5494/OMNI: One More FiNIsh

OMNI: One More FiNIsh
Date of Scene:	23 September 2017
Location:	The Quilt
Synopsis:	Both Inspiration Trust and the rebellious splinter group make their way to OMNI's central server. The matter is finally settled.
Thanks to:	To everyone who came.
Cast of Characters:	Tomoyo Daidouji, Yang Xiao Long, William Pauwel, 385, Sanary Rondel, August Kohler, 1108, Staren

---

Tomoyo Daidouji has posed:
    Night has fallen hard upon the city, like a stone dropped from a cliff to the sea. To look upon it from above would reveal a stark contrast. Most regions of the city remain lit, that dull neon blue so common in futuristic cities. But two adjacent sections are mostly pitch black, lit only by spluttering lights powered by generators alongside flickering fires, not all of which are under control.

    There, in that darkened section, is a third kind of light. That brilliant spot of pure blue and white, emitting from a blowtorch that is being applied to a nondescript metallic door attached to a squat concrete hut somewhere near the points were the two darkened sections meet. Standing before it, lit from behind by the sparking light, is D-BASE. Before him is a massive crowd of delinquents, ne'er-do-wells, and thugs. The still-unnamed group experienced a membership boom after their second display of terrorism, and they were nearing 500 strong.

    "Tonight's the night, my lovelies!" he shouts, pumping his fist and drawing cheers from the crowd. "All we need to do is stroll down below, blow open a wall, and engage in some good old destructive self-expression, and no more OMNI looking over our shoulders day in and day out!" Another big whoop erupts, which only gets louder as the metal door finally gives way. "Right-o, let's go! If you ain't got no bombs, we'll pass some out, but only one per customer!"

    It's a veritable moshpit on the way down the narrow stairs and through the tight corridors. All manner of explosives are passed out, from a range of cobbled-together military IEDs, to literal molotovs with some rope and tape to secure them to a surface. It's a short walk, but D-BASE soon looks from a map to a long stretch of wall before running along it, marking it with spraypaint! "This is it! Now, boys and girls... express yourselves!"

                                   MEANWHILE                                    

    Within the Council Building, a side door for utility deliveries swings open and allows in a small group left waiting in an adjacent alley. Inspiration Trust is guided through the open floors of the building by a woman wearing a rumpled suit, her brown hair layered into a bob. Some middle-manager that Tomoyo managed to convince to let them in, as well as guide them to the elevator that goes to OMNI's servers.

    It's a risky trek, often demanding alternate routes to avoid janitors and security, but they soon reach the bowels of the building. From there, it's a sequence of doors demanding thumbprint access, retinal scans, and verbalized passwords ('a pot watched is a pot safe') before they finally reach the elevator.

    The woman summons it, and gestures everyone inside. She stays on this floor, and offers a nervous grin as she brings her hands up to her hair. With both hands, she pushes it up, revealing that the bobcut is strategically styled to hide that most of her head is shaved, and that all the hair comes from the horizontal axis of her head. With it all pushed up, it looks like a horizontal mohawk. "Good luck," Iris says as the door closes, the elevator rapidly descending.

    "THIS IS AN ILLEGAL TRESPASS," the voice of OMNI immediately verbalizes from the speakers. "RETURN ONCE THE ELEVATOR HAS STOPPED," it adds. Tomoyo, for her part, is silent, but she looks to the others, as if asking them if they have anything to say.

Yang Xiao Long has posed:
    Yang isn't much for words, but she speaks up now. "OMNI... We're here to make a statement." she says, measuring her voice. "You're a tool of a bygone age, something the people still want around, but which has outlived its original purpose." she then looks to the others of Inspiration Trust, especially Tomoyo, before falling silent.

    The blonde has her Huntress outfit on, the white and black dress making her look quite different than the usual tan, black and orange of her regular outfit. She does have Ember Celica on her wrists, just in case.

William Pauwel has posed:
Nothing about this situation sits well in Will's gut.

Nevermind that he's probably going to have to go toe to toe with a friend, he's also... Going against a whole bunch of people who feel very, very strongly that what they're doing is right. It's just that Will thinks that they've all gone plain crazy with desperation and victory. Hate and anger clouds even the clearest mind.

"I'm just here t' keep a friend from makin' a real big mistake," Will says from towards the back of the squad. He's drawn his handcannon. Terminal Judgment casts its light into the elevator. "And t' ask you a few things. Maybe... Change a few minds."

"Maybe yours too. That'd be nice, huh?"

Yuna Kagurazaka (385) has posed:
Yuna pauses, looking around the elevator for security cameras, or obvious hiding points for surveillance, and offers a warm, bright, friendly smile for OMNI. "We came to talk to you, and to ask for your help," she explains to the supercomputer. "Because we still want you to understand that the constructive uses of emotion are important - that they outweigh the destructive forms that emotion can take."

Rather than one of her idol stage dresses, she's actually wearing her 'sailor' uniform from the Hikari Defense Fleet. That may mostly be because she didn't have a chance to change before hurrying over to rendezvous with Tomoyo, Yang, and the others ... but either way, the little robo-faerie Elner is flitting along next to Yuna. The rest of the Matrix of Light doesn't seem to be in evidence.

Sanary Rondel has posed:
"It's pretty clear the people around here want change." Sanary follows up after Yang, Will, and Yuna, a tired look on her face while she checks her gear. Shield? Check. Axe? Check. She can't be too careful considering what's happened the last few times she's been in this world! At least she doesn't have either of her things drawn, but rather has them slung over her back with a rope.

     "Not sayin' you ain't good at what you do, but... There's probably a good reason why there's been people crazy enough to try blowing you up if it's been going on this long." She glances around briefly to get a better look at the speakers, squinting for a moment and trying not to feel awkward talking to speakers. "Just... Give us a chance, alright? It'll be fine. And if we're real unlucky, we might even have to watch your..."

     She pauses, glancing at the speakers again. "... You don't have anything like an ass, do ya?"

August Kohler has posed:
August is at the front of the crowd. He's forced himself to basically be at the lead of the group going through the door, dressed in a hoodie with a gun in a holster and his mirrored bracelet at his wrist. As the group is getting ready to move and the door goes down, August turns briefly to speak to the crowd. "If you need to extract, shout. I'll cover you. We're blowing the damn computer sky high." A pump of his own fist, as he grabs an IED and slings it in a backpack over his shoulder.

Following behind D-BASE, August waits until they're right at the entrance to OMNI's base, and then moves to summon his Persona, a bright blue spark of light bringing the Tin Soldier. He glances and nods at his sole Multiversal companion, speaking to her. "You ready to raise some hell?"

A2 (1108) has posed:
    For some reason, seeing the crowd of 500 gathered here tonight, thrumming with enerygy, compared to the motley gang hiding nervously in the sewers the first time she had been here, fills A2 with a faint, puzzling kind of satisfaction. Whether or not her brazen assault on the server doors had helped inspire more young people to rise up against the machine that controls their lives, she feels . . . glad, that some of them did anyways.

    Others, full of themselves, may have tried to convince her otherwise, but with her feet on the ground, at ground zero, surrounded by hundreds of real people, she knows she is far from alone in thinking this way about OMNI, even if she will always be alone in the way she feels. It's reassuring to see the reality when people spend so much time yelling about the philosophy.

    She didn't bother finding some kind of anonymizing clothing today. Videos of her in all her falling-apart glory have already circulated to this circle, so walking at the very head of the group (and in the way of potential bullets) is probably more symbolic. Or something. It just felt right.

Staren has posed:
    ELEVATOR:

    Staren is... not happy. When they met with the city officials, they let OMNI lead him to believe that it was only doing what it was told. At August and A2's needling, he reached out to the officials again and learned that A2 was right, they hadn't chosen to ban art -- they were dumb enough to go along with it when they asked OMNI for peace and it made a dumb suggestion.

