TARRRPG: Chapter 23: Gründe [Earth]

[Sume Gai]

Sume Gai

"I hope you have a good reason for this."

Flipping upright the Armorlion reached out and gently Grasped the girl. It was a light enough grip that if she struggled she would easily break free but firm enough that she would look trapped.

"So Kit? what now? looks like your friends are leaving."

[Kylern]

(Yep calling hits on Dark Duel since he never edited his post with actual action)

-Ryder-

It was easier than he assumed as the remote fighters caught both gundams in their stream of fire and knocked them out of the battle just as the Federation seemed to be retreating. This was a good thing in his opinion because one look at the island said it was in no condition to keep this up longer.

-Kylern-

He watched the battle and felt the depression of not being able to do anything about it. The battle was coming to a conclusion and all he could do was ride his way down the Belphagor and begin helping evacuate the injured.

[Strike Zero]

- Gabriel -

"Oh, if only you knew, Sir Morpheus..."

Gabriel chuckled and relaxed. The swirling blades abruptly returned back to their master, sliding back into the sleeves on Gabriel's outstretched arms. He then took a step back and slid both hands into his pockets.

"I would gladly show you, my dear man. T'would be a fantastic pleasure to discover just how far my limits extend. But 'true fighter'? 'Center of all'? Those sound to me like terms that would be better suited to my dear friend Hanzo. He is the one who is all about battle, after all. My desires, on the other hand, are in fact so much more simple. You see, unlike my sword-toting companion, it is not battle that drives me fight..."

For a moment, Gabriel's iris seemed to glow with the color of crimson.

"It is blood."

Gabriel started in a slow, encircling pace around the waiting Morpheus.

"Blood... suffering... anguish... everything that a human has to give during his final, fleeting moments. That is what I love... and what I love to see the most in any man or woman. For life is a person's most precious thing... and their reaction when they see it snatched away before their very eyes..."

The pale man took in a shuddering, excited breath.

"...is one of the most beautiful things I have ever come to lay eyes on. Oh, the things I have done in order to behold it... you have no idea, Morpheus...!"

There was a loud, metallic click to the side of Gabriel's head.

"Then why don't we see yours looks like, bastard?" came a low, glowering voice.

Gabriel turned his head to the source of the voice... and found himself staring down the barrel of a pistol, and gripping the end of the weapon was none other than Strike Zero.

"How...?" Gabriel murmured.

Strike didn't reply, merely stared angrily into the Reaper's cold, albeit surprised eyes. Upon learning of what had happened to Stellar, he had hurried back here, and apparently arrived just in time to join in the action. Now he was going to make the depraved man pay for what he had done to his friend.

"Dodge this," Strike uttered curtly.

The report of the pistol was deafening. Gabriel's head snapped backward and blood flew out of the center of his smooth forehead. Time seemed to slow as his body listed, leaned, then fell backwards onto the floor. From there he lay still, a look of mild surprise tainting his features; his eyes wide, his mouth half open.

Strike gazed down at the fallen Reaper. He felt no remorse like he had so long ago when he gunned down Leon Bolt in a similar fashion. In fact, he delivered a swift kick to Gabriel's ribs. "Good riddance."

He sighed and turned to Morpheus. "That's one down and two to go, I suppose. Let's go find the others before--"

"You know..."

Strike froze and a noise escaped his throat. No... that's impossible...!

He turned around just in time to see Gabriel rise to his feet, hands resting in his pants pockets. The Reaper smiled and gave Strike a sideways glance.

"...that was not the least bit pleasant."

Strike found himself unable to move or speak. He merely gaped wide-eyed at Gabriel. His eyes drifted to the spot where he had shot him -- the bullet hole was gone. He glanced down at the ground -- the blood spray was still there. There was no mistake. He had shot him square in the head. But apparently that hadn't been enough.

"What... the... fu--?" he finally started.

Gabriel lashed out with a leg and kicked Strike square in the gut. The young man let out a woof and he went tumbling several meters back across the floor. From there, Gabriel gazed at him for several seconds.

What an interesting boy...

He then turned back to Morpheus, regarding the dark man. He grinned a very haughty grin. "I do apologize for that interruption, Morpheus. Shall we continue?"

