Chevaleresse

O13, perform an artistic stab on the peg knight

Hiroki set both feet of the Knight down, skidding to a halt. She wouldn't be able to redirect, but if Cardinal had targeted her at all intelligently, those voids would be traveling into her path, not at her. She started to move in the opposite direction regardless, continuing to apply pressure to Cardinal and hopefully getting a clear line of sight to Cardinal's. . . It didn't act much like a mech, but that's what she'd have to call it. There was no defense that couldn't be worn down, and so Hiroki continued to try to do so, saturating the area around the False God with plasma. Her main cannon lanced out with a moderately-powered beam headed for where all the light seemed to be vanishing, Hiroki still poised to spin in place and target Cardinal if she teleported again.

Hiroki turns to the two Matoran, pitching her voice low. "What, um, do the masks do?" They were obviously powerful in some way, given what masks did in this world and their place here, but "vision" and "fate" weren't exactly clear descriptors of what abilities the things might hold. A "Mask of Fate" could do anything from allowing the user to rewrite the future, to simply making them more lucky, to doing absolutely nothing at all in order to teach some kind of lesson about self-reliance.

Nemesis just closed his eyes for a moment, taking a deep breath. This should have been something he saw coming. The profanity of the religious iconography bothered him on some level (though he had to admit he couldn't find the energy to care much about the temples as of late) but this was rather too much. And stupid, besides, but reason rarely played into the equation with people like that. He moved a bit behind the soldiers, doing his best to look like a concerned citizen as he approached Henrietta and the shitstorm she'd oh-so-politely decided to set up for them.

Hiroki nearly bit her tongue gritting her teeth. Those rifts hurt, and the number of HUD lights that went dark as it passed through her was less than comforting. Even more worrying, Cardinal didn't seem to be taking any damage. Now, though, at least she knew to watch for teleportation. It was problematic, especially since the way she did it suggested it wasn't exactly a restricted ability, as it meant her strategy of corralling an opponent until they had no options left besides taking fire would be far less effective. Still, she could make adjustments. Despite a brief protest from the targeting computer, she adjusted the systems to fire more evenly in a dome shape around her, arranging her shots to illuminate as much of the area as possible as she continued to strafe. Dodging unfortunately wasn't going to be much of an option, but she began to accelerate in a curve anyway. "Set priority sectoring to 50% of volume, 10 degree arc. Set priority criteria to lowest illumination." A small popup appeared as she fired off instructions to her system; it wasn't something it was pre-configured for and therefore it requested confirmation, which she granted. The guns shifted about, automatically redistributing their aiming arcs to focus on the darkest areas - hopefully, Cardinal's position. Additionally, she prepared for another attack; it had a slim chance of working, but it could reveal more information about her foe. Hiroki watched and waited for Cardinal to move again. When she did, she'd swing her main cannon about and fire a full-power blast into whatever Cardinal attacked with.

"Stand down and you may not be purged." Thunderlord opened fire on the Necromaster, largely aiming to scare and or incapacitate (without real care as to whether said incapacitation was permanent) rather that immediately ripping his torso open with machine gun fire. Has this fool fallen that far into the Darkness already? It worried her that such an ability had appeared here, though perhaps it was a more common one in this world than what she could recall. Which was fairly little, but she remembered being able to conjure minions from the air as being an ability possessed only by very twisted creatures. Fire Thunderlord at Necromaster, as nonlethally as a light machine gun can be fired.

Heidrun eyed the place with unease. She wasn't much one for ghost stories, but black market organ harvesting was a different matter. She pulled at her robe, attempting to tighten the already well-fitted (and not particularly adjustable) garment about herself as a nervous habit. "I don't like this place. . ." The healer glanced at Navin. Solomon didn't seem to be the helpful type in general, but perhaps the alleged superhero would know what to do here. "So, err, are we just watching, or are we going in. . . ?" Predictably, Heidrun didn't sound particularly eager to do the latter.

