Scene #8650: Sky High

Owner	Pose
Hibiki Tachibana	Once more, it's time to pay a visit to Viviane, who seems to have completed whatever preparations were necessary to be made before the next step of dealing with the Bavarian Illuminati - or Yliaster's faction of it, at least. Joining the azure-haired homunculus once more today is Shinji Ogawa, who will be remembered as S.O.N.G.'s everyman liaison for this whole ordeal, going over a two dozen-strong stack of paperwork (again) while the former briefs those assembled. "Strictly speaking," she begins, as things begin getting to the Important Part. "While the Bavarian Illuminati was required to handle their operations within Japan with great care at risk of exposure, they do not need to exercise the same level of caution elsewhere. In our world, Europe as a whole has undergone drastic economic collapse over the last several decades. Governments powerless and in mass decline, crime unchecked..." As Viviane speaks, she turns a crimson crystal - one of the teleportation gems she had mentioned last time, able to access the Illuminati's travel network - over between her fingers, making impossibly minute adjustments to the runic etching on it with what seems to be a small needle, sparking on contact. "...corruption at large, and the flow of information in and out stymied. A 'dark continent' of sorts. And the ideal landscape for underground societies and organizations such as the Illuminati to conduct the bulk of their activities with far less reservation." "The United Nations has never made much progress when it came to turning the situation around there," Ogawa comments, glancing up. "But after speaking to Miss Viviane at length, there's no doubt the Illuminati's machinations have contributed greatly to that. I've been working on compiling a report to bring to them, using her knowledge and all of the previous encounters with them..." "...In large part, we plan to play this card to get the U.N. to intercede in the-- ...issues back in Japan, stopping us from providing more direct help to you all. If it goes how we expect, we should be able to get the leeway to be as hands-on as we'd have liked to be from the start, rather than needing to lean upon you all so much." "Although until that comes to fruition," Viviane says, her ever-flat tone laced with an apologetic twinge. "I must ask you all once again for your assistance in halting my creator's plot. I am sure he does not see my capture as any real hindrance to his plans...and I would prove that assumption wrong." The needle is set down, and a small projector device is thumbed - producing a scaled-down holographic display of what is still obviously a massive vessel, looking for all the world like it wouldn't be out of place as some sort of military spacecraft. Gunmetal grey, vaguely dagger-like in shape with a thick rear that tapers towards a smaller bow, and sharp angles all around. Towering structures extend from the underside, and numerous large-barreled turrets line its edges.
Hibiki Tachibana	"A gargantuan fusion of repurposed contemporary technology and alchemical arts, only avoiding detection even within the bounds of Europe by virtue of advanced stealth capabilities. Beyond acting as a method of conventional transport, and if ever necessary, an engine of overwhelming firepower...it is also a mobile storage depot, and is a cornerstone of the Illuminati's ongoing efforts to acquire and stockpile Relics from across the continent at their leisure." The homunculi's hand comes forward, the red crystal glinting in her palm. "I would like to request you decommission it." ... As far as the way to actually do that goes, Viviane implicitly trusts everyone enough to not need to do their planning for them; she's instead going to be in constant contact to offer directions and relevant information wherever she can, on top of the obvious providing of the means to circumvent the vast majority of the vessel's defenses outright. 'This is a fortress designed to keep their foes out. They are considerably less prepared for attacks from within.' Once in the bounds of the Symphogear's world, it's as easy as throwing the crystal to the ground, where it shatters into an intricate circle detailed with alchemic formulae mirroring what had been etched into it. It rapidly picks up in brightness before space abruptly distorts and warps around them in a blinding flash, the only shield against how disconcerting it is to be there one moment and somewhere else the next, the light dimming in seconds. Where the group has ended up seems to be some sort of loading bay, but in notably larger scale than any modern craft could ever be - a spacious and truly massive chamber of steel, ceiling high enough that it half-fades into darkness, dominated by a sizable central platform clearly intended to be lowered out of the ship when at rest for the purpose of boarding freight. The rumbling vibration of a ship in motion thrums under their feet, marking that they must've entered while it's in flight-- and a cursory glance at the surroundings shows the walls bear both standard-sized exits meant for humans, and towering accessways meant to move large amounts of cargo, with several hulking containers already occupying the room. Viviane did mention 'repurposed', so it's not difficult to guess that the layout was likely made for a traditional military force to work in. At a glance, it'd honestly be easy to think they were busting a mundane operation here, other than the fact that this clearly must be the teleportation point that's been set up on board. It's certainly a convenient in-and-out spot.
Hibiki Tachibana	...And if more than a few of said hulking containers weren't being moved not through machinery and raw force, but by individuals in the distinctive gold-lined black robes of the Bavarian Illuminati scattered in groups. Working together to move the objects, raised arms summon forth golden hexagons beneath them that lift them meters into the air to be slowly moved along down one of the accessways. Some form of metal or gravity manipulation, maybe? Whatever the case, it seems that the majority of them are too focused on their work to notice another group appearing within this oversized space - perhaps assuming it's simply yet another group coming in and out. That might even mean that handling this stealthily could be in the cards. Approximately two seconds after anyone might have had that thought run through their head, an alchemist scanning over some kind of ledger in their hands steps past the lot of them. "Where in the world is that guy to help get all of this moved in time...? He's always going on about saving time, but then when it's time for the menial labor part of it, woosh! Every single time, even though he'd be better at it than any of us! Up and gone like the wi...nd...?" He glances up towards everyone in passing while murmuring the woes of being on the bottom of the ladder to himself, goes back to what he's reading, and then slowly trails off and stops before double-taking back. Even with the upper half of his face obscured by his hood, his mouth falling open says enough. A beat passes. "...I-Intruders! We've got intruders on the ship!" It'll take a few seconds for heads to begin turning this way--but that's more than enough time for the Elites to get in an alpha strike. Unfortunately for them.
Ishirou	Once they are inside, they have a little time to plan. Ishirou's eyes already get to work, getting a feel for the design and the systems of the ship itself. They got a way in thanks to Viviane, which Ishirou thanks the Homonculous for. Right now, he's going to put the extra effort in. Already he pinpoints two ways for this to go down. "Alright, we have two ways to do this. The first is heading to the bridge inside of the ship. It's harder to get to and definitely well-defended. It'd be an uphill battle, but it'd give us more control on how we take the ship down before escaping... meaning we can guide it somewhere safe instead of having accidents with its landing..." "Second, would be exiting the ship and attacking the engines... which means we'll be dealing with the ship's defenses. It is also louder and might attract international attention... and we won't be able to control the ship if it goes down as easily. It's a bit riskier, but boy will it wake up the world..." "My suggestion is the first route, because..." he says right as one of the Alchemists finds them. He smiles, realizing something. "You guys really don't like technology much, do you?" he asks, smiling. Why? Because Ishirou turns the security systems on in the bay they are in, and sets the IFFs to view the group as friendly. This might cause just as much chaos as being found would. The first thing to start would be to start sealing doors out of the area, the second thing would be to activate electric turrets, each one containing an array of lethal and non-lethal armaments. He goes for the non-lethal, but heavy stuff first. Specifically, high-yield tasers, aiming to fire out at as many Alchemists as possible. Stunning some for people to help clean up, such as a few by Sougo, or some in front of Jeanne.
