(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

[testygirl]

There's nothing quite like this: a blood-pumping battle, with adrenaline coursing all through her body like molten vigor. She shouldn't enjoy the feeling—especially given the circumstances—but she's still grateful for it. Grateful for her teammates, too, for being able to kick so much ass.

Back home, it was pretty common for her friends to shout encouragement mid-battle. Words do have their own power, but she can hold off until this grim business has been settled.

Aira swings into the fray. She has an eye on Renne, and moves to target the two soldiers looking to surround her. Her hair forms into the spinning, deadly shape of a drill, whirling at the end of her foot as she launches downward. It shreds directly through the first attacker, and after a graceful landing, Aira sweeps out her other leg, looking to upend the second.

[straykitty]

Nyammy lands in the thick of battle, absolutely shredding one of the soldiers with her claws as Donnie downs another, his staff knocking the wind from the man as the impact breaks his ribcage. As the third soldier falls, the final soldier is swept off his feet, just in time to be met with a descending scythe that pierces his throat.

Standing past the carnage, a man clad in a white coat steps forward, his bespectacled eyes cold with derision.

"Another raid? The Corsairs are just as boring as the Imperials, so avoidant of the truth we bring. No matter. I shall await you in Hel!"

Removing a pill from his sleeve, he quickly downs it and begins foaming at the mouth and coughing blood, his eyes glazing over as he collapses. The room is still, save for the whir of the Aether-net terminals and the wealth of high-purity Aether Crystals that are powering them.

[purplexing]

The turtlekin whips around at the sound of footsteps, pulling the gun from his belt as he swings it up to level shakily at the man. He stares uncomprehendingly at what happens next, watching as the man crumples, dead.

The sudden stillness seems so fragile, so fake. The adrenaline hasn't abated, leaving him trembling as they stand without any further targets to fight. Slowly he stows the gun again, forcing himself to remember to breathe, trying simultaneously to ignore the coppery tang in the air at odds with the manufactured scent of sterility.

It's...is it over? It doesn't feel like it. It doesn't feel like anything.

[nyammy]

All of that adrenaline coursing through her veins, yet what she feels in the end is shock. Why had that man...? What was the point? He did not even try to fight, but he did not surrender or run, either. Why would he go so far as to take his own life?

As a cat, Nyammy can't understand it. Suicide is very human, and perhaps she is not human enough to get it.

In the end, it's an anti-climax that leaves her body thrumming but her mind reeling and confused. Not the grand ending to this place she had been expecting.

[testygirl]

"Cool speech, asshole."

Aira can't help herself; it's possible that she's never hated anybody so much and so quickly. His apparent suicide also catches her off guard, but then she blinks, and hurriedly stretches long tendrils of hair towards the body in order to bind it.

"Are you guys nuts?! Don't just stand there, he might get up and go berserk like those other freaks!"

[straykitty]

"He won't."

Renne steps forward and grabs a piece of cloth from the table, bringing her scythe down across the man's neck and quickly covering the wound and detached head as she does. Despite everything, she is still cognizant to what she's done and the discomfort she's caused. She looks around the laboratory, looking completely drained.

"There should be enough Ether Stones for everyone here. Let's gather them up and see to the children."

While she says this she connects her ENC to the terminal.

"I'm taking all of the data. With any luck we'll find links to other cells so they can be... dealt with."

[purplexing]

Aira's outburst startles Donnie, his mouth opening to blurt out an apology but Renne's already moving then, making short work of the man. He's grateful that she at least covers him up, not that it does much for what he's already seen.

The Ether... "Oh. Right." He'd almost forgotten the reason they'd even come here for. He collapses his staff so he can set to work. At least having a task helps him to get his mind in gear again, something else to focus on so he doesn't have to think about what all had just happened, at least for the time being.

He glances over at Renne, nodding as she moves to see to the data while he begins to pack up the stones.

[nyammy]

"At least it's over." Nyammy is taking a moment to look over what's left of the battlefield... office. Lab. Whatever it might have been before they wrecked it. Not that she knows what she's looking for - but if somethign stands out, she can draw somebody else's attention to it.

She speaks while looking around. "You can take my share of 'ether stones,' if you'd like. I have absolutely no interest."

[testygirl]

Whew. On instinct, Aira averts her eyes from the beheading, though it's vaguely pointless. She would have ripped the guy limb from limb if that's what it had taken to end this.

In the calm, she ends up glancing briefly at Nyammy, raising her eyebrows. She's sort of impressed with the attitude, honestly. Not that Aira came along for the stones, either; until now, they were basically the last thing on her mind.

Still, she quietly helps to collect them. They can divide them up later, and if Aira can't think of a personal use for them, then she can just hand her share over to one of the commanders.

[straykitty]

As the team finishes collecting the stones, Renne's ENC beeps, the download complete. Bringing her scythe to bear, she smashes the terminal, slicing it apart beyond recovery.

"Shall we go? We still have a burial to prepare for."

She keeps her tone intentionally neutral.

[purplexing]

This trip had been much more than Donnie had anticipated for some hi-grade Ether stones, and while his heart isn't as into gathering them as it might've been when they'd first set off, he still secures everything that he can. They'll be put to better use. And this place will be wiped off the map.

He hardly flinches at the sound of Renne's destruction wrought upon the terminal. What's done is done. The turtlekin glances over at Nyammy and Aira before turning a solemn look towards Renne, nodding.

"Yeah. Let's get out of here."