2022-09-24: What The Heart Dictates (Prelude)

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  • Log: 2022-09-24: What The Heart Dictates - Prelude
  • Cast: Akane Shinjo, Yuta Hibiki, Dr. Spartura, Rikka Takarada, Liam 7-020
  • Where: AEU France - Paris - Industrial Sector
  • OOC - IC Date: 0096-09-24
  • Summary: Having struck out on forcing people to help her in Kabukicho, Akane tries... exactly the same thing again in France, after telling several of her enemies and none of her prospective allies that this is her game plan. It goes about as well as you'd expect.


<Pose Tracker> Akane Shinjo has posed.

There are a lot of... process improvements... that could be made on Akane's part, in her basic plan of making BioNet fight for her by parking her ass next to BioNet facilities with kaiju. For one: she could actually pick an area with more than token BioNet presence!

She hasn't exactly made a secret of it, either -- nor has she been particularly subtle about her planning, such as it is. (Except, ironically, to BioNet. That would look a little too much like asking for help.)

"Hm," Akane says, as she takes up a seat in a rooftop garden on an office building in France's industrial district. It is, of course, a place cut through by front companies and subsidiaries of entities like Treasure and Excellent -- it's hard to keep BioNet out of a place it really wants to be, and, well. ... Gimlet invested a lot in BioNet's French presence while he was alive; why let a good thing go to seed?

Pulling out her phone, Akane sighs. "I guess we're about on schedule," she affirms. Tapping the cracked screen, she says, "Alexis, it's go time. Mecha-Ghoulghilas again."

"... Really?" Alexis doesn't jump when Akane says how high, for once. "You do have a variety of kaiju in progress... I'd love to see a new one. Gaiyaros, wasn't --"

"Mecha-Ghoulghilas," Akane says, firmly.

There's just a little tension as Alexis says, "... As you wish, Akane-kun."

"Instance Abreaction!"

It's becoming a familiar scene -- Mecha-Ghoulghilas amid countless buildings. 70 meters of metal and destructive fury. Parking it here with no warning looks a little more like a power play than a request for help.

<Pose Tracker> Yuta Hibiki has posed.

France..!

Yuta's never felt so far from home before. He's practically glued to the window of the train taking him to the scene of Akane's latest attack, watching the countryside roll by. This one was unlike the trains he's taken before, really, a whole new perspective! A worldwide train...

It is a little uncomfortable sitting in his pilot suit with strangers nearby. He's put a hoodie on over it, but that doesn't do anything to cover the clear oddity of the clothing covering his legs. Well, at least it'll look official when they arrive. Sitting next to Rikka isn't as awkward as it would've been a week ago. Getting his feelings out in the open, even if he was rejected, has been a huge relief. The NGJHS hadn't given him any grief over it -- though he thought he saw Vit handing Borr some money, when he told them about the experience. Now his and Rikka's friendship could continue without him second-guessing every interaction.

If only he could say the same about their friendship with Akane. What was she after, sending a kaiju all the way out here? There's got to be some reason for it. Yuta frowns as they get closer and close to their destination. Maybe this time, their words would reach her.

<Pose Tracker> Dr. Spartura has posed.


In the shop floor in an industrial complex - something that once produced cars, then produced GM parts, and now produces moderate scenic decay and odd job lots because it is a BioNet front - an alarm goes off.

In a fenced-in space which contains a tall glass tube - one which is steadily draining of a faintly greenish fluid into a flush basin, monitored at several consoles by a woman in a blood-spattered lab coat - two people look up, followed shortly thereafter by a third.

"What??" says DR. DOROTHY SPARTURA. "Is that a... wait, is that a Federation shelter alarm?"

"Yeah, basically," says JIRO FUMA, a burly cybernetically-rebuilt man who had already taken off his bloody smock and is currently shirtless. He had been drinking a Calpico. He keeps doing so. "Kinda different tone. Maybe it's rusty."

The alarm blares again.

"Why is there a shelter alarm going off?" Dr. Spartura asks Jiro.

"Usually it meant the Zeon was gonna come rip some ass," Jiro says. Slurp. "No offense."

"No, it's fine, it's fine," Dr. Spartura says.

In the tube, the third person raises one arm, shaking slightly, and points.

"Huh? You need something, Niko?" Dr. Spartura says, looking to Niko. Then she looks where the finger is pointing.

Towards the open hangar-bay doors. Dr. Spartura sort of stands up on the balls of her feet but she can't do it. She climbs down, stepping outside of the perimeter facing and immediately says, "ARE YOU KIDDING ME?"

