4318/Testing Grounds

Testing Grounds
Date of Scene:	14 July 2016
Location:	Techno Urbania
Synopsis:	Anne Blakely has a new construct, made differently from her others. She's running a test, and attracts some bad attention from the Union.
Cast of Characters:	983, 253, 255, 823, 2, 824, Sanary Rondel, Staren, 707, 108, 996

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Anne Blakely (983) has posed:
    Ai's frantic explanation of what hat happened was a little murky in many places, but it was clear enough to state that Blakely was responsible for her condition. It was also clear enough to get a decent idea of where she had been taken to be worked on, whatever that 'working on' entailed. It was something vaguely alluded to by Anne, and didn't sound very good. The immediate area was a technological world, and thanks to a far too oft-repeated ad for a recent movie, it was easy to narrow it down to a specific world and a specific city. From that point, searching would be a little more difficult. However...

    Recently, one area of the city had been having crime issues. The crime rate was rocketing up in a district that wasn't all that good of an area anyway, but the biggest cause had been the patrolling police robots that kept the peace. The last couple days had seen more and more of them vanishing, except for the tracers left behind, and sometimes mostly dismembered but with parts missing. There had, curiously, been no deaths yet... which is unusual given Anne's callous disregard for life. The one witness had definitely described spiderlike robotic things tearing apart the peacekeeper, which matched the description of the constructs Anne used to capture Ai and her friends.

    "Move along. Move along." A robotic voice again... in this area, trying to calm down an agitated set of teens that were shouting at one another. They were starting to disperse now. If the pattern continued, though, this peacekeeper would be attacked within the hour. The local authorities had been all too happy to let the Union and other allies take a look around.

Psyber (253) has posed:
    Psyber had told Anne Blakely he would be looking into this matter personally. While she had originally captured his curiosity due to her interactions with Staren, it had become upgraded to a personal vendetta around the time the Puella Magi were involved. Which was why, in the bad side of town, Psyber wasn't even trying to disguise the fact that he was arriving. A police light is flashing red and blue in the front of a Dodge Coronet as it zipped through the streets of Japan.

    Psyber barely waited until the car was in park before stepping foot onto the pavement and immediately going to the trunk to take an FN P90 and a pair of fake IDs out of the back. The PDW and the first ID are tossed towards his passenger, telling her, "You're Agent Baez. Joan Baez. I'm Bruce Hall. We're DEA Agents, if anyone asks." His Interpol ID says something else. And his FBI ID says SOMETHING ELSE. So he has to use the DEA one.

    After tossing Homura her gun, Psyber takes a Five Seven and a pump shotgun out of the back of the car, slamming it shut, "Let's roll."

Setsuko Kaminagi (255) has posed:
    There are not many things that well and truly upset Setsuko Kaminagi. But one of the items near the top of that short list is 'messing with the puella magi'. They already lead difficult existences that most of them were tricked into, lives of horror that tend to end tragically short. Someone bringing them any further grief that they didn't earn is unacceptable.

    Someone doing so in as potentially horrid a way as Anne Blakely is known to employ? That merits a response in blood.

    The demigod has foregone her usual hoverbike. She's here on her own, flying over the city in silence. They have intel that they might be able to get ahead of Blakely for once, and while anyone magically-sensitive in the city knows she's here, she can at least avoid attracting the eyes of the regular citizenry by getting too close or flying in on a floating personal craft. But as she flies over, the swordswoman's eagle-sharp eyes narrow, her expression growing distant... and then she speaks into her radio, expression hardening. "This is the place. Beyond a doubt." She can feel the battle here. It's not going to be a small one.

Anne Blakely (983) has posed:
    As for the Confederates, Anne has been working alone for a little while, but she took Psyber's threat to heart... and tonight, she is planning on a 'weapons test' of some sort. This is weird, because anyone who shows up at the small rental storage space Anne is using as a temporary 'lab' will just see... the usual things. Well, there's a bound and gagged girl in the corner, and also a nice and shiny new construct of some sort, one with six arms that has partly been made of scavenged police bot parts. Many of the smaller, spiderlike constructs are skittering about, carrying little components to her as needed. Aside from the materials used, it doesn't look any different from a normal construct.

    "There!" The redhead says with a clap of her hands. "That should do it! Let's see how this one fares against the peacekeepers first. I'm sure they've sent yet another one out there, I saw it approaching." Doubtless through one of her clockwork spies, though she doesn't have eyes on it just this moment. "This should be interesting!"

Xiao Li Yu (823) has posed:
     "Ooooooh...!"

     That was the curious sound Xiao Li Yu made once she entered the rental space, taking one quick sweep of the area with her eyes, before immediately zeroing in on the six armed construct. "Well, well, well! Is this your new toy?" She asked half rhetorically as she strode in and towards the thing. The bound girl in the corner is given a sidelong glance. Just a second. And then it was back to the construct. That was far more important to her.

     "Interesting! What are it's specs? Weapon loadout? Power supply?" The scientist asks as she comes to a full stop before the thing, peering up at it and then pacing around it in a semi circle, observing it from a couple angles.

Homura Akemi (2) has posed:
    Homura had come wearing the ARCHAGENT'S SUIT, a fancy token from her magpie habits and Vruasa's Session. It's really just a fancy suit and hat, potentially identifiable as belonging to one Spades Slick. One of them, at least. It matched Psyber's usual M.O. of pretending to be a cop (well... technically he IS legally empowered by SOME places), and more importantly it hid the fact she's a magical girl.

    This Anne Blakely seems to know about Soul Gems and if she can help it at all Homura doesn't intend to take to the front line, where that knowledge can be used against her. She's likely to play a very minimal role here tonight.

    She's out of the car when Psyber is, unarmed, pocketing the badge and ID handed to her. "I don't think she's going to give us the girl just because we have badges, mister Hall," she chides, hiding anxiety behind her usual short quips.

Fiora Laurent (824) has posed:
    Fiora has been looking to stretch her fighting legs, for a time. Considering what she knows of the situation, a child has been kidnapped. And others possibly harmed or even killed. This, alone, is enough to turn her stomach. So it doesn't take much convincing to get her to come along, and help. A woman dressed like she might draw some attention, but she's not entirely concerned with that, right now. She wears a hooded cloak over her normal attire, to help disguise her appearance somewhat, but if things become dire, she has no qualms tossing this aside.

She seeks to meet up with Psyber and Homura, arriving via warp gate, near their location.

Sanary Rondel has posed:
Sanary, for her part, is trying to make sure the bound girl's relatively comfortable considering the circumstances. It's not like she hasn't seen her share of hostages before (on the other side, but stil), but that doesn't mean she can't try to ease her mind with gentle words! "Easy, easy... You're safe here. This is all standard procedure, so try and relax. If anyone shows up, I'm pretty sure they won't just bombard the place unless they're assholes."

     It'd probably be more convincing if she wasn't decked out in full armor with a freaking kite shield and pair of staves on her back like she's expecting to go into a war zone. The healer does have one gauntlet off, at least, to try and give the girl a light pat on the head and a small smile for extra reassurance before turning towards Anne. "Any signs of... Uh. Whoever yet?"

Staren has posed:
    Agents Baez and Hall are accompanied by their TRUSTY POLICE ROBOT, S.T.A.R.E.N. He steps out of the car, looking around, scanning the area with various sensors (including magic detection) for anything unusual!

Xiaomu (707) has posed:
While Xiaomu only found out about Blakely's 'experiments' around the same time that Psyber learned that Blakely was interested in the Puella Magi, the discussion of what she'd been up to near Lazlo was enough to draw the sage fox's attention, much the same way that a new video game or a plate of fried tofu would draw it. Except for almost the opposite reasons.

Stuff like this is not all that far off from some of the incidents that Xiaomu looks into in her own world, after all - but more than that, what Blakely is reputedly up to is a special kind of foul. Sure, there are youkai who are purported to consume the souls of mortals, but Blakely *IS* a mortal - and it takes a special kind of, let's call it inconsiderateness, to prey on your own kind for reasons other than genuine need.

