Scene #7656: Crude Behavior

Owner	Pose
Rita Ma	It is almost positively not a coincidence that the Suez Jewel, currently becalmed, is parked right next to a warpgate. That very fact hints that the piracy going on here is of a Multiversal nature. But you could probably also tell that from the giant, vivid-red worms wrapped around the tanker's hull. Those arriving via warpgate land on a smaller ship alongside the Suez Jewel- one seething with those same twenty-foot-long worms, a rusted fifty-foot-long derelict boat that's been only haphazardly maintained with postapocalyptic ingenuity. It's connected by heavy tubing to a port on the Suez Jewel's deck, allowing the acrobatically-inclined to scamper up the lines. Clearly, the tubes are being used to siphon off the tanker's liquid cargo. The worms seem strangely passive and enthralled; they don't attack the gathered Elites, even though they have sharp 'beaks' that could be used for gnashing. Blood in the water and chunks of vivid red wormflesh at the Suez Jewel's stern hint that they clogged the propellers with their bodies. For a moment it almost seems like, absurdly, the worms could be doing this heist by themselves. But of course that isn't the case. A perfectly ordinary blonde girl stands, impatiently, on the deck of the Suez Jewel where the thieving tubing's connected. She's dressed casually, not armored or armed, but a handful of the crew stand at a very respectable distance away from her and stare her down silently, as if she might give them the opportunity to rush in and disconnect it while her back is turned. A couple of the crew have rifles, but they don't bother to shoot her- one might gather that's already been tried. When the gathered Elites arrive on the deck of the derelict vessel via warpgate, she turns to look at them instead, wordlessly braced for hostility. One of the crewmen takes that as his chance to fire on her. Right after the first shot, his rifle's dismissively sliced in half by an invisible force, leaving him helpless but unharmed.
Kukuru	After those calls for help go out, it takes a while for Kukuru to get onto the tanker. She comes through the warpgate easily enough, but she pauses to just stare at the whole thing and the worms holding it down. She can see just fine from that distance, anyway, and she takes note of the chunks flesh by the propellers. She reaches into her pockets, withdraws a pair of claws that are clearly way too big to have even fit in there, and slips them on before disappearing in a burst of dark purple energy. Moments later, she reappears on the hull with a heavy thumping noise from landing, only then noticing the very ordinary girl over at the other side of the deck. "Ah... He-llo there. It's not sa-" She hears the gunshot, and her attention shifts to the crewman. There's another burst of generic dark energy as Kukuru disappears, then reappears beside the crewman with her claws held around him and looking very close to just closing in around his torso like an oversized vice. "Why did you do that?" She sounds displeased. "Are you with the Concord, sir? Miss, are you okay over there?"
Kale Hearthward	Obviously out-of-place source of all of the troubles disguised as a normal looking girl: exists Kale: "Oh that must be an innocent bystander - hold on! Help's on the way!" That is just how he is. It is the fate of Kale Hearthward to take every obvious trap and terrible disguise at face value - the more obvious, the more oblivious. When one of the crew opens fire on the girl, that just gets him to start moving faster. "Oh no, she almost got hit by friendly crossfire there! We need to get her out right away before someone else accidentally hurts her!" The jet-booting bird swoops in, maneuvering around whatever other obstacle is in his way, going directly for her - trying to swoop her up in his arms and carry her off towards the warpgate!
Ishirou	I4 falls out of the warp gate, grabbing onto the Box with arms that float beside him normally. This allows him to get a bit of air time before landing on the ruined ship. The tentacle things wrapping around everything were a bit disturbing, but he had encountered...weird sea monsters once or twice so it wasn't the WORST THING. The POD beeps, causing his eyes to look over towards the strange blonde girl. Why did that guy shoot at her...? Why are the men keeping their distance? How did the gun just split in half? No something is wrong, but before he can do anything, THERE GOES KALE. He curses to himself...if people would just LISTEN to him more...god, what a pain. He leaps onto some of the red tentacles to run up them, before jumping off and grabbing onto the pod to make the jump to the deck. Once he lands, he starts scanning...first the tentacles, then turning the rest of them on the girl. "H-hey Kale, give me a second ok?" he asks, in vain, but still worth it. "What is your name...?" he asks Rita, even as the scans continue. Something isn't right here...but is it the guys on the ship or the girl?
