Scene #7569: Runner

Owner	Pose
Strawberry Princess	SAINT-RAPHAËL, HAITI, 6:37 PM "Martin Silva", supposed security guard, has been revealed as the culprit behind the attempted assassination of Reignition Project director Lucije Velt. Access logs show he fled the subterranean scene of the crime to the aboveground server building, where he wiped security camera footage. He's still in there, somewhere. Evidence suggests that when Velt tried to shoot him, the bullet bounced. Better not to trust this to local police. ---- The sun is setting behind the mountain, casting long shadows over the grassy walkways and concrete buildings of the Reignition Project campus. It remains eerily still and quiet- everyone is sheltering in place. The four Holiday girls circle restlessly far overhead, ready to intercede if anyone tries to run. The datacenter itself is remarkably large- smaller than the other buildings on campus, but bigger than you'd think would be necessary just to house a few computers. It's solid concrete, two stories, no windows, and only a front door. That makes a kind of practical sense: the Haitian summers get pretty hot, and they want to keep the building cooler than that. But it's awful for busting into, especially when a destructive approach could obliterate the servers themselves. Most of the roof is cluttered with a sophisticated ventilation and cooling system; there is, of course, rooftop access for the vertically-inclined, with only a locked door in the way. Both those coming in on the ground floor and those coming in from above soon realize why the building has to be so large: the servers look like stuff you'd find in the 90s, all beige plastic casings and chunky slots for bulky ports. They're packed in tight shelves; it feels like a claustrophobic library, chilly air contrasting with the toasty heat radiating from the machines. Those with particularly keen eyes might notice chunks of putty explosive hastily stuck to various structural supports, obviously rigged for remote detonation. Getting rid of them isn't hard, but it's impossible to be sure you've gotten all of them. "Martin Silva" is sitting in an office chair at some sysadmin's makeshift workstation in the back corner of the second floor. He's an ordinary, middle-aged-ish man with neat brown hair, dressed in a pretty standard "security guard" outfit. His legs are crossed; his chin rests on the back of his hand as he flicks through computer records on a bulky desktop. A small radio detonator is hidden in his fingers, but he tries to hide it- his tone, as he looks up is initially conciliatory and official. "Hey! Hey. You can't be in here." He looks tense- maybe even guilty- but not scared. The magnitude of the situation hasn't hit him quite yet- if you were obviously cops or security, he'd probably be more agitated.
Gawain	Gawain is in his nice suit, not his armor. He doesn't need it right now. He walks through the datacenter, appreciating the cooler air. He busts through doors with pure physical strength if they block his way. He points out - but does not interact with - explosives he spots with his supernatural senses. And when he reaches the second floor... "Martin Silva, Paladins Warden. You're under arrest for the attempted assassination of Director Velt." He knows this will probably lead to a fight, but he's attempting a surrender first. Maybe they can learn more about what's going on instead of just striking first. Though, Gawain strikes first anyways. He moves rapidly behind the desk, to grab Silva's arms and start handcuffing him. He's a little rougher than he should be - he's willing to dislocate his arm should he struggle. This is a supernatural threat.
Arthur Lowell	>Arthur: The most important thing to is get that detonator away So Arthur has to get there first. Which is what he makes sure to do, a few seconds before the others get there. "WHAT'S UP, DAWG." He says, planting his hands on the sysadmin's desk and leaning forward, grin wide. "SURE THING, I just got LOST or whatever. HELP A HOMIE OUT, yeah? Can you give me that FRONT DOOR ESCORT?" And then he finally pays off years, years of bullshit. Years of this shit, finally. He moves to aggressively apply a series of bumps, grips, grabs, daps, pounds, slides, and other coolkid handshake motions. It's what he's done for all this time, and now, finally, he gets to pay it all off. His incredible skill in coolkid handshakes allows him to make a grab at sleight-of-handing that detonator during one of his motions. Once the others are here, that's when he strikes for the knees with a hefty broom sweep. "WHAT UP, RICKY RICOCHETS? GIMMIE THEM KNEECAPS!" He howls suddenly.
Kale Hearthward	"It's obvious, when you put the motive together," Kale says, as he backs up Gawain. "It was frustration, obviously. Director Velt was working too many late nights, busy with her projects, and was missing the dates she'd set with you as a result. Compounded with needing to keep things about her a secret from your faction, dealing with being an expatriate from your home country, the Watch coming in and messing everything up and threatening her, you just had enough, didn't you." "Well, whatever your reasons, you can explain it to a judge!" As Gawain goes in for the arrest, Kale releases the spell he'd been holding back, causing a fierce gust of wind to come down on Martin's position, trying to make sure he doesn't go anywhere or do anything.
Lilian Rook	MSILVA. Lilian had put the name 'Martin' to him, viciously grasped and dragged from the splinters of future that piece together a winding path to exactly where she wants to be; a vision that was gained from meditating in a substantial quantity of Velt's blood. The doctor she'd entrusted so many things to. Strawberry's guardian. It hasn't been nearly enough time for that thought to fade. That impulse. The singleminded desire that drives her into that building, and which almost completely overrides her logic when Gawain stops to indicate the explosives, barely held back by professional training. "It's plastique." she hisses. "You don't need to worry about heat other than what'll damage the servers." She's of course entered stealthily through one of the walls, having no need to reveal her hand yet. Looking at the plastic hulks, she says something about 'fucking tantalum' darkly under her breath, along with 'looking up a chart later'. Before she can move in, first she takes the time to move from wad to wad of plastic explosive, plucking the electronic caps from each of them and crushing them in her fist. If the scuffle turns right to Martin trying to fire the detonator with himself inside the building, she will take the time to do it instead; she will of course know the instant he is about to try. The idea doesn't strike her as too improbable. She's warned the others, if cryptically, about the less-than-mundane nature of this case. She hasn't revealed a second name yet.