(And as much as Xiaomu appreciates the fruits of mortal technology, 'science' and its variants aren't that kind of a genuine need.)

While she's aware of several of the other Unionites in the area for the same reason, Xiaomu is blending in to the extent of hanging out in the closest video game arcade, somewhere that she has a decent view of what's happening on the street - at least when she's not distracted by the game she's staked out at. It helps that this particular machine is a game she's never played before, while several of the locals *have*, and as such, Xiaomu tends to get whomped on often enough to step back and take a break, let someone else get a turn, before she cycles back to the front and deposits another coin. She's just finished a round now, as it happens, and she looks out to see what's happening on the street ...

Winnowill (108) has posed:
Winnowill has chosen to arrive under her usual disguise, as Lady Venevol. This way she looks human... though she looks a little out of place in this world, wearing a more fuedal-era green gown at the moment. She's taking more interest in this than many would expect, though the constructs would seem to be more something for her son to work on. But no, it's Winnowill herself here, tapping the six-armed thing.

"Interesting..." She knows that the real show is about to start.

Fate Testarossa (996) has posed:
There was still much Fate Testarossa did not understand. She has missed much of the explanations regarding the true nature of soul gems and grief seeds, and had only caught Ai's frantic mention of 'Blakely' before taking her leave of Mitakihara Town.

The next few days, she remained quiet; listening to the radio, silently mulling over every word she had heard.

Blakely had killed girls? Something to do with a project of hers?

It did not sit well with the young blonde; nor her Familiar, but orders had come from up above.

"Fate... My precious, charming, Fate... You will go, and ifind out the nature of these Witches, and their Lost Logia. And you will do so by what ever means necessary. And if that means entering into in the good graces of our new allies. Then so be it."

"... Yes, mother."

The words of her mother, Precia Testarossa, do not engender the warm, loving memories that the child once had, but a colder, quiet, fear. She does not like the idea of getting involved with this in the least, anymore. But she does not want to fail her mother, either.

"Fate, I get the feeling there's nothing good gonna come of this." Arf says, the red-haired wolf-woman stands by the girl's side, arms folded under her chest. Once again the two are on a rooftop; watching down below, observing the roused teens, the mechanical authorities. And waiting. Until she gives word for Bardiche to open a communications line. She spies familiar faces. Psyber. Homura. Setsuko she does not know, though, nor the others.

"The Union is arriving." She notes softly to any Confederate that will pay her the mind.

Anne Blakely (983) has posed:
    "Hm, the Union?" Oh, Blakely is happy to listen to such warnings... especially when it becomes another test. She smiles, "Then maybe we will actually get a real test for this." She gestures toward the girl. "She's the power source, actually. In a way. As soon as we move out she will drop dead, no need to make her comfortable. When we get back, we'll take her to my shop and keep her there. After she's not dead any longer. It's a fascinating thing to watch." Poor Rui. Anne had probably tested the exact range at which she could move the gem before the girl keeled over... multiple times. SCIENCE! "This is normal. Powering my constructs this way, I mean. But the way of obtaining it is not. Let's see what the effect is, hmm? This one doesn't need many built in weapons, if my theory is correct. I think you'll like this, Xiao."

    Anne steps out of the storage shed, meandering toward where the Union are gathering. She doesn't know exactly where the Union are, and she doesn't care. She figures they're near the peacekeeper.

    "Watch," she offers to the Confeds, gesturing to the construct. It's walking along placidly... then glows silvery-blue from the seams. In an instant it is moving forward at high speed, nothing but a bluish blur that darts down the streets and around the corners. "Let's follow her, shall we?"

    The bluish streak rounds the bend, and lances of white light come out, six of them. Or not lances? They look like whips, actually, arcing toward the peacekeeper bot without even announcing the construct's presence.

    "Oh, she got ahead of us. We should probably catch up," Anne notes.

Staren has posed:
    "Magic. Over--" Staren turns his head and starts to speak, when suddenly a blue streak shows up and attacks the inferior robot. He's not concerned for the bot, but obviously once one target goes down, an actual person will be next...

    He raises his arm and fires the dual beam cannon at the construct, mostly to gauge its toughness.

    Upon confirming that this is, indeed, another empowered construct... well, Staren doesn't have a plan yet, but step one is to fire a half-dozen miniature HEAT rounds, lancing through it in hopes of breaking something important. It didn't work as great as he'd like on the dragon, but this one is smaller... it's not like putting holes in it can make it /worse/, right?

Staren has posed:
    Staren does immediately feel a little bit... not quite sick, since he lacks flesh at the moment, but something like that, when Homura mentions on radio that the 'something important' inside might be soul gems. The chances of any of his missiles hitting one are low, but...

    Fortunately, noone can see his face through the visor.

Psyber (253) has posed:
    "She'll give us the girl because I'll pistol whip her so bad the Maxillofacial Specialist who tries to fix it will, in turn, need corrective measures," Psyber notes, hand gripping around the pistol in one hand and the shotgun in the other. He looks to Staren and Fiona as they join up, but he doesn't have much more to say until Staren points out that the construct is coming.

    Psyber, having the same fear of Homura's safety as Homura does, steps in front of the girl protectively and immediately lifts both the shotgun and the pistol, "Disassemble that thing. Take out everything that couldn't hold a gem in it. We'll search the rest." His order is sharp, deliberate, and tactical.

    He then immediately tries to start blowing limbs off the construct.

Homura Akemi (2) has posed:
    The people who show up get an acknowledging nod from Homura, Fiora in particular. She otherwise spends most of her time explaining the situation over radio and not taking an active role in things, per her warning she wasn't going to transform and give Anne a new target to test her new science on.

    When things get heated, Homura backs away, content to let Psyber and Fiora take to the front line ahead of her. She finds cover behind the car, producing a pistol and opening fire on the unusually swift automaton now trying to murder innocent police bots. The gun goes bang bang, it's very generic and unimpressive, obviously meant to distract.

Fiora Laurent (824) has posed:
    Fiora, thusly informed by the others, lunges towards the offending construct. The fire of her comrades behind her is not something she's worried by. She moves swiftly and precisely, not only to deliver her strike, but to avoid being struck by the fire of her comrades. Like a shadow of liquid metal, she's able to do just that, her sword lashing out like the fangs of a cornered snake. She aims at the limbs as well, focusing her strikes along with Psyber's gunfire. She also aims at the joints, to assist in disabling it. Perhaps once it is, Staren can make heads or tails of the machine.

Xiaomu (707) has posed:
Yep, thinks Xiaomu, that would be the party. Time to leave the Valgern-On machine to the local experts and engage in *her* field of expertise.

Truthfully, she probably wouldn't have needed to be looking out the window at the right moment to sense the machine; there's enough raw power circulating through the construct's systems to make her hair stand on end. Just the fact that the mage-machine is openly attacking one of the local policebots is reason enough to stop blending in, by the sage fox's judgment; the fact that it's so obviously supernatural - and at the same time, so very *UN*natural - is an added reason to join the fray.

So as Xiaomu strides out of the arcade, her left hand holding her staff, her right hand reaches inside of her vest, emerging with a black handgun, her grip mostly hiding the white spot adorning its handle. She wastes little time in levelling it at the magically-powered construct, and only enough additional time to check her aim and open fire. Rather than shooting mere bullets, though, she's firing ice-elemental shots, trying to encase areas Fiora's not busy hitting with layers of ice to, if not immobilize the construct, at least slow it down.

(And if any of her allies ARE in the way? She'd rather miss the construct than hit one of her colleagues.)

Sanary Rondel has posed:
"... Really? Oh. Uh." That certainly sucks for the girl, doesn't it? Sanary's feeling a little embarassed at her attempt to reassure the girl, too, but... Well. She tried! Except... "How's she gonna die and not die? Did you figure out something?"

