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Eryl Fairfax     Sirens wail in the endless maze of corridors. Lights on the floor point the way to evacuation zones. The lights flicker as emergency power struggles to keep life support and artificial gravity intact. Out the windows on the starboard side, the superplanet below looms larger and larger by the second. The Ad Coelum is going down.

    Eryl Fairfax strides from his office at a measured, hurried pace towards the helm. Through his radio, the babbling sound of a thousand reports hit his ears.

"The entire port side is ripped open, hundreds of people were sucked out-"

"The blasts have compromised integrity, it may not survive re-entry intact-"

"There's not enough shuttles, ushering people towards the drop pods-"

    He hasn't the time to spare giving orders. The Ad Coelum staff are trained to handle an emergency of this magnitude. Right now, there's one report he intends to address.

"The helm has been captured by three Elites!"

    The door slides open in response to Eryl's all-access pass, and he strides in as if things weren't literally falling around him. "Eryl Fairfax, Grandmaster of the Paladins reporting; to whom do I owe the pleasure?"
Big Boss The helm is a disaster area. Bloody corpses of Ad Coelum security greet Eryl's approach, as one of the men who killed them stands there, smoking a cigar he just recently lit. He's an older man, in his late fifties, and he's been waiting for this. As Eryl steps inside, Big Boss takes one long drag of his cigar, before snuffing it out on a panel, dropping it to the ground. As it falls, making a quiet thud, the man in the greatcoat and beret with the greying beard speaks.

"You know me as Big Boss."

Indeed, Eryl would be able to know about him. It's probable that he had a report as soon as Big Boss had announced himself as the Watch's new Mask. The legendary soldier, the 'hero of a dozen wars'. The Mask of the Watch.

Big Boss does not move to attack, though he whispers something into his comm. "Eryl Fairfax. I've been expecting this. You know why we're here." Cutting off any questions.

Big Boss reaches for his assault rifle with both hands, moving it with a deft finesse that shows experience. He's not firing yet. He's just casually lifting it up, showing that he's prepared to fight the Grandmaster. But he wants Eryl to make the first strike, if he can convince him to.
Riku 10 MINUTES AGO

The explosions rock the ship and it falls towards the Superplanet.

    One person isn't inside. Riku is running along the outside of the ship, a sleek black vaccuum suited teen with a usefully anonymous polarized bubble helmet. He dodges amongst the flying debris, leaping off the shattered hull and rebounding off of flipping lengths of hull and structure. Quick as darkness, light as shadow as he rushes towards the rear of the ship as it yawns towards annihilation.

    NOW

    Riku hunkers down on the rear of the ship, waiting patiently for it to take the brunt of the damage of reentry so he can make his exit. The proximity of the burning blasts of the malfunctioning engines don't seem to be warding him off. Perhaps someone might be mad enough to try to seek him out in his hiding place, but he could end up anywhere quickly, allowing him to act as quick response if needed. Who knows what might happen at this point.
C Eli Madder; that is, the real one who'd been left in the toilet stall, now sported a nasty bruise on his head from being knocked out by Crow, again. After the lonely magtrain ride back from Engineering, all hell broke loose. The fluorescent lights had gone out, leaving the restroom illuminated only by red emergency lighting.

The white haired teen pulls his dress slacks up and buckles his belt, having changed out of Eli's Engineer garb to get back into his original outfit. Crow secures his bandana to his forehead and his orbal pistols to their holsters before leaving. The main hall was understandably enough, a real mess -- panicking people bounding left and right, pushing and struggling to get to an emergency exit in time. Crow himself was truthfully on just as much of a time-crunch, as the Ad Coleum's fate was inevitible, and he had no intention of going down with it. "Let's see...there should be a transit system between here and the super planet, right? Something about supply pods..well, if I got in hiding in some cabbage, I might as well leave the same way."

Of course, having to get back to the cargo hold was going to be a chore, but now that they'd gone loud, he could just fight his way through.
Android 17 Seventeen is not standing by Big Boss, instead, he is at one of the helm controls.  His goal is to make sure that A) the ship crashes, and B) that it crashes somewhere safe for the people on the planet.  That somewhere is an ocean.  Even as the ship would start to shake as it starts reentry, he holds on.

His head looks back towards the doorway as Eryl walks in.  Well, that's...pretty expected.  Keeping his grip, however, he makes good on his declaration of trying to make sure the ship is guided for as long as he can keep it going.

Until either they need to break, and at which point it's already too late, or someone engages him and forces him off the controls.
Nova Terra     By the time the explosives detonate and all hell starts to break loose, Nova has managed to make it back to the airlock that leads into the ship interior. Making her way inside, it's only now that Nova realises just exactly how much hell has been created by their efforts. Alarms blaring, people rushing about in a panic. Trying to make their way towards an escape route.

    Speaking of, Nova really should see about doing so herself. While she does have a parachute ready just in case, she doesn't really like the idea of just jumping out in the vicinity of a ship that's about to hit the superplanet. Nor is she just going to jump into a drop pod and trust it lands somewhere suitable for her.

    So that just leaves the shuttles.

    Blue light washes over empty air, revealing the Ghost. This is not a time to go quiet and slow. Her cloak will only make things difficult. Instead Nova reaches back to retrieve her large rifle attached to her back, chambering a round. She starts running, heading in the direction of the shuttle bays. Hoping that any security she encounters are either too busy to notice she's not one of them, or smart enough to figure out that trying to block her path is a waste of time and likely their lives.
Gaonoir At one point Gaonoir had considered just riding the descent on the exterior. Go down in a blaze of glory, finally get some goddamn peace.
Then as he had stared at the superplanet below he reminded himself that as hollow and bitter as he felt inside at times, there was still battles to be fought. Hard, morally compromised battles. That other people would not be suited for fighting.

But he was just a monster that already had blood on his hands. More would change little, so if he spilt it so others did not have to in setting the world right... Well, good enough.

Ten minutes after that he'd already flown back to the airlock to return inside. There would inevitably be a response to this even as the ship was goind down in flames. And the wrecked interior provided him with much better oppritunities to do so. He would have little difficulty in evacuating eventually. So he'd make sure to be a big roadblock to the responders so the others have time to do so.

Metal gauntlets clenched into fists, and the Digimon faded partially back into the shadows left by the broken walls and destroyed lighting, golden eyes narrow and waiting.

Waiting until it was time for the predator to pounce again.
Danzo Katou     Alarms blaring in every room, panels and walkways stained emergency red by the flashing of siren lights, screams of panic, rivers of thundering footsteps, the terrible, shuddering groan of the hull, the smell of fire and blood and of sweat and fear and desperation, thick in the air as the smoke.

    A woman with long black hair, wearing an oversized red haori, barely looking over the rim of her thick scarf, remains kneeling at the helm. Crouched on one knee, a little ways behind Big Boss, off to one side, she remains completely motionless from before the moment the bombs go off. All throughout the Ad Coleum's deadly descent, her yellow gaze is turned only to the floor, watching nothing, moving not at all. She doesn't twitch a finger even when Eryl Fairfax, Grandmaster of the Paladins enters, only remaining mysteriously silent, and rooted to the floor.

    There isn't the slightest scent of blood about her. No sweat or adrenaline. Only some kind of flower, impossible to identify, and a hint of clean air.
Tina Natsumi She'd normally be online right now. She'd be doing something normal, like picking a crappy game to stream, something somewhat mindless with just enough flash or jank to make for an entertaining stream.

Tonight, she's on board one of the evacuation shuttles speeding for the falling command center. Despite the ride taking a fair bit of time, Tina's still not sure what to make of what she's hearing.

It's falling. Hundreds have died, perhaps hundreds more will be the time all is said and done. She should still be at home right now, staying out of the way of the real planet-movers and earth-shakers during the rescue efforts.

And yet, she's here. Tina has no plan going into this, but she's moving on auto-pilot as she and a red, white, and blue robot a good two feet taller than her clears some debris. "You know the drill, people! Cram in there like sardines so there's enough room to get everyone off this thing!" She shouts towards the fleeing Ad Coelum staff on their way to the escape shuttles, not noticing those hidden in her haste to get through to the helm and clear a path from there as well

When she gets there, she sees several unfamiliar faces along with the Grandmaster. Sliding a shotgun out of Uncle Sam's leg, she keeps it aimed forward while her Persona hunches over into a defensive position beside her. "What the heck do you think you're doing here? Do you have any idea what this is gonna do when this lands?!"

Her camera isn't rolling right now. She sounds rather upset about the matter.
Maya Maya given the social and religious entanglements she has back home? Maya lived off-world and often was using her quarters on the station, she had been in for a respite. That will ends up changing very quickly as alarms are going off and hundred of innocent people are killed. Memories of her home city burning, the soldiers killing each other and anyone caught in the line of fire such old memories need to be pushed down fast. Maya's up, grabbing her rifle, and fate deck off a table.

She looks to Runner who was lounging in the living area.

"Runner lets go."

The mecha dog makes an a very distress noise as they bolt out of her quarters and into the ship.

She knows the shuttle bay could be a mess and there could be help with getting people off of the now crashing ship.

There's a look on her face its that of someone who has had to deal with something like this before and is not very happy about it. She's heading down one of the corridors trying to make good time for the shuttle bay knowing time is of the essence she's not got any reports of anything but given the chaos? Everyone knows what they have to do in a crisis like this and that's what Maya's going to be doing.

She sees the lights are out and keeps on the move as Runner moves along beside her. His baleful yellow optic scanner giving some light but just enough to keep Maya and him on their path.
Gilgamesh      "Ho, what have we here. Is this a little dog come to ride along on our carriage?"

     That condescending tone is unmistakable. Anyone who listens to the radio has heard it. Riku certainly has. He doesn't even need to turn around to know who it belongs to, to see that unpleasantly perfect, flawlessly smug face twisted in an imperious smirk. He doesn't need to look over his shoulder to imagine the short blonde hair, the bright red eyes. Riku doesn't need to look in a mirror to know that he just hit the anti-jackpot.

     The King of Heroes, The King of Babylon and of Uruk. The King of Holidays. The King of All That Is, Was, and Ever Shall Be.

     Gilgamesh stands, one hand in his pocket, the wind whipping about him, the falling horizon behind him. He's standing at an angle that absolutely does not look safe or stable, and yet he seems completely at ease. Indeed, he starts walking forward, as if the twisting, rumbling ship's fall doesn't even register.

     "Huhuhohohoho. What a brazen little dog you are." Those red eyes aren't full of malice. They aren't full of rage, or hate. They aren't even full of some righteous desire, or some determination, or any other heroic, fighty emotions. No, as those red eyes meet Riku's own, all Riku sees is a gaping red void, as if he's looking right past Riku. As if Riku *bores* him.

     Gilgamesh's hand comes out of his pocket, waving idly. "Mongrel, don't you know it's Gilcember? Worse than that - it's Gilcember the fourteenth. It's inside the Twelve Days of Gilsmas. Eight days away from Gilnukkah. Twelve days from Kwanzaamesh."

     "What an ill-behaved mongrel you are."

     Golden ripples emerge all throughout the air behind him. They are...massive. There are way, way too many of them. Blades start peeking through the distortions as the King tilts his head, his smirk growing a little bit larger. "Do you know what you do to ill-behaved dogs?"

     "You beat them until they learn their lesson."

     The King holds up his hand with a languid, disinterested, apathetic motion.

     It falls.

     A storm of blades comes raining down. Each and every one of them is a masterwork, a magical item so potent, so powerful, it could on its own be the center of an epic tale. These are the building blocks of mythology, the start of story, the lego pieces of legends. Each and every one of them is a power unto themselves.

     And he's just sort of flinging them at Riku disinterestedly.

     Like the whole situation just bores him.
Lory Thumper      Lory Thumper still can't believe what had happened. One moment, she was walking through a corridor reading a datapad and sipping on a soda.

     The next, the world had seemed like it exploded around her. Only her quick reactions and grappel gun had saved her from being blown out into space with the others, and she had barely managed to get back in before safety systems and backups kicked in. And in case they hadn't, she had quickly closed doors and bulkheads behind her. Standard proceedure on a ship, and she had trained like everyone else. There wasn't time to mourn those that had just been lost, and she is forced to take a moment to catch her breath after having it literally sucked from her lungs by the vacuum of space.

     Once she had cleared the little sparkles from her vision and gotten her bearings again, the bunny cop realizes the ship is going down. "...sweet peas and carrots..." she whispers, her voice full of disbelief and dread. "Okay...evacuation procedures" she says to herself, taking some deep but rather rapid breaths to calm herself before she starts forward again.

     She finds herself headed toward the cargo area. And her sharp ears pick up something about hiding in cabbage. Her eyes narrow, and she dashes toward the voice with both of her mag pistols drawn. She rounds a corner and brings both pistols to bear. "Freeze bandana man!" she declares in an authoritative tone. Of course, it might be ineffective thanks to her rather high pitched voice and her small stature, but she looks deadly serious. "Did you have something to do with this?" she asks, both pistols letting out a rising pitched whine of a capacitor charging. "Do you realize how many people were just blown out into space?!"

     She doesn't attack just yet. Cop training and all, give a perp a chance to surrender if they aren't actively attacking. But, the way she is poised, the way her ears are like two rigid planks atop her head, she is obviously ready to take action.
All-Seeing Eye      Out from a vent on the ceiling of the shuttle bay crawls a thing. Tink, tink, tink. Metal tendrils--cybernetic optic nerves--carry a golden-irised eyeball. It peers down at Nova and Gaonoir.

REMOTE CONTROL TERMINATED

RETURNING TO HOST

     Jackboots click on the hard floor of the Ad Coelum. His Mobile Sensory Drone has already revealed the presence of hostile actors in the shuttle bay, but nevertheless watches them through the walls with his Mass-Penetrating Scan. "Ready or not, here I come, you can't hide," sings the Exalt. His voice is melodic and sweet, but the message is undeniably venemous. Perhaps even excited.

     "Gonna find you," croons Eye in his impressive tenor falsetto. He steps into the shuttle bay. He's dressed in black, utilitarian fatigues, tucked into jackboots. The jacket for his uniform is tied around his waist, with a black tank top showing as a result. As he enters, staring Nova down, he twirls his long, braided hair around a finger.

     The Mobile Sensory Drone--the robotic eyeball spider--crawls down from the ceiling into his waiting hand, where it replaces the obvious prosthetic currently there. "The escape shuttles," says Eye, pressing a finger to his lips and affecting a ponderous expression. "Bold--but foolish." The warm, taupe surface of his forearms is suddenly broken by a pair of automated dart launchers emerging. In one fluid motion, he swings his arm up. Metal cable emerges from a point in his wrist.

     Guided by the stroke of his arm, the cable whip lashes out towards Nova's arm, attempting to keep her from lifting the rifle. As it flies through the air, sparks dance off of its surface, and it hums with electricity.
C Wincing, Crow chuckles in an almost non-chalant manner. "Who, me? C'mon."

