Scene #7253: Bank Robber of Zero

Owner	Pose
Forte	FIRST BANK OF LONDON Alarms are going off. That's the first thing you know, assuming you have ears. Or that you aren't teleporting in, because the speed of light is greater than the speed of sound, and you'd see the bank in full lockdown mode fractions of a second before hearing the blaring alarm. https://imgur.com/a/c7xHnhK This is the First Bank of London. It is an impressively impressive building. All of the windows are shuttered. All of the doors are barred. One of the trash cans has been knocked over - which isn't necessarily important in describing a bank on lockdown, but it's there. Knocked over. There's a half-drunk smoothie inside an open styrofoam cup in the trash can that's slowly oozing out onto the sidewalk. Mango-strawberry blend? Maybe passionfruit. Whatever flavor it is, maybe someone decided they didn't like it and tossed it in the trash - or maybe there's no food allowed inside the bank and they had to get rid of it. Maybe. It's one of those things we'll never know. The area's cordoned off by the police, which is probably more important to describe than the discarded smoothie, but we went there and it happened and we'll just have to live with it now. The whole block is closed to foot and car traffic, and snipers are enroute but they aren't expected to get set up in time. It's just you, you whom happened to be nearby. Being multiversal elites, you get voluntold into taking point. Nobody's been able to make visual contact with the bank robbers, but nobody's come outside the bank since the alarms went off and the lockdown started. Presumably there are hostages. Make your approach.
Ishirou	I4 just...walks up to the police and flashes his Paladin ID card. There might be time getting him vetted, and I4 is more than capable of multitasking. Using this time to mentally command the box with legs next to him to start scanning the bank itself. After all, if there were robbers, then he should be able to find where the robbers are through biosignatures or whatever they were signatures. The second thing he did was to check if there was a good connection to the internal electronics of the place. That way he could visually connect with the cameras on the inside. Once vetted, he continues to walk carefully towards the building itself.
Kupot	There are two ways to approach this. The first way is the SWORDVAN way. Approach the target at high speed, break through for surprise, attack anyone with guns, save the hostages, get screwed by your handlers. Or there's the second way. Kupot carefully scales the building next to the bank. Metal spikes in his hands extend, gripping into the material. His feet extend the same, giving him an easy scaling of the building, nimbly going up the side of the building. A flip onto the roof, then a low careful dash to the roof of the bank. The moogle's black coat flaps in the wind as he jumps across to the other roof, light glinting off the black lenses of his eyes before he lands in a tight roll.
Nanoha Takamachi	Up in the sky! Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No! It's a magical girl! Nanoha slows down as she approaches the location of the reported bank security breach in progress. Her pink aura fades as she softly touches down on the street outside, within the area cordoned off by the police. She flashes her Paladin ID along with I4, then turns her attention to the bank when they are given authority to act. Nanoha has to admit, it's been a while since she's been involved in a bank robbery. Not that she's ever been on the side of the robbers. Oh wait... There was that one time-Ahem. Nanoha joins I4 in some initial information gathering, as it only makes sense to not dive headfirst into the situation without knowing more. She spins around to face the bank and points her staff towards it, saying, "Wide Area Search." The staff chimes in response. A dozen small orbs of pink light form in the air around her, before darting out in multiple directions. They approach the bank's exterior, moving for whatever access they can through windows, small spaces, the front entrance if they need to. As her magical probes move to scout out the building, a dozen holoscreens pop up into existence around Nanoha. They show the video of what the probes are seeing. Nanoha looks on, saying to her Device, "Also, merge the search data with I4's scans. We should be able to create an accurate representation of the interior." Nanoha waves a hand, summoning another holoscreen in front of her with a wireframe layout of the bank quickly filling out.
Charlemagne	"Ooooh, if it isn't Nanoha? You Paladins really do pop up in a pinch, huh?" A voice comes up from behind Nanoha and I4 as they began their scans. The owner of that voice seemed to be rather keen on viewing the visuals that the two were doing. His face giving a bit of a puzzled look, like a kid trying to figure out what his parents are doing or something to that extent. The young man would have appeared familiar though, at least to Nanoha. Black hair with a white streak in it, a face that made him look like the kind of knight in shining armor you'd hear about in fairy tales. The only difference she would have noticed from the last time is that there was a lack of a castle under his feet.... And rather than his more knightly garb his attire at the moment seemed pretty casual. Wearing jeans and a long sleeved black shirt, it honestly made him look less like an Elite and more like a tourist. And yet, somehow he had been able to get past the police barricade without issue. Yet as he makes his presence more known to the two, he gives them both a smirk. "Hmmm...Ah, and you're I4 right?! Ah, that's so cool! Hey, you guys mind letting me lend a hand? I'd love to be able to see you guys in action!" Truth be told, this guy the way he talked and dressed made him seem less like an elite and more well like...A fan boy? Yet here he was, completely unarmed asking to go into a high-risk situation. Should someone be reprimanding him for that, or maybe clarify the situation?
