4917/Operation: Rathuum (2)

Operation: Rathuum (2)
Date of Scene:	22 December 2016
Location:	Origin System <WF>
Synopsis:	Rathuum Phase 2: in which the group discovers Kela does not take loss easily, and the Grineer are respawning bastards.
Cast of Characters:	Kushiko, Gaonoir, 774, Kotone Yamakawa, 984, 691

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Kushiko has posed:
LAST TIME ON DRAGON BALL Z--

No, that's not quite right: LAST TIME, AT RATHUUM...

Several Executioners were fought--in fact, seemingly, several Executioners were outright /killed/ thanks to the efforts of the gathered Tenno and Elites in question, with others grievously wounded and forced to recuperate. Accordingly due to their victories, enough Judgement points were earned in order to advance to the next Trial Phase at the node so known as 'Yam'.

... don't ask.

In any event for those wishing to obtain transport to the planetside arena it would be fairly easy, and briefings conducted would inform all of those--regardless of 'active' factional allegiances that those things /did not matter/ right now. Getting the captives free was what mattered. Furthermore, a brief summary of those who had been fought went forward, and their generalized 'roles' and what to expect.

There was Nok, a Veteran of countless battlefields who employed tried and true techniques and also utilized a powerful drone alongside his Sobek with acid shell mods. Vay Molta, a vicious female clone who could use a jetpack and heavy missile artillery coupled with a double-sided Jat Kittag warhammer. A high speed combatant if there ever was one. Garesh was another one of these /vicious/ kinds of Grineer, a close quarters melee fighter without fear who could teleport and advance on unsuspecting and lightly defended targets while setting mine traps for others.

Gorth was definitely the 'tank' if there ever was one: a hulking wall of armor and flesh, asides his customized Ogris rocket launcher his armor possessed emitters that allowed him to completely shuck off any kinds of damage that he could follow in with his axe and shield known as Ack and Brunt. He was supported well by Dok Thul who was the Executioner's combat support medic, who used highly advanced medical drones to support his allies.

Executioner Olka Harkonar, a Grineer 'noble' from the Harkonar Production Zone who needed to prove the might of weapons and armor produced there was a sniper with very capable skills at misdirection and the latest in tactical gear.

There was rumors of another Executioner who could only be found at this stage, a combatant who could only find the strength to move through the pain that Rathuum provided, armed with twin Hek quadbarrel shotguns and an unquenchable thirst for battle.

Harkonar, Gorth and Garesha were among those listed that were /known/ to have perished; but the Grineer are a race that uses rampant, widespread cloning--fact is they WERE a clone race solely bred to be laborers for the Orokin Empire that once flourished centuries ago before the Collapse. The truth however, is far more simpler if on the duplicitous side: the arena both at the Galleon before and in the Sealab the assembled Tenno and Elites will arrive at is part of a simulacrum that allows for any and all measure of combat without the full on permanency of true death.

Did mean that if one /did/ 'die' it'd still hurt like hell though.

Perhaps accordingly this is why Kushiko who was there before employing the antimatter wielding Nova Prime Warframe was instead present as Valkyr--a far more resilient frame than before. The felinoid-like Gersemi Valkyr was, like many other Warframes, bore no discernable face, occasionally shifting her weight from taloned foot to foot upon the transport that was being used for those who didn't have a nominal way to get to the Sedna planetoid within the Origin System.

While now was a great time for those aboard to ask things of the Lotus (who had made the request from Cressa Tal of the Steel Meridian available) or the Tenno known as Kushiko, there were no windows for looking beyond into the starry void outside the ship itself. It was rather well made though, and featured seating for a decent variety of individuals--such was needed for transporting Multiversals. High ceiling too.

Gaonoir has posed:
There was one way to sum this all up.

"Wow, a world where both cloned manual labor AND cloning super soldier conspiracies BOTH really happened!" After much nagging, begging and promising to stay out of trouble and out of the actual arena, Gaonoir had relented to letting Erika tag along this time. The organization wanted better documentation of what was going on in the Origin System before deciding if they wanted to invest more of their interest in dealing with the corrupt slavedriving tyranny here. And the young woman was much better at keeping track of such details than Gaonoir was himself.

That and Erika didn't need to be -in- the arena to help him. She could view everything he saw and did through her Digivice without being in direct danger, and after the way the odds were stacked last time, Gaonoir wasn't going to object to hedging a few odds of his own.

As usual the dark furred Digimon was just lurking at the edges of the pre-battle gathering, letting his Tamer handle the info gathering and question asking while the recap was going on for the new arrivals to the competition. "Hmph. Clones, realistic pain inducing similation, whatever, doesn't matter. I knew those gladiators were too good to let something like death slow them down for long."

Erika turned her attention in his direction for a moment. "They're kind of like Digimon in that regard aren't they? I mean, the ones that have a place to respawn as a digiegg."

"Not quite the same thing." Gaonoir shrugged his shoulders. "But close enough."

Dorian Pavus (774) has posed:
    Dorian had heard about this whole thing due to a report by a member of the Watch. After reading it, he'd gone to find out what was going on. Mind, when he got there, he didn't claim factional allegiance. No sense in blowing the whole organization's cover due to him having a big mouth.

    Regardless, this is a briefing he listens to. Acid? Barriers would be needed to discourage it, or at least to offset the melting away of flesh and/or skin. Speedy combatants? Thankfully Dorian has access to a quickening spell, one he made based on Alexius's observations of time magic. But it took a lot out of him, and he couldn't use it very often. A tank would need to be neutralized by taking out the support and then outlasting them. Which would be a dangerous prospect; a medic's protectors tended to descend upon those who looked to take them out. But perhaps a staggered approach could deal with the medic and his protectors, while separating them. Snipers? Finding them would be the hard part, but once found, taking the fight up close and personal.

    And so did several more battle scenarios the deal with various combatants that the briefing highlighted run through Dorian's head as he listened to the briefing. Useful tactics came naturally to him, reading opponents and changing his approach as the battlefield conditions changed. Though the lack of a discernable face made dealing with these Warframes incredibly awkward. It's hard to read someone's expression if they don't HAVE one, after all. At least he could generally tell whether they were male or female, though.

    Dorian does have a question though, one that the telling of cloning and simulations only seems to make even more apt, in his mind. He'll ask it of the Lotus or the Tenno, whichever chooses to answer. "So, this... 'trial by combat'. If these Grineer can merely 'make another' when these Executioners are killed, or if they're not actually being killed at all, what's to stop those who ordered it from declaring the results invalid and continuing on ad infinitum until there's finally no one to help? I'm assuming someone has entertained this notion and has a plan?"

Kotone Yamakawa has posed:
Kotone got off the Paladin comms after a moment and stepped awya from the gate, she was geared up and ready to go. Clad in stealth armour as she often was with an new weapon handy this time. The small woman is carrying what looked to be like a mini gun on top of the normal weaponry she carrieed for a fight. She seemd ready though she was moe than a bit shocked about what she found out. Kotone didn't look it but to those with an understanding of technolgy even lightly? The cyborg was very likely Military gade and she seemd very focused and intent. To day the normally bouncy and bubbly person most people knew Kotone as was no where to be found..

Karal Rei Lin (984) has posed:
Given the previous forays into this crazy idea of a trial by combat, Lin is no longer feeling generous or merciful towards the Grineer. The attitudes they've shown deserve no real respect from her.

    No mercy.

    No consideration.

    If anything, their insults have only given her a reason to KEEP AT THIS escapade to humiliate them on top of helping anyone sane enough to break away from this madness do so.

    This time she isn't even TRYING to hide her nature. Lin's soul is brilliantly flame, a display of golden-white flame engulfing her body and wafting about in the winds of her emotions. She sits with hands on her knees and sun emblem burning on her forehead, teeth grinding hard.

    "My answer to that notion is cutting them down until their way into the arena is blocked by corpses. Or just breaking free and creating a different problem for them to worry about." She answers Dorian heatedly.

    "It won't happen. Everything so far's happened according to the tradition we heard. Have some confidence!"

Yari Takane (691) has posed:
Yari, largely silent before, finally pipes up after both Erika and Dorian lay out their thoughts n the matter. She's here mostly thanks to a certain Tenno. New factions mean new obligations, and ones she's thus far rather happy with. Much happier than when she was with the Feds. Only the issue of a missing Sanary and Linh keep her from having the equivalent of a fresh start in life.

She is fresh from that weird Aesthetician though. Hairdrills and white highlights now dominate her horned head. The kimono is still dark blue with flower patterns though.