Angela	"I don't like this," Nikki says. "This skirt barely covers my ass." "Well," Rose says. "It's stronger so deal with it, Ex-Captain. You're lucky she was even still able to gift you the EGO Gear. That staff can hit all the damage types." Nikki miserably is stuck wearing her newly acquired In The Name Of Love And Hate EGO gear which is comprised of a staff with a star and wings at the end of it with a black heart in the center of that star--as well as a uniform that is nearly identical to the outfit that The Queen of Hatred used to wear. It's a very pink outfit. "Lady Angela's watching again." Tiphereth butts in from the tablet. "So don't complain or she'll give it to someone else." Viviane asks for assistance in foiling her creator's plan and Nikki says, "Yeah sure, no problem. Carol's still in recovery so it'll just be us today." They're just here to be muscle. LATER As the two mahou-flavored agents step into the loading bay, Nikki--the one with command experience--holds out her hand. "Let's get our bearings first." The ship is moving, that's the first thing she notices. And there's a whole bunch of containers moving about by ... people? ... That's not so unusual, but they're surely augmented. There's an alchemist scanning over a ledger and looking towards them. ''I-intruders! We've got intruders on the ship!'' "AH! SHIT! FUCK!" Nikki shouts before sending a magical energy blast flashing out right towards the alchemist who started shouting. "...Really pardner?" Rose says before drawing both her hammers. "You feel lucky, punks?" She asks of the alchemists before her.
Arcadia	'I would like to request you decommission it.' That phrasing brought a smirk to Arcadia's catgirl features, as if the sphinx had not already been brimming with anticipation. She barely could stand still during the briefing and that didn't apply to the constant flicking of her tail. An airship was right up her alley of expertise, alchemical or otherwise! Of course there was that bit of an issue with stealth capabilities. Which is probably the only reason she is here and not preparing to chase it down herself. So for the start of this massive operation she is joining the group in their hijacking of the enemy's teleportation network for their own use. That the other side of said teleportation deposits them within a huge loading bay winds that vigorous anticipation back up immeadiately though. "This is purrrfect." Her biomechanical wings spread out as she hovers off the deck. The magitek tron lines in her armor illuminate as her combat systems cycle up. She'll have plenty to give this intrusion even if it does take some time for her weaponry to fully escalate. Hyperglass visor manifests over the upper part of her face, sequencing in on the loading bay's doors and mechanisms. Ishirou provides some fast basic planning. But one of those suggestions is already along the same manner as Arcadia was considering. "Best of luck to you all. I am going to make sure they have plenty of other things to think about!" With that said she takes off towards the bay doors! At the same time her combat systems fully engage and she's firing ahead of herself with her arcane equivilent to cluster bombs, intent on blasting the doors, Illuminati alchemists, and as much damage as possible on her way out! Arcadia will blast her way outside to do what she does best in her element. Harass the defenses. Go after the engines. At best, she succeeds, at worst, she's forcing the enemy to divert their attention in multiple directions at once. It is at least as far as Arcadia gets for strategy, being more of an in your face on the fly intuition sort. That the airship is designed and armed to contend with external threats doesn't frighten her. If anything, Arcadia sees it as another challenge to prove why she is one of the best.
Timespace Riders	Of the Demon King and his retainer, Woz is the better by far at the art of stealth. Upon entering the loading bay, the retiner's eyes immediately take to scanning the surroundings for interruptions to natural sight lines. He smiles, satisfied, upon finding a particularly large crate yet to be lifted. His black ankle boot barely takes a step before misfortune strikes. ...I-Intruders! We've got intruders on the ship! Woz heaves a sigh, procuring a Miridewatch, and pressing the stop. Its face comes to life with a holographic projection of an armored fighter in silver, green and purple, announcing: SHINOBI! "It would have been wiser for you to remain silent," he says, before slotting the Miridewatch into his transformation belt, the sleek and futuristic Beyondriver. "Henshin," he says, as his palm closes the gate on the belt's side. Dare Ja? Ore Ja! NINJA! Futurering Shinobi! SHINOBI!! A lively tune full of koto, shamisen and deer-scare 'thunks' plays as a giant holographic smartwatch appears behind Woz. A laser grid rapidly prints armor onto his body--a silver bodysuit, with green trim. By the time his cuirass and helmet are printed, each sporting purple shuriken motifs (and resembling together the band and screen of a smartwatch) Woz has already introduced the haft of his touchscreen spear into the stomach of the offending mage. A swift hook kick is then delivered to the back to fully take them out of the fight, before Woz hurls a spread of explosive shuriken at the mages busy lifting cargo. "Henshin!" cries Sougo, a moment later, spinning his bulky white Timespace Driver. The knightly, symmetrical and analog watch themed Zi-O II armor sings its operatic tenor-bass duet. Zi-O summons two swords, like the minute and hour hands of a watch. Charging towards the mages working on the cargo, he opens up hot on the heels of Woz's shuriken with superpowered swings of each weapon and hard-hitting snap kicks for good measure, all of them creating polychromatic aftershocks of explosive temporal energy.
Ritsuka Fujimaru	Although it's been some time since the trio from Chaldea had last seen Viviane and Ogawa, their greetings are about as expected for the three. Ritsuka comes in with a casual wave, Mash shows up with a formal bow at the waist, and Jeanne barely even acknowledges their presence until after she takes a seat and just half-nods once. Listening to the recap helps recenter them on the task at hand, although there's a bit of whispering going on as they try to stay on the same page. They all stop once the visuals start coming up, though, with Jeanne actually bursting out in laughter when- 'I am sure he does not see my capture as any real hindrance to his plans...and I would prove that assumption wrong.' "Is that so? Good! Better that he knows that before we-" "Miss Viviane! Do you think there's a risk the facility is going to break up once we decommission?" "Oh, yeah. If it starts falling apart, we might have to do some tricky fortress piloting on the way!" Thankfully, there aren't any other outbursts from Jeanne and Ritsuka from the rest of the meeting. They're even cooperative when it comes to waiting for the crystal to shatter and for everyone to suddenly blink into existence in the loading bay, each one of them glancing around to get a better handle of the loading bay around them. The thought of trying stealth through this place strikes Mash, but before she can say anything about it, the alarm is sounded. Without waiting to see who else might get called or who's even turning, the trio get their spells hurled out and their weapons ready in a hurry. There's two more flashes of light, of course, with Mash donning her purple armor and bracing her shield against her shoulder while Jeanne's black armor materializes in a burst of flames along with her sword and flag. "Are we taking these guys alive?" "Understood. Using the back of the shield!" "Tch... Don't get so damn soft for these assholes!" Ritsuka and Mash appreciate Ishirou's drone being set to stun people instead of blast through them, at least, as Jeanne ends up having to actually change targets every now and then to not waste her efforts trying to stab or immolate someone that's already going down. Ritsuka, meanwhile, fires off painful magic bolts at those guarding the loading bay as Mash moves in to start swinging her massive shield around and even throwing it occasionally should someone try to escape the area to call reinforcements.
