1007/Station Under Siege

Station Under Siege
Date of Scene:	21 November 2014
Location:	Prohibition Chicago <PC>
Synopsis:	Eliot Ness's station comes under attack by an army of criminals seeking to end his operations in Chicago permanently.
Cast of Characters:	2, Arthur Lowell, 85, 131, 183, 264, 347, 357, 470, 475, 572

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Eliot Ness (264) has posed:
    Chicago, late evening.

    Logic would dictate that the police would respond to a situation like this. And by this, we're referring to the large, three-story building currently surrounded and under attack by almost every major crime operation in Chicago. However, this is the roaring 20s and the police aren't working for the people. Justice has been replaced by Just Us and the thin blue line has no love for the Federal Man that wants to clean their dirty hands.

    So the streets are empty, save for the many, many cars and men that have circled almost the entire building. Criminals are like rats, you starve them out and they'll eat eachother, but you give them something to all go after and they'll swarm it to the ground. There are a lot of different crime families here today. Many are from the Chicago outfit, but many are from other major cities. New York, Las Vegas, anyone that has a stake in seeing the man behind Prohibition's enforcement dead has showed up. Small gangs and large gangs litter the street, wielding weapons.

    There are a number of places of interest at this time.

    IN THE STREET, a blockade has been set up. Men are kneeling behind cars with rifles, automatic weapons, pistols, and shotguns. They're forming a tight circle of foot soldiers meant to keep anyone from escaping the perimeter of the building. It's a dense grouping of men, dozens of mafia enforcers and armed combatants are all facing the building and ready to open fire. Or some already are firing, shooting into windows with well-placed shots.

    THE FIRST FLOOR has been breached at the front and back doors. Men are still pouring into the building and there's an intense firefight raging on the first floor between the few men from Ness's operation that are holding up down there and the incoming tidal wave of mafia shock troops. The gunfire is loud, constant, and interspersed with angry yelling.

    THE SECOND FLOOR has been breached by ladders to windows. Numerous windows are shattered and men have breached in. This floor has less gunfire, but also curiously it's glowing and crackling. The sounds of electricity crackling and popping, as well as lightning flying out the windows occasionally can be seen an heard.

    THE THIRD FLOOR is on fire. Or appears to be. The windows have been smashed in and even taller ladders are leading into it. There's also the telltale billows of smoke floating out the windows of this floor and even more gunfire emanating from it.

Homura Akemi (2) has posed:
    ARCHAGENT HOMURA sits on the edge of a roof overlooking the siege; she angles the hat up and peers down, sighing. That's not quite how she was planning to spend her thursday night, but this sort of stuff is rarely scheduled to happen in the first place. She's pretty sure she can call exceptional circumstances on something like "had to help stop a gunfight involving Eliot Ness" if her essay is just a bit less amazing than it needs to be. On the other hand Psyber's pretty rough.

    If Hana is going to break the siege, she's going to do what she does best in the meantime. That is to say, disappear completely. From her point of view this is hardly what happens; she navigates the still life world of a halted cops versus robbers battlefield, carefully passes between bullet trails and lightning bolts, to hop into one of the second floor windows and get a look inside. She's looking for Ness, or Tesla, because those lightning bolts probably aren't coming from something else.

    If she can find them, she'll just do her thing and, from their perspective, appear out of nowhere to land a hand. If she can't, ah well, she'll keep looking.

Hana Umikazeno (357) has posed:
    "Excuse me. That's my best customer you're trying to kill."

    The voice comes from the roof across the street, a lone figure standing there with a pair of revolvers in hand. At this height, Hana Umikazeno has a good view of the street below, and a good angle to rain down gunfire. It's a natural sniper's perch, and while she won't be making single precision shots like she might otherwise, the spirit of her actions is the same - support from above, making the enemy's life incredibly difficult.

    It's unfortunate. Some of the mobsters down there she recognizes; the time she's spent making contacts and forming an information network in this city has involved more than one favor for more than one gangster. Never anything that could upset the balance, but things that make sure 'the foreign gunslinger girl' is a description several of them would recognize. Pulling the trigger here is going to mean wrecking much of her information network, both by killing some of them and by those who escape spreading the word that she's on Ness' payroll.

    Ah well.

    "If any of you are fortunate enough to survive, I strongly recommend running. I won't chase down a fleeing target. But that's a rather large 'if', you see." The Girls are levelled. The cylinders spin, selecting different ammo types. And then Hana begins pulling the trigger and sweeping her weapons along the street in opposite directions, slowly bringing them together.

    Each pull of the trigger releases a single bullet that suddenly multiplies just a foot from the barrel, becoming twenty-four identical rounds that spread nice and wide by the time they hit the street. And each round, on impact, detonates with the force of a small pellet of explosives, giving her sweep of rapid-fire trigger pulls the effect of a low-yield cluster munitions drop, without the danger of a 'dud' failing to explode until later.

Mizuki (183) has posed:
    Has Mizuki ever described her love of the period from 1900 to 1930 to you, inclusive of all the visceral detail? No? Well, then the narrative voice will pick up her slack on a few points:

For one, she loves big band music. That has never been in question. Swing isn't /bad/, but nothing beats Glenn Miller.

For two, she is more enamored than she has any right to be with intrigue of a crimelike persuasion. Really, who doesn't love that sort of thing?

And for three? She will take any excuse - any excuse - to dress to a certain period. There's nothing quite so satisfying as blending in in spite of being a glaring anachronism no matter where you tread.

    Suffice it to say, it's likely Mizuki will get all she wishes for out of this evening, possibly even with the added bonuses of fire and lead bullets. Still, she has no interest in sullying her suit just now, so she would, provided she's able to do so, slip in to the scene invisibly. Watching from a few yards down the road relative to where the barricades are set, she would study the situation. With as many people as there are firing bullets at eachother, she would probably be torn apart herself if she tried to fly in whether or not she could be seen. So instead, she arcs upward, glancing over the roof to look for a point of easy access. Failing that, she would make way for one of the open second floor windows as well. The prospect of charging into the billowing flames on the third floor /was/ tempting, mind, but she'd prefer not to be made into a conceptual stir fry just this moment.

