2022-02-22: Skeletons In The Closet

• Log: Skeletons In The Closet
• Cast: Skel Heroic, Nena Trinity, Leos Klein, Elisa Kafim, Yuliana Dispersal, Regina Everhart, Gary Biaggi, Rapid Reaction Squad, Sophia Mayhew Castellan
• Where: Mountains of AEU Europe
• OOC - IC Date: 2-22-2022
• Summary: Celestial Being attacks a G-Hound black-ops facility said to contain a bioweapon. They find something - someone - much more interesting.

---

<Pose Tracker> Skel Heroic has posed.

G-HOUND EUROPEAN SITE
SOMEWHERE IN THE AEU

There is, in a tight mountain range, a hidden black-ops facility run by G-Hound. With multiple tents and small buildings set up against a massive makeshift main facility comprising of a hangar and storage, it's a place that would be difficult to fight in from the air without hitting rock.

And that's good, because Celestial Being has discovered this site, and the biological weapon project being created at it. All they know is the name. "Project SKELETON".

They'll have to make a landing, or come in from the side. It's likely to be a direct assault, but the skies are clear enough to get a visual of where security is and where mechs are, unless concealed.

G-Hound has hired ace pilots to guard this facility, or be in range. They have no idea what's going on here. They're paid to do their job.

Someone from Celestial Being will have to go in on-foot - if it's a biological weapon, simply blowing up the facility could release it. They'll have to find and retrieve or destroy it.

VEDA, interestingly enough, leans to the former.

KTS: Regina Everhart has deployed in WMS-03 Maganac.
KTS: Regina Everhart has changed loadout.
KTS: Nena Trinity has deployed in GNW-003 Gundam Throne Drei.
KTS: Nena Trinity has changed loadout.
KTS: Leos Klein has deployed in AC Annihilator.
KTS: Leos Klein has changed loadout.
KTS: Yuliana Dispersal has deployed in RAM-004L Landlion.
KTS: Rapid Reaction Squad has deployed in RGM-109 Heavygun.
KTS: Rapid Reaction Squad has changed loadout.
KTS: Gary Biaggi has deployed in AEU-09Y812 Enact Custom.
KTS: Rapid_Reaction_Squad has deployed as a Rival.

<Pose Tracker> Nena Trinity has posed.

        As is fairly typical for a Celestial Being assault, the first sign of it is a sudden loss of long-range comms. The culprit today is Nena, or rather her Gundam Throne Drei. The particles of crimson light pumping out of its GN Drive make it difficult to get a signal out, while also helping to cover the approach of the Celestial Being strike team!

        Speaking of which, inside the Drei's panoramic cockpit, Nena turns her head left and right, glancing at the machines she's approaching with. She then wonders out loud to her Haro, "I don't know why it couldn't be just Team Trinity that was assigned this mission." She looks closer at the unfamiliar units, before saying in mild confusion, "I don't even know who these people are!"

        Purple Haro responds, "Celestial Being! Celestial Being!"

        Nena rolls her eyes, "Well, duh! But I mean... WHO are they?"

        Purple Haro responds, "Secret! Secret!"

        Nena groans, "I know... I know... Stupid secrets. I want to knoooooow! Hmmmm... Wonder if there's a way to-"

        Purple Haro interupts Nena's thought process with, "Mission start! Mission start!"

        Nena's eyes light up, "Oh, okay! Let's do this!" The Drei rushes forward, quickly bursting around part of the mountain side and into view of the G-Hound facility. The defenders will have little time to spot the Gundam before it raises its arm, firing the attached beam gun as it starts to blow up emplacements.

<Pose Tracker> Leos Klein has posed.

Did you know that garrison duty in the middle of nowhere is absolutely the worst?

In the AEU, 'middle of nowhere' is pretty relative. A few hours travel and Leos could be comfortably relaxing in a ski lodge or something instead of being stuck out here. However, that just means that the distance feels even more depressingly insurmountable, despite the relative proximity to comfort. It probably doesn't help that he's staring balefully at a map projected on one of his forward monitors, either.

Leos sighs and adjusts his scarf, the only concession to the weather he's chosen to adopt. AC Annihilator, normally a dark blue blot on the battle map, is instead in shades of brown and white common to the rocky terrain surrounding the hidden facility. It's crouched low and kept on standby between a couple of hills, tucked away where it can watch for intrusions into the area and stay well away from whatever they're doing in there.

All Leos knows is that the permanent security has a unit patch involving a skeleton. It probably means something. He doesn't really want to know what that thing is. It'll make him hate these people more than he already does (which, admittedly, is only a moderate amount so far).

Leos is reaching for his thermos, stuck firmly in the salvaged wanzer cupholder he took from the arena Desmatz he used recently, when something at the edge of his field of vision starts to explode. He slaps the button to cycle power to combat mode instead.

The AC makes a noise like a stalling car. Leos smells something burning. He hits it again, and again, and again -

<Pose Tracker> Elisa Kafim has posed.

It's a fascinating opportunity! To advance Celestial Being's pursuits, and... other things, also. Project SKELETON...

Well, first there's the matter of the ssault. Behind and to the right of one Nena Trinity is a spindly, long-limbed mecha hositing a shield of strange green energy in its left arm, with golden armoring and black accents. She is unfamiliar to most, though this unit was deployed opposing a kaiju in Tokyo, once. Now, though...

The Spinatia rises from the moutainside and begins to channel green blasts of energy down towards the walls, attempting to bore a hole through the defenses completely.

"Hello, darlings," she says once the explosions have begun.

"Those of you who do not resist need not be harmed."

Blast away, blast away. Strangely, the energy she uses does not particularly resemble beam weaponry at all.

<Pose Tracker> Yuliana Dispersal has posed.

        Some of the help Celestial Being has isn't combat-oriented -- or hasn't been, until now. Yuliana's transition into Celestial operations has been necessarily gradual. She has unique gifts, of course...

        ... and she has unique gifts.

        The REA's anti-Newtype operative is very well known, in fact, as the REA's anti-Newtype operative.

        Perhaps that's why there's a RAM-004L Landlion on the approach, the treads of its stick movers grinding through the underbrush of the mountain. It's a unit designed entirely for ranged combat, all railgun, all cannons -- and in this fashion, it's precisely the opposite of the method Yuliana fights.

        Or, apparently -- how Verdiska fights, because that's the callsign she's given to her friendly units.

        Well, who would just attach their name to a nice spot of terrorism?

        At the signal, the Landlion's treads grind into a sprint, spinning loosely before it comes to rest not so far from the Witchcraft-type Spiniatia. It -- she, the voice is female -- transmits, jovially, in turn: "Offer! Offer! You really ought to take the offer~!"

        Yuliana grasps a lever, in the cockpit, and cranks it. With a whine, that railgun charges, and blasts off into the rest of the destruction.

<Pose Tracker> Regina Everhart has posed.

Information has come out about a mysterious 'Project SKELETON'. A biological weapon, apparently. Another new and 'exciting' weapon of war, no doubt. Naturally, something must be done about it. Curiously, VEDA wishes it retrieved?

...Well, Regina is in no place to judge. The computer must have its reasons. She's not the one going in personally, anyway - her job is to help with the distraction.

Her current machine - a WMS-03 Maganac, normally intended for desert environments but suited just as well to the mountainous, rocky terrain of the current mission - waits off to the side, anti-beam cloak clad around its shoulders and idling as she waits for the signal.

And, there it is - as the other members of Celestial Being blast from afar, Regina uses the distraction to draw in close. Against the rocky terrain, those relying solely on sight might only catch the gleam of a red lens before it's too late.

She doesn't add to the requests to stand down. She's not much for conversation - they already have it covered.

<Pose Tracker> Gary Biaggi has posed.

        There was something peaceful about being on patrol, the quietness, the good view and that eternal calm that seems to stretch on forever. Lieutenant Biaggi absolutely hated it and the welcome sound of the alert notifying of trouble at mysterious location X means fun times.

        Arriving on the scene his ENACT shifts into its fighter form and he quickly opens his G-Hound comms, <" To fellow G-hounders Lt. Biaggi on scene. All units report in. "> Meanwhile he notes his sensors already starting to act up and begins to rotate his unit looking about.

