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No. 9     "HELLOOOOO- uh, TECHNO URBANIA! WE'LL BE HERE ALL NIGHT!"

    Some people were stealthy.

    Those people were smart.

    Those people also weren't Nine.

    The GOLEM-Style ANMC King Unit No. 9 is a bit of an odd Fed. Completely flippin nuts, ugly as sin, smells like, well, it's best not to say, and not the best in terms of the mental upstairs faculties, he's a fugly troglodytic mutated cyborg, thing, best neither seen nor heard. His screeching, bellowing voice grunts out as he tromphs into the middle of the quad near the factory, glancing around for people who want to keep him from stealing shit to turn people into mindless mutant cyborg drone things for his army, and all that stuff. "EY. Is this the right place? Google Multiverse is goin apeshit on m' fukkin phone over 'ere." Doop doop boop deep doop. And yes, he does have his back turned to the prospective combat area, playing with his fucking phone when there's probably Union around to kick his clunky cyborg heiny.

    And then WHOUP he jumps up on a car, which makes a low whimpering squeaky noise as his big big clunky boots squeak over the hood. There's the sound of cursing from inside. "HEY UNION!"

    A leap, to the next car, which makes a godawful noise. "HEY."

    And then over to another one, steadying himself on the roof- "WHO TH' HELL YOU GOTTA BLOW T' GET INNA FIGHT ROUND 'ERE??"
Xiao Li Yu      No. 9 is apparently not alone. From up in the sky, the golem is joined by a more human figure. Donning a black cheongsam and a white lab coat over it, the girl floats down from the air, stopping at a float just above ground level. She's in a seated position, fiddling with some sort of tablet device iin her hands as she lazily floats along after No. 9.

     "Are you here for the materials, or are you simply here to fight someone?" Xiao asked, arching a brow with a vaguely amused smile on her lips. "One would think that stealth would have been the most prudent approach, no?" Well, usually. But then again, how does an abomination like that do stealth?

     A careless shrug follows.

     "I guess it's not for everyone~" Clearly the scientist couldn't care any less if she tried. She was interested in cybernetics, of course. It would prove be useful to her research. But for now... Well, this was an amusing show.

     "Ah, but I suppose I /should/ get work done." With a dramatic sigh, she tucks her tablet into her sleeves, where it disappears, and then lands onto the ground softly. Folding both arms into her coat sleeves, the researcher just smiles a rather creepy, ominous smile, and takes steps forward, heading right for the factory heedless of any defences that might be set up.

     No. 9 can make a ruckus outside if he wanted. She was going to actually do the thing called liberating the premesis of it's goods, yes.
Ferham      Ferham was along with No. 9 (Not the Mighty kind, don't worry, this one won't brick your console... OR WILL HE!?) mainly to make sure there wasn't a bloodbath or the like. She was hovering around him a good 10 or feet above the ground, her high-heeled booted legs and feet hanging down below her while her long red wings fanned out along behind her. It made her sort of look like a mythical fairy, almost--if you discounted the red armored valkyrie elements. Sometimes she just liked flying leisurely like that! Sue her!

     Peering up at Xiao Li Yu in that cheongsam from up above, Ferham blinked her green eyes and had to smile. "Someone's glad to be giving a show," she shrugged a little, before looking back down at 9. She wasn't visibly armed, but then again, high-performance grade robot, she could do some damage if she wanted to. Beneath her and nearby 9, was Trance her 3-tailed reddish metallic fox robot support unit, popping in and out of vision as it saw it.
Taro     Nine is an expert in doing Very Nine-Like Things. Taro has made it a habit to factor his half-brother's expertise into any plan he suggests. This is already proving to be a good thing, since the Golem seems to be in rare form tonight.
    While the aforementioned Crazy Cyborg screechs, howls, and generally carries on, Taro glides in from above, his armored wings folding inward to land gently on the factory's peaked roof. Hopefully unnoticed due to the distraction on the ground below, or so that's what he hopes. While there are no proper doors from up here, well, that doesn't prevent him from improvising one of his own. With a snap-hiss of a beam sabre, the android slices a hole through the glass of a convenient skylight that overlooks the factory floor.
Toph Beifong     Here she thought it was going to be a nice and quiet evening to relax after being on the road for several weeks. But no, the multiverse proves her wrong, doesn't it?

    A certain young earthbending master was on her way home when she heard the report flicker in on her radio, warning her of the disturbances going on in Techno Urbania. Disturbances that nobody should ignore, not when there are people to protect and asses to kick. So with a sigh Toph had changed course, giving a quick report to her adoptive mother that she and dinner would be late.

    Perhaps the assaulting forces will hear her arrival before they see her, as a deep rumbling can be heard coming from the nearby streets. And with it, a cloud of dust that appears around the corner. When it lifts, a recognisable figure stands in its place. Although said figure is awfully... dirty. Sure, she might be wearing her usual green and yellow get up with a backpack flung across her back, but most of her seems to be covered in mud and dirt, as if she hasn't washed herself properly for several weeks. Her hair is matted, but Toph Beifong appears to be rather stern where she stands, clutching a large lacquered box to her chest with one arm, her free hand pointing straight at the ones who have decided to create a mess in Techno Urbania today!

    "What the CRUD do you dunderheads think you're doing?!" she demands in a loud and authoritative voice. Nope, stealth isn't her thing either it appears.
Nasrin     Some people are stealthy. Some people are smart, and there are plenty in this world who aren't Nine.

    One of them stands from her perch, atop a fire escape, she cants her head, bird-like as she draws herself to a stand, recognition flashing in her eyes. She gives a hiss, pulling up her small pack and throwing it over her shoulder, she hops to the side of the escape, swinging on the floor above her and leaping to grasp against a window sill, pulling the thin scarf up to hide her features as she turns and catches the sight of Taro, armored wings above flying over her head. Her eyes narrow as the android slices through a roof -- and Nasrin changes her trajectory.

    She lands, and rolls along the roof of the factory before she follows Taro, and as she runs, she withdraws her shortblade.

    Her eyes narrow at Taro, and she flexes her fingers slightly, regarding Taro with the only chance he'd get to back down.
Steve Rogers The answer to Nine's question - or at least part of it - does not come in words. Rather, it comes in the form of a fast-moving blunt object, a shape colored red, white, and blue as it flies through the air, ricocheting off the side of the King Golem's head and flying back to the man who threw it ...

And Captain America catches the flying shield with practiced ease, right hand clasping the edge before he slides his left forearm through the straps. "If you're desperate enough to wreak this much havoc," Cap calls out, "consider it my job to stop you! I didn't think you were the sort to just tear up a street for your own entertainment, though; what are you *really* after here?"

Toph's already made her presence known as well; Captain America just charges towards Nine, ready to fling his shield again if necessary - but also staying alert for other Confederates in the area. Ferham is plenty visible, and he's ready in case she tries anything, but both Taro and Xiao Li Yu have managed to avoid the Captain's attention thus far.
Sigrun Stem While Nine is apparently very good at making a ruckus, Sigrun is stealthy and smart by most accounts. She is most definitely not Nine. She takes advantage of the chaos to find herself a good spot in a nearby building, opening up a window and taking a semi-concealed location behind a closed curtain. The distance is much shorter than she prefers, but it'll do.

She takes our her bow, nocks an arrow and takes in the situation to get an overview of who's who, and she finds her mark, a technological adversary, unfamiliar to her, but not something she necessarily fears. Just something she cannot quite anticipate the capabilities of.

She takes no longer than is strictly necessary to aim her shot, briefly runes light up in front of her bow, and when the arrow is loosed, the magic is captured by it. The arrow shrinks and speeds up, like a tiny dart nearing the speed of sound by the time it goes to be twice its normal size, the air crackling like thunder as it breaks the air a fraction before the expected point of impact.
Alexis Maaka     The company has its own form of defense today. Here is Alexis Maaka and Kotone Yamakawa, currently here doing security and discussing business with some of the suits respectively. Maaka's primarily muscle for Kotone, but she doesn't exactly feel right sitting out a possible scrap with Fed Elites. "We're gonna have to cut this short. Kotone, sit tight with the others unless I call for you. Hopefully this won't be long." She says, before excusing herself.

    She draws a Tavor X95 from under her coat, the bulpup chambered in .300 BLK and fitted with a reflex optic among other doodads. As she heads outside, Maaka seeks a high spot as she notices a target in the sky. Looks like Xiao's the best for Maaka to shoot at first, so the cyborg takes that chance.

    The Tavor will hang across Maaka's back as the cyborg draws a .338 sniper rifle from her inventory, the Matter Manipulator giving her an extra weapon to work with just in time for her to sight down Xiao. Breathing in, Maaka takes the shot upon emptying her lungs on the exhale, hoping the scope's been tuned right.
Kotone Yamakawa Kotone had been help ing her cousin who was honstly more like a sister to her out with business given how bad things had got for her cousin? Kotone had been heling out and she'd been here to talk to the company that's being raided about some business so tht had been why she'd come here but things were changing given what just happened.

"Hey I'm not about to sit around with something like this! You keep forgetting I am combat grade."

