4138/Raid for Justice

Raid for Justice
Date of Scene:	22 May 2016
Location:	Slum Urbania
Synopsis:	Tomoyo leads a raid on Gentle Brooks, an apartment block for criminals. Their target is one man, but many stand between they and him.
Cast of Characters:	Staren, Tomoyo Daidouji, 691, 707, Sanary Rondel, 807, Yang Xiao Long, 941

---

Tomoyo Daidouji has posed:
    Towering structures dominate the skyline here in Urbania. Pillars of glass and steel stand above the masses milling on the footpaths below, and even above those lucky few who are able to afford the hovercars zipping about overhead.

    The stench of human lives pressing together is pervasive, until you get into one of the many establishments fighting for your attention. And it is in one of these establishments that Tomoyo has called people to, a cafe sitting across from an apartment building. She's reserved a corner booth, next to a window, with her guards nowhere in sight. She looks... not great. Her eyes are those of someone who hasn't slept well, bloodshot with bags beneath them. Her hair is lanky, her skin pallid. Even her clothes are uncharacteristically plain, a long-sleeved white shirt with some black jeans.

    "Hello. Please, feel free to order something," she says to everyone as they arrive. Once everyone is gathered, she produces a bulging folder from a backpack and lays it out on the table. "He's in the apartment building across the street. The Gentle Brooks. The official blueprints are a matter of public record," She lays out a thick binder packed with blueprints of each of the 30 floors. "But there's no way of knowing if they modified the inside at all."

    A plastic sleeve is placed on the table next, packed with newspaper clippings of mysterious deaths around the Gentle Brooks. Of hovercars and flying people being gunned down. "I think the rooms behind the front windows have security who gun down anything that flies too close. So, if anyone wants to fly in, be careful. The roof is probably guarded too." Another photo thrown down on the table, this time with a somewhat more vicious toss. Those present at the auction would recognize the face on it.

    "This is our target," she says, not even giving him the dignity of a name. "We don't know what floor he's on, so we'll need to find out. The front desk might have something, but it's possible he signed in under a fake name. We might need to interrogate people to find out." She said that with a concerning amount of coolness.

    "My guards are keeping watch, and they'll follow your leads. But..." Her face scrunches a little, before she adds, "We were heavy-handed last time. There might be innocent people in there, who are just trying to get by. Try not to hurt anyone, until they try to hurt you, okay?"

    A look around the table. "So, what do you all think?"

Yang Xiao Long has posed:
    "Yeah, that was my bad... I was just itching for a fight." replies the blonde brawler, rubbing the back of her neck. She doesn't order anything, but looks across the street to the tower block. "Get in, shake people down for info, try not to hurt anyone unless they attack first." summarizes Yang. "I think I can handle that. Probably a good idea if we split into teams. Two or three folks together would have a better chance against and ambush, and we'd cover more ground than bunching up together."

    She looks over the floorplan, likely committing it to memory. "You have multiple copies of that picture? Might help if we have one per group."

Mel Brock (941) has posed:
    "I think we have a classic raid, and you're lucky you called a law enforcement officer who does that by trade," Mel says, sliding into a seat. She's wearing the same coat as last time, but a careful eye might notice that the outfit underneath is different. It looks a lot more like some kind of jumpsuit. "Far be it from me to step in and usurp the whole thing, but if you want my tactical advice-" She reaches out and taps spots on the map. "We need people moving in from each entrance. Take it room by room, floor by floor. We also want someone on the roof to prevent any aerial escape or reinforcements. I'm willing to cover that if need be. And we need people staying outside, maybe a little further back, in case someone does a runner through a third-story window and tries to escape. Your guards will be good for that."

    She settles back in her seat. "Other than that, the main thing I want to impress on everyone is 'minimum necessary force'. Do not attack unless you are being attacked or believe you are about to be attacked. Do not respond with lethal force unless lethal force is the only way to protect your own wellbeing or that of everyone around you. If we do this right, it'll make our lives a lot easier."

Staren has posed:
    Given the location, Staren's not wearing his armor once... for now, at least. He starts to order some iced tea, then changes his mind and asks for a soda. When Tomoyo shows the binder with blueprints, he rapidly flips through it, glancing over each page. Dawn, his support AI, assembles it into a computerized map he can send to anyone with similar tech. "So... is it like, a /hotel/ for shady rich people? Maybe we should pretend to be customers..." He has a sudden thought. "Do they allow pets?"

    Staren glances at Brock. "You sure we should go full-on raid? That might spook them into leaving by, I dunno, hovercar or an underground secret passage or something. Also, do we even have the authority to conduct a raid here?"

Mel Brock (941) has posed:
    "We have a warrant for his arrest within Union territory," Mel replies to Staren, "Which gives me arrest authority, and we have more than one Elite witness to this man offering to sell poison to a known Confederate, which gives all of us authority to treat him as a valid military target. As far as going underground? That's why you start at ground level and work your way upward. If he's on the ground level, you take him before he can get to any escape method. If he's higher up, he has to go through you to get to anything ground-floor or lower. And if he tries to leave in a hovercar, I rip the engines off with my mind."

Yari Takane (691) has posed:
~Elsewhere in the Shadey Rich Guy Hotel~

Dressed in her usual kimono, Yari Takane leisurely sips a glass of wine. It's time for a meeting.

"...And I don't think I need to remind you about your promise. You've been good so far. And I'm not unrewarding of good work. This time, I'll pay you for your wares, Sir." She flicks a piece of paper at the unknowing target of the Unionites!

"Well? A few exotic poisons shouldn't be hard for someone with your connections, right?" The list, in short, is patently ridiculous to gather in just a few days. But the payment's well worth it! The ninja pours the man a drink.

Xiaomu (707) has posed:
Do they have fried tofu here? They'd better have fried tofu. Some kind, virtually any kind, of fried tofu.

... okay, technically Xiaomu doesn't need a fried tofu snack THAT badly, but she's still giving the menu a disconcertingly close round of scrutiny as she half-listens to Tomoyo's explanation. "If the Gentle Brooks' security is THAT tight," remarks the sage fox, "I have my doubts that their tenants are all that law-abiding as a collective whole. Taking it in teams sounds like a good plan, though," Xiaomu continues, nodding to Mel. "We don't have any idea what kind of security they have at the actual entrances, exits, loading docks, and so forth."

Xiaomu places her order - a parfait, ideally with fried tofu, but she won't be too picky if the cafe just fails to stock fried tofu as a regular ingredient. Either way, she doesn't really feel like going into a fight on an empty stomach.

Tomoyo Daidouji has posed:
    Tomoyo just stares at Yang for a moment as she wears that 'L.' It's not a particularly sour look or anything, but... there's some thoughts behind those purple eyes. "Teams might work... but there's only so many of us. We might be short-staffed against a major threat if we split..."

    Next, she looks to Mel, who has some keen advice to give. "So, teams through the roof and the front door. It has a fire exit..." she mutters, gesturing out the window, where the rusted external staircase is clearly visible. "My guards can certainly cover the ground out here... but maybe it would be better to just rip it from the building? Gives us one less thing to worry about."