Rhian almost glared at Argos. She knew he was trying to be helpful, and that she appreciated to an extent, but it also just served to highlight how badly she'd lost control if Argos of all people was the one trying to stabilize her. Not to mention his approach was essentially just telling her to get her shit together and move on. "Sure. Fine. I'll just stop crying. It's not like my soul got ripped in half and then everyone I ever loved told me to get the fuck out in response." Despite the bite in her tone, she mostly just curled up further, as if that would somehow shelter her from what she was feeling or hide it. At least now I fit in with these wretches. That thought reminded her of another thing. One of my old friends probably died today. . . or one of the younger kids I helped teach. And she wouldn't even be allowed to grieve with the rest, or to even know it was one of them. It could have been Nye. I don't think he ever learned to guard his right flank. . .

Rhian slowly wrested control of herself as Argos spoke, remaining still in her position on the ground as she managed to choke off the worst of her sobs. She tried not to think about the scene she'd just made, what everyone must have been thinking of her at that moment. "Just. . . shut up for a second." She took another breath, then slid backwards so she was sitting instead of supporting herself on hands and knees. "All you did was work hard and yell too damn much. I. . ." She put her arm up to her face again, thinking of the mistake she'd made. Rhian had thought she'd moved past this; it had been over a decade ago. "I thought if. . . if I got back here, somehow, I could try again. It was a stupid fucking idea, they'd never. . ." Rhian expected to get dragged out of the fortress any moment at best.

Rhian tried to respond, tried to say she was fine even if that was a blatant lie, but she still only managed sobs. Her chestplate heaved as she drew ragged breaths, fists clenching as she tried to hold it in only to fail and start again. "I. . . I can't. . ." She pounded one fist against the ground abruptly, feeling the jolt run up her arm through her armor. The archer mentally berated herself for being this way, and for doing it in front of everyone. Slowly, she regained herself. Rhian forced her fists to unclench. She didn't dare stand yet; her arms still trembled. "Being here hurts." She took another deep, shuddering breath. "I'll never. . . They'll never let me. . ." She trailed off into another sob. "I just wanted to come home."

"Of course I care. How- how dare you?" Rhian's voice shook right alongside her shoulders. "I. . ." Her mouth worked, but her mind couldn't supply the words to keep arguing, to express what she was feeling. So she collapsed to her knees, her armor clattering harshly against the ground. The archer supported herself with her hands as her vision went blurry and dark spots began to appear just beneath her. "I just. . ." Her voice was choked up as she tried and failed to force back the tears. She kept trying to speak, trying to say something, but the situation was just too much. Just being in this place brought up painful memories, hearing her father's name drug them up no matter how hard she tried to press them back. She wanted to say she wasn't attacking Futch, she wanted to tell Ceridwen that Argos was right, to shout at Ceridwen for saying yet again that she didn't care, To talk about what it was like to get thrown out at the age of twelve, what it felt like to be tossed into a foreign country and never be allowed to return because your only chance at doing so was in the very place you'd been exiled from. To say how much she just wanted to go home, and how much she missed Ysbryd. Of course, none of that came out. All she could manage was ugly, gasping, heaving sobs as what she'd tried to push down finally burst to the surface.

Well. There it was. No point in hiding it any more, that slip of the tongue had made it abundantly clear. "Sure. Yes, It would. Don't sit there and think I don't know what shit is like here, because I lived it." She would have pressed closer to Ceridwen if Argos hadn't already placed himself as an obstacle. "And it didn't take these fucking people long to throw me away like garbage when they thought I wasn't going to be worth the Runes-damned effort. So pardon me if seeing kids who weren't as lucky as I was with their brains splattered across the rocks makes me angry." She spat the word with disgust, visibly shaking with emotion.

Nemesis just grunted in response to the news on the toxins. Of course they were illegal; someone was profiting off of those monsters continuing to exist, and so nothing would be done about them. Typical. "Illegality does tend to have that effect." Nemesis reached for the chainsaw, and, assuming it wasn't an issue, hefted it for a moment. A bulky thing like this wasn't exactly in the man's normal repertoire, but fighting tree creatures was also not usually one of his occupations. "This should work. I don't plan on getting any closer to those things than I have to, anyway." He fished around in his pockets for a moment, seeking the requisite funds.