    If and when she's able to touch down inside, her form would become vaguely translucent. Still likely inconspicuous enough to be missed in favor of the crack of gunfire and billowing flames that surround her, certainly, but she puts a little less strain on her own power this way. Incidentally, she's quite grateful that her senses relieve some of the symptoms inherent to being in the presence of such things. It'd likely be quite balmy in here were she more sensitive to such things. And goodness knows she hates things that are loud. Reason enough for her to try to put a stop to all this, hmm? She could better appreciate the novel atmosphere were things a bit less chaotic.

    All the more reason for her to draw her revolver from its holster as she might begin to navigate the halls.

Red (572) has posed:
    No stranger to being force to improvise. Red is in the cab of a large, flat bed truck. The kind you might see the national guard or army hauling equipment and men around in. She can work a stick, too, it'd seem. She manages to park the vehicle about a block away, out of sight enough, hopefully, that the mafia won't notice it till it's time for a getaway. She hops out, her torn dress surprisingly fitting for the 1920's fashion world. Short skirt, though unintentionally made so, and the stockings? She'd fit right in at a speakeasy.

    What's out of place is the weapon in her hands, which is part medieval viking berserker and part 21st century silicon valley tech. Hefting the weapon, the mute songstress makes her way through the alley and towards the welcoming committee.

Kagenashi (85) has posed:
    The mysterious woman in green known as Ayako is here, but whether anyone will /see/ her yet is questionable. The woman is invisible to all but those who can see spirits, and she moves as silently as a ghost, slipping carefully between the people assaulting the building in an attempt to gauge who, exactly, is causing the greatest threat to the building. Hana, at least, seems to be causing quite some commotion outside, and so Ayako decides that it would be best to slip in while she can and see what's going on in that building.

    The first floor seems like the best target so far, and so she she slinks in around a wave rushing inside and moves to a spot in the commotion where she can get an idea of what's going on.

    As soon as she can tell who's fighting who in this floor and where she can make her assaults unseen, these assailants will begin thinning out rather quickly.

Kiyoko Saito (131) has posed:
    Kiyoko isn't here at all.

    Okay, maybe she is, but she's actually slinking around the edges of the whole matter, peeking around while dressed as a newsie again. Smudged face hopefully hides her ethnicity, and her light build lets her masquerade as a curious boy... if she's seen at all. She's trying not to be seen, but just by keeping behind things, not by doing anything suspicious like lurking in shadows.

    So she's not contributing to the problem right now. As anyone who knows her can guess, this is because she's probably planting explosive tags and tripwires and the like in various places around the perimeter.

    And while she's at it? She's going to try to sneak under some of the cars of the gangsters.

Arthur Lowell has posed:
    Okay, okay, Eliot Ness, you've won, on the subject of Arthur and, you know, not being BLATANTLY obvious about every single thing he does in your world. As such, Arthur Lowell has arrived with a set of gear that's a little less conspicuous. His broom, at the very least, actually looks mundane, just a regular old broomstick with vicious barbed wire wrapped aroud it, and Arthur himself has shown up in urban street that aren't period-appropriate but at least don't look like mage robes.

    He's shouting and just sort of, you know, running at the troops on the GROUND FLOOR, from outside. Bandages peek up from his neck that show how he's still wounded from some other incident the day before yesterday, but hell if its effect are gonna calm him down! The blockade is on the outside pointing in, which means Arthur shouldn't have many defenses to go through when he dashes his way into the fray, intent on getting into a STREET BRAWL.

    "WHAT'S UP, FUCKERS? COME GET SOME." He's swinging the broom wildly, but with incredibly precise strikes intended to slam people with brutal strikes in vulnerable areas, even lacerating them heavily, but not kill! No, he just wants them tossed around. He tries to slam them into their cars violently as he brawls his entry in. He's specifically trying to exploit the explosive opportunities created by HANA UMIKAZENO, taking advantage of it whenever anyone's forced into cover by her! "Nice CRIME CONVENTION y'got here NERDS! POINT YOUR GUNS AT ME, FUCKING DO IT RIGHT NOW!!"

    He's gonna see if he can get to the main entrances they're using for the first floor as he progressively goes through this STREET FIGHTING.

Magister Twilight (475) has posed:
    If Twilight had more chance to prepare, she'd have done a little more work on blending in, and brought some nasty surprises. Sadly, she did not have that much time, so all she has with her are two of her bodyguards. However... that should be enough.

    "Go help the loud one with the guns," Twilight says to the two beside her. All are in human form, but all are unicorns as well, so they have hoods up to conceal that. The two immediately break off and charge, bodies rippling as sharp, swordlike growths sprout, and they move with uncanny speed that has them darting behind cover and closing the distance to engage in vicious hand to hand combat.

    Twilight stares at the third floor, for now, deciding that is a good place to be. Her horn shimmers, the little nub on her head glowing purple before the woman vanishes, popping into existance inside and immediately throwing a barrier up, because bullets are bad.

Pinkie (470) has posed:
    There are are actually three ponies with Archmagister Twilight sparkle tonight. Though the two bodyguards are more suited to the action of a rumble and firefight, the third does not seem so bothered by the chaos of what is essentially a battlefield either.
    House Moon and Star secretaries are the best, and Winter Withers is among the very best of minor bureacratic indivuduals.
    A tall, Earth Pony woman, she's exceedingly pale, with snowy silver-teal hair and jade eyes, and the look is completed with a completely professional skirt suit and heels, with a grey thunder cloud Cutie Mark.
    "Archmagister, while we're out in the field there were some matters I felt the need to bring to your attention." She notes, adjusting the glasses resting on the bridge of her nose, before simply resting a hand on Twilight's shoulder to join her for the teleportational ride.

