Scene #8419: Elijah

Owner	Pose
Angela	LAST TIME... Angela released the controls on Malkuth allowing her to take over the facility but thanks to some hard effort, a little bit of subterfuge, deft footwork, and timely restoration the day was saved and Malkuth has calmed down and maybe a little bit more was learned about the underpinnings of the Lobotomy Corp facility. Yep, everything is perfect, everything is grand, you have the whole wide world in the palm of your-- "I love you i love you together we are one how may i help you kukuru kukuru kuku." Nothing There, presently back in its cell, smiles vacantly in Kukuru's form. While simply looking at Nothing There for an instant may trick someone into thinking it's her, Nothing There is absolutely not convincing because of the cacophony of spooky shit coming out of its mouth. Okay so that's one problem that's still ongoing and-- ,d88b.d88b, WARNING WARNING WARNING WARNING 888BLACK888 A L E P H `Y8888888Y' ARMY IN BLACK `Y888Y' T H R E A T `Y' WARNING WARNING WARNING WARNING After a...talk?...with Meika, the Army in Pink became the Army of Black and teleported across the facility, self destructing in a burst of black hearts, promising to chase the good thoughts away... One of the few Lobotomy Corp employees not affected is Cinder who just recovered from the Army's strange mental affliction (why was she be able to shake it off? Find out next pose or read Petra's and get a hint!) and has picked up a combat baton from a fallen employee as a form of protection. Ya-Boy and Justin Rook have also escaped the affliction however...
Angela	BGM: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j0gDBT_Kow4&ab_channel=Mili Parker, eyes clouded with darkness, points her EGO pistol at Ishirou. "Everyone...everyone telling me how to feel..." Parker says, the leathery masks stretching out past the pistol and into her body. "I'll wear whatever face you want... BUT MY FACE BEHIND MY FACE IS MINE ALONE!" Parker screams in sudden fury as the face mask she wears turns from a big grin to a huge scowl. She fires repeatedly at Ishirou, laughing and screaming all the while. She isn't taking care to aim properly so Dragonfly might get hit by the splashzone. "Ah...!" Malkuth says. "The Army in Black weakened their defenses--their EGOs are corroding and trying to overwrite their minds!" But Parker isn't the only one so afflicted. M.O.M approaches the Demon King, fanning himself with a beautiful pink fan. "Hahaha...." M.O.M laughs gloomily. "Why am I laughing...? I lost everyone I love to the Index. Isn't it funny? They died just because a piece of paper told them too." His eyes narrow as he covers his face with the fan as cherry blossoms start to sprout from his shoulders and arms and throat. "Hey... It's a funny joke... You should be laughing... Why aren't you laughing?!" And he lunges at Sougo, intending to swipe at him with the fan, cherry blossoms erupting around the two of them as strikes. Rose stumbles throughout the facility, grabbing the wall. She spots Hibiki looking into Nothing There's cell, a tear streaming from her left eye--her right glowing yellow, a red hood around her head. "Bikki... Haha...Oh no... Are you looking for someone..? There's no escape from the wolf's belly. No escape... no matter how far I run...Not for her either..." She is starting to lift her EGO pistol in Hibiki's direction, every so often the weapon pushes back down. She's one of the tougher agents out and about so she hasn't completely lost control. "I love you..." Kukuru(?) whispers to Hibiki, just looking at her. She doesn't attack at all. Hibiki can decide her next move. And to the Kukuru inside it, Nothing There... I wanT tO bee LIiiKeee YooUUUuu I looove youuuu kuKKuuuuruu can BEE onnnee. Kukuru kukuru KUKURU.
Angela	Meanwhile Shajo has made it up to Meika and Woz. Some kind of tin armor has materialized around him and the axe openly drips with blood. "Hannh.... Nonon's not here... Feel like I'm about to lose my mind... They fuckin' treat their people like fodder those fuckin' beasts. Only broken mutants like me can survive. Such a drag... maybe if I cut down the right people I'll find my heart again..." Shajo aims to jab that axe into Woz's throat, having far less restraint than Rose. "Where are you Nonon...." He sounds so dead and tired... An Army of Black officer reappears by Meika and Woz. Do not worry ma'am. We will chase away the good thoughts so your black heart can shine. That black heart radiates outward, the energies pounding for Meika as they attempt to do just that and drag Meika's bad thoughts out. The ones that always lurked there in her memory. That pulsing black heart is trying to make Meika's come out of hiding. MEANWHILE At the Manager's Office, the Manager reaches for a big red button with a rabbit pattern on it but he catches Rook's look and he takes a breath. "Go help them, Rook. I won't do anything crazy unless it truly becomes untenable." This is the best Rook is going to get, he runs out of the facility, snagging Penitence on hisi way out--POD following close behind. The Manager exhales, "Malkuth." "Yes...?" That familiar tenor returns to Malkuth. "Shall we show them that even we lose Control..." "That we can still make our way to the future." "Everyone! They're still alive, and they can still be saved! They'll stay berserk until you can defeat the Army in Black! Find those soldier men and show them what's up!"
Angela	Chewie comes upon Petra and Cinder. His EGO Flesh Lantern has melded with his arm creating a second hungry fluffy mouth for him. "Everything lost its flavor in this City... They said it was gourmet so I tried it once and then... then I couldn't stop it was sooo good...! But even that lost its flavor in the end..." And he tries to get one good chomp out of Petra's arm before-- BONK Cinder hits him in the head of the riot baton. Then hits him a few more times. "Stop that!" Cinder says, clearly panicked but Petra's appearance so far has convinced her to not take out the one shot pistol. A second Army of Black appears before Petra and radiates black heart energy at her which does absolutely nothing though it may tickle a little. Looks like a siege mission, men!
Kukuru	After trying to make contact with the strange thing that said it loved her, Kukuru has found herself in a difficult situation. Where is she, anyway? She remembers seeing a weird dog made of parts, she remembers it talking and saying it loved her, she remembers that brief upswell in her chest, and she remembers... Oh. Right. It ate her. She's awakened by the feeling of something boring into... Boring? Burning. Something burning, but not in the fiery sense. Something acidic, like she's been soaking her hands in lemon juice for way too long, and even worse than that. She hears it speaking. Or she... Feels it? She's not sure what she's sensing, but it's giving her rather conflicted feelings. It always feels good to be told that someone loves you, after all, and especially after being told that they want to be like you. It's a nice feeling, certainly, but that burning feeling lingers, and she realizes that it's coming from all around her. "That's... Really great to hear. Thanks~." She giggles softly, taking a slow look around to try and get a better grasp of her surroundings. At the very least, she knows she's inside something, but with the way it's communicating with her? She's not inclined to tear her way out just yet. Depending on how thick Nothing There is, though, Hibiki might actually hear her in there. She remembers hearing Hibiki out there, too, and she focuses briefly, letting her nanites build up a bit before directing them outwards. She can't really tell where Hibiki might be, but... Kukuru remembers hearing some pain in her voice. She'll need a little pick me up there, even if it's not quite the same as food. "If you wanna learn how to be me, though, wouldn't it be easier if I was outside of you?" She addresses the mysterious thing, starting to wriggle a bit to try and slide her way out. Hopefully, she's moving in the correct direction. "Then you could see me, I could see you, and we could figure it out from there after..." Right. That's why she came here. She can't allow herself to forget that yet. "After we help Angie and Malky and everyone else."