         More and more rotation is given until well stuff begins to blow up, from there it is very easy to find the source, the red gundam from a few weeks back.

<Pose Tracker> Rapid Reaction Squad has posed.

A bald man with a strong beard and a skeleton patch has been Leos' contact for this job - the head of their mobile suit security division. He's not present when the attack happens, but when it does, there's mobilization.

Emplacements are blown to bits by the enemy, and Yuliana and Elisa demand a surrender. There's silence for several minutes as they attack.

And then there's a roar of laughter. "I don't think so! Spook Leader, moving out!"

A black and white Heavygun mobile suit, painted vaguely like a skeleton, with shoulder-mounted missile pods, beam saber and rifle, shield, and grenade pouch, suddenly dashs in.

"Why not you surrender? Be easy on you. Better than body bags, right?"

RIVAL - BANDERSNATCH KINGSERLY HAS ARRIVED

KTS: Elisa Kafim targets Rapid Reaction Squad with Green Fold Quartz Accelerator - Blast!
KTS: Rapid Reaction Squad has deployed in RGM-109 Heavygun.
KTS: Rapid Reaction Squad has changed loadout.

<Pose Tracker> Leos Klein has posed.

After the fifth attempt and a couple good kicks, the engine actually starts. Leos is pretty sure some temperature differential fucked with how the electronics were seated internally, but he doesn't have the time to diagnose it when someone is actively exploding the thing he's getting paid to guard.

<"This is Klein,"> Leos responds, short-range radio trying to cut through the weirdly visible Minovsky(??) interference. It's so densely garbled he'll be lucky if his allies can make out his transmissions at all. Cheap parts aren't quite hardened enough. <"Intercepting the... whoever it is."> There's a chance it's just some opportunists, right?

Anyway, that's when he spots the Gundam.

Leos immediately feels something lurch unpleasantly inside his chest.

        M??????, ???
        UC 00??

Leos doesn't want to open his eyes. If he looks, it will make it real.

The nearby squeal of tortured metal forces the primal part of his brain to defy his wishes. His eyes snap open, unfocused from... something. He doesn't remember. He touches his head. Is it raining? His fingers come away wet and warm. His vision swims.

He sees something red standing over him, blotting out the sun. Its eyes glow terribly.

        THE PRESENT

Deep breath. Sharp. Sudden. His hands move to their familiar places on the control panel.

AC Annihilator breaks cover and advances, rifle raised in one hand, firing steadily, then rapidly, then wildly. If he puts enough bullets in the air, he will eventually find his mark, and then -- and *then* --!!

KTS: Leos Klein targets Nena Trinity with Battle Rifle Burst!

<Pose Tracker> Elisa Kafim has posed.

"It was a nice offer, wasn't it?" Elisa transmits over the general radio, though primarily for 'Verdiska'. "I thought so, at least." She says this once there has finally been a denial. "Ah, well."

Spook Leader, is it?

She laughs over the same frequency at Spook Leader's counteroffer. "I thought as much. No, i think not. Verdiska, I leave our dance partner to you."

In the intervening time, she's been moving her mobile suit into place in the rubble, and the cockpit opens up once she's prepared. A strange crackling energy lingers in the cockpit for an instant... a surprise for anyone who tries to get in.

But for her part, 'Viridesca' drops down in a green bodysuit, masked with a steel plate that holds a strange crystal in the forehead. She has a few more crystals about her wrists, and a belt that holds a gun holster. Over the bodysuit are layers of what could be armor, but drape like fabric, uneven and diagonal, gradienting to dark. She may or may not need the gun.

For reasons.

Viridesca sneaks out into the corridors, lookiing around, and then starts down the hall, pulling her weapon and infiltrating the building... in theory.

KTS: Nena Trinity's EN Barrier activates, negating 500 base damage.
KTS: Nena Trinity fails to react to Leos Klein's Battle Rifle Burst, taking 3075 damage!

<Pose Tracker> Skel Heroic has posed.

The inside of the main facility has two main wings - a storage wing, called 'CONTAINMENT' by signs inside, and a hangar bay - for mecha of some sort.

The walls and floors are sterile white. There's a lot of walking space. There are no people in hazmat suits, but there are scientists with masks and gloves. As Viridesca sneaks through the corridors, she'll have to make the choice of which she investigates first - though the former is likely to have the biological weapon. She can also see security rushing down containment, as well, but not a lot of it - most sortied.

<Pose Tracker> Regina Everhart has posed.

Regina scans her surroundings. She'll only have one opportunity to strike before her position is revealed, better make it count. Soon, her gaze locks onto the fighter-mode Enact, similarly studying the scene. That machine... it looks important. Drawing its attention away from the others may prove useful.

Underneath the anti-beam cloak the Maganac draws out a mobile suit-sized meteor hammer - two heavy weights connected by a long chain. One end is spun up quickly and then hurled at Gary's Enact with the intent of wrapping around it and dragging it down to ground level, where Regina is at her most comfortable.

Her current machine can't fly. Jump good, maybe, if she's feeling confident.

KTS: Regina Everhart targets Gary Biaggi with Meteor Hammer Hook!
KTS: Regina Everhart anchors Gary Biaggi, forcing him into close range.
KTS: Gary Biaggi blocks Regina Everhart's Meteor Hammer Hook, taking 1170 damage!
KTS: Regina Everhart has engaged Gary Biaggi

<Pose Tracker> Nena Trinity has posed.

        Some poor G-Hound lackey sitting alone in a security post at the edge of a base looks out the window. His eyes go wide at the sight: A large monster looming menacingly, casting a shadow over his tiny little structure. Glowing red eyes bringing out a feeling of dread in him. It raises its large metallic foot, preparing to bring it down on the post.

        Nena's giggling is cut short as her GN Barrier activates-at her Haro's direction-and she starts getting pelted by rapid fire bullets. They pepper the Gundam's frame, before Nena is forced to burst backwards up into the air a bit to avoid any further fire and regain her senses.

        Turning to look in the direction of the AC Annihilator, Nena hmmms in interest, "That one seems to be a little braver than most. Let's see how long that holds out!"

        The Gundam Throne Drei bursts towards Leos's machine, raising its arm and starting to fire crimson lances of particle beams towards him.

KTS: Nena Trinity targets Leos Klein with GNW-003 Beam Handgun Aimed Burst!

<Pose Tracker> Sophia Mayhew Castellan has posed.

"Captain, combat has begun. Should we intercept?" comes across Sophia's earpiece.

The woman herself is in the underslung deployment bay of the Helios, the small escort-slash-runabout attached to the Hyperion, a quick little ship for quick little jobs. Like this. "Negative," she calls back, quickly checking her rifle one last time. "Any sign of someone entering the compound?"

"Yes. One unknown, presumably hostile."

"Take us in for rapid deployment," she says, and straps herself in.

The Helios zooms in swiftly from the edge of the field, pulling what for all the world looks like a midair handbreak turn as it comes down.

"You're sure you want to do this alone, Captain?"

Sophia blinks, once, focusing her senses intently, then clears her head with several rapid blinks and a swift shake of her head. "I'm our best bet," she says as her only explanation. "Going."

She leaps the ten or so feet to the ground, rolling with the impact, and then charging into the compound with rifle up.

<Pose Tracker> Yuliana Dispersal has posed.

        "Do have fun out there, won't you, Viridesca?" 'Verdiska' transmits, in turn, cheerfully. The Spinatia goes to the rubble, but the Landlion pre-empts the Heavygun interfering with that process the only way it's equipped to do so:

        With two whining blasts from that railgun which dominates its forward thrust.

        The Landlion spins off to the other side, treads grinding the ground beneath it. "Spook Leader, are you? Come here, darling! I am your opponent!" She transmits that taunting invitation, and never quite stops moving.

        "My, my, if you want things to be so easy on you, you must have been posted here for a terrible breach in discipline," that open line transmits, entirely too casually, as Yuliana down-shifts the brakes heel to toe to stop her from spinning right into the side of the building. Depress the clutch, shift the crank, tap the throttle. "It must be so frustrating for you! No wonder you're being stubborn!"

