2023-03-11: Phoenix Hunting: Conclusion

• Cast: Akane Shinjo, Alouette Pommier, Puru-1, Christina Mackenzie, Faye Valentine, Guy Shishioh, Jona Basta, Liam 7-020, Lina Lombardi, Lucine Azul, Michele Luio, Roux Louka, Shelby Korts, Shozo, Trevor Teach, Yuliana Kafim, Zoltan Akkanen, Ujico Issa, Kaworu Nagisa, Rita Bernal
• Where: Side 4 Shoal Zone
• Date: U.C. 0097 03 11
• Summary: A combined assault has cornered the Phenex -- but she is not alone, for better and for worse. Tragedy in all its shades plays out on the battlefield. It isn't supposed to be like this.

TW: PSYCHIC HORROR

---

<Pose Tracker> Rita Bernal has posed.

Across the ravaged shoal zone, the cry of a great bird echoes. It's a sound heard in the heart instead of the ears. Every heart it touches will feel it differently -- supposing they can hear it at all.

For Liam, Lucine, and Shelby, it's a sound of confusion entwined with gratitude. The Phenex doesn't understand, but she recognizes the love in her friends' souls. Warmth accompanies the birdsong, sweet and poignant.

To those who were uncertain about fighting the Phenex, it feels like forgiveness, and a sort of granted permission. This is the way it has to be. They haven't done anything wrong. Strength thrums through their hearts, validating their choices.

Those who attack the Gundam with conviction receive a playful challenge. In contrast to their fellow pilots, the Phenex greets these strangers with relief. If they want to chase her, she'll give them a contest to remember. Courage falls about their shoulders like a feather-mantle.

Surrounded on all sides, the Phenex has chosen to make her stand. Miraculous light shimmers in one of her hands, the other held low by her side. Twin wing-like shields orbit her golden form.

This oddly peaceful moment, this eye of the storm. Time stretches out, warped and fractured by the miraculous glow about the bird of life and death.

<Pose Tracker> Michele Luio has posed.

There's a long silent moment in the glow of the Phenex. Peaceful, sereneit could stop the hardest of hearts from fighting, one may think. Alas...

"It's time to stop running, Phenex. Puru-1, dance for me."

The ship's shortwave band blares out this simple message - intimidating and strong. Everyone can hear it.

It is not Martha Vist Carbine's voice.

Michele Luio exhales from her nose after muting the mic, oddly disquieted by the peace she disrupted. What she's done is a sin. It's not even her worst, though, a fact she uses to push on. Her calculations have all led her to this course of action.

So as the others may have hoped for a peaceful ceasefire, a grim determination washes over her

Michele reclines next to her tactical computer, looking over to her erstwhile companion at the door. Her voice is firm.

"Brick. No one comes in. Keep communications with the bridge open but focused on the mission."

"This **needs** to be it."

<Pose Tracker> Puru-1 has posed.

        BGM - 2ndMob.MSGUCEP7 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V-8g8VSb3io

        There was no sense of a presence before, not even the faintest impression. That changes the moment Michele speaks that phrase. The psychic pressure immediately erupts into this overwhelming pressure of negative energy that feels positively predatory. A psychic shriek erupts upon the battlefield like the low throb of a doppler effect in their minds, the screaming of an alarm siren.

        Even before it's seen, an intense reaction occurs within the Phenex, heavily laden with its Psycoframe as a necessary vessel. Sickly purplish hands erupt within as twisted masses, trying to grasp ahold of the spirit bound to it in a realm intangible. The impression of a hollow, childlike visage tittering with wicked glee.

                        PLAY PLAY PLAY PLAY PLAY PLAY PLAY
                                FOREVER FOREVER FOREVER
                        PLAY PLAY PLAY PLAY PLAY PLAY PLAY
                          M I N E M I N E M I N E M I N E
                                    ARE ARE ARE
                                    YOU YOU YOU
                                SCARED SCARED SCARED
                        LITTLE GIRL LITTLE GIRL LITTLE GIRL
                          M I N E M I N E M I N E M I N E
                        PLAY PLAY PLAY PLAY PLAY PLAY PLAY
                                FOREVER FOREVER FOREVER
                        PLAY PLAY PLAY PLAY PLAY PLAY PLAY

        The Phenex notes to many who feel its passing that it wants to be a bird in its next life, but all birds have their predators. The suit appears from behind wreckage of an old Endra class hull with a flare of blue thrusters, black and gleaming with orange-gold panels and glowing red optics, crowned with jagged gold within its NT-D mode. To the awakened, twin violet slits carve awful borders within the dark matter of space, as talon like fingers glide forward as if concealed behind a wispy cloak, suddenly overlap the mobile suit.

        The Beam Magnum is already in hand. Red surrounded by auroral cylindrical blue lances out once towards the Phenex, as if to carve its wings right off. The psychic pressure is like a heartbeat, it throbs within the minds of all, and yet the Phenex appears to be the hunter's only quarry for now.

        Dare you antagonize it?

        Despite its seeming lack of hostility, there is one other person in particular who still has an intense reaction. The Strike Zeta lacks a Psycoframe or even a Psycommu, but between ticks of the second, Roux Louka sees glimpses of that young orange-haired cherubic hellion, in one of their numerous arguments together. Perhaps she'd just dumped all their water supply over herself in the desert, or maybe they're in one of her many arguments over Elpeo childishly feeling like Roux was stealing Judau's attention away from her. What's clear is she's there, the movements janky, the world like static as it transitions between frames of memory. That face of reckless innocence in one moment instead becomes one of nothing as a void like pit stares at her, hand reaching for Roux's face.

        N E V E R L E A V E N E V E R L E A V E N E V E R L E A V E
        R O U X R O U X
                                R O U X R O U X
                R O U X
                                                R O U X
        R O U X R O U X R O U X
        N E V E R L E A V E N E V E R L E A V E N E V E R L E A V E

        It crawls across the skin, this feeling of wrongness, of possessiveness, of barely contained hostility. She feels it now too, these are her feelings. Save that all of these feelings are as if every touch of that childlike innocence, wonder, and happiness were filtered out through a sieve and leaving only something primal in its horror behind.

        For Shelby it matters little that its not hostile to her right now, that anything is directed at her or not, she receives all of it albeit more distantly like whispers she is eavesdropping in on combined with a sense of background static. The Banshee's feelings crawl across her brain, like ice cold fingers scraping down a chalkboard within in her mind with their sheer wrongness.

KTS: Puru-1 has deployed in RX-0 Unicorn Gundam 02 Banshee <Destroy Mode>.
KTS: Puru-1 has deployed as a Boss for 4 opponents.

<Pose Tracker> Rita Bernal has posed.

AGONY IT MISERY ISN'T PAIN SUPPOSED REGRET TO BE GUILT LIKE GRIEF THIS

Rita's voice, twisted into splintering accompaniments, is wrenched from her spirit. It echoes across the battlefield just as the Banshee's psychic scream, as though the Phenex is playing harmony to her sister's wordless wrath.

For the first time, genuine /fear/ radiates from the golden Gundam. Miraculous light extinguishes in her hand, and she instinctively darts away, toward safety.

Toward Liam, Lucine, and Shelby's defensive line. Toward Jona.

How many times has Rita worried over this very thing? She can't fight her sisters. She can't get involved in their battle, their story. Every time the Unicorn sisters meet, catastrophe and pain follow. With Yuliana's presence, Rita can't turn her gaze to the future. She can't know the ideal outcome of this battle, nor how to reach that path.

Trailing mystical blue flame, the Phenex flees the Banshee. Until she can gather her strength, she seems in dire need of help.

Darting behind cover, the Phenex turns to Da Xukong. Please, let Yuli be watching.

Raising her right hand to her chest, the Phenex moves it in a circular, clockwise motion twice. A finger points to her head, then her heart. Both hands come together, arms crossing, fingers extended, then pull apart, clenching into fists.

Letters are spelled out, rapid-fire. Yuli can keep up.

B
A
N
S
H
E
E

A slight pause, then she brings her open hand to her chest again, circling twice.

With the Banshee nearly upon her, the Phenex races away from her hiding place, desperation and fear following in her wake.

KTS: Puru-1 targets Rita Bernal with Beam Magnum Shot!
KTS: Puru-1 has activated the Daunt Spirit Command targeting Roux Louka
KTS: Puru-1 has completed their actions for the round.
KTS: Rita_Bernal has deployed as a Boss for 4 opponents.

<Pose Tracker> Christina MacKenzie has posed.

- - -

The Phenex grew distant.
The inside of the cockpit also grew dim and distant.

It felt like she was in a cement mixer, the glow from the Phenex and its hunters whirling circles around a fixed point. It stretched into a ring of light.
Strangely, the inside of the cockpit also grew dim and distant.

The Tristan screamed alarm after alarm, but it was so very annoying...
There were so many lights in her peripheral vision.
Thankfully, the inside of the cockpit also grew dim and distant.

- - -

Chris opened her eyes, or were they already open? No, you dream with your eyes closed, that's obvious. A warm embrace, not that Ribo Colony had many cold days.
The stars were out tonight. It was cold, it wasn't this cold in Ribo. She brushed a golden feather off her hand.
The stars were spinning tonight. She brushed a golden feather tickling her hand. Mom will get me a blanket. Dad doesn't notice when it's cold.
The stars were spinning tonight. She leaned away from a golden feather on her face. A baseball meet tomorrow. I have to wake up.
The stars were heavy tonight. Chris opened her eyes. Or did she close them? She chased a golden feather dancing in front of her. Fingers curled around hers, soft, but heavier than Sayla's. Bernie? Didn't you leave already? You never write.
The stars were bright tonight. She grasped a golden feather among the stars. Her bed shuddered. The world shuddered. Tristan, Alex, her friend her old friend, told her something about automatic thruster stabilization.
The stars stopped spinning tonight. What a relief.

- -

Chris opened her eyes, knowing something was dreadfully wrong. Her fingers felt tingly, and Tristan kept screaming about out of range pilot vitals and begging her to reengage the overridden SOS. That was her, Tristan's pilot. She needed help. Her fingers felt heavy, but she swiped at the button.

Why did she override that, anyway? Ah, right, she'd threaded the override in after last time, when she'd gotten three SOS pingbacks while piloting under a stomach flu. Idiot... Automate disengaging the override as an adjunct adjustment to Yellow-Lining Full Burn... gotta make sure to adjust that when she feels better.

Amidst her swimming vision, an rSOS ping came back. She reached out to tap the autopilot, and Tristan lurched into motion. A capital ship's IFF signature scribbled itself on the HUD, but it was hard for Chris to read it. Someone had vomited on the inside of her helmet, you see, and it was blocking her view. Really inconvenient. That's okay. She needed to rest her eyes anyway.

- - -

Tristan knelt down in the hangar, wrapped in the invisible gravitational embrace of the Luio capital ship. Chris only felt the world press down on her. A rapid banging echoed in her head, about half a second between. Too fast to be a heartbeat. Too fast to be a normal heartbeat, anyway.

Light streamed into the cockpit with a pneumatic hiss, and someone swore. Her arms draped down as she was floated from the cockpit, suspended over an arm.

Bright, dim, bright, dim, bright, dim, bright. Voices in a hallway. The rattling of a gurney.

Antiseptic. White ceiling. Humming Machinery. Breathing came easier. Her mind opened again. The murmuring of a comm line. And then.

And then. And then!! Puru-1... She only knows that name from the CSB briefings she read after her family fought in the OCU, from the whispers Sayla once reluctantly shared a decade ago. It's been a decade since then. But she knows it enough to know the pain it causes the people close to her. Her body... no! Her body won't move, it won't...keep its eyes open.

But a golden feather touches the surface of her mind. Rippling outwards through her body. Strength, not enough to undo the ravages of high G forces on her body, but enough to catch her breath. Maybe enough to make it to her feet again...

<Pose Tracker> Yuliana Kafim has posed.

        Inside the small scorpionoid wanzer, Da Xukong 0, the cry of a great bird does not echo, and Yuliana's heart remains cold.

        Her machine is roughly five metres tall, eight in its /length;/ eight legs, too, click below it, bent arachnid and crawling. Its torso, leant forward, is possessed of two grasping hands, a Cleave Axe holstered at its side. In counterbalance a long stinging tail arches out from its back, held above its head in typical threat display; the blocky segments leading to it, if scanned, are revealed to hold tanks of fuel.

        A flamethrower. Yuliana always did prefer them.

        A crest lays flat on Da Xukong's headpiece. Less compressed is the complicated engine woven into and through its chest, black against its venomous greens; the Abyss Engine pulses with something dark and distinctly /not/ solar-powered. Twin black coils curve out from its shoulders, some vague gesture to wings.

        In my next life, I want to be a...

        Da Xukong 0, when it leaps from its rubble and into space, jets through it with the thrusters in its legs. The voice she picks up, through her shortwave...

        "/Puru?/" Yuliana sneers, and she doesn't transmit her distaste to the world.

        The psychic shriek doesn't reach her, either. But the machine which appears from behind that wreckage --

        "Of fucking /course,/" is what she grouses, to herself, as she puts two and two together. She'll just have to note down being angry at Banagher for misleading her into helping a damn clone /later./ "So, what -- they dragged the prototype out of the trash?"

        (Oh, he's gonna get it.)

        But that damn clone is, at least, hunting Rita just the same. The way she is now... Yuliana isn't terribly concerned with her being killed by the Banshee's savagery. If she can just pin down the machine itself...

        ... Rita runs away. Of (fucking) course.

        Convenient, then, that her attention orients on /her,/ and not the criminal suit like hers. Yuliana's eyes narrow, as she commits the clipped gestures of a Gundam approximating sign language, and yes -- she can keep up. Her own hand motions are just as fast, and it may be difficult to parse out the demanding question she volleys back in Da Han Zhong's style: "That's not who I'm here for!"

        The anger in the message is transmitted in the sharp jerkiness of its movements; the SEVERITY of the message, grand in scope and declaration, is carried in how much space its hands claim in front of its chest.

        ...

        "I do this ONCE." And frustration, too, is carried in the agitated swat of those claws as they slash down at the end of her signed message, almost changing the message of that last word entirely.

        Yuliana growls, and flips on her comms. "I cannot suffer the Banshee," she informs their rich benefector and all their allies, standoffish and curt and speaking with her verbal voice again. "Not after what it's done. Don't argue with me!" It is not, precisely, what she heard; not precisely how she /replied./

        And that scorpion's tail, above her head, pulses as something passes through it -- a jet of plasma venom launching from its stinger, to lash, burning, against the Banshee's hull from across the vast reaches of space. "COME ON!" Yuliana's voice tears out, as she jets forward -- not towards the Phenex, but towards the Banshee.

KTS: Yuliana Kafim targets Puru-1 with Infernal Arachnid Injector Ignition!
KTS: Yuliana Kafim has completed their actions for the round.
KTS: Rita Bernal fails to Evade Puru-1's Beam Magnum Shot, taking 5490 damage!

<Pose Tracker> Akane Shinjo has posed.

Akane's stamina is starting to flag; prom had been an all-night arrangement, and while she skipped out on some of that, she definitely stayed up later than her recent bedtime. Nevertheless, she remains at her post on the Yamatsumi, ready to provide backup for Guy and Alouette as needed.

The shift in the tenor of the world isn't lost on Akane. She feels that sense of relief, of being bolstered -- and while it's nice... it does shift something in her gut, a bit. She can't /place/ it, though, not until --

'Puru-1, dance for me.'

The world bends. Her eyes snap open wide, and everything feels so close-in, so small and cramped, even though nothing's changed at all. Even /before/ she senses the Psychoframe suit actually approaching, feels its playful-yet-gripping presence... fear and anger surge within her -- enough to make her feel sick.

It gets worse when that twisted playful sensation actually reaches her. Even as her stomach turns, Akane reaches down and pulls out... her private phone. She /has/ to memorialize this for later. Swipe, circle, type.

Then it's back to it. (She keeps her phone in her lap just in case she has to update the chart again in the moment.) "... Remaining on monitor duty," Akane affirms, shakily. It's as much for herself as for anyone else. She has to trust in their courage... and they're trusting in hers.

KTS: Akane Shinjo targets Alouette Pommier and Guy Shishioh with Awe.
KTS: Akane Shinjo has completed their actions for the round.
KTS: Puru-1 has activated the Wall Spirit Command.
KTS: Puru-1 blocks Yuliana Kafim's Infernal Arachnid Injector Ignition, taking 1500 damage!
KTS: Akane Shinjo has activated the Prospect Spirit Command targeting Alouette Pommier
KTS: Akane Shinjo inspires awe, increasing Alouette Pommier's Morale!

<Pose Tracker> Kaworu Nagisa has posed.

        Up in space, almost all the way to the Moon, the Phenex dances coquettishly, then flees in fear from her pervasively powerful sister.
        
        Down on the Earth, at the edge of a large outcropping overlooking a perfectly round lake in the Tokyo-3 area, red eyes gaze their way.
        
        There's no way any normal human being could see the hunt of the Phenex from the ground, or its defenders, or anything of the like. Yet, hands tucked in the pockets of a windbreaker, Kaworu looks directly at the pinprick in the sky where it is all taking place. At Yuliana and the void attached to her; at the shrieking Banshee; at the Phenex as she shrinks away; and more.
        
        His lips are set neutral, and his silver eyebrows are furrowed just a hair. Even he, with his considerable abilities, can't take action from a distance this great. He is naught but a spectator: his usual role.
        
        "..."
        
        Men in dark uniforms, operating out of an unmarked van, watch him in turn as they lurk near the treeline at his back.

<Pose Tracker> Ujico Issa has posed.

        It isn't supposed to be like this.

        They're all wrong. Jona doesn't understand. /Yuliana/ doesn't understand. /Nobody/ understands. Why would they claim to be Rita's friend and then turn around and try to capture her??

        She understands mercenaries like Greeny over there a little better. He just wants to eat steak. More than one steak, even. Which is still not a good enough excuse for Ujico, but at least she understands 'hunger' and 'desire'.

        The Phenex is pressed further and further, darting for the temporary safety granted by Ujico and and a few other machines she'd seen trying to stimy the Luio and Co. forces. Maybe they're friendly, too. It's easy to be Rita's friend, Ujico reasons. Rita is kind, and sunny. Rita cares about other people, a lot.

        In the warm darkness of Palisade's cockpit, Ujico Issa takes a deep breath and sits up straighter.

        "Palisade," she murmurs, and reaches out to rest a hand on the dash. "Let's do our best together." Both hands on the secondary controls. There are so many humans out there... Ujico shivers in something like anticipation, and the bestial black-and-red Gundam shivers too. Ujico keys on the wideband broadcast with barely a thought.

        "THIS IS CELESTIAL BEING," comes the altered and unrecognizable voice. "ALL WHO HUNT THE PHENEX, DESIST. THIS WILL BE YOUR ONLY WARNING."

<Pose Tracker> Shelby Korts has posed.

        <"Nobody gets past this line.">

        The declaration was firm and resolute; the pressure in her skull from having to fly so close to the likes of Yuliana Kafim and the realization that others from her past-- others she Knows-- throbbing to an extent that she cannot particularly, clearly articulate.

        The MSN-03 Jagd Doga was first and last seen in major conflict and use during Char's attempt to drop Axis on the Earth; this one in particular not having been seen flying with the Sleeves. Point in fact, flying *against* their number, more often than not; the hull a bold knockout pink and black so dark it threatens to swallow the darkness of space itself -- and of course, little accents.

        It's a little dinged up from the flight through the Shoal Zone; Rita's flight patterns are eccentric and Shelby herself was not planning on how dense the space-trash in this area today -- even if she *is* sort of from the area.

        But --

        To most people in the Hunt, the Jagd Doga stayed in tight formation with two other units in particular; her helmet visor always down and her comms always scrambled and garbled that her voice was pretty tough to screen out or identify-- and at the apex of the hunt, at the formation of the defensive line, that is when the Zeon machine deployed it's funnels to create one HELL of a light show, scattering through space to try to slow down or otherwise hamper those that would try to shoot on the Phenex.

        Now, verniers blazing and weight shifting in her cockpit seat, the beam gatling gun's wheel spinning up to idle speed, the ghost-relic of Axis Shock presents itself as a wall-- a barrier and challenge for anyone who dares chase after her.

        Rita... be careful.

<Pose Tracker> Roux Louka has posed.

A feeling comes from the Phenex. A sense of absolution - a sense of... relief? As if she's being forgiven. As if this is chosen of the quarry; as if it is a rite, if it is a RIGHT.

Roux doesn't really know how to put it that way, but she feels it. She relaxes. She squares her shoulders. Swallowing, she lowers the Hyper Mega Launcher slightly, to let it replenish its supplies of accumulated particles. She has nothing to try to prove here --

And then someone says something.

To Roux it is a shock. Her head immediately terms. "The **** did you say?" Roux says, immediately if sadly without high-power transmission, because she didn't know that voice and it said something that Roux knew. Recognized. Felt.

And there's SOMETHING ELSE coming...

Something erupts outwards. A huge and titansized negative wave. A familiar shape. A familiar feeling - or the shape of a familiar feeling. A feeling like those skeletons they put in natural history museums, the ones where the animal wasn't a fossil-- Roux always wondered, do they raise them for this? clone them? catch them from the occasional success story in the jungles?-- even if they're ultimately just plastic, didn't they have to sacrifice an animal in the first place? how'd the animal take it?

Something is speaking her name. Echoing that single character with which her name can be written in Japanese. Roux feels her body chill as the dead - the dead? - reach towards her. Puru-One. Elpeo Puru; not a first-run clone, but the true heart of the girl she knew. The sweet little fool.

How often did I hate her? How often was I sick of her? How often did I think this little rat should get locked in a closet? Roux wonders as something cold reaches outwards. Her stomach crawls. Something wrong, something horrible, something radiating outwards with megawatt intensity into Roux, into her nervous system, perhaps into her SOUL--

The pressure doubles, redoubles. Roux feels her pulse rate spike up. She can taste the cold backwash of adrenaline in the roof of her mouth. She -- she -- something peaks and, doesn't pass, but begins to level out. The cold and horrid presence remains there, The demands. PLAY; NEVER LEAVE; but... perhaps she can surmout them, can --

What is it that saves Roux Louka there?

Maybe it's Yuliana. Whatever strange nature her ability may have, whatever horrors were done to inflict it upon her, she is a reversal; an emanation; a cold touch. Something that isn't a grave but a mirror image. A perfect reflector, or a perfect absorber, or maybe when it comes to the heart, they're the same thing.

And perhaps it is her vices.

Because Roux Louka is a shallow person; Roux Louka is vain; Roux Louka seeks comfort and thrills in equal measures. Roux Louka has a dirty mind and is overly-concerned with material things. Roux Louka has, in a real sense, sold out in the past, and may well again in the future. Working for the powerful (Jupiter? and perhaps even the Federation?) and why? For money. There were limits, there are limits, but she did do that.

