Scene #355: Why is there a tank in Akita?

Owner	Pose
Nuku Nuku	It's a bright and sunny day in Akita-954! Most of the early day commute has been handled, so people going to work and wandering about the city are at a slow point right now due to most of that already done, but that still doesn't stop the occasional EXTREMELY CONFUSED looking person pausing to watch the immense battle tank roll by. It's nothing like a standard machine of war, that much is for certain, it looks like one of those 90's cyberpunk anime tanks that are super mega advanced while lookins silver and gritty at the same time and BRISTLING with weapons. One hatch is open, and one of the drivers is poking her head out with a megaphone. She's a woman in her late 20's, wearing an orange flight suit and a pink helmet with big anime eyes painted on it and a bright red 'A' on the ear panels. And she has a megaphone. "NK-1124 ANDROID GIVE YOURSELF UP AND WE WILL ONLY PARTIALLY DESTROY YOU! RYUUNOSUKE WHEREVER YOU ARE YOUR MOTHER WANTS YOU HOOOME!" From inside the tank her co-pilot can be hear spluttering, "Arisa! Miss Akiko said to try and bring it back in one piece!" You know what they say about cats and luck? Well Nuku Nuku isn't black, but it's right about now that the new local transfer student is crossing the street in front of the tank entirely oblivious about. "THERE IT IS! OPEN FIRE!" That makes her look up. "Nya?" And that's when the tank's weapon ports snap open, no less than 20 machine guns opening fire. Nuku Nuku proceeds to... Drop and start running away squealing on all fours as fast as she can.
Shizune Nakamura	Shizune's first inkling of the incident going on was the report on the news. She'd been getting ready to go out for an afternoon's shopping when it came through, in fact. There was about ten seconds of silence, followed by a personal record for putting on her shoes, grabbing her radio and running out the door. Her first call goes out to the Union, of course, getting them on the way. The second goes to one of the Union's shuttle pilots, assigned to her city just to give her someone to ferry her to and from situations in a pinch. Shizune never thought she'd be calling him in for a short hop in her own city, but here she is. By the time her own little shuttle gets there, the tank is just opening fire. In the middle of the city. In the middle of the day. There is a brief look of horror on Shizune's face that she's rather glad no one else is there to see. And then she simply hops out the shuttle's side hatch with no further hesitation. Her fall takes her right down to the street, right in front of the tank, where she stands up, plants her arms on her hips, and shoots Arisa an absolutely withering glare, completely unfazed by all the weaponry. "I am extremely upset with you right now."
Snow	A tank rolling through a city. That sounds like potential for a LOT of collateral damage, no matter what it's doing! A tinkle of ice hitting ice announces Snow's arrival, the ice mage landing atop a nearby building to scope out the situation, her gaze down on that giant tank... shooting at... what looks like a young woman? Snow frowns as she observes this go down. "Attention, pilot of the tank opening fire, this is a civilian zone. I will give you one chance to turn off your weapons and exit the vehicle with your hands up. Otherwise, there will be elite intervention." Snow calls out, her wings spreading wide to take her down to land beside Shizune. As she lands, there's a brief swirl of barely-visible threads of energy around Snow, extremely thin and likely somewhat flimsy-looking.
Kiyoko Saito	SCRREEEEEECH! Yeah, Kiyoko is here too! She squeals to a halt on her motorcycle(the Ninja, not the Beast, thankfully) right up alongside the tank to join in on what Snow and Shizune have said. Pulling her goggles up, the young girl says, loudly, "YEAH! Stop discharging weapons in the middle of a civilian zone! As Vice-President of the Student's Union and thusly in charge of disciplinary procedures, I am forced to write you a ticket!" A tiny pause as she gets out a large block of paper. "For each shot." Thusly, Kiyoko will attempt to start plastering the 'tickets' all over the tank's machine guns. (If you are wondering, yes, they are explosive tags)
Nuku Nuku	This INSANE chase down the middle of the street is brought to a brief pause with the arrival of the Union. It starts when Shizune drops right down in front of them. The machineguns stop, and the tank SCREEEEECHES. That glare immediately makes Arisa go pale, sweat starting to stream down her face, and the clear moment of hesistation and thought put into trying to avoid another shout-down has the tanks idling for a grand total of a few seconds. It's plentiful opportunity for Kiyoko to begin utterly writing up the driver's misdeeds and fine them with explosive justice, the tags sticking to the machinegun ports, which are still smoking. But do they come out with their hands up? It takes Arisa a few more seconds before she decides she'd probably get something much worse from her boss, and SLAMS the hatch down to further avoid THAT PRESIDENTIAL GLARE. "K-KYOKO go around them! Maybe they'll forget about us!" That is the stupidest logic ever. "Arisa I don't think that's going to work..." Still, the tank swerves a sudden 90 degree turn and cuts the nearest corner and... Tries to go down the next avenue for one block before swinging back onto the street. Yes they really just attempted that, unless somsone tries to stop them. "What about the tickets?!" "Are you really going to take tickets from a little girl on a motorcycle serious?! Miss Akiko can pay them anyway!" This horrifies Kyoko, "SHE'LL KILL US!"