Rita Ma	The crewman Kukuru's seized looks terrified out of his mind- half by her, and half by the blonde girl. He stammers, trying to point over her shoulder without risking grazing himself on those claws. "She's- she's a..." Someone who's probably the captain interjects, placing a hand on the terrified man's shoulder. "We're not with the Concord, but we could be, if you get us out of this. And don't turn your back on her!" His eyes stay locked on the blonde girl, stern and wary. "My name's Rita," the girl says hesitantly to I4, obviously wrongfooted by his and Kukuru's lack of anticipated aggression. "What's yours? -No, what am I saying, you shouldn't be here! I'm committing piracy, you know! You really ought to leave...!" His scans discern that her vital signs are, to use the professional term, "completely fucked"- organs are unrecognizable or not where they should be, she's shot through with transgenic flesh that lights up like a Christmas tree on bio-scans, and even her skeleton is barely recognizable as human. It's a miracle she looks normal on the outside. Her reaction when Kale swoops towards her, though, is human enough: her eyes go as wide as dinnerplates in shock, failing to recognize that he means to rescue her. She ducks low to dive under his falcon-like swoop, showing superhuman (or very lucky) reflexes as she rolls across the deck and kips back up. And an invisible slash strikes his body right on the shoulder as he passes her, with no visible effort from the girl. Like a steel ribbon striking him edge-first, it tries to bite into flesh as it drags across him! A split second later, a mysterious blunt force strikes I4 in the chest, and something unseen grabs Kukuru's ankle and swings her into the air in an arc before slamming her back down on the deck. Telekinesis? Maybe, but it didn't feel like that... "You all need to leave," she says, her voice a little trembly but nonetheless firm. "I'm robbing this ship, so if you have a problem with that, I guess you'll have to fight me about it!" She takes a few steps back to keep eyes on all three of the Elites at once; her arms flinch back towards her chest defensively. An unpracticed and uncertain combatant, maybe, but determined to be a combatant nonetheless.
Ishirou	I4 tries the process the information as fast as he can, the sea life was natural, just not from this location. The 'little girl' however was a monster through and through. He's about to call it out to Kale but then he gets hit RIGHT in the chest unexpectantly and falls over to his knees. Holding his chest and groaning as he staggers back up. "Guys be careful, she's not normal...her structure is all wrong...monstrous!" he calls out, even as he tries to counteract the damage. Ok I4, he thinks to himself...how to fix this situation. Despite being a monster, she has a strangely human disposition...but she might be just faking it? No, she's not, otherwise, she would have just killed and eaten the crew, and not told them to go away. "Why are you doing this?" He asks, before firing a blast of energy towards Rita, trying to get his claws into her. Trying to biohack things, and try and reveal those invisible attacks to them! Or at least slow them down if possible.
Kukuru	"She's... What?" Despite Kukuru smiling, there's a rather strong murderous tone in her voice from those two words alone. Luckily for the crewman, the captain speaks up in his sort-of defense, although there's still some confusion evident on her face as he, too, speaks of some kind of danger from the girl introducing herself as Rita. "Rita? Oh, that's a lovely name. I'm Kukuru. Ku-ku-ru. And if you're doing pirate things, then..." Lowering her claws finally, she brings one back up almost immediately to scratch her cheek lightly. "I mean, this isn't in Concord territory, and they're not part of the Concord yet, so... I guess you shouldn't be doing that. It's dangerous, you know?" She actually sounds somewhat worried with that last bit, too, especially when she sees Kale swooping over her and frowning in disapproval at that. "There's bad people around. And not just monsters like us." She shoots I4 a dirty look at that, then turns right back to Rita. "You should really be more caref-ul!" Caught off guard by the invisible force grabbing her ankle, Kukuru goes right up and comes right back down with a bone-crunching slam when she impacts into the surface of the deck. It looks like something (or several somethings) might be broken when the dust clears. Despite that, however, Kukuru gets right back up by pushing herself into a standing position with her claws, wincing slightly as those broken-looking limbs shift and adjust until they're back where they should be. "So that's your power, huh...? Oh, that's really neat. I'm not your enemy, but..." Still smiling sweetly, Kukuru offers Rita a light curtsey. "If I have to fight you to bring you and all these people back home with me, then let's workout for a while." She plants the tips of one claw into the deck, then flings herself forward for the most basic of combat-initiating techniques: The full body tackle!
