Glowing Blood.

Glowing Blood.
Date of Scene:	04 July 2014
Location:	Radiation Planes
Synopsis:	At a secluded military outpost, Crona is spurred into action to murder soldiers. It doesn't take long for the Union to muster an effective defense. But in spite of the corpses they left in their wake, it soon becomes clear that they might not be the only victims in this scenario...
Cast of Characters:	3, 22, Staren, 213, 365, 476

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Crona (476) has posed:
The Warpgate has been locked - a dark black piece of machinery has been fastened to the ring structure, which even now fizzes and crackles warningly. It will only take a minute to break through, but for the unfortunate soldiers who had been immediately in the vicinity of the Gate, too much time has already passed.

The military outpost here is sparsely populated anyway. A squat steel construction with a staff of a few dozen. The intense levels of radiation make it difficult to maintain communications, and harder to find people willing to spend large amounts of time here. But the blasted wasteland outside of the facility is a rich resource for mutants, and the harshness of the environment itself is a kind of natural defense against attack.

Only, now, it seems to have worked against them. A half dozen bodies lay scattered around the warpgate, dismembered by the Meister who now stands babbling to themselves in the middle of the gore. The rest of the staff have retreated behind blast doors and deeper into the facility as they await backup to come and rescue them, but Crona doesn't seem TOO interested in pressing the attack.

"She said they were different, but I don't understand why it isn't working! Its too hard! And the eye will open soon and everyone will see us..."

Ragnarok, held tip-down inside another body, licks thick, cherry red lips. ~I don't care about excuses! You must have killed them wrong somehow, Crona!~

"A-aaah, I can't kill them any more, Ragnarok! Look!"

Which the unfortunate Meister demonstrates by stabbing the corpse in front of them a few more times.

Medusa Gorgon (22) has posed:
Children. They never listen, now do they?
Then again, you have to give them a chance to show that they are not /completely/ worthless. For this reason Medusa Gorgon keeps her distance to the place of slaughter, seated up in a tall dead tree with her broom resting across her lap. From this distance it looks like... ah, yes. Crona is stabbing the same bloody corpse over and over. How wonderful. The witch narrows her eyes and lets out a slight snort. Whatever thought passed through that child's head? There are more of them inside, after all. But then again... perhaps that is truly the best way to draw the Union in on this. They are bound to learn of what is happening here if this goes on.
Just who will arrive?
How pressed will Crona be?
How much can the black blood influence the young meister?
These questions will hopefully be answered soon. Not that she's impatient, but... Crona is hardly interesting to watch while this goes on.

Roll (3) has posed:
With the warpgate disabled, Roll has to get in the hard way. Flying in on Rush Jet isn't so dangerous for her. radiation? Pfheh. ROBOT.

Since she couldn't get in through the warpgate, Roll's forced to enter through other means.. in this case, swooping down towards the facility and its entrances...

Snow (213) has posed:
Far too late, threads of energy spread over the machine keeping the warp gate locked down, gradually glowing brighter and brighter, and then... the warpgate opens once more, the machine gaining several cuts in key places, though not completely destroyed, oddly enough. Shortly after the warpgate opens, icy wings carry a woman through the gate, coming to a landing just inside.

Snow gives a small frown as she lands just inside the gate, looking at the half-dozen people around the warpgate, blue eyes trailing between each of them. And then... towards the babbling Meister... who was presently stabbing the corpse. "They are dead. Let them rest in peace." The dragon-winged girl states firmly towards Crona.

She shifts her hands slowly, barely-visible threads trailing from the tips of her fingers as she watches Crona. "You will be outnumbered shortly, I suggest that you surrender." Snow states firmly to the child before her, taking slow steps towards Crona on her frozen feet, the light 'Tink' and a crackle of ice audible with each step.

Procyana (365) has posed:
Well that explains why she couldn't get a warpgate to open to the location properly. But Snow took care of that problem, thank goodness.

Procyana follows her through the warpgate, and doesn't really react to the dead bodies already lying around. Nothing worse than what she sees on the job half the time. Save a bit of a snort, tail flicking a few times. "Tch. Worse thing than an unwanted house guest is an unwanted -messy- houseguest." Swiftly she cross-draws her blasters, twirling them both once in her hands to get them into proper grip, and an audible hum of powering up as she holds one ready and points the other in the direction of the one obvious intruder. "I know this is the ass crack middle of nowhere, but that's no reason to go around being rude and killing everyone."

Staren has posed:
Staren is enjoying a peaceful day of watching airshows in Equestria. Stunt flying is quite a sight! But, duty calls. People need help. A couple teleports and a warpgate trip and Staren's ready to deploy.

No warpgate? Radiation? No problem! Staren has a convenient solution to both of these problems: A giant transforming war machine. Like a streak of chrome, the apparent fighter plane has arms and legs unfold from under its body as it decelerates and approaches the ground -- the sonic boom washing over the area an instant after. The Star Hawk finishes transforming into a 40' tall humanoid and lands a short distance away. Staren sees an agressor in the middle of dead bodies, and doesn't bother with words. What's he gonna do, demand surrender? No. He doesn't think words are going to work here. His machine raises its right arm, a panel in the arm pack revealing three barrels. A single railgun slug flies through the air in a streak of fire as hypersonic speed ignites the very air. It's aimed high so that if it misses it will hit some distance away -- Staren is hoping to drive Crona /away/ from the bodies, so that the significant collateral damage of mecha weaponry won't blow the bodies to mist or burn them to ash.