- Diablous -

The predicament Maya had placed Diablous into was an interesting one. In a moment, this young woman with her impeccable strength and technique would have him pinned to the ground and unable to move, most likely without breath on top of that. This, Diablous would not allow. If he could not shake her off with his strength, Diablous would simply utilize momentum. When Maya 'jumped', pulling Diablous back towards the floor, Diablous jumped off as well, resulting in much greater leap than Maya would have anticipated. Him directing his own energy into the leap also allowed him to control their fall somewhat, curling and spinning so that Maya was positioned directly under him. When they slammed into the ground, Maya took the brunt of it, and Diablous was able to use the opportunity to finally free himself, pushing with his entire body and rolling off of the ex-SPARTAN. He landed with a THUD on his feet, facing away from the downed woman.

Diablous reared about with a snarl and balled his left hand tightly. There was another POP as he flexed and relocated his left shoulder joint by expertly constricting his shoulder muscles. Then he swung his armored fist up and around like a deadly hammer, bringing it down towards Maya's head with which to crush her skull.

- Hanzo -

"Very well. As you wish."

His skull was still ringing from the sudden impact of Masamune's bullet. It had indeed captured his full focus and intention, making him fully aware to the man of Aizu's inner fury. Still, he would not be shaken, and he would not be unnerved. Such were things only weaklings were subject to.

Hanzo swung both his blades once. "However... I certainly hope you are prepared for what you hath wrought."

The armored man took one step and bent at the knees. His arms were crossed in front of him, his sword extended towards either side.

And the space around him seemed to become very still.

"You say it is your comrades that give you strength to prevail..."

It was then that a low sound of wind could be heard, despite the fact that the two warriors were indoors. Only it wasn't wind... it was the air being twisted, drawn towards Hanzo, affected by a build-up of extremely powerful ki at the center of the man's being. Soon the air began to accelerate, faster and faster until it seemed as though Hanzo were enveloped in a mini-cyclone.

"Tell me, Masamune... how will your precious comrades... protect you from this?"

There was a blinding flash as the air suddenly erupted. When the light faded, Hanzo was moving, his blades were on fire, and his cold, furious voice echoed throughout the room:

"MUSOU-JUTSU-- WIND FIRE TEMPEST!"

Hanzo engaged in a series of vicious swings. One... two... three... four tremendous blades of fire were sent speeding at Masamune, all of them spanning over two meters. They burned through the space between the two warriors at speeds unprecedented, threatening to roast Masamune alive. Hanzo wasn't finished there, however. As soon as the wave of fire were to have struck, Hanzo himself would rapidly glide across the floor at Masamune, blades still ablaze, and swing at him with a deadly, burning cross-slash, leaving winding trails of fire in his wake as rushed past the young man, only to grind in with his heel and reverse direction to engage the final portion of his deadly assault: charging while spinning, turning himself into a veritable cyclone of fire to strike at Masamune's rear. This final move would carry him past Masamune once again close to the position at where he had started.

Masamune talked of the power that the bonds of friendship granted him. His words were about to be severly put to the test.

[Wedge14]

-Wedge Fifteen-

Wedge made on last pass on the enemy base before racing towards the Fafnir. The guy was glad to be returning to the relatively safety of Fafnir. He hopped out of his mobile suit, already out of his flight suit and wearing his jeans and bomber jacket somehow.

"Jeezuz, that robot chick is about as good as a pilot as she is easy on the eyes. VU VU VU VAVOOM" He took a deep breath, as he shifted into serious mode. "Did anyone get a good look at those Fandom suits? They didn't look like they were part of the regular forces to me? Where they part of that crazy guy's unit?"

-That Crazy Guy-

Garmin stood rigidly in the Hawaii operations room, as he went over a few reports. "Hmmph...It seems that the Federation has taken to eliminating the traitors for us..."

Makes sense, by eliminating a small force like the DC. The troops will be inspired by their victory, and would believe in their own strength more.

"I can't allow them to snatch my glory.."

[The Big Zabowski]

-Kit-

"Then they have failed.. I, however.."

Kit snarled slightly at the sight of the Fafnir crew retreating, but shook it off and accepted that they couldn't keep this up as long as she theoretically could. With that said..

"Fafnir, make your retreat.. I'll meet up later; this operation isn't finished."

With that said, she took one look at the captured witch..thing and rolled her eyes. Foolish children. She then poured on her thrusters and made her way toward Aidoneous proper in an attack run on the already wrecked base. Weapons free and armed, she began a passive scan for residual GN radiation that would match the Ptolemy.. It wouldn't be too hard, after all it was a rare drive signature to be looking for anyway.

Gai.. you would try to keep the drive from me, wouldn't you. It seems you betray one of your friends from beyond the grave.