    A look to Staren as his soda arrives. "It's an apartment complex, not a hotel. You can't just drop in and book a room. Besides, they're always on high-alert when an unfamiliar face comes inside. It's a good idea, but I don't think we would be allowed into the upper floors today, and he might move on soon. We need to strike now. Sorry." She does look apologetic... but also like she relishes the idea of striking him down.

    Thankfully, the place does has tofu! Mostly because it's pretty cheap to order and cook in batch, and folks around these parts aren't that picky about hot food. The request to have it in a parfait raises some eyebrows, but they do comply. "Everyone agrees on teams then? All right..." She points to Staren, Mel and Alice. "You three can fly, so you take the roof. Fly as fast as you can to evade that security. And if you can, get rid of the fire escape on the way so they can't use it to escape. Try not to let it fall on the street." Then she looks to Yang and Xiaomu. "You two will go through the front doors with me. Let's go."

    She says that, but she's gone and gotten herself trapped in the booth. She'll have to wait for everyone else to go first! Once everyone is out, the fliers ascend! Hopefully they're fast about it, because once they pass the 10th floor, the windows erupt with gunfire! There's the sound of assault rifles, and the deeper sound of machine guns and bullets spew out towards them!

    Meanwhile, the ground entrance time strides across the street. One of Tomoyo's guards, the one with long rust-colored hair, splits off from the crowd to stand at her charge's shoulder. Through the doors of Gentle Brooks, into a crummy-looking reception area. There's a desk across from them, with a security gate barring access to the stairs. As they go in, the receptionist and two goons lounging on chairs look up, hands drifting to their coat pockets. But once the gunfire from above starts, they reach all the way, guns coming out!

    ==Meanwhile, inside Gentle Brooks==

    Gregory Vust is not having a good week, and it shows. His suit is rumpled, his chin is covered in dark hairs, his eyes are bloodshot... But he still has the wherewithal to catch that tossed piece of paper and scroll through it with tired eyes. "... this? You want Mature Mandrake Extract and Basilisk Venom?! I'm cut off from my network Takane! I'm on the run! I don't exactly carry that stuff in my pocket!" He flops into a chair and sighs, rubbing his hand against his face. "Sorry... I'll put some feelers out. My contacts might be compromised, need to make sure it's safe to approach them."

    And then, gunfire. He squeals in a very unmanly way.

Staren has posed:
    Staren shakes his head slightly as he sip the soda. "It's fine. I'm just trying to think of all the options, but I'm not good at subtle myself."

Yari Takane (691) has posed:
"Is that too much for you, Mister Vust? Maybe I should have left you for the little seamstress and her allies." Returns Yari with a scowl. But then he agrees, and she nods, gaze softening.

"Good. Your reputation is a sterling one. I'll put in a few good words with my own contacts. You can rebuild. And I appreciate loyalty. For now, you should get some slee..."

BLAM BLAM!

"Be ready to hide, or leave. Are there any emergency exits in this building?" She asks Mister V, before looking for a security contact in the room. She'll hammer it, or just straight call the security front desk.

"This is Mr. Vust's secretary. What's going on down there, Security?" Demands the ninja.

Mel Brock (941) has posed:
    Mel frowns. "...Part of me worries about someone starting a fire and there being no fire escape, but uh... shit, I guess we'll solve that problem if it becomes one. Keep your guards out here anyway, though. People are crazy enough to do things like jump out a window to get away, and sometimes it actually works."

    The Marshal stands up and goes about unbuttoning her coat, revealing that the outfit underneath is in fact her Marshal jumpsuit, with her sidearm holstered under her left arm in a shoulder holster. Rather than set her coat aside, though, she slings it over her shoulder, and holds it with her left hand as she exits the cafe. Her right hand is lifted up, her fingers curl slightly and-

    -there's a sound of wrenching, bending metal-

    -the fire escape on the side of the building tears free, then carefully lowers itself to the ground, where Mel lets it drop.

    As for her method of ascent? She walks right up to the side of the building, where she'll be /between/ windows as she rises. Then she tosses down the coat, which unfolds itself out to become a 'platform' of fabric that she steps onto, drawing her pistol in the process. Once she's on the coat 'platform', it begins to rise swiftly... and any bullets that people manage to fire at her despite the difficult anglel, will simply glance off the air around her. When she reaches the top, she simply holds out her hand, into which the coat rises, and then tosses it aside on the roof.

Yang Xiao Long has posed:
    Yang ehehs softly, and shrugs. "It was just an idea." replies Yang to that look. "Anyway, if we're goin', stay behind me. I can take a few hits." she says, then heads out of the door across the street, taking point and making sure she's the first one inside. "Heeey fellas." she calls out, smiling her best smile and holding her arms up to the sides, showing she's 'unarmed'. She keeps on walking up, but then those guns come out and the blonde just gives a sigh. "Everyone always has to make it difficult." she says, but then grins. "I like it."

    Gauntlets deploy along her arms, and with a blast of kinetic force behind her, she leaps over the front desk and goes to town on the guards, punching and kicking them into submission, but not using the shotguns in her gauntlets against them. Aura users, and Elites can take it... she'd likely blow messy holes in normal thugs with her weapon of choice!

    Yari's call comes down the intercom, and Yang goes to pick it up. "Everything's fine. We're all fine down here. How're you?" she says, not even trying to mask her voice. "Oh, and don't try using the fire escape... it's on vacation today."

Alice Margatroid (807) has posed:
    Alice takes flight, grazing the bullets coming after her. Some of her dress is filled with holes, but all in all the dollmaker's not wounded. She returns fire with her own bullets, kunai-shaped non-lethal danmaku is returned back, breaking glass that hasn't been broken yet. Pulling out covering fire for the other two going up to the roof. She keeps herself silent, there's not much she can really say here, just doing things to make sure Tomoyo is taken care of here.

Staren has posed:
    Staren doesn't even get to finish his soda! When the girls make for the door he stands up, "Hey, wait!" He draws his matter manipulator and his armor is dumped out on the table as his clothes poof into threads and then collapse into a form-fitting bodysuit. "Can one of you help me suit up?"

AND THEN

    Staren follows Alice -- since she's drawing the fire, he's firing missiles from a handheld, rifle-like launcher into the windows the bullets are coming out of. "They didn't know we were hostile yet! How rude!" After an explosion he adds, "Well, I guess they know NOW..."

Xiaomu (707) has posed:
One fried-tofu parfait later, Xiaomu strolls through the front doors of the Mellow Brooks next to Tomoyo, carrying herself with much the same comportment, composure, and confidence that she would bear if she were busting a pipe fox opium den or a nest of relic smugglers or any of another dozen types of low-life criminal scum. Yang beats her to the punch (literally) on kicking the doors in (not literally), but draws a handgun from inside her vest and puts the guards' guns on ice.

Literally.

Hey, the Roc's Icebrand is a *working weapon*, not something Xiaomu would hang on the wall to look at and remember how she got it.

