Scene Listing

||

Scene Schedule

||

Scene Schedule RSS

Owner	Pose
Janine Liberi	The time has come.     The Black Queen's throne room is chilly, and pitch black. What little can be seen from the light cast from open doors includes a row of columns running deeper into the room before them. The rest is inky, murky darkness, flooded with an inescapable chill that permates down to the bone.     At the end of the row of columns, two lights shine dully, a faint purple in hue. Eyes that see all, eyes that bare into the soul, eyes that judge and find wanting, eyes filled with a bottomless cruelty and malice. The eyes of the Black Queen.     "So, you have come, she intones, words that sound like nails on a chalkboard. Her voice is breathy, like the last gasp of a just-made corpse. She sounds... disappointed. "Mere children, rebelling against the whims of those who know better, those who understand the state of things. Not once in all your time in my Forest have you given serious thought to what I am doing. You seek a monster, a cruel foe to overcome. How detestably mortal. You cannot see a beginning without envisioning an ending."     The eyes rise up, and the throne room is lit. Purple flames dance in sconces along the walls and on each column, permitting Die Reisende to see their environs. A lush red carpet marks the straight shot between they and the Queen. She sits atop a throne of pitch black glass, a throne that absorbs all light and lets none escape. The walls of the room are decorated in tapestries depicting ever-shifting shapes and patterns that strain the eyes to look at. Colors unimaginable intermingle in a rainbow that goes beyond light. The roof, supported by the columns, seems impossibly far away, and yet a glass chandelier hangs from it, casting more purple light across the room.
Janine Liberi	The Black Queen herself is also visible now. She is a humanoid shadow, approximately 10 feet tall, those harsh purple eyes hidden behind a bone-white Greek tragedy mask that covers her whole face. Oily black hair hangs down from her head, only slightly darker than her obsidian skin. Not just the color, it seems like her whole body has been cut from the stone, giving her an angular appearance. Her dress is like darkness incarnate, having no tangible hems, no visible stitches or pieces. It is as if she wears the shadows themselves as a ballgown. Upon her head is a grey crown that looks too small to fit it. As if somehow, it had been pressed on with great force. Rather than having gems adorning it, many non-shining eyes bulge from the glassy headwear, each pupil dilated and fixated on Die Reisende.     "Humans are such complex creatures. They yearn for things beyond their station, have feelings on everything that they cannot comprehend. When you cannot understand yourselves, how can you understand anything? The world is ill-suited for humanity as it stands. Devastation would be unleashed over childish pique, acts of selflessness borne of selfish desires. Even with all your advances in communication, you have come no closer to understanding each other. Just look at all the bickering and conflict between your small, powerless group. That is humanity.     Her hands part, seemingly in an attempt at a welcoming gesture. But from her, it comes across more as an invitation to be crushed to death. "But I will change that. My Changlings, under my guidance, will join your social elites, and change society from the top-down. There will be no more need for nuance, no need to conceal the undesirable sides of yourself. Humanity will express their truest selves, that single aspect that truly dominates their minds. Those of you with Persona; remember the you that you encountered in receiving them? Imagine being like that in a society that accepted the baring of your basest shames, your darkest feelings. Would that not be liberating? No longer any need to second-guess your first impressions when everyone is exactly as they come across. A global society of your truest selves, under my command. Come, lay down your weapons, and we can discuss your positions within it."
Ainsley	Ainsley steps into this hall. She breathes a deep, shaky sigh, her body still aching from the battle just moments earlier. Her sword is still drawn, and blood cakes her form here and there. She struggles to keep one of her eyes open, from the pain of one of the bruises caused by crushing wind that slammed into her. Her movements are sluggish, not wanting to exacerbate wounds from glass that had sliced into her earlier. She frowned toward the figure's purple eyes, and lifted one of her hands to point at the Black Queen.     "Your rule is over."     "Humanity doesn't need you to decide what's best for them. You said it yourself: They're complex. A complex machine is never improved when you rip gears from it, when you just change how it is meant to function. It just falls apart under its own flaws, because you removed everything that keeps it from doing that. They need to decide for themselves how to change, and I believe they can change for the better."     "That complexity brings hope, even from the most harsh of beings."     "It brings perseverence, even to the most crushed of souls."     "You were always going to lose. It was just a matter of time."     "Persona!"     Ainsley pulls her journal from her belt, and the great turtle rescuer, Urashima Taro, appears behind her. He's standing up now, and both eyes are open, and he's frowning right at the Black Queen. He turns to look at the others, and a wash of warm light falls over them, attempting to bolster their physical prowess by calling upon their positive emotions. To prove her point.
Emily Branford	"And there it is," comes the smooth reply from Emily; despite her wounds, she walks with a calm poise, already quietly drawing her pistol. "The ancient being that thinks it knows so much better than humans what they want or need. We'll chart our own course, thanks. We've no need of something so old that if it ever shared our perspective to begin with, it's long since lost it. And I've my doubts something like you ever understood more than a fragment of us."     The butler sweeps a hand up and adjusts her glasses just so. "I think if you did, you'd realize how mad you sound. Express our truest selves? It's holding back our true selves that's allowed us to come as far as we have. Being able to recognize when a thought is uncharitable and we shouldn't hold on to it, being able to bite back a snide remark when we know we need the other side's cooperation for the sake of ourselves and those we're responsible for. What you're after will compress into a matter of years a destruction that we've somehow managed to stave off for tens of thousands. If anyone here is a childish enemy of humanity it's you, trying to enforce your fractured understanding on creatures who just don't work that way. So can we simply set aside all this posturing and get to the part where we force you to write a Magna Carta in your own blood?"
William Pauwel	A gunshot rings out. Standing at the far side of the throne room, the light of Judgment penetrating the cloying darkness as if to punctuate the end of the Queen's plea. Reason. She wants them to see reason? The young man holding the gun is beaten raw, a wave of dried leaking from one side of his face like a strange and macabre mask. "You think we'd come all this way, listen to you rant 'bout killin' and replacin' folks, talkin' like what you promise is freedom. Don't make me laugh!" Judgment roars again, firing again and again and again. Slugs of heavy light scream downrange, bolts of pure kinetic force looking to blast the queen from her throne. "How is that freedom!? You'd be in control of everythin'. Everyone. Freedom ain't acceptin' and givin' into some kind've messed up inner darkness. It's risin' up in spite of it! Enough talk!" Will turns, taking his gun with both hands. Judgment's barrel erupts with a sudden flash of light. "We've come here to finish this. Now come and take your lumps!"
August Kohler	Here it is. The Black Queen. As the group approaches, August is as ready as he'll ever be. Mirrored bracelet, pistol and knife, a vest and one of his bulk hoodies. His immediate reaction to the Black Queen is to look up at her, step forward, and spit to the ground. "Fuck you. You know who I am and how I feel about you. Atleast one of us dies tonight, and if I have my way, it's going to be you." The mirrored bracelet is risen to eye-level. "To me, Tin Soldier. Persona!" In a flash of blue sparks, the Tin Soldier manifests. Covered in burn-scars, the robot soldier immediately raises its gun-leg and moves to begin offloading flames into the Black Queen, not willing to let her retort. "Did you really think we'd agree with you and your insane spiel? Come on, now." August only wants to fight, and he's glad everyone else does, too. "Not after all the lives you've spent."