Hellwarming Trio	After the location and identity of the perpetrator is confirmed, it's not long before the pair of youkai jump out the nearest window to head towards said location in pursuit. As expected for fliers, they opt to get in through the roof, stopping by the Holiday squad briefly to give them a quick scare and, in Rin's case, to remind them that these youkai definitely had nothing to do with the shooting. As they head in from the roof, though, Utsuho notices the globs of explosive putty on the pillars. She picks at it and grimaces slightly, although there's a suspicious glint in her eyes when she notices that there's a lot of 'chewed gum' on so many pillars. <<"Do humans normally leave chewed gum on walls? Or is that just for underneath tables?">> Hearing something about 'heat' and 'plastique', though, is enough context clues for even Utsuho to realize that these things are dangerous! As such, she cups her hands around one of them, generating a massive amount of heat in an instant to see if she can just disintegrate one of those explosive caps before it can even go off. While Utsuho focuses on figuring out the mystery gum situation, Rin heads further down, arriving late enough that she opts for a stealthier approach: Turning into a cat, then hovering near the ceiling totally conspicuously while staring straight at Martin, two tails and all. "You should give it up, bro. Or not. If you don't, I get to use ya as fuel, anyway." She grins widely at that, apparently trying to crank up the intimidation factor.
Ishirou	I4 is in the center of the group because his specialty is scanning. Everyone will run forward or step back. He'll just manage from his position. When people move to arrest Silva, I4 is already prepared. He's had to learn how to deal with human targets every since he joined the Multiverse, as it was something heavily frowned on back home. A ball of light flies off from his fingertips, aiming to try and hit Silva's hand. From there a feeling of numbness will try and flow through his body, as I4 aims to try and weaken the man before he can do anything, like press a detonator. That and try and resist Gawain too harshly. Gawain is like a meat mountain, you can't resist being grappled by that. Gawain was only second to Dick Gumshoe in manly arms to beat prisoners with.
Staren	Staren is late to the party, but has been filled in. She doesn't like this. Not that she's late -- well, okay, that's annoying too, but someone trying to sabotage the reignition project? By killing someone? It seems like this is going to get ugly one way or another... either whoever's doing this is going to make a real mess, or they're just a pawn of someone who will. As she flies down towards the building on her broom, there are already others rushing in the door. Damn! She dives, landing as quickly as she can in front of the door, then tucking the broom away in her bag (INVENTORY SPACE: SO USEFUL) and activating an armor spell built into her clothes. Drones appear in her hands, then fly up to surround the building, a few more heading inside ahead of her and spreading out. As annoying as Lilian is, she's got the right idea. The drones' scanners confirm the plastique and go looking for signs of each explosive. If you can't find them all, you just haven't thrown enough TECHNOLOGY at the problem yet! Also teamwork. That too. Staren passes by the group, glancing at Martin. "Shouldn't we let him tell us his reason himself?" As the drones pinpoint detcaps, she runs further into the building to remove detcaps on the ones furthest from Lilian, and has the drones radio Lilian positioning info on any closer to her. One drone stays to watch the 'arrest', though.
Go Shijima	>It's impossible to be certain that you've gotten all of the plastique. That isn't going to stop Go. Nor are concerns like subtlety. Just past that lonesome door, as Gawain moves to apprehend Silva, there is the rev of a superbike's engine and the call of a familiar word. "Henshin!" A flash of blue light illuminates the first foot or so past that single, solitary door. Inside of a second or two, Go is clad in the Mach system. Signal Bike! RIDER!! MACH! The white white armor with two red vertical stripes down the left side appears, complete with a blue-visored full motorcycle helmet--and it is all a blur from the moment it's on him. He's runniing down the hall, the suit conferring such speed as to allow him to run along walls. He's prioritizing computers, files, data infrastructure over the structure of the building.