Eliot Ness (264) has posed:
IN THE STREET, a bunch of men look up in response to Hana, who provides an excellent distraction. Several shout something like 'That's her! I told you she was real!' or 'It's that mysterious gunner!' and the like. But they don't get to do that for too long before her fanning shots of explosive pellets hit the ground. Several take shrapnel and don't actually get up from their attempts to roll away. Otherwise roll behind cars where they can and start trying to return fire on her with a pretty heavy wave of gunfire.

The distraction created by Hana has them regrouping long enough for Red and Kiyoko to get in close. No one has the presence of mind to currently stop either of them. Kiyoko will find no trouble getting under the cars of any given mobster, and being so low to the ground while they're looking so high up is definitely a strategic advantage. Planting explosives is no sweat for Kiyoko. The most reaction Red gets is a particularly lecherous mobster who says, "Hey there, lovely betty~. Fancy doodad you got there. Stick around after this is done and I'll show you my real gun."

Arthur Lowell and Twilight's guards provide even more distractions for people to get close with, and it synergizes well with what Hana is doing. It means that Kiyoko and Red are pretty much UNCHECKED right now. This is because a TON of gunfire pours in towards all three of the distractionary measures now, some of it divided off of Hana and the rest of it coming from regrouped gangsters.

THE FIRST FLOOR is bad. That's the only way to really describe it. This is the warfront of the match between the Untouchables and the mafia forces. And it's down here that Kagenashi finds the real battle raging. Several groups of Ness's men are held up behind desks, behind toppled file cabinets, and whatever they can get cover behind. They're not well-armed at all and the budget cuts are almost lethal here. It's around 9 men, spread out in groups of three, who are holding off dozens of mobsters with revolvers, 1911s and a single shotgun between the three of them. In contrast, the mobsters are armed with Thompsons, shotguns, Springfield rifles, revolvers. This is a serious mismatch of firepower.

THE SECOND FLOOR is a great place to find Tesla. Apparently that was where he set up his lab, which is proving an unpleasant obstacle for numerous mobsters that are teaming the floor. Presently, there's a standing firefight between a large number of men in suits that are hunkered down behind a barricade made of desks and three men (plus Tesla) who are crowded around the doorframe of his lab and firing outwards with Revolvers. Ness is not among these people. Tesla, however, is. And he has what appears to be a wand in his hand. He throws pocket change out towards the fight, nickels and pennies mostly. And then he points the wand, which sends electricity arcing between the coins and trying to shock mafia enforcers, who dive out of the way. Several mobsters are already dead from burns or gunshot wounds.

Still, it's a losing fight for the four men holding up in the lab, because one of them takes a hard shot to the shoulder from a handgun and falls backwards in a cry of pain and a spray of blood. It's not an immediately lethal wound, but definitely one that will need quick medical attention. They're down a man and only three people are presently holding out against a dozen or more mobsters. It's a pretty dire situation that Mizuki and Homura have come across. Largely resembles what one thinks of when they think 'last stand'.

Eliot Ness (264) has posed:
The THIRD FLOOR is where one can find Eliot Ness. The barrier from Twilight is a good idea for her and her secretary, both for the errant gunshot that rings out, and for the intense waves of fire that are pushing through the upper floor. Ness can be seen in a door way IN A ROOM ON FIRE, firing shots at a group of about a half-dozen gangsters. Despite threats of Death, these men are from the Chicago outfit, and clearly want him alive. They wait until he has to reload and pin him down with fire. Then they rush his position.

Ness tosses his gun aside and rushes towards the men that are pushing in towards him. The federal agent is lacking his coat today, likely with it being in Tesla's lab. So he has to make due with his bare hands. As he pushes in towards them, three or four move to grab him while the other two deliver powerful blows to his midsection while he's restrained. This doesn't last too long, though, since he kicks one of the men holding him in the shin to buckle him before rushing one of the guys who were just punching him. The force of his charge allows him to carry one assailant so far Ness eventually just throws him out a window, which he crashes through and lands on THE STREET below, unmoving.

OVERALL: Homura, Mizuki, Red (Mostly), Kiyoko, Kagenashi, Magister Twilight and Winter Withers are unnoticed for now. HANA and ARTHUR have a metric ton of attention.

Hana Umikazeno (357) has posed:
    Well. Hana has what she was after - 'much of their attention' and 'several of them dead'. The unfortunate downside of this is that she has most of their attention. Having Arthur run interference helps, but it's not going to save her from falling under a withering barrage of gunfire. The conical straw hat she has to obscure her horns in this world suddenly sports a couple of holes that weren't there before, and the oni is forced to dive back away from the edge of the roof, rolling to a stop.

    This does not seem to perturb her in the least.

    As they continue to fire, the gunslinger closes her eyes and focuses on her ears, lifting both her guns to point straight up at the sky. She takes a second, listening for gunfire, and switching ammo types while she does; the next time she hears a mobster pulling the trigger, her own fingers squeeze as well, left-right-left-right, firing off a short burst of bullets into the air.

    The bullets bank around no more than ten feet up, curving and flying right back down towards the street, where each one explodes as before. It's not a twenty-four round barrage of explosive rounds, but her hearing is good enough to put each bullet in more-or-less the right area.

Homura Akemi (2) has posed:
    There's Tesla. Good enough!

    Homura suddenly appears by the man, her hands full of pennies. Probably a couple dollars' worth. Kind of hard to hold a lot of loose change like that without it getting everywhere.

    "Take another shot, I'll pitch in my two cents."

    Okay, that was awful.
    Crossing that off the list of things to try.
    She really needs better mentors.

    Regardless, the moment Tesla takes another shot with his wand or (or if he won't, we're going to say 'when he took that last one'), time halts for the Puella Magi, and she starts dropping pennies into the air, making a snaking path of coins around the mobsters on the second floor. Unfortunately, not all of them. She doesn't have thousands of pennies lying around in her hammerspace, because she couldn't really have predicted that would come in handy.

    Steel wire would probably work but would require enough contact the stop might break on the mobsters while she's wrapping it around, so. Pennies! Coins. That'll do.