Dysnomia	"Stars. Look what they did to her...This was meant to sail the seas, not the skies. These relics must be keeping her airborne, somehow." She pursed her lips. "It's impressive. It'd be almost a shame to break her." She tapped a finger to her chin, leaning over the monitors. Mia pointed a finger to the blueprints, near its center. "The boy's right. I can see the bridge right here." She said, easily. "If you want to wrestle her away from them, this is where I'd start." "We should stay away from the engines, if we can help it." She tapped a finger to the screen, for emphasis. "We could bring her down from there, sure, but we'd open ourselves up to attacks from the outside. No point in slipping in in secret like this if we're going to just walk out in the open and give them a target." Then, it was only a matter of waiting for them to breach her. ''I-intruders! We've got intruders on the ship!'' Dysnomia looks over the mage, her face quirking up into a smirk. A violet-silver fog roiled around her, appearing from nowhere and spreading outward, over the cargo bay like a spreading stain. It crawling across the ground like a living thing, grasping at the mages with smoky, transparent claws... ...Claws that they soon realized, were every bit as solid as they needed to be to seize and hold down the mages that Ishirou had managed to subdue, and for the rest...Rend.
Touta Konoe	"I'd be happy to help prove that wrong too, whatever it's supposed to be now, it'll be a piece of trash when we're finished with it." he words that Touta utters right as Viviane elaborates on the request to decommission it. Prior to that as all assembled, Touta had taken his time to simply situate himself as needed. Giving Ogawa a slight nod in greeting since the last time they met. He imagines things might be somewhat easier for him now that Hibiki was back. At least, as easy as things can go when S.O.N.G still has to play to someone else's tune. All the same, he's glad to see familiar faces The group is given reasonable time to look over the hologram to get an idea of what they would be invading. Though even he wasn't immediately ready for that crystal to shatter and prepare to send them off. In fact, since he's still not sure how much 'magic' the relics or otherwise are in this world, to avoid any mishaps with the teleportation, he finds himself focusing for a moment lest he end up ruining a perfectly good crystal. The sight changes before their eyes as what had just been a look through the hologram becomes the entire structure they're in and without a doubt it becomes apparent quick enough that they're noticed. "Ehehe, well, guess that's one way to make an entrance." Thus, the raid begins in the docking bay. Ishirou already seems to have a plan of attack to really decommission this thing without issue, and while he's sure that everyone can handle that... "Hey, Ishirou, Viviane, can either of you two check to confirm if this bay is where they store those relics? Otherwise, mind giving me the location of the room where they ought to be? Kinda want to stick it to them just a bit extra for thinking it'd be okay to leave Viviane." Perhaps with the plan being to decommission the transport altogether one might have assumed that it is reasonable not to think about addressing the cargo aboard. Though if he was the villain here, he'd imagine there'd be some sort of contingencies to at least make sure his relics didn't get lost in the process. Till he gets an answer on that, he finds himself dealing with any of the mages that attempt to deal with him. He probably seems like an easy target. He's not dressed up in any crazy armor, or magical gear, funnily enough...He probably might look like one of the more normal Elites here with just the kendo bag at his shoulder, and his usual get-up. Though looks can be deceiving... The mage would notice that a black fog starts to slowly build up the young man's feet, only to notice that a portion of the docking bay was starting to fill up with it. Denser and denser what had simply been an odd inconvenience feels like an ominous foreboding. Soon enough any of the mages that had the gall to try and deal with Touta find themselves sealed off from the rest of the world as they find themselves in the eye of absolute darkness. The entirety of the loading bay becomes impossible to find, and those that attempt to escape through that fog well...
Touta Konoe	Both those inside the walls of the fog, and those seeing it from the outside hear screams and thuds before just more silence comes. Meanwhile, Touta just smiles at those that have decided to stay inside, almost as if daring them to try and hit him. Which they're all then welcome to try, though before they can he does say one thing. "Alright, I'm gonna leave you guys here, so if you decide to be good and stay here without causing trouble, I'll make sure that you guys get off here safely. If you try to leave the circle, or shoot something outside the fog, well...You guys get the idea. Anyway, later!" And with that little foreboding message Touta starts walking through the fog vanishing into the darkness as he leaves those he's warned basically to their own fate. Stay inside the fog and hope he'll keep his word they'll be okay. Or, see if he's bluffing and attempt to leave. Though before they make that decision, Touta seems to leave them one little present as he starts seeing where those relics might be at. That present being one of their comrades that had tried mere moments ago to escape into the fog only to be thrown back inside of it, completely knocked out and on his ass.
Hibiki Tachibana	"A-A ninja!?" Put Upon Alchemist man has all of a second to get that out, before all the air is evacuated from his lungs by virtue of spear strike, and he's sent tumbling right after. In mid-air, as if in slow motion, he can just barely look past Woz. "Wait, is that an actual magical gir--AIIIEEEEE!?" The last thing he sees before unconsciousness takes him is the overly frilly pink EGO gear that Nikki is suited up in, and the equally pink blast that catches him in his body and sends him flying to the other side of the chamber. The rest of the alchemists throughout the bay, still caught flat-footed and catching up with what's even going on, fall victim to the dual assault of the Kamen Riders sending them scattering, Arcadia's opening volley sowing destruction everywhere, the Chaldean trio knocking them about when they're not skewed or immolated, and Dysnomia taking full advantage of the surprise to hold in place--and rip apart, as Touta's fog leaves them panicking further. "What /is/ this!? Is the kid making this fog also doing it!?" "W-Worry about everything else first!" "How did they even get in here!? Teleporting!?" "Who activated the securit--" Despite having repurposed this ship for their own needs, the alchemists have been awful negligent about maintaining the already-existent defensive measures inside the ship; a bit of arrogance that now has them eating stunning shocks for their trouble, making a large amount of the crowd easy pickings. Besides the sounds of combat, the heavy thud of tons of cargo being hastily dropped back to the ground so they can put up defenses makes the entire bay almost boomingly loud--and it's not long before a wailing siren fills the air as well. "I concur with the idea of an assault on the vessel's control room," Viviane offers over communications, over the chaos. She doesn't sound terribly worried about them being found out, although how much of that is just her usual monotone and how much is simply trust is up for debate. "While you will not find the systems there to be so easily taken over as these, due to many of the technological control systems being exchanged for alchemy-based analogues, I will assist as best as I am able. The quickest path to both the bridge and where I believe they would store the Relics should be... ...here. Along this way." The group gets a ping, denoting one of the accessways that the alchemists were attempting to ferry cargo through. Must have been taking it away to be properly stowed, and the bridge just so happens to be easiest to get to by following it.