Jiro clomps down the stairways and looks past her, through the open doorways which ARE ORIENTED SUFFICIENTLY TO GIVE A GREAT SLIVER VIEW OF --

Ghoulghilas.

"What the **** is that?" says Jiro. Behind them, Niko makes an obscene gesture at them with their extended pointing arm.

Dr. Spartura gets out her phone and clicks on the secured call app, hits the shortcut, and says, "Factory Control, this is DS control, is that thing friendly? What IS that thing? Jiro, check on the kid."

Jiro turns his head. "They're flipping us off."

"That's good! That's good. No, I'm not talking to you. I'm gonna ask again, WHAT THE HELL IS THAT? I'm WORKING here, I can't EVACUATE, this is DELICATE PARASYMPATHETIC RECONSTRUCTION!"

<Pose Tracker> Rikka Takarada has posed.

Rikka has heard a lot about France. She wishes she was visiting under brighter circumstances - that she could see the sights, maybe even ask Renais or Alouette what she should see while she's here, if they have any opinions...

But no, today is Gridman Alliance business - the moment Yuta's alarm goes off, it's time to go investigate. It'd be difficult for a couple of teenagers and a bunch of strange adults to get Synchrotank and Junk all the way to France on their own, but fortunately they have good friends. They've reported the situation to the Shuffle Alliance. This should help get them some back-up later, if necessary, but for right now it means a way to get Synchrotank and Junk where they need it to be.

Right now, though, they're on the train - like Yuta, Rikka is wearing her pilot suit along with a hoodie to cover up a little. She's brought her backpack with her, too, and is currently tapping away at her phone. She isn't idly browsing, though - instead, she's looking over the French media to get an idea of the situation, a grim frown on her face.

"What is she thinking...? I don't get it... I can kind of understand attacking Tokyo, but why here...?" Rikka murmurs to herself. Is she just... lashing out, or does she have a plan in mind?

"Oh, there's a picture - it looks like it's Mecha-Ghoulghilas again..." Rikka says. It's performance has been stellar, so she's not too surprised to see it deployed again... At least it's something they know what to expect from - though for someone who seems to take pride in her work the way she does, is it a little odd to re-use it so much...? Anyway, she holds the phote out toward Yuta. "Here, Yuta, take a look."

Yuta - not Hibiki... maybe their talk made her a little more comfortable around him, too.

<Pose Tracker> Liam 7-020 has posed.


        About half a mile down the road, a woman in a deep blue trenchcoat stands in front of a small, foam-lined, inspecting the contents. The room's sole overhead light paints the lunes of her AR glasses with an iridescent sheen. Beside her, a man in a suit waits with his arms folded.

        Inside the case is a single vial of blackish-silver substance; a tablet sits next to it, artfully laid there like this were a bespoke order meant to be unboxed. The text on its screen does not scroll, but that is only because it's playing wirelessly on the other side of the woman's glasses. Her lips tighten in a little grin of satisfaction. "I'm impressed," says the woman. "The last batch of assemblers were hardly this optimized. As I recall, I had to update the code in real-time to ensure they kept up with the subjects' growth curves."

        "It was a challenging project," the man admits, "But your team should find the endoskeletal weave much more durable, with the added bonus of increased bone density--"

        SLAM

        The earth shakes; the lights flicker. The woman snatches the case up, snapping it shut before any harm can come to its contents. An alarm, high-pitched and shrill, echoes through the little windowless office. The woman's face twists in a moue of dissatisfaction as a certain voice travels to her ear via bone conduction. "DS Control, this is Factory Control, LeBlanc speaking. Give me one moment--"

        Outside, several surveilance cameras turn to face Mecha-Ghoulghilas. LeBlanc scowls, and stomps out of the office, motioning for the man to follow her.

        "Nothing in the air," says the suited man, swiping furiously between external cameras. "It can't be Chasseur--"

        "It's not," LeBlanc says. The man swipes again, revealing Mecha-Ghoulghilas, in all its glory. "And that's... the same one that was sighted in Tokyo. I'll handle this."

        Akane's phone begins to ring. Unidentified caller.

<Pose Tracker> Akane Shinjo has posed.

Akane sees that there's some degree of activity -- which is fine with her, of course. Expected, even. And she does have access to BioNet's usual comms frequencies... maybe she should explain herself.

