Scene #6743: Open Caldera

Owner	Pose
The Janitor	Rue Meridian IV is not a cheerful planet on the best of days. Its atmosphere is a blistering, barely-breathable mix of too much oxygen, not enough nitrogen, and a dash of sulfur to taste. The ground is rocky, bubbled, cracked, and blackened like the surface of a burnt pan of brownies. Dark clouds overhead rain white ash like snow. Open volcanoes and magma flows dot the terrain like rivers and lakes. This, of course, is not the best of days. You wouldn't be here if it were. The ParaTech laboratory is a concrete ziggurat in Soviet Brutalist style. It's the architectural equivalent of drinking milk straight from the carton while home alone- you'd die of shame if you expected anyone else to see it. A pillar of white light reaches from its apex into the stratosphere; a distress beacon activated as a last resort by the laboratory's staff. Judging by the fact that the entire pyramid-like building is sliding down into the open caldera of a smoking volcano, their chances seem grim. Whether approaching on ground or from the sky, any intruders will find themselves lit up by omnidirectional batteries of anti-personnel and anti-vehicular turrets set into the laboratory's exterior walls, locking on with ominous swarms of laser dots and laying down overlapping fields of fire with depleted-uranium slugs. Given the work ParaTech does, it's hard to say if they're a deterrent or an advertisement. Up close, it looks as though the ziggurat was once anchored to a foundation on the cusp of the volcano. Shaped charges have sheared through its supports, sending the entire structure bobsledding down into the lake of of molten rock at the bottom of the volcanic crater. It's surrounded by lava on three sides now and shredded fields of razor-obsidian on the fourth, necessitating either an impressive show of acrobatics or the willingness to barrel through a trail of broken glass to reach the building itself.
The Janitor	Inside is far more of a horrorshow. The smells of turpentine, burnt flesh, and seaweed immediately assault the senses. Half the rooms are ordinary office building fare; the other half contain cloning vats, half-constructed robots, or inscrutable machines. Here and there are the bodies of dead guards and scientists- no living humans. Plenty of undead ones, though: (former) people with dark faceted helmets, jaundiced-orange skin, black blood, and military firearms. They move stiffly but quickly in small squads, trying to intercept and pin down anyone who makes it inside. Their chrome cybernetic spinal cords only take one decent hit to put them down, but all other injuries merely stagger them. Rarer initially, but more common as one moves towards the caldera-facing edge of the building, are the chittering chitinous mutants. All have algae-green and brown thorny carapaces, whickering scythe-tipped limbs, and shrieking faces like humanoid bugs. In all other cases, they're as individual as they are numerous- their size, number of limbs, number of heads, whether they're bipedal or skitter like bugs, and whether they bleed fire or acid all vary from one mutant to the next. Some run in packs of murderous housecats, others stalk the ruined halls alone and crack the doorframes with their shoulders. The whole structure is playing out like an auto-scroller: every minute another floor of the ziggurat sinks into the lava, its windows cracking under the pressure of molten rock. Every minute the swarm of zombies and mutants is forced up another level of the pyramid to survive, packed into a tighter and tighter space. It's a pressure-cooker of genemodded and reanimated flesh- whatever the Elites want here, time is not on their side. The reason for the mutants' swarming on one face of the pyramid soon becomes clear. A woman in a blue jumpsuit and flat cap sprints through the halls, pursued by a mutant swarm so dense that it's more like a tidal wave or katamari than a hunting pack. She smashes out the window with the black-and-gold briefcase in her hand, grabs a fire extinguisher from the wall on her way out, and starts to scale the exterior of the ziggurat while blocking shots from the turrets and being pursued by the wall of furious mutant creatures. Whatever she's got, it's acting like a magnet, and she doesn't want to let it go.
Theurgus	Theurgus is stood aboard the Flotilla's ship, and once they reach orbit, she cycles herself through the teleporter, and arrives at the lip of the Caldera. Immediately set-upon by the perimeter turrets, she ducks back, and with a wave of a hand, summons a small crystal, which she presses into her chest. "Access!". She is engulfed in a pillar of prismatic light, and emergfes in flight on her Processors, taking a high arc to avoid most of the incoming fire, though some slugs punch through her body, leaving gaping holes that show an angry red fragmented code beneath. "Seeping Crest of Turbidity. Arrogant vessel of lunacy. Boil forth and deny, grow numb and flicker. Crawl upon a bed of iron nails, summon an eternally self-destructing doll of frost. Unite. Repulse. Fill with Null points and know your own powerlessness. GREAT GLACIER!" Intoning her incantation, her staff limming with pale blue light and building up energy, while dodging incoming fire that smashes through her body as the defensees track her, she unleashes a wide swath of magical ice that battles with the lava, anchoring the building in place, for a few precious minutes until the spell loses all its power and the ice loses the battle with the molten rock. The ice may also jam some of the turrets, letting others approach a bit more easily.
Zenos yae Galvus	Through the nearby gate, a Garlean gunship exits. It was nearby, what it was up to before then was anyone's guess, but now it seems interested in responding to the distress signal, especially after getting the source. Zenos was very interested in getting knowledge from areas like this, for various reasonings that mostly including in bolstering his own power and strength. This was an opportunity, and one he was not willing to waste. The gunship starts making its approach, only to be harassed by Anti-air fire. Inside, Zenos sitting in the command seat jerks as the ship takes fire. "Return fire, silence the cannons and make ready to board," he commands, watching as things unfold. Shots fire from the main battery of the Gunship, aiming to silence cannons. More than that, Skyarmors deploy, aiming to flank either side of the facility, and attempt to fire chains against the side of the sliding building. Their goal wasn't so much trying to halt it with their own power, but either tether it to something nearby and stable, slow down the descent or guide it off track so that it runs into something that will stop its path. The facility was a lost cause, but the opportunity to pilfer the facility of another organization was too good to pass up, as well as try and figure out what happened here for a proper report. Eventually, the Gunship would try and make a pass at dropping it's cargo off. A magitek reaver, Zenos' bodyguards, and Zenos himself would depart, while the gunship would return to silencing cannons and providing fire support. The support opens fire on mutants and zombies that get too close, while Zenos uses his blade to deflect shots that try and catch him, and cut down anything that gets close to him personally. Of course, as the facility drops, losing more of itself to the lava, Zenos and his group moves for higher ground. The massive surge of creatures does catch his eye and drawn to conflict like a moth to a flame he is. "Go, recover what you can, I will tend to this. Do not disappoint me."
