1196/Final Countdown

Final Countdown
Date of Scene:	23 December 2014
Location:	TARGET: The Factory (TF)
Synopsis:	The Confederates make one last push to at least ensure no single Target Zone remains entirely in Union hands, before the factional truce!
Cast of Characters:	242, Rebecca Chambers, 318, 474, 568, 613, 637, 651, 667

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Madara Uchiha (651) has posed:
In the hours before the truce officially begins, a last bid to make sure that not a single Target Zone remains unequivocably in the hands of the Union is made. This takes the form of a significant Confederate force approaching the Factory. While others may have other methods of transportation, whether under their own power or that of another, Madara Uchiha arrives upon the Flying Fortress of Doctor Doom himself. As they came nearer to their destination, the Uchiha shinobi had opened a hatch, and announced he was going out for a walk.

Then he had simply walked down the side of the vessel, Chakra emitted from his feet allowing him to stick to it as though it were a level surface, and gradually worked his way around until he was standing on the underside. And there, with his long black mane hanging down 'above' him, red Sharingan on a background of black gazed down upon the terrain that he had already failed to conquer once before when faced with the King of Dragons and his little 'princeling'.

That was a mighty conflict. Perhaps this one shall be as well. Daylight has long since waned to nothing. The hour is light, and the sky is dark. And when the Confederates are close enough, Madara decides not to wait until Doom's mighty fortress is close enough to fire upon, giving the Union defenders time to prepare and counter-attack.

Instead he rapidly forms hand seals, and then intones silently in his head, <<Katon: Ryuuen Houka no Jutsu! (Fire Release: Dragon Flame Release Song Technique!)>>

Then he begins breathing out huge fireballs in the shape of dragon heads, which open their jaws to 'bite' as they strike the defenders and defenses below, and erupt in flames.

The landscape is painted in the hellish hues of red and yellow, glaring in the darkness, and turning the night-cloaked landscape below into a network of blazing lines and points of brilliance, as Madara sets about painting a 'picture' of the Uchiha Clan crest that is only identifiable as such from the air.

If nothing else it will keep the conventional troops too busy to do anything until the Confederates have fully arrived and deployed.

Alpha Centauri (613) has posed:
Alpha Centauri arrives before the others do. The ten foot machine comes in low at mach speeds, but pulls up short. His feet hitting the ground, before his thrusters shift to sliding him across the dark desert terrain that is heading for the Factory.

Once in closer, he moves around the edge of the mountain side, with his gold optics flickering. In his HUD display different non-elites get marked by his targeting systems. Including all turrets, the gates, and towers. Under normal circumstance-- he would just go in guns blazing, but he plans to put the Union in the dark.

He does this as finds the local network controlling the area, wireless hacks in and overrides the system, bringing the whole defense network down in the area. This causes some alarm, but with no means of communication, it allows the other Feds to move in swiftly as they approach to rain down terror.

It is once the battle begins, does Alpha Centauri release the system and go racing in. The machine moving at 300 MPH across the soon to be battlefield. Bullets ping off his armor, not evening making a mark, before he spins around and unleashes a wave of missiles upon the Towers to help bring them down.

This-- is when the true fun starts.

Grant Mason (667) has posed:
    From the deployment bay of Dr. Doom's airship comes something nobody in the Multiverse has seen before. It drops from the ship and lands with a massive thud. Sure, people have undoubtedly seen power armor before, but this one is new.

    The magitech powered Adamant Golem stomps onto the battlefield. A few shots ping off of the armor, the plates not even getting scratched from the impacts, as the massive armor turns it's even more massive weapon onto the defensive positions established by the Union. The huge auto cannon begins to fire, sounding like the thunder of Ramuh itself as the weapon unleashes it's fury.

Victor von Doom (318) has posed:
    The Flying Fortress is massive. Even at a distance of several miles, the colossal warship takes up an appreciable section of the skyline, approaching the Factory area. In addition to the veritable army of robots that man the Fortress, the ship also bears a dark figure clad in a deep green cape that shields his face from view from all but a head on angle.

    Beneath the hood is a metal mask. Iconic, and frozen in that same perpetual snarl of disdain.

    The Flying Fortress continues to approach the Factory, until it's nearly overtop of the main structures, before opening fire with a barrage of concussive beams. It seems whoever is piloting the great warship enjoys making an explosive entrance.

Kongou (637) has posed:
    It's time to sortie! And when the bell rings, one figure that can be counted on to appear is none other than the Imperial Japanese fast battleship, Kongou.

    Of course this is a land-locked region, a desert inhabited by tiny robots, which is a bad place for a battleship to just sail in, so Kongou cheats a little: With a helicopter flying Union colors. It sails out over the regular soldiers below, the side door sliding open to reveal an ordinary looking, grinning brunette in a combination of a shrine maiden's outfit and a school uniform.

    "<New Face> has arrived! Don't underestimate me!"

    Against the helicopter crew's objections, she just outright leaps from the open door, tumbling in midair until, impossibly, she lands on her feet with the sound of heavy metal slamming into the sandy desert floor. The impact is absorbed by bracing knees, but she still bends over almost completely--avoiding a three pointed stance. Straightening up, there's a metallic shine behind her as her Land Fit Out materializes, locking to her hips with a ringing noise. Drawing a hand up, Kongou thrusts it forward, "Ready! Aim! <FIYAH!>"

    If her entrance didn't announce her presence, the thundering report of Kongou's main battery aimed for the FLYING DOOM CASTLE should draw plenty of attention when she lobs a total of eight 35.5cm high explosive shells its way.

Cheyanne (242) has posed:
It did not take being a military strategist or a psychic to consider that the Confederates would try to push in the small window of oppritunity there was remaining. Though having a bit of the later precognative does help one in being ready in knowing it would eventually come. The holiday was more of a cultural curiosity to her than anything deep in meaning, so she did not mind being the one 'on watch' so others could enjoy the times of celebration.

With chaos already erupting across the Factory sector it was easy to miss someone actually arriving, especially when one is able to travel the elemental underpinings that connect the environments together. It was quite possible the shamanic zebra-woman wouldn't even make notice until the point she stopped and struck her staff to the ground and rose a wall of rock and earth to shield the withdrawing soldiers from the barrage of attacks.

"This situation was turned dire." Cheyanne grabs the arm of a man that tripped in his fleeing and pulls him to his feet, then pushes him back to follow the other retreating defenders. "Withdraw now from the line of fire!"

Just because she was only passingly interested in the holiday doesn't mean she won't make sure others don't have to spend it in mourning instead of jubilation.

Rebecca Chambers has posed:
    Also onboard the Union helicopter is Rebecca Chambers, locked and loaded and ready to rumble. Unlike Kongou, though, Rebecca isn't about to make an explosive entrance or anything of that nature. Instead, she simply chooses to deploy by dropping to the ground via a rappelling cable. She lands in a semi-crouched position and looks around, surveying the general area while scowling a little. "Right before our truce begins, they have to go and attack. Murphy's law enforcers strike again!"

    There will be no pausing to sing Silent Night or anything like that here. It's a fight to the finish, and one that Rebecca is intent on winning with her allies present. She loads her Beretta handgun with a clip and checks to make sure the safety is off. "I'm ready when they are!" She says, pointing her gun readily.

John-117 (474) has posed:
     There's a sleek grey starfighter behind and above the Union helicopters. While Kongou opens up with her broadside, John-117 - the Master Chief - angles the UNSC Sabre up and towards the ominous red shape of Doom's flying vessel. With Cheyanne covering the defence, it leaves the SPARTAN free to engage in the best kind of defense that had been drilled into him from a young age.

     An offense.

     The Sabre swoops upwards, rippling off a flurry of missiles form its twin launchers, swinging around concussive beams and fireballs. It looks like the Chief intends to stall the attack by the most obvious strategy - cutting off its head!

Madara Uchiha (651) has posed:
As a flying craft zips in, shooting missiles, and Kongou opens fire on the fortress, the underside of it stops being a cool place to hang out. A massive skeleton of solidified Chakra forms around Madara, and bats away some of the missiles, and blocks some of those shells, but that isn't the best usage of his abilities, and he can't cover all of the transport down here. With his eyes already changed to the Eternal Mangekyou Sharingan, in order to make use of Susano'o, it only takes one glance for his eyes to penetrate the partially-illuminated darkness, and take note of an Elite down below who seems to moving forward while all around her are running away. He decides to make her his foe for this night.

Madara leaps off the bottom of the fortress, his Susano'o fading away as he leaves it behind, blue flames dissipating into nothingness. Then he tumbles through the air, righting himself as he falls from the sky, until he lands about a hundred feet away from Cheyanne, splintering the ground beneath him when he does so. Flames behind casting his features into deep shadow, except for those glowing red eyes, the red-armored shinobi rises to a standing position, and looks upon Cheyanne.

"It seems you will be my dance partner this evening," he calls out.

Victor von Doom (318) has posed:
    The Flying Fortress continues the aerial bombardment of the Factory, unleashing a swathe of green concussive beams that streak through the air and explode into structures, armor, or flesh. A few sets of traditional-looking machine guns extend from various points on the structure, opening fire on a few of the Union aircraft that take flight, including the Spartan's Sabre. The Spartan's missiles fly towards the Fortress, a few being intercepted by smaller concussive beams that act as anti-missile defenses, but a few make it through and explode against the metal frame of the warship.

    It's very small drops out of a great ocean, however, and the massive flying ship lumbers on, continuing to hammer the Union defenses. A few small ships that look suspiciously like troop carriers begin to descend from a bay door that slides open near the rear of the Fortress. Large enough to carry perhaps twenty robots or so. One ship in particular seems a bit larger than the others, and seems armed in a precautionary measure. As the other dropships land and begin unloading ranks of dark metallic automotons, the last ship lands a bit further away and unloads perhaps a half dozer slightly larger robots, along with a green-clad figure near the center.

    Really, the figure looks just as much a robot as the rest of the figures that surround him. But his gait is far too purposeful. And that mask is far too menacing.

Alpha Centauri (613) has posed:
Alpha Centauri continues to race around the battlefield with ease. Though some of the network has come back up, he doesn't particular care of the firepower the small humanoid-ship has to offer. There was a gold glint in his optics as they flicker before he comes to a halt.

