6132/Dogged Finale

Dogged Finale
Date of Scene:	28 October 2018
Location:	Hikari Sea Port - Main Courtyard
Synopsis:	The fleet and its allies finally corner Dogger Bank, and bring the fight to her. After an intense and bitter struggle...
Cast of Characters:	Shigure, 6384, Neuroi Girl, 6716, Lexicon, Leyanne Mace, Kotone Yamakawa

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Shigure has posed:
    Dogger Bank, the Princess of Deceit, is alone.

    This was intentional. She wanted as many of her followers to get away as possible. They have their orders and even if some do turn after being sunk, the rest will regroup at the rendezvous point.

    "Jutland, Savo, everyone... it has been an honour and a privilege to work with you. Good Luck, and Gods Speed." she says to herself as her eyes track the black shadow of Morgan's crow-form approaching rapidly, followed by Evangeline and Silver Soul. "Come then. Let us end this chase. Meet the Abyss' cursed champion in open combat and know your own doom!" She emerges from the superstructure between two of those massive turrets, dress flowing in the breeze, flanked by a pair of manta-ray like creatures, sporting a heavy turret on their wing-like bodies, and a humming drone of more, smaller ones with torpedoes slung under them.

    <Shigure to all points, Princess sighted, top superstructure, flanked by unknown Abyssal craft. Be careful, we still don't know what she is capable of. Fifth Fleet will provide fire support and maintain perimeter.> crackles over the radio, as Dogger Bank lets loose a primordial scream of rage and anger, the entire Leviathan quaking in its broken state and lighting up with angry, burning red cracks that turn the water to steam around the base.

Orchid (6384) has posed:
     Strangely enough, Orchid would feel better disposed to the Princess of Deceit, were she aware of the Abyssal's fears. Knowing that this wasn't simply unfathomable evil, but instead something that remembered being human, or at least being made by humans.

     But there's a still a battle to be fought, and unless Dogger Bank wishes to surrender, there's only one outcome Orchid can see happening. She is still on the Leroy Jenkins, Leyanne's ship, and is still running the sensors, getting them to play nice with the rest of the fleet' sensors. In short, she's got a good radar return from the angry spirit loaded up with metal, and is making sure everyone else knows where it is. "Uploading targeting solutions to missles, I think we're good to fire," she says aloud.

Neuroi Girl has posed:
     After helping Leander join the main fleet, Evangeline made her way back as quickly as possible. "...Leander escorted back...returning to front line..." she says as radios as she rockets through the air, the ends of her arms already starting to glow with their dangerous red energy.

     It doesn't take her very long to rejoin the fight, but she doesn't charge in and start firing. Instead, she comes to a stop just within range, arms raised and ready to attack, and says, "...if we are able to save all of you...you will be able to work together again...to help protect people once more...just forget about being a mean Abyssal...the Hikari Defense Force takes in recovered Abyssals...and helps them have a happy life again..."

Morgan Berselius (6716) has posed:
    Dogger Bank, the Princess of Deceit, is alone.

    And streaking towards her like a horror out of the setting sun is a very angry force of nature. Trailing it are thick black wisps like curling smoke or the stuff of the night sky. He sees his target clearly in all her thunder and fury. So often do monsters wear comely guises, swollen with the ichor of their evil. Morgan doesn't know her true nature, of course-- he can only guess. But ultimately, it doesn't matter.

All that is required is that she sinks here today.

The shadowy figure sounds an eerie cry before plunging bodily into battle. Its form seems to unfold, a humanoid shape manifesting from the darkness, Morgan grins as he emerges, a chain rattling out of the murk, a lantern tethered to its far end aglow with ghostly, purifying flame. He laughs, swinging the lamp like a flail at the manifest wraith. "Cursed, huh!? If you say so, then I guess I'll just have to put you out of your misery. That pain, that anger, I'll strip it all away, bit by bit. Then we'll see if there's anything worth saving, or if your nightmare has claimed all that you are! Ahahahahahaha!"

Lexicon has posed:
    Lexicon wrenches her axe free from the Ru class, swinging the weapon in an arc to scatter black ichor from the mechanical haft and energy blade. She immediately kicks off, circling around to approach the beached Leviathan with her weapon resting on her shoulder and trailing back between her wings.

