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Owner	Pose
Stanley Padgett	WELCOME TO THE SWOLE ZONE! reads the sign on the back wall of East Lampport Gym. It's not a fancy place, that's for sure, but they let Stanley in, despite the rumors surrounding the kid. This place doesn't have a lot of open Elites, and it's hard for Stanley to get served in some places, as he gets more well known. Part of that is his fault, for sure. He's a nice boy, but trouble follows him. Like here. Those arriving will find the area swarming with Shadows. The creatures come in a multitude of shapes, sizes and degrees of familiarity to living beings on this side of the Veil, but they all uniformly have a digital face of some sort. A simple emoji, in a frame of glass and neon and wires that sway and swish as they move. There are scattered injuries on the scene, as well, as some of the patrons of the place either were overwhelmed by the Shadows, or hurt themselves trying to get away. In the glass panes of the gym, stands a man in heavy grey coveralls. At least it's shaped like a man. But the man has no face. Where there ought to be a face, there's a similar mask to the Shadows that surround him, that switches in simple emojis as he talks. "I know you're in here, kiddo. I need you to come out and talk to me, alright? We can work things out, but if you don't, there's going to be some issues, got it?" Stanley is not coming out.
Stanley Padgett	No one looks obviously dead on first arrival, at least. Some of the casualties are moving.
Caelan Stuart	There is another man who seems /far/ too chill considering the chaos unfolding all around him. He wears a somewhat detective-like outfit, complete with duster-coat, overtop... workout clothes. Just, straight up a tank top and gym shorts. He wears crew socks and sneakers. This man is A Dad. And he is not running and hiding from the shadows. Instead he pulls a badge and a gun from his coat (which he may have just thrown on moments ago specifically so everything would be where he remembers them being). "Whoever you are, identify yourself immediately," Caelan demands, "You're under arrest for vandalization, assault, and anything else I can pin on someone bringing a horde of monsters into a public place. Stand down immediately, surrender your weapons, and you will not be harmed."
Kukuru	It's time to get fit! Kukuru's been telling herself repeatedly that it probably wouldn't hurt to get a little cardio in, and today provides the perfect excuse to show up! With Stanley mentioning Shadows and some weird guy showing up, she's actually fairly late in arriving, and it takes quite a bit before she finally lands on the roof after looking up its address on B*ng Maps. Getting inside is marginally faster, thanks to teleporting through ominous dark clouds that appear on the roof and inside the gym, spitting her out with a swirl of crackling energy not unlike that of some sort of demonic general. She doesn't look anything like a demonic general, though, but more like someone's mom coming to do yoga or something between having her hair tied up in a braid draping over her shoulder and wearing a jogging-appropriate track jacket and pants combo (magenta). She's still wearing flip flops, though, so that might make running kind of hard. "Now, now, Cae-lan. Maybe they're just being misunderstood 'cause they're scary. I know how that can be, so..." Smiling her usual bright and vacant-minded smile, she approaches the Shadows and the emoji-masked man with her head in the clouds and covering her mouth as she yawns. "Hmmrghm... He-llo there. Humans can get pretty scared if you head towards them like that. You should try being a little more gentle about it. Maybe I could pass him a message?"
Charlotte Newman	While Stanley's busy running off a sugar high resulting from eating six months worth of candy in six hours, Charlotte has-- not been in the gym. Rather, she's at Beanie's across the street. It's the East-side Beanies and not the Good Beanies. But they do still have free wifi for customers. She boredly browses Tweeter posts up until a strange individual with an emoticon face shows up across the street, lowering her phone briefly to stare over it a bit. When Shadows start pulling themselves into this side of reality, though, the girl quickly finishes her frappeccino and stands up. She hestitates, being out in the open like this, glancing at other patrons. After a moment to steel her nerves-- she has gone public about this, after all-- the girl taps the app on her phone and vanishes into a cloud of glitchy pixels. A few moments later, a similar glitchy distortion tears itself open a few meters from where Stanley's standing. Charlotte slides out of the Reversal there, tucking her phone away. Her hand moves to the bat hanging off her purse strap, but hasn't yet drawn it out. Instead, she asks her comrade, "Miss Kukuru and Mister Stuart are here too. So are we fighting this clown, or do you think he'll let himself be arrested like a good crook? If he resists, I don't think we'll get away with playing 'Normal' this time."
Seras Victoria	Operating on very limited information, Chevalier Victoria has quickly gathered up some hopefully-useful equipment and deployed rapidly to the area. It's not hard to locate the area once she's within a block or so... the smell of blood grows stronger and stronger the closer she gets. Her approach can be heard before it's seen. A stampede of heavy booted footsteps, far too fast, and the thunk-thunk-whunk of her gear bouncing and swaying. Then, the short-haired blonde speeds into view 'round the bend, dressed in a bright yellow uniform. Crouched low, she's bleeding off her momentum by skidding the rest of the way, soles of her boots and one heavy glove weathering the rough pavement. When the young lady finally comes to a stop through the door, it's about ten feet from Caelan Stuart, the SURPRISING ARMORY she's brought clunk-thunking again. Indeed, dangling behind her, held in place by a few mighty straps, is a blocky weapon case that's LONGER THAN SHE IS TALL. Above it is a mighty rifle that's only SLIGHTLY SHORTER than she is tall, with a barrel as thick as a man's arm. Her belt also sports several holstered handguns and what looks to be a short club. The young woman's eyes rapidly swivel this way and that, taking in the many sights. The bizarre creatures. The pain and misery they've inflicted and the civilians still trying to crawl away. And, most of all, that man. Well, that thing that MIGHT be a man, anyways. So she turns briefly to Caelan Stuart. "This... isn't at all what I was expecting when I heard 'Shadows.' But whatever it is... it's gone TOO FAR."