Kale Hearthward	Kale squaks as the invisible slash hit him. He wasn't expecting that! (See previous: Kale doesn't expect a lot of things. The silver lining is that it is very easy to plan a surprise party for him.) (It's not much of a silver lining.) He lands back on the deck, holding a hand to the wound that opened up, glaring. "Wait... you're not a harmless little bystander at all! You're robbing this ship!" Yes, she just said that. "And - clearly you can't be allowed to finish, or to leave!" He draws a sword, holding the hilt up to his beak and blowing into it - much like one would a musical instrument. Instantly the sword unfolds - the blade seperating and twisting open, forming a sharp spiral shape. "Taste the steel of the East Wind - Breath Weapon Periactus!" he calls, kicking off his jet boots and charging at her, swingin his spinning drill sword widely as he does so!
Rita Ma	I4's attack reveals the nature of Rita's invisible tentacles, even if not in the way he intended: she wraps them back around herself, completely vanishing from view to weave around his projectile. They're not a telekinetic force- they're actual solid ribbons, perfectly camouflaged against whatever's behind them! "Fuel is precious," she answers, reflexively explaining herself to I4. "I know people who need it more than these businesses do! It isn't-" Her voice gives Kukuru the opening she needs, briefly giving away her location. When the wrecking ball of a girl slams into her, Rita meets the charge head-on, locking hands (and tentacles) with Kukuru as she skids backwards across the deck. "You seem really nice," she says through gritted teeth. "But if you're stopping me from helping people, then you're my enemy even so...!" As she's locked in struggle with Kukuru, she flickers back into visibility- no point in hiding herself when she's caught in a hand-to-hand struggle. But this time, her body unweaves itself, revealing a further layer of tentacles- she'd wrapped them around herself and camouflaged them as human skin and clothes to hide her true body! It's clear from her true form that Rita used to be the girl she still presents herself as. One of her eyes is still human, brown; the other is surrounded by ominous veins, with a cross-shaped pupil set in merciless blue. Her skin is mostly human, but shot through with cracks of that same blue as if it were ready to flake off in pieces; her torso is fully corrupted into a dress-like arrangement of trailing fins, cyan lappets, and azure flesh. And an arrangement of over a dozen tentacles, ranging from forearm-sized to thicker than her leg, arch and angle from where they sprout on her upper back, rearing back against Kukuru like serpents ready to strike. Then Kale hits her in the side with his drill, unceremoniously interrupting the engagement. She sprawls out on the deck; her blood is a deep red, subtly 'off' in color. But the cut is shallow, blunted by those monstrous scales, and she rolls back up onto her feet in a feral low stance. "You're a real hero, aren't you, mister," she says with a rueful, grimacing smile. "Cool weapons, named techniques. But I'm not... the kind of monster heroes get to kill." Rita raises her hand and fires a pulse of white light that engulfs the party. In its wake, time is slowed for those it hits, making the world seem as if it's running at double speed. It's so much harder to keep track of anything- which is terrible news for anyone who's trying to hit her. Even worse when she splits into three identical copies on the spot, each one patiently circling the party to watch their reactions. It's a predatory prowling, just looking for an opening to go for the jugular bite.
Kale Hearthward	"You're stealing - fuel? You attacked this ship and threatened the crew because you wanted to steal fuel?" Kale's blinded by the light. He holds the drill sword up defensively, not sure which angle the attacks are going to come from... "..." And Kale's reaction to the split into three is to grin? "You've made two mistakes," he says, kicking off his jet boots again to start hovering. "One is that I've gotten training in against this exact technique - someone who can split into three copies..." He takes off - flying in a curved pattern intended to hit not just one but all three copies, one after the other after the other! "... and your other mistake, assuming I'm a hero that kills monsters... I'm not a hero..." He zeroes in on the third copy, and aims the drill straight at her heart, with intent. "... and I kill people."
