Casting her lot in and descending into the darkness, Mary was left in the mildly stressful position of standing by on the edge of danger, with the protection allies being her only real tools to hand. As it was, she stood back when the rebel girl announced that she could unlock the door, but even with the smaller woman's low stance and blunt mannerisms, she still might not have been expecting the girl to throw herself forward at the door with a growl and a series of heavy, solid impacts. In the poor light it would be hard to see exactly where she was striking the obstruction, even if one was looking carefully; Mary would be hard pressed to follow her pattern of brutal punches, save that they were directed all over the outer edges of the sealed door. The metal bent and protested, until her final motion saw the girl jump slightly and turn, driving the back of her heel into the centre of the door. This was followed by shrieking metal, sparking circuitry, and an unearthly crash as the entire bulkhead tore outwards, thundering into the room beyond.
The tiny bit of light that had filtered down from the drop shaft winked out suddenly as the passage into the other room was opened in such a permanent way, but it was replaced by filtered moonlight that seemed to shine down into the room beyond. As the debris cleared from the forced entry, Mary might be able to catch a glimpse of broad, reflective flooring beyond, in a wide room with a high ceiling. It was difficult to see much more about the room than that, especially with her eyes mostly closed; rather, some of her other senses might provide bits and pieces of information. Breaching the door had allowed a shift in the air, and opposed o the warm, heavy atmosphere of the small transitional space they were currently in, the sudden influx that shifted it was of cool, crisp air, with the faintest hints of fresh water and glass cleaner. The shift in the air might also make her more aware of how hot the burning sword of the man beside her was radiating, despite his otherwise patient stillness.
There were also figures further ahead on the room, but the details were had to catch in the moment. It was certainly a small cluster, at least, and there was movement. A voice rose over the crash of the door, faint from this distance but clearly shouted.
"What the— you, you, handle them! Boss'll be here any minute; I'll hold the girl, just deal with it!" As the words reached her ears, Mary would feel Kenmoete beside her go from implacable stillness to motion in an instant, dashing forward in a burst of speed into the room beyond, even before Uprising herself could go through. The rebel paused long enough to look back at Mary, hesitating at the woman's closed eyes again, but disregarding the worry.
"Come on, together if you're with us. Do what you can, every pair of hands matter!" She spun her banner in one hand then rushed through after the other navi, towards the voice.
If Mary followed into the room, she'd find that the hall itself was indeed grand and broad, with a high ceiling. The roof itself looked like glass, and it let in bright moonlight and stars, on a black sky. The columns scattered about the room, supporting it, also seemed to be made of glass, but it was frosted and opaque. The same frosting effect extended to the floor which also looked worrisomely like glass, but as she stepped onto it, Mary would find that her footing was solid and secure, and it didn't really feel as fragile as one might expect actual glass panelling to be.
More importantly, the figures in the room were a little easier to make out if Mary opted to peek some more; one of them, being restrained in some fashion, was almost certainly the woman she'd seen at the kissing booth earlier. There were several others that looked mostly like heel navis, but without looking properly it would be hard to gather any more details. What she could hear, however, was the sound of her two allies rushing forward to meet them with a very determined level of aggression, and the scuffling sounds of what would soon become combat.
The rest of the room was mostly symmetrical; it looked as though there were three other entry ways, similar to the one they'd come through, in each of the cardinal directions. the only one that she'd be able to get a ok at from her own entryway was the one opposite, which looked to be closed, but she would faintly be able to separate the sounds of more conflict to the right, apart from what was happening in the centre.
----
Elsewhere, it seemed that as much as Exorcist's sensually dressed companion had started off wanting to draw information from their attackers, she had now dismissed their usefulness in favour of wanting a proper interview with this unknown 'leader'; maybe she believed that they really didn't know any more, or perhaps she simply didn't care in light of having a bigger fish to fry, as it were. She maintained a demur calm as the thugs pressed close in on them and led them down the hidden stairway, and into a rectangular room, somewhere below ground level. The thugs wee mostly watching the two of them, but if she was paying particularly close attention to her surroundings, Exorcist might get the impression that there were more people in the room than it looked like. It was hard to say how or why exactly, but if she really focused on it, her eyes might catch any flicker ere or there, about the corners and edges of the room, or very slight visual distortion. the thugs leading them didn't seem to notice, focused as they were on making sure neither she, not Sanguine, attempted anything.
The leader stepped to he far end of the room and began fiddling with the dial in the centre of a complex-looking door. It stood out from the rest of the room as being out of place, compared to the drab walls and occasional dusty box or barrel. The matron watched him in silence, only occasionally cutting her eyes across to Exorcist. When he light in the middle went green, however, she drew a breath.
"I think that's far enough." Her voice sounded tauntingly bored and the leader turned back to her with a sneer; where the door went to close behind him, however, Exorcist, if she was watching might see it catch on something thin and invisible, unable to close completely or relock itself. The leader, unaware, stepped closer to her, but just as he opened his mouth to say something, and the other four brandished their weapons, a small ring of fire lit itself around the matron's feet, and around Exorcist as well is she was still holding onto the other woman, then flared up and blasted outwards, throwing the figures back. If exorcist herself had let go of the matron and not taken hold of her again before this happened, she'd end up thrown across the room as well, but an invisible pair of hands would catch her gently somewhere near the far wall.
One way or the other, however, the hands catching the other navis were less friendly; they had enough time for startle, panicked shouts before their voices were muffled and replaced by the spine-chilling sounds of sliding, slicing blades. Brief gurgles preceded individual bolts of light that pulled each of their five attackers from the net. Shortly after, the shadows shifted and dropped, revealing five other navis; one each for a target, and one holding a slim katana in the door, preventing it from closing.
One of them, meticulously wiping her blade clean, was the same girl that she had seen before, called Tera, who had apparently been Uprising's colleague. In the dim light, the pure black of her eyes was a slightly unnerving feature against the rest of her otherwise attractive form. The other navis included a well built man with distinctly electopian features, dressed in somewhat modernised feudal clothing with short black hair. Beside him, a slightly taller man with dark brown skin and shoulder-length black hair was wearing a light grey vest and simple trousers. Holding the door, the tallest of the newly revealed navis had short blond hair, and the strong, rugged features of a Sharoan man, while the one standing just next to Tera, who had already cleaned and sheathed his blade, wore his hair in a long black braid and seemed to have chose to dress himself in something approaching a formal business suit, that only make his already lanky, wiry frame seem even more so. Like Tera, the others all had pure, pitch black eyes without anything to distinguish or identify pupil, iris or sclera. Madama Sanguine inclined her head graciously, then glanced back the way they have come.
"Fuukouhan, does the sky remain open to us?" The hands holding Exorcist if she had been thrown back released smoothly, and a smaller woman stepped into sight from around her, or else from just by the bottom of the stairs, if she had remained safely with the matron. She had red hair, neatly pulled back behind her ears and reaching to her shoulders, and a balanced, womanly figure. She was wearing a simple red kimono, having apparently decided not to dress up for the theme of the faire. She bowed slightly to the matron, mostly with a deep incline of her head.
"It does. The door shut, but it's still active. It should open again if this one is closed, and it will remain connected as long as we don't damage either end of the hack, I think." Small flickers of flames danced and played at the ends of her fingers, and she bore no obvious weapon. Unlike the other navis that had appeared, Fuukouhan had normal eyes, blue in colour. Madama Sanguine nodded back to her, then glanced around at the others.
"You know, working around you silver moons was always tricky, but I have always admired your... efficiency. It seems life with the rebel suites you all. So..." Now her gaze turned to Exorcist after glancing briefly at the held door.
"It seems we have a choice on how to do this. Those petty thugs were taking us to a leader of sorts, and I would know what his intention is. How would you propose we approach the matter, my new friend?" As much as she probably had ideas of her own, the matron seemed genuinely interested in hearing Exorcist's thoughts on what to do next. The doorway in front was still unlocked, and it didn't seem like they'd given any sign of arriving to whatever lay beyond it; if they did indeed want to go meet this supposed mastermind, they hadn't announced themselves yet, and could make a plan if they wanted to.
----
Much closer than either of them probably expected, in another small hacked corridor of space, ResQ was debating their options with her own unexpected allies. Saija scoffed and shook her head at the mention of the shadow trick in the bar.
"Hah... no, Drisco isn't with them. He's just a showman and I'll bet he's very upset now that I've disappeared completely and left him behind." She waved a dismissive hand. "Don't worry about him, he's a business colleague of mine, and he's all show and intimidation and impressiveness, but he wouldn't ever actually try to hurt anyone. He talks big, but he's not cut-throat enough for that. He was just upset at having his efforts at getting into my knickers interrupted." She rolled her eyes briefly. "I mean, don't tell him I said it, but I was too, a little bit. I was considering it."
About that time, Rhinestone got back with the bad news about the door and the trio had to weigh up their other options. What it boiled down to in the end though, was that they needed to head forward. Rhinestone nodded with obvious reluctance, and walked with ResQ, though about a small half step behind her. He'd handled himself efficiently enough in combat, despite his obvious nerves, but s far all she'd seen from him was support and defensive skills. If he was indeed unoperated himself, it looked like most of his capabilities revolved around making sure he or his allies, stayed safe. Saija also hung back slightly, letting ResQ take the lead, and she shook her head at the other woman's compliment.
"I am a business woman, miss ResQ. I am not keen on thuggish armed conflict. I can defend myself, as any woman ought know how to, but I would rather avoid being seen in the first place, stay out of fights, and if I absolutely must, dispose of undesirable individuals cleanly and without violence. To be frank, I would normally simply jack out now, and write a very hostile email to Zennocracy about what happened here, but if a certain individual cannot do something like that so easily..." Her eyes darted across to Rhinestone. "I am not so heartless as to leave someone in danger for their life. If a fight happens, I'll help, but I'll help in my own way." That seemed to be about as much as she'd say on the topic, but that might possibly leave ResQ with the side question of how to convince the woman that participating in the mock battle, later, was actually a good idea. It seemed like a stretch at this point.
With nowhere else to go, the tree would be faced with stepping through the broken doorway, into the moonlit room beyond. They looked out into the same space that Mary was pretending she was blind to, nearby; glass ceiling with a moon and starlight filtering through, frosted glass columns and a reinforced glass flooring. A closer inspection of the floor would tell ResQ that while it looked like frosted glass, it was utterly solid and strong, perhaps to the grade of solid steel, and she wasn't at any risk of damaging it with any kind of heavy weight. The glass ceiling, by contrast, was likely just glass, or so it looked.
A short distance ahead of them, the leader of the goons that had attacked them was running towards what looked like another group of navis in the centre of the room. A quick glance made the room look like a cross shape, with a large square in the centre, and halls leading to similar-looking doorways on each side. The only door that ResQ would be able to see from her branch was still closed — although, if she was paying attention she might realise that the lock light in the centre of it was lit up green, rather than red. the cluster of navis in the centre of the room was hard to see clearly — there were several heel navis at least, and what might possibly be one woman, dressed in white, and apparently struggling.
----
As matters of conflict were coming to a head somewhere in the estate's underground, Bhikki was drawing things to a slightly more reluctant close on her end as well. Sort of, anyway. Hoodwink seemed to accept her 'maybe' as invitation to convince her later and hummed quietly to himself as he stepped back from her and appreciated a good look at the smaller woman with her hair down.
Soon though, it was time to get dressed again, and being the gentleman that he was, Hoodwink nodded politely and turned his back to Bhikki as she made efforts to get dressed. Being the rogue that he was, too, he made sure that doing this set him directly looking into one of the mirrors that still remained, so that he could continue to watch her dress uninterrupted. Once he's seen about as much as he was going to, the man stretched his arms out and snapped his fingers. The small pile of his clothing nearby dissolved as the same outfit reformed over his skin smoothly and with little to do. He turned back to Bhikki with a graceful twist, rolling the stem of the fig leaf between his fingers casually and grinning to her.
"Well then... shall we be off, like thieves in the night?" He moved to the wardrobe console and tapped it a few more times, shutting the interface down so that it seemed like they had never been there, then turned to begin strolling back towards the door with an entertained grin curling one side of his lips.
"We've a decent walk, but plenty of time. It suites me well; I get the benefit of wandering this extremely excessive mansion with a beautiful and talented woman by my side, and you, dear Bhikkhuni, get to think most carefully about the exact words your cryptic employer used when setting this task involving the centrepiece. It might prepare you for what is to come."
As long as the questionably motivated Buddhist followed in step with the rogue, he would begin leading her back through the lavish hallways of Zennocracy's seemingly empty mansion. Their footsteps were silent, muffled by the thick carpet, but it was hard to shake the feeling that, were they walking on something more solid, the sounds would echo through the halls. Hoodwink, at least, seemed confident that they weren't going to run into any servants or guards; he walked with a casual, relaxed pace through the middle of the passageways and walks that they crossed, and were he dressed in something classier and less roguish, one would be forgiven for thinking him the owner, rather than an intruder. As they walked, the hand on whatever side she chose to walk with him on reached across to play teasingly across the tops of her shoulders, or the nape of her neck, or sliding down to rub her back gently. It was the sort of touch that might be considered affectionate, but wouldn't be thought out of place in public except by the most determinedly prudish.
"While you think on that, perhaps you'd like to know a little more about this mansion and the people who work here? Or maybe something else?" Heading back, they passed over a walkway that was constructed of solid glass as it crossed over the higher reaches of what looked like a food preparation area, only not. It was laid out in what had to be aver inefficient manner, and one portion of the room below held seating, all facing the 'stage'. Performance cuisine at its finest, although, as with everywhere else, the room was empty for now.
Eventually, the pair arrived at an open hall, lined with several display cases holding maps, scrolls, or old-looking books along the walls, as well as a few cases in the centre, which formed pseudo aisles in between them. Some of the more prominently visible ones actually contained data constructs, rather than real-world analogues. These ones were labelled with small descriptive plaques that indicated them as technological relics, kept for posterity, of much older net spaces or design elements. Outdated architectural models, and even a few cases of broken or corrupted artefacts which, purportedly were all that had been salvaged from one of the earliest complete crashes and wipes of the estate's data space.
The room itself was decorated in red and purple, plush and velvet, with columns made of white marble at regular intervals along the wall and matching the podiums for the display cases. In the centre of the room, a space was cleared around a podium that had been left with its cover up, the glass case laid back. This one contained a silver crystal that glittered in the ambient light, resting on a small cushion to support it. It was shaped like a diamond prism, but from this distance it was completely opaque. Hoodwink stopped Bhikki just before either of them entered the room itself, resting a gently, but firm hand on her shoulder.
"So, how then would you like to approach this, Bhikki? Have you thought on what, precisely, was asked of you here? Cryptic values information and knowledge above all else; if he warned you that he was only telling you everything once, rest assured that the specifics will have been important to bear in mind. The game is yours; how would you like to do this?" He was still grinning to her as he spoke, and his eyes sparkled with enjoyment and delight at... something. The game they were playing, flirting with Bhikki herself, the prospective heist; it was her guess at this point.
A Many Layered Affair
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ResQ listened to her female ally, and shifted her weight from one foot to the other to cause her hips to rock once to the side. Though her body shifted slightly, her amber eyes remained fixed on SaijaTsun. "Hmm," she idly reacted to Saija's explanation of Drisco's affiliation and style. A faint grin appeared on her face at the mention of his intentions. "Regardless, my lips are sealed," she stated before she mimed "zipping" her mouth closed with the index finger and thumb of her right hand. She kept up the friendly-ish act, but didn't turn it up too high; Saija seemed to be one of those no-nonsense types. She could respect that.
It appeared her demeanor and questions didn't cause a bad response from her colleague, and further reinforced her opinion of Saija as a no-nonsense sort of Navi. In fact, the similarities between the two gave ResQ a partial feeling of comforting familiarity, paired with a lingering suspicion, like what a spy would feel upon realizing their acquaintance might also be a spy. However, Saija's reason for sticking around was too virtuous for ResQ's taste; if she could rid of Rhinestone without losing her mission objective, she'd seriously consider it, regardless of his usefulness in battle. "Fair enough," ResQ replied politely and continued into the star and moon-lit room ahead.
It appeared she'd stepped into either a massive greenhouse, or some temple to a god of glass. She didn't change her stride as she continued further in, but she took note of the sounds of her footfalls, they didn't seem to have the tell-tale ring or crackle of thin glass, the floor actually looked and felt quite solid. A look at the high ceilings also suggested some previously unavailable options were now on the table if needed. She gave a rare comment to her NetOp, this one actually held back on the sass a bit. [[i]"Have my position?"[/i]] [[i]"Never lost it; I have a solid fix, ANGEL ready for ingress at any time,"[/i]] Alex replied with a confident grin, he didn't slack off on keeping his Navi covered with readily-available air support. He didn't expect any thanks or affirmation of his dedication, so he wasn't at all surprised when he didn't get a response from his Navi. Still, little victory.
ResQ's eyes narrowed as she looked further into the square room ahead, which appeared to be the center hub of four corridors, and spotted what looked to be a myriad of Navis. "Looks like we might have another "someone in danger for their life," and the surviving mook will probably let the cat out of the bag if he gets through the door, though we'd likely get spotted anyway. I'd prefer to not wreck the place, any suggestions?" she asked, partially to not command the entire group, and partially to see if either of her two comrades had some additional tricks up their respective sleeves.
It appeared her demeanor and questions didn't cause a bad response from her colleague, and further reinforced her opinion of Saija as a no-nonsense sort of Navi. In fact, the similarities between the two gave ResQ a partial feeling of comforting familiarity, paired with a lingering suspicion, like what a spy would feel upon realizing their acquaintance might also be a spy. However, Saija's reason for sticking around was too virtuous for ResQ's taste; if she could rid of Rhinestone without losing her mission objective, she'd seriously consider it, regardless of his usefulness in battle. "Fair enough," ResQ replied politely and continued into the star and moon-lit room ahead.
It appeared she'd stepped into either a massive greenhouse, or some temple to a god of glass. She didn't change her stride as she continued further in, but she took note of the sounds of her footfalls, they didn't seem to have the tell-tale ring or crackle of thin glass, the floor actually looked and felt quite solid. A look at the high ceilings also suggested some previously unavailable options were now on the table if needed. She gave a rare comment to her NetOp, this one actually held back on the sass a bit. [[i]"Have my position?"[/i]] [[i]"Never lost it; I have a solid fix, ANGEL ready for ingress at any time,"[/i]] Alex replied with a confident grin, he didn't slack off on keeping his Navi covered with readily-available air support. He didn't expect any thanks or affirmation of his dedication, so he wasn't at all surprised when he didn't get a response from his Navi. Still, little victory.
ResQ's eyes narrowed as she looked further into the square room ahead, which appeared to be the center hub of four corridors, and spotted what looked to be a myriad of Navis. "Looks like we might have another "someone in danger for their life," and the surviving mook will probably let the cat out of the bag if he gets through the door, though we'd likely get spotted anyway. I'd prefer to not wreck the place, any suggestions?" she asked, partially to not command the entire group, and partially to see if either of her two comrades had some additional tricks up their respective sleeves.
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As Mary watched her compatriot crush the obstacle in front of them, she felt as though she ought to be pretty safe as long as she managed to stay on the right side of the battle... whichever side wasn't getting smashed like that door, that is. The moonlight behind the door confused her, until she remembered that she had entered through what looked like a solid surface that couldn't possibly hide any kind of passage. The rulebook was already out the window, so her expectations should have been open to some impossible moonlight already. From what little she could tell about the room, it was clear that the inside was designed for something more sophisticated (in someone's mind) than ripping doors off hinges.
Chaos erupted pretty quickly as the captors panicked and Uprising ordered her troops into battle, which apparently included Mary. That came as a surprise to her... she tried to picture herself charging into battle and failed to do so. The mental image of her breaking a bottle and threatening the enemies with broken glass like some sort of bar room brawler was laughable. If someone was injured, she could heal them, but she didn't think that either the revolutionary or the sword-wielder were in a lot of danger. She could go to the right and see if people there already needed healing, but she'd hate herself if Grace got hurt while she had her back turned.
"I'll need my robe back for access to my tools," Mary spoke to Burt, who had really not been paying much attention to her situation. With more of a pause than she would have preferred, he sent her back her original wardrobe; the habit and hood appeared, quickly replacing her party dress. Reaching into her belt, she pulled out two implements: an empty bottle and a small vial. The former was for a bluff and the latter was a preemptive measure. The nun lobbed the empty flask at one of the navis holding Grace hostage; it had no acid or anything dangerous inside, but rather, was an empty glass bottle that at most would shatter and scrape the navi. Right after, she swung her other arm, flinging the smaller holy water vial over toward Grace. Rather than flying as the other had, it would hold midair above the target and distribute some of her holy water, which might help Grace heal any wounds that were inflicted upon her in an attempt to dissuade the rescuers.
Of course, she could also become a second hostage if she wasn't careful... In the worst case, she might have to jack herself out (assuming it was possible to jack out in this strange locale), but she also prepared to evade any counterattacks. Her robe didn't make evasion easy, but it beat the pencil dress, at least.
*)Recovery subtype IV to Grace [5 HP heal per action until broken]
1) SP attack @ one of the kidnappers near Grace [10 damage, A accuracy]
2) Dodge
---------------------------------------------------------
Exorcist figured that, intuitively, the faint traces of movement she saw in the corners of the room must be Madame Sanguina's allies, given that she had the persistent feeling she'd been watched for a while and the HeelNavis didn't seem quite capable of that level of stealth. For a moment, she was worried she'd read the situation wrong, given that fire erupting from the ground seemed on course to immolate her with all of the effectiveness of fire-on-nature, but it turned out to be the madame's attack. However, having jumped away from the fire when it appeared, she was indeed blown back and towards the wall, being caught by some briefly unseen figure.
As various navis appeared, revealing themselves as allies, Exorcist ordinarily would have introduced herself and maybe tried to swap sword talk, given that some had interesting blades and that was a subject of enthusiasm for her. Instead, she stayed quiet, given that they were hurriedly speaking with their leader and it seemed she'd only cause a hassle if she interrupted. Plus, she didn't exactly understand the conversation to begin with... Eventually, the questions did turn back to her; she approached the group, feeling a little fish-out-of-water without her fellow disciples of Counterinfectualism with her and so outnumbered by the others. "Yes, we need to meet the leader. We should keep in mind it's likely he can simply jack out if he feels the situation is too volatile. We should approach him in a way that makes him think he still has the upper hand, so that he can't simply flee, taking information and possibly hostages with him..."
She pressed one hand to her chin thoughtfully, then cast her eyes around at the navis who had only just appeared. "I'm thinking it could make sense for me to go in first. Those of you who can approach with invisibility could cover me. I believe the enemy knows to be cautious around most of you, but they don't know much about me yet, so they might underestimate me. I won't know exactly how to handle it until I see the situation inside, but that way, at least it won't turn into a fight as soon as we enter, and they probably won't flee right away if they think it's just me. That's assuming the leader is even behind that door..."
-------------------------------------------
Internally, Bhikkhuni begrudged her partner in crime for cheating by snapping all of his clothes back into place like that, but she was in her dress again and now that things were no longer scandalously nude, she felt comparatively sober. She appreciated her ally's flattery as they walked, but immediately bit her lip once he brought up the mission regarding the centerpiece. "Buh! I can't remember everything that guy said... 'Do try the lemon tarts, don't try the energy drinks...' Oh, wait..." she murmured. The creepy guy's words were suddenly coming back to her... He had mentioned that Zennocracy was expecting someone to come and steal the centerpiece. Where there was smoke, there was usually fire, which meant that there really ought to be someone other than herself trying to get the item. She hadn't seen anybody else besides her new friend since she came in... and for all her partner's knowledge of what CrypticMan had told them, he didn't seem particularly worried about bumping anyone else. Still... if he'd wanted to steal the centerpiece, it would have been far more advantageous for him to avoid her altogether while she was bumbling around early on. Her paranoid nature was making him seem suddenly dangerous, though. Was it possible she was only being kept around to take the fall?
She also thought to herself that he was pretty handsy, but she didn't really mind; the attention felt good. For now, she kept any protest to herself. "Does anyone even work here? I haven't seen anyone but the butler outside and you, and, supposedly, the mansion's owner I almost walked into. If you know of other guys I ought to know about, then yeah, let's talk about them," she requested, suddenly tilting her head back and forth to look for any of the aforementioned workers approaching. "And who are you to her, anyway? Zennocracy, I mean. You seem to know her mansion like the back of your hand," she asked, once again unable to shake the feeling she'd been kept in the dark about something very important.
Hopefully, he'd provide some satisfactory answers before they reached the next room. Most of the stuff in cases here didn't interest her much... who knew if old junk like this had any monetary value. Exorcist might like poring through dusty old texts, but Bhikkhuni preferred her own "street smarts." That said, there was one item in the room that caught her attention... she wouldn't be opposed at all to making off with the twinkling beauty near the center of the room, on display as though begging to be swiped. "You sound pretty fond of my employer, don't you? I guess you're kind of a shady guy too, huh?" she smirked, teasing him while also trying to work out what exactly the spooky bastard had asked her to do. She'd been confused about what the navi had said... that Zennocracy was planning for an attempted theft on the item but not for anything to be destroyed. As she watched the center of the room, squinting in concentration, she began to put together what she thought were the puzzle pieces.
"Well.. My employer said that she was expecting someone to try to steal her centerpiece but not to destroy or break anything. If there was a case around that thingy there, I'd have to smash the glass or something like that to break into it. She knew what the thief would want that gem there and left it uncovered so nothing would be broken.. but that means it's one of two things. One: she wants me or someone else to have it, which'd be weird. Or two... she has another way to protect it," she finished, turning her eyes back up to her partner. It felt weird theorizing with him like this, considering she was heavily considering that this immaculate gentleman might be a second guard that had been placed inside the mansion and was only toying with her. If he wrapped his arms around her, he could probably pick her up and throw her down the staircase if he wanted, or any other manner of disposing of her. She didn't have much weaponry and not a lot of combat training either.
For now, she shook her head and got that thought out of her mind, deciding to trust her partner a little further. "Do you think I'm right? And if so, do you know what's protecting it?" she asked, raising her eyebrow. She could easily imagine some invisible laser grid guarding it, or the diamond bursting open like one of those mimics that attack unfortunate shmucks out on the wilds of the net.
Chaos erupted pretty quickly as the captors panicked and Uprising ordered her troops into battle, which apparently included Mary. That came as a surprise to her... she tried to picture herself charging into battle and failed to do so. The mental image of her breaking a bottle and threatening the enemies with broken glass like some sort of bar room brawler was laughable. If someone was injured, she could heal them, but she didn't think that either the revolutionary or the sword-wielder were in a lot of danger. She could go to the right and see if people there already needed healing, but she'd hate herself if Grace got hurt while she had her back turned.
"I'll need my robe back for access to my tools," Mary spoke to Burt, who had really not been paying much attention to her situation. With more of a pause than she would have preferred, he sent her back her original wardrobe; the habit and hood appeared, quickly replacing her party dress. Reaching into her belt, she pulled out two implements: an empty bottle and a small vial. The former was for a bluff and the latter was a preemptive measure. The nun lobbed the empty flask at one of the navis holding Grace hostage; it had no acid or anything dangerous inside, but rather, was an empty glass bottle that at most would shatter and scrape the navi. Right after, she swung her other arm, flinging the smaller holy water vial over toward Grace. Rather than flying as the other had, it would hold midair above the target and distribute some of her holy water, which might help Grace heal any wounds that were inflicted upon her in an attempt to dissuade the rescuers.
Of course, she could also become a second hostage if she wasn't careful... In the worst case, she might have to jack herself out (assuming it was possible to jack out in this strange locale), but she also prepared to evade any counterattacks. Her robe didn't make evasion easy, but it beat the pencil dress, at least.
*)Recovery subtype IV to Grace [5 HP heal per action until broken]
1) SP attack @ one of the kidnappers near Grace [10 damage, A accuracy]
2) Dodge
---------------------------------------------------------
Exorcist figured that, intuitively, the faint traces of movement she saw in the corners of the room must be Madame Sanguina's allies, given that she had the persistent feeling she'd been watched for a while and the HeelNavis didn't seem quite capable of that level of stealth. For a moment, she was worried she'd read the situation wrong, given that fire erupting from the ground seemed on course to immolate her with all of the effectiveness of fire-on-nature, but it turned out to be the madame's attack. However, having jumped away from the fire when it appeared, she was indeed blown back and towards the wall, being caught by some briefly unseen figure.
As various navis appeared, revealing themselves as allies, Exorcist ordinarily would have introduced herself and maybe tried to swap sword talk, given that some had interesting blades and that was a subject of enthusiasm for her. Instead, she stayed quiet, given that they were hurriedly speaking with their leader and it seemed she'd only cause a hassle if she interrupted. Plus, she didn't exactly understand the conversation to begin with... Eventually, the questions did turn back to her; she approached the group, feeling a little fish-out-of-water without her fellow disciples of Counterinfectualism with her and so outnumbered by the others. "Yes, we need to meet the leader. We should keep in mind it's likely he can simply jack out if he feels the situation is too volatile. We should approach him in a way that makes him think he still has the upper hand, so that he can't simply flee, taking information and possibly hostages with him..."
She pressed one hand to her chin thoughtfully, then cast her eyes around at the navis who had only just appeared. "I'm thinking it could make sense for me to go in first. Those of you who can approach with invisibility could cover me. I believe the enemy knows to be cautious around most of you, but they don't know much about me yet, so they might underestimate me. I won't know exactly how to handle it until I see the situation inside, but that way, at least it won't turn into a fight as soon as we enter, and they probably won't flee right away if they think it's just me. That's assuming the leader is even behind that door..."
-------------------------------------------
Internally, Bhikkhuni begrudged her partner in crime for cheating by snapping all of his clothes back into place like that, but she was in her dress again and now that things were no longer scandalously nude, she felt comparatively sober. She appreciated her ally's flattery as they walked, but immediately bit her lip once he brought up the mission regarding the centerpiece. "Buh! I can't remember everything that guy said... 'Do try the lemon tarts, don't try the energy drinks...' Oh, wait..." she murmured. The creepy guy's words were suddenly coming back to her... He had mentioned that Zennocracy was expecting someone to come and steal the centerpiece. Where there was smoke, there was usually fire, which meant that there really ought to be someone other than herself trying to get the item. She hadn't seen anybody else besides her new friend since she came in... and for all her partner's knowledge of what CrypticMan had told them, he didn't seem particularly worried about bumping anyone else. Still... if he'd wanted to steal the centerpiece, it would have been far more advantageous for him to avoid her altogether while she was bumbling around early on. Her paranoid nature was making him seem suddenly dangerous, though. Was it possible she was only being kept around to take the fall?
She also thought to herself that he was pretty handsy, but she didn't really mind; the attention felt good. For now, she kept any protest to herself. "Does anyone even work here? I haven't seen anyone but the butler outside and you, and, supposedly, the mansion's owner I almost walked into. If you know of other guys I ought to know about, then yeah, let's talk about them," she requested, suddenly tilting her head back and forth to look for any of the aforementioned workers approaching. "And who are you to her, anyway? Zennocracy, I mean. You seem to know her mansion like the back of your hand," she asked, once again unable to shake the feeling she'd been kept in the dark about something very important.
Hopefully, he'd provide some satisfactory answers before they reached the next room. Most of the stuff in cases here didn't interest her much... who knew if old junk like this had any monetary value. Exorcist might like poring through dusty old texts, but Bhikkhuni preferred her own "street smarts." That said, there was one item in the room that caught her attention... she wouldn't be opposed at all to making off with the twinkling beauty near the center of the room, on display as though begging to be swiped. "You sound pretty fond of my employer, don't you? I guess you're kind of a shady guy too, huh?" she smirked, teasing him while also trying to work out what exactly the spooky bastard had asked her to do. She'd been confused about what the navi had said... that Zennocracy was planning for an attempted theft on the item but not for anything to be destroyed. As she watched the center of the room, squinting in concentration, she began to put together what she thought were the puzzle pieces.
"Well.. My employer said that she was expecting someone to try to steal her centerpiece but not to destroy or break anything. If there was a case around that thingy there, I'd have to smash the glass or something like that to break into it. She knew what the thief would want that gem there and left it uncovered so nothing would be broken.. but that means it's one of two things. One: she wants me or someone else to have it, which'd be weird. Or two... she has another way to protect it," she finished, turning her eyes back up to her partner. It felt weird theorizing with him like this, considering she was heavily considering that this immaculate gentleman might be a second guard that had been placed inside the mansion and was only toying with her. If he wrapped his arms around her, he could probably pick her up and throw her down the staircase if he wanted, or any other manner of disposing of her. She didn't have much weaponry and not a lot of combat training either.
For now, she shook her head and got that thought out of her mind, deciding to trust her partner a little further. "Do you think I'm right? And if so, do you know what's protecting it?" she asked, raising her eyebrow. She could easily imagine some invisible laser grid guarding it, or the diamond bursting open like one of those mimics that attack unfortunate shmucks out on the wilds of the net.
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Somewhere in a glassy chamber hidden on the Scottsdale estate, three groups of pieces were moving together on the complicated playing board that was Zennocracy's charity faire. As they converged, each in their own way, a lot of things began to happen at once. Mary was left to follow after her two aggressive companions, coming from the south.
Ahead of her, Uprising and Kenmoete ran forward towards the cluster of criminal navis holding Grace captive. One of the apparent leaders had taken a firmer hold of the white-clad woman and was pulling her backwards, towards the north, while the remained had started to move towards the Rebel and her swordsman companion. Mary was focused on grace, sending a dose of restoration her way while attempting to free her from the one holding her; it didn't do much, but it seemed to be enough to startle the leader. Grace managed to get an elbow in at an inconvenient angle for him, then followed with her heel as Mary's stray shot winged his shoulder. His grip broke and grace pulled free, beginning to move away from him to the left and trying to put some more space between herself and the hostiles in the room.
The other hostiles were not, in fact, paying her any more attention right at the moment; they were too preoccupied with the rebel girl sprinting at them; there was a shout rising from the small girl that came without any articulation of words, so much as a simple increasing cry. She planted one foot and kicked with the other, her banner spinning low in the same motion as she passed the heavy metal door she'd smashed out, and with a crack it became a projectile again, spinning and shearing forwards despite its weight, to slam into the chests of the first two and take them with it as it crashed into the far wall of the western side passage. It embedded into the wall panels and the two heelnavis dropped to the ground beneath it, barely moving.