Sanary Rondel	Perhaps it's good luck (for once) that Sanary arrived late, but without having to deal with the Majordomo previously, she's got more than enough energy to spare even after assisting in treating the most grievous of the group's wounds. She may not have been the best or most consistent ally throughout the group's ordeals, but she's here now, and she looks about as ready for a fight as she's ever been!      The war cleric's axe drags behind her as she steps forward with the rest of her frieds, dressed in a long white coat contrasting sharply with the throne room's interior. She glances from side to side occasionally as she moves at the side of the group, trying to keep a clear path between herself and the Queen without getting in the way of the more agile members. She remains quiet as the Black Queen speaks, narrowing her eye slowly while regarding the Shadow and the words it speaks.      "It sounds nice at first, sure. It'd bepretty liberating, yeah, but then we'd just end up with everyone wanting to kick each other's asses and never being able to shut up about it. You can't have anything work out if people are just jackasses to each other all day!" She bellows out a mighty shout, then brings the giant axe onto her shoulder with a single hand while shooting the Queen an odd grin.      "Besides, if anyone's gonna be in charge of everything? Like hell we're letting you be the one."
Atalanta	"Don't have a persona."      "Don't understand this forest. Master has tried to explain it, to me. But all I have is my own knowledge, of the ground I have walked. Master, and our ... friends... are the same. Of queens and of... goddesses... they... are the worst. One trying to place themselves in the front... is the one person that should be in the back." Atalanta draws Tauropolos, and aims not for the queen, but for the air.      Up into the sky, in a move that at the very least August will remember is the physical code for the start of her Noble Phantasm, does a green arrow glow.
Kotone Yamakawa	Kotone was not in the best of shape, she could be worse off a lot worse off if not for the help from her friends and allies here. She was a bit of a stand out given her age, but then again to something like the Black Queen? She could very much be a child. She has put away the now empty mini gun, into her MM unit. She's still carrying the Braton in hand as she's got ammo fort it still as she looks to the Queen for a moment. "So what are you out to make then?" Comes Kotone's reply to the Queen's initial words to the party. 5R She checks the weapon as the queen talks it's loaded and ready to go. "All things end, that is fact." One can run form the end but in the end you will be hunted down, Kotone thinks but she's also not one to just let it happen either. She gets a look at the Queen for a moment. "It's the struggle against our baser natures that can make us stronger,m reaching out to others to cover come but to be one thing? Only that you would take away part of what makes us human as our greatest power? It's the ability to change and over come. Just as everyone here who has earned their personas." "Just as I came to understand I'm still the person I was before I went under the knife. We will chose our own way and not be puppets of the likes of you. People from some of the darker parts of life showed me compassion helped me to stop hating myself fearing what I was, what I had become that I was still a person and I still had worth." If not for Rory and Alexis Maaka? Along with a few others? Who knows what would have happened to Kotone. She's here now a promise was made some time ago to August, Hoshi and the rest? To see this through and she's going to keep it.
Robert Speedwagon	Speedwagon is grateful for Sanary's presence! He and his group were injured by the Majordomo, and he doesn't have any way to heal himself or his gang. So he is definitely glad she's along, and thanks her profusely for her aid! He'll figure out a way o repay her later... if he survives.     Oh but he has something to say on the Black Queen's aims. "BALANCE is needed!" he declares. "Being totally consumed by one's desires is no better than denying them wholesale! It's merely another extreme, but in the OTHER direction! One is just as wrong as the other! Being consumed by one's own desires is not freedom! It's merely throwing off one yoke for another -- becoming a SLAVE to one's own desires!"
Yuna Kagurazaka	The fight against the Majordomo took its toll on Yuna - maybe not in the form of wounds endured, but of energy spent. The effect for her is much the same, though: all the energy her Light Suit uses, whether channeled through her weapons or focused into the defensive aura, still comes from the same source ... and when those reserves are depleted, it means Yuna is out of the fight no matter how it happens. "You're not wrong about one thing," Yuna replies to the Queen with a sheepish, tired, yet still friendly smile. "Humans are *very* complicated beings. But I wouldn't have it any other way - I *like* always having something new to learn about myself, about my friends, even about my enemies." She lets out a breath. "You know, you're not even the first Queen of Darkness I've fought who said she wanted to make the world 'better' for mortals ... but that Queen, the first enemy I had to fight full-out? She just wanted to make it so that nobody disagreed about anything. She phrased it like that would mean everyone would be friends, and she even knew to reach out to *me* with a claim of friendship." Yuna's expression hardens. "But when that friendship came with a price - when she wanted me to obliterate the Matrix of Light as a sign of my 'friendship' to her - no amount of mind-control could turn me to her side. Maybe you actually mean better than that - but you're still talking about taking all the nuances and wonders that make us people, and flattening them out so everybody is exactly what they look like. And I can't believe that would actually make this world any better, or any other world for that matter." Yuna takes a deep breath, the Light Suit regaining a small measure of its normal luster as she hefts the Matrix Divider. "Besides ... my friends seem pretty determined to fight you, and I can't turn my back on them at this late stage, even if I thought you were right. So I'll be right here with them, protecting their world as if it were my own, just like I've always done."
Janine Liberi	The rebuttals begin.     Ainsley asserts that she would be destroying the 'machine' that is humanity. "No destroying. Replacing. Like the cellular phones your kind is so fond of. Making it leaner, stripping out unused, irritating features. Why cling to the old when it is clearly unsuited. Best to throw it out."     She sneers at Emily. Hard to tell under the mask, but it's evident in her voice. "Ironic words, considering who your master is. But I suppose you're used to secrets and self-concealment, aren't you? Such things can ruin a relationship" Said master says nothing, but her teeth are gritted, and her knuckles white as she clutches her sword.     But then, gunshots and flame scream towards her, the party hotheads refuting her every word. She sighs softly and in that moment, the flames and kinetic pulses freeze just as they touch her. Snap frozen in an instant, all energy robbed from them. The icy remnants of the attacks fall to the ground and shatter. "So brutish. You two truly are a fine pair. Please let the adults finish their conversation."     Her eyes snap onto Sanary as she arrives and heals everyone up. "Oh you on the other hand, I think you understand more than you know." She laughs. It is not a pleasant sound.     She then looks to Atalanta and laughs. "Oh, of course your Master would say that. He's the bottom of the heap. Differences breed resentment. He's merely envious of the societal elites."     She looks to Kotone, and sneers again. "You think yourself free? You are more shackled than any here. All your souls are ensnared in a prison of flesh, but at least their prisons were given freely. Yours was sold, marketed, and you must pay further for upkeep. You would have been better off dying."     She then looks to Speedwagon and lets out that awful laugh again. "The yapping of a slum dog matters little. Take your cronies and go home, fool. You have no place here."     She stares at Yuna, and chuckles. "We will see how long your 'friendship' lasts in this place, little scion."     She then regards the party, and coos. "A no from everyone then? That's fine. I was merely capturing your attention as my palace shifted." Were anyone to look behind them, they would see that the doors they just came through are gone. "No escape for you now. I'll adorn these walls with your leathers, and paint this mask with your blood. Breath your last words, mortals. You die tonight." ======================================???======================================= ----------------------------EMBODIMENT OF REFLECTION----------------------------                                 THE BLACK QUEEN                                                           SHE WHO SITS UPON THE THRONE                           -----------------------YOUR JOURNEY REACHES A CROSSROADS------------------------ ======================================???=======================================     she places her hands upon the armrests of her dark throne, and frost washes down it, swiftly consuming the room. It crawls along the floors and roof, rapidly sucking all the moisture from the air. It snap-freezes the carpet, and tries to freeze everyone to the floor.
