(no subject)

[straykitty]

Who: Renne, Donnie, Yuki and Aira
What: Routine raid turns cleansing cult installation and salting the earth
Where: A hidden research facility on Larendt
When: Mid-February in between normal Corsair operations
Warnings: Violence, potential mention of human experimentation

With the Isles Above on lockdown, finding a target had been difficult. However, with Renne's network, nothing was impossible, especially when one knew how to access Society archives and knew certain doting n'er do wells would probably look the other way if they saw it was her. The facility she found was a small research installation nestled in the forests of Larendt. They should have ample Ether stones for their purposes, but also shouldn't have been too hard to knock over.

After assembling a crew, she booked a Corsair ship out to the fallen isle of Larendt. The facility was fairly easy to find, as usual the Imperials never really thought to conceal their labs, even if they were within the Corsair's operating zone. The door was reinforced steel, but that wasn't a particularly large issue. Withdrawing her ENC, Renne, gave her team one final look. "Are you all ready?"

Comments

[nyammy]

Yuki - that is to say, Cure Nyammy - is already transformed and ready. She knows better than to pick a fight with Imperials when in her normal form, or her normal human form for that matter. So it is that a girl who might be around Renne's age (and height) is with the group, clad in a very pretty dress of whites and blues. It doesn't look like the kind of garb one would fight in, but, well...

She's a magical girl.

"Would you like to get the door, or shall I?" she asks, instead of giving a direct answer.

[purplexing]

This sort of operation isn't anything new to him, and really, the sort that Donnie preferred over being pitched headlong into something that ended up being too open of a battlefield. The Emperor's address admittedly had made him a little more anxious about doing things, but Harlock had at least helped put things in a more digestable perspective for him. But still, he knows that even more so now, they can't be careless.

The turtlekin does a quick mental check of his gear, battle shell secured snugly over his leather jacket, and he's even more glad that he'd opted to go for a dark matte finish to reduce any reflective surfaces. He fingers the equally dark titanium rod holstered around his thigh, giving Renne a nod.

"Good when you are," he says, tugging his hood and scarf more close to his face.

[testygirl]

Aira's eyes shift between her compatriots. If she was less of pro, she would be distracted by the fact that she's about to go into battle with an adorable magical girl and a kappa(?) who might also be some kind of ninja. Renne is also looking good, as usual.

Right, ahem. Aira folds her arms and does her own transformation, mask forming over her face and the long hair flowing out. Her voice changes, too, sounding deeper, older, and more refined. She's wearing a dark, flexible outfit that suits her fighting style.

"Yes. Let us nobly crush them all."

Aira also probably warned them on the flight over that she starts to talk like a bit of a weirdo after transforming. It won't interfere with how well she communicates, though; it's just something she's overly self-conscious about. But yes, to action!

[straykitty]

"No worries, I've got it."

Renne smiles as she channels Ether into her ENC. An orb of silver appears above her, which she launches at the door, blasting it apart.

An alarm immediately sounds in the facility as scientists go running and a group of eight elite shock troopers materialize. They aren't wearing the typical Imperial regalia, while their equipment appears to be the same heavy armor, kite shield and lance-rifle, their colors are off - they wear the typical imperial red but have white trim and wing motifs in their armor.

Their battle strength is clear, however, a Corsair would be hard-pressed to face more than two at a time.

[nyammy]

Cure Nyammy makes the first move, not to attack, but to protect herself and her teammates from the shock troopers' immediate retaliation. Two hands forward, energy collects, and then appears as a giant transparent blue pawpad shield/barrier. It's massive and inflated like a giant balloon, but quite resilient. But also.... things that hit it don't just stop, they bounce. Which can be quite problematic for soldiers attempting to shoot through it with rifles, or even charge it with lances.

It's an opening, though, for her teammates. Just be sure to go around the giant paw-shield, please.

[purplexing]

Donnie's hardly a pro so forgive him for staring a bit at Aira's shift. Nobly...crush? Is that a thing? Well, no time to really question.