Akane pulls out an extremely cute phone shaped like a floppy little lizard. It turns out even here there's no need to make the first move; it starts ringing when she has the thought, conveniently enough. Stretching out on the rooftop, she answers the call from LeBlanc without any particular urgency in her movements.

"Hi! I'm guessing you're wondering what's up outside," she starts, tapping the button that puts the call on speaker. "It's pretty straightforward. I want a fight with Gridman and you're going to help out! I mean, I'd settle for another Vessel of Light like that Evoluder or an Ultraman, but -- you know. We've all got priority targets." That's how BioNet interactions tend to go, right? Mutual hostage-taking?

It is, at least, how she understands the dynamic herself.

Mecha-Ghoulghilas, of course, has already begun rampaging a bit -- though it's slow-walking its violence a bit, saving its energy for Gridman. It's kicked over a couple of small buildings -- to make its point, no doubt -- but what Akane wants is a duel, and you can't well have a duel with no opponents.

<Pose Tracker> Liam 7-020 has posed.


        'Hi! I'm guessing you're wondering what's up outside.'

        "Mm-hm," says LeBlanc. The ground keeps shaking, and she holds on to a railing as she emerges from the dark site just beyond the actual biomedical manufacturing floor. She is not, notably, holding a phone--but she does gesture with a very stylish, metal-studded glove as she walks. (The man in the suit walks behind her. "Whose is it?!" he demands.)

        "Patching you through, DS Control." LeBlanc has an accent that is somewhat noteworthy: not AEU French, but North Britannian French. A rare beast indeed. "I'm sorry, young lady. You said something about helping you fight 'Gridman'? I don't believe we booked for that, did we, DS Control?"

<Pose Tracker> Yuta Hibiki has posed.

"I don't get it." Yuta agrees with Rikka. "And she's never repeated a kaiju this many times, either." He looks over to Rikka's phone, confusion on his face. "I guess it's been pretty effective, but still, it's weird, right? Why France... why any of this." He shakes his head. "I guess we won't find out unless we walk into her game."

Thank goodness for the Shuffle Alliance. There's no way they could've gotten Synchrotank there without their help -- Sayla in particular. For a moment, Yuta remembers seeing her go down in their last fight against Mecha-Ghoulghilas. He can't let anything like that happen again. Hands clench into fists when the train approaches their stop. Almost time...

Sooner than seems really feasible, they've arrived. The Synchrotank is here too, safe and sound -- all four members of the Neon Genesis Junior High students within. "Alright... I guess this is it. We've always done well against this thing with all of us together."

Gridman, from Junk's screen, nods. "Perhaps our bad luck will run in threes, and this will be the final time we have to battle this creature. Whenever you're ready, Yuta."

Yuta turns to Rikka, giving her a nod. "As always, be careful out there. I'm happy to have you with me, Rikka." Slipping off his hoodie and wristband, Yuta stands in front of Junk. The NGJHS assemble around him.

<Pose Tracker> Dr. Spartura has posed.


'Give me one moment'.

Dr. Spartura puts her phone on speaker, walking back towards the tube as they get looped in and reconnected. There's a voice - Spartura and Jiro exchange glances for a moment, before she purses her lips to her side.

She mutes the phone.

"I mean, is it?" Spartura asks.

"I thought we did it for the money," Jiro answers. In the background Niko is now sufficiently decanted to have their feet under them, though they immediately support themselves against the wall. The legs, heavily taped, do not support them well.

"I mean the money's like the superficial thing," Dr. Spartura answers. "Two truths. It's just a kind of guidestone because of capitalism."

"Aw man, we agreed we were gonna table capitalism," Jiro replies, before she clicks back on.

"Hi," Dr. Spartura says. "Yeah see there's a problem here which is, first of all, we're about nine days out from being able to even barely concieve of fighting anything like this so called 'Gridman' you're speaking of." In the background, Niko makes a fist.

"The second problem, which I'm going to raise before leaving it aside, is that this is completely unscheduled and I gotta say traditionally you at least say something nice at this point," Dr. Spartura continues, turning to look back out towards the exitway. "As my colleague here said, we don't have a booking. Now I understand sometimes you have emergencies -- hold on."

There has been a dull tattoo throughout most of the last paragraph as Niko banged on the wall. Their mouth contorts with a full-bodied shout punctuating each slam. 'LET' 'ME' 'OUT' 'I'LL' 'KILL' 'YOU' and so on.

"Look, I can get you early October if you need to kill Gridman," Dr. Spartura says. "That's our minimum plus flex time. Hold on, someone's trying to talk to me." She turns around to mouth at the tube really big, 'WHAT?'