The 'bandana man' is a teenager wearing a Thors Military Academy uniform, although, his coat is a drab green and his dress code is loose, with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows and the tie left hanging limp on his neck, the top three buttons of his collar left undone. His eyes are a tone of brown that almost seems red, that glints in warning just before he hurle a smoke bomb at the ground, aiming to make a run for it. "Sorry, gotta' bounce!"

"Who'd get arrested by a rabbit, anyway?"

It was really the least intimidating thing he'd ever seen. He'd run into a few anthromorphs, and if they were something like a bird, or a wolf, he could understand it. But a bunny rabbit? It was ... silly.
Eryl Fairfax     Eryl smiles pleasantly at Big Boss. "Ah yes, the Legendary Solider turned Mask of the Watch." He smiles and strides forward, looking down at the rifle being trained on him. "So is this a display of strength? Looking to make your mark as the new leader? A bold tactic I must say. It's something I would expect of your predecessor. Though I suppose he would just barrel in the front door. You on the other hand, executed a masterful operation, not letting us know you were here until the plan had succeeded. Measured, but not moderate. As I thought."

    He smiles and tucks his hands in his pockets. "I currently place our odds at managing to right the Ad Coelum as sub ten percent. That does rise a bit if I manage to clear you three out of here though." It is at that moment that Tina arrives. "Ah, and now the odds of that have risen. Miss Natsumi, I'm about to ask much of you, but could you handle these two for me?" He gestures at Android 17 and Danzo. "The Mask and I have much to discuss."

    He comes to a stop a few paces from Big Boss. "You know, normally I would try to talk things out. Give you a chance to lay down your arms, settle whatever grievance you have with us." Eryl smiles, a big, placid, fixed, unmoving smile.

    "But I don't feel much like talking right now."

    Holes appear in his pant pockets as two small slugs erupt from the Grandmaster's index fingers, aimed to strike Big Boss, one in the right knee, the other in the chest.
Eryl Fairfax     Another explosion rips through the Ad Coelum as a backup generator gives out, having been damaged in the initial blast. The tremor rolls through the ship, causing it to tip at a slight angle. The artificial gravity struggles to keep things right, but for the moment, everything is slanted, forcing everyone to stand on a slope.
Gaonoir The optical lights help keep Maya on track and not run into any of the debris lying around the interior. But they don't shine far enough to the sides to reflect off the form lurking amongst it, eyes narrowing behind visor to watch them pass.

And then seem to fade out of their own as their owner slips back farther into the darkness.

The corridor shouldn't have been wide enough for someone to blindside Maya as she ran... But there was enough darkness around that the predator wasn't limited to physical spaces, moving with ease through the alternate spaces in reality.

With no warning the monster erupts out of the shadows cast across the wall. One large metal hand goes to grab the woman around the neck and use the surprise momentum to pound her into the opposite bulk head, the tilting deck doing little to slow him down since he's not standing on it.

"It's already a lost cause, miss," the wolf-like monster growls softly. "Spare yourself the trouble of trying to help what can't be."

He's not ignoring the mechanical mutt with her. It's more if he can disable her first, what's her pet going to do without guidance?
Android 17 "Nothing, with any luck.  It will hit the deep ocean, too far from land to cause any appreciable damage, and not in shallow enough water to hurt the local ecosystem.  In theory, anyway," Seventeen says, without emoting a little.  His face is that mask of calm, as he releases the controls, and turns towards Tina who is leveling a shotgun at them.

Taking flight, Seventeen gives a brief look towards Eryl, he wants to say something, but he doesn't really have the desire.  They all know why they are here, the tactic is brash, but it is also a good way to make sure that their people are protected.  

His attention is back on Tina, "Maybe ask your boss why this happened," he comments simply, but then vanishes.  His first attack aiming to try and strike Tina right in the gut as he just seems to flashback into sight.  This is mostly a test of her defenses, as it is to try and end this quickly.  

"You have a mission to stop us from this, and I have one to stop you from stopping us.  Do the job you were given, and I'll do mine.  There isn't anything else to discuss.  We both have people we're fighting for."
Riku     Riku is nothing so grand. A boy, an orphan who had his Destiny stolen from him. His home. His friends. Even almost his very body. He is someone with no fame, no riches, no glory, someone who exists between the cracks of society, searching and possessed of a deep anger.

    But the words come. The distinctive tone. Instantly, he knows who it is, he knows who it belongs to. He stands, not looking back, the flame of one of the engines reflecting against his helmet. "The King of Heroes." Riku mutters sullenly. "That's just my luck." A hand clenches before him, and he turns to face the King, staring back at him. He can feel those eyes boring into him, measuring him and inevitably finding him wanting. The purity of the King's casual will bearing down on him is almost palpable already. But already only two paths stretch before him. One, he falls to his knees, begs forgiveness, and receives his just punishment.

    The curling anger within him snaps, the low chuckle of an old man reflected for a moment in the seething curl of Riku's lips. The golden ripples reflect against his helmet, an array of legendary weapons before him.... And as they begin firing at him, there is a flick of his arm. From his Heart, he draws his weapon, his Heartbrand. Riku only has one weapon there, the Soul Eater taking form in an instant, the first blade ringing and ricocheting off of a swift parry to slam beside him and bury itself into the ship. The second comes, the third. The fourth. The air is filled with the sound of steel against steel as the hull around the ship becomes a pincushion of deadly artifacts, Riku parrying and deflecting each one in turn away from his body, seemingly a perfect wall of skill as his hand and his blade move as one.

    Finally, the initial rush ends, Riku standing there unharmed..... Until his helmet shatters in a burst of shards, leaving his face half-revealed in a ragged mass of reinforced polymers. Blood runs down his face from the wound he didn't even notice, a gash across his cheek. The exchange has been made. The King won through his guard and made a point with the most lazy of his possible expressions of power. So be it. But Riku nevertheless smiles. "This dog still has teeth, King Gilgamesh."

    Immediately, Riku blurs amidst the flames of the engines, leaping past and around them as he charges, leaping forward. His shadow surges ahead, rushing beneath the King and bursting forward, the twisted hand of his Eidolon launching forward and trying to smash into Gilgamesh from the back, trying to send Gilgamesh flying into Riku's aerial blade assaault that cleaves past the expected path of the King. "So. They call you the 'King of Heroes'," Riku says as he strikes. "How about you answer something for me. What /is/ a hero? You'd know, right?"
Nova Terra     Nova slows down in her dash towards one of the shuttles, as something isn't right. Someone isn't madly trying to escape the falling ship. Someone is instead focused on her. Nova turns her head to look, glancing around the crowd of Paladin crew. And there she spots Eye. He's vaguely familiar. And given he's not currently trying to escape, it means he's probably an elite. To be expected, once they went loud.

    Nova narrows her eyes at the apparent artificial man. Well, not entirely sure what he is, Nova doesn't really care. She's got more important concerns right now. Speaking of which, "Don't you have anything better to do?" Apparently not!

    Eye unleashes that sparking cable in Nova's direction. And the ship tilts, causing everything to turn on a slope. Nova takes advantage of this, diving to the side down the slope. The cable passes through the air where Nova had been just moments before.

    As Nova slides down the slope, further into the bay and towards the large doors, Nova whips her hand out in Eye's direction, calling, "You're in my way!" A blast of telekinetic energy launches towards Eye, threatening to smash into him and throw him further back into the ship.
Lory Thumper      Lory's ears lay back and she lets out a bit of an angry growl through clenched teeth. "Several of the population of the Mammalopolis Maximum Security Prison! And you!" she exclaims as she rushes into that smoke cloud about the same time as that second explosion rocks the ship. She emerges from the other side a few moments later and has to stop a few moments as she slides down the now seemingly slanted hallway. She runs on the wall if she has to, but she isn't about to let Crow go.

     Her ears twitch about, listening for him before she takes off again. "That was your only warning!" she shouts, and fires both pistols. Gauss rounds lance through the air, seeking only to wound for now. Capturing Crow would be better all around, after all.

     When she realizes that Crow is wearing the colors of Thors Academy, her eyes widen. "You're just a kid!! What are you doing getting involved in stuff like this?!" she exclaims before picking up the pace. "This isn't a good way to start a career!" she says as she holsters one pistol and pulls a yellow disc from her belt. She hits the middle button before throwing it at Crow. It explodes, but the danger isn't really from the explosion. It is from the tough and quick hardening foam that explodes out, threatening to slow Crow down.
Big Boss Big Boss doesn't fire on Eryl as he approaches. He has a bead on what to expect from him, casually at least. What to expect from the face of the Paladins. He speaks, that rough baritone echoing out, as Eryl mentions the percentage. "I see. There was no alternative. Asking you for it would have been rejected and shown weakness. A stealth retrieval would have shown that we had too much cowardice to face the Paladins directly."

Eryl continues to speak, and Big boss waits for his attack. But what Eryl does is very clever. He fires through his pants pockets, aiming for the leg and the chest. Due to the sudden slant of gravity, the bullet heading for his leg shifts, impacting into Boss's side instead, but it doesn't pierce anything - he's wearing a tough sneaking suit, stronger than basic kevlar. It still hurts like hell, though. The bullet for the chest, however, is nasty. It impacts straight, hitting the suit, staggering Boss back, and causing him to cough.

But if two bullets were enough to take down the Legendary Soldier, he wouldn't be here.

"I don't take actions like this lightly. You forced our hand." The rifle is off-loaded at Eryl, aimed for his chest. Taking slow steps at first to get used to the slant, slow enough for Eryl to prepare, Big Boss proceeds to move for the nearest cover, offloading the entire magazine. Yet...

It doesn't seem like he's trying to kill Eryl. There's no sense of malice in the old soldier. Just gruff conviction, as he discards the rifle after he's done with it, and awaits his results. He trusts Danzo and 17 to handle Tina.
Maya Maya wasn't expecting a ghost of the old war an old unaffiliated actor who had been quite the trouble maker shows up Maya has not run into years. She does not have any time to respond as he successfully grabs her. She feels the monster's hand like a vice about her and she will end up slamming into the deck plate, she's hurt she sounds hurt, and she's still moving.

"If ... I listened to him who said that last to me? My world would be a graveyard."

Runner optic band locks right on to Gaonoir, it knows his information is pulled up of very old files and it snarls. The massive hydroic powered jaws open wide and then snap down. In an attempt to bite at Gaonoir while Maya struggles to get free. AS this goes on Runner will also bring his claws to work, as he attempts to Maul Gaonoir.

While this is going on Maya's going to try to break loose and get her rifle out, she knows it's time to fight.
Gilgamesh      Riku is fast. He surges forward as his shadow pushes up from behind, as the ship tilts, lilting to the side. The shadow hits Gilgamesh square in the back, sending the King soaring into Riku's assault. The blades that emerge from the Gate do a decent job of fending off the blade strikes, but by the time he lands, the King's jacket is badly cut, and there's blood flowing down his face and back.

     Infuriatingly, he still looks gorgeous, even with the gashes. And the wounds are already starting to heal.

     "Hohhh, what's this? A mongrel with a bit of teeth, getting too big for his bite already?" His red eyes glance back at Riku over his shoulder. He is not taking this even *slightly* seriously. "You want to know what a hero is, do you?"

     A cloth just sort of appears in front of the King. It wipes his face clean of blood as he turns around. "Alright, then. That's enough to amuse me. And I thought you would die too fast to be any fun."

     The Gate opens again. There are...way more this time. Way, way more. Halberds, axes, hammers, swords, greatswords, rapiers...it's like looking into the world's most ridiculous armory. Anyone who managed to plunder that kind of thing after the King's death would have enough magic weapons to take down a country.

     "Why don't you prove to me that you're worth my time before I start answering your questions? Show me your resolve, little mongrel - if you can make me acknowledge you then perhaps I'll deign to answer your request!"

     Snap.

     The Gate starts firing. It's firing much faster this time, with much more force. Weapons tear into the Ad Coleum's hull. What was a lazy rain is now a mass-scale machine gun of mythology, loading ammo and spitting out blades with a thought. They shred into the Ad Coleum, ripping apart the hull, the engine fans, the area around Riku - turning the field into nothing but debris, to rob Riku of his places to stand on as a side effect of his ridiculous force.

     And there's still the sense that he's just playing around.

     The King just wipes his face and hops back onto one of the cooling fans, standing above Riku with one hand in his pocket.
Danzo Katou     The figure kneeling behind Big Boss, somehow, remains just as motionless --just as *e*motionless-- throughout the whole confrontation. An earthquake rolls through the hull beneath them, lights flickering along with the gravity. The world tilts, but she doesn't even slide sideways. A quiet click, and she remains fixed against the surface, perfectly perpendicular. She remains totally silent, totally still, until Eryl gives the order.

    "This ship . . ." she suddenly speaks up, in a voice so soft that it's almost swallowed up by the rattling and groaning of the superstructure, cutting through it sheerly with its unusual quietness.

    "This ship will impact the ground in less than fifteen minutes. The majority of those still aboard will perish instantly. Another fifty percent of the survivors will before they can be rescued. The wreck will likely splinter into several pieces, and come to rest at the bottom of the ocean. A hundred years from now, it might be a beautiful reef."

    "And the mission will have been accomplished. That is what will happen."

    She replies to Tina with the pace of someone telling her a bedtime story, not so much as twitching a muscle.

    "By your leave, my Lord. Initiating battle mode. Danzo, moving in."

    The woman stands up and grips the waist of her haori, pulling it up over her head and casting it aside as she leaps to her feet, all in one motion. Underneath is a form-fitting red and black bodysuit cut at the shoulders and hips, fastened with gold buckles, attached to the upper halves of 'shinobi hakama' cinched into boots and wasit armour of blued steel plates. Her scarf slips down her face and snaps backwards behind her. Somehow, her hair is tied back into a high tail in the blink that her cast off outer layers had obscured her. She looks at Tina without an expression of any kind, focused on her like reading a page out of a book.

    Three individual shuriken are inches away from her shooting arm, at the wrist, elbow, and shoulder.
All-Seeing Eye      "No," says Eye sweetly, shaking his head. As the ship lists, he makes a graceful cartwheel to keep from falling over. As he lines up a shot, Nova's blast hits him dead center. He's thrown back, his braid flapping in the air, limbs forced forward by the force of her mind. The cable goes wide, nicking a portion of the wall. Luckily, he has another. Several, actually.

     Snap.

     A second cable whip flies from the wrist of his right hand. It winds around a pipe exposed by the damage to the ship. Eye stops himself, but the snapping sound--his shoulder. The Exalt hits the ground, slammed onto his side. A dark metal component pierces his seemingly human skin from within, sparking violently. He rises, slowly.

