTS: Jona Basta charges into the attack! KTS: Jona Basta partially guards Trevor Teach's Hypersonic Bolt, taking 3248 damage! KTS: Trevor Teach completes the Formation attack! KTS: Jona Basta blocks Koji Kabuto's Astro Mazin Strike, taking 4510 damage! KTS: Koji Kabuto has engaged Jona Basta! KTS: Koji Kabuto begins a Formation attack! KTS: Jona Basta successfully Intercepts Sayaka Yumi's Iron Cutter Missiles KTS: Sayaka Yumi completes the Formation attack!
<Pose Tracker> Jona Basta has posed.
The Narrative does not react against the second wave of attacks. Instead, it steadily marches forward, whatever pain it feels being transmitted to Jona instead. The lash of Trevor's Hypersonic Bolt and Koji's Astro Mazin Strike barely faze the B-Packs, even as cracks and damage begin to appear on its surface, electrical sparks jolting outwards.
This is no harmony, or beast to be overcome like the NT-D of the Unicorn or Phenex. This is a parasite, slowly draining the life of its pilot, its organic core, as it feeds vampirically on Jona's life essence.
More power.
The B-Packs glows even more brightly, a fell nova that swathes its surrounding in bloody light as it takes on its foes once more. With every blow, with every shorn armor plate, with every scorched and slagged bit of outer frame, the Narrative grows in seething, silent rage. It is a storm, and its cockpit is the eye of the hurricane, a prison now stained bloody, screens and dashboards cracked and shattered, as all that can be heard from within is raspy gurgling.
Jona Basta will perish if nothing is done. Yet even so, the B-Packs has completely overpowered its pilot's will. So what if he's broken? So what if he's bloodied? So what if these scars may never heal? Within my shell, this frail piece of flesh has been granted glorious purpose. Let the abomination within fuel the righteous struggle without. That is the only fate that is offered to the aberration known as a Cyber Newtype.
Focusing its attention on Koji Kabuto, the B-Packs arches its back in a silent roar as it hunches over on all fours, passing judgment on the steel giant that dared to interfere.
Rip and...TEAR!
The Narrative launches itself forward, a raging storm unleashed. Nothing would stop their path.
Not you.
Not the golden abomination.
Not even the second coming of Zeon's angst.
KTS: Jona Basta targets Koji Kabuto with NT-D: Judgment! KTS: Jona Basta rattles Koji Kabuto, making his next maneuvers more difficult. KTS: Koji Kabuto parries Jona Basta's NT-D: Judgment, taking 1950 damage! KTS: Jona Basta has engaged Koji Kabuto! KTS: Jona Basta completes the Formation attack! KTS: Jona Basta targets Sayaka Yumi with All Out Assault! KTS: Jona Basta targets Trevor Teach with NT-D: Judgment! KTS: Jona Basta has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Sayaka Yumi has activated the Foresee Spirit Command. KTS: Sayaka Yumi fails to evade Jona Basta's All Out Assault, taking 5795 damage! KTS: Jona Basta completes the Formation attack! KTS: Trevor Teach has activated the Focus Spirit Command. KTS: Trevor Teach has activated the Wall Spirit Command. KTS: Trevor Teach has activated the Spirit Spirit Command. KTS: Jona Basta rattles Trevor Teach, making his next maneuvers more difficult. KTS: Trevor Teach fails to parry Jona Basta's NT-D: Judgment, taking 7370 damage! KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Jona Basta's Vigilante activates, causing Nullify! KTS: Jona Basta has engaged Trevor Teach! KTS: Jona Basta completes the Formation attack! KTS: Trevor Teach has activated the Trick Spirit Command. KTS: Trevor Teach has activated the Trick Spirit Command. KTS: Trevor Teach has activated the Trick Spirit Command.
<Pose Tracker> Christina MacKenzie has posed.
Beams course across the 'sky'--well, across the rapidly-evacuating atmosphere crucial to the life of every civilian here.
"Th-the best clearance? That's all this has been for you? Luio... All of this--" What? That monstrous mobile armor too?! "--all of this?! What use is that much conviction if this is your path?! All this madness, just to have ONE WOMAN to yourself?! How selfish can you be? She could just have been your FRIEND! And you couldn't even give her that much? You have to take her /freedom/ instead?" Her fury isn't dying down, but her composure and focus are commanding it, her natural cadence taking over.
Bringing that flame to bear.
"Luio. I should have broken more than that door, back then. I should have broken--!"
Her eyes narrow as the Wanzer's pilot loses composure, first on that AS and then on Luio's admissions. "--That's... Kafim, is that you? You're... working with Luio? Luio, with the Banshee--with its pilot at her knee?" Astonishment gives way to snarling. "Is this the better world you're working towards? A world where women like her use children like you as weapons?!"
Chris's Mazin hops backwards, briefly leaning in to then aggressively charge the scorpionid wanzer, jets blazing, striking out at the smaller machine with a heavy knee strike, following it with a cross-straight and finally a two-fisted smash towards the spine.
"I WON'T LET A WORLD LIKE THAT EXIST!"
KTS: Christina MacKenzie targets Yuliana Kafim with Ichinana CQC Brawl! KTS: Christina MacKenzie has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Sayaka Yumi has activated the Attune Spirit Command. KTS: Sayaka Yumi has activated the Attune Spirit Command targeting Koji Kabuto KTS: Sayaka Yumi has activated the Trust Spirit Command targeting Koji Kabuto
<Pose Tracker> Koji Kabuto has posed.
"I know," Koji replies to LiSA, quietly. "I want to help her, but if we complicate this battle any further, more lives will be lost. Trying to disable the Banshee will open up the Neo Zeong to lay waste to even more of the colony and bring the rest of Luio's arsenal down on us."
"The best thing we can do is - " The Narrative launches itself, feral, at Mazinger Z in the middle of Koji's sentence, megaparticle blades scything down perilously - and with an intake of breath, his eyes narrow.
"IRON CUTTER!" Twin blades of refined Super Alloy Z spring from each of Mazinger Z's forearms, and he expertly deflects the beam blade so that it bites into Z's round shoulder. The mechanisms under the armour are sliced into, but basic functionality is maintained.
"... is to keep recording, and start running what we get through processing to eliminate the distortion." It'll take ages, but it's a clue to the pilot's identity. Koji flips on his exterior comms again. "Sayaka, now! Sync reactors!"
Mazinger Z jets away from the Narrative, turning towards Aphrodite Areia. One hand reaches out for its partner-Mazin's, fingers clasping and reactors harmonising, feeding into each other, as the pair turn to face the Narrative. Mazinger Z's chest array flares from red through to white as the two synchronised Photon Reactors bring each other to greater heights than even simulations of this combination move predicted.
Koji bellows out the flame in his heart, giving it voice at last: "UNION!!! HEART!!!! INFEEEEEERNOOOOOOO!!!!!"
Double Burning Fire is traditionally separate streams of Breast Fire, to maximise the area exposed to the raging, all-melting heat. In contrast, the stream of flame that surges from Mazinger Z's chest array now is focused to collide with Aphrodite Areia's own Heart Fire to create a singular channeled stream that is forced down upon the Narrative Gundam! If it's tinted a little pink around the edges, well - that just speaks to the pilots' passions.
KTS: Koji Kabuto targets Jona Basta with Breast Fire! KTS: Koji Kabuto has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Yuliana Kafim rushes into the attack! KTS: Yuliana Kafim successfully avoids Christina MacKenzie's Ichinana CQC Brawl
<Pose Tracker> Rita Bernal has posed.
Spirits recover swiftly. Or at least, Rita's does. Even split in half, she flares back to life as her heroes call out in response to her little birds.
Voices reach her heart, even when she's distant. Everyone present is part of this story, now, and Rita would know their souls even from a great distance. ...even those she'd rather avoid.
Arm raised again, Rita designates three more targets. Nova. Anita. And her sister. Three more birds pull away from Rita's spiritual body and fly across the battlefield, near-imperceptible flickers of golden radiance.
Nova, miracle-maker!
A little bird flutters around her cockpit, then settles just out of the way of Nova's screen. She chirps a little tune, something cheerful. Something that suits the Nova Rita met.
Listen to Lucine. Your friends aren't lost to you. Pull back from her melee range and they'll return to you. This is Yuli's special ability. Her heart was ripped away from her.
With a twirl in place, the bird chirps a few more notes. Wings raise, arcing above her head as her form dissipates into glimmering flame.
Remember, magic and miracles are real!
Circling Anita's machine once, a canary flutters through the walls to the cockpit. She settles on one of the pilot's arms -- weightless and unobtrusive aside from a feeling of warmth.
Anita. Don't worry about Zoltan. He's a terrible person.
Shimmering in aulic shades, the little bird flutters her twin tail feathers.
You're a hero. You make a difference to everyone around you, even in their worst moments. Without your strength, so many would be lost.
Don't give up. I believe in you all the way.
Radiance consumes the little bird, passing into Anita's mobile suit with a sheen of strength.
Finally, the third. Piercing through the miserable aura around her sister is difficult, but the little bird perseveres, flapping her wings frantically.
Sister.
With one last burst of effort, the canary avatar reaches the cockpit. So like the Phenex's. She perches atop one of the control screens, pushed away from the NT-D's activation.
I'm going to save you. I love you. Whatever comes, we can face it side by side.
With a little hop, the bird settles in Puru-1's lap, nuzzling into her affectionately. Starlight exudes from her slight body, passing not into the Banshee, but the Black Unicorn's pilot.
I won't let them take you again. Let me take some of your pain. As soon as the Phenex is free, I'll bring you home.
With one last press of her head, the canary vanishes, leaving behind a strengthening sense of warmth and protection. A promise, forged in sacred fire.
Again, Rita grows faint. The birdcage holds the Phenex fast, and without that anchor to the physical realm, she has very little strength. Lowering her arm, she brings a hand to a necklace dangling from her neck.
A simple silver chain with a diamond-shaped pendant.
Jona's suffering pierces her heart. Tears well up in Rita's brilliant green eyes. If only she could reach him. If only she could pull him from the Narrative...
KTS: Rita Bernal has activated the Trust Spirit Command targeting Naoko Suzuki KTS: Rita Bernal has activated the Trust Spirit Command targeting Anita Rosetta KTS: Rita Bernal has activated the Trust Spirit Command targeting Puru-1
<Pose Tracker> Zoltan Akkanen has posed.
Bait. Bait. That's all he was. Bait. This barely allayed the feelings inside him, barely tampering down the scorching screed of hellfire erupting from a failed prototype. So what? There was still the central goal. So what? There was still the chance of everything going shitside. So what? So what so what so what so what so what!?