And maybe it is the vices that protect her as Roux finally brings herself to say, "Puru... no," she says. "No." Her shoulders tighten as a feeling that had dawned in close proximity to Yuliana Kafim twitches upwards. Something to save her, however faint and guttering it might be.

"Elpeo," Roux exhales, sweat soaking her body. She raises up the Hyper Mega Launcher slightly again-- no, it's still refilling -- "Are you in there?"

The Strike Zeta's head raise -- and a ripping barrage of 60mm shells streak out across space. Physics alone guides them after the charge is exhausted. The Strike Zeta starts moving too, as Roux finds the next words are easier. "I'm -- I'm going to get you out of there," Roux says, but her voice is quaking.

Even so: She was able to say it.

KTS: Roux Louka targets Puru-1 with 60mm Vulcan Cannon!
KTS: Roux Louka has completed their actions for the round.
KTS: Puru-1 blocks Roux Louka's 60mm Vulcan Cannon, taking 870 damage!

<Pose Tracker> Liam 7-020 has posed.

        The Phenex is trapped, worn down, and surrounded, but she's not without her defenders.

        The moment the anomalous Mobile Suit started sizing up its foes, three machines broke from the main body of her pursuers. One of them is a CGUE painted blue and silver--ZAFT-made, but not ZAFT-piloted. The person inside identified themselves solely as 'Harrier-2', their voice masculine-presenting, moderately deep, businesslike. They've pulled maneuvers that would risk killing an unaugmented pilot. Is there a Coordinator in there? A ZAFT officer who went AWOL after or during the war?

        Mystery, Liam thinks, keeps you safe. And it's mystery he's counting on as the rest of the pack makes clear that they're... going to take Luio's money? Here for Rita for their own purposes? Liam saw flickers of GGG beacons during the chase, but put them out of mind as a potential artifact, and WHY ARE ALOUETTE AND GUY EVEN HERE.

        Thirty seconds ago, Liam was ready to make a stand, but now the steel of his spine is weakening.

        "<Harrier-1, Temperance,>" he transmits, over the tightbeam he and his conspirators have been using. "<GGG presence confirmed. Don't know why they're here. /Engage only if absolutely necessary/. Use extreme caution.>"

        'Puru-1, dance for me.'

        A dull throb passes from the base of Liam's neck to the crown of his skull. Pressure builds behind his eyes. "<BANSHEE!>" Liam screams, his voice raw. "<Luio--she--my /god/, she's sicing it on Rita!>" Like Puru-1, the poor dead girl, is an attack dog for anyone with enough money. His heart tightens. He can't do this. He has to do this. "<Temperance, Harrier-1, be safe. Withdraw if you have to.>"

        He flicks on the scrambler, then--he has to warn GGG, he /has to/--

        But he can't turn his back on Rita. "GGG units," says the businesslike masculine voice of Harrier-2. "I won't insult you by telling you to withdraw."

        The CGUE raises its shield, and twists its blade in a defiant flourish that Liam absolutely does not feel.

<Pose Tracker> Lucine Azul has posed.

        ---EARLIER---

        What now? The three pilots are here before the Phenex.

        Lucine's voice answers Liam, answering his question. < "... We fight to keep Rita from falling into their hands. Until we know what's going on, or that Rita will be protected by someone other than us." > A pause. Her voice wavers. < "...... Harrier-2. Temperance. I'm hoping.... other people will join us, when they see us fight, or at least stand down. That might not happen at all. In fact, I'll assume it won't. I.... she.... I feel like, if I step away from here, something will die in me. So..." > She can't bring herself to ask them directly.

< ".... Even if we get no answers from this, and even if we never see her again.... I.... want to protect her." >

        ---NOW---

        Lucine had been plagued by the dreams, since first battling the Banshee. However, her ability to remember those dreams, or make any sense of them in that twilight between sleep and wakefulness, is poor.

        She just feels a pit in her stomach, and feels the pressure of some vague anxiety in her brain that is quickly buried underneath the weight of everything else.

        < "Her sister is here. They can't be in the same place at the same time.... We hold this line. We can't take everyone at once, but we can take what we can off of Rita's shoulders." > Lucine's voice is firm over the tightband shared between her, Liam, and Shelby. < "Rita has faith in us." >

        Suddenly, there is a familiar unit joining them; while Lucine hasn't identified the owner of the Palisade, she's grateful for the help. Lucine also realizes that she might need to up her own game, as Shelby also identifies herself as an opponent for the coming onsalught.

        < "This is Harrier-1. I am the shadow of Azure." > Lucine projects this over any bands that are currently open, or can still hear her. < "I protect the Phenex. All who wish to take her must go through me and my allies." >

        Surely this sounds impressive enough that everyone will just pivot towards them instead of the much larger Phenex. She does, thankfully, project out the transparent 'petals' on her back, making them radiate outwards in five points, like a magenta star.

        She should have not gone with Azure.

<Pose Tracker> Trevor Teach has posed.

There are so many here. So many who have come to hunt the Phoenix. Trevor Teach looks almost nonplussed about it. This many heads here to claim the bounty means that his share of the pie will be vastly diluted. He may have to limit himself to HALF a steak, and that would just be, like, awful.

But then, perhaps the hunt is its own reward? Perhaps this whole thing is just... a challenge. The notion drapes itself across his brain like a handwoven teacozy pleasantly snuggling into the folds and wrinkles of his grey matter. For a moment, he allows himself something of a smile--

AND THEN THAT WANZER SHOWS UP AGAIN and Trevor /immediately/ makes a face of disgust-- one which is only redoubled when some kind of weird, glowing, black mobile suit sails out of the stars. "What the Khamen Khamen even is all this...? I signed up to catch a phoenix, not share airspace with things that fill my brain with bees...!" The pirate grumbles, rubbing his eye(socket?) through his eyepatch like he were trying to dig out a particularly invasive grub. This is-- /all/-- giving him one hell of a haedache.

Maybe what he needs is a distraction? Something to divert his mind away from the /awful/ floating around that shiny golden jewel that's just begging him to steal it from the treasury of the void.

/God/ he wants to take that thing. Like, it's right /there./ It's so /SHINY./ Every piratical instinct is demanding that he reach out and take it!

But that would mean getting close to Yuliana and the Banshee.

And that's just, awful??

The Isadore seems to sag its shoulders with a sigh. It cants its visored face over towards the Palisade as its pilot makes her declaration. That voice might intimidate the others, but Trevor knows what she actually sounds like. Ughhhh. Well.

Maybe he'll still get paid if he helps keep her busy?

One moment, an asteroid passes between the Isadore and the Palisade. In that instant, the green and ivory mobile suit disappears from radar.

...Only to emerge in the shadow of the Palisade, its beam cutlass igniting in a fierce, sudden chop. "So you want to be human, huh...? Well lass, what's stopping you? Pretty much anyone can be human nowadays. Even pirates! Even zentraedi! It's a new, more accepting world!"

...Says the man swinging a beam saber at her out of /nowhere./

KTS: Trevor Teach targets Ujico Issa with Beam Cutlass Slash!
KTS: Trevor Teach has completed their actions for the round.

<Pose Tracker> Jona Basta has posed.

Jona Basta sits in the cockpit of the Narrative B-Packs, his nerves getting the better of him. Finally. They had finally caught up to her again.

Rita.

"I'm not letting you get away this time. Not without hearing me first. I don't care what anyone thinks of me for doing this. I'll chain myself to hell itself if it'll let me see you one more time."

---

The battlefield was utter chaos. So many factions had converged on this poor battlefield, full to bursting with conflicting interests and goals. Luio and Co.'s varied hires and subordinates. The Sleeves. The snakes at the Vist Foundation. So many more. Jona aims the beam rifle of the B-Packs at the Phenex. So distracted by its sibling, the Banshee. "Rita...why do you care so much about them? Don't I matter? Why won't you stop and let me talk to you..!"

Yet, this too goes unheard by the golden-hued suit, its cerulean flames focused on its ebon brother. It was always like this, wasn't it? Her leading in front. Her shining the brightest. Her seeming indifference at all the horrible things going on. Was there a reason for it? Nothing had ever seemed to faze her...and a feeling of dread discomfort filled the pits of his stomach as these memories filled his mind.

"Fine...I guess I'll just have to make you listen. You never did slow down for anything or anyone..!"

Aiming his beam rifle's scope, Jona locks onto the Phenex. "Go, INCOMs!"

Wires hiss and attach to the constructs as they take flight, hurtling towards the Phenex on rocket boosters, metal rams to clip the wings of the bird soaring above.

KTS: Jona Basta targets Rita Bernal with INCOM Ram!
KTS: Jona Basta has completed their actions for the round.

<Pose Tracker> Shozo has posed.

Perhaps it was the collected, chaotic psychic energy that had drawn him in. Not likely -- despite his perceptive nature, very little about the boy had ever been associated with the psychic realm.

And yet, it is impossible for his arrival to be missed, even among this chaos -- a jagged, shattering /tear/ in the peaceful blackness of space, yawning wide, bloody red, as the tiny boy toddles out and immediately begins to float in the void.

"Oh wow, trippy!" Shozo remarks as he enjoys a sudden weightlessness, different from the kind he could experience back "home." Before he can enjoy his first spacewalk properly, however, he is sent spinning by the near-passing of the beautiful golden... girl? Shozo blinks as he watches the fairylike beauty, clad in shimmering golden metal that makes him think of a bird of paradise, flits through the void easily.

And yet... Something feels off. As he spins around weightlessly, Shozo becomes aware of the massive scene of violence on multiple fronts.

"Oh shoot, people are fighting! Mister, should we get involved?" A warmth from his pocket is all the answer he needs, and he pulls out the Battle Nizer with a smile. "You remember what to do, right Mister? OK, MonsLoad!"

Shozo lifted the boxy device from the sky, and a spire of brilliant orange energy bloomed out into the air, visible for miles in every direction, before coalescing into a rectangular shape. A door -- into mystery, into unbalance. A silver hand shackled in gold reaches through the door, tearing its way back into reality, the face of the giant coming through with a brilliant golden gleam in his eyes.

It had been decades since he had been cut down on Golgotha, but the Ace Robot had returned.

This time, he would be a hero.

This time, he would protect his family.

<Pose Tracker> Faye Valentine has posed.

Faye Valentine doesn't, really, hear much of the psychic nightmare unfolding before her. But the mundane read of the situation is still pretty bleak - her employer turning out to have some sort of terrifying attack robot is not the sort of thing which has, traditionally, been a good sign. "God, this is giving me the creeps. I should just bail. That Luio woman is... Just spooky."

A stocky brown ship hangs in the void, the tired voice of an equally thickly-built man crackling past Minovsky interference. "This was /your/ job, Faye. Practically dropped in on us out of nowhere, saying you hit the jackpot, and as usual it's been nothing but trouble from you."

"So what! I'm pretty sure I didn't sign up for this. Besides, I already covered your fuel and refilled the fridge. What do you care?"

"You cleared the damn thing out to begin with! Now, are we packing up or not? Got better things to do than wait on you."

Faye closes her eyes, head swaying to a beat turned down low, thumping the floor of the Red Tail. Then... no. Something pulses in her chest - she leans in a little, hands finding their places more firmly. "Nah. Going for it. Feels like... I'm supposed to? And Jet, it's rude to talk about a lady that way."

"You're going in, you mean. I'm not putting the Bebop anywhere near two Gundams going at it. I'll pick you up when it all goes to hell." The radio pops and fizzles, the particles in the air obscuring a final, "What the hell is wrong with that woman..."

~~

Faye swoops in after Rita, her path briefly bringing the Da Xukong into sight - /great, even more creepy robots. at least they're fighting each other, I guess./ - and then Celestial Being is shouting at her? And... whoever the rest of these guys are, they seem serious. Military, even. God, she'd rather be anywhere else right now - but she can't just crash at Sayla's forever. Bills to pay, right? The kind that occasionally involve guys with an unhealthy interest in the human patella. She can't make that someone else's problem.

So it's her and Harrier-1, whoever that is. She does take a couple shots with the Red Tail's camera - distinctive unit like that, might be someone high profile, worth following up on later. The next shot is a little more... serious. Cannons on each side of the cockpit blaze, scraping across the sky.

"Sorry. First rule of combat, y'know?"

KTS: Faye Valentine targets Lucine Azul with Autocannon Burst!
KTS: Faye Valentine has completed their actions for the round.
KTS: Ujico Issa's EN Barrier activates, negating 1000 base damage.
KTS: Ujico Issa blocks Trevor Teach's Beam Cutlass Slash, taking 4510 damage!
KTS: Trevor Teach has engaged Ujico Issa!
KTS: Shozo has activated the Spirit Spirit Command.
KTS: Shozo targets Rita Bernal with Arm Strike!
KTS: Shozo has completed their actions for the round.

<Pose Tracker> Alouette Pommier has posed.

Alouette /feels/ it first, a faint sense of twisted possessiveness welling against her heart. It's only after that she hears that command from Michele Luio.

"Puru-1, dance for me".

"Operations: for now, just flag that mobile suit as a danger. We'll analyze what we can later." Alouette transmits. It's clear to anyone with the right data that this is the same psycoframe suit that made its mark on the Photon Power Labs... they don't need to scramble themselves figuring that out.

Instead, she allows the glowing courage in her heart to overcome the darkness of the Banshee, as the mysterious pilot of a ZAFT mobile suit challenges the units of GGG! "...Seems the Phenex has some backup. GaoGaiGar, Akane, I'll be engaging the ZAFT suit!" She confirms, preparing herself for the duel.

"I appreciate your discretion." She responds simply to the pilot. "I don't intend to seriously harm you, or the Phenex for that matter." She clarifies. "It /is/ our duty to investigate spatial anomalies, especially ones so dangerous as the Phenex. And with someone shady as Michele Luio leading the charge? I'd say I trust us to get the job done more."

"If that's not enough to dissuade you then..." A Program Ring is emitted from the hatch. "Aile Rapier: EMISSION!" A flourish of her own.

KTS: Jona Basta rattles Rita Bernal, making her next maneuvers more difficult.
KTS: Rita Bernal blocks Jona Basta's INCOM Ram, taking 2100 damage!
KTS: Rita Bernal blocks Shozo's Arm Strike, taking 3190 damage!
KTS: Shozo has engaged Rita Bernal!
KTS: Alouette Pommier targets Liam 7-020 with Aile en Fleche!
KTS: Alouette Pommier has completed their actions for the round.
KTS: Alouette Pommier has activated the Rouse Spirit Command targeting Guy Shishioh
KTS: Lucine Azul has activated the Alert Spirit Command.
KTS: Lucine Azul fails to evade Faye Valentine's Autocannon Burst, taking 4480 damage!
KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Faye Valentine's On the Run activates, causing Control Bonus!
KTS: Michele Luio targets Jona Basta and Puru-1 with Awe.
KTS: Michele Luio has completed their actions for the round.

<Pose Tracker> Zoltan Akkanen has posed.

The Phenex must be hunted.

The thought scratched at his mind as the hours counted down; Luio and Co.'s own offers for it (and the interests of the Sleeves) notwithstanding, the Sinanju Stein careening across the sky was the Silver Comet that heralded his approach. A simple job all around, another organization taking interest in the so-called Phoenix of the skies.

The Phenex must be hunted.
The Phenex must be caught.
The Phenex must be reigned.
The Phenex must be dulled.
The Phenex must be clipped.
The Phenex must be stripped of its grandeur.
The Phenex must rot.

The minor frustrations of the world withered away as that machine of violence cast its sickly blue exhaust in the cosmos, the grip on his machine tightening to a pale white. That machine, that Pyrite-clad Phenex...! Damn it, damn it all!

<Dance.>

The wave of negativity, of fear, of grief. Ah, it feels something! It feels something other than just annoyance and spite, something that /only/ assaulted him on every passing! So it did have other emotions than just postulations and deification!

With a grin rising on his face, he guns it. Past everything, past the units, the instincts of a Failed Clone twitching into motion. Weaving, tossing, the right amount to glide, to skip, to maneuver.

He does, however, give the slightest bit of slowdown when passing Yuliana. Don't take too long shooting your handler, okay? And he's off.

"PHENEX!" The smooth glide at the right range, arm slinging that rifle and taking aim. It's running. Prey, flushed out. Instinctually matching cues, firing ahead of those Gundam's INCOMs. A careful craft to sling those beams between the wires, to attempt to blast at the Phenex wholesale.

<Pose Tracker> Guy Shishioh has posed.

GGG is along for the ride on this one. An anomalous Mobile Suit with phenomenal psychokinetic powers and inscrutable purpose? Contact is necessary at a minimum, if not capture. Guy Shishioh, Acting Chief of GGG Green, isn't so sure about all this immortality business - and Luio & Co. is getting an extremely strongly worded letter and probably an unannounced visit from Volfogg later - but the fact remains: Whatever it is, it's GGG's responsibility to investigate. He feels the Limpid Channel stir with an intent of challenge, and GaoGaiGar balls its fist in acceptance. Alouette gives Akane the guidance she needs and he leaves it to her, instead just adding: "Engineering, get kits ready, we'll need quick Tool Emissions! We'll have to clear these interceptors out!" Someone's defending the Phenex? That implies...a lot. Worth thinking about later. For now:

GaoGaiGar flies directly at the Jagd Doga with a leg extended, roaring, "YOOOOOSHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!" and trying to just, space roundhouse it.

<Pose Tracker> Michele Luio has posed.

As everyone makes their defiant stand, and Yuliana Kafim (calculated for, somewhat, but not in exacts) moves in to fight the Banshee (unexpected, but manageable, and prevents Yuliana from 'eating' Rita should she be the first to capture, if that's a thing), Michele turns on her comms again. She does not address Yuliana - she doesn't care if she goes after Banshee or Phenenx. GGG is fighting, which is Fascinating, and if Jona can do the job...

Good. She sends both him and the Banshee tactical data, improving their chances in the fight. She does not address him. He doesn't want to hear it. He's too focused on Rita.

<"You're pathetic. What are you even fighting for? To keep her free? Do you even know what anyone wants with her?">

Michele smiles, bitterly, as she unleashes a mental lock to let loose some venom at the defenders of the Phenex.

<"What did she do, give you a vision, make you smile? Laugh? Show you good times and potential dreams? Do you know why she does what she does? Do you know who she is, beyond a name or two? Why **she** laughs, why **she** cries, where she was born, where she was raised?">

Brick worryingly looks over to Michele, sensing the toxicity running through her - but he's not going to stop her. She needs to do this.

<"You're in love with an ideal. Protecting a vision of something that doesn't exist the way you think it does. Get out of my way before you get hurt.">

KTS: Guy Shishioh targets Shelby Korts with Axe Kick!
KTS: Guy Shishioh has completed their actions for the round.
KTS: Akane Shinjo inspires awe, increasing Guy Shishioh's Morale!
KTS: Zoltan Akkanen has activated the Focus Spirit Command.
KTS: Zoltan Akkanen targets Rita Bernal with MSN-06S Sinanju Stein Bazooka Long-Shot!
KTS: Zoltan Akkanen has completed their actions for the round.
KTS: Michele Luio inspires awe, increasing Puru-1's Morale!
KTS: Liam 7-020 has activated the Strike Spirit Command.
KTS: Liam 7-020 fails to Parry Alouette Pommier's Aile en Fleche, taking 4092 damage!
KTS: Alouette Pommier has engaged Liam 7-020!
KTS: Rita Bernal fails to Evade Zoltan Akkanen's MSN-06S Sinanju Stein Bazooka Long-Shot, taking 3600 damage!
KTS: Shelby Korts's Physical Wall L1 activates, negating 1000 base damage.
KTS: Shelby Korts blocks Guy Shishioh's Axe Kick, taking 2025 damage!
KTS: Guy Shishioh has engaged Shelby Korts!

<Pose Tracker> Rita Bernal has posed.

Though the Phenex darts abruptly to one side, the Banshee's Beam Magnum strikes home, blasting the golden Gundam without even allowing her the protecting of her shields. Spinning out, she comes to a halt. She refuses to return an attack, simply darting away from the Banshee, mournfully lowering her head.

In that moment, the Phenex throws her hands out, her head falling back. Miraculous light radiates from her in a wide pulse, racing across the battlefield. For most, it passes through with a simple shadow of warmth, but for a few...

The Phenex can't muster the strength to split her spirit into fragments to talk with her friends, but she can aid them. Lucine, Liam, Shelby, and Ujico find their machines glowing from within, blessed by the light of the resonant plane. It isn't much -- but it's an expression of gratitude and love. It's what the Phenex can do for now.

Part of that incandescence races toward Yuliana, too, but it gutters out as it crashes into the Da Xukong's Voidtouched field. The Phenex should know better -- but she's terrified. She wants to reach her best friend. Logic has gone out the window.

Instead, Yuliana is greeted with a hastily signed "Thank you."

Jona's spirit is carried on by his INCOMs. The Phenex would sob, if she could, at his radiating feelings of distress. She brings her shields up in time, taking the brunt of those wired rockets, but the shockwave still sends her reeling. Jona isn't going to hold back.

I'm trying, Jona! You can't hear me!

The Phenex shouts at the Narrative, but the Cyber-Newtype within would be lucky to even catch a distorted snippet of her voice. With a broken heart, Jona has unknowingly locked out any way of communicating with the one he holds most dear.

Even as she worries for her oldest friend... something... appears. Instinctively, the Gundam brings up her shields, catching the Giant of Light's attack. This close to the odd being, she can see a child on its -- his -- shoulder. A child she's seen before, in visions of what may be.

A child who could destroy this world, long before humankind will be able to reclaim their true forms. It cannot come to pass.

It's a remarkably simple decision, for the Phenex, to decide to obliterate a creature that appears to be a child. Perhaps Jona's isn't the only one with a broken heart.

Before she can raise one of her shields to strike Shozo, the Phenex cries out, struck first by Zoltan's negative thoughts, and second by his bazooka fire. The Gundam's feather-crested head turns, locking on the Sinanju Stein, and Zoltan finally, finally, is addressed by the creature he so hates.

MONSTERMONSTERMONSTERMONSTERMONSTERMONSTERMONSTER

The sweetness of Rita's voice has vanished, instead it echoes in Zoltan's mind with fear and rage. This most hated person. This one, responsible for /everything/! How is he here!?

Overwhelmed by her anger, she screams, burning a ferocious shade of blue. Miraculous light fans out behind the Phenex, an expression of power she's only summoned in this way once before. Then, her words were of her faith and belief, now...

IT ISN'T SUPPOSED TO BE LIKE THIS!

