989/Maelstrom: Tower of Babel

Maelstrom: Tower of Babel
Date of Scene:	17 November 2014
Location:	Grail Chicago
Synopsis:	Sir Gawain and a few allies go to help with what seems to be just a day off doing construction for Caster of White's Wardenclyffe Tower, when Berserker of White and his Master make an unexpected visit.
Thanks to:	To literally everyone. This scene completely defied my expectations and you are all completely welcome to any further Maelstrom scenes!
Cast of Characters:	Maya, 253, 331, Riva Banari, Sir Gawain, 560, 617
Tinyplot:	Fate/Maelstrom

---

Sir Gawain has posed:
It is Someday, November 17th, 1987, Chicago, Illinois. Today, there are plans for the most daunting, deadliest tasks known to man. Stuff no man dreams of doing.

Lifting heavy objects and setting them down. (Okay, some men might dream of doing this)

As part of his alliance with Mikhail Alkaev and his Servant, Caster of White, also known as Nikola Tesla, Sir Gawain, known as Saber of Gold, has agreed to help with the moving of required materials for the construction of Wardenclyffe Tower. Surprisingly, they all fit into one trailer-truck. Surprisingly, someone let Gawain drive the truck. With passengers.

LUCKILY, no one died. The truck has arrived safely at an abandoned lot in a more shadier, oft-untravelled district of the Windy City. The lot is empty; was scheduled for construction and it's obvious, a few piles of wood, a ton of litter, and a ton of trash. It was eventually abandoned and no one is going to buy the lot any time soon, making it perfect to put a giant magical tower on.

Inside the back of the trailer truck, it's pretty cramped: Five people plus several metal girders, boxes of assorted weird shit and electrical supplies, and other boxes of various metals. Somehow, this stuff doesn't look like it can construct a tower. How is it supposed to construct a tower?

MAGIC.

As the truck pulls to a stop right outside the lot, Caster of White lifts up the backdoor, as Gawain gets out of the front of the truck. Whoever got shotgun was super, super lucky.

Mikhail leaps out of the back of the truck swiftly, a smile as he speaks up. "Alright! Grab a box, or if you have the strength, a girder, and start lifting this into the lot. Within a couple days, we'll have a tower constructed."

Riva Banari has posed:
Riva rides along in the back of the truck. for some inexplicable reason she feels some kind of guilt. Perhaps shame.

No, no wait, that's the feeling of a large box of Weird Crap falling over on her. This might be the reason why she is mildly gumpy when she exits the truck carrying it. "Where do you want this, Marvelous Munificent Mysterious Man of Magical Might?" Riva is engaging in a delightly spicy blend of sass and alliteration this evening. "HEY BIG G!" She also hells around the box. "You should TOTALLY get recertified for driving!" Says the woman who ramped a Ford Taurus at a little girl just a few days ago.

Maya has posed:
Maya? Don't let her drive, serious don't let her drive. She becomes some sort of demon witch behind the wheel it's best she doesn't and for now she's been riding in the back of the truck. She wishes they could have brought work bots but those might cause questions to be asked if they got spotted. She was in the back of the truck as they pulled in and she looks over to Riva for a moment.

"Hey you doing all right and humm you know I never bothered to get a terran driver's licence..."

EArth Road laws are maya's mortal enemy, it almost got her run ove rby Snake and Prime once long ago.

Psyber (253) has posed:
    There's the rumble of an engine at the construction site as a 1957 Chevrolet 210 rolls up to the abandoned lot with Psyber at the wheel. Neglecting his normal long coat and work outfit, he's dressed far more casually today, mostly as part of a cover ID we will be explaining. He has a passenger today! Mostly because he wouldn't mind her help on a mission now and again, and missions are the most common way he hangs out with Himei.

    Eventually, the car rolls to a stop and the engine cuts off. Psyber reaches into the back seat of the car and takes out what looks like a large tackle box for fishing. Only when it's opened, it has stacks and stacks of fake IDs. Most of them are Psyber's, but he keeps a few around for close friends, "Let's see... primary CIA, primary FBI, French Intelligence, GRU, CIFA... Where is it...?"

    "Ah." He pulls out a pair of ziplock bags, "Here we go." He hands a driver's license and work ID over to his passenger, "Okay. You are Dionne Warwick, I'm Gregg Allman. We work for the Allman Brothers Construction Agency." Psyber says, nodding his head a few times, "You're my assistant. I faked up some permits, too, so if things get loud I can dazzle local authorities with some demolition permit mockups."

    He really shouldn't use hismusic cover IDs on worlds where the time period is the 1980s, but he enjoys them so much.

Chloe von Einzbern (617) has posed:
Chloe von Einzbern. Riding in style.

Having called dibs on shotgun seat, by sacred rites passed down from time immemorial, this means she's sitting up front in the cab with Gawain. She is probably only wearing her seatbelt because Shirou fussed her into it. But when the truck comes to a stop, the passenger door swings open. Out hops a small girl, silvery-pink hair, dark skin, gold eyes. And a huge grin plastered on her face, after what most people would call a harrowing ride. "Heeeeh... That was pretty fun. Dibs on the way back, too."

Emiya Shirou (560) has posed:
    "Well, these are definitely construction materials," Shirou was heard muttering at some point during this trip, though not much else. He also definitely helped clear fallen junk off Riva during the bumpier parts of the ride, and got clonked in the side of the head by a shifting girder at another time...

    So he hops out of the back, rubbing the side of his head, and gives Mikaela a suspicious glance. "...A whole tower out of just this?" Even he knows Projection magic cannot possibly make an ENTIRE TOWER out of nowhere, so what does a Caster that's a technological inventor intend to DO?
R    Regardless though, the boy stretches and grabs some of the boxes that are in the way of the heavier stuff. He's actually pretty darned fit and strong, so there'll be no trouble carting plenty of stuff around by himself!

