2022-12-04: The Name Of The Game

• Cast: Rikka Takarada, Celebro, Yuta Hibiki, Leito Igaguri, Kaworu Nagisa, Jana Cektru, Yuka Ohta, Shota Hebikura, Haruki Natsukawa
• Where: Tsutsujidai Underworks
• Date: U.C. 0096 12 04
• Summary: Deep beneath Tsutsujidai, a band of NERV crew, several courageous youths, and a salaryman who is also present, seek the lair of the evil alien who has been experimenting on kaiju, and taken possession of the young woman Hass. There, they discover the name of their enemy...and the name of his game.

---

<Pose Tracker> Celebro has posed.

It took some doing.

The young local Hass has been possessed by an unknown body-snatching *something*. This entity is also believed to be affiliated with several kaiju attacks, including one that involved the stolen strength of the extradimensional tyrant, Ultraman Belial. Normally Belial is Ultraman Zero and Ultraman Geed's beat, so the fact Geed is currently completely incommunicado is...worrisome, for those in his circuit.

On top of all that, reports are that Tsutsujidai's off-again on-again guardian kaiju Anosillus the First has disappeared completely, now at a time when his soothing presence is direly needed.

Fortunately, it's not all bad. A few weeks ago, Rikka Takarada, Yuta Hibiki, and the Hyper Agent Borr rescued Tsutsujidai local Namiko from the hands of whatever is controlling Hass, and her testimony has led to some breakthroughs. In particular, her memories that it all seemed to be under the city.

"Beneath Tsutsujidai" sure limits the search area, but that's still a 10 kilometer PLANT disc across plus quite some depth of maintenance and sublevels. And that's to say nothing of the way Tsutsujidai's kitty-corner relationship to physical reality occasionally makes it hard to scratch around down here, where things are meant to be forgotten or ignored even in a normal city.

But eventually, NERV and the Gridman Alliance are successful in finding on various facility scans a particularly unusually large chamber with paths back out to the lake, and from there, a maintenance tunnel that leads to it intended to be accessed by workers. The trouble from there is simply the going. It's slow. Caution is needed. This enemy has left traps for them before. That means STORAGE knows how armed they need to be this time, but it also means no single step can be careless. The enemy has weapons that kill, and uses them.

Slow progress. The occasional blaster mine. A 'local maintenance team' that charges at them with swords drawn and take twelve anti-kaiju microbeam rifle blasts each before falling and reverting to robots. A baby Eleking that tries to drink all your electronics' batteries.

And the like.

Please describe three things each of you do to participate in the descent into the lair of a dangerous alien.

<Pose Tracker> Rikka Takarada has posed.

The day has come to go after Hass - or rather, the thing controlling her. Rikka is nervous now that it's here, understandably so, but the thought of seeing her friend again and the knowledge that there may be others down there in need of rescue pushes her forward. She said she'd go with them, and she meant it. She's never been one to back down in the face of danger when lives are at stake.

And it is dangerous. Picking her way through Tsutsujidai's underbelly with everyone... it's a side of the city she's never seen before. The fact that she's so close to home brings her no comfort in a place like this. The act of combing through Tsutsujidai's sublevels takes its physical toll on her, as well - her stamina never has been the greatest - but she pushes forward with the occasional stop to rest.

She's outfitted today in the pilot suit she wore during the Millympic Games, from what feels like so long ago now. It's the most protective outfit she has access to, while still being comfortable without hindering her movement.

Eventually, they come across signs that they're getting closer. Rikka steels herself, pushing forward. She said she can't use a gun and she meant it, though the weapon does hang heavy by her side in the event the moment of utmost need comes, but her primary contribution comes through the kit she's brought with her, stowed away in the backpack slung across her shoulders. She's been taking first aid classes and has gotten pretty good at it by this point. As the opposition that meets them becomes more and more direct, she can tend to their wounds as long as they aren't too serious - keeping something small from becoming a major issue down the road that might hinder them at the worst possible time.

Of course, the first aid kit isn't the only thing she brought with her. She's borrowed some items from Junk Shop Aya's stock - handheld electronic gadgets that she thought might be helpful. At first it seems like they're just weighing her down, until she brings out a portable fan and atomizer to disperse and dilute a cloud of poisonous gas just enough for them to be able to pass through safely, though with some care.

And then at one point, as they come across a fork in the tunnels. she feels something - a pressure in the back of her mind, from one of the paths. Tension. Unease. A feeling of warning, of imminent danger. It'd be easy enough to dismiss this as stress or nerves getting to her, as new and unfamiliar as these feelings are to her but... she elects to speak her mind, bringing this feeling up to anyone anyway. They're all rewarded for her decision to speak up a moment later when an explosion erupts through the path they elected not to take.

<Pose Tracker> Yuta Hibiki has posed.

Yuta is not eager to go into another set of tunnels, after what happened in the last ones. But he's not going to be the only one to refuse! So, with Borr and Vit at his side, Yuta dons his pilot suit and school backpack and enters along with his allies. He's packed fairly light, just a few items that may come in handy if they're stuck for any amount of time. Extra water bottles are a must.

In contrast to Yuta, Borr is genuinely thrilled to be heading down into the depths of Tsutsujidai. "Finally going to get some payback!" They say, grinning savagely. Spinning a knife between their fingers, the smallest member of the Neon Genesis Junior High Students feels more than prepared for whatever may come.

Sky Vitter seems almost bored as they walk. Yawning, he holds a high-powered electric lantern high, providing a source of light for the party. "Yeah, yeah, just don't get your ass kicked again..." Despite his casual demeanor, Vit is on guard. "Look, I'm no Max, but I've got you, okay kid? Don't wander off or anything, and I'll keep you safe."

Progress is slow. Borr keeps to the front of the party, and is probably one of the first to discover the traps. Thankfully, they're fast enough to get out of it before any harm can be done. "Shit! Damn, we've got a problem here." Checking their ponytails, Borr glares down at the path ahead. "Alright. You're all lucky I brought some stuff to take care of this. Yuta, gimmie the grenades."

"Uh, sure, here you go!" Yuta says, nervously, after rummaging in his backpack.

"Nice. Alright, stand back!" Casually, Borr tosses a grenade into a nearby trap. It explodes upon contact, covering the dangerous device with sticky adhesive, preventing it from activating. They've got a handful of these, enough for a few more traps, hopefully.

On the heels of the traps come a "maintenance crew". Vit groans in annoyance. Borr laughs, summoning a second knife and immediately going for the knees of the nearest robot. "Come ON Vit, don't be useless!"

"Ugh." Vit hands the lantern to Yuta. With a sudden motion, a gauntlet with a two-pronged spear appears on the man's right hand. "Alright..."

Yuta's red hair is caught in a sudden breeze. Vit vanishes in a blur of motion, appearing behind the enemy Borr is attacking. While Borr fights with wild abandon, Vit moves as little as possible. Minimal and precise, the tall man stabs into the back of the "maintenance worker", then vanishes, appearing back at Yuta's side. "There."

As Yuta watches his comrades fight, a strange creature approaches him, angling for the lantern. "Woah!" Yuta shouts, backing up. It's small, but anything down here could be dangerous! Yuta shouts as the baby Eleking launches itself toward his lantern, one hand rummaging in his backpack for anything to help. His hand lands on... a water bottle! Ripping the lid off, Yuta dumps it over the strange little monster. Maybe it'll short-circuit? Either way, Vit is back quickly, ready to ward the creature off with force if he absolutely has to.

<Pose Tracker> Leito Igaguri has posed.

Leito Igaguri is here. He's still in his work suit, but his glasses are already off. Ultraman Zero is taking the lead on this - it's gonna be dangerous and ugly, and they'll need *his* prowess. Leito has always been the kind heart.

Leito igaguri does three things.

He, firstly, carries the flashlight. When there's mines in the way, he shines the lightt on the ground so they can spot them.

When the robot maintenance workers attack with their swords, he disarms handily - they're tough, but not as skilled, parried and disarmed to allow others to shoot them down without as much risk.

There's something about those martial arts, though - the techniques aren't associated with any school on Earth.

But when there's a baby Eleking?

He puts the glasses back on after a brief mental discussion and gives it his flashlight once the others have warded it off. They have spares, and it'll distract it long enough for them to get past it without further hassle.

And then, they approach. Glasses are still on. "A-ah...this guy's dangerous...everyone, please be careful."

What's up with the mood shift between glasses on and off? No one will ever know. (Okay, maybe they will.)

<Pose Tracker> Kaworu Nagisa has posed.

       It isn't exactly typical for Kaworu to set out on a mission on foot, outside of one of the Evangelions. Nonetheless, he accompanies the others as they descend into and through the chamber beneath Tsutsujidai into the tunnels below. He does so with his usual casual demeanor, strolling through the tunnels with hands tucked in his pockets as though they were simply taking a constitutional through Kamesan Park. It might be strange, all considered. But then again, maybe it's reassuring. Even in a place like this, his smiling confidence remains unswayed.
       
       That doesn't mean his steps are careless, though. He doesn't carry any weaponry, but he is hefting along a SWAT-type shield on his back, ready to be turned forward at a moment's notice. And if his gait is casual, it means it's plenty slow, too.
       
       The blaster mines simply don't mean anything to him. As he passes above them, they simply deactivate. If they're buried, it's quite possible no one will notice. Kaworu has certainly noticed, though.
       
       The 'local maintenance team' sees him pulling out that SWAT shield and patiently moving in the way of their attacks as they come in, then moving out to allow the others to gun them down until they still. His motions are graceful and elegant; he seems to have an instinctive sense of timing; and when it's all done, he simply smiles at the others, like always.
       
