Scene Listing || Scene Schedule || Scene Schedule RSS
Owner Pose
Foreigner      Two men stand on the shore of a small island in the middle of the Great Ocean, watching a construction work take place.

     One of them is a dapper young gentleman in an old United States naval officer's uniform from shortly before the Civil War. He has a charming smile, short brown hair, a hawkish nose, a slender build, and eyes the color of liquid insanity. Under his arm is tucked a long cane with a whorl that seems to writhe and twist, like a tendril's been carved into the wood.

     The other is a pale-faced, pale-skinned /thing/. It's human, but only barely. Balding, pale-faced, with bulbous eyes and a bulging jaw, with gills on its neck and slime on its skin, the 'man' has been stuffed into a similar naval officer's uniform, though of substantially lower rank. On the back of its hand is a writhing red crest, and on its uniform is a nametag that reads ICHABOD in one set of letters and below it something that gives people a headache to try and read, some conjunction of syllables that makes no sense if one's throat is not uniquely suited to slur-gargling salt water through half a speech.

     The construction is a thing that hurts to look at. It doesn't mathematically make *sense*. It's like looking at black iron tentacles rising from a small island, but the tentacles twist in ways that would make Euclid babble and Pythagoras cry tears of blood, and from different angles they appear different, as spatially irreverant as can be. Around the vast tentacles are set up bunkers of black iron mounted with cannons, armed by more pale-faced men and women with bulbous eyes and white military uniforms. Horrid sea monsters assemble the construction like disgusting organic cranes, holding scaffolding aloft. Around the island sail ships the color of a poisoned Halloween midnight, long ironclad ships with riggings, black sails, water wheels, and smokestacks. They belch black smog into the sky and foul the water with black ichor, swarming with yet more white-skinned bulbous freaks.

     The dapper young gentleman turns to Ichabod with a smile. "Ichabod, my boy, it's fine work you've done," he says, his accent the accent of a New England elite, as refined and genteel as his appearance, "Fine work."

     "Thank you, Great Father," burbles the white-skinned Ichabod, "We should be finished within the hour."

     "Good, good," the young man says with a smile, clapping Ichabod on the shoulder. He pulls out a pocketwatch and checks it, then looks up at the fading sunlight. "Won't be long now. And if I recall Agatha's report, there should be a trade ship passing through in a little over that, isn't that right?"

     "Yes, Father."

     "Excellent. A little bonus celebration, then. Send the ship a message and let them know that the Foreigner will graciously accept their surrender and swears no harm will come to them." The Foreigner removes his cane and leans on it. "Oh, don't look at me like that, Theodore."

     In the shadows, a hulking, horrifying monstrosity simply stares, blinking asynchronous bulbous eyes out. Ichabod looks over and laughs. The Foreigner laughs with him.

     "Well fair enough, Theodore," he says to the beast, "I suppose it's been a while. Amend that statement, then, Ichabod."
Foreigner      "The Foreigner swears that no harm will come to them unless they struggle."

     "Then, well, I can't be held responsible, can I?" He spreads his arms in a shrug, turns, and looks out over the water with a deep smile, his eyes flickering with mad illumination. "It's a fine place for a base, Ichabod. Fine place. Maybe even a town. You could raise some good children here." The Foreigner gives him a gentle smile. "Are you married yet?"

     "No, Father. I was going to take one of the girls from Boston, but you sold them to Leng."

     "Well, agreements are important," Foreigner says with a distant sigh, "But it's such a shame that a nice young man like you hasn't started a family yet. You're just the right age. You should go out and find a lady of your own, my boy. If you like, I can help you out. Your old man still knows how to woo."

     Ichabod's pale face turns slightly bluish. "No thank you, Father. I can do it myself."

     The Foreigner laughs. "Well, if you insist. First things first, though. Let's set up the Lighthouse."

     "Indeed, Father."

     As if just by speaking of it, the tentacles of the Lighthouse pulse with a sudden burst of ill-colored magical glow, a deep and ominous emerald that runs up through unpleasant runes like liquid magic. The Foreigner looks over his shoulder at it and smiles.

     Then he looks back at the sea and takes a deep breath.

     "Wonderful place for a town," he says to himself. "Wonderful place for a town."
Shigure     Shigure stands on Kuma's foredeck, her rigging materialized as her eyes glow eerily in the slowly fading light. "Come about three degrees port... I have the structure on longrange search radar.... lets not alert them just yet... slow to one third and load catapult spotter."

    The destroyer girl's words are replied with by a metallic tinged woman's voice, coming from within the hull of the ship itself. "Aye, Flagship, kuma." the ship seems to run itself. it's a full-sized Light Cruiser, WWI era, refitted with WWII gear. The large catapult rail on the back angles out into the wind, and a full sized float plane materalizes onto the rail, before being shot out into the air, it's propeller spinning to speed as it runs the length. "Spotter deployed, Kuma. Coming about, three degrees port, slowing to one third ahead, kuma." The controls in the bridge manipulate themselves, bells chiming within the hull indicating a gradual bleeding off of momentum, as the ship noses slightly to port, bringing it parallel to the island, just peeking over the horizon.
August Kohler Aboard a rusty old speedboat named Josephine, which the Watch got who-knows-where, August Kohler sits in the passenger seat. He tried to learn how to drive a boat but wasn't going to risk it in case they needed a high-speed chase away, so he got a Watch member with familiarity with boating and only really boating to drive it and ferry them. Commanding him where to go, the redhead is fully armed with a pistol and a knife to his side, and looks like he hasn't slept in days. Activity keeps him moving, keeps him alive.

The boat, which may have other Watchmen, isn't being necessarily stealthy, but is not advancing on the cannons. The driver is trying to find a slightly discreet place to dock, where the driver will be safe from getting attacked head-on.

From there, August will try and inch his way closer towards the giant 'construction' to get a better look, and maybe find out who is in charge of this and why the hell they're making an eldritch horror construction. He's not great at sneaking around, so he might get caught...but he honestly don't care if he does. He expects a fight on this sort of thing.
Sanary Rondel      Among those approaching the island is something flying high in the sky. It's a jacket! It's a jacket with an axe tied to it! Also, there's a girl wearing the jacket!

     It's Sanary. She's also flying pretty badly, waggling her arms around stretched out to her sides like someone in a janky physics-based flight simulator. She's using a combination of her flight anklets and gray magical gunk on her elbows, trying to keep herself steady without moving all that quickly towards the mysterious island.

     Why, though? Why would she be coming here of all places with no stake in the safety of the area? It looked strange on the way home, so why not? She's been pleasantly surprised by ominous-looking people and structures before, so why not see what this one has to offer? It's certainly better than sitting around at home, especially with others on the way to the island. She might be hard to make out with only passing glances, but those familiar with the coat or axe probably wouldn't have much trouble identifying her.
Ryouma Sakamoto     Ryouma was right at home on Kuma's deck. Clad in the typical officer's uniform of the Japanese navy, though with a white and blue brimmed hat more reminiscent of a hard-boiled detective look than an officer's, Ryouma has spent his entire time here inspecting the ship's construction. Its design. Its weaponry, even. No, really, what made him even giddier was the prospect of being able to SPEAK with a ship.

