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Cantio Despite the frantic calls for assistance centering from a meat processing plant in Summer, the situation there seems strangely calm outside. Hundreds of identically-dressed workers are waiting around the building, they're watching the building with mixed levels of interest. Some don't seem to care that much, tapping away on phones or even holding theirs up to record whatever lights they can see from the windows. Others are pacing about anxiously, not quite equipped or willing to head back inside, but certainly worrying about what's going on inside without being able to do anything about it themselves.

The facility is massive as befitting something bearing the logo of a single specific company, complete with logo-decorated shipping trucks and wide swaths of driveways to move ingredients into and out of the plant. The workers, too, are all wearing drab gray uniforms bearing the company's logo.

Further inside, it becomes clearer why there was such a commotion in the first place. A girl in a white and purple sailor suit is facing off with multiple security guards looking stereotypically 'futuristic' with armored helmets, stun batons crackling with electricity, and a few even wielding more standard handguns. Several guards are already laying on the ground in varying states of consciousness and bleeding, and it's pretty obvious that Cantio is the culprit that caused this distress call to be issued in the first place.
Rack Reindeer THE ADVENTURES OF RACK REINDEER, CONCORD INTERN

Rack's first outing out, and he runs into his ELEMENTAL WEAKNESS CHAIN. Guards with electric stun batons are no good to be around.

So instead, he lets Cantio deal with that, while he works on the actual mission of messing up the infrastructure here.

"Right - cooling systems on the storage," he says, sending a drone over to start cutting the wires powering the meat processing freezers. "And the controls on the loading and unloading dock doors, so they can't get all'a that spoiled meat out so easily," he says, sending a drone that way as well. "Hah. Rack, yer a genius."

"Are we *just* hittin' this one plant?" he calls over his shoulder to Cantio. "Humans eat stuff besides meat. We need to go hit like a fruit factory or somethin'!"
X With a call for help being broadcast so loudly, it's only natural that there'd be a Paladins representative on the way -- in this instance, that just so happened to be X, who materializes from a falling beam of blue light that rapidly solidifies into form.

The maverick hunter hadn't known what to expect when he was dispatched from HQ, but the fact that it was a factory specializing in foodstuffs was an indication that it would be something untoward. His instinct proves correct, as his gaze turns sharp on the sight of the thoroughly defeat security, arm raising up to point the barrel of his X-Buster down at Rack Reindeer and Cantio once it had transformed.

    "Hold it!"

I recognize that woman from before ... I really should have taken her in back then, instead of letting her go. Darn it! But, who's her accomplice, this time? He seems to be a reploid ...

"X, can you hear me? Be careful! We only have preliminary data on that reploid, but he seems to specialize in some kind of artillery!" Alia relays to him, his face scrunching up slightly.

It'd be tough, getting the human guards out of here safely if these two wouldn't stand down. "That's far enough. Lay down your arms and come peacefully!"
Hibiki Tachibana     The last time Hibiki visted a factory, it was to dismantle the entire operation. That factory also made murderous robots modeled after street punks and B O M B S instead of delicious meats, so there's a big difference here. She picks up the signal during a multiversal passing-by and hurries over at full speed, or at least as speedy as moving on foot will allow - so Symphogirl arrives on the scene with a mixed reception of what's going on outside. But while some might not care, the sights of those who /do/ is more than enough to get her to clench her hands tight and push onward.

    "Balwisyall nescell Gungnir tron...."

    The golden light of her transformation covers her body and coalesces into the mechanical armor of Gungnir mid-sprint, finalizing with the scarf that fluffs into existence trailing behind her as she turns her head to regard the fallen guards along the path. The source of which she'll be finding before long.

    To a somewhat surprised look on Hibiki's face as she slides to a stop at the fringes of the battlefield, regarding the white-and-purple clad girl and an unknown Reploid with slightly widened eyes. But she does recognize one of them for sure. "Cantio...!"

    With no gun to speak up, she instead puts herself up in a combat ready stance close by X, fists up at the ready as her brow furrows. "...Looks like you brought a friend. And it doesn't look like you just made a snap decision like last time. What's going on?" She pauses to regard the fallen guards, noting that they're unconscious at worse, then turns her attention back up.
Cantio Cantio doesn't sound surprised when she hears that more Elites have arrived. She's expecting it as a matter of course, even, not speaking up immediately as pulls her blade and a guard back towards her before punting them right off the weapon. It's a nasty wound, but they should live if they're taken to a hospital or otherwise healed sooner rather than later.

It's when she realizes that Rack's here to back up her up that she actually sounds a little surprised. "Eh? Cooling...? Spoiled? Oh! You're..." She drops her spaghetti briefly as she realizes she never actually elaborated on what her plan actually was, but instead of protesting, she just goes with it.

"... Y-yes, the plant is a secondary objective. What we really need to get to is the directors up-" Cantio whirls around as she recognizes X's and Hibiki's voices. Just her luck to face these two again!

"I'm sorry, but I-" Wait. Why is she apologizing? Inhaling slowly to steady her blade, Cantio points her blade sideways to fire off a laser into another guard trying to get the drop on herself and Rack, then grips the weapon with both hands while facing the pair with a steadier look than before.