     Now it's getting interesting. Sanary eyes Anne curiously before turning back to the captive, getting up a moment later to start following the construct instead. The healer starts jogging at a rapid pace, albeit having some trouble keeping up with that thing's speed by virtue of being so heavily armored. At least she'll be able to cover it later!

     ... If it doesn't get blown up first, anyway. Whatever's going on up there, though, she can certainly hear it easily enough! "Careful, everyone. I think we got company."

Xiao Li Yu (823) has posed:
     "Ohh?" Xiao tilts her head a bit, looking off towards the girl Sanary was trying to comfort. "Interesting. So she effectively dies once a certain range is breached?" She brought a hand to her chin, stroking thoughtfully. Apparently death itself wasn't a huge issue to her. Oops. "And no predetermined weapons? My, I /will/ have to see this."

     Her eyes alight with curiosity, ever eager for more knowledge. But Fate's warning is heard then. "Ah, of course. Union." She sighs. Always the Union. A flippant shrug is had before the scientist just ambles on ahead, folding her arms into her sleeves as she followed Anne out of the storage shed and into the streets. She's not actually packing any obvious weaponry, wearing a black qipao with a long labcoat over it, arms hidden into the sleeves in front of her.

     Then the construct lights up blue...and blurs forward in an impressive burst of speed. "Oho~" They would have to follow and see what happens. Most curious indeed. That in mind, Xiao's anklets lit up and she began to hover off the ground a few inches before proceeding forward into a levitating dash after the empowered robot. What? Walking took effort! This was more efficient.

     And she arrived on scene(but to the side, avoiding all the rampant gunfire and potential stray rounds) with the others to find Anne's construct already being assaulted by multiple Union personnel. Many she could put a name to the faces. Either by way of personal experience, or video footage. But the one who caught her attention the most was obviously...

     ...Her lips curl up into a grin that would make the cheshire cat uncomfortable, her golden eyes squarely on a certain Sage Fox. "Well, well, well~" She starts, landing onto the ground and beginning to casually stride up the street towards her target. "If it isn't the venerable tree frog." Pause. "...Or was that wise owl?" The researcher tilted her head, as if seriously contemplating this. "Oops, I forgot~"

     No she didn't.

     Well, Xiao didn't waste any time, removing an arm from her sleeves to reveal a sleek, high tech black gauntlet. The crystal core in the middle lit up, crackling with electricity before an erractic beam of lightning fired out, heading right for her.

Winnowill (108) has posed:
How bothersome, to chase after a runaway robot. Winnowill sighs, but she gathers her dress up and starts to 'run' after the group. She runs like a young lady who hasn't really done much athletic... ever. Despite this, she doesn't get red-faced or out of breath, which says more about Xiao Li Yu's assessment, doesn't it?

She is going to be lagging back though, letting the others rush out first. This lets her decide who to handle as well. Not a difficult decision, since she's seen a few of them. With a heavy sigh, the slender elf silently begins assaulting Psyber's mind with the hammering waves of pain from her telepathic attack.

"Well, it seems to be pretty active..."

Setsuko Kaminagi (255) has posed:
    Setsuko can feel it. The rush of 'future' to become 'present'. The sense of battle converging on them. And then the construct appears. Announces itself with an attack on their 'bait'. So down the demigod comes, swinging her feet forward and hurtling down from the sky boots-first.

    Then she spots a familiar face down below.

    Seeing the one-eyed girl below sets off a brief storm of emotion. Surprise. Confusion. Anger. Disappointment. But it all coalesces into firm resolution, hardening her resolve. The course of her descent changes. Her hand moves to her blade. Her eyes begin to shine blue.

    An arc of blue-white divine power cuts into the ground in front of Sanary, far enough ahead that she's in no danger - but close enough that it's plain this was meant to get her attention. A half-second after that, Setsuko herself lands, hard enough to crack the concrete under her. "Sanary Rondel," she greets, her tone chilly. Moreso than the healer has ever heard it. "I had thought better of you. I had thought there at least some decency in you. That you would lend your support to /this/..." She shakes her head, standing up straight.

    "It's out of respect for your past deeds and character that I will give you one opportunity. Stand down. Leave. If you stand in defense of something so heinous, I will not stay my blade. Not even for you." The look in her eyes says it all. Setsuko Kaminagi is angry. Well and truly angry.

Fate Testarossa (996) has posed:
Fate and Arf haven't budged from their rooftop lookout yet. Though the girl traces her fingers along the edge of the golden medallion in her fingers. The gleaming triangle-shaped gem glints in silence before it flashes.

"Barrier Jacket, Set up." Bardiche announces. pre-emptively taking on his halberd form, piecing together part by part, while Fate's dress is replaced by the sleek form of her Barrier Jacket and cloak.

"Mn."

"Heeere we go." Arf says, jerking a thumb as the construct starts on the move and assaults the local authority-representing robot.

And of course individual fights begin to break out; she...

Doesn't quite make a move just yet. Still watching from on high.

"So what exactly are we doing?" Arf presses.

Fate responds with silence.

Anne Blakely (983) has posed:
    Shots aimed at the construct do work! Mostly. It is FAST though, and darting about at high speed. Staren hit SOMETHING there, and steam whisps are following the streaks of silvery-blue light. The whips curl around the peacekeeper robot and easily shear through the metal, disassembling it in an instant... though one of them flails wildly after the shot.

    Anne runs much like Winnowill, catching up a few moments later and lingering behind. She isn't alone though, with the spiderlike clockwork constructs skittering about and around her. She answers Sanary, "A phenomenon I've noted. I'll explain later, what of it I know. It doesn't really apply to the other one, though. She'll be fine once the construct is back in place with her. Hmm... maybe I should have made it more durable..."

    She says this because the other bullets flying toward the construct are adding to the problems, and eventually one arm is blown clean off. Well, there are five left. In a flash, the vaguely humanoid construct is streaking toward Staren this time, two whips going out and trying to wrap around the robot. They are definitely magical, with a powerful charge that tries to tear off the armored plating.

    Now, Fiora's sword effect can be seen. Deep in the side, just above one of the arms, several struts have been severed. One good hit and the thing will be down two limbs already.

Psyber (253) has posed:
    A martial opponent in a contest of strength, Psyber can win that fight a reliable majority of the time. Someone with a powerset like Winnowill, however, is a particularly nasty thorn in Psyber's side. He has no mental defense beyond his own iron willpower. And while that's impressive in its sturdiness, it doesn't exactly counter what she's doing to him.

    As soon as the oppressive waves of pain come over him, Psyber drops to a knee, letting out a cry of pain. Blood seeps from one of his nostrils, the aneurism almost immediate and severe enough to probably be lethal to a normal person. For him, it's about as debilitating as a nasty migraine. Thing is, migraines are pretty goddamn debilitating.

    So, for as long as Winnowill is willing to make his life difficult and no one is directly stopping her from doing it, Psyber is going to be leaning against the car with blood pouring from his nose. He may be passively trying to figure out who's doing it, but the waves of pain make it difficult.

Xiaomu (707) has posed:
"Oh, not *YOU* again!!" Xiaomu complains, very loudly, as Xiao Li Yu fails supernatural zoology at LEAST twice in as many sentences. Despite her visible and audible annoyance, though, Xiaomu keeps her wits about her - and when the lightning bolt is launched at her, she jabs her staff into the ground, its butt wedging into the pavement well enough to keep the staff erect, and -

She actually whips out a pair of shades, somehow putting them on JUST before the lightning gets to her staff. She's still wincing despite the shades, though - if not from the flash itself, probably from the thunder. Her hair is all frizzed up, too, especially the fur on her ears and tails.

She shakes her head briefly to clear it, then aims down the street at Xiao Li Yu and resumes firing with the Roc's Icebrand, trying to freeze the Confederate's feet to the ground.

