Scene #8129: PNL: Murder on a Misty Night

Owner	Pose
Charlotte Newman	As established previously, Persona-users are already present in some respect or another. Fresh arrivals called in by Charlotte find a police blockade around Silver Springs Union High School; ushering students and teachers off the campus while the sheriff barks orders through a bullhorn. Gaining entry is fine, if a little tense, as the various cops know that multiversals are bound to show up to assist in even little disasters like-- what they seem to think is some sort of gas leak or disease outbreak. There's a body on the Lacrosse pitch that's already being investigated by men in hazmat suits. Charlotte is there, accompanied by a uniformed officer by the name of Daryl Paine, but that's not where Charlotte directed those whoa are arriving. That location would be a broom closet on the second story, already long-cleared of evacuating students and staff. Tucked away inside that janitorial space is a recently created portal to the Reversal. S L I D I N G S I D E W A Y S through the portal dumps arrivals into the real place of import. The Reverse side of Silver Springs is a fortress carved from obsidian and shot through with lines of neon light like the borders of raw polygons. A dense fluorescent fog clings to the floor, rising up to about knee-height and swirling as one walks. On the other side also is a teenaged boy, perhaps the same age as Staney or Charlotte. He's cognitively clad, wearing a classic victorian waistcoat and slacks, the distinctive silk top hat and a stylish shoulder capelet. Perfect blonde hair that curls just right. Perfect teeth, a perfectly sculpted face, and the physique of a varsity baseball player. As people pile into the Reversal, he lifts a hand to pinch the bridge of his nose just above a set of pinc-nez with white-gloved fingers. In front of him in the foggy gloom is a girl in a middle school uniform, uninjured but obviously terrified. He gestures, encasing her in a cage of xenon rods and sending her down into a lower story. Only then does the boy turn, lifting a hand to adjust his cuffs, "You lot have some nerve, breaking into my domain. It's bad enough I allow you to run roughshod on the other side, but to impose yourselves here again? I could forgive the first trespass, but a repeat offense?" From the various corridors linking this space to other locations within the fortress, those scalpel-wielding shades start stirring, creeping closer. One or two extrude arms from places arms do not normally belong, clutching scalpels. The boy's faintly resonant voice takes on a menacing edge, the brim of his hat casting his eyes in shadow, "You really are testing my generosity."
John Doe	John had sidestepped farther away when he got wind of things happening. He came here thinking to catch the prep and follow him...not knowing that this was exactly where he was hiding out and had been engaged with a small army of those murder shadows. However, the mass of shadows remained chained around him. Some are used as ammunition. Literally thrown at the remaining shadows that weren't chained. The rest were launched at the side of the fortress until a spot wide enough for John opened up, and he jumped through. Hitting the ground with a loud WHOMP, John stared up at the kid. John, well no, Mystique, as he was called on this side stares at him. "Hmm? Oh, I suppose I do, you see..." he says, flourishing his coat and pointing at the would-be murderer. "I am Mystique. You have stolen something from someone, and I did not give permission for this to happen. You have also stolen countless lives...no, sir, YOU are the one trying patience." With that, The Man in the Iron Mask Appears around him. Chains of xenon writhe around the area, while the white florescent mask of the trapped man stares down the boy. Already, across the field chains were moving around those who came through, aiming to help block for them as he starts slowly walking towards him. "Now I'm here to steal something.." he says, pointing at the girl. "I am going to steal her from you, and I will also steal your ability to do this ever again."
Caelan Stuart	One of those people who is here even before the elites arrive is not a Persona User. He in fact arrives at the same time as one of the Persona Users-- a certain Stanley Padgett-- who is briefly held up by the lapels as the pair materialize. But Stanley is dropped basically immediately, because his companion has other business. He is but a man. One that some who are arriving might even recognize. They've seen him before, in the reversed side of the mall. He is a police officer, a detective who had been investigating the sudden spate of murders throughout Lampport. He is someone with a vested interest in everything going on here. But there's something more important about him. He's a father. And that girl is his daughter. And that bastard with the grin and the too-rich clothes is the one who took her. Vertigo swims in his brain. Dizziness tugs at his balance. Caelan Stuart strides through them, moving to keep himself upright like a bicycle without a rider. He locks eyes with the youth responsible right as his daughter-- right as Alice-- is spirited away to heaven only knows where. There's a sudden BANG as a gun discharges. Then again and again and again. Rage devours dizziness as Caelan fires round after round at the murderous youth. When his magazine runs dry, he loads another and keeps firing. There are no words. There's just rage, focused and frigid, and the unspoken judgment of a wrathful father: 'You shouldn't have touched my kid.'
Stanley Padgett	"-OLD ON, DETECTIVE, YOU CAN'T-" And appreatly Caelan can, before Stanley is on the other side now, and is being tossed to the group... but of course he lands on his feet, the transformation into Brave Fencer Stanley almost immediately upon arrival. There's a Tyrant here, and the pressure between them and the Persona Users is... intense already. Stanley rakes a hand through his garishly PINK hair. It was brown just a moment ago, but now... wait, isn't that the same shade as Zi-O's armor? Huh. The sword is raised, Stanley takes a breath, and watches as Jon and Caelan start to magdump and hurl shadows at the Ripper. "...Buddy, you picked the wrong heckin' target." He flicks out his foil, plants his feet, and howls. "Come, Mercutio!" There's a horrible rush of wind around the boy, before three separate instances of Stanley rush down wandering Murder Shadows, the primary Stanley still locked on The Ripper, eyes focused.