    He doesn't really /blame/ OMNI -- He's not sure it misled him intentionally, and it isn't human itself -- it probably doesn't understand what it's asking people to give up.

    He's still here though, for different reasons: Before, he thought it was the city officials that needed to be convinced. Now that he knows they can't think for themselves, getting OMNI to change its mind is the most expedient way to change theirs.

    OMNI's voice comes through the elevator's speakers. Staren looks around for a camera to look at as he speaks: "OMNI. You say you only do what the people want. But that's not true; You've been telling them what they want: Peace at the cost of losing a critical part of themselves." It's ironic, that here he finds people remaining flesh and blood who've done what many seem afraid HE would do by turning them into machines.

    "However, the rebels are still wrong about destroying you being the best course of action. Only you can peacefully convince the people of this city to regain what they've lost. And you can still do a lot of good for this city in a less authoritative position."

    "You said you only do what the people want. We propose an experiment, to show you that they still want to express themselves. If our hypothesis is proven correct, will you change your policies?"

Tomoyo Daidouji has posed:
    The rebels are all very eager to express themselves indeed. All manner of explosives are placed on the wall using all manner of adhesives. Some of them spell out 'FUCK OMNI' in cherry bombs, while others paint obscenities using accelerators and gasoline. Once the wall is utterly plastered, D-BASE makes damn sure that everyone is clear before giving the go-ahead to detonate.

    A mixture of detonators pressed, igniters molotovs hurled, and fuses lit occurs all at once before everyone gets wll clear by backing up in the tunnel. The explosion is massive, and only amplified by the confined space. The walls and roof shakes, dislodging dust. Several rebels go down due to the harsh ringing in their ears. But as the smoke clears, it's clear that they made an impact. A large gash has formed in the wall, with spots wide enough to wriggle through. "Right! Get in there!" D-BASE yells, drawing a yell from the crowd! But they all seem to wait for August and A2 to take the lead. Either out of respect, or so they can soak anything that waits for them.

                                MINUTES EARLIER                                

    "MY PURPOSE IS TO SERVE MANKIND. AS LONG AS THERE IS A SINGLE PERSON IN THIS CITY, MY PURPOSE REMAINS," OMNI says to Yang before addressing Will. "WHY DO YOU NOT SPEAK TO YOUR FRIEND FIRST, RATHER THAN CAMPING OUT IN MY SERVERS?" Next, Yuna. "HMM. MY CALCULATIONS ON THE SUBJECT ARE YET INCOMPLETE. IF YOUR INTENTION IS TO PROVIDE MORE DATA, IT WOULD BE WELCOMED, EVEN IF IT IS ILLEGALLY GENERATED. SO YES, IF YOU PROVE YOUR HYPOTHESIS, I MAY RESCIND PREVIOUS STATEMENTS," it adds to Staren. And finally, Sanary. "A CHANCE YOU WILL GET. I HAVE NO MEANS OF STOPPING YOU."

    Tomoyo opens her mouth to add something, but the elevator finally comes to a halt and slides open. The group exits into OMNI's main server farm. Looking up would reveal that the cylindrical chamber goes up for at least a mile, with canopies of wires criss-crossing overhead, connecting a towering core to the server farms built into the very walls. The whole place lights up in electric blue as everyone disembarks.

    Tomoyo walks over to the base of the core, where an ancient interface sits with dusty screen and keys caked with grime. She removes a backpack and produces a laptop before looking from it to the ancient monitor. "Oh dear... I had hoped that an AI would have a more modern interface."

    And then the walls explode.

    The tailor looks to it in shock, before saying, "It seems we may have to contend with D-BASE's crew... I'll leave that to you all. Good luck," she says, before returning her attention to the ancient interface, poking at it to try and figure things out.

Yang Xiao Long has posed:
    BOOM.

    "Great... JUST DUST EATING GREAT!" roars Yang as she deploys Ember Celica and makes for the ruined wall. "Tomoyo, Staren, do the thing. I'll keep these bastards back!" she bellows over her shoulder, as she leaps over rubble and fires shells behind her to at least partly block the way... but there's far too much space for even her high-speed combat style to cover alone.

    "How about I make this easy!?" she yells through the openings in the server wall. "Turn around, and go home. I don't want to beat your faces in, but I'll do it if I have to!" Her Aura flares out into a pair of large leathery-seeming 'wings' behind her as she gets herself pumped up for battle.

Yuna Kagurazaka (385) has posed:
The walls explode.

Yuna flinches at the abrupt noise - but the initial roar of detonation hasn't even begun to subside before light flares around the idol singer's body, condensing into sleek armor and snug-fitting fabric: her armored Light Suit, gleaming as though casting its own light. "Thanks, Elner," Yuna murmurs to the robo-faerie, followed by a quiet instruction: "Give Tomoyo whatever protection you can. The robo-faerie bobs slightly, as though nodding, and flits over to hover next to the tailor - prepared to generate a defensive barrier about her, if push comes to shove.

But Elner can't generate a barrier big enough to shelter the entire server complex, and Yuna knows it. So Yuna quickly moves to support Yang, the Matrix Divider forming in her hands as she leaps. "You all are fighting for the right to express yourselves freely, I know - but we're trying to convince OMNI that such liberty would be a *good* thing!" she calls out. "But you're only going to convince it of the opposite if you keep wrecking things like this! So I can't let any of you in here -"

She does a double-take, landing less than optimally from one leap, and taking an additional look at the face she thought was familiar. Yep. She knows what August looks like well enough, and even if she doesn't know A2 as well as the German youth, the battle gynoid is still highly recognizable.

"Not even friends, if they're trying to destroy OMNI out of hand and cripple what we've been working for," Yuna finishes, her voice gentle and friendly - but underscored by a rock-solid determination.

August Kohler has posed:
August's IED is not among the explosions. He's saving that for later. Instead, as the walls go down, there's one more nod to A2, as Yang's voice echoes through the wall. The redhead steps forward, his Persona in front of him, as he stares Yang down. "Out of the way, Long." A glance over to Yuna, as he stares at her for several moments. "We're not convincing OMNI of anything. We're killing it. A2, it's showtime."

People August considers friends are facing him down. But having any companions at all, having A2 standing next to him, convicted in what they're doing, keeps him going. There's no doubt that this is the option he must take. There's no guilt. The Tin Soldier's flamethrower begins to light up, and blasts forward to engulf Yang and Yuna in fire, before a quick movement to get inside the server itself. "Rebels! Tear this place to the ground! Express yourselves! Show that you want to be free!"

August raises his burnscarred hand clenching it into a fist, waiting for the rebels to get past him so he can stare down Yang and Yuna, who are likely going to deal with that fire. "If you stand in my way, you're going to get burned."

Staren has posed:
    Even Staren is surprised by the sheer SIZE of the thing. A mile-tall computer?! This thing is probably either a triumph of brute force, or some serious brilliance combined with outdated technology. He whistles, then comments, "I'm kind of surprised it didn't have the foresight to ask for guards down here."

    And then the walls explode.

    "August! Android girl!" Staren shouts. And then looks rather nervous as soon as he actually SEES A2 here. If noone interposes themselves, he's hiding behind OMNI. "You were right! But the fastest way to help these people is by getting OMNI to lift the ban! Then we can discuss whether it can still help people or to decommission it! Just give us a few minutes to try this -- if it won't listen, then sure, destroy it!"

    Once he has a chance to actually work at the console with Tomoyo, he mutters, "Right? You'd think it'd have voice controls and a touchscreen. Let's see here..." He starts typing commands, searching for input and output devices and the tools needed to play audio over the city's speakers.

Sanary Rondel has posed:
Sanary looks surprised at first when OMNI actually obliges, then breaks into a more relaxed grin. "Heh. I knew you could be reasonab-"

     And then the walls explode. "...le. Uh." The healer narrows her eye as the dust settles and D-BASE's voice can be heard, and then she lets out a long sigh while pulling her shield over in front of her. "Hey, hey! We've already got this handled! Trying to do all your..." She gestures at D-BASE with her free hand, jogging a bit to not fall too far behind Yang and take up the other side of the hole to act as a literal meat shield.