Sanary Rondel has posed:
Sanary nearly topples over as the ground in front of her spontaneously EXPLODES, swinging her shield around in front of her to defend herself from... Actually, she's not getting attacked directly yet. Still, it's a useful precautionary measure! When she hears that familiar voice, however, she both looks over her shield with a recognizing glint in her eye while feeling her blood cool juuust a bit.

     "... Hey, Setsuko. You know working with things like this is part of my job, right?" Her own voice takes on something vaguely resembling that cold tone, although probably not quite as effective. She hasn't practiced her scary calm voice much! "I can't turn and leave my friend..." She pauses. There's Xiao, and... She's worked with Fate before! That counts. "...s behind just because I don't want to get my hands dirty doing..."

     Arf might be onto someting. "... This. That'd be spitting right in their and the Confederacy's faces." The armored healer sighs, and she withdraws one of those staves to keep it and her shield ready, the air around her starting to shimmer in random spots while weird gray lumps begin forming in midair. "Nothing personal. But... You understand, right?"

Homura Akemi (2) has posed:
    Homura, behind the car, can see Psyber reeling in pain and bleeding. She also sees the construct charge straight for Staren. Staren can handle himself, she thinks, so long as it's an opponent he can see. Psyber's opponent seems to have made him or herself invisible, or inflicted some manner of curse. Maybe a psychic assault. Normally Homura wouldn't be able to help with that.

    She raises her hand. A flurry of pages appear around her, swirling rapidly before gathering in front of her, bunching up into an humanoid form. The R'lyeh Text, a little girl with white-green hair in blue robes, one purple eye and one yellow, looks at her expectedly, and a bit impatiently.

    "You're supposed to say what you want," she says, curtly.
    "Psyber's mind. Shield it," Homura answers.
    Ry sighs. "I didn't need to take form for this. Nnnlloig uaaah."

    Psyber receives the protection of a Sign (the player sure can't remember which particular one), which has for unique goal to shield him from psychic assaults. It's very unlikely to stop attacks from someone like Winnowill in full, but it might let the half-angel fight through it.

Staren has posed:
    See, Staren knew someone would be next!

    He's almost surprised it's him though. Why wouldn't it go after a squishier target? He barely evades its grasp, one of the tentacles starting to tear into his armor. He doesn't think he can get away from it. It's too fast!

    He glares at it with hatred. If he just damages the outside, the soul gems should be safe, right?

    <<Get back!>> Fiora's radio warns.

    He just needs her to be clear for a second. As soon as she's out of range -- 15 feet or so -- the missile racks on his back pop up and fire, point-blank range. The direct hit is nasty, and might destroy even his own armor outright -- as it is, just catching himself in the blast leaves Staren's armor half-melted. But hopefully the construct is a lot worse for wear now!

Xiao Li Yu (823) has posed:
     Xiao smiles sweetly at Xiaomu, arm still outstretched from firing that bolt, not looking away from the flash in the least. The blast of air from the impact tousles her hair, but the updo stays in place. And once visibility returns to normal, the scientist blinks. "...Oh my. Using your staff as a makeshift lightning rod? How clever! I'd expect no less of a seven thousand year old exalted hamster!"

     And yet, despite actually being impressed, she still totally flubs up the sage fox's species.

     Ice rounds are fired, and the girl backpedals, veering left and right to avoid several rounds before one strikes the ground right as her foot makes contact, immediately icing over it. And then the other foot follows, leaving Xiao effectively stuck in place. "Oh no, oh my, what am I to do now?"

     That sweet smiles remains and she raises both hands in a motion of surrender. "Looks like you got me..."

     "...Not~"

     Sticking out her tongue, the researcher's entire body immediately bursts into an aura of flame, swirling around her form and immediately melting the ice away from her feet. Oh, such extreme cold still stung after the fact, but she was free now! Once again not wasting any further time posturing, Xiao stepped in, and then dashed forward with a boost from her anklets, barreling right into melee range with her opponent.

     Fists clenched, and flames rolling across her form, she starts into a bajiquan kata, consisting of a flaming open palm strike aimed right for the midsection, followed by a swift turn of the body and a literal back thrust to follow up, causing a small burst of fire to rush off of her form toward the sage fox.

Setsuko Kaminagi (255) has posed:
    "No," Setsuko replies. "For once, I don't."

    Zanjintou snaps. Setsuko swings it. It's grown to its full size by the time it reaches Sanary, the immense weapon moving with impossible speed. But where it clashes against that shield, the swordswoman doesn't lift the blade out of the way or push out of the lock. No, she pushes /into/ it, leveraging the weight of the colossal blade and her own inhuman strength to try and push Sanary back. Step by step.

    "I don't ask that you help me stop them. I don't ask that you betray your people. But do you even know what Blakely's done? Who she's done it to? She's kidnapped a girl, who has been tricked into a life of horror and misery with no escape. A girl whose life is already suffering. And from what I know of her, it's to use that poor girl for a fate worse than death." The swordswoman shifts her stance, trying to push Sanary /down/. "If you would stand in defense of this /atrocity/, then you are condoning it!"

Fiora Laurent (824) has posed:
    Fiora is fine with getting out of the way. She just shoots past the construct, ducks behind a corner in the alley, and lets him do his thing. It more or less cuts her out of the fight, but.. she does look around, to see if there are any other Confederates lying in wait, or otherwise nearby. When Homura mentions the roof, however, she doesn't hesitate. Taking a short running start, she leaps against one of the walls of the alley. And up, between the two buildings, where she ends up atop them.

Now, to see about that other presence here, that Homura mentioned.

Xiaomu (707) has posed:
Fire against ice, is it? Xiaomu shakes her head briefly, and turns up the heat.

.... well, no. She does the exact opposite - she turns the heat DOWN, with a combination of the Roc's Icebrand and the ice/water magic of Suiren, the cane-sword hidden inside her monk's staff. The latter basically generates an aura of intense cold as Xiaomu meets Xiao Li Yu's hand-to-hand with staff techniques, although she's using the staff more one-handed than anything - focusing on defense with it, really, and implementing close-combat gunfire for her offense.

Yeah. She can do that. Roc's Icebrand may not have a blade or anything worked into its frame, but Xiaomu learned *long* ago that enemies won't always let you put your gun away and draw your sword when a fight abruptly goes from ranged combat to up-close-and-personal like this. She's still likely to get singed in the process, though - and it's even more likely that the steam as ice magic meets fire magic is going to impede their vision.

Xiaomu can live with that, though; she's got senses besides her vision, and extra tricks up her sleeves (if she had sleeves).

Winnowill (108) has posed:
The hammering waves of pain do indeed lessen as the shield goes up around Psyber. Winnowill frowns, but she isn't that surprised. The Elites of the Multiverse have many varied abilities. Ah well. There are other ways to get under someone's skin... or pages. A smaller gesture forces a ripping, tearing noise from the alley nearby, turning something within into something else.

A few seconds later and a screeching giant RAT leaps from teh shadows. Leaps... and glides, with a lashing naked tail barbed with a stinger going for Psyber to keep him distracted while Winnowill tries to find out who is interfering with her. "Keep him busy, my pet."

Fate Testarossa (996) has posed:
What is Fate up to, exactly?

She is watching, intently. Scarlet eyes locked on the construct in motion- as it engages, and fights, and loses limbs.

But she also listens.

Her eyes narrow as she picks up on snippets, Kidnapping. Taking advantage of another's suffering.

She frowns. Wholly unaware of Fiora leaping her way up to the roof, that's how engrossed she is, in the moment.

"Hiiiiii~."

Arf, on the other hand, is not so lost in internal conflict. In fact she's right there at the top, waiting for the swordswoman. Her and her fist ar waiting, considering she leaps down to meet her on the way up. "Sorry but this roof's taken, find your own."

Wolves can be territorial, you know.

Sanary Rondel has posed:
It's a good thing Sanary hasn't eaten recently.