Ainsley	Oh, hell.     Ainsley doesn't have much time to respond. The ice surges toward her, and she would scream if not for the energy it robs from her body. She grits her teeth and fights the lethargy. She stabs her sword into the ground. And then... she steps forward. And she starts to trudge forward, eyes wild with pain from ripping the scales on her feet loose. She frowns through her agony, grunting and puffing and dragging her weapon along.     "Ripping pages from a book to suit your story."     "Ignorance."     Ainsley is pushing herself forward with something like spite and something like determination. She lifts her hand up, and casts a spell with an arcane gesture, speaking the word of Life toward the Black Queen... to try and sap the Shadow of her animating life forces.
Emily Branford	"Or save it," Emily replies, without skipping a beat. "There are as many reasons to conceal as there are to tell, and knowing when to do which is what makes a person tolerable to be around. Adopting a scorched-earth policy of one or the other is a far more dangerous affair, I assure you."     Her whip is uncoiled again at last, whirled around in a single loop to bring the weapon out and ready. "My apologies, then, I should have spoken plainly from the start, we'd have saved you some energy. We're here for your head, and I've no intention of leaving this room until we've claimed it." Down comes the creeping ice, and up snaps Strands, coiling itself on the chandelier and hauling the butler upward. And in the same moment, she's drawing out her sidearm, her trusty old P320 Compact, and unloading several shots as she ascends.
Sanary Rondel	"You think so, huh? Well, I've got some bad news for you..." Grinning a little more widely, Sanary points her axe towards the Black Queen defiantly. "I don't understand shit!"      That sounded cooler in her head than it did coming out of it. Feeling the heat starting to rise to her face even as it's drained from the rest of her body, the healer bellows one more shout before tearing her boots from the ground and rushing forward. The ice slows her down considerably and forces her to stomp her way along, and it takes her a few moments to channel energy into her anklets to give herself enough of a boost to actually fling herself at the Queen.      What's someone with a big axe to do when they're in the air and hurtling towards a giant? Come down at it with said axe to try and embed it somewhere, of course.
Robert Speedwagon	Yeah, Speedwagon expected dismissal. That's what these powerful people do, and it's why he so hates the rich in his world. "Heh. Seems like the more power someone 'as, the less SUBSTANCE they 'ave, don' it?" he comments. It's less to the Queen and more to his own allies. "Well, ya know what we gotta do, boys..."     He pauses, as the Black Queen mentions that tiny little detail. And he looks back at where the door WAS... "Oh bloody Nora! She's trapped us in!" Just, uh. One other thing. There really isn't much defense Speedwagon and his group have from being frozen to the floor. He can't fly. Neither can Tattoo or Kempo.     "Oh blast it all!" Speedwagon growls. "Tattoo! Kempo! Get on me shoulders!" It's the first thing he can think of to save them from the ice. As for him? He's getting frozen to the floor. There really isn't any way for him to avoid it. But as long as he can keep his boys from suffering that fate, it's all right.     "Right then! Try t' find a way ter get close an' attack!" Speedwagon replies. He's close enough, or at least he should be, that at least Tattoo can make a jumping knife attack at her. It might not do any more than distract her, but it's worth a shot!
William Pauwel	So she can somehow steal the energy from the world around her? Will's eyes tighten at the sight of the bolts suddenly coming screeching to a halt. It's a sign he doesn't miss, the gunman immediately begins to move even before the Black Queen begins her assault. It's probably all that saves him from being turned into a Willcicle. Well, that and the flame he's suddenly disgorging from Judgment's barrel. Waves of scorching plasma leap from the weapon, meeting the encroaching frost front with walls of flame. "We wouldn't have gotten far as we have iff'n we didn't have at least a few things in common. But you know what I think? I think all this talk wasn't t' cut off our escape or what not. I think you're just scared." "What are you even queen of anymore?" Will growls, taking aim again at the woman on the throne. Orange light floods out of Judgment's core, erupting as a roiling sphere of flame sent screaming right for his target. "We've broke yer court to bits, yer Majordomo went down along with most've the shadows in yer castle. What else do you have!?"
August Kohler	August grits his teeth sharp as the attack is frozen to the ground, repositioning slightly. That's going to be a problem, but what's worse is the anger boiling up inside him, especially at her words towards Atalanta. "Choke on your words already. Societal elites my ass, we've torn your 'kingdom' to the ground. I've worked a long way to earn what I have...to do what I have in here, and you're not going to change that! GET OUT OF MY WAY!" As the ice starts coming for them, August can feel his breath turn cold, as the ice moves for his feet. He needs to solve this, fast...there's one good solution, and it'll hurt. The Tin Soldier points that gun to the ground, and starts spraying fire around August's feet, moving to melt the ice, before brushing it up in an arc across the ice (avoiding the others where possible) and trying to blast it into the Black Queen at the end. In the process, though, his feet are set on fire, and August winces, biting his tongue from the pain. "Aaagh!"
Yuna Kagurazaka	A wave of frost starting at the Queen's throne rips through the room - and Yuna's hover-thrusters erupt into thunderous life, launching her Powered Form armor into the air. That doesn't necessarily keep her safe from the raw cold that suffuses the throne room - but it DOES make sure she's not stuck with her feet frozen to the ground. A quick, less-urgent boost to the side makes sure Sanary's leaping arc doesn't intersect with Yuna's position (they were probably both okay without, but a little extra caution), and then Yuna fires off her first shot of this battle - aimed directly at the forehead of that bone-white mask she wears.
Kotone Yamakawa	Things continue on people give their replies to the Black Queen as they make ready for the fight that is going to come. "I made the choice to live no on forced me to. If you think I'm just the puppet woman then there's nothing I can do about that is there?" She knows about the costs of her body's upkeep, that has been a major thing on her mind. "What about you? Your a shadow even if you killed the person connected to you, you are still forever bound by them no matter how much you scream so." Inwardly she keeps trying to not think about the queen's words. She now understand that the door is gone there is only one way out now it's through the Queen. Which is fine by Kotone, as she readies her weapon. "All right then, I won't lie there may be some truth but I am still here, I sitll have worth and I am still Kotone Yamakawa." She opens up with her weapion and starts to get on the move as there's no more real talking. "Will's got a goot point there, you have no followers left..."
Atalanta	"... you are not me. You do not have... nor... will ever have... permission to insult my Master, and... his- our- friends." Atalanta's words are halting, but everyone in the room knows that the lion is very, very Angry.      "You are no Queen." The lion spits out.      "You are merely a baby boar, and this is my history: I am she who slaughtered the greatest one that ever lived... and you don't even live up to that!"      Atalanta moves as the frost comes - but her movement is unorthodox, as Will suddenly finds Atalanta crouched on his shoulders, the lioness having jumped up to perch on him like he were some sort of ... cat-apult. She looks down at him, does a vague little apologetic gesture, before she takes off into the air. Arrow after glowing hair is shot in a tight pattern from her bow all towards the Black Queen as Atalanta aims to rebound off of the wall onto the ground. She does not *stop* moving, for the record.