Hibiki Tachibana	...Which the defenders, what's left of them along with those who are responding to the alarm and shuffling into the bay at least, also seem to catch wind of. It's only natural they'd focus on protecting the passageway to some of the most important parts of the ship, even without implicitly knowing their plan. Robed Illuminati members block the very way the group needs to go, in fact. Unfortunately for the party, there are /a lot/ of them, almost effectively bodyblocking even this wide tunnel leading further into the vessel. They raise their hands, shining hexagons of varying colors intoned with alchemical calculations too minute to read, and unleash an elemental volley to try and hamper further progress forward. Gouts of bright viridian wind shred, bursts of fire explode, boulders form to be launched into the fray, and water attempts to wash the Elites back. There's a lot of it, but these are more or less the bottom of the ladder when it comes to the Illuminati's alchemists; the potency isn't anything to write home about, it's the sheer numbers that pose an issue. On the other hand, fighting in this accessway provides plenty of room to fight and maneuver, from the ground to the curved metal walls. Outside is another story--as Arcadia takes to the skies around the ship, she can very quickly tell two things. One is that the ship truly does seem to be /massive/, to where it has to be at least in the ballpark of maybe nine hundred meters long. Maybe. The only reason she can't entirely tell, and also the reason it must not be detectable, is because of the stealth capabilities Viviane had mentioned. From the outside, the entire thing is nothing more than a shimmering, menacing silhouette against the blue sky and the mountainous terrain below, light bending around it with the smoking hole she created standing out like a sore thumb. The other thing is that it certainly does have /a lot/ of guns. At least a dozen double-barreled turrets, just around this region of the ship, can be seen swiveling around to aim in her direction. This close to the ship, the light-twisting stealth function isn't so effective that she can't tell where they all are. It's just hard to tell how much that'll help when the sky is promptly filled with exploding shellfire.
Ishirou	Pushing forward forces the group to encounter more fierce resistance. He knows people will have ideas to get through, but he has his own plans. For example, he knows they'll cut them off at choke points, the same location that defenses would be set up at. As they move, he barely sticks his head out before Alchemical blasts rain down at him, scorching his face and forcing him back behind cover. The burn scorches him, and he looks towards Dysnomia, "It's Ishirou, not boy.." he says, with a frown. He's also upset at Arcadia flying out on her own. Though he used to attribute such things to the hiring habits of certain factions... well he knows better. Her discretion is her own, and hopefully, her fellows can make it so this won't happen again... Maybe. Right now he doesn't have time to focus on Arcadia. He closes his eyes and focuses on the defenses here. There. "Touta, draw them just a little farther out. When he does that, Mia, if you could use your claw cloud thing..." he says and waits. Assuming things go to plan, the moment they are drawn to where Ishirou wants them, a glass cage will fall on the group of alchemists. Immediately filling the enclosure with sleeping gas, attempting to incapacitate them, or at least heavily stun them so the rest of the group can press through. Just as quickly as it shoots down, it retracts so that they can push again.
Timespace Riders	Zi-O and Woz both look in the direction of Vivienne's ping, then towerds each other. They both nod, then run towards the accessway. Woz, in the speed-oriented Shinobi armor, gets there first, striking a quick series of hand seals and disappearing in a puff of smoke. He reappears in front of the accessway, just in time for the elemental volley from the mages to begin. The presently ninja-themed Rider is difficult to pin down, between bursts of speed and smokepuff teleports (complete with the archetypical deerscare sounds). The issue, however, is that all of his effort goes into evading, with only token counterattacks via explosive shuriken. Thankfully, Zi-O has a solution. "Woz! Down in front!" The Demon King combines his two swords to form a single greatsword, with an unusual crossguard that resembles the faceplate of his helmet. Flipping a switch on the side of that crossguard, he then makes a shoulder-to hip cut. Woz makes a nimble moonsault, sailing high over Zi-O's head, in perfect time to sail over the Demon King's attack as well. A crescent of polychromatic energy crashes into the crowd of mages, followed by a cluster of explosive, disembodied silver clock faces. As Woz lands, Zi-O looses another, then another, gladly taking trades with the mages as his armor soaks up the punishment. Aiming to overpower numbers with sheer brute force and slowly fight their way through, Zi-O keeps up his onslaught, joined by opportunistic slashes of Woz's spear.
Angela	"I'm not--" Nikki begins. "Yeah you might as well give it a rest," Rose quips back, frowning at apparently not being a real enough magical girl for these alchemists to fret about. The opinion of magical girls amongst agents is getting eerily positive amongst the Central Team anyway, if more in that cautiously optimistic way. Both Rose and Nikki's EGO gear has pretty solid defenses against anything that's not Pale Damage. Not quite ALEPH gear territory, but still pretty all around solid defense. This lets them tank a few hits from the alchemists' return fire, though Rose is hit a little harder due to her defenses in that arena not being quite as strong. She stumbles back, hurriedly trying to pat out flames across her body while Nikki gets hit by boulder shrapnel from the giant boulder she had to explode. "Going in, cover me!" Rose shouts as she runs forward, weaving between alchmical assaults while energy blasts from Nikki exist to largely give her an opening so when she drops into melee range with those alchemists she can smack them around with those hammers of hers. "If you want mercy, you best be showin' it now, scoundrels. We don't need to show villains like you any mercy, but we can if you'll be nice and throw down your arms instead of throwin' your hands." She snaps a quick salute to Zi-O when she has a moment.
Ritsuka Fujimaru	With the bay alchemists in disarray, the trio (mostly) take advantage of the situation to try and subdue them without having to kill anyone. Viviane's information gets some intrigued noises from them, too, with Mash looking relieved that she's also in agreement with the plan to take the bridge while Jeanne looks... Actually, she doesn't look too disapproving of that. She's got one of those ominous grins on her face about it, but she's not rejecting it. Ritsuka has to take a moment to reassure Mash with a clap on the arm, then starts guiding them both along towards the accessway that they're being pinged towards. "Should we be worried about Miss Jeanne?" "Nah. She's probably got something cool and flashy in mind, but... I don't think she'd mess up the plan just for show." "Heh. The bridge, hm? This whole thing, under our control..." As Jeanne considers something probably terrible involving hijacking a giant flying fortress, Ritsuka pushes her andM ash along to follow the rest of the group through the tunnel! Mash takes the lead with her shield, wading through those elemental bursts and soaking up the brunt of them. Ritsuka stays behind her human shield as best she can, dipping out every now and then to fire back with her own bursts of magic power flung right at the alchemists from a distance. Unlike their elemental bursts, though, it's mostly just raw energy thrown not unlike a handful of fastballs. Jeanne, of course, just forgoes shielding and taking potshots entirely. Instead, she advances boldly alongside Zi-O and Woz, hurling herself at the alchemists to take the fight to close range so she can utilize her inhuman strength to just slug them really hard and with... Well, she's not using her sword. She's technically not trying to kill them! She just isn't really holding back with her punches, either, especially since her punches are followed by bursts of fire.
