4243/Aggressive Surveying

Aggressive Surveying
Date of Scene:	21 June 2016
Location:	The Marshlands
Synopsis:	Sephiroth conducts some drilling to search for sweet, sweet Mako and brings his merry band of confed agents and super criminals along for a picnic!
Cast of Characters:	626, 640, Sanary Rondel, 880, 949, 991, 1003

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Sephiroth (1003) has posed:
The ShinRa Electric Company is an entity of corporate greed and crass disregard for its homeworld's life. Mako, the source of most of the world's electricity comes from what is literally the life force of the planet. Its use is slowly but surely making the Planet die.

They do not care in the least, as long as the Gil rolls in.

It is this ceaseless desire for power and money that brings this crew to the middle of nowhere, near a swamp teeming with life. Life, generally, means Mako. Mako means money, and ShinRa is always where the money is. Where ShinRa is, Sephiroth is.

The company has sent their greatest crea--asset out into the wilds, to protect the survey team from errant and aggressive wildlife, to deter interlopers from interfering by his presence, and to drive them off with his monstrous strength if they refuse.

He's brought help. Just in case.

The survey team has their equipment assembled, and without further preamble, they begin to drill. It is noisy, disruptive and dangerous. It may call attention.

Stygian Mirror (991) has posed:
    A young woman sits near one of the drills, reading. She seems to be perusing a pamphlet provided by ShinRa, likely filled with propaganda about building the future today. Still, the information inside wasn't half-bad, especially if they'd included a rundown of Mako and Materia as payment. That's because the woman is a mercenary, and she doesn't work for money, just information. Talk about affordable.

    A noise-cancelling pair of headphones rest over her fox ears awkwardly (probably also with ShinRa's logo on them), though the twitching of her cat tail even as she sits perfectly still indicates she's not at rest. Those drills are noisy, they weren't kidding with the warning.

    A Soulsteel sword remains hanging from her waist, ghostly faces and hands occasionally dancing on the surface of the pitch black metal, like they're trying to get out. But right now, she seems rather focused on her reading material. She's here to guard; if nothing happens, then great, easy jobs are never unwelcome.

Copy Rock (949) has posed:
    Some of that help, seems to have gotten a day-pass from his elementry school!

Watching the drill bore viciously into the earth is what looks like a young boy of nine or teen. He has posted himself up on a cargo crate, legs dangling over the side, heels of his sneakers absently thumping at it's exterior, wearing at the embossed SHINRA logo there in set!

Done up in short-pants and a baseball tee (blue to grey), the young man looks listless, bored, chin resting on the heel of a up-raised palm. If he is at all bothered by the pesky insects that make swamp-lands their home, he does not show it, bare arms and legs free of the tell-tale welts of bites or stings.

He watches, bored stiff and petulent, it isn't long before he raises his voice in complaint.

"Heeeey, how long will this take?!" he demands, straightening his posture from his beleagured slump.

Echo (640) has posed:
     Echo kept her presence relatively unseen, she followed as a passenger inside Sephiroth's shadow, visible as a pair of red eyes in it that peeked out here and there out of the corner of one's eye. Of course, she didn't doubt who's shade she'd hitched a ride on would realize she's there, she was doing this to remain subtle--more subtle than she was normally, what what with her stark white-winged and black-dressed Elvira-looking batty self could hope to accomplish otherwise.

Sanary Rondel has posed:
Following not far behind the survey team and the silver-haired swordsman is a one-eyed woman in a fancy white coat of her own, a complicated-looking gunaxe strapped to one hip and a riot shield braced in one arm. Sanary adjusts her eyepatch as she glances about at their surrounding rapidly, her hand occasionally reaching for the weapon's handle as if she's being a little careful about interlopers.

     "You know if there's anything good to eat out here? Like a... Wild boars or anything?" She speaks in her normal volume, unlikely to really be audible through all the drilling noise. She does notice the folly of her question a few moments later, though, and shouts a fair bit louder while turning towards her companions for this trip.

     "You think we'll find any wild game out here?!"

Stygian Mirror (991) has posed:
    "IF THERE'S ANYTHING STILL AROUND HERE WITH THIS NOISE IT'S PROBABLY BIG ENOUGH TO EAT THE DRILL, SO MAYBE." Mirror answers Sanary, almost shouting, a mix of the fact she's wearing those noise-cancelling headphones and trying to compensate for the noise.

    To Copy Rock, she even manages to produce an answer out of her pamphlet. "IT SAYS HERE IF THEY FIND SOMETHING THEY'RE PROBABLY GOING TO TRY STAYING HERE FOREVER, SO I GUESS IT DEPENDS ON IF THEY FIND SOMETHING AND HOW WORTH STAYING IT IS."