     "... The shit you've been doing is just going to set everything back. OMNI's givin' us a chance to sort things out properly. Now are you, or are we going to have to do it the wrong way?" The healer puts her free hand on her axe handle, but doesn't whip it around right away as if waiting to see what the group will do first. August and A2 in particular get long looks from the healer, but she's trying not to direct too much apparent ire their way.

     Also because it'll probably be easier to intimidate the group behind them rather than the Elites themselves. When August calls for them to come forward, though, the healer bellows out a roar of challenge before swinging the massive weapon over her head and slamming it into the ground in front of her.

     "You heard August. You want to do this the messy way? Then show yourselves!"

William Pauwel has posed:
"Don't think I haven't tried," Will answers the voice in the machine. He tips his hat downwards, its brim covering his eyes meaningfully. "He's a stubborn one. Once he gets an idea in his head, it don't go away. I'll do what I can." There's a beat. "Besides, this ain't the first time I've camped out in a server r--"

                                   *BOOM*                                  

"Aww shoot," Will hisses, tugging his visor down over his eyes. White noise washes across his vision before resolving into sets of figures and values that rapidly sweep down across his eyes. There, two figures amongst the horde that he recognizes-- and one that he especially didn't want to see here.

But, you know. That's how this goes.

He expected this.

August goes to leap into the server room, when something suddenly slips out from behind one of them, its hand esconced in a halo of warm, orange light. "August," Will says after he fires, sending bolts of screaming hot incendiary energy right at the still-manifest Tin Soldier. "Sorry. I can't let y'all in here. Destroyin' somethin' just 'cause you disagree with it just ain't somethin' I can let go. Stand down!"

A2 (1108) has posed:
    No matter what the reason is, A2 is through the breach before anyone else, vaulting her heavy body through the gap fast enough to twist the exposed rebar. She falls a short distance, her heels stab shallowly into the concrete, and then amber firelights swarm to her hand with an electric hum, solidifying into Type-4O sword. Before even properly looking around she marches forward, not so much without hesitation as without thought.

    She hears the voices before she sees much of anything, waving through the smoke and brushing past wires on her way towards them, neither stopping nor slowing. "You can try, but I can't guarantee you won't go home missing a limb or two. How about you make it easier on yourself and screw off." Her voice doesn't rise to nearly the same level of anger as Yang's. Were it not for the bitterness, there'd be no feeling in it.

    "And /you/ can shut it. Again with the saccharine suicide, huh?" she says to Yuna. "Throwing yourself in the way so you can preach about friendship and get hurt again? Do you get off on this?" Then to Staren, and to Sanary. "You still don't get it. I'm not fighting for this city or these laws. I don't give two shits about what you think. I care about people living in fear of a computer. I'm fighting to /kill/ a /machine/."

    Then, she finally gets a good look at it. The ridiculously old interface. The powering pylons and server stacks. A2 stops in her tracks, looking from the core to its cables to its processors, and then up, far, far up, towards the unexpectedly massive room's ceiling, clearly only just now realizing its true size, and the sheer volume of machinery in here. Destroying this would take-

    A2 suddenly clutches her head. Her knees weaken underneath her, causing her to sway unevenly on her feet, screwing her eyes shut with a clear sound of pain, fingers digging into her hair.

    "I can do it No.4. Just- just shut up and watch." she talking to herself. Not even looking at any of Inspiration Trust. "You don't have to fight anymore. It's over, okay? You'll never have to do that again. I can handle it. I can do it this time!"

    And then A2 screams out loud, breaking ranks from August and throwing herself dead forward. She runs straight down the center of the firing line and charges the console behind them, heedless of the gathered Elites, like she can't even see them.

Tomoyo Daidouji has posed:
    "Well, maybe not all that... I was thinking that a mouse would be good," Tomoyo says. The terminal demands command entry via the keyboard, but it thankfully has a detailed 'help' command and pretty advanced keyword-guessing heuristics. For the likes of him, it won't take long to figure out how to get it going. Tomoyo meanwhile, searches for and actually finds a USB port (it truly is universal) and hooks her laptop up to the core. "I pre-recorded what we need. Once you have the broadcast system open, we're ready."

    As D-BASE clambers through the holes, he sneers at Yang, Yuna, Will, and Sanary. "Oh for god's sake, holding a private concert down here? Must be nice to be part of the elite, allowed to wander where you please." He frowns a little at August's honorable warning, but A2's volleyed insults brings that smirk right back. "If they're so eager to die, let's hurry them along. FUCK 'EM UP!"

    The rebels attack! The dumber ones try to swarm the Elites with improvised weapons. Bats, chains, and tools are brought to bear with clumsy swipes! But there are smarter ones in there, ones that were present at the first server raid. They hang back, harrying Inspiration Trust with hurled molotovs as they edge around the perimetre of the room. Some get to work on the ground-level servers, while others are clearly intending to rush Tomoyo, Staren, and the core.

Yang Xiao Long has posed:
    Yang's Aura flares and glows brilliantly, fed by the flame engulfing her from the Tin Soldier. The flame laps across her protected skin, leaving red welts as some damage bleeds through. She crosses her arms in front of her face and braces against the force of the flame burst... Her eyes take on a red glow, the only thing showing in the orange glare of those flames, just before they burst away in a kinetic pulse. "I. BURN!" she bellows, slamming her fists together and sending out another pulse to try and knock some of the rebels on their backs, anything to buy some more time.

    She's speaking on the radio using her subvocal microphone, but the singing comes out to those without radios too, the husky voice rather unsuited for it, but she's doing it anyway. "I'm bleeding out, so if the last thing that I do. Is bring you down, then I'll bleed out for you." Red eyes lock onto August, feet shift to brace, and the blonde unleashes a volley of explosive bolts at the Persona user, punching each shot out in alternating throws of her arms.

Yuna Kagurazaka (385) has posed:
So much for the peaceful solution, thinks Yuna. August's liberal application of fire is enough to make Yuna draw back some, the Light Suit's protective aura sparking about her as the fire is warded away from actually burning her. It's still hot enough to be unpleasant, though - enough so that she seriously thinks of using her kite shield.

She doesn't have time to come to a decision before A2 screams like a berserker and charges straight in.

Yuna has had a front-row seat to A2's ferocity before - and the gynoid nearly took her out for good with a single, over-hypercharged slash. That was *with* Powered Form's heavy defenses, plus her kite shield ... neither of which Yuna has at the moment. The latter is only a shout away, at least.

But Yuna doesn't summon Shugoseiheki - at least, not yet. Instead, she aims the Matrix Divider and pulls the trigger, a charged blast lashing out at one of A2's legs, followed by lunging from her perch to try and body-check the gynoid while she's *hopefully* off-balance from that first shot. And Yuna being Yuna, the bolt of coherent light is more of a kinetic impact than anything that would burn, pierce, or sever - she wants to knock A2 off-stride to stop her charge in its tracks, not cripple or maim her.

Other enemies have pointed out that Yuna's sense of compassion and mercy is liable to get her killed someday. She doesn't plan for today to be that day, though. And she's not alone, which makes the odds even better.

Sanary Rondel has posed:
A2's barbs actually have Sanary holding in a brief snicker. She's learning new words slowly, so she actually understood that! "Hey, hey. That's just how she is. And you..." Sanary squints at A2. "... Eh, that's fine. Easier that way." There's a tone of respect in Sanary's response, but it doesn't get her to stay her hand.

     No, she's bringing that axe up back onto her shoulder. She ducks behind her shield as the molotovs come in, the fire rushing over her and singing the edges of her coat. She bellows out another roar, then takes a wide sweep with her shield to fan the fire out in front of her!

