Scene #4964: City Under Siege: Chicago

Owner	Pose
Kiyohime	Chicago is kind of a disorienting city already, but people who are just popping in can immediately tell that not all is well. Skyscrapers and traffic jams are a part of life in just about any large city, but even from the slight distance of the Warpgate - notably, a gate that is normally under heavy guard for imports and customs, but is now rather lax - there's obviously something amiss. For one, there's a lot of smoke. A LOT of smoke. It doesn't look like a giant fire, at least, but it's larger than is safe, and sirens are heard blaring even from this distance. For another, there are things MOVING on the buildings. Anyone who can get a closer look can see that the whole city is overrun with strange monstrous mechanical beasts, some on four legs, some six or eight, a few on two legs. They look cobbled together out of spare parts, including bits like a vending machine making up one, or a car door to make a nonfunctional 'wing' on another. Watching long enough can see one of them tearing off a spotlight on one of the building and somehow integrating it into their body. And there are more of them. Straight to business, it looks like! Because the 'underground' of Chicago has several more crawling up from the riverbank, where the burned remnants of the undercity that modern Chicago was built atop of open up to the riverside. Most important is the fact that all these things, these mechanical monsters, are swarming over and explicitly busting into windows or tearing apart cars. This isn't random destruction with innocent civilians getting hurt by being in the way... these things, whatever they are, actively hunt down and are murdering pedestrians and drivers without any seeming rhyme or reason.
Shin Tokuyama	Shin's walking around downtown Chicago. Whether he's here because he heard the distress call or happened to be doing his world-hopping thing is difficult to say. He DOES have a huge chicago-style dog with relish, pickles, and all the weird chicago toppings on it as he goes. The boy strolls along taking pictures with one hand on his phone and munching the hotdog with the other. Eventually, as he goes, he starts typing up on his phone to compose a post while walking. He'll be minding his own business for the most part in his opening pose, not engaging or fighting any monsters. But he's not fleeing and hiding either. He's uploading a picture and typing up a post to 2chan. NEW POST TO 2CHAN: One-Day Into 2017 Name Shin Tokuyama 17/01/01 06:36:13 IP:1.114.*(e-mobile.ne.jp) No.496993 >2017 >People Fleeing Robots in the Street >America Still Considers itself a First-World Nation (;¬_¬) LOL, catch up to Japan, America. Street monsters so 1990s.
Nozomi Houken	As skittish and easily frightened as Nozomi Houken might be, she is, at her heart, protective. She is the kind of person who, knowing she has the ability to do something to help people, wouldn't be able to stop herself. Whatever her allegiance, there are people who are being hurt - terrified screams and panic and something is attacking civilians and- And Nozomi is there. There's no question in her mind. She's not sure if it's as a member of the Concord, or Heaven or Hell, or even just for herself... she's there. And what she's seeing is horriffic. "T-Taiga, they're... we... we have to... we have to stop this! I don't care if... if it means transforming, but we've got to." The robotiger looks up at her quietly, and then inclines his head. "...Of course." "Disengaging independent mode. Rerouting Gensou Engine power to motive and combat systems." "Rampart Mode engaged." A feline body comes apart. Armor plates reconfigure and shift. A suit envelops a girl, turns her hair black and her eyes gold. Panels lock into place. A tremendous sword appears, and a hand grips it. Rampart Mode Nozomi hurtles forward about three feet off the street, lunging for the nearest scrap monster and swinging her EM Zanbatou. She's also, however, running a sensor sweep of the area, scanning for magical contacts, in case these things are of mystical origin.
Sanary Rondel	Things are certainly starting look up for Sanary. Finding her way back home, not having to worry about getting blown up because of the war ending, finding one of her favorite restaurants nestled right in the middle of a city with even more restaurants, AND finding out there's something called Chicago-style pizza? Of course she's going to order both types of pizza to eat in one sitting! At least she would if not for the odd... EVERYTHING going on in front of her the moment she steps out of the warp gate. "Is that what you meant...? Alright. Uh. I'll call in later." The healer mutters into her phone before slipping it into one of her coat's inner pockets, a weary sigh leaving her before she draws the massive gunaxe off her back with both hands. Spotting the swarm of... Things rampaging about, she slips on a headset and starts to speak, then stops herself. "... Right. No backup. Fun, fun." She's not in the Confederacy any more. There's no need to report in! Sanary weighs her options for a brief moment, and then she just starts running! Her path takes her in the direction of some monster bunching around a car (while catching curious glimpses of Shin and Nozomi on the way), and she takes a massive golf-swing at the beasts to try and knock or chop them right off it.