Forte	Kupot gets to the roof unnoticed. There's a roof entrance - it's locked, but the door's flimsy. I4's scanning and Nanoha's remote viewing turn up a couple of things - the hostages, mainly. Except... they don't seem to be very hostage-like. They're hunkered down around the lobby and around the bank offices, taking cover, and a few are futilely trying to force open the locked-down doors. Via Kupot's physical presence and Nanoha's scanning, the hunt for the bank robbers produces... nothing so far. There's a lot of bank to cover, though. There's more offices and the vault to deal with. I4 can connect into the bank's network. Almost immediately when he does so, he gets a VIRUS WARNING pop up. And it doesn't go away. Someone or something is trying to push back against I4's hacking attempts, and not just pushing back, but they're going on the offensive!
Ishirou	I4 turns towards Charlie and looks at him a little weird. Or well, rather...it's assumed he looks at him a little weird. I4's eyes are covered by a HUD that looks like a blindfold. He does tilt his head towards him, and then stage whispers towards Nanoha, "Who's this guy?" he asks, absolutely not remembering Charlie. However, his HUD lights up with the VIRUS WARNING. Frowning, his head jerks towards the building itself. "POD, change the scan type to local area network scan. Let's try and see if we can quarantine the area." With that as his POD does a basic scan, he goes for trying to push back against the virus. His vision goes into a 2D shooter mode as he attempts to bust viruses by shooting a...data gun at them.
Kupot	Kupot pulls out the spike from behind his head, a cable leading back into his skull. When I4 appears to be on the scene, Kupot quickly deduces he will be attempting to hack the system, and that he will be much better at it. The spike goes back into his skull, and instead Kupot goes straight for the door. Were Kupot just a normal anime protagonist, he would simply cut the door down and barrel through like a freight train with immaculate hair and beautiful eyes. Instead, he stops, hunkering down next to the door. He carefully sets any electronic sensors on the door to keep the door registered as closed. THEN he cuts the door in half with a single sweep of his katana and barrels in.
Nanoha Takamachi	Nanoha holds her chin as she watches the wireframe of the bank quickly fill out. The 'hostages' are marked as blue. But so far there's no red signals. They could be hiding amongst the hostages... Though that'd be an unusual way to go about it. Nanoha turns to look as she is mentioned by name. She blinks for a moment at the kid, but then his familiar appearance triggers in her mind. She ahs, "Charlemagne, yes?" Hard to forget a name like that. She looks at I4 briefly, saying, "He's a Servant." She then nods to Charlemagne's request, "Any help is appreciated." She points to her wireframe map where the hostages are trying to break out, "See if you can open a way up for them to escape." Meanwhile, Nanoha continues her search with her magical probes through the rest of the bank. But as she does so, she considers other approaches, "Raising Heart. Can you try and requisition the utilities layout for the building? This robbery problem might require some more unusual solutions." The staff chimes an affirmative as it begins to access the local internet to find the appropriate building plans. Through lawful means, of course, with appropriate Paladins credentials where necessary.
Charlemagne	Charlie puts a finger over his lip as Nanoha's about to call him by name. He gives I4 a smile even as he gets the strange look hidden under the visor, "Just call me Chuck, or Saber for now. Also...Those things look really cool. When this is over you gotta let me try those on." It seemed like he was still trying to keep his name somewhat hidden. Even if he had given it to Nanoha, it had been something she had earned. So clearly he wasn't completely ready to divulge himself out in the open just yet. Though even if he was, it probably would have been hard to believe someone with such a dignified reputation would have been...Immediately believed to be this type of...Person? That was of very little importance however. What was obviously though was that there was a definite need to help the civilians that were trying to get out. Now, he couldn't say he was the most technologically savvy of the group. Though he could at least understand it when people said that there didn't appear to be any hostiles near the hostages, and they were actively trying to get out that's enough information for him to act on at least. Hearing Nanoha's suggestion he nods before throwing a thumbs up. "Cool~ Leave it to me!" With those words he starts running towards the building...Not towards the entrance, but one of the walls. It looks like he's serious about to run into it until... His body fades away into blue particles of light. Well, that wasn't actually the case. In truth he had went into his spirit form. A form in which his physical body was no longer tangible or visible allowing him to pass through the walls of the bank. While he's not sure he'd be able to pass through undetected by a Magus using a detection spell, or get through a wall protected by a magical barrier, he was pretty sure that he could get through the bank's walls without being immediately noticed on surveilance cameras. Once he was sure he found the hostages, all he'd need to do is revert out of that form so that he could help evacuate them. Easy as that, right?
