2023-02-04: Dispersal in progress... (Chapter 1)

• Log: Dispersal in progress... (Chapter 1)
• Cast: Yuliana Kafim, Leina Ashta, Garrod Ran, Banagher Links, Roux Louka, Sayaka Yumi, Shelby Korts, Li Yao, Sousuke Sagara, Christina MacKenzie, Kaworu Nagisa, Teletha Testarossa Elisa Kafim
• Where: Colombo, Sri Lanka
• Date: 2023-02-04 (OOCly 2023-02-02)
• Summary: The invasion of the Institute for Continuing Study consists of two prongs: the outer assault to keep its strongest defenders occupied, and an internal search and rescue. This scene details the efforts of those rescuers who went on-foot to retrieve the traumatised subjects of the Institute. (Content warning: human experimentation, dehumanisation, brainwashing, torture, and murder.)

---

<Pose Tracker> Yuliana Kafim has posed.

        OST: Skinny Puppy - Testure https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uj7Ky_bUGmg

        A dark-skinned girl creeps forward through sterile while halls, leaning on the pole where her IVs are strung, that sole source of support and steadiness. She looks up, her brown eyes glimmering, though no sound has broken through their soundproofed existence. "Something's coming," she breathes, as she stares at the ceiling.

        It is a full minute more before the rest of them realise.

        And when they do --

        It begins elsewhere in Kotte.

        The administrative district of Colombo is a place for politicians and powerful men, creating the future of Sri Lanka from its capital. No wonder, then, that the Shuffles already have an eye towards disrupting it... or at least, the authoritarian parts of it. (Sri Lanka actually has elections, did you know? It's misleading to still call it a democracy, but it does play at choice more than some parts of the REA.) It is one of these cells which begin with a bang, on the other side of the city. They have help, this time, so they're able to make quite an impression!

        There are soldiers devoted to Colombo's defence, of course -- and they respond to this attack in force, with overwhelming numbers. It's the REA way. In fact, the only soldiers who don't respond to wave tactics are those privileged few...

        ... the special operatives. And so, as Minovsky interference spreads over the district, only the Nega Force -- the half still in residence -- remain to be shocked by the violence visited on the Institute for Continuing Study.

        It comes not like a bullet, but a procession.

        In contrast to the Phenex's typical speed, she approaches the Institute for Continuing Study slowly. Precious cargo is held in her hands, but even beyond that, she wants to be seen. She wants all those who tormented her to know the fear she saw in the eyes of so many fellow subjects.

        Golden wings spread wide. A great bird shrieks with rage, the sound echoing in the hearts of all present.

        Vengeance. For everyone I couldn't protect. For what you did to me. For what you did to my friend.

        Glimmering in the sunlight, her wings are brought down on an outer wall of the building.

        Once. The wall bends from the strain, a large hole opening in the ceiling.

        Twice. The wall buckles, collapsing inward. Screams can be heard.

        Thrice. Moving in harmony, both shields race in through the destroyed wall, clearing debris and creating a path forward. All is silent.

        Coming to earth, the Gundam kneels, lowering her hands ever so carefully. Someone leaps down, and the Phenex waits for her to enter the building safely. Once the infiltrators are on their way...

        Azure flame ignites. Brighter, hotter than ever before. Taking to the skies once more, the Phenex hovers in the Institute's airspace. No engines can be heard. No thrusters are active. Only the fire, and the echoing sensation of bereaved fury.

        The Phenex issues a challenge.

        Trucks roll in, operatives pierce through that shattered wall -- and for those few precious moments, they have the advantage.

        Outside, the Mobile Suits are closing in, closing to battle. There is no time to linger on what opposition they will face, even as the transmission of Yuliana's mad and maddened boiling blood -- "COME ON!" Captain Kafim can be heard, out there: "Every last one of you worthless wretches -- I'll eat you alive..!" -- cuts into the shattered concrete. The Phenex has battered a hole in the Institute with her wings, and her positioning and targeting was exact.

        All the bodies caught in the rubble are wearing white coats.

        (Not all are, as yet, dead. One screams for help. One screams in anger.)

        The entryway is uneven and the footing treacherous, but no one here is like to be stopped by a stumble. Pressing further into the Institute from what looks for all the world like a lavish staff break room involves going through a door with a handle on this side -- though, look back, and the other entry is keycard-only. The intact hall, here, muffles the sounds from outside; with the Minovsky interference, it will be difficult to communicate with the people outside. They'd better stick to the plan.

        Rescue and evacuate the subjects.

        Obtain the data and records they require to rehabilitate those subjects.

        Deal with the scientists, and retrieve those personnel marked as victims or potential turncoats.

        Show the world the crimes which the Federation commits, even as it claims the moral high ground to torture spacenoids.

        And what they find, first --

        This area of the Institute is heavy on scientists, and light on subjects; there's a computer lab, next door, for them to complete their day's documentation in peace. The Phenex's violence blew out part of this room, as well, in a less accessible way -- a man groans, trapped beneath a slab of inner drywall. "Petrov," he chokes out, through blood. "For the love of God, Petrov..!"

        The only other person still in this room, typing mildly on a computer, is a Zaftran woman with blonde hair all tied up in a bun. Her dull green eyes do not move from her monitor. She matches the photos -- it's Doctor Taisiya Petrov, the general practitioner marked as a person of special interest in the Shuffles report. (To be retrieved, not exterminated with prejudice.)

        "I must see to her notes," she tells her coworker of two years, mildly, as if he were bothering her about work and not his imminent death. "They must be contemporaneous."

        She's typing into Yuliana's file, utterly unbothered by the carnage around her.

        The computers here, with a little adeptness -- and the sort of hacking which involves finding the post-it note on the monitor where the password is written -- can be accessed to find and download those files. There is a remarkable amount of data; too much to dwell on, largely.

        But one thing might catch their eyes, in the general medical files: subject briefs.

        Too, too many subject briefs. Name: Bak Maive. Name: Yu Jianhong. Name: Coyote Terrene. Name: Iolanta Sobol. Name: Amit Zaman. Name: Prima Virtue. Name: Wira Ulunjandi. Name: Permanence Pasternak. Name: Gim Dae-Jung. Name: Lestari Nur. Name: Ila Gupta. These names -- and more.

        Too many, too, are listed as Status: Terminated.

        And four, perhaps, may leap out as immediately significant:

Name: Yuliana Kafim ERN: #258-1A Gender: F DOB: 0067-07-28 (30yrs)
Status: Alive
Allergies: NKA
Secondary Mandarin speaker? Y Translator required? N
Nationality: Zaftran-Indonesian
Native languages: Zaftran, Indonesian
Classification: Cyber-Newtype (0085 stock), Cellular Hybrid (unknown alien stock)
Alerts: Violent (self and others), mental instability, hostile reaction to NewtypeCyber-Newtype phenomena, complex drug regimen
Report: #258-1A was the most promising and sole surviving candidate of the Renascence Orchid Project. Alien cells were introduced to its cerebrospinal fluid during its creation, and subsequently integrated with its central nervous system. Its creation failed to produce expected results as per historical records -- subject instead generates 'anti-Newtype' field around itself and cannot be read by NewtypeCyber-Newtype subjects. Subject subsequently specialised towards covert sabotage with moderate success, though its typical Cyber-Newtype aggression limits its stealth effectiveness in mobile suit warfare. #258-1A is well-controlled despite its aggression, rated a low threat to its handlers. Dr. Devi has enforced a moratorium on new testing of #258-1A, with continuing maintenance treatment. Secrecy of and control over #258-1A is rated as this facility's highest priority due to the potential it presents to shape the next stage of warfare beyond widespread Cyber-Newtype production. Researchers are advised not to refer to #258-1A directly as a Cyber-Newtype in order to prevent avoidable instability.
Treatment note 1792-A: The research moratorium on #258-1A has been lifted as of 0097-01-30. Surgical and medical procedures are to be completed on a rapid timetable in order to prepare for the final stage of the experiment. As per Dr. Devi, the subject's life is to be preserved until maturation. Its wellbeing is no longer of consequence.

Name: Wen Yuan ERN: #472-27T Gender: F DOB: 0069-05-30
Status: Alive
Allergies: Penicillin
Secondary Mandarin speaker? N Translator required? N
Nationality: Han Chinese
Native languages: Mandarin
Classification: Cyborg (internal conversion)
Alerts: Minor mental instability
Report: #472-27T underwent major internal conversion after the One Year War. It was subsequently given military upgrades and redeployed as a sniper unit. While it exhibits guilt and denial over its actions, its mental profile is largely stable, and it has currently been leveraged to counterbalance #258-1A on the field. The removal of #472-27T's prosthetics should be considered a viable leverage point if it attempts to leave service.

Name: Cascade Wattana ERN: #627-19F Gender: (redacted) DOB: 0074-06-24
Status: Alive
Allergies: Strawberries, peanuts
Secondary Mandarin speaker? N Translator required? N
Nationality: Thai Chinese
Native languages: Thai, Mandarin
Classification: Cyber-Newtype (0090 stock)
Alerts: Mental instability
Report: #627-19F was transferred to the facility in 0096 to replace prior Cyber-Newtype assignments. It is currently employed as part of the irregular task force with an eye towards organic development of measures against #258-1A. During its development, #627-19F was exposed to particular emotional hardening in order to create a defensive unit, and so it displays particular talents in threat intuition and assassination which would deprecate more sensitive subjects. This attunement caught the attention of the project, and #627-19F was procured in order to continue live field testing of #258-1A's limits and potential weaknesses. Current estimates hold this subject will last for 4-6 months before another replacement is needed; recommend subject #860-G5 pursuant to resolution of seizure activity.

Name: Rita Bernal ERN: #359-3S Gender: F DOB: 0072-11-30
Status: Transferred
Allergies: NKA
Secondary Mandarin Speaker? N Translator Required? Y
Nationality: Australian
Native languages: English
Classification: Newtype, Cyber-Newtype (0080)
Alerts: Telepathy, precognition, complex drug regimen
Report: #359-3S was transferred to our facilities at the tail end of the Titans' existence. It was to be a temporary arrangement, but with the fall of the Titans, it became a permanent acquisition. First used for basic Newtype phenomena testing, once its extreme abilities were discovered, it was passed between programs. Most notably, it spent time in the EXAM research department before being moved to its own program, titled Helenus Rebirth. Despite being passive and submissive, it refuses to display its psychic abilities except under extreme duress. Additional surgical exploration may be the path to discover its true strength. Minimal pain suppression drugs are to be administered. Poses no threat to handlers or fellow subjects. Seems to have a bond with #258-1A, despite poor treatment at the hands of #258-1A. Testing involving both subjects has proven insightful. #359-3S was transferred to the Federation to ensure mutual understanding of the 0093-12-12 incident.

        The security guards of the Institute, meanwhile, are suspiciously well-trained. Some may well be soldiers, themselves. And at first they come only in pairs, holding guns instead of tasers. If they're disarmed, one way or another, they'll back down -- they're not suicidally dedicated to their work -- but they're certainly here to address this intrusion.

<Pose Tracker> Leina Ashta has posed.

'Something is coming.'

Her walls are fully up, her pressure contained within it, it's a difficult feat in the intensity of the moment. It was coordinated very precisely. Golden Wings beat vengeance against the building once. The exact same moment, much smaller detonations rock several well hidden turrets around the Institute, each going up in smoke. Two M9E Gernsbacks shimmer out of transparency on the second strike. They begin firing on the third, covering the kneeling Golden Gundam and the lone figure that dismounts from it.

Thank you Rita... wish us luck.

Fences smash at multiple points, more Gernsbacks melting out of stealth and offering suppressing fire. Armored troop transports roll past the breach, and into the much larger one created by the Gundam. Hatches thud down into the debris.

A figure in a tinted helmet, a strange long scarf, and a pink and white pilot suit dismounts from the hatch into the uneven footing of the debris, and starts 'directing traffic'... the yell of the REA Ace prompts her to tap her radio and say through her voice changer, "Presence of Captain Kafim confirmed on facility mobile suit defense team. Current mental status unknown. Expect heavy conditioning."

Shuffle and Mithril agents deploy and start creating a perimeter in the room. Medics then follow with hover stretchers and even one hydraulic lift. The only god here for the fallen are the principles of triage. Even as the man starts shouting at Doctor Petrov, two individuals are already jacking up debris while another is seizing an arm to cannulate it with an IV, "Crush Injury, Probable Hemothorax, Yellow Tag." The unmoving one gets a single reposition of her airway, then a shake of the head - 'Black tag.' is the unspoken judgment.

Leina Ashta walks into the computer lab and up to Dr. Tasiya Petrov, for a time watching her work the files, "Doctor Tasiya Petrov?" She asks, despite already knowing the answer, as she places a hand against her upper back, "Thank you for your diligence." At the exact same moment of her thanks a great deal of electricity is discharged into her. Limbs are twisted behind her back into a zip tie as she's hauled up from her chair, a quick search is made for any keycards.

"Evacuation for one. Quarantine upon arrival. Subject has had extensive contact with energy from substance VC."

She's handed off to a pair of Mithril Infantry. She hates treating her roughly, but in this moment her state is unpredictable at best. She only hopes that her recovery is possible, as it would mean good things for Alma - and other future victims.