Rita Ma	Even though the blockade doesn't give her any trouble, Rita still looks a little tense as she passes through it. Maybe it's because she looks too much like a local? No, that isn't it. Even when the cops' eyes aren't on her, there's still that tension. She tries to rubberneck to get a decent look at the body on the lacrosse field, or at least (reluctantly) to catch a little of its scent. Her nose wrinkles up when she does, of course- like she'd suspected. Ick. No reason to linger here, then. On to the other side. Her face lights up with sympathetic panic when she sees the girl in the cage. Rita takes a half-step forward, reaching out her arm. 'It'll be okay,' her expression tries to say, but then the victim's gone. When her gaze turns to the man in the waistcoat, it hardens. "That was your letter," she says, advancing slowly. "About the 'noveau riche', wasn't it? We can't let you keep doing this. 'Monsters that hurt people need to be killed', after all. But you might as well tell us how they did you wrong." It's a feud, evidently, between rich people, and that means she's prepared to assume the worst of both sides. When she recognizes Caelan, she tenses up again and opens her mouth to say something like 'you can't be here'. Then he shoots the Tyrant, and she visibly reconsiders. Okay, he can stay this time. The shades approach, and Rita steps into a side corridor towards one of them. Her sleeve unravels and disappears. For no clear reason, a moment later, several holes suddenly appear through the shade's body. A trickle of luminous blue bubbles float from the shade's body to hers, and then it very likely dies. It's not a very efficient means of killing, but...
Kukuru	Thanks to Charlotte's photo, Kukuru's able to show up right on time via teleportation cloud. It might be somewhat unnerving for anyone looking at the spot she's dropping in from to just see an ominous purple cloud shimmer into existence and drop someone out of it, but Kukuru's ready to reassure them with both her words and subtle mental influences that they shouldn't worry about her or her friends and just let them through. Good thing, too, since she's not dressed in her usual frilly getup or her trying-too-hard-to-be-cool gear. Instead, she's just wearing her outside-work outfit consisting of a ribbed sweater (yellow), regular jeans (blue), and some kind of gardening apron with all sorts of pockets with assorted party decorations still sticking out of them. Nevertheless, she's ready to get to work at stopping the person she definitely remembers Charlotte mentioning mere minutes ago, but her attention soon wavers once everyone's moved into the Reverse side. "That's a neat building... Oh, but this is the other.. Opposite thing of that mall, right?" She asks nobody in particular, then realizes that there's already someone right there. Two, even. "Again? Aw, I'm sorry." She doesn't look particularly apologetic, but her tone is friendly rather than sarcastic if nothing else. "But we've got a good reason for it. We can't just let you kill people. That's bad if they don't deserve it, you know?" Kukuru keeps up her pleasant expression even as the scalpel shades come forward, and she looks over as her companions start giving their own firmer demands. "Joooohn. Stealing's bad, too. But... It doesn't count if it's taking back someone that's gotten kidnapped, right?" She starts with 'Mystique', somehow seeming to remember his name that way before noticing Caelan just going right up to start shooting while dropping Stanley behind him. "He's mad, too... Hmm. Well, I'm sure it'll be okay." She claps a hand against Stanley's shoulder gently, then starts advancing on dandy teenager at her usual languid pace. She doesn't need to go fast, after all, because she can (and does) open up another teleportation cloud in front of herself only to reappear behind their target. "If you behave, we can sort this out without you getting hurt so much. Okay?" Kukuru says, immediately blowing any chance she had at a sneaky surprise attack before reaching for him to try and grab onto his shoulder. Despite the innocent-enough looking gestures, though, there's enough power in her hand that she could squeeze right through it, bone and flesh and all.
Charlotte Newman	Rita asks her question, and the young man gestures with one hand, "Yes. I did. You lot have a penchant for dispatching shadows, so it seemed like a worthwhile way to deliver it." His gaze shifts to Caelan, storming towards him, "However, one must send the right messages when the police are involved." He raises both hands, holding them out to either side, "And here he comes now. Are you prepared to surr--" and then Caelan shoots him. Multiple times. The Ripper recoils while peppered with bullets, though it's more like how someone might recoil from a gross insect than from 'being shot several times'. He is then barrelled into by one of the murderous shades accompanying him, though he quickly casts it aside as he rears to his full height. The shade Rita tears pieces out of breaks apart into a cloud of smoke; as do the shadows Stanley windblasts. That's about when Kukuru slams her hand down on the Ripper's shoulder. He is somehow far more solid than a teenager should be, and when he speaks again that resonance is more pronounced, "The brainless 'new rich' flocking to this city are the reason it's dying. They're ignorant to the damage they do to those who already live here. To the lives they ruin. To the businesses they crush with their flippant distractions." The boy's silhouette turns ink-black, like the murder-shades that had accompanied him. Expanding, growing, he rapidly reaches the fortress keep's towering ceiling. Multiple limbs unfurl, resolving into flesh clad in suit-sleeves and gleaming golden cufflinks. The monstrosity has no legs, disappearing into the fog at what one might assume to be the waist. What resolves as his face is now permanently in shadow, save for wide staring eyes and a broad, tooth-filled mouth. Each and every hand in the multitude flips, producing a scalpel. EGO-KILLING TYRANT, JACK THE RIPPER "I WILL KILL THIS PARASITIC LAMPPORT AND USE ITS REMAINS TO BRING STEELPORT BACK TO LIFE... RIGHT AFTER I KILL ALL OF YOU!" Kukuru, being the closest to the Tyrant, is the first person it attacks. Clutching a scalpel in its fist like a brass knuckle, it swings a low uppercut straight at her. Those standing at a more modest distance are each targetted in turn by other hands; which then stab forward at a downard angle with scalpels the size of spears.