Shizune Nakamura	It takes Shizune several seconds to actually turn and chase after them, for the plain, simple reason that something so inane was the last thing she expected. Once she gets over her initial shock, however, she's turned and begun running full speed; and while an ordinary human, she is a particularly FIT ordinary human who can leap up onto cars, lightpoles, and rooftops. "I'M GOING TO PUNCH YOU SO HARD YOU HAVE TO EAT ICE CREAM FOR A WEEK!"
Kiyoko Saito	When the tank just... turns and tries to go around, Kiyoko has a moment of utter confusion... then shrugs with a sigh and fits her goggles over her eyes again, revving the bike. "Suit yourself." Then she takes out a pair of sunglasses and puts them on. Over the goggles. With a kick off the ground, she spins the bike around to streak down the street, heading to intercept the tank. That way, the explosion from the tags going off is behind her, while she's wearing sunglasses and riding the bike away from the explosion. It isn't going to punch through the tank armor, of course, but all those tags WERE on the machinegun ports.
Snow	Well, that's... interesting. The tank just turned and ran, more or less. Snow couldn't help but raise her eyebrow at how ... somewhat ridiculous the situation seemed. A tank. Turning and running from a bunch of people on foot. Regardless, Snow spread her wings to quickly fly after the girl who had fled on all fours, taking to the sky to attempt to see her through the various streets and buildings. It's times like these that she's rather glad that she can fly. "Natsume, I am here to help you." She calls out, a brief magic spell enhancing her voice to help ensure the girl heard her, there was not any need to engage the tank when there were already two elites on the case... and who knows if that girl had been injured by that machinegun fire!
Nuku Nuku	Yes. Yes, they really did just try that. And the sound of Shizune's voice raised in anger makes the pair gun the engines as the student council president starts chasing in ways no girl should be able to, on foot. "OH GOD THEY DIDN'T FORGET ABOUT US, GREAT PLAN ARISA!" "Huh... Ice cream doesn't sound so ba--MISTAKES WERE MADE! MISTAKES WERE MADE!" This has turned from a tank chasing a cat-girl, to a bunch of girls chasing a tank, very very fast. The sight of Kiyoko wheeling on by results in some confusion from inside the war machine too. "Kyoko, why is she wearing shades over her gogg-" The question is cut off when the explosive tags start going off, resulting in a lot of fire, a lot of pyrotechnics, and the majority of the gun ports getting sealed shut or damaged beyond use, which results in a myriad of screams, squeals, and curses about how repairs are coming out of their pay. Still, the Office Ladies are determined as ever, whether it's to keep chasing the magenta-haired girl, or just to get away now is difficult to tell at this point. Further down the road, said girl is still scampering at high speed- really fast on all fours apparently, but she comes to a skiiiiidding halt, a pair of metal cat ear-like antennae popping out and swivelling up from the sides of her head as she looks up at Snow with huuuuuuuuuuuge eyes. Then realization seems to dawn: "Ah? We're not playing chase?" Uh oh, this gets her wheeling around and charging BACK at the tank at full tilt.
Shizune Nakamura	Through the simple advantage of being able to move a straight line unhindered by obstacles as a normal person might be, and not having to dodge traffic to avoid civilian casualties (as, she is sure, at least one person driving the tank will be focused on), Shizune is able to finally, barely, breathing heavily, haul herself up onto the back of the tank. That, of course, is only the beginning. She means to pull herself forward as quickly as she can, trying to reach the hatch while shouting ahead the entire time. "PULL OVER, /NOW/!"
Snow	"We're not. Or at least, I don't believe we are." Snow responds to Natsume, and then... when Natsume turns to head back TOWARDS the tank, Snow immediately turns to follow close behind her. As they get closer to the tank, Snow lowers her altitude rapidly, icy energy gathering on her hands. "Premimus glacies, impediunt inimicos meos. <Blockade of ice, impede my enemies.>" Snow calls out. And... roughly twenty feet in front of the tank, a massive block of ice grows, intent on stopping the tank in its tracks.
Kiyoko Saito	VROOM! Yeah, unfortunately Kiyoko happened to have the Ninja nearby. If it were her other vehicles they could stand up to a tank better. Oh well. She is mainly trying to interpose herself between the tank and its destination. Except now there's a block of ice in front of her. Hmm. When next Kiyoko is seen, she is not wearing her helmet, nor sunglasses, but the goggles are still on her face and she has a SCARF for no apparent reason! She is now atop a giant block of ice. "HALT! You think we're playing around? Don't make me get my chainsaw! Listen to Miss Nakamura, you won't like her when she's angry!" Pause. "Er. Angrier."
