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Angela	LAST TIME Kukuru, Hibiki, and Sougo successfully dispersed the CULT OF KUKURU...at the price of upsetting Nothing There. But despite everything, Nothing There resisted the urge to devour Kukuru and instead fled down through a hole that Dysnomia made. Why did Dysnomia make a hole? Well, that probably had to do with the EXPRESS TRAIN FROM HELL that barreled down the Info Department. Thanks to Dysnomia, Meika, Touta, and Hook--the train derailed, saving scores of employees in the Info Department--but a train derailment is still a real rough thing to go through. Many clerks and even some Agents were slain by the crashing train...and then CENSORED broke free from containment and devoured Chewie...who was only rescued thanks to a well timed treasure from Hook. Solty and Woz hugged a very precious bear and survived to tell the tale. Meanwhile tensions between Ishirou and Petra boiled over and they did battle but now that CENSORED has broken free, the Manager--in desperation--summoned the Rabbit Team who buys time to allow the Elites to regroup--while handing off goggles that will provide Cognition Filters for Elites on the ground...Though whether they choose to use them is up to to them. But the night isn't over. Because as Hod's Meltdown ends... Yesod's begins.
Angela	BGM: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fcnpCI31Go8&ab_channel=Mili-Topic "When one person's pure ambition and another's tragic ambition join together,, a dream is destined to be born." - Dias, leader of the Udjat. Once upon a time, there was a company called L-Corp. It was cruel and stingy, cautiously parceling out the energy it produced at exorbitant prices. The smoke it churned out made the people around grow ill. 'We have no choice to live with it,' said the people. 'What do you want? A Wing War?' But meanwhile people began to wish for the happiness of others, or they wandered around the Nest aimlessly, or stared into space. Sickness showed on their bodies. And for some, War is hardly a price at all, right? Well, when the Wing War came, many soldiers were sent off to die to feast on L Corp but their Singularity was a well regarded secret. Simply looking upon it could cause an accomplished Fixer to retch and wiping their memories weren't enough to keep it out of their dreams... And now that the war is over...                             CENSOREDCENSORED   WARNING WARNING WARNING WARNING                               CENSORED                    SOR                  E X - S I N G U L A R I T Y                                    CENSORED                ED                        SMOKE MONSTER                        CENSOREDCENSOREDCENSORED                THE SMOKE WAR HANGS OVER US                CENSOREDCENSOREDCENSOREDORED          WARNING WARNING WARNING WARNING           CENSORED               CENS CENSORED                      CEN                                 SORED
Angela	Those who wear the goggles will only see the creature obscured by massive CENSORED bars (everything is cuter with the goggles on). But those that don't... IMAGE: https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/1102716182018134058/1145384083040501952/16931512343031598624588533237935.jpg The creature is skinless, you can see every bit of musculature but it's still wrong and otherworldly. The body is massive, like a headless elephant, Numerous faces, drained of life--indeed drained of everything--black holes where the eyes and mouth would have been, are embedded along its upper body. Multiple mouths, drooling sickening black fluid, have jagged munchy munchy teeth including one in the center (where Chewie had just been) that looks like a monstrous vertical mouth leading into a pitch black abyss. Arms pull out along its side, hands reaching out to the floor, and thick vine-like appendages spread out across its back, no longer attached to processing tubes. Black Smoke exudes from those vines, those mouths. Its as alluring as it is sickening to those without the proper defenses. "We like to rewrite history. We like to paint a thick black line over that which brings us shame." Yesod says. "Pretend our failings never occurred, holding desperately to a rewritten past where we were the stars." Though Kukuru is able to save some with her magic, other corpses get pulled into the beast (others, such as the agents that became paste, are just beyond resurrection). Chewie is amongst the saved Agents though Kukuru needs to spend a bit more effort on him. He's in a bad way. "Even the memories of this beast were erased away, not just by those who fretted over profit--but those that wished to obscure the memory that creatures like this is what brought us our prosperity." And to make matters worse, the Blue Star isn't so pleased at having its own meals from being interrupted. The many legs of the Blue Star fan out as it bashes through its containment center, creating one more Aleph to be problematic as it starts pulling Agents into its Heart--and crushing anything that isn't in its way. "Blue Star too!?" Yuri complains over the Comms. "Just our luck two would happen at once, Yesod was waiting for this moment...A Third Trumpet..." Meanwhile M.O.M lingers by Kukuru, trying to cover for Chewie's recovery. He promptly vomits upon getting a glimpse of the Smoke Monster.. "Manager. There is no purpose in saying you will be a better person if you cannot truly see who you were. What precisely were your mistakes?" The Warpgate, this time, remains Active. Almost like Yesod is all too willing to let the truth of the facility escape into the light of day. It's there, available, eiither for backup...or Escape.
Captain Hook	Hook didn't take the goggles.      That may not have been the best decision. Still, it's his decision - a rejection of false realities, or soft realities, or little white lies to make the world bearable. Even if they're purely benign there's a part of Will that doesn't like being reminded of a world with bent perception. Even if they're purely helpful there's a part of Will that just remembers the people who didn't exist, the cut-out cardboard figures that were Neverland's true inhabitants, hidden by...well, a filter of perception. He won't be subject to that again.      Still, just this once, he may regret that decision.      Because this thing is horrid to look upon.      But he said it not mere moments ago - he *is* Captain William Hook, and the story ends when *he* says it ends.      Hat goes back on the head, Will. More sailing to do.      He flips his cutlass around like a shield and turns his head away from the creature as he stands. Looking at it through its reflection may dull just a little of the horror - a piece of it - and though that's far more dangerous to his physical health, it's much better for his sanity.      When the Smoke War comes, Hook's blade whirls through the air behind him, dancing on a reflex and an instinct and an understanding. It carves through the oncoming smoke, pushes it away, so that only the barest little tendrils crawl about his body and itch and burn against his flesh.      "Ha...Yesod, my lad, there's a difference between hiding a tale and reversing it," Hook says. He dashes sideways, still sweeping aside smoke over his shoulder as he runs. "Hiding it's easy. You bury it somewhere deep where you never have to look at it again, and hope it doesn't make its way crawling back to find you."      "Reversing the story, well, that's holding the page open so you can keep writing until you're satisfied."      Hook slides in front of M.O.M. and Kukuru and Chewie, blade held in front of him to glimpse the creature again, as much as he dares. "If you're not satisfied with how the story's gone, keep writing it until you undo what was done. Fix it. Reverse it."      "So what's the tale you want to reverse, Yesod?"      They're asking for someone to deal with Blue Star. Hook tsks. He glances at Chewie and Kukuru and M.O.M., but...his arm's screwed. He's a liability.      "Keep an eye on him!" He says, and then bolts for Info as fast as he can, drawing his flintlock on the way.      "What's the story this changes, Yesod?!" Hook demands as he takes the elevator. Up, up. Up, up, up. Too slow. Too slow.      The minute the door opens he fires. The loud *bang* of the flintlock echoes as he shoots the floor directly in front of one of the Agents attempting to throw themselves in. He dashes forward, dipping the flintlock in his hip-pouch of powder.      "Blasted hard with the wrong hand," he mutters as he shoulder-checks another Agent out of the way and opens fire at another Agent's foot. It's just a loud, loud bang to grab their attention, but it's something.
Timespace Riders	Sougo (who had de-transformed his armor to slip on the goggles) is joined by his retainer, who arrives fresh from having dealt with the Bear, still slightly winded from the crushing embrace. Woz slips his pair on, and the two transform for the second time--                   KAMEN RIDEEER.. (RIDER..!) ZI-O--ZI-O!! II!                                                Amazing! Time! Future!                                                          KAMEN RIDER WOZ? WOZ?!                                 The two discuss battle strategies on the way to the breakout of the Smoke Monster, each tuned into the radio. Neither of them would be able to resist the pull of the Blue Star--thus:      "Woz, stay close and help me with CENSORED!" Zi-O's double-wristwatch motif helmet bobs with his words, his gold-trimmed bracer sweeping towards the Smoke Monster in accompaniment of his command.      "It shall be my pleasure, sire," says the retainer, his smartwatch-themed helmet dipping once in assent.     Zi-O and Woz, only able to see the monster's silhouette in CENSORED bars, charge towards it, weapons drawn.      Zi-O wields a black-and-silver-bladed greatsword with a crossguard that's near identical to the faceplate of his helmet. Woz, meanwhile, wields a green-tipped spear, with a black haft and a touchscreen just below the head. Both Riders close in and strike at the legs, Zi-O on the left and Woz on the right.      Their strikes cut not only with the initial impact, but with aftershocks of pink and green enrergy, effectively cutting twice per swing. They're fighting conservatively, for the moment, a paired-up and concerted effort to feel the Anomaly out and see how it fights, before committing to any one strategy.
Kukuru	There's not enough time for Kukuru to get a cognition filter on herself. She has them, sure, but she can't afford to put them on just yet when there's so much work to do. Saving Chewie, saving other Agents, saving clerks, saving anyone that's injured or dead and still physically close enough for her to reach, all of that needs her to focus on what she knows is real, and a filter would just block that. She's to blame for Nothing There's escape and Blue Star's current rampage, after all, since she's the one that been so adamant about trying to change the former and enabling the latter to reach as many people as it already did. Dysnomia's involvement in creating the hole for Nothing There's escape is still unknown to her so far. "Yesod... Who does this help?" Kukuru asks with a weary noise coming out of her throat as she keeps working on Chewie's rescued corpse, keeping a steady flow of healing nanites going to keep piecing him back together while also bringing him back to life. It's certainly not her fastest work nor her cleanest, though, since there's simply too many things competing for her attention at the moment. Yesod's having a melt down. Blue Star's breaking out. Another... Something is breaking out, and it's dangerously close to the point that even M.O.M. is throwing up. Countless more Agents still need help, or at least to have their bodies recovered before they can be stolen away by the escaping Abnormalities. "Is this really gonna help the Manager remember things?" It's enough to be overwhelming in any other situation, but she's feeling driven today. Terrible emotionally, but also driven to try and keep this from becoming any more of a disaster. She has her family here with her, and there's plenty others she still needs to save. "M.O.M.! Get over here and take this!" She calls out and gestures with a bloody hand at the filter hanging off one of her horns, coughing several times before waving her arm in front of her face to disperse some of the smoke that her nanites can't quite handle completely. "Be careful, Hook! Don't be too reckless over there!" She calls out to the Captain as she sends some healing nanites off after him, but her direct focus is on getting Chewie back up so there's one less person to worry about. "Is there something you would've wanted me to do differently?" More nanites. That leg should probably get turned around. Twist it a little, heal again, keep pumping life into the body. Kukuru's not a doctor or strict medical expert by any means, but she's brought enough people back to life that she knows enough of what's necessary to get them back up and running away again. Part of her still wants to escape, especially after seeing what CENSORED even looks like. Part of her also regrets not using the cognition filter, but it's too late to unsee that now.
Ishirou	Ishirou does not slip on the goggles.  He knows his eyes and his natural curiosity will cause him to look beyond with other senses.  He does hope, however, that keeping at a distance and doing what he is best at will be enough defense.  He also comes up with a plan to try and weaken Yesod's attempts to make things worse.   He convinces the Manager to hand over his authority to Petra, and focus on Yesod.  He sends an OPTION out to Petra so that she can make battlefield commands on the fly.  He also sends out OPTIONs to others who were not here (Lilian and Tamamo being vocal ones, but the PPGs get one too.) ORDERS: Agents are to get away from the Blue Star's location.  Petra needs assistance.  Lilian and Hook are heading to her, and he's supporting Petra through the network. Also, Petra gets data sent to her, keeping her up to date about telemetry data and tactical options until help arrives.  With this, he also hacks into the facility again, in the attempt to keep Yesod's chicanery in check.  Yesod will have to deal with both a fully engaged Manager... AND Ishirou's hacking to thwart his destruction of the facility.   'Petra, I'm sorry about goading you.  So I'm going to make it up to you by shutting up and following your direction in this... because you were right, you do have more experience here than I do.'