    As she approaches, the DCC circles around, so that she's not in the same vector as Evangeline on her approach, "Your ship's ruined, your army's split and broken, your greatest warriors have been driven off or destroyed." Coasting to a stop, Silver Soul gestures with her free hand, "There's only two ways this is gonna end. Either you give up, or we beat you until you wish you could die." The gesture becomes a shrug, "You're done, it's over. All that's left is for you to pick how it ends."

Leyanne Mace has posed:
Leyanne stands up in Leeroy's open-topped bridge to watch the reload as it goes on, reporting in. She frowns Tube three seems to be having trouble. "Nigel you knobcheese, get that fucking torpedo tube dogged shut" She shouts at the burly, ogre-like orange-and-white piebald mouse wrestling to get the back of the torpedo tube locked. He holds the wrench in place, leaning back with most of his weight while another equally ogre-like mouse - Igor, one of the exocet loaders - hits the wrench-shaft with a hammer. After a few blows it suddenly shifts and the tube locks with an audible Clunk. "Smashing!" he says as he stands, before shouting. "Tube 3, loaded!"

Leyanne nods, settling back into the seat, peering through the slits on the dropped blast shields over the windows. "Okay, we are locked cocked, and ready to rock... if anyone listens to Evangeline, get ready to distract the bitch. Otherwise, fire as soon as she makes an aggressive move!"

Leeroy's nose pulls up into a full plane as Leyanne eases the throttles forward, making erratic turns to make herself harder to target. "C'mon bitchtits... make my day." she growls.

Kotone Yamakawa has posed:
Kotone was still deck of the Leroy in her ARMED suit using it's big guns now as she lays down focused controlled bursts of fire from the canon she needs to make sure she can get good shots in. She can't carry all the ammo in the world after all, and the giant shells go flying from the weapon with each shot. She does not let up, she also make sure her tatical link to anyone else who can. She's trying to gun for the Princess right now too from how she's placing her shots.

Shigure has posed:
    Morgan comes out of the setting sun, and whips out that lantern on a chain. Dogger lifts an arm, and part of the Leviathan reshapes into a shield, deflecting the strike from her into some of the craft that surround her, knocking them out of the air and into the water below.

    Words fall on deaf ears from Evangeline and Lexicon, as the turrets on the Leviathan track around and unload a volley of shells into the arrayed combatants, while Dogger herself turns her crossbow sword upon Morgan himself, swinging it to try and cut the man in half!

Orchid (6384) has posed:
     Orchid is focusing on the scanner when the shots come in. She is rocked by the hit, even taking shrapnel damage across her face, but she focuses instead on the scanner, improving the firing solutions for Leyanne, and the others in their little flotilla. Her aim? Make sure the attacks hit somewhere sensitive on the Princess.

Neuroi Girl has posed:
     Evangeline takes off once again as those cannons open fire, and only a few of those shells hit her. The impact causes hexagonal panels of translucent blue energy to appear around her and the force knocks her around, but with a spiral through the air she is able to shake it off. "...as you wish..." she says, then the glow of her arms gets brighter. "...allies...clear the area for a moment..." she radios. Hopefully her soft voice makes it through the battle noise.

     Because Evangeline unleashes one of her powerful Breaker Beams! And rather than her usual raking across the area she tries to focus it on Dogger Bank, shrouding her and the area around her in particle explosions for the duration of the beam!

Lexicon has posed:
    Lexicon sweeps her axe up, placing it between herself and the incoming artillery. A shell impacts solidly, surrounding the DCC with flames and smoke. Shrapnel scatters out from the impact, along with fragments of red-tinted damaged code. The smoke dissipates on the ocean breeze, leaving Lexicon still floating there, a dark mark on her axe.

    "Well, that answers that."

    When the woman goes after Morgan in close range, Lexicon tightens her grip on her axe's haft. Her legs bunch up behind herself, and a series of interwoven circles made out of binary code materializes behind her. She places the balls of her feet on this, and springs off. Her axe is swept up, "All that smug shit you were doing before, and I was still willing to let you walk away from this! ZERSTORUNG!"