"I feel sorry for them. Soldiers should get to rest when their duty is done. It's disgusting. This 'trial'. There's no honor or glory in it. Frankly the sooner we kill everyone responsible for it, the better I'll feel."

Karal gets a long agreeing nod. This is a plan the ninja can get in on. Otherwise, she lights her pipe and crosses her legs. Nothing to do but wait. Occasionally she checks a kunai for proper sharpness, tossing one up in the air and generally spinning it around in various dexterity tricks.

Ninjas as it turns out can be terrible showoffs.

Kushiko has posed:
A light scoffing sound came via Valkyr--those with a sharp eye (or ear really) would note that when the Tenno spoke, it bore no qualities of coming from a mouth, instead projected through some ethereal aspect around her. Feminine and seeming to be young, at least. How young, now that was the part difficult to guess. <"They used to be builders, it's true, but now all they make is war."> was her words towards Erika.

Truth be told, Kushiko did not know to what extent. All that was known was that the Grineer themselves took control of cloning tech they couldn't fully understand at the time, and with each generation, the genome of the Grineer became progressively more damaged. The Lotus appears on a video screen--or projection, for those on the transport as Valkyr upturns her hand, "Entertainment is entertainment for Kela de Thaym's audience, regardless of who actually lives or dies. Repeatedly." It's a hint of disgust in her voice in that regard.

Dorian's mind for tactics would be something that Kushiko would definitely be appreciating even more if she were a mindreader now--perhaps they'll see that end of one another once they took to the Arena itself. "That is something we've been considering and frankly, we're expecting." the Lotus begins, the masked woman's attentions shifting to the Tevinter mage. Yeah, the facelessness seemed to be something of a running trend here. "Currently according to Cressa Tal, going along that route right now will defeat the purpose and propaganda of what Kela de Thaym set forth: the defeat and execution of either the traitors or their Defenders in Rathuum. If she does elect to go that route and declare either a mistrial or some other method?"

This is when Kushiko speaks to finish the Lotus' words, <"Then we will challenge her directly, something even she won't be able to pass up on, and kill her directly."> Assassination on a public stage. Brazen, but likely. Hopefully none here would be /objecting/ to that plan--she doubted it, but some people would probably favor a trial of irony in return given Kela's... personality.

In the meantime, Valkyr's head seemed to cant slightly towards Kotone, the eyeless Warframe appearing to focus on her for a moment before shifting to Karal who seemed to have completely foregone any notion of subtlety. Which, truthfully, was fine by her. <"We should be arriving shortly."> the Tenno finishes. <"Be aware, however... in this Phase, it's likely we'll see some conditions affecting the field of battle. Be prepared for anything."> Valkyr gave Yari a slight nod.

<"In truth, it's a farce of 'honor', twisted and used for their own benefit. After all, they're going to tip the scales short of outright cheating if they can help it.">

On view screens, the ship--or ships, depending--made their way to the underground Sealab that had been repurposed for the arena itself--asides the rocky outcroppings, the heavily secured and reinforced (for combat) Sealab was equal parts natural structure and shaped where needed, smooth surfaces in some places, and manufactured and constructed flooring and structures. A central complex dominated the arena, with side areas sometimes built up, some simply modified. Heavily reinforced alloyed framing existed for clear glass viewing ports if one looked up once they were there.

Seemed just right for an arena--open in some places, sure, but confined in others. Lots of potential choke points, but just as many places to be cornered if one didn't stay on the move.

Kotone Yamakawa has posed:
Kotone Yamakawa took a deep breath, Kotone did have the ability to fight but shew was from a world where it wasn't common to use weaponry, to fight and that military or any sor of combat personel were a minorty. Here she is howeve,r and she's angry about what's happened, he's angry about the Grineers leaders for trapping thie entire culture in this etenral cycle of carnage, she's nagry that some who wished to escape the madness are getting a death setance and she's angry that things have fallen apart on this world that hard.

She's also afraid, she sees certain types of tech that are in their early stages on her world. She's getting a taste of how things could go wrong on her world with it charging heedlessly into the future and never thinking about if it should only if it could be done. She pushed her emotions back they would just get her killed and given if she fails? There are people who are going to die. She readies her gear with one last check and calls out to the others making ready.

"Right, I have some heavy weapons this time, I'll do what I can to give cover fire here on this. The Gun I have here won't hold ammo for long but it should be able to tear into things well enough before them and ... stay alive all of you."

Gaonoir has posed:
Gaonoir makes a knuckle cracking gesture with one gloved paw, then switchs to do the same with the other. "Don't worry, I'm sure by that point we're all going to want to be taking chunks out of whatever wrinkly bitch hide she still has."

"Just remember!" Erika flicks her device back to smartphone for a moment, then holds it up over her head. The screen is displaying the snapshot of Kela's twisted expression of rage and disgust at her champions losing the first round. "This!" The girl helpfully if needlessly points at the pic with one finger. "Is the face you eventually want to smash in. All the other faces you have to smash in the meantime are just obstacles to doing so!"

Well that's... motivational? If a little on the aggressive side.

Dorian Pavus (774) has posed:
    Dorian has noticed Karal Rei Lin burning like a torch and has given the Solar Exalt a wide berth. He's not sure what contact with that fiery aura would do to him, and he's not going to take the chance that whatever it is that Lin as going there has similar effects to lyrium. Lyrium is dangerous, particularly to mages; he at least knows that touching that would kill him, pretty much instantly.

    However, Lin's words get a nod. "'Send a tide of bodies' is a valid tactic," he notes. "We have... quite a bit fewer than a 'tide' here to work with. If they do decide to send a wave of clones at us, we'll need to find the source and take it out. In the meantime though, I do have some rather... frighteningly effective abilities to use against large numbers of enemies."

    Yari showing off? This gets a smirk from Dorian. He can't help but approve of being showy and flashy, after all. He tends to show off and bring a lot of attention to himself too, both in and out of battle. It's in his nature. But he also agrees with Yari about killing all the people involved with this farce of a trial, "That makes three of us." Indicating Lin, Yari, and himself.

    Dorian, on the transport, sees the projection of the Lotus, and nods to her words. "Ah, that almost sounds familiar. I might even get homesick. Tevinter in space." Pause. And then he really thinks about the thought of Tevinter gaining space travel capabilities. "...On second thought, let's not consider that possibility. Dreadful thought, that." He does seem relieved to note that someone else besides him has thought of the possibility that the trial would be 'fudged' so. He looks back to the Tenno with the continuance of the statement from her instead. A nod. "Using her own nature against her -- her pride wouldn't let her refuse, since she'd see it as an opportunity to assert her dominance once and for all," he surmises.

    The warning that they're nearing gets a nod. As for 'tipping the scales'? "Oh, I'd be disappointed if she didn't stack the odds in her favor," he notes, referring to Kela. Clearly he's expecting some unfair conditions. "But if they want a show?" He raises his hand and snaps his fingers, sending small green sparks into the air. His eyes narrow, and when he says the next, his voice is just above a whisper, the hiss of a snake.

    "...Then they're certainly going to get one."

    Once he gets his first look at the 'arena', Dorian's already starting to map out possible trouble spots, both places he could get in trouble, and places he could administer said trouble to enemies -- Fire Wall an escape route and then force enemies into a choke point where a Fire Mine has been set, for one. Oh so many possible ways to cause trouble~.

    He also looks at Erika's smartphone. "Ah, there's my target. Thank you." Here he gives a smirk. "I'll remember to plant a good explosion underneath her chair if possible." He sounds like he's at least partially serious. And that smirk!

Yari Takane (691) has posed:
Yari gives several nods out. To everyone, pretty much. It's been a while since she's been in a group so fully commited to both honor and using bloody death to make sure it's maintained. The ninja is quiet.

Everyone gets a sharp nod and a hiss of approval. She'll let the rest talk for now. She's lost in considering the tactical angle of things when the Tenno brings up those screens and arena layouts.

Karal Rei Lin (984) has posed:
Of those here, Lin's only vaguely familiar with Kotone and Maaka... it's hard to be 'familiar' with the Tenno of the gang. Others... she hasn't met... except... Yari there. She purses her lips once at the Au Ra, but what grudge she did have with her is apparently buried.

    "It's not very heartening fighting alongside people I hardly interact with off the battlefield. We'll have to gather later!" Up she gets, still burning like a torch and making a bit of a show of tossing her head to fling her ponytail behind her.