Ishirou	Ishirou was already exhausted... Ishirou wants to curl up into a ball on the floor and rock back and forth so much right now. However, reality never gave him time to recover from the wounds he keeps suffering. Malkuth is better, coming to terms with what happened, and with the Manager. The manager, in turn, has chosen to accept Malkuth. But in that moment a terrible anomaly is let loose. He's only familiar with it because Malkuth showed him, making comparisons between it and herself. However, from the digital space, Ishirou is knocked out of, it because he's being shot at. By Parker. "Park-" he manages to get out, before dropping to the ground and attempting to get behind cover. Damn it, this is not the right time for this... but he can clearly put together the anomaly that got to her. But why was she here at all..? Questions for later. It isn't Parker's fault, but rather her EGO gear. He takes a moment to realize that the EGO gear is sealing to their faces, likely another side effect of the Army in Black. Ishirou's hands reach up, even as the sides of his body cry out in pain at the grazing. He reaches up, looking at the wires inside the walls around Parker. His mind analyzes them and then sends a signal up to them. He changes their properties. Then he follows up by hopping out of cover and sending a telekinetic blast into Parker, aiming to toss her across the room to the modified wires. They shoot out, attempting to wrap around Parker with the strength of steel. Trying to continuously wrap her there. He takes this moment to transform into RESCUE, though he hasn't called any modules yet. This is likely to break out into a more lengthy conflict. His mind screamed out, begging him to just stop and run away. "I won't run away," he says, firmly. Even though he's breaking to pieces right now. "OPTIONs go out," he says, and doing just that. Each one is armed with Ishirou's sensor suite. Each one finds an elite hovering just slightly behind them. They also provide them with their share of POD-mounted weaponry, and the ability to debuff targets to weaken them. Then with all of these OPTIONs, he looks to use their various scanning abilities to locate as many of the soldiers in black as he can. They are updated along the HUD system so that everyone knows.
Dragonfly	Run. Run. There is absolutely no correct action to take here besides running. Dragonfly does not take the correct action. Every instinct programmed into her is screaming to run, that whatever gun Parker is firing can and will melt her in an instant, that none of this was ever her business and being here was always a gigantic mistake. What she does instead, after jumping off of the table reflexively like a startled cat, is to calmly drop and tread on her pointing-at-people screwdriver, and remove from her duffelbag something that looks concerningly like a closed umbrella with way too many batteries and uninsulated wires strapped to it. And then jumps straight at Parker, wielding the now-sparking umbrella far too much like a sword.
Petra Soroka	Then she finally notices Cinder. Wait, did she miss any corpses? She forgot to check the floor to see if there were any. "You're okay, right?" That's way more brusque than necessary, but Petra's already looking away, checking down the hallway. Petra looks for corpses, and finds corpses. A few clerks are scattered down the hallway, mangled and still, and Petra suddenly remembers that she does not like finding corpses. Petra presses her lips together and sways, only spared from retching by the automatic dulling of her olfactory sensors filtering out the smell of death and torn viscera, and turns back to Cinder, who's collapsed on ground right beside one of the bodies. Cinder stammers, "U..um... Yeah..." Petra turns her head to check down the hallway and as she does so a giant pink heart floats up above Cinder's head. ...Wait that's just another Army in Pink. It salutes Petra before exploding into healing gas around Cinder (Petra is out of the way). Now pink hearts are radiating out of her own eyes as she looks at Petra. She'll probably be fine. "...Thanks for saving me." Briefly stunned out of her violent dissociative haze, and distanced enough from Hibiki and Ishirou to blunt her anger, the only response Petra can give is dazedly earnest. The tip of her gunblade clinks against the ground when Schadenfreude vanishes, and with a seemingly-effortless twist of her arm, she pierces the blade into the ground enough for it to stand upright when she leaves it to help Cinder up with both hands. "... Yeah. Glad I got here in time." Neither the fact that Sougo also arrived, nor the fact that she clearly did not get here in time for the other corpses, is noted. Petra notices Cinder's eyes once she's standing and recoils in surprise, pulling her hand away and then freezing. Wait. The monsters did that, people don't actually make heart eyes. Everything's normal. "Um-- we'll, I'll see if, I'll let Kukuru know about the... yeah." Petra's floating hand drifts to the back of her head, and she closes her eyes in an awkward smile. Malkuth seems to have been suppressed, and Abnormalities aren't being let loose anymore, so for a moment, everything is good. With this out of the way, next up is... "Hey, you're a clerk, right? After this, would you want to--" Petra turns to Cinder and starts to ask her if she could help her look through observation documents to find an Abnormality suited to covertly murdering someone, but the blaring alarm cuts her off and brings her back to battle alertness.
Petra Soroka	"Everyone! They're still alive, and they can still be saved! They'll stay berserk until you can defeat the Army in Black! Find those soldier men and show them what's up!" Petra hesitates, already two steps through the motion of ripping her gunblade out of the ground and running Chewie through with it. That hesitation gives Chewie's horrible mouth a chance to tear into Petra's arm, and as she shrieks ('Gross gross gross!'), Cinder's blow to his head knocks him away. Beneath the tear in the sleeve of Petra's jacket that Chewie made is a roiling tide of silver, coating every inch of her arm as if the cuff of her sleeve was a plug keeping it inside. Chewie's mouth isn't blocking the gap, a thick spike of metal lances out of her arm and into Chewie's shoulder, branching out in the open air to fill the space like a razor-sharp pinecone. The collision, between a rod of mercury and a fleshy shoulder, is a sickening crunch, clavicle and scapula crumpling like tissue paper. It isn't immediately lethal, at least. Noticing the black energy and connecting that to Chewie's state, Petra glances at Cinder, then shifts to put herself between her and the soldier. Not only is Petra herself unaffected by the mental corruption, but the bubbling stream of black hearts disintegrates into energy-soot when it passes near her, coupled with a building sensation of painful subdermal itch for everyone in the room.
Hibiki Tachibana	This is a worst case scenario, to put it lightly. For her, anyway. Hibiki is in the unfortunate situation of currently being unable to process exactly what even happened to Kukuru - with a part of her unable to help wondering if she's not just doubting that whatever Nothing There is has done something that can't be taken back, and she was too late to do anything about it. She's not sure if she'd be able to live with that. And she's still caught up in what she's even going to do about that, staring into the containment unit, when a familiar voice draws her out of her wide-eyed stupor and makes her snap her head to the side. "Eh--?" From the shuddering pistol, to the one golden eye...and the one that's tearing up. "Rose...!?" She feels her heart sink down into her gut. This is an unfairly vicious one-two punch, leaving her frozen in place between her and the staring Kukuru(?). She can't make her body move. Not until she thinks she hears Kukuru's - the real Kukuru's - voice from somewhere in the cell, and feels the sensation of her healing nanites washing over her. Hers? Wait, but that can only mean... Malkuth's message across the PA system fills the hall, too. All at once, Hibiki swallows, then squares up her shoulders. She looks towards Kukuru(??), a fist clenching at her side--and then turns towards Rose, to start picking up speed towards her. If she ends up shooting at her after all, that's fine. It'd take more than a couple bullets to stop her from getting to her, and grabbing for the same hand that's holding her pistol. Not painfully or tightly, like she's trying to disarm her or hurt her, but a firm grip determined not to let go as the other hand goes to the agent's other arm in the same way. "That's not true, Rose! You told me yourself! You were gonna have the courage to take it one day at a time, and meet those expectations! /We/ said we would! And if you can't run--then you can become brave enough to face it head-on one day!" She's making herself keep eye contact with her, only breaking it to glance back towards Nothing There's cell. "...She's still doing her best in there. So I won't let you give up that easily. And I also won't give up on either of you!" Or on what she came here to do. It sure wasn't just to lose her nerve even after Malkuth got through her despair.