"I just saw the fab team run for the bunker," Jiro reports, "so you might wanna mention that to them. Without the fab team, we can't even hope to get High Tension up and running unless you wanna take it out one armed."

Niko is yelling wordlessly at Dr. Spartura. She stares at them.

"Hm," she muses. "Jiro, go lower the tube."

"This quick?" "Yeah."

Dr. Spartura gets back on the phone. "What are you fighting this guy for anyway?"

<Pose Tracker> Rikka Takarada has posed.

Rikka nods. Her train of thought on this situation lines up pretty well with Yuta's.

"...Yeah." She agrees with a nod. "Maybe you'll get a chance to talk with her, too, and ask her why yourself... but either way, this is something we have to deal with. France probably has their own anti-kaiju countermeasures, but..."

...But for some reason, she feels like Akane is someone she needs to deal with herself. She wouldn't feel comfortable if she just let someone else do it. She considers her phone, briefly.

...If she's curious, she could always just try calling or texting her herself, but... she can't quite work up the courage.

Finally, they arrived - Synchrotank has been unloaded in the train and Rikka gets herself seated in the front.

"I hope the ride here wasn't too hard on you guys..." Rikka says apologetically to the NGJHS. And to Yuta, she nods.

"Yeah, you too - all of you. I'll be over as quickly as I can to provide support, but in the meantime, do what you can." She says.

She has a map of the city pulled up on her phone, hooked up to Synchrotank's console for navigation. ...She's never driven through these streets before, so she'll have to take it carefully. She's just a little jealous that Gridman has it so easy, comparably...

<Pose Tracker> Akane Shinjo has posed.

"I didn't think we were exactly the kind of partnership that works with bookings and stuff." Akane certainly wastes no time in escalating to direct, pointed demands; BioNet is full of contemptible people, after all, so why would they consider each other's feelings?

'We're about nine days out,' Dr. Spartura says, and Akane shrugs. "Whatever happens to you guys's stuff as a result of this is your problem, not mine! I'm guessing we've got Chasseur or 3G France en route -- plus, you know, Gridman, 'cuz he almost always shows up. At the very least we tend to see his buddies show up. ... kinda wonder what's taking him, though..." This is, after all, the furthest she's gone afield.

She receives a question, and she's happy to exposit. "I need a Vessel of Light dead so my stuff goes back where it's supposed to be!" It's... a simple -- almost childish -- answer. "Apparently Alexis has been giving you guys access to my kaiju for the better part of a year, so, you know, you should show a little gratitude. I mean, if you don't, that's fine too, but it's really more your funeral than mine at this point."

She glances down. ... that's a long way to fall, she reflects idly, as she sees ambulances and evacuation vehicles start to show up. "Hmmm. First responders are already here. Clock's ticking for you guys to decide how you wanna play this~"

<Pose Tracker> Liam 7-020 has posed.


        The floor of the sealed catwalk sways perilously beneath LeBlanc's feet. With each step Mecha-Ghoulghilas takes, the ground shudders. "Tell them to call it off!" shouts the besuited man, "This is a delicate operation--"

        On the factory floor below, a robotic packaging armature rips free of its gantry and lands on the conveyor below with a hideous SHRIEK-CRASH.

        "All right," LeBlanc says. She gets to the door at the end of the hallway, pulls up her glasses for a moment, and lets the retina scanner do its work. As it slides open, the faint scratchiness in her signal resolves.

        "Apologies," says LeBlanc, brightly, "but it sounds like you're taking some very important projects hostage so you can..." She trails off, and then starts to laugh, a giggle that builds up to a full-throated chuckle. "Mon Dieu, Dorothy, she's so precious. Listen, you must be so very new at this, so I'm going to tell you something very important. All right? Of course you keep a knife on you at all times--else you'd be an idiot. But you never, ever wave it around in public. Okay? Now. Alexis, Alexis..."

        "Oh. That Alexis. I've never so much as seen one of your Kaiju until... seven minutes and forty-two seconds ago? But your Alexis sent a young man out to recover my people's stolen property--a hot mess, yes, but one I'm attached to--and then vanished. You wouldn't happen to know anything abou that, would you, miss..."

<Pose Tracker> Yuta Hibiki has posed.

"No sweat." Borr says, to Rikka. Calibur just yawns. It seems they didn't mind the potentially bumpy ride much at all -- just how tough are these people? Max collects Yuta's hoodie and folds it neatly, while Vit types something on his phone. "Just a sec," he requests. "I'm arguing with a guy."