Leina's eyes settle on the files behind her helmet, there's a momentary pause, a breath taken, her walls slip to reveal anger - anger - a n G E R. Then... her walls slide back up. "Those qualified, get to work accessing and copying those files." She says as she fishes out several flash drive from a pouch and sets them down. "The rest-" Leina racks the slide on a pistol, "-get into position. We're putting an end to this house of horrors."

<Pose Tracker> Garrod Ran has posed.

Considering Garrod Ran's most recent line of work, along with his relatively tender age, some people might not expect him to be much for stealth. On the other hand, his very first contact with the landship Freeden consisted of infiltrating the ship, stealing a very distinctive piece of hardware, and convincing a Newtype girl to come with him, all basically without being detected until after he'd done his thing.

On the other hand, as much as he'd love to be party to leveling the Institute, his Gundam needs a *lot* of repair work and there's a city which needs to remain un-leveled, so Jamil advised that Garrod be part of the infiltration team - which Garrod agreed to without needing to be convinced. He's wearing a dark visor which looks rather like a pair of sunglasses, and instead of his characteristic jacket and trousers, he's in a mottled gray and dark-blue jumpsuit. A little baggy on him, but it'll make him harder to recognize than if he were in his usual clothes.

And as one of the first people into the breach, with little interest in dealing with the scientists just yet, he grabs one of Leina's flash drives and gets to work on one of the computers. Hacking ain't his strong point, but he does know how lax some people are about security - he's made a good living off of that, from time to time, in his own checkered past.

<Pose Tracker> Banagher Links has posed.

Squeezing Leina's hand until they arrive, Banagher sits, waiting, in the troop transport. He, too, is in a pilot suit -- though not his typical one. Leina emphasized how important stealth is going to be, in a place like this. Really, he shouldn't be here at all, but there was no way Banagher Links would let his girlfriend face this hell alone.

No scarf decorates Banagher's suit, but he's managed to get a tinted helmet in his own shade of Haro-green. The voice-changer keeps startling him, but it's necessary, Leina insists. If the REA knew the pilot of the Unicorn was here...

Perhaps most unusually, for the gentle young man, a gun hangs at his side. He seems to be trying not to touch it, whenever possible. A few lessons from Leina brought him up to speed on gun safety, at least, but he still doesn't feel qualified...

Jumping out of the transport and hurrying inside, Banagher is already startled by the violence before him. Clenching his fists, he hurries away from the crushed man, staying by Leina's side.

Leina's anger echoes through Banagher, forcing him to take steadying breaths. "I'm with you." He murmurs, though the voice changer makes his voice so strange. "We're doing the right thing. No one else will be hurt by this place!"

He doesn't look at the records. There'll be time for that later. Instead, Banagher moves forward with Leina. He doesn't quite manage to unholster his pistol, but he at least places a hand on it.

<Pose Tracker> Roux Louka has posed.

Roux Louka gets another really awful introduction to a country on Earth, it would seem.

It's not too surprising, really, given the score so far. Hearing even the general outlines of what is going on led Roux to raise her hands and say "No, no, I'm in. I'm in. Holy shit." She does not go on her usual ranting tears afterwards. It is that dire.

Here and now, Roux is wearing something defensible. It feels like a Normal Suit in some way but it isn't. It's tactical gear, resembling a racer suit in some ways; slightly thicker material, strategic venting in places that are survival to be grazed. The helmet has less interior cushioning, and it feels thinner, but it's also heavier; that's because of a (thin, but non-zero) layer of metal.

Roux took what she was given for supplies. She sure had no specific plans. To one hip is a knife and a pouch containing what she is told is an emergency medical kit. To the other, two spare clips and a pistol-- a familiar one. Holding the grip of the pistol reminds Roux of something simpler. A different time. It wasn't silly, but perhaps it was... Well; the problems were different.

That's why Roux keeps her hand on her gun.

"I wonder how long this place has been here," Roux says. And what about her internal experience other than the vaguely comforting memories of an archaic-type colony? She's angry, but it's a lot less pure than she thought it would be. Some of it, probably, is the obvious sign of this being a special-forces infantry action, but --

Her helmed head turns towards Leina, and Banagher. "Heh -- I wish you didn't have to go through any of this." At this point she pulls out the gun, moving towards a ready position lateral to an entrance leading further inwards.

<Pose Tracker> Sayaka Yumi has posed.

Having already involved itself through safekeeping material related to Yuliana and Elisa Kafim, the Photon Power Labs were discretely called in to assist with a raid operation against a human experimentation lab with their claws on Yuliana and too many others.

The details themselves... rather limited. And with Koji still recovering from the battle to put a stop to the GENESIS, Sayaka volunteered to go solo.

Although the Photon Power Labs, a strictly civilian institution might seem a strange choice for such a mission, it's no secret that they worked hand in hand with the AEUG, either. And indeed, they helped to dismantle countless Titans-based labs back then. It was never pleasant - it absolutely never will be. But at the very least, Sayaka feels equipped to handle the horrors that are about to face her.

As she takes slow, guarded steps through the facility, she notes the familiarity of the sheer cruelty surrounding it. It's very easy to think this problem went away after they defeated the Titans, but Sayaka always knew it was naive to think that way... it's why she was so dedicated to ensuring the PPL remained an ethical institution. And the sights she sees only confirms her beliefs.

First order of business, subduing Tasiya Petrov - which Leina handles promptly. Copying the data would be much easier if LiSA was here... but there was absolutely no way Sayaka would be exposing her to horrors like these anytime soon.

Instead, she remains on standby, Photon Gun in hand. Even without being a newtype she can feel the anger radiating through Leina, through everyone who took on this mission... but it might just be her own anger. As a true scientist, monsters who would run a facility like this without a care to the harm they're causing make her sick.

<Pose Tracker> Shelby Korts has posed.

        The journey here is absolutely surreal.

        The terrain races by at speeds that she didn't think were possible outside of a cockpit; wind buffeting against her body and yet feeling far less intense than it should. Riding in the hand of a Mobile Suit is a dangerous affair, and riding in *this* one should be just as terrifying of a prospect.

        Yet-- Shelby Korts is calm.

        Absolute trust fills her as the stinging churn of adrenaline starts coming her way -- that she steels herself for what's next. The wings move forward; the wall is torn apart. And then, the figure clad in two-tone purple with blue accents looks up at the hulking form of the Gundam-- of Rita-- and then she gives a quick thumbs-up. She rocks back a few steps, bracing herself against the heel of the Mobile Suit's hand, and--

        "We got this!"

        And then, she leaps from the shining gold and the blue light, aiming to hit the rubble running. And it's... tough. Shelby's always claimed to have been different; that the whole world pours through her mind and heart in ways that others just don't understand-- and she does not have the luxury to ignore any of it; the screams, the panic, the fleeting thoughts of those caught under rubble.

        The young woman takes a deep breath, then adjusts her route to catch up with the others, after her flashy entrance.

<Pose Tracker> Li Yao has posed.

        An old man watches the rage of the pure creature that is phoenix as it is unleashed on the institute. Dressed in all black, traditional infilitration clothing for those trained in 'Wu Xian Llu Long' as Li Yao sticks to the shadows of entering the institute while the distraction goes on. The purity of such a creature, the innocence, and yet also Li Yao can't help but feel that perhaps their is a level of youthful naivety in their. Still a distraction is a distraction.

        For Li Yao's role into days outing with the children, was to make sure those with guns and tasers take a long nap as they were probably a bit cranky, while making his way to the poor souls that were imprisoned here. Li Yao had found his way into a hallway as he speaks over a small comm unit, "Let see you said it was a left at the T then another left at the next ... " Looking over his shoulder as he thinks he hears something and two guards make there way around the corner quickly trying to get to their emergency positions. Yet as they come around the corner Li Yao is no where to be seen.

         That is until they run directly under him, as he had managed to leap up high enough to hide among the ceiling tiles, and as they run under him he drops down. Landing on one of them before he unleashes a barrage of fists into the body of the second security guard who collapses. Taking a deep breath he continues with what he was saying, "Isn't that next left just making me walk in a circle?" Still Li Yao continues on towards the subjects that were in need of rescuing.

<Pose Tracker> Sousuke Sagara has posed.

Mithril, it turns out, has An Entire Infantry Division for shit like this, and An Entire Vehicles Division for driving those troop transports.

They also have a Special Response Team, for...complications.

SRT Sergeant Sousuke Sagara, AKA Uruz-7, steps into the room in his armored and padded AS pilot suit, the backless, faceless crash helmet with its frontal and side sensors and radio on his head. His head scans around. He catches the eyes of a PRT commander and nudges his head in Leina's direction, indicating he should attend to the computer, while Sousuke himself brings up the assault rifle strapped across his chest. It is, of course, already thoroughly checked, as is the Glock 23 at his side.

His radio buzzes.

<<That was an unconventional entry.>>

"Don't need color commentary," Sousuke hisses in aside. "Stay on standby unless and until you're called."

<<Roger.>>

<Pose Tracker> Christina MacKenzie has posed.

        Descending from the APC in a hop, a woman in a pilot suit of red and white--no faded tan stains, no jerry-rigged patches. No, she is a flash of brilliant red and immaculate white, sharper lines, the silhouette itself much easier to move in than a suit she had fitted at 20.
                "Well I'll be, Ms. Wang...I owe you one," she mutters under her breath. Hopefully, Liu Mei didn't hear that last part, or Chris will be paying this favor off for a long time. If she survived the day, of course. Time to get to work.

        Chris reached her hand up, as a gunmetal Haro lugs a riot shield into it. A red-crossed white Haro trades off a backpack.
                "MAIRO, stay at Point:Insertion until extraction. XAIRO, medic team. Crush cases priority." ("I'm not going to let anyone pay for these monsters' crimes. We're all coming home. And they'll answer for it. Alive or dead.")

        Preparations and resolve in place, Christina scanned the breakroom for remaining security, then took point towards the advancing OpFor, moving to the front to put the noncombatants in her shadow. It's time to start this--and end it.

<Pose Tracker> Kaworu Nagisa has posed.

        About a week ago, NERV assigned Captain Sophia-Grace to interrogate Yuliana Kafim about a draconic kaiju that she was attached to, on an attack on the Macross Frontier last summer. While it turns out that Captain Sophia-Grace is a terrible note-taker and even worse at reports, it isn't always necessary for someone to follow through with such things for other parties to be made aware of them.
        
        This is even more so when individuals such as Yuliana Kafim have drawn the collective eye of those who would elevate the world and humanity to far more than what it is now. The Federation may be a joining of many nations across the world, but SEELE is beyond even that.
        
        And that's why a certain youth, hands tucked in the pockets of a non-descript black outfit with faceless helmet, watches as a great golden Gundam smashes through the walls of the Institute. He watches as scientists are trapped in the rubble, some crushed, some screaming. He watches as the Gundam releases an individuals to make their way inside--discreetly, along with several other individuals from various other approaches--while it, she, continues with her... diversion.
        
        For a time, he only watches.
        
        Then, at length, he walks unhurried towards the broken, invaded building.

<Pose Tracker> Teletha Testarossa has posed.

Off in the waters of Colombo, the Toy Box stirred.

Mithril was lending their full support behind this operation. A chance to learn of REA's secrets, and to deepen (Read: Have them owe a favor) the relationship between them and the Shuffle Alliance? And all it required was coordinating one simple raid? It was a deal heavily weighed in Mithril's own favor, the objectives of helping those in need notwithstanding.

<"Copy that. Continue with the operation."> There was no need to have small talk at the moment. No, things were planned, decided, and executed according to plans and decisions made hours, days, weeks before. All the Captain had to do was to watch, wait, and check for retaliation.

A deep breath in. A deep breath out. Her role was the obvious: Recon. The lookout. No country would take a breach of a Newtype Lab without immense retaliation, and the REA? More so. <"Doctor Tasiya Petrov has been taken in."> One down.

The waiting game had begun.

<Pose Tracker> Yuliana Kafim has posed.

        "Yes," Taisiya confirms, mildly, as Leina asks her name. She doesn't react to her gratitude at all -- neither the hand on her back.

        Her fingers are still in contact with her keyboard, as the taser discharges. The keyboard fries. This terminal is useless.

        And the practitioner slumps, on her desk. Physiologically, there's no way she can resist. Psychologically, too. She's all tied up, all shipped out, just as Tessa confirms from afar. There's a keycard in her left pocket which ought to serve Leina well. Meanwhile, XAIRO works to free Petrov's coworker from that rubble, stabilising him before he can meet an ignoble death before the tribunal can speak with him. He's a little alarmed, but no less thankful.

        Garrod, meanwhile, knows a thing or two about the true spirit of hacking -- finding where people have slacked off. He finds a password scrawled on a post-it note, and from there, he's able to gain access to a terminal and copy files to his thumb drive.

        Banagher's bravery is in being here -- and Roux protects that, as she moves to protect their way into the Institute. Sayaka's there to help her, with that Photon Gun of hers. So is Sousuke, Special Responder, and Christina, who has far too much experience and a brand-new suit.

        The guards approaching might have forced their hands -- if not for Yao, hidden on the ceiling. He joins the party by quite literally dropping in on the dangers, dispatching them with martial skill. They won't be getting up again -- but it's a bloodless sort of violence.

        They're able to advance into the hall, and further in. And... towards the back of the group, there's another boy, wandering unhurried between the rescue teams. Kaworu, perhaps, can slip in with the others, as if he was always meant to be here.