His heel of one foot dragging back slightly as he stares at the much smaller being. "You are absolute." He says firmly. "A Singularity who has broken away from /your/ empire, Ko-Class Kongou. I will terminate you, as I terminate all Singularities."

The shield pops up and it attaches to his left arm, the rifle still remains hooked up, as he has yet to bring it forward. "Though I wonder if bringing you back functional will aid in the Administration plans for continual alliance with the Confederacy."

While he talks, two turrets on a few remaining towers start to rotate and take aim. Then with a sudden loud explosion, those turrets actually open fire on her..

Grant Mason (667) has posed:
    "I dunno who Murphy is, but you're going to regret the fact that it's me out here instead of him!" Grant Mason calls out to Rebecca as he spots her. She must be one of those Union elites. They were covered pretty extensively in all the info he was given, though he has no idea which one this is specifically at the moment. Not that it matters to him.

    Turning his auto cannon towards her, the Adamant Golem squeezes the trigger on the massive weapon, sending several blasts roaring through the air. Each of these bullets is designed to explode on impact, and he cares little for any collateral damage that may get caught up in the way when he's taking an objective. The massive armor rattles with each shot from the weapon.

Kongou (637) has posed:
    There's a noisy clicking inside Kongou's fittings as the main battery reloads. Blue eyes wander to the MASSIVE ROBOT bearing down on her, announcing her termination. While he might have been going for rage, all he gets is a tilt of the girl's head and a wiggle of her golden radars, "<Ko?> You have the wrong syllables~!" Leaning forward, she sounds it out, "Ko-nn-Gou~ Class!"

    Turrets whirl on her as she's sassing the sassy machine lord. When they fire, the warship girl is engulfed in smoke and fire which clears surprisingly quickly--because they didn't strike directly. The shots both exploded behind the girl.

    "But~! If you're saying I caused problems for the Shinkaisei-kan, that's okay with me~! Some day soon I'll teach them the <Love> they have forgotten!" The gun turrets on Kongou's back rotate, barrels elevating, "Just like I'll teach you! Are you paying attention~?"

    "<FIYAH~!>" The reports fill the air in front of her with smoke, but she's not aiming her entire broadside at the huge robot warrior. Rather, the outboard turrets to her left and right have targeted the two turrets that Alpha Centauri has seized control of, hammering them both with high explosive artillery. The two inboard guns DO aim for the machine, and their payload is the sleeker, heavier Type 92 armor piercing shells.

John-117 (474) has posed:
     "No good, Chief," Cortana says into his ear through the interface in his helmet. "The armor of that ship is too thick. Watch the dropships."

     The troop carriers streak past the Sabre and the Chief brings the fighter around, aiming for the largest of the landing craft. That green-clad figure? Bingo. Cortana paints him with a nav marker and the Sabre descends.

     That is, until it is clipped by a concussive beam. Sirens blare, red lights flash, and the Chief punches out. The Sabre slams into the ground some distance away, little more than a smoking wreck, and a second green-clad figure lands amidst Doom's robotic soldiers. Pushing himself up from his crouched landing, the Master Chief turns his golden visor in Doom's direction.

     Without a word, he immediately goes for the sub-machine gun at his waist, blasting away at the large escorting automatons!

Cheyanne (242) has posed:
Cheyanne turns as a voice calls in her direction, adjusting her stance not only to face the speaker but also remain between them and the tail end of the retreating soldiers. She lifts her staff from the ground, angling it in front of herself. In the evening dark the glow eminating through the eye sockets of the skull topping it is even more prominate than usual.

"Another mystic ninja? This I have seen before." She pauses, head canting to one side slightly, striped brow scrunching in thought. Something felt.. off about this individual. Something very, very wrong about it in general. "Your disruption tonight shall be no more."

There's a whisp of green ethers around one hand as she waves it. From the stone wall she had raised in defense cracks appear, out of which vines snap like whips to grab Madara's arms and legs and pull him back forcefully to the rock face.

Making the first move was not Cheyanne's preferred method, but she had to make sure his attention focused on her and not the soldiers that have fled for cover from the fighting.

Alpha Centauri (613) has posed:
As soon has Kongou sasses back, Alpha Centauri's optics flare to even brighter color. Those thrusters can be seen starting to power up. When she opens fire, that is when he rushes in. The turrets that he was using explode with ease, but that was fine-- it was mostly a demonstration of what he could do here.

Her shells toward him however slam into his armor and shred some of the metal plating off his shoulders. Though he continues to head directly in toward the much smaller humanoid. His hand moving to his hip, he draws out a hilt, before skimming past her, as dust kicks up in the air.

With a turn on his heel, he comes right back around this time with white-blue hot plasma burning in the shape of a blade from the hilt. With a quick step in, he brings the blade down with a quick slashing sweep. "Love is illogical. Love is invalid. Love is a singularity desire and an emotion belonging to those of impurity and flesh."

After the sweep he comes in with another slash of the blade as his gold optics burn brightly, "..and flesh is weak..."

Rebecca Chambers has posed:
    As soon as Rebecca gets a glimpse of Grant, and how big his gun is, her senses go on extremely high alert. "Oh hell, that thing's like an armed Tyrant!" She mutters to herself. She would respond to Grant's comment about Murphy being there, but right now her biggest issue is avoiding being shot by the golem. She twists to the side then attempts to dive out of the way. Unfortunately, one of the bullets gets her... barely. It grazes her arm and causes her to gasp a little, but it's more like a sign of surprise more than anything. She rolls forwards then lands in a crouched position. She realizes she's gotten herself a little too far in over her head by taking on this golem, but there's no escape.

    "You're not scaring me," Rebecca says as she steadies her Beretta in her hands. "I've taken on far worse things than you, and if you think I'm going to be defeated by you that easily, you're wrong!" Rebecca fires off a single shot. Yes, just a single shot, but who knows what that one shot is capable of?

Victor von Doom (318) has posed:
    The robots respond, though not quick enough. A pair go down with a stitching of bullets to the head courtesy of the Spartan's SMG, though the others are either lucky enough or swift enough to avoid a similar fate. They duck away and open up with a series of concussive blasts from small launchers mounted to their wrists. The beams are circular and green-colored, much like the ones coming from the weapons on board the Fortress.

    A few of the robots from the other dropships circle back towards the green-cloaked figure and his bodyguard, large edged blades with glowing green edges sliding free from underneath each wrist.

Kongou (637) has posed:
    With her guns pointed the way they are, Kongou twists her body away from the blade. It swings down her side, slamming into the decking of her Land fit-out and shattering the tiny wooden planks, damaging the underlying metal-armored deck plates but not disrupting the turrets to either side. The girl, to her credit, flinches and reaches back as if favoring the damaged area, "Hn!"

    It stops the sword, though. The spirit of the battleship renders her hardier than one might expect from simple steel. This close, she'd have to lean back to look Alpha Centauri in the face. So she doesn't. Instead, she reaches out with both hands to grab on to the armor of the huge robot's midsection. She doesn't ... do anything, though. She's just hanging on to him. And that strength betrays her true nature even more than her sturdy construction.

    "If you feel that way..." Kongou's turrets rotate again, the barrels zeroing out to a flat elevation, "...Then I have my work ahead of me! That's all <Wrong> you know~!" And then the reason she's trying to hold Alpha in place becomes clear--when her main battery opens up, aimed at the massive machine's knees. They're at the perfect level for this! Using the armor-piercing rounds, Kongou attempts to liberate Alpha of his shins.

Madara Uchiha (651) has posed:
Madara is snared by vines and pulled towards the wall swiftly, slamming into it forcefully. "Clever," he responds, as he is held tight. He may be distracted from the retreating soldiers, but that's because it's an Elite he wishes to face, not mere fodder. Madara's foul Chakra surges through the area, even if only being used marginally. The air is still thick with his cold, unpleasant presence.

Then, the vines that Cheyanne created to assault her opponent suddenly release Madara regardless of their creator's will. And then - unless prevented - start to swell and grow beyond their original proportions as they are forcibly made to expand into much large vines that turn upon their creator and attempt to whip into her. "Another plant-wielder," Madara says as he leaps away from the stone wall and its writhing mass of engorged vines, incase control of them is taken back once more. "I've been wanting to test Wood Release against someone like you. This should be interesting indeed."

John-117 (474) has posed:
     The concussion beams find their target, slamming into John's MJOLNIR battle suit, sending off crackling flashes of golden energy as the shields wear down. His armor might be the pinnacle of UNSC battlefield technology, but the shielding system isn't invincible. Every little blast chips away at it and the sheer concussive force stumbles and staggers the Chief.

     But he keeps coming.

     The sub-machine gun clicks dry and without waiting to reload, John /hurls/ the gun at the head of one of the oncoming robots. He leaps to meet them then, doing his best to keep away from those glowing blades as he pistons his fists - with all of his superhuman, suit-assisted strength - into the robots. He moves with precise determination, doing his best to keep each robot between him and the others to cut off their lineso f fire, as he tries to close the gap towards Doom himself!

Grant Mason (667) has posed:
    It's a remarkably well placed shot, in fact it hits the golem square in the head. The shot rattles the pilot for a second, and makes him wonder what kind of ammo she's shooting because normally shots don't impact quite like that. He shakes his head for a second and then plants his feet.

    "I'm glad you're not afraid! It'll make things more interesting!" Grant maybe first and foremost be a cannoneer, but there's a reason his subclass is a Berserker. He laughs as he starts to fire again, trying to walk the rounds onto Rebecca's position, "I wouldn't want to take you down /too/ easy! I heard a lot of things about Elites, I want to see it first hand! Come on!"

Alpha Centauri (613) has posed:
Accretian metal alloy is not something of standard minerals or materials found in normal places. It is a combination of things, made into a form of metal. This is what Toph found out when she even tried to bend his armor. It is actually this reason for non-elites, at least, they have so much trouble dealing with him.

However by the powers of the Multiverse and auras included, when it comes to elite versus elites-- weird things do happen. In this case, what would be laughable, is not so much as Kongou's shells slam into the Accretian's shin armor. The impacts tear into the armor, shredding the exterior armor, but though Kongou tries to take hold, the taller machine eventually forces himself free before her final shells could batter him further.

