3912/Despite Efforts, the Deluminated Encounters Internal Turbulance

Despite Efforts, the Deluminated Encounters Internal Turbulance
Date of Scene:	14 March 2016
Location:	The Eastern Ruins
Synopsis:	The Deluminated takes off on its maiden voyage, with many Elites on board. Things spiral out of the control from there.
Cast of Characters:	Neuroi Girl, 596, Starbound Flotilla, William Pauwel, Starlight Bandits, 961

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Starlight Bandits has posed:
    Evance! The city built on and around the broken ruins of what was once a massive sky-piercing tower. A civilisation built around the hollow structure, spiralling out and up on scaffolding, powered by windmills built on every structure. Built inland near a lake and made rich by being a key trade point, and home to the best airship manufacturers in the world.

    And one of them is having a very big day.

    Colossus Airshipwrights is launching their newest, greatest airship! The DELUMINATED. A towering powerhouse that resembles the zeppelins of Earth. Like said obsolete airships, it consists of a long balloon that flares into fins at the back with a cabin slung underneath. Said balloon is pitch black and bound with golden framing, splitting it into six segments and a pair of propellers built behind the fins for thrust. However, here is where it begins to diverge from that familiar archetype. The frame has massive golden propellers along the length, attached via gyro sockets, pointing in all directions.

    The cabin is two stories, the lowest one being constructed entirely of strong glass, offering unprecedented views for its passengers. The whole room seems to be an all-purpose entertainment area.

    The launch platform is on scaffolding on the edge of Evance, people watching and cheering from below and above. Luggage is being pulled on board via cranes at the stern of the aircraft. The crew is standing at attention by the boarding rails which lead into the glass cabin. They're clad in uniforms that match the ship, all black with gold trim and shiny buttons.

    Offically, there are two ways on board the Deluminated:

    1.) You own a ticket. The launch was quite heavily advertised, and though a place on-board is quite the expense, there are those in the Multiverse who could pay it!

    2.) You won the lottery. To draw more attention, a lottery in which you could win a first-class trip on the maiden voyage was conducted. Maybe you were lucky enough to win!

    But of course, there are some who might want to find a third way on board. Though there is plenty of security inside as well as on the platform, a dedicated someone could find a way in. Perhaps as part of the luggage, or climbing the side of the airship facing away from the platform?

    Either way, soon the launch ceremony begins! A bottle of champagne is smashed against the Deluminated by one Captain Samuel DuPree, the man who will command the voyage. The shatter causes the crowds to erupt in cheers! At this point, staff files on board in neat rows before the passengers are allowed to board, every ticket checked carefully for signs of fraudulence. In addition, each passenger is quickly checked with a piece of hand-held Ancient technology that crackles when it detects metal. Metal like that on a weapon (yes, it's just a handheld metal detector). Passengers were allowed to check in weapons as luggage, but that would mean they spend the voyage separated from it.

    Eventually, everyone is on board! The glass doors are closed and sealed. Mooring lines are released, weights dropped, propellers spinning to life! The Deluminated drifts upwards! The crowd does not stop cheering, and many passengers stay in the glass cabin to wave to them as the ship becomes a dot in the sky.

Starlight Bandits has posed:
    One hour into the flight, and the passengers are settling in nicely. The floors of the Deluminated are connected by four sets of spiral staircases at the fore, fore amidship, aft amidship and aft. There are three floors open to the public:

    First floor: the glass cabin. Currently filled with seats, tables, a bar serving drinks and snacks and a live band playing soft muzak for the passengers. The majority of passengers are here, watching the world go by underfoot.

    Second floor: This is where many specialized entertainment facilities are. The whole place is done in varnished wood and lit with soft wall-mounted lamps, giving it a very classy feel. Here, there is a long hallway along the length of the airship with rooms arranged as follows:

    Fore: the restaurant. Large enough to feed every passenger at once, it is currently serving brunch for people who want something more substantial to what is being served in the glass cabin. It has been plated and decorated with varnished wood to give it a cosier feel, with only the windows suggesting it is in the sky.

    Fore amidships port: a library. Well stocked with fiction and non in tall shelves, each one has a ladder to reach the higher tomes. Also has more than a few comfy chairs and tables to read at.

    Fore amidships starboard: the casino. Roulette, blackjack, craps and poker, it's all here! Currently a bit slow, but it will no doubt be packed later once the novelty wears off. No money is stored here, passengers can only exchange their chips upon landing.

    Aft amidships port: a gymnasium! An odd choice, but many passengers complain of feeling cooped up during airship travel. Weights, treadmills and the like fill the room. Also not particularly busy right now.

    Aft amidships starboard: a museum about Colossal Airshipwrights, the Deluminated and the history of air travel! Considering what an undertaking the Deluminated was, they can't be blamed for bragging a little while on-board.

    Aft: the theatre! No performances right now, but there is one scheduled later tonight!

    Third floor is all accommodation. At this point, the stairs to go further up are barred and locked unless one possess a key. The further fore you go, the nicer the rooms, with first class being separated via bars. A guard stands by the door, only opening it upon presentation of a first-class ticket. Each room contains at least a bed, a desk, and a life balloon. These are a small basket and balloon, sufficient to get passengers to the ground safely in an emergency. They are kept locked at all times unless an emergency is declared.

    Fourth floor: this is mostly crew accommodation, with the aft being the luggage storage. It is all neatly packed away with a system based on ticket number. The fore spiral staircase is the only one that ascends further here, going into the flight deck.

    This is the ship! Where has everyone found themselves?

Neuroi Girl has posed:
     Usually, the Neuroi known as Evangeline would not use a ship. She can fly, after all, and has much less to worry about as far as fuel costs compared to her other squadmates. But, Yoshika insisted she enter the contest, and lo and behold the little Neuroi won a seat. Which...is another thing she doesn't really use, since she is almost always floating.

     Still, the floating jet black girl with the plane-engine legs and the featureless face is making her way about the ship, exploring it curiously and holding her ticket in both hands. She is quiet, even when moving. The only sound that she makes is the slight metallic whisper, somewhat like when a finger slides along a guitar string. Since she has none of her friends with her, she hasn't said a word to anyone since she boarded.

Victor Xix (961) has posed:
     Victor Xix does not fit in here.

     Most of the party-goers here are not ten feet tall. Most of them are not shirtless, with only ragged pants, a ratty cloak, and a bandolier for clothing. Most of them are not blindfolded, with hints of a nasty burn around the eyes. And most are certainly not flanked by knights of the Church of the Celestial Deliverance, decked out in heavy iron armor with strange metal wings on the back and carrying heavy-looking ceremonial swords.

     A hand from the hunched-over giant stops the knights from complaining. They hand over their swords peacably as Victor continues his way inside, apparently disinterested in his guardians-slash-bodyguards. His cane - more like a polished log, to support the Greaver's bulk - thumps against the ground rhythmically as he walks. He appears to be actually injured, as opposed to carrying some sort of weird trick cane with secret weapons inside - burns on his chest hint that he must've been in a big battle recently.

     The Greaver sniffs the air every so often. He appears to have no trouble navigating despite his blindfold. He does not use his cane to tap the walls.

     The Greaver stops in the museum, flanked by his bodyguards.

William Pauwel has posed:
Chasers make their own luck.

    Or rather, Chasers swing like a particularly excitable pendulum between amazing and godawful luck, and how well they deal with their capricious turns of fortune is a true measure of a Chaser's skill. Just a couple of days ago, William Pauwel Jr. had his luck swing mightily towards the 'completely FUBAR' side of the spectrum when his trusty handcannon completely failed to be anything resembling the word 'trusty.' His bout of bad luck resulted in him being manhandled by a gigantic Greaver and chucked into a robot like some kind of weaponized sack of spuds.

A couple days later, he finds out that he's won a lottery.

Funny how the world works like that, isn't it?

OR MAYBE IT'S THAT AWFUL GOD AGAIN, HUH!?

    Regardless, a Chaser rolls with the punches no matter the situation! The young explorer is presently being a colossal nerd in the vessel's rather self-indulgent museum. He seems to be preoccupied with reading the various technical specifications outlined underneath historic examples of Evancian engineering... And at least one Ancient relic of aeronautical design.

For a guy like him, unearthing something like that would be a find of a lifetime. But for now, he can only stare dreamily into its glass case.