Renne makes impressively short work of the door. He's definitely taking mental notes here, even though this is quite different from how he envisioned things going, but oh well. Go with the flow?

Which...is increasingly difficult to do when you've got weird things popping up like this. Note to self: get more acquainted with allies' abilities, he tells himself, glad at least that the shield as it appears to be, is doing it's job. Good enough. Donnie waits and listens, and then darts forward to slide beneath the enormous shield. In the same motion he's whipping out his collapsed staff, extending it with a flick of his wrist once he starts pushing off to rise on his feet, thrusting an end sharply at the chin/neck area of one of the troopers at the front before whipping the other end around to knock the aim of the one beside them off with a swift strike to their wrist.

[testygirl]

Aira doesn't mind the staring. She was definitely sneaking peeks at Donnie earlier, and not that subtly. It wasn't that she thinks he's particularly weird-looking, but because she couldn't decide whether he was really a kappa or not. She could just ask, but that might be rude?

"Thank you for the cover, precious girl."

Aira is a talk-while-she-fights type, in the grand shonen tradition. In that same tradition, she's used to interacting with all kinds of weird abilities, so she takes the appearance of the paw shield in stride. She gets a quick look at the enemy's formation before slipping behind it.

From there, her hair magically extends, snaking around the barrier and latching to one of the trooper's ankles. With a jerk, she whips the soldier off their feet and sends them hurtling towards a second—and she makes sure to fling them in the opposite direction of where Donnie is attacking.

[straykitty]

The initial gunfire from the lances is deflected by Yuki's shield, although she can feel the power behind the shots - her barrier will not hold out against them for long.

Donnie's attack succeeds in knocking both of the guards off balance, the first one gasping for air from the strike and the second stumbling back from the impact, leaving them open for a brief moment.

Aira's attack is likewise effective, sending one soldier flying into another and knocking them both from their feet, affording her a chance to press the attack.

The remaining four soldiers continue their fire, up until Renne's ENC glows black and a swarm of dark spears descends from the heavens, forcing them to break formation and stop their attack.

[purplexing]

Donnie dances aside at the fresh spread of gunfire once the other soldiers find the opportunity. Purple light flares in fragmented shapes, attempts at a shield that don't quite manifest as he can't stay in one place and mentally construct the shields quickly enough before the shots obliterate his attempts. Really, the problem is in his technique, and given the time to study it one might realize he's attempting to piece things together bit by bit.

He knows it's not working, but he can't advance with the pressed attack. There's a few sharp pings off his battle shell that make him all too aware how bad that could have been otherwise, and while nothing penetrates, it throws off his balance.

Renne strikes then, affording the turtlekin the time to recover his footing. He redirects himself in an instant, rapidly covering the distance between point A and B. His staff's a blur as he brings it around to connect with one soldier, using the impact to re-angle his weapon to rebound off the next closest. Getting up close and personal with them probably seems like a terrible idea but it's where Donnie excels, and while he knows he can't take them all on, he's mostly just trying to keep who he can, preoccupied until he finds a good opening or allows for the others to take it.

[nyammy]

The fun part (for a certain definition of "fun") of Nyammy's Nyammy Shield is that it's not purely defensive. The bounce it has to it will body attackers and reflect projectiles. Of course, given that hear teammates have now mostly rushed forward past it, that could cause more chaos than not, so she allows her shield to pop.

And as it does, she rushes forward herself, intent on taking advantage of the opening Renne gave to the group. She doesn't need anything fancy here - just her body clashing against shock troopers. Her hands are curled like claws, and when she lashes out with them, armor is cut apart as if facing the might of a tiger's claws - a tiger that can rend steel, at that.

She's not aiming to dismember anybody, but she won't shed any tears if the wounds prove too much for them regardless. As a cat, she's easily the least bothered in her original team by violence.