    Then she returns to Tesla's side and allows the action to resume.

    She was careful to avoid Mizuki, yes.

    "We need to get you out of here, or at least not in the middle of the firefight. Ness isn't going to be happy if we let you get shot. We can handle it. I think."

Red (572) has posed:
    "Sorry, pal. She's taken." The Transistor replies to the mobster's rather crude attempt to hit on Red, and the woman herself responds by swinging the weapon at him, and striking him in the head. He might wake up a bit later to regret it. The other mobsters around her are quick to turn their attention to her.

"Someone plug this dumb broad!" One of them demands, but by the time they raise their weapons, the woman is a blur. Moving faster than a human being should be able to, darting between then and ending up behind them, only to have that sword of hers fire several bursts of energy from the end of the pommel.

    The impacts are like bullets, sending the men sprawling across the street. They won't be getting up, though. Red knows these men aren't the type you would normally show any mercy. With that, she brushes a lock of her crimson hair behind her ears, and lets out a sigh. "Boy.. You've got a hell of a right cross." The weapon comments, earning a disgruntled look from the woman holding it.

Mizuki (183) has posed:
As Mizuki reaches the window, she's privy to an even more dazzling light show than the myriad technical breakages and sparks from the chambers of guns: Tesla spreads coins about the floor, eliciting a jolt of electricity that dashes about the various metal surfaces. That might get a curious look, but let's see. She didn't even really consider whom she was meant to help here before she came, did she? Meh. Does she ever? Acting upon the same capricious nature that she always has, she would choose Tesla. Better to help the man who at least appears to have magical capabilities, after all, right? Right. She'll probably get more of her so-desired 'interest' that way, and... well. Not end up dead. That's a concern, too.

    But first, a flourish -- Mizuki drops her translucent barrier and spins the chamber of her revolver, firing a volley of warning shots to draw attention off of Tesla and any surviving defenders. By the time the assailants respond, Mizuki would ideally be outside of time, aiming a pair of shots at all the mobsters she can manage before popping back into the general continuum, likely reappearing nearer to Tesla afterwards behind any cover that her mind can resolve. Whilst there, she would quickly assert: "I am presumably on your side. I would appreciate it if you would ignore me when aiming your firearms."

    Infinitely reassuring, as always.

    She would then fall silent in appreciation of the aftermath of Homura's contribution. The encore of the lightshow might be just enough to make her forgive that terrible, awful, ungodly pun. Might. When she's able to tear her gaze away from that spectacle, she would also attempt to focus speeding fields on the bodies of each member of the holdout still present, doing what one would expect for their movements in a manner that should not be -too- disorienting. This would theoretically include Tesla as well.

Kiyoko Saito (131) has posed:
    Kiyoko asks about brake lines, then decides she doesn't need an answer. She'll just slice whatever lines she can find... gas, wire, whatever. And then while she's at it, slash the front tires. Looks like they're being kept busy, so she rolls out and goes to the next vehicle. She's not going to leave them with a getaway, she's going to deliberately make sure they can only go as far as they can run. Direct combat isn't her style, you know?

Magister Twilight (475) has posed:
    A bullet pings off the shield, and Twilight... she should be exasperated by a secretary following her, but instead she's adjusting her glasses, and talking normally. "Really? What's next on the agenda, anyway? I thought we'd covered everything pressing, but... ah well, so much to do, so little time. Read me off the next item while I handle this?"

    Always a workaholic, that Twilight.

    As for what she does, she blasts the... door. The door then turns into a large bear, which roars and stomps after the criminals with gusto.

    "Agent Ness! Is there anything you need here, or can we evacuate?"

Kagenashi (85) has posed:
    Yes, the first floor certainly looks like a bad situation. Ness's men are badly outmatched, and it's not going to take long for them to fall if someone doesn't do something.

    Fortunately, Ayako is specifically made for situations like this.

    The invisible woman doesn't waste much more time, but neither does she move too quickly. Carefully and silently, she slips through the chaos, keeping low and letting the gunfire and cacophony mask her presence even more than her invisibility might. And, as she does, she strikes.

    For the briefest flashes, she slips out of her spiritual form long enough for a knife to find its way between ribs, through calves, and between vertebrae. Ayako appears in brief seconds of black and green before vanishing once more and moving on to the next target. She never remains in one area; after she's caught someone on one end, she travels out of sight to the opposite end of the room immediately to strike again.

    Sure, it's effective in terms of making sure people are incapacitated, but maybe she'll be able to sow some confusion and fear into the minds of those assailants in the process.

Arthur Lowell has posed:
    "FEED ME YOUR BULLETS YOU LARCENOUS FUCKS." Arthur continues shouting. "I'LL JAM 'EM DOWN YOUR THROATS!" As he finally hits the combat area, he's initiating street-acrobatics of a sort, leaping around as he screams, twisting and turning in the air. This averts the trouble with the vast majority of the bullets that would normally strike him, minimizing his profile while mazimizing his mobility!

    Using a combination of brutal kicks and vicious broom-swings, he continues his current strategy of dodging around Hana Umikazeno's explosions, cleaning up after anything left behind with brutal KOing skull-smashes, and tanking the gunshots that reach him, his body suffering a few thick bruises as the bullets crush against his enhanced form. Occasionally, Magister Twilight's bodyguards may find themselves with a kid at their backs, going into DRAMATIC BADASS BACK-TO-BACK FORMATIONS in their melee rushes, as Arthur attempts to tag-team with them, keeping their flanks covered during their charges! It's perfectly maneuvered, as if choreographed like a dance. "I'LL RIP YOUR SHIT, LET'S DO IT. You DUMB SONS OF BITCHES are about to BOOTLEG some BAD POISON and EXPORT YOUR LIVES!"