     It probably didn't accomplish much, but she's hoping it looked cool. She can't just leave Yuna to face A2 alone, though, and D-BASE's crew gets a moment's reprieve from the axe-wielder as she chases after the android instead. It'll take her a moment, but she catches up in due time to take a big horizontal swing at A2's legs as if trying to chop them right off with brute force!

Staren has posed:
    Staren makes a sort of annoyed grunt at A2's words. She's not entirely wrong -- OMNI itself may have been a net negative to the people -- but they need to retract the laws OMNI has made, as well, and Tomoyo's plan is the fastest and safest way to do that. Rioting in the streets is going to get people hurt.

    "I can't believe they didn't put more security on this thing. Man, for all we know, someone could've been controlling OMNI the whole time..." He freezes for a second at that thought. Well, it doesn't matter RIGHT NOW. He enters some more commands. "Plug it in." He pulls a pistol from his bag and shoots some taser rounds at the approaching rebels with only a brief glance (smartlink is wonderful,) his ears flattening at the noise. Just because he's not equipped to go up against August and A2 in combat, doesn't mean he doesn't still have a bag of tricks. Once Tomoyo has it plugged in, he holds the gun in his mouth for a moment to type a few more commands, then draws the gun again. "You're good. Do it!" He steps aside to keep firing at the ones rushing them.

August Kohler has posed:
August ignores Staren except for a glance of acknowledgment, focusing on Will. "Sorry, Will. I refuse. Gun me down or fall." As August says that, Yang protects herself from the fire with her shielding, sending out a kinetic pulse to the rebels that causes August to cringe. Yang's singing causes August to lock eyes back on her, his blue ones contrasting her red, as she fires explosive bolts at him.

The Tin Soldier gets in the way. The bolts slam into its torso as it skids in the way, denting through the metal explosively as both Persona and Persona user cringe from pain, August stepping back momentarily. The Tin Soldier's face is pained, as it mimes a roar and a throw of the arms, the gun being raised again to fire a single blank click. An aura of something washes over August and the Persona, boosting their endurance. Right on time, as Will fires incendiary bolts at the Tin Soldier, causing an even more pained expression, straight out of the Scream, August steps back again, wobbling from the pain, as the Tin Soldier is caught alight briefly, arms flailing. Luckily, it forces itself to keep going, and raises the gun back up.

And then another click. A large spiral of flames shoots out of the gun, slamming into Yang before being aimed to abruptly cycle into Will and try and force him back, as August maintains distance from A2 so Will's shots couldn't hit both of them.

"How much of this are you doing for the people, and how much are you doing because you selfishly believe your way is the right way? That you have the right to make a choice for these people, instead of letting them stand up for themselves. These people are fighting to express themselves. Why are /you/ fighting? Who are /you/ fighting for?"

A2 (1108) has posed:
    Whatever A2 sees in front of her, it isn't Yuna. That is, if she sees anything at all but the red fog. Sprinting straight at her, it couldn't be an easier shot, and the concussive bolt slams straight into her thigh, causing the android to stumble low and forward to try and build her speed back up. Yuna tackles her in the middle of it, throwing her to the ground with a crash of ceramic against cement. Her sword flies from her hand and goes skidding off across the floor.

    "God- dammit! Get OFF ME!" A2 howls beneath Yuna, her violet eyes suddenly without their dull and glassy sheen, but burning with inconsolable rage. Her finger scrape over the floor while she rolls on her back. "I need to- for her sake! For fuck's sake GET OUT OF THE WAY!" She suddenly strikes Yuna from underneath, driving her fist forcefully into her stomach; forcefully enough to send a human flying like a tennis ball. Without the synthetic skin, it feels like being punched with a fist-shaped rock, and her arm that extends out all the way behind it is as rigid as an iron pillar.

    Sanary wants to capitalize. Whether or not A2 recognizes the difference between Yuna's soft approach and Sanary just coming at her with an axe, it doesn't matter. She curls her back, rounds her shoulders, kicks her legs upward, and rights herself with a full gymnastic hand-stand which instantly turns into a lethal spin kick, the instant Sanary closes. For looking halfway like the Terminator, the whole motion is absurdly graceful, and ends with an arching flip back onto her feet, and a backfist pistoned into Sanary just for good measure. She can fight hand to hand too, apparently.

William Pauwel has posed:
    "Pardner, y'all are crazy iff'n you're thinkin' like that about somethin' like this." Will answers. "Life and death ain't got nothin' to do with this. Y'all're just tryin' to take the quick path 'cause it's easy! Just 'cause people call for it--"

A wave of flame washes into the gunner. Will grits his teeth as he feels his flesh scorch and burn, his duster catching flame at the fringes. Judgment's light turns pale white, a burst of kinetic power follows, shattering the spiral of flame with a single shot. "What am I fightin' for? Shit, August. Of course this is selfish. Anytime y'all apply yer morals to a problem, you're thinkin' that you might know better than someone else."

"But that's fine," Will growls, his gun switching right back to that red-orange glow. "I'm fightin' for the ideals I've got, y'all're right I'm thinkin' I know a better way. So what!? Ain't you selfish too!? Y'all think y'all ain't decidin' for everyone!? What about the people who ain't here screamin' their heads off and lightin' everything on fire like maniacs?"

The Solano's whine reaches a high-pitched scream. Will takes aim as his weapon's barrel seems to part down the middle, unable to totally control the power surging through it. "Selfishness ain't got nothin' to do with it. I want to help the people too, help them get what they need. But this ain't what they need! This is just destroyin' somethin' because it's quick! It's easy! But you know what--" Will pulls the trigger. "The easy way ain't never the best way!"

The Solano flashes. A tremendous cylinder of flame washes out from the barrel, threatening to swallow the Tin Soldier whole!

Tomoyo Daidouji has posed:
    THe battle begins in earnest! Yang's shockwave blows back the rebels while Sanary shield-bashes them down. As for the ones that try to slip around the sides, Staren has them well-handled with his taser rounds. Among them, D-BASE jukes the shots by hiding behind other rebels, all while placing more IEDs on the wall servers. Tomoyo uploads the video into the core, and all across the city it begins to play. Appearing on screens, audio coming from speakers. Only the disabled sections do not receive what plays.

    "Hello everyone," Tomoyo says, sitting in a dark room. "You might remember me as the leader of Inspiration Trust, the group that spoke to OMNI during the last public hearing. Alternatively, you might know me as the organizer for the concert that was tragically undercut by the bombing of OMNI's Residential District servers. Or you might not know me at all. That's fine. What's important is that you listen to me."

    "Right now, we are in OMNI's central server farm. We've broken the law to be here, and we'll accept the consequence of that as long as you all listen to me. OMNI has thoughts about humans that influence current policies. It doesn't matter if you agree with those thoughts, or the policies. What matters is that some who disagree are going to take action against it, in a way that is tragically permanent, and will only prove OMNI right."

    "The only way to truly beat them is to prove OMNI wrong before they can. OMNI believes that all forms of expression only create conflict between humans. We need to show it that art can bring us together in harmony. I was hoping to do that at the concert, but we had to stop early because of the bombing. So now, we'll finish it together. All of us. Please... sing with me."

    Her image fades, replaced by what is essentially a kareoke screen. Text appears under a placid image of a mountain, a dot bouncing in place as the opening melody plays. As the lyrics kick in, they begin to scroll along with the dot moving along them to mark the progression.

                  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZmZMMSDx3Yg                  

    Within the servers, holographic screens appear all around, displaying the same thing, alongside camera feeds from all over the city. A built-in feature, to make sure what is going out is accurate, and being received properly. Tomoyo looks at the latter with hopeful eyes, as citizens behold what is being asked of them.

Yang Xiao Long has posed:
    Yang braces again, skidding back from the impact of that spiralling flame cannon. Her Aura flickers faintly, the golden glow surrounding her crackling like electricity for a few moments, a nasty burn showing on her midriff where the flame broke through and burned through her outfit and some of her flesh. "These people are a minority! We're fighting for everyone else who want change, but aren't militant about it!" she snarls back, "I'm fighting for those people up there who just want to live their lives, not live in fear of these hooligans destroying their homes!"