     Seeing that massive blade coming straight for her, the healer quickly diverts a burst of magical energy into her arms while bracing both arms against the shield, stepping forward to meet the blade and grunting heavily at the clash of metal on metal. Even with magic augmenting her strength and endurance, she's still fighting way above her league here! Bones strain, muscles tear, and it's only with the magic and her armor's innate power augmenting her defensive abilities that she's even able to (barely) withstand that first strike!

     "Kkghk... And the Union's better than that? They'd never stop other people from getting stronger just so nobody could challenge them?" She digs her heels in, buckling for a moment before pushing back to try and keep herself from giving any more ground. "Or they'd never... Put failures back in power just because it's better than letting non-humans live?"

     More buckling, but Sanary's starting to duck down a little further as her tone grows more serious and even angry as well! "Or they'd never... Blow up an entire village without even thinking to try and save anyone first?!"

     Yep, she's getting angry, too. "Don't pretend the Union's any better!" And with that, she abruptly pokes her head around to fire off an explosive eye laser at the ground, trying to take out Setsuko's footing to buy herself some time!

Fiora Laurent (824) has posed:
    Fiora wasn't really planning on getting attacked on her way up, and is hit in the jaw, for her trouble. She's knocked to the side of the building, but quickly finds her footing, and returns the favor before she tries to make her way back upwards again. "Good evening. I trust you are not with them.

Fiora addresses Fate, gesturing to the construct below. "I cannot imagine a young lady your age, nearly the same age as the girl who they kidnapped, as being affiliated with them. But, if you are, then.. I suppose we will have to fight." She has her sword out, still, but seems content to wait for a reply.

Xiao Li Yu (823) has posed:
     More like ice against fire, lightning, ....and whatever else this mad scientist had up her sleeves. And of course, she doesn't let Xiaomu put the gun away to draw her sword. She's seen what that thing can do. Nuh uh! Palm meets staff, and fire and ice collide, rapidly turning into a hissing steam. But she doesn't stop. Turning into the back thrust, she veers her head aside, just in time to have a bullet whizz right past, taking a few stray strands of hair with it, as well as icing her shoulder. Bah. That was close.

     This little dance of fist against staff and gun, blows barely missing or grazing when they otherwise would have hit, continues for a short while, neither opponent gaining the upper hand, until the scientist decides to change things up a bit. Suddenly, the flame aura dies, and she smiles, dipping low under another shot that barely misses.

     "Bio."

     Suddenly, in its place, a sickly green aura, oozing concentrated, acidic poison bubbles to life around Xiao. Then, she lashes out with a sweep kick to the sage fox's legs, before following it up with a rise and poison cloaked fist aimed precisely for her side.

Psyber (253) has posed:
    Psyber lets out a grunt as the R'lyeh Texts put a mental shield on him that manages to take the pain from Excruciating and downgrade it to 'immense'. While it can't block it completely, Psyber can at least manage to get to his feet again after that. Homura has said she will handle the giant rat, on the stipulation that Psyber handle whoever was messing with his head. It's a fair deal.

    He wipes the blood from his nose and lets out a slow sigh. He holsters the handgun, throws the shotun so that it hangs across his back, and then begins stomping his way off. He looks fairly pissed off, the combination of Anne messing with a Soul Gem and someone messing with his mind setting him into full tilt mode. He doesn't know where Winnowill is, exactly.

    He doesn't plan to let that stop him, though, since he's dodging the spined tail and running down the alley the rat emerged from, intending to backtrack where it came from to its owner. Anything that gets in his way: Dumpsters, cars, errant fencing or street posts? Those get shoved out of the way as Psyber angrily snarls.

    "Come out, come out, where ever you are."

Homura Akemi (2) has posed:
    That sure is a giant rat. With a stinger on its tail, and the ability to glide. Though she's sure Psyber can handle it, his efforts and power are best channeled trying to find the person causing him pain, while the weaker Puella Magi handles the monstrous rat.

    She can make a pretty passable mage, truth told, it shouldn't raise any red flags with Anne, if she's observing at all. Homura motions towards the R'lyeh Text, who turns back into a flurry of pages and gathers up into one of Homura's empty hands, now as a simple leather(?) bound book... well, less a book and more like a single chapter or two, messily bound together, with pages and bookmarks sticking out.

    "Mglw'nafh fhthagn-ngah cf'ayak 'vulgtmm vugtlag'n." Homura manages without breaking her tongue, drawing on the verious spells and incantations in the book. Out of nearby shadows, a thin grey figure emerges, taller than a normal man. Grey and black skin, not unlike a gargoyle, with bat wings and a completely blank face-- no eyes, node or mouth-- describes the night-gaunt, long fingers like claws and body with barely any flesh over the bones.

    It lunges for the rat, trying to plant all four of its limbs into it like knives. Sadly, Homura's skill at summoning creatures isn't comparable to Winnowill, and that night-gaunt might not win the wrestling match. It should be able to keep Psyber in the clear, though, at least for a bit.

Anne Blakely (983) has posed:
    "Hmmmn..." Anne ponders. Apparently she didn't order the construct to attack Staren! That makes it interesting. Anne laces her fingers together, for now not paying any attention to the rest. Her allies have things in hand... probably. There's some concern over who is doing what, isn't there? But she's paying more attention to the construct's performance... which is going to be the most interesting.

    The explosions that hammer the chassis rend armor plating from it, and 'Ruibot' is hurled backward! Slamming into a far wall, two more of its arms are shorn away, one of them a complete wreck! This... is not as bad as it seems. Now down to two arms, one of them whips out the crackling magical lasso and gathers up some of the parts, working at high speed to stitch together two serviceable arms from the wreckage of four. The new ones aren't as agile as the first, but they are usable.

    It moves with blurred speed, like displacing itself. The damage to the torso reveals something, though... that glow of bluish-white light is definitely coming from within, from a singular source, and it's... dimming steadily.

    Also it just threw a car at Staren.

    Homura is fortunate to avoid attention. With Anne's talent for learning how things work, she might piece things together anyway. The summoning of a nightgaunt brings a more interested look. "Now that's a daring move..."

Setsuko Kaminagi (255) has posed:
    "Blow up an entire village...?! What are you /talking/ about?" Setsuko seems content to force the confrontation like this; despite her words before, she seems to be trying to end this with as little direct fighting as possible. But when Sanary fights back with accusations like that-

    And then there's a blast without warning. The ground buckles, Setsuko's leg is scorched, and her whole body twists with the sudden loss of footing to support her inhuman strength. It lasts only a second, but that's enough to break that lock.

    And to leave Setsuko staring at Sanary, her eyes narrowed. That cold look in them has only hardened further. "...my life has been misery, Sanary Rondel. Everything I had was taken from me by treachery and war crimes. All that I had was turned to ashes by the the kind of people you accuse the Union of being. If I thought for one moment that they were guilty of what you claim, I would turn my blade on them in a heartbeat."

    Her grip tenses, her stance shifts, and... she pauses, holding Zanjintou to one side. "...one last time. If you have words for the company I keep, I'll hear them later. But regardless of what crimes you believe the Union guilty, something just as bad or /worse/ is happening right now. Stand aside. Let us save one little girl. Don't stain your hands defending Blakely's behavior. /Please/." There's a note of finality to it this time. A last offer - a last /request/. The point of no return.

Fate Testarossa (996) has posed:
Arf prides herself on a few things. Being as protective of Fate as she is. And the fact that she's got a really good right cross.

The fact that Fiora eats the blow so well and plants a proper landing afterwards makes the wolf-woman pauce, glancing at her knuckles before shaking her hand out. "Wow so you don't have a glass jaw. This should be fun, then." Arf decides, cracking her knickles.

"Arf."

It's Fate's voice that stalls her though. Scarlet eyes shift off the streets below, as the girl glances over her shoulder to Fiora. She says nothing. But Fiora clearly has her attention.

She had best get talking, because Arf looks like she's already tugging at the end of a short leash, for a brawl.