"If my erstwhile companions do not object, of course." She glanced at the rest of the group. "A threat like this must be taken in the most expedient way possible; it would not due to leave a demonic infestation to fester." She had at least rebuilt her dignity on the outside, even if she was still not sure whether she counted among the number of their foes herself. Lexiel certainly seemed to have her issues with the goddess's conduct; she was surprised the angel hadn't commented on the incident earlier. They seemed to have very, very different ideas on many different things, though she still hoped she could find some mutual understanding with the woman. Contrary forces often formed a more harmonious whole than one might initially imagine.

Scarlet pitched her voice low. "I still don't like this." A shootout in an unfamiliar urban area was not exactly her idea of a clean engagement, insofar as there was a such thing. "Anyone who wants to pull anything is going to know the area better than we do, and I know there's someone watching me." A century of experience with sketchy situations and unsavory individuals (not that she wasn't included among the latter) had given her a good sense of when a place was even less friendly than usual. Maybe they think I'mm one of those 'dolls.' Wouldn't be the first time. She was aware of how she stood out in a crowd, even taking an effort to hide it. Her gait, her mannerisms were at odds with her physical stature, not to mention the fact that she nearly looked like an albino. The mercenary flexed her hands, feeling the fit of the flamethrowers on her wrists. An outright weapons check would probably attract attention, but she couldn't shake the nervous habit entirely. . .

"Again with making me the villain. I fight and bleed right alongside you and everyone else, but because I said it might be wrong to send fucking children out to battle, now I'm 'trampling' on people?" Rhian balled her fists up, the leather in the gauntlets creaking. "I'm wrong to say that kids don't belong on battlefields? What, I don't care about the people I tear myself apart to protect every single battle? Here's a news flash for you, you don't need to be a genius to see there's something wrong with the way we do things around here." She barely resisted the urge to take another step toward Ceridwen and escalate even further. "No, I didn't see the battle. I don't know what happened here, other than that kids and their dragons died because they fought right alongside the people that were supposed to be protecting them."

Cardinal had made her intentions clear; her opponent was ready. Hiroki dove sideways as soon as the darkness rose, calling her mech to her and using the momentum to keep moving quickly. The machine coalesced into a defiant star in the darkness, thrusters and guns lighting up in unison and launching a sheet of rippling fire into the void. "Cardinal, stop!" Despite her calls, she had the full intention of fighting as hard as she could until the False God made it clear that she wasn't going to continue attacking. "You don't have to take me out to beat him!" She continued to cast a wide net with her fire, saturating the darkness around Hiroki with bolts of plasma.

"He told me he sent, um, me to beat you." Hiroki thought for a moment. "I know you don't have, um, any reason to believe what I'm saying. But I asked him why he started all this, and he said. . ." She ran over it in her head once again, to make sure she got it right. "'I have already succeeded as the destroyer, and I wish to create a hero to undo my actions.'" She took a breath, trying to remain steady. She found herself unafraid of the upcoming fight, but trying to prevent it, negotiating with someone and convincing them to trust her. . . well, she hadn't even managed to do that with herself until today. "He said, 'Cardinal trusts me, I'm like a father to her, but I have every intent to betray her." Hiroki glanced down and away. She'd never exactly been close to her own father, but she knew what betrayal felt like. I wonder what happened to her. . . "I'm sorry."

"You have the unfortunate distinction of now being employed by a guy that calls himself Handsome Jack. At least for the moment. And this place is called Smedervo. Lovely little shithole, this." The apparent teenager shrugged. "I assume you got dragged in the same way we did." She gestured around at her surroundings. "Considering you're the first thing to actually speak, I recommend actually coming with us." Scarlet wasn't particularly keen on trusting some random disoriented guy that had appeared alongside them at their target destination, but she found herself in an unfortunately large number of extenuating circumstances. Maybe I should pull my own crew together once I make enough to get my own ship. . . That, or set up shop in some godforsaken backwater where they haven't heard of me yet.