Kenmoete hadn't slowed and in an intense silence that contrasted itself to uprising's volume, he slashed through the first attacker he reached, spinning neatly under the navi's own swing, to slice twice more with his blade. The third cut resulted in a bolt of light ejecting his opponent from the net.
It was at about that moment that the sounds of scuffling from the east came to a head, and another navi ran in holding a weapon of some kind back behind him, as though he was running from something or some one. He ran towards the one who had just lost his grip on Grace, and seemed about to say something, but the other one cut him off.
"What the devil is going on here? Can't any of you do a simple job? How are you all so useless? You're just bringing all their protectors right here! Handle this, now, before the boss gets here! You, you, those ones, you, get the girl and take her to the boss, quickly! You, where's the — Oh for pity's sake!! Why isn't he unconscious? Where are your team!? Stop him, now!!" The tirade and spew of additional orders stopped the newcomer for a moment, and, panicked, he turned back to the way he had come and readied a fresh weapon of some sort, while others of the remaining heels started to divert back towards Grace.
ResQ was seeing much the same transpire, but from a different angle. From her perspective, their quarry was fleeing towards the centre of the room, and the cluster of other villains there, but within moments of her stepping out onto the glass with Saija and Rhinestone, what looked very much like a massive metal plate door rocketed across their field of vision from the left, taking out two of the far heelnavis in the process, while the one holding the woman in white lost his grip and started shouting at the subvert boss they were chasing. Flustered, he turned back to them, bringing out a new weapon — this one looked less family friendly than the pillows disguised as clubs they'd all been using before. Rather, this one looked much more like an under-arm machine gun, in the traditional mobster's typewriter style with a round drum and a vented muzzle.
He sprayed it wildly back down the short side passage, and ResQ would have to conclude, in the brief moments she had, that he was aiming primarily at her; Saija had disappeared from sight again, and Rhinestone was taking up a more cautious position behind her. The agent's aim was wild and a harried with the machine gun, but the short side passage was slightly boxy and restricted his variation a little. The hail of fire ricochetted off the walls and floor all around her but two of the rounds made good on her position. One of them splashed against a series of crystalline hexes that fanned in front of her at the last moment, but the other winged her. Behind, she heard Rhinestone gasp softly, then muffle the sound as best he could through grit teeth.
It seemed as though the chain of command on this operation went higher than expected, too; in the moments that ResQ had spare while everything happened at once, snatches of the conversation she had overheard seemed to imply not only that the navi she was facing, who had been in command of the two they'd already knocked out, was taking orders from the one in the centre of all this, but also that even that navi was more concerned about the mess getting back to his own boss before they cleaned it up.
Opposite the side passage that ResQ and her allies were entering from, the closed door on the far passage, with the suspiciously green lock light opened subtly with seemingly no-one behind it at first. After a moment, though, a single figure would be visible through the doorway. She was far away, and there was a lot of scrap and melee between them, but ResQ might be able to identify the woman across the cross-shaped room from her as Exorcist, her original ally in all of this. She looked to be alone for a moment, but was then followed swiftly by another woman, dressed in red and showing a lot of skin, and two additional heelnavis holding weapons to the ready, as though moving them along under guard. Despite this, none of the heelnavis or higher up subvert agents seemed to have noticed the much quieter, calmer entry just yet.
For her part, Exorcist discussed matters briefly with her far more stealthy allies and devised a plan that she hoped wouldn't spook the leader into leaving before they could learn more. She wished to approach cautiously and without escalating the situation unduly, and the others around her seemed to be largely in agreement with this tactic. Madama Sanguine nodded along with her suggestion.
"Yes, I like the way you plan... Fuukouhan, perhaps you and one of our allies in this might disguise yourself, and lead the two of us in, as though we were still captives. The rest of you silver moons can go unseen as before, can you not?" There was a small collection of nods as they faded from sight once more, while Tera stepped forward and passed hands over her own face, and that of the lady apparently serving as the matron's personal body guard. In a moment, the two women resembled the leader and one one of his lackeys, a fairly accurate replica of the ones they had just ejected from the net a few moments before.
In front of Exorcist, the door carefully opened on its own as the now invisible members of her protection crew crept through ahead of them, leaving Exorcist and the matron to step through after, being moved along by their two 'captors' behind. What she would see first, however, was that a door not dissimilar to the one she was just walking through, had apparently been ripped wholesale from its hinges and locks, and embedded about four feet up in the wall on her left hand side. Two heelnavis were sprawled on the ground beneath it, in crumpled heaps and groaning to themselves weakly.
Further in, there was already a deal of fighting going on; apparently she had reunited with Uprising and Kenmoete, after they had gone to meet Mary about Grace... who was, as it turned out, not too far from her now, and backing slowly away from a couple of other navis who looked to be set on recapturing the sanctuary rep. Across the melee, ResQ was being shot at by an agent with a machine gun, and it looked like she was covering another navi, dressed in a very eye-catching outfit comprised mostly of clear faceted gemstones that glittered in the moonlight. She didn't catch any of the snatches of conversation or orders that the others might have heard, but it seemed as though ,like it or not, a fight was already in the process of breaking out, badly.
"So much for being subtle..." Madama Sanguine murmured under her breath alongside Exorcist. she had her arms folded and was taking in the scene quickly without moving. Behind them, Tera leaned forward and whispered; it was odd hearing the short girls voice coming from the much taller illusory disguise.
"What should we do?" She didn't sound worried at all, just serious and focused. No-one had noticed their group yet, and they had the best chance to act as they saw fit, compared to anyone else on the scene. One thing that might spring to Exorcist's mind, however, was that the goal of each of their attackers had initially been to kidnap the sanctuary reps and bring them down here... and, if the man in the glittery outfit was indeed the Rhinestone that ResQ had reported earlier, then all three of them were, in fact, now in this room.
-=Escalating Situations=-
-=Allies=-
West Hall
Exorcist.Exe [Has taken no damage and is under no status effects]
MadamaSanguine.Exe
Fuukouhan.Exe [Illusion: Disguised as HeelNavi]
Tera.SP [Illusion: Disguised as SubverBossC]
Chikara.SP [Invisible]
Ōishi.SP [Invisible]
Okano.SP [Invisible]
Yahei.SP [Invisible]
South Hall
Mary.Sp [Has taken no damage and is under no status effects]
Uprising.Exe
East Hall
ResQ.Exe [Has taken 30 damage and is under no status effects]
Rhinestone.Exe [Behind ResQ]
SaijaTsun.Exe [Invisible]
Central
CascadingGrace.Exe
KenmoeteMan.Exe
-=Hostiles=-
West Hall
SubvertAgent D [Prone and Critical]
SubvertAgent E [Prone and Critical]
East Hall
SubvertBoss A [Facing ResQ]
Central
SubvertAgent F [Near Grace]
SubvertAgent G [Near Grace]
SubvertAgent A [Near Kenmoete]
SubvertAgent B [Near Kenmoete]
SubvertAgent H [Near Centre]
SubvertAgent I [Near Centre]
SubvertAgent J [Near Centre]
SubvertBoss B [Centre]
SubvertBoss D [Centre]
-=Terrain=-
100% Reinforced Glass
Reinforced Glass acts in all ways like Glass terrain, except that it is as impregnable as if it were Metal terrain.
The room is a wide cross shape, with side halls in each direction about as large as the space made up by the central square.
-=Oddities=-
Spacial distortion: All signs indicate that everyone is still located on the Scottsdale Estate homepage, even though this area resembles no part of it and doesn't appear to be connected to it, except by the hacked connection passages — two out of three of which have been destroyed and cut off.
Combat Static: For whatever reason, combat routines are not functioning with full reliability here, and it doesn't appear possible to get a completely accurate reading on the condition or write protection of anyone, ally or enemy. Notes on player characters (detailing amount of damage taken or status effects) are for their own benefit, but aren't readily readable by even their own allies.
----
Elsewhere, Bhikkhuni was in far less immediate danger, chatting and theorising with her new friend as they walked the empty halls of Zenny's mansion. When she asked, Hoodwink seemed more than happy to chat back to his somewhat diminutive companion. The incidental affectionate touches teased as they went, but he never crossed any of the boundaries that would be improper in a public space, at least not now.
"Me? Well, straight to the heart of the questions, I see, Bhikkhuni. I'm no-one of any great consequence, but Zenny and I go back a ways. Business associates, you might say. She's got a lot of drive, but her focus is too narrow, really. For Zenny, it's all about capital, and her will disregards all else except as a measure of wealth gained or possessed. I'm more... flexible. For me, it's all about the pursuit itself." He winked across at her as he chatted and strolled, rubbing her back and shoulders with a spare hand while his other rested comfortable behind his back. Considering that Bhikki had asked about him, though, she might not be entirely satisfied with that part of his answer. Unfortunately, he moved along to her other questions quickly.
"For the rest, Zenny has a number of employees. About as many servants and retainers as you'd expect in a mansion of this size, in fact. They are all out at the faire, on leave, or attending to other matters, however. Tonight, the mansion itself is completely empty save for you, me, Zenny up in her office, and her personal retainer and enforcer." Hoodwink chuckled softly, taking a moment to squeeze Bhikki's shoulder and bend his head to place a quick kiss on the top of her head, against her hair. "I think PianoMan would be quite amused at hearing you describe him as a butler, but you aren't wrong, really. He's not actually the estate's head of staff, technically speaking, but he does have the greatest seniority and he very definitely stands outside of all of the other cogs and gears that run the service of an estate like this. He is a musician, first and foremost, or so he would like to say, but he serves as Zennocracy requires of him, and is easily the most dangerous single individual in her employ." Here, Hoodwink laughed again, a warm, rich sound this time, as though from some source of unspoken fondness.
"Don't get into a fight with him. He's a refined gentleman, to be sure, polite and formal in social situations... but he's savage, ruthless and horrifyingly efficient when it comes to, shall we say, cleaning up undesirable situations. So, in that sense, a butler for Zenny, yes, haha." their conversation had meandered on as they walked, and Bhikki was asking about CrypticMan, her own employer, by the time they reached the display room. Hoodwink cast her a sidelong glance with the corner of his mouth curling up while she put together what pieces of the puzzle that she had.
"I've done my share of cloak and dagger work. It would be pointless of me to pretend otherwise, don't you think? But CrytpicMan, your employer... He's more of a hands-off kind of person. At least for business. Up close he's even more hands-on than I am... He's the sort of person who is interested in information and data collection. If there's something he wants done, he'd rather set others to it, and observe how they fare, than to actually get his own hands dirty, unless it's one of his own personal projects." He went quiet again, letting Bhikki work out her plan and piece together what she knew and thought, his small grin growing slowly while she worked on the problem. At last he put his hands behind his head, leaning against he door frame with one foot up against it so he could look at her while he grinned.
"Well done, beautiful... you're clever to go with all that physical appeal. I'm impressed. Yes, Zenny is expecting someone to try and steal this piece. Yes, CrypticMan employed you to try and steal the piece. She's expecting that the would-be thief won't break anything, and Cryptic told you as much. The word we can underline, though, seems to be 'Try', wouldn't you say?" With a casual ease, he shifted to stand behind her now, resting his fingers on her shoulders, then trailing them down her back, and around her hips lightly. "And this whole situation does rather look and feel like a fairly obvious honey pot, doesn't it?" the fingers on her hips held a little more firmly as she felt his chest press against her back and shoulders again, even though they were both fully clothed this time. There was a sensation of lips brushing her ear.
"It looks rather like neither of them are actually intending for the thief to succeed. If I didn't know better, I'd say that the thief was being employed deliberately to be caught trying to steal it. Some might say it was unsporting not to tell the thief that." His lips nipped the top of her ear gently, then switched to the other side to keep whispering.
"The actual trap might be anything... some kind of lock-down, or even just PianoMan himself waiting to drop in an apprehend you. He'd be more than enough for any GNA-hired thief, after all. It might be anything at all, but I'd wager that it will be very close to fool-proof. Which leaves us still at the question... What would you like to do now, Bhikkhuni?" He'd given her some more information as well as supporting her theories with a certain amount of confirmation and corroboration... but it still seemed like Hoodwink was determined to leave the actual decision about what action to take in Bhikki's hands alone.
Ahead of her, Uprising and Kenmoete ran forward towards the cluster of criminal navis holding Grace captive. One of the apparent leaders had taken a firmer hold of the white-clad woman and was pulling her backwards, towards the north, while the remained had started to move towards the Rebel and her swordsman companion. Mary was focused on grace, sending a dose of restoration her way while attempting to free her from the one holding her; it didn't do much, but it seemed to be enough to startle the leader. Grace managed to get an elbow in at an inconvenient angle for him, then followed with her heel as Mary's stray shot winged his shoulder. His grip broke and grace pulled free, beginning to move away from him to the left and trying to put some more space between herself and the hostiles in the room.
The other hostiles were not, in fact, paying her any more attention right at the moment; they were too preoccupied with the rebel girl sprinting at them; there was a shout rising from the small girl that came without any articulation of words, so much as a simple increasing cry. She planted one foot and kicked with the other, her banner spinning low in the same motion as she passed the heavy metal door she'd smashed out, and with a crack it became a projectile again, spinning and shearing forwards despite its weight, to slam into the chests of the first two and take them with it as it crashed into the far wall of the western side passage. It embedded into the wall panels and the two heelnavis dropped to the ground beneath it, barely moving.
Kenmoete hadn't slowed and in an intense silence that contrasted itself to uprising's volume, he slashed through the first attacker he reached, spinning neatly under the navi's own swing, to slice twice more with his blade. The third cut resulted in a bolt of light ejecting his opponent from the net.
It was at about that moment that the sounds of scuffling from the east came to a head, and another navi ran in holding a weapon of some kind back behind him, as though he was running from something or some one. He ran towards the one who had just lost his grip on Grace, and seemed about to say something, but the other one cut him off.
"What the devil is going on here? Can't any of you do a simple job? How are you all so useless? You're just bringing all their protectors right here! Handle this, now, before the boss gets here! You, you, those ones, you, get the girl and take her to the boss, quickly! You, where's the — Oh for pity's sake!! Why isn't he unconscious? Where are your team!? Stop him, now!!" The tirade and spew of additional orders stopped the newcomer for a moment, and, panicked, he turned back to the way he had come and readied a fresh weapon of some sort, while others of the remaining heels started to divert back towards Grace.
ResQ was seeing much the same transpire, but from a different angle. From her perspective, their quarry was fleeing towards the centre of the room, and the cluster of other villains there, but within moments of her stepping out onto the glass with Saija and Rhinestone, what looked very much like a massive metal plate door rocketed across their field of vision from the left, taking out two of the far heelnavis in the process, while the one holding the woman in white lost his grip and started shouting at the subvert boss they were chasing. Flustered, he turned back to them, bringing out a new weapon — this one looked less family friendly than the pillows disguised as clubs they'd all been using before. Rather, this one looked much more like an under-arm machine gun, in the traditional mobster's typewriter style with a round drum and a vented muzzle.
He sprayed it wildly back down the short side passage, and ResQ would have to conclude, in the brief moments she had, that he was aiming primarily at her; Saija had disappeared from sight again, and Rhinestone was taking up a more cautious position behind her. The agent's aim was wild and a harried with the machine gun, but the short side passage was slightly boxy and restricted his variation a little. The hail of fire ricochetted off the walls and floor all around her but two of the rounds made good on her position. One of them splashed against a series of crystalline hexes that fanned in front of her at the last moment, but the other winged her. Behind, she heard Rhinestone gasp softly, then muffle the sound as best he could through grit teeth.
It seemed as though the chain of command on this operation went higher than expected, too; in the moments that ResQ had spare while everything happened at once, snatches of the conversation she had overheard seemed to imply not only that the navi she was facing, who had been in command of the two they'd already knocked out, was taking orders from the one in the centre of all this, but also that even that navi was more concerned about the mess getting back to his own boss before they cleaned it up.
Opposite the side passage that ResQ and her allies were entering from, the closed door on the far passage, with the suspiciously green lock light opened subtly with seemingly no-one behind it at first. After a moment, though, a single figure would be visible through the doorway. She was far away, and there was a lot of scrap and melee between them, but ResQ might be able to identify the woman across the cross-shaped room from her as Exorcist, her original ally in all of this. She looked to be alone for a moment, but was then followed swiftly by another woman, dressed in red and showing a lot of skin, and two additional heelnavis holding weapons to the ready, as though moving them along under guard. Despite this, none of the heelnavis or higher up subvert agents seemed to have noticed the much quieter, calmer entry just yet.
For her part, Exorcist discussed matters briefly with her far more stealthy allies and devised a plan that she hoped wouldn't spook the leader into leaving before they could learn more. She wished to approach cautiously and without escalating the situation unduly, and the others around her seemed to be largely in agreement with this tactic. Madama Sanguine nodded along with her suggestion.
"Yes, I like the way you plan... Fuukouhan, perhaps you and one of our allies in this might disguise yourself, and lead the two of us in, as though we were still captives. The rest of you silver moons can go unseen as before, can you not?" There was a small collection of nods as they faded from sight once more, while Tera stepped forward and passed hands over her own face, and that of the lady apparently serving as the matron's personal body guard. In a moment, the two women resembled the leader and one one of his lackeys, a fairly accurate replica of the ones they had just ejected from the net a few moments before.
In front of Exorcist, the door carefully opened on its own as the now invisible members of her protection crew crept through ahead of them, leaving Exorcist and the matron to step through after, being moved along by their two 'captors' behind. What she would see first, however, was that a door not dissimilar to the one she was just walking through, had apparently been ripped wholesale from its hinges and locks, and embedded about four feet up in the wall on her left hand side. Two heelnavis were sprawled on the ground beneath it, in crumpled heaps and groaning to themselves weakly.
Further in, there was already a deal of fighting going on; apparently she had reunited with Uprising and Kenmoete, after they had gone to meet Mary about Grace... who was, as it turned out, not too far from her now, and backing slowly away from a couple of other navis who looked to be set on recapturing the sanctuary rep. Across the melee, ResQ was being shot at by an agent with a machine gun, and it looked like she was covering another navi, dressed in a very eye-catching outfit comprised mostly of clear faceted gemstones that glittered in the moonlight. She didn't catch any of the snatches of conversation or orders that the others might have heard, but it seemed as though ,like it or not, a fight was already in the process of breaking out, badly.
"So much for being subtle..." Madama Sanguine murmured under her breath alongside Exorcist. she had her arms folded and was taking in the scene quickly without moving. Behind them, Tera leaned forward and whispered; it was odd hearing the short girls voice coming from the much taller illusory disguise.
"What should we do?" She didn't sound worried at all, just serious and focused. No-one had noticed their group yet, and they had the best chance to act as they saw fit, compared to anyone else on the scene. One thing that might spring to Exorcist's mind, however, was that the goal of each of their attackers had initially been to kidnap the sanctuary reps and bring them down here... and, if the man in the glittery outfit was indeed the Rhinestone that ResQ had reported earlier, then all three of them were, in fact, now in this room.
-=Escalating Situations=-
-=Allies=-
West Hall
Exorcist.Exe [Has taken no damage and is under no status effects]
MadamaSanguine.Exe
Fuukouhan.Exe [Illusion: Disguised as HeelNavi]
Tera.SP [Illusion: Disguised as SubverBossC]
Chikara.SP [Invisible]
Ōishi.SP [Invisible]
Okano.SP [Invisible]
Yahei.SP [Invisible]
South Hall
Mary.Sp [Has taken no damage and is under no status effects]
Uprising.Exe
East Hall
ResQ.Exe [Has taken 30 damage and is under no status effects]
Rhinestone.Exe [Behind ResQ]
SaijaTsun.Exe [Invisible]
Central
CascadingGrace.Exe
KenmoeteMan.Exe
-=Hostiles=-
West Hall
SubvertAgent D [Prone and Critical]
SubvertAgent E [Prone and Critical]
East Hall
SubvertBoss A [Facing ResQ]
Central
SubvertAgent F [Near Grace]
SubvertAgent G [Near Grace]
SubvertAgent A [Near Kenmoete]
SubvertAgent B [Near Kenmoete]
SubvertAgent H [Near Centre]
SubvertAgent I [Near Centre]
SubvertAgent J [Near Centre]
SubvertBoss B [Centre]
SubvertBoss D [Centre]
-=Terrain=-
100% Reinforced Glass
Reinforced Glass acts in all ways like Glass terrain, except that it is as impregnable as if it were Metal terrain.
The room is a wide cross shape, with side halls in each direction about as large as the space made up by the central square.
-=Oddities=-
Spacial distortion: All signs indicate that everyone is still located on the Scottsdale Estate homepage, even though this area resembles no part of it and doesn't appear to be connected to it, except by the hacked connection passages — two out of three of which have been destroyed and cut off.
Combat Static: For whatever reason, combat routines are not functioning with full reliability here, and it doesn't appear possible to get a completely accurate reading on the condition or write protection of anyone, ally or enemy. Notes on player characters (detailing amount of damage taken or status effects) are for their own benefit, but aren't readily readable by even their own allies.
----
Elsewhere, Bhikkhuni was in far less immediate danger, chatting and theorising with her new friend as they walked the empty halls of Zenny's mansion. When she asked, Hoodwink seemed more than happy to chat back to his somewhat diminutive companion. The incidental affectionate touches teased as they went, but he never crossed any of the boundaries that would be improper in a public space, at least not now.
"Me? Well, straight to the heart of the questions, I see, Bhikkhuni. I'm no-one of any great consequence, but Zenny and I go back a ways. Business associates, you might say. She's got a lot of drive, but her focus is too narrow, really. For Zenny, it's all about capital, and her will disregards all else except as a measure of wealth gained or possessed. I'm more... flexible. For me, it's all about the pursuit itself." He winked across at her as he chatted and strolled, rubbing her back and shoulders with a spare hand while his other rested comfortable behind his back. Considering that Bhikki had asked about him, though, she might not be entirely satisfied with that part of his answer. Unfortunately, he moved along to her other questions quickly.
"For the rest, Zenny has a number of employees. About as many servants and retainers as you'd expect in a mansion of this size, in fact. They are all out at the faire, on leave, or attending to other matters, however. Tonight, the mansion itself is completely empty save for you, me, Zenny up in her office, and her personal retainer and enforcer." Hoodwink chuckled softly, taking a moment to squeeze Bhikki's shoulder and bend his head to place a quick kiss on the top of her head, against her hair. "I think PianoMan would be quite amused at hearing you describe him as a butler, but you aren't wrong, really. He's not actually the estate's head of staff, technically speaking, but he does have the greatest seniority and he very definitely stands outside of all of the other cogs and gears that run the service of an estate like this. He is a musician, first and foremost, or so he would like to say, but he serves as Zennocracy requires of him, and is easily the most dangerous single individual in her employ." Here, Hoodwink laughed again, a warm, rich sound this time, as though from some source of unspoken fondness.
"Don't get into a fight with him. He's a refined gentleman, to be sure, polite and formal in social situations... but he's savage, ruthless and horrifyingly efficient when it comes to, shall we say, cleaning up undesirable situations. So, in that sense, a butler for Zenny, yes, haha." their conversation had meandered on as they walked, and Bhikki was asking about CrypticMan, her own employer, by the time they reached the display room. Hoodwink cast her a sidelong glance with the corner of his mouth curling up while she put together what pieces of the puzzle that she had.
"I've done my share of cloak and dagger work. It would be pointless of me to pretend otherwise, don't you think? But CrytpicMan, your employer... He's more of a hands-off kind of person. At least for business. Up close he's even more hands-on than I am... He's the sort of person who is interested in information and data collection. If there's something he wants done, he'd rather set others to it, and observe how they fare, than to actually get his own hands dirty, unless it's one of his own personal projects." He went quiet again, letting Bhikki work out her plan and piece together what she knew and thought, his small grin growing slowly while she worked on the problem. At last he put his hands behind his head, leaning against he door frame with one foot up against it so he could look at her while he grinned.
"Well done, beautiful... you're clever to go with all that physical appeal. I'm impressed. Yes, Zenny is expecting someone to try and steal this piece. Yes, CrypticMan employed you to try and steal the piece. She's expecting that the would-be thief won't break anything, and Cryptic told you as much. The word we can underline, though, seems to be 'Try', wouldn't you say?" With a casual ease, he shifted to stand behind her now, resting his fingers on her shoulders, then trailing them down her back, and around her hips lightly. "And this whole situation does rather look and feel like a fairly obvious honey pot, doesn't it?" the fingers on her hips held a little more firmly as she felt his chest press against her back and shoulders again, even though they were both fully clothed this time. There was a sensation of lips brushing her ear.
"It looks rather like neither of them are actually intending for the thief to succeed. If I didn't know better, I'd say that the thief was being employed deliberately to be caught trying to steal it. Some might say it was unsporting not to tell the thief that." His lips nipped the top of her ear gently, then switched to the other side to keep whispering.
"The actual trap might be anything... some kind of lock-down, or even just PianoMan himself waiting to drop in an apprehend you. He'd be more than enough for any GNA-hired thief, after all. It might be anything at all, but I'd wager that it will be very close to fool-proof. Which leaves us still at the question... What would you like to do now, Bhikkhuni?" He'd given her some more information as well as supporting her theories with a certain amount of confirmation and corroboration... but it still seemed like Hoodwink was determined to leave the actual decision about what action to take in Bhikki's hands alone.
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The fleeing program decided to stop and make a stand, and only then did ResQ realize she'd calmly led her compatriots into a funnel. This point was punctuated by the choppy barking of the Navi's machine gun followed by the buzzing and whistling of rounds whipping past. Even after gaining a shield from Rhinestone, it didn't keep her entirely protected as she felt the sting of one of the rounds hit her in the abdomen and tear away part of her jacket and collared shirt, showing exposed (and now slightly damaged) skin beneath. "Ngh, shit," she groaned under her breath before she brought her right arm and activated her BUBL shield. A glowing lattice of green hexagonal "cells" bloomed out from the outside of her wrist and formed a small tower shield of energy, while some regenerative data seeped into her own programming.
["Preparing Drop,"] Alexander announced upon seeing his Navi taking fire. Back in the PET, the ANGEL was standing in its "hangar" of metal braces and frames, but the four advisory lights that marked the corners of its hangar pad changed from yellow to red. A claxon rang out and the floor appeared to sink down from under the ANGEL's point-like feet, causing its mechanical legs to dangle freely, though the rest of its body was held in place by several restraining brackets. The sunken floor then began to glow like the surface of a teleport pad, then seemed to open like a portal. Though obscured by the ANGEL's body, if one could peer into the portal, one would see ResQ and her compatriots through the roof of the glass building below. With the ANGEL ready, Alexander moved to determine the ANGEL's Landing Zone. A moment later, he paused and called out to his Navi.
["No good, LZ is [u]not[/u] clear!"] [[i]"What?!?"[/i]] ResQ spat. [Saija's cloaked, meaning I could accidentally drop the ANGEL right on top of her,"] Alexander explained with a grave seriousness in his voice. ResQ's brow furrowed as she slowly shook her head in a "I can't believe this," gesture. [[i]"Then drop it on the goon that's shooting at me, idiot!"[/i]] Alex briefly looked to retort, but paused as it started to click in his head. Technically he could still squish Saija under the ANGEL, but at least ResQ could tell her to back away from a clearly defined point, rather than give her a general "watch out for falling mechs!" ResQ immediately followed up by calling out to her invisible ally just as Alex predicted. "Saija! If you're near the moron with the machine gun, move!"
["Copy all, stand clear, ... Drop."] With a mechanical clunk, the ANGEL was released from its braces and fell straight down through the portal. The ANGEL immediately appeared in the sky above the building, and though unpiloted, it brought its legs together to combine into a single tail-like structure. Its main rotor remained on standby for the moment, causing the broad, dark rotor blades to flex and sway in the wind as it plummeted down. ResQ looked up upon hearing Alexander's notification, and would've likely seen the glint of moonlight off the ANGEL's highly polished surfaces.
Using its two feet like a spike, the ANGEL attempted to punch through the glass ceiling, which shouldn't be too much of a task considering its weight and momentum. As soon as the ANGEL crashed through, it slid its main rotor hub up to the active position on its metallic halo, and splayed all 8 rotors outwards. It intended to "autorotate" to the ground, using the action of the air moving up through the rotor to spin it up and slow the descent. For a brief moment, it looked almost angelic as it descended, wreathed in twinkling shards of glass. However, it had less than 40 feet of altitude to work with at that point, so it split its mechanical legs outwards and assumed a fall recovery stance before it landed hard against the reinforced glass floor. Throughout the "fall," the ANGEL didn't appear to move towards or away from the gunman; it tried its best to maintain a nearly-perfect vertical path of travel the entire way down.
If it didn't simply punch through the floor as well, it hunched forward in its now kneeling stance, with its right hand extended low across its chest like a step. The hoop-like command console was open, awaiting a pilot to hop in. Taking its cue, ResQ charged towards her waiting exosuit. If her attacker wasn't crushed or scared half to death by the sudden introduction to the ANGEL and tried to engage again, she briefly channeled some kinetic energy in her left hand before she punched forward and released a very brief plume of pressurized air. With any luck, it would deflect a bullet or something away from her as she made the short dash to her destination.
If she made it to the ANGEL, she used its open palm to catapult herself up and into the suit's cockpit. Two restraining belts reached over her shoulders and seemed to attach to her collarbones as the console closed around her waist so she could get a good look at its glowing displays. Not a second later, the ANGEL smoothly stood up to full height and faced either the SubvertBoss or the center of the cross-shaped room. ResQ's sour expression wreathed in machinery looked ominous, and the ANGEL's three-fingered claw snapped open and shut in a malicious-sounding *whir CLANK, whir CLANK!*
["Preparing Drop,"] Alexander announced upon seeing his Navi taking fire. Back in the PET, the ANGEL was standing in its "hangar" of metal braces and frames, but the four advisory lights that marked the corners of its hangar pad changed from yellow to red. A claxon rang out and the floor appeared to sink down from under the ANGEL's point-like feet, causing its mechanical legs to dangle freely, though the rest of its body was held in place by several restraining brackets. The sunken floor then began to glow like the surface of a teleport pad, then seemed to open like a portal. Though obscured by the ANGEL's body, if one could peer into the portal, one would see ResQ and her compatriots through the roof of the glass building below. With the ANGEL ready, Alexander moved to determine the ANGEL's Landing Zone. A moment later, he paused and called out to his Navi.
["No good, LZ is [u]not[/u] clear!"] [[i]"What?!?"[/i]] ResQ spat. [Saija's cloaked, meaning I could accidentally drop the ANGEL right on top of her,"] Alexander explained with a grave seriousness in his voice. ResQ's brow furrowed as she slowly shook her head in a "I can't believe this," gesture. [[i]"Then drop it on the goon that's shooting at me, idiot!"[/i]] Alex briefly looked to retort, but paused as it started to click in his head. Technically he could still squish Saija under the ANGEL, but at least ResQ could tell her to back away from a clearly defined point, rather than give her a general "watch out for falling mechs!" ResQ immediately followed up by calling out to her invisible ally just as Alex predicted. "Saija! If you're near the moron with the machine gun, move!"
["Copy all, stand clear, ... Drop."] With a mechanical clunk, the ANGEL was released from its braces and fell straight down through the portal. The ANGEL immediately appeared in the sky above the building, and though unpiloted, it brought its legs together to combine into a single tail-like structure. Its main rotor remained on standby for the moment, causing the broad, dark rotor blades to flex and sway in the wind as it plummeted down. ResQ looked up upon hearing Alexander's notification, and would've likely seen the glint of moonlight off the ANGEL's highly polished surfaces.
Using its two feet like a spike, the ANGEL attempted to punch through the glass ceiling, which shouldn't be too much of a task considering its weight and momentum. As soon as the ANGEL crashed through, it slid its main rotor hub up to the active position on its metallic halo, and splayed all 8 rotors outwards. It intended to "autorotate" to the ground, using the action of the air moving up through the rotor to spin it up and slow the descent. For a brief moment, it looked almost angelic as it descended, wreathed in twinkling shards of glass. However, it had less than 40 feet of altitude to work with at that point, so it split its mechanical legs outwards and assumed a fall recovery stance before it landed hard against the reinforced glass floor. Throughout the "fall," the ANGEL didn't appear to move towards or away from the gunman; it tried its best to maintain a nearly-perfect vertical path of travel the entire way down.
If it didn't simply punch through the floor as well, it hunched forward in its now kneeling stance, with its right hand extended low across its chest like a step. The hoop-like command console was open, awaiting a pilot to hop in. Taking its cue, ResQ charged towards her waiting exosuit. If her attacker wasn't crushed or scared half to death by the sudden introduction to the ANGEL and tried to engage again, she briefly channeled some kinetic energy in her left hand before she punched forward and released a very brief plume of pressurized air. With any luck, it would deflect a bullet or something away from her as she made the short dash to her destination.
If she made it to the ANGEL, she used its open palm to catapult herself up and into the suit's cockpit. Two restraining belts reached over her shoulders and seemed to attach to her collarbones as the console closed around her waist so she could get a good look at its glowing displays. Not a second later, the ANGEL smoothly stood up to full height and faced either the SubvertBoss or the center of the cross-shaped room. ResQ's sour expression wreathed in machinery looked ominous, and the ANGEL's three-fingered claw snapped open and shut in a malicious-sounding *whir CLANK, whir CLANK!*
ACTIONS:
1. BUBL: ResQ.EXE (1-hit Shield + Heal15 + 1TCD)
2. Drop ANGEL on SubvertBoss A ((Just fluff, not expecting to deal damage))
3. Movement: Suit up!
-Turbulence: ResQ.EXE-
2. Drop ANGEL on SubvertBoss A ((Just fluff, not expecting to deal damage))
3. Movement: Suit up!
-Turbulence: ResQ.EXE-
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Mary was happy to see that neither she nor the captive Grace seemed to be the focus of the attackers. Of course, there wasn't much of a way they could focus on anyone but the banner girl and her fellow fighters, given how they'd thrown themselves into the fray. That said, not all was well: another criminal navi showed up to assist the one that was trying to keep Grace subdued. The orders made it clear that, while one of the navis was in charge of the others here, he was not actually the big boss. There must be another above him, somewhere. Worse, though, the orders clearly prioritized gathering Grace back up and moving her further into the facility, perhaps to escape with her one way or another. It seemed like there was a lot of other fighting going on from directions she couldn't see right at the moment.