     With a smile, Eye strikes his shoulder, popping his limb back into place with a metallic /clunk./ Purple lightning sparks around his feet, crackling into existence in the air. Turbines reveal themselves along the Essence meridians in his back. Even if Nova can't see them, she can hear them, whining to life. "In your way? Oh, darling," says the Exalt with a coy little laugh. "...you'd best get used to that."

     A dull black spike emerges from his hand. He pulls it further, revealing a cable feeding into it. Eye twirls the cable, striding down the hall. He makes a false start--then swings it under and kicks it. The Personality Override Spike sails towards Nova, attempting to stab her, and give Eye access to her memories.
Riku     There was no way that would have been enough to stop Gilgamesh. It's a cheap trick and one that really is only going to work once.

    Thankfully, Riku is full of cheap tricks. A fair fight is one you lose half the time and this is absolutely not a fair fight from the beginning. The fact that he still looks beautiful, perfect even with the wounds just seems to irritate him more. The smug behavior, the condescension, the clear dismissiveness that he took advantage of once just incites him more... But he remains cautious, honing that anger into his blade.

    The Gate opens again. This time, the horde of legends prepared are even more intense. Riku doesn't attempt to stand against it this time, leaping upwards straight away from the hull and flipping as they begin to bombard him. Weapons track after him, Gilgamesh's weapons whipping after him like a deadly turret while he reaches down. Shadow lashes downwards, tearing up a hull panel and hurling it upwards. It deflects another, being instantly cloven in half while Riku plants his feet on the spinning metal, rebounding off of it to desperately get more motion in the three-dimensional void of space. He can't get away. A bardiche catches him, spinning him in the darkness as it rips through his suit and cleaves across his body, a spear following up to punch right through his chest.

    A moment later, a gaping hole in the darkness of space opens, and Riku pivots backwards, the spear digging a vertical slash across his chest before he is pulled right into it, closing behind.

    Did he retreat? No. Another hole suddenly yawns open. Not behind Gilgamesh. That's too predictable. No, it opens in front of him, facing upwards on line with the cooling fan he is using as Riku surges upwards, slashing along in a cleaving uppercut strike and spinning in the void before he hits the hull, skidding back along the tilting surface. "You want me to make you pay attention to me? All right, let's do this, King of Heroes."
Tina Natsumi "Two of...?" Tina swallows anxiously as she keeps her shotgun steady, eyes darting between 17 to Danzo several times before she steels herself and clenches her jaw. "... Got it. Leave it to me!"

There's not enough time to really think here about the sanity in trying to fight two Elites at once. She heard Eryl mention something about righting the falling station, and that's enough to get the Persona-user to start blasting. She misses her initial volley completely, though, as the tremor has Tina teetering sideways for a few seconds until Uncle Sam grabs onto her side to hold her steady.

"Why would I ask him? /You're/ the nutters doing this!" Tina snaps at 17 first, keeping her shotgun aimed his way as he takes to the air. When he disappears, Uncle Sam hunkers around her defensively, and that fist impacts against the Persona's chunky metallic arm with only a dull grunt coming from Tina herself. With 17 at such close range, though, Tina doesn't have to move much to draw her shotgun up around the Persona's arm.

Before she can fire, though, Danzo's shuriken come flying right at her. One of them nicks her arm before the Persona can intercept the other two, the sharpened instruments clanging against it while Tina tugs on her jacket's sleeve a bit to keep that cut covered. "Just a mission, then, eh? One that'll kill that many people... Fine. Well, this ain't just a mission for me!"

She's sounding more upset than before. Angry, even, as Uncle Sam slides a pair of miniguns out from under its arms. "I don't know how much we can save, but... It'll be hell of a lot more with you two out of the way!" Both sets of firearms, shotgun and miniguns alike, start firing rapidly at 17 and Danzo. Tina dips in and out of the safety offered by the Persona's large frame as it steadily advances, letting the angle of the ship aid in her in moving somewhat erratically in between blasts of buckshot.
Rean Schwarzer Rean was helping with evacuations, trying to get as many people into escape pods as he could before things fell apart even further. How long was this going to keep up for? How many times were the Factions bgoing to keep going at one another, getting innocent people caught in the crossfire?

Then Lory notes that she was in combat with someone from his school. Rean breaks off from the group, apologizing to any staff that might have been there. He needed to see this for himself.

He rushes towards the hold, and once he gets there, quickly unsheathes his sword, creating an arc shaped shockwaved between Lory, and...

"Wait, Crow?!" Rean shouts, skidding to a stop. He looks between Lory and his sort-of upperclassman, eyes wide. Thors Military Academy was a fairly small school, so the odds of it not being someone he knew in some capacity was slim. But one of his classmates?

"...Crow, please tell me this is a misunderstanding. Please tell me you didn't join in on this..."
Eryl Fairfax     The ship buckles and Eryl adjusts his stance to maintain his balance. And yet, stumbling may have been the best thing, as he takes a full clip right to the chest. And while Big Boss is armored up, Eryl very evidentially is not. Blood spurts from the holes and stains his white shirt crimson, but he remains standing. "Ah, this is about the hard drive seized from your Watchtower then."

    He drops to his side, allowing the slanted gravity to slide him down behind cover. "You know, we've already made strides to decrypt it," he calls over the consoles blocking line of sight between he and Boss. "Gotten a whole list of Watch names out of it. Naturally, the first thing we did is back them up. Data security 101. Those names are already planetside."

    He moves, bouncing between the tipped floor and the consoles to advance in a straight line, crossing the distance to suddenly come around the soldier's cover and stare at him face to face. One arm comes up to try and press against the man's throat and pin him to his cover, while the other hand starts throwing measured punches at his head.
Eryl Fairfax     The ship begins to tip further as it is drawn in towards the planet. The last explosion has applied the tiniest amount of spin to it, causing it to start rolling. The artificial gravity goes in overtime to try and keep everyone from falling towards the roof, but it can only do so much. All of a sudden, everyone feels lighter. It's like they're standing on the moon, with all the awkwardness in moving that implies.
Gaonoir For the few moments Gaonoir has Maya up against the bulkhead the golden eyes behind the futuristic visor lock with hers. A turmoil beyond the aggressive posturing in their depths.

"... Fighting wars we wish we didn't have to..."

Metal fingers slip from her neck, if only so Gaonoir can whip around to use both gauntlets to grab the incoming jaws while dropping his metal feet into the tilted deck to brace himself, his phenominal physical strength holding the metal beast's maw apart from clamping down on him.

Until the claws impact with his mid-section, sending him skidding a fair distance down the corridor. Unfortunately for the duo he's still between them and the shuttle bay. The hunter had known where responders would go and positioned himself appropriately to interfer. He brushes a hand over the gouges as he stands, grabs the stray end of his bombadier scarf and flicks it back over his shoulder.

Then thrusts both arms out to the sides pressing hands against, and into, the shadows across the walls.

"Just stop now, before I have to do something we both regret." Shadows seem to erupt around them, unnatural darkness casting the world in reverse negatives, trying to sap away at their strength and will to fight.

A hunter Gaonoir may be, but the monster within is not beyond beating a foe into submission through alternates means. Break the spirit and the body follows suit.
Gilgamesh      Hoh.

     Riku moves rapidly along the shredding hull. He runs up along the debris. His shadow pushes up the fragments to impede legends. But it's when Riku disappears into the shadow that Gilgamesh really raises an eyebrow.

     That's right. He had something like that, didn't he?

     Oh, yes.

     Riku emerges directly in front of him. He steps backwards, only narrowly evading being cleaved in half by the uppercut strike. Instead it goes straight up his face, carving into his lip and nearly taking off his nose. The scar goes straight up to his forehead. Gilgamesh perches on the furiously-whirling fan, tilting himself upwards. Even with that scar he looks flawless. It just sort of adds to his appeal, the rugged soldier-king rather than the flawless bishonen.

     It's *fucking infuriating*.

     "Huhuhahahahahaha! That's an amusing trick, mongrel."

     The Gate opens in front of Gilgamesh, directly below him. He steps forward, and a pair of boots lock around his feet as he touches back on the rim of the cooling fan. They're golden, like everything else about him, with an odd set of wings on the back, and a strange design on the front - notches on each side of a winding, serpentine rune. The King of Heroes stands there for a moment in perfect balance as the ship starts to spin before he steps forward.

     And vanishes.

     He appears at Riku's side, a smirk on that perfect, split lip.

     Swords appear directly under Riku's chin.

     "I enjoy showing off my toys, too, little dog."

     This might hurt.
C Wincing as the bullets skim by him, tearing small flesh wounds in his right leg and left arm respectively, Crow gracefully adjusts his posture to continue running along the now sloped ground. "I don't do well with those!" he calls back, taunting her warning shots. Internally, he noted that a direct hit would probably immobilize a limb, though, so he had to be careful. As much fun as he was poking to get under her skin, she was certainly dangerous.

Coming to terms with the idea he was going to fight a bunny rabbit policewoman, Crow whirled on his feet at the last moment, drawing both of his orbal pistols as he did so. One appeared similar to a semi-automatic handgun, while the other was closer to a six-shot revolver. Firing the revolver, the Water Sepith infused bullet strikes the substance that began expanding from the disk, flash freezing it in time for the other pistol to fire en suite of the first to shatter it.

"Involved with what?" he chuckles, before firing the revolver twice more at her feet in an attempt to freeze her legs to the floor. " -- Hn?!"

Bringing one of his weapons up, Crow does his best to defend himself as he's caught off-guard by Rean's arc slash, the shockwave knocking Crow off balance and forcing him to skid to a stop. " .... Rean ... "
He smiles disarmingly at first. But it quickly turns sad. The lie dies on his tongue. Maybe if it had been anyone else from Class VII. Maybe if it had been one of the instructors. Maybe if it had been anyone other than Rean, he could have continued the vouch for his relative innocence. But the guilt gnawed away at him, not at what he'd done, but of what he knew was going to happen now. Of course, there were things he had already lied to Rean about, but considering his situation, he couldn't bring himself to make this another one. " .... I planted the bombs in the reactor. Think fast, first year -- ARCUS Activate."

The wide intersectioned hallway leading to the cargo hold darkened and became swarmed with phantom butterflies, as Crow slips away into the hold, as it'd make a better battlefield in his favor.
Nova Terra     The spike-tipped cable streaks out towards Nova as she slides down the tilted bay floor. Nova attempts to push herself to the side to avoid the strange weapon, but it manages to reach its target regardless. The spike stabs into her, causing the Ghost to grunt in pain, her slide suddenly and violently halted at the end of the cable length. And then the weapon's secondary effect kicks in, as Eye attempts to access Nova's memories for Watch secrets.

    Oh yes, Nova knows such secrets. A number of them. And Eye is able to pull at the memory of such a secret. Here it is:

    The view of a young girl's dirty hand stretched out to pet a small, equally dirty looking kitten in an alley way.

    There's actually a briefly confused look on Nova's face. She had put her psychic training into effect in order to provide a filler memory. But where did it come from?

    Thoughts of the memory are quickly gone though as Nova proceeds to get angry that this apparent machine just tried to access HER memory. Nova proceeds to stand up on the bay floor, her armoured space boots kicking in to grip the surface as the gravity suddenly lightens. The spike still embedded in her, Nova reaches a free hand around to grab it, yanking it out. A bit of blood trickles down her suit.

    Enraged eyes begin to light up with psychic energy as Nova angrily stares down Eye, "You think to mess with MY mind?" More psychic energy begins to flare up, now around the hand that still grips the spike, "Let me teach you how much of a MISTAKE that was!"

    Nova channels her rage and psychic energy into her hand, using the spike and its cable as a conduit to launch her own psychic assault against Eye's mind. Though she's not trying to recover any memories. She's only looking to destroy them, rip them apart, burn them in the psychic flames.
Android 17 A barrage of shots aim to try and gun down Seventeen with shotgun blasts.  Fortunately, the android barrier comes to life, aiming to absorb as much of the barrage as it can. Though a few bits still manage to pierce, causing some near misses and bloody pieces to embed themselves into the cyborg.  His face grimaces in a bit of pain, but beyond that nothing really shows beyond that.

The gravity starts to fail, but that's fine.  He takes to the air now, deciding to put his momentum in his own hands, as he disappears again.  This time he appears in front of her once more, aiming a roundhouse for the side of her head.  He keeps his attack going, aiming to try and send a second punch for the side of her head.  He moves in and out, trying to keep Tina off guard.

"Better your people than mine," Seventeen says, cold as ice.  "The moment you decided to put them there, is the moment the gloves came off.  Deal with the Concord at your own risk.  Screw with us at your own risk.  Save your speeches for someone who isn't done with this whole situation."
Danzo Katou     "Deaths are incidental to the mission. The mission is to destroy the Ad Coleum, and its contents." the ninja responds to Tina. Her bright yellow eyes glow faintly on the girl, her expression completely unreadable, her voice still so soft and gentle. "Whether or not you die is your own choice. You should evacuate, and take everyone you can. That is the only way you can prevent more deaths."

    "I cannot allow you to right the ship. My Lord has given an order."

    Tina fires, and the woman in red is gone. Dust swirls in the place her feet had been, only to be tattered by the spray of buckshot and slugs that chew up the deckplates beneath. She's twenty feet to the side now, faster than blinking, and when the rain of gunfire turns on her, she's on the other side of the room, closer this time. Swift leaps, quicker than the eye can swivel, take her from wall to wall to wall, flowing seamlessly through the dead zone between Tina's arms, advancing rapidly, inexorably, until she vanishes again and hits the ceiling, sprinting upside down at full speed.

    Two bullets spang on something metal, casting flickering sparks, and then a scarlet flash plunges down on Tina from above. A metallic snicker-snack, a flash of silver gleaming blue, and something --a pair of somethings-- white hot and razor sharp, stroke across her from both sides in a swirling X. She hears metal boots hit the deck behind her, and then leap away again.
Big Boss "I see." Eryl's bleeding and standing up isn't /exactly/ what Big Boss expected, but it's the reason he wasn't concerned about killing Eryl all the same - an Elite this powerful would have a solution against an assault rifle. "I will take you at your word." He'd be foolish not to.

Eryl strides across the cover, grabbing Big Boss with surprisingly more strength than he suspects and just slugging him. It's not as technical as Big Boss was expecting, but it hits hard, and Big Boss is staggered and wounded against the cover. After taking a few punches, though, bloodying his lip, he suddenly sends several strikes into Eryl's stomach and chest to force him to release, and then shifts his body weight as the world lightens. "Nice trick..."

Using the lightened load, Big Boss moves to just smash Eryl against a console, as hard as he can, and stagger him some more. He uses his own strength-enhancing suit to do so, trying to smash Eryl in head-first.

"But I invented it."
Lory Thumper      Lory mmphs in frustration as her shots don't quite hit the mark she was hoping for, and even her foam is frozen before it can get to Crow. She keeps after Crow even as Rean arrives and confirms that not only is this guy from Thors Academy, but is also someone Rean is at least aquainted with. She slows as she hears that Crow helped with the explosives in the engine room, then her teeth clench. "Why did you even do this?! Whatever you were after in here, you didn't have to hurt so many, did you?!" she shouts angrily.