Alpha Centauri skates back and as he rotates around, he swaps the plasma blade for his rifle which extends up and he takes hold in his hand. The Photon Rifle can be heard charging up as he then takes aim. "We will see." Is all the Accretian has to say before he takes several shots with his Photon Rifle. The energy streaks flying across the air toward Kongou's smaller form.

Rebecca Chambers has posed:
    This time, Rebecca's hit a lot more than before. She yelps a few times as the shots ring into her, causing her to wince a little as she feels some blood underneath her kevlar vest. They're not perfectly invincible, so that's one of the big problems with them. But everyone knows that, right? Well, they should!

    Rebecca realizes that she's a bit out of her league right now, and quickly holsters her Beretta, switching to her MP5K. She made sure to bring quite a few clips for it, and it looks like she's going to need as many as she can get. This thing looks tougher than a Tyrant.

    "That's unfortunate for you," Rebecca says as she aims her semiautomatic at Grant. "You're gonna wish you could take me down easily, because I'm going to take you down first instead!" She then fires off a burst of gunfire.

Victor von Doom (318) has posed:
    The robots continue to fire, indiscriminantly, even as the Chief begins to weave his way in and out of their ranks. Clearly, interpersonal tact is not something written into their source code.

    The Spartan's throwing of the SMG isn't exactly like a regular soldier just tossing a weapon aside. The barrel of the weapon embeds itself nearly half-way through a robot's head, the automoton crumpling lifeless at the Spartan's feet. The robots continue to swing with their weapons even as he weaves through their forms, errant arms or leg being chopped off by friendly blades in the androids' ruthlessness to get to their target.

    And still, Doom remains standing still. Watching.

Cheyanne (242) has posed:
Even as control of the vines is broken from her and they are pumped full of darker magic Cheyanne remains standing where she is, almost impassively. But that should not be mistaken for not regarding the level of danger her opponent presents. It's quite the opposite. The shaman is simply experienced enough to not panic because something has been suddenly turned away from the expected.

The vines revolt on her, only to come short as she thrusts out her arm and the collide with her palm, and freeze in their tracks. Literally, as frost colored miasma spirals from her outstretched hand and along the length of the vines.

"Oh, my control of the plants?"

The vines abruptly shatter, sending several of the now icy shards blasting towards Madara like shrapnel as the rest of the vines are reduced to frost and dust.

"The least of your concerns."

Kongou (637) has posed:
    "<Yes~!>" Kongou cheers in response to Alpha's cryptic retort. When he slides back, leaving that gash in Kongou's deck armor, she rears up and lifts her hands, shielding her face and body with the billowing white sleeves she wears. The pulse gun's shots strike this instead of her body, creating black marks as if they'd impacted armor rather than cloth. Is the outfit truly part of the battleship as well?

    "I don't mind showing you~!" When there's a break in the gunfire, she thrusts her hands out to either side, revealing her guns have already rotated, tracking Alpha's motions through Kongou's radar, "The true power of love~!"

    Kongou may be significantly smaller than her foe--to the tune of about half his size--but she more than makes up for it in spirit and energy. This time, when her guns open up, it's a staggered staccato of gunfire as each cannon fires one by one, using the gun before it to gauge the new trajectory on a moving target. And the whole time she's got that bright, happy smile on her face.

John-117 (474) has posed:
     The Chief hammers an elbow into the head of one robot, ducking beneath another one sweeping its blade at his head to he can rise up and slam his shoulder and upper body into a second. He uses that one as a shield, absorbing a blast that was meant for him with the Doom-bot, and he kicks it towards the shooter. Three down, just like that.

     The Master Chief might have a fearsome reputation, sure, but he can't fight forever - not against so many robots when he hasn't even managed to engage their leader yet.

     Time to change that.

     The SPARTAN advances on Doom, fists balled. He's seven foot tall, looking almost like a robot in that suit of armor. All in all, not too different from Doom, perhaps. His voice is low and gravelly, "Doctor Doom. Surrender."

Alpha Centauri (613) has posed:
Alpha Centauri quickly starts to strafe as his thrusters move him around. As the turrets fire, he raises up that tower shield on his left arm. The shells explode across the shield, blue sparks of light could be seen as the field energy attempts to absorb the initial impact, but it breaks through, scorching and denting up the very shield.

The force of it all, slams Alpha Centauri back into a rock face, as he kneels down slightly to use his shield as a means of defense to the barrage. At this distance however, he can slightly change tactics. Once an opening is given, he suddenly shoves off and goes to strafe the other way to keep his distance still.

"Still invalid." He retorts back. Though the smoking tower shield may say otherwise. Yet on his shoulder pauldrons one slot opens on each, firing out at least ten missiles from them. All heading right for her and under normal circumstances, if he was to fire all six pods, which fire out five per pod-- these missiles have enough firepower to destroy a tank-- let alone level a building.

Yet the laws of the Multiverse are odd and Elites /never/ play by the laws.

Grant Mason (667) has posed:
    So it's true, Elites hit hard regardless of what they're using. Grant's armor is rocked by the shots from Rebecca's machine gun, and the armor takes a step back from the force. This actually gets the armored man to laugh a bit, "Yes...Very interesting.."

    He turns his attention back to Rebecca, "How easy you go down is up to you, girl! You can always run, that's never a bad choice! But you will not take down the Adamant Golem! No one will!" He cries out again, as this time instead of firing the cannon itself, a rocket pod on the side opens and fires off a multitude of micro-missiles.

Madara Uchiha (651) has posed:
Icy shards of plant life are projected at Madara, and his Sharingan allows him to predict their trajectory, and evade them. One skims his cheek, leaving a shallow scratch, but no blood emerges - either because it wasn't deep enough, or maybe because he doesn't have any blood to spill. Madara moves and weaves inbetween the icy shards with superhuman speed and reaction time, the fact he is actually seeing where the ice thorns are going to be before they get their adjusting appropriately perhaps not outwardly obvious.

But he attempts to close with Cheyanne, and then snap a fist towards her face, aimed directly between her eyes.

"The only concern I have is whether you'll entertain me for the time we have together," the ninja responds.

Rebecca Chambers has posed:
    Missiles are not something that Rebecca likes to encounter, whether big or micro-sized. The missiles come at her, and a couple of them crash close enough to cause her to be caught in the explosions. She is knocked to the ground, but gets back up quickly, apparently only being fazed a little by that. "I may not win this battle, but I'm not going to retreat either!" Rebecca says sternly as she backs away slightly. "I'm going to fight until one of us has fallen. And don't say words you might regret later."

    "Because I've done that myself," Rebecca adds as she strafes a little, pulling the trigger. "And the regret I've felt afterward was quite something to be noted."

Kongou (637) has posed:
    Missiles! This mysterious technology is something Kongou has limited experience with, given they were developed long after she was sunk. But she does know what they can do, and so she does her best to defend herself. From the exposed chunks of metallic Land Fit-Out protruding to either side of the girl's hips emit sudden lances of small caliber gunfire in clusters. Numerous anti-air turrets fill the air around her with machinegun fire and flak, shattering incoming projectiles with bursts from their payloads.

    This surrounds Kongou with the explosions from the missiles though none of them manage to direct impact her. She is, instead, awash with plasma bursts that sear her clothes and turn patches of her land fitting an angry red. The lightshow fades quickly, leaving the singed girl smoking.

    Lifting a hand, Kongou licks her fingers, then extinguishes the flame on the tip of her signature ahoge, "<Wow!> That was pretty good! You might make a good battleship after all!"

    And then she kicks off, digging a divot where she was standing and hauling herself full tilt right after the sideways-skating Alpha Centauri. Rapidly accellerating to her top speed, Kongou shows off her status as a Fast Battleship, closing that distance while reaching behind herself with one hand. There's a metallic clicking sound and a shower of sparks, causing her Land Fit-Out to jerk in place.

    Once she gets close enough, Kongou whips the ship-kit completely off her body, wielding it by the cross-shaped mast, and swings it in an upward arc meant to take Alpha right off his feet. The motion throws Kongou into a whirl, which she comes out of in a lower stance, the fitting's two facing turrets opening fire one after the other, "But I'm not convinced yet! Fiyah! FIYAH~!"

Victor von Doom (318) has posed:
    Truly, the two men really do not look too different. Large suits of mechanized battle armor, and masks that hide any human remnants behind layers of cold, emotionless metal. It's a match made in heaven.

    "Doom does not surrender," comes a cold, steely voice from behind the Iron Baron's dark metallic mask.

    It's a hard voice, unflinchingly resolute. And accompanying that statement is a raised arm. An arm that holds out a metal-gloved hand. A hand that is generating a large, concussing green beam. This one is darker, somehow, and rips through the air towards the Spartan.

John-117 (474) has posed:
     "Well," Cortana murmurs, "There's our answer."

     The Chief is already moving the moment Doom raises his hand, and it's those reflexes that turn the beam from blasting a hole in his armor to merely punching through the MJOLNIR's shields and leaving a black, smoking scar across the green plating.

     Arresting his slip to the side, the Chief gets moving again. He charges right for Doom, throwing out a left jab, a right cross and then a hooking blow with one of his legs to try and trip Doom up, hoping to send him to the ground before the Confederate can get off another one of those blasts!

Cheyanne (242) has posed:
Cheyanne was already starting to conjure another spell, but it's cut short as Madara deftly surpasses the frigid barrage to plant a fist into her features. Head briefly snaps back from the blow, giving her a harsh indicator that this ninja is even faster than she had anticipated. A hoof steps back to rebrace herself so she doesn't topple over from the recoil, letting her lock gazes with Madara directly.

"Then prehaps curiosity you can abide;"

The presumption that a spellcaster is physically frail or weak is a common one made, even by those familiar with the tendancy of the Multiverse to prove such things wrong. Regardless if that is what Marada thinks or not, he is given a swift lesson in it not being true in this case as once she's balanced herself Cheyanne swings her staff with more than enough force to knock someone away again. That monster skull on the top makes a great bludgeon it turns out.