    "Better tell me if you have any strategies in mind. Otherwise, I'm just going to hunt down anything in my way!" The Exalt grins rather fearlessly, casting a reassuring look at the others. One that screams 'buck up, it's gonna be alright!' to anyone who might not be so hot on this.

    Like Kotone.

    "You're looking nervous. Still need help out there?"

Kushiko has posed:
One day, the elusive Grineer Queens will be found. One day. Perhaps then, they'll be made to answer for their twisted crusade to bring all under the heel of the Grineer Empire.

That day, is not this day, however.

Still, Erika makes an /excellent/ point regarding Kela de Thaym--all implication says that she's a /heavily/ modified Grineer, even more than the ones here at Rathuum have displayed -- and in this case, /will/ display. Dorian's words affirming what Karal -- and to another extent, Kushiko remarks on, is also quite true, though each round does have a set amount of points to be earned. If that's good for one or the other, no one really is inclined to say.

Nonetheless, far and away from here, the Operator allows herself a small smile.

[+] Kushiko greatly approves.

Familiarity is a bit hard for spacenin. Then again, they /have/ been working together, it's just that the child behind it all was painfully shy at times when she wasn't carrying out some measure of operation. <"Don't separate too much from the others, and keep their own people separated from one another. They're likely to have at least one outrunner in Garesh. Dok Thul and Gorth are likely to be together, and Gorth is going to be a very /hard/ target."> Part of her absently hoped some of the magic the Tevinter mage brought might wreak a little havoc on him, presuming he was kept out of the crosshairs.

<"Consider the average Grineer strategy lies in attrition and ambush tactics. Deny them this tactic as best as you're able, if not ambushing them in turn."> Wasn't hard to imagine a smile in Kushiko's voice as she spoke, the energy of the Void faintly pulsing and radiating from the frame. Least it wasn't anything like lyrium.

It was technically way worse if she wanted it to be.

Regardless, upon their arrival, Kela began speaking upon one of those Rathuum broadcasting projectors, the holoimage bringing up her sneeringly ugly face, "Looks like the /SNAKES/ have brought in some fresh meat! Guess the ones from before couldn't take the heat their buddies could! Executioners, show these Tenno and Elites what RATHUUM really means!"

Of course, as she says this, a countdown begins. At another side of the arena the Executioners are ready and waiting--where, of course, is a mystery, but by all signs there's at least one more on their side to the Defenders (Accused) six. Well, they did say they'd be stacking the odds, didn't they? Nonetheless, Kushiko readied herself--brandishing a Grineer-styled shotgun herself, but painted in the dark purple and orchid and black tones her Warframe possessed. That Tenno really liked those colors it seemed.

"LET THE RATHUUM /BEGIN/!"

Karal Rei Lin (984) has posed:
Stepping forward with all the spirit of this being HER battlefield instead of the Grineer's, Lin inhales deeply and focuses her spirit. Her divine aura crackles and congeals in one hand, forming into a phantasmal sunfire blade, golden and glorious.

    There's a Goddess of War here, and she doesn't take kindly to being called a snake.

    Lin slowly shifts her stance, expertly adopting a low stance ready to burst into a sprint or put full leverage into a blindingly-fast slash...

    "Come on then, you machine-blooded freaks!" Lin's insults clearly need work, but her spirit definitely doesn't.

Yari Takane (691) has posed:
Some time during all of this, Yari's donned a pair of very steampunk-ish mono-goggles. Mostly brass-and-black, as seems to be something of a theme for her own Conquering Empire. Maybe they just have lots of copper deposits back home.

It's then that Karal gets an agreeing nod and even a bow. Shiney Exalts are hard on ninja eyes. Still, she gets the sentiment. "I don't have any problems with those here. No...you're all here to stop this. I think we can call ourselves allies. Drinks are on me if we all survive." A subtle glance Karal's way. They might have fought, but she's an ally now, and that's all that matters for Yari.

Tactics time! Yari gives a little huff of a sigh. "Coordinated, group ambush tactics, then? Could be a problem. Mmm. Area denial and misdirection will be our best bet. If they have numbers to that degree, we're best going in loud I think." The ninja very visibly shudders in distaste at that. One more to the list of things she doesn't like about this whole affair.

Thus, as they make the approach, she's checking both explosive tags and her various poison bombs. She can't afford any duds. Once they're on site, the ninja already has a kunai in hand. The Rathuum begins, and she's charging the nearest Grineer almost recklessly. A quick front-flip, she springs off of one hand and into a spin! A good dozen poison-tainted shuriken lash out towards her target as she aims for every vital area she can get to reasonably. Mercy isn't even a consideration after learning of so much moral degredation going on. And that was /before/ she was informed these guys were simple clones.

Kotone Yamakawa has posed:
Kotone Yamakawa looks to Dorian for a moment she doesn't know him too well but Dorian did get abut the multiverse and she knew at least that he could be relied on not to bail on them she looks and listens to him for a moment.

"Quite right there, and I look forward to making her choke on her own pride."

She notesw then looks over to Gao, Kushiko and Lin. She then readies herself now and she also looks to Erika for.

"You seemed well enough Lin, on the old Union comm, I have no doube in your abilities."

Blood sport is just about dead in the country she's from save for a few types and none of them were intended to the death or used live weapons like this.

"When you get a look into where your world could end up to, ya it makes one nervous. No time to hold back now."

While Kotone has never met the child behind the Warframes directly she had enough of a feel that she trusted her and Lotus.

<<Sounds like how a nation on my world used to fight. Got it keep the pressure up ddont' let them pin us down.>>

With that Kotone takes the big Minigun off her back and it warms up, the barrel starting to wpin as she moves out slowly looking for the first foe.

<<Man if Kela has been born somewhere else she'd have made a hell of a Wresting promoter.>> With that Kotone moves out saying.

"Come on you vat head, you want some? Your going to get it."

Dorian Pavus (774) has posed:
    Yari's silence is noted, and Dorian doesn't disturb her. He figures she's got several plans in mind too. And speaking of plans? When Karal speaks up about plans, he points at a couple of the screens. "Look here. This area can serve as an effective 'bottleneck'. All we have to do is make sure this area here -- " He points at an area to the side of the screen in question. " -- Is cut off. Herd the lot of them through here, and just past this choke point, an ambush can be set. I could use a Fire Mine in the choke point and distract them from the ambush on the other side. But if that area's not cut off beforehand, the ambushERS will become the ambushEES, because the Grineer will be able to loop around behind the ambush point and turn it into one in their favor."

    Dorian nods at the suggestion to keep them separated. "Particularly the healer. That one should be a priority target. Making them focus on different targets, doing different things, in different areas should help with that," he further suggests. And at the mention of ambush, he notes, "There's plenty of places for that, but also plenty of areas that can defeat them. Try not to do what they expect you to do."

    Arriving in the arena with the others, Dorian draws himself up proudly at the words from Kela. Fresh meat? That was likely. Despite his own outward appearance of confidence... Dorian is very much aware that he's out of his element. Space, aliens, cloning, simulation technology... and all he's got is a staff, his magic, and his wits to help him...

    He's not going to show it... but he very definitely is scared.

    When he countdown begins, Dorian slings the staff from his back and holds it at the ready. Blue lightning sparks to life between the half-moon shaped points of the staff. And as the call to begin comes...

    Dorian vanishes.

    Oh not literally. One can follow him if they look for the trail of blue-white mana. Right now he's scoping out the battlefield, and trying to keep as big a distance between himself and the others as possible. Sure it isolates him, but it also forces the Grineer to separate.

    He's also trying to make it appear as though he's lacking in the physical attack department. Which, compared to many he is... but he's not the weak little wizard many might think he is. This is a mistake he's sure these guys are only going to make once, so Dorian aims to make it count.

Gaonoir has posed:
As the arena is opened for the competators to enter Erika, much to Gaonoir's annoyance, gives the digi-dog a quick hug. "Go out there and show them they're messing with the wrong outsides. Again." Then lets go and backs out of the way of the entrance, flicking her device to the setting that lets her see essentially through Gaonoir's own senses, as well as track his health and other important details a Tamer needs to be aware of.

Gaonoir just hrmphs at the affection, if only to keep his usual gruff demeanor up. Then strides out into the arena with as much slightly overacted swagger as he can manage. Aggrivating opponents into being angry and overconfident had always been an effective tactic for him, so no reason to change it yet.

"Well then, ya old banshee, today is your lucky day. Gaonoir clenches his gloved paws, and some unseen breeze briefly flutters the tails of his headband. "This time, I'm not gonna hold back!" He was holding back last time?