Rita's voice wails, screams, begs, echoing in her targets' minds. Light from the resonant plane races toward Shozo (the child, in particular, not the Giant), Zoltan, and Jona.

It isn't fair! After everything, after everything! The suffering, the sacrifice, how can it be going so wrong? No, no, no!

<Pose Tracker> Ujico Issa has posed.

        Don't think she's forgotten about you, Greeny. Ujico's got her eye on you-- /Palisade/ has her eye on you--!

        Except that there was an asteroid, and then the green mobile suit was gone. "Hey--" A flash of green beam energy and Palisade lifts an arm to meet it, huge and cumbersome forearm shields eating a good deal - but not all - of the thermal energy, but there's still a great gash in the metal that threatens to render the arm useless. Damn it, Mister Vashti is going to yell at her.

        It's a bit more embarrassing, honestly, to have been heard saying something that should have been private. She'd like to go back and un-say it, like so many other things in her life. Go back and be unnoticed, be safe--

        Ujico takes a breath, and another. It's fine. She isn't that person anymore.

        But she also doesn't rise to the taunt, doesn't even answer Trevor's question. Ujico knows that when people ask rhetorical things like that, they don't really want answers. They want ammunition.

        See? It's just like the voice of the Luio & Co. woman. She's a [bully] too. All of them are. All of the humans.

        INCOMs launch from the Palisade's hunched back, screaming through the void to attempt to trap the Isadore in a web of piercing red beams.

        Breathe. Don't think about it. Don't think about carving open Luio's ship. Don't think about making that voice beg.

        Ujico so hates bullies.

KTS: Ujico Issa targets Trevor Teach with UTX-006 Palisade Incoms Warning Shot!
KTS: Ujico Issa has completed their actions for the round.
KTS: Rita_Bernal Changes attack to Jona Basta, Zoltan Akkanen, and Shozo with This Life Isn't All There Is.
KTS: Rita Bernal has activated the Trust Spirit Command targeting Liam 7-020
KTS: Rita Bernal has activated the Trust Spirit Command targeting Lucine Azul
KTS: Rita Bernal has activated the Trust Spirit Command targeting Ujico Issa
KTS: Ujico Issa targets Trevor Teach with UTX-006 Palisade Incoms Homing Lasers! 
KTS: Ujico Issa has completed their actions for the round.
KTS: Shozo fails to Evade Rita Bernal's This Life Isn't All There Is, taking 6120 damage!
KTS: Rita Bernal roots her unit, coming to a standstill and leaving her vulnerable.

<Pose Tracker> Liam 7-020 has posed.

        "I know," says Harrier-2. The vocal modulator disguises Liam's voice, but it does not disguise the pain and stress within it. "I made a promise. I'm going to keep it." His head is pounding. He wants nothing more than to drop the disguise and tell Alouette /everything/--the Banshee's true nature, what the Vists are up to, everything about this long, hard glimpse into the rot at the Federation's heart.

        He can't.

        Guardienne Aviaire moves with uncanny grace. The CGUE jets to the side, twirling as it sweeps up its own solid blade to parry. This turns out to be... less than optimal. The energy of the Program-generated weapon curls down the blade, sizzling and sparking. The tip of the weapon buries itself in the CGUE's shoulder.

        "Not bad," Harrier-2 grunts.

        And then Michele Luio opens her mouth. Liam's response to being verbally berated is to fawn, to simply endure it until whoever-it-was got tired of yelling at him, and freed him to go tend to his mangled heart. This, though--

        Liam sees red. His lips peel back from his teeth.

        "No. I think you showed us /just/ what you had in mind for her when you unleashed that /thing/. Does Vist know you have /her/ weapon?" Harrier-2 shoots back, "The one with the /tortured child/ in its core?!" He can't tell Alouette and Guy directly. But Harrier-2 can. "No. /You/ get out of /ours/, monster!" There's fury in the strange pilot's voice.

        Being a mystery lets you feel all those things you can't feel.

        Golden light floods Liam's cockpit. The CGUE--jetting back, reeling, resetting motor systems in the wake of Alouette's onslaught--suddenly charges back at her, swinging the flat of the blade directly at one of the Guardienne's jets. There's crushing force behind it, but not the kind of cutting power that could shear through the machine.

<Pose Tracker> Puru-1 has posed.

         The Da Xukong is tiny, and for a time it looks as if the Banshee were utterly oblivious. Indeed its focus is entirely on the Phenex. It is not until that plasma venom jet reaches outside of the void that its gaze snaps right towards the stream, and the Banshee pivots as the shield stowed upon its back takes the venom head on. The spray hissing and bubbling against the shield. Its optics look at the space where it came from, snapping one way, then another like a beast looking for something in the underbrush.
 
         Yuliana doesn't hear it the moment its static rings FOUND YOU FOUND YOU FOUND YOU into the void, but she certainly sees its crimson optics focused on her position. The Banshee steers backwards, stowing the Beam Magnum, as the prongs of its Beam smartgun on its right arm rotate forward. Violet energy charges then lashes forward erratically like some chaotic whip, melting debris as it tries to melt the Da Xukong too.
 
         It then swivels around to meet the Strike Zeta, as if it were wholly aware of HER intentionality as it suddenly mounts its shield, the bullets of the 60 mm shells pattering into the shield. Droplets of the plasma venom flying off of it in Zero-G with each impact.
 
         She asks a question, the Banshee, it answers as static in her mind again as if leveraging a connection forged. R O U X. The prongs of the smartgun rotate back into resting position. Has she reached her?

        N E V E R L E A V E With a flare of thrusters, the Banshee screams into the Strike Zeta's face like an Azure Flash, the gauntlet separates on its left hand into four wicked talons, each vibrating soundlessly into space, as it tries to sink it right into her mobile suit's right arm, and shred it from the inside out. Y O U A R E M I N E and perhaps more importantly H E I S M I N E she spikes these feelings into her brain possessively.

        From a safe distance, Akane went unnoticed for a time. After all, who would pay attention to an operator on monitor duty when 3G is in the field and could turn upon her at any moment. Its subtle at first like the creeping of the tide of influence, this sense of static in the mind that becomes a sort of droning chant like that of a grudge.YOUR FAULT A KA NE SHAME SHAME A KA NE YOUR FAULT it drones into her mind like static, before there is a sharper spike of M I N E with the brief flash of fingers melting out of the void of space. Then nothing, as if they were never there save the chill of that brief touch.

        Something reasserts as Michele comes on the radio, as the Banshee slides its claws away from the Strike Zeta, while the spirit within is bound by the sickly hands of the Psycoframe, the Banshee gives chase as it curves a gleaming blue arc in pursuit, beam sabers brimming from its form as it grasps one from one forearm, then another from its back. With a rush, the Banshee is upon her blades coming down as if to melt its gleaming golden armor in savage swings. The Banshee is fast, too fast as it zig zags in pursuit, carving and carving.

                PLAY PLAY PLAY PLAY PLAY PLAY PLAY
                        TAG TAG TAG TAG TAG
                                FLY
                            LITTLE BIRD

        In another realm, the void face is everywhere, pressing into her space, uncaring in how she struggles against it, its laughter increasing into a frenzy of wicked glee. The face is everywhere, the hollow void looming larger and larger as if its suddenly pressing possessively into her space in an attempt to take over.

                        FLY FLY
                FLY FLY FLY FLY
                                        FLY FLY
                        FLY FLY FLY

        Mercilessly does Puru-1 dance in pursuit of the Golden Bird of Michele and Jonas heart's desire with a childish zeal.

KTS: Puru-1 targets Yuliana Kafim with Armed Armor BS Spread Shot!
KTS: Liam 7-020 targets Alouette Pommier with MA-M4A Heavy Sword Disorienting Blow!
KTS: Liam 7-020 has completed their actions for the round.
KTS: Puru-1 targets Roux Louka with Armed Armor VN Crush!
KTS: Puru-1 targets Rita Bernal with Beam Saber Rush!
KTS: Puru-1 has completed their actions for the round.
KTS: Puru-1 fails to react to Rita Bernal's Pass, taking 0 damage!
KTS: Zoltan Akkanen has activated the Alert Spirit Command.
KTS: Zoltan Akkanen successfully Evades Rita Bernal's This Life Isn't All There Is
KTS: Rita Bernal roots her unit, coming to a standstill and leaving her vulnerable.
KTS: Shozo has activated the Spirit Spirit Command.
KTS: Liam 7-020 rattles Alouette Pommier, making her next maneuvers more difficult.
KTS: Alouette Pommier parries Liam 7-020's MA-M4A Heavy Sword Disorienting Blow, taking 1110 damage!
KTS: Liam 7-020 has engaged Alouette Pommier!
KTS: Rita Bernal has activated the Foresee Spirit Command.
KTS: Rita Bernal has activated the Foresee Spirit Command.
KTS: [Mirage] Rita Bernal's Ars Goetia activates, and she slips into a mirage.
KTS: Rita Bernal blocks Puru-1's Beam Saber Rush, taking 0 damage!
KTS: Puru-1 has engaged Rita Bernal!
KTS: Trevor Teach successfully evades Ujico Issa's UTX-006 Palisade Incoms Homing Lasers
KTS: Yuliana Kafim has activated the Wall Spirit Command.
KTS: Yuliana Kafim has activated the Strike Spirit Command.
KTS: Yuliana Kafim charges into the attack!
KTS: Yuliana Kafim's EN Barrier activates, negating 1500 base damage.
KTS: Puru-1 enervates Yuliana Kafim, reducing her Morale significantly.
KTS: Yuliana Kafim partially guards Puru-1's Armed Armor BS Spread Shot, taking 6370 damage!
KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Puru-1's Hands Meant For Holding activates, causing Deject!

<Pose Tracker> Akane Shinjo has posed.

"Acknowledged," Akane replies to Alouette, pressing a few buttons at her console. There are so many units -- approaching them all as individual fights is going to...

Something teases at the corner of her perception again -- the same thing she felt at prom... "Nnh --" She can't tell if it's her anxiety or something about that familiar silver-and-white form. ... Does part of her gut still just want to fight a Vessel of Light, she wonders to herself. She'd said before that people never really give up on their dreams... does she still hold that dream somewhere in her heart?

Her hands come down to grip the console, white-knuckle. Right. Focus on what GGG is focusing on and the Phenex.

"Kits prepared," Akane says, holding it together by focusing on the mission and putting her personal concerns aside. She's sorting through potential Tool needs, doing her best to keep things sorted for Guy's sake, when --

YOUR FAULT

"Hh -- aah -- HHHH --" she groans out, the world starting to bend shut around her again. "S-stop! STOP! No! Don't -- Don't take me back there!" she whimpers, as she feels those pale fingers starting to wrap around her -- just like --

... her courage falters.

"H-ha.. Hana," she stammers. "T-take back main operations, please -- I can't. I can't!" ... even in this situation, though, there are ways she can rely on others.

KTS: Akane Shinjo targets Guy Shishioh with Prospect!
KTS: Akane Shinjo has completed their actions for the round.
KTS: Akane Shinjo has activated the Rouse Spirit Command targeting Alouette Pommier
KTS: Lina Lombardi has deployed in Lion 500.
KTS: Roux Louka fails to rush.
KTS: Puru-1 enervates Roux Louka, reducing her Morale significantly.
KTS: Puru-1 rattles Roux Louka, making her next maneuvers more difficult.
KTS: Roux Louka partially guards Puru-1's Armed Armor VN Crush, taking 7080 damage!
KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Puru-1's Hands Meant For Holding activates, causing Deject!
KTS: Puru-1 has engaged Roux Louka!

<Pose Tracker> Jona Basta has posed.

Jona cries out in frustration as the Phenex flares its light and grants it to others, ignoring him once again. Why was he alone not worthy? "Why won't you talk to me, Rita? ANSWER ME!"

The anguished howl is merely fuel for him to redouble his efforts. If she wouldn't listen while she was flitting around, focused on her new friends and the Banshee, then he'd just have to make sure she touched grass.

Aiming his arm shields at the Phenex, even as it darts and weaves around in a frenzy, Jona bites his lip and steels his determination. This was for her own sake too. He had to make things right. No matter what.

"Shield missiles, fire! Don't you dare dodge this, Rita! If you won't talk to me up there, then I'm going to bring you down here! Back where regular people are!" The ensign punches his trigger's buttons hard as the shields open their covers, a barrage of miniature missiles whistling forth into the air as they rocket forth towards the golden RX-0.

"No more games, Rita! Come back! Just talk to me already, dammit! Why are you making things so difficult?!"

KTS: Jona Basta has activated the Trick Spirit Command.
KTS: Jona Basta has activated the Trick Spirit Command.
KTS: Jona Basta targets Rita Bernal with Shield Missiles!
KTS: Jona Basta has completed their actions for the round.
KTS: Michele Luio inspires awe, increasing Jona Basta's Morale!
KTS: Jona Basta blocks Rita Bernal's This Life Isn't All There Is, taking 4760 damage!
KTS: Rita Bernal roots her unit, coming to a standstill and leaving her vulnerable.

<Pose Tracker> Yuliana Kafim has posed.

        Yuliana, with the emptiness about her which abjures all psychic screams, may certainly -- and surely accidentally -- offer some refuge, against a foe like the Banshee.

        (If Yuliana were the sort to think about others, she might think of the way Lucine tried to shelter beside her, to escape from prior psychic onslaughts. She is not and does not.)

        The Da Xukong's head -- and cameras -- track Zoltan's machine, as it slows, and passes. She opens a private channel to him, for a brief, passing moment.

        "You were right. Cadet Wattana was just waiting for the excuse to end me."

        And it closes again.

        She won't trouble Zoltan -- today.

        She frowns, though, as she hears what /Roux/ is transmitting. "Elpeo?" She says, and the disdain is still in her voice. "So you're telling me it's the real girl? I doubt it. She died, Roux." Yuliana knows her name! They had a downright friendly conversation, once upon a time, after they shared status as defenders.

        Well, as friendly as Yuliana gets with people like Roux, anyway.

        "Don't bother," Yuliana mutters, as Rita's light tries to find her and scatters against her aura. Even so... she must be getting desperate, huh.

        And oh, Yuliana cannot hear the Banshee's death-wails. Perhaps she is not soon to die.

        But there is another void, here, and it charges through that violet energy. The beams hit a sickly green barrier, and burst through, scoring deep hits along the Da Xukong's thick armour. "Hahahaha..!" Yuliana crows, as she keeps GOING, to latch her eight horrible claws right /onto/ the Banshee's hull.

        This close, the emptiness around her is the Banshee's, too.

        That horrible stinging tail lifts up, and PLUNGES down, right into the shoulder of the Banshee's gun-arm. If it is allowed to make contact, it will /inject/ that horrific plasma /into/ its systems.

        Into its /weapons/ systems, specifically, and not the part of the Gundam which houses the pilot.

        But looking in from the outside, who could really tell?

KTS: [Spirit Defense] Puru-1's Spirit Endurance activates, and the spirit is adjusted.
KTS: Yuliana Kafim has activated the Daunt Spirit Command targeting Puru-1
KTS: Yuliana Kafim targets Puru-1 with Infernal Arachnid Injector Inner Fire!
KTS: Yuliana Kafim has completed their actions for the round.
KTS: Puru-1 has activated the Strike Spirit Command.
KTS: Puru-1 has activated the Wall Spirit Command.
KTS: Yuliana Kafim anchors Puru-1, forcing them into close range.
KTS: Puru-1 parries Yuliana Kafim's Infernal Arachnid Injector Inner Fire, taking 2250 damage!
KTS: Yuliana Kafim has engaged Puru-1!

<Pose Tracker> Lucine Azul has posed.

        Indeed, Lucine is the idiot who didn't think twice about bringing her craft. It's a frequent sight in the Nadesico hold, though who really pays attention? Allies can be enemies with just a bit of cash, or vice versa.

        Space is too cold for high-minded ideals. < ".... I know more about her than I do you. Why do you want the Phenex? Why do you send people after it?" > And yet, here is a person, with a soft voice, claiming to be the protector of a Gundam twice her size, at least.

        Cannons flare, and Lucine attempts to dodge; however, with her 'wings' out, the balancing of the Dianthus is affected in turn.

        This may not be a good sign. Lucine breathes, attempting to quell that urge to engage Faye like it's a regular dog fight. She wants to. She so wants to.
        
        Light spreads around the cockpit of the Dianthus, its gold color is distinctive. ".... Thank you, Rita," Lucine breathes, to the cockpit. ".... Remember who you are. The Banshee was deployed likely to stress you. I don't know all the details, but once you're strong enough... you need to get out of here."

        She can't transmit it directly; transmitting thoughts are beyond her ability.

        But she can transmit something to Faye.

        < "..... No apologies needed." > Yellow eyes glint; her excitement builds. < "I was hoping for a challenge anyway." >

        The petals behind the Dianthis fold in, and boosters ignite. The Dianthus beelines straight for Faye's unit, hitting its weight straight against its side.

KTS: Lucine Azul targets Faye Valentine with CL0-V3 Glaive Ram!
KTS: Lucine Azul has completed their actions for the round.

<Pose Tracker> Shozo has posed.

The Ace Robot attempts to avoid the brilliant stream of light from the Phenex, but is only able to put himself between it and Shozo -- and that is more than enough, the robotic giant's body sparking and blooming with pain as it is burned by radiance and rage alike.

But this is nothing. This is the violence of a child out of self-preservation, not the carefully-manufactured cruelty of his old master. And more importantly, Shozo is safe, untouched as he floats back onto the robot's shoulder.

"Mister, are you OK? That looked like it really hurt..." The boy is worried for him, and that would bring a smile to the robot's face if he could express the emotion.
%His boy worries for him. His boy /cares/ about him. And for that, he will wade through a thousand more deaths. Buoyed by his bond with Shozo, the Ace Robot rushes in, ready to get back in the fight.

"Do the thing!" Shozo says, smiling as he realizes his robot friend is OK, and the Robot nods, knowing what his boy means. Spreading his arms, an arc of power builds between his wrists before firing out at the Phenex -- his namesake's most famous attack, the Ultra Guillotine!

KTS: Shozo targets Rita Bernal with Ultra Guillotine (Fired)!
KTS: Shozo has completed their actions for the round.
KTS: Faye Valentine has activated the Alert Spirit Command.

<Pose Tracker> Shelby Korts has posed.

        Liam calls out a warning -- the GGG is in the area, and seemingly on the chase for the Phenex as well. To be careful about engaging them, unless it's absolutely necessary. In that tight-band, Shelby's voice is practically shaking; the fingers peeling loose and then gripping the control sticks all the more tightly. She sniffs; a small glob of blood in her nose. <"Let them come.">

        The GaoGaiGar's roundhouse kick would likely topple or toss aside most Mobile Suits. In this case, there's a resounding collision and a shift of metals and weights; a fierce scrape and a spray of sparks that sends a shuddering noise through the chassis of the Jagd Doga and reverberating through Shelby Korts' body. The left arm held high, the smaller Zeonic MS stops the blow against the round shield it bears on it's left forearm, the old golden emblem of Neo-Zeon long-since stripped off it's surface and replaced with nothing but color accents.

        monstermonstermonstermonstermonster

        It twists, the excess bulk and raw strength of the larger machine giving it far more weight and follow-through. The Jagd Doga's legs shift and spread, select thrust and careful balance doing it's best to keep it from getting thrown away like trash-- and now stuck with that unit at close range.

        it isn't supposed to be like this

        Michele's words echo through the comms-- a voice familiar, but she just can't QUITE pin it down yet-- attempts to distract and demoralize. While Jona keeps chasing Rita in the distance, while the Banshee screams, Shelby tweaks one hand from the controls. Shelby's voice is a little garbled, but she makes it very clear:

        <"Augusta.">

        yoUr fAUlt your fault pLAy plAY PLay fly liTTle bird youR FAULT

        The voice is practically whispering right over her shoulder--

                MINE

        Shelby lets out a stiff cry of pain, gripping her head with one hand even as the other pulls back, trying to reposition even in the face of a massive foe and everything to come. The shield-arm smashes back closer to the Jagd Doga's chest, angled and positioned and the four channels within firing at random scattering blasts-- inaccurate as hell at long range, but close up? Dangerous...!

KTS: Faye Valentine fails to evade Lucine Azul's CL0-V3 Glaive Ram, taking 2625 damage!
KTS: Lucine Azul has engaged Faye Valentine!
KTS: Shelby Korts has activated the Valor Spirit Command.
KTS: Shelby Korts targets Guy Shishioh with Shield Scattershot!
KTS: Shelby Korts has completed their actions for the round.

<Pose Tracker> Alouette Pommier has posed.

"I see... then I won't insult /you/ by asking you to throw away your promise." Alouette replies firmly to her opponent. But who are they, even? What did they promise, and why is the pattern of their tone... familiar, somehow?

Against Alouette's graceful swordplay, Liam's strike feels more rough.. aiming for the jets. Her blade is moved forth for a parry maneuver. "/That/ was really quite telegraphed." She points out, not exactly a taunt, but she does feel a hint of hesitation in his strike. You can get to know a lot about how a person's feeling by their swordplay.

Harrier-2 then turns his attention to Michele, accusing her of dropping a weapon with a tortured child as the core. Alouette doesn't argue - she has just as little respect for the woman at this point.

But she overhears Operations. "Wh- Akane, /what's wrong/?" Just a hint of panic takes up her tone as she hears Akane struggle, before relieving her post to Hana. "Akane, taking care of yourself is first priority. Hatsuno, keep me updated on her status!"

She's not engaged with the Banshee, but she can feel a sense of anger rising against it, for having the nerve to hurt her after she's been doing so well.'

If there's really a tortured soul, an unexpressed feeling inside... could she use Hell and Heaven? Ultimately, she decides against that danger, remembering how it made her feel last time, and turns her attention back to her opponent, taking advantage of the parry with a brutal, yet non-lethal riposte to the limb.

KTS: Alouette Pommier has activated the Attune Spirit Command.
KTS: Alouette Pommier targets Liam 7-020 with Riposte d'Aile!
KTS: Alouette Pommier has completed their actions for the round.
KTS: Roux Louka has activated the Spirit Spirit Command.
KTS: Liam 7-020 parries Alouette Pommier's Riposte d'Aile, taking 1560 damage!
KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Alouette Pommier's Vividity activates, causing Designate L1!
KTS: Alouette Pommier has engaged Liam 7-020!

<Pose Tracker> Lina Lombardi has posed.

         A familiar green ReLion rushes into the scene. Lina curses herself, having been caught in the debris field behind everyone else. But...geez, things had gotten real complicated. The black Unicorn...What was Michele doing?! Rita was her friend, wasn't she?

         The aura coming from the black mobile suit was overwhelming, the air was rancid with it. Oh well, who cares? She's beat one Newtype hotshot before, she can beat another one!