    Lexicon leads with a heavy downward axe blow, cleaving in an arc.

Morgan Berselius (6716) has posed:
A heavy blade hews into Morgan's shoulder. The paladin snarls, blood dripping from the strange, crossbow-like edge. But even taking a blow that would lay flat pretty much /anyone/ else, he doesn't let up. Black ooze bubbles up around the wound, knitting his flesh shut around the bizarre weapon. Morgan lunges, wrapping his lantern's chain around the edge as it to try and drag it out but--

No.

Not drag it out.

He's holding her to close range...!

"So you can put up a fight," Morgan chuckles in spite of the pain. The darkness leaking from his wound... spreads and propagates all across his body-- before suddenly erupting in an explosion of shadow-forged spikes, spears and blades! "But I'm not put down so easily! Let's continue this dance, until the end of this life!"

Leyanne Mace has posed:
Leyanne shrugs. "We gave the bitch a chance!" As Leyanne speaks, the first stage of the two anti-ship missiles fires. There's a small puff of flame out the back of each rocket to propel it free of the launcher on a ballistic trajectory. A few seconds pass and the sustainor motors kick in, the two missiles streaking in towards Dogger. Moments later, Leyanne carves the PT boat left and right, each turn launching that side's torpedoes towards the abyssal leviathan. The rounds are only intended for ranging on the little PT boat, of course - a job Leyanne intends to make a lot harder - but despite the armour, and his now ironclad nature, Leyanne's frame is still wood. So even a near miss causes distressing creaks and groans from within the boat. Moments later, a huge piece of shrapnel strikes the starboard bridge window shutters and digs in, its upward impact angle nearly ripping the slab of metal awayaway. It dangles at a wonky angle now, flapping with every bounce the boat makes.

"Cock!" Tiny replies, her left hand appearing over the lip of the bridge to display the bird. Behind her, the team manning the bofors frantically work on setting the bofors gun's range and as they bring the gun around to train it on Dogger!

Shigure has posed:
    Dogger is locked in combat with Morgan. Her flank struck and exploded by the Breaker Beam, luckily for Morgan the Princess is pretty large, and the beams explosions are deflected from him. The Abyssal Princess bares her teeth in a snarl that completely changes her ethereally beautiful face into something horrific, something eldritch and horrifying.

    This is in part due to the Breaker Beam, and the follow-up Zerstorung and missiles, but also from the mans words. "Death waits for the slightest lapse in concentration." she says, then turns Morgan around with her sword into the path of Yamashiro's incoming volley. The shadow spikes pierce her body, spilling black ichor from her flesh and dislodging plates of metal from her rigging. Shells rain down around her, detonating on the armoured hull of the beached Leviathan and showering her and the shadow paladin with shrapnel.

    From the smoke, erupts an angry swarm of those manta-like craft, lacking the torpedo and sporting a pair of heavy looking cannons instead. They trill and move to engage Evangeline and Lexicon in dogfights, while moving to strafe the Leeroy and his crew.

Kotone Yamakawa has posed:
Kotone Yamakawa is not spared the attack why would she's a fairly big target there out on the boat's deck, part of her has made her wonder if she should have invested in the naval version of the ARMEd suit, but it's taking damage even as the rounds from the abyssal slam into it. She's at least not got the sword in her face, she'll now squat her somewhat damaged machine and fire off a flight of missiles for the princess.

<<Any ideas other than slug festing it?!>>

She's going to keep hammering away at the Princess with all the firepower she can muster.

Morgan Berselius (6716) has posed:
"Hahahahaha! You said it!" Morgan laughs, even as streamers of apocalyptically destructive light split off the Princess' back and come crashing down into the nearby shore. "And this time--!"

Morgan... Dissolves, seeming to disperse into liquid darkness as she turns to toss him into the incomping bombardment. Yamashiro's shells burst brilliantly, blasting enormous columns of frigid seawater into the air-- but Dogger takes the worst of it. And Morgan-- Morgan's laughter rings out from /behind/ her.