Crona (476) has posed:
Crona looks around as Snow turns up, and breaks the Iris device. Straightening, the tall, gaunt Meister rolls their shoulders back, and cocks their head to the side. Its, an unnerving expression on their features. Crona is smiling, but the smile is too wide, and pale eyes dart about this way and that. "Yes, I killed them. But their souls went away. Aah, maybe they are hiding? Can you help me cut them open and find the souls? We need them..." And then the darting gaze settles on the broken device. "Oh no! The eye is open, it can see now... oh, I thought I'd be the one to wake it up, ah, that's, not the plan..."

Stumbling back a couple of paces, they actually look quite intimidated. These were, after all, the people that Medusa had warned them about. Don't underestimate them, Crona! Plan it carefully, Crona! And now Crona is realizing that 'plan it carefully' had all gone out the window when they couldn't sate Ragnarok's hunger for souls on the local soldiers.

"Aaah, but She told me to kill them!" Crona complains to Procyana, "And anyway--"

*WHUMP*

The railgun slams into the side of Crona's head, and they are sent hurting sideways, where they bounce off the metal blast doors, and roll, after a few seconds, to a complete stop. The railgun slug rolls away from them a moment later, and after just a second, the Meister is lurching up to their feet, black blood trickling down their lips.

"Hehe... he... My blood is black, you know?"

And there's a ~DEAFENING SCREECH~ as Ragnarok is raised up high, and opens his mouth to wail. The keening cry is a painful thing, radiating outwards to (hopefully) disorient and assail those in the immediate area... and it will be audible for miles and miles.

Snow (213) has posed:
Snow's gaze remains level on Crona as she talks, fingers slowly playing at her sides, weaving the threads together as she responds to Crona. "Souls do not leave their body easily in this world. And when they do, it usually is to move on to the next." Snow responds quietly to Crona, one of her brows quirking slightly as she watches the Meister. As Crona backs, Snow matches her pace forward, eyes on Crona calmly.

"Who told you to kill them?" She asks curiously, and then... Crona is shot by the railgun and sent flying towards the blast doors, causing Snow to wince. And... black blood? Snow couldn't help but have her curiosity perked by the black blood, "...Fascinating. Has it always been like th--" SCREEEEEEECH. Snow takes a step back as Ragnarok starts to scream, her hands lifting to her ears briefly. But as the screech continues, she gets as used to it as she can, her ears ringing, and some of the ice on her legs and wings gaining cracks.

As the screeching continues, Snow's eyes narrow. "So noisy..." Snow lifts her hands, weaving threads together into an intricate web of energy, which is then whipped out towards Crona, attempting to wrap around both Crona and her blade. If it successfully wraps around them, Snow jerks the force lines, which glow brightly, tightening to possibly painful levels, maybe even cause Ragnarok to cut into Crona as well. Eventually, as they tightened(If the initial wrap was successful!), the threads would either snap on their own, be consumed, or be cut by Ragnarok, likely only causing a minor hindrance for a second or two -- if that.

Procyana (365) has posed:
They just never listen when someone tells them to surrender.

But that one unchanging aspect is what has Procyana ready, despite her generally laid back and sarcastic demeaner. As soon as the .... thing moves as if to ready and attack she twists sideways and engages the boosters in her boots, leaping away from the others. A flip mid-air lands her feet first against the wall of the building just long enough to kick off of it and higher into the air, evading the worst of the sonic blast by basically jumping over the center point of Crona that screech is radiating out from so she's not in its direct path.

As soon as she lands on the other side of the source of the passed attack she whips up one arm to level her disruptor at the creature and open fire with a quick shot.

"First time I've had someone screaming -before- I put a hole in their heart."

Staren has posed:
Babble about souls. And a plan, and calling a warpgate an 'eye'. This guy is clearly not all there. Staren's a bit surprised when he takes a railgun hit to the /head/ and doesn't even seem to care, though. Well, that just means they need to /keep shooting/. So what if he has black blood? That's hardly the weirdest thing in the Multiverse.

And then, some... /thing/ is raised up and wails. Some kind of crazy magic attack, it must be -- the Star Hawk shakes, and the sound resounds in Staren's head. "Shut UP!" He leaps over the bodies, and as he approaches, he takes a few more shots with the railgun. Still on semiauto -- he doesn't want to accidentally blow the doors open with a burst.

Medusa Gorgon (22) has posed:
Hmmm. Medusa arches an eyebrow as the opposition arrives, watching intently as they work on the warp gate and then decide to try and discourage Crona from what the young meister is doing. Silly Unionites. She's worked too hard on the child. There is no way that Crona will stop what they are doing and surrender peacefully.
The railgun fire does draw some attention, and the witch glances in the direction from whence it came.
Well well well.
Seems like there are some familiar people here today at least.
And just as taught, Crona gets up. And even if the screech can be heard from here, she's at a relatively safe distance to avoid Ragnarok rupture her ear drums. Not to mention she can mentally brace herself from the mad cacophony.
They attack in return however, and Medusa narrows her eyes slightly, leaning forward on the tree branch where she is seated...