         "Michele, you got a hell of a lot of explaining to do when we're done! Don't worry, Rita...I'll help you! Mousetrap! Juno 1..." She paused. "Juno 1" had a lot of baggage to her right now. For some reason, it didn't feel right in this moment.

         "...Lina, did you cut out?"

         "No, I'm fine. Jazz, ready to engage!"

         The ReLion raises its railgun and takes aim at the dark suit, firing to announce her presence.

KTS: Lina Lombardi targets Puru-1 with Burst Railgun Shot!
KTS: Lina Lombardi has completed their actions for the round.

<Pose Tracker> Trevor Teach has posed.

No response. Trevor's lips curl into a smile that's just a little bit bigger. She's beating around the bush? No, maybe something else...? Trevor may be a Newtype, but when someone is holding their cards close to their chest, it's a little harder for him to get a read. Still, all the silence accomplishes is to make him even more intere--

ZOLTAN

"OW, FUCK," Trevor curses, grabbing at the side of his skull as A) Zoltan appears and B) The Phenex's warm aura suddenly becomes VERY MUCH NOT THAT. "AUGH, what is WITH everyone here and all of these PSYCHIC BAD VIBES!?" Is this bounty cursed? Is everyone involved just, nursing more trauma than the average burn ward!??

His unpatched eye squints open just in time to notice--

INCOMS.

"Khh--" The Isadore's thrusters ignite. It dances through the overlapping cage of lasers, weaving out of the way just as they begin to curve to converge upon its location. These are no mere lasers, they are /homing lasers/ and that is /terrifying/ as the arcs of angry light seem to bend to pursue him. With a string of piratical profanity on his lips (it sounds a little like "--fuckswallopchumguzzlingasssnipe--" but with even more on both ends), the Isadore's thruster column ignites, the beams chasing it converging into a single lance...

...That abruptly collides with a chunk of shoal space junk which the Isadore had shot into existence during the leadup to all of this. It's a shiny, reflective shard, shattering the incoming beams into a pretty starshower of tiny sparks. "That was close," Trevor sighs, leaning on his control levers. "You almost got me there, lass! But looks like I was just a little too fast...!"

The Isadore races in, closing the distance as its arm-mounted salvage-crusher hinges open. He lunges, trying to wedge the crushing anchor claw around one of the Palisade's shoulder joints. It snaps shut--

And then something /flashes/ and discharges with a hissing, electric pop, because this isn't /just/ a crush claw...!

This is a crush claw equipped with A MECH-SCALE PLASMA TASER. One that may just be pressed up against something ~important.~ "Come on, I'm sure you'd prefer to make conversation over making good ol' Treffy Teach do a monologue all night. Unlike certain people present, I'm actually quite a conversationalist! It's just not fair to make one side do all the talking, is it?"

KTS: Puru-1 has activated the Alert Spirit Command.
KTS: Puru-1 successfully Evades Lina Lombardi's Burst Railgun Shot
KTS: Trevor Teach targets Ujico Issa with Plasma Scissor!
KTS: Trevor Teach has completed their actions for the round.

<Pose Tracker> Faye Valentine has posed.

<"Looking to blow off steam, huh? Yeah, I can respect that."> Faye grins, jetting around the Dianthus in that jittery, drifting-butterfly way that she does. <"Truth be told, whole thing puts my teeth on edge. So... let's just go all out and see what happens, yeah?">

The Dianthus spears forward, crashing against the Red Tail. Faye twists through the stars, barely deflecting the collision and sending herself spiraling into the void - a lurching that makes her regret both her eagerness and her most recent cocktail - but with a twist of her limbs, the MONO carrier blasts away and orients itself on Lucine again.

A vast cloud of propellant explodes from the machine, shrouding it briefly - a rack of missiles emptying itself on the mobile suit. Those dancing bits are dangerous - maybe this way, she can overwhelm them, or even shatter a few.

KTS: Faye Valentine targets Lucine Azul with Missile Volley!
KTS: Faye Valentine has completed their actions for the round.

<Pose Tracker> Roux Louka has posed.

The shields block the incoming fire. Roux watches the zoom in - the Strike Zeta, lacking a psychoframe or biosensor, has no way to tell what's going on, it just is doing what it's told - and she feels her heart sinking.

                        ROUX.

NEVER LEAVE

Roux realizes she's not moving quickly. She's being held. But why? Is something blocking me? She's weirdly aware of the thruster arrays on the Strike Zeta in that moment. Why aren't they firing? Hacking? System failure? A truly unfortunate flameout? No, Roux thinks

YOU ARE MINE

it's because I'm not using them

HE IS MINE

because

She doesn't want me to use them?

The talons shred into the Strike Zeta's right arm and it is in fact a clean and overwhelming hit. The Hyper Mega Launcher's stationkeeping thrusters fire on reflex at the loss of cable datalinkage, and Roux FINALLY has enough headspace to pull herself away - leaving the dismembered limb hanging there, so much scrap, even as she remembers to breathe.

She pushes inwards to reclaim the great weapon, though with only one arm she does not try to aim it. Not now. Fuck, shit, Roux thinks, a thousand times, small and terrified. She remembers, or finally hears, Yuliana.

And that feeling comes back from before.

So Roux answers Yuliana, like so: "Yeah... and so was Amuro Ray. Maybe Spacenoid Heaven's giving out liberty passes now."

Wow, Roux thinks. That - that was -

That was pretty cool -

"So, Elpeo," Roux continues, on purpose, even as the Banshee focuses elsewhere. "You want me so bad...? Or do you want to settle the score? Well, it's kind of on trend lately, but I'm not going to just sit here and make it easy for you. If you want to prove it --"

The Gundam's thigh-mounted emitters fire, streaks of lensed-tight megaparticles arcing outwards towards the Banshee as Roux finally, FINALLY, remembers how well the Strike Zeta can maneuver.

"You're going to have to -- step it up!!"

KTS: Roux Louka targets Puru-1 with Thigh Beam Cannon!
KTS: Roux Louka has completed their actions for the round.
KTS: Rita Bernal blocks Jona Basta's Shield Missiles, taking 2160 damage!
KTS: Jona Basta begins a Formation attack!

<Pose Tracker> Zoltan Akkanen has posed.

It's always nice to help someone else. Yuliana's message brings forth a hollow laugh from the heart, lips sneering into a grin. Oh, how obvious it was. He doesn't bother to acknowledge it, forging on his merry way.

There's an internal whoop of glee at seeing those shots hit home. Once, twice, confirmed hits. Is that what you have, Phenex! Running!? Running from THIS!? From the hive you've stirred up, from the people you so wanted to help all around! Fleeing at the first sign of concentrated adversity! You coward, you phantom running from the shining spotlight!

There's only the lightest jolt as the sensations of fearful screaming echo through his mind. Monster? Him? HIM!? "Again with that!? Again!? What the HELL did I do, huh!? Don't think you can make me an Angra Mainyu and get away with it!" The anger is rebuffed by Rage, by the feeling of Confused Frustration, of a HATRED at being yelled at for being something.

MONSTER!? HIM!? FOR WHAT!? THE TRIALS!? THE TESTS!? THE FAILURES!? There's no pity in that voice echoing into him, nothing but the pure declaration of something false.

The light. It's so EASY to rebuff, to merely pump his emotions to the forefront to a fine-honed edge, for the psycommu metal to thrum and shield its Red Comet Cockpit so easily. No. Monster!? GIVE ME AN ANSWER, DAMN IT!

Harder. Gun it HARDER. Press down on the thrusts, exploding along the sky. A silver star streaking across the sky, following the Phenex. Rifle, out front.

"DON'T TELL ME WHO I AM!" Shot after shot after shot after shot, beams streaking along to take advantage. To follow the Giant's rings towards the Phenex, to fly along with the missiles from the wails of another. Fall, you beast of Pyrite, FALL.

KTS: Zoltan Akkanen has activated the Focus Spirit Command.
KTS: Rita Bernal retreats from the attack!
KTS: Rita Bernal fails to evade Shozo's Ultra Guillotine (Fired), taking 3690 damage!
 KTS: Shozo completes the Formation attack!
KTS: Zoltan Akkanen targets Rita Bernal with MSN-06S Sinanju Stein High Beam Rifle Reckless Fire!
KTS: Zoltan Akkanen has completed their actions for the round.
KTS: Zoltan Akkanen rattles Rita Bernal, making her next maneuvers more difficult.
KTS: Rita Bernal blocks Zoltan Akkanen's MSN-06S Sinanju Stein High Beam Rifle Reckless Fire, taking 1980 damage!
KTS: Puru-1 fails to Evade Roux Louka's Thigh Beam Cannon, taking 3450 damage!

<Pose Tracker> Michele Luio has posed.

<"As I thought. You're just idiot children playing make-believe. Grow up, and maybe you'll learn why I want her.">

Michele watches Jona, now. The Narrative isn't doing as hot as she'd like. At this rate, they have no chance before Rita books it. Yuliana is still engaging the Banshee...she must see 'Ritechka' as hers, too. Michele won't let her have Rita.

"Brick. It's time."

Brick hurries over to the tactical computer, as Michele begins flipping switches and sending activation codes through the Minovsky layer.

"Are you sure?"

"I'm positive. Fire up the Narrative's NT-D System."

Brick confirms, radioing into Jona. The pull of NT-D is about to activate on him...

As Michele radios him privately. <"Jona. I'm giving you the edge you need, and it's gonna be goddamn painful. Get her now, bring her home, and don't ask questions you don't want the answer to.">

As Shelby says one word, though, Michele's head snaps towards the screen, and then to Brick. "BRICK! GET ME INFO ON THAT MACHINE!" Shelby's Jagd Doga...there must be something identifying, right?

"Augusta..."

Michele clutches her head and chest, remembering the pain. The sorrow.

The betrayal.

<"Thirty pieces of silver."> Michele transmits to Shelby, spontaneously and hazardously, before muting her mic.

KTS: Michele Luio has activated the Rouse Spirit Command targeting Jona Basta
KTS: Michele Luio has activated the Rouse Spirit Command targeting Jona Basta
KTS: Michele Luio targets Jona Basta with All-Out!
KTS: Michele Luio has completed their actions for the round.
KTS: Michele Luio orders an all-out attack, raising Jona Basta's Skill!
KTS: Ujico Issa has activated the Focus Spirit Command.
KTS: Ujico Issa's EN Barrier activates, negating 1000 base damage.
KTS: Ujico Issa parries Trevor Teach's Plasma Scissor, taking 4371 damage!
KTS: Trevor Teach has engaged Ujico Issa!
KTS: Lucine Azul has activated the Alert Spirit Command.
KTS: Lucine Azul retreats from the attack!
KTS: Lucine Azul successfully evades Faye Valentine's Missile Volley

<Pose Tracker> Jona Basta has posed.

Jona blinks. What..?! Then the screaming begins. The interior of his cockpit begins glowing crimson, as the various displays and panels are corrupted with blood red static that coalesce into one word.

NT-D

From the exterior, onlookers would be puzzled to see the B-Packs suddenly halt, its sensors and eyes dimming. It was if the very life had been sucked out of its frame...only for a curdled heartbeat to jolt it back into a new unlife. Otherworldly light begins glowing across the B-Packs' outline, hued in the same destructive light as the Unicorn's original Destroy mode was.

The head of the B-Packs jolts back in a voiceless scream as its hands curl into fists. Its INCOMs shed their cables and transform from solid shields of steel to four-pronged claws, revealing their true form: Psyco-Field Funnels.

Waves of psychic energy emanate from the B-Packs in blasts as Jona screams in rage and suffering, the NT-D augmenting him into nothing more than the beating heart of a Newtype predator. Inside its frame, blood is running from the ensign's eyes, tears of blood that coats his hands in the truth he had long wished to deny:

You could've heard her if you'd actually wanted to.

Howls of agony twist his vocal chords as the B-Packs begins to move of its own volition; its movable frame now longer under the influence of a human pilot, the Narrative moves like a beast on the prowl, loping forth towards the Unicorn as it motions for its Psyco Field Funnels to tear into the Phenex.

There is no distinction now between the machine and Jona. Instead in their wake is a demon, born to forever shatter the wings of the Newtype Phoenix soaring far above. No longer will it fly freely beyond reach.

Now it shall become a canary, trapped in a gilded cage.

KTS: Jona Basta has activated the Trick Spirit Command.
KTS: Jona Basta targets Rita Bernal with NT-D: Birdcage!
KTS: Jona Basta has completed their actions for the round.
KTS: Jona Basta anchors Rita Bernal, forcing her into close range.
KTS: Rita Bernal fails to Evade Jona Basta's NT-D: Birdcage, taking 4160 damage!
KTS: Jona Basta has engaged Rita Bernal!

<Pose Tracker> Liam 7-020 has posed.

        Alouette is brilliant. She does things with programs that Liam did not think were possible. Pattern recognition is child's play for someone with her encompassing intellect. Even with his voice masked, and his beacon broadcasting as an irregular civilian craft, there are points of data for her to pick up on. The choice of a Coordinator-engineered Mobile Suit. The quirks of his swordplay. The fact that he really doesn't want to hurt her.

        '/That/ was really quite telegraphed.'

        There's no verbal answer from Harrier-2, just a pained grunt. The CGUE twists back into a guarding stance, favoring the solid blade over the shield. Liam saw that rapier punch clean through parts of /Zegga's/ armor. As Alouette comes at him again, the CGUE's solid blade drives forward, catching the weapon not by the blade, but by the emitters. The rapier's tip digs into the side of the CGUE's head, tracing a smoldering line down the side of its 'helmet'. Michele's voice filters into his cockpit, /again/.

        There's no response from Harrier-2 this time, because Liam kills the comm and swears /violently/ into the safety of his cockpit. An idiot child playing make-believe. "(Monster)," Liam hisses, lapsing back into Gaelic because he's not thinking clearly and it's something they failed to cut out of him. All he got from Leina were words on a screen, but even in /that/ he could see how deeply the Banshee had hurt her. How terrified Banagher was. How Eight lost her impeccable composure in its presence. How Lucine--

        "(Bloody fucking PIECE OF SHIT MONSTER!)"

        The CGUE jets back, raising its shield. Alouette can surely see the way the plates split apart, how barrels align and start tracking the Guardienne.

        It takes /intense physical effort/ to restrain the impulse Hephaestus drilled into him: aim for center of mass, overwhelming firepower, core out the cockpit. He aims up, towards the machine's shoulder, the shoulder of the arm holding that rapier.

KTS: Liam 7-020 targets Alouette Pommier with M7070 Shield+28mm Vulcan Barrage!
KTS: Liam 7-020 has completed their actions for the round.

<Pose Tracker> Rita Bernal has posed.

As the Ace Robot takes the blow for Shozo, the Phenex continues her flight. So be it. She never wanted to battle the Giants of Light, but -- if this is the way it has to be.

A splinter detaches itself from the Phenex's miraculous glow, taking the shape of a little bird, surely unnoticeable in the chaos of the battlefield. It soars toward Shozo, perching intangibly on the shoulder of the Ace Robot. Flickering in and out of existence, it speaks to Shozo.

Child of another world. Why are you here? What are you doing? This is not your fight.

The Phenex, distracted by splitting her soul, tries to dodge away from the Ace Robot's fired attack -- unsuccessfully. Knocked back by the force of it, glimmering bits of gold are left in her wake. Slowly, surely, her armor is breaking.

Jona's anguished cries tear at the Phenex's spirit, threatening her with emotions she cannot bear. Taking a risk, she soars before the Narrative, pausing in her flight.

Her hands come forward. These signs are slower -- for Jona to see and remember, and translate later.

The Phenex points to herself. She brings her arms together, crossing them with open hands, then quickly pulls them back to her sides, clenching her fists. Then, she points to Jona.

Perhaps the pilot pilot of the scorpion-like mobile suit could assist in understanding her? In any case -- the Phenex can say no more. Jona fires upon the Gundam, and she only just gets her shields up in time. Like a spooked bird, she darts away, trailing more golden feathers. The attacks are working -- the Phenex is being worn down.

Zoltan's rage burns. The Phenex turns on him, flaring her wings out -- a threat and a promise.

I KNOW YOU MORE THAN ANYONE.

She shrieks, in his mind, hatred lancing from the spirit of the Phenex like a flame in the wind. It's fury, it's conviction, it's... fear. Deep, deep, unspeakable fear.

As Zoltan's attack crashes into the Phenex, her shields pushed back, crushing her armor. In this moment of contact between them, with how frantic the Beast of Life and Death is...

Zoltan sees something. A vision. Himself, wreathed in shadow, eyes gleaming red. A dozen feel tall, hands ending in claws, gleaming with malice and aggression. Every bit a monster from a child's nightmare.

"Let's take the easy way out." His shade whispers, intimately close.

The vision ends.

Wreathed in the light of the world her spirit soars through, the Phenex faces her sister. Michele's cruelty is too much to bear. With a flare of brilliant blue power, the Phenex braces herself against the emptiness of space and waits, waits...

The Banshee charges her. The Phenex opens her arms for her sister, attempting to grab both of the black Unicorn's wrists. The Phenex shrieks in the Banshee's face, burning with mystical fire. Kaledioscopic radiance seems to pass from the golden Gundam to her sister.

Psychoframes resonate, seeming to empower the Phenex even further -- though the Phenex does /not/ transform. The light of Axis glows, blindingly bright. Bursts of radiance surge outward, uncontrollable as a solar flare, striking those the Phenex is locked in combat with.

No words are said. All her strength is spent toward holding her sister.

Until.

Jona /screams/. The Phenex, blind to the future, reacts with shock and horror. The NT-D? It's too soon-- too soon, too soon too soon--! How could Michele--

Still embracing her sister, the Phenex is easily trapped, pulled away from the Banshee. Brilliant walls envelop her in a barrier -- a birdcage, and she slumps like a dropped doll, the light within the Gundam fading.

KTS: Rita Bernal targets Jona Basta with Coronal Aurorae!
KTS: Rita Bernal targets Zoltan Akkanen with Coronal Aurorae!
KTS: Rita Bernal targets Shozo with Coronal Aurorae!
KTS: Rita Bernal targets Puru-1 with Coronal Aurorae!
KTS: Rita Bernal has completed their actions for the round.
KTS: Rita Bernal rattles Puru-1, making their next maneuvers more difficult.
KTS: Puru-1 blocks Rita Bernal's Coronal Aurorae, taking 3225 damage!
KTS: Shozo charges into the attack!
KTS: Rita Bernal rattles Shozo, making its next maneuvers more difficult.
KTS: Shozo partially guards Rita Bernal's Coronal Aurorae, taking 3526 damage!
KTS: Jona Basta has activated the Wall Spirit Command.
KTS: Jona Basta has activated the Trick Spirit Command.
KTS: Akane Shinjo assesses Guy Shishioh's prospects, increasing his SP!
KTS: Rita Bernal rattles Jona Basta, making its next maneuvers more difficult.
KTS: Jona Basta blocks Rita Bernal's Coronal Aurorae, taking 3010 damage!
KTS: Guy Shishioh has activated the Wall Spirit Command.
KTS: Guy Shishioh's EN Barrier activates, negating 500 base damage.
KTS: Guy Shishioh partially guards Shelby Korts's Shield Scattershot, taking 4092 damage!
KTS: Shelby Korts has engaged Guy Shishioh!
KTS: Alouette Pommier has activated the Attune Spirit Command.
KTS: Alouette Pommier successfully avoids Liam 7-020's M7070 Shield+28mm Vulcan Barrage
KTS: Zoltan Akkanen has activated the Alert Spirit Command.

<Pose Tracker> Christina MacKenzie has posed.

With Christina's vitals slowly stabilizing under the medical aid and the faintest glimmer of Rita's touch, she is mostly being watched over by an intern. The medical bay staff and SecFor are riveted to a nearby monitor, bewildered by the abject CHAOS that even they were not prepared for. Hell, half of them are probably here because the pay and benefits are the best in All Known Space! Her head is still pounding, she has only the barest glimmer of how she got here, and she has no idea how far her body will take her without the oxygen mask perfusing her body with life.

Prague, 0093, Tabor Nuclear Conduit Plant failure. Three techs and herself, buried alive. Four of four alive. No, this is nothing. This is nothing!

"Ban...shee"

The medbay intern looked up, dismissed it as hypoxic ramblings, and looked back at his personal tablet.

The rustle of tubes and papery sheets. The pop of a silicone seal breaking from skin. A butterfly needle swinging free with droplets of blood arcing high in the low gravity. "Can't... Let... The Banshee...!" Chris's feet steadied below her, not because she was fine, but because they Had Somewhere to Take Her. The medical bay SecFor finally turned their attention from the fracas and overlapping open comms to look at the patient they dragged in unconscious, in time for them to see the door hiss shut behind them. They ran to retrieve the idiot, they weren't heartless, just concerned.

Unfortunately, a redhead wasn't high on trust right now. The steel head of an IV pole smashed into the door's outer control panel. They'd be stuck in there a while. Chris zipped her suit back up, searching for directions to the hangar. Maybe her body could still handle the Dance. She's fought it before. She has to make it out there. Ah, maybe... Tristan might be this w--Damn! SecFor-cadenced footsteps. No! There has to be...! Damn it!

Chris turned, leaning on the IV pole and hastening in the opposite direction.

Fine. If I can't fight the /Banshee/...

She hoped the path to the Executive's quarters would be empty. She hoped the quarters themselves wouldn't be.

- - -

A knock on the door. An *insistent* knock on the door.

("Damn you, answer me... ANSWER FOR THIS! Pain isn't your weapon to leverage")

It's a good thing ExecutiveLuio isn't the newtype she purports to be, because otherwise, Brick just might start firing straight through the door with /that/ much anger behind it.

KTS: Rita Bernal rattles Zoltan Akkanen, making his next maneuvers more difficult.
KTS: Zoltan Akkanen fails to Evade Rita Bernal's Coronal Aurorae, taking 4730 damage!
KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Rita Bernal's Destined Meeting activates, causing Sparkle!

<Pose Tracker> Ujico Issa has posed.

        Outside her shell, Isadore desperately jukes behind a piece of space debris, letting her INCOMs' beam weaponry shatter into harmless stardust. Inside Palisade, inside Ujico, her heart pounds in her ears. Her skin is too tight. Breathe. Breathe! She takes her right hand off of the controls and rests the the thumb on a button built into the left wrist of her pilot suit. She doesn't trust this one to cybernetic controls. Without an extra layer between [herself] and the medication, she would push the button. And push the button, and push the button.

        'That was close!'

        Ujico startles, both hands going back to the grips. Her heart is still pounding.

        'You almost got me there, lass! But looks like I was just a little too fast...!'

        He's... not angry. Whoever he is, he hasn't been angry, this entire time. Is it a game to him? Even the idea of steak??