    Not even the foul sight of the distant tentacles could ruin his mood. Though they do bring with them a certain dread, it doesn't bother Ryouma.

    Actually, he's smiling, hands behind his back as he approaches the edge of the deck to take a better look. "Ah, it's nice to finally have a face to put on the name Foreigner," he states idly, not to Shigure, just... seemingly to himself.

    Somewhere behind him, Oryou, his ever-present partner in the black and red school uniform, is wandering aimlessly on Kuma's deck. She seems completely uninterested in the sea, all things considered.

    Shigure gives orders, and it's with fascinated interest that Ryouma's attention returns to the ship he's on, watching as it quite literally sails itself.

    "Ah, hold on. Those ships, look at the way they're placed around the island. There are blind spots here..." He points, so that Shigure can see, "And here. We can get closer that way and avoid their notice."
Deelel The term Userspace Virus applied to things like Foringer, there were no other words the Program could use. Things malicious to the system of half controlled chaos. Memories of Abraxis came to mind as clear on the dark day she lived them. She was on the boat wishing she'd dragged a light boat from the grid back with her, but hey those were of limited use and didn't turn into batons like bikes and jets did. So here she was on the boat she was clad in her own strange clothes, her keyblade is already out and ready.

"Viral contamination."

Is the only thing she says in regard to this stuff. She simply waited for landfall to spring into action, oh after Boston she's expecting a fight.
Tony Stark Tony Stark had had a rough few days, but thankfully, hadn't had to put any of his limbs in braces or resort to medicine more modern than a strong drink and a day or two of decent sleep. He was, as Captain America would often (always) say, 'Fine'.

So, when he was being 'Fine', and heard a news report of the Japanese boat-girls that had played host to Rogers' first foray into multiversal support, it had his attention.

While in transit, the reports get worse and worse. Friday elucidates. "Boss, these reports and descriptions match descriptions of an attack on the Boston of Presiking Edison, and are consistent with the MO of an indeterminant class of Super-Enhanced."
"Super-Enhanced? I thought they were just Enhanced. I thought we had the one word, don't go making up words on me, Friday."
"SHIELD is still working on a classifaction system. I just took a liberty."
Tony sighs, locking in the Quinjet's vector and rotating the chair to move into the body of the """stealth""" aircraft. "Push all the relevant data to the Mark... what did we bring?
"Twenty-Four."

Stark smirks as he presses the hatch release, stepping into the black and silver extra bulked Iron Man armor. "Right. Super-Enhanced. Alright, way to go past-Me. You're a genius, as always."

Shooting out of the jet's open ramp and towards the Ocean Fitted cruiser, Stark alights near the deck. "Ladies! I'm going to assume the giant tentacular anomaly is your 'abyssal' problem? I heard your report, and thought to be good-neighborly." He announces over loudspeaker.
Thomas Alva Edison     Somewhere else...

    Presiking Edison sits at a desk, as someone hands him a report. He frowns, looking up and reading it again. Looking towards the aid, who nods once, indicating he had already comfirmed the reports. Frowning, after a moment, Edison has to make a decision...part of him wants to bring the entire US force down with him, show them the might of what America could do...but he knows better. Right now, they're not ready, they don't have the technology to deal with a power on that level. He could only enhance so many at once, and that wouldn't do...

    He slowly walks towards a window, looking out of it...and then, he, without warning, flies through it and straight into the sky, on the wings of a DC powered angel.

    The staff member looks at the broken glass and the window...and sighs, starting to dial a number. "Yeah, it's me. Yeah, another window. Okay good."

    Now, Edison decends onto the island as people are setting up, walking towards the edge to take out his DC powered spy glass to look out over the water towards the monsterous and mind crippling terror-horrors. Edison, a hero, does not pretend to stare directly at the worst of them, instead the lighthouse seems...important. He see's Iron man, as well as other allies deciding to be careful about things...even though Edison wants to badly drop on Foreigner and be DAMNED the consiquences...he sucks in a breath. He's more powerful in a group, he knows this...he ESPECIALLY knows this. He can not let anger...the duty that litterally is burning a whole in his chest make him make rash decisions. He has to be better than it...

    "I know not what that man is doing, but we must either prioritize the rescuse of the civilians, or stopping him. Not dedicating our forces to one or the other is probably going make sure we fail both." He says, grimly.
Note     WHAT THE **** is that AWFUL reverberation coming from the sea? Ever since Note embarked on her cross-ocean flight towards one of the islands, this AWFUL feeling's been building on the edge of her awareness. A strange and gnawing sensation coming from the distance...

    Eventually, aggravation and curiosity got the better of her - and so, here she is!

    Wreathed in white energies, she rockets through the skies with fists outstretched before her and her outfit and tail whipping wildly in the winds.

    But as she approaches... she can sense more. A lot of less-crazy energy signatures in the area. Some more concentrated than others! And so, as soon as the freakish construction in the distance comes into view... "Nnnnngh-uah!" The youth comes to a halt in the air - the aura dispersing - and slaps both hands over her eyes as if she'd just stared straight at the sun without meaning to. "What...what was... owgh..."

     Not that she needs to be LOOKING to FEEL that thing's presence. Which shouldn't be possible, because a building isn't alive, right? ... Right?

    With no idea what any of this is, she does the most obvious thing and swerves towards things that feel LESS CREEPY: the big boat that's on approach.

    And so the red-and-yellow clad youth comes swooping in only to hover over the deck - higher, and a bit off to the right of where Iron Man's hovering. She's still rubbing her eyes and forehead in a very childlike manner.... but is shocked out of that by Tony's voice.

    Just enough to get her focused again on the matter at hand. Her eyes on the armored flier and the ladies of the ship below.

    Note purses her lips. Her tail twitches a few times. But she gathers her courage and swoops down to land on the deck. "Does anyone know what's going on? That thing out there's giving me a headache."
Foreigner      There are a lot of people pouring in, but if the Foreigner's noticed, he fortunately hasn't moved. He's drumming his fingers on his cane and looking out at the ocean with that distant, bright, brilliant smile, that smile that drowns sanity in its light. High above, the spotter and Sanary fly overhead, getting a really good look at the island. It's small, which is both a benefit - there's not a lot of room to assault - and a hindrance - because there's not a lot of room to /make/ an assault. There's not much way to easily establish a beachhead. On the other hand, the Foreigner has almost no air presence, aside from those massive tentacles currently building the Lighthouse. That's great, because it'll give Edison and Tony a straight shot in there.

     Then again, as the spy plane passes over the Lighthouse, there's a pulse of energy, and it vanishes.

     Sanary gets a good look at this happening, and it's sort of like something just...tore space for a second.

     The Watch lands unmolested. This is probably due to dumb luck more than strategy. There's fishman patrols all over the place. Worse, in the center of the Lighthouse, they can see fishmen working on some strange mechanical contraption. Edison is right; this isn't magic. It's some kind of nonsensical science, some Deep One secret or another, but it's not magical.