Stanley Padgett	Stanley looks up and up and up as the Ripper reveals his full self, a look of disgust rippling across his face. "...All of this inside of you, buddy. And she did nothing to you..." The spear-scalpel swishes through his midsection, cleaving him clean in two, sending a bloody mess all ov- Wait, no, that was a after image. Actual Stanley resolves nearby with a bit of a wide-eyed look at just how close that one was, and then does some... mental calculations. He grunts, and plants his feet again. He lifts his thumb up to his mouth, bites it, and then smears blood all the way down his foil. "...Guys, I'll weaken him, just keep him on his toes and let the poison do the work!" The red blood on the blade suddenly shimmers a neon green, casting noxious pixels into the air. Stanley bounces to the balls of his feet, and charges in. One. Two. Three times he feints into position, before coming around and shoving that foil as deep into that shadowy mess as he can.
John Doe	"So which steel baron family were you a part of?" Mystique says as he slowly starts walking towards the Ripper. The spear fires right at John, but he doesn't even bother to dodge it. The spear itself slows down when it gets too close to John, and when it finally hits him...it's dead on. However, John just seems to walk forward unphased. Damaged chains slowly seem to recoil away as he stops. He looks back to immediately see Caelan eat shit. He frowns, he knew that was what was going to happen. He can't focus on beating the Tyrant AND protecting this guy. "Get out of here, cop. Nobody wins if you die in front of your daughter. Leave this to the professionals," he says and leaps towards the Ripper. He doesn't restrain himself anymore. He swings his fist, which Iron Mask joins with. The two aim to try and punch the Tyrant in the stomach, then attempt to launch him up so that someone could capitalize on the brutal blow.
Kukuru	Speaking of brainless, Kukuru purses her lips quizzically as the Ripper speaks. "Are they really the ones making things worse, though? Or is it the Newvoese doing it? You gotta be clearer about who's causing what problems." She asserts with a disapproving grunt, letting her hand down when he starts to transform. She barely even backs up when he does, instead pausing to look up at his new legless form. "If you can do that, then it's easier to convince everyone else that some people really do need to get punished." As she tries to lecture him, she doesn't realize that the Tyrant's fist and scalpel are coming right for her, and Kukuru promptly gets launched backwards by the force of that strike to the face and most of her torso. Somehow, though, she actually manages to catch herself against one of the nearby walls to dampen the impact and prevent a nasty fall afterwards, giving her a chance to get a better look at his overall shape. "Do they even know they're doing... Um. Whatever damage it is they're doing to this place?" Kukuru asks while pressing both hands against the wall for stability as she lets her healing juice flow through her to patch up her bruises and the rather large incision through her shoulder from that first attack. Once she's sufficiently stopped the bleeding, she pushes against the wall to launch herself towards the Ripper once again. "And that still doesn't explain why you went after a child. How does she fit into all of this?" Recalling Caelan's visible anger from moments ago, Kukuru takes a little longer to remember that she needs to actually follow through with her body projectile attack. She whips herself around just in time to grab at one of those golden cufflinks in mid-fall, pulling downwards to try and force the Ripper to the ground with both her momentum and ludicrous physical strength.
Rita Ma	"You're right, Mr. Jack. They are a cancer." Rita stays light on her feet when the scalpels come down, sidestepping and hopping out of the way of the attacks on twitch reflex fast enough that her jacket audibly flutters in the breeze. "But you're a cancer too, aren't you?" Her eyes are on Jack: she trusts the Persona users to know what they're doing against a Tyrant, she trusts Kukuru to be sort of invincible, and her feelings towards Caelan are still distinctly mixed, so she's not too fussed about anyone else. And yet she doesn't make a proactive move. She's waiting for something. For what? "If you cared so much, you'd put your money where your mouth is. Having that much and not giving it away to help people is awful from the start." Another whistling near-miss. "So I don't believe you care about the town. Aren't you just jealous someone else owns it now?" "I'll cut you out, too." That blue glow she'd drained from the shade pulses in her chest. Finally. Rita raises her hand towards the Tyrant, and all its scalpel-wielding shades are assailed by her psychic presence. She is the Queen of Monsters, and devouring one of them has made her their Queen. A telepathic command to her new subjects follows: attack him.