Forte	"Oh, oh wow, this is a neat interface. Hey hey yeah, it's a neat interface, hi there, you ready to get deleted?" "Delete, delete, delete! Ha ha ha!" These words can be heard not just inside I4's head... but from the bank's PA system. Kupot hears one of the hostages groan from where they're hunkered down inside an office cubicle. "Oh god, that thing is back.." "Get us out of here before that thing comes through again!" calls a middle-aged lady who's trying to force the front door open. She doesn't know why Charlemagne appeared right next to her, and she doesn't care at this point. "Delete delete delete, let's see if I can't get the speedrun for deleting everything! I already got the any-percent world record for deleting my operator, now let's do the bank-percent category!" Someone zooms across the hallways of the bank - smashing or cutting through multiple objects and leaving destruction in its wake. Whatever it is, it's fast - it's moving in straight lines and not being stealthy, so with a bit of preparation someone might be able to hit it, but otherwise it's a blur that's too hard to really make out. And then it leaps into a security camera, the blur seeming to shrink mid-leap - - and it reappears on I4's HUD, alongside the suborned security measures and viruses I4's having to fight off (if a bit on the pixelated side). "But gotta delete you first!" the figure yells, making a dash attack at him. -=-=-=ENCOUNTER: QUICKMAN.EXE=-=-=- BATTLE ROUTINE -=- SET -=- EXECUTE! And hit or miss, Quickman.exe dashes back out of the digital realm after that, making another destructive circuit of the real one!
Ishirou	"Oh uh, nice to meet you then Chuck, and yes I'm I4! Oh uh, wait something's happening, I have to pay atten-" QUICK MAN.EXE to the face! Except for that I4, by sheer reflex turns his digital body just enough at the right time and fires a single shot to not hurt Quick man, but to set his attack off just enough so that he doesn't get run over. "Ok wow, that's fast," he says. "Hey uh, could you not do that? I'm trying to..." Oh and then he's being ignored and monologued at. "Wait, your operator? Why would you delete your operating system? You know that's important, right? If you go too fast without systems controls enabled you might actually damage your program!" A beat, "Oh wait, you said operator? Why did you do that to your operator?" However during all of this, on the digital grid a barrage of shots fires from I4's digital avatar, attempting to pin Quick man down, and attempt to EJECT him out of the system so that others could properly hurt him. What Quickman might hate the most is that I4 is attempting to hack his speed and be like mother nature. Telling him to SLOW DOWN, hopefully, he doesn't have ENERGY LEGS and kicks him in the face.
Nanoha Takamachi	Nanoha gives Charlemagne an apologetic look as she almost mentions his full name. Instead she says, "Chuck... Okay." She returns to her screens. That is until a voice comes over the bank's PA system. Her search spell still hasn't found any hostiles... So where is the voice being transmitted from? Before Nanoha has a chance to try and track it down, she's suddenly struck by something fast moving. She didn't get a good look at it. Certainly not enough to anticipate it. Nanoha lets out a pained gasp as she is forced back a couple of steps by the blow. She quickly raises her staff into a defensive position and looks around... But there's nothing. She asks over the radio, confused, "Wh-what was that!?" When any immediate follow-up attack doesn't come, Nanoha gets an idea. She quickly returns to her screens, saying, "Rewind the recordings!" Her staff chimes, the screens showing the video of her probes backing up. One then pauses on a blur. It's still a blur. But it's a blur going into a security camera. Nanoha blinks, "It's somehow using the bank's network..." Nanoha swings her staff out to the side. Several pink orbs appear in the air around her. Similar to the search spell, but brighter and humming with more energy. She then brings her staff back around, pointing towards the bank as she calls, "Shoot!" The orbs rush forward, each homing in on the bank's exterior cameras before exploding them. Nanoha figures if they can reduce the number of cameras, they may be able to limit this thing's movements.
Kupot	Kupot carefully moves through the back offices, hand on his katana. When the large shouldered form of Quick Man appears, Kupot barely has a second to react. He brings his sword out in a sudden flash, but even Quick Man is too fast for him. Damn him and his seven vanity dots in speed. He can hardly evade to the side, instead getting hit with a shockwave that throws himself up against the wall with a hefty thud. Rolling down off the wall, the moogle rights himself and pushes forward into the main room. Then he waits. He stands perfectly still in the middle of the room, his hand on the blade. Waiting. His HUD keeps an eye out, flicking around for energy surges, for shapes on electronic devices, moving cameras. He waits, perfectly still. And abuses Readied Action to swing his blade the second the foe comes out again.