She looks a bit unhappy about this but she is getting up to follow after Maaka.
No. 9     The ugly golem looks offended, wrinkling his somewhat lacking almost skulllike nose. "Whaaat? Naw, iffn I wus out fer a scrap I wouldna come out t' a place like this- th' place is fuckin depressin, look at it. I'd pick a park whar there's sum hot titty ladies doin tai chi r' sum shit." A hand idly waved at Xiao. "Naw, stealth dun work fer me. I dun it a time r' two but then I get distracted n' shit n'... it jest dun work out." But he's talking to her back, so as she moves away he turns, the squeaking on top of the car just, awful.

    HE IS THE DISTRACTION. Totally.

    A pause. A turn. slowly. Eyes wide. The face screws up, eyes narrowing, teeth baring. "CRUD?" A sputter. "Who in the FUCK uses /CRUD/ as an insult?? You use FUCK, SHIT, COCKSUCKER MOTHERFUCKER /SOMETHING/ but not -CRU-" *CRUNCH*

    There's a WHOUM-CRNCH as the Golem windmills, losing his balance and falls backwards off the car, landing on his back with a heavy impact, wincing and hissing as he lies, momentarily stunned, hand going to his face. "What the cock..." and a huff and a grunt as he kips up, hitting his feet heavily and looking over the car at him. "Who the fucking shit fuck are you? Looks like Uncle Sam got real hammered n' ralphed all over ya. Whut're you a stripper? It'd take forever t' get all tha off, man." The car is kicked at the charging Cap with a skiff, scooting a few fast feet from an irritated, full body coiled kick and the big ugly green and yellow armored 'borg clumphs forward. It wouldn't go far, but if Cap is coming in it might be something painful to bounce off of.

    But then Maaka is shooting at Xiao and the Golem grunts, kicking up a brick and flicking it at Maaka. "EY. I saw that. NO. BAD! NO BISCUIT."
Xiao Li Yu      Xiao calmly walks forward, eyes directly ahead. She's no one special. Ignore her. That seems to be working out just fine. At least until a shot rings out at her. There is no sound of acknowledgement. She simply tilts her head aside, letting the bullet graze past at high speed before impacting the pavement.

     ".....Oh my."

     She follows the line of sight from which the shot came from, locking her gaze on Alexis. And with a silent smile, the scientist removed her arms from her sleeves, revealing a pair of hi-tech black gauntlets. Lines of energy thrummed through them, and in the palm, was some sort of core. An arm is raised, and energy builds up into the gauntlet's core, aimed right at Alexis.

     "It wouldn't do for me to go without saying hello back, now would it~?"

     Electricity crackled, and then a single beam of lightning burst out heading straight for the sniper. It wasn't at maximum output. Just a warning shot, really.

     It's around that moment that the researcher hears Toph's voice and turns to look in her direction. "Well, well, look what the cat dragged in~." No. 9 was dealing with Alexis now, so she turned away, giving the King Golem a nod. "Have fun with that now."

     And then she faced Toph fully. "Why, Professor Beifong. It's been such a long time. Out doing your usuaal blind heroism? How's that been going for you, hm?" Her arms are folded back into her sleeves, concealing her gauntlets once again. She made no move to strike at the earthbender.

     ...Yet.
Ferham      When the arrow is fired, Ferham doesn't immediately notice it--but as it grows in size and thus mass and inertia, the sound is what finally alerts her--turning as her eyes widen and the arrow grazes her side, causing her to cry out a bit in pain.

     "Ow--where..." Ferham's green eyes focused on the direction it came from, noticing the windows on the building it came from. This would be difficult to isolate the location of her attacker. She flew up and then dove down to get closer to the building and get some cover from her attacker, Trance yipping down below as it followed along, stealthing in the process. She'd then rise up and attempt to dive through one of the windows, trying to find whoever it was.
Alexis Maaka     CLUNK!

    "The fuck was tha-" Maaka's gun goes wide, and instead of hitting Xiao's head, the round seems to scratch Xiao lightly across her leg. It's just a scratch, really. Of course, the brick doesn't end up being the only thing that throws Maaka off, as Xiao returns the favor with a lightning bolt that strikes the AWM directly on the receiver.

    The rifle practically explodes in Maaka's hands, and she's knocked back a good few feet, leaving the cyborg pissed as she picks herself back up. "Okay...plan B." She growls, before she grabs her X95 and goes directly for Nine now, leaping across debris and totaled cars as she joins the fight on Cap's behalf. "This one's on me and Kotone, Cap!" She calls over, before firing a quick burst towards Nine.
Taro     The skylight glass that had been in the hole that Taro just cut falls freely to shatter on the machinery and floor below. His gaze then flicks up, as motion is caught out of the corner one eye, and he finds himself no longer alone on the rooftop. A flicker of recognition, and his ever-present frown momentarily deepens. Then, with another snap-hiss, his sword's energy blade dissipates. Is he actually conceding already?
    His quiet snort suggests otherwise. "I've no time to play with you today," is his answer. And with that, he steps forward, dropping through the hole feet-first. He has wings to gentle his landing - Nasrin no doubt has her own methods to follow.
Toph Beifong     When her language is criticised, Toph arches an eyebrow with a slightly surprised look on her face. "Would it make you happier if I called you a bloody monkey feathering butt trumpet instead?" Man, people have a thing for criticising the terms of her world at times.

    Then there's the sound of vibranium hitting his skull, and Toph raises her voice slightly. "Nice one, uncle Cap!"

    When Xiao talks directly to her, Toph's attention shifts to the other girl. A girl that is awfully respectful, and that usually doesn't bode well. Was this girl in one of her lectures at Alexander Academy...? Maybe that's where she heard the voice before, even if she can't recall the name.

    Either way, Toph shrugs off her backpack, letting the heavy thing hit the pavement behind her, and she sets the lacquered box aside as well before she steps forward, cracking her knuckles and rolling her shoulders. "Of course I'm doing that, it's my freaking job! And as usual it's going well, I was just on my way home when I heard that you maggot brains were up to no good. So... consider this an extracurricular activity in getting your ass kicked!" Toph announces before she assumes a defensive position, feet set apart and her arms held up in front of her, a clear invitation for Xiao to attack.
Nasrin     Yes. Nasrin does have her own methods.

    She pushes Weasel's Gift, and her speed is inhuman as she launches herself after him, the cloth of the red sash tied around to her middle flying out behind her, trailing like a blood-red tail of a comet as she follows Taro through the glass, and attempts to eliminate him quickly -- the blade she's holding seeks his middle, right through him as she attempts to assassinate him from the air -- or use him to soften her fall!
Steve Rogers And this is why Cap keeps his shield on his arm when he's not throwing it; he interposes his left arm (and the aforementioned shield) in front of him, so that the punted car slams into *it* first instead of directly into him. He could probably have weathered the impact without the shield, but not nearly as well as when he protects himself properly. And then he just scrambles up onto the car's roof, with little evidence of it being a particular effort to do so. "You're the one who needs to watch your language, Number Nine - and this isn't our first meeting, either!"

And with that, Captain America leaps from the car roof, right fist balled up and arm drawn back in preparation for a haymaker to the cyborg's jaw.
Sigrun Stem Sigrun notices her target approach, faster than she'd like. She dodges back and kicks over a table, nocking another arrow. This one's different from the last, it's got a mean hook and a thin rope of some kind of silvery silk attached to it. She shoots it at the wall, where it ends up being stuck.

Then, when Ferham crashes through the window she has the similarly hooked arrow with the other end of the rope prepared for it. She looses it quickly, aiming straight for Ferham, and as soon as it hits anything, the silvery rope shortens itself with tremendous force, making itself as short as it possibly can
Xiao Li Yu      Xiao tilted her head, and her smile widened. She could tell that Toph had no idea who she was, even if she may have sat in on her lectures now and then. Oh this is amusing. "An extracurricular activity?" She didn't move, and she let the earthbender drop her things and then get into a stance.

     "Well then. Do I get extra credit if I win~?" Not that she terribly needed it, no. But this was funny. "Right. Well, since you seem to be raring for a bout... it wouldn't do for me to just ignore you, would it?" She removed her arms from her sleeves, and did not dive forward to strike. No, she stayed right where she was, a good ten meters or so away, and raised one foot.

     "By the way, my name is Xiao Li Yu. And I do happen to be one of your students, yes." Without any further word, the scientist stomped the ground, causing a sudden shift below, and Toph, with her senses would feel the earth changing below her feet. Right before a pillar of ice burst up from under her feet. It wasn't pointed, but rather flat topped, and merely meant to launch.

     "Let's try this first~."
No. 9     Ow ow ow, shit shit shit shit- a wince, a hiss as the bullets dig and stay, nestling beneath metal and leathery, mutated flesh and lodging in the layers of his back as he turns, snarling a fierce grin at Cap- before hearing him talk.

    "Oh, RIGHT! I remember you-" CLONG-k.