Yuta rolls his eyes a little, but waits until Vit puts his phone back into his suit pocket. "Alright, ready."

"Access... Flash!"

In a chorus of voices, Yuta and the NGJHS merge with Gridman. It feels different, this time, to Yuta. So much has changed since he last transformed. He's more confident in himself, and more determined than ever to save Akane's heart.

It's a little perilous dropping into a city in his Full-Powered form. Gridman has to carefully pick around buildings, moving delicately around street signs and parked cars, until he finds a courtyard big enough for him to take off in. He doesn't have to get too high into the air to see Mecha-Ghoulghilas. Vit's thrusters are strong enough to keep them aloft all the way there -- all Yuta can do is hope Rikka doesn't have too hard a time of navigating it.

"Mecha-Ghoulghilas again... What could her reasons be?" Max wonders, as they land between the kaiju and arriving emergency vehicles.

Gridman holds Calibur before him in a threatening stance. "Akane Shinjo! Call off your kaiju! We will not allow any harm to come to the of this city, or any other!"

"Prepare yourself." Calibur says, to his companions. Something about this whole situation is bothering him. Something feels... odd. Wrong. Different than the past few times they've fought Mecha-Ghoulghilas. "I don't have a good feeling."

<Pose Tracker> Dr. Spartura has posed.


Akane reports things on speaker phone. Dr. Spartura doesn't respond.

"Aw man," Jiro says, "3G! Or Chasseur, or both. We oughta cut bait, Doc, get the controller units in the PN and blow the rest of it." He operates the console, meanwhile. The tube containing Niko turns and begins to lower.

"A Vessel of Light, huh," Dr. Spartura says. She's frowning, but in thought.

The tube lowers enough to let sound leak out.

"ally! You're seeing sense! Plug me in! I'll rip that ugly thing to shreds! Thunder will kill it, lightning will fry the remains! I'm not going to sit around here and wait!"

"Listen here, kid," Jiro tells Niko, "that's the propanofol talking. You ought to take it easy and let the glue set. We ain't even put the last sets of connectors in, and you were getting rebuilt not--"

"SHUT UP YOU TIN CAN SHIT OF A CONDESCENDING PRICK!" Niko shouts at him.

Jiro frowns. He looks towards Dr. Spartura, perhaps mildly wounded. Back towards Niko. "I ain't saying you made any kind of mistake, but you gotta"

"I GOTTA KILL THAT THING!" Niko shouts. "The Vessel of Light! I'll kill it!! Whatever!! On the house!!"

Jiro looks back to Dr. Spartura.

Dr. Spartura gets a text:

> kid's lost their shit
> we got a brain bleed you think?

Spartura looks at her phone and mutes the mic.

She turns on her heel.

"Niko!" Dr. Spartura says.

"Your surgeries aren't complete. You haven't recovered. In particular, your spine was opened and sealed back up beneath your lower vertebra-- just now. Not an hour ago, I was operating on your body. But!"

"It's possible to use these surgical wounds to establish a direct connection into High Tension... but it will have a price." She raises her head upwards. "You're going to lose function... I'd give it seven out of ten you'll lose *all* neural function in your legs. You'll either have to live with that or you'll need to get prosthetics with a cybernetic mount. No take-backs! Not for people like us! And what is more - High Tension isn't complete. We don't have the left arm! There's a mounting cover over the interface, but your battle potential's going to be limited. And finally,"

"I could die!?" Niko says, spitting on the ground.

Jiro chortles. Dorothy smiles.

"Oh," she says, raising her head, "that part went without saying, I was going to say that it's not impossible you'll have feedback if you do your full potential power flow. It could cause brain injury."

"Do you think I care about my brain!?"

This is enough to make Niko falter - their head of steam dissipated, or perhaps the statement simply too absurd.

Dr. Spartura doesn't laugh. She keeps smiling.

"As your physician I wouldn't recommend it. But I'm not just a physician," Dr. Spartura says, bringing her hands together with a clap of flesh on metal. "Knowing all of this, Niko - also know that we can take you with us and pick things up elsewhere. It's a setback, but not the end of the road. If you take the path you're calling for, though..."

"Why, if you fulfill your dream, you'd become something other than what you are now, wouldn't you? In the right circumstance, they might think you're a hero. Something other than mortal."

"What do you say?"

