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Priscilla     It has been twelve years, and the people have had enough. Though billed and presented as a representitive republic, the nation of Nomenruit has suffered through constant mismanagement, neglect, and corruption from their elected statesmen through three successive cycles, no matter whom is elected and under what circumstances. Only in light of the recent Multiversal upheaval, there all political lines have become chaos, have foreign relations deteriorated to the point that the man behind it all is exposed: Adriani Acosta.

    Chancellor of foreign affairs is an unpopular position in a massive state constantly at war with its neighbours, and so Chancellor Acosta had kept his office for over two decades with little competition, and overwhelming popular vote. It seems now that, in that time, he has managed to surreptitiously place his friends and cronies into office, systematically bully and bribe other officials into doing his handiwork, and ruthlessly stick a knife in practically all of the remainder, leaving the most morally upstanding officials in the entire republic simply those who are too unimportant or troublesome to replace, but keep quiet about his activities.

    Not coincidentally, when things look to be ready to explode, and the various countries of this particular world seek both stability and allies, the Concord is very much interested in a Chancellor who can single-handedly puppet every single aspect of an entire, highly developed government without anyone noticing, if he can be directed to ends more productive than kickbacks. The common people of Nomenruit are very much interested in having his head on a pike for all he's done, and having a complete government reform to purge his influence. Adriani Acosta is very much interested in keeping that head attached, and sees his opportunity.
    Today, Chancellor Acosta holds rushed negotiations, cloistered deep behind his opulent mansion's walls, surrounded by a detachment of the elite, capital guard, blatantly bought off by the fact that helping him now will result in first-class postings and generous rewards when he becomes the Concord's go-to man here.

    Mansion is perhaps something of a misnomer, as the building is no less than five floors in height, situated at the flat top of a steep rise out in the country, and has some of the features of an old castle keep. Built primarily of dense and heavy stone, featuring tall and sturdy outer walls with iron fencing spikes atop them, small windows with hefty shutters, and a belltower just tall enough for the guards to use it as a commanding watch post of the surrounding, nearly completely deforested area, the inside is decorated and furnished like an excessively opulent, rich-man's hunting lodge, totally at odds with its cold and austere exterior. A Concord official is sat with him in the guest hall, soldiers stand at the walls and gate, do rounds of the grounds, and man the towers and upper floor windows.
Seifer Almasy      It's funny. The last time Seifer Almasy was dealing with a major government leader, it was the dictatorial President of his then-girlfriend's country, who his then-girlfriend was trying to depose via the paramilitary organization Seifer belonged to. Seifer had gotten all fired up about deposing the man and doing the Right Thing, he'd managed to get Rinoa an audience with Cid Kramer, and...well.

     It didn't really matter the reason - Seifer was NOT used to doing a job like this from this side.

     It's obvious in his stance as he walks through the halls. His gunblade is slung over his shoulder rather than holstered, the heavy blade tapping against his shoulder at odd intervals. He stops every so often to admire the decor, particularly the various wild beasts and monsters the Chancellor has on the walls - something he wouldn't do were he not also stopping to check for intrusions.

     Yes, this is an unusual job for Seifer, and it has him on edge because SeeD usually *doesn't* do things like this, and they really aren't *trained* for things like this. Long-term SeeD presence is a rarity. The training focused on in-and-out deep strikes, SpecOps work, and spying - things that could be charged for on a per-mission basis. Bodyguarding was usually a long-term contract, since a steady paycheck ensured your bodyguard wouldn't just leave you hanging high and dry or spike your payment plan during danger. And since SeeD's crusty old men hated the idea of not being able to jack up the price when they wanted it, SeeD just...didn't do bodyguard work.

     Seifer stops near a vase and examines it. "Well...at least the revolution'll be well-funded, huh? Guy's got more gil'n we could even count." He says to no one at all.

     No one responds.

     "I thought it was funny."

     No response.

     "Yeah, well, screw you, too," Seifer says to the air, straightening and looking around, "Who even buys this kinda stuff? Is there a switch that gets flipped when yer this right that just says, 'nah, screw it, I feel like wasting a jillion gil on a vase'? Man, if it was me, I'd be buying some new weapons-"

     Nothing interjects.

     "Yeah, yeah, of course the limited edition DVD, but-"

     Another non-interruption.

     "Yeah, and the original gun- look, all I'm sayin' is, *I'd* live it up, not buy a freakin' vase."

     Nothing soundly agrees with him.
Yuuki Kuran     Yuuki Kuran, 'Director' of the Concord, has a great stake in many things, most of them diplomacy related. She is the sort to enjoy a harmonious meeting, a pleasant shared evening with tea and pleasantries, and overall a normal, quiet evening spent whiling away the time speaking about this issue or that.

    Of course, she had taken interest in this meeting almost sight unseen out of a desire to 'show up' and act... leaderly? Before, with her own life, there was little reason to engage much in politics, having her older brother to handle that. It drained on her to put on a happy face when surrounded by sharks with blood in the water. Sharks in suits, circling, extending offers and tokens of friendship while licking their... shark... lips?

    That metaphor evaporated in her head, with the mental image causing her to laugh lightly, from a couch off to the side of the negotiating table, having elected to simply observe and smile and relax.

    "I do so enjoy a diplomatic solution to problems. Obviously, there'll have to be /some/ changes, but... I suppose it gives us all of us a chance to stretch our legs and enjoy the hospitality, isn't it?" She airily wonders to the crowd of Concord members who are around, most probably Zero, or Seifer if he had decided to hang out in the meeting room. Perhaps not!

    "With this much security, it almost feels overkill..."

    Casually tempting fate? All in a day's work.
Nero      The ability to wrap an entire ruling structure around his finger from the side is a valuable skill indeed. Nero has Thoughts about some of the methods employed by the overall implication of such skill cannot be denied. Thus, she is present. In the guest hall, essentially standing guard. Her arms are crossed and she's got no weapons in sight.

     The blonde girl, dressed in extravagant and regal reds and whites, is silent for now. Her green eyes closed as she listens for both the chancellor's conversation with the Concord official, as well as keeping attentive of any oncoming threats. The locals wanted his man's head on a spike. But he was simply too valuable to just hand over. And Nero knew well the lengths that a desperate and angry populace would go to to see their justice served.

     The simple days of Union and Confederacy clashes were over, and thus, the idea of what to expect in the absence of these superfactions became much more diverse. Freedom fighters? Mercenaries? Terrorists? She could expect that at least one of those categories would make themselves known in one way or another. At Yuuki's words, Nero's eyes open, and she speaks. "Mhmhm. I would not be so sure that we will be allowed to simply walk off with the man in a diplomatic fashion. When people start an uprising, they seek blood."
Wo Acosta's seat was quite well cushioned by this point. The level of corruption and cronyism had reached an almost impenetrable, critical mass, and while the public was understandably fed up with the gridlock and increasingly open pulling of strings, there was seemingly little to be done. Those that spoke out or dared to make a show of resistance were either quickly muzzled, or even worse, promised enough to quiet them or convince them to join in the regime. With the gears of a representative society this fastly frozen, it would take a hell of an ice pick to chip them free and get them running as they should: Working for a people increasingly war weary, and eager to see their needs met instead of the pockets of their officials lined.

    That does not mean that resistance is completely abscent, however. For many months, a movement has been building in the back alleys and store houses of the republic, one intending to reclaim the claims to their own nation. It had started as only an idealist resistance, with the longest of shots at meaningful change, but certainly and surely, enough inroads had been made with those few officials still uncomfortable with Acosta's rise to power to give them some very real grips on the situation. No longer content to blindly scrawl anti-Acosta grafitti on the walls and anonymously distribute leaflets to the rest of the populace, they now had larger fish to fry. The very thorn in their collective sides, himself, and then once that keystone is taken care of, the rest of the house of cards he's built will follow.

    Standing at a table, in the back room of a tavern not so far away from Acosta's estate, there stands a fairly tall man with greying hair and a well-lined face. It would be difficult to gauge that he is only a year over forty, as he easily looks ten years senior to that number, but recent decades have not been kind to him or his family. This was once Acosta's fiercest political rival, Eliandro Belleonne, and one of the few roadblocks to his defacto takeover through backroom dealings and political underminings. Now he is aged and his body frail, having been forced underground and long thought dead, but the fire in his eyes suggests his spirit is not broken. He speaks to the three dozen or so local resistance members that have crowded in to hear him, and his voice also remains strong.

    "Countrymen and countrywomen, tonight we free Nomenruit from the scourge that has blighted her beauty for far too long. Even at this hour, our sources on the inside tell us that he's once again planning to sell more of our young men and women's blood in foreign wars, and our sovereignity in the process, for his own enrichment. This is the final straw. Once we storm his office, he will either surrender, or we'll reclaim the lives of our fallen with his!" A cheer rises through the room, from voices of all genders and ages, ranging to the higher end of middle age. Those that remember better times, and those that have never known anything else. "We will be joined in this with our newest allies. I do not need to name them, as I'm certain you have all heard by now. Meet up outside and we will begin our march on that crooked mansion. One way or another, tonight, our voices will be heard!"
Zero Kiryu As is typical of him, Zero Kiryu is here to guard a VIP. Not you, Chancellor. He doesn't care about you at all. He's here shadowing Director Kuran as he always is, clad more casually than he was during the party, though only by a little. A white button-down accompanied by a vest and a long overcoat have replaced his previous garb, though the silver chain running from the front of his vest into an interior pocket remains visible. A small headset runs to his right ear, while a microphone is discreetly pinned to his collar.

He wears the same distantly grumpy expression he did the night before last, as if nothing in the world could be particularly entertaining or bring him joy. Violet eyes slide slowly from Seifer to Yuuki, and back again to Seifer.

Who seems to be talking to himself.

This doesn't weird Zero out at all for some reason. He replies, "Wealthy people buy things like this as a symbol of status, to display to visitors. They can buy things like you described as well... but think of the collective cost of every film you might want to watch. It might be relatively high, but it's a drop in the bucket to this kind of wealth."

He thinks of Kuran Manor, and grunts irritably. His eyes slide back towards Yuuki.

"Since when are we here to enjoy the hospitality?" He wonders aloud.
Yari Takane Yari Takane is here of course. She'd been eager to prove her worth to the Concord, and by extension her Empire. So here she is, very simply waiting. She's done this sort of job before, and so she'd very simply leaned against a wall beside a small statue on a pedestal that mostly kept her slender figure out of sight not too far from Seifer and vaguely near the closest exit. Just in case anyone barged in.

Taking a drag from her long red pipe, she lets out a breath. Her umbrella is leaned up against a leg. She's chosen for a simple black suit for this mission, with light armor beneath. Her tail flicks every now and then.

"Excess can lead to foolish decisions, Mister Almasy. Please don't worry too much about it." Her gaze every now and then sweeps the hallway, before returning to the screen displayed from her armlet.

There's a water bottle and the end of her pipe offered.

"You seem full of energy. Maybe a smoke will calm your nerves, Sir?"
Raditz     There was a single instruction that Raditz was given: Wait for the cue to go. He wasn't especially good at waiting around for the explosions to start... But when the declaration of rebellion is made, he grins a little as he listens to the roaring crowd, and steps out of the alleywayy, and turns to look to the Mansion. He grins and begins to hover into flight, as he gathers a ball of energy into his hand.... "Show time..." He winds up the ball...

    And Pitches it at security wall, with intent to demolish up an entry for the people to use.
Celes Chere     Amidst those who had responded to the call for help was a blonde woman, a former general now freedom fighter. Not especially tall or imposing, but with a certain presence to her, she'd immediatly taken to the maps and data provided by Eliandro Belleonne. Celes would've worked with him, with whatever time they had, to make sure the mob of angry revolutionaries had more than a fighting chance. Key areas to assault, forming pincers and ambushes around all known escape routes of the mansion, securing chokepoints. It's no wizardry but if it makes the mob that much more dangerous, it can't hurt.

    Avoid impassable opponents in direct combat and leave those to the backup as much as possible. Focus on what CAN be done by the crowd.

    It's all very generic advice. It's entirely possible Eliandro had all of it covered already, if not any number of his veterans.

    For her own part, Celes moves out with everyone else, unsheathing Save the Queen, a fancy, gleaming curved sword. She doesn't hesitate to take a spearpoint position with the militia, raising the blade up high as it suddenly lets off a flash of white and blue magic, which washes over the gathered troops. Also her cape flaps a lot because capes and spellcasting go hand in hand.

    They would feel their movements speed up, no longer constrained by the flow of time 1:1. In other words they move and act a bit faster.
Deelel It was funny how much her kind mimicked their creators, yet? She had finally caught on to this she couldn't just leave well enough alone. Given while she had here personal experiences of the purge? Only Tron's ID had the hard proof of crimes that Deelel was aware of, well also Dyson's and CLU's own she didn't think she'd last long enough before the Paladins would be forced to turn her over to CLU for rectification or death. So here she was, the man who was named Fading Suns? Was right this new group might be the only help she could get for the foreseeable future but that would remain to be seen.

With the deal with the Chancellor however? It was pretty clean cut to her with the information they had to act and he sounded a hell of a lot like CLU, save he didn't have the will of the people backing him.

So here Deelel was fully suited up in grid gear, a full on body suit, cloak and her face was masked. Sure Basics were rare wandering the multiverse and it wouldn't be long before she likely was unmasked, but that didn't matter she was set and ready to go. She'd hit up her allies back home armour and had some old riot control gear. If she needed to keep some small fry out of the meat grinder.