    This lengthy flurry of blows tries to take him into the FIRST FLOOR, where, abruptly, he's chased into the building by the rain of heavy gunfire, meeting the OTHER mobsters now, and attempting to hit them from the flank! He's trying to occupy the mobsters behind whatever cover they may be using to match Ness' men, trying to drive them out, redirect their attention to ease the heat, and, of course, KO some criminals. His shouting and attention-grabbing doesn't stop; Kagenashi is hopefully going to have plenty of DISTRACTION to synchronize with! Arthur isn't consciously helping her, but his tactics are going to naturally massively enhance any sort of Invisible Assassination tactic!

Pinkie (470) has posed:
    Even in the midst of a firefight and blazing flames, Winter Withers unflinchingly tends to the necessities of bureaucratic duty. A bullet plinks against the shield by her head. She doesn't even look up from her clipboard. "Well there's still the matter of House Stormborn pushing at the northwestern borders, ma'am. Also I was wondering what to do with the Harl-Equine captives from the Cult's last attempt to attack Canterlot." The pale pony woman says in a complete business oriented manner.
    "Hello, sir." This is to Ness, once she follows Twilight through a now very blasted door. "Please, allow me."
    Allow her to lift a desk up overhead she means. As soon as Ness deftl detaches himself from the cluster of thugs assailing him as a group.
    She proceeds to use the desk like a bludgeon with monstrous crushing force, "Now then, onto the next matter. Sir your building appears to be on fire, would you like some assistance with that?"

Eliot Ness (264) has posed:
Out IN THE STREET, a body flung from a third story window collides with the ground messily. Where'd that dude come from? The last round of poses. Red drops one like a bag of rocks with a swipe to his head, before her Pinging blasts take down several more, causing them to sprawl backwards and slump against their cars in manners that look most painful. Red now has some focus on her, however, and a few tommyguns are laying down fire in her direction.

Explosive bullets are peppering the men, who are trying to make their ways into escape cars and drive away. Only about 3 in every 10 cars is successful, since the ones receiving heavy fire are retreating and that's where Kiyoko has been operating most swiftly. So two or three cars are speeding away, the rest are just easy pickings for fire from Hana or for Arthur to be bringing the heat from his brawl.

Speaking of, when Arthur busts into THE FIRST FLOOR, it leads a trail of gunfire that pretty harshly cuts down a number of the guys he's rushing with some friendly fire. Because no one turns off friendly fire. It also gives Ayako some serious free openings to start knifing people in a most brutal fashion. It's mayhem and confusion on the first floor between the mysterious ghost woman that is killing them all and the waves of gunfire through the hole in the wall. Numerous mobsters are trying to flee out the hole in the wall that Arthur made, out windows, and whatever doors are available.

There is a light show that causes the SECOND FLOOR to glow like fireworks as Tesla follows Homura's suggestion. The massive line of electricity arcs itself through a huge swath of the mobsters, cutting down close to have of them with a gigantic line of electric current. Tesla nods his head to Homura and to Mizuki, "Our thanks. These ruffians want my research, and I will not allow that!"

Several mobsters fall over due to Mizuki's timestop revolver trick, two shots to the chest being more than enough to take down most any man. The rest are slowly pulling back, but one of them causes a more pressing issue as he throws a grenade at the feet of the two girls, Tesla, and the three Untouchables. Tesla has gone back into his lab while this happened and picked up what looks like a large brown box, "I am ready to move."

And UP ON THE THIRD FLOOR, Ness manages to get a breather as the mobsters flee from both a bear and a woman with a desk. The bear chases off several of them, both of whom try to find a tight place to crawl into where the bear can't reach, like a small doorway or by climbing down the outside of the building. The desk, though, catches a man in the midsection with a sickening crunch as he breaks both himself and the desk. Ness is occupied with one who has a knife, and the man stabs at Eliot who grabs him by the wrist, plants his foot, and then delivers a straight haymaker to the throat, causing him to collapse.

Ness looks between the two of them, "Maam. Maam." He nods to both in turn, tipping a hat that he would be wearing were the building not on fire. He wipes some blood from his mouth and then runs BACK into the flaming room, coming out with a leather-bound thick book in his arms and more than a few burn marks, "Yeah, we can goo. Nothin' left to save but this, and the building is toast anyway."

Mizuki (183) has posed:
Let's all be honest with ourselves: Homura is the one who has rocket launchers.

The one who brought down buildings in the WMAT with a freaking mobile tank.

The one who probably socked Walpurgis's face with combustion reactions on an almost weekly basis for too many years for any of us to recount without lapsing into morbidity.

    Yet still, Mizuki, the pinnacle of ineptitude with all things that go boom, would still see fit to have her say with the 'nade first. She would never admit it, but this is more than likely because its presence flusters her so that she briefly loses her capacity for rational contemplation.

    Reflexively, the girl cloaks the hot potato in a stasis field to slow its fuse, giving Homura a frenzied look. "G-Get rid of it, get rid of it!" All of a sudden, she sounds like a little girl caught in the midst of some mischief. Or whose life is flashing before their eyes, quite likely.

    Though the question of why she wouldn't just pick the grenade up and toss it after casting virtual stop on it is beyond me. She might think it's dirty.

Hana Umikazeno (357) has posed:
    With the numbers thinned down a good bit, Hana finally feels safe emerging from her rooftop hiding. It takes her only a quick twist of the body to hop right up onto her feet, and without a second's hesitation she runs right for the edge of the roof and hops off, ensuring her safe descent with a simple murmur of, "Higanbana." Trusting the Abstractum to soften her landing, she aims right for the middle of the blockade, landing in a crouch that lasts only as long as it takes the oni to straighten her legs.

    And then, guns in hand, she goes to work.

    Even with thinned numbers, dropping into the middle of a crowd of well-armed thugs would be suicide for most. But this is the kind of confrontation Hana was trained for. She immediately adopts a stance, fires her revolvers at the nearest two gangsters, and then flows through a turn that shifts her position five feet to the side and leaves her in a different stance - with each revolver aimed at a different enemy in turn. One position after the next, one stance after the other, the oni drifts through the lithe, fluid close-range movements of her style of gunkata, firing round after round from her Girls while staying mobile enough to remain a difficult target to hit.