    And he did fuss Chloe into a seatbelt, yes, yes he did.

Himei (331) has posed:
    Himei isn't into that kind of music, so the names at best sound only vaguely familiar. She knows Psyber, though, so she doesn't make a comment on the odd-sounding title. Besides, she does have a sense of humor, she just doesn't show it. "Sure, whatever works," she says, adjusting her hat. She's also dressed casually, partly because she figures this isn't going to be a dangerous mission or anything. As such, the only armament she has is her Abstractum, which is currently sleeping anyway. "Thanks," she says to Psyber.

    And then she's up to... looking at the truck. "That's it? Seems a little light for a tower. Oh well, whatever." She'll wave lightly to anyone she hasn't met yet... which is a lot of the people here.

Sir Gawain has posed:
As Gawain gets out of the cab, he is heading straight towards a metal girder; with a bit of effort, he's able to pick up one end of it, though he'll likely need some help carrying the entire thing. Caster of White is lifting two boxes himself, though he doesn't have the Strength to lift a girder.

"It's magic, I don't got to explain nothing. Mostly because I can't." Mikhail grins, as he turns to Riva. "Just set it down. We just need it inside the lot for now, there's not actually a pattern to the construction, they just all need to be in the construction site."

Caster of White elaborates where Mikhail cannot, as he carries his boxes. "Whilst we need physical supplies, we do not need many. The majority of the tower will be made of mana, whilst the objects here are a physical base. After all, you cannot create something from nothing."

As Gawain drags his girder out, he grins himself. "Many mysteries cannot be explained. This is one of the more fascinating ones: Creating a tower from a bunch of scrap."

Those with the ability to sense magic will notice something faint in the distance; whilst Caster of White and Gawain would also trigger magical senses, in the distance there is a more faint sense of it, closing in; the direction isn't quite clear, as it seems to be moving around quite a bit. What could it mean...?

Psyber (253) has posed:
    "Yeah, no sweat. Sorry I don't have as many for you as I do for myself. You should get some of your own," Psyber says to Himei, smiling as she gets out of the car and he puts his fake ID box back into the backseat. After doing this, he reaches into his glove box and takes out a Walkman, complete with a cassette inside. Why not keep up this fun 80's cover? And so as he gets out of the car and heads over to the working materials, he sings to himself:

    "Baby I got sick this morning
    A sea was storming inside of me
    Baby I think I'm capsizing
    The waves are rising and rising
    And when I get that feeling
    I want-"

    He cuts off and waves all around, "Hey everyone! Good to see you all! I'm totally ready to get my work on today!" He shouts over the music blaring in his ears.

    Not having as keen a magical sense as many others, he can't sense anything in the distance. He's more focused on getting to work and helping to unload the truck. Probably hauling out a girder or something.

Maya has posed:
Maya laughs at the mention of magic.

"Isn't that always the case unless it's magitech?"

She seems to be in good spirits and hummms she's going to get to work at this point. Maya tilts her head her world dabbled in conjuring but never really presued it they did use it to never need to reload ther guns however.

"I see I think where you going with this."

Maya pulls out a card casts a spell upon her self and gets to hefgting stuff in it's prety hard but she's making some progress.

"Hey Psyber! Good to see you."

Chloe von Einzbern (617) has posed:
Chloe is... Not helping with the heavy lifting.

She's like ten, she doesn't have to do anything if she doesn't feel like it. A fact she emphasizes with the shift in her stance; rocking onto one foot, while folding her hands together behind her head. For the most part she's not going to really help with unloading, lifting, hauling, or building. Sucks to be you guys.

"Heh."

So yep she's going to let the others build the thingy. Though the dark-skinned girl's lips twitch into a frown. It is not brought on by Psyber's singing, there's something else.

Himei (331) has posed:
    Himei doesn't actually have enhanced strength, but she's stronger than she looks. Just... really wiry. She's carrying a box as she answers Psyber, "I probably should. Laine's world was the only one recently that's warranted anything serious, but..." She quiets, shaking away some bad memories there.

    Himei has basically no magical sense, just evil-sense, so she's still going about her business. Nothing major here! "I was going to bring Assassin, but she's out with my granddaughter," she says. "I'm not sure socializing with Servants is a thing, anyway."

Emiya Shirou (560) has posed:
    "hrngh." Shirou just grunts in response. He's not too sure about this but he does trust Gawain.... and besides, would an inventor like Tesla be an untrustworthy backstabber? Probably not!

    The boy just hauls things without thinking too much about it.

    And he's UTTERLY OBLIVIOUS to anything happening, like maic. What crappy senses he does have are pretty blinded by the presence of two Servants, anyways...

Riva Banari has posed:
"Wheee, chaos! Wuyin would love this." Riva says, setting the box down and jumping into the truck to get another. She's carrying boxes, not girders. she's not THAT awesome, she is leaving that to Psyber and Gawain.

Riva, having the comparative magical seneitivity of a pound of wet meatloaf, doesn't seem to notice the incoming magical stuff. Instead, she settles for jamming to the music. "And he can sing, too!" She chuckles. "HEY PSYBER, COME GET WORKING THEN!"

Sir Gawain has posed:
"Magitech? Heh, I should explore that sometime out in the Multiverse." Mikhail grins again, standing not far from the back of the truck; anyone moving stuff is going to pass right by him. Sir Gawain drops his girder off along the other stuff, when suddenly, he seems to pause, for a short second.

Those with any decent magic sense at all will now sense something coming towards them: It's powerful, but it's jittery; the exact location of it is hard to tell, as it's moving rapidly.