     On the beach, Foreigner is rolling himself a cigarette. Ichabod moves over to him. "Father, we're almost ready."

     "Good, good." Foreigner takes out a black-plated lighter and lights it. "They pay well, the Umran Gahal, but goodness are they demanding."

     Ichabod nods. "Yes, Father. We've set up a welcome for them."

     "Oh, lovely!" Foreigner takes a deep drag of the cigarette. "I'm sure they'll love it. Have you got the banners?"

     "Yes, Father."

     The Watch can see that some of the Fishmen at the base of the Lighthouse are...

     ...hanging streamers. Party streamers. And a Welcome sign.

     One of the horrible Deep Ones is wearing a party hat and holding clappers.

     It'd be comical if it wasn't so horrifying.
Shigure     Shigure nods to Ryouma. "I have seen the openings, Mister Sakamoto. However we do not have the strike power to properly engage both the shore batteries, and the ocean patrols at once."

    Then Tony arrives. A couple of the AA emplacements on Kuma's superstructure twitch at the sudden arrival, but don't engage once he starts speaking.

    Note receives much the same welcome, AA guns tracking her approach, but not engaging once the fairies make visual contact.

    And then the scout vanishes and Kuma lets out a piercing scream from within the hull of the ship. She actually jolts heavily, listing to port, then rolling starboard and turning hard in a drunken zigzag.

    "We have to be quick... they are coming, kuma." is her response as Shigure tries to call her back to action stations.

    The scout tumbles out of another rip in spacetime, slowly spiralling down into the water and releasing a tiny person wearing a tiny parachute. Anyone seeing the Type-0 Scout Seaplane would likely mistake it for some new Abyssal model, before it's lost beneath the waves.

    Edison has a plan, and Shigure, once Kuma has righted herself and come back to her senses, commits herself and her fleetmate to battle as a distraction for the inventors to disable the tower. "We cannot hold in combat for long, but we will try to draw as many of them away as possible."
Thomas Alva Edison     Edison does a bit more watching before the plan comes together. This thing was a thing of madness...it is science, but operates on maddness...and AC ELECTRICTY, the most wrong and evil of electricity. Stroking his chin, he starts working with the others over radio to start coming up with a plan of attack, he has decided to go after the power plant, that thing needs to be cut off so they can not operate the device. The two ships getting ready to fight the thing to buy them time causes Edison to look towards the two of them. He gives them a salute, because that's the kind of president he is, and starts to lift off the edge of the island again. When they move in to attack, he moves around, avoiding direct conflict and moving to try and fly around the island, aiming to eventually get back onto the land and follow the trail of wires back towards the power plant. The view of something rippling and the screams that followed from people worries him...the original plan of trying to burn out the tower was not going to work, they were too far complete for that to work. Shutting it down and relying on Tony to do the rest.

    Edison flies with great speed, stopping for nothing, once he can get a clear shot. His own safety is secondary to stopping Foreigner.
Ryouma Sakamoto     With a plan of action laid out, Ryouma motions for Oryou to get closer. "Oryou, I'll be counting on you," he says.

    "Leave it to Oryou, she'll make it look like an episode of Animal Face-Off," she responds. Ryouma smiles and nods, because that flew over his head.

    Oryou, then, simply flies off Kuma's side and plunges into the water. Ryouma beams to Shigure. "I'll keep them from overwhelming you, don't worry. Give it your best!"

    He leaps off the ship, too. In mid-air, he unsheathes his katana, which starts glowing a sickly black and blue. Its sheath sheds its old appearance like a broken mirror, turning into a spiked, red and golden... weapon of some kind. It seems ceremonial in nature.

    "Let the people in this world say whatever they want about me, only I would know what I've accomplished and what I've done - Like A Soaring Dragon!"

    The waters darken. Ryouma lands on something just underneath the surface of the water. It casts a shadow underneath the ships as it slithers towards the sea monster constructing the lighthouse, and the beach.

    And then it strikes, like a serpent.

    It's a massive black and red sea serpent of some kind, scaled like a dragon, with four legs but no wings. It goes straight for the creature, trying to chomp some of its tentacles clean off. Ryouma, for his part, shouts towards the beach: "Foreigner! Please come out, we would like to talk!"
Sanary Rondel      It doesn't seem so bad so far. A questionable-looking structure, sure. Being responsible for burning down a city, maybe. Who hasn't caused unthinkable mass destruction at some point in their careers? Sanary's sure there's some sort of reasonable explanation even for that, although the discussion on the radio does have her questioning just what this whole island tentacle building is all about.

     And then a plane gets eaten in front of her by SPACE. That's a sign for her to descend if nothing else, and descend quickly she does! The beach looks like a clear enough spot to land, notwithstanding all the attack plans being discussed elsewhere, but this healer is not quite ready to commit to joining on the offensive.

     Not yet. Who knows? Maybe the leader of these creepy fish people could be reasoned with once she finds them. Worst case scenario, maybe she could be an effective decoy!

     Sanary staggers a bit as she lands and very nearly topples over upon touching down, stomping down with one leg to avoid faceplanting right into the sand. She glances over towards the shoreline as she hears Ryouma shouting, staring blankly at him for a moment before turning her eye towards Foreigner. There's a long, thoughtful (and gawking) stare, and then she raises a hand in a stiff... Wave?

     "... Hey there. What's going on here? a party?" For better or worse, Sanary isn't even in a defensive stance. She's just utterly confused.
Tony Stark Tony doesn't flinch when the AA guns point in his direction, popping open the faceplate of his suit while he hovers on palm and boot jets. The gist of the plan being hashed out was fairly good - and involved him quite readily.

Tony Stark didn't shy away from a fight, and fishmen were no ooey-gooey exception.

Edison vectors off to handle the power plant, and Shigure plus the fleet start to arrange themselves in a defensive posture.

Good. As far as holding actions go, Tony had never been good at stopping things from happening. He was more of a 'make the best of it' sort of hero.

They werent, you know, the Preventers. He was an Avenger.

As he joins Thomas Edison in rocketing off towards an objective, the relative 'nonissue' of enemy air assets is a welcome reprieve from flying into a warzone filled with nearly-unerring robo-snipers. Foreigner's vast family is a downright improvement! In a non-eluclidian sense. Not in a conventional 'make sure things don't get worse' way, but definitely decent for Iron Man.

Levelling off his flight after making a speedy approach, Tony releases a trio of high-powered missiles into the tower's support tentacles, aiming to begin the task of toppling it. Or complete it. He's not picky, and the missiles aren't free.

"Everyone, I'm picking up some Capital-W weird things coming off this Lighthouse, so we absolutely don't want it around. Fifth Fleet, can you provide any fire support?"
Deelel Deelel is keeping alert she's keeping ready she has no idea what to expect other than things are going to be bad, very bad. The form of the badness she doe not know. She gapes at the display her mind cannot understand it the fishmen are setting up a party, they are setting up a party. A party she just gapes longer, one might see her eyes flicker blue with white flecks. Or perhaps they are words? Deelel shakes her head clearing it.

