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Angela	Abnormalities are not classified, exactly, by how dangerous they are. Rather, they are classified by how much Enkephalin they produce! Generally speaking, the more Enkephalin an Abnormality produces the more dangerous they are--but this is simply a correlation. It isn't always true. Sometimes even a ZAYIN Abnormality can hide something truly dangerous behind it should it be mismanaged... And sometimes a WAW Abnormality can be far more dangerous than many ALEPHs simply due to a difficult to manage ruleset or overwhelming power... or both... But the truth is, even Lobotomy Corp thought that the Queen of Hatred was no more--and there was simply a girl left behind. If she was still an Abnormality, the scales certainly would have tipped one way or another well before now and resulted in mass destruction and with Binah being the next Meltdown, all agents need to be ready. Gebura might've been the better fighter, but Binah was nearly as capable and far more devious. They didn't have the time or resources to babysit a normal girl anymore. But despite all evidence suggesting that the Queen of Hatred had become a normal human thanks to Tamamo's magic and the will of Chevaliers... "Searching...Searching..." A dejected girl wanders the streets of Kagoshima. A red hairband is wrapped around her wrist, taken exceedingly well cared of. A pair of rollerblades are on her feet but she doesn't skate with them, just taking one halting step after another. "No threats found. What am I doing here..?" Tacky AKA Tachycardia, her cherub, is nowhere to be found despite them normally being nearby... She is not bothering to take the backroads, nor is she wearing any of the outfits that Petra had helped her pick out. She's just wearing her magical girl outfit and is clicking along the main streets. College girls take photos, wondering aloud if she's a cosplay youtuber. An older man murmurs to his wife that something seems to be wrong with that girl, not because she's in cosplay but because she's in cosplay and is mumbling to herself over and over with a shadow over her eyes. A young woman has the wherewithal to actually move into her path and ask, "Hey...are you alright?"
Angela	"Why am I here..." She says, barely paying attention to the woman in front of her. "Does Angie not need me anymore? Is the facility too peaceful?" "Er, who...? The facility? Do you have any family?" "Ah..?" The girl looks up towards the woman before her and forces a smile in the way the world demands. "Don't worry, ma'am. I'm a magical girl. To protect the world's peace, that's why I was born." Something's wrong. Something went horribly wrong. She pushes forward. "The world can be divided between good and evil," The girl murmurs despairingly. "If I'm on the side of good, then someone has to be on the side of evil. Without evil, how can I exist...?" The girl stops as a common realization hits her. "If I'm gone, then who will protect the world? I feel...so... empty..." She laughs. "I was such...a fool..." She floats above the ground right there in the middle of the street. Her magical staff floats above her and turns upside down. A remembrance of celestial blades spiking into her impales her right there but they don't seem to result in the shedding of blood. The girl's arms fan to the side and so do her legs as the representation of her heart appears before her. She sees it. Hers is black too, child, not pink at all.. A tear drips from one eye as the other slits into a serpentine shape. The staff falls into the black heart. And it shatters.
Angela	ELSEWHERE The Knight of Justice looks up suddenly from her meditations. "No..." She whispers but there's no time to lose. She summons her sword to hand and rushes off, still inhumanly tall, but there's no telling when help will arrive--the destruction the Queen of Hatred can unleash can be incalculable even in seconds. Using her radio, she calls out to the Elites. "Please! Hurry to Kagoshima! My sister has transformed! She needs help before she does something she can't--" She knows not what the Elites will do, of course, but it doesn't take long for her to realize that it's too late as she sees a flash of pink that can be seen from anywhere in the city--and the smoke and fire after. NOW BGM: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-vlEd1Pbdxk Her magical form is that of a quetzalcoatl, a feathered serpent. She is covered in pale blue scales with a hot pink underbelly and her wings are covered in vibrant pink and purple feathers. Black hearts sprout along her back with a thin pink shell and a pair of arms sprout out across the side of her head. Her eyes are pitch black, black mascara lines dripping down towards her jaw. Snake like fangs are bared but they are the least dangerous thing about this girl. She crouches on top of an apartment complex she had scorched a large hole through though this is not the limit of the damage. She doesn't roar like a dragon might despite the shape of her form. She simply prepares another barrage of firepower. The Knight is on her way, she knows. She can feel it. And then she'll be real.
Meika Kirenai	- - - - -     The air is scorching hot, and so muggy that the stiff seabreeze feels like stirring soup instead of anything close to comfort. The asphalt almost sticks, the sun glares down hard enough that streetside concrete is lit up in gleams and glitters-- even looking down won't quite save you from heaven's furious brightness. All of this comes secondary, though, to the pressing weight of myriad alarms and sirens, suffocating everything under their shrill, arhythmic calls.     Whether coming in through Kagoshima's downtown warpgate, or arriving to the city center by some other means, what faces the incoming Elites isn't the achingly ignorant placidity of a world turning uncaring eyes away, but the emergent chaos of a city under unchallenged disaster. The open plaza the warpgate facility lets out into is scoured-over with the still glowing trenches gouged ankle-shattering deep into the ground, clean and surgical in how easy it is to follow the radiant to their origin up in the skyline itself, curling up and staring out with those tear-smeared black eyes.     Kagoshima has no Elites standing vigil, nor any cause for them, it has no magic, or anything childish like that, and no nonhuman has ever had cause to call it a home. As far as anyone cares, a disaster like this is impossible, shouldn't ever happen, and isn't worth considering. That's for elsewhere, far away, out of sight and out of mind.     In the year it's been, since the Queen of Hatred and her knightly rival tried once to make this city their battleground, through unseen work and toil, that peacefulness was still, somehow, maintained, even if, in the contained panic, two people still died- the cover-ups are easy enough to believe, and headline statistics just don't matter without faces to them.     Today is far, far worse. By the next day's dawn, that peace-of-mind will not stay, the scattered wreckage won't be easy to look past, and none of the names of the lost will disappear. Today is the first day a monster chose to rear its ugly head in Kagoshima, and everyone will remember it. - - - - -
Meika Kirenai	Like watching blood blanche from an inflamed wound, the inhabitants of the city evacuate the buildings and streets, whole arteries clotted off by disorganized police barricades hastily put up too-long after the disaster's start to stem anything but corral fleeing people into pressure-cooker-like fervor- the spray and hiss of ruptured water mains is a dull stressor of this feeling, as people stumble over still-steaming trenches and fallen people's bodies to escape. Megaphones blare into the throbbing din of shouts and hoarse screams, whatever is being said barely matters to anyone there at all, whatever being said can't be louder than the pressing fear-need to escape. Asphalt slag and toppling building facades are as necrotized flesh, sloughing off, dead and ugly.     The one thing cleanly illustrated by the flow around the city center is that, of the road-lining buildings, the people are pouring out from the apartment complexes near the Queen of Hatred's chosen nest, and the shopping mall built up around the central train station. Both are far from empty, and neither are close to safe- there's little coordination in where anyone runs towards, though- when a dragon looms high against the midday sun, where at all feels safe?     Approaching the taped-off barriers is upstream movement, resisted by the press of bodies and the shouts of would-be authorities, firemen and police alike, ill-prepared beyond conference room instructions on theoreticals, desperate to turn uncertainty into vitriolic volume towards anyone who isn't acting how they say. A few of the policemen carry, in shaky hands, small service revolvers trained on the abnormality up above, and each staccato decision to try firing the Queen's way is another spur-kick to egg the fleeing civilians into stampede. It's direly uncontrolled, and won't get simpler on its own- without the Queen actually taking a hand in worsening matters, a well-placed beam could turn droves of civilians into ashen shadows against scoured-light pavement.     There's a little reprieve from the flow of people and panic, where a white news-van has parked itself up as close to the barrier as its driver could get it, ever so slightly skewed by a tire being propped up on a curbside planter. A few people cluster around- gawkers, captivated by the monstrosity turning people and infrastructure into slag -but the camera crew shove and elbow them away, framing what they can just in-shot of their team's reporter.     "Coming to you from the scene of it all, I'm-" A chunk of department store crashes into pavement, shattering like soft ice. The newswoman, dust-covered and frantic, barely even flinches, halfway through climbing up to the hood of the transmission van for better vantage, and brings her microphone back up to her mouth. "-with KTN Channel 6, we have only just just now gotten up to the barricades, and as far as we can tell the police aren't letting *anyone* through, but... but this is unprecedented, no drill, a real, live... I don't know what the helicopters are able to pick up, but our team here is going to try and get as close as we can to the site, wish us luck as we-" Her footing is lost, for just a second, before being caught back again- the reporter scans over the mesy crowd, towards the direction of oncoming Elites- and with a hand motion, one of the cameras swivel towards them all.
Angela	__________________________________________________________                      |ARNING-WARNING-WARNING-WARNING-WARNING-WARNING-WARNING W|                      ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯|=|WAW CLASS THREAT|=|¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯                                        ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯                                                           The Queen of Hatred                                                              The First Daughter                                          __________________________________________________________                      |ING-WARNING-WARNING-WARNING-WARNING-WARNING-WARNING-WARN|                      ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯           And as soon as the first Elite arrives, she starts blasting, wholly heedless of whatever reporters or bystanders may be in the crossfire.
Sarracenia	Calls start going out over the radio. Chevalier Love has...transformed and attacked. Even knowing how Love feels about her, Sarracenia quite likes Love. So, when the princess heard that Love had transformed she left immediately.      Not knowing the entire situation, she headed to Kagoshima in her chosen 'normal girl' outfit. Red vest, white cotton shirt, red skirt, black gloves, black and red swirled leggings, and red tennis shoes.      She steps out of the warp gate, runs forward. It is hard to miss the winged serpent atop the skyline. Sarra's eyes widen as she runs and she pulls out her cell phone. "Captain! Get the Sundew Sovereign here immediately! This is an emergency! If someone tries to stop you, ignore them! There is no way that magic secret thing is still in place right now! As soon as you are here, deploy the soldiers in a defensive formation and try to get the civilians onboard!" She looks up at the Queen of Hatred and mmphs. "You may want to bring a few airships, actually."      With that, she hangs up then starts wall kicking her way up a couple of buildings. She lands on a roof with a clear line of sight...      And is immediately hit by some flying piece of building and goes bouncing off those walls and right back to street level. "...ow..." she mutters before picking herself up. She growls lightly and reaches up to pull her metal lotus from her hair. She holds it up and the liquid metal it contains flows down her hands and arms, forming into a lovely metallic rusty red color of long gloves.      She places the lotus back in her hair, then makes her way upward again. "Chevalier Love!" she shouts as soon as she thinks she is close enough. "What happened?! You were doing so well!! Please stop this and we can talk about what is going on! Like in one of your Chevalier Love Says sessions!"      She holds her palms forward as she leaps from building to building and starts firing streams of silver flechettes, trying to draw Love's attention toward her and away from the warp gate. That seems like the best way to get people out of here, after all. And it is where her airships will be landing!