She now had an idea of what the guy was doing and it was time to act. She had no idea that Yuuki and others in the Concord might have in mind. She doesn't even know whom is guarding him other than report it might be other Elites.

With that the cloaked and masked program was ready to act.

<<Bit-1 Ready>>

She exits the alleyway just after Raditz does pulls a baton from her cloak and shape as of a light cycle which forms about her body. The Engine roars and Deelel burns the tires and lights some fires as she heds for the hopeful breach in the wall but if tht fails she's going to try to leap over it.
Kyra Hyral Where tyrants rose to power, where the weak were squashed and oppressed, where the people cried out for change, that is where the Watch would be.

    That is also where Rabbit, the mostly unknown figurehead of the silent group Ground Zero would also be. Last anyone saw of the mysterious figure were reports in a Galaxy Far Far away, where an extraction attempt against a defecting Empire scientist was made-and failed. Rumors had spread that in that incident, the Rabbit was killed by the Empire-rumors that, in the long run, Kyra made no efforts to dispell, giving her a chance to lay low for a while, perfect her weapons and build more resources.

    Tonight, with Eliandro Belleonne, the Rabbit had returned. Clad entirely in matte-black form-fitting leathers and kevlar, the identity was a mystery save for the faintest hints of femininity. There is no sign of a face, the head entirely covered with a smooth black helmet that remains latched solidly to the suit. Each movement the Rabbit makes is smooth and swift, moving along the sides of the crowd as they start their march towards the mansion. A heavy-looking firearm of some kind remains held fiercely in Rabbit's hands, which is definitely a long, high-powered rifle of some kind. She seems to be on the lookout for one thing.

    Elites. The people could handle their personal grievances provided the Watch buys them passage.
Drustan Cynbel The Darkbringer, an ominous name for someone taking the fight against corruption. Still, the short fellow clad in black armour has seemed nothing if not supportive of the cause, he's however been keeping himsekf distant from the would be revolutionaries that are taking part, for his own reasons. Specifically, he expects most of them will die if this plan doesn't go off without a hitch.

So when it's go time, he kicks up a cloud of dust, infuses it with Dark magic, to keep it afloat above them as they approach, making the relatively light dustcloud near impossible to see through. Perhaps it'll help. If it won't, he reckons it was either because it was unnecessary or the mission was hopeless.
August Kohler August Kohler is here, dressed in a hoodie and a pair of jeans with some worn sneakers, listening quietly to the locals. He's never participated in a rebellion, though Acosta sounds like a bastard, so he's not going to feel too bad about handing him over. Killing the guy himself is something he hopes he doesn't have to do, though. He's not a Shadow, he's an actual human being. It's too different, too much.

And then, the cue is heard. The redhead asks some questions over the radio and starts moving. He does not seem very battle ready: he has no armor, only a laser pistol at his side in a holster, and a shard of sharp, mirrored glass in one of his hands. He basically just looks like a street punk. Nonetheless, August moves with the mob, slipping towards the front in an attempt to use them and the wall as cover. He's going to split off once they actually get on the grounds, but for now, he's just a fellow rebel.
Priscilla     The particular recruiter that Acosta could get out of the Concord on such short notice isn't really much of an Elite, and certainly doesn't look all that out of the ordinary, which may very well be intentional. A young-ish looking man in deep blue business attire, with neatly slicked rose-blonde hair and fashionable spectacles sits at one end of the table, with an open briefcase and a stack of papers that his client is sorting through across from him.

    Acosta is significantly bigger and more impressive looking, with deeply suntanned skin, mutton chops, and an excessively large and over-ornamented coat, but quite clearly, neither of them are soldiers. Those are outside, and are universally hard men in green jackets and gold buttons, carrying both swords and semi-contemporary, high calibre rifles. There's no Buckingham Palace air of formality in their marching around. They look wary and paranoid.

    At the table, Acosta strokes his facial hair whilst he reads over a particular piece of the contract that has caught his interest, pretending that he has more room to consider it than he does. The Concord official pleasantly explains the full terms, sensing that the Chancellor has less leverage than he'd like, calling this meeting whilst the public is out for his blood as he is, and using it to press for a harder bargain. Specifically: regarding Acosta putting all the money he's cleverly syphoning away into productive ends with Concord oversight, in exchange for the Concord helping in reforming the government as a federal republic with him as the president and having greater individual powers.

    Saiyans aren't particularly known for thinking about anything half that complicated though, and when a truck-sized chunk of the outer wall blows up, scattering stone rubble onto the inside gardens, the guards aren't thinking about the complexities either. Those posted in the belltower begin ringing it immediately, sounding the alarm to confirm an enemy presence. Soldiers in the courtyard, and lined up at the wall, rush to take cover behind statues and low walls, whilst those inside the mansion station themselves at windows and aim their rifles down below.

    Only the latter has a clear view of the mob after the Darkbringer kicks up his dust cover, and so a limited number of them begin cracking shots off into the crowd, aiming to thin down numbers of potential intruders while they're all forced to go through the same entry point. The soldiers on the grounds can't see the rebels worth crap, and so they shoot for the much more obvious source: Raditz.
Wo The mob, or militia, depending on the way one chooses to look at it, is diverse in many ways. Celes would have learned right, however, in that there are a few among its number that actually were former soldiers and were going to be counted upon to bring it leadership, even from before the Multiverse and Watch became involved. They are the most openly responsive to both her and Eliandro's planning, having been through these sorts of strategy meetings before. As the crowds gather outside, with a dozen or so more beginning to pour out of nearby hiding places or joining on the spot, the now roughly fifty strong contingent forms up behind those veterans. As opposed to the early battlecries, they are almost eerily silent, their eyes fixated on that gleaming palace in the distance, a symbol of all that they and their kin have endured. Their steps are expedited by the haste spell, and it would soon be difficult for the guards at Acosta's mansion to ignore their approach, no matter how distracted they may be with security detail.

    Despite that, they are all still quite normal people, as this nation isn't known to produce that many Elites in general. They know enough to let the foreign Watch members take the lead in this, and they await their chance to break through on the castle grounds as they mount the final approach to the fortified estate. Eliandro, himself, never one to sit back as others put their lives and fortunes on the line, falls in with the rest. He spares an aside to the Rabbit, as they prepare to make their final entry, and hopefully, at last, reclaim all that was taken from them. "There was a time, not so long ago, that I thought all of this would be for nothing. No matter what happens in these gilded halls...thank you." As opposed to the strong voice he'd used to address the resistance in that back room, his words now are that of a father that has seen too much suffering, and too little action.

    Most of that crowd, beside the few former military among them that managed to hide away some of their old equipment, are in August Kohler's position. They've cobbled together whatever weapons the could muster, either smuggling them out of local arms factories or using their own ingenuity. One of the Watch's policies, of not dumping tons of laser weapons onto the natives, does put them at a disadvantage in this situation, but if liberty is to be won tonight, it will be through their own hands. It doesn't mean they're completely without assistance from the outside, though. Aside from the enchantment placed upon them by Celes, their numbers and movements are soon concealed behind a mysteriously localized, thick cloud of dust. There's some initial confusion among the ranks, but the leadership they're receiving on the ground keeps it under control.

    With the blasting away of the wall, and the almost simultaneous ringing of the alarm that goes along with it, there's no more time for plotting and planning, or waiting. The silent crowd once again fires up their voices, as they rush forward with hastened pace to take advantage of the hole blown through and onto the palace grounds. A few detachments, including Eliandro, hang back to accompany their Watch Elite sisters and brothers, as they make a push towards the main objective, but the rest follow their local leaders in enacting the plan, moving quickly under their dust cloud cover to attempt to overwhelm the much better trained, and armed, guards and claim certain points of control with both numbers and confusion. Those that survive the initial breech, that is: Even though the guards are firing somewhat blindly into the dust cloud, when it does clear behind the main incursion force, a handful of the dead and dying are left behind, sprawled around the rubble. This is the real price of freedom, blood.
Seifer Almasy      Seifer doesn't jump, but he does sort of blink at Yari (he already basically addressed Zero in the radio conversation anyway). He looks at the water bottle, then at her, then shrugs.

     "Hey, who'm I to turn down a free drink from a cute girl?" He grins and knocks some of it back, then hands it back to her and wipes his mouth with his sleeve (it's fine, the coat's water-resistant).

     "Ah, don't call me Mister. I can't say I mind Sir...but I ain't earned that, yet. Just Seifer's fine."

     "How about y-"

     Seifer is then cut off by Raditz's massive explosion, by Zero announcing that things are going Wrong, and basically everything they had expected to happen but hoped wouldn't happen happening at once. He shrugs his shoulders, flashes Yari a grin and a wink, and then goes barreling towards the sound of violence without a second thought.

     Seifer Almasy Does Not Slow Down.

     He skids 'round the corner heading for one of the windows as the bullets start flying. Seifer's lips split into a wide grin as he shifts his body just so, shoulder-checks his way through the window, and hits the ground in a shower of glass and destruction. Hey, the guy's rich enough to buy vases he doesn't need; he can just buy a new window.

     Seifer lands in the courtyard and swings his gunblade out in front of him. "So this is how democracy works, huh? Y' vote a guy in an' then kill t' get him out?"

     "Ain't you ever heard the ol' saying - let the buyer beware?!"

     Seifer's grin widens as he flips the lever and pulls the trigger. The semi-auto fires, bang-bang-bang-bang-bang-bang, at the crowd. He hasn't actually *shot* anybody yet, notably - he's intentionally missing to scare off people who maybe haven't yet realized what they're dealing with.

     Just because he's a jerk doesn't mean he's a monster, and the job isn't 'to kill them all' anyway.
Zero Kiryu The prickly sensation of other "special" beings coming onto his radar elicits a long-suffering sigh from Zero Kiryu. He didn't really want to get into it on this particular job. He doesn't have an attachment to this politician, and it isn't his job to protect this specific VIP. But he knows Yuuki well enough, and between this and the amusement park with the boogeyman, he doubts that an incursion against a budding new ally of the Concord is something she'll allow to be swept under the rug. His gaze sweeps the room they're in as the opening overtures of the conflict resound across the grounds.

He keeps a mental eye on the pair that are moving oddly.

The hunter does not draw Bloody Rose. The people involved in this skirmish aren't going to be the sort who warrant its usage, unless they come too close to hurting his charge. He explains the count he acquired over his headset, and general disposition.

"Incoming. One exhibiting three-dimensional movement, one accompanying the previous exhibiting vehicular speed, three moving among the mundanes."

Zero considers the situation, and the disposition of the soldiers here, and what he ascertained from simply sensing the movements outside. He shakes his head and calls down the hallways, "Get away from the windows, set up chokepoints inside, let the exterior guard and watchtowers handle their situation. The breach in the wall came too quickly for a viable response to be mounted, and they have a flyer. Either our personnel are going to take care of it or the courtyard is effectively lost already."

"Do not engage extranormals." He adds, dully.
Yuuki Kuran     Since when are we here to enjoy the hospitality? Zero Kiryu asks Yuuki Kuran.

    When the host isn't trying to eat me, Zero, don't be foolish.
    "It has a refreshing atmosphere, doesn't it?" She asides, even as things start to go south.

    And then things go AGGRESSIVELY south, as the wall goes. She had felt the crowd outside, dimly, but she had tried to put it out of her mind. She tried to remain aggressively positive, in fact enjoying not being called to the center stage. A support for a very normal man to make very normal deals.

    And then smokescreens, extranormal actors, and gunshots. She smells the sharp addition of blood to the air, and finally a frown breaks across her face. Zero handles the disposition of the soldiers, while she stands up, fixing her coat. Because that's important.

    "Zero, please try and make sure our fine negotiator here doesn't come to harm. It'd be awful for someone just doing their job to meet their end, wouldn't it? Life is a precious thing."

    Then she, once ordering him to guard Mister Blue Suit, heads for the door downstairs. "I think I will extend some hospitality to our guests!"

    She heads for the downstairs foyer, which will no doubt be breached in short order. "I wonder if they'd like tea?" She wonders to herself, as she moves to the doors. "I don't think tea and kind words will fix this."
Nero      And when that portion of wall is blown away; Nero's attention turns in that general direction, not actually seeing anything, but hearing well enough the sound of wall shattering, debris firing, yelling, and then gunfire. She's not even remotely surprised at the sudden whirlwind of action. She just smirks a bit. "Truly, as expected."

     Arms still crossed, the servant starts walking. "Well! It appears that the time to assert our position against the tides of fate has come." She heads for the door of the meeting room and plods out into the hallway, walking right over to a window overlooking the courtyard and taking a cursory glance outside, taking in the sight of THE REVOLUTION coming to bring peace and justice to this good and fair nation.

     Well, they can try.

     "Hm." Green eyes scan the veritable mob of people charging in. Most mundane seeming with no real cause for more than the usual amount of awareness. But then, there was also that one boy carrying a laser pistol. /That/ certainly didn't match up with things.

     "Hooooooh~" Apparently finding her main source of curiosity for this stint of things, the Roman Emperor vanishes in a whirl of white prana particles. A few moments later, she reappears in a whorl of flame, knelt to the ground. Probably for dramatic effect. Standing up straight, the blonde girl spreads her arms with a terribly confident grin upon her face.