THe sight of the Phenex fading. It only embolded him. Throughout all this, THAT was the GOAL ALL ALONG. To hunt to pin to dismember to rip that oh so holy oh so righteous oh so commanding prescence down from the heavens to cast it down to earth to bury it deep to cast aside the chains that keep binding him to this spot
Those hallucinartory hands are swatted away as the psycommu ring locks itself into place, to sputter once, twice, before those twinkling yellow shards coalesced into a ring behind him. Controls sliding back, headrest slipping up and around.
"I AM MY OWN PERSON! DON'T PIN ME AS SOMEONE WHO'LL FAIL AT WHAT SHE THINKS I AM!"
BGM - Altars of Apostasy - Heaven Pierce Her - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=onDTSYHiEK4
Loathing. The wave of mental energy along with missiles out to crash Eight's barrage, to roar in feral emotion as those missiles veer of course. Destruction.
Hatred. To push away at those hands clawing at him, to churn that emotion into spears of hate, the hallucinations shot through with spikes. To tear them to pieces, the coffin of the Sinanju Stein smacking the side of that immense avatar of emotion, to pull out bazookas from those compartments. "I'M FOR STAYING ALIVE, THAT'S WHAT!" Even as the Banshee scored hit after hit, the beast forged onwards, aiming, preparing. To fire off, one after the other after the other, aiming for that Banshee.
Spite. Memories forgotten by the wayside under so much, new ones reinforced by the rain of metal hammering down on the metallic monstrosity. "I'll...I'll...!" The jets move, blasting, pushing, the Neo Zeong II refusing to stay still for long. There is naught in the air but a pulse directed towards Anita, to push through with overwhelming force. To push through the gunfire, to push through the muck that was his mind.
Animosity. The screams of a man imprinted by the remnants of what people wanted out of their so-called Red Comet, the idol that chained him to the past. "You're right I'm not! And you're not Amuro! But you...You were there on the White Base, weren't you!?" Spittle flinging out as the Newtype bond ping about, saturating the air with so much. Char's bonds. His own frustrations. The toxic malaise of someone slipping and falling so deep into themselves. That naginata slamming straight home, to feel his adrenaline spike-
And to follow with two of those laser-clad hands slamming shut on either side, an attempt to pin that same mobile suit down. "AH!? TELL ME!"
Abhorrence. Never say never and never say never and never say never. "And you're DAMN wrong about it, you conniving..." There is only the sight of red deep inside, something so willingly cultivated and fed and bled and nurtured and tamped and festering.
The want to drag everyone down to his level, the Red Comet to create the sinkhole of despair.
KTS: Zoltan Akkanen has activated the Focus Spirit Command. KTS: Zoltan Akkanen has activated the Alert Spirit Command. KTS: Zoltan Akkanen has activated the Alert Spirit Command. KTS: Zoltan Akkanen has activated the Valor Spirit Command. KTS: Zoltan Akkanen targets Sayla Mass with Mangling Hold! KTS: Zoltan Akkanen targets Eight York with Weight of the World! KTS: Zoltan Akkanen targets Puru-1 with Double Rocket Onslaught! KTS: Zoltan Akkanen targets Anita Rosetta with Wrath! KTS: Zoltan Akkanen has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Zoltan Akkanen enervates Puru-1, reducing her Morale significantly. KTS: Puru-1 fails to react to Zoltan Akkanen's Double Rocket Onslaught, taking 8040 damage! KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Zoltan Akkanen's You Think I'm Not Good Enough!? activates, causing Deject! KTS: Zoltan Akkanen completes the Formation attack! KTS: [Spirit Defense] Eight York's This Path Was Our Choice activates, and her spirit endures. KTS: Zoltan Akkanen enervates Eight York, reducing her Morale significantly. KTS: Zoltan Akkanen anchors Eight York, forcing her into close range. KTS: Eight York fails to react to Zoltan Akkanen's Weight of the World, taking 4620 damage! KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Zoltan Akkanen's You Think I'm Not Good Enough!? activates, causing Deject! KTS: Zoltan Akkanen has engaged Eight York! KTS: Anita Rosetta has activated the Focus Spirit Command. KTS: Anita Rosetta has activated the Valor Spirit Command. KTS: Zoltan Akkanen enervates Anita Rosetta, reducing her Morale significantly. KTS: Anita Rosetta fails to react to Zoltan Akkanen's Wrath, taking 6480 damage! KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Zoltan Akkanen's You Think I'm Not Good Enough!? activates, causing Deject! KTS: Sayla Mass has activated the Focus Spirit Command. KTS: Zoltan Akkanen enervates Sayla Mass, reducing her Morale significantly. KTS: Zoltan Akkanen anchors Sayla Mass, forcing her into close range. KTS: Sayla Mass blocks Zoltan Akkanen's Mangling Hold, taking 4320 damage! KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Zoltan Akkanen's You Think I'm Not Good Enough!? activates, causing Deject! KTS: Zoltan Akkanen has engaged Sayla Mass!
<Pose Tracker> Yuliana Kafim has posed.
OST: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NtjwwfwM3-g Stabilo - Don't Look In Their Eyes
Michele sent out the leak herself... Yuliana might be more angry at being played, except now she's on the game board, and she's going to have to run the round through. One way or another, she's building heat, and the heroes won't just stop and leave.
"I--" Yuliana's voice hitches, and the tearing of the modulator only enhances the effect. But Liam keeps talking, and she insists: "I'll /never/ let her go!" The CGUE jets forward, shield-first; it doesn't have to /try/ to hit Da Xukong's tail, because that tail lashes out to /meet/ him, turning his shield aside. Unfortunately, it was designed to pierce through great machines -- it seems it can't be disabled so easily. Her axe strikes towards his CGUE, while he's occupied with /another/ of her wanzer's limbs.
A piece of his shield /does/ get lodged in its piercing nozzle, though, and Yuliana clicks her tongue to her teeth as she flicks some switches and turns a dial to feed some fuel through it to unblock the mechanism. Heat solves so /many/ problems.
Can it solve the problem of Yuliana, existing too close to the Sukeban?
Naoko may find, as the Arm Slave charges for her, that the horrible oppressive aura just gets WORSE the closer the wanzer is. Lucine explains how it works, helpfully -- Yuliana's not nearly so helpful. "Suffer!" She cries, as she meets those tearing claws with her Cleave Axe -- and two of those many spidery legs raise up to HOOK around the Arm Slave's hands, seeking to drag them down and free her axe. She lifts it in her hand, and brings it down, an executioner without jury. "How DARE you exist in this world?! I stayed my hand with that architectural whelp, but here you stand before me, weapon in war! IT IS MY /DUTY/ TO CRUSH YOU TO /DUST!/"
If Yuliana knew what Jona was feeling, perhaps she'd feel some kinship with him, even given what he is. Rip and tear... yes, it's written into the operation sequence.
But not for Da Xukong 0.
The thing which distracts her from her fury, this time -- oh, it's not any intuitive /knowledge/ she's in danger. Perish the thought. The lack of that sense, partnered with her berserkergang, is why Yuliana is ruined in war so /often./ But what Da Xukong 0 /does/ have are targeting alarms, and they flash, as the Dianthus locks onto it. Yuliana's gaze snaps to her console, eyes widening. "You --"
She's charged into most all of the things thrown at her -- but not a charged shot from the Dianthus's Arbalest. As much as Yuliana might dislike Lucine as a /Newtype,/ she's seen her capacities in a fight, and she immediately shifts all her attention to retreating from the Sukeban. Snakes grasping those levers, and her hands operating more besides, the too-many arachnoid legs of Da Xukong 0 skitter-scuttle away, jerking at the last minute to dodge in the opposite direction. It's a smooth-looking escape, but it took all her veteran's years to pull off -- if she'd been a second slower, she'd be shot through.
The nice thing, at least, is that she had to dodge far enough away that Naoko may well be able to hear her friends, again.
It also means Yuliana's own head is clear enough to process /Chris's/ anger. "Ah... unfortunately," she says, and sounds a little defeated, to say it. There's a shred of pressure more /desperate,/ to her words, as she insists: "Listen. I don't much like that she's using the Banshee, like this -- and not just me. I'm sure Rita's no fan, either. Tch, you know, I'm in this situation because I stabbed Luio in the back last we deployed to try and get through to that girl..."
Yuliana, of course, is in her thirties; she hasn't been a child for some time. She recognises the meaning of the phrase, anyway, fingers tightening on her levers. "Tch!" She spits out, as she charges for the Ichinana. Eight legs, it turns out, are better than two when it comes to manoeuvring in close quarters -- she's able to weave through Chris's martial blows to bring her axe down on her own robot's shoulder, instead.
(Notably, though, the only /cockpit/ she's tried to hit is Naoko's. Is Yuliana's heart just not in destroying these people for Michele...?)
"This isn't /my/ better world in the slightest!" Yuliana cries, clearly pained. "But Rita won't survive, the way she is now! So what if I let her down from the minute she walked in?! What I want is to speak with her again--!!"
She hears Zoltan's rage, of course; though she's blind to his psychic horror, she has /ears,/ and a radio set up to listen. "... you want to live, huh," she murmurs, to herself, as she disengages from her melee with Chris.
"For the greater good, I must exercise my power... yeah," she sighs, and maybe she doesn't realise her /own/ comms are still open. "I get it."
KTS: Yuliana Kafim targets Liam 7-020 with MULS-P Cleave Axe Swing! KTS: Yuliana Kafim targets Naoko Suzuki with MULS-P Cleave Axe Revenge Strike! KTS: Yuliana Kafim targets Christina MacKenzie with MULS-P Cleave Axe Swing! KTS: Yuliana Kafim targets Lucine Azul with Demoralize! KTS: Yuliana Kafim has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Yuliana Kafim demoralizes Lucine Azul, reducing her Morale drastically.
<Pose Tracker> Sayaka Yumi has posed.
"Thanks LiSA! But..." Despite how precisely aimed the Iron Cutter missiles were, they were effortlessly mowed down by the Gundam's vulcans. Is he truly such a skilled pilot or... is he just being pushed to his limit? "I don't think he'll go down without a little force! We just need to make sure we stop him before he drains himself." She frowns.
Jona comes forth bearing the full might of the Narrative Gundam, unleashing devastating shot after shot in what looks like a red storm of INCOM-funnels. But for all the damage it does... Aphrodite Areia stands with a renewed spirit, Mazin eyes glowing a fierce, unbending yellow.
Syncing reactors... it's exactly as they brainstormed on a particularly rainy day. Without so much as a field test, of course. Taking Mazinger Z's hand, she reports, "Reactors synced! All that's left is to..."
Just as Aphrodite Areia's reactor is in perfect sync with Mazinger Z's, Sayaka Yumi's voice is also in perfect sync with Koji Kabuto's. "UNIOOOON! HEEEEART! INFEEEEEEEERNO!!" She holds on tight as that pink-tipped wave of pure concentrated flame born from two Mazin hearts washes across the Narrative Gundam, eyes now shining pink too due to the reflection.