"So yeah," Xiaomu says casually, drawing one of her other handguns, the monk staff just standing upright next to her like it expects to get a stern lecture if it succumbs to the will of gravity. "We're looking for someone. We can do this the easy way, or we can do it the hard way, and not *all* of us really want to jump to doing it the hard way."

If there's still a conscious receptionist, Xiaomu turns an oh-so-charming smile towards her (or him), and does NOT do the same with either of her handguns. "Didn't catch the guy's name, but if you can identify him from a photo, I won't bother doing anything about those turrets you've been shooting down hovercars with. I imagine you've got quite a lot of tenants who value their safety and security; we only need *one* of them. Or - if you're going to stick to principles, which'd be kinda awesome of you - then you can get *all* of them plus your bosses into a whole stinking crapload of trouble when we take out the turrets before we leave."

And that's all Xiaomu has to say at the moment. She's still ready in case somebody starts bigger trouble.

Tomoyo Daidouji has posed:
    =ROOF TEAM=

    The bullets spraying from the windows are myriad, but Mel's trick is actually pretty effective! As for the fire escape, ripping it from the structure tears open the front even more, which gives Alice more vision for her danmaku! The bullets spray, and those criminals too stupid to not duck behind kitchen counters or furniture eat several before going down. They're so pervasive that they're reduced to blind-firing from behind cover. Cover that soon no longer exists once Staren opens up with the missiles and launcher.

    Finally, they reach the roof. The door is at the far end, just through a field of giant fans and vents that regulate the building. Had someone chosen to raid the building by helicopter, walking through them would be a nightmare. You never know if someone will jump out and attack you. And indeed, there are several guards already here, hiding behind them. But when you have personal flight, they become a lot less scary.

    =GROUND TEAM=

    The fight in reception is swift but brutal. Yang punches, taking out the receptionist and the two goons almost immediately, while Xiaomu's pinpoint pistol handling disarms them, preventing them from any last breath shots from the ground. And then she tries and gets all diplomatic with the receptionist. He looks up at her, croaks...

    And hawks a bloody loogie at her face.

    "To hell with you!" he spits, glaring defiantly as Tomoyo pilfers his keyring and goes to unlock the security gate. Meanwhile, her bodyguard picks up one of the discarded pistols and checks the clip, before going around and taking the clips from the other guns too. "Let's go," Tomoyo says.

    The ascent is a heart-pounding one as the stairs spiral up to the first floor. The stairs actually continue upwards, but another security gate blocks the way. The padlock is on the other side and the gaps are too narrow to slip a hand through. "They're trying to trap us... she mutters. And now the sound of doors opening on this floor filter through, the clicks of guns being loaded, the rasp of blades being dragged along the floor...

    =YARI AND GREGORY=

    The poisoner's face goes pale as Yang's voice comes across the intercom. "Oh god, it's that crazy girl from the auction... they're coming for me!" He starts to hyperventilate, looking around the room for an exit. Unfortunately, they're in one of the back rooms, away from the windows. Frantic eyes stare at Yari. "H-Help me! You can take my entire stock if you get me out of here!"

    They're on the 25th floor. What will Yari do?

Staren has posed:
    Guards hiding... Staren sighs, then shouts, "Stand down, this is your only warning!" He waits while some insect-size drones fly ahead to get him more angles. Any who actually shoot him immediately eat beam cannon fire -- and if that's not enough, he has more rockets!

Yari Takane (691) has posed:
Teeth grit. Oh yes, she recognizes that voice. A deep, deep sigh.

"...I appreciate the tip. We really need to stop running into each other so much, Miss Yang." Click.

"You know, you're becoming more trouble than you're worth. Come on." With no windows to leap out of, all she can do is try to find a stairwell. She hands the man a gun, and then her tail is all but dragging him out of the room, and into the hallway.

"Stay here. And put your hands over your ears. This will be loud."

Then, the ninja opens the elevator, crawls up, and kicks open the escape up top. She ties a few explosive tags onto the cable keeping the elevator in place.

Then she gets out.

And blows the explosive tags, ready to send the elevator crashing down to the ground level. Phase one of Yari's Escape Plan, go!

Mel Brock (941) has posed:
    Mel's expression becomes something of a frown. All the cover here is... going to be a bit of an issue.

    But it's an issue she can solve. Just gonna take a little effort.

    The marshal shoves her pistol into its holster, and then holds both hands out. One by one, little, faint flickers of purple begin to dance around the air conditioners; they're sparse, small and short-lived, but they make it clear that something is about to happen-

    CRUNCH.

    CRUNCH, CRUNCH, CRUNCH.

    One by one, Mel begins ripping the air conditioners out of their fittings, right off the ducts and cabling they need to function. She's lifting them straight in the air, high enough that the security on the roof will no longer be able to hide behind them.

    "Gentlemen, I have a proposition for you. You put down those weapons, I don't drop these on your heads. Your call."

    Someone should probably cover her, just in case.

Yang Xiao Long has posed:
    "That Ninja's here. And she's protecting our target." remarks Yang, smirking a bit as she heads up the stairs with the others. Guns cocking and blades dragging get the Blonde grinning all over again. "Hey, uh, foxgirl, I forgot your name... think you can 'persuade' that gate to open while I keep these guys busy?" she asks, then lifts her arms in a defensive posture, proceeding down the hallway, eyes on a swivel in case one of the doors opens up on her side and someone comes screaming out with a machete or a gun.

Xiaomu (707) has posed:
"Name's Xiaomu," the foxgirl reintroduces herself as she finishes encasing the receptionist in a block of ice. Honestly, all she did was ask him a polite question, and the receptionist went and spat *blood* at her. "And I think I can do something about that gate, yeah. Let me just take a look-see ..."

She does indeed take a look-see at the gate and the padlock, pursing her lips briefly. "Didn't bring grenades this trip," she says apologetically, "but I think I can make up the difference." Her handguns are holstered; instead, she grasps her staff, drawing Suiren's blade out of the staff-scabbard - and then she just pokes the ice-elemental sword through the bars, tapping the padlock a few times while unleashing ice magic, intending to freeze the lock not merely into solidity, but into distinct brittleness.

Once she's fairly sure it's as frozen as it's going to get, she pulls out one of her handguns and fires a single shot into the lock, muzzle literally in contact with the layers of ice surrounding it.

If all of THAT doesn't work? Well, the other obvious option is to just freeze the *hinges* and shatter *them* instead.

Alice Margatroid (807) has posed:
    Alice listens over the local radio, one of her nameless dolls tuned into it. "Alright, providing covering danmaku." she responds back, "I'll send a couple dolls to guard you as well." a small little spell circle comes into view as a pair of dolls appear from it, flying quickly towards Mel. Alice, herself, is making sure that no one else is going to get near Mel as well, her back facing Mel and eight dolls in front of her.

    "Staren, do you have your own self covered? If not, I can cover you with some more dolls." Alice, however, is looking around, making sure her team is protected.