        Here at the back of the Institute, where the staff aren't bothered by patients, the pharmacy still has one of those staff members inside it -- the harried head pharmacist, Orlov Nam Minh, a Vietnamese man who looks like he hasn't slept in a week. He's packaging up medications hurriedly, checking each packet against documents on his monitor. "Fucking hell," he mutters, to himself, "supposed to have three days to get this done, now they tell me to ship this in half an hour, and who's she going to blame when the errors roll in? Not Petrov, that's for fucking sure... Jesus CHRIST..."

        He puts his hands up, when resistance rolls in. "Oh, forget it," he glares, entirely done. "I completely don't care. Take what you like. Get blazed out of your fucking minds, for all I care! You know I've been put on overtime for the past goddamn fortnight?! I'll take the bullet as a kindness, thanks very cocking much!"

        Given an alternative, he snorts. "Well, shit. Sure, whatever. That fucking devil woman killed my husband and wouldn't even do me the courtesy of approving my transfer afterwards! Whatever horrors you've got planned for me will be a goddamn bloody vacation after that, I promise you. Fuck."

        He's foul-mouthed, but he can at least help the evacuation team grab the medications they'll need to keep the Institute's victims stable.

        Gunfire announces another pair of guards. One radios for help, before she's dispatched, one way or another.

        Meanwhile, the first of the rooms for experiments is as sterile white as anything here -- but not quite as neat. Whoever worked here left in a hurry; the desks are a mess, and there's supplies still strewn from the storage cupboards on the walls. One monitor still requests permission to transfer dependent mid-growth specimens, with a few critical elements unfilled.

        And so...

        What consumes most of the attention in this room are three cloning pods. There are human bodies, inside, obscured by reddish fluid. Nevertheless it is clear enough that their skin is dark, and their hair teal... spitting images of Yuliana, though they're not yet fully viable.

        The monitors alongside each pod declare: LIFE SUPPORT TERMINATED AS PER ORDERS FROM DR. PATEL, REASON: "No time to transport subjects under escalating time pressure. Experiment aborted. We'll grow more later."

        One was far enough along that her fist is still curled, still pressed against the glass, as if she'd realised her life was ending and sought to gain any help at all.

        The scientists did not help her, nor her sisters.

        There's nothing living for them in this room, though the computers, left running, have plenty of notes on what they were planning to do with these clones -- that is, create viable hosts for the Orchid cells once they're viable. Prior testing... did not go well. Notably, these clones are easily induced to psychic activity, and there are several correspondence notes from other labs seeking material from Dispersal to create powerful Cyber-Newtypes of their own -- all of which have been denied, to keep the stock in-house while they try and unlock the secrets of Yuliana's power.

        Notably, one research note specifies the... violent reaction subject 258-1A -- Yuliana -- had to being brought here for exposure to a grown clone which had been developed with Cyber-Newtype methods. She (though they're not kind enough to use those pronouns) terminated the subject before she could be restrained. The note bemoans the lack of information they learned about how Yuliana's development differed from these copies, and reluctantly suggests that #258-1A (as they call her) be separated from this avenue of research in the future.

        There's a Zaftran girl in the hall, nearby, though she ought to be in school. Her hands are cuffed for transport; her knee is splattered with more than blood, where they rest on the floor, all sunk down and hunched over. The body fallen beside her cannot be identified, for all the damage done, though there's a white coat splattered with blood about them. Her own face, far more intact, is buried in her hands, and she sobs out: "I-I didn't mean to! I just panicked, okay?! It's not my fault! It's n-not my f-f-fault..!"

        She may well be dangerous, but a gentle approach reveals her glittering, ice-blue eyes, as she lowers her hands. "M-my name's... Prima Virtue," she sniffles, and with the proper assurance, she'll accept what help they offer. "You're... you're getting us out of here? B-but... but Maive... she's still..."

        Whoever Maive is, she clearly cares for her -- but she can be handed off to the extraction team with a little more effort.

        The real effort will be in addressing the entire wave of guards which finally groups up, to swarm the extraction team. No less than two dozen guards, because the REA has always operated en mass, flood both ends of the hall -- ten to a side, moving quickly, with keen training and skill. The front line grasps riot shields; behind them, others hold gas grenades, which explains the respirators strapped to their faces. And there are -- as ever -- the men with guns, less any reason to hesitate.

        Even with the skill and strength collected here, this will be a challenge; and those with skill and strength may identify, immediately, just how costly this engagement could become. That price is paid in human lives... and not necessarily those of the guards who oppressed these people for so long.

        Both sides of the phalanx advance --

<Pose Tracker> Elisa Kafim has posed.

From behind one group of the guards comes motion. From behind their shields and guns, there is a sight of a woman in black, all in black, cloak and dress and heeled boots. As some of them start to turn towards her in alarm, she lifts one dark hand.

A green barrier crackles into existence around the heroes' group, for a half-instant. Then there is a voice.

"Sleep."

Her voice is calm, quiet, but it reverberates throughout the room. There is a flash of static the Awakened might feel, as if a sudden, screeching noise of nails on a chalkboard. Those without such senses might simply feel a chill. Regardless... The barrier fades in the next instant. The guards begin to fall, one at a time at first and then all, shields tumbling to the ground, guns sliding from hands as every one of them tumbles into a deep, dark slumber.

Elisa Kafim, the witch of the Void, steps forward. She pulls back her hood, revealing dark purple hair, green crystal earrings that gleam darkly in the dim light. Her stare is sharp, but her aura betrays no emotions, her thoughts do not broadcast. There is a faint dim spot in such senses; not so dark as Yuliana's, but dim.

"...I promised my Yuliana that I would not slay her countrymen unnecessarily. Takes prisoners if you wish it. But come. The path further in is this way."

<Pose Tracker> Leina Ashta has posed.

It's less that Banagher can see her smiling with the helmet, and more he can feel her smiling. There's appreciation for the Shuffle agent in the dark visor as he steps up to work on the files, and even more appreciation that Uruz-7 is here... it's - reassuring, given his experience in these matters, as is Tessa's radio contact.

Shelby gets a little casual salute as she arrives, as if Leina were trying to tell her 'Hello' and a surface thought- Dang Rita and her sure know how to make a flashy entrance.

"Titan's era, 85." Leina tells Roux the dark truth of how long it's been around, before...

"... Yeah, me too." She agrees with her, perhaps thinking of Glemy's Cyber Newtype lab, the screaming she heard, then more quietly, "I wish for a lot of things."

She was, surprised when Sayaka decided to come along, but indeed not terribly so. The Photon Power Labs decided to become more than an institution of peace...

... and this place was relevant to their agreement.

Chris might feel the figure staring at her and her Gunmetal and Red Haro extralong, a small tilt of the head, before she tears her eyes away towards what comes next.

As they advance into the hall, she lets others handle the foul mouthed pharmacist, and deliver the defection offer. She feels a small pang of sympathy, but only a small one.

She lets others handle the firefight too, not that she's afraid to get her hands dirty it's just, it's only two...

... in the next room, her eyes look upon the cloning pods, the message of LIFE SUPPORT TERMINATED. She stops here for a short time, placing her fingertips against the glass right near the curled fist.

She has to force herself away, noting the name Dr. Patel, as she moves to gather the notes, trying her best not to think of a pair of same-faced girls.

She comes up on the conversation with Prima only too late, the others having already made contact, all she says is, "Maive? We will look for her, I promise."

It's not long after she feels a flash of intuition as the guards rush in in a pincer attack.

Her gun is raised and-

"Sleep."

There's a flash of static that crashes against her walls, and Leina feels momentarily dizzy... as she explains, Leina simply nods as she states behind the voice changer, "Doctor Kafim. ... I see. Thank you for your assistance."

She feels in a sense like she is thanking a dragon for being less ravenous this day than usual.

She then promptly moves to disarm the unconscious guards.

<Pose Tracker> Roux Louka has posed.

Roux feels Shelby before she sees her. "Heh," she says, smiling at Shelby encouragingly.

Roux remembers she's wearing a full face coverage tactical helmet. She gives a brief, but heartfelt thumbs-up instead.

Others are coming with them. Roux looks up towards the Phenex for a long moment, and then - towards Sayaka - but her intended light statement sort of dies on her tongue. Crap, Roux thinks.

Forward -- through it all.

Orlov. Who folds with an enthusiasm normally found in heroic resistance. Roux orients the gun towards him but raises it upwards afterwards. "... ok" Roux answers him, but quietly.

Graver, far graver. The tubes. Forced-growth cloning. It is an inhumane process but Roux knows, perhaps more specifically than most -- at least outside of the Zentradi context -- that... that they're people. They could have been people. Mutely, she rests a gloved palm against the tube wall, where that last helpless and impotent slam of the fist had landed.

At which point Roux turns her head to look wordlessly to Leina. She doesn't laugh, but some corner of her mind, probably pulling down the curtains and curling up in a mental blanket, acknowledges the harmony.

The girl, surrounded by --

-- what did she do?

Well, what did THEY do?

"Hey," says Roux's distorted voice as she gets closer. A pause to push up the faceplate and disable the voice-changer. "Hey," she continues, moving nearer. "Hey, it's alright. Just breathe, okay? - That's a pretty name," Roux says. What help can she offer? ("I'm going to cut you loose, OK? See the knife here? I'm going to kind of reach in, alright?" Which means the knife is facing laterally-- neither straight at Roux nor at Prima at all.)

"We'll get Maive. We're going to get everyone we can," Roux says, after sawing with the tactical knife for... annoyingly long. "But we have to move fast. Alright? My name's Roux."

GUNFIRE! Soon enough -- too much of it -- and it ends. Roux had been towards the rear after her mission of saw-based mercy. She can tell they didn't just manage to dome everyone in a sudden barrage, leaving her at the mercy of the REA. Instead...

Roux looks up towards Elisa. "... Oh," she says. "So -- it was real, huh."

She puts the faceplate back down. "Wonderful."

<Pose Tracker> Li Yao has posed.

        Yao looks at the poor bound girl, Prima, and then at the at the body beside her before back to the girl. "Did you ...?" The question answrs itself as the girl begins to claim things weren't her fault and the old man gets the answer that he was wondering. "It's fine little one. As for this Maive we will find her. " Of course this is said as the guard groups around them and he looks at the others.

         Stepping forward Yao is about to attack the guards, "Remember if you get shot keep going. It's only a bullet." However just as he is about to attack, when the witch and more importantly the wife of the void steps into the room and Yao looks at the person leading the wave, "I pity your soul."

         Looking over to Elisa he nods his head, "Trust me when I say despite being our countrymen that doesn't rightfully entitle them to life. Especially after what I saw in the other room." He looks at the nearest countryman and considers the quickest way to disarm them might be to step on their necks, and the killer intent oozes from the old man before he turns back to follow Elisa. "Lets hurry up and find any other survivors and get out of here, this entire place deserves to burn."

<Pose Tracker> Banagher Links has posed.

Banagher approaches the pharmacist, hands now far away from his gun. "You don't have to stay with these people. We can keep you safe -- but please, help us get the right medication for the patients here."

Upon the man's acceptance, Banagher smiles, though no one will be able to see it. "Thank you so much." He's happy to hand the task of filling medications to someone else, wishing to stay by Leina's side.

Before he can catch up with her -- Banagher glances back through the crowd of raiders. A young man in a black outfit and faceless helmet. Banagher can't tell exactly who he is, but he's familiar. Someone the young pilot knows enough to trust. Walking up to Kaworu, Banagher offers his hand to help him over a bit of collapsed rubble. It's a quiet gesture, perhaps all he can offer in this secretive mission.

"Thanks for being here with us." Banagher says, quietly, in his altered voice. "I think -- we're going to need everyone by the time this is over."

Another pair of guards, which Banagher can do little to help with. They move on to an experiment room, with... cloning pods. Immediately, his thoughts jump to another cloning room, far from here in both measures of time and space. He runs to Leina's side.

Don't look away from this, he tells himself, as his eyes land on the cloned woman who asked for help in her final moments. This is the reality of the world.

"I'm sorry." Banagher reaches out, almost touching his hand to the glass. "You deserved so much more."

Others tend to the bloodstained girl, while Banagher stays by Leina's side. If he can, he holds her hand tightly in his own. This is so much harder for her than it is for him.

Guards rush in, surrounding their little group. Gritting his teeth, Banagher stands in front of Leina. Again, his hand touches his gun's holster, and he pulls it forth slowly, only for--

Elisa Kafim. Banagher feels her presence before he sees her. Clutching his head as she works her magic, the young man does his best to stay upright, shaking it off once the Void abates.

"...yes, thank you, Doctor Kafim." He echoes Leina, looking at the guards. Are they really not dead..? And how did Elisa get in without coming along with their group? "I hope that will be the last of the guards..."

<Pose Tracker> Sayaka Yumi has posed.

As the on-foot team proceeds through the institute, Sayaka finds herself where the "patients" - experiments are held. Young women, which Sayaka notes to look much like Yuliana herself are held in pods. There's no sign of life left - these clones killed, yet heartlessly worded by the experimenters, as terminated. The most they can do now is save their remaining sister from such a fate, right?

And then there's that girl... corpse of a researcher besides her knees. "It's not your fault." Sayaka murmurs in agreement. "We're here to get you out of this awful place. And you'll never have to do something like that again, promise." She looks down at those shining blue eyes, seeing her worry for Maive. "We won't leave until we've searched every area of this place. We'll do what we can for Maive, and you. For now - it's dangerous, so please get going." She'll help escort Prima should it be necessary.