KTS: Sayaka Yumi targets Jona Basta with Heart Fire! KTS: Sayaka Yumi has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Liam 7-020 has activated the Wall Spirit Command. KTS: Michele Luio goads Zoltan Akkanen, reducing his Intuition drastically. KTS: Liam 7-020 has activated the Focus Spirit Command. KTS: Liam 7-020 blocks Yuliana Kafim's MULS-P Cleave Axe Swing, taking 3375 damage! KTS: Yuliana Kafim has engaged Liam 7-020! KTS: Naoko Suzuki has activated the Focus Spirit Command. KTS: Naoko Suzuki has activated the Focus Spirit Command. KTS: Naoko Suzuki fails to parry Yuliana Kafim's MULS-P Cleave Axe Revenge Strike, taking 7200 damage! KTS: Yuliana Kafim has engaged Naoko Suzuki! KTS: Yuliana Kafim roots her unit, coming to a standstill and leaving her vulnerable. KTS: Yuliana Kafim completes the Formation attack!
<Pose Tracker> Eight York has posed.
"There is no 'good' in this obsession," Captain York says to Michele. "Delude yourself if you wish. Even if it were... Do you think we'd care, if your motives were pure? Do you think we'd be all right with this level of mass death if we only understood?" She can't keep the anger out of her voice, though it's over open channels. "...if you cared about that in the first place, you'd never have done this."
'hurts.' Eight feels her heart wounded by that moment of pain. "...Keep an eye on that Banshee," Eight instructs Astelian. "I want to know if it does anything but fight that mobile suit."
Then she hears it--Nova's calls. "Nova!" Eight calls over the radio at her. "Get ahold of yourself! This is the Captain!"
But there's more to worry about. That wave of sheer loathing crashes into Eight's ship, and the Ra Mari II shakes with it, even as it stays in place to protect its shuttles working to aid the civilians. The whole ship shudders, along with many of the crew; they quail, but--
"Remember why we're here!" Eight calls, over the ship's intercom, and over the radio as well. "We're here to save as many people as we can! We signed up for this fight--we put ourselves on the line for them. And we'll do it!"
Her crew rallies, and Eight finally says over the radio to Zoltan, "Is being your own person worth all this?"
She considers her next move. "All right. Missiles are out. Let's hit him harder."
Kazama, "If the colony's a goner anyway, maybe..."
"No," Eight answers. "We aren't using the Spinal Beam Cannon. Not with this many people in the way. But we are going to have to escalate to take him down. It's a risk, but..."
"A necessary one," Rezza agrees. Then Kazama, "I'll read the regular beam cannons, Captain."
"Do that. Get me... Pattern 4, on its center mass. 75% power."
"Aye-aye!" Itsuki Kazama works her console, turning dials and raising another to push the beams where they need to be--and then in a flurry of fire from cannons all over the ship, green beams rocketing in multiple places toward the Neo Zeong.
"Go!"
KTS: Eight York targets Zoltan Akkanen with Guided Beam Cannons - Pattern 4! KTS: Eight York has completed their actions for the round.
<Pose Tracker> Puru-1 has posed.
A question is asked, and a maddening white noise of comm static is Sayla's answer, the fingers get felt at the edge of her perception, still there. Still trying to grasp, but being unable to without the medium of the Psycoframe, or even a basic Psycommu.
"Elpeo- I'm... Elpeo."
That static just floods the comms after that short transmission, and it's difficult to tell how much is physical, and how much is a manifestation of something psychically bleeding through.
Rita reaches out, and in a daze within the cockpit, Puru-1 within a red shaded faceplate from the pilot suit, her head turns towards the bird as it offers her succor. In the next moment, two hands psychically reach around it, and smother it.
Something childish promptly wails, at the act of awful contrarian destruction. Desiring to possess, but using violence to possess. The hands cannot offer purchase in any way that isn't violence.
M I N E
A Second Ghost of Char however rejects the hands, swatting them away, and with the rejection rises that sense of anger. Rockets blare from its Bazookas, and chase after the Banshee, at this range it has little room for movement or error, it misses, and in the aftermath, explosions blossom across its form vanishing within smoke.
Then there's a glare of red further back from the point of impact. A single glare of red. Half of the Banshee's head is blown up, in a macabre scene of gore if it were a person. Still, its neck twists and looks right at the Neo Zeong's twin.
ENVY POSSESSIVENESS RESENTMENT ANGER
YOU ARE THOUGH
YOU'RE PROVING IT RIGHT NOW
AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
WORTHLESS USELESS TRASH
The laughter simply continues, again and again, despite how mauled the mobile suit appears. Abruptly it dashes away from its assailant, away from the last dregs of the depressurization, the muzzle charge of the Beam Magnum gathering once again. "-nough play."
Before it fires, dead center once again, trying to core the massive mobile suit from the inside out with another powerful shot from the Magnum.
At this size, it's extraordinarily difficult to miss. Puru-1 will not hesitate to complete her assigned mission, even as the Banshee looks as if it might fall apart from the attempt.
KTS: Puru-1 has activated the Dash Spirit Command and has disengaged. KTS: Puru-1 has activated the Dash Spirit Command and has gained proficiency bonus. KTS: Puru-1 targets Zoltan Akkanen with Beam Magnum Shot! KTS: Puru-1 has completed their actions for the round.
<Pose Tracker> Michele Luio has posed.
Michele stops replying to people personally, but Chris and Eight get the full focus of what's to come next.
"It's selfish as can be. I don't need your support. But I have the right."
"January 3rd, 0079."
Michele's voice is ice cold smug, but the smug is an affect.
"Three children were on a field trip. One of them saw a vision of doom to come. She shared that vision with her two best friends, and together, they saved a town of people. They were called Miracle Children."
"The war ends. They're taken from their homes, their families. They're given invasive tests, tortured, traumatized. At one point, the Miracle Children even escape from the Titans who have them in their grasp. But they're not gone long. A taste of normalcy before being scooped up."
"A beachside was all they got to see. Ruined and blasted from the disaster that ruined their lives."
"One of them learns that, if the true Miracle Child, the one with the visions, is given up, the other two will be spared. Fifteen years old, she decides to convince the boy, her friend, to give up the girl. She lies to him. She makes a deal with the cold-hearted machine, the Titans apparatus, and gets a golden parachute."
"He gets the short end of the stick and the visionary gets stuffed in a golden coffin and burned to a crisp after years of grueling torture."
Michele's smugness fades. Anger fills it.
"We were those children. I was the traitor. Jona was the boy. Rita was the visionary. And for what I have done, there's only one way to fix my sin."
Michele ramps up her data output, trying to send it to the Banshee to keep it live along enough for the next maneuvers.
"I have the right to use as many tools as I can, because I've been used myself. I have the right to do whatever it takes to save her."
"And, frankly? None of you can stop me."
KTS: Michele Luio targets Puru-1 with Caution! KTS: Michele Luio has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Michele Luio suggests caution, raising Puru-1's Intuition!
<Pose Tracker> Trevor Teach has posed.
Nothing would stop the Narrative.
But Trevor goes to do it anyway.
Steel crashes against steel. Beams pound failing armor, melting blazing holes in a frame that's already roughshod to begin with. This kind of punishment is not something it was made to endure, but still it plows straight in. "I don't care about your motives. I don't care about your pursuit. I care that you just murdered hundreds of people to /kidnap/ somebody!" Trevor snarls, his teeth gritting tight to keep the jarring, thrashing cockpit from making him bite off his own tongue.
The Narrative cannot be stopped.
It tears an arm free. The Isadore's left limb is severed at the elbow, little more than a sparking mess. Its torso craters, mere inches from the cockpit. Smoldering, its face is swallowed up by a blast of hyper-charged particles, and it tumbles into the half-destroyed ruin of a lecture hall.
It seems-- hopeless, to stand before the surety of a plot progressing to its climax. But.
What is a pirate out of the asteroid belt? What is that thing called, when someone enters a story unbidden, only tangentially related to it, with things that he is not meant to have, with a background as unlikely as it is unbelievable. A pirate newtype coordinator with a mysterious machine-- literature has a word for this kind of thing, when it barges into a story.
A Deus Ex Machina.
The Narrative cannot be stopped.
But there is nothing present that is more poised to derail it than Trevor Teach.
He spits a wad of phlegm and a chunk of the inside of his cheek onto the cockpit floor. Blood is leaking over his exposed eye from a gash on his brow, blinding him. This can't be how it ends. This won't be how it ends. Not for Rita. Not for him. "Guess it's time... I give it everything I've got." He reaches up, grabbing the eyepatch that has been shrouding one half of his face in total mystery for months, tears it away, and reveals--
A perfectly normal eye.
"Isadore," he growls, seizing at his controls, "We're not finished yet. We're not getting done in by something that calls itself a 'Narrative.' Not when the only story they're telling is one of fear, and death, and tragedy!" His words-- his voice-- trembles, as if he were pushing through his own terror to psyche someone up. To psyche /himself/ up. Even still, Isadore pulls itself upright, smoke rising all around it. Its clawed limb dragging its body to its feet, dust and detritus tumbling from its ruined armor. From within the plume of rising ash and ember--
Two eyes ignite.
"The princess is trapped! Terror is all around! The heroes are on the ropes! The story reaches its climax!" Isadore rockets forward. It kicks up a chunk of earth, hurling its beam cutlass into the air--
It catches the weapon... In its... teeth?
"Now's the perfect time... As all hope seems lost...!" It races in, tackling its shoulder at the Narrative's side, following with a kick-- then a lunge as the beam cutlass ignites, to try and rake it against the Gundam's flank once, twice! "Only for another player to reveal himself to the stage!" One more time, the salvaged, piratical machine's thrusters ignite, burning like a constellation of comets as it /drives/ its anti-MS claw at the Gundam's midsection, clamps down, and drives it bodily into the inferno of blinding heat that is the Union Heart Inferno. "Go, Isadore! Our prize is in reach! That woman's dreams, her plans, her Narrative..."
"STEAL THEM ALL FROM HER!"
KTS: Trevor Teach targets Jona Basta with Keelhaul! KTS: Trevor Teach has completed their actions for the round.
<Pose Tracker> Sayla Mass has posed.
"You really don't know." Sayla's voice isn't mocking. It's astonishment. If there's no memory to be jogged... A cold, mirthless, self hating laugh comes from Sayla's throat. "You're really more like him than you know." Fine. "I *was* on the White Base, Zoltan Akkanen." She knows his name, even if he doesn't realize hers. As the Naginata connects, it's not the laser comm, but the touch communication. Something that can't be intercepted. "My name is Sayla Mass. If that doesn't mean anything to you..." Bitterness rises. Her hate. Her anger. All of her sorrow. "...then you're closer to him than Frontal is."