       When they encounter the baby Eleking, he's unbothered by its attempts to drink up the batteries of their electronics. He simply laughs a bit and kneels down in front of it to offer it a hand as if it were an unfamiliar dog that might want to sniff it; perhaps this might distract it for a bit. Either way, he's calm about this too. Kaworu simply isn't fazed by the little kaiju. But then, even before the matter of Celebro (or EOI-4 as he's currently known to NERV), his involvement in this matter started with Anosillus II...
POT: Orpheus Zevon is now set observer.

<Pose Tracker> Jana Cektru has posed.

Dr. Cektru is ready... for war.

If this is what she thinks it is--if this is who she thinks he is--then this will be a vitally important mission. And if it isn't, then saving a girl is still important. Jana is more accustomed to fieldwork than some, and as she descends with the others, she is calm if not relaxed, a reassuring presence that encourages people to follow their instincts.

She does have a weapon. She doesn't show it at first.

Along the way, she senses minds approaching them, averting what would otherwise be an ambush by three 'maintnance workers'.

She avoids a pit trap by leaping out of the way faster than an ordinary scientist might be able.

And finally... a horrble robot comes after them!!! Jana dispatches it with a blue beam from her ray gun, which she does not explain.

Above all, though, she keeps her eyes open metaphorically, searching for the mind of her target...

<Pose Tracker> Yuka Ohta has posed.

Tsutsujidai has been having a problem recently. One that requires subtlety and tact to handle. Those are in somewhat short supply, but Yuka isn't incapable either. No matter what people may tell you about the Gremlin of STORAGE. Hebi may have presented her with a 'request' to coordinate the operation and organize the forces of the Gridman Alliance, but she would have done it anyway. This place... these people, they're as important to her as anywhere else. She won't allow some parasite to ruin it. Before the operation, she passed around a number of standard headsets for communication. Simple enough to use, and STORAGE has them for field activity all the time. Hopefully they won't be needed, but just in case they have to split their forces... Better to be ready.

In that same spirit, Yuka has spent much of her time multitasking. Splitting her attention, whether back in the lab, or in a corner of Junk Shop Aya she'd taken as a workspace. As for what it's been split ON... Tonight, Yuka has a large backpack adorning her, beyond the usual jumpsuit. A pack filled with the current results of her research toward the military applications of kaiju biology. That's not something she feels pride in, truthfully. She'd really rather not have to make weaponry, but these are desperate times. Besides, the Kaiju-Fuser made her particularly mad the last, and only, time they spoke. She's going to teach him what happens to cruel people who damage the hearts of others for their own amusement.

On the path down into the lair, Yuka takes three primary action. First against the Valis Raiders... those were a known quantity. And one she had prepared for. Based on her looks into what she could get ahold of from previous Raiders and Gillvalis itself, she pulls out a control device. Not to take over the Raiders as that would be beyond her in the limited time she had, but to interfere with the signals sending commands to their limbs. She's learned a thing or two, talking with the Gridman Alliance. Notably, that the things this Mystery Parasite had said she didn't understand, were video game terms. So... what better way to infuriate a gamer, than to cause massive lag and dropped inputs during an important fight?

The second act came against the baby Eleking. She hadn't expected to need this against anything but The Body-Thief himself, but she's thankful she brought it all the same. From her pack she pulls out a ranged grabbing-arm and specialty net. Something to safely secure the innocent baby kaiju while it's feeding on a spare flashlight, provided kindly by a certain office worker. After all, this Eleking hasn't done anything to hurt people, and with her specially treated and fabricated net they can ensure it won't accidentally discharge and hurt anyone. And besides, Eleking are a peace-loving species by nature. USUALLY only hostile when raised and grown specifically as instruments of war. Hopefully she'll be able to find where this baby was taken from and return it home... but if not, she'll give it all the care it could ever want.

Finally, when a water trap is used, attempting to flood the segment of The Toxic Gamer's Labyrinth they've found themselves in, Yuka pulls out a hand-sized container and begins spraying some pale gunk at the water release nozzles. She based this one on the webbing of Mukadender and similar kaiju species, and while she plans to install larger scale versions on Sevenger and Windom to use as capture equipment, for now it's quite handy for sealing up problems like this. At least the time they'll be in here. If his base winds up flooded a week or so from now, after it's been emptied out, that's not so much of an issue.

And so, they proceed onward. Still with a few cards left up her sleeve.

<Pose Tracker> Shota Hebikura has posed.

Shota Hebikura, Captain of STORAGE, had delegated to his science expert Yuka the 'operational co-ordination' job for the descent into the depths of Tsutsujidai. It was an area he had only surveilled the surface of - and never officially. Yuka, and the Gridman Alliance, had to do a lot of the heavy lifting and major landmark pointings-out.

It weighed on Hebikura, the man he really was, that it had gone this far, and taken so long. The commitments he had made, thoughtlessly and carefully both, towards STORAGE and the continuing defense of his slice of Earth had complicated his other life - all his previous life - with the tangible truth that he wasn't terrible at this job. Or so he thought.

The cities were saved, again. The people were happy, again. The mild praise of people who needed their defenders to win every time did not bother him. Eventually, his plan would come to fruition, and STORAGE or NERV in general would produce a final Evangelion weapon, or a Super Aerial Armor, and he would seize it.

He told himself this, to make it easier to move between spaces. To stop being someone in pain.

To stop being the one who tried and failed. And for a while it worked.

Within the labyrinth of Tsutsujidai, the grey jumpsuited and black capped Captain worked and walked with a sullen focus. Helpless, again, before another twisted tunnel, because he didn't think to move a little faster when things were easy and problems could still be solved by reaching.

Hebikura mutters, in the tunnels, peering into the darkness while Rikka and Yuta take the lead to guide them through the colony stretch. His voice doesn't reach a vocal tone, but he keeps whisper-muttering things, annoyed, frustration bubbling to the surface as he has to leave himself in the hands of others to fix this mess.

Having to leave himself in the hands of Leito Inaguri is, somewhat, a lesser sting.
'At least this problem is one that tests Ultraman', he tries to rally behind, but again: It didn't have to.

So Shota Hebikura returns more to his old self, since that man is required. When the disguised 'maintenance bots' turn out to be Vallis Raiders, Hebikura switches from the standard-issue STORAGE stun-rifle that is oh-so ineffective to using the weapon as an improvised club! One sword-clashing parry, and with Yuka's helpful malfunctions, Hebikura dis-arms the Vallis Raider. Then *he* has a sword. Leito soon receives help as Hebikura 'improvises' with a stolen blade.

Deeper still, Hebikura starts to notice the shared state of his company, a kind of brutal honesty to the way Kaworu forgets to react to blaster mines. With hallways full of them, it would still shred an enhanced party -- were Hebikura not able to slip off in the darkness of the tunnels and sprint ahead at the speed of bad news to sweep up several nastily-placed mines. Exactly where Jugglus Juggler would put them, for *maximum* wickedness. Deep in his sullenness, Hebikura does not pick up and rotate *why* that particular thought makes him feel bad.

Instead, while the baby Eleking fusses during the water trap, Hebikura returns just as suddenly to calm the agitated Kaiju. . . with the battery pack from his useless gun.

"Someone should enjoy this -- because I certainly have not." He complains.

<Pose Tracker> Haruki Natsukawa has posed.

        Belial, Devil Splinters, and now a new, supposedly impossible medal. Haruki knew that Z had his own set of problems, collecting all the lost medals and all, but there definitely seemed to be even more that he didn't talk about all that much! Well, Z's always there to help him with his STORAGE woes, so it's only fair if he helps him with his Ultraman issues.

        Haruki arrives to help, though in a change from his usual attire. Gone is his usual jumpsuit, instead replaced with full padded armor that looks more at home on a SWAT member than it does on someone with his demeanor.

        He's also got the rifle to go with it, which he is more than willing to use on the oncoming maintenance team, taking advantages of Leito's openings to shoot them down as he steadily advances forward.

        He of course, has more than just a gun. He also has a Z-Riser to call on Z if he really needs to. Or rather, he guesses if Z wants to butt in. It's a weird situation when it comes to Not So Ultramen transformations.

        Of course, knowing that he doesn't have the usual say in this form of Z doesn't stop Haruki from considering his Z-Riser when the tiny Eleking shows up, but at the moment, it seems like Kaworu has it under control? Maybe? Somehow? He really feels like he shouldn't be leaving this sort of thing to a child, but he doesn't really want to mess it up either. So instead, he just keeps his gun trained on the monster in case things go south.

       
Ennil El teleports out.

<Pose Tracker> Celebro has posed.

The fiend's traps are not so fiendish against a team this prepared. The mines are dangerous, but *attention* is their enemy. Hebikura finds them in truly nasty places, fortunately - but many more are just...about? Like this were a chore, and the placement paid little attention. Not the ruthless, murderous attention to homicidal detail that humans are so good at.

The robots are decent fighters, but despite their toughness, can be met in hand-to-hand or just shot all to hell. Takes doing, sure, but STORAGE is used to firing their guns at things that just get madder, so perhaps it's nice to have a target that actually falls over eventually.

The baby Eleking gets doused (surprise: they actually are amphibias and this seems to make it happy, actually) but it also seems fairly amenable, accepting Leito's flashlight and puts it to its mouth and sucks on it like a bottle, electricity visibly arcing through the air into it. It looks up at Kaworu - Elekings don't have apparent eyes or noses, but the snout wiggles like it were sniffing, anyway.

Yuka catches it safely. Presumably someone has a little tupperware box it can go in. It'll be fine with some water.

After the gauntlet...they finally make their way to the chamber.

It's an enormous space, a cavernous chamber in the underbelly of the PLANT that would ordinarily do...who knows, honestly. Maybe no other PLANT has ever had a room like this. There's a few chambers off to the sides with what look like rows of cells. Running down the length of it, opaque cylinders full of a reddish liquid, and inside those....that's....