     Crow fires some freezing shots at her, but with a skillful leap Lory spirals through the air, minimizing her already small profile and slipping away from the shots. And...blinking in surprise as her leap carries her much farther than she was expecting! She somersaults quickly to catch herself against the roof, then springs right at Crow. "I guess that doesn't really matter, does it? You attacked us unprovoked as far as I know, so you are going down!"

     She goes spiraling through the air and right into those butterflies. She bats at them a moment until it becomes clear they are only a distraction, then growls a bit and pulls her grapple gun. She fires it into a wall near Crow, then uses it to pull herself along for a flying kick aimed at his back as he tries to get away.
Maya A secondary generator has gone up the ship is shaking more she knows things are gettuing bad the ship is also tipping now, it's starting to roll. This is just going to make her fight with Gaonoir even more intense and now she's in low gravity. It's been a long time she had to operate in such and she's quite rusty when you get down to it. Gaonoir is still fighting and Maya isn't about to quit either. Maya is aware if she can keep Gaonoir tied up? That's one less element for her comrades to deal with in the end.

Maya is nose now dealing with the low gravity and she will attempt p push off the wall even as Runner struggles with Gaonoir. Runner has not run into someone before who tried to /stop/ his jaws and had the means to have the attempt not to be madness.

Maya caps greedily taking in air, even as she's got her rifle not and bounds off the wall Runner is no longer chewing on Gaonoir. He is also not dealing with the low g well at all.

He's going to need mag logs installed if he and Maya survive this day.

Gaonoir would find Maya has a disturbing amount of energy to draw on. Blue flames will leak from Maya and she's not stopping. It feels like he's trying to tap a very vast reserve of power here.

Maya does cringe after all even if she has a lot of power she still feels it's loss and it's not pleasant and she'll raise her rifle opening fire with a barrage of shots, sending brass flying everywhere from her weapon as she goes across the corridor.

"I think not, you already made your choice.
Riku     Riku was playing a dangerous game with Gilgamesh, trying to conserve his tricks as much as possible so the King of Heroes can't counter them immediately. It might have been a strategic mistake. It might not. Gilgamesh is still playing with him. He still has time to make his efforts count. He wounds the King again, but again it does nothing to really hamper the man's perfection. It's clear that the man's semi-divine heritage and legend is simply immune to being tarnished. Which isn't really Riku's goal here. He's angry, but being that petty is just... /stupid/ at this juncture. He's fighting for survival, not to try to humiliate the man who cannot be humiliated.

    That doesn't mean he still isn't scowling at just how grossly /perfect/ this man is, combined with other things. "I have a /name/." Riku hisses, moments before the man vanishes and reappaears next to him, the Gates opening up under his own face.

    Riku reacts instantly. It's not fast enough. He leaps backwards just as there is an explosion of blinding pain, Riku hurling himself back awkwardly and landing back, skidding across the broken hull as the ship twists under him on its death spiral. A hand claps against the wounds across his face, blood running between his fingers as the globules fly off into the darkness.

    His wounds don't look nearly as good as Gilgamesh's. "You... You think I'm showing off?" He hisses. "Do you think I think this is a /game/?" Teeth clench, a crackling black aura sparking around him for several moments... before he suppresses it. Behind him, a hulking, dark creature rises, the black-fleshed demi-Heartless appearing to hang behind him. "I'm going to make sure you remember me." He says....

    And then he whips his blood soaked hand down, the appendage roiling with black fire as he hurls it forward, the dark energy roaring towards Gilgamesh and detonating on impact. But that's not the real attack, as the Eidolon vanishes back into shadow, lurching out to surge in beside Gilgamesh, attempting to crash into him with an azehandle blow while Riku leaps forward, expecting Gilgamesh to attempt to use his Seven League Boots once again to teleport and meet him halfway with another iaijutsu-like slash of darkness to cut a third slash across his body, trying to chase his movements wherever he might go.
All-Seeing Eye      Nova's psychic assault sends waves of psionic energy coursing down the length of the cable. Warning signs blare across his HUD, the shapes and symbols of his native language skewing and warping beyond legibility. Nova's attack splits the insulation on the wire open. Eye's vision cuts out in bursts of static. The spike shatters in Nova's hand, and the neural uplink in Eye's brain sizzles out. He tears the cable for the Spike out of his palm, sparks showering from the now-empty port.

     He staggers, only to lift into the air as the ship's gravity systems begin to fail. His back hits the wall, and he shakes away the stupor caused by the Ghost's mental haymaker. Eye wipes the blood away with a thumb, and spits. "Your mental defenses /are/ formidable," he says, leveling his wrist-mounted crossbows at her.

     "But the mistake--coming here--was yours." His eyes... open. That isn't to say they were closed. Rather, they fold open unnaturally to reveal two pitiless black steel nodules. His arms go wide, and that's when the barrage begins. Blasts of lightning from the nodules in his eyes join a storm of metal darts. They bounce off of the walls, floor and ceiling, creating a swarm of mixed lethal and non-lethal projectiles.

     Eye is slowly pushed back by the small counterforce of his darts in the low-g environment. His 360 degree vision makes this no problem. Like a dancer, he extends his leg and gracefully springs off of a wall mid-barrage. Sailing towards Nova, he strikes with an empty hand. A length of purple lightning crackles into being within his grasp, and it strikes through an expertly created hole in the barrage, heading for Nova's ankle!
Gaonoir "So be it."

As he feels the gravity start to fluxate more Gaonoir kippups from the tilting deck and engages his jetpack in hover mode. He doesn't need to rely on surrounding surfaces for stability as the ship faulters farther, and it's an advantage he can press over his opponents.

Reflexively he holds up both arms in front of him, the vulcan blast slamming loudly into the massive mechanical gauntlets. For a brief moment something like a wireframe can be visible in the damage, though hard to note in the shadowy surroundings before his own darkness wells around it to restructure his primary weapons.

And then he... disappears?... No, he didn't seem like the sort to run...

The roar of engines engaging echo down the corridor, with only split seconds to realize it before Gaonoir comes screaming from where he had teleported back to get some distance. At the same time he winds back one arm.

"KNUCKLE BUSTER!"

And swings hard, aiming a combination of strength and momentum to punch Runner, knock him into Maya, and send both tumbling hapless through the low-G, ship churning environment hard from the kinetic force.
Rean Schwarzer Rean just stares at Crow as he explains that it was him that blew up the reactor. The butterflies flood the room, impacting Rean and obstructing his vision.

He could still /sense/ him though.

Rean runs into the next room after Crow. He doesn't draw his sword again, this time just charging Crow and moving to tackle him, even as the ship's gravity starts to lessen. "What possible reason could you have to do all this?! Was it even /worth/ it?!"  Rean shouts.
Eryl Fairfax     Does Eryl even feel the slightest pang of guilt at pummelling an old man? If he does, it sure isn't showing. But the rapid combination aimed at his gut rattles something important, causing his assault to stop as he slumps back, coughing. And in that instant, his head is driven into a console, wires sparking as motherboards snap under the impact. His head is gashed, blood matting his near-white hair, but he retaliates by launching a full-bodied tackle against Big Boss.

    In this state of lowered gravity, the two of them go soaring through the air as Eryl drives a knee between the soldier's leg as they come crashing down. "If you 'invented' it, you should have 'perfected' it. I'm still standing Big Boss. What use is a technique that doesn't kill in a situation like this?"

    In between his words, he tries to mount the man and start driving punches at his head again. In this state, he's able to fully extend his arms, greatly enhancing the impact of each blow.
Gilgamesh      Gilgamesh watches Riku go sailing. He's flickering in and out in the exact same place, minute teleports barely noticable holding him still in the air. At best Riku might notice that he's flying.

     "Do you have a name?" Gilgamesh asks idly. A cell phone falls into his hand - the one made by Thomas Edison specifically for the King of Heroes, so his enormous strength doesn't shatter it in twain. He holds it up to his mouth. "OK Google, your King commands you - what is the most popular name for dogs in this era?"

     Gil turns it around so Riku can hear it.

     "Tell me which of these it is," he says languidly.

     The phone starts talking. "Bear." It says in a cheerful female voice. "Duke. Rocky. Jack."

     Gilgamesh waves his hand as the phone says, "Buddy."

     "Of course you're showing off, Bear," he says flatly, "You're trying to impress me, aren't you? You want an answer to your question. You want to..."

     Mere seconds before Riku says it, Gilgamesh's smirking lips form the words, "'Make sure you remember me.'"

     The phone says, "Chopper."

     "Do you not understand, Duke?" Gilgamesh spreads his arms. "This is a game to me. You're struggling desperately to climb the unclimbable hill. I, sitting at the top, am judging how far you can climb, and when - not if - you'll fall off. Your goal is to make me remember you, to learn from me what it means to be a hero. My goal is to have as much fun with you as possible before you slip."

     The phone goes, "Charlie."

     Gilgamesh spreads his arms wide. "This is all just a game to me. This ship's sinking, your desperate struggle to survive, this attack - it's nothing but idle pleasure for me to while away the time with. I enjoy kicking dogs. I enjoy beating them into the dirt. I enjoy putting my foot upon their backs and forcing them to taste it."

     "But I also enjoy when people make me try."

     Gilgamesh slides his hand back into his pocket as the phone says, "Max."

     "I enjoy when people make me remember their names, Rocky. I enjoy when people manage to sear themselves into my memory. When someone is worth my time, my strength, even more than just a fraction, I am delighted. I celebrate. That is someone worth answering. That is someone whom, rather than a barking dog at the door of my home howling furiously in my direction, deserves to have their name remembered."

     The phone falls into the Gate of Babylon, silencing itself.

     "So keep showing off, Jack. Keep fighting. Keep trying. Keep climbing. And I will sit at the top and judge you as I do all things, and if you prove yourself worthy, then I will remember your name."

     "In the mean time, Buddy, I am going to keep disciplining you."
Gilgamesh      The black fire detonates in front of Gilgamesh. The Eidolon surges into his side, pushing him from his minute teleportation perch and knocking him sideways. Which...isn't supposed to happen at all. He's supposed to dodge, wasn't he supposed to dodge?

     Instead the King simply falls, laughing as the iaijutsu strike passes over him. Riku chases him downwards through the falling debris, and the King laughs, as another slash of darkness manages to carve into him and shred the last remains of his jacket. The cloth falls away into the sea, revealing the blood-soaked chest of the King in all its glory.

     And then Gilgamesh is gone again. He's standing high above Riku, idly playing with something. His lips curve upwards in a smile.

     He mouths words. Riku can see them clearly, though he can't hear them over the din.

     Run, Spot, Run.

     The King holds up a hand. Lightning leaps into it from the Gate, pure, unformed, divine lightning. It crackles along his hand as if it was meant to be there, the power of a god of the sky in the palm of his hand, as if it was a pet snake writhing around his neck.

     He flicks it sideways, like he's pitching a baseball.

     It goes flying. A thunderclap erupts around him as it shoots towards Riku, a very literal, very loud, very MASSIVE thunderclap. The lightning will surely evaporate a huge chunk of the ocean below.

     What it does to Riku, well, who knows.
C Weaving, his defense is sudden as he blocks her blow with his forearm. He'd noticed the reduced gravity and already seemed to be adjusting his movements accordingly. Seemingly having no intention to justify what was happening to her, Crow responds with an elbow strike aimed at the crown of her furry head in an attempt to drive her down into the ground, displaying his hand-to-hand skills briefly before he hopped back to gain distance.

This allows Rean an opening to charge directly at him, but Crow steps to the side and whirls his body in a full motion to slide behind his classmate and deliver a whipping blow with the butt of his pistol to the back of Rean's head. "Yes."

His answer was honest, but he didn't elaborate. Instead he moves out of close quarters, readying both of his weapons. "Five minutes. That's how long we have to settle this before the Ad Coleum gives up the ghost."

The challenge is direct and somber, even if the number he attached to it was a ballpark guess.
Tina Natsumi Tina doesn't notice right away as the artificial gravity weakens with as intently as she's watching the pair of 17 and Danzo, and it's only when another hop out of cover has her clearing the same distance as a full-on jump would that she finally catches on that things are getting screwy again. When the android comes in for that hard kick and punch combo, she only has enough time to bring one arm up against her head to deflect some of that impact. She does have enough sense to move with the blow, though, grunting as she drifts towards what is most certainly just a wall to catch her bearings.

"An 'us versus them' sort of thing, is it? Alright, fair enough. But don't whinge all day about speeches when you're the one trying to take some kinda moral highground!" After emptying her shotgun at 17, Tina can feel something cutting into her sides as she jerks arund to try and keep the cuts from going in too deep. By the time she turns around, though, Danzo is already moving again, and the Persona user has to compensate a fair bit for both her and the Android's speed.

"Yeah... yeah, I probably should be evacuating right now. You, too, if you know what's good for ya. Unless..." She squints briefly, then kicks off against that wall finally and crashes into Uncle Sam, pulling a submachine gun out of it while those miniguns continue firing at the ninja and the android.

"... You've got one of those crazy ninja kites in that suit, don't you? Don't mind if I try and blow it off!" After making those assumptions, she proceeds to vomit yet more bullets at Danzo on top of Uncle Sam's already unending spray.
Eryl Fairfax     Another explosion, this one bigger and coming from the engines. This provides the Ad Coelum with a burst of speed as it hurtles planetside, adjusting its trajectory ever so slightly. Now it is no longer poised to land in the ocean. It will make landfall on a beach near a harbour town. It's finally made contact with the atmosphere, and the friction is starting to heat the place up now that the shielding is compromised.
Nova Terra     Nova drops the now pointless spike in her hand, letting the broken piece weapon slowly float down towards the bay floor. As she watches, Nova is slightly disturbed as her opponent's eyes proceed to open and produce spikes from beneath them. Yeah. This thing is definitely weird, "What the hell are you?"

    The answer will have to wait though as Nova suddenly finds herself under a barrage of metal darts and bolts of lightning. She starts running, boots continuing to grip the bay floor as Nova tries to weave through the assault. She manages to avoid a lot of it, though even more find her as the darts slice through the artificial muscle fibers of her suit, sometimes managing to cut all the way to skin beneath and draw a bit of blood.

    However, it's when one of the lightning blasts hits that Nova is finally stopped in her tracks, planting her feet into the ground as the energy arcs through her. Her suits absorbs some of it, but not all. And this gives Eye a chance to get that hit in, the aimed blast striking Nova's boot. In addition to the extra pain, the boot's equipment short ciruits. Nova can feel her footing on the bay floor loosen, "Shit!"