Strawberry Princess	Arthur's handshake filchery goes off without a hitch- Martin seems totally and completely engrossed in the weirdness of it. His grip isn't particularly firm, maybe due to sheer bafflement, which lets Arthur fish the deadly item out of his grasp. "Sure, uh. It's right down the hallway, down the stairs..." And then the rest of the party rolls up. His response to Rin isn't anything like fear- instead, he raises his eyebrows in genuine wonderment. "Whoa, a kitty! Hey there, li'l guy. How'd you learn to talk?" That's... baffling. At least it probably leaves him off-guard for what comes next? Martin's eyes widen throughout the course of Gawain's accusations. "H-hold on. Don't I get a right to a-" No, he doesn't. Gawain lunges. Martin, still seated in his office chair, plants both feet on Gawain's chest. The chair rolls backwards with the knight's advance, until Martin hits the back wall hard. His expression ought to register pain. It doesn't. He reaches under the nearby sysadmin table, into a black duffelbag, and pulls out a pump-action shotgun. It's levelled and fired at the Knight's face in one smooth motion- sharp flechette darts, aimed right for the eyes at point-blank range. Even he won't like that. I4 discovers, by way of his bio-electric pulse, that the "security guard" isn't what he looks like- rather than stunning Martin as intended, the glob of electricity smolders his fingers black. He also discovers, a second after Gawain does, that flechette rounds really suck to get shot with. Martin rolls to the side, out of the chair, and onto the floor in the narrow space between two little white-collar workspaces to get some distance from Gawain. The gust of wind slams into him from above, making him struggle to get to his feet and leaving himself wide open in the process, but he's stronger than he looks- and as he rises, one hand darts to his waist, drawing a gun that looks almost like a bike pump. Fwip. It barely sounds like anything, but the bullet aimed for Kale's chest is as lethal as any other. That'd be the assassination tool. "What in the world are you talking about," he groans by way of response to the bird's accusations. Arthur's kneecapping swing meets with a clank of distinctly inorganic nature, despite seemingly connecting with unarmored khaki pants-legs. Martin drops the handgun, back-hands the insolent child across the face with significantly more force than should really be possible, and then breaks and runs for it, levelling a flechette blast at Staren and then another, in passing, at Lilian and Go. The disarming efforts, meanwhile, have gone significantly smoother than the arrest. Arthur's stolen the detonator, Utsuho discovers that the melting point of the radio transmitters is significantly lower than the detonation point of the putty explosive, Lilian and Staren disarm the rest, and Go has secured the computer equipment far from harm.
Strawberry Princess	Martin Silva sprints up the staircase with alarmingly Olympian speed, slams open the door to the roof with his shoulder, and vaults over a ventilation pipe before fucking booking it across the gravel rooftop. The Holiday quartet sight him within seconds, but it takes someone yelling at them on tactical radio for them to finally open fire on him: a barrage of magical Purifier blasts in all shapes and sizes, from strobing lasers to sluggish energy orbs, descend on him and start shredding the rooftop apart. He doesn't return fire on them- but he isn't hit, either. Partly it's his improbable speed, partly it's the fact that they're twelve-year-old greenhorns, but it feels like there's some other factor there- even without looking, he knows where their barrages will hit and smoothly opts to not be there. Pursuing him, though, is going to be a hell of a time. He leaps to the next building, clearing an eight-foot gap with no hesitation, and keeps running- he's headed back in the direction of the main facility. Velt's office.
Gawain	Well, this arrest is going poorly. As Martin kicks off Gawain, and his hands smolder black, Gawain realizes he's not human. He also realizes that fletchette rounds hurt...but not as much as Martin would want them to hurt. Gawain's head shifts rapidly with his reflexes, causing the shots to slam into his jaw. The bullets break off, damaging the knight but also rendering them ineffectual for piercing - just bruising. However, the stunning allows Martin time to escape, so Gawain gets up off the floor where he staggered, and starts dashing up the staircase. There's an eight-foot gap. Gawain can't clear it completely with his strength. But he has something that can help. He makes a running leap... Jumps... And summons his sword, which lights up the thrusters on it to allow him to just barely clear the gap. He keeps the thrusters going, trying to spear Martin through the stomach with his sword in a dashing blow. Aimed away from 'human vitals', but that may not be important. Either way, Gawain's not trying to kill him. Just slow him down. "Nice maneuver. I'm tougher than that!"
Ishirou	The tips of I4's fingers start to turn black? That's odd, why is that happening? There is more to this person than they think, and it causes him to frown. By the time he gets a scan on what kind of backlash just happened, I4 has another problem. The shotgun just takes off half of his face, knocking the android to the ground and causing him to bounce once, before flipping ass over kettle back into the ground. By the time I4 is back on his feet, the man is running, and half of I4's face slops off his metal framework. Moments later, I4 is bursting out of the staircase and lands nearly face-first again as the greenhorn magical people miss. His right eye sparks, but all he can do right now is rely on the POD to augment his vision until he can get properly repaired. He turns through several scans, trying to get a feel for what they were fighting. This is before a blast from the POD flies out, trying to catch the man in a barrage of shots, followed by a large beam.
Arthur Lowell	>Arthur: Roll with the hit. Whoosh. Arthur's gravitational field takes him into a spin as he's backhanded with massive force. "Oof!" As he's layed out, mostly stunned but partially bruised, the barrier across his face sizzles. "Hey SKINJOB! Get back here or I'mma KNIFE-JOG YA, you NERF-WAR SON OF A BITCH!" He races behind with short antigravity boosts, slamming his side into the walls around the stairwell in his mad dash. "I ain't lookin' for BLOOD! I'm just lookin' for ya PAY STUB or ya SERIAL NUMBER!" He gets more aggressive as he races across the roof now. "You keep up this FIVE HUNDRED BULLSHIT DASH though, and I'm about to be lookin' for how good ya simulate a BROKEN NOSE!" He swipes his broom and summons a magical gravitational JUMP PAD! The spell spins over to the edge of the building, inviting the others to take its arc! Arthur launches, landing at the edge of the next building with a heavy roll that swiftly transitions into a casting motion. Gravity, harsh and brutal. Arthur tries to slam the gravity just near Martin to brutal multiplication, to slow him down. "You keep away from her, bastard!" He yells, sounding a bit more serious when he realizes where the assassin is headed.