"Is it the path of Life or of Death you stride?" Your creepy and very wrong feeling nature hasn't escaped her notice either.

Alpha Centauri (613) has posed:
Alpha Centauri calculates the speed, but given there was not much information beyond her being a ranged combatant, the melee ability information was--well--lacking. So when she suddenly bolted in, the 300 mph speed got turned against him and he was easily targeted by the massive cannons of hers.

The air exploded around him and the massive explosion cloud hid whatever damage the Accretian just took. In his mind, it was like meeting a Siege Cannon dead on and the results were about the same. Several armor parts came clattering down, before the Accretian hit the ground a few feet away, rolling along the ground, before using his shield to at last stop his pitching roll across the ground.

Sparks flickered off parts of his joints. Smoke rolled from crevices of his form, yet a single gold optic flickered brightly from the shadows of the broken helm crest. The other optic, lacking its lens was a single optic the whirled slightly as it zoomed in on her.

His HUD displaying rolling down the damage readouts, target placements, and all information around him in that single moment as he rose up to his feet. There was no words in reply, beyond a low rumble of a static like sound.

He tossed his shield to the side, broken as it was, then placing his rifle back on his backside slot. His hands reached down to his hips as he started to walk. Even with the damage taken, his movements were still ever as fluid as a humans.

Then as the blades lit up, he then dashed right for her. The thrusters screaming as he nearly broke the sound barrier on the very ground. In a sudden blur of motion, the Accretian started to unleash a fury of swipes and cleaves with the two plasma blades. The streaks from the hot plasma leaving lines in the very air where it had super heated the very unseen particles.

Grant Mason (667) has posed:
    Clearly not built for mobility, the armor takes more shots from Rebecca as she strafes around it. This is starting to irritate the pilot, who roars out in a mixture of pain and anger as this next series of shots hit him.

    "Regret?! The only thing I'm going to regret is how long it's taking to put you in the ground!" Opting to not actually shoot at her this time, Grant Masong takes the huge weapon in his hands and swings it in an arc, the opposite direction that Rebecca is strafing around him. Assuming she doesn't change directions or otherwise alter course, he's going to hit her square in the midsection with the armor's enhanced strength swinging the heavy weapon around.

Victor von Doom (318) has posed:
    Well, that certainly makes things take an up close and personal turn. Chief dashes on over towards Doom before any of the bots can react or stop him. And clearly their sense of ruthless mission accomplishment doesn't extend to hurting their boss, as none of them open fire once the Spartan closes in on Doom. Chief lands a solid hit against the Latverian's metal suit, though it would be immediately obvious that these two trying to punch eachother out is going to be an exercise in futility; their armor is just too thick.

    "Fool!" snarls the dark, metallic-tinged voice. He lashes out with a mechanically powered fist, following that with a heavy boted kick.

    "No man lays hands on Doom except that he wishes it!"

Rebecca Chambers has posed:
    Unfortunately, Rebecca's not about to let herself be hit that hard. She jumps back just in the nick of time, and only gets nicked by the swinging arm. "If you want to put me in the ground, you'll have to do better than that!" Rebecca calls out, not a slightest hint of taunting in her voice either. "The only thing I regret is the fact that you Confederate grunts never know when to give up. That means there's more action for me and my colleagues, but all the worse for you!"

    Rebecca would attempt to retaliate with a melee strike of her own, but all she's got is a combat knife, which would barely even faze a zombie. So she simply resorts to firing off another burst of gunfire.

Madara Uchiha (651) has posed:
Cheyanne locks gazes with Madara - a dangerous thing to do with one who wields the Sharingan. It only requires eye-contact to employ devastating Genjutsu abilities. Whether seeing or being seen, the Sharingan's illusion-casting abilities can turn the tide of battle. But Cheyanne manages to strike Madara and hurl him away with her staff. He is sent flying through the air for several feet before landing and skidding to a stop. And if the Genjutsu he attempted to cast right before he was hit succeeded, Cheyanne may suddenly find that the already dark area is even darker. The flames dwindle and die. Madara's voice says seemingly from everywhere around, "Life...?" Then an unnatural glow radiates upwards from beneath Madara, casting him into a ghastly hue, as he speaks again, his voice booming and impossibly deep in the sudden featureless void the two may find themselves in.

"Or Deaaaath?" When Madara's face raises, if the Genjutsu is active, his face appears to be gone. Just a skull with a pair of glowing red Sharingan floating in otherwise empty sockets.

Then skeletal hands bursts forth from the featureless ground, and attempt to claw at Cheyanne all over, trying to strip the flesh from her bones.

Of course, if that illusion failed to take... They appear merely as hand-shaped branches instead, the flames are still there, along with everything else in the environment - and Madara looks the same as before.

Either way, he hisses, "Guess."

Kongou (637) has posed:
    The shipgirl swings her fitting back behind herself where, with a noisy clunking of metal locks, it reconnects to her hip mountings. Quickly her attention returns to Alpha, but even a Fast Battleship can't go THAT fast. He closes in ridiculously quickly and immediately puts her on the defensive. She throws it in reverse, skipping backwards to narrowly avoid the initial slash that cuts just a few noticable threads from her blouse. The second swing catches her more solidly, though a twist gets the third swinging wide. The final blow, however, connects solidly enough that while the girl isn't cleaved in two, the impact hurls her sidelong in a tangle of limbs and guns and smoke.

    With a laugh, she hauls herself up to her feet, rubbing the black marks where the plasma carved through her outfit and into her skin, "Okay~. So you kinda still mean business. <That Is Okay~!>" Her stance shifts, becoming more aggressive, "It's time to show my <Serious> side!" Immediately, the shipgirl is surrounded by an orb of white light. This rapidly expands, filling her surroundings. There's an explosion inside somewhere and, from the sphere, a fully sized and fully armed battleship erupts forth, sliding forward on the sand until the hull embeds itself several meters down--resembling a warship now floating on brown water.

    The various points of damage on the hull and superstructure, as well as the huge cleave into the deck armor between the aft turrets, tells the whole story: This is Kongou. And her four now-massive main battery turrets are already swiveling towards Alpha Centauri. Amidships, the secondary batteries have already lowered towards him.

    Without hesitation, the amidships batteries open fire, filling the air port of Kongou with flak and gunfire. As soon as the main batteries have finished rotating and de-elevating, they too open fire with deafening blasts of smoke and flame and high explosive artillery.

    "<Burning... LOOOVE~!>"

John-117 (474) has posed:
     Well, that suit is tough. Beneath that green robe, John isn't even sure he even managed to dent it. He'll keep trying, of course, because his mission is to stop Doom and a SPARTAN always completes his mission successfully. He ducks back and the shields recharge in just enough time to expend themselves with the first of Doom's blows sliding across his pauldron.

     The Chief turns and brings his arms up to ward off that kick...

     ...and catches Doom's foot in his grip.

     In that brief moment of the two armored warriors being stuck in what looks like a stalemate, a woman's voice - cool and clipped - emerges from that helmet. "It looks like we just did."

     It's doubtful Doom would be confused, even for a moment. Cortana is known to the Confederacy, after all.

     Still, not waiting another moment longer, the Chief drops his elbow into Doom's knee. Armor is always weakest at the joints - including whatever this suit is made out of. Hopefully.

Grant Mason (667) has posed:
    Too late now, as Grant has clearly started to go into Berserker mode. "You think I'm just some Confederate grunt, huh? I'll show you how much of a grunt I am!" The cannon comes to bear again, as more of her shots strike his armor, finding several points to penetrate. Blood starting to run inside the armor now only helps fuel his rage.

    The cannon chatters to life again, and fires until the ammo drum runs dry. This time he's going to completely engulf the area Rebecca is in with weapons fire, so she'll have no chance no matter what she does.

Victor von Doom (318) has posed:
    Those venomous green eyes flash from behind the Latverian's mask, the only confirmation that he is, in fact, human underneath all of that dark armor.

    The Spartan manages to catch and hold onto the Iron Baron's leg, then crashes down into the joint of his armor with his elbow, forcing him to stagger back a step, the armor protesting the clash with a mechanical whirr, and a few errant sparks. Seems physical attacks might have some effect, after all. If they come from a preternaturally strong supersoldier, that is.

    "You churlish clotpole..." sneers the dark, metallically filtered voice.

    This time, the beam that issues forth and streaks for the Spartan generates straight from the Latverian's chest. It's larger, and considerably more lethal-looking than before.

Rebecca Chambers has posed:
    The cannons flood the area, and Rebecca finds herself getting a bit caught up by the gunfire. She tries to avoid the incoming gunfire, but gets caught and hit a few times. She gasps and drops to one knee, finding herself praying that she'll last through this battle. Then suddenly it ends, and Rebecca realizes that she's got a chance right now. She takes out a fragmentation grenade and tosses it at the golem. "Fire in the hole!" She calls out, before running away.

Alpha Centauri (613) has posed:
The barrage of firepower rains down and the Accretian is left dancing between the blasts and gunfire. Some of it catches him, some of it doesn't. However the cloud of dust starts to rise into the air, as Alpha Centauri moves from location to location, including leaping up a rock face, until one of the blasts knocks him aside.

The Accretian flies a bit, trying to use his thrusters to correct, but slams into the ground, rolling a few times before he corrects himself. The hilts of his weapons knocked clear from his hands, as they clatter along the ground.

Alpha Centauri stands there looking at the massive Battleship before him with a flicker in his gold optics. This would explain why he was having so much trouble with her. She was in disguise and this was /her/ true form. "..you are still a singularity." He says mostly to himself.

With a shove off of his foot he goes to leap into the air, the thrusters he uses to dance rapidly across the sky, before he plants his feet against a mountain side. It is here his entire missile payload unleashes and like a rain of terror, the missiles go to scream up and outward. All flying to collide with the Battleship he now faces.

Cheyanne (242) has posed:
There is a saying in many worlds about how the eyes are a window to one's soul. Several of them come with the caveant that doing so risks exposing your own window to viewing in the process, which is why even amongst the mudane it can be a dangerous action. Against the Sharingan it could be a literally lethal look.