Tomoyo Daidouji has posed:
    =ROOF TEAM=

    With a groan, the fans and vents lift from the concrete underfoot, cracks spiderwebbing across the surface as they come up! Such heavy things hovering in the air are certainly intimidating, and inspire most of the guards to lower their weapons. A few defiant ones lift them or charge with machetes, but Staren's drones gun them down quick smart, while the couple that manage to squeeze off a shot beforehand find them blocked by Alice's dolls.

    Through the open door and down the stairs. The descent is much easier, since they have the door locks on their side. One of the guards on the roof has the keys if anyone bothers to check. But as they make their way down, the sound of an explosion rings out from the 25th floor. That might be something to check out.

    =GROUND TEAM=

    Yang assumes a defensive position, just in time to deal with three men rushing her with blades. Two have machetes, but one has a claymore! They start swinging wildly, untrained but with a fierce aggression. Meanwhile, Xiaomu starts freezing the lock before putting a bullet through it. It shatters easily, permitting further progression! "Yang, let's go," Tomoyo says, starting up the stairs, her bodyguard covering the halls with that pilfered pistol.

    Just as they start upstairs though, an unholy noise comes from behind the elevator doors, soon followed by the building trembling as something impacts on the bottom floor!

    =YARI AND GREGORY=

    "Oh thank you!" Gregory gasps, doing his best to keep up with the ninja. He certainly doesn't want to be dragged along the floor. He regards the gun with fear, but clutches it anyway. As Yari blows up the elevator cables, the compartment goes screaming down the shaft, not slowing in the slightest. A place like this doesn't trust strangers, and that includes elevator maintenance men. Normally, brakes would kick in, but these ones don't. The impact in the basement shakes the whole building

Yari Takane (691) has posed:
After the crash, the ninja considers her choices. There's definitely at least a ground team. So, after several handseals, Yari crafts an illusion of herself and Vust. NotVust and NotYari begin running down the stairs, rushing straight towards (eventually!) Tomoyo and Yang down below! It's a good illusion, but against two Elites? They won't hold up to scrutiny (especially the fist-or-bullet type!).

Real Yari begins dragging Vust up towards the stairwell, making their way upwards to try to get at the rooftop. With any luck, there won't be a roof team, or at least the roof team won't contain the terror that is known as Yang! Who will each set of Yari's run into!?

Alice Margatroid (807) has posed:
    Alice's dolls are quick with the shields to block some of the bullets and to push back those charging people, though some of them do knock the dolls down and they explode. "Nngh, I'll have to remake a few..." comes Alice's worried voice, though Shanghai seems to dart off, seeing something shiny.

    "I see something sparkly, I'm going to check!" with Shanghai pulling out her sword, she's off to face the guard, splitting her off from the rest of the group. Hourai follows along, shield and lance at the ready, /just in case/ something happens to her.

    Alice taps her foot in mid air, more dolls pouring forth to cover Staren, three of them with lances. "We're ready to help!"

Yang Xiao Long has posed:
    Yang gets set upon, and she goes into a half-trance. The first one comes in high, and she ducks under the swing, then raises back with and uppercut to the midriff, sending the guy sprawling. The next comes and she does a ducking spin, sweeping his legs out from under him before jabbing him in the head to KO him.

    She then has to make a quick series of flips to escape the claymore user, then crosses her arms to take an overhand swing. The resounding CLANG of steel meeting steel rings out, and the blonde grins, eyes turning blood red as she turns a glare onto her opponent. "Hey, got a question. Do you like punch?" she asks, before parrying the blade away, then swinging a haymaker right hook to send the guy flying down the hallway. "Comin'!" she calls back at her group, turning back to join them up the next flight of stairs. Her hair is still ablaze, and her eyes still that ember coal red, but she seems in control, for the time being.

Xiaomu (707) has posed:
"Need me to take the -" Xiaomu starts to offer. Then something LOUD hits the bottom of the elevator shaft, and Xiaomu turns her attention towards the elevators to investigate. "Hold that thought."

She does pause to assist Yang with a couple of freezing shots from Roc's Icebrand along the way, but mostly her attention is on checking the elevator shaft. Hopefully she can lever the elevator doors open with her staff and get a reasonably decent look. If it's just the now-wrecked elevator car, she's not going to worry about it too much except to report her findings on-radio. If there's anything ELSE besides the elevator car, she'll be dealing with the threat before she goes anywhere else, but if all that happened was the elevator plummeting to its doom, she'll be regrouping with Tomoyo, Ms. Bodyguard, and Yang and heading on upstairs.

Staren has posed:
    That's the roof taken care of, down the stairs they go! That explosion /does/ sound suspicious. It might be a distraction, but if so, their target shold run into Mel or the ground team on the way out, right? Staren uses his energy wings to rush down the stairs -- which will soon bring him into contact with Yari and Vust coming UP. His first reaction is a quick double-barreled beam blast at Yari and then ducking for cover behind the stairs. <<He's with that damn ninja again!>> Staren radios. <<I still don't have a foolproof way to deal with her!>>

Mel Brock (941) has posed:
    While the others see about the key and opening the door, Mel is carefully stacking the air conditioners and vents around the outside edge of the roof, forming a sort of makeshift battlement. After that, she goes about destroying the weapons the goons were using, one by one. In the middle of this, the building shakes, and there's a faint grimace from Mel; all she can think is 'for once, it's not me', feeling a touch of private embarrassment that she knows the sound of a crashing elevator so well. But true to her word on the radio, she's going to stay on the rooftop for now, both to watch over the crooks and to keep an eye out for any potential hostiles coming by air.

Tomoyo Daidouji has posed:
    =ROOF TEAM=

    Shanghai and Hourai retrieve the keys! They now have access to pretty much any locked door they may find, judging by how packed the ring is. Down the stairs they go... only to bump into Yari, trying to escape with the poisoner!

    And to make matters worse, several doors on this floor burst open, men and women with guns and blades rushing out! Unfortunately, the reports weren't too clear on who the attackers were... so Yari gets caught up in their swings and shots too!

    Meanwhile, Mel hangs out on the roof. And it's probably a good thing she did too, because there's an attack helicopter in flight, coming worryingly close... guns spinning up before spraying the roof with bullets! Mel had better find cover... but can she save the guards too?

    =GROUND TEAM=

    Xiaomu pries open the elevator doors easily enough. Looking out into the dark shaft, she can see the wreckage far below... but that's all it was, it seems. And so they go on, leaving the punched and frozen guards behind. A few half-hearted gunshots chase them up the stairs, but they don't seem too keen on pushing it.

    There's more locked security gates on the way up, but Xiaomu has those well-handled by now. Yang might be needed to punch more people, something she is no doubt happy to do. But around the 6th floor... illusions of Yari and Gregory come rushing down. The two Elites might be able to spot the flaws... but Tomoyo and her bodyguard fall for it hook, line, and sinker. Tomoyo pulls a jade mirror from her waistband while the bodyguard levels that pistol... leaving them blind to a woman with a knife creeping up on them!

YARI AND GREGORY=

    "Oh god, they're here!" Gregory yelps from behind Yari as Staren and Alice confront them with tech and dolls respectively. "Look out!" he yells as someone rushes the ninja with a knife, squeezing off a few shots from that gun, all of them going wide.