William Pauwel	There was a distress call! That means that SOMEONE IS IN DISTRESS. Having recently been one of those people, himself, William Pauwel Jr. is not keen on letting anyone else repeat the experience. Not that all of it was bad, though. There were some pretty handsome ladies who did some pretty awesome rescuing and-- Wait, no. Head in the game, Pauwel. You have shit to do. The Mistral's engine roars like some kind of primordial beast as it tears down Chicago's crowded streets. The Chaser himself is mounted on top like a knight without armor. In his hand, tethered to his ride by what can only be described as a reinforced power cable, is his ever-present sidearm. "Targets appear mechanical--" the weapon beeps, "Transforming to electromagnetic mode." Will's eyes flicker over toward his weapon as its blue light flickers and sizzles, before giving way to waves of barely visible, rippling energy. "Alright, let's give this a shot," Will grins, taking aim at the horrible machine monsters. Waves of electronic chaos ripple downrange. Display televisions blast whitenoise. A wrecked car briefly activates, then dies again. "Yippee-kai-yay, y'all! Let's send these things back to the trash heap!" The Mistral tears right down alongside POWERED NOZOMI. Will blinks up at her from down below. "Oh, hey miss Nozomi, Taiga! Long time no see! Glad to see y'all're here, too!" Hopefully she still recognizes him, even in WAR FORM.
Moonlit Saber	On this first day of the year, Saber was at home, conducting important sociological research on the modern day. She definitely was not just watching New Years specials on television. As soon as the emergency signals came over the multiversal frequencies, however, she quickly reached for the remote to shut the television off. This would have to wait. After transport through several warpgates in spirit form for speed of movement, Saber fades into being on the streets of Chicago, hair whipping in the wind and kimono fluttering slightly around her. She frowns slightly as she sees the strange mechanical.... things. She presses her lips together firmly, one hand resting on the hilt of Kusanagi. "Are those... robots?" Saber pauses a moment, pulling her hand back from the sword, and instead reaches into a fold of her garment, pulling out what appears to be a mirror. There are others already fighting, but if these truly are mechanical... she has to know. "Mirror of Wisdom, reveal the nature of these beasts to me." Her eyes flash coldly for a moment as she concentrates on the object, gaze seeming to pierce right through one of the mechanical creatures further down the street.
Shielder	At some point in time, Mashu stumbled into this city. Maybe by accident. Or just to see famous Chicago. All valid answers. Then noise started and things were not fun and tourism anymore. Machines of various shapes and sizes, people getting killed left and right. Mashu was, naturally, taken by surprise. She couldn't just let it stand though. Moments later, it transformed into Shielder and brandishing that massive shield about, the girl had taken not to fighting the beasts head on but rather to shouting and trying to guide civilians too thick into the mess to flee into a single building. "That way! Everyone pile in, barricade the exits and windows, and stay away from vents!" Not without a goal, though. Under normal conditions getting everyone into a tight spot might just present the machines with an easier target. Shielder is uniquely equipped to prevent this. Provided the rookie knight could get as many people as possible into a single place, she'd be focusing most of her powers into transfering her defensive properties to the building. So long as she doesn't falter from its defense, it may as well be a fortress.
Elsa Maria	Unlike many of the others showing up here, Elsa is still figuring out who she is, what she wants, and where she should go. Some facts about her personality have started to develop, though... and mass murdering of innocents is one thing that she is pretty sure she can get behind stopping. If only there weren't so many unfamiliar faces around, and she had little guidance.. especially in this different country. Elsa has an old standby though. She does what seems natural, leaping up and heading for the city via rooftop hopping. It's ninjalike almost, darting from one to the other as if it were the most natural means in the world. There! When Shielder is guiding people to the building, Elsa finds a use for herself. Stopping a building or two over, she drops to her knees and concentrates. The shadows lengthen near the refugees, and any pursuing robots will find a web of vines and arms made of shadow crisscrossing their path, wrapping around to restrain... and to tear limb from limb. Elsa Maria is hungry though, and hasn't yet figured out what she eats, so they aren't quite as strong as they could be.