Arcadia	The first attempt may not have had the most volatile results, and probably frustrated several allies as well as enemies, but Arcadia knew what her strengths were and where to best apply them. If that's being a distraction putting the external defenses to the test, then so be it. Even if she got her tail kicked she was going to leave an impression and show these alchemist assholes they're picking fights with the wrong people. Oh, and there is the whole thing about stealing and misusing Relics for personal gain instead of archiving and researching them for more alturistic efforts. But that's less of an Arcadia issue, and more one of the elder scholars of Argo Alexandria as a whole. But either way a good reason to put their Guardian to the task. Once she's outside Arcadia flies a bit away from the massive airship before doing the airborne version of skidding to a halt and turning her attention towards the craft. Sure enough despite it's size it is little more than a faint ripple effect visible in the air. But stealth only goes so far when she already knows where it is! It also shows itself off as many of those external defenses open fire, polluting the airspace with projectiles! It would make even experienced military pilots start to reconsider their career choice. It just makes Arcadia smile more. This was looking like home to her, and with the roar of her own magitek thrusters the sphinx sends herself rocketing back at the airship, directly into the enemy lines of fire! That in itself should be enough to make the enemy wonder, who would be crazy enough to fly directly INTO their blistering barrage?! ... only to moments later see why as Arcadia, with her great speed and agility, twists and weaves her way through the hail of projectiles. There's a few sparks as some shots graze the barrier briefly shielding her, and more brighter hit flashes where her armor is impacted directly, but it is anything but destruction by overwhelming firepower the Illuminati were likely expecting to see as she is avoiding the main fury of the sky-filling gunfire. Flying through this kind of bullet hell is a normal day for her. Meanwhile Arcadia's visor is doing it's business, shifting to ultraviolet vision to help her see past that stealth field, and then locking onto several points across the airship's surface. "Okay, now it's my turn!" As Arcadia nears the airship again she pulls, raising her arms and spreading her wings fully. Arcane rings ripple with the cycling on of her weapon system once more. First around her arms, then extending forward past her hands like barrels. Out of these 'launcers' are fired swarms of explosive bursts of arcane energy, spreading through the air and then turning at improbable angles to hurtle towards the points her visor scans are locking onto, hoping to hit something vulnerable or at least annoying to the operators within the craft!
Dysnomia	A blast of fire sailed through the air, and Dysnomia ducked, pressed into the wall, grimacing at the feel of the heat, and the footfalls of rushing soldiers. "Fine, Ishirou." She didn't bother to correct his preconceptions. "We'll do this your way." She peeked out into the hall, her fog spreading across the floor. An arc of animal fear laced through the air, as shadowy limbs grasped, spreading around, breaking around the advancing mages like a wave over a smooth stone. First in front, then to the flank, then attempting to pin them from all sides. Don't let the mist touch you. It seethed with visible hosility. You will die. You will die if it touches you! Stay away. Stay away...! It tried to surround them, to make them draw inward, away from it. Just where Ishirou had wanted them... She winced as fire lanced through the mist, forcing herself to push onward through elemetal magic. "This had better fucking work...!"
Touta Konoe	<J-IC-Scene> Mash Kyrielight says, "That sounds ideal. We might even be able to recover evidence of everything the Illuminati's been doing that way." <J-IC-Scene> Dysnomia says, "Good, so the cat won't ruin EVERYTHING." <J-IC-Scene> (NPC) Viviane says, "Indeed. I believe that may be very conducive to Mister Ogawa's report, as well." "Sounds like all the more reason to nab it. Thanks Viviane, I think I can handle it from here." Even as the sounds of sirens echo throughout the bay, Touta seems pretty calm thus far. Apparently dealing with mages is something he considers to be in his element, even without immortality. Even as the robed mages begin to wall up through the paths. Ishirou ends up being the first to push forward and as he moves, finds himself getting caught with that blast of it. "Oi, you good?! Just take it easy a second. I got this one..." It's becoming apparent the group is trying to push up and forward through the onslaught of the mage bombardment, and yet...Touta is just casually walking out of cover on this one focused more on the Elites movements than those of the mages. The reason being... More of the black fog begins to fan out, around the cover that Ishirou was lingering by, near Nikki and Rose as they attempt to rush out, Dysnomia could use the black fog as cover as well if noticing it. Also...While he'd offer some help to Woz...He seems like he's got it covered with all the smoke puffing. Sasuga da na NINJA! And of course the the trio has Mash's shield was probably enough so no point there! Even Touta starts letting the fog build up around his own frame as the mages would attempt to build up their attacks and well... Viridian wind shred, bursts of fire, boulder shrapnel, blasting waters...They all get shot into the black fog, but they don't pass through it. It's not enough to completely cover the group, but compared to what they likely would be dealing with, it's probably nice to have some more magically-focused kind of cover! Especially when that cover would be firing back! The volleys of wind, the surges of water, the blasts of fire, and shrapnel of stone...Wherever it found itself being lost to within the fog, as if it'd been catapulted back, the elemental attacks would be returned to their senders. "Touta, draw them just a little farther out. When he does that, Mia, if you could use your claw cloud thing..." For a moment he looks to Ishirou, not really sure that drawing them out is something he can probably do from this position. "Uuuh, give me a second on that."
Touta Konoe	Touta can see that they're all starting to form from one of the entrance ways to the docking bay. So just trying to encircle them with fog might end up pushing them back through the accessway they came from. He imagines that is definitely not what Ishirou intended...But as he notices some of the vents within the docking bay, he just starts smirking. "Alright, one smoking out, coming up." A small wafting wave of that black fog seeps into the vents, barely enough to be noticed compared to the cloud that's deeper within housing some of the other mages. From within the vents, it's able to traverse throughout the vessel with ease. Even now, there would be sounds of panic from the accessway, as mages turned to look back from where they arrived from to see the halls filling with darkness, slowly creeping towards them as if intending to swallow them whole, forcing them to either accept a fate of being swallowed by it, or being pushed out further into the docking bay to help Ishirou's plan follow through. "Ishirou, you still need me here? If not, I'm gonna advance a bit further in." Even as he says that, he's actually already got one foot out the door in a metaphorical sense. For the fog that creeped into those vents wasn't just to get behind the entering mages coming to bring about that assault, but even now, that black fog was using the vents to traverse through the transport area without Touta having to force his way to that accessway. Instead...Those within the accessway attempting to ship cargo would find that black fog began to seep out from the vents like a smoke screen, filling the area completely. How are they gonna transport any cargo when they have no idea where they're going?!