Ishirou	The flash of light makes the world around them speed up. I4 looks around before trying to make sense of the situation. He's gotta think calmly about this...she's fast, but what's more, there is that other thing she has. The monstrous transformation wasn't lost on him either. He focuses on not dying first. Lilian has drilled it into his head, worry about defense first, then focus on anything else. Lessons not forgotten, thankfully, but right now he can't rely on anyone else to protect him. Swallowing, he looks to his POD, seeing the predator out there. "POD...process as best as you can, and give me the moment she moves at us." The moment comes... -Dodge- I4 manages to barely get out of the bite, the monstrous form scrapes against his body, digging into him. She can taste the metal if she had bitten, but it's obvious he is not human, or rather, not flesh and blood. He hits the ground hard and rolls, hurt but not nearly as bad as it could have been. "POD, COUNTER MAGIC MODE!" there is another beep as the POD releases a field to drag him out of the slow time field. This time he fires a beam at the tentacles, the one she brought. Perhaps they'd be easier to hack, but instead, he attempts to cause a signal to go through whatever connection she might have with them...trying to mentally overload her thought processes and disrupt her hold on them. He speaks again, "That oil belongs to the people who got it out of the ground. I can understand wanting to help people, but you do that the proper way. You can't just steal from others...because that hurts other people who rely on this oil. The workers who are feeding their families, people who rely on it to travel to their jobs...or heat their homes." "Nothing is black and white. Look, I don't know what happened to you, but...this way isn't going to work!"
Kukuru	"So that's what you're here for..." Kukuru murmurs in the middle of her life and death(?) struggle with Rita, furrowing her brow slightly as Rita continues speaking. When Rita calls her nice, though, Kukuru practically beams with delight. "Ah, so you understand! Oh, that's great. I was hoping you'd understand~" She sounds way too pleased about that, although she does look caught off guard against when Rita starts transforming in front of her. She doesn't even try to get away from Rita at the sight of all that, either, instead just mouthing something silently to herself while looking from tentacle to tentacle. She's counting them. "Wow.... They're beautiful. You could get loads of housework done in no time flat with that many. Ah... Wish I could do that." Despite the fact that they're locked in this battle, Kukuru still can't help but be awestruck by everything she's seeing all. Kale coming in to slam into Rita and drawing blood, then, catches Kukuru by surprise as she steps back to see just what kind of damage she's looking at. "I don't like this, either. Nn... I mean, they're willing to join the Concord, but..." Kukuru glances towards the crewmen, then back at Rita as the hand goes up. The claw-wielder raises one to defend herself from whatever's coming, not realizing that the pulse is intended to slow her down even more than she already is. She takes that blast head on and staggers back, her front-facing claw snapping back while she switches to the other one to maintain her defensive stance. From the way that first arm is hanging low, it looks like something might have been dislocated or broken. Again. At least she'll get over it later. She just needs time to let the nanites do their thing inside her shoulder. "You could join the Concord, too. We can fix things in this world together." She offers to Rita, speaking even more slowly than she usually does thanks to not realizing that time has slowed down for herself. All she sees is that the Ritas have split up, and then Kukuru just disappears in a slow forming cloud of darkness. Eventually, she reappears behind one of the Rita duplicates in another one of those loud darkness cloud, bringing her arms together to try and catch the Rita. She doesn't seem to be trying to hurt her as much as she was earlier, but she's definitely applying strong physical force to try and hold her in place. "How's that sound? We could do a lot more working together on this kind of stuff. And you'd have plenty of friends and a new family to help you."
Rita Ma	Kale draws blood on each and every one of Rita's surplus bodies. The first disintegrates into writhing tentacles that disappear back into invisibility. The second does too. The third... Looks at him in disbelief as it's stabbled through the chest. Then bubbles, from within, with a luminous blue light. That's all the warning Kale gets before it explodes messily, showering him and his entire vicinity in glowing cyan acid that sizzles against the tanker's metal deck. Is Rita dead? No, of course not- she rematerializes a moment later, shimmering out of invisibility and ready to pounce. Carnies cheat at shell games by making sure the ball isn't in any of the cups. That seems to be the school she studied under. Kukuru materializes behind her with that bear-hug before she can counterattack Kale, and Rita ducks under Kukuru's arms, thanks to the lingering temporal distortion slowing her down. "Are you trying to hug me?? That's..." She tries to sweep Kukuru's legs out from under her, then pounce on top of the clawed girl, straddling her chest. She looks like she's about to use her own subtly claw-like hands to savage Kukuru... but hesitates, holding eye contact for just a moment. "... Why are you being so nice to me? I'd love to, but I can't. I've already got amazing friends in the Watch, I... I couldn't let them down like that. I'm sorry." In the background, one of the worm-monsters lets out an agonized "KREEEE!" as I4 blasts it with that bio-signal. Rita momentarily grimaces, staggering back off of Kukuru to hold her head- and then she releases the worm from her control, severing her connection and allowing it to do its own thing. "Its own thing" is, unfortunately, trying to seize I4 in its chitinous beak and shake him back and forth like a ragdoll. It seems like Rita was the only thing holding them in check- without her influence, they become feral and aggressive!