Niko's head lolls forwards, greasy black hair hanging in their face. There is silence... long enough for the air to shift, subtle, at the arrival of Gridman.

Niko raises their head, one amber eye shining through the lank hair. "Do it!!"

Dr. Spartura whirls on her heel and clicks off mute. "Be right there," she reports, before hanging up the phone.

<Pose Tracker> Akane Shinjo has posed.

"Hmm. Yeah, that's about the long and short of it," Akane agrees with LeBlanc at the idea of taking projects hostage. "And -- hm. Honestly, it's worked out really well for me so far!" The knife thing, she means.

Mecha-Ghoulghilas blasts a hole in a warehouse; it's starting to get agitated at the lack of response. (Akane is, too, a bit. She remembers it taking a little extra time on their trip to the mountains, but this is a whole other matter -- she's had to wait a lot, this time.)

"Shinjo," she says -- and then she thinks to add, "Oh, uh, no relation to Ken? The second character is 'article,' not 'level.'" It's important she stands on her own here! "Kinda working on no relation to anyone, actually!" She still has time for wordplay, evidently.

Bringing her free hand to her face and tapping just below her mouth with a finger, she asks, "Oh -- do you mean Anti? Yeah, Alexis is actually cleaning up that mess right now! Anti couldn't cut it. Actually, he's not onsides with you guys, if he's even alive, so you might wanna review how much you told him and plan accordingly. Oh, by the way, I'm pretty sure I met your boy and he's feeling confident enough that he didn't take my help before I was working with you guys, so you have a ton of work ahead of you!" She just really does not care what projects she upends here, huh.

Gridman arrives, conveniently enough. "Sounds like it's go time for you guys! I know what I'm planning -- up to you how you want to play this~" She hangs up, leaving Crucible and Dorothy Spartura to their own devices, for a given value of 'their,' 'own,' and 'devices.'

She finally stands up. "Today's the day I defeat you, Gridman!" she says, sweeping an arm forward. "And... hm. Where are the rest of you, actually? I was expecting a bigger response!"

... was it as simple as picking a better spot? Did she not need to involve the rest of BioNet after all?

Problems for later. Mecha-Ghoulghilas rounds on Gridman, ready to go.

<Pose Tracker> Liam 7-020 has posed.


        LeBlanc pinches her thumb and pinky together, temporarily muting her mic to hear the commotion in DS Control. My, she thinks, they got a live one in there. Or maybe it is the propanofol. "Bunker access is still this way, correct?" she says, and the suited man nods, rushes forwards, and kneels to unlock another retinal scanner. "You made sure to leave the back door open, correct?"

        "If that thing hasn't smashed it to pieces," the man says. The door slides open. The two step into the elevator.

        LeBlanc unmutes her mic. Fresh images light up the inner surfaces of her glasses as the lift starts to descend--as Akane explains herself. "Ken Shinjo," she says, thoughtfully. "Ken Shinjo." A significant name; she prods at it a little, just to see if anything else falls out. "How well do you know Alexis, Akane? If he's selling your kaiju without your knowledge, and allowing your assets to be compromised..."

        "...Actually," and here the static starts to creep back in. "I think that's enough advice for one day, don't you? I think that's--ah! Have a good time, Akane!"

        The call ends. LeBlanc reclines against the elevator wall. "My God, imagine being that young and stupid and having kaiju," she says.

        "She's not calling it off," says the suited man.

        "Of course she's not," LeBlanc says. "Which means we buckle down and sneak out the back as soon as this clusterfuck is over.

        Doctor Jacket will not be pleased, but the only asset on-site right now is Spartura's. If LeBlanc knows Dorothy, she might just go for it, which is better than nothing. Will she?

<Pose Tracker> Dr. Spartura has posed.


IN THE COCKPIT OF THE "HIGH TENSION," the phone has been set to speaker and put on a convenient nook. The cockpit itself is at a 90 degree angle, which is helping. Dr. Spartura's hand, after a fresh dunk in a disinfectant bath, is threading things together with subtle hissings.

"Does that hurt?" she asks Niko.

"... I mean yeah it hurts, like, hugely," they answer.

"Good!" she answers.

Niko breathes steadily, not showing the pain. "... Who's THAT prick?" they ask Jiro, who is currently serving as the operating mount.
%"The guy? That's Alexis Kerib," Jiro says. "Did a job for him once. Paid in gold. Didn't think he was that bad."

"What about the girl?"

"Akane Shinjo," Jiro explains. "Involved in some of that shit on ZAFT if you've been keeping up with the news."