Caelan Stuart	"You laid hands on my daughter, you son of a bitch," Caelan spits between the staccato roars of his standard issue handgun, his rage finally roiling to the boiling point and beyond. "Are you saying that you're the solution? Someone who consciously brings nothing but death and terror to this city!? You ruin lives! You /kill/ for this sick mission! I don't want to hear it! Not from some entitled prick who thinks he has any right to lord over anyone!" Get a hold of yourself. To fight with no power is nothing but folly. The boy's shape dissolves, twists, mutates, becomes something utterly monstrous and deceptively dapper. It's the kind of thing that would horrify anyone who wasn't inoculated to the darkness. For all that Caelan has seen on his time on the force, something like /this/ is still beyond him. For a moment, he hesitates. Stand back, save yourself for your daughter. Let someone else handle it. A dozen or more limbs unfold, flashing with silvery steel lance out. A mortal man's reflexes are nowhere near enough to evade even one. He still tries, ducking to one side just as blade descends. All he manages to do is end up being impaled straight into one shoulder. Blood blossoms from the wound- not red, but neon pink- as it froths into a punctured lung and up out his throat. Pain screams through his nerves. He hears someone shouting at him, but the agony is overwhelming. That's what someone 'reasonable' would say. It's all he can do to stay conscious. He grunts, grabbing hold of the scalpel by its blunt edge to try and force himself from the blade. With an unsteady arm, fading vision, he takes aim again at the thing's bulging eyes. But you and I, we are past the point of 'reason.' He fires. Again and again. Aren't we, 'partner?' "I can't..." Caelan wheezes around gurgling blood. "Stand by..." They've taken so much from us. So much. And we could never give voice to the pain. To the grief. We were alone. His weapon clicks dry. Caelan staggers back, falling clear of the scalpel. He collapses against a blazing, krypton and neon display. The lights bleed together in his vision. He reaches into his jacket, fingers groping at another clip. We can't stand by. Open your eyes to the truth-- stare it in the face. They're about to take everything from us. His breaths come in ragged, wet, sucking heaves. His fingers, slick with blood, lose their grip. The clip clatters to the ground. His eyelids droop, weakness creeping into his limbs. His hand gropes for lost ammunition. They call it madness? A nearby screen displaying a vapid, senseless advertisement glowing in neon hues, flickers. A blizzard of static briefly consumes the image. Faster. Faster. The pulses grow longer. Madness is to do nothing! Madness is to sit down and let the world keep turning! We loved her. We still love her! Reach out! It spreads. One screen after another turning to nothing but static, the greyscale analog monochrome a glaring incongruity in the very fabric of this place. Take the power to right this fucked up world with your own hands. Shout, yell! Take back all that is yours! ACCEPT THE CONTRACT! Blue flame flickers over Caelan's face, over his eyes and across his brow. The air humms with power. Something is coming.
Charlotte Newman	"SHE IS A USEFUL PAWN," the Ripper's resonant voice comments to Stanley, "HER ONLY PURPOSE IS TO SHOW HOW POWERLESS EVEN THE POLICE ARE." As Caelan empties his magazine, bullets pelting the monstrosity's face in splatters of neon gas, it gestures with one of its multitudinous arms, "THEY SHOULD GO BACK TO BEING MY ATTACK DOGS. IT'S THE ONLY THING THEY WERE ANY GOOD AT." Stanley sinks his foil into one of those outstretched arms, right up to the hilt. The Ripper grunts, shaking that hand and then, should Stanley not let go of his sword, slamming him against one of the walls, "ANNOYING--" A statement that cuts off when John and the Man in the Iron Mask slam into the Tyrant's midsection, right about where his body meets the floor. Jack the Ripper lets out a resonant grunt, those distended eyes swivelling down. He actually hunches forward, staring down with that wide maw of Perfect Teeth, "WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING?" A pair of arms respond, swinging in from either side with body-sized fists. Kukuru, contending with other arms, snatches one about the wrist. Rather than uproot the Ripper, though, there's a sound somewhere between velcro and paper tearing apart as the entire arm rips free of the Tyrant's body. A mixture of Kukuru Strength and the Tyrant's bizarrely fragile form; though a new arm's fingers wriggle out of the shadow already from where the original had been ripped free. The Ripper would likely quip about this but he is soon inundated with a swarm of his own Shadow minions, stabbing at him with their scalpels. Some even extrude more than one pair of arms to stab more at the behest of their new Queen, their unnaturally broad smiles tinged blue by the Monster Queen's command. With a roar, Jack the Ripper sweeps two pairs of arms about to clear the minions close to his body, smashing them against the walls, and in his flailing, is a risk for everyone else in his vicinity as well, "YOU WILL OBEY ME! I AM WILLIAM PERCIVAL ARCHIBALD THE THIRD! I AM YOUR MASTER! I OWN YOU!"
John Doe	The charge in the air was unmistakable...something was happening, and it wasn't from this child drunk on their own lost glory. His head turns just enough to see something start to change around Caelan. However, hands are coming down for him again. Man in the Iron Mask and Mystique go back to back each one trying to hold back the maddened swings of the Tyrant on the back foot. They're marginally successful...even though more than a few hits got through on John and Iron Mask, they were both still up. When one of those hands swings again, John and persona reach out together, grabbing it. John's hand squeezes down, aiming to put a LOT of pressure on the hand. "I think the cute girl over there has the right idea about you. You're a cancer, throwing a tantrum because you didn't get what you want. Worse, sitting here and admitting your family's corruption...well, I'll be taking advantage of that later, thanks~!" With that, John FLINGS the Tyrant toward Stanley. "You're up Stanley."