Charlemagne	"Yo~ Sorry for the late arrival but we're here to-" The moment he had returned to his physical form beside the woman, the sound of the PA went off with the unfamiliar voice. It puts enough fear into the woman that Charlemagne stops talking for a moment and seems to actually get a bit more serious. "Stay behind me..." It's a calm declaration as he tries to get a feel for where the enemy was. It doesn't take too much feeling around for Charlie to take notice of the speedster that was coming their way as he leaves a trail of destruction in its wake. And it honestly would have seemed like the group of hostages would have been next to become part of it's trail, yet as the anomaly path brings it towards them... A blade appears out of thin air into the young man's hand. "Tornado!!!" Just as quickly as the blade appeared, it faded away into something that looked more like a halberd. With one powerful swing Charlie appeared to try and call forth a powerful gale to distort Quickman's trajectory from the civilians, though he finds that even while averting the trajectory that he's grazed by the attack, leaving tears through his nice black shirt and showing a bit of cuts into his skin. "Aaaah, that was new! Modern clothes are so comfy too! You're gonna pay for-" He wanted to strike back as soon as possible but finds himself too slow. "Ehhhh? He disappeared?! This some kind of spirit or something too?!" Charlie wasn't too familiar with viruses especially not ones like those that hop in and out of digital machines. Thankfully though Quickman hopping back into the grid allows Charlie time to use that Halberd once again to create a gale to blow the door of the bank right off it's hinges. "Move!" He shouts to the group like he's a sheperd encouraging all of them to take leave for what was likely going to end up a battlefield. Once he was sure that they were secured he'd bring his attention back to the security camera with a smirk on his face, "Okay, let's try this again..." From out of nowhere the young man's attire changes into something more...Knightly. His garb changes from the casual modern attire into something a bit more regal. Gauntlets and pauldrons adorn his figure, a small white cape adorns his frame. A scabbard at his side and that serrated blade back in his hands. Right now it honestly wouldn't have been wrong to say that his attire seemed rather...Knightly. And just like a chivalrous knight he waited for his opponent's return back from the digital realm with eagerness. "Found ya!!!" He charges him the moment he spots the digital entity, trying to give this thing a bit of destructive force before it could even attempt to cause any more damage to the bank!
Forte	Quickman.exe doesn't get so easily kicked out of the digital space - in fact, he seems to be able to battle everyone everywhere near the bank simultaneously via the simple art of running very very very very very very very very very fast. I4's able to hack him down slower, though - at least a bit! Enough that he's not one continuous blur of motion anymore. The navi emerges from a camera - right into the path of Kupot's readied blade - and then back into another camera, which gets blown up. "Man this is terrible RNG! How the hell am I supposed to hit Bank% now! I'm gonna have to pick another bank and- UGH!" Charlemagne gets him as he re-emerges from the digital world, sending him veering off course and into a wall. In that moment of stillness, and during the fighting to come, it becomes increasingly clear that something is wrong. Quickman.exe is starting to look... glitchy. Discolored, off-model, and in general just not... well. While fighting everyone here isn't doing himself any favors, there's something else happening to him besides the damage caused by your attacks. "Okay, okay, you know what? You're getting a taste of my quick boomerang! It's fast! You wanna know how fast it is?"
Forte	"Yeah, that's how fast it is!" he yells as he fires a cavalcade of boomerangs at everyone, and Quickman.exe resumes his mad dash across the entire bank (real and virtual spaces alike).
Ishirou	Quick boomerangs are flying like a swarm of houseflies, made out of pain at I4. It was all he could do to avoid the direct brunt of them, trying to stay one bit ahead. However, one of those things hit, just enough to send him spinning around and hitting a wall. WARNING. Virus infection detected. "Well, that's unfortunate...wait..." Quickman was acting weird, and not only that he was looking just as weird. The virus' here... "POD, scan. Try and find out if he's infected with the viruses," he says, before trying to predict the fast boy. Using his data avatar to take another shot at Quickman.EXE to try and force him out, right as the real I4 moves in with a sword, attempting to catch him in a melee combo!
Nanoha Takamachi	The external cameras are now smoking stubs. And Nanoha thinks she might have got a hit in against the actual blur during one of them. It's at that moment that the front doors are suddenly blown open, thanks to Charlemagne. Nanoha's holoscreens vanish as she rushes up to the entrance. She starts waving the people out, "Come on, everyone! Please make your way out!" Nanoha is still trying to get the hostages out when Quickman.exe is thrown into a nearby wall. She looks on as the civilians rush by her. She's not familiar with him or whatever form of life he appears to be. But she gets the feeling that he's not quite right... Though she doesn't know how she might be able to help. But Quickman.exe recovers, apparently launching into another attack. Nanoha doesn't even have time to open her eyes in surprise, as fast as it is. But suddenly a dome of pink light forms around her. The boomerangs strike the magical barrier. But it was hastily erected, resulting in it shattering into motes of light and the remainder of the assault striking Nanoha directly, causing her to stumble back to one knee. Only after the actual attack hits does Nanoha's staff chime, <Wide-Area Protection.> Nanoha rises once more, saying, "Thank you, Raising Heart." Nanoha watches the fast fight continue. She has some experience fighting zippy fighters, though Quickman.exe is taking it to an even higher level. Still, she falls back on what she knows. As I4 goes in for a physical strike, Nanoha raises her staff into the air, "Axel Shooter!" Four orbs of pink appear around her. She then levels her staff towards Quickman.exe and finishes, "Shoot!" The four orbs burst, transforming into beams of light that shoot forward. They're well aimed, each passing around I4 as they deftly navigate through his movements before passing through the spaces that Quickman.exe might use to evade the Android's blows. Any that don't hit curve around before homing in on their target from multiple directions.