Roll (3) has posed:
WHAT WAS THAT NOISE?!
Roll would like to think that, but she heard it right after landing, and the moment it hits her sensors, it's like scorching electrical overload right to her CPU. She barely even gets a scream out before her whole body tumbles forward against the door. Nobody can see it, but her systems just experienced a pretty nasty overload, sensory parsing UTTERLY CRASHING. A few seconds pass and Roll reboots the systems. A few more for them to resynchronize with her core program... "What... WHAT was that noise..." Rush, who landed next by, whines piteously and growls. He suffered a similar problem.

Frowning, Roll dons her armor in a flash of light, and tries to gain entry to the facility. If the union Elite access codes don't work, she'll have to use Super Arm to force the doors open enough to slip in and close them again. can't have radiation everywhere!

Crona (476) has posed:
The energy web wraps around Crona as they slowly get an idea of what it is they are fighting. The Meister clearly isn't in the most lucid state of mind, as their head wobbles and sways about. ~PAY ATTENTION CRONA!~

"Wuh?"

When they come back to themselves, it is because Procyana just shot them in the back. Thankfully, Ragnarok is paying far more attention than Crona is, and after the energy splashes against their back, the black blood is visible hardening underneath the skin in response. In the same moment, Crona jerks the blade around, slashing through the ribbons with Ragnarok's surprisingly sharp edge... and the bullets? Well, they have /less/ effect than the last time, Ragnarok's edge slashing the mecha-sized ammunition into neat pieces after a flurry of sudden speed.

~THAT'S BETTER! Make me do all the work again and I'll eat your breakfast for a month!~

"Ah! Not breakfast! That's the most important meal of the day! I don't think I could deal with that!"

The threat - clearly audible from the Meister's abusive Weapon - seems to do a good job of getting Crona to pick out a target at least. Mad eyes slowly settling on the robot which shot them in the face earlier.

"... I suppose its easier to cut up a big target. Even I can't miss something like that. But do machines even have souls?"

A question for the philosophers, perhaps. It seems that Crona's ability to hold a coherent conversation has been somewhat hampered by the bullets, energy blasts and strange strings that are wielded against them.

Now, Ragnarok screams again, and the resonating energy thrums anew... but the edge also carves deep grooves into the metal ground. Sparks fly everywhere as Crona runs straight at Staren's war machine, and aims to cleave through the joint at one of the machine's knees. There's a casual viciousness there which might be shocking if anyone can piece it together; it just seems natural to try and stop the thing you are killing being able to run away, you know?

Meanwhile, the Union codes work for getting through the blast doors, but the soldiers inside look pretty unnerved. It is worth noting this is a MILITARY INSTALLATION and so there's only a few token civilians... but none of them want to go outside right now, either. They saw what Crona did to the others! And there's that SCREAMING to worry about!

"Do you have an escape plan?"

Snow (213) has posed:
Crona's responses were... somewhat surprising, to say the least! The way Crona talked and conversed with the sword ... well, Snow was definitely paying attention and listening. One thing was for sure, the poor thing was being bullied, and it was the sword who was more or less in control. "She's already skinny enough, I think taking her breakfast for a month might kill her." Snow says, making an assumption about Crona's gender based off of voice and appearance. Possibly an incorrect assumption, but hey, everyone makes mistakes!

As Crona runs towards the robot that currently housed Staren, Snow's eyes focus, following the sword and meister... and when the sword's mouth opens, she was ready, ice beginning to coat and cover her ears to protect them. Even with that, however, cracks form further in those icy wings, causing Snow to wince slightly. "...I really hope that you have some sort of protection from that sword." Snow says, possibly even concerned for the health of the Meister!

Still, regardless, Snow did not simply stand by. She lifts her hands, making several gestures as her hand swirls in the air, snowflakes dancing around her hands. "Gelu sepulcrum, inimico meo. <Icy tomb, crush my foe.>" Snow speaks out in Latin. The spell's effects are almost immediate.

From the ground behind Crona, a tomb-like cavity is created, with a 'door' suddenly forming in front of the Meister, attempting to sweep Crona straight back into the icy tomb behind, simply crushing Crona against the back if it was successful. Luckily, even if it was successful, the icy tomb was just ice, and would likely be easy enough to break through to escape.

Procyana (365) has posed:
Procyana gahs and holds up her arms to shield her face as the strike tears through the ground this time, showering essentially shrapnel torn up from the floor panels. Little sparks can be seen where the sharp edges impact with the defenses built into her jacket.

Once it's subsided she lowers her arms partway again, squinting a bit at the creature. Her tactical cybernetics are trying to scan it, but it's just not easy to pick any one thing out.

Finally she shrugs, adjusts the setting on her disruptor and holds it out at arms length as the muzzle briefly glows with motes of red-orange energy. "Time to heat this party up." This time it's a bolt of shearing thermal energy that fires, likely causing painfully sudden temperature changes as Snow freezes the target, and then suddenly it's blasted with heat afterwards.

Staren has posed:
/Cutting/ railgun bullets? "Tch..." Staren mutters to himself about dealing with this insanity... But then Crona CHARGES him. Staren tries to leap again, but too slow -- the sword cuts deep into the armor with a terrible slicing sound, but... it's not quite enough to really slice into the knee mechanisms. It /is/ a pretty heavily armored war robot. If he can land another hit or two in the same spot though, it looks like he could take Staren down a leg!