Go Shijima	Go allows himself a moment of relief. Thank goodness... that'd be part of 'what she built.' Safe and sound, for now. But... But even with Velt and much of the 'guts' of the project safe, the culprit is still on the loose. The shouting from elsewhere in the building makes it seem as though he's taken to the rooftop. That's where Mach heads next. Go steps onto the rooftop just in time to see it getting torn apart by the Holidays. This is bad, because he is trying to use the rooftop to catch up. Sprays of gravel batter him, his high-speed advance is rendered into a dynamic, unsteady start-stop as he somersaults over sluggish energy orbs, makes midair pirouettes between sweeping laser rakes, and long-jumps over collapsed roof. "Aim where he's going to be, not where he is!" Mach cries up at the Holidays. "Or better yet!" SIGNAL BIKE//Signal Change! STOP The hubcap on Mach's shoulder changes to a triangular STOP sign, and there's a crackling red energy that surrounds him. Blue jets carry him up and over the besieged rooftop, the white armor cutting a streak across the sky as he tries to cross the gap. Pulling a flip to avoid crashing into I4's POD and turning midair to keep from shoulder-checking Gawain, Mach doesn't spend a second slowing down--like a bolt, he cuts around Gawain, in front of Silva, mashing the button on his belt four times-- Red energy crackles and dances wildly from the emitter of Mach's laser pistol, and he pulls the triger rapidly after making an abrupt U-turn, attempting to halt his movement with extreme gravity distortion!
Kale Hearthward	Kale's SICK WIND-BASED DEBUFFS cause Martin to make several near-misses in his attacks, even if people don't realize what's happening or credit it properly. You're welcome. For his trouble, he gets shot in the side, causing him to stagger. It's missed hitting anything important or lethal (again, you're welcome) but it still hurts. "Sorry - forget I said anything - no, wait, not sorry, you're the suspect, someone stop him!" calls Kale superfluously as Martin runs. The hawk takes off after him, in the literal sense: clicking his heels together to activate his JET BOOTS, and air-dashing up the stairs at improbable and dangerous speeds, parkouring off the walls and ceiling since slowing down to turn properly would take too much time. "Getting out into the open with one of the Gale Emperor's elites..." calls Kale, as he bursts out onto the roof, and starts weaving another spell with his hands and breath. Nearly instantly, Martin's facing a heavy headwind, blowing hard back the way he came. "... Is just asking for the wind itself to work against you!"
Hellwarming Trio	If not for knowing what Martin Silva's been up to (and also being part of the crowd coming to apprehend him), Rin might have actually taken him up on the offer to try and get some extra intel for the hell of it. Alas, that is not to be, and she lingers at the back of the group as the arresting attempts commence, and they're met with sudden violence in return. "Easy, easy! This ain't gonna look good, ya know!" Rin yelps as she takes cover at shin-height, keeping her entire body down during the initial scuffle. As Martin escapes up the staircase, Rin leaps out a window to get outside quicker while Utsuho needs a moment to realize that the man running up the stairs is, in fact, their target. Actually keeping up with Silva proves to be harder than expected, though, despite the fact that both of the youkai can fly. The falling blasts and strobing lights keep them distracted for what may very well be vital seconds, although they resume their pursuit once they actually get their eyes on him. Rin: "What's got ya so fired up to put a bullet in Velt, anyway?" Utsuho: "Does it matter? She's on Strawberry's side." Coordinating their efforts, the pair speed up as they opt for different approaches once again. Caring less about collateral damage than the Holiday girls, Utsuho takes aim (barely) with her control rod as energy builds at the tip. She sweeps a laser along the ground roughly in Silva's path, pillars of flames bursting out of the ground/rooftop shortly after the laser passes over in an effort to engulf him or cut his advance off. Rin, meanwhile, just flies towards the main building as quickly as she can, swerving around blasts and trying to reach Velt's room first. That does involve actually navigating her way through that building again to find the office again, though.
Staren	Oookay, this guy is NOT human. Staren figured he'd been given some sort of protection from bullets, but... more is going on here. And yet, the way Martin talks, at least to casual observation seeming natural enough... strikes Staren as odd. Staren tasks his emotional analysis AI with taking a deeper look at the video from the drones. The situational awareness from those same drones is what allows her to try to hop into cover ahead of Martin coming into view, but he's FAST -- the flechettes blast through the shelves she's trying to hide behind, some hitting with reduced force, others glancing off the armor spell, dents and holes briefly visible before it fades again... although, the IMPACT sends her spinning to slam into the next shelf over! "Oof!" Staren's not sure if it's because she has less mass now or if the flechettes just hit that hard... well, she has the data to review later. The drones track Martin's movement, the ones outside keeping tabs as he takes to the air. Staren rushes out the door and kneels on the ground, holding one arm up expectantly as an over-shoulder missile launcher is warped into her hand. She grunts from the weight, but doesn't really need to AIM as one after another, missiles are warped into the launcher and fired, streaking into the sky after the assassin! They're 'just' explosive, but guided by on-board sensors AND the drones, pitting technology against the inhuman target's maneuverability as they swerve after him trying to get him in an airburst when he's leaping between buildings! <"Missiles out! Trying to catch him between buildings, don't get too close to him then!">