The confirmation as she cuts clear is a mix of fear and elation. Did she survive? Was she imprinted like the man she was fighting here and now. Did it even mattter?
A deep down, a selfish part of her asks if it's enough to make amends. To earn an undeserved forgiveness.
"Elpeo. You don't need to fight anymore. Leina and Judau are waiting for you. You just need to stay safe until this is over, and I'll take you to them. I promise."
It was a foolish moment to be distracted. The Neo Zeong II crushes the Dijeh in it's hands, crippling it's thruster wings. The arm joints struggle as they are restricted. Sayla clenches her teeth, and swings a leg into position. She pushes. Just enough. Just enough to free her MS' left arm enough to grab the Clay Bazooka on the Dijeh's shoulder.
Hands that try to tear her apart.
Hands that try to smother her and tear her away.
Hands that try to crush the life out of her.
Anger and fear mix into one potent, terrible yell. "YOU CAN'T HAVE ME!" She fires point blank, trying to force the Neo Zeong II to free her.
And then the truth comes out. So that was it. That was the deal.
"That's really the truth of it!?" Sayla yells, despair and anger fueling her. "You idiot! If you had trusted me... If your goddamn sister had told me the truth... I could have gotten all of you out!" The anger and fear she's riding mix with despair. "Instead you and Stephanie had me help send your friends to death and torture because... because..."
It's too much right now. Elpeo's right there. She has to save the girl in the Banshee. Michelle, Jona, Rita... They can hate her all they want. "Gaaaaaah! If I had only dug deeper..." The comms are too interconnected. Too open And she's still stuck in Zoltan's grasp, praying her explosion will grant her the opportunity she needs.
KTS: Sayla Mass targets Zoltan Akkanen with 300mm Clay Bazooka Blast Shot! KTS: Sayla Mass has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Christina MacKenzie blocks Yuliana Kafim's MULS-P Cleave Axe Swing, taking 4950 damage! KTS: Yuliana Kafim has engaged Christina MacKenzie!
<Pose Tracker> Anita Rosetta has posed.
Anita is visited. A canary flutters around the Svipul, and then into it. She knows what the little bird signifies at this point, and welcomes her warmth - and her first words get a chuckle out of her.
"Yeah, I know. I've seen how he and Rena get along. That's all I need to know." Anita replies with a shake of her head, and then pauses. "...A hero, huh? Dunno about that... But, I'll do my best."
The Neo Zeong II moves. For something so big, it's not exactly slow.
"...You'll what? C'mon. You can do it - you can get there." Anita goads. It might not be the /best/ idea - but maybe getting a rise out of him is the best form of communication right now. She does owe him for last time. A powerful pulse is directed her way. Gritting her teeth, the Svipul braces itself. The pulse /crashes/ into it, sending it spiraling. Thanks to Rita's support, the Valkyrie holds... though it takes a second for her to recover. As she does, though, Michelle speaks... and Anita frowns. Her eyes drift to her left arm - the left side of her body.
...It's hard not to be at least a /little/ sympathetic toward someone who lost everything to the Titans.
"...That sucks." Anita mutters. "But you know, I'm not sure what adding more sins to the pile is gonna do for you. If you say that, then you can't complain if the people here decide to take you to task for being used, themselves. Are you gonna be willing to take that?"
...She shakes her head. Gotta focus.
There's still so much machine to fire upon. That's a blessing in disguise, she supposes - it means she can open fire and be bound to hit /something/. Whether or not it's important... Well, right now, she's just trying to case it for weaknesses. Then she'll be ready. She dodges in, unleashing another spray of gatling fire at the Neo Zeong II.
KTS: Anita Rosetta targets Zoltan Akkanen with Gatling Sweep! KTS: Anita Rosetta has completed their actions for the round.
<Pose Tracker> LiSA has posed.
"I'm not..." A pause, then a recollection. The hug of a ghost. A whisper of fate. A sight, from space. Space LiSA sits in. In her seat, she takes a deep breath, clenching one hand over her heart, as the two closest to her call out a union heart. An attack combined of both of their passions. Rita, can you feel them? Can you hear her? Please.
"That's not what I'm talking about!" She says, all the energy of a teenager trying to explain something to her dad. "It's not... It's not Rita! Rita herself isn't what she's protecting!" LiSA declares, to the three of them fighting Jona, trying to trigger comms to the Phenex, buttons getting pressed in a frantic motion that can only be come of a girl finally putting pieces together. "She told me! It's not just us. It's Michele, it's -- it's HIM, he's the one we're fighting, it's Jona, he's one of the Children!"
"She's not protecting herself! . . . has she ever?"
"She's protecting them, both of them!" She gasps out, a near sob. "She doesn't want to do what she needs to do to protect humanity as a whole, because if she does... she has to do the one thing she doesn't want... she has to hurt them!"
LiSA slumps down in her seat. "Union hearts... we can do this. We need to show him that this way isn't the only way. Like we showed her. Everyone! Follow the sweep! We can do this! We /have/ to do this!"
KTS: LiSA has activated the Rouse Spirit Command targeting Trevor Teach KTS: LiSA has activated the Rouse Spirit Command targeting Koji Kabuto KTS: LiSA targets Koji Kabuto, Sayaka Yumi, and Trevor Teach with All-Out. KTS: LiSA has completed their actions for the round. KTS: LiSA orders an all-out attack, raising Trevor Teach's Skill! KTS: LiSA orders an all-out attack, raising Koji Kabuto's Skill! KTS: Koji Kabuto has activated the Spirit Spirit Command. KTS: LiSA orders an all-out attack, raising Sayaka Yumi's Skill! KTS: Jona Basta has activated the Wall Spirit Command. KTS: Trevor Teach has activated the Alert Spirit Command. KTS: Jona Basta has activated the Wall Spirit Command. KTS: Jona Basta has activated the Wall Spirit Command. KTS: Jona Basta has activated the Wall Spirit Command. KTS: Jona Basta has activated the Trick Spirit Command. KTS: Jona Basta fails to Evade Koji Kabuto's Breast Fire, taking 6960 damage! KTS: Jona Basta fails to Evade Sayaka Yumi's Heart Fire, taking 5220 damage! KTS: Sayaka Yumi roots her unit, coming to a standstill and leaving her vulnerable. KTS: Jona Basta fails to parry Trevor Teach's Keelhaul, taking 8160 damage! KTS: Jona Basta has been defeated! KTS: Trevor Teach has engaged Jona Basta!
<Pose Tracker> Naoko Suzuki has posed.
Desperation alone can't carry you through a fight. Especially not when your effectiveness in combat relies upon working in close tandem with others - and you can't hear them. As it is, fueled only by Naoko's misguided impulses, the Sukeban is easily overpowered by the Da Xukong 0. It is as it always has been: alone, Naoko can't do anything. Without direction, she is at the mercy of others deciding her course for her. Which, in this unfortunate instance, leads to getting an axe smashed into her machine. It's pure luck that she managed to shift position a little in time for the Arm Slave to be struck not in, but directly below the cockpit, leaving it with a heavily sparking gash in its lower body, its extra layer of reinforced armor having been instantly torn through.
In her current state, Naoko doesn't even realize how close to death she just came. She doesn't react in the slightest to the alarms blaring in her cockpit. And that's not all that fails to register. She should have been able to hear Lucine's words, as well as Eight's. There's nothing stopping her from hearing a regular broadcast. Her broken mental state is causing her to simply not understand what's being said. The words are there, but they make no sense to her right now. However, just as the message is threatened to be lost entirely... a little bird intervenes.
The effect on Naoko - no, Nova - is immediate. Simply hearing that name, coupled with seeing something wondrous, is enough to instantly snap her back to the here and now. To realize once again where she is. What she came here to do. Most importantly at the moment, that she hasn't actually lost what she most holds dear.
A brief sense of relief is quickly supplanted by guilt. She can't hold back tears coming to her eyes. "I... I came here to help you, but I was the one needing your help... I'm sorry, Rita. I'm sorry, Uriel, Ariel."
>"Hmph. If you can apologize, then you can still fight!"<
With enough distance between the machines now, a wave of relief washes over Nova at the return of one half of the voices who always know just what she needs to hear. She knows the other won't be far behind.
>"We were shouting the whole time, but you couldn't hear... sorry to worry you. But, Uriel's right, we're not finished here yet!"<
Nova quickly wipes away her tears, sniffing once, before forcing a smile. "...Yeah. We're not done yet. As long as others can help Rita escape... we can help keep this 'Yuli' from interfering." As she speaks, she gains confidence, and her smile grows more genuine. "You got it wrong, though, Rita. It's not miracle-maker." She refocuses her attention towards the opponent in front of her, openly shouting, "My name is Nova Stellar, Miracle Worker! And you, too, got it wrong! Rita told me herself - I'm just as I should be!!"
Even if she hadn't been too focused on her own cockpit to hear what Yuliana was saying just now... well, she did almost get axe murdered, so perhaps it's understandable that she may have been disinclined to listen either way. And right now, she needs to take some kind of action if she's going to at all feel like she'd managed to make a difference.
Most people would parse 'leave her sphere of influence' as 'I should retreat'. Nova Stellar parses this as 'no u'. Without further words or fanfare, the Sukeban reaches behind to withdraw a massive two-handed spiked iron club, and in what some might call a barrel dropping swing, aims to send the Da Xukong 0 for the proverbial fences.
KTS: Naoko Suzuki has activated the Valor Spirit Command. KTS: Naoko Suzuki targets Yuliana Kafim with Kanabou Crusher! KTS: Naoko Suzuki has completed their actions for the round.
<Pose Tracker> Lucine Azul has posed.
All this time, Luio & Co just seemed like a monolith of a company to Lucine. Just something that wanted to profit off of Rita or the Phenex, or both. A vulture, wanting to clasp its talons around that small seed of hope.
If only it were that simple. If only Yuliana was just a villain who cared about no one. If ony Michele was just a power-hungry head of a company.
'But Rita won't survive, the way she is now!'
'A beachside was all they got to see. Ruined and blasted from the disaster that ruined their lives.'
'What I want is to speak with her again--!!'
'Instead you and Stephanie had me help send your friends to death and torture because...'
'I have the right to use as many tools as I can, because I've been used myself. I have the right to do whatever it takes to save her.'
'For the greater good, I must exercise my power... yeah.'
'And, frankly? None of you can stop me.'
Indecision plagues Lucine.
< ".... Liam..." > Her voice creeps over Liam's radio, turning to one of the people she could trust the most, out here in this battlefield, if just to admit to her weakness. < ".... I don't.... know what to do... I don't know if Ms. Luio is telling the truth or not..." >
The natural course of action is to focus on the survivors of Metis. Lucine's thoughts are clouded.