Janine Liberi	Ainsley's feet are frozen, and it's awful. It's no surface-level freezing, it permates her scales, fracturing them as the sheer cold makes them shrink. But she pushes on, and drains whatever force animates the Black Queen to heal herself. This may be a mistake. When that absorbed energy hits her form, it's like being immersed in liquid nitrogen. The sheer spiritual shock is an icicle being rammed through the chest. And while it does its job, healing the peeled-off scales, it's deeply upsetting to experience.     Emily takes evasive action. Grappling to the chandelier, her bullets fly at the Black Queen. They too freeze mid-flight, but freezing the whole room seems to have taken too much energy. She can no longer totally halt their kinetic energy, so they slam into her chest, one finding her mask and cracking it. She seems unconcerned though, as the frost creeps over the chandelier, rapidly moving towards Emily's whip.     An Sanary throws herself at the Black Queen, hurtling towards her like a missile. The Shadow merely raises an arm to soak the cleaving axe. Black ichor oozes from the wound, but she seems unconcerned. "You truly don't. But you do /know/ things, don't you?" Her other hand comes up in a mighty shove, aiming to push Sanary away with such force that she lets go of the axe, leaving it embedded in the Queen.     Speedwagon and friends complete a man tower, the leader's boots and legs quickly frozen to the floor. But the leaping knife attack scores a few scratches on the Queen's mask, something she takes real personal. "Pathetic," she scowls, her hand lashing out to try and snag Tattoo by the throat. Should she succeed, she hurls him at his friends, aiming to destroy their tower and painfully uproot Speedwagon.     "Scared? You think too highly of yourself to think you frighten me. As for my servants I care little. Natural Shadows are best, but I can always make more minions." As if to prove both points, she tanks the blasts of flame Will sends her sway, and toys with the writhing darkness that makes her dress. It oscillates, forming a round ball that she blows on. It writhes, expanding to form the Majordomo? It looks like him, but the eyes shine blankly, the same purple as the Queen's. The pseudo-Majordomo reaches out, pulls down a pillar with that brutish strength he displayed, and tries to swing it at Will!     Will's fire is joined by August's, and the Queen grunts a little at the combined display. "Really now, Kohler. Are you sure you want to kill me to 'save the world?' Or is this just a sunk cost fallacy for you now? Maybe you prefer to go off and play hero elsewhere? Rebel against real tyrants, feel good for standing up for a cause? I'll let you leave if you like." Janine is by his side, Biancabella conjuring a zephyr to extinguish the flames. She's staring at him intently, as if she would like an answer to that as well.     "Your light is feeble, little girl," the Queen says to Yuna, leaning her head into the blast of light. It scorches the mask slightly, but it doesn't do much else. "There is no 'friendship' here. Only wretches and broken dreams. You would have been better off staying with better people. At least then, your death here would not destroy them." She waves a hand, bringing hovering icicles into existence around her, all of which fly at Yuna. But just before they would impact, they explode. Creating a furry of smaller shards to try and catch her should she attempt to evade them.
Janine Liberi	The mention of the 'person' that the Black Queen comes from causes her to stare intently at Kotone. "Such rot. I have long surpassed any need for them. But, since you too show such concern for my followers, I'll let you meet them again." Again, she takes an orb of darkness from herself and forms it, creating a replica of the Standard Bearer with shining purple eyes. The faux-Court member rushes at the cyborg, whirling its flag to try and strike her!     Atalanta bounces all across the throne room, riddling the Queen with a constant flurry of arrows. Each one sticks into her, the barrage souring her mood. "I've had my fill of aggravating cats. Kindly stop," she says, as the walls suddenly erupt into sharp icicles as Atalanta prepares to bounce off them again.     Flames melt her ice, only to be frozen themselves as the frost keeps spreading. This is a constant threat that the Queen is bringing to the table. "Look at you, struggling together. You think this is enough? You think this united front, this 'friendship' is enough to topple me? You don't even realize there is a viper in the den."     In one hand, she produces an object. It's a small silver spoon, something startlingly familiar to at least one person here. In the other hand, she produces four objects. A trophy bearing Janine's name, an action figure, a doll, and what appears to be a wedding photo. "Someone close has been working against you. Bringing me dear objects belonging to you. The thrall I placed over the Liberis required something dear to them. I tried to do the same to the two of you, but it seems that bearing a Persona grants you some measure of immunity," she says to August and Janine.     "The plan ultimately failed, but we have one more in stock to bring you all to your knees." She turns, and smiles at someone. A constant comrade, a likable friend.     "Isn't that right, Sanary Rondel?"
Emily Branford	Over the frost creeps, down the chandelier, and Emily coils her legs up - then swings herself, extending Strands so that a small amount of momentum turns into a giant swing. At the last possible moment, she releases her whip's hold on the chandelier, allowing her to sail across the room at a much lower, safer altitude, and also allowing her to snap her whip out and clear her landing spot (very temporarily) of ice. Her landing is hard, but she manages to stay on her feet, bringing her pistol up and-     Those... those are Janine's. Her family's. Those are... oh no. The party. The gang that attacked. And Sanary came running down the stairs.     Emily's eyes remain firmly trained on the Queen. But her left hand snaps around, pointing the pistol directly at Sanary. Her voice comes out dangerously low, cold. "Rondel, you and I are going to have words later. But if you so much as twitch a muscle to help this /thing/, I assure you that 'later' will not be coming."
August Kohler	It looks like August has something to answer. "I don't believe in sunk cost fallacy. I would have left by now. Gone somewhere else, stayed on Tellus. I'm doing this so that what happened to us never has to happen to anyone again. Also, I'm doing this because it's /personal/. The Huntsman was acting under your orders. You really think I'd leave? Not in a billion fucking years!" The flamethrower is lifted up, when the Black Queen says something specific. Sanary. Really? No, that's not...but Emily seems sure of it. And it'd be weird for Emily to just jump to conclusions. And that spoon...burnt metal, a family heirloom. August definitely recognizes it, can almost feel it in his hand. "But why would she steal...no, no, no. I didn't have it the night he attacked...!" The gun points towards Sanary. "Did you know? Did you know what she was planning this whole time? How long, Rondel? How long?" The flamethrower revs up. August wants to hear her answer. He wants to hear what she's going to say. If this is the distraction the Black Queen wanted, she got it.
Ainsley	Ainsley struggles and feels so much pain, and collapses to her knees, sliding in her own crystallizing blood. She whips her tail about and tries to pry herself up to her feet, and growls, her snout wrinkling, her eyes wide with agony. Reason slowly erodes from her mind, but one thing remains constant. She needs to keep these people going. She looks up when the Black Queen starts to speak of the items used to hold the Liberi family in thrall, turning them into minions of the Court's will...     The reptile woman's pupils shrink when Sanary's name is dropped. Teeth clench.     She forces herself up to her feet, shivering from the stabbing pain of her bruises, lacerations, burns and the exhaustion that tingles her body. She's only able to stand because of Sanary's healing. She can't believe that someone who's trying to help them would betray them... but she's smart enough to know the complexity of manipulation.     "I refuse to believe she wanted to help /you/ do /this/!"     "You manipulated her! You do that to everyone! That's what you are, that's what you've always been! The Shadows, humans, it never mattered to you!"     "So shut the hell uuuuup!"     She pulls her sword up and snaps her hand out, fingers outspread, and pushes all of her magical effort into slamming the Black Queen with another anti-life spell, but she looks like she might not have much else left to use by this point. She looks... awful. She could collapse seconds after this.
Sanary Rondel	Sanary grits her teeth as she tries to dig that axe in as far as it'll go with her weight behind it, and but it's that massive push that catches her off balance and sends her hurtling back with the axe still in the giant's arm. Thankfully, she lands without crashing into Yuna on the way thanks to the latter's moves prior. "Gh... Know /what/ things?! Now you're just saying shit to and confuse me!" She lands with a thud and a skid with the unfortunate luck of winding up face-first on that frozen ground. It takes a fair amount of tugging and self-healing to get herself off the ground and to stem the bleeding from nearly ripping her face off, but it's enough time for some new pieces to revealed!      Namely, that of Sanary's past betrayal. Of how the Queen even got some of those valuable items and how she knew of certain things that she had no business knowing. Sanary can practically feel the temperature in the room dropping even more, and she narrows her eye at the Queen even as Emily and August level those guns towards her. "... Understood. Nah, I'm done with her. She barely told me anything, anyway! And... Uh. If it makes you feel any better?"      She coughs lightly and starts to channel healing magic outwards, aiming the cloud of good ol' healing juice towards Ainsley and August, feeling somewhat better that Ainsley isn't as quick to question her. "I still ain't even got paid yet!"