And then, something not as easily detected could probably be heard or seen near the front of the car, moving rapidly: A young man in his late teens to early twenties dashes towards the truck; leaping onto the hood of the car and then onto the trailer in one fast, swift movement. He doesn't stop there; he dashes towards the back of the truck and leaps straight off, allowing a clear view of him.

Psyber will recognize him solely by the strange mask covering his mouth that's latched around his face: He is a Master, who was at the Gathering of the Masters. Referred to as Reaper, he's apparently a very dangerous, and very skilled killer, possibly with the ability to drain mana from others. He has short cropped blonde hair, covered in a hoodie (a modern one, at that, from around 2005, as seen by the design of a band that doesn't exist yet), the forementioned mask, and a 2005-era iPod tucked in his hoodie, earbuds playing music for him. Obviously, someone's seen the Multiverse.

And someone's foot is about to smash Mikhail straight into the face; no time for reaction. As he flies forward, he is rapidly signing something; British Sign Language, roughly translates to 'STRENGTH ENHANCE LEGS'. And as he signs, mana is being used; as the strength of his legs are being enhanced into a particularly painful kick.

Oh boy, this should be fun.

Emiya Shirou (560) has posed:
    As it so happens, Shirou's REALLY close to Mikhail. While he cannot feel magic, doesn't possess what anyone could consider good magical senses, or precognition, or anything.... moments before the strike from nowhere, Shirou tenses, and--

    "LOOK OUT---" DROPS the box of building materials. ... THROWS himself at Mikhail to hurl him out of the way---

    CRUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUNCH.

    "Huuuuuagh!" The redheaded magus coughs up blood from that impact, and is hurled across the ground like a bouncing ragdoll. Whumpf whumpf THUD THUMP, he finally smacks into a girder on the ground hard enough to stop him and flails around for purchase to get up.

    The kick connected right with his side, probably crushing a rib or two! That's gotta hurt!

Chloe von Einzbern (617) has posed:
Shirou eats that kick like a champion.

There's almost no transition of movement. Blink and you'll miss it because Chloe was standing over in one spot. In the span of less than a second, she's crouched at Shirou's side, hands on her knees as she squats down to his level. "You know big brother, you really need to be more careful about soaking kicks from ninja assassins with reinforcement enhanced legs."

Psyber (253) has posed:
    Psyber sticks his tongue out at Riva while carrying a huge steel girder over his shoulder, "I will work when I fee-" He gets interrupted by Shirou taking a deathkick to the chops and flying back like a rag doll, "Damnit. Another ambush."

    The girder is dropped with a heavy clang. Normally he'd be tempted to beat the shit out of someone with it, but this guy seems way too fast for that to be an effective strategy. So instead, Psyber rolling his neck and snaps his fingers, "Blessed blade of the lost soul, Einherjar."

    A twist of lightning surrounds his arm before gathering in his hand and then coalescing into a sword. The half-angel then swipes said sword, sending a blast of lightning towards Reaper, while still falling back and trying to get eyes on the missing Servant.

Riva Banari has posed:
Oddly enough, Riva notices the dude vaulting off of the truck before the magic. She looks up and drops the box with a clatter. "Oh crap! Acrobatics!" People call the dude Reaper. Riva doesn't seem to care as she pulls her guns. The pair of MAC-10s begin humming with Anima, the world-energy rolling through her like a beacon to mage-sight. "HEY!" She yells, flicking her thumbs. "YOU ARE NOT NEARLY AWESOME ENOUGH TO STEAL AZZY'S SCHTICK!" At that, she holds down the triggers, beginning to riddle the area around said Reaper with blue-green magical bolts.

"Dammit, Shirou!" Riva yells, gritting her teeth. "Don't you dare die, Shirou!"

Himei (331) has posed:
    And then Shirou ate a kick. That means that this thing is getting serious already, huh? Reinforced legs? Himei drops what she's holding with a crash, starting to dash forward, then skidding to a stop as Psyber swings his blade like that. "I knew I should have brought a gun or something," she hisses. "Mages..." Sigh.

    She closes her eyes, shaking her head slowly, then takes a deep breath. A heartbeat later, and power SURGES through her, clothes straining as she bulks up in musculature abruptly. She probably tore some things there, in fact, but fortunately they were mostly loose clothes. When she opens her eyes, they're a blazing emerald, glowing with power.

    Also, nobody had better be doing divination on her, because she just put herself outside Fate.

    Himei cracks her knuckles as she steps in front of Mikhail protectively. "Care to try that again?"

Maya has posed:
Maya Says "You should my people did not seperate the concept of science from magic very much if at all the line honestly blurrs on my world. My rifle alone is na example it grows ammo as needed and feeds off my own magic or local energy to function."

She's gworking along at this point and pauses as she looks about as something else is going on. They have an arrival she sees the iPOD and knows she's got problems at this point. Okay thinbs just got complicated, this guy seems made to mess her up, she's got a knife still so she's not entirely unarmed. She does get one idea and ponders.

She's going to have to wait in on that one for now however.

Sir Gawain has posed:
Reaper's foot smashes right into Shirou; not his intended target, but he doesn't care. As he hits, he kicks himself off Shirou as Shirou ragdolls back, flipping around in the air. This dude's totally a ninja.

With a signing of a hand, he's casting another spell. 'ENDURANCE ENHANCE SELF'. Riva's bullets impact to his side; but damage is lessened. It hurts, but not enough to significantly take him down, as he lands on his feet with a shot up hoodie. It is very obvious he is an unorthodox Magi: The way he moves and the way he fights is more of both a dancer and a killer than a refined magician; constant moving on his feet. His techniques seem to be derived from Capoeira, as he slides narrowly out of the way of a strike of lightning.

And he snaps his fingers, too.