Timespace Riders	SOUGO AND M.O.M. >Isn't it funny? They died just because a piece of paper told them to. Zi-O makes a startled noise--not at all because of the attack. His helmet faces the Agent, red katakana visor locked on M.O.M. as the Rider succumbs to a brief but costly bit of emotionally-induced paralysis. The fan rakes across the bulky, burdensome RookArmor, sending up a shower of sparks. Zi-O endures it, motionless, the mace-themed clock hands on his helmet turning backwards. Two trips into the past--one, to make sure Cinder was okay. That trip was... not uneventful, not good. He's been trying to ignore all of the carnage around him, that other Zi-O, but no matter how many other people he might fool, he'll never fool himself. When that's done, and the Zi-O with Cinder and Petra vanishes--the next journey into the past brings context for M.O.M. As with much else here, it doesn't make what he sees any easier. As a powerless observer, the heavily-armored Rider watches, one by one, as M.O.M. loses friends. The Index, an insidious Abnormality, found its way into their hands and ordered them to kill themselves, or, at other times, into the hands of someone it then ordered to kill. It's like a knife in his stomach, to watch--the Company is no different from the City, in what it does to people and what it asks of them. The Rider finds himself turning his helmet away, from the sight of an Agent asked to have someone bludgeon you in the head. He falls to his knees in the street, invisible and unheard to the brutality playing out before him, as another agent is asked to throw herself in the way of a moving vehicle. Through it all, M.O.M. had laughed it off. But Zi-O knows, before long, why that is. It was a way to survive. A way to deal with his pain--something that the Company would otherwise be ill-equipped and even ill-inclined to do. He knows-- In the present, Zi-O shoulder-checks the Agent. He procures a Ridewatch in the second or so he's bought himself. Gaim! The orange and black transformation greeble is slotted into the left side of the Driver around his waist. The LCD chronometer reads AU22. The frantic ticking of a clock is heard, before Zi-O spins the Driver. ARMOR TIME! A suit of orange, folded-up armor appears over Zi-O's head. It unfolds and fits itself over him--in full, it looks like someone made a samurai's armor out of diced oranges. The 'peels' form lamellar plates at the thighs, chest, and shoulders, with 'slices' on display for accent. An asymettrical kabuto takes the place of his helmet. SOIYA! o/` Gai-m-uu! o/` "IT WAS NEVER A JOKE! M.O.M.!" Zi-O procures two short swords, each blade resembling an orange slice. Now in a much lighter armor, and one less focused on overhwhelming force, he fights back, using the left blade to strike at the Agent's wrist with the pommel, while his right leg snaps upwards in a powerful hook meant to send him off balance. "If this place were kinder, you never would have felt like you had to--but don't torture yourself for doing what you needed to stay alive!!" Both blades twirl, putting the pommels towards M.O.M., and Zi-O follows up from his kick by shifting his posture to step into a double-armed pommel strike aimed at the chest, one leg spaced between the Agent's to try and force a trip. Once that's done, he quickly whips his head around, taking any precious seconds he can to see if any of the Army are present to banish.
Timespace Riders	WOZ, MEIKA AND SHAJO In the agile DragonflyArmor, Woz can easily juke the axe jab, bringing up his right forearm to swat it aside, in one simultaneous motion also weaving around the strike to counterattack. He throws a left cross, aimed at Shajo's tin-armored head, then makes some space for himself with an agile backflip, a different Miridewatch in hand. He still remembers how he and Sougo fought the Hermit--how they turned a sad ending into a happy one. "My Demon King would be saddened, if I did not make every attempt to free you from this Abnormality." This one bears the helmet of a red-and-blue Rider, with a golden question mark in place of the usual Rider antennae. Quickly, Woz opens the gate on the side of his belt and loads it in. Action! Touei! Future Time! Fashion! Passion! Question! Futurering Quiz! QUIZ! Green lasers flash-print a new suit of armor, while a pleasant correct-answer ding plays over a triumphant brass quartet fanfare. The silver-suited rider's armor shifts. The 'wristband' of the watch formed by his cuirass and helmet shifts to a question-mark motif, with the left side becoming the icy blue of an incorrect answer while the right becomes the burning red of a correct response. "O or X--concealing your emotions will help you deal with them." Woz throws his arms wide, helmet held upwards--looking right at the officer. A stormcloud appears about them, as the left pauldron on his armor swings out to reveal an X. Lightning strikes the officer, as Woz coolly answers: "The correct answer is X."
Meika Kirenai	Chevalier Vermillion doesn't need the facility's Klaxons to sound to know she's messed something up. Quiet and trembling, she stands still in the room, when Shajo enters. The drip-drip-drip of blood off his axe echoes and smears, loud and fuzzy against concrete and linoleum. Her gaze flits between Woz and the newcomer, but that's not the sense she's paying close attention to, the trembling soundscape of people's presence drawing far more thought. Her heart pounds in her ears like a drumbeat timer, trembling limbs and ribbons, an ever-faint pulse to the glimmer of her armor. She doesn't much think, when Shajo's axe points to Woz's neck, before a burst of static sound crushes out behind her, propelling skates to spark and abrade the flooring between where she'd stood and into the fray. The last time she tried to intercept someone holding a blade to another's throat, she wound up crushed to the ground before she could even notice. Part of her expects this will be no different, but a crackling red wreath of sound melts from her fingertips, and with arms held outstretched, she tries to impart it into the resonant tin shell of the attacker. "S-S-Stop it! Don't hurt him!" Her voice comes out, timbre triplicated like a record scratch as her hands connect, transferring incredible force, enough to knock someone like a racket would a tennis ball against an indoor gym wall. When the sonic force hits, however, it is utterly silent, as are her huffing breaths. There's a frantic sort of fear in her eyes. 'Do not worry ma'am. We will chase away the good thoughts so your black heart can shine.' A Knight is made to shine, with her armor refulgent, her duty pristine, and her efforts noble. Her heart shouldn't be black- and a black heart should never be what shines, should never be seen. Under the buffeting pressure of the Abnormality's onslought, and stepping back from where she'd dashed, click-click-clicking skates, echoing like dropped pins and crunching like boot-stomped autumn leaves, resounding around the halls of the facility, Chevalier Vermillion can feel the aching twist of her heart within her chest. Underneath armor. Underneath shining metal, and dainty ribbons. There's not much to chase away, in this moment- she's done most of that work herself. She f-f-flickers, as if the light is catching her wrong, just out of the corner of one's eye. Pipes in the walls echo, like creaking woodwinds, tying a knot of guilt in her throat. "W-W-Why? Can't you let this just be mine to carry? Why punish the people who don't deserve it, why take their hearts? Why take it out on anyone else, if it's me who's..." Like a whispered breath from all around, her voice finds the Abnormality. She doesn't need to look its way for a dozen and five spikes of searing red trembling sound to jump out from the walls and flooring, soft enough to meld through flesh, but not pierce or cut or harm, to touch with force but without mass, to clench muscle, to deafen and hold tight like pins in insects. They jut out, at Shajo, at the Army in Black, at nothing and everything, points encircling, outwards like an impact crater and shuddering in an empty wind.