        A huge machine claw bites for her shoulder; she's only half fast enough to dodge and it closes on Palisade's enormous paw instead, beam claws sparking and struggling against Isadore's terrible grip -- and then the taser discharges. "Ghh-!" She rips her hand out of his grip and reaches for Isadore's head, the beast's claws large enough to engulf the entire thing - and if she catches him, Ujico's palm-mounted laser will pierce Isadore's very head, visor and all.

        "...Your name is Treffy?"

        Oh look, Trevor, you reached her!

        Too bad the world is still full of awful things. Palisade's eartennae swivel, its pilot distracted by a beloved golden figure slumping inside a cage made of light. "---RITA! RITA, GET UP!"

<Pose Tracker> Puru-1 has posed.

 
         The Phenex grips ahold of the Banshee in this moment, as it tries to struggle loose, burned by its auroral light. Psycoframes resonate, and the Psycofield forms spherically, emotions resonating into the night. At least they do until that moment of BLACKOUT when the feelings behind it are violently muted.
 
         BGM Interrupt - Black Fairy - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9YE_YxJ7K7M

        The moment that void space hits the Banshee. The entire thing seizes up, and begins to shake as if going through an epileptic fit. The static disappears from everyone's minds as if a monitor had been unplugged and all the hands retract from around the spirit inside the Phenex. If a mobile suit could scream, one would get the impression it is doing so right now in utter void silence.
 
         The Da Xukong latches on with its scorpion like legs, and the shaking Armed Armor VN suddenly grasps the scorpion tail, and YANKS it out before too much plasma can be injected. It still leaves a burning hole in its shoulder, dripping particles of it into space.
 
        It won't stop, its movements janky, as the beam smartgun suddenly rotates forward. And then it begins to spray, horrible violet beamfire in even more chaotic patterns, the tremor sending it wildly through space to burn at the Phenex and the Da Xukong both and throw them off.
 
         Its shaking is torturous as the mobile suit thrashes about, before its blue thrusters blast, and it pivots to get its distance, racing around the debris. The feeling abruptly returns to anyone save those caught within Yuliana's influence. Everyone with even the smallest amount of psychic sensitivity feels this keening wail in the cold dark of space.
    
     HER HER HER HER HER HER HER HER HER
       SHE SEES SHE WAITS SHE WATCHES
     HER HER HER HER HER HER HER HER HER
       NO FUN NO FAIR NO FUN NO FAIR

         In that moment, everyone who hears it may wonder, who truly is the greater threat here? The Banshee or what? Lina announces its presence with a railgun shot and a quick maneuever sends the Banshee flipping upside down in the dark of space. Its thrusters flare and its so fast in its up and over movements, Lina might find herself having trouble tracking her in the moment as it cuts an arc around, below. The Banshee is

        HERE HERE HERE
HERE HERE HERE
        HERE HERE

                                R I G H T H E R E D A D D Y S G I R L
        Lina is met with a sudden shot of a Beam Magnum at the back of her ReLion, carving a tunnel of cylindrical aurora of blue as if to melt its legs clean off. Roux however asks in that moment, as the mega particles streak out from its Strike Zeta, and the Banshee tries to fly away just as abruptly, before it carves a burn across its obsidian armor with those megaparticle rays.

                WANT YOU WANT YOU WANT YOU WANT YOU WANT YOU WANT YOU
                  M I N E M I N E M I N E M I N E M I N E M I N E
                                R O U X
                                         WHAT
                                          IS
                                         BORN
                                          OF
                                        SADNESS
                                R O U X

        It asks a question of Roux. Perhaps a mocking one as Roux feels the feelings reflected back upon her. The Banshee slices a cuve around debris and vanishes. Roux despite her Newtype senses may have difficulty following it for a moment, as the pressure recedes. Then all at once its back, and the Strike Zeta is staring down the barrel of the beam smart gun from an Asteroid.

                                        ME

        Violet light erupts, trying to lash at her mobile suit with a sudden fury as it traces a brutal path around the shoal zone.

KTS: Ujico Issa has activated the Strike Spirit Command.
KTS: Ujico Issa targets Trevor Teach with Headshot!
KTS: Ujico Issa has completed their actions for the round.
KTS: Puru-1 targets Yuliana Kafim with Armed Armor BS Retreating Shot!
KTS: Puru-1 targets Rita Bernal with Armed Armor BS Retreating Shot!
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 Roux Louka with Armed Armor BS Spread Shot!
KTS: Puru-1 targets Lina Lombardi with Armed Armor BS Full Barrel!
KTS: Puru-1 has completed their actions for the round.
KTS: Roux Louka has activated the Wall Spirit Command.
KTS: Roux Louka has activated the Wall Spirit Command.
KTS: Lina Lombardi has activated the Alert Spirit Command.
KTS: Trevor Teach has activated the Focus Spirit Command.
KTS: Lina Lombardi has activated the Alert Spirit Command.
KTS: Ujico Issa rattles Trevor Teach, making his next maneuvers more difficult.
KTS: Trevor Teach fails to parry Ujico Issa's Headshot, taking 2720 damage!
KTS: Ujico Issa has engaged Trevor Teach!
KTS: Lina Lombardi charges into the attack!
KTS: Puru-1 enervates Lina Lombardi, reducing her Morale significantly.
KTS: Lina Lombardi partially guards Puru-1's Armed Armor BS Full Barrel, taking 8640 damage!
KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Puru-1's Hands Meant For Holding activates, causing Deject!
KTS: Roux Louka fails to charge.
KTS: Puru-1 enervates Roux Louka, reducing her Morale significantly.
KTS: Roux Louka partially guards Puru-1's Armed Armor BS Spread Shot, taking 8320 damage!
KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Puru-1's Hands Meant For Holding activates, causing Deject!
KTS: Rita Bernal has activated the Foresee Spirit Command.
KTS: Rita Bernal has activated the Foresee Spirit Command.
KTS: Rita Bernal has activated the Foresee Spirit Command.
KTS: [Mirage] Rita Bernal's Ars Goetia activates, and she slips into a mirage.
KTS: Rita Bernal fails to Evade Puru-1's Armed Armor BS Retreating Shot, taking 0 damage!
KTS: Puru-1 repulses Rita Bernal, forcing her to disengage.
KTS: Yuliana Kafim has activated the Wall Spirit Command.
KTS: Yuliana Kafim's EN Barrier activates, negating 1500 base damage.
KTS: Yuliana Kafim blocks Puru-1's Armed Armor BS Retreating Shot, taking 1200 damage!
KTS: Puru-1 repulses Yuliana Kafim, forcing her to disengage.

<Pose Tracker> Guy Shishioh has posed.

Guy is blind to much of the drama and trauma here. Much of the rest, he has to focus past. Whatever Luio's higher-ups are doing is going to need an investigation, later, at the very least. He'll have Yang start procedures on the investigation there, later. Science crime is science crime, regardless of your cash reserve.

But that's for a later field and a later day. The fact remains that he's here to make contact with the Phenex, and this Jagd Doga is in the way. "Good!" Guy calls. He signals a tool - Gatling Driver, a smaller kit than before. He's not aiming to disrupt a huge region of space, this time.

The signal never passes. Guy only feels ripples in the limpid channel, sorrows he can push past. Akane breaks.

"Hai, Akane-san!" polite Hana says, some nerves in her voice as the controls pass from Akane's screen and over to Hana's. Hana's easily mistakable for a timid girl, but Akane surely knows by now the spine one needs to be among the Braves. "GaoGaiGar, watch out for the beam cannons!" she adds, seeing the readings from the Jagd Doga jumping.

"HOOOOAH!" Guy roars, throwing his arm up. The rapid scattering blasts punch into his armor for a few moments, before: "PROTECT WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAALL!!"

The space in front of GaoGaiGar TWISTS, bending and cycling those random shots throughout warped space and then firing it back out at the Jagd Doga in a pentagram pattern.

KTS: Guy Shishioh targets Shelby Korts with Protect Wall Reflect!
KTS: Guy Shishioh has completed their actions for the round.
KTS: Guy Shishioh has activated the Trick Spirit Command.
KTS: Guy Shishioh has activated the Trick Spirit Command.

<Pose Tracker> Lina Lombardi has posed.

         Lina growls and pounds at her controls in response to Michele's cold response. Just another betrayal for the pile. Another bastard taking advantage of me. "MICHELE LUIO, YOU BITCH! I trusted you! Rita....trusted you!" She continues to pound her fist. "You were probably never even going to find my father, were you? You just knew the right strings to tug to get dumbass soldier girl to do your bidding!" Her voice becomes strained and choked. "I don't know why it's so hard to just DO THE RIGHT FUCKING THING!"

         Her attention is turned towards the Banshee as it begins its psychic assault. She winces and grips at her joystick. Noisy...it's just too noisy...like it was before... "SHUT UP! I DON'T CARE ABOUT YOU!"

         The ReLion shoots directly towards the Banshee, taking the brunt of the magnum shot in her leg, the force causing the ReLion to spin a bit before Lina can stabilize it. Okay, so this thing wasn't anything to mess with. So what? She readies the railgun on her shoulder, charging it to full power.

         "Lina, what are you doing? Get out of there!"

         "I need to protect Rita!" A massive beam of energy shoots from her shoulder diretly towards the torso of the Banshee, aiming right for the cockpit!

KTS: Lina Lombardi targets Puru-1 with FT Railgun Full Fire!
KTS: Lina Lombardi has completed their actions for the round.
KTS: Puru-1 has activated the Wall Spirit Command.
KTS: Puru-1 has activated the Wall Spirit Command.
KTS: Puru-1 blocks Lina Lombardi's FT Railgun Full Fire, taking 1740 damage!
KTS: Shelby Korts has activated the Wall Spirit Command.
KTS: Guy Shishioh rattles Shelby Korts, making her next maneuvers more difficult.
KTS: Shelby Korts blocks Guy Shishioh's Protect Wall Reflect, taking 4070 damage!
KTS: Guy Shishioh begins a Formation attack!
KTS: Shelby Korts has activated the Dash Spirit Command and has disengaged.

<Pose Tracker> Shozo has posed.

Shozo gasped with delight as the little golden bird flew over to him, sitting down next to it as it touched down.

"Hello, miss bird! I'm here because, well, I saw something very nasty coming together around here, but I think I may have mistaken that-" he points to the Banshee, "-with you. I'm very sorry." He bows his head to the bird apologetically. "But, um... I think your main body wants to kill me, and it hurt my friend very badly..."

Before Shozo could continue, things got... much worse, all over. The Banshee was going out of control, the other Gundam had just gotten... much darker somehow, and he could still see the golden woman's fury towards him. Shozo cringed a bit, his cross-shaped pupils starting to grow brightly as a tension began to fill the air.

"Uuuuu..." he whimpers nervously, before yelping as the artificial coronal ejection strikes the Ace Robot, nearly sending him flying off. He hangs tight and reaches for the little bird to keep it from being hurt, tears coming to his eyes as he comes to realize just how /scary/ all this is.

"U-uu...WAAAH!" he cries, and the Ace Robot turns his head, not just out of concern, but out of fear -- and rightly so.

Using the boy's connection to the robot, all hell quite /literally/ breaks loose, as a MASSIVE, rippling shockwave BURSTS reality in all directions, towards the loudest sources of chaos- the golden bird, and its two predators, willing and unwilling. Space distorts and cracks as red light, brighter and more filled with malice than any one human could contain, spills over, threatening to drown and shatter them all.

KTS: Shozo targets Jona Basta and Puru-1 with D4 Burst.
KTS: Shozo has completed their actions for the round.
KTS: Puru-1 has activated the Alert Spirit Command.
KTS: Puru-1 successfully Evades Shozo's D4 Burst
KTS: Jona Basta has activated the Wall Spirit Command.
KTS: Jona Basta blocks Shozo's D4 Burst, taking 2130 damage!
KTS: Shozo repulses Jona Basta, forcing it to disengage.

<Pose Tracker> Alouette Pommier has posed.

All of these data points, coupled with the fact his comms cut off shortly after her assertion leads Alouette to come to a conclusion: she knows this person and despite them hiding their identity, they won't hurt her. What she won't do is throw out an incomplete hunch, so she leaves it there.

She watches carefully as Harrier-2 trains the shield vulcans, the way they almost lock towards the admittedly very well-protected super-like bulk of the cockpit. And then shift their trajectory to the arm. Shifting the cape-like wings, none of the heavy barrage of vulcans quite make their mark, instead popping against a piece of space debris nearby.

Alouette keeps her own sensors trained on the shield... specifically aiming for one would be fool's play. But smashing through the defenses is how a Brave fights, and it's what her next strike is aimed to do... this is no longer a graceful, yet deadly sword fight.

"Phantom Ring PLUS!" She roars, as the Program Ring emerges to guide her target. "BROOOOOOKEN PHANTOM!" Aviaire's claw is fired straight towards the CGUE's shield, aiming to shatter it and little else.

KTS: Alouette Pommier has activated the Valor Spirit Command.
KTS: Alouette Pommier targets Liam 7-020 with Broken Phantom!
KTS: Alouette Pommier has completed their actions for the round.

<Pose Tracker> Yuliana Kafim has posed.

        Yuliana never bothered to address Michele insisting they were chasing an ideal, with no comphrension of who laid within.

        She wasn't tested against an /ideal/ for six years.

        She flicks on communications to GGG's Yamatsuri, and comments, dry: "Akane Shinjo, is it? You're awfully brave, showing up here. Do me a favour and don't complicate this situation. Who knows what you'll set off if /you/ get involved? Since he's being so -- /helpful/..."

        She doesn't bother explaining who 'he' is.

        Maybe she doesn't have to.

        "You'll live longer if you leave now, girl." And perhaps -- /perhaps/ it is friendly advice. Certainly, there's advice woven into it.

        She watches through her peripheral cameras as the NT-D forces Jona into a predator, and her own predatory eyes are cold. "Those systems..." She starts, and trails off. Her investment still is borne in those two words.

        She HUNGERS.

        Rita is caged, but Yuliana doesn't protest. (As soon as they pin her down, she thinks, it will be a simple thing for /her/ to claim Rita. Yes, Michele is quite right, to think she's remarkably possessive.) And when the Banshee, so jerkily, grabs her tail, Yuliana sneers. "I've already stung you," she issues, sharp and incisive as the weapon. "It's just a matter of time..."

        She brings up her Cleave Axe between the beam fire and herself -- and lucky she does; though that horrible green barrier around her wards much of the attack away, parts of it still break through. Momentarily, the Da Xukong is pushed away from the Banshee.

        But Yuliana is still...

        "Hahahaha...!"

        ... laughing.

        "Yes... that's it. I see now... I see how to do it. Since you asked so, SO nicely..." There is something vague and vaguely-hinged to her intent, all hanging off one edge, as she loops around -- the opposite side of the Banshee to Roux's Strike Zeta, give her /that/ much credit.

        She's being /so/ considerate to her... allies.

        To either side of her pilot's helmet, the frills behind her ears rise up. That intent is fed through the clip sensors through to the Da Xukong, amplified -- and so the draconic crest atop its head lifts up, one steel spire after another.

        And as it does, the horrible aura of silence around Yuliana...

        ... expands.

        It was always something she had to be next to you, to inflict. Something you were safe from, so long as she couldn't lunge out and /grab/ you. But now -- /now/ it spills out over space, silent and absolute, and no psychic scream escapes it.

        The worst of it washes over the Banshee... and the Phenex... and the Shinanju Stein, as, for a horrible moment, they are brought down to the physical realm.

        Despite being far from her grasp.

        "You're mine!" Yuliana crows, as she starts to dart forward, with those thruster jets, leaping from asteroid to asteroid towards the Banshee. "You can't resist me, Elpeo--!!"

KTS: Yuliana Kafim targets Puru-1, Rita Bernal, and Zoltan Akkanen with Nullify.
KTS: Yuliana Kafim has completed their actions for the round.
KTS: Yuliana Kafim nullifies Puru-1's defensive abilities.

<Pose Tracker> Michele Luio has posed.

<"You probably can't hear me. But hang in there. You've got this."> Michele, in her weakness, radios to Jona. She'll deny she ever said it later.

As the banging on the door occurs, Michele speaks loudly. "If they bust it down, pin them. I don't care if it gets bloody. Understood?"

Brick nods, standing next to the door again but away from being hit if it's smashed. "Ma'am, I'm warning you, get back. If you want to speak, do it from there."

Michele rolls her eyes, as she looks at her comms...

And speaks into the comm, at Lina, doing her best to suppress emotion. <"You can think what you want. Let's consider our arrangement null and void, then?"> Michele, for all purposes, intended to keep her bargain, but getting cut out of it is beneficial to her. Less work to do.

And then realiy tears. The ship starts to pull back, as Michele shouts. <"KEEP ON TARGET! WE'RE GETTING HER BACK!">

Chris might notice her word choice is...peculiar.

KTS: Michele Luio targets Jona Basta with Heart!
KTS: Michele Luio has completed their actions for the round.

<Pose Tracker> Lucine Azul has posed.

        The Red Tail is nimble, its pilot showing themselves plenty capable. Whoever is in the Red Tail seems like the matter of fact, stable sort of pilot Lucine needs to be battling right now. < "... You and me both. You're better off going after me than the Phenex, right now." >

        The psychic battleground outside the metaphorical clay shield on Lucine's brain makes her feel comforted in that distance she feels. Liam, Shelby, and Ujico are all on her mind, but if she spares one moment to think, she could be shot down. Michelle's words still manage to draw Lucine's ire, however. < "..... Insult me all you like. I'm not the one trying to wash the blood from my hands." >

        Her brain has switched to the mode she's learned and trained on, where all that matters is you and your opponent.

        That, and that cloud of missiles. Lucine's stomach tightens, and the Dianthus responds her to commands, twisting tightly with the sort of daredevil antics that only someone with no shield would fall upon. Distance is placed between her and Faye as the Dianthus weaves around to lose the missiles.

        And in the meanwhile, the resonating from the two sisters is like a fire set to the back of Lucine's soul. Rita's going to get away, right?

        The fire... fades. A spare glance back, and Lucine sees the Phenex, encased in that golden cage.

        Yellow eyes spin back to the Red Tail. < ".... My turn to apologize." >

        The arbalest is drawn, quickly charging as Lucine aims for Faye's unit. It may be a messy shot, but if it slows her, Lucine can go to... do something, for Rita.

        She can't let Rita get captured.

<Pose Tracker> Akane Shinjo has posed.

"everything," Akane answers Alouette, with a faint whimper. "everything's wrong. it's... it's my fault. i still haven't given up on my dream." Her head hangs forward. "it's still my fault." A hand comes up to her hair, just barely sticking out past her hood.

... in the emergency lights, it's hard to tell what color it is.

How can she possibly explain what's happening to her right now? It doesn't even make sense to /her/ -- no one's going to believe her and she's going to fail, and --

God, she feels like she's going to throw up, and she's not sure if it's the tearing at reality, the fingers, the hurt, the guilt --

Lurching a little, she ends up at just a particularly moist, indelicate squelching noise a little too insistent to be called a burp.

A voice comes over comms telling her not to complicate this situation further -- and the guilt continues to stab into her. "I -- I know!" she says, at the mention of 'him' being so helpful... and it only makes it worse.

If her involvement will complicate things -- then she'll do nothing.

Just like before.

KTS: Akane Shinjo targets Alouette Pommier with Pass!
KTS: Akane Shinjo has completed their actions for the round.
KTS: Lucine Azul targets Faye Valentine with Argen-21 Beam Arbalest Orion Shot!
KTS: Lucine Azul has completed their actions for the round.
KTS: Michele Luio bares her heart, letting Jona Basta deal some extra damage!

<Pose Tracker> Zoltan Akkanen has posed.

Onwards. Onwards. The Silver Streak of Red. Again and again, firing , pumping out beam after beam as he pursued. Monster. Him. What the HELL did this suit mean? What? How? When? Where? Monster? He's not one, he wasn't ever meant to /be/ one, not him, NOT AT ALL. To note those movements, to minutely feel his cybernetic eye twist and read them. Such words. Such praise. Such emotion within them.

SO WHY WAS HE THE ONLY ONE WITH NOTHING BUT THIS!? MONSTER. MONSTER. MONST-

BGM: Chord of the Crooked Saints - Heaven Pierce Her - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hFfq2oxRs-8

It hits. It connects. The mixture. The roar of fear laced with anger, the tumultuous connection of mutual LOATHING. There are no words to this, nothing but the sheer weight of everything. Nothing but the vision, imparted in the most dreamlike fashion.

fire the skies raining with more fire there is nothing but death the earth reeks of viscera the land is jutting with metal the sick stench of burning unknowns the tactile sensation of liquids that should not be outside the sight of magnified emotions the taste of bile the sounds, the lack of them him in the center of it all warped so small, but so looming

if there was an easy way out he would've taken it already

--ER. It takes all his compulsion to hold back the bile, to furrow his brows into ever deeper creases. That? Him? That's what she sees? Just something like that? ...Just something like that? That...

...That was all it was? So overwrought, so over-the-top, so fearful of what, him? Was she trying to gas him up? No, it was real. Then what? That he would burn it all down, to bring the world to what it deserved to be?

To set the final curtain on what Axis Shock was meant to represent in the first place? After it brought everyone together, and after it all split apart?

He was smiling.

Vindication.

"...If that's what you want, Phenex, why would I say no?" The smile is clear in his tone, keeping the chase by pure instinct. To pull out a Cluster Round-loaded Bazooka, to aim, to relish in pure glee. Trapped. Bound. The resonance, the halting, the barrier. The cage, the cage!

"I'LL BE YOUR DAMN MONSTER IF IT MEANS SETTING EVERYTHING RIGHT!" And the rocket fired, carrying the acceptance of what he was deemed to be by a singular "thing" in the cosmos.

KTS: Zoltan Akkanen targets Rita Bernal with MSN-06S Sinanju Stein Bazooka Penetrating Shot!
KTS: Zoltan Akkanen has completed their actions for the round.
KTS: Liam 7-020 rushes into the attack!
KTS: Liam 7-020 partially guards Alouette Pommier's Broken Phantom, taking 6720 damage!
KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Alouette Pommier's Vividity activates, causing Designate L1!
KTS: Passive attacks besides Pass require accept.
KTS: Yuliana Kafim nullifies Rita Bernal's defensive abilities.
 KTS: Rita Bernal blocks Zoltan Akkanen's MSN-06S Sinanju Stein Bazooka Penetrating Shot, taking 3375 damage!
KTS: Your unit's HP stands at 16755

<Pose Tracker> Trevor Teach has posed.