    And for this part of the fight, she's fallen back on the tried-and true combo of rounds that pierce and then explode, a simple and deadly ammo type.

Red (572) has posed:
    Well, bullets aren't any fun.. Red leaps back, and takes off with a jolt in her step, moving so fast that several afterimages are left in her wake. It almost looks like one, single stride, too. She's behind cover, quickly enough. Once she's there, she sighs a little bit, and looks down at the red 'eye' of her weapon. "Well. What now? Hm.. Think I got an idea. Let's get back to the truck, try and get some of these knuckleheads to follow. The alley's gonna be tight, but we're all charged up, now." Red nods.

    She rolls out and a bullet catches her. Just a burn, but as it touches her, those afterimages leave behind a more solid copy. The imitation manages to draw fire, before the gunners realize they've been duped. They follow her into the alley, but she's ready and waiting, a bolt of blue energy shot from the blade in Red's hands cutting one of them down, as she makes her way to the truck.

Magister Twilight (475) has posed:
    "The bear will revert soon enough," Twilight says quietly. "Hmm... torture is generally ineffective. Hand them over to the Grand Inquisitor, I don't have time for it. Agent Ness, take my hand."

    The Archmagister keeps her shield up, trying not to show the strain of keeping the heat out. She weakens it enough that Ness can come inside, along with Winter, and takes both hands if she's allowed. As soon as both are in contact, she pops out of existence, glancing down beforehand to try spying a relatively safe spot in the street.

    Yeah, that teleport is pretty useful.

Arthur Lowell has posed:
    "EVERYONE OUT OF THE POOL, FUCKERS!" Arthur continues his brash, offensive yelling, even going so far as to attack the retreating mobsters nonlethally, intending to drive them off more than anything, and further cement the retreat.

    Upstairs, he hears Mizuki yelling about something needing to be gotten rid of. Kneeling briefly, he launches UP, shouting, HEADBUTTING through the floor and yelling. "GOT IT." How fast did he assess the situation? Very, apparently. "BOOYEAH." He snatches the grenade out of the air as it gets launched by him smashing through the floor, and then yells, "HAMMERSPACE!" and as he descends, he CHAOS DUNKS the grenade in the direction of Homura Akemi, figuring she'll catch on to his plan and put her arms up appropriately.

    Landing heavily, with a wide grin, he offers an eager, intense handshake to Tesla, and then immediately summons up a GATE to prompt the group to evacuate from the area into a nearby alleyway. Tesla's a cool guy, he won't mind a bit of casual Eliteness. There's also, of course, greetings to Homura and Mizuki. "HEYA, you two! Good t'seeya around! Good work keepin' THIS SWEET BRO covered and NOT-DEAD."

Pinkie (470) has posed:
    Once again Winter Withers adjusts her glasses. If there's nothing to be done and nothing left worth saving in the building, the prim and proper secretary simply gives a flit of loppy ears and takes Twilight's hand. "Very well, sir." A pause. "Ah, yes, very well then I thought as much. I pre-emptively filed the prisoner transfer papers before we left. Someone will be along to pick the forms up in the morning.
    Just a completely ordinary secretary, yep.

Homura Akemi (2) has posed:
    "Is there anything you would like us to retrieve before we leave?" Homura asks of Tesla, as the mobsters mostly get thinned out, between Mizuki, him and herself. Better make sure that there isn't any vital plan of his research here he won't leave without, or that they could retrieve from the building later.

    Then she notices the GRENADE and the ridiculous speed at which Arthur reacts. Fortunately she's pretty good at the speed game herself, and manages to catch, and shoo away, the offending grenade. Now she's stuck with a grenade a second from exploding in there, that might be hard to use, but she'll figure something out.

    Or, you know, blow off her arm trying.
    Science.

    She nods towards Arthur and then steps towards the portal, assuming Tesla has nothing he'd like to retrieve and get out.

Mizuki (183) has posed:
    Mizuki would, in the wake of Arthur's SWEET CATCH, turn with a rather befuddled expression to Tesla. She's just going to listen for his response to Homura for now whilst engaging in some much needed breathing exercises.

    Before some ceiling light or some other such thing clattering to the ground would make her jump back and flinch again. God damnit.

Abstractum.Net (347) has posed:
    "Ma'am." Higanbana is dutiful, quick, and cool as ever. For sandals, anyway. They flare a soft red and the landing's danger is massively reduced; it's like Hana was jumping off a sidewalk curb! There's even a soft bit of offensive buffing to Hana's ensuing gunfire! But, you know, just a bit. Best to let the main fighter do their work.

Kagenashi (85) has posed:
    Ayako only pauses for a moment in her aggressive assassinations when Arthur suddenly crashes into the first floor. Fortunately she's invisible when she takes that moment to stare in brief surprise at the plucky youth drawing the attention of so many mobsters, otherwise she might fall under some serious risk. When she realizes what he's here for, though, she does her best to ensure that his efforts are not wasted.

    Back she goes into the fray, stabbing into those who remain in the building's lowest level. When the assailants begin retreating, however, she seems to stop, lingering on the lower level and watching the men flee in clear panic.

    A couple of bolts of greenish-blue lightning suddenly strike out of the doors and windows after them to give them another thing to panic from.

    With that last effort taken care of, Ayako takes a moment to move behind the group of Ness's men before fading into existence again. The posture she strikes certainly isn't befitting of the situation, her fan opened to hover just in front of her smiling lips, her other hand perched on her hip. "My," she remarks in her accented English, "I wonder what could've gotten them so spooked? Ah, well."

    The foreign woman turns to Ness's men, then, looking over them thoughtfully. "I believe now would be a good time for you all to run along, in any case. Better to take the opportunity presented by a little confusion~."

Eliot Ness (264) has posed:
On THE STREET, men are fleeing where they can. The brave few that try to stand up to Hana are pretty much dead. A few lucky shots might get through, but the majority are cut down by her and her Abstractum's smooth movements and graceful motions. These are street thugs, hardly able to match someone on Hana's skill level.