"You're so much prettier when you /aren't/ making that face, you know? But I guess that's just more reason for me to burn that taint out of you. Hahahaha!" Morgan cackles as a quartet of deadly black discs erupt from his tenebrous aura. He lunges, striking with his lamp-and-chain and those four shadowy buzzsaws in tandem like some kind of blade-bound dervish.

Lexicon has posed:
    When beset upon by fighters, Lexicon darts back, pelted by gunfire. It's a bit harder to deal with attacks from multiple angles, like this, and the DCC is temporarily pushed away, shedding damaged code in powder crimson fragments. Her teeth bare in a growl, crimson eyes narrowing as another cannon shell bursts against her axe.

    "Shit, backin' off--!" That being to give Yamashiro a clear line of fire. Albeight briefly, while she contends with the Manta planes. A binary circle shoots out around her feet and the DCC whirls her weapon around suddenly, scattering snowflakes, "SCHNEESTURM!" A wind suddenly whips up the snowy particles into a blizzard, transforming Lexicon into a mild hazard for such small aircraft. Surrounded by this, she hurls herself back into melee range of the Princess.

    "Gonna need more than that to keep me off your case, thundertits!" Her axe sweeps back, the blade elongating into a great cleaver of blue-tinged ice, "I'm gonna demand your FULL attention! TANZERIN TROMBE!"

    On approach, Lexicon hurls herself into a spin, leading with repeated, broad sweeping slashes with her ice-augmented axe.

Neuroi Girl has posed:
     Evangeline finds herself in a dogfight, and despite her efforts she is hit several times by those heavy cannons from the flying stingrays. Her shield flares a few times before finally collapsing and one of the shells catches her...right in the face! The Neuroi's head explodes and she freefalls for a few moments before leveling off again. Losing her head isn't as bad as it seems, and doesn't seem to slow Evangeline down all that much. It starts to steadily reform, a siverly glow travelling up from her shoulders and reforming her lost noggin like a burning paper but in reverse.

     Even as this is happening, her arms and the panels on her leg's wings are regaining their glow, and a dozen or so vectoring beams erupt from her, targeting the rays that are following her. Much like their bigger cousin the beams result in an explosion wherever they hit, but it is not as powerful. Of course, there are a lot more of them.

     She also forms up with Lexicon, her fellow aerial combatant. Perhaps they can cover each other's backs a bit.

Orchid (6384) has posed:
     The mass of metal mantas aren't what Orchid was expecting, but she does have the radar, which gives her enough time to shout "Incoming!" Hopefully the warning is enough for the crew of the Leroy. For her part, she's only defending herself, shields snapping up. .o(Wish I had that megadiamond upgrade ready...)

Of course, while she's defending herself, her spiders are jumping loose, and trying to jump onto the metal mantas, to clog up any motive systems they can find, throwing off the aerodynamics with their brave little bodies, and capturing any they can grab onto with high-tensile silksteel strands.

Leyanne Mace has posed:
Leeroy's strafed good and propeer by the passing Mantas. That damaged bridge screen is blown away even as someone attempts to reposition it, the repair-mouse taking a nasty wound from the shrapnel and being dragged into the wheelhouse for treatment.

"Motherfuckers!" Leyanne shouts, the Bofors gunners aborting their reconfiguration and blasting with wild abandon at the airborne foes. "Motherfucker!" She repeats towards Dogger, pushing the throttles right to their stops. "Take the wheel!" She snarls, going below decks. When she comes back out, she's carrying something. At first glance, it looks like an oil drum, but closer examination it's revealed to be a depth charge. With a time-fuse crammed into the fuse well, rather than the usual pressure pistol.

"Get me... about fifty metres away from the cunt!" Leyanne snarls to her temporary helmsmouse. When she's within range, she smirks "I saw this trick in a movie once" She comments. In her right hand, she's holding the charge by some kind of axle. Her left hand is holding onto the handle, and it begins to turn, spinning the depthcharge up to speed as she hauls back in preparation to throw. The spinning gets faster and faster, until her cybernetic hand is a blur.

"Only... the dude performing it... was flying a LANCASTER!"