Yari Takane (691) has posed:
~Roof Team~ First, there's combination of Alice's Dolls and security shooting at her! The ninja manages to take the blows: getting shot in the bat shoulder, and taking several stabs along her sides, and one scraping along her face! The ninja tries to rush onwards, not bothering to retaliate!

A vaguely familiar man with /energy wings/ and armor comes screaming down the stairs, and very nearly slams into her! Oh, and there's an energy shotgun being aimed at her!

Heterochrome eyes go wide as she can all but smell the plasma-slash-heat off of that gun, leaps towards the railing with her charge in her arm and tail. That double-blast lets out the smell of searing flesh and scales as it rips across her back, causing her to slam into the flat area of the stairs leading to another one of the floors.

The wind is knocked out of her, and she's practically crawling to get back to her feet. If she has to, she'll kick the door down to whatever floor this might be and breaks into a dead run with Vust in tow. Too bad the civilian is holidng her speed back!

She does have the 'courtesy' to wait a second and chuck a grenade back to where she imagines Starenand company will come charging after her.

She doesn't really want to melee him right now. She /swears/ he was covered in lance-wielding dolls. By now, Yari isn't looking very healthy between those stabs and Staren's shots!

~Ground Team~

Should Tomo's guard shoot at the illusions? It won't be /too/ hard to hit them! The same for the Elites! At this point, Yari's too distracted to keep up their mobility! Yang definitely will get to punch them out easily!

They'll poof into white smoke when hit!

Xiaomu (707) has posed:
For good measure, Xiaomu puts up a couple of ice barricades behind her group on their way up the stairs. Enough time and/or heat (or bullets) will bust through, but it'll at least slow down any pursuit from the floors they've left behind; that's enough for her taste at the moment.

Then Shanghai reports a 'lizard-tailed lady' on one of the upper floors, RIGHT as a lizard-tailed ninja with the poison-procurer they're looking for seem to come downstairs to meet them at the sixth floor. Xiaomu opens her mouth, looks again ...

Okay, even an Elite ninja lizard is going to have a *couple* of issues with being shot at, plus whatever Tomoyo's mirror does. The woman with the knife, however, is a problem that requires immediate attention, and since Xiaomu's closer to that woman than any of her companions, she wastes no time in *providing* that attention, sweeping the knife-wielder's near leg out from under her and slamming her back-first into the carpet, followed by a quick chop to the elbow to try and get her to drop that knife.

Another bodyslam after THAT should finish taking the fight out of whoever this is.

Yang Xiao Long has posed:
    "Okay even I'm not falling for that one!" calls Yang, as she cocks her arm back and FIRES an explosive bolt from her left gauntlet, aiming it at the feet of the two illusions. "Save your ammo." she adds to Tomoyo and her bodyguard.

    She only spots the knife-woman after Xiaomu's taken her down, "Nice save there." she offers, grinning a bit before turning to intercept another group coming down the hallway. She's starting to get 'sloppy' sometimes not even bothering to dodge a slash or punch, instead just 'tanking' it on her Aura, absorbing all that energy to return it two fold to the attacker... but she's wearing down pretty quickly that way."

Mel Brock (941) has posed:
    Mel is watching the chopper come in with narrowed eyes... when it decides to open fire. "Shit-!" Her first instinct is a lunge to one side, a dive out of the direct line of fire. But she realizes quickly that those bullets are going to be a problem for more than just her; she's also got the goons on the roof to worry about. The goons who were just willing to shoot at her with lethal force, more than happy to gun her down on a rooftop just because it was their job to-

    Oh what the hell is she doing, she knows full well she's gonna save them.

    Bullets start glancing off of what seems like thin air. Mel has created a barrier over the rooftop, at an angle such that the bullets will glance off, which needs much less force than blocking them head-on. But that's a short-term solution, and while she /might/ be able to hold it off if it starts using stronger weapons, she's not willing to take that chance. She's gotta take it out.

    She can't reach it from that far away yet, so crippling it directly is out. She can't fling the air conditioners at it, because if they miss they're gonna ruin someone's day... and maybe even if they don't. So how-

    Mel looks at the air conditioners. She looks at the edge of the roof.

    Three air conditioners float up into the air, and Mel takes a running start, flinging herself over the edge with all three in tow.

    On the way down, one crunches loudly, flattening itself out until it's more like a 'thick panel of twisted metal' than an air conditioner. It then moves itself until it's right under Mel, whose feet settle onto it - and then it immediately banks around, 'catching' her and becoming her ride straight towards the helicopter. The other two units? They move around until they're right in front of her, forming a two-layer-thick shield against further bullets.

Yari Takane (691) has posed:
As for that wall of Dolls? Yari kicks and generally muscles her way through them! The result? She's covered in even more stab wounds than previous, bleeding horribly. There's a trail of blood leading to the ninja's location at this point.

Staren has posed:
    Staren's lying on his back on the stairs. He's already pulling a special grenade from his bag as he asks his team for ideas.

    It seems Yari had a similar one. And she was smart and set it to impact, too. He barely has time to /start/ to scramble away before the grenade hits him...

    Fortunately, his armor is way, /way/ tougher than he is. The fragments cut into his armor, some ricocheting off after and others lodging, but none penetrate, this time. Growling, he switches his armor to internal air supply and tosses his own grenade down the stairs where it turns into a rapidly-expanding cloud of gas. Another world's future tear gas of sorts, CR gas's side effects may include eye twitching and temporary blindness, severe coughing and breathing difficulty, skin irritation, and panic. On normal humans, it wears off after about twenty minutes... Staren announces, "If you don't want to die, STAY DOWN. It'll wear off eventually!" And then he charges down the stairs. <<Tear gas deployed! Stay away from the stairwell if you're not immune!>> he radios to his allies as he follows the trail of blood down the stairs!

Alice Margatroid (807) has posed:
    Alice smirks, the dolls ran into the lizard woman... there's tear gas around. Being a youkai means she could probably go in there without issue but, why risk it? Alice swipes her hand and ten spell circles produce twenty dolls that flies right into the smoke. "Capture them, don't injure them!" she gives a bit of a nod, and lets the dolls loose. "Go, my girls!"

    The dolls dive right into the smoke, unhindered by the tear gas, move to try and grab onto anyone and everyone in that smoky place, be it lizard or regular. They don't seem to have any weapons on them and they don't speak, but they try their best to get someone!

Tomoyo Daidouji has posed:
    =ROOF TEAM=

    On the actual roof, Mel decides to respond to overwhelming force with sheer radness. The helicopter pilot has no clue how to respond as she bends an air conditioner into a hoverboard for herself. However, his passenger has his own ideas as he gets out of his seat, grabs something and opens the door.

    That dude is a bad dude. Eyepatch, slicked hair, no shirt to reveal sweet Yakuza tattoos going up his left arm. But it's what he's carrying in his right hand that is cause for concern. An RPG, which he levels at Mel before firing!