...chunks of Akane's kaiju? They're indistinct to the point that only the individual uniqueness of them makes it remotely possible to distinguish which is which, but the colored wire structure running through each betrays it as the remains of the sorts of kaiju Akane creates.

The room smells strange. Unpleasant, but not unfamiliar. Not sewage, but possibly septic. Like an aquarium, almost? Chemical, wet, strange.

Something enormous groans at the far end of the room, audible through a closed door.

No enemies appear. ...yet.

<Pose Tracker> Leito Igaguri has posed.

As the group reaches the chamber with one extra kaiju, Leito cautiously approaches, having given up his flashlight. He removes his glasses as he sees the chunks of Tsutsujidai kaiju...and then sees what appear to be 'cells'.

If they're using hosts...they may still be here. Need to check if they're alive.

Leito-Zero passes towards the cells, looking to see if they're empty or not!
GaoGaiGo Team teleports in.
POT: GaoGaiGo Team is now set observer.

<Pose Tracker> Kaworu Nagisa has posed.

       Kaworu chuckles a bit as the Eleking snuffles its snout his way. While it does so, Yuka catches it nimbly with her kaiju net. Once it's safely put away with some water (maybe the rest of Yuta's water, if he has any more) and left to suckle on that flashlight like a baby bottle, he rises to his feet and tucks his hands back in his pockets.
       
       "Good work, Yuka," he tells her with that ever-present smile. He turns slightly to the others. "Shall we move on, then?"
       
       And onwards they go. Kaworu's smile to Haruki is reassuring as he watches his back during the baby Eleking issue, and knowing towards Hebikura just before he sneaks off to handle several of those aboveground mines. Before long, they all make it to the chamber, and his smile diminishes into a more neutral expression as he looks up, then forward at the kaiju chunks set in the strange, septic cylinders.
       
       "Hmm... Quite a place we have here," he comments, slowly walking down the length of the chamber. His gaze settles on the closed door at the end of the room as that enormous ground sounds from behind it. With a glance towards Leito-Zero as he approaches the cells, Kaworu turns forward again and approaches the door.

<Pose Tracker> Yuta Hibiki has posed.

"Oh, I'm glad I didn't hurt it. It's kinda cute!" Yuta says, smiling at the baby Eleking. Kaworu is handed the rest of the water happily -- babies definitely matter more than preparedness. "If it won't shock me, you could put it in my backpack until we get back, if you want."

Borr wrinkles her nose as they come into the chamber, quickly moving back to stand in front of Yuta and Vit. "Oh, this is kinda fucked. Yuta, you stick with Kaworu, we're gonna check this out. Don't touch anything that looks messed up."

With his phone in one hand, Vit quickly moves after Borr. Instead of... whatever he usually does using that phone, he's taking pictures of the cylinders and chunks of kaiju. There's probably no service down here, but Gridman will want to see this stuff.

"Alright." Yuta mumbles, moving to stand close to Kaworu. "This place... What is it? What's happening to those kaiju parts..?"

He doesn't really expect anyone to answer. Yuta moves as Kaworu does, looking at everything with equal parts horror and curiosity. Keeping an eye on Rikka as well, he's pretty distracted. Vit and Borr flash through the room, moving in perfect harmony. Borr quickly goes for the cells with Leito, and Vit stops by each tank of reddish liquid, snapping pictures. They make a pretty efficient team!

When that something groans, Yuta jumps in surprise. Borr and Vit appear back at his sides near-instantly. "Okay. I definitely should've traded with Calibur. This is disgusting, and I don't even want to know what's back there."

"Well, we're gonna find out! Get it together!" Borr snaps, standing just in front of Kaworu. While he's mysterious and powerful to be certain, Kaworu is still a child, and Borr is hardly gonna let him be on the front lines.

Yuta shoots Rikka a nervous look, again making sure she's safe. "Everyone, please be careful. With all this gross stuff out there, I bet some kind of mashed-up monster is waiting for us." Almost certainly thinking of a video game boss, the young man looks fairly nervous. Maybe he should've taken Sayla up on her offer of teaching him how to shoot.

<Pose Tracker> Shota Hebikura has posed.

"This isn't on the diagrams." Hebikura observes dully, his jumpsuit cut in several places. "Are PLANTs based around asteroids?" He continues, prompting the obvious conclusion of 'no' as he crouches down to place a hand on the floor and rub the grit between his fingers. Metal? Rock? Wet earth?

"I would guess that we are not still within the same Colony-space as before, everyone. Be..." The Captain rises, with Leito and Kaworu splitting up.

"Careful?" He requests defeatedly, pushing off his knees with his hands and continuing on. Cages, wet cages, and the smell of not-quite sewage, not-quite clean. A place where messes were made.

"The Medal Gacher process required Kaiju. . . parts." Hebikura explains darkly, joining Kaworu at the groaning door and rolling his gaze across the chamber and the party for a moment. "Don't wander off alone." He adds to his suggestion pile, without a trace of humor. "It smells like a butcher's."

<Pose Tracker> Rikka Takarada has posed.

Rikka isn't alone. She has friends, old and new, here by her side. With all of them putting their heads and skills together, they can get through this. When the fighting starts, she moves to keep out of the way without straying too far - the last thing she wants is to become a point of weakness the enemy can exploit.

Fortunately...they're strong, together. A formidable team. She's relieved to have them here - and glad she held back her instinct to go charging off alone the moment she had an idea where to look. She never would've made it past the first tunnel alone.

....She wouldn't have known how to deal with the baby Eleking, either. They're kind of cute when they're that small... She's glad they didn't end up having to hurt it.

And eventually, they find their way to the chamber. The scent...

"...I think this is the place. Namiko said it smelled kind of like an aquarium... and that's kind of like this." Rikka says. She trusts her friend's nose as much as she does her words. This has to be it.

Rikka strolls in, looking around, but the first thing that catches her eye are the chunks of kaiju. Rikka pauses, staring at them for a moment, before a look of horror crosses her face.

"Those are... pieces of Akane's kaiju." Rikka notes. ...Why are they here, in cylinders like research specimens...? She feels a brief flare of anger for Akane's sake. What would she think about this, knowing someone was harvesting her creations...? But Yuta shoots her a glance, so she looks back at him, offering a small smile. His concern for her is a relief, at least. She feels a little better.

She's distracted, though, when Leito starts moving toward the cells.

"Hold on, let me come with you." She says, hurrying after him and sticking close. They might need her, if there's anyone in there - and she doesn't want to stray too far, just in case.

<Pose Tracker> Jana Cektru has posed.

The Eleking is just. The cutest thing. Jana appreciates it. Even on a mission like this there's things to like! But...

Rows and rowls of cells, opaque cylinders. Jana recognizes them as pieces of Akane's kaiju. The smells here are unpleasant, particularly to Dr. Cektru's sensitive nose. But Hebikura addresses her fir thought--and so she doesn't comment on it. Instead...

"Yes, be very careful," Jana agrees, and closes her eyes, seemingly in defiance of her own advice. But she sticks behind someone for a moment anyway. There is a presence at the end of the chamber...

She reaches out to it with her mind, seeking to understand or at least identify it.

She doesn't follow Leito immediately.

<Pose Tracker> Yuka Ohta has posed.

Yuka makes a few guesses to the purpose of the cylinders and the fluid passing through them. Processing perhaps. Maybe an attempt at copying the kaiju of Tsutsujidai. But it's unlikely to happen, at least in her mind. To her thought process, they're missing whatever key component turns them from models into life. Another guess, that they're being used as material. Processed to create the shell for the medal perhaps?

Kaworu's words and smile bring her own smile in return. "Thank you." But when Hebi speaks up, he answers a question she'd wondered, but not entirely thought to its conclusion yet. And those questions instantly destroy her smile. 'Why did this place have a baby Eleking? Where was it taken from? Why would he steal a baby, and not the parents?' ...Of course, with medals needing parts of the base monster, then... it answers all those questions, doesn't it? But she'll make sure the child is in good hands.

Her nose wrinkles at the... medical scent, and the groan makes her jump. This place was creepy enough WITHOUT unknown things making noise at them. She'll investigate slowly, walking along with the other people who are a little further back. They need to be thorough. Find the friend who had been kidnapped. Hopefully they aren't back with the groaning thing. And MORE hopefully, they haven't been experimented on to MAKE the groaning thing. Both seem... uncomfortably likely, in the house of a madman.

The slight parallels haven't been lost on her either. That she's a researcher who uses the bodies of kaiju to pioneer technological advances. But she also understands the difference. What she does is meant to help people and kaiju alike. Pushing toward the goal of unity and friendship. This guy is just doing it for kicks. Based on everything they've figured out, he just likes to hurt people. ...And based on this place, likes to hurt the kaiju just as much.

Just in case, one hand moves to her bag, resting atop the tools remaining inside. She's hoping they won't be necessary, but there's no guarantee of anything down here.

<Pose Tracker> Haruki Natsukawa has posed.

        The Eleking seems to be handled. Well, that's a relief, almost enough of one that Haruki considers dropping his gun to sigh. But, he doesn't. Letting his guard down now would be rather disastrous, especially with the number of kids that are here... Why are they here again? He's just now thinking about this. It really doesn't seem like the kind of place they should be bringing them, even if they might be capable.

        "Pieces of kaiju? Is he getting them from us? Well, no... I guess that can't be it. We've got a dedicated clean up team that's supposed to dispose of this stuff."

         Haruki openly theorizes as he examines the room, before quickly descrediting himself. Not only do they have a disposal team, it's not like Tokyo is the only place to suffer Kaiju attacks, as Rikka has mentioned, and he's personally experienced.

        As Kaworu and Hebi go to check on the door with the groaning behind it, Haruki follows behind them, pointing the end of his rifle at it as he waits for them.