    She scrolls down, reading the next topic in her brochure.

    "IT ALSO SAYS THERE'S A SALE ON SHINRA-MODEL MOTORCYCLES, WHAT'S A MOTORCYCLE."

Sephiroth (1003) has posed:
Sephiroth's unsettling green eyes land on Copy Rock and he shaks his head, brushing hair out of his face with his right hand. Why the right? Because the left is carrying his sword. It is very large. The end. He doesn't seem to speak loudly, but his voice seems to carry.

"It will be done when it is done."

He returns his gaze to the horizon, feeling that itch between his shoulders as his very shadow is used to sneak around in. He is a professional. He ignores it. He glances at Sanary and shrugs.

"I am unfamiliar with this location. I don't know."

All the while, the drill roars and belches oily black smoke that can be seen for miles. The poor ecosystem!

Nero (880) has posed:
     "Mhmhmhmhm!"

     Came a sudden imperious laugh from some distance away. There is a burst of flame that jets above like a shower of fireworks, revealing a blonde girl clad in red, with a large, black and red blade embedded into the ground. Her hands rested atop the pommel and her eyes opened.

     "Behold! It is I, Her Imperial Majesty, and Ruler of The Infinite Skies, Emperor Nero Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus, of the New Imperial Roman Republic!"

     That was a damn mouthful, wasn't it? Rather daring of her to just...make a giant show of opposing them though. She smirked, thrusting an arm outwards, the other remaining atop her downturned blade. "Now! I order you to cease your unsanctioned digging upon Roman territory and return from whence you came!"

     Nero closed her eyes, hand coming to rest upon her upper chest. "However! I am a kind and benevolent Emperor! I shall not strike you down if you leave immediately!" And then those green eyes opened again, confidence radiating from her form. "But if you refuse, then I shall bring about Glorious Revolution once again!"

     These were the Emperor's terms.

     ...But wait, Roman Territory? When did that happen!?

Kyra Hyral (626) has posed:
"Nero! Where did you-"

    In start contrast to the exceptionally dramatic entrance of the Emperor of the New Imperial Roman Republic, Kyra Hyral, rogue white mage, stumbles onto the scene, pushing through spanish moss-draped trees and nearly tripping over cypress roots. She catches herself by reaching out to grab a tree trunk and straightens, catching sight of the group of people assembled to drill and ravage the environment.

    She immediately has a quick flashback to N'raha's world and the Garleans. "Uhhh..."

    Of course Nero would declare this her territory. Was this /anyone's/ territory, she had to wonder? Her instinct is to pull out her phone and check but not while arrayed against this motley crew. Instead, she composes herself, straightening tall, lifting her chin, "Yes. As Praetor I /demand/ these scoundrels be removed from these lands /immediately/!"

    After a moment, she holds out her hand, makes a fist, then inverts it for a thumbs down.

Sanary Rondel has posed:
Sanary should have brought headphones. But dammit, those things are so expensive, and it's not like she's an audiophile or something. Then again, she still has all of those CDs to go through...

     Next time. Thankfully, Mirror and Sephiroth are both able to get through to her clearly enough, and the healer nods at the former while frowning just a bit at the latter in disappointment. Not that she's disappointed in him specifically, but...

     Well, maybe they'll be lucky and something to eat will find them. Alternatively, they could get found by a very familiar lady in a red dress. Peering at Nero as she starts shouting, Sanary blinks slowly while holding her free hand up in a lazy wave.

     "Hey, Nero! Wh.. What?! Did your title get longer?!" She calls out while waving a little higher, pretending not to hear the rest of her demand while pushing her ear to turn it a little more towards the Saber. "Seas... C-section?! Are you having a kid?! Congratulations!"

     She might be laying it on just a little thick there. Then again, that drill /is/ really loud, and when Kyra shows up? She's legitimately having trouble hearing anything. "H... Hey, Kyra! Wait, when'd you get a T in your name?!" The gestures are enough of a sign, at least, and the axe-wielder rests her hand on it finally while a foamy gray mass starts to bubble up into the air around her. It looks like she's preparing something!

Sephiroth (1003) has posed:
Sephiroth regards Nero and Kyra. He does not sneer, he does not use a harsh tone. He sounds, in fact, quite polite. His eerie, catlike eyes fixate on Nero, the Masamune held at his side as he addresses her.

"I am Sephiroth, SOLDIER: First Class, General of ShinRa Security Forces. I offer you one chance to leave us in peace. This is a simple survey mission, we have no aggressive intent."

His attention swivels to Kyra, shaking his head at the 'Praetor'. "Should you choose to press the issue, you will be repelled. Forcefully."