Robert Speedwagon	Hey, a scratch is a scratch! Considering Speedwagon and his guys are the only normal, unpowered humans here, that's still something to brag about. Though none of them are in any position to be bragging right now. Particularly not when Tattoo gets snagged by the throat. "Aaghkk!" he manages to choke out, before being thrown at Speedwagon and Kempo.     It's a strike, and there's a shattering sound when the ice is broken. There's also a loud, "GAAH!" from Speedwagon when the ice breaks. It kind of feels like his feet are being ripped off. Thankfully that's not what happens, and the only thing that gets damaged are his boots. Which is actually pretty damned impressive because they're made of thick sturdy leather. The folded tops are ripped almost completely off, but they're not completely nonfunctional.     Thankfully he's cushioned the blow for Tattoo and Kempo, though the pain that his next breath brings him indicates that there might have been something bruised in there. "...Blast it..." Deja-vu, much? It's almost a repeat of what happened with his journey alongside Jonathan -- he's trying, but he just doesn't have the power. He's not going to give up, mind... but it's a painful reminder that his best is never good enough...     The note of the 'viper in the den' gets a blink as he and his group begin to right themselves. "What... are you talking about?" And then the name. His eyes go wide. "What?!" He turns to look at Sanary. "...Why?!" Sanary's words seem to indicate a common motive -- money. And Speedwagon sighs. "...Well. I can't fault ya there. The things I did for money in the past were... definitely less than honorable..." A pause. "But ya better be tellin' the truth! There may not me much I can do ta hurt ya, but if you're lyin'? So 'elp me I'm gonna do what I can!"
William Pauwel	Will has two things thrown at him. This is actually to his benefit in all honesty. The gunman actually squawks mid-defiant roar when he gets run over by a fleet-footed cat. Atalanta knocks him to the ground just in time for the majordomo to hurl a pillar right for him. Will grits his teeth to keep them from chattering as a wave of cold washes over him. He twists, rolling out of the way of the pillar as it comes crashing down in the space he had been occupying not a few seconds ago. The impact spreads in a widening shockwave, sending Will flying and simultaneously freeing him from the encroaching ice all at once. And then the news comes that Sanary... Sold them out. ...For what, exactly? Will stares at her for a long, long time. "You know," he groans then, pulling his bruised body up from the ground. "If it was anyone else, I'd be angry. But iff'n there's anyone here who might have less common sense than me, it's her. So." Will chuckles weakly, his weapon clutched loosely in relaxed fingers. "I... Ain't surprised. Just a bit disappointed, but..." "That ain't gonna be enough," the gunman drawls as his hands disappear into a blur of motion. A barrage of rippling, electrical waves erupt from his whirling pistol. Will rolls forward into the barrage as the electromagnetic chaos unfolds, firing one more shot in the open air in front of him-- Before his gun suddenly goes from purple to bright blue. Will pulls the trigger, discharging a massive blast of plasma into the electromagnetic pulse. Fusion containment fails instantaneously, spreading the plasma wave to each of the rippling pulses. What was once a volley of shocking shots transforms into a field of brilliant, bright blue starbursts. "'Sides! I can't hate someone like Sanary for bein' a moron! S' part of her charm!"
Atalanta	"Master, may I?" Atalanta hits the wall, twisting at the last second, hissing as an icicle slices her arm as she perches on a larger one. At his action, she bares her teeth. They had been betrayed, and they are here, at a final battle. He grants his permisson. A dark purple light flares as Atalanta pulls a piece of what looks like very, very old, but eextremely well-kept fur. It keeps glowing, before Atalanta shoves it - and her fist, into her chest.      "agrius metamorphasus."      Purple light shimmers over her in a brilliant flash, her bow disappearing before the colors settle - Atalanta's green and gold hair going a shade of silver-white and purple bangs, and covered in black and purple fur, much like a proper catgirl (or Felicia, because there's enough nerds in this room. A large shoulder piece, like the head of the boar, off of her right shoulder. Her green eyes have gone golden, and when she speaks, she does not. Instead, she snarls, fangs appearing as she darts over the icicles on the wall, wings flaring from her back as she catapults off of them straight down towards the Black Queen, arrows seemingly firing from her hands before she aims to physically go head to head with her, at the moment, number one enemy.
Yuna Kagurazaka	As much thrust as Powered Form can get underneath it, a "jump" like the one Yuna just performed doesn't let her sustain the increased altitude for very long - and gravity pulls her back down. Which helps a *little* with the englobement of converging icicles - but not with the ensuing explosion; she falls right through a cloud of those shards, hitting the frozen floor hard enough to send cracks radiating across the ice for a few meters in each direction. That impact doesn't do Yuna any favors when it comes to her reserves, either, particularly on the heels of falling through the cloud of shards. Stray surges of power crackle and flare around the legs of Yuna's exo-armor; if it weren't for the augmented battlesuit - if Yuna had taken hits like that to her own legs, even with the Light Suit's protection - she might well have broken one or both of them in the process. And judging by the look on her face, she feels it as though she *had*. There's a flare of light around Yuna, then, and Powered Form disengages. "Get clear, Jiina," Yuna instructs the reassembling android, rubbing her legs and ankles briefly as if to reassure herself that she *didn't* actually break something. "Erina, gonna need you here!" With that call, Erina of the Sky flits over, actually tagging hands with Jiina of the Earth as the latter android finishes reconstructing into her usual form, and Yuna goes into her new secondary transformation ... but it's pretty clear that her own woes didn't distract her from what else is going on. "You must *really* be desperate, Black Queen," Yuna calls out, even as she hovers into position to protect Sanary - and despite the fact that its weight will slow her down, Yuna then summons Shugoseiheki anew, ready to interpose it. Her gaze shifts to August and Atalanta and Robert in turn - and despite her typical gentle demeanor, still evident in the kindly smile on her face, Yuna's gaze is steelly with absolute determination. "This is how she works, isn't it? The Queen *uses* others - any others, *all* others - to whatever ends she thinks they'll serve. If we fall into fighting between ourselves now, *she* wins ... and nothing stops her from spreading her rule over Alderichstadt, then the rest of this world." Yuna's gaze shifts back to the Black Queen as she drives Shugoseiheki's bottom point into the ground, embedding it in the ice so it'll stand unsupported, then works her arm free - only to re-summon the Matrix Divider into her grasp. "My light may not be the strongest it's ever been, but no matter how faint an individual star may be? Fill the sky with them, and anyone can find their way by their light." As she speaks, the Matrix Divider starts glowing brighter and brighter - and as if to punctuate her claim, she fires off a powerful, sustained bolt, aimed not for the Queen's mask - but for her throat, past the lowest point to which the mask's surface extends.
Kotone Yamakawa	The Black Queen is not backing down, nor is anyone here. She hears what else hte queen has to say back to her. "They were just tools to your ends you never ... no you are unable to actually care about others I suspect given what you are." Then comes the Standard Bearer, well something that looks like her and the thing crushes her, she'll fin herself not quite able to dodge in time and hse's knocked back by the flag blow she barely hangs on to hert weapon, but she does as she cracks the floor as she impacts with it. The puppet woman gets abck to her feet and opens fire on the copy of the Standard Bearer trying to gun it down for all she's worth and start to move. "Trying to imply htere's a turncoat is just trtying to make us not trust eachother. I'm not falling for a simple mind game like that."