Regardless, Mary couldn't approach. The enemy density was still too thick for her to try to attempt anything like a rescue. She wouldn't help anyone but the captors if one of the men grabbed her and used her as a human shield... assuming her allies were actually inclined to consider her protection essential to begin with. None of her allies had been harmed yet (except for ResQ, who was unfortunately not in her field of vision given the layout of the area), so for now, she could only continue with pre-emptive action. Her bottles weren't likely to help much, especially now that the enemies had surely realized they were nothing more than pretty, decorative glass. With the action getting hotter, she decided that for now she'd limit herself to slinging another vial out preemptively to her allies, then focusing on her own defense. Another sailed across the battlefield, this one to KenmoeteMan. He was in the center with the captive, so he would presumably come under the heaviest attack.
On the west side, out of Mary's view, Exorcist arrived with the madame and her servants, intending to assume stealth once again. As it turned out, this situation was pretty far lost in that respect. Additionally, not all of the foes were using the clubs she'd formed theories about earlier... they'd moved on to machine guns. That meant it was time for her to stop playing dumb and get her own sword ready... looking at ResQ on the other side, it appeared she'd come to the same conclusion, albeit utilizing weapons from a few centuries later in design. However, Madama Sanguina and her disguised or otherwise invisible servants weren't jumping straight into the battle. it sounded like they had some misgivings. "This does feel too easy... If they were planning to kidnap just Grace, then this force would make sense, but if they wanted to kidnap you from under the noses of your many powerful allies, they must have had something better planned than this bunch," she reasoned. Her eyebrows tensed slightly, in an expression of worry above her pretty blue eyes. "We should be careful. I just realized... the best way to get you down here would be to do exactly as they did: go after us just enough so we'd realize others with less protection were in danger, sniff them out, and then assemble here. Madama, I'd suggest you stand back with a few of your allies to guard you and use the others to attack, but I'd be very wary of approaching the center yourself. I can help fight these enemies off of Grace!"
Now she'd attempt to do just that. Even if the navi had a machine gun, she had other ways to protect herself. From the spot at her wrist, she produced a talisman with a blood inscription, not wincing despite the slight pain involved with the incision. She slashed the talisman across the air and set it onto her opposite wrist, causing a field of perceptible, green particles to take into the air around her, shrouding her in a circular barrier like colored fire. There were so many navis gathered in the center area that she knew she needed to focus on them with wide, powerful attacks, but she'd have to find a way to save Grace from any attacks. She spotted KenmoeteMan too, but hopefully he'd be more capable of protecting himself during her onslaught. For now, she threw another talisman to Grace, which would whip around as though carried by wind, forming a yellow field around her. It was somewhat lighter and more transparent than her own, but the talisman would continue whipping around, maintaining and regenerating the barrier unless it was hit by a particularly strong force.
Though she wanted to use her sword to exorcise the evildoers (fancy way of saying cutting them up as punishment for villainy), she needed something she could use at a range instead. In this situation, she prepared more talismans, one in each hand. She swept her arms out to the sides, which would create quite a lovely flourish of her robe sleeves if she were wearing her robe instead of the party dress, then flung them back inwards, slinging out two talismans folded into angles just over 90 degrees. The talismans were charged green with her energy, much like the barrier around her, though these were intended to cut rather than protect. Her targets were the one barking orders and whatever heel navis congregated around him. Hopefully, taking him out would put the others in disarray, as he seemed to be the only one keeping up any communication.
The center was definitely the most dangerous area to be in right now, but with KenmoeteMan there at least, they could take them together. She ran in towards the center, not watching her party dress, which flipped up alluringly at her soft thighs. Hopefully, ResQ and her compatriots had the machine gun navi under control... he was the only one that seemed seriously armed, but he was well out of range of her best attacks currently.
Exorcist--
1) Chi Barrier @ self [15 HP sacrifice for 120 HP barrier, 3 TCD]
2)
ElecAura1Protection: Any Non-Wood attack lower than 40 HP
Accuracy: S
Description: Negates any Non-Wood attack less than 40HP
Duration: Three turns, or until destroyed
Element: Elec
Special: Status Guard: This chip blocks debuffs.
Trader Rank: C @ Grace
3)
Boomerang1Damage: 60 + Group Attack (Arc)
Accuracy: B
Description: Throws a boomerang at enemies
Duration: Once
Element: Wood
Special: Group Attack (Arc): This attack may hit between 1 and 4 enemies on average, perhaps more depending on the situation. This version of Group Attack hits in an arc that loops back to the attacker. If attempting to hit too many targets with poor RP, you may also hit yourself, so be careful.
Trader Rank: D @ SubvertBoss B and surrounding enemies
4) Boomerang1Damage: 60 + Group Attack (Arc)
Accuracy: B
Description: Throws a boomerang at enemies
Duration: Once
Element: Wood
Special: Group Attack (Arc): This attack may hit between 1 and 4 enemies on average, perhaps more depending on the situation. This version of Group Attack hits in an arc that loops back to the attacker. If attempting to hit too many targets with poor RP, you may also hit yourself, so be careful.
Trader Rank: D @ SubvertBoss B and surrounding enemies
5) Movement towards center
Mary--
*)Recovery subtype IV to KenmoeteMan [5 HP heal per action until broken]
1) Dodge
2) Dodge
---------------------------------------
The only of the original group who was not currently meeting back up in the underground den of villainy was Bhikkhuni, who was currently wrapping her head around a difficult task of her own, though thankfully one not yet involving open combat. "And how about you, huh? Do you disregard 'all else' besides the pursuit?" she asked her ally, still unable to shake off a bit of her earlier paranoia. It was actually pretty hard to imagine him settling down to anything (or anyone) regardless... he seemed like a live-in-the-moment kind of guy. That didn't make him one-hundred percent trustworthy either, though. She even began to suspect the kisses he was placing upon her from time to time... If this was just his way of 'pursuing' a girl, what did that mean he did once he got them? She wouldn't kid herself into thinking she was getting unique treatment from him... He'd probably be putting it on Exorcist, Mary, or even the military girl, ResQ, if one of them been the one to come in.
She shivered a bit, reflecting that she'd really dodged a bullet by not trying to engage with PianoMan or fool him. She could have been in some real danger if she'd gotten on his bad side, by the sounds of it. As for CrypticMan, again, Hoodwink seemed to be evading the details she really wanted to learn more about: his motivations, mainly. "He's even more handsy than you? I can't imagine that! You've been feeling me up like you're trying to size me for a new navisuit," she joked idly, her brow growing stern in an unfortunately childish scowl as she fruitlessly wished he'd be more forthcoming with the information she was trying to dig out of him. He had a way of yielding a lot without giving away just what she wanted, she was noticing.
As if in response to her joke, he proceeded to get even more intimate... she couldn't really hate him while he was paying her a compliment, though. She was happy she'd stopped short of walking into the trap, but upset that there was no clear way through her mission. "Crap! If the guy hired me through the GNA just to hang me on the line, then how can I actually succeed and get paid? Should I even try to succeed? I've been played from the beginning," she thought to herself bitterly. Even the one kissing her ears right now was probably playing her in some way or another... though, he might be giving her truthful information as part of his pursuit. If nothing else, she'd worked out that there was no way she was grabbing the treasure and leaving with it... even if CrypticMan was trying to set her up, there was no way Zennocracy herself was going to make it this easy.
Another thought hit her just then, seeming suddenly urgent. "Wait, hold up! If he was trying to get me framed for that, then what about the rest of the girls, who were sent to protect the reps from the unoperated navi shelters or whatever?! Are they being manipulated too? Is it a trap?" she asked Hoodwink, attempting to wrestle her shoulders free enough that she could spin and face him. "If you're really all about the pursuit, then you gotta know it's a dead end for you right now if you're letting my friends walk right into a trap while I goof around here! I want to know what CrypticMan and Zennocracy are really up to! Just what's this whole party a cover-up for?!" she demanded, looking up at his eyes with tension evident on her face.
Regardless, Mary couldn't approach. The enemy density was still too thick for her to try to attempt anything like a rescue. She wouldn't help anyone but the captors if one of the men grabbed her and used her as a human shield... assuming her allies were actually inclined to consider her protection essential to begin with. None of her allies had been harmed yet (except for ResQ, who was unfortunately not in her field of vision given the layout of the area), so for now, she could only continue with pre-emptive action. Her bottles weren't likely to help much, especially now that the enemies had surely realized they were nothing more than pretty, decorative glass. With the action getting hotter, she decided that for now she'd limit herself to slinging another vial out preemptively to her allies, then focusing on her own defense. Another sailed across the battlefield, this one to KenmoeteMan. He was in the center with the captive, so he would presumably come under the heaviest attack.
On the west side, out of Mary's view, Exorcist arrived with the madame and her servants, intending to assume stealth once again. As it turned out, this situation was pretty far lost in that respect. Additionally, not all of the foes were using the clubs she'd formed theories about earlier... they'd moved on to machine guns. That meant it was time for her to stop playing dumb and get her own sword ready... looking at ResQ on the other side, it appeared she'd come to the same conclusion, albeit utilizing weapons from a few centuries later in design. However, Madama Sanguina and her disguised or otherwise invisible servants weren't jumping straight into the battle. it sounded like they had some misgivings. "This does feel too easy... If they were planning to kidnap just Grace, then this force would make sense, but if they wanted to kidnap you from under the noses of your many powerful allies, they must have had something better planned than this bunch," she reasoned. Her eyebrows tensed slightly, in an expression of worry above her pretty blue eyes. "We should be careful. I just realized... the best way to get you down here would be to do exactly as they did: go after us just enough so we'd realize others with less protection were in danger, sniff them out, and then assemble here. Madama, I'd suggest you stand back with a few of your allies to guard you and use the others to attack, but I'd be very wary of approaching the center yourself. I can help fight these enemies off of Grace!"
Now she'd attempt to do just that. Even if the navi had a machine gun, she had other ways to protect herself. From the spot at her wrist, she produced a talisman with a blood inscription, not wincing despite the slight pain involved with the incision. She slashed the talisman across the air and set it onto her opposite wrist, causing a field of perceptible, green particles to take into the air around her, shrouding her in a circular barrier like colored fire. There were so many navis gathered in the center area that she knew she needed to focus on them with wide, powerful attacks, but she'd have to find a way to save Grace from any attacks. She spotted KenmoeteMan too, but hopefully he'd be more capable of protecting himself during her onslaught. For now, she threw another talisman to Grace, which would whip around as though carried by wind, forming a yellow field around her. It was somewhat lighter and more transparent than her own, but the talisman would continue whipping around, maintaining and regenerating the barrier unless it was hit by a particularly strong force.
Though she wanted to use her sword to exorcise the evildoers (fancy way of saying cutting them up as punishment for villainy), she needed something she could use at a range instead. In this situation, she prepared more talismans, one in each hand. She swept her arms out to the sides, which would create quite a lovely flourish of her robe sleeves if she were wearing her robe instead of the party dress, then flung them back inwards, slinging out two talismans folded into angles just over 90 degrees. The talismans were charged green with her energy, much like the barrier around her, though these were intended to cut rather than protect. Her targets were the one barking orders and whatever heel navis congregated around him. Hopefully, taking him out would put the others in disarray, as he seemed to be the only one keeping up any communication.
The center was definitely the most dangerous area to be in right now, but with KenmoeteMan there at least, they could take them together. She ran in towards the center, not watching her party dress, which flipped up alluringly at her soft thighs. Hopefully, ResQ and her compatriots had the machine gun navi under control... he was the only one that seemed seriously armed, but he was well out of range of her best attacks currently.
Exorcist--
1) Chi Barrier @ self [15 HP sacrifice for 120 HP barrier, 3 TCD]
2)
ElecAura1Protection: Any Non-Wood attack lower than 40 HPAccuracy: S
Description: Negates any Non-Wood attack less than 40HP
Duration: Three turns, or until destroyed
Element: Elec
Special: Status Guard: This chip blocks debuffs.
Trader Rank: C @ Grace
3)
Boomerang1Damage: 60 + Group Attack (Arc)Accuracy: B
Description: Throws a boomerang at enemies
Duration: Once
Element: Wood
Special: Group Attack (Arc): This attack may hit between 1 and 4 enemies on average, perhaps more depending on the situation. This version of Group Attack hits in an arc that loops back to the attacker. If attempting to hit too many targets with poor RP, you may also hit yourself, so be careful.
Trader Rank: D @ SubvertBoss B and surrounding enemies
4)
Boomerang1Damage: 60 + Group Attack (Arc)Accuracy: B
Description: Throws a boomerang at enemies
Duration: Once
Element: Wood
Special: Group Attack (Arc): This attack may hit between 1 and 4 enemies on average, perhaps more depending on the situation. This version of Group Attack hits in an arc that loops back to the attacker. If attempting to hit too many targets with poor RP, you may also hit yourself, so be careful.
Trader Rank: D @ SubvertBoss B and surrounding enemies
5) Movement towards center
Mary--
*)Recovery subtype IV to KenmoeteMan [5 HP heal per action until broken]
1) Dodge
2) Dodge
---------------------------------------
The only of the original group who was not currently meeting back up in the underground den of villainy was Bhikkhuni, who was currently wrapping her head around a difficult task of her own, though thankfully one not yet involving open combat. "And how about you, huh? Do you disregard 'all else' besides the pursuit?" she asked her ally, still unable to shake off a bit of her earlier paranoia. It was actually pretty hard to imagine him settling down to anything (or anyone) regardless... he seemed like a live-in-the-moment kind of guy. That didn't make him one-hundred percent trustworthy either, though. She even began to suspect the kisses he was placing upon her from time to time... If this was just his way of 'pursuing' a girl, what did that mean he did once he got them? She wouldn't kid herself into thinking she was getting unique treatment from him... He'd probably be putting it on Exorcist, Mary, or even the military girl, ResQ, if one of them been the one to come in.
She shivered a bit, reflecting that she'd really dodged a bullet by not trying to engage with PianoMan or fool him. She could have been in some real danger if she'd gotten on his bad side, by the sounds of it. As for CrypticMan, again, Hoodwink seemed to be evading the details she really wanted to learn more about: his motivations, mainly. "He's even more handsy than you? I can't imagine that! You've been feeling me up like you're trying to size me for a new navisuit," she joked idly, her brow growing stern in an unfortunately childish scowl as she fruitlessly wished he'd be more forthcoming with the information she was trying to dig out of him. He had a way of yielding a lot without giving away just what she wanted, she was noticing.
As if in response to her joke, he proceeded to get even more intimate... she couldn't really hate him while he was paying her a compliment, though. She was happy she'd stopped short of walking into the trap, but upset that there was no clear way through her mission. "Crap! If the guy hired me through the GNA just to hang me on the line, then how can I actually succeed and get paid? Should I even try to succeed? I've been played from the beginning," she thought to herself bitterly. Even the one kissing her ears right now was probably playing her in some way or another... though, he might be giving her truthful information as part of his pursuit. If nothing else, she'd worked out that there was no way she was grabbing the treasure and leaving with it... even if CrypticMan was trying to set her up, there was no way Zennocracy herself was going to make it this easy.
Another thought hit her just then, seeming suddenly urgent. "Wait, hold up! If he was trying to get me framed for that, then what about the rest of the girls, who were sent to protect the reps from the unoperated navi shelters or whatever?! Are they being manipulated too? Is it a trap?" she asked Hoodwink, attempting to wrestle her shoulders free enough that she could spin and face him. "If you're really all about the pursuit, then you gotta know it's a dead end for you right now if you're letting my friends walk right into a trap while I goof around here! I want to know what CrypticMan and Zennocracy are really up to! Just what's this whole party a cover-up for?!" she demanded, looking up at his eyes with tension evident on her face.
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In the glassy chamber below the Scottsdale estate, ResQ shrugged off the damage she'd taken and protected herself as the melee got more heavily under way; the goon ahead of her was still backing off, tossing aside his spent weapon and pulling out a second one, but before he could fire it down the passage, an almighty crash boomed through the chamber as the glass ceiling shattered beneath the deploying ANGEL. Shards of glass scattered down everywhere, razor sharp; it was had to see in the brawl who endured cuts and scrapes from it, but one navi could count shattering glass shards as his least concern. True to aim, the armament landed squarely on the retreating agent, flattening him to the ground beneath it, and only barely allowing him to drag himself out, groaning, as it shifted and readied for ResQ to mount up.
The entrance took most of the scene by surprise, and there was a brief stolen moment where allies and enemies alike paused to stare. As ResQ herself mounted up and strapped in, she might catch, just out of the corner of her eye, the shimmering form of Saija, bent to deliver a quick coup de grace to the fallen thug, before flicking her eyes up to ResQ and fading out of sight again. The woman was, as advertised, doing things her own way, and as she turned towards the centre, ResQ could guess fairly well that she oughtn't plan for any direct assistance from her. On the other hand, Rhinstone had crouched down and backed off, covering himself in confusion and surprise as ResQ's mech entered the scene. He had one arm crossed over his middle, but otherwise didn't seem to be too poorly off. What had been momentary panic had faded to tense caution when he realised that the new arrival belonged to ResQ and not their enemies.
As this was happening, Mary could only watch on as Uprising and Kenmoete continued their aggressive assault. The swordsman's expression didn't change as he wove forward, every bit grace and death as his blade cut through two more of the navis between him and Grace. they both went down hard, but neither was actually ejected from the net like the one that had received his first pair of slashes had been. Just behind him, Uprising twirled her banner as she moved forward, bee-lining for the apparent leader of this whole mess. She shoved past one of the blocking Heelnavis, and ducked her small frame underneath the attack of a second, but before she could strike, or either of the two leaders in the centre could retaliate, the crash down of ResQ's armament turned all of their heads to the side. Between the three of them, however, Uprising was the first to recover and arced her banner in a spin that dug the head of it into the middle of one boss and launched him back across the chamber to the north with a crack.
The other rounded on the small girl, cursing loudly for his underlings to do something useful, and swung at her. As he did, his arm swelled into a large iron fist that charged itself with energy before slamming against the freedom-fighter's chest. She managed to cross one arm over her chest as he struck, but the sheer force of the blow was almost palpable in the air for a moment, and Uprising grunted through grit teeth. Despite this, her stance widened under the blow and she only slid back a couple of inches; it was clear from the thug's surprised expression that he'd expected to send her flying across the room instead, but the girl only lifted her eyes to him with an eager snarl on her lips.
To the side, one of the two trying to recapture Grace turned back to hold off Kenmoete as he rushed towards them, bringing out first a small shield, and then, when the swordsman cut that aside, throwing out his other hand in panic to form a second warding field. Another strike from the Yoka-navi's sword cut that apart as well, but there was no doubt he'd been delayed, even if only by a few seconds. The other heelnavi continued trying to get his hands on the other sanctuary rep, but as he attempted to bat at her with another pillow that hadn't been re-skinned into anything more intimidating, the whipping protection of quick moving prayer talisman surrounded the woman, zipping into place to bat away his efforts no matter how he swung. Grace looked every bit as surprised by this development, peeking out from behind her raised arms in puzzlement.
The other heels in the central area had shaken off their stunned surprise at the sudden crash down of a mech into their midst, and listened to their leader, all turning their weapons on Uprising, as the only target in the centre of the fray right then. She managed to fend about herself quickly in response, but still weathered several strikes from various hand-held weapons across the sides and shoulders before another pair of prayer slips sliced through the crowd in the centre.
Surprised by the assault from the unexpected angle, none of the goons clustered about the central area were in a position to avoid her efforts. Most of the heelnavis took a hit from one or the other; the two that Kenmoete had downed before were both ejected from the net in flashes of light. In the midst of the fray, Uprising herself took a cut from one of the talismans, opening up a slice across the back of her futuristic costume, but she didn't seem to be in trouble from it. the boss that had struck her with his over-sized gigas fist had his legs cut out from under him by the first talisman passing, and cried out in pain as the second connected on its way past as well, but began to crawl to his feet again, swearing violently.
The support had come from Exorcist as she uttered a quick warning to her companion, planning and thinking on her feet in the heat of the sudden scuffle. Beside her, the matron nodded once, glancing across to Exorcist with a measured look. Despite the scene swiftly degenerating into an all out fight with weapons, she remained an image of relaxed composure.
"I suspect you are right. I do not think these little gnats had any idea of the level of protection that is considered appropriate in the place I come from, but even so... They clearly want all of the representatives here, and that, I think, is reason enough to decline their invitation." She turned her eyes towards her retainer in the centre. As much as he had been fighting alongside uprising for the conflict thus far, the swordsman was still Sanguine's body guard and his eyes flicked in her direction as she clapped her hands twice.
"Kenmoete, assist miss CascadingGrace in joining us. We have business to discuss and I think it would be wise to do it somewhere other than here. We are leaving." Her voice carried as she called out, and though it seemed to draw the attention of a few of the hostile navis in the chamber, most were too busy to do anything about it by now. Knemoete nodded in between sword strokes, still making his way towards where the other sanctuary rep was beset. The matron turned back towards Exorcist as she herself stepped back.
"If you can help Grace or the others, then I wish you the best of luck. I hope to talk more with you later, Exorcist, in more relaxed circumstances... unless you wish to come with us now in escorting Grace away from this conflict? Tera and the other silver moons will stay, and assist their new master in whatever battle needs to be fought here. If you would escort Grace and myself out of this place, we may discuss what has happened, and perhaps decide what must be done about it." Beside her, Tera nodded as well, and there was a brief sense of movement as the invisible protectors moved towards the centre. As they did, the two hostiles that had been mostly crushed by Uprising's entrance cried out from where they were trying to escape the heavy door pinning them down. Invisible blades took care of the last of their strength, and both were pulled from their predicament by emergency beads of light.
Exorcist had a choice of what to do now as she watched on; it seemed as though the conflict here was becoming increasingly one-sided towards her allies, especially if the several stealthy support programs were about to join the fray, but the shouted commands that alluded to some bigger bad were still a danger. The matron was inviting her to travel with herself and Grace as they retreated back through the one intact exit to the area, presumably under cover of the Yoka representative's own fiery protectors, and it would give her a chance to talk with Cascading Grace, the third rep, and find out what she knew... Provided Exorcist, and possibly Mary, felt it was safe to trust the allies that remained to handle the situation here.
From her point of view, once she was fully mounted up, ResQ would be able to see that several of the lower ranking infiltrators had been removed from consideration, but others still remained to be neutralised. the most senior boss had apparently been thrown back towards the north end of the room by one of Uprising's powerful strikes, but he wasn't out of the fight yet, and was starting to pick himself up from where he'd crashed into the northern wall, just beside a closed off doorway. Saija was obviously close by still, somewhere, and Rhinestone was behind her, apparently injured but still alright, while her other foes all lay ahead, in the centre of the room from her current position, scrapping with the rebel girl, while a smaller cluster was focused on the girl in white, and the navi with the burning sword. Across the way, she could now see Exorcist more clearly, standing with a busty woman dressed all in red, both on the outskirts of the battle and seemingly unmolested as yet, though it looked like they were being escorted by a heelnavi, very much like the thugs that had threatened her.
-=Escalating Situations=-
-=Allies=-
West Hall
Exorcist.Exe [Has taken 15 damage and has a strong barrier]
MadamaSanguine.Exe
Fuukouhan.Exe [Illusion: Disguised as HeelNavi]
Tera.SP [Invisible]
Chikara.SP [Invisible]
Ōishi.SP [Invisible]
Okano.SP [Invisible]
Yahei.SP [Invisible]
South Hall
Mary.Sp [Has taken no damage and is under no status effects]
East Hall
ResQ.Exe [With ANGEL][Has taken 15 damage has a shield and a wind barrier]
Rhinestone.Exe [Behind ResQ]
SaijaTsun.Exe [Invisible]
Central
CascadingGrace.Exe [Towards the West][Being protected by a Talisman?]
KenmoeteMan.Exe [Near Grace]
Uprising.Exe [Central]
-=Hostiles=-
West Hall
SubvertAgent D [EJO]
SubvertAgent E [EJO]
East Hall
SubvertBoss A [EJO]
Central
SubvertAgent F [Near Grace]
SubvertAgent G [Near Grace]
SubvertAgent A [EJO]
SubvertAgent B [EJO]
SubvertAgent H [EJO]
SubvertAgent I [Badly Hurt][Near Centre]
SubvertAgent J [Badly Hurt][Near Centre]
SubvertBoss B [Badly Hurt][Centre]
North Hall
SubvertBoss D [Looks Injured][Near northern door]
-=Terrain=-
100% Reinforced Glass
Reinforced Glass acts in all ways like Glass terrain, except that it is as impregnable as if it were Metal terrain.
The room is a wide cross shape, with side halls in each direction about as large as the space made up by the central square.
-=Oddities=-
Spacial distortion: All signs indicate that everyone is still located on the Scottsdale Estate homepage, even though this area resembles no part of it and doesn't appear to be connected to it, except by the hacked connection passages — two out of three of which have been destroyed and cut off.
Combat Static: For whatever reason, combat routines are not functioning with full reliability here, and it doesn't appear possible to get a completely accurate reading on the condition or write protection of anyone, ally or enemy. Notes on player characters (detailing amount of damage taken or status effects) are for their own benefit, but aren't readily readable by even their own allies.
----
((Bhikki coming soon!))
The entrance took most of the scene by surprise, and there was a brief stolen moment where allies and enemies alike paused to stare. As ResQ herself mounted up and strapped in, she might catch, just out of the corner of her eye, the shimmering form of Saija, bent to deliver a quick coup de grace to the fallen thug, before flicking her eyes up to ResQ and fading out of sight again. The woman was, as advertised, doing things her own way, and as she turned towards the centre, ResQ could guess fairly well that she oughtn't plan for any direct assistance from her. On the other hand, Rhinstone had crouched down and backed off, covering himself in confusion and surprise as ResQ's mech entered the scene. He had one arm crossed over his middle, but otherwise didn't seem to be too poorly off. What had been momentary panic had faded to tense caution when he realised that the new arrival belonged to ResQ and not their enemies.
As this was happening, Mary could only watch on as Uprising and Kenmoete continued their aggressive assault. The swordsman's expression didn't change as he wove forward, every bit grace and death as his blade cut through two more of the navis between him and Grace. they both went down hard, but neither was actually ejected from the net like the one that had received his first pair of slashes had been. Just behind him, Uprising twirled her banner as she moved forward, bee-lining for the apparent leader of this whole mess. She shoved past one of the blocking Heelnavis, and ducked her small frame underneath the attack of a second, but before she could strike, or either of the two leaders in the centre could retaliate, the crash down of ResQ's armament turned all of their heads to the side. Between the three of them, however, Uprising was the first to recover and arced her banner in a spin that dug the head of it into the middle of one boss and launched him back across the chamber to the north with a crack.
The other rounded on the small girl, cursing loudly for his underlings to do something useful, and swung at her. As he did, his arm swelled into a large iron fist that charged itself with energy before slamming against the freedom-fighter's chest. She managed to cross one arm over her chest as he struck, but the sheer force of the blow was almost palpable in the air for a moment, and Uprising grunted through grit teeth. Despite this, her stance widened under the blow and she only slid back a couple of inches; it was clear from the thug's surprised expression that he'd expected to send her flying across the room instead, but the girl only lifted her eyes to him with an eager snarl on her lips.
To the side, one of the two trying to recapture Grace turned back to hold off Kenmoete as he rushed towards them, bringing out first a small shield, and then, when the swordsman cut that aside, throwing out his other hand in panic to form a second warding field. Another strike from the Yoka-navi's sword cut that apart as well, but there was no doubt he'd been delayed, even if only by a few seconds. The other heelnavi continued trying to get his hands on the other sanctuary rep, but as he attempted to bat at her with another pillow that hadn't been re-skinned into anything more intimidating, the whipping protection of quick moving prayer talisman surrounded the woman, zipping into place to bat away his efforts no matter how he swung. Grace looked every bit as surprised by this development, peeking out from behind her raised arms in puzzlement.
The other heels in the central area had shaken off their stunned surprise at the sudden crash down of a mech into their midst, and listened to their leader, all turning their weapons on Uprising, as the only target in the centre of the fray right then. She managed to fend about herself quickly in response, but still weathered several strikes from various hand-held weapons across the sides and shoulders before another pair of prayer slips sliced through the crowd in the centre.
Surprised by the assault from the unexpected angle, none of the goons clustered about the central area were in a position to avoid her efforts. Most of the heelnavis took a hit from one or the other; the two that Kenmoete had downed before were both ejected from the net in flashes of light. In the midst of the fray, Uprising herself took a cut from one of the talismans, opening up a slice across the back of her futuristic costume, but she didn't seem to be in trouble from it. the boss that had struck her with his over-sized gigas fist had his legs cut out from under him by the first talisman passing, and cried out in pain as the second connected on its way past as well, but began to crawl to his feet again, swearing violently.
The support had come from Exorcist as she uttered a quick warning to her companion, planning and thinking on her feet in the heat of the sudden scuffle. Beside her, the matron nodded once, glancing across to Exorcist with a measured look. Despite the scene swiftly degenerating into an all out fight with weapons, she remained an image of relaxed composure.
"I suspect you are right. I do not think these little gnats had any idea of the level of protection that is considered appropriate in the place I come from, but even so... They clearly want all of the representatives here, and that, I think, is reason enough to decline their invitation." She turned her eyes towards her retainer in the centre. As much as he had been fighting alongside uprising for the conflict thus far, the swordsman was still Sanguine's body guard and his eyes flicked in her direction as she clapped her hands twice.
"Kenmoete, assist miss CascadingGrace in joining us. We have business to discuss and I think it would be wise to do it somewhere other than here. We are leaving." Her voice carried as she called out, and though it seemed to draw the attention of a few of the hostile navis in the chamber, most were too busy to do anything about it by now. Knemoete nodded in between sword strokes, still making his way towards where the other sanctuary rep was beset. The matron turned back towards Exorcist as she herself stepped back.
"If you can help Grace or the others, then I wish you the best of luck. I hope to talk more with you later, Exorcist, in more relaxed circumstances... unless you wish to come with us now in escorting Grace away from this conflict? Tera and the other silver moons will stay, and assist their new master in whatever battle needs to be fought here. If you would escort Grace and myself out of this place, we may discuss what has happened, and perhaps decide what must be done about it." Beside her, Tera nodded as well, and there was a brief sense of movement as the invisible protectors moved towards the centre. As they did, the two hostiles that had been mostly crushed by Uprising's entrance cried out from where they were trying to escape the heavy door pinning them down. Invisible blades took care of the last of their strength, and both were pulled from their predicament by emergency beads of light.
Exorcist had a choice of what to do now as she watched on; it seemed as though the conflict here was becoming increasingly one-sided towards her allies, especially if the several stealthy support programs were about to join the fray, but the shouted commands that alluded to some bigger bad were still a danger. The matron was inviting her to travel with herself and Grace as they retreated back through the one intact exit to the area, presumably under cover of the Yoka representative's own fiery protectors, and it would give her a chance to talk with Cascading Grace, the third rep, and find out what she knew... Provided Exorcist, and possibly Mary, felt it was safe to trust the allies that remained to handle the situation here.
From her point of view, once she was fully mounted up, ResQ would be able to see that several of the lower ranking infiltrators had been removed from consideration, but others still remained to be neutralised. the most senior boss had apparently been thrown back towards the north end of the room by one of Uprising's powerful strikes, but he wasn't out of the fight yet, and was starting to pick himself up from where he'd crashed into the northern wall, just beside a closed off doorway. Saija was obviously close by still, somewhere, and Rhinestone was behind her, apparently injured but still alright, while her other foes all lay ahead, in the centre of the room from her current position, scrapping with the rebel girl, while a smaller cluster was focused on the girl in white, and the navi with the burning sword. Across the way, she could now see Exorcist more clearly, standing with a busty woman dressed all in red, both on the outskirts of the battle and seemingly unmolested as yet, though it looked like they were being escorted by a heelnavi, very much like the thugs that had threatened her.
-=Escalating Situations=-
-=Allies=-
West Hall
Exorcist.Exe [Has taken 15 damage and has a strong barrier]
MadamaSanguine.Exe
Fuukouhan.Exe [Illusion: Disguised as HeelNavi]
Tera.SP [Invisible]
Chikara.SP [Invisible]
Ōishi.SP [Invisible]
Okano.SP [Invisible]
Yahei.SP [Invisible]
South Hall
Mary.Sp [Has taken no damage and is under no status effects]
East Hall
ResQ.Exe [With ANGEL][Has taken 15 damage has a shield and a wind barrier]
Rhinestone.Exe [Behind ResQ]
SaijaTsun.Exe [Invisible]
Central
CascadingGrace.Exe [Towards the West][Being protected by a Talisman?]
KenmoeteMan.Exe [Near Grace]
Uprising.Exe [Central]
-=Hostiles=-
West Hall
SubvertAgent D [EJO]
SubvertAgent E [EJO]
East Hall
SubvertBoss A [EJO]
Central
SubvertAgent F [Near Grace]
SubvertAgent G [Near Grace]
SubvertAgent A [EJO]
SubvertAgent B [EJO]
SubvertAgent H [EJO]
SubvertAgent I [Badly Hurt][Near Centre]
SubvertAgent J [Badly Hurt][Near Centre]
SubvertBoss B [Badly Hurt][Centre]
North Hall
SubvertBoss D [Looks Injured][Near northern door]
-=Terrain=-
100% Reinforced Glass
Reinforced Glass acts in all ways like Glass terrain, except that it is as impregnable as if it were Metal terrain.
The room is a wide cross shape, with side halls in each direction about as large as the space made up by the central square.
-=Oddities=-
Spacial distortion: All signs indicate that everyone is still located on the Scottsdale Estate homepage, even though this area resembles no part of it and doesn't appear to be connected to it, except by the hacked connection passages — two out of three of which have been destroyed and cut off.