Echo (640) has posed:
     At Sanary's mention of wild game, a silver platter with what looked like a roast haunch of meat sitting on it would pop out of Sephiroth's shadow nearby her, steaming hot! It was the fabled Castlevanian Wall-meat, now that Dracula had been gone, it seemed Echo had a handle on the supply of it from the castle! Ah well, it wouldn't be much for her to just grab it and gnaw at it. Sanary usually only ate meat. She was good like that.

     "Heh heh heh... looks like we've got trouble, boys," Echo's voice wafted up out of Sephiroth's shadow, though she didn't show herself, yet.

Copy Rock (949) has posed:
    The attention of the boy robot snaps over to the sight of the conflagration and the woman that appears following it! His eyes saucer, wonder and delight, narrowing into a wicked grin as he plants his hands to he crate and vaults to his feet.

"About time, forever? That's dumb!" he whispered to himself, dusting off his hands as he strode along the soft earth. Sephiroth spoke officiously, Rock backed it with crass!

A flash enveloped him and he was clad all up in his battle-blues. Adjusting his helmet and flipping out the short length of his purple scarf, Mega Man stood as tall as he could and adopted a intimidating expression... as much as he could.

"Yeah!" he piped, "Buzz off!"

Stygian Mirror (991) has posed:
    Oh, other people have shown up. They're shouting.

    They're too far for Mirror to clearly make them out, sensitive hearing or not. Since she recognizes neither, the white-haired fox-eared young woman turns towards Sephiroth, especially as he says the word 'forcefully'. That makes things a bit more clear, although Mirror doesn't rise from her sitting position by a drill yet.

    "DO YOU WANT ME TO HANDLE IT?" she shouts towards Sephiroth.

    She makes a mental note to invest in magical noise-cancelling headphones next time, because this is torture. Surely someone somewhere has spent time researching magical alternatives, there has to be a big market for this.

Nero (880) has posed:
     Nero shook her head pityingly.

     "Alas. However, such an answer is expected. Therefore..." She trailed off, eyeing the various drills and taking stock of their general build and location. ... Yes, it may be possible to disrupt this horrid operation if they targeted those chiefly.

     The Servant smirked and pulled her sword, Aestus Estus up from the ground, holding it with two hands in a traditional manner of discipline. "Now... since you have refused to disband and return to your dark corners, then I have little choice but to disperse this pitiable operation with mine own two hands!" Her weapon was raised back, and flames burst to life across the surface.

     And then there is a burst of dirt and debris as the Saber Class entity stepped forward, speeding across the ground rapidly towards the drill Mirror happened to be by. Right into enemy ranks! Was this girl insane!? She just may be, given the wide grin on her face!

     "Rosa Icthys!"

     And once in range, she let loose a furious flaming slash in a wide spread, sending burning waves billowing outwards with oppressing force as she unleashed her technique, not upon Mirror, no. But upon the drill itself!

     This was going to be a disaster.

     Good luck, Kyra!

Sephiroth (1003) has posed:
The silver haired General scoffs at Nero, even as she literally blazes into the work area and torches the drill. The technicians scatter, running for their lives as the drill burns and bursts, shutting down with a POP!

For a moment, all is silent save the crackle of the flames. Even the woldlife has gone quiet, like they are in hiding because they know what's coming.

Sephiroth Frowns.

"So be it."

With no burst of magic, no outward sign of aid, Sephiroth moves. In this short burst, he is almost faster than the eye can see, a black and silver streak. The Masamune, held in one hand, swings like lightning at Nero. This is efficiency of motion. Use of skills trained in since childhood. Even so, something seems off.

It's almost like he's holding back.

Stygian Mirror (991) has posed:
    Oh, it looks like Sephiroth won't have to answer her.

    Mirror's eyes catch sight of the charging, red-dressed Servant. How hard it would be to ignore that flamboyant a person, even if you tried with all your might. Her sheathed sword seems to blur, disappearing like it was eaten by the void. It reappears in her hands, in the same moment she uses to get up and put herself in the path of Nero's flaming wave.

    Her Soulsteel blade parries the wave of fire, as though it was a solid sword. Rather than continue past her, the flames seem halted, waiting for the blow on Mirror to resolve itself before continuing.

    Whether the attack was too sudden or Mirror lacks the strength to fully block it isn't clear, but whichever it was, it results in the sword technique scorching a line across the young woman's chest, an inch under shoulder level. Her reinforced tunic took the hit, but there's no doubt that heat and force must have drawn blood underneath. On the bright side, the flames never reach the drill.

    Mirror takes the headphones off her head, throwing them aside. She winces at the noise, but she needs her hearing to fight more than she needs to not be defeaned by the noise.

    She stops herself from counterattacking when Sephiroth dives into melee. Seems she'll be content guarding her drill.