    Meanwhile, inside the building, Staren floods the halls with tear gas. Weapons are either dropped or fired blindly as people scream in pain, eyes flooding. Alice sends her dolls to pursue the targets!

    =GROUND TEAM=

    The woman packing a knife is swiftly dispatched by Xiaomu, to the degree that she doens't even understand what happened. Meanwhile, the two illusions are displaced by a burst from Yang's gauntlets. Tomoyo and her guard seem confused at first, but eventually catch on. "The ones upstairs must be real. Alice says she's bleeding. Let's go." Tomoyo stalks upstairs, followed by the older woman.

    Things get a bit hairier now, but they actually start involving themselves against the onslaught of guards and criminals. The bodyguard produces a collapsible baton which she beats people harshly with, disarming with hard smacks to the wrist before putting them down with a strike to the face or throat. Tomoyo stays behind her, poking out to jab with that mirror, which crackles with electricity and causes people to convulse before passing out.

    They have more than a few flights to climb, but they're making progress.

    =YARI AND GREGORY=

    The poison seller has finally stopped screaming, if only from choking on the tear gas. Yari is all kinds of injured, but she makes it to the stairwell, dragging Gregory with him. Down they go... only to encounter a problem. The security gate is locked before her. The padlock is on her side, so she could probably pick or break it...

    But suddenly, a bunch of dolls emerge from the gas filtering down from upstairs to grab at him. And the heavy footsteps of an angry Staren pursing her are not far behind them.

    This is bad.

Yari Takane (691) has posed:
There's terribly little at this point that Yari can do, at least immediately against a grenade. Yet, tear gas is possibly the /best/ thing that could happen, given the alternatives. A frag grenade or an incendiary would likely outright have killed herself or Vust.

Eyes close as soon as realization dawns, she takes a kneel as everything seems to itch and burn, and she makes several handseals on pure reflex!

And then she lets out a breath, causing a massive burst of wind to slice into stairs, tearing up some railing! It /might/ hit Staren and company if they head down, but her goal is to send that tear gas wafting back up /towards/ them!

Finally, the ninja realizes she needs to cut losses. As that horde of dolls from Alice comes for them? She picks up the man, glares at him, and snarls.

"You've become too expensive for your services!" Then, she's all but /throwing/ him at Alice's little doll accomplice's! More handseals!

And then she's breathing fire to try to melt off that padlock on the security gate. Slam! Slam! She's then slamming her body against the door to try to get through!

Xiaomu (707) has posed:
With the rate of hostile encounters picking up, Xiaomu starts taking a more aggressive role in her team's ascent. By now, it's reminding her more and more of a few movies she's seen where the protagonist(s) need to make it through a building full of enemies with a handful of neutral or sympathetic parties; there are a ton of games with similar plots, to be sure, so she might be getting some of them mixed up.

In any case, Roc's Icebrand is seeing a lot of use tonight: the freezing shots which it fires are good for slowing attackers down for her allies to finish incapacitating them, and Xiaomu's a good enough shot to aim past her allies. "Yang," she observes in between encounters, "you may be tougher than a keg of nails but you AREN'T in invincibility mode. Pull back, catch your breath, and let me do some of the heavy lifting for a bit, okay?"

Plus, if Xiaomu takes the lead then she can use her staff and her wrestling moves instead of going through a lot of extra ammunition .... whatever kind of ammo the Icebrand uses.

Mel Brock (941) has posed:
    The twin air conditioners, stacked the way they are, are sufficient to shield Mel from bullets. A rocket-propelled grenade, an explosive projectile designed to penetrate hardened targets? That's a little more dicey. And Mel knows it.

    "Ah shit-"

    She flings one straight at the projectile. The other, as well as her telekinetic flight platform, she simply allows to drop into freefall. This, of course, means that she herself does the same. And the RPG comes fast enough that even this reaction only saves her a direct hit. She's still getting scorched pretty badly and pelted with debris besides. And while her Marshal uniform is bullet-resistant, it doesn't prevent her from being scorched or from the concussive force of the explosion, nor does it save a nice little cut from opening up across her cheek, just above her limiter.

    It's enough for her concentration to waver for a second, but with an effort of will she hauls it back, and takes hold of her 'hoverboard' again. By now she's close enough to no longer need the air conditioner, and with a quick glance to make sure it will be heading towards an empty field or a small lake or something of the sort, she tosses it aside.

    Then she reaches out with her mind, this time for the helicopter. Her plan is simple; break the tail off, break the rotors off, and then hold the chopper aloft with her mind. That way, the Bad Dude is going to have to stop shooting if he wants to keep living.

Yang Xiao Long has posed:
    Yang is a blazing flurry of fists and hot blooded kiai's. She's sending dudes flying through closed doors hard enough to rip said doors clean off their hinges, and she's not even using the gauntlets to augment her punches! But Xiaomu's got a very astute tag on the brawler's status. Her body is covered in a wavery, dim 'sheath' of yellow-orange energy, a few 'tears' in it showing where it's starting to weaken. She looks out of breath as well, panting after the latest engagement.

    "But I can still fight!" she complains, parrying another machete, before giving the guy a three shot in the midsection, then a heavy hammerblow to the head for good measure. "I can't leave you on the front without backup!"

Alice Margatroid (807) has posed:
    Alice's dolls blink a moment, INCOMING DANMAKU... oh wait, it's a person. CATCH! Twenty dolls move to hold onto every bit of person they can get to drag back up to the group. "Staren, incoming dolls." the dolls start flying up towards the group slowly, smiles upon their faces as they were successful, at least, they thought they were successful. Alice gives a bit of a smile before sending a few dolls up to help Mel, "I've got a few dolls coming to help you!"

Xiaomu (707) has posed:
"If the party tank goes down, party wipe ensues, and we can't afford to take risks with Tomoyo or her bodyguard," Xiaomu points out. "But if the exhausted tank swaps with the off-tank and recuperates, party can continue without wiping."

Not that Xiaomu usually considers herself a tank or even an off-tank; she's generally DPS and support. Still, if she has to step up so the group can get through without losing anyone, she'll do what she needs to.

Staren has posed:
    Staren passes the dolls carrying the target. Good. He's content to leave it there, but this is Tomoyo's op, and it seems the downstairs team is still going to go after her. Ice hits him, but one attack isn't going to stop him...

    "I appreciate you leaving him, I really do, but can I offer you terms of surrender? My allies want you too." If she doesn't just flip out and attack him, he keeps speaking: "Come quietly and healers will tend to you. The right spell clears the gas's effects right up. You'll be treated fairly and humanely. Our respective faction heads can negotiate what happens to you after that. What do you say?"

Tomoyo Daidouji has posed:
    =ROOF TEAM AND YARI=The problem with RPGs is the load time, and the potential for friendly fire when used inside its operational range. After Mel drops and throws a conditioner in its path, the explosion rocks the helicopter, making him fall back. As such, he has no time to prepare another shot before the officer starts ripping the vehicle apart.

    Oh, he is not happy about that at all.

    A knife is drawn, before he leaps from the helicopter, aiming to land on Mel's platform and engage her in a knife fight!