Combat Static: For whatever reason, combat routines are not functioning with full reliability here, and it doesn't appear possible to get a completely accurate reading on the condition or write protection of anyone, ally or enemy. Notes on player characters (detailing amount of damage taken or status effects) are for their own benefit, but aren't readily readable by even their own allies.
----
((Bhikki coming soon!))
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----
While they looked over the almost certainly trapped room, Bhikki was currently torn between enjoying her companion's affections and the irksome realisation that as much as he was happily telling her things, his tactful words had skirted many of the most important points she'd been driving at. Standing alone with him, his hands were still gentle and respectful, but hadn't let up in their slow, soft caressing of her back and shoulders, the back of her neck, and occasionally her waist and hips — nothing lewd or crude, but definitely tantalising behaviour while they discussed what to do. She could feel a quiet, good natured laugh resonate through his chest as he stood behind her, coming out in a relaxed chuckle as his fingers began to massage her shoulders more deliberately with dexterous fingers.
"Despite how it seems, your friends are in no danger. That much, I can promise you, and for all that I am and seem, I don't lie. For the rest..." She felt him lower his head enough to brush one cheek across the top of her hair.
"You asked if I'm the sort to disregard all else beside the pursuit, well... let me answer that. I live for the exultation of challenge and the exercise of the will — the drive to achieve and acquire. It makes me a very... let's say, 'of the moment' kind of person. When you have me, you have all of me, dedicated down to the last byte, and all of the indescribable exquisiteness that is a passion thoroughly pursued in everything I do... and then when I am gone, I will be gone. It is my nature. But..." His hands drifted away so that he could step to the side and look Bhikki in the eye more clearly.
"That same nature, that will that lets me give everything in the pursuit of my goal... well, that means I'm willing to make you an offer." He raised an eyebrow to her, tilting his head slightly, and his gaze traced her form again, without attempting to hide the glance from her.
"I stand outside this tea party, but my relationship with Zenny is actually as her superior in our little organisation. I know the whole of what's going on here tonight... but that's not what I am pursuing right now, so, what I propose is this: I'm willing to give the whole of the plot at work here tonight... if you will promise to give the whole of yourself to me tonight, in return." Rather than any kind of creepy deal-cutting of blackmailing, the man's tone was open and friendly, and after making the suggestion he raised one hand to forestall any immediate reaction from her.
"Understand, there's no pressure in that offer, and there are no consequences if you decline. We can continue on, and you can keep trying to get the information out of me in another way, just as I will continue trying to convince you to share some enjoyment with me when the evening is done. The offer will be on the table for as long as you want to leave it there. It is entirely up to you whether to take the offer or not; I want you to accept; you're a beautiful young woman, energetic and enthusiastic, and I feel sure I would have at least as much fun in your company as I could promise to give you in return... but more than any of that, I want that it be a decision made of your own free will and willingly, taken because you want it — that is important to me. So it is an offer, and nothing more." With a soft shrug he smiled again, then glanced back to the room beyond, and its tantalising display. The night was moving on, while they talked, and that issue alone might be another consideration in Bhikkhuni's planning. Hoodwink shook his head slightly as he looked at the display in the middle of the room ahead.
"Zenny and Cryptic both would be furious at me if they knew I was making this offer to you, but I think it's only fair. Besides, I'm promising to give you all the information you need; you'll still have to decide what to do with it, once you have it." It seemed as though her silent wish for the man to divulge more information was, quite suddenly, up for grabs, if Bhikki wanted to make such a promise to him, though another feature she might consider to the whole bargain was how much the rogue had stressed the importance of her only accepting if she actually wanted to spend 'time' with him... there was every possibility that if he thought she was accepting for the sake of the mission, and didn't want to fool around with him in truth, that he would put a stop to it, and refuse to play ball.
While they looked over the almost certainly trapped room, Bhikki was currently torn between enjoying her companion's affections and the irksome realisation that as much as he was happily telling her things, his tactful words had skirted many of the most important points she'd been driving at. Standing alone with him, his hands were still gentle and respectful, but hadn't let up in their slow, soft caressing of her back and shoulders, the back of her neck, and occasionally her waist and hips — nothing lewd or crude, but definitely tantalising behaviour while they discussed what to do. She could feel a quiet, good natured laugh resonate through his chest as he stood behind her, coming out in a relaxed chuckle as his fingers began to massage her shoulders more deliberately with dexterous fingers.
"Despite how it seems, your friends are in no danger. That much, I can promise you, and for all that I am and seem, I don't lie. For the rest..." She felt him lower his head enough to brush one cheek across the top of her hair.
"You asked if I'm the sort to disregard all else beside the pursuit, well... let me answer that. I live for the exultation of challenge and the exercise of the will — the drive to achieve and acquire. It makes me a very... let's say, 'of the moment' kind of person. When you have me, you have all of me, dedicated down to the last byte, and all of the indescribable exquisiteness that is a passion thoroughly pursued in everything I do... and then when I am gone, I will be gone. It is my nature. But..." His hands drifted away so that he could step to the side and look Bhikki in the eye more clearly.
"That same nature, that will that lets me give everything in the pursuit of my goal... well, that means I'm willing to make you an offer." He raised an eyebrow to her, tilting his head slightly, and his gaze traced her form again, without attempting to hide the glance from her.
"I stand outside this tea party, but my relationship with Zenny is actually as her superior in our little organisation. I know the whole of what's going on here tonight... but that's not what I am pursuing right now, so, what I propose is this: I'm willing to give the whole of the plot at work here tonight... if you will promise to give the whole of yourself to me tonight, in return." Rather than any kind of creepy deal-cutting of blackmailing, the man's tone was open and friendly, and after making the suggestion he raised one hand to forestall any immediate reaction from her.
"Understand, there's no pressure in that offer, and there are no consequences if you decline. We can continue on, and you can keep trying to get the information out of me in another way, just as I will continue trying to convince you to share some enjoyment with me when the evening is done. The offer will be on the table for as long as you want to leave it there. It is entirely up to you whether to take the offer or not; I want you to accept; you're a beautiful young woman, energetic and enthusiastic, and I feel sure I would have at least as much fun in your company as I could promise to give you in return... but more than any of that, I want that it be a decision made of your own free will and willingly, taken because you want it — that is important to me. So it is an offer, and nothing more." With a soft shrug he smiled again, then glanced back to the room beyond, and its tantalising display. The night was moving on, while they talked, and that issue alone might be another consideration in Bhikkhuni's planning. Hoodwink shook his head slightly as he looked at the display in the middle of the room ahead.
"Zenny and Cryptic both would be furious at me if they knew I was making this offer to you, but I think it's only fair. Besides, I'm promising to give you all the information you need; you'll still have to decide what to do with it, once you have it." It seemed as though her silent wish for the man to divulge more information was, quite suddenly, up for grabs, if Bhikki wanted to make such a promise to him, though another feature she might consider to the whole bargain was how much the rogue had stressed the importance of her only accepting if she actually wanted to spend 'time' with him... there was every possibility that if he thought she was accepting for the sake of the mission, and didn't want to fool around with him in truth, that he would put a stop to it, and refuse to play ball.
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Exorcist winced, realizing one of her talismans had hit her allies, as she'd feared it might. "In hindsight, I should have thought out something with a more controlled area of effect," she reasoned, drawing up her lip nervously. It didn't look like she'd done any real damage, at least... no data was coming from where a wound would be. All things considered, it seemed like their team had the upper hand here. She would be all for finishing off the enemies and conducting a more thorough investigation, if it weren't for the risk she'd already noted as far as the seeming intent to gather all of the leaders in one place for some unknown purpose. "Thank you, I think it's best that you retreat and leave the rest to your forces, as you suggested. I'll come with you. If you're leaving this place and their intent was to gather you here, I think it's safe to say that any remnants are going to change course and go after you and Grace, so you may... er... benefit from my assistance." She'd started to say "need my protection," but implying that she was going to provide the edge that the intelligent, fire-wielding woman needed to overcome assailants might be a little insulting. "Also, I must admit, I have an interest of my own in learning more about what Grace knows."
She'd send a message to ResQ and the SPs now, assuming that it would go through...
To her surprise, she would receive another message quickly, one directed to all of the group.
Exorcist was surprised and frankly a little alarmed at the contents of the message. She had not realized that her SP was here and she was particularly concerned that her SP might be in some danger. Still, the joking tone hadn't been unusual for Mary, so she assumed her SP must be safe.
She thought to herself, again, that Burt really should have let her know they were only a 90 degree angle and a few meters away from one another. Still, for now, she planned to accept the Madama's offer and accompany her out. "I'm ready to leave," she informed her; hopefully KenmoeteMan had been successful in bringing Grace to them as well. "I'm sure you two have some questions for one another, so I'll wait my turn." There were many answers she wanted the navis to help her derive: the identity of their attackers, the motives of Zennocracy, the motives of CrypticMan, why some of their attackers were menacing them with pillows... but for now, Exorcist felt she might learn more simply from staying quiet and listening to what the two first decided to discuss among themselves.
Back in the battle, Mary singled out Uprising as being an ally who was taking a bit of a beating, although the fearsome little navi seemed to be relishing the battle rather than resenting it. She prepared a vial and a larger flask, each filled with holy water, and slung them one after another; she wasn't enough of a hand to coordinate throwing the two at once. Each container would fly over to their target, pause midair, and upend their liquid onto Uprising. The flask would continue on in its original trajectory and smash against the floor, while the smaller vial would keep its place mid-air. Finally, although there weren't seemingly a lot of navis left opposing them (and fewer still with weapons capable of doing significant damage), she'd prepare to jump out the way of any attacks as best she could, should she start to look like a tempting hostage to any of them.
Mary--
*)Recovery subtype IV @ Uprising [5 HP heal per action until broken]
1) Baptism of Faith @ [60 HP recovery]
2) Dodge
--------------------------------------
Bhikkhunni still didn't trust that Exorcist, Mary, and ResQ were really free from danger, even after her mysterious acquaintance reassured her. Still, Mary didn't sound worse for the wear, despite apparently being in a combat situation. She resolved that maybe it was safe to focus on her own situation for now... there was plenty she needed to think about.
She smirked at Hoodwink's response, turning her eyes up at him and crossing her arms. "Well you know, buddy, despite being a Buddhist, I like to hold on to things!" she joked, then withered a bit under the obvious intent of his gaze. That feeling grew as he announced that he was actually somehow higher up on the totem pole than a navi who maintained a mansion with servants, a combat butler, and a garage with a fashionable motorcycle. "Really? You're higher up than her? Just how loaded are you?!" Maybe giving in here wasn't such a bad idea after all... she liked a man with security. Then again, he already explained he was the cut and run type, so that hope was out the window. Still, what came next was even more shocking... Well, not shocking, exactly. She'd been thinking he probably wanted that. Still... "W-Wait! Just how am I supposed to take that, huh? I mean, uh, thanks but no thanks! You're kinda not giving me a great option there-" she protested immediately, but he cut her off. She listened to more, then resumed babbling again, growing increasingly more flushed. "I-I mean, uh, don't get me wrong... Um, I mean, you're a helpful guy and uh, I like that you're ambitious and you've got money and a sexy a- ... abs." She bit her tongue near the end. "But I can't... I mean, you know, I just can't do that, it's kinda like uh... I get what you're saying, but it feels a little too much like selling myself! Not that uh, it's not okay for... aw, you get what I mean!"
She really didn't like letting him down (or herself, for that matter). He had said there was a chance she'd still get the info from him and by gum, she intended to do it. Several options sped through her mind, each more ridiculous than the last, until she settled on one that was pretty ridiculous, but not as ridiculous as trying to test how well he stood up to tickle-torture. "Okay, so... Hypothetically... What if I did something, um... Kind of like that but not going all the way... but, uh, y-you know, just enough so... so like you could um... you could give me most of the details and I can figure out the rest by myself? Like um... I-I could..." she murmured, her eyes swimming as she remembered his naked body again and being touched by it. "Well, to start we could... Kiss... On the lips this time... Tongue if you want... And um, you give me some info... and we'll go from there," the SP insisted, looking back and forth and suddenly wishing they were back in the smaller, more intimate and secluded space of the closet. Neither the hallway nor the inside of the treasure room was a very good place for this, but for now, she was too out of her head to think of a way to right that error.
She'd send a message to ResQ and the SPs now, assuming that it would go through...
Quote (Exorcist)
ResQ, sorry to ask it of you, but please continue to fight and monitor the situation down here. I'm heading out to get CascadingGrace away from the danger; I'll be following MadamaSanguine. If you have any trouble- well, more trouble than you are now- please let me know and I'll return.
To her surprise, she would receive another message quickly, one directed to all of the group.
Quote (Mary)
I'm here too, Exxy~
Exorcist was surprised and frankly a little alarmed at the contents of the message. She had not realized that her SP was here and she was particularly concerned that her SP might be in some danger. Still, the joking tone hadn't been unusual for Mary, so she assumed her SP must be safe.
Quote (Exorcist)
Good, you can support our allies here as well, then. Try to stay safe!
She thought to herself, again, that Burt really should have let her know they were only a 90 degree angle and a few meters away from one another. Still, for now, she planned to accept the Madama's offer and accompany her out. "I'm ready to leave," she informed her; hopefully KenmoeteMan had been successful in bringing Grace to them as well. "I'm sure you two have some questions for one another, so I'll wait my turn." There were many answers she wanted the navis to help her derive: the identity of their attackers, the motives of Zennocracy, the motives of CrypticMan, why some of their attackers were menacing them with pillows... but for now, Exorcist felt she might learn more simply from staying quiet and listening to what the two first decided to discuss among themselves.
Back in the battle, Mary singled out Uprising as being an ally who was taking a bit of a beating, although the fearsome little navi seemed to be relishing the battle rather than resenting it. She prepared a vial and a larger flask, each filled with holy water, and slung them one after another; she wasn't enough of a hand to coordinate throwing the two at once. Each container would fly over to their target, pause midair, and upend their liquid onto Uprising. The flask would continue on in its original trajectory and smash against the floor, while the smaller vial would keep its place mid-air. Finally, although there weren't seemingly a lot of navis left opposing them (and fewer still with weapons capable of doing significant damage), she'd prepare to jump out the way of any attacks as best she could, should she start to look like a tempting hostage to any of them.
Mary--
*)Recovery subtype IV @ Uprising [5 HP heal per action until broken]
1) Baptism of Faith @ [60 HP recovery]
2) Dodge
--------------------------------------
Bhikkhunni still didn't trust that Exorcist, Mary, and ResQ were really free from danger, even after her mysterious acquaintance reassured her. Still, Mary didn't sound worse for the wear, despite apparently being in a combat situation. She resolved that maybe it was safe to focus on her own situation for now... there was plenty she needed to think about.
She smirked at Hoodwink's response, turning her eyes up at him and crossing her arms. "Well you know, buddy, despite being a Buddhist, I like to hold on to things!" she joked, then withered a bit under the obvious intent of his gaze. That feeling grew as he announced that he was actually somehow higher up on the totem pole than a navi who maintained a mansion with servants, a combat butler, and a garage with a fashionable motorcycle. "Really? You're higher up than her? Just how loaded are you?!" Maybe giving in here wasn't such a bad idea after all... she liked a man with security. Then again, he already explained he was the cut and run type, so that hope was out the window. Still, what came next was even more shocking... Well, not shocking, exactly. She'd been thinking he probably wanted that. Still... "W-Wait! Just how am I supposed to take that, huh? I mean, uh, thanks but no thanks! You're kinda not giving me a great option there-" she protested immediately, but he cut her off. She listened to more, then resumed babbling again, growing increasingly more flushed. "I-I mean, uh, don't get me wrong... Um, I mean, you're a helpful guy and uh, I like that you're ambitious and you've got money and a sexy a- ... abs." She bit her tongue near the end. "But I can't... I mean, you know, I just can't do that, it's kinda like uh... I get what you're saying, but it feels a little too much like selling myself! Not that uh, it's not okay for... aw, you get what I mean!"
She really didn't like letting him down (or herself, for that matter). He had said there was a chance she'd still get the info from him and by gum, she intended to do it. Several options sped through her mind, each more ridiculous than the last, until she settled on one that was pretty ridiculous, but not as ridiculous as trying to test how well he stood up to tickle-torture. "Okay, so... Hypothetically... What if I did something, um... Kind of like that but not going all the way... but, uh, y-you know, just enough so... so like you could um... you could give me most of the details and I can figure out the rest by myself? Like um... I-I could..." she murmured, her eyes swimming as she remembered his naked body again and being touched by it. "Well, to start we could... Kiss... On the lips this time... Tongue if you want... And um, you give me some info... and we'll go from there," the SP insisted, looking back and forth and suddenly wishing they were back in the smaller, more intimate and secluded space of the closet. Neither the hallway nor the inside of the treasure room was a very good place for this, but for now, she was too out of her head to think of a way to right that error.
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ResQ did indeed have a better look of the battlefield upon suiting up and standing nearly at the ANGEL's full height. She thought she'd broken the covertness and devolved the situation into a melee, but it looked like Exorcist and what she could only assume to be her allies had already gotten into the thick of it. With the one leader-sounding goon smushed and summarily executed by Saija in a slightly off-putting fashion, ResQ stood without foe in smashing range.
To remedy this, she tilted the ANGEL to a fairly aggressive jog. She wanted to simply fly there, using the 8 main rotors stored uselessly behind her head and body, but any attempts to bring them online only brought a brief "disabled" message. [[i]"What's with the propellers, buzzcut? They're not spinning up,"[/i]] she complained via their secure link. [[color=green]"Flight ops haven't been fully checked out, I can't safely allow the ANGEL to take off yet,"[/color]] Alex replied just as ResQ brought herself and the ANGEL to a sliding halt. Though she fully desired to berate her NetOp further about her seemingly idiotic flight restriction, a communique from her ally halted her tirade.
Though she was approaching a mood to warrant pulverizing the hopefully caught and yanked goon, she still had the lucidity to change her focus in an attempt to further turn the tables in their favor. Once the chip data was uploaded by Alex, a weapon more akin to a twin-barrelled shotgun (as compared to the forearm-mounted twin-launcher seen previously) materialized in the ANGEL's open right hand. ResQ's own right hand moved to a 'finger-gun' shape, with her index and pointer fingers facing forward with her thumb upright like a cocked hammer.
She swung her right arm towards the least injured-looking bossy goon that was previously thrown back in some sort of percussive counter attack, and quickly refined her aim before her thumb flicked forward. The shotgun went off with a loud boom, and a single spike-like projectile was shot towards the program with intent to perforate and potentially pin him to any available surface like some macabre scientific 'catalog of heelnavis.' Immediately after she hopefully "nailed" the SubvertBoss, she picked out one of the more severely injured agents nearby. She quickly followed up with another fang-like projectile delivered at muzzle velocity, with the intent of rapidly depleting the enemy's numbers, to either allow for her allies' escape, or for them to overwhelm and subvert their attackers into spilling information as to why they attacked in the first place.
To remedy this, she tilted the ANGEL to a fairly aggressive jog. She wanted to simply fly there, using the 8 main rotors stored uselessly behind her head and body, but any attempts to bring them online only brought a brief "disabled" message. [[i]"What's with the propellers, buzzcut? They're not spinning up,"[/i]] she complained via their secure link. [[color=green]"Flight ops haven't been fully checked out, I can't safely allow the ANGEL to take off yet,"[/color]] Alex replied just as ResQ brought herself and the ANGEL to a sliding halt. Though she fully desired to berate her NetOp further about her seemingly idiotic flight restriction, a communique from her ally halted her tirade.
Quote (ResQ)
I assume CascadingGrace is the one in white? If so, I'll keep these goons busy or EJO'd. Let me know if and where you find an exit out of here, deal?She shot back before she narrowed her eyes and refined her aim towards one of the pillow-wielding foes near the Navi in white. [[i]"Fine, TwinClaw,"[/i]] She ordered before she then opened her left hand and pointed her fingertips and palm towards the virus, which the ANGEL's three-clawed grappling hook hand mimicked perfectly. She then twisted her wrist 180 degrees clockwise, which prompted the three propulsion rockets behind the claw's "wrist" to ignite and propel the wire-tethered claw towards one of the two enemy Navis facing who she assumed to be CascadingGrace. Its claws snapped open in preparation for impact and consequent clamp-down on the target. Regardless of her hitting the target, as soon as the claw passed over her target's position, she snapped the claw shut and yanked her arm back as she started to reel in the cable winch; she didn't want to chance a poorly-placed shot hitting CascadingGrace instead of the enemies attacking her.
Though she was approaching a mood to warrant pulverizing the hopefully caught and yanked goon, she still had the lucidity to change her focus in an attempt to further turn the tables in their favor. Once the chip data was uploaded by Alex, a weapon more akin to a twin-barrelled shotgun (as compared to the forearm-mounted twin-launcher seen previously) materialized in the ANGEL's open right hand. ResQ's own right hand moved to a 'finger-gun' shape, with her index and pointer fingers facing forward with her thumb upright like a cocked hammer.
She swung her right arm towards the least injured-looking bossy goon that was previously thrown back in some sort of percussive counter attack, and quickly refined her aim before her thumb flicked forward. The shotgun went off with a loud boom, and a single spike-like projectile was shot towards the program with intent to perforate and potentially pin him to any available surface like some macabre scientific 'catalog of heelnavis.' Immediately after she hopefully "nailed" the SubvertBoss, she picked out one of the more severely injured agents nearby. She quickly followed up with another fang-like projectile delivered at muzzle velocity, with the intent of rapidly depleting the enemy's numbers, to either allow for her allies' escape, or for them to overwhelm and subvert their attackers into spilling information as to why they attacked in the first place.
ACTIONS
1: Movement: Move within firing range of hostiles in center area
2: Grapple Claw SubvertAgent F (20dmg + Stun + Pull + 2TCD)
3:
TwinFang1Damage: 70 x 2 targets
Accuracy: A
Description: Launches two fangs. Hits cannot be stacked on one opponent.
Duration: Once
Element: Null
Trader Rank: DSubvertBossD, SubvertAgent I
2: Grapple Claw SubvertAgent F (20dmg + Stun + Pull + 2TCD)
3:
TwinFang1Damage: 70 x 2 targetsAccuracy: A
Description: Launches two fangs. Hits cannot be stacked on one opponent.
Duration: Once
Element: Null
Trader Rank: DSubvertBossD, SubvertAgent I
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Quick communications shot back and forth between the mission-going navis and their allies, and Exorcist made up her mind to help escort the matron, and hopefully Grace as well, out of the strange underground space, and away from wherever it was that the interlopers wanted them. The mistress seemed content with this decision, nodding to her as they began to pull back ad a calm pace, returning towards the one remaining doorway that still seemed to connect back to the estate properly. Beside them both, Fuukouhan had gone back to looking like herself, red hair and blue eyes bright but serious in the midst of the situation. She didn't move back as far, watching the central area instead with her hands raised in a defending stance and small swirls and trails of fire and wind licking about them in fluid patterns.
Not far away, the other fire-themed retainer was still attempting to cut his way to Grace and ensure her safety; about to bring his sword to bear again on the agent that had stymied his advance a moment before, he paused, half turning his head as the heel navi was, very suddenly, grabbed by a large, metal claw and yanked away, almost like some kind of carnival toy; the agent had time for a brief cry of shock before he was dragged back towards ResQ's ANGEL, dazed. Kenmoete closed the remaining distance and delivered a quick pair of blazing slashes that ejected the other criminal harassing Grace before he could respond. For a moment after, his serious, grim expression softened into something far more soothing and friendly and he took one hand off his sword to extend it to Grace. As he began to speak, however, the last remaining boss in the centre of the area turned on the sight, peeling off from Uprising with an angry shout and rampaging towards the pair.
Incensed now, at the way all of their carefully orchestrated planing was falling apart, he came in swinging the massively damaging gigas-fist that he had first attempted to use on the rebel girl, this time aiming it squarely at Cascading Grace, as though he meant to propel her back into the northern corner of the room away from all of her allies. The bellow gave Kenmoete enough warning to look back and unaware that Exorcist's talisman would probably protect his charge from harm, the swordsman made the split second decision to slide himself between the sanctuary rep and the attack, sword raised. He didn't so much protect her from the blow, as take it for her; with a heavy thump of impact, the punch threw him back into the northern section of the room like a rag doll, and he struck the wall and dropped to one knee with his head down and a hand on the ground. He began to rise again, but there was a very definite moment of hesitation and a shaky breath or two as he did; it looked as though his preferred style was to strike quickly and avoid being hit, rather than tanking large amounts of damage.
The melee of moving pieces continued to mount in confusion, though, and the battle didn't stop for any one individual; the subvert boss was turning on Grace to grab her, while the woman was backing off in the direction Kenmoete had been pointing, even as Mary sent as much healing as she could quickly muster to the scraping rebel in the middle. Uprising flicked her eyes in Mary's direction, lifting two fingers to her forehead briefly with a free hand in thanks and acknowledgement even as she chased after the leader that had run away from her. She crashed into him shoulder first just as he reached out towards Grace, and the pair slammed hard into the wall. One of them gave a pained cry beneath the sounds of cracking limbs, and it wasn't Uprising. The larger navi crumpled down once Uprising stepped back and let him come away from the wall, but she ignored him in favour of turning towards Grace and gesturing with her banner, towards the passage where Exorcist waited.
"Go, Now!" The shout was probably a little louder than it needed to be, given their proximity, but Grace nodded after an initial flinch, then backed off more quickly than before, coming to join MadamaSanguine and Exorcist behind their one remaining retainer. As the other three women made for the door, however, Fuukouhan hesitated. Her eyes darted beck between MadamaSanguine, and the area beyond where she had seen Kenmoete take the hit that threw him out of the group's current sight. There was a tension in her eyes, torn between wanting to wait, and her duty to her mistress. It was only as two of the remaining agents rushed towards their gathering that she grit er teeth and gestured with both hands, causing a blazing wall of fire to rise between the trio and the rest of the chamber, while a strong down-draught rolled off it bending the flames inwards and pushing the on-rushing heelnavis back. Still clearly unhappy about her choice, she rushed with the Exorcist and the others for the exit.
"Kenmoete, miss Cascading grace is secure and with us. Meet us as you are able." The matron seemed less concerned about her retainer's safety than Fuukouhan did, though it was possible that she was simple better at maintaining an absolute calm in the face of any upheavals.
The passageway led back, undamaged as it had been on their way in, and the four women, including Exorcist were easily able to fall back into the bridging room, and then back through the transitioning stairs to the faire ground beyond. It hadn't been notable until they returned, but the air did seem much fresher out here, even if it was filled with the scents and sounds of unusual cuisine and faux-sci-fi attractions. Fuukouhan continued to watch the door carefully, while Cascading grace leaned on the wall beside the doorway and visibly took some time to catch her breath and fan her cheeks. the matron was as calm as she eve was, but seemed to be waiting patiently for the other woman to be ready. She cast an eye towards Exorcist and raised an eyebrow, then tilted her head back towards Grace; the implication seemed to be that she was wanting Exorcist to ask her own questions first and talk to the woman before she herself did.
Back underground, the confusion hadn't slowed. The leader that Uprising had flung to the back of the room earlier was just beginning to get up again, when ResQ pinned him back against the north wall with a shot of her own. One hand came up to grip the spike that pinned him, but he didn't seem to have the strength to pull free any more, or really do much beyond gasp and curse in pain. He hadn't ejected, but he certainly looked close, as far as any of them were able to tell. ResQ's other shot pinned one of the two agents that had made to chase after Exorcist and the retreating reps; the pair had just stopped in front of the sudden wall of fire when her attack hit, immediately sending one of them from the net in a beat of light, while the other turned about in confusion. No option seemed like a good choice for the lone heel navi at this point, and he raised his hands, putting his back to the fire wall and facing ResQ across the chamber.
His surrender, unfortunately, didn't last very long; As he moved from putting his hands in the air, to clasping them behind his head instead, a slight shimmering in the air behind him probably clued ResQ in on what was a out to happen. A moment after, a blade slipped out of the shadows and punched into the side of his neck from behind, leading to another jack-out beam. Saija's form was visible for another brief moment, then she shimmered from sight again.
In the mess that the battle had become, none of the hostile factions had managed enough cohesion to make any sort of fresh assault upon anyone, and they had been mostly overwhelmed in a matter of moments. It seemed, more or less, like the danger had passed, but pre-emptively saving anyone from making any kind of damning comment, a rumbled travelled through the chamber and the glass under all of their feet began to light up in shades of purple, blue and red. Saija's invisibility dispersed as the light passed through the floor, leaving the red-dressed woman making an irritated sound as she gripped her long dagger tight. Around Uprising, as well, a collection of five quite different-looking people faded into sight, most wielding weapons and arrayed in positions that were ready to defend their navi and fight for her if need be. They'd opted to keep hidden when it seemed like the battle didn't call for their action, but now the sudden change insetting had revealed them anyway. Now the five were looking about with sudden caution, seeking some other danger.
ResQ still had one of the lesser heel navis dazed and hurt in her immediate custody, and the two remaining leaders seemed to both be on the brink of being ejected from the net, but the northern door slid open before anyone could take any further action and a dense mist rolled out of it, swiftly filling the room and making it harder to see. Soft misting rain began to fall inside the chamber, creating an eerie glow from the light rising off the glass. The wall of fire to the west remained creating a beacon of diffuse light through the mist and an odd miraging heat haze in that direction. Shapes moved, one far bigger than the others, through the steam, accompanied by a sound something like hydraulic water flow, and the tramp and splash of feet.
"Bloody useless the whole lot... I gave you all enough weapons to... ah hell! Right, who's left? Crying out loud you've even let two of them nick off again?" The voice came from the larger figure in the mist, and though it sounded like a normal navi's voice, there was some kind of intercom-style distortion to it as well.
"Rest of you, get in there. There's one left at least. That'll have to do for now. Get him, and and bring him here. Just kill the rest of this unoperated trash, I'm done playing by queen bitch's rules. Getting the marks is what matters. You two, pick your bloody selves up and try harder. Whichever one of you doesn't manage to bring me one of these blasted sanctuary leaders is losing his cut entirely. On your feet!"
As the voice shouted orders, ResQ was able to get a slightly better view of the figure at the northern end of the chamber. It looked something like a dark mech, but larger, and supported by a series of four hydraulic water jets that stabilised it against the ground and spread a steady stream of water over the glass flooring — there was already an inch of it even around the feet of ResQ's ANGEL, as far away as she was. Rather than bladed limbs, the mech suit seemed to have a few different guns and cannons mounted on its arms instead, and the domed bubble in the middle gave a fleeting glimpse of a navi with an eye piece fitted over his left eye, operating controls.
A number of other regular heel navis were running into the room as well, all bearing weapons as well, but several of them stopped in their tracks as a sudden blaze of fire engulfed the north western corner of the room and burned back some of the mist. Kenmoete had risen to his feet again now, and a wreathing of fire flowed over his body. The red shirt he'd been wearing had burned away, leaving his chest bare; fortunately the denim of his jeans had held up a little better. As the fire burned, though, a sunburst etched itself across the centre of his chest in bright golden light and a similar design lit the irises of his formerly blue eyes.
"Murder, is it? An ignorant fool and his lackeys have no fathoming of the depths of our history. Unoperated we might be; with one life only to spend... But I am KenmoeteMan, of fallen Taiyōtamashī and all the honour and glory of the sun-souled remain alive within me. You cannot afford that price, wretch!" As he gripped his sword in both hands again, it was clear that the combination of factors and words thrown about in this situation had spurred a deep wrath in the retainer, and he was on the brink of throwing himself at the new-comer, despite what looked like some serious injuries of his own. Even so, a number of the new arrivals flinched back from his challenge, and the display of rolling fire surrounding him.
Meanwhile, behind her, ResQ might also be aware of the other important piece on the playing field; Rhinestone had remained quiet and mostly hidden as the fight progressed. He wasn't drawing any particular attention to himself, but if she looked back, ResQ might notice that for all his stoicism, he still held one arm clutched across his midsection, while the other was maintaining a moderately sturdy-looking crystalline defence in front of him. Though he didn't make eye contact with her, she received a short communication from him a few moments after the lights and the mists began.
Unfortunately, Mary would discover a similar problem just as soon as she tried to use any of her own restorative powers, so it seemed as though it was something affecting the entire area, somehow.
-=Escalating Situations=-
-=Allies=-
East Hall
ResQ.Exe [With ANGEL][Has taken 15 damage has a shield and a wind barrier]
Rhinestone.Exe [Taking cover][Trying to look less hurt than he is]
West
SaijaTsun.Exe [By the wall of fire][Looks annoyed at being visible]
Central
Uprising.Exe [Central][Taken some damage, but doesn't seem bothered by it]
Tera.SP [Near Uprising]
Chikara.SP [Near Uprising]
Ōishi.SP [Near Uprising]
Okano.SP [Near Uprising]
Yahei.SP [Near Uprising]
North
KenmoeteMan.Exe [By North-west corner][Looks Hurt][Looks Enraged]
South
Mary.Sp [Has taken no damage and is under no status effects]
-=Hostiles=-
East Hall
SubvertAgent F [Near ResQ][Looks slightly hurt and Dazed]
Central
SubvertBoss B [Prone near Uprising][Critical]
North Hall
SubvertBoss D [Pinned to the northern wall][Critical]
SubvertVanguard A: [Backing away from Kenmoete]
SubvertVanguard B: [Backing away from Kenmoete]
SubvertVanguard C: [Moving towards ResQ/Rhinestone]
SubvertVanguard D: [Moving towards ResQ/Rhinestone]
SubvertVanguard E: [Moving towards ResQ/Rhinestone]
SubvertVanguard F: [Moving towards Centre]
SubvertVanguard G: [Moving towards Centre]
SubvertVanguard H: [Moving towards Centre]
SubvertVanguard I: [Moving towards Centre]
Subvert Coordinator: [Observing and directing near North door]
-=Terrain=-
100% Reinforced Glass
Reinforced Glass acts in all ways like Glass terrain, except that it is as impregnable as if it were Metal terrain.
The room is a wide cross shape, with side halls in each direction about as large as the space made up by the central square.
-=Oddities=-
Spacial distortion: All signs indicate that everyone is still located on the Scottsdale Estate homepage, even though this area resembles no part of it and doesn't appear to be connected to it, except by the hacked connection passages — two out of three of which have been destroyed and cut off.