"I can't do that. The people in charge of this place need to be eliminated for the good of the people here and the Multiverse. There's only so much I can improve at home, but the things I can change here and the lives I can improve on a greater scale..."

Indeed, Cantio sounds far more focused than she did in their last encounter. "That's worth the lives of the board of directors, right? The guards can still be saved if you take them with you. If not..." She raises the blade parallel to her shoulders, the tip pointed at X and Hibiki as she draws the battle lines rather clearly.

"I can't guarantee who else might get hurt today."
Rack Reindeer There's a pause from the reploid. He has to confirm what he's seeing.

Oh crap, it's X.

"Hah! It's the infamous X himself! What, ran out of robots to murder and decided to play security guard at a processing plant instead?"

X is here and we're all going to die.

"Well, ya ain't dealin' with the average helpless maverick, X," says Rack, pounding a fist into the other palm. "I've got strength, the Concord, an' justice itself on my side. An' you've got the sins of your past an' the eyes of history weighin' ya down."

The flying drones start coming back from their tasks, taking formation above and beside the reindeer reploid. "Ya heard th' lady, we're making a little targeted incision. Like surgery. Ain't nothin' wrong with surgery, not when - HAH!"

He charges forward and attempts to smack X the face with one of the large shield-bracers on the back of his wrists. If he's going to last against the infamous maverick hunter, he's gonna have to pull out every stop - including getting the first hit in!
Hibiki Tachibana     There's a low groan of frustration that Hibiki lets out the moment Cantio says 'I can't do that'. Her shoulders tense and her readied fists come up a little higher when the pair officially turn to face them down, her eyes darting between the both of them. "...I can't back down either," she says after a moment. "It's fine if you want to make things better for people. But I thought we talked about it before...!"

    In contrast to the other girl's extreme focus, Hibiki sounds to be an equal mixture of confused and upset. Rack Reindeer's words don't help that, either. "Doing this isn't any kind of justice at all. Not from where I'm standing, anyway. If these directors did anything awful to anyone, I'd understand--but right now..."

    The opposing Reploid moves, and Hibiki takes that as an official start to hostilities between the pair of them. "...You'll have to go through us if you want to keep going further!"

    The Symphogear users lunges in past Rack, leaving X to handle him, while she makes a straight line dash for Cantio. With how much more prepared she is, Hibiki will have to be equally resolved if she doesn't want to slip up. She knows that. So she opts to take the first strike herself, rapidly moving in with a momentum-driven jab aimed straight for the other girl's center of mass.

    "The rest of you, hurry and get out of here! You'll only get in the way!" She shouts back at the guards who are still standing, the other reason for engaging Cantio herself being that it means no more of them will jump in only to get themselves hurt. She continues pressing on after her initial attack with a few more hooks, intent on keeping the other girl pressured.
X A foam-green colored light falls down a ways away from X And Hibiki, shaping up into the considerably larger form of a bulky reploid marked with a red cross; Lifesaver utilizes the opening given to him to begin attending to the downed guards and ensuring they don't die before they can be extracted from the area and given proper medical attention. "X! I'll leave the fighting to you!"

    "Lifesaver?! ... Right!"

Giving Cantio a hot glare, X opens his mouth to rebuke her, but finds himself cut off by Rack Reindeer, instead. The bravado and self-righteous posturing alongside the accusation dulls its sting. Xion and BB had both helped him come to terms with the things he had to do, to fight for what he believed in; that, he realizes idly, is surely why it didn't phase him as much as it should. A sore spot, perhaps, but not a crippling vulnerability in his headspace. "' Helpless'? .. no, it doesn't matter. If I had a bolt for every two-bit maverick who wanted to 'put me in my place', I'd have a mint."

Hunkering his body a split-second before Rack Reindeer charges at him, sparks fly as the arm-braces scrape by X's helmet, the blue bomber charging in to sucker punch the other reploid in his midsection to stagger him before attempting to put him off balance with a leg-sweep, so that he could grasp Rack's leg and hurl him up into the air, perfect for letting X unleash a volley of bright yellow buster pellets, safely away from Lifesaver and the downed guards he was relocating and treating.
Cantio Cantio's trying very hard not to turn her head to give Rack a bewildered look, but her eyes do give it away a little bit. She might be in over her head, but it's too late to back down now. Besides, she can't back down now!

She can't forget what she promised to do.

"The directors are my primary targets here. I gave the guards a chance to leave, but they refused. I can't blame them for staying, but they made their choices already." Steeling herself for battle once again, she dashes forward to meet Hibiki's attack head on, blade tilted in front of her to defend herself in a manner similar to how their first fight went.

Unlike last time, the girl in purple barely flinches. She grunts painfully at the strikes that do get past her defenses, but it almost looks like she's more prepared mentally this time! "I don't blame you for taking this stance, either, Hibiki. It's... It's good that there's people like you and X around for this type of thing."

She takes the last jab right in the center of her blade, then twists the whole thing around with the sharp side facing forward before kicking it forwards and upwards to try and sneak in a sudden slash upwards. "If there's no opposition, I can't show people how far I can grow!"