But when Elisa Kafim makes her appearance, Sayaka gets that unpleasant chill down her spine, and instantly turns her Photon Gun in response. "You..." She mouths, seeing who it is. But of course, it's not the infiltrators she's here to put to sleep. "...'re here to help us. Right. Thank you." The gun is lowered. As much as Sayaka loathes trusting her, she knows there's genuine care for Yuliana in her, and she chooses to take Elisa's lead.

<Pose Tracker> Kaworu Nagisa has posed.

        There's no lack of faceless people in body-covering tac-suits with face-covering helmets. Kaworu's sight can't be obscured by such things anyway--which is why he's here in the first place. There will be an unmarked transport waiting for him upon his return as well. For now, Kaworu comes in at the tail end of the group and picks up his pace to follow the prevailing traffic.
        
        It reminds him a bit of the time--the many times--that SEELE's unmarked forces overran NERV HQ with extreme prejudice. It's an odd feeling to be on this side of things, though these infiltrating forces are rather more merciful.
        
        Another of the infiltrators--Banagher--comes up to him then, offering him his hand. Kaworu considers him from behind his concealing mask, and then smiles. It can't be seen, but for someone as sensitive as Banagher, it can surely be felt. He slips his hand out of his pocket to accept the young Unicorn pilot's offer, and steps over the rubble with effortless grace.
        
        "You're probably right," he replies in his own mechanically altered voice.
        
        Latecomer as he is, for him, the next room is the clone pod room. Kaworu hangs towards the back as others walk up to the pods where the clones have been abandoned, left to die before they could truly live. There is a profundity to his silence, though with the groups as they are, perhaps only those with a certain sensitivity can tell. But then again, maybe not. Kaworu is keeping his presence discreet for now.
        
        After a long couple of moments, he walks over to the computers. They jump to life before he even moves, data blinking through their screens at blinding speed. It would be impossible for anyone human to follow. Kaworu watches them; then he turns away.
        
        He doesn't do anything to the data. It's more than free for anyone else with a data stick to copy, and indeed, there is a data stick in his pocket that has had the computers' contents copied onto it--through the air, as it were.
        
        So. This is what Yuliana Kafim is--or rather, what she was made to be. Then the so-called void that surrounds her is...
        
        The group moves on. There is a young girl, bloodied and battered. He watches her, and he watches those who move to comfort her--but his attention goes instead to the incoming guards... and the woman behind them, who bids them sleep.
        
        Her magic is indeed an unholy screech on the greater senses. Kaworu's lips pull thin, but his gaze remains steady.
        
        Where shall she take them next?

<Pose Tracker> Shelby Korts has posed.

        Though her face is only partially visible through the tinted visor, Shelby fires a quick nod at Leina, turning her head then to Roux and returning the gesture. "They're definitely gonna be distracted with Phenex out there, so let's get moving." She ticks thoughts -- minds -- that she immediately recognizes. Sagara, Banagher(?!), and then others like Chris and Sayaka.

        Soon, they reach test subjects-- victims. People, treated like disposable property by these researchers. She's angry, but there's little that Shelby can do at the moment, as they tend to survivors. Anxiety clings to the edges of her senses, clawing little parasites of unease that--

        -- red-haired girl clutching an IV stand --

        -- that Shelby shakes her head, blinking nagging aches and memories out of the back of her mind. Guards press in from either side, and she sucks in a breath as Elisa and her Void-witchery sends a feeling up her spine not unlike the shallow pricks of a thousand needles. She doesn't thank Elisa, or speak up, really-- the pink-haired young woman's focus is wholly and entirely on the task at hand.

        She'll deal with the screaming in her mind later.

<Pose Tracker> Sousuke Sagara has posed.

Sousuke marches on with the team going the experiment route, eyes scanning around. "Uruz-2," he says, calling for Mao's attention. Of course, at this point anything he says goes to all Shuffle channels.

"I'm seeing it," Uruz-2 replies from an M9 outside, securing the perimeter. "This is an industrial-scale cloning op. Unbelievable...Just about anyone involved with this could get life just for the stuff I'm seeing in this room."

"Yeah they would," Uruz-6 quips, his signal more staticky for his greater distance, on a high building doing overwatch. "Seein' as the state assassins would get to 'em before the juries ever do."

"That's why we're here," Sousuke says, stepping over and up to the cryo pod to get video of the panel display.

His face is an utter mask.

The sound of soldiers approaching causes him to whirl and whip up his gun, but...

They fall asleep. He watches them fall. His eyes turn up to Elisa. He contemplates finishing the fallen men off.

Ultimately, he puts his weapon aside, turning to a PRT. "Disarm and cuff them all."

He leaves deciding whether to actually extract them to Tessa. They do not have that much space, after all.

That's when the troubled girl gets his attention. He squats down to see her eyes.

"Tell me what Maive looks like."

<Pose Tracker> Christina MacKenzie has posed.

        Chris feels the first--surely not last--uncomfortable chill down her spine, but at least this one is not from Awful Horror, instead a sense of mutual concern. She notices the familiar quality, but doesn't have the cognizance to place it. Still, it...it sets her slightly at ease.

        Chris scans the room as they burst into the pharmacy, but the rapid concession of the pharmacist renders him blank to her threat assessment. Instead, she slows her pace when she hears the staccato 'clack' of unidentified movers. Pulling from her riot shield a hefty stun baton--perhaps somewhat akin to bat-sized--she braces and pivots from behind a doorway to swing at the sound. Elbow level, hard swing to a soft stomach. A loud CrACKLe rings out.

        Unfortunately, even though she expected more than one soldier, the slackening body of the first tangles her feet, and the woman, quick on her feet, pins Chris down with a barrage of fire. The riot shield is tough, but it takes Chris's full strength to withstand the kinetic impact. When she pauses her burst to radio in a code, however, there's just enough time for her to push back to her feet and shield-slam the woman. Though stunned, her gun comes back up--leveled at Chris just in time for a flashing arc to sweep in under her armpit.
                "CONTACT!" then, "INCOMING!" she yells to the room, though she has no idea how many. Part of Chris feels pained, having felt the woman's ribs flex, resist, and give way. ("The medics will catch up. Don't have time.")

        Her eerie new comrade--what a strange word, now--neutralizes the entire assault troop in one swift action, with a mercy that Chris can't help but envy. With the OpFor silent again, however, Chris is left to scan over the room. A girl, surviving (clink), her captor (clink), three 'weapons' who never asked to be born only to die (patter, clink, clatter). More bullet casingsfilling up the weight in her gut.

<Pose Tracker> Teletha Testarossa has posed.

Every beat of the heart forecasts another moment of safety. Her eyes, the crew's eyes, they're all rapt on the monitors. Duty was duty, and the anticipatory retaliation (incoming or not) was enough to shut out the thoughts in her head. A beat. Another beat.

<"Orlov Nam Minh is secured. He's cooperating."> Mildly reassuring; Whether by defection or by someone's self-preservation, not everyone was innately...pragmatic. <"Copy. Continue."> Beat. Beat. Beat.

Mithril holds the line. <"PRT, check over their belongings. Keys, passcards, anything with further information. Secondary priority."> No, extracting wasn't necessary. A vague thought of these men already being sentenced to far worse for allowing such a breach to happen. Her thoughts of the REA weren't the brightest.

...Still, was death a mercy for them at this stage...?

<Pose Tracker> Garrod Ran has posed.

"Refresh my memory," Garrod growls under his breath to somebody in the room with the tanks and the terminated clones. "Is this Dr. Patel on our 'take alive' list ... ?"

He doesn't seem that unnerved when Elisa works her magic, although the fact that she's helping the strike team probably does a lot to put his unease to rest. Other than that, he's tagging along, looking for what else he can usefully do. Helping to calm the rescued research subjects and direct them back towards the evacuation point is pretty straightforward.

<Pose Tracker> Yuliana Kafim has posed.

        Minh is more than happy to take Banagher's offer, here. "Don't thank me, son," he insists, regardless. "This was a shit job... I should've told Evgeny all those benefits were too goddamn good to be true." Banagher, at least, may well be able to sense the bond in that name; Evgeny Orlov was Minh's husband.

        They were both pharmacists, once. They met in school. They were going to start a family, one day. One day...

        ... anyway, with the help of the rescue teams, he'll get everyone's medications out with him. That he cares about medications errors, at least, speaks to a man who is not a complete monster... though it's difficult to call him good.

        The cloning experiments are horrible. That these are only the latest round of those experiments are even worse. Perhaps the most honour Kaworu and the others can do to this room is to meet its eyes without looking away.

        There was nothing in the files Garrod read about Dr. Patel being a particular target for defection.

        Prima looks up at Yao, tears in her eyes, as she insists she didn't mean to. She looks to Roux, as well -- and she is afraid, but she holds out her hands so that she can cut them loose. "Okay," she agrees, wan. "T-thanks, Roux." She's trembling, as the soldier, or perhaps Soldier-with-a-capital-S Sousuke kneels down, but it's tension as much as fear. Still, that question... "S-she's pale and, chubby, she's got purplish hair... she's a-about my age, s-s-she said her parents died in Bloody Valentine, a-and they just pulled her out of an orphanage... t-they had her in a different lab, b-but then she came here... w-we're friends," she insists, and the word is so, so fragile.

        "But now, all they do is scream..."

        Sayaka reassures her, too -- and while her reluctance can still be felt, she'll go with the medical teams following in their wake. But not before pausing, in front of Shelby. "Are you scared?" Prima asks, because she has a sense for this sort of thing. "I-it's okay. The Republic is strong, s-so I'm strong, too. If you came here, b-by choice, I mean, y-y-you must be strong too, right..?"

        Having imparted this... encouragement...? She's taken away to be aided.

        Christina dispatches the next pair of guards, looking out for the team. The contact is brief, and violent, but she's very good at this -- and she knows that more is coming.

        But the reinforcements, thanks to a witch, are no trouble at all. They sleep, just as Elisa bids them to sleep -- some dropping before others, but all, eventually, crumpling down. Some snore. They're promptly disarmed, thanks to Leina and the efforts of Sousuke's associates.

        Those must have been most of the security forces in this facility... it should be easier to move around, now.

        A much more desperate feeling might catch the Awakened, as well -- and lead them down the hall, to the hangars. This large, open structure lies empty of anything useful. The Annihilation is on the field, and so is the Amabilis; there's a couple of Tierens still docked here, but with no one healthy enough to pilot them, they languish.

        There is also a notably empty place in the hangar -- with the framing and settings for a machine larger than a wanzer.

        And the emotions belong to an adult Zaftran woman with straw-blonde hair and stark grey eyes. "MAIVE!" She screams, as she runs to that empty place, lays her fists on the frame. She pounds the metal; it reverberates, in the hall. "Jianhong! Coyote! Iolanta...! No, they took you -- they really already took you...?!"

        She slides to the cold ground, her gown entirely insufficient to ward off the chill. "No... no, you were... I'm sorry!" She howls, disconsolate. "It should have been me! It should have been me--!!"

        When she's approached, she snarls: "Get away from me!" ... but she's not so combative that she can't be reasoned with, and she'll even consent to help, with the proper words. "Name's Permanence Pasternak," she introduces herself. "No -- no, get the hell off of me, I'm not going anywhere until the others are out. Be quiet! Do you want help or don't you?!"

        A little more questioning might reveal: "Coyote, Jianhong, Maive, and Iolanta... they were crammed inside that Ypotryll Gundam. But the screaming faded off, a few days back... they're not here any more. I don't know where they went yet. We were transferred here from Bailuo Laboratory -- they needed more bodies for this shit -- but I wasn't suitable." And given the responsibility she feels towards the other subjects... well, Permanence looks like she's in her thirties, so maybe it's no wonder she'd look out for the generally-younger people in here.

        "Forget it," she spits, to questions about Bailuo or Ypotryll. "Get us out of here alive, and I'll tell you. Let's go."

        Meanwhile, the suit-up room has someone in it, too -- a Malayan man who's putting on a drab olive pilot's suit. "This is my chance. I'll prove I'm ready," he mutters, to himself -- and he starts, when the rescuers enter. "Y--you're the intruders, right?!" He demands, paling, and he'll need a good explanation before he relents from his ready stance.

        "I... I guess it's bad," he frowns, grasping at his opposite arm. "But... they said I'd be deployed soon. Once the other one wears out... just so long as they can figure out the seizures. Honestly, though, I'm ready! I can do this! And even if that Cascade says it's a shit job, it's got to be better than staying here, right?!"

        The argument to that is pretty obvious. They're here for the express purpose of making sure he doesn't have to stay here, after all.

        "... is it... really okay to just leave?" He asks, clearly bothered. "Just like that..? ... well... all right. But -- but I'm only going with you," he locks eyes with one of the people reasoning with him. Banagher, perhaps. "I don't want to go with anyone else."

        A dark-skinned girl, perhaps nine or ten, drags her IV pole down the hall -- moving to meet them. The warmth she carries moves before her, announcing her. "I heard you," she smiles, serene, despite the pain in her eyes. "You're nice people, aren't you? My mom called me Ila, but they call me 1521-T8, now. They didn't used to, but I knew they did, so then they knew I knew they did, so that's what they call me now. Haha... isn't that funny?"