Combat Static: For whatever reason, combat routines are not functioning with full reliability here, and it doesn't appear possible to get a completely accurate reading on the condition or write protection of anyone, ally or enemy. Notes on player characters (detailing amount of damage taken or status effects) are for their own benefit, but aren't readily readable by even their own allies.
Heal Block: Anyone standing on the lit up glass seems to be unable to use any healing abilities or effects.
Heavy Mist: A mist is permeating the room, obscuring figures and reducing accuracy for all non-aqua elementals.
----
((Bhikki Coming Soon))
Not far away, the other fire-themed retainer was still attempting to cut his way to Grace and ensure her safety; about to bring his sword to bear again on the agent that had stymied his advance a moment before, he paused, half turning his head as the heel navi was, very suddenly, grabbed by a large, metal claw and yanked away, almost like some kind of carnival toy; the agent had time for a brief cry of shock before he was dragged back towards ResQ's ANGEL, dazed. Kenmoete closed the remaining distance and delivered a quick pair of blazing slashes that ejected the other criminal harassing Grace before he could respond. For a moment after, his serious, grim expression softened into something far more soothing and friendly and he took one hand off his sword to extend it to Grace. As he began to speak, however, the last remaining boss in the centre of the area turned on the sight, peeling off from Uprising with an angry shout and rampaging towards the pair.
Incensed now, at the way all of their carefully orchestrated planing was falling apart, he came in swinging the massively damaging gigas-fist that he had first attempted to use on the rebel girl, this time aiming it squarely at Cascading Grace, as though he meant to propel her back into the northern corner of the room away from all of her allies. The bellow gave Kenmoete enough warning to look back and unaware that Exorcist's talisman would probably protect his charge from harm, the swordsman made the split second decision to slide himself between the sanctuary rep and the attack, sword raised. He didn't so much protect her from the blow, as take it for her; with a heavy thump of impact, the punch threw him back into the northern section of the room like a rag doll, and he struck the wall and dropped to one knee with his head down and a hand on the ground. He began to rise again, but there was a very definite moment of hesitation and a shaky breath or two as he did; it looked as though his preferred style was to strike quickly and avoid being hit, rather than tanking large amounts of damage.
The melee of moving pieces continued to mount in confusion, though, and the battle didn't stop for any one individual; the subvert boss was turning on Grace to grab her, while the woman was backing off in the direction Kenmoete had been pointing, even as Mary sent as much healing as she could quickly muster to the scraping rebel in the middle. Uprising flicked her eyes in Mary's direction, lifting two fingers to her forehead briefly with a free hand in thanks and acknowledgement even as she chased after the leader that had run away from her. She crashed into him shoulder first just as he reached out towards Grace, and the pair slammed hard into the wall. One of them gave a pained cry beneath the sounds of cracking limbs, and it wasn't Uprising. The larger navi crumpled down once Uprising stepped back and let him come away from the wall, but she ignored him in favour of turning towards Grace and gesturing with her banner, towards the passage where Exorcist waited.
"Go, Now!" The shout was probably a little louder than it needed to be, given their proximity, but Grace nodded after an initial flinch, then backed off more quickly than before, coming to join MadamaSanguine and Exorcist behind their one remaining retainer. As the other three women made for the door, however, Fuukouhan hesitated. Her eyes darted beck between MadamaSanguine, and the area beyond where she had seen Kenmoete take the hit that threw him out of the group's current sight. There was a tension in her eyes, torn between wanting to wait, and her duty to her mistress. It was only as two of the remaining agents rushed towards their gathering that she grit er teeth and gestured with both hands, causing a blazing wall of fire to rise between the trio and the rest of the chamber, while a strong down-draught rolled off it bending the flames inwards and pushing the on-rushing heelnavis back. Still clearly unhappy about her choice, she rushed with the Exorcist and the others for the exit.
"Kenmoete, miss Cascading grace is secure and with us. Meet us as you are able." The matron seemed less concerned about her retainer's safety than Fuukouhan did, though it was possible that she was simple better at maintaining an absolute calm in the face of any upheavals.
The passageway led back, undamaged as it had been on their way in, and the four women, including Exorcist were easily able to fall back into the bridging room, and then back through the transitioning stairs to the faire ground beyond. It hadn't been notable until they returned, but the air did seem much fresher out here, even if it was filled with the scents and sounds of unusual cuisine and faux-sci-fi attractions. Fuukouhan continued to watch the door carefully, while Cascading grace leaned on the wall beside the doorway and visibly took some time to catch her breath and fan her cheeks. the matron was as calm as she eve was, but seemed to be waiting patiently for the other woman to be ready. She cast an eye towards Exorcist and raised an eyebrow, then tilted her head back towards Grace; the implication seemed to be that she was wanting Exorcist to ask her own questions first and talk to the woman before she herself did.
Back underground, the confusion hadn't slowed. The leader that Uprising had flung to the back of the room earlier was just beginning to get up again, when ResQ pinned him back against the north wall with a shot of her own. One hand came up to grip the spike that pinned him, but he didn't seem to have the strength to pull free any more, or really do much beyond gasp and curse in pain. He hadn't ejected, but he certainly looked close, as far as any of them were able to tell. ResQ's other shot pinned one of the two agents that had made to chase after Exorcist and the retreating reps; the pair had just stopped in front of the sudden wall of fire when her attack hit, immediately sending one of them from the net in a beat of light, while the other turned about in confusion. No option seemed like a good choice for the lone heel navi at this point, and he raised his hands, putting his back to the fire wall and facing ResQ across the chamber.
His surrender, unfortunately, didn't last very long; As he moved from putting his hands in the air, to clasping them behind his head instead, a slight shimmering in the air behind him probably clued ResQ in on what was a out to happen. A moment after, a blade slipped out of the shadows and punched into the side of his neck from behind, leading to another jack-out beam. Saija's form was visible for another brief moment, then she shimmered from sight again.
In the mess that the battle had become, none of the hostile factions had managed enough cohesion to make any sort of fresh assault upon anyone, and they had been mostly overwhelmed in a matter of moments. It seemed, more or less, like the danger had passed, but pre-emptively saving anyone from making any kind of damning comment, a rumbled travelled through the chamber and the glass under all of their feet began to light up in shades of purple, blue and red. Saija's invisibility dispersed as the light passed through the floor, leaving the red-dressed woman making an irritated sound as she gripped her long dagger tight. Around Uprising, as well, a collection of five quite different-looking people faded into sight, most wielding weapons and arrayed in positions that were ready to defend their navi and fight for her if need be. They'd opted to keep hidden when it seemed like the battle didn't call for their action, but now the sudden change insetting had revealed them anyway. Now the five were looking about with sudden caution, seeking some other danger.
ResQ still had one of the lesser heel navis dazed and hurt in her immediate custody, and the two remaining leaders seemed to both be on the brink of being ejected from the net, but the northern door slid open before anyone could take any further action and a dense mist rolled out of it, swiftly filling the room and making it harder to see. Soft misting rain began to fall inside the chamber, creating an eerie glow from the light rising off the glass. The wall of fire to the west remained creating a beacon of diffuse light through the mist and an odd miraging heat haze in that direction. Shapes moved, one far bigger than the others, through the steam, accompanied by a sound something like hydraulic water flow, and the tramp and splash of feet.
"Bloody useless the whole lot... I gave you all enough weapons to... ah hell! Right, who's left? Crying out loud you've even let two of them nick off again?" The voice came from the larger figure in the mist, and though it sounded like a normal navi's voice, there was some kind of intercom-style distortion to it as well.
"Rest of you, get in there. There's one left at least. That'll have to do for now. Get him, and and bring him here. Just kill the rest of this unoperated trash, I'm done playing by queen bitch's rules. Getting the marks is what matters. You two, pick your bloody selves up and try harder. Whichever one of you doesn't manage to bring me one of these blasted sanctuary leaders is losing his cut entirely. On your feet!"
As the voice shouted orders, ResQ was able to get a slightly better view of the figure at the northern end of the chamber. It looked something like a dark mech, but larger, and supported by a series of four hydraulic water jets that stabilised it against the ground and spread a steady stream of water over the glass flooring — there was already an inch of it even around the feet of ResQ's ANGEL, as far away as she was. Rather than bladed limbs, the mech suit seemed to have a few different guns and cannons mounted on its arms instead, and the domed bubble in the middle gave a fleeting glimpse of a navi with an eye piece fitted over his left eye, operating controls.
A number of other regular heel navis were running into the room as well, all bearing weapons as well, but several of them stopped in their tracks as a sudden blaze of fire engulfed the north western corner of the room and burned back some of the mist. Kenmoete had risen to his feet again now, and a wreathing of fire flowed over his body. The red shirt he'd been wearing had burned away, leaving his chest bare; fortunately the denim of his jeans had held up a little better. As the fire burned, though, a sunburst etched itself across the centre of his chest in bright golden light and a similar design lit the irises of his formerly blue eyes.
"Murder, is it? An ignorant fool and his lackeys have no fathoming of the depths of our history. Unoperated we might be; with one life only to spend... But I am KenmoeteMan, of fallen Taiyōtamashī and all the honour and glory of the sun-souled remain alive within me. You cannot afford that price, wretch!" As he gripped his sword in both hands again, it was clear that the combination of factors and words thrown about in this situation had spurred a deep wrath in the retainer, and he was on the brink of throwing himself at the new-comer, despite what looked like some serious injuries of his own. Even so, a number of the new arrivals flinched back from his challenge, and the display of rolling fire surrounding him.
Meanwhile, behind her, ResQ might also be aware of the other important piece on the playing field; Rhinestone had remained quiet and mostly hidden as the fight progressed. He wasn't drawing any particular attention to himself, but if she looked back, ResQ might notice that for all his stoicism, he still held one arm clutched across his midsection, while the other was maintaining a moderately sturdy-looking crystalline defence in front of him. Though he didn't make eye contact with her, she received a short communication from him a few moments after the lights and the mists began.
Quote ()
"Sorry for not chipping in more, friend. Those couple of hits I took seem to be worse than I'd expected... and not to alarm you, but since those lights came on a few seconds ago, my healing is being blocked. Not going to lie. Bit terrified right now. I'm going to stay out of sight as much as I can."
Unfortunately, Mary would discover a similar problem just as soon as she tried to use any of her own restorative powers, so it seemed as though it was something affecting the entire area, somehow.
-=Escalating Situations=-
-=Allies=-
East Hall
ResQ.Exe [With ANGEL][Has taken 15 damage has a shield and a wind barrier]
Rhinestone.Exe [Taking cover][Trying to look less hurt than he is]
West
SaijaTsun.Exe [By the wall of fire][Looks annoyed at being visible]
Central
Uprising.Exe [Central][Taken some damage, but doesn't seem bothered by it]
Tera.SP [Near Uprising]
Chikara.SP [Near Uprising]
Ōishi.SP [Near Uprising]
Okano.SP [Near Uprising]
Yahei.SP [Near Uprising]
North
KenmoeteMan.Exe [By North-west corner][Looks Hurt][Looks Enraged]
South
Mary.Sp [Has taken no damage and is under no status effects]
-=Hostiles=-
East Hall
SubvertAgent F [Near ResQ][Looks slightly hurt and Dazed]
Central
SubvertBoss B [Prone near Uprising][Critical]
North Hall
SubvertBoss D [Pinned to the northern wall][Critical]
SubvertVanguard A: [Backing away from Kenmoete]
SubvertVanguard B: [Backing away from Kenmoete]
SubvertVanguard C: [Moving towards ResQ/Rhinestone]
SubvertVanguard D: [Moving towards ResQ/Rhinestone]
SubvertVanguard E: [Moving towards ResQ/Rhinestone]
SubvertVanguard F: [Moving towards Centre]
SubvertVanguard G: [Moving towards Centre]
SubvertVanguard H: [Moving towards Centre]
SubvertVanguard I: [Moving towards Centre]
Subvert Coordinator: [Observing and directing near North door]
-=Terrain=-
100% Reinforced Glass
Reinforced Glass acts in all ways like Glass terrain, except that it is as impregnable as if it were Metal terrain.
The room is a wide cross shape, with side halls in each direction about as large as the space made up by the central square.
-=Oddities=-
Spacial distortion: All signs indicate that everyone is still located on the Scottsdale Estate homepage, even though this area resembles no part of it and doesn't appear to be connected to it, except by the hacked connection passages — two out of three of which have been destroyed and cut off.
Combat Static: For whatever reason, combat routines are not functioning with full reliability here, and it doesn't appear possible to get a completely accurate reading on the condition or write protection of anyone, ally or enemy. Notes on player characters (detailing amount of damage taken or status effects) are for their own benefit, but aren't readily readable by even their own allies.
Heal Block: Anyone standing on the lit up glass seems to be unable to use any healing abilities or effects.
Heavy Mist: A mist is permeating the room, obscuring figures and reducing accuracy for all non-aqua elementals.
----
((Bhikki Coming Soon))
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Elsewhere, the overly obvious treasure in the centre of the display room continued to glitter and twinkle as it teased the pair of potential thieves from its podium. It was, unfortunately, being mostly ignored in lieu of a different kind of tempting and teasing that was going back and forth between Bhikkhuni and her escort. Hoodwink looked relaxed and comfortable, leaning back against the door frame and backing off from his continuous teasing touches and strokes, letting Bhikki have her small freak-out in peace without pushing the matter. He seemed amused by her flustered response, but in a gentle way that suggested he found her reaction both charming and appealing, and as she struggled for words, he reached down to take one of her gesturing hands in his and kiss the back of it with soft lips, before releasing her.
"If you would feel as though you were selling yourself for gain, Bhikki, and doing something that you did not want to do for the sake of it, then you must say no, for now. Only when it is what you want to do, for yourself... that is when an exchange can be made." He paused and then chuckled, as though thinking of something else. "Of course, I suppose, if your drive is to learn what I know, and your will to acquire that information is strong enough to let no other price get in the way of it, well... that is something I find very, very appealing, so, I suppose all is fair in pursuit of a goal. Still... for now I would prefer it if you only took up my offer because the 'price' felt like no price at all." He chuckled softly then moved back to stand beside her, glancing out across the collection room again and stretching to cross his hands behind his head.
"Answer me this, Bhikkhuni... the way you talk around the suggestion, it sounds very much like there is a part of you that wants what I want. That you desire it too, at some level, but then that there is something else holding you back, telling you that you shouldn't indulge yourself in that for some reason. What stops you, I wonder? What is the thought, or the feeling, or the sensation that makes you hesitate... when one part of your mind imagines asking me to whisk you off to a private chamber here, and surrendering yourself to the joys that follow, and you feel warm to think of it... what part of your thoughts and feelings says that you ought not indulge yourself and have fun, and why does it say so?" His hand drifted to her again as he spoke, tilting his gaze to look back at her from looking out over the room and letting the tips of his fingers circle and rub gently along the contours of her neck and shoulders.
"You still have your task here, of course; Zenny is expecting someone to try to steal this gaudy little prize... and of course, your employer tasked you with doing so... but you could easily decide that you weren't going to do that specific part of his instructions for you. For the kiss, I will say that Cryptic likes to mess with Zenny's plans when he can, and Zenny hates it terribly when her plans don't go as desired. He likes people who understand the importance of information, so he might be persuaded to accept that you deciding not to make an attempt on this prize was a good way of confounding her expectations, if you can impress upon him the fact that Zenny not only was prepared and expecting an attempt, but actually wanted someone to make an attempt. It might work; it is just the kind of clever play he would have an appreciation for, even if it goes against his own plans... Now..."
As his words trailed away he turned to face her properly, and gently turned her shoulder as well, so that the Buddhist was facing him too. his head tilted slightly as his eyes watched her features, and one hand drew the backs of two fingers slowly down her left cheek, then under her chin to tilt her head up towards him a little more. If she was expecting him to bend the rest of the way for a proper kiss, though, the teasing man stopped with his face close to hers, eyes twinkling with enjoyment and his breath soft on her other cheek.
"Now... If you want to make an offer, just to see how far you are comfortable going with me, I would be happy to take you somewhere that is not in a hallway or a room full of trapped security systems... and there we can... test the water, as it were, and you can take your time to see what you would like to do, what you would like me to do, and no further beyond your comfort than you choose to press yourself. We can start with kissing if you want; and if you find your body eager for more than that, then we will see what happens." He grinned and drew back again, winking once and stretching in a luxurious manner. "It is your decision, my beautiful companion; stay here and deal with this tasked theft, or let me wrap you in my cloak for a moment, and deliver us both to somewhere more comfortable and private."
"If you would feel as though you were selling yourself for gain, Bhikki, and doing something that you did not want to do for the sake of it, then you must say no, for now. Only when it is what you want to do, for yourself... that is when an exchange can be made." He paused and then chuckled, as though thinking of something else. "Of course, I suppose, if your drive is to learn what I know, and your will to acquire that information is strong enough to let no other price get in the way of it, well... that is something I find very, very appealing, so, I suppose all is fair in pursuit of a goal. Still... for now I would prefer it if you only took up my offer because the 'price' felt like no price at all." He chuckled softly then moved back to stand beside her, glancing out across the collection room again and stretching to cross his hands behind his head.
"Answer me this, Bhikkhuni... the way you talk around the suggestion, it sounds very much like there is a part of you that wants what I want. That you desire it too, at some level, but then that there is something else holding you back, telling you that you shouldn't indulge yourself in that for some reason. What stops you, I wonder? What is the thought, or the feeling, or the sensation that makes you hesitate... when one part of your mind imagines asking me to whisk you off to a private chamber here, and surrendering yourself to the joys that follow, and you feel warm to think of it... what part of your thoughts and feelings says that you ought not indulge yourself and have fun, and why does it say so?" His hand drifted to her again as he spoke, tilting his gaze to look back at her from looking out over the room and letting the tips of his fingers circle and rub gently along the contours of her neck and shoulders.
"You still have your task here, of course; Zenny is expecting someone to try to steal this gaudy little prize... and of course, your employer tasked you with doing so... but you could easily decide that you weren't going to do that specific part of his instructions for you. For the kiss, I will say that Cryptic likes to mess with Zenny's plans when he can, and Zenny hates it terribly when her plans don't go as desired. He likes people who understand the importance of information, so he might be persuaded to accept that you deciding not to make an attempt on this prize was a good way of confounding her expectations, if you can impress upon him the fact that Zenny not only was prepared and expecting an attempt, but actually wanted someone to make an attempt. It might work; it is just the kind of clever play he would have an appreciation for, even if it goes against his own plans... Now..."
As his words trailed away he turned to face her properly, and gently turned her shoulder as well, so that the Buddhist was facing him too. his head tilted slightly as his eyes watched her features, and one hand drew the backs of two fingers slowly down her left cheek, then under her chin to tilt her head up towards him a little more. If she was expecting him to bend the rest of the way for a proper kiss, though, the teasing man stopped with his face close to hers, eyes twinkling with enjoyment and his breath soft on her other cheek.
"Now... If you want to make an offer, just to see how far you are comfortable going with me, I would be happy to take you somewhere that is not in a hallway or a room full of trapped security systems... and there we can... test the water, as it were, and you can take your time to see what you would like to do, what you would like me to do, and no further beyond your comfort than you choose to press yourself. We can start with kissing if you want; and if you find your body eager for more than that, then we will see what happens." He grinned and drew back again, winking once and stretching in a luxurious manner. "It is your decision, my beautiful companion; stay here and deal with this tasked theft, or let me wrap you in my cloak for a moment, and deliver us both to somewhere more comfortable and private."
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In this moment, there was enough of a break in the action that Exorcist could respond to ResQ quickly:
The navis did indeed manage to escape the action, those being herself, the matron, CascadingGrace, and Fuukouhan. Exorcist had at first felt like the odd girl out, given that she didn't know any of the other three very well, but noting that Grace and Sanguina hadn't immediately begun catching up, she realized that Grace may be just as unfamiliar with the other rescuers as she herself was. "Sorry that we didn't manage to catch up to you earlier. I hope you're uninjured," she began, then pressed one hand to the sparkly, ill-appropriate black dress top covering her chest. "My name is Exorcist. I'm here on a mission to defend navis from an imminent, but vague, threat I was warned of... I think I can safely say that threat was the kidnapper group we just came in contact with. I was also asked to get other navis to participate in a game tonight, but honestly, that seems laughably unimportant next to this other task now..."
"I emphasize the word 'vague,' because our employer gave us more riddles than he did instructions. I don't know a thing about either the identity or motives of the would-be kidnappers, only that I must protect you from them... er, for what extra I managed to do, that is," she corrected herself, noting that the madame's many soldiers were doing the lion's share of the work. "Can you tell me anything about them? Do you know why they'd want to target either of you?" she asked. "I only know it has to do with unoperated navis, so I was assuming some sort of navi trafficking..." She looked back to the entrance with concern, then crossed her arms. "For that matter, I'd like to know more about my employer, if you know anything about him. His name's CrypticMan... I couldn't see many of his physical features because he was wearing a cloak, but he had a blue face. Do either of you know anything about him? If so, do you think his interest in all of this was benign or do you think he might have also been trying to ensure that all of the groups ended up gathered in one place? I may be paranoid, but it did occur to me a short moment ago that my and my ally ResQ's attempts to protect certain navis ended up putting them all together... Hence my advising us to distance ourselves from the combat in there."
-----------------------------------------------
Back in the theater of war, as it were, Mary found herself face to face with a new foe who looked several degrees more threatening than the previous. Worse, he'd brought quite a few friends. She sensed that she might share an elemental affinity with the big boss, but she thought that size wise, he seemed to share a lot more in common with ResQ's robot. "Oh dear," she commented, reaching down to tear the leg of of her pencil dress a bit in preparation of needing to run. "Oh double dear," she commented, stepping out of her heels.
KenmoeteMan appeared to have taken some damage (the view of his chest was nice, though she wished that a bit more hand burned away). This would be a good time to heal him again, but she'd already thrown one on and lost it, and her other wasn't ready to come out yet... it was nice to see Uprising appreciated it, but she wished she had another for KenmoeteMan. Worse, as she tried to bring out a vial of holy water, she noticed it seemed a little less holy than usual... she took a quick drink, licked her lips, then shook her head. "Triple dear..." she frowned, tossing the bottle aside. Hopefully God would forgive her a little litter, but litter was all it was... that vial had about the potency of ordinary tap water. With no way to heal anyone, she was as good as useless here. Worse, getting to the safety of Exorcist or ResQ would require her to run across the center where all of the enemies were assembling. If any enemies decided to focus on her, she'd be totally cornered.
That made her think... on the opposite side, KenmoeteMan had gotten fired up (and darn, she wish she had a better view of that). Could it be he was trying to draw opponents away from her? It was a flattering thought, but strictly speaking, being a decoy was the only useful thing she could do while her ability to heal was disabled... Then again, she didn't want to be deleted. "God forgive me," she spoke, for once not about a lewd thought, while shrinking back towards the door as much as she could. If enemies decided to come after her, she was going to have to move her body and pray for the best...
Mary
1) Dodge
2) Dodge
-------------------------------------------
Bhikkhuni felt like it was cheating for Hoodwink to keep kissing her while they negotiated, even if it was just on the hand, but she allowed it as she listened to his pitch. "Argh, you dummy! I mean... it's not that I don't want to!" she admitted, putting his hands as close to his shoulders as she could with the intention of pushing him back a bit to get some distance. "I know you're not trying to buy me! But it's just kind of hard not to see it that way, alright?" she grumbled, crossing her arms again and stooping her head. With him going behind her again, she was left to watch the item she'd been sent in to steal, which she had no intention of getting close to any longer. For one thing, it sounded dang near impossible, certainly far beyond her amateur thieving skills. For another, she thought her companion's explanation of the conspiracy to entrap her sounded pretty darn logical, so she wasn't getting jack squat for CrypticMan.
She lowered her eyebrows critically, staring forward at the treasure, which had, itself, been a trick. Still she worried that what was behind her was another trap, just another kind of trap. "It's like this, buddy. I mean... I don't intend to be the kind of girl that gives it away all the time- I have a friend like that and she's pretty much the worst- but I like you. But, and don't go getting a big head, but you seem like the kind of guy who knows what he wants and gets it a lot. So I guess I'm saying... I feel like I'd be to you what all these trophies are to Zenny. Like, valuable, but just another of about a hundred other valuable things, all tucked away and forgotten after you're done with 'em," she murmured, while trying not to think too much about the secluded room and surrendering to joys that he had alluded to.
To her surprise, she received some of her payment in advance: the navi had given her some of her answers before receiving the kiss she'd promised. In a way, that was very forthcoming and honorable of him, nice even. However, if she was being more cynical, as she usually was: "Y-You cheater! You can't just do it like that! Now I'm obligated to pay you," she complained, almost stomping her foot and then thinking the better of it, as she suddenly remembered she needed to watch her volume. Bhikkhuni could pretend to be annoyed as long as she liked, but... he had pretty much given her not just some info, but almost word for word a way to talk her way out of it with her employer. "Ugh. That's a really good idea though. It actually sounds like it'd probably work..." She had to admit, he did deserve to be paid for that.
She allowed herself to be turned, begrudgingly, and then allowed him to tilt her head up, equally begrudging. "Fine, since you insist," she murmured, still trying, instinctively, to make it sound like he was the one getting the good end of the deal here. "Uh, you know the place so... dealer's choice. So long as it's not in a room where we're going to sound an alarm if we bump something," Bhikkhuni agreed, looking back and forth nervously, before turning her eyes back to his, arching her eyebrows in an accusatory glare. "N-Not that we're necessarily going to be bumping stuff! We're just going to start with kissing, okay? Don't get your hopes up too much," she insisted, placing her hands back on him as if to push him off, but not exactly applying much force.
Quote (Exorcist)
Thanks, ResQ. Yes, that's CascadingGrace. So you know, I believe the door on this side is still functional. You should see it across the room for you, I'm about to go through with the others.
The navis did indeed manage to escape the action, those being herself, the matron, CascadingGrace, and Fuukouhan. Exorcist had at first felt like the odd girl out, given that she didn't know any of the other three very well, but noting that Grace and Sanguina hadn't immediately begun catching up, she realized that Grace may be just as unfamiliar with the other rescuers as she herself was. "Sorry that we didn't manage to catch up to you earlier. I hope you're uninjured," she began, then pressed one hand to the sparkly, ill-appropriate black dress top covering her chest. "My name is Exorcist. I'm here on a mission to defend navis from an imminent, but vague, threat I was warned of... I think I can safely say that threat was the kidnapper group we just came in contact with. I was also asked to get other navis to participate in a game tonight, but honestly, that seems laughably unimportant next to this other task now..."
"I emphasize the word 'vague,' because our employer gave us more riddles than he did instructions. I don't know a thing about either the identity or motives of the would-be kidnappers, only that I must protect you from them... er, for what extra I managed to do, that is," she corrected herself, noting that the madame's many soldiers were doing the lion's share of the work. "Can you tell me anything about them? Do you know why they'd want to target either of you?" she asked. "I only know it has to do with unoperated navis, so I was assuming some sort of navi trafficking..." She looked back to the entrance with concern, then crossed her arms. "For that matter, I'd like to know more about my employer, if you know anything about him. His name's CrypticMan... I couldn't see many of his physical features because he was wearing a cloak, but he had a blue face. Do either of you know anything about him? If so, do you think his interest in all of this was benign or do you think he might have also been trying to ensure that all of the groups ended up gathered in one place? I may be paranoid, but it did occur to me a short moment ago that my and my ally ResQ's attempts to protect certain navis ended up putting them all together... Hence my advising us to distance ourselves from the combat in there."
-----------------------------------------------
Back in the theater of war, as it were, Mary found herself face to face with a new foe who looked several degrees more threatening than the previous. Worse, he'd brought quite a few friends. She sensed that she might share an elemental affinity with the big boss, but she thought that size wise, he seemed to share a lot more in common with ResQ's robot. "Oh dear," she commented, reaching down to tear the leg of of her pencil dress a bit in preparation of needing to run. "Oh double dear," she commented, stepping out of her heels.
KenmoeteMan appeared to have taken some damage (the view of his chest was nice, though she wished that a bit more hand burned away). This would be a good time to heal him again, but she'd already thrown one on and lost it, and her other wasn't ready to come out yet... it was nice to see Uprising appreciated it, but she wished she had another for KenmoeteMan. Worse, as she tried to bring out a vial of holy water, she noticed it seemed a little less holy than usual... she took a quick drink, licked her lips, then shook her head. "Triple dear..." she frowned, tossing the bottle aside. Hopefully God would forgive her a little litter, but litter was all it was... that vial had about the potency of ordinary tap water. With no way to heal anyone, she was as good as useless here. Worse, getting to the safety of Exorcist or ResQ would require her to run across the center where all of the enemies were assembling. If any enemies decided to focus on her, she'd be totally cornered.
That made her think... on the opposite side, KenmoeteMan had gotten fired up (and darn, she wish she had a better view of that). Could it be he was trying to draw opponents away from her? It was a flattering thought, but strictly speaking, being a decoy was the only useful thing she could do while her ability to heal was disabled... Then again, she didn't want to be deleted. "God forgive me," she spoke, for once not about a lewd thought, while shrinking back towards the door as much as she could. If enemies decided to come after her, she was going to have to move her body and pray for the best...
Mary
1) Dodge
2) Dodge
-------------------------------------------
Bhikkhuni felt like it was cheating for Hoodwink to keep kissing her while they negotiated, even if it was just on the hand, but she allowed it as she listened to his pitch. "Argh, you dummy! I mean... it's not that I don't want to!" she admitted, putting his hands as close to his shoulders as she could with the intention of pushing him back a bit to get some distance. "I know you're not trying to buy me! But it's just kind of hard not to see it that way, alright?" she grumbled, crossing her arms again and stooping her head. With him going behind her again, she was left to watch the item she'd been sent in to steal, which she had no intention of getting close to any longer. For one thing, it sounded dang near impossible, certainly far beyond her amateur thieving skills. For another, she thought her companion's explanation of the conspiracy to entrap her sounded pretty darn logical, so she wasn't getting jack squat for CrypticMan.
She lowered her eyebrows critically, staring forward at the treasure, which had, itself, been a trick. Still she worried that what was behind her was another trap, just another kind of trap. "It's like this, buddy. I mean... I don't intend to be the kind of girl that gives it away all the time- I have a friend like that and she's pretty much the worst- but I like you. But, and don't go getting a big head, but you seem like the kind of guy who knows what he wants and gets it a lot. So I guess I'm saying... I feel like I'd be to you what all these trophies are to Zenny. Like, valuable, but just another of about a hundred other valuable things, all tucked away and forgotten after you're done with 'em," she murmured, while trying not to think too much about the secluded room and surrendering to joys that he had alluded to.
To her surprise, she received some of her payment in advance: the navi had given her some of her answers before receiving the kiss she'd promised. In a way, that was very forthcoming and honorable of him, nice even. However, if she was being more cynical, as she usually was: "Y-You cheater! You can't just do it like that! Now I'm obligated to pay you," she complained, almost stomping her foot and then thinking the better of it, as she suddenly remembered she needed to watch her volume. Bhikkhuni could pretend to be annoyed as long as she liked, but... he had pretty much given her not just some info, but almost word for word a way to talk her way out of it with her employer. "Ugh. That's a really good idea though. It actually sounds like it'd probably work..." She had to admit, he did deserve to be paid for that.
She allowed herself to be turned, begrudgingly, and then allowed him to tilt her head up, equally begrudging. "Fine, since you insist," she murmured, still trying, instinctively, to make it sound like he was the one getting the good end of the deal here. "Uh, you know the place so... dealer's choice. So long as it's not in a room where we're going to sound an alarm if we bump something," Bhikkhuni agreed, looking back and forth nervously, before turning her eyes back to his, arching her eyebrows in an accusatory glare. "N-Not that we're necessarily going to be bumping stuff! We're just going to start with kissing, okay? Don't get your hopes up too much," she insisted, placing her hands back on him as if to push him off, but not exactly applying much force.
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Quote (ResQ)
Okay, keep the door open a bit, we have a lot of distance to cover.ResQ advised in response to Exorcist's message; they at least had an exit route, but the recent change in theme and introduction of additonal hostiles made the route even more treacherous. She also received a not-so-reassuring message from her bedazzled comrade...
Quote (ResQ)
Alright, stay back and out of sight.She was about to follow up with another message, this time towards the now visible SaijaTsun, but Alex cut in first. ["Hang on, if you leave him behind and he gets rolled up, we fail this objective."] he explained. Though valid, the introduction of additional enemies, three of which were moving inbound, caused ResQ to interrupt. "Fine, WaveArm and RageClaw first!"
Alex zoomed out his view through the PET, and saw what his Navi detected, albeit from a more top-down view. He still had his chips ready from before, and slotted the requested chips. ["Loaded!"] he barked back, announcing the chip was ready. ResQ activated it immediately, which caused the right hand and forearm of her ANGEL to transform into a cylindrical hammer head affixed directly to her forearm. Using her own arm to initiate the movement, she swung her arm and closed fist over her head then directly downward to the water-covered floor. A hardened thunk could be heard above the sharp splash, immediately followed up by the rushing torrent of kinetic energy that rocketed forward from the impact site, leaving a rooster tail of water in its wake.
The thin, arrow-like shockwave made a bee-line towards the first inbound agent, then upon passing his position, it immediately changed directions to barrel through the second, then made another sharp turn to careen into the third. Her ANGEL's hand and forearm quickly defaulted to their normal configuration for a brief moment, but then its fingers began to elongate and sharpen into a set of curved, dangerous-looking claws.
She eased the ANGEL towards the dazed goon nearby, then swiped at the program with her newly formed claws, in an attempt to pluck him from the ground and hold him aloft for a brief moment. If she managed to get the program nestled in her sharp, prickly grasp, she then brought her own right arm as if readying a baseball pitch, which caused the ANGEL to do the same. A half-second later, she then attempted to chuck/hammer-throw the goon into the more senior-looking goon in the center "hub" of the area. If she managed to bash a couple of the new enemies, she wouldn't complain.
After hopefully causing two of the foes to have a kinetic full-body high five, she briefly shifted her focus back to her NetOp. "So what, you want me to carry him out like some damsel in distress?" she hissed, keeping her voice low enough to keep it between her and her netop. ["Not quite. PR is the ANGEL's specialty. She has multiple handles and other surfaces to latch on, so mobile/conscious patients can be evac'd while your arms are free to clear a path. Bring him aboard, and exfil, ASAP!"]