Kyra Hyral (626) has posed:
"HI SANARY!" Kyra has to shout to be heard over the LOUD DRILL and even then apparently Sanary's having trouble with that. She doesn't get the T comment though, the confusion passing over her quickly. "HEY WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE? IS THIS A CONFEDERATE OPERATION OR SOMETHING?"

    In contrast, Sephiroth's calm retort gets a shake of the head, "YOU'RE TECHNICALLY TRESSPASSING IN NEW ROME! PLUS YOU'RE KIND OF MAKING A MESS WITH YOUR SURVEY! YOU'RE GOING TO HAVE TO STOP!"

    Then Nero takes action. Kyra's quick to move, gesturing with a hand out towards the Saber-class servant. "WALL!" she shouts, a strange, glistening magic shield wrapping around the blonde-haired womann, weaving an improved defense around her, making her a much, much harder target. As for Kyra herself...

    She reaches underneath her hoodie, grabbing guns hidden in under-shoulder holsters, pulling a pair of handguns. One such handgun is considerably more ornate than the other, engraved and embellished. It also seems to be magitech of some kind to those sensitive to seeing such. As for the other, it looks considerably more 'normal' than the other one, as if Kyra picked it up from a modern-era Earth of some kind.

    This is further illustrated when she fires the guns-the ornate one has no kickback while the other one /does/, yet both expell bullets. One is aimed at Sephiroth-the magitech bullet, which is completely solid and lacking in gunpowder-while the other is aimed at Mirror.

Sanary Rondel has posed:
Sanary's eye flits towards that roast of meat. Where did that even come from? Why is it there? Is it edible? It sure looks like it... Wait.

     Priorities! Shaking her head quickly, Sanary turns her attention back to the task at hand: Repelling the survey team's would-be assailants! Sure, she hasn't exactly had the best luck facing Nero in combat before, and with Kyra around to make matters even trickier with what she can only assume is excessive amounts of poison...

     It's probably not a huge surprise that it's going to take multiple people to handle this threat. "Nah, this is a... Actually, I don't know what this is! I think it's a company thing!" A pause. "Different company! And I'm pretty sure Nero doesn't have any... What's it called.. Uh. Jisdiction here!"

     Almost.

     Sanary's not going to just stand back and do nothing, of course, hurling herself forward with a magic-boosted leap and landing with a brief stagger not too far from where Mirror is just in time to catch those headphones right to the face. Setting them around her neck for safe storage and sporting a faint reddish mark on her forehead, she plants that shield against the ground before starting to focus her magical energy outwards.

     The target: Stygian Mirror! She had tanked Nero's flaming slash earlier, after all, so it's only natural that she'd be the first recipient of the Confederate healer's... Healing! Regeneration boosting, to be more specific, and the healer even directs a green line of energy 'linking' herself to Mirror to grant her direct access to the one-eyed girl's magic energy pool.

Copy Rock (949) has posed:
    Welp, that looks like they'll get to go home early!

After they walk all over the rude dudes that just broke their drill at least!

Content to let Sephiroth deal with the loud woman that claimed to be some REALLY, REALLY, REALLY, REALLY, REALLY old guy, Rock watched on, bemused by the fact that.. she actually pulled it off.!

"Weren't you supposed to protect that...?" he wondered aloud in the new quiet that crept over the swamp.

Ah well, not his job, not his tech! His shoulders rose and fell with a hapless shrug.

Gunfire drew his attention to Kyra, his lips screwing up with irritation as she double dips with her guns on two targets. "Right, lets do it!" he piped, slapping a fist into a open palm, his right hand materializing into the Buster Cannon!

He picked up into a brisk trot, attempting a wide orbit around the gunslinger before he popped of a trio of shots-

PEW-PEW-PEW!

Pellets of solar energy ziping from the focusing lens of his cannon and streaking towards Kyra Hyral.

Echo (640) has posed:
     Once the drill is taken out, the noise dies down enough that most people are not used to the incoming silence, likely. It is then that Echo actually shows herself, rising up and out of Sephiroth's shadow like a person coming up from under water. Of course, the way she moved up and out of it made it seem like she was being pushed up by some kind of elevator, until her high heeled feet were touching the ground, anyway--then she stopped.

     "Gentlemen--Captain, Evil Mega Man, silvery-haired swordsman, red-eyed fox-girl neko-jin--wait, is she even with us?--we seem to be at an impasse of sorts," Echo's yellow, cat-like eyes focused on Kyra, grinning.

     "And a school girl too, who hates zombies, and other undead things--well I say that's life-ist, that, where is the freedom for the biologically challenged? I say we END this heartless oppression!" Echo's eyes glowed blood red and bony hands began to dig their way out of the dirt beneath the technician's feet, all around everyone as skeletal figures began to rise up at the bat lady's beck and call.