Also, he's covered almost head-to-toe in bandages. Looks like he got beat up pretty bad.

HE ALSO HASN'T NOTICED THE GREAVER YET, FFFF

Starbound Flotilla has posed:
"Plan's still unclear."
"Well, that's 'cause I haven't said all of it."
"Aye, it be foolish to give everything away."
"Disapproving. Because those of us with scruples would object."

    The Starbound captains are here. They're busy, accompanying George at the casino, where he's very busy with betting lots of chips. He's here legitimately! Ostensibly here legitimately, that is, though presumably he has some kind of very illegitimate plan in mind. They've come aboard without weapons or armor, having checked it as luggage deep within their Matter Manipulators. One has the feeling that GEORGE AND PAVO will probably be the Starbounders doing most of the action today. For most of the start of the travel, they're going to be hitting up the casino and the fore restaurant; it looks like they're keenly keeping an eye out for business goings-on, folks who use the isolation of an airship fresh and new with no chance for risk of listening to conduct exchanges, and even if they can't listen in, they're going to focus on IDing the movers and shakers moneywise, people who bought their way aboard as a show of things, and who will be relevant parts of upcoming events.

Zwei (596) has posed:
    Well with all this nerdery about ancients, robots, aliens, lost technology, and the general company of the Starlight Bandits, it was probably inevitable that Zwei would poke its semi-metaphorical nose in at some point. It's almost a wonder it took this long. Presently though, the only nose around is the unit model that actually has one (or at least, can fake one), as the other one literally /is/ a gigantic weapon and not capable of stealthing aboard in any significant capacity. Of course, the infiltration unit hardly needs to sneak. Sometimes the best method of infiltration is just doing everything legitimately, like a normal person would do, and so Zwei has shelled out for a paid, legal ticket with Weiss. It's still kind-of-sort-of cheating, with how immaterial money is to Zwei, but then things like this are why it keeps any around to begin with.

    It's been more than long enough now for Zwei to know that social situations favour pretty women, and so that's what Weiss has arrived as; blonde, green-eyed, and a little short, balanced out by cheating in high heels, wearing another digital composite of clothing styles picked up from who the correct social class seem to be outside, namely a little far on the casino-dress side. She doesn't scan positive for anything metal simply because she isn't made out of metal, fancy that. Instead, she's the one doing all the really intensive scanning when she gets aboard. The fanciful city on the spire had already been full of oddities and eccentricities that could probably keep Zwei busy for weeks. The airship is a lot smaller, but it suspects it will have a much higher density of interesting visitors.

    Starting with the Neuroi. Those aren't native to this world, but it's not like Zwei has any way of knowing that. The glass floor isn't much of a novelty for someone who spent most of their life in space, but that floating design certainly is. "Ticket checks were at the front darling. You don't have to keep that out you know~" interjects Weiss as soon as she figures Evangeline is probably able to see her out of the corner of whatever her vision field is, basically an educated guess. The voice is maybe laying it on a little thick. "Are you looking for someone? It's a big ship, and I'd hate to be the one who spends half the flight playing hide and seek with a man too unreliable to meet me at the door, so to speak."

Starlight Bandits has posed:
    The passengers look to generally fall among middle-to-upper class, judging by their clothes and jewellery. That is to be expected, judging by the luxury of the craft. Evangaline receives a lot of curious looks, both due to her appearance and her hovering. At one point, she might hear someone complain that her feet rotors might damage the glass, but staff say they will intervene if it ever actually happens.

    Victor and his crew draw a lot of curious looks. Being upper-crust, it's unsurprising that these people have never seen members of the Church. They have their own protection. But some of the others, people who won their way on board, who scraped for a ticket or worked their way up from less give the group respectful nods. As for their gear, the crew promise to take good care of it.

    Inside the museum, Will has a lot to nerd out about! There's a model of the Deluminated in a glass case, details of past Colossus ships, and hints of future ones that will make the Deluminated look like nothing!

    In the casino, most folks appear to be gambling addicts or professionals, eager to keep their eyes on the cards or the dice. However, there is one standout. A young girl in a dress that probably costs more than what the poor dealer she is yelling at makes in a year. She seems more than a little distressed that he was able to draw blackjack against her 17, and is very eager to make that clear.

    Back to the viewing cabin, Zwei receives looks like Evangaline does, but they're more appreciative, especially from the men. Those looks are usually followed by glares from their partners that slide from her to the appreciative man.

    Suddenly, groups descend into the glass cabin down the fore and aft spiral stairs. Those from the fore are dressed in a mix of clothing, but each has a patch sewn on depicting the flag of the ocean city of Merdian crossed out. Those down the aft are similarly mixed in garb, but all wear pendants of what looks like a pair of hands receiving a gear.

    And then both groups fire a shot into the roof, making the passengers scream. Both begin to go into a tirade

    "We are Those For Wefarnia!" says those from the fore. "We're looking for Felix Desfiol! Stay calm and none will be-"

    "We are Ardents of Diotek!" say the folks from the aft. "This sacrilegious craft, devised by unworthy mortal hands, is an aberration! We will-"

    Both cut off as they realize they are speaking over another. An awkward silence fills the cabin, people looking to each group with panic and fear, the band having stopped their play.

    And then, heavy footsteps rushing down the fore amidship stairs. A massive, muscular Greaver dressed in shabby clothes, covered in what appears to be organic metal plating rushes down, bellowing loudly. "WHERE ARE YOU?!"

    This breaks the silence. Pandemonium ensues.

    Both Those For Wefarnia and the Arents of Diotek go on the offensive! The amidship stairs provide cover, so they all rush downstairs and fan out to shoot at each other, those without guns rushing at each other! Those For Werfania have fashioned small wooden spears, while the Ardents of Diotek have solid clubs. Some of the shots hit the Greaver, making him roar and start swinging at both crews when they get close, swatting them hard against the glass walls, making them fracture.

    Those on the second floor can hear the gunshots quite clearly. Indeed, the shot from the Ardent's fracture the library floor right by Will's feet! The loud girl in the casino stops her tirade to say, "What was that?!" And then, showing as much sense as she showed on the table, she rushes out to look for herself.

Starbound Flotilla has posed:
"Floran blame fish for thisss."
"I assumed the /people in charge/ would handle background checks!"
"Oh shitting christ. Well don't I feel like a third wheel, they started a disaster all on their own and they didn't even need my help!"
"Avast! Put ye face to the deck!"

    The Starbounders immediately get into action. Albert, of course, immediately makes use of the tables for cover from the gunfire, though that won't be helpful with the club-men and spearmen once they get here. George, being the git he is and not seeing any gunfire in this area, kicks one of them powerfully! The table skids swiftly over the ground, intending to catch the girl at the calf and send her tumbling back behind the cover. "Heya there kiddo! Little tip from Uncle George, when you hear noises like that, get behind something!" He's ID'd an heiress of some sort!

    Pavo moves in, taking cover behind the table as well. "Lass! Take heed! We've worse cheaters than the dealers here, with ill intent to take yer life at the table if ye let them!" George falls into cover as well, flanking on the other side. "Be ye prepared for an adventure?!" She can't be all that canny, if she's sounfamiliar with gambling. Heiress(?) on an airboat... George's plan might work, if they can leverage this. For now: Focusing on getting her attention and cooperation. "Need a name, lass! And where be the ones in charge of ye?" Please don't say Desfiol, please don't say Desfiol, please don't say Desfiol. The Starbounders have a plan and it involves finding this lady's parents, given the way she's loaded they can expect something of them too: Investment in Colossus Airshipwrights and a low selling price for their shares in it.

    The Starbounders aren't going for their gear. Looks like they'll be playing on a very level playing field with these hijackers. "Looks like the rest of the folks here are the kind that know their way around a casino, means they know their way around organized crime. They know how to handle this stuff, y'know." George is mostly trying to prompt Seft to get back into cover, as she's immediately started trying to be excessively saintly about the casino area and getting everyone in it away from the cabin. Albert, for his own part, is busy with trying to get this area fortified against attack.

Zwei (596) has posed:
    Well, now isn't that a prediction come true. This certainly counts as a high density of interesting visitors alright. Zwei metaphorically /wishes/ it could claim credit for predicting this with mathematical modelling. Without those kinds of things like biological fight or flight reactions, Weiss is able to stand there and appreciate the situation for exactly what it is: absolutely priceless.