Stanley Padgett	Stanley dies not let go of the sword, but it doesn't seem like that's quite needed, as he flies off from the thrashing of the limbs, the foil tearing itself free... Granted, that does put Stanley through the corner of a wall, the 'obsidian' of the Fortress giving away under the impact of the blow. But it's fine, really. The fencer dusts himself off, knowing that there's a shittton of toxins going in the Ripper now, and that he's doing his job... Though, that mental pressure in the room gets Stanley to look over towards Caelan... and there's a horrible, ugly gleam in the young man's face. Oh. Oh yes. This is happening. The Fool scampers to his feet, and with a few steps is over to Caelan's side. Yes, he's horribly injured but... well. The Fool's words lift up into the room, and sink into Caelan's ears, piercing past the cadence of his own pending Revolution. "The world got all fucked up, Detective. Your daughter... your wife... You want to keep your promises, don't you? Take the hand that's being offered to you, and strike back at the horrid world that's stifled you." The Tyrant comes flying across the room, and Mercutio manifests, the sword and dagger staking into the Tyrant's body, lashing the creature into the shimmering floor. The Xenon fog parts around Stanley Marigold Padgett, and those eyes lock on Caelan. "....Make the call, Detective."
Kukuru	"A pawn? But that's a chess piece." Kukuru furrows her brow as she takes a moment to figure that connection out, slowing down in her pulling and yanking before finally dropping the Tyrant's removed limb. "Kids aren't chess pieces. And even if they were, they'd be-" Just as realization dawns on her, Jack the Ripper starts sweeping his arms around wildly. Kukuru, slow as she usually is to react to most things, takes a pair of arms right to the everything and gets swung around madly in the process, wrapping herself around one of those arms rather than just letting it toss her into another wall. Gasping for air for several moments, she clamps her entire body down against that arm, both to give herself a chance to recover by mending the internal bleeding and to slow down his swings at least a little bit. "... I'm disappointed in you. I really hoped you wanted to fix those things you were yelling about more than just yelling about them." That pleasant air to Kukuru's voice fades (assuming she can even be heard whilst being flailed about) as lets go of the arms, going sailing back into a conveniently waiting cloud that takes her skidding to a stop besides Caelan. Kukuru's hands go up, and healing nanites pour into him while she awkwardly lurches back onto her feet. "Let it all out, dear. We're with you, okay?" She gives him a reassuring pat on the shoulder, then slips her hands into her apron's pockets while advancing towards the Tyrant once again. She pulls her hands out a moment later along with a set of oversized claws that smell strongly of grass and dirt, then falls through yet another purple cloud... To reappear above the Tyrant. Rather than aiming for anything or anywhere in particular, she just starts swinging for the fences, aiming to carve through whatever she can reach without regard to whether those parts look like parts of a monster, parts of the person, or anything in between.
Rita Ma	Rita makes no attempt to safeguard the lives of her new minions; they're quite likely to all be destroyed in the thrashing. She shows a fair bit more self-preservation on her own account: whenever a flailing limb gets near her, it's deflected by some invisible force with a spray of sparks. That same invisible forrce maims the Tyrant a moment later: Rita leaps into the air with a pirouette, and a (telekinetic?) slash bites deeply into its limbs and torso, as if she were at the center of an unseen buzzsaw. She lands next to John, whom she flashes an uneasy but slightly baffled smile in return for his compliment. "Taking advantage of it? How? That's just how the enforcers are, right? Everyone knows it, so why does it matter if he says it out loud?" Even so, she gives her attention to Caelan next, leaving the active fighting to the Persona-users. Rummaging in her bag, she pulls out some bandages, coagulating ointment, and painkillers, bending over to give him her meager aid whether he wants it or not. "here. I need you to not be bleeding," she says. Funny way to put it, but her expression is funny too- her pupils are blown, and she looks somehow distracted. It's only belatedly that she notices the screens fuzzing over with static, and the blue flame appearing over Caelan's brow. "Huh? ... Mr. Stuart! Are you alright?!"
Caelan Stuart	Caelan is bleeding, badly. He barely even registers Rita and Kukuru coming to his aid, though his eyes roll tiredly in their sockets to stare at them. The healing nanites and bandages do their best, but he's lost a lot of blood. If he doesn't have proper medical attention soon... ...Death. Change. Change is hard. Change is... difficult. Even for those who are predisposed to it, to make a change requires effort, requires will. By the time someone reaches adulthood, so much of themselves are spent on /getting there./ How many people have the strength, at that stage of life, to seize hold of the wheel again, to fight the world again, when all that the body and the mind want are to crawl into bed and sleep through the aches and pains and endless fatigue. Change is hard. For someone who has grown complacent, set in their ways, change is impossible. But change has come to Caelan's life. Violently. Viciously. It tore away the things he loved the most. Ripped his heart out of his chest. The world itself told him that he was insane. That his happiness was a lie, a fantasy, a dream imagined by a mind on the brink. How could he have the strength to stand against the whole world? He folded. Bent and broke. Something inside snapped. For what feels like eternity, he swallowed the pain and the hurt and marched to the beat of life. Stepping out of line again was unthinkable-- it was all that was keeping him sane. And now it's about to come to an end. A wave of bodies come crashing into his still and battered form with enough strength to pulverize bone and turn viscera to bloody pulp. The world around him cracks and breaks. But Caelan... Caelan is still there. A wall of azure flame bursts to life, shattering the shadows an instant from impact. His body moves like a marionette on half-severed strings, lifting slowly, methodically. The neon pink blood pooling around him ripples in a pulse of blue, before creeping slowly upward, up his legs, up his body, turning red, then black as it gathers over his face. "Khh," Caelan hisses, coughing up another lungful of blood. "Khhhahhh--" Make the call, detective. That's it. The voice reverberates. It echoes through the very fabric of this place. One by one, the monitors nearby flicker and change, images of happier times, of better times, one by one appearing from the static. Times that never existed. Times that the world declared were no longer needed. Times that /did/ exist, because the one who lived them is standing /right here./ Don't let them take from you the truth you lived. The truth you loved! Again the screens change, images flickering between an image of Caelan himself, eyes aglow with pale gold light, and some... creature. A mechanical being with a shattered face occupied by a single, blazing eye. This world is full of lies and illusions, did you think it would not stoop to deny you your life?!
