Scene Listing || Scene Schedule || Scene Schedule RSS
Owner Pose
Sanary Rondel <PREVIOUSLY ON B-ANTER>
"Hey. Uh. Are low balance fees a thing anyone's heard of before?"
"At a bank, yeah. I put some money in here ages ago and now I... Owe them money?"
"Three hundred and twelve. For forgetting that I gave them a hundred."
"It's cool. I'm fine."
"I'll get it taken care of easy."

<EARLIER>
The doors to First Multiversal Bank's bang open as an angry woman in a white coat kicks them off their hingers. An armored security guard approaches her and gets cut down by an axe, prompting the axe-wielder to grab their gun and shoot wildly into the air.

"This is a stickup!"
(OOC: http://alexanderlozada.com/iasip/?IlNhbmFyeSBSb2JzIGEgQmFuayI= )

<NOW>
With the security detail dispatched with varying amounts of bloodloss, Sanary's now on to phase two of her plan. She has no idea what phase two or further is, but getting the money stuffed into some bags is a good start. She keeps one hand holding her axe and the other feeling around the counters, brushing away smashed chunks of glass and gesturing vaguely at the tellers as if that would actually make them move faster.

It does. A little. Security guards are scattered around the area, but no civilians are in the area aside from those hastily stuffing money into promotional gift bags. The bank itself isn't particularly large, likely one of many branches, but large enough to have its own vault behind yet more bulletproof glass, decorative chandeliers all over the place, and a second story with a skylight and multiple windows to get into and out of the bank from. There's even room for the bank's armored vans to park outside.

The main lobby: https://i.pinimg.com/originals/b2/ef/12/b2ef12bf59fbf112520cbf846328723f.jpg
The outside of the vault: https://i.pinimg.com/originals/69/72/b5/6972b5f265fea8a828564f3a76591585.jpg
August Kohler As soon as he heard the call, after listening to the radio conversation earlier, August Kohler had a feeling he knew what was going on. Dressed in his thick winter coat and armed as heavily as he usually is, the redhead appears at the bank, moving through the busted open doors. He glances at the various dying and wounded guards, and heads into Sanary's direction. Once he gets to her at the vault, probably blocking her path from getting spot attacked by anyone, he speaks up.

"Rondel, the hell are you doing?"
Katt PREVIOUSLY:

Katt wasn't listening because she was having a nap.

NOW:

Katt is absolutely listening.

Katt, as a member of the Concord, gets away with doing what she likes a lot of the time, because a lot of what Katt likes to do is go to new places and challenge people there. She probably wasn't what the First Multiversal was expecting when they called for assistance, but Katt heard 'psychopath with an axe' and was off like a shot.

A tiger-striped blur throws itself through the opened door of the bank, landing in a skid as Katt's claws scrape at the tile floor. She turns it into a brisk walk forward, staff resting over one shoulder and tilted backwards as she advances on Sanary and, as it turns out, August Kohler.

"Hey, hey! What's all this, then? If you wanted a brawl there are way better ways to hold one!"

The only problem with having Katt come for something like this is, well... she's not going to be the one to de-escalate matters.
Jonathan Joestar         EARLIER:

Jonathan Joestar provides helpful advice for a perfectly legal and reasonable way for an upstanding citizen to resolve her situation.

        NOW:

Jonathan Joestar casts his eyes down to the bloodied floor and the general mayhem that had been taking place in the Bank's lobby. He looks simultaneously out of place and perfectly in his element, with his obviously expensive if dated clothing and regal, dignified stature.

But, very few rich men could be said to be built like ten bulls. A mountain of muscle, Jonathan adjusts his red waistcoat and steps forward, star-buckled shoes making a sound between a thump and a click as he advanced across the tiled floor.

"Just what do you think you're doing? I won't let you walk away with your ill-gotten gains, you bandit."

As he's never met the axe-wielding robber in question, he doesn't seem to realize it's the same person he'd been talking to not too long ago, just yet.
Sanary Rondel As she waits for one of the managers (or whoever it is that's messing with the vault door) to get the thing open, she hears a familiar voice! She whirls around once with her axe drawn, but lowers it once she realizes who it is.

"Oh! Hey, August. Uh. Yeah, I'm-" And then there's a second responder! It's... Sanary hasn't seen Katt before, actually, and the tiger-striped lady gets a blank stare from the axe-wielder. "Are... Are those pants or...?"

Right. Bank robbery. Focusing. Right! Shaking her head quickly, Sanary refocuses herself as she tightens her hold on the axe with more people showing up, including the beefy Englishman. It takes her a moment to start talking again between getting confused by Katt below the vest and ogling Jonathan, but she regains her composure soon enough to talk again! "I'm getting back at these jerks for telling me to give them more money for forgetting that I gave them money already." Her eye twitches slightly as she says that, and she glances back at the manager(?) while yelling at him. "Hey! Hurry it up back there!"

And then she turns back to the trio. "Probably doing this to a bunch of other victims, if that Staren guy's right about things. I guess." She shrugs, not sounding all that concerned about the 'other victims' in this equation. It's pretty clear that this is more of a personal venture. "I already got my fill of fighting, but if you're thinkin' of stopping me..."

She stomps once, resting the axe on her shoulder with a wilder smirk. "Well, then. We can show these banks why they shouldn't try to steal my stuff. If you're with them, then get in line because I'm makin' a withdrawal!"