    Also a little annoying. Zwei knows absolutely nothing about either of these groups, having only just wandered in as a tourist just early enough to buy the last ticket. One of them appears to be religiously anti-science, so that's already a big fat mark against them being any kind of reasonable or respectable, so if suddenly forced to pick sides, it seems like an obvious bet that Weiss will go with the faction promising conditional nonviolence in exchange for some probably niche political or business figure; everyday criminals vs religious terrorists and all, but it's not really enough to go off of before shooting back. She knows //exactly why// before even needing to /*debate it*/.

    So for the time being, the totally ordinary woman takes a couple of steps back and wallflowers, acting oh so very shocked and surprised while invisibly extending her interdiction field through the glass cabin, saturating the breadth of the floor so that she can calculate flight paths, pick out any bullets that are going to go stray, and subtly decelerate them until they fall under the velocity necessary to break the glass, or push them off target if they are on track to hit a civilian instead. It's a very mild form of damage control, but Zwei doesn't generally meddle further without info. Weiss can get to the Greaver in a bit.

    "Oh George~ I know you and the others are up there. You wouldn't happen to have any idea what this is about, would you?" Weiss enquires into the radio. Okay, he's an easy guy to blame, but more likely, Pavo or Moonfin might also know something about the local bandits and/or politics. Probably good to ask before Biteblade starts sssstabbing them.

William Pauwel has posed:
When you're busy admiring brillaint works of engineering from both past and present, sometimes you can miss certain details. Details like THE GUY WHO CHUCKED YOU LIKE A SACK OF POTATOS standing right over there. Will humms a jaunty Chaser's song as he peers into one of the many glass cabinets, staring at the design for something called the 'Olympic Class Aircruiser.' It's just a mock-up now, but when it launches, they say it'll be the largest airship in all the world.

It's quite a titanic undertaking, at the very least!

    What is impossible to miss, however, is the telltale noise of wood splintering somewhere nearby. Specifically, underfoot. Will jumps like a shot when the floor explodes underneath him and is abruptly knocked out of his technological trance. "What in tarnation--" Will shouts from where he's pressed himself right up against a totally different museum case. His eyes trace the path of the bullet from the crack in the ground to a hole in the ceiling and slowly frowns.

The panicked energy is palpable in the air. This can only mean one thing!

SKY PIRATES.

JUST LIKE IN THE STORIES!

    Will tilts his hat down over his eyes and turns to sprint out of the museum. Unfortunately, he's also kind of hurting literally all over, so his sprint rapidly degenerates into a vaguely rushed sort of hobble.

He needs to get to the cargo! If he can get to the weapons, then...!

Starbound Flotilla has posed:
"Estimate that George got the security assessment rigor reduced, Zwei unit."
"That is a dirty lie, I'm completely-- My feelings are hurt, Albert! Wounded!"
"Have not a clue of this, lass!"
"Look, just because hijackings are the best and I'm the best at hijackings doesn't mean you can /stereotype/ me! I'm super offended, Weissy!"

    The Starbounders call back to Zwei in their traditional way, which is to say, in a dysfunctional-functional way that is perhaps a bit too humorous to be appropriate to a double-hijack assault confidence trick.

Neuroi Girl has posed:
     "...I...just want to make sure I do not lose it..." the little girl with the metallic black skin says to Zwei, then tilts her head slightly. "...I do not know anyone aboard this ship...so...I am not sure what to do other than look around..." she says, apparently missing the implication that she might have been meeting a guy here. "...I won a ticket...and Yoshika said I could not waste it by not coming..." Evangeline looks down at the ticket again and goes quiet once more.

     That is, until the two factions reveal themselves. The Neuroi floating near Zwei turns her head as people come down the ladder near her, then turns her body to face them. She looks down at her ticket, still gripped in both hands, then back to the people. Then, she slips the ticket into her scarf, hoping it will stay there. She realizes she shouldn't fire her Neuroi beams inside of a ship, and so has little idea of how she could help. She is not a martial artist and has every little training in hand to hand combat.

     Which means, she decides, that she has to improvise. "...stop all hostile actions...or you will be met with appropriate and possibly deadly force..." Evangeline warns in a voice that is likely not even heard thanks to how softly she usually speaks. Those that do hear it might notice that it comes not from her face, but from the large red watch around her right forearm. When 'Those For Wefarnia' do not respond, she goes on the offensive herself. She darts at the nearest member and raises one of those thick, seemingly-engine-encased legs before spinning like a top and aiming to knock the heads of any members she can, bouncing between impacts like a pinball between bumpers.

Starlight Bandits has posed:
    When the fighting breaks out, two member of the band actually strike up a song! The rest of the band are in such a panic that they immediately follow the leader, clinging to whatever is familiar.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V_tfRVx1hqs

    Indeed, none of the aggravated hear the Neuroi's soft words. Those For Wefarnia were not expecting such a... unique counteroffensive. As Evangeline bounces between them like a spinning top, knocking them down! Now their few gunmen are forced to split their attention between she, the Greaver, and the Ardents. Now divided, they are swiftly conquered, their bullets not even scratching the glass thanks to Zwei's sneaky intervention. Those hanging by the stairs start to rush up to flee! The Greaver, being a big guy, soaked up a lot of shots, and his natural armour can only do so much. He begins to limp back up the stairs, groaning and dripping blood.

    Thus, leaving the cabin under the control of the Ardents of Diotek.

    The leader, a tall thin man with curly blonde hair looks to Evangeline with a thankful smile. "You do us a service... such curious machines you wear, no doubt an invention of the Ancients. We are pleased we could encounter a fellow believer on board." He then clears his throat and begins to shout at the cabin. "Everyone! We intend to bring this Ancient-forsaken machine crashing to the ground! However, we will give you all 30 minutes to escape on the life balloons! Hurry, so that your life may be spared!"

    Meanwhile, in the casino, the bratty girl is brought crashing down by the kicked table, which redirects her anger towards George. "Do you know who I am?! I am Arianna Desfiol!" Because of course she is. "My parents will hear of this, and don't you forget it!" However, Pavo's words bring her into reality. "Criminals? Preposterous, Colossus would not permit it! And if they slipped on board, I'll see them bankrupted! Honestly!... an adventure you say?" Suddenly, she seems... especially keen. "My father is in our cabin upstairs. Mother was downstairs... oh, I hope she is okay!" She sounds concerned... but the corners of her mouth seem a little too high for that statement.

    And then, at that moment, the casino doors are barged into. "-other hijacking, can you believe it?! Of all the-" The members of Those For Wefarnia that fled the glass cabin opted to recuperate in the casino, it seems. The upturned tables give them more than a little pause.

    Meanwhile, Will limps upstairs! Onto the third floor, a long hallway with plenty of doors. As luck would have it, the amidships aft staircase, the one closest to the museum, has an unlocked door to the crew-only section. However, down the hall is that Captain DuPree, who seems to be banging at cabin doors, demanding to be let in! Does Will continue, or investigate?

Neuroi Girl has posed:
     Evangeline looks up at the Ardent leader as he approaches. She listens to him speak, then shakes her head gently. "...I was not assisting you...they were just closer..." she says in her soft, near monotone voice as bullet holes that were made by Those for Wefarnia slowly close. No fluids of any kind are leaking from those holes in the Neuroi, nor are there sparks. Which firmly pegs her as a being not of flesh and blood, or even a typical robot.

     Then...in a swift movement she back somersaults in place, bringing both her legs up aimed at the leader's chin. She does not have super strength by any means, but she still packs a pretty hefty punch (or kick, in this case) simply due to how dense her body is. It is like being hit by slightly rubbery steel. When she fully turns over and stands upright again, hovering a few inches off the ground, she looks at the others from Ardent. "...please lower your weapons and surrender...there is no need for anyone else to be hurt..."

     She gives them about five seconds to comply. Just enough for them to look around in confusion before she dashes for the next one.

Starbound Flotilla has posed:
"Son of a bitch."
"Language 'round the lady, matey."

    George slips Pavo five pixels. Looks like Pavo hedged a bet. Meanwhile, people barge in on Albert's fortification. As he had time to prepare, he also had time to prepare for an intrusion. Dude comes out of nowhere, in fact, from the left, swinging an entire roulette table as an ad-hoc hammer. Hopefully this will damage or stun enough to disarm, because Pavo is rushing in to grab a spear and jam it into the next one approa<span style="color:hing.