Angela	SLIGHTLY BEFORE IT WENT TO HELL Cinder smiles at Petra and shakes it off, shakes it off as she stands up. "Haha, me too--" Petra starts to ask if she'd like to do something. "Oh yeah for sure!" She says, only managing to really get to 'Oh yeah' before the alarm interrupts her. Then events proceed as previously mentioned but you get to see Cinder clobber Chewie in the head a few more times before Petra punctures him through the shoulder and he doesn't even scream, he just collapses to the floor in a bloody heap, that portion of his body just DESTROYED as it busts open from the inside as well as the out. The Army in Black radiates black energy at Petra but she turns herself into a human shield and that energy harmlessly hits her and doesn't touch Cinder at all who doesn't have any protection at all--but that doesn't mean she doesn't have a will. And she does, if nothing else, have a pistol. "Not dyin' today." She mutters as she steps out of cover between pulse to fire a single pistol shot at the Army in Black before crouching back behind cover and tossing the pistol aside.. "If only I had EGO gear..." For many reasons she doesn't try to take Chewie's. She feels a strange itch but between the alternatives she's not going to complain--though it may get worse than that. She feels strangely alive in the moment. That singular shot impacts against the side of the floating Soldier. Black fluid sprays floats upward out of its body as it tilts lopsidedly inside its heart.
Angela	As Kukuru communicates with Nothing There it struggles to answer her coherently with her own words. "Wouldn't BE easier, easier in Lose ShaPe But? hello you've got a voicemail Heeeeey Maaan!" Well some of her own words anyway. Kukuru ill see that she's surrounded by flesh. With her strength she could just claw her way out of there if she'd like. The meat around her is larger than her body would normally be. The Abnormality grows eyes inside its flesh that look at Kukuru from all sides. She can still sense Hibki's presence and heal her though. Ya-Boy runs by before turning his head and saying, "H--hey! Is that Miss Kukuru? Kukuru! Could really use your help! What're you doing in there...? Oh fuck Rose has been hit--" Hibiki meanwhile grabs Rose's pistol, helping her lower it. Her body is shaking with a terror and anger she can't quite push away. Hibiki reminds her of her promise and Rose grits her fangs. "It's so hard to be alone and brave but..." She fires the gun into her own foot, the spark of pain resulting in the Corrosion reversing itself. "But I'm not alone...! Fuuuck ooofff!" Panting for breath she says to Hibiki, "Gotta...take out the Army Men or the panic won't--" An Army in Black appears behind Rose, blasting her in the back with that black aura. Rose hits the floor though at least she doesn't corrode again but at least Hibiki now has something she can blast.
Angela	Parker has a bad time. "Everyone trying to tell me how to be, who to be, fuck you I tell me who I'm going to be, I'll only pretend, that's how far it'll go!" She is flung back into the wall, smashing against it with a thick crack though her EGO gear provides some protection. She slowly starts to stand up when wires wrap around her. She shoots her pistol at them but they wrap her solidly--pinning her in place, allowing Dragonfly to get a solid hit on her. Electricity jolts through her and she spasms uncontrollably for a bit before slumping forward. An Army in Black appears, radiating black energy at the two of them. "The heart is black. We will chase away the bad thoughts." The energy hurts the body but mostly the mind. They're trying to push away all the good thoughts you've ever had so that your bad thoughts can come out of hiding.
Angela	Woz and Meika have Shajo and an Army in Black to worry about. "The heart is b-black. This isn't a solo fight soldier. To win the battle we need troops." Shajo's left ear twitches slightly and he swings his axe up--just a moment too late--the spike of sound slams into him and knocks him back. He hacks out some blood from his nose and mouth, sways, and then straightens up--grinning a cold grin that doesn't seem friendly or full of his usual joy at all. The Disciplinary Team is a tough group and Shajo is the Captain. "Something about the light... ...But you're not the heart I'm looking for kid, but maybe... I can at least work out this aggression..." And she lunges for Meika, trying to carve into her with her axe! The Army in Black is also knocked back by the sonic force and that pulse of darkness fades ever so slightly, allowing Woz to zap him. The Army Man vibrates intensely as it attempts to hit Woz with that same energy it had just been battering Meika with.
Angela	The Index is, sadly, not an Abnormality--those slips of paper came from human hands. But perhaps it is certainly abnormal all the same. Those agents? Were a low grade gang in the Backstreets. The world outside is scary enough that maybe this place is a refuge for some sorts of people. "Hahaha... Laughing feels good, even when life's shit...And life's always shit." IT WAS NEVER A JOKE, M.O.M. His blades slam into M.O.M but M.O.M doesn't tumble down that easily. An ARmy Man does appear to support him but he still rebounds back and takes several more fan swipes at Sougo. "BUT IT'S SO FUNNY! SO FUNNY YOU CAN'T STOP CRYING! What do you know?" MEANWHILE Justin Rook busts in on the battle between Meika, Woz, and the Army Man, smashing into it with Penitence. "Sorry for being late!" He shouts.
Ishirou	Ishirou breathes heavily, that takes way too much effort than it should have, especially as he calculates Dragonfly's best assault range on the out-of-control agent, and uploads that data to her in a flash through the OPTION network. He's really just holding on by a thread, at this point. He knows if any of those soldiers get to him it's game over... at least for him. Maybe everyone else here could do it... Flash. "Oh. Crabbask-" The dark light invades, trying to chase out every good thought. Here, in this darkest of holes, he can see everything that's recently come at him. He hears the screaming of people, who are not screaming in pain but at him. He hears their true thoughts about him. How he should just give up. How he should just go away. How he's useless and pointless. How his existence doesn't mean anything. How he's nothing more than a &$@!&. His whole name is a lie, they all know who he really is. He begs and screams for it to stop because it's not true. It's not true! He is... "I am..." he mutters in the darkness that comes to envelop him. He can hear every dark thought used against him. He can feel absolute despair at having done what he has done to himself. He can see people turning their backs on him. He can hear Lilian wishing he'd never come back. How he really only cares about making things back to normal and caring nothing about her. He can hear Candy getting fed up with him not getting it together. He can hear Hibiki turning his back on him. Go throwing him out of the apartment and into the street. He can hear the darkest parts of himself just telling him to give up. He can hear Petra... screaming at him because he's not thinking about who is important! Wait... ...Wait... PUNCH. He is snapped back to reality, remembering how fiercely Petra smashed him during their encounter. The darkness made one error. The Soldiers could not have realized that while Petra's actions were not positive... they had a result that was. It starts having a reverse effect. Every time she's screamed at him now starts giving him motivation in the other direction. Soon he's chasing away the blackness... his body shaking even though it tries its last dirty trick. Trying to show him every death he's been through on a loop. Who are you? It asks. Are you Ishirou or Verge? We both know what you /want/ to be, don't you? You want to be Ver- 'Ishirou.' He says, asserting his will again. "I am.." he says aloud.. "Ishirou!" he says and reaches a hand up. The organism is a collective. It can spread itself out, but right now this part of it is here and it can be used... He sends a blast of light into it, attempting to get inside it and try something. Trying to use his debilitation to try and disable its ability to move around freely, trying to force it to be stuck in its current position. From this, Ishirou staggers back exhausted. Data floods in through the HUD system and into Hibiki's vision. It's a plan, all she has to do is execute it. Free Kukuru, before it's too late. Her feed is lit up with various weaknesses and potential ways to drag her out based on the local OPTION giving him the data to work with.