Stygian Mirror (991) has posed:
    DRILL NOISES + GUN BANG BANG = UNHAPPY FOX-PERSON.

    This simple mathematic formula results in Mirror taking a bullet straight to the shoulder, causing her to slam back into the drill she'd just shielded from Nero's attack (by taking that one to the face, too). She winces, reaching for the wound as though it were an arrow wound-- and finding no arrow to pull out, mutters under her breath.

    "Oh we are off to a really bad start, ow."

    Healing is-- not so nice, though. As the gunshot wound begins to close (being the faster one to heal) thanks to Sanary, Mirror pulls a throwing knife out of her gauntlet and jams it in the wound.

    "AFTER! HEAL ME AFTER!"

    The explanation isn't difficult to grok. Out of the wound, blood oozes and spirals, going into the fox-woman's free hand. It forms into a pistol, a copy of the one Kyra fired at her. Standard, no special features, excepting the fact it's made out of blood and black Essence. But that's alright.

    Mirror points it at Kyra. There's no gunshot. The round that heads for her wails and screams instead, a bullet-shaped blot of Essence surrounded by a wraith. The Screaming Wraith Bullet will have the same impact as a regular bullet, but if it actually hits, Kyra's going to get a brief glimpse of the screaming wraith, as it, very very very briefly, overwhelms her sight and hearing with... well, a jumpscare. It's a jumpscare bullet.

Kyra Hyral (626) has posed:
"What do you mean you don't know what it is!? Is Shinra allied with the 'feds or not, Sanary!" Funny how she's not asking Sephiroth himself that-argh-ENEMY HEALING-Kyra can throw the healing wrench in the works but right now, she's not going to have that luxury. Not with two people suddenly jumping on her. She's immediately concerned about the guy that can turn his arm into a cannon (despite it being cool) since he's /firing/ at her. It immediately makes her take cover around a cypress tree, moving about it as Copy Rock circles. The tree burns and splinters around her as she strives to not take a direct hit. She hears Echo taunting her, raising the dead all around her in the swamp-which is actually the least of her worries. Of all the things to be afraid of here, zombies are at the bottom of the list for a white mage like her.

    Her right hand slides the Psyber Special, which is the normal gun, back into the holster and reaches for a device on the back of her left hand in that moment as she takes cover behind the tree. Unfortunately, it's hard to take cover for two people at once-soon to be 2+ when zombies are taken into account-and an essance bullet slams into her, overwhelming her senses with a screaming wraith. Kyra shrieks, her hand fumbling against the Matter Manipulator, which expells the item she was about to reach for in a haphazard fashion.

    While Kyra is overwhelmed, the flash grenade falls at her feet and bursts, unleashing a sunlight-grade blast of light in all directions around her. Typically this'll inflict the status effect BLIND on her world.

Nero (880) has posed:
     So be it.

     Sephiroth disappeared. And at the same time, Wall was cast on Nero. And it was a good thing too, because that lightning quick slash impacted the barrier first, drawing the Servant's attention, and giving her time to raise Aestus Estus. Just in time for the two weapons to clash! A shower of sparks follow, and Nero skids backwards quite a ways. "Hm! Well now, I see that you are simply not merely a pretty face, Sir Sephiroth! Mhmhmhm! This shall be interesting!" She quips, lowering her sword and gripping it tighter. Her eyes quickly took in the current battle situation. Sanary was standing back, preparing to defend and heal as usual. Echo was summoning up minions. The blue kid donned some kind of suit and helmet and was shooting at Kyra... And Mirror completely defended against the flame blast from Rosa Icthys.

     This was going to take some doing.

     That drill needed to be stopped. Total victory was not really in the gameplan. And so, the Roman Emperor smirked. "Invictus Spiritus." She spoke, a glow of red particles surrounding her form and infusing into her body, before vanishing. "Now, allow me to strike once more!" She stated dramantically, dashing forward towards Sephiroth yet again.

     She didn't announce any special techniques this time, and that skill from earlier did not seem to power her up. She was inhumanly fast and strong, but for the SOLDIER who was holding back... Well, her flurry of red and black slashes were likely managable. But even still, the Servant was reckless, fighting not to overcome him, but to find an opening and slip past!

Sephiroth (1003) has posed:
The drill is not as deceased as once thought! The wash of flame obscured it briefly, and it /does/ go silent, but that's because its handlers ran and the safeties kicked on, shutting it off.

The General is shot at! It obviously hits, but he tanks it like a pro with merely a grunt. He doesn't even bleed. Is this man human? What is he?

Glowing green eyes regard Nero as she intones and becomes infused with what he assumes is magic. As she speaks her intentions, the SOLDIER smirks and replies.