This actually does something! The magical energy that has been moving around suddenly stops between him and Psyber, and dematerializes: Into a /HUGE/ man, shirtless and very, very ripped with only a pair of leggings for cloth; long brown hair and a long brown beard working along it, bloodshot eyes indicating his class: Berserker. A bolt of lightning strikes into Berserker, who doesn't even move; screaming with a battle cry, as a blade appears in his hand: Chloe may recognize this blade, black and spiraled inwards, looks a bit like a unicorn horn. She's likely used it herself, but does she know it's name?

And then, Berserker and Reaper switch positions. Reaper dashes as Psyber, reinforcing his kicks again with a plan to smash him in the rib, whilst Berserker is rushing straight at Himei, pure murderous intent in his eyes.

Gawain is dashing towards Berserker, with an attempt to intercept. Caster of White is near Mikhail; neither of them were actually prepared for combat: They genuinely did not expect it, with Caster of White shielding Mikhail right now.

Riva Banari has posed:
As long as someone else is tanking for her, Riva could simply wear the Master down. He has to do all kinds of fancy things. She can just keep firing. It's kind of Archer-like in its intensity, really. She frowns as he deflects a number of the bullets, however, the Anima splashing against his reinforced flesh. "Of course." she grates.

The appearance of Berserker changes things. Riva falters in her fire hose methodology, her eyes widening. "Whoooooa." she says. "That's big." She looks towards them for a second, but... she pauses. Psyber and Himei should be able to handle if. If she lets up on the Reaper, he'll be free to move.

Riva grits her teeth and starts shooting again. "Damn it..." If she only had an anima-enabled sword... "HEY FANCYPANTS! COME ON!" She suddenly stops firing and spins her guns, shooting upwards into the air. The Anima bullets rain down around the Reaper, a pool of blue-green energy spreading out around the man with a distinctive honeycomb energy pattern. He'll find that his movement is slowed significantly for a few seconds if he stays within it until the bullet rain dissipates.

Emiya Shirou (560) has posed:
    "Uuuuuunnnngggggggh." Chloe's snappy commentary does a wonder at clearing up Shirou's suddenly dazed head. Though he grimaces chagrinedly at her, he gathers his wits and pushes up. yeah, he's limping and gasping for breath - and every inhalation is like sucking in a gulp of FIRE - but since when has pain and a broken body stopped Shirou?

    The boy gathers all his strength to stand and start reathig again, and that helps. "Yeah, something to remember next time something so ridiculous happens." He answers wryly, only to stare as a Servant appears.

    And his eyes lock onto that blade.

    Well, that's definitely something to worry about. Shirou tenses upon seeing it, instinctively realizing that's nothing to take lightly. As it's engraved in his memory however, he focuses on something else...

    "Trace ON!"

    Showing a rather angry face, Shirou takes a combat stance and projects... something else entirely.

    Prana spreads from his hands, crackling and sparking, then fuses and congeals into a black longsword of ancient design. The metal is all black, and and has more of two nubby 'spikes' for a guard than a guard. The grip's wrapped in simple leather, and it lacks all ornamentation one might expect of a holy sword.

    It's too practical for ornamentation! This is a weapon designed just to defeat enemies.

    KUSANAGI NO TSURUGI howls in his hands, gathering a visible rush of wind about its blade as Shirou takes his defensive stance. "An ambush... were they expecting us?!"

Maya has posed:
Maya now is holding back given she was told he was eating magic she gets Gawain's rule about no killing hte masters and she'll respect that if she can. She seems to have calmed sown since the last magi encounter. She is now trying to think about how to deal with someone whom can eat magi she's going to well hve to deal with it. She looks to Berserker she'll go after them for the moment she pulls a card and starts working her alien magic, soon a pillar odf earth trie to erupt out of the ground under Berserker hopwfully to slow him down ot even hurt him.

"Shirou let's get to it!"

Himei (331) has posed:
    Maybe this wasn't the best idea.

    Then again, Himei's already committed to the action. And uh, Berserker heading toward her? She's charging right FOR him! It's been a LONG while since Himei let her own berserker tendencies show, really. They are now though, and she's meeting Berserker head-on without saying anything. Though her stance is a solid 'bring it' nonverbally.

    Since she's unarmed, and he has a sword, this may not be the most solid plan. But hey, since when do berserkers(or Himei /normally/ for that matter) plan? And she's moving /way/ faster than a human has any right to, right now.

Psyber (253) has posed:
    There's a series of cracks as Reaper's knee drives straight into Psyber's ripcage. Unfortunately for Reaper, Psyber is far more durable than the average human would be, so while it's a painful blow to take, Psyber grits his teeth and pushes through it. The logic he's using is that he's at his best in direct melee, so while it may require him to take a nasty hit or two to be there, Psyber is willing to make that trade to be in his comfort zone.

    The half-angel immediately stabs his sword into the ground and switches his footing to an MMA stance, hands coming up and preparing to deflect future knees. The half-angel wipes some blood from the corner of his mouth while pressing in towards Reaper and changing it up a bit. The mage is not the only one that can throw devastating blows after all.

    Left hand comes around in a hooking motion. Psyber close his hand into a fist just before impact and tries to deliver a body-bending and excruciatingly painful liver shot to Reaper with a closed fist.

Chloe von Einzbern (617) has posed:
Shirou seems alright, which means as he picks himself up, one small hand is lightly patting him on the shoulder. "Good. I'm glad. It'll save you a broken rib or two next time." Chloe lightly teases. Before BERSERKER arrives on the scene. "Ahhhh... And the Master was bad enough." Muttered before the girl snaps her fingers.

In a flare of flowing red cloth appears from nowhere, wrapping her up in a swirl of scarlet. When it comes undone her clothes are replaced, the tattered cloak flowing aside to reveal light segmented plates of black armor as she whispers two words.