/That/ was the line she was supposed to come inside with. DAMMIT.
August Kohler August just pauses, completely, at the situation he's taking in. Sanary is robbing a bank because they gave her late fees. A massive gentleman and a catgirl are probably going to try to stop her. Going by the law, the right thing would be to help. But gears start turning in August's head. The Watch can probably benefit from this. There's no reason to fight Sanary, August isn't a cop, and she's going to do this anyways and get hurt. And even if he's frustrated at her for what she did to him...

August can't lie to himself that, from what he knows of her, she means well. She's just, in his opinion, a dumbass. So, August sighs, and turns around, putting his back to Sanary. He turns to Jonathan, speaking up.

"Alright, you probably mean well, but I'm going to have to stop you. I decided that I'm going to help Rondel out. If you want to talk about this like, uh, gentlemen, we can. But I know in my heart she means well. I know that she's not trying to hurt anyone but those who deserve it."

A lot of assumptions, there.

August shifts his coat, revealing the reflective revolver inside, and rolls down a sleeve, revealing the mirrored bracelet. "Damn it, I'm justifying myself again. George told me to stop doing that."
Katt "Pants?" Katt seems slightly perplexed by the question. Her tail lashes from side to side. If they're pants, they're pretty realistic pants. "Why would I be wearing pants? Ugh, they squash your fur and rub it the wrong way and get in the way of your tail and none of that matters right now!"

Katt glances aside at the others. One pretty-looking guy, one bulky guy, and her, versus someone with an axe. Katt doesn't actually think she needs the help, but she figures the bank called for the others too, so she can't exactly blame them for showing up. But...

"Wait, they took your money for giving it to them? I thought banks were supposed to store your money and give it back to you afterwards. That's stupid," Katt declares. "But they asked me real nice to stop you, and I was going to get paid for it..." Katt is clearly thinking hard. For her, anyway.

August switching sides makes it easier, not harder. "Oh! You want to do it that way, huh?" Katt swings her staff around, pointing it left-handed at August and Sanary. "Well, if you want to fight, come on, then! We'll figure out what to do about the bank afterwards."
Jonathan Joestar Deep blue eyes narrow in frustration -- "Ah, it's you ... !"

The woman from earlier. "How on earth did you come to the conclusion that you should rob this establishment? I feel for your plight, but that's no excuse to do this!"

Of course, he knew his perspective to be somewhat biased. He was a man of fine birth, and in his own homeworld, he was raised under the idea of Noblesse Oblige; the Noble's Obligation. As a member of the Concord, it was his duty to step in and uphold the law when necessary but for Jonathan, he'd be doing this even if it weren't his job.

It was his obligation as a gentleman to use his fists when he knew words would fail him.

Jojo motions to the cleaved security when August mentions her supposed good intentions.

Removing his cuff links and rolling up the sleeves of his shirt, Jonathan strikes a dynamic pose that really, you wouldn't think his body would have the flexibility for given his musculature. "This is the way it has to be, then. Have at you!"
Sanary Rondel After fuming over using that line at the wrong time, Sanary gets caught off guard when August actually joins her in this heist! "Wh. Really? Uh. Okay, thanks!" She chuckles lightly as her confidence swells, conveniently timed with more confused noises when Katt reveals that she's not wearing pants.

"So that's...? Eh. Mm... Uh? Eh." She runs the whole gamut of non-verbal grunts: Confused, disgusted, thoughtful, then accepting. Jonathan's question and exclamation bring her back to reality, though, and it's back to the details! "Yeah, they said I owed 'em triple what I gave 'em to hold onto. It's messed up is what, and I'm not taking this lying down! Even if it's 'illegal' or whatever, they're probably paying people to let 'em do this in the first place!"

With Katt and Jonathan readying to stop her (and now August), the axe-wielder sighs and shakes her axe off. "I can't blame you if you're gettin' paid to help 'em out, but... Well, you saw those guards. They got paid, too, so don't expect me to hold back just 'cause you're hot!"

And with that, Sanary charges forth. With Katt being the closer of the two and having a visible weapon, the axe-healer lunges forward and feints once before swinging downwards, aiming to test the tiger-woman's abilities first!
August Kohler As it seems it'll be two versus two, and Jonathan is pointing at the security guards as a sign of 'being the bad guy', August actually gets a little frustrated. "It's their job to fight us. They're going to get injured and assaulted in the process. You can't say that's a sign that she doesn't have good intentions." Justifying, again...but August kind of needs it, right now. He steels himself, and raises the mirrored bracelet instead of drawing the revolver.

"Persona."

The Tin Soldier manifests, a robot soldier in a dress uniform, as August glances into the bracelet. It has a rifle for a leg, which, as it places itself between August and Jonathan, it starts to lift. But instead of firing straight away, it moves to shoulder-tackle the beefy man, trying to push him back, before sliding back and raising the rifle to blast a plume of fire straight at him, at high power. "I'm not going to hold back."

And then August realizes why this big guy seems familiar. They've met maybe twice, haven't they? They didn't talk much or interact much...but it's likely Jonathan will be a dangerous Elite, huh?
Katt "I mean, sure, that's pretty stupid on the money," Katt agrees. "I'd be mad, too! That's why I don't use banks. I keep all my money - well, you don't need to know where I keep it! But anyway, it's not at a bank. That just means someone could take it away from you. Still, that doesn't mean you have to fight the WHOLE bank."

Katt pauses, then clarifies, "You should definitely go after whoever took it in the first place, though. That's different. And - hello!"