The few who follow Red are cut down by a massive beam. This means she's free and clear for the moment, giving her and the Transistor time to get that truck started for when the wounded come out.

Inside, on the FIRST FLOOR, Kagenashi and Arthur have certainly created quite a mess. There are a number of dead mobsters, many more injured on the ground and writhing. Ness's men are unsure what just happened, but most of them are willing to heed Kagenashi's advice and head towards the exit, "Don't stick around too long. Building might come down soon."

Looking at the SECOND FLOOR, the Grenade is easy-peasy to dispose of for Homura and Arthur, and Tesla nods his head to Arthur, "Mister Lowell! Good to see you, good to see you! These ruffians ran quite a number on my lab! So much of my research is gone, but it's all up here, yes yes," He'd be tapping his head, but his hands are full of giant box. He easily steps through the portal that aims to take them outside, leaving the injured or fleeing mobsters up on the second floor.

Way up on the THIRD FLOOR, Ness nods his head and takes Twilight's hand with his own gloved hand, "I appreciate both your help," He notes, sticking the book under his free arm, "Sorry I've been busy the past few weeks. Budget cuts have been rough around her." He waves around the building, "In more ways than one, as you can see."

Teleporting out is pretty easy. There's a good spot near where Arthur and Mizuki and the other Untouchables from the SECOND FLOOR just appeared. That is a pretty good spot to touch down, since it's also near Red and her truck! Providing an excellent place for the wounded men to climb into.

OVERALL, this assault has been beaten back. There's dozens of dead mobsters literring the street, as well as many more retreating. Who knows how badly this would have gone if Elites hadn't actively showed up to intervene, but for now a lot of the ground forces are pulling back. MOST are on foot, but the ones that have the rare working car are burning rubber to get away. The injured Untouchables are starting to load into the back of the truck, most laying down and looking pretty beat up.

Mizuki (183) has posed:
    Mizuki would give Homura and Arthur each looks of exasperation, followed by a relieved smile. "Well," She would brush a lock of hair out of her face, "this has certainly been a rather harrowing experience. Never did I expect to serve as a firefighter for a group of people with questionable repute, but then I haven't been able to predict much of what's happened in the past half-year. I fear I may be getting a bit rusty." Then she would look to Tesla, sticking her hands in her pockets as she makes way to the portal herself. "In recompense, Mister Scientist, I was wondering if perhaps I might have a sample of your grand knowledge? Goodness knows I'd love to know more about you and this... place. It could be anything; I'm not picky." She stops herself just short of saying 'world' there, just in case. Tesla probably knows, but caution is usually better than the alternative.

    The young lady would stop just short of the gate, looking up to Arthur once more. "Ever is it my pleasure to see you, Arthur. I daresay I haven't been doing enough of that lately, though. Perhaps we'll rectify that some time when we aren't in a burning building filled to the brim with corpses and fire?" She would level a flattened palm before her own, sly grin before stepping through the gate.

    Now just watch this be an 'out of the frying pan' moment. It would be too fitting. Or would it be 'out of the fire' in this case? Bah. Idioms suck anyway and literary allusions are better.

Hana Umikazeno (357) has posed:
    By the time she comes to a stop, her enemies dead around her, Hana isn't even breathing hard, adopting a stance more for show than any real purpose, with her guns held before her in almost an S shape. That's not to say she made it out unscathed; there's a ragged rip in her clothes along one side, a faint trickle of blood from where a bullet's grazed her. But it doesn't bother her enough to be worth note, and she can tend to it well enough later. True to her word, she lets those who chose to flee do so unhindered, retracting her revolvers up her sleeves and moving to help with the Untouchables.

Kagenashi (85) has posed:
    "Oh, don't you worry. I'll be out of here in no time," Ayako replies, giving a dismissive little wave of her free hand. "We'll make sure Mister Ness is taken care of, too. Now run along~."

    Once the Untouchables start filtering out, Ayako herself wanders calmly out toward the truck. A few moments are taken for her green eyes to flit over the remains of the mobsters outside, but she doesn't seem too perturbed by the situation. Mysterious as ever, she simply slinks over to the truck to make sure everyone gets on it safely, smiling behind her fan in that flirty, carefree way she seems so fond of maintaining.

    In the silence of her own mind, though, she considers the situation at hand. Seems like things are only starting back up again. What could possibly follow from here?

Arthur Lowell has posed:
    "HEY, you keep it UP THERE and not ALL OVER THE FLOOR and shit will go GREAT!" Arthur beams at Tesla. Then a firm nod to Mizuki. "Hell yeah. I still need to hear that STORY you had, yo!" And then he takes one final moment. He pokes his head out the window of the unstable building and gives the retreating mobsters a double RUDE HAND GESTURE before retreating through his own gate to meet up with the others and presumably be debriefed by Ness.

Pinkie (470) has posed:
    Well that was certainly something. Once Twilight has landed the group Winter Withers surveys the carnage. Dead mobsters in the streets, the shot up burned out building. Men fleeing in desperation. "I have to say Archmagister, you really know how to pick you associates." The secretary pony woman says while fixing her blouse. "There is just oneast matter to attend to." She notes.
    Just like that she snatched a gang bruiser that gets a little a little too close in his flight, and she drapes her arm over the man's shoulder as cool and casual as can be. "Ah yes, some reprimanding is in order first. You see our associate Mister Ness here does not appreciate losing all his files and paperwork in a blaze. Shall we have a little chat?"
    Her arm tightens around his neck. Slowly but surely. Earth Ponies are known for their Herculean strength and secretary or not she's no exception. All it takes is a little pressure... His windpipe is crushed like a straw. A small twist. His neck snaps like a brittle toothpick.
    "I'd offer to help but frankly... That would be boring. Why don't you stick around?" Pinkamena notes with a heavy exaggerated sigh.
    Because with a smile Winter Withers slides a featureless smiling mask of white porcelain onto her face. "Oops. I think I bored him so much he fell asleep... Haha..."