    Nova deactivates her other boot, letting the low gravity take hold. She then pushes off from the ground and raises her rifle to aim at Eye. Pulling the trigger, the large 25mm bullet streaks out of the barrel, blasting towards its target.

    Meanwhile, the force of the recoil sends Nova flying backwards, heading towards one of the still-docked shuttles as she continues to try and make her escape. Being in the shuttle bay, Nova can see flames beginning to form just outside through the open doors. The fire of re-entry. Nova can feel her suit's internal temperature control changing to accommodate the rise in heat. Though not that it would have been able to do much had Nova still been outside at this point.
Big Boss "That's your next mistake. I'm not trying to kill you. Everything is going as intended." Big Boss leaves that hanging, as Eryl charges forward, tackling Big Boss through the air, and drives his leg crashing down. It hurts to get smashed, but as the head hits come up, Big Boss pulls up his arms, blocking both blows with his suit at the expense of damage and pain to his arms instead of his head.

Big Boss can feel the heat coming off him, as he throws a strike at Eryl. And then another. Straight for his stomach and chest, followed by an attempt to knee him in the chest, send him upwards, and then grab his foot, pull him down, and take the ground out from under him.
Maya There isn't much banter going on and this may be for the best in the end. Maya is aware of one thing about Gaonoir if she knows nothing else of what he can do these days. He survived with no support during the Confederate and Union war. He is also clearly still active in the multiverse at large, which is a feat she's keenly aware of. She makes ready for another attack but is also not a hand to hand fighter when you get down to it.

Where did Gaonoir go? She then sees it a second too late to evade so she rapidly casts a spell trying to blunt the force of the impact the barrier keeps her from ending up with shattered bones from the impact. The force of the impact is still enough to send her flying in the low g environment along with Gaonoir. She's also tangled up with him for the moment as well.

This leads her to the idea of using her rifle up close like this? It is not a very good one for her well being.

A different idea pops into her head and she's going to run with it. Maya palms a fate card as she tumbled channelling the strange blue fire, which Gaonori saw earlier into the card. Then with a cry, Maya wrenches herself free and casts. A Wall of rock now appears between her and the hostile Digimon. Maya can't keep it in existence long but she can do so long enough for there to be a chance Ganoid might just slam right into it.

Things are also heating up as the ship continues it seeming death plunge to the superplanet below. She knows time is running out at this point and she has to hurry.
Android 17 The increased heat makes it difficult for the shield to be as effective this time around.  Tina's shots tear through the weakened barrier before Seventeen can effectively correct for this.  This is a pain, as the shots tear through Seventeen's shirt, and drawing more blood as he tries to move around.  Smacking the side of the wall as he's forced into a not great situation.  

"Sorry, I forget that spot on the box was yours to stand on.  Or perhaps you forgot about your own soapbox?  Isn't there an old saying about getting off your own box before trying to kick another's out from under them?" He says, with a slightly sardonic tone from where he is, before pulling himself to his feet.

Bouncing around the arena again, using his mobility and high-speed movement to seem like he's teleporting.  This time he tries to move in synch with the other fighter he's with.  A ball of energy flies from Seventeen's hands, aiming to shoot into the large Uncle Sam machine, followed by a barrage of weaker blasts to try and throw it and her off guard.
Lory Thumper      Lory's questions go unanswered, which answers them as much as anything else could have. Crow doesn't care! At least, that the conclusion she comes to. Which just makes it worse! Her attack is blocked, but she manages to block Crow's attack similarly by bringing both arms up to protect her head. She still winces from the attack though and is sent flying back thanks to the lower gravity. Once her feet touch down again she takes off toward him once more. "Five minutes is more than enough...!" the angry bunny exclaims as she moves in again.

     She gets in as close as she can and becomes a whirling dervish of mag shots, pistol whips, and spinning kicks as she does her best to bring down someone who has just admitted their involvement in an attack that cost dozens of lives. "...to bring down a criminal like you!" she adds, her words punctuated by the action of a punch or kick.
Gaonoir Gaonoir overestimated what kind of an advantage his ability to fly would be, and Maya pulls a card trick (literally) to capitalize on it. He sees the flash of the card being drawn as Maya yoinks herself away, but she's right in he doesn't have the time or space to stop as the rock appears. Best he can do is twist sideways, slamming throw the summon stone with his shoulder to keep from crashing headlong into it. There's a faint snarl of pained frustration that's hard to make out between the jet-wolf's clenched teeth as he pulls up and rights himself.

It's starting to get a bit hot. Ultimately it doesn't matter who wins the fight, this battle was a success once the craft was going down beyond recovery... But that doesn't mean he isn't going to try to come out on top.

Motes of dark digital energy flicker around him as he clenches his gauntlets tightly, drawing more of the Dark Digitron within to keep himself fighting a bit longer. Eyes briefly squeeze shut, then open not to the golden gaze of before, having turned a vicious crimson red as a greater reserve of power wells within him.

Then in a flickering instant he's right up in Maya's personal space again. "Moves had to be made. Buttons pushed, nerves pinched... Before it became another stalemate and no one risked acting..."

Then he twists around rapidly, swinging one of his mechanical legs up and out. The roundhouse kick is aimed at her center of mass, not only cause harm, but knock Maya towards the weakened exterior bulkheads!

He figures she or her companion has some trickery to keep her from being knocked outside, he's just pushing her towards where the escalating heat will be more noticable in hope of keeping her off balance still. This is a fight of attrition, occupation of attention.
Riku     Gilgamesh seems to know exactly how to crush a young boy's pride. Why wouldn't he? He's had it himself, one greater and more potent than Riku's ever was... And far less vulnerable. As Gilgamesh casually warps himself out of the way of Riku's incessant attacks, he is 'treated' the direct, humiliating words, the dismissive tones, the servile and demeaning phrases that begin to make Riku's assault faulter and slow, making him begin to lose control of that anger he is attempting to hold together.

    Is he making good points? It doesn't matter to Riku at the moment, it's hard enough for him to think straight as his vision clouds with the crawling black, edging his sight as his emotions begin to run riot. He has no coherent comeback to the King of Heroes, no pointed defiance of his words. All he has is an intense scream of rage as he flips back through space, bouncing on another hunk of metal and using it to propel himself directly towards Gilgamesh.

    The curling divine lightning splits the darkness, a rebuke of the endless void, a spark that heralds judgement. Should Riku be found wanting, he would be obliterated where he stands. The taunt is made as they battle across low-Superplanet orbit, the ship forgotten as they weave through debris, chaos, and speeding micrometeors. Riku looks up to see that lightning, and it flashes downwards.

    The Heartbrand flares like a comet, blasted backwards in a crackling wave that sends him blasting through the (thankfully sparse) superstructure of the Ad Coelum like a burning lance, skidding close to that deadly surface atmosphere on the other side.
Riku     Riku uncurls, the remnants of the Eidolon vaporizing and collapsing back into his Shadow as he shudders, spasming from the burning aftermath. Even with that defense, his body is scorched and blackened from the impact of the lightning. Pain radiates through him, his body. But this has gone too far. The rage, the pain, his damaged pride, it all adds up to a perhaps inevitable result. Perhaps the one Gilgamesh wanted the whole time. He can't stop here. His wounded pride demands an answer. Through bloodied teeth, he hisses, a black aura rolling around him as his frustration and anger escape his grasp, his voice resonating almost in chorus as he spits back:

                           "My name is... RIKU!"                            

    The hesitation is, perhaps, telling. And palpable. He roars as he plunges through the darkness, crashing back through space as he hurls himself back against the demigod. The air explodes around Gilgamesh, Riku hurling blast after blast of that dark fire towards him as he bolts back and forth, vanishing and reappearing from Corridor after Corridor that appears in the darkness, Riku seeding the entire area with standing boltholes. The Eidolon surges back, tattered and seething as it lashes out, Riku synchronized with it as he strikes in tandem with the horror. Claws rake out for the Gold, the Soul eater cutting low, staggering strikes with the muscular creature to try to force Gilgamesh off guard as he perhaps foolishly begins devoting his reserves into trying to beat down that smug face. "I'm going to /tear you apart/, you smug ass!"
All-Seeing Eye      As Nova brings up her rifle, Eye pulls the lightning whip back. A second, identical whip forms in his other hand. With both of these, as well as a steel cable whip for each wrist, he strikes out. He doesn't attack the Ghost directly--he instead latches onto a malfunctioning terminal, attempting to rapidly pull himself out of her sights.

     She is just as much the marksman that he is, however, and isn't fooled. A grimace of frustration appears briefly and is concealed. It's changed into a frown of annoyance, as Eye releases his grasp on the terminal. He strikes backwards with his leg as the bullet tears through his body. Yet another whip--this one from his ankle. It snatches the huge bullet out of the air no more than a second after it explodes from his back. With a forward kick, he flings the projectile back, catching it in his hand.

     He takes a moment to observe the bloodied projectile, turning it over in his hand. "I am All-Seeing Eye, Warden of the Paladins," says the bleeding Exalt. His tank top is stuck to his abdomen by a patch of black lifeblood. Though his eyes are still replaced by those black lightning cannons, he has no trouble seeing her. "Head of Public Security. And, let us not forget... Chosen of the Machine God."

     "I regret that we couldn't get acquainted in a more peaceful time." He clearly doesn't--what memories Nova saw as she ripped them out suggest that there is nothing that this man enjoys more than 'righteous' violence. Still carried by momentum, he suddenly flings the bullet. Its impact with his dense internal structure has blunted it somewhat, but the Exalt nevertheless flings it hard enough to make it a projectile again in its own right.

     The bullet strikes the floor, travels up at an angle, bounces off of a ceiling-mounted camera, spins off of a wall, and heads for Nova at a calculated angle. The attack isn't meant to kill--it's meant to stop. To buy him a moment to make a pitch.

     "You're not like the usual Watch lumpen. You have talent. And because of that, you have an option. You could fight me, potentially win, and leave here--in which case you would be hunted like a dog for destroying this vessel."

     "Or..." He holds up a finger. "You could put that talent to use. It makes no difference to me, darling--I have nothing better to do.~"
Danzo Katou     "What would be good for me is irrelevant. I have my orders. I will ensure that the mission succeeds, by any means. That's what it means to be . . ."

    Tina wheels on the red ninja and begins blasting away all over again. Several sprays of buckshot catch her in the side, tight rows of sparking impacts spreading up the woman's side, tearing into her clothes, ripping away fragments of armour, bloodying her skin, in the mere instant there is before she disappears again. Little more than a twitching flash, she circles around Tina in several more revolutions, using the lessened gravity to bounce off the consoles skip across the roof, and slide along the floor.

    It's not quite right though. A lot of that shot hadn't struck her armour. There shouldn't have been that much fragmenting metal.

    "I don't mind anything in particular." she replies softly. Her pupils contract too quickly, like a shutter. "The mission comes first. That the Ad Coleum crashes is all that matters." Her lead foot slides outwards, her body twisting sideways, arms raised, one hand by her face and another stretched out in front of her, two fingers raised. Her center of gravity lowers to compensate for the ship's failing generators, and the slow gain of the Superplanet's pull.

    "Entering combat mode. Adjusting function."

    The perfect skin fizzles away from her arms like a mirage, coming off as so much pale dust up to the elbow, exposing elegantly curving patterns of black metal. Gouts of hot steam abruptly hiss from her joints. The glow of her eyes redoubles into something visibly unnatural. "Moving in."

    This time she takes off at Tina straight on, twice as fast as before. She closes into hand to hand combat distance in an instant, and just as she reaches out to grab Tina, gleaming arcs of metal snap from both her wrists instead. The grapple is a feint, turning instantly into a series of brutal crisscrossing slashes up and down Tina's front. The ninja leaps off the floor, revolves once in the air, and then brings her heel down on her in a powerful axe kick, only a momentary glint of light warning of the dagger springing from her heel.
Rean Schwarzer Crow's pistol strikes Rean in the back and he falls over, barely keeping his balance. "...Do you even care?" Rean says, righting himself.

He was right. The room was getting hotter, and they were probably going to crash soon.

"We're not leaving without you." Rean says, Despite the words, it's not friendly at all.  Rean raises a hand, his body surrounded in a ring of blue light. A swarm of butterflies identical to the ones Crow cast fills the room, darkening it and getting in Crow's face, just like before.
Eryl Fairfax     Eryl laughs. He normally has a very nice laugh, but this is not it. It's hard and cold and bitter. He keeps it up, even as Big Boss retaliates, launching him into the air and then bringing him back down. "You won't kill me? Do you realise where you are?" He hops back to his feet, his blood mingling with sweat as the temperature in the ship skyrockets. "Was your plan to just send me on my way with a pat on the cheek? When this ship crashes, it will be akin to multiple nuclear blasts, and anyone on-board will be at ground zero. I am build to survive and endure, but I've never been tested on something like that."

    Blades erupt from his forearms as he moves in on the legendary soldier, whirling them about in a complicated array. He's not attacking, but he's oppressing Big Boss' options to attack. "When you came up here, you must have expected trouble. You do not get to mitigate that by deciding that you won't kill me. That road is barred from you now. You've decided that you and yours have the right to act without consequence, and that said right comes before the comfort and safety of the Multiverse. In bringing down the Ad Coelum, a symbol of protection, those who only wish to live in peace must now live without it. They must fear the Watch, the crime lords, every two-bit thug, and all in between. Because of you."

    The blades suddenly retract as Eryl lunges forward, having gotten used to the altered gravity to land exactly as planned. He grabs Big Boss by the neck and lifts him one-handed, before driving him down to the ground, then coming down with an elbow drop that fires a shotgun slug into his gut.
Tina Natsumi As the heat intensifies, Tina's forced to adjust her strategy again when she has to start worrying about getting perforated by incoming debris and the growing reality of an impending crash. It's all quite distracting, and she forces herself to focus the only way she knows how.

"D... Did you just go with a 'I know you are but what am I' thing? Aw man, I haven't heard somethin' like that in ages!" Grade-school insults are the key to the continued survival of her sanity now. Her amusement is clearly forced thanks to the gravity of the situation and regular gravity weighing her mind and body down simultaneously, and the rocks pelting herself and Uncle Sam leaving nasty welts all over her certainly doesn't help. She'll have to make do with what she can, though, as Ad Coelum continues falling apart around her.

Physically, though, Tina can't be quite so playful with Android 17's rapid movements obscuring the direction that his energy blasts are coming from. While she's busy focusing on those shots, though, Danzo's movements continue to confound the blonde, especially when her true nature is reveaeled.

"A robo-ninja?! So that's why you d-" Trying to keep her head on straight is making it hard to keep her body out of harm's way, and Tina grimaces as 17's energy blasts explode against her, blasting her into a wall with a painful crash and bouncing her right off the surface towards Danzo. Uncle Sam's defensive nature kicks in just in time to take the latter half of her slashes and that hefty axe kick, leaving Tina cut up in several places rather than completely cut apart.