The guards, meanwhile, are actually quite good at following instructions and trying not to die. They leave the defense of the faciliy to X and Hibiki, a few moving to start carrying the wounded out while the rest hurry further inside, presumably to get upstairs where their bosses are waiting with bated breath for good news.
Rack Reindeer Rack gets sucker-punched in the midsection, and then gets thrown upwards into the air, helplessly. X unleashes his flurry of pellets, and several hit before the reploid swings his right arm around...

... and the wrist-bracer expands, unfolding and extending into a full-size tower shield that blocks the rest of the shots.

"I'm not like the other mavericks, X - and the Irregulars ain't just another maverick group! You'll see!"

He calls as he drops back down to the ground, keeping his shield up. While all that's been going on, the quartet of drones has spread out, taking up points through the room...

... and then mining lasers lance outwards from those points, trying to catch X in the crossfire and start wearing him down with sheer attrition of laser fire!
X X weaves with high-speed dashes, trails of bright red flaring from behind him as he does his best to juke and shoot through the sudden entrapment he's found himself in, returning fire at Rack all the while with potshots from his X-Buster. "Hngh..!"

The pressure is evident, as even he can't avoid so many attacks flying at him all at the same time, blasts and potmarks lining his legs and arms from hits he hadn't been able to avoid. "X, Layer here. That maverick's control of his remote weaponry might be shaken from a powerful electric attack that could disrupt the control unit for them ... even you can't withstand that kind of firepower for long!"

Clenching his fists, X frowns but takes the tactical analysis to heart, the jewel on his helmet shining as his body's color scheming transforms, dying his limbs, helmet, and chest armoring a dark color, while his bodysuit becomes a kind of beige, the white trimming shifting into a darker, almost slate tone.

Equipped with the Volt Needler -- a javelin visible sticking out the end of his Buster -- X takes careful aim and fires, intent on hitting Rack Reindeer dead on. If it can nail him, the 'Needler' will release an intense electric blast straight into him!

"I don't think so! Whatever 'group' you belong to won't succeed!"
I wonder ... could this guy be connected to whoever Vile was working for when he attacked the mining rig?
Hibiki Tachibana     "Ngh--is that really what you think?" Fist clashes against metal, but Hibiki can definitely tell that this is going to be much harder to handle compared to their last match. Before she can react, her fist is swung off to the side and her guard is left wide open. "Cantio, you...!"

    Her quick attempt to step back out of range doesn't entirely go through, and the blade slices up along her side and slightly into her unarmored shoulder. She clutches at it with her opposite hand as she ends up a few meters away, but pays it no immediate mind and readies herself up again with a heavy exhale. "...Alright, it looks like you really have made your choice, too."

    She doesn't have to worry about the guards now that they're leaving and Lifesaver will be attending to them, so Cantio gets her full attention - she really did think they ironed things out last time, so why are they fighting like this again now? /Did/ she do something wrong by asking X to let her off the hook...?

    Visibly shaking her head, though only to herself, Hibiki refocuses as best as she can and lunges back in again. "Just what is it you're trying to accomplish by taking these guys down!?" She shouts back the question even while throwing a second punch in towards the other girl's face. But it's a feint to get her to put her guard up. Her real intention is to use the twist of her body with the motion to throw herself to the side after and flank Cantio, where she can push herself forward into a shoulder tackle to try and send her flying.
Rack Reindeer "What the-"

The good news: the javelin doesn't hit dead on, Rack managing to sidestep out of the way at the last second. The bad news: that doesn't turn out to matter that much.

The deer's antlers serve as lightning rods, which would be a fine feature if those lightning rods weren't using the rest of the deer as 'ground'. His whole body spasms, arcs of lightning dancing around it before the charge finally disappates, Rack slumped over on one knee.

"... Hgh... you..."

He tries to get up and get back into a fighting stance, and as he does so, the drones form up in front of him, serving as interference - and also pointing a quartet of nasty looking mining drills towards X.

It's kinda like cartoonishly looking bees, with the drills as the stingers, really. Except instead of mining rocks or producing honey, they're mining X's buster and producing pain.
X Crossing his arms over his chest to protect his torso and head, X grunts as the quartet of anthromorphised drones rain down a hail of high powered lasers, quickly turning scuffmarks into actual holes, his sturdy body beginning to slowly crack under the pressure of attacks, electric sparks and small but bright explosions occuring at the point of contact. But even so, X withstands the punishment determinedly, waiting for his opportunity to strike ...

    "There..!"

And when he finds it, he seizes it instantly, his colorscheme having shifted back into its original inclinations. His X-Buster hums, particles whirling within its barrel as he releases a pinpoint blast of charged green energy, the minimally charged shot aimed to try and slide right through the formation of drones to blast into Rack Reindeer at full force.
Cantio Settling back into her prior stance, Cantio weighs her options as Hibiki demands answers from her while Rack airs his grievances with X. Would it make sense to tell the girl her plans? Would it actually change anything?

'"Live shameless, little sister."'

Maybe one, maybe not the other. That's good enough for Cantio, and she lowers her guard just enough to answer. "I've been doing a lot of research on resource-generation theories. My home only makes so much without control of the System Core, but in the Multiverse-"

The timing of her response isn't great, though, as that punch does get Cantio's attention in just the right way that Hibiki's looking for. While the sword goes up, it leaves Cantio's side exposed, and she yelps as she gets knocked aside with a painful-looking crash and flip over a stopped conveyor belt.