Captain Hook	There may not be many open Elites in this town, but that's really never stopped Captain William Hook from dressing like Captain William Hook. From his fancy ruffled shirt and pirate hat to his hook-hand and eyepatch to his open flintlock and cutlass, Captain Hook is a man whose mere existence exudes 'this doesn't belong here.' He stands out. He tries to stand out. His coat flows behind him like a cape, worn as it is upon his shoulders, as he walks. He hadn't really been on his way here or anything so much as he'd thought 'it's high time I catch up with Mr. Padgett' and then looked at the Map With The X On It to find out where he was. From there he'd just followed the map. Into the mess of Shadows. Hook flips out his cutlass and leans on it thoughtfully as he observes the swarming little beasties. Unsightly, and quite a few of them. Again he produces the Map with the X On It, unrolls it, and glances at it. Yes, that's quite clearly inside. Isn't that interesting. With no other especial instructions and no particular idea of what else to do, and with his objective of 'go see how Mr. Padgett is doing' clearly charted, Hook simply picks up his cutlass and rams it directly through one of the Shadows' heads with a cheerful whistle. His flintlock he spins into his hook hand and then, with great purpose of forethought, fires into one of the windows of the gym, aimed such that it will hit the roof and no one else.
Stanley Padgett	For his part, Stanley is still behind a wall of weights, his now faded grey hair slick with sweat. "Hey, guy, I don't know who you are, but like.... I'm not supposed to go home with Srangers, and you're plenty strange!" A dad laugh from the Man Thing. Oh, that's good, buddy!" There's a faint dusting of snow coming off the rooftops nearby, streetlights catching on the flakes as the man-thing turns its gaze onto the arriving Elites, and the face-screen smiles. "Oh! Good! I was hoping some of you would come along. Gives us a chance to test things out." The green and aqua face flickers again, as Caelan draws his gun and badge, and the head of the man twists a bit. "And... you can call me Mr. Clean. It's not TERRIBLY original, I know, but well, it's what I'm working with while I'm like this." The Shadows that were milling about over the bodies that were tossed into the street and sidewalk, start to shift and swarm over the Elites, a squad of dog like ones charging at Caelan and Seras. A sweeping pass from overhead though, and a larger critter shaped vaguely like a pair of dancers intertwined starts to spin in place and launch fireballs at Hook. Artillery ahoy, Cap'n! Kukuru gets a wider berth from the Shadows, before two pawn-shaped critters sweep in to try and slash and claw at the MOM with scrabbly fingers and talons. The appearance of Miss Newman gets a cheery wave. "Oh! Hello, Missy. I'm supposed to bring you in too, if I can, but I only have... so many hands." And then he's got six of them, all holding canes, and they all clack against the broken glass at the same time. The face turns and smiles, and the color shifts to a sickly green. "And the hands have to stay Clean." Stanley sighs.... and then loops over the wall, flashing into his Fencer form, and running a Shadow through with a slash of his rapier. "Your jokes are lousy." Stanley and Charlotte get a sigh of 'this is for your own good', before the man stamps all of his canes in succession, blasting Almighty energy into the gym. "M E G I D O."
Kukuru	"Fighting? No, no, they're just... Wait. Are we?" Kukuru looks from Charlotte to the Shadows, then lets out a confused noise when Hook goes for the one of the the Shadows right from the start. "Aw, Captain. I thought we could-" Distracted as she is, she doesn't notice the Shadows swiping at her until she's already got When the Shadows swipe at her, though, Kukuru finally realizes that the Shadows aren't as friendly as she had hoped when she takes a nasty-looking cut across her side from the pawn-shaped Shadows. It stops bleeding faster than such a wound normally should, but the shock is enough to get her changing gears relatively quickly (for her). "Mmn... Hey! Cut that out!" Grabbing the nearest one, she hurls it backwards conveniently in the path of Seras' mess of weapons, then grabs the next while looking over at Mr. Clean again. "If you're not going to behave... You're going to have to be punished." As that burst of magic power rages towards her, she brings up that creature as a living shield in front of herself while advancing on Mr. Clean. She moves at a rather languid pace, too, conserving her energy in that approach. By the time the Shadow in her hand gets tossed aside from weathering the burst, she's reached the man, and she grabs for two of those arms before pulling in opposite directions. No finesse, just brute strength this time. "Stop being bad, or we'll have you hurt you really bad. Nobody wants that, you know?"
Stanley Padgett	Stanley yelps, and scatters as best he can with the Megido blasts launching all over the Gym, which pulverizes the place, the remaining equipment melting into twisted scrap metal. Several times it looks like the kid has eaten a blast fully in the face, but the 'Stanley' that was there simply dissipates, and a different Stanley takes its place, clearly the REAL Stanley the whole time. "MEGIDO? SERIOUSLY?" This is a big deal to the Persona-kid, who calls out. "This guy isn't a slouch, he's got something backing him up!" The young man is on the edges though, skewering individual Shadows, trying to clear a path for the rest of the team.
Caelan Stuart	"This isn't supposed to be out here. They're supposed to be contained to... somewhere else," Caelan tells Seras as the shadows charge. "Clearly, things have escalated. The puppetmasters aren't content to sit behind the scenes anymore." Dogs! Even if they ARE shadows, it's kind of hard to shoot things that have a vaguely dog-like profile. It's a psychological hurdle that costs Caelan in the instant that he hesitates. With a grunt, he smacks the shadow away, but not before it sinks its claws into his arm. "Looks like I'm adding Resisting Arrest to the list of charges," Caelan mutters-- And then everything explodes. "Shhhit--" Caelan ducks behind an exercise machine just in time, the blast-wave washing over the space he had just occupied and setting his coat aflutter in the aftermath. "That was magic...? 'Megido,' huh." He leans out of cover, finger squeezing the trigger of his perfectly ordinary cop handgun once, twice, three times. Each time, the bullets, traveling at the speed of a... speeding bullet, arc subtly through the air just enough to change their trajectory, but-- --In this case, they're all three going for the same places. Square into the throats of each of the swarming shadow-dogs.