    The Golem's head snaps to the side, hair in front of his fucking ugly face, spit spattering and blood (which flares orange and fizzles to dirty water) spraying-

    Before his hand snaps out, trying to clamp round Cap's wrist and, muscles tightening and shifting, pistons whistling as he tries to WHIP him at Maaka, snarling, "KISS my MANKY GONADS you Uncle Sam fellating motherfucker!"
Kotone Yamakawa Kotone Yamakawa wishes very badly she had her optic cameo right now but that's not going to work, she's not unharmed she never really is it would be foolish to be without a weapon but nothing she didn't have a permit fort really. She is however in the factory floor now opening up her wireless attempting to get into the local machinery if she can, she's got an idea, maybe there's some even finished full con bodies she might be able to make use of like a puppet master, but for now she's keeping behind cover.
Taro     It was an impressive maneuver, Taro must concede. And were he human, the blade could very well have landed a fatal strike. But instead the blade finds a mark not quite as deadly if still important, piercing through the armored casing of his armor's wing assembly between his shoulder blades. Electicity sparks as lines are cut, and the counter-grav generators that had been giving him lift dim as they suddenly lose power.
    heir landing is less than graceful, and shards of glass crunch under the android as he lands on the floor on forearm and knees. He does not stay there long, moving to get his feet back under him - and more importantly trying to get the Assassin off of him - and turning to face her again. In moving, he grabbed some of that glass in one of his hands, which he flings at Nasrin's face.
Ferham      Ferham manages to make it through the window, breaking it or not--her wings flaring out behind her--then she's struck by Sigrun's arrow with rope attached--getting the silvery rope wired around her which immediately begins to constrict as it shrinks! Egads. This... is quite the role reversal for Ferham, all things considered.

     "Hnnggh..." Ferham begins to freeze the silvery wire-rope until it becomes brittle enough for her to break free. "I don't like being sniped through a window," Ferham states matter of factly, looking up and narrowing her eyes in Sigrun's direction as her whip lashed out toward her! Ruh roh.
Toph Beifong     "You know I don't grade my classes, lily liver," Toph snorts. No, she isn't raring for a bout. She's interested in stopping these guys in messing with this place and prevent people from getting hurt. If it means getting hurt... then so be it. Toph is fairly certain she can hold her own, especially when there's stuff she can use all around.

    Xiao Li Yu? Huh, that name sounds like something that could come from her own world, doesn't it? If Xiao really is one of her students, then she should know just what Toph is able to do. But Toph isn't entirely sure of what her opponent is capable of, which is a slight handicap, isn't it? Not that she plants of letting this other girl get the upper hand! For now Toph waits, letting Xiao make the first move.

    The moment Toph senses the earth change below her feet, she's already advancing. Which ensures that the ice pillar causes Toph to slip, her eyes going wide as she's partially launched forward, partially falling by her own misstep and momentum. It's an undignified sight as a girl who prides herself on her balance... falls face first.

    The thud is loud, and for a second or two Toph doesn't move. Then she pushes herself up on all fours, a sour look on her face along with a red mark from where she hit her forehead. "You asked for it."

    The blind girl raises her foot, then kicks into the ground, causing an earthen plate to shoot up, intending to smack Xiao in the face unless she is quick enough to either move away or intercept it.
Steve Rogers For a moment, all other considerations - such as calling Nine out on his choice in vocabulary - are rendered moot by the worrisome fact that Captain America *is being swung around like a flail* by the hulking cyborg. Cap goes limp to try and soften any resulting impacts, but he still feels his ribs protest as he gets slammed sideways into Maaka, and a moment later, it's only the world that's spinning around, not the Captain himself.

On the plus side, he still has his shield and *that* didn't get slammed into Alexis - as far as he can tell - so it's not as bad as it might have been. Probably.

Rather than leaping back to the attack, after the star-spangled superhero gets back to his feet, he offers Alexis a hand in regaining *her* footing. "Sorry about that; you okay?" he asks, still catching his breath. "And give me a sec, we need a joint channel ..."

He exchanges words briefly with one of the Union's AI-equipped supercomputers, getting the necessary frequency and encryption set up, and keeping half an eye on Nine while so doing. Once that's done, he nods to Maaka, "You'll get the details momentarily."

*Then* he goes charging back into the fray once more, this time going low and trying to smash the edge of his shield into the insides of Nine's knees while (hopefully) sliding underneath him.
Nasrin     Nasrin rolls with the drops, hopping off Taro's back and shoulder rolling through the glass, coming up to the balls of her feet with one hand pressed against the ground, sword at the ready, though her eyes go wide when Taro comes at her with the glass. It slices along the side of her cheek as she draws backwards, hand-springing away, the red of her scarf getting darker and stained.

    It doesn't seem to phase her too much as she comes back at him, flicking her hand and throwing a spike of metal at him -- a throwing dagger to his neck.

    Seems like she's not inclined to play either.
Xiao Li Yu      "......Pffft-"

     The girl in the labcoat brings a hand to her mouth, covering it as a laugh is muffled. "Pfffthmhmhm! ...Phew, okay, that did not work as entirely intended, but the end result is all too amusing! Good show, Professor!" And she clapped her hands, giving Toph an applause.

     'Now you asked for it'

     Oops. She's mad now.

     "Eep-!"

     That earthen plate bursts up, and she stumbles back just in time for it smack her in the face. But not as hard as it would have otherwise. Ow. The researcher trips and falls back onto her behind with an 'Ow!', and rubs her back with a grumble.

     "Okay, okay, I suppose I should take you seriously." Xiao rolls back, and then launches onto her feet a short ways back. Her anklets light up with some sort of arcane energy, and she launches forward, getting into close range before letting loose with a flurry of punches from her gauntlets, crimson energy thrumming through them and kicking up flames in the wake of each swing.
Alexis Maaka     While the idea of fighting alongside Captain America isn't' a thing that Maaka's strongly against, the circumstances right now make things a bit more awkward than she'd like, and the Cyborg is knocked off-target again by something Nine does.

    This time, the BOW cyborg has thrown Cap at her, using him like a flail as the two get smashed against a car. Grunting against a van, Maaka staggers and grunts before she gives Steve a light grin. "You're lighter than you look." She says, accepting that hand and patting the Captain's cheek softly. "Now let's kick this guy's arse." She says, giving Nine a glare as she charges from the opposite flank.

    A two pronged assault will be perfect for this, and Maaka lets her rifle hang on the sling as she's given a golden opportunity to clobber Nine senseless. Her gloves spark with electricity, and she delivers a fierce uppercut to Nine's jaw when Cap strikes at his knees.
Sigrun Stem Sigrun's response to being attacked is immediate, runes glow in the air, lines form in between, and a forcefield forms to block the whip. Unfortunately, whips being what they are, the whip lashes around the edge of the shield and still hits the sharpshooter on the back, causing a pained frimace.

"If you don't like being sniped, maybe you shouldn't go to war." Sigrun says in a very calm voice, no emotion found within. Her mask obscures all facial features, helping with that.

During this quick exchange, Sigrun's bow nocks another arrow. As soon as it's nocked, Sigrun looses again, the wind guiding her arrow. It's fast though at this range, Sigrun isn't going to go for anything supersonic unless she has to.
Taro     It's no surprise that an Assassin would have such impressive aim, which would have been why he'd tried to blind her. Which appears to have not succeeded. The haft of the dagger thwangs with the impact, its point sunk just deeply enough through where jaw meets neck for it to remain. Taro blinks once at this, more in surprise than in outright pain. Not unlike the last time their paths crossed. Then...he closes his free hand around the knife's haft, freeing it with a tug. No blood, only a smattering of something sticky and violet. Then, he flips it over once, before sending it expertly tumbling though the air back at Nasrin.
Toph Beifong     "If you don't take me seriously, then you're going to regret it!" Toph responds to Xiao's comment as the scientist launches herself forward. Woah, she's quick!

    As she's briefly not touching the ground it's a bit hard for Toph to time it perfectly, and so the first strike hits Toph straight in the shoulder, though she quickly gathers her wits as she throws her hands up quickly in succession, raising earthen pillars in defense against the rapid attacks that are launched against her. The second strike grazes her, though it seems that Toph is quick and somehow able to guess where the attacks are coming from, even if her blind unseeing eyes are 'staring' straight ahead.

    It doesn't last however, as Toph suddenly jerks her head to the side... and an earthen pillar shoots out of the ground, aiming to knock Xiao aside into another earthen pillar.
No. 9     There are twofold problems with getting near Nine's face. One, the smell. Let's be honest. He's been away for a while, and wherever he was, he sort of, smells, even worse for it. It's... not, fun, being this close. The OTHER is that he can be a bit... bitey. As Maaka probably finds out, as she's punching at his face. She connects, of course, the Golem barking in pain and spitting a tooth out as his head snaps to the side- only to snap the OTHER way, lashing out at Maaka's wrist, trying to clamp down on it with a CROONCH. She'd have surprisingly white teeth in a snarling mouth, blood hissing as the biological component dies out of it, his eyes flicking to the side as Cap strikes low, the edge of the shield slamming into his knee, making him roar a muffled wail against her and jerk her down as he crashes down- maybe right on top of the sliding Captain America, knee-to-the-ribs-hand-to-the-chest style, possibly dragging a Maaka down with him and making for a big awkward we-failed-at-Twister style pile.
Ferham      "I'll show you war," Ferham growls at the masked and hooded woman, her whip slackening after she cracked it against the bow-wielding figure. When the next arrow hits her head on--the head of the arrow winds up sinking in a ways while the haft is immediately broken by the force of it--forcing the femmebot to pull it out by the stub lodged in her.