"My name is /actually/ Trevor Teach, but some call me Treffy. And that's fine. But you might have heard of me!" Trevor answers with the same sort of swelling pride that preceeds ALL introductions of these magnitude. "Dread Pirate! Terror of the Spheres!" She has most definitely not heard these titles applied to this individual. "Virtuoso of the Vestan Vultures! Bandito of the Belt!" LIKEWISE, PROBABLY NOT. "Trevor Teach! Gahahaha--"

MORE. PSYCHIC. BADNESS.

Trevor's laughter breaks into a scream, grasping his skulldome with both hands. At just that moment, the Palisade grabs hold of the Isadore's head and-- fires.

The sound of glass shattering inexplicably reverberates through space. The Isadore rocks back, smoke smoldering out of what's left of its sensory visor. It reels...

But... its head... is intact...

...

Oh.

OH.

There's... underneath the visor, behind the mouthguard, there's a strangely humanlike /face./ It has two eyes, a mouth, an unusually well-sculpted nose. Or maybe that's all a trick of smoke and shadow.

...Its eyes...

Flare to life.

"Ugh. You /did/ get me there," Trevor grunts, knocking the BADFEELS out of his brain with a shake of his head. "Gonna have to spend part of the bounty on repairs now. Agh, well, that's always a risk with these kinds of jobs. But we're not out yet. Issy..." He grips his controls tight, "Let's crack this space lobster wide open!"

Isadore closes back in, its claw again hinging tight overtop of one of the Palisade's mighty limbs. This time, there are no fancy tricks, no lightning generators, just a giant, industrial-grade salvager's claw squeezing around a limb like a massive pair of scissors...! "So you know the pilot of that Golden Gundam, do you lassie? This is something personal for you then?"

"Ahh that's rotten luck, I always end up feeling bad when personal stuff is involved. Well, maybe if I do end up getting paid, we could do steak? Eh?"

KTS: Trevor Teach has activated the Alert Spirit Command.
KTS: Trevor Teach targets Ujico Issa with Scissor Claw!
KTS: Trevor Teach has completed their actions for the round.

<Pose Tracker> Shelby Korts has posed.

        Of course, the base information is there: It's a MSN-03 Jagd Doga. Despite the cockpit design, there doesn't seem to be a psychoframe reaction for some reason... but the machine is there, and operating, and fighting with the GGG. Fighting against them, and for Rita, and to try to slow down the attempt to capture the Phenex Gundam.

        It's been seen in other operations on and around the Earth: Always showing up to try to save people when it does. Always trying to mitigate damage. Protect people. It was also at the chaos that was Torrington, fighting the Shamblo.

        'PROTECT WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAALL--'

        Shelby lets out a hissed breath between her teeth; her feet shift on the controls before she stomps down HARD with her heels, pulling back hard on the sticks as the Jagd Doga presents it's shield arm again in an attempt to keep it from overwhelming her. The scattered beams -- now given focus -- rip and tear against the armor of the machine; the enhanced coatings and protections of her shield only able to do so much in the process of protecting the head and cockpit block from the worst of the assault; chunks of armor pop and shear from relentless assault -- but she still gets back far enough to breathe.

        <"And I hear everything,"> she replies to Michele.

        As much as she does not want to. As much as it hurts, as the Banshee screams and rages and chases Roux across the battlefield, as much as she wants to call out to the purple-haired woman, as voices and psychoframes and poor copies and EVERYTHING IS JUST

        looking over her shoulder, face a glitchy smudge

        SO
                GODDAMN
                        LOUD

        Shelby's eyes do their best to focus, but they sting. Her head is throbbing, everything is screaming in her ears; psychofields and resonance and everything here being just Wrong. Her voice is hoarse, strained-- she Is in pain. <"GGG or not, I'll stop you ... and then I'll save Rita!!">

        "FUNNELS!!"

        The thought-abandoned canisters suddenly flare to life, scattering through space as they sweep up from side to side of the GaoGaiGar-- attempting to catch Guy off-guard on either side with a spray of beam fire aimed to start attacking the wing-pack on the robot's back!

KTS: Shelby Korts has activated the Strike Spirit Command.
KTS: Shelby Korts targets Guy Shishioh with Jagd Doga Funnels Pincer Formation!
KTS: Shelby Korts has completed their actions for the round.

<Pose Tracker> Alouette Pommier has posed.

"It's not your fault.." Alouette tries her best to be reassuring while she's technically still in combat. "I still believe in you.. I'll never give up on you, and not your courage, either. We'll talk later, okay?" At this point, she's gotten confirmation from Hana that she's being treated in the emergency room. That Banshee... did she owe it to at least give Hell and Heaven a try?

They've got incoming communications from that wanzer pilot too, seemingly /just/ to kick Akane while she's down. "Wanzer pilot, please identify yourself." Alouette opens back. "Or if I may drop the pleasantries, who do you think you are to speak to my operator like that? Or to dare to invoke /him/?" She's dropped the pleasantries, but her voice hasn't quite fallen into obvious anger, even if the venom is clear.

<Pose Tracker> Michele Luio has posed.

As she gets her response, Michele thinks on what she's saying. The girl who hears----

"Shelby?!"

Michele reacts over muted comms, luckily, instead of public. But now isn't the time for reunions or talking to her. Someone's at her door, hearing every word.

<Pose Tracker> Roux Louka has posed.

Harry, prosecute, nick, destroy. Against something like this great machine, which is definitely reminding Roux of a certain other enormous Gundam, right now --

That's all you can do.

If only Judau was here, Roux thinks, not for the first time; but would even the High Mega Cannon be enough? What if it wasn't, and a devouring horror fell upon him? But there is instead a question as the world seems to be sparkling faster and higher.

A dark question, a shadow-question.

WHAT IS BORN OF SADNESS

The smartgun fires and --

Does Roux see it? Or is it the Strike Zeta? Both? Roux starts to try to evade. That's a hell of a sentence, and not very decisive, but it's true. Starts: the Strike Zeta's AMBAC and thrusters all smash forwards for a moment, moving her to the left. That means that what might have slashed across the cockpit - or the center mass of the suit - instead smashes through the right leg, mostly below the knee actuator. On its way, it carves an irregular rhomboid in the arm material. Red and amber warnings scream.

A boy screams. A different boy. The war is spreading - reality itself seems to be cracking. Roux stares at the Banshee, her eyes wide, and --

Even as everything is rapidly evolving towards pure-dee shit and chaos and horror, Roux stares at the NT-D Banshee and something in the back of her head clicks. "That's what they did," Roux breathes to herself. "That's what they tried to do. That thing may have been born a Mobile Suit, but it's..."

It's actually, Roux thinks, with a shocked wonder, It's -

At its heart, at its nature, it's a *MAZIN*--

I sure the f hope that doesn't mean I'm about to die, thinks Roux, and much like her vices before, maybe it saves her. The half-crippled arm comes up to grasp the Hyper Mega Launcher from where it had been apportioned, and Roux twists the Gundam around. The foreshortened half leg crooks up -- ablative armor perhaps.

"Do you want an answer, Elpeo, or are you just -- lashing out?" Roux breathes. Her eyes flick round the controls, but everything's as it should be, at least in so far as anything can be right now. She brings up the right arm, crooking the MS's thumb into the trigger guard as it braces downwards. It looks like the tragically mutilated Strike Zeta is clinging to the Hyper Mega Launcher for dear life.

It is.

"Because my answer," Roux says, as she shifts the AMBAC around for fine orientation controlling, following her gut against an enemy she cannot see from this angle,

"Is hope:"

It fires; an incredible shriek of light -- a screaming magenta needle of incineratingly intense megaparticles, streaking towards the lower reaches of the NT-D!

KTS: Roux Louka has activated the Strike Spirit Command.
KTS: Guy Shishioh's EN Barrier activates, negating 500 base damage.
KTS: Guy Shishioh blocks Shelby Korts's Jagd Doga Funnels Pincer Formation, taking 1170 damage!
KTS: Roux Louka has activated the Strike Spirit Command.
KTS: Roux Louka targets Puru-1 with Hyper Mega Launcher Barrage!
KTS: Roux Louka has completed their actions for the round.
KTS: Puru-1 partially guards Roux Louka's Hyper Mega Launcher Barrage, taking 2835 damage!
KTS: Faye Valentine has activated the Alert Spirit Command.
KTS: Faye Valentine successfully evades Lucine Azul's Argen-21 Beam Arbalest Orion Shot
KTS: Michele Luio has activated the Prospect Spirit Command targeting Jona Basta
KTS: Alouette Pommier fails to react to Akane Shinjo's Pass, taking 0 damage!

<Pose Tracker> Faye Valentine has posed.

Faye groans a little, watching the Dianthus spin away from those pursuing missiles.

It's such a pain when she has to /work/ for her money.

"Tch. Not bad..."

The mobile suit's weapon roars, and Faye actually lets out a little /yelp/ that, thanks to the way she's leaning REAL HARD on the control console, accidentally broadcasts over comms. The Red Tail does manage to skip away, but Faye is alternating between an embarrassed red and a terrified blanch at the shot whizzing past her. Not her best look, for sure.

Things with the Phenex are just escalating... Even if she makes it past this girl, is there gonna be enough Phenex left for her to turn it in for the bounty? And what even is the bounty once you divide it between... for a brief second, both Faye's hands come up to her face as she ticks off the number of new pilots on her fingers.

Then, she gives up. Ugh, ugh, ugh!

Right. Blowing off steam. The Red Tail dives in once more, gatling guns thrumming as Faye makes her play at a break-through.

KTS: Faye Valentine has activated the Strike Spirit Command.
KTS: Faye Valentine targets Lucine Azul with Gatling Chase!
KTS: Faye Valentine has completed their actions for the round. 

<Pose Tracker> Rita Bernal has posed.

That's -- my -- sister.

Shozo hears, from the little bird. Her voice is stuttered. So much energy is being exerted by her greater self -- very little is left for the radiant canary. Her movements are jerky, like a lagging computer program.

You -- could -- destroy --

It's almost an explanation -- until Shozo wraps his arms around the little bird, and begins to cry. Glimmering gold against his hands, the bird looks up at him gently.

Reality B R E A K S--

And the golden bird is vanishes, turning to incorporeal ash in Shozo's hand. Even that ash, after a moment, will disappear.

The Phenex herself, still grappling with her sister, holds true. Nothing matters more than this. Her sister. Her sister! She won't let go, not after everything -- everything is her fault!

But desperation isn't enough. The Banshee's seizing throws off the Phenex and Da Xukong alike, the Phenex letting out a sound between a human wail and an injured bird's cry. Rita's grasp on the machine wavers, for just a moment, and it flickers out of sight -- allowing it to dodge the Banshee's fire. A small mercy.

Trapped in the Narrative's grasp, Yuliana's wave of Void strikes the Gundam as though it were a physical force, throwing her back to slam against one of the walls of the cage. Even her eyelights flicker out, dark. Ujico's voice reaches the Phenex, echoing from the comms into an empty cockpit. If she could, she would answer. The Light of the resonant plane is extinguished. The Gundam is empty, floating lifeless.

Despite everything, a splinter of the Phenex's Beloved watches. Her second self is occupied, but she will always watch over her Bonded Gundam. Tears sparkle in her eyes, falling invisibly like so much starlight. How could it have come to this? Is this the end of their story -- of the world's story?

Until.

Zoltan's hated, cackling voice rips through her sorrow. Anger and determination are reserved for her greater self within the Phenex, now nullified, but despite everything.

Despite everything!

I HATE YOU SO MUCH! ALL OF THIS IS YOUR FAULT!

Rita Bernal yells, screams at Zoltan. Her voice breaks with tears and rage. Incandescent, her spirit shines brilliant green, then hotter, hotter, until it shines pure white against reality itself.

Mystical fire ignites around the Phenex's shields -- lying outside the Narrative's prismatic cage. Life returns to them, though the Phenex herself is still dark and limp.

EVERYTHING! YOU DID ALL OF THIS! YOU DID THIS TO ME! YOU DID IT TO JONA, AND MICHELE AND /MY SISTER/!

With a scream of fury, Rita stomps one of her feet (against nothing) and clenches her fists, thrusting them down toward her waist. Her head tilts back, and in her blind anger, one of the Phenex's wings rises up to SOAR at Zoltan. The other twirls in place, aligning itself then striking at one of the instruments caging the Phenex, trying to free the Gundam.

Let me GO, Jona!

Rita screams and cries, sinking down to her knees and covering her face with her hands. This little splinter of the softer half, the human side of Rita Bernal -- the child who sacrificed herself for humanity -- simply cannot bear anymore.

KTS: Rita Bernal targets Zoltan Akkanen with Phenex Kite Shield Dual Strike!
KTS: Rita Bernal targets Jona Basta with Phenex Kite Shield Dual Strike!
KTS: Rita Bernal targets Shozo with Pass!
KTS: Rita Bernal targets Puru-1 with Pass!
 KTS: Rita Bernal has completed their actions for the round.

<Pose Tracker> Puru-1 has posed.

        Lina fires, the massive beam of energy striking the Banshee's I-Field of its shield, a blue glow erupting to absorb the majority of its impact. With a flash of thrusters, the Relion will find the Banshee looming right in its face as if it were a child on the playground that just shoved another over in the sandbox. DONT CARE DONT CARE DONT CARE it echoes, mockingly, as the plates of its Gauntlet descend sinking down into her Relion, and trying to shred it to pieces in a single motion with that horrid vibrating claw. M I N E

        Space distorts and cracks around the Banshee, and Shozo may see it looking not at the Ace Robot, but right at him, like its staring right into his soul instead. The red light spills over, and abruptly the Banshee just isn't there. Instead its right up in the Ace Robot's face, the Banshee brings out that claw of interlocking plates and its awful golden talons. Shozo might not hear it, the burst of static on the Psychic plane, but wicked laughter rakes across space like static as it emits a single word to anyone who has even the slightest touch of sensitivity.

        P L A Y

        The claw reaches out to try and crush the Robot's head without the slightest hint of mercy, a child burning ants with a magnifying glass. And in this moment of childish cruelty.

        Roux answers, with hope. HOPE She will certainly feel none from the Banshee. HOPE There are no positive emotions to be felt from it at all, as if all that vibrant, reckless joy were stripped away, even her face. HOPE It twists as that shriek of light burns across it, its blue thrusters firing but in that moment as the incinerating mega particles streak across it, burning away plates of Psycoframe.

                                W H Y W H Y W H Y
                                W H Y D I D Y O U

        Mid-barrage Puru-1 does not see the Da Xukong coming. Does not feel it. Silence forms, cutting off the psychic static into Roux's brain before it can finish that feeling. She might have sworn it was grief though. A tremor runs through it as the mobile suit lifts its head as if to howl at its own helplessness shrieking silently into the void. Its thrusters fire erratically, as it tries to move forward and away.

        It cannot find the extent of its influence that boundary. The suit spasms in that constant fit, and eventually it helplessly shakes in place. There is nothing the sensitive can feel in the moment, nothing at all. However, one would have to not be paying attention to not notice the silent wails of a lost child.

KTS: Jona Basta blocks Rita Bernal's Phenex Kite Shield Dual Strike, taking 2580 damage!
KTS: Puru-1 has activated the Accel Spirit Command and Has Engaged with Lina Lombardi
KTS: Puru-1 targets Lina Lombardi with Armed Armor VN Catch and Kill!
KTS: Puru-1 targets Shozo with Armed Armor VN Crush!
KTS: Rita Bernal has activated the Resupply Spirit Command targeting Zoltan Akkanen
KTS: Puru-1 targets Roux Louka with Pass!
KTS: Puru-1 targets Yuliana Kafim with Pass!
KTS: Puru-1 has completed their actions for the round.
KTS: Yuliana Kafim nullifies Zoltan Akkanen's defensive abilities.
KTS: Lina Lombardi has activated the Alert Spirit Command.
KTS: Lina Lombardi has activated the Alert Spirit Command.
KTS: Lina Lombardi has activated the Alert Spirit Command.
KTS: Lina Lombardi retreats from the attack!
KTS: Puru-1 enervates Lina Lombardi, reducing her Morale significantly.
KTS: Puru-1 anchors Lina Lombardi, forcing her into close range.
KTS: Lina Lombardi fails to react to Puru-1's Armed Armor VN Catch and Kill, taking 6696 damage!
KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Puru-1's Hands Meant For Holding activates, causing Deject!
KTS: Lina Lombardi has been defeated!

<Pose Tracker> Jona Basta has posed.

The Narrative B-Packs is sent reeling from the Phenex's desperate attempt at breaking free of the barrier, its glowing light piercing through its cage of manmade energy, even as its wing batters the Gundam. Even so, the Phenex remains trapped, although the valiant efforts of one of its Armed Armors starts to chip and crack at the barrier's strength.

Yet despite the suffering its pilot must be feeling, there's no indicator of the organic component within, the screaming now replaced by an eerie silence, as the B-Packs' pilot has shrieked their vocal chords raw and bloody. Even the attack of Shozo's Ace Robot does little to elicit a reaction out of the B-Packs, the NT-D augmented unit weathering the space-time shockwave with minimal damage.

As the Phenex, still reeling from the Psyco Field's birdcage, seeks its balance once more, the Narrative's NT-D shines brighter, a star of destruction alighted on earth, pulling the very heavens down to its level. Seething hatred finds a voice and surges forth towards the psychically sensitive on the battlefield.

You are a mistake, Newtype. A witch to be burned, a mutant to be killed, an unclean existence to be purged from this world.

Such thoughts emanate outwards from the core of the Narrative, Jona's consciousness now subsumed and drowned out by the core directives of the NT-D program. Did Michele Luio truly realize what she had done?

If one chooses to look beneath the callous cruelty of the NT-D's intentions, the barest remnant of Jona surfaces itself, shackled in extreme pain, debilitated by both his present suffering and the desperately drowned trauma of his life welling forth without limit.

"Why? Why? WHY?!"

"Rita, Michele, where are you?"

"It hurts so much...why do I have to hurt again?"

"Nngh...urgh...RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"

Anger, self-loathing, guilt, horror, and a veritable cocktail of negative emotions provides fuel for the NT-D's fire, a lifetime of mistakes and poor decisions by Jona and the Miracle Children culminating in the here and now.

The Narrative cares not for these things. It is a machine, and its programming has now changed. All it sees before it is a foe to be destroyed with extreme prejudice. To destroy the terrifying unknown that is unlimited possibility before it infects the rest of humankind with its eldritch hopes. Glowing blindingly scarlet, the B-Packs rears back and roars, the shriek of metal and voice grating through the air. The Psyco-Field Funnels race forth, firing rapidly, relentlessly at the Phenex, still trapped in its barrier, while the Narrative races forth with its beam sabers drawn, aiming to rip and tear at the golden bird like a predator hewing down its quarry.

KTS: Shozo partially guards Rita Bernal's Pass, taking 0 damage!
KTS: Jona Basta has activated the Strike Spirit Command.
KTS: Roux Louka fails to react to Puru-1's Pass, taking 0 damage!
KTS: Jona Basta has activated the Strike Spirit Command.
KTS: Shozo rushes into the attack!
KTS: [Spirit Defense] Shozo's Avidya activates, and its spirit endures.
KTS: Puru-1 enervates Shozo, reducing its Morale significantly.
KTS: Puru-1 rattles Shozo, making its next maneuvers more difficult.
KTS: Shozo partially guards Puru-1's Armed Armor VN Crush, taking 7080 damage!
KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Puru-1's Hands Meant For Holding activates, causing Deject!
KTS: Shozo has been defeated!
KTS: Puru-1 has engaged Shozo!
KTS: Jona Basta targets Rita Bernal with NT-D: Destroy Possibility!
KTS: Jona Basta has completed their actions for the round.
KTS: Rita Bernal has activated the Foresee Spirit Command.
KTS: Zoltan Akkanen has activated the Alert Spirit Command.
KTS: Zoltan Akkanen fails to Evade Rita Bernal's Phenex Kite Shield Dual Strike, taking 4730 damage!
KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Rita Bernal's Destined Meeting activates, causing Sparkle!
KTS: Rita Bernal rushes into the attack!
KTS: Rita Bernal partially guards Jona Basta's NT-D: Destroy Possibility, taking 7455 damage!
KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Jona Basta's Vigilante activates, causing Nullify!
KTS: Lucine Azul has activated the Alert Spirit Command.
KTS: Lucine Azul has activated the Alert Spirit Command.
KTS: Faye Valentine rattles Lucine Azul, making her next maneuvers more difficult.
KTS: Lucine Azul fails to evade Faye Valentine's Gatling Chase, taking 4275 damage!

<Pose Tracker> Liam 7-020 has posed.

        He missed. Thank God, he missed. On some level Liam knows Alouette's got his number, but that... doesn't terrify him as much as it should. What /does/ terrify him is the sight of the Phenex going limp within that cage. "RITA!" Harrier-2 bellows, his attenton momentarily drawn away from his foe.

        Mistake. He hears Alouette's cry, and knows what's coming next. Liam takes a hand off the right stick and slams down the emergency mag-lock release. The clamps holding the shield in place detach with a clunk-clunk that reverberates through the machine. The CGUE jets up and back as the Broken Phantom punches clean through its floating shield, throwing bits of armor like a drill boring through wood. A moment later, some of the ammo cooks off, ripping apart what's left with a silent bloom of flame.

        Liam is a perceptive man, but in a melee /this/ big, with this many machines tumbling around in an open-brawl, anyone would miss things. Things like a certain mechanized Ultraman, with what looks like a young boy nearby, talking normally in open vacuum.

        He does not miss the way space R I P S O P E N

        And the CGUE's head IMMEDIATELY turns to focus its wounded, glaring mono-eye at the scorpion-machine conveying Yuliana Kafim into battle. Except she's nowhere near it. The way it FEELS is entirely different than the Dragon-rift at the Macross, and God dammit, Liam thinks, this isn't--

        "<Harrier-1, Temperance--unit condition worsening.>" And then...

        Alouette. An operator. Is that--

        "You LEAVE THEM ALONE--!" Harrier-2 snaps, at Yuliana.

        He makes no further attempt to damage the Guardienne, and instead, turns his back, and opens the throttle. The damaged CGUE accelerates towards the Narrative, the Banshee, and Rita's prison. Its sword gleams. If Rita can't break out of there herself, he'll have to /cut/ her out. If he can.

        'Harrier-2' is protective of Alouette, and Akane, and trusts Alouette not to shoot him in the back. Is it really...?

        But what's he doing here? Why is he helping Rita?

KTS: Liam 7-020 targets Alouette Pommier with Pass!
KTS: Liam 7-020 has completed their actions for the round.

<Pose Tracker> Shozo has posed.

The Ace Robot had been expecting this -- his body had already taken too much damage from the engagement, and despite the harrowing potency of the hellish burst, his body had contained most of it. As the Banshee's claws closed around his head, he reached up to throw his boy to the relative safety of open space -- this was not the first time he'd welcomed oblivion, and it would not be the last.