"Come and try."

Nero explodes into a chaotic flurry, her red blade weaving a curtain of death. The Masamune counters, it's seven foot length moving as swiftly as a rapier. He makes it look effortless. Sheet lightning and sparks blaze into the sky upon every ringing impact of blades. The ringing of steel(?) on steel(?) shatters the quiet. He is meeting the Servant blow for blow, concentrating on holding her back. He's not seeming to press into an attack. Yet.

Sanary Rondel has posed:
Thankfully, Sanary's quick enough on the draw to realize that maybe she shouldn't do the healing thing so quickly with Mirror opting to reopen the wound with a FREAKING KNIFE. She watches in awe at that sight of the blood pistol forming in the fox woman's hand, stepping back a bit in case she needs more space for whatever it is she's doing. "Uh... Gotcha!"

     The link is still there to provide Mirror with an alternate source of power, at least! Just in case, really, and it's probably for the best considering that her attention is still focused on Kyra. "Shinra? No, I thought they were with the Union!" Sanary's getting her Shinras mixed up, isn't she? She does look legitimately confused for a moment at that, peering at Sephiroth and Nero not too far from where her allies and Kyra are, her attention soon being drawn towards the White Mage herself at that scream.

     That, of course, draws Sanary's attention at just the right time to not notice that flashbang rolling down. As she prepares to direct another green line of magic towards Echo, the burst of light and noise overloads the axe healer's senses, forcing her to duck behind the shield for a moment as she howls in pain.

     At least her hearing isn't getting messed up as much as it could be. The drill's really doing a number on that on its own!

Copy Rock (949) has posed:
    "Wah-!?" barks Mega Man once the grenade cooks off, dazzling his optic sensors and filling them with dozens and dozens of artifacts and errors. He staggers, tripping over his own feet and going down in the marshy earth with another grunt of complaint.

"N'no fair!" he complains, pressing a hand to the earth as he drags himself into a knee, rubbing the Buster limb at his eyes as his visual programming tries to correct and repair the damager he had suffered from the overload. He blinked and squinted, trying to shake away the daze with his head. "Stupid.. tricky-" he grumbled to himself as he ambled to his feet, squinting severely.

He peered about, blearily. The smouldering wood of the tree that had intruded between himself and Kyra shone brightly enough to see. Mustering himself, he squared his shoulders and CHARGED!

As in... ran at the tree, not gathering energy.

"Aaaaaah-!" he yelled, arms pumping , legs trucking along. The vague shape of the tree loomed closer and Rock lowered his shoulder to greet it, hurling himself with Super Fighting Robot force into the battered trunk.

He gave a 'Oof!' of impact, the grunt drowned out by the clamour of the drill.. and the sudden crack, snap, groaning of a tree being felled!

It was his hope that she would be under it when it happened.

Echo (640) has posed:
     "Well at least no one here can touch him and steal his power--he's the one that's supposed to do that!" Echo peers at Copy Rock fighting Kyra, as the skeletal shapes still clad in scraps of clothing advance--the things are not exactly difficult to dispatch sure, but the necromancess herself is given a cause for alarm when that flash bang grenade goes off, overloading the bat's senses with a shriek.

     "Auughh--" Echo clapped her hands over her big batty ears, her eyes rolling around as she wavered about, blinking, She took a few moments to respond, blinking her eyes and waiting for her hearing to readjust. "Gonna get you for that," she still seemed to be flat-footed from the attack, however.

Stygian Mirror (991) has posed:
    Drill noises stopped! GOOD.
    Flashbang, NOT GOOD.

    Due to both her sensitive eyes and ears, Mirror is blinded and defeaned by the explosive. The only reason she doesn't stumble back and fall is because she has her back against the stopped machinery, which at least gives her a vague sense of where she is.

    The fake blood gun dissipates, probably a result of Sanary's healing, or of the disruption to her senses. She's going to need a minute.

Nero (880) has posed:
     Nero clashes with Sephiroth over and over, the man not giving an inch, and not pressing an attack either. Is he even trying? No, he must be trying! After all, she is Nero! Emperor of Rome! Mightiest Servant of the Saber Class! he must be taxing himself beyond belief!

     So she tells herself.

     But that flashbang is all the opening she needs. Nero closes her eyes and dives forward right at the moment of the explosion. She doesn't press an attack, she just dives, aiming to pass Sephiroth in the confusion. And she doesn't attack either.

     What in the world is her game, leaving herself so open? It makes zero sense! Even with the distraction stunning most everyone!

Sephiroth (1003) has posed:
The flashbang does little more than briefly distract Sephiroth, but it's enough to let Nero get by him. He blinks a few times, fully clearing his sight, and he turns in a rustle of coat and fluttering silver hair.