"Why is there a party...August..."

She seems to focus thanks Tony's words they didn't have long they would have to act soon.
August Kohler As the boat lands, August is going to focus on the lighthouse. As much as he kinda wants to punch Foreigner, there's /some/ sort of mechanical contraption, and he's a mechanical engineering student. Which means he needs to find a way to climb the scaffolding.

As he's not stealthy, that means fighting his way in, once they inevitably move to shoot him. August moves to try and find a way towards the base of the lighthouse, beelining for any scaffolding. If there's some out of the way, he'll go for that, but he's not ignoring patrols. And if a patrol comes and draws their guns and moves to shoot him first and ask questions later...

August will summon the Tin Soldier and set them on fire. It's only fair.
Note     As is typical, almost nobody takes the time to explain to Note. She has a rather irritated look on her face as she pores over the little bits of details that've been revealed over the radio. Hopefully it'll be enough.

    With a single bound, she leaps to the deck railing, and then off into the skies once more. The winds of her flight does part the waters below... but soon she's gained hundreds, thousands of feet in altitude and the waters quiet down to the dull roar they were at before...

    With nothing more to say or do about the matter until she can learn some more, Note rockets towards the monstrous Tentaclighthouse for a regrettably closer look at it and its inhabitants/workers. Gotta see who's here, what they're doing, if they're hostile or not and so on!
Foreigner      Shigure and Kuma move in. It's something to be said for the Deep Ones; they're fast, and they're clever, when it comes to ocean-based combat. As the girls start shooting, the black ships start shooting back, shells of nightmares-made-flesh that can kill even the dead, but soon it's clear that Ryouma's advice really helped, and the black fleet is caught slightly unaware, scrambling to reform and wasting precious time.

     It's not really AC electricity. Edison's just projecting.

     Speaking of projecting, it looks like most of the energy is being projected from the various fortifications. Edison comes down atop one of them in a flurry of furry fury, electric impulse and Servant strength. There's the sound of something shrieking out a gurgling warning, and then the intense and disturbingly appetizing smell of cooked fish. Around him, other Deep One hybrids begin leveling weapons, and at least one of the huge frog abominations starts lumbering towards him, a magical pulse on its right hand as it lopes forward. He's gone loud, and he doesn't care about his safety. That's fine. Neither do the Deep Ones.

     Tony opens fire. One of the tentacles of the great beast moves to grab him, and is intercepted by Oryou. One of what Tony is pretty sure is a support tendril collapses under its own weight, falling 'back' into reality in a horrifying twisting *thing*. It hurts to look at it *collapse*, like space is unravelling a nasty, ugly knot. As soon as that's happened, though, the Deep Ones below start firing upwards, bolts of magical energy, curses, and bullets shooting for Tony Stark.

     Sanary lands. Foreigner looks her over with a smile. "Aren't you lovely," he says, removing his cigarette from his lips, "Why you're just perfect, really."

     Ichabod gurgles. The Foreigner smiles. "Yes, dear girl, it is a party. It's a party for some especially lovely clients of mine. You'll like them. I know I do; they pay *shockingly* well."

     "I am the Foreigner. And this is Ichabod. Say hello, Ichabod."

     There's a subtle motion as Ichabod steps forward and gurgles. "Hello there, miss. You look very beautiful."

     Foreigner takes a drag from his cigarette. "You should ask her to dance, Ichabod."

     "Ah, yes. Would you care to dance with me?" Ichabod holds out his hand, a smile on his pale white face. Distantly, Sanary can hear music start playing. "It's a party, after all. We ought to be dancing, don't you think?"

     Meanwhile Deelel and August make their way inwards. But they're not stealthy, and the Deep Ones are organized and in good patrol routes, and Edisons' landing has them alert and aware. Immediately, August's Tin Soldier comes up to fry one of the Hybrids. He and Deelel find themselves sideswiped, however, by a massive frog-looking true Deep One, a hideous abomination in a party hat bearing down on them with magic energy in its eyes and on its hand. With all the intruders, when Note lands nearby, she's beset by another squad of Hybrids in uniform, firing on her with eager blasts.

     Ryouma shouts for him. Foreigner smiles. Ryouma can hear, in the back of his ear, on the wind, "Feel free. I'm listening."

     "And I'm watching."

     Below, Ryouma can see. And Tony can see. And everyone high enough on the island can see.

     The ships have been spreading murky water.

     And there's eyes in the water. Eyes full of madness. Eyes that gleam just like Foreigner's.

     "Welcome to the party," he says, his voice brushing past everyone's ears but Sanary's, "I'm so glad you're able to make it."

     "I wasn't sure what else to do for snacks for my clients, so I thought I'd find the best."
Shigure     Shigure looks across the battlefield... alright, engagement time. "Kuma, I'll head east. You go west, we'll meet up at rendezvous omega. Remember not to sink, Admiral will be upset if you do." she says, leaping over the railing as the cruiser starts turning the opposite direction. Once she's far enough away, Shigure triggers her own Ocean Fitout, a bubble of blue-white light forming, then bursting forth like a bubble, releasing the full sized Destroyer form to slap bellyfirst into the water. Guns swivel into position, and unleash a volley of high explosive shells, red tracers showing the trajectory as they start to rain down amongst the black ships. Shigure sounds her foghorn, trying to get more attention on her from sheer volume.

    Kuma, being slightly heavier, takes a few seconds to align her guns after turning, but she too looses volleys of shells, white tracers of Armour piercing from heavier caliber cannons. "Don't underestimate me, kuma!" she bellows.

    Tony asks for fire support, and Kuma jumps at the chance. She tasks two of her guns to fire on targets the Iron Man designates, her spotters signalling back and forth via morse code, while the remaining four continue to harrass the Deep One ships.

    The pair of Kanmusu don't go unscratched though, those magical returnfire shells raining down around them, piercing armour and causing damage to the pair. They're thin skinned light ships, after all.
Sanary Rondel      Even the sounds of an impending battle aren't going to frighten Sanary too much. She's been around these noises, and it's not like she wasn't expecting things to come to blows. That's just the nature of things! Besides, she's a little preoccupied at the moment. She can feel some heat rising to her face when Foreigner calls her lovely, the compliment forcing her into putting on a confident smirk to hide that little jump.

     "Very kind of you to say that, sir. What kind of clients do you have here, if you... Uh." She coughs lightly, making sure to do it behind her hand so she doesn't come off as some sort of /barbarian/ or something. "If you don't mind me asking? And how much..." Another pause. Play it cool, girl. Play. It. COOL.

     "What kinds of work or goods to they pay for, if I may? Ah. My name is Sanary. A..."

     Squinting a moment longer, Sanary looks from Foreigner to Ichabod, and she freezes in place. "... A good to meet you." She keeps her mouth open as if she's about to say something, pauses, then opens her coat and sniffs.