That was when the axe came at her. Katt is fast, but she was talking. She bounds backwards, but too late; the axe clips her, sending her tumbling until she jabs the base of her staff against the ground. The staff flexes, and Katt snaps upwards, pole-vault like.

"I'd be really disappointed if you hung back!" Katt goes up, up - and catches the chandelier, swinging from it with a chiming sound as she knocks little chips of (fake) crystal. Picking up speed, Katt swings herself forward and down, driving in a two-handed strike toward Sanary that will hopefully send Katt one way and Sanary the other under force of the impact. "I've got this one," she calls toward Jonathan. "You get the, uh... the ghost machine soldier commander guy!"
Sanary Rondel "Sure I do. It's about sending a message, you know? The people in charge of these places won't notice if it's not big and flashy enough." Granted, maybe this lady's got a point. Maybe targeting a branch wasn't the right idea.

Maybe Sanary should have gone after their main office instead. This was closer to the warpgate, though, and that meant less walking. Not that she'd ever admit it, but still.

"I... Think this is the one I went to last time, at least. Close enough!" Sanary watches Katt closely as the staff-swinger takes to the chandeliers, letting out an impressed half-whistle half-blowing noise in response. Bracing herself as Katt comes flying down towards her, the healer uses her axe as a makeshift shield and takes it head on, grunting painfully as she's launched back into the vault door.

"Keh... N-not bad... What's your name, anyway?" Grinning wider than before even as she coughs out at the pain in her chest, she shoots a glance at the manager(?) briefly. "I didn't say stop." After making sure he's still working on that door (which is finally starting to crack open), she breaks into another run towards Katt.

"I'm Sanary Rondel, warrior of the... My pig farm! I... Hmm." She didn't really have anything dramatic to add to that declaration. Shrugging once, she ducks low suddenly in her run to take a quick swipe at Katt's legs, then follows that up with a bigger slash upward as if trying to anticipate her movements!
Jonathan Joestar "They were just doing their jobs. That's right -- and that's exactly why you can't justify striking them down because of a grudge against their employers."

Jonathan doesn't really recognize August Kohler; he was familiar, but not so much so that he could consciously recognize it. The best way to describe the sensation was 'deja vu', in a way. "Instead of pursuing matters within the confines of the law, she struck them down ... and now she's stealing much more than what she owed, one can only presume."

And you're helping her, an accessory to all this, he silently accuses. It was preachy, but as perceptive as he was, he knew it should sting. Someone who had to justify their criminal actions likely knew what they were doing was wrong, Jonathan surmised.

Ah, Jonathan exclaims in his thoughts with an expression of shock on his face. "Could that be ... a Stand?!"

Jonathan braces himself against the tackle, his arms rattling from the force as he pushes against the tackle after catching it with his forearms folded into an X-position. Twisting his body, Jonathan knew if he didn't move that he'd be wide open to be blasted by the astral attacker's weapon. He could only assume that, like other similar abilities like his descendant Josuke's, this thing had a Special Power that it could use. He was in a bad spot with only his Hamon and no weapons. But ... maybe, if that metal looking body really had the property of metal....!

The blast grazes his side and leaves a scorchmark along his ribs, but it doesn't slow Jonathan down one bit. He instead kicks out, aiming for the weapon that had just fired.

"Koooh --- Metal Silver Overdrive! I'll fill your soldier full of Sendo Power!"

His whole body put off wavers of bright golden energy, like waves of the sun as he aimed to send a surge of it directly into August's Persona, acting in many ways like a strike of lightning.
Katt Katt feels the impact through the staff and into her arms as she delivers the blow, which both launches Sanary and vaults Katt several additional yards. She hits the ground with another claw-scraping impact, scratching up the tile as she turns, holding her hand out in front of her protectively with her staff held angled and partially behind her.

"Me? We~ll, I guess I don't have any fans out here. I'm Katt, flower of the Coursair coliseum and champion gladiator!" She smacks the crystal-studded belt or girdle she wears as emphasis - apparently it really is a champion's belt instead of just looking like one. "Normally I'd have an audience, but... well, I can manage without!"

Katt's strategy against Sanary is to keep moving. She sidesteps, vaulting over a decorative desk - or trying to; it slides when she swings over it, and Sanary's axe does the rest of it on its upward sweep, crunching into the wooden decoration. It blunts the impact of the axe against Katt, but showers her with fragments of wood - it evens out.

"You're pretty good with that axe," Katt admits, as she jockeys for position; moving away from the ruins of the desk, she circles, tail lashing behind her. Her tail no longer lashing is the first sign Sanary gets that she's going to rush - and Katt does, coming in strong and direct with a series of arcing strikes, more testing than for pure effect - until the last one, an overhand strike that Katt jumps for, her tail frizzing out behind her as she puts her whole body into the blow.
August Kohler August wavers slightly when Jonathan preaches at him. It seems he's considering the man's words. But, in the end, as the attack comes forward, August steels himself. "A 'friend' of mine told me I shouldn't justify myself. Just break through my barriers. So I'm going to do that. Even if she's stealing extra money, I know people who can use it." Besides...

'I think this is the clearest way I can show her I forgive her.' August realizes that might be why he's doing this. Because he doesn't want to be her enemy any more. Sanary's weird, but she's been helping with stuff, and she means well, and honestly, it's a lot of money. Opportunity is worth it, especially when August is already a wanted criminal. As the kick flies out, it slams into the Tin Soldier's torso, and bright golden energy surges through the machine. It acts sort of like lightning...but Jonathan will quickly realize it's not actually, exactly, metal, and doesn't surge through the entire body. Because it's a psionic construct, it doesn't exactly work like a robot. It's August's ego.