     "Welcome one, and welcome all! To the grand stage of this great nation's turning point!" One arm is drawn inward, and then swung out, materializing Astus Estus into her grasp. "Which fate will come to pass? Whose will is destined to come out on top?" Any rebels that come after her are summarily swatted aside. No, she's not really worried about them. Bullets are deflected and cut down, and anyone daring to melee are batted away.

     But her eyes land on where she last saw August. "How about you, dear boy?" Nero starts, pointing her weapon at him. "Will the dissent of the people give rise to true revolution?" That blade suddenly alights of a swirling flame along it's surface, promise ominous things to come. "Or will their collective cries be as dust in the wind? Forgotten once the day has passed?" She takes steps forward. Slowly, deliberately. Not at all rushing to go slicing up anyone.

     ...Nero please.
Yari Takane Alright, Yari isn't really used to this. The Au Ra blushes for just a moment, turns away. Her tail sways a little. She's not immune to compliments, it seems! She whacks her ankles! Concentrate, lizard!

"I'll keep that in mind S...Seifer! It's nice to me..."

Unfortunately, it seems banter and smoke break is over. A flashed grin, and then the man is off with impressive speed, purpose, and some might say recklessness. Yari pauses just a moment to take it all in.

"He really does have a lot of energy."

She too gets into the action, though. A quick handseal, and aether flows into her feet. Leaping up twoards the ceiling, she flips until she clings to it, starting to run upside down towards the nearest, non-blown-out window. Following that, the ninja all but kicks it open, one hand hauling her up and against the building's outside wall. Up, up, up she goes until she has a fair rooftop vantage point against that crowd spilling towards the lines of measured soldiers. The ninja reaches into her suit, and pulls out two fist-fulls of round cloth-wrapped objects. There's a hisssss of something being lit, and then she does a good leap to add power to ther throw!

A good two dozen ninja-bombs rain down towards the revolutionary mob. Should they go off in the crowd, the poor people in them will discover that they produce localized clouds of burning, irritating pepper-spray like substances that cling to the eyes and nose horribly. Seems the ninja's going for crowd suppression.
Celes Chere     Everything is going more or less as planned. If Celes had her way, this wouldn't have happened immediatly. They'd have taken some extra time to prepare, get a few more hands on decks, make sure everyone's weapon is sharpened, maybe go over their training. They didn't have that luxury, so they'll do the best with what they have.

    Things take their first turn for the worst when an obvious threat imposes himself in the courtyard. There may be veterans in the mob but she wouldn't think them experienced enough to handle someone confident enough to stand before a small army. Maybe she sees a bit of someone else in the blond man's posture, especially as he takes shots not to kill but to scatter and scare off.

    Celes places herself firmly between Seifer and the revolutionaries, pointing Save the Queen in his direction-- as she prepares to issue that challenge, or for all Seifer cares HAS already issued the challenge, Yari appears, raining obvious weapons towards the mob. Celes clicks her tongue, flipping around-- turning her back to Seifer, almost assuredly an insult, and lifting her sword again, white magic flashing out of it.

    This time it's protect. A shell of blue-ish white light, composed of numerous hexagons, forms up around the militia, absorbing a number of the bombs' impacts, which shatter quite a few of the spell's layers like glass. It doesn't stop all of the bombs, the spell is spread over too wide an area, but if it saves a life or two Celes won't complain.

    Major downside: Seifer has the first stab and she's in no position to use that sword to defend herself.
Deelel Deelel has a plan in mind to help but well any former Union will know likely who it is after she does this, but then again it's likely going to be needed. As she goes the keyblade comes out and she's starting to mutter something. A spell she focuses on the crowd that's moving ahead. She's unaware just that the Chancellor is going to sell things out to the Concord or that the Concord might end up doing some good to reign the man in. For now she focuses on the protectaga spell which she's casting on the advancing crowd it might not be much but it could be something that might just help a few more pull through.

She's damn well going to lead from the front here there's nothing else she feels she can do at this point.

The protections pell should help but it's outed Deelel has a Keyblade and how many Keyblades are in this sector? Not very many at all. She'll keep moving unless someone seeks to intercept her. She's quickly reacting to people in her way it's clear though she is also trying to draw fire as well as she goes. She's making for the lodge unless someone intercepts her.
Raditz     Raditz grins a little as he's drawn a little bit of aggro, shifting through the air left and right and all over to avoid generic gunfire, and even catches a bullet in his teeth, before spitting it out and proceeding to power up his energy, and in mere moments transforms into his Super Saiyan state. "Time to get this on the road..."

    The Super Saiyan DIVES through the sky and into the mansion, plowing through a wave of the guards and mooks belonging to the Chancellor, knocking them down like bowling pins, and landing in a bit of a crater, using the shockwave to knock them back. When the mooks turn to fire on him, Raditz uses his own, personally enhanced speed to dodge, rush them down and disarm them, followed by a strike to the temple of each of them to knock them out, perhaps an arm break or two, nothing they can't come back from.

    He does notice the otherwise concerted effort these guys make to avoid fighting him if they can avoid it, so it's at this pint he narrows his eyes, "What? Nobody wants to fight me?" He then charges a ball of energy, and fires it at the building to try to penetrate it. "WELL, I guess nobody is gonna stop me from taking you jackass boss and throwing im to the people!"
Seifer Almasy      Celes interposes herself between Seifer and the mob. Seifer's about to say some big, cool words, slinging his gunblade over his shoulder - when she /turns around/ and casts Protect on the group. She leaves herself wide open to save them.

     Seifer tsks and swings his sword to his side. "Damn..." He mutters, scratching the back of his head. It was *open* - the strike was *open*, plain as day, and he could totally get away with stabbing her *right now* and that'd go perfectly for him. He knew he was fast enough, he was pretty sure he was good enough - he was a master, and even another master needed a *few* moments to turn around and get into a more favorable stance without some *real* funky tricks.

     Seifer smacks his forehead.

     Yeah, he already knew what he was gonna do from the moment he saw her back. Because Seifer Almasy is nothing if not a consistent guy.

     "Hey!" Seifer shouts, tapping the gunblade against his shoulder, "I'm impressed! Great reflexes, great sword, great instinct, and a great face! Can I get a name to go with it, huh?"

     Seifer gives up the advantage so Celes can get a chance to defend herself. Because chivalry demands it - both as an enemy combatant and a lady.

     "I'm Seifer Almasy! Remember it!"
Yari Takane Celes' work has the ninja on the roof frowning. Looks like they've got a magical swordswoman on their side, and a /good/ one. Luckily, Seifer is already inbound, and the ninja isn't about to get in the middle of that one. She can smell a hotheaded warrior a mile away.

There's also the matter of a certain Saiyan crashing down into the building itself! Cratering the ground and turning aside men in an impressively skilled manner, the ninja avoids the initial debris by slinking back into the darkness of the rooftop. Thankfully the various dust and rocks the Saiyan kicked up are perfect cover. Even as Raditz is charging his energy attack, the ninja silently drops down from on high to take refuge behind a bit of destroyed wall. Her senses remain trained on the man as he yells. She makes a handseal.

From behind, magic gathers, and suddenly there's a suited ninja with a kunai leaping towards him!

"You look interesting. I'll dance." Comes the even, whispered tones of the assassin.

Raditz, however, may or may not realize that this oncoming Yari is in fact a shadow clone! Should it hit, the clone won't do that much damage all things considered: it's simply magic and illusion. The voice sounds real enough though, as the ninja waits for a reaction from the Saiyan. The /real/ Yari silently rushes out from cover, drawing her umbrella and trying to rush into the man's personal space from behind. Her umbrella clicks as she aims for the back of the head. Click.

BLAM! Off goes the shotgun end as she tries to blow Raditz' head off with her trick weapon!
Drustan Cynbel Ultimately, the battle itself just exists as a way to reach the objective. Now, the Darkbringer could play nice and fight along with the locals, or he could accept their actions for what they are, sacrifices for the greater good. Thus, as soon as he finds an opportunity to slip beyond the battle, he does so. Clad in Dark, he rushes forward once he gets close, abandoning his shroud as his large, two-handed sword lights up in fire, beheading the guard at the door in one firm stroke.

He kicks open the door and moves forward, the five foot tall man in full black plate armour expects trouble, "That fool of a kleptocrat's head be mine." He says in a dour tone, moving forward, his every step thumping with magically enhanced might.
August Kohler Things are already in chaos. Elites, actual elites, are coming out to fight. People dying all around August. He watches a woman, probably not much older than him, fall in the initial chaos, and it sickens him to his stomach. But it has another effect. It strengthens his will, to carry out what these people are giving their lives for. It's time to rush.

But, before he can, someone appears in a whorl of flame, with a sword. This is already bad, seeing August's weakness to fire. He stays with the crowd, listening to her speak...she sounds familiar. Wasn't she in the Union? He hasn't met her before, though. Which is why he's a bit shocked that she singles /him/ out, blade alight. He needs to figure out a way around this...and over the radio bands, he thinks he has one. First, he speaks. "Their voices will not be silenced. If blood soaks the streets, it will be of those who have corrupted this nation. When fires burn, the ones being damned will be the elite who manipulate everything for their own gain. I don't have time for you." And now, it's time to move.

Mirror shard out, August rushes out of the crowd, hoping to get past the exterior wall. He's relying on his 'help' to make sure he doesn't get immolated, as his eyes glance around, looking for the closest entrance into the mansion. He spots the Darkbringer moving for the entrance, and moves to get close to him. "Tagging along, Darkbringer. You can do the fighting, like...that, and I'll secure the 'VIP'." A shudder at the decapitation.
Wo "A *Republic*," one particular stickler among the inrushing crowd apparently corrects Seifer. "And it doesn't matter when someone sets up a defacto autocracy!" This person, a younger woman that's apparently one of the former military among them, considering she actually has a real sword and pistol, moves to start to engage, despite the warning shots coming the crowd's way from him. That is before someone else shouts, to remind, "Don't get distracted, get inside!" She grits her teeth in annoyance, shooting a look, and then starts to run off to rejoin the rest of the surviving resistance. "We'll settle this some other time!" It definitely doesn't have anything to do with their champion, Celes, taking point on the matter.

    The crowd has an animalistic power to it. Collective action is their strength, even if they individually would be no match for any of the Elites that have set up to guard their target. It doesn't mean they're immune to actions against them; far from it. Besides them having to weave and dodge to, at least seemingly, avoid being shot by Seifer, they're now suffering noxious clouds from gas bombs, courtesy of Yari. "Move, don't get caught in it," comes the booming voice of another of the veterans, well familiar with chemical warfare of sorts. Despite it, a few do succumb to it, and rather than joining their fellows in fighting their way deeper into the building and grounds, are left gasping for air and leaning against various bits of courtyard scenery. Whether left alone or put down completely, it seems they aren't in fighting condition from here.

    There are still a LOT of very angry people, however, and it's almost inevitable, as Zero had guessed, that a good portion of them still make it inside. When they do, while they did have some advance knowledge of the layout from their intelligence operations and inside sources, they were operating on knowledge of patrols and procedures that have been overriden in the emergency. Zero's coordination of the guards is effective, and the choke points precisely align with those that Eliandrio and Celes had pinpointed on the map in the planning phases. It isn't an execution, exactly, though it does turn into something of a quagmire within the halls of the palace, as the detachments of rebels' advance on the peripheral wings of the building are increasingly caught up in a fight for every hallway, having to take cover behind corners and door frames. The good thing for them is that Deelel had laid a spell of protection upon them, which is helping turn fatal wounds into painful ones. (Bloody screen, so real!)

    The group with Eliandro, mostly by circumstance, moves to follow Drustan in taking the literal front door approach. Whether he wants the additional support, distraction, or liability or not, it's not up to him at this point. The old diplomat turned freedom fighter has a shotgun, once used for sport shooting, which is now levelled on any that come close. Adrenaline and patriotism pumps fresh blood into his tired veins. "Do you hear your countrymen now, Acosta," he shouts!? "You can't ignore their voices any longer!"
Raditz     Raditz is somewhat pleased with his art piece which he internally titles as 'Hole In The Wall', and is about ready to hover up and step on himself. He could probably make entry into the upper floors for the common man and fellow elites with more ki blasts, or he could just float through them, using an augmented aura to just break through. Like Cell did that one time when he announced the Cell games. Fault him as he might, Cell had a flair for the dramatic.

    However, Raditz find himself distracted from his next move by a ninja coming in from the side. His head turns, and he shifts his stance on reflex to act on it. It's right when he's about to wind-up for a counter-strike that his eyes widen, at which point his shifts his pivot in order to spin around and catch the REAL Yari's shotgun by the barrel and shove it upward just as she fires it off, narrowly avoiding getting shot in the head by that much.

    "You nearly got me there. It's a good thing I can sense Ki, otherwise I think medical would have to be pulling shots out of my head..."

    And with that, he squeezes at the barrel of the gun to try to crush it in his hand.
Priscilla     With a minimum of return fire, the guardsmen don't bother to stagger their reload, simply ejecting charger clips and jamming in new ones as the chaos unfurls, focusing fire into the dust cloud until they hit something, having plenty of ammo and a better position. Soon, casings and speedloaders litter the hardwood floors, and the scent of powder begins to drift back inside.

    The racking of bolts and the tinkling of brass briefly goes quiet as Zero shouts down the hall, to be followed by muffled voices and thumping boots. Their "native" authority does foreign affairs, after all, not military strategy. Might as well listen to the guy who sounds sort of like he knows strategy.