Shozo stares, horrified, as the CRUNCH of the Banshee's claws meet one another, the Robot shattering into particles of orange light in a violent explosion. He could feel Mister's presence back in the Battle Nizer already, his consciousness reforming in his purgatory already, but... Shozo watched the Banshee fly away to resume the battle, his fists balling up in rage.

And though he had been taken out of the fight, an overwhelming sensation of /dread/ began to fill the space, as though the eyes of something /horrible/ had just focused on here and now.

<Pose Tracker> Guy Shishioh has posed.

The pilot of the Jagd Doga calls out.

"HAHP!" Guy calls out, the Protect Wall catching much of the next spray of beam fire. His eyes cut to the side, GaoGaiGar's sensors telling him of the Phenex's predicament.

In theory, he's supposed to count ALL of that as fulfilling his side of the operation. He doesn't have the manpower to break it off now, even if his muddied impression of the Limpid Channel soars high with waves of duress. And Akane...did someone open channel, there? A quick text beam to the operator desk, 'Akane?'

Hana answers him out loud: "We'll take care of her," quietly. "Someone spoke to her. I didn't see who."

Tch. A secondsignal, also silent, reiterating the Gatling Driver call. Akane already had it set up, so a moment later, Hana clenches her hands together and calls: "EMIIIISSSION!"

GaoGaiGar swoops back from the Jagd Doga, as a Mirror Particle-covered light fires across the shoal zone on a docking course. "Stop me...I guess that's the resolve I have to meet, is it? Alright, then!"

Guy rushes up to catch up to it, dock with it, and then, jam it toward the Jagd Doga! It's...some kind of corkscrew-tipped screwdriver!?

"GATLING DRIIIIIIVEEEEEEEEEEEEEER!" Guy roars, and the Gatling Driver ignites, biting into space itself and TWISTING in a way that sheers and tears and bends. It's a specific Kit, one meant to harm mostly the outer edge of the target. Which is to say, it won't turn the pilot inside out, but it might blow up the arms and legs.

KTS: Guy Shishioh targets Shelby Korts with Broken Gatling Driver!
KTS: Guy Shishioh has completed their actions for the round.

<Pose Tracker> Lina Lombardi has posed.

         Lina coldly responds to Michele's offer. "You tell me everything you've found out about Felix Lombardi, and then we're done. Bet you're not even a Newtype anyway." She shuts off her comms, trying to squint back her tears.

         "LINAAAAAAAA!"

         Mousetrap's cry brings her back to reality as the Banshee is staring her right in the face. The world stops as the gauntlet comes down on her.

         Her blood is cold

         She hasn't felt terror like this since Torrington, and even moreso now with her damn brain

        Every muscle in her body is aching, primed to run
                  run
                           run

         FUCKING RUN ALREADY!!!

         The world starts again and Lina slams her controls back, the ReLion beginning a retreat before

         down it comes.

         The ReLion spins out of control, every single alert screaming at Lina as she braces herself in the cockpit. The last of the unit's power activates the side thrusters to stabilize, and then the entire thing goes dead.

         "Lina, are you okay?! Hold tight, I'll send recovery!"

         Lina's head stung and her vision went red. She wearily pulled off her helmet, her hair falling down onto her face, staining it with the blood that was flowing down. It takes her entire being to not empty her stomach into her lap. Dammit, I had gotten over my spacesickness...

         Rita...

         I'm sorry.

KTS: Lina Lombardi's Lion 500 has been disabled.

<Pose Tracker> Yuliana Kafim has posed.

        Yuliana replies to the Yamatsuri, on wide-band radio: "I am the Key and the Gate. I am the Queen at the Threshold. I am the Oracle to the Void which awaits you. My name... is Yuliana Kafim." Her eyes narrow; the sneer in her voice is /audible./ "Would you prefer not to see his hand in the work?" She issues, archly. "Would you consider it a kindness were I to let her stumble blindly forward until some crass scheme crushes her whole? I care little, either way, but for how the debris would interrupt /my/ intent."

        And just what /is/ her intent?

        Does she mean to destroy the Banshee?

        Or --

        Yuliana sees Jona, in the throes of NT-D, still going so ferociously for Rita. Her hands -- all four of them, if one counts those horrible tendrils curling around from her back to grasp the too-many levers beside her pilot's seat -- loosen, for a moment, against their controls. "..."

        The crest at Da Xukong's head lowers down, clack... clack... CLACK.

        With it, so too does that horrific aura recede back in towards her, curled around her melee range again. The scorpion-wanzer pauses, on an asteroid, for just a moment.

        And then it springs, again, to close the distance between itself and the Banshee. That struggling machine, with barely any room to breathe, will find itself claimed by Yuliana's influence again too, too quickly --

        As Da Xukong latches onto its back, tail curling around the Gundam's neck in what would be a chokehold to anyone living.

        "You're pretty strong," she remarks, to the dead girl inside.

        "Even so, you're coming with me."

        As she grasps her Cleave Axe in her hands, and brings it firmly down on the very thrusters which help the Banshee weave about so quickly. "I won't let you go!"

KTS: Yuliana Kafim fails to react to Puru-1's Pass, taking 0 damage!
KTS: Yuliana Kafim has activated the Strike Spirit Command.
KTS: Yuliana Kafim has activated the Valor Spirit Command.
KTS: Yuliana Kafim targets Puru-1 with MULS-P Cleave Axe Topple Strike!
KTS: Yuliana Kafim has completed their actions for the round.
KTS: Puru-1 fails to react to Rita Bernal's Pass, taking 0 damage!
KTS: Shelby Korts has activated the Wall Spirit Command.
KTS: Shelby Korts rushes into the attack!
KTS: Guy Shishioh rattles Shelby Korts, making her next maneuvers more difficult.
KTS: Shelby Korts partially guards Guy Shishioh's Broken Gatling Driver, taking 6120 damage!
KTS: Guy Shishioh has engaged Shelby Korts!
KTS: Guy Shishioh completes the Formation attack!
KTS: Puru-1 has activated the Wall Spirit Command.
KTS: Puru-1 has activated the Wall Spirit Command.
KTS: Yuliana Kafim rattles Puru-1, making their next maneuvers more difficult.
KTS: Puru-1 blocks Yuliana Kafim's MULS-P Cleave Axe Topple Strike, taking 2650 damage!
KTS: Yuliana Kafim has engaged Puru-1!

<Pose Tracker> Zoltan Akkanen has posed.

That barrier of nullification filters through with a lurch in his body; To be silenced, to have the creeping itches pinging throughout his head disappear into the whispers of the silent cosmos. Nothing there inside his head but himself, the instinctual cold sweat. Down to the Physical Realm, down to nothing but this sack of flesh and bone and machinery and isolation.

...It is barely noted within the fires of one's burning soul, of a man so full of himself, so vindicated on his eternal feelings, so riding on the high of someone who has accidentally given him the keys to the mothership with full license to do as he pleased.

What else could be this feeling of vindication, of seeing some deity, some out of control thing be so, so, so afraid of him? For all the wrong reasons, he felt he was only in the right.

"ALL MY FAULT!? ALL OF IT!?" He's barking back. Biting back. The vision they shared. The one this Phenex stored in her soul. This was what she had? This was what she feared? "YOU KNOW AS DAMN WELL AS I! HUMANITY GOT THEIR SECOND CHANCE AND LOOK AT WHERE WE ENDED UP!"

The emotions thrumming, washing over, made reality. The wave of fear, the onslaught of sheer, blind desparation before the physical wing smashed into the Sinanju Stein. Knocked about, that arm crumpling as it took the full force of a thrashing bird attempting to free itself.

"IF YOU'RE SAYING IT COMES TO PASS, THEN LET IT! WE SCREWED UP ENOUGH TIMES! WE HAD THAT SECOND CHANCE! AND AFTER A FEW YEARS, YOU SEE IT! YOU SEE IT, DON'T YOU!?" Grasping at that golden wing, the servos in the joints working overtime. No. Not here. Not now. Accept it.

The thrusters fire into a luminous blaze, streaking towards the Phenex. The free arm. Reaching back, snagging at the handle of that beamsword.

Out. On. The purple beam coalesing to life as that arm swung up, hanging for those precious few seconds as the Silver Comet closed the distance.

And a swing down.

"PHENEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEX!"

KTS: Zoltan Akkanen has activated the Valor Spirit Command.
KTS: Zoltan Akkanen targets Rita Bernal with MSN-06S Sinanju Stein Beam Saber All-Out Combo!
KTS: Zoltan Akkanen has completed their actions for the round.
KTS: Rita Bernal blocks Zoltan Akkanen's MSN-06S Sinanju Stein Beam Saber All-Out Combo, taking 2760 damage!
KTS: Your unit's HP stands at 6540
KTS: Zoltan Akkanen has engaged Rita Bernal!

<Pose Tracker> Akane Shinjo has posed.

"Y-Yuliana Kafim..." Akane takes note of the name for later -- or maybe she's just stumbling through repeating everything she's given. Either way.

Akane reaches over to the comms, when Guy sends a text message rather than an audible one. It's... easier -- he remembered. The fact that he remembered at all starts to pull her out of her daze -- she taps out a, 'Scorpion wanzer,' and then a moment later, 'bad feeling about Ultra-type.'

Two more. 'Banshee... fingers... in my head.' 'Alexis involved?'

She breathes. In, out. In. Out. In... out.

Right. She's still 3G's junior operator. It's okay to rely on everyone else -- but she does need to do her own work, too.

... She gets herself into the groove of backup monitoring. It's fine to get this experience, too.

<Pose Tracker> Lucine Azul has posed.

        To say that Faye has an advantage because Lucine is distracted underestimates Faye's skills (and desperation); as Faye's gatling guns fire their rounds, Lucine fails to slip from spray of metal.

        < Harrier-1, Temperance--unit condition worsening. >

        "Liam...!" He got roped into this because of her. His connections to Rita are similar, yes, but could it be that much of a choice, the way she came up with their plan?

        "...." She outright abandons Faye, turning her back on every nerve in her body telling her to keep continuing with Faye.

        Liam will see the Dianthus seemingly float down by his side like a bird of prey hovering to land on a power line.

        Over the his tightband is a single message. < ".... I love you, Liam." >

        A refirmation of their bond, and one Rita had eagerly watched over. The glaive is taken out.

        If Faye attacks, Lucine won't mind a bit. She knows it's not personal.

KTS: Lucine Azul targets Faye Valentine with Pass!
KTS: Lucine Azul has completed their actions for the round.
KTS: Ujico Issa retreats from the attack!
KTS: Trevor Teach anchors Ujico Issa, forcing her into close range.
KTS: Ujico Issa fails to react to Trevor Teach's Scissor Claw, taking 5800 damage!

<Pose Tracker> Lucine Azul has posed.

        To say that Faye has an advantage because Lucine is distracted underestimates Faye's skills (and desperation); as Faye's gatling guns fire their rounds, Lucine fails to slip from spray of metal.

        < Harrier-1, Temperance--unit condition worsening. >

        "Liam...!" He got roped into this because of her. His connections to Rita are similar, yes, but could it be that much of a choice, the way she came up with their plan?

        "...." She outright abandons Faye, turning her back on every nerve in her body telling her to keep continuing with Faye.

        Liam will see the Dianthus seemingly float down by his side like a bird of prey hovering to land on a power line.

        Over the his tightband is a single message. < ".... I love you, Liam." >

        A refirmation of their bond, and one Rita had eagerly watched over. The glaive is taken out, and the Dianthus swings it down against the cage repeatly.

        If Faye attacks, Lucine won't mind a bit. She knows it's not personal.

<Pose Tracker> Roux Louka has posed.

"Because..."

"Because I was weak!" Roux answers the NT-D Banshee.

"Because I couldn't get there in time. Because maybe, I was jealous of you, so I didn't try," Roux says more quietly.

"Because I failed you. I don't know if I'm any stronger now. Maybe I'm just older... fossilized. Maybe gravity ensnared me, just not the gravity they always think of..."

"But..."

"We remember you," Roux says. "We could feel that you were there... whether that was just something in our hearts... you're here, now. Elpeo..."

"We..."

The passage of the Da Xukong, and the Key within it, disrupts Roux's reverie. Probably for the best. Her Mobile Suit is pretty messed up. Even if there are at least semi-friendly people in the area, it's best not to just *sit* there -- even if you're having a feeling. And without that sense of empathy, Roux feels a rankling of rage at what Yuliana is saying.

She's going to take her. She's going to take her to some laboratory like the VERY ONE we --

Roux's eyes widen, because there always was more to Roux's style than her intuition.

The Hyper Mega Launcher is bulled back into place as the Strike Zeta begins to drift aggressively. Deeper into that feeling-field of horrible isolation. That infuriating distance. That sensation. Roux stares forwards, but other than some AMBAC jittering, the Mobile Suit is silent. Perhaps the power ran out or something. Intact, but perhaps recovering. Except that it had drawn a weapon beforehand, and Roux tacks forwards, towards the NT-D Banshee.

Because...

THONK! Yuliana might be delighted here, who knows. After all, having the Strike Zeta's wreck COLLIDE with the Banshee might be the perfect advantage she means! Except --

(Now that the suits are in physical contact, Roux, trying not to think about the psychoframe material, says quietly, "Elpeo, if you're in there, blow off the anchors. Open the hatch if you can. I'll get you out of there. You don't have to stay with us, but you don't have to stay here--" The physical miracle of Touch Talk... a secure way of communicating. Very hard to intercept...)

-- that it's not a wreck --

And the Beam Saber erupts to life as Roux tries to start carving the cockpit *OUT*.

("Because even if you hate me... you never deserved any of this--!!")

<Pose Tracker> Alouette Pommier has posed.

"Alouette Pommier. It would be rude not to return an introduction." She knows the name Yuliana Kafim, she's made the news far too many times. But she's very surprised to see her here. The venom slowly leaves her voice. "I suppose my suspicion must appear unfounded.. she's not doing so well right now and has requested some alone time in the emergency quarters." Alouette explains, about Akane's condition. "You're not wrong, that is very helpful to know, so thank you." It's not meant to be unkind, that gesture of appreciation. So Alexis /does/ have a hand in the Banshee's activities... it wasn't a wild jump to conclusions. "On the other hand, she'll never be alone.. we won't let her story, or her courage end like that. We'll protect her and watch her back... just like they did for me." She continues, resolutely. "That is all. Thank you for your time, Mrs. Kafim."

...Right, back to the battle. Or perhaps not, as Harrier-2 breaks rank, emotionally stirred by Yuliana's words towards her and Akane. ...Liam? She makes good on his ceasefire, and lowers her own weapons. "...Be careful, Harrier-2." She transmits to the C-GUE as it accelerates towards the Phenex.

KTS: Roux Louka has activated the Focus Spirit Command.
KTS: Alouette Pommier targets Liam 7-020 with Pass!
KTS: Alouette Pommier has completed their actions for the round.
KTS: Roux Louka targets Puru-1 with Beam Saber - Feigned Failure!
KTS: Roux Louka has completed their actions for the round.
KTS: Alouette Pommier has activated the Rouse Spirit Command targeting Guy Shishioh
KTS: Alouette Pommier has activated the Attune Spirit Command targeting Guy Shishioh
KTS: Alouette Pommier has activated the Trust Spirit Command targeting Liam 7-020

<Pose Tracker> Ujico Issa has posed.

        "Virtuoso of the Vestal virgins?" Ujico asks, because she has way more experience reading about the Ancient World than she does hearing rumors about space pirates.

        It connects. But Ujico can feel some resistance through the feedback, the scattering of her own beam weaponry against her Gundam's palm. What's revealed beneath Isadore's visor when she lets go is not the gaping hole she has come to expect.

        ...a face...?

        Space lobster??

        Palisade attempts to jet backwards, but Trevor is too quick once more. The scissor claw closes on Palisade's arm, the sheer strength of it wrenching into the machine's elbow joint. "--Let go!"

        Isn't it supposed to be, the loser pays for the meal?

        "Rita's my friend! She's" Really kind. Kind to me. Kind to everyone. "She's a good person! They're hurting her!"

        She can't get away! She needs to go help Rita!!

        Palisade responds to Ujico's panic and frustration, the lenses in its shoulders and chest blinking open as the GN Drive churns higher and harder. The gleam of three points of emerald light are Trevor's warning to--

        "I SAID LET ME GO!"

KTS: Ujico Issa has activated the Strike Spirit Command.
KTS: Ujico Issa has activated the Strike Spirit Command.
KTS: Puru-1 has activated the Strike Spirit Command.
KTS: Ujico Issa targets Trevor Teach with Big Mega Screw-You Laser!
KTS: Ujico Issa has completed their actions for the round.
KTS: Puru-1 fails to Parry Roux Louka's Beam Saber - Feigned Failure, taking 3520 damage!
KTS: Roux Louka has engaged Puru-1!

<Pose Tracker> Shelby Korts has posed.

        THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT
        You are a mistake, Newtype...
        M I N E
        Shelby...?!

        She flinches; there is no way she wouldn't. She can't help it. Rita is in pain. Yuliana is somehow even more of a noticable vortex of psychic Wrongness; Michele is ... dealing with something. Everything is -- just -- wrong. And her head...

        her

        A light appears in the distance; a rush of movement that takes form as a giant ... cork-driver?! appears before the GaoGaiGar, docking with the weapon and then blazing toward her at all speed. Shelby lets out a sharp noise as she draws in a deep breath, rocking the Jagd Doga backward as it stows the beam gatling--

        "... sorry, Anser..."

        -- and then barreling toward the gigantic machine, presenting the shield arm and using it's surface to help slide it across the length of the weapon-shaft. Metal screams in agony as the shield-- and a good chunk of the arm-- is torn up, armor plating and lower shell and wiring and all kinds of tech-innards spray sparks and light; the cacophany of sound rattles the emptiness of space in Shelby's ears and helps -- even if briefly -- drown out the excess noise.

        The free hand is now holding an odd device-- a heat knife and beam saber, almost bolted together in a haphazard, strange way. Thrusting the knife forward, Shelby attempts to stab it into the GaoGaiGar, for as shallow as it might be... and then the thrusters flare as it ignites the beam saber and attempts to climb up and away at an angle, pulling both blades up and out like she's trying to tear a massive open wound in the armor!

KTS: Trevor Teach has activated the Alert Spirit Command.
KTS: Shelby Korts targets Guy Shishioh with Hybrid Armor Splitter!
KTS: Shelby Korts has completed their actions for the round.
KTS: Trevor Teach has activated the Alert Spirit Command.
KTS: Trevor Teach fails to evade Ujico Issa's Big Mega Screw-You Laser, taking 4725 damage!
KTS: Ujico Issa roots her unit, coming to a standstill and leaving her vulnerable.
KTS: Faye Valentine successfully avoids Lucine Azul's Pass

<Pose Tracker> Faye Valentine has posed.

The Dianthus... turns aside. It focuses its energy on freeing that golden bird.

Faye's ticket out.

That little golden bird of happiness she'd followed all the way here...

But there's something about the way it moves. About who it chooses to protect. It turns Faye's stomach. It's so... sappy. It's so stupid. Acting like that... you could die. And for what? Ugh.

The Red Tail hovers, indecisive.

Then a nice, bright flare bursts from the rear of the machine.

"So, how bad was it?"

"Oh, stuff it. I just don't like fighting kids, that's all. And... too many folks stirring the pot. No way the payout's as good as they say. Anything that still pays good when you split it eight ways is a scam."

"...so, what, I'm supposed to let you crash on my couch again? Use up all our hot water?"

"...you know there wasn't anything good in that fridge, anyway."

"Like hell there wasn't! I saved up for a week for that lobster!"

"And it was like a day from going bad! Honestly, I saved your dumb ass! Ugh. I'm heading back. Clear the landing."

"...fine. But it's my ship, you remember that. And you owe me another lobster!"

KTS: Guy Shishioh partially guards Shelby Korts's Hybrid Armor Splitter, taking 2205 damage!
KTS: Shelby Korts has engaged Guy Shishioh!
KTS: Faye Valentine targets Lucine Azul with Pass!
KTS: Faye Valentine has completed their actions for the round.

<Pose Tracker> Christina MacKenzie has posed.

"You'll give /me/ a warning? You're the one that needs a warning!" Chris pressed the locked door panel, and knowing it was useless, smashed her fist on the door until it throbbed. "You're playing with lives but acting like a child! Blasting each other into debris! Risking soldiers lives for WHAT! You bring /that monster/ in like it's some ace in the hole? You have no idea what she is--what she isn't! That machine is covered in innocent blood, and by yanking it around like a dog, you think you have any idea whose pawn you are?! RITA'S pain, OUR pain, even that MONSTER'S pain, what right do YOU have to bleed us while YOU" --BANG-- "SIT" --BANG-- "SAFE" --BANG

Her determination is only rising, but both her body's endurance and the innervation of that golden light are fading, fast. Her fist slides down the door, her grip slides down the IV pole. No. She has to push...push through this, too!

"How dare..." Heavier breathing, unintended pauses. "No different... Than Om! Vist! Toto! Flanagan! Devi! All the fucking same!"

She raised the IV pole, rearing back to hammer it into the door. It's just a steel pole, steel will, weak grip, poor stance. She has no mega particles, no bullets, no miracles, save for the one keeping her upright.

"LUUUUIIIIIIOOOOO!!"

--C R A S H

...But even if the door yields inwards, only silence lies on the outside.

<Pose Tracker> Trevor Teach has posed.

"What?? No!" Trevor squawks like a distressed penguin, "Vultures! Vestan VULTURES! We're salvagers! Who live out near VESTA, THE ASTEROID." TREVOR IS NOT A VIRGIN. Probably.

As far as... anyone else knows.

...

"Sorry lass, I've got a job to do here one way or another. And seein' as you've already scratched me up some, I've got to come away from this in the black or else I'll be pretty SOL. So--" He can't let go. Moreover...

That entire mess... /Everything/ over there feels like such bad news that he'd feel guilty about letting /anyone/ run off into it.

"--Eh?" Something is getting bright. That light, it's-- it's-- "Oh," he says dumbly, "You've got a chest blaster."

• FREEEEEEM*
  

The Isadore is caught in a column of blinding light. When it finally clears, the piratical mobile suit is knocked clear, its green-and-white paintjob scorched with quantum fire. "Nnnngh," Trevor grunts, "Even I can tell, there ain't nothing good in that direction lass." He grabs his controls tight, the Isadore responds by unholstering something that looks a /lot/ like a crossbow. It takes aim...

And fires...

The weapon launches a spike that splits into three sections, each one linked by a crackling arc of electrical energy. A web of lightning to catch a fleeing space lobster. "Sorry, if I'm a villain for doin' this-- but then again, I'm a pirate! So this is kind of my thing! Gahahaha!"