[testygirl]

With the enemy's formation broken and her teammates on the attack, Aira also leaps into the fray. She targets two of the remaining troopers who are still armed and almost in position to counterattack, lashing her hair out again to ensnare their lance-rifles before they fire. Tugging hard, she yanks the weapons away.

This approach has the added benefit of getting the troopers off balance, and Aira is happy to take advantage of that. She twirls into a powerful and elegant kick, using the full force of the 1.5 cannonballs aimed at the first trooper's head. After, it takes hardly a second for her to land on her other foot and launch again. It's still enough time for the second trooper to raise their shield, but she lands behind them instead, and she mashes her heel up into the back of their neck.

Aira was trained to fight with rhythm—overwhelm your opponent at a faster beat, executing multiple actions in the time it takes for them to do one.

[straykitty]

Donnie's fierce attack slams into the soldier, crushing his windpipe and sending him sprawling on top of his compatriot as he gasps for air, the other struggling beneath him. The first will likely not be up for a bit, but the second may be able to threaten the group again - should he be permitted to rise.

Cure Nyammy's vicious attack tears the soldiers, their armor and soft flesh underneath shredded as they both fall to the ground under the weight of their wounds.

Aira's attack sends the first soldier flying, the blow to the head ensuring he won't be up again any time soon. The second trooper takes the heel to her neck and crumbles, dropping to the ground.

There's an elegant sweep as Renne, having pocketed her ENC grips her scythe and surges forward, targeting the two final soldiers who she had first attacked with the dark spikes. The first soldier's head goes flying with a clean scythe sweep as she twirls elegantly, utilizing the momentum to bring the scythe down on the second soldier's chest, the blade sinking into the gap between their armor and their neck and causing them to drop with a pained gurgle.

"Well done," she says with a smirk as she surveys the carnage, noting the single remaining soldier struggling under his compatriot's weight with amusement.

[purplexing]

That brief glimpse of something flying is all Donnie allows himself to trace before realizing what it was, pointedly not looking over where Renne's finishing up. He rolls his shoulders back as he straightens up, flexing his fingers as he adjusts his grip on his staff. That had been rather efficiently taken care of, and it doesn't seem like any of the others have had any problems.

He glances down at the remaining soldier who moves, lips pressing into a thin line before he moves to knock them out. Better to avoid potential trouble when they've just got here.

"Do we know how much more security we should expect? If the noise didn't draw everyone here, the quiet likely will, so we should probably keep moving."

[nyammy]

"Let them send our way however many they'd like." Nyammy crosses her arms as she looks around, as if daring more soldiers - shock troopers, guards, whatever you'd like to call them - to arrive. She'd deal with them all the same. Or they would. This group seemed competent enough thus far.

This was nothing like the team she was used to. That dog and her owner were so.... weak-willed, unwilling to get their hands dirty. Though she supposed that they'd been fighting a completely different class of enemy... still, maybe it was good Yuki - Nyammy - was here, and they were not.

This was good experience for Nyammy because of that, though. Because it was different than she was used to... fighting humans and machines were a far cry from facing animals turned monsters. In this, perhaps her compatriots were her seniors.

She'd watch them and take after their example.

[testygirl]

Aira isn't quite as hardened as she likes to posture. Back in her own world, she'd repelled a group of genocidal aliens to keep them from claiming the earth, but was still lucky enough never to see a human being in the flesh. It's different here on Esthere. She'd been made into a slave by a particularly awful group of irredeemable bastards, and during that time, she'd seen more than enough.

If pressed, Aira thinks she would have killed each of those slavers one by one if that's what it had taken to win her life back. Sometimes she's mad that she didn't get that chance. Other times she doesn't know if she really could have done it, or if some kind of misplaced guilt would have driven her crazy afterwards. Now the brutal reality of their fight lands right near her feet in the form of the guard's severed head.

For now, she can will herself to stay focused. Any hesitation invites death for her or her teammates, and so she won't hesitate. That, along with her experience and her instincts, should be enough to see her through.