        "Well. I'm ready when you guys are. I'll just repeat what the captain said and uh, be careful? Oh wait, you're here with us, huh..."
        It's a bit rare to see Hebi-san on the field in a robot, much less in the actual flesh. That scarcity, as a result, makes it just kind of easy to assume that the man isn't there, at least for someone as scatter-brained as Haruki.
       

<Pose Tracker> Celebro has posed.

The ground is filthy but ultimately metal. It's not wildly out of zone, but...this place has been modified, and possibly carved out by someone whose ONLY desire was a space to work.

People approach the cells. A few are empty, or contain larger...parts. Some of them aren't of Tsutsujidai kaiju; there's blood.

But then after a few searches, you find someone. Short hair. Dark eyes. Japanese, dressed in a head-to-toe hazmat suit, though he's unzipped it to use it to fan himself because it's humid in here. His head lolls to the side, having apparently been here long enough to go from terror to boredom. But when he sees people, he yelps. "Whoa! Hey! P, people!? You guys aren't, like--"

He runs up to the door and looks Leito - the one who got there first - in the eyes with searching intensity. "Still got your heads...?" he mutters, worried. "Not that it's easy to tell, I mean, most of them seem to act normal until you realize they're down here on purpose..."

Wait. Plural.

That's your warning before a girl in pigtails and a short skirt and a leopard-pattern jacket drops down from OH HEY THERE'S PLATFORMS UP THERE and attempts to fully just knock Haruki on his ass with a punch straight to his face.

A second one charges out of a corner shadow, moving straight for Yuka, a high kick aimed to bowl her over.

Only two?

The door to the next room swings open, and out runs something like TWELVE Vallis Raiders, surging out and firing red searing blasts into the room.

But through the door, an equally HUGE room is visible, colored the blue of open water...

And through it, the silhouette of a girl in a Tsutsujidai High uniform.

Staring, head cocked awkwardly.

Hass. She says nothing. Just...stares.

<Pose Tracker> Kaworu Nagisa has posed.

       "You're more than welcome to join me," Kaworu says over his shoulder to Yuta when Borr bids him stay with him. His pace remains, but when Borr zips over to stand before him, he stops, looking down at them with mild surprise. It gives him time to turn a smile smile over his shoulder at Hebikura's warning.
       
       "Do you think I'm not being careful?" he asks.
       
       Still, the matter of where the baby Eleking came from is a good point. It's unlikely there's a happy answer to that question. He likewise listens when Hebikura joins him, Yuta, and Borr, advising them not to go off alone. Kaworu simply nods, then looks forward at the door. He doesn't look towards Rikka; she's joining Leito, and Kaworu is confident he will keep her and anyone else with him safe.
       
       But... His eyebrows narrow as his smile finally drops entirely at what Haruki says. NERV has a dedicated clean-up crew. This is very true. He turns a sideways glance towards Jana and Hebikura to give them both a long look.
       
       But then a young man yelps, and Kaworu turns his attention in that direction, opting to listen to what he says before moving through the door.
       
       The next moment, one girl attacks Haruki from above, another girl charges Yuka from the side, and the door bursts open of its own accord to admit twelve Vallis Raiders. "Yuka!" he calls, but he leaves it to Hebikura to go directly to her aid--and Haruki, karate master that he is, can no doubt defend himself.
       
       As for himself, Borr is already in front of him, so Kaworu opts to pull Yuta closer and let his defenders handle the fight along with those more inclined to do battle directly. Beyond the Raiders, he spots Hass--or rather, the form of Hass, inhabited by... someone else.
       
       "Dr. Cektru, everyone. Look ahead," he says, calm and steady.

<Pose Tracker> Shota Hebikura has posed.

Hebikura sighs, hanging his head.

"Oi." Low, declarative, the STORAGE Captain rolls his head and glares at Haruki as he repeats his suggestion. He overshoots, and finds Kaworu smile fading to a questioning look.

Another sigh. "I hate paperwork. I thought I could take care of it personally," He shrugs, expression darkening with his eyes narrowing and focusing on the middle distance. "-and even if it wasn't reported, it wouldn't be your concern. Jana knew, and it was our little side project to handle it."

A dark smile blooms on his face, as Hebikura hears a familiar voice just nearby, over the groaning. "We do have our own cleanup team. Jana and I were on the trail of a missing cleanup specialist and several lots of marked-as-waste in error kaiju parts. Months of loss and fudged records give our mastermind. . ."

Hebikura gestures single-handedly about the area, stepping around in a circle as he does, ending with a sarcastic laugh. "Well, just about anything they'd want from the clean team's store-rooms. With the Kaiju bloom we've had over the last year... with them *being in Tsutsujidai*..."

The dark doomposting slopping out of the falling-banged captain ends with a hard swallow. "It's gone on long enough. Let's--" He starts, and then Haruki gets suckerpunched from above.

"--Haruki!" He shouts, in time with Kaworu's shouting for Yuka, concerned the poor boy got cold-dropped before the fight even began, and that a blow to the head would rattle out the young warrior's only two braincells and leave him naught but earnest shouting. Kaworu's instincts on Hebikura remain correct -- the Captain turns back to the Weird Lady getting handsy with his team scientist and springs into action to two-handedly grapple and yank the woman back after her kick and toss her towards a cage.

"Yuka, are you alright?!" He adds, not exactly relishing having to fight right in front of the 'uninformed' doctor. He'll have to stick to judo!

<Pose Tracker> Yuta Hibiki has posed.

Borr, noticing Rikka stayed back in the cell block, rockets back to her side. "Rikka!" He shouts, getting between the young woman and the pigtail-wearing girls. "You need a knife, kid? I've got an extra."

Instead of attacking as aggressively as she had in the tunnels, Borr sticks close to Rikka. A knife is tossed to the ground before Rikka's feet -- if she wants to use it, it's there. Otherwise, Borr keeps her focus on the attacking girls, sneering at them. She'll let the others take the offensive, but if the moment arises, Borr's going shank a leopard-patterned girl.

"Damn it..." Vit complains, his spear gauntlet appearing again. "Kaworu, I'm counting on you here!"

It seems the immediate danger to Yuta has brought out Vit's serious side. He darts in toward the Vallis Raiders, his gauntlet allowing him to fight from a comfortable range. Vit is sure to keep himself between Yuta and the enemies, so he's limited in where he can flashstep to. Still, a Hyper Agent is formidable, and his spear is sure to do some serious damage.

Kaworu, as though heeding Vit's call, pulls Yuta close. "W--woah, Kaworu--!" As he suddenly notices how close he is to the other young man, Yuta's face goes as red as his hair, and he tries not to embarrass himself by losing his balance.

His thoughts, elsewhere for a moment, are torn back to reality when Kaworu points out Hass. Yuta gasps. "Hass!" He shouts. "Hass, we're here for you! Don't give up! Fight as hard as you can, we're coming!"

<Pose Tracker> Yuka Ohta has posed.

The blood and carnage largely supports the worst of theories. But there's no immediate sign of Riku in there. So... that's one good thing. Probably. Then, a guy in a hazmat... And hang on. "Isn't that one of the cleanup-squad's hazmat suits?" Of course, just bodyjack somebody from the recovery and cleaning teams, and you get all the parts you want. Especially if you use the mental control device on other team members to help out and obscure which one you're inhabiting.

She isn't given time to dwell on those thoughts, as she's assaulted by a surprise entry. Kaworu gives her heads up... and contrary to what she might lead people to believe, she's not actually helpless today! She whips the hand out of her bag, shoving whatever she grabbed against the thigh of the figure that's attacking her, right as the kick knocks her to the ground. It's only an instant of contact, but there's an electrical *SNAP* in that second. Because she'd brought along a custom-built stun device, and sent an electric shock running through them. This was NOT for use against Celebro, of course... at least not until he tried to escape without a host body. She didn't want to accidentally hurt Hass after all.

She glares in the direction of the one masquerading as Hass, as Hebikura follows up on her own little sneaky trick. "I'll be okay, I just got surprised." She winces and rubs the impact point as she starts to stand up, weapon having been knocked out of her hands in the fall. Yuka IS still the least physically trained of the STORAGE team after all, even if she's resolved to fight back and see this through herself. "Hits way too hard though... owwww..."

<Pose Tracker> Leito Igaguri has posed.

"I'm good at keeping my head. You'll be out soon." Leito tells the man, about to ask him how many there are when the ambush ignites and a dozen raiders attack. Leito suddenly pulls backwards, towards the focus of a pair of them, and-

Starts making TERRIBLE martial arts movements. He basically begins to breakdance, sweeping his hands onto the ground and his legs into the air. Even as he spins, though, the actual Martial Artists will notice something: every moment is carefully controlled. Every movement, of every single muscle in the body, is under his control.

A leg snaps outwards, smashing a raider in the head hard, before he spins again, and moves to catch the other one with a kick and SLAM it into the dazed(?) partner he just hit.

And then, he springs up onto his feet into a defensive stance, arms not quite right for any known martial art.

"Everyone! Whittle them down to nothing!"

<Pose Tracker> Rikka Takarada has posed.

The cells... there are chunks of something in them. Rikka doesn't think too hard on what they might be. She can see, smell, the blood. Not Tsutsujidai kaiju then, some of them.

...But they find someone, eventually. In a hazmat suit. He talks to them, even - and he doesn't sound like Namiko did before they rescued her - especially when he brings up the fact that they still have their heads.

"Yes - we're here to help!" Rikka says. "Are you hurt? Is there anyone else in there with you? We-"

She starts... and then, suddenly, they're attacked. A girl drops from the ceiling. A second comes from the shadow... and then the door bursts open, revealing a large number of Vallis Raiders. Rikka gasps in surprise, backpedaling and ducking as a stream of red beams fire into the room. She reaches for the gun at her waist. Her hand trembling, she draws it and tries to undo the safety, pointing it at the enemy, but - her hands are shaking, and it shakes from her hands, clattering to the floor.