The last word is a shout of effort as she just pitches the back-spinning depth charge at Dogger Bank. Thanks to its backspin it skips like a stone, bouncing several times across the water - and indeed the beach beyond - to hopefully smack against Dogger, and detonate.

Shigure has posed:
    Dogger is wounded, beaten and losing parts of her rigging. The vector beams from Evangeline tag many of her fighters out of the air. Orchid's spiders snagging some others while shots from the Bofors leave several more trailing smoke, and crashing down into the water after a brief struggle to stay airborne.

    She's then beset by buzzsaws from behind, and an angry spinning DCC from in front, the blades tearing into her body and spraying black ichor in all directions.

    That's when something changes. The Leviathan gives a roar of defiance, as the sun slips below the horizon and light leaves the world, save for those glowing molten metal lines on the giant construct.

    It warps, reforging itself into some kind of giant lizard... at least in part. The head is malformed and the neck more snake-like, as it opens a burning maw. The roar that follows is as much force as it is sound, washing out in a potent red laser to try and clear the Princess of her attackers.

Leyanne Mace has posed:
Leyanne looks to her driver as she recovers from her throw, watching the depth charge smack home and detonate. Barnes Wallace would have been proud.

And then Dogger turns into a giant, laser- Komodo Dragon. "Turn us around! Emergency power, flank speed!" She says, with a note of worry in her voice. She drops to the deck and grabs on tight as the mouth-laser fires. Leeroy himself is actually untouched by the lasers themselves.

The same cannot be said for her crew. The electromagnetic backwash, combined with the deafening roar and closer range, has every Martian on the ship writhing around on the deck, trying to clutch both their antennae and ears... and finding they have entirely insufficient hands. It's as if they've come under psychic attack... and for the moment, they are crippled.

Neuroi Girl has posed:
     Evangeline is caught in the sweeping beam attack and once again sent spiraling toward the water. She almost hits it this time, and actually flails a moment before she manages to catch herself and take back to the sky. One of her legs hits the water and there is a metallic screech of fear before she rockets upward, trying to get as far from the water as possible. This time as she stops the leg that didn't hit the water is the limb of hers that is reforming. That silver shimmer steadily flows down once more, following the invisible silhouette of her leg as it reforms the lost limb. "...what is that...?" she radios even as she powers up again. "...is this the power of a princess-type...?"

     Her answer to that hate beam is an angry beam of her own. Energy from her arms and her remaining leg gathers in front of her, concentrating into a huge orb of sinister red energy. Luckily it is not really powered by emotions, just her core. "...You leave us little choice..." she says, then unleashes a beam as thick as she is tall. Anyone who is able to receive radio signals would get a klaxxon-type warning of incoming artillery.

Lexicon has posed:
    Lexicon comes out of her spin in a crouch, skidding to a halt several paces past Dogger. She whirls about, the axe sweeping up and then down to one side, scattering ichorous blood across the Leviathan's hull, "Now that I've got your attention--" She cuts off when the ship itself reconfigures and fixes her with its killing intent. Her response is to thrust her axe to one side, her free hand to the other, "MOTHERFUCKER, BRING IT ON! WAR GHOSTS, KILLER FISH, SHIP DRAGONS, GIVE ME ALL YOU GOT!"

    The beast disgorges its laser, enveloping the DCC in hateful crimson light. Something screeches unnaturally in the cone of pain, and the dragon's roar is soon joined by a raising crescendo of rage. And out of the beam comes a sheet of blackened, pitted armor-- torn from the Leviathan's hull. This is thrown aside, revealing Lexicon, covered in cracks and gouges of damaged code all over her body.

    And she's not slowing down.

    "You said your kind runs on anger? You feed on it, right? You get stronger?!" she shouts as she rapidly approaches Dogger Bank, "DRINK IT IN, THUNDERTITS! YOU'RE FIGHTING A GODDESS!" Her axe is swept back, the blade expanding with an icy covering. It expands again, the cutting edge doubling in size, "YOU'RE GONNA NEED ALL THE HELP YOU CAN GET! HARD BREAK!"