Solty Revant	After the bunny brigade thing Solty thought that things were over, but it looks like they still have some work to do! With the goggles on, Solty moves to take up the spot that Hook has to vacate. "I'll keep them safe, Captain!" she says, giving a child-like salute. Then, she clenches her fists, ready to protect Chewie and M.O.M. however she can.      She doesn't really grasp the full horror of the CENSORED, which is probably for the best. Despite being an android, Solty's mind is actually a bit fragile when it comes to things like mental anguish. Of course, she can't just stand next to them. She has no ranged attacks at all. So, Solty charges directly at the creature. "I'm sorry you were trapped in here and used for whatever is happening here, but I can't let you hurt all these people!" she declares as she throws a power-packed punch at the area where the CENSOREDs in the goggles are most concentrated.      On the up-side, Solty doesn't really need to breathe so might be at least somewhat resistant to the war smoke.
Lilian Rook	'We like to rewrite history. We like to paint a thick black line over that which brings us shame. Pretend our failings never occurred, holding desperately to a rewritten past where we were the stars.'     "Oh? So ordinary people can understand. It just takes something like this to do it. And it breaks them."     Hearing that voice is enough to send shivers down the spine; or what central nervous system remains of one; not simply because of who it belongs to, recognizable anywhere, but because of which of her many 'voices' it is.     Even if it's only a few sentences, that moment where clamouring sirens, screaming clerks, banging doors and frantic footsteps, the chaos of combat and the babble of radio confusion, are all split by just a few, weightless words. The deafening vortex of fear and suffering fades to a backing track for the space of seconds, and Lilian's voice, charged with uncanny sentiment, like malicious relief and ecstatic uncaring, carried eerily far through the halls.     The Warpgate use alert pings cotemporaneously, but that's not important right now. It matters that Tamamo is now present elsewhere in the facility, though.     <J-IC-Scene> Lilian Rook says, "'Blue Star'? Transmit the map data to me. Then the naughty department heads involved."     The door nearest to Hook, in the way of Blue Star's rampage, flies out of its frame and crashes against the opposite wall, blocking the corridor between agents and Abnormality with its twisted frame, corner wedged into the floor and opposing surface. An frenzied spiral of red-streaked inky blackness bursts from the doorway in the same instant, and the air thrums and shrieks in its wake.     It's barely possible to so much as glimpse the individual strokes of Night Mist before Lilian is already past Blue Star, skating to a halt and turning back around for a second pass, pincering it from behind. Already fully armoured, she rushes back through a cloud of severed legs of spilled fluids of her own making, having yet to finish falling from the last flurry. What passes for the Abnormality's blood is streaked back across Lilian's face by the time she plants her blade into it again, palm on the pommel and grip choked up on the hilt, throwing her weight into impaling it against the wall and allowing the anti-Outsider properties of the sword to work.     Judging by her blank expression, she must finally be in top form once again.
Powerpuff Girls	Buttercup Utonium had gone to Petra Soroka's extremely odd birthday party, ate Kukuru's BBQ, and got the feeling off of the L-Corp labs that things were... fine? At least, to the going through it girl of the Powerpuffs, things seemed Fine. Sure there were horrors beyond human comprehension at L-Corp, but there were horrors beyond human comprehension scattered around Silicon Valley. They were usually kinder than the utterly comprehendable horrors around the Valley. It mattered how you lived and who you helped. So Buttercup decided to try and move past her personal moment of among the worst 'missed connections' of her life, and show up to visit Petra Soroka again. Of course, she arrives at a terribly coincidental time. So Buttercup arrives at the warpgate, dressed in a black top and green-tan athletic jacket, black skirt and leggings, and distressed black street boots with green laces, and holding a still hot pair of pizzas in cardboard boxes. Cup pepperoni and garlic and hot cheese scent battles with the fog-like visceral reality of a combat in progress, and an abnormality grabbing and killing people and trying to escape. The emerald Puff's eyes go wide, sees several Townsville allies - including Zi-O and Woz - transforming and fighting on one side, and figures out who to start saving and what to start punching very quickly. 'We like to paint a thick black line over that which brings us shame.' SKRR! disappears the Puff as her pizzas drop, zipping past Sougo and Woz's conservative strikes with a figure eight pivot to build up atmospheric disturbance, a frictive heat striking the air like a match ripping across spark tape at a blur. Halfway through the falling pies, Buttercup becomes visible as her pyronado-driving dive kick past the Riders comes with a 'real' tornado instantly summoned. The pizza pies thunk to the ground, thunderous in their loss, and silent in their rapport, cardboard against catastrophe. Buttercup is screaming. "Oh you'd LIKE to, huh? Is that how things work around here?!"
Tamamo	An emergency call from a familiar location. With Lilian already responding, Tamamo is not far behind her, though she is a great deal slower to prepare, even with magical wardrobe techniques. If Lilian were less readily responsive, she'd likely have taken more time, but as it is, it's more that she 'can't accept' being left behind.     It's therefore with some consternation that she allows for the tactical decision of not sticking immediately behind her in approaching Blue Star, keeping her only long enough to pass her a fresh stack of protective blessings, strips of paper that can be pressed against someone to cure them of curses targeting the mind. She remembers, herself, that time when she was put in the room with the demon, as part of the Immunes test. It was enough to clearly prove the difference in that particular sort of resistance. Those protections can only deal with 'demands' after they've been uttered, rather than prevent one from hearing them.     "Just what is... no, I remember this. Mr. Yesod is 'remembering,' then. His words to the manager are for this purpose, as well, are they not? So, this is a 'meltdown,' or was it a 'breakdown'? I wonder if he intends for the manager to undergo the same."     She takes one of the cognition filters offered, right after coming through the warp gate. Putting it on makes all of the agents and clerks appear... uncannily adorable. Oh no, oh no, this is only going to make things worse when she gets to see the dismembered remains, isn't it?     "The Smoke War... is that something the manager has forgotten?"     Though she makes her way in the direction of CENSORED, Tamamo is paying more attention to the map data routed to her through Ishirou's Option, attempting to coordinate saving as many people along the way as she can. For that purpose. Depending on how the facility is laid out, and on how quickly she can understand it, she can begin laying down seals -- in the form of plastering her ofuda all around an entranceway, from floor to wall to ceiling -- to push the impression of 'this is not an exit,' and thus funnel CENSORED in a more manageable direction.
Petra Soroka	'You seriously make me ill. Please. Don't turn this into a fucking-- healing moment, or something where you try to forgive me. Every time you talk like this, every time you fucking open your mouth, I feel like either you're hallucinating or I am, because nothing you say makes sense. I'm seriously, actually begging you to leave me alone, or I'll kill you however many times it takes.'     Petra staggers backwards away from Ishirou, boots sinking into the partially-melted floor, her suit charred and crumbling. Using Pillar of Creation to support herself, Petra's queasy expression morphs into genuine fear as she listens to the comms. <J-IC-Scene> Ishirou says, "...I have an idea. Manager. For the duration of the meltdown you should focus on Yesod. Instead, let Petra run orders, and I can relay them through my network. Petra has the most experience right now, and would make a good person to make field commands. I can provide her what data I find, and most importantly, the anomolies can't effect her." <J-IC-Scene> Petra Soroka says, "I... fuck. Um-- shit, I-- I'm not, like, a-a Department Head, or even a captain or anything, I--" <J-IC-Scene> Petra Soroka says, "Um-- If we get the-- the agents and clerks away from Blue Star, it won't be too bad, since it's-- it compels people to jump into it." <J-IC-Scene> Petra Soroka says, "So it'll kill like, everyone down there if we don't evacuate them, but of course if most of you go down you'll just jump in." <J-IC-Scene> Petra Soroka says, "CENSORED will just like, kill you itself though. It'll make everyone sick, but as long as you don't look at it too much, or let it get too much of the smoke around, it's-- just like a big monster." <J-IC-Scene> Petra Soroka says, "I can probably take care of Blue Star with Lilian and Hook. We can't all go."     Petra breathes out, her damaged reactor wheezing and rattling in her chest. Two ALEPHS to suppress, and the entire facility depending on her. She doesn't know *everything* about Blue Star or CENSORED-- neither of them are in her Department, and her interest in researching Abnormalities beyond her domain came and went. She's kicking herself for that, now; the sudden pressure of life or death decisions hits her all at once.     When Lilian comes through the Warpgate, Petra is running over to the elevator, drawing morphmetal up her torso while she moves to crystallize over the damaged parts of her suit as sharp plated armor, joinery slipping fluidly across each other to keep her movement free. "Blue Star is down a floor! It won't leave Info, but since Yesod is having his Meltdown-- we'll need to deal with both, I think!"
Petra Soroka	Silver crawls down Petra's shoulder and arm, forming a single 'sleeve' for her makeshift chestplate. Mainly, because that sleeve burnt away, and Petra still doesn't want any of her skin visible, but the armor itself is also pretty cool, if functionally useless since it's made of the same material of her body. The Option gets a Look from her-- it wasn't five minutes ago that Petra told Ishirou to never speak to her again-- but the urgency of a Third Trumpet manages to override even Petra's pettiness, and she accepts it.     Petra rushes after Lilian into the main room of Info, blue and purple glows washing out her skin. Pillar of Creation is melded to her hand by a squirming sheathe of silver, the black glass with flakes of color and golden veins remarkably thematically similar to Lilian's entry swing.     Her boots pulse with energy, accelerating her leap towards the Abnormality, and with the full force of her body, she skewers Pillar of Creation deep into the space-black core of its heart, crashing through the legs surrounding it. Leaving the EGO weapon impaled there, she kicks back away, pulling up morphmetal walls around Blue Star to slow down employees currently being drawn into it.
Hibiki Tachibana	LAST TIME:     Everything sure kind of went to shit. Although they managed to stop the Cult of Kukuru from sacrificing themselves to the Blue Star, Nothing There slipped through the cracks - literally - before they could do anything to stop it. That'd be enough on its own; enough that Kukuru had to go through that, and that they'd have to track it down.     But then Chewie happened, the Express Train crashed, and Yesod went through the trouble of showing them every last bit of it. And now, something awful and terrible is crawling out of the dark. NOW:     Hibiki takes a pair of goggles from Rabbit Team. She's not quite stupid enough to think she can brute force her way through all of Lobotomy Corporation's cognitive hazards, and she's not in the mood to question why they're necessary or exactly what they do either.     And to be honest, she has enough recurring nightmares to deal with already to want to immediately add another one to the list.     "Kukuru...I'll leave this to you, alright?" It's her that Hibiki is most worried about over everyone right now, but she can't do anything to actually help with what she's trying to do. She's only good at such a small handful of things herself, after all, and all it takes is a brief look at her hands slowly clenching into fists to remember what that is. If no more agents have to end up like that... There is no purpose in saying you will be a better person if you cannot truly see who you were. What precisely were your mistakes?     Her expression scrunches up, and somewhere distant at her back, there's a confident voice she doesn't want to particularly hear right now. After a moment, she chases after Zi-O and Woz in a full sprint for CENSORED's direction. The effect of the cognitive filter is somewhat off-putting, but she doesn't let it slow her down very much at all.     Or let it stop her from leaping ceilingward, getting some descending momentum before following up on the Kamen Riders' double strike and Buttercup's pyronado kick to find the part of the Abnormality most covered with those obnoxiously large bars masking its true nature - and thus the part of it that probably has the most mass - and do what she does best.     Smash her fist down into it really, /really/ hard. She'll just need to watch for those smoke exhumes.
Dysnomia	Obedience was difficult, for some. Sometimes, it was conceived like...A muscle, to exercise. To build. To hone against a whetstone. An art to practice, and refine.     Not so, for Dysnomia. It was a habit. An addiction. A voracious, all-consuming THING that ate her up until there was nothing left but itself. And so, when she was handed the filter goggles, she shouted something at the retreating rabbit team operators, instead, her mouth curled into a snarl.     She probably said some words at them, to. Words that quickly fell from her conciousness to the ground, like porcelian shattering at her feet.     And     then     s h e  s a w     i  t  .     In the glorious technicolor of wavelengths of light both visible and non, she saw something that made the nerves in her eyes flared with pain, with the weight of KNOWING. It was nothing like anything she had ever felt before, but it was similar to trigger an impulse of of feral violence.     It was only a moment, before her eyes snapped shut, and she slapped the goggles over her face, in a last-minute reflex to spare her own sanity. She peeked out at the mosnter again, through her goggles, her hand shook, and words felt wrong as she tried to form them in her mouth, the memory of what it truly was clawing at her mind, somehow.     Dysnomia breathed a line of plasma across the floor, between CENSORED and its potential victims, including the half-chewed Chewie. "Move fast." She growled, at Kukuru. "I'll buy what time I can."