August Kohler	The gun remains trained on Sanary for several moments as she speaks, August staring her down. And then, in a jerk, it moves to point at the Black Queen at the last second, raining down a hail of flaming bullets at her. "We'll talk later, Rondel. Right now...you! It's you who I want to see dead, Queen!"
Janine Liberi	The Queen's awful laugh echoes as everyone begins to turn on Sanary. Guns and Persona are trained on the healer, but Ainsley is buying none of it. "The only 'manipulation' I did was to extend the offer. She took it wholeheartedly. Traded away her true companionship with you all for money and power."     The healer retorts, healing her allies. "Oh, a matter of payment? Well then, consider this a start." She pulls the axe from her form and tosses it to Sanary, letting it embed in the floor. It now writhes with frost and darkness. "An enchanted weapon. Take it and strike down the others, and you'll be the first member of my new Court. All the prestige and power you could ask for."     But then attacks fly at her. He life force is attacked directly, causing her to gasp. Electrical impulses rattle her form, courtesy of Will. Atalanta undergoes some kind of metamorphosis and flies right at her, arrows spilling from her palms. Yuna fires a sustained blast at her throat, making her choke on her words. Even August forsakes his feelings to focus on her, engulfing her in blasts of fire. She smoulders, and the Standard Bearer and Majordomo collapse into darkness. Did they do it?     The smoke moves, and the Black Queen gets up from the throne.     Immediately, the weight and chill in this room seems to increase tenfold. It's like her attention was split all this time, but now it's all centred here. "Pathetic. You don't even have the heart to strike down those who wronged you well, all except one."     In that moment, Janine is behind Sanary, with a blade to her throat. "Tell the truth," she spits. "Did you put my family through that shit? No fucking dancing around it or I'll cut you, swear to god!" She sounds frantic, unhinged. And that's all the opening the Queen needs.     Great icicles erupt from the ceiling, and begin to fall. Then another set forms, and falls as well. The whole room is being saturated with frozen spears that rain down. Even the Queen is struck, but she barely reacts. "Die now, mortals, content that you at least drove me this far."
Robert Speedwagon	Well, on the bright side, Speedwagon's not frozen to the floor anymore. On the other hand, the Black Queen is trying to appeal to Sanary again. "DON'T!" he calls out, when the 'payment' is offered. "Yer saw how easily she threw the others away... 'ow easily she's ready ter just forget 'em! If ya join 'er, that'll be YOU one day!"     Raining icicles is a bad thing, particularly where humans are present. But where there's falling things, Speedwagon has ammunition. Because he has a sledgehammer. So while Tattoo and Kempo avoid/parry what icicles they can?     Speedwagon himself starts trying to hit the falling icicles, and aim them BACK at the Black Queen. They're surely strong enough to withstand a human's strength. And if they're string enough to withstand a human's strength, they just MIGHT be strong enough to cause the Black Queen herself some damage!     Mind, he's going to miss at least once. Probably LOTS more than once. And he's going to get hurt a time or two. But Robert Speedwagon is nothing if not a tenacious bastard. And this might be all he can do.
Ainsley	Ainsley keeps gritting her teeth through all of it. She turns and sprints when she sees that the Queen is going to attack at full force. She tries to get toward the center of the group, so that she can protect the others with her Persona. She pulls the journal from her belt once more, but the metal is so cold that it bites her fingers. She hisses through it and looks into the reflection, and shouts, "P-p-p... Per--!!"     Urashima Taro is manifested, but immediately skewered and shattered to red shards above Sanary and Janine, and Ainsley gets hit by a smaller icicle in the back. She rasps a horrid sound, and begins to sag.     "Don't... let... her... win..."     Thump.     Ainsley is down.
Sanary Rondel	At least there's some people that believe in her! Or... At least understand her, even though Sanary herself seems to be aware of howf lawed her behavior had been. Through various trials and tribulations, they had actually managed to become her friends and/or companions (what with not knowing Speedwagon for very long in comparison), so the timing of this all is rather infuriating to the axe wielder.      Impressive, but still infuriating. "No more lies! Er. Now, anyway. Before, yeah, but now.. No. I'm on your guys' side 'til we take her out!"      William gets a pointed look at calling her a moron and... Charming? SANARY WILL REMEMBER THIS. She still isn't moving just yet, though, with the weapons still aimed where they are and with Janine confronting her more directly. She doesn't answer the enraged girl right away, instead looking towards Yuna when she draws closer. "Don't worry about me. I can take care of myself." She flashes her a grateful smile at that, then turns her head slightly towards Janine while sparing a quick glance downwards at the blade.      That's certainly one way to stop any dancing. "... Yeah, I did. They promised me power, and I accepted." She lifts a hand to gesture at the enchanted axe, staring at it for several long moments as the Queen's offer echoes in her mind.      She's not moving to grab it, but she's also not moving to get back into the fight just yet. Sanary's... Stuck? Assuming she didn't die horribly in the process, the rewards /would/ be rather great... That thought doesn't last for long, though, thanks to as Speedwagon's logic ringing true with what she's seen several times already.      Also, actually noticing that there's icicles coming down towards everyone and everything. Another wave of healing energy gets sent towards Ainsley as well as one towards Atalanta, and then the healer jerks backwards suddenly right towards Janine! It seems like less of an attack and more of a defensive move, though, and although the Persona shields her from the worst of the icicles skewering her head, she still takes a rather sizable one right through the gut that hits the ground and keeps her jammed in to the spot.      That's a lot of blood coming out, too.
August Kohler	August finds himself staring at the axe for several moments, waiting to see what Sanary will do. As the icicles fall, August is stabbed in the shoulder, forcing the flamethrower up to help melt the ice and stop them from actually taking him out, though he's bleeding pretty badly as he shouts out in pain. "Rrrrgh!" The Tin Soldier points towards the Black Queen again, sagging a bit from the cold and the weigh in the room, but August, shivering, suddenly turns towards Janine. "Hey, JANINE!" What follows is not an admonishment or telling her what is best "Whatever you do, I trust you. But once you've made up your mind, get in the fight. We need to finish her!" August takes a breath. Turn this rage into energy. Turn it into a force to take down the Queen. The flames of the Tin Soldier start to roil, forming into a massive cone that suddenly bursts forward, moving to try and pierce through the Queen. "TAKE THIS! You've done enough! Nobody wants what you have to offer! So just DIE ALREADY!"
Emily Branford	"Is that what you think? That I don't have the heart to do it?" A blur of movement. Suddenly, Emily is there beside Sanary, and her whip is snapping upward, again and again. She can only create the smallest umbrella of safety, but her accurate strikes can at least shatter enough icicles to keep Janine safe. Herself... well, that suit is getting a little more shredded. As she whips, however, she talks. "I simply know what is the appropriate time and place. As I said to Rondel, you are a rather more important problem than her, and we can ill afford to divide ourselves here if we want to live. There will be all the time in the world to decide her fate afterwards, Your Majesty. But if my own master wishes to see her die this very moment..." A pause. A side glance, at the skewered healer and the furious Persona-user. "...I can recommend against," she says, in a voice that makes it clear she's speaking to Janine as well, "But I will not stop her."