        It's not difficult to convince her to go along with medical officers at all, unlike the other two. She's really just... so happy to be able to talk to someone.

<Pose Tracker> Elisa Kafim has posed.

Elisa shows no offense at the Photon Pistol pointed at her, nor at the suspicions some clearly hold. She need not be psychic to know that trusting her is a difficult prospect for many. But her bloodshot eyes--and the bags underneath them--suggest that she is too fatigued to make an issue of such things... and too focused on Yuliana.

To Li Yao she nods. "I agree," she says. "But I made a promise, and I will keep it. ...I detest this place as much as many of you, I suspect. It is a perversion."

She looks to Kaworu in particular for a moment, thoughtfully.

Then, to Leina and Banagher, "You are welcome. My priority is the retrieval of Yuliana, and her friends. I will support your other goals while I am with you. This is what I have agreed."

As they move forward, Elisa is content to stay up ahead. She does not fear bullets. Either from in front or in back. But she does not, however, interfere with the helping of the captives. Not until they reach the hangar with its empty space...

"The Emerald EXAM system," Elisa relates with distaste. "To use these Newtypes to grant their power to others... it is an abomination. Whatever information you can get on it will be useful in destroying it."

<Pose Tracker> Leina Ashta has posed.

Kaworu gets a brief look as Banagher moves over to him, as if wondering who he is.

There is that moment of harmony with Roux in this, anger, this sadness, this processing of the sheer inhumanity in this moment. Of throwing them out like so much garbage because they could not bother to carry them.

"No." Is her terse answer to Garrod.

Sadly for Banagher, there's only time for a momentary squeeze of his hand, before she must let go. There is little time for any feelings today to be managed, save the victims.

At least they can count on Elisa's distaste with this place. The enemy of an enemy... "Then with your support this place will be shut down within the day."

Desperation it's pregnant on the psychic landscape... desperation... as she looks upon the Amabillis. Desperation as she looks upon the empty space...

She lets the others handle Permanence, though there's alarm when she mentions the Ypotryll Gundam.

Leina makes a sound akin to a snarl of disgust as she mentions the Emerald EXAM system... "Permanence, whatever you can tell us, it'll allow us to help your friends."

The warmth though, it draws her, until she spots the 9-10 year old, and as she starts talking, Leina doesn't take off her helmet, she simply releases her psychic walls... letting her feel her, letting her feel her intent.

"It's nice to meet you Ila. I'm called Spade-7 when I'm on missions. I'm on a mission right now in fact, to help you." She smiles beneath her helmet, "And yes, yes that's very funny."

She thinks of Rita in this moment.

"Did you know we were coming along too?" She asks sincerely, as she offers her hand- and if she lets her, will happily take her over to the evacuation team. "If so, then you know we'll keep you safe."

<Pose Tracker> Li Yao has posed.

        As the group travels forward Li Yao only lingers with Elisa long enough to say , " Well I am sure accidents happen and work related accidents in REA are on a rise. Someone could slip and break there neck, on their own blood or something." Then Li Yao breaks off, checking the rooms near by the hangar in case of surprise guards.

         This is how Li Yao entered the suit-up room to find the man who was about to make a name for themselves. "Lad maybe you know who I am. Maybe you do not. However let me ask you this as you stand there ready to fight. Where are the security guards with the guns and tasers and years of experience? Why am I here if they did their job?" Li Yao moves a little closer. "So do you really want to do what you are thinking of doing? Do you think it will work well?"

         Li Yao watches the man for a few more minutes before staring the man in the eyes listening to what he is saying, " Leave lad, leave and go somewhere else. Never put yourself in a suit and never consider going into a mobile suit, or I will know and I will find you. " The old man then leaves the suit-up room because it is very doubtful that this guy would want to go anywhere with Li Yao, ever.

          Instead Yao would work to catch up with the rest of the group, leaving that wanna be pilot to make his own life choices, and prove whether he is a dumbass or not.

<Pose Tracker> Banagher Links has posed.

Kaworu smiles, and Banagher smiles in return. It's enough -- the connection is there. The sensation of calm, deep waters echoes from the young man before him, and Banagher has a pretty good guess who his friend is.

Shelby, in turn, gets a startled glance. Shelby is the one who rode in with the Phenex?! The sister to the Unicorn... What is her connection to Shelby Korts of Sweetwater? A question for another time. Banagher gives her a nod.

"I'm sorry for your loss." Banagher says, to Minh. "Um -- I'm glad you're on our side, then."

The warmth said in the name of Minh's husband only chills Banagher. Losing someone you love, and living on to keep working for his killers. Banagher hurries after Leina.

Permanence's reaction startles Banagher, as they reach the hangar. He tries to approach her, wanting to help, but -- Banagher can only listen, distress echoing from his form. "Permanence. We'll find them. Please just -- come with us. They'd want you safe, right?"

If the screaming faded away... Banagher looks at the empty place. What happened to Permanence's friends? Coyote, Jianhong, Iolanta -- and Maive. The girl they were looking for. Sickness rears up, and Banagher clenches his fists. EXAM system...

He's got to stay focused. Leaving Permanence to the others, Banagher stays with the group, and thus is one of the first to meet the Malayan man suiting up.

"We're not here to hurt you!" Banagher insists. "We're here to save you! It's okay. Nobody's going to let anything happen to you."

Approaching the frightened pilot slowly, Banagher offers his hand. "You don't have to stay here. We'll get you out and help with your seizures. You get to choose, okay? But I'd be really glad if you came with us."

"Hey, take it easy!" Banagher chides Li Yao. "This man -- he's been through hell in here! We're not here to threaten anyone!"

Banagher straightens up in surprise as he's chosen by the frightened pilot. "Okay. Are you going to be alright if we keep looking for other people? I can take you to the way out, if you want, but I trust you to come with us."

Maybe he shouldn't be making this decision on his own, but Newtype Intuition is a powerful tool. Banagher stays close to his new companion, finally pulling his gun and carrying it safely.

"What's your name?" He asks. "My name is." A glance to Leina, and a breath. "...Banagher."

<Pose Tracker> Roux Louka has posed.

Banagher suspects they'll need everyone by the time it's over.

Roux can't really, like, guess that he's wrong. What she can do is tell Prima quietly, "We're going to figure something out, alright? And we'll search for Maive." And then Prima says something to Shelby... something troubling. Roux rests a hand near her weapon without putting a hand ON it, even as she slides the knife away again.

She might need it later.

Reaching the hangar is a horrid thing. It feels threatening. Menacing. There is a woman there, though. Roux's hand rests on her hip as Permanence articulates more details.

"The Ypotrryl Gundam?" Roux says. (She may get the name wrong; she's trying to say it like it's a Zeonic place name.) "What... has happened to it? There are four of them in there?" A thought rings in her head pretty loud and clear to people who may, perhaps, have more 'sensitivity' than her but also better guards: 'i made a promise, damn it'

Her eyes rest, behind the helmet visor, on one of the Tierens. It is probably clear the grim possibility she is considering to at least three others present, for different reasons.

<Pose Tracker> Sousuke Sagara has posed.

"Understood," Sousuke says, with full seriousness. "I'll do everything I can."

He won't promise her more than that. Not in this place.

He looks to the man taking the girl away. gives a quiet nod to indicate he's done, and then proceeds with the others toward the hangar.

Where he finds out couching his odds of success was warranted. The battle outside catches his attention briefly, then the waiting Tierens ("Uruz-6." "Eyop. When you're clear.".), then the screaming woman. Welp. There's a name he's heard. He approaches. He's shouted at. He doesn't move a step. Just...watches. "That's the--" Nope ok she's still yelling.

Once she's talking more: Ypotryll," he mutters. "Unfamiliar."

<<The name is not in my database,>> AL says; Mao's M9 AI Friday can be heard off-mic saying <<Model not recognized.>> at the same time.

ELISA'S information earns her...nothing, actually, from Sousuke Sagara. "AL," he says, instead.

<<Flagging the last twenty seconds of audio capture for command review. File Zulu-3.>>

<Pose Tracker> Kaworu Nagisa has posed.

        Nearby Kaworu, Sousuke in his own face-covering uniform steps up to the cryo pod, conversing over electronic wavelengths about the cloning operations, life and state assassins. Kaworu turns a long glance his way and says nothing.
        
        There are quite a few sensitive individuals here. One in particular--the girl from the golden Gundam--seems quite loud about it, like a dolphin's echolocation. He considers her too, but leaves her be in both this world and the one that sparkles.
        
        Elisa gives him a long, curious look of her own. He smiles at her behind his helm and says nothing to her, either. This isn't really a time for introductions, anyway, is it?
        
        But... so Doctor Kafim is here for Yuliana and her compatriots, hm. There's no doubt who she might be, then.
        
        Instead, he turns his gaze in a certain direction, at the hangars, regardless of how many metal walls are in the way. He follows from there, as a woman's screams and banging on a hangar frame gradually become audible. And from there, there are so many who have been hurt, who have grown from that hurt in so many different ways...
        
        It never fails to astound him what Lilim will do to their own kind. Just as the deep ocean hides boundless wonder and horror alike, so too is Lilim nature.
        
        Well, his role here is to observe and, later, to report. There are no lack of others who will do the kind thing, either, like Leina with Ila... and no lack of others who will do the harsh thing, like Li Yao with the Mayalan pilot, though Banagher steps up to mete out kindness to balance it out. Kaworu hangs back and watches and listens, letting others do the talking as needed.
        
        A little later, he'll rest a comforting hand on Banagher's shoulder and give him a silent, steady look. Banagher isn't the only one who's noticed the familiarity of the other's presence--his more like stardust glittering in an endless stream through the night.

<Pose Tracker> Garrod Ran has posed.

Garrod's *far* more than happy to let somebody else deal with the prickly grown-up Zaftran, and he's in no hurry to talk to the man either. Ila, on the other hand, looks like someone who could use a hand, or maybe an ear. "Not always the nicest," he answers, "but we're here to help you get out safely." He nosewrinkles at the number the scientists gave her, and counters, "'Ila' is a pretty name. You ought to be around people who'll call you by a name and not a number."

Beyond that, he's willing to let Leina or somebody take charge of getting Ila out to the evacuation point.

<Pose Tracker> Shelby Korts has posed.

        'Are you scared?' the child asks. Shelby looks down at Prima with a blink, pausing just long enough to lower herself to eye level with the girl. Reaching out to pat the girl's shoulders, the newtype gives a brief nod. "Strongest," she says, doing her best to put on a brave face for the child. "You go with them, okay?"

        I got this. W-We got this. She's telling herself that, really.

        It isn't until they reach the other kids that something feels wholly, integrally wrong to Shelby Korts. While some of the others are easy enough to talk to, there's a hesitation while she stands and stares straight at the young child clutching the IV stand

        fingers tighter and tighter around the pole as her feet feel sluggish and heavy and the floor is cold. Several people in white coats, their faces blurring together. Her thoughts are screaming. It's not the same as it was before. It's not. It's too loud. It's just -- noise --

        talking to Leina, her back tightening and breath hitching in her chest, the anxiety building more and more in her mind and heart.

        'Emerald EXAM.' Newtypes being used. it--

        Mouth flattening into a line, her hands wad up into fists. It's a kind of anger she hasn't felt in years, and being put face to face with it again is ... "Once we get them all out of here we're gonna tear this place apart."

<Pose Tracker> Sayaka Yumi has posed.

Sayaka deigns to approach Permanence - who's clearly worried about the younger ones, before she'll let medical take her in. She explicitly does not introduce herself to the woman, not wishing to draw attention.

"That's awful.. but that's what we're here for." Sayaka listens to her story, about Coyote, Jianhong, Maive, and Iolanta, all missing in that Gundam. "Hmm. Well.. Gundams look pretty distinct, don't they? But there's a lot of them these days." Sayaka puts her arm at the back of her helmet. "You said no questions, but could I get some further information on how that mobile suit looks? I want to make sure we don't miss it." She's a little forceful in her questioning, but there's an air of patience to it, too.

"Rest assured, we'll do everything we can to rescue those you care for... even if it takes pulling that damned Gundam apart."

<Pose Tracker> Teletha Testarossa has posed.

Keep steady. Keep calm. Confirm what's already there, keep abreast of any movement from outside, and stay steady. The beating of the heart can only go so quick.

Zulu-3 is catalogued, sent, listening to it on the side. How horrible. Gripping the arm of her metal throne, lips pursed. She could have been one.

Ypotryll barely stirs in her mind. There's only a faint recollection of what it can be, but nothing coherent. Probably some beast; That's how naming conventions usually go, right? Keep going. Keep going. Was this paranoia? Safe measures? It doesn't matter; She only tries to keep track of the operation, checking on each Mithril unit on the field. The others can take care of the frontline talks.

<Pose Tracker> Yuliana Kafim has posed.

        Wira only tenses further, as Yao makes his declarations. "Y-you...! I'm not scared of you!!" He is scared of him. He's faced down those security guards himself, more than once. Someone who can defeat them so easily is...

        ... well, he can tell Yao is a serious threat, anyway.

        But Banagher, at least, speaks a different tune. "I don't trust you!" He insists, sharply -- but he takes Banagher's hand, anyway. It's with a bit of a swipe, as if he meant to grab him, but...