    The soldiers on the tower have pretty clear shots compared to the others, but the Protect barriers keep eating their bullets, and this isn't the kind of world where drowning an individual person in fire is a common or viable combat tactic.

    Now, with the gap in toughness between rabble and outsider shortening in the relative sense, they decide to focus on the Elites themselves, but after only a few waves of fire, mainly oriented at Deelel and Raditz trying to draw it, they suddenly stop, and start taking the stairs down to better positions, courtesy of Zero's suggestion.

    In the front hall, Drustan kicks down the door to allow the mob to stream in, only for the men that had repositioned to meet them with a commanding "FIRE!" and a wave of gunshots, at close enough range to be a credible danger even against heavy armour. They then do their best to disengage from the swarm that storms the hall over the dead bodies of the fallen, rushing back towards the foyer. Several of them are too slow, and overwhelmed by number and makeshift weapons, but several more reach the killzone they've set up on the open floor, shooting from the upper landing on both sides, and covering the grand staircase that leads up.

    With the mansion rumbling all around them, Acosta and his two retainers begin hurriedly dragging him up out of his chair, ushering off to the fireplace, where the pull of a secret lever opens up a long, dark staircase inside wall, leading down to an underground panic room. Mister blue suit sticks with Zero, wisely assuming his general proximity is a safer area than a basement bunker.
Zero Kiryu Zero Kiryu is given orders. He processes them in silence as Yuuki leaves the room, turning his attention towards both the VIP and their Negotiator. The agreement is not signed-- what they're doing right now is effectively charity work. Their priority is, therefore, their own members. With his charge having walked out to engage the enemy, he decides that his indifference towards the fence-sitter is acceptable.

"... It'll be easier if I carry you. Hold still." Zero advises as he moves over, lifts Mr. Blueshirt one-handed by his clothes, and exits the room.

One step outside the door he draws Bloody Rose from its holster. Not because he intends to shoot anybody, but because this is the only real way he can stop the rep from getting butchered at some point. Not that anybody here has personal stakes against this one.

That guy is getting left in the dust.

He pads down the hallways at a leisurely, careful pace. Another explosion rocks the building, and Zero pauses to glance up before he continues.

The scent of blood fills his nostrils as the chokepoint phase of the battle begins in the distance. He descends the stairs, the very same stairs that were used by Yuuki a moment ago.

He wishes he had a free hand to spare for some of his pills. Somebody down the corridors is screaming about a kleptocrat. That blip, and one other, corresponds neatly to Yuuki's movements. Zero pauses and looks backwards as the fighting reaches full force on this level.

Vines whip out of Bloody Rose and deflect stray weapons fire away from him-- and he pulls Mr. Blueshirt into its protective sphere tightly, demonstrating exactly WHY he elected to carry him this way. It's not comfortable or wieldy at all, but Zero can extend his own reflexes to the concord rep in a way he couldn't if he just threw the man over his shoulder.

He shakes his head, kicks a broken-out window fully out of its frame to clear the general debris that would otherwise impede him leaving while carrying a guy, and exits the house.
Celes Chere     Celes is pretty lucky. Seifer doesn't take the obvious shot (or stab, or both, he's certainly got a weapon that can do both at once). On the rebound she's pretty unlucky in that some of Seifer's words make her see a slightly different man in him than moments earlier. She tries not to let it get to her, relying on her prior experience doing just that for two separate people.

    Turning back to face him, lowering Save the Queen again, she resolves not to look back towards the militia. Those suffering from the fumes aren't dead, and that means they can be taken care of sometime later. Plus, there was no guarantee her knightly opponent would pass on another opportunity like that.

    "Celes Chere. You've extended me a courtesy I can't overlook. Ready your weapon, I won't assault you while you're talking."

    She seems a bit to-the-point, but she isn't sounding rude. It's a matter-of-fact statement, that by acting the way he did Seifer has every right to be fully prepared when the fight breaks out, if not to deliver the first blow. No comments are made about his coming-ons, but that requires a certain level of self-control for her not to be at least a bit appreciative he praised her skills before her looks.
Kyra Hyral August was weak to fire. This was information that Rabit could suss out just by his reaction to Nero suddenly menacing his advance with a flaming sword. Nero...

    What irony, Rabbit thinks. On the first operation, to be pit with this opponent. There was no good way to 'win' this either, not that there ever was a clear winner in a battle against two Elites. But in this case...

    "Haste. Bravery." Rabbit mutters in her synthesized voice, hands sliding over the heavy gun in her hands. The apparatus is cocked and the unit is fired-turns out it's some kind of grenade launcher, and that grenade is aimed directly at Nero.

    "You might want to move." she says, directing this at August himself. It isn't just because of the fired grenade shot but because the Rabbit shoots in suddenly, cutting through the crowd with her injected haste mixture, getting, unexpectedly, right up in Nero's face to swing the grenade launcher as a blunt object as well.

    "Not him." she tells Nero. "Me."
Yari Takane The ninja's gaze widens just a bit. She realizes several things in a relatively short order of time: first, the guardsmen won't hold against this crowd. She crosses her tail that the tohers are getting the VIP out of here. Second, she swears she smells fire.

Finally, Raditz himself confirms he can sense her ninjutsu. There's this brief moment of stillness in the battle where she kinda hangs by the umbrella. Raditz is taller than her after all, and she had to do a bit of leaning up to get that shot angle going. Even worse when it's held /up/!

"So that's why. Impressive. What's your name?" She offers, not bothering to hide the creeping respect in it. There's the sound of metal crunching and the vague scent of gunpowder. Shiiiiink. That's the sound of a blade being drawn as she rapidly pulls away from the physical powerhouse that is Raditz, drawing the cane end out. Part of the tip has been twisted, but the rest is fairly useable.

Nor does she immediately get back into melee. Her tail catches the blade and she makes quick handseals. Sucking in a breath, she then leans forward!

A massive blast of oily black water is spat towards Raditz! And oil it is indeed, for better or worse. The magical damage, too, is far more severe than the parlor trick clone she used earlier!
Deelel Deelel support magic is doing it's part it's keeping people on their feet or are alive. The masked program is also going to be drawing fire but that's her plan. Support and draw fire, she can better take the attacks than others. Her bike however isn't so lucky the light cycle is riddled with rounds and while the alien light constructs that make it up are tough? She also calls out while her voice is digitally warped her tone is clear as day.

"Acosta, your schemes end today. Bring all the off world powers you want! It wont' be enough!"

Taunting drawing fire and she does keep getting shot it and she keeps moving. Her cloak has jagged pixlated holes, in it's hard light fabric. Deelel's taken at least a few hits.

Then the fire stops on her? Wait what the Glitch? Then it dawns on her, off world mercs likely former Union and Confed Elites? She then uses this pause to pull several light charges, a type used for riot control they are more or less flash bangs, she calls out a warning to her allies as she launches them at the relocating troops.

If there are former Allies and old enemies here? What is Deelel going to do about it? It remains to be seen.
Yuuki Kuran     As people break in the front door, a great mass of people pushing through the foyer, people seeking revenge, justice, revolution, Yuuki Kuran is there.

    So are dug-in members of the local guard force, and a sad frown is plastered on her face as she sort of stands there, passively. The killbox all around her fills with fire, but she had told them to just ignore her and that she'd be fine - really.

    As Drustan and August break through as well, she moves with the crowd towards the pair, as they push in. Swallowing her gorge, her parched throat in the mess of blood and gunsmoke, she just sort of... walks up to them. If the militia wants to try and stop her, they can. They won't succeed, but they certainly can try.

    She bears no weapons, though her red-brown eyes shimmer with a sort of internal light. "Escalating this conflict will just create more violence!" She calls at the pair. "Even if you kill him, what do you plan to do after? I want to know!"

    She moves to stand in their way, though there sure is a lot going on.
Nero      "Mhmhmhm! So you say!" Nero chuckles, lowering her sword and ceasing her advance upon August for the moment to banter some more. "That is the creed of nearly every revolution in history, is it not? The people will cry for justice, a hero will rise up and lead the people to glory and promise!" She presses a free hand to her chest as she speaks all too dramatically. "And then the corrupt and the greedy are overthrown, giving way to a new dawn!"

     Suddenly, the Roman Emperor looks much less amused. "HOWEVER, do you truly believe that this revolution here and now will change things in the long run? That another man will not simply take the Chancellor's position? History repeats itself!" Nero swings out Astus Estus, trailing flame through the air harmlessly before she takes a stance.

     "And as such, we shall see to guiding this nation to prosperity through our own means."

     That said, there's a sudden launching of a grenade right onto Nero's position. Her eyes widen briefly, and then with a calculated leap, she jumps away as the explosion rips through the very spot she was just in. "Kh!" The waves of heat and concussive force billow out over her, scorching her dress in places and singing skin. In that blast, however, the servant lost sight of August, and in his place, someone else comes barreling in at high speed, swinging a grenade launcher at her.

     Aestus Estus is raised defensively, and the two weapons clash in impact. "Not him, but you?" She states with amusement as she stares slightly upward into that black mask. "How admirable! Standing in for your allies and putting yourself into harm's way for the sake of revolution. It fills me with such emotion. What a grand play!" And then, Aestus Estus alight's once more, Nero exerting Servant Strength to break out of the deadlock, which was surprisingly harder than expected, followed by a spinning sideswipe, flames trailing along in the aftermath of the slash. "Then allow me to test your skills on this stage!"
Wo The foyer is suddenly the sight of bloodshed. The rebels that had rushed in alongside Drustan had, perhaps, expected guards to be waiting for them on the other side, but ones already primed and disciplined enough to fire in one volley? The front lines, while some are still able to return fire with their own scavenged and cobbled together weapons, are in shambles, with some crumpling to the floor, staining the richly inlays and carpets with the ruddy hue of their blood. Some die with silent gasps, others praising their homeland despite its flaws or cursing Acosta's name, but others file in behind, not willing to let their sacrifices be in vain. "Affix bayonets or ready swords, rush them," comes the call of one of the field officers of the resistance, as they are seemingly intent on using the chaos of close quarters to their advantage, than remaining in a shooting battle that they're certain to lose.

    Eliandro, that had been among those entering, is still on his feet, despite having sustained a gaping wound to his shoulder. He's too full of fervor and his blood full of stress chemicals to let that stop him, as he discharges his shotgun as part of that initial line. When the call comes to charge, he doesn't follow it, though, instead speaking into one of the communicators, a rare piece of foreign technology that had been granted him. While fighting a grimace, he calls to a few of his loyal insurgents to break off from the engagement and follow his orders, down the serpentine hallways of the palace. "But sir, you're wounded! You should--" "There's no time, this is our one chance! Move!" The group that breaks off fires a few shots, but they're mainly disuasive in nature rather than with actual killing intent.

    That leaves him briefly facing down Yuuki Kuran, as well as Drustan does. He cannot speak for his otherworldly counterpart, but he does have a few choice words for her, his eyes glimmering and defiant. "You know nothing of what our nation has endured! No doubt Acosta has paved over all that he has wrought upon our homes and families, all for his own betterment. He is a morally small man that cannot think outside of his next meal, while he sends our sons and daughters off to die in foreign lands. What he will be replaced with matters less than that we reclaim our own destiny!" With his bit of monologuing finished, he shoots another meaningful look; he hadn't expected someone to come down in the middle of this chaos and actually ask them what they wanted, to be honest, and perhaps... No, he can't think about that just yet.

    Then he takes off down the hallway after his men and women that had broken off from the standoff, or at least attempts to.
Seifer Almasy      Seifer is not a political scientist, so he just ignores the stickler. Having a yelling contest with someone on the battlefield really isn't Seifer's style, especially not supporting characters.

     Celes turns around and offers Seifer the same courtesy. Seifer whistles, long and low. "Alright, Celes Chere - now I'm impressed. Anybody can pick up a sword and get good, anybody can do some para-magic and be fast, and natural talent can get you pretty far no matter what the field. But it ain't just anybody who'd return my courtesy, 'specially not when she didn't have to."

     Seifer's fingers go to his face, and he laughs. "Damn. You couldn't just be *good*. You had to be *great*."

     Then he swings the gunblade to the side with a whistling noise, raises it like a rapier, and levels it at her. "Alright then! I'm gettin' excited!"

     Seifer sweeps his hand outward like he's giving a command. "Hey, you think so too, huh? Alright then! We're in agreement!"

     "Let's do it!"

     Seifer's swept-outward hand goes to his choker. There's a flash of brilliant light, and then.../something/...ghostly emerges from behind him.

     It isn't a Persona or a Stand or anything like that. It's...the massive, translucent upper torso of a big, red-cloaked man wearing swords on its back, with three arms on one side and three pieces of cardboard on the other. The three real arms, massive and muscular (though still translucent), reach forward, and a series of blue orbs come shooting out of Celes and into the ghostly thing's hands. The ghost cruses them and then vanishes back into Seifer-

     "Are you *JOKING?*" Seifer demands, "THAT'S the best you could do? LOOK AT HER! She's gotta have some cool moves, and you-"

     "Fine! Fine! I know! You're still new at this. I get it!" Seifer rolls his shoulder.

     "I guess I gotta take what I've got and make the best of it, huh?" Seifer coughs into his hand.

     And then raises his voice into an absolutely *flawless* operatic refrain. He's a baritone, and a deep one. Seifer's voice is /pretty/.