     "Ow! damnit," Ferham gets lower to the floor, her wings sliding behind her back as she puts a palm outward and sends a concentrated blast of frost and cold air at her.
Xiao Li Yu      "Yes, yes, Professor. I heard you."

     One strike lands, good. The other grazes, not good. Before she can go for a third, an earth pillar bursts out of the ground and strikes her in the side. "Weh-" And theeeeere she goes. Off off off, and then blam. Into another.

     She hits the ground, but quickly gathers her wits, rubbing her side and grumbling. "I guess you're not a professor for nothing after all." It was like fighting Professor DeSalle. ...Ugh. Well! Nothing to do but go all in and do it! The girl in the labcoat smiled and slammed her fists together, causing the energy to run through her gauntlets to change from crimson to azure.

     And then she dropped down and broke forward into a run, juking left and right, and once in range, she lashed out with not a punch, but a sweep kick, aiming to knock the Earthbender off of her feet in a freezing arc.
Alexis Maaka     Maaka sadly made a tactical error getting into punching range with Nine head-on, as she feels like an industrial strength bear trap is clamping down on her wrist, teeth puncturing iron clad skin and drawing blood. Maaka howls in pain as her right arm is bit down, and she draws a combat knife just as she and Cap make a fumbled twister pile with Nine on top of them both. "Get-THE FUCK OFF ME!" She snarls, pain and rage fueling her as she brings the knife home.

    Her blade is driven into Nine's neck, digging in deep and trying to get him to let go of her as she twists the blade inside, intent on causing as much damage as she can while in this position.
Nasrin     Nasrin's eyes go wide, but she's not quite fast enough to dodge the bullet -- err, knife -- this time. She does accept the knife back (via a strike to her shoulder. Her scarf masks the look of pain, and she gives a grunt as she straitens, and pulls the knife from her shoulder. Something grinds. SHe ignores it.

    And instead, seeks to get up close and personal with Taro.

    Her short blade whips out again, the finely honed metal slicing through the air as she draws it up, trying to slice across Taro's front!
Sigrun Stem Sigrun is hit by the frost, by the cold, right to her chest. She didn't see it coming, and there's the clear noise of a suppressed yelp of pain. The clothes make it hard to see what impact the cold has, and Sigrun seems to have no desire to make it any more obvious. "I'm a military sharpshooter who spent multiple years on active duty in a war zone. Trust me, I know what war is."

Sigrun's bow has anticipated which arrow she wanted next, this one is a wicked looking broadhead, starting sharp before flaring wide, with a strange curvature to it. Sigrun looses it quickly, once more the wind picks it up. This time, it spins, the curvature allowing the arrow to serve as a near-supersonic drill.
Steve Rogers There was a time when going for Nine's knees would not have worked that well - and there was a time further back than *that* when it would have worked *better*. Captain America scrambles out from underneath the King Golem's weight just before that knee can come down, and Nine manages to pin his shoulder briefly before the Captain wrenches free.

He never *did* get into Twister. (It was invented sometime while he was frozen in a glacier, anyway, and it had lost a lot of popularity before he thawed.)

And now Nine is in between him and Alexis, but he can see her digging her knife into the side of Nine's neck ... so before the cyborg can get to his feet, Cap leaps into the air, twisting around to deliver a spinning kick to the side of Nine's head *opposite* the knife. That should help weaken the cyborg further, hopefully.
Kotone Yamakawa Kotone Yamakawa has no idea who No. 9 is or what the alien humanoid is. She's totally wrong about what he is but who honestly knows? Kotone meanwhile is now keeping to cover as she manage to get into some od the factory floor's machinery and she's going to aim to turn it against Nine. A loading arm will whirr to live and the able with hook on the end coming speeding across the floow with kotone's attempt to catch him with the improvised weapon.
Taro      Either the wound to his neck to his throat is not so deep as to have affected his breathing, or he simply doesn't need to - either way, he still has a voice to speak. "Number Nine gives his regards, and asks that you kindly not stab him."
     The message is dutifully delivered, regardless of whether Nasrin has ever actually met the Golem or not. It's not like any Assassin ever gives their name. Thus delivering the message to one is as good as delivering it to any other.
    Taro's reflexes are swift, but not swift enough to stop Nasrin's blade from cutting across his chest. The armor catches the worst of it, a dark line sliced neatly through the plates into the substructure. Another snap-hiss of energy, but not from the gap - it's from his beam sabre. Its blade forms in mid-swing as he slashes at her from the side, an attempt to catch her before she can completely withdraw.
Toph Beifong     The blind earthbender looks serious where she stands, her face not pointed in Xiao's direction. But it should still be clear her primary focus is on the other girl. "I'm the greatest earthbender of all time, of course I know what I'm doing!" It's a claim she's stated many times.

    As Toph is unable to see the change in the colours dancing about the gauntlet her opponents, she's not prepared for the change of attack, though she is prepared that this might come from the ground when Xiao kicks. Taking a step backwards, Toph still doesn't avoid the cold strike as the kick strikes her arms, the cold biting into her skin and bones. A startled yell leaves Toph as she stumbles back, wincing from the pain unleashed on her arms. That... was no ordinary kick! An ordinary kick would have hurt, but she would still have been able to block it. Cold is something Toph isn't used to fighting, and the effect it has on living tissue is no laughing matter...

    So it's time to show Xiao something else that Toph has only shown briefly in her lessons at Alexander Academy. Something that she talked with Artyom about, a skill that some of Toph's opponents might have complained about.

    Toph raises her arms, but it's not in surrender. Behind her comes a creaking protest as a street lamp is torn apart into pieces of sheets, unwrapping from themselves. And then, with a simple forward motion of her arms, the sheets of metal fly towards Xiao, aiming to wrap themselves around her arms and legs.
No. 9     Bit of a mistake- as the knife bites in he bites down, eyes going wide and blood gushing over her hand- the knife slips and slides before it goes almost sideways and finally sunks home, slipping between the armored plates and punching deep and then it's nearly wrenched from her hand as his head whips back and forth like a ratting terrier, the movement causing him considerable pain given the whole blade-in-the-neck thing. Thankfully, though it's quite painful for Maaka at the end it DOES get him to /finally/ let her go, but as he falls down and away, his leg coils up, aiming a rising kick into Cap's solar plexus- only to get caught with a hook, in the back, and wrenched away from the two of them. To hang, like something out of a fucking children's adventure movie by his armor and part of his metal spine, by a hook, like a fucking derp.

    He swings forlornly for a moment, looking perturbed. And then the big fucking hand cannon comes out and he aims a few badly aimed shots at Kotone, not really hoping to hit with more than one or two. "I AINT A FUCKIN PRIZE LADY!"
Ferham      "Ahhh!" Ferham yowled as she felt the drilling bolt begin to bite into her armor, sparks and bits of metal flying up as she desperately tries to prise it free from her body, throwing it down as electricity can be seen from the hole--or rather, wound, that it created. She winces before regaining her composure, not happy with that.

     "You're looking a little... over-dressed," Ferham's green eyes scanned over the monster hunter calmly and the floor around her, before she raised her gloved hand and made a finger-gun motion at Sigrun.

     "Pow."

     There would be a strange glimmer in the air before seemingly all of Sigrun's clothing--her cloak, hood, ect--tear off her with audible cloth-rending noises, still leaving her decent of course--likely in bra and panties.

     Ferham's entire body begins to give off fog as she lowers the temperature around Sigrun just then--dramatically!
Alexis Maaka     Maaka's already gotten enough punishment today to her poor wrist. Growling in pain, she tries to free herself best she can, and by the the she IS freed, she falls to the ground of the factory and clutches her wounded wrist. It's hard to move her hand, the fingers are all stiff and the nerves are going numb. She doesn't lack for options, though, as she raises her left hand.

    The sleeve on her coat opens up, as does her forearm. She produces some sort of spike launcher from her wrist, and Maaka takes aim at Nine. "Cap, get clear!" She calls, before firing off a micro-explosive round to at Nine. She's only got so far before she can't hit anything with the Spiker, it's always been better for close-range takedowns.
Nasrin     THe beam saber catches her -- luckily, she's wearing /some/ armor underneath the shirt, but it's not enough to save her from all of the blow. There's the hiss and crackle of burning fabric, and Nasrin gives a soft growl, smelling her own flesh, feeling the burn. Her form gives a little shudder and she withdraws just a step to catch a breath before she presses the attack again, armed with the throwing knife and her own blade.

    Pushing forward, she holds her knife ready to deflect not the blade, but Taro's hand holding the blade as she strikes out with her main weapon.

    "Let him know I still feel bad about his coffee pot." she replies dryly, and in a hushed voice.