It took ResQ a moment to work out what her acronym-spewing NetOp was saying, and she still hadn't a clue what "PR" meant, but she roughly got the picture; "grab him, and get the hell out," she figured. She groaned before sending a much more level-headed message to Rhinestone.
Quote (ResQ)
Change of plans, grab on and hang tight. There are much more of them than there are of us; you seem to have the proverbial crosshairs on your head, so it's probably safer if you stick with me.She punctuated her message by pointing towards some fo the handles leading up the ANGEL's thighs and hips. As long as he didn't try to hang on to the back or front of the ANGEL's 'skirt,' he wouldn't run the risk of getting a very clingy introduction to the ANGEL's engine intakes or a heated rebuke from said engines' exhausts.
To hopefully further increase the Navi's lifespan, she activated the BUBL program on him. She knew, thanks to his previous message, the healing aspect wouldn't work, but assumed the defensive shielding would still be effective.
ACTIONS
1. 
WaveArm1Damage: 80 + Piercing + Ground Attack + Chain(2)
Accuracy: B
Description: A special shock wave that can automatically adjust its path to hit up to three enemies.
Duration: Once
Element: Null
Special: Chain: This attack will adjust it's path to hit multiple enemies, but it cannot chain-target a previously struck target. If a target manages to get hit more than once by this effect, it is not because the attack targeted it more than once, but due to some other series of events.
Trader Rank: D SubvertVanguard C, D, E
2.
RageClaw1Damage: 40 + Slashing (Attack) OR 20 + Impacting (Throw)
Accuracy: B / B then B
Description: Creates an impressive bear claw. Can be used to slash or throw enemies or objects.
Duration: Until Overridden/Broken. Breaks automatically after 6 uses.
Element: Null
Special: Throw: The wielder must first grab the target to be thrown, then the target is thrown in the direction/area indicated. A second check is made if against another object/enemy. Throw deals damage to both thrown object/enemy and the second object/enemy. Damage occurs at point of collision with the ground/wall/ceiling/etc. or an object/enemy, not during initial grab attempt. Objects deal their max HP in damage (instead of the chip's damage) if they hit an object/enemy, then break. If they miss, the object just takes the chip's damage. This chip has a variety of uses.
Trader Rank: D SubvertAgent F to SubvertBoss B
3. BUBL (1-Hit Shield+ Heal 15 + 1TCD): Rhinestone.EXE
WaveArm1Damage: 80 + Piercing + Ground Attack + Chain(2)Accuracy: B
Description: A special shock wave that can automatically adjust its path to hit up to three enemies.
Duration: Once
Element: Null
Special: Chain: This attack will adjust it's path to hit multiple enemies, but it cannot chain-target a previously struck target. If a target manages to get hit more than once by this effect, it is not because the attack targeted it more than once, but due to some other series of events.
Trader Rank: D SubvertVanguard C, D, E
2.
RageClaw1Damage: 40 + Slashing (Attack) OR 20 + Impacting (Throw)Accuracy: B / B then B
Description: Creates an impressive bear claw. Can be used to slash or throw enemies or objects.
Duration: Until Overridden/Broken. Breaks automatically after 6 uses.
Element: Null
Special: Throw: The wielder must first grab the target to be thrown, then the target is thrown in the direction/area indicated. A second check is made if against another object/enemy. Throw deals damage to both thrown object/enemy and the second object/enemy. Damage occurs at point of collision with the ground/wall/ceiling/etc. or an object/enemy, not during initial grab attempt. Objects deal their max HP in damage (instead of the chip's damage) if they hit an object/enemy, then break. If they miss, the object just takes the chip's damage. This chip has a variety of uses.
Trader Rank: D SubvertAgent F to SubvertBoss B
3. BUBL (1-Hit Shield
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Free for the moment, from the melee below ground, Exorcist, Madama Sanguine and their charge, Cascading Grace, along with Fuukouhan, the matron's body guard, as time and quiet to speak now, back in the open air of the festival. The sounds of the faire continued around them, oblivious tot he violence taking place underground, and few would suspect that the four women had just dashed away from a heated conflict. Amongst them, Grace looked the most shaken, confused and worried. the matron was an island of calm implacability, and beside her, her retainer was simply wary, eyes moving in all directions while her hands still swayed slightly and flames danced over them and between her fingers.
The woman in white flicked her eyes to Exorcist once she began speaking and fumbled to straighten her dress and check that she was presentable while she nodded and seemed to work some moisture back into her mouth.
"Ah, no, no, I am, I am not hurt. I guess, maybe a bruise or two, but... no, no I'm fine. Thank you. I'm sorry, I, ah, I really have no idea what is going on on right now." There was a slightly Sharoan hint to her voice and accent, and at times her words seemed a bit more carefully enunciated and missing contractions where one might normally expect to hear them, but the effect was faint. she listened and nodded as Exorcist introduced herself and explained something of the situation, her already fair features paling slightly as the apparent seriousness of it came to light.
"I don't... Ah, that is, I do not know anything about what they wanted. A couple of them flirted with me, and they suggested we..." She trailed off suddenly, dropping her eyes and blushing brightly into her suddenly raised hands, before fanning her face for a few moments and recovering. "That is to say, they lured me away from the crowds, and I wasn't as careful as I should have been. they grabbed me, and I struggled, and the next thing I knew they were taking be back to... wherever that place underground led. All they said was that their 'boss' wanted to speak to me. I don't know anything more than..." the words trailed away again for a moment.
"I saw a navi there that I recognised. His name is rhinestone, and he runs... Ah, I should slow down." The woman was panting slightly still part way betwene her earlier flash of embarrassment and the panic of the situation, but she smoothed her dress again and took a deeper breath, then extended her hand to shake more formally, to Exorcist first.
"My name is CascadindGrace, though it sounds like you know that. My operator and I... I am not unoperated myself, you understand, but, we help keep open a number of safe houses for unoperated navis, and we were invited to this event, because it's a charity for the cause, you know. We keep the havens secret, of course, but, being a known figure at least lets those with need have one more point of contact for finding us, so, we came. I know there are a few other people here representing other shelters, too. That is why I recognised Rhinstone, down below." Suddenly, the panic returned to her eyes and she clutched both her her hands to Exorcist's.
"Oh, but Rhinestone, he is unoperated himself! He started the organisation he runs, alone. We've met once or twice before, and I really admire his work, but... If he is in danger, down there..." At this point, Madama Sanguine edged forward enough to gently place a hand on the fearful woman's shoulder.
"Perhaps I should introduce myself here. Our friends are ensuring his safety as we speak. There is nothing else to be done by us about that for now. I am the matron of a similar situation where I am from. MadamaSanguine, of Koshoku House, Yoka. A pleasure in other circumstances. Our situation is far more complex than others, I think, but it is a haven all the same. It will be well, below. I have every faith in the capabilities of those others. More than one party has a vested interest in our safety here tonight, I think."
"This was supposed to be a safe event! How did an attack like this even happen! Where is the security!?" Grace seemed to forget herself for a moment, during the exclamation, but recovered enough to duck her head in apology and offer another hand shake, greeting the other rep properly.
"If you're sure he'll be alright. I worry. Um, it's good to meet you, though. I had heard rumours that there was a haven community operating in Yoka somewhere." the matron nodded and smiled, but brushed away the pleasantries in favour of moving towards more important things, and she looked back to Exorcist now as she spoke.
"Regardless, I think it wise that we left the place they wished us to be, and I, too, am interested in learning more about this employer of yours, Miss Exorcist. It is a very curious string of events indeed. I've no doubt that if you and your allies hadn't been present, that Miss Grace here, and the other man, would have been brought below anyway, but certainly, my retainers and I would not have ended up down there without your information and input. It is a puzzle. Can we suppose that they simply underestimated our own preparedness to deal with hostility, even in a safe place? Perhaps. In the past, those who do not guard themselves at all time do not live long, where I am from. Even so; we are at this juncture now, and your employer knew it was going to happen."
They both listened attentively to Exorcist's description of the many-limbed man that had given them their assignments, but no signs of recognition peaked on either expression. Eventually, as Grace shook her head, the matron's eyes narrowed, considering.
"I do not know of anyone like the one you describe. Outside of Yoka I am... less informed than I should like. You were hired for pay, to assist; what else can you tell us about this mysterious figure? Do you know anything else at all?" Her head tilted slightly as she questioned Exorcist in turn, but Grace also raised one hand, still a little uncertain.
"And, what can we even do about it at this point? What do you think we should do now? We can't just go back to the faire and pretend nothing is happening."
"Indeed. Fuukouhan, what status?"
"None follow." Beside them, the fire-wielding woman's brow furrowed. "Kenmoete is still engaged. Conflict continues. None have tried to cross the wall. I cannot see any more than that. There is a static in the space down there." There was another pause. "Mistress, you know my feelings." The matron nodded once in response, a very small gesture, but still looked to Exorcist to see what she suggested their next course of action be.
--
Down below, the hectic melee continued apace, without obvious battle lines or ease of identifying, the situation had become a dangerous brawl in the mists, full of shouting and cries of effort and pain, and the flash and fire of weaponry that seemed altogether unsafe.
ResQ had her own charge to worry about, and keeping mindful of necessary priorities, she was forced to focus some of her attention on making sure Rhinestone stayed safe. The three nearest navis that were coming towards her position had all displayed various weapons as they rushed on. One hung back slightly, stopping to launch a heavy, arm-mounted round of some kind, but it spiralled away just to the side of her armament. The other two rushed past, carrying what looked like a wickedly spiked baseball bat, and a double set of long claws, respectively but before either of them could reach her ResQ made her own attack. The diverting shock-wave connected with each of the three in turn, zigzagging through their staggered line and knocking the leading two down. they managed to stand, slowly, but seemed to be reconsidering rushing her blind, now, and didn't make any further attacks right away.
Behind her, Rhinestone nodded, though no-none was really looking, and darted up to grab onto the ANGEL where ResQ had suggested, latching on securely with one arm while the other still covered his middle. After a moment, though, he resettled his position and made a sweeping gestures with his free hand. A patch of red was visible where he moved it away, but he was doing his best to ignore it for now. Instead, the spread of his arm scattered another series of crystalline hexes across around the ANGEL itself, covering it in a shell to semi-solid energy the faded to something nearly transparent after it finished constructing itself. If ResQ was analysing it as it spread over her display then faded, she'd see that the crystal lattice was more or less like an energy barrier, but of a distinctly unusual type; it bore no measured integrity, and instead seemed like it was designed to hold against a number of strikes, regardless of their strength.
"It's the mist, I think!" He called out to her aloud this time, perhaps forgetting to use a direct channel, or perhaps hoping the word would spread to other allies. "The mist is blocking everyone's healing, and the lights are blocking their hiding!" His shouted call was tight and worried; very much the sound of man out of his depth and scared for his life, but still forcing himself to function anyway.
Further through the mists, more were moving on the central position, where Uprising had backed away to. She now spun her banner once above her head and planted it in a way that stood out through the fog. The rebel's voice cut through the mist as she began to shout terse commands, and as she did, her other allies moved smoothly to comply.
"Wrath in the face of the ones who would control us. Together now against their power! Stand, single voices from all parts, we fight together, no matter from where we come before! Bear up, help each other, and stay strong!" As much as it didn't seem like there was time, in the fray, for rallying speeches, the young rebel seemed to make the time somehow, stealing enough of the moment to make her words heard, between one running step of their foes and the next, before beginning to shout out a more staccato series of orders to her allies.
"Ōishi, to the firebrand! Chikara, clear us a space! Okano, Tera, meet the enemy! Yahei, head of the serpent!" The collection of previously shadowed SPs around her moved with efficiency. One of the quickest to strike was the wiry Electopian man with the long black braid of hair down his back. He took two quick steps, feinted by an onrushing heel navi, then released a pair of long knives as he spun, each flying across the chamber to pin the two remaining subordinate leaders with bursts of flame that triggered their jack-out beams. The one that he had stepped around tried to turn his machine gun on the group, but was met by Tera instead struck him with her shoulder, dropping him quickly to the ground, before reaching over with the other arm to pass her sword through his body. There was the recoil of a weapon firing as he did, and though a beam of light removed the agent from the battle, Tera herself staggered back, clutching a hand to her chest.
Another of the SPs grabbed her arm and dragged her back a few feet, behind Uprising and closer to ResQ and Rhinestone, before dropping a low, extended motion that circled and pushed the mist away in abroad circle about them. She spun twice more, until it looked like the fog was staying back, then pushed a hand to Tera's chest. The tall Netfrican man grinned and winked to her as the healing seemed to take effect; anyone watching closely might have seen his lack of certainty that it would, before that point. A second later he slapped her on the back, leaving he shorter girl to run forward again, then turned and met Mary's eyes, reaching out one hand and waving her towards him, or at least into the circle of cleared space.
Not far from here, ResQ was still taking out the unwelcome guests around her and Rhinestone, grabbing up the dazed agent that was still nearby her and bodily flinging him across the chamber. Her initial target, one of the remaining boss navis, had already been sent home, but was able to neatly skittle her grabbed enemy into a pair of others with a precision that knocked all three to the ground.. The two newer arrivals began to pick themselves up gradually, but the thrown one stayed down. He hadn't been jacked out, but he barely seemed able to move from his injuries right now.
As Uprising finished given her orders and her allies started to move, several of the incoming vanguard began to lay about themselves with attacks, but even the new guard seemed to feel outnumbered, whether it was or not, and there was little co-ordination in who they targeted. One rushed Uprising herself, while another fired a gun that sprayed a tight barrage of wooden flechettes in her direction. The anarchist ducked low under the first's sweeping hook, then punished him back with a rising upper that sunk squarely into his groin and popped up up in the air twice his body height. He didn't move when he hit the ground again a few moments later. The wooden spray cut into her as she stood, and she raised and arm to fend it off. small cuts and scraps marked her clothing and drew tiny, thin lines of red across her skin in several places, but the rebel didn't seem like she was struggling yet.
A third one attacking towards the centre, turned suddenly as this happened, and released a double -handed shot of some kind that thumped as it fired and sent a large, round object arcing across the space towards ResQ and her passenger. It struck the crystalline shield and exploded with a roar, but none of the blast seemed to get through the protective shell.
To the north, the two agents that had been backing slowly away from the enraged swordsman didn't get a chance to rethink their life choices, as Kenmoete leapt at them, blade leaving trails of fire in the mist as it arced rapidly. Two light beams followed but he was already rushing towards the larger mech, the mantle of flame surrounding his body illuminating his bared teeth. Coming in from the other angle, another of uprising's SPs, the taller one with blonde hair and Sharoan features, leapt in to strike at the leader with a blade that sparked with electrical flashes. The force of his downward blow impacted loudly on the reinforced glass as the mech rail-strafed to the side to avoid his cut, and sparks danced across the surface of the water that was covering most of the floor by now. the machine turned slightly, back-handing the SP off to one side with weighted arm, then raised another of its limbs to turn a heavy-duty water cannon towards Kenmoete as he rushed recklessly towards it.
Before the pulse of water could blast him back, however, there was another program beside him, diverting the the torrent with a thick, curved shield. Electopian features, short black hair and inky, featureless eyes winked across to the swordsman.
"Strange bed-fellows today. What an odd world that sees a shield of the silver moon guarding the sword of the sun soul. Is your rage tempered?" A much as the brief diversion had forced the swordsman to pause in his rushing step, he spared only a small side-glance for Ōishi, then darted to the side of the ending water pulse and continued forward with a yell. The Sp shrugged. "I did not expect so."
A moment later, before either of them could move on the commander any further, his voice crackled over the inctercom channel that projected to the room.
"Why are you all so useless! It's one little piece of unoperated garbage that you have to collect! Just grab him and come on!!" The machine drew back a few feet, then the four stabilising water gets flared into a stronger output for a few moments. Quite suddenly, the mist took shape, forming an array of razor thin ice lances all around the room, which promptly shot forward to assault as many targets as they could.
It was hard to see everyone who got hit or didn't; many dodged lances meant for them, and many others didn't. Mary found two assailing her position, and barely managed to twist away from them before she was penetrated in a very unpleasant way. None of the lances seemed to cross into the circle of cleared mist, but Uprising was left to avoid three, and only managed to get away from one. Amongst the Sps, there was no time to see who took hits and who didn't, but ResQ herself was assaulted by three. One missed the ANGEL, and two more splashed against the field without piercing it. A scan of the energy lattice suggested it would hold up to maybe two more solid blows a most.
-=Escalating Situations=-
-=Allies=-
East Hall
ResQ.Exe [With ANGEL][Has taken 15 damage][2-hit I-Field]
Rhinestone.Exe [On ANGEL][Trying to look less hurt than he is][1-Hit Shield]
West
SaijaTsun.Exe [By the wall of fire][Looking for a good moment to act][Rip in her dress?]
Central
Uprising.Exe [Central][Taken heavy damage, but still seems pretty scrappy]
Tera.SP [Near Uprising][Taken some damage]
Chikara.SP [Behind Uprising][In Clear Space]
Okano.SP [Towards the North]
North
KenmoeteMan.Exe [Next to Commander][Looks Quite Hurt][Looks Enraged][Flame Wreathed?]
Ōishi.SP [Near Kenmoete][Has a shield]
Yahei.SP [Near Commander][Light Damage]
South
Mary.Sp [Has taken no damage and is under no status effects]
-=Hostiles=-
East Hall
SubvertVanguard C: [Badly Hurt]
SubvertVanguard D: [Badly Hurt]
SubvertVanguard E: [Badly Hurt]
Central
SubvertAgent F [Down and Critical]
SubvertVanguard F: [Down and Critical]
SubvertVanguard G: [Moderately Hurt]
SubvertVanguard H: [Moderately Hurt]
North Hall
Subvert Coordinator: [Observing and directing near North door]
-=Terrain=-
100% Reinforced Glass [Wet!]
Reinforced Glass acts in all ways like Glass terrain, except that it is as impregnable as if it were Metal terrain.
The room is a wide cross shape, with side halls in each direction about as large as the space made up by the central square.
-=Oddities=-
Spacial distortion: All signs indicate that everyone is still located on the Scottsdale Estate homepage, even though this area resembles no part of it and doesn't appear to be connected to it, except by the hacked connection passages — two out of three of which have been destroyed and cut off.
Combat Static: For whatever reason, combat routines are not functioning with full reliability here, and it doesn't appear possible to get a completely accurate reading on the condition or write protection of anyone, ally or enemy. Notes on player characters (detailing amount of damage taken or status effects) are for their own benefit, but aren't readily readable by even their own allies.
Lit Floor: Preventing Shadow, Invisibility, and possibly other forms of stealth.
Heavy Mist: A mist is permeating the room, obscuring figures and reducing accuracy for all non-aqua elementals. Also seems to be the source of the Healing Block. A circle of space has been cleared behind Uprising that is free of mist. Healing *seems* to work here.
Fire Wall: A roaring wall of fire blocks the side passage that leads to the door through which Exorcist left, to the west.
--
Far, far away, in something that was approaching another world, by this point, Bhikki was making a tough decision all by herself. The situation was troublesome and her conflict was easy to understand as she stood looking between the forsaken treasure, and her guide for the evening. He let her work through her own internal debates, but had to smother a small, good-natured chuckle when she accused him of cheating for offering some free suggestions. Eventually, though, the smaller woman reached her conclusion and decided, for now at least, to give up on CrypticMan's instructions entirely in favour of finding an alternate solution with her new friend. He nodded with a grin, then stepped forward until the delicate press of her hands on his chest was collapsed to a closeness that put the backs of her hands against her own body at the same time.
"Alright. Close your eyes for a moment, and hold still..." One of his hands gestured wider, flaring out the side of his cloak before wrapping it around them both in an encompassing motion. It felt like soft velvet as it settled about her, and if her eyes were still open, there was a suggestion of green lining on the soft inside Bhikki felt a very delicate, quite chaste kiss pressed to the top of her hair, before everything began to fade. Not just sight, but all of her senses, for a moment, faded out to nothing. Not to black, or to darkness, but to a void of anything at all. The feeling of absolute nothing lasted only a brief moment, and before it could become frightening, her sensed faded back in again as swiftly as they had left. Light peeked in a Hoodwink lifted his cloak from around her and stepped back again.
The room that the young Buddhist found herself in was very different. They were standing in the central open space of what must surely be a master bedroom with connected living space. there was carpet beneath her feet; short, but think enough to keep the feet warm, and in a sedate velvet blue. A large, black mahogany four-posted resided against one wall, with a canopy and blue shades that were drawn down. A number of book cases lined the walls, interposed with a wardrobe, chest of drawers, and a mirrored dresser, with a single chair. To the other side of the bed, a chaise lounge, and a secondary set of cushioned chairs made for a small sitting space, complete with a tea table in the middle and a book stand beside each chair. A portrait hung to one side of the dresser; large enough to see clearly, but not over-sized or ostentatious. It looked to be a distinguished elder male, alongside a woman with auburn hair, and a small girl of about twelve standing between them. they were all dressed in attire that would have been many, many centuries old, if Bhikki was up to date on her ancient history.
A set of double doors stood ajar on one side of the room, leading into what looked like a far more modernised bathing area. A quick glimpse through the crack showed a heated spa bath, and a deep walk-in shower chamber with seating ledges built in, amongst the other normal bathroom amenities and towel cupboards. On the whole, the rooms were very fancy and high class, but not overly extravagant or over-done. Unlike other parts of the mansion that Bhikki had seen, this room was rich and luxurious, but it wasn't opulent for the sake of opulence.
"There... Here we are, Bhikkhuni; the Scotsdale estate master bed chambers. Zenny doesn't use these; they're kept ready, as per family tradition, but she has her own apartments elsewhere in the estate. We are safe, and none will disturb this area. Have a look around, explore if you like. We have time." He stood back with a small inviting wave of one hand, grinning as he invited her to take a look around the room and explore it if she wanted.
"I understand why you might feel some lingering conflict... and I'll not lie to you to settle those worries. I do not pretend to be anything other than I am, and I am quite the scoundrel at times." He chuckled softly, moving about the room himself. The lighting was warm, and the temperature comfortable.
"I'll not pretend; you are beautiful, and you are charming. You are a lady I very much want more of, but anything we share this evening will not be a promise of anything beyond. The difference between Zenny and I, however, is that I'm not interested in hoarding things to myself. An experience of beauty and ecstasy is not forgotten; never that, Bhikki. If it is fleeting, it is remembered all the more and treasured. But it's not possessed to be kept or hoarded. We admire a perfect moment for what it is, enjoy it for what it is, and then we're free to seek other joys and other excitements, spurred on by the memory of that experience. You, Bhikkhuni, just as much as I. You have an infinite life of ecstatic experiences ahead of you, each waiting to be chased, and I'll be but one of them on that journey... and that is no bad thing."
He reached out to pull a small drawstring behind one of the curtains, lifting it up from one side of the bed so that he could sit on it and watch her.
"Think of it this way... you owe me nothing; imagine if you want, that my suggestions so far are a token of thanks for the fun we've already shared. A gift and nothing more. Now imagine that I promise you nothing, no matter what we do here and now, or for the rest of this evening... Then, nothing we share can really feel like trading favours for gain. Imagine, too, that I want you, ever so much, and I want to make you happy and pleased, and to see you experience whatever throes of ecstasy you'll let me bestow upon you. Perhaps then, it is not so much trading of favours, but just... in each of our own best interests, to enjoy what we may, together, and share what we know, together, and all to the benefit of both..." He grinned now, his teeth showing in a broad, mischievous smile. "And imagine perhaps, that I am talking too much for now. Maybe you'd permit me to occupy my lips in some other way, fair lady?" His head turned to the side, still smiling, so that he could regard her from the corner of one eye and raise an eyebrow to her. As much as she'd already agreed to a little bit of kissing, before he transported them both, the man seemed to be making one last little check that she was still game, now that she'd actually be whisked off to the new location.
The woman in white flicked her eyes to Exorcist once she began speaking and fumbled to straighten her dress and check that she was presentable while she nodded and seemed to work some moisture back into her mouth.
"Ah, no, no, I am, I am not hurt. I guess, maybe a bruise or two, but... no, no I'm fine. Thank you. I'm sorry, I, ah, I really have no idea what is going on on right now." There was a slightly Sharoan hint to her voice and accent, and at times her words seemed a bit more carefully enunciated and missing contractions where one might normally expect to hear them, but the effect was faint. she listened and nodded as Exorcist introduced herself and explained something of the situation, her already fair features paling slightly as the apparent seriousness of it came to light.
"I don't... Ah, that is, I do not know anything about what they wanted. A couple of them flirted with me, and they suggested we..." She trailed off suddenly, dropping her eyes and blushing brightly into her suddenly raised hands, before fanning her face for a few moments and recovering. "That is to say, they lured me away from the crowds, and I wasn't as careful as I should have been. they grabbed me, and I struggled, and the next thing I knew they were taking be back to... wherever that place underground led. All they said was that their 'boss' wanted to speak to me. I don't know anything more than..." the words trailed away again for a moment.
"I saw a navi there that I recognised. His name is rhinestone, and he runs... Ah, I should slow down." The woman was panting slightly still part way betwene her earlier flash of embarrassment and the panic of the situation, but she smoothed her dress again and took a deeper breath, then extended her hand to shake more formally, to Exorcist first.
"My name is CascadindGrace, though it sounds like you know that. My operator and I... I am not unoperated myself, you understand, but, we help keep open a number of safe houses for unoperated navis, and we were invited to this event, because it's a charity for the cause, you know. We keep the havens secret, of course, but, being a known figure at least lets those with need have one more point of contact for finding us, so, we came. I know there are a few other people here representing other shelters, too. That is why I recognised Rhinstone, down below." Suddenly, the panic returned to her eyes and she clutched both her her hands to Exorcist's.
"Oh, but Rhinestone, he is unoperated himself! He started the organisation he runs, alone. We've met once or twice before, and I really admire his work, but... If he is in danger, down there..." At this point, Madama Sanguine edged forward enough to gently place a hand on the fearful woman's shoulder.
"Perhaps I should introduce myself here. Our friends are ensuring his safety as we speak. There is nothing else to be done by us about that for now. I am the matron of a similar situation where I am from. MadamaSanguine, of Koshoku House, Yoka. A pleasure in other circumstances. Our situation is far more complex than others, I think, but it is a haven all the same. It will be well, below. I have every faith in the capabilities of those others. More than one party has a vested interest in our safety here tonight, I think."
"This was supposed to be a safe event! How did an attack like this even happen! Where is the security!?" Grace seemed to forget herself for a moment, during the exclamation, but recovered enough to duck her head in apology and offer another hand shake, greeting the other rep properly.
"If you're sure he'll be alright. I worry. Um, it's good to meet you, though. I had heard rumours that there was a haven community operating in Yoka somewhere." the matron nodded and smiled, but brushed away the pleasantries in favour of moving towards more important things, and she looked back to Exorcist now as she spoke.
"Regardless, I think it wise that we left the place they wished us to be, and I, too, am interested in learning more about this employer of yours, Miss Exorcist. It is a very curious string of events indeed. I've no doubt that if you and your allies hadn't been present, that Miss Grace here, and the other man, would have been brought below anyway, but certainly, my retainers and I would not have ended up down there without your information and input. It is a puzzle. Can we suppose that they simply underestimated our own preparedness to deal with hostility, even in a safe place? Perhaps. In the past, those who do not guard themselves at all time do not live long, where I am from. Even so; we are at this juncture now, and your employer knew it was going to happen."
They both listened attentively to Exorcist's description of the many-limbed man that had given them their assignments, but no signs of recognition peaked on either expression. Eventually, as Grace shook her head, the matron's eyes narrowed, considering.
"I do not know of anyone like the one you describe. Outside of Yoka I am... less informed than I should like. You were hired for pay, to assist; what else can you tell us about this mysterious figure? Do you know anything else at all?" Her head tilted slightly as she questioned Exorcist in turn, but Grace also raised one hand, still a little uncertain.
"And, what can we even do about it at this point? What do you think we should do now? We can't just go back to the faire and pretend nothing is happening."
"Indeed. Fuukouhan, what status?"
"None follow." Beside them, the fire-wielding woman's brow furrowed. "Kenmoete is still engaged. Conflict continues. None have tried to cross the wall. I cannot see any more than that. There is a static in the space down there." There was another pause. "Mistress, you know my feelings." The matron nodded once in response, a very small gesture, but still looked to Exorcist to see what she suggested their next course of action be.
--
Down below, the hectic melee continued apace, without obvious battle lines or ease of identifying, the situation had become a dangerous brawl in the mists, full of shouting and cries of effort and pain, and the flash and fire of weaponry that seemed altogether unsafe.
ResQ had her own charge to worry about, and keeping mindful of necessary priorities, she was forced to focus some of her attention on making sure Rhinestone stayed safe. The three nearest navis that were coming towards her position had all displayed various weapons as they rushed on. One hung back slightly, stopping to launch a heavy, arm-mounted round of some kind, but it spiralled away just to the side of her armament. The other two rushed past, carrying what looked like a wickedly spiked baseball bat, and a double set of long claws, respectively but before either of them could reach her ResQ made her own attack. The diverting shock-wave connected with each of the three in turn, zigzagging through their staggered line and knocking the leading two down. they managed to stand, slowly, but seemed to be reconsidering rushing her blind, now, and didn't make any further attacks right away.
Behind her, Rhinestone nodded, though no-none was really looking, and darted up to grab onto the ANGEL where ResQ had suggested, latching on securely with one arm while the other still covered his middle. After a moment, though, he resettled his position and made a sweeping gestures with his free hand. A patch of red was visible where he moved it away, but he was doing his best to ignore it for now. Instead, the spread of his arm scattered another series of crystalline hexes across around the ANGEL itself, covering it in a shell to semi-solid energy the faded to something nearly transparent after it finished constructing itself. If ResQ was analysing it as it spread over her display then faded, she'd see that the crystal lattice was more or less like an energy barrier, but of a distinctly unusual type; it bore no measured integrity, and instead seemed like it was designed to hold against a number of strikes, regardless of their strength.
"It's the mist, I think!" He called out to her aloud this time, perhaps forgetting to use a direct channel, or perhaps hoping the word would spread to other allies. "The mist is blocking everyone's healing, and the lights are blocking their hiding!" His shouted call was tight and worried; very much the sound of man out of his depth and scared for his life, but still forcing himself to function anyway.
Further through the mists, more were moving on the central position, where Uprising had backed away to. She now spun her banner once above her head and planted it in a way that stood out through the fog. The rebel's voice cut through the mist as she began to shout terse commands, and as she did, her other allies moved smoothly to comply.
"Wrath in the face of the ones who would control us. Together now against their power! Stand, single voices from all parts, we fight together, no matter from where we come before! Bear up, help each other, and stay strong!" As much as it didn't seem like there was time, in the fray, for rallying speeches, the young rebel seemed to make the time somehow, stealing enough of the moment to make her words heard, between one running step of their foes and the next, before beginning to shout out a more staccato series of orders to her allies.
"Ōishi, to the firebrand! Chikara, clear us a space! Okano, Tera, meet the enemy! Yahei, head of the serpent!" The collection of previously shadowed SPs around her moved with efficiency. One of the quickest to strike was the wiry Electopian man with the long black braid of hair down his back. He took two quick steps, feinted by an onrushing heel navi, then released a pair of long knives as he spun, each flying across the chamber to pin the two remaining subordinate leaders with bursts of flame that triggered their jack-out beams. The one that he had stepped around tried to turn his machine gun on the group, but was met by Tera instead struck him with her shoulder, dropping him quickly to the ground, before reaching over with the other arm to pass her sword through his body. There was the recoil of a weapon firing as he did, and though a beam of light removed the agent from the battle, Tera herself staggered back, clutching a hand to her chest.
Another of the SPs grabbed her arm and dragged her back a few feet, behind Uprising and closer to ResQ and Rhinestone, before dropping a low, extended motion that circled and pushed the mist away in abroad circle about them. She spun twice more, until it looked like the fog was staying back, then pushed a hand to Tera's chest. The tall Netfrican man grinned and winked to her as the healing seemed to take effect; anyone watching closely might have seen his lack of certainty that it would, before that point. A second later he slapped her on the back, leaving he shorter girl to run forward again, then turned and met Mary's eyes, reaching out one hand and waving her towards him, or at least into the circle of cleared space.
Not far from here, ResQ was still taking out the unwelcome guests around her and Rhinestone, grabbing up the dazed agent that was still nearby her and bodily flinging him across the chamber. Her initial target, one of the remaining boss navis, had already been sent home, but was able to neatly skittle her grabbed enemy into a pair of others with a precision that knocked all three to the ground.. The two newer arrivals began to pick themselves up gradually, but the thrown one stayed down. He hadn't been jacked out, but he barely seemed able to move from his injuries right now.
As Uprising finished given her orders and her allies started to move, several of the incoming vanguard began to lay about themselves with attacks, but even the new guard seemed to feel outnumbered, whether it was or not, and there was little co-ordination in who they targeted. One rushed Uprising herself, while another fired a gun that sprayed a tight barrage of wooden flechettes in her direction. The anarchist ducked low under the first's sweeping hook, then punished him back with a rising upper that sunk squarely into his groin and popped up up in the air twice his body height. He didn't move when he hit the ground again a few moments later. The wooden spray cut into her as she stood, and she raised and arm to fend it off. small cuts and scraps marked her clothing and drew tiny, thin lines of red across her skin in several places, but the rebel didn't seem like she was struggling yet.
A third one attacking towards the centre, turned suddenly as this happened, and released a double -handed shot of some kind that thumped as it fired and sent a large, round object arcing across the space towards ResQ and her passenger. It struck the crystalline shield and exploded with a roar, but none of the blast seemed to get through the protective shell.