     "MY GUARDIIIAAAAN FOOOORCE MAY HAVE CLAIIIIMED NOTHING GREAAAAAAAT,
SOME THROW-AWAY SKILL I FIND QUITE SECOND RAAAAAAAAATE,
BUT KNOW THIS TO BE A SIGN OF MY RESPEEEEEEECT,
AS A KNIGHT, AS A LADY, IF I'M WRONG OR IF I'M RIGHT,

IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII

WILLLLLLLLLLLLLLL

FIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIGHT

HERE, AND, NOW, NO MORE STALLING, PLEASE,
MY SWORD IS RAISED, THAT YOUR TENSION'S EASED
READYYYYYYYYYY,
CELES CHEEEEEEEEERRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRE
FOR THE SWORDPLAY OF THIS MA-GNI-FI-CENT
SEI-FERRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!"
Drustan Cynbel Drustan is peppered in bullets, unlike the people that surround him, he is covered in armour thick and sturdy enough to provide adequate protection. Adequate, but not perfect, a few of the bullets directly hit him, at some of the weaker points in his armour, and they dig through. Fortunately, it's nowhere vital, but the blood seeps out regardless.

"I heard a saying in the Multiverse." He answers Yuuki as he seeks to push beyond her, towards Zero and the man he's carrying, "The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants." He reaches out for one of the guards that was firing at him, his gauntler gripping the man by the shoulder. A few gasps of air later, and the poor soul collapses to the ground, dead. "The patriots are bleeding, the tyrant must follow."

Unfortunately, Drustan is assuming Zero is carrying off the target, not some Concord negotiator, and he spends the life force he just took to fuel his flames, his large sword roaring to the size of an inferno as he jumps forward, trying to cut through both of them at once.
Raditz     The Super Saiyan watches as the Au-ra steps back with the sword portion of the umbrella, and wastes no more time holding onto the useless barrel now that it's separated. "My name? I guess it's been a while since anyone has seen me actually fight... My name is---"

    And suddenly, WATER OIL BLASTED.

    This act has the effect, since the saiyan allowed himself to not pay attention, of knocking him clear back out of the opening of the building a dozen feet and tumbling back to the ground, and for a moment he's down... And then he pushes himself back up to his feet as he grunts, before flying right back in front of Yari and narrowing his eyes at her, "AS I WAS SAYING. My name is Raditz. I'm a Super Saiyan. And you're in my way."

    With that message sent, he charges another ball of energy and flings it for Yari's head, or rather firing it past her head. A warning shot.
August Kohler Rabbit saved August from a very unfitting opponent there, he'll have to thank her for that later. For now, he follows Drustan and the rebels into the mansion...and gets a roar of gunfire as a reply. He moves to duck behind cover (which happens to be Drustan), but arm gets hit, blood spraying briefly from his wound. "Shit!" Cursing angrily, he waits for the gunfire to die down before preparing to move. But, before he can, another person has QUESTIONS.

"Does that matter now? Should people just be quiet because the elites tell them to? Just sit down and not fight oppression? I say that's worse than what we're doing here. Better to make a stand than none at all!" Meanwhile, Eliandro sends a waypoint over the radio, leading likely to Acosta. August slips off with him, finally drawing his laser pistol. However, he doesn't put that mirror down, keeping it at eye level at all times. "If the door's closed, do you know how we'll get in?", the redhead speaks hurriedly, waiting only a moment for a reply before outpacing him and moving to reach the rest of the rebels, and hopefully surpass them. August wants to handle this himself, if he gets the chance.
Celes Chere     Celes remains still for a moment, in her battle-ready stance. Seifer continues talking, continues praising her, and a part of her doesn't hate it. She has pride as a warrior, and as long as he doesn't slip into praising solely her looks he can appreciate it to some degree. At the same time, this isn't really the time or place to be talking and wasting time; every moment spent with the knight, fighting or otherwise, is one less spent supporting the militia.

    "Thank you, but--"

    Seifer makes his move, finally. Or... a shape behind him does. Celes stares for a moment. That looks familiar. Where has she seen that form before? She's certain she has, but can't recall when and where. The Dragon's Neck Coliseum, maybe? There were many colorful characters there. She can't attach a name to the face, sadly, but immediatly likens the figure to an Esper being invoked.

    Then it drains something from her.

    And Seifer starts -singing-. Not just singing, either, he's singing well. Like he's done it his entire life. To a familiar beat and tone no less.

    "You... took that from me? How?"
    She is not about to try singing just to verify if she still can, no. Rather she points her blade toward Seifer, whose move was definitely a first attack of a... sort. Probably.

    "I'm not sure that'll be of much help to you."
    But I mirror the respect, goes unstated.

    She dashes for Seifer, opening hostilities without further delay. Save the Queen glows a brief black as she slashes horizontally, magic imbued in the strike. It's attempting to inflict blind on Seifer, along with the slash.
Zero Kiryu Zero had expected to smell Yuuki's blood before anybody made their way past to try and mess with him. This would have immediately elicited a terrible reaction from him, only slightly less terrible than attacking him directly achieves. The thin tendrils of thorned vines that had previously protected him spill out voluminously as Drustan accelerates towards him, until the hallway itself is consumed by a great mass of metallic vines. Within the tangle the vines snake their way up and down the hunter's arms, integrating themselves into his body grotesquely. Drustan's blade cleaves into the mass with a great shriek and shower of sparks that severs many of the vines and exposes the white-haired man within, but...

But he is playing an entirely defensive game, and doesn't counter-attack. There is a lightly puzzled expression on his face, as if this encounter is altogether nonsensical to him. Vines begin to regrow where they were cut, but they remain temporarily parted. The individual he's /carrying/, held in his opposite hand, isn't visible at all.

"My current charge is a Concord negotiator," He states, "not the owner of this compound. He's of no interest to you."
Wo One of Eliandro's more personal group, a man that's nearly as old as he is, and dense with scars, grins tooth-gappedly at August. "Glad you could make it," he responds. He's almost *too* jovial given the sounds of battle and struggle around them, echoing through the hallways, but then he looks the part of perhaps the eldest veteran in the rebels' number. He even still has his original issued field rifle, before Acosta convinced the rest of the general assembly that the citizenry had to be disarmed. In response to his question, however, he merely gives a peak inside his weathered battle coat of the old republic, which has several improvised explosives secured within it. ...probably best to not stand too close to this guy the next fire fight they get into. "If the door's closed, it won't stay that way for long!" Any good uprising has to have at least *some* explosives involved, and besides, they had to have workarounds if Raditz, for some reason, couldn't blow up enough of an entryway. Now, it's being repurposed.
Yari Takane The ninja sighs in relief as the saiyan is knocked away! And more importantly, away from the opening. Unfortunately, he can fly. As the man floats back up, Yari frowns very briefly.

"A Saiyan. That explains a lot. Centurion Yari Takane. Au Ra of no great distinction."

A gasp, and then that blast of power goes right for her! She duck-rolls to the side, gaze peering back at the giant hole left by his energy blast!

"A pleasure to meet you." It's about then that there's a little flick of metal, and a zippo is chucked at the Saiyan. Followed by a smoke-bomb!
Kyra Hyral Rabbit cringes inwardly. She can feel it, to a small extent, when Nero takes damage in the form of another tug on her MP reserves to compensate. This was bad-hurting Nero could easily hurt her! But even then, she'd figure out how to work with it. All she had to do was stall, after all, which she can do very well.

    "Yes. Me." She says, clashing against the Aestus Estus with the length of the grenade launcher, something she knew was competely unsustainable due to the legendary status of the weapon. "I am Rabbit, herald of Ground Zero."

    But at least the Bravery gives her a bit of extra strength needed to stand up to the immensely powerful Saber. The deadlock won't last for long, Rabbit leaping backwards to evade the arc of the slash. This doesn't, however, allow her to avoid the flames expelled by the blade shortly after, which catch her along her body. The suit she wears did have some measure of flame retardancy, but it isn't not absolute. Even through the impressive armor of her alter ego suit, she feels the heat and the flames searing her skin.

    Again, not a sustainable fight, but at least she could handle fire better than August.

    She turns on Nero and fires another grenade from her spot which seems to be even closer than the last, even putting Rabbit herself in the blast.

    "Let's see." she says in her electronic voice, "Who has the stronger conviction tonight?"
Seifer Almasy      For Seifer, delaying her with talk was actually kind of a cunning plan. It wasn't *just* praise - though Seifer never gives praise not well-earned, he's also not stupid enough to burn time if he's in a hurry. But *she's* in a hurry, so it works out *perfectly* for him - he gets to do the thing he likes most (hear himself talk) and fulfill the mission (run out the clock so the VIP is safe)!

     But he's also Seifer, and he *wants* to fight.

     Celes comes at him, fast and hard, with magic trailing the tip of the blade. Though he's never seen the technique before, it isn't hard to puzzle out that she's doing some kind of spell through the sword - maybe a junctioned status effect, the rapid-fire reflex considers. Death? Silence? No-

     -Blind!

     Seifer is *ridiculously* fast, and his stance, though awkward-looking, is remarkably solid. His blade comes up, grinding against the rapier in a deflection. The blades spark and curve, and then the rapier scores right across his cheek-

     -and he's blinded.

     Darkness settles over Seifer's eyes.

     Seifer immediately stops singing. His feet shift backwards just a bit.

     Seifer has always been praised for his imagination. He was the one who threw himself into fantasy, into ideals. He alone of all the Garden embraced an ideal so ancient and meaningless, in a *mercenary organization*, that he never could fit in with the rank-and-file. He stood out for his imagination.

     And it is a talent honed to a razor's edge, like every other talent Seifer possesses. So now he draws on it, locks it in. He draws the battlefield to mind, Celes close to him from the blow. Her cape rattles.

     There!

     "THEEEEEERE!" Seifer sings as he brings his blade around in a ridiculously fast slash, going right for Celes's arm - and using Hyperion's curve to throw off her timing. In mid-swing, he flips the switch and pulls the trigger, and the gunblade goes BANG and starts to vibrate like a horrible chainsaw.

     Sight is for chicken-wusses.
Yuuki Kuran     Blood of Tyrants, hmm? Well, that's...

    Yuuki's eyes flicker, but she doesn't actually respond much. "Perhaps there are some tyrants that should bleed, but there are times where there are labels of convenience for reasoning. I could call you all terrorists, and enemies of the state, and criminals."

    The on-the-ground leader of the resistance gets a strange look, before Yuuki shrugs. "He's upstairs. Your timing is rather good. Is this what it means to be Better Lucky than Good?" She asks, before August gets a yet more extreme stare. "Yes, yes, but what after? When the dust settles and the blood starts to dry, what then?!"

    She has more pressing concerns, as the Watch operatives fade deeper into their bloody push towards the heart of the mansion.

    Drustran uses his dark blade on Zero, as he moves through the building carrying the Normal Dude Concord Negotiator, one Mister Blue Shirt.

    The position she had occupied just heartbeats before seems conspicuously empty as she more or less appears behind the Dark Knight. "You... ... Dummy!" She chooses, from the SHOJO HARSH WORDS DICTIONARY, and instead of a 'nothing personell' katana or other weapon to the back, she aims to crack a hand against the back of his head.

    "Zero is carring /our/ negotiator out. I won't tolerate you attacking him any more!"
Priscilla     Bluesuit lets out the less-anime equivalent of a "Wah!" as Zero grabs him, but doesn't resist, not neither being paid nor trained to deal with situations like these. Such is the reason the Concord dispatches Elites to watch over these matters. Negotiators and Elites take care of each other and all. He nods emphatically at Zero's proclamation towards Drustan, waving a sheaf of papers and an empty, open briefcase, still flapping about. "He's right! I'm of no interest to you!"

    The foyer pretty quickly becomes a mess, as much, if not moreso, than the hall filled with vines. Gunshots fly up and down, the air fills with acrid smoke, and soon the rebels have their way through, at least a few of them, whilst the soldiers are busy trying to hold the stairs. In close quarters, the different of training and armament means less than numbers, and brief swordfights spring up and die down room to room.

    On the top floor, the fireplace has long since ground closed, but nobody has any idea that the Watch know of its location but the Watch themselves. It makes sense that nobody is left particularly guarding it directly, as that would only draw attention to the room. That poses a problem, considering the soldiers down below are bought off on a promise, rather than diehard loyalists.
Raditz     Raditz was perhaps being a little too optimistic to have expected Yari to let him have his way after a single warning shot. He realizes this the moment the zippo is chucked at him at and catches the oil that he got soaked in aflame.

    "... And now I'm on fire...! Owowowow!" Raditz begins to flail a bit at the flames starting to roar on his body, in order to put it out. "OWOWOW!" He continues, even as he gets smoke-bombed.

    After several moments blinded and still ablaze, he roars and flares up his aura in order to use the rushing winds caused by the power-up effect to put himself out. He has to transform into Super Saiyan 2 to do it, buuuut!