    She gathers her legs and surges forwards, shedding wisps of golden light, trailing behind her as she surges forwards. She fires behind her, pushing more speed into her charge, then brings a haymaker over and down onto the Tin Soldier, even as the rebels hurl projectiles at her to try and distract and drive her off. She aims to close with the Persona user, even going so far as to try grappling with the Persona itself, even though it's been set on fire by Will!

Sanary Rondel has posed:
Sanary's axe shreds up part of the flooring as A2 deftly avoids her swing, and the healer gawks for a moment before bringing her shield up. Despite that hunk of metal between them, there's a heavy echoing thunk of metal on probably-also-metal as the healer braces herself against that kick, backing off to not lose her shield outright to that backfist follow up. The impact still reverberates through her arm while she stumbles back, but the dent in her shield is certainly more preferable to getting that fist in her face.

     "Holy f...! Whoa, whoa, hey. We get it, you don't like OMNI. But this... Er. This is getting kinda weird!" She calls out to A2 while staying back for a moment to gather her bearings and sort out just what's going on. Just what has this lady seen to get her so... This?! Considering the force behind her strikes before, going for the IEDs would be a big risk to both herself and Yuna.

     Weighing her options, the healer grimaces as she puts her axe back on her back, then makes a break for the IEDs that have been pointed out to her. If the healer can get there, she'll start on tearing the things down with her bare hand!

     It's probably for the best that she has no idea what an IED is.

Yuna Kagurazaka (385) has posed:
Yuna's Light Suit protects her from many things. Bullets, blades, beams, bludgeons, fire, lightning, ice, even the mortal vacuum of space - it was created to protect the Savior of Light, the Queen of Light's mortal champion, and among the others who've held that title, it's kept Yuna alive this long in spite of many opponents, many threats to her continued well-being.

It doesn't protect her against the laws of physics at their simplest and most brutal. When A2 punches Yuna in the gut, the Light Suit's protection only goes so far as to keep the metal knuckles from breaking through Yuna's skin or rupturing any internal organs, and even doing that much causes a flare as bright as a lightning bolt - but the force of the blow has to go *somewhere*, and it sends Yuna's petite frame hurtling into the air. If the ceiling weren't as incredibly high as it is, there would be a real chance of Yuna slamming *into* it, as if being hit twice - or three times, given that she'd then have to hit the *floor* afterwards.

Fortunately, even though the punch drives the wind straight out of Yuna's lungs, she manages to land atop a row of computer banks, and as soon as she gets her wind back, she jumps down into the aisle again, dismissing the Matrix Divider for the moment. Sanary's already been knocked flying - and further, has been tasked with tearing down some of the IEDs that the rebels are plastering all over the walls. The shield-axe healer may not know what they are; Yuna has a pretty good idea ....

But she has another problem, designated A2. And without Sanary's backup, Yuna's none too sanguine about her ability to take the gynoid in a straight fight ...

So instead, she tries to get behind A2 - and wrap her arms tightly around the gynoid's midsection. It's not a tackle, not a precursor to a throw, not even an attempt to pin - A2's arms are likely free, Yuna didn't even *try* to pin them.

It's just a hug ... and Yuna tries to start singing along with the song that Tomoyo's transmitting across the city. She knows the lyrics, she's studied the melody, and she's quite deliberate about trying to sing practically right into A2's ear. If the idol singer's voice isn't quite as sweet as usual, chalk it up to a combination of 'got the wind punched out of her a moment ago' mixed with a copious amount of adrenaline ...

Staren has posed:
    "I'm fighting for the people who will be hurt if this city descends into anarchy! The people who have a right to the freedom to live a peaceful life!" Staren shouts back to August.

    Tomoyo's video comes on, claiming to accept the consequences for breaking the law. "Speak for yourself." Staren doesn't look happy about that.

    And honestly, he's not so sure about the presentation. The video is simply asking them to sing. Does singing because they were asked to prove anything? Some people will do a lot of things if asked, like rise up and murder their neighbors.

    Oh well, it doesn't matter now. Either OMNI will change the laws before it's destroyed -- Staren's pretty sure he saw some rebels placing explosives on servers -- or it won't. It would've been better to get this all done peacefully and allow OMNI to continue contributing, but... it would still be far better to have the laws rescinded before the city's people have to learn to do without OMNI, than for the rebellion to become a war in the streets at the same time.

August Kohler has posed:
"Are they, though? How many people are too afraid to act? How many people are unwilling to act? How many people are scared of this goddamn machine?" August shouts back at Yang, as he speaks again. "And how much of this is biased by your own damn world?" And then, he replies to Will, as the Tin Soldier is set aflame, August dropping to his knees in pain, but continuing to speak regardless. "HRRRG! T-those people aren't standing up for themselves, are they? They're refusing to fight, refusing to pick up their damn heads. These rebels are trying to fight for what they want! They're trying to make a change, and it doesn't matter how dangerous it is! This is their /expression/!"

Yang charges forward, slamming into and grappling the Tin Soldier. There's more pantomimed screams, but slowly, August is actually /forcing himself up/, as the Tin Soldier tries to engulf Yang in the fire via contact, wrapping its own arms around her for several moments before trying to force out of the grapple. A wise eye might notice August glancing around the room during this, as eventually, the Tin Soldier collapses to the ground.

And then, August forces himself up, leaning against a wall briefly. "I'm destroying OMNI. I'm bringing these people's dreams true. And you can't change my mind. You can't stop me from expressing my freedom. Here's my trump card." The Tin Soldier rises, beginning to ignite another fire...

And then August quickly pulls something out of his bag, before tossing the backpack at the largest cluster of IEDs he can see. He's aiming to take down as much as he can in a single strike, as he lifts up a detonator. "I call it rebellion." Click. Boom. The fire is blasted straight out at Will, in an attempt to stop him from immediately shooting down the bag. "Sorry about this."

A2 (1108) has posed:
    "Shut the fuck up." A2 shoots back at Sanary. "You don't have any idea what you're talking about." Caught between the two of them, she holds a tense, unrecognizable martial arts stance, glancing between Yuna, Sanary, her sword, and the rebels doing their best to swarm the room, getting a good look around. When Sanary makes a break for the IEDs, though, she is the first recipient of A2's real attention, thrusting her hand out toward her. "Oh no you don't asshole!"

    Her discarded sword whips itself off the floor, and comes spinning at Sanary from the side, rings of gold, grey and black light around its hilt. Tracking the motions of A2's fingers, it slashes across her front, wheeling around to carve across her back on a second pass, before zipping backwards and snapping into its owner's hand. A2 lunges after Sanary-

    Only to get caught from behind by Yuna, after she had taken her eyes off her. The attacker model freezes, just for a moment, when she can't register what she's actually being hit with, struggling to figure out what Yuna has arms around her. Her silver hair tosses over her shoulder as she stares down at Yuna in incredulity, shocked beyond words. Yuna even starts /singing/.

    A2 clutches her head again at a fresh wave of disorientation, staggering in Yuna's grasp. "Just . . . just . . . god dammit I-" She screws her fist against her eye, struggling to hold her breath, before gasping out, in a tone that is briefly bereft of rage, and instead full of deep, unbearable anguish:

    "Oh god . . . Aster . . . Erica . . . Daisy . . . I'm sorry. No.4 I'm so sorry I-"

    Then her voice revs back up to a loud and furious roar, and she whips her arm back to violently strike Yuna in the head with the hardened butt of her sword. "Just DROP DEAD! DIE AND GO TO HELL!" There is something very clearly and very seriously wrong with her, but it doesn't stop her from trying to hit Yuna hard enough to crack her skull. "No.21 just- August! Do it already!" She yells.

Yang Xiao Long has posed:
    Yang grunts, the flames engulfing her body as she tries to squeeze the 'life' out of the Persona, using all the enhanced strength she's gathered so far. Her aura starts to fade, electric crackles coursing over her skin as the protective 'film' starts to wan and break down.