"Ugh... Don't you two know anythin' about fair play? Guess I'll need something to even the odds, then." That explosion from before... Maybe that's the solution. As she muses aloud, the fake cowgirl yanks a multi-barreled grenade launcher right out of the Persona's side and takes aim once again. She launches a pair of projectiles behind where it looks like the ninja and the android are, then covers one ear as...

Nothing. There's no explosion from the canisters as the grenades prove to be duds! Decoys, even, as Uncle Sam's miniguns transform into a pair of laser cannons that pelt the pair with flashing lights and more conventional plasma beams.
Eryl Fairfax     Somewhere in the depths of the Ad Coelum, some engineer works frantically to keep the life support on long enough to get everyone to escape. By rerouting power from the external sensors that so vexed the Watch earlier, he's able to get more power flowing back into the artificial gravity generator. But in his rush, he overcharges it, causing the device to exert more than the usual 9.81 m/s^2. Everyone on the ship feels extra weight pushing them down towards the ground.
Big Boss Big Boss grunts as Eryl's armblades come out and he's oppressed. "A lot of talk. I am not mitigating anything. I am simply expecting my plan to succeed. I would estimate...that you will survive this day." It's confident, but it's not cocky. There's no hint of smarm. It's an old man's prediction based off his plan, his actions, everything he's set up..

"'Crime lords'. I see. What a strong opinion. But you misunderstand something."

Big Boss starts getting driven into the ground. He starts resisting, and even as that elbow drop slams into him hard, bhe shifts the arm out of the way with a quick jab. The shotgun slug goes off course, narrowly doing light damage towards the side instead of the center, and getting mostly stopped by the suit, almost piercing it.

"I never wanted safety. Especially not yours."

A jab to Eryl's own gut, and then to his face, really quick, really hard.

"I am a soldier. I am a warrior. They call me hero." The last bit is very specifically worded. "You? You're a man putting his boot down to ensure his own vision of peace. No matter what it takes."

As they weight increases, Big Boss becomes sluggish. He's faster to hit, now.
Nova Terra     The great thing about low gravity is you don't really have to do much to keep going in whatever direction you're going. So Nova is able to keep her focus on Eye while she floats backwards towards the shuttle. So she snorts at this reply, though not so much at him, "Bloody gods. More trouble than they're worth." She also notices him re-purpose the round she fired, sending it ricocheting her way.

    A quick burst of telekinesis on herself alters Nova's path, sending her falling back down towards the deck much faster. This throws off the bullet's aim, causing it to just scrape across Nova's cheek as it passes by. The edge of the deformed bullet leaves behind a streak of red. Though it did its purpose of getting the Ghost to stop. She lands feet first on the deck. Just in time too as the gravity suddenly kicks into overdrive. Nova is briefly surprised, wavering under the gravity. But the boosted strength provided by her suit allows Nova to regain her balance and remain standing.

    Nova suddenly laughs.

    "Are you KIDDING ME!?"

    Nova waves her hand around at their surroundings, "We just infiltrated your FLAGSHIP, blew it to hell, sending it crashing down towards the superplanet where it's likely to vaporize on impact. And you're asking me to work for you!?" She laughs some more, "Buddy, I think you've got this 'round the wrong way. You should be asking to join US!"

    Nova then suddenly stops laughing, her hand coming up. The already fired bullet that has now clattered down to the floor once more rises up, before zipping over to spin in front of Nova's hand. "Not that we'd trust you enough to accept." A flick of her hand sends the damaged round shooting back towards Eye, though not quite at the speed when she first fired it.
Gilgamesh      That is exactly the response Gilgamesh has been waiting for.

     That dramatic declaration. That glorious rage. That anger, that determination. That is indeed what the King wanted.

     Dark blasts surge forward, and are met with golden blades that cleave through them. Riku darts left and right, making boltholes, trying to throw the King off-guard; as he surges forward, he might notice that the King isn't even watching him. The King's eyes are shut. The Eidolon's claws flash, and are met with more blades, blocking it in a direct parry. Riku's sword clips his legs, turned slightly aside by shields but not completely. The scratches and claws are mounting on the King, cutting along every which way. He's losing a lot of blood, even counting for the fact that he heals at a remarkable rate (the scar Riku put on his face is already gone). The more Riku devotes, the more the King annoyingly steps backwards out of the way in minute little surges, ducks under attacks, or parries them aside with a sudden weapon out of nowhere, or even his own bare hand at one point.

     It's like he's trying to annoy Riku as much as possible.

     Actually, he might be. Riku's sinking more and more of his energy, but Gilgamesh doesn't look all that tired. As the blade clips his shoulder and lands a solid blow, the King finally flashes back out of the strikes, the boots carrying him away.

     He reappears, again, on high, arms crossed, flickering back and forth in the air.

     "Boring," he says, "You were doing well. You were taking your time, thinking things through. You were playing your hand close to your chest and showing me only what you could afford to. You were fighting somewhat cleverly."

     Gilgamesh rolls his hand dramatically. "But then you were so easily annoyed by a simple provocation that you lost your senses. Really, is that all? Is that all I can expect from someone with an ambition towards heroism? You've managed to make me exert myself, a little, I'll grant you, and you have perhaps some promise in you, but if that's all it takes to set you alight you'll be dead long before you reach it."

     "Oh well."

     The King sounds almost...tired? Frustrated?

     Is that better or worse than his active, malicious mockery? Is him just sounding *annoyed* better?

     The Gate opens.

     There is a profound sense of dread as the weapon emerges. It's certainly a mythic one. It is an arrowhead larger than the King of Heroes, larger than Riku by far. But it isn't made of gold. It isn't made of stone, or metal. In fact, the more Riku looks at it, the more certain he is that it isn't made of *anything*.

     It's like staring at a nuclear explosion hammered into the shape of an arrow.

     Gilgamesh crosses his arms as the arrow starts charging. And Riku can tell it's charging. He can tell it's building power, it's gaining strength. And it's...a lot of strength.

     A lot a lot.

     It will probably vaporize a fair portion of the water directly below them. What it doesn't vaporize it will probably turn boiling.

     Whether Riku will survive is entirely up in the air.

     Gilgamesh snaps his fingers.

                              PROTO BRAHMASTRA                              

     The arrow is not loosed. Rather the arrow becomes a column of nuclear fire, a full-force blast like the fist of an angry god turned into a pillar of light and sound and pain. It is the building block for a legendary weapon said to be able to smite the earth, to salt it that nothing can grow where it struck. It is the basis for a story about gods who could smite the world with its name.

     And here it is getting used like a sledgehammer against a fifteen-year-old because the King is tired of him.

     What an asshole.
C The flurry of furious blows are met in equal measure by Crow, who primarily blocked and routed her using his forearms, sucking in a deep breath as she went for her gun. "ARCUS Activate!"

A blue aura emeneated from his body, to the image of a clockface spinning out of control. Altering the flow of time, he weaves between each gunshot and attempts to push her back with a volley of gunfire aimed center-of-mass.

"I do care, Rean. It's not like I threw my hat in without thinking about it, you know?"

Seeing one of his favorite arts used against him brings an offputting smirk to his face. Moving in double-time, Crow bolts across the Cargo Bay, using the various containers as cover as he moved out of the attack's range.

It doesn't take Crow very long to pop up from Rean's flank, firing two rounds from his reloaded revolver at Rean's feet to ice the ground over. His voice isn't taunting, and has lost its usual humor. "This had a purpose beyond what Big Boss wanted, it wasn't for nothing. You won't get it, but right now, you're just chasing an afterimage. That's all."

It was cryptic, and it could be taken as condescending, if not for the mellow tone of his voice. He tried to put up a good face, but he just couldn't summon it. Crow fires the revolver at Rean's feet again, but this time, the bullet is infused with Wind Sepith and explodes with a crackling flash of lightning.
Android 17 "Actually it was more like saying 'that's the pot calling the kettle black', but I guess you can take it that way too.  I mean, whatever makes it more manageable to swallow.  This is kind of a crap situation all around," Seventeen says with a shrug.  He can't control the situation, he can only deal with it.  He can only accept reality for what it was and deal with it the way he can.  

Rockets fly out, and Seventeen this time activates the shield just in time.  Explosions tear across the deck as they connect, covering the area in dust and debris for a few moments.  When it clears, Seventeen still stands, hurt and burned, but nowhere nearly as hurt as he should have been from a hit like that.

"If you want fair, spar someone.  This isn't a fair fight, it's a fight for survival and we both know that," he says before he launches himself right at her.  His fist swings for Uncle Sam again, before fading with a blink of speed right above Tina.  Both hands come down trying to slam the two of them together and hopefully giving the ninja another opening.
Maya The spell is over but the fight has not ended yet, not by a long shot and Maya replies over her comm unit to Eryl even as he fights. A plan is forming again rapidly in Maya's head as she knows time is growing short to end this fight before the ship crashes. Things are heating up for one. Her green eyes focus on Gaonoir. She takes note of the change sith Gaonoir for a moment. She's got him up close and personal.

"And you know moves will be made back better than most of the younger elites, do. Maya is sent flying she will end up slamming into the weakened bulkhead but it doesn't fully give out as she manages to get off it roughed up from that hit she's spitting out a bit of blood as she does so? The gravity spikes another old memory of terror pops into her mind. Her world isn't known for using nuclear weapons, or other large WMDs the most notable one was gravity /based/. This is a very unpleasant reminder of the Anakrans superweapon.

Maya's struggles to her feet she's having trouble breathing from that kick. The heat is also clawing at her she starts to channel blue fire a whole lot of blue firs the first is a green card and she mutters something about the touch of the fallen one's malice be given to this wretched soul before her.

A spell will seize at Gonoir trying to sap him in turn and weaken him.

Maya doesn't stop there more blue fire leaches out of her body as she has several more cards nows.

"When law, chaos and destruction meet let them know the force of the destroyer."

Powerful magic energies will tear at the Digimon trying to rip and tear at his body almost like it's trying to take him apart and violently force him back together.
Danzo Katou     Danzo lands behind Tina, flicking blood from her blades in a spiral arc behind her. She bounces once on her heel, spins around, and slides to a swift stop between Tina and the bridge entrance. Three foot long curved blades of mirror-like steel, lethally sharp, run from her wrist to her elbow along the outside edge of her arm, far too substantial to have folded out of her forearm, yet there all the same. They twitch and swivel into a new position, peforming minute adjustments as the ninja adjusts her stance again, swaying erratically with the bumping and jostling of the ship. She doesn't sweat in the heat.

    She blinks. "I am kunoichi. Fair play is . . . the opposite of what we do." she says, almost murmuring it. "There's nothing else to it. Any shinobi obeys their Lord's commands to the letter, even at the cost of their own life, if necessary. You have the freedom to run. This is a battle you can afford to lose. Therefore, you cannot win."

    Tina fires the dud grenades. The kunochi slaps her hands together and presses two fingertips to each other, almost touching her lips.

                                   "Karakuri Genpou"                                

    Lasers, plasma, beams and bolts of corscating energy, converge on her all at once, and merge into a colossal explosion of fire and light. The deck rumbles. The heat spikes up ten degrees. Metallic steam wafts up from the irregular crater made of multiple deck layers melted through. Small fires dot the area, belching smog from burning electronics. Yet, the ninja is still right there, stood in the middle of ground zero, hands clasped together, eyes on Tina. Completely unharmed. Untouched.

    By contrast, the instant Tina glances, she finds herself surrounded by flying kunai. Not just two or three, but ranks and rows of them, arranged in an inward-pointing hemisphere, coming from impossible directions and angles all at once. When had she thrown them? *How* had she thrown them? Some look like they've come from the walls and floor. Did they bounce?

    The answer is that most of them don't exist. Four sets of three, completely identical to the other, have the power to thrust deeply and painfully into Tina's muscles and tendons, scattered into the mix. But which ones to block? Which ones to dodge? As far as Tina can tell, they're all completely real.
Lory Thumper      Lory looks both annoyed and impressed as Crow keeps up with her every step of the way and delivers his own blows in the process. But she looks skeptical that there is some kind of justification for what happened here. Although, she thinks with a frown, Crow only said it had a purpose not that it was justified. "An afterimage, huh? Well, don't worry. Even afterimages get treated well enough in a Paladin prison!"

     She back handsprings a few times, then leaps and somersaults through the air. And during her flip a few more of those yellow discs fly toward Crow. "It really doesn't matter what you claim! There's no reasonable purpose behind something like this! This was just a terroristic act, as far as I'm concerned!" she shouts just before those grenades explode all around Crow. "And there's no way we are going to let you get away with i-nng!"

     Her words are interrupted as gravity suddenly increases and she is forced into a landing early and has to roll to keep from hurting herself.
Tina Natsumi "Pot..? Yeah, that one works, too. But nah, see, you're supposed to get more pissed off about it!" Tina forces a laugh, then gags lightly when that familiar elevator-gut feeling comes with the gravity getting kicked up several notches and intensifies that already looming feeling of dread from knowing just how quickly the ground is approaching. The only small comfort she has is knowing that it might be easier for her to aim now if it works against her opponents at all, but she can't quite bank on that.

Judging from 17's continued high-speed attacks, it's probably just going to suck harder for her before it gets any better. The Persona brings its arms up to block against that big fist, one of those cannons getting crunched by the strike while the other reaches out to intercept some of those flying kunai. The false ones phase right through while the other cannon gets decimated in the attack, and Tina's forced to fend for herself as she has to contend with both the hammer blow and the barrage of illusionary and real projectiles.

"Just 'cause you're an itchy robot or whatever, though... Doesn't mean you can't fight to stay alive, too!" She tries blocking the former with her fake grenade launcher to little effect, the crunching weapon only slowing down Android 17's fists enough to not pulverise her chest. The impact from getting slammed further into the floor keeps her stunned long enough that Danzo's projectiles hit their marks, drawing a pained yell from Tina while blood starts to flow more freely.

"Tch... F-fine, I was trying to give y'all a chance to back down, but if fair play's out the window, then...!" She sounds like she's psyching herself up more than trying to psyche them out, but Uncle Sam starts glowing rather ominously and excessively as it pulls out an incredibly fat and stubby missile. It rears back, tosses the missile right at Danzo, and...

It splits into a whole bunch of smaller missiles, each one firing off in a random direction at first before blasting towards 17 and Danzo alike. The explosions from each missile are small, but incredibly potent thanks to the lasers that burst forth with each one!
Gaonoir The response... actually gets a smirk to curl the wolf's lips. "Hoping so. No one wins through inaction or reluctance."

His point has been made, and he's kept her entangled in the fight long enough that there is little to do but escape before the ship crashes.

Then the gravity suddenly shifts the other, causing his hovering jets to sputter as the increasing downward pull. Gaonoir actually yelps briefly as, while not heavy enough to be yanked back to the ground, he's distracted by keeping himself stable. Which is just the oppritunity Maya needs to hone in on him before he can use his voidstepping to get out of the way. Well, shit.