KTS: Yuliana Dispersal targets Rapid Reaction Squad with Landlion Railgun Double Shot!
KTS: Yuliana Dispersal has activated the Daunt Spirit Command targeting Rapid Reaction Squad
KTS: Rapid Reaction Squad fails to Evade Yuliana Dispersal's Landlion Railgun Double Shot, taking 4700 damage!
KTS: Rapid Reaction Squad has activated the Dash Spirit Command and has gained proficiency bonus.
KTS: Leos Klein has activated the Focus Spirit Command.
KTS: Leos Klein fails to evade Nena Trinity's GNW-003 Beam Handgun Aimed Burst, taking 3375 damage!

<Pose Tracker> Gary Biaggi has posed.

        The alarms on the ENACT go wild as it alerts Gary to a large incoming projectile. It snaps his attention away from the Drei and he only has enough time to react by raising his shield, which is just a spinning rod really, and take the brunt of the blow.

         Fortunately it wasn't really meant for damage and it appears whoever Gary's new dance partner is wants to get up close and personal, which Gary isn't really against. In fact he seems to press forward and any form of extra yanking is unneeded, the ENACT is happy to be up close with the Maganac.

         Coming in quickly and gettings as close as the Enact's weapon isn't even in attack position, instead the suit itself performs a rush with the shoulder before bringing its knee up and arm down towards which ever arm is holding more of the chain. Over the speaker on the suit Gary's voice can be heard, "If you wanted to dance all you had to do was ask."

KTS: Gary Biaggi targets Regina Everhart with Disarming Strike!
KTS: Gary Biaggi rattles Regina Everhart, making her next maneuvers more difficult.
KTS: Regina Everhart parries Gary Biaggi's Disarming Strike, taking 420 damage!
KTS: Gary Biaggi has engaged Regina Everhart

<Pose Tracker> Elisa Kafim has posed.

"I will," Viridesca assures Verdiska.

Then she is in the compound. There's a lot of potentially interesting things in here--but it is 'contaiment' that catches her interest today. Her steps pad against white floors, her speed moderate--fast enough to hurry, slow enough to stay quiet. She notices the scientists with their masks and gloves, and smiles. They will be a source of power if it is necessary.

In the meantime, she takes off the corridor towards CONTAINMENT, right after a soldier with a gun slips past her. She rushes quickly, and before the soldier can finish turning, she has a hand on his shoulder--

Black lightning snakes from her hand to rush across his body, and his eyes roll back in his head as he falls. Is he alive? Maybe. But Elisa briefly crackles with the same energy, and behind her mask, her eyes glow faintly.

"That is better."

She takes off faster down the hall--she does not know of Sophia, yet.

<Pose Tracker> Rapid Reaction Squad has posed.

Yuliana and Elisa split up, and Elisa goes on foot. "Tsk. Not paid enough to deal inside the facility." Bandersnatch mutters into his cockpit, before firing up the radio. "I'm the most disciplined, lady. It's why I'm *Leader*, not 2 or 3."

The railgun blasts into the Heavygun's side as it starts to skid-hover across the ground, tearing two holes into the armor. Bandersnatch moves a hand over the levers, and grabs the beam rifle off his Heavygun's back.

With a quick motion of controls and a click of the lever, he's firing a volley of particles, extremely accurate due to the sheer amount and skillful piloting at range, as he moves behind one of the smaller buildings as cover.

"Why don'tcha just die for me, eh?"

KTS: Rapid Reaction Squad targets Yuliana Dispersal with HG B. Rifle Volley!

<Pose Tracker> Regina Everhart has posed.

The Meteor Hammer catches onto the defense rod and Regina pulls... but it's easy to tell that the pilot of the Enact is allowing himself to be drawn in willingly - no, accelerating into it, in fact. The Enact comes in with a knee and an arm strike toward the arm holding the other end of the chain. The Meteor Hammer comes loose, in the process, but the Maganac uses one fluid motion to redirect the blow to be less severe.

Her opponent certainly seems... eager for a fight. Well, she'd be lying if she said she wasn't too.

"...I will take that into consideration." Regina replies. There's the sound of a weapon activating and, from underneath the cloak a Heat Tomahawk is drawn in the other hand. Regina lashes out with a quick strike. With the other hand, she takes a moment to reorient her grip on the Meteor Hammer's chain.

KTS: Regina Everhart targets Gary Biaggi with Heat Tomahawk Combo!
Regina Everhart has cancelled her attack.

KTS: Regina Everhart targets Gary Biaggi with Heat Tomahawk Strike!
KTS: Gary Biaggi parries Regina Everhart's Heat Tomahawk Strike, taking 540 damage!
KTS: Regina Everhart has engaged Gary Biaggi

<Pose Tracker> Skel Heroic has posed.

A security guard slumps to the ground from Elisa's lightning touch. He's not breathing anymore. Sophia can get mapping data of the facility due to the urgency relayed to her - the far back room, the one Elisa will be targeting, is marked 'CELL'. And then there's numerous labs.

Elisa has the energy to move through, and see labs left and right. None of the personnel evacuating have equipment that would prevent a viral outbreak. Is this biological weapon...non-contagious?

In the far back of the lab area is a sign marked 'CONTAINMENT CELL'. There are two guards blocking it, while the others deal with evacuation. They are mooks.

Inside the clear glass window is a woman. Bronze skin, bright red hair, and golden eyes. She stands six foot two. She is pacing around the room during the commotion. She's too distant to get much more details of. Is this why it was marked 'capture or eliminate' with the previous preferred, instead of just eliminate?

<Pose Tracker> Leos Klein has posed.

Braver? Sure, yeah, maybe. But the smart play would be to avoid the mysteriously advanced Gundam that comes along with a Celestial Being attack.

Leos Klein is not in any mood to be listening to things like rational arguments.

The Armored Core sprints downhill, battle rifle going off in staccato bursts. Beam fire rains down around it, shredding the landscape and reducing leafless tree cover to scorched fragments. Several shots stitch up the armor of the camouflaged machine, searing away paint and plating in molten streaks as it twists and turns to make it harder to get an immediate bead on it. It isn't enough to keep it wholly safe. Damage begins to mount, grazes turning into hits on non-essential parts of the mech. One of its shoulder plates goes spinning off --

It starts to slide, dropping as low as it can in the treeline as it goes downhill towards the encampment. It digs its heels in, but the wet hillside just gets dug up as it descends, Leos making hasty adjustments to keep his balance in absence of the magic of an AMBAC system. Over the AC's shoulder, something moves, a long-barreled weapon unfolding and locking into place. The barrel sways and swings wildly, unsteady as a ship in a storm.

Then there's a puff of smoke and fire, a rather unimpressive visual display compared to basically anything made in the last ten years and used by mobile suits -- right up until the tremendous mid-air detonation lets everybody know that someone really likes to cram high explosives into compact packages.

KTS: Leos Klein targets Nena Trinity with Grenade Launcher Wild Shot!
KTS: Nena Trinity has activated the Wall Spirit Command.
KTS: Nena Trinity's EN Barrier activates, negating 500 base damage.
KTS: Nena Trinity blocks Leos Klein's Grenade Launcher Wild Shot, taking 1890 damage!
KTS: Yuliana Dispersal fails to charge.
KTS: Yuliana Dispersal fails to react to Rapid Reaction Squad's HG B. Rifle Volley, taking 2475 damage!

<Pose Tracker> Gary Biaggi has posed.

        The tomahawk is caught by the blade rifle of the Enact, the body of the ENACT twisting to move the axe up and away and Gary is already in the process of disabling the annoying impact alerts to his suit. They are going to get bad if he chooses to let them keep going.

         Dropping it's arm that caught the axe Gary moves away just a bit, which is of course totally relative in giant robots, but enough to let the tomahawk fall without hitting him. It's also to give hs own arm enough room to slash horizontally at the Maganac with the blade rifle.

KTS: Gary Biaggi targets Regina Everhart with Blade Rifle - Melee Strike!
KTS: Regina Everhart has activated the Wall Spirit Command.
KTS: Regina Everhart blocks Gary Biaggi's Blade Rifle - Melee Strike, taking 1260 damage!
KTS: Gary Biaggi has engaged Regina Everhart

<Pose Tracker> Sophia Mayhew Castellan has posed.