    Not like anyone but Nine would know what she's talking about.
Steve Rogers "With language like that, darn right you're a no-prize," Captain America (finally) scolds Nine, even as he recovers from getting kicked right in the solar plexus. His uniform also serves as body armor, which is probably why that big boot didn't knock the wind right out of his lungs, but it still hurt. A lot.

That's never been enough to stop Steve Rogers, though - not even BEFORE he became Captain America. He was always the one who kept getting right back up, who would never stay down even when it would have hurt less.

And in the eyes of that kid from Brooklyn, now grown up beyond his wildest dreams? King Golem No. 9, and the Confederates who fight beside him, are just bullies writ large.

Meanwhile, Kotone has started involving herself in the fight, and a hook under her control snares the cyborg and hauls him up off the ground; Cap actually winces a little at the sight, but the fact that Nine is shooting back at Kotone proves that this is far from enough to disable the cyborg. For now, Cap pulls his shield off his arm and flings it up at No. 9, trying to smash it across the arm that's shooting at Kotone - hopefully damaging the mechanism somewhat, but at least disrupting his aim, and maybe drawing some aggro back his way. He's well out of Alexis's way for her trick with the micro-explosive spike, too - although he has to shield his eyes from the explosion, *then* can catch the shield as it returns.
Sigrun Stem Sigrun doesn't seem to grasp quite where Ferham is going with that, until that happens, and for a moment, Sigrun instinctively believes that she finds herself in nothing but her undergarments. The woman, in her mid-twenties by the looks of it, instinctively blushes, though she knows better than to try to cover herself up.

The cold, though it hurts enough for the first signs of frostburn showing on her fingers and toes, gets to her to her senses. The passive analysis spells report no difference to the degree in which she is clothed. "Well, you sure fixed that, pervert. I guess I don't ''look'' overdressed any more." The emphasis on looking is deliberate, and Sigrun shows the mechanical woman she's fighting a cocky grin.

The sharpshooter's next arrow is glass-tipped, a layer of spongy material covering the shaft. Oil drops as it flies, but more importantly, upon impact the glass tip shatters and the spongy matter scatters, firmly aflame.

Sigrun tries to use the distraction to move out of the room and into the hallway, then hiding behind a potted plant.
Xiao Li Yu      The strike lands, and Xiao completes the turn, rising back up from her attack to convert into another one. But then... is Toph surrendering? Naw. No way. Toph doesn't just surrender! She's heard enough about the professor to know this! So then what's she doing?

     The answer became clear when suddenly scraps of metal fly forward towards her. "Eh? Wah!"

     CLANCK

     Metal is wrapped around her arms, but not her legs as she scrambles back. "Well, that's annoying!" She says quickly, not able to immediately break the material free on such short notice.

     But she didn't panic much more after a moment of thought. After all, this wasn't the only weapon she had. Toph would be sorely disappointed if she thought that was the case. She smiled and began to speak. "Phantom Weapon." Energy began to form in the air all around her, coalescing into multiple translucent blades. Not that such a sight meant anything for the sightless. But she could hear what came next.

     "Blizzaga~."

     Xiao's body became wreathed in frost, which traveled out, coating the phantasmal blades and turning them into floating weapons of pure ice, filling the template. "And now..." Tilting her head a bit, the girl spoke those simple words.

     "...Fire."

     At that, several frozen swords burst forward, curving through the air as they all came hurtling for the Earthbender.
Taro      Nine is being dog-piled and beaten down outside, yet his half-brother's concern is that he not get hurt. The concern is touching. Taro decides it best to not let on just how many times he's been stabbed already.
     The android moves to bring his beam sabre up to parry, but Nasrin's cleaver maneuver deprives him of that defense, and a second deep slash joins the first. Hie eyes narrow a bit, but it's more an expression of deepening focus than registered pain.
    A flick of the wrist drops one of his own blades into his other hand. Ceramic-composite rather than steel, but it serves the same function as hers. Again he moves forward as he expects her to withdraw, this time moving first with his right with a slash from the knife aimed at her midselction - but this is a feint, meant to distract her from the beam sabre in his left, aimed higher at her chest.
Kotone Yamakawa Kotone Yamakawa didn't have much luck in doing moe than pssing the larger cyborg off. She yelpos and attemps to hunker down but that doesn't do too much. The rounds blow through the cover she took and at least one burries itself deeply in her body she doesn't seem happy she's in pain but she's not done yet. She grits her teeth and tries to ignore the red fluid coming from the wounde in a mockery or is it a memory of the blood she once had.

Rather than using the crate again she's going to make use of one of the buiolding arms that has a welder and swing ioit about to try and zot him with the welder or is that burn?

"...They really did a third rate job on your Shell."

She's very happy Captain America is here, he's a symbol to her of what was once good about a now dead nation on her world. Nice to know somewhere out there the Americans kept it together right? R
Maaka being here is a very welcome thing but she's going to have to be smarter than she's being or Nine's going to wreck her. Even with the formidable allies she has.
Ferham      Trance's holographic shenanigans apparently are easy enough for Sigun to dispell, as Ferham finds her already unleashing a glass-tipped arrow in counter-attack--the bolt impacting with her shoulder and sending her thrown to the side as the thing actually /burns/ after it explodes against her, throwing hot glass and the spongy flammable material over her. As she tries to pat out the fire, Ferham has to douse herself in some cold air and mist herself, temporarily shrouding herself in fog.

     She then comes around from the side on Sigrun with her whip, trying to grab at her with the length of the glowing pink cable that makes up it's length.

     "I think you look better without the hood, dear," she attempts to wrap the girl up with her whip and squeeze.
Toph Beifong     The metal aimed for Xiao's legs strike the ground, and Toph narrows her eyes where she stands. And when Xiao speaks what is undoubtedly a command, the blind girl seems to listen intently. Sure, she can't see it since it's not connected to the ground and the blades aren't made of any earthen materials. But Blizzaga? Well, that sounds like something cold and unpleasant.

    It makes it a bit hard to avoid the attack, even if Toph is prepared for it the moment Xiao literally voices her attack. Immediately Toph kicks the ground, raising an earthen wall, but either it's not quick enough, or the blades are coming from the sides, which Toph did not anticipate. Some of the strikes graze her, but they still hurt and cut her considering she's not armored, and one of them hits her in the leg, causing her to stumble slightly with a pained cry.

    But even so, Toph grits her teeth, and she throws her arms out to the side, even as one of the cars that Nine demolished earlier seems to rattle before parts of it fly off, seemingly hitting Toph?! But rather than hurting her, the steel metal seems to instead wrap itself around the girl into a makeshift armour, leaving only her mouth visible as she rises. And said mouth is set in a stern line before the blind metalbender kicks off and rushes straight at Xiao, intending to ram her down!
No. 9     Fump indeed.

    The explosive hits, digs in, and explodes, leaving a loud resonating "SHIT!" from the cloud.

    As it clears, to be fair, Nine really is a big bully. His friendship with Nathan began with his shameless picking on the man, endless in his threats of violence and torture and he still threatens with the 'Fun Box' and less savoury assaults quite frequently on the radio. He's a loathesome troll and shameless monster; just the kinda person someone like ol' Stevie prolly can't /stand/.

    There's a wet metallic sort of sound and the sound of ripping as the shield slips into the cloud, and the Golem drops, looking... really, hurt, for a moment. Might be both the torn armor and the fact that there's a large wide bit of metal sort of, flapping, from his back. Beneath? Red. Just. Red. The glint of ribs, coated in metal. The glint of spine, coated in metal. The mesh of the interwoven titanium reinforcement flashing wetly from the wound, and the metal sort of just flopping there, like the plate of a trilobite's shell, ripped loose and hanging forlornly. He's sort of shaking, eyes wide, gun fallen somewhere and turns a bit, fumbling briefly- grips the metal, that still bore the faint denting where the hook had grabbed and dug into it- and with a howling wail- PULLS.

    The piece of his exospinal armor, still wet with blood and clinging flesh wrenches free of the last little bit, leaving the overlapping metal metal metal WET BLOODY RED metal metal of his back visible, the Golem hissing with a wince, gapped teeth bare and bloody, eyes full of murder and pain.

    His voice is a feral, near mindless growl as he hisses, blood dribbling from several chunks of shrapnel in his flesh, bubbling safely away as he seeths... and then a fucking weilder comes at him. "MOTHERFUCKER!"

    And he's wrestling with the thing as it gouges at him with it's burning, hateful tip, ripping at it and tossing it aside, hopefully not to strike him in the back as he pulls the pin with a gapped and cracked tooth, tossing one over to near enough to Kotone to be inconvenient, turning to charge and lunges at both Cap and Maaka, seething a hissing monster snarl. He tries to stab Cap in the stomach with PART OF HIS OWN BACK, before scything it at Maaka. Fun times!
Alexis Maaka     Maaka's hit strikes true, but she winds up getting some reprisal in return. The shard of armor hits her dead on, catching her in the stomach and knocking her off her feet. She lands on the ground, growling as she tries to rip the metal free from both her body armor and her insides. This was a bad day to go without the STALKER suit, clearly.