    Meanwhile, Alice's dolls grab hold of the poison seller, who is screaming and choking out of fear of them, and rage at Yari. But the tear gas has done quite a number on him, so his struggles are quite limp. Staren gives chase to Yari down the stairs, both of them finding the next floor empty. The security gate is actually unlocked this time, as are several subsequent ones as occupants flee the building... but then they encounter others, coming upstairs...

    =GROUND TEAM=

    "Can we focus please?" Tomoyo asks tersely as she shocks another attacker. They've made some good progress, and several occupants of the building are starting to flee past them on their way up. Behind them lay several guards, groaning from beatings or just frozen stiff. But from up above comes Yari, sprinting down like a bat out of hell...

    Tomoyo's bodyguard wastes no time. The ninja may note that it's the first one she took down when she infiltrated the Boutique. She raises that pistol and squeezes of several rounds at the bleeding lizard!

Mel Brock (941) has posed:
    Mel stands her ground. In fact, she gives the guy a flat stare, as if wondering if he's really that stupid.

    "So I just want to point out that if you break my concentration, you, me, this platform and that helicopter are all going straight down, and this ain't exactly a survivable fall. You really wanna rethink what you're about to do here, buddy."

    If he persists, he will find that Mel has enough focus left, just barely, to put up a barrier to prevent his knife from actually reaching her. She can't really do anything else right now, though.

Sanary Rondel has posed:
It's probably not a good idea to be in that building and not Yari right now. Why? Because one of the walls near the ground floor is about to get blown right open with an explosive eye laser, followed by a laughing white-haired woman wearing an eyepatch, her potentially familiar gray jacket fluttering behind her as she touches down inside the building.

     "Who. Hurt. My. Yari~?" Sanary sounds eerily cheerful as a swarm of bladed discs the size of old internet access CDs follow her in through that hole. Spotting some unfamiliar faces down the hall, she launches those discs straight at those figures before channeling energy into her eye, blowing more holes into the floor and ceiling in alternating blasts to try and find the injured ninja.

     "Ya-riii! I'm over here! If you're not Ya-riii, come out so I can give you a present~! It's... Uh. A mix tape!"

Yari Takane (691) has posed:
"I appreciate the terms." Comes Yari, breathlessly. There's one thing running through Yari's mind. Stall. Stall like now one's business. She hits her linkshell. She's reasonably sure help will be there /eventually/!

"And I'm pretty sure you think that would end well for me. But there's only two ways someone with my amount of crimes will end up: executed, or imprisoned for life. Sorry."

She spits out some blood from overuse of magic and pure physical suffering.

"I have people I love I need to get back to. I'd rather go back in a coffin than rot in a cell."

And so, the ninja concentrates on running the hell away from Staren. Right out into the floor with Tomoyo, Xiaomu, Yang, and company she runs, likely with the armored catboy on her heels!

The ninja is far, far too exhausted and weak from bloodloss to react. A gun points for her. She intentionally crumples to avoid any lethal shots! One misses. Two more slam into her leg, and then a final one clips her neck. There's a horrible gurgling sound as a distinctly unhealthy amount of blood streams down from that particular gunshot.

The ninja is a horrid, bloody mess, barely able to keep herself from passing out in a heap. Her gaze turns to Tomoyo amongst all of them, and she gives a horrible smile.

"...You're...better than you look, little...nnngh...one." She chokes out, voice caught between dimming fear of death, and honest respect.

And then, the /WALL AND FLOOR EXPLODES/ to reveal a laughing, white-haired woman in a very, very familiar coat, with a voice she couldn't miss no matter /how/ cheerfully psychotic it is right now. Also, are those...old aol cd's!?

Whatever. The ninja has no time to ponder sudden Sanary-based hair dyings, as she finally turns back to the group.

"Hah...hah...not time for a coffin just yet." Then, the ninja shoves herself to her feet, trying to make her way towards the convenient exit offered by Sanary.

"OVER HERE!" She yells out for Sanary's benefit.

Xiaomu (707) has posed:
Oh hey, incoming ninja-lizard. No matter who's currently on point, Xiaomu prepares to --

Get knocked over as part of the building explodes. That wasn't really in the script, was it? She should hope not. Xiaomu plants her staff next to her, recovering her balance and regaining her footing, and hears Sanary being all crazy. Protecting Tomoyo (and her bodyguard; said bodyguard may be badass but she's still a civilian by Xiaomu's standards) still takes priority, and -

There goes Yari while the sage fox is sorting out her next move. Xiaomu sighs, "Okay, I really DID need to bring the grenades this time," and draws Roc's Icebrand one more time. She may not be able to bring Yari down for either capture or the kill, but she can at least give Sanary a cold shoulder by proxy.

Quite literally, in fact: she's trying to hit Yari with enough ice shots before losing line-of-sight to encase the lizard-nin's shoulder in a solid layer of ice. (And yes, she DOES know that most reptiles are cold-blooded, so she does know what that would likely do to Yari ... but even so, Xiaomu has her doubts that 'worst-case scenario' is going to play out.

Either way, the sage fox isn't going haring off to chase Yari down. Tomoyo and her bodyguard are going to need protection getting out of here. Hopefully Yang's not about to do anything crazier than her usual standards.

Staren has posed:
    "Ask your fachead if that's true." Staren replies to the comment about Yari's fate being sealed. When the lizard refuses to come quietly, Staren draws his phaser and starts shooting stun shots. They don't want her dead, so at this point he'd rather she escape than get killed. Again, it encourages feds to be willing to lose if their lives aren't always on the line, right?

    If Yari can reach Sanary though, he won't persue further.

Tomoyo Daidouji has posed:
    =ROOF=

    Mel confronts the man before her with cool logic as his knife fails to pass through her forcefield. "You come into my building, attack my men, and expect me to roll over and take it? I'd rather die!" He drops the knife and... leaps from the platform.

    But just as he does, he produces a remote from his pants pocket, lifts a safety cap and pushes a button. And suddenly, the whole building shakes as explosives planted on the foundations go off. The whole structure starts to teeter dangerously as it all begins to come down. And Sanary's laser blasts are certainly not helping in that regard.

    =EVERYONE ELSE=

    Down where all the action is, Tomoyo meets Yari's look. But her look is not one of defiance, of triumph. Rather, she looks horrified at how injured Yari is, and can only watch as she vanishes down a laser-created hole, that mirror slack in her grasp. And then the whole place begins to shake, the structure weak and starting to fall. "Oh... we need to go. Alice, escape through the roof with the suspect, okay? We need to go down." All that zeal is gone as she and the bodyguard start taking the stairs, sticking close to Xiaomu.

Yari Takane (691) has posed:
On the one hand, a bunch of ice slamming into and encasing her shoulder means that bit of her won't just bleed out instantly. On the other hand, ice + injured cold blooded lizard is not a good combination. Her single good arm freezes up, just as she's getting close to the point of falling towards Sanary's vague direction.

The ninja is /definitely/ moving slower now. She can't exactly respond to Staren, though. Bullet to the throat and all. The look backwards to him might speak to disbelief on that particular thought, though!