    "cxterm160">Alright, kiddo! On your feet! Let's go meet daddy!</span>" George immediately gathers up Arianna. Okay, so, they can't get to their gear. They need to get to the mom and to the father, but maybe the gear while they're at it... They seem to formulate a PLAN! This will involve trying to crash -- CHAOTICALLY -- through the Wefarnians and down the stairs, braced on one of those tables positioned at the door, like sledding down the staircase! "Hi there! 'Scuse me, please, just need t'get by!" He figures they won't go back DOWNSTAIRS if they can help it, especially not since Pavo just tried to take an impaled man through the hallway in a clean motion and table-batter her way right down the stairs that the Wefarnians came up just moments ago to retreat. "Aaaaaaaaaaaaa!!"

    "Where's that big man-o-war-ass dog, doin' all the shoutin' and hittin'?!" Pavo calls out urgently! "Lass! Find yer mom at the bottom here /fast/! We have not a bit of time at all! Then hold tight on George!" Pavo calls out. Both George and Pavo seem to be in a panic; without their gear, even with the primitive nature of their enemies, they won't survive a drawn-out fight with these hijackers, at least not without losing the prize they have in mind.

Zwei (596) has posed:
    "Ahhh, now isn't this a mess." Weiss muses to herself out loud, watching the shootout in the way one would usually watch a mildly interesting tennis match. There isn't nearly enough information to make sense of it yet, and so the best she can really do for the time being is watch. Well, she could help too, but without a stake in the conflict itself, that's sort of up in the air, at least until the Neuroi jumps in to decisively swing it in the Diotek's favour. Not who she would have picked, but it remains to be seen whether miss quiet, metal and floaty actually has an investment in their dogma, or had just gone hero mode at the first shots fired

    "No, you're not. You're secretly taking it as a compliment and we all know it~" she responds to George in the meantime. "I'll take your word for it if you guys say you don't know who it is though. I can at least trust Albert not to start being facetious when we need serious answers; or ever, really. So you guys don't have any grievances if I boot them both off? Or maybe gun for a capture and see if there's a bounty on them~?" Oh she knows how half of that motley crew is thinking. "I mean it's kind of obvious that we can't just let them sink the ship. Seft wouldn't let you hear the end of it, and I don't think you can still trade the chips if they do that."

    And there goes Evangeline. Hero mode it is. "Better get moving quickly though. Someone's playing Rambo down here and they're probably about to send the rest of the goons packing upstairs with the first group, so they'll probably just move their shootout with them." Figuring she can take care of it, Weiss starts trotting off towards the stairs, far more stable on her heels than any real woman has any right to be. "One last thing. Is the big guy still slugging it out with the first group, or are they on the same side? I've got a couple of working plans, but I'm a little out of the loop at the moment and not keen on working for free."

William Pauwel has posed:
    No matter how bad Will might have it now, he reminds himself that it could have easily been so much worse. For instance, while he is still bruised almost head to toe- something conveniently obscured by the full-body mummywrap look he has going. Just about the only thing NOT covered is his face! It makes moving difficult, but, darnit, there are people to help and pirates to repulse!

Will is just about to turn and take off into the FORBIDDEN CORRIDORS when he spies...

Someone... with a really cool hat?

Wait, no, that's the captain!

    Will looks to the employees corridor, to the captain down the hall, back to the corridor... And frowns. If he goes for the Solano, then he might be able to live out one of his many, many childhood fantasies, but--

But there's someone right there who might need help.

So.

    "Hey, yer the cap'n, ain't'ya?" Will calls as he hobbles over. His hands are already fishing around on the inside of his coat, but apparently handtools count as possible weapons. But if he's lucky, he won't need any more than what he's got on hand. If he's lucky. "What's the problem? You get locked out of the bridge?"

Starbound Flotilla has posed:
    If the plan is successful -- we have yet to tell, but if it works out -- George, Pavo, and a bruised-up little heiress will come tumbling out of a staircase near Zwei, probably fore amidships, right about now. If not? Well, the exchange will still go roughly the same. "Matey, if ye want t'be killin' 'em, it be yer business! Get to it if ye need! Let the Greaver alone just a moment on my signal if it comes to it, but the scurvey dogs and their fightin' can go!!" Pavo would very much enjoy not having to deal with too much combat attention!! Starbounders rely a little too much on their armor for this situation to turn out well otherwise!

Starlight Bandits has posed:
    The placid smile of the leader lingers, even as Evangeline delivers an impressive bicycle kick right to his jaw. He flies back and lands in a crumpled heap, the rest of his little cult stunned! One raises his weapon to point at the Neuroi... only to be smashed over the head by a bottle! A passenger has intervened, a scruffy fellow in a poncho and wide-brimmed hat. As the gunman reels, he grabs the gun and opens fire on the Ardents! "I gotcher back missy!" Several of the Ardents actually break off at this point, rushing upstairs!... only to be pursued by Zwei. They go aft, heading into the theatre!

    Meanwhile, Those For Wefarnia were not expecting this kind of offense either! These are good-quality tables, solid wood! So it makes quite an impact as it is swung at them. One manages to duck, only to get shanked by a bird. He never got to admit it, but he knew that this is how it would end. The one that had yet to walk through the door escapes the swing, and immediately starts to flee! Arianna yells in protest as she is picked up, kicking and beating on George with fists that never worked a day in their lives. "Put me down you brute!" Her cries become a bit more warble as the Flotilla charge down the stairs on the table! People who were making their escape from the cabin are bowled over! And as they enter the viewing platform, the rails can support the bumping no longer. The table smashes through, going airborne before crashing down on the band!

    The music stops as the stage crumbles, the musicians having thankfully scattered. The glass below creaks ominously... Arianna extracts herself from the pile, dressed ruined. She looks around and spots her mother, an older plump woman hiding under a table.

    And then she whispers, "Kill her, and I'll make it worth your while."

    Meanwhile! Will speaks with the captain! The man yelps as the young man approaches, before desperately trying to compose himself. "Oh, n-nothing like that. It's, uh, well... n-not to worry sir, the crew will end this little ruckus! I simply wished to, uh... conceal myself! So that when it's all over, I am safe and well and can give orders."

    However, Will may tune out towards the end. Because that big Greaver is coming up behind the captain, bleeding and scowling. The hall shakes underfoot, making the captain turn and look up. A wet patch spreads across the front of his pants as the demihuman peers down at them... before opening up a door to his cabin and stumbling inside.

Starbound Flotilla has posed:
"Aaaaaaaaaaaaa!!"
"Aaaaaaaaaaaaa!!"

    Both Starbounders crash onto the band's stage. Wait, SHIT, the Greaver's gone! Pavo's eyes are wide. IMPROVISE SOMETHING ELSE, IMPROVISE SOMETHING ELSE!! And then she hears the whisper. Wow, it's really good luck that Seft is out of earshot.

"Ugh, fuck my life that hurt... Ow ow ow! Hey! I'm helping! Don't punch helping! That's the opposite of things you're supposed to do! The brute part's a fair cop."
"Worth my while, lass? Ye mean compensation?"
"Okay, before you take a hit job from a teenager, just think about--"
"Yarrrrr!"

    Pavo held onto the stolen spear. Not for long though. George, exasperated, goes along with it; picking up Arianna again -- he's doing his best to ignore the bruises -- he makes a run for the woman. "Heya there! Got a present for ya!" The present is a stabbing. Pavo has flanked around and is going to rush in from the side, attempting to slam the spear square through her torso in a single clean motion -- hopefully people are focused on the Diotekians so much they won't notice an ONGOING MURDER -- and then book it away from the weapon.

    "Ffffffuck sakes, Pavo, are you really-- We gotta focus on getting to the cabins!" George rapidly tries to assess the situation... And notices the thuds from the Greaver high above, getting back into his own cabin. "Shit. Shit shit shit, need a gun /now/." He says, looking around urgently.

Zwei (596) has posed:
    "Aye aye~" Weiss has in response to Pavo. "You sound pretty busy over there, so I'll be looking forward to seeing what cut you pull~ I'll give you 130 seconds to make something happen." How polite of the young lady to allow all those scary armed men to pass her by, waiting her turn out of the way of the staircase as they all tromp upwards in a hurry, before taking the steps one click of heels at a time and covertly disappearing into the previously empty theatre behind them.