With a roar of rockets and jet thrusters, the Star Hawk takes to the air. "What do you want souls for, anyway?" Staren asks, through the speakers, as the machine readies its gunpod, which appears to contain a massive missile launcher filled with dozens and dozens of little missiles. A few tiny missiles are flung out and then spew smoke trails as they robotech in on Crona. These are Staren's new 'micromissiles' -- the size of a magic marker, they home in on the target at up to mach 2, aiming to ram themselves into it hard enough to penetrate armor before setting off their tiny explosive warheads! In this case, they also have the benefit if avoiding too much collateral damage -- the blast radius is only a few feet if things don't go as planned. This is for piercing hardened targets, not vaporizing wide areas. Staren has other missiles for that. He might show them to Crona later!

Crona (476) has posed:
"AAAAAAAH!"

Crona screams as they are frozen, and the ice is really very cold, locking them up in place for the few seconds necessary to help the incendiary shot get a nice clean target.

"AAAAAAAH!"

Crona screams again as they are set on fire, and the flaming energy bolt sears deeply into their body as they stagger to get back up to their feet, waving Ragnarok around in a warding motion.

"AAAAAAAAH!"

Crona screams for a third time as they are blown up. As hardened targets go, though, Crona is up there with the strongest of them. Black blood now lays neatly in puddles about the area, but even as the smoke clears, the visible evidence of the wounds is closing up, and Crona is free to look between all the Union Elites.

"... Don't you understand?" They ask, "My blood is black. She made me this way, and now, I have to kill you all, because that's what She told us to do..."

There's a longing look back at the warpgate, as though poor Crona wants to flee - or perhaps, yearns that their promised backup would arrive ... but it is no surprise they are on their own. They probably said all those nice things just to shut Crona up. There's only one person Crona knows has a use for them... one person in all their life they can rely on to be there, and for that person's sake, they have to do their best.

~BLOODY NEEDLE!~

And suddenly, all those little blood splatters which have been distributed throughout the area like raindrops come back to life. Dozens upon dozens of tiny, stabbing lances seem to erupt from nothing at all, fully intending to skewer the enemy Elites in a gruesome demonstration of why that black blood is so important.

Roll (3) has posed:
"No..." Roll mumbles out after seeing all the faces, quite noticeably cringing at the fact. She taps her temple, listens to some inner comms. "The warp gate isn't blocked anymore, but there's a nasty battle raging. Waiting here might be safest! Is this all of you...? Are others further into the facility? With the intruder fighting the other Elites, there's no way they'll be able to break in here if that's all of them!" The only question is, is it?

Crona (476) has posed:
Almost immediately after the needles spring out, one of Crona's hands goes to their head. Then they lift their shoe. Right in the middle of battle, the spindly thing just bends right over, head tucking between their knees as their free hand - the other still grasping Ragnarok - touches their toes.

"I did it!"

That exclamation just sounds so ... happy! Even if they are now completely and totally exposed to attack.

Snow (213) has posed:
Scream... scream... scream... scream... Crona doesn't really seem like an enemy so much as a scared child to Snow. It made her feel a bit bad to be harming Crona, due to that. But they were being a dangerous enemy, harming innocent civilians. "J-just because she made you that way... doesn't mean you have to listen..." Snow says, ever-so-slightly unnerved. That sword was kind of creepy, really. And then...

Needles. Needles everywehre. Stabbing through ice and flesh alike to damage Snow, a small grouping in particular stabbing right into her stomach, causing a whimper of pain to come from Snow... but ... this time... she had a focus. This time she had to protect lives. There were people waiting for help. And so, Snow lifts her hands up above her head, magical energy gathering around her. "Hastae glacies, et protegam eum. <Spears of ice, protect and destroy!>)]" She calls out.

Icy spears suddenly erupt from the ground, three sent towards Crona, aiming in part to hold her in place, but the sharp tips might cut along that hardened flesh briefly. Also, quite possibly, putting Crona's hair out! But more importantly... a series of spears begin to burst from the ground, working at creating a hardened path of ice between the entrance of the facility and the open warp gate. As this path forms, Snow begins to hover in the air between Crona and the icy spears jutting up from the ground, energy glowing on her hands as she channels her spell.

Procyana (365) has posed:
"Whoever this she is, what she says don't matter when you're putting lives in pointless danger like thi--Whoa!" Blood suddenly erupting into needles, now that is something she hasn't seen done before. She leaps to the side and rolls out of the way of one flurry of the suddenly sharp colagulations, but several more manifest to riddle her form as she's getting back onto her feet. "Ugh, usually when I get other people's blood on me it's not them doing it intentionally!"

Okay, Snow is using more ice to try and trap the thing. So she better not keep flinging fire around. With a snort she spins and holsters both her disruptors to free up her hands. Then keys the energy projector of one glove on. "Hey, big bleeding and ugly. Over here!"

She points her hand at Crona and what's essentially a energy cable shoots out at the creature to clamp onto it. And then deliver several hundred volts of electricity like an overclocked taser as Procyana tries to pull Crona's line of view away from the rescue operation going on to get people to the warpgate.