Sophia doesn't have fancy space-age power armor or something, just a rifle, some combat training, and okay probably some gear. It's sure not the Britannian Navy gear she usually wears.

Regardless, with the map provided, she knows roughly where she's going. She doesn't have a good sense of the people here, so her other trick won't help her today.

She comes across the dead guard, looking down at him for two entire seconds, before shaking her head. "Won't be going anywhere but the cell, likely," she mutters to herself, and takes off into a side corridor, which looks like it rejoins the path to the Cell on a shorter route.

And, indeed, shortly after Elisa gets eyes on the unknown in the cell, the distinctive whine of a Britannian firearm spins up, just before the electric sizzle of a railrifle warns of a shot whizzing past the running witch. Sophia lowers it, an ornate, handcrafted gun. "Surrender," she says, because she did not successfully kill immediately and now she has to look good.

<Pose Tracker> Nena Trinity has posed.

        Nena is not entirely-or even vaguely-aware of what's happening inside the cockpit of the AC Annihilator. All she knows is that its pilot is doing a pretty good job of not being turned into slag. On the one hand... Slightly annoying. On the other, it does make things more fun!

        Nena watches, somewhat unimpressed, by the launching of the grenade from the shoulder-mounted weapon, "Really?"

        Purple Haro isn't fooled though. Mainly because it's tied into the Drei's advanced sensor suite and is processing all that data for Nena. Which it succinctly sums with, "Danger! Danger!"

        Confused as to why, but nonetheless following her co-pilots warning, Nena turns her machine to its side. Just as the grenade detonates in a rather dazzling explosion of fire.

        As the smoke clears, the red Gundam is still floating there, turned to the side. The barrier of red particles vanish once more, though it clearly didn't absorb the entire amount of damage received by the machine. As evidenced by the somewhat scorched and still smoking shoulder-mounted shield that the Drei had turned into the blast.

        In the cockpit, Nena phews, "That could have been worse!" Maybe she shouldn't underestimate this particularly opponent. Nena pushes her throttle forward.

        The Gundam Throne Drei starts flying down towards Leos's position. Ports along its right shoulder shield open, unleashing a small barrage of missiles, red particles trailing behind them. When the GN Missiles hit they don't so much explode, as unleash a rush of those same red particles. Which then have a tendency to explode things.

KTS: Nena Trinity targets Leos Klein with GN Missile Barrage!
KTS: Leos Klein has activated the Strike Spirit Command.
KTS: Leos Klein successfully intercepts Nena Trinity's GN Missile Barrage

<Pose Tracker> Yuliana Dispersal has posed.

        Hand to the lever, Yuliana shifts the Landlion into a higher gear -- which tragically isn't enough to stop it from ripping a few holes in the metal with those particles.

        "Die for you?" 'Verdiska' asks, still sounding far too amused. "Dear Alice, I couldn't possibly. Tell me, darling, do you often ask people to die for you instead of putting the work in?"

        She directs her autocannons to the cover Spook Leader is using, rather than firing on him directly -- apparently, she doesn't care if she brings a building or two down. She's still talking at him, though.

        "Rather, I think you're a lazy fellow," she wonders, entirely too lazily for the way her hands are moving to keep track of all the levers in the cockpit. "Placed here at the centre of nowhere because you couldn't ever put the effort in -- dear boy, can't you even bring yourself to destroy a Landlion? You go through life asking others to do your tasks for you, in such a way as to make it an obligation they ought to fulfill..."

        The Landlion settles down, in plain view, with no cover to speak of.

        "... are you crying out for someone to see to your suffering, I wonder?"

KTS: Yuliana Dispersal targets Rapid Reaction Squad with Goad!
KTS: Yuliana Dispersal goads Rapid Reaction Squad, reducing its Intuition drastically.

<Pose Tracker> Regina Everhart has posed.

Regina can't help but respect her opponent's movements - her initial assessment might have been right on the money. Her tomahawk slides away, just in time for her opponent to lash out with a bladed rifle. It's too late for her to try and parry this one - letting the Meteor Hammer retract back she quickly swaps it out for the Maganac's shield, letting it take the brunt of the blow. The impact sends her sliding backward...

...but she doesn't remain distant for long. She lunges forward once more, returning the heat tomahawk to the depths of her cloak and, on the way, picking up a long piece of metal debris blasted off from one of the nearby structures and swinging it forward in a heavy, horizontal arc toward the Enact.

KTS: Regina Everhart targets Gary Biaggi with Improvised Melee Weapon!
KTS: Gary Biaggi fails to parry Regina Everhart's Improvised Melee Weapon, taking 3375 damage!
KTS: Regina Everhart has engaged Gary Biaggi

<Pose Tracker> Elisa Kafim has posed.

Here, away from most of the radios, Elisa is supposedly on her own. Despite that, she does not seem particularly perturbed. Evading the other soldiers with much more grace than she displayed before, she makes her way to the cell, where 'Viridesca' looks inside thoughtfully. Capture or eliminate...

Viridesca stops, looking at the guards--and abrubtly there is a shot at her. The distinctive whine of a firearm warns her quickly, and her now-heightened reflexes cause her to lunge forward out of the line of fire. The guards can see her leap into view, where she hits the ground at a roll, popping up a moment later with a look at Sophia. Her mask hides her smile. "No," she says, "I will not." Now, firing that gun risks shooting into the chamber where the 'subject' resides.

"But that's a beautiful gun. Do you have a beautiful spirit to match it, I wonder?"

Her hand, lifted palm-up, begins to crackle with that same black energy.

The first mook to move is the recipient of her palm strike and her next energetic payload.

<Pose Tracker> Rapid Reaction Squad has posed.

Bandersnatch gets unnerved by that. There's something that gets under his skin by the way she's talking, not even attacking, just blowing up his cover as he moves out of the way of the autocannons. And the way she calls him lazy, and basically coldreads the man based on his attitude...

Well, that pisses him off. "Ggggh! Shut up! What could you possibly know about me? I'll kill you, asshole!"

Pulling out the beam saber and flicking it on with a click of the other lever, he charges in out of cover, full-speed, moving to slash across her torso and lock her into melee via pinpoint movements and a grapple.

He has no clue she's an expert at it.

KTS: Rapid Reaction Squad has activated the Dash Spirit Command and has gained proficiency bonus.
KTS: Rapid Reaction Squad targets Yuliana Dispersal with HG B. Saber Strash!
KTS: Yuliana Dispersal has activated the Wall Spirit Command.
KTS: Rapid Reaction Squad anchors Yuliana Dispersal, forcing her into close range.
KTS: Yuliana Dispersal fails to evade Rapid Reaction Squad's HG B. Saber Strash, taking 2625 damage!
KTS: Rapid Reaction Squad has engaged Yuliana Dispersal

<Pose Tracker> Skel Heroic has posed.

A guard pulling up his gun goes down from the black lightning, as the woman inside the cell tilts her head curiously. The other begins to panic with his in his hand. The cell isn't sound-locked, so an imperious tone and deeper feminine voice is heard. This is the part where - anyone looking at the woman closely enough will realize she is neither breathing nor blinking.

"My, a show...entertainment sounds...good. Are you here to kill me or rescue me, I wonder? Either way, make it quick."

<Pose Tracker> Gary Biaggi has posed.

        Gary isn't to scared of some random debris, the poor Maganac might as well have picked up a stick and rushes in to parry the weapon head on, right when the meteor hammer begins to get pulled in, still wrapped loosely around his arm he is tugged off balance and then gets knocked back with a nice dent in the side of the ENACT's body.

         Sighing heavily Gary looks over in the direction of the damage, "That is going to take like a day to get out. Dents are worse then actual damage I swear. " Cracking his neck and rolling his shoulders he proceeds to dive forward to his opponent. Yes, he could retreat and take a long range approach but there is pride on the line.