Kiyohime	It's... kind of a mess. Fortunately, the things are not that tough as far as these go. While the police have SWAT teams working on it, and said teams have the wreckage of several of these things to show for their efforts, it's easy to hear the calls saying how they're running out of ammo. Each of these things is taking way too many bullets to down. They're also rather indiscriminate. Two lumbering ones on two legs start to stagger toward Shin, leaping with claws that spin about like buzzsaws. Whatever or whomever made these things, they're made only to kill. Yes, though, they are robotic. Will's shots cause several to stagger and crumple, and even if nearby companions wander over and begin repairing rapidly with whatever is on hand, it is keeping them busy enough to open up a path, and cut down on the number of huge crashing spiderlike ones that are now charging Will... and one of them appears to have adapted a submachinegun into its armament. Such has not happened for Nozomi, who only ends up with a massive-armored thing /rolling/ down the street after she beheads three of the smaller ones easily, with the help of Taiga. That crashing thing is heading right for her now, identifying a threat. Some more are approaching from the other side, but one of them collapses as a gunaxe shears its head right off, when Sanary decides that these things are bad news. The other diverts from Taiga/Nozomi, turning and making surprisingly long bounds after her instead. Short attention span, these things. The Mirror of Wisdom reveals that yes, they are robots, but they shouldn't - COULDN'T work with conventional physics. That makes sense, because it is immediately clear that they aren't native to this world. It's a Multiversal threat attacking this world, which is similar to her own. Shielder has a great idea though, as the shimmering shield that is her name reinforces a local library. Seeing that there's another strange thing in effect makes some balk, but then they have little choice as they panic and rush from the obvious hostiles to someone who at least CLAIMS to be friendly, supernatural or not! One of the larger robotic minions crashes through a wall and begins hammering at the shield, while a more agile one leaps from its back toward the refugee crowd... only to be torn apart by a sudden cluster of shadow-limbs, which are also slowing down the larger one when it steps into one of the lengthened shadows.
Moonlit Saber	"So they are robots after all." The glow leaves Saber's eyes as she puts the mirror away, though her hard expression remains. This could be a bit more difficult, as many of her abilities did not work properly on things like robots. At least she has her swords! Drawing Kusanagi, Saber darts down the street, making a beeline for the nearest of the mechanical creatures. And, just as she saw in one of her Master's programs, she makes several quick strikes to the things knees. She doesn't even stop to look back as it crashes to the ground, instead continuing onward to where she felt a surge of familiar mana. Once she gets into sight of the protected building, Saber allows the tiniest of smiles to her lips. Holding tightly onto Kusanagi, she leaps for the larger robot attacking that shield, once more striking at leg joints. "Mashu! It is good to see you again. May I lend you a hand?"
Shin Tokuyama	Hotdog in one hand, cell phone in the other, Shin has only his legs to use. The martial artist idly takes a bite from the hotdog in his hand as a lumbering creature heads in towards him. Shin spins around and lifts his leg up into a high kick as the claw comes in towards him. There's a shimmer of ki around him before the bottom of his shoe catches the claw in a spray of sparks. "Oi oi. I had a point where I went off screen for like three months and only made a couple cameos. Now that I'm back, you shouldn't expect me to be the same person," Shin says darkly. Granted, these robots have only known Shin for about ten minutes, so it's a bit weird that he's expositioning about his off-screen training, but that's the kind of person he is. "It figures that I'd go travelling and someone would seek out my legendary self for a fight with the Hero of Fists," Shin notes, taking the backpack off his back and dropping it on the ground as he finishes the last bite of his hotdog. All of this is while his foot is still intercepting that spinning claw, sparks of ki flying from the sole of his shoe. "How inconvenient," Shin notes. Granted... these robots have none of the intent that he's attributing to them. But still, "But still." He undoes his tie a bit, "I can't just let you hurt innocent people. If you're trying to goad me into a fight, that's fine." Shin comments flatly. Lowering his leg, he slams the claw into the ground, pinning it under his foot before delivering a quick roundhouse to break the machine clear in half. He pivots after that kick, slamming the sole of his foot right into the chest of the second lumbering machine and then bouncing his foot up to axe-kick it a moment later. Shin steps over the wreckage of the two robots to pick up his backpack and drape it behind his shoulder with one hand like a total cool guy.