In a sense, he was. This time, to those that can sense or detect such things, there would be noticable flare of energy around the digimon even as motes of black and purple start congealing around him.

"Gaonoir ... PERFECT DIGIVOLUTION."

The energy flare spikes as his form is briefly shrouded in the consolidation of energy concealing his form as it is partially digitalized and then restructed into a new, more humanoid one that is revealed as the cascade of energy partially scatters away again. Wireframes form over his hands and forearms, then are filled in by the digital energy to form a pair of massive metal gauntlets that are clenched into fists. Similar structure and reskinning collects at his back, and then two engines lock into place like a jetpack, a purple bomber's scarf unfurling into a flutter behind him. The last bit of wireframe collects around his head, which Gaonoir reachs up to flip down over his wolf-like face, light gleaming across the visor as he flicks metallic fingers across the reflective surface. Then strikes a final pose, one fist held up in front of him, the other arm flexed at his side.

""BLACK MACHGAOGAMON!"

Kushiko has posed:
Can't really blame Karal for taking that particular brand of attitude--after all, Kushiko herself took to the Grineer ships, shipyards and sealabs with those as her own hunting grounds. The large swaths of murder tended to reflect that.

Definitely needed to work on her jabs, however, insultwise given that highly advanced cybernetic bodies for combat was a /prestige/ thing as evidenced by some other Grineer that one day, those here might have the dubious honor of 'meeting'.

By meeting we mean attempting to kill.

<"Loud and proud alright."> Kushiko remarks absently, drawing herself up. And instead of the voice from the aether and ephemeral Void, the voice instead resonates from Valkyr itself--a howling Warcry that heralds a release of Void energy that wreathes the gathered combatants in a lilac layer of energy, one that enhances armor and attack speed. Technically 'melee' only but given the way some weapons and attacks could be utilized? Yeah, might be more useful than appearences would dictate.

Yari, on the other hand has found herself not /just/ a target but a questionably /worrisome/ target not long after that Warcry from Valkyr goes out. She meets the field against Dhurnam who, wielding those shotguns of his makes an audible grimace in pain--before suddenly Yari's position and Dhurnam's are swapped--bringing him closer towards the group and leveling his shotguns at the group and opening fire, while Yari? Yari's kind of now being targeted by a sniper while beset by Garesh, the twin-axe wielding fighter gathering energy into those weapons and bringing them down at her from the side!

In the meantime, Vay Molta has decided to target Kotone, the gunner's impressive weapon meaning she takes quickly to air as she begins to spin that double-ended Jat Kittag of hers and makes a beeline to try and overtake her position before she has a chance to use that weapon! It's hammer time! (Maybe!)

Dorian's words are quite wise in many different ways. Setting specific ambushes in places and waiting is not as good as setting ambushes on the fly--this is why Nok is already deploying his drone and steadily advancing under the explosion of activity after deploying an odd-looking drone that begins flying towards Dorian. Once it's closer, it'll attempt to send out a pulsing beam of electrical energy. Assuming of course, it's given the chance to get that close.

Those aren't the only Executioners--for a fleeting moment, the teal colors of Dok Thul could be seen, as he's moving around and staying out of sight as much as possible while the others make themselves loudly known. Gorth, that walking beefwall who's height matches Gaonoir's seems to /like/ the fact that the Digimon isn't holding back and, wreathed in electromagnetic energy from his reactive armor, is suddenly /hurtling/ towards him, shield at the fore to attempt to slam into the Black Machgaogamon that Gaonoir has digivolved into.

But he's not the only one launching himself--Valkyr is breaking into a sprint at Dhurnam herself, the shotgun blasts beginning to focus instead on her, but the Tenno has next to /zero/ cares over the twin Heks spitting fire at her, rolling and unleashing her own blade, slashing and cutting at the steadily more berserk Dhurnam--no way to get around it, after all.

There's a lot of targets of opportunity here for not just Dorian, but Karal as well--but if anyone had to guess, Yari would need the biggest help, given the way she abruptly just got separated from the others as. Damn that medic for squirreling himself away from being easily focused.

Dorian Pavus (774) has posed:
    Assuming the Warcry from Kshiko lasts until Dorian puts his plan into motion, that's still going to be useful to him. Dorian's not above cracking a skull or two with that staff. And it's really pointy! He's just waiting for the time being, hoping to draw in whatever Executioner decides to engage him in melee. But seeing Nok's drone, he turns his attention there first.

    Nok's drone is indeed NOT allowed to get close enough to zap him! Not if Dorian has any say in it, anyway. He raises that staff in the air, spinning it several times. As he does, arcs of blue-purple lightning surround his hands and that staff. When he slams the pointed end onto the ground, a bolt of lightning emits from that staff and straight at the drone!

    Better yet, Nok better hope he's not standing too close to that drone himself... because if he is, that lightning will arc right to him too! Not only that, but any Grineer in the area of the drone just might get hit by the arcing lightning, too! That stuff is pretty insistent upon going everywhere!

Gaonoir has posed:
You would think a big wall of cybernetic cloned muscle making a roaring headlong charge into battle would be moderately easy to step aside of... But that really wouldn't be much -fun- now would it?

Instead there's the thunderous sound of impact ringing across the arena as Gaonoir meets the charge head-on by slamming his gauntleted fists into the shield. Sparks fly and cybernetic feet dig into the ground, and still Gorth impacts with enough force to push him backwards. At least at first.

The whining whirr of engines firing up can be heard as the digimon's jetpack ignites, though instead of taking off like he likely could Gaonoir uses the force to -push back-. Teeth are gritted, but it's into a smirk that shows how sharp and canine like they really are.

"Let's see how tough your shell is to crack." Gaonoir jumps back a moment, only to come right back at Gorth. His metal fists glow with dark energy as he throws punches at the shield in rapid succession. "Gaogo RAGE!" The shadowy energy combined with the speed of his furry of fists makes it even harder to tell what of the motion blurrs are actual punches aimed at slamming Gorth and his shield around, or the afterimages caused by the shadow energy to make it difficult what direction the combos are coming from for Gorth to adjust his defenses.

There's two things Gaonoir knows about shields. 1: They usually can only cover so much of the user at once. 2: Hit them enough and they still go down eventually.

Kotone Yamakawa has posed:
It was broadcast death match tirals. It would be the thing of fiction on her orld yet here she is in the middle of it. She watches as the arena gets rolling and the Grineer pile in. She sees he rocket hammer comming right for he rand she opens fire with the minigun. Round after round flies forth at rapid speeed sending shells flying as Kotone tracks the Grineer as she come for her. Kotone's got experiance fighting and her body is made for war after alll and it shows as she shifts the large wepaon and sends rounds up into teh skies as she moves to barely side step the incoming blow on her while never taking her finger off the trigger. She knows this weapon isn't for the full fight but it should give her an edge in hititng hard.

"It's not hammer time tonight!"

Kotone is also trcking her allies whilr DOrian deals with Nok's drone using lighting and Gao is piling into the batlte to punch it harder and faster she feels confident she can win this. She has to win this...

Yari Takane (691) has posed:
Yari may well have chosen her tactics poorly. She's definitely underestimated the beings they're facing as she finds herself suddenly in the middle of a Grineer ambush. Quite literally drawn there. There's this moment of her gaze widening as the realization comes to her. All at once, both loathing and respecting for these enemies of her Tenno ally double.

A sniper's bullet goes for her skull, but the ninja manages to pause her motion and do a sideways cartwheel. Her kunai goes up, steel grinding on steel as she deflects the shot barely! It goes flying out of her hand.

Her leg kicks down, interrupting one of the axes in time. She then flips off of it, very roughly landing into a slightly awkward roll that puts some small distance between herself and hopefully Garesh' back. Her side now has a long gash, bleeding into her kimono, and she lets out a releaved sigh. Anything closer, or if that second axe had hit, it might have bit into lethal territory.

It gives her time to flick a smoke bomb, the big white cloud followed by two more as she tries to make cover for herself. Speeding through the din, she blindly listens for the axe-Grineer, and makes several handseals! Sucking in a breath, the smoke clears as Yari breathes out a massive fireball to try to consume the man all at once!

Kushiko has posed:
Somewhat interestingly (which may pique Dorian's interest later) it seems the Warcry lasts a good amount of time--and as she starts whirling her sword both to parry (yes she can parry shotgun, shutup) and to slash and tear into Dhurnam--impossibly, the Grineer seems to topple over. Well, the top half does, and that kill ensures the buff from Warcry keeps going.