         This time the ENACT is dashing in at a zig zag and comes at the Maganac low with blade rifle. However the strike from the blade is obviously going to fall short which is when the moment the blade is in the air the ENACT's thrusters shift and rapidly spins downward slamming the defense rod down instead. Gary could improvise just as well after all.

KTS: Gary Biaggi targets Regina Everhart with Feinting Strike!
KTS: Regina Everhart blocks Gary Biaggi's Feinting Strike, taking 3750 damage!
KTS: Gary Biaggi has engaged Regina Everhart

<Pose Tracker> Leos Klein has posed.

"Tch! Fine, then I'll just --"

Missiles. The radar vane mounted behind the opposite shoulder to the grenade launcher helpfully informs Leos of their approximate trajectories. His attention, appropriately, shifts abruptly.

The barrage dips towards the treeline. AC Annihilator ends up flat on its back, the skid arrested by a controlled fall, tilted up at the sky. A chest-mounted vulcan, gimbal-mounted (thanks, enterprising mechanic two countries over!), rips into the swarm with chattering automatic fire. Bursts of bright red particles fill the air above where the Annihilator fell, obscuring the space between it and the Gundam menacing it from above. Leos, for his part, feels weirdly flushed, proving that budget equipment always lies about its radiation shielding. (Or it's just the g-forces from all the starts and stops. Maybe both.)

The explosions clear -- and the Armored Core is nowhere to be seen. It comes back on-scope seconds later from the side opposite the Gundam's presented shoulder shield, battle rifle swung back into position for a stuttering burst as it circles closely beneath it. The front of the mech is seared down to the dull grey armor; the back is covered in mud, shaken free as it maneuvers with long steps to strafe the Throne with automatic fire.

A little closer, Leos thinks.

KTS: Leos Klein has activated the Dash Spirit Command and has gained proficiency bonus.
KTS: Leos Klein has activated the Valor Spirit Command.
KTS: Leos Klein targets Nena Trinity with Battle Rifle Trick Shot!

<Pose Tracker> Regina Everhart has posed.

"My apologies. I will endeavor to strike true next time." Regina replies. It sounds... surprisingly genuine, but there's no time for further words as the ENACT approaches. She eyes his approach carefully and as the blade comes in, she shifts the bar of debris to redirect the attack away from her...

...however, it turns out to be a feint - it's the defense rod she should hae been worried about which slams into the bar. It takes the brunt of the attack, cracking in two from the force and allowing the rod to continue on to strike her midsection.

The machine recoils back... and in a quick movement, hurls both ends of the bar at the ENACT. This is less of an attack and more of a distraction, and a way to free up her machine's hand. The Maganac ducks forward, left hand snaking out in a jab before immediately following up with the right. The motion is fluid - the sign of one just as familiar with moving their body as they are their mobile suit.

KTS: Regina Everhart targets Gary Biaggi with One-Two Jab!
KTS: Nena Trinity has activated the Strike Spirit Command.
KTS: Nena Trinity has activated the Wall Spirit Command.
KTS: Nena Trinity charges into the attack!
KTS: Nena Trinity fails to react to Leos Klein's Battle Rifle Trick Shot, taking 5070 damage!
KTS: Gary Biaggi blocks Regina Everhart's One-Two Jab, taking 3639 damage!
KTS: Regina Everhart has engaged Gary Biaggi

<Pose Tracker> Sophia Mayhew Castellan has posed.

Sophia's still aiming down her gun's sights, taking careful aim. She humphs, not seeming to consider the rejection worthy of further commentary.

So that's the 'project', she deduces. ...fine. Perhaps this can work out. She comes more fully out from the corner, weapon still drawn and leveled. "I haven't needed one," she says back, coldly. She's got herself between Sophia and the very important target, but if she's going to keep taking out the guards anyway, Sophia can't afford to play nice.

So she aims low, at an angle that should let her blast one of Elisa's feet without endangering the subject. If she can force her off-balance, she can claim some ground!

<Pose Tracker> Yuliana Dispersal has posed.

        Yuliana s i g h s, as the Heavygun charges forward. She shifts into reversal, but the Landlion isn't precisely the high-tuned equipment she's tinkered with for so long -- the Heavygun descends on her, regardless.

        "Really," Yuliana says, wearied, "and here I was going out of my way to spare you."

        Closing into Yuliana's space is something which is either not at all uncomfortable, or VERY uncomfortable, and it all depends on him. The Landlion's torso gets a nice, gaping hole in it, and the Landlion's cannons get a nice, point-blank view of the Heavygun.

        "Engaging me properly in a unit like this... you're really rather rude suicidal, aren't you?" 'Verdiska' asks, and her pout is audible. The fact that she has just given two separate descriptors for his behaviour is something which goes unremarked on by her. "Lucky for you, I suppose. But you know --"

        The autocannons subsequently open fire, point-blank.

        "One can always improvise."

KTS: Yuliana Dispersal targets Rapid Reaction Squad with Autocannon Dash Burst!

<Pose Tracker> Elisa Kafim has posed.

Now that she's claimed two guards, Viridesca's glow is visible through her mask, two solid eye shapes gleaming forth from the steel. She listens to the words of the woman within--but before she can address that, there is Sophia to consider, coming out of the corner. "Oho," Elisa answers that cold tone. "No sense of play at all."

But Sophia aims low, and the good news is that she does get Elisa off-balance; she was expecting a more direct shot, so she has to jump quickly out of the way of this one, away from the last guard. Some of the blasted floor comes up and sends a sliver of floor past her leg, drawing blood. But her hand snakes out--

"Protect your mistress," she instructs the other guard, clouding his mind with a sudden jolt of green energy.

"Either!" she says to the woman inside, who is neither blinking nor breathing. "But I'd prefer 'rescue'."

If she can get an opening from the guard, and get close to Sophia, then she can minimize the advantage of that gun.

KTS: Rapid Reaction Squad rushes into the attack!
KTS: Yuliana Dispersal enervates Rapid Reaction Squad, reducing its Morale significantly.
KTS: Rapid Reaction Squad fails to react to Yuliana Dispersal's Autocannon Dash Burst, taking 4510 damage!
KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Yuliana Dispersal's Black Hole activates, causing Jam L1!
KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Yuliana Dispersal's Minovsky's Woman activates, causing Shock!
KTS: Yuliana Dispersal has engaged Rapid Reaction Squad

<Pose Tracker> Nena Trinity has posed.

        The AC Annihilator briefly disappears from Nena's view. She wonders excitedly, "Did I get it? Did I get it?"

        Purple Haro mockingly replies, "Think again. Think again."

        And sure enough, Nena's systems alert her to Leos's re-emergence.

        As Leos strafes fire in Nena's direction, she turns her machine straight on to him and bursts forward. She's quickly closing the distance, not even looking to evade as the bullets rip across her Gundam's frame. They chip away at the impressive armour of the machine, slowly wearing it away. But it's not enough to deter the Gundam Meister as she quickly closes into melee range.

        So it should be no surprise as both hands of the Drei reach up, grabbing at the hilts jutting out of its shoulders. Pulling both free, twin blades of crimson lights flare up into existence.

        In the cockpit, Nena giggles, "Let's see how it handles this."

        Pressing the attack hard, the red Gundam launches into a rapid series of strikes with both beam sabers.

KTS: Nena Trinity has activated the Valor Spirit Command.
KTS: Nena Trinity targets Leos Klein with GNW-003 Twin Beam Sabers Onslaught!
KTS: Leos Klein has activated the Daunt Spirit Command targeting Nena Trinity
KTS: Leos Klein parries Nena Trinity's GNW-003 Twin Beam Sabers Onslaught, taking 1620 damage!
KTS: Nena Trinity has engaged Leos Klein

<Pose Tracker> Gary Biaggi has posed.

        The Enact raises its arms and tucks in tight in response to the Maganac throwing the debris and then the hands start flying and all the ENACT can do is keep it's guard up and wait for a moment he can slip back. At the end of all this Gary is going to have to admit, someone else knows how to make their suit dance.

        The moment there is an opening the ENACT drops back away from the fist as he sprays the ground with his machine gun turret kicking up dirt between them. Its not really cover, its simply the distraction that is needed for a moment before Gary moves back into the fight.