"Trace On."

And with a scarlet light, wire frames of magic form in her grasp, filling out and completing themselves into two short swords. Single edged. One black. One white. Like yin and yang, she holds a pair of twin blades. But they're not TWINS. They are the married swords, Kanshou and Bakuya. Where one goes, the other will always seek to follow and join it.

A side-arm throw HUCKS one in an arcing curve, hooking around Himei. And with a flare of white, she launches the other- the two swords already boomeranging at the Servant in a pincer as the completely swole Magical Girl moves to face him head on.

She repeats this process, again and again, until three copies of Kanshou and three Bakuya aim to whittle down the mountainous Servant Geat.

"Anyway if you're alright big brother, I'll go help handle Berserker now."

Just like that she's gone again, re-appearing a beat later in the air to let gravity bring her, and her swords down.

Sir Gawain has posed:
SMASH. Psyber's fist goes straight into Reaper's liver; he was expecting a counterblow, but not one of this much force. He's sent stumbling back, when he notices Riva's weird bullet magic, which he promptly attempts to get out of the arc of, as he drops to his knees.

And removes his mask, a grin on his face. There's no scars. Nothing to show that the mask was of vanity. But, Mikhail's rumros come true as soon as he opens his mouth; those with magic will feel a trickle; similar to water running down their body. It is slowly taking magic from their body and transfering it to Reaper; and to those who can sense such, from Reaper to Berserker. Reaper speaks, Finnish accent clear. "Berserker of White. Broken Phantasm to my target, hold your own. I will eliminate the child."

As Reaper speaks, Berserker screams at the top of his lungs. "GRENDEEEELLLLLLLL!". Yuuup, it's Beowulf.

And then he just briefly turns to Psyber, and flings Hrunting vaguely into his direction, soaking prana into the blade before turning back to take Himei's hit head on, attacking with his fist instead of his sword: It's just as dangerous as if he attacked with his sword, if not moreso. He takes a significant strike, roaring in rage, before blades begin to boomerang at his back, hitting directly, but not particularly taking him out. After the second pair appears, however, he attempts to turn his attention from Himei to Chloe, dashing at her in a rage with the attempt to...probably rip her arm off, who knows?

As Reaper moves, he reaches into his hoodie: Generic standard pistol, already prepped for firing. Pointing it at Riva, he fires two shots in her direction, before turning it to Shirou; his primary target, two more shots being fired directly at him as he speaks. "Agility Enhance Leg." With this, he speeds up, tossing the pistol to the side and preparing to kick him straight in the chest; though he is obviously reeling from Psyber's strike, he seems able to put aside the pain as he fights.

Speaking of Psyber: Hrunting immediately aims and locks onto Psyber, a homing blade at it's finest: A Broken Phantasm, specifically, meaning it's a one-shot magically explosive blade.

Moving to intercept, Gawain dashes forward; if Psyber does not interact with Hrunting first, Gawain will, Excalibur Galatine and his armor appearing, as the blade is wreathed into fire. It takes him a few seconds to do so, but as he does, he goes to block Hrunting directly with Galatine.

Emiya Shirou (560) has posed:
    "Ahhhhhhhrgh..." Shirou's still full of groans. Just breathing hurts. But he keeps his attention focused. Just pain? He can deal with pain. Collapsing can wait until later.

    He pours determination in his aching body, and stays upright without trouble. Even in the face of this MONSTROUS Servant. "I'm--"

    There's those words again. Shirou gasps aloud, shockd. No other magus should be using those words. Those are his words and his alone. Yeah, Chloe's supposedly his sister, but adopted - so why...

    Why is she using his words...

    More importantly...

    He ends up not going anywhere the instant Kanshou and Bakuya appear. He stands as though fixed in place, unable to tear his eyes off the yin-yang weapons, even as the air's filled with copies of them that swoop in at Berserker.

    Amber eyes wide and full of shock, the boy seems... utterly mesmerized where before seeing weapons just awed him for a second or two. Hrunting here, or Psyber's Einherjar, for instance... both he seemed drawn towards, but neither have had the affect that Chloe's performance is right now.

    Hrunting being fired off snaps him out of the daze just in time to realize he's in danger however. In an instant between instants Kusanagi, wreathed in wind, raises up to absorb the blow on its flat. Were it the real thing that should've worked out fine and in Shirou's favor, but... it was a crappy knockoff, too quickly made. Kusanagi bursts into fragments, shattering! The defense did absorb most of the impact, so Shirou only stumbles backwards with the wind knocked out of him, but...

    Now, he's unarmed.

    Projection normally takes some time, a few seconds at least, perhaps ten to twenty for a really quality job, but--

    Not this time. Eyes still seeming glazed, Shirou roars a short battlecry and *SIZZLE-CLANK*!

    ...Regaining his footing almost instantly, he rushes straight at Reaper with Kanshou and Bakuya in hand. His entire stance has changed as it often does for high quality traces, but this stance suits him perfectly.

    For Shirou, well, he's not thinking too well right now. His head's begun pounding and consciousness has overloaded, and anyone looking in his eyes can't possibly figure out where his attention is. Yet...

    He brings those weapons about with fluid motions and carefully calculated skill meant to force Reaper into the defense!

Riva Banari has posed:
Riva can feel the man draining magic from her. The Anima flow leechs out of her, weakening the rate of bullets coming from her gun... But he's going to need to turn it up a lot faster should he wish to cut off Riva's power. She continues drawing power from Gaia, Anima flowing through her like a conduit. The weapons are her focus.

As impressive as her magic batteries are, however, that doesn't keep her from small issues like 'getting shot'. The bullets punch into Riva, causing her to grunt in pain as she reels. "OH HELL!" She stumbles o the grouns, bleeding severely from the wounds, but still capable of action for now. It seems to be some form of colossal luck that has kept her from getting a lethal wound, but that seems to be a small reassurance at the moment.