    NOW he's mildly miffed as he roars and seeks out Yari, "I WAS TRYING TO BE NICE!"
Deelel Things are getting bad, she's doing what she can to reduce the killzones, and now she's going to do what she can to make sure there's less blood of the patriots of this nation onthe ground than those of the Tyrant and his allies. That's when she starts to use the keyblade to let lose with what healing magic she can, it will be spred out but it's damn well better than nothing right? Deelel keeps trying to av ade any attacks that come at her. She keeps the spells going but this is going to make her a target for the Concord and their allies. There's a healer trying to keep the rebels up and in the fight.
Drustan Cynbel "If 'e ain't this Acoste feller, I be the flippin Archon' of Light." Drustan answers Zero, confident in his own interpretation of the situation, regardless of fact his interpretation does not quite line up with reality. That this guy on the opposite side of him is correcting him would be more convincing had he not been an enemy in this case. His initial approach thwarted, he is about to take a different tack.

And then he gets smacked in the back of his head, and he turns around quickly, that sword still burning bright, now taking on a rather unpleasant smell as it starts to consume brimstone, the blade aimed straight for Yuuki's midsection instead of Zero. "Oh lass, ye shouldn't 'ave gotten in me way." He answers, "I ain't care what ye call me, ah'm already called the Darkbringer the place I call me home, enemy o' the people, terrorist, 'ey gimme all kinds o' names. I do wut need doin'."
Celes Chere     She was extremely wrong. Singing CAN help Seifer fight. It's distracting and has kept Celes' eyes from closely inspecting his blade and trying to puzzle its mechanisms out before it became a problem. It might be, too, that seeing her effect take hold made her think his prowess with the weapon would be affected.

    Save the Queen clashes with Hyperion, the former general defending herself without a second thought, right as Seifer pulls the trigger. The vibration of his sword pushes it toward her, functionally dropping her guard and getting that cut he was looking for, a clean streak of red on her upper left arm, the one she uses to hold her sword.

    She pulls back with a single leap, jumping back half a dozen meters, sparing the cut half a second to see if it's bad enough she should switch hands, while her other hand lifts up, as if reaching to grab Seifer.

    The wind picks up again, chilly and cold, as three large icicles the size of a man each form in the air over the knight, and converge down towards him into a single strike. She needs a moment. She needs to see more of how that strange sword operates before she's confident enough to rush right in again.
Yari Takane There's mostly silence as Raditz puts himself out through the power of Super Saiyan 2! The smoke from the smoke bomb billows away and flames recede just in time to reveal the onrushing figure of Yari aiming a series of quick slashes at the saiyan's arms and legs. Seems she's finally attacking in mostly-earnest! For all that she's been using fire and gunshot, she's mostly trying to keep it non-lethal.

"I appreciate that, Mister Raditz, but you're in the middle of a revolution. If you'd like to leave, I won't shoot you in the back."

She states amidst slashing, kicking, and generally doing multiple acrobatic ninja-flips and wall-jumps to form a blurr of attacks around Raditz. She's not particularly strong, but she is fast and accurate with her blows!
Nero      Yes, hurting Nero would hurt 'Rabbit' in some small way. And that small way would get much less trivial at things went on. It's truly a shame that the servant was completely unaware of this fact, isn't it? "Rabbit, is it? I have heard of Ground Zero, indeed." She says once the black clad freedon fighter landed some distance away. "I have heard much about your activities before the fall of the superfactions." She points her blade then and smirks. "And yet, you and your actions have not amounted to anything, have they?"

     Aestus Estus is swung, and the Saber class servant takes a ready stance, blade held up before her. "Do you believe that you will be able to affect change here this day? That your struggles will amount to more than just empty cries into a void of nothingness?" Rabbit fires another grenade at Nero, even putting herself into the blast radius. But this time, the red tyrant does not dodge. She runs straight at the blast, feeling at it explodes right under her. Naturally, such close proximity sends her flying as flames and sheer force tear through her...

     ...and pull at Rabbit's MP to sustain her form ever still. Her clothes are torn and skin is scorched, causing bleeding in multiple places. "Mhmhm! Is that the best you have to offer me, Paragon of Freedom!?" She laughs as she hurtles forward, blade held back, glowing red as crimson flames and prana gather upon the surface. Then she strikes, lashing out with a wave of fiery energy.

     "Rosa Icthys!"
August Kohler The older man gets a nod from August, who is trying to ignore the fact that he's watching people die for freedom. He didn't know these people, but it's pretty sobering about life. "Alright. I have one request, and that's that I get to go in first. If you say he's mundane? I'm not, and I can take whatever is in there, atleast better than you all can. I also have some questions for this bastard, as a third party!"

August doesn't speak anymore, instead hoping that he doesn't actually have to shoot the soldiers as they approach, allowing the rebels to fight them. Acosta's the source here, and he wants to see what this bastard is really made of, as they head for the meeting room.
Raditz     THERE she is. Raditz normally would have kept his head cool, but now that he's in SSJ2, that gnawing fury that he was able to just push to the side befor was now in full force. The slashes to his arms and legs cause him SOME damage, but the Saiyan endures that.

    The difference between the two Super Saiyan forms cannot be understated, as Raditz is not only displaying even more raw power that even those who can't sense Ki might feel intimidating, and for that matter his musculature goes from 'buff' to 'RIPPED'.

    All in all though, he still takes the hits, gritting his teeth as he focuses on Yari's Ki, his eyes flitting around to keep up, before he suddenly rushes at her with a giant burst of speed while she's making another wall jump, and moves to intercept and swing his arm out, to catch her in a powerful lariat, to try to flip her to the ground with a clothesline, and intending to pin her down under his boot immediately afterward, if he can manage.. "THAT'S Enough bouncing around for you!"
Yuuki Kuran     Drustan Cynbal, the Darkbringer, a man in dark plate brings his blade to bear on Yuuki Kuran. "Well, Archon of Light, let me introduce myself properly." Yuuki offers, as her gut is run through with the dark blade of brimstone and bigness. She is, in fact, nearly bisected, though the unfortunate truth of things like spines mean she isn't, and simply spills heated blood along the carpet. She looks a little surprised, and the air is forced out of her in a quiet 'whump'.

    And then she stands there, before glancing down. "I'm so glad that I bought the company that makes these." She comments to the air - certainly not the man who just put a bigass sword through the side of her gut.

    "Zero, please leave. I think you're agitating him."

    Yuuki brings up a baton, and an electric crackle transforms the weapon from small metal cylinder to a taller-than-her scythe with an odd organic look to it and a batwing motif at the top, which she uses to sweep out the sword in her and take a step back.

    "Mister Acosta is on the fifth floor, in his panic room. I am Yuuki Kuran, Director of the Concord, and I would very much appreciate you leaving Zero - and his charge, one of our diplomats - alone. If you do not, I /will/ be forced to fight you."

    She gives a little smile. "Or you can go back that way and start cimbing stairs." She offers, the wound on her side conspicuously closed, though her clothes were still bloody and ruined with the scorched cut along them. "I would rather have a good relationship with the transitionary government then assist a man who clearly is not in a place to govern - as you people have proven. It is a shame he didn't sign any agreement with us."
Wo The struggles of the rebels on the ground are many. The stalemate isn't easily broken against their trained and equipped counterparts, though Deelel is at least ensuring that enough of them stay up to keep fighting the righteous (by their measure!) battle. Still, even with backup and assistance, people can only fire so many bullets, or fight for so long, and over time the ringing of gunfire grows slowly more sparse, as the clashes drag on. The rebels, already with limited resources, don't want to keep wasting shots, and it's beginning to turn into tense standoffs and waiting games. It's a very solid example of 'okay, we're here, NOW what?' In the breaks between exchanges, a few of the ex-military call out to familiar faces: "Guiseppe? Was that you? Never could've guessed it'd come to this, after that time at the Bay of Senecia." Mind games, or just expressions of the tragic circumstances that revolutions always present?

    Along with August, the rebels continue. Eliandro seems to be having a conversation with another party over the comm unit, which does draw a few curious glances from the rebels nearby, considering the context. Is he negotiating with the other side, or even a third party? They trust him, however, since he's been in the trenches on this from the beginning. He finally closes the comm unit on that channel, and begins addressing the local rebellion, "Everyone currently facing Acosta's guards, stand down and cease fire unless you are directly fired upon. I don't know how, or why, but we seem to have an opening. The plan to get to Acosta is still continuing. Our foreign friends should continue as they must until we can complete our objective."

    With this, he increases his pace as much as he can, for someone that, while his wound has closed from its own congealed blood, has still lost plenty of the red stuff in the process. The goal here is to rejoin with any others that might have made it through, and August Kohler, and head toward where the maps had detailed the not-secret-enough bunker's entrance. "As you wish," Eliandro asides to him, as the rebels find it's not strictly necessary to affix the explosives, just yet. Just getting into this office brings the memories back to the old statesman. This is where he had tried to talk Acosta off the cliff, as it were, and attempted to bring him back to serving the people rather than himself. In retrospect, that had likely only made him a target in the longer run. He knows about the secret entrance, a fact Acosta likely never expected to be brought into play, and he opens the way.

    "After you then," he says to August, the rest of the rebellion on this distasteful errand preparing to file in behind. "Let's be done with this."
Seifer Almasy      Celes's jump is ridiculous. Seifer can't even imagine how she did it. Was she SeeD? No, he couldn't think in those paradigms anymore. Normal people out here could match a man with a Guardian Force. SeeD had lost all meaning out here - only personal skill mattered.

     He loved it. He loved it like an addict. He wanted to rub it in the entire staff's faces. But he could imagine that later. Right now he had to keep himself focused.

     Especially since she could use Para-Magic.

     The icicles jam downwards from on high. Seifer hears it only seconds too late, since his hearing and imagination are merely /good/ and not /perfect/. He throws himself to the left. The icicles are bigger than he expects - bigger than he could guess just from his hearing. One of them gets him in his off arm, stabbing right in and through. He feels it. He screams, and it's a musical, beautiful baritone scream that shatters the glass windows nearest him.

     That was unfortunate, he decides. Experimentally he tests his fingers. They still flex - good, not severed. He can still move his arm, but it hurts like hell. He's gonna have to be sparing about it.

     Seifer gathers some blue light in his left hand, closing his fist around it - with some difficulty, he notes. Probably some muscle damage. That's not good. Still, it'll do for the moment. He doesn't need his left hand *yet*.

     The Gunblade Knight goes surging forward. He doesn't use Hyperion like a rapier, Celes probably notices immediately - he HOLDS it like a rapier but he USES it like a completely unbelievable cutting tool, slashing forwards with the tip and the blade and the backside of the blade all at once. Celes is a good enough fencer to see exactly how impractical this is, especially combined with the trigger and the frequent pulling of it to cause the gunblade's explosive vibrations; it's basically trying to make a chainsaw into a hybrid of a rapier, a longsword, and a bastard sword all at once.

     Seifer's doing it anyway.

     "HAVE AT THEEEEEEEEEEEE, LAAAADY CHERRRRRRRRRRRREEEEEEEEEE o/"" Seifer sings again, because he's *always* wanted to say 'have at thee' during a dramatic and intense sword duel.
Kyra Hyral "Tch." Rabbit snorts at Nero's words. 'Your actions haven't amounted to anything, have they?'

    It was true. Desipte her efforts, despite the inroads they made against the Zaibatsu, her actions haven't amounted to much. Even in the resistance they made against the empire it wasn't much. She can't argue with Nero about this because she was right.

    "Each day provides new opportunities." she booms electronically, "Each day brings a chance to accept change! Only now can someone receive it through their work! This struggle will amount to something!"

    She 'khhhs' again as she feels a pull of mana from her body so she can heal up the latest damage.

    It might be the best she can do against Nero right now, short of breaking open her identity, which she couldn't do. Instead, she endures, using that grenade launcher to break away some of those hits, though it only works for a few strikes before the grenade launcher becomes nonfunctional, meaning it shortly blows up in both of their faces, sending the shrapnel and explosion to effect both of them at the same time. it at least swings her clear of the follow up strikes and Rosa Ichthys, but at the cost of smashing her into a building wall. Still, she peels herself off and reaches for another thing in her pouch...

    ...a normal-ass handgun. Silently, she empties an entire round on Nero from afar.
August Kohler Luckily, August doesn't have to shoot anything, and they don't have to blow anything up. Also, they're going to let him take the reins, despite being an outsider, so he gratefully accepts. "Thank you." Keeping his pistol out in one hand, and the glass shard out in the other, the hooded redhead walks into the passage, heading straight for the panic room. He doesn't conceal his footsteps. He doesn't hide himself at all, as he makes his way through. And eventually, once he gets to the panic room, he just sucks all of his anger in for a moment, and addresses the room. He holds up a weapon to make his point. It's not the gun. It's the glass shard, which he looks into with both eyes.

"Cease fire, or I will be forced to take out everyone of you painfully. We can talk this out, can't we? Especially you, Acosta, since it seems talking is your specialty."
Yari Takane There's a slow moment of a memory. Of a certain Saiyan in the Confederacy. Of someone mentioning to 'not fight Saiyans in melee'. That advice, of course, comes entirely too late as Raditz shows off the pure power, and most importantly, /speed/ of his current form! Yari is caught utterly blindsided by that oncoming lariate.

The poor lizardy Yari gets arm-hauled right down into the ground, crating the place with the force of impact. Blood and inane curses splats from her mouth. Her eyes have the look of one very much not in the current year for a good three seconds.

Only that boot pinning her much smaller body down brings her back to the agony-filled present.

"You're likely...correct on that Mister Raditz. At least for a day or two. Next time, I'm not underestimating you." She still has her hands though. They slip into her pockets. Her umbrella sword clatters still. Is she surrendering?