"Nn... In the Multiverse, there's limitless potential. Resources that might exist in ores. In people. One theory is that it might even be possible to generate it with belief and idolatry!" She continues elaborating on her plans even as she grabs onto the side of the belt, using it to fling herself upwards without her blade in hand. She dives forward in a mostly untrained kick, but that's not the true attack.

Like Hibiki's feint, Cantio's kick is just that. Her drone, partially a drone in itself, launches itself towards Hibiki's side in time with that divekick, all while Cantio doesn't stop talking. "If someone was to replace the head of a company, to give give their employees better working conditions and pay, then their belief in a better future might return!"

"And it'd translate into belief in the person that brought it to them. Or. Um. People, but..." She glances over at Rack. "I'm not sure if he can really... Use System Resources that same way? M-maybe."
Rack Reindeer There's an opening. X's shot sails cleanly through it, and Rack recoils as he's hit by the plasma burst.

"I gotta hand it to ya, X..." he says. "Every bit as tough as th' legends say..."

He brings up his shield, and starts charging, closing the gap again, trying simply to ram the tough mining shield into the other reploid!

"But ya ain't heard *my* legend yet, and ya ain't gonna either, since it starts with me puttin ya in the ground!"
X Seeing him approaching, X's eyes glint with a clever glare as he prepares himself to .. take it head on?!

    "N..nn...!"

The blow visible sends spiderweb cracks racing through his chest as his arms struggle and fail to hold the blow back, but, despite the pain registering through his system, informing him that the integrity of his chest chasis was beginning to become compromised, X's lips twinge into a small smirk as he tightens his grasp on Rack's shield, digging his feet into the ground. It's only for a brief moment, a scant couple of seconds, but the jewel embedded above his waist turns from green to a bright, vivid red as the Force Metal activates.

    W A R N I N G

Red flares as X pushes back with far greater force than before, the colors on his body changing again, but this time ...

His undersuit takes on a dark brown tone very similar to Rack Reindeer's own, with his white trimming shifting into a lighter tone of brown. The armor of his limbs, his helmet, and his chest all change into a shiny and dark yellow, identical to the pallet that the former miner could find adorning his own self.

    WEAPON GET
    H-BLASTER

The Force Metal energy dies off as it deactivates, becoming inert. "I /won't/ lose! You came here to kill people, and for what -- to get your name out there? You're not a hero, just another crook, justifying his actions. The only one going down here is you!"

Pointing his Buster out, rather than firing pellets of energy, it expands and spits out an oblong cylinder, with small microthrusters lining its frame. Several more follow, as it shoots out after the mining drones, high powered lasers flaring as they release a volley of directed energy attacks at both Rack and his own mechanical minions!
Hibiki Tachibana     "Resource generation..." Hibiki murmurs to herself, remembering all that they discussed last time about what Cantio is fighting for - her people. That's something she can never fault her for doing. She pauses to listen closely despite her somewhat flared up emotions.

    "...from belief?" With how immensely expansive the multiverse is, she can probably believe that. Even in her own world, there are probably some crazy things that could do the trick. But she's cut off from her train of thought when she's forced to straighten back up to react to the kick in the way Tachibana Hibiki does best--she braces her feet against the floor, pushing forward into a straight punch right for her kick. But her focus on Cantio herself and what she's saying has her fail to notice the sword-drone isn't in her hands anymore. It's at her side.

    She meets Cantio's foot with a rattling blow, though is unable to do much more than stop her momentum with her blade actually slashes cleanly into her also unarmored side. It unsettles her stance and stops her from following through, her body buckling somewhat and her face contorting with a wince. "That's...what you're trying to do?"

    Hibiki swings her forearm out to throw Cantio back, giving them both a chance to regard Rack Reindeer while she regains her footing. "...Would a guy like that would even be interested in it? The last person like him I met wasn't any good news," she breathes out, pursing her lips and looking back to Cantio.

    "But if you want people to believe in you...there has to be a better way than this." The moment she's recollected herself, Hibiki suddenly shifts. She's slowed down from the pretty heavy blow she just taken, but it's still with surprising speed that she rears back her hand as the piston in her gauntlet slides back. Her fist comes forward in a punch, even though she's out of range for one, but there's a golden glow building within the metal!?

    "Wait, do you even know the first thing about running a company--!?" The somewhat incredulous words come out right as the built-up energy within Gungnir is released as an eruption pure energy. The initial burst turns into beams winding around each other while they aim to smash into Cantio at several points on her front, to both singe and blast her away!
Rack Reindeer X pushes back with the power of force metal, and it briefly turns into a shoving match, a reverse tug of war, albeit one with Rack steadily losing ground as X uses the force mtetal buffs.

"What - who the heck did I kill? I blew up some electrical stuff, I ain't done nothing else here!"

The reindeer reploid's eyes narrow as he watches X change colors. He's heard about this. "Unlike you - who's apparently not only a murderer, but a *thief*!"

The drones start dogfighting, maneuvering and shooting back with their own set of lasers, but down on the ground Rack has a more direct approach in mind. Across the multiverse, a legacy of weapon copying victims guide his hands, and the path is clear to the appropriate response.

He winds up with his right arm, drawing it back.

He pulls the shield down with his left arm, making an opening.