To the north, the two agents that had been backing slowly away from the enraged swordsman didn't get a chance to rethink their life choices, as Kenmoete leapt at them, blade leaving trails of fire in the mist as it arced rapidly. Two light beams followed but he was already rushing towards the larger mech, the mantle of flame surrounding his body illuminating his bared teeth. Coming in from the other angle, another of uprising's SPs, the taller one with blonde hair and Sharoan features, leapt in to strike at the leader with a blade that sparked with electrical flashes. The force of his downward blow impacted loudly on the reinforced glass as the mech rail-strafed to the side to avoid his cut, and sparks danced across the surface of the water that was covering most of the floor by now. the machine turned slightly, back-handing the SP off to one side with weighted arm, then raised another of its limbs to turn a heavy-duty water cannon towards Kenmoete as he rushed recklessly towards it.
Before the pulse of water could blast him back, however, there was another program beside him, diverting the the torrent with a thick, curved shield. Electopian features, short black hair and inky, featureless eyes winked across to the swordsman.
"Strange bed-fellows today. What an odd world that sees a shield of the silver moon guarding the sword of the sun soul. Is your rage tempered?" A much as the brief diversion had forced the swordsman to pause in his rushing step, he spared only a small side-glance for Ōishi, then darted to the side of the ending water pulse and continued forward with a yell. The Sp shrugged. "I did not expect so."
A moment later, before either of them could move on the commander any further, his voice crackled over the inctercom channel that projected to the room.
"Why are you all so useless! It's one little piece of unoperated garbage that you have to collect! Just grab him and come on!!" The machine drew back a few feet, then the four stabilising water gets flared into a stronger output for a few moments. Quite suddenly, the mist took shape, forming an array of razor thin ice lances all around the room, which promptly shot forward to assault as many targets as they could.
It was hard to see everyone who got hit or didn't; many dodged lances meant for them, and many others didn't. Mary found two assailing her position, and barely managed to twist away from them before she was penetrated in a very unpleasant way. None of the lances seemed to cross into the circle of cleared mist, but Uprising was left to avoid three, and only managed to get away from one. Amongst the Sps, there was no time to see who took hits and who didn't, but ResQ herself was assaulted by three. One missed the ANGEL, and two more splashed against the field without piercing it. A scan of the energy lattice suggested it would hold up to maybe two more solid blows a most.
-=Escalating Situations=-
-=Allies=-
East Hall
ResQ.Exe [With ANGEL][Has taken 15 damage][2-hit I-Field]
Rhinestone.Exe [On ANGEL][Trying to look less hurt than he is][1-Hit Shield]
West
SaijaTsun.Exe [By the wall of fire][Looking for a good moment to act][Rip in her dress?]
Central
Uprising.Exe [Central][Taken heavy damage, but still seems pretty scrappy]
Tera.SP [Near Uprising][Taken some damage]
Chikara.SP [Behind Uprising][In Clear Space]
Okano.SP [Towards the North]
North
KenmoeteMan.Exe [Next to Commander][Looks Quite Hurt][Looks Enraged][Flame Wreathed?]
Ōishi.SP [Near Kenmoete][Has a shield]
Yahei.SP [Near Commander][Light Damage]
South
Mary.Sp [Has taken no damage and is under no status effects]
-=Hostiles=-
East Hall
SubvertVanguard C: [Badly Hurt]
SubvertVanguard D: [Badly Hurt]
SubvertVanguard E: [Badly Hurt]
Central
SubvertAgent F [Down and Critical]
SubvertVanguard F: [Down and Critical]
SubvertVanguard G: [Moderately Hurt]
SubvertVanguard H: [Moderately Hurt]
North Hall
Subvert Coordinator: [Observing and directing near North door]
-=Terrain=-
100% Reinforced Glass [Wet!]
Reinforced Glass acts in all ways like Glass terrain, except that it is as impregnable as if it were Metal terrain.
The room is a wide cross shape, with side halls in each direction about as large as the space made up by the central square.
-=Oddities=-
Spacial distortion: All signs indicate that everyone is still located on the Scottsdale Estate homepage, even though this area resembles no part of it and doesn't appear to be connected to it, except by the hacked connection passages — two out of three of which have been destroyed and cut off.
Combat Static: For whatever reason, combat routines are not functioning with full reliability here, and it doesn't appear possible to get a completely accurate reading on the condition or write protection of anyone, ally or enemy. Notes on player characters (detailing amount of damage taken or status effects) are for their own benefit, but aren't readily readable by even their own allies.
Lit Floor: Preventing Shadow, Invisibility, and possibly other forms of stealth.
Heavy Mist: A mist is permeating the room, obscuring figures and reducing accuracy for all non-aqua elementals. Also seems to be the source of the Healing Block. A circle of space has been cleared behind Uprising that is free of mist. Healing *seems* to work here.
Fire Wall: A roaring wall of fire blocks the side passage that leads to the door through which Exorcist left, to the west.
--
Far, far away, in something that was approaching another world, by this point, Bhikki was making a tough decision all by herself. The situation was troublesome and her conflict was easy to understand as she stood looking between the forsaken treasure, and her guide for the evening. He let her work through her own internal debates, but had to smother a small, good-natured chuckle when she accused him of cheating for offering some free suggestions. Eventually, though, the smaller woman reached her conclusion and decided, for now at least, to give up on CrypticMan's instructions entirely in favour of finding an alternate solution with her new friend. He nodded with a grin, then stepped forward until the delicate press of her hands on his chest was collapsed to a closeness that put the backs of her hands against her own body at the same time.
"Alright. Close your eyes for a moment, and hold still..." One of his hands gestured wider, flaring out the side of his cloak before wrapping it around them both in an encompassing motion. It felt like soft velvet as it settled about her, and if her eyes were still open, there was a suggestion of green lining on the soft inside Bhikki felt a very delicate, quite chaste kiss pressed to the top of her hair, before everything began to fade. Not just sight, but all of her senses, for a moment, faded out to nothing. Not to black, or to darkness, but to a void of anything at all. The feeling of absolute nothing lasted only a brief moment, and before it could become frightening, her sensed faded back in again as swiftly as they had left. Light peeked in a Hoodwink lifted his cloak from around her and stepped back again.
The room that the young Buddhist found herself in was very different. They were standing in the central open space of what must surely be a master bedroom with connected living space. there was carpet beneath her feet; short, but think enough to keep the feet warm, and in a sedate velvet blue. A large, black mahogany four-posted resided against one wall, with a canopy and blue shades that were drawn down. A number of book cases lined the walls, interposed with a wardrobe, chest of drawers, and a mirrored dresser, with a single chair. To the other side of the bed, a chaise lounge, and a secondary set of cushioned chairs made for a small sitting space, complete with a tea table in the middle and a book stand beside each chair. A portrait hung to one side of the dresser; large enough to see clearly, but not over-sized or ostentatious. It looked to be a distinguished elder male, alongside a woman with auburn hair, and a small girl of about twelve standing between them. they were all dressed in attire that would have been many, many centuries old, if Bhikki was up to date on her ancient history.
A set of double doors stood ajar on one side of the room, leading into what looked like a far more modernised bathing area. A quick glimpse through the crack showed a heated spa bath, and a deep walk-in shower chamber with seating ledges built in, amongst the other normal bathroom amenities and towel cupboards. On the whole, the rooms were very fancy and high class, but not overly extravagant or over-done. Unlike other parts of the mansion that Bhikki had seen, this room was rich and luxurious, but it wasn't opulent for the sake of opulence.
"There... Here we are, Bhikkhuni; the Scotsdale estate master bed chambers. Zenny doesn't use these; they're kept ready, as per family tradition, but she has her own apartments elsewhere in the estate. We are safe, and none will disturb this area. Have a look around, explore if you like. We have time." He stood back with a small inviting wave of one hand, grinning as he invited her to take a look around the room and explore it if she wanted.
"I understand why you might feel some lingering conflict... and I'll not lie to you to settle those worries. I do not pretend to be anything other than I am, and I am quite the scoundrel at times." He chuckled softly, moving about the room himself. The lighting was warm, and the temperature comfortable.
"I'll not pretend; you are beautiful, and you are charming. You are a lady I very much want more of, but anything we share this evening will not be a promise of anything beyond. The difference between Zenny and I, however, is that I'm not interested in hoarding things to myself. An experience of beauty and ecstasy is not forgotten; never that, Bhikki. If it is fleeting, it is remembered all the more and treasured. But it's not possessed to be kept or hoarded. We admire a perfect moment for what it is, enjoy it for what it is, and then we're free to seek other joys and other excitements, spurred on by the memory of that experience. You, Bhikkhuni, just as much as I. You have an infinite life of ecstatic experiences ahead of you, each waiting to be chased, and I'll be but one of them on that journey... and that is no bad thing."
He reached out to pull a small drawstring behind one of the curtains, lifting it up from one side of the bed so that he could sit on it and watch her.
"Think of it this way... you owe me nothing; imagine if you want, that my suggestions so far are a token of thanks for the fun we've already shared. A gift and nothing more. Now imagine that I promise you nothing, no matter what we do here and now, or for the rest of this evening... Then, nothing we share can really feel like trading favours for gain. Imagine, too, that I want you, ever so much, and I want to make you happy and pleased, and to see you experience whatever throes of ecstasy you'll let me bestow upon you. Perhaps then, it is not so much trading of favours, but just... in each of our own best interests, to enjoy what we may, together, and share what we know, together, and all to the benefit of both..." He grinned now, his teeth showing in a broad, mischievous smile. "And imagine perhaps, that I am talking too much for now. Maybe you'd permit me to occupy my lips in some other way, fair lady?" His head turned to the side, still smiling, so that he could regard her from the corner of one eye and raise an eyebrow to her. As much as she'd already agreed to a little bit of kissing, before he transported them both, the man seemed to be making one last little check that she was still game, now that she'd actually be whisked off to the new location.
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Exorcist noted that, per Grace's description, the lackeys had told Grace that their boss wanted to speak to her... On reflection, navis that are being kidnapped for unoperated navi trade probably weren't likely to be taken to the boss, as they'd be viewed as "merchandise" by their captors. Furthermore, Grace herself was actually operated. This now sounded more like some sort of deal had been planned, or perhaps that the boss needed them directly for something. Then again, it was just as likely that the mooks at the bottom of the ladder didn't really know what they were doing with the kidnappings and only meant they were taking the captive to someone who knew better what to do with them. Either way, she filed away the possibility away in the back of her mind for now as a potential clue to the motivations of the bad guys.
The disciple of Counterinfectualism took Grace's hand and shook, smiling and reflecting that shaking hands wasn't something girls her modeled age tended to do very often with girls also roughly her apparent age. Unfortunately, it sounded like she might have gotten the wrong target free from danger; Grace would be safe via jack-out into her PET if she was injured, but Rhinestone had no such safety net. She quickly sent another message to ResQ in the other room.
She felt a little bit bad, emasculating him with that last part, but it was probably important ResQ know. Next, she was surprised to learn that Grace didn't know of the matron beforehand after all, except by gossip. As usual, the matron seemed to be the only one of them really in the know. That said, even her knowledge had limits, and the identity of Exorcist's employer eluded even her. "Well, he knew about everything... It's hard to tell whether he was drawing us into a trap involving all players or if he, unable to stop the events himself, wanted you all involved to do it for him. If he did, maybe he's not such a bad person... Sorry, I guess I'm casting judgment on him already. He was... pretty eerie," she laughed awkwardly, remembering his featureless, semi-transparent blue face and his irksome behavior. "Even harder to explain is that, at the same time he set me in motion, he also asked my allies to assist him with sabotaging the games tonight. He wanted us to get several other players involved in tonight's melee and also to make sure that the grand prize she was to be presented to wear was swapped out with something, er, silly or embarrassing. One of my friends, Bhikkhuni, was supposed to be involved with that part, but I haven't heard a lot of updates from her. Given how grave our own situation here seems to have been, I have a hard time believing that the other task was just for his own amusement like it seemed..."
Her dark eyebrows, notably different than her white hair in hue, tensed in thought as she tried to make sense of it all; it felt like it was somehow important that she do so, as her original mission objectives became more and more blurred, mixed with all of the new information she was forced to adapt to. "I guess I'll just need to figure it out later," she agreed. It might not matter much to the others, and she wasn't particularly concerned with her reward at this point, but she knew that eventually her employer would emerge again... he'd set up too much to stay hidden forever. When he appeared again, she hoped she'd be armed with enough information to avoid getting pulled along cluelessly again.
The group was looking to her now for another suggestion of what to do next. She pointed upward in response. "I believe we ought to keep going. We can get Grace further from danger and stay with her to make sure she stays okay. Beyond that, we can see what the situation above ground is. Everything sounds normal, but without eyes on it, we could be missing out," she explained. In truth, she wondered how much more of the festival was left and hoped it wasn't long... her mission to protect these navis wasn't over as long as the festival continued to provide cover to the criminal activities tonight, and the longer she continued half blind to the hidden factors surrounding tonight's events, the more danger those she'd sworn to protect would be in.
----------------------------------
Mary's continued uselessness in the current scenario became more and more apparent, as the battle unfolded in front of her without really touching her. Rhinestone had no way of knowing that she wasn't supposed to be able to see, but she wasn't so devoted to her character that she was going to miss his signalling for her to join them. She began running that direction, lifting the flaps of her skirt a bit so that she could move more easily. "If anyone asks, God helped guide me. That usually works," she thought idly, hoping that no stray shots would hit her on the way over. She wasn't the type who was going to slide under bullets or slashes if they came her way; any shots that missed would have to be her luck or error on the part of the attacker. Two of the machine opponent's ice attacks approached so close to her that she found herself thinking about heaven in a much more literal way than she usually did. In spite of her usual composure, she struggled to keep sprinting and breathed heavily.
As she reached the circle in the mist, she attempted to join the others in refuge behind Rhinestone's shield, if they'd let her. "Oh goodness," she murmured, reaching to her belt to see if she had anything to offer the injured, bedazzled ally. She only had her small dose, not the larger one, and decided that something was better than nothing. "Hold still for a moment," she'd urge him, either throwing the vial to him if she hadn't managed to get up there with him, or pouring it on herself if she'd managed to get in with him.
Looking across the room, she saw that another ally was desperately in need of medical attention, perhaps even more so than the one next to her. However, given his current position and his expression, she thought it pretty unlikely that he'd accept her invitation. Still, she stood and mimicked Rhinestone's earlier gesture, hoping that he'd take her up on it. If he'd just get into the circle, she could give him her healing in just a moment, she felt reasonably confident.
Mary
1) Move to Rhinestone
2) Move to Rhinestone
*)Recovery subtype IV @ Rhinestone [5 HP heal per action until broken]
----------------------------------------
Bhikkhuni had only a moment to be flustered by the teasing man's embrace, then another to ponder how he may be reasonably powerful to manage an effortless teleport across space like that, before being deposited into a romantic boudoir. About the last thing in the world that was on her mind was the age of the painting on the wall as she felt her heart rate increase. "Ah crap! I should have just stayed in the hall!" she thought to herself, overwhelmed with how suggestive their new setting was. The only thing that could make it more so is if the pillows were heart-shaped and the lights were low and pink. "Master chambers?!" she squeaked indignantly, amazed that he'd take her to such a place just to keep their flirting going. Soon enough, he explained why it was the ideal location for this sort of thing. "Dang it, I don't need to look around! Are you trying to tempt me to steal something again?" she joked, though she was quite interest that the last thing on her mind was what sort of nice fairly heirlooms hung upon the walls or sat upon the dressers.
She turned to the man again, feeling a pain in her chest. She wanted to go along with everything he was saying, but she had to admit... there were certain aspects of herself that were more in line with the man's sister than the man himself. "Gosh, you're like the Buddhist ideal in some ways! There's some people back at the temple who'd be real happy if I could let go of things as easily as you can," she sighed deeply. "But I don't know if I can do that! I don't know if I want to be just... one and done, you know? Maybe that's my ego, but I don't wanna be just another girl that you cross paths with and then you never think about again!" she responded, crossing her arms and feeling terribly conflicted. "But... It's clear that you really want to kiss me, and I'm a humanitarian before I'm an egoist!" That wasn't really true, but it made her feel better about herself. "So let's kiss before I change my mind about it!"
She thought she'd go crazy if she had to endure another good guy speech about how she was free to back out if she wanted to, it was beginning to seem like some sort of torture. As such, she stepped forward quick, intending to sit down on the bed next to him, then, realizing she was just going to end up hesitating, keeping her lips at a safe distance and trying to gather her thoughts, she instead attempted to sit right onto his lap (not as uncomfortable as it might be ordinarily, given that she was small enough to carry rather easily), then wrapped both arms around his neck and locked his lips in a fierce smooch. This was new for her, but she did her best, her lips sliding noisily across his own for a moment, then repeating, before allowing her tongue to slide out hesitantly in an exploratory measure. She'd promised tongue, after all. At this point, though, she wasn't thinking about much of anything: not the limits she wanted to impose upon herself, nor the item she'd been sent in to steal or the possibility that Zennocracy's butler or the lady herself would bust in, nor the allies who were fighting as part of that same mission right now. She just wanted to follow through on this and finally answer the question of what she might be missing if she turned her back on her companion's offer.
The disciple of Counterinfectualism took Grace's hand and shook, smiling and reflecting that shaking hands wasn't something girls her modeled age tended to do very often with girls also roughly her apparent age. Unfortunately, it sounded like she might have gotten the wrong target free from danger; Grace would be safe via jack-out into her PET if she was injured, but Rhinestone had no such safety net. She quickly sent another message to ResQ in the other room.
Quote (Exorcist)
ResQ, be very careful to protect Rhinestone. I think you already figured out he's one of the unoperated navi care-givers we need to protect, but in his case, he's unoperated himself. He won't survive if he takes too much damage. Judging by Grace's level of concern for him, I'd wager he's not a particularly capable fighter either...
She felt a little bit bad, emasculating him with that last part, but it was probably important ResQ know. Next, she was surprised to learn that Grace didn't know of the matron beforehand after all, except by gossip. As usual, the matron seemed to be the only one of them really in the know. That said, even her knowledge had limits, and the identity of Exorcist's employer eluded even her. "Well, he knew about everything... It's hard to tell whether he was drawing us into a trap involving all players or if he, unable to stop the events himself, wanted you all involved to do it for him. If he did, maybe he's not such a bad person... Sorry, I guess I'm casting judgment on him already. He was... pretty eerie," she laughed awkwardly, remembering his featureless, semi-transparent blue face and his irksome behavior. "Even harder to explain is that, at the same time he set me in motion, he also asked my allies to assist him with sabotaging the games tonight. He wanted us to get several other players involved in tonight's melee and also to make sure that the grand prize she was to be presented to wear was swapped out with something, er, silly or embarrassing. One of my friends, Bhikkhuni, was supposed to be involved with that part, but I haven't heard a lot of updates from her. Given how grave our own situation here seems to have been, I have a hard time believing that the other task was just for his own amusement like it seemed..."
Her dark eyebrows, notably different than her white hair in hue, tensed in thought as she tried to make sense of it all; it felt like it was somehow important that she do so, as her original mission objectives became more and more blurred, mixed with all of the new information she was forced to adapt to. "I guess I'll just need to figure it out later," she agreed. It might not matter much to the others, and she wasn't particularly concerned with her reward at this point, but she knew that eventually her employer would emerge again... he'd set up too much to stay hidden forever. When he appeared again, she hoped she'd be armed with enough information to avoid getting pulled along cluelessly again.
The group was looking to her now for another suggestion of what to do next. She pointed upward in response. "I believe we ought to keep going. We can get Grace further from danger and stay with her to make sure she stays okay. Beyond that, we can see what the situation above ground is. Everything sounds normal, but without eyes on it, we could be missing out," she explained. In truth, she wondered how much more of the festival was left and hoped it wasn't long... her mission to protect these navis wasn't over as long as the festival continued to provide cover to the criminal activities tonight, and the longer she continued half blind to the hidden factors surrounding tonight's events, the more danger those she'd sworn to protect would be in.
----------------------------------
Mary's continued uselessness in the current scenario became more and more apparent, as the battle unfolded in front of her without really touching her. Rhinestone had no way of knowing that she wasn't supposed to be able to see, but she wasn't so devoted to her character that she was going to miss his signalling for her to join them. She began running that direction, lifting the flaps of her skirt a bit so that she could move more easily. "If anyone asks, God helped guide me. That usually works," she thought idly, hoping that no stray shots would hit her on the way over. She wasn't the type who was going to slide under bullets or slashes if they came her way; any shots that missed would have to be her luck or error on the part of the attacker. Two of the machine opponent's ice attacks approached so close to her that she found herself thinking about heaven in a much more literal way than she usually did. In spite of her usual composure, she struggled to keep sprinting and breathed heavily.
As she reached the circle in the mist, she attempted to join the others in refuge behind Rhinestone's shield, if they'd let her. "Oh goodness," she murmured, reaching to her belt to see if she had anything to offer the injured, bedazzled ally. She only had her small dose, not the larger one, and decided that something was better than nothing. "Hold still for a moment," she'd urge him, either throwing the vial to him if she hadn't managed to get up there with him, or pouring it on herself if she'd managed to get in with him.
Looking across the room, she saw that another ally was desperately in need of medical attention, perhaps even more so than the one next to her. However, given his current position and his expression, she thought it pretty unlikely that he'd accept her invitation. Still, she stood and mimicked Rhinestone's earlier gesture, hoping that he'd take her up on it. If he'd just get into the circle, she could give him her healing in just a moment, she felt reasonably confident.
Mary
1) Move to Rhinestone
2) Move to Rhinestone
*)Recovery subtype IV @ Rhinestone [5 HP heal per action until broken]
----------------------------------------
Bhikkhuni had only a moment to be flustered by the teasing man's embrace, then another to ponder how he may be reasonably powerful to manage an effortless teleport across space like that, before being deposited into a romantic boudoir. About the last thing in the world that was on her mind was the age of the painting on the wall as she felt her heart rate increase. "Ah crap! I should have just stayed in the hall!" she thought to herself, overwhelmed with how suggestive their new setting was. The only thing that could make it more so is if the pillows were heart-shaped and the lights were low and pink. "Master chambers?!" she squeaked indignantly, amazed that he'd take her to such a place just to keep their flirting going. Soon enough, he explained why it was the ideal location for this sort of thing. "Dang it, I don't need to look around! Are you trying to tempt me to steal something again?" she joked, though she was quite interest that the last thing on her mind was what sort of nice fairly heirlooms hung upon the walls or sat upon the dressers.
She turned to the man again, feeling a pain in her chest. She wanted to go along with everything he was saying, but she had to admit... there were certain aspects of herself that were more in line with the man's sister than the man himself. "Gosh, you're like the Buddhist ideal in some ways! There's some people back at the temple who'd be real happy if I could let go of things as easily as you can," she sighed deeply. "But I don't know if I can do that! I don't know if I want to be just... one and done, you know? Maybe that's my ego, but I don't wanna be just another girl that you cross paths with and then you never think about again!" she responded, crossing her arms and feeling terribly conflicted. "But... It's clear that you really want to kiss me, and I'm a humanitarian before I'm an egoist!" That wasn't really true, but it made her feel better about herself. "So let's kiss before I change my mind about it!"
She thought she'd go crazy if she had to endure another good guy speech about how she was free to back out if she wanted to, it was beginning to seem like some sort of torture. As such, she stepped forward quick, intending to sit down on the bed next to him, then, realizing she was just going to end up hesitating, keeping her lips at a safe distance and trying to gather her thoughts, she instead attempted to sit right onto his lap (not as uncomfortable as it might be ordinarily, given that she was small enough to carry rather easily), then wrapped both arms around his neck and locked his lips in a fierce smooch. This was new for her, but she did her best, her lips sliding noisily across his own for a moment, then repeating, before allowing her tongue to slide out hesitantly in an exploratory measure. She'd promised tongue, after all. At this point, though, she wasn't thinking about much of anything: not the limits she wanted to impose upon herself, nor the item she'd been sent in to steal or the possibility that Zennocracy's butler or the lady herself would bust in, nor the allies who were fighting as part of that same mission right now. She just wanted to follow through on this and finally answer the question of what she might be missing if she turned her back on her companion's offer.
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The added defenses provided by Rhinestone helped significantly to shield the pair from the myriad of attacks, but with all regenerative abilities blocked by the mist, they wouldn't win this war of attrition. The combination of the water-spewing mech pilot's command and Exorcist's private message pushed the point that Rhinestone was a VIP, a vulnerable one at that. ResQ already didn't like the additional 'baggage' of having to drag Rhinestone along, and now she really didn't want to be held responsible if Rhinestone bit the dust.
Her ANGEL widened its stance in anticipation of more attacks while Alex moved to upload the chip. Once it was uploaded, an oddly shaped firearm materialized in the ANGEL's right hand. Instead of a standard military-looking gun, the weapon's overall shape was mostly rectangular and lacked any cylinder-like barrels or scopes. It did, however, have some glowing diagonal panels along its sides, denoting its energy-based armament. ResQ moved her right arm and extended her pointer finger and middle fingers towards the three previously-downed enemies, the ANGEL mimicked her movement with its own right arm and weapon.
After she quickly refined her aim, she dropped her raised thumb like the hammer of a gun, prompting the ANGEL to pull the trigger of its weapon. A pale blue beam of energy burst forth from the "barrel" of the weapon with a deep *thrummm* sound. She tried to have the beam pierce through the left-most enemy, then gradually swept the weapon from left to right with the trigger still pulled, in an attempt to cut down/melt away/disintegrate all three goons before the beam gun had to halt its attack to avoid overheating. By the time the beam withered away to a hair-thin stream of glowing embers, the barrel and end of the beam gun were glowing orange from the heat, and the air just above the weapon swayed and rippled from the heat distortion.
Even if the goons survived, ResQ didn't plan to give them even a moment to recover and mount a counterattack. "Hang on!" she called out to Rhinestone as she made the ANGEL drop the beam gun, which rapidly fragmented and disappeared before it could hit the ground, and charged forward. Though the ANGEL accelerated quickly into a flat-out run, its stride was long and relatively graceful thanks to its long legs and relatively light weight for its size. She intended to charge past what remained of the resistance blocking her entrance to the central hall, where it appeared her allies were more numerous.
["Hang on, this should help out a bit,"] Alex advised while he input a few commands in the PET. During the ANGEL's next few strides, the rotor hub swung up from behind its back and secured itself in the metal halo above ResQ's head. It seated in with a metallic thunk, then the upper half of the rotor spindle rapidly spun up clockwise, while the lower half spun up counter-clockwise just as fast. Thanks to the ANGEL's forward-leaning upper torso in its dash, the rotors began to pull the ANGEL along. ResQ obviously could see, hear, and feel the rotors come online, so she kicked off one more time before letting both of the ANGEL's legs trail slightly behind, its blade-like tips cut through the water mere inches above the glass floor. An added bonus to the additional propulsion was powerful downdraft that lay down over the ANGEL like a veil, which would hopefully deflect or throw off an attack that managed to get past Rhinestone's shimmering jewel barrier.
She hoped to reach the cleared area near Uprising, in which she would attempt to slide to a stop as the rotors slowed and moved into their stowed position behind the ANGEL's back. Upon reaching the area and stopping, she likely would've seen a familiar face approach and attempt to aid Rhinestone's healing. If able, she tried to angle the ANGEL's body in such a way that Rhinestone was on the side facing away from her perceived "battlefront." "If we need to move quickly, you better hang on too... Mary, right?"
Quote (ResQ)
Alright, I'll get him out of here as quickly as I can.she responded with a surprising lack of snark, considering her apparent distaste for the entire situation, maybe she was finally putting on her "game face"? She then barked to her NetOp while she eyed the three foes blocking her path. "ElementalRage, quickly!"
Her ANGEL widened its stance in anticipation of more attacks while Alex moved to upload the chip. Once it was uploaded, an oddly shaped firearm materialized in the ANGEL's right hand. Instead of a standard military-looking gun, the weapon's overall shape was mostly rectangular and lacked any cylinder-like barrels or scopes. It did, however, have some glowing diagonal panels along its sides, denoting its energy-based armament. ResQ moved her right arm and extended her pointer finger and middle fingers towards the three previously-downed enemies, the ANGEL mimicked her movement with its own right arm and weapon.
After she quickly refined her aim, she dropped her raised thumb like the hammer of a gun, prompting the ANGEL to pull the trigger of its weapon. A pale blue beam of energy burst forth from the "barrel" of the weapon with a deep *thrummm* sound. She tried to have the beam pierce through the left-most enemy, then gradually swept the weapon from left to right with the trigger still pulled, in an attempt to cut down/melt away/disintegrate all three goons before the beam gun had to halt its attack to avoid overheating. By the time the beam withered away to a hair-thin stream of glowing embers, the barrel and end of the beam gun were glowing orange from the heat, and the air just above the weapon swayed and rippled from the heat distortion.
Even if the goons survived, ResQ didn't plan to give them even a moment to recover and mount a counterattack. "Hang on!" she called out to Rhinestone as she made the ANGEL drop the beam gun, which rapidly fragmented and disappeared before it could hit the ground, and charged forward. Though the ANGEL accelerated quickly into a flat-out run, its stride was long and relatively graceful thanks to its long legs and relatively light weight for its size. She intended to charge past what remained of the resistance blocking her entrance to the central hall, where it appeared her allies were more numerous.
["Hang on, this should help out a bit,"] Alex advised while he input a few commands in the PET. During the ANGEL's next few strides, the rotor hub swung up from behind its back and secured itself in the metal halo above ResQ's head. It seated in with a metallic thunk, then the upper half of the rotor spindle rapidly spun up clockwise, while the lower half spun up counter-clockwise just as fast. Thanks to the ANGEL's forward-leaning upper torso in its dash, the rotors began to pull the ANGEL along. ResQ obviously could see, hear, and feel the rotors come online, so she kicked off one more time before letting both of the ANGEL's legs trail slightly behind, its blade-like tips cut through the water mere inches above the glass floor. An added bonus to the additional propulsion was powerful downdraft that lay down over the ANGEL like a veil, which would hopefully deflect or throw off an attack that managed to get past Rhinestone's shimmering jewel barrier.
She hoped to reach the cleared area near Uprising, in which she would attempt to slide to a stop as the rotors slowed and moved into their stowed position behind the ANGEL's back. Upon reaching the area and stopping, she likely would've seen a familiar face approach and attempt to aid Rhinestone's healing. If able, she tried to angle the ANGEL's body in such a way that Rhinestone was on the side facing away from her perceived "battlefront." "If we need to move quickly, you better hang on too... Mary, right?"
ACTIONS
1. 
ElementalRage1Damage: 60 + LineAttack3
Accuracy: A
Description: Fires a ray of energy in front of the player. If the user is standing on an elemental terrain, the blast gains that power. Can target up to three enemies.
Duration: Once
Element: Depends on Terrain
Trader Rank: DSubvertVanguard C,D,E
2. Movement: Advance to center of room, towards area clear of mist
-Turbulence-
3. Movement: Advance to center of room, towards area clear of mist
ElementalRage1Damage: 60 + LineAttack3Accuracy: A
Description: Fires a ray of energy in front of the player. If the user is standing on an elemental terrain, the blast gains that power. Can target up to three enemies.
Duration: Once
Element: Depends on Terrain
Trader Rank: DSubvertVanguard C,D,E
2. Movement: Advance to center of room, towards area clear of mist
-Turbulence-
3. Movement: Advance to center of room, towards area clear of mist
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As the four women who had escaped to relative safety debated where to go from here, the faire continued around them apace. Loud announcements were being made, to the effect of beginning the battle royale; light shows and music were emanating from a very large, cleared space in between the two themed zone, more or less in the area where Exorcist had arrived for the mission and they'd first spoken to their creepy employer. It was impossible to really see anything from where they were, but the sounds and the bustle seemed to indicate that the battle was about to begin, and rules were being covered. None of the other women seemed to be paying much attention to this, however, given that more pressing matters were upon them. Madama Sanguine pursed her lips as she thought.
"My instinct tells me that this employer of yours... I would wager he was serious about not wishing us harmed, and sincere in that much. I think ,perhaps, regardless of what he knew, the ones doing the kidnapping fully expected to be able to bring us all to their leader by force. I would guess that this CrypticMan's motives are likely not altruistic... He will have his own motivation for ensuring our safety. It would look very bad for the mistress of this event, if her guests were harmed... but good if she were seen to have thwarted an attempt made upon them, no?" Next to her, Grace put hands to her mouth again.
"That seems a bit... extreme, isn't it?"
"Maybe. Perhaps she never intended us to be in real danger, but her pawns did not behave. Some of the words our would be kidnappers shouted.... they point to a disagreement between master and servant, would you not say?" Her brow furrowed for a moment before she smoothed it again. "I should like to meet this employer of yours. I suspect his tasks are not as chaotic as they seem, and yet, they are not aligned or straight forward either. He sounds like a man moving many pieces at once."
"We still have to decide what to do now. I'm really jsut no good in danger situations, I can't even really fight... My operator and I, it's not what we do, you understand? But I don't want to just ignore what's going on either!" Grace seemed to be getting increasingly flustered by her helplessness. Following Exorcist suggestion, however, the matron pointed towards where most of the sound was now coming from and nodded, beginning to walk with her body guard and leading the others at a brisk pace.
"If the most we can do is survey, for now, then we should at least see what is going on with this ridiculous mock battle. If your CrypticMan was interested in subverting it in some way, and the mistress of this event is supposed to be doing forfeits for charity or awarding winners, or some such, then that is likely where we should strive to be for now, would you not agree, miss Exorcist?" She took Grace by the arm as she walked, and Fuukouhan fell in a half step behind her while she nodded for Exorcist to come along with them towards the central area.
----
Underneath the fair grounds, a different battle remained as hectic and hard to follow as ever, but forces from all sides continued to lay into each other over a din of shouting and the ever-thickening spread of mist. the water rushing across the glass panels made splashing and sloshing sounds as the different sides tried to fight; only the supervisor in his mech suit, and one or two other navis seemed unaffected by the ever more unstable terrain.
As ResQ secured her escort and reminded him to hang on, the three hostiles that had their sights set on her each managed to shake off their other hurts long enough to unleash a handful of different attacks at her; most she was able to recognise as fiarly low grade battle chips, unmodified and undisguised; the shots that managed to hit her impacted agisnt the barrier that Rhinestone had provided, though nothing managed to break through. One final shot came from the furthest heelnavi, in the form of an energy bolt that splashed on the shield, and send a haywire burst of signals throughout the ANGEL as it did. The field faltered and fell, and ResQ was faced with the various systems of her suit swiftly locking up and failing in rapid succession as something from the attack jammed them. She was still able to make her counter attack, however, which promptly removed all three from the field and allowed her to pilot the ANGEL across to the cleared space. As she did, another cannon blast rocketed towards her from out of the melee, but it deflected back into the battle lines as the turbulent wind blast ruined its trajectory. From nearby, she heard Rhinestone suppress a small grunt, before he spoke up.