For now, all Riva has is more gun. she'll just keep shooting, as much out of pain, anger, and spite as anything else by now. "You're goddamn insane. What makes you think you're going to win against all of us?"

Himei (331) has posed:
    Well that sucks. Himei gets a fist right to the chest, with a rather sickening *CRACK* sounding on it. Yet it does far less damage than a Servant punching a human SHOULD do, because her hand is batting it aside without much concern. That probably hurt... a lot... but she keeps going. "I wouldn't turn your back on me," she says bluntly... because Himei is not an honorable knight. Technically a knight, but she's more of a pragmatist.

    So Himei has no problem aiming a supernaturally-powered kick right toward Berserker's leg. Servant or not, snapping a leg at the knee should be effective, and there's a lot of power behind it.

    Though kicking with broken ribs probably isn't the brightest idea Himei's had, the thing is her attacks are getting progressively stronger /anyway/ by the nature of the martial art she's using.

Maya has posed:
Maya is just making work of of her magic at this point she knows it might not be the best, she does see the mask she feels osmething comming it's feeding on her. Oh hell she's become a liablity at this point. If he wants to feed.

"You hunger for magic?!"

Maya's gets he's feeding now however she wonders how much Reaper can just eat she wonders about how stupid it is? She debates for a moment as she breaks into a run trying to get close she doesn't use her spells again save upon her self she speeds up and has her father's surival knife. It's more of a dirk as she she's leaping for Beowulf.

"BEOWULF!"

Maya's leaping for him in a rather brash mood trying to make use of her blade to try and get him in the face. Even if this will likely do little it will distract them.

Psyber (253) has posed:
    Psyber slides back and away from Reaper, snapping his fingers as his sword vanishes in another pulse of lightning. Hrunting is coming in towards him and Psyber has to figure out a way to deal with that first. His arms come up defensively, expecting to have to take a huge and heavy hit. Luckily for him, Gawain is stepping in to block the Broken Phantasm with Excalibur Galatine.

    For this, Psyber is fairly grateful. Taking that head-on would have been pretty nasty and devastating for him. And so, turning his backup into a sprung backflip, Psyber reaches both hands under the short jacket he wears to draw a pair of pistols. Landing with a skid, he drops to a knee and unloads a flurry of shots on Reaper.

Chloe von Einzbern (617) has posed:
Ah Shirou's looking a little... Entranced. Golden eyes flit to the redheaded magus- though the distraction is momentary, Chloe knows she must simply keep her attention on Berserker first and foremost. Technically she shouldn't even be trying to directly engage him. Not on her own anyway, and that's why she slipped in to help Himei- who at the moment seems more suited to it.

The issue comes in the fact that as a class, Berserkers are kind of apeshit bugnuts. The girl can't help but click her tongue. It's one thing to turn a copy of a Noble Phantasm into a Broken Phantasm, but in the case of a Servant, that is their cherished weapon. Once it is broken it will not be coming back to them. It is done. Breaking Hrunting should SUPPOSEDLY put the group at an advantage, but at what cost?

She can't let herself worry about Gawain putting himself in the path of it, when Beowulf decides to ignore Himei and come right at her. "Ah-..."

"AH!"

She's fast. Nimble and devilishly quick, but the monstrous Geat is relentless, and after several dodges, Chloe is pressed to hard. With a SQUEAL, she's caught, left arm snatched into the massive Servant's hand. She's light, but stronger than she looks, and that's why the initial yank only dislocates her shoulder instead of ripping her arm clean out the socket. It's enough for the Homunculus girl to see stars, cry out in pain as she's lifted from where she stands.

It's when Himei swings that vicious kick, that she takes the opportunity for everything it's worth. Her uninjured arm is held high, and a rapid flurry of gridlines form in red light, before taking on a much more solid shape. An absolutely massive axe-sword-like weapon, jagged and completely barbaric in appearance, the hilt crudely wrapped. The thing is easily twice her size, and she one-hands it with a cry of desperation, pain, and rage. It is one swing. But in that one swing, Fake Nine Lives deals NINE strokes, aiming to cut into the great Geat's bicep.

Sir Gawain has posed:
Hrunting explodes on contact with Excalibur Galatine; the side effect being knocking him backwards, skidding on his feet. "We need to take out Berserker! Now!"

Meanwhile, Reaper grits his teeth as Shirou summons two new blades, before suddenly bringing both hands up in an attempt to grab the wrists carrying them and seperating the blades from being close to each other. Then in a quick sweep, if it succeeds, he uses both hands to grab one wrist, and attempts to push the blade it is carrying to Shirou's throat. "You die today. May your journey to the world above be peaceful. You have no reason to fear the Reaper."

As he says this, his endurance spell is failing...right as Psyber and Riva plaster him in the back. He grunts, remaining up solely by willpower and training, and the fact he hasn't been hit fatally. He's pushing all his strength in an attempt to kill Shirou right now, as turning around would leave him at a disadvantage, and Berserker is a bit busy.

SPEAKING OF BERSERKER.

Himei's strike smashes into his knee, causing a GROWL of pain from the Geat. As Maya leaps at him, she slashes him across the face, but the damage is mostly trivial, a few grunts, but it certainly distracts, as another blade materializes in his hand: Naegling, a smooth blade, patterned with what seems to be symbols or words on the blade. It has no special effects for those who can trace; but it is B rank and is significantly better in straight fighting than Hrunting. Beowulf slashes Naegling at Maya, when suddenly...

SLASH!