Kale Hearthward	Kale grins triumphantly at the decoy that he's just stabbed through the heart. He's not grinning a few seconds later when the decoy explodes, covering him in acid. "AWK- what the hell?" A wind quickly picks up, carrying a spray of water in an attempt to wash most of it off of Kale, and only somewhat succeeding. "I don't-" he starts to say, interrupted by trying to get more of the acid off of himself, and interrupted again by the need to take to the air to evade the tentacles. "I don't know what the difference is between a monster and a person, or a person and a washing machine, or a monster and a washing machine for that matter!" he calls. ("Stagnant winds, I think it got in my eyes...") "... I guess if it helps you feel at peace in your last moments, I'm the one that got called here, not... animal control or whatever!" He still can't quite see her. But he doesn't strictly need to see precisely where she is - he summons up powerful winds at her general position, trying to knock her around the ship and keep her pinned down!
Ishirou	I4 manages to do something! It's hurting her, which is a deterrent, ok that's fine. Now if... <J-IC-Scene> Kale Hearthward says, "Okay explain it to me - you're not a person, like how a laundry machine isn't a person?" I4 slumps over, almost physically becoming smaller. This is something he deals with all of the time. Compared to a washing machine, a non-person. He knows he feels alive, and that he is, but having to constantly be reminded that he's /defective/ is incredibly angsty for him. It's also incredibly distracting. -Warning, incoming Sea Monster- "Wha-" the final words of I4 as he is now just a pair of legs sticking out of the monster who is trying to swallow him whole. Bite damage is on his torso, but thankfully he's small enough to avoid being torn in half. There are some muffled words, before... -Command acknowledged, Casting Annihilation Ray.- This is followed by muffled screams because that's not what he wanted to use at all! A beam of light fires out of the pod, aiming to cut the monster in half, but then wash over Rita in the process. I4 falls out of the half of the monster covered in its blood.
Kukuru	"You keep moving around too much." Kukuru's still talking in slow motion as she only then realizes that Rita's already evaded her maneuver, and she's still talking in slow motion as her feet go right into the air before she realizes it's happening. "It's easier if you're not moving so much." She's already on the ground before she finishes that statement. Thankfully, it's not quite as painful or bone-fuckening as the last two impacts, but Kukuru's still wincing uncomfortably from being brought back down to the ground for the second time. "Why not? There's no rules saying I can't, and if there are..." Kukuru takes a moment to think, scratching her cheek again and furrowing her brow. It seems like she's starting to move a bit faster than before, but not necessarily in a defensive manner since thinking apparently isn't always a free action for her. "... Screw those rules. I'm in the Concord, and you don't seem like a bad girl, even if you are in the Watch." Kukuru holds her claws out to the sides, and they fall right off as she pulls her hands away to bring them back to Rita and...! Pat Rita's knees gently. "But I get it... Mhm. You can't pick your family, but you can always have an extended one." She lets out a lazy yawn while stretching her arms over her head, then crosses them behind her head while looking over at where Kale and I4 are. "You should probably get back to them, though. The android sounds like he might need a hand, and the bird guy..." Kukuru frowns a little when she shifts topics to Kale. "... I don't like him. He'll be harder to teach."
Rita Ma	Rita is, as an Imouto-type, critically weak to Emotional Damage attacks. She balls up a fist in front of her mouth as Kukuru talks, obviously trying to make sense of the kindness she's being offered. "You want to... be family? But we just met. And I tried to hurt you! And I don't even know your name. That's... crazy, isn't it? Why are you acting like this?" But her expression is visibly conflicted. She isn't willing to accept that kindness just yet- not wholeheartedly- but the fact that it's being offered has already affected her. Then she's comically ragdolled by Kale's buffeting winds, immediately getting slammed back into a piece of the hull hard enough to dent it. As the wind-storm persists, she stabs her tentacles down through the ship's deck to anchor her against the gale, preventing her from being tossed around further- and, with ominous puncturing noises accompanying each step, advances cautiously on the bird-man. "My last moments... you really want to kill me for stealing some oil? You're sort of a terrible person, aren't you? I said I'm not doing this because I'm a monster, but..." Her eyes open wide, going briefly sharklike and dead. It's an expression humans shouldn't be capable of. Her one corrupted blue eye constricts until its pupil is a narrow cross. "... I wouldn't feel bad about eating you at all." One of her two largest tentacles rears back, as if preparing to spear through him. The other flickers into invisibility, then arches around to try and stab him in the back. But those are both diversions- still more tentacles, invisible but razor-sharp, are arched around him to cut deep into his flesh if he simply dodges out of the way. In the distance, I4 frees himself from the worm with a massive blast of light that splits it wholly in half. The beam scorches the tanker's deck too, but misses Rita by a good few feet- it'd be crazy if he'd been able to hit her from inside its jaws, so even that is alarming. But this puts him in the unfortunate position of being suspended in midair, where the huge worm was holding him, for just a second. And Rita spots him, points with a finger, and lines up the shot. Her hand glows from within, light radiating through the flesh. A bioluminescent laser fires out, ready to diffuse into a lethal explosion on impact. In the air, she's hoping, he won't be able to dodge. "Sorry, Mr. I4. But you're still fighting back..."