         This time though Gary is laying on the pressure, the blade is brought down from one direction and then another and another. Each move flowing into the next.

<Pose Tracker> Skel Heroic has posed.

The two inside are preparing to fight, and the guard is terrified. Briefly. His mind is then clouded, as he lifts his gun at the order...

And charges Sophia, moving to get in between then and start shooting her. There's still enough space for Elisa to close in, but now she'd have a distraction. Sophia, meanwhile, would easily be able to handle this guy - but he's still a danger.

"Rescue? Interesting. I have no qualms with that...simply get me to the hangar, and we will be on our way." The woman inside takes it at Face Value that Elisa will win, because Elisa has goddamn mind control magic and also is On Her Side so it's more fun that way.

KTS: Gary Biaggi has activated the Strike Spirit Command.
KTS: Rapid Reaction Squad has activated the Dash Spirit Command and has failed to disengage.
KTS: Gary Biaggi has activated the Spirit Spirit Command.
KTS: Gary Biaggi targets Regina Everhart with Blade Rifle - Sword Combo!
KTS: Rapid Reaction Squad has activated the Daunt Spirit Command targeting Yuliana Dispersal
KTS: Regina Everhart blocks Gary Biaggi's Blade Rifle - Sword Combo, taking 4130 damage!
KTS: Gary Biaggi has engaged Regina Everhart

<Pose Tracker> Rapid Reaction Squad has posed.

The autocannons tear into the armor as he charges, ripping it to shreds, but he's still moving. In a sudden burst of speed, he's trying to get around her...

And lifts the rifle once more. He focuses energy calibration into it, points it at one of the wholes his saber slash made...

And fires into it.

"Suicidal? Maybe. I'd rather die in battle than live a loser! Bandersnatch Kingersly is no coward!" His voice is still shaking with anger from the goading.

[OOC] Rapid Reaction Squad blu-ray *one of the holes his saber slash made...

KTS: Rapid Reaction Squad has activated the Strike Spirit Command.
KTS: Rapid Reaction Squad targets Yuliana Dispersal with HG B. Rifle Point Shot!
KTS: Yuliana Dispersal has activated the Wall Spirit Command.
KTS: Yuliana Dispersal rushes into the attack!
KTS: Yuliana Dispersal fails to react to Rapid Reaction Squad's HG B. Rifle Point Shot, taking 3800 damage!

<Pose Tracker> Yuliana Dispersal has posed.

        "My," Yuliana remarks, as she taps her visualisation screen, the image resolving to show the way Heavygun targets that beam rifle right into her oil-leaking wounds. "You really are trying to kill me, aren't you?"

        She hammers the clutch, and shifts her gearstick forward; the stick movers grind FORWARD, rather than backwards, and she calls his bluff as the shot fires. It might be easy to miss, in her strange approach, the way her movement slams the rifle into the Landlion's slash --

        It's that redirection which has the beam rifle opening a clear hole through its hull underneath her cockpit, rather than straight through.

        Her railgun whines, as she directs it up, braced right against the Heavygun. "Since you have ever so much to prove," Yuliana assures him, a vicious edge to her amusement, "I'll roll you out a red carpet in Hell."

        The power builds, and fires.

        Fires -- right -- between them.

        That the Landlion was never built to withstand its OWN blasts is hardly something which seems to enter into Yuliana's estimation.

KTS: Yuliana Dispersal targets Rapid Reaction Squad with Landlion Railgun Perfect Shot!
KTS: Rapid Reaction Squad fails to Evade Yuliana Dispersal's Landlion Railgun Perfect Shot, taking 6240 damage!

<Pose Tracker> Sophia Mayhew Castellan has posed.

"No," Sophia replies to Elisa. "I have no interest in play."

She managed to get Elisa off center, and shrapnel from the floor shot cuts her. Good. She should have trouble running now. She whips her rifle up, aiming again, but...

She. Just. Huh? Sophia blinks in surprise as the guard suddenly turns on her!? He's shooting at her so she has no choice but to shoot back, but she's not actually usually shooting while being directly at shot at and doesn't get her aim up right; it goes wide. That lets him get closer, but it also lets HER surge into range and drive the butt of her gun into his chin, knocking him out cold and maybe possibly causing permanent damage. Who cares! Not Sophia. "Now stand down, before..." Before what, Sophia? This is apparently some manner of hell witch, a thing they didn't teach her how to deal with in shootmanship school. If she had her Flag she could at least use her bigger gun!

<Pose Tracker> Regina Everhart has posed.

The machine gun turret opens fire, kicking up dirt. The Maganac retreats back, drawing its anti-beam cloak across the face to protect its optics from interference. It's a distraction, but a vital one - giving the ENACT enough time to move in. The first strike hits its mark, but Regina has her shield in place barely in time for the second - he's quick, but she just manages to keep up. Her machine comes out of it a little worse for wear, however, not quite able to withstand the brunt of the impacts.

"...Excellent." Regina remarks as the onslaught subsides. This is what a real fight should be like. It doesn't come through in her voice, but it's quite the thrill. "Regardless of the outcome, this has been worth it."

The Maganac might be reaching its limits, but Regina can still fight. She rounds on him with another bare-handed strike... which leads into another, and another, and another. A flurry of blows, each one aggressive but precise - aimed to tear right through any defenses if taken head on. The attentive can hear the whine and complaints of the Maganac's servos as she pushes the machine beyond its limitations.

KTS: Regina Everhart has activated the Valor Spirit Command.
KTS: Regina Everhart targets Gary Biaggi with Shattering Combination!
KTS: Gary Biaggi has activated the Focus Spirit Command.
KTS: Gary Biaggi fails to parry Regina Everhart's Shattering Combination, taking 6300 damage!
KTS: Gary Biaggi's AEU-09Y812 Enact Custom has been disabled.

<Pose Tracker> Leos Klein has posed.

The Gundam grows larger and larger in the Annihilator's forward display, and Leos keeps the targeting reticle steady. His ammunition counter gradually depletes, a flick from green to red numerals warning him of the lightened magazine. He keeps firing, though, right until --

Beam sabers come out, and the Throne Drei is up in the Annihilator's face. For a second, the AC pilot's emblem, partially fire damaged, is reflected on the Gundam's head. The distorted image of the battered machine twists, warps... and its left side swings upwards, the tube-like metal object bracketed to its forearm swung into line. The laser blade ignites, a narrow band of intense red light jumping out to meet the first of the alternating blows. The GN sabers are turned away as the AC backpedals: step, ignite, parry; step, ignite, parry. A tent gets crushed under its foot, stored water barrels exploding from the sudden weight. They've descended into the camp outside the fortifications.

The real insult isn't the temerity of this pilot to keep surviving, but that he does it in something that looks like it ought to be consigned to a wanzer landfill. That is, right up until an overhand slash, where, instead of backpedaling, Leos shoves his throttle forwards, stepping in under the Throne's guard, drops his rifle, and jabs it with a flat palm to arrest its forward push. It's not actually particularly harmful, but it's usually enough to throw the pilot against their safety belts and rattle them for a moment. He suffers for it, the blade carving into the already-damaged right shoulder, clipping the radar blade behind it and throwing dangerous sparks.

His voice briefly comes over the Gundam's comms. Touch radio? Short-range laser comms? Something. It's a young man's voice, harsh with bubbling anger and given a metallic edge by the GN particle density.

"Celestial Being... never again!!"

The laser blade reignites. He thrusts the arm forward, a brutal stabbing motion, then disengages it and swings the same arm inward, close to his chest. Another reignition, and a forward slash, followed by a sudden boost of rear-mounted thrusters, catapulting the machine straight at the Throne in the least elegant shoulder tackle he can physically manage.

<Pose Tracker> Rapid Reaction Squad has posed.

The power builds and fires. A red carpet in hell.

The Heavygun is engulfed. The armor melts. Joints break. It's a death sentence...

But the man inside, bleeding out, is still awake and cognizant. He raises both triggers.

He gets his single Ace Face Cut-In.

"You'll walk it with me!"

The frame of the Heavygun suddenly lurches forward, moving to slash the sword downwards overhead, as the rifle fires off the last of its energy reserves, trying to take out Yuliana before he succumbs to his wounds, a last act of defiance and desperation!