An agonized cry comes from Nok as the chain lightning jumps not just from the Carabus drone but to /him/ after racing along to find him, and forces him to try and retreat, though his movements are sluggish thanks to the electrical energy giving him more than a few involuntary--and painful--spasms. Perfect time to try and capitalize on it--or is it? He seems to have an excellent grip on that shotgun of his despite appearences...

Tank vs. Tank--nearly as much, Gorth vs. Gaonoir sees that /powerful/ impact--and it's everything the Executioner savors in combat. Both immovable objects /grinding/ against one another at least until the digimon pushes back to launch his counter attack. It mayt not be as he likes however--at first, there's an indication his shielding did get hit, but suddenly his armor is covered by a layer of semi-tranluscent amber energy as the reactive armoring systems are suddenly engaged. Ablating blow after blow, the ones that Gorth has no chance of actively defending simply land and land and land.

But it refused to die.

A rough laugh rumbles behind the mask, "Let's see how hard you hit the ground! You've got FIRE." Some of the blows /did/ find purchase as the strain on his systems was too much and was forced to expire--but then Gorth is bringing down a hard and heavy axe blow to try and take his head--or off guard, one of the two.

Which is probably his plan--hold out long enough as a pair of medical drones zip their way over to Gorth at the behest of Dok Thul. Cheatin' bastard.

In the realm of Kotone and Vay Molta's combat, the female Grineer starts /spinning/ that damn double ended Jat Kittag--the barrage of heavy gunner fire doesn't gain full purchase but it does seem to slam into shields and armoring, but she can't stay in that long as the first spin misses.

So she pivots, spinning her hammer and igniting the engines on it and her own jetpack to send her careening after the sidestepping Kotone, even as blood and madness light up her face--seems she's keen on the, 'if I'm going down, you're coming with me' school of thought.

Dorian Pavus (774) has posed:
    Is Dorian letting Nok get his second wind? It's hard to tell. But as the Grineer Executioner spasms, Dorian once more uses that speedy little zooming move that makes him seem to dissolve into blue-white energies and tries to circle around the Executioner. He's not only trying to escape the wrath of the drone, but trying to reposition himself for a better attack vector.

    If he can do this, he'll aim a glyph in the area that the spasming Executioner is standing in. And then, with a thrust of his hand forwards, the area he's aimed the glpyh in explodes in flames from the ground! This is particularly painful, since the flames seek to latch onto anything in their general area, trying to continue to burn after the initial explosion, which was already pretty powerful, has finished.

    "Oh do be careful," Dorian calls to Nok, sounding completely and utterly unrepentant. And more than a little smug! "I forgot to tell you, but I might just be a little too hot for you to handle. Rude of me not to warn my dance partner, isn't it?"

Gaonoir has posed:
To the viewing audience, it might look like Gaonoir is just slamming punch after punch against Gorth's extra defenses. But that's just because they can't see the readouts that flash across the electronic sensors in the Digimon's visor from every blow, which is quick to pinpoint on that extra energy layer he's using to weather the impacts.

And if he can see it, Erika can see it from her safe observation point back on the transport. < I don't think you're going to punch through that. >
< Not the point, > Gaonoir thinks back. < It revealed more of his defenses, though. >
Erika wrinkled her nose a little while looking over the digivice's readouts. < Looks like you are wearing it down, but only the defensive energy shield, and not him directly... And you've got incoming! >

Ears flick up at the buzzing of approaching drones. Then Gorth stops turtling entirely and throws an axeblow. It slams hard even as Gaonoir uses his gauntlets to shield himself, sparks flying as the blow is still enough to make him stagger backwards. Or he purposely staggered back from it to get some distance, the fading afterimages of his own attack did put Gorth's aim slightly off. Not enough to miss, but enough to make sponging to blow a little easier.

Then Gaonoir stands up... and waggles one metal finger in Gorth's direction. "Ah ah ah, I don't think so." He remembers how much of a pain in the tail just one drone Nok had was. This is followed by clenching his fists again, flexes his legs a bit like a runner getting ready, and then with a roar of jet engines launchs back into the fight.

But not directly at Gorth and his new friends, though with Gaonoir's speed that might not be obvious until the point that he doesn't actually lash out.

Instead he goes in tight circles around Gorth and the drones, a literal black and purple blurr. To the point that his speed starts to form a spinning force of air being pulled away from within the spiral, cyclonic force being combined into a shearing vortex with Gaonoir's shadowy energy.

Tenebraaaae Torrrrnadoooo!

Truth be told Gaonoir isn't sure if it's going to be enough of a vortex force to lift Gorth off the ground, but it should make it very hard for those ligher drones to stay close to him and be tossed out of the faux twister, if not shredded by it.

Kushiko has posed:
Yari's most noble efforts in the realm of the ancient art of 'L'eeroy Jenkins' won her perhaps way too much attention as while the first sniper round seems to have missed, there's... another very slight, very bothersome problem with it.

The round from Harkonar starts curving and tracking. It may not actually reach her head, but the bullet may bury itself in her shoulder. Maybe. It would if her ensuing movements didn't make it near impossible (and the bullet's energy running out) as the sniper, from her elevated position on an outcropping begins to track Yari again. Fire on the other hand? Quite nasty for the average Grineer, but Garesh is hardly average--he survived a Tenno assault, after all. Yet pure chance and luck are on Yari's side--the flame blast /immolates/ him, turning him to ash and cinders within moments as the flames consume him and his body crumples like a puppet with it's strings cut.

<"Nice one! Stay on your toes!"> the Tenno calls out--wisely put, given the fact that it's not one but--/TWO/?! beams of light coming from that distant point of where Harkonar was--it's easy to find it but now there's two of them!

On the flipside of the coin, Dorian finds that despite the seeming old age of the Executioner, he moves /remarkably/ fast, rolling out of the way of it and firing up another Carabus drone that is practically a sacrifice. Not that he wanted it to be that way as the remainder of the explosion washes flames over him. "Thanks for th' warning youngster," Nok grouses a bit. Would've preferred /not/ to lose that drone--but seeing as deploying another was his plan anyays, it keeps him from suffering the lion's share of that pain.

And once he's rolled away, frees him to level the Sobek shotgun at the mage, and unloads it--and when we say unload, we mean the twinbarreled shotgun has practically a drum that unloads two blasts every second and simply /saturates/ the direction where the Tevinter mage is standing and then some.

Gaonoir has /mostly/ the right idea with what he's doing however--and Erika would find out through her readouts. Whatever armor, whatever /tech/ is in that armor of Gorth's simply does not permit him to be knocked down with ease but he can't do anything in that tornado-like twister of force that begins to send the drones careening at first, then /exploding/ with the force that Gaonoir's shadowy energy permits.

On the other hand, Gorth does not particularly /like/ the speeding digimon around him like that, so it's just as those medical drones are exploding and sent spiralling off with a TIE-fighter esqe screech (okay maybe not really, not hard to imagine) he underhand throws a grenade into the Digimon's path--extremely accurate. Whether or not extreme cold will slow him down, however, is another factor altogether.

Karal Rei Lin (984) has posed:
Go after the healer, says Dorian! Well that's fine and dandy except Lin's not surewhich one that is, and the party splits up in all directions despite kushiko's advice otherwise. Which leaves Lin... almost right where the group starte, blinking about irritably at having nothing here to sink her sword into.

    So she makes a show of slashing at the air. Slashing so fast that the air whistle-crack-screeches in the wake of her swing, courtesy of sheer speed!

    "Hah! What's this? Not a soul come my way? A whole race of warriors? While you're welding metal to your legs and hopping around like monkeys, I'm still waiting for a real enemy to march into this match! At least gang up. Maybe then I'll have to break a sweat!"

    This is, of course... SOMEWHAT of a ploy. She doubts she could really take ALL of them at once and hope to win. But if she can piss off half of them to coming her way, and allies used that to their advantage....

Kotone Yamakawa has posed:
Vay can make tht weapon move and noe she's spinning like some kind od crazy top. The fire is not doing enough make her think twice about getting in close. Kotone catches on that Vay seems to be of the mind tht she's going to take Kotone down with her and kotone is forced to try and move the heavy weapon to keep it on target. Kotone is going to have to make a call on if she's got to ditch the heavy weapon sooner or later and it may very well be sooner rather than later. hemakes the call she fires off one more long befist of fire and then lets go of the weapon shifting as lighting crackles about her limbs it's like she's an electic eel or something along those lines while she moves to pull one of her smaller arms a pistol and she opens fire with it rapidly trying to play a deadly game of keep away.