In this case, it's likely her own exceptional attunement with the supernatural that saves Cheyanne from a fate that could of questionally been worse than death. Even so, the sudden appearance of a death-like visage is enough for her to be taken aback. Her senses beyond the physical can tell it's an illusion. But that does not mean the mortal mind viewing it cannot distinguish the real from the false so easily.

The giant hands grab onto her, talon like fingertips digging into her striped hide as they threaten to crush her... And then collide with each other as she whisps out of their grasp. A rush of wind blows past Madara, swirling into one spot in such a way that Cheyanne seems to step out of it like a doorway. But the streaks of red are there in sharp contrast against black and white along her arms, she did not escape that grave encounter unscathed.

"Tch. Someone meddled in ways they are not meant to, I see." That was a shocking experience, but a lifetime of familiarity with such things has helped her to recover quickly.

The calling of wind hasn't left her just yet, either. Not until she sends it blasting at the ninja, a gust of air with enough power focused into several streams so narrow it's more like being lacerated with cracks of a whip.

John-117 (474) has posed:
     The beam from Doom flies straight and true and slams right into the Master Chief's torso. The SPARTAN goes flying, until he comes crashing back to earth on the dusty plains. It takes him a moment to rise, groaning inside his helmet, as he pushes himself to his hands and knees and then to his feet.

     That hurt.

     Smoke curls off the green plates of his armor. Another few blasts like that and the Chief might not be getting up again. Reaching down to his thigh, the Master Chief pulls a heavy UNSC pistol - loaded to punch through Elite shields and armor - free from the armor there and sights in on Doom. He advances on Doom, slowly, stepping carefully to keep his aim sure and true, as he squeezes the trigger with mechanical precision!

Grant Mason (667) has posed:
Oh crap, grenade. The armor braces itself for the impact but the blast knocks Grant for a loop. He crashes down to the ground and is a bit slow to get back up, "You're better than you look, I'll give you that.." He mutters, wondering how someone with so little armor and such small weapons can do such damage.

The armor itself, not the fastest thing on the planet, is still built to do a lot of damage. Picking his weapon back up, he locks it onto his back, and then rushes towards Rebecca, intent on running her down with the armor's superior size and strength.

Kongou (637) has posed:
    More missiles! Kongou's crewless AA batteries swing away from Alpha to target the incoming projectiles, trailing flak and machinegun fire through the air. A number of missiles are outright destroyed by the much larger anti-air gunfire striking them. A fair number, however, pierce the screen surrounding a much larger target and strike Kongou's hull in two places, blasting holes in the armor and leaving angry glowing marks. However, the under-armor layer forming a secondary barrier for the torpedo belt holds, sizzling.

    "You think I'm <Finished?> Think again!" The girl's voice booms from a loudspeaker somewhere on the vessel. Primary guns elevate on Alpha's new position, still pouring smoke from their initial barrage, but perfectly capable of firing again with thundrous reports that hurl 35 centimeter high explosive shells in shallow arcs for Alpha's perch, "You'll never escape~!"

Victor von Doom (318) has posed:
    The Spartan's previous attacks where mostly physical, and were able to affect the Latverian directly. However, when the supersoldier pulls out his sidearm and squeezes off a series of rounds, something interesting happens. A yellowish-green field, almost shaped like a bubble and extending a few feet away from Doom materializes, flashing where the bullets impact. In fact, it's not too unlike the shields incorporated into the Spartan's armor, though this is external to the Latverian's suit. The bubble-shield flashes with the impact of the bullets, and a few sparks flicker on the inside near the Latverian, but he seems almost entirely unharmed.

    The Latverian raises his other hand this time, and moves it in a sweeping sort of motion. As though affected by some unseen force, the ranks of Doombots suddenly veer sharply over, and rush towards the Spartan en masse through the air. And still, by some miracle of engineering, continue to fire their wrist launchers at the soldier.

Rebecca Chambers has posed:
    Ever had one of those times you feel totally run down and out of it? Rebecca's definitely feeling the former as she gets run down by Grant. The titan takes her down and she's finding herself flat on the ground... literally. Fortunately, she still manages to get herself back up and reaches for another grenade... only to realize she's out of them. "Damn it!" Rebecca swears under her breath, switching to her shotgun instead. She's only got a few shells for this so her shots had best count.

    "I'm afraid hunting season is open," Rebecca calls out as she levels her shotgun at Grant. "And you're the target!" Then she pulls the trigger.

John-117 (474) has posed:
     The Chief continues firing until the clip is try, but he doesn't seem to be having any effect on the villain. What else can he do? Fighting is what he was made for. He drops the pistol, evidently deciding that ranged attacks aren't very effective against his opponent, and makes ready to charge.

     That is, until Doom seems to hurl his robots through the air at him. Cortana just murmurs, "Well, I'll admit, that is new."

     Perhaps it is the strength of the armor or perhaps it is John's uncanny knack for being lucky, but the blasts don't seem to find any of the vulnerable points of his MJOLNIR suit. He charges Doom, hoping to get clear from the massed Doombots before they /do/ manage to land a painful hit, and goes to throw his shoulder into Doom. And he turns, pulling something from his belt. It's small, like a cylinder...

     ...and when the Chief presses a button, it turns into a two-pronged energy blade. He swings that at Doom with an electric hiss of plasma!

     He's pulling out the big guns.

Alpha Centauri (613) has posed:
The explosive shells impacts his frame, ripping apart some of the exterior armor and denting the even stronger interior armor. The force slammed him into the ground. A mess he may be starting to become from Kongou's onslaught, but someone seem to not install a 'retreat' program in this Accretian.

Because once the explosions were over and the dust settled, there he was in his tattered form, displaying the inner armor in some places along his arm, lower chest, and hip armor ripped apart. Mech fluid was dripping down from his hip, running down his leg and a few of his thruster 'wings', were broken off.

Yet he seemed ready to continue to challenge her. "I miscalculated. You are a heavy artillery vessel. The tactics I was using were for impurities. A mistake that will be corrected." Not that he may be able to continue to battle given his current status and the fact his systems are pinging him constantly that there are more errors then functions right now.

This doesn't stop Alpha Centauri from trying, for he was a stubborn 'machine'.

He suddenly runs up to his full speed, ignoring the stabilization issues. He lowers his hands to snatch up his plasma blades and keeps charging at the battleship at his 60 MPH speed of a run, then using what thrusters he has left, he goes to suddenly charge at full speed. Trying to push his body close as he can to mach speeds.

He was charging right for her and with the plasma blade lit, he attempted to scream over her deck and past while taking out as many of her weapons as he dashed across. It was a crazy move as well-- but right now, crazy is all he may have on his side.

Madara Uchiha (651) has posed:
As the Genjutsu is broken free of, everything snaps back to conventional reality. At least for now. Hopefully no more illusions can be cast. The wind whips slash into Madara's reanimated body. Seeing the disturbance in the air is one thing, and reacting to it is another. He can do both, but seeing wind itself and its extreme flexibility given it is basically just AIR means that his attempts to avoid it still result in several strikes landing, and causing... CRACKS to appear in his face, arms, and armor. It's like his flesh is made of clay - pottery instead of skin. It chips and crumbles, and pieces fall away.

Then Madara forms hand seals quickly, focusing his Chakra, even as his body seems to be repairing itself before Cheyanne's eyes, debris and dust streaming in from somewhere unseen to fill the gaps in his flesh. Then his body seems to stretch and bend in terrible ways, almost like something is forcing itself out from inside of him. Another illusion!? No, just an exact replica of Madara, a clone made of Wood, who charges towards the nature mage and attempts to engage in her a series of hand to hand attacks, even as Madara prepares for a second jutsu of some kind.

Very versatile, this undead ninja... But then, so is Cheyanne.

Victor von Doom (318) has posed:
    Well, a dual-pronged energy sword is also probably something relatively new to the Latverian. And clearly, the weapon has no issue making it through the shield surrounding the monarch's suit of armor, as it clashes directly against the armor, producing a flurry of plasma sparks and a resounding -crash- as energy meets energy.

    "Fool!" snarls the cold voice behind the mask once more. "You will pay for your inept meddling into the affairs of Doom."

    Forced back a step by the result of the slash and the Spartan's weight, the Latverian finds his footing, then suddenly rushes forward as a series of mini-jets underneath his boots ignite, propelling him rapidly forward. His hands begin to glow with an odd greenish light as the heavy armored gloves come swinging around in a forceful strike, aiming directly for the Spartan's helmet.

Grant Mason (667) has posed:
A shotgun at this range is going to do a lot of damage, armor or not. And sure enough, it does just that, blasting into the Adamant Golem armor and knocking Grant backwards as he pulls away from her. He doesn't pull back too far, though.

"I'll crush you and feed you your own weapons!" He roars out. The armor is starting to spark and smoke from the damage it's taken, as he clamps both hands together and swings them down towards Rebecca, trying to smash her with both hands at once.

Kongou (637) has posed:
    "Heavy Artillery is a crude way to put it~," Kongou teases from the speakers mounted to her exterior hull, "But perhaps you didn't hear my full name~!" That blade scrapes alongside the immobile warship's hull, carving it open. But just like that, the entire vessel disappears in a flash of silvery white light. Dropping down on her two feet, somewhat more battered than when she entered the Ocean fit-out and trailing smoke from the damaged sections of her Land fit-out, Kongou dashes right into Alpha with her arms held forward with clear intent to grab and simply LIFT the huge alien war machine.

    "I am Kongou, first and lead ship of the Kongou-class fast battleships! Artillery vessel, <No!> Battleship, <Yes!> I'll make sure you remember my name~!"

    Holding Alpha overhead like that, the turrets on the girl's hip mount swivel forward and elevate, drawing a clear bead on the robot and opening fire point blank, "All guns, Fiyah! FIYAH! /FIYAAAH~!/"

Rebecca Chambers has posed:
    Rebecca tries to get out of the way, but she gets hit and knocked backwards, her shotgun being damaged in the process. "Damn it... I knew I shouldn't have gone with standard issue!" Rebecca says as she recovers from the attack, feeling a bit smashed by that last bit. She puts a hand to her head and finds it's not bleeding, but it does hurt when she touches it all the same. "Must've hit me harder than I thought."