Gaonoir reachs into the shadows of wreckage round them, pulling it to himself so to speak, enwrapping in them. It's the best he can muster on a split-second defense.

The spell tears into it. With enough piercing force to dig through and into the digimon as well, and disrupting his own energies faster that the Dark Digitron can pull it together.

Nope. Time to crash and burn.

As he feels his strength waning Gaonoir lets go, releasing the dark energy he had drawn to him, letting it explode against the force of the spell. An explosion that hurtles himself backwards, into and through the weakened bulkhead. Eventually out into the open space beyond the craft. His digivolved form was already breaking up from the damage and how long he's been in it, and he wasn't going to remain conscience enough to force it to hold. But they had passed down through the atmosphere far enough that a crash landing wasn't going to kill him.

Just hurt really really bad on top of the damage he's already taken.
All-Seeing Eye      The gravity sends Eye back to the ground. He impacts with a fairly audible 'thud.' His lithe appearance belies how heavy he actually is--probably from all the augmentations. As Nova's attack sends the bullet back towards him, it seems that he was expecting it. "Please," he says, readying some comeback or another. It doesn't come.

     He seems no worse for the attack, after his nimble reverse handspring. But when his face comes up, there is a cut, similar to the one on Nova's. His eyes fold back into place, concealing the lightning cannons from view. His gaze is like ice. He wordlessly unties the jacket from his waist, slowly circling around Nova. He twirls his whips, two in each hand, rolling his neck gently.

     Sparks fly from the wound in his shoulder, that blood of his still trickles down his nose. If he notices, it isn't obvious. "Oh, darling," he chuckles darkly, shaking his head. "I'm quite aware of what your foolish attack has done."

     "They /do/ call me All-Seeing Eye for a reason, after all!" Sweetly, he croons a threat. "Whether I capture you or not, I will see that savagery repaid. And, dear... you'll find I'm /just/ the one to do it. Let me show you.~"

     Despite the ship growing nearer and nearer, Eye fights like a man possessed. He dashes in, tumbling to the side and sweeping with an impressive upwards kick. Steel cable flies from a port in the ankle of his boot, lashing out at Nova. As he comes back up, he runs up the nearest wall, springs off of it, and spins in the air. The spinning unleashes a flurry of whipcracks as the increased gravity pulls him down. He ends with a double-armed strike. The whips form a mesmerizing double helix, attempting to clinch Nova's hands together while administering an electric shock!
Eryl Fairfax WARNING: AD COELUM HAS ENTERED ATMOSPHERE
WARNING: INTERNAL HAEMORRHAGING DETECTED
WARNING: KOAN CORE AT 15%
EVALUATION COMPLETE: SUBJECT "BIG BOSS" POSSESSES SUPERIOR COMBAT SKILL

    "I know," Eryl snarls out loud as he reels from that jab. Big Boss is worthy of his titles. Even though Eryl is his senior in years, even though his augments are built in as opposed to coming in an exosuit. And yet, the old man has seen more combat than Eryl has. He lives it, breaths it. The Grandmaster spits blood from his mouth before wiping his chin defiantly. "A jackboot? Me?" He laughs again, that unpleasant bitter laugh.

    "Do you know a thing about me Big Boss? I have ever and always been the proffered hand. The patient ear, the strong back, the kind words. I am a /diplomat./ The one who seeks peace, mutual benefit, and co-operation. Do you know what we were going to do with those names? Extend an offer. The Watch clearly has people with good hearts in it. People who want to make a difference. We were going to offer collaboration, with a chance at exoneration."

    He staggers towards Big Boss, arms raised in a boxing stance. "But I've reconsidered. With you at the helm, that can never be. I see it in your eye. You are no soldier of circumstance. You are a man at odds with peace. A man who wouldn't know what to do with himself without war. And so you wage it to secure your place in the world. If we offered that now, and you found out? I've no doubt you would put down anyone we spoke to. Martial law is the only law you want."

    He moves, and begins to attack. And in this moment, it becomes apparent that Eryl hasn't been striking with his full capabilities. His first blow is a short uppercut into Big Boss's solar plexus, aimed at driving all the air from his lungs. His second, a palm strike to the sternum followed by a chop to the throat. Two blows aimed at closing the airways to ensure said lungs don't refill. The fourth blow, a precisely aimed hook at the legendary soldier's nose, perfectly poised to break it and shatter mental fortitude with the pain. And the fifth, another palm strike aimed at the chin. By pushing the skull against the brain stem, Eryl aims to knock the man out.
Android 17 Micromissiles come out from everywhere.  Seventeen tries the best that he can to try and keep moving, but as he does so they're homing on him.  he can't avoid this...so instead, he attempts to brace.  His barrier coming up to try and weather the blow.  However, it wasn't enough, the force throwing him from the explosion.  Though again, not quite as blasted to dust as Tina might have wanted.  

Peeling himself from one of the controls, he picks himself up.  There was no way forward but through this woman.  His body hunching over for a moment as his hair falls slightly in front of his eyes.  Where to strike...and then it comes to him.

He disappears, appearing right above Tina and aims a kick right up into the chest of the woman, attempting to separate her and her persona.  With that, both hands come down, aiming energy from his hands to try and barrage her once more.  

Then, he flips up and onto the ceiling of the falling station.  A larger ball of electrical energy fires down to try and finish the woman off.  
Eryl Fairfax     Panelling peels off the Ad Coelum as the full bulk of it enters the atmosphere. The temperature inside already rivalled a sauna, and now it's more akin to an oven. That lone engineer again reroutes power to the ship's climate control, pushing it to its absolute limit to cool the interior so people don't cook. But this means no power reaches the artifical gravity. Immediately, everyone is subject to the force of the ship's falling, shoved hard towards the roof.
Danzo Katou     "This fight is to stay alive." the woman in red says to Tina. Even in the midst of a torrential flurry of knives thudding into the girl and her Persona, pincushioning her with lengths of sharpened steel, her voice just can't seem to rise to a level of indignance. Even basic combativeness. It feels like she's being gently corrected by her big sister.

    "This fight is so that the people of the Watch can survive, and through them, all the people that they will one day save. The moment their destruction was threatened, there was no other choice. My Lord reached out and found me, and my services he required. Therefore, I will fight unfairly, as a kunoichi of the Fuuma, to protect what my Lord wishes to protect."

    Again, fire and fury blankets the elusive, mysterious woman in red. She disappears in a roaring cloud of destruction, doubled --tripled-- in size and vehemence from before. Much of the helm around her ceases to exist. Metal becomes ash, ceramics become dust, the molten superstructure sags, groans, and collapses in the increased gravity and the heat of reentry. That sort of alpha strike should have blown her to pieces.

    Yet she's still there. Holding that pose. Tina hasn't put a scratch on her. Not a single missile did anything to the enigmatic stranger. At best, her long red scarf billows upward in the superheated updraft. Her eyes still stare straight into hers, luminous and strange. There's no way that's possible, right?

    The woman releases the iconic shinobi stance she'd been holding, crouches down, and then lunges right at Tina once again, leaping a fast, shallow arc up into the air, over the debris zone, and then back down on Tina with both arm blades out, plunging the points down and through both shoulders.

    The blades phase right through her. The dark-haired figure wavers and disappears. She's been shooting at an illusion all this time.

    The real attack comes from the rear. A rapid series of clicking, percussive thwacks rattles off in the distance, and an automatic salvo of scores of shuriken showers her from behind, putting countless bladed metal stars into her flesh. The ninja flashes into existence at the small of her back, hands clashed together, held close to her body, a spearblade extended from a compartment in her elbow, which she slams into the small of Tina's back with her forward momentum, pressing with the opposite hand to drive it deeper.
Big Boss As Eryl spits, Big Boss replies as he staggers. "I believe you." Big Boss doesn't flinch, as Eryl reads him. "You are partially correct." He doesn't answer which, but it's likely that he doesn't agree with the 'put them down'.

Eryl comes at him before Big Boss can speak again. An uppercut slams into him. It staggers him back, as does the palm strike, but the chop is quickly deflected. The hook towards his nose is blocked with a quick pull back, slamming into his cheek. It hurts, hard, but the soldier is hardy - nothing breaks and kills him, but he's bleeding out of his mouth ever so slightly from the sheer force. He spits up blood.

The gravity fails. Big Boss is sent flying upwards. But this was calculated. It had to happen eventually. As he shifts through the air, a cigar comes flying upwards. He catches it in his hand, and then, as Eryl flies up with him, he moves to jab it into Eryl's eye as they crash. If he gets a chance to upright himself or reach Eryl, he moves to start smashing him in the face, over and over. It won't kill him.

"You seek that which cannot exist - coexistence itself. An end to all the war. But you don't understand."

"Once you've been on the battlefield, tasted the exhilaration, the tension...it all becomes part of you. Once you've awakened the warrior within...it never sleeps again."

He'll wish it had.
Riku     Riku thought he could beat the proclamation. Maybe he'd be different. Maybe he would be the one that would exceed expectations and push through into victory. He has come so close, he can taste it.

    He's riding the adrenaline and pain, the invincible rage that drives him on that leaks from him in waves of gathering dark. He and his Eidolon crash forward, preparing to deliver a finishing blow on the King of Heroes. He would topple the King from his summit. He got this far, he can bring it to an end.

    But he is a fool. The King warned him about this beforehand. He strikes out and faces nuclear light. The burning, annihilating force. All his effort, all his youthful rage, rendered irrelevant in the face of that power. In the end, it didn't matter. None of it mattered.

    Death, the destroyer of worlds, speaks. Riku desperately tries to open a path out, but it's too late. The darkness is engulfed in fire. The beam blasting downwards. A shadow in the light disintegrates. He falls, scorching in agony, cast down from the heavens in a single shattering blow, melting like the wings of Icarus as he is driven into the boiling ocean.

    There is no sign of Riku afterwards. He doesn't return to strike back.
Nova Terra     Nova watches closely at Eye threatens her. Her response? She smirks, "You're welcome to try and come after me. But if you want to repay me, you'll have to find me first. And even with all the arrogance of your name. You can't see everything."

    Nova braces herself for Eye's charge, but she can do little to blunt the power of his kick. Joined by the steel cable, Nova is launched into the air. But before she can come crashing down again, the gravity suddenly reverses.

    Nova continues falling 'up', while Eye manages to deftly handle the gravity change through some wall running. Leaping off the wall, he unleashes those whipcracks, which strike Nova in the back and sending her crashing into the ceiling.

    Nova has just enough time to rise to her feet upside down when Eye's helix closes in on her hands. The Ghost cries out in pain, losing the grip on her rifle which clatters up onto the ceiling.

    Nova drops up to one knee, jaw clenched in pain as the electricity rushes through her body. She's able to turn her head, seeing the flames of re-entry gone and the blue of the sky showing.

    Nova turns her head back to look at Eye, managing a pained smile as she gets out, "Guess this... Is my... Stop!"

    Nova hits herself with a blast of telekinetic energy, ripping her hands out of the grip of those cables and sending her flying out of the shuttle bay door. Caught by the rushing air, Nova is pulled upwards and out of view as the Ad Coelum continues to plummet downwards.
Eryl Fairfax     Eryl looks visibly frustrated as Boss catches up with his combination. He reaches, overextends, and then the gravity goes off. Eryl flies up and Boss is there to meet him with that still-burning cigar. Reflexively, he closes his eye to keep it from searing the vulnerable organ, but the burn still keeps him off-guard as he falls. And as a result, he lands on his head against the roof. He's not getting up.

WARNING WARNING WARNING WARNING WARNING WARNING WARNING WARNING WARNING WARNING WARNING WARNING WARNING WARNING WARNING WARNING WARNINGWARNINGWARNINGWARNINGWARNINGWARNINGWARNINGWARNINGWARNINGWARNINGWARNINGWARNINGWARNINGWARNINGWARNINGWARNINGWARNING

    "SHUT UP!" he yells. It may seem like a response to Big Boss, but it's not. That blow has rattled his implants like a computer that got stuck in a loop. He struggles to stand against the crushing force of the fall, glaring daggers at Big Boss as he passes on his philosophy. "I refuse. All of it, everything you say. Do not parade your trauma as the natural state of man Big Boss. You are the exception, not the rule. People want to co-exist, and they can if given the chance. It is the powerful few that push for war that makes war happen. Never the common man. Only people like you. Only you."

    His eyes unfocus. He's not out yet, but he's not putting up a fight any longer.
Maya Maya is well aware she's making a hell of a gamble here with her spells she used against Gaonoir. It turns out the Fates are kind to her today on it the spell works better than she's hoped and she'll move to recover her rifle now. She is now able to make ready for a follow-up attack. However, this is not needed as the gravity keeps going nuts she sees Gaonoir ending up being ejected from the doomed ship.

She does not pause for long at this she looks to Runner.

"Come on boy lets go"

Maya's heading to the hangers now to assist in people evacuating from the ship.

She'll help jury rig things to work to help get more people off the ship she has a plan for getting off and if it comes to it she'll give a seat on shuttle to someone else given she's got the means to escape the ship on her own or so she thinks.
Gilgamesh      The ship is falling.

     Gilgamesh, flickering back and forth, watches it fall. He's just standing there, up on the distance, above the steaming crater already filling with water. He's dispassionate, disinterested. There's a town in the way, but really, what did he care? What did he care if they died?

     Well, to be honest, he didn't. But he had nothing better to do, with Riku falling. So he flips open his Radio Box and informs everyone that the ship is going to crash.

     May as well leave it up to chance.

     Well, but, no, it's not really chance, is it? Not at this angle. It's probably impossible for them to successfully steer the ship away at this point - the rudder's ruined, the ship's gone to pieces, and the engines are gone, and that was *before* he tore up much of the back half of the ship. Yes, even with the wheel, the ship will probably crash land onto the town.

     That's not chance. That's just boring. That's people struggling with no chance of success, no...*point*. It's not even an impossible task that can be succeeded. It's simply an impossible boredom. Just one more event he can already see the outcome of.

     Well, alright then.

     He may as well make it interesting.

     The Gate of Babylon opens again. Magic wands emerge from it en masse. There's countless wands, a massive wall of them pointed directly at the side of the Ad Coleum. Gilgamesh opens a large stone tablet, gleaming with runes, and runs his finger down it until he finds what he wants.

     He says something aloud in a language no one but he and Enkidu can speak.

     A storm erupts, biblical in proportion. It's like the great flood of Utnapishtim, a whirling, pouring rain, a forceful wind, a driving, furious force. It's enough to nudge the ship, ever so slightly, away from the town. Not all the way, though. That would be too easy.

     He's merely given the people inside a current of wind to ride, and a chance to ride it. Anything else is up to them.