Charlemagne	Charlemagne's attack find's purchase that it's able to knock the digital entity off it's feet. "Got him!" A declaration of his first strike against the rather swift program. He doesn't let up though, just as Quickman finds himself flung to the wall, Charlie was already bringing his blade to prepare his next strike. "Oi, I don't know what you're deal is but holding people like that's not very-" Though as he tries to continue reprimanding the odd entity he notices the distortions. He's not too familiar with the glitchy behavior but it does garner a raised brow. A part of him wants to ask what was going on, but he doesn't really get the opportunity as he's assaulted by the boomerangs. The speed and variety of attack angles proving to be a bit difficult to maneuver in causing him to be caught by a few that once again shreds into his attire leaving cuts across his body. "Atatata, a boomerang? Seriously? I didn't even think that was an actual weapon...Still..." He looks towards the others for a moment as he speaks into a comm. Mumbling something into the radio before continuing. "Well, either way guess it doesn't matter. Can't let you cause so much trouble. That'd definitely be lame. Still if you're gonna be throwing things around I guess I will too." The Servant raises his sword above his head, and when he does, the blade begins to shine brilliantly. From that light several javelins begin to appear on both his left and right side floating in the air. As he brings his sword down towards Quickman, the Javelins would shoot out from all sides in a multi-directional attack. Each one firing off several beams in conjunction making it difficult even for a speedster to maneuver against.
Kupot	As Quick Man re-emerges, Kupot's sword flashes out, loud enough to make a shockwave, impossible to be seen. He flashes it across Quickman, then back up. Against anyone else, the deflect would be careless, easy, truly epic. Against Quick Man, the blade only catches the boomerang at the very last second, deflecting it away from his face with only a hair's breadth of room for error. The force of the deflection sets him back on his back foot, but his katana stays in his hands. His idea gets picked up by about everyone at the same time. Pull the power to the bank. A minor note crosses Kupot's mind... is this what someone wants? Disable the power to the bank? Could Quick Man's destruction have the same purpose? The holomap gets downloaded into Kupot's map and he sets downward to the interior power banks, staying low to the ground rather than fighting Quick Man any longer. Dealing with the power generator is remarkably easy for Kupot. But he is going to try to HACK THEM rather than simply cut something in half.
Forte	Finally, Quickman.exe gets kicked out of the system again by I4's attack. I4 also gets some info back - Quick Man's about to pop like a kernel of popcorn that's been in the microwave too long. What exactly that's going to look like is anyone's guess. Knocked back into the real world, where Nanoha's and Charlemagne's attacks combo him one after the other, and together prevent him from getting anywhere. He is effectively stuck in the middle of the bank lobby for a bit - and as he takes more damage, his situation looks more and more unfortunate. He's changing - from yellow-ish to mostly red. And not a pleasant red either - an angry red. "No, gotta - gotta get..." He dives for a security terminal - just as Kupot turns off the power to the bank. "NO!" Quickman.exe bangs on the terminal. "Gotta get out, gotta get loose, gotta delete, delete, delete delete delete deletedeletedeletedeletedelete-" His whole body starts warping, as if Quickman.exe's form, can't quite handle all of the... whatever it is that's inside of him right now. "deletedeletedeletedeletedeletedeletedeletedeletedelete" It's like a mantra, a thin shred of sanity that he hangs onto... until he can't anymore. The lobby is filled with blinding light for a moment - emanating from Quickman.exe, as his outer form is shed - shredded - like a butterfly emerging from a coccoon. What emerges, when the light stops, is something different. Something much sharper, rougher, than the program-based lifeform that was here before. Glowing eyes, razor-sharp armor, and floor-length hair that undulates in distinctly tentacle-like motions. It all adds up to something distinctly... predatorial looking. "Delete." -=-=-=WARNING: ZERO VIRUS=-=-=- BATTLE ROUTINE - SET - EXECUTE! All at once, it's upon everyone - crossing the battlefield in impossibly quick steps, slashing and hacking away!