Lilian Rook	When Staren actually begins not just deploying drones, but calling out locations of explosives as he finds them, Lilian's radio transmits a short, dead air pause, and then the genuine, if still slightly rude, question of "Okay, I don't know what happened with you, but did turning into a girl just make you considerably less stupid? Is that how it works?" Thankfully, the last of the ignition caps are dealt with, and Arthur seems to have invested his finest-in-the-Multiverse bullshit handshake skills into stealing the transciever in case there are any other traps laid around the area (there very well might be). Lilian calls a simple "Clear." through the radio, and then, the crash and babbling she'd heard earlier is followed by several loud bangs, and rapid fire stomping footsteps passing her way. She turns. She sees the gun. The finger on the trigger. The barrel lined up with her head. So close that even a superhuman would have to pray for luck as much as moving as fast as possible, and needing instantaneous muscle memory to pick a dive away or a charge ahead. But for her, this is a situation that changes at the speed of thought. And progresses when she lets it. -----[stop]----- An ugly, shapeless blob of bright fire bubbles from the gun barrel, thin plumes of rippling gas shooting out around it. A solid sharpie of pointed metal dangles just ahead, still packed together from sliding along the choke. Lilian considers taking them, but decides against sticking her hands in hot muzzle gas, never mind how hot steel flechettes probably are. She begins walking. -----[start]----- She's not there. The wall behind her is punctured with a deep column of stacked penetrators. -----[stop]----- Up stairs, through the broken open doors, to a gravity pad, in Silva's wake. Following his trail, step by step, until it is no longer a trail; the point at which she stands before him. Deep breaths, in and out. Calm. Getting excited will intensify the strain and shorten her time. But it's so hard. Hard not to think of this man standing over a blood-drenced Velt. Hard not to think of Strawberry's reaction. It's so hard not to try to ram the heaviest object she can find through his head. Hard not to grit her teeth and hit him over and over and over again. It's so damn hard to know that Martin Silva cannot be the big one. -----[start]----- She's in his way instead. Jumping one roof, turning one corner to many, face to face. Finger fingers twisted into a tight claw, a swarm of red motes have already coalesced into the palm of her hand. Milliseconds too late. She plants one foot back, braces her entire posture against Silva's momentum, and thrusts her palm straight into his chest, the physical impact being the trigger that releases an explosive blast of ice that shatters from the sheer thermal shock of being exposed to air, releasing a halo-shaped gust of pale fog. "Tell me about your friend." she snarls, changing languages again, the words hitting him in the brain with successive, stacking blows of 'despairing of resisting'.
Strawberry Princess	I4's drone gets a brief moment to fire- when Martin's mid-jump, between the two buildings, he's wide open. It ought to hit- but at the last moment, Martin looks back over his shoulder, sees the glowing beam about to connect, and twists in the air. He lands hard on his shoulder on the next building's roof for it... and is promptly struck by multiple homing missiles before he can stagger to his feet again. That has a visible effect, though not one of pain or immediate dismemberment; he's briefly disoriented, the skin on his back showing as blackened through the new holes in his guard uniform. This is the roof of a residential building, though- the Holidays are forced to stop firing, giving him a brief reprieve. I4's drone's scan may prove more useful than its offensive abilities: the readings are largely baffling, but Martin's body has no particular vital points and is considerably denser than a human's ought to be. Heavy firepower focused on the limbs is probably ideal. Utsuho's vicious flames, Arthur's gravitational forces, Go's distortion, and Kale's unrelenting headwind all force force Silva to come to an abrupt halt halfway across that second building. Gawain's plunging blade comes down towards his back- and it connects with a deafening CLANG, the force of the blow battering Silva towards the ground. The knight can feel something in Martin's back give way, but his clothes make it hard to tell exactly what. "Just let me be!!" he yells back- maybe at Gawain, maybe at everyone in general. Then he struggles back up to his feet and tries to shove Gawain back- he's not "Knight of the Sun" strong, but he has a keen grasp of leverage. Martin is, for a moment after getting distance from Gawain, framed by the roaring wind-stoked flames behind him. His hair doesn't stir in the gale-force wind. His eyes are wide in something like genuine panic as they dart around for an escape route, but he doesn't visibly show any pain. One arm is held over his abdomen protectively; his legs rub together at the knees. And Lilian hits him in the ribcage with her magical strike, knocking him down to the gravel rooftop again. He almost- but not quite- drops the shotgun as he sprawls out on his back, head just a few feet from Utsuho's wall of flames. "I don't know!!" he says, caving to the mental impulse near-instantly. "I don't have any friends. I don't..." For a moment he seems subdued, beaten. It's less 'fear of death', more 'resignation'. "I have to try my best," he says, eyes still wide as dinner-plates. A trio of grenades are thrown from the pockets of his security vest, their pins pulled seconds earlier- they air-burst all around the rooftop, sending concussing shockwaves and shrapnel everywhere. Martin staggers to his feet, runs parallel to Kale's headwind instead of into it, and jumps off the side of the building, impacting the concrete sidewalk forty feet below. Cracks spiderweb out from where he landed, but he doesn't seem harmed; he turns and aims his shotgun upwards, ready to pepper anyone who tries to follow.