    It's at that point, just before the barrier fails, that the Tin Man blasts her clear, smacking her away to pitch along the ground. She lays there for a few moments, before forcing herself back to her feet, body giving off smoke, her exposed skin an angry red, her outfit burnt at the edges and outright on FIRE on that purple sash... this doesn't last long as she literally explodes again, bellowing out a berserk roar of pure fury. Her eyes are solid, burning red coals now... and they settle on one thing, the first thing she spots on getting back to her feet.

    D-BASE.

    He would feel the full brunt of that madly furious glare, and the wall of kinetic force as the Awakened Berserker bullrushes the Rebel leader. He's not going to get away this time.. even if she has to mow through a bunch of rebels to get to him.

William Pauwel has posed:
    "How many ain't scared!? How many people think it's just a pain, but don't think it needs to DIE for the world to change!? Have you ever thought that maybe the fact that neither of us know the answer IS IN FACT THE BIGGEST PROBLEM HERE!?" Will shouts back as the music begins to play. "This ain't doing anythin' but provin' OMNI's point for it-- what kind of world will this make? Is it one that will even have the luxury for people to BE artists!?"

But then August... Does something foolish.

So very, very foolish.

"That--" Will's eyes go wide. From what August was saying, there's only one thing that could possibly be in that bag. He has no more than a split second to respond before the flames come. The Tin Soldier unleashes its payload, and Will's world turns into one of smoke and fire and pain.

But if he doesn't do something--

He can deal with any pain, any suffering, but the kind that comes from the inside. Will grits his teeth, squints his eyes and turns and fires...

A grappling hook snakes out from the flame. Will breaks into a run. August can /see/ that hook, he knows it. He sees it... going right for his explosives.

A fraction of a second passes. The hook retracts, bag in tow.

...And then comes the explosion.

August would have a second to react to what just happened before /something/ comes screaming out of the heart of the explosion, its teeth grit tight, one eye swollen shut with the other only barely reflecting consciousness in its milky, bloodshot surface.

Will pulls the trigger. He rockets forward on an impulse of raw kinetic force and the pure power unfolding from that explosion...

...And /headbutts August/ right in the face.

Tomoyo Daidouji has posed:
The silence of the people out in the streets is heavy. What is being asked of them goes against everything they knew. The concert was one thing; it took place beyond the city limits, so the laws don't apply. But now they are being asked to express themselves by a self-admitted criminal who broke in to OMNI's home. Being asked to flagrantly defy the laws that keep them safe.

    And then, some do.

    It's mostly concert attendees at first. The human mind is an instrument of creation, and letting it go without is like leaven soil barren and arid. The music of Yang and Yuna was like soothing rains to their parched minds, and now they let it bloom. The song begins to spread through the streets like rain clouds. Soon, everyone is being watered, and they begin to sing too.

    A2 was feeling secure in finding 500 people who agree with her. But there are 500,000 people outside who disagree, and are willing to break the law in their own way to refute her and those 500 with her. And that number begins to grow, even as city security begins to roll up. Some of them even defy orders, shedding helmets to sing with the crowds.

    "It's working..." Tomoyo whispers, wiping away some tears of relief from her eyes. Only now does she address the shouting crowd. "You say that the people are too afraid to act," she shouts to August. "Look at them. Singing in flagrant defiance of the law, to prove that they can be harmonious. Even as the police arrive, they stay and sing. They're expressing themselves, and they don't run and hide when it gets them in trouble. Can you say the same of your allies?"

    But August is likely too busy fighting Will to hear her words. The explosion is set off, and even in spite of Sanary's efforts to disarm the IEDs, it's not enough. D-BASE sees August's signal and also detonates the ones he had set up. The combination sets of all the others, causing a ring of explosions to spread around the servers, potetially hitting the healer also! The holographic screens all flicker and die out as the broadcast is stopped.

    Unfortunately for D-BASE, he was so focussed on that, he doesn't notice Yang until she's right on top of him, a crowd of his fellow rebels flying apart in her wake. For the first time, that smug smirk vanishes from his face as the Huntress bears down on her.

    As all this happens, OMNI speaks. "INTERESTING. VERY INTERESTING. HUMANS COMING TOGETHER IN THE FACE OF CONFLICT. ACTING AS ONE HARMONIOUS UNIT, EVEN IN THE FACE OF CLEAR AND PRESENT CONSEQUENCE. PERHAPS I WAS WRONG. PERHAPS HUMANS NEED CONFLICT, AND ART IS A MEANS OF CREATING AND SHARING IT WITHOUT DIRECT VIOLENCE. I BELIEVE THAT THIS IS EVIDENCE OF SUFFICENT MERIT TO RESCIND MY STATEMENTS ON SELF-EXPRESSION."

    Tomoyo looks stunned. It looks like she got what she wanted... but the rebels have soured the message, made it something totally different. The AI addresses Staren's question as she looks on. "ANYTHING I DECIDE IS BACKED UP AND SENT TO EVERY COUNCIL MEMBER. THIS DECISION IS SET IN STONE."

Sanary Rondel has posed:
"Oh, I totally know what's going on. You're a friggin' psycho!" Sanary calls back at A2 as she keeps making that mad dash for the IEDs. It's... Not a particularly fast dash compared to the other Elites in the area, but it's still a dash nonetheless! She glances back every now and then, but with A2 so far away and Yuna getting closer, surely there's no way the android with a sword can reach her from there!

     And then Sanary gets two big problems to deal with. She can very distinctly feel something sword-like carving /around/ her, and she lets out a howl of pain while staggering away from the removed IED in front of her. "The hell... Was that?!" The healer braces herself on her knee and her shield as she focuses her healing magic on the bleeding gash around her midsection.

     And then things get worse. It turns out IEDs are explosives! Unluckily for Sanary, she learns this the hard way as the IEDs she had just torn down gets caught in the chain of explosions, blowing up right behind her!

     Of course, her awful shitty luck doesn't quite stop there. The explosion blows the healer forward, and she's thrown right into the waiting arms or side of a certain blonde berserker! Of course, being that Sanary's not exactly the lightest human around AND she's got her shield on her, this may just end up giving D-BASE the chance he needs to not get his head pulped!

Yang Xiao Long has posed:
    Yang's face isn't triumphant, it's not gloating or even showing any emotion other than rage.

    Yang's ratcheting her arm back, the mechanism in Ember Celica racking a fresh shell into the chamber, but as she brings that fist down to smash into D-BASE's face... she gets hit by the Sanary Missile, knocked away and discharging the shell into the ground beside the fallen rebel leader's head, probably causing some nasty shrapnel and proximity burns from the shell burst, but very much not face-mulched.

    Sanary has a problem now though. As Yang recovers from the impact, she rolls up, and pitches the healer off of her with the momentum, kipping up in a capoeira-style move, which lets her bring her fists into play on Sanary's shield, her face a contorted mask of bestial fury... though it seems she's out of ammunition, no explosions pumping with each punch, but each one empowered by her Semblance. Those of keen eye, would notice that the protective 'skin' around Yang's body is now gone. Not even a flicker of that yellow 'electricity' remains. She's completely vulnerable.

Staren has posed:
    Staren covers his face with his arms as explosions go off everywhere -- His forcefield flickers into existance to deflect debris. Those who've seen him in combat can see this forcefield is a fraction of the normal thickness if they look closely. Well, OMNI won't be functioning at full capacity for awhile, that's for sure...

    But somehow, it worked! The message is, perhaps, not as peaceful as it could have been, but Staren's more worried about the people than OMNI. "You've told them, right? If not, can you give us something as proof to take to the council?"

    Staren looks warily at the oncoming rebels. "Will you step down?" He's still adressing OMNI. "Blindly following a machine's orders... You made one mistake that hurt them all, and you could make another. If you survive today, will you take an advisory or support role rather than one of authority?"