Hibiki Tachibana	The thing about going the quantity-over-quality route for the Illuminati alchemists is that they really don't have very much room to maneuver around themselves without at least some of them getting hit. There's plenty of space in an accessway this large to get around, but not when they're all lining up to try and take down all the Elites they can through amassed fire. When they actually get /through/ said amassed fire (sometimes just by plain walking through it) or otherwise retaliate despite the assault, they have problems. The idea of Touta's fog and Dysnomia's fearmongering somehow being related seems to be a recurring theme, as the combination of both gets many of the weaker-willed ones screaming in open fear and trying to turn tail--just for Ishirou's cage to falls onto nearly the entirety of that group, leaving them staggering and stumbling with no obvious resistance to the effects. Out like a light. Ritsuka's magical blasts and Woz's shuriken offer enough harassment to create breaks in the constant attacks, allowing the likes of Zi-O, Rose, and Jeanne to get where they can really clean house; explosions ring out, fire that burns far hotter than any the alchemists are producing scorches them after they're sent flying by fists, and hammers beat the fight out of them. Rose's attempts at talking them down actually seems to get some responses. Mostly from the ones who are already in the process of getting smacked around. "Okay, okayokayokay...! Just keep whatever that monster is away from us!" "As if we'd ever surrender to the likes of--" One of Jeanne's punches socks him. "Fine...! Ugh...if only that bastard was here..." Come to think of it, this lot is awfully disorganized, isn't it? The first alchemist they saw on the way in was also complaining about someone. Holed up in the bridge where it's safer, maybe? The distant rumbles of detonations and gunfire can be heard outside--although for Arcadia, they're much closer than that. All around her, with the turretfire struggling to keep pace with her speed - assuming these emplacements are actually being controlled, she must be pushing the limit of their reaction time...and if not, she's pushing the machinery to the limit. They're clearly not meant to be dealing with targets as far as her. Everywhere her energy shots explode, turrets go up in smoke and thinner points of the hull are set aflame. The scale of the behemoth ship is too much for the damage to start making too much of a difference at first, but there's no doubt it won't stay that way for long if she's not stopped - which is why several ports open up at varying sections, spilling out dozens on dozens of missiles that spiral through the air to home in on her and pressure her from all directions!
Hibiki Tachibana	Back indoors, Touta can indeed find that further down the way, the alchemists that weren't rushing to intercept them all are indeed still hurrying whatever they can further in. If he follows the ventilation shafts enough, he can find what their likely destination is; a chamber even more sizable than the loading bay they entered from, not only are countless massive storage containers stacked upon each other, but there are many more individualized repositories as well. High-tech and hermetically sealed devices lined up in row upon row, small glimpses visible where some kind of glass rather than metal makes it up; there's no rhyme or reason to what sort of things are locked away. From cracked and ancient-looking plates to what look to be fossils, up to and including rusted blades and crumbling axes. This must be where they're keeping the Relics, if one had to make an educated guess--and the moment the alchemists inside hurriedly attempting to perhaps move them notice his presence, he's subjected to blades of wind being thrown at him in a barrage. As for the rest of the group heading towards the bridge, they won't be following the accessway quite that far if they want to reach their goal. "...There. Left out of here, and straight ahead." Viviane chimes in at a certain point, directing everyone towards a smaller hallway in the wall of the tunnel. After belting the poor guards trying to stop them from getting in, one look down it can tell it leads into a network of more hallways. Much closer quarters than where they just were. "Right. Another two corners. Left. You're getting close. They may be beginning to activate the security measures themselves. Watch out below." Their guide offers both directions and a warning--as likely to Ishirou's lament, it's not the /technological/ defenses that are trying to stop them this time, but what must be alchemical ones put close to the most important section of the ship. The party will only have a brief warning before their footsteps seem to trigger some sort of crimson alchemical circle flashing into existence below them. Right before it goes up in enough flame to fill this entire section of the hallway. Perhaps predicting their survival, a group of hooded men at the other end of the way waste no time forming several spikes of dense stone, launching them into the smoke to try and ensure they make it no further!
Ishirou	Before Touta can leave, Ishirou sends an OPTION after him. It will slide onto his back like a vest, conveying some of Ishirou's advantages to him. The ability to fly, for one, is one he gets. As well as a Mana battery to help fuel his own powers, and Ishirou's firepower. The various laser blasts, missiles, ect. It also includes Ishirou's scanning suite, making sure he knows magical artifacts and what they might do. In case he decides to chew on one. "Be careful out there..." he says, with real concern. Mostly because Touta has decided to do this on his own, and partly because he's concerned he's going to bite off more than he can chew but... Well, he's not Touta's keeper, but he can at least make sure Touta has more tools to succeed. Pushing forward, Ishirou's focus was moved somewhere else, only to see a trap /way/ too late. His eyes widen, as the explosion goes off and catches him and ground Zero. He barely has time to throw up an energy barrier, taking the brunt of the force...which knocks him down on his back. Now both on fire and in pain, he groans as his ears ring from the blast. Pulling himself to his feet, they need a way to the bridge /now/ and his OPTIONs fly towards Rose and Nikki. Each one hovering over the shoulder of the other providing them targeting data, and a boost in firepower. Not just that, Ishirou builds a roadmap, predicting where enemies are going to be each step of the way... Basically, it gives them the first thirty seconds of combat in breaching the bridge. On that, the Bridge itself should be a very secure place. So he activates the turrets in the bridge the moment Rose and Nikki enter. They roll up and start firing, aiming to spray the Illuminati defenders who are no doubt holding up and going to make things difficult to enter... once more trying to stack the deck in their favor.
Ritsuka Fujimaru	"'Surrender'? Oh. Oh, you thought we were giving you a choice. Let's fix that misconception, shall we?" "Miss Jeanne, no! That's..." "You heard the guy! There's some stronger bastard, so don't waste your energy on these chumps!" "... Tch. Thank her." After giving that one guy in particular kick to remember her by, Jeanne actually continues onwards instead of following through with her flag. Mash offers a vaguely apologetic look in passing, and Ritsuka slows down just enough that she's totally waiting to see if he actually does apologize. If not, she'll kick him before proceeding, too. Continuing through so much turret fire and ambient fire, the trio are still looking pretty healthy and ready to keep fighting even though the ship proves to be even bigger than expected. Thankfully, there's a mass of bodies to keep following to get to the bridge, and Viviane's directions prove invaluable in making sure Jeanne doesn't end up getting sidetracked just trying to murder more alchemists for the hell of it. "Security measures like those turrets?" "I can get us through those, but if they have anything worse..." "You heard her. There's probably pits of some sort. Or..." They all step onto the same flashing circle, and Mash's quick reflexes knock Ritsuka and Jeanne back out of the trap. She manages to avoid the worst of the burns with her shield, too, but acting as the group's tank is starting to take a bit of a toll on the Shielder. This only ramps up further when the spikes start getting fired through the smoke, making it harder to even see which way to... ... Wait. Mash has a shield. The trap's already been triggered, too, so she doesn't have to worry about pushing Ritsuka and Jeanne aside if- "This way! I'll cover us!" She shouts to her Master and colleague to signal her position to them as well as anyone else in the group that might want/need some coverage. Ritsuka gets cut up a bit from stray stones as well, and Jeanne continues not to care as she holds her flag upwards, causing the banner to start burning and conjuring floating, flaming spears overhead. "Which way are these...? Oh, hell with it. Bring out the strong bastard already, or I'll just smoke him out and cremate the lot of you!" Jeanne shouts out her ultimatum to the defenders, punctuating her demand by launching those flaming spears into the crowd. She's not aiming particularly well, but she doesn't seem like she cares enough to, anyway. There's enough of the defenders that the spears are bound to go through and cook somebody.