"What's a Zaft?" Niko asks.

"Don't worry about it."

"She augged?"

"Not to my knowledge," Jiro says. "Might have a controller chip or something, but I doubt it."

Niko giggles in the back of their throat. "Alright, lay 'em down and go start up Platty," Dr. Spartura says. "Niko, I'm gonna have to strap you in here. We're gonna be in an aircraft but it's not armed. I can't make any promises."

"Whatever," says a dizzy teenager. A few connections later and a thrum of an outsized reactor being warmed up, and they begin to become a god.

-=-=-=-

"You good back there?" Jiro says as the comm interlink with the fluid tank behind his own seat clicked on without external transmission.

"Hold on, let me tighten up the mask - okay, go!"

The fluid tank was essentially a gel seat with a pressurized breathing mask. There was barely enough room to spread your arms. Dr. Spartura, having left her belt and lab coat outside, fit neatly inside of it - it was not her first time there. Her phone tucked into a fluidproof space, she settled back and ignored the peristaltic sounds of the shock fluid filling the space. The screens on the wall wiggled with distortion until everything got into its right place. She docked her right hand into the usual port spaces; it was easier that way, now.

"This is pretty hairy, I'm not going to lie," Jiro says as engines whine and the stripped-down custom job pivoted around, rising on a column of Minovsky exhaust and making towards the front exit. Clear of the hangar, it rose, immediately banking left to get out of the immediate line of sight of the kaiju or the Gridman. "You think the kid's gonna make it?"

"They chose their destiny, man... Do you want to know the real truth?"

"Obviously," Jiro says, looking over his shoulder towards the kaiju and dipping down to once and for all break line of sight.

"EEeiaaahahahahaah!!! I'm just looking forward to seeing what happens!!"

-=-=-=-=-

And out of a clear blue sky, a sudden and enormous bolt of lightning arcs downwards, blasting a hole six meters in diameter in the roof of the factory, twisting downwards as it reduces structural metal meant to guard against the elements and not this sort of onslaught. The doors of the hangar scream, burn, spark, and melt asunder.

A one-armed thing, perhaps once a Mobile Suit - its head covered in a rounded coating, covered in bare and carbon-streaked metal as it crackles with lightning, missing an arm but not lacking for determination - strides out of the wreckage, twenty-three meters tall.

"Come on, then!! I'll kill all of you!!" howls its pilot. It brings its arm back - there's a CRACK of stray electric discharge, a stench of ozone, and it hurls itself towards the foe!

<Pose Tracker> Akane Shinjo has posed.

"Like I said -- no relation! Different kanji," Akane answers. Evidently, nothing else is falling out of that one.

Things start to go... more or less the way Akane wants them? Or maybe it's... well, at least it's not not the way Akane wants them. There's certainly BioNet assets peeling out of hangars, people moving -- she'll have some kind of backup.

Then a bolt of lightning flies off in a random direction and Akane reflexively moves away from it. Unfortunately, due to the angle she's at relative to the action, the only place for her to dodge that electric discharge is --

Oh. She's falling.

It happens before she even has time to process that it's happening. Mecha-Ghoulghilas, of course, is no help.

Kaiju can't consider others.

Akane does feel her body starting to reflexively right itself, but... well, she's falling directly toward that ex-MS at speed, now.

<Pose Tracker> Yuta Hibiki has posed.

Akane is shouting. It's the usual stuff -- it barely registers to any of the assembled Full-Powered Gridman members, really.

"Our allies will be here as soon as they can! I'm sure of it!" Yuta calls back, though he sounds a bit nervous. Usually there'd already be people ready to fight alongside him by this point, but -- they must be coming. If nothing else, Rikka will be here soon.

Gridman readies an attack for the kaiju, but -- a bolt, out of the blue! His free arm lifts to cover his eyes, mostly for Yuta's sake. "What the hell is THAT?" Yuta shouts, once the afterimages clear from his vision. It's clearly not an ally, the way it's screaming, though it does remind Yuta of...

"Hey, Calibur, that's not the kaiju kid, right?" Borr asks.

"No." Calibur replies, simply. No other insights are offered.

It's scary, whatever it is. And there must be a human in there, Yuta realizes, his heart sinking. Who would send a machine out to battle in this condition? It doesn't even have both arms. Pity wells up in the young man, but he shakes it away. He couldn't afford to be distracted in a fight like this! Mecha-Ghoulghilas is fierce enough when he's fighting with a group, and they have no idea what this lightning thing is capable of.