With eyes steeled at the screens, the synced her processors to the suit to speed up the scan times. It wouldn't take her long but she eventually found a slightly damaged hangar door that lead to Goldsburg's wing of the base..

[Kylern]

-Goldsburg-

The research wing was busy trying to secure classified information and projects as the alarms went off. A lone enemy unit was heading their way and they were all in peril in the minds of the timid scientist. One though refused to run as he looked at the signal readout of the unit heading their way. Unlike them he knew who it was because unknown to Kit, the creator knew all about their creation. He had been monitoring her and now that she was getting closer he picked up a small device and went to meet her.

"Gotta keep my creations in check huh..." A small grin came over his face as he ran his fingers over the fail-safe he had installed into Kit... A fail-safe that would flood her systems with nano-machines that would take control of every system he desired and make it do as he liked... including completely shut down and memory erase.

-Ryder-

The Messiah hang in the air as the Federation started to retreat. The machine was in battleroid mode and Ryder twirled the beam gunpod in its hands. He had completely missed Kit and the Blackhawk...

[Nero]

-Kai-

After he landed the Kyrios, Kai had quickly got out of the gundam, and departed the hangar, shooting an evil glare at anyone who so much as looked at him.

After arriving at his quarters, he went over to the bed, and plopped down on it as he fell asleep.

[Sume Gai]

Sume Gai

'Damn' The Blackhawk flew past towards the base. 'she's after the drive' Turning towards the Island Gai brought the arm holding Lucia to the hatch and opened it.

"Get in, being out there could be dangerous depending on what she does."

Coming to a hover in front of the hanger Gai raises his Split beam guns. and points them at the Blackhawk within.

"kit this is the DC's territory. if you leave now you can go in peace. if not..."

-DC pilots-

A pair of DC Gaurlion pilots hover near the silent 009 looking gravely at the Knife sticking out of the cockpit.

"Nobody coulda survived that..."

"mmm mmm." The second pilot shakes his head in agreement

"...Welp lets at least recover what's left of it."

without another word the pair hovered lower to gently fish the machine out of the water.

[The Big Zabowski]

-Kit-

She looked up, her back facing the interior of the hangar. Gai was just sitting there partially obscured by the wreckage of the further damaged door that she had just entered through. The 'Hawk was still fully combat capable, and with her drive (trans am aside) could go toe to toe for hours with him. A feral growl had come across her face once more.. she now felt betrayed, more and more human emotions flooded her systems as she stared a hole through the front face of her panoramic cockpit at the Armorlion.

"Gai.."

She then looked back out to the waters surrounding the island as the Fafnir began a full retreat. With Taylor and the Duskraiders providing air cover, she sent a laser transmission to the Fafnir; scrambled with a mix of Federal and DC codes. They'd have to work at it..but the message in the bottle would read:

"I'm clocking overtime here.. catch up with you in a bit. I may be able to get the drive from them after all. All I need is time.. Tell Santi this operation won't be a total flub. Later."

And as the line ceased, the 'Hawk blinked it's eyes in a morse message that read:

"Standing down"

It was followed by the Blackhawk lowering it's raised GN rifle and lowering itself to one knee. The cockpit hatch opened up and Kit appeared with from within. She appeared to have shoved a small pen like device into an unzipped uniform pocket just before she raised her hands.

[Sume Gai]

Sume Gai

Gai didn't move. the Armorlion stood still as stone it's guns still aimed at the Blackhawk.

"are you turning your back on the path you just chose? Hmph. I doubt it. Kit. leave. You no longer belong here. That is the path you walk, separate from mine."

[legacygundam]

-Kyle-

After watching the enemy suit with the shield retreat, Kyle saw the signs of battle decreasing but knew it wasn't over yet. There were still remnants of the enemy about and Kyle would fight until he either ran out of energy or all the enemies were gone. Flying as close to ground as he could get, he tracked all friendlies on the IFF. Seeing that his energy was in fact, getting low, he headed off towards the hangar and to his shock, came upon an enemy unit and one of theirs. The pilot of the enemy unit was standing outside the cockpit, while the friendly had its rifle aimed at the suit.

Landing next to the friendly, Kyle turned to look at it, rifle at his side. "Are we taking this one prisoner?"

[The Big Zabowski]

-Kit-

"Well I was going to ask for a moment of your time away from a certain group of 'friends' but I guess the gap in understanding is too wide at this point. Pity.."