Kukuru	"That's right. I mean, I'd love it you would join the Concord with your friends, too, but... Baby steps. And I'll be okay." Kukuru giggles softly, giving Rita one more pat on the leg before gesturing at her shoulder visibly shifting back whereit should. "A mom can't be too impatient with her kids, or..." Comparisons are hard. "...Something bad happens, I guess." And then Rita gets yeeted by Kale's massive gust of wind. Although she shoots the birdman a disapproving look at that, it does mean Kukuru can get back up without having to jostle anyone out of the way. She dusts herself off, smacks her elbow back into place with a painful grimace and deep sigh, then puts her claws back on. "Don't get in too much trouble over there!" She calls out to the three continuing to battle, instead turning her attention to the captain and the crew. They're all the way over there, though, so instead of walking the maybe twenty yards to get there, she just teleports right in front of them. "He-llo, mister captain. Would you be willing to share this oil with her people?"
Kale Hearthward	"Do I want to kill you for stealing some oil? No, but it's never just 'some' oil, it's never 'just' some oil, and it's 'never' just some oil!" says Kale, putting emphasis on different words each time. "It's to stop you from stealing tomorrow, and the next day, and the next day - and if you won't come along quietly, there's nothing else I can do - I'm certainly not going to risk you getting away!" He brings his sword to bear, and gets ready to dive in and start swinging it at her again- - and as he's doing so, the tentacles come at him, a one-two feint that takes him completely off guard - and the other one hits him solidly in the back. There's a weak awk sound from the bird as he falls to the deck, and then makes an enfeebled full retreat back towards the warpgate. He doesn't say anything as he leaves. His bravado got beaten up about as much as his body did, today.
Ishirou	I4 can only watch at the destruction coming for him. He can't dodge it, he can't avoid it...he's too damaged to put up an effective defense. He crouches, maybe he can at least prevent shut down. The explosions and beams come. He can feel parts of his body shutting down. Was it even worth fighting at this point? She had obviously won, right? It was just some oil... What about next time? The people that she would hurt from the shortage it would cause? It wasn't JUST some rich person affected by this, it would be an entire chain. Kale was already leaving...so it would just be him. The light fades, and I4 is face-first on the ground. His right hand was damaged, and not functioning, but he had two legs and one arm. She calls him too weak, and she's not wrong. He's alone too. Severely damaged, alone, and basically outgunned. He was terrified, he realized. He could die, and sure another I4 could be rebuild, but it wouldn't be him. What was important right now? Himself, or those things he said? This stupid oil? It's stupid stupid stupid stupid! However, a beam cuts through the air, aiming to try and directly hit Rita across the chest, trying to once more establish a link. Trying to disrupt her command of the creatures. Maybe if they weren't a thing she could control...even if he failed? "It's stupid...but I realized I'm not doing it for this stupid oil. You're hurting yourself by doing things like this. You're piling sins on yourself. I know you've suffered and...I don't have an answer for that, but I can't let others suffer either. It's...wrong..."