Yuna Kagurazaka	Of *course* Janine comes in from the side where Yuna can't easily intercept her. The fact that the Black Queen then reminds them what size of other problems they have ... is almost a relief. Almost. Rather than dematerializing the Matrix Divider, Yuna simply lets it drop to the ground while she brings both arms up; her vambraces open up, revealing the arrays of pulse blasteres hidden under the armor, and she just sprays a shower of focused hard-light bolts above her, trying to destroy any icicles that would have hit her if they remained intact. She'd love nothing better than to expand her firing arc to protect others as well, but sadly, she doesn't have quite enough time to protect more than herself. And in the time it takes for her to secure her own well-being, both Ainsley and Sanary go down with big, nasty gouges through different parts of their bodies. Yuna takes to the air with a piercing shriek of fury and heads *straight* for the Queen, the Matrix Divider vanishing from where it fell almost as an afterthought. Not that Yuna's going to be able to use it to best effect at the moment; instead, she flies as close to the Queen as she dares if not closer than *that*. The individual shots from her pulse blasters may not pack the punch of the Divider, but a sustained barrage can still wear through defenses - and even fi the Queen is too big to seem like she could possibly dodge, the barrage Yuna's laying down is thick and heavy enough to make dodging even harder, maybe almost impossible. And while she's sacrificed the protection that Powered Form provides by shifting to Flight Form, Yuna is very consciously trying to just go too freakin' fast and too erratic i nthe air to be swatted or swiped out of the air.
Kotone Yamakawa	She looks at Sanary for the moment her eyes go cold but she looks to the Queen for a moment, the faux follower of the queen return to from where they game the issue of Sanary gets her to grit her teeth a bit. She does not think the queen is dead just yet and she has to wonder for a moment. "The sludge of someone's soul calling us pathetic?..." Then come Janine with Sanary. In short order, Sanary has a knife to her throat and ultimatum is given. Then the icicles start falling at them, Kotone does not hold still she double dashes trying to avoid various falling spikes of ice even as they falling down. "Turning on each-other is what the queen wants Janine! Think what will happen to your family if the queen, and then she does something unexpected one's falling on her there's no way to dodge and Kotone punches it with all the strength her body has to muster and punches it shattering it before it can connect, there's a shower of ice shard and Kotone is still hurt, with shards of ice cutting into her synth flesh exposing internal workings under it but she's still going even if there's a serious look on her face. She knows Janine wants blood over this, hell given what happened to her cousin Miho?! She can totally get it. "Look If your going to have it out do it after this is over!" Thoughg given she's a Paladins he's likely going to have ot interfear all thing considered. Right now she's got to stay alive and gets on the move againa s the ice keeps falling.
William Pauwel	All except one. Janine... Does something that Will honestly cannot fault her for. Wouldn't he get about that angry if he found out someone threatened HIS family. Maybe. Maybe he would. Maybe he would pull a gun on someone like that. But. Right now. Right now, he has something-- someone-- else to worry about. "Ainsley!" Will yells as the icicle rain pours down. His gun is fast, but not that fast. Great icicles shatter into smaller ones and vanish in vast clouds of steam as they meet bolts of roiling, cyan flame, but it's not enough. Spears of ice slice cleanly through one shoulder, one pierces the opposite leg. A bloodcurdling scream tears out from his throat as pain convulses his world. 'Finish it,' he hears Ainsley say as she falls. Will shivers. His fingers are black with the onset of frostbite. His teeth stop chattering as hypothermia begins to set in. Finish it. Finish it. They've pushed her this far. Just... Just a little more. A little more... "J-judgment," Will whispers, "We can't... Can't let her get away with this." Is this battle worth such sacrifice? The voice is cold, mechanical. Words from a mind utterly foreign to human consciousness. This is not our mission. Your recklessness has put all in jeopardy. Will... chuckles. It sounds more like a wheezing exhale than a laugh. "You're saying I should have just left them on their own? That... Ain't my way. I couldn't just... Look the other way. Not for this. S-sorry, I know I ask for a lot. But I could really use your help right now. So... Please? They're... My friends. I can't--" Will shudders, struggling to lift the weapon. Judgment's eye flickers, plasma seems to sigh out from its core. Foolish. The light of Judgment being wielded for such simplistic, foolhardy reasons. Light floods from the ancient weapon's heart. But-- that simplicity may yet be our salvation. Its core pulses, waves of light rippling outwards, expanding outwards. Will screams again as a sudden torrent of heat and light swallows his arms. His nerves burn as his skin scorches black. Will roars, his voice surging with pain and fury in equal measure. He lifts Terminal Judgment, the globe of stellar protomatter growing, expanding, its light filling the room. Safety disengaged. Jeans mass limit exceeded. Protostellar ignition initiated.                                 --==FIRE==--                                 A globe of pure light erupts into the world. Will screams as he's thrown back by the blastwave. Heat from stellar birth in miniature crashes into the encroachment of frost. The star-shot roils forth even as Will hits the ground, his arms a smoldering, trembling mess of burnt flesh.
Janine Liberi	Janine's hand quivers as August and Emily speaks to her. "She... it was because of her! She just admitted it! If we let this go, she'll slink away! She...!" Her grinding teeth are audible now as she brings the blade closer. She's so caught up, she doesn't even notice that she is about to be skewered.     But just then, Sanary pushes back against her, knocking her down. She takes a grievous wound for her. Ainsley defends her, as does Emily. Everyone potentially throwing their lives away for her... she looks to Sanary's prone form and picks up her sword again. "Rrrrrgh... fucking FINE! We're gonna have words after this, so don't you dare bleed out, you bitch!"     Biancabella arises, and a tight cyclone of wind is generated, fanning the flames of August's fiery plume. Yuna's rush and ongoing barrage distracts the Queen, he own falling icicles making it hard for her to strike at the magical girl. This keeps her busy, long enough for the whirling flaming drill to blast into her. There's a long moment as she screams, the light of the flames dispelling the dress, her rock body melting under the heat. The room begins to steam as the ice melts.     And then, in an almost dismissive motion, she freezes the attack, and pulls it out of the frozen, cauterized wound in her. "Hrm... that was almost of concern. You've won my merit humans, but-"     There is a blinding light in the throne room, as Judgement truly fires.     "Wha-" the Queen begins, before it swallows her up. Her screams are loud, but short. All the ice does not melt, but instantly sublimates, forming rainclouds upon the ceiling. From the core of that blinding light is a sudden explosion of darkness. The room becomes lit like celestial bodies, flooded with the blackness of nothing, yet still lit buy that burning shot.     And then it passes, and the Queen is gone.     The throne is unblemished, but nothing remains save the objects she produced, somehow still whole. Janine stares for a long moment before flopping to the ground, the rain pouring down on everyone, soft and gentle. The door reappears and opens, now leading into the entrance hall of the castle, permitting a quick exit.     "We did it..." Janine says. Her words are choked, and she brings her good hand to her face. "It's over..."
Robert Speedwagon	With so many massive attacks being hurled at the Black Queen, Speedwagon has to break off his own attack and back away himself. He's too close to this many strong attacks from his allies. And besides that, there are allies that might still be in danger. He has no idea if even these strong attacks will be enough to defeat the Black Queen, and he doesn't want to chance her still having the strength to fight with so many allies falling.     While the Black Queen deals with these attacks in whatever way she does, Speedwagon calls out, "Tattoo! Kempo! Start takin' charge 'o the fallen!" Tattoo goes to Will, Kempo to Ainsley. And then Robert himself goes to Sanary's impaled form, trying to use the sledgehammer to break her free. Preferrably without hurting her more than she's already hurt.     The Ogre Street gang will be trying to corral fallen allies in a reasonably safe area (not that there's a particularly 'safe' area anywhere in this castle, mind). Speedwagon and Tattoo intend to use their own bodies as shields between fallen allies and any further attacks; Kempo will be trying to ensure that 'fallen' doesn't change to 'dead'.     The Black Queen's lightshow, however, forces the group to shield their eyes, with cries of surprise! By the time the three of them are able to see again, it's raining. Inside. Somehow. He does allow himself a sigh of relief, however. "...Thank God..." he breathes.     Though he's not going to leave himself to dally too long. "Anybody 'ere know healin'?" He asks. "This lot can use it badly now!" Hopefully not ALL the healers have been taken down. Because there's nothing he can do to help. ''('...Again. Just like last time... I'm always on the sidelines...')''