    She sees Nine throw a grenade at Kotone, and growls as she fumbles at her back holster for something. She produces a large caliber revolver, cocking the hammer back and taking aim as she tries to get a clear shot, firing at Nine once she stands back up and rips the shrapnel free from herself.
Sigrun Stem Sigrun is caught by the whip, she attempts to roll under it to no afail, the weapon squeezing her tight. To preserve air, the monster exterminator stops talking, she has more important things to focus on at the moment. She at least managed to keep her arms free, so she takes steady, careful aim at Ferham.

Just because she can see through the illusion doesn't mean she can dispell it, and right now she appears to be actually angry, she's seething as she aims, the only slight of hand she's doing is that she's got a tiny handkerchief to cover the arrow nocked on her string.
Xiao Li Yu      "......"

     Toph is pulling all of that metal over to herself, forming some kind of armor. And Xiao can't help but marvel at it, even in this situation. "Oh my. That's quite a novel idea, Professor. In fact, I believe that I may need to-BLEGH!"

     And off she goes! She sails through the air, hits the ground roughly, with a pained gasp, and then groans. "...You could at least let me finish was what I saying-" The scientist says, sitting up and rubbing her abdomen. ...She realized a moment after that; ...Oh hey, her arms were free. "How about that?"

     She smiles, though a bit pained, and stands back up. "Okay. Blunt force isn't working. ...Let's try cutting~." She raises her arms, and the black gauntlets fragment off of her arms, forming into a pair of dual blades. But she didn't stop there. Toph would hear the girl speak another command, this one slightly more worrying.

     "Drain."

     Her blades are cloaked in a sickly green aura and she grips them, one in reverse, before dashing forward again. "Hah!" And she lets loose a twin slash, of which is entirely ineffective against the metal husk that her opponent was currently donning. No, what made the attack effective was the life draining energy that seemed to worm its way through the seams of the armor with each strike, aiming to pull at Toph's health directly.

     Sneaky.
Nasrin     Nasrin draws back from the slash, and raises her hand to defelect some of the blow from the beam saber, her eyes narrowing a sshe keeps her focus, gritting her teeth through the pain as she pushes onward, throwing the knife again -- but this time she's aiming high on purpose.

    A flick of her wrist, and another blade pops out, hidden underneath her sleeve, and it's with this that Nasrin gets all up close and personal with Taro.

    She tries to sever part of his head from his shoulders, pushing up with the tip and then sweeping out with all her might.
Ferham      "Feeling a little confined, honey?" Ferham doesn't smile, as she looks down at Sigrun encased in her whip and having trouble breathing. Ferham walks up and puts her high-heeled booted foot right against Sigrun's front and pulled that whip even tighter--not letting her breath anymore than she needed to. She was essentially attempting to choke the girl out, not strangle, but more of a sleeper-hold to incapacitate her. You would too if you'd been shot with drill /and/ firebomb arrows!

     "Oh, you can still reach your bow like that? Can you hit me before you black out?" Ferham does get a little teasing here, though--her voice mocking--the heel of her boot digging into Sigrun's chest just a bit more and reducing the slack.

     "What's that dear? I think you have that thing on too tight--I can barely hear you!"
Kotone Yamakawa Kotone Yamakawa is flushed out but she's not laking in experiance like she once was. Still Nine has flushed her out and she's peppered with fragments from the blast an she's not doing so well. She also sees what he's trying to do to the Captain and Maaka, she's forced to act quickly and man that guy has amouth on him. With the arm out of range she's not got much choice now other than to graba near by tool and fling it at him, with enoug strenght to dispell any notions the young lady's made of flesh.
Taro     Taro is forced to duck his head to avoid the thrown knife, just as she intended. But he moves only by the slightest of margins, his hair almost literally getting a new part thanks to the tumbling flade. Thus his head and shoulders aren't quite where Nasrin would have liked them to be when she lunges in with her trademark hidden blade. The blade bites lower, at the collarbone, and while it does pierce through the armor there, it's still too shallow to have done the kind of damage to him that she had aimed for. The blade will have come away wet with more of that sticky fluid, proof that she'd hit something at least.
    The message Nine gave him to relay is left unsaid, at least for now. There's also no reflexive reach for the wound from him, either ignoring whatever he's feeling or simply not having that instinctual reaction. He does bear his teeth, though. Just barely, in a hint of a snarl.
    Since she's so close, too far in to bring either of his blades to bear...he instead moves to bring his his knee up sharply, between her legs.
Steve Rogers "Gnh - !" Steve grunts in pain as the broken and bloodied armor shard gets driven into his stomach; he doesn't quite double over, but when he takes note of Alexis reaching for her holster, he deliberately lets gravity pull him down further. It might even look to Nine as though that stab in the stomach was enough to take him down.

He's not about to let that illusion last for long, though. Nine just made the mistake of turning his back to Captain America *again*, too, and while Steve may approve of a fair fight under some circumstances? 'Stopping bad guys from doing evil things' is never a case where he's going to worry overmuch about how the numbers stack up.

There's more red than usual on Cap's abdomen as he gets back up, but a close look - as if anyone had time to take one - doesn't suggest that it's necessarily Cap's blood. He's also got his shield back, although not quite fast enough to block the improvised dagger with it. For the moment, he just takes in the battlefield, seeing where his allies are, where their opponents are ... and then he speaks up on the radio. He also stamps his foot twice in quick succession, the second time about one foot-length forward. Toph'll be able to sense that - he knows her abilities, and he trusts her skills.

And then his shield flies once more, flung at Nine's back while he's engaged in melee with Alexis. This time, it won't rebound straight back at Captain America - but towards one of the pillars that Toph should be raising out of the ground, per his request on the radio.

And he knows just where it should go from there - but making sure it happens is up to Toph.
Sigrun Stem Sigrun's clearly starting to have trouble breathing, but she's been exposed to chokeholds before, and she's lasting fairly well. She can't last like this forever, of course, and if she can't find a way out well... she will collapse. But, for now she still holds breath, even with a boot on her chest and the whip being pulled tighter.

The handkerchief falls off the arrow, the arrow is made out a strange silvery metal, Sigrun flicks one finger to activate a spell on it. Then, from point blank, the arrow flies. If it hits, and Sigrun has prepared for it to hit hard and dig deep, it shows what metal it is.

The enchanted quicksilver will quickly lose form once inside, reshaping itself in sharp needles that try to dig deep. To an organic opponent, the mercury poisoning would be the worst part of it, but even to someone less susceptible to that, blooming internal needles can hardly be pleasant.
Nasrin     There's a knee to her crotch! And it hruts -- but not in the same way it would had Nasrin been male. She glances down, then glances up at Taro with a 'you must be joking' look to her eyes as she grunts, and then whips around, adding speed, momentumn, and force as she gives an angry cry out in the mdist of broken glass and an at-risk factory -- trying to keep Taro's attention on her as she tries to dis-arm the arm with the saber in -- might as well get a matchign set, right?
Toph Beifong     "If I let you finish talking then you would be yapping away until the others were all done!" The young inventor of metalbending sounds slightly annoyed, rolling her shoulders a bit. Sure, she's hurting in places, but there's no way in hell she's going to let these guys mess this place up! Who knows what Xiao was off to do?

    And... seriously, she thinks she can cut metal? Well, with normal blades it would be kinda hard for most, but if she uses magic then it's entirely possible. Yet, Toph lets out a snort, attempting to discourage her opponent. "I'd like to see you /try/!" This girl might not be the easiest to rile up, but it's worth a shot.

    Wait, drain?

    Toph doesn't get to think as Xiao once again is rushing forwards, and Toph brings up her arms, reinforcing the metal as much as she can with her bending before the dual strikes hit. And only once the blades hit the metal and the energy seeps through the metal, only then does Toph realise just how wrong she was as she feels the pull and the effect it has on her, causing her to stagger with a breathy gasp of shock. What the crud?!

    As she pushes back from the blades she does seem to be talking to herself, or... is she talking on the radio?

    And then Toph raises her metalclad foot, kicking it into the ground firmly as she raises her arms, causing two sturdy and big pillars to rise... somewhere else on the battlefield?

    It helps that she and Captain America have been practicing this maneuver together in case they needed to do something like this in battle. So Toph is familiar with the vibranium shield and just how to bend the pillars in order to ensure they don't crumble and that they also enable the iconic weapon of Cap to ricochet off of them. So Steve gets what he wants, and Toph trusts his vision along with her own bending. The shield strikes Nine before it rebounds towards one of the pillars. Again the shield bounces off, and this time it's sent straight towards Xiao's back! And off it goes towards the secondary pillar, which knocks the shield off towards Ferham...!
No. 9     Fukkin guns. The bullet catches him in the shoulder, punching in and leaving a wet red punched in divot, pumping blood and leaving him barking and snarling in pain. He answers in kind, pulling the heavy revolver (the other one, the one he hadn't dropped) and cracks off a few shots at her, turning to stare balefully at her-

    Before he's beaned in the head with a spanner.