Shielder	"A hand and a sword, please!" Mashu answers, with none of her usual stuttering to quiet voice. As the blows of the massive machine multiply themselves onto the equally huge shield of the 'Servant', she loses ground, in lieu of losing limbs, finding herself backing up against the library with little room to maneuver. At least, until said Saber arrives. The opening this presents allows Mashu to push back. It would be much, much worse for her if Elsa Maria wasn't handling the swarm of smaller robots, as while Shielder can reinforce the building and keep it from being broken through, she still can't be in multiple places at once, and that's a lot of robots, with a lot of potential ways into the library. Hopefully in-sync with Saber's blade, Shielder suddenly surges forward, pushing with her shield into the machine. It's pure blunt force, a sized up shield bash, but as a pincer attack it might see more success than it normally would.
Nozomi Houken	The EM Zanbatou slices and cleaves with jet-assisted power armor might, carving through one after another, until a larger one lunges after her. As is her tendency in this form, the girl turns around and meets it head on, blade coming up to block its approach with crashing force. Teeth silently gritted, the armored magical girl pushes back against the larger, crushing scrap monster, matching streng to strength... and buying herself a moment for initial scans to complete. A holographic displays the results, and her eyes flit over it briefly. The first thing the girl does, is silently begin transmitting telemetry over an open signal. Anyone who can receive it, will pick up what she's picking up - there is magic going on here, and while the larger creatures are major targets, there's also a source somewhere underground. The telemetry is pinging this as 'likely high priority'. The second thing Nozomi does, is to activate her blast gauntlets, pumping magic-infused energy shots from both arms into the machine creature at point blank.
Nozomi Houken	As Nozomi jets past Sanary, there's a brief moment where the girl gets a glimpse of cold yellow eyes. It lasts only for the briefest moment before she's upon her foes. The EM Zanbatou slices and cleaves with jet-assisted power armor might, carving through one after another, until a larger one lunges after her. As is her tendency in this form, the girl turns around and meets it head on, blade coming up to block its approach with crashing force. Teeth silently gritted, the armored magical girl pushes back against the larger, crushing scrap monster, matching streng to strength... and buying herself a moment for initial scans to complete. A holographic displays the results, and her eyes flit over it briefly. The first thing the girl does, is silently begin transmitting telemetry over an open signal. Anyone who can receive it, will pick up what she's picking up - there is magic going on here, and while the larger creatures are major targets, there's also a source somewhere underground. The telemetry is pinging this as 'likely high priority'. The second thing Nozomi does, is to shoot Will the briefest of glances - once again treating him to an expression that has no place on her face - and then activate her blast gauntlets, pumping magic-infused energy shots from both arms into the machine creature at point blank.
William Pauwel	W-wellllp. Nozomi is definitely not in her usual happy, squishy mode. "W-we can catch up later, then!" Will grins, despite the FRIGID GLARE. "Careful out there, miss Nozomi!" It's not a particularly friendly world where the people could legitimately say that 'death robot swarms' are a regular fact of life. Tellus is exactly one of those worlds. The Solano does, however, seem to be a decent tool for the job-- if not, perhaps, the best one. Will clicks his tongue when the machines begin to repair their fellows, bootstrapping replacement electronics where parts have fizzled or failed. But it'll take them time to put themselves back together, and that's time that Will can take advantage of. You know, if he doesn't end up honeycombed by a robot with an uzi. "Dangit," Will growls, ducking his head down underneath the Mistral's meager protective armor. Bullets hammer at the motorbike and the strange black plate bolted to its outer chassis. One zings right through the Chaser's hat and another grazes his cheek before he weaves his bike behind a wrecked truck. ...And then immediately back out its other end. But not before setting up a firing solution on the machines busily trying to repair themselves and their friends. If they'll line themselves up so nice for him, then he'd be a plum fool if he didn't take advantage. Hopefully by making them all collapse into a single heap, he'll be able to take some of them out of the fight permanently.
Elsa Maria	The library needs more help. Elsa Maria thinks nothing of this. She moves from her kneeling position immediately, leaping over to the next nearest building. The one next to the library. She slides down the wall until she catches the shadow of the fire escape, catching on the shadow and focusing more on the enemies. She's not good at planning coordination, but she can try to help. Shielder is tanking the big one, so all she has to do is... Arms slice up through more of the pursuers, to tear one apart, and to trip another. All she can really say, now that she is closer, is to comment, "I don't know what the limits of my powers are yet. We have to find the source and stop this, but I can't sense anything."