     She seems satisfied with that sniff test, then straightens her collar (she's actually wearing a collared shirt for once) before dipping into a heavily practiced bow. It's pretty easy to see that she's shaking quite a bit, though, as that invitation to dance has her going wide-eyed.

     "Wha? I.. Uh. S-sure. I mean, I'm not a dancer, a-and I'm pretty sure there's... You could... Yeah, okay." Her cheeks are outright pink as she puts on another incredibly forced poker-face, even going as far as stuffing her hands in her coat pockets while avoiding eye contact and sauntering towards Ichabod. If there's anything to prop her hand up against by the time she reaches him, she'll even pull her hand out of her pocket at the last moment to do just that.

     She's not going to stop shaking or anything, though. "Not the usual time for dance, though, is it? Or is this a more of a..." Another pause, and she glances around briefly. "... Islander thing?"
Thomas Alva Edison     Edison looks towards the Fishman coming down at him. He's larger than he is, but larger doesn't necissarily means better. The power station destroyed, Edison takes but a moment to look for the next one, but first thing's first. Boxing gloves slip onto his hands as he turns towards the Fishman. Even the little ones who are all pointing weapons around them. Taking a breath, he steps forward towards the Larger fish person. His hand spark with electricty, aiming to try and aim for the right side of him, the attempt is to try and either try and force the thing to avoid to the right, or take the attack. Taking the attack might easily stagger it, but if he avoids it, Edison immediately kicks on his flight and aims to FLY passed it.

    The fish men aren't his target, instead, the power stations feeding this thing are. He knows not what is being brought through, but if it's offering THEM as food, it can't be good.
Ryouma Sakamoto     Despite his peppy attitude, Ryouma is still smart enough to avert his eyes from the various constructions and beasts. He knows where they are, but he feels no pressing need to give them full glares. Even less so the sea of eyes that, suddenly, populate the waters.

    "Ah... how indirect," he complains, from atop Oryou. "I was hoping to look you in the eye--" Ryouma stops himself.

    "To be face to face--" Ryouma stops himself.

    "To butt heads--" Ryouma just pauses.

    He scratches the back of his neck, laughing awkwardly. "I'm sorry, would you believe me if I said none of that was intentional? Ah, really, though... if you're listening, it's all good enough."

    Ryouma takes his hat off, to half-bow. "I wanted to thank you, Foreigner. It's your presence that called me. Without you, I wouldn't be here, and that'd be quite dreadful."

    Right, well, that's handled. Ryouma's been polite.

    "Oryou recommends frogs," the colossal sea serpent he's riding on responds, to Foreigner's babbling.

    The shadows in the water, then, get thicker. Like liquid darkness spreading from Oryou's massive body, magical energy starts being burnt out of the water. Corrosive shadows spread, attacking the sea creature, nearby ships, and maybe even a bit of Foreigner through his link to the water, Oryou's shadows eating away at matter and magic alike.
Note     Note's doing her best to NOT LOOK TOO CLOSELY AT ANYTHING. But just having this structure harassing her senses is enough to have her at maximum aggravation. The moment she lands... well, her hands have long since been balled into fists, her teeth are clenched...

    And, no sooner than she lands, then the ugly sea-things are firing on her with everything they've got!

    A glance left, a peek right... and Note throws her arms up protectively over her eyes and face. The hailstorm of shots strikes home, pushing her back across the twisted decking and walkways. It makes an absolute mess of her sleeves! Throughout the shredding, it even dislodges a pair of very mighty armbands that CLANG to the ground as if they weighed a hundred pounds each.

    ... Given what she is, they might just indeed weigh that much.

    But the bullets, the curses, the magical blasts, very little of them appears to be gaining a lot of purchase! Only a handful of cuts from bullets glancing off from Ki-shielded flesh and strange burn marks from resisted magical energies score her flesh.

    With a yelp Note dives beneath the nearest pile of building supplies for cover... and then gets a good look at what she's got here. Lots and lots of HEAVY METAL BEAMS.

    Her face, which had been a bit hectic and worried, suddenly gleams with inspiration! Payback time!

    Behind the pile, she stands up and tightens her fists, inhaling deeply and drawing forth a great surge of Ki from within---

    With a resounding Kiai and a great gust of accompanying wind, torrents of golden light stream from her flesh. With a *KRAKA-THOOM* the energy engulfs her, sweeping her hair upwards into spiky locks where its color shifts to match. A shiny golden-yellow, her ponytail drifting about horizontally behind her, held in place as it is by a ribbon.

    And reaching out with a hand, she grabs one of the great construction girders, hoisting it as if it weighed nothing more than a large stick!

    "My turn!" She proclaims triumphantly... and just HURLS the thing down - with plenty of SPIN - down the walkway at her attackers!
August Kohler As they head inwards, August moves to attack one of the fishmen when they're sideswiped. The Tin Soldier moves to take the blow, being knocked backwards and into August, bruised and battered. Foreigner's voice on the wind freaks him out, muscles tensing and hairs on the back of his neck rising, and because of that, he refuses to give them any doubt - he's going to burn them.

So as the hideous Deep One comes forth with the magical energy, and as there's a big swarm of them, August shouts out to Deelel. "Take the small ones, I'll focus on the big guy!"

And then, the Tin Soldier's gun starts to charge up, flames swirling around the barrel and making the air hotter. It proceeds to aim the gun up at the Deep One's chest as August tries to get some personal space backwards, and then fires off a big blast of flames in an attempt to set the creature on fire and burn its flesh. "Or at least I'll try!"
Tony Stark As Tony's missiles strike cleanly into the tentactular tower, he has to start hard evading, slipping between oily grasping tendrils. "Gheez, what are these things made out of?" He bemoans, skirting along the grasping tendrils and half-boosting, half-shooting his way clear (when your main weapons are also your flight systems, it's kind of neat to do that!) thanks to Ryouma.

Friday, unhelpfully, begins processing his request. "Well, compositionally they're-"
"Thanks, Friday, now please dump that data, I don't care what Lovecraft thought cephalopods were made out of, and neither do you."

Levelling out to a sliding hover, Tony barrages the broken support with another set of blasts, as Shigure confirms his fire support request. "Thanks. Fifth Fleet, sending targeting data now. Just land those shells anywhere near marked location!" He announces, firing off a cutting laser to carve apart the tentacles and weaken them for the Fifth Fleet's barrage.

"What in the hell is that under us? Thomas, are you seeing this? Ryouma? Can anyone confirm?"
"Confirm what, Boss?"
"The EYES, Friday!"
Tony sweeps his Smart Targeter across the eye-filled water. Nothing catches. "I don't pick up anything like that?"

"Of course you don't. Start rotating visual filters, I'm guessing this is some sort of psychohazard. Everyone, don't, uh, take any pictures? Keep the selfies saved for after!"
Deelel Deelel snaps out her keyblade at the ready any trappings of human behaviour have been sorted out as well there's a whole bunch of Hybrids and Deepones looking to make them dinner. Not that she has any actual meat. Then again they might eat souls, it's elder horror things. Souls have got to be on the menu. The keyblade was ready it hummed to life but she's also taking hits, though her body does not react as a human would. It's clear she's something else as she, she's counter-attack with the blade hacking, slashing moving to use the blunt end where it's needed.