Thankfully, Borr comes to her rescue, interposing herself between Rikka and the enemy.

"Th-thank you!" Rikka replies. She leans down picking up both the gun and knife - and stows the gun back into its holster, holding tightly onto the knife with both hands. If she can't hold the weapon steady enough, she's just going to end up shooting someone she cares about. Better to rely on something she can have a bit more control over.

If anything comes close, she'll defend herself - though she hopes she doesn't have to. Right now, her focus is on the figure in the far room.

Yuta calls out to her. ...Rikka's not sure if that'll help, but... she has to try, too.

"Hass! It's me!" Rikka calls out. "We're here for you - hold on!"

And then...

"And you! Let go of her!" She demands.

<Pose Tracker> Jana Cektru has posed.

Haruka's comment--and Kaworu's scrutiny of Jana--causes her to glance back at him. But she doesn't until after the Captain does. "That's where I got the data on the Belial Medal," Jana explains.

Their target. Yes, their target is ahead, Kaworu points out, though Jana for her part has suddenly ducked behind one of those tubes to avoid the red blasts. "Dr. Ohta!" she calls. But the Captain has her covered, so--

Quickly Jana says, "There's two minds back there. She does not explain how she knows this. "One is our target. I recognize the signature. And the other--the other is in some kind of pain. Forced into something unpleasant, trying to maintain composure."

She nods to Yuka, as she says she's OK, and then comes out from behind her cover, and a Raider that was headed for Vit finds itself afflicted by a blazing blue beam of light from a device in Jana's hands. She may not have the advanced martial arts of Leito, but she does seem to have something.

"We have to get through!"

<Pose Tracker> Haruki Natsukawa has posed.

        "I dunno, you're kind of hard to read! Especially in the dark!"

        Haruki is pretty earnest with his response, but he's cut a bit short as a woman suddenly drops down on him.

        While his guard was up, he wasn't expecting something like this, so in an effort to get away and not get pinned, he drops his rifle on the ground and raises his arms up, grabbing hold of the attacker as he throws them across the room so that he can regain his bearings. Okay. One versus one...two...three... Oh, that's a lot of enemies. Huh.

        He might be a Karate Master, but there's no way he can hand to hand this many at once. Not without a weapon. With that in mind, he dashes forward to reclaim his lost gun, but freezes halfway, completely against his will.

        Oh. He hates this. He knows he should just be letting Z take control, but his natural instinct is still to fight it, his body awkwardly stepping back into a completely unlit part of the room as he audibly trips over what is probably a bunch of discarded kaiju parts.

        What isn't seen though is Haruki taking out his Z-Riser and pushing the button, a flash of light consuming him as he's suddenly replaced with...

        Z. The miniaturized Ultraman comes running out of the darkness and back at the ambush attacker, delivering a series of blows to her chest as he aims to push her into the crowd of Vallis Raiders in an attempt to knock them down and create more opportunities.

       

<Pose Tracker> Celebro has posed.

The girl with Hass' face chuckles. Despite the dirt down here, she does seem to be...maintained? The mask isn't dirty. The uniform isn't, either. She doesn't look like she's gone unwashed for weeks. "Is that how you think this works?" she asks Yuta, eyes flicking to him without her head moving. "Kheheh. I can see why you're so worried, at least." Her head flops the other way. "She's cute, isn't she? That's what her fans says, anyway. I can't tell you pink things apart." She giggles, malicious. "But a face people like has its uses, hehehehe!"

Then, while Vitt is busy fending off robots, held down by two with swords coming at him at once, she pulls a blaster out from behind her thigh and fires a pulsing red shot straight at Rikka, murder in her eyes.

The woman attacking Yuka, quite unlike the one on Haruki, is tall and womanly, with long black hair and a style with more elegance. A bright red jacket, a longer dark skirt, high black boots. She surges like she's about to sock Yuka in the throat, which will probably disable her for a good while, but she jerks and yelps, instead, a shock blast surging through her and sending her flying backwards with a spray of sparks.

The other girl bops Haruki so good he drops his rifle!! Wait no actually he throws her. HUMAN MARTIAL ARTS WINS ANEW. She rolls away, springing up to her feet with a nasty little smile and about to switch gears to descend on Borr, clearly unafraid of those knives.

As things grow increasingly chaotic around the chokepoint of the door and throughout the room, the guy in the cell nods to Leito, eagerly. "Yeah? Good, good, cool, cool." He is obviously becoming more stressed because WOW this got hot FAST. "Y, yeah, I'm, uh, name's Shinya Kaburagi, I'm with Monster Research Lab. I--whoa!"

Leito breaks it down and Kaburagi steps back, watching with surprise. "Uh, uh..." ... He raises his voice because he knows a few others are also listening. "I kinda just woke up down here! Listen, I can tell you all you want later - that...person!? has got a kaiju in the next room and they're doing some kind of experiment to it. I heard them say something about using, uh, heck..." He scratches his head, anxiety scattering his thoughts as sparks fly across the room. "...something about, taking the malice that make up these kaiju pieces and putting it all into the big one! You'll have a real monster on your hands if you let them do it!" ... ... "Like more than that was already the case!"

The girl who is mid-throwing a punch at Borr suddenly has An Entire God Damn Ultraman on her, and she squawks in surprise before going flying. That strike knocks over the entire wave of Vallis Raiders.

THAT...gets a reaction. Hass sneers, "Ultraman," with...not really anything? It's data, received and known. Her eyes cut to Leito. "Space martial artist," she says again. And then, Vitt and Borr: "Hyper Agents."

And then she LAUGHS, a profound cackle deep in her belly. "HAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Kiete karekareta! Interesting! I've never had so many guests for my games!"

Then she whips on her heel like she hadn't been nearly doubled-over from laughter just one second ago, and steps further into the room she's in, vanishing behind a pillar toward a control box. Soon, the sounds of discomfort inside grow.

The Raiders are getting forced back, and the last one in the main room falls. Soon the entire wall between the two rooms starts to fall away. The reason for it becomes more clear: That was a tank barrier.

There is a small bridge between the lab side and the operation side Hass is now on. Vallis Raiders materialize on it, fading out of red mist, swords at the ready. And under that bridge is a MASSIVE aquatic space, containing a deeply sad turtle. Anosillus the First has always had an expressive face, and it now looks up at the approachers with pain and fear in its eyes, thrashing its neck. Emitters on the ceiling begin firing SOMETHING into the water, a mixture of liquid and energy that causes him to try to sing or scream but all he can do is groan again.

ALSO in that room, strapped to a chair with strange wires and plugged poked into him all over, is Riku Asakura, who is extremely unconscious and looks like...it's not emaciated. The energy taken from him is not food. But perhaps an Ultra would know what a man drained of some of the forces that make up their very being looks like.

Hass speaks. It reaches despite the distance. "It's been a while since I got this kind of reaction," she chuckles. "It's almost exciting. I do enjoy playing the brawling sections myself, sometimes."

<Pose Tracker> Jana Cektru has posed.

"CELEBRO!" Dr. Cektru shouts suddenly, pointing a finger accusingly at Hass's body. "After a thousand years, I've found you! And on behalf of the Garatu people, and the Javri!" She references two fallen civilizations, work of Celebro in the past--those familiar with matters of Space may even recognize the names. "I, Jana Cektru of the Salome, will stop you, civilization destroyer!"

"This being is no mere body thief--he orchestrates the fall of one people after another! Now he has stolen the power of Ultraman Belial for himself!"

"You have devastated world after world, but Earth will not be yours!" She points her device--some sort of ray gun?--at the emitters on the ceiling, blasting one and then the other with coruscating beams of blue power.

Dr. Cektru looks angry--angrier than anyone here has seen her, different from how anyone has seen her, with eyes old, older than her apparent years.

"No matter how long it takes! Now, Celebro! Release the girl and face me!"
Leito Igaguri (Leito) has paged Celebro with, 'may I recognize the name Celebro and go 'oh, civilization game guy' and get mad too'
Leito Igaguri (Leito) has paged Celebro with, 'i assumed Zero hadn't pieced it together because he didn't have the Clues'

<Pose Tracker> Leito Igaguri has posed.

"I'll come back for you." Leito tells Shinya, and then, once the enemies are down, moves forward. His eyes avert.

"RIKU!" He shouts, recognizing him instantly. It's not just vague familiarity - it's the cry of a friend.

Butt he's stopped from there by Jana's call. "Celebro...I've heard of the Civilization Self-Destruction Game. Dr. Cektru..."

She revealed herself. In anger. To save this world. This isn't how Salome work. They don't plot in this way. They don't show this much genuine anger, this much genuine compassion, over *conquering*.

"I guess I owe you an apology, after we eradicate him. You touched the power of Belial. That was a mistake..."

Leito-Zero steps up next to Jana. He doesn't know if he's earned it, but it's support.

"Because you're twenty thousand years too early to destroy the Earth when we're here!"

<Pose Tracker> Kaworu Nagisa has posed.

       "I see," Kaworu says simply in the face of Hebikura and Jana's explanations, though his neutral expression doesn't soften any. At the same time, he certainly understands handling discreet matters by oneself to keep them from being anyone else's concern, so he doesn't say anything else. What's done is done.
       
       His smile returns instead at Vit's call. "I'm sorry to be so abrupt," he tells Yuta. Once he points out Hass, he lets him go, letting him and Rikka call out to Hass. He'll turn and raise his SWAT shield again to protect them from any stray shots--including the one that sears towards Rikka. Kaworu moves in front of that one with perhaps astonishing speed, though not anything a human (albeit perhaps not a natural human) would be incapable of.
       
       The being possessing Hass cackles, naming several of her 'guests' before leaving. The walls fall away, replaced by a bridge covered with Vallis Raiders. Kaworu pays them little mind, content to leave them to the warriors of the group. Instead, his expression shifts to concern as he sees the kaiju below.
       