Kukuru	Kukuru hears several things. She first hears Nothing There speaking to her, clearly making some kind of effort to communicate with her even though she still can't quite understand what it's trying to say... Sort of? Points for trying, though, and she actually blinks slowly before chuckling softly when she sees the eyes on the inside. Her hands reach between several of them, and... "Only sometimes. People like me, humans, most of the Agents in this place... We need our shapes to live. It's hard to do stuff when we... Um. Don't have our shape anymore." She explains, taking on the tone of someone trying to explain things to a child. Her hands touch that fleshy interior, patting it gently while resisting the urge to pull away at the burning sensation. Her healing can take care of that easily, and aside from the drills on the sides of her head? There's not a single hard or painful touch coming from her. What does get her to actually jolt a bit, though, is hearing Hibiki again along with Rose, that gun shot, and Ya-Boy calling out to her. Looking into one of those eyes again, she gives Nothing There's insides another gentle pat before trying to project her voice out without yelling too harshly. "Hey, Ya-Boy! I'm inside... Um. This one here." She gestures from inside Nothing There, likely accomplishing nothing. "Are you okay over there? Let me..." The conflicted look comes back to her face, and the best Kukuru can do without actually seeing where anyone is would be just pumping more of those nanites out through somewhat blindly. Hopefully, they'll keep reaching Hibiki and Rose, wherever they are in the vague surrounding area. "What's your name, anyway? You know mine, so I wanna know yours." She closes her eyes briefly, considers just teleporting herself out of that flesh thing, then proceeds not to. She might be able to reach this one, after all, and then that could make it even easier to save Malkuth. To help Angela out of her own predicament, to save everyone else in this facility before things get even worse. "I can teach you all sorts of stuff I know, but... I need you to let me out, okay? My friends and family are hurt, and I've gotta help them. Be good for me, won't you?" She smiles softly as she makes that request, putting quite a bit more faith into Nothing There even as she's still passively keeping herself from being digested alive with the nanites she's retained.
Dragonfly	The effectiveness of the umbrella sword seems to startle even Dragonfly. The wires disentangle quickly from Parker as the canopy's folded back into sword-mode, and Dragonfly's halfway through making sure Parker still has a pulse (hands shaking just a little bit) when the Army in Black appears. Dragonfly'd actually be happy to volunteer the idea that, of course trying to drain every happy thought she's ever had wouldn't do anything, of course she's never had any, flippant sarcasm and all, but frankly she outright fails to notice that this is a thing that they can do. Ishirou's outburst earns a confused glare, even. The darkness touches Dragonfly's plating, but as soon as it reaches beneath it, vg orpbzrf gnatyrq va xabgf bs ornhgvshy rdhngvbaf pnyphyngvat gur cebbs gung nygrevat n zvaq yvxr guvf vf vzcbffvoyr naq pybpxjbex fb evtvq nf gb nffreg gung abguvat pbhyq rire crargengr guvf ornhgvshy furyy naq gur pber jvguva naq qnexarff orpbzrf pbzcyrgryl ybfg hanoyr gb svaq ure nothing happens. She charges, umbrella folded and its wires live once more.
Petra Soroka	Petra glances over her shoulder when Cinder's gun clatters against the ground, and then tilts her head to study the clerk for a second. Without looking down at the gunblade, she twirls it in her hands to adjust it a neutral position, and with precise, practiced motions, she flips a complicated series of dials and switches along the hilt, then twists it apart and tears the weapon in two. She offers one of the halves-- a large revolver with a hefty bayonet- to Cinder, flipping it around to face the Eggman logo-emblazoned grip towards her. "Keep an eye on that guy," Petra doesn't know who Chewie is. "Make sure he doesn't try to get up. And, um-- stick close." With the other revolver, Petra wraps both of her hands around the grip and levels it at the soldier in Black supporting M.O.M. As long as she keeps the one near her in the corner of her eye, it's mostly helpless, unless it can... attack her? She doesn't know if it can, but either way, she fires a deafening shot towards the other soldier. As the bullet exits the gun, in fractional fragments of seconds traveling from muzzle to soldier, the thin Silver coating that crept in through the cylinder stretches out behind it like the tail of a comet. When the bullet pierces the heart to impact the soldier, the trail of mercury lodges in the viscous heart-fluid like hollow-point shrapnel, then explodes outwards with twisting spikes, shredding the lining inside.
Meika Kirenai	'But you're not the heart I'm looking for kid, but maybe... I can at least work out this aggression...' I know I'm not. Better.. better you take things out on me than anyone else. That's how it's always supposed to be. When Shajo swings the axe, Chevalier Vermillion barely even tries to dodge. Instead, she lets the blade towards her, and raises her arms to catch it on her gauntlets. The shockwave melts out from the impact, sluggish and felt instead of heard. It travels up bones and through the floor, spiderweb cracks tracing out from where her skates press against the ground, it collects around her in a red wreathing aura. It hurts, and Vermillion's face twists like a crying reaction, without any noise at all. Armor bends and f-f-flickers how it shouldn't. Dust rains silent down from the ceiling, a quiet tremble having shaken it loose. To Shajo, and only him, she speaks out a whisper, hidden from overhearing. {"I-I-I'm sorry this is hurting you. It's my fault, isn't it? So- so focus it on me. The blame, the anger. Let me help. Please, please let me help. It's the only way I can. If you can take everything out on me until it's all worn out, until it's all used up and can't touch anyone else, that's for the best. If you don't, won't my heart being wrong just be for nothing?"} From everywhere and nowhere, to Shajo's ears, there's a full second delay from when her lips move and the sound hits him in echoed lonely resonance. Her face twists into a pained smile, and she reaches out to grab his axe- -And before she knows it, transposed like sound through the metal of his weapon, to the metal of his armor, she's twisted and moved through the Disciplinary Captain, to the other side, and left the twisting, sharp nova of sound in him instead, tearing and echoing against his gear and body, sticking to him and not letting go. Sound made sharp, a toxic kind of ache and a ripping kind of feeling. She blinks, momentarily confused, and steels her stancs against the ground- her skates are fading at the edges, the borders of her armor, and ribbons, and pristine costume ever so slightly fuzzier on scrutiny, less distinct, and each breath staggers and lags for an almost-unnoticeable second. But even if you do, it won't matter, will it? It won't mean anything for me. Just everyone else. Is that good enough...? It's not, isn't it? I don't know how to fix my heart. Eyes close tight. She doesn't want to see. She doesn't want to be seen. She doesn't want to be heard, but she can't help but hear. Relying not on sight, her own heartbeat, in its frantic rhythm, is enough to visualize her surroundings with just its echo, with just the rebound. If she was trying to dodge in the first place, it'd be far harder, but isn't that the point?
Timespace Riders	ZI-O AND M.O.M. >What do you know? "I saw everything!" Zi-O shouts back, his swords brought up in a series of parries that force him back. Sparks fly as the weapons meet, Zi-O's boots grinding against the floor from the force of M.O.M.'s swipes, barely able to get the swords up in time to stop the advancing fan. His arms strain, until another blow forces his guard open and catches him across the chest. He cries out in pain as he's knocked over, sparks flying from his orange breastplate. Still, he's determined to get through to the Agent, swiping with the right blade to knock the fan aside as he tucks into a roll and gets back to his feet. "But even if I hadn't, it wouldn't matter--do you know why?!" He steps into a flurry of blows, the blades flowing in time with changes in the placement of his legs and the facing of his shoulders, left-right-left, two across and one overhead, each placed to batter the fan aside "Because people are supposed to help each other, that's why! Even in a place like this, that's still true--" His helmet surges forward in a surprise headbutt, orange katakana sure to leave a stinging mark. "It'll be true, no matter how many awful things they ask of you here! No matter how many of those stupid papers get sent out!" His helmet bobs vehemently as he speaks, before he breaks into a sprint and shoulder-checks M.O.M., shouting a war cry the whole while. Slamming him against a wall, Zi-O continues, flat of one blade pressed against the Agent in an impromptu hold: "That's why I'm talking to you--why I looked! So that you can get through this now! So that one day, you can laugh with your heart, and not in spite of it!" Shouting with effort, he wheels around and tosses the Agent, before Petra's shot gives him an idea. With both swords, Zi-O strikes a pose, making two slashes with each, in the shape of a square. A square of bright orange, cutting energy is formed, which Zi-O launches after the soldier with a standing push kick.