KTS: Rapid Reaction Squad has activated the Alert Spirit Command.
KTS: Leos Klein has activated the Alert Spirit Command.
KTS: Leos Klein targets Nena Trinity with Laser Blade Combo!
KTS: Rapid Reaction Squad targets Yuliana Dispersal with HG Attack Sequence!
KTS: Nena Trinity has activated the Wall Spirit Command.

<Pose Tracker> Elisa Kafim has posed.

Elisa does not get to make a playful followup comment immediately; not while she's busy avoiding gunfire and being hit by shrapnel. But it would seem that what response she did give was effective enough; she has a chance to recover herself while the other guard charge. For an instant she plans to get in close, use her power directly on the other woman--but the woman inside makes her change her strategy. So she instead palms the lock, and lets loose destructive force into it,k turning to face Sophia again now that she's knocked out the guard. While a more experienced combatant might take the opportunity to taunt 'for what?' as Sophia might think, Viridesca is operating more on raw power and smarts than on long experience. So instead she looks at Sophia with those glowing eyes, and they shine more brightly for an instant.

"You will step out of my path," she instructs, with her voice tripling as if three voices speak at once.

...But a greater willpower than the guard's may overcome it.

KTS: Nena Trinity blocks Leos Klein's Laser Blade Combo, taking 1530 damage!
KTS: Leos Klein has engaged Nena Trinity
<Pose Tracker> Gary Biaggi has posed.

        The ENACT raises it sword and shield trying to cause the attacks to glance away. However there are simply to many, the moment he pushes one off there is another and another and the ENACT can't keep up. Instead the armor is slowly picked apart and by the time Gary can move back he has more then enough alarms going off.

        So what is a noble warrior suppose to do at a time like this? Well he does the most viable thing he can do, he lives to fight another day. Another barrage of machine gun turret for more dust and dirt to act as cover as he dashes backwards and begins a rettreat.

<Pose Tracker> Skel Heroic has posed.

The guard is KO'd, but the woman inside, as the lock breaks, begins to leave through the automatic door that opens with an odd smile on her face. She hmms, as she sticks to the wall to get out.

"I demand your help walking. They took away my walking device, and therefore, I am prone to...ah, nevermind."

Sophia's not going to shoot her, so she just leans on the corridor wall. "I can guide you there once you deal with this one. Do you understand?"

<Pose Tracker> Nena Trinity has posed.

        The Gundam Throne Drei takes a palm jab to the chest, causing it to lose its momentum in the melee clash and briefly shake Nena up. This allows Leos to get that follow up thrust in, the laser blade slicing part way into the Gundam's frame. Though its armour proves tough, keeping the blow from being especially destructive. Given the frame's somewhat light look, whatever material it is made of must be incredibly advanced.

        Nena manages to recover quickly from the previous blow though, enough to twist her Gundam around to meet the shoulder charge with her own. Though her advantage is her shoulder has a shield on it!

        As the two machines press against each other with their engines trying to overpower the other, the voice that responds to Leos is clearly that of a young woman, <"Ohhhhhh? What's got you so riled up? I mean, other than me trying to kill you.">

        The clash quickly ends though as Nena rapidly eases up on the throttle, quickly giving ground to Leos's charge. But at the some time she presses on a foot pedal, causing the rather absurd flight abilities of the GN Drive to push her machine to the side, letting the AC Annihilator speed past while she lashes out with another series of strikes from those twin beam sabers!

KTS: Nena Trinity has activated the Valor Spirit Command.
KTS: Nena Trinity targets Leos Klein with GNW-003 Twin Beam Sabers Onslaught!
KTS: Yuliana Dispersal has activated the Daunt Spirit Command targeting Rapid Reaction Squad
KTS: Yuliana Dispersal rushes into the attack!
KTS: Yuliana Dispersal fails to react to Rapid Reaction Squad's HG Attack Sequence, taking 4200 damage!
KTS: Rapid Reaction Squad has engaged Yuliana Dispersal
KTS: Rapid Reaction Squad roots its unit, coming to a standstill and leaving it vulnerable.

<Pose Tracker> Sophia Mayhew Castellan has posed.

Isn't she? The door opens. Sophia's got the guard down, she swings her weapon up and past Elisa, toward the.... ....target. She's not even blinking. She's eerily still in a way Sophia hasn't entirely parsed yet. Her orders are not to kill. She was not instructed as to the state of the rest of the subject.

Is she really going to...

In that moment of wavering, Elisa sets eyes on her. Sophia's entire posture stiffens. She does not, in fact, step out of the way. She looks at Elisa with a wild-eyed look. Two seconds...four seconds.....six seconds...

And then like she's pushing through molasses she jerks her gun down. No tricky shots this time.

"I will not," she says, and there's fire in it now. She fires twice at Elisa, center mass.

<Pose Tracker> Regina Everhart has posed.

Once again, a dust cover. Regina retreats back and readies herself for another attack... but, it doesn't come. The ENACT has taken the opportunity to retreat.

"May we meet again." Regina comments, mostly to herself. Strong fighters like that are rare - she'll remember this fight. But she remembers, too, that she does have a job to do here.

"...I am now securing the area for extraction." Regina notes to her fellow agents of Celestial Being. That way, they'll be ready to get out as soon as the mission here is complete - or should things start to turn against them.

With that said, she moves to do just that.

<Pose Tracker> Elisa Kafim has posed.

The woman gets to the wall, and Elisa considers this good so far. If they kill the 'asset' in order to ensure she doesn't escape, then that's still a win for her; more likely, if they wanted her dead they'd have done it already. So Elisa focuses on Sophia for the moment--an instanta of wavering is almost enough. Almost. That wild-eyed look--Elisa focuses, channeling her will into Sophia for those seconds--

"Gah!"

Elisa takes a shot to the chest, and moves fast enough that she takes the second in the arm. With a hiss, she lifts her other hand, and discharges a mass of black electricity roughly the size of the first guard she took down, deploying all of the energy she took from him in one reality-bending shot. "VOID TAKE YOU!"

Her arm bleeds heavily; she didn't have armor on her sleeve, and the bullet hit the meaty part of one arm. The armor deflected the bullet a little, but it was a powerful enough projectile that it still scythed through her side.

So she ducks down immediately after and slams a hand down to the fallen unconscious guard, instinctively siphoning off his energy to bolster her own in a flash of green power.

...If she wins, she is willing to help the woman to the hangar. But she has to 'deal with this one' first.

KTS: Leos Klein parries Nena Trinity's GNW-003 Twin Beam Sabers Onslaught, taking 1620 damage!
KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Nena Trinity's V :P activates, causing Sparkle!
KTS: Nena Trinity has engaged Leos Klein

<Pose Tracker> Yuliana Dispersal has posed.

        Verdiska's cut-in --

        A woman wearing a black veil which conceals the upper part of her face, held up by a spiked crown. A black gem sits at the centre of her forehead, on that metal; black beads fall from the edge of the veil, across her cheeks. They don't, entirely, cover an old war-wound on one side of her face, revealed by the way the longest part of her hair is swept back by her decorations.

        Neither does it conceal her lips, all twisted in a feral grin.

        "You were placed here, heading this unit alone, because no one would ever deign to walk with you." The worst part might be the way she sounds so sympathetic, even as, inside her cockpit, a dozen alarms scream in unison.

        "Men like you are fit only to fatten the ranks and thin an assault out. My sincere congratulations on fulfilling your destiny."

        She cracks open a cover, and presses a switch.

        All at once, the autocannons empty their contents into the Heavygun, with little regard for the condition it's already in.

KTS: Yuliana Dispersal has activated the Valor Spirit Command.
KTS: Yuliana Dispersal targets Rapid Reaction Squad with Autocannon Barrage!
KTS: Rapid Reaction Squad blocks Yuliana Dispersal's Autocannon Barrage, taking 3300 damage!
KTS: Rapid Reaction Squad's RGM-109 Heavygun has been disabled.

<Pose Tracker> Rapid Reaction Squad has posed.