.... maybe the best option would be to throw all her ire at the man who is destroying Metis, who started it all.
< "...... You...." > Yellow eyes gleam, wet with collected tears. < "I should have gone after you in the first place... It's your Neo Zeong that got Rita all panicked in the first place!!" >
A shot rings out, from afar, the Dianthus and its pilot proving to be gifted with range-- even if it misses, it's still a shot from a large distance.
Unfortunately, it could also mean Lucine may get noticed.
KTS: Zoltan Akkanen has activated the Focus Spirit Command. KTS: Zoltan Akkanen has activated the Alert Spirit Command. KTS: Zoltan Akkanen has activated the Alert Spirit Command. KTS: Zoltan Akkanen fails to evade Eight York's Guided Beam Cannons - Pattern 4, taking 6120 damage! KTS: Lucine Azul targets Zoltan Akkanen with Argen-21 Beam Arbalest Orion Shot! KTS: Lucine Azul has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Zoltan Akkanen fails to Charge. KTS: [Spirit Defense] Zoltan Akkanen's Future Questions activates, and his spirit endures. KTS: Puru-1 enervates Zoltan Akkanen, reducing his Morale significantly. KTS: Zoltan Akkanen partially guards Puru-1's Beam Magnum Shot, taking 6720 damage! KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Puru-1's Hands Meant For Holding activates, causing Deject! KTS: Zoltan Akkanen partially guards Anita Rosetta's Gatling Sweep, taking 1800 damage! KTS: Sayla Mass rattles Zoltan Akkanen, making his next maneuvers more difficult. KTS: Zoltan Akkanen fails to react to Sayla Mass's 300mm Clay Bazooka Blast Shot, taking 3520 damage! KTS: Zoltan Akkanen fails to evade Lucine Azul's Argen-21 Beam Arbalest Orion Shot, taking 4500 damage!
<Pose Tracker> Liam 7-020 has posed.
Impact rocks the CGUE's frame. Liam's eyes dart down as the CGUE jets over Da Xukong 0, noting the damage with clarity that belies his anger. Nothing permanent, regrettably, but /something/. Zoltan speaks again, and little parts lodge in Liam's mind like darts.
'my own person'
'someone who'll fail'
A shudder works its way through Liam's frame. His hands shake as they clutch the sticks. Murderer, Liam reminds himself, trying to head off empathy before it can do further damage to his already terminally-compromised state.
The wanzer twists around, and its axe /cleaves/ through the CGUE's battered shield. Including armaments in a shield is a dicey proposition at times, but this time, nothing cooks off. Instead, the impact sends a rain of spall and shrapnel directly into the CGUE's torso, shredding the armor. Liam angles his machine instinctively, reducing its profile. "You know she won't let you," he pleads. "You /know/ she was locked up, just like you." The CGUE touches down gingerly on the other side of the wanzer, its head craning to look at Sukeban. "Stop. Just STOP!"
Michele Luio starts to speak, and Liam starts paying close attention the moment she says 'three children'. A vision. "Rita," he breathes. Tears bead in his eyes. Michele keeps talking and talking and Liam can't stop listening, even he thinks back to Desmond, who disappeared, vanished because--
Because he was too scared. Hephaestus said he had a choice, and he chose to be too scared. The CGUE stands, languidly, on the colony interior. It just keeps snowballing and snowballing and the radio picks up nearly-panicked, breathy sobs beause Liam was too overwhelmed to turn it off. It's like he's back in training again and he has to--
He hears the sound. A memory of a sound that most people can't hear, because most people aren't augmented to hear literal dog whistles. Three notes, impossibly high-pitched. Liam finds himself counting backwards in French, from five to zero. Just like the exercises. Just like he did the first time he killed. Three more notes, the same pattern. Lucine ceases to exist. Rita and Koji and Eight and Sayaka and Naoko cease to exist. Horrid /focus/ takes over Liam's brain as his conditioning responds to its very specific stimulus.
"Engaging target," Liam says, his voice dead. The CGUE jets forward, driving its heavy blade for Da Xukong 0's center of mass. It's a feint. It twirls in the machine's hand, before CHOPPING at those scuttling legs, and the end of that horrible tail. A strike to immobilize. "Penetrating strike, center mass," Liam says. He's repeating instructions. The tip of the blade rushes for where a normal wanzer would keep its cockpit.
KTS: Liam 7-020 targets Yuliana Kafim with MA-M4A Heavy Sword Combo! KTS: Liam 7-020 has completed their actions for the round. Liam 7-020 has cancelled his attack. KTS: Liam 7-020 has activated the Spirit Spirit Command. KTS: Liam 7-020 has activated the Spirit Spirit Command. KTS: Liam 7-020 has activated the Valor Spirit Command. KTS: Liam 7-020 has activated the Valor Spirit Command. KTS: Liam 7-020 targets Yuliana Kafim with MA-M4A Heavy Sword Combo! KTS: Liam 7-020 has completed their actions for the round.
<Pose Tracker> Christina MacKenzie has posed.
Try as she might, she can't land a single blow on the nimble wanzer, catching Yuliana's words between Chris's own wild attack. "You, you did? That child..." Chris, understandably, was differently occupied during the Phenex hunt... Hearing Yuliana's grief and empathy towards the Spectre... it's a remarkable relief.
Of course, for every weight relieved, a crushing pressure is perhaps applied--Chris manages, ever so barely, to draw the Mazinger Blade and sweep it upwards. It meets the Da Xukong's axe with a violent jarring. So too jarring her recent memories.
"Talk to her again... Gundam hands... No, /Kafim/, you meant... --Wait, Yuliana, what do you mean she won't survive?!"
Chris recalls the Phenex, battered and surrounded by Photonic Haros aiding the complex repairs...Hearing from Koji how wan and ephemeral her spirit had become... That fool's stubborn flight, no matter whose help she's spurning.
<"Kafim. You really believe this is the only way to save her?">
As she slows down, she sees the gleam of Liam's deft swordsmanship, sees the alignment of that final thrus--<"Liam, no!">
Chris slams her sword down in front of the Wanzer's cockpit, not so much trying to protect Da Xukong, as trying to deflect any fatal blow back into the Wanzer's machinery. However, that sword turns its edge back towards Yuliana's machine, making it clear she's not done fighting, if the intercession is abused.
<"...Both of you, we have bigger problems! Lucine has the right of it! We can't let the colony sustain any more damage!">
As Michele's voice chills and blazes in turn, however... it's a deep, abyssal sorrow in her stomach. No. Not now. Not right now. There are people that need saving, more than this spoiled child... And beyond that, Sayla's voice echoes. Sayla?!
There's no time for inaction! There are lives to be saved!
KTS: Christina MacKenzie has activated the Trust Spirit Command targeting Yuliana Kafim
<Pose Tracker> Zoltan Akkanen has posed.
In the midst of everything, there's a faint acknowledgement, one ephermeal in reaction to Yuliana's own comms. Live. Breathe. Be your own person. Something so clawing at his own psyche, something dredged from the swamp of his soul.
Whatever little trace of empathy that leaked from that engine was soon replaced by more. Visceral. Raw. Overwhelming. The horns of the end, the want to bring about the end while seated in a contraption not his own, in a brain that had been forced to accept something not of his own, in a life that he could not call his own.
"YES! If humanity stopped Axis Shock from happening, what other reason is there!? WHAT OTHER REASON IS THERE TO LIVE, IF WE'RE LIKE THIS AFTER WE WERE GIVEN A SECOND CHANCE, YOU TRIFECTA OF OBSELETE SHIPS!?" His comms are open. There was no stealth, no subtlety in his words. No such subtlety was in his movements, a comet struck again and again by that same ship he so just cursed, the slag of melted metal beginning to warp into familiar textures. Rush jobs, no matter how well-performed, were still rushed.
Hands swatted, the Sinanju Stein working multiple tracks. To angle and shift, the Neo Zeong II doing its best to move, to push those jets past their limits. To have the Banshee's own beam scream down, colliding against one jet...Clean through, plasma cascading inside. Again. It was happening again. Another reaction, tampered by air, tampered by everything, merely a local explosion of that jet to start the slow tilt of the beast.
Michele's iteration of her story was only spat at. So what? She doomed her own dear friends. There's a pang of sympathy, of knowing what the Phenex is...But when the thing she so craves is the very thing goading him inside destruction, there's very little capacity in his heart to cry sorry at the Phenex or at Michele's own situation. "HAH! Did you come up with that sob story yesterday!? Why do you need to justify yourself!?" Everyone had their reasons; Whether others thought well of it was another matter.
The beast shuddered. The Psychoshards began to flicker. No. Not here. Not now. Not when the Phenex was so close, so goddamn...! Missiles. Hatred. Spite. Everything. To raze and to decimate. Let none stand. Not even...
"...DON'T COMPARE ME TO EITHER OF THEM!" Sayla Mass. There's a faint recollection, of a trace from his training, to Char's intended memories, to his childhood, to...It blinks out there. Faded. This was not the intended part of Char's memories they wanted him to learn. No. But it was there. His lips formed the smallest syllables of the family name.
Deikun.
"DON'T YOU DARE...!" Pushing. Crushing. Trying to smash his hatred on a thing he could grasp, failing. Servos trying to power up, to push, to completely and utterly fail as he took that bazooka right to the face. An instinctual release to allow the suit to fall, to scream as the shock of the explosion cascaded into smoke. Smoke. More smoke. Clouding his vision. "You, you, you...DEIKUN...!"
Moving. Struggling., A beast so tall tilting onto its side, the remnant of that first massive jet jettisonned off, crashing onto the ground below. That gatling fire only worsened the situation: Anita striking blow after blow onto the faliling Zeong, wildly grabbing at the bazookas, wilindly firing, even the beam cannon locking onto place to vent this emotion elsewhere.
To push further than he'd ever been, to scream at this unfair world. To release his anger, hius frustration, his doubts, his eternal cursing of the world that didn't deserve to live. To be a rampaging machine...
That is knocked out of the Neo Zeong II's holster by a singular bullet.
To have those armaments cease fire, crashing into the buildings below. The dead, the damned, the ones who cursed them, all in a pile of dust. The Psycommu Ring blinking out, crashing onto the ground.
The Neo Zeong II crashing down, gouging the earth.