Starbound Flotilla	A Flotilla ship pulls in. A small orbital maneuvering craft! Pavo is piloting. Aboard, a teleporter and some basic weapons and armor, plus powerful thrusters and environmental protection, all offer a chance to land... hypothetically. It's a low-cost option, for a situation that the Flotilla doesn't know all of ahead of time. And that turns out to be a good idea. "Woah, woah! Why shoot at us when they put out the distress!?" "Because we're the /Flotilla/, numbwings! Brace for maneuvers!" "Floran already burning up, not wanna get more burn!" "Urgent. We need to find anything about that zombie army!" "Hmmh. Lab makes it clear that we need the command module for that." "Then we must find that. Quite simple. Let us scan for such a thing." "...Not gonna need to." "Curious. What do you mean?" "Shit. Pavo! Blue, on the side! Gun it!" "Gun what?" "Smite that bitch! Just emergency-land the thing on her head!" "Only because you called it 'smiting'!" At this area, due to incited volcanic activity, it's likely impossible to do much more than short-range teleportation. So instead of land, or hover and beam down, or anything like that, Pavo just hits the throttle and tries to slam the ship into the side of the building, right near where the mysterious figure with the briefcase will be leaping and bounding up the side. It's likely to crush a chunk of the monsters, and it's an effort to slow the fleeing figure down. Biteblade is already popping the top of the thing, trying to tackle onto the climber and grab the briefcase mid-crash! The Flotilla seem to be making an effort to steal the Key Prize before anyone else with competing interests might snag it. Hopefully that doesn't leave them too vulnerable to zombies, lava -- halted or otherwise -- or competition from the other arrivals.
The Janitor	The entire ziggurat shudders and groans with thermal stresses as Theurgus freezes the lava lake's surface solid! A few hairline cracks skitter up the sides of the pyramid's concrete walls, but mercifully, the entire structure holds. Between her magic and Zenos's underlings' attempts to anchor the building, it's held firmly where it is for the next few minutes, buying them precious time before the laboratory's wholly submerged and burned. Some of the turrets are shut down by Zenos's and Theurgus's combined assaults on the structure, but those that survive refocus their attention away from the Flotilla and towards the offending pair's forces! The gunship likely takes a beating as it comes in for the drop-off, and Theurgus will face a veritable wall of bullets when she opts to approach. If that weren't enough, a small squad of zombie sharpshooters is setting up on the very peak of the pyramid, trying to pick her off where she stands! The blue-jumpsuited technician looks up from her perilous ascent just as the Flotilla craft guns its engines. Rather than dodge out of the way, she rolls the fire extinguisher in her left hand, braces her feet against the right angles of the concrete exterior, and stares down the oncoming spaceship from under the brim of her hat. She swings the fire extinguisher like a baseball bat at the last instant before direct impact. With a deafening PING, it somehow knocks the ship off-course enough to miss her by a hair, slamming into the bulk of the oncoming mutants instead and painting the ship's hull with their blue-green blood. As Biteblade and the remaining horde of mutants close in, the technician scans her options, sights Zenos pursuing the horde through the broken window below, and hurls the heavy briefcase to him frisbee-style while fending off Bitey's pounce by using the extinguisher like a nunchuk. Naturally, this results in the entire katamari-like horde of scrabbling mutants turning on a shrieking dime and barreling down on Zenos like a freight train. But this is what he wanted, right?
Ritsuka Fujimaru	What's a Dragon Witch to do when news reaches her about a once-secret facility going up in flames rather spectacularly? Leave it alone? Do research online? Wait until the news reports on it? Nope. Instead, Jeanne's going to make a trip out to see who it is that's caused such a mess. She's got little else to do, anyway, and finding someone else with such skill at wanton destruction might be a fun change of pace. The Dragon Witch wouldn't be very dragon-y without... Well, dragons, so she's made the wise decision to approach the sinking ziggurat from atop a mighty dr-wyvern. At least it means not jumping into lava or spikes. It takes several minutes for her to find an entrance to the building that isn't melted or already submerged in molten lava, and doing so while under constant fire from those surrounding turrets gets the Servant's hackles raised in short order. "How annoying... Stop being a nuisance and die!" Assuming said turrets are actually being manned by somebody, Jeanne unleashes a flurry of flaming spears towards the turrets and the sharpshooters targeting Theurgus, jerking her poor wyvern around as it starts to descend from the rounds grazing and smashing into its scaley hide. It doesn't take long before the wyvern descends fully and Jeanne leaps off its back through a window, crashing into the building unceremoniously and swinging her cloak dramatically to send broken/melting glass at whoever's unfortunate enough to be inside. "Now where is the person-" And then someone that looks more like a custodian than a spy catches her eye, already well outside the building and not only knocking the Flotilla's ship off course, but sending a horde of zombies after Zenos as well. It doesn't take long for Jeanne to put two and two together, and she does a stiff 180 as she climbs back out to begin her pursuit! "You there! Do you enjoy this sort of senseless destruction?!" Although Jeanne's yelling, it's not out of anger. No, her tone is definitely more of an amused one, not unlike someone that's excited and only moderately deranged. "Or do you have some sort of higher purpose in mind?"
Theurgus	Theurgus, or more correctly Diamond Soul, jinks and jukes around the incoming fire, being forced to back off lest she be turned into swiss cheese by the massed volley fire. "She radios over to the Flotilla, then twirls her staff and aims the gem at the defense turrets that are still firing, only to get tagged by the sharpshooters at the summit. She yelps as one blasts a 'wing' off, and she starts to plummet to the ground, though manages to right herself and arrest her descent before impact. She lifts her gaze, and with a quick sweep, sends a volley of icy spikes at a few of the turrets and the sharpshooters, before shifting posture and flying for the closest window. A burst of wind blows it in, and she dives through, starting to shoot her way through the corridors, looking for anything of interest to just grab and make off with.