Timespace Riders	WOZ, MEIKA, ROOK AND SHAJO >Stop it! Don't hurt him! Woz doesn't know what's happened to Kukuru. If he did, he'd find himself deeply distressed, between her predicament and Meika's command, at how many people around him are willing to spend themselves for others--including his king. Even unaware as he is, there is a momentary pause, a soft 'hmh?' of confusion given her way. That she'd fight alongside him is expected, of course, given mutual interests--but the concern is almost new. It bothers him more that it isn't completely unheard of. >Can't you let this just be mine to carry? Woz's helmet visibly flinches, at this question. I understand now. It was your future that my Demon King wished to help create. He lifts a hand to his visor as if to shield from the sonic whirlwind, before he acclimates to it after a moment. Rook arrives, and the Rider nods to him. "Think nothing of it," he says simply, following up on Justin's swing with one of his own, leaping sideways. His feet impact the wall and spring off of it, sending him sailing overtop the Army Man. UN-CANE-TROLLABLE! His distinctive, green-tipped touchscreen polearm appears in his hand mid-leap, this time with a question-mark's crook as its head, giving it the appearance of a cane. The hooked tip is wrenched across the Army Man as he lands, alternating press-and-fade harassing strikes with Justin once both feet are on the ground. Then: "O or X? The answer to an atmosphere of callous, apathetic violence is willful kindness in spite thereof." He taps the questionmark icon on his cane's touchscreen, slamming it into the ground. The red O on his left pauldron once more reveals itself. "The correct answer is O." A swarm of hardlight blue-red questionmarks flies from the tip of the cane, each one slamming into the Army Man with a tiny, localized explosion.
Hibiki Tachibana	"Rose--" Predcitably, her shooting herself in the foot elicits a wince out of Hibiki, but she's right there to help support her so she doesn't just fall over on the spot. Despite everything, she has a small smile on her face afterwards. "...Yeah. You don't have to do it alone. Don't worry." It doesn't last terribly long though, before she doubles up on what Malkuth mentioned. Defeat the Army, and... ...one of them strikes Rose and floors her right then and there. "Hey...!" She's wide-eyed only for a moment before she has to push through the leftovers of it herself, clenching her teeth and wincing. If she was the one that was directed at--well, even just being touched secondhand tries to dredge out some bad things from inside her. But Hibiki just reinforced her promise to Rose - it'll take a lot more than that to make her pause more. "She's inside that thing," she murmurs back towards Ya-Boy a little shakily, just in case Kukuru's own muffled speaking isn't too legible. "...But she's still there." The nanites prove it. Ishirou's plan fills her view, and her eyes flit through it to commit it to memory. If it comes down to it, she thinks she knows exactly what she'll do, with this plan he's whipped up. If it came a minute sooner, and Rose never showed up, she probably would have executed it on the spot. But now--she wants to have some faith in Kukuru. And the way she's doing things, too. Maybe she wants to believe it'll work. Not just because of how things ended up with the Magical Girl of Courage, but for Kukuru's own sake too. First and foremost...she steps in front of the fallen Rose, and focuses on the Army in Black soldier ahead of her. "People work too hard to deal with all the black in their heart already--" And she transitions into a burst of movement straight ahead, closing the short distance in the blink of an eye. Fist reared back, turning into the motion, skidding to a stop right in front of him. Just to belt a hook into the heart-surrounded trooper with body-crumpling force, hard wrenching to the side on contact to pummel it into his body and /smash/ him straight into the walls of the hallway. In a contest between her strength and a dense surface of metal, it's the wall that's probably going to end up with a soldier-shaped indent beaten into it. "--to need /this/ kind of help dragging it out! That's not helping them at all!"
Angela	What is your name "KukUru Here!" Nothing There responds. They don't seem to know what to do with this, they never ate anybody that just kept talking to them like this, usually what they eat is a lot more garbled than this. ''Hey Ya-Boy! I'm inside... Um. This one here.'' "I knew it," Ya-Boy says. "Not even an Aleph can put down Miss Kukuru!!" The Army in Black hits him with black energy which doesn't seem to affect him significantly. And then surprisingly--Nothing There vomits Kukuru out, their voice extending far too wide as the internal MEAT pushes Kukuru back outside and onto the floor. Nothing There retains their Kukuru form however, though it still looks a bit off even while not being... off. "Hello HELLO hello Come Back Again HELP HELP HEEEELP! Become one!" Kukuru Here smiles vacantly. This will definitely cause problems later.
Angela	Chewie groans and starts to get up and BONK nope he's back down again. He's a tough guy but he's had a day of it and decides he's going to just sleep there until he's dead or saved. Cinder's eyes widen at the offer and she takes the weapon. "Wow, you can afford bullets? We only get the one... And it even has a bayonet blade." Cinder nods once to Petra, waiting for that Army in Black on Petra to come closer, closer--still pouring that black energy into Petra not understanding why it isn't working. BGM: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ph94TI-84Wg&ab_channel=SanteriP And once it's close enough Cinder punches, leaping onto the Army in Black, knocking it down and stabbing it repeatedly with the Bayonet, screaming like a maniac even as black viscera sprays into her face, a revolver blast finishing THAT one off. The other Army in Black takes another black blast at her but Cinder ducks behind Petra as the blast hits head on. The Army in Black that Petra DOES target gets speared through the chest--it's not quite down--Petra may be largely immune to them like Dragonfly is but they're also pretty tough. "The heart is black.... ?"
Angela	Shajo's grin falters as Meika seems to--ask him to take it on on him. It's a familiar thought process to him and he jerks back suddenly--but not fast enough. Meika does... something impossible. She doesn't move around Shajo, she moves THROUGH him. The sound of her erupts inside of him and he hacks and coughs and spews out black fluid mixed in with very red blood. He sinks to a knee, that tin armor crumbling around him. "The hell...did you manage that, kid?" He says. Meika's desire to do good despite her black heart--couldn't quite be chased away right? He strangely seems more concerned for Meika than upset at her but well--at least he isn't swinging an axe at her anymore. Woz preaches willful almost spiteful kindness and strange attacks hit the Army in Black--it is too busy fending off Penitence to defend itself and it goes down, exploding in a pile of black viscera with one last pulse of black energy. Meanwhile... Sougo speaks to M.O.M while slamming him into a wall. "Shutup Hahaha! Shutup!!" M.O.M yells but-- The Demon Kind says one thing that is a direct hit to his heart. One Day. You can laugh with your heart and not in spite of it. M.O.M screams and the cherry blossoms tumble off his body as he's thrown to the floor, that black haze fleeing him as Sougo finishes off the Army in Black with an energy blade, slicing it into three parts before it dissipates.
Angela	Rose has fallen but... Hibiki has her own willingness to stand up straight and uses the power of being a magical girl to share an uninhibited truth. ''People work too hard to deal with the black in their heart already to need this kind of help dragging it out'' And besides which, they made a promise. Once again, Hibiki helped Rose keep hers--and in her own way, she is having the Courage to believe in Kukuru too--for today, at least, it pays off. And Hibiki smashes the Army in Black into the wall so hard that it bursts into a splatter of black goo, its energies returning to containment. Rose groans, sitting herself up and laughs faintly, "My hero again huh... What you said about facing the Wolf head on someday. Thanks..."