And then he goes to just simply sucker punch X right in the face.
Cantio Cantio stumbles a bit as she lands following her maneuver, bracing herself with her sword as it returns to her side and embeds itself into the ground. Glancing over at Rack, he furrows her brow for a moment before shrugging. "Possi... bly. Um. I want to believe that he's doingt his for his people and not... Um..."

It's easy enough to hear and see the awkwardness in Cantio's tone, and it's all but confirmed as she just gestures vaguely at him and X. "They have some history, so... You know." She stage-whispers, even offering Hibiki an apologetic smile briefly. "But he is still here supporting me, so... The least I can do is support his dream, too."

As Hibiki rears her fist back once more, Cantio takes up a defensive stance with her sword once more. "There's limits to what a Candidate-er... Vice president, heir apparent, et cetera can do within her own nation. The other nations have their own concerns, and we're all part of the same world. But in the Multiverse..." She pauses briefly to peer past her sword, noticing the building power within that fist.

Best not to take any risks. Snapping her blade upwards, the wider parts on each side burst off as they hover in front of Cantio and burst forth with their own array of lasers! Said lasers don't really go anywhere, there, instead forming a bright shield of light, contending with Hibiki's blast head on. Several of them get blasted away, though, and Cantio staggers back with a painful yelp as the beams knock her back into that same freaking conveyore belt from before.

"In the Multiverse, I don't have to worry about borders like that. Besides, running just one company is nothing compared to a country, especially with what I've learned and gained!" She actually sounds a little boastful about that, although there's hint of bitterness in there for some reason. Alas, she doesn't elaborate on that further as she focuses on the offense once again.

Like Hibiki, she's staying at range as she aims her weapon like a assault rifle rather than a sword. As she swings the front of the weapon around, multiple points of light appear, hovering for a moment before bursting outwards at Hibiki in a delayed barrage of beams!
X "Are you seriously telling me you came here without knowing /why/ she's attacking this place?!"

X is incredulous and dubious at the same time, until Rack Reindeer winds up his fist and delivers a powerful punch straight to X's jawline. "Guh!"

The blow rattles X's head and jaw, scuffing his face up in a manner similar to how a human would bruise; but unlike a lesser robot who would go flying at such a rebuke, X stands his grand and delivers a five-knuckled retort of his own, decking Rack Raindeer in the snout with a studded fist.

While the drones fight around them, dancing in a cacaphony of laserfire, X's body quickly shifts back into his original coloring as he dashes forward, his X-Buster humming as it gathers energy. Leaping into a flying knee, X attempts to slam it into Rack's snout -- the second blow aimed there -- and grasp onto one of his ornamental antlers to push himself up into a jet flip behind the reploid so that he could deliver an unbalance kick into his back to send him tumbling down.

And with a well-honed instinct from many battles over his long life, the moment the X-Buster reaches its full capacity, X whirls it around and unleashes a fully powered charged shot into Rack's hind, a bright blue ball pluming much larger than any of his previous attacks had that explodes into a brilliant flash. "Take that!"
Rack Reindeer Rack's not *entirely* sure why he's here, to be fair. Just that there's a member of the Concord here, and they're doing something... with the infrastructure...?

He gets punched in the face, and stumbles back. "You think- you think you're so tough-"

He shakes his head to clear it, and looks around. Where did X go?

The knee into his face answers that, and then the full-power blast directly into his back answers it more.

There's a flash of light as it hits. Rack goes down, sprawling onto the ground, dropping his shield. It clatters on the ground. He doesn't look too good. he looks kinda bad, really.

"... Ugh..."

"... Y'know... when I saw ya... my first thought?"

"I thought, X is here, we're all gonna die. Heh."

"... But..."

He rolls away, as best he can, putting in a bit of distance between himself and the maverick hunter and ending in a crouching position, facing him. "... Took a swing at ya anyway. Can't let somethin' little like fear of dyin' get in the way. And now, facin' the end, I'm realizin'..."

He looks X dead in the eyes.

"... That I can't let *dyin* get in the way, either!"

His antlers glow - and the lights in the facility all pulse brightly, overloading, Rack having managed to get into the power circuit remotely!

And as the lights overhead flare to unbearable levels of brightness, the drones all turn as one, abandoning their dogfighting, and drain their batteries dry with an array of full-power laser attacks!
Hibiki Tachibana     Hibiki does indeed understand the history between X and many Reploids, after some prior experiences. "Mm. I get it." There is sort of an equally awkward look on her face and a nod to match Cantio's in the moment before she launched her attack, understanding that leaving them to settle things between the two of them is probably for the best. For now, at least.

    She'll have bigger problems after Cantio recovers over the cursed conveyor belt, and readies an attack she should've expected--a ranged one. "Getting around the rules like that...doesn't actually sound like a bad idea!" The storm of beams comes in, and Hibiki holds her ground. They smash into the gauntlets she raises to defend herself, scattering their energy around her, but there's too many of them to deflect. Several more go on to hit different parts of her body, eventually blowing her back off her feet and chain-comboing her back into a series of racks that thankfully are not hanging with meat right now - there's only a bunch of loud clanging and crashing as Hibiki is sent back-first into one.