Zenos yae Galvus	The Gunship was built tough, but too much more of that and it was going to have to pull out of the fight completely, potentially leaving them stranded. While Zenos was okay with this, his underlings had this absurd notion of thinking they were not expendable, and Zenos had to keep the illusion this was the case. The help could get so uppity sometimes. "File back on me, I believe I have had a stroke of luck," Zenos says, as his hand comes up to easily catch the thrown briefcase. However, those guns would prevent him from leaving right away. "Hm," he says, as the zombies and mutants start turning towards him. "How dull, wretches appear to be attracted to this..." he muses, before having one of his men hold the briefcase, while he opens it. The Magitek Reaper releases cannons of fire towards the horde as they flood out of the building, aiming to thin the tide as Zenos examined his prize. Zenos makes the bare minimum of efforts, using his blade arts to strike the ground. Swords appear, aiming to cause hurricane-force winds in various areas around the group, funneling anything that attempted to charge them through kill zones.
Starbound Flotilla	Biteblade suffers a brutal clong straight on the noggin. Her tackle spins into a wall and she barely has time to swing a dagger in the direction of the mysterious figure. George is struggling out of the crumpled wreck, and barely has the time to grab her hand as she falls. "Shit! I got ya!" "Auuuugh! No, hey! Horn man give Floran back briefcassse!" "Ghhhh... Star Three! Run him down! Star Two! Take it back!" "Affirming. I'll keep it safe!" "We shall sail through the stormy seas with ease." While George pulls Biteblade to safety, Seft and Moonfin spring into action. Seft, in fancy techno-knight armor, raises a tower shield and brings out her battle-axe. She rocket-blasts fast towards Zenos, trying to give cover to Moonfin's more subtle approach of rushing behind her and trying to slice at the man before he extracts something critical from the briefcase, as well as get in position for the Flotilla to try to lay a claim to the thing! He can't deal with the monsters /and/ the Flotilla both at once, can he?
The Janitor	The turrets are unmanned and computer-coordinated, but vulnerable to Jeanne's fusillade of spears anyway- between that and Theurgus's continued icicle onslaught, all of the turrets on two faces of the pyramid are destroyed, making it entirely safe to approach from the east or west! Once inside, Theurgus's search will find a variety of things that seem valuable, but are either moderately damaged or of unknown worth- bits and pieces from a teleporter, an unused zombie cyberspine, most of an experimental rocket launcher that's had the belt-feed mechanism ripped out. Somebody's sabotaged this place to hell and back. Finally, she stumbles across an office party with a dozen scientists slumped over desks and tables without obvious wounds, most of them clutching empty paper cups. The punch bowl is full of... it couldn't be, could it? Docfessor Plubber, almost certainly poisoned. Zenos's prize pops open much like any other briefcase would, revealing a laptop built into the case with a fancy holographic display and unfamiliar-looking keys. A fancy circular loading bar appears: DOWNLOADING COMMAND KEYS: 27%, it says. Behind it, locked for the moment, are a variety of options- a tactical heatmap showing the positions of zombies and mutants throughout the ziggurat, quick commands to reposition them, and references to "offworld resources". The only currently-unlocked option is a big red button to DEPLOY SQUID. It even gives him an annoying "ARE YOU SURE? Y/N" prompt if he chooses to unleash the Kraken. Right now, the steep-sloped playing field of the ziggurat's caldera-facing side is dominated by Zenos's killing-fields, the seemingly endless tide of mutants swarming out of the ziggurat like ants from an anthill and beelining towards the briefcase, and the dangerous firing-lines of the few remaining turrets. Zenos's defenses are repelling the zombies for now, but every failed push gets a little closer before being pruned back as they're reinforced faster than they're killed! The figure in the flat cap stares baldly at George as he hauls Biteblade up, neither interfering with nor aiding the rescue. Jeanne's words snap her out of her apparent reverie; she turns her head just enough for the servant to read her lips, but her eyes stay hidden by the brim of her cap. "You've got the wrong person," she says in an utterly bland and unemotive voice while offhandedly bludgeoning a dog-sized mutant to death with her fire extinguisher. "I'm just the Janitor."
Theurgus	Theurgus grabs the cyberspine and the rocket launcher fragments. Someone might find it useful. These she puts into her Inventory, since they're assigned to noone, apparently. And then she finds the party with the dead scientists, and with a look of pure horror, realizes what's happened. "This, is unacceptable!" she says, turning and splattering a zombie against the far sidef of the hallway wall with a burst of pressure. "The Organization ahs stooped so low as to poison the learned with their own elixier! This cannot stand!" she bellows, deploying a wall of burning flame at one side of the hallway, then flying down the opposite way, emerging from the building near where the others have congregated. "Who poisoned those men. Speak, lest I become angry and begin painting the side of this building with your blood." she stays, to the group, including the Flotilla, for some reason.
Zenos yae Galvus	"Activate it," Zenos says to the Garlean Soldier holding the briefcase. Either this was going to be useful, or it was going to be distracting, either way, it would serve Zenos' goals, or provide him entertainment. Unfortunately for both Seft and Moonfin, Zenos was more than aware of his surroundings, and with the Zombies and Mutants being funneled into kill zones for his men to take apart... This leaves him free to deal with the Flotilla. The man holding the briefcase pushes the button and confirms. Zenos, however, moves swiftly, his blade moves up to clash with the ax from Seft, the katana taking the blow, while Moonfin sneaks around his ally to strike at Zenos more subtly. The strike slides up his shoulders, slicing through shoulder armor and skin, but this causes Zenos to react unexpectantly. He leans forward into the blow, aiming to swing the blade up in a massive swinge, aiming to throw both of the Flotilla away from the briefcase. His sword arm coming down to examine the injury, before turning to reconsider the two. "Interesting technique. Your teamwork is impeccable, so I will show you the respect you deserve as my prey. However, if you think such tricks will take my prize from me so easily, you have another thing coming. Men, you will protect that briefcase with your life." He says, commandingly, "Because if they do not take your life getting it, then I will take yours for cowardice."