Staren has posed:
Needles. Needles everywhere! They turn Staren's mecha into a pincushion! The armor stops them from going deep, but they breach it all over... Here and there, small explosions, smoke, or arcing electricity show the damage. The leg locks up, and there's a loud POW as the homing laser emitter is skewered perfectly and explodes! "Gah! What the hell /IS/ this?!" Staren shouts, his screen full of warnings about damaged thrusters and power routing problems. The Star Hawk flies backward, thrusters sputtering a bit then evening out, to land unsteadily a moderate distance away. And then the railgun spins up and he starts firing extended bursts. Just how many slugs can Ragnarok slice through in a split-second? Let's find out! Also, Staren's firing from the side now relative to the base -- hopefully, if even part of the burst hits, it will knock Crona away from the bodies.

Roll (3) has posed:
With the path open, Roll glances about at the group. "I'll scout ahead. Follow but keep some distance. If anything starts coming at me, keep back. I don't want anyone hurt trying to get out!" Roll activates the Mega Buster for her left hand and heads out into the corridors, on a beeline for the warp gate after accessing a map of the place over local wireless! She's careful to look into any open rooms... and is on the prowl. If anything big and noisy is TOO CLOSE, it's time to stop and check for safer routes!

Crona (476) has posed:
Oddly enough, the ice spears don't really cause a pain reaction from Crona. They stab into the Meister pretty firmly, but they look more confused than anything else. "What? Where did those come from?" They ask the world, "Ah, these will slow me down!" And... you know, having ice spears sticking out of your body probably isn't great for your long term health, either.

"Ugly? Why would you say that? That's just meaAAAAAAAAAHHHH!"

Poor Crona. The blow to their fragile self esteem might actually do more long term damage than the electricity now coursing through their system. It does at least make them straighten up all the more, and Crona is peppered with railgun blasts. There's no real attempt made to parry, the lightning and ice help make sure of that.

It might look like the heroic plan is working; with the exception that Crona has managed to stay stubbornly in place near the dismembered corpses they went through all the trouble of killing. But when the evacuees start to be ushered from the facility, that is when Ragnarok just goes and spoils everything.

Uncoiling from sword form for the first time, Ragnarok shifts into a stretching, muscular body perhaps six foot tall on his own. Inky black and huge, he points one gloved fingure and gesticulates wildly at the running men. ~What do you think you are doing, Crona?! NOW'S OUR CHANCE! KILL THEM! KILL THEM ALL!~

But Crona doesn't move. It almost looks like the pink-haired Meister is frozen in place all over again. Eyes darting from Procyana, to Snow, to Staren's war machine, then to the evacuees - and there are so many of them! - and finally back to Procyana.

The Meister starts to hyperventilate, pupils shrunken down to the size of pinpricks.

"I c-can't!" Crona wails, and falls to their knees, "There's too many of them to kill, how am I meant to choose? I can't DEAL with this!!"

This provokes Ragnarok into a terrible rage, and the muscular Demon Sword grasps Crona's head firmly between his knuckles and starts rolling, "Now isn't the time for this, Crona! Come on! Just pick a target and keep stabbing until they stop moving! THIS ISN'T COMPLICATED!"

"AAAAH! WHY ARE THERE SO MAAAAANY?!"

Snow (213) has posed:
It was a rather large relief that Crona just couldn't handle the situation, because Snow was immobilized as she channels the ice spikes, her arms held firmly above her hands... gradually as the magic continues, a second layer of spikes begins to cover the path, further (hopefully) protecting the evacuation. Snow keeps her eyes quietly on Crona as she watches that... black... thing... begin to come out of the blade. "That thing is a bit creepy... and a bully to you... are you sure you want to listen to him?" She asks towards Crona, possibly trying to further confuse the meister.

Slowly, she lowers her hands in front of her, energy beginning to gather around her hands once more, though she doesn't speak magical words just yet, still focusing heavily on protecting the evacuation.

Staren has posed:
Staren's going to have to just /grab/ Crona and pull him away... However, that disabled leg is a problem. Staren activates the beam shield on the left arm, lowering it to partially cover the leg as repair drones fly out and start tending to the damaged knee. In the meantime, Staren keeps his crosshairs steady on Crona, in case the boy (girl?) charges.

Procyana (365) has posed:
And a big shadowy -something- comes out of the sword. "That's just all sorts of nasty." Though it's hard to tell if Procyana is commenting on Ragnarok's appearance, or the conversation going on between the demon and his.. host? Oh these things are never easy to sort out. Or really important at the moment.

The electrical charge disperses finally as the grappler expends its energy, and once her hands are free of that Procyana pulls out ... a flare gun? "You wanna kill someone?" Clicks off the safety and points the weapon at the demon. "Then come get me you poor excuse for a monstrousity!" She fires off a smoking flare at the demon, trying to keep his raging attention on her instead of the others protecting the evacuation. "Over here, ugly!"

Medusa Gorgon (22) has posed:
A heavy sigh leaves the witch as she cants her head slightly to the side. What a mess. What disappointment. Medusa looks slightly annoyed as she peers at the situation in the distance, not liking how the evacuees are fleeing the scene, and especially not how Crona chooses this exact moment to have a breakdown. Calmly she reaches down to her belt, unclips her radio and pushes the button, speaking quietly into it, waiting for a response. The hushed conversation doesn't last for long, and then Medusa fastens it again before she moves, standing upright and stretching out her back and legs, holding the broom next to her as she waits and watches, ready to step in should it be necessary...

Crona (476) has posed:
The change which comes over Crona in those few seconds is unnerving to behold, but it isn't thanks to the cajoling of the Demon Sword. In fact, Ragnarok shrinks back away to a sword, and Crona's expression falls. Just a few words from Medusa, and everything is put back in perspective so much more clearly.