The Tin Soldier still staggers, and Jonathan may notice something peculiar, familiar if he's fought a Stand user - August staggers back as well, clutching his stomach in the same place where the Tin Soldier was hit. The Tin Soldier mimes horrible pain on its face, silent, before it moves to throw a punch at Jonathan, followed by a flurry of superhuman blows.

Each hit is strong, even if it has no martial arts skill behind it. Just punch after punch after punch thrown by a superhuman Persona. It's a delaying tactic by someone considering his next maneuver, and just how much damage he wants to do to this guy.
Sanary Rondel "A champ, huh? Hmm. Maybe sometime after this, we can exchange fightin' tips!" Despite the circumstances, Sanary's finding herself enjoying the fight more than she reasonably should. "Hell, if that tournament ever starts up again..."

Refocusing herself on the fight itself, Sanary falls for Katt's strategy fairly easily. Instead of finding a good spot to limit the gladiator's attack angles, she follows, and it's clear at a glance that the healer's mobility is not nearlya s great. Also, the fact that she's a healer, too, based on the green light coming from her chest. Even if no blood has been drawn from Sanary yet, the healing magic cycles there to keep the worst of the pain down.

"You ain't bad with that staff, either... Lot more sturdy than the types they got back home, too!" Following that staff, Sanary doesn't quite notice the tell from Katt's tail as she's a bit too busy watching the weapon itself. She brings her axe up to defend against it each time, almost settling into a tempo of blocking motions up to that last one. The last one, even though it doesn't smash into her directly, still forces Sanary into the ground a bit as she defends against it head on with the impacts reverberating through her weapon and into her.

"I might not have all the skill and speed, but... I bet I can take a hit better!" Sanary calls out a challenge as she ducks low again, stomping once to recenter herself. Without missing a beat, she goes for another flurry towards Katt this time before rearing back with her axe. Instead of swinging it forward, however, she jerks forward as she goes for a sucker punch with her free hand!
Jonathan Joestar         It's not metal, but ... ?!

It looked like a metal man, and when he kicked it, it felt that way too ... but, through his Hamon, he could tell that's not the case. For all intents and purposes, this soldier was a manifestation of the internal energy. Striking it was tantamount to striking its owner, and judging from how the man recoiled, his Hamon would work somewhat similarly to how it would against a living human being. The two were as one.

Or so he believed. "It sounds like you were advised to ignore your moral compass."

Jonathan breathes in, his chest expanding with the deep and purposeful breath. The waves of his Hamon coursing through his bloodstream, rolling off of his body, they soothed his wound.

The Tin Soldier lashes out with a flurry of punches. Each one had a lot of force behind the blows, but they were thrown with little skill. Jonathan tests out the offensive with his body, gauging the power through meeting the attack head on.

And just as proddingly, he releases his own flurry of blows to meet the rush of punches coming his way. His own fists dart out, crackling with golden sparks.

And just as suddenly, he departs from the meeting of fists the moment he can find an opening to try and deliver an uppercut into the Persona's chin. "OVERDRIVE!"
Katt "Right? You see wizards with staffs but they're not really good at *fighting* with them. And I'd be glad to fight you again sometime, and maybe we'll figure out something then... but right now, we've got something to settle!" Katt grins, showing slightly pointed teeth.

Katt has spotted the green glow, but isn't entirely sure how to interrupt it. Healing magic is not something she knows how to do, at all. She can dig out some herbs, but that's not really the same thing, now is it? Katt's reaction is to just keep hitting Sanary until the healing problem goes away.

Which she certainly seems to be trying to do. "Maybe you can," Katt says, "but you've gotta hit me to put me down!" She sticks her tongue out at Sanary, an intentionally taunting gesture as she makes a come-on motion with her free hand.

Sanary obliges with a sucker punch. Katt catches the fist with her own hand; hard enough to sting but not able to get past Katt's guard. Unfortunately this ties Katt's hand up and so she can only swing her staff one-handed, when it lacks a lot of the sweeping force; she jabs it at Sanary's face to get her to back off a step or two, following it up with a kick. Fortunately for Sanary, though Katt's feet may indeed be clawed, they're not especially sharp as claws go; they're not really *blunt* but she's unlikely to get more than scraped by them.

Unfortunately for Sanary, Katt kicks like a mule. For all her diminuitive size - Katt's barely over five feet tall - she's got enough strength to go around. "Hey, you okay over there?" she calls over her shoulder, at Jonathan.
August Kohler August cracks his neck after recovering from the strike. "Perhaps I should. It'll make my job much easier." August takes a breath in, and needs to concentrate. He doesn't say what his job is, and Jonathan doesn't recognize him, so he probably wouldn't know he's the leader of the Watch.

The flurry of blows meets flurry of blows. Golden sparks start to force the Tin Soldier back, until Jonathan pushes through the stalemate, and his fist cracks into the Persona's chin, staggering it back with a loud 'crack', which August can feel, clutching his face as he almost stumbles off his feet. This is enough time to give Jonathan a quick other counter-attack...until the Tin Soldier raises that gun-leg and fires a slew of bullets, not trying to hurt Jonathan but to scatter him back, and then bursts a small bit of fire at his face to try and mask his precision and hurt him enough to weaken his blows.