Angela	Nikki and Rose are largely here as muscle but they can adapt to Touta's fog once they realize it's not hazardous to them. Nikki in particulary seems more relaxed about it, confident in the Pact she's forged with Zero Kiryu to protect her in case anything goes awry. Rose, upon seeing Nikki just step right into that fog, relaxes considerably before letting it envelop her too. Rose is a relativeley prosocial Agent, though, and if Alchemists surrender, she's inclined to not keep whalloping them with a hammer. Nikki does nearly blast one wo already surrendered (which is more typical for Agent procedure) but Rose says, "Hey hey hey!! No! No Nikki, they already gave up!" which causes Nikki to not commit to the dark magical girl conceit entirely. Tiphereth A speaks up, sounding more ... exhausted than earlier. "WAtch out for the fire--and the rock." Rose tries to protect Nikki with her own body and gets badly burned for her trouble, stumbling back and clearly STAGGERED for her trouble. STunned, she is unable to provide offense or defense, instead rolling on the floor to try and put out the flames, hissing in pain as she does so. Nikki take s a breath and readies the staff before her, "Heed me, thou are more azure than justice and more crimson than love." The staff's power starts to glow. "In the name of...uh...those...buried?...in destiny..." The staff sputters for a moment. "No no no! I uh--I shall make this oath to the light! And uh..." She trails off for a moment. "There was another line... shit... Fuck! Ass!!! How the hell am I supposed to remember this?! Does it even help!? OKAY FUCK IT!!!" Nikki instead just fires rapid fire blasts towards the Earth Wall--and any alchemists she can punch through behind it. "Going through that whole routine is dumb! I didn't ask for it! What kinda Fixer Org is gonna take me if I have to stand still for a solid minute!?"
Arcadia	Okay, we can give the alchemists and/or the machinery some credit. For realizing gunfire wasn't enough and switching to a projectile that might have a better chance of dealing with the extremely fast sphinx bombarding their craft. It does get Arcadia to stop gunning them, if briefly, as she focuses on her maneuvering to deal with the new threat. Which in itself is a sight to see as she weaves about in the air in a blurr, looping over missiles and veering out of the way of others. But even as she does so more and more are starting to swarm in on her, clustering together from multiple directions at once. In the end Arcadia moves, but the swarms collide with each other, setting each other off in a vibrant chain reaction of explosions and smoke. And flinging Arcadia out of the resulting debris cloud, tumbling head over tail with little trails of smoke swirling in the wake. She escaped the epicenter of that brilliant blast, but the shockwave was still enough to fling her high into the air, spinning several times before she finally gets enough retro thrust firing to stabilize into a midair hover. And shake herself off. "Good, good, I was starting to worry you'd make this too damn easy!" Then checks her visor display. Most of her heavy arsenal is still recharging from how much she pumped into that missile barrage. But she has a few other tricks she can use. That is to keep her own distance for the moment, and deploy her attack bits. Sending the small angular magitek devices flying towards the airship. They spread out, positioning themselves to fire with their own arcane lasers in a criss-crossing pattern across the hull of the airship. They're not as powerful, but their internal energy reserves are also more efficent in firing those crosscutting lasers in repeating alternate passes.
Dysnomia	Mia's eyes were the first to see runes drawn on the ground; she could see where human oils had sank into the floor as they were drawn, could see the intricacies of their designs, clear as a sunbeam through a dusty window. But seeing something and reacting to it were entirely different things. Even as she sent out waves of wordless, psychic alarm, they'd already crossed the threshold, and the detonation hit HARD. The explosive impact hit every part of her, in the way that no shards of ice or narrow bolts of lightning could, and she flickered for a moment before she bit on her lip, her body reforming from the smoke around her. She LUNGED into the spikes, her outstretched hand contorting and twisting into an obsenely oversized claw...At least, 'claw' would be the word, if it had form at all. Instead it was fingers of plasma, so large that it grazed the ceiling. Dysnomia cut through the spikes propelled toward her with a snarl, her body losing its solidity as her fingers twisted. Grew. They stretched out, swords of burning heat, spreading through the party of mages. Then, with a rumbling growl, Dysnomia closed it into a fist, threatening to cut those in her grasp to ribbons, all in one motion.
Timespace Riders	Left out of here, and straight ahead. "Um, please get out of the way!" Zi-O's fist impacts one of the guards rather unceremoniously, before hip-tossing them out of the way. Woz doesn't even bother with pleasantries. Right. Another two corners. Left. You're getting close. They may be beginning to activate the security measures themselves. Watch out below. Zi-O and Woz both reflexively shield their faces, expecting to leap from an explosion. Instead, they are engulfed in flame. Pained cries escape the two riders, and for a moment, no further sound escapes from them. But as the first spikes pierce the acrid blue-grey curtain... Dekai! Hakai! Gokai! Futurering Kikai! KIKAI! The tightly packed hallway flashes with golden light. Spikes impact something heavy, weighty, metal, audibly shattering on impact. Sparks from within the smokecloud illuminate the imposing form of Woz in his robotic Kikai armor. His wrench-antennae gleam as four golden mechanical manipulator arms dart from the smoke, dispelling the rest of it in an instant. With a grunt of effort, he sends superpowered claws after the mages, intending first to squeeze painfully against as many as he can grasp, then to batter the living daylights out of them by repeatedly slamming them into the cramped corridor's walls, floors, and the mages' unfortunate fellows. Zi-O, thrown to his feet by the spikes, regains his footing, takes a knee, and bends the handle of his greatsword. One simple adjustment turns the sword into a rifle, which he shoulders promptly. Beams of rapidly color-shifting energy serve as a quick retaliation for those mages Woz can't reach. The Demon King rises, and slowly advances, sweeping his fire across the close quarters to gradually punch a hole in the defenses and progress further towards the bridge.
Touta Konoe	Touta does have appreciation for Ishirou's offer. But it's less for the OPTION and tools, but more in the fact he's not trying to call him out on an ill-advised more, there's a level of trust being given (even if he might think Touta is overreaching) and it goes a long way. "I will be. I'll also let you guys know if I spot something up ahead to keep your eyes out for." The OPTION attempts to latch onto Touta's back but it's as it does that it finds that's not exactly possible. There was a reason that Touta asked if this thing could pass through the vents and it was because Touta was going to be passing through them like the air it ventilated. The moment Touta bows out, his body slowly vanishes like dust in the wind, his body becoming one with fog. It traverses through the vents, where the OPTION would need to tag along. At the very least, Touta seemed to have the whole ability to fly and mobility thing handled. Upon his exit, the existence of a larger room than a docking bay itself kind of leaves him a bit wide-eyed. Even letting out a bit of a whistle in disbelief "Jeez, they got a whole damn museum in this place..." It's at this point the mages throw those blades and to their relief they do succeed. The young man loses an arm, a blade catches into his stomach looking like he's just barely hanging onto his waist by a few inches that would have completely sliced him in half, and even one of his legs get sliced through. "Good news, bad news time...Bad news, you guys aren't getting to keep these. Good news, you don't have to try and lug all this around anymore." Joking aside, from the wounded parts of his body, the black fog erupts out. Even with the container area being larger than the docking bay, the fog fills it completely enveloping all the mages within. Those that immediately panic and attempt to clear their way through with their wind blades find themselves being shot at with their own spell, though at the least re-aimed in a way that catches them with more the concussive force of their own blasts than directly being sliced through. For those smart enough to hold off... Some feel as they receive what feels like just a gut punch. Others the sensation of a chop to the neck. Just as quickly as the black fog had filled out the room, it slowly began to fade. Not completely, but providing enough visibility to show a fully-recovered Touta and what would have been a lot of knocked out mages. It's at this point is going to properly use Ishirou's Option. He goes back on the comm and starts speaking up. "Hey Ishirou, Viviane, I'm inside their storage space. This place is like a museum or something. I'll be grabbing what I can, but Viviane, if there's anything you see here that you think's really gonna throw'em off let me know." Even if he believes he's got a fair enough matchup against any more mages that try to come back in to try and secure this place, he figures that it's just as important to see if there's anything that he can pick up that might be worth securing now in case worst comes to worst.