    She lands down on a knee, letting out a pained huff as she stands back up with several black marks across her body to join the cuts. "Looks like you really did plan this out, Cantio. It might actually work. I wouldn't know. Even so--coming in here, trying to force your way into control...I just won't let that happen."

    Hibiki narrows her eyes, suddenly starting forward. Running into potentially more fire is apparently no concern for her at all. "Just like before...! Even if it'll be better for more people in the long run, I won't stand around if you're going to hurt people and mess up /anyone's/ lives!" For her, it's as simple as that, whether it's right or wrong. Her speed picks up further and further while she charges, eventually twisting into rapid zig-zags from point to point to throw off any fire. All the way until she reaches Cantio--and tries to grapple her by the sword arm, to throw herself and the other girl into a high-speed spin before chucking her further down the line!
X     "What are you even fighting for?!"

The idea of doing all of this 'just because' was insane, to X. Of course it was far from the first time he'd encountered someone with that kind of mindset, but even they were usually somewhat self-aware. Vile revelled in his violence, after all. But this guy, seemed to genuinely think he was doing the right thing, from someone's point of view anyway.

X didn't have the luxury of voicing further frustration, that there's no point in dying to pick a fight that he had no belief in, before the maverick miner taps into the factory's power grid. "X, get ouf of there! He's redirected that building's power supply directly to his weapon systems!"

The lights shine so brightly that it takes X's eyes a small second to adjust, countless times faster than a human's could have. But that was all it took for the Mining Drones to disengage and fire at him full force. X crosses his arms, crying out as the attacks blast into his body from every direction, smelting down his armor.

    "Gh...X...!"

The massive medic, Lifesaver, hunkers over the security guards under his care to protect them from the heat.

By the time it's over, X lowers his weapon, steam pouring off of his armor now riddled with holes and burn marks. His helmetis practically falling off his head, singed hair exposed. He still looks ready and raring to fight, somehow -- as if some sudden surge of energy had given him the strength to weather the attack -- but ...

One look at his Buster told the tale. It was damaged so badly that it could no longer fire, and if he tried, there was a good chance it would blow up on X's arm. "Gh..."

The maverick hunter staggers, clutching at the injury.

    BACK AT HUNTER HQ:

" ... the chances of them successfully repelling the attack are now ... " Alia trails off, with a frown. Layer looks to the side, uncomfortably, as Signas leans forward from his seat. " ... we've ascertained that the enemy's goal is to assassinate the directors still present within the building. Hibiki Tachibana is still standing, and as long as she's fighting, we have time to try and extract their targets. Alia."

"Our scans of the complex have left us with the impression that the directors are most likely on the topmost floor, which seems to be an office sector."

"Deploy a squad from X's unit there. They won't be able to teleport back out with them, but they should be able to take one of the fire escapes and get them out of the building that way."
        "Understood!"

        WITH X:

Unable to continue fighting meaningfully, X's saving grace was that the power grid seemed to have failed after the attack, cloaking the entire factory in darkness. He had no doubt that Rack Reindeer had pushed himself to his limit just now ... which meant an immediate retaliation was unlikely, but possible. He had to stay on his toes. "Mn..."
Cantio Cantio looks slightly relieved when Hibiki shows an understanding of both her reasons for working with Rack as well as the idea to do things outside of her own world. It's only slightly, though, as Hibiki continues to stand in opposition to her goal in messing with the processing plant.

"No, that's... That's understandable, too. You have a different job from me, so I can't hold any of that against you." She smiles briefly, then adjusts her grip on her weapon once again as Hibiki charges forwards. "But just as you can't let just do what I want easily, I can't let you stop me!"

Indeed, Cantio can't fall back now. She still has that damn convveyor belt behind her, after all! Instead, she rushes forwards into Hibiki's attack, moving right into that grappling maneuver with her sword burning with light once again. Instead of trying to pull herself away as the martial artist grabs her by the arm, however, she braces within the maneuever, wincing as she's rammed through machinery (and that goddamn belt)!

Cantio didn't just let herself get hurled through machinery for the hell of it, though, even as she's twisting and jerking from side to side to minimize the head injuries from getting hurled through so much stuff. As she's getting grappled, bits of her weapon scatter off of it like so many bits of plasticy-looking metal, swarming around Hibiki to start launching themselves into her. It's something like that weird sound-based thing that the fist-fighter had seen once before, but instead of reverberating through the walls and ceilings at her, they're being uesd more directly to shake her to her very core instead.
Rack Reindeer The lights flare to maximum brightness - and then burn out, break, or the circuitry powering them just gets too overloaded.

Darkness.

"Hah... did... did that..." Rack gets up to his feet. "Hey, X, shout out if yer still alive!"

"No? Or maybe he teleported away. Ah well."

Fortunately, though, Rack goes off to resume tearing up the power supplies instead of going hunting for the directors or looking for X in the dark.
Cantio STAGE: The lights die out in the factory, leaving the main source of light being those coming from those still fighting inside and the windows as the sun comes in through all three of them in the processing plant. It's already starting to smell kind of bad without the meat getting slid into those styrofoam and plastic wrappings that would normally be working with the lights on.