Ritsuka Fujimaru	Even with those words coming silently from the Janitor, Jeanne can make out just enough to understand her loud and clear. The repeat over the radio certainly helps with her understanding of what the lady in blue is trying to tell her, and the Servant starts shaking slightly as she presses two fingers to her forehead. And then she starts laughing. "The Janitor? Is that so? I don't know how good you are at your job considering the mess you've made, but..." Her gaze sweeps across the burning landscape as she leaps from wall to the same wall but higher up, closing the distance between herself and the Janitor while drawing her blade to carve up some of those pesky zombies between herself and her... What would she even consider the Janitor? Entertainment, at the very least. Summoning yet more of those flaming spears, Jeanne thrusts her sword forward as they hurtle towards the blue jumpsuit, speeding towards her dangerously and skewering... Yet more of those zombies. They all avoid the Janitor entirely. "Go. Clean this world of whatever it is that stains it, and let's see just how far your reach extends!" Her gaze shifts over to the battle between the Flotilla and Zenos soon after, raising an eyebrow at the dispute over the briefcase and whatever's inside. Theurgus seems to be seething quite a bit as well, and Jeanne levels a shit-eating grin towards the latter after not too long. "Is that a promise? What if I told you that everyone here is responsible for that?" She clearly doesn't, and she's not even sure what it is the ^Controller is so angry about, but that's not going to stop the Servant from needling at someone for the sake of it.
Starbound Flotilla	Moonfin and Seft are thrown back. Each have to hold themselves back from sliding too far, plunging their melee weapons deep into the ground. B oth of their weapon-arms are jarred badly. "Everything about me is impeccable, you will soon find. My teamwork, my style, and my form in combat." Moonfin jousts verbally with the man. "Perhaps a connoisseur like yourself might enjoy a /taste/!" He breaks into a rocket-dash the same time as Seft. "Third Sea Hylotl Style: Swirling Whirlpool!" "Determined. I won't let you and your people have technologies like /this/!" Seft shouts, moving in to strike with rocket-shoves of her tower shield, while jabbing forward with her battleaxe. Moonfin is the one who slides by, trying to get behind the man and rush him from the opposite angle with wide, skillful sweeps! But just two of six aren't a match for Zenos in this particular context, though they put up quite a fight. George, Biteblade, and Albert are still recovering, recovering others, or being recovered. But that leaves Pavo, mostly fresh on her feet, trying to join in. She's come in from above instead, using her flight to get a good angle for a shot through collapsing floor segments and dangerous open windows. Specifically, with a brutal heavy magn-orb shot at the man holding the briefcase laptop, trying to break his skull with a floating high-speed fist-sized metal orb, and to snatch the briefcase with a heavy grappling hook! Part of that teamwork, it seems.
The Janitor	"I just Windexed that punch bowl. Told them not to use it." The Janitor is profoundly offhanded and unconcerned about the fact that she apparently just caused the deaths of a dozen people, whether (as she claims) accidentally or intentionally. But perhaps in Theurgus's eyes, the sins are identical. The Janitor doesn't so much as twitch when the flaming spears pass her by. A normal person would flinch- but it's rapidly becoming apparent she isn't the positive normalcy of sound health, but the negative normalcy of a human being with the numbers filed off. Rather than responding to Jeanne, she takes her fire extinguisher, shakes it vigorously a few times like a soda can, judges a distance using her thumb at arm's length like a ruler, and then hoses a straight trail of foam down the sloping side of the ziggurat. "Hold this for me," she says blandly, giving the emptied extinguisher to Jeanne. Then she jumps and skates down the slick foam, accelerating to terrifying speeds in her downhill slalom before flying off of a ramp-like piece of debris. She soars twenty or thirty feet into the air, flying above the streams of mutants, dodging the aim of the anti-air turrets... and falls down with a drop-kick to stomp on precisely where George's hand will be, if he doesn't relinquish his hold on Biteblade! She doesn't say anything to him as she follows up with a neck-level swipe using a shard of broken glass. The targeted violence is a body language all of its own. Finally, eight or ten seconds after the button was pressed, the top of the ziggurat opens up like a blossoming flower. The SQUID is DEPLOYed. An orb of gleaming black metal rises up out of the apex, a searing white dot glowing at its pole and eight segmented-tentacle robotic arms extending from its equator. With a hissing scream of boiling air, a white laser beam fires from its 'eye' and sweeps across the entire caldera-face of the pyramid! Though it temporarly purges the field of mutants and zombies, anyone who doesn't get to cover is going to get a nasty ashen sunburn. As if that weren't bad enough, the howling energy-beam cuts through Theurgus's ice at the pyramid's base, accelerating the spell's decay by allowing more of the lava to bubble up and resume pooling in the base of the ziggurat. It's begun sinking again, albeit slowly, and forcing more mutants and zombies up into the Elites' area like a tube of toothpaste being rolled up!
Theurgus	Theurgus grits her teeth, both at The Janitor's totally offhanded attitude, and Jeane's brazen goading. Her fist clenches around her staff, and she's about to throw in with both, when three things happen in quick succession. The Squid appears, shrieking and firing a laser. The laser sweeps the battlefield, and starts to break down her spell, and The Janitor attacks George after skating down a trail of fire suppressant foam. The Drive Core Controller tchs, swinging her staff and firing a volley of ice bolts at The Janitor, aiming to knock her off balance and give George an opening. "Stars, the facility is sinking. We should leave. Quickly."
Zenos yae Galvus	"Is that so? I find often that the weakest dog barks the loudest," Zenos says towards Moonfin, "Let us pray, for your sake, that you are not so weak." Towards Seft he chuckles a bit, "Oh, and you find yourself the stewards of such power? Do not make me laugh, we have broken Alag's technological superiority over our knee. Do not presume this will be any different." A shot fired, and the man holding the case loses his head. No, he doesn't get angry, he /loses/ his head. The man drops, but quickly a larger guard moves to grab the case. Zenos is beset by both Moonfin and Seft, however this trick was something he already witnessed. Instead of waiting for Seft and Moonfin to come, he came to them. Rushing right towards Seft first, aiming to swing his blade into that shield, aiming to stop her rocket push with his own strength. The two clashes for but a moment, his armor straining under the force. Moonfin comes in from behind but has a bit more distance to cross, which gives Zenos JUST enough time to turn, fading from view at the last second. This allows Seft to move again but also removes Moonfin's target. When Zenos reappears, he does so back where he started, and a swing of the blade causes a wide arch of energy to surge through the battlefield, aiming to cut into both opponents and send them flying away from him. The man who grabs the case only has seconds to dive for cover as THE KRA-I mean SQUID fires it's massive Mexibeam down. Mutants and Zombies die, which frees up the squad to gather around the case holder and start firing shots up towards the sniper. Bullets will riddle her space, followed by cannon shots from the Magiteck Reaper. Zenos examines the damage to his armor and feeling the numbness from taking the blow directly to his arm. He is strong, but not invincible...and while he might have the advantage, the situation is far from tenable. Under the mask, the Garlean smiles. Jane was right, he did want this.