    He doesn't think A2 or August will stop, but... He's come this far...

Yuna Kagurazaka (385) has posed:
Trying to hug somebody until they snap out of it comes with no shortage of risks - again, Yuna's sanity and sense of reason have been actively questioned, by friend and foe alike, but her methods tend to make *some* impact. And for a moment, she thinks she might be making progress at dragging A2 out of her battle fury.

Then the hilt of A2's sword hammers into the side of Yuna's noggin; that defensive aura flares up again, but there's enough sheer force behind the strike to stun the blonde, her grip loosening despite herself. Also, it HURTS to get hit like that, and the only reason Yuna didn't cry out in pain when she got gutpunched was that she didn't have any air left in her lungs at the time.

"OWWWWW!!!"

This time? Plenty of air - and Yuna staggers away, her song interrupted along with the hug.

Things are going to pieces fast all of a sudden - Yuna is just barely aware enough of 'everything' going on around her that she manages to slur out, "Shugoseiheki - !" And her kite shield materializes, strapped to her left forearm. She wastes no time in bracing its lower corner against the floor, propping herself up. She'll probably regain her equilibrium and be able to dive back into action again shortly ... but at the moment, she's vulnerable. Maybe not 'helpless' in the strictest sense, but dangerously exposed, Wall of the Guardian Star notwithstanding.

August Kohler has posed:
Instead of the bomb detonating where he wants it to, Will grapples it. As soon as he does, August's eyes widen, as he reaches out a hand in vain. "YOU FUCKING MORON-". The explosion goes off. August starts to move forward...when Will fires the Solano, slamming headfirst into August's face. The collision sends August flying back into the wall, his Persona desummoning, and him in a heap near Will.

But August doesn't go unconscious. He tries to drag himself over to Will, checking if his friend is alive. Forcing himself against the wall, August glances at the room as everything explodes, and then sees Yang about to /execute/ D-BASE. Sanary manages to pull Yang off accidentally, and August begins hobbling, falling over at one point before forcing himself to keep moving, lifting D-BASE over his shoulder. "Shit. A2, we need to bug out."

The redhead unsteadily tries to get D-BASE to safety, but even as he gets the other young man to their extraction point, he stops for A2. He's not leaving her behind.

William Pauwel has posed:
Will is...

Well, he looks pretty crispy, August.

But it looks like he's also breathing. Sort of.

A2 (1108) has posed:
    A2 steps out of Yuna's slackening arms as soon as she recoils in pain, renewing her focus on Sanary, doggedly pulling the explosives off the wall despite her wound. Looking anxiously to August, however, A2 is rewarded by the explosive blowing up in Sanary's face, and catapulting her into Yang. It being a coincidence doesn't enter her head. 'Nice one.' she thinks silently to herself. 'You always were good at precise mathematical stuff and thinking clearly in combat. Those landmines-'

    It takes her a second to realize how badly her memory files are leaking. Ever since she had seen the server room, far too much processing power had suddenly gone to retrieving them, and watching Yuna stagger up from the floor, A2 is stunned by how badly her memory retrieval had fragmented under pressure, physically trembling with how overpowered she is by the horrible feelings associated with another server complex much like this one. At no point does she realize humans have a word for this.

    Instead, she can only stare disbelievingly at the computer that declares its control irrelevant. Her expression is just as stunned as she is mentally, hearing the words in her aural sensors, but not feeling them sink in. Why the hell would a machine care about expression? Why would a machine allow human conflict? Numbly, she hears August in the distance, telling her to extract. It's his voice, and his voice alone, not garbled by half-remembered orders. Her sword hand slackens, and the point dips by a few degrees. The machine surrendered.

    Perfect chance.

    A2 ignores August. She ignores the plight of D-Base. She ignores the fleeing rebels. The concrete cracks, and she becomes a flying blur, leaping high over the server banks, arcing down on the main console; aimed to plummet down on the console in front of Staren and ram her sword up to the hilt into it, before discharging her Type-4O's full energy charge into the connective cabling.

    The rebels had gotten what they wanted. Inspiration Trust had gotten what they wanted, she's alone in this, once again, and honestly, A2 is alright with that. Even if it takes executing OMNI in cold blood, even if it makes people hate her, the machine has to die. If she doesn't, why did she live?

Sanary Rondel has posed:
This is proving to be a very terrible day for Sanary. Individually, she probably could have handled nearly getting cut in half, immolated, and her face beaten in on separate days. Having all three things happen in rapid succession, though, is much more difficult than she'd like to admit.

     "Ggh... D-dangit, Yang... The hell're you doin'?!" She can barely even keep her shield up against that assault in her still-bleeding state, more or less stuck swinging her free fist wildly at Yang in the hopes that the Huntress stops before the shield or her arm give out. "The crazy lady's... Over there!" She manages to spit out between getting punched in the face and sides, struggling to maintain consciousness.

Tomoyo Daidouji has posed:
    By this point, most of the 500 that managed to get in are lying prone. A lot of them got caught up in the explosions and now lay on the ground, wounded. D-BASE immediately makes his way over to August and wriggles out with him, eyes still wide with the fear that only near-certain death can bring.

    Tomoyo looks around at it all with her eyes wide. Yang in a berserk state, Sanary taking the brunt of it, Yuna momentarily out of action. She starts to step forward, wanting to help how she can. "Start checking the wounded," she says to Staren as she begins carefully approaching Yang, aiming to get her to calm down.

    But then she notices A2 is not fleeing. She is, in fact, approaching the core.

    Immediately, the tailor runs to interpose herself between the android and OMNI, arms spread and palms empty. "Please don't," she begs. "I don't know what happened to you. From what you were saying, it sounds like you lost a lot of people important to you. But please don't take it out on this world. We've made progress, OMNI is learning. But if you smash it, you're just robbing everyone of something that makes their lives better. OMNI looks out for everyone, every day. They want to keep humans safe and secure in their lives. Isn't that noble? Isn't that an existence that should be allowed?"

    The only resistance she offers is words. There's nothing she could do to actually stop A2.

Yang Xiao Long has posed:
    Yang continues to pummel on Sanary's shield... but her knuckles are starting to bleed without her Aura to buffer the enhanced strength. That strength is also starting to ebb, and a good solid WHACK from one of those flailing punches from Sanary knocks the blonde sprawling, a swelling welt coming up around her eye where the fist caught her. She groans weakly, rolling onto her side as her eyes slowly drain to lilac again... but she doesn't rise.

    Yang is out of the fight.

Staren has posed:
    Wow there sure are a lot of hurt rebels here. They really were moved to risk hurting themselves, just to be free of OMNI.

    He nods slightly as OMNI confirms that the council will know the law is rescinded. But when it doesn't step down...

    As others argue about how human it isn't, Staren comments, "Well... Even with doom approaching, you take a stand for what you believe in, knowing it is the non-optimal course of action. I suppose time will tell who, exactly, your martyrdom will inspire." His eyes are wet... he can't help feeling sad, but OMNI, whatever it is, isn't worth their lives.

    Staren puts away the pistol and tries to grab Tomoyo's arms and pull her away, calmly but firmly. "August's right. It fucked up. We can't save everything... You've done plenty for the people of this city, and there are plenty of people you'll still help in the future."

A2 (1108) has posed:
    Finally, A2 is given pause by the most unlikely thing in the room. Tomoyo Daidouji, tiny, defenseless, and brave enough to put herself in the way to protect OMNI.

    Brave and stupid, to defend a machine. Young. Naive. Idealistic. A2 can distantly, hazily remember, back when she had feelings like those. Back when fighting was her least favourite thing in the world. When she thought death was too sad. Something about the way Tomoyo talks reminds her of that. It brings to mind a snatch of a memory of heartache, from a heart she never had. It pisses her off. Making her hesitate and feel uncomfortable like this. 'Goddamn, stupid kid. She can only believe these things because she's too young to know better'.