Sanary Rondel	No time to think about the whys of this situation. All Sanary nedds to focus on is destroying the monsters and clearing a safe path for any civilians that might still be panicking and running down the road. Noticing that the one gets cut through rather easily, she adjusts her holds to the end of axe to give herself a broader swinging range, and she rears her weapon back again as one of the creatures targetting Nozomi/Taiga changes targets to her instead. "Geh... I got your back up there. Holler if you need a boost!" She calls out to the armored girl, not seeming too bothered by the look with the more immediate threats and bashing aside a smaller creature with her fist as it tries to get the jump on her. As the larger creature charges at Sanary, she pumps some energy into her limbs to boost her strength for swinging the gunaxe even harder than before. Before she can actually swing it again, though, she notices a sharp pain in her right arm: another (relatively) smaller creature has chomped down on her forearm! "Son of a... Alright, plan B!" Grimacing as she yanks a smaller tomahawk off her belt, the axe-healer wedges the smaller axe's blade into the smaller one's head and shakes it off, but she doesn't let go of it even as it stops moving. Instead, she whips herself around into a spin and flings it at the larger one instead as an improvised projectile! And if that's not enough to stop the larger creature? She'll just take its pouncing attack head on, quite literally trying to catch and wrestle it to the ground while bashing and swinging away wildly, bloody injuries be damned.
Kiyohime	Blades work just fine against these things, and Moonlit Saber's is no exception. Crashing to the ground, there's now a lot of remains and haphazard wiring exposed... but the reason for magic being involved becomes exceedingly clear as two of the wrecked machines are grasped by a functioning one, who cobbles together another functioning one from the corpses. A more concerning bit is that now another with a 'gun' has appeared, though it's a semi-automatic rather than rapid-fire. It is approaching Nozomi now, rattling off shots as she's distracted by the large one. Fortunately, between the Rampart Mode's sheer strength and Sanary's 'sucker punch' against it, the large one falters and crumples at last, splitting apart to become inert materials. It's the reassembly that's doing it though. Bursts of magic from below are being used to help them reassemble one another. They're still put together from junk though, which is why they seem so fragile. Will's shot doesn't take every one of them out, but the uzi-bearer goes down and all that's left -for the moment - is a cluster of crablike machines formed from pinball machines. They clamber and scatter before homing in on Will. Not too tough, but a prelude to more activity, that's obvious. Shin pretty much brutalizes his foes, but then a faster, more limber one charges, a blade-arm whirling to slice and stab at him. Still not up to his level, but he isn't going to be able to casually dismiss this one. Shielder, Elsa, and Saber have managed to create a 'safe zone' now though, as the smash from the shield blash makes it stumble, the huge mecha starting to fall over... then beginning to right itself, before crashing to the ground as its leg is pierced and explodes apart as well. A burst of sakura petals marks the entrance of a long-haired young lady with horns on her head, wielding a naginata. "If you are here to stop this, we should be concentrating on the source," she speaks in an archaic, polite dialect.
Nozomi Houken	Nozomi is so focused on dealing with the big one that the oncoming gunner manages to hit her in the side. Rampart Mode's defenses are solid enough to deflect the bullet, but the kinetic force still transfers through enough to draw a breathy, voiceless hiss of pain. In a heartbeat, the armored girl turns, and unloads her gauntlets towards the newcomer, but as she watches her own sensor feeds, still monitoring all that magical flow, she begins to frown. Then she drops out of the air. It's probably a little alarming to have Nozomi come crashing down next to Sanary, and even moreso for one of those hands to rest on the axe-user's shoulder. Especially with those cold eyes. But it's only a bid to get Sanary's attention; silently, the techno-magical girl makes a beckoning gesture. Then she lifts off the ground again and rockets down the street. She's heading towards that large magical signature underground, or at least heading in the general direction while looking for some way to get where it is.
