949/The Copper and the Factory

The Copper and the Factory
Date of Scene:	10 November 2014
Location:	TARGET: The Factory (TF)
Synopsis:	The Copper dragon, Tyr RuGaard, attacks the Factory for its delicious metals. Chloe von Einzbern and Emiya Shirou show up to stop him and his forces. Chaos ensues!
Cast of Characters:	560, 611, 617

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The Copper (611) has posed:
Welcome to the Factory! This place is pretty barren and nondescript, aside from the fact that the terrain, rich in metal ores, regenerates itself. That's kind of handy, considering the resource drain that both factions can have on an area. Which explains why it's fought over on a semi-regular basis.

Today, here be dragons. There's quite a collection of them, maybe twelve or so all told, scales of every colour -- mature adults in flight, with scales every colour of the rainbow. There are white dragons, red dragons, black dragons, green dragons, and even one dragon whose scales are entirely copper. The metallic ones seem to really have scales made of metal, too -- they glint and gleam in the light, and they make sounds suggestive of metal.

Well, bottom line, they're busy thrashing the human defenders of the place and tearing up the Union defenses. They don't look like they're here to take prisoners, either. For the most part, they're on the ground -- and so is that copper dragon, one wing folded awkwardly. That one in particular looks like it might not be able to fly; busy sowing chaos on the ground, a green dragon helping it out in that simple task. Probably good targets to start with...

Emiya Shirou (560) has posed:
    DRAGONS.

    The video blips and reports coming in had told of 'dragons.' Shirou had not, however, been counting on HUGE WHALLOPING MATURE DRAGONS the size of tanks to be the main thing to greet him when he arrived at the Factory, following a mad dash.

    He'd started in Dun Realtai in a panic, and had hurriedly slapped on his armor - well, it can barely be called that - over top of already pretty ragged commoner's clothing. In short, he looks rather like a japanese guy in medieval peasant clothes with a vest of some black fiber-weave material... hardly anything to consider threatening.

    Or heroic.

    He finally does arrive though, atop a large yet shallow mound of waste mining debris that's been covered in dirt. A good vantage point for archery and getting a view of the battlefield...

    But the boy just GAPES at the scene before him. "...Wh-what can I do against THIS?!" If it was one Servant, ONE SERVANT, maybe just MAYBE he could distract them or keep them busy for a minute. But a flight of dragons?

    "Trace, on." Well, he has to try. Even if he can only save a few dozen people by distracting a few dragons, that's something worth pursuing. With eyes Reinforced to the point of Clairvoyance he scans across the battle lines, spotting the crippled Copper easily enough.

    A modern compound bow, complete with an assortment of pulleys and other gear, appears in his lefthand. Extra magic pulses through it, reinforcing it against the strain that is to come. In his right hand, the DRAGONSLAYER SPEAR of Ornstein appears. While seemingly FAR too long to mount as an arrow, a few minor Alterations warp its shape enough to manage, if just barely. "I'll have to start somewhere...!"

    This all but suicide, but he can't just LEAVE THEM BE!

    Lightning crackles along the golden Spear-arrow and the next moment -- FWOOOOOOOOOOOOOOSH!

    The thing flies fairly well thorugh the air, right for one of the airborne dragons swooping in and preparing for another sortie!

Chloe von Einzbern (617) has posed:
It was pretty sudden for poor Shirou. His life invaded by some random girl claiming to be his sister, raiding his fridge and eating his leftovers. But it happened. It was a thing, and it happened. Much like the sudden call of alert and need for aid at the factory, that the youth is so heroically responding to right now. Well, Chloe von Einzbern can only stay at home (that is to say, Gawain's room that she raided while his back was turned) bored and alone for so long.

With Shirou making that sudden and panicked flight from Dun Realtai, it's only natural that curious little sisters would want to see where their brother is headed out to in such a hurried rush, which can only mean one thing. When Shirou arrives to the sight of a flight of dragons tearing apart the defenders, it's mere moments before another figure appears.

She literally just appears. Seemingly from out of nowhere, dressed in an utterly casual shirt and shorts that give precisely nothing by ways of protection, seemingly without concern for her own health nor wellbeing, considering the sheer destruction and terror going on about the Factory, Chloe von Einzbern proceeds to attach herself to Shirou's arm as soon as he unleashes the spear. "You know, if you're going to leave in such a hurry, big brother, you could at least wait for me to catch up."