Orchid (6384) has posed:
     The EM blast that hits the crew also hits Orchid, her sensitive radios catching the blast on multiple bands. There are things that Orchid does not light. Among those things is jamming, using lots of whatever signal wave to overwhelm sensors. It gives her such a headache when it's used on her... but the Leroy has some powerful search lights. And the fact that it is sundown, when day and night are fighting for control of the light switch of the heavens... Yes, Orchid has no choice but to aim those lights at the eyes of the monster.

Morgan Berselius (6716) has posed:
    The punishment mounts. Dogger is... Strong. Morgan will admit at least that much. Even being hewn into by blades and bombs from all sides isn't enough to sink her. And then, it seems as though they've run out of time. The sun sinks down beneath the distant horizon, blanketing the world in darkness.

    The Leviathan unfolds and transforms, revealing its true, awful form. Morgan whispers a curse under his breath as baleful crimson light consumes the sea. Jets of steam erupt as the ocean's surface flash-boils. The roar of screaming wind is deafening...!

And in its wake, as that light fades, the paladin of the raven god is...

...Gone...?

No. Something's wrong. His presence is still here, that undeniable sense of supernatural unease that follows him around is /still here./ And growing. Expanding. Then, they might notice--

The stars glow with unsettling, sickly light.

The moon is larger and more vividly brilliant than it aught to be.

"I figured we were on a tight schedule," Morgan murmurs, appearing nearby, standing atop the glassy, jet-black seas. "But damn, that /hurt/." Part of his body is... gone. His shoulder and chest have been savaged, torn to tatters. His left arm hangs limply from an inky black tendril. Morgan frowns, lifting his one good hand. Whorls of darkness swirl around Dogger's form... and lash out, looking to anchor her in place as Morgan hops forward across the water's surface. "But I've glimpsed the depths of your rage. Now, maybe, you can let it go."

"And if can't," Morgan murmurs, reaching out to brush his fingers against Dogger's cheek... Before suddenly going to clench them over her face. "Then I'll just have to lend you a hand!"

Here, under the night's sky, beneath the very incarnation of Bendigeid's sacred domain. Morgan does to Dogger what he once did to a little ship named Leander... And reaches in, his divinity surging to try and pry away the hatred and sorrow bundled up inside this ship-shaped husk...!

Kotone Yamakawa has posed:
Hate lasers? Those are quite the thing in the multiverse she has learned and she's damn lucky it's not focused at her. Still, she catches the backwash of it and it's not very nice the cyborg is only able to push on through this. She's got a few other tricks, she' brought other weapons. She now moves to summon them. THe ARMED suit has four arms and in one of the human-sized one is Kotone's Matter Manipulator and out of it, she pulls her MEK Trooper Railgun into the larger sets off hand.

She levels both weapons the railgun interfaces with her armours targeting system and Kotone locks on to the Princess then she opens fire, the machine canon lets out a steady stream of fire, while the rail rifle fires shots at a steady pace, the remaining missiles she has fire as well seeking her out.

"This is going to end here one way or another!"

Leyanne Mace has posed:
Electromagnetics. Major weakness when your deelieboppers can sense RF and microwaves. And a laser that powerful is going to have a lot of backwash in other frequencies... but once the laser has actually stopped firing, the mice recover. They're hurting... they've all got migranes, and many of them have actually hurt their own antennae in an attempt to block out the 'noise'. "Give the bitch the General Gala maneuver." Leyanne growls, through the pain... and the anger it causes her, as she hauls herself back to her feet. Her antennae have retracted into her helmet, and are refusing to come out.

They nod, training every weapon on Leeryoy's frame onto Dogger's form. Even a torpedo is towards the beach near one of Dogger's legs. A hail of .50-cal, 20mm and 40mm gunfire. Two more exocets, at such close range they can't miss. And to top it all off, as Leeroy crosses in front of its face...

Leyanne attempts to lob another depth charge down its throat.

Shigure has posed:
    The Fortress Breaker lives up to its name. It slams into the transformed Leviathan, punches through the armour and detonates the insides, gutting the thing and causing it to let out a grinding sound as a death rattle, before something else explodes within and the whole things ruptures like an over-ripe orange.