"Come viri, show me what you can do!"

With Augusts orders she will leave the big one to him and keeps going she has a blank expression for the most part no emotion seeps through the mask of her face.
Foreigner      Shells hit the black fleet from Kuma and Shigure. On the deck, they can see fishmen blown apart or send flying as splinters erupt. One of the ships even bursts into flame as they hit a boiler. To its credit, rather than fall apart into madness, the burning ship starts *steering* towards them, full speed ahead, like a sacrificial fire boat. It is perhaps only once they see the Deep Ones and Hybrids are diving off the boat that they realize it is not just a sacrifice, it is a distraction, and they are soon to be /boarded/ as well as have an exploding ship in their face.

     It is to Edison's great horror, perhaps, that the giant frog raises its arms like a hideous parody of a boxer rather than do *either* of the things he was expecting it to do. Intelligence gleams in those dead, bulbous eyes, a wicked, evil, alien intelligence. When he swings his hand, rather than take it dead-on or dodge it, the big bruiser brings its arm up to *parry* it, sparking with magical energy. Its left hand comes around to punch Edison in the jaw with an uppercut that could stagger a prizefighter. This is no goon, no disposable minion. This thing is *trained* and *dangerous*.

     Deelel charges ahead. Her keyblade crashes into the easy ones, the low-skill Hybrids with their guns. They shoot, they put up the best fight they can, but the Keyblade knocks them aside without much trouble. Most of them really aren't a threat. Save the ones behind the gun emplacements, which are now turning and pointing at her. The very big gun emplacements.

     Uh-oh.

     For August, gun emplacements are the least of his worries. Fire crashes into the Deep One, the smell of roast fish filling the air. It looks down. Then it looks up at him.

     It's not nearly as burned as he'd like. And the magic ripple on the back of his hand tells him *exactly* why.

     It's smart enough to understand him.

     The Deep One waves its hand. A burst of magical energy sweeps out of it like a sword, slashing through the air, a dangerous, murderous curse.

     Tony's visual filters keep flicking. Friday's seeing nothing. The suit's seeing nothing. As he brings his targetting lasers online, carving into the vast stone monoliths and readying them for fire, he suddenly gets a ping on his HUD about incoming fire. Shells of pure nightmare come raining down on him, splattering him from the distant sea. The ships are taking a moment to provide air support.
Foreigner      Note turns into a glowing golden thing. She lights up the night and starts throwing around construction girders like weapons. A couple of them catch some of the bigger Deep Ones in the chest; the huge frogs move to catch them rather than let their little hybrids get hit. It'd be cute, if it wasn't creepy. A lot of them are strong enough to catch the girders outright, even fired by a super saiyan. Some of them aren't, and get knocked back, or go skidding back into a pile of Deep Ones and Hybrids, or otherwise get batted around. She's rewarded for her good deed with even more focused, murderous fire - the air's getting thick with death in a number of forms.

     Ichabod smiles a big fishy smile. Foreigner takes a drag from his cigarette. "You'll have to excuse me, darling. You and Ichabod should get acquainted. I've got a bit of business to attend to." And then he's gone, a subtle *twitching* of space and time left in his wake. Ichabod takes Sanary's hand in his, his other hand around her waist, and pulls her up against him.

     "We move fast in my family," he gurgles, "We're almost always at war, so things have to happen quickly. But we're a very traditional family. Very old values. Old money." He grins a toothless fishy grin. "We all take after Father, too. Very devoted. He's been with Mother for as long as I've been alive." He tilts his head at where the Foreigner was. "That was him."

     Speaking of the Foreigner, he appears in front of Ryouma Sakamoto with a broad smile on his face. "Why, hello there. I see. I understand entirely."

     He's handsome, but he's *unsettling*, skin-crawlingly so, with those horrible, bright, mad eyes staring right into Ryouma's own. Around him, tendrils emerge out of space and time, extrusions of vast horrors that just lance forth at Oryou and Ryouma with deadly nightmarish touch. "I'm always happy to speak with a gentleman such as yourself."

     "Let's chat, shall we?"
Shigure     Shigure begins to maneuver away as that ship starts approaching. Guns track it, and fire another volley to finish it off, then extends her depth charge dispensers and catapults. She speaks through the hull of her ship as she drops the explosives overboard, trying to blast the boarding party out of the water before they can get close.

    Anyone that does get aboard, will find the entire ship will fight against them, including tiny fairies with surprisingly painful guns as they ralley to repel the boarding party.

    Kuma elevates a pair of guns, and after Tony fires the laser, they lob a pair of explosive shells toward the target zone. The other four continue to harrass the ships fighting her, before swinging out her torpedo launchers, dumping two spreads of three Long Lances into the formation. "Launching Torpedoes, kuma!"
Ryouma Sakamoto     Oryou, being directly underneath Foreigner, can't much avoid the lances of... whatever that is. Her scales, her hair, her skin, scorches and burns in ways that can't be seen. Red scales darken, black ones... don't much change.

    But she doesn't plunge. She could - Ryouma and Oryou could just withdraw into the depths and avoid Foreigner that way, maybe, but she knows Ryouma wouldn't want that. And so the divine serpent resigns herself to be the platform they'll tussle on. Which isn't to say she's not going to do anything.

    Oryou turns tail, quite literally, and starts heading towards Kuma and Shigure. Her maw opens wide as she makes a pass for the some of the fishmen. She wanted frogs. Fishmen aren't exactly frogs, but they'll be delicious regardless. And that'll cut the fleet some slack, too.

    Ryouma, for his part, uses his blade to slice at the incoming tendrils - not with enough skill to avoid their oh-so-loving touch entirely, as one sees fit to singe his arm and stain his uniform, but almost.

    "Chat. Of course. Will you entertain a question, then? What do you stand to gain, angering the World so? What is worth so much to you that you risk the Counter Force's involvement?"

    It'd be hard for most people to stand upright on Oryou's back as she slithes and rampages in the water, but Ryouma can tell it won't be an issue for Foreigner. In truth, he can tell this isn't a fight he should be picking alone to begin with, but that's the hand he has to play with right now.

    Blue flames coat his katana, as he lunges for Foreigner, slicing rapidly in anticipation of those tendrils' interference.
Thomas Alva Edison     Edison takes a strike square to the underside of his Jaw, caught unexpectantly by the larger fish men, he goes toppling to the ground. This was unexpected, to see the sky because he was on his back from a blow like that. He picks himself off of the ground, rubbing his jaw.

    He doesn't have time for this...he doesn't have time to deal with this thing, while people are in immediate danger of extinction...he doesn't have time for the people who tried to destroy his city.

    He supposes he has to make some time now.

    Viciously, he comes up, no longer aiming to pull his punches. The strike aims for the stomach, electrical energy sparks from the strike, should it hit, aiming to stagger the fish man. But he's not done, he swings again, this time for the right side of the face of the beast, and then the left side. His heart burns with rage, but he controls it...because there is a cannon there.