Hellwarming Trio	"If you don't have friends, then just... Start making them." Utsuho states matter-of-fact'ly, raising an eyebrow at Martin as she glides closer to his location when he hits the ground. "I mean, I'm doing it, and I'm not even human." She flaps her wings for emphasis, the starfield cape billowing behind her while she touches down on the ground with her corium-encased leg. "So why isn't it working out for you?" Although she lets her guard down for that moment, the sight of those grenades going flying is enough to get the raven's defensive reflexes kicking in again. Striking her control rod against the rooftop, a blinding light surrounds Utsuho briefly before bursting forwards, neutralizing the shrapnel headed her way while forcing her to hold her ground against the shockwaves threatening to blow her off her feet. By the time the dust settles from that, Martin is already retreating again, and she only barely catches a glimpse of him running off once more to dive off the side of the building. "Does anyone know what he's talking about anymore?" Utsuho asks as she jogs forward, getting a running start before flying off the roof to follow overhead once more. She sends out another burst of fire to incinerate oncoming shotgun fire coming her way, but the fire surrounding Utsuho remains as she starts speeding up with a trail billowing behind her. "Hey, hold up! If you want to do your best, then start talking sense instead of running and fighting!" Utsuho's actions don't quite line up with her words, though, as the fire around her burns fiercer the faster she goes, reaching a ludicrously cement-melting state as she dives towards Martin with her arms spread behind her while the flames form the shape of a bird in her wake.
Ishirou	I4 goes flying from the explosion, being sent off the roof and hitting the ground /hard. He bounces like a ragdoll and rolls to a stop a few feet away. His body is ragged, his systems are in critical...and he's barely engaged the thing. The scans from the creature come back. Whatever it is...it is not a person. It's not even a robot...it's... The idea comes along. His mind goes over the possibility...could it be? That would mean a lot of things, including the possibility the war in this world was going to change dramatically. He shakes his head because now Gawain is challenging the data. This causes the Android to grumble to himself. It's always got to be him, doesn't it? He had to make the hard choice because he was...smart? Well, yes, but it wasn't just that. He looks up at his POD, still on the ground as it hovers near him. "POD...program internal strike. We'll take what data we can..." he says, and looks up. He raises a hand and activates the authorization...and fires a bolt again. This time he goes towards one of the hands. He attempts to get into the creature VIA the extremities. From there he attempts to burn out the creature, trying to draw out whatever data he can directly, but also doing it in the most horrible way possible. Anything he can to try and weaken the creature as much as he can, before someone can put it down.
Arthur Lowell	>Arthur: LET HIM BE No!! "HEY!" Arthur howls out. "'LET ME BE' ain't something we can do if you're doin' ASSASSINATIONS! Lettin' ASSASSINS be ALONE just means you get MORE ASSASSINATIONS!" But a grenade is over his head, and its concussing impact slams down, leaving him bouncing and run ragged. But he's gritting his teeth, shoving himself up on his palms. "Come on, come on..." He staggers, first crawling and then stumble-running to the edge. Fine, shoot him! Arthur's just gonna go into it. Descending wildly, he'll likely suffer more, but he plans on letting gravity do most of the work in more than one way. He descends with a big, huge overhead swing from his broom, trying his hardest to slam down with truly massive effect and some significant magical impact behind it. He's going to go with, now, the safe assumption that this guy is so dense, or durable, or something, that he can just try to hit him with enough force to literally bury him from the waist down.
Gawain	Gawain hears that this might be an endling. He hears that Martin just wants to be let be. In an instant, he's sympathizing. In an instant, he wants to save this person from death, before they execute him for What He Is. The explosives and shrapnel batter Gawain's suit. The suit is torn to shreds. But Gawain, shirtless, keeps moving, and charges Martin. "I can't let you be - but I can save you from death! Come with me! You can kill her, and be destroyed - or you can come with us, and we can help you!" Ripping off the remaining scraps of his suit, he wraps them around his fist, and moves to boxer-sidejab Martin straight in the jaw. But if anyone else - especially Lilian - moves to take a lethal strike, Gawain suddenly tackles Martin to the ground as he leaps from the building straight to where Martin lands on the ground. He doesn't care about the shotgun blast - he takes it straight to the face and chest. He's going to try and cover Martin's body with his own, and keep him pinned to the ground, once he's hopefully either KO'd, or giving up.
Kale Hearthward	The grenades are thrown. Kale has an opportunity to dodge, as he chases after Martin. He doesn't take it. Or rather - he dodges into the blast, heedlessly using it as an opportunity to pick up some more speed. There's no artistry to it this time - he just simply tries to ram straight into the suspect, at full speed and momentum.
Staren	Staren opens and closes her mouth a few times at Lilian's comment. Eventually, she gets out <"It... It kind of happened the other way around... I mean, the order of events, that's not how it... ugh"> Then she winces as her eyes in the sky see the explosion happening several buildings away. That looked nasty. Good thing she's all the way over here! This seems like a good tactic to keep up -- she directs the rapid prototyper to start preparing a gyrojet launcher and special guided rounds. In the meantime, results come back from the analysis program: <"A-anyway... something's weird about the way he's acting, right? Like what's talking isn't the same as what's fighting. All my program is getting is that he's live, not just pre-recorded phrases or something, he IS aware of us, and he doesn't want to fight us but is doing it because we're in the way."> She's taking aim with the gyrojet launcher, computers plotting curved trajectories in AR on her cyberware's HUD, when I4 poses a hypothesis: <J-IC-Scene> I4 says, "...Endling." Staren freezes, blinking. <"What? ...Can they DO that? Pretend to be people??"> Of course... this is too tempting an opportunity to test out the data recorded on magical girl attacks the other day. <"I've got a simple way to find out."> Magic clothes are so handy. Hidden weaves of circuits and expensive magical materials provided by the Concord amplify Staren's supply of natural magic enough to shape it into spell effects. Like Fly As The Eagle. Staren leaps into the air with a burst of speed from her boots and flies over towards the conflict. She dives, trying to get into close range. "Cover me for a second!" She lands on an adjacent building's roof and points into the sky, grinning enthusiastically. A convenient burst of wind -- or perhaps a minor enchantment on the clothes -- make her coat, scarf, and hair billow dramatically. "If you ARE a monster, here to hurt people, then this ends here! If you are indeed posessed by an endling, then have no fear! We will free you! With the purifying power of, uh, the light in our hearts, and advanced technology!" She opens her hand and a freaking magical girl wand appears in it. It's pink and silver, with wires running along it and set with a fire opal in the head. She points it dramatically at Martin with a mix of delight and eagerness to see what happens, and a spray of energy bolts fires out, magic precisely tuned to imitate Silver Carnation's purifier beam! Her eyes widen. "...Oh wait, should I have said an attack name? Uh, Magical Beam! Wait, no, I'll do it again..."