    The Princess herself is beset by Lexicon's Hard Break, the strike sending her skidding backwards across the water, into Morgan's dark embrace. Locked down as she is, she's easy pickings for Kotone's barrage, unable to even try to intercept the missiles as Orchid blinds her with the spotlights.

    And then the Leeroy swings back around and throws everything at the crippled Princess. The torpedo detonates, tearing flesh and shredding metal, the machine guns pepper her frame and the exocets finish the job.

    Morgan would feel something 'give' in the trapped Abyssal, and she slips beneath the water, the Depth Charge adding insult to injury....

    Though, something unexpected would show up on sonar. A fast moving contact moving to the sinking Princess, merging, then fleeing at high speed... curious.

Orchid (6384) has posed:
     Evil has fled, but there's more to do. Orchid puts her hands on her head, trying to squish her thoughts into line. Then she turns to the Sonar scope, in time to watch the fleeing contact vanish.

Leyanne Mace has posed:
The Martians watch Dogger Bank go down with quiet satisfaction, Leeroy nosing back around to rejoin the fleet and dropping out of plane Leyanne returns to the seat and eases the throttles back. "I hate huge lasers." she grumbles. "Always got so much fucking backwash..."

However the sight of Leander, still confused but... no longer Abyssal, she smiles, pulls a beer from the cooler next to the helm, and presses it against her forehead a moment before cracking it, and raising it in a toast. "Welcome back."

Lexicon has posed:
    In the aftermath of Dogger's defeat and escape, and Lexicon's furious roar of frustration, the DCC now floats back to Yamashiro. Her axe disappears in a flicker of pixellated light as the girl descends. It's about a meter above deck when her transformation fades, and a brunette is what touches down rather than Silver Soul.

    Tiredly, now, Lexicon leans against one of the great battleship's railings. Gripping it for support, she lifts her other hand to examine the cracked, damaged code. It's already slowly repairing itself, with damaged sections steadily converting from red to white as bypasses are implemented.

    Hand dropping to her side, Lexicon glances out over the sea once more, "...This'll be great material for my next novel, at least."

Neuroi Girl has posed:
     Evangeline, even after the princess sinks, stays far above the water. Seems she got close enough for one day. "...I will...remain up here...to...escort the fleet..." she says over the radio, then heads back toward Yamashiro as well. But. she doesn't come down. She just stays high in the air above Yamashiro. "...did we lose anyone...either here or in the fleet...?" she asks.

Morgan Berselius (6716) has posed:
Something gives way in the Abyssal's heart before she's snatched away. Morgan frowns as the tendrils of night draw back and the sky seems to... Calm down, somewhat. The moon and stars seem to return to their usual lustre. Morgan breathes a long sigh, reaching over to shove his half-severed limb back up into the rat's nest of writhing darkness that seems to fill much of his body. "Ahhhh damn, that sucks. Hhh."

Morgan sighs again and rises from the sea's surface, his body dissolving into shadow as he takes flight...

...And lands on Yamashiro's deck, not far from the injured data-goddess. "Hey," Morgan says, patting her shoulder, "You did good. Nice work."

There's... A soothing pulse that lingers when the weird crow-guy (still missing a good portion of his upper body, mind) draws his hand away. It's not much, but... It's almost like Lexicon just popped a few painkillers. "We'll just have to make sure she can't get away the next time."

Lexicon has posed:
    Touching Lexicon draws a look of ire from Lexicon, perhaps as a reflex considering she relaxes rather quickly. Whether that's the effect of the magic Morgna used or just Lexicon being on edge is unclear. Her eyes close with a sigh and she turns to rest her back against the railing.

    "Yeah. I'll freeze the ocean so she can't sink into it, next time. I did it to her lackey but didn't think to this time."

Morgan Berselius (6716) has posed:
"Pfft. Yeah I guess that's one way to handle it," Morgan laughs and resists the urge to reach over and fluffle this one's hair. It... Would probably get his hand cut off. He could grow that back, but still. No need to worry about that if he doesn't gotta. "I was thinking of just holding her down harder, but she was pretty strong, huh."

"Name's Morgan, by the way. Good to meet you."