Meika Kirenai	Chevalier Vermillin, her resplendant knightly regalia still dusted over with ash and linoleum dust from her role in causing the Express Train From Hell's explosive demise, stares down in trembling shock as Rabbit Team buys them all the small respite. She takes the moments she can to find a suitable length of rebar, no replacement for her hockey stick, but it feels better to hold onto *something* as a weapon, and anything will do. You'll fix this all and help. That's how it'll be. It has to be, for everyone who's already dead, right? It has to be. 'There is no purpose in saying you will be a better person if you cannot truly see who you were.'     Shut up, speaker-person. Just shut up. It's the other way around. It always is. Promising better is just a lie if everyone sees something different.     Curiously, for all Agents and Elites alike utilizing the cognition filter goggles, and their subsequent cutesy-ification of the world, anyone looking at Vermillion through them will notice no change in her appearance whatsoever. No simplification or reduction in design, a resolution as photo-accurate as always, as if towards her, specifically, the goggles aren't working in the slightest, or towards her, specifically, the goggles are redundant.     As she takes and puts them on herself, over her gleaming headband, and blinks at the altered world around her, Vermillion doesn't seem to react in any sort of surprise towards her own appearance in it, not that she's spending time looking at herself that she could spend acting. CENSORED's appearance being clouded-over helps ward away its horror, but the passive echoing of sound in the area alone makes tangible the putrid appearance and motions of the Abnormality, a spine-chilling fear dancing through Vermillion's resolve. Knights are brave in the face of fear, so even if I'm scared...     The bodies being lashed up and swallowed up by the wall of censor bars fights against the pitifully cold comfort of having collected at least a few names in fragmentary index cards, safe within her pockets. Bodies don't get back up, but watching them dissapear is no easier now than at the touch of Temptasions- that crushing sense of something being truly gone. Swallowing, skates push off against the floor, and a series of vaulting hops as speed builds carries her up and over rubble, towards the gash in the containment that she helped cause. It's her duty to throw herself in the face of danger, after all. Hers to hurt for and fight against others facing it.     Brilliant red energy, swirling in a roaring aurora around and across her limbs, builds itself up as she charges. Jumping up into the air, a concussive blast of it cancels her momentum out the opposite direction, leaving her hanging and suspended in a half-twisting pirouette.     Once more, Vermillion tries to play by her sister's methods, to do it right, clean, and heroic, despite the sinking bitterness in her stomach. "Leave the dead to rest! Vermillion Pandemonium : Dragon-Slaying Spears !" One after another, brilliant rods of crackling sound spring into being in Vermillion's hand, her aerial twisting motions the perfect leverage piont to throw them at CENSORED's grasping tendrils, pinning them through with immobilizing force, like insects in a museum.     Maybe some are still helpable... maybe... Just in case, they can't be left alone.. A silent prayer occupies her mind instead of planning her next move, left open in front of the abnormality, but that's fine- her safety is never the priority.
Angela	''So what's the tale you want to reverse, Yesod?'' "...I left the key out in the open. An enterprising researcher with more ambition than sense took that key and tested Cognito on herself. Her name was Elijah." "But you know her as Malkuth. It cannot be undone." "We incited her...We knew what she was like and we carelessly incited her... That's on us not you, Yesod..." "So you can see that much already..." Agents try to throw themselves into the Blue Star (the Blue Star has left containment, leaving it more difficult to escape) but Hook is there and takes a couple shots to deter them, positioning himself between the Blue Star and those very Agents. The Blue Star tries to pull Hook in with a gravitational pull...Is he ready to become the Second Star to the Right? Nearby, Zi-O and Woz hook up (such as it is) and launch a series of cutting strikes at CENSORED. They tear into its hide. But it's TOUGH hide. Or a tough whatever it is. They dig into the CENSORED. Black fluid drips out from where they strike and smoke billows up from where it lands. Probably unpleasant to get that on you for too long. Unlike Nothing There, CENSORED isn't particularly talkative. It's just a monster, really, one that humanity found a way to exploit. The Agents are and Clerks are fleeing Information, relying on the Rabbit Team and the Elites to escape. The Rabbit Team will surely be a big help-- "Ah," Myo says. "Looks like our time is up. Good luck!" The remaining members of the Rabbit Team just get teleported out. Apparently they get paid in short bursts--but they did what they had to, in a strictly mercenary sense. ''Yesod... Who does this help?'' "...You too cannot see what's before your eyes. If you cannot be seen or heard, you scream louder and unleash bigger explosions." Is this really going to help the MAnager remember? Only one way to find out, Yesod thinks. M.O.M takes the Filter and says, "Hey," to Kukuru. "This isn't your fault ok. Please look after Chewie." He unleashes a sweet smelling cherry blossom wave to help blow back some of that smoke with a wave of his fan before taking the goggles and sliding them on quickly. "Got the word to fall back. Be safe." He starts falling back with the others, but he's bound to take up the rear here. Chewie starts breathing again thanks to Kukuru's work but he, unfortunately, can't escape on his own. He's still out cold.
Angela	The Manager does indeed hand authority over to Petra (for this crisis at least) so he can focus on Yesod. She might not be a captain, but she is--in essence--the MVP of the facility. She has helpful abilities that just don't exist in this world. Ishirou can counterhack Yesod. This time, Carmen doesn't interrupt him. The Cameras come back online, this will assuredly help the Manager deal with OTHER parts of the facility that can still very much fuck up in the meanwhile. It's probably not best to think too long about how such a little change as disrupting the Manager's camera access could cause even more trouble throughout the rest of the facility. Things are about as bad as they're going to get in Information already but this helps keep the situation contained. Any lingering employees that are trying to throw themselves into the Blue Star (or escape, but can't escape the pull) are given aid thanks to Petra summoning up a sturdier wall to block them off. They are even FURTHER helped when Petra disrupts the Star by stabbing it with an EGO Weapon--EGO Weapons are extra effective against Abnormalities! The pulling effect is disrupted, allowing another set of employees to escape. The Information Department will be grateful for this for sure. Nevertheless, this does leave Petra near enough to get pulled by the gravitational pull of the Blue Star as well... It does its best. Dysnomia tries to buy some time for Chewie--but buying time won't be enough since he might be out for HOURS. Someone might have to actually physically evacuate him--M.O.M didn't know if he needed more healing. That means he's still in danger... Though plasma--plasma does wonders. Dysnomia exhales a burst of the stuff and it slices off a set of smaller arms from the beast. It lurches backward as she channels her own power. Then Buttercup burns through an outgrowing fleshy appendage before it can try to pull Sougo or Woz in. "I'm peeling back the layer of skin." Yesod says. "This isn't helping, Yesod! We can talk, I won't--look away anymore!" "We'll see." Hibiki punctuates that statement by punching an entire CENSOR bar (one of the heavier looking arms) free, resulting in an ED.
Angela	Angela does not get to see Lilian's best side, but the Dame Commander's entrance results in cheers of relief from the clerks and Agents falling back. They look like they've been through the ringer. "Now that she's here, we might survive to see tomorrow," Sal is saying, treating wounds with bright green ampoules. Then Lilian busts her way onto the scene in a way that would make Gebura proud. A door slices off a limb off of Bluestar, pinning a leg to the hallway. This Abnormality's blood is silver, like Petra's!, and will spray all across Lilian as she digs her blade inside it. She hears a warble that might be a scream of pain across this alien construct as it stumbles back. The wound isn't regenerating. It attempts to retaliate against Lilian by lifting up a swarm of legs and slam them into her. It specializes in mental assault--but it CAN just try to hit a gal. Tamamo will see some adorable puddles and adorable remains on the way over--particularly from Agents that just are beyond even Kukuru's nanites. She asks about the Smoke War. "Most of us have..." The Manager answers. "Seeing the Smoke Monster--we all had to wipe its visage from our minds." Tamamo places her ofudas about. CENSORED has some resilience against mental assault and influence, but it's not perfect. The subtlety works its magic for now. Solty tears into CENSORED as well, doing many blows against its body. The full assault from many vectors is starting to wear the monster down. Even the Manager, glancing over, is in quiet awe as to what a full strike team from Outsiders can do. "Tch..." Yesod says. He made an error in underestimating them. He thought two would be enough from prior outings... Meika is able to impale two large frontal arms into the facility's wall and CENSORED just...seems to take a moment, the smoke pushing out towards Meika and all around and bleeding black goo everywhere....
Angela	"This is just normal for you, isn't it? The horrors in here are not so different from the horrors outside..." Yesod says. The Blue Star is trying to pull Hook and Petra in while bashing Lilian with its many many legs. The gravitational pull is actually rather strong on its own--sometimes the Blue Star pulls in people who actually don't want to escape--but rather just want to escape. Each leg is like a large metal club and it's like there's a kind of muscular behind it to augment the outgoing force. CENSORED meanwhile tries to eat Woz and Sougo, darting forward, ripping free from its limbs as it attempts to just CHOMP down upon the two of them. The flesh that Hibiki is punching through starts trying to absorb her through the body. A tendril lashes out at Kukuru as well, trying to pull her away from Chewie and its dinner. Meanwhile, out of some of the mouths, come a pair of smaller Smoke Monsters, birthing out from the creature as they surge forth. One attempts to tackle into Meika and chomp down on her while another goes for Solty CHOMP CHOMP CHOMP. They leak ooze and smoke, just not quite to the same extent as CENSORED itself. A thick arm swings up and comes crashing down towards Tamamo and Buttercup, it's big enough to hit both in a single slamming motion before it rears back and spits out a black fluid out from its body and towards Dysnomia, trying to coat her into thick black goo. Ishirou meanwhile is still up in Control, hacking. Yesod is a smart guy and starts trying to turn the facility's informational defenses against Ishirou directly, intent on burning out his brain.
Captain Hook	"Aha..."      Hook tsks as he reloads his flintlock again. "So, do you regret it?"      The Blue Star starts pulling Hook in as Lilian flashes by and Petra's squirming silver spikes come down. He turns to grab onto something, but there's nothing to grab onto. Hook lifts off the ground as naught but a normal man.      "Blast," he mutters as he sails towards the creature, sliding his flintlock into his coat.      "God forfend the day Captain Hook goes flying off to a siren star again!"      And there is anger, there, anger pushing against the siren song, anger from a lifetime of imprisonment in shadow-puppet plays. It's the anger of a man who played himself, who allowed himself to be played, the anger of a man pointed inward as much as out, a bubbling anger that he hides under smiles and charm and debonair flash. But here and now the anger is on the surface, and his placid smile is a cold one, and there is a little bit of red in his beautiful eye just like the book says of his namesake.      He yanks his cutlass free and drives it down into one of Blue Star's legs. His feet plant against thighs. He digs in, and then, with great effort and agony, unslings his broken arm and jams the hook in, too.      Hook covers the hole of the Blue Star.      "I'll be damned," Hook says, his voice as venomous as his smile in that instant, "If I let you get anyone else. Understand me?"      The agony of the gravity on his arm is staggering, but in this moment, anger and adrenaline and pure, unfathomable malice carry him, along with the determination to prove a point to Yesod: as long as the page is open things can be changed.      "And if you don't understand me," he hisses into the maw of the Blue Star, "Then I'll carve it into your flesh in tick-tock tones, and make you and your ilk learn:"      "No siren stars can claim Captain Hook."      "Never again."