    A howl, turning back and catching the spanner up, hurling it back at her with a choking coughed snarl- and then, oh man, the scream, the hellish shrieking raking scream as the sheild hits.

    Right in the middle of his back.

    Right where the armor is missing.

    Right in the burning wet red.

    And he turns, and he snarls, and he screams, and he THROWS himself at Cap, and if he's unlucky on top of Cap, snarling and shrieking and tearing at him with fist and fingers, teeth and knees and hate.
Ferham      The sharp needles impact in Ferham's front--particularly the upper half of her breastplate, reducing that area to a literal pin cushion, causing her to waver for a second before falling back--head over heels.

     However, like a vengeful spirit Ferham rises back up, still holding that whip handle as she growls again at Sigrun. "You shoulda just took a nap girl, I would have let you go--" she tugged harder on that whip now, likely cutting off enough of Sigrun's blood flow to make her black out.

     She walked closer, picking up the handkerchief from the floor as she walks, stuffing it in Sigrun's mouth instead, as a gag.

     "Victims, aren't we all?" she grins, now unraveling her whip as her claws flash, the tips of them biting and tearing into fabric this time, for real.

     Sigrun would be found dangling outside from a flagpole, hanging from her wrists tied together, with her bow and quiver strapped against her back. Oh, and did we mention she's just in her boots, bra and panties again--this time for real? Well, she didn't tie her ankles together, so she /could/ still wrangle herself down if she flipped herself up and untied her wrists. But for the moment she's going to serve as a rather attractive pinata.
Alexis Maaka     The revolver round catches Maaka dead in the chest. Body armor is body armor, and her skin is rated to withstand light gunfire, ON TOP of her jacket being bullet resistant, but the abuse she's been suffering has made her protection compromised during this fight. She grunts, feeling the bullet sink deep in her vest and land against skin.

    She grips her revolver in her good hand this time, and she charges to get Nine off of Cap just as he throws the shield. "GET OFF OF HIM!" She roars, before taking the shot, the revolver kicking in her grip as she fires off another .44 round at Nine, this time much closer.
Taro     Taro had expected a greater reaction, or at least there's a brief flash of puzzlement in answer to her look. Not that there was no reaction at all, just perhaps delivered differently. Regardless, he was beginning to follow through by bringing his left arm up in what was likely meant to be a blow aimed at her head. But that blow never has the chance to be delivered, as the Assassin too is already in motion and out of the way of his reach.
    Unlike the last time, he's in full armor rather than the light skintight suit he wears beneath his cassock, and some of her momentum is spent piercing through the plating protecting his limbs. But his forward momentum helps her more than it does him, and the blade cuts through his arm just above the elbow, clean though to the other side.
    Beam sabre slips through twitching fingers, the blade automatically disspating before it hits the glass-strwen concrete floor.
    The android's lips curl back in a proper snarl this time, though he does not look down or try to pull himself free if the blade is still there. Instead, his brings his unwounded arm back down, aiming the tip of his knife where Nasrin's shoulder meets her neck.
Steve Rogers It seems to be Cap's turn to underestimate Nine's speed ... or maybe he's just slightly preoccupied with his shield's more intricate than usual flight path. Either way, when Nine whirls about and charges at Captain America, Cap has to protect himself in a hurry - and the shield flies past from its last ricochet, soaring over him and Nine, and landing some distance away while Cap is fighting back underneath the cyborg.

This, his armor's not going to hold up under so well - especially not those teeth, but blunt force impacts get through where blades and bullets might have some trouble penetrating.

And in point of fact? For all that Captain America never gives up? He is starting to realize that this *might* not be one of the fights he walks away from under his own power.

That still doesn't stop him from at least *trying* to fight back, of course. Cap keeps his wits about him, protecting himself as best he can in the pinned-down clinch, and taking what cheap shots he can in retaliation. Kneecaps are usually good targets, as is the crotch, and he's willing to take his chances by trying to headbutt Nine right in the nose in between the cyborg's attempts to bite into him like a Brooklyn hot dog.

One that has a little American flag on a toothpick stuck into it.
Xiao Li Yu      Ah, yes. There's that satisfying yelp of surprise that comes after launching a seemingly ineffective attack. Drain was a mean, mean spell. And Xiao loved it for just that reason. Of course, it doesn't always work, but when it does? Well!

     But there's not much more time for the scientist to revel in the result because suddenly, pillars burst upwards, and they were nowhere near her. "Hah? What manner of- BWEH!"

     CLONK

     And then suddenly, Xiao is facefirst into the ground, stars dancing across her blackened vision. "....Ow..." She balls her hands into fists around her blade handles, and drags herself up to her feet. "That was quite clever. Amusing really. You have my commendations." Her arms lowered to her sides, and she smiled cheerfully, her tone matching.

     "Bio."

     A sickly green fluid then bubbles around Xiao's weapons in some kind of amorphous aura, and she takes a stance. "Let's try that again, shall we?" And with a kick off the ground, the researcher blew forward, unleashing a flurry of quick strikes against the mental frame Toph was within once more.

     The strikes themselves were once again, ineffective. But it wasn't those that she needed to worry about. Much like Drain, something much more distressing was seeping through.

     ...Poison. Acidic, sticky, sickness inducing poison. Maybe that armor isn't helping much at all.
Toph Beifong     There's the urge to smirk just slightly when Xiao falls face first, but no... this is a serious fight, and Toph has learned that this opponent isn't to be underestimated, even if she herself feels confident that she can beat her. But that requires her to not underestimate her!

    Bio... a biological weapon?

    So Toph raises her arms again, reinforcing the metal there as Xiao is striking out again. Yes, let's try this again, but let's do something different this time around! The blind girl seemingly does the same at first as she feels the strikes land, but for this to work she needs the other girl to get closer... and so she endures the strikes, no matter how she feels the strikes beginning to burn into her arms, how she suddenly finds herself nauseous and ill. It's time...!

    After two strikes Toph suddenly throws her arms forward, and the metal that was covering her is now moving to wrap itself around Xiao's face and upper body, doing its best to restrain her arm movements and block out her vision.
Nasrin     The tinkling of glass as the arm hits, as the saber tumbles back and Nasrin jsut watches.

    She waits.

    THis is the second time she's stolen one of Taro's arms from him, and she brings her left arm up, the hidden blade still extended as she tries to step backwards, hazel eyes going wide as the android snarls and brings his unwounded arm down, the tip of the knife catching against the fabric of the shirt, drawing down and striking through, jabbing her not quite in the shoulder, b ut through the breast. Pain, shock, a wariness blossoming as the blood drips down her chest, curling over her belly and slithering downwards. Nasrin takes a stumble backwards, breathing hard before she just lets her eyes narrow and focus on the droid.

    With an uncomfortable twist in her stomach, she calls on Weasel's gift again, moving faster than any normal human had any business being, her motions blurring into the process as she leaps into the air, and tries to repay Taro's strike with one of her own, this time to the base of his neck to try and loosen that shoulder for him.
Kotone Yamakawa Kotone Yamakawa does not have a gun right now, she very much wished she had one right now but she's managed to bean him with a psanner it should have hurt but damn he's taking it much better than she thought. Yet the scream? Okay that gets here ot back off, Kotone isn't dling so lucky with the counter attack however as she gets the spanner right back and it catches her smack in the torso which pushes her bac k and it's hurtl. She's getting a number of warnings about damage on her hudd but now she's just about had enough of Nine. She'll move heft up a cargo crate with some strain and then throw it full on at Nine.

"THAT IS ENOUGH! ITS PEOPLE LIKE YOU WHO ARE WHY I AM A CYBORG IN THE FIRST PLACE!"
Xiao Li Yu      Xiao unleashes several strikes, poison seeping in with each blow, but then...

     CLANK CLUNK CLANK

     "Mmmrph!"

     Suddenly, her face is covered in metal, as are her arms. Well crap. No more annoying biological attacks are going to be coming from her. But that didn't mean that she couldn't continue to fight! It was just...

     ...Going to be a lot more annoying. It's not like she can just see people with her feet after all.

     Oh, feet. That's an idea.

     Suddenly, energy surges around Xiao as she raises a foot. And then she stomps the ground. The movement causes several ice pillars to jut out of the pavement, pointed, angled outwards, and traveling in a rough circle around her position.

     If you can't see, then just go for the spread!
No. 9     Kneecaps go clang, since they're metal, as does the crotch, though it's mostly because of the armor cup protecting his fiddly bits, though that one gets a bit of a grunt and a seething hiss, wide eyed and flinching, spattering Cap in infectious blood (don't worry, it's designed not to be viable, just isn't very much fun) and then he's headbutted. A blink. Might be a bit of a mistake. Because Nine's skull is armored, inside and out. His brain is somewhat questionable anyway, and his rage is real and high, thick and choking around his heart.

    So he returns the favor. Over. And over again. Smashing, into Cap, forehead to forehead, like he's trying to drive him into the ground. WHAM. WHAM. WHAM. WHAM!

    He looks up and SHRIEKS at Maaka, indeed leaving Cap alone, to leap at her, lashing out with his fists at her in turn. He remembers the hurt, and it did indeed hurt. But at least he's leaving Cap alone? Yea.