Nuku Nuku	By now the battle tank is serving, smoking from the gun ports, and driven by two hysterically panicing office workers. Between Shizune landing on top of the thing and the big wall of ice suddenly in front of it, Kyoko and Arisa only lose it further before making their choice. "MAIN CANNON! MAIN CANNON NOW!" Like something right out of those old anime, the upper part of the tank shifts, with Shizune right on it, an extending barrel unfolding and lining up a shot. "Chainsaw?!" "These people are INSANE! What is she some kind of chainsaw schoolgirl ninja?!" -Arisa- howls. But before they can get a shot off, a blur of white and magenta dives in. Atsuko Natsume takes a gigantic leap, tittering all the way down as she reels back one arm- and puts it clean through several inches of thick armor plating. It's not even a hit to anywhere vital, but the tank swerves wildly, hitting the brakes and skidding and screeching. With a soft ~tink~ it comes to a halt, gently bumping the ice wall, leaving a pretty iconic image of Kiyoko standing looming atop the tank from the icy pillar, with the sun at her back. This holds for a few seconds before the -beep beep beep- of a vehicle in reverse sounds off, and it slowly backs up. And proceeds to pull over and park perfectly legally, as they were vehemently requested to do. Guess what. The ports open up, revealing the two Office Ladies bowing and scraping harder than Doctor Wily.
Kiyoko Saito	Kiyoko poses for a majestic moment, then leaps down to land nimbly on the ground. "Shizune, I leave this in your capable hands! Also it's kinda your city." She dusts her hands and nods, then sorta wanders over to Natsume. "Hey, you think you can teach me to punch through a tank? That was pretty cool." Sigh.
Shizune Nakamura	Shizune hangs on for dear life - because quite frankly, until the tank slows down and pulls over, it is an absolutely insane ride. The catgirl slamming into it does not help in the least. So it isn't until the two girls leap out of the tank and start profusely groveling that the martial artist finally lets go and hops down off the side of it herself. But this time, all the vehement apology in the world isn't enough to cool the ire of the prez. Both girls are hauled up by their collars and pressed against the tank at the same time. "A tank, in the middle of a populated city. A /TANK/, IN THE /MIDDLE OF A POPULATED CITY?!/" Shizune takes a moment to inhale, to calm herself, before nodding politely to Kiyoko. "Thank you, Saito. I appreciate your help. I'll handle the reports. You as well," she adds towards Snow. Then her eyes are brought back around to Kyoko and Arisa. "The two of you... I could have you arrested. We have dozens, if not hundreds of witnesses. I could have you both thrown in jail for a long time. But I'm not going to. I'm going to send you back to your boss with a message for her." She finally lets go. "Akita is off limits. /OFF LIMITS/. There will be no more civilian endangerment. There will be no more military hardware within city limits. No guns. No tanks. No helicopters. No strike teams. Nothing. This is strike two. If the two of you, or any other operatives under her employ, endanger innocent lives or destroy school property again, we're going to start treating you like terrorists. And we're going to /come after you/ like terrorists. And the Union is not a problem she can just throw money at to make it go away. Are we /clear/?"
Snow	Well, that worked! And was somewhat amusing at the same time. Snow descends to land nearby the two office ladies, looking between them curiously. "What on earth was all of that about?" She asks towards them, tilting her head and raising an eyebrow curiously. The soft tink of her frozen lower legs tapping against the ground as she steps closer. And then, of course... Shizune took care of business. More or less this was her city, so Snow just kind of stands nearby quietly, her arms crossed over her chest as she stands vaguely supportively somewhat behind and to the side of Shizune.
Nuku Nuku	Wow those two look ready to piss their britches when Shizune hauls off on them verbally. Pale, sweating, quaking, Kyoko and Arisa commence apologizing EVEN HARDER, if it was somehow possible. And if not possible, they sure MAKE it possible, with a never ending stream of 'I'M SORRY!'s, progressively thumping their foreheads harder and harder to the ground with every time the bow lower and lower. Meanwhile, Nuku Nuku pulls her arm from the tank, a brief visible sizzle of electrical energy crackling at her fingertips before she flexes and clenches her fist and... Seems to struggle on how to answer Kiyoko's question. "Mya? Oh! Um! You just pull back...!" She explains, reeling her arm. "And then forward as hard as you can!" The resultang swing at empty air is enough to make a small WHUMPH of air pressure that bends a lamp post actoss the street in half. "... Oops?" But then Nuku Nuku is holding her hands up, "It's okay, Shizune! They're just playing! I can send them home now!" The two look absolutely horrified. Considering it means how once Shizune is done verbally gutting them alive, she's going to fling the tank, literally into the horizon; with the two of them still in it.
Shizune Nakamura	"No, no, that's quite all right, Natsume," Shizune replies, her manner suddenly rather cheerful. "They're going home anyway, after all, aren't they?" She turns to look right at them. ^_^