Ritsuka Fujimaru	"Hm? Oh, alright." Jeanne mutters off-handedly as the Janitor passes her by and hands off the empty fire extinguisher, tucking it under her arm while watching the madwoman speed down the foamy substance and fling herself right into the battle between Zenos and the Flotilla. How she'd love to just throw herself into that fray and carve her own bloody path, but it seems the ziggurat has its own designs. Designs that lead to the ziggurat coming ever closer to destroying itself in magma, but still. Turning her attention to THE SQUID as it bears its mighty arms and fires its mighty laser, the Servant finds herself having to actually scramble quite a bit to avoid being incinerated by that beam. Flinging herself sideways, she suffers a nasty burn through her armor, but that seems to only draw louder cackling from the Dragon Witch as she starts running directly /at/ THE SQUID. "So this is what this place was hiding... What kind of damage could a place like this have done if it wasn't falling apart at the seams?" She asks nobody in particular as her sword and banner spear whip around the Servant swiftly, tearing about zombies and mutants left and right. After a bit of showing off both strength and skill with those weapons, Jeanne draws back the banner as a massive spear erupts from the ground into her and gets struck firmly with her boot, launching the stabbing implement directly at THE SQUID! Somehow, she's still got that fire extinguisher under her arm.
Starbound Flotilla	"Pull up! Pull up Floran, human friend!" "I'm goin', I'm goin'! Fucking /joints/!" George groans with pain as he gets Biteblade almost up out of the "rising" lava, feeling a sudden rush of joint pain, and then-- "NO!!" Jane kicks his hand, hard. There's a crunch of bone. "BITEY!!" Albert dives hard and fast, still disoriented from the landing and barely saving the wounded Floran. George is left to fend off Jane without the Flotilla. He's got other backup though. "God /damn/ it! J!!" He twists his body around in an esoteric capoeira style, keeping the glass from lashing against his throat and instead suffering a brutal slash somehow clean through the armor on his arm. "No! I'm not lettin' you--" He goes for a heavy sweeping kick to the knee, meant to force her to get off his hand. "Hurt 'em!" "Hey, A-hole! Get Bitey up and out of here!" "Tch. Fine! Star Five, on me!" George has spun up onto his feet like a breakdancer, keeping his weight off the shattered hand. "I don't know what fuckin' /hole/ you've been waiting in, J!" George shouts, moving into a classic Robuster's stance and then just as quickly out of it, re-harvesting his momentum to go for a gravity-agnostic flipping kick towards the elbow right during Theurgus' balance-knocking assault, trying to knock the glass shard out of her hand as he fires a grappling hook up the side of the structure and starts pulling up, up and away from the rising lava, intending to fight her from the high ground. "But out here we been makin' more than just that same choice every day! Earth's /gone/, that's /changed/ things! We can't afford to balance the equation the way you're trying these days, there's not enough hands and heads left! I'm not lettin' you get that thing, and I sure as hell ain't lettin' you do your business with any of my Flotilla." She's going to find an opportunity to move in dangerously when he has to take a defensive stance and let the armor soak the heat as it lances over the side he's on. Shit! His red hardsuit's looking a little black, but at least now Albert and Biteblade have a clearer path than the one they've been fighting through.
Starbound Flotilla	Moonfin and Seft suffer a brutal strike. The wide sweep sends them back and almost entirely through some of the surrounding walls. Seft is left hanging over the edge, while Moonfin manages to plunge the blade down into the ground and swing himself back into battle. Both have armor crackling and sparking with damage. "Hmph! I think not! A bark? I would never make a show of my skill without the utmost artistry." He practically spits. "I shall demonstrate it alone if need be." "'If.'" Albert and Biteblade are crashing in, having finally properly recovered. The lab-tech armored monkey wields a heavy hammer, while Biteblade draws a pair of powered daggers. "Star Two! Go, we're flanking!" Seft is vulnerable while she rises, but the reinforced trio strike heavily; Moonfin's rocket-rush tries to force Zenos to guard against only him or be run through with rapid katana jabs, while Albert moves in to try to throw him off his balance with a massive hammer strike, and Biteblade tries to leap from above and capitalize on both with a dagger-pouncing dive! Meanwhile, Pavo's grappling hook seems to have missed. She has to follow it and then slide into cover as the KRAKEN fires lasers! "No!! Get back here, bastard!" She shouts, having to hold in place as lasers sweep! "Drop it or I smite you for this heretical bullshit!" As soon as there's a gap, she tries to pounce the man with a cutlass rush, and snatch the thing. But she'll only have one chance, and that means there's a good opportunity to predict her strike and intercept.
The Janitor	The Squid lets out a keening electric howl as Jeanne's spear pierces its 'eye', blowing out the photonic batteries behind the aperture and melting swiss-cheese holes in the front of its spherical chassis from inside! The laser's out of commission, but the beast isn't dead yet- its main body lifts off the ground with a distortive shimmer of gravity nullifiers, and its whipping tentacles pull it 'down' along the side of the ziggurat in a slithering charge that bowls the mutant hordes aside. One of the limbs pulls the spear out of its body and levels the weapon against Jeanne herself- it's trying to joust against her with her own weapon! Zenos himself may be preoccupied with the fight with the Flotilla, but the C&C briefcase pings as a new option unlocks. DOWNLOADING COMMAND KEYS: 53%, it says, with a MUTANTS DIRECTIVES menu newly highlighted! Without time to sit down and study the interface in-depth, controlling them is bound to be fairly crude, but whoever holds the briefcase can now tell the chittering hordes approximately where to go and who not to bite! Theurgus's icicles come at precisely the wrong time for Jane- she pivots a hundred and eighty degrees to cut them out of the air with her improvised glass shiv, only to give the techno-witch the satisfaction of seeing George's kick connect with her knee as a direct result. She's only flesh and blood under that jumpsuit, so surely that has to bruise if not tear a ligament... but in contrast to her old friend's kvetching, Jane remains silent and expressionless as a mountain lion in a beartrap. The blow to her elbow comes a second later; she twists her arm to bleed the momentum of the strike, dropping the glass shiv in the process. No matter- as she parkours up the treacherous concrete behind George, she tacks to one side to deliberately bait one of the anti-vehicle turrets into firing at her. As the enormous kinetic penetrator passes just by her head, she snatches it out of the air with her bare hands and twirls it around to wield it in a reverse grip as if it's a sharpened stake. When the squid-beam sweeps, she doesn't take cover- instead, she dashes towards George and swings the stake towards his shoulder, mimicking his predicted movement when he inevitably attempts to dodge to stay within his silhouette and use his own exosuit as armor! "Black Death. Cold War. Earthfall. History repeats. Nothing changes but you." The leg-sweep follows a second later, followed by an upwards jab with the stake to try and drive it through the chin of his helmet. "There is no 'we' until you kill the 'I'. Is that how you die?"