Unfortunately for the board at the upper levels, that also means the elevators aren't working. Actually reaching those upper floors is going to be tricky between Rack making even more of a mess of the place and the remaining guards in their suite being a fair bit trigger happy until things get back to normal or they're finally given the go ahead from their bosses to leave. The workers and guards on the outside, however, are doing safe and sound thanks to efforts to prevent them from not being alive anymore!
Hibiki Tachibana     "Then we'll just have to see which one of us comes out on top--!"

    She manages to get in and wreslte with Cantio, but in all of the commotion, she doesn't take notice of what's actually happening until she's already being braced up against and committed to the maneuver. "Ngh--!?" Those same bits as before! There's not really much chance to do anything about them in her current position, with almost all of them managing to strike home and embed themselves.

    The static-like buzz and sonic effects of the bits almost immediately cause her to let out a gasp of surprised shock and extreme discomfort, also serving to loosen her grip on Cantio as they move. As a result, she ends up letting her go and sending her further down the line with much less force and many less head-bumps than there otherwise would be before she stumbles down onto her hands and knees amidst the machinery. "I...forgot about these...!" They make it hard to focus, and hard to put the strength in herself to move. It's a lot more disabling than actually painful, but that's still pretty rough.

    But letting that stop her would mean letting Cantio and Rack get away with this, and she already said she can't let that happen. With the power going out and X being forced to seemingly fall back, she has to hang on more than ever. So Hibiki grits her teeth and pushes herself up some. "...I don't hold any of this against you either, Cantio. And as long as you keep trying to do things this way...!" She pulls back an arm, as she's done many times before and will continue to do well into the future.

    "I'll have to keep standing in your way!" With a shout, the girl forces herself to wind up just a little bit more before the piston slides back once more, with another golden shine of building energy, and she punches down into the belt below her hard enough to dent it inwards.

    Then it punches in, with another explosive burst accompanying it; the difference is that this time, it's focused inward rather than launched straight at Cantio. It blows up what's beneath her right before it travels down the length of the now-even more conveyor belt, causing it to explode and erupt down the entire line all the way until it reaches where Cantio ended up - to explode up from beneath her in a shower of light and metal! That's a lot of property damage. But taking out something to smack Cantio into will be worth potentially also ending this bout.
Rack Reindeer After some more mostly aimless cutting of power and circuitry, Rack gets reminded of the objective.

"Oh, right, the board."

The damage he's already done will probably end up turning the meat processing warehouse into a superfund site, but Cantio wants to control the plant, so control of the plant she'll get.

... Except with the elevators already cut, Rack's going to have to start action-platform-hero climbing up the outside of the building to get into the upper floors.

(And using the mining drones to carve handholds when needed, or use the 'air anchor' on his shields to get an extra platform, because why not cheat at the action platforming sections if you can?)

If he can, he'll just simply march right on up to the directors and start corraling and pushing them into a closet somewhere. He's kinda rude about it.
Cantio Cantio's seen this buildup of energy before. It's not coming at her in the same way she's seen from Hibiki in their last fight, but she's already preparing her defenses as the fist-fighter draws her arm and the piston back. Twisting her sword around as she holds it in front of herself, a bright light surrounds Cantio as her clothes are replaced with a plasticy leotard thing, her hair turns cloyingly pinker, and weird little bits float around her at her shoulders.

Apparently, this her powered up form. "Give me everything you've got, Hibiki! I wouldn't have it any other way!" The bits swirl around her as they slam into the strangely-dressed second-in-command's shoulders, a somewhat translucent light appearing around her as she pours all her energy into shoring up her endurance in anticipation, protecting herself and the immediate area around Cantio as best she can. It's excessive, but in the case of the explosion coming up from beneath her...

It's necessary. She only manages to fly up a few inches before the ground beneath her explodes, and the meaty conveyor belt finally meets its maker as bits of machinery pelt Cantio and what little is left of her barrier from all angles. She nearly gets blasted into the ceiling in the process, only just catching herself in time to drift downwards instead as several of those bits just crack right off.

"That's... That's an improvement from last time, right?" She manages to crack a slight smile at that, coughing once and clutching her side as the discolored and pixelated bruises continue to mount all over her body. Tossing her blade towards Hibiki loosely, she brings her hands together in front of her while taking a deep breath.

"But... I won't go down that easily!" Closing her eyes, the sword bursts apart again, and Cantio dives forward. Grabbing the handle, she whirls around as each piece bursts into another ray of light, burning holes into whatever they bounce off of before uniting within that central bladed mass. By the time she stops spinning, the light blade is nearly twice as long as Cantio is tall, and she swings the whole thing at Hibiki with all her might and almost no finesse whatsoever!
X With his injuries being what they were, if he got caught by Rack Reindeer now, he'd most likely end up as scrap in the heap. His open mouth closes as he considers this -- he still wanted to do /something/ to try and stall for more time, but ...

There wasn't anything he could do but shift around quietly, retreating from the pocked, marked, and smelted battlezone of the factory floor.

He'd just have to trust in Hibiki to be able to pull through, and turn things around, or that the invaders would decide to show mercy on the humans still remaining in the building.

Glancing down in the darkness, eyes adjusting to it, X could see the massive hole that had been punched through his X-Buster. Most of the excessive damage had been to the barrel, smelting the armored cylinder around it and leaving the insides exposed. It wasn't totally unrecoverable, but there was no way it was going to be in working order any time soon.