Eliot Ness (264) has posed:
    A lot of things are happening in the aftermath of the siege. We'll start with a special moment, first, and unrelated to the appearance of an Assassin:

    As Hana comes over to the truck to check on the Untouchables, one of them leans out the back of the vehicle. He's a tired looking Native American man. He holds out a hat towards Hana, since he can't actually move too much due to injuries, "We don't have much, but we pooled what we had together. We know you work for money for Mister Ness." He holds the hat out to her, "So here. Thank you."

    The 10 men have managed to collect, between crumpled bills and coins from their pockets, about $7.20 in change and crumpled bills from their pockets. The equivalent, counting inflation, if about 100 dollars in modern currency. It's probably all that most of them had on-hand in the time of cutbacks and they're giving it to Hana for helping them out despite the Depression.

Eliot Ness (264) has posed:
Tesla smiles at Mizuki and then waves his hand, "No no, no no. I fell for that once. Mysterious people want your technology, you say no. Otherwise they think they own you!" He looks as if he's distantly recalling something, thinking about his past, "No no, that won't do." He shakes his head. He grips his box twice as tight, looking at Mizuki as if she might be a threat to him despite her cordial request.

"The Mafias. The others. All ruffians My inventions are the highest demand, damned be to Edison and his toys," He looks at her seriously, seeming to be verging on a panic attack at her request, "Mister Ness never asks! That's why Mister Ness is the only one who receives the inventions of the great NIKOLA TESLA."

Some distance away, but nearby, Ness rolls his eyes at this.

Eliot Ness (264) has posed:
The mobster that Winter Withers grabs flails a bit. Then screams a bit. And then he goes REALLY limp, slumping in her arms before being dropped to the ground and not moving.

"The Assassin," Ness says, and this is where he demonstrates those 1920s values. Despite having been burned, beaten, and assaulted by a half-dozen men tonight, he still steps in front of Twilight Sparkle in a protective manner. He looks like he's reaching for a gun, but remembers he left it upstairs.

Instead he brings his hands up into a pugilist stance, "If you're not here to cause trouble, then I'm gonna be very grateful you helped save me tonight. Thank you. But I still have my other job to do. Syndicate Contract and all." He firmly notes, taking a deep breath and preparing for a potential throwdown.

All in all, the look he gives Pinkamena DOES say he's still pretty grateful to her.

Arthur Lowell has posed:
    Arthur Lowell is completely disassociated from the feud between Twilight Sparkle and Pinkamena. As such, he can only really kinda watch with wide eyes and a vague sense of repressed horror as she does a brief episode of torturing and killing him before revealing her true nature. He looks between Twilight and Pinkie and just sorta keeps to the side. He's staying out of this feud. No idea who's right or wrong, best to give them their space and let Ness work.

    Quietly, though, when Nikola Tesla does his EMPHATIC ACCENTUATION of his own name, Arthur Lowell can be seen shooting him a grin and a double-finger-guns gesture.

Mizuki (183) has posed:
    Mizuki's eyes widen somewhat at the emphasis of Tesla's reply, but at the least she doesn't seem offended by it. Rather, she would wave her hand in kind, giving a nod. "I understand that feeling quite well, Mister Tesla. It is for the very same reason that I'm so choosy as to who I allow within the bounds of my... estate, shall we say. It's not a thing whose radiance I would share with just anyone. But if in time I should earn your trust, perhaps we'll have cause to speak again." With that she would give a slight bow of her head, attempting still to be as nonthreatening as she can, something that may be easier said than done with her general demeanor and current appearance.

    Edison's name might catch her a bit off-guard, though. Under her breath she might mumble something to the effect of, 'Creation's majesty, Edison?'. A thoughtful hand meanders to her chin. Yes, she will most certainly have to return here. It's like a cloyster of flavorful history! Maybe she could even attend a play here with Ness when things have calmed down. She nods to herself at that. Yes, yes -- they'll all bond over Phantom of the Opera! Sounds lovely.

    As she emerges from the gate likely within visual range of Ness and Twilight, she might find herself wishing dearly for some tea. For now, though, she simply folds her arms and watches the proceedings.

Hana Umikazeno (357) has posed:
    If there was anything Hana expected, the hat filled with cash isn't it. A practiced merchant's eye goes over the money in the hat, and with an effortless mental conversion she realizes that's not a small amount for these men at all, especially not in the economy they've just taken a tumble into. She hadn't planned on being paid at all, save possibly after much badgering of Ness' superiors for a reward; while her expression doesn't let her surprise through, she does take the money from the hat with a smooth movement, and then offers them something exceedingly rare from her.

    A full, 90-degree bow at the waist.

    "Always a pleasure to work with you, gentlemen."

    She supposes, just this once, she can wait to talk business with Ness until another time.

Magister Twilight (475) has posed:
    Twilight freezes, one hand still brushing off her singed hat. The brim caught some of the heat that her barrier had blocked, and soot has settled on it. Fixing the hat atop her head again, she immediately turns away from the well-wishing - she wasn't all that interested in pleasantries - and toward Pinkamena.

    "... I see." No attack, nor a panic, just an even stare. "For whatever reason, Agent Ness, she's decided that tonight she would rather aid you. I am fine with that."

    Finally, she looks at the others, giving a quick once over. "Mn."

Pinkie (470) has posed:
    Up come white gloved hands, in a clear display of non-hostile intent. Though the clown's true expression is hard to tell under that mask, the sinister leer says enough for her already. "Oh... You don't need to worry about me. Not tonight anyway." She confirms that she's not going to strike. "I just thought I'd pay a visit and let you both know this little tidbit. I didn't expect to have fun tonight but that was just a bonus."
    Twilight's stare and Eliot taking stance in front of the Archmagister is given a theatrical little bow. Until Arthur finger guns at Tesla. This is when she pantomimes getting shot. Oh no~.

Mizuki (183) has posed:
    Mizuki would inch over to Arthur to add, discreetly, "I still appreciate the phonograph more than any of those things he mentioned, but I'll not instigate another duel."