August still needs a reason to go serious about this guy. He's already feeling weird about today, so he needs to focus and find his motivation.
Sanary Rondel "Exactly! And all they do is boring magic that's... Super flashy and cool and stuff. And even the people with swords and weird named techniques shoot all sorts of lasers and waves of fire and stuff..."

Sounds like Sanary has a bit of a chip on her shoulder.

Smirking as that punch forces Katt on a sssort of defensive, the healer obliges the gladiator's own catching of the attack with one of her own. She rears her head back, then thrusts it forward to catch that staff thrust head on to show her true mettle! It was not a very good idea, apparently, as that leaves her dazed enough to get caught by the kick straight in the chest and staggering backwards.

Very bad idea. She breathes in slowly as that healing magic works its magic, although it can only do so much at once. She levels a single-eyed stare at Katt as she holds that axe out again as if pointing it at her. Her aim is a little off to the side as she points, and there's a trail of blood coming down from her forehead over her eyepatch, but at least it overall makes her look cooler!

... Right? At least she's slightly taller than the tiger-lady, so that's something. "It's a contest, then.. Who's gonna put the other down first? August! Hot guy! Keep it up!" Shouting towards August and Jonathan in challenge as well, Sanary starts marching towards Katt at a steady pace. Instead of chasing her, she keeps her gaze focused as her eye starts to glow red with magical energy. When it reaches a nearly primary-color red, a heat laser fires out of her eye, and it explodes even without making contact!
Jonathan Joestar     "Then perhaps you should consider a change in vocation!"

The moment the soldier began pulling its leg around, Jonathan breathes in deeply, making a strange wave motion with his hands. One moving upwards in a semi-circle, and the other moving downwards in a similar slant. Using the tip of his boot to kick a nearby guest table up, he reaches out and places his hands against his new shield. "This table is made of wood ... if I fill it with Hamon energy, it might be able to protect me! Koooooh ..."

The dead wood quickly became moist, like what you'd see on a freshly cut tree, the grains glowing red-and-gold. The spray of bullets, shockingly, can't penetrate it.

But even his Hamon strengthening can't stop the burst of flame from incinerating his shield. "Ngh ... !"

Glass from a broken vase is crunched under his foot as he takes a defensive martial arts stance. It gives him a rather sudden idea. " ... !!"

If he was quick enough on his feet, he could reach an intact vase, probably. Scouting for one quickly with his eyes, Jonathan makes a break for it.

When he'd stepped on the broken vase, he realized that there had been water inside. Which also meant the flowers inside were real.

With an undamaged vase in hand, Jonathan quickly removes the assorted flowers while charging them with his Hamon. "Zeppeli, Dire ... I'll use your technique!"

Throwing the now sharp projectiles like throwing knives, they shot through the air in a a spinning formation, their purpose being more of a distraction than anything.

Opening his mouth, Jonathan poured the entire vase's water supply into his gullet.

With cheeks full and bloated like a chipmunks, he allowed his Hamon to course through his body, before spitting out the liquid.

Which had formed into spinning discs that were now flying towards the Tin Soldier in a parallel flight path to what the flowers were.

Unfortunately, Jonathan couldn't have known this, but Zeppeli's Hamon Cutter technique had to be used with particular liquids. Without his wine, or something similar, the cutters wouldn't be quite up to snuff -- especially with his clumsy imitation of the attack. They weren't spinning fast enough to really cut anything; if a Hamon Cutter should be as sharp as an army knife, then these were pear knives.

"I'll be fine!" Jonathan called out to Katt, wiping his mouth on his arm. "It will take much more than this to put me down!"
August Kohler August actually slightly laughs. He tries to bolster himself by declaring himself. "I guess you haven't heard of me. Name's August Kohler." Jonathan, if he's kept up to date on stuff, should know that means August is a leader of the Watch known for his violent actions (even if he's also known primarily for fighting monsters and helping people, he's also caused quite a bit of trouble.)

The water trick is slightly unnerving, but as those blades come out, the damaged Tin Soldier moves to strike into each of the water cutters, battering them away with only superficial damage to its arms. Having declared who he is, August decides to take this seriously, and the Tin Soldier takes the opportunity to surge back in for an elbow slam and an uppercut on Jonathan, trying to wind him by hitting his gut and then his mouth and make it difficult for him to dodge attacks. If this can work out...maybe August can take him out, or otherwise force him to surrender!
Katt "Good! I'll keep the axe-lady busy then until I can take her out!" Yes, Katt got her name. She even remembers it. But she isn't sure Jonathan heard it, so why make things confusing?

More of her attention, though, is on Sanary. It has to be - you never want to give your opponent an advantage, after all, and one-on-one is what Katt's used to. Though, usually it's not in an increasingly battered and beat-up bank...

"Well, magic can be pretty cool," Katt allows, "but you have to be able to back it up with muscle or someone's just going to wrestle you down, and then where will you be?" Katt keeps her staff pointed toward Sanary, almost a spear-like grip as if she was preparing to thrust with it - maybe she is, except that wouldn't be a very good plan. Axes beat spears, after all.

But while axes beat spears, it's hard to tell where eye lasers fall on that weapon triangle. Katt sees Sanary preparing - something - and goes in, trying to get too close to safely fire it. "Hey, I thought you were complaining about that kind of thing!" she yells, as the beam goes over her back - and explodes, catching Katt with the blast if not the beam.