KTS: Zoltan Akkanen targets Eight York with The Idiocy of Perseverance! KTS: Zoltan_Akkanen Changes attack to Eight York, Anita Rosetta, Sayla Mass, Puru-1, and Lucine Azul with The Deriliction of Hope. KTS: Puru-1 has activated the Alert Spirit Command. KTS: Puru-1 has activated the Alert Spirit Command. KTS: Yuliana Kafim fails to react to Naoko Suzuki's Kanabou Crusher, taking 3675 damage! KTS: Naoko Suzuki has engaged Yuliana Kafim! KTS: Puru-1 successfully Evades Zoltan Akkanen's The Deriliction of Hope KTS: Yuliana Kafim's EN Barrier activates, negating 1500 base damage. KTS: Yuliana Kafim blocks Liam 7-020's MA-M4A Heavy Sword Combo, taking 2170 damage! KTS: Liam 7-020 has engaged Yuliana Kafim! KTS: Eight York fails to retreat. KTS: [Mirage] Eight York's Redundant Plating activates, and she slips into a mirage. KTS: Zoltan Akkanen rattles Eight York, making her next maneuvers more difficult.
<Pose Tracker> Jona Basta has posed.
The Narrative's armor crumples from the twin Heart Fire attacks, yet even so, it remains standing, as it prepares to meet Trevor's charge face-on. The sickening screech of metal titan meeting metal titan echoes throughout the surroundings as the B-Packs is savaged. The last, frantic charge is enough. The Narrative is buckled, broken...but even so, it remains active.
Lighting and sparks dance across the B-Pack's ravaged frame, shattered as it is. Yet even so.
It remains.
We will not end here.
A pulse. Pure force emanates once more from the cracked Narrative as it is propelled into the air, its shattered armor and equipment hovering around it in a manner reminiscent of the corrupted Nu Gundam and Sazabi. The second White Devil begins to drift away. Away towards...
The Neo Zeong II.
Seizing the massive mobile armor, the NT-D of the Narrative pulses red, interfacing with the Neo Zeong II's systems. A sickening crimson hue bathes the titan in blooded light as it lurches forth, its inherent psyco-systems amplifying Jona's angst.
Betrayed. Betrayed. BETRAYED AGAIN.
His innermost, repressed feelings are out on air for the world to see. Rage, loathing, hatred, all entwined by chains of loneliness. The NT-D only serves to bring all of these brutal thoughts and emotions to the surface, all the better to feast and empower itself on.
I WILL KILL YOU. MICHELE, YOU TRAITOR. RITA, YOU ABANDONED ME. NO MORE. IT ENDS. IT'S TIME TO WIPE THE SLATE CLEAN.
The Narrative Neo Zeong II begins to move towards the gaping wound in the colony, even as Zoltan's livid curses can be heard. The Narrative cared naught for the ravings of the failed Red Comet, of the promises of vengeance and brutal agony for stealing what was rightfully /his/. Instead, it moves towards its exit, heedless of the insects attempting to stop it.
KTS: Anita Rosetta's EN Barrier activates, negating 1000 base damage. KTS: [Spirit Defense] Anita Rosetta's Easygoing activates, and her spirit endures. KTS: Zoltan Akkanen enervates Anita Rosetta, reducing her Morale significantly. KTS: Zoltan Akkanen rattles Anita Rosetta, making her next maneuvers more difficult. KTS: Anita Rosetta blocks Zoltan Akkanen's The Deriliction of Hope, taking 6050 damage! KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Zoltan Akkanen's You Think I'm Not Good Enough!? activates, causing Deject! KTS: Lucine Azul has activated the Alert Spirit Command. KTS: Lucine Azul has activated the Alert Spirit Command. KTS: Lucine Azul has activated the Alert Spirit Command. KTS: Lucine Azul has activated the Alert Spirit Command.
<Pose Tracker> Rita Bernal has posed.
Rita is exhausted. The despair of the fight before her weakens her spirit, and she's given so much of her strength to aid her heroes. At least her efforts aren't in vain -- Naoko rallies, and Anita's determination shines.
The Banshee reacts poorly, crushing the life from Rita's canary avatar. But that's okay. She can't help it. And she won't be trapped in her misery for much longer.
As she worries over her sister, Rita's childhood Monster comes crashing to the ground. She gasps, shock clear in her face. Is this -- were the Kabutos right? Is this the end, has Rita grasped the fate she wished for?
No.
Zoltan rejected, the Neo Zeong II looks to a new host. Slowly, unstoppably, the Narrative is drawn in. Rita /screams/, the power of her bare spirit echoing across the battlefield, even without her psychoframe. Frantic, she looks to the Banshee.
Sister.
Rita's voice calls, formless, powered purely through the bond forged between pilots of the RX-0 models. Pleading, she clutches her necklace tightly in her hand.
Please free me. I swear, after this, I'll never ask you for anything again. I'll bring you home.
KTS: Lucine Azul successfully evades Zoltan Akkanen's The Deriliction of Hope
<Pose Tracker> Puru-1 has posed.
Michele's data comes through in fragments, they can't establish the better link that is the laser comms still. The officer is working on it, but some gets through the Minovsky interference, and the processing power of the Psycoframe? It hopefully does the rest. Sayla tries her best to reach out over the broken nature of the comms here.
And then she invokes Judau and Leina. The reaction is instant, as the girl shouts over the comms, "-O! NO! I CAN'T FACE-" The shout is cut off by this horrid gagging noise, like the pilot is dry heaving, which breaks up into this scream that's cut off by a sudden burst of radio static.
The Banshee itself lets out this pervasive wail that fills the Colony psychically with this raw sense of SORROW and DESPAIR
Zoltan, Zoltan in the Neo Zeong II. Her mission was distraction. He seems thoroughly distracted right now. As his screams and utterance give rise to the Psycoshard manifestation. The Banshee's azure jets abruptly fire to escape the awful psychic event horizon. And even then, as it licks the heels of its predatory psychoflame manifestation, it SHOVES and SHOVES and SHOVES with all of its might, winged talons reaching to grasp, and becoming consumed by it.
Suddenly counterjets auto balance, and the Banshee makes to land not far away from the Phenex, Psychoframed dimmed and mauled and melted.
BGM Change - SymphonicsuiteNT No.3 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JOdkPvvbKo4
And it looks right at its twin, within the azure cage as it pleads to her. There is a moment of muted anger, jealousy, possessiveness from it. And then, the pilot within hears Jona calling. It hears him, the suit suddenly jerks, and spasms, as it looks towards the events in progress.
Over the comms, the pilot's tortured breathing can be heard, interspersed with warbling static. The Banshee looks towards the Phenex once more. Then ponderously it steps towards it, one after another.
M I N E M I N E M I N E
It repeats it like a mantra. Those hands crawl over Rita's perception, just outside of the cage. The Armed Armor VN opens, splitting into those claws. And she brings it down upon one of the incoms, shredding it in a single motion as the Psychojammer fails instantly without its twin.
"Go to him."
The girl within says over the comms, hardly more than a raspy whisper, still distorted by whatever modulation Vist is using on the comms, but otherwise, clarion clear.
<Pose Tracker> Rita Bernal has posed.
The Banshee crashes next to her sister, shuddering in agony. Rita's heart twists to ask yet more of her sister, but for Jona. For Jona, she's already committed the worst sins. She can commit one more. She can make it right.
Thank you. Give me just a moment. I won't let them hurt you ever again.
Rita's spirit vanishes in the space of a heartbeat, and the Phenex, freed, soars into the air. Vanishing above the clouds, she parts the clouds, descending just before the Neo Zeong II in a beam of radiance and grace.
Arms open. With blinding light, Rita's spirit splits once more, birds darting away form the Phenex in six separate directions.
Michele's told the full story, now. Rita's friends react in horror and silence, according to their natures, but they shouldn't be. It was the way things had to be, and it's in the past. All that matters now is...
Chris. Thank you. You've always been there for me. You've sacrificed so much. From now on, let's move forward together.
Radiance shines down on Christina, haloing her steady temperance.
Koji. I'm believing in your ideals. There's something I need to tell you. It's about my sister. She needs help terribly, you must rescue her without delay.
Aulic, noble light shines inside Koji and LiSA's cockpit, projecting a dual message to them. True and unshakable, just as the Photon Power Labs were for the Phenex.
LiSA. Thank you. You understand so much. You're a true friend, and a worthy part of your family. Your efforts won't be in vain.
A canary races toward Trevor's destroyed machine, gilding the broken mobile suit for a moment, turning it as solid gold as the Phenex itself. It's only a trick of the light, but it reveals the truth of the pirate's heart.
Thank you. You helped me save him. Everything is going to be just fine now. You're more of a prince than any of the stories.
A bit of warmth on Trevor's cheek glows and fades -- perhaps the echo of a kiss.
You have work to do. I'll tell you everything, just as soon as I pull Jona free. And thank you for saving Michele, all those years ago. I'm so happy it was you.
Glittering light settles around Sayla's hand, leaving behind the ghost of someone squeezing her hand. It's comforting, and yet sorrowful.
And finally, Liam. Rita appears before him as a brilliant sunlit bird, glowing powerfully enough even his Natural eyes may be able to see her.
You're safe. You're with the people you love. Come back to us.
Arms wrap around Liam's shoulders, just as he once did for the image of a frightened, pained child.
Wake up, Liam. Your nightmare is over.
...future.
All these messages pass in the fragment of a moment. The Phenex approaches the Neo-Zeong II, her arms open wide. She touches the surface of the Narrative, and to Jona's vision, Rita's pale arms reach out to him.
Fair to the point of translucent, Rita's hand reaches out and caresses his cheek. Her smile is terribly warm. She beckons to him, seeking to pull him from his despair. In the physical realm, the Phenex keeps pace with the Narrative-controlled Neo-Zeong II, her entire focus turned inward.
Don't do this, Jona. Don't let anger consume you. This won't change anything, you know that. All you have to do is take my hand.
Rita's necklace sparkles at her throat.
This road has been harder and more painful than even I foresaw, but it's over now. It's time to come home. We can all be together again.
Rita's free hand waits, fingertips extended. Reach out, Jona, she's waiting...
<Pose Tracker> Puru-1 has posed.
"What is she doing!?" The woman of Vist actually cries out in alarm at what appears to be defiance of the spirit of the mission, albeit not the letter of the orders given, "She shouldn't be able to do that!"
The comms technician has been feverishly trying and retrying to establish a link. The woman from Vist hovering alongside him. "Can't you do this any faster!?" She asks. "Look it's not a simple process! Even with that Colony falling apart, and there's this distortion I've never encountered before it's like-"
He considers it, then, "It's like it's shutting us out." The woman then steps in, and says a command over the distorted comms, "Puru-1, drink from the river Lethe." "Lady I don't know what you think that's going to do, that command is only going to reach her in fragments if at a-" There's this long moment where he's just staring at his screen and-
CONNECTION ESTABLISHED
Both of them look to Michele. As the woman clears her throat, "Ms. Luio. She is ready to receive your commands."
...---...
The Banshee flies up alongside the Phenex, remaining just behind it. One moment, the Banshee is more sedate, peaceful than it has seemed the entire time it has been here within Metis, almost docile as the Phenex stretches out her hand to Jona.