Fake Nine Lives smashes into Beowulf's other arm, causing what seems to be a geyser of blood to pour out from the mountain of a man: The arm is barely hanging on, but it's healing ever by the second. However, it could easily be torn right off by one with enough strength, and Berserker himself is on his ropes. It won't take much to kill him; whether it is directly, or by what may be his Master's impending death.

Himei (331) has posed:
    Himei must be starting to feel ther injury, because she pauses long enough to grab her side. One benefit of this style is the ability to power through pain, though... and she has a high pain tolerance to begin with. So as soon as she sees an opening, she's on the move again. "Thanks," she says to Chloe curtly, leaping forward in a sudden dash again.

    To anyone who knows martial arts, the grab that Himei does on the injured arm would be a perfect setup for a throw. Yet Himei doesn't really DO throws, she's more of a striker. Clutching Beowulf's arm, she drives a knee into his side as she gives the arm a vicious /twist/ and grunts, popping it right off with a very messy wrenching yank, using the knee to brace.

    Then, because this is Infernal Monster Style she's fighting with, she starts beating Beowulf with his own arm.

Emiya Shirou (560) has posed:
    Shirou finds his assault stopped abrubtly, and that's enough to snap him out of the sudden trance. It doesn't do ANYTHING for his pounding headache - which feels like molten metal's being poured through all the cracks in his brain - he finds himself wrenched around into bad footing without purchase, arms struggling to hold off Reaper's Reinforced strength. Panic shows for a few moments on Shirou's face as he struggles, the twin swords growing nearer and nearer to his vitals.... he can't release them from all the pain, but another answer strikes him very quickly.

    Kanshou and Bakuya both evaporate-shatter in a flash of released prana, as Shirou simply stops trying to maintain their images.

    Swords that don't exist... cannot cut his throat!

    "Heh..." Smug and sassy, Shirou declares, "You shouldn't get in so close with an enemy you don't know."

    Golden light again fills his hands and spreads out rapidly. The shaft of the forming weapon is Shirou's weapon - and it is dull and blunt. It couldn't possibly cut flesh.

    But it can RAM INTO IT JUST FINE.

    If Reaper doesn't move his head, the shaft of THANATOS, scythe of the Grim Reaper, will grow right into his head and just keep pushing him away until it snaps off! -- or more likely, he releases his hold and just gets clonked!

Maya has posed:
Maya knows she can do jack against the magic eater so away she goes after the big slab of dooms day meat. She's up in their face she' only got his attention but that what she expected. It's funny she values this blade almost as highly as the two divine blades she guards the location to. Okay one, one is sitll in the hands of a Paladin for now. She sees Naegling coming right at her ioh this is going ot be bad she moves to parry the strike or try to when Shirou comes in and scores a hit. Maya's now got the knife and she now ries to place a curse upon Beowulf to weaken him the curse would sap his reflexes, endurance and strngh should the spell one go off and two not get eaten by the Reaper.

Psyber (253) has posed:
    Reaper appears to be on his last legs and Shirou seems to have a counter to him going. Psyber decides that it might be best for him to switch over to Beowulf for now. Against an opponent like that, Psyber CAN use his favorite hypothetical weapon.

    Or actual weapon. It's a weapon, sorta. Psyber reaches down with both hands and picks up a steel girder off the ground. Careful to grip it tightly, he moves in towards Beowulf as Himei is wanting to beat him with his own arm.

    Psyber, on the other hand, just wants to smash him into a pulp. And so he brings the massive steel beam down in a single overhead strike, "Normally I'd have a clever oneliner here, but I really don't." He says pretty flatly.

Riva Banari has posed:
"God dammit!" Riva yells, watching the situation slip from her butterfingery grasp. "JUST SURRENDER OR SOMETHING! STOP MAKING WITH THE MURDER!" She yells in half desperation, half-frustration as she shoots the Reaper in the back. All joking aside, Shirou doesn't /come back/ if he is killed. He is one of the people who die when they are killed! She clenches her teeth and guts through the pain as she throws herself bodily at the tangle to try to break it up. She's fast, but how fast does one need to be to handle this?!

Chloe von Einzbern (617) has posed:
For a second there, Chloe thought she was going to lose it.

Her arm.

That would have been bad. That would have been very bad actually- possibly fatal. But the hard WRENCH that divests Beowulf of his arm in an ironc and backwards twist of fate spares her from that grisly fortune and a trip to the TAIGA DOJO. "Uwah!?" Up she goes though. Because the hand still has her by the wrist. Even as Himei proceeds to beat the Servant with his own arm.

"Wah! Awawawawawa!"

Sir Gawain has posed:
As Beowulf's arm is yanked off, it'll be good for a few hits - very, very strong hits that send Beowulf reeling - before it vanishes completely, dropping Chloe. Also, Himei and Chloe are now splattered in magical spirit blood.

And then Maya's magic starts to weaken him...SUDDENLY, STEEL BEAM TO THE FACE!

Beowulf is sent back; no, scratch that, his head is sent back off his body. Berserker has been beheaded by a steel girder, everyone. An unlucky timing of Maya's magic, Beowulf's overall injuries, and Psyber's unconventional weaponry has proven fatal for the Servant, who would, if he still had a head, be presumably screaming "GRENDEEEEEELLLLLLL!". Moments later, both the body and the head vanish, causing Reaper to twitch; but he's not done fighting.

As Shirou is pushing Thanatos' staff into Reaper's face, Reaper is grabbing a combat knife quickly from his hoodie, and is about to ram it into Shirou's throat, when suddenly, RIVA! The bullet causes him to scream, as her tackle knocks the knife out of his hand. He's desperately trying to remain standing up, as he begins to sign, presumably attempting to cast a spell: But Shirou's plan is likely to throw a wrench into that.

Meanwhile, Gawain is playing with Galatine's firestarter thing. It's sooper cool.