And then, down the Sanary-rabbit-hole she goes! Hopefully into Sanary's arms. For some reason, Tomoyo's horrified look manages to stick with her even as consciousness fades.

Sanary Rondel has posed:
Hearing Yari's voice from above, Sanary raises an eyebrow before stepping on two of the discs and moving up those holes in the floor like she's riding an invisible elevator. Some of the extra discs are being sent down each floor as she makes her way up, of course, because...

     ... Because screw these people, that's why. They're the ones that hurt her Yari. The ones that caused Yari all this suffering. The ones that got Yari into this mess. Why not have them suffer for it, too? All of them need to suffer. ALL OF THEM.

     Good thing the building's exploding or... Something. Why else would it be shaking so much? There's still some semblance of strategy remaining in the corrupted healer's head as she reaches the floor just below Yari's, a large bulk of those discs still trailing behind her. Said discs go zipping past the ninja and hurled down where Sanary can only assume is the hallway that the Union pursuers are. Sure, she can't see them from where she is, and most of them might just be getting stuck in the ceiling or random doors, but...

     Sanary /is/ a psychotically cheerful spite machine right now. Scooping up Yari like a delicate sack of bloody potatoes, she just keeps on smiling overly sweetly as she gives the Au Ra a gentle pat on the back. "There you are~ Come on. Let's get you back home and fixed up. We can tear everyone apart later, hm~?" Channeling some healing magic into her to stem the flow of blood coming out of her... Everything, the discs fall in line behind the white-haired healer as she blows another hole in the wall, then channels energy into her anklets to try and fly right on out of there! She does pause in midair to fire off another explosive heat blast somewhere vaguely aimed at the ground floor, however, because...

     Once again, SCREW THOSE PEOPLE.

Staren has posed:
    When the building shakes, Staren checks the feed from his drones.

    SERIOUSLY?!

    Apparently Mel's doing something. Watching which way she's going, he starts blowing through walls with his arsenal until he gets outside, and tries to catch her!

Xiaomu (707) has posed:
When a building that you're standing in shakes like THAT, it's a really bad sign ... and Xiaomu is from a Tokyo which is as familiar with minor earthquakes (and other Quakes, of the non-FPS variety) as any other modern Tokyo. Plus, Yari's escaped, but at least the upstairs team got the poison-dealer. She thinks.

Well, no point woolgathering about it now. "Tomoyo, Yang, Ms. Bodyguard, get close around me!" Xiaomu calls out as she stuffs her ice-elemental handgun back into its holster, gripping her staff extra-tightly. "Things are gonna get bumpy, but try and trust me! Here we go ... !!"

Hoarfrost spreads out where the butt of Xiaomu's staff meets the carpet, thickening into a layer of ice underneath the group's feet. Around their feet too, to a minor extent - a little bit of extra security against anyone getting dislodged, but mostly, the sage fox is channeling her ice magic to create a thick chunk of ice underneath them and a more moderate wall around the rest of their bodies. Some of it is thin enough and clear enough to see through relatively undistorted, too; it's going to get chilly, but there's no real help for it - unless people would rather be in danger of hitting debris (or getting hit by it) on the way out, and Xiaomu's in too much of a hurry to do a whole lot of finesse thing. The icy shell forms up faster than it takes to read about it, really, and then --

"HIGH SPEED XIAOMU!!! ... And company!!"

Then they're in motion, the icy 'sled' propelling itself towards the same hole Sanary's lasers just made in the floor. Hey, they need to get down to ground level again, without taking extra collision damage on the way out; that rules out the stairs *or* the elevator, and since Sanary just made that nice convenient passage for them ... well, hopefully she'll be too preoccupied rescuing Yari to exact retribution against the ground party.

And hopefully by the time that's an issue, Xiaomu will have made enough ice around the outside of the 'sled' to protect herself and her charges further from spite-laden parting shots.

Either way, once the ice sled *reaches* the ground floor,, Sanary will likely be in full withdrawal with Yari in tow and won't really have a clear line of fire. The conjured ice-sled slides briefly, almost skidding as Xiaomu wills it into a sharp turn, and then it heads back out the front door of the hilariously ironically-named Gentle Brooks, soon to be yet another Urbanian construction site.

Only after the population-4 chunk of ice slides to a halt against the front of the cafe where the good guys met up does the ice melt/shatter, liberating Xiaomu, Tomoyo, Yang, and Ms. Bodyguard from its admittedly-frigid confines.

And an exhausted-looking Xiaomu just flops against the storefront window, "Make that *two* more parfaits ..." Her stomach grumbles as though to re-emphasize that desire.

Mel Brock (941) has posed:
    The man leaps from Mel's platform. "Shit-"

    He pushes a button. "/Shit-/"

    Explosions rock the building. Right down at the foundation. Mel only needs a glance to know that's precision demolition work; that building is coming down. "Shitshit/shit/-"

    There's no time for her to consider her next actions. No time for her to do anything, except belt out a rapid-fire pair of instructions. And then calmly reach up-

    -and take her limiter off.

    Anyone with psychic senses can feel it. It's like a nuclear reactor switching on. Power blossoms. Immense, incredible, furious power. Where before there were only the faintest glimmers of purple, her telekinetic power now shows with a torrent of shimmering, gleaming violet. It wraps around the building. The teetering stops. Everywhere in the building is lit up by shimmery streamers of purple light, flitting through the air, along surfaces, everywhere. The structure shudders, but holds under the sum total of Mel Brock's telekinetic power.

    The helicopter and its no-doubt terrified pilot are slowly lowered towards the ground. The light surrounding it winks out as soon as it touches down. And after that, there's nothing except the relatively small psychic holding back the immense building's collapse with her will alone.

    The air is filled with a mixture of 'loud growls of pain' and 'furious, profuse swearing'.

Tomoyo Daidouji has posed:
    The whole building shakes, shudders and begins to collapse... until it is encased in unyielding walls of telekinetic force, propping it up, keeping it together for the High Speed Xiaomu express. Tomoyo's bodyguard holds her charge tight to protect her from the violent impacts as they speed towards the ground floor.

    Once outside, Tomoyo looks up. Up at Staren leaping from the building to catch Mel when she's done. Up at Mel herself, screaming and spluttering from the exertion. Up at Alice with the pathetic figure of Gregory. Then down, at the collapsing structure, down at the dead body of the building owner. Off into the distance, where Sanary and Yari made their escape.

    "This wasn't worth it."

Mel Brock (941) has posed:
    Only once she's sure. Only once Mel Brock is sure that her allies are safe, that innocents have had time to evacuate to a safe distance, does she release her power. All that rippling, shimmering purple light winks out, and the building is no longer supported. It will be collapsing within the next moment or two, for certain.

    Mel takes that moment to reach up a hand and switch on her radio for one last message-

    "Yeah okay, we got the bad guy, building's coming down, passing out now kay thanks bye."

    -before she loses consciousness, ceases to support herself, and begins falling alongside her flattened AC/hoverboard.