Kit hopped back into the suit and closed the cockpit hatch. With the GN drive quickly spooled, she didn't waste any time in making an escape.. The least she could say was that she tried. As she stood and hovered out of the hangar, she paused to make skin-talk contact with the Armorlion..

..Can't help trying to cover our tracks while being coerced into a concert operation with the SNRI. You guys did help us get some valuable intel on them.. Until later, Gai. Adieu.

The Blackhawk quickly spooled and burst from the DC airspace she used to call home. Using a Fed comm signal, she sent a laser message to the Fafnir..

"Scratch that.. plan will have to wait till later due to some unforeseen lapses in 'understanding' with some former DC compatriots. Gotta love monkey wrenches.."

The Blackhawk continued on the tail of the Fafnir, looking back at Aidoneious burning in the background. She could only slump her shoulders dejectedly as she ran system scans on her suit. She then pulled the pen-like object from her jacket.

"...Heading's scans proved correct. Goldsburg, you motorboatin' sumbich.."

The pen, which was actually a pressurized syringe, contained a GN based agent that supplemented the agent already in her systems to counteract Goldsburg's little 'friends'.

[Kylern]

-Goldsburg-

He had arrived just as the Blackhawk seemed to change course and take off without him being able to deliver his little surprise. Too bad his systems started to read a negative on the nano-machines. He had been foiled but that was alright. The fact she had turned her machine off allowed him to run a remote scan of her through the wireless connection she used. Thanks to the GN drive before he couldn't keep connect but for that brief moment he had gotten a rich source of info including some recent memory files...

But the fact someone new showed up pissed him off cause that fool had chased off his prized achivement. Middle finger in the air and a string of curse words were directed at the Huckebein pilot with Goldsburg walking away to regroup his fellow scientists to fix and anaylze that GN drive.

[Sume Gai]

Sume Gai

He let Kit pass quietly not responding to her message. The only things he could say were the obvious and the unneeded. He moved aside and didn't follow as she left. Turning to the Huckebein Pilot Gai answered his question.

"Negative that pilot is leaving Aidoneus airspace quietly; there's no need to deal with her this time."

The Armorlion again took to the sky and made a beeline for the Valhalla. there he Saw Zaine waiting for him. Turning to the girl beside him he spoke.

"I'd like to speak with Zaine for a second before you two have your reunion. Can you let me do that?"

[legacygundam]

-Kyle-

Watching the enemy unit leave, Kyle was tempted to engage it but stopped when Gai told him to let the suit escape. Lowering his rifle, Kyle remained emotionless. "Roger, switching operation to locate and rescue." Heading off, he shot for the Belphagor, which was still down. Landing next to it, he moved to help get it back to base. "Commander Kylern, would you like a lift back to base?"

[SNT1]

--Rachel--

"How long can you keep this up, I wonder?" Rachel smirks as her OverBurst is now in overdrive, the FLASH spooling at its greatest capacity. The two mobile armors turn into mobile suits and they close in at the Cerberus. The left-right-up-down random pattern Rachel chose to do proves to off the aim of the DC unit as she easily closed in, preparing for a beam saber slash.

Up until the last fire that is; that completely stopped her advance and sent her backwards as she had to totally stop her offense to dodge the blast. Coupled with Taylor's call and her opponent's to leave, Rachel stops her advance and flies away.

She did not leave wordless, however.

"Remember this, we were going easy on you. Yes, real easy. it won't be so pleasant the next time we attack this island," Rachel says as she leaves.


--Taylor--

Taylor kept a very close eye, very very close eye on Kit's actions. The fact that she was willing to stay behind raised initial red signals on Taylor's behalf and observed the altercation closely---ready to fire on Gai, or Kit even---although no locks were acquired.

It was short lived as Kit made an escape not too long after.

Taylor just shrugs, unknown of what just happened anyway.

--Slug and Johann--

"Eh, we never even...bleh," Slug just says. The Ex-S and Strike E flees from the battle, backing away from the island's airspace.

[Kylern]

-Belphagor-

The "Commander"s gundam was empty as it sat there showing that its pilot was off doing something else. But its holes and what not were a sign that the suit had reverted to the state it was brought to this side in. Except these weren't made by Space Revolutionary mobile suits.

-Kylern-

He was though already helping with whatever he could. This place was a wreck and people were needed to help get stuff back in order.

-Natalia-

She had been picked up out of the ocean not too long before the battle ended. But now she was laying in an infirmary bed recuperating from her injuries.

-Ryder-

The battle was over for him and he headed for the dock that the Salvation had arrived at. Soon they would need to explain what happened in space and what to do next.