Winnowill (108) has posed:
Eh, it's fair that Psyber would go after her. Winnowill scowls as the nightgaunt brings a screeching match to the table, wrestling wildly with the rat that she's mutated. The tail lashes viciously at Homura's summon, wrapping around the neck and stinging repeatedly, while the nightgaunt's monstrous strength is snapping bones. Oh well.

Psyber should recognize the woman that is down the alleyway. Winnowill isn't trying to hide. Dark hair is tossed over one shoulder as she flutters eyes, daring to give Psyber a 'come hither' look even as the blunted assault on his mind doesn't let up. "Oh, you've found me."

Fiora Laurent (824) has posed:
    "Ah. So you did not know that." Fiora continues, as Fate calls off her attacker.

"That girl I spoke of. Whatever pact she made, it resulted in her soul being separated from her body. That soul is being used to power the machine in question. As for the girl herself, I cannot say. But, should they have harmed her, they will not be shown any mercy. It is unlikely we will, either way, so disgusting is this action."

She makes her case, to Fate, with what she knows of the situation.

Staren has posed:
    The construct is backing off...? Staren follows up with the beam cannons again, just on general principle of taking any opportunities he gets. "Repairing yourself!? Oh no you don't..." Staren dodges the car, able to move pretty fast between robotic muscles, thrusters, and the magic wings. He just can't move quite as fast as the construct.

    Hopefully anyone behind Staren dodges the car too.

    That blue glow... now he sees what he has to do! Staren runs up to it, trying to reach into the hole in its torso... if he can just grab the gem...!

Psyber (253) has posed:
    Psyber comes to a stop and response to Winnowill's flat-eyed stare that exudes rage and exhaustion. The half-angel DOES recognize Winnowill. He'd seen her once or twice. But there's a reason she actually sticks in his head more than one would expect, with how long it's been since their last encounter. One she is likely not even aware of.

    Of all the people in the Multiverse... of all the people Psyber had ever encountered... Winnowill held an exclusive honor.

    Winnowill was the ONLY person /Elliana Fairchild/ had told Psyber never to trust under any circumstances.

    He reaches towards the notepad in his back pocket, tearing a page off of it that quickly forms into a simple-looking sword, "Yeah. Found you." He flicks the blade in his hand, white fire igniting on the blade.

    "I've always wondered. Care to see if this sword is as effective as you as it is against Shajem. I've always wondered what kinds of beings were analogous."

    His footing is steady and his stance is strong, even if her ongoing psychic assault is taking its toll on Psyber's well-being. He knows that if he fights her, it's gonna be an uphill battle against both her power an his encroaching exhaustion.

Xiaomu (707) has posed:
"That's not even an elem--" *WHAP*

Xiaomu winces as the enchanted kick and punch assault her. Elemental or not, thinks the sage fox, that hurt in a way that purely physical attacks *shouldn't* - and she can tell it's a lingering effect. How long it'll linger, she doesn't really want to know; she just hopes she can shake it off before this fight reaches its end.

She also, thanks to that leg sweep, is now flat on her back, which tends to screw up her fighting rhythm. But a quick plant of her staff lets Xiaomu scramble back to her feet, and she kicks out at Xiao Li Yu along the way for good measure. Oh, how she wishes she'd brought grenades this time - but then, it wasn't supposed to be a massive brawl like this, just an investigation and hopefully a rescue mission ... and fire-elemental grenades don't mix well with rescuing prisoners or hostages in close proximity to the actual fighting.

She'll just make the best of the situation she can ... and she starts by holstering Roc's Icebrand, freeing up her right hand to help with melee. "Now where were we? It's not like *that* little magic trick can make me any sicker than you already do ... not to mention your allies playing with souls. Wonder what they'd do with yours if I cut it loose from your body?"

Rather than going for a killing strike, though - as much as Xiaomu MIGHT want to do that - she tightens her grip on Suiren's staff/sheath, then lunges at Xiao Li Yu with a loud yell of, "XIAOMU SURFING!!"

... and then tries to finish the pounce by freezing Xiao Li Yu into a block of ice, followed by riding that block of ice down the street and into a handy wall. The ice isn't strong enough to shatter its victim, assuming the maneuver *works* - but the ice magic will bite deep enough, and this is a fun maneuver for rattling most enemies' composure in the process.

Sanary Rondel has posed:
"Archer's an asshole, and he blew up my home!" Sanary's never letting that go, is she? Sure, she might be leaving out some details, but it's clear that that's the main thing that's stuck with her. Thankful for that brief respite, the healer staggers back to get some more of that energy flowing through her, trying to mend the worst of her wounds while Setsuko's speaking.

     "... Well. Good to know you're not going to listen blindly to them, then." She chuckles lightly at how little sense that last part made and winces, directing a bit of that energy to her chest to get some healing there as well. Just how much damage did she take from that first clash?

     "I was there for every one of those, but... Sure, later. Right now, though..." She straightens up and tilts her head from side to side, jerking it a bit to get her neck cricking. The healer takes a deep breath, then raises her staff to her side as if she's going to drop it...

     ... And then it glows as she channels power into it. She's trying to use the Mend Staff for long-distance healing of Xiao, it seems! "Even if I don't like what's happening, I can't just let you go after my friends, either." She lets out a resigned sigh, then braces herself for another attack. "Come on. Let's see how hard you can really hit, Setsuko!"

Anne Blakely (983) has posed:
    The car explodes with a dull whump, crashing into the wall behind and causing way too much property damage. When the shooting started, the civilians took off, fortunately. That leaves the whips snapping around Staren's body, the robot getting squeezed and sheared by the burning hot magical whips trying to rend him apart.

    There's a little help there in that the construct is still super fast... but it isn't moving, because it's tied up. A flaw in the powerset? The buckling pressure it is taken, not to mention the damage from Psyber's gun and Fiora's sword earlier, make it possible to tear open a hole in the armor that is now revealing the tubes and wires - tension wires, not electrical - filling the cavity. That, and a gem of silvery blue, more than three-quarters filled with a bubbling darkness that is slowly taking over as the magic is used up.

Setsuko Kaminagi (255) has posed:
    "...then I'm sorry, Sanary. And if you survive, we will talk again. But for now I must consider you party to her crimes."

    That 'if' says a lot - and all of it intended.

    The instant that staff begins to glow, Setsuko lashes out. It seems impossible for her to swing a massive blade that fast. But she does, swinging the divine sword around with all her might, straight at that healing staff. It's specifically intended to break the staff, Sanary's concentration, her /arm/ if need be; Setsuko of all people knows how potent a tactical advantage the girl's healing can be, and she's been prepared to interfere with it from the start. But that's only the first blow.

    Once the God-Cutting Blade begins to move, it doesn't stop. After the first strike, she whips it around for a second. Whirls it up and over for a third. Her style with the oversized weapon is impossibly flowing and forceful, and each swing carves through nearby lamp posts, parking meters, and even the ground as if it were butter. And while her strikes are primarily aimed for Sanary's staff, trying to abate that healing, she's also taking more lethal swings as well, any time she spots what even might be an opening.

Fate Testarossa (996) has posed:
It's explained, then. Fate remains silent as Fiora fills her in. Though Arf practically chomps at her metaphorical bit for the fight, Fate yanks the proverbial chain. "Arf. We're leaving."

That's it. It's as easy as that. Though the wolf-familar's jaw drops as she's denied a chance to tussle.

"But Fate she's RIGHT HERE COME ON!"

"And?"

The chide is frigid, but the truth is...

Fate Testarossa might be a little bit scared. Of Precia finding out the power source of Blakely's device. Of her mother becoming interested in this new kind of Lost Logia.

She chalks it off as a wash, for now, when she looks back at the damaged construct.

A flash of golden light forms a runic sigil at her feet. And with a clap of thunder she takes her Familiar and decides to simply disengage.