Ishirou	Ishirou is there, in the mainframe.  He doesn't see Carmen this time but gets the feeling he understands why.  "Thanks," he says to her, "Next time I'll come without it being an emergency, and we'll talk.  I have questions... a lot of questions.  I feel you might have answers.  For now... I need to focus on the facility.  On Angela, on my friends..." he says, closing his eyes in the real world. He sees the informational defenses turn on him.  That's fine, he wants that.  If Yesod is focused on him, that means he's NOT focused on the others and making things worse.  It attacks, but if Ishirou is good at anything, it's information itself.  In the data stream, he draws data barriers around himself, aiming to send the attacks around him and away.  He can't push everything away. However, he CAN control the damage.  When it strikes and tries to overwhelm his mind, he compartmentalizes things.  Sending things forward to deal in the future, aiming to quarantine others.  However, to Yesod, it'll look like he wasn't phased at all, despite the reverse being true.   "You can't fight me like that, Yesod.  But... I think I understand.  Malakuth is right about you, and I was wrong.  But... you shouldn't bear the burden yourself either.  You can't be perfect, nor can anyone.  People rely on each other when they stumble and fall.  Right now, he's relying on you... even if it seems like you're picking the slack up again.  That's fine, keep it up." "Because you want this to succeed... but you need to make sure he's ready to take on what's ahead.  Which is worse, isn't it?" It IS partially a distraction, trying to hit at Yesod's emotions, while also trying to give the Manager clues.  During this, he surrounds the Data defenses with important-looking data and keeps them boxed in.  Changing the platform into a falling block puzzel game, trying to keep the defenses blocked in, while Yesod's trying to delete them.   On the outside, Ishirou clutches his head for a moment, even if the strain is physical and he stumbles on a fallen-over table to brace himself.  While also cutting the feed to his room.  However, over the network, Meika gets a stream of data.  OPTION's close in on her hover over her shoulder and help direct her attacks to place them where she wants them to be. More data becomes available to Meika as well, letting her options open up, and making each and every strike she does more meaningful.
Dysnomia	The feral, animal demand to cleave this disgusting thing into pieces. Her hands lengthened into plasma-sheathed claw, and she launched forward at CENSORed, memory and threat pushing her past sense.     The hand that was still 'human' gripping a emergence of light, unspooling into a long whip of violet energy that began to hiss through the floor.     But not for long. She raised the whip, unspooling the ribbon of light, then lashing, coiling it around CENSORed. With a yank, she struggled to draw it back to her, away from everything and everyone else it might dig its CENSORs into, eyes burning, giving all the rest a cleaner shot at the creature.     "Die. Die! DIE!" Her words dissolved into a roar, as she fell on CENSORed, trying to hold it in place with her whip while she rended it to shreds, as if that would make the memory of its existence fade from her mind. "JUST DIE!"
Solty Revant	-She, and Angela, need us to keep our heads in the game-      Solty got distracted with the mention of Angela. She can't be blamed for wondering if the new friend who is also an AI/Android is okay, can she? But, Ishirou gets her focused again.      Just in time for a mini-CENSORED to emerged. It leaps at Solty, those jaws ready to rend android components. But, when it lands...Solty simply isn't there. To the creature, it would seem but the blink of an eye. To Solty...      The creature leaps. Time seems to stop for everyone but her. A blue tint seems to cover everything. She looks at the creature, then hops back to just out of range of where it would land in a moment. She rears back with one arm, and her fists steadily gain a strange orange-yellow glow that flows almost like a water pattern and seems to blur the visibility of that fist.      Time resumes, Solty is there with a punch already charged, that glow flowing off of both fists visibly. She leaps forward, throwing a powerful Kinetic Punch. It typically explosively vaporizes an area, or hammers it like a massive cannon shot. Or both.      Still moving forward, she aims a second punch at the main CENSORED, spinning a couple of times before actually throwing the punch to get as much extra omph as she can. "That's enough!!"
Kukuru	"Of course. Once Chewie's back up and we're clear, I'll be joining everyone else." Kukuru nods slowly at Hibiki and Dysnomia as she keeps her gaze focused on Chewie, making sure not to look directly at the Smoke Monster yet while she's still busy working. "I'm counting on you and everyone else, too, so... Be careful. Please." She adds while looking and sounding focused for once, knowing full well just how many mistakes she had to have made for things to reach this point. With any luck, no more mistakes would be made today, especially after hearing why Yesod's opted for this course of action. She doesn't even have an immediate response to him, either, knowing full well the extent of what she could have even attempted to stop instead of making things worse. '...You too cannot see what's before your eyes. If you cannot be seen or heard, you scream louder and unleash bigger explosions.' "Until someone finally listens, right? And... Just hearing you isn't enough, or thinking you mean what we want to hear, but really understanding what you want, even if we don't want to hear it." Getting up slowly as she gets Chewie stabilized, Kukuru looks over at M.O.M. with a sympathetic smile while he starts taking the rear for the escaping Agents. "I will. I'll... I'll make this right, so keep the others safe!" Digging into her pockets, Kukuru draws out a pair of massive claws, each one nearly as large as her torso while turning to face the Smoke Monster directly. Just looking at it causes a painful flinch to shoot through her, still having trouble processing the monstrosity before her even with her resistance to unnatural attacks on her mind. Chewie still needs her protection, and she sees the tendril coming for... Chewie? Better intercept it before it can reach him. Not realizing it's actually coming for her anyway, Kukuru steps forward to present a bigger and easier target for that grasping appendage, turning around just long enough to slip one of her claws under Chewie and promptly flinging him away from herself and the Smoke Monster. Thankfully, Kukuru knows how to use those claws. Despite their size and sharpness, she's gentle enough to do it without cutting him up, yet strong enough that flinging him might very well make sure he's out for another hour or two depending on how he lands. Either way, she lets the tendrils pull her in and kicks off the ground to propel herself right at the Smoke Monster, letting out a pained choking noise as she ends up going a bit too fast and a bit too hard at all those mouths and all that foul smog making it harder to breathe properly. The nanites help to weather it all. It doesn't make the bites and pulling any less painful on her body or the choking any less hard on her lungs, and the smaller Smoke Monsters probably have an even easier target now that Kukuru's throwing herself right at it, but it keeps her from just falling into a heap on the way over. "Yesod, it's not too late to..."
Kukuru	What can Yesod expect from her, anyway? Up until now, hasn't Kukuru been the one that created the problems with handling Nothing There? That put so many people in danger of Blue Star, that will probably result in even more deaths with the escape of Nothing There outside of the facility? "... I'm ready to listen for real if you ever want to talk to me again!" Kukuru hurtles right into the Smoke Monster, claws brought up to her sides as she whirls herself around to face it directly. Fear and inability to fully process what she's looking at aside, she still knows she's up against something threatening to destroy her family. All she needs to do, then, is destroy it first! The claws come together in a mighty slam, and then she pulls back to start smashing those claws into it again. Back, and forward again. Each time she does it, it's always a simultaneous crash of her limbs and extensions into the Smoke Monster, combined with a scream that's equal parts desperation and anger. By the time Kukuru's arms start to tire, she resorts to digging instead, like she's trying to tear it apart to reach whatever's inside. Those it ate, perhaps, as if she's trying to dig out something or someone she can bring back.
Tamamo	Tamamo doesn't want to get close to CENSORED at all. Seeing the signs of death and hearing the sounds -- the utterly, incomprehensibly unsettling sounds of things she cannot properly see -- is already enough for her. Seeing Dysnomia react to a brief sight of the thing, the Smoke War's Monster, is enough to ward her from taking a peek, even if she'd been otherwise curious. Being unable to see something can only make it less frightening if you cannot see those it harms.     Still, she almost got too close... almost, but not quite. When it moves to attack her, she swings her arm as if to ward herself, and its appendage strikes instead the suddenly-visible surface of her divine mirror, manifesting as her shield.     "No, thank you. I must go. The rest of you, do take care." Those who could be evacuated have been, leaving only the elites fighting against the Abnormality.     Rushing off through the facility at full speed, Tamamo's no powers of instantaneous motion, but it's a determined sprint to reach Lilian's side, cloth fluttering and geta tapping. Ishirou can handle supporting the other side, now that it's come to this point. She just has to...     And there it is. Her own defenses aren't quite suited to resisting Blue Star. The gravity of the Sun, combined with that of a Star, results only in a stronger attraction. She must rely upon others, and quickly.     Tamamo pushes the goggles up from her eyes, resting on her forehead and pinning her hair. She needs to see clearly, though it's not a matter of light. Golden eyes narrow, unfocus, and refocus, looking for threads to follow. There, she finds them, the connections between this Star and...     "You have touched everyone here, already? And yet... there is no future in you. You pull all of them toward yourself, yet of those who have passed, you retain nothing. Is this a false and fleeting hope, or is it...? No, it makes no difference in what must be done. I can feel this to be true; this is the feeling of something humankind would create."     Her judgment is spoken aloud, while her twisting of the threads produces no sound. It's only a manipulation of 'luck,' a control of perception and happenstance, like troubled waters merely happening to buffet all in one direction. Everything is arranged for one particular result: Lilian will defeat the enemy. The presence of Captain Hook and Petra are accounted for, allowed and assisting toward that end.     To ensure a particular future requires one to make it with their own hands. Tamamo knows this well, and that is why she pulls the strings with an unyielding force.
Meika Kirenai	As CENSORED's miniature copy lunges at her, Vermillion can only doge inasmuch as feel out the monster's shape and forcibly grab its jaws to keep them from closing around her. Resonant force barrels down her limbs, letting her do just that- the furious expression on her face as she stares down its nothingness is quickly replaced by a more-appropriate glare of resolve. Twisting her body, she throws the beast to the side, and herself launched back from it, braced to charge with skates ripping at the floor.     "There won't be anything left of you to hurt with. Vermillion Tremor : Endless Cacophany!"     She's been workshopping these. It helps that she's had a lot of free time, to try and think how Kayoko would do it, after all.     Holding the length of rebar like a blade, brilliant red sound pours down its length, dripping and moving more like sharp liquid than ephemeral magic. The rod doesn't look like a sword, but as it slashes through the air at CENSORED's smaller clone, Vermillion's own strength ensures it cleaves like one- and the cutting flow of magic careens into the body of the minion, shredding it through concussive force alone with a defeaning screech. The outflow is instant, like grounding a livewire, but it doesn't stop at the miniature abnormality. Screaming and thrashing, the plague of sound grows and spreads, turning monstrous flesh into rippling puddles of black tar and jumping like lightning to the other clone, and to the host's body.     Vermillion throws the rebar stick to the side, it impaling itself into the concrete floor to a depth of fully half its length, as if the ground were made of soft butter. Her skates click on approach, the quiet heel-toe impacts splashing at the tar pools like miniature depth charges, closing the gap. The censoring bars don't hide her target, even if her eyes are spared the smoke monster's horror, echolocatative senses showing just how it's reeling under the cutting halo of her magic. 'The horrors in here are not so different from the horrors outside.'     Yesod's comment grates on her in a way she wishes she could brush off. A faint gleam fades, ever so slightly, in her shining armor- the filter doesn't let a small echoing flicker in her motions be seen, however. "Every-day horrors are still- are still *horrible*. How can that surprise you, if- if you're wanting the curtains to be pulled back?" A gloved hand wipes at her face, and Ishirou's OPTIONS unit arrives. She'll be sure to- No, I don't need to thank him. He chose this, and I had it under control. Instead of letting its readouts guide her, instead of focusing on its targetting advice, or letting anyone else tell her how to do it better, Vermillion grabs the drone in a gauntletted arm, summons crushing, crashing magic up and into its form, before winding back and throwing it like a baseball towards CENSORED, her own senses letting her know just how to aim it.     The throw goes off more like a gunshot, at the speed and force, and at the defeaning, echoing noise of her own magic. The projectile matters less as mass than as a vector for her to force endless cuttingly-sharp waves of pressure around the outside of CENSORED- and inside, should the drone punch that deep.     "Vermillion whatever. Die faster." Her followthrough steps cl-cl-click and smear against the hard flooring, as she turns, scowling. You've caused enough hurt.