    And of course how very polite of her to close the door after herself once she slips in with the last fleeing criminal. The quiet thunk and the click of the latch is probably more noticeable than her initial entry, sound dampening considered. All of a sudden, the regrouping mobster zealots are all together in a vacant room with a single, completely out of place, upper class gambling lady, who proceeds to mimic cracking her knuckles to draw the first attention with those quiet pops. "Alright boys, I'm in a bit of a hurry, but I'll make you a deal. Each new thing you tell me about the Ardents of Diotek wins you one less broken bone! The timer stops ticking once I hit you." She doesn't actually kick her shoes off, only sliding one foot backwards on the half-inch wide point in an extremely jarring, martial art-esque stance. "Aaaand, go!"

    The sequence of superhuman gynoid fisticuffs is probably best imagined as a comedic string of audible thumping and rumbling mysteriously emanating from upstairs, interspersed with the odd, perfectly punctuated loud crash or yell of disbelief, and ending on perfectly orchestrated silence, much like these things tend to when they happen offscreen.

Neuroi Girl has posed:
     Evangeline pauses as that bottle is shattered over one of the cultists. "...thank you..." she says quietly to the helpful passenger, then proceeds to continue bashing the cultists with kicks. Had she heard the conniving heiress, Evangeline would have interceeded. But, she does not have super hearing. So, the actions of the Starbounders go unnoticed by the Neuroi.

     She is busy chasing after the fleeing cultists, dealing more powerful blows to them to try and subdue all of them. "...there is nowhere to run...you should surrender now before anyone else is hurt...including yourselves..." the Neuroi says as she chases the cultists, not caring if she kicks them in the back, head, or anywhere else.

William Pauwel has posed:
So it turns out that awesome hats don't automatically make you an awesome person. Will stares incredulously down at the captain. Doubly so when the man straight up voids his bladder in literally pants-wetting fear. "What're you-- did you seriously piss yerself?" He sighs, running a hand down his face. Who in their right mind put this guy in charge of a ship like this? And what's he even so afraid of? Just 'cause Will's all wrapped up doesn't mean he's some kind of mon--

Wait.

There's a shadow.

    Will slowly cranes his head back to peer over his shoulder and finds... Another giant greaver. His hand instinctively snaps to his hip, but finds NOTHING THERE because these idiots confiscated his weapon and then let a whole bunch of pirates onboard. Fortunately, Will's luck with colossal beastfolk seems to be taking a turn for the better, because the big guy seems more interested in his cabin than with anything else.

Will turns to look back down at the captain... And holds out a hand. "Keys. I need t' get my darn handcannon back 'fore this gets worse."

He then glances into the still-open doorway to the Greaver's cabin and pokes his head inside. "Hey, uh," he calls, "Y'all okay? You looked pretty beat up. I've got spare bandages iff'n you need them."

No, not the ones on him right now.

That'd be so very very gross.

Starlight Bandits has posed:
    Missus Desfio is overcome with tears of thanks and gratitude as Arianna walks over with Pavo. "Oh, you protected my daughter, thank you so mu-"

    A spear is rammed into her body.

    Immediately, blood begins to flow. People scream, including Arianna, but it does sound terribly forced. "You monsters! I'll never turn over the money I would inherit if you kill my parents! My father is in his cabin on the third floor with guards, you'll never get to him!" The old woman slumps, looking to her daughter with a shocked expression.... only for the girl to flash a monstrous grin, before whispering to George. "Pick me up, this needs to look like a kidnapping. No promises on not hitting you, but I'll try to pull them." However, George might be a bit distracted by the few guns laying around that were dropped by Those For Wefarnia. The passengers have been too scared to collect them!

    Meanwhile, Evangeline and the grizzled man take it to the Ardents who didn't flee! They're quite easily dispatched now, the man not even breathing hard. Clearly a veteran. However, the screams caused by Pavo's casual hit draws his eye. "... sorry little miss, but I got things to do. If ya gonna deal with that, more luck to ya." And with that, he starts running upstairs, past the theatre in which Zwei infiltrated.

    "The Ardents of Diotek are people who feel that technology not developed by the Ancients is heretiblrff." His explanation is cut off by Zwei's fist in his face as she proceeds to give them the worst performance of their lives. The flowing performance was certainly good, but the fact that it left them broken and bruised as they tries to clash with an opponent far above them seriously did it a disservice.

    The man runs up to the third floor, slipping by Will, the captain and the Greaver, going through the unlocked door. The captain didn't even try to offer an explanation to Will. "I-I left my keys on the flight deck..." he mutters. "If I hadn't, I would already be out of here." The big fellow flops onto a bed that creaks under his weight before digging out the first-aid kit and using the tweezers within to start prying bullets from his form.

    "I'll live, young man," the Greaver rumbles. "Just need to get these out of me before the holes heal over." But, his ears prick up as Will mentions a handcannon. "But, I tell you what. I'll help you get to your piece, if you help me put an end to an evil man on board this ship."

William Pauwel has posed:
Of course the captain doesn't have his keys. Somehow Will is starting to doubt the competence of the flight crew aboard this aircraft.

They can't even keep track of their keys! Someone could get into things that don't belong to them!

    Well, he has more important things to concern himself with, anyway. Will furrows his brow at the Greaver's offer, his hands bandaged hands sliding out of his pockets as he crosses the threshhold into the giant's room. The young chaser opens one of those hands to offer to take the tweezers. "It'll be easier if I do it, won't it? Ain't the first time I've had to do somethin' like this."

    Whether he's allowed to go to work or not, Will cants his head to the side to consider the Greaver's words. 'Put an end to.' That means... This guy wants to kill someone onboard, but... "What'd this guy do? He the one what shot you up like this?"

Neuroi Girl has posed:
     The Glass Deck is secure, by Evangeline's reckoning. She gives the deck one more look around, then...follows after that scream. It sounded bad, after all. The source seems to be...those guys. Evangeline is still for just a moment as George and Pavo make a break for it. Then, she is after them. She glances as the fallen mother as she passes, and even without features on her face one can tell she is not happy.

     "...stop..." is the only warning she gives before she rushes George with the same spinning top kick she used on Those For Wefarnia. And again, it will feel like getting hit by a rubber-steel beam if George is unlucky enough to be hit.

Starbound Flotilla has posed:
    TIME TO GET UPSTAIRS QUICK-FAST

    how does one get to the cabins as fast as possible

    George grabs a gun and -- having tracked the thuds of each footfall and the soft unsettling of dust on the ceiling -- aims it at the ceiling. Then Neuroi Girl slams a heavy foot into him, taking him off his feet below Neuroi Girl herself. The little girl is knocked from his hands, though Pavo grabs her quickly. "Hold fast or ye walk the plank!" She says, urgently, and while Neuroi Girl is above him, he groans in pain, holding his bruised, dazed head. Oh shit oh shit oh shit. This is bad, Neuroi Girl has a MASSIVE combat advantage over George right now, who lacks both gear and overall combat ability to match Neuroi Girl. "Auuuuugh! Come on! Do-gooding right /now/? Fuuuuck. Hey, betcha can't dodge this one." And then he fires the pistol at her 'head'. Of course... He gave enough WARNING to Neuroi Girl that she can teleport or dodge out of the way.

    Which is his hope, so that she'll be stunned by the effort long enough for the bullet to re-enrage that Greaver right after it's done giving a full explanation to William. He responds with violent melee to long-range attacks, judging by the incident earlier down in here, so he shooooouuuuuld wind up taking out the floor under him to get into the glass two-story cabin once again! Which will be convenient; Pavo finished grabbing up her own gun, and is just now set up to make a flying leap, jump off the Greaver mid-fall, and up into his cabin, then off to the other accommodations to take out Felix! "Pa-chow! Summon bigger fish!" He winks to Neuroi Girl, who will hopefully need to dodge away to avoid an angry superhuman incoming.

Zwei (596) has posed:
    "Ahhh, that's it? Lame." Weiss intones as the last man goes down. True to her promise at least, she leaves his jaw fully intact. The sophistication of her physical construction makes specifically selecting bones a pretty trivial task, and there's no need to be an extra double big dick about it. Still though, that would imply that whatever they've brought with them isn't standard fare, and so she takes a few extra seconds to police their gear and pick up a couple of handguns and any other samples of potentially ancient-derived gizmos with her integrated matter manipulator. Zwei knew that would come in handy.