    The Cannon levels at the fish man, the energy of RED, WHITE, and BLUE fire out from the chest, aiming to at the very least blow the thing away to get some room, and completely obliterate it if it can not withstand the might of FREEDOM.

    "These people will never fear the dark while I breath, fishman, they always have the light of innovention to guide them!"
Sanary Rondel      Just how many people are flirting with Sanary tonight?! Two is already more or less inconceivable, and it's not too surprising that Foreigner has to leave. "Eh? Sure thing. Don't want to keep those business partners waiting." She replies with an understanding chuckle, still trying to keep her cool even as she squeaks lightly at being pulled over by Ichabod.

     As she's thinking it, he says it: This really is moving rather quickly. It should probably put her more on the defensive than it is, but... Who cares right now? He's hot, she's passable. "That doesn't sound too much from my family. We're... Used to always be around war. Border disputes suck like that, you know?" She chuckles lightly, the awkwardness not lost on her as she cuts herself off faster than usual. Best not to bore him with the gorier details of her family, right?

     "Our... Well, now it's my money is... New, I guess? Raise the pigs, sell 'em, do a few odd jobs on the side. Lots of movin' around, keeping an eye on that one kid..." She pauses again, then furrows her brow. "... Right, I should pick something up for.. Uh. Long story, don't worry about it. S-so! That was your dad before?"

     She raises an eyebrow, then nods in that 'whoa damn' sort of way. "Looks like he passed you some good genes, then."

     Another wiggle of her eyebrows, and then the healer's even starting to get into a light dancing/sway of her own. "Still... Surprised you're all the way out here of all places. Not a bad find, but... What's your plan from here on out? Going back out to sea, or you're looking to settle around here?"

     Given enough time, she'd even go as far as trying to twirl him around complete with a dip, but she doesn't have a rose or anything to stick in her teeth. She doesn't have nearly enough coordination to do that, though. It'd probably just look like she's trying to swing him around like a tablecloth that needs its crumbs tossed everywhere. Still, aside from making a fool of herself in a dance, what else could a girl ask for?
Deelel Deelel works fast she hits hard and just keeps moving. All and all not bad for a being who was not made to fight in the first place. She takes note of the turrets a little too late. "Oh Mac..."

Those are some serious canons no matter the tech level, she gets on the move a baton comes out a bike forms about her and she floors it heading to the turrets in a zig-zag pattern trying to get in under their range, if she can failing that she'll try to get them to chase her with their fire, maybe she can trick them into hitting each other?

It's a wild plan but she needs to keep them busy while August fights the huge Deepone, and perhaps worse? She needs to make sure those guns can't be turned on him.
August Kohler The Deep One is smart. That's bad. As it resists the fire and sends the curse back at August, the Tin Soldier intercepts again - though August feels it anyways because of shared pain - and tears a swath in the Persona's body. August screams outwards in pain, clutching the same spot where the Tin Soldier was harmed. "Shit, shit, uh..."

August thinks fast. The Tin Soldier rushes forward, moving to spray fire into the Deep One's face. That's just to distract it, though, because the Tin Soldier's going to try and close the distance and throw a fist at the Deep One's chest, with all the force it can muster. Superhuman force backs the punch, hopefully enough to stagger it at the least. "So you're intelligent, huh? Doesn't matter...I'll tear you and this tower apart either way!"
Tony Stark The ground fire is pretty thick, but not entirely harmful to the Mark XXIV, purpose built for high-danger combat environment. Of the Iron Legion line of suits, the XXIV had the highest density of Repulsor Field defense screens - the incidental fire, which would normally plink off the suit's chest doesn't even get there. The magic, then, is attenuated down to annoying but otherwise tactically harmless barrage. Were he to sit there and just let them shoot him with the black magic bolts, it'd be a real problem, real quick.

But in a suit made for soaking up punishment, it just doesn't register as more than a drain on the batteries.

The heavy fire, however, is another story. The first airbursting naval rounds blast him almost out of the air, the Mark XXIV tumbling down as Tony fights to regain altitude control. Short of the water, he stops the tumble and controls his descent, rocketing back into the air. "Well, at least I'm making enough of a nuisance of myself. The tower's hit, but the power isn't out. Thomas, what's the status on that power shutdown? Thomas? Presiking Edison?"

"The Presiking reports resistance at the power station."
"Right. We can't divert to help him just yet -- mark structural targets, best guess, skip the full structural analysis - and display the enemy gun arcs!"

Rotating around the tower now, trying to keep it between him and the ships trying to box him out of the air with their dark cannons, Tony continues to pour more firepower on, ejecting spent batteries for the lasers as he moves through the air. "How's the situation on the ground?"
Foreigner      Oryou goes charging off to support Shigure and Kuma. The Foreigner's huge tentacles come shooting out to grasp at her, but Ryouma knocks them away, blue fire carving into the tentacles and sending them vanishing back into the void. Oryou starts devouring the Deep Ones. The Foreigner's face takes on a look of rage as his children are consumed, a dark and twisted shadow that makes the landscape around him flicker with uncertain, *off* colors. Below Ryouma and near Oryou, the water spasms, and they can both feel a surge of magical energy as Foreigner draws on a skill. The water shoots upwards at Ryouma's back, and where Oryou swims it seems to harden into spikes, as if to impale her and force her jaw open to spit out his children. Inside her, there's gunfire, but she's digesting rapidly, so there won't be for much longer.

     Foreigner's polite, genteel, dignified aura shudders as he flits back away from Ryouma. "You wouldn't understand in the slightest. You're not a parent, are you?"

     "I would do anything to give my children the world they deserve."

     Shigure's depth charges get a few of the fish, but some of them manage to get on board. They're smart, they're coordinated, and worst of all, they're well-armed. The fairies are putting up a hell of a fight; they're getting met by a hell of a fight right back as a massive Deep One that managed to escape Oryou lumbers on top behind the hybrids, sloping forward. Kuma's torpedos go shooting into the formation, but this is much less successful than her guns - as the dark ships see them coming, they simply lift out of the water, gliding impossibly into the air.

     These things can /fly?!?/

     But Kuma's shots hit home, and another tendril of the Lighthouse falls in a sanity-bending drop behind Edison, engaged in a furious fistfight with his Deep One adversary. The wizard fish does a fine job taking the electrical punch. It does a less fine job taking the cannon. The blast of red, white, and blue burns half of its face, and it recoils, silent, but obviously in agony. The way is clear to the next power station as the Hybrids move to support their brother rather than stop Edison.

     Deelel goes running to try and get the guns to turn on each other. Unfortunately for her, they're trained military operatives, not movie goons; these Deep Ones are *smart*. They don't ever cross into each other's firing range, instead angling shots up and raining them down upon her. She's got them busy, but the shells are dangerous, exploding dirt and scrap around them.
Foreigner      The Deep One August is engaged with says nothing. The look of intellect in its eyes is offset by its horrifying silent unsettlingness. It's not speaking, it's not even grunting. It's just fighting with silent aplomb. He punches it in the chest, and it stumbles back slightly, but it's much, much tougher than he thought. Its skin is grotesque to the touch, hideous and awful. The mere feeling of it is...like touching something slick and slimey all at the same time. Even through Tin Soldier he can feel it.