"Hm."

The General pivots, raising his right hand, leveling his palm at Nero as she races along. The magically attuned can feel a rush of it as he focuses his will on drawing the power from his Materia.

"Quakega"

Beneath Nero, the earth shudders, cracks and shifts before bursting upwards in a spire of crushing stone. The effect expends quickly, the rocks falling to dust.

Kyra Hyral (626) has posed:
For those few moments after the flashbang goes off, Kyra is able to recover from the horrible wraith jumpscare bullet, the image fading from her eyes, the scream dying in her ears. She shudders, shakes her head, and immediately takes notice of a horrible crashing sound right behind her as Copy Rock slams himself into the tree that was her cover. Wood cracks and the tree creaks. Kyra /moves/. She dives sideways, but not completely clearing it as the tree comes down and traps the lower half of her legs underneath it, eliciting a scream from the redheaded girl.

    She claws at the ground with her free hand, trying to pull herself out from underneath it, but hardly getting nowhere. "Nero!" she calls out, "Nero, a quick hand, please!"

    But in return...

    Kyra turns her left hand back, aiming the Matter Manipulator's output port towards the drill. She slips her other hand over it and twists it like a dial. Seconds later, a trio of red-hued flasks come flying out of it at a high velocity. The flasks, of course, contain one of Kyra's famous explosive napalm mixtures.

Sanary Rondel has posed:
Sanary is still reeling a fair amount from the flashbang, but the shock of having her vision filled with BLINDNESS is finally starting to dissipate some. Not enough for her to jump right into the fray, but enough for her to aim her magic again! It's time...

     TO GET SOME HEALING IN. She's not quite sure Copy Rock can use her healing, and Mirror's already told her not to heal, so that leaves Echo and Sephiroth! She knows the former is a magic user, at least, and the latter... Well, Quakega sounds magical enough, right?

     Still taking cover by the shield, Sanary cuts the link between herself and Mirror, then sends out two more lines of green energy towards Echo and Sephiroth. That should help give them some extra power to draw from for their own magic!

Copy Rock (949) has posed:
    Dazed, Rock leans heavily against the fallen tree.

The world swam around him, gyroscope gone wrong, his remainingn hand turns to his shoulder, working the battered coupling sympatheticlly.

Nero (880) has posed:
     Nero dashes past Sephiroth. Like a blur, her feet move, racing across the marshland. Blade in hand, she veers left and right, barreling right for the drill. This is it. This is her chance! The one moment she could use to take out that drill! And-

     QUAKEGA

     The ground beneath the Servant shifts. And then spires of stone burst upwards, sending the red clad girl sailing upwards into the air like a ragdoll. "Kh-...!" How powerful! Wasn't that man supposed to be a swordsman? Why was he using magic? That's cheating!

     ...But then Nero's pained, defeated look turned into a grin. Her entire body lit up with a crimson glow as Invictus Spiritus took effect. She was definitely taken out by that spell. However...

     It was as if Nero's time reversed itself. The damage was inflicted with seemed to have deprogressed, returning her to her previous, undamaged state. "AND NOW-!" She shouts, flipped in midair with Aestus Estus raised up high, flaring with raging flame as she hurtled towards the drill from the sky. "YOUR SCHEME ENDS HE-"

     NERO I NEED HELP

     The Servant whips her head in Kyra's direction, seeing that she's been caught by a fallen tree. "......" At this moment, she had a choice.

     A. STRIKE DOWN THE DRILL. THIS IS YOUR ONLY CHANCE!

     B. SAVE YOUR MASTER.

     Naturally, B won.

     "Kh-! Praetor, wait for me!" Nero called, turning in mid-air, and then...kicking off of nothing, changing her direction and boosting Kyra's way. As she sailed through the air, she unleashed that flaming slash meant for the drill on the fallen tree instead, cleaving it in two, and then in four, and then eight, then sixteen, before pulling her Master from the resulting demolishe tree wreckage.

     "Praetor, I believe that was our only true opening, and we have failed to take it, therefore...."

     Looping an arm around Kyra's waist, Nero dispells Aestus Estus and comically points towards Sephiroth and the others. "Ah ha ha ha ha ha! Be glad, fiends! For this day, Emperor Nero Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus has decided to spare your lives! But know this! We shall return!" And then she leaps backwards and away from the site.

     "Away!"

     ....It's a tactical retreat. A tactical retreat.

Echo (640) has posed:
     "Oh hey, healie sparkles from my favorite War Cleric," Echo blinks a little as the healing energy washed over her. A nearby skeleton minion seemed to give a rictus grin as the same energy washed over him and his skull and bones flaked away rapidly into powder. He did seem to enjoy it, though--so there was that.