Go Shijima	"Not a chance!" All of this... and he's still trying so hard! I don't know what else to do, besides-- Warning panels light up on Mach's HUD, illuminating his widened eyes as they track several glaring AR imperatives. He makes a rocket-assisted leap backwards. It isn't enough. A cry of pain and shock erupts from him as the suit spreads out the impact of the explosions across his body, the bleedoff violently exploding outward in a dramatic shower of sparks. He's thrown off of the roof, his body hitting the ground with a heavy thud and a tone-deaf congratulatory Good Work! ...from the belt's onboard AI. Scowling, Go rolls over, forcing himself to his feet. Robot. Has to be. Acts like one, right down to 'can't quite cut conversation.' 'Doing my best.' Tch. I wonder if it even knows why it's really here. Spitting, Go wipes his bloodied lip, jams the STOP Signal Bike back into the belt, and transforms again. "You're lucky you're our only lead," he angrily mutters as the armor envelops him once more. That laser pistol, with the large wheel at the front, burns rubber against the wall of the residential building he'd been thrown from, carrying him rapidly all the way to the top. "This isn't your best!" There's a sound of a superbike revving as he speeds over to Arthur mid-broom-slam. "This is your worst!" He mashes the button on the belt, four times, flames spitting from the exhaust. HISSATSU//Full Throttle! That same red energy from before, but now it's surrounding his whole body. Burning so brightly that it begins to lose its coloration and shift between a wild, polychromatic spectrum. "You might not like Director Velt, but does what she does to protect people's smiles--you're spitting all over that!!" His speed picks up when he touches the ground after vaulting over Arthur. Mach runs a rapid zig-zag, lines of red and white trailing after him. He bounces wildly from roof to teammate to AC unit, building up speed until every feature of the suit is blurred by the light and his velocity, until-- He stops on a dime and transfers all of that energy into one final effort to stop 'Silva.' A leaping hook kick, meant to catch him at the shoulder, hurl him to the ground and add yet another gravity distortion to Arthur's plentiful supply. He's, for once, not trying to kill the robot, if that influences Gawain at all--but he's sure not being gentle.
Lilian Rook	'Just let me be!!' "You gave up being left alone when you pulled a gun on the director you piece of shit. Your quiet life is over. Welcome to the rest of it, where you get what you deserve." Lilian is only just barely able to keep her mouth shut about the real injustice still burning foremost in her mind. "You've done enough." Having the group analyst confirm that Martin is, in fact, robot ubermensch through and through, seals any remaining dregs of doubt in her mind about this entire thing being completely fucked. The grenades come out, and once again she disappears, feeding the mental impression that he has no way to even contest her, never mind beat her. She gets to reappear in his face again, confrontationally inescapable like a morbid hallucination. "So what is it, metal man? Born that way? Bone condition? Friends gave you ten kilos of C4 and a dozen grenades as a birthday gift? The American Welrod is a sentimental hand-me-down from grandpapa? Get down on your knees and thank your God for his mercy in sending Spearmint Page in here to stop this train just short of the line where I make you live out Hell. She hadn't visibly drawn Night Mist, but it's in her hand. About to attack-- no, an attack has already happened; it's at the end of the arc, not the start. If he has no arteries, that just means she doesn't have to think about those arms and legs at all. At least one of them is coming off. "Tell me about that girl in the CIA before I decide to do worse."