Lexicon has posed:
    "Lexicon," the DCC volunteers, glancing back at the writhing mass of darkness that was once a man, "With enemies that strong, you gotta use everything at your disposal." Her eyes return to the sea, "Lessons to be learned. I got too wound up and wasn't thinking strategically."

Morgan Berselius (6716) has posed:
Hey, in Morgan's defense, he's still /mostly/ a man. Just... Also a significant portion of him is a writhing mass of darkness. The part that's still a man laughs and scratches at the back of his head. "Yeah, no I hear you. I think we went pretty all out overall though. I mean, except for literally freezing the ocean."

Beat.

"So uh. Goddess, huh? How's that working out?"

Lexicon has posed:
    Lexicon pauses, glancing back at Morgan, "Mm? I'm a Drive Core Controller. I manage the administrator operations of Britannica, a city in the System. I'm also its protector." Her eyes close with a shrug, "The people sometimes call me a goddess, their divine guardian, and I live in a cathedral."

    An eye opens and she regards him, "You have a problem with it?"

Morgan Berselius (6716) has posed:
    Wow all of those words just fly right over Morgan's squiggly, night-blotchy tentacle head. What's a drive? A Core controller? A System!?!? Morgan just kind of smiles and nods. "Ah, not so much, not so much. As long as you aren't, like, stomping ruthlessly all over their hopes and dreams or anything, it's fine. Just keeping an eye out for divinity from other lands is all."

"Though I guess I'm more of an... avatar, I guess? Rather than actually... personally divine. The difference is pretty academic anymore."

Lexicon has posed:
    "What the--" Lexicon's expression is legitimately shocked by Morgan's words, blinking wide-eyed, "Stomping ruthlessly..." She hunches forward into a defensive posture, her lip curling, "Why the fuck would I do that?! Grimm started his dream restaurant last week. Bossanova published her latest novel in a book series she's been nursing for years. Codex even got an A on her magic test!"

    Placing a hand over her chest, Lexicon's shouting again, "Their accomplishments are proof of my quality as a DCC, protecting and guiding them, why the hell would I crush those dreams that are the very proof I'm doing a good job!?"

Morgan Berselius (6716) has posed:
"Wh--" Morgan agogs at this... This tiny little dynamo of righteous rage. "--Pff--" Oh God, no, he can't. He can't stop the laugh. "Pffahahaha! No! Wow, I really put my foot in my mouth. No, no I was just trying to imply that I, like, go out and deal with that kind of thing on the regular. I mean, I obviously have nothing to worry about with you, right?"

Well. Now he doesn't, anyway.

"Some of the ones from back home, you see," Morgan explains, leaning back against Yamashiro's guardrail, "They don't think the way you do. That's why I made a joke about it. I shouldn't have, you obviously care a lot about your people, and I can respect that."

"Sorry," he snickers, scratching awkwardly at his cheek, "Don't get to talk to many not-crazy deities anymore. Let me introduce myself again. Morgan Berselius, Chosen of Bendigeid the God of Night and I guess also his avatar, anymore. Pleased to meet you, o' good goddess."

Lexicon has posed:
    When Morgan starts laughing, Lexicon straightens her back, her face turning red with an even more intense outburst starting to erupt. Until it becomes clear he's laughing at himself. And apologizing. She almost seems to deflate, the rage bomb successfully disarmed. She lets it out as a sigh, eyes closed.

    "Then don't meet Theurgus, she's as crazy as they come. Good friend of mine and reliable where it counts, though." A deep breath is taken, and she lets it out slowly, leaning back and looking skyward, "Well, I'm always happy to be a good example."

Morgan Berselius (6716) has posed:
This little goddess is like a teeny volcano. He can see the IMPOSSIBLE RAGE building up inside her, the pressure becoming almost too much to bear...!

And then it all kind of goes away and she deflates like a big red balloon.

"As long as she's not set-fire-to-the-village levels of crazy, I'm sure it'll be fine," Morgan says with another laugh. At least it looks like his torso's finally putting itself back together. "Well! I really should be off. I just wanted to say hi before going in to put my bits back where they're supposed to be." Morgan pushes off the rail and begins heading back toward Yamashiro's interior. "I'm sure we'll sea each other again later. Till then!"