"... I'm sorry, but I have to." The words are softly spoken as the flare bounces off their shoulder.

The words directed to Snow before the slender Meister, wreathed in smoke and flame, rounds on the evacuees as they retreat. They are trained soldiers, and Roll is leading the way - but they aren't slow by any means. Crona lifts Ragnarok, and no doubt the attack from the Union Elites will resume, but either way...

"SCREECH ALPHA."

"SHYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"

A huge wave of black energy suddenly flows from Crona, and streaks across the battlefield towards the ice blockade.

The resulting detonation is impressive... a cloud of ice, dust and jagged metal shards thrown up all around. But the very fact of the explosion's power works against the intent, as no ice survives long enough to become a danger to the fleeing individuals as Crona resumes their erratic run in pursuit of the prey chosen for them.

"The weak die. If I want to survive, I have to kill them. At least dead people don't call me names."

Snow (213) has posed:
As Crona speaks, Snow keeps her eyes calmly on them, speaking with Crona over the radio. And then... the blade is lifted, her eyes begin to glow as Crona calls out their attack. Immediately, Snow shifts her hands so that her pointer fingers and thumbs are touching each other, forming an 'aiming reticule' for her. "Inrorat, frigore hostem in aeternum. <Icy beam, freeze my enemy forever.>" She speaks out in latin and then...

Pale blue energy gathers into Snow's hands, forming for several moments... and then firing in a line aimed to attempt to encompass both Crona and the blade of Screech Alpha. In the path of the beam, nothing is spared. The moisture in the air freezes, radiation sprinkles the ground below, and even magical energy from Crona's attack may be frozen if the beam strikes true. A terrifying ability, and it was aimed more directly at the blade than Crona herself.

"Your enemies are over here. Those ones will not give you proper souls." Snow speaks, her voice resonating with power as she speaks. As the spell consumes itself, Snow's dress begins to deteriorate slightly from the bottom edges, the threads of magic that are weaved into the outfit being consumed for the extended combat, and attempting to maintain that path. "You might die if you look away from us."

Staren has posed:
/Finally/. Thank goodness Crona didn't murder all the soldiers. But it seems he's about to if they don't do something quick! Staren at least has had ample time for a missile lock -- Several more micromissiles launch and streak towards Crona... but they're just meant to keep him distracted. The Star Hawk leaps into the air and transforms to fighter mode. (The cockpit canopy is covered by an armored plate as Staren sees through sensors.) It speeds towards Crona, just behind the missiles, then suddenly transforms, arms and legs unfolding underneath it again leaving it in a chicken-walker-plane half-transformed hybrid state as it rolls, tries to snatch Crona up in a massive metal hand just after the missiles keep him busy, and then fly away as fast as he can!*

*Almost 600 miles per hour

Procyana (365) has posed:
Shit. That didn't work as intended to keep the things attention.

"Sorry freaky, but we can't let you do that." Procyana discards the spent flare gun, and draws both her blasters again. This time knowing the other lady is using ice magic, she can not accidently burn it away this time. As such she changes the setting on both blaster, and their trace lines start to glow a pale icy color instead.

Then she points both of them at Crona as Snow is firing her freezing beam. "Let's ice this bastad -- literally!"

Switched to their anti-thermal mode, the disruptors instead of heat work sort of like a freezing beam... except instead of shooting cold at the target, they lower temperature by dispersing the heat -away- from it. In other words, hopefully combined with Snow's own ice based attacks, making things a lot more dangerously cold and easier to freeze.

Crona (476) has posed:
The effect, when Snow's magic comes close to Crona, is beautiful. The icy magic actually renders the startling red of Crona's soul visible around them. A perfectly spherical shape, and the sensation of having someone try to /freeze/ that energy causes the unfortunate Meister to recoil, if only briefly. That moment's hesitation is made worse when the secondary beam of ice causes Crona to stiffen. This all combines to give Staren the few moments he needs to get in position and try to extract Crona from the situation more permanently.

By now, micromissiles alone aren't enough to distract them. But perhaps more terrifying is the strength that Crona displays. Given in to the terrible and dire consequences that await them if they do not perform according to expectations, there'll be a terrible squealing of metal as Crona bodily wrenches themselves free, and...

"SCREECH"

"BETA"

Ragnarok is surrounded by that burning black energy, shot through with brilliant purple light which forms a gnawing face. One which attempts to go straight through Staren as Crona rockets towards the ground, and, when they impact, pause only to turn, with terrifying inevitability, towards the fleeing survivors --

Who actually are almost to the warpgate already. Oh dear, that's not good.

"I don't get it. Why do you all keep fighting? They're useless anyway, they deserve to be gotten rid of."

Snow (213) has posed:
"Just because they may not be strong, doesn't mean they're useless. They're well trained and do their jobs." Snow replies as Crona speaks, Snow's icy wings taking her quickly to place herself between Crona and the fleeing survivors. As she does, there was a sudden shimmer of Snow's Force Lines coming from her gloves, a swirl of them coming out from her hand, as Snow's eyes glow faintly. "Frigidum erat funiculos, et separabunt caperent. <Frigid threads, ensnare and sever.>" Snow speaks.