The Copper (611) has posed:
Though they tear through the lines like wolves in the sheep-herd, the dragons seem well-coordinated. They roar to one another over the fray, and the cacophony of that only seems to send the non-Elites into more of a panic.

The copper beast whips his horned head around, just in time for the dragonslaying spear to slam into one of his flanks. His jaw falls open and he gives a bellowing roar, impressive for his size, whirling on his attackers. Closer inspection would reveal his metallic scales are standing on end, bristling like the hackles of a wild beast.

His wings rattle menacingly, although the left one seems a little uncertain, and closer inspection would reveal that it's held in place by a brace of wood, metal, and leather, but he spreads them enough to cast a shadow over both Shirou and Chloe as he approaches.

"Cry vanquished! Call your defeated armies back!" he snarls, his eyes bright copper pools of rage. "This will be Confederate land when I finish, and you will be food for the Aerial Host!"

With that, the copper creature lashes his tail stiffly for Chloe -- though it moves stiffly, like it were set badly from a break -- and simultaneously lunges forward, attempting to snap his jaws shut around Shirou's midsection.

Emiya Shirou (560) has posed:
    Two things happen in impossible quick succession. Suddenly, there is a Chloe. Shirou blinks bewilderedly at this ridiculous development. Why is she here, how did she follow him?! And more importantly... "Ch-Chloe! You shouldn't be here, it's a warzone!"

    Well nobody should be here, obviously, warzones are bad.

    Even though he knows she's some kind of magical powerhouse, that's utterly disregarded. She's supposedly his little sister. So she shouldn't be here!

    Making things all the worse, in comes the old Copper, jaws gaping wide. "U-uuaaaah!" No time to talk. Or think!

    Dropping the bow he instead puts a hand forward, fingers open. A surge of prana flies through them. Oh he's scared. Heart thumping, blood pounding. He's very scared. This just got SO MUCH WORSE.

    He'll feel even WORSE if he can't protect this girl.

    Right now, it'll be all he can do to protect himself. "Look out--" He yells her way, with eyes full of fright.

    At the same time... the prana rushing through his circuits is projected outwards, forming into a THICK SHIELD. Thick, but... strangely see-through. The metallic silvery color seems to be in the vague shape of a TOWER SHIELD big enough that even DRAGON JAWS cannot fully close around it, and thus Shirou's able to leap away with only a few grazes along his arm when the jaws easily CRUSH the shield.

    That might be painful, but there's a nasty gash on one of Shirou's arms from the fang that grazed him.

    But with these few seconds he's bought, he does two things. The first, he starts gathering up a new design in his head and Circuits. The other?

    "I don't care about this place at all! But this isn't even a battle, it's a slaughter. I'm not giving anything to a beast like you!"

    He doesnt', at all, feel capable of winning.

    But backing down would be unthinkable too. Oh dear.

Chloe von Einzbern (617) has posed:
It's a terrible case of timing. Chloe turning out from nowhere, in the middle of a warzone, with dragons rampaging and sending seasond soldiers and warriors into a rout with their terrible and fierce bellows and furious assault. And here's this girl, seemingly showing no fear of the fact, as she holds on to her apparent big brother's arm.

It is The Copper's mighty demand that finally gets her looking up, golden eyes glinting as he demands victory be declared for he and his forces, so that the land may be given to the Confederacy. It's almost like something out of a storybook, crippled though he may be, the beautiful, terrible beast facing down a hero of justice and the helpless, if tiny, maiden latched onto him.

Storybooks however do not end with impaled maidens, and as soon as that tail comes for her, stiff yet fast, and those immense jaws seek to devour Shirou whole... Chloe detaches, faster than a bolt of lightning. Giving Shirou the freedom to call upon his shield, she tumbles aside, a spry little roll that lands her on her feet and knees, one hand braced on the ground, the other held ready at her side, lips tugged into a scheming grin. Already her eyes are flitting over the Copper's body. That wing. The less-than-agile tail, analyzing "Hey... Hey big brother... Let's have fun with this one, huh?"

The Copper (611) has posed:
Before he has a chance to react, the dragon's jaws clamp shut over a... shield? Where did that come from? His head rears back, and his expression is clearly one of surprise. What in the hell? His head cocks to regard the empty air where the now-faded shield should have been. He cocks his head the other way, as though to confirm that the thing is really and truly gone.

"I'll be gutted," he says, apparently as surprised as he looks.