       "Anosillus... So this is what became of you..." he murmurs as he stands at the very edge above the great turtle. "Don't worry. I promised your daughter I would help save you." A promise that is actively being put to the test as those substances are added to the water. Kaburagi has given his warnings already about that. If the ceiling emitters are purely electronic, Kaworu will look up at them and reach out his considerable psychic (?) hacking abilities to make them simply--stop, as cleanly and abruptly as a green light turning red. Any physical components might need a bit more time to get turned shut, though.
       
       He's concerned for Riku, too, having spotted him unconscious in that chair. One thing at a time, however--especially as Jana reveals her true nature and challenges "Hass" to fight her. Kaworu's eyes narrow as he looks their way. He'd already noticed she wasn't human, but the rest of what she says... Celebro. So that was his true nature...
       
       Well, they all have their own roles. He'll leave the defeat of Celebro, and the rescuing of Riku, to his compatriots.

<Pose Tracker> Yuta Hibiki has posed.

Yuta glares at Celebro. "Don't talk about her that way!" He wishes he knew Hass better. Does she actually have fans? Is she famous? At least she's clean and taken care of...

Two-pronged spear gleaming as he moves, Vit is oblivious to the pulsing red light. He dispatches one robot, then another, twisting out of reach of the swords aimed his way. Knocking one aside, Vit ducks beneath the other, stabbing into the robot's chest and up.

"RIKKA!" Yuta screams, watching where Celebro aims. Horror makes his stomach turn as the shot flies, knowing he can't do anything. With every piece of his heart, Yuta begs for Rikka to be saved, and in the space between his blinks--

Someone answers.

Kaworu blocks the shot, and Yuta feels light-headed from relief. "Thank you, Kaworu!"

"Thanks, kid!" Borr shouts, with a scowl. "As for you--!" Flipping their knife, they grab it by the tip and hurl it after Celebro, with little thought given to Hass' body. Now unarmed, Borr seems to become all the more vicious. "You next, huh?" They snarl at the leopard-print girl, once the sudden Ultraman finishes with her. "I'm pretty sick of you girlies trying to kill my kids!"

Borr rushes her opponent, leaping at the last moment to attempt a fierce uppercut right to her face. Should the girl fall, Borr will jump onto her, punching her in the face again, and again -- and again.

"Borr, you lost your knife again~." Vit calls, almost playfully. As the way forward is cleared, he moves forward, rushing the bridge at electric speeds. Spear-forward, he impales a robot and tosses it away, off the bridge. "This is why Max and I keep our weapons attached, you know!"

Shouting back a colorful string of curses, Borr flashes back to Kaburagi's cell. With a single, powerful kick, the door to his cell comes free. "Congratulations! You're free. Good luck." Gone in a blur, Borr appears at Vit's side, kicking robots off the bridge. "Vit, you fucker, you've got another thing coming when we're out of here--"

Yuta, suddenly left on his own as his protectors battle robots and Kaworu tends to Anosillus, simply looks up at Dr. Cektru with awe. "W--what... A thousand..."

He may be a little shocked. So many things are happening at once, and he has the power to affect so few of them. Leito shouts for Riku, and Yuta follows his gaze, then goes pale. "O--oh, Riku!"

Maybe this is something they can do. Yuta breaks through the crowd, making his way to Rikka, breathlessly grabbing her shoulders. "Rikka! Your first aid kit -- Riku! He's in trouble. I think we can help!"

Should she be willing, Yuta will take her hand and pull her through the crowd, racing to the side of their suffering friend. He doesn't know where to begin with all those wires! But there must be a power source, right? Yuta scrambles, looking on the ground for it, anything to stop... whatever it is being sucked out of Riku.

<Pose Tracker> Shota Hebikura has posed.

Appearing to help Yuka and Haruki, Heibikura quickly is overshone by the appearance of Ultraman Z! A real Ultra Hero and member of the Space Garrison appears in a flash of light and the announcement of most tremendous plastic.

Shota Hebikura, in the dark, gets a decent idea of what happened - being the one helping out the STORAGE pair in the rear of the melee. He will remember where Haruki went -- or, rather, where he didn't. Thanks to the Hyper Agents and the determination of the Gridman Alliance, and a little help from a karate father (and a karate son ((no relation))), a breakthrough is made. Culimating, entirely, in a castigating finger, and a lineup reveal. Jana Cektru 'of the Salome', and her presence-sensing mind, can practically feel the smiling dry wit in the STORAGE Captain.

Patting Yuka on the shoulder, the Captain looks her over. "You'll be fine. If you want to meet a real alien, here's your chance." He urges, with Jana's pointing towards Haas -- to Celebro -- central to the pair's shared vision. It's only the tiniest bit of misdirection.

If she directed her glance to anyone in the room, she might find an 'alien'. It made it easy to be vague.

"Just live through this and maybe you can even save the world." He encourages, before stepping forward himself to take Leito's flank, loosening the collar of his jumpsuit with a finger and leering. "Think you can peel it free of the girl, papa-san? Jana?" Hebikura asks the pair, rotating into Kaworu's just-occupied space to move alongside Rikka and Yuta's advance to Riku Asakura.

Someone else that wouldn't have been hurt if this all didn't happen. "It's important we cut off the source of the Belial factors--" Hebikura continues, "... and save him." He adds, as if it needs to be said.

<Pose Tracker> Rikka Takarada has posed.

Rikka grimaces as Hass speaks. She feels ill now.

"...Creep. Don't you dare talk about Hass." Rikka replies alongside Yuta with a glare of her own. She's angry, but her hand trembles. She has a knife, but what is she going to do with it? She can't stab Hass - could never hurt her.

...But the thing driving her body has no such compulsions. Hass draws a blaster, aimed straight at her. Rikka freezes, for a moment. She hears Yuta scream her name. She knows, deep down, that the person in front of her isn't Hass. She knows that. But it is her face and she is struck, so deeply, by the sight of one of her best friends with such a murderous expression directed toward her that she hesitates, for just a moment.

Sometimes, though, a moment is all it takes.

A beam screams toward her. It's too late to get out of the way - but before it strikes her Kaworu is there, intercepting it with his shields.

"Th-thanks. Sorry." Rikka quickly apologizes. She looks quickly again to the man in the cell. Shinya Kaburagi. He has a lot to say, some very important things. Borr helps him out, kicking the door open.

"That's... Thank you. Take cover for now, okay? And stay close to one of us so they can't grab you." Rikka says.

And then, several reveals happen. Jana announces herself - who she is, who the being controlling Hass is.

The wall between rooms falls away, revealing the contents of the tank. Anosillus the First. Nidaime's father. Rikka's eyes open wide in shock and horror, especially when she sees the young man in the room.

"Anosillus! And - Riku!? Oh, god..." She whispers. Anosillus is the 'big kaiju'... She hates the idea of him being injected with that much malice. He's always been kind and gentle, coming to their aid - how could she live with herself? What would she tell Nidaime?

And Riku... he's a friend, who shared in their sudden disorientation of being in a new world they didn't know.

Rikka is torn for a moment... but with Kaworu going to help Anosillus, she joins Yuta in running after Riku.

"On it!" She shouts, unslinging her backpack, unzipping it, and bringing out her kit. She'll do what she can for now, but the real work will come once they detach him from the machine. But until then, there is one thing we can do.

"Riku. It's me, Rikka. Yuta's here, too - we're here with some friends. Don't try to talk - hold on for me, okay?" She whispers. "We'll get you out of this."

She steals another glance toward Hass - toward Celebro - a grimace crossing her face. She feels ill again, this time at the sheer joy she's taking in this. Treating it all like a fun new game...

<Pose Tracker> Yuka Ohta has posed.

A shower of sparks was not what Yuka expected when she brought along this equipment. But the woman doesn't seem to be immediately standing up, oddly enough. Yuka gestures her direction, to the Captain. He'd be best equipped to put a set of restraints on her, in case she gets back up in the middle of it.

The kidnapped hazmat guy explains about the kaiju, and then... the wall comes down. The massive kaiju inside, and the person they're here to help. So... they have one further target to save, it's as simple as that! The hurt and sorrow in his eyes is obvious, perhaps more to Yuka than others here. The agony on his face tears at her heart.

And then... Jana has opted to reveal her secret? To everyone here? Yuka pulls herself up fully to her feet, and moves to stand with her friend. Who had been worried about her secret so recently. A hand pats against the doctor's arm. The one she's not shooting with, obviously. She's not trying to throw off her aim or anything. Quiet assurance that they all fight together.

And then her gaze turns, not to Celebro, but to Riku and Anosillus once more. "I'll find the commands to shut down the systems they've been hooked to, and set them loose!" This is a job her skillset is distinctly suited for.

Perhaps Hebikura is shocked by her complete lack of surprise about Jana, perhaps not. But with what he says to her, she offers back a grin, saying nothing to his misdirection as she books it to go after the consoles. To let Riku free for Yuta and Rikka, and to get Anosillus out of his bonds... Hebi doesn't need to know she'd already heard about this, everyone has their little secrets.

Hopefully she'll have something that can help the big kaiju with his own injuries.

<Pose Tracker> Haruki Natsukawa has posed.

        Geed! Z doesn't speak, but when he notices Riku, he does cautiously reach out in their direction. He can't get to him, not yet anyway, as the more enemies get in their way.

        As he's assessing the situation, however, he takes note of the room. The equipment. He could see it through Haruki, but in person it's a lot more apparent. This is definitely the person who stole the Z-Riser and medals from Hikari. Which means, Haruki was right with is guess from before. The man who made the Belial medal was definitely the one with the Riser. Just how exactly he figured out how to tamper with it and create his own medals, however, is something he's yet to understand.