Petra Soroka	<J-IC-Scene> Lilian Rook says, "Is Angela listening?" <J-IC-Scene> Ishirou says, "No, during a Meltdown she becomes inactive." <J-IC-Scene> Lilian Rook says, "How disappointing." <J-IC-Scene>Lilian Rook says, "She won't see my best side."     Petra, however, is thriving. She doesn't have any ability to cure the compulsion from Blue Star that drives the agents and clerks to throw themselves in, but it's actually pretty easy to *stop* them from getting there. Watching blood stream out of the carved path that Lilian made through the storm of legs, silver gushing onto the ground to mix with Petra's, is a bit of an uncomfortable feeling, but it's dwarfed completely by watching Lilian work.     Petra's morphmetal walls stretch into tendrils as gravity exerts its force on them, and she rigidly clenches her whole body with the effort of trying to bend them around employees to anchor them to the ground. Her control over them isn't fine enough or strong enough to resist the pull of Blue Star, and her Silver pulls away droplet by droplet, becoming a faucet drawn into the center of its heart. With Pillar of Creation still stuck inside of it, though, the Silver clumps around the spear instead, swelling in mass like a clot rather than disappearing into its black hole.     Petra herself is anchored to the ground by more of the same, silver spearing through the bottom of her boots to lock her feet to the ground. With Hook taking the core of Blue Star itself, Petra dashes around the floor to keep the employees safe. Between the gravity and the flailing storm of legs, she can only think of one way how: throwing herself in front of them.     Sturdily locked in place with her Silver anchors, Petra gets battered by each hit of the legs, using the morphmetal that's knocked loose to form temporary walls in front of other clerks, splattering into droplets after a single hit. It's just not possible for her to actually protect every one of them, not when they keep throwing themselves towards Blue Star, drawn into reach of its indiscriminate melee attacks even with Hook blocking anyone from falling in. A couple more clerks, Petra can't tell how many, are crushed and broken by the attack. Earlier: <J-IC-Scene> Tamamo says, "If Vermillion needs no further assistance, I shall focus upon Lilian, though I expect to be in range of either position, shortly." <J-IC-Scene> Petra Soroka says, "I-- could..." She trails off before finishing the sentence. <J-IC-Scene> Petra Soroka says uncomfortably, "Nevermind."     'I could use help with curing the last employees from Blue Star' was what she meant to say, with Tamamo's curse-healing being able to snap the enthralled employees out of it, letting them run. Petra knew it wouldn't be easy without that, but-- requesting anything from Tamamo felt impossible, even in a situation with lives on the line. And that's the result.     "H-Captain Hook. Can-- can you g-get-- look out?" Petra's voice wobbles, and when Blue Star's flailing stops, she forces the employees behind her to the ground.     'Lilian will defeat the enemy' is essentially how her thought process goes too. The Silver mass enveloping Pillar of creation bulges backwards towards Petra, then peels away and pulls the spear out to deliver it back to her hand. Adding all of that mass to clump around Pillar of Creation, Petra leaps into the air and drives the spear downwards, repulsor boots firing her down at the apex of her jump. When she crashes into the Abnormality, her goal is to just slam it to the floor, pinning it down for Lilian to finish off.
Hibiki Tachibana	Direct the bulk of your support that way. If one of the weak links dies, it'll throw the rest into disarray.     Tachibana is motivated today so she'll be reliable.     Hibiki hasn't said a single thing over comms since Yesod began his meltdown. That doesn't mean she's not listening. She's heard every single word, and although most of them have been glossed over - with varying levels of relief that everyone is so focused, mixed emotions at others, and a half dozen other things besides - some can't pass by so easily.     Like that. Something about Lilian's comment and Ishirou's follow-up catches her, and rather than a moment where she appreciates being called 'reliable', she can only process it as being seen as reliable 'today'; any other, and she'd be the weak link at risk of dying. Just Lilian saying that would be another dull blow added onto countless others, but...     It keeps her in her own head long enough that she has a moment where she jolts, eyes wide, realizing that CENSORED has already swallowed her arm up past the shoulder, and is working on trying to pull in more. "Ah!? Damnit--!" Her immediate and hasty attempt to draw back doesn't quite manage, and she strains for a second before the attempt gives way and she rubber-bands back into its body.     She might not be able to see it properly thanks to the cognition filter, but she can still feel it--the lifeless skin, the leaking liquids, and she can inhale the horrid smoke coming off of it. It incites another panicked urge to draw back, to much less effect than she'd like. Although a moment of clarity strikes, right in the middle of it. We can talk, I won't--look away anymore! Why is she trying to get away from it?     "You won't get me...that easily..." Hibiki grits her teeth and stops resisting. Instead, the gauntlet embedded inside the Abnormality's body begins expanding, shifting, changing--piston becomes turbine, whirling up and shredding apart internal flesh as it kicks into an intensifying spin, an increasing thrum beneath the monster's surface.     "I'll make sure to take you down--" Her free hand comes up to grasp at the cognition goggles, and almost violently rip them away.     The immediate urge to vomit is grossly overwhelming. Even this close, stuck shoulder-deep where she can barely see most of its body, enough bile bubbles up that she nearly chokes on it while trying to vocalize. The deep, deep instinctual urge to look and pull away ices over the inside of her thumping chest.     Her voice is dry and hoarse, desperately swallowing it down in the heat of the moment. "--looking at you head on!"     The machinery inside her gauntlet reaches a rotational peak, and the retracted armor exposing it slams back into place, unleashing all the built-up kinetic energy right inside of CENSORED's body. Like one of her normal pilebunker punches, multiplied in scale.     An explosion of raw force, to blast it apart from the inside out.
Powerpuff Girls	It'd be easier if the rest of the girls were here, and Buttercup could fall into the familiar patterns of working as a unit. Where she, and her sisters, would synch up into perfect unison even at blistering super-speed, and all the problems would melt away simply before a single day's work. The easier times. When she was little, and the problems were sized for one, two, or three, and not--             --screaming dozens-- and the day could be saved and everyone went home at the end. Cursed to feel it like an itch on the skin, like a taste in the air, the uncomfortable physical reality of disaster. Hearing every crunch (ignore it), every wet gasp (it's real, but), every pitiful whimper and hope's-end rattle (I can't fix it all). It's nothing new. It reminds her exactly where she is, and exactly what she's doing, even without the Rabbit Team's convenient protection. Fierce emeralds glare down the mass of flesh and it's extremely obviously telegraphed horrible psychohazardous overhead. The power 'of the Sun' (Tamamo), however, interposes a massive mirror overhead, and Buttercup is spared the scope of the swing. She's only taking emotional damage! From under the span of the divine implement, Buttercup touches her feet to the ground, goes through the first tenth of a second of a forward-leaning crouch, and bursts into another emerald-blur SKRRR! of hyperkinetic motion right into the teeth of the beast where it tries to give Woz and Zi-O the Obligatory Tokusatsu Monster That Eats You Threat. Psychohazard or no, the Powerpuff doesn't even have to think about it at all to dive in and save who she can reach. Glowing with a radioactive-green hue as her speed stops on a dime and all the imparted momentum goes off like a gun, Buttercup explodes (literally) against the mouth and teeth of the censored beast, motion becoming a detonation of pressure in a cone off from where she stops, besides the Riders. She doesn't Look - refuses to use the heat vision - and instead reaches out with invulnerable palms to grip and seize the jaws wide after that, hands closing around teeth and refusing to move or budge. She can't be eat: because she can't be beat. Or so the logic goes. The lunacy she gets up to isn't useful for saving Dysnomia -- but it's pretty good setup for the Timespace Two-oh. Buttercup is always looking to fall into gangs of three.
Timespace Riders	Zi-O coughs, as the scent of CENSORED's ichor filters into his helmet. Having heard Yesod's explanation, it's hard not to feel guilty, wearing the goggles as he is. It's hard, too, not to ask what Sylvi would think. But the simple fact is that I need to be in fighting shape for this, or more people will be hurt. CENSORED lurches forward, drawing a startled cry from him.      Buttercup's high-speed, highest-strength save coves in clutch, her staunch grip on deathly-sharp teeth blurred by black CENSOR bars. They can see only that she holds fast against something. An unspoken understanding sparks between them like lightning in the night sky, there and gone but having in its brief moment painted everything around in stunning detail. It takes only that instant for the both of them to move, each acting in the time given them by the green Puff.     "Woz," he says after a cough, trying in vain to expel the burning itch in his throat. "Buttercup's got the right idea! Power forms!" They'll need the strength to get through the thick hide they're kept from seeing. He pulls the black-gold half of the twinned Zi-O II Ridewatch from his belt, replaces it with another. This one bears an adjustable bezel, unlike the others, with its face split between three partial cameos.                  Reborn with Solar Power! BLACK RX! Roborider!                                     Dekai! Hakai! Gokai! Futurering Kikai! KIKAI!                        The two Riders have changed forms, both into robot-themed armors. Zi-O's is yellow and black, highly evocative of the late-eighties with its sbulky profile, the katakana 'RIDER' lenses shifted to a deep red. Woz's is sleeker, his cuirass gold with evenly spaced exhaust ports, bodysuit sporting circuit lines, the antennae on his helmet replaced with a pair of crossed wrenches.      "I feel like... the King of my Sadness," says Zi-O, mangling Kohtaro's catchphrase as he stomps forward and winds up for a superpowered punch. "Why did you think he needed to see this, to understand what the company is?! We don't," says Zi-O to Yesod.      The bulky armor's servos whine audibly, and the impact of his fist is hard enough to cause an audible burst, a flash of white light emanating from the point of impact. "I can smell it." He is slow, in this form, his next impact, a brutal knee strike, coming nearly a full second after the haymaker--"The goggles don't help with the -smell.- I can smell everyone who was burnt on Ayin's pyre. Maybe he can too. And he probably could before you let it out--before he knew what it was or who he was, in the back of his mind."--but that, and the snap kick from the opposite leg, hit just as hard as the power-forward punch. "You're not wrong to question whether he can change--or whether anyone can! But -none- of you will, if all you ever do is relive the past!!" If Dysnomia is going to bind it, for however long, he and Woz intend to take full advantage.      Speaking of Woz, the retainer's strength form isn't as exaggerated as his King's, but also doesn't suffer the same sluggishness. Four mechanical manipulators, tipped with crushing two-pronged claws, emerge from his back, and strike like the stingers of scorpio0ns, claws closed to act as blunt instruments, while Woz's human arms stab and batter with the tip and haft of the spear in alternating strikes.
Lilian Rook	'This is just normal for you, isn't it? The horrors in here are not so different from the horrors outside...'     "For some of us, certainly." Lilian says, oddly conversational, given her state of being literal hilt deep in Blue Star. "This is, after all, what I chose to dedicate my tale to. At first, at least. 'Dame Commander' isn't a title for show; driving back 'those who have wronged my people' is something I was born with in my blood." She shifts her grip just so, securing pressure with palm to pommel and gripping the quillon by hand to twist the blade into the wound. Fresh blood spurts onto her cheek; the blade sinks two inches deeper.     "But if we're talking about horrors outside, there are worse than Abnormalities, right? After all, you all agreed with her; that these monsters were a fair price to pay for slaying the devil whose name you can only just barely comprehend. That's why you can stomach feeding your people to these things, isn't it? On some level, you understand that humans only seem less monstrous as individuals."     A string of script smoulders along the length of Night Mist's fuller. The writing hisses like coals pressed to flesh, where Blue Star writhes against it.     "It's funny. I've never felt this way fighting monsters, before." says Lilian. She wrenches her blade free from Blue Star sideways; a thin line of silvery gore paints a half-circle across the walls around her. "I used to feel as if I hated them; like anything that would dare to raise a hand against my fellow humanity couldn't be suffered to live one more second." The Abnormality's countless legs come crashing down on her; the usual time where she'd blink away and come at it from another side. But Tamamo arrives just then, and so . . .     Instead, Lilian merely pushes down on the pommel and allows the sword to revolve up over her head with almost careless ease, hanging the flat against the assault and squaring her center of gravity. The first wave of blows land on it with a thunderous clang. The floor groans around her feet. Her armour clicks like winding mechanisms as her body absorbs the force. She tilts the flat of the blade with a twist of her wrist, and slides forward under the attack, sending legs sliding past her. "How dare something exist in opposition to the only thing I share with anyone, you know? All sorts of feelings flared up inside of me; like these invisible embers under all this ash, that would only burn white hot when some horrid abomination breathed life over them."     Her forward lunge is counteracted by a jabbing limb; she braces the blade across her other arm and sends the shock down off the tip, turning sidelong slicing along the leg's length. Two sweeping extremities crash against her leg; she plants her foot a centimeter into the steel flooring and takes it to the angle of her armour, splashing motes of dim gold light from the impact, seeming to slow and stretch on for a moment. Flailing kicks come at her head, and she brings Night Mist over and down in repeated hewing cuts, carving shallow gashes in the floor with the point from the speed of each revolving hack. Another blow slips under her arms at her midsection; she wades forward into it, tensing muscles and gathering energy, so that it, too, breaks on the black of her armour; the cost of another step.