     The King will simply watch. Whatever happens is no concern of his.
Tina Natsumi Crap. The pretty boy's still standing, and Tina's reserves are starting to run dry with how long this fight has been going on. Uncle Sam's sluggish, but still standing, Tina's not feeling particularly great with all those cuts, burns, and bruises, and Ad Coelum is going yet faster.

Also, there's even more people that are going to die once the ship hits the ground, herself potentially included. The reality of the situation is starting to hit her once more, and her fight or flight instincts are starting to kick into overdrive. Right now, it's all focused into fight, and Uncle Sam starts moving faster as if sensing the danger its owner is in. Seventeen's disappearing act has her glancing about rapidly to try and track his movements sans those quips, and Danzo's diving attack gets her to put her guard up! That disappearing act works just enough that Seventeen's kick launches her upwards.

... Right into the ceiling. It's a painful impact with the combined force of the kick and the sudden loss of gravity launching her up, bouncing off of it and into the real meat of both of their attacks. Uncle Sam catches up with/slams into the ceiling around Tina just in time to eat the bulk of those energy blasts and electric ball, the latter coursing through the ceiling and keeping the Persona user stunned long enough for more of those shuriken to stab right into her back. Uncle Sam's quicker on the draw than Tina is, though, to stop the spearblade with its own back, yet the damage flowing from it to the cowgirl still has her coughing up blood from the sustained attacks.

And then she looks off to the side slightly when Gilgamesh mentions it. She does not see the ocean below, but a town. She's starting to hyperventilate, and there's no time left to think about what she's doing.

Tina pulls out a revolver, and the mech Persona pulls out a Thompson. Tina ducks behind Uncle Sam as it lays down suppressing fire, waiting for a grand total of three seconds before launching herself at the controls to try and get to it, learn them by instinct, and guide the whole station back towards the ocean all before she gets dogpiled by the Watch's leader, the robot ninja, and the guy with laser hands.

Thinking is hard.
Big Boss Eryl shouts. Big Boss doesn't care. He's bleeding, he's hurt, and he's tired. As Eryl rejects him, Big Boss just spits a glob of blood to the ground, as he stands fully himself. If Eryl's expecting a big defense of his philosophy, well...

"You're pretty good."

Big Boss suddenly pushes Eryl backwards into a chair, and then, once he falls into it, moves to strap him in. "We'll be speaking again. Men like you don't die this easily."

Big Boss removes his greatcoat, preparing the parachute on the back, and then moves for the airlock.

"You're a survivor."

Big Boss dives out, partaking in a HALO jump. Once he reaches low atmosphere, he pulls the parachute, and lands safely in the wilderness. He'll get back to base himself. He'll be fine.
C Moving within altered time, Crow skillfully manages to completely avoid the capture-foam, before being slammed into the ground by the raising gravity. Time was running out, he realized, as he forced himself to his feet. He had to end this right here, right now. "ARCUS Activate!" he calls out again, shimmering blue. The clockface appears again as he pushes his Chrono Drive even further. In a flash, he emptied out the ammunition in his orbal pistols and replaced them with bullets infused with Time Sepith. "Time's Up!"

Holding both weapons out, Crow unleashed the gleaming black bullets in their entirety. They glowed with orbal energy, twisting and turning in the air to circle them, before each one independently shot off to attack Rean and Lory from virtually every angle, exploding with a time-shaking pulse on impact.

            "CROSS RAVEN!"

Crow moved away, pushing himself forward despite the painful weight trying to drag him down, despite the tumultuous, turning floor. Despite the burning heat, he made it to one of the delivery pods used to send supplies down to the superplanet. "Don't die..yeah?"

It was a mutter that ultimately, only he himself would hear, he supposed. But he made his bed, it was time to lay in it. Crow braces himself as best he can as he makes his last second escape, shooting off to the lands below. Who knows where he'd end up, but at least he'd survive, provided the rough landing didn't kill him.
Android 17 Seventeen mid-attack is told what was happening.  Oh well, fuck!  There wasn't much time to react and continue this fight.  There is a choice, and well, it's one that is easy for the Cyborg.  He flies to the controls with that same speed he used to fight Tina.  Even as she fires and barrage the two.  

Instead of fighting back, the Android barrier came on, focused behind him.  Even as shots ring into his back, causing blood to drip down and the start of lead poisoning.  He just grits his teeth and grabs the controls directly.

He pulls the controls back, trying to steer the ship away with Gilgamesh's strike.  Trying to yank this thing back from making something he couldn't live with.
All-Seeing Eye      The sudden change in gravity slams Eye into the ceiling. As he comes back down, Nova slips through his grasp. There is a split second, wherein the Exalt and the Ghost are able to make eye contact. For his part, Eye matches her smile. Like hers, it is weary, but it is also satisfied--and certain. The moment passes. Eye strikes the ground.

     With a grunt, he rises. "No matter," he says, wiping the blood from the cut on his cheek. A crucial piece of information is missing, one of the thieves has slipped his grasp, and a major ideological symbol for stability is currently hurtling towards the superplanet in what is very likely a wreath of flames. He should be furious now, but Nova's assessment about his arrogance is more accurate than she knows.

     He taps a finger to his ear, and advises his allies of the situation in the shuttle bay. Then, he waits for the evacuees to start filing in. Using his Mass-Penetrating Scan to search for signs of tampering, he quickly directs evacuees into as many safe shuttles as he can.
Danzo Katou     Android 17 notices the listing course of the ship. He asks, in the heat of the moment, for Danzo to cover him. Without thinking, she obliges. She says yes, without a thought for herself.

    Tina opens fire. The red kunoichi blurs into position between her and 17. The plating covering her arms unfurls, almost flower-like, as she crosses them before her face and torso, protecting only her vital areas while she stands and absorbs the hail of bullets. It's certainly not what a shinobi is meant to do. Scrapes and dents and shallow hole pockmark her body, gouging splintered divots in metal and wood within her limbs. Bursts of steam puff from the worst impacts, trickling clear, amber oil, but she takes the hit.

    "Damage detected. Adjusting output. Shifting combat function." she murmurs, letting down her arms. Twisting her upper torso, she thrusts one fist out, pointed towards Tina. There's a brief, piercing hiss, a series of metallic pings, and then a flash of four-pointed fire from her wrist. Her metallic fist comes flying off at ludicrous speed, rocket propelled into Tina's ribs with more than enough force to break all of them. Still connected to her wrist by a thick metal wire, the hand then snaps open and grabs Tina by the shirt, dragging her back in with considerable whiplash.
Rean Schwarzer Rean's been on the receiving end of Crow's special move before during combat classes. It hurts. A lot.

"You're not getting away!" Rean shouts. He ignites his sword, dragging himself after Crow as the ship collapses.  "I won't let you run from this!"  He slashes at the older boy, screaming through the tears filling his eyes.
Eryl Fairfax     Bit by bit, with the combined efforts of Android 17 and Gilgamesh, the Ad Coelum begins to turn. A little away from the town is uneven wilderness. Forests, and rocky cliffs that face out to sea. A row of hills stand between the town and an empty canyon. The impact may cause some landslides, but the hills are far enough away that it shouldn't affect the town too much. That's the line to cross. If it lands there, there should be no innocent deaths.
Lory Thumper      "...oh crab apples..." Lory mutters as all those black bullets start swirling around her and Rean. She watches them carefully, and when they start shooting toward her she starts flipping, somersaulting, cartwheeling, and rolling to avoid them. And then there is no artificial gravity! She starts bouncing between surfaces, using her grapple gun to change direction whenever she can.

     She acrobatically arches and twirls around as many as she can, but a fair number of them hit her kevlar-covered form. She grunts with each impact, but doesn't have time to slow down if she wants to survive. More hits rain down, and a few holes start appearing in her outfit and the flesh beneath.

     When the rain finally stops, she is still bouncing off of surfaces, but in much more of a drifting fashion. Crow reaches one of the pods, and her teeth clench. "No way are you getting out of here that easily!" she growls before pulling just about every grenade she has left. The black discs fill her small hands, and she starts throwing them with all her might. Each one explodes on impact, and she is hoping that some make it inside with Crow. Even after the pod is launched she throws a few more after it.

     After that...well, she and Rean need to make it out of here. She at least has no way to help steer the ship away from in the cargo bay. So, she finds another supply pod and uses her grapple gun to get to it, then motions Rean toward it before firing the grapple again so he has something to grab if he needs it. "Come on! We can't do anything else here! We have to get out!" she calls out to him before she hops in. It will be pretty cramped most likely, but luckily she is a small bunny. Hopefully he gets in, or finds another one, because they don't really have time to spare!
Tina Natsumi How weird. Seventeen's going for the controls as well. Tina's not sure what to make of that, but she's not going to complain about some of the heat getting taken off of her! She's already busy freaking out as it is, and tt's not quite all of the heat being taken off of her with Danzo still trying to keep her off the controls. Without Uncle Sam nearby to cover her, she's forced to defend herself against that incoming whip-attached rocket fist.

If it was any other situation, she'd be fangirling right about now. In this one, though, the adrenaline is still keeping her going strong, and her reflexes are actually on point for once! Instead of catching that fist directly to the gut, she brings an arm up to knock it just off course enough that the punch only breaks something in her arm rather than her entire body.

Adrenaline's great, though, because it means fighting for survival instead of screaming and crying over a broken forearm or the ground rapidly approaching someone who can't fly. As Danzo pulls Tina in, she and her Persona are right back on the offensive, the former emptying her revolver and the latter emptying the Tommy Gun at Danzo from opposite sides. Although Danzo's her and the Persona's primary target, though, there's likely to be some collateral damage sent Seventeen's way depending on where all those bullets are flying.
C         "Gh-!!"

Blood spatters as a deep gash is cut across Crow's side. He avoided being cut through, but if not for his own maneuvering, he might have went down for the count. Pushing himself away, one of the discs make it into the pod with him, left blasted into the wall and struggling to stay conscious as he's launched from the burning wreck falling from the stars.

"Ah...man, they got me good on that one.."

Bleeding and burnt, he was left to stew in pain on his way to the planet. Groaning, he couldn't help but laugh. He'd always been ready to give up the life of Crow Armbrust if it meant pursuing his goals, but he didn't think it'd be so painful. Maybe it was because he just hadn't been ready yet.
Android 17 The shots that don't get taken care of by Danzo, smack into the shield of Seventeen.  Smacking his head into the screen he looks dazed for a moment.  He tries to push forward, he's gotta get this thing up higher, away from the city.  Can he get it back to the water..?  

It is looking like no.  There are no thrusters or engines left.  The mountains would have to do.  Pushing the nose down as he staggers back forward.  That's all he can do right now.  

Then he turns, firing a barrage of electrified blasts to try and disrupt Tina's ability to defend Danzo, trying to either cause surges through her body or weakening her ability to defend.  
Danzo Katou     If the ninja is surprised at Tina, rather than flailing and trying to escape, flailing by emptying all of her firearms at once, at point blank, she doesn't show it. Scarcely an expression has crossed her face on this entire option. A soft, muted gasp escapes her when the rapid series of explosions slams into her, her lips contorting in something halfway between pain and a vague, distant sadness, but she withstands it just long enough to plant her other hand on Tina's chest, and for her fingers to click and clack and spread outwards as the armouring on her wrists joins together and let loose a rapidly building whine.

    The air is being sucked past Tina and into the kunoichi. She can feel it, cold and clear, brushing past her cheek, pulled into the spiral vents opened up in the woman's mechanical limbs. Fingertips grip tight into her clothes and wounded flesh. Springs ratchet and torque. Motes of light are sucked in with the air. A pair of pistons slide and hammer into place. "My apologies." says the kunoichi, still just that little bit too quiet and withdrawn.

    Both hands together start spinning. Holding onto Tina, she's taken for a neck-breakingly high speed twirl around the point at which they've grabbed hold of her. She ceases to be able to hear for a moment, and breathe, when the air around her escapes, leaving her in a bubble of vacuum. The kunoichi mouths the words-

                          "Karakuri Genpou - Dongyuu"                          

    Then, all of the gathered wind hits Tina straight in the sternum, pushed through the palms of the mechanical kunoichi's hands in a single, powerful eruption. A bone-crushing column of magically controlled air breaches the wall, then sucks it inwards, and tears it to pieces with a deadly, spiral vacuum implosion. Even if Tina's lucky, she'll be thrown right out of the ship by decompression.
Tina Natsumi That's all Tina has left. Even after pouring the last of her bullets into Danzo and Seventeen, they're still both up and kicking, and their combined attacks prove to be too much for her. The electric blasts hit her head on, freezing her up at just the right moment for Danzo to dig her fingers right into the faux-cowgirl's chest.

Once again, she's faced with a situation where she'd react much more differently if not for exactly this situation.

The electric shock holds her in place, and the eruption of air blasts her right out of the descending capital ship. There's not really anywhere to go but down, and she's just conscious enough to realize that maybe landing on Uncle Sam might not kill her as fast as landing directly on the ground.

She'll find out if that actually works once/if she wakes up later.
Danzo Katou     With Tina out of the picture, Katou Danzo has finally completed the letter of both the mission given to her by Big Boss, and Android 17's request in the moment. The combined armour around her wrists separates, gushes steam tinged with electric ether, and then clicks back into place.

    She lets loose a slow, quiet sigh. Unreadable.

    "Mission accomplished. Danzo, beginning exfiltration." she reports into the radio, then without a second look, takes off towards the breached hull. Leaping from the side, she lithely angles her body into a shallow dive, drifting fast and flat away from the Ad Coleum, then does indeed deploy a folding aparratus of lightweight frame and tarp from her back, connecting her feet to the stirrups behind her with a pair of mechanical clicks, firmly grabbing the handgrips, and gliding free of the crash zone, out over land, where she'll disappear the moment she hits ground.
Android 17 Seventeen watches the hole made from the ejected Tina.  He feels sort of bad about that, but right now...he turns towards the controls.  He spends as much time trying to keep it on course before he knows there is no time left.  Thanks to flight, and his own Android Barrier, he jumps out, trying to distance himself from the explosion, but knowing full well that he'd be caught in it.

He can really only focus on his survival right now, as hurt as he is.  He'd have to take it easy trying to get back somewhere to heal and rest.  
Eryl Fairfax     At 7:31pm, the Ad Coelum came down on the superplanet. All the trees around the impact zone were flattened by the displaced air, and then immediately set aflame by the ships fires. Due to the angle of descent, it continues to slide a distance after landing, ploughing through hills and displacing earth. The force of the impact set of all nearby tectonic sensory equipment, and the sound could be heard on the other side of the super planet.

    Emergency response is swift. Firefighters extinguish the spreading blaze on the flattened earth so paramedics can set up a triage. Survivors are found, against all odds, but they are easily outnumbered by the dead. The lucky ones died instantly.

    Eryl Fairfax is carted out with an oxygen mask over his face. His artificial limbs where shattered on impact, with several metal shards entering his body. His fate is grim, his life dangling by a thread.