Caelan Stuart	Caelan grunts with pain, his fingers reaching for the shape fixed to his face-- a mask, a visor with a horizontal gap, out from which he peers with golden eyes. His skin tears as he pulls at it, his legs finding purchase as wounds close amidst an inferno of blue flame. Fight it. Raise your voice. Your pain is mine. My power is yours. Take my hand, and together we will step out of the shadows! His flesh comes away from his skull as the mask gives way, inch by inch peeling back-- "Alright. Alright! I've had enough! This world, I won't bend for it anymore! You have yourself a deal! We'll tear the truth out of its guts together!" I am thou! "Thou--" Caelan's voice cracks from his throat, pain and wrath and sorrow all overflowing all at once, "--ART I!" The mask comes away. An eruption of blue flame consumes all the world around him, spiralling into the synthwave sky. The spilt blood pools upward, the mask dissolving again into dark red fluid that seems so /wrong/ in this synthesized landscape. It filters the azure light like a prism, flooding together into a... humanoid form. It is distinctly mechanical, that is undeniable. Its clicking, creaking, clockwork limbs whirr within a billowing duster. Its chest is hollow, empty, a notable void-- but around its shoulders hover slivers of metal-- bullets-- ablaze with azure light. Its face, a visor of shattered glass, glows with the light of a single unblinking eye. "FREISCHUTZ!"
Caelan Stuart	The boy-turned shadow sails towards them, flung towards them by the force of Mercutio's blow. Caelan aims his empty handgun at the shade. The Persona-- Freischutz-- levels its rifle in tandem. They fire, together. Twin bolts of azure light streak out from the two barrels. Simultaneously, the bullets hovering over Freischutz's shoulders surge into motion. They race through the air in jagged lines, cutting through the distance like bolts of lightning. One impacts, then the other, then the other, but they do not stop. They turn upwards, blasting straight into the air. Caelan and his Persona aim and fire again. Again and again. Shafts of light lance into the synthwave sky, twisting and twining. Unburdened by the shadow, these are even swifter than their peers, surging past them-- and then turning back down like striking vipers to slam into the shadow from above in a crushing implosion of kinetic force. When the light fades, Caelan still stands, albeit still ablaze in the colors of his persona. ...No longer bleeding to death. Which is, perhaps, even better news. "I'm noone's attack dog," Caelan spits. "Your mistake was touching my daughter. Now I'm going to do what your daddy never did." "It's time to learn that actions have /consequences/, junior!"
Charlotte Newman	Kukuru had previously tried to throw Jack the Ripper but the tyrant's arm failed before its connection to the ground did. That must have at least weakened it, and John's wrenching is aided by Rita; as she cuts into whatever's rooting the Tyrant to the ground. With a horrendous tearing sound, John finally manages to unseat the beast. Jack the Ripper roars when he is hurled, pulled from the fog and revealed to be only a torso. Literally half a man. Jack the Ripper is impaled multiple times as it passes Stanley, and before the tyrant can slam into Caelan-- it's knocked into the ground by an Aerial Kukuru. The monstrosity roars in frustration, hauling itself up on its multitudinous arms like some sort of Victorian spider, "I DON'T HAVE TO JUSTIFY ANYTHING TO YOU! YOU'RE BENEATH ME, EVERY ONE OF YOU!" Caelan awakens. It wasn't something that the Ripper seemed to understand was going on until after it's already happened, and it is the combination of Father and Freeshooter that fills the Tyrant's vision. The monster rears up on two pairs of arms, spreading the rest out and producing scalpels in each outstretched hand. Bullets rip through its body-- far more than regular rounds this time. The Persona-enhanced shots punch large holes through its shadowy, inky form, each hit pulling a grunt of agony from the Ripper. "YOU'LL PAY FOR THIS MUTINY-- YOU'LL ALL PAY!" Those too-realistic eyes swivel suddenly towards Rita, "STARTING WITH YOU!" Multiple hands dart for the girl in an attempt to grab on, to pull her down and hold her down while others slice down with their scalpels. Not even pausing to observe the outcome, his eyes swivel towards Kukuru, grabbing at her, slicing at her. A pair of free hands produce not just one but multiple scalpels, taking turns throwing them at John and Stanley in turn while the monster's twisted visage leans down towards Caelan, "YOUR NEW TRICK DOESN'T SCARE ME. I AM THE MASTER OF THIS PLACE." What was a too-wide frown becomes a far-too-wide smile showing far too many teeth. That maw that, for the first time since the Ripper took this form, slowly opens and simply tries to bite the man in its monstrous jaws.