"You want me? Come on then!"

Dorian Pavus (774) has posed:
    Dorian is aware of the sacrifice of the drone to his fire spell. Wheels turn in his head. Nok has probably seen him dodge, not so much block or just plain power through an attack. The shotgun is leveled, and Dorian does not use Fade Step again. No, this time his left arm sweeps to the side, and he casts a Barrier around himself. It's not going to save him from all of the blasts, those the Barrier can't hold back scorching his armor, and tearing through the cloth, biting into the skin underneath it. And to outlast the barrage of fire, he may need to sustain the Barrier to keep it from decaying faster than the cloud of blasts.

    Regardless, that's what he does. He keeps up his Barrier, his eyes narrowed on the Grineer Executioner as he... walks through them. Towards Nok. Closer. Just walking. "Shame," he says. "Blowing one's all in one big go. And elder should know better." Yes, he's trying to get in melee range. Because if he does, there's going to be some bell-ringing! As in, he's going to try and knock Nok's gun out of his hand.

    That said, he doesn't actually expect that Nok is going to let him get that close. But if he can, no sense in not taking advantage of it, right?

Yari Takane (691) has posed:
Sniper bullets that track are something that, even in the Multiverse, Yari hasn't come across. Which might explain why the bullet grazes past her skull. Then arcs right around after her reflexive dodge to bury right into her shoulder. The surprise on her face is utterly naked, and she finds herself stumbling after her fireball.

Her only consolation is the incineration of a very powerful Grineer. She relaxes after a moment.

And pays for it, as the sniper's shot lashes into a leg. Twice, at that. The only reason both shots didn't take her in the neck is a sideways dodge that's less artistic flip and more desperate bodily fling aside. Those light-bullets are a pain, even for a ninja. Her body, now thoroughly scored between axe and sniper wounds, slides and leaves a bloody trail. The ninja might have found one victory, but she's in bad shape. She can't take too many blows, and she knows it.

Which is why there's a plume of smoke followed by Yari rushing out of it at utterly reckless speeds. Bleeding, even stumbling at times, she rushes for where she thinks the sniper's shot came from! A leap, and there's lightning in her hand ready to be brought down upon her sneaky opponent!

Not that it would do much if it hit. The lightning and Yari herself is just an illusion. The real Yari hides in the smoke cloud and waits as she spins up a Fuma Shuriken. The relatively massive shuriken is then tossed where she last saw a shot come from with lethal intent, hoping that her clone does it's job.

Gaonoir has posed:
Give the guy props that he can aim that accurate with a grenade between the energy whipping around him and the speed of the Digimon causing it. Then again, the vortex does kind of suck it right into Gaonoir's path anyways, so even if it wasn't precise it still had a good chance of catching him. Evident in the burst of frosty particles, and Gaonoir careen onto his back on the arena floor as the shadow cyclone is spinning down and fades.

But the tactic did nuke the drones, which is precisely what he wanted. So it was hardly a failure.

A grunt and the jetdog kippups back onto his feet. < Beating through that defense might be the only option. >
< Maybe, but don't focus entirely on the direct approach. > And they were both tough, but Erika knew if she kept him focused on his one clear strength it would better the chances.
At first Gaonoir grumbles a bit, but then realizes what she's getting at. Hmm.

"Great, now my visor is fogged up." Gaonoir mock complains as he grabs an end of his scarf and uses it to wipe frost off his visor. There's a few faint but visible cracks in his bionic flight suit as he shakes the cold off. "I know you guys are suppose to be cold hearted bastards, but that was a bit literal." Then he dashes back towards Gorth, winding back for one of his punches. That is going to just slam into that shield again!

And do nothing, as all that hits Gorth's shield is another shadowy afterimage, as Gaonoir uses his speed at the last moment to fake the strike and sidestep around the tankish Grineeer. Moving quickly before he can turn around Gaonoir shoves his arms under Gorth's arms and around his sides, then bends his arms up to clamp his large metal-clad hands against the back of the man's head. Let's see how good his ablative shielding does against less direct injury, as Gaonoir pulls back with his arms and pushes forward with his hands to use the lock-hold to try and bend the man's neck and spine in a very discomforting manner.

Kushiko has posed:
So, Karal's methodology of taunting is something that both works and doesn't work -- sometimes, the words simply don't crossover, but weird Solar Exalt things are enough similar to Tenno Void Magic that her words and gusto finally find purchase.

And they find purchase in a perhaps unexpected fashion: Dhurnam, the Executioner first killed makes a beeline for Karal--and throws a flashbang her way that if she /doesn't/ do something about it, is going to make the notion of seeing or hearing properly be something of an awful prospect as he closes in, both Hek shotguns spewing hot lead at the Solar.

Well, you wanted someone, now the berserker of the Executioners is back on the field.

Vay Molta is not quite having the time she thought she would--and Kela lets them know it, "Oh what is this, get your act together, Executioners, you're not in training anymore!" Molta on the other hand, encounters that blast from Kotone's heavy weapon /hard/, and as she tries to bring the hammer back down, she's interrupted by the pistol shot landing in her side--a sickening sound of blood and ceramic plating sends a planned movement into stumbling forward. Right into Kotone's fist if the operative is so inclined.

An utterly exasperated sound comes out of Nok as the Veteran grumbles. "You really might be a youngster if you think that's all I got, but you... heh, you..." The soldier grunts once; Dorian's display is making him reconsider precisely /what/ he's got there, so one good feint deserves another.

In this case, the Sobek is knocked aside for a few moments, but that's because he's focusing reactive energy into his armor, the taller Grineer soldier winding up that energy and then /slamming/ his fist into the ground, producing a shockwave of electrical energy, kneeling to the ground in order to deploy that maneuver. If nothing else, Nok wagers it'll make that mage use that trick of his to get away, and maybe give himself enough time to recover his Sobek and reload.

Yari definitely learns one thing for certain: this Executioner is a cheating bitch, given the customization given her 'sniper' rifle (it was originally an assault rifle, but customized and taking advantage of the tracking bullets for situations like these.) and other unfortunate techniques she has solely to play keep away.

Oddly, one of those shots... does not hurt as much as the other does. This is owing to the fact that the second sniper is an illusion. An exceedingly well-crafted decoy that has the fraction of Harkonar's power. But power is power--enough that getting rid of Harkonar's decoy is a good thing. One sniper disappears. The other remains--only to shatter into dazzling light as the Fuma Shuriken cleaves through it.

And then there's that laser light again from a new angle--at the clone Yari herself sent out, before seeming to change angles towards the smoke cloud. Or it would if Yari wasn't being supported by one of her allies--the sniper screaming in surprise as one hand bracing her shoulder as Valkyr appears behind her, /ramming/ her Broken-War blade through her back so hard she lifts her off the ground, and yanking it back out, letting the body collapse beneath her.

Given Yari's state of injury, the Tenno sends herself in a spiralling leap towards her defensively. She can sense Yari's location enough to use herself as a proper decoy, syandana flowing elegantly behind, tailflicking once as she rolls to a stop nearby. Garesh is on approach as he too also has respawned, prompting her to go after Garesh. But there's a brief signalling, faceless look: seems the Tenno will create an opening for her to capitalize on for her to use--Garesh throwing his axes in a spiral that has him teleporting on top of Valkyr as she slides past, making the Grineer leave his back to Yari...

Kushiko has posed:
Dok Thul and Gorth are a potentially deadly combination--even without Dok's advanced field medical tech, he still has his Hind rifle to harass and assault others, though he holds his drone back for now--sending it instead to assist Nok and his combat with the Tevinter mage.

In response to Gaonoir's words, however, the masked Executioner simply slams his shield with his axe as though to brace himself. Mercifully, the majority of that energy seems to have been expended in tanking what Gaonoir did previously with that energy vortex before he launches himself into the dashing Gaonoir. This melee seems ready to unfold much as the previous one did, but Gaonoir's choice of tactics seems to be on the money: he resists as much as he can, using the bulk of his armor against the tactic before the shadowy Digimon uses it against him.

He's brought down to the ground, wrenching and pulling and attempting to roll his bulk onto Gaonoir to crush him beneath it. It doesn't take, however, and soon enough the 'bend' becomes a sickeing *crunch* that blossoms into several more and then a strained cry erupts through the filtered emitter of the armor, and he goes still afterward, his spine, neck, and really his entire back given a chiropracter's nightmare.

...that's one way to do it.