Homura Akemi (2) has posed:
    Repeated stabs into the night-gaunt's neck turn out pretty effective. It might be a dreamworld horror but its humanoid composition still results in glaring weakpoints. Before the faceless, gargoyle-like creature can kill the rat, the rat's tail manages to slay it; slamming to the ground, the night-gaunt turns into black and grey mist, seeping back into the ground and the shadows it came from.

    With the rat likely still alive, Homura flips the pages of the open Text, pointing at it with a brief surge of magic. "Uln'fhalma n'gha goka."

    It's rushed. She knows it takes way more than one line, five seconds and a bit of magic to materialize something like that, but even if it only stays physical for five seconds it should be enough. There's also no body of water nearby... so it definitely won't be very effective. Best not take chances, though. She'd rather not find out the rat can still kill someone by having it leap at her and stab her in the throat, you know?

    The ground under the rat ripples like water; a gigantic, scaly hand that smells like dead fish surges out, the only part of Mother Hydra that can fit through at all without any water nearby to accomodate her. It, simply, attempts to crush the rat, and then breaks apart, its summoning unable to accomodate its stay.

    So if that doesn't work, Homura's in trouble. Silver lining, she'll have learned a very valuable life lesson about not trying things she hasn't practiced much yet.

Xiao Li Yu (823) has posed:
     Xiao Li Yu would have pressed the assualt, but a kick into a her gut sends her stumbling back, giving Xiaomu time to get back up and recover. Bah! But then that was also expected. You don't live five million years without becoming awfully skilled at not dying. ...There may be a few more zeroes tacked on than necessary.

     Nonetheless, the scientist was expecting some kind of traditional attack, not XIAOMU SURFING, so she's caught completely by surprise, and summarily pounced on. "Wha-hey!" She cries as suddenly, the two of them are sliiiiiding down the street, frozen and unable to move. Damn it, she couldn't continue using Bio. It was back to fire!

     She was not going to unfreeze in time, but that wasn't her goal. Her body flared to life with rolling flames once more, the ice encasing her rapidly melting. Her hands thawed first, and...rather than trie and break the rest free, she did something else. Her gauntlets began to shift, folding and leaving her arms in multiple metal fragments and formed into about twelve identical floating blades that levitated in the air.

     "Phantom...Weapon...!" She ground out RIGHT before she and Xiaomu made impact with the wall, producing a cry of pain from the scientist. "Augh!" She collapsed face down after that... But apparently it wasn't quite over.

     "...Launch~"

     Xiao speaks while face down, causing the levitating black swords located in the air around the two to come to life with streaks of orange and red... And then they all pointed towards Xiaomu, bursting forward and converging into the sage fox as blurry, red hot streaks, all aiming for arms, legs, torso, whatever they could find.

     Better get out of there.

Winnowill (108) has posed:
Oh, a sword. Winnowill actually laughs. "You are thinking I am one of your 'unholy' beings? Nothing of the sort. I am simply a visitor returning home. Your kind are too short-lived to understand why." The mental assault keeps coming... steadily building, hurling against the half-angel's defenses. Winnowill, despite her words, takes a step back with the expression not of surprise... but of someone who has seen this before, someone with this seething anger, and not been pleased with the outcome.

There is one last line of defense though. As Psyber nears, he'll enter into her 'healing' influence. Healing that causes blood to boil and flesh to twist, bones to grind and pulverize one another, of some power trying to sieze him and try to stop his heart.

The good thing is that the rat was never meant to last long. It squeals loudly before the sqeak cuts off abruptly. That's one less thing to worry about. Not so good for Winnowill, because now that Psyber is close, she's going against his regeneration... and she's not so good against swords.

Staren has posed:
    This is to save a life...

    The whips are shearing through armor. Staren pours much of his reactor's power into electrifying the surface, trying to damage the construct. He makes a brief attempt to blast the whips with the beam cannons, but if that doesn't work...

    He just has to get that gem. Then his allies can work something out. Through the hole in the armor, he tries to crush or tear free some of the tubes and wires, hoping to impair the construct's function...

Psyber (253) has posed:
    "Actually. Fun history lesson..." Psyber twirls Sovereign in his hand, "The Shajem weren't inherently unholy beings, so much as they were incredibly old beings with instinctual powers and dangerous reality-warping." Psyber notes, taking a step towards Winnowill.

    That step puts him right into her healing influence, "My kind?" Psyber tilts his head. The mental assault was one thing, but messing with his body is a different beast. Psyber's natural regeneration kicks into overdrive as he steps into the field, glaring at her, "You called yourself evil, not me. I just think you're a bitch." He tells her flatly.

    The field is definitely having an effect on him. Blood pours from the corner of his mouth as his heart stops, starts again, stops once more, restarts. It's excruciatingly painful, but he's pushing through. The breaking and grinding of bones is equally awful, though he's marching towards her, "So. Context re-established..." He manages to grunt out amidst the pain, lifting up Sovereign.

    "Let's see if you count as a Shajem."

    He swipes the sword down towards her once, the blade leaving a trail of white flame behind it as he comes down towards her with it.

Sanary Rondel has posed:
As expected. Sanary chuckles bitterly as she readies her shield, tossing the Physic staff aside after getting only a bit of that magic pumped into it. It's certainly not the full healing effect that sort of staff would provide, but at least a small pick-me-up is better than nothing! She just has to hope there's still enough power for the energy to even to reach Xiao.

     "... Sounds good. Next time, then." Also, not dying. Not dying would be very good. With both hands on the shield now, Sanary's refocusing her magical energy into reinforcing her limbs and body once more, hunkering down behind the shield and grimacing at each heavy impact ringing through the shield after the other. Chunks of steel, scale, and bones peel right off the shield and her armor with each swing, and the staff doesn't even stand a chance what with being made of wood and all.

     It's all she can do just to not get knocked right off her feet or collapse in a pool of her own blood! Blood sprays out from her limbs as they're getting torn up moments later, both from trying to withstand the impacts of each barely blocked swing and the blade itself ripping through the wound desparately trying to heal themselves over.

     All she can bank on now is hoping something unexpected happens, or that Setsuko doesn't notice the floating gray lumps starting to form into bricks.

Xiaomu (707) has posed:
It's not as though Xiaomu was going to simply stay perched on Xiao Li Yu for THAT long; she routinely jumps off of a frozen enemy before the ice can shatter, and she's doing so this time as well. Xiao Li Yu DOES mess the timing up a bit with her fire magic and her 'struggling,' plus those blades flying off out of the ice and in different directions.

But when Xiao Li Yu finishes her invocation and command, the sage fox is leaping away for other reasons, which probably spares her a certain amount of injury.

Not all of it, though. Her arms and torso are basically spared, but the burning blades rip through her legs hard enough to elicit a LOUD yelp of pain and fury. "Oh, you bitch ... DAKKI NO KATA!!"

With her legs torn up like that, Xiaomu can't give chase physically, and she's not even trying to. What she *can* do - and is endeavoring to do - is leach enough life energy away from Xiao Li Yu to weaken her, and patch herself up some. If Xiao Li Yu is dedicated to booking it out of there, she can do so.

And it's not as if the Dakki no Kata ever does fatal damage; that would take too long, and too much effort, and just generally be too inefficient.

It'd also hurt too much - both Xiaomu and her victim - and she doesn't have a reason to inflict or endure that kind of agony; it ain't worth it, even for someone who pisses her off as personally as the Confederate mage-researcher.

Winnowill (108) has posed:
Winnowill takes another step back... and shrieks!

She's alien... but not in the Eldritch way. In her world, she's equivalent to the little green men kind of alien, and her abilities, while fantastic, are not unknown to others. She's not the sort of reality-twisting monster a Shajem is.

She is, however, made of flesh and blood and nothing more. The blade cleaves into her with great ease, since she has little defense herself, and blood sprays everywhere. Collapsing to the ground, Winnowill gasps and coughs, clutching the deep wound in her chest. The deep, fatal wound.