Nanoha Takamachi	With the hostages safely out, Nanoha turns her focus to taking out the power. Good thing she had her Device access those plans earlier, "Raising Heart, where is the external power access?" A map appears in front of her, highlighting three spots. Redundancy is important in security of course. Nanoha looks a little down as she realizes just where those three spots are, "Of course they're underground... Okay. Let's do this!" Nanoha quickly steps out through the forcefully opened front door. She then lifts up into the air, floating to a point above the bank. She looks around for a moment, before asking, "Can you overlay the ideal lines of fire?" Raising Heart chimes and Nanoha finds three points highlighted in her vision. Thankfully they're all within the cordoned off area, so there's no one in the way. Floating there, Nanoha hmmmms as she considers... "Maybe-" Raising Heart chimes, <More destruction, Master.> "Then how about-" <The collateral damage will be great.> "So if we-" <It is effective.> Nanoha smiles, "Right!" She raises her staff and calls out, "Blaster One!" A spell circle appears in the air beneath Nanoha. Two floating remote bits shaped a lot like the head of her staff materialize beside her. They each flit off to a point in the air above an adjacent street. Meanwhile, Nanoha herself swings her staff down to point towards the street below. Raising Heart proceeds to chime, <Photon Smasher.> Spell rings appear beyond the tips of the staff and similar blaster bits. A orb of pink forms just beyond their tips, quickly beginning to grow in size as the sound of charging energy gets louder. As that hum reaches its peak, Nanoha calls out, "Do it!" Raising Heart chimes, <Doing it.> The three spells fire. One from Nanoha, the other two from her remote bits. They each produce a stream of light that blasts downwards. They impact the street, but don't fade away afterwards as the spells are maintained. They dig through the ground, before penetrating into service tunnels underneath and vaporize the power lines... Along with other things down there. With Nanoha's attack coinciding with Kupot's handling of the internal backups, that leaves both internal and external power unavailable for the building. So when Nanoha floats down back into the building, she's relieved to find that the power is indeed off. But just as it seems like they have foiled the robber's plans, Nanoha is forced to shield her eyes from a bright light. And when she looks back, Nanoha blinks, "Huh?" Nanoha suddenly finds herself face to face with some kind of robot with a penchant for slashing. She's able to maneuver her staff into position just enough to keep it from being an incredibly lethal blow, but Nanoha is still sent flying by the strike, hitting one of the bank's walls with a surprised cry. She drops down to the floor, bits of wall crumbling down beside her. She groans quietly, but then proceeds to stand once more. A determined look in her eyes.
Ishirou	I4 was expecting something else...with the systems being down he thought that the virus might turn on him because he was the only electric thing alive. Good thing that isn't how they operate. In hindsight, it's very good! What's less good is the new arrival and the saber to the face. However, during all of that, the POD was scanning, trying to get more data on the new entity. I4 hits the ground hard, rolling with the blow until he was back on his feet, skidding to a halt. Taking a breath, the new creation seems to be only interested in death, from how he speaks. He's endangering humanity, and that can't stand... "No," I4 says, sparking from the damage taken. "The only thing that will get deleted here..." he says, and commands the POD to fire. "IS YOU!" he says, as he attempts to send a feedback hacking attack of his own.
Kupot	Kupot HACKS THE GENERATORS. Really he probably just cut a few wires, but saying HACK THE GENERATORS sounds better. From there, people from outside the backoffices start crying out. Kupot frowns. That's not... good. He taps at his HUD, which takes the dark room and overlays an exact copy of the room as if it were still lit as he progresses back in. The sound of sword battle turns his jog into a full scale run. As he reemerges into the lobby, the coat Kupot is wearing goes flying, revealing a black tank and wide black camo pants beneath. The forward run skids to a stop when the 'face' turns around and is something entirely new. Kupot's katana slides into the scabbard with a click. "Kupo! Who are you!"