The Heavygun falls apart, as Bandersnatch Kingserly succumbs to his wounds. He wasn't a good man, but at the least, he died going out the way he wanted.

Better to die brave than live in fear, he had always said.

The machine falls backward, and he's gone. The battle has been lost, but Leos may be able to drive back his opponent in time to collect his paycheck...!

<Pose Tracker> Sophia Mayhew Castellan has posed.

Well, pegging her twice counts for something.

Sophia's wildly outgunned here; her rifle's better than just a noble's sporting rifle, but it's sure not designed for dealing with whatever this is. Still. She took this responsibility and has to see it through.

Besides, now it's personal. For both of them, apparently, because Elisa fires a shot of WHATEVER THAT IS at her. Sophia takes it full in the chest, blasted backward into the wall. She grits her teeth, struggling to get the rifle back into position for another shot, but ultimately falls unconscious.

<Pose Tracker> Leos Klein has posed.

"Damn Gundams," Leos seethes. Lacking the technological edge is something he's going to have to learn to accept, seeing the armor just absorb those cuts. Accept, and overcome. But how?

He jerks forward in his seat, his own merely mediocre safety gear keeping him from being tossed into the monitors. The Armored Core's boost capacity does not match that of a GN Drive; it's losing the fight, but churning up turf in a commendable effort to fight back. Right shoulder forward, it can't quite bring the laser blade to bear without getting pitched over. A little more, though --

The Gundam breaks off. Annihilator doesn't even stumble, turning the topple into a headlong rush that the enemy pilot escapes from by basically defying gravity. Leos bites the inside of his cheek, twisting the upper body of the mech, kicking one leg out and sweeping the other wide, kicking a spray of mud into the air and managing to rotate the Armored Core enough to block high before those beam sabers can carve him into something resembling tonight's meal in the mess.

<"That machine -- where did it come from?!"> That's what's got him riled up, apparently. A case of mistaken identity, maybe? <"Were you there?!">

He doesn't elaborate in the space between trading blows. The AC kicks downward and throws itself back, the tip of the beam sabers crossing just above and below the vulcan on the core section and scoring the armor. Inside -- far too close to GN-powered saber death -- one of his monitors blows out in a spectacular fashion, and he immediately compensates by twisting the head enough to minimize the blind spot. The AC's visor briefly flashes bloody crimson.

It takes a knee. Annihilator drops to the ground all of a sudden, its right hand hitting mud -- and then coming up with the discarded battle rifle. The enormous magazine drops off of the side as he lifts it up, the left hand crossing the damaged core and slapping a new one on in a gesture that lives in the precise space where grueling practice meets computer automation and then slides a tiny bit past it. The mud-caked barrel swings into line.

Leos holds down the trigger this time. Point-blank is a perfectly acceptable range for this amount of gunfire.

Leos Klein uses Hyper Reloader

KTS: Leos Klein has activated the Strike Spirit Command.
KTS: Leos Klein has activated the Valor Spirit Command.
KTS: Leos Klein targets Nena Trinity with Battle Rifle Mag Dump!
KTS: Nena Trinity's EN Barrier activates, negating 500 base damage.
KTS: Nena Trinity blocks Leos Klein's Battle Rifle Mag Dump, taking 7010 damage!
KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Leos Klein's Adrenaline Rush activates, causing Control Bonus!
KTS: Nena Trinity's GNW-003 Gundam Throne Drei has been disabled.

<Pose Tracker> Elisa Kafim has posed.

Elisa huffs from her position on the ground, rising again only after she is sure that Sophia has fallen. And then rise she does, and look to the strange woman she has freed. Her clothes have blood on them now, where they didn't before, but there is also some flesh visible, where the wound in her arm has partially healed already from the snack she made of the second guard.

"I will escort you," she says, with a light curtsy, and then turns to look over Sophia.

She eyes her for another moment. "...A worthy opponent. I've never known someone to resist the void's call before."

She moves on, offering an arm to the strange woman. Her unblinking, unbreathing nature does not seem to daunt Elisa.

...But she does have enough sense to kick the firearm out of immediate reach before they go.

<Pose Tracker> Yuliana Dispersal has posed.

        Yuliana's Landlion, let's be fair, is going to give someone an incredible headache when they return. There are several gaping cuts, revealing sparking wires and dripping transmission fluid. There are beam-seared marks across its hull. There is a hole straight through it.

        Yuliana watches the Heavygun fall, and shrugs, engaging her drive and spinning off to take position near the idling Spinatia. The other woman, well -- she can take care of herself, Yuliana is sure.

        Verdiska transmits, to Viridesca's communicator: "The way's all clear for you, darling. Do you have our guest of honour, yet?"

<Pose Tracker> Nena Trinity has posed.

        The Drei's sabers clash against the Annihilator's blade, sparks flying as the two machines struggle. During which, Leos calls out to Nena with questions. She has absolutely no idea what he's talking about.

        Still. That doesn't mean she can't have a little fun.

        <"Ohohoho, that was you?">

        The two machines break away from their clash once more, Nena lashing out with her sabers. They just barely hit, carving through part of the AC. The move buys Leos some time, letting him retrieve the rifle, reload and start firing into the Gundam's frame at point blank range. The Drei brings both its arms up to cross in front of it, weathering some of the bullet spray. The rounds start carving shallow streaks into the machine.

        Nena is just about to make her next move when her Haro pipes up, "Mission change! Mission change! Plan R5! Plan R5!"

        Nena awwwws in disappointment, "Guess the fun's over then..." As much as she hates to leave this unfinished, she does have other things she must be doing now.

        The red Gundam begins to float back and up into the air away from the Annihilator, lowering its arms once the AC's new magazine also runs dry. Over the voice channel, Nena says, <"I'd live to stick around and chat about old times. But I have other places to be. Changing the world is busy work!"> There's a pause, before Nena finishes, <"But here, having a parting gift.">

        As it rises high into the air, the Gundam Throne Drei stretches its arms out wide, vents across its frame snapping open. From within, large streams of crimson light pours out, looking like wings reaching out from the machine. The light washes out across the sky, red particles beginning to softly fall to the ground.

        Having received the appropriate plan change suggesting the success of her fellow Celestial Being members, Nena provides a means of covering the escape. The GN Stealth field making any means of tracking them very difficult, if not impossible.

<Pose Tracker> Skel Heroic has posed.

As Elisa escorts the woman to the hangar, her skin as cold as ice through her white dress, most of the personnel has been killed or retreated. She ignores the firearm being kicked. But the hangar, while damaged from the fight, has one major thing standing in it. Something Elisa will notice.

It's a giant golden machine. Solid gold, in fact, if she was a guessing woman. It must be old, very old, and is partially damaged from years of neglect. It resembles nothing like any modern machine.

"Get me up there." The woman says, as she starts moving them faster, trying to get to the cockpit. Once she does, she breaks off, as her hand touches a layer in the gold, and the door slides open.

"You likely brought your own chariot, yes? Lead the way."

She then closes the door, as her hands move for the manual controls inside. One cold hand moves over a gem in the center console. Touch.

The golden machine starts to shine. Esoteric energies - the type Elisa would recognize as magic - light up around it.

Taste freedom. Recover the world that belongs to you.

<Pose Tracker> Elisa Kafim has posed.

"Darling!" Viridesca answers cheerfully, despite the gunshots. "I do. I will be out momentarily."

--

'Get me up there.' "Certainly," Elisa obliges, and space around them warps, bringing the strange woman up to her cockpit. She notices the magic of the energies around it, and tilts her head thoughtfully. "How fascinating..."

And then she returns through the corridors to her own mecha. It would be unwise for any further personnel to try to stop her. She does not seek them out.

--

"Skel Heroic," she says, just as Skel says it. "Yes. It is a pleasure to be introduced." Pause. "Call me Viridesca."

With Nena's GN drive particles ready to cover their escape, Elisa counts each of the people they came with and, satisfied that they can leave with the same number (if worse for wear), she begins to take off.

An eye on the remaining mecha, she keeps her shield in place until they leave... in case.

"Hm hm hm," Elisa comments within her cockpit as she considers the day--and Sophia, and Skel Heroic. "Interesting indeed..."