Emily Branford	A gloved hand comes to rest on Janine's shoulder. The calming effect of this is somewhat mitigated by the fact the glove is streaked with blood. And half-shredded. "It's not over until we're out of here safely." And perhaps not even then, but she's not going to say that out loud. "We all need to be getting out of here, and quickly. But we've got the chance to do that now, so up you go, then." Louder, she adds, "Anyone able to walk, cover Mr. Speedwagon and his gentleman companions." They're going to need to figure out what to do with Sanary, for that matter; for now, all Emily can really do is watch their turncoat ally and make sure the girl doesn't try to sneak out.
August Kohler	Janine decides to assist August. While still very upset, he manages to crack a slight smile...and the Queen's still standing. "Shit! How-" And then, he's interrupted by Judgment. The massive blast causes August to brace, as it echoes through the room, and seems to take out the Black Queen with it. As Will is sent flying back, August calls out to him. "Will!" Dashing in Will's direction, August moves to check on him, making sure he didn't just blow himself up. Once he notices it's only an issue with his arms (from the outside), the redhead sighs in relief, and stares at the throne. "Good riddance. The world will be a better place without her." And then, a nod to Emily, as August turns to assist Speedwagon and his gang. "The healers are both down. We'll need to drag them out of here." If that seems to be the plan, August would move to help heft Will out, even if he himself is badly injured in the shoulder. He'll manage.
William Pauwel	William Pauwel is... A mess. Being at ground zero of the birth and death of a star, even one so small, has taken its terrible toll. The gunslinger is slumped motionlessly against one of the palace walls, his arms loose at his sides. They're... Black. The skin closest to his hands looks as though it's been turned to carbon ash, and everything further up is not much better. Is it even possible he'd keep his limbs at this point? ... That can wait for later. But for now... They really need to get him to somewhere safe. Judgment rests in Will's ashen palm, its bright blue light pulsing steadily at its heart. Well. At least that's intact.
Ainsley	Ainsley wakes up.     "O-o-oh gods--" she wheezes, curling up when she's moved, wincing at her own agony. The warmth restored to her slowly. The ice is all gone, and the attack Will just used was enough to jumpstart her cold-blooded body again... but she's still severely wounded. She shivers and cries lightly, because she's in a lot of pain. The ice was, well, numbing her, and now all the pain is hitting her at once.     "Hnnnn..." She pushes herself up, slowly, to her knees.     Despite being awake, she is definitely not leaving under her own power.
Sanary Rondel	Hissing through her teeth, Sanary keeps herself still as she tries to pull that icicle out carefully. There's still work to be done, but she can't exactly do that while she's stuck with that thing jammed through her! Luckily, the Ogre Street Gang are on the case, and she bites down on her lip hard enough to draw blood so as to not startle anyone with outwardly showing how much it hurts to have an icicle crammed through the gut.      Silver lining: Janine didn't want to kill her any more! Or... Immediately? Immediately, at least. Between the Ogre Street Gang getting her somewhere safer and the ice melting with the Queen's demise, the axe wielder can focus on mot bleeding out. Not getting murdered by her companions would also be nice, of course.      Friends? Allies? That much is harder to say considering what had been revealed moments earlier. She blinks slowly as she's more than content to just lay in place for the time being, biting back more pain while pressing her palms firmly against one end of her wound. "D... Don't move Ainsley too much. Pressure on the... Like this." Sanary manages to gasp out, pausing frequently to channel healing magic into the wound just to keep everything inside herself.      "If... Huh. Yeah, someone do that to Ainsley... Whoever else, too. Holler so I... Aim." She's not even using complete sentences at this point, and her eye is lacking its usual vibrant redness in favor of a duller red. It's easier to focus on healing that way! Should anyone holler for healing, she'll send some healing magic that way as well, although it's largely unfocused without being able to see properly.      If she's lucky, maybe Janine will just forget to ask. And Emily. And August. And Yuna. And William. And Kotone. And Speedwagon. And Ainsley.      Shit.
Kotone Yamakawa	Things are getting very intense for everyone with the drama playing out between Janine and Sanary, all the while the Keeps moving but then something else happens as she comes to a halt. The massive attacks are focused on the queen and she seem to be finally staring to go down it seems like it's at an and. The now clearly badly damaged Kotone just stops and drops to her knees. There's been a good deal of damage and she watches as the room start to change and soon the queen is gone. The throne is still there, the rain falls on them and she doesn't mind at all she looks to Janine. Its over? Is it over...." She's thanking whatever Deity or deities were watching over them today and she's very happy for that. She gets back to her feet and looks to Robert for a moment and then to everyone else. She'll move to go help Robert Speedwagon if he while August seems to be going to Will. "Right lets go and she wont' forget about Sanary's actions they may have a talk later about things. "Come on Robert lets get you out of here, can someone get Ainsley?!"
Yuna Kagurazaka	There's a LOT of fire being thrown around all of a sudden. August's elemental assault, augmented by that whirlwind, isn't too hard for Yuna to steer clear of; the firestorm unleashed from Terminal Judgment is at least an order of magnitude bigger and hotter, and *that* is what forces Yuna to back away, one arm raised to shield her face against that scorching light. When it abates .... the battle is over. Whee. Yuna's vambraces snap closed over the pulse blasters, and she flits down to reclaim her kite shield, letting it vanish back into her 'inventory'. Speedwagon and his support buddies are already taking care of the fallen; Yuna does her best to help with Sanary - breathing an audible sigh of relief as it becomes clear that the axe-wielding healer is *alive* and likely to stay that way. "Yeah, nobody die please, the Queen's already dead so I can't avenge anyone at this point." She may be joking. But for those who've seen Yuna genuinely lose her shit before - and WHY she goes ballistic, on those rare occasions when it happens - there's a very serious undercurrent to the ostensibly light-hearted request. There is one thing Yuna will make sure to do before she leaves, though. The Matrix Divider is rematerialized, and Yuna settles her feet on the ground to brace herself while she charges up the biggest blast she can manage. Her legs are trembling within seconds, but she doesn't let up; Jiina, Marina, and Erina fly over to support her - one or another of the androids can be heard whispering to Yuna - and the battlesuited blonde *still* keeps gathering and focusing energy. For all Yuna's normal carefree nature, her gentle and friendly demeanor, her readiness to forgive wrongs done to her and focus on renewing friendships, there is one thing she is *not* going to permit the existence of. Because when Yuna pulls the trigger, firing a shot whose backblast sets the Light Suit itself to fragmenting, the *main* attack - aimed squarely at the axe which the Black Queen 'offered' as the instrument of Sanary's betrayal - is meant to completely obliterate that weapon. She imbues the attack with as much of her powers' "holy" aspect as she can, for good measure - Light to counter the Queen's darkness. Then Yuna collapses, the Matrix Divider vanishing much as the pieces of her Light Suit seem to have, and the trio of androids just carry Yuna out through that door, ready to get her home so she can rest up.