John Doe	Hitting John is like trying to punch through a steel door with your bare hands. He continues to walk slowly toward the Ripper. Blades land, but barely find any purchase on him. Even though they're finally starting to make a noticeable impression on his body, he's still not being stopped. In fact, he seems to be getting /stronger/ from the strikes. "You're the master of nothing, just a faded name, and a worthless legacy. The only thing that waits for you on this path is despair..." he says before Iron Masks leaps into the sky. He's gone from sight as John closes the distance. A moment later, a giant fist from the sky crashes down towards The Ripper, while John unleashes his own strength upwards, aiming to catch The Ripper between both fists.
Stanley Padgett	The KNIVES come out, and Stanley is once again dodging and weaving, his afterimages flaking away with each strike that the Ripper tries to land on him, and every image that gets taken out is one fewer Stanley has, one more he has to generate. The effort's taking a toll on the fencer, but also... There's a new Persona User in the party. Yes. If you ever wanted to embolden Stanley Padgett, this is how you do it. Unfortunately, Kukuru seems to be getting the worst of this, which gets the Fencer's hackles up even more. "HEY! I don't care what sort of fucked up rich asshole family you come from. Or why you decided to waste your life on a Wish like this. But this ends now. RIGHT NOW." Wind gathers up at Stanley's feet, as the afterimage of Mercutio billows up behind the young man, that great longsword lifted. "Thou art unfit for any place but hell, so I'll make assurance double sure, and take a bond of fate-" "THOU SHALT NOT LIVE." The sword, and the fencer, and the Persona, drop, headed right for that horrible, keening, creating appendage that is the Ripper's neck.
Kukuru	"That's not the kind of attitude someone that wants to fix anything should have, even if it's true." Kukuru scolds once more as she lands on Jack the Ripper, leaping off the monster in short order to avoid getting caught up in the crossfire from Caelan's awakened Persona. She turns towards him briefly to flash him a quick smile and thumbs up with one of those oversized claws, then turns her attention back to the Tyrant. "It can't be mutiny if we don't work for you... You're not even a co-worker!" She snaps back while digging her claws into the ground (or whatever makes up the ground), pulling herself back steadily andtensing up her arms the whole while. Once she feels her arms lock, she flings herself forward like a self-propelled crossbow, aiming herself straight at the Tyrant in an effort to torpedo herself through it! ... Except her timing is way off, and she gets caught in those scalpel-filled limbs with one going right through her midsection with a pained scream followed by a bloody gurgle. The glowing aura around Kukuru that would normally signify her healing abilities kicking in doesn't actually happen right away, either. Instead, she goes limp in that grab, and it takes several agonizingly long seconds for those nanites to start returning to her from Caelan. Given time, she'll probably recover and finish patching up all of those organs, but she's not in any condition to get back up just yet.
Rita Ma	Rita's distracted attempts at bandaging up the fading Caelan are interrupted by the dramatic and vaguely horrifying transformation. She lets go of him and staggers back, her wide eyes reflecting the blue flame. "Mr. Stuart... Mr. Stuart!! Are you alright?!" A few minutes ago she wasn't sure she cared about him at all, but seeing someone's skull on fire tends to engender concern. She still seems lost for words while watching his gunplay. But inattentiveness doesn't imply vulnerability, as Jack soon discovers. He lunges for her, and when she turns around, her right arm is bleaching sickly white from the fingertips to the elbows. Dark sickly veins pulse under the surface. It almost looks like- A pulse of curdled time emanates from her palm. The Ripper's arms caught in it rot, soften, wither, or atrophy, whatever is appropriate for the shadow-stuff it's made of. The sleek metal of the school rusts within the affected cone; screens and neon lights flicker, crack, and go dark. "I'm a little sad, Mr. Jack. You hate the right people, mostly. I hoped I could get through to you after we beat you up. But it's all for the wrong reasons. If you're going to hate, it has to be purer than this." With the limbs so embrittled and rotted, it only takes her a simple strike apiece to threaten to rupture them like overripe watermelons. Soon he won't have a leg to stand on.
Caelan Stuart	"'Mutiny?' Hah, as if we ever worked for you. You don't sign my paychecks, kid. And if I have my way, you never will." The language is not necessarily chilling on its own, but combined with the fact that he's pointing /guns/ at said kid, it's a little... different. But before he can do anything about that, the fact remains that there's a horrible thing with too many teeth chomping at him. Caelan clicks his teeth and darts back, his Persona leveling its rifle at the incoming charge and firing a scattershot burst of buckshot to knock it off balance at the critical moment. He lands and staggers, breaths coming hard. Even after Awakening, he's still feeling the fatigue of... /everything./ All of this. But Caelan isn't done yet. "You're the master of nowhere and nowhen. Maybe if you were anything other than some kind of superficial, power hungry fool-- then, maybe. But you screwed up." Freischutz's orbital bullets rematerialize-- and instantly go into motion, each one lancing out to slam into one of the Ripper's wrists, before twisting to pin each limb to another, and then to the ground. "First, you got it in your head that you have what it takes to rule the world. Fact is, you don't have the grit. If a little competition to your daddy's business is all it takes to knock you straight into murdertown, then you're nothing but a scrub!" Caelan takes aim. The Freeshooter joins him, lining up back to back, gun to gun. "Second, you got reckless. That chip on your shoulder about needing to be on top of the world got you moving too quick. You got sloppy, and when we started figuring you out, you got scared." "But third, and most importantly..." "You /laid hands on my little girl./" Caelan finishes, his voice a thunderous growl. "FREIKUGEL!" The Freeshoter's single eye blazes with a baleful glow. Both Persona and user fire simultaneously, weapons discharging bolts of azure light that spiral together and merge into a single, devastating column of power-- Aimed straight at the shadow's center of mass.