    Rebecca turns to face Grant and says, "Here, I got a little something for you!" She pulls out a small flask. "Have one on the house!" She yells, tossing the flask at him. It's a chemical flask, that could easily explode upon impact!

John-117 (474) has posed:
     When the sword meets Doom's armor and doesn't cut right through it, it's possible to read /something/ into the Chief's blank, golden visor - surprise? Confusion? It stumps him for that crucial second that allows Doom to slam his jet-powered fist squarely into his visor.

     There's a loud 'crack' and the Chief's head whips backwards under the force of the blow. He /groans/, stumbling, trying to avoid catching himself on his own energy sword. It hurts. Vision blurry, stars behind the eyes. Without the helmet, he'd probably be dead.

     With the helmet, he's just short of being disabled.

     Somehow, the SPARTAN recovers. With a long, jagged crack running down the length of his visor and his HUD flickering off and on, the Chief rushes forward to meet Doom once more. He swings his blade high, leaving an electric stench of ozone in the air and a blue after-blur, and then reverses his swing in a diagonal slash!

     He doesn't say anything. There's just the groans and growls of frantic exertion.

Cheyanne (242) has posed:
Doesn't matter if that's an illusion or not, it's downright horrific to see. Even reanimated bodies shouldn't bend and contort like that! Then an artificial replica of Madara breaks free of the ninja to rush her.

But just as the clone is about to strike Cheyanne spins her staff around and thrusts it forward with one hand, slamming the horns of the monster skull into the wood clone's center of mass. It crumbles from the blow, but it's momentum as it breaks is enough to pelt her with several of the resulting splinters.

"Full of tricks, that I see."

The hand behind her briefly snatchs from the depths of her hip pouch. Which she turns and flings at Madara. At impact the flash will shatter and the contents within react with explosive results at the instant contact with the air is made to ignite whatever was unfortunate enough to get splattered by it.

Alpha Centauri (613) has posed:
Alpha Centauri now knows what she is, even if she tries to correct him. No matter the form she may take now, he knows that it requires a very different set of tactics. She was not of flesh...

...she was of metal.

The woman goes to to grab him and Alpha Centauri allows this, it is however when Kongou decides to open fire, does he suddenly flip out of her hands grasps. As her cannons fire, he flips around and slams both of his heavy armored feet into the center of the mass to knock her back.

Then as his feet touch the ground, he dashes right in, with his blades crossed over one another, before unleashing a powerful cutting slash as the plasma blades feed one another energy as they cross past one another.

Victor von Doom (318) has posed:
    This time, the energy sword's slash appears to have an immediate, crippling effect. As the Spartan flies through the air and comes down with the blade right onto Doom's shoulder, the air is once more filled with the sounds of crackling plasma, and the dull concussive sound of energy meeting energy as the sword crashes against the Latverian's powered armor. Immediately, Doom's left arm seizes, sparks flying from the joints in protest, rendering his left arm entirely disabled, with likely effects on the rest of the suits effectiveness as well.

    "You unearthly clod..." snarls the cold voice, for the first time with a tinge of actual emotion, beyond the dripping layers of cold precision. There is a detectable tone of anger in the words now. And perhaps frustration, at the obstacle of the Spartan.

    The Latverian snaps his wrist to the side in a sort of flicking motion; as he does so, a thin cord quickly extends and sways to the side a moment, before suddenly alighting with the same greenish glow that seems to characterize all of the Iron Baron's arsenal. Something by the way the air pulsates and warps around the length of the weapon now resembling a whip suggests it would be uncomfortable to be hit by it.

    The Latverian flicks his wrist and brings his arm around, intending to send the whip flying through the air, and aimed for the Spartan's waist, either to simply sever the man clean out of his armor, or otherwise critically damage the suit.

Grant Mason (667) has posed:
A small bottle? Bah. The golem goes to swat it out of the air, which turns out to be a terrible idea as it explodes as soon as it touches his hand. The explosion is such that manages to knock the armor off of it's feet, and sends Grant crashing down to the ground.

He's a bit surprised something so small would have such an impact. Maybe he needs to talk to the research teams about getting some more powerful weapons of his own. But for now, no. Now he thinks he'll just beat her so he can prove he's stronger.

Rising back to his feet, he pulls his cannon again, reloading the drum with a new one, and leveling it at Rebecca, "You've put up an admirable fight, and I'm glad we managed to encounter each other. But now it's time for you to get out of here, and I know you won't take the easy way, so here's a little number I like to call the hard way!"

The cannon and both missile pods fire off at once, spraying the area where Rebecca is with all manner of explosives and projectiles.

Kongou (637) has posed:
    The girl thinks she has him! But the huge construct manages to kick himself away, unbalancing his captor in the same maneuver. Staggered as she is, Kongou is easy prey for those plasma-cutting blades. Though she tries to evade, she only manages to avoid getting bisected. The second blade, coming at an oblique angle, carves off the damaged section of her Land fitting entirely, slicing down through the weakened deck and hull right to the keel. The disembodied turret falls away, the edges red hot and sizzling with several ruptured internal compartments.

    Though it's just her equipment, the damage causes Kongou to flinch with a shriek as if she herself had been wounded. Reeling, she staggers back a few more paces, hands going to the wounded section, "Ahh! <Shit!> My precious equipment...!" When her gaze returns to Alpha, the smile is gone. Fierce determination burns in her eyes in the place of twinkling happiness, "I won't forgive you!"

    With that, Kongou hooks the discarded ship section with her foot and kicks it right towards the center of Alpha's chest. One of the main battery turrets still attached to her goes off, sending a shell right into that damaged section.

    Right into the magazine underneath Kongou's now-destroyed #4 turret.

Madara Uchiha (651) has posed:
Madara's Wood Clones are fairly durable, even if they contain only a fraction of his own power. Even so, Cheyanne's own strength and skill did enough damage to cause it to release its animating Chakra and return it to mere wood. That is worth of taking notice of. The explosive that strikes Madara while he prepares his jutsu bursts into flames that cover him and eat away at his body's surface... But with no indication Madara is feeling any pain at all.

Though with a body possibly made of inanimate substances, is that really a surprise?

Instead, he sinks into the ground slowly, the earth smothering the flames. He is gone from sight for several seconds as he just... Melds into the ground like a zombie returning to its grave instead of the reverse. Standing on the ground may suddenly become far creepier a prospect than it ever has been before, knowing he's down there somewhere. A dead man who can move through the ground at will.

Even as that though may reach Cheyanne, a pair of hands attempt to grab her by the ankles to try to pull her down into the dirt as well. The soil and rocks seem to become almost liquid if they succeed in their grasp, earth becoming sand-like in consistency. Either way, Madara (or is it another Wood Clone?) rises slowly up out of the ground in front of the mage, and attempts to place his cold, lifeless hands around her throat, apply his thumbs to the center, and start squeezing tight.

John-117 (474) has posed:
     The Chief just raises his arm, seemingly intent on plunging the energy blade into Doom's chest. It's only a quick shouted command from Cortana - "Chief, watch it! Move!" - who had been watching Doom pull out that whip that saves his life.

     The plasma whip cuts deep. It slashes clean through the battered and abused MJOLNIR power armor and straight through the black underlayer. It cuts deep into the SPARTAN's flesh and - is that blood? So, the man does bleed!

     The second strike is much the same. The Chief fights down the urge to raise his arms under the onslaught because then the plasma whip might just take an entire limb. The second blow slashes across his chest, raining sparks onto Doom and sending out another spray of red blood. It flows freely. He's badly wounded. The Chief staggers, breathing hard and heavy behind his helmet.

     He doesn't run, however. After all, turning his back would just allow the Doctor to get another hit in. The SPARTAN /charges/.

     SPARTANs are fast. That much is clear. But, with the adrenaline flaring and the heat of battle on, everything seems to /slow/ for the Chief. Every breath, every step, every motion. It's like everyone else is just a few seconds slower than he is. To the outside world, nothing seems to be different.

     The Master Chief steps inside Doom's guard, and hammers him with his fists. Over and over. His knee, his elbows, his feet. Every step is a blow and every blow is a step. He's fast, and strong, and raining down an onslaught on Doom because, if he doesn't put him down now, he won't get another chance.

Rebecca Chambers has posed:
    Let's just say being sprayed like that really hurts. After all is said and done, Rebecca's a bit burned and bruised, but still standing. Although she's looking rather weak. (She's most likely on Caution status right now.)

    "I'm used to doing things the hard way!" Rebecca says as she draws her MP5K again. "If you want to do things like that, then I'll oblige you!" She fires off the remainder of her clip as a way of sending forth her point.

Alpha Centauri (613) has posed:
Alpha Centauri knows how to handle her now. He is rather sure of it. It is just the matter of keeping his mind set on the fact she was /NOT/ organic. /NOT/ humanoid. She was a ship-- a very powerful one at that. Her looks, her face, how she was appearing before him right now was an optical illusion.

The Accretian slides his heel slightly, as he waits for her next move. That open lens zooming in to a narrow point, while the other one is glowing brightly. As she shows that warrior spark, he rumbles softly, "That is better." Whatever that is suppose to mean.

It is when she goes to kick off that section of herself, does Alpha Centauri burst into action. Rushing right for Kongou and the part she has flung off. Her turret fires for the part and his sword is going to slash it apart.%rThe bullet hits first, exploding the turret apart right as his blades go to hit the parts that are exploding by, cutting it up further. The flames lick across his already damaged form, with some of the metal shards cutting across his metallic armor head.

Yet soon the Accretian heads right for the Battleship woman, he brings his blades around and then goes to leap at her. Those optics burning brightly as he goes to impale his blades into her-- more correctly, into her equipment. No-- he was not out to fully /sink/ the Battleship.. but he was out to make sure she would no longer be a threat for awhile.

Victor von Doom (318) has posed:
    There's something beautiful in the primality of the Spartan's assault. In the sheer courage that drives the man to rush head on, through pain and injury, to dive at the Latverian and bring him to the ground. And once again, the metal of the Iron Baron's suit is cast into the dirt, as the Spartan brings him to the ground once more. And then begins to pound ceaselessly, desperately, against that metal armor.