        ... even if he's a Cyber-Newtype, he can still feel Banagher's intentions, where their skin meets. He can feel that Banagher is here to save him, and that, perhaps, is why he attaches so strongly to him.

        "Wira," he introduces himself, in turn. "I'm Wira Ulunjandi... well, I guess I'm not gonna be part of the Nega Force, any more."

        Permanence scowls, folding her arms. "Ypotryll," she confirms, to Roux. "It's..." She pales, as she looks to Elisa. "EXAM? Really? The EXAM System? No, I... I heard about that research from a Flanagan boy. They put that girl into a coma, didn't they? But what they did to my friends..."

        Permanence pales. "... the scientists called it 'Integration', but all it means is they made the console from their very fucking bones. I don't know how they did it... it was... that Dr. Devi, she's not just a scientist. Those horrible powers... like a fucking witch." She spits out the word, even though Elisa is right there.

        Leina asks whether she knew they were coming, and Ila brightens. "Yeah! You and the scary lady! But it's okay," Ila smiles, to Leina, as she takes her hand. "She won't shoot your trucks. She's being really, really careful! Hey, how come she knows which ones are helping..?"

        She smiles to Garrod, too. "You think so?" Ila asks, lighting up. "Thanks! I like that name better, too. But my favourite name is 'Rainbow'. I want to get a horse and name her that. An Appaloosa, I think." Ila walks over to the team Leina leads her to, and smiles up to one of the Mithril agents. "Hi," she says, a sunbeam through darkness. "Can you check if that lady needs to come, too?" She asks, looking back to Shelby. "I don't think her shoes are very good. Her feet are cold." ... luckily, she'll go with them, regardless of Shelby's cold feet.

        From a holding cell to the hall steps a birdish woman -- Dr. Tian Fenhua, with her flaming red hair all bobbed short about her ears, and keen brown eyes. The gun in her hands makes it quite clear how this interaction will go, aimed squarely at the intruders. "Step away from our patients," she insists, with precisely that phrasing. In a vacuum, it might even sound like she cares. "I won't allow you to do any more harm here."

        With concern, her eyes dart aside -- to the man beside Banagher. "After all..." Dr. Tian adds, companionably, to him: "Tell me, Wira. What drives the dog?" She poses it like a Socratic question.

        Still, he has an answer, given promptly: "Protection."

        "Precisely right," she agrees, gaze shifting back to the intruders. "And as the herding-dogs of the highlands, we must keep our flock safe from the ravages of the outside world. I will not stand aside and let you bring us all to ruin. Please stand aside," she adds, to Wira and Permanence, and they do.

        As she flicks the safety of her gun off, she aims for the central Mass of this operation... Leina Ashta, dead centre.

<Pose Tracker> Banagher Links has posed.

Banagher flinches as Wira swipes at him, but stays still, letting his hand be grabbed. "That's okay. I'm glad to meet you, Wira. You don't have to trust anyone here. You deserve to get out of here before you have to decide anything like that."

Ila and Permanence are helped by the people around him, so Banagher focuses solely on Wira. There's so many questions he wants to ask, but for now, it's simpler to walk together.

...

Only moments later, that simplicity is broken. A woman Banagher doesn't know steps forward, brandishing a gun. "These aren't your patients!" Rage is clear in his voice, even with the voice modulator. Banagher puts an arm out before Wira, as if to protect the other man. "Everything you've done -- you're a monster! You don't deserve to talk to them!"

Innocent of the cruelty of a place like this, Banagher thinks the exchange is a simple taunt, some kind of last jab at an escaping man. He growls.

"You're not a dog, Wira. Don't listen to her -- What?"

Both Wira and Permanence step aside, and then time freezes. Dr. Tian aims her gun for Leina, and Banagher brings his own pistol up, aiming it true. Despite his fear of the weapon in his hand, now is the moment to use it, to protect the girl he loves--

Banagher pulls the trigger, determination and love pushing him forward. Newtype spatial awareness combines with Leina's lessons, and he fires straight for Dr. Tian's heart.

<Pose Tracker> Yuliana Kafim has posed.

        Banagher fires.

        And with a widening of his eyes, Wira leaps into action -- between the boy and the psychiatrist who's treated him all these years. He yelps out something which might have been a protest, but it's all bubbled by blood, as he hits the ground with a sickening thud.

        "You... can'h... hhhh..." It's hard to talk, around a lung pierced through. (And not just that.) He looks up, pained and afraid, vision swimming as he tries to find: "... Doc... hhr..." ... did I... finally protect someone..? Brother...

        "You did well," Dr. Tian assures him, gaze veiling as she looks down on that dying man.

        And she doesn't move to aid him.

        Permanence rushes to Wira, though, skin paling as she gathers him up to her chest, as if she could hold him together even as he's bleeding away. "No, nonono, come on, hold on, just..." But given how true Banagher's shot was, there's nothing her desperate mantling can save. All it gets her is bloody hands, as she tries to press them over the wound, as if applying pressure could reach the critical failures deep down. With tearstained eyes, she glares up, to Banagher. "You... you shot him, you bastard..! Weren't you saving us?! Answer me!" But all her ferocity is undercut, by the way her throat chokes out the words.

        "As you can see," Dr. Tian says, with far less sympathy, to those gathered, "you cannot hurt me, here. All our patients are so loyal..."

        "FUCK YOU!" Permanence sobs, clutching that bloody corpse to her chest. "FUCK ALL OF YOU!"

        "... even if some are difficult," Dr. Tian allows, without missing a beat.

        She'll need to be dealt with, one way or another. Permanence, too. Not only is the danger of her, around Dr. Tian, now plainly clear -- but she's far too agitated to reason with.

        Inside the holding cell Dr. Tian stepped out of, there's a young Indonesian woman, pink-haired and dark-skinned. She sits on her bed, hands folded, looking down at them. "Is this another test?" She demands, suspicious, when someone thinks to enter. "I-I told you before, it was just a little slip, that's all! I'm loyal to the Republic! I'll just wait right here, just like the psychiatrist told me!"

        A touch of explanation, and she shifts to: "W--wait, you're really getting us out of here?" Hope crosses her face, before she crushes it, shaking her head. "No -- no, I can't. My little brother, they know where he is. They said that since his sister's a Newtype... but if I just do this, they'll leave him alone!"

        It's not until they can assure him of her brother's safety, too, that she assents to rescue. She says her name is Lestari Nur -- and her little brother is Anwar.

        The room on the opposite side of the holding cells doesn't appear much, at first glance. The only thing here are a series of metal tanks, spaced evenly at each corner of the room. Four in total, four feet by four feet. There are controls on the side: audio, light, display, temperature... oxygen.

        No one appears to be here, and yet there is so MUCH suffering here, screaming, someone-anyone-I-mustn't-be-alone. With the sounds of combat echoing, even in these soundproofed halls, it might be difficult to miss the nails on metal, scratch, scratch, scratch.

        Scratch... scratch... scratch.

        Think to open the hatch on the side of the fourth pod, and a blunet Sri Lankan boy will tumble out. (He looks 15, or perhaps 16 and ill-fed. Orphans and homeless children...) He looks rather lanky, which means he must have had to fold himself up quite tight in there. He is haggard and senseless, though the screaming in his head is obvious to anyone sensitive. He shrinks away from physical contact. He mumbles, "no, no, no more, stop." The cyborg plates on his arm are engraved with the number #734-6N -- the file which matches Amit Zaman. He's been in there long enough that he doesn't immediately respond to his name, but he's been in there long enough that he'll cause no trouble when he's handed off to the evacuation team, either.

<Pose Tracker> Elisa Kafim has posed.

Once again, there are people to save. There are horrors to witness. Elisa is unfazed by all of them. She walks along, fatigued clearly, but also unflinchingly, without hesitation. She does not ask names, or comfort those who are here. When someone says 'witch', she does not smite them for their insolence.

...The 'scary lady' too.

But to Li Yao she says, "Yes. Yes, that is so."

She nods in approval, for Li Yao's approach. But then, Banagher--Banagher. Elisa could've shielded Leina, maybe. With Chris. But she did not. Instead...

"A tragedy," Elisa says of Wira's death. "...But remember that resolve. You fought to protect the one you love. That... takes strength. Would that I had not been so merciful with Major Pham..."

Then she steps forward, towards Dr. Tian. "You will not remember me," she says.

"But you will feel pain."

Elisa's words will break Dr. Tian's concentration fully; there is no way for her subjects to defend her against the agony she will feel, with another spike of Void energy. It will simply overtake her, leaving her vulnerable to someone else's actions.

Elisa does not call off the command unless asked.

<Pose Tracker> Leina Ashta has posed.

"That's good to know. Thank you for telling me Ila."

Shelby gets a momentary look from the featureless tinted faceplate. With her walls down, she definitely hears the scream. And...

"Excuse me Ila. I need to go help warm up her feet."

... Shelby hears a familiar voice, the voice changer turned off, as she murmurs to her in her own voice, "Breathe. Let yourself breathe. ... I promise, this place will be only a memory after today."

Unfortunately, all of those memories will be horrible ones, but it is a promise.

"...ride the wave."

She tries not to think of her own experiences attempting the same, how she wiped out.

It's only when they move on, that she momentarily puts a hand on Banagher's arm and murmurs, "It's alright." A beat, "I'd have done the same in your position."

He can at least feel her affection in this moment. Until they move into the next room, and she has to let go. "Dr. Tian Fenhua I presume. You are in charge of brainwashing, and conditioning here at the Institute." Her tone is anything but affable.

The question though, she doesn't like where this is leading, as she tells Wira and Permanence to stand aside, it draws her eyes away for a precious second, the same second she gets a flash of warning.

Knowing she won't beat her to the shot, she tries to jerk out of the way. Banagher fires first.

And Wira... jumps in the way. Leina sees the results with a half second of incomprehension witnessing Permanence's distress, Permanence's loyalty before...

r a G E

'As you can see, you cannot hurt me-'

R A G E

It bears down like a sweltering pressure, this contrast between passionate heat and cold exterior before-

Elisa breaks her concentration with a spike of Void energy.

She steps past Permanence - it's not certain whether she's entrusting others to watch her back or not.

She simply raises her gun and fires twice in a double tap towards mid-sternum, then once at her forehead in quick succession - likely at the same time as others act.

Just like Sayla taught her.

She does not say anything in the moment as innocence dies - and not hers - she simply avenges it.

Taking in one breath after another, having to bring herself down, slowly.

<Pose Tracker> Banagher Links has posed.

Wira suddenly isn't by Banagher's side. Golden eyes, hidden behind that cheerful-green helmet, widen in horror, but what he's done can't be taken back.

Wira hits the ground.

"No--" Banagher whispers out.

Wira's last words echo into Banagher's heart, and the young man falls to his knees. The gun is gone, dropped, skittering away across the ground. He can't breathe. Stars swim in his vision, and Banagher wrenches his helmet off, desperate for air. Brown hair fluffs up, curling into messy waves.

"I--I -- I didn't mean to, I --" Banagher chokes. A sob wrenches from his body, and he can only watch as Permanence holds Wira to her chest.

Everything happens around him. Elisa steps forward. More subjects are rescued. He can't hear anything but his own heartbeat. Somehow, Elisa's words echo into his awareness, even as he squeezes his eyes closed against them.

Leina's gun fires. Banagher doesn't hear it. Pitching forward, he tries not to vomit, tears falling down his face to stain the cell-block corridor.

<Pose Tracker> Sayaka Yumi has posed.

Up until now, it was all going so well... even if some of the patients were understandably suspicious or hesitant, they were making progress, convincing them they'll be safe. That's all ruined by the entrance of Dr. Tian, who aims her gun Leina's way. Sayaka is ready to fire her own Photon Gun, when Banagher sets in and musters the courage to save his love. It's not meant to be - one of the patients takes the bullet for her, drawing the ire of Permanence, the woman she'd just been chatting with moments ago.

She doesn't even try to reason with Permanence, instead Sayaka Yumi's gaze pierces the other doctor. "What - what gives you the right?" She hisses. She has many words for someone she sees as a manipulator and a monster but -

It's interrupted by Elisa's own words, her command. And she freezes as she is forced to feel pain by the void. For just a moment, a flash of light emits the dark institute - a miniature Koushiryoku Beam, as Sayaka does what must be done. Taking the opportunity afforded by Elisa, she continues to move forward to do what she came for - rescuing the victims.

She runs into the young pink-haired girl next. "We're not with the republic, and we're not here to test you. Right now... it doesn't matter what you did to defy them." She starts, and then considers when she pleas that she's staying here to protect her younger brother. "Anwar Nur... okay. We'll make sure that they not only never lay another finger on you, but that they'll never get your brother, either. Okay, Lestari?" She looks back to what is probably now the corpse of Dr. Tian. "After all... soon, this place won't exist anymore. And neither will the demons who keep it running."

<Pose Tracker> Roux Louka has posed.

A Gundam. Made from the bones of people. Potentially literally. And they don't care for this woman in the slightest. She's something more than a regular woman. Roux finds herself glancing towards Elisa, though it's not easy to actually tell due to the faceplate, which she's starting to appreciate. But it's a stray thought, not -

Everything elongates. Dr. Tian appears and there is an enormous threat behind that. Roux turns towards her. I'm gonna be too late, she thinks, because she put her gun away -- so she wouldn't scare Prima. She reaches for it anyway. At the point when she has her hand on the grip, Banagher fires.