    THEN HE'S HIT WITH A CRATE. His work is NEVER done. He abandons Maaka, charging at Kotone with a wild beast's howl and would attempt to bowl her over with the force of his body, pouncing.
Toph Beifong     Whew, there we go! If she's lucky, then Xiao will be less precise in her attacks now! Underneath the armour it does appear that Toph looks way more tired than she did before, sickly pale and staggering slightly from the effects of the previous attacks. But she's not giving up yet! Not even when Xiao raises her foot and kicks down and out, sending ice pillars towards her and throughout the general area.

    Some of the attacks strike Toph as the ice pillars shoot up, and Toph winces as she's knocked slightly aside by one of them, feeling the sharp pillar bite into her side and drawing more blood. Okay, this is getting painful by now!

    In response Toph reaches out with a determined look despite the tiredness showing on her face, aiming to bend the metal along with Xiao still inside it. Except this time she's intending to slam Xiao repeatedly against the pavement and hopefully make her stop with the blasted ice attacks!
Alexis Maaka     Maaka grunts as she's only given a slap in comparison to the abuse Steve's been getting. Growling, she then sees Nine pounce at Kotone, and something snaps inside of her.

    She holsters the magnum, before she throws off her coat and Tavor, they'd both slow her down for this. Maaka then charges towards Nine, snarling with blind rage as she dives at the BOW 'borg, pinning him to the ground. "You don't fucking get it, this isn't a factory anymore...it's a medical wing."

    She hisses, and then gets Nine's leg in a hold. Her arms are very, very strong, and she wraps them around Nine's limb while it flails in protest.

    And then she twists with all her might, her cybernetically augmented strength enough to snap bone with ease. "And I'm the surgeon."
Xiao Li Yu      Xiao couldn't see where her attacks were going. She just sent them out and hoped for the best. She could hear a faint grunt of pain among the property damage. Of course, she had serious doubts that Toph actually got taken down by that.

     But damn it, she couldn't move!

     And then suddenly, she was lifted into the air, along with the metal. "Mmrhph?" Whoosh! Slam! A muffled cry of pain came from within the metal. And then again and again as her opponent continues with it. By the end, she was unmoving on the pavement. Not KOed, but clearly too dazed to actually bother continuing to fight.

     As far as things went, this was over.
Taro     The snarl does not fade. His anger is squarely on her - not so much for his wounds, for that is simply an expected result of any battle, but for her keeping him from his actual mission. That fact stings him far more deeply than her blades.
    Speaking of her blades, again he's bitten, and again he is annoyingly confounding by not having veins and arteries where humans normally would. At least his artificial muscles reasonably match, which are sliced neatly by the point of her blade, and his shoulder on that side begins to twich as one of the controlling mechanisms is damaged.
    He is forced to admit that mission has failed, and to continue fighting would be a waste.
    Angry, but he does not lose himself to his temper. He moves to stab upward at her with his knife even as she drops on him. There he'll abandon it to dive after his beam sabre, for that is more valuable to him in the grand scheme of things than the arm he just lost. In his current condition that he skids along the floor afterwards is understandable, but he tries to use that momentum to move further away from Nasrin so that he can escape.
Steve Rogers Fighting against cyborgs, Cap thinks, kind of sucks. At least that headbutt did some good .... before Nine retaliated in kind and with interest. The fact that Nine's aggro is drawn away from him is kind of a relief - but rather than catching his breath, much as he wants to lie still and recover from how much that hurt?

Captain America rolls back to his feet, detouring long enough to retrieve his shield. And while Alexis is 'operating' on Nine's leg (which looks and sounds like it hurt), Cap moves to rejoin that part of the fight ... but not with a simple punch, not with a shield-throw, not even with some kicks while Nine is down.

No, what Captain America does is give his shield a toss with a bit of a flourish - and then, while the shield is in mid-air, he jumps towards it, reorienting his body to plant his feet on the shield's inner curve ... and straighten his legs out, hard and fast.

Which should drive the face of the shield SQUARELY into Nine's face.
Kotone Yamakawa Kotone Yamakawa does not have time to react, she's left her self very open to Nine and she pays for it he's too big for her to get out of reach of and he's too fast. She's clammed into har and ius up aginst one of the machine embedding Kotone partailly in one of the machines and she's trying to pull herself lose now and she's still struggling and only dimly aware of.She's strying to get free and she's fighting pretty hard to do so...

"Not...like this, not again!"
Nasrin     Nasrin doesn't seem to want to give up the fight.

    She's stabbed again, this time in her arm. She gives a sharp cry turning her face away as she stumbles backwards, crouching down and knowing he might not give her another chance to recoup -- and she sees him going for the weapon.

    So she reaches out, snaps her hand back as another throwing knife drops in to it, and she throws the knife, trying to put that weapon as /far/ away from Taro as possible -- looks like she wanted a souvenier.
No. 9     Holy shit she broke his leg. That seems to snap him out of it. It's quite literally like breaking a tube of reinforced titanium alloy with some bone inside, but congratulations, you managed it. He blinks, and then HOWLS in pain, open mouthed, surprised, shocked. And then there's darkness and the ringing of the supertech shield being smashed hard against his face, leaving him for the moment in a state of blessed silence after the heavy CRNCH.

    And oh he gets quite beaten up by Kotone in the meantime.

    The Golem is utterly still. Just, still. And then he's UP and he's explosively flinching ducking back, panicking, on two hands and one leg, limping away at high speed, spitting wincing curses.
Alexis Maaka     Maaka sighs, just letting Nine run like hell. She goes to retrieve her assault rifle and her coat, the former slung across her shoulder and the latter slumped in her hand. She frowns, noticing Stem tied up and dangling from a pole. In her underwear no less, that's got to be embarrassing.

    She uses her own grappling wire to climb, making her way up to the unconscious Sigrun and draping her over a strong shoulder, sliding back down to ground level and bundling her up in what remains of her coat. "I gotcha, kid." She whispers. THe idea of leaving Sigrun up there didn't sit right, anyways.
Taro     The beam saber was nearly in his grasp of his remaining hand, within touch of his fingertips...and then Nasrin's tumbling knife splits that tiny distance, sending his weapon in a rolling skitter across the floor and behind one of the massive cybernetic assembler units. Which is closer than he ever got to the machines himself, curse her.
    The conversation over the radio has been spotty, but it's becoming clear to him that his allies' battles have gone just as poorly if not worse. Nine has made it very clear he can escape on his own, but Xiao...that last transmission was worrying.
    He could choose to ignore that and retrieve his precious hand-crafted weapon, or he can ensure that she is able to escape and be brought to safety.
    Though he was stripped of his rank years ago, the responsibility he feels has been harder to take from him. And thus, with one last glare at Nasrin, he vanishes in the flash of a teleport...
    ...to reappear outside, one-armed, wings broken, and disheveled, near where Xiao has fallen. Hoisting her up is as awkward as it is uncomfortable, but he manages to get her over his still somewhat working shoulder to carry her off with him in a transserver teleport.
Nasrin     Nasrin stumbles out the front door of the factory, pretty badly beat up. She's bleeding from a few places on her face form long cuts, and a long, deep wound over her chest soaking through the sweatshirt... but... she has an arm. And a beamsaber now clipped to her belt.

    She waves the arm to get the attention of passing Union medical personell... and promptly collapses down.
No. 9     Leaving Nine. Who's made it very clear he can limp his sorry ass home on his own. Mostly by being a touchy sensitive little primadonna bitch. So what the fuck is new. But he leaves, limping away and actually ducking down to retrieve his guns, dragging his stupidly dumb broken leg. Because fuck his stupid fucking leg. If it wants to be a whiny loser and go break then it can drag itself home. And FUCK IT HURTS.

    So Taro grabs Xiao, taking the pretty lady home to safety, and leaving Nine as he'd so aggressively shrieked and shouted his fitness of dragging his sorry rump home to drag his sorry rump home.
Steve Rogers There are some situations in which Captain America wouldn't let the bad guys limp away.

This is not one of them. Nine isn't doing any further damage, and neither are the other Confederates so far as Cap can tell. He's more concerned with his own allies - particularly Toph, who seems to have gotten walloped harder than she might have been prepared for. But other than calling for medevac, there's not a whole lot he can do except to go around and try to help them as best he can.
Toph Beifong     It's a relief when Xiao stops moving, and Toph lets out a sigh as she allows herself to flop down on her butt. By the sounds of it from the radio it appears that they have it all under control, and with Nine and his buddies heading off, Techno Urbania is safe.

    While Toph has had worse physical injuries, she's still bleeding, and she doesn't look like she's feeling too well. She's pale, sweating and obviously tired, but at least she doesn't appear to be in any threatening danger as they wait for medevac.

    "Nice thinking for the shield combo there," Toph asides to Cap, all before she reaches a hand up to her mouth. Okay, dinner will be even later than usual it seems, as Pepper and Tony would only be upset if she didn't stop by medical before heading home. Not to mention she feels like utter shit!