Ritsuka Fujimaru	"Please. You really think those are going to do anything?" "Points for trying! But this kind of situation is way above your pay grades." "They're right. Please, stop shooting and focus on getting everyone out as quickly as you can!" Unlike those officers with their hands on the trigger, the trio from Chaldea move with a far more confident (or at least non-shaky) gait. There's good reason for it, of course, as Mash is already battle-ready in her armored leotard-esque outfit with the heavy cross-shaped shield raised almost weightlessly in one hand, joined by Ritsuka in a black and orange getup that looks and feels like some kind of magical academy cosplay. They wave at the rush of fleeing civilians to try and draw their attention towards the flashing sirens, acting as both extra visual cues for which way to go and as extra ablative shielding should those errant shots draw one of the Queen's beams in the worst possible direction. Naturally, the Elites being there draws the Queens' beams in all manner of worst possible directions, and Mash only has one shield to cover any of it. "Oh hell... Mash, incoming!" "Understood, Master! Everyone, stay behind me!" She shouts out that warning in vain while raising that shield, bracing herself against it and pushing forward into the beam with her defensive magic and Ritsuka's extra power widening the shielded area as much as they can. Spreading themselves thin in such a way doesn't leave them unscathed, of course, with the but they do it in the hopes of trying to save at least one more line of people on either side of them. Jeanne, of course, has to be extra, and she hops daintily onto the top of Mash's shield once the first wave passes. Her outfit's smoking already from the backwash, but only for a moment as she leaps forward from the shield and changes into her usual cloaked armor in a flash of black flames. With the way the situation is going already, it's not like showing off for the cameras a little would hurt that much if they're even functional anymore, and... No, that's as far as her thoughts went there. Landing on a nearby building, she takes a moment to just gauge the distance between her and Love before starting to hurtle forward once again. "Is that you, Love?" She starts calling out with her usual assheaded tone, jumping higher and higher even from the rooftops as though she's trying to make herself an appealing target. Or coincidentally, since Mash and Ritsuka are still on the ground acting as shields and providing medical support there. Instead of going into her usual taunts, however, Jeanne lets out a grimacing noise while drawing out an array of flaming spears and launching them at the Queen of Hatred from up high. "So out with it! Why this? Why now? Is this just for fun, or..." As she finishes throwing most of those spears, Jeanne descends upon her, grasping the last two spears tightly to drive them in and get in as close as she can, to speak without having to yell where everyone else can hear her. "What happened?"
Lilian Rook	'My sister has transformed! She needs help before she does something she can't--'     What help could there possibly be for this?     That thought plagues Lilian upon her rapid arrival. She doesn't know Love well, and she only knows of her alter ego secondhand, but until the moment she sees it for herself, she could almost imagine helping. The vague gist of what she'd say, half-formed in her head; the sequence of stalling measures to try, and the hipfire attempt of Tamamo's curse-breaking magic carried on her; both are abandoned at the first wave of blistering air, the reek of melted asphalt, and the sound of countless screams.     This was supposed to be impossible. The Kirenai girls-- two of them at least-- had fought against this. Hibiki had extended her hand and promised. Kukuru had looked after her. Tamamo had seen to it. So what is there for her to even give?     What can she do about a monster? Too many people are already dead. Far too many to forgive her on behalf of.     Lilian arrives in full armour, naked blade clutched by the forte in one hand. The sight of the police instantly drives her to cold disgust, and approaching the barricade from behind, she shoves the nearest two officers sprawling onto the pavement, conjures a point of magic to her fingertip, holds it to her throat, and shouts out amplified, "What the hell are you people doing?! Open the fucking barricade and evacuate these civilians right goddamn now!" It is not a rude request; it is a demand, carried on cold metal pressed to synapse endings. "Noncombatants out of the AO! Officers, direct the evacuation! Search for anyone trampled or injured and drag them out if you have to! No excuses!"     Lilian is backlit by harsh pink light, and cast into shadow. Her eyes turn before her head turn before her body, and the streak of green reflects no sign of fucshia fire.     Lilian stands with her sword raised over her head. The fragments of scattered beam-fire crash into the street around her, throwing fire and dust out behind. Night Mist shimmers in a haze of heat, radiating from the metal. Lilian breathes out, and it steams.     "You know who I am, don't you? I thought you'd rather be the heroine that stands in my way one day; not the dragon I have to slay."     Lilian crouches-then-launches herself from the street at top speed, leaving behind a ripple of crackling black static. She accelerates towards Love-- the Queen of Hatred-- at frightening speed-- and then skips the second half of her trajectory, striking the serpent instantly. Night Mist flashes scarlet, and thrusts from under the serpent's jaw, immediately aimed to skewer through it and into the skull, followed by a knee strike to the pommel of her own sword to drive her jaws shut with the crossguard.
Hibiki Tachibana	"Balwisyall nescell Gungnir tron--!!" ...     The Knight of Justice's warning over the radio, by itself, was enough to know that something must have gone terribly, terribly wrong. It snaps her out of the days she's spent focused on keeping things stable at her own home, and leaves no room to doubt that this isn't just a case of being asked to help out with a Temptation running amok, but...     ...something that should be impossible. After the Kirenai sisters staking themselves on it. After Tamamo did what she did, for those two Magical Girls. But maybe it was stupid to imagine anything was 'impossible' after what they unearthed in Kagoshima.     It doesn't matter at this point. What matters is, if she goes on a rampage in that city now...     ...oh no. ...     It's only seconds in a dead sprint through the Warpgate, at the instantaneous sight of smoke cloying the air, at the gashes of superheated asphault and melting architecture, at the panicked civilians overflowing and scrambling, before those words are less chanted and more shouted out. A bright golden light bursts free of the crowd that Hibiki Tachibana finds hersel caught up in.     And an instant later, she's leaping up and over the whole lot of them, the final few mechanical pieces of her Symphogear clicking and locking into place at the same time her face-obscuring scarf billows out behind her - and even just a view from a story or two above all of it is enough for her to get an even better concept of how bad it is.     In her Japan, for as instant and lethal as they are, they still have evacuation plans and protocols for Noise attacks.     It's much worse every time she has to see anywhere that doesn't at least have that. And she really hoped it would never have to be in Kagoshima.     And definitely not because of someone who was trying so hard to protect it.     "Damnit, Love...! If you keep this up--!!" Forget just how bad the situation in the city - or even the world - itself will be, what gets her the most is the thought of how she'll react to learning about what she did. That, maybe, is why even though Hibiki could focus on keeping herself clear of the barrage of lasers coming in, she dives /into/ one skirting too close to street level.     And punches it, at the same time her gauntlet's piston primes back and punches in, striking back with raw force that sends it diffuse and scattering - into already half-ruined buildings, slagging the ruined structures further, but away from the massed crowds. And she keeps pushing right on through with a visibly scorched arm and grit teeth, briefly landing down near the barriers and the camera crews before jumping again.     Clearing the distance with incredible speed, crossing ground and gaining height in the blink of an eye - and coming down on Love's draconic form from above, intending to knock the wind out of her with a descending kick to the body while Lilian goes for the jaw.     "Stop--!"
Timespace Riders	My sister has transformed! She needs help before she does something she can't--     Woz steps away from the radio console and enters into the dining room of Sougo's small house-slash-repair-shop, where the Demon King sits with his nose in one book from a pile.     "What is it, Woz? You've got that... look, on your face. Did you find a new Another Rider?"     Woz purses his lips. "...yes, sire, but I believe there's something else you'll wish to address first. Do you remember what you said, when you were told that one cannot change how a story is written?"     Sougo smiles sadly.     "You can always write a sequel," he says. His gaze drifts over to the silver tower where their many Ridewatches are placed. One, which formerly held the power of Chevalier Vermillion, is faded and gray, its face cracked.     "Indeed. My Demon King, the time has come to put pen to paper." ---                                   BEYONDRIVER!                                                                   TIMESPACE DRIVER                                     The reporter's beckoning sweeps cameras over the Demon King and his retainer as they transform.     Sougo's legs spaced apart, his hands imitate those of an analog clock, as two ghostly silver clock faces appear behind him. "Henshin!" he shouts, as he spins the bulky white Timespace Driver.     "Henshin." Woz's gesture is more grandiose and deliberate, even with the urgency he imparts to it; a crisp slam of the futuristic pocketwatch called a Miridewatch, more square than the twinned Ridewatches in Zi-O's driver. It's loaded into the gate of his sleek black-and-green Beyondriver, which forms a holographic smartwatch behind him while laser printers flashforge his armor atop him.                   KAMEN RIDEEER.. (RIDER..!) ZI-O--ZI-O!! II!                                    Amazing! Time! Future! KAMEN RIDER WOZ? WOZ?!                   You know who I am, don't you? I thought you'd rather be the heroine that stands in my way one day; not the dragon I have to slay.                      ARMOR TIME! Fire? Flight? Ether! MIA!                           "No one's slaying her if I can help it. But that does give me an idea, Lilian," says the Demon King. "Maybe this'll get her attention?"     The knightly, symmetrical analog-clock themed Zi-O II armor faces down the armor of a dark knight, disembodied; its helmet pantomimes one of Dysnomia's scoffs. Its features shift draconic; swept pauldrons and bracers sport the roaring visages of dragons, and a cape of watch-hand spines sprouts from its back. Zi-O kicks it, and the armor snaps apart, flying on jets of purple flame to lock into place over his current armor. The clock-hand spines at the back ignite, too, forming a fiery imitation of a dragon's leathery wings.     He leaps into the air after Lilian and flies to place the sky at his back--a burning purple tracer that's hard to miss. His intention is to keep anything that might be hit by collateral in front of him, whether it's buildings or people or Sarracenia's airship, and then to get Love's attention with a volley of fireballs aimed through his gauntlets.