        "You're the thief! Give back the Riser now before more people get hurt! This isn't a game and these things aren't toys!"

        Z speaks in his own tongue, rather than English, assuming that if they're smart enough to reverse engineer their tech, they must be able to understand them. In the mean time, Z makes himself an even bigger nuisance than before, trying to draw as much aggro as possible as he throws himself into the crowd of newly spawned Vallis Raiders.

        It's a bit reckless of him, to be sure, but at the very least, it doesn't seem like the Ultraman is going to struggle, as he's giving his all to fight defensively and shove the machines around.

<Pose Tracker> Celebro has posed.

Jana calling his name is what makes Hass' body stop fiddling with the controls. She lurches back around the machinery - watches Yuta and Rikka dash toward Riku on another platform - and then steps toward Jana, just short of the bridge. The mask that Hass habitually wears - that Celebro has so kindly continued to wear - hides what might be a grin. "Kiete karekareta," she breathes. "Hee hee! A real second player!? Astonishing! Say, say, what did you think of my work on Javri?? I thought it was a bit rushed, but sometimes you just have to push to the victory condition!"

And then Leito steps up, and so does Hebikura. She laughs again, delight in her as she slaps her thighs in mockery of a person doubled-over in excitement. "A game! Yes! My Civilization Self-Destruction Game! That's all any of this is! All any of you are! Just mobile objects for my game!"

And then those eyes cut and stare at Leito like she could see Ultraman Zero rattling around in his head. "Do you think you'll last twenty-thousand years? Even if I don't do anything, I doubt this planet has twenty-thousand hours. You should be thanking me for making your world's end more interesting than yet another space war."

Borr fends off the girl attacking her and proceeds to Work The Face, which lasts about twelve punches before something SPARKS, and her holgoraphic (??) disguise fails. What Borr finds themself straddling is as somewhat curvaceous female body, with a bulbous pink head. Eyes way up the side of the skull. A lipless mouth, with no chin, meaning it's just horizontal teeth from the holes of its nose the whole way down to its neck.

Space Folk will recognize an Alien Pitt. The one Yuka stunned also flops over and changes back; this one's orange but otherwise the same.

Riku is conscious but breathing in exhaustion. His teeth are grit - whatever Celebro's pouring into Anosillus' tank is at least a little bit coming out of Riku, lines of light visibly leaving him through the piping. But he meets Yuta's eyes, and croaks, and then Rikka's, and croaks more fiercely. It's a struggle to even acknowledge them. But he fights. He fights so heroically to do it.

As for those emitters, Jana gets two of them quickly; Kaworu stops several more. Yuka gets to a console and hacks the rest. They all turn off. 1 2 3, ez clap!

Hass -- No, Celebro, riding Hass like a stolen mobile suit -- watches it with that totally blank face. His defenses gone. His enemies mere steps away. He is defended, really, only by one last thing. ...they seem to be expecting him to fight them.

He pulls out something from behind Hass' back. An unknown item, a broad sweeping crescent of an Important Space Material that looks a hell of a lot like injection-molded blue plastic. The handle end has a thumb trigger; it looks like the crescent side is composed of a slotted half-crescent that can then be slid past the center, perhaps to scan whatever goes in those slots.

Ultraman Z, Ultraman Zero, and Haruki will, of course, know the stolen Z Riser at once.

"Yes," Hass replies in human speech to Ultraman Z, and the way her cheeks perk suggests an elated smile. "I thought Ultraman Hikari's lab would be a tough ride even for me, but I barely had to slow my Genegarg down. Absolutians giving you trouble?" She chuckles. She cackles.

And then she swings her blaster up with her other hand without even looking and fires a concentrated beam at Anosillus. Sparks fly up, a huge spray of pyrotechnics, and then Anosillus the First...he tries. He DOES try. He tries so bravely. But in the end, in this much pain, he cries out in a powerful scream, bellowing a roar that shakes the entire space. Containment vessels crack, the entire lab begins to rattles and shake, and with a SPARK, the cables holding up the bridge fail.

Hass watches with no emotion whatsoever as it drops toward the water below, Leito, Jana, and Hebikura falling with it.

She clicks the button on the Z Riser, and a Riser Gate appears behind her, a roiling portal to a green no-space.

<Pose Tracker> Leito Igaguri has posed.

"You're deranged." Leito-Zero spits at Hass-Celebro, as he looks down at Anosilius in pity and disgust at what he's doing to him. "I've lasted this long - what's another 15? Compared to you."

Suddenly, a Z Riser. Leito's eyes rise, and the bridge begins to collapse from the shot. If there was more room, he'd be able to transform, but that's risky even if there is. Reveals to too many people.

Jana's going to fall. Leito-Zero suddenly rushes forward, grabs her, and starts running, carrying the scientist as he makes a leap onto stable platform (which is going to hurt his dad bones).

"You alright, Dr. Cektru?" Hell ask once they're safe. Is Hass...? Riku...? Hell, the turtle...?
Yuta Hibiki (Yuta) has paged Celebro with, 'since nobody needs saving, would a NGJHS be able to catch up to Celebro, or would you prefer they didn't?'

<Pose Tracker> Jana Cektru has posed.

Leito--Zero--understands. He's heard of Celebro. And Jana feels the way he steps up. "We can worry about that later," she says, with a grim but pleased look. Twenty thousand years too early...

"Yes. Together, we will stop you!"

Jana doesn't know Riku, but she recognizes his state. The other will addess him. Yuta, though, addresses her--and Jana says, "I will explain later!"

She will have to, now. But to see her foe reveal himself... Well. Jana looks briefly to Yuka with a fierce nod--she is not in a smiling mood--but she understands. She feels it. And indeed, she 'feels' the dry with of the STORAGE Captain all right. A little misdirection... It's fine.

She will be the 'alien' who helps them.

"Your depravity on Javri alone would have earned you the enmity of all the universe! They were a peaceful people before you got to them! They wanted only to focus on their art!"

Mobile objects for his game...

"This planet will persist for far longer than that if I have anything to say about it!"

The Captain calls to her and Jana says, "If I can get a moment, I think I can help her!" That last blank step--indeed, Dr. Cektru at least hopes for a final confrontation here, but she notices that device--the broad, sweeping crescent. She recognizes the kind of technolgy, if not the details. "No!"

Anosillus can hardly be blamed for his scream. The pain he's been put through is too much to bear. And Jana cannot react in time; however, Leito has her, and she blinks in surprise as she's carried. But it means she has to act now--

"I'm fine--I'm going to try to free her!"

The woman in blue places both hands up, forefingers to her temples, and stares intently at Hass's body. She latches onto that presence, that screeching static, and onto Hass's battered consciousness. She focuses hard, and those sensitive to such things may detect a surge of Intent from her of an inhuman strength. With all her might, Dr. Cektru bolsters Hass's mind and tries to drive Celebro OUT, a blue glow shining in her eyes. "BEGONE!"

...she can worry about the dignity of being carried off the bridge later. This comes first!
Yuta Hibiki (Yuta) has paged Celebro with, 'oh, am I okay to start yanking wires out of poor Riku?'

<Pose Tracker> Kaworu Nagisa has posed.

       Kaworu offers Rikka and Yuta a gentle, reassuring smile, as if to silently tell them that it was no problem at all. Because it wasn't, really. The SWAT shield has definitely seen better days at this point, being cracked and melty, but what is equipment for if not to be used?
       
       Between himself, Jana, and Yuka, the ceiling emitters are all shut down. Kaworu turns his gaze towards Hassbro, shield back on his back, hands in his pockets. He considers her cackling brags about her misdeeds and the Z Riser in her grasp with narrowed eyes. However, being on the opposite side of the bridge from her and thus having no way to intercept her angle without revealing his own true nature, there's nothing he can do to stop her from firing that beam at Anosillus.
       
       The great turtle roars in pain. The bridge comes falling down. Hassbro steps back towards the alternate space to retreat. But Leito has Jana, and Jana has a plan of action. Kaworu leaves them to it--he trusts that Hebikura and the Neon Genesis Junior High Students won't be troubled by such a fall either--to turn his attention towards the enclosure that surrounds Anosillus. There must surely be drains that can pull the water and what's already been poured into it out; it's only a matter of activating them.

<Pose Tracker> Yuta Hibiki has posed.

"What the hell..." Borr mutters, as the girl she was fighting turns into some kind of creepy female robot, with extra teeth. They kick it out of the way as they leave, shuddering. "This freak's got issues."

"Riku," Yuta says, tears in his eyes. "Don't try to talk or anything. We're gonna get you safe!" Turning to Rikka, he adds, more quietly, "Do we just pull all these wires out of him and get him out of here? Things are going out of control!"

After a moment of waiting for her reply, Yuta takes a deep breath. He reaches for the first wire in reach, hands trembling. Was this even safe? "O--okay. Here we go, Riku, just a little, um, pinch..." It's what the nurses told Yuta at the hospital before they took a blood sample. It's all his mind has to offer, for words of comfort.

Yank. One wire out. Yuta waits for Rikka to tend to the wound site, and tries very hard not to think about throwing up. Once she finishes, he gently takes the next one in his hands. "One, two, three!" Yank. Another wire out... This is really going to take a while, at this rate.

Anosillus screams, and Yuta covers his ears, crying out in distress. Everything is shaking -- they've got to get Riku out of here, now. "Sorry, I'm sorry --!" Yuta grits his teeth and begins pulling out the remaining wires as quickly as he can, leaving Rikka only a second before moving on to the next one. Noticing the crown atop Riku's head, Yuta pulls it off and tosses as far as he can.

On the bridge, Borr nearly loses her balance, though Vit wraps an arm around her shoulders. "Time to go!"