Charlotte Newman	The first thing Charlotte notices, having seen their opponent from this side, is that he is clearly a Creep. He mentions something about 'collecting' her, which immediately sets the girl on edge. She unfastenes her bat and brings it up into a ready posture. "Megido..!?" she blurts out when he calls out the spell he's firing. Stanley's already dashed forward right into it. With him out of range, she braces her weapon with both hands. The girl's silhouette distorts, shedding off the Living Statue Galatea into a separate being-- "Persona..!" Writhing in chains, Galatea's free hands are raised up, projecting a flat barrier like interlocking bricks immediately in front of Charlotte's braced posture, "Rakukaja--!" and it is against this that the blast of Almighty light slams into. The shield cracks and fractures on the edges, but remains standing as the light fades. She sweeps her weapon back, dispersing the wall in the same gesture, "You've got a lot of nerve. Couldn't even have the decency to fight on the other side where people wouldn't get hurt?" Beside and above her, Galatea sweeps her arms into a readied posture, chain-bound legs curling up at the knees. "No point trying to talk sense, though..." she mutters in a lower tone. She sweeps her bat back and then forward, pointing with it. Galatea twists, thrusting a manacled arm forward with fingers spread, "Bufula!" Blue-tinged light manifests in multiple points above the Smiling Man, converging into a point directly above his head; crystallizing into an icy stalactite to drop on him in a modest explosion of frosty magic.
Captain Hook	Neither fireball nor explosion can touch Captain William Hook. It's fascinating to watch. His cutlass snaps up to cleave an incoming fireball in half. It lands around him, the explosion ruffling his hair and making his cape flow. His flintlock comes up to fire into another one. It explodes in the hands of the Shadow casting it. Not one fireball finds purchase, not one. What does find some purchase is the sudden divot in terrain as Hook is forced to step back from the assault. All the fireballs in the world can't touch him but the second anyone has closed into melee with him he's a great deal more vulnerable. The dancer's spinning catches him and sends him skidding to the side. He's not superhuman. He can't take blows casually - and the good hit he did take was enough to draw blood from his mouth. As the Captain stands he works his jaw thoughtfully, cutlass still batting away other incoming ranged attacks. "Blast," he says, "Almost broke it, you did. Most unfriendly." Then comes the Megido. Hook kicks the dancer forward into the blast and goes diving in himself after it. As the dancer is being consumed the blade is coming down and carves directly through the attack. From the outside the result is spectacular. It's as if Hook parted the sea. The explosion flows around him harmlessly, obliterating the Shadows diagonally behind and beside him. When the explosion clears Hook is left standing on a single bit of unscorched road, surrounded by the destructive marks of Megido's aftermath. He twirls his flintlock in his hook hand. "I wonder. What was your wish? Was it nice and potent?" "I've need of more." He flicks the flintlock up. "I do hope yours is worth my time." He fires directly at the cane. Each shot is precise despite the bizzareness with which it's delivered - the hook tugging back on the trigger, scooping into a pouch of black powder at his side, the whole nine yards of nonsense no-hand no-thumb reloading a flintlock. Each shot is aimed at the same place on the cane. Repeating damage. Repeating stress. Repeating strain.
Seras Victoria	Seras feels the approach of Captain Hook long before she sees him. A shudder runs up her spine and she feels the need to look over shoulder and follow his march into the Gym, her jaw dropping... leaving her vampire fangs on plain display. "Is... he... a pirate...?" That's no Halloween costume. The getup looks pretty authentic. The hook hand is DEFINITELY not some silly plastic fake. Mystified by the man who seems to have a similar ability to command immediate attention on entrance as her master, she's briefly entranced. Listening to events, but unable to look away. She only snaps out of it when he suddenly bursts into violence. That gets her whipping her rifle out in front and swinging it up into a proper grip and flicking off the safety. And just in time, too! The monsters swarm. There's no time for her to be indecisive or hesitate. One startled gasp later, and Seras's blue eyes narrow, irises then shrinking a bit and beginning to glow an ominous, hellish crimson. "Bring it, monsters." After facing hundreds of ghouls, she's not too worried about these strange creatures. As they close in before she can get off a shot and begin to swipe, bite, and tackle, the uniformed youth ducks, swerves, and deflects several blows using her weapon. Despite all of that, one of the bigger ones manages to successful tackle her and the two of them go tumbling in a clatter while smaller ones set to biting. In all honesty, she probably doesn't taste very good. And Seras isn't inclined to let them get much of one, anyways. Displaying startling coordination, Seras ends the tumbling by bracing herself against the Harkonnen case with one hand, finding a moment where she can then attempt to pin her main assailant with a well-placed stomp and then attempt to blow its head to smithereens by handling that huge rifle with just a single hand, somehow, pointing it straight down and jamming it into its maw, if it can be thus wrangled. And depending on how well that one can be dealt with, she'll opportunistically start opening fire on its comrades in short semi-automatic bursts, easily absorbing the recoil from each one. Burst fire of 13.7mm. Yeah, anti-tank rounds. This weapon REALLY ought to be mounted on something. "Through the looking glass? Of a nightmare hall of mirrors?" Seras sarcastically hazards a guess at what Caelan might've meant by 'somewhere else.' Then, she's nearly blown off her feet by the edges of a massive explosion. In what must be pure reflex, Seras reaches out with her empty hand and CATCHES a 25kg weight the blast sent flying as if it weighs nothing and wasn't traveling at explosive speeds. And she promptly swings it around to bludgeon one of the other DOGGOS.