Suddenly, those lines of energy become thin lines of ice, which would fall almost peacefully down around Crona. However, with a sudden jerk, they would attempt to tighten around Crona once more. Wherever the frozen lines touched, flesh would begin to freeze and grow brittle, as the solid lines of energy pull tighter and tighter. If Crona doesn't break the lines quickly enough, they might find themselves crushed by the freezing threads. "You should stop fighting, before you become an ice sculpture."

Staren has posed:
Crona just bends the Star Hawk's hand like it's nothing, then obliterates the hand and part of the arm to scrap as he shoots down to the ground and then changes course towards the survivors. "Shit!" warnings flare on Staren's screen, and for a split-second he thinks Crona might be coming for /him/ -- but when he realizes what happened, he stops, and turns, and in an instant he commands his tactical software to plot Crona's path, and in another instant he commands it to fill that path with explosions. This time it's the big guns: Plasma minimissiles drop out of the weapon pod and race after Crona, exploding in 30ft-wide spheres of air superheated to ionization. Some of the micromissiles, meanwhile, use their superior speed to race ahead, then turn around and assault Crona from the front!

<<Hurry!>> Staren transmits to his allies. <<Get them out of here, I can't keep him away!>>

Roll (3) has posed:
"Go! Go now!" Roll tells the soldiers, who probably all see their chance anyways. She runs out of their corridor into the warpgate chamber, along with Rush, and her body sizzles with a building glow as energy charges in her reactor and buster's capacitors. A very overt Charge Shot pending a target!

In reality, she can't attack Crona, but s/he doesn't need to know that. Nor does Crona need to know that the growling Rush that lunges out to also patrol the route to safety is unable to attack unless Crona threatens the evacuees.

They can sure LOOK threatening though.

"Isn't that obvious? They have goals and families, a part of something much bigger - the whole world. What gives you the right to think you can take that away?! Or can you not hear cries of pain at all, whoever you are?"

Procyana (365) has posed:
"Points for perseverence," Procyana comments aside to Snow, "But I don't think talkin' is gonna work." With a huff into her bangs she holsters both her guns.

And pulls out of her inventory a futuristic looking sawed off shotgun. Gives it a jerk as if pumping a lever action like a traditional shotgun, the energy chargers built into the barrels starting to glow before she fires off a blast. Not of buckshot, but a burst of hot plasma embers.

She half-flips the gun in her hand to reload the charge chambers, fires again. And then flips the shotgun into the air and spins around to catch it in her other hand, holding it out to fire off two more quick blasts.

Crona (476) has posed:
There's no further words forthcoming from Crona as the plasma missiles, bullets and magic demand their attention. When the eye-searing display has finished, the effort it is taking to maintain use of their Black Blood at such a high level is finally starting to show through. Crona breathes heavily, both hands clamping down tight on Ragnarok's hilt as they raise it above their head, before they leap directly into the path of Staren's war machine.

"Ragnarok. Lets go. Scream Resonance."

Crona's voice lifts with Ragnarok's now, and both Meister and Weapon scream as one, the intensity of it shakes the ground below. Survivors stumble, some fall, bleeding from the ears - though there won't be any deaths, when Crona's wobbling gait touches the ground again, they are shouting at Roll - perhaps because the noise deafened them a little, too.

"WHO CARES ABOUT FAMILY, HUH? WHO CARES ABOUT OTHER PEOPLE?! THEY'LL ONLY HURT YOU! IF YOU AREN'T STRONG ON YOUR OWN, JUST DIE, DIE, DIE BEFORE THE PAIN GETS TOO BAD!!"

Shouting, shrieking, closing on Roll despite the big blast of energy she's got just waiting to be unloaded in their face, and the snarling robot dog. What happened to all the fear that Crona was showing earlier? Right now, they look and sound almost... suicidal!

Snow (213) has posed:
Shouting... shrieking. It hurts. Snow flinched when the screeching and shouting started, one of her wings actually SHATTERING as the shrieking permeates her body, a trickle of purple-ish blood beginning to come out of her ear as her eardrum is damaged, and... her eyes only focus that much more on the Meister.

She drops both hands to the side, force lines shifting once more... though this time in the air in front of her, they're rapidly weaving into a massive and intricate design, attempting to circle and cover Crona in a dome of them... not doing anything just yet. "...Seal." Is all that Snow speaks this time, and that weaving suddenly attempting to close off Crona from the rest of the world, attempting to reduce that screeching and slow Crona's attempts to get to the survivors... wait. How were the survivors? That hurt HER that badly... what about the survivors? Were they okay?

Procyana (365) has posed:
"Aaaaw shit," is all Procyana gets out when despite taking a big barrage of everything that ... whatever she is with the screaming demon sword leaps on Staren's mech all the same and start letting really loose. It's a good thing he's between that rampage and the evacuees, but this is escalating out of control now.

Unfortunately this time the sonic backlast from the attack is enough to bowl her off her feet, tumbling roughly on the cold metal surface before managing to get half onto her feet and digging the claws of one hand into the plates to grind herself to a stop. The plasma shotgun, lost in the impact, is forgotten. She can get another one from the company armory later. With a grunt she shakes herself off and gets up. A normal person would probably be feeling rather banged and bruised by this point, but her adrenaline is running too hard to pay attention to measily things like injury at the moment.

Speaking of armories she keys up her personal one and pulls another futuristic weapon, this time a large rifle, out of nanotech storage. Which causes it to look almost like it was being assembled in her hands through wireframes and graphics resolution as it appears in her grasp.