In fact, up close, he's a wreck. He doesn't look like he's old, as far as such beasts go, for he's smaller and less developed than some of the other dragons merrily playing hacky-sack with human soldiers -- there's a big red one out there that looks enormous, whose his head is a tangle of old horns, and every so often when he gains altitude the spread of his wings blots out the light.

The copper beast is pretty ragged, though. That left wing looks like it has some kind of mechanical contraption holding it together. His tail was broken and set badly. His right foreleg is cinched up tight against his chest, clearly crippled; and now, where he's been stuck with that dragonslaying spear, already faded away, he's limping front and back. And, with his head facing them directly, his right eye doesn't seem capable of opening all the way, and it has a filmy, clouded quality to it that suggests it's mostly blind.

He draws back after a moment, seemingly frowning as he studies Shirou for a moment, though the boy's words seem to draw nothing but contempt.

"/Pfaugh,/" he finally snorts, spitting a platter-sized gob of what looks like steaming oil onto the ground. It sputters a bit, but doesn't really achieve ignition. It just fizzles vilely, so hot it chews a hole into the dirt where it rests, reeking of sulphur. "Slaughter? You hominids are well-acquainted with slaughter. After all, you've been at it for generations of dragonkind. No more! We will not be butchered like beasts by the likes of you."

He turns his head, a sinuous motion of his neck, to fix his good eye on Shirou. The eye rolls very slightly to regard Chloe; a flicker of bright copper, and the deep, dark well of its large, rounded pupil. "Hmmph."

There's a flickering motion, and abruptly, the armoured fans guarding his jawline and throat retract, drawing up tight against the throat with a metallic clatter.

"I find I've lost my taste for this. Very well. Keep this wretched ground for now. It means little to me." He doesn't owe the Confederacy enough to risk good dragons. There are so few already. So he settles for turning his back on both Unionites, and slapping at them with his broken tail. "Cry retreat!" he bellows to his draconic comrades. And, with a laboured leap into the air, and a few seconds of frantic flapping, he finds his balance -- and soon he's joined by the other dragons, a veritable rainbow of scale.

Well, looks like they're more or less done, for now.

...S-score...?

Emiya Shirou (560) has posed:
    Shirou remains tense. he's about to answer the dragon but... apparently, criticizing has been the best possible choice in a way he cannot really grok. "Are they just--" He wave an arm after the dragon several moments after it's back is turned, as if... kind of... wondering if he ought to be continuing. The flail doesn't get far though. Mostly because he's SWEPT right off his feet with a sudden clobbering and slammed hard into the ground with a crashing THUD. THAT sure knocked the wind right out of him. Grunting and gasping, he ends up staring in UTTER disbelief as the rest of the Dragons also disengage and follow suit. He's left gaping and confounded.

    That crippled... runt... was the leader?

    Well, once the Copper is well out of likely hearing range... "No way... how did it turn out like this?" He turns to look Chloe's way, full of relief... and pleeeenty of confusion. Quickly though, he berates her a little. "Wh-what are you doing, Chloe?! You can't tell me you don't realize how dangerous it is out here! If we didn't just get lucky, there's nothing I could've done to protect you out here!" He's mad.

    Because he means what he said. He probably couldn't even have protected himself, even against this cripple...

    The boy does get to standing up though, and dusting himself off...

Chloe von Einzbern (617) has posed:
That's... That's it?

So it seems, as the beast declares himself done. Simply deciding he's lost his *mood* for the battle. It is certainly a valid reason to leave; as valid and good as any other. And there are many who would be GLAD of it, as it means the terror and menace of the 'runt' and his cohorts make their way off, after leaving a fair bit of destruction in their wake...

And yet Chloe pouts. Apparently she didn't get to have any fun for herself. And what's even worse is Shirou's reaction when it comes. Picking herself back up to stand, and brushing dist and dirt from her clothes, the redhead youth suddenly wheeling on her makes gold eyes widen. Dangerous? "... Well yeah but..." But he's so mad. After so readily seemingly accepting her last night, the sudden chastizement makes the girl cringe, turning her head to avert her gaze with a soft, "Hmph..."

Emiya Shirou (560) has posed:
    Whew indeed.

    Shirou does relent, somewhat, seeing that expression. "... Come on... what kind of big brother lets his sister get hurt? Ugh. I misjudged this. If it was just one or two and they didn't get close up..." Although his body's far more aware of how close to death he just came than he's willing to speak about, Shirou tromps over to Chloe. "You sure surprised me though. I didn't expect you'd be this brave. or quick!"