Timespace Riders	On the ground, Woz helps by corralling the civilians with Sarracenia.               Future Time! Hakai! Gokai! Futurering Kikai! KIKAI!                   The retainer's sleek smartwatch-themed armor now sports, following intervention from a hardlight pit crew of factory tools, a bulky chestplate with visible gold-lined circuit boards, the app-icon pauldrons of his armor displaying white wrenches on golden fields. The watch-hand antennae on his helmet shift to two crossed wrenches, just as four golden mechanical manipulator arms sprout from his back.     One rises above the crowd, directing it in slow, steady, sweeping circles towards Sarracenia's ship. One points straight at it. The other two wind around the crowd itself, gently, but firmly, pushing and corraling them in one direction.     "Evacuation personnel are on-site to assist you," Woz says, raising his voice to be heard without allowing his annoyance to show overmuch. "There is no need to push. Please proceed to the indicated area."
Flamel Parsons	Flamel's silly little surveillance van comes screeching into town. The big scanners and receiver antennae and such fix directly towards the Queen of Hatred, jittery richter-like waveform scrawl spiking erratically. As he approaches, they start to shudder and overload. No, in fact, almost all of them spark and give out simultaneously, as a running page on Flamel's dashboard starts tracking a huge spike in amplitude. A beam lances the top of his van off, from the dashboard up.     The man himself pops up from his ducked position behind the steering wheel, eyebrows up high behind his sunglasses as he tears off a chunk of the readings next to him. "Oh god." He whispers, shivering a little. He dives out of the van to one side, and it trundles to a halt in a perfect parallel park nearby.     He surges forward, not on foot but on levitation. "CHEVALIER LOVE!" He calls out. "LOOOOOOVE!! STOOOOOOOOP!!" His voice drips with a kind of panicked professionalism you'd hear in an emergency room. He thinks back to what he remembers of Chevalier Love... He calls for help from the others as well. He needs a good reading on why she would do this. Why she would act like this, someone who was so focused on being good, and just, and helpful. Radio chatter goes quick and intense.     He comes to some conclusions. And decides his course of action. Darting through falling buildings and around incoming beams, he flutters into invisibility, trying to zip in from an unexpected angle. Darting around one of the buildings, he tries to land a fast astral projection on the Queen of Hatred, a shimmering translucent humanoid whoosh that hopefully slams into her head and gives Flamel brief, fast access to the outer layers of her mind. There, he can attack any fighting spirit, violent willpower, and things like that. While he's there, he can learn: What's the mind look like? Is there one, still? Any signs of clear and obvious tampering? Any memory of the last time she's seen a cherub somewhere?     ...Is that mysterious psychic poison anywhere? After all, she's forgotten some important things...
Angela	''Chevalier Love! What happened?! You were doing so well!!'' "What is a ... Chevalier? I am the Magical Girl of Love... I am the Queen of Hatred..." The dragon growls. "Why am I here? Where are my sisters?" Silver flechettes do, at least, draw her attention to the princess but there's no glimmer of recognition in her eyes. Not even the Hate remains. "What is this place? It feels..." ''Is that you, Love?'' "You know of me...?" The Queen of Hatred's attention is drawn by Jeanne. "I do not know you..." But... ''What happened?'' "I do not know... WHy am I here? I am not in the facility. What did I come here searching for?" The spears punch into the Queen's gut but it's tougher than it looks like. Blueish purple blood drips from the wounds where she's struck and the dragon responds by hissing into Jeanne's face but before she does much-- ''You know who I am, don't you?'' "...I do not. I can see you are a knight like Justice. Come--" She doesn't have the memory to properly defend herself from Lilian's snap movement, the blade digging through the jaw and through it--but the hide is thicker than it looks, pushing it through the skull doesn't come easily. The jaw snaps back suddenly and the head whips around, trying to send Lilian flying without her sword or--at least--with it. The hands on the side of the head reach for Lilian's arms and to assist in this endeavour. Now that there is ''Good'' to fight, she does seem less interested in harming civilians. Or maybe it's just there's plenty of pain incoming that discourages her from going after them directly. EIther way, though, her power is neither discreet nor short of range or breadth. It is true as long as she functions like this, she is a danger to this World. But Hibiki is also correct, no matter how this ends, Love would be miserable about this, right? At least, the Love you knew. Hibiki slams down against the top of Love's head and the hands lash out--abandoning its attempt to grip Lilian to grab for Hibiki's arms, hoping to tug on them and riiiiippp them. "Kamen Rider..." Is that to Hibiki? Or is that regarding the fact that Sougo and Woz are coming in hot. Literally in Sougo's case, because fireballs slam into its face, causing The Queen of Hatred to let go of Hibiki and soar up into the air, putting up some distance between her and he Elites. She is so foucsed on the Elites that she completely misses someone only vaguely menacing. The psychoportal slams right into the Abnormality's forehead and Flamel has no issue getting inside. This doesn't stop the Abnormality from continuing its assault, however, not immediately at least--The Queen of Hatred unleashes another beam of light only for the Knight of Justice to appear suddenly before it and block it with her sword and body--but the blast still sears into her and causes her to slide back, her arms severely burnt by the effort. With a thwack of her tail, she unleashes more debris to fall towards Sougo, Sarracenia, and Jeanne's team.
Angela	Love's Mind... Love seems wholly oblivious as to what's going on in her mind. Her mindscape takes the form of Lobotomy Corp itself and Flamel sees a crying Love weeping in that cell. She doesn't seem...to be upset at being in the Cell, exactly? She keps murmuring the same thing over and over again.     I      F       e        e         l          E           m            p             t              y Voices of various LobCorp personell can be heard speaking through the door. Rose: You... tore my face apart... You killed my friends... Nikki: Because I trusted you... We lost everything. Nonon: GA HA HA! Now I can crush you with my own two hands! I'm one step closer to the strength I desire! Carol: I can't stop...hurting myself... If only I wasn't so weak... Angela: Don't call me Angie anymore. You're just a mockery of a girl. I can't stand seeing you like this. I won't visit you again. Carmen: I know your story is painful... But stories without pain...they don't feel so real, do they? "I betrayed them..." Love weeps. "I lost control and I betrayed the people who believed in me... I don't remember why I did this... I feel so empty... I feel so empty... Empty... Empty... Empty..." As for whether or not that there's mysterious poison...
Meika Kirenai	>Is that mysterious psychic poison anywhere?     Radioactively. Everything about the Queen of Hatred's current state reeks of the same signs Flamel is growing uncomfortably familiar with, inwards and hateful and nerve-rattlingly violent in texture. Three different ways he's seen it now, and even with uncertainty in what cases could be outliers or exceptions, each way is revolting. What's clear is that this was not supposed to happen, not by some failure in Tamamo's magics, not by some crack in Love's sentiments.     There's one clear similarity, at least, circlable round-and-round with red thread on a theory corkboard- even if she had to hunt for it herself, butterfly net in hand, Chevalier Love found herself a Cherub, the same sort of guiding familiar every magical girl here ought follow.
Meika Kirenai	As the beams start flying overhead, barely skimming the news van's myriad antennae- and grazing one, where it bends over in a sizzling, molten tangle. The air is deadly, ozone-burnt and sunburn-bright.     "-That one was close! Did you get that? Was it in frame? Come on, the cables stretch, right? We've got to get closer in and-" The newswoman is still here, tugging on her microphone, and similarly looking back over her shoulder towards the now-in-action Elites streaming in. With a finger tapping the earpiece, she keeps on talking, practiced clarity in her voice to be just-audible over the ruckus. "Does anyone know who those are, in the studio? We're seeing some... are they offworlders..? Hah?!"     The beady-black lenses of cameras swivel up and watch the airships start to fly in, or shift to watch Lilian, Hibiki, Woz's displays amongst the crowd. Then, frantic, not-quite excited, the crew starts to make their way closer-in to the action, following where breaks in the crowd's flow let them, and eventually crossing the barrier into more active danger.     For the few Elites rushing in, with magic aglow, weapons and armor shining in the daytime burn, the crowd, and more pressingly, the police and emergency services, look on them with terrified apprehension. The officers Lilian sends tumbling shout, and try and scramble back to their feet- that they're levying their short-barreled revolvers her way instead of towards the literal dragon still isn't really a good change, but that fades and snaps off immediately when Lilian's demand on their fear-frayed nerves pulls them and others more into action. The riot shields, cones, tape, and fencing pulled into a makeshift barricade starts to be opened up more, and it's easier for the Elites to pass, as the crowd swells into the newfound breathing room.     Sarracenia's airships are a godsend, for being a discrete evacuation points others can direct the crowds to, and start to ferry civilians away. That by no means makes her efforts smooth and easy- being corralled into strange vehicles comes with feared murmurs of where they're to be taken, people resisting against the flow, general fear and confusion. The ships grow fuller as the streets grow emptier, fewer and fewer people stream out of the surrounding buildings, and the dull heartbeat of alarms takes up more and more of the air's loudness.     Lilian's commands to the emergency services continue to pay dividends, as officers break off and attend the fallen, tripped, and otherwise not-moving civilians who emerge when the crowd starts to thin. They're helping- and it's awful just how many people they have to help, even if many are still stirring, and some even stay on their feet when propped back up. With more trenches lasered-out by the moment, more falling rubble, each dragged-away person is a life saved.     And- on topic: The civilians shielded by Hibiki's beam-intercepting dive barely glance her way, unharmed- but so shell-shocked from everything that the complexity of processing how thankful they should be, or that their lives were even in that immediate of a danger, surely won't cross their minds until there's more safety and calm. What matters is that they're safe, for now, and peeling away into the exiting crowds.     "-jumped from the plaza, and- are you seeing this? Are my eyes really right? She's using a- that's a *sword* she had in hand? I can hardly believe what I'm seeing..." Oh, god, the newswoman is still here, watching Lilian's duel with the tower-top abnormality. When other fighters start to join her, moments later, that gives the camera more work to keep in frame- and more to focus on instead of dodging stray beams. Some noncombatants seem hell-bent on avoiding the combat, unfortunately.     b Plenty o
Meika Kirenai	One of the cameramen, from either a shift in priority, or a loss of nerve, drops his heft camera and dips away- popping back up from the other side of a half-melted car tugging an unconscious civilian up by the armpits, and scrambling to pull them safer away. Plenty of the disaster-responders are starting to do the same, but there's dozens of injured and unconscious people left around, and never enough hands on their own.