"Normally I reserve this for big armored things, but..." She gets down on one knee to brace herself and holds the large weapon up so the targetting scope can interface with her smartgun systems, and she zooms in her arm not on the humanoid(?) but on the demon/sword/creature that has been yelling at her to do the killing as well as screaming. "Hey, ugly bastard."

She makes one final adjustment and pulls the trigger, and a shearing beam of highly focused particle energy, normally used for blowing holes through heavy armor, screams towards Ragnarok. "SHUT UP!"

Staren has posed:
Staren fires missile after missile. One explosion after another of some of the most powerful small missiles humans have devised. And it's /still/ not enough. "How.. HOW?!" Staren can only shout indignantly as another piercing scream threatens to shake his mech apart. Shards of armor and small pieces of internal structure fall. He transforms to humanoid mode and lands, taking aim to... what can he do? Just keep shooting and shooting! But then Snow seals him. Staren waits and holds aim incase Crona breaks out.

Roll (3) has posed:
Normally, Roll cannot harm living people. First law of robotics and all that! But right now, with that screeching wave comingg at her, she can only endure and strive - strive to protect the soldiers trying to get away from this madness beyond their level!

Yes, she cannot harm Crona - unless just standing there would put more lives than Crona's in danger!

Roll raises the Mega Buster even as the blast tears at her sensitive components. Sparks fly from some of her joints and her aim jitters a little, but she steadies with the other hand. "S-sorry, but you HAVE TO STOP! STOP THIS!!"

FWOOOOOOOOOOSH!!

Well, on the good side, it's not aimed at Crona's center of mass, but their weapon arm. Still, that's a BIG roiling plasma blast to deal with!

Crona (476) has posed:
Crona does seem quite determined. Where before they had been faltering, now, they set themselves to their task with a grim determination. Even as the world slows about them, some part of Crona can't help but wonder if it is just that everyone else is speeding up. It makes about as much sense as everything else today!

When the sword is hit by the particle beam, it glances off, and Ragnarok SCREAMS, a shrill noise. Still, Crona slowly, slowly raises the sword up, ready to bring it down on Roll and decapitate the poor robot.

Then, the plasma blast hits home, and apparently Ragnarok is mostly out of ways to mitigate the damage. Crona looks startled as it actually causes horrible burns to well up and... stay welled up.

At least the Meister doesn't scream any more. Instead, they topple over backwards into the dirt, eyes closed. They look almost peaceful, if it weren't for the burns.

Medusa Gorgon (22) has posed:
She had hoped she wouldn't have to do this, but then again... it's not entirely unexpected. With broom gripped in both hands the witch up in the tree leaps off of the branch, getting onto the broom mid leap as she plummets down to the ground. Her eyes narrow, snakelike pupils staring ahead as she speeds up towards the battleground, and her voice is still calm as she speaks.
"Soul Protect Release."
With the magic seal on her soul broken, the witch moves her right arm, pointing it towards the Unionites. "Vector arrow!" Not a real attack, mind you... merely a deterrent to clear some ground, distract and threaten them away from Crona as she closes in, doing a barrel roll to stop the magical attack, vectors crackling before they dissolve. The hand not gripping the broom grabs Crona by the front of the dress, perhaps a rough maneuver for the poor meister who is probably hurting more than enough at this point.
It all happens in a matter of seconds, and the witch on the broom begins her ascent quickly, quickly up and away. Only once she's certain she's high enough up does Medusa slow down to haul Crona's body mostly onto the broom, another uncomfortable thing most likely.
Her head turns slightly to peer down over her shoulder at the Unionites, amber eyes glinting with amusement and a non-pleasant smile on her face. "I'm afraid that this is where it ends for today. You have a great deal of work cut out for you," she chuckles, glancing briefly at the destruction caused here for the evening.

Staren has posed:
Staren's mech smoulders, smoke curling off of it. Something overloads with a pop and a crackle of electricity, and the Star Hawk shudders a little. Finally, Staren relaxes with a sigh in the cockpit as Crona goes down. Then he gets ready to move in for the capture... when Medusa shows up. ...Honestly, they saved the personnel. That's more important than fighting Medusa if she's leaving. "Yeah. We do. So you tend to your ally, and let us get to it." He lowers his arm.

Procyana (365) has posed:
Procyana lowers the accelerator rifle just enough to peak over it as the combatant is bowled over. And praise the heavens that demonic sword does finally shut up. "Is it finally gonna stay do--"

Cue Medusa abruptly dropping in. --dammit!" Procyana jerks the rifle back up, but before she's got a chance to fire again the interloper flings an attack of her own, and the enforcer has to advert her own attack to dive and roll out of the way. It's just long enough for Medusa to make off with the downed foe before she can get back up into position though.

"At least the screaming finally stopped," she grouses, withdrawing one hand from the rifle to rub her head. Sometimes it sucks having augmented hearing. Thank gods it does have an dampener on the tech.

Medusa Gorgon (22) has posed:
Saved the personnel? Parts of it, perhaps...
Medusa smirks on top of the broom, narrowing her eyes with sadistic amusement down at them, all while she has a firm grip on Crona. "Until another time then," she chuckles as she broom continues on its way away from the area.
At least she has no bodies to bury, and Crona will heal soon enough with the right medication. At least things went as she imagined they would.