Starbound Flotilla	"ARGH!" George cries out as the strike connects hard with his helmet, knocking chunks of the thing and shattering the faceplate. Shards start falling out; he makes sure to toss the whole thing far to one side quickly, because it's the only way to deprive The Janitor of more glass to menace him with. "There used to be 'we', J." George mutters, wiping blood from his mouth and maneuvering along the side of the building with an aged, decaying expertise. His motions are limited by age, and enhanced by armor, as he tries to keep up with someone who has neither in hand-to-hand robusting. "You know how this was. The more you do what you do, the /less/ there'll ever be anyone else who makes the same choice you do!" He's swallowing down fear hard. His joints are full of an ache he can't deal with. His heart is pounding in his ears. A three million year old ape inside him is screaming to run away from the predator, find the tribe, and live another day. "God damn it J, the more you do this the less you'll /ever/ find anyone who can hear what you say!" Can he? He sounds like it. His voice cracks with a deathly fear. His personal teleporter flickers and fails; the thermal fluctuation is too severe. He can't outdo her in the verbal throw-off arena, and he can't turn and run without giving her the kind of attack of opportunity he can't afford to give her. Not while the rest of the Flotilla are up there! Seft is also up there, still hanging from a ledge where she was knocked over by Zenos. She stares down at what happens next with the Janitor, with a deep and profound worry, and an abject lack of understanding. Wide gleaming eyes fill with anxiety.
Ritsuka Fujimaru	This will certainly do. With the adrenaline pumping through her, Jeanne's getting heated up as her battle with the mighty tower-based beast begins! Although the laser is dealt with, the new threat becomes apparent as those tentacles fling the Squid forwards, spear and all. "Is that how you want to challenge me? Then let's see if your creators made something worthwhile!" Charging forward herself, Jeanne flings that fire extinguisher in the Squid's path before leaping towards it, aiming herself right at that spear. Sparks fly from the Servant's armor as her boot grazes against the spear's tip while she uses it as a jumping point, flinging herself even further upwards! Except that jump isn't anywhere near enough to clear the height of the Squid, and she gets smashed backwards by the Squid's massive size and speed hurtling down the ziggurat. Gritting her teeth, the Avenger opts for a less refined approach: Dark flames begin to burn around her blade, her banner, and her body alike as Jeanne begins thrusting her sword at the Squid from one side while smashing her fist into it from the other side, focusing on those two key points to try and punch flaming holes right into its big dumb squidface!
Zenos yae Galvus	The Garlean holding the briefcase screams, but at the last second a spiked mace swings out from one of the remaining guards. The Cutlass cuts through the armor, slicing through his cheek and splitting the helm down the middle. However, the seemingly predominately ruddy face of a large greenish skinned man stands, with short red hair, and a huge nose. "Oi! You need to stand back lady, this belongs to the Garlean Empire now, that it does!" he says, stomping his foot into the ground, "And keepin' this safe is a blessing that it is for me, it's like all my namedays have come at once!" he booms, swinging the mace again and attempting to launch Pavo back. "Heretical?" he laughs with a bellow, "Yer gods are false crystal frigments, let me show ya what means anything in this world o ours!" Zenos, thankfully, does not pay attention to Grynewaht pyr Arvina, and as such even if he succeeds he will likely be forgotten that he did anything important. However, the Garlean with the briefcase, speaks into the mic, "Uh...KILL THE BIRD!" he says, marking Pavo on the map. Meanwhile, Zenos has three of the Flotilla to contend with now. However, Moonfin was quickly growing on him, even if he was not strong he was one who could be TEMPERED to be a challenge for later. Just as the man was about to move in, however, two more of the gang drop in unannounced. Katana jabs come in quickly, forcing Zenos on the defensive at first. Katana jabs thrust, but his own Katana matches his blow for blow, sparks grinding off of the other's blade. You could almost tell he was smiling under that mask. Albert comes for the smash with the hammer and DOES toss Zenos around from the strike. He staggers, but as Biteblade comes down to take full advantage, he steps just at the right moment, dagger cutting through armor, but grazing the Garlean general. Laughing, Zenos is starting to enjoy this now...there is a burst of aetheric energy from his body, red in color as he grips the katana in his hand. "Come, bring as many as you can. Let us make this interesting!" following these words another laugh. Not a mocking laugh, but one of merriment, as if he were /enjoying/ this. The Katana digs into the earth, as a massive shockwave surrounds him in all directions. The energy washes out, hurting those it touches, but the BIG part of the attack is more sinister. Zenos attempts to use the technique to debilitate all four of the Flotilla, aiming to put them down for the count, should they fall to his technique.