Sarracenia	Only a few minutes later, the low pitched drone of huge rotors spinning can be heard. Dozens of them. The Sundew Sovereign, a wooden airship of Spanish galleon style some 200 feet long leads in a squadron of six similar ships. Most of the ships move without firing their guns to relatively sheltered or open areas, ready to receive refugees. Firing weapons when you are the evacuation force is just a bad idea when facing giant monsters.      Sarra notices Woz and Sougo and Lilian helping below and waves from above. "Thank you for the assistance!" As they start helping to direct the flow of fleeing people, each airship opens its side hatches and deploys its boarding ramps. Piranha Plant soldiers come pouring out, but they fan out quickly to keep from dissuading any incoming people. Human crew members take up positions at the ends of the ramps, urging people inside, while the Piranha plants form lines to help herd the panicking people by fear in the right directions. Although, the Piranha Plants themselves seem quite shaken. It is clear they are used to just being decorative.      Meanwhile, the larger Sundew Sovereign with its figurehead of Sarracenia on its bow moves to keep pace above Sarracenia. She grabs a hanging rope ladder as it passes and is quickly pulled up on deck. "Alright, Captain! Deploy the Bonzai Bill launcher! We will have to take care this time, though!"      Sarra heads below deck as she says that, and emerges a few moments later in her battle dress. A black leather dress with red armor plates rivetted into place over her chest and in a skirt around her waist, layered over long broad strips of leather that form a longer skirt.      She takes control of the cannon as it is lowered from the underside of the ship. A cannon large enough that a car could fit inside it. And a car-sized projectile does emerge. A shark-faced bullet.      Sarra aims for a point just above Love. "I am sorry, Chevalier Love! But, we do have to stop you before anyone else gets hurt! I am sure your friends will want to talk to you after!" she shouts before firing.      The Bonzai Bill flies in at a fairly slow pace compared to everyone else. Plenty of time for allies to clear the area. As it flies, Sarra pulls out a Bullet Bill and tosses it up and down while watching. She waits for the Bonzai to get close to above Love's head, then tosses up the Bullet Bill and leaps upward herself. She goes into a somersault, gaining speed, until the Bullet Bill comes down and gets hammered at proper artillery speeds toward the Bonzai. When it hits, the Bonzai explodes. Then explodes again. And again. A series of rapid and steadily growing explosions, placed so that the area beyond Love should be relatively undamaged. The last explosion is delayed and noticeably larger than the rest, leaving a mushroom cloud above.      That tail swings, and rubble pelts the Sundew Sovereign and no doubt most of the other ships. Wooden planks are sundered and splintered, several sailors are knocked overboard and have to deploy parachutes, but the Sovereign remains in the air for now. One of the pieces even manages to catch Sarracenia in the head and send her sprawling across the deck. She gets back up quickly, holding a hand over a flow of red down the side of her head.      When she sees that Love seems to have lost her memories...Sarra's expression sinks. "Of course we know you! You are Love! Chevalier Love! The Magical Girl of Love!" She does not say Queen of Hatred because well...that wouldn't be helpful right now. "You are friend to Meika and Kayoko and Petra and..." She is loathe to say it, but it might be helpful right now. "And to Dame Commander Lilian!" She doesn't really know if Lilian considers Love a friend, but she is certain Love admires Lilian.
Sarracenia	"And I am Princess Sarracenia Sundew! Crown Princess of the Sundew Kingdom! If you are hatred, then you must remember me! Come on! You do not want to be this! You do not hurt innocent people! You hurt specific, dangerous people!"      When the roads start to clear out a bit, the Piranha Plant soldiers start joining in the search and rescue. Hundreds of extra hands(leaves) to clear out injured people. If they can handle being handled by human-sized plant creatures with big shark-toothed smiles. Or fearful frowns.
Timespace Riders	Kamen Rider...      "That's right," says Zi-O, encouragingly, his helmet bobbing. "Woz and I both are. We're here to help you. Someone who cares a lot about you said that you were hurting." Rubble falls towards Woz--in jagged, large, uneven chunks. Zi-O's fireballs slam into the rubble, breaking them up into smaller, more manageable chunks. "Heads up, Woz!"      Down on the streets, two of Woz's manipulator arms pause from gesturing for the fleeing civilians and move towards snatching them out of the air, as his helmet whips around in response to Zi-O's warning. Powerful gripping claws with treaded teeth crush falling debris into powder, or bat it aside, safely away from the slowly dwindling crowd.      Sarra's warning about the explosive ordnance is heeded by Zi-O--he hesitates for a moment. "I know it feels like you've been waiting forever. Just hold on a little longer, okay?" He rockets upwards, a backwards parabola getting distance between him and Love.      Back on the ground, a manipulator arm catches the reporter by the collar, precise and gentle, but firm. "Hold, chronicler," says the retainer, as two other arms lift up injured civilians and deliver them gently to the nearest paramedics. "My king would be displeased with me, if I allowed you to come to harm. Your duty to record this battle is satisfied more soundly than the wildest dreams of your employers. But what is the story of this battle, without the stories of those most affected by it as companion?" His helmet tips backwards, towards Sarracenia's airship.      "They are all in one place, their words ripe for the taking. If you hurry, you may reach it in time--they have need of someone who can help them make sense of this." The cameraman's dropped camera is lifted up by the fourth arm and desposited into her arms from above. "Go."      From a safe-distance range away from the impact of Sarra's ordnance, Zi-O levels a solid stream of fire at Love!
Flamel Parsons	Flamel's dead-on shot of the Queen of Hatred's current mindset is PAINFUL. It blasts him back, knocks him off his feet, even causes his skull to spark and shudder. He has to pull away, scramble onto his feet, crawl and run. Huddling behind rubble, he plants two fingers on his palm and shouts over the sound of lasers, tensely trying to figure out the solution. More and more tense, more and more urgent. He finally comes to a conclusion.     "I'm going to try something. No idea if this is going to work." He mutters into the brain-radio as he starts running. "If I have to testify to the government about what I'm about to do, you all have to be on-call as witnesses. Keep hitting her, however you can get her fighting spirit down." He gestures broadly, forcing a fresh rush of telekinetic energy under his feet and speeding up on the levitation. A trail of bright white follows him.     He is about to make the kind of decision that will force him to testify in front of an investigative commitee, with his job at stake. He has, in this case, no other choice.     His psycho-portal drifts to his palm. The back panel opens up, and he rewires it, redoing its circuits and bypassing certain parts of it. He'll face-tank the beams if he has to -- and sometimes he does have to -- to close in. A wide, shimmering telekinetic hand moves fast as he leaps high through the air, to plant it squarely on the Queen of Hatred's head... He tries to land hard on the head of the snake, forcing the psycho-portal door into place securely. If it can secure into place, the overcharged door might damage inner psychic barriers as it pierces far, far deeper than a psycho-portal often does. There's *one* thing he can do. If he gets this portal secured, it'll be the only shot he has at fixing this.
Lilian Rook	'...I do not. I can see you are a knight like Justice.'     "I see. That's a shame." Lilian says. "So you're completely gone." The breath that escapes her is pefectly even. Focused, drilled, and steeled. "Thou shalt not heed the words . . ." she whispers to herself, and doesn't finish.     ------     Impacts the Queen of Hatred's scales nearly hard enough to drive the air out of her. The sheer toughness of the beast catches her off-guard, forcing her to swing her legs forward with her core and brace against its throat with her feet. The serpent's thrashing goes entirely to her shoulders, yanking them hard enough to make her grit her teeth, but her grip on Night Mist is so tight it's as if she'd rather break both arms than let go of it for an instant.     Both of the Queen's arms latch on to hers. Lilian flexes her knees and strains to unhilt Night Mist instead. Tensing her muscles against shock, her armour sparks black-gold as the slowing magic crackles against the Queen of Hatred's grip. Hibiki's strike jars her loose, and Lilian backflips onto her feet just before hitting the ground at speed.     "Christ. Stronger than she looks." Lilian mutters, then dodges sideways, circling around the Queen with a swift three-point leap from building to building. "I was aiming for the brain, too. Her muscle tension is insane. No more thrusts." <J-IC-Scene> Sarracenia says, "...were you really going to kill her?!" <J-IC-Scene> Hibiki Tachibana says, "Did whatever the hell is behind this poison... go after her on purpose or something!?" <J-IC-Scene> Flamel Parsons says, "That can't be the way it works. People can't *do everything right* and still fail like this." <J-IC-Scene> Woz, as Kamen Rider Woz, says, "I regret to inform you that it works such a way frequently enough for those people to have a Kamen Rider." <J-IC-Scene> Woz, as Kamen Rider Woz, says, by way of introduction, "Speaking." <J-IC-Scene> Flamel Parsons says, "We can't safely believe in a world being like that." <J-IC-Scene> Lilian Rook says, "I might've." <J-IC-Scene> Lilian Rook says, "I wouldn't want to." <J-IC-Scene> Lilian Rook says, "But . . ." <J-IC-Scene> Jeanne Alter says, "Hmm.. Yes, about that." <J-IC-Scene> Lilian Rook says, "I can't ignore those people who were living their ordinary lives, turned to ash for no reason." <J-IC-Scene> Lilian Rook says, "How would they feel about us hugging it out?" <J-IC-Scene> Flamel Parsons says, "We can't. This isn't like it was before." <J-IC-Scene> Lilian Rook says, "If she's not responsible, then someone else is. That matters."