Stanley Padgett	Charlotte gets a response right away. "If we fought on the other side, people would still get hurt. Just, you know, not these people." Mr. Clean's digital smile widens as the attacks start to come in... Hook's derring-do gets a whistle from the man, the digital noise warbling in the air. "Oh, say! YOU'RE the one that just... stole an entire Instance. That's quite impressive, though, I have to say..." The shots start to fly in on the cane, and the digital face twitches. "I DO hope we can make a duel of this some time." He instead lifts up the cane, swatting at several of those shots, letting the flintlock pelt into his frame. There's a dull ringing sound each time an attack strikes the man, actually. But not like... on armor. It's more like the Tolling of A Bell. "But really, Miss Newman~ With what you and Stan have been up to, is it any surprise that someone wouldn't be doing this?" Ice crystals start to smash into Mr. Clean, and the hands come up to simply tank the hits. There's a LOT of tanking going on here, actually. This man, whoever he is, is VERY sturdy. His Wish must have been pretty solid. Several of those ghostly hands start to toss shadowy bolts of energy at Charlotte, flashes of the man's Tyrant showing through finally. Something... Angelic? No, that can't be right. An Anti tank round plasters Shadows, and then Seras is sweeping more of the minions away with her wide swipes and SWOLE BASED IMPROVISED WEAPONRY. "This is your first time here, Miss? Welcome to Steelport! Lampport! One of the two, it doesn't matter, actually. I hope we can make your stay welcome!" Another round of Shadows spills out from dark places around the Gym, in the corners and from under the bodies in the street. This time... it's hands. Lots of hands, on long spindly daddy longlegs bodies made out of hands. Digitial screens wobble haphazardly underneath, trying to reach and grab and pull and wrench at Seras. But Also Caelan, the two officers handling the exterior of the facility... pretty well, actually. "Detective Caelan, how IS your daughter doing?" Mr. Clean knows EXACTLY what he's doing here. Kukuru, though. She gets in CLOSE. Right inside of the man's circle, and starts grabbing at him. Mr. Clean's face twists as she simply.... removes two of the shadow arms, ripping them completely out of the positions. They dissipate, but the effort reform them takes a moment. "...Hmmm. Hello, Miss Monster." The words aren't NEARLY as Jovial right now, as the man's foot comes up, and he starts to lay into Kukuru with some... quintuple jointed kickery. If it's not clear yet, this... whatever this form is.... is a Shadow too. Or something very similar to it. Stnaley, for his part, is running out to check on Seras and Caelan. "You two okay? I'll go see who I can find to- HURK." He's grabbed up by a trio of the Daddy Long Hands, and he snarls, slashing at them as best as he can with his rapier, before launching a- "TOXICRON." Mercutio appears, tall and massive, and blasts the exterior of the gym with a wave of noxious fumes, that... only seem to be burning the Shadows.
Caelan Stuart	There are few things that can drive a man to desperation like threatening his children. Caelan does not dignify the mysterious six-armed being with a response. "In the Reversal," Caelan answers Seras as he loads a fresh clip into his sidearm of choice. "Explain later. This one needs to go." But not before strange... hand... /things/ start pouring like liquid synthwave shadow into the world. Caelan hisses a curse, popping round after round into the swarm of grasping, clinging, clawing hands-- but there are too many. Too many for how he's limiting himself. They claw at his body, tearing bloody gashes into his flesh. "Well," he says with a grunt, "I suppose if you're all acting in the open now..." Caelan takes in a breath. ...And as he exhales, something materializes. A vaguely robotic, humanoid shape. Its chest is hollow, save for a slowly pulsing, white-blue orb like a will-o-the-wisp in the dark. Its face is a pane of shattered glass, bleeding light that refracts and glimmers like a neon lamp in a downpour. Its arm is a single, massive gun. Orbiting its frame are a sextet of small, glowing shapes-- bullets, rolling free through the air. "Freischutz. Wide-area attack." Caelan commands, and his Persona obliges. The Marksman levels its massive arm-cannon, bracing one hand against its midpoint. With a sound like thunder, it discharges, unleashing a bolt of energy that twists in a jagged line through the gym, darting between workout machines and over treadmills. Each time it turns, it acquires a new target, gunning down shadow after shadow, before finally turning toward the mysterious man of the hour himself...!
Kukuru	"Charlie's got a good point, but... Waaait a minute. If it's not these people getting hurt, who would get hurt over there?" Kukuru sounds genuinely confused at the answer Mr. Clean gives Charlotte, and it's another moment where she slows down even after taking those two arms off and tossing them aside. It's not like she could do much with those arms herself. "Monster...? Oh. That's what you're like, then." Kukuru's voice loses its usual airheaded giddyness and even that terse scolding tone from earlier. "Saying all kinds of mean things to people, saying what you know would hurt them the most, bringing up things that don't even matter just to see how much it'll make them angry..." Kukuru's tone is notably more muted than usual, perhaps even moderately upset as Mr. Clean starts throwing way too many incomprehensible kicks at her. Her mind isn't quite quick enough to understand how those joints are moving or how to even defend herself properly against it, especially with her head in such a state after what he's said to everyone else here. She just takes all those kicks coming at her head on, grunting each time he strikes her and leaves nasty bruises, but... None of them seem to be moving her. The wounds don't even seem to stick, either, as her healing nanites work in overdrive to patch her up each time. She raises her arms, then clamps them back down around an offending limb while locking her eyes square on Mr. Clean. "You don't have to be like this... You can still make up for what's happened, but you gotta apologize." Still holding that leg against herself, Kukuru pulls herself forward this time to get right up against Mr. Clean, then throws her arms around whatever counts as his torso and squeezes in hard. It'd almost look like a hug if it didn't also include enough strength to pulp a bear. "Come on. Be good, okay?"
Charlotte Newman	"Shadows are tougher than people," Charlotte hisses at Mr. Clean's remark, her voice low. Of course that goes for him as well. She shifts her footing, raising her free hand with another defensive call and brickwork barrier, "Rakukaja." The first few bolts hit the barrier with no apparent effect, though she strains from each hit. At one flinch, the brick-work shield cracks. Two more shatter the defense entirely and she lets out a shout of surprise. Bringing up her hands, she defends herself as her body is pelted with dark energy. Guard lowering just slightly, peering over her forearms, the girl mutters, "My other self..." Behind her, Galatea twists into a ready position, arms held out to either side. She shifts forward, thrusting a hand forward and clawing upwards. Beneath Mister Clean's feet, a spark of flame ignites, similar to the burning of a fuse. Leaning forward, Charlotte calls out, "Agidyne!" On the second syllable, that little spark erupts into a flaming explosion, scattering broken glass from earlier and cracking nearby, previously unthreatened windows. Somewhere down the street, a car alarm goes off.