Charlemagne	Charlie's given his task, protect the vaults. It's simple enough, but the task he'll need to do while everyone else begins doing all their stuff to deal with this thing's power supply. At least that's what they figured at first, unaware of what was to ensue. The others' prepare to handle the power Charlemagne prepares the next volley of attacks to keep Quickman subdued. "You gotta surrender." His voice tries to interrupt the digital anomaly as it keeps trying to dive towards the terminal only to be halted by the efforts of everyone stopping the power, "Trust me, it's much cooler to be able to admit defeat than having to die. If you do maybe these guys can even help yo-" Once again the knight's words are halted in his mouth as Quickman begins to change. He begins repeating that one word over and over again and as he decides the lobby is filled with a frightening bright light that envelopes everyone. Charlemagne ends up holding the blade up to cover his field of view for a moment less he become completely impaired. When the light fades what appears before everyone is no longer what they once saw. A whistle leaves Charlie's lips, he hated to admit it but...This guy looked a little cool. That was never a good sign usually. And it was more than just a sign it seemed Zero charges all of them at speeds that made Quickman seem like Slowman (I know that's uncool shut up). Charlie finds himself able to avoid the first couple of strikes, parrying a few others, but even he eventually finds himself receiving a rather hefty gash as the virus ends up slicing down into his shoulder. "Guaaah..." Charlie ends up skidding across the floor, his blade digging into the lobby to holster himself before finally stopping. When he does he takes a moment to gauge their new threat. "Mmmm, I'm no computer expert but I can tell...Just with one look that you're not someone we should be playing around with." Charlemagne prepares the javelins once again. This time making sure that each one of them encircles the new virus in a spinning fashion making it rather difficult for the entity to try and keep track of when and which one to strike before each one simulatenously fires off another round of magical beams to try and subdue it. He doesn't know what this thing is, but he's not wait and find out...
Forte	The virus takes Nanoha's attack head on. The raw strength of the blast knocks it back... but it doesn't seem to care. I4's podfire, likewise, blasts away at the virus's form, causing it to waver and start to deteriorate, and the hacking proves effective. When Kupot demands an answer - one isn't given. All it seems focused on right now, above all else, to the exclusion of all else... "Delete." ... is attacking everything in sight. Charlemagne's javelins are hard to track, but it's not even trying to track them. It's focused solely on attacking. "Delete!" There's no artistry to it. No strategy. No thought to defense or counters or parries or even the virus's own safety. Just raw power, applied over and over and over, a flurry of viral sword strikes one after another after another, slowly tearing the whole lobby to shreds!
Ishirou	I4's blade moves to try and connect with Zero's attacks. However, by far Zero was the better swordsman. I4 was only partially a weapon user, he was far behind in skill like his partner. Zero's power was simply too much for him and overwhelmed his guard. The blade cuts down and... I4 nearly screams as he notices his blade on the ground. Still attached to his robotic hand. Inky black 'blood' drips from the stump that used to be his hand as he clenches it like a damaged wound. His systems are critical now. His POD is already advising retreat. Should he fall back and let Mr. Kupo and Nanoha deal with it..? Then Chuck goes down, his eyes widen. Servant or not, he falls under 'human' to I4. While I4 is the least Android of his kind, his dedication to humanity is a trait he fully believes in. This thing was a threat to all humanity, as far as he was concerned and how he was acting now. His eyes turned towards Zero. He can't use his weapon but...he focuses on the Virus, this time sending a beam of light from his hands. He tries one last-ditch effort, trying to run a recursive code on the Virus. Trying to turn his own mantra in on itself. Trying to cause the virus to delete the virus.
Charlemagne	Zero's onslaught come fast. Charlemagne acting as the vanguard was the first to have to fight off the powerful strikes as they came. Charlie was a powerful Servant in his own right but well... He finds himself quick to lose his strength as each strike follows up into the other. Each strike sapping more and more of endurance away. A single thought crossing into his mind as he tries to keep pace with the virus, "Tch...If I just had more..." It was so uncool. He could feel it, he was sure that's how he appeared right now, and those thoughts would only hinder him more... If that was the case there was only one thing he could try to do. "HIT HIM NOW!!!" A shout releases as Charlie takes one terrible strike diagnolly across the chest. It leaves a deep gash into the Servant that's rather...Well, if he wasn't a Servant he'd probably without a doubt be dead, but regardless the look of a young man with a wound so large into his chest probably wouldn't have been too appealing to those amongst the group. At the very least though he makes it a point to try and keep and mitigate as much of those strikes into his body so that the others wouldn't have to suffer the full extent of this onslaught. Even if he couldn't be cool by finishing this virus off...He could still be cool by acting as a shield, right?