It doesn't hit Dr. Tian. Someone else gurgles, bleeds. Screaming. Suffering. The subtle vibrations of ironclad confidence. Certainty in impunity. Roux feels rage crawl up the back of her throat as she raises her right arm and --

-- it flies up and out of her spine like a watermelon seed getting squeezed --

And flies into somewhere different. Anger just seems to recede behind her like she's coming out of a colony under intermediate jets. Flying somewhere else.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-q4w2QHL8oA

Alone in space, here on Earth. Earth and space. Space and Earth.

Oh my God I don't want to see this, Roux thinks, but it happens anyway; she stares at the woman before her, even as others seem to move like subtly glimmering turning ballerinas, and she said something already but she doesn't remember what it's going to be. Leina is moving out of the firing line. I should -

I should shoot her, Roux thinks, but --

Leina's bringing up her gun.

It's like I'm standing in a river, Roux thinks, but how do I know that? I've never --

The river puts words into her throat, orients them, and slams the electronic catapult button that is the human nervous system. The payload deployed, Roux says in a loud voice, amplified by the helmet, what she finds out is a question--

                                "Was all of it, to feel powerful?"

-- and then several more gunshots slap her out of the river and she shakes her head once, violently, glancing over her shoulder as if she expects to see something.

There's nothing there.

Roux shivers inside of her suit and unlatches the helmet. She pulls it partway off her head, stops, puts it back down (still unlatched) and opens the faceplate. Roux doesn't say anything with intellectual content after this, moving towards that room on the opposite side of the holding cells.

I should throw up or cry, Roux thinks. Wait, when did I get here? Another glance over her shoulders.

There is a faint sound... scratch, scratching, scratching, and Roux unlatches the fourth pod. It opens, releasing stale air, and Roux looks down towards the thin and underfed boy. He doesn't want to be touched. Roux helps him up a little, somehow, and finds herself resting in her own head again when she's saying --

"--rescue team. It's stopping. Can you walk? I'll carry you if you need it, but try, if you can." What? Can I carry him? Roux thinks, blinking several times; she shifts herself backwards then, striving to keep a neutral pose despite an enormous urge to just-- hug herself, or someone.

<Pose Tracker> Kaworu Nagisa has posed.

        The depths continue to churn between beauty and ugliness--no, perhaps it's better to say that there are lush valleys in between unforgiving mountains. There are those who see to those who are in pain--and there are those, like Dr. Tian, who make that pain both weapon and shield.
        
        Wira is shot, fatally, by one who wished to protect him. Because Dr. Tian made him into her shield. Permanence wails in grief and anger both.
        
        "...." Kaworu observes. There are many who will see through their own justice, and Dr. Kafim and Leina and Sayaka make it so. His gaze turns towards the room opposite the holding cells, at the fourth pod, but he doesn't move towards it.
        
        Instead, he looks down towards Banagher as he sobs and drops to the floor. With gentle care, it's now that he kneels next to him and rests a perhaps-comforting hand on his shoulder. If Banagher isn't open to it, though, he'll move away.
        
        Ultimately, his role here is as an observer.

<Pose Tracker> Shelby Korts has posed.

        Her feet are ... cold. Maybe not literally, but Shelby finds herself disconnected from everything around her for a brief moment in time. Her breath fills her helmet; the heavy exhales rumbling in her ears and chest as fiercely as the pounding of her own pulse; confronted with memories and feelings of her own life-- her own past -- things that still have a profound effect on her, clearly.

        Leina's there to talk her down. Sucking in a breath, she nods, somewhat numbly, choosing to not press on quite immediately and instead choosing to help with sorting out the young subjects; getting them moving with the rescue operatives.

        After Banagher shoots, after Leina takes action and briefly, all hell breaks loose, the young woman steps up to follow behind Roux. Shelby may not have a gun, but she can still make sure that she backs up her allies in their time of need.

<Pose Tracker> Li Yao has posed.

        The sound of a gun shot brings the old man running, he had let himself relax a little and had been certain he would have felt a killer intent before anything could befall the group. So he had been wondering the hall to find anyone who had been hiding. He is cursing himself the entire way until he stops to see the scene infront of him.

         The scene looks like a serious f'd situation but in the end it appears none of them died and the old man wasn't needed. So for now he simply helps where he can , having missed the part where all the people they are helping could turn on them at any moment.

<Pose Tracker> Garrod Ran has posed.

A lot of things happen very quickly, and Garrod is too far away at that moment to do more than see and hear. Banagher trying to get one of the "patients"test subjects to come along to safety ... one of the doctors asserting her power over them ... the subject bowing to deeply-carved authority, and dying by the bullet meant for his master.

Banagher crumpling with guilt for an unintended murder.

Garrod's hands close into fists, clenching tightly for a moment before Garrod spurs himself into motion, crouching next to the young man he doesn't know except for the time spent so far on *this* mission. "This is gonna sound cold, I know," Garrod says to him, "but it's not your fault. We do what we can. And the doctor -"

Garrod spares himself one look at Dr. Tian, then turns his attention back to Banagher, trying to help him back to his feet. "The doctor just earned a whole lot of suffering. Focus on the living, whom we can still help, and beat yourself up over it when lives aren't in danger - like *our lives*, as well as the victims we can still save."

If he can get Banagher to his feet, good. If he can't, Garrod suits his actions to his words, and goes to help the people he can still help ... like the young boy Roux found.

<Pose Tracker> Sousuke Sagara has posed.

Sousuke brings up the rear, this time, of the assault on the hallways. - he was in the back, marking Tierens for Kurz to snipe the cockpits in their cradles, making absolutely certain nobody could use them.

Too late to stop Banagher. But he sees what occurred, well enough that he sees what has to be done.

So he makes sure he's between Permanence and the good doctor while Leina finishes the work. He'll wrestle her, if he must. A normal PRT couldn't possibly handle an enraged enhanced human, even one in Permanence's wild state.

That's what the SRT are for.

When he's certain Permanence is merely in agony and not about to become hostile, he reaches to help her up. If he has to signal a PRT to carry Wira's body, he will.

His face is a mask. The screaming and crying and dying are like tinnitus to him; a noise long lived with and known. Perhaps his eyes are a bit distant, calling forth a ghost he used to be.

<Pose Tracker> Leina Ashta has posed.

For a time, Leina is incapable of what they came here to do. She cannot do anything but comprehend the full weight of the gun in her hands, her anger.

It takes her time to get it under control.

She'll appreciate Sayaka and Roux stepping up as she can't right now.

After a moment, she'll let the arm holding the gun fall, she'll put it away. She'll walk up to Banagher, and kneel down beside him. And gives him a brief but fierce hug...

... and then because of that love that she does what she knows needs to be done...

"<Send down an extra extraction team for Club-7>" Her eyes flit to Permanence, "<He will need to be separated from the current set of victims. ... Flag him for Psychological Counseling on arrival.>"

She knows resources are spread thin, she knows just HOW thin, given that she planned this operation.

She does it anyway.

"I'll be there as soon as possible." She tells him, "Once we finish up here."

<Pose Tracker> Christina MacKenzie has posed.

        Her movements in the corner of Chris's eye, it wasn't too hard to match that familiar feeling from before. Leina. But time moves far too fast to be so stretched out as the gun's barrel comes up. Chris's baton slips from her hand as she reaches out, hoping to drag Leina behind her shield. She's seen enough to know she'll never get there in time, but there's nothing to do but move.

        Banagher takes the shot. Another bullet casing falls, this one ringing out its tone on the floor tiles as this boy--Leina's boy?--slumps as though he'd taken the bullet himself. Stunned, she places herself in front of both of them, until the other strike team members slay the monster.

        For the first time since exiting the APC, she's torn, frozen. She's pulled that trigger before. She's sketched a man in the margins of her notebooks. Does she stay with the man who has killed, or the girl who has survived?

       She truly wanted to comfort Banagher but...she realized she still didn't know what to say to herself, much less him. It's difficult, but she turns away from Banagher and Leina--she'll know what to say better, Chris already has too much blood on her hands. What's a little more?
        "Miss... Miss Permanence. We need to go. Please, please let me. We'll lay him to rest. But you need to come with us. Neither you nor Wira can stay here.

        She kneels down, reverently lifting the limp boy in her arms--quiet and deliberate in the way she shields him from Banagher's view with her body. Liu Mei will be upset--It might take a lot to prevent her new suit from staining on its first sortie. Chris doesn't know anything about that. She knows only cradling an innocent young man, nodding at Sosuke and Garrod to go together, neither as inured as Sosuke nor innocent as Banagher.

        Chris stands up. Another bullet casing falls, joining the pile of lead in her stomach.

<Pose Tracker> Yuliana Kafim has posed.

        It's a good thing Ila is gone, by the time Dr. Tian shows up. This is nothing fit for a child to witness.

        Nor for a child to commit.

        Elisa commands pain, and Fenhua's eyes widen, in shock. "No-- no--n-nnnnAAARRRGHH!" She doubles over, and collapses to her knees, clutching at her arms with scrabbling hands. As Leina says, she was in charge of interrogations -- she's surely done things like this, though not by using this green power, so many times before. So, too, was she in charge of brainwashing, and pain can be so instructive when conditioning subjects.

        Even so, she's a human, and she's screaming in pain. She can't think, can't concentrate, can't utter those command phrases she used to grasp Wira's attention. One little word from Elisa, and...

        ... well, Leina and Sayaka don't have a moving target as much as a writhing target. Ending a life is so, so simple.

        I WAS powerful--!, her soul screams, to Roux, even as the screams from her throat die to nothing.

        Lestari's hands grasp her gown, hands shaking. "O...okay," she agrees, to Sayaka's reasoning. "Please, just show me who to follow... whenever they die, it's so loud..." Banagher's grief is loud, too, but she's polite enough not to say. Kaworu, at least, is there for him. There's a member of the medical evac team for Lestari, too, to help her to the trucks.

        Isolation. The isolation of the Institute is one of its cruelest experiments, one of its most horrific and most common levers to press. They are so, so occupied with silence, and perhaps that is why they are so fond of Yuliana. This cyborg is another victim of that hunger; Amit takes Roux's hand long enough to straighten, at least, before he pulls away. Distance. Distance. The world is too LOUD.

        His face scrunches; his shoulders hunch. It's only long moments later that he looks -- not quite to Roux -- to Roux's shoulder, that's safe enough. He grunts assent, not quite a word, but his head jerks in a nod. His neck's stiff. He'll feel better later... but not now. Now, at least, he can walk. He'll need the arm of one of the members of the medical team, but he can walk, at least. (They'll put him on a stretcher, of course.)

        Shelby will find that his head is surprisingly empty of thoughts, and what remain echo in the vacant space, violently.

        In the aftermath, Permanence's sobbing cuts through it all. "ANSWER ME!" She screams, again, but as she rises up to try and meet Banagher, Sousuke gets in the way. "Rrrgh-- you--!" She struggles against him, for a moment, but Sousuke is SRT; even with her Cyber-Newtype enhancements, even though she's nearly double his age, Permanence can't get through Sousuke to Banagher. Christina's words reach her, and the fight leaves her body. "Shit," she sobs, and leans on him in collapse, moving smoothly from wrestling with him to crying on his shoulder.

        "Bring him with us... or else... I won't forgive you if you leave him here...!" But Christina lifts Wira up, and Permanence straightens -- when Sousuke lets her. "Good," she agrees, finally, agrees to leave with the medical evacuators.

        Wira leaves on a stretcher, just like Amit.

        They didn't bring enough body bags.

        Deep inside the centre of the Institute, then...

        ... is where Dr. Divya Devi, the head scientist, keeps her office. She likes to dwell in a central location, so that she can easily reach any part of the facility.

        She isn't home, right now. The office is empty. The monitor still displays the notes she was taking, before the alarms sounded. She didn't have time to lock her computer. (She's overridden the auto-locking time-out, too.) There's a panic button beneath her fine desk, and a paperweight on top -- a nice, stylised dolphin. An 'in' tray, and an 'out' tray, for her various files.

        There is a bookcase, with many, many books. A focus on neurology, which befits the many awards and diplomas on her wall. There is a strange gap in her official recognition, during the 80s, before the awards displayed all seem to come from the REA.

        A letter on the desk, hand-written, reads: 'Just remember what that witch did to us. Don't be fooled, Div. You're brilliant, and we're going to see this through. -- Vinh' It's prominently pinned, beneath the paperweight, as if Dr. Devi had to look at it to remind herself often.

        ... on the screen, there's a long document which she must have been almost finished with writing.