Lilian Rook	A spike of dull irritation. Old reflex and half-forgotten feeling. Sparing the monster after she'd just made up her mind. Lilian breaks off her attack routine, then blinks away from the last place her feet hit, leaving shattered windows behind.     "Are you really so worthless as a heroine that you have to be a villain?" says Lilian, displacing again. "Without a villain, you had to become one, so that a heroine could defeat something." Another direction. Again. "Is that it? It doesn't matter who the heroine and who the villain is; as long as it plays out, you're satisfied?" Rear-- left quarter-- Lilian collides with the Queen of Hatred alongside a wave of solar fire, slashing her from the right with a second, left with a third, lower middle, belly, anchoring tail, down the serpent's length with a cut-up and spliced fast forward of her pseudo-holy "--Fáinne Gréine Óir!"     She hits street level in a(n intentionally?) dramatic pose, then snap-fires charged up magic with rapid gestures from her left hand, Night Mist cooling in her right. A point of seethe-popping black-gold liquid energy crackles into existence directly below the Queen of Hatred, then collapses into a shearing pane of space-rending magic as Lilian twists and clenches her fist, taking the floor out beneath her weight.
Hibiki Tachibana	What is a ... Chevalier? I am the Magical Girl of Love... I am the Queen of Hatred...     THAT FUCKING POISON AGAIN!     She... forgot?     While Hibiki is caught up in this abrupt realization - the sudden understanding of *why* this happened, that rather than it being some spiral that Love fell into without anyone knowing, it was that goddamn /memory alteration/ at work - she's wide open to getting grappled. Both arms get hoisted up, and /pulled on/.     She doesn't scream, but there are grunts and sounds of strain leaking through grit teeth as she fights back against it with her own absurd strength. At the same time, she's still in the middle of wrapping her mind around what happened. The same thing responsible for affecting the Magical Girls of Kagoshima on their eighteenth birthday.     But she's not a Magical Girl of Kagoshima. So how did it still get to her? She does still have a Cher... ub... though...     Right as her eyes widen, her struggles against Love finally get to stop thanks to the focus on the others letting her drop away, nearly tumbling off the department store rooftop before she catches herself on the edge of the half-destroyed building. Confusion over why this is happening starts giving away to...     ...rage. The same kind of anger she had when menacing the Cherubs for more information that one day, bubbling and simmering beneath the surface. Her fingers crack into the hard material enough that she might make herself fall. "...I'm not going to let them..." Hibiki hisses through her teeth, before tensing up and using her hold to haul herself back up.     The slow incoming Banzai Bill goes... unheeded, as her fists tighten back up. "If you remember 'Kamen Rider', then you should remember me too, Love! Hibiki! Tachibana Hibiki! Didn't I tell you that the people you care about wouldn't let you turn into a monster!? Didn't /you/ say you were going to protect Kagoshima in Meika's place!? Do you remember what Tamamo and those two did!? Like hell I'm going to let whatever sick crap is going on in this world stomp all over those promises!"     Her heels dig in, her knees buckle - and the Symphogear user lunges back in, bodily putting herself in the way of that thrashing, thwapping quetzacoatl tail. Both arms smash into it, palms grasping on tight and limbs locking around it, getting a vice grip onto the appendage to lock the rampaging Magical Girl down in place. Every attempt to move will be against Hibiki's iron grasp.     "The last thing I'm gonna let you do... is go berserk... rampage and kill... and forget everything... because of /THAT/!" The words come with accompanying /yank/, intending to smash Love's form down and keep her pinned by the tail as Lilian rips into her.     And equally as importantly, as the Banzai Bill comes in. Hibiki isn't going anywhere. She's going to keep Love right here, so that every single word - and all those explosions - really hit head-on.
Ritsuka Fujimaru	"You know of me...?" "I do not know you..." "I do not know... Why am I here? I am not in the facility. What did I come here searching for?" "I've heard of you. Bits and pieces, never the full story. Tell me..." Wait, would Love have heard of the story? Jeanne pauses, then just barrels right on. "Have you ever heard the story of Jeanne d'Arc? The young farm girl from centuries past who, guided by God's righteous voice, fought so bravely to save her homeland of France, her people, and was betrayed by those very people she swore to protect?" Gripping the spears embedded in the Queen of Hatred, the Dragon Witch pulls herself up with a deft flip to stand atop both of them precariously, specifically so she can look right up into that hissing face with an expression that carries none of her usual insulting aura. "After so many hard-fought battles, she was taken prisoner by her own, and brought out to be burned at the stake for heresy. A war hero, of all people!" Jeanne laughs bitterly, pausing to leap off of the spears on the dragon as so many other attacks come towards Love. She lands back on the nearby rooftop, pausing to look back towards the street and keeping her expression rather passive even as she sees so much debris being flung all over the place, and at Ritsuka and Mash further below. The two on the ground, of course, are still working their hardest to keep people covered and redirected, but they're having a hell of a time doing it. Between all the debris flying around that Mash has to intercept with her shield and Ritsuka has to intercept with herself, they're already running themselves rather ragged trying not to get buried in the process. When one of the buildings starts to collapse partway and list over towards the path of some of those fleeing people, Mash leaps over to intercept all that crumbling material directly, bracing the shield overhead to get the bulk of it to slide relatively harmlessly (to those people, not herself) back into the base of the building. Seeing that more of the reporting crew and strange plant-beings are joining the efforts to save people, meanwhile, prompts Ritsuka to put a bit of her own magic into them, giving them more energy to really put their backs into it. "Tell me, Love... Do you think, in those final moments before her execution, that she believed her job was finished at all? That evil was truly gone from the world? Or..." Jeanne draws her sword next, then points it towards-No, beyond the city. "That her work had not yet even begun before she would die in such an ignoble way?"
Ritsuka Fujimaru	The sword blazes to life with renewed flames (black, of course) as Jeanne leaps back towards the Queen of Hatred, aiming for a landing on her head this time. She drives the burning sword downwards as she does with all the raging flames that follow in its wake, almost as if she's trying to make the flames as visually spectacular as they are painful. "Would you believe that the girl was brought back to life to seek revenge against the very church that wronged her, and she's just found the perfect way to do it?" Jeanne starts laughing boisterously, excessively loudly, projecting it as hard as she can to the people fleeing below. She sweeps her free hand to give her cape a grand flourish as she calls her flaming banner to her hand before stabbing it down towards the Queen of Hatred. "Listen up, worthless humans! I am the resurrected Dragon Witch, Jeanne d'Arc, and I've come to lay waste to your wretched city now that there's nobody left to protect you! You rested so easily on your laurels that you forgot all about those Chevaliers that kept me at bay for so long, and now..." Even as she puts on some kind of act, Jeanne keeps grinding that flaming banner down, bringing it back up and slamming it back down with a ridiculous amount of force while grinning madly right at the camera. "I've tainted that Magical Girl of Love with my power, and the Dragon Queen of Hatred is at my beck and call! Grovel for mercy, or this will be the last night you'll ever see on this godforsaken earth!" Further below... "Is... Do you think that... Does she really think that's going to...?" "Shhh. Don't let the mics pick this up...!"
Angela	Sometimes humans don't really recognize the danger that's right in front of them but fortunately plenty seem to be following the evacuation orders--never fast enough, but the next best thing. Wouldn't Love appreciate that Sarracenia is looking after the local populace when she couldn't? Probably. Her Hate is powerful, but... Hibiki lashes out with her arms and is able to catch the Queen of Hatred and pin her in place. She's no space shuttle or moon here. She crashes back down into the tower and she twists around. The Queen howls in pain as the Bullet Bill detonates against her face, aggravating the numerous wounds already accumulated around her head. A claw lashes out and seizes Sarracenia, gripping her tightly--but not so tightly as to crush her. An eye focuses on her as the dragon swoops to another building and starts climbing up it, princess in hand, King Kong style. Hibiki's grip slows her ascent considerably. "Hate... I do not remember... But I can still hate you... Thank you for being someone I can... Hate." The Queen pulls up to the top of the building and her face leans in closer. "Let me give you a kiss of gratitude..." The 'kiss', of course, is going to be more like a bite. On Sarracenia's face! But it's not a chomp and tear, it's a slow digging in, almost like that violence and romance are equal in this creature's thoughts--and that equal care must be paid to both. The Queen won't hold onto Sarracenia after, though, letting her drop. ''Are you really so worthless as a heroine that you have to be a villain?'' "Is ... is it so wrong to need meaning?" The voice of the dragon shifts, suddenly quiet and uncertain, uneasy and frightened--not of Lilian's martial prowess--but of what she says, the ideas she presents that seem outside of her concept of existence. That isn't to dismiss her swinging arm, however. Each slash rips scales and hearts from her body, her strange blood splashing to the rooftops and floors below. A true slayer of monsters is before her, but why does she feel... like it isn't right? "Why does this feel...wrong? This is how it is supposed to be, isn't it?" In the moment where she's being driven back and pinned to the rooftop by Hibiki's grip strength--Flamel is able to pin a psycho portal to the Abnormality's head and dive in deep. Considering how it repelled him the first time...just how dangerous will it be for Flamel himself? The head jerks back on impact but her two hands literally cannot reach her own forehead. More on that later. Woz says things that make the Queen's heart ache. That he is a stranger to her, does not mean offers of help completely bounce off. She's still a Magical Girl at heart after all. As Zi-O's flame burns wounds closed and blackens her scales, she thinks... It's almost over. She can forget this painful emptiness for good... Maybe someone as broken as her will be gone forever. That, after all, wouldn't exactly count as NOT help. "There are many ways to end harm...Will you end the cycles, the empty...?"
Angela	Then Jeanne declares herself the one who corrupted her, the evil dark queen and the like... All very true in the Queen of Hatred's head. It fills a little bit of the emptiness by providing an explanation. "YOU ARE WHY I FEEL THIS WAY?!" The Queen roars and pushes up, coiling her snakelike tail underneath her, wings fanning out sharply to the sides. "SERVANT OF NIHIL... FACE THE POWER OF THE ULTIMATE MAGIC!" Some part of her, of course, thinks that the right thing to do to Jeanne right now is to hug her but that's not the part of her running things right now. Instead she, and everyone but Flamel (who has other problems going on) and Sarracenia is going to have to deal with it. A full power Arcana Slave, exploding out of her jaws in Lord Englishian style, her jaw distending to allow more raw power to erupt out of her. The Knight of Justice leaps in the way of civilians--of Jeanne's friends(?) and a series of constellations formed from blades of starlight press up against it--providing protection for civilians and Jeanne's friends alike-- But when the power fades, the smoking body of the Knight of Justice tumbles forward and she collapses to the floor--civilians, unharmed--at least from her sector of the City.