Seras Victoria	"You call this a welcome?!" Seras Victoria is not exactly convinced. Her attention briefly swings this way and that, spotting the emerging Hand-monsters coming out of the nooks and crannies. She bites her lip at the sight, tensing. They don't look particularly tough, but... That's a lot of them. An awful lot. She's got a lot of bullets... but not THAT many. Her current weapons are ill-suited for this situation. Captain Hook's request jars her out of her thoughts. She responds with a brief moment of disbelief, then drops the rifle in favor of rapidly pulling the Harkonnen out of its case and slamming a round into the breach loader, snapping it shut and taking aim at him. "I.. really hope you know what you're getting into, Captain!" The young vampire exclaims, with a voice quivering with worry. She pulls the trigger, and the 30mm cannon BOOMS thunderously, unleashing a round straight at him! She doesn't have a lot of time to just look at whatever he's going to do though. A certain line strikes her ears... 'Detective Caelan, how IS your daughter doing?' Though they were meant for another, those words strike deep. Pick at a raw woujnd. Seras's face goes pale at first, head tilting forward and hair hiding her eyes in shadow. "No. NO. NO NO NO." When her head snaps upwards a moment later, she is glaring daggers at Mr. Clean, lips peeled back to reveal a grimace of ENTIRELY SHARP TEETH, ready to rip and tear. Her whole body shudders and shivers and she shrugs off the straps of her heavy weapons. Before they have even hit the floor with a thunderous WHUNK, likely before anyone can even blink, the Draculina leans forward and launches into a crazed charge, screaming bloody murder at the top of her lungs. "I WON'T ALLOW THAT TO HAPPEN AGAIN TO ANYONE! NEVER!!" The scream is raw, primal, echoing with something downright predatory. Anyone who could feel the intent to kill will surely do so from what moments before seemed to be a rather friendly and reasonable, even innocent young woman. An array of Hand monsters settle before her, closing in. She is upon them like a reaper, a great cat going for the kill. Her gloved hands swipe this way and that with motions unnatural for a human to make, tearing through the beasts with insane strength and speed. They are legion. They grab at her, pinch and punch. Bruise and batter. She evades the worst of it with uncanny leaps and spins, motions no human could hope to pull off. In a matter of seconds, the growling, howling, hissing monster those unwise words have unleashed clears over the hordes, knees bent and arms extended, hellish gaze leering down at Mr. Clean, monster to monster, framed by a veritable cloud of pixels slowly dissipating behind her. "NEEEEEEEEEEVER!!" Seras's gloved hand reaches out with lightning speed as she drops down at Mr. Clean, and if he isn't able to do something about this quickly... it probably isn't going to end well for him. If Seras can get a grip on him, she will do so by grabbing him BY THE HEAD and attempting to slam him into every table, workout machine, stack of weights, and other heavy obstacle in sight, ending with trying to smash him head-first into the floor REPEATEDLY.
Captain Hook	And now it's a battle of rebounds. Hook's own bullets come flying back at him more than once. And Hook proves, quite firmly, what has been true since first he was ever encountered upon the Multiversal stage: you can't kill Captain Hook from afar. He advances through the hail of his own attacks, his cutlass flashing and pinging as if it was a swordfight upon a dramatic stage. The aura of Dramatic Energy that flows around the man makes nearly everything seem like it's happening on a dramatic stage, but the motions he's making seem almost out of a staged swordfight between a swashbuckler and a wicked villain over the life of a damsel or somesuch. One leg forward, sweep the blade upwards, one leg forward, slash slash, all that sort of thing. He clears his path straight through without stopping his shots. Pressure does not let up. He's quite willing to bet that he is more resilient vis-a-vis ranged warfare than the other man. He closes, and he flashes his blade about, and the Captain's smile never wavers. "No, sir; I'm afraid you don't strike me as all that challenging, largely because you strike me as tremendously cowardly. I rather prefer my duels with people who show me their faces." "And, of course, the horde of allies, but two can play at that game." Seras fires. The sound is deafening. Hook steps forward directly into the other man's range, sweeps his hook forward to force the man backwards, and then- -the blade comes down. There's an explosion. When the smoke clears, Captain Hook remains untouched by the fire and force, merely whirling his cutlass in one hand.
Stanley Padgett	Everything comes to a halt for Mr. Clean, as Hook advances, and they get into a Spat of Parries. Back and forth they go, Mr. Clean's digital face shimmering with concentration, glowing harder and harder. Haha, you'll have to excuse me, I'm sure you understand the... difficulty in unmasking in these sorts of th-" KATHUNK. That artillery round slams into the Tyrant, and bits and pieces of Mr. Clean go flying. He's still standing in that same spot he started the fight in, though, unmoving. Not needing to move, Maybe? And then all hell breaks loose. The MANLY DUEL is interrupted by both Kukuru AND Seras going in for... well. Shadow-handling the man. In fact, it's a little weird. Kukuru and Seras.... both end up with a copy of Mr. Clean, it seems, as the creature is ripped in half... twice over. It manages to right itself pretty well, though on the second attempt, it takes a moment longer, and there's a distinct sensation in the air that something has changed about the creature. He tries to play things off by adjusting his tie several times, as Kukuru hugs one of him to death, and Seras goes tearassing around the Gym with him. But this is getting slightly worrisome, it seems. And THEN more artillery comes out. Charlotte shows off the power of Persona, as does Caelan, the Agidyne/Freischutz combo not only blasts a bunch of Shadows out of the area, but they also land REALLY solid hits on Clean. "HA HA!" He's laughing, but there's something more hollow, more tinny about the speech. "I can just get more Shadows here and..." And He can't. There's no more Shadows coming. Not with all the damage that's been done, and that... sickly green fog that now surrounds the Gym. "...Hrm." Clean's neck twists all the way around in an anxious motion, and then he raises up Too Many Arms again. Let's slow this down a bit, alright, everyone take a break." This time, it's a wave of painful, disruptive energy that lances out into the gym, noise and racket and Weaponized Bad Vibes. Everyone gets this one. Clean's gotta think.
Stanley Padgett	"That's real fuckin' cute. You really all care that much about Padgett? You DO realize if he goes away this can all just stop being a problem, right?" And from the mists of green fog surrounding the entire Gym, comes Stanley Padgett. Like a neon green streak, he LANCES out, the business end of his rapier aimed straight for Clean's heart. The boy's tenacity comes as a straight shot into the man's chest, his eyes shining bright in the dim lights that still operate. "...You're a monster, whoever you are. I really hope you understand that."