        > These will be my last reflective entries on the subject of 258-1A, named for convenience and integration purposes as 'Yuliana Dispersal'. (The subject has played at marriage, but I see no reason to humour its vain attempts here.) I should like to take a moment to dwell on what has been eleven years of my life.
        >
        > 1A was the most promising specimen we approached, hence its batch number; for once, our thesis question agreed with our conclusion. But how could it not? The subject came from a patrilineal line which had dwelled in the Indonesian area since before the Univeral Century; it is entirely likely its ancestors were contemporary with the source of the Orchid Cells. I still believe there must have been some encounter, between them, which stayed buried in the subject's DNA for centuries. It's a strange explanation for how this subject alone survived the hybridisation process. And yet, despite the care we took to ensure our subjects thought they chose this experiment... well, we honoured the apparent peacekeeping of this creature, but my other subjects were all quite dramatic in their demise.
        >
        > Even so, I suppose the ravage of years has lowered its compatibility level. Frankly, for a while, I wasn't sure we'd get anything useful from the project at all. But as soon as I implicated the consequences of failure, my subject was extremely willing to cooperate... of course, I still had to help that along, here and there, but the REA are thankfully no strangers to 're-education'. Really, they've made great strides in brainwashing themselves, over the years. I shall be sad to go, if they're no longer willing to shelter me -- but no matter. Britannia will be eager for the future of warfare, I'm sure. I survived the fall of the Titans. I shall survive this just the same.
        >
        > Whether through direct control or indirect influence, though, 1A has been extremely helpful to my research. My decision to turn it against its fellow Cyber-Newtypes, while a common complaint from my scientists forced to hold their tongues, was frankly a stroke of genius. The subject needed some personal instruction on its hatred, of course -- even things which were once human struggle to hate those beside them, I suppose -- but thanks to a powerful Newtype I acquired through my old friends, I was able to cement its distaste through constant negative exposure. Strangely, it seems to have taken its vendetta in a direction I didn't anticipate; Newtype phenomena appears to worsen its madness.
        >
        > My more superstitious subordinates frequently wondered whether its psychotic ramblings had any deeper meaning. I admit, until Dr. Kafim's visit, I viewed the possibility with scorn. I have seen countless Cyber-Newtypes whose minds were irrecoverably damaged; some of whom were unsalvagable, and some who managed to serve some purpose before they died. I had no reason to suspect 1A was anything more than the latter... until I learned of the Power. Now I see that the alien force which powers humanity's future is tied to a great and terrible realm. And I have tricked the mistress of that Power!
        >
        > Oh, I'll grant I was certainly the one tricked, at the start. She offered me all these possibilities -- and asked only that testing on 1A stop in turn. I consented, of course, and my work on the EXAM system would not have been possible without it. But Vinh came to me, not long ago, and bid I hear him out... just as he would when we were dating. We're far better as friends, of course, but when I heard the horrors that witch had inflicted on him...
        >
        > Well, I suppose even I can be a sentimental old hag, sometimes.
        >
        > Given the efforts 1A has gone to -- and I say this, broken-hearted, as a woman of science -- shatter reality, it becomes clear that its expiry date is closing in. If I do not enact our plans now, the future of warfare will be lost... and I cannot allow my work to be forgotten as the NT-D rises up! No: placing anti-Newtype measures in living subjects is far superior than relying on technology. I believe that with our advances, we will reclaim the ease with which human subjects may be used to create weapons. Achieving mass-produced Newtype negation will allow my patrons to dominate both Earth and space. There can be no place for fear and doubt, as we make our move.
        >
        > Vinh has always been more of a politician -- I'm so glad I recommended him to head up this next stage of the project -- so he arranged a deal with G-Hound, to return my subject to me. I've told the surgeons to hurry with their work... we need samples from before the treatment, of course, and they have final things to test. The implants will help us keep its body alive, as well, of course.
        >
        > Unfortunately, 1A has been... markedly less compliant, since its retrieval. Even granted the circumstances, this felt strange to me -- and when I audited its files, I found that its last ordered bout of brainwashing wasn't even attended to! The paperwork had been submitted in such a way that she thought it already handled. I hired that Doctor for her psychiatric skills in torture and interrogation, and yet it remains true that any doctor may be fooled by the right form at the right time, I suppose. This is why it's always important to double check! As much as it would have been simpler to lay down our preparations early, I've seen to the matter of its domination myself, now. It won't be long before it's eager to throw itself on the blade of progress.
        >
        > Vinh's made a personal request of the process: he wants my subject unsedated. I'm generally disinclined to let the military dictate medicine -- but since it's a matter of personal revenge, I'm inclined to skip the anaesthesia for this experiment. Besides, being able to personally measure someone right up until the point their brain is overwhelmed and all higher functions cease... it's exciting!
        >
        > I admit, part of me mourns... it's hardly a human, but I've poured my life's work into this single creature. Perhaps that's why I was so permissive of the Republic's desire to use it... it really thought it had a normal life! How sad. Ah, but I haven't lied to it this time, at least. It won't die. Though we project total and irrevocable brain death of the subject, we will keep its body alive to harvest its matured Orchid Cells, and create from it an army to meet this wretched future on our terms.
        >
        > 1A always did want to be a mother...

        This file -- and the rest of Dr. Devi's personal files, the greatest intelligence riches the Institute has to offer -- can be pilfered, before it's time to leave.

        But it may well soon be time to leave. Now their main team has torn through the facility, the many agents assisting them -- people from Mithril, Shuffles, and Celestial Being -- will have surely cleared through the rest of it. The evidence of their work is clear: the holding cells they pass are empty. What equipment remains has been wrecked, though the computers -- with their incriminating evidence -- remain intact. And there are, yes, dead bodies. Not all of them were able to be retrieved, when their priority was the victims' safety.

        But they have a getaway planned -- and the Awakened amongst them will sense, as they move, that they must take everything they care for.

        The Institute is doomed.

        TO BE CONTINUED...

<Pose Tracker> Banagher Links has posed.

Banagher leans into Kaworu's touch, raising his head to look at the other young man. He looks absolutely devastated, but grateful for Kaworu's care. Opening his mouth, he doesn't manage to get any words out before another sob wracks his body, and turns his gaze back down to the ground.

Garrod approaches, and Banagher doesn't raise his head until he's spoken to. "R--right. You're right." He takes a shuddering breath, getting himself under control. "People still -- need to be saved."

Sinking into Leina's arms, Banagher hides his face in her neck, gritting his teeth against another sob. "I can keep going. I don't want you to be alone in here."

...it doesn't take much convincing to get Banagher to go back. He's wrecked. Glancing back over his shoulder to Leina, he radiates fear and distress. If anything goes wrong while he isn't there...

But it will be okay. Leina will join him soon, safe and sound. They saved as many people as they could have.

It will be a long while before Banagher can sleep.

<Pose Tracker> Li Yao has posed.

        Li Yao watches the scene unfold and he walks up behind Christina, " We are not done yet. Mourn for the evil here at later date, for not young lady harden your heart." Li Yao himself walks the opposite way of the evacuation crew, he isn't dont here. Not yet. He still hasn't found the one thing he is looking for, where his friend is.

         If there is one thing an old man is good for , it is to be nosy. So in each office he would spend time going through notes looking for any record of Yuliana Kafim. This is how he ends up at the door of Dr. Divya Devi.

         Slowly he read the note and then looks at the records on the computer for a moment before he produces a thumb drive provided to him by a certain celestial being with a way with computers, whatever that is. "Let see, I was told plug it in and it would do the rest. They better not be mistaken, I sitll don't understand what ducks have to do with this." Plugging in the rubber ducky into the machine, it begins to clone all the documentations. Finally Yao looks once more at the office and the note before he speaks over the comms to Elisa, "Mrs. Kafim, I found a doctor devi's office and records. I am retrieving them now."

<Pose Tracker> Leina Ashta has posed.

She was powerful.

A fitting epitaph, engraved by her own soul unto Roux. She does not, open her faceplate, as much as she needs to right now. Best not to let anyone see it.

More victims are saved, for the price of innocence and blood. Since the victims had little enough of the former left to offer, how cruelly fitting of this world that the toll be extracted from someone who did.

Still, she'll hear Permanence's words, and she'll see Chris (Is she Chris? She certainly feels like her.) treat the body with reverence enough that convinces her.

god what will she even say to her later what will she say to sayla what will she say to banagher

In the end she hands Banagher off to another team of evacuators. "I'm never alone." Leina tells him, "And neither are you."

When they reach Devi's office, she looks at Elisa, "Doctor Kafim." She says in deference, and lets her go first.

It's only then that she takes a moment to turn sideways, open her faceplate, and wipe her eyes. She'll need them clear for what is coming next. It's put down again...

Once inside, Leina looks at the note, and pockets it, before watching over the shoulder of others who scroll through the document. Some of it confirms what she already knew, but her succinct evaluation is the second time she's uttered this word in so many days.

"... Monster."

She leaves copying the whole thing to Li Yao.

... It's not long during their trek through the institute, before she gets this flash of... intuition. And she freezes - before, "We have to go. Now!" She's already starting to run, as she speaks into her radio, "<We're pulling out! Everyone inside, evacuate immediately to the closest extraction point!>"

She doesn't say what doom is coming, and it doesn't matter what doom is coming, she just knows it is.

<Pose Tracker> Sayaka Yumi has posed.

"...It is. I hope we'll find you a place where you never have to hear those sounds anymore." Sayaka knows she probably won't ever forget what she's heard... but no reason not to keep her far away anyways. "You can follow me... I'll show you to where everyone else is evacuating. They'll take care of you from there." And with that, Sayaka leads the way towards the exit of the fallen institute.

On her way out, she does spare a glance for Leina and Banagher... the reason she came here was to fulfill her end of a deal for them. But she still wishes they didn't have to do so much, unintentionally or not.

<Pose Tracker> Kaworu Nagisa has posed.

        Though Banagher may be grateful for Kaworu's care, Leina has a greater right to comfort him, and Garrod is right about what still needs to be done. Kaworu retreats to cede space to them, rather than because Banagher rejects him.
        
        He follows the others in silence to Dr. Devi's office and watches as Li Yao makes his copies. Kaworu makes copies of his own from across the room, reading through the entry Dr. Devi had left behind with care. He'll leave the rest to them, before moving on to other computer systems within the Institute, picking up the files that he'd been too slow to enter to retrieve earlier.
        
        When he's done, he looks up towards the ceiling--or rather, to a distant sky.
        
        When Leina orders an evacuation, the faceless operative has already left for his own extraction.

<Pose Tracker> Garrod Ran has posed.

Nothing would make Garrod happier than to help place some demolition charges, to make sure the Institute's interior is destroyed - but there's no time for that when the rescued people need to be gotten on the transport, along with whatever hardware the team can carry. Garrod focuses on carrying what he can carry; if there's a cart or something he can liberate to help carry more stuff, all the better.

But whatever gets left behind, he is not going to miss the Institute.

<Pose Tracker> Roux Louka has posed.

In the moment, when Leina and Sayaka enact a brute justice, Roux is standing in the river. The cruel scientist - Roux doesn't think she really was ever a doctor - cries out something. Something she had lost. Then she's in the river; and she's gone.

This may be some of why Roux spaced out. Some but not all.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZJ_BOnPg02A

Roux helps the boy up. He shudders. Roux strives to be still. Quiet. There is a sensation of something 'behind' her even so, but--

-- she does it anyway. "Cmon," she says. With a "Thank you" to Christine on her way. A hundred steps or so. That's all. Take them one at a time.


Somehow, Roux keeps going, although there is that strange silence out of her. Inwardly, she doesn't feel -- no, it's not that she feels nothing. It's that the feelings have rolled downstream; or perhaps that there is still something she's standing in, even if she doesn't know it.

That same effort to be calm, steady, relaxed, keeps up. Roux stays near to Leina. Not too close - there is one other who should be closer - but there. Keep up appearances. She glances at the document as Li Yao scrolls through it.

Roux is still in there: "If she's the one who decides what's 'human,' I'm proud to be outside of it." Do you feel powerful? Roux thinks, clear as a crisp spring morning.

And on their way up -- Leina speaks a warning --

-- "Is it?" Roux says, glancing up, before --

"Shit shit shit run!!"

<Pose Tracker> Elisa Kafim has posed.

Elisa does not blink as Dr. Tian is ended. She ensured that the scientist's last moments were agony. That is sufficient, for one of those who has hurt her Yuliana. For now. For this one.

The others may comfort Banagher; what cold comfort she can offer she has already given.

But Roux's question makes Elisa turn to regard her thoughtfully for a moment, her green eyes seeming to go through as much as at her. "Perhaps it was," she says.

Li Yao reaches the office first. Elisa responds over her radio, "I am on my way." 'Mrs. Kafim' is sufficient title for her in this.

Now that she nows where she must go, Elisa knows the way. She remembers it here. The long document...

Elisa reads it, with the others. She does not push away from them. She considers them, and her anger grows with each paragraph. The Orchid Cells... and 'playing at marriage'.

"Yes," she says. "She would believe that she has the upper hand. She has, for a time. She was able to overcome my control..."

"But the seeds of Dr. Devi's destruction have been sown. The Power will destroy her. And I will help it along."

'1A did always want to be a mother...'

"Were it not for the necessity of keeping this data, I would destroy her office and all within it. ...But that is already this place's fate."

She turns to Leina. "I would have information on your deprogramming techniques, for my Yuliana. I believe it is sufficient price for the the danger I spared you from those soldiers. It would appear that Dr. Devi has been busy with her..."

She looks to Roux once again. "You should be glad. Her definition is narrow. She knows nothing of the true future but the barest glimpse."

But...

When Leina indicates that it is time to move, Elisa makes her decision. She comes to a stop, where she was walking before. She considers, for a moment. "Very well," she says. "I wish you luck and skill in your escape with these victims. ...I will see you all again."

"For now... I will seek Dr. Devi. She will not escape."

She smiles. It is a grim, unpleasant thing. She has the ordinary amount of teeth.

"She will know her folly."

Rising suddenly into the air by a foot, Elisa stretches out her arms--and in a crackling void of green power, she disappears completely.