Meika Kirenai	'Hold, chronicler,'     With her blazer's collar grabbed, the woman lets out an indignant little yelp- and stops, a short glare off to the remaining cameraman tangibly communicating 'keep on rolling'.     "King? Your king? Is he somewhere here? There's that woman in armor, the dragon, is your 'king' involved in why any of this is happening?" Despite the obvious tremble to her posture, in the thick of disaster, she seems to be channeling all her fear into a sharp ear for nouns to inquire into, and stories to stick to capturing, instead of blank-eyed panic. In her words, though, is a faint bit of nervous fallback to familiar mottos and scripting- "My *duty*, sir, is to capture the truth of daily life in our city, and to be a reliable face on the ground through events like this one, and... could you kindly let me go?"     When obliged, she dusts off her shoulder, less to clean it and more out of familiarity, and immediately, she holds out the microphone Woz's way- What about your words, sir? Your name? Why you're here and what you know? I won't get in the way of you bringing those two back to the- are those... vehicles.. yours? Here, hang on..." Still holding the microphone out back and forth between them both, she hooks her free arm under one of the carried civilians Woz is hauling, offering a modicum of support, and an indication she'll be following him back on her own accord.     It's not our intrepid reporter who takes the picked-up formerly-discarded news camera, but the other cameraman, who seems to be prioritizing carrying both of the sets of gear, now, instead of actually filming. The first cameraman still works to help the unconscious, and eventually, the whole lot of the news crew retreat, with Woz, to relative safety.     They, along with the remnant trailing crowds, have their retreat covered by the Knight of Justice- the panicked few who look back to see her don't *seem* thankful, at the monstrously tall being commanding an armada of blades, but nontheless, they make it back and away. Buildings still tilt and shear, under the constant bombardment of stray lasers, but as far as anyone can further tell, the area has been emptied of those at risk.
Angela	Flamel throws himself into the deepest parts of the Queen of Hatred's mindscape. And he can feel it, he can feel the countless minds that compose the Queen of Hatred, the countless thoughts. Thoughts that are too numerous to count, scarcely able to conceive. Abnormalities, and Flamel Parson, have a little bit in common. He busts on through the cell that locks up the crying Magical Girl of Love and into the facility proper. Countless imaginings of what makes a Magical Girl compose her form, her existence, her very nature--some part of it had been changed by a seal from a divine being to allow something stronger and newer and more real than what a billion concepts from a billion people to form a singular entity could ever be. As he runs through the facility, he has to dodge vague memories of Abnormalities, shadowy echoes of what they once were. Shadow-like Agents charge after him, claiming that a Breach has occurred and it must be stopped. There is something to reach for. He knows he has to reset the facility to save some aspect of Love as a human. So that she is not burned away by a poison designed to eradicate abnormality. But how? Surely, it would not be something so simple as a big red button. ... It is something as simple as a big red button. He almost misses it amongst the other cells, but it is there. A big red button with the word BUTTON on it in white. A sign crossed out underneath indicates this is a button that this button is not one to touch. "...It could kill her." An image of Angela tells to Flamel. "It's how we have to do things here. There is never a good option, there is simply harm reduction and limiting casualties. 'Do no harm', this is against everything you are, isn't it? Are you sure you'll save her or will you just kill her faster than the poison." "But," An image of Carmen adds. "It wouldn't be a bad story. Sometimes you can't be who you are in the place you are. You can only be yourself somewhere kind, with people kind. I believe in her learning to love herself." "The only person out there that's like her, really. Especially after you do this. It's lonely But..." "...My siblings deserve to be free too. The Queen of Hatred. Love. She remembers Angela said that." "...Can you escape in time before the reset catches you?" Carmen asks. "...You want to write some amazing papers, don't you? It'll be worth it. You remind me of ''him''." Flamel can push through into the cell. All he has to do is push the button.
Ritsuka Fujimaru	"Did... That's really..?" "Who else but Jeanne could pull it off? She's already dressed for the part!" As Mash looks on in disbelief and Ritsuka beams with secondhand pride, Jeanne continues laughing madly at the Queen's rising anger directed towards herself. Some of that laughter is genuine, too, although it's greatly masked by that hammed-up madness, to really try and keep the anger pointed at her. "That's right, my grand Servant Queen of Hatred! You should be thanking me, for freeing you from those pathetic ideals of Love and Justice!" She bellows, really getting into the act now even as she sees the Queen's size in greater detail when she fans those wings out and rises to even greater heights. Her hubris comes back to bite her, of course, and there's only a slight twinge of concern at realizing that Ritsuka and Mash are going to get caught up in the backlash as well. Moreso Mash than Ritsuka, even if she knows the Shielder can take it. Logically, she should be trying to find cover, perhaps even behind Mash, but she's already made her play, and she can't risk redirecting the Queen's anger towards anyone else. Thus, she holds her banner close, and she wreathes it in flames while starting to charge forward.  "Yes, good... Show me your power, my servant! Prove that you still have some of that spark left in you, and give me a worthy challenge!" Taking a full-force Arcana Slave head on without being a defensive wall, of course, is a terrible idea, and Jeanne's eyes are already looking for angles to not get obliterated even with her aura of fire to fight back against that surge of power. Leaping into the air is already limiting her options, but what else does she have to work with? Spears and explosions, mostly. Setting off a fiery explosion at her side hurls Jeanne just barely enough towards the edge of the Arcana Slave that she gets blasted halfway by it instead of taking it head-on. The impact has her spinning somewhat wildly as she continues her approach, too, and a timely explosion at her other side arrests that spin so she can actually see where she's going as her descent takes her towards the Queen through more of that unleashed magic. Mash and Rituska, meanwhile, fare considerably better with the knowledge that the city's people and reporters alike have evacuated the area. With only a fraction of the people left to defend in the form of Ritsuka and anyone else looking to hide behind herself, Mash can put her all into defending those closest to her. "You know what to do, Mash!" "Yes, Master... Deploying Noble Phantasm!" Raising her shield aloft, Mash summons forth a gleaming shield of light in front of and around herself to help her and those closest by withstand the full brunt of the incoming Arcana Slave. The shield of light clashes with the Queen's explosive power as Mash pushes forward to keep herself from being thrown back, and both she and Ritsuka end up getting shoved back over half of what once was a block by the time they finally stop sliding backwards and the smoke clears. Without any words exchanged between them (because they don't want to break the image), Ritsuka funnels what's left of her magic power into Jeanne. Jeanne immolates her banner entirely, aiming to drive the flag's base directly into the great dragon once more. On impact, she swings herself up onto the flag like she had with the spears, then draws her sword and leaps for the Queen's face one more time. Even though she heard Flamel's plan, she's not going to verbally acknowledge it so long as the Queen is still pissed off at her.
Flamel Parsons	"...Ghhh! Come on!"     "Almost there..."     "God, what does she think of all these Abnormalities..."     "Hey! Stop! I'm an agent of a vague yet menacing agency too! Stop!"     "..."     "Here. This is why she went to Kagoshima..."     "..."     "It has to go."     "I wish it didn't have to."     "Good luck, Love."     "Whoever you become, I hope life is good to you."     "..."     "Fuck, this is going to hurt."     Flamel destroys all memory structures associated with Magical Girl Love feeling attachment to, interest in, or affection towards Kagoshima, its systems, or its society and moves to approach the BUTTON.     Flamel steps towards the button. He speaks to Angela. "It's pretty far against who I am! Yep! I'm glad to be someone that this is antithetical to, and I hate to be the one who has to do it." And he speaks to Carmen. "We're all products of our world. All people come from it, and return to it, and are expressions of it."     He speaks to Angela. "Everyone deserves to think freely. And if you can only act kindly when you're somewhere kind, then you can only think freely when you're somewhere free." And he speaks to Carmen. "I really hope I'll escape! I have a lot to learn from what's about to happen. And I still have to stop the poison. No matter what."     He pushes through.     He approaches.     The cruelty of how he hesitates is matched by the cruelty of deciding.     He presses the button, and flees as hard and fast as he can to the upper layers where he can extract. The all-consuming reset will extrapolate from the missing and altered memories. It will overwrite any memory, any mental continuity from that point of divergence. Love will become whoever she would be if she never wanted to be a person who lived freely in Kagoshima, or ever wished to be part of humanity there. And all Flamel can do is try to become whoever gets away from the blastwave of sorts.
Sarracenia	As she watches all of this, Sarra can't help grumbling something about Lilian and coolness and mutters a few phrases full of copium. At least until Hibiki starts wrestling with Love right as the Banzai Bill. "H-hibiki! You were supposed to...!!"      'I'm Fine! Worry more about her--!'      Sarra can't help it! It is rarely the villain or monster who dies in these scenarios! It is the hero who heroically sacrificed themselves so the powerful attacks could land! And if she injures or even kills a hero how can she call herself one?! Of course, she realizes that Hibiki is pretty tough...but there is always that chance. She can't help imagining the heroic funeral Hibiki would get. Wait, does that mean as the one who fired the Banzai Bill that Sarra would get to give a heroic eulogy?      The princess shakes her head to clear such thoughts, then waits for the smoke to clear. Which gives her a chance to listen to Jeanne and possibly gives Jeanne some very nice black smoke to emerge dramatically from as she declares herself the evil one controlling Love.      Sarra lets out an appreciative 'ooooh' at the performance. "Will that work?" She looks toward where she thinks Flamel is. It is pretty hard to see a stealthy psychoknight in a debris field from up in an airship.      Looking for Flamel distracts Sarra for just a moment. Which means she squeals in a very high-pitch when she is suddenly grabbed by a claw and yanked off her airship! She struggles for a moment when she realizes...she is being kidnapped! She is the damsel in distress in the grip of the giant monster! She stops fighting and just looks up at Love, and her expression softens even more when she realizes which giant monster is being emulated here.      'Hate... I do not remember... But I can still hate you... Thank you for being someone I can... Hate.'      Sarra really isn't sure that being thanked for something like that is flattering, but the way Love says it makes it seems sort of nice at least. "Er...you are...welcome? Though I would really rather have been someone you liked..." Sarra says quietly. She still doesn't struggle even as The Queen leans in closer. "A-a kiss...?" Sarra blushes. Her mind even paints it as some tragic romantic scene for a few moments. The mighty monster with a wounded heart wanting to show their...love?...hatred?....for the beautiful maiden.