Katt rushes out of the explosion, a sudden flurry of strikes from her staff punctuating her appearance as she really puts muscle behind her blows. "Sorry, but I think this is going to be the end for today! Come back another time!!"
Jonathan Joestar         "You're .... !!!!"

Even though the man didn't give off a terribly threatening aura, or a heinous posture like most foes he tried himself against, there was none the less power behind that name. No, by announcing himself like that, it was more like he was dictating what this really was. Of course, as the leader of the Watch, he certainly could use the money here. Moreover, his reputation as a violent man had reached even Jonathan, who largely stayed out of affairs like that so that he could conduct his research.

In terms of stakes, for Jonathan, August had gone from a mere adversary to someone who should be defeated. He didn't need a villain's laugh when he had such a sordid reputation!

Well, that wasn't a fair thing to think. Even so, that's the perception he has of the man and his consent to robbery only fed that fire. "He destroyed the Hamon Cutters just like that --?!"

In his shock, Jonathan is battered and beaten harshly by the Tin Soldier, hunching over before being rocked back by the decisive strikes on his person. Stomping one foot into the ground, he attempts to regain his bearing by grasping the Tin Soldier by its head with one hand, while holding it in place by its shoulder with the other.

If it transmitted the damage it took back to August, then, Jonathan hoped this would be the perfect way to buy a moment of breathing room for himself as he launched a headbutt to where the nose of a human would be on the Tin Soldier's 'face', hoping to break August's nose by proxy.
Sanary Rondel "Right, right. So what I've learned is that being good at both works better than being really good at one!" Sanary laughs as Katt calls her out on that bit of hypocrisy, watching the tiger lady as she comes ever closer to avoid the brunt of the explosive laser. "If I ain't fast, then I can make you come right to me!"

Just as planned. Or... That's what Sanary likes to think, anyway. She really /had/ been trying to hit Katt with that laser, but being able to face the staff-wielder with a defensive stance is still useful! As the light from the explosion clears (causing the bank staff to start freaking out, too), the axe-wielder braces her weapon in front of her once more as Katt directs that flurry towards her.

Sanary's defenses are actually on point for once! Although she isn't quite deflecting the blows as she is just taking them in less sensitive spots, she's even weaving in some short jerks of her head and torso so the blows just bruise instead of break, graze instead of bash, and hold back those powerful strikes just enough to catch her breath!

"CrapcrapdammitOHHELL" Sanary mutters with each of those strikes as well, blockingt he final hit with her axe and staggering again before stomping once to right herself. "Damn, Katt... Yeah. We need to... Do this again some time!" Laughing even as she reaches sideways, Sanary winces as she tugs her arm with an odd popping noise. That green energy surrounds her again as it works on mending those wounds, practically pulsing off of the healer with that unnatural cloud of energy. "But right now, I got my own work to finish, so...!"

Another deep breath, a hitch to suck in a chunk of congealed blood, and then Sanary launches herself forward suddenly. Her axe drags along the ground as it tears up the tiling, the blade of the weapon somehow looking like it's frosting over as it comes forward. Instead of being swung straight at Katt, however, the ice-coated blade is whipped around Sanary as she goes for another feint, brought overhead for ANOTHER feint, and it's only after the second feint followed by a determined stomp to get into range that she FINALLY swings it diagonally towards the tiger-lady!
August Kohler Getting that reaction is...strangely satisfying for August. He's being respected. People rarely respect him for what he's done. It swells his confidence, and that's a dangerous thing. Jonathan manages to grab the Tin Soldier by its head, and gives a nice, firm headbutt. It hits hard.

And Jonathan's guess is right on the money. While the Tin Soldier is strong enough to avoid what would be a broken nose, it's definitely a bruised and battered one, as August clutches his noise. "Agh!" He staggers backwards, almost falling over again, definitely damaged and definitely going to need to see to that afterwards. When he rises, his nose seems...somewhat swollen. But it's not enough. The Persona is tough.

And it suddenly skates backwards, before raising the gun leg again, and starts building up fire. A massive fireball then bursts backwards...!

Jonathan can probably avoid it, because he's not the target. It's going for the base of one the central pillars, which the fireball will shatter if it hits, and send collapsing onto Jonathan hopefully painfully, and possibly also set fire to parts of the building. This is incredibly dangerous. And the sad part?

August isn't even trying to kill him. Jonathan's a big guy who is clearly superhuman, so August just thinks it'll knock him out. He'll be fine, right? "Sorry, but I'm ending this dance. I've figured out why I'm really doing this...so I'll need to accept that!"

And August's alignment locks even tighter. Soon, it'll all reveal itself to him.
Jonathan Joestar Jonathan dives to the left, bouncing on his shoulder as he finishes his roll, coming to a stop in a crouching position, his breathing disrupted. "Huff .... "

He avoided taking the fireball attack head on. But, something didn't feel right about it. As confident as he was in his skill, he also knew that firing at that exact moment wasn't the best idea if August Kohler intended to actually hit him with it. The creaking noise of stone tips him off. "W-what?! Oh no! You struck one of the pillars that hold up the roof! A structure like that has to be incredibly heavy to bear the burden of the upper floors....!!"

Jonathan won't be able to move in time to avoid being crushed. He has no choice but to catch it with his hands. The stone pillar begins falling right at him, as Jonathan tried to get his breathing under control.

"An ode to courage...is an ode to humanity! Fear disrupts breathing ... kooooooh!"