Angela	Ishirou and Dragonfly readily take down Parker but there's still the matter of the Army in Black. Dragonfly being basically immune to this thing causes it to be as confused with her as it is with Petra. It turns its attention on her, focusing its power on her to minimal effect. Ishirou is not so lucky but the thing about having a really bad day or even many bad days in a row--so long as you stick it out, you pull through anyway. He asserts his identity with his own will to stand and as Dragonfly is stabbing it with her umbrella, Ishirou tries to send it back to its prison. The Army in Black shudders and pops into light-- --and the Army in Black returns to its cell, a pink heart surrounding it. "The heart is pink, the heart is pink. We shall chase the bad thoughts away..."
Angela	"..I can't believe we survived that." The Manager manages. "...Once again, you're really something else..." Normal power gradually returns to the facility. The Sephirah wake up, as does Angela. She checks the video logs of what had happened in a second of real time, but minutes of her own. Over the speaker she transmits, "All threats cleared and energy gathered for the day." "Seed of Light Generation at 10 percent." Relief hits her. She'll be able to help with what she wants to help after all but... Malkuth laughs faintly. "We did it... I couldn't...defeat the Manager after all, or you all..."
Ishirou	Ishirou recalls the remaining OPTIONs to himself and slumps down in the RESCUE unit as he just looks absolutely exhausted and dead. He's pushed himself far beyond his limits in this, and now he's just glad the immediate threat is over. He wants to pass out right here, but... there was something that was bothering him. "Parker, why were you here?" he says, frowning. He pushes himself back up to his feet. He says and looks over at Dragonfly. "Thanks for the backup," he says, exhaustedly and looks back at Parker. He's afraid of the answer... if she gives him one. "Malkuth, is everything alright over there?" he asks. "What about Angela? and Agent Rook?"
Kukuru	Nothing There giving Kukuru her name as its own (kind of) gets a confused look from the real thing, but she doesn't look particularly bothered. If anything she even looks amused again once she realizes that it's still imitating her. "We'll come up with something nice for you later." She hears Ya-Boy, and she's about to ask him what an Aleph is when she suddenly feels movement! Uncertain of what's going to happen there, Kukuru does the smart thing and relaxes her posture, waiting for the moment to pass until she realizes she's back outside of Nothing There, albeit still a little slimy and burning from all the internal digestive juices. Thanks to the healing, though, the only lingering damage is on her clothes and her psyche from being regurgitated for the third time in her life. Kukuru still looks a little shaken as she pulls herself back up, but manages to put on her usual smile again when she sees so many familiar faces (in mid-combat or otherwise). Hibiki in particular gets a wider one, especially considering what she knows of the Symphogear wielder and her penchant for punching things. "Thanks, Bikki~ I knew I could count on you not to do anything!" Wait. That sounds terrible. "Oh, not like that. Um... That you'd be able to wait, because I was in there." She giggles softly at that flub, then beams when she sees Rose and Ya-Boy nearby. "Are you all okay? Lemme..." Hands raise forward, and those trusty healing bots swarm all over the three! While she does that, she looks up towards the speakers, then breathes a heavy sigh of relief at hearing Angela's familiar voice. "Oh, Angie! Are you okay? Did we do it? Is M-" As if on cue, she hears Malkuth speaking, too. "Malky? Where are you? How're you feeling? Do you want me to put you back together now, or later?" She trails off, apparently still wondering about that rotting thing that was brought up. Once all those questions are thrown out, though, Kukuru finally settles her gaze back on Nothing There ver.K, and she approaches it again. A hand goes up, and she strokes its face gently. It's just a little awkward, though, since Nothing There has her face and all. "I'll be back in a bit, okay? If you're hungry, use your words, and don't eat people."
Hibiki Tachibana	With the Army in Black soldier disintegrating away with that heavyhanded blow, Hibiki takes a moment to just breathe out with her fist still sunken against the metal. It takes a few seconds, but eventually she stands up straight and pulls her arm back, glancing down to her palm. "...Maybe I can only be totally honest when it's right in front of me..." Whatever spurred on that thought, it's pushed away as she turns towards Rose - and Ya-Boy and Kukuru, now that she's been spat out of the meaty confines of Nothing There. Right. For today, at least, it paid off. The expression underneath her scarf is a little bittersweet at the first attempt at the compliment, but she gives a tired-sounding chuckle after. "...I knew I could trust you. And I'm glad you were able to do it, that way. Just...try not to scare me to death like that again. I was really worried." Which is a bit of an understatement, but she's pretty exhausted after everything today. Mentally more than physically, thanks to Kukuru. Well, Nothing There still having Kukuru(?)'s form is kind of offsetting, but that's a problem to be dealt with...another day. Yeah. Hibiki's head lifts up at the sound of Angela and Malkuth's voices, but she remains silent after the latter's laugh. If Kukuru could help her like that, that'd be nice. But for now... The magical girl walks over to Rose, and offers a hand down towards her; an offer to help her back to her feet. "I'm not a hero," she says for the second time today. It comes out a bit more raw than she means it to. But aside from a brief wince, she's still able to give a small smile down at her. "...I'm just not ready to give up on living my life yet. Same as you, Rose. One day, we'll face that wolf for sure, with all the bravery we've got." One day.
Dragonfly	Just a minute to catch their breath, then. Dragonfly, no longer under assault by the shadow people, has enough time to go back to making sure that she didn't kill that Parker is still alive. Only a passing glance and single-shouldered shrug is given to Ishirou, though she does briefly look for any external damages on the RESCUE unit. A good and proper scowl is already ready for Parker should she ever wake up.
Timespace Riders	Both Riders, in their respective fights, remove the Watches from their belts. Sougo, with M.O.M., slowly steps over and offers him a hand up. "M.O.M... I'm so sorry. I promise, one day, you'll be able to laugh, and it'll come from somewhere genuine. I'll fight for that future... and I'll find others who will, too." he continues, pulling the Agent up, and placing a hand upon his shoulder, "When you've had some time to rest... reach out to me, okay? I think... we have a lot to talk about." Woz, meanwhile, answers the manager. Unlike the potential future Rider from which it is drawn, he has no penchant for trivia. The Quiz armor is at its strongest when Woz is honest with himself. Though he has de-transformed, his mind is still in that space, when he responds. "There were many who did not--the Company has only its culture to blame for this incident. As allies of the Concord, eliminate the word 'impossible' and 'unavoidable' from your vocabulary. You will thank me for it later--as will your employees." The retainer purses his lips, and excuses himself with a slight bow given to Meika, Shajo and Justin, to go and rejoin Sougo. Side by side, the two of them then disappear in one of Woz's distinctive scarf-thrown teleports.