Emiya Shirou (560) has posed:
    Shirou's brain is in overdrive. Burning up from the inside-out. Ever since he traced Kanshou and Bakuya it's like something has been ramming hot iron through his brain. Just keeping his focus is takin everything he's got, but while he has that focus...

    It's like the whole world's moving in slow motion. "Reaper... that's a mistake!"

    Even with the magus being jerked back, that's all the time Shirou needs. Going for a combat knife, trying to cast a spell, while trying to stand up?

    Shirou scratches himself lightly with thanatos as he twirls the blade about into a ready position, his mind becoming incredibly clear and much of the pain he feels vanishing... but not this bloody, headsplitting migraine.

    A flood of prana flows through Shirou's circuits, forming swiftly into the ginormous rock-sword that Chloe just demonstrated against Berserker!

    It's not going anywhere, as it's too heavy to lift, but it doesn't need to be moved.

    Shirou's body is burning up from inside-out just as his mind is, and the sudden demand on his muscles is certainly going to rip something, but that doesn't stop him.

    Forcing prana through his arm and reinforcing it is necessary. Flesh along it rips open here and there, and muscles tear, but the parts where it went well are enough.

    Thanatos, the Grim Reaper's scythe, flashes through the air once- twice- threefourfive--

    WHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOSH!!

    It only takes a second, and Shirou's left standing in front of Reaper in the followthrough of a series of slashes very like the one Chloe just performed.

    Nine consecutive strikes in overlapping arcs, quick enough that they might as well have been simultaneous.

    Every single one of them aimed for either Reaper's left arm or right arm with the scythe of death.

    Those strikes will not hurt. Not physically.

    The agony of not being a Master, if Shirou is successful however, that's another thing entirely!

Himei (331) has posed:
    Pant pant pant. Himei's Infernal Monster Form begins to fade now that her opponent is down... and she winces a little. Sure, it's a Servant who can't truly die, and it's a Berserker who wasn't really... properly living, but she's still not a killer at heart despite her violence.

    "You all right?" she asks, offering Chloe a hand as she sways unsteadily. Her other hand is on her ribs, and she glances over at the fight... or what's left of it. Good, the Master lived.

Chloe von Einzbern (617) has posed:
Thump, tumble, pant, rasp.

When she's finally released by the disippating arm, there is no celebration for Chloe von Einzbern when she hits the ground in a rolling sprawl. No, she does not look okay. Biting her lip hard to stifle a pained sound, she clutches her arm at the elbow. "Hnnnf..." Is her response to Himei at first, a little too busy curling up from the pain for just a few seconds.

"I'm... Fine." Grunted in reply as she sits herself up. Though she's too busy to take Himei's hand as she quickly traces a small dagger. Clenching the blade hard in her teeth, the dark-skinned child slides her hand to take a better grasp of her arm and...

Shoves it back into the socket with a wrenching POP, a wince, and gasp of pain.

Okay *now* she gives Himei her good hand for help up.

Emiya Shirou (560) has posed:
    Humans are not Heroic Spirits. They are not amalgamations of legend who can do the impossible as routine efforts. Shirou just put an INCREDIBLE demand on his body, and it somehow managed to answer that call.

    But at what cost?

    The arm that executed Nine Lives is bleeding fiercely from places where the skin seems to have simply split open into tatters. Muscles have been pulled from bones, ligaments are torn, his elbow and shoulder have both dislocated and it's a wonder none of his bones have broken that weren't already.

    For the duration, that took everything he had. His heart skipped several beats and lungs ceased moving, and now the few breaths he can manage are like inhaling molten lead.

    THUMP THUMP. THUMP THUMP.

    And his head's STILL POUNDING. He wants to ask if someone can make the beast up there stop howling, but can't quite formulate any words like that. "Get... the... Command Spells. They might help us." He rasps out. Then attempts to rise up to a full standing...

    Once he does though, and even remotely tries to relax and breathe--

    WHUMPF.

    falls straight backwards, both of his weapons crumbling into prana... and hits the ground like a ragdoll.

    Unconscious, it seems!

Maya has posed:
Maya has sone what she can to help for now ans Reaper seems to be out of the figtht more or less at this point thankfullys he' got to make her self ready given Beowulf is still a major issue at this point. She looks up and he starts to get back up now and she looks about hoping for it's something that has her on edge at the moment she seems guarded knife in hand and she sees shirou is a mess. She works to cast a healing spell upon him.

Psyber (253) has posed:
    In the aftermath of the fight, Psyber wobbles on his feet a bit and puts the steel beam down on the ground. He takes a few moments to assess the situation and then puts two fingers to his ear, "This is Reserve Colonel Psyber, Authorization Code Angel-Delta-Two-Two-Nine."

    "We need a medical team for a secure hospital facility and detainment room on standby. We have a prisoner that's going to need extensive medical treatment, as well as magical Surgery to deal with a unique circumstance," Salvaging the Command Seals might not be a bad idea, he has to give Shirou credit for that.

    And speaking of Shirou, "Prepare a second, non-prisoner facility for a highly injured Elite."

Sir Gawain has posed:
As Shirou does his magic, Reaper's hands are lopped right off, no pain, just magic. He screams at the shock of this; no pain in the action, but more than this is happening at all. "Kill me. Kill me. Just do it...before they do so." Whilst Reaper pleas, he is refused his death wish, and eventually accepts his fate as a prisoner; he makes no attempts at struggle, and is very good for any medics stabilizing his wounds. Gawain moves in to immediately cauterize any bad ones with Galatine's flaming blade.

Mikhail and Caster of White later text Gawain, which is shared with the others: 'we were pretty useless so we went and got smoothies sorry well pay you back thanks for the help'. Followed by Gawain spending ten minutes attempting to write a single sentence text.