Kukuru	Letting go of the false Mr. Clean, Kukuru lets out a weary sigh as she sees him reappearing some else. More worryingly, she sees that fog floating around, and she can easily tell that it's not coming from Seras' artillery nor Hook's dramatically explosive slash. Charlotte's Persona isn't nearly fiery enough to do that sort of thing, either, and Caelan... She can't rule out Caelan being the source, especially with his Persona's arm cannon being as fancy looking as it is. "Hey, what's all that?" She finally asks while peering at the fog, eventually looking towards Mr. Clean as the most likely culprit. "Did you leave that there? I don't mind taking a little break to get that cleaned up first.." As if on cue, Kukuru yawns, and it's right when that energy blasts all around the gym. Caught off guard, she yelps in pain as the unnatural energy rolls right through her and has her staggering for a few moments. It's still more of a mental shock rather than actual pain, though, as the awful feeling clouds her mind for all of a moment before the odd technology in Kukuru's body neutralizes that as well. "That wasn't fair...! You're making it really hard to trust you, you know!" Kukuru shouts in another scolding tone as she grabs a treadmill, calculating absolutely nothing and just hurling it right at Mr. Clean from way across the gym. She seems to be taking a bit of a break herself, though, as she's quick to climb onto an exercise bike next just to take a breather.
Seras Victoria	It's best not to watch the beastly, feral, brutal beatdown Seras is giving to her torn-off chunk of Mr. Clean. She doesn't seem to have even noticed that he was split in two. As long as the one she has is squirming, moving, breathing, or giving any sign of being animate, she continues to smash it into everything around with great heaves and swings, not giving her captive much time to do... well... anything. Except for suffer. Perhaps, being able to absorb that much abuse without dying might be a curse, at times like this. The primal onslaught only ends when that strange magic blasts the whole place. She's caught in the blast, gives an agonized cry, and finally stumbles, collapsing across a workout machine (or, well, the pretzeled mess of one she, about seven seconds prior, was trying to tie into knots around Mr. Clean and choke him with. To no avail, it seems.) That also seems to have snapped her out of the rage. She rises to her feet slowly and steadily, leaning against the crumpled mess of the machine while no doubt trying to clear her head. "Uuuuuuuagh..." Seems the girl might have overdid it, just a wee bit. After a few more seconds to get her wits back, Seras long jumps across the jump and lands next to her fallen weaponry, scooping it up and rolling back up to her feet. Slinging the Harkonnen behind her she instead brandishes the more convenient 13.7mm again. "You come here, maul half the patrons with your nonsense-monsters, and think whoever's showing up only cares about the ONE PERSON -you- just happen to be targeting?" She all but spits the words out, filled with indignation. "WHAT even ARE you? Some kind of... evil... plasma... starfish-thing?" The last line, of course, doesn't sound nearly as principled or cohesive. She really has no freaking idea. ll, she's not going to wait for an answer, exactly, either. Instead, she takes a leap and lands on a still-standing table for a good firing angle to pelt Mr. Clean with an entire clip of RATATATATATATATATATATA.
Caelan Stuart	Bad vibes are bad vibes. This is something that Caelan cannot deny. For vibes that are bad have been a nigh constant companion in his life for much of the last year. But to see an old friend weaponized is always an uncomfortable thing. Caelan staggers as the wave of Bad Vibes washes over him, his footing suddenly unstable. Incomprehensible noise rattles around in his brain, synapses misfiring in ways that are well and truly uncomfortable. But... This being, this /thing/, whatever it is, threatened his daughter. And that is enough. The Freeshooter's aim is not something that can be thrown off by a little headache. It'd take much more complex manipulation to mislead its senses. "You won't touch him," Caelan snarls, "Or my daughter. Or anyone else. Whatever your game is, you won't have your way here. Give it up." The Freeshooter's form flickers and glitches-- but remains, even so. The muzzle of its cannon flashes. Another bolt lances out, but this time-- At the last, the moment before impact, it /bursts/ like a flak shell, shattering into a countless multitude of flechettes in a cone directly overtop of the would-be assassin-slash-kidnapper. Miraculously, each of those flechettes seem to bend out of the way of Stanley's attack. Almost as if they knew not to hit him...?
Charlotte Newman	"Blaming the person you're picking on doesn't do you any favors," Charlotte remarks, "What's stopping you people from just leaving us alone?" The terrible aura has its effect on her but does little to halt her mouth or dampen her spirit, even as her vitality wanes. "Galatea--!" the girl plants her foot forward and brings up her free hand. Behind her, Galatea brings up one hand and pushes the other downward, surrounding Charlotte's body with rings of red light for a second or two, "Tarukaja!" The rings subside and Charlotte grips her bat in both hands, "It's because whatever you're doing, you think that our very existence threatens you! That's so stupidly obvious!" She pushes off into a superhuman leap forward, bringing the bat up over her head and down her back. Drawing closer, the girl throws all of her weight into a single downward swing right at Mr. Clean's big stupid emoticon face.
Captain Hook	The weaponized Bad Vibes just...don't stick. Hook has lived through a depression deeper than anything a corporate lackey can inflict. The best this guy can even do is muss up his hair and coat a bit - and then only because of the splash around Hook. It tickles the back of his mind, calls up memories of That Awful Place, and gets his smile to twitch very slightly at the thought - and very little else. However, as flechettes and assaults are going about, and since the other man has decided to take a moment to think, Hook does the same. With the sort of flair for the dramatic as a man in a movie presenting a letter, he pulls out the rolled-up Map. He flicks it open as if reading a proclamation. He looks at it for a moment while attacks are flying around him. He snaps it closed with a flick of his wrist, disappears it back into his coat, and produces a treasure chest from nowhere. The chest is dropped onto the ground. With a light kick, the chest pops open. Hook pulls a shovel out of it. It snaps shut and vanishes back into his coat. As the attacks are still flying Hook simply walks over to the man, strikes the ground directly beneath him, wedges the shovel in, and then stomps on it as hard as he can - which as it turns out is much, much harder than a normal man should be able to.