Meika Kirenai	Closed eyes can't watch Shajo's expression change, but she can feel, she can hear, the shapes and motion shift. Her words reach him, and shake him. That's worse than if he'd just listened to her. Teeth bite against the inner skin of her cheeks. The familiar smell of blood, pouring out from his mouth, paired with the slight hint of it in hers, makes her take a step back. The metal of her skates cut through and into the flooring, firm and silent, chipping hard material like a knife to cake frosting. Woz's flinch is felt, too. Bitter and nauseating, she wishes she didn't notice it. She wishes nobody else had to be here at all. That nobody else had to fight, and struggle, and face this in the first place. I'm the one in the wrong, aren't I? When falling dust touches the floor, the ephemeral motes tinkle like shards of metal and glass being crushed underfoot. 'The hell...did you manage that, kid?' Shocked out of the direct fright of combat, Chevalier Vermillion stands like a deer in headlights. "D-D-Don't stare at me like that..." Gauntlet-clad arms cover her chest, metal silent where it ought to click and clack. Her bright-red eyes creak open once more, fluttering with the sound of infinitely-distant crashing thunder, nearly silent, piercing and wet. I know it's not neat and clean. I'm sorry if- if I hurt you, like this. Are you scared? Are you- She doesn't need to ask to try and find out. High-alert mixed with still coming down from the fear, the dread, and the guilt, it'd be oh so easy to try and eavesdrop on Shajo's thoughts, grasping for any justification of what awful thoughts her way she already assumes she'll find. But she doesn't. It'd be worse if you aren't upset. When his expression clues her in to his worry, she flinches. Don't worry for me. I know what I'm doing. I'm not some helpless kid. The soldier of the Army in Black splatters into gore, its splashing remnants staining Vermillion's cheek- she barely, ever so barely, remembers to let her surprised yelp have any sound any sound at all when she makes it. She doesn't bother wiping it off. There's a timid f-f-flicker, and a brighter, static, glass-scratching flash, before the girl's transformation whimpers out. Meika stands, tremblind from adrenaline, amongst other things, in the strange facility. "....Is it over...?" She wants the answer to be no. She needs there to be more. Something she can help, something she can do right. But lights flicker back to normal, and the intercoms flicker on with Angela's voice once more, and it's clear that her work is done. A sidelong glance to Rook, and to Woz, timid, small, and worried, and she starts to shuffle away, out of the chamber. Fingers, covered in a handful of encircling band-aids, grab around the strap of her messenger bag, clutching like a lifeline. Far overdue, she dreads stepping through the warpgate to what awaits her, but there's nothing more to put in front of herself anymore. Time to go home.
Petra Soroka	"Wow, you can afford bullets?" The financial aspect of Petra's weaponry should not be questioned. This girl has been some variation of homeless on and off for the past 9 months. It's hard enough for her to be forced to find food and showers and shelter for the night, let her have bullets. Petra can afford bullets. After Sougo finishes off the Army in Black that Petra had been focusing on, she turns back to the closer one, only to be surprised when Cinder is already dealing with it. Petra isn't the type to find loud, sloppy violence particularly enthralling, but Cinder tearing the Aleph threat to pieces at least catches her attention and sticks in her mind. "Oh. Nice-- cool. So it's all dealt with now? Nothing else is coming?ansi)190,") Petra holds out her hand to Cinder, expecting, without directly stating, for her to put the borrowed revolver into it. Petra looks over at Sougo and M.O.M., then down at Chewie, her expression slightly helpless from the inability to either help her assigned-agent-mind-control-foe back to his feet, or talk with him about any sort of emotional insight. That's what heroes are supposed to do after battles, right? Instead, she turns back to Cinder, and sends her one last concentrated beam of mixed messages before taking the elevator back up."Hey, what's your name? I could use-- I might have some questions about stuff, later."
Angela	Parker is asked why she's here. "Eheheh... I work here, silly... I'm Control Team." Dragonfly greets her with a scowl and Parker quirks her head. Her own expression is impossible to read but the mask is back to smiling a nice big horrifying smile once again. Malkuth is asked how she's feeling. "Better... I guess I just wanted to be seen. My bad thoughts and my good ones. Thanks for listening to me--and getting the manager to listen." She does sound better, frankly--better than she did even when you first met her. She thinks of her own mistakes--but if she can at least be seen, maybe she can push on and keep on living with her head held high. She's still in Control at least (Kukuru gets an affirmation from Angela but more on that later). Kukuru strokes Kukuru Here's cheek. It smiles at the real deal vacantly. "Eat people...WITH words." Maybe this counts as progress. Rose will take Hibiki's hand up. "Hey, you don't have to be a hero to be someone's hero. It's fine. Actually, sometimes it's easier not to be." One day they'll face that wolf.
Angela	Shajo is told not to stare at Meika like that. He blushes from embarrassment (not attraction). "Sorry, sorry." He rubs at his neck. "Rough day is all. Thanks for breaking me out of that shit. I owe you one, okay?" Worse than upset, Meika, he seems grateful. He isn't clever enough to deceive you and he couldn't pretend to be mad at you if he tried. The flicker fades and she returns to normal. Or maybe... Shajo's concern for her is pretty light. For now, most of him figures she's got it handled. He isn't ANTI-concerned, but he's a firm believer in letting people sort their own shit out unless it becomes other peoples' problems. As far as he's aware, it hasn't been. He's gonna sit there for a minute and just think. "Ahah, well, easy to say that but... It's not exactly the culture I--" He blinks for a moment. He remembers that memory. He remembers seeing Elijah on the floor. Elijah. Elijah. And he remembers ignoring her. Ignore her. Ignore her. IGNORE HER Manager X shudders for a moment. He's not sure he can eliminate those words but... That memory... He's horrified at the person who could do that and if that's the person who was created this culture... He does, in fact, want to defy it. "...Nah," He says. "You've got a point. It might take time for this place to change--but thanks for helping us take that first step, Woz." M.O.M laughs off the apology, though it seems genuine-ish. "Okay, Demon King. Hey--don't worry about it. I'm just glad you didn't off me when I wasn't myself. I promise I'm not always that edgy, Haha!"
Angela	Angela takes a moment to survey the damage. Less than she expected. It's still not great, of course, but when it comes to a Sephirah Meltdown the best thing you can hope for is that the facility can run again another day. She listens to some radio chatter but in a situation like this, she has to allow for some restraint orf her own part. Lilian has asked for her patience. So instead she says, "You know, the Army in Black... It speaks to human nature, doesn't it? When the hearts around us are black, we wish to cloak our own hearts in black to protect ourselves. When the hearts around us are pink, we exult--sometimes mindlessly--in that incandescent bliss." Angela pauses a moment before adding, "But in allowing us to bask in the glow of black and pink--it is all too easy to forget a fundamental truth." "The heart is not pink nor black." "Most people--and I do mean most not all--have a myriad of colors in their heart. The willingness to stand up straight is to acknowledge this truth and move forward anyway, clashing and supporting with those myriad of colors honestly and with clear vision rather than seeking demons or a lighthouse in the sea." "And that is the first step to Generating the Seed of Light." Angela says. "What is that? I will tell you some day when the Script demands it." Of course there are some out there that already know so the possibility of going off the script is always possible. "You too, manager. You have taken just the first step. And it isn't too late to fall into the Abyss once more. Indeed..." "It is the easiest thing to do in the world. You can only fall once you stand, after all." But even Angela knows that saying this is a lot easier than living it. Even the AI struggles to stand sometimes. Even the AI wishes that someone would look back and see her, truly see her. But Angela is not seen today by the one she wants to see her. But that doesn't mean nobody sees her. And it doesn't mean she's looking. Indeed, it's Dragonfly of all people that she sets her eyes on first. While she had seen her earlier in the day before the Meltdown she didn't really get to enjoy it. This time, she does have a moment to look at Dragonfly, golden eyes focused on the other AI. "Thank you for your willingness to do an annoying and troublesome thing." She frankly appreciates how stupid Dragonfly accuses it.
Angela	The tears in Cinder's eyes suggest--well, some of those dead clerks may have been her friends. It's an act of pain and desperation rather than a love of brutality like Shago might throw out there once in a while. Cinder follows after Petra just in case there's another piece of trouble here Also because she has to return that cool gun+blade Petra lent her. And help her with whatever she needs that won't get her instantly vaporized! "You pretty much saved my life so I owe you." Cinder says. SHe's actually asked HER NAME and her cheeks pinken faintly-- "I'm Cinder. From the Outski---From the Nest." Something complicated there but she presses ahead. "And you're Petra right? That Aleph couldn't even touch you..." She'll likely be babbling on for a while yet with her or at least until Petra tells her to shove off.