His whole body glitters with red, orange, and gold light as his arms stretch out. Jonathan's body buckles under the incredible weight as he is nearly crushed flat, forcing him into a squat from where he'd transitioned into a standing position. As long as his breathing didn't waver, Jonathan thought to himself, he could handle this. Even though this weight was tearing his muscles, by using Hamon Breathing, the damage would heal as quickly as it came. But if his breathing faltered, so would his body, and he would be crushed to death as a result.

With a mighty heavy, Jonathan pushes the pillar to the side, allowing it to smash into the tiled floor with a loud bang and a shake that resounded across the whole ground floor of the bank.

"August Kohler ... on my noble name, I, Jonathan Joestar am going to stop you right here, right now!"

Jonathan punctuates his exclamation by pointing directly at his foe. Jonathan advances in a walk, his Hamon aura warping and becoming strange as several flickering images of Jonathan walking began to spread from his body. It appeared as if there were eight of him advancing! But, that illusion is shattered as he appears in front of the Tin Soldier directly as his afterimages disappear.

"Scarlet Red Overdrive!"

His Hamon coalesced into his fist and turned a bright, hot crimson as he attempted to plow it into the Tin Soldier's chest. But --

"Hamon's true strength ... is the limitless strength of its rotation! It is just like the tenacious conviction of humans!"

Jonathan draws his fist back, spinning his whole body for another go! "Spin, my Hamon! SENDO WAVE BEAT!"

The red Hamon in his fist begins churning, spinning like a drill as he sends it into the Tin Soldier's chest, transmitting through its body and exerting a sudden force as it passes through, heading straight for August Kohler directly.
Katt "Don't make me pull out the magic against you!" Katt wiggles her staff as if she was about to cast a spell with it.

She is not, because that would probably be bad for the bank. Katt never learned how to hold back with her magic. Throw it all at once without any restraint, that's more her style... though apparently the condition of the bank is already pretty bad. Did August just knock down one of the pillars?

Katt was really hoping that her strike would have taken Sanary down. It didn't, and Sanary is still healing in front of her. Katt's eyes widen slightly as she backs a step off, holding her staff crosswise in front of her in a defensive block. She was expecting a mighty blow.

And Sanary obliges... but not immediately. Katt is battered enough that she has to respond to the feints until she's absolutely sure that it is one; she can't just absorb even repeated light blows at this point. She twists one way, another - and Sanary's frozen slash strikes in.

Katt manages to catch the axe on her staff with a glancing blow. It scrapes down the side of Katt's staff, frost breaking off the axe as it goes, before it hits Katt, sending her staggering back. She can't take much more of it, and she knows it, but her woren pride refuses to let her just give up.

With a roar, Katt half-lunges, half-staggers forward, delivering a solid two-handed swat with her staff. It's not the mightiest blow, but it has desperation behind it.
Sanary Rondel With the fighting growing more intense steadily reaching a climax! Or at least a state where fighting inside may not be so practical between explosions, pillars, people getting knocked around left and right.

Not that Sanary cares. She's enjoying the fight far too much, and she chuckles lightly to hide the pain as Katt wiggles her staff. "You know that stuff, too? heh... Maybe next time! But let's get this over with... We'll bring the whole house down if we have to!"

If only she didn't have tunnel vision in the middle of this fight. Not noticing that the building is quite literally starting to fall apart already, she charges forward to meet Katt's two-handed swing directly. That axe goes up again to defend against the strike, and she digs in deep to keep that hit from dislocating her arm (again). It'll leave a nasty bruise on top of all the existing bruises, and the axe itself is creaking from the pressure.

And yet, the healer is still standing. "You just don't know when to stop, huh? Well... Can't say I blame ya. Chumps like these bank... Whoevers... Uh." Sanary squints briefly, then shakes her head before lunging once more.

"Pretend I said something cool!" She shouts defiantly as her gaze flicks to a security camera, glaring at whoever might be watching this footage in the future to give them a light scare before bringing her axe up for yet another attack. Unlike her previous multi-feint swings, however, there's no trickery or fancy moves here.

It's just a swing. It's a big swing, a fast swing, but it's one of the few honest swings Sanary's made all night!
August Kohler Jonathan almost gets killed. That isn't good, and if Jonathan sees August's reaction...it's that he's scared Jonathan won't make it, for a second. But the man proves his strength. When he moves that pillar aside, August sighs in relief. This man didn't deserve to die.

But then he dashes forward, warping forward with power, and August's eyes widen. A crimson fist comes straight for the Tin Soldier's chest. And as it does, August is actually slightly glad he came here, because this is awesome.

He's also mad because this is gonna goddamn hurt.

The blow smashes the Tin Soldier back, and then surges through and hits August. It impacts dead-on with the young man, sending him flying backwards into a wall. In the rubble and the battle smoke that every cool fight scene has, August seems to be down for a second. The Tin Soldier doesn't move.

"You're a good man. Definitely a hero. But who would I be if I went down easy?"

And then August's head suddenly lurchs up, bleeding but staring Jonathan down, as the Tin Soldier quickly levels that gun back at him, charges at Jonathan, and fires off another massive blast of fire. This one's gonna take them both down, but it won't kill them, if it hits. Or at least, it won't kill Jonathan.

Maybe unknown to Jonathan, August is actually weak to his own element, so this isn't going to be fun.
Katt Katt looks downright fierce as she draws her staff back, apparently going to follow up her strike with another strike. "We'll definitely fight again!" she says. "I'm not the kind of girl that gives up at the first sight of trouble!"