    "One side of the fence pacified, I think the other guys aren't coming out any time soon. You about wrapped up down there?" It's a rhetorical question. She can hear gunshots and yelling perfectly fine. "I'm off to go deal with the greaver; then maybe we can have a quiet flight back and figure out what this was all about." Will is about to be the center of a lot of attention very soon, what with the captain and the last priority target with him, sitting right above the ongoing battle and right between George and his big money payoff. She walks in on them right at the tail end of the discussion, finding not quite what she had expected. "Oh hey! It's sack-o-spuds!" she preempts with "Voice matching. Please don't tell me you're behind all this though, because then I might have to re-break all your bones."

Starlight Bandits has posed:
    Evangeine's do-goodery continues unabated! Arianna shrieks with indignity as she is passed to Pavo. She goes swinging at the Flotilla, until George tries a risky plan...

    Upstairs, the Greaver pulls out another bullet while looking to Will. "No. This man betrayed me in the worst way. I've been looking for him for years, and I got word he's on board this ship. He..." The revelation is halted just as Zwei arrives, as a bullet comes crashing up through the floor to strike the Greaver! Roaring with pain, he slams his fist into the floor, caving it in! He falls into the gym where he acquires a set of weights as a weapon. Then, another slam to fall into the glass cabin, swinging the makeshift club wildly! Evangeline better look out!

    At the same time, Pavo leaps, jumping from the Greaver! With that boost, she clears the gym and goes through the hole on the third floor! The captain peers down at the massive hole left, looking like he's about to void something else now too. And then a bird holding a bitch leaps up, making him stagger back in fright!

    "First class, that way!" Arianna yells, pointing down the hall. She probably has Zwei's help, but will Will be so accommodating?

Starbound Flotilla has posed:
    "Man I did not think this one through past this part." George fucking BOOKS it, rolling as rapidly as his body can take him. "AaaaaaaaAAAAAAAH!" He's hoping that this event is about to stun Neuroi Girl, or otherwise make her back off. He needs some distance from her to get to his feet, and he needs to get to his feet to RUN AWAY. His part in this is mostly resolved, so the shouting spaceman engages in the better part of valor and tries to scramble to a staircase. "I just realized I left my oven on in the-- in the oven, gotta run! Great party!" George has to ditch the gun to reduce the probability that he'll get pinned as the shooter; if he's UNLUCKY, he might get Neuroi Girl and the Greaver on his tail. Hopefully Neuroi Girl will be distracted, lose him, or go after Pavo... Lots of possibilities, but not a lot of chances.

William Pauwel has posed:
No good exposition or plot hook goes unpunished.

    Another gunshot rings out, causing Will to leap back in surprise. His reflexes might be crippled by the ache in his bones, but they're enough to keep him from tumbling two stories when the Greaver's pain drives him to PUNCH A HOLE IN THE FLOOR. "What in tarnation is going on aboard this damn ship!?" Will roars as CHAOS DESCENDS all around him.

It doesn't take him long to indentify the one responsible. But George disappears down the hole just as quickly as he'd appeared, too. His fellow coconspirator, though...

Looks like she's... abducting a fair maiden!?

But she's giving him directions? What's going on here?

    Will's eyes flicker towards the Captain, then back towards Pavo, then to... something at the Captain's belt. "Gonna borrow that," Will mutters. Given the circumstances, he might regret snapping a hand over to tear a firearm from the other man's hip, but the Captain's intestinal incontinence isn't really on Will's mind right now.. He draws back the hammer at the weapon's back and steps out into the corridor.

He levels the barrel of the gun at the 'kidnapper' and the girl in his arms. "Hey, partner," Will calls, "How about you put the lady down and tell me what's got all you folks riled up, huh?"

Starbound Flotilla has posed:
    Pavo lands precariously at the edge of the pit, wobbling back and forth, but eventually settles... Staring down the barrel of a gun of a potential 'rescuer'. "Yarrr! Avast, ye have the wrong one! We be here to take out a danger! Take heed, matey! Evil lurk this boat! /Felix Desfiol/!" Pavo actually knows nothing at all about what's going on earlier, with the Greaver explaining things to Will, but the Greaver was previously yelling 'WHERE IS HE', and the Wefarnians were after him, maybe she can just bluff the everloving shit out of William and convince him to follow along with this.

    Failing that: "Zwei!" She calls, and then tries to bolt, hoping that Zwei has enough allegiance points to back Pavo up here. Hey, if plan A doesn't work, plan B should! And it really needs to, because Pavo might have an enraged Neuroi Girl coming after her shortly and she /cannot/ contend with a fighter that strong.

Neuroi Girl has posed:
     Pavo does indeed face the threat of the Neuroi Girl that George tried to squish beneath a giant. Evangeline moves her head out of the path of the bullet, then watches in facination at the scene that unfolds above her. There is a crash out of sight, then another crash and something BIG comes falling through the ceiling. The agile Neuroi moves out of the way quickly, and in the opposite direction from George to ensure he can't attack while she is dodging. Once the Greaver is on the glass floor, Evangeline just casually floats up through the hole he left behind.

     She emerges a moment later behind Pavo. "...stop...or I will use deadly force..." she says. She raises her arms and the flat tips start to glow a sinister red. "...put the human down...and surrender...you have committed a crime...and will be dealt with accordingly..." That sinister red glow increases, and an equally sinister humming of energy can be heard.

Zwei (596) has posed:
    "Guys, we're going to need to have a talk about- actually a lot of things." Weiss abruptly switches tack and tone halfway through, a little like a spliced recording, as Pavo comes barreling up through the hole in the floor, peering over the edge at the greaver rampaging around below while holding her skirt steady as an afterthought. "Or maybe just about not all listening to George every single time he gets an idea. I mean, they usually work, but that doesn't just mean you should do them y'know?"

    When she decides to lean back, William is pointing a gun at Pavo, and- "You still haven't answered my question by the way." she interjects, clearly not pleased, and likely willing to take his silence as an admission of guilt. He'd apparently just broken half his bones the other day, and so she aims to go a little easy on him, but either way, the next second William is getting blindsided from the neglected passenger and hit with far more force than a human is supposedly capable of, never mind a skinny little upper class princess. Pavo's mentioned Zwei by name now anyways. Her goal is to break the gun, and then turn William around as a human shield to interpose between Evangeline and Pavo making her getaway.

Starlight Bandits has posed:
    Down in the glass cabin, the glass cracking underfoot has inspired the passengers to feel, especially now that the terrorists are gone. This might be for the best. Between that table, and now the Greaver crashing down? The floor is looking worst for ware. As Evangeline and George back away from his wild swings, those weights strike the ground, once, twice, three and four times!

    But it's the fifth straw that breaks the camel's back.

    The glass underfoot shatters, leaving a massive hole with him at the centre. And sadly, gravity still exists. He plummets, screaming out in fear and terror as the chilly air rushed into the zeppelin, blowing upwards! Neuroi might actually get a little boost as she flies up after Pavo.

    Only to arrive into something of a Mexican standoff! Will has a gun on Pavo, but Zwei is aiming to disarm and grab him! Arianna is demanding that Pavo go go go, when suddenly. "Y'all hold it right there."

    It's the grizzled Chaser, back from the staff area. And in his hands is the biggest goddamn blunderbuss you ever did see, pointed square at the group. He stays back, out of reach. But, judging by how severely that barrel flares, a single squeeze would fill the hall. To Pavo, he says "Let her go." To Zwei, "Let him go."

    And then, from the opposite side of the hall, an entourage. A squat man dressed in fine robes, together with a gaggle of children in rags and... two of the musicians from downstairs? "What is all this? And why am I not surprised to see you in the centre Arianna?" The heiress is shooting Pavo significant looks. This must be her father, Felix!"

Starbound Flotilla has posed:
    "NOPE, NOPE NOPE NOPE /NOPE/." Pavo is already halfway through the door as soon as Neuroi girl is here.

"Wait, what? What do you mean that thing's up there?!"
"Mean /that thing be on me aft/!"
"Shhhhit, I'll be up in a second!"
"Ye dog, I've got not a second for this!!"
"Shit... Okay! If we just--"
"Fuck."
"Pavo?"