Flick. She chucks a kunai aimed for one arm. Not even hard enough to really stick in all that much. It isn't even poisoned. No, instead there's one of those little bombs attached. She closes her eyes quickly, looking away. KRAK-BOOM!

It's a flash-bang. Despite her own ears pretty much useless thanks to that, she still uses pure practice to try to grab that leg and judo-chuck Raditz off of her through momentum and balance rather than strength. She can't fight that much power, but she has agility on her side.

Should she succeed, instead of continuing the brawl she'll start to look for an exit. Namely, she's planning to leap out a shattered window /away/ from the mob.

Succeed or fail, Raditz might find she's tried to slip a bottle of vodka into a pocket of his clothes or the equivalent. Unpoisoned, thankfully and unopened. Odd ninja lizard, this one.
Zero Kiryu When Drustan turns and attacks Yuuki, something about Zero changes. The shadows he casts against the silvery thorned vines is distorted greatly, twisting into a beastly shape that doesn't at all resemble the figure casting it. It's a colossal thing, still vaguely humanoid from what little can be said of the vastness of its size, but more wolfish or perhaps doglike around the head. If it were a thing that could make noise it could be said to be barking and growling at the elf's back, but it is merely a shadow and doesn't seem reflected in reality at all, save in the most subtle of ways.

Zero Kiryu is alert. His grip on his weapon has tightened from a loose, at-ease hold to that of a person preparing to fight viciously. Bloody Rose rises and the brambles part further as a rose pink gleam builds at its barrel. He is given pause only by Yuuki's proximity, and for this he might have used the vines were he not employing them as a vast shield for the Concord Representative. He steps to the side so that his shot, should he choose to take it, would have gone at Drustan from an angle-- not one that could have even conceivably gone wide into Yuuki.

Zero, please leave.

The hunter stops. There's a little bit of mental pushback that Yuuki can feel rolling off of Zero, as if he's rankling at the order itself-- which he is, he's a vampire and exactly as irritable about things like this as Yuuki can be. The smell of everybody else's blood vanishes from the surroundings and is replaced with hers. He turns away with a grunt, vines closing in around him to conceal the gleam of his eyes.

Most of the vines, save those acting as a sort of safe room for the Rep and the one concealing Zero's face retract. He turns and marches out the frameless window exit he'd been taking before.

If for no other reason than because the smell of blood and a predatory instinct to lay into Drustan is starting to drive him absolutely batty.
Drustan Cynbel Drustan seems about to tell Yuuki to shove it when he twitches at a sound, and makes an annoyed grunt. "Looks like we'll be partin' ways with no more bloodshed, lass." He clearly doesn't seem to like her much, definitely not enough to use her titles. "If ye want me to trust ye? Forget it, I know me a two-tongued snake when I meet one. I ain't callin' the shots 'ere, though, an' I think ye mean yer offer. It's not us ye are betrayin', it's 'im."

Zero's rage is noticed, and if he's got the right senses, he can tell the short, well-armoured fellow responds by infusing his armour and skin with the essence of earth, a subtle but potent defensive magic. It's moot, no attack is coming. "If yer the Director o' the Concord, lass, 'en ye deserve te know what I call meself. Instead o' what me enemies call me." He doesn't move to shake hands, "Drustan Cynbel."

He glances towards Zero, "Who's the dog on yer leash?"
Celes Chere     To Celes, the absurd fighting style of the Gunblade Knight isn't off-putting. She's known people to do very strange things and make them work. A certain inventor king comes to mind, and Celes may never figure out where he keeps all those massive weapons exactly, or why the hockey mask is necessary to operate the chainsaw. It's this which helps immensely in not underestimating Seifer, especially after his first cut into her arm, and his ability to fight with reduced vision.

    Mostly, the absurd fighting style makes her more and more curious about the man, why he created, or followed, such an odd stance, and other suchlike questions. Curiosity she has no time to think about, as he's upon her in an instant.

    Seifer's flurry is devastating at first. Save the Queen is a very, very good sword, in fact you'd be hard-pressed to find a better blade in her world. One or two exist on its level, at most. But a good sword can't account for something like a gunblade's vibration when the wielder can't.

    One cut, it pushes through her sword despite a block. Two cuts, as she decides to just try dodging and still gets nicked. Three cuts, her large right bracer lifted up like a shield to block it, and cut right through until skin bleeds. Four cuts, another attempt to use Save the Queen to parry. Five-- a graze. An actual parry, as she manages to move her blade with the rhythm of the gunblade's vibrations, adjusting her hold so that it isn't weakened. A parry. A block. A dodge. Another dodge. She's adapted. Barely, but she has.

    She pulls back, several meters. Brown magic gathers in her right hand and gets flung towards Seifer, but it doesn't actually try to harm him. Instead, the earth quakes, trying to trip him off his feet and onto his ass.

    "I've been ordered to cease fighting unless I'm attacked. I'd like to help tend to the injured if you'd allow me." It's a simple enough request.
Raditz     Yari would notice that Raditz's attention is mildly unfocused for a moment while he has her pinned down, one hand going to his ear to listen to his comms briefly. It's enough of a distraction on his own part that allows Yari to nail Raditz with the kunai, causing him to grit in pain as he goes to tug it out of his arm, only to see notice the bomb attached to it JUST in time for it to go off right in his face.

    The next few minutes are of Raditz reeling backwards and clutching at his face and ears, cursing and yelling obscenities. "AAAGH! It's like the Solar Flare all over again!! AUGH!! WHY!?"

    It's long enough for Yari to get away, and also to slip that vodka bottle into his pocket. He's gonna be maaaaaaaaaaaaaaad for a while.
Deelel Deelel hears the stand down order and will obey such she's going to try to get cover and start healing /anyone/ who is not fighting, rebels, soldiers, she'll leave the string puller to her allies. Still that there was some sort of accord with the off world group was ... suprising. That wouldn't have happened with the Feds and The Union she thinks but now she's busy trying to make sure no one else is still shooting, and doing her healing thing for the moment.
Nero      "Ah ha ha ha! If you are so sure, then show me, Rabbit! Show me the strength of your convictions!" Nero shoots back as she swings that energy wave of Rosa Icthys at her opponent. It's a furious attack, and her go to technique for melee combat. This time however, there is an unexpected interruption. Rabbit's grenade launcher explodes. The heat and schrapnel fly into Nero's face, sending her flying back a ways before she backflips and skids onto her feet a distance away.

     "Hmph. Most clever." She mutters, wiping blood from her face. It would heal, she's not worried too terribly about it. After all, it's not like Kyra's here, right? "You appear to running out of armaments, Rabbit." Nero states calmly as she makes a slow advance forward, swinging Aestus Estus this way and that, slashing bullets apart, deflecting others-- One strikes her off arm by chance, and the servant winces, coming to a pause. "I believe it is time!"

     She rears back, blade exploding to life with flames yet again! And she steels herself to dive forward and pursue hostilities, but then... She stops. Something said into her radio gives her pause. The flames on her blade die down, and then Aestus Estus is lowered. "...I see. Very well." The Roman Emperor smirks over at Rabbit and shrugs her shoulders, dispersing her weapon from sight.

     "It would seem that this day, you have a chance to affect change upon a nation after all. To see revolution realized." Theatrically, she steps aside and gestures inward to the mansion itself. "Sir Acosta awaits."
Wo It's still uncertain how it happened, but it seems the way was opened for them. As for allowing August the privilege of leading the final leg, it's out of a sort of pragmatism. If Eliandro sees Acosta's face first, instead, he's wise enough to know that he's not certain that he wouldn't kill him on the spot, instead of at least allowing him the chance to surrender. August Kohler is being used as a buffer, both for being an Elite, and also to give him time for some of his blood rage to subside. It seems to have done the trick, too: He does not immediately brush past and unload his shotgun into his counterpart's face, even if it would be a fitting end. Instead, whom he addresses are the guards that are doubtlessly the final checkpoints against what needs to be done. "Lay down your weapons," his commanding voice calls from behind. "Don't throw your lives away protecting this man. You know as well as I that this is over."
Yari Takane A deaf, injured ninja less jumps and more gracefully flops towards ground level. While she keeps a kunai in her hand just in case any soldiers threaten her, she's mostly sticking to shadows and stumbling about. Tapping her gauntlet, she'll use it to transmit coordinates for any of her nearby allies. Otherwise?

She risks a glance back towards Raditz.

"Saiyans are odd." She mutters before retreating into the darkness amidst the chaos, already bandaging what wounds she can.
Seifer Almasy      Seifer is fired up. He's pumped. He's feeling it. He jumps the Earth spell, hearing the vibrations well before they touch. He's about to bring the glowing blue orb up to his sword when-

     -when she calls for a ceasefire.

     Seifer lands. For a moment, there's a horrible uncertainty, as Seifer appears to consider saying no. He's *really* into this. *Really* into it. But...again, he knew what he was going to do before the contrary thoughts entered his head. A lady, a knight, was asking for him to ceasefire so she could help minister to the wounded.

     Seifer's response is as operatic and musical as the rest, as he releases the blue orb and lets it vanish into thin air.

     "DAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAMN!"

     Seifer pitches Hyperion into the ground, where it sticks firm, standing straight upright like a holy blade in a heavy stone. He runs his hands through his hair. "DAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAMN!" He sings again, turning away from Celes.

     Then, dramatically, he turns and points at her. "CELES CHEEEEEEERE, THIS IS NOT OVERRRRRR! I WON'T PERMIT YOU TO SLIP THROUGH MY GRASP! THOUGH HERE AND NOW, THE MOMENT'S OVER, I WON'T LET THIS DUEL FADE INTO THE PAST!"

     "YOU WILL OWE ME,
     A TRUE BATTLE,
     THE LIKES OF WHICH NEVER SEEN;
     PUT BLADE TO GUNBLADE
     SPELL AGAINST SKILL
     AND FACE ME ONCE AGAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAIN!"

     His hand goes to his chest. "THOUGH MY HEART IS,
     FULL OF SORROW,
     THAT WE MUST, PART THIS WAAAAAAY,
     THERE'S NO GLORY TO WIN,
     NO REASON TO FEND
     YOU OFF FURTHER TODAAAAAAAAAAAAYYYY."

     He sweeps his arm to the side and steps away. "CAAAAAAARRY ON, NOW,
     TEND YOUR WOUNDED,
     SALVE THEIR WOUNDS AND THEIR HEARTS,
     BUT REMEMBER ALWAYS,
     MY NAME AND THIS PLACE,
     WHERE WE HAVE FOUUUUGHT!"

     Yeah, the look on his face, despite being blind, tells that he's /clearly/ doing this because he's having fun with it. He also winks at Celes. It is the most flirting he's done since he said she had a nice face. Now that he's out of fighting mode, he's willing to flirt just a little bit.
Wo As for the resistance members around the compound, at least a dozen lay dead and unreviveable around the grounds, no real concentration but scattered around their various posts. Those that remain alive tend to be in various severities of being wounded, from light grazes to 'why can't I feel my arm'. Those that manage to break away from battle to tend to the wounded would find no medics among their number, so they're pretty much all they've got, and it's a very target rich environment for healers, to say the least. If the fighting had continued as the grueling slog it had, and without the active intervention of Elites like Deelel, it's likely that none would have remained able to fight before long.
Kyra Hyral Pieces of shrapnel stick in Rabbit's suit, penetrating through the kevlar-leather combination and drawing blood. Instinct to heal is suppressed, helped by the fact that she's actually wearing a form of Silencer embedded in the suit to help mask her unique aura. This is also the real reason the voice Rabbit speaks with is electronic: she cannot actually talk on her own and needs the synthesizer for speaking.

    She doesn't remove the pieces. No, not even as she feels another tug on her magic particles as Nero heals the damage she's taken using her own MP.

    How cruel!

    Reports start trickling in of the Concord standing down. Soon Rabbit is presented with her own evidence of this and inwardly, she sighs in relief. "How wonderful. Then our fight will have to have its conclusion another time, Emperor Nero."

    She lowers her own handgun, eventually holstering it and walking without a weapon in hand past the Servant to the mansion. "Be well."
Yuuki Kuran     There's a bunch of words about lying snakes and stuff. Yuuki's intense look of seriousness (which is both predatory and sad, with a side order of dinnerplate sized shojoeyes) turns to some measure of irritation and a pouty look. "Don't have to be mean about it. You barely know me, you can't even say stuff like that." She mutters, before lowering her scythe.

    'Who's the dog on your leash?' is asked, and she returns to a light smile. "That's my... bodyguard, Zero. He is also my brother, by adoption. Before some... ah, complicated stuff happened?"

    She cants her head, towards the events happening much deeper inside, to one man's thumping heartbeat calming down, even in the bloodloss. Huh. She can't help but smile like a big dork at that, despite the situation. "It is nice, though, when things work out, isn't it?"

    She lowers her guard and moves to follow Zero out the window. "Be careful where you swing that sword of yours!" She calls, before hopping down out to ground level.
Celes Chere     For a moment that looked very bad. Seifer avoids tripping, proving his swordplay isn't a fluke. Luckily, he then backs away and accepts the offer of peace. Celes gives a sigh of relief, before Save the Queen returns to its sheath, and the former general actually approaches Seifer. After he's done singing and being dramatic, that is.

    At least he seems to be enjoying this.