His dash system was down, and the integrity of his body was low enough that even trying to use the Force Metal would just put him down for the count.
Hibiki Tachibana     There's a moment where, even though Cantio has engaged the same transformation that she saw last time they fought, Hibiki thinks she might have her. She really does give it everything she's got and more, and when the smoke clears, it takes a moment for her to realize.

    Cantio, and the shining light of her barrier are still there, just higher up than where she was looking. Hibiki is openly shocked into silence until that quip, at which point she slowly stumbles back to her feet on top of her own scrapped machinery. "...Hah. When you're dedicated to something, you really don't go down easy...!" There's a begrudging smile underneath her scarf, but it comes across easily enough in her voice.

    But she's forced back into full seriousness almost right away, now that she's coming back at her full force. Hibiki put a lot of energy behind that last maneuver, but even so, she holds her ground as the sword bursts and light fills the powerless factory. She raises her arms to brace herself against the rain of beams that would hit her, gritting her teeth through it until Cantio herself comes down, bearing her extremely big blade.

    And she tries to block it. Her armored forearms clash against it and push back as hard as her strength will allow. But before long, her defenses begin to falter, enough that it starts burning at her body and deeply into her gauntlet plating to the point of melting it.

    The only thing she has going for her is that she's durable enough to not be burnt through like a lot of other things in her surroundings, and before long, it'll probably push through to send her flying. Even so. "But I won't...either!" Without any more fancy tricks of her own, Hibiki tenses up her shoulders and pulls one arm away from her block.

    It results in the attack pushing through, but at that same moment, Hibiki actually moves /into it/, clenching her freed up hand into a tight fist and throws it forward. Past the blade of light and towards its wielder, to do nothing more but slug her in the face as hard as she can!
Cantio Upon reaching the upper floors, the Rack can see the directors and the guards watching the giant set of double doors to their lavishly furnished boardroom. THere's about a half dozen of the guards in there, and they clash quite hard with the softer decor inside: Fancy couches, big screen TVs, and even the really nice carpeting that you could sink your feet into and lose chips in for several weeks without noticing.

Once he makes his appearance known, the guards will start shooting of course, but they're ultimately still faceless goons with helmets on. The directors, meanwhile, are the stereotypical fat cat type on steroids: The youngest is probably seventy-something, their clothes are all made of the finest silks and linens, and they're not even remotely a threat physically when it comes to actualy getting shoved into closets.

Now all that's left is to find out whether Cantio's going to be coming up after him.
Cantio At that range, Cantio's best hope is to shore up her defenses once more and try to avoid whatever Hibiki can throw at her. She's not in a great position to try and pull that off, but it's the best she can hope for considering the circumstances. More pixelated portals appear around Cantio as she draws out more chunks of unrefined plastic and metal around her, forming them together hastily into a shield to try and intercept Hibiki's final punch right to her face.

The improvised shield breaks apart on impact, and Cantio gets decked right int hte face. The strike sends her spiraling through the air several times as she bounces off a machine, getting stuck against the thing from the impact of back on steel. She rests there in a daze for several moments as the laser sword fizzles out, returning to its more 'normal' plastic purple state.

"That was... A... Personal best!" Cantio announces with an uncharacteristically chipper chuckle while wiping some grime and blood off her face. It's clear she's forcing herself to laugh and to keep smiling even though peeling herself off that machine is mildly excruciating.

'"Live shameless, little sister."'

She just needs to remember that. "You're still as tough as ever, Hibiki... But next time! Next time, I'll... I'll get a win against you next time!" Once she's off the machine, Cantio starts drifting backwards in midair at a lazy pace, clearly having issues just trying not to strain herself as she heads towards a window.

She'll need a moment to actually open that thing, too. Whoever designed the windows here clearly didn't account for humans being able to actually reach these things and open them on a regular basis.

<<"Mister Rack... We should go. I think we've sent enough of a message to everyone here.">>
Rack Reindeer <<"Hmm? Ah well. We'll get it next time,">> signals Rack cheerfully.

He *does* take the time to move the couch in front of the closet containing the directors, steal the big screen TV (his drones carry it off), and then lock every door he can on the way out and drop the keys into the increasingly-rancid meat warehouse.
Hibiki Tachibana     By the time Cantio is recovering from being sent flying, Hibiki is back on her knees. The damage from doing something as stupidly reckless as that is apparent as some pretty numerous burns and a lot of ruined armor (which thankfully resets with every Magcial Girl Transformation), but she's at least still metaphorically standing, if extremely tired.

    There's a long moment where she regards the other girl with a somewhat mixed expression, her head tilting down at the forced laugh and smile. "Cantio..."

    She uses some nearby debris from the battle as support to get back up to her feet, watching Cantio up until the point she starts struggling with the window. After a moment of confliction, she speaks up before her towards she actually leaves.

    "...I'm not going to tell you not to push yourself, when you're fighting for something you believe in. But I want to help you find a way to do it...that we can both agree with." Holding onto her injured side and breathing in a bit stiffly, she adds on, "...But I won't lose next time, either."
Cantio STAGE RESULTS
Fatalities: 0
TVs Stolen: 1
Directors Bullied: 12
Meat Ruined: Yes
Shamelessness: B