    Pavo holds the gun she scavenged to Felix's daughter. Of course, she wouldn't fire it, because Felix's daughter is also the one hiring her, but Felix doesn't know that. Zwei might possibly have William as a shield, but she can't turn around to look at Neuroi Girl. Neuroi Girl... No, she wouldn't fire either, not on Pavo. But maybe on Felix? IS he evil?! He looks kind of evil. And the CHASER! Oh christ, that blunderbuss trained right on her!! Pavo is sweating bullets, HARD. This situation is completely helpless. How can she get out of this one in one piece...!?

William Pauwel has posed:
    This isn't exactly the first time Will's been around the block. On any other day, Pavo's bluff might just have been enough to pay off. But today, after Will's been put through two meatgrinders in the span of a couple weeks, and after damn near everything aboard this ship has gone to shit, he's finding it just a little bit difficult to trust someone utterly covered in blood. The Neuroi's arrival and sudden pronouncement of guilt isn't exactly building any trust. "You're gonna have to run that one by me again, pardner, 'cause that story sounds like it's about as full of holes as this ship's security. You gonna start talkin', or am I gonna have to start shootin'?"

Unfortunately, he doesn't get the chance.

Because, for the second time in the past week, he's being manhandled by something that's decidedly superhuman. The young chaser's breath is promptly knocked out of his chest as several ribs snap across his flank. His eyes shoot open. His body--

Nope.

Nope, not a second time.

Nope, not doing this again.

    His leg shoots out underneath him, stabilizing his body even as Zwei goes to try and wrap herself around his limbs and shatter his one means of protecting himself. Pain screams through his nervous system as his body moves against the bone shards slowly grinding the inside of his chest into a fine, meaty slurry. Even if he can't force Weiss off, it looks like Will isn't going down without a fight.

He strains to keep the gun out of her reach. Long enough to train it towards Pavo's ankles, and squeeze the trigger--

Fortunately, or unfortunately, maybe, the corridor becomes even MORE crowded by the addition of a mysterious man with a blunderbuss, and a much shorter, portly gentleman. Will freezes, but if Weiss isn't careful, she might cause him to actually fire a shot!

Starbound Flotilla has posed:
    Okay, Greaver is gone. Neuroi Girl is gone. That means the glass deck is clear. "Fuck fuck fuck. Hey, anyone using this? I'll just be taking this." George runs for one of the dead or knocked-out Wefarnians, remaining somewhere not too close to the border of that glass cabin. What's his plan...?

    An elderly fellow wearing a bloodied-up Wefarnian suit, with a fake beard strapped over his real beard, bursts into the casino where the Wefarnians may still be recuperating. "I found Felix! C'mon!! Up near the Greaver's cabin on the third deck!" He hoists a spear and shouts, and doesn't even leave a single moment for the others to react before he attempts to con the Wefarnians -- who have survived by about half, potentially -- up to crash the tense encounter and try to swarm Felix all at once. This might cause some difficulties to the CHASER as well, or maybe it won't cause any difficulties at all considering his weapon could fill the whole hall.

Neuroi Girl has posed:
     Evangeline has no experience with this sort of situation. She is used to high-speed combat and target elimination. Hostage situations and standoffs are completely new to her. She considers options for several moments, then...fires at the floor beneath Pavo. Her unique Neuroi beams cause the decking to explode apart. Her plan? To drop Pavo through the floor and catch Arianne as they fall. This should also hopefully cause Weiss and William to stumble apart. If not, well...maybe with Pavo and Arianne falling Weiss will have no reason to hold on to William.

     Assuming the plan works, Evangeline swoops in to scoop up Arianne in her arms. "...do not worry...you are safe now..." she says, completely unaware that Arianne is trying to have her own parents assassinated.

Zwei (596) has posed:
    Okay okay, now this is just getting ridiculous. "Are we really doing this right now?" Weiss asks half-seriously, pretty abruptly dropping both character and accent, and reverting to a much more familiar, pleasantly careless tone. "Because I don't think you want to be doing this right now." A luminously green glance goes out to William waving the gun outside her reach, reluctant to try and grind up more of his body to get at the firearm, and probably get blasted with buckshot in the process along with everyone else. Evangeline shoots out the floor, and an introspective conversation secretly takes place inside the length of time it takes light to cross a single molecule.

/*About as far as I'm going to get undercover.*/
//Pushing it was experimental to begin with. Innocent lives are now at stake.//
/*Only about half the problem but yeah.*/
//Castle?//
/*Castle.*/

    Weiss isn't stumbling from something like that. What she /is/ doing is dropping William anyways, Pavo falling out of his line of fire either way. She takes one blindingly quick step towards the hole, the heel of her fancy shoe snapping on her footfall, and then the next instant, the air current coming through it completely halts, snuffed out by the looming, carbon black shadow filling the view of the other side. Asche catches the falling Avian in one hand with surprising softness, even amidst the process of shaking the airship by violently slamming his talons through the solid decking to anchor himself upside down, and then produces a grotesquely oversized raiser rifle from manipulator hammerspace, swinging the cannon sized weapon upwards, ruby light primed along its white body circuits. One of the stolen sidearms pops into Pavo's hands at the same time.

    "So!" Weiss crows. "Yes or no? Because if we're at the point where we're okay with blowing the ship to pieces then I'm game!"

Starlight Bandits has posed:
    Arianna is practically sweating bullets now, as her father begins to chew her out for being so much trouble. But then she is grabbed and held hostage! And now her sweating really intensifies. She doesn't know if Pavo is serious or not! The Chaser freezes, as does Felix.

    And then George rushes in from the opposite end of the hall from the Chaser. And indeed, the concussed terrorists follow him, charging with bleary yells! In the chaos, Arianna clearly yells, "Kill him! The fat one!"

    And the Evangeline shoots the floor under she and Pavo.

    It crumbles easily under her blast, likely sending the two plummeting! Arianna shrieks until she is snatched up by the Neuroi Girl, who probably feels less good about saving her after what she just said.

    But there is still George and the terrorists charging. With everyone in the way, the Chaser doesn't have a clear shot! And then... one of the musician steps up. With violin in hand, he smoothly swings to smash George in the face with it. And then he grabs the Flotilla member, trying to smoothly pivot to clutch him as a human shield, holding his hand so the gun is pointed at his 'allies.'

    As Zwei suddenly drops, the other musician rushes to catch Will! She asks, with a concerned voice, "William! Are you okay, you're all bandaged up!" That voice... that means...

    The ship is rocked as Zwei brings out the big guns, literally! The sounds of screaming from the passengers taking cover, from the terrorists, from the staff! This is quite an es<span style="color:alation!

    c#ffd700">"Goodness, all this to kill one man? A bit excessive, don't you think?"</span> The man who attacked George speaks, the rocking having dislodges his hat, revealing golden eyes. The woman helping Will removes her own, revealing blue hair and eyes. Who else would strike up a tune in the middle of a firefight.

    "The Starlight Bandits were always here!"

    The two pause... before leaning close to whisper to each other. "That's a big machine out there Irvine! It could blow us out of the sky!" "You're right Molly... but we have something they don't!" "Cunning, moxie and good looks?" "That too! But I meant an easy way to make them stop!"

    A significant look is shared, and Molly finally understands. Suddenly, she picks up Will... and pulls him into a hug with Felix! Irvine shoves George away, and joins the hug! All this effort to kill one person. But what if...

    *_* *_*

    What if that person wasn't here? During the hug, Irvine produces a small, silvery staff, which he makes sure Molly, Will and Felix are in contact with!

    bip

    And they're gone.

Starbound Flotilla has posed:
    Pavo may or may not suffer a severe shot to her ankle; whether or not she did, she's not leaving Asche's hand, especially not after the floor is shot out from under her. Now, normally, this is EXACTLY where Pavo would actually shoot her hostage, since attacking someone's environment when they have a hostage is precisely the thing that prompts shooting the hostage, but fortunately for Neuroi Girl, the child she just rescued is the mastermind behind the hit so Pavo isn't going to shoot her, but rather let Neuroi Girl rescue her. But now she's got two guns: One to train on Felix, and one to train on Neuroi Girl!