Yari Takane (691) has posed:
Yari adds 'Cheating Sniper Jerk' to her ever growing list of Things In The Multiverse She Hates (tm). Largely as another shot runs her shadow clone through, dispersing to mere smoke. Then straight through, much to the ninja's annoyance.

But before Yari gets unfortunate holes in herself, the Tenno is there to save her! And yet, there's a threat to the woman as the Grineer respawns! The Au Ra can well see why this death game has gone on so long. To these clones, their lives aren't precious. Thus, the ninja acts quickly.

Her breath is ragged, and her strike somewhat sloppy given how injured she is. But Yari is a predator at heart, and she all but smells Garesh's lack of attention. After a swift set of handseals, a lightning-infused kunai races for Garesh's back, and hopefully past it into his heart. That's about when she unleashes the lightning blast.

This lizard wants to make sure any other respawn is both painful, and takes a while. She shows no mercy at all.

Dorian Pavus (774) has posed:
    "I don't know that I'd go advertising the fact that I could call a thirty year old man a 'youngster'," Dorian points out as the Sobek is knocked aside. "There's 'older and wiser', and then there's 'a relic'." Smug ass! Though perhaps whatever powers-that-be are about tired of his crap too. Because his attention was on the gun, and his intention was to go grab it. Even if he wouldn't be able to use it, it would keep it out of Nok's hands.

    However, because his attention is on the gun, it's not on Nok. So when that shockwave of electricity hits, it quite literally lifts Dorian off his feet and throws him back. The mage emits a yelp, at both the surprise of the move and the pain it causes, cut off when he hits the ground again and skids. By some miracle he manages to keep hold of the staff.

    Dorian's not slow to rise to his feet, though. He's not foolish enough to think that Nok won't go for that gun as soon as he's able to. It's another quick application of Fade Step to get himself out of the way of any retribution (likely missing getting blasted in half by mere millimeters). And as soon as he can, he... seems to spread his arms, as though inviting Nok to take a shot.

    But between those hands, a glyph appears in the sky... and about twelve blasts of lightning, each one the size of a man's fist, fire off in rapid succession, each one homing in on Nok. And possibly that healbot's drone if it gets too close!

Gaonoir has posed:
His opponent is still burly and tough and despite his superior position in the hold Gaonoir has to struggle to maintain it while Gorth fights the pressure being applied. Especially when Gorth tries to use their locked bodies to crush him to the ground, but Gaonoir endures, twisting his own body both to add additional pressure to the spinal hold and so they land on the ground on their sides instead of him pinned under the armored form's bulk.

Then there are several visceral crunching sounds, and the Grineer goes limp in his arms. Gaonoir huffs and lets go, letting the body slump off to the ground as he pushes himself off to stand, several more obvious breaks and dents in his body from the struggling. But that doesn't stop him from giving Gorth's body a shove with his foot to roll it entirely on its mangled back, and cocks back one of his arms as it starts to glow with that shadowy energy again.

Erika tilts her head a little to one side as she watchs on her digivice. < Gaonoir, what are you doing? He's defeated isn't he? >
<Like you said, they're kind of like us Digimon in how they can be regenereated or recloned. But you know how long it can take one of us to recover from extensive injury even with such ability. >
< Like when you go back to a digiegg and have to be rehatched, and raised back up to strength. >
< Exactly. He may be dead already, but there's a chance that the worse his body is beaten up, the harder and longer recreating him will take. >

And with that Gaonoir SLAMS the energized metal fist into Gorth's midsection with all his strength. "KNUCKLE CRUSHER!" Even with armor and such that has got to be a nasty blow to whatever pass for internal organs with these freaks.

Kotone Yamakawa has posed:
Everyone is figghting hard, some are strangers some she only knew in passing but it matters little, to Kotone. they all want the same thing more or less to make Kela choke on her pride and get a pack of Grineer who wanted out of the nightmare of their empire? Out alive. That's what driving her and she smuirks for a moment. There is no snarky reply as Kotone has to dela with Vay or end up getting turned into a flatterend pile of parts. She shifts her as Kotone moves to leap upon her and punching her about as hard as she can.

"It's people like you, why I couldn't have a normal life, why my body was ripped apart and now I'm just a Ghost in this shell but you know what? At least I can snad up to thugs like you!"

Kotone has had a button or two pressed by this, oh has she ever.

Karal Rei Lin (984) has posed:
WHERE did that guy come from out of nowhere?! Lin doesn't have much warning, but she prepares her sword. As if, somehow, she can parry the grenade - despite clearly having an idea that it's a bomb of some sort. IS SHE CRAZY?!

    Well. yes. But perhaps she had a way to parry it, because she begins to swing her weapon-- BUT KRAKOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

    A weapon that just can't do much against PURE NOISE and LIGHT, two things that catch her utterly unprepared! The warrior yelps and yowls, clappingg both hands over her ears and releasing her sword in so doing. She stumbles backwards, reeling and scrambling to reorient herself through eyes that don't want to open and ears that are still ringing.

    That's not good. She looks WIDE open.

    And she is. The dual shotguns pelt her hard, scattered projectiles digging into flesh and tearing through clothes. The unmistakable CLANGING of metal repelling metal's heard in those rounds though, but the source is hard to see through the sprays of blood. Lin gurgle-screams through the assault, blown backwards like a ragdoll.

    But.

    It takes more than that to kill a Solar.

    The moment her limp-seeming hand slams the ground the rest of her body reorients. She skids backwards across the ground with fingers curling like claws. A horrifying metallic screech accompanies the sparks those claws rend from the floor.

    She screeches to a halt, still temporarily blinded and deafened... but yet...

    But yet when more shots come her way she leaps from her crouch to the side and deftly flips and hops about in a closing circle strafe like a predator readying her assault.

    The blazing sword remains behind, within easy reach Dhurnam if he wanted to retrieve it. Who knows if that's a good idea, though.

    More shots her way and this time Lin ducks insanely low, BENEATH THEM. A few wing her shoulderblades and scrape flesh from her arms, but it doesn't slow her sudden rocketing leap. A single push from her legs and she all but SOARS across the space and whips in for Dhurnam. Under the warrior's guard, past those shotguns.

    The wind he disturbs is apparently enough for her to have a good idea where he is and what he's doing. It's not the best, but her sheer experience with combat suffices to make do.

    And make do well.

    Because she lays in with a ferocious CLAWSTRIKE for the neck and crushing the windpipe with lethal force, as if those fingers were the jaws of some mighty beast.

Kushiko has posed:
Vay Molta's Jat Kittag is momentarily dropped--she can sense something in her is off, and the ugly gray steel of her lower face twists into an angry sneer as she brings up her Grakata in a wild arc to try and fire off rounds at Kotone before she has a chance to actually make good on her fury. That weapon too is knocked away after a few punches, though a squeeze of the trigger sends bullets uselessly into the glass viewports above them.

It doesn't take many punches of that electrified fist as she leers through one eye, gurgling and coughing up blood--coughing up blood /at/ Kotone before her body shudders and it's cybernetics die alongside her. Even in death, she is delighting in the violence, and maybe somehow intuiting the violence she's roused in Kotone was not violence she was accustomed to.

Gaonoir's sentiment is halfway correct--the cloning tech and the like here, along with the Arena's nature of the fact people /feel/ it even if it doesn't retain? Means that the Ultravilence that the Digimon decides to inflict will be a memory burned into the psyche for a while. Especially given the way that the midsection crumples inwards, then the armor completely gives out, burned out by the energized fist that renders Gorth half the man he used to be.

Impossibly, however, the Grineer watching at home are CHEERING at this display of violence. Seems they don't care who's getting wrathfully pummeled into the ground, if it's entertaining the way Gaonoir dishes it out, they love it! Something even Kela can't help commenting on despite her irritation about Gorth meeting a rather messy and unfortunate end. "You wall-hugging, clone monkeys, can't get enough, can you?!" Even this gets /more cheering/ still.

Never let it be said the average Grineer was super intelligent.

On the other end of the proverbial Court of Rathuum, Yari is allowed to recover partway due to the fact Harkonar was taken out--and though she's on the way back, with the Tenno nearby as she is, their attention is there. When she hurtles for Garesh, Valkyr cuts loose a /howl/ of furor that's enough to make one's bones /sing/ as she gives herself to Hysteria, and Garesh is beset on both sides by lizard ninja and space ninja.

Especially as the Warframe sports energy claws now, extending from each finger as she and Yari effectively, mercilessly /rip and tear/, the blades of the ninja allowing her to leverage her claws into and literally dismember Garesh into a bloody heap.