Charlotte Newman	John punches up while the Man in the Iron Mask punches down; smashing the ragged torso of the Ripper between them. Several things crack and snap loudly, a splintering noise like shattered planks that renders several arms inert and gets the Tyrant writhing. He seems to be pinned between John and his Persona, rendering him an easier target. The limp Kukuru is presumed dead and he casts her aside to free up remaining limbs, discarding the lady into waist-high fluorescent fog as he whirls his attention on Rita and Caelan. His bite is fouled by a blast of shotgun pellets and he roars wordlessly, unable to pursue. Limbs thrash as they atrophy, some even snapping under their own weight as they grow more brittle, and are easily broken by Rita's attentions. Stanley descends, his sword and Mercutio's carving into the Ripper's outstretched neck. It's not quite enough to go all the way through-- which is more than enough for Caelan and Freischutz to finish the job. That beam smashes through the Ripper's distended smile, shooting down its neck, vaporizing what connective tissue remains. The Ripper's head drops forward, separated from its embrittled, thrashing body. As it squirms, it begins dissolving like the Shadow it fundamentally is. The weight John supports grows lighter and lighter until, as the last of Jack the Ripper fades away, he holds the clearly unconscious schoolboy in his school uniform. Almost immediately, the fog begins clearing on its own, until a depression can be found where the Ripper was initially rooted. Dimly glowing bars of Argon flicker and fade, resulting in an opening in the floor where he had shoved that cage from earlier.
John Doe	John holds the weight of the Tyrant until it fades into the form of the boy. He holds him there for a moment, deciding what to do with him. Shrugging, he slumps him over a shoulder and moves towards Kukuru. Assuming she does not get up he puts her over the other shoulder. "Well, it isn't exactly what I said I'd steal...but it works well enough." With that, John opens a portal out of the Reversal, aiming to take both to a Concord hospital. One to heal, one to be...asked a series of important questions. It won't be pleasant.
Caelan Stuart	The Ripper is ripped apart. The fog fades. Caelan's head immediately jerks towards a peculiar depression in the ground. An opening in the floor, right where the cage had been a minute ago. A short conversation is had, but there's no stopping Caelan from what he's going to do. He has a hole to jump down into, a cage to pop open, and a daughter to hug for a very, very long time.
Rita Ma	Rescuing the girl, now, is something Rita feels comfortable leaving to the locals. Instead she hurries over to Kukuru, lying on the floor, and retrieves the medical supplies she'd just been using on Caelan as John scoops up the tyrant. "Ms. Kukuru? Ms. Kukuru!!" Her heart is racing for more than one reason. She wracks her brains, trying to remember what the worst injury she's seen Kukuru recover from. How sure is she that her friend isn't irrevocably hurt? Eighty percent? Ninety? ... Pretty close to a hundred, now that she thinks about it. But worry isn't a rational thing. Even so, if she's going to get better, then there's no harm in just . . . John approaches to pick Kukuru up. Rita startles at the sound of his footsteps and turns around suddenly. Her finger's in her mouth. She looks exactly like he caught her with her hand in the cookie jar. "Oh!! Um!! I think she's going to be okay, Mr. John! I was just making sure, you know!" Rita seems distinctly relieved when they both leave.
Kukuru	Luckily for Kukuru, she catches a break when she's tossed into the ominous fog. It gives her plenty of time to lay there and remain half/clinically dead while her wounds knit themselves back together, although the blood loss is still very much a thing since her healing doesn't quite extend to putting all of that back into her. No, she'll have to settle for just the wounds closing back up to keep what's left still inside her, and... Well, at least it's comfortable enough to just float in that fog. She can see the larger shape in the distance falling apart, some vague things that sound like words hitting her ears (wherever they are), and a warm feeling on her hand. It's almost comforting, and she makes a low, comforted noise that could easily be mistaken for her actually stirring, but she's still quickly losing consciousness. By the time the fog itself starts to clear and someone or something starts to carry her off, she's not even able to keep her eyes open. At least the recovery will be relatively easy by the time John brings her back. All she'll need is a lot of blood put back into her.
Stanley Padgett	And all of that leaves Stanley, sitting cross legged on the stone floor of the Reversal, all of that energy seeping out of him. The Brave Fencer form slips into pixels, and then it's just regular old Stanley, shakily getting up to his feet, and looking around as people peel off. "...right. I'll just go... check on Charlotte." He shuffles out his phone, and then tears off a bus ticket for Rita. Who is still here, at least. "...Here you go, to get home. Delilah will make sure you get where you need to go."
Rita Ma	Rita takes the ticket in her left hand, still keeping her right behind her back after having been caught literally red-handed. "Oh! Thank you, Mr. Stanley." She still looks overwhelmingly relieved that John didn't interrogate her further. Then, thoughtfully: "Even if I live in space? ... Well, I believe you. Thanks again. You'll be alright too, won't you?" And then she's out.