Nanoha Takamachi	Nanoha watches on sadly as this new creation doesn't even appear to have the mind to put together proper sentences. She wonders if it's some form of corruption... I4 did mention there was a virus. Nanoha isn't too knowledgeable about the more harmful aspects of computers like that. But if this was a digital lifeform as it had appeared to be earlier, then it's likely that a virus infection has converted it into this... Monster? Perhaps like how biological infections on some worlds turn people into zombies. Though one thing's for sure. This zombie doesn't shamble. Its speed is actually quite a problem, so Nanoha finds herself needing to counter it. The neck of her staff slides back three times as the cartridge system inside it absorbs the additional concentrated mana, adding to Nanoha's own. After it has done so, she calmly says, "Axel Fin." Wings of pink light burst forth from Nanoha's boots as she rises up off the floor. These quarters are tight, but the lobby is thankfully just large enough for Nanoha to maneuver in during her high speed flight. As the virus rushes her with its saber, Nanoha blasts forward through the air to meet it. Her staff clashes against that blade of light as the two pass, a flash of light accompanying the blow as Nanoha uses what magic she can to mitigate the damage from the impact. Nanoha quickly turns, hitting the opposite wall of the lobby with her feet. It cracks under the pressure. Doubly so as Nanoha pushes off it, charging through the air towards the virus once more. Another clash, another burst of light. This continues a few times, but Nanoha knows she won't be able to keep it up forever. Nanoha's eyes go wide though as she sees one of the virus's strikes cut through Charlemagne harshly. He may just be a Servant, but that's still no reason to not be concerned about her allies. It seems that none of them can keep this up forever. Thankfully, I4 seems to be planning something. So Nanoha does what she can to buy him some time. As the two cross weapons once more, this time a spell circle appears at the point of impact. Chains of pink light quickly flash into existence to wrap themselves around the virus's weapon and arm. Nanoha expects the binding spell won't last for long. But it will give I4 a moment of peace. And her too. Nanoha backs up away from the virus, leveling her staff towards it. A spell circle appears floating in the air beneath her. Two spell rings, one large and one small, appear around the head of the weapon. Light begins to gather as Nanoha starts out, "Burst-" As the magic coalesces before her, it also flares up around Nanoha as an aura. Her hair and combat dress begin to whip about as she summons the impressive amount of power. When she finally determines that she can't wait any longer, lest the virus escape her bind, she finally finishes, "-Smasher!" The gathered light bursts. A large beam roars out from that point, rushing down towards the virus. Additionally, a dozen smaller beams rush outwards, arcing away and then inwards to combine at the single point that is the spell's target. The resulting blast of light may be briefly blinding as the spell explodes, ripping apart chairs, counters, part of the lobby floor and roof... And hopefully the virus too.
Kupot	Everyone is a person to be reasoned with. Someone who can be talked to, someone who can be met on an equal level.
Kupot	Everyone is a person to be reasoned with. Someone who can be talked to, someone who can be met on an equal level. Or at least, usually. But the importance of it disappears if you simply ignore it. If you let it go. To not try is the biggest failure. The attempt is met with pain, slashing in hard across Kupot. His skin gets flayed wide, revealing the heavy armor layer underneath. It still protects quite a bit, but lord does it bleed. Blood spurts down the white fur and tank from the blow. He braces himself on his katana scabbard. "Kupo..."
Forte	The virus attacks, and attacks, and attacks. It seems utterly heedless of anything that's not a target, and it only heeds targets for as long as it takes to destroy them. Nanoha blasts it, and the sheer force pins it, and its a good thing too - even deteriorating rapidly under the sheer force, it looks like it's trying to keep swinging at her. And then it gets rewritten. How well this would work if it was more intact - able to maintain code consistency - would be debatable, but as it is, the code attack finishes it off. Or rather, it finishes itself off. There's nothing so dramatic as it turning its energy sword on itself, but it just starts... dissolving in on itself. Collapsing in on itself. Still locked in place by Nanoha's attack, it simply dissolves under the strain of maintaining a form that's directed against itself. And then there's silence. --- Doing some looking around, there's surprisingly few casualties. Most notable, though, is what looks like a hiker of some kind, who has on him is a device similar to a cell phone... that has traces of Quickman.exe's code on it, as well as traces of viral code (not actively infectuous). He'd been at the bank for legitimate reasons, according to a witness, and his navi partner just... went haywire.
Nanoha Takamachi	Nanoha sighs quietly as the virus appears to destroy itself, destabilizing before finally vanishing. She slowly floats down, once more touching down on the lobby floor. At least, the part that isn't a crater. Finally relaxing a little, Nanoha leans against her staff for support. While not the worst she's had, that was a tough fight given the virus's speed. Unfortunately, Nanoha's brief respite is interupted by her Device chiming, <Master. There is an anomaly.> Nanoha hmmms? She follows Raising Heart's guidance... ... And finds the remains of the hiker. Nanoha looks on sadly, before her staff chimes once more, <Caution. Infection remnants detected. The device.> Nanoha frowns as her attention turns to the cellphone. She lowers her staff towards it and says, "Crystal Cage... Seal." A pyramid of pink light forms around the cellphone, isolated it. Nanoha leans down to pick it up, before saying to the others, "We'll have to get this examined... In a safer environment." She doesn't want to risk any remnants of that virus getting into something else. Nanoha then looks back to the remains of the hiker, "... I'm sorry."
Ishirou	I4 releases a sigh, holding onto his damaged arm and walking towards Nanoha. There is a frown as the remains of the operator are found...more so the remains of the virus are still active. "We can seal that up for now, and I'll examine it later..." he looks at the dead person. "Well, hope isn't lost I think. We do have Edward. We'd have to ask him if he could be revived...I am not sure how that works."