Strawberry Princess	Martin is prepared for one or two people to jump down after him- not everyone. He fires once- it goes wide- and tries to fire again, to a dry-fire click. The shotgun comes up, held out in two hands, to block Utsuho's plunging attack- and it's broken in half, his torso and arms blackened and cracked by the stresses of the solar crow's thermal shock. When I4 fires his microwave-probe at one of the weakened hands, it impales right through the palm. Martin, he learns through the intrusive scan, is composed of some kind of magical matter- similar to an Endling's body, but also similar to a magical girl's costume or wand. Arthur's blow overestimates Martin's durability. He's taken a lot of punishment so far, but the stresses and hairline cracks are adding up. Silva tries to bring up an arm to block the titanic broom-strike; he picks the one already weakened by I4's probe, and it shatters on impact into blue-green crystal. Still, his face doesn't show pain; only escalating panic. "No!! I have to kill her," he pleads- as if Arthur might really cave and let him get away with it. "This is the only chance I get. Why are you doing this to me?" It's utterly unreasonable, almost incoherent. Kale's enormous body-slam impact drives Martin back off his feet, rolling from the cracked sidewalk onto the grass. Something cracks again, this time in one of his legs from the failed attempt to brace himself. He tries to pick himself back up, staggers- and then Go's hook-kick strikes him, making his foot crumble entirely into more of that weird crystal. He falls to one hand and both knees. Even in a state like that, Staren's machine-gun magical barrage... meets with no effect whatsoever. Or rather, he's close enough to death that a Purifier Beam can hardly do anything more to him. He's definitely, conclusively not an Endling- in fact, he seems gravely insulted by the idea. "I'm not... a monster," he groans as the luminous energy washes over him, struggling to his feet one more time. He reaches for a knife on his belt, as if that might do him any good at all. "And you're not a real magical girl! You're..." Lilian takes off his remaining arm neatly, with no possible defense; it shatters into more crystal when it hits the ground. He stares into her eyes for a good, long moment, teetering on the edge of some calamitous decision, as if he still had any cards left to play. He's scared out of his mind, but for all the wrong reasons. If he could cry, he would. Then his face drops into resignation. His mind's made up. Gawain tackles him to the ground, pinning him to the concrete again. He doesn't try to struggle away- his broken leg, terminating in a sharp piece of crystal, reflexively tries to come up to find a chink in Gawain's armor and kick him off, but then he remembers his resignation and goes limp again. He obviously isn't alive, but his chest is rising and falling as if to gulp down air. "I'm sorry," he says- scared for his life, but not because of you. "I'm Pink Coral. They're keeping me at Langley. I messed up. Real bad." He rears his head forward, and then slams it back against the concrete sidewalk. It shatters into a hundred crystal shards. All together, they fade to a dull and lifeless turquoise, like the one at the tip of Strawberry's exhausted wand.
Hellwarming Trio	That didn't quite go as Utsuho had planned. As she skids to a stop and pulls her leg out of the ground, she doesn't speak up immediately or even make a confused noise while listening to Martin's panicked responses. Instead, she approaches Martin while pausing to pick up one of those shattered crystals, inspecting it and turning it around in her fingers as though it might help her get a better idea of what's going on. It doesn't, but it gives her hands something to do. "I don't think any of us are magical girls. Some of us aren't even girls." She clarifies, going quiet again at the name drops. Pink Coral. Langley. Martin's head explodes, and she flinches briefly before looking towards the rest of the group with an utterly confused look on her face. "Do any of those names mean anything to you? Because if there's a rescue mission, me and Orin are in. Uh. Wherever she ran off to." MEANWHILE Rin has no idea where she's going, but she's making an earnest effort to find Velt and warn her even now. Still, why's the main building have to be so darn confusing?!
Lilian Rook	Lilian flashes back to a particular, very brief exchange about remote abilities, mundane situations, magical girls, and her 'don't be so sure'. She remembers staring at the Endling chunk in the jar. 'An Endling wouldn't'. But a magical child might. She sighs explosively as the facsimile crumbles to pieces, venting the rest of her unsatisfied feelings, left without catharsis, by repeatedly stomping on the chunks and kicking the gravel off the edge until the need to move around violently subsides. "It's a blacksite." she says, before anyone can ask. "That's what I saw. That place and 'Silva' at the exact same time. The relation is pretty-- obvious by now." She begins rubbing her face. "We're going there. I know how. But not right now. I can't find it in me to forgive her yet."
Gawain	Martin Silva crumbles apart in Gawain's arms. The truth is revealed. Pink Coral. As he rises, Lilian cathartically smashing the bits, he just stares off, approaches Arthur, and locks him in the eyes. "Are you ready? We're going to war." Maybe not tonight. But they share the same goal. To save that child, and stop this.
Ishirou	I4 sighs a bit in relief. Ok, it's not an Endling, it's more magical girl? Boy? whatever, look the alien monsters haven't figured out how to camouflage and commit assassinations. I4 is glad about that, less glad that someone has a Magical Girl trapped and using them to commit murders. Why go after Velt though? In theory, this is a threat that threatens everyone right?
Arthur Lowell	>Arthur: Get the data Arthur picks up the spent shards. His eyes are gleaming white, and he stares back at Gawain "Ready." He mutters. Then he grabs Lilian's shoulder. "Gimmie that vision-data." He says, firmly. "I'm gonna go break a lot of faces and bust out some magical girls until this situation is better. I need that for a Gate straight in there." He's already summoning the initial flickers of a Gate. But, not now? Not tonight? His brows bunch up on his face and he grits his teeth. "I fuckin' hate waiting." He mutters. "I'm gonna keep an eye on it to make sure they don't move her at least. The bastards." Well, if they're not mounting their assault immediately, at least Arthur intends to stake the place out and make sure the situation doesn't change.
Staren	Anyone could say they're not a monster! But the lack of effect from the Purifier Beam is cold hard proof, at least, assuming the imitation is close enough. A pout briefly flashes over her face when told she's not real... (Although, several minutes later, she'd remember how Silver talked and... yeah, okay, Staren can see how that was probably kind of offensive to Pink Coral.) She lowers the wand as all this plays out. "...Are we dealing with some kind of magical girl cold war spy games? Are you KIDDING ME?!" Staren's fists clench. She nods to the others, looks at Gawain's face, and then looks expectantly at Arthur, not sure if a gate is going to be opened RIGHT NOW or not. Nodding at the explanation.