The Janitor	The Squid puts up a valiant show at first, displaying inhuman skill-at-arms with its sinuous arms clutching Jeanne's discarded spear, but it simply isn't adaptive enough to anticipate a move as ridiculous as using the weapon as a trampoline! Even after the servant recovers from the impact, its tactical algorithms seem a little dazed by the alarmingly bizarre maneuver. When she starts to hammer away at its hull, the Squid's own gravity-dampeners work against it: it doesn't have the inertia or the traction to stand up to her assault, and gets battered away in an uncontrolled tumble under her blazing attack! It bounces and flails uphill like a multi-armed tumbleweed, important-looking bits and greebles tumbling out of its swiss-cheesed molten hull like a broken pinata. Finally, it comes to a halt at the cusp of the ziggurat's open top, sparking and twitching erratically. It is, one can safely conclude after a few seconds, about as "dead" as a robot can get. Maybe Jeanne can put "cool robot-slayer" on her resume if nobody saw that first part! Between the prior killing-fields and the Squid's ashing laserbeam, the remaining mutants are only a small fraction of what they once were- but that's still an intimidatingly large amount of toothy, claw-y biomass, and suddenly it's all intensely focused on Pavo. A flock of cat-sized mutants sprint towards her and pounce, followed a few seconds later by a half-dozen of the larger ones! If she tries to fly or grapple away, they'll form an army-ant-like living tower to give the more agile mutants at the top enough height to leap up, pounce on her, and try to drag her back to earth. "You think I'm lonely," the Janitor answers, "like you are." She has a weapon in her hand. He's cut off from the rest of the Flotilla, in no better condition than she is. He's not even making any overtly aggressive moves. If she wants to close their final chapter here, she's unlikely to get a better chance. But no matter how tightly she grips the metal spike in her hand, she doesn't take it. "But this isn't ideology. It's being me. Her arm snaps forward in a fastball pitch. The spike passes over George's shoulder, close enough to whistle in his ear if he doesn't hit the deck. It passes by him, through a hole that Jeanne blew in the dead Squid's armor, and pierces a fuel-tank. The abrupt eruption of flames lifts the levitating Squid-bot up off the side of the ziggurat and pushes it down, back into the hole at the pinnacle that it came from. It crashes down through floors, through machinery, through elevator shafts, and comes to rest near a central support. Then it explodes like a spectacularly luminous bomb. The four faces of the pyramidal building start to slowly collapse inwards like a falling house of cards. Beyond the immediate and terrifying tactical implications, the ziggurat being levelled means the whole thing will be submerged under lava in a minute or less!
Ritsuka Fujimaru	Jeanne's descent from the Squid's face is nowhere near as impressive as she'd like it to be as she just sort of.. Drops off the thing during one of its wild bounces, laying there for a moment to try and figure out where it all went wrong. It's only when she notices the Squid nowhere near her and instead hovering precariously at the top of the ziggurat that the Servant realizes that she TOTALLY KICKED ITS ASS. "Hmph! That was too easy, bbut it'll have to do for now." Chuckling to herself, Jeanne stands back up and crosses her arms as she surveys the area once more. Mutants and zombies in smaller numbers, the Flotilla and Zenos locked in deadly combat, a spike hurtling past her head right into the Squid's remains. "... Not bad." Jeanne cracks another smirk as she looks back towards the Squid just in time for it to blast some flames out as it falls. She turns for just a moment and glances back when that explosion erupts from the quickly collapsing building. "Absolute madwoman. Yes, this will do!" No sense leaving her to die here. Breaking into a run, Jeanne scoops up the fire extinguisher and lobs it at the Janitor while putting two fingers to her mouth and whistling. The flapping of wings probably can't be heard as another wyvern descends from the sky, swooping in towards Jeanne's position. As long as it's not interrupted, she'll leap onto the creature's back and direct it to swoop down towards the Janitor's position as well, giving her (and likely George) a good opportunity to grab onto its leg in passing if they need an escape route by the sky.
Starbound Flotilla	Pavo is knocked back, slammed hard by the mace. Skidding, holding her glorious golden armor at the shoulder, she grits her teeth under the fancy golden mecha-hood that tops it. "Puh. What, you think the worthlessness of the divinities you fight has something to do with me? Hah!" She brandishes her cutlass, and moves in for an aggressive all-out swiping, flipping, slicing brawl. "/All/ gods are false! That's the /point/! That's why you're about to get your ass /smited/, you ugly bastard! Because I've got all the miracles, smiting, wisdom, and blessings of a /god/!" Depending on how powerful he is, her high-flying efforts might be a match for him. Stylish energized swordplay is her forte. But soon, unfortunately, she finds herself the sole victim of the horde. Amid a slice, she's pounced, and in her effort to get away, she finally sees what's happening. "Bastard! I'll kill you for this!" She shouts, tearing the cat-sized ones away and speeding as fast as she can to the nearest window. She's only barely avoiding the shockwave from Zenos! She's rocket-blasting out to glide away from the structure. That's when she sees George and The Janitor in their duel of the fates, and swoops down to them -- bringing the whole mass with her, and gaining enough speed to not suffer too many of their horrid attacks on the way down. Meanwhile, still above, Moonfin, Albert, and Biteblade are blasted away. Moonfin looks like he's going to fully falter, less a fault of his determination and more from the layers of damage made to his armor, and the fact that his katana-shielding only works for the shrapnel. Albert's armor is a bit less heavy, and the man is driven to his knees, searing in his inventory for a heavy grenade launcher. Biteblade, though, Biteblade is the one who powers through it and rushes him. "Floran told big hornsss man! Give briefcassse /back/!!" Depleted or overloaded chunks of armor explode off her body as she roars to try to move in and start striking from a low-to-the-ground hunter's stance, a stance she intends to use to blunt shockwave and wide-area assaults and tirelessly slash and slash and slash against Zenos directly. She's the strongest of the crew, it seems, at least in raw martial combat prowess and fighting spirit. "Ghhhh... the place is coming down. We need a retreat." "Cueing up the extractor's teleporter, but you must summon it in closely! The volcano's rage shall permit no easy passage!" "I'll bring it down! Focus on making sure all six of us can get out of this!"
Starbound Flotilla	"You know I need them! You know /why/! I'm not lookin' for the /choice/ in 'em! Not like a lonely man! And not like you are, because you know the less you see this shit anywhere else, the more you know it's only you for a /reason/, and that means /you're you/ for a /reason/-- God damn it J!" He sees the fastball spike slam into the target and errupt, turning to watch even despite the fact that a few key vulnerable seconds could mean she kills him. After all, no matter how pragmatic and ruthless she is, George knows The Janitor will always let certain people see the full scope of her actions before she takes the next ones. The walls are falling. That means Seft is in danger. The dangling robo-knight can barely start pulling up as debris begin to rain down on her from one of the collapsing sides overhead, and threaten to kill more of his friends. "You're a fucking monster." George chokes out in fear. It's the subtle sound of deep emotional brokenness. Which is out of place, considering the pacing of the build-up. Because, for all The Janitor's extensive peak human ability, George knows she can't read people. She can't tune into intuitive empathetic understanding of the tones of voice and posture in other people. Not people like George, anyway, who lie as easy as they breathe, and who can exaggerate their own fear and despair and make it impossible to predict that the next thing they'll do is try to slam their crushed hand directly where The Janitor's face was behind him, in order to override her home-made reflexes about manipulating the pain-reactions of others and make her take her only solid disorienting strike of the day. If he's got her number right still, he'll be able to grapple-reel up fast and catch up to Seft to help her. Ideally, this will be the moment when Pavo swoops low over the Janitor and brings the ant-bridges of mutant horror crashing down to mosh-pit around the woman. They may not attack her, but it should make some trouble parkouring a pursuit! Sadly, this will undoubtedly give her ample opportunities to not boil in the lava.