Borr growls at Celebro's imminent escape, but vanishes in a blur of motion. Vit is about to follow her, though he hesitates an extra moment to make sure everyone gets away safely. Jana and Leito seem fine, but Hebikura isn't moving as quickly as the Hyper Agent would like. With a sigh, Vit appears next to the man. "Hey, I'm Sky Vitter. Sorry about this, usually I'd buy you dinner first."

Arms loop around Hebikura's legs and under his arms, lifting him princess-style. In a flash, Vit is gone as well, coming to a halt next to Yuta. "Here you go," he offers, depositing his cargo onto his feet. "Safe and sound."

Kaworu recieves an unexpected ally. "Kaworu, where do you need me?" Borr asks, suddenly at Kaworu's side. "I can reach whatever you want. Let's get the big guy out of here, yeah?"

<Pose Tracker> Shota Hebikura has posed.

All around, Kaiju pain-song and the chaos of battle. And Shota Hebikura. . . Frets over a young man who is terribly into denim. Yuta pulls out the needles delicately as Hebikura yanks on connections to the chair, pulling at wrist restraints and struggling against the bonds. More than the skull crown, if they can't get him off the chair, they can't get him away from the problem no matter his state.

"Hurry, hurry..." Hebikura mutters, as Yuta picks up his pace. He notices his leaking agitation, and the medicating pair of Yuta and Rikka can catch a clear sort of caring the captain has, specifically, for the young man in the chair. A tenseness of the brow, a conviction in the eyes that strays away from his own clear task of the bindings to watch and worry over the administration of aid instead.

'Snap!' comes the bands with a rumble of the structure around them, and Hebikura ducks his head and winces as the ceiling. "Really bringing down the house, hmm? Where will you go next--?" He searches, and sees Haas-Celebro pull out the molded plastic and thumb a button. Several things become clear, and Hebikura stares with wide eyes. . .

And flat feet. But a dashing prince in a suit sweeps Captain Hebikura off his feet and deposits him in safety. By the time he lands, he has a relaxed sprawl in the arms of his 'savior'.

"Do you have a tailor?" Hebikura asks Vit quietly. "Your cut is impeccable." He praises quietly, quite happy to remain held... at least until Haruki shows back up or Yuka doe-eyes at him long enough. He's weak to his subordinates.

<Pose Tracker> Rikka Takarada has posed.

Civilization Self-Destruction Game... Mobile objects...

"Stop... stop saying horrible things with her face!" Rikka shouts, anger and grief in her voice. It makes her sick to think that's the kind of thing Celebro has planned. She returns her attention to Riku for now. He's trying - he's trying so hard. All he can manage is a croak, but it's enough of an acknowledgement for her.

"It's okay. You'll be okay." She murmurs, then looks up to Yuta with a nod. She considers the question for a moment. This is a little beyond what she's used to treating, but...

"...I think we have to. Do it - slowly, but carefully. Give me time to treat each one before moving on to the next." Rikka says. "...Okay, go."

Yuta removes one. Rikka quickly tends to the wound - cleaning it, treating it, and dressing it before moving onto the next one in turn. Her experience with this shows through, at least - the lessons she's been taking have definitely counted for something. But she can't worry about anything else right now - not Anosillus's cries, not the chaos going on around her. She has to trust in her friends and companions right now - she has a patient here who needs her full attention.

Yuta starts to speed up as things intensify, however. At this point... it's probably fine - they've done enough that it might be safe.

It isn't long, however, before she can look up - she sees the portal forming behind Hass.

"What... what is that??" Rikka asks, shocked. And Jana says she's going to try to free her. She looks to Jana, to Hass, then back to Jana and nods.

"Y-yes... please do! I... I trust you, Doctor Cektru." Rikka says. She doesn't know her that well - but for now, she'll put her friend in her hands. She can feel it now, that surge of Intent radiating from her. It's beyond anything she's experienced before - so new is she to reception like this. If she questioned her story before, and even through her conversation with Celebro, that is proof enough to her.

<Pose Tracker> Haruki Natsukawa has posed.

        "Eh? You're actually insane! I won't let you get away with- "

        Z's cut short as Hass, or rather, Celebro, makes their way out. He unfortunately can't make it in time to stop them, especially since the ground beneath them is about to give out.

        Luckily, Z is an agile alien, and is quick to leap off, flipping through the air several times before landing steadily on their feet.

        He didn't get the Z-Riser. But at the very least, they've saved several people today, and learned a lot. It's almost just as good, he thinks, though it's a thought he'll keep to himself because he's sure that Hikari wouldn't appreciate it.

        As much as he'd love to stay and make sure everyone gets out okay, Z's time is apparently at an end, as the color timer on his chest starts flashing. This prompts him to, in an extremely ungraceful manner, simply run off from the scene and down a dark corridor, though not before giving everyone a bow and a salute.
        Haruki, would rejoin the group not long after, insisting that he fell and bumped his head after the weird woman did some sort of mental attack on him.

<Pose Tracker> Yuka Ohta has posed.

Being at the consoles has one upside. Yuka is in the safest place to be, as parts of the facility come down. What can she do then... Maybe there's a drain switch here somewhere? Concentrated, liquified malice... She can't help picturing what he might have done with it, given more time. A more focused, injected form perhaps? Or making Malice Medals even, to implant into kaiju all over the world. Driving them mad... kicking off a planetary apocalypse. And the human response would be a catastrophe.

After a moment in her thoughts, she's back to searching the system. Anything she can do for Anosillus. Yuta, Rikka, and Hebikura have Riku mostly taken care of. No matter what kind of hardball act the Captain likes to play, he's got a big, caring heart in the end. She'll have to pick up something nice for everyone when they get back. "Come on... you couldn't have designed this place with no way to release the water and let out kaiju, or put new ones in... There's got to be something for it."

The two women with strange heads... definitely aliens. She'll be getting back to THEM soon enough. She's going to have MANY questions, when this is over.

<Pose Tracker> Celebro has posed.

Kaworu scowers the enclosure controls. They're labeled in Japanese like something sensible, and quickly he's able to get the drains going, pulling the toxic water out of Anosillus' enclosure. That, at least, should ease the great turtle's woes. Between Borr and Yuka, they're soon able to find the controls that open the other door. It's slow - and it's damaged, which Yuka will have to fix.

Jana's psychic force latches into Celebro and Hass, and despite the TOTAL disinterest Celebro has shown so far, he finally expresses something, and it's...

Rage.

"NO!" Hass' body SHRIEKS. "YOU DON'T--"

A miasma of darkness surrounds her, an accrual of evil intent that exceeds the human capacity. "YOU *NEVER*--!!"

And then SOMETHING fires out of Hass' back, physically propelled away from her. How exactly that all works is best left unexplored, but the masked girl collapses ot her knees in a heap afterward, hand going to her chest as she hyperventilates in that mask.

A good few yards behind her is a Thing. It looks more like a moth, than anything - it's maybe a meter long from end to end, but nearly half of that is a long tube, like a proboscis. Above that is a pair of beady eyes, almost jewel-like. The whole creature is a vibrant purple. It skreeches, a noise quite like the psychic tymbal that has been heard from Celebro before, an awful - but not too terribly loud, compared to what Anosillus let out just a moment ago - chittering, warbling noise. It moves shockingly swiftly, scampering toward that Gate.

Hass sees Yuta, Rikka, sees the crumbling space. Normally someone conquered by Celebro would be fully disoriented for minutes or hours, but Hass has herself together in seconds, throwing her arm out. "RIKKA!" she screams. "I'm here! I'm OK! RIKKA!"

And then her eyes snap wide with very human fear as something catches her by the uniform collar.

It doesn't say anything. A Vallis Raider's silent red eye simply stares at her. Yanks the Z Riser out of her hand, and then shifts its other to grab her by the arm. "...so it's this," she spits. "Spite at the end!?"

The Raider starts dragging her away, and she kicks at it to no effect, clings to the railing until her hands slip.

But just before it drags her into the Gate, she yells, "I'll be OK! He's too much of a coward! I'll..."

She sucks in two, three, four breaths, each one pulling her inches closer to that Gate. At the last, she yells, "I'LL COME BACK TO YOU!" before she disappears, and shortly after, the Gate does too.

Silence reigns, other than some crumbling portions of the facility after Anosillus' roar. He has scaled back to whimpering, for now. The tank is emptying of sludge. At the same time, Yuka and Borr are working on getting the gate back out to the lake open so that Anosillus can limp back to native waters. The Alien Pitts are down for the count. Riku Asakura is free, but now unconscious. Shinya Kaburagi slumps against one of the surviving consoles, looking emotionally winded but mostly together.

Two people and one kaiju saved. Two aliens taken prisoner. And an understanding of your enemy, and the name of his game. The enemy escaped, and took Hass with him, but...

It's something. It has to be.

<Pose Tracker> Rikka Takarada has posed.

Something happens. Something is thrown from Hass - and Hass calls out her name. The creature possessing her never said her name, that much is a giveaway - but she knows her friend's voice. She knows for sure that it's her.

"Hass!" Rikka calls out. She takes one look back at Riku and, sure that she's alright, she begins to run toward her.

...But. Something reaches out for Hass, grabbing her by the color. Rikka's eyes open wide in shock.

"Hass! No!" Rikka shouts. She breaks into a run, trying to catch up to her, trying to rescue her, but -

...She knows. She knows she's too far away for her to do anything. Hass knows it, too. Rikka grits her teeth.

"You better!" She shouts back. "Namiko... Namiko's okay too, so you better come back to us! I'll come find you - I'll meet you halfway!"

She can only watch as Hass is dragged away, and disappears. Rikka stands there for a moment, quietly. She shuts her eyes. Her body sags, but she keeps herself from falling over. She cries... but she trusts her friend, trusts her strength and that she'll be alright. Her hands tighten into fists.

"We... we did it. She's back." She murmurs. They're not together again yet. But they will be - she just has to trust in that.