Lilian Rook	"But now that you mention it, Yesod, I don't feel that rage any longer." A swift sidelong cut from hip to upper quarter splits a leg in half before it reaches. "It's not as if the monsters got any better. They didn't become any more or less deserving of hatred." Two more blows from opposite sides; light bleeds where Lilian crashes her elbow into one steely shin, to draw back Night Mist and skewer the next through the ankle, dismembering it with a vicious twist.     "Now, it just feels like a juvenile phase. Wasn't it a mistake to place so much significance on something so simple? Something so shallow and pure as a creature that only kills people doesn't deserve that sort of obsession." One more step carries her within arm's reach of the heart. Turning the edge in pendulum cleaves apart another leg coming from above; a preemptive snap kick of her own disables one below, and bringing in her arm takes one more to her armoured shoulder.     "So, thinking about that, it's obvious why they'd really be the same, right? No matter the differences between Abnormalities and Antegent, in the face of those feelings, they're both just another acceptable vessel." Drawing back her sword from the tangle of limbs above her head sends silver blood and dismembered flesh scattering up into the air. A twitching, severed foot is crushed where Lilian plants her stance. A talisman is smoothly pressed to her thigh, and burns off. The point of her blade edges down into place by precise, mechanical degrees. Her armour tick-tocks from each adjusting motion.     "The horrors in here and the horrors out there . . . Before them, sword in hand, is the only place I'm allowed to feel it; and just for a little while, let it out." A deep breath in, and Lilian's fingers glow with heat and static where they contact the hilt. A glance over her shoulder to Tamamo and back, and Lilian's eyes gleam with a moment of burning lucidity. A deep breath out, and Lilian's breath fogs on the flat of the blade, and the black metal mists with swirls of little stars. "How sick of humanity I am."     Petra pins Blue Star to the floor just as Lilian has already seen. Rooted in place, she takes just one more moment to gather power. Palpable heat courses from the luminous root of her armour at her chest. Dusty gold conduits of power burn brightly enough to resemble cracks. "And knowing how much more human I am than everyone else, but not being allowed to say it, I made myself believe that the horrors were to blame. Isn't that more comfortable? Surely you must understand at least a little bit" For the blink of an eye, it looks like §someone else's(?)§ hands are holding the sword along with Lilian's, arms entwined with her own, identical in proportion. "I'm so glad that I just accepted it. Saving the weak, slaying the strong, standing up against terror and restoring hope; it doesn't feel bad like this, haha."
Lilian Rook	A final click of settling armour and blade. For another blink, the air around Lilian fills with a harsh, incendiary buzz; her silhouette briefly crackles with static, and phantom images scatter, overlap, and collapse; silhouettes of white void with black star eyes. "Fighting because you want to is so very different. I could really fall in love with it."     "Cleasanna Lilí Dubha ~ Scéalta sé Éigeandála Síocháin!!!"     Ambient wavelengths compresses into harsh black and white. The line drawn by Lilian's cut presses light and dark together at its borders, mingling into exo-red and splitting into fourfold overlapping arcs. Lilian blinks from one side of the hall to the other. Blue Star-- itself, reduced to black and white-- is split with flowering patterns of lacerations that tint vantablack rather than silvery with gore, and glow with radioactive heat. The wounds themselve fizzle like static at their edges.     In the space of a single heartbeat, the displacement of air catches up, and collapses in a brief, roaring vacuum behind Lilian. Blistering heat scours the walls, and molten footprints fade into the floor plates. Lights flicker and dim, then brighten up to normal once again.
Angela	Tamamo reads fate of the Blue Star (and, indirectly, a bit of the Smoke Monster's). The Blue Star cuts off the fate of those around it but it too remains here, while those it sends away get tangled in new Threads. Tamamo pulls on those threads. The Abnormality seizes at a critical point in the tale. This Isn't going to end well for it. As is proven when Petra tackles into the monster and pins it solidly to the ground/ For all its legs, being knocked onto its back is a pretty good way to keep it from sucking anybody (else) in. It doesn't seem like it can really get back up that easily? Seizing the monster up in that critical moment is all Petra needed. What comes next is bound to be unpleasant. Hook denies the siren star. Hook has determined that the Star will take nobody else--not even clerks, and Yesod ... Yesod remembers... "Caring even for those that seem so fragile..." Yesod murmurs as Hook pulls back his cutlass for one final strike and-- A little earlier, the Dame Commander also speaks to Yesod. "Your blood, is it..." "Yes... We all agreed that humanity was more frightening than any Abnormality. Indeed, we sought out the Abnormal, Dame Commander. We broke bread with the monsters. The relationship is more symbiotic than may be apparent. Elijah helped guide us to the First Abnormality. It horrified me so much I scratched myself to death." But that was not the end."
Angela	BGM: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-qe54-ZOkC4&ab_channel=ProjectMoonOfficial Do you remember Kukuru? Do you remember when you spoke to Yesod? How he scratched at his arms, scratching scratching even though they were metal? Could you hear the horrible scraping? That was the sign that this was going to happen. He was never one to tell on himself until it was too late. ''On some level you understand that humans only seem less monstrous as individuals. "You understand us well, Commander." Lilian use to hate the monsters. Yesod too has something to say here. "I hated them as well. But I no longer have that reaction to the monsters. No, when I claw at my arms now... It is because of humanity." ''A creature that only kills people doesn't deserve that sort of obsession.'' And more besides. "Perhaps you really are the one who can get past the Red Mist. The Abnormalities satisfy your blade, not the other way around. Just like with her." ''And knowing how much more human I am than everyone else'' It's not really Lilian's words, however, that draw Yesod's focus away from Ishirou, and the battle. It's the eyes. It's when he sees those white voids and black star eyes.... "You..." Yesod says. "It's possible... Our dream...it was possible after all... More human than human... More alien than alien... We wield the blade of our EGOs and pass through the mirror...Free." Lilian strikes at the Abnormality a thousand times in the span of one well aimed strike of Hook's. Each blow shaves off a leg, tearing all protections free from the creature. And then Lilian steps forward. Hook feels the wash of heat crash into him from behind as he drives his blade into the center of the heart. It bleeds even from the void, but it pulls him in, so close, so close even Will cannot suffice. And one thousandth of a second later, Lilian finishes her step. Footprints none saw Lilian take burn into the floor and Lilian is behind the creature. Or rather, it's corpse. The pull stops, Hook will not fall into Neverland again. He decides his own fate. A pirate is free. And the heart collapses to the ground, flickering briefly before going still. Lilian hears someone call out to her from below. She knows who it is. Angela's mother. Lilian... You really are beautiful. I wish every human...could be a little more beautiful like you, so you can be a bit happier...
Angela	ONLY DIRECTLY TO ISHIROU ''You can't fight me like that, Yesod.'' "...Certainly. If he cannot handle me, how would he handle true elites like Chesed and Hokma?" "And he must be challenged...Though even accounting for your power, I have underestimated you all. But this will be the last run, one way or another..." "But if you can be this thoughtful now, why do you always stumble back into your past incompetencies, Ishirou? If you can be this smart and practical and kind and understanding... Is it not worse that you are capable of doing better yet so commonly fall into your base impulses? Can I trust this is evolution, or simply another turn of the wheel?" He is rapidly being shut back out of the system. This Meltdown isn't going to last much longer. Dysnomia has gone berserk. This could be really dangerous for the facility--if she doesn't get satisfied with destroying CENSORED that is. It's just the Smoke Monster, really. It's days of glory are behind it, but still it suffers here in this facility along with the other monsters. But some beasts maybe just can't work alongside humanity. Not in its current state. The light whip swings around Censored--but it's a tough monster to just pull back. The whip BURNS though. Kukuru, however, can at least save the lives in front of her. Chewie will live another day. Yesod laughs faintly, as if embarrassed, by Kukuru offering to speak to him again. His eye half lids closed. He knows his time is nearing an end. At this point it's wrap up. If the Outsiders her don't finish it up, those at the Blue Star will shortly after. But as expected, they do destroy CENSORED. Kukuru leads the charge by throwing herself at the beast. She scratches, scratches, and claws at the hide but at this point, there's nothing left inside it but itself. Black fluid spills around Kukuru, burning her--though she can take it. Sometimes you can't save everyone even if you can save mostly everyone. "Alright Kukuru."
Angela	Kukuru's clawing prevents the Smoke Monster from bringing any sort of further offense to bear. ''Every day horrors are still horrors'' "Haha...Well... Perhaps it's because I'm from a Nest, I never really understood how we could...Sink." Meika takes a drone from Ishirou. Okay. That probably won't be too bad-- FWOOOOOOOOOOM! Meika throws the drone like it's a railgun. It's honestly a miracle it doesn't disintegrate before reaching The Smoke Monster but it punches all the way through, leaving heat edges around the wound that are SEE through until the smoke pours out from the new opening. CENSORED roars again, but this time it is in pain. It can be hurt! It can be slain! Solty keeps punching it with terrible robot strength. Nothing in this world really considers the power of true AI. Right now there's two that exist in this world. Solty represents and she smashes those horrible faces into dust. There's nobody left to save down here, except for Chewie and anybody who can't flee. But Buttercup can make sure it doesn't get anywhere else. Metaphorical Nuclear Power beats Metaphorical Coal and the flesh starts chafing away as Buttercup just--destroys the main mouth with her bare hands.
Angela	''Why do you think he needed to see this.'' "He can smell the smoke, but he must see through it. Only with his complete understanding..." "But...I'm willing to, okay?" Ayin says. "I'm not asking you to forgive me. I know I can't be forgiven. But...let this be on my hands, not yours Yesod. This will be our last go around...We can trust them." Yesod exhales a sigh. The Smoke Monster is similarly pinned by the Timespace Raiders and, as such, it cannot escape the Hibiki that is coming. Hibiki comes down like an atom bomb (also beats coal) and the creature caves in on itself. The hole from Meika's earlier throw proves to be its undoing as it can no longer maintain structural integrity. Hibiki's fist goes all the way down from hed to floor, effectively bisecting the creature. The energy radiating from Buttercup finishes off the rest as it flashes into nothing--banished, by disintegration, back into its Cell in a dormant state. Which is good because-- --The Info Department is going to need a WHOLE LOT of new doors. I'm glad Ayin listened to me. To think Gold could Fracture a Star... "Seems like you win. You've cleared the Upper Layer except for Netzach... But the Middle Layer..." He chuckles again. "...Well, if you can triumph over this, it's clear you can handle the rest." The Meltdown ends quietly as Angela opens her eyes. She is greeted to seeing Petra, Hook, Tamamo, and Lilian standing triumphant over the Blue Star, looking through the cameras as she takes stock of what happened. "Nothing There is still missing... Nevertheless..." "Seed of Light is at 30 percent... Thank you, Dame Commander. Petra. Will." A moment to be quiet and then. "Everyone." Angela directs crews to help the wounded and clean up. She makes her own way to Blue Star to check in on the Dame Commander and the others, whom she smiles at. "I knew I could rely on you." She says, absolutely thrilled her faith was honored.