The very next-
RITA
BGM Interrupt - Vigilante 0.5 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SvQPkSIP3vk
-something erupts out of the front of the Phenex's frame just above the cockpit, components shredding instantly. Four separate golden talons, armored in Obsidian. The vibration stops, and all four latch down.
RESIGNATION SORROW DESPAIR
ITS TIME
BACK IN YOUR CAGE
IT WAS NEVER GOING TO END ANY OTHER WAY
The other arm of the Banshee hooks around Rita's opposite armpit, azure thrusters flare at the same exact moment, flying with her burden in tow, as the Banshee dives through one of the gaps where the Ra Mari II is plugging the Colony, both of them flying by as a hail of violet fire melts it wider, granting them passage.
As they fly fast, and straight, and true towards Michele's ship. Certainly one could try to stop them, but in this state, they would risk hitting the mauled Phenex, now, wouldn't they?
<Pose Tracker> Michele Luio has posed.
As the Banshee moves to capture the Phenex, and the Narrative Gundam moves to flee inside the Neo Zeong II, Michele's eyes widen in horror, command having loosened from her lips before she fully processed the gravity of Jona's situation. She grabs the microphone.
"Jona, no! This wasn't the plan! Come back! Jona! JONA! JONAAAAAAAAAAA-"
Brick cuts her mic mid-scream, as Michele collapses onto him, tears starting to form as the revelation dawns on her.
Got one. Lost one.
In the end, it's the same situation, except it's worse.
She's pushed Jona past the deep end, and he'll never trust her again. All she needed was one reunion, and she could leave.
But all she has is Rita. She can't save Rita without Jona.
After a few moments, Brick helps Michele steady herself. She transfers from her adjoining room to the bridge's helm.
"Captain! Have your men shoot down anyone who approaches in pursuit of the ship or our Mobile Suits. No exceptions."
The captain, gruff, grimaces at her. "You damn corporate bitch. How many have to die for your crusade?"
Michele turns on a heel, with a signal that she won't accept no for an answer.
"Hopefully?"
"Just one more."
<Pose Tracker> Rita Bernal has posed.
Feather-like bits of armor fall as the Phenex is torn open by her sister. Sacred blue light fades from the psychoframe of the Firebird, and she slumps in the Banshee's grasp. With her last flicker of consciousness, her hand tries to raise toward the retreating Neo Zeong II.
Jona...
Rita's presence vanishes.
<Pose Tracker> Yuliana Kafim has posed.
"It's the only way," Yuliana insists, to Chris, and not without grief.
But Michele tells the story of the Miracle Children, and bile stings Yuliana's throat. "Don't talk like you're like me," she insists, ragged-raw. "You're nothing /like/ me."
They've never heard THAT one before.
(They have. Frequently.)
"I never even /knew/ she was going under the bus to save me until it /happened,/" she says, and the words boil. "I blamed myself all this time, but -- but you know what? Hearing /you?/ It's clear it wasn't my fault!" Right answer, wrong working. Yuliana doesn't know that doesn't get her any credit. "'Years of grueling torture'... you're really glossing over it!"
Yuliana only knows /one/ lab which tortured Rita -- however many names it operated under -- but she yells, anyway. "Medical got their hands on her, and you know what?! The fool girl was so beaten that she latched on to /me!/ A human weapon designed to /destroy/ the likes of her -- to destroy Newtypes! But just because I didn't hate her fiercely enough... just because I knew what it was like to be trapped there..." It's a little hard to tell, the way her voice warbles from the modulator, but -- yes, she's crying.
"Yes," she affirms, to Liam. "She was locked up. And you know, I did think she'd get honed and released as a functional weapon, eventually. That's what they did... with me."
Her grip tightens.
"But they didn't let her loose. They taught me hatred, and taught her suffering, and... she never let them play us against each other. But me? But /me?/" Her voice hitches, as she cries: "Obviously I bought it! I've always been an idiot! The Republic loves loyalty more than it's ever wanted an independent thought, and clearly I can't shake it, getting dragged out here--!! I've no love for Spacenoids, but they're barely more than /kids/ out here, damnit! I wouldn't have picked /this/ target!"
She drags a breath in through her teeth.
"Rita went through so much shit," she focuses on her, instead. "I wasn't even there for all of it... you know, I kept asking what they were doing to her. Not that she ever /told/ me, but it was pretty fucking obvious. You know, they don't bother to shave your head unless you're going under the knife -- and they never bothered really scrubbing off the adhesive they use to attach leads to someone. The reaction tests, the rubber bullets, the isolation tanks, the mind games... fuck."
One of those teeth is sharper than the others. It bloodies her lip. Drip, drip... drip.
"Just because she went to another lab doesn't mean she escaped the Titans," Yuliana says. "Since the Titans paperclipped themselves to all sorts of ongoing projects. It's so /easy/ to evade prosecution for war crimes, with just a little effort. The Republic was /happy/ to take Dr. Devi on. And she... was happy to have Rita." Another breath. "She was furious, when she had to trade her away. But someone caught me in a little of that under-the-table murder I was getting up to... they had to pay their pound of flesh. And that's all she was, in the end."
Her knuckles are white.
"That's what you made her, Luio."
Lucine might not know if Michele's story is true -- but will Yuliana's corroboration convince her at all?
So engrossed is she in Michele's crimes that she fails to remember her own -- when Naoko takes the risk of entering Yuliana's zone of silence again, she's blindsided. Nova Stellar, Miracle Worker comes in like a wrecking ball, and scores a home run -- the wanzer goes rolling, utterly WHAMMIED, until it crashes into the side of a building. (The people inside this one, at least, have been evacuated, instead of... well, there are two ways to exit the streets, at this point.)
"Ch--" Yuliana spits, which is her own problem wearing a helmet like she is, but Yuliana has never not made things worse for Yuliana. Or people who aren't Yuliana! "You little...!!" She manages to right herself just in time for Liam to zero in, and Yuliana brings her Cleave Axe up to meet his blade, protecting her mobility first. Redirecting him away from her many skittering legs /does/ mean he gets a good gash in on her /tail,/ though, and if his voice didn't give it away...
Chris can see it too, apparently -- because at once /she's/ there, to protect where the cockpit should be. "Something's triggered him," Yuliana hisses, voice still raw. "He'll keep going until I'm dead, but listen -- he's not thinking straight. Get him out of here. I --"
But Lucine realised what the bigger threat is, here -- at the last moment, she's firing at /Zoltan,/ and Yuliana has to take notice as the Neo Zeong II responds to her threats. Responds -- and goes down. Zoltan, refuse and refused, seems to disappear in the shadow of it as it draws the /Narrative/ into itself, instead.
And the Banshee...
"You..." Yuliana starts, eyes narrowing, as she hears that raspy whisper. "Is this where you shrug it off, Banshee..? After everything that's happened..."
She makes a horrible noise, in the back of her throat. Her machine scuttles back, with horrible, arachnoid steps. "Chris -- I'm disengaging. Keep the brat off me. I don't want to have to chop his legs off in a situation like this." And she /does/, strangely enough -- not realising the panic going on, above, in Michele's ship.
She scuttles away from Rita's release, away from Liam and his meltdown, away from -- well, she would have liked to call Chris a friend, but perhaps that's not so simple, now. Away from the Newtype, and away from that thing which is WORSE than a Newtype -- because Yuliana has no word, for 'Whispered'. She moves away...
... and towards...
"Zoltan," she says, as she finds his signal, discarded by Neo Zeong II.
"You're not dying here. Not when that's what /she/ wanted." Michele was so happy to see him die; Yuliana can deny her this much, even if she can't hurt her directly, today.
"Get in." And if he doesn't want to, well -- she's cruel enough to make him.
They're going back to Celestial Being.
<Pose Tracker> Eight York has posed.
The Miracle Children...
"You were hurt, and you hurt someone else. And that gives you the right? Does it!?" Eight shouts over the radio at Michele for an instant, though she regains her composure a moment later, and continues more calmly, "You're not the only one who was taken and used, Luio. You're not the only one who's suffered in that way. And you don't even have the excuse that you can't 'know' what she would've wanted because you DO! You do know! And it's /not this/!"
Her anger rises again; in all this death, in all this destuction, it's easier to be angry than anything else. "You don't have the right! You don't /nearly/ have the right!"
She hears Anita talking, of course. She hears the way she goes up against Zoltan. Her mind is with her dear friend. But also with--
"Humanity's not DONE yet!" Eight calls to Zoltan. "We--" 'Trijecta of Obsolete ships'. There is no subtlety there, no. But EIght is briefly taken aback by the sheer visceral hated in hat life. "There's--"
There are so many reasons to live, Eight believes. How can she explain that to someone like this...?
"So be it."
But the Ra Mari II still stands ater the terrible assault, beams crashing into redundant plating designed to safeguard the people and functions of the ship, the sheer /bulk/ of the thing enough to keep it going despite the terrific damage. And strangely...
"He's lost control?" Kall wonders, at his console, the bearded man frowning at the data coming acros his screens.
But more than that happens. "No," Eight says, as the Psychoframe starts to react, as the NT-D works. "Damn--"
A great drama plays out before her. And just as it seems everything is going to be all right for them--just as it seems that the Phenex and the Banshee will be united--
That hope is dashed, and they are united another way indeed. "No!" calls Chovan from the console. Eigh grits her teeth.
"Kazama, can you get a firing solution on that ship?" Captain York asks, but Kazama shakes her head. "No, ma'am. And if we move out to try to engage them.."
"...Then we leave the civilians behind," Eight sighs. "Sorry, Rita," she says, looking up to the ceiling of her great ship. "...But my duty is to these people, most."
There's nothing she can do to get her back; firing on the Banshee would only risk hitting the Phenex, and firing on Michele's ship isn't an option from here.
Just then, Enba Rezza, green haired and cool, turns to Eight. "Our shuttles are full. As many as we can pack in for a first round are in. I'm withdrawing them to the ship. If we can get any more..."
"...We stay," Eight says. "To finish the job."
"Kall," she says. "Keep your sensors on the colony's reactor. If it's going to blow... We need to get as may people out as we can. Until then, we stay to evacuate as many as we can hold."
<Pose Tracker> Koji Kabuto has posed.
Even despite damage enough to disable another suit, the Narrative continues on. Koji grits his teeth, preparing to escalate the assault -
- A pulse of pure force from the Gundam. In Earth-standard gravity, Mazinger Z's bulk would be sufficient to let it hold its ground. In a colony?
The Castle of Iron is driven back, allowing the Narrative the space it needs to steal the Neo Zeong II and escape.
Even to someone without psychic sensitivity, the rage boiling off the psycoframe machine is almost palpable - and Rita's scream of despair is audible even to Koji as he fights to stabilise Z in microgravity.