    At first, the Latverian is able to raise his single functioning arm to ward off a few blows, but it rapidly becomes an exercise in futility; the Spartan is heavy, and the Spartan is strong.

    "Foolish haggard!" spits the voice, loudly at first.

    "You meddle with forces you cannot.....possibly..." the Iron Baron's voice has begun to slow, here. Almost mechanically so.

    "...Possibly...understa-" And then cuts off, almost immediately. Inhumanly.

    Nearly a minute passes.

    And then, the withering green eyes behind the now-dented metal mask move. Unblinkingly. As though a camera focusing on a new subject, the irises seem to shift, taking in the image of the Spartan. Saving it.

    Sending it to whoever was piloting this Doombot.

Cheyanne (242) has posed:
A frown creases across Cheyanne's expression as the ninja sinks into the ground. For all her familiarity with the elements she was not accustomed to dealing with people that can slip through them as easily as her own transversing. How does that saying go about the tables being turned...

The hands grab her hooves as the ground turns soft, grappling long enough to keep her from jumping away. Though when she jabs the end of her staff into the ground it turns solid again to prevent farther sinking, though for the moment she's still trapped in it.

Unfortunately the pliability is clearly not a requirement for Madara to come up in front of her. The grasp shakes her up, and while he can certainly apply enough pressure to be painful it's a bit hard to outright choke her thanks to the multiple golden hoops adorning her neck, even as Cheyanne grabs his arms to try and pry his hands free.

Somewhere in the night sky a crack of thunder is heard, and with a flash there's a bolt of lightning crashing down to strike her staff wedged in the ground. But instead of coursing down to the ground as well the totemic powers redirect the current, cracking betweent the horns briefly before sending it arcing towards Madara.

Grant Mason (667) has posed:
    Grant's armor isn't looking much better at this point. There's smoke and sparks flying off from the joints, and more impacts don't help at all. Seems it's not as bulletproof as it would look from the outside.

Inside the armor, Grant's blood has reached an almost literal boil. Who does this girl think she is, not going down before the might of the Adamant Golem? He'll have to show her. His weapon gets stored again as it will need to cool down before he can unleash that kind of strike again, so he goes to work trying to close the distance with her again, taking the shots as she empties her magazine and trying to smash her again with a huge haymaker blow.

Rebecca Chambers has posed:
    Rebecca is able to step back and avoid being hit full-on by the haymaker punch, but it's still a bit of a painful experience nonetheless. She drops to one knee again, and ejects her clip while trying to load a new one while in pain. "No, I won't give up!" Rebecca yells as she fires off another burst of gunfire.

Kongou (637) has posed:
    A miss! No? He powered right through the explosion!?

    A blast that would spell the death sentence of any battleship is used as cover for Alpha to get close to Kongou and attack again with those blades of his. But his directed aim at her equipment rather than her results in the three remaining main battery turrets all getting cleaved apart, their gunhouses smoldering with deep, smoking gashes that have rendered the loading equipment within useless.

    The girl herself wails, leaning forward in a painful flinch. She quickly assesses the situation, determining that without the main battery she can no longer do any appreciable damage. If she keeps this up, she'll be sunk for sure!

    The stack on the superstructure section of her equipment unit starts belching out black smoke and the AA batteries fire off several small canisters. This obscures the girl in a cloud, through which she retreats at a heavy clip. Still afloat, but unable to fight.

John-117 (474) has posed:
     The Doombot gets a good long look at the SPARTAN. Green armored, golden visor cracked, 117 emblazoned on his chest plate...

     But after a few moments the Chief wavers, dropping to one knee. A moment more and he pitches forwards into the dirt, utterly spent as the rest of the battle rages around him.

Grant Mason (667) has posed:
This last burst of gunfire hits something, it's hard to tell what, but the helmet's visor goes dark inside. Grant roars out in rage and charges towards Rebecca.

Then he misses her completely and plows through a wall of the factory, vanishing outside. When he eventually calms down, he'll most likely make his way back to base, but for now, he's going to keep chasing blindlly after a non-existant target.

Madara Uchiha (651) has posed:
The electricity is unexpected, lightning stripping more layers of dust and pottery-like flesh from Madara's body. It seems the one grabbing Cheyanne's hooves was just a clone after all! The real one is the one trying to exert his superhuman strength to crush her throat - though with those rings in the way, it definitely impeded the attempt. Gold is a relatively soft metal, however, and might need to be checked out later to see if it's bent.

Not the biggest priority right now, however. Madara may be sizzling, his long black hair crackling and smoking with the current being poured into him, but when the lightning fades, he doesn't die or leap back out of the way to get some room between himself and this clearly dangerous opponent...

Instead he lets go of her and tries to kick her in the sternum hard enough to hurl HER away, as she did to him earlier.

"Plants, ice, wind, lightning... An assortment of powers that would fit right into my world," Madara says non-chalantly. Half his face is just a grey slate, one of his eyes appears to be missing from the socket, and cracks and missing pieces are everywhere. He's still trailing smoke, and his lips are split in several places.

No blood anywhere, and bits and pieces are moving through the air to repair the damage already. "The Multiverse continues to demonstrate that certain themes remain consistent even across worlds and among people who are supposedly so different from each other."

Rebecca Chambers has posed:
    As Rebecca watches her opponent flee, she smiles a little, but then drops to one knee again. "Damn, I'm hurt more than I thought." She looks around at her allies, and knows they might need MedEvac. She radioes for one to come pick them up. Rebecca then stands by, watching and waiting carefully.

Alpha Centauri (613) has posed:
Alpha Centauri goes to try and then snatch Kongou before she can get away. Given that she was once connected to Samar-- however, there was suddenly smoke and explosions around him, forcing the Accretian to back off.

His steps stagger back as he rumbles lowly. What is it with Singularities always making this /hard/. No /MATTER/ the race.

Cheyanne (242) has posed:
Cheyanne gets kicked fairly hard in the stomach. Possibly the only reason she's not thrown across the field is that her hooves are still partially stuck in the ground. Somewhat bittersweet because if they hadn't been maybe she could of moved out of the way entirely. Not something to sit and dwell on the matter.

More important things to concern herself with. Like dealing with the matter of her opponent being not quite alive, not quite truly dead, and regardless of which apparently made out grit and debris rather than any sort of normal body. Which is probably makes that doppleganger technique a bit more effective, when there's less 'alive' to try and distinquish it from.

"Some themes prevail through many worlds." This is getting a little meta now. Cheyanne has dealt with a lot of worlds that have some sort of elemental alignment to them. Taking a step back from finally pulling her hooves free, she grabs her staff with one hand and yanks it from the ground as well. With the other hand she makes a short sweeping motion, seeming to pull up some of the dirt and rock from around her.

"But the more things stay the same, the more they change." She turns to 'throw' the gathering, but as she moves to do so there's an ignition in her hand, and with the sudden surge of intensity Fire and Earth are combined in a way that results in a glowing ball of molten rock thrown at him instead of just dirt.

Madara Uchiha (651) has posed:
Madara is struck with flaming rocks, tearing holes in his body and damaging his red armor even further. The attack even kicks up even more dust and dirt than was already in the air... And that gives Madara an idea. <<Katon: Haijingakure no Jutsu! (Fire Release: Hiding in Ash and Dust Technique!)>> he chants in his mind. Then he quickly expels Chakra-infused ashes from his mouth that blanket a wide area. The ashes obscure vision, but there are also flames among them... And any contact with the cloud results in painful burns. It's a highly-effective smokescren, and probably the sort of thing that will deter close-range attacks. But it's probably not enough to stop Cheyanne from attacking entirely. She has already demonstrated ranged combat abilities, and she can even control the wind!

What is Madara planning?

Optimus Prime (568) has posed:
The battle for the Factory didn't sound like it was going well and Optimus Prime had defended this place once more from the Confederacy. It did not surprise him that they have come for it, given they had taken so many other points with great haste.

A portal was to soon open and the large semi with trailer came rolling out before he transformed. He made sure the warpgate was kept hot, as he caught the sight of Kongou who was in retreat, motioning for her to head for the warpgate.

Though he could not change the tide of battle. He could make sure those who were falling back were kept safe. The battleplate activated over his face, as he took a knee. His rifle coming into his hand, as he took aim. Those true blue optics watching the battle from the distance. Including to see Master Chief on the ground.

The trailer soon opened to take battle-platform position for further needed defense for retreating troops, but it was roller. "Roller. Retrieve Master Chief."

It was not long after Optimus Prime gave that order the six wheeled Cybertronian drone booked it to actually go fetch the super human. No man; At least to the best of his abilities; would be left behind.

Cheyanne (242) has posed:
There would be some cursing here, if Cheyanne was the sort to use some such profanity... That and talking isn't really a good thing to do when you're getting smoked with smoldering ash. For all the considerable power she weilded she was still mortal in body, forcing her to cover her face with one arm to protect her eyes and face from the burning smoke and embers. Which does nothing to keep the hot ash from physically burning against her as she coughs and growls. Even if she doesn't necessarily need to speak to use her elemental forces, it's enough of a painful aggrivation that it prevents her from doing something immeadiately while she has to recompose herself.

What's the most likely expected course of action here? Summoning the wind to blow it away? Perhaps... but her foe has already proved to be able to move through such things. Blowing it off might just put him at a greater position.

The wind does start to pick up... but it's not blowing the ash away. Instead it's exactly the opposite, as Cheyanne spins the forces of air into a swirling vortex to suck the ash, and possible Madara, into it instead.

Only for the entire spiral to go up in flames to incinerate the ash and possibly a ninja caught up in the middle of it.

Madara Uchiha (651) has posed:
The dense cloud of blinding, flesh-searing ashes is swirled around and around and around, creating a vortex. Madara wasn't originally in the middle of it, but now he is, as he is pulled towards it. It seems his own jutsu doesn't harm him for some reason. But just as he was earlier able to use Cheyanne's plants against her, it seems she was able to subvert Madara's Fire Release for her own purposes. As he tries to dig his hands and feet into the ground, to avoid being caught up in the miniature tornado, his head is down, most of his face restored in that brief time where he was out of sight.

There are limits to his ability to restore his body, but right now he doesn't seem to be at those limits.