Stanley Padgett	Life is pain and suffering when you are unable to move out of the way of attacks. Because Hook figured it out. Clean seems to be... stuck in that spot. And he starts the cycle, simply wandering over, dodging out of the way of attacks, and... digging up Clean. The transgression is great, it would seem, and there's a fluttering of shadow energy that scatters out of the footprint of the Tyrant... and then it's freed to move. But that doesn't seem to help. Desperation now, as the energy comes unbound, it lashes out. Charlotte BONKS Clean, and it moves to wrap tendrils around her throat and THROW her into the busted glass and burnt carpet. "STAY PUT." Seras mag dumps into Clean, and it SCREAMS. It's not Clean's voice. Something feral, primal, and horribly bright holy light rains down on her from above. Kukuru's treadmill passes through Clean, smashing the Shadow, which catches the treadmill, smashes it in two, and then both halves get smashed directly into Hook and Kukuru, the spasming mass of darkness starting to get pixelly at the edges. Caelan fires that flak shell, and it rips through Clean's form, leaving it tattered. Clean reaches into the distance, and tries to rip straight through Caelan's chest at his heart. But Stanley got in close, and it tries to bodily engulf Young Mr. Padgett.
Seras Victoria	If there's one thing that Seras isn't well-experienced in defending against, it's magic. The blast of holy might catch her entirely flat-footed. Her flesh SIZZLES AND SMOKES where the light touches and she's forced to her knees in raw agony, trying to shield her face with an arm. The mess of her exposed skin that light makes is a grisly and highly unpleasant sight to behold. Bits and pieces of her flesh even burn clean to ash and fall off, leaving nasty-looking scars. One can only hope that those can eventually heal, or the Paladins can do something about it... As the barrage finally ends, Seras drops her rifle, which clatters off the table's edge and hits the ground out of reach. And, for about five seconds, it looks like that's that, she's got no more fight in her. "Khhhh...nnnnnggggggghhhhh..." But, that's not so. Though no doubt in extreme agony across her entire back and every limb, she grabs the Harkonnen in trembling limbs and pulls out a fresh shell, loading it. Her eyes are still burning a hellfire red, teeth clenched and grinding against the pain. "Back to nightmare land with you!" She cries, pulling the trigger. Another of those 30mm explosive shells is launched at Mr. Clean at every opportunity she can get without friendly fire. She just keeps pulling them out, reloading, and firing, even as her arms scream and several times she almost collapses. She's clearly not gonna be able to keep this up much longer. No wonder she's dumping her ENTIRE ARMORY on him!
Caelan Stuart	SHOT THROUGH THE HEART-- Or rather, grasped at the heart. Something has gone wwrong. Something has broke free. Something that threatens to tear out his still-beating heart from his chest. And to the monster's credit-- it nearly succeeds. Nearly. Claws buried an inch-deep into his chest, Caelan grasps desperately at the monstrous limb, fingers raw as he wrestles with the mass of darkness. Blood wells up around the monster's talons. It digs deeper, tearing muscle, scraping bone-- "Hhhh," Caelan exhales, his grip-- tightening, "Not-- this time. Not again. You get your grubby hands off of my boy!" As if holding the limb in place. As if refusing to let it go, to let it go /anywhere./ He squares his stance, braces himself against the floor, and looks the twisted emoji-man square in his pixelated, low-resolution eye. And roars: "Freikugel!" There's a sound like a thunderclap-- no, a gunshot. Freischutz has fired one more time, a single round races across the middle distance, aimed straight at the shadow-man's twisted limbs, tearing first through the pseudobody consuming Stanley. It angles up as it exits, the then back again, through again, back again, through again. Again and again and again, a singular shot the size of a cannonball transforms into a devastating, body-shredding barrage before finally being aimed square at the mystery man's own heart. Caelan Stuart's persona is Der Freischutz. Is it any surprise that it has a few magic bullets...?
Kukuru	Throwing things doesn't work quite as well as Kukuru would hope. When the Shadow brings the halved treadmill back at her, she doesn't really have much room to move from her seat on the exercise bike. Moving quickly clearly isn't her forte, and she only has enough time to pedal a few times as though that might actually get her out of the way. Naturally, it doesn't. The treadmill half smashes right into Kukuru, throwing her off the bike and through the ground behind her when she falls off! Except she's not actually falling through the ground, but a dark cloud that swallows her entirely and disappears in a crackle of dark energy. Moments later, a second cloud appears above Mr. Clean, dropping Kukuru right onto his position. She latches on, feeling as though she might start tearing him to shreds, and she doesn't. "I'm really disappointed. You called me a monster, but you're only using your powers to hurt people. We're supposed to be better than that." Instead of using anything resembling force against him, Kukuru maintains her gentle, but firm hold on the strange figure. As she closes her eyes, her nanites spread outside of her body instead of containing them all inside of her for so long. "It's tiring, isn't it? Trying to hurt everyone as much as they're hurting you is so... Empty. Who hurt you to make you act like this?" The nanite cloud expands further, washing over her companions to knit wounds together, to stem bleeding, and soothe the aches and pain in their bodies at least for a little while. Seras and Caelan get a particularly potent burst of it, too, even while Kukuru doesn't actually move from her spot on Mr. Clean's back at all to weigh him down with herself.
Charlotte Newman	Nothing quite so satisfying as a magically enhanced Clobbering, that's the thought that runs through Charlotte's mind in the instant she's smashed her bat into Mr. Clean's head. The vibration in her hands, the sound it makes on contact. She doesn't get much time to enjoy it. Shortly after impact, before she's even touched the ground, the girl's snatched up by her throat. Immediately she draws her bat back one-handed, the other going for the tendrils ensnaring her, pulling on it, trying to reduce how much weight she's putting on herself with a strangled gasp. The Tyrant throws her, the gasp becoming an airless shout when she bounces off the floor. On the second hit, she rolls to a stop and picks herself up using her bat to support herself, fashionable outfit torn in places. Her exposed legs have cuts from all the glass as she stands up, ignoring them. "I will not stay put," she growls, bringing her bat up again, "Because by your response, I'm guessing I was right." The bat is spun around to present its pommel above her hand and she holds her free hand above it. Eyes closing, the girl adds, "Now that just makes me want to actually try to stop you. Come forth, my other self..!" Galatea once again manifests from behind the girl. Twisting herself in the chains, the mechanical-themed Persona lifts her left hand skyward, fingers curled inward to expose the cannon mounted on the forearm. With a heavy, sharp report, the Persona fires a pale glowing orb in a parabolic arc. This clearly misses Mister Clean-- sailing over him and suddenly bursting in the air above him with Almighty power. "M E G I D O !"