Hibiki Tachibana	Outside, explosions light up the sky like fireworks, but it's simply not enough to clip Arcadia's wings. The next salvo takes time to launch, and as she recovers, that gives her ample opportunity to fire off her own counterattacks; exactly like Arcadia herself, the hulking vessel seems to have great difficulty with small and fast targets. Point defense is not its strong suit. Which means even though they might be weak, they begin stacking piled-up slices into the hull, avoiding retaliation while shearing metal off and leaving smoking gashes. Turrets try to realign to aim at them, but they're much too slow and unwieldy. There's no chance to do anything about the mounting number of smoking trails being left in the wake of the ship, but she can see the tips of missiles begin emerging once again, several dozen of them ready to race through the sky once more-- --just to remain in their housing, unfiring. It seems as if the inside team managed to take control of the command room after all. But she's certainly proved her superiority today.
Hibiki Tachibana	Taking advantage of the more confined space to try and strategize against the onrushing Elites was a good idea! On paper. But thinking a one-trap-fits-all solution will stop a whole gathering like this is simply arrogant. The group of alchemists have a short time to think they've managed it, before the smoke clears enough for them to see...not nearly as close as they'd have liked. They even get to witness those deadly spikes getting cut right out of the air. "Not even that was enough!?" "If only we /could/, you damn fallen saint!" "Urgh...! Fall back! Reinforce the bridg--" The one shouting is cut off by the crackling, metal-scorching plasma breaking through their ranks, sweat dropping from their half-visible faces before the fist crushes in, ending every single one caught between them. Not all of them were caught, but they didn't have to be; not with Jeanne's flaming spears arcing through them and lighting them aflame to clear the way, as if the Demon King quite literally walking through them and manhandling them into limp submission wasn't enough. That, and Nikki's series of magical blasts that send them scattering, the barrage leaving pockmarks and craters in the surroundings whenever they miss, and some even continuing all the way down the hallway beyond--to punch right into the sealed metal doors securing it, nearly blowing them apart under repeated impacts. "That's...with the incantation not even done right...?" One of the merely beaten-down Illuminati members laments, crumpled on the floor. "Magical girls...are truly terrifying..." The path forward to the bridge is wide open to be busted into - the moment they enter, it's clear it's built to be as defensible and sturdy as a bunker in of itself, which adds up given its position dead center of the ship. Flashing consoles and various monitors line the walls, and the middle of the room is dominated by a holographic readout of the entire ship, with a trail of red marking the Elites' progress through it; seems they were coordinating their strategy here. And while there were assorted defenders ready to make their last stand, Ishirou's timely turret-ing along with everybody else shuffling in makes quick work of the lot of them, flooring every single robe-wearing individual in the room. There's no sign of anyone with a higher status among them, so...it seems they were managing as best they could on their own. Maybe these guys were /also/ abandoned by whoever was leading them? "Very good. From here, it should be possible to access full control of the ship, as well as note any remaining Illuminati members throughout its halls. I'll guide you through working the systems. It is not terribly difficult once you've done it once." Viviane has maybe the traces of an uplifted tone to her voice, and is swift to help ensure Ishirou and the others can start bringing everything under control. But they've only barely begun when... ...on that holographic map, a fast-moving white signal is speeding through an access tunnel.
Hibiki Tachibana	The poor bastards trying to keep Touta out really had no chance. Some panic, and end up knocking themselves out. Others fall victim to physical strikes, and apparently not any more able in body than normal people, they crumple to the ground one by one. It's a clean sweep, and by the time the fog retracts, the massive room is devoid of conscious foes. Viviane, receiving Touta's message, is quick to reply. "Will you allow me to access your OPTION briefly, Ishirou? ... ...I see." She begins, only to trail off. Though her tone is flat, she makes a sound that might be concern. "...Yes. There's one object in particular that I had not thought in their possession. Twelfth row, the last one before it splits. A Complete Relic...that must be-- ...ah?" Rather than worry, this is a sound of surprise. One that gets drowned out for Touta by the roar of...a revving engine? The eardrum-busting noise of an obnoxiously loud one firing at full blast, layered over by the sound of screeching tires and burning rubber. It echoes down the accessway that the group was using, closing in at alarmingly high speeds. Along with... "Yaaaaaaahoooooooooooooooooooo~oooooooooooooooo!" Without any warning, an entire car - gunmetal gray like the walls, sleek and unrealistically, sharply angular like an aerodynamic-specialized sports ride, spinning wheels leaving a smoking trail in their wake - turns the corner and hits a wide drift right into the storage room. It nearly spins out of control just from the acceleration packed into that maneuver, just to lean into it and do an entire 360-degree turn before boosting further into the room. It looks like it's going to crash right into the whole set of Relics being stored--only for one set of wheels to spring off the floor and send it near-vertical, squeezing through by the narrowest of margins, as an arm swings out from the window to snatch at... The exact Relic storage unit Viviane had been pointing out. At the far end of the room, a hard turns sends the vehicle into a skidding stop right before it hits the wall, and a deep voice drawls out from the open window while swinging the bulky thing inside with one tug. "Sheesh! You go out on oooooooone single joyride, and the whole place goes to hell while you're out! You outsider kids sure know how to make a huge ass mess, huh?" The owner of the voice leans his head out. Jet black sunglasses, slicked back brown hair, a tight-fitting motorbiking jacket, and just enough lines on his face to look almost dashingly middle-aged--he looks exactly as cocky as he sounds, and thanks to the Ishirou's eye in here, everyone in the bridge gets to be privy to the whole thing. "I actually like that! Can't let you have this one, though. Boss man would throw a real huge fit. Unless...?" He tilts his head at Touta, one corner of his mouth turning up in a smirk. "Name's Good Speed. Nice to meetcha, troublemaker and troublemakers listening in." "How's a race a mile high in the sky to get this dinky old thing back sound? Fun, yeah?"