One moment, Gridman is preparing to dodge around the new enemy's attack. A heartbeat passes, and then --

Akane is falling.

It isn't a question. It isn't a decision. It's simply what happens -- what has to happen. Yuta's body moves on its own the moment he sees her in danger. Calibur drops to the ground as he reaches out for Akane with both hands. Everything he has goes into this -- Vit's thrusters activating, Max's armor groaning as Yuta moves faster than he thought he could. "Akane!" He calls, for the first time.

Cradling Akane in both hands, Yuta breathes out in relief. Falling into his metal hands must've hurt, though. Worry spikes his heart rate. Would she be okay, after something like that?

"Akane -- are you alright? Can you hear me?" Yuta's voice is frantic. "I've got to get you to -- AHH!"

Niko's strike hits Gridman square in the back, lightning flowing through the Giant of Light's form. It hurts, so much -- Yuta can't think of anything but how much it hurts. Still, his hands curl in toward his chest, protecting Akane from the impact. The cries of his companions accompany his own.

When he can breathe again, Yuta hunches his shoulders. It'll hopefully provide a bit more armor for his head and chest, protecting himself and Akane from whatever was to follow. "A--Akane. Rikka will be here soon. I'll get you to Synchrotank. You'll be safe there." Keeping his back toward his enemies, and his form curled around the tiny girl in his hands, Yuta looks frantically for any sign of Rikka approaching.

<Pose Tracker> Rikka Takarada has posed.

Moving through the streets isn't easy - she has to make room for those coming and going from the scene. Rikka doesn't want to get in the way of the evacuation efforts. But, eventually, she arrives on the scene...

...Just as all hell begins to break loose. A bolt of lightning blasts the roof of a factory - it's a machine, but not Mecha-Ghoulghilas. Not a kaiju, either... There's another enemy?

In the distance, though, Rikka sees something beginning to fall. Her eyes are torn away from the mobile suit. Synchrotank's camera's zoom in... and Rikka lets out a horrified, strangled gasp as she sees Akane beginning to fall.

She can't do anything - Synchrotank isn't fast enough to make it in time. Is watching all she can do...? She can't do anything...

...But Gridman can. Gridman accelerates through the air, catching Akane and taking a bolt of lightning for his trouble. Rikka shuts her eyes tight and sinks into her seat, relieved, whispering a silent prayer. It feels a little ironic, praying for the safety of a god.

"I-I... I'm right here!" Rikka says, quickly regaining her composure. "I'll meet you half-way!"

Synchrotank pushes forward... but will things really be so easy...?

<Pose Tracker> Akane Shinjo has posed.

Akane's momentum arrests early -- so much so that she hits the hand with a thud, her effort to right her positioning interrupted by kindness. She staggers back to her feet inside Gridman's hand, as Mecha-Ghoulghilas starts to reposition to face both -- no, all of them.

She looks down, a little dazed. Looks up. "Hhhh...huh? Y -- you have got to be kidding me --"

The unasked-for help is humiliating. It's a good thing Akane doesn't eat, because she feels like she's about to throw up.

She thinks back to their trip to the mountains -- to falling out of her raft, and being gently pulled back in by the rest of the class.

It feels worse the second time.

"Why would you even do that? I wasn't even going to get hurt -- I'm supposed to be your enemy, Hibiki." It's a far cry from the casual indifference, the shouting -- all these things fall away into a yawning pit of guilt. "I don't -- I don't need your help! I have my kaiju! I made my choice!"

Her hands ball up into fists, and now she does start shouting, if at strain. She can feel Gridman rocking from shots from the smaller mobile weapon -- and she doesn't care. "The only thing I care about -- the only thing -- is putting my city back where it belongs, and the only way I can do that is by defeating Gridman! So if you care about me --" Here, she hops out of Gridman's hand, toward the building; a god isn't in any real danger of falling, especially not in such a controlled fall.

"Just stop! Just -- let me defeat you!!"

As one hand slides against the side of the building the rest of the way down, the other holds up her phone -- the one she uses to talk to Alexis, not everyone else. "Alexis!! Give me as many of my old kaiju as you can!" Specifically old; she doesn't want to blow any new resources on a situation that's already falling apart.

Alexis is perfectly happy to do that one, nevertheless. "Of course. Instance Abreaction!"

One by one, familiar kaiju start to appear in the landscape -- and Akane has hit the ground, kitten heels first, and started to book it -- away from Gridman, away from Rikka.