    "I'll be honored to fight you another time. Perhaps when there aren't any lives at stake, just a display of swordsmanship between two enthusiasts. I'd like that very much." Celes does not dislike fighting, entirely. She'd love a peaceful world where nobody has power or reason to fight at all, but she still shows pride about her skill with a sword and seeks to improve it whenever she can. Seifer's more than ideal for that.

    "Please stand still for a moment."

    Hands raise, and Celes helps Seifer to a cure spell. It's nothing fantastic, she's not a white mage, but that arm of his should feel better afterwards. She doesn't really seem to care about her own injuries.

    With that handled, she intends to go help out the wounded on-site, whatever side they may be on. She's got cure and esuna, it'll at least help keep people steady until proper care can be handed out.
Priscilla     It seems someone's guess was correct. When the rebels stop shooting, and stop rushing the guardsmen down, the waves of return fire start hesitantly dying down, in little bits and pieces here and there. Pretty quickly, nobody wants to be left as the only one shooting, and thus, still a target.

    As stated, these soldiers have been hired on a possibility and a pinky swear. They want to benefit from a Concord contract, and they want out of the corrupt and increasingly regular military. Chancellor Acosta had been their big chance, but they aren't particularly loyal to the man. A commoner uprising is something they were prepared to deal with, but frankly, everything else going on here is way outside their pay grade, and the Concord Elites on-site don't seem too interested in helping the Chancellor out anymore either. Ultimately, there's no sense staying on the losing side.

    Finally, the bloodshed dies down to an intensely uncomfortable silence in the foyer, as both sides can barely exercise the willpower to keep their tensions down, but their weapons ready. Shabby townsmen awkwardly jog past men stood at attention with the blood of their friends soaked into their shirts.

    August, plunging down those hidden steps ahead of of Eliandro, arrives to find Adriani struggling to close a massive, solid iron door, with the help of his two retainers, all of them grunting and swearing under their breath, as it seems the giant, ship-wheel style mechanism that is meant to operate it has become stuck; rusted over from disuse and a water leak. The big man jumps at hearing the boy speak, only to stand blocking the doorway.

    "Talk what out?! What manner of idiot do you think I am?! I gaggle of armed plebeians storm into my home with guns and knives, at the /moment/ where they get the reform they claim to want, clearly as a last ditch effort to have their revenge on me before they no longer have an excuse for their violence, and you expect me to believe you only want to talk?! I'll not be hanged and paraded around town as a corpse! You're going to hell with me!"

    The Chancellor reaches into the oversized coat around his shoulder and draws out a hand grenade. His retainers both panic, and dive for cover into the room behind him, for all the good it'll do them.
Zero Kiryu MEANWHILE, OUTSIDE (and where Yuuki goes)...

Zero Kiryu is standing outside of the compound, having punched a hole in the exterior wall and wandered out into the surroundings. He's removed the Concord Representative / Mr. Blueshirt from his protective vines and replaced Bloody Rose in its holster. In its place he has a packet of pills and a simple survival flask.

The packet is emptied, and from the looks of things Zero has spilled rather a lot of water down his front. He glares at Yuuki as she catches up to him, putting both of these things away in his pockets.
Deelel Deelel is going to keep going as hard as she can focusing on the medical and she does not chose sides here not with what was requeted. Rebel and soldier alike will find her treatingthem though some people may find thier weapons removed so they hopefully behave but she'llworka away and it's going to tax her pretty darn hard.
August Kohler Well, they're able to get in, it seems. But there's an immediate problem: Adriani Acosta is not willing to cooperate at all, and is going to blow up everyone, even his own people. August has feelings on this, horrible feelings that make his opinion of this man lock in place instantly. But now's not the time for that: as soon as Acosta moves to draw the grenade from his hand, August stares into his reflection, and it stares back. And he says the words, and a blue aura surrounds him.

"Persona!"

As the words leave his lips, and his eyes flash with determination, a creature appears. A large robotic man, wearing military dress, with an old-style rifle for a leg. Burn marks cover his body, and his eyeless face has no expression on it. The Tin Soldier makes no noise, but it rushes forward at the moment of the summoning, moving to tackle Acosta down. At the same time, August rushes forward, tossing the shard to the side and hoping to grab the grenade in the case that it is flung out of Acosta's hands. Time is of the essence here!
Wo Acosta was right about one thing. Despite the impulse to simply murder him and have it over with, a far more elaborate revenge fantasy for Eliandro was to have his old rival, and once friend, rot in prison for his crimes. His ultimate punishment would be to watch helplessly as the nation he'd once swindled and maneuvered to seize control of moved on, and flourished, without him. Falling under the wheels of justice would have been a more fitting end. "You'd expect anything less, old friend? When you exiled me to that crag off the coast and thought me dead, you probably thought you'd never hear my voice again. And this day, I've helped give voice to all the others you've trampled on to get here."

    It seems there's enough talking, though. As Eliandro is still close enough in the groupings of people to see precisely what his counterpart is doing. "You enormous, selfish fool--", is all he can bark out, before he's similarly and reflexively brushed back by his most loyal rebels. It's up to August to stop him! Or, get pelted with tons of fragmentation pellets. Neither option is off the table.
Seifer Almasy      Seifer is surprised when Celes heals him. It's writ on his face. He's *surprised* by someone casually using magic. Now, given what he himself did, that's probably more than a little weird, and he rapidly tries to cover up his surprise, but Seifer sort of wears his heart on his sleeve anyway.

     "Huh," he says, no longer singing, "Thanks. Alright. You got better things t'do than deal with me right now." Seifer jerks his thumb over his shoulder, then rubs his throat. That hurt.

     "See you around, Celes Chere."

     Then Seifer sticks his hand in his pocket, slings his gunblade out of the ground with no more effort than a man taking a breath, sheathe/holsters it, and walks over to Zero.

     "So that was a thing," he says, momentarily affable to Zero because A) he's forgotten that Zero is too much like Squall for him to like and B) he's in a really good mood.

     He glances at the Blueshirt.

     "I guess your evening wasn't as much fun as mine, huh?" He asks Zero, a broad grin splitting his lips, "Sucks you had to play babysitter for no reason."
Zero Kiryu The initial reaction Zero has to Seifer's approach and cattiness is to glare at him in annoyance. This is probably the reaction that he wanted, but at present Zero really doesn't have a hell of a lot of self control to go around. His eyes slide from Seifer to the Blueshirt, then towards Yuuki, and back to Seifer. It takes him a little while to muster the energy to offer an actual verbal acknowledgement that isn't snarling madness.

"It's fine." He says, with a calmness that isn't reflected in any other aspect of his body language. It would be more apt to describe him as an exhausted predator ready to pounce on any meal that wandered too close to its opened mouth-- tense, but without a lot of power to actually act on that tension just now.

"I'm used to babysitting Useless people."

He fishes around in his pockets for something, and doesn't find what he's looking for. With a resigned expression on his face, Zero adds, "I don't like the evening. It's too chilly."
Seifer Almasy      "It is pretty cold out, ain't it?" Seifer replies as his opinion of Zero increases by a very large number. He doesn't comment on the useless thing, save to grin a little wider at the Blueshirt.

     Seifer then tugs on his jacket, because he has one of those and it is huge and warm-looking. "Hey, at least we won. Sorta."
Zero Kiryu Zero makes a vague noise in answer to the weather talk. He's wide awake right now, but he knows that he should be veering towards tired. It'll be that way all night. He'll go home and try to sleep, and it will happen in fits and starts. When he was a child he did something productive with the strange sleep schedule-- after a fashion. Even then, he played the role of guard dog.

The thought calms him down a little.

"No. We didn't lose, but we didn't win. The battlefield criteria shifted so that one or the other was irrelevant. Victory or defeat will be ascertained by other kinds of people now." He shrugs a shoulder in Yuuki's direction.

"It was a bad time... to sit on the fence." He decides.
Priscilla     The retainers have already uttered their exclamations of panic at the realization their boss is of a mind to take them out with him, or else simply not thinking of their lives at all. Any further stress that the appearance of the Tin Man causes is hidden behind the crates of supplies they've scrambled behind in the vain hope it'll stop the shrapnel from getting to them.

    Adriani has only time to bellow out in rage, clutching the pin with his offhand, muscles tensing in the motion of yanking it, before August's Persona tackles him full on in the face and sends him crashing into the wall behind him, cracking his skull against the stones and knocking him out instantly. The grenade spirals through the air, clinks once off the ground, lands squarely in August's hand, and does nothing. The pin hangs in there by a millimeter.

    Outside, the soldiers are busy gathering up their wounded, finding an excuse not to look at or talk to the would-be rebels. It's a little bit of a blow to their pride, but not worth dying over, and there are more important things to do. Outside that, blue suit is frantically checking his suit for bloodstains as he dusts himself down, before forlornly looking at all his crumpled and missing papers. "My sincere apologies, but I'll need to print off some more forms before I can continue." he says, readjusting his spectacles.
Seifer Almasy      "Nah, we won. The guy tryin' t'use us gets what he deserves an' we get what we want. We accomplished th' objective one way're the other."

     Seifer shakes his head. "Just when I was startin' t'like you you get all wishy-washy. Damn!" His hand goes back in his pocket. Still hurts. Cure's not a miracle-worker, after all.

     Seifer glances around at the soldiers.

     "HEY!" He shouts, "What're you standin' around lookin' pissy for? We won! Huh? We won! It's always a win if people ain't gotta die more'n takes to get peace, you morons! Now, you gonna mope all day, or you gonna get started with the clean-up, you buncha useless goons! C'mon! It ain't that hard, I'll show you how it's done!"

     With that, Seifer trundles away from blueshirt and Zero to go rouse some spirits. Aggressively. It is like being on the Disciplinary Committee again.

     It's about to suck to be those goons. And probably some rebels, too. They're gonna get swept up in a wave of barely-restrained jackassery.
August Kohler There is only a window of one second, before that pin is pulled. And in a miracle, everything goes incredibly smoothly. The Tin Soldier tackles Acosta to the ground, holding him there in a grapple even with him unconscious. August manages to grab the grenade, and time metaphorically freezes. When he realizes it isn't going to detonate, he slowly moves to set it somewhere safe where it won't accidentally explode. The seventeen year old, meanwhile, approaches Acosta, his face and body full of rage. If he hadn't been knocked unconscious, August was going to shoot him, but he hadn't decided where, likely the knee. But there's no point if he might not even feel it.

Instead, August approaches the man larger than him, pulls back his fist, and punches him hard in the gut, purposely avoiding the head to avoid brain damage or death. And then he glares at the retainers. "Your boss almost just fucking killed you. Come quietly, it's better than what almost happened." He then turns, the Tin Soldier following him instead of fading away. As he passes Eliandro, he speaks quietly. "He's yours. I hope you'll teach him the full extent of justice." And then, the boy leaves, attempting to fan away the almost irrational rise in anger in him as he does so. He's never had those thoughts before, not seriously. But for once, something elicited those thoughts in him. Part of him almost killed that man.
Zero Kiryu Zero blinks at what Seifer has to say, and for a short while finds himself staring after the other man. What can he say to that? It isn't exactly wrong, even by his reckoning, and as rough around the edges as he is he doesn't really care for unnecessary deaths either. From that perspective, he supposes that it's perfectly accurate to say that a form of victory has been attained.

A frustrated huff escapes him as Seifer takes off to get things moving among the survivors-- he supposes, on both sides. It's an odd thing to do. But the more he watches, the more he supposes Seifer is just an odd sort of person. He runs a hand across his forehead and into his hair.

"Let's go." He says to Yuuki, and perhaps to the Blueshirt.

"We need to assign him a permanent guard until this region stabilizes." Zero adds as he begins to walk. He dimly hopes their car isn't a smouldering wreck out there in the surrounding streets.
Wo The explosion that was expected never goes off. While the rebels had expected August to be an unusual sort, since the foreign agents the Watch sends tend to be, they hadn't expected him to be able to pull something like that off. After they dare open their eyes and pull out of their held bracing postures, they whistle in appreciation. The grizzled veteran that'd had the explosives before even comes forward to, very carefully, to attempt to give him a confident pat on the shoulder, while also moving to retrieve the grenade and secure it, before it does get jostled even further. "Good work! We'll take it from here--"

    They were fairly unprepared for the Persona to stick around, though, and seem somewhat unnerved by it. The attitude shift also catches them off guard, and there are some glances exchanged along the lines of 'what crawled up his butt?' They similarly stand by as August adds an addition and unnecessary sock to the stomach, more out of uncertainty than willfulness. "You...you done then," one of the rebels wonders? "All right." They move to carry Adriani Acosta out and to the minimum medical care necessary, before he faces his (heavily biased) day in court.

    Eliandro barely manages to contain his temper in the process, but he suddenly has a lot more to be doing than making good on old grudges. He instead almost sounds mournful and regretful, a sigh of mixed relief and pain escaping him, "How did it come to be like this. We all took office to put our nation forward and stop the petty wars. I suppose it's true, though. You never truly know someone until they have a taste of power." He seems less taken aback by August's shift than the other rebels were, but he promises to the younger man, "He'll know it. You have my word on it." With this, he makes his way back out to the office, himself, and makes a formal announcement over the communicator, on a channel open to all parties. "My friends, the hostilities have ended, but the work of rebuilding our nation's trust in its government and our profile abroad has only begun. I'd like to extend my gratitude to certain foreign friends that supported us in this regretful work tonight. To those other parties...I don't know who you are, or what your business was with Acosta, but you have our attention, for good or ill. I'd advise you to make good use of it."