Sarracenia	And then she sees those teeth closing in. Huge snake fangs. That blush turns to paleness in moments. "W-wait! Y-you really do not need to-!!"      Sarra grits her teeth and clenches her fists against the pain as fangs dig into her face. Whimpers of distress escape her and her feet kick in the grip of that claw, and new flows of bright red are made. That it isn't a vicious, tearing bite is the only thing that keeps Sarra from freaking out. She does start feeling light-headed though. Too many hits to the head, too much lost blood without her using any mushrooms.      Sarra is released afterword, feeling very mixed feelings about the kiss. And they are on the side of a building so...she kind of just plummets. Dazed and confused, the princess falls through the air without stopping herself for a few moments. Surely someone will heroically catch her, right?      She lets out an abrupt and surprised 'oof' as she lands only a moment or two later on the top of that building, then mmphs in annoyance with a deadpan expression.      Sarra stands up unsteadily. The princess is shaky on her feet. She's barely standing, really. "It is not wrong to need meaning, but...finding your meaning at the expense of others..." she says, trying to ignore the ring of punctures around her face, making her look a bit like she is wearing a mask or something.      She is caught off guard by the sudden shift in mood when The Queen roars at Jeanne and fires that beam. "Jeanne! Love! NO!!" Sarra reaches into her purse and pulls out a mushroom. A very large yellow mushroom with red spots, or as some know it a Mega Mushroom! She squeezes it and it explodes into sparkles that infuse her, and in a flash she is about four times as tall with strength to match!      She then follows Hibiki's example and grapples with Love! She leaps to grab on to The Queen's back below her head and yanks backward, trying to aim as much of that beam as she can up into the air and away from the city. Although it is as much a desperate (and crushing) hug as anything. "St-stop this already!!" she pleads. "If you do not, we might have to...!!" Sarra does not even want to say it. She does not kill people!
Lilian Rook	'Is ... is it so wrong to need meaning?'     "Yeah. It is." Lilian says. It's so soft that it's a wonder even the Queen of Hatred can hear it, given armageddon happening around them. "'Meaning' always turns out to be the one and the same with giving people something they want. Isn't it obvious why it's awful? Needing to be needed hollowed you out like this, didn't it?"     'Why does this feel...wrong? This is how it is supposed to be, isn't it?'     "I'm sorry, but you really make a terrible villain, Love." Lilian flicks inky dream-gore and magical mascara from her sword, and stands to attention. "What was the point of you taking on this role if your heart wasn't in it?"     'SERVANT OF NIHIL... FACE THE POWER OF THE ULTIMATE MAGIC!'     "!"     Lilian's decision to lower her blade happens in a split second. Instinct prickles her skin in dread, and experience jerks her body into diving out of the way before she realizes it. She turns, sprints, takes three steps, lunges forward, accelerates on black magic, and stop-motion vanishes ahead in the blink of an eye. Arcane obliteration consumes every inch of ground she crosses. She reappears running, and the building between her and the laser superheats and explodes outwards behind her, pelting her with red hot rebar and smoking concrete carried along with the blast wave. Stumbling forward one step, Lilian claps her hand to a burn seared across her cheek from behind, gasping breathlessly, and then vanishes again.     There is no metaphorical hit marker. The feedback is nerve-wrackingly non-present. It feels like she's everywhere.     "Mere rage isn't enough to defeat the darkness. Who are you going to save without even a hint of a pure heart?"     The clack of metal; toe to asphalt, hilt to palm, the click of an edge alignment and the creak of tension beneath the armour. Lilian crouches vertically against the side of the opposite building, her hair swirling around her from the hanging inertia of a movement beyond motion.     "Sorry, but today is your loss. I expect you to get much, much stronger."     Lilian leaps backwards-- world-tilted sideways straight up the towering building, blurring past rows of windows, and vanishes.     "--Lann Réalta Reathata!""     The answering beam strikes from above. A shooting star that drops from heaven with an abruptness that outpaces sound. A flicker-streak of light, the silent motion of violent collapse, an airburst of steel and concrete and glass, hanging like frozen rain, then a thunderous explosion of hellish sound and howling wind carries it all away. The ground craters as if frame-skipped. Trees catch fire. Car alarms blare. Smoking glass and rubble sprays the walls of the cityscape nearby and riddles it with countless gouges.     Lilian strains against her own shimmering sword, trying to keep the giant serpent pinned at ground zero.
Timespace Riders	King? Your king? Is he somewhere here? There's that woman in armor, the dragon, is your 'king' involved in why any of this is happening?     "He is there," says Woz, releasing the reporter as he carries injured civilians out of harm's way, nodding towards Zi-O in the sky. "Sougo Tokiwa, the rightful King of Time. I am Woz, his faithful retainer and chronicler, and we, along with the others present in the battle, are here in defense of Kagoshima."     "Thank you," he says in response to her assistance. Words he's unaccustomed to offering sincerely.     "I am gifted with the ability to see potential futures in the pages of this book, where others see only empty paper," he continues, from the relative safety of a position a ways away from Love. With one human hand free, he's able to make a theatrical flourish, even as his mechanical arms gently deposit unconscious civilians in his tow. The other procures and cracks open the book. It's strange, with a hard blue cover and a clasp like the band of a wristwatch. The title seems to elude comprehension, while the blue cover sports whorls like hardwood grain.     "Thus, I have potential knowledge of much, so long as my perusal is had in moderation. Time is short, even for a servant of its king--but I will briefly consult this book, for the good and safety of this city. A moment, please." He flicks the clasp and the book falls open, the spine expertly balanced in his free palm.     Blank pages are reflected in the golden katakana lenses upon the face of Woz's helmet. The proverbial cat is out of the bag. The book seems to suggest that trust with the Holy Refulgence in the greater Elite community is tarnished already. But, perhaps an answer might yet be given which shields its frontline agents from sudden and overwhelming scrutiny. Hope beyond hope, may it perhaps allow the barest chance of some forward momentum for this repressive place.     Ah. Exactly as needed. His index pauses on a 'passage,' and his helmet dips in a nod. He closes the book. "The source of the danger is known as a kaiju--perhaps you have some familiarity from works of fiction, but as you saw, this one is very real. Often, as in fiction, they are benign prehistoric creatures roused from their natural habitats in search of a new one, or else ordinary life-forms--on occasion, even humans--drastically altered by exposure to exotic matter, rare minerals, chemical byproducts, or the like."     "According to this book, her arrival here is random chance." Removing the Kikai Miridewatch, he replaces it with another.                                     SHINOBI!                                         Pressing the stop on the squarefaced, futuristic pocketwatch lights up a hologram of a purple, ninja-esque variation of his smartwatch-themed helmet. "I am needed on the battlefield..." He inserts the Miridewatch into the side-loading gate on the Beyondriver, closing it with a little flourish of his hand.         Toei! FUTURE TIME! Dare Ja? Ore Ja! NINJA! Futurering Shinobi! SHINOBI!     A lively koto and shamisen anthem with a techno-influenced backbeat plays to accompany the callout, while Woz stands proud, hands out to either side, palms outward. A purple laser grid weaves together a new cuirass, breastplate and bracers, while an iridescent purple scarf and new purple katakana fly in to rest around his shoulders and snap onto his visor, respectively.     "...If you will excuse me," says the now-ninja-themed Rider, before striking a handseal and disappearing in a puff of smoke, complete with the archetypal bamboo-thunk noise.
Timespace Riders	On the battlefield, Zi-O is having a much more difficult time.     Why does this feel...wrong? This is how it is supposed to be, isn't it?     "Of course it isn't," says Zi-O, voice creaking with empathetic sadness.     YOU ARE WHY I FEEL THIS WAY?!     "Love--! Stop!! You feel empty because something very important was taken from you. We're not just here to help you right now, we're here to help you get back what was--"     The flame-tongued minute-hour hands over his purple katakana lenses wind forwards, leaving afterimages. Zi-O's wings fold in front of him protectively, just in time to take the full brunt of Arcana Slave. His form is washed out in blinding light, then visible as a purple dart rocketing through the mortar of an apartment building and out the other side. His wings weakly open, allowing a clumsy glide downwards to a gentler landing--but it's going to take him a moment to get his second wind after a hit like that.     Woz returns to the fight just in time to see this, disappearing again in an evasive teleport and reappearing on a falling piece of rubble. He ascends in a zigzag along falling chunks of building, springing off ot he last to run along the wall of the building from which it came, in a sprint towards Love.     "It was not she who took from you."     The rising Rider's faceplate meets her eyes, briefly, as he hangs suspended above her following a jump-zip-teleport, upside down. Flinging his scarf outwards, it wraps around her head, top over bottom, before he falls, his body weight pulling it taut. Not taut enough to close her mouth and halt the attack--but that, he can use her own strength to do. Landing atop her head and running down her back at breakneck speed, he narrowly outruns the counter-laser from Lilian. As Love's back itself races for the ground, he surges towards her tail, loops the scarf around it, and disappears again, a heartbeat before impact. Reappearing on ground level, he braces a leg against a building, for all the good it'll do in the worst case scenario.