"Hang a sec... just let me... got it!" A moment after, the progressive system freeze that was taking over her armature dissipated, leaving ResQ free to act again. What she saw, as she got her charge into the healing circle, was that the netfrican-looking male seemed to be setting the zone up as a make-shift combat clinic, giving out small shots of healing to anyone who needed it within the cleared space. The mist and water kept trying to creep back in ,but every few seconds he would make a circular gesture that pushed it out again. Near the northern edge, just outside of the cleared ring and still a short way into the mist, Uprising was standing with her banner at the ready; she'd beaten off the remaining agents that were attacking her directly, She was showing scrapes and bruises, and various cuts had exposed stretches of pale skin beneath her costume, and stained other parts of it with red, but she seemed comfortable enough for now, and was more focused on holding her ground and making sure no hostiles approached the cleared circle. The rebel hadn't moved back for healing yet, but it was probably safe to guess she knew her own limits well enough; she certainly didn't seem to be struggling.
Rhinestone dropped down from his perch, keeping his feet, though he still held one hand over his middle and looked like he'd appreciate a seat. It was about then that Mary rushed in, offering him her own restorative measures, and Uprising's SP, presumably the Chikara she'd assigned to clearing the space as he was doing, also bent slightly to assist on patching him up. He nodded thanks to both of them wordlessly, swallowing his nerves, then stood straight and looked around. Tera finished putting down the navi she was engaged with, and not far away Okano, the swift knife-thrower, eliminated another one. Saija had also moved towards the cleared circle now, but made another small frustrated sound when this didn't appear to let her slip back into invisibility. Instead, she darted out and ducked low, sinking her knife into one of the fallen heel naivs and quietly removing him from the field.
Looking more stable on his feet, rhinestone put his hands together in the middle of the circle, then gestured outwards with both of them suddenly. A small spread of quartz crystals filtered and sprayed, before taking shape in the form small, free-floating shields, one for each navi and SP within a small area around him. By this point, most of the fighters were close enough to the circle that they all got one; only the ones to the north of the strange arena missed out. He took a few deep breaths and then looked towards ResQ.
"I'm ok. I'm doing better. I think the folks up forward will need help though, by the look of it. I don't want to go out there, but I'll be safe here, I think!" True enough, the majority of the fighting that was still going on seemed to be the brawl in the northern passage, between Kenmoete, Uprising's two SPs and the supervisor in his suit. Over her shoulder, Uprising herself glanced back from where she was watching the battle carefully.
"Go on, give them a hand, I'll make sure no-one harms anyone else here!" She seemed ready to dart forward herself, but was holding back for the time being, while she made sure that those who needed protection stayed safe. If ResQ moved forward, though, she'd get a better look at the final stages of the tussle that was going on to the north.
Amidst the fog cloud and the odd shadows cast from the lit up floor tiles, the battle that was ensuing was an almost artistic clash of colours and lines. Kenmoete blazed with fire, his whole body wreathed in it now. The jeans that had been part of his costume had burned away, and the man's modesty was currently preserved only by the sheer abundance of flames covering him. The symbol in gold glowed bright on his chest while the burning line of his sword arced and cut. On the other side, the Sharoan male moved less fluidly, but made short, sharp shifts and starts, in between swinging hard with a weapon that was clearly long, heavy and solid, but was obscured in its details by a constant storm of electricity that danced from it, lighting up the mist. Both tried to strike telling blows against the navi in the mech suit, and though each of them landed hits as often as they missed, their opponent seemed to be fighting back with a near constant string of angry profanities. rushes of steam and get blasts of water from different limbs of the mech seemed to be the main weapon, though sneaking moments saw more of the icy spears form themselves from the surrounding mist in regular attempts to blind-side the one she was fighting.
He seemed no more focused on staying away from the one that wielded the electrical weapon, then the flaming swordsman; it looked as though, whatever elemental advantage the SP might have, the swordsman's blows were simply far more vicious and powerful on their own. In amongst this, another form moved like shadows; a blur of darkness in the and around the flashes of light; the shield-bearing SP wasn't fighting directly, so much as rapidly doing what he could to stymie and block any of the attacks or counter attacks from their enemy. Despite the way they moved about each other, ResQ would be able to wade into the melee if she wished; her ANGEL would be more suited to taking the other pilot on head to head, and it would certainly help turn the balance of the fight if she did.
Before she could decide whether to rush forward or not, however, the entire chamber rumbled, then lurched. A sound like distant hydraulics surrounded them as the rumbling increased, then static cracks and snaps echoed around the corners of the room. The starry sky overhead went black, then faded to a metal rivet pattern. More cracks of static; a ground deep underfoot, then a sudden sense of upward movement. ResQ's vision blurred and faded for a moment, and Mary, being a poor blind woman in an unfortunate situation did not also experience this, of course. The next sensation was a cacophony of sound; shouting and yelling, cheering, boos, the clash of weapons and the sharp pulses of weapon fire, all couched in the constant rumble of an excited crowd.
----
By the time Exorcist and her entourage approached the source of the growing sound, they found that the majority of the fair-going folks had gathered into a large crowd, surrounding what turned out to be a very broad combat arena that had been set up in the middle. A chest-high fence marked the edge of it, keeping the crow back, with a short exclusion zone beyond that. On one side, a large stage had been raised, where an incredibly excited Prog was calling out commentary with gleeful abandon. A scoreboard displayed numbers that were, admittedly, kind of hard to track and follow, or make immediate sense of without having heard any of the prior explanation. The Prog seemed quite excited by whatever was going on, though, and the crows mirrored its enthusiasm with a chorus of cheering and shouting.
They might have had more trouble getting a decent look at the arena itself, if not for the effect that the matron and her bodyguard seemed to have on the crowd. It was subtle, and her forward movement definitely slowed down, but it never quite stopped and as the four of them walked towards the guard rail, the crowd of other navis gradually slipped to either side to let them through. What Exorcist was eventually able to see was a hectic brawl of different navis in all manner of fancy costumes and odd overrides, an equal mixing of fantasy and sci-fi themes, all apparently fighting each other in a very chaotic battle royale. Alliances were made and broken in matters of seconds, stronger competitors attracted more attention, and cheap shots seemed constant. Each player inside the ring had a green display over their heads, a number that ranged from about three hundred, down to zero. Taking damage seemed to have no effect on anyone fighting, but reduced the number, and any time a competitor's display hit zero, the green turned to red, and a beam of light pulled them out of the ring, and dropped them into a recovery area on the sidelines.
None of this would have been particularly interesting, except that a few moments after the four women had arrived at the bar to look, there was a rumble beneath the stage, and, without any further warning, familiar figures were ejected up into the middle of the hard-to follow mess. The most obviously visible was ResQ in her armature, and the swordsman blazing with his own fires. None of them had yet seen the kidnapping leader's mech suit before now, so this would be their first look at it, though amongst the other figures simply there to play the game, it didn't stand out as much as it might have. Everyone else that they had left behind down below was there as well, and as they all appeared, similar green light displays winked into sight over each of them.
----
(Bhikkhuni coming ASAP)
"My instinct tells me that this employer of yours... I would wager he was serious about not wishing us harmed, and sincere in that much. I think ,perhaps, regardless of what he knew, the ones doing the kidnapping fully expected to be able to bring us all to their leader by force. I would guess that this CrypticMan's motives are likely not altruistic... He will have his own motivation for ensuring our safety. It would look very bad for the mistress of this event, if her guests were harmed... but good if she were seen to have thwarted an attempt made upon them, no?" Next to her, Grace put hands to her mouth again.
"That seems a bit... extreme, isn't it?"
"Maybe. Perhaps she never intended us to be in real danger, but her pawns did not behave. Some of the words our would be kidnappers shouted.... they point to a disagreement between master and servant, would you not say?" Her brow furrowed for a moment before she smoothed it again. "I should like to meet this employer of yours. I suspect his tasks are not as chaotic as they seem, and yet, they are not aligned or straight forward either. He sounds like a man moving many pieces at once."
"We still have to decide what to do now. I'm really jsut no good in danger situations, I can't even really fight... My operator and I, it's not what we do, you understand? But I don't want to just ignore what's going on either!" Grace seemed to be getting increasingly flustered by her helplessness. Following Exorcist suggestion, however, the matron pointed towards where most of the sound was now coming from and nodded, beginning to walk with her body guard and leading the others at a brisk pace.
"If the most we can do is survey, for now, then we should at least see what is going on with this ridiculous mock battle. If your CrypticMan was interested in subverting it in some way, and the mistress of this event is supposed to be doing forfeits for charity or awarding winners, or some such, then that is likely where we should strive to be for now, would you not agree, miss Exorcist?" She took Grace by the arm as she walked, and Fuukouhan fell in a half step behind her while she nodded for Exorcist to come along with them towards the central area.
----
Underneath the fair grounds, a different battle remained as hectic and hard to follow as ever, but forces from all sides continued to lay into each other over a din of shouting and the ever-thickening spread of mist. the water rushing across the glass panels made splashing and sloshing sounds as the different sides tried to fight; only the supervisor in his mech suit, and one or two other navis seemed unaffected by the ever more unstable terrain.
As ResQ secured her escort and reminded him to hang on, the three hostiles that had their sights set on her each managed to shake off their other hurts long enough to unleash a handful of different attacks at her; most she was able to recognise as fiarly low grade battle chips, unmodified and undisguised; the shots that managed to hit her impacted agisnt the barrier that Rhinestone had provided, though nothing managed to break through. One final shot came from the furthest heelnavi, in the form of an energy bolt that splashed on the shield, and send a haywire burst of signals throughout the ANGEL as it did. The field faltered and fell, and ResQ was faced with the various systems of her suit swiftly locking up and failing in rapid succession as something from the attack jammed them. She was still able to make her counter attack, however, which promptly removed all three from the field and allowed her to pilot the ANGEL across to the cleared space. As she did, another cannon blast rocketed towards her from out of the melee, but it deflected back into the battle lines as the turbulent wind blast ruined its trajectory. From nearby, she heard Rhinestone suppress a small grunt, before he spoke up.
"Hang a sec... just let me... got it!" A moment after, the progressive system freeze that was taking over her armature dissipated, leaving ResQ free to act again. What she saw, as she got her charge into the healing circle, was that the netfrican-looking male seemed to be setting the zone up as a make-shift combat clinic, giving out small shots of healing to anyone who needed it within the cleared space. The mist and water kept trying to creep back in ,but every few seconds he would make a circular gesture that pushed it out again. Near the northern edge, just outside of the cleared ring and still a short way into the mist, Uprising was standing with her banner at the ready; she'd beaten off the remaining agents that were attacking her directly, She was showing scrapes and bruises, and various cuts had exposed stretches of pale skin beneath her costume, and stained other parts of it with red, but she seemed comfortable enough for now, and was more focused on holding her ground and making sure no hostiles approached the cleared circle. The rebel hadn't moved back for healing yet, but it was probably safe to guess she knew her own limits well enough; she certainly didn't seem to be struggling.
Rhinestone dropped down from his perch, keeping his feet, though he still held one hand over his middle and looked like he'd appreciate a seat. It was about then that Mary rushed in, offering him her own restorative measures, and Uprising's SP, presumably the Chikara she'd assigned to clearing the space as he was doing, also bent slightly to assist on patching him up. He nodded thanks to both of them wordlessly, swallowing his nerves, then stood straight and looked around. Tera finished putting down the navi she was engaged with, and not far away Okano, the swift knife-thrower, eliminated another one. Saija had also moved towards the cleared circle now, but made another small frustrated sound when this didn't appear to let her slip back into invisibility. Instead, she darted out and ducked low, sinking her knife into one of the fallen heel naivs and quietly removing him from the field.
Looking more stable on his feet, rhinestone put his hands together in the middle of the circle, then gestured outwards with both of them suddenly. A small spread of quartz crystals filtered and sprayed, before taking shape in the form small, free-floating shields, one for each navi and SP within a small area around him. By this point, most of the fighters were close enough to the circle that they all got one; only the ones to the north of the strange arena missed out. He took a few deep breaths and then looked towards ResQ.
"I'm ok. I'm doing better. I think the folks up forward will need help though, by the look of it. I don't want to go out there, but I'll be safe here, I think!" True enough, the majority of the fighting that was still going on seemed to be the brawl in the northern passage, between Kenmoete, Uprising's two SPs and the supervisor in his suit. Over her shoulder, Uprising herself glanced back from where she was watching the battle carefully.
"Go on, give them a hand, I'll make sure no-one harms anyone else here!" She seemed ready to dart forward herself, but was holding back for the time being, while she made sure that those who needed protection stayed safe. If ResQ moved forward, though, she'd get a better look at the final stages of the tussle that was going on to the north.
Amidst the fog cloud and the odd shadows cast from the lit up floor tiles, the battle that was ensuing was an almost artistic clash of colours and lines. Kenmoete blazed with fire, his whole body wreathed in it now. The jeans that had been part of his costume had burned away, and the man's modesty was currently preserved only by the sheer abundance of flames covering him. The symbol in gold glowed bright on his chest while the burning line of his sword arced and cut. On the other side, the Sharoan male moved less fluidly, but made short, sharp shifts and starts, in between swinging hard with a weapon that was clearly long, heavy and solid, but was obscured in its details by a constant storm of electricity that danced from it, lighting up the mist. Both tried to strike telling blows against the navi in the mech suit, and though each of them landed hits as often as they missed, their opponent seemed to be fighting back with a near constant string of angry profanities. rushes of steam and get blasts of water from different limbs of the mech seemed to be the main weapon, though sneaking moments saw more of the icy spears form themselves from the surrounding mist in regular attempts to blind-side the one she was fighting.
He seemed no more focused on staying away from the one that wielded the electrical weapon, then the flaming swordsman; it looked as though, whatever elemental advantage the SP might have, the swordsman's blows were simply far more vicious and powerful on their own. In amongst this, another form moved like shadows; a blur of darkness in the and around the flashes of light; the shield-bearing SP wasn't fighting directly, so much as rapidly doing what he could to stymie and block any of the attacks or counter attacks from their enemy. Despite the way they moved about each other, ResQ would be able to wade into the melee if she wished; her ANGEL would be more suited to taking the other pilot on head to head, and it would certainly help turn the balance of the fight if she did.
Before she could decide whether to rush forward or not, however, the entire chamber rumbled, then lurched. A sound like distant hydraulics surrounded them as the rumbling increased, then static cracks and snaps echoed around the corners of the room. The starry sky overhead went black, then faded to a metal rivet pattern. More cracks of static; a ground deep underfoot, then a sudden sense of upward movement. ResQ's vision blurred and faded for a moment, and Mary, being a poor blind woman in an unfortunate situation did not also experience this, of course. The next sensation was a cacophony of sound; shouting and yelling, cheering, boos, the clash of weapons and the sharp pulses of weapon fire, all couched in the constant rumble of an excited crowd.
----
By the time Exorcist and her entourage approached the source of the growing sound, they found that the majority of the fair-going folks had gathered into a large crowd, surrounding what turned out to be a very broad combat arena that had been set up in the middle. A chest-high fence marked the edge of it, keeping the crow back, with a short exclusion zone beyond that. On one side, a large stage had been raised, where an incredibly excited Prog was calling out commentary with gleeful abandon. A scoreboard displayed numbers that were, admittedly, kind of hard to track and follow, or make immediate sense of without having heard any of the prior explanation. The Prog seemed quite excited by whatever was going on, though, and the crows mirrored its enthusiasm with a chorus of cheering and shouting.
They might have had more trouble getting a decent look at the arena itself, if not for the effect that the matron and her bodyguard seemed to have on the crowd. It was subtle, and her forward movement definitely slowed down, but it never quite stopped and as the four of them walked towards the guard rail, the crowd of other navis gradually slipped to either side to let them through. What Exorcist was eventually able to see was a hectic brawl of different navis in all manner of fancy costumes and odd overrides, an equal mixing of fantasy and sci-fi themes, all apparently fighting each other in a very chaotic battle royale. Alliances were made and broken in matters of seconds, stronger competitors attracted more attention, and cheap shots seemed constant. Each player inside the ring had a green display over their heads, a number that ranged from about three hundred, down to zero. Taking damage seemed to have no effect on anyone fighting, but reduced the number, and any time a competitor's display hit zero, the green turned to red, and a beam of light pulled them out of the ring, and dropped them into a recovery area on the sidelines.
None of this would have been particularly interesting, except that a few moments after the four women had arrived at the bar to look, there was a rumble beneath the stage, and, without any further warning, familiar figures were ejected up into the middle of the hard-to follow mess. The most obviously visible was ResQ in her armature, and the swordsman blazing with his own fires. None of them had yet seen the kidnapping leader's mech suit before now, so this would be their first look at it, though amongst the other figures simply there to play the game, it didn't stand out as much as it might have. Everyone else that they had left behind down below was there as well, and as they all appeared, similar green light displays winked into sight over each of them.
----
(Bhikkhuni coming ASAP)
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((Continued))
Amused as he was by Bhikki's flustered surprise at the new setting, her come around to a more assertive decision seemed to take Hoodwink at least slightly by surprise. As she imposed herself on his lap, however, the man shuffled a touch to let her, then lifted his arms to help pull her more comfortably astride him. As she slipped arms about his neck and pulled herself up for the kiss, she'd find her knees sinking into the soft downy bed sheets to either side of his thighs. The kiss itself was a new sensation, but her colleague in this endeavour met her somewhat uncertain enthusiasm with surety. The first touches were short brushes that crossed their lips against each other and left behind a warm sensation and a hint of mint. Each subsequent meeting, however, grew a little longer, and a slight rhythm flowed from it; a subtle movement of his body against hers that spread the simple act of kissing through much of their upper halves by proxy.
His hands had gone from helping her find a position, to caressing down her back, and cradling her against him, gently pulling her chest close against his while she grew more adventurous with her lips and tongue. The hands moved one cradling the back of her shoulders and stroking in time with the more subtle movements of the kissing, while the other rubbed across her hips, then below to grip one side of her behind. Not hard, but firmly and in a way she'd definitely feel as she explored with her tongue. Tentatively, she met his part way, and though he didn't make any effort to press his own into her mouth in return, there was a stretch of moments where the two highly sensitive surfaces twisted and rubbed across each other. His mouth did taste fairly minty; it wasn't her imagination at all.
Part way through, a soft, restrained moan of enjoyment vibrated through his throat and lips, though he didn't attempt to give it any kind of words and instead pressed back against her with a little more firmness than before, before relaxing once more. The bed clothes crinkled as their slight motions ruffled the thick blanket. Somewhere along the way, Hoodwink had thrown off his coat, though it was hard to tell how or when; if Bhikki opened her eyes during their union, she might catch a glimpse of it spread out behind him, though, and realise that he was wearing just his formal shirt. The hand on her behind squeezed softly and stroked, rubbing down and up again; the fingers felt warm, even through her clothing.
Unless she was completely against the man and the situation, there was a good chance that her own nervous excitement was spurring internal reactions that might urge her towards trying... maybe just a little more, for now... Hoodwink didn't seem to be rushing towards taking more steps right away, but his fingers moved, stroked and rubbed in a particularly stimulating way, even if he wasn't touching anything specifically 'naughty' just yet. When Bhikki decided to break from kissing for a moment, settling back on her haunches in his lap would bring her groin down against his, albeit still well protected by both of their outfits, and she'd be able to feel warmth, and a slight amount of obvious pressure; she already knew he was slow to turn on, from their earlier dalliance in the wardrobe, but having her in his lap was definitely having an impact now.
Amused as he was by Bhikki's flustered surprise at the new setting, her come around to a more assertive decision seemed to take Hoodwink at least slightly by surprise. As she imposed herself on his lap, however, the man shuffled a touch to let her, then lifted his arms to help pull her more comfortably astride him. As she slipped arms about his neck and pulled herself up for the kiss, she'd find her knees sinking into the soft downy bed sheets to either side of his thighs. The kiss itself was a new sensation, but her colleague in this endeavour met her somewhat uncertain enthusiasm with surety. The first touches were short brushes that crossed their lips against each other and left behind a warm sensation and a hint of mint. Each subsequent meeting, however, grew a little longer, and a slight rhythm flowed from it; a subtle movement of his body against hers that spread the simple act of kissing through much of their upper halves by proxy.
His hands had gone from helping her find a position, to caressing down her back, and cradling her against him, gently pulling her chest close against his while she grew more adventurous with her lips and tongue. The hands moved one cradling the back of her shoulders and stroking in time with the more subtle movements of the kissing, while the other rubbed across her hips, then below to grip one side of her behind. Not hard, but firmly and in a way she'd definitely feel as she explored with her tongue. Tentatively, she met his part way, and though he didn't make any effort to press his own into her mouth in return, there was a stretch of moments where the two highly sensitive surfaces twisted and rubbed across each other. His mouth did taste fairly minty; it wasn't her imagination at all.
Part way through, a soft, restrained moan of enjoyment vibrated through his throat and lips, though he didn't attempt to give it any kind of words and instead pressed back against her with a little more firmness than before, before relaxing once more. The bed clothes crinkled as their slight motions ruffled the thick blanket. Somewhere along the way, Hoodwink had thrown off his coat, though it was hard to tell how or when; if Bhikki opened her eyes during their union, she might catch a glimpse of it spread out behind him, though, and realise that he was wearing just his formal shirt. The hand on her behind squeezed softly and stroked, rubbing down and up again; the fingers felt warm, even through her clothing.
Unless she was completely against the man and the situation, there was a good chance that her own nervous excitement was spurring internal reactions that might urge her towards trying... maybe just a little more, for now... Hoodwink didn't seem to be rushing towards taking more steps right away, but his fingers moved, stroked and rubbed in a particularly stimulating way, even if he wasn't touching anything specifically 'naughty' just yet. When Bhikki decided to break from kissing for a moment, settling back on her haunches in his lap would bring her groin down against his, albeit still well protected by both of their outfits, and she'd be able to feel warmth, and a slight amount of obvious pressure; she already knew he was slow to turn on, from their earlier dalliance in the wardrobe, but having her in his lap was definitely having an impact now.
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As Exorcist and her allies emerged from the exit they'd found, the group discussed CrypticMan's motives a bit further. "Hm... I had considered as well that the attempted abduction and thwarting of said abduction could be a PR stunt. However, if that is the case, it's a little strange... CrypticMan's other instructions for the night seemed designed to play around with Zenny and embarrass her, frankly. If this was indeed a legitimate request only to help her, that would be different from the rest of the tasks we were assigned... or so I think," she murmured, trying to keep her thoughts straight. Of course, if she'd known about CrypticMan's intention to entrap Bhikkhuni, that might have shed more light on the situation, but the SP had not seen fit to share details for a while. "I really wouldn't mind asking him some more questions myself, Grace..."
Following alongside Grace and the matron, Exorcist nodded, focusing her blue eyes towards the fair's centerpiece attraction, the melee that had, by the sounds of it, already started. "Yes, that's where the most activity in the fair is going to be gathered. It would make sense to go there," she responded, thinking to herself that a melee could have been fun under other circumstances.
---------------------------------------
ResQ had urged Mary to hold on, but even if she hadn't, Mary was blind, not stupid. She didn't need to get a very good look at the robot to know that, in the absence of seat buckles, the burden of securing a grip on the robot would be upon her. Once things developed a bit further, she found that she was free to leave the robot in relative safety along with Rhinestone, who was still keeping himself and the others well protected, thankfully. At this point, KenmoeteMan was certainly the one most in need of help, so Mary resolved that, like any great missionary, she would go where she was needed... no matter how dangerous. And make no mistake: approaching KenmoeteMan right now was dangerous. His noisy, mostly naked show of battle spirit had two affects: arousing Mary and drawing the attention of many who wanted to delete him. The latter group would certainly notice Mary and might even seize on the opportunity to use her as a shield against KenmoeteMan if she gave them the chance.
"Hopefully this way is front," she joked to her allies, as she attempted to keep low and move out a bit towards KenmoeteMan and the other ally who was serving as front-line fighter (she didn't know that one's name). Fortunately, she didn't need to get too close to heal them, so long as the bottles she was planning to throw weren't obstructed. As had been shown earlier, they didn't tend to "miss" due to whatever divine hand guided them, given that she didn't have the best actual throwing arm nor ability to establish line of site. Once she'd gotten a little closer, she slung first the smaller vial toward KenmoeteMan's ally; it would orbit and dispense water. Next was her larger bottle, which would hang for a moment, upend over KenmoeteMan himself, then fly past. Only now did she have the secondary thought that if her water doused some of that fire hiding the few parts of him that weren't already visible, that wouldn't be a bad thing... well, unless he needed the fire to fight. Then it could be bad.
As she was occupied with that thought, she noted the changes that every one else was likely occupied with as well: the room had begun to change. It felt a bit like being on a giant elevator... in fact, if she didn't know better, she'd think that they were lifting up towards the event area, but she had felt pretty confident that they weren't underneath the actual fairgrounds earlier, instead assuming they'd passed through some kind of link between geographically disconnected areas...
1) Move toward KenmoeteMan
*)Recovery subtype IV @ Uprising [5 HP heal per action until broken]
2) Baptism of Faith @ KenmoeteMan [60 HP recovery, 2TCD]
3) Dodge
---------------------------------------------
... But as it turned out, that's exactly where she was, apparently. Mary found herself suddenly in the middle of a melee, despite having earlier stated there was no way she could participate in such a thing. She wondered for a second if Mordenite might find that very strange, but then reminded herself that there were far stranger things he'd likely be paying attention to. For now, she'd plan to keep dodging, although something about the setting made everything feel less dire. "Oh dear," she sighed, feeling like someone was going to come after her any moment now. She'd definitely be the weak link in a game that involved defending points.
Exorcist watched, a little stupefied, as it seemed her plan to get Grace away from the fighting had backfired somewhat. "S-Stay cautious, Grace," she warned her ally, while attempting to move up a bit to a position where she'd be able to step in and intercept if anyone tried to go after Grace again. Would they try to move out into the audience and attack, or keep the fight inside of the superficial, waist-high fence? There was no telling for now. She also noticed that the giant blue enemy was new and seemingly a good bit more fearsome than the rest of the competitors. Hopefully her allies were equipped to handle it... she might have to step in later, but for now, protecting Grace was an important enough task to keep her on the outside of the fray.
----------------------------------
Bhikkhuni was fighting a battle of her own, though hers involved locking lips rather than fists. She found herself missing the comfort of her robe and the security of her chest protector as the thin fabric of her dress and undergarment were all that stood between her own chest and Hoodwink's. She felt her tongue and her buttocks both being grabbed in different ways and reflected that this was the second time a horny guy she'd met on the net had seemed especially interested in her butt. Perhaps there was something about a girl with no boobs to speak of that made the guys want the butt... hard to say.
He certainly seemed to be enjoying himself, which was encouraging for Bhikkhuni as she worried about whether she was doing it "right." She responded to his additional caressing of her bottom with a muffled noise of her own, which might have been something of a whimper if her mouth had been free to express it; she had an idea of what to do about the way she was feeling but all of her street smarts were leaking out of her head as well as her sense. When he finally backed off a bit, she still wasn't quite ready for it, and ended up with her mouth hanging open embarrassingly for a moment before correcting herself. "D-Dummy...!" she grumbled, wiping saliva from her mouth. "I can tell you're still not satisfied yet though s-so... we'll do a little more! Cause there's time, like you said."
Bhikkhuni attempted to lift herself a bit on her knees, and hooked her arms back around Hoodwink's neck, then gently brought herself down to rub the slightly elevated part of Hoodwink beneath her using the groove between her buttocks. She moved back and forth a bit, then up and down, brushing it mostly with her hind quarters but occasionally with the nether-regions as well. At the start, her skirt was still in the way, but after enough doing it, either by chance or by intent, the skirt had displaced itself beneath her so that he was instead brushing the cotton of her underwear. Doing this, she'd have a pretty easy way to gauge his reaction. If there was no reaction, she'd be forced to try harder, applying increasingly sensitive parts of herself in the rubbing and increasing pressure. If he was already reacting, she'd instead furrow her brow and chastise him for it. "Geez... you're a perv, getting turned on by something like this," she'd mutter, despite that being the exact reaction she was hoping for.
Neither side was actually offering any info or digging for any at this point, so it was fair to say Bhikkhuni wasn't exactly focusing on her mission any more.
Following alongside Grace and the matron, Exorcist nodded, focusing her blue eyes towards the fair's centerpiece attraction, the melee that had, by the sounds of it, already started. "Yes, that's where the most activity in the fair is going to be gathered. It would make sense to go there," she responded, thinking to herself that a melee could have been fun under other circumstances.
---------------------------------------
ResQ had urged Mary to hold on, but even if she hadn't, Mary was blind, not stupid. She didn't need to get a very good look at the robot to know that, in the absence of seat buckles, the burden of securing a grip on the robot would be upon her. Once things developed a bit further, she found that she was free to leave the robot in relative safety along with Rhinestone, who was still keeping himself and the others well protected, thankfully. At this point, KenmoeteMan was certainly the one most in need of help, so Mary resolved that, like any great missionary, she would go where she was needed... no matter how dangerous. And make no mistake: approaching KenmoeteMan right now was dangerous. His noisy, mostly naked show of battle spirit had two affects: arousing Mary and drawing the attention of many who wanted to delete him. The latter group would certainly notice Mary and might even seize on the opportunity to use her as a shield against KenmoeteMan if she gave them the chance.
"Hopefully this way is front," she joked to her allies, as she attempted to keep low and move out a bit towards KenmoeteMan and the other ally who was serving as front-line fighter (she didn't know that one's name). Fortunately, she didn't need to get too close to heal them, so long as the bottles she was planning to throw weren't obstructed. As had been shown earlier, they didn't tend to "miss" due to whatever divine hand guided them, given that she didn't have the best actual throwing arm nor ability to establish line of site. Once she'd gotten a little closer, she slung first the smaller vial toward KenmoeteMan's ally; it would orbit and dispense water. Next was her larger bottle, which would hang for a moment, upend over KenmoeteMan himself, then fly past. Only now did she have the secondary thought that if her water doused some of that fire hiding the few parts of him that weren't already visible, that wouldn't be a bad thing... well, unless he needed the fire to fight. Then it could be bad.
As she was occupied with that thought, she noted the changes that every one else was likely occupied with as well: the room had begun to change. It felt a bit like being on a giant elevator... in fact, if she didn't know better, she'd think that they were lifting up towards the event area, but she had felt pretty confident that they weren't underneath the actual fairgrounds earlier, instead assuming they'd passed through some kind of link between geographically disconnected areas...
1) Move toward KenmoeteMan
*)Recovery subtype IV @ Uprising [5 HP heal per action until broken]
2) Baptism of Faith @ KenmoeteMan [60 HP recovery, 2TCD]
3) Dodge
---------------------------------------------
... But as it turned out, that's exactly where she was, apparently. Mary found herself suddenly in the middle of a melee, despite having earlier stated there was no way she could participate in such a thing. She wondered for a second if Mordenite might find that very strange, but then reminded herself that there were far stranger things he'd likely be paying attention to. For now, she'd plan to keep dodging, although something about the setting made everything feel less dire. "Oh dear," she sighed, feeling like someone was going to come after her any moment now. She'd definitely be the weak link in a game that involved defending points.
Exorcist watched, a little stupefied, as it seemed her plan to get Grace away from the fighting had backfired somewhat. "S-Stay cautious, Grace," she warned her ally, while attempting to move up a bit to a position where she'd be able to step in and intercept if anyone tried to go after Grace again. Would they try to move out into the audience and attack, or keep the fight inside of the superficial, waist-high fence? There was no telling for now. She also noticed that the giant blue enemy was new and seemingly a good bit more fearsome than the rest of the competitors. Hopefully her allies were equipped to handle it... she might have to step in later, but for now, protecting Grace was an important enough task to keep her on the outside of the fray.
----------------------------------
Bhikkhuni was fighting a battle of her own, though hers involved locking lips rather than fists. She found herself missing the comfort of her robe and the security of her chest protector as the thin fabric of her dress and undergarment were all that stood between her own chest and Hoodwink's. She felt her tongue and her buttocks both being grabbed in different ways and reflected that this was the second time a horny guy she'd met on the net had seemed especially interested in her butt. Perhaps there was something about a girl with no boobs to speak of that made the guys want the butt... hard to say.
He certainly seemed to be enjoying himself, which was encouraging for Bhikkhuni as she worried about whether she was doing it "right." She responded to his additional caressing of her bottom with a muffled noise of her own, which might have been something of a whimper if her mouth had been free to express it; she had an idea of what to do about the way she was feeling but all of her street smarts were leaking out of her head as well as her sense. When he finally backed off a bit, she still wasn't quite ready for it, and ended up with her mouth hanging open embarrassingly for a moment before correcting herself. "D-Dummy...!" she grumbled, wiping saliva from her mouth. "I can tell you're still not satisfied yet though s-so... we'll do a little more! Cause there's time, like you said."
Bhikkhuni attempted to lift herself a bit on her knees, and hooked her arms back around Hoodwink's neck, then gently brought herself down to rub the slightly elevated part of Hoodwink beneath her using the groove between her buttocks. She moved back and forth a bit, then up and down, brushing it mostly with her hind quarters but occasionally with the nether-regions as well. At the start, her skirt was still in the way, but after enough doing it, either by chance or by intent, the skirt had displaced itself beneath her so that he was instead brushing the cotton of her underwear. Doing this, she'd have a pretty easy way to gauge his reaction. If there was no reaction, she'd be forced to try harder, applying increasingly sensitive parts of herself in the rubbing and increasing pressure. If he was already reacting, she'd instead furrow her brow and chastise him for it. "Geez... you're a perv, getting turned on by something like this," she'd mutter, despite that being the exact reaction she was hoping for.
Neither side was actually offering any info or digging for any at this point, so it was fair to say Bhikkhuni wasn't exactly focusing on her mission any more.