"Ensign Basta!" He yells at the retreating Narrative, even knowing in his gut he can't be heard. "ENSIGN BASTA!"
He regains control of Mazinger Z. "... Lisa, are you okay back there? ... Did we get Luio's speech?" It's not a guarantee, with the increasing Minovsky dispersal - but if it was audible to the pilots, it can be recorded.
Michele's screaming for Jona is something to note... later.
He watches the fight continue as Yuliana confronts the team trying to rescue the Phenex - and the Banshee moves to set the bird free, unexpectedly.
"... They recognise each other," he concludes, for LiSA's ears alone. "No - they know each other." A connection borne from the psycoframe, or...?
He looks towards the golden light in his cockpit. "I'll do everything I can - "
The Banshee howls again and descends upon the Phenex as Rita tries to reach Jona. "Damn it!" Koji pursues, Scrander wings folding up as he dives Z through the hole widened by the Banshee - only to be driven back by covering fire from Luio's ship.
If he can't close, he has but one option: An impossible shot at extreme range, as the vessel turns away from the colony.
Freeze the thrusters. "REITO BEAM!!!"
Again Mazinger Z's horns light up and those chilly blue rays plunge through the void towards Michele's ship.
Inches. That's all the space left between the ship's main thruster and the beams that will arrest the vessel's thrust - before the desperately-fired rays of energy fail to maintain cohesion and disperse, a faint dusting of frost across the edges of the thruster cone swiftly melted away by its activation the only sign Mazinger Z ever fired upon the vessel.
Koji watches it retreat, stomach twisting. "Goddamn fool," he growls at the vessel even though it's far beyond comm range now. "You're going to have so much to answer for before this is over."
He pushes Mazinger Z back towards Metis. "Lisa, try and break through the Minovsky interference and connect us to the Ra Mari II." Once that's done: "Captain York, this is Doctor Kabuto of the Photon Power Research Institute and Londo Bell. We have a transport that can assist in the evacuation of the survivors."
Another defeat. So much death.
One wonders if it's really worth it, to the orchestrator of this tragedy.
<Pose Tracker> Anita Rosetta has posed.
The Neo Zeong II still has some fight left in it. Anita grimaces, raising the Pinpoint Barrier System - and then she's blasted out of the sky, sent crashing into the pavement below. Briefly, the Svipul is knocked offline - which means Anita can only watch as things proceed. The Neo Zeong II finds itself with someone new. And Rita... Rita...
...Anita curses. By the time the Svipul boots back up...
...It's too late to do anything.
She weighs her options... but ultimately, as always, she concurs with the Captain. They have their priorities here, and she's sure that Rita wouldn't want them to abandon them.
"Svipul still has some juice left in her." Anita says, pulling her Valkyrie to her feet. "I'm gonna do a sweep of the colony for any signs of survivors. I'll radio in if I find anyone."
For now, that's the best thing she can do, and there's nothing wrong with that. With that, the Svipul shifts into Fighter Mode and takes off.
<Pose Tracker> Sayaka Yumi has posed.
"It... it worked! Now we can-" Sayaka's eyes light up as their perfect combination seems to do the trick- but it truly isn't over, is it? The Narrative Gundam escapes the blazing fury of the heart of two Mazins, and becomes one with... Zoltan's Neo Zeong II in horrific fashion. "No!! You can't-" She tries to stop Jona, but the terrific machine outmaneuvers even the stellar reactors of Mazins. "Sorry, Rita.. we couldn't save Jona. Not this time," she whispers. "I hope you won't be apart for long."
And around the same time, Michele reveals the truth. All three of them were victims in their own way. Sayaka doesn't think it excuses Michele's belligerence... but she does hope they're all able to find peace one day... even if that day is not today.
Rita's light is swallowed by the Banshee's darkness, and over the comms she can hear a voice that sounds like Liam's, in an unidentified craft, struggling against his programming. Sayla's past is once again brought to the forefront. So many she cares about... it's so much.
But she can't let it distract her, either. "Koji... as long as there's still people to evacuated, we're still needed here." And then she alerts Chris: "Chris. The battle is over, we're disengaging from combat. We could use your help with the evacuation effort." From there, they simply have no choice but to link up with the Ra Mari II.
She too, wonders what must be going through the mind of Michele Luio.
<Pose Tracker> Lucine Azul has posed.
It takes every ounce of Lucine's piloting skill to escape the aftermath of Lucine's foolish decision.
Would it be right to admit that she enjoys every minute of it? < ".... that's what you deserve..." >
The words are delivered to a man she barely knows, who barely knows her. Better this way, so that she can see Zoltan as nothing more than craft to shoot at.
To shoot at, and to get away, and to look at the falling Neo Zeong II...
Even in her high from landing that one in a million double success, Lucine can see the cracks of where it all goes wrong.
Jona, one of the Miracle Children, taking the Neo Zeong II up as its new pilot.
The Phenex, now wanting her freedon, brutually captured by the Banshee and taken to Luio.
Lucine is right back where she started: not knowing what to do.
And so, she goes back to what she did before, her voice even tinier as she curls her legs towards her chest inside the cockpit.
< ".... Liam... please, let me hear your voice." > It's embarrassing to feel this needy in the middle of what is still a battlefield; at least she can make the message private to just him.
<Pose Tracker> Liam 7-020 has posed.
A functional weapon, Yuliana says. She says so many things. The Titans fled everywhere, certainly. One of their test pilots--a 'handler' at Murasame--attached himself to a certain BioNet program, and Liam still hears his voice in his nightmares. He was the one who blew the little whistle, while the medical techs manipulated his implants into producing a controlled, compliant, driven focus. Eventually Liam no longer needed the manipulation.
A breath out. Weapon intercepted. The CGUE redirects itself using the momentum from impact, rolling over the wanzer's back. Its shield lowers, and the surviving vulcan gun inside spools up. Chris leaps between them.
"Interference. No. Compensating." But the colony--
Emotion breaks through the monotone in the form of an agonized gasp. The colony. People. People dying. Liam starts to count backwards, again. He gets to three before he sees the bird from his dream.
Rita speaks. She holds him. The CGUE goes completely still as Liam struggles to reattach meaning and feeling to the presence.
'.... Liam... please, let me hear your voice.'
"Lucine," Liam chokes out. The suffocating web of hormonal and neurochemical controls starts to dissipate as his normal brain chemistry reasserts itself. Immediately, a rush of horror, despair, self-hatred. It only gets worse when he sees what
happens
next.
"RITA!" Liam screams, and tears flow until his visor is beaded-over with droplets. He wrenches his helmet off with a hiss, takes a breath of cockpit air. "The colonists. We need--Rita would--"
Eight's voice. Eight, giving firm, compassionate direction. Liam has never been so grateful for her presence as he is right now. The wounded CGUE sets about the task of scanning for thermal signatures. Maybe purpose will help him bear the enormity of what just happened.
<Pose Tracker> Sayla Mass has posed.
The rocket frees her, and the Dijeh's thrusters burst to life. She bolts up.
And that's when, in the unspoken words of Amuro Ray, it all went wrong.
The girl in the Banshee panics, and it's then that she is closed out of the Luio loop. She doesn't hear the command. "Elpeo? Elpeo!?"
The Neo Zeong II takes a new host. The Da Xukong takes Zoltan. The Banshee takes the Phenex and Michele takes them both. Even when deciding to only save one, all her opportunities slip through her fingers.
For a long time, Sayla's damaged Dijeh floats there. There's silence. Finally, she opens communication. "Ra Mari II, Sayla Mass in Dijeh, requesting permission to board." She'd avoided this for a long time, but now the only other option is to wait. Others there will have more answers.
After that, she breathes out slowly, and opens a line to the Ichinana. "Chris. Can you..." She stops. "I need you to..." Why won't the words come out? "...Meet me on the ship?" She manages, her voice frying. All that hate, anger and sorrow, with nowhere left to go, fade into nothing but despair, as she waits for a reply.
<Pose Tracker> Naoko Suzuki has posed.
Naoko had... kind of a lot to deal with, and as such missed the full story of the exact circumstances surrounding this battle. Later, when she too learns the story of the 'Miracle Children', she will be forced to question how styling herself a Miracle Worker might have made Rita really feel.
As it is, she finds herself preoccupied with avoiding Yuliana's wrath (which unexpectedly doesn't come), and the matter of an out of control ally who needs to be calmed by those who know him better than she does. She's nowhere near close enough to act when the Phenex is quite literally backstabbed and made off with.
Her only response is a stunned silence, the Sukeban extending a hand in a futile gesture. How did this all happen while her back was turned? Regardless of her own performance, she had the impression things in general were proceeding favorably, or as favorably as could be expected given the circumstances. It just feels... wrong, for things to end this way. And when she hears that Eight doesn't intend to pursue...
>"Nova... I know how you feel, but Captain York is right."<
It's all that stops her from an angry knee-jerk reaction. Instead, she responds morosely, "...Nova Stellar, heading back." It's probably best not to take any risks with the extensive damage to her Arm Slave.
Next time, then. There will be a next time. She has to believe there will be.
<Pose Tracker> Christina MacKenzie has posed.
<"Go, Kafim. We'll talk later,"> she replies, not turning her eyes from the Activated Liam, repositioning as needed to keep her motions obstructive but slow... <"I understand, Sayaka. Cannot withdraw yet, will rendezvous. Damage minimal.>
She lingers, holding Rita's thought away from her heart until Rita and Lucine make it through to Liam. The Banshee...The Phenex...! But her comrade is struggling, and /that/, at least, she can do anything about. Finally, once Liam's conditioning has been broken, once it's far, far too late to do anything, she can relax. Only then does she clutch to her chest the golden bird patiently waiting.
In the low gravity of the derelict colony, tears well at the eyes, only slowly and gently do they fall...
"L-let's..." she struggles to say, briefly releasing her helmet visor to wipe her face. "Let's move forward...to-together...Rita. For tomorrow, when you...stop sacrificing, too..."
Though the violence has stopped, its pain remains. Chris hurries her Mazin after the CGUE, reaching out to hold Liam's mech by the shoulders.
"Liam. Liam. Lucine needs you. Let's get you both...back to the ship." A moment's silence, then, "Please."
With Captain York's help, she manages to redirect both of them back to the Ra Mari II, all three sensor suites probing for survivors, heat sources, and beacons. It's a small consolation, but...it's a purpose, at least. A purpose...
Once she's successfully escorted both the Dianthus and the CGUE onto the Ra Mari, she turns to go out looking again. That's when her commsys blips with a private transmission.
Even if that waver in Sayla's voice commanded any less than every erg of her heart, her eyes were too red and misty to properly execute a safe rescue.
"Sayla..." She tries to think of what to say. "Sayla," is all that croaks out. "Okay."