Hibiki Tachibana	aking the brunt of the Banzai Bill's mass of explosions, on top of the Queen of Hatred's tail flailing and coiling as she makes her way up a new perch, it's inevitable that Hibiki would eventually be thrown off - between her direct laser blocking earlier and then being at the epicenter of that explosion, she's looking pretty well-cooked by now.     She's about to be much more well-cooked. Given that as she sails through open air, she's given a front-row seat to the sight of the massively powerful, unrestrained Arcana Slave about to be let loose. Of course, the last thing going through her mind right now is the ultimatum that Flamel's been faced with - and thus, the same one they also have to deal with.     I'm going to make her be the person she would be if she had never wanted to come to Kagoshima and get involved. She has to become someone who could never have been poisoned in the first place.     It's that, or this, or dying. I can't cure this poison.     This is the worst.     It's better than having to kill her.     That's the most credit she can give it.     If she could pull on the weave of fate the same way Tamamo could, would she be able to find an alternative? Probably not. Or else this sort of thing wouldn't have happened in the first place. But surely, there has to be something she can do. She told Love she wouldn't let her be alone - that she wouldn't forget or be a monster, like she was afraid of. They were supposed to get to the bottom of that 'poison' before Kayoko's birthday had her undergo the same fate as Meika; then there wouldn't be any other Magical Girls who ended up like that.     Having her be right in front of her like this, and still not being able to do anything...     ...     Hibiki is engulfed in the Arcana Slave, completely. The silhouette of her body briefly goes black, then fades out completely as the pink beam expands to swallow her up entirely. A dead-on hit that should've sent her flying into the pavement where Justice is putting up her defense to protect the civilians.     But as it dies down, Hibiki isn't just still there - she's charging back /in/ - her Symphogear's thrusters blazing to counteract being blown away by the devastating beam, and now that it's ended...     She smashes straight into the Queen of Hatred's body like a smoking, battered, still-sizzling bullet. Fist-first into her body, with the kind of raw force that might send the both of them flying, if the draconic mahou shoujo weren't already in the process of getting pinned multiple ways. It's nothing more than a full-force, overwhelmingly heavy punch.     Where her fist tries so hard to dig in, though, it almost - almost - feels a little warm. And not in a painful way. The point where fist meets flesh is a point of connection in and of itself. Hibiki's strained and shouting voice barely rises up over the chaos.     "The least I can do is be right here for you, for whatever the hell comes next--!"
Angela	Oblivious to Sarracenia's own need for love--or rather, not oblivious at all. The opposite. Seeing it as a fact as so banal as seeing water as wet.... The dragon bites. But at the very least, Sarracenia can pull her head back and disperse some of that power. Ritsuka can also readily drive that flag into her gut like a true dragonslayer. The purple fluid bursts out of her like from a fractured pipe. ''Having her be right in front of her like this, and still not being able to do anything...'' That thought can drive a mahou mad. Hibiki makes a promise, and drives a fist into the dragon's hide. The Abnormality can't handle more of this--The dragon howls in pain and she struggles to speak. "My thoughts aren't... Are you...? My hands...are drenched..." In the moment, Zi-O's shout is unheard or unheeded. She just needed something to blame and to hurt. Hopefully she will be the last hurt by this world. Even she'd be content with that. But it probably won't be, will she? Not if things continue the way they have been. That's the thought in the fallen Justice's head as she digs a sword into the ground to try and get herself up once more, tear-like stars dripping from her cosmic eyes. ''You feel empty because something very important was taken from you. We're not just here to help you right now, we're here to help you get back what was--'' The body of the dragon shudders. Though the beast without remains violent, the girl inside desperately...wants that. More than anything. More than any other memory, she wants what was taken from her. What was taken from her before she lost a single memory. The scarf wraps around the dragon's mouth and shuts down the laser before it can destroy Justice or more civilians-- --As Lilian shuts down the Serpent's ability to escape. ''What was the point of you taking this role if your heart wasn't in it?'' The scarf doesn't prevent her from speaking. "It didn't matter what I was, so long as I would not be alone. Being me mattered less...than being with someone who could ease that void within me."
Angela	"That's what makes freedom and kindness so precious, doesn't it?" Angela asks of Flamel. "It is a shame we couldn't have come from better expressions." Or is it Carmen speaking?r "...Yes, you have to stop the poison. And so do I. If you don't stop it, Kagoshima may become as dark and dire as The City." Carmen smiles. "Push the button, Flamel. Let our permission... Make it a little easier on you, though we are but a small piece of her..." Flamel pushes the button. The Agents die instantly. The Abnormalities all escape. The facility rapidly tears itself apart as the clerks go crazy and start gunning one another down. "...Initializing Reset..." Angela says. "...I can give you five seconds, Flamel." 5 He flees. He flees past dying agents and clerks. He flees past rampaging Abnormalities. 4 Debris starts tumbling down in his path, he has to engage in some quick platforming. 3 He sees the pathways of the collective unconsciousness surge into the mind past him and through him. It hits him like a wave, all those cosmic synapses as they reinforce the who of what Love is, like blood sealing a wound shut. He has to push a little more or he'll be sealed within with it. 2 The door is there, past the crying Magical Girl of Love. He just has to get past the person he came here to help. And hurt.)] 1 Love looks up to Flamel and she says, "I'll remember her...won't I? I'll at least remember her?" with tears in her eyes. "I... I love her--" 0 Flamel can push past into the door--the Girl does not impede his escape. She just asks that question. And in that moment as he gets through the door...
Angela	The dragon is no more. In her place, is a girl. A girl who does not have long. A girl who only really exists in these few moments. "I'm sorry." She cries. "I'm so sorry I hurt everyone... I didn't mean to. I didn't want to. I'm sorry I hurt you, I'm sorry I hurt all of you..." She hobbles towards Jeanne, her staff dropping from her hands as she reaches out... ..And hugs Jeanne. "I'm sorry your friends hurt you." She says. "I'm sorry you died. I'm sorry, I'm sorry... You didn't deserve it... I'm glad... you're still so kind." She manages a smile. The facility resets She collapses, and Justice is there to catch her. Her eyes are close. Blood drips from her nose, ears, and eyes. Justice feels for her pulse. ....badum... "The heart is not stopped. She still yet lives.." Justice exhales slowly. Love opens her eyes again and she turns her head towards Justice. And she smiles. She has no idea where she is. And she never will know where she is. Right now she only really sees Justice. "Sis...Where am I?" "Nowhere. We are leaving here soon never to return." Though Justice really means 'you are never to return'. "Oh...I... I remember someone... someone really important to me..." Her head turns towards the hairtie wrapped around her arm. "...What's that?" She asks. Justice looks towards the hairtie for a long moment, thinking of how to answer. "...Tis the red tie of fate." Justice says. "One day, you ought to give it to someone you never wish to be apart from for long. Someone too precious to lose at the expense of all else." Love looks towards the hairtie and then smiles, "Okay... I think I know... Aha... Justice... I feel..." Her eyes close again. "So full... of everything..." Justice hefts her up in her arms and makes her way towards the Warpgate. "...The ones who did this must face justice. I will seek it in her place. My tears... will not let those who did this to her escape. Tis the only way I know how to be. No matter the rules of this world."
Flamel Parsons	Flamel almost doesn't make it. He almost stays to try to comfort Love. Almost. But he's an agent of a vague yet ominous organization. He has to leave in mystery. It's not that he hates to see her. It's not. It's not.     He manages to push open a chunk of debris near where Love recovered, quietly, after she got taken away. He re-adjusts some skewed sunglasses, and coughs up a little dust. He watches her leaving with a weak smile that's lacking any joy. He picks up his psycho-portal, noting that essential psychic indicators mean that regulatory and ethical and investigative committees are going to know what happened here.     He slumps a bit. This isn't going to be good. It already can't be good. His upbeat laugh is as weak as his smile when he puts it away and starts to rub the bridge of his nose. This was an awful thing to do. He knows that. But he doesn't have the ability to articulate how and why. And with that poison on his mind, why does this effort to apply a cure-of-sorts feel so... deeply wrong?
Hibiki Tachibana	My thoughts aren't... Are you...? My hands...are drenched...     "...I don't care. I'll still hold them. ...For however much that's worth." ...     I'm so sorry I hurt everyone... I didn't mean to. I didn't want to. I'm sorry I hurt you, I'm sorry I hurt all of you...     That, at the end of things, Hibiki doesn't have a response to. She watches in silent as Love moves over to hug Jeanne, and there's equal amounts of silence as Justice takes hold of her, offers her condolences after her re-awakening, and makes that final declaration.     'The ones who did this must face justice.'     "I couldn't have said it better myself," she murmurs from beneath her now-tattered and scorched scarf, staring down at the hand she used to strike her last blow into Love's body. Her voice is flat, and her unblinking gaze down at her palm is as well. "I've had enough of it. More than enough of it."     The gross, searing hot, heart-wrenching feeling is currently somewhere between her gut and her chest, rather than burning behind them. The only thing on her mind, right now, is exactly the same thing that the Magical Girl of Justice is thinking. But there's still enough awareness of everything else...     ...for her to take a glance at the smoking, slagged signs of battle all around them.     "...Kagoshima... isn't going to be the same again, either."
Ritsuka Fujimaru	"I'm sorry your friends hurt you." "I'm sorry you died. I'm sorry, I'm sorry... You didn't deserve it... I'm glad... you're still so kind." Initially, Jeanne tenses up when Love approaches her, planting her flag into the ground at her side quickly and just sort of awkwardly holding her arms out to her sides. What kind of condition is she in to even be approaching like this? What's she even saying? "K... Kind?! As if. Now shut up and get..!" Angry? If she was still the dragon, perhaps, but Flamel's gambit worked. And if that worked, that means everything else he was aiming for work as he said, and that means... Love as she is now doesn't have much time left, anyway. Jeanne grunts, clicks her teeth, then sighs lightly as she realizes that, letting her arms finally come down around the girl's shoulders. She closes her eyes for a moment, grumbling quietly from the back of her throat before pulling her in, lightly despite the weight of all that armor she's still wearing. "Don't be sorry. They got what was coming to them. I'll be damn sure the ones who did this to you get theirs, and far sooner than those that wronged me." She brings a hand up to the back of the girl's head, and even her tone softens. "Now relax. We'll handle the rest from here." Love collapses, Justice catches her, and Jeanne's blood runs cold in an instant. How long was she waiting there to catch Love after the fact? She turns her head just enough to catch a glimpse of Hibiki. How long has she been watching them? Did she hear all that?! Flamel and Woz, too?! "The ones who did this must face justice. I will seek it in her place." "I've had enough of it. More than enough of it." Maybe they didn't notice after all. She turns a little more, though, and she sees Mash holding her hands together in front of her face with a light gleam in her eyes. A little more than that, and she sees Ritsuka with her eyes closed and a content grin plastered over her face. Setting her jaw stiffly, Jeanne goes for the warpgate without a word while Ritsuka and Mash linger behind, to lend some extra hands to last minute cleanup and give their companion a little more room to breathe. Or scream.