    Pain or no, she's screaming. "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!" George, too, is screaming on his way up. "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!" The Wefarnians are screaming. Felix's companions are possibly screaming. And then George is slammed in the head. "AAAAAAAAfuck my face! Now I'll never get asked to prom!" George shouts as he's manhandled haplessly by Irvine. He also can listen in on the whispering. "Hey, that's fuckin' rude, I'll have you know I had ladies climbing all over me for these good looks before you smashed my head." As always, he seems to be joking. But then, in a moment later, they're gone! George is shoved away, and in fact, he falls down the hole into Asche's hand, headfirst. Pavo and George point the three guns between them at a combination of Will and Neuroi Girl that seems to change every moment. "Think maybe we'll take our leave of this, aye?" Pavo glances up to the girl. Maybe they still get paid? If Felix doesn't show up...?

"Concerned. I have recovered our equipment. What is all the noise down there?"
"You can yell at me about it later."
"Oh, /wonderful/, you had one of /those/ sorts of plans again."
"I don't need sass from a goldfish, I need to find those damn STARLIGHT BANDITS!"
"Are you shaking fissst and curssse?"
"Aye lass, he is."
"This is idiotic. Everyone pull out. I hope you got some reward to show for it."

    "My apologies, lass, but yer lasers will have to find taste of me another day! If ye want to arrest these terrorists, ye has best put yer attention to that! I'll not at all look forward to seein' ye ever in this life or the next! Yarharhar!" Pavo calls out to Neuroi Girl and to William. Hopefully Asche and Weiss take this opportunity to pop out too, otherwise her blustery confidence in her escape might falter.

Neuroi Girl has posed:
     And...Evangeline is left with an ungrateful, murderous brat in her arms. Not to mentions the remaining Wafernians, Weiss and whatever that thing outside is, all the endangered passengers, and one helpful Chaser. She floats back up into the hallway as Pavo blusters beneath her, then over toward the terrorists. Her priority now is to protect the passengers and the rag-clad children. She sets Arianne down, then backs up a bit. "...go then..." she says to Pavo and the other badguys.

     She then looks toward Arianne and the terrorists. Were they working together? She has no idea, but all of them are resposible for some of the bad that has happened today. Then, she raises her arms and there is a spark of energy around her as she establishes her shield. Then, that red glow of energy returns to her arms. "...there is nowhere to go...please surrender and you will not be harmed..." She looks over her shoulder at the Chaser, her only remaining combat capable ally. "...please secure them...or cover me while I secure them..."

Zwei (596) has posed:
    "Oh hey, it's those two!" At the sound of Molly and Irvine's voice's, Weiss looks /immediately/ more excited about being here. "Oh no, you've got it wrong, I-"

    bip

    "Oh well that's just typical." She instead looks to George and Pavo down below, if only to direct her attention, since Zwei can obviously see them fine through Asche's optics. "They are done screaming." Asche replies to his own mirror unit, also just for effect. "Excellent! Then if these nutcases are done here, I think I am too. Albert, send a call if you need me to pull up the Convergence!"

    And with that, she gives a little departing wave, and abruptly drops out the gaping hole, long blonde hair turning nickel as it whips back in the wind, bleaching along with her skin and the excess length disintegrating along with her dress in order to give way to a grey-black undersuit. She lands straight on Asche's massive shoulder, balancing as though he were level sidewalk, and cheekily salutes William on the way off. Asche transfers George and Pavo to the opposite pylon mount, turning over and accelerating off in seemingly a random direction, thrusters roaring as he quickly reaches a velocity that makes the wind splitting over his shield visible.

    "So what have we learned today?" Weiss chides on the way out.

William Pauwel has posed:
    The situation continues to spiral madly out of control. Will struggles against a far-too-handsy superhuman as another couple of ribs pop in his chest. Lasers lance through the airship's beleaguered hull. A GIANT BLACK THING perches underneath it all and threatens to blow the whole vessel and all the people aboard to smithereens.

It's all almost too much for one boy to take!

Will feels faint!

Or... Maybe that's the internal trauma, and the crippling pain.

    In either case, whether or not Zwei lets go, Will begins going limp at the knees. He pitches forward! He falls...

Into... Something soft?

The Chaser blinks. He glances upward to find a pair of familiar blue eyes. It's... Those two?

"Wait," he starts as he's dragged limply into a big, warm group hug. "What about my gu-"

*blip!*

Welp.

Starbound Flotilla has posed:
"Did we-- Did I learn something? Was there a life lesson?"
"Always bring a bigger cannon."
"Keep away from alien police."
"Luggage checking be a scam, keep a sword on yer side."
"Yeah, I got nothing, I really hope we weren't supposed to take a life lesson away from that."

    George and Pavo ramble on the way out. The Flotilla's core fleet will meet back up together soon.

Neuroi Girl has posed:
     With the new prisoners secured, Evangeline turns her attention to the ship. She floats over to one wall, then touches it with her hand. There is a pulse of energy that flows through the ship, then it starts to change! Starting at the point where she is touching it, the ship coverts from the lavish and colorful designs to the metallic black of Neuroi armor. It happens in sections. Rings of hexagons about a foot wide are converted in a widening wave that steadily engulfs every bit of the ship. Each time a section of ship is converted, there is a heavy sound like a hammer hitting an anvil and a magical chime all rolled into one. It might be startling, but after it is finished, Evangeline is confident the passengers will be glad.

     Within a minute, the badly damaged pleasure cruiser is converted completely from fore to aft. Then...the damaged sections start to regenerate, and any damaged components regain their functions. The glass flooring follows suit, and a minute after the ship is converted it is fully restored. Evangeline looks around the now completely black hallway, then toward the captured terrorists and the spoiled brat. The ship walls flex, then bars form around them, creating a makeshift brig until the ship can make port.

Starlight Bandits has posed:
    The Chaser is left looking very confused, but he does give a nod to the Neuroi as she asks for his assistance. "You got it little lady. Good work catchin' that snake, but I reckon ya shouldnt've wasted ya time." The girl in Evangeline's arms sulks, tears forming in her eyes. All for naught...

    Both terrorists groups surrender quite easily. The captain is quite full of bravado when surrounded by crew with rope and guns (and also wearing fresh pants), but the ship is secured.

    And then, Evangeline reaches out... and the ship begins to change. Losing its luxurious aesthetic, it become a pragmatic thing of black hexagons. But in doing so, it stabilizes, which is a huge relief to everyone on board still alive. The bodies of the terrorists are tossed overboard, while Missus Desfio is stored in the restaurant's coolers to preserve her. Drinks are free, something near everyone capitalizes on. The Chaser takes advantage, and the Neuroi received plenty of praise and thanks.

    bop

    Irvine, Molly, Felix and William suddenly appear upon a mountain slope near a massive city atop a ruin. The sea can be seen on the horizon. The two bandits take a moment to get their bearings.

    "Molly, we're outside Vaygara!" "Oh, how lucky~! That's where the airship was heading, right?" "Perfectly correct my dear! All we need to do is pass the time until it arrives, then we can get on board and take our things back! The young man's things too, after we drop him off at the hospital." "Hooray! And since we have Mister Desfio with us, he can tell us that story!"

    Felix, having had a very traumatic day, can only mutter, "My own daughter tried to have me killed... hold, what story?" The two bandits share an excited look, before blurting out, "The time you were kidnapped by Typhoon Bill and Hurricane Jane!"

    For indeed, in his younger days, Felix was kidnapped by the legendary duo and held successfully to ransom. And of course, hearing this story from the source was the whole reason the two bandits did this.

    Of course.

    The old man is still saddened by what happened. But he reasons that it's the least he can do. The two probably did save his life today. And so the four head down into the city (Will probably being carried by Molly), the Starlight Bandits actually the only ones to have a successful heist today.

    Is there a lesson to all this? Is there a moral? Usually, morals are delivered in stories, but this wasn't much of one. It was a bizarre tale, filled with plot holes. Who were those children? Who did the Greaver want to kill? Who was that Chaser with the large gun? What is Wefarnia, and why were those people for it? But really, that's just life isn't it? You go through it, mostly only learning half the story... and yet, everyone manages to get by. Maybe a sense of mystery and unknown makes things more exciting! And certainly, there's not always a single lesson to take away from every event. But because the story of life never ends, there are always more morals to develop! So while there wasn't one here, there will be more down the road!