As he loses his grasp on the earth, even with Chakra emission keeping him stuck to the ground that he pulls up with him, he is hurled through the air and into the flaming vortex!

And when his eyes are visible, they are not the Sharingan, or the Mangekyou Sharingan. They are a different design entirely. Grey eyes with black rings radiating outwards from the centers of each. And Madara thrusts a hand out towards Cheyanne in mid-air, and she may feel the very ground she stands upon detach from the surrounding terrain with a rumble, the world going topsy-turvy, as the earth itself - or at least one part of it - heeds the call of a greater gravitational force.

One that attempts to pull Cheyanne right into the middle of the flaming vortex to join Madara.

Cheyanne (242) has posed:
Okay now we're getting into some weird shit. Sure she can almost literally move mountains if she really had reason to, but screwing with gravity and perception of it was something even her versatile range of powers did not cover. The disorienting subversion gets her tossed into the very force she spawned to eliminate one advantage he had, and despite creating the fiery vortex she doesn't really have any sort of power over keeping it from burning her in the process. Friendly fire just is -not-. Even when it's your own.

Clearly relying on the elements was not going to work when her opponent could manipulate similar forces and then some.

But again, assuming she required them to fight was not a wise notion to make. Even once she's also drawn into it the fiery whirlwind is already breaking up from the loss of focus on it. As it starts to fall apart Cheyanne breaks free of the rock that helped draw her in. If only to push herself off towards Madara and his freakish 'eyes', swinging her staff to catch him with it and smash him into the ground as they drop back to it.

Madara Uchiha (651) has posed:
As he is smashed with Cheyanne's rod and knocked out of the air, it seems Madara has no more ability to fly than his opponent does (unless she actually can fly and just hasn't it). Though he brought up an arm to try to block, the Sharingan's predictive powers aren't available while he has the Rinnegan active, and he is still struck and slammed back to the ground. Whether Cheyanne can fly or not, however, it appears that Madara does not intend to wait to find out. As he pulls himself up out of the dust, he holds up one hand, a sleek, black, sharp metal rod seemingly just grows out of his palm. He snaps it off of his hand with his other, and then hurls it at Cheyanne like javelin, aimed directly for her mid-section.

If the metal rod makes any contact at all, even if it doesn't wound her, there is an immediate, jarring, highly unpleasant sensation of someone else's presence in her body. Madara's Chakra creeps and crawls its way through the bodies of others via these metal rods. He might not be able to control her with it, but it is a wholly unsettling sensation. Even more so if it strikes true and does serious damage, which might leave it generating that feeling until it is pulled out of the wound.

Say what one will about Madara Uchiha. He at least has a very diverse power set.

Cheyanne (242) has posed:
Cheyanne can't fly per say, but turning part of her momentum into throwing him to the ground like that does help her reach it in a less antagonizing manner to herself. For all the good it's really going to do the way this fight was constantly messing with her. For as much experience as she had, this undead ninja was constantly conjuring up things she has not had to deal with in such a manner.

Like when he rips off his own hand and throws it at her, hitting her in the midsection, and Cheyanne practically doubles in half from it. Not from the blow in itself, and as Madara would find the assumption that he can't actually take control of her to be true.... But he doesn't really need to. The nature of his dark and corrupt Chakra reacts with her elemental purity much more savagely than anything he could of possibly physically assaulted her with.

The shaman goes down on one knee, catching herself with her staff to keep from facing into the ground entirely. Equine teeth grind together as she braces herself, trying to at least put aside some of the excrutiating sensation long enough to finish this fight. At this point the Factory itself didn't really matter. She just needed to buy Optimus the time to get her other allies out safely. That thought is enough to push her into continuing yet. Not that she makes a move to get up just yet, even as ethreal energies crackle with in the head of her staff.

Yet the ground shakes. Not from her directly, not from some sort of earthquake tremor inducing magic. It shakes because of the herd of ghostly bulls that charges through the area out of thin air. Phantasmic nature doesn't mean those horns aren't still sharp and those hooves aren't capable of stomping though, the conjuration is more than enough manifestation to slam and trample Madara if he doesn't get out of the way fast.

Madara Uchiha (651) has posed:
The black metal rod that Madara threw seems to have had an impact. Whether the metal itself is weird or if it's the energies it's charged with that make it so unpleasant, or some combination of the two, it appears to have taken the ninja's opponent to her knees. He grows another of those rods out of his right palm, seemingly intending to use these weapons he can produce with the power of the Rinnegan as his weapons. Then, his fine-tuned battle senses make him aware of the discrepency in his environment. Something is amiss. He tries to determine its source, but even when his intuition causes him to step back and turn to the side so he can see both his enemy and the incoming attack, it seems he has already realized he doesn't really have anywhere to run.

He just stands there, smirks, and says, "You continue to produce such interesting attacks." Then he gets trampled by ghostly bulls. Their hooves and horns crush and impale, just as Madara attempted to impale Cheyanne in the air, a few moments ago. These two keep turning the tables on each other with outlandish powers.

Speaking of which, some of those ghost bulls may start to bellow in fear and pain. Some of them may not continue on with the rest of the stampeding herd, and instead seem to be getting sucked up somehow. When the phantoms finally pass, the last straggler is visibly grabbed by Madara, his fingers SEEMING to seize it and dig into it - but in truth his very touch is like some sort of siphon.

The ghostly creature may well struggle, but it winds up gettig sucked up into Madara body like he's a spiritual black hole. Or that's what he's trying to do anyway. Maybe these phantoms aren't susceptible to that. But the Rinnegan allows him to remove and absorb souls in order to gain everything they know - and a spirit without a body is just there to be taken. It seems the shinobi came out of this attack worse for wear though. His reconstruction can't keep up with the damage he is taking, and there are huge dark gaps in his torso, other pieces that look like peeled plaster, exposing dust and paper or clay-like material - colorless and distinctly NOT flesh - inside.

Madara holds up his hand again, and then his other hand, and both of them grow those nasty black metal rods out of the palms. Madara lunges forwards and begins to perform an almost dance-like serious of jabbing and slashing strikes, using the metal rods to try to impale, to slice, and to stab at Cheyenne. He may not know her body's vulnerable points due to her species being unfamiliar, but he can make educated guesses. Being in his damaged state, however, can he really continue to fight effectively?

Cheyanne (242) has posed:
"Not surprised in the least that even upon the spirits you would feast," comes the somewhat wry comment as Madara more or less gouges himself on a spiritual steer smorgashboard. A twist one way and another and back again. This ninja was definately freakish in his abilities... but Cheyanne was not one to scare easily. Which is different from being weirded out, that she's got plenty of from this night.

He forms some of those metal rods again and comes rushing her with them. That is definately bad news. Fortunately Cheyanne has her own weapon and puts it to deft use as well. Repeatedly cursed metal clashes against enchanted wood and bone as the shaman uses her totem staff to keep him from landing anything more than glancing blows. The rod to the stomach was distressing enough she knows she does not want to get hit like that again.

With his last stab she actually jumps backwards, the rods impaling the chunk of rock she pulls up between them to take the attack instead. As she lands Cheyanne flips her staff and slings it across her back to free her hands up. "The elements function in many ways and forms... But I've still got a different trick or two..." As she half-clenches hands at her sides miasma starts to swirl around them, cloaking the right in red and orange while the left swirls with blues and whites.

Normally fire and ice were polar opposites to each other. But someone with the right experience and knowledge can bring the counter-forces together and harness that reaction. Cheyanne does just that, and when the two elemental forces are brought together before her the result is a power blast of volatile energy from the two being forced together hurtling at Madara.

Madara Uchiha (651) has posed:
In Madara's world, Ice Release is a genetic ability, exclusive to those who inherited it - much like the Sharingan, though that is focused in an organ and thus can be transplanted. Ice Release, further uses a combination of Water Chakra and Wind Chakra to create Ice Chakra. So, from Madara's perspective, Cheyanne is not only combining fire and ice: she is effectively combining THREE elements - a very rare ability even in his own world. Of course, what she is doing is NOT Ninjutsu. But it's still impressive.

And Madara is mighty impressed, right up to the point where he is blasted by the combined forces, tearing the false flesh from his non-existant bones, and sending a blazing and freezing line of raw elemental fury streaking out behind his position for at least half a mile. As smoke and fog roil through the air, the battlefield is momentarily obscured.

Did Cheyanne win? Is this the end of Madara Uchiha?

The visual obstruction is suddenly blown out of the way in all directions as a giant made of solidifed Chakra surges upwards. Madara is clearly in bad condition inside the construct's chest, but the glowing-blue warrior may protect him a bit. At least long enough to get off one more attack.

A pair of swords appear in the Susano'o's hands. Blazing blades made of Chakra flames.

Then a second pair of arms grow out of its forearms, and these two gain blazing Chakra swords.

And Madara, with his Mangekyou Sharingan active once more, looks down upon Cheyanne, and has no smile to give, no condescending smirk. Instead, he simply says, with utmost respect, "Well fought. However, one way or another, this is the end."

The Susano'o lashes out with all four arms at once, unleashing huge shockwaves of energy that tear across the terrain, headed straight for Cheyanne.

Cheyanne (242) has posed:
Considering he has been able to buffet or redirect almost everything she threw at him this night Cheyanne had doubted that in itself would be enough to finish him from the fight.

The four-armed sword wielding giant manifestation? Yeah, that was entirely unexpected.

With the little time she has to respond in the best Cheyanne can do is draw the earth to her aid once more, and much like the barriers she had first made to shield the retreating soldiers, a dome of stone formed over her just as the swords were brought to bear.

And absolutely obliterate the structure in their combined strike, leaving nothing but a cloud of dirt and dust blasting into the air from the crushing blow.

But when the dust cloud blows clear, Cheyanne is not in the spot beneath it. Or to be seen in general.

It had taken the last of her waning strength just to put up that defense, and then slip out of it with her own elemental step. From which she collapses on Optimus's defense deck at the point he's been holding for the withdrawls. There's nothing to be said to leave, just a single grown before she slumps against the metal surface, having expended the last fragments of energy she had to hold to concienceness just long enough to get to where she can be safely returned to base along with the others.