Patchouli was physically knocked backward slightly by the gesture, and one of the tomes emitted an ominous-sounding hum (that sounded vaguely familiar) before Meiling shot her a look. Patchouli shot one back, Meiling replied in kind once more, and Patchouli elected to rub her forehead where she'd been poked. "Your tengu friend is unfortunately correct. This magic does't share any similarities in structure to anything I've seen in Gensokyo." She glanced at LOTUS, tone becoming less irritated as she continued. "That unfamiliarity is also why I could not tell you if this is corrupted or not. None of the energies within it are familiar to me, so I could not distinguish between the two distinct structures without intensive study. Other than the seal, of course, which is of a quality and subtlety that only a few in Gensokyo could manage. That, and they are quite old; any corruption I did find could simply be the result of spellwork degrading over time. Tread with caution." "Well, that's. . . alarming. But honestly, with all the stuff that goes on here? It'll probably be all blown over in a week or something." Meiling shrugged, then started to move towards the nearest set of doors, before Patchouli spoke again. "I'm not so sure. Nobody has seen Hakurei recently." "Because she's dealing with the incident." "Perhaps. . ." While the other two spoke, Sakuya pulled Empi aside for a moment. "Could I ask a favor of you? And your group, I suppose, though you are already doing more than I would expect. If you can find one of these inhalers, could you bring it here? I'm not familiar with pharmacy, but if you don't know where else to find one, Eirin Yagokoro at Eientei might be able to formulate it." "Anyway, if there is this much going on, we should probably get moving. It's bad enough that I let a bunch of strangers in here, let alone let them loiter around in the house as long as they felt."

H16, perform arthur and mim

"You can't win,"Hiroki replied, trying to sound more certain than she really was. I have nothing except for this. Nil wasn't exactly what she'd expected. The lack of features, she could have guessed at, but she had expected it to be more. . . offensive to the senses. It was something that shouldn't exist. "But. . . I don't want, um, to fight you." Arcturus had said to do the opposite of what Watcher wanted. She still didn't really know why she was trusting one enigma over the other, though one hadn't decided to yank her soul out for a moment just to prove a point. Perhaps Arcturus was just a kindred spirit, in a way. "Watcher brought me, um here, to defeat you." She waited to see how Cardinal would react to that; the False God was obeying Watcher for some reason, maybe she would relent - or at least be put off balance for a fight, if it broke out - if she believed Hiroki.

"Well this is cheery," Scarlet groused, already starting to trudge forward and look for signs of the meeting place and the client. "Maybe we'll get jumped by mutants. Or a cult, I haven't seen one of those in a while." Not that she saw a lot of mutants, either, but the vaguely radioactive edge of suburbia seemed like prime real estate to encounter them. At least she wasn't here with the unrepentant pirate or the actual delusional. . . whatever the hell Stella was. Scarlet watched the figures in the hills warily, too; chances are they wanted to avoid the mercenaries as much as the mercenaries wanted to avoid them, but experience had taught her that always expecting the worst was generally the best approach.

The gladiator looked dubiously at Cicivexa as he called out to the stranger. There wasn't a lot to indicate they'd be running into anyone that was friendly out here, and she saw no reason to assume this person was such. It seemed equally unlikely for them to be a neutral guardian of the artifact, especially since they seemed to be examining the walls. Walls which seemed to depict some kind of history. . . can Hiroki discern any useful information or patterns from the murals?

"Ah, of course, he was your mentor." The moment of fury had passed, insofar as fury ever passed for the archer, and so she resisted the urge to say anything outright insulting her ability; she didn't actually believe the girl to be incompetent at anything except managing her emotions. Regardless, the note of disgust in her voice was undeniable, the last word coming out as nearly a sneer. "Did he teach you about this?" She flung one hand out in a vague gesture towards the infirmary, where the wounded and dead continued to trickle through. "What am I doing besides grieving right with them? People are dead. Kids are dead. The latter could have been prevented, but it wasn't, because of tradition." She felt another surge of residual anger, remembering the Warrior's Village. "Because it's always okay for people to suffer if it's been going on the same way for a long time."