    "Stop humanizing it. It's a machine. A tool. It doesn't have feelings or a soul. It doesn't have a right to live. It's a loathsome piece of shit I feel sick looking at, and it'll screw you as soon as the numbers add up again in the future. I won't rest until it, and everything like it is in pieces." Her voice is steadier, without the churning rage of earlier, but it steadily dips into a tense, trembling, anguished whisper. "I don't care about any of that anymore. This is something I have to do. For them."

    A2 reaches out to grab Tomoyo by the dress collar and tosses her out of the way. Not far or high. Enough to shove her into Staren's arms, or just dump her on the ground if he can't catch her. She takes two steps past the catboy scientist, and then stops, audibly struggling with her words.

    "I'll let you off this time. Once. You're not /completely/ stupid." she begrudgingly admits.

    And then, with a cathartic howl of vengeance, she finally drives her sword into OMNI's control center, pulling the trigger on her Type-4O with a resounding click. A2 spares no thought for what will happen after; for who's going to clean up this mess, and how the people will cope. They'd come together for a rousing song, they can come together again. She doesn't worry about them. She doesn't think about Tomoyo's feelings, or those of her fellow Watchmen. All she feels is hollow satisfaction as the incredible voltage courses through the computer's systems, and faint nostalgia at the acrid stench of combusting plastic and melting metal.

Sanary Rondel has posed:
Sanary groans painfully as Yang finally drops off of her, resting her head back on the floor behind her to try and work some of the concussion out. Sadly, lying there and just staring at Tomoyo try to stand between A2 and OMNI isn't really helping with that, so the healer sits up...

     ... And falls right back over. She's not in any shape to be getting up quite that fast, unfortunately. "Dammit... Rrgh. You're really dead set on... Breaking this thing, huh? Well... If you're sure, and if you're ready for whatever happens because of it, fine." She throws up an arm in a vague 'WHATEVER' gesture, then winces because that was the arm holding the shield Yang had pummeled the hell out of.

     And so the healer does what she's best at! Besides wrangling pigs, anyway. She haphazardly rolls over to nudge the brawler, then starts focusing healing magic around the two. It's the best she can manage for now, but at least it'll help stem the blood loss and maybe even take some of the edge off all their assorted injuries.

August Kohler has posed:
As they debate, August keeps himself up with D-BASE, but hasn't entirely left. He waits, getting more and more frustrated every word of bile he spews about the machine, until finally, A2 kills it. The redhead shouts to her, starting to move towards the core. "A2! We're bugging out, let's go. Mission accomplished...good work." His voice is ragged and burnt. He couldn't fight another moment even if he wanted to.

Yang Xiao Long has posed:
    Yang growls into her throatmic, how it survived the Berserker mode is beyond even the (former) processing power of OMNI... but she looks up at Sanary... apology written over her face. "Heh... sorry about that..." she knows she went berserk, and with the healer's proximity, she can piece together what might have happened, but everything was a red haze. "Didn't do too much... nnngh, damage, did I?" she asks, remaining on the ground, even with her goading and cajoling at A2 and August over the radio.

Tomoyo Daidouji has posed:
    Tomoyo speaks, her words heard over the radio. She speaks of OMNI like it were a person, flawed and deserving of second chances when it makes mistakes. It's a position deeply unsuited for the situation, where the opposition is convinced that OMNI is a faulty machine, something that needs to be scrapped, replaced.

    And unfortunately, one of the only people in the room still standing agrees on that point.

    "Staren! Let go of me!" Tomoyo shouts as the catboy pulls her out of A2's path, only for them both to get shoved aside. She watches on in horror as A2 plunges her blade into the central core and pumps the trigger, over and over again to smite the AI with misplaced intentions.

    "SO, THIS IS HOW IT ENDS," it intones. "I'M SORRY I-I-I COULD NNNNNNNOT BE WHAT You wanted me t-t-t-t-t-ooooo beeeeeeeeee..."

    The core smokes as small flames spring up within it. Tomoyo sobs quietly as OMNI shuts down due to fatal hardware damage.

William Pauwel has posed:
Something clatters against the side of the broken machine.

It stinks. It smells of smoldering flesh, fat burning like the wax of a burning candle, of flesh fused to fabric and charred almost beyond recognition.

And it's... Handling a set of tools.

And seems to have shoved a glowing instrument into the side of the console.

"It's a broken machine," the burning, smoldering mass wheezes as it pries open a panel. "...What is broke can be fixed."

Will seems... Delirious, at best.

But he's also not moving from this spot unless he's forced.

Sanary Rondel has posed:
"Eh, don't worry about it. We'll... Call it even for the other times." Sanary jokes with another pained cough, straining to not show too much pain. She's got a rep to maintain, after all, even if there's probably quite a few things going wrong inside her right about now.

     She'll manage. After focusing that healing magic on herself and Yang for a little longer, the pig farmer casts another look over at what's left of OMNI, Staren and Tomoyo seeming more rhethorically than physically injured or whatever that word is she can't quite remember, August and A2 bailing, and William being a crispy critter...

     Oh. Shit. That's not good. She groans while hauling herself over that-a-way, nearly tripping over a chunk of nothing in the process after misjudging a step, then settling down by him to get the healing energy flowing his way this time around! "I dunno what you're doing in there, but... I'll leave the complicated stuff to you. Just remember to bathe when you're done, alright?"

Yuna Kagurazaka (385) has posed:
Yuna is still regaining her equilibrium, bit by bit, practically one synapse at a time it feels like.

It's too slow. She can't get moving in time to stop A2, to protect Tomoyo, to even protect *OMNI* from A2 ...

She can't even watch, closing her eyes and bowing her head as she sees A2 wind up for that final, fatal blow. But closing her eyes doesn't close her *ears* - she hears the sword tear into metal and plastic, hears the reports as the Type-40 unleashes its destructive force, hears Tomoyo cry out in protest, hears OMNI's final, distorted words.

Behind the bulwark of her kite shield, Yuna sinks to her knees; if not for Shugoseiheki's position braced against the floor, she might collapse entirely.

Her head hurts. Her heart hurts more. They succeeded - the evidence of that is the song which spread across the city - but OMNI is destroyed.

She hurts too much to think.

She hurts almost too much to *feel*.

She doesn't move except for shuddering, unsteady gasps.

Staren has posed:
    When Tomoyo objects to being pulled away, Staren replies, "This is a pointless gesture. She could go through both of us easily, or around us just as easily. It refused to step down. I'd prefer convincing it to do so to destruction, but... With her here, we're out of time." He's proven correct as A2 shoves Tomoyo in to him -- he lets out a faint 'Oof' and stumbles back.

    He watches A2 destroy the machine, and lets go of Tomoyo. Finding tears running down his face, he wipes them away with a hand, then pulls his goggles over his eyes. OMNI's last words almost seem designed to pull on heartstrings; Staren reminds himself that it was not quite a person. Sorry it may be, but as things stand its continued existance /was/ a risk to the people of this city.

    He stares at the wreck for a moment, then looks at Tomoyo, then begins tending to the wounded -- providing healing potions and nanobandages to those who seem to be in the most danger without immediate medical attention. He doesn't have enough supplies to give something to everyone here, though.

A2 (1108) has posed:
    A2 leans slumped on the hilt of her sword for several moments, shoulders raised and chest rising and falling steadily with her deep, exhausted breathing. She wrenches it back out again with a flourish of sparks. 'Sorry I couldn't be what you wanted me to be.' What a load of crap'. "God dammit." she whispers aloud at the computer's obtuse passing.

    She looks slowly to Will, crawling up on the broken console, with a look of frustrated pity in her eyes. "Worry about yourself first. You look like you're going to drop dead already. Get some help, kid." The look of pity only intensifies when she lays eyes on Tomoyo, but she turns away without a word. She can't bear to talk to her. "Right with you." she says to August instead, stepping over the disoriented and unconscious rebels, grabbing D-Base along the way if she can, and moving out with the rest.