Yet even as she's holding it, the wound begins to knit together, magical power flowing through her hand. This is sapping her greatly though... the process of doing so causes her face to grow longer, her eyes wider, and her ears to taper noticeably as she slips toward her natural form.

In one last, desperate strike she sends a massive, desperate, adrenaline-fueled psychic blast of utter pain toward Psyber's mind, to try to give her time to crawl away and heal.

Fiora Laurent (824) has posed:
    Fiora sheathes her weapon, as Fate decides to withdraw. She makes note of her, to her allies, and decides to retreat back to where Homura is. Just to make sure someone is covering her. The others, for now, seem to have their hands full.

Psyber (253) has posed:
    "Motherfu-"

    Even with the shield from the R'lyeh texts, Psyber is driven to his knees by the psychic blast from Winnowill. He scored a nasty hit against her, but she managed to do a lot to him in turn. And when that last blast hits him, Psyber lets out an actual cry of pain as opposed to the minimalist grunt or wince he was doing earlier.

    Between the mix of that and her weird field of healing, Psyber horks up a pool of blood onto the ground underneath himself and tries to come out of a pain-filled haze to make sense of the world. It certainly gives Winnowill the time to escape. Psyber is going to have to plan a way to mitigate her in the future.

Xiao Li Yu (823) has posed:
     "Hee hee hee~" Xiao giggles as she sits up, but doesn't bother getting up fully. She just sits there on the ground, watching Xiaomu grouse about her legs. Sanary's healing energy, what little could reach her, did help her not lose consciousness from that impact, but there wasn't much more left in the researcher for further combat.

     Of course, that didn't mean she was going to just let herself be drained. No noo nooooo. Right as she can feel the sage fox's draining energy beginning to sap away at her strength, the girl reached out with an arm, several black swords gathering up and forming back into a gauntlet upon which she utters, "Drain"

     A pale green aura surrounds her, which then is fired right at Xiaomu, aiming to strike her not to inflict physical harm, but to establish a draining link, which would very well cause a vitality draining tug of war between the two. "Ah ah ah~ You're not the only one who can do that, you know~?"

     ...Of course, she wasn't going to say out loud that Xiaomu's drain was just a bit stronger than her own. But she could bluff while she stood up, smirking all the while.

Xiaomu (707) has posed:
Arguably, draining DOES count as 'physical harm' in a way ... although Xiaomu's never talked to an expert physician to try and sort out how the 'physical' harm gets inflicted. All she knows is that if you drain more energy than somebody or something has, they fall over dead ... and it's a really unpleasant way to go.

Maybe some of those old Buddhist lessons stuck with the sage fox after all.

Either way, when Xiao Li Yu fires up HER draining spell, Xiaomu just gives her the mother of all withering looks, with a distinct vibe of 'are you kidding me?'. And she sustains the Dakki no Kata as best she can. On the plus side, *her* legs are mending enough that she won't limp too much, and she shouldn't - hopefully - have to worry about scars when she heals up.

She will, however, need to heal up. She may even need a lift back to her native Tokyo. Certainly she looks like she might be leaning on her staff; her left hand grips it tightly, the staff's butt braced against the ground for whatever reason as Xiaomu's right hand holds the 'ball of light' through which she focuses the Dakki no Kata.

It is entirely possibly that every fiber of her stance adds up to a measured attempt to call Xiao Li Yu's bluff.

Anne Blakely (983) has posed:
    The bad side is that the construct Staren is wrestling with auto-repairs, and those wires and tubes auto-repair very fast! But... they are just wires and tubes, so tearing through them allows him to reach the Soul Gem rather quickly. And yanking it out...

    The construct slumps and becomes little more than a lump of metal parts. Anne could animate it personally, but by now that's a losing proposition, as its power would be dramatically lessened... and she has other things to handle.

    Like helping Winnowill up. "I think that's enough. A very useful experiment, but while interesting I don't think using those gems as-is is a viable alternative." Alternative to what? She's half talking to herself.

    The important thing is she's calling for a withdrawal.

Xiao Li Yu (823) has posed:
     Crap.

     That was supposed to be the part where Xiaomu gave up and crawled away.

     Xiao Li Yu manages to keep smiling, but a bead of sweat rolls down her cheek as she feels the ebb and flow of life energy tugging between the two of them...

     But then Anne calls for a retreat. The scientist looks aside briefly, before looking back at Xiaomu and keeping her sweet smile maintained. "Well! It looks like that's out cue." She raised her other hand, fluttering it cutely. "I'll see you again some other time, Miss Imperial Walrus. After all, I have yet to get a blood sample~"

     And then she cuts the spell off, feeling Xiaomu's drain flooding in and pulling at her, but she leaps away, anklets flaring to life as she rapidly flies backwards through the air, creating distance as they separate.

     ...Once she was sufficiently far away though: "...Ow." She grumbled to herself tiredly.

Setsuko Kaminagi (255) has posed:
    Unfortunately for Sanary, Setsuko has watched her fight. Has fought alongside her. And Setsuko is the kind of person to note her allies' fighting styles. Both so that she can work better with them, and - in cases where she fights alongside Confederates rather than against them - should she have to draw her weapon against them later. So amidst all those strikes, those glowing-blue eyes are watching for the forming masonry. Waiting for it to coalesce further.

    And at the point where they're close to fully formed - when Sanary has expended the most energy on them without making them usable just yet - the massive blade of Zanjintou suddenly disappears.

    Suddenly, Setsuko is there, practically in Sanary's face. And a normal-sized, normal-shaped katana is whipping through the air with incredible speed and precision. One by one, striking out at each forming brick in turn, as Setsuko herself leaps, turns, rolls and flips. Systematically trying to lock down her opponent's counterattack, while keeping herself mobile enough that 'closing into point-blank range' isn't as bad an idea as it first seems.

    But as her feet touch against the ground and she turns to swing another attack, her eyes catch the construct going limp and its master ordering a withdrawal. Just like that, the swordswoman stops. And, indeed, leaps backwards, far enough to open some room between her and Sanary. She still holds Zanjintou in one hand, a posture simultaneously 'cautious' and 'warning'; but there is no further attack.

    It's an open, silent offer to retreat.

Staren has posed:
    Holy shit, he actually got it! <<I got it!>> he transmits, then, with the construct de-activating, manifests his wings and starts to fly into the sky... then decides that's dangerous, with people on rooftop, so he just tries to make it back to Homura and Psyber. He puts the gem inside his magic bag for now.

    He'd /like/ to take the construct for study.

    He'd /like/ to find the girl's body, too.

    He'd like a lot of things, but right now protecting the gem is first priority.

Xiaomu (707) has posed:
Either the Dakki no Kata has a distance limit, or Xiaomu cut it off willingly as her opponent finally withdrew. There is a very faint smirk on the blonde foxgirl's face as she counts herself the overall winner of that exchange.

You'd have to be looking really closely for it, though - and the reminder that Li Yu still wants a blood sample does its usual complete-lack-of-anything-positive for Xiaomu's mood. Also, her legs may have been somewhat mended, but that's mostly enough to control the bleeding and make it easier for her to heal cleanly. Xiaomu still needs to lean on her staff a bit as she moves off to rendezvous with the other Unionites.

Sanary Rondel has posed:
A call to withdraw? Perfect. Setsuko tearing her bricks to shreds? Not so perfect. Setsuko not cleaving through her? Close enough to perfect.

     Sanary's still shaking even as the swordswoman backs off, keeping that energy circulating through her body to stem the flow of blood out of her body. That look, that posture, it's all coming through quite clearly to the healer as she backs away slowly herself. She glances towards her allies falling back as well, drawing the spare staff and pausing for a moment before turning to Setsuko again.

     She mouths something silently, there's a brief shrug at the end, and then the healer starts limping away while trying to get some of her allies patched up on the way. Sanary's not going to stick around longer than she needs to, after all!