[hellbore]

- Sara/Jacob -

Once again Sara breathed a sigh of relief as all unfriendly contacts begun withdrawing from the island. The Cerberus continued to hover for a moment, then Sara lowered it back down to the ground, the bulky blue machine landing with a dull thud. Thanks to the TE Sphere the Cerberus Ignite was undamaged, but both pilots recognised that this was not a good thing.

"Do you think she was telling the truth, that pilot?" Sara asked Jacob

"I don't know," he replied, "but if she was, we need to be better than we are. The Divine Crusaders couldn't take one more attack like that right now."

Sara made a small noise of agreement, and looked around at the ruined buildings. What vegetation that had been on this part of the island was now consumed in fire that required assistance from a Huckebein MkII M to keep under control. The smoke from the fires cast an unnatural pallor over the island, and it matched the melancholy the two felt, almost as if by design.

The silence was suddenly broken as Jacob's Automail clicked as he shifted. "Come on," he said, "we should go back and report in. The grunts seem to have everything under control here."

Nodding in agreement, Sara pushed the controls and the Cerberus Ignite began walking back to the main part of the island, carefully picking it way through the debris.

[Cybaster]

-Morpheus-

Morpheus remained knelt down, head raising slightly...and did not move in response.

"Yes, let's. If blood is all you live for, then blood is all that awaits you in the future." Morpheus simply said, and turned his head to give Strike a slight glance --- he was prepared, and knew what would be done to deal with Gabriel despite his words. All Morpheus needed to do now was to do it. "Get Stellar out of here. Now."

-Emily and Maya-

While Diablous' shaking Maya off, repopping its own shoulder and counterattacking was enough to make Emily o_o as she kept looking for an opening to intervene --- but finding none, as Maya seemed intent on remaining in close quarters with Diablous --- it did very little to catch Maya off-guard; Slamming into the ground with the force of both her and Diablous' jumps jarred the young woman slightly, but as Diablous stood up and swung its arm at her, Maya was right on the counter; Prancing forward, Maya raised a right hand to parry Diablous' backhand blow on her wrist, the arm shaking slightly with the impact, and her right leg kicked out at the back of Diablous' right foreleg at the same time to unbalance the monster again and to buy time for her next action --- to charge forward as Maya's right arm grabbed at Diablous' punching wrist while her left hand grabbed at Diablous' other leg, heave, and stand, attempting to lift Diablous over her head and in the air...which, if successful, would be followed by sharply throwing Diablous' body down as Maya knelt quickly, attempting to slam the monster's back onto her knee and break its spine in half.

"Ummm...Maya!" Emily waved, swinging her Lightsaber around readily. "Throw it over here if you need to, I'll help deal with it!"

-Masamune-

Masamune wasn't completely unprepared for the next attack, and the telltale sign of air fluttering towards Hanzo was enough to make his entire body tense in apprehension, eye narrowed, waiting for it --- but the scope of it had been momentarily completely beyond him. Even as the first of the attacks from Hanzo's Wind Fire Tempest flew at Masamune, he leapt quickly back and slashed his Saber down in quick flurries to deflect the flaming blades aside, sneering derisively. But there were simply too many; One, after another, as Hanzo's subsequent attacks battered at Masamune's defences, the Daimyo of Aizu's form was all but enveloped in the tempest of fire, swirling around him violently.

"...Imbecile...!"

And when the attack was finished and the flame finally cleared, Masamune was knelt down weakly, armor cut and scorched in several places, panting heavily as his vision swam and his entire body felt excrutiating, scorching pain that coursed through every sinew in his body; The fact, however, that Masamune somehow wasn't turned into a smouldering heap of ash outright by the combined attacks was a miracle in itself, and despite being heavily injured --- and visually so --- his form was surprisingly intact, not nearly as burnt as the intensity of the attack would imply. As Masamune looked up and tried to stand, his form wavered and he was forced back onto his knees, glaring at Hanzo; He was far too weak to counterattack now, and that so-called miracle all but looked like a moot point now...

[Dark Duel]

Mai swore as an enemy attack damaged her Buster, blasting off an arm and both rifles. Mudie was less fortunate, and the Duel AS was almsot dismembered.

Kinney swore as saw this. Making his way forward, he caught the Duel in both leg claws. Transforming the Chaos to mobile suit mode, he latched onto the Buster's remaining arm. Firing all remaining missiles at the enemy mobile suits, the Chaos then retreated towards the Excalibur.