Kushiko has posed:
Hey now, parrying grenades is /awesome/. The Tenno would approve wholeheartedly--they parry freakin' laser beams themselves to say nothing of some other unique things to parry, and parry /with/. (Fist parry! It can happen.) The pain Karal demonstrates is something the armored and sadistic Dhurnam utterly /revels/ in, laying down even more firepower--he heard the metal on metal, but he's treating the Exalt like a Tenno--overwhelm it-her--with extreme firepower and let the Queens sort it out.

Which as much as he doesn't trust her being blown back like a ragdoll as she was, it doesn't necessarily /help/ him the way he was hoping. Before he gets a chance to employ that one trick of his he used on Yari--hell, the Solar Exalt might feel the energies tingling around her to swap places--the heat and momentum and her getting /off the ground/ make actually trying to Switch Teleport a bad idea.

He discards the shotguns at the last moment in order to bring up a reserve Brakk shotgun--too little, too late, and even as that clawstrike sunders the Grineer's armor, he's cackling and gurgling madly--never does Dhurnam feel more alive the closer he is to death--planting the barrel of the shotgun to Karal's temple--

...only for an utterly sickening *crunch* and his finger left on the trigger before his arm simply drops to the ground, body going limp. Through the slits in the faceplate, Karal might be able to spot that sadistic look before the lights utterly leave him.

"Ohhhh I could /feel/ that hunger from here, wanting to rip that Contender's throat out with your /teeth/ and not just those claws, you sure you don't have a bit of Grineer in you?" Ah, mockery. Time honored tradition of Kela de Thaym.

"Pah," Executioner Nok starts, "I've heard enough of that." Energy pulsates through the air as he rises once more, only to roll himself towards and retrieve the Sobek, ejecting the spent ammo drum from it in order to reload. Yeah, he's showing a few cracks of /annoyance/ and as without the gun, he didn't have much of a chance. But with those glyphs heading in his direction, he manages to pop off a few rounds to blast at him and the glyphs--fruitlessly, mind. The medical drone doesn't get the chance it needed to aid Nok's injuries.

That's because even with him trying to roll away from one blast of lightning, he's caught up by the next one, and the one after that and the one after that, and his voice sounds discordant as the purest form of agony rips through him, making his body nearly lock into place as electrocution has waves and waves of coalescing energy waver over him until he drops to his knees, falling forward. The smell of electrocuted flesh hangs heavy in the air for a few seconds before his body completely dissipates--motes and embers of burnt flesh and armor marking his death in the Arena.

And he'd come back from that painful death. But it would be too late to avenge that death, nor the death of Dhurnam that follows shortly after his.

Kela is /FURIOUS/ as that kill puts the Accused to the point total they needed for this particular phase of it. And as some of the others like Dorian suspected, Kela's words should be no surprise. "WHAT?! I... I am declaring this a Mistrial! Rathuum must be repeated!" Maybe not /right then and there/, and even if there's no direct advancement, there's no loss at least, so the Steel Meridian defectors will live another day.

Dorian Pavus (774) has posed:
    Dorian actually feels a little sorry for Nok. And for the others who have been more or less exploded by the Elites. But it is indeed Dorian who gets the last laugh here, even as he knows Nok will either respawn or be cloned, whether he actually died here or not. So he might or might not hear Dorian's, "Good show anyway, old bean!" Waaaaay too familiar a term of address there!

    His next statement, however, is not for the ears of others, and is spoken quietly enough that the cheering masses' screams easily cover it up. "...Kaffas, that was close..." he breathes. Shotguns against cloth? No contest there. He's just grateful he didn't take a direct shot, or he probably would have died. And he doesn't have any of that fancy-shmancy cloning technology. The thought crosses his mind that if Tevinter could get their hands on that kind of technology...

    ...Aaaaaaand he stops that thought right there. That's too horrible to think about.

    Anyway. He goes to stand with the others as Kela declares mistrial. He sighs. "I was expecting that. If you'd just like to see more of me, you have only to ask, my dear. No need to set up such elaborate circumstances to draw me back again." He's not sure if she can hear him or not, but if she can? She's probably going to be pissed~.

Gaonoir has posed:
Dorian called that one, now didn't he?

Ganoir snorts a bit as he gets back to his feet after punching out the rest of Gorth's guts. "Figures." But all he does is give his scarf a dramatic flick over his shoulder as he turns and walks, at a normal pace instead of the speed he was exploiting earlier. Shrugs a bit to the others, and there's a bit of a smarmy glint in his eyes when he cocks his head just right for it to be seen behind his visor (which has a big crack in it from when Gorth tried to slam him into the ground). "I think she just wants us back because the crowd is enjoying US more then her champs."

Sure it was just because of the overkill, but that doesn't change that crowd was cheering for them instead, and he's not above twisting that jab in the opponents' side either. Too bad these weirdos are likely too jacked up to be demoralized by it.

Kotone Yamakawa has posed:
Kotone Yamakawa shuddered inwardly at this it's clear Kotone takes no joy in doing something like this but it had to be done it had to be neded. Even with the nature of the arena known to her? She finds it repugnant to her nature and that is for the best really the eelware powers down for now and Kotone moves to pick up the hammer if it's intact and she'll attempt to put the thing to use, even if it's not properly using it. The fighting comes to it's end and soon that Kela is now screaming and raging she narrows her eyes as Kela calls it a misstrial, she drops the hammer on the ground and looks at the projections narroowing her eyes a bit, she knew this sort of thing was about to come up and Vay oh god, Kotone can't unsee what she saw at all, she'll keep rolling with this, she's got a job to do and the personal intention to do so.

Karal Rei Lin (984) has posed:
"Send the ENTIRE ARMY down here--" Lin spits out a few moments after regaining her composure. NEARLY GETTING SHOT again was a bit nerve-wracking... and she's not confident she'd've survived a point-blank shot to the head from something like that... "Send them. C'mon and send them!"

    With nothing more than a scowl and disgusted look for Dhurnam's dying expression, she tosses the corpse aside as if he weighed nothing and reaches for her weapon. It LEAPS across the distance and back into her grasp...

    "Watch them get torn to pieces...."

Kushiko has posed:
Not long after making sure Yari is well enough to walk, the Warframe appears--or makes her way, one of the two--over to Dorian, the feminine frame giving him a quick once over. At least, that's what it /seems/ like. She may have been worried that the Tevinter mage was feeling out of his element, but seeing a minimal degree of injury was a comfort.

<"We think all of us were."> Kushiko projets aloud. <"Though, none of you should think you are the snakes she is referring to."> A faintly wry tone out of the Tenno. <"That would be us."> As to why, she doesn't seem interested in elaborating further, at least, not yet. Besides, the Grineer have loads of insults for them anyways.

Towards Karal, she reaches out with a hand, energy claws having long since been dispersed by Hysteria being released. <"You and I should have some time together sometime. Your combat is like ours, in a few ways."> The Tenno surveys the others, looking somewhat relieved the others made it through without suffering a similar 'death' as the Executioners had. A perfect score, but given the call for 'Mistrial', they'll have to do this over again.

Some of the retorts fall on deaf ears, but there's a decidedly angry /growl/ over the comms and broadcast before she angrily snaps, "Cut the transmission. Get out of here, ALL OF YOU." And with that, the screens and projections blip out. Well, that's as good a sign to get going as any.

<"Shall we?">

Dorian Pavus (774) has posed:
    Kushiko won't have far to walk to go over to Dorian. He's actually heading towards Yari himself, hoping he can coax out some healing magic. He's not very good at it, and probably couldn't actually do this in battle, due to the concentration required. But he's going to try to heal the ninja as much as he can.

    Minimal injuries? Sort of. His coat's pretty well ruined, with scorchmarks and punctures in it where the shotgun pellets penetrated despite his barriers. His boots are scratched up too, and the bird-shaped pauldron on his coat is bent. Yes, he's going to be complaining about that later. And he may just send Kela the bill!

    But yes. Dorian's also planning to do what he can with the healing for the rest as well. Karal was hit pretty hard, he seems to recall. How did Gaonoir fare, Dorian couldn't see a lot of what else was going on. While he does, he assures Kushiko, "All in one piece still. A bit perforated, but still in one piece." He gives a cocky smile. Can't let the fear show!

    He also nods to Kushiko's words of getting out of here. "Yes, I think that's wise, before we overstay our welcome too terribly much." To the group at large he offers, "I'll try to heal you a bit on the way back if you're in need of it."