This is a bit more than the first sight, Katt.

Katt doesn't get another chance to strike. Sanary takes the initiative, and this time there are no feints or tricks - and Katt was expecting one. The axe comes straight in, and it doesn't just clip Katt - it sends her flying halfway across the bank before she slams into a wall and comes to a stop.

Katt starts to push herself up, overbalances when she nearly passes out from the exertion of doing so, and collapses backwards in a pile. Some more of the ceiling falls down, slamming down around her. She's not going to be getting up quickly enough to do anything else.
Jonathan Joestar Jonathan's face twists in shock as the head of the Watch picks himself back up. "That much Hamon, and he's still standing --- is it because he is also a human, rather than a monster? ... No, it's his resolve. He's a sturdy man willing himself back up by his own willpower!"

Jonathan stands straight and tall, despite his own injuries. "August Kohler! I do not agree with your way of life ... but I respect your resolve!"

That's why he didn't even try to avoid the attack, and met it head on. "Huooooooooooh!!!!!"

Flooding his limbs with Hamon to push against the explosive flame and turn it into a Full-Body Scarlet Overdrive. But, this power is too much, even for him. The difference between the volume of his Hamon he was putting out and the amount of flame he'd need send his ripple through was too great in the limited time he had.

Smoke covers the room as the fire-extinguisher goes off, assisting in putting out what August had set aflame. Jonathan, clad in nothing but his pants and boots still stood with black patches dotting his body.

The giant englishman wobbles on his feet, steadying himself against the pillar on the floor. "Ngh .... "

His eyes scan the room to see what became of Katt and her own opponent.
Sanary Rondel With each fight coming to a close, Sanary pants heavily as the adrenaline keeps her on her feet and grinning from ear to ear despite the physical pain. "Heh... Yeah. Yeah. Now if you don't mind..." She starts to turn as a chunk of rubble lands next to her, and she spies the open vault. By now, all of the still living employees and guards have fled, so it's just a matter of grabbing the money and bailing!

... Except Katt's over on the opposite side of the bank, and August's fight with Jonathan is over as well. That makes things a smidge more complicated even though it really shouldn't. August /did/ tell her to grab the money and let him catch up, and Katt was a lot tougher than the axe-wielder gave her credit for. Surely they'd be have no trouble with a collapsing bank, right?

Right, but still. She takes one step towards the vault before doing a 180, then running for Katt's position (and stuffing a handful of bills into her coat on the way). "Hey! Hot guy! Grab him, will ya?!" As she calls out, she hunches over near Katt and conjures up a healing cloud around the both of them, moreso focused on herself to take the edge off. Once enough of the immediate pain is gone, she hoists the tiger-lady overhead, then starts yelling unintelligibly as she legs it right out of the steadily collapsing bank.

It didn't take enough of the edge off, but it'll do. Once she's outside, she sets Katt down, then wheezes painfully while letting her healing magic do its.. Magic for the two of them along with anyone else if they're close enough.

It isn't quite money, but at least a message has been sent. Probably.
Jonathan Joestar The building is rumbling. "No, from here, I won't be able to reach her if she goes into the vault ... !!"

He'd have the choice of stopping her until the entire building collapsed on all of them, or letting her go while he made sure Katt and August Kohler got out safely. It was a decision that, shockingly, he didn't need to make as the would-be robber foregoes most of her spoils in order to rescue the person who had been trying to beat her down just moments prior!

"Eh?" Jonathan mutters in surprise. Without time to process why she was calling him 'hot' even though he was no longer on fire, he shakes himself out of his shocked stupor at her apparent change of heart. "Right ... leave it to me!"

Pushing off of the pillar, Jonathan moves to collect August and sling him over his broad shoulder like a sack of potatoes before he made for the exit, hot on Sanery's trail.
August Kohler August is injured by the fireball. It explodes and it hurts and even though Jonathan takes it head-on, it hits August too, knocking the Tin Soldier back. The Persona burns for a bit, and then desummons once the flames go out, and August is left sitting there, barely still conscious, trying to get up. He might not make it before the building gives out.

But Sanary gives up on the money (to August's slight displeasure) to save them, and Jonathan grabs him and carries him out the building. "Wh-"

Once they're outside and August has been given that healing magic, August moves to get out of Jonathan's way, and though he's in pain, pushes back towards Sanary, who is actually still slightly combat-capable, unlike Jonathan. There seems to be slight suspicion in August's eyes...mostly because he doesn't want to get arrested. "Sanary, let's bail." If Jonathan doesn't move to stop them after she's done healing them...

August will hopefully follow Sanary's lead to get out of there. But at the same time, he respects Jonathan Joestar, too. That's what a human hero should be. Maybe if August had gone a different path, he could be like that.

But he won't. And he's okay with that.
Jonathan Joestar Jonathan contemplates deeply whether or not to continue the confrontation now. With the Bank in the state its in and the damage to its employees, he felt it was the right thing to do. Yet at the same time, the bandits did seemingly have some good in them -- when shown wealth, they still picked the lives of their enemies instead.

Ultimately, his conclusion is to let them be. Jonathan watches their retreat, remaining behind to explain what happened to local law enforcement and other emergency responders. He couldn't help but feel he made the wrong call by ceasing hostilities. Much like the outcome of the heist itself, there were equal parts satisfaction and disappointment.

"The Watch .... they truly are confounding people, aren't they?"