     The Deep One lopes forward, swinging another blast of magic at him. The blast is a diversion, though, as it reaches to grab him by the Persona and just drive him into the ground with huge strength.

     Sanary gets a gentle smile from the hideous fishman. "My family understands war very well. Father spent a bit of his life campaigning, and he's trained a lot of us to be well-disciplined. He says that anyone should be ready to fight for their home and their family at any time. Ready to die for it, if you have to."

     "He did. He passed us all the best genes there are." Ichabod grins another toothless fishy grin and murmurs something in her ear.

     She spins him. He gets dipped. "Oh, well, we were thinking about setting up a town here, but it looks like it might have to be called off. But we've got a city elsewhere. If you'd like to join us there."

     "I'd certainly like that."

     Suddenly, Foreigner stops and looks at a pocketwatch. And he starts laughing.
Foreigner      The sky is dark.

     The sun sinks under the horizon.

     Emerald fire pours up the broken pillars. Above, the sky splits, and stars can be seen, distant stars that make no sense, arranged in nonsensical patterns. Amidst those stars are incomprehensibly vast nightmares, tentacles and beaks and vast eyes and shells, like cosmic cephalapods with mouths on the ends of their tendrils and spikes across their bodies. They begin oozing towards the hole.

     At that moment, Edison crashes down into the other power supply, and Kuma's shells hit the points Tony's been weakning with his laser.

     The tower dies.

     It falls, a mess of collapsing nonsense that no one should try and figure out geometrically. The fold of space closes just as one of the tendrils reaches through, a massive, hideous thing *falling* onto the battlefield with a *splat*, easily the size of a ship or more - and it's just a tiny bit of tendril. It twitches, sweeping into Deep One Hybrids and knocking them aside, and Foreigner sighs and closes his watch.

     "Well then," he says with an irritated motion, "I suppose I technically did my job. Oh well. It isn't my fault the clients weren't fast enough."

     He smiles at Ryouma. "We'll continue this conversation next time, sir. It's been a delight."

     Then he vanishes.

     The Deep Ones on Shigure start bailing out, vanishing into the water. The Black Ships start vanishing, too, the space around them twitching until they simply disappear. Ichabod looks at Sanary, then at the vanishing ships, and, with an irritated sigh, lets go of her and goes running, diving into the water and going deep.

     All that remains, in a few moments, is the empty, broken ruins of the Lighthouse, the strange device, a few Deep One Hybrid corpses, and a ridiculously massive tentacle.

     Good work.
August Kohler The Tin Soldier gets piledrived into the ground. It hurts, and hurts enough for August to stagger and fall to his knees. The Deep One probably has the time for a counterattack, even as the Tin Soldier prepares to set itself on fire and kamikaze it...

And then it vanishes. August blinks, sighs slightly in relief, and then lifts himself up, rubbing his sore sides. Once it's clear they're all gone, he moves to desummon the Tin Soldier, but then he changes his mind, using it to grab a hybrid corpse and drag it back to the boat. He'll need to ask someone else what the machine does, because he's not staying on this spooky island.
Shigure     Shigure's fairies hold the line against the boarders, and the ship itself gives a fight too. Turrets twisting at the right time to bash a hybrid's head in. A door suddenly flinging open with enough force to launch one overboard before snapping closed with a resonant CLANG... but it's not enough, and the fishmen start to get inside, until they're silently told to disengage and begin to flee. The Destroyer lobs some more depth charges after them, then comes about in a wide circle. "Kuma, rejoin formation. Line abreast. Pulse sonar, try and track their egress routes."

    Kuma comes about, rejoining her flagship, and the two begin to pound out pulses of active sonar, flooding the water with sound and analysing the returns.
Sanary Rondel      Who knew Sanary had those kinds of moves? Or maybe they just look cooler in her head than she does doing them. Either way, she's certainly got the upper body strength for it!

     Maybe that's why she hasn't gotten any dates in a while.

    "A general, then. Or commander or... Something. I used to be in one, but this and that happened, everything caught on fire, I... Think I stopped existing for a month?" Even she's not all that sure what happened, but she dismisses it with a light shrug.

     Did he just ask her that? The healer's cheeks flush again, and she does that confused open mouth -> close mouth -> repeat fish impersonation thing a few more times while trying to sort out just what's been said to her (again). It's not until Ichabod starts running that she finally clears her throat and gathers her thoughts again, even calling out by the time Ichabod is diving into the water.

     "Gh... Uh... Maybe next time!" She calls out and fidgets in place, the awkward silence of that sudden exit soon giving way to everything being on fire, a giant tentacle left behind, and a thoroughly confused healer standing around in it all.

     "... What the hell happened here?"
Deelel Deelel sees her plan isn't working so she changes it up even though they are not firing on each other? They are showing her how they fight, she brings the light wall online leaving a trail of hard light blue walls in her wake as she goes she keeps moving, her bike's fast but with the amount of fire? She's still getting caught with the shrapnel from the weapon blasts. There is some damage and cracking on her bike as she goes to try and use her own walls as cover so she can ramp off at least one emplacement, however, that's a moot point as things come to just about an end here, for the moment. As the fish men are all /gone/, she skids to a halt the bike vanishing about her as she gets up to seek who need medical aid.

"August?! Where are you?"

It's August if he doesn't need healing she'll be shocked so she tries to get his attention.
Thomas Alva Edison     Thomas slowly stands up from coming down on the second power generator. His eyes flashing as the things around him start bailing. Whatever...it was had come through only enough to be cut in half...rubbing his forehead, Edison rubs his head...this was a nightmare, a fiendish nightmare that he wish he could wake up from. Sucking a breath, however, he knew that he couldn't let it get to him...he had a duty to perform...

    He looks over the remains of the battlefield...and a lot of science to do.
Tony Stark As things recede, and the tower finally falls, Iron Man continues to play keep-away with the naval guns on Foreigner's ships - but it's a formality. Their beachhead is gone, and their objective is deflected.

When Thomas Edison shuts down the linkage in the power plant, it almost seems like a dream as the Foreigner and his minions slip back to the sea.

"Is that it? Are we clear? Friday?"
"You said I couldn't scan them."
"Don't sass me young lady. Active fire control acquisition - any targets?"
There's a pause. "Targets negative. No active enemy combatants on sensors."

Tony exhales a sharp sigh of relief. "Cut defense screens and pressurize for a dive. We're gonna go make sure they're not getting froggy on the sea floor."

The Mark XXIV drops into the murky water as the eyes receede, doing a final aquatic sweep for fishmen or Foreign Intrusions on the power grid.

With that done, and with some extra blasting for the stragglers, Tony returns to land.

"I need a drink."
"We're fresh out of the King's wine."
"I was thinking Peet's, actually."