KTS: Trevor Teach targets Ujico Issa with Plasma Leader Bolt!
KTS: Trevor Teach has completed their actions for the round.

<Pose Tracker> Rita Bernal has posed.

Jona suffers. The Narrative uses him -- so terribly, just as so many others have. His brain turns on him, and the NT-D feeds on his despair, looping it into Jona's soul again, and again, and again. A singular golden wing takes the Narrative's attack, snapping soundly in half.

This... it can't be meant to be this way...

Zoltan claws at the Phenex's wing, making the shield glow blinding-white with anger. The monstrous pilot screams back at Rita, the two locked in a hateful battle in two planes. Their spirits resonate with a shared, fever-pitch emotion, light sparkling between them, reaching out--

No!

Rita shouts, rejecting the Bond trying to form, standing at once. With renewed fervor, she /wrenches/ her shield away from Zoltan, just in time to shove it against his weapon, keeping the majority of damage away from the damaged machine.

I won't let you. No matter what you say. I'm going to save everyone!

How can they have almost Bonded? What could /possibly/ resonate in their spirits to allow that? Distracted, Rita covers her face. How can any of this be happening? Nothing is the way it's supposed to be.

I don't care! I don't CARE!

It won't be for nothing. It /can't/ be for nothing.

Zoltan Akkanen!

At last, she names the monster who has haunted her since she was a child. Somehow... it makes him real. It blunts his claws.

Rita takes a breath.

This life isn't all there is.

A familiar mantra echoes out across the battlefield, broadcast to all. Liam and Lucine fly to save the Phenex, their blades slicing into the Narrative's birdcage. Rita's spirit's dims back to a gentle green, shimmering against the stars.

Again and again, we're reborn.

The Phenex's shield batters against the cage-generator. With a flicker, the prismatic barrier vanishes, broken by the love and faith between Liam, Lucine, and Rita.

Golden eyes ignite. The Phenex straightens.

When I'm reborn again...

Open hands reach for the Narrative. Gently, they settle on the Gundam's surface, but within -- shimmering green hands continue, slender and fragile. Free of scars, free of pain, perfected in this spiritual state.

All at once, the NT-D shuts down. Rita caresses Jona's face, wiping bloodstained tears away.

I hope I get to be a bird!

Rita Bernal floats just before him, appearing just as she did the day he lost her. His heart is still too closed for her to communicate with anything but his own memories, but maybe this will be enough. This physical contact, both spiritually and with their Gundams...

"And you, Jona?" She whispers, smiling gently. "Don't you think it's different for Newtypes?"

With one last brush to his cheek, Rita pulls away. She's very weak. She has to return to the Phenex -- and the Phenex /must/ escape. Michele is working with Vist, now. The Phenex cannot meet her sisters. Not yet.

Rita's lingering spirit bursts into a thousand pieces of stardust, a half-dozen birds racing toward each and every combatant. The voice of a young woman echoes in their minds.

For Shelby: I'm sorry. I love you. Thank you for protecting me. Call for me, and I'll answer.

For Alouette: Thank you for sparing my friend. Please be careful. Scary things are happening.

For Roux: Keep fighting. It won't be in vain.

For Lucine: You've given me more than I deserve. I won't ever forget.

For Akane: This isn't your fault. It's mine. Don't forget.

For Lina: You did everything you could. I'm safe. Please, rest and take care of yourself.

For Guy: Your strength will be needed very soon. Be ready.

For Shozo: Be strong. Your path isn't written yet. The love in your heart can save you.

For Liam: Hold her close. Care for yourself. The dreams will be easier if you're together. Thank you, Liam.

For Faye: Try and catch me again someday! Don't forget to chase your own happiness, too.

For Trevor: Valuable salvage can be found directly one sector to the West. It will sell for the most money here, in Side 4.

For Chris: Please, rest. I'm safe. Nothing is more important than your wellbeing.

For Ujico: For Ujico: Thank you for fighting for me. It made all the difference. You'll see me again.

Upon delivering their messages, the birds raise their wings and collapse into shimmering embers.

Michele receives a glimmering image of a child's back, looking up at the sky all alone.

With shuddering, broken movements, the Phenex turns to Yuliana. She has nothing left, but she raises her hands. A heart is made, jerkily -- several of her fingers no longer functioning properly.

Psychic pressure builds around the Phenex. Mystical fire, auroric as the dawn cloaks her in its grace. Her wings settle at her back, broken and shattered, held only by her otherworldly power. For a moment, there is no movement, no sound.

Shattering the quiet, the Phenex races away, accelerating far past what she has yet shown to others in the blink of an eye. Before anything can be done, she vanishes into the distance -- leaving only blue starlight behind her.

<Pose Tracker> Michele Luio has posed.

The door doesn't give in, bang after bang, yet even as Brick prepares to subdue an angry woman, he doesn't need to. She subdued herself.

Michele rises from her chair, and walks over to Chris, opening the door once she confirms she's out cold. She calls Brick to grab her terminal. Chris can't hear her.

"I don't have any right. But this isn't for me. Consider this my twisted penance, a cause I must pursue until I die."

And then, Michele steps over her, moving to head to the bridge, and then to a more secure area where people won't kick down her door.

And as the image crosses her mind, Michele steels her heart more. It was never about her.

It was always about Rita.

<Pose Tracker> Akane Shinjo has posed.

Akane latches onto the Phenex's parting gift like a lifeline, now that she's managed to stabilize herself by halves; she rips herself out of the mire this time, taking the hand by force rather than needing to have it grab her as she falls.

... she's still feeling sick, still panting. But she says, "... I'll -- explain everything, later, if I can. Psychic attack. I -- I need a second..." Her whole body slumps down just a bit, again, as the Phenex departs. She's going to have /so much/ she needs to sort through, at this point...

<Pose Tracker> Lina Lombardi has posed.

         As Lina tries to catch her breath in the floating carcass of her mech, the evidence of her failure to control her stomach splattered onto her normal suit, Rita appears to her.

         I did everything I could.

         I always have.

         It's never enough.

         I'll never be like him.

         "....Ally."

         Her technician's voice returns, the reserve comms compressing and crunching it. "Lina?"

         ".....I'm leaving G-Hound."

<Pose Tracker> Puru-1 has posed.

        The aura recedes just long enough for the Banshee to calm, as if a child had been soothed within, like its beginning to gets its bearings. And then, Da Xukong forces it back into its range of influence. And it begins again, anew, that torturous shaking. The radio of the Banshee crackles erratically with static, and sound. There is sound. Does anyone hear it as the Banshee spasms in its agony as its cut off on the psychic plane? Is there anyone out there who can?

        The Da Xukong latches ahold on its back, and Yuliana declares its coming with her. Even as that shaking arm SWINGS backwards, bearing its shield to crash into the side of the axe, spoiling what should have been a dead on strike to a glancing blow. The force carrying just enough to barely dislodge Da Xukong. The Banshee jerks and twists before finally getting some sense of its bearings.

        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BrMVZCVEnxE

        Roux pours her heart, her soul out, those feelings of eight years of reminiscence and wisdom gained since that First War. Perhaps she's offering now what she couldn't then. Can she hear it? Did they reach them? Roux can't tell, but sometimes what matters is the effort. With Yuliana newly dislodged, she acts, the Strike Zeta flying in so close to the Banshee, upon touch contact, Roux feels the will of the machine.

        It is a chaotic mess of negative feelings in this moment, she can feel it screaming, grief-stricken, and in pain as it reestablishes its connection with the world. There's something deeper though, what is it?

        Her beam saber ignites, and starts cutting towards the cockpit as if to find out, she gets it just inside, just enough that she has hope she might make it. And then that shield gets in the way, just enough, that she's having to force the Beam Saber through the I-Field instead of the cockpit as part of the beam saber just vanishes in the press against the field trying to disperse it. The I-Field is strong, but at this level of contact, its starting to get through.

        Why is she resisting? Does she truly hate Roux that much, the Banshee's crimson optics focus upon her as its thrusters fire, and it starts shoving back against Roux as if to push her away, to get away from Da Xukong.

        DESERVE
        DESERVE
        DESERVE

        The feeling is like a question. Is Roux's sentiment even comprehensible? What did they do? What did Vist do?

        The Phenex suddenly builds that pressure, and abruptly, the Banshee shifts up, breaking the stalemate between her and Roux. It corkscrews as it flies, suddenly shining blue itself, as it screams after the form of the Phenex as it gathers its power.

                 CANT ESCAPE WONT ESCAPE
                 FIND YOU FIND YOU FIND YOU

        Rita will feel the sensation of the Banshee trying to reach out to her Psycoframe again, the reaching of fingers trying to drag them back, the hollow face of that girl, that girl, her orange hair framing despoiled innocence and carved out hollow visage.

        As fast as the Banshee is however, its no contest in the end. The Phenex gets away, and there is this SCREAM of FRUSTRATION RESENTMENT and LONELINESS as its left behind in the cold of space.

        Those trying to chase the Banshee itself will find its trajectory shifting, as it suddenly zig zags erratically across the Shoal Zone. Attempting to locate it within Luio and Co.'s hangars will fail utterly and completely as it will never land where the other mobile suits do.

        It is gone.

<Pose Tracker> Jona Basta has posed.

Jona wakes up with a start. Blood. So much blood. The taste of iron fills his mouth. The wet, clammy texture of it is slowly turning into dry, dusty scabs. He weeps...and then throws up inside his cockpit. Such terrible feelings. Such horrid memories. Dredged up without his consent. The machine consuming even those things to fuel it forward. The hyperventilating begins to slow, as sweat and blood mingle to run off his body in salty, metal, pink rivulets.

We're both monsters, you and I.

Jona shudders even as the NT-D's painful grasp starts to fade into memory. He finally heard her. He heard her voice.

Rita.

Even so, she had once again flown beyond his reach. Would he ever be able to talk to her again? Self-loathing and bitterness wash over him again, as Jona lets out an anguished cry in his cockpit, his vocal chords straining and tearing once again.

Why are we still here? Just to suffer?

The Narrative does not answer, as the two lie there in each other's company. Two monsters. Two parasites. Two weaklings. Borne through space and towards the far ends of fate on each other's single, clipped wing.

<Pose Tracker> Zoltan Akkanen has posed.

In, in, in. The resonance of two people flailing in life, the cascade of psycommu frames starting to innately spark and bubble and crystalize. And rejected, shoved back as he pressed down with that saber. Come on, come on, come on! "You? You're going to save everyone? After what you showed me!?" After everything!?

You showed me that, and then you say you're going to stop it!? What sort of idiot reveals their so-called "incoming future" and says they're rejecting it? To say to someone that their purpose was to be this way, and then to REJECT it in the same breath, to say that they're one thing but won't be because they'll prevent it!?

ARE YOU SAYING I'M NOT UP TO THE TASK, PHENEX!?

Zoltan. Yes, that's his name. Finally.
Acknowledgement.
He keeps pressing in. Straining, the metal lightly creaking. In, in, in.

And he's shoved back by the final strain of force, grunting out as the computer protests. Strain. Overuse. Damage. There's little chance of properly securing the Phenex now, especially as that cage breaks. Frustrating. So, so, so, SO, SO, SO, SO GODDAMN FRUSTRATING. SLAMMING THAT DASHBOARD, the sound of the creaking fabric around his hand strained to the tearing point.

"That damn thing again, being reborn..." And? Is that it? Humanity already had a second chance. A third, a fourth, a fifth. How many chances do people need to stop devolving back down this path? For the cleansing fire to descend, to exile them from the planet they so purportedly loved?

He slumps back. There's no message for him. Adrenaline slowly crashing down, taking a deep breath. Ah, fuck. He's going to have to report this to the Sleeves, to his handler...To Full Frontal. Goddamn it.

That gaze is locked onto the Phenex. Watching it fly, the Gold Gundam flitting off, as free as ever.

"...Goddamn it. If you're going to be something, don't be surprised when you say someone's a devil and then be scared that they act like one, you piece of Pyrite." Muttering to himself as he tweaked his controls, stashing his weapons and starting up those thrusters. They still work.

<Pose Tracker> Yuliana Kafim has posed.

        "As you were," Yuliana dismisses Alouette, without sparing much thought to her. It's a particularly... /military/ sign-off.

        She was a soldier all that time, after all.

        Onto the Banshee's back, Yuliana opens a private channel, and sneers to that corpse alone: "Stay still! Ritechka bid me to save you, girl! This is the only way!"

        A brief pause,

        "... the only way."

        She shuts off the channel as she's thrown from the Banshee's back, taking up position on an asteroid, instead.

        Yuliana, of course, isn't a mind-reader -- it's a real problem. If she knew Roux feared she'd bring the Banshee back to a lab --

        Well, who knows?

        She might be offended...

        Or maybe she'd just laugh.

        She's laughing so, /so/ much, out here.

        But what Yuliana tells her -- "Good work," -- as Roux tries to carve out the COCKPIT, might well be blood-chilling approval. She's not laughing, now. "Get her out of there --"

        But the Banshee resists. "Tch," Yuliana sneers, lips curling over one too many teeth. "Damn you--!!"

        Her eyes catch Rita, wounded, and she yells for all to hear: "DON'T THANK ME!" Even if she can't hear her -- Rita's not the only desperate one, here.

        With an angry growl, she watches the Banshee depart, too... and without bothering to stop and explain herself in the slightest, the Da Xukong retreats, too.

<Pose Tracker> Liam 7-020 has posed.

        Alouette doesn't give chase. Liam has a feeling he's going to have some explaining to do, but that's a problem for future him. "< I'm all right,>" he says, but the shakiness in his voice betrays him. The Dianthus forms up on his wing--again, more support for Alouette's hypothesis--and rushes with him towards the entangled Phenex. Liam takes his lip between his teeth. "< I love you, Lu,>" he says. The CGUE raises its blade above its head, the hilt clasped in both hands. The edge gleams brilliantly with all the bright golds of the Phenex and the angry reds of the Narrative's NT-D.

        The CGUE's solid blade CLEAVES through the cage holding Rita's vessel in place. There's fierce resistance, but Lucine's right behind him, and cutting two, and the resistance stops. The cage breaks. Rita is free. sweeps the weapon through the strands holding Rita's vessel in place. There's resistance, but they snap, one after another.

        For a few precious moments, the three of them soar free, together. Even as the Banshee gives chase--pursuing Rita until the two vanish from sight--something in Liam's heart says she'll be all right.

        The CGUE spins back towards the remaining combatants, its mono-eye glancing between them. That Lion variant. Is that the same one that...

        It didn't come after him, or Shelby, or Lucine. The pilot wasn't fighting Rita, either. They were fighting... the Banshee?

        A line patches through to Lina's cockpit, the voice masculine and middling-deep. Filtered through multiple layers of baffling. "Pilot," says 'Harrier-2'. "Do you need assistance? We can give you a tow."

<Pose Tracker> Lina Lombardi has posed.

The request washes over Lina for a second as she stares out at nothing in particular. "This is Ju...Jazz. I'd appreciate it, thank you."

<Pose Tracker> Alouette Pommier has posed.

Alouette bears the Phenex's warning in mind. It's hard not to believe things are taking a turn for the worse. And without an immediate problem to put her head to, she's starting to feel it... tired mostly, but also restless.

"Returning to the Yamatsuri. I'll take over operations from here." She transmits, relieving Hana, who in turn relieved Akane. That should keep her focused, even if it's mostly just dull navigation work.

<Pose Tracker> Guy Shishioh has posed.

Guy's pulling himself in several directions. General field management, as his role of Chief. Battlefield command, as his role of Captain. Fighting, as his role of Evoluder. Not impossible, for the World's Strongest Evoluder. But he finds himself missing Taiga, and Renais.

He gets the responses from Akane. He remembers, how she had an easier time speaking her heart when she used text, and it saves him some thought cycles besides. He sends back pure text - this is not, technically, something the Terminal is meant for, it's an option he has forced open via his Evoluder abilities to communicate quickly and effectively. Though, this time the message is just: 'OK. We'll look into it. Take some breaths and help Hana if she needs it.'

The Jagd Doga's knife carves past the bending space of the Protect Wall and slices thick chunks from GaoGaiGar's armor, and Guy screams as it drives deeper, GaoGaiGar arcing away.

As he does, he feels it, intention crashing over him from the Limpid Channel. It takes a form most familiar to him: A girl, blonde instead of brunette, wrapped in sheer green robes. A serious, resolute expression.

"...danger," he says, breathless. For him, it feels like pushing himself upright from the ground, but GaoGaiGar exerts its Ul-Tech thrusters to right its angle.

"Is that what you're trying to say? You had the energy to tell me something like that, after all that?" he says, as the blue light of the Phenex gathering itself and soaring away at incredible speed.

"GaoGaiGar, Guardienne Aviaire, target has engaged high-speed transit and fled the area. I don't think you'll catch up without a Lepton Traveler ship," Hana calls. "GaoGaiGar, is everything alright? I don't see anything in your targeting data."

"...It's fine, Hana," Guy says. "We'll head home. Alouette," since she just took over ops, "Let Yang and Prickle know I need to talk to them. Whatever game Luio & Co. think they're playing, I don't like it."

Star GaoGaiGar turns, then, scans the Jagd Doga he's been fighting briefly, and then offers a friendly two-fingered salute before turning to fly away.

<Pose Tracker> Shozo has posed.

Shozo just... floats there, in space, sullen. Has nobody taken the time to think about the implications of a child just floating around without a space suit? People are too accustomed to aliens.

"Mister... I'm sorry you had to protect me..." he says to the Battle Nizer, tears still in his eyes. That black mobile suit... Something had been dead inside it. It reminded Shozo too much of home. The weak, but firm outpouring of care from the soul within the Battle Nizer helped a bit, but the bird's -- no, the /girl's/ words had stuck in his head. "The love in your heart can save you." What love? This had been a /stupid/ decision, and the Robot had gotten hurt. What had brought him out here? What had compelled him to leave Tsutsujidai and get in a fight, much less a pitched battle between over a dozen combatants?

He began to slowly float towards Tsutsujidai -- he didn't want to risk passing home like this. He was too much like the people there right now. If he actually listened to anything they said... He did reach for his phone, and tried to call Borr again.

No service.

<Pose Tracker> Roux Louka has posed.

In the strange silence of Yuliana's proximity, Roux feels angry. Irritated. Furious -- but she has a reason for all of this. A berserk fugue might be her reaction in a vacuum, but right now she is a pissed off woman with goals.

The Beam Saber keeps sparking. The I-Field feels like cutting against a strange web of invisible steel cables, the particles flying. "Come on," Roux breathes. "Come on--"

"You didn't deserve any of this --"

And the Banshee kicks her away. The Strike Zeta cannot sustain much resistance to this. It has lost a meaningful amount of mass; frankly, Roux would have probably bounced if it wasn't... HER; if she didn't feel that burning obligation, that feeling that she has to allow for that hope...

"Elpeo!" Roux cries out, even as she lets out a 'tch!' at Yuliana's praise.

Don't praise me for something I failed at, Roux thinks bitterly. The Banshee is fleeing, faster than could be pursued - in Earth's atmosphere, she might have a chance. How ironic, Roux thinks. Her eyes turn towards the Phenex...

The lights, Roux thinks. They look like birds --

And someone tells her something. It isn't the screaming that was inflicted on her by Elpeo Puru, "Puru-1," even in her sorrow and her despair and her captivity, perhaps. It's clear; and there is no boundary, no barrier against it. The words strike Roux like a temple bell being gently struck with a soft cloth-wrapped mallet. The truth washes through her.

Keep fighting. It won't be in vain.

Years have ground Roux Louka down. She is not yet old, by far, but perhaps she is no longer young. The passage of time is inevitable, and we can only experience in one direction. Combine it with the traumas and struggles; poverty she may not have felt in depth, but space, rebellion, war. Slaying in cold blood, however urgent it was. These marks cannot be erased, but they ease; the scars fade in their color, and lose their pain.

It was a beautiful sight... and some things...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6IdMp-H9vhA

... stay with you.

The Strike Zeta can't easily shift back to its Waverider mode - unfortunate but true. (Something important's probably on the right arm.) But the fuel was transferred (Yuliana may remember that canister, since it got momentum-hucked at her) and the engines work. Especially if you know how to do some orbital maneuvering.

The Strike Zeta begins to drift - rather aggressively - through the shoal zone. Once clear, the arc becomes clearer - a simple orbital trajectory. It will take time, but sometimes you need time. There's air, there's power. The cockpit's intact.

Where's she going?

Side 1.

<Pose Tracker> Lucine Azul has posed.

        Never in a million years, when Kris assembled the CL0-V3 Glaive to match his compromise to the childish drawings his daughter made and what he knew would work, did he think she'd be using it for such a purpose. He didn't think at all, really; it was just him chasing after the connection he never thought he'd have, or want, with the child that suddenly became one of the most important people in the galaxy to him.

        And Lucine used it to cut towards the path she wanted to take: cutting a bird free from its cage.

        The Dianthus drifts as the Phenex breaks free, Lucine laying her helmeted head back against her padded headrest. She closes her eyes.

        Even with her eyes closed, she can see Rita, in her mind's eye. The shimmering bird, who greets her.

        Tears cling to her eyes. ".... it's what friends do for each other, Rita..."

        Lucine's voice goes over the tightband. < "..... Harrier-2, Temperance. Palisade Pilot. Thank you." >

        It's not until the Phenex is just a thought in the empty void that Lucine realises that she was never attacked.

        ..... There's someone else she needs to thank, it seems. Lucine needs to find that pilot.

        .... and maybe challenge her to proper dog fight.

<Pose Tracker> Shelby Korts has posed.

        She tears a hole in the larger machine and...

        There's just this long ache of silence. Time stretches out from moments to centuries, it feels like. She can only hear the sound of her own breath; a haze of fog and blood particles on the inside of her visor as it goes past Noise, it just *hurts*.

        For a moment, she's sitting in the inky black void, in her chair. Like reality -- or her concept of it -- is peeling like an onion. Like she can't see the machines, but people and their thoughts and their noisy thoughts and--

        -- and Rita...

        Tears form in the corners of her eyes as her cheeks tighten and teeth bare, trying her best to hold together. She's loved. She'll be there for her if she needs it.

        The laugh-sob breaks her out of it in an instant, the thrum of her controls and the damage alerts warning her to the GaoGaiGar's proximity and incredibly large weapons and --

        -- and then Guy acknowledges her with a two-finger salute before jetting away. Did he just ... let her go?

        Sniffling again, the newtype slumps in her seat and tries to catch her breath. With the Phenex gone, it seems like the hunting party is scattering -- and that damned Banshee too.

        "Jona... Michele..."