Petra Soroka	"Fighting because you want to is so very different. I could really fall in love with it."     Petra shifts off of Blue Star in the instant that Lilian finishes her preparations, unconscious synchronicity seared into her mind by Lilian's speech. This is what she's for, on every level. Help her, support her, set up the target, trust her to know everything else. Nothing Petra will ever do will even be a fraction of a percent as important as Lilian is right now-- and that's fine.     Just being adjacent to Lilian, just being able to clear the way for her and bathe in the certainty of her speech, is the most alive Petra's ever been. Energy washes off of Lilian, thrumming through Petra's teeth and resonating in her chest, overwhelming awe reinvigorating her rather than suffocating, because she *knows* this is where she belongs. Petra will never be as important as Lilian, but being alongside her makes her more important than the trillions of people outside.     Blue Star never had a chance, really. Petra was already drawn into one girl's gravity too strongly for anything else to pull her out.     The pulse of light and wave of radioactive heat aren't enough to force Petra's eyes from drinking in Lilian at her best, lips parted in a gasp that's drowned out by the shriek of temporal friction resolving. Her morphmetal splits its surface tension and splatters to the ground, coiling in unconscious arcs to drain back into Petra. For long moments, Petra is stunned into silence, eyes unwavering, only able to mentally hold on to a sort of silent oath of fealty.     If she can't stand humanity, then I can't either. If she's strong enough to reject them, then I'll make myself strong enough just to stay with her. I want to fight by her side and carve out a piece of this world or any other that she can love like this with me in it. It's like what §she§ said. I want to follow her§ wherever she goes.     It's only when Yesod settles down, and cleanup is getting ready to start in earnest, that Petra snaps out of it. Rather than responding to anyone who's spoken for the past few minutes, or start damage control, or anything else that would be expected of an Elite or Agent, Petra blurts out the thing that's on her mind while in the worst possible company to do so.     "God, I love you."
Ishirou	Ishirou nods to Yesod, the few moments they have, they can can at least look at each other.  "You're right.  People think he is unreliable now, but Angela said that progress hasn't happened beyond you for... any other cycles."   He takes a breath, "It's still not your responsibility to take everything on. Okay?  Because... we will falter.  We will fail.  We will make mistakes.  That's... life.  That's a part of being human, isn't it?  Just.... remember that it doesn't stop here either.  That he'll need to continue to have your support... and you will have to rely on the support of others too." `But if you can be this thoughtful now, why do you always stumble back into your past incompetencies, Ishirou?` He takes a breath.  It's a hard thing to face yourself, your own failings... your own faults.  "Because I didn't know what I wanted.  I didn't know who I was.  I kept... desperately trying to just be something people could like.  I couldn't understand that I couldn't be everything to everyone." "I... couldn't form a 'me' from that behavior.  I lost sight of what I wanted, and... when I saw the horror I did to others I despaired.  I wanted to hurt myself.  I wanted to end it all... and I never considered the effect on others." "I never considered how my actions affected others.  How what I am... the power I have does to others.  Because... I never considered what I had power.  I never considered what I am to be an 'elite'.  I..." he pauses, thinking. "I know better now.  No matter what 'I' become, I'm going to at least hold onto some of the lessons.  I'm going to be a person that /she/ can rely on.  I am going to be her ally and someone who can help her..." He says, wiping away digital tears.  "I can't be a hero, but I will be /me/." He looks up at Yesod, "That is a promise.  That also means I'm going to do everything I can to make sure you and Angela can leave this hell."
Captain Hook	No rest for the wicked.      Hook pulls himself to his feet in the aftermath of the chaos. His arm is practically bent backwards and he's running on empty, sore with every muscle. His fingers twitch as he reaches over to pull his damaged arm back into his jacket for a makeshift sling.      "More human, hm," Hook says idly to no one in particular, looking up at the ceiling once his arm is secure. Angela reminds him that Nothing There is still on the loose, and Hook sighs and smiles. He'll just have to ask later. For now, though...      He fishes about in his coat for the rolled-up paper map. No rest for the wicked, and he is a terribly wicked adult, after all.      Angela thanks them. Hook tucks his map under his arm and, with a grin, takes off his hat and pops it on Angela's head. "I told you, I did. Where there's a Will, there's a way, and I'll always be here for you, so you'll always have a way."      He takes the map back out. "Afraid I'm not the sort to leave something like this half-done. I'll go follow the little pest for you while I'm resting up, hm? May as well make myself useful in the meanwhile, and I do so detest laying about doing nothing at all." He walks off, waving over his shoulder. "Ta."
Timespace Riders	Woz and Zi-O remove their Ridewatches, their respective armors vanishing in pillars of pink and green light. Each of them turns, and they both peel their goggles off, one after the other. Sougo, in particular, breathes deep, eyes closed.      "Thanks for coming, Buttercup," he says, before his eyes open slowly. "You really saved us back there. This place kind of sucks," adds the Demon King. "A lot, and often. But, we're working on it. And every day, we move a little closer to a better future, where it isn't that way, and where people can smile, for real. So, again," he says, looking over his shoulder at her, "Thank you."      His gaze returns forward, drifts up, towards the speakers. The PA system, from which Yesod and Ayin's voices had emerged.      "And thank -you- for the vote of confidence, Yesod." Despite everything, a tired version of his impish smile persists. A lot was lost, but more was saved than could have been imagined by the Sephirah. Maybe he's earned that smile, tempered as it is by the sadness of what was lost. "It would have been nice to have it before the meltdown," he jokes tiredly. "But we'll keep working hard, even so." Sougo takes Woz's hand, and moves, then, to meet someone. To check on him. Just to make sure that he's okay--not that he doesn't trust Kukuru and Hook to have protected him.      But it's okay to be a little selfish, every now and then.
Kukuru	Kukuru's burns keep getting worse as the CENSORED comes apart, but she feels her spirits lifting when Yesod actually agrees to her proposal. Even the terrible burning pain isn't enough to dampen things for her to stop tearing into the Abnormality, rending it as far down as she can before finally realizing... It's dead. The Meltdown is over, things are finally starting to calm down, and she hears what's being said between Yesod and the Manager. Even if the deeper context of their conversation is missed by her, Kukuru can hear enough from the two that it sounds like things might actually be okay. Breathing out a heavy sigh of relief, she nearly collapses into what's left of the Smoke Monster before flinching and leaping backwards when it's banished back into its cell. She has to look around several times to make sure things are actually fine before really leting her guard down. "We... We did it. Good work, everyone! But let's... Get the rest of this finished up before we relax." She suggests with a pleasant, if weary smile as she returns to Chewie, making sure he's still stable before getting to work on healing those that got injured throughout all this. Hook's arm is going to need some looking at for sure, and Sougo's and Woz's post-transformation has her fussing over them early. "I'm... I'm glad you're okay, Yesod. Manager. Angie. There's a lot I still gotta do before things really get back to..." Normal? No, that's not it. "... Before things get better than they were, but we'll get there together. We'll find Therey, too, and we'll get them back in here safely so this kind of thing doesn't happen again." First things first, though: A whole lot of cleanup. Cleaning up, gathering the dead to reverse them from being dead for those that she can still put back together, and... Wondering about what Petra's just said aloud at the end there.
Tamamo	Though she was unable to assist with the Smoke Monster past a point, Tamamo can only trust that it will be handled. Surely, it will be fine. Something is happening with Dysnomia, but Hook is speaking to her. They have enough support, and it should be no trouble, even with some strange killer born from old war stories and horror.     Tamamo's not very good with wars.     She's better at matters of personal gravity. Turning up her own, just a little, pulls attention away from Blue Star. With the two competing, there's less inclination for the temporarily trapped employees to head toward it, though she's relying on neither that nor her cleansing techniques. She envisioned a specific future, determined to pull it into the forward flow of time, and did so. <J-IC-Scene> Tamamo says, "There is another method by which we may do so, which is to cut off the source of that malignant gravity." <J-IC-Scene> Tamamo says, "Lilian, the path is prepared for you." <J-IC-Scene> Tamamo says, "I shall allow nothing to bar your way."     It occurs just as she wished, the tangled threads efficiently smoothed and each playing its part. With that other Star destroyed, only the Sun's pull is left, as well as the pull of instantaneous, forceful displacement left by Lilian's technique. There is no particular need for the employees to be bothered by either. The bunrei herself is free to approach her knight, her healing ready, her arms open. As she walks, she speaks.     'No matter the differences between Abnormalities and Antegent...'     "Are not the Abnormalities things created by the stories told by humans? I had this thought, in seeing and hearing of some among them. They are, for all their strangeness, things of this world, and connected to it. Even that one, which has been defeated, yet not truly slain. A story of 'new beginnings,' of cutting away all that holds one to this world, and risking all upon traveling through its eye and into some other, never to be beheld by any of this world, again... this story seems familiar, somehow."     As delicate as her fingers are, it might be better for her not to touch friction-heated armor. Still, Tamamo can't imagine anything of Lilian's hurting her, and so, she doesn't hesitate in checking her over for any wound, offering a small "please excuse me" while she does.     "The other would, should I look, perhaps, be similar. Wars, too, and the monsters that represent them, are part of this world. It is difficult to kill a story." She glances toward Hook, but doesn't comment on any potential connection, there. "The Antegent have, to my eyes, seemed something else entirely."     For the blink of an eye, it looks like someone else's hands...     "I should make one exception, perhaps. Likewise, perhaps it is that I should be less concerned with origins, though I can hardly help myself, in this, but to trace back the threads I feel flow between my fingers."     'How sick of humanity I am.     And knowing how much more human I am than everyone else...'     "So long as you do not except yourself, when you speak of humanity. If you were not human, how could we ever have met? It was humanity I saw, and yet, it is only within the individual that that which I seek can be found. The greater whole of a society has but distant mirrorings of the same feeling, echoes and glimmers." There's little that does need healing, and what there is is handled easily, gently, with only a little of that sting that accompanies fresh feeling to what's been numbed.     'I'm so glad that I just accepted it. Saving the weak, slaying the strong, standing up against terror and restoring hope; it doesn't feel bad like this, haha.'     "Was this the knight's path you saw, or has it changed, since that 'juvenile' time? I shall fondly remember those first words you spoke to me, still." Everything worked out. Of course Tamamo's in good humor.
Tamamo	'God, I love you.'     And then Petra had to open her mouth. If only Angela had listened to Tamamo, and had her muzzled. If only anyone had listened, Tamamo wouldn't be turning her head to lock eyes with Petra, to stare at with--     Is it hatred? Revulsion? Anger? Sadness? It's impossible to tell. There's nothing there that can be read, no matter the method used. It's a look of focused attention, as if the Sun had come a little closer in the sky, an oppressive heat carried with it, drying throats and breaking out sweats, and given her a look, and then returned to its expected place in the sky without another word.
Hibiki Tachibana	Was she able to face herself?     She doesn't really know.     Even as CENSORED evaporates away to safely return to its busted-open containment unit, the terrible visage of it doesn't easily leave Hibiki's eyes. Like something burned in, set in her mind, that even a small glance lingers far more than it ever should. With the adrenaline high of the battle dying down, now that she's back on solid ground and leaning against a wall for support, trying to recall it too vividly brings back the urge to double over and lose her lunch.     But between what she did and the alternative, she still thinks she prefers this outcome. The Hope to be a Better Person can't be built on not seeing things as they are--as both Hod and Yesod's meltdowns have attested to. She's not even sure if she'll ever be capable of that for real, but it's nice to think it was a singular step.     "...It sounds like everything worked out," she whispers to herself after a shuddery exhale, listening in on the radio chatter. There was still so much death and destruction, and Nothing There still needs to be tracked down...but the meltdowns are over. And the other situation with Blue Star was wholly and completely handled. That's an overwhelming relief.     ...Even with the mix of feelings that come with being on the outside of it. And if Lilian is here now...     Pushing off the wall, Hibiki moves along the outskirts of the other Elites that had been fighting CENSORED, nursing one of her wounds with a hand tightly clamped over it. It's Dysnomia who she's making her way towards, waiting a moment to let her calm down and regain some composure before actually speaking up.     "...You said you needed some air, didn't you? ...I'll come with, if you don't mind."