Stanley Padgett	Stanley is no more. What a shame. He used to be here, but now all that remains is a cloud of shadowy nothingness in the shape of Stanley. Sure, he will be missed. Actually no. No that's not Stanley. Stanley is... elsewhere. About three feet to the right, elsewhere, looking harried and blackened, shadow pixels wafing from the edges of his outfit, his hair smouldering at the ends. That'll have to get fixed. "I gotta agree with Kukuru. Who are you and what happened to you?" He flits back behind Caelan, and then Seras and then... alongside Hook. "On your left, sir!" He takes one, two steps, and then spins and- He's covered the entirety of the gym in a single step. There's a simple neon blur, a flash of steel, and he ends up somewhere in the parking lot, having run Mr. Clean all the way through.
Captain Hook	Hook, having accomplished everything he needed to... ...proceeds to do nothing. Instead, he puts the shovel back in the treasure chest, steps back, and draws his blade enough to avoid being completely obliterated by the treadmill. It is, however, still a cutlass, and not an anime katana that can cut through six layers of folded steel, and so he is flung backwards by the impact and hits the wall with a thump. It's minor, but it's something. However... Hook sheathes his blade, dusts off his shoulders, dusts off his hat, and continues to do nothing. He feels completely obligated to make life as difficult for the cop as possible.
Stanley Padgett	There is literally no where to go or hide for Mr. Clean. The Ghastly presence is skewered and shot and laughed at and shot some more, and NUKED and- and as the light from the Megido clears, and the smoke clears... On the ground in the wreckage where the creature stood is a cell phone. The screen is cracked, the case is scorched and smoking... but it's very clearly running a copy of The Reversal. There is a guest account logged into the device, and the phone is smoulderingly hot to the touch. It is not Stanley's phone.
Seras Victoria	As the smoke clears and Mr. Clean appears to have been turned into nothing more than dust and... a smoldering cell phone? Odd. But it's the sort of odd that just Seras stare bewilderedly for a few moments... then collapse down to her knees. If it wasn't for the strange refreshing feeling she got from whatever Kukuru did (those nanites seem to have smoothed out some of the nastiest parts of the burns and reduced the pain significantly) then she might not have been able to get off all of those shots. But getting smacked with HOLY BLAST is gonna have her in misery for a while. "F... finally. It's.. over. It better be over... Please tell me that thing's not going to get up and try to eat anyone?" She can only look at this way and that at the natives for confirmation.
Kukuru	Kukuru holds onto Mr. Clean as long as she can while all those attacks come swarming in. She waits until the last moment to finally let go and teleport herself a good several yards away, landing in a low squat to watch as the figure is seemingly destroyed. With only the cell phone left around in the aftermath, she drags herself over to it with a tired yawn while looking none the worse for the whole fight (aside from her jacket and pants being a bit messed up). "It's overrr! I think. That phone, though..." Letting her curiosity get the better of her, Kukuru picks it up and holds it to her face. "He-lloooo?" She asks, perhaps speaking to nobody in particular, then quickly setting it back down once the heat on her hand catches up with her brain enough to tell her to let go of the thing. "Ow, ow... Oh, be careful. That's super hot right now." Only then does she finally take a seat right there, letting those nanites flow more freely as she waves at everyone to try and round them up for more of that weird healing juice floating all around her. "Come on, kids and Captain and Officer. It'll be easier to fix you up if you're closer! And maybe we can even get a group call working with that."
Charlotte Newman	As the Megido's flare diminishes, Charlotte swings her bat around into a readied position once again, her shoulders rising and falling with heavy breaths. When it becomes clear that the Tyrant has departed, she relaxes her guard for a moment. Behind her, Galatea twists and then sinks into the girl's silhouette. She lowers her weapon and approaches with steady, cautious steps. She reaches forward, using the bat itself to bump at the damaged smartphone. Once she's satisfied that it won't explode or something, she crouches to pick it up. "The Reversal... I think he used this to escape," Charlotte remarks out loud for the benefit of others. With her other hand, she produces her own phone, "Stanley and I do the same thing, some of you have seen it before." With her thumb, she tabs out of the Reversal app on her own phone and starts up her Watch-custom Hacksoft app, just to see if there's anything she can extract from this-- or if it's just a blank burner phone.
Caelan Stuart	It's over. What an absolute nightmare. Caelan sags as Mister Clean vanishes into so many skittering shadows. Nanomachines repair his flesh, but he feels-- exhausted. Wielding the power of a Persona with such force can't not leave a person feeling drained. There's also a matter of blood loss, but that's... honestly tangential at this point. "That guy... who was he...?" Caelan grunts, sagging forward into Kukuru's healing aura-- right on top of a half-ruined workout bench. "Definitely working for the corps, but... which one? All of them...?" Too many questions. Not enough answers. And he feels so... tired. Ugh. These old bones...!
Stanley Padgett	Stanley wanders over towards the group... sans Hook, who is not here, because of course he's not. A sigh, as he holds out his hand to Seras. He's a tall, gangly thing, and as the magical uniform around him peels off into digital haze, he's wearing... workout clothes. A set of school gym clothes, to be precise. His usually vibrant hair is today a sweaty grey. "Hey. I'm Stan. Thanks a lot." He's have more, but, he sorta keeps shuffling over to Kukuru, and flops over in the haze of healing. "It wouldn't surprise me, actually, though to leave the phone behind... maybe it works differently for him?"