Rita Ma	The captain- who's been quietly petrified of the fighting going on around him, but has at least had the reprieve of none of it getting close- stands bolt upright and bug-eyed as Kukuru teleports right up in his face. "I- I... absolutely not!!" he says in a gruff voice, trying to make it sound more confident and authoritative than he actually feels. "I'm under contract to deliver that oil to Brazil. If it's stolen, at least there's insurance- if I just handed it over, I'd be ruined!" Rita lunges for Kale as he picks himself up, her mouth open to reveal jagged teeth and clawlike hands outstretched. Chunks of the deck are shredded as she propels herself forward with her tentacles- but she falls just inches short as he flees, and isn't willing to go overboard to pursue. If he glances back, he can catch a glimpse of her eyes- still soullessly predatory, gleaming with frustrated hunger. It seems like she really wasn't joking. It's in that state that I4's energy blast strikes her in the chest. All of the worms simultaneously cry out in sympathetic pain, a chorus of unearthly shrieks. Rita grits her teeth into it, crossing her arms over her chest and doubling over as the worms thrash... But it's not enough. Painstakingly, with visible effort, she reasserts control over them. She lunges almost faster than the eye can track, seizing I4 by the neck and trying to lift him up off his feet. "You're... so arrogant," she says, heaving effortful breaths. "It's a sin to steal oil? But it's not a sin to let boats stall out, let children die, for lack of fuel? You don't get to decide what weighs on my heart." "This body... it tells me to do awful things. This isn't one of them. This is something I, Rita Ma, chose to do- not because it's easy, but because it's right! I don't need to be rescued from myself. I don't NEED-" She winds back, getting ready to throw him like a baseball. "YOU-" Her tentacles anchor themselves into the deck, giving extra bracing. "TO SAVE ME!" And then- in all likelihood- I4 is bodily hurled through the warpgate a hundred feet away, to god-knows-where.
Ishirou	I4 is casually lifted into the air, he's not heavy, despite being made of metal instead of flesh and blood. He even actually is able to be choked for some reason. He struggles to say anything as she levels her resolve at him. Today, he was found wanting...probably for good reason. However, before she can yeet him, his hand moves to grab hers, the one choking him. "S-sorry..." he manages to get out before he is SMASHED into the warp gate without a direction. That'll be fun.
Kukuru	Kukuru was hoping for a hesitant agreement from the captain. Maybe an opportunity to convince him after a confused, but thoughtful refusal. Instead, she gets a confident, potentially intimidating refusal that's even followed with a rational income-based reason for doing so. She sighs lightly and nods once, craning her neck lightly while murmuring "I understand." Inhaling and exhaling softly, she glances over as Kale makes his escape and Rita finishes battling I4, then turns right back to the nearest crewman. "Can you bring me the second in command?" And then then swings her claw at the captain's upper body, closing it quickly with enough force to turn a regular person into paste. "Let's try that again, okay? Would you be willing to share that oil with her people?" Kukuru still sounds as pleasant and languid in her manner of speaking as ever, of course. "The Concord doesn't really need the oil at all, but it'd be really nice if you could try and get along, you know? That's just part of making a better world for everyone to live in."
Rita Ma	The captain's upper body is messily, instantly obliterated. One of the crewmen who still has a gun reflexively raises it form the hip, but hesitates, realizing it definitely wouldn't help. There's a pall over the crowd for several seconds before another, slightly less old and slightly less gruff, man steps forward. "Yes, ma'am. T-that'd be me, ma'am. We're... willing to hand it over, ma'am." Rita returns from her fight with the other two Elites- she's still breathing hard, but re-mummified in her perfectly ordinary girl disguise, it's impossible to tell how hurt she is. "Er, Ms. Kukuru, I..." For some reason, she freezes bolt-upright at the sight of the pulpified ex-captain and immediately averts her eyes, stammering. (It's definitely not for the reason one would assume.) "M- I'm m, mostly ready to go. Was there anything else you needed to do here...?" Oh no. I'm starving...
Kukuru	"Now now, you don't have to give away all of it. Sharing is what I want you to do, you know? Working together's important, especially if your world's all..." Kukuru just gestures around vaguely at the sea, ignoring the fact that most of her front is probably drippy right now. "... Like this. Be good to each other now." Satisfied with a job well done(???), she turns right back around to Rita with a curious glint in her eyes when she does that flustered turnaround thing. Perhaps getting the wrong idea from that, Kukuru giggles softly and slips one of her claws back into her pocket (somehow) before hurrying over to give her a gentler hug from behind on the cleaner side of her body. "Kukuru. Let me know if you need anything, okay? Or if you wanna just take a nap somewhere and eat something tasty. That's fine, too." One more pat on the head, and then (unless she's halted by some kind of HOLD IT type response) she disappears in another puff of dark energy.