Meika Kirenai	'I never really understood how we could...Sink.'     "A Nest? Huh? What's that even- s-so what if it's never been in your face! What sort of an excuse is-" She cuts herself off into a frustrated noise, and kicks at a bit of the fading abnormality, her ice skated boots cleaving through censor-bar covered fleshy lumps as they decay into nothing. Just give it up. It's a waste of time. It always is.     Blow by blow, the abnormality is defeated, the choking haze lingering until it, too fades away. A victory that doesn't feel victorious over a monster that should never have gotten out.     Vermillion rips the goggles from off her head, as soon as she's properly turned away from where CENSORED lays, and momentarily jumps as her own photorealistic hand is in front of her face before the lenses are off. It's a shock more than a concern, easily able to be shrugged off by rationalized reasoning- she can't see what others were seeing to know that it's an exception, so maybe that's just how they work. Regardless, they're thrown clattering to the ground, unneeded.     There's a small flash, as her transformed state quickly cuts out, leaving a hunch-postured Meika already habitually checking her pockets for the index card fragments from earlier. For any still wearing the cognition filtering goggles, there's a sudden shift accompanying it, Meika as she normally is, just as nugget-ified as every other person around. Anxiously, once the contents of her pockets are confirmed and safe, she pulls a lighter out, and-- pauses, before putting it back away and shrugging her jacket's shoulders higher up around her neck. What am I lingering around here for? It's messier every time I show up. It just keeps happening.     Out in the hallways, it's impossible not to see the wreckage, and the remnant gore of bodies- and where they used to be. It doesn't really matter that the Train could have done worse, it's still got to be someones fault it happened like this.     She makes sure her footsteps are completely silent as she starts on the way towards the elevators out, subconsciously yet still visibly hurrying her gait whenever anyone looks her way, even when she doesn't look back. She just wants to be gone. <J-IC-Scene> Lilian Rook says, "But suffice to say, I was prepared to save the facility singlehandedly, though I could, as usual, not refuse Tamamo's wish to help."     It's an overheard nothing, a comment not to her at all, but Meika's very good at overhearing, and even better at overthinking. If someone could do it all singlehandedly, why bother letting anyone else pretend we're needed here? Arms cross as she shuffles on, distant crackling thunder echoing deep in the concrete facility. Sue me for getting hopes up.
Petra Soroka	Petra's face pales before Tamamo even turns to look at her, realizing her mistake. Cold, prickling awe is doused by hot malice, inverted and dizzying, scorching in her stomach-- and on her cheeks, starting to blush.     When Tamamo affixes her with that look, Petra flinches so severely that if Tamamo really had added the command to not behave pathetically to avoid tricking people into giving her sympathy, she probably would've dropped dead right there. Instead, she just shrivels up, gaze dropped to the ground.     Her voice doesn't manage to rise above a whisper. "Sorry. I--I'm going to. Going t-to. Um." That's the end of her sentence, so she starts shuffling away.
Powerpuff Girls	Ripping apart something that she's barely paying attention to - on purpose - is an odd thing to get thanked for after, but the cause was the sort she fell into naturally... So Buttercup releases the tension-flex of her arms mid-struggle when the mawed monster that was goggle-censored disappears back to containment. She had come late with pizzas, and people had died. There wasn't funny words to say, even if Angela was kind on the radio about her rough comments about the cheesy invalidity of the enjoyment of cold psychohazard-smoked cup pepperoni. "Yeah." The Puff rough acknowledgement to Sougo's admittance. "'welcome. I'm just gonna skip the next party here if it's all the same to you." The emerald-eyed girl snipes, and then smirks tightly. A joke. "Even if I brought pizzas when I shoulda brought the girls to save the day. Almost brought Morbucks to introduce to Petra, but... Seems like a bad time. Take it easy." She doesn't really have the context to accept more than a generic thanks anyway. The words had gone over her head in her reckless focus. And-- With a look around, Buttercup can't find Petra - the girl is slinking off, and in another area, and the Puff takes that as her general cue to clear out. If she keeps telling herself it's not her business she can get back to Townsville still in the mood to eat. Otherwise... Well. A gory night.
Lilian Rook	'Perhaps you really are the one who can get past the Red Mist.'     Lilian holds her posture for one more heartbeat, and fully processing the quiet behind her, draws breath once again. Residual quasi-heat slowly dims at her fizzling fingertips. Potential boils off of her in gradually thinning tendrils of starry mist. "Of course I can." says Lilian. "Apart from Angela, she's the only one who makes sense in this place."     'It's possible... Our dream...it was possible after all...'     Lilian turns back to the Abnormality's body, as clear alerts and green signals come filtering in over the comms. She talks as she walks. "Do all of the Sephirah know as much about that 'dream'? The explanation I had wasn't quite completely, but . . ." She stops, just as Angela's voice returns. "I had a feeling. I told Angela herself, even, that I might very well be ever so terribly familiar with its premise."     "That's why I support it too. Even if it ends in disaster, I need to see it. I want my question to be answered."     "Carmen--?!"     Lilian whirls around on the spot, first staring into thin air, scanning around nothing but blood and heat, and then letting her gaze drift downward, as if she could pierce a hole right through the whole facility with just her eyes. "Hahah. You sound like her." Lilian says to herself, just the slightest bit shaky. "Gold becomes a different thing when it fills a fracture, did you know? Making broken things beautiful seems like something you might have been interested in."     Finally, Lilian rests Night Mist on her shoulder, and addresses the camera; needless, but familiar and respectful. "I might find the time to help you with that, too, though I may have to ask for proper payment in that respect." she says. "Cleaning up the Concord's messes is different from what I promised you, after all." Lilian allows herself to smile just a little, as if one shared between herself and the facility cameras could somehow be private. "I'm happy as well, that some erstwhile friends were able to comport themselves in a way worthy of gratitude, for once."     She looks over to Will, brushing stray hair from its improbably well-settled resting place to back behind a tine of lodestone-antler crown. "Is that so shocking? Certainly you know what it is to be less human, Captain Hook." But then Petra blurts out her mind, in that awkward, idiotic, suicidally indulgent moment, and Lilian's attention is completely arrested; bound up in the unknowable look in her eyes as she approaches her, unreadable on her blood spattered face. Reaching out to touch Petra's face with armoured fingertips, Lilian locks eyes, parts her lips--     --and says, "That much was obvious. Did that thing manage to scramble your brains? Or were you simply ruminating on your excellent taste?" A stroke of Lilian's thumb smears Blue Star's blood from Petra's lip to her cheek, and then she passes her, going towards Tamamo.
Lilian Rook	'This story seems familiar, somehow.'     "Ahaha, you noticed?" she responds, immediately. "You can perhaps imagine my reasons for finding myself getting invested in this place before I knew it." Tamamo coming to fuss over her post-battle state is so normal now that Lilian doesn't resist in the slightest, simply shifting with subtle clicks of metal as she thinks and speaks aloud. "Of course they're completely different. Knowing that Abnormalities come from the human spirit, in some way, doesn't change their role though. Consider it simply . . . reflecting on attitudes of the past." she says.     Though her Lady in Black has weathered the damage well, there will probably be some mild bruising and fatigue from it. "Having overlap doesn't mean I have to sympathize, you know. Even if it comes from a similar place, I don't have to take its side. It's only that the reason I chose the side I did, back then, was a badly misguided one."     "I'd like to stay on the side of humanity, opposing monsters. But in defense of the humans that 'might be', and not for the privilege of being human." Lilian laughs sheepishly. "Sorry, does that make any sense? The knight's path is . . . I can't be a knight if I'm not human, you know. And . . . I don't think being pushed outside of humanity means I'm not, either. I'm still here, with you, fighting the monsters, aren't I? It's merely a matter of . . ." Lilian sighs, and looks up at the ceiling. "Discarding the burden of 'I must, to have any place amongst 'humanity'', and instead. . . taking up 'I will, to cut my way into 'humanity', so as to leave a trail for others to follow'." Triage done, Lilian lowers her arm to Tamamo's waist, and pulls her into a firm, nostalgic embrace.     "The path of the knight . . . even after all of that, it turned out that I just can't fall out of love with it. Can't you accept that my path is a little more winding and strange than others? There's no rule that says a knight can't get angry or tired, you know; in fact it's always those knights that don't quite fit in at the Round Table who find love in unusual places~"
Solty Revant	Solty lands that punch, and a substancial section of CENSORED explodes. Once the creature fades away, Solty finally actually takes stock of the situation. So much destruction. Solty doesn't really care about that. No building or facility is more valuable to her than a life.      But, there is plenty of death to go along with the destruction. She wasn't able to save...did she even save anyone? She really isn't sure. She thinks she must have, but...it is hard to think of who right now.      The young-looking android really isn't used to this level of seriousness and death. The closest thing to her is stories of the Blast Fall.      She starts through the facility, hoping to find living agents and clerks. But, they have likely all been evacuated by now. So, she ends up heading to check on Angela herself.      She makes sure to thank every Elite she sees though, complete with a hug (if they allow it).
Tamamo	'The explanation I had wasn't quite completely, but . . .'     "Though I would hear more of this, it seems it is not yet the time for it to be explained. How troubling that such is always said to be the case when the plan is one that would otherwise raise reasonable objections." Tamamo doesn't really sound that troubled by it.     'You can perhaps imagine my reasons for finding myself getting invested in this place before I knew it.'     "There may be a few reasons that come to mind. It is certainly... a curious place." That's a vague agreement.     'It's only that the reason I chose the side I did, back then, was a badly misguided one.'     "Even this was something understandable, and a choice that could be made, if not one I could expect of you, now. I could hardly blame you for the roots that existed before my own arrival, now, could I?" This is only further from likely to be understandable to anyone eavesdropping, though Tamamo expects Lilian to understand just what she means.     Lilian laughs sheepishly. 'Sorry, does that make any sense?'     "It does," Tamamo says, in a satisfied tone. "A knight must choose whom it is they serve, and for whose sake they fight, no? One does not quest for the right to quest, but for that upon which one has decided there is value, for the vows one has made, and for that which satisfies one's nature."     She seems only more satisfied when Lilian embraces her, mirroring the motion with her arms around Lilian's back. There's no pretense of it being to check for the breaks in her armor, and no concern given to the employees who are probably still nearby. In the lighter robes for which she'd opted, the better to sprint down the facility's halls, there's little to filter her sunny warmth.     "'Winding,' perhaps, it is. 'Strange,' I would not call it. Just as I have my own quest, and have invited you upon it, so, too, do you have yours, and I shall travel it together with you. Have no concern, as I have none."     And maybe they can stay like that a little while longer, if no one is clamoring for medical assistance. Wasn't Kukuru handling that? Probably someone was.
Angela	Carmen responds to Lilian with an affirmative sensation--then pauses a bit as Lilian says ''You sound like her'' Ahah--She's worth admiring, don't you think? Lilian talks to the camera. Proper payment... But the one who answers is the Manager, quicker than Angela in the moment. "Of course, Dame Commander." The way he says 'Dame Commander' is not quuiiiite the same way Angela says it, somehow more stiff than even her. But Angela says, "That is only fair, Dame Commander." with the sense that she changed her wording just to avoid repeating what HE said. Angela is, well, healthy. Hook places a pirate hat on her head. Angela's mouth opens wordlessly for a moment. She thanks him by telling him, "That pun was terrible," but she smiles as she says it, lightly tipping off the pirate hat so she can see better, though not removing it. She nods once. She's been reminded of the map enough now that she won't forget it any time soon. Solty can find her there and check on her. Angela reassures Solty that she's okay (and so is /the bear/) so she doesn't have to worry about THAT. Angela continues to struggle to really truly comprehend the precise relationship between Petra and Lilian though she is not so lacking in empathy that she doesn't recognize that look. She's going to hear about this eventually--she does need to have another talk with Tamamo. Hopefully a lot of talks before any more Meltdowns occur. They are, at least, ahead of schedule. "Ah, thank you--Petra." Angela manages as Petra sulks away. She feels she has the contours here but is missing a key component. Buttercup is not prevented from leaving. Justin Rook does catch her near the Warpgate to thank her for her--and, perhaps unfortunately, Meika for their help. "Mm. Naturally, Miss Kukuru." Yesod says. But the Manager does not respond. He wonders instead if Kukuru can reallly help all three of them--or if she will eventually have to choose. "You fought well," Yesod says, simply enough to Sougo and Woz. He is not a man of many words now that he's recovering from that moment of awe. Ishirou too gets an affirmative nod from him before he decides to shut down for a while. Before Hibiki leaves, Hod sends her a message. A simple... "Thank you..." But the thank you is accompanied by three emoji bunnies, two emoji cats, and one emoji that is just Nothing There disguised as bread. Angela may not be the best at leashing Petra, but she does take a moment to regard Lilian and Tamamo's embrace. She has learned a thing or two thanks to Tamamo's romance sessions (and Lilian's supplementary reading material). Angela quietly diverts employees from the sector to allow them a moment, stepping away as well once she's confirmed they'll have some time for privacy. SEED OF LIGHT - 30 PERCENT COMPLETE