     Echo watched the skeleton seemed to :D as it turned to dust, pausing as she had been rubbing her eyes a little, eyes darting here and there. We're just gonna ignore that.

     Noticing the plight of Evil Mega Ma--err, Copy Rock, Echo's wings spread out behind her and she flapped up into the air, closer to the fallen Anti-Hero.

     "Looks like you need a recharge, boy," Echo's hands glowed red with hints of black around it, looking infernal, but charged with something. "I give you fell magics to continue fighting," she grinned and leaned down, imparting the energy to him via a blown kiss--which formed a red and black glowing set of lips that floated towards him.

Sephiroth (1003) has posed:
Sephiroth lowers his hand as the magic fades, making ready to give chase to the Servant.

Then she veers off, carves a tree to splinters and flees.

The General blinks in almost comic confusion as she announces that she's letting them live. It's quite difficult not to laugh.

As they flee, he turns back to his allies, nodding in approval.

The drilling will continue, but they will find no Mako. Not today.

Stygian Mirror (991) has posed:
    It takes Mirror far too long to recover from the flashbang. When she does, it's barely in time to see Kyra chucking-- bombs? Those must be bombs, even if they don't look like any she's seen before. Her sword clicks, and Essence flows into it. It separates down the middle, horizontally, and with a swing the blade shoots out, still connected to its lower half by a tether of black and purple Essence. A black mark also appears on Mirror's forehead, a circle with eight sunrays around it. It bleeds, very lightly.

    The separated sword half soars through the air, animated by a Charm. Rather than try to parry the bombs, it cuts through them, which is unfortunate for Mirror, but probably a bit better for the drill. The deathly napalm splashes earlier than it should, and though still some hits the drill most splashes around and on the Abyssal instead.

    Lucky for her, it looks likes some sort of magic flows through her tunic, gauntlets and boots, reinforcing them. The liquid eats at her all the same, but where a normal man might be burnt to a crisp, she's scorched, badly but not lethally, still standing.

    Her sword snaps back into one piece. She makes no attempt to attack or pursue the fleeing duo. She's more concerned about turning to Sanary and screaming: "I'LL TAKE THE HEALING NOW!"

Copy Rock (949) has posed:
    Grunting his displeasure, Rock leaned against the stump. It sounded like the gunslinger was down, now he could just-

His through was interrupted by Nero suddenly going all out slap-chop on the fallen tree! Lest he fall in the path of the blade himself, Rock scrambled away in a abrupt scurry with yet another plaintive cry!.

Safely away from the julienned, bit of lumber. He attempts to right himself... only to be caught by surprise by the descent of Echo. He whips around to face her, nearly leveling his cannon before she can say a word... but words she does say. "I'm not a-!" he begins to retort, eyes narrowing heatedly only to be quieted by her displaye of malevolent forces. He gawps, eyes saucering for just a moment as the kiss that came to him as if it were a butterfly, alighting against his cheek with the same, whisper of a touch.

It surged through him, a hot rush that brought a rosey tint to his cheeks. His 'heart' hummed, the solar reactor surging in his chest.

Was this... was this-

Evil Robot Puberty!?

He stared back at her, slack jawed and quiet, his internal status quietly blinking back at him in his HUD that everything was green.

Kyra Hyral (626) has posed:
A scowl of frustration escapes the white mage as her explosive flasks are intercepted before they reach the drill.

    Kyra can feel the drain of magic particles from herself as Nero does her work and un-dies because she simply wills it. Thanks to her own enormous magical reserves, it doesn't bring her any pain nor slow her down. Which is good, because a tree pinning her is already slowing her down enough. Her feet and calves are in pain-she suspects a fracture of some kind or three. It could be fixed later, assuming she got away from being triple-teamed by what she suspects are three Confederate Elites. As she finishes firing her explosives, she resumes trying to claw her way free.

    Then the pressure relieves upon her legs thanks to Nero. She doesn't even stand, suddenly scooped up by the Saber-class. "A shame. But...given these numbers..." Kyra loops an arm around Nero's back to hold on, her left hand still holding onto the Galianda-make handgun. She doesn't have any parting shots, though.

Sanary Rondel has posed:
Sanary lets out a relieved sigh as the Prateor and the Emperor make their escape, leaving them largely... No, not unharmed. THERE'S TOO MUCH FIRE FOR THAT. Still, it's calmed down enough that she can let the energy links fade in favor of just channelling regular old healing light clouds.

     Mirror's definitely getting a big chunk of that healing, of course. If nothing else, Sanary's at least dedicated to keeping her allies in good shape! "Nice work, everyone. Gather around if you got hurt. I got you covered." As she speaks, however, she does look off at where Kyra and Nero had left, a troubled frown crossing her face.

     Just what the hell is Shinra, anyway?