"Yeah, nice job. What's next?"

At some point she did promise to defer to Renne, so that's what she's doing. In the meantime, she keeps a way eye out for enemy reinforcements.

[straykitty]

Renne purses her lips.

"We'll want to be cautious. I wasn't expecting this degree of guards for an installation like this, there may be some important research here. All the better for us to liberate it, I suppose. Let us be on guard."

She looks around the installation, the entryway leading to a narrow corridor that goes deeper into the facility.

"We were quick enough that no alarm has been sounded. Let's move."

The corridor itself leads to a three-way split within the facility, what appears to be two rooms to either side and one that goes deeper into the facility. Upon seeing this, Renne holds her hand up for the group.

"Any opinions on which way?"

[purplexing]

Nyammy may think they can handle anything but Donnie's unsure. Shock troopers are nothing to laugh at although at least these weren't nearly as many as been deployed back in the mines they'd had to abandon. He's not looking at the fallen soldiers so his mind won't start trying to work out how many of them might survive their injuries and who definitely wouldn't, focusing ahead.

There's a nod at Renne, the turtlekin flicking his staff closed but still keeping it in hand as he quietly moves along after, keeping his ears open for any suspicious sounds. He eyes the options once they come to the split, wishing they'd had a map of some kind.

"I'm not really familiar with research building layouts. Would these be more likely for storage or breakrooms?" He glances at the others. "I can make a quick check, unless we're better off heading deeper in. But if there are any more soldiers, we probably won't want them getting behind us."

[testygirl]

"Isn't deeper better? That's where the good stuff should be, right?"

Please ignore the unintentional double entendre.

Aira remains only partially transformed during this respite, which reverts her face and her voice to normal. Sadly, at this juncture, she's a bit too self-centered to consider how her teammates are coping mentally. With how well the initial fight went, her assumption so far is that they're going to be fine—though she'll be quick to offer some support if she notices any more obvious signs of distress.

"There's a chance they could hit our flank no matter which way we go. Let's just decide quick."

[nyammy]

As far as Nyammy's concerned, getting everyone's opinion is wasting time. "Just pick a direction and be done with it. Humans get held up on the strangest things..." Says one of the two who looks the most human at the moment.

In fact, she does pause as she glances at... Donnie? Who doesn't look or smell human. "And...... whatever." Team cohesion! Yay! "Let's just pick an option and go."

[purplexing]

[testygirl]

Aira's gaze swivels between the two of them.

"I thought he was a kappa."

So much for not being rude. But banter is important for team-building, it's fine.

[straykitty]

The two side directions likely lead to break areas and lobbies, as Donnie surmised. Taking them out so they can't circle around us isn't a bad idea, but if so we'd need to act quickly.

[purplexing]

Donnie blinks over at Aira. "...what's a 'kappa'?"

Unimportant, probably.

He shakes his head, turning his attention back towards the doorway nearest him. "May as well save us some trouble for when we leave. Let's do it," he says, starting to slink forward, weapon at the ready.

[nyammy]

What is a kappa? A question to save for later. But it's saved nonetheless. It sounds familiar, but at the same time, it's not an animal that Nyammy knows of - and she knows a lot of animals by this point.

But the important thing was the mission. Donnie(?) was moving to a doorway, ready for a fight, and so Nyammy prepared herself for a fight as well.

The plan was simple. If they caught the enemy off guard, she'd close in for a kick or a claw swipe. If the enemy reacted, she'd throw up a Nyammy Shield. Simple, but they didn't need anything more complicated than that.

[testygirl]

Aira clears her throat. "Uh, forget about it. I'm not even really the right person to ask."

Whatever that means. There isn't really time for her explain that she has a close friend back home who's obsessed with cryptids and related folklore.

"I'll take point."

As the others gather near the door, Aira advances head on and kicks it open. Her hair can work as a temporary shield, too, if needed. Otherwise she'll push forward to allow her teammates to follow in after her.