Zenos yae Galvus	Gyrnewalt laughs a belly laugh as the two starts clashing, though it is obvious that she has the advantage over him. He's brutish, often goes for large haymakers instead of focused blows, and overextends way too easily. He starts to curse, thinking he's about to bite it... Until the mass of mutants starts climbing over her and starting to fight her back. He belly laughs again, thinking it was HE who was the victor, instead of the guy behind him frantically trying to figure out what he has in his hands and how best to use it. Right now, he focuses on trying to survive to give it to his lord. The Magitek armor, now free to not have to mow down zombies, turns its cannons on trying to silence the remaining cannons so the gunship can return to extract them. "Of course all gods are false, ya Ixal lookin' alien! If you have all of a gods stuff, that means your fal-HEY GET BACK HERE! I'M SUPPOSED TO BE GETTING GLORY! I'M SUPPOSED TO BE THE MAIN CH-" and a piece of the Ziggurat falls on him. No, he's not dead, he's already being dragged out by someone who isn't loud. Biteblade surprises him with her pure determination and fierce skill. She strikes at him, the initial barrage digging into his chest armor and drawing blood. The follow-ups are blocked by the katana, though there are more than a few clashes in the two going after each other. Zenos is fully impressed, the group fights well, and each one makes up for the weaknesses of the other. "Ah yes...this is what I am searching for. To think, such a desire for conflict exists in such a direct mind," he chuckles, though his tone hides his strained breath. He is not down yet, but he /IS/ being pushed. Though how long he could continue is anyone's guess. "Let us see if you can transcend..." he says and brings his Katana down into the sword revolver. It spins rapidly as he draws the first blade, the Ash. A Strong gust of wind attempts to break through Biteblade's defenses, trying to stagger her. The swell is quickly placed back into the Sword revolver. This is followed by the Storm, which sparks with electricity and attempts to hinder her movements and set up the final attack. Zenos flips towards her, closing the distance and attempting to overhead slash with the Ash, a blade blazing with fire and attempting to sear the mighty Floran with it.
The Janitor	The Janitor starts to walk past George, already plotting out her escape routes in her head. "You know what-" Crack. That sucker-punch catches her mid-stride, sending her staggering back with blood dripping from her mouth. There's a brief moment where she might be able to try to shank George in the side before he can grapple over to Seft. But she doesn't take it, either because she's still trying to sluggishly process what just hit her or because she doesn't see a point in scrabbling for revenge. Given how her brain works, it's probably a bit of both. The chilly lack of retaliation leaves her slightly more prepared to focus on the ant-bridge of mutants falling down on top of her. The fire extinguisher she'd lent to Jeanne is returned with an expert toss; she catches it with one hand, punches through the spine of a falling mutant with the other, and then uses the improvised weapon to just barely avoid being completely buried under a tidal wave of claws and teeth. Anyone else, when Jeanne swoops in on that wyvern, would likely accept her as an unlikely savior. But the Janitor, by the look of things, has absolutely no intention of relying on anyone else to that extent. She leans out of the way of the swooping wyvern as she sprints along the collapsing walls, tensing her shoulders in a way that vaguely hints she's ready to clobber the dragon over the head if it comes to that. Fortunately, it doesn't- her path diverges from Jeanne's as she sprints straight up a vertical girder to leap up two stories at once, baiting one of the few surviving anti-vehicular turrets- the rest being occupied with Zenos's magitech armor. The targeting-laser locks onto her center mass as she leaps backwards off the ziggurat, directly over the lethal lava. The slug fires and strikes the fire extinguisher, giving her a backwards kick from the heavy bullet's impact, then a more sustained thrust as its remaining pressurized contents explode outwards through the hole. A fraction of a second later, she blocks and rides another bullet with the extinguisher's jagged remains, then another, catching momentum from each in turn until her trajectory is blindingly horizontal. She soars over the lake of lava, lands on the very edge of the caldera-crater, and then drops out of view over the cusp. From that point on, she may as well have vanished from the world.
Starbound Flotilla	George grabs onto Seft, and they pull up together -- as much as up means anything. She provides cover with a mining beam at the ready, he gets the beacon working. Albert struggles to remote-pilot a ship down through the hell that is the dying AA fire. Moonfin struggles to calculate a teleport through the nightmare that is all this volcanic activity. Pavo is gliding over the lava. She can't keep this up. She needs extraction fast! Biteblade continues. Slashing, stabbing, swiping, roaring. "Floran isss filled with hunger for hunt! Isss what beat inssside Floran chessst!" She roars. "You want to do bigfight! Try! Floran will live and ssstab through!!" Her vicious little teeth clench around the words like a fist around a blade's hilt. She plunges her blades into the ground and keeps her footing through the wind like she's climbing up a mountain. As the storm sparks into her, seared flesh-bark peels away from her skin but she keeps her focus and slips away from the areas of greatest charge with some intuitive knowledge of how atmosphere holds electrical charge. She locks both daggers between her body and the overhead slash, halting it as her own armor detonates many of its few remaining power conduits from overloading. Bits of lava are starting to pour in. Albert and Moonfin beam up, and maneuver to get George and Seft out, and pick up Pavo, just before the lava reaches them too. But for a moment, Biteblade holds. Just, though, for a moment. Because cracks have spread through the daggers, and after several seconds, they /shatter/. The Flotilla, split as it was on so many fronts, couldn't overcome Zenos. The shattered power-weapons detonate with a unique force designed to knock Biteblade back from the danger, but she still suffers a heavy gash on her remaining armor as she skids back, dangerously close to the lava. "Thisss hunt isssn't over." Biteblade narrows her eyes and locks the teleport signal with her own, starting to blink out and vanish into the small sparrow-class human-style ship that just descended and is just about to blast off out of here.