Shin Tokuyama	BZZZ BZZZ. Shin, having dispatched two of the monsters, opens his phone as it starts buzzing and activates the screen. He stares at it for a few moments, only half-reading it and the information, 'Source of the Magic', 'Underground', 'High Priority'. Shin squints, "The fuck is this? Phone advertising for an underground club? This shit costs me roaming data! ROOOOOOOOOOOAMIIIIIIIIIING DAAAAAAAAAAAATAAAAAAA! FUUUUUUUUUUUUUCK YOOOOOOOOOOOOOU SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOFTBAAAAAAAAAAAAANK!" He screams to the heavens, clenching his fists. And then comes an opponent Shin can handle, but has to actually try against. The more limber creature causes Shin to abruptly hop backwards, skidding along the ground and resting a hand against the sidewalk to steady himself, "Woah there, buddy. Player Three has entered the battle." And then... Sakura Petals fill the air. Shin looks up, "Player Four, too!" Shin cups his hands over his mouth, "YO! KIYOHIME! IS THAT YOU? YOU LOOK DIFFERENT, BUT KINDA THE SAME. SICK FUCKING ENTRANCE! HOW'S KAY? DO YOU HAVE A SPEAR NOW? HOLY SHIT!" Shin takes a breath. And then he shouts some more, "YOUR CLOTHES ARE DIFFERENT TOO, I THINK, BUT I DIG THE NEW THREADS! IT'S ME, SHIN! HOW ARE YOU? LEMME GO FIRST. I'M GOOD! IT'S BEEN A WHILE! I'M STILL KINDA DOING MY WANDERER THING AND ALL THAT!" He waves rapidly. Continuing to dodge the strikes, Shin weaves and ducks before charging forward. His forearm comes up to try to bounce back the arm as it strikes with another spray of ki sparks. And then a ki-enforced fist tries to bust the thing wide open at the midsection and destroy it with a single blow.
Sanary Rondel	That worked out better than expected! Sanary's shoulder glows with a faint green light as healing magic swirls around the injury, and after a faint jerk back at Nozomi's sudden landing, a cloud of the same green energy is sent floating towards the armored magical girl. It'll help boost her natural healing dramatically, although it might not help as much with the pain as it could with bruising and bleeding on the inside. Although she gets a feeling that there might be something coming from underground, it's not until Sanary finds her steps being a lot lighter thanks to the burst of magic inadvertently powering up her magitech anklets every few seconds that it's all but confirmed. "Wha...? Is there something down...?" Catching that gesture and the implied message, Sanary follows Nozomi a few steps before jerking back again at that sudden burst of speed towards an entrance into the underground region. Powering up the the anklets directly now, she takes off after the armored magical girl, albeit at a slower speed between having the axes to worry about and just not being as fast in general. Still, she'll get there eventually if something doesn't shoot her down first!
Moonlit Saber	"I will aid you in any way I can, Mashu!" Waiting for Shielder to push, Saber times her strike at one of the supporting legs for the exact moment the demiservant gets it off balance. As the robot stumbles back, but doesn't fall, she prepares for another attack... only to see its last leg explode. "Ah... Thank you..." Wait, that voice is somewhat familiar, and with a similar accent to Saber's own. She turns to face the owner and blinks once. "K..kiyohime? Is that you?" There's another faint smile of recognition on her face. "You are looking well, but..." But reunions can happen later, when there are fewer giant killer robots. "You know where the source is?" Saber pauses and glances back, first at Shielder, then upwards to Elsa Marie. She doesn't know the identity of the person helping with those shadoy hands, but she certainly appreciates it. "Will this place be safe if we all go, though? I could not bear to leave people undefended."
William Pauwel	Crabs. It's always crabs. These ones are a lot smaller but also a lot less friendly than the one back home. "These things are damn annoying, ain't they?" Will mutters as the machines begin scrambling on after him. "Alrighty then, if they want to chase me--" He whirls about on his motorcycle, the Mistral's customized motor revving out a deep, gutteral growl. "Come along then y' bastards," Will calls, firing off another quick series of shots as he turns to take evasive maneuvers. A spidery limb slams down too close, crumpling a full plate of black armor as the Mistral finds itself sideswiped. But a thing with wheels and JUMP JETS is probably more mobile than crab-walking robots. Will fires quick shots over his shoulder as he rides away from the machines. Time to employ the age-old strategem of 'kite to win.'
Shielder	Library status: safe. Victory square: occupied. Shielder will avoid moving if she can help it. If she isn't protecting the library, it won't count as being, well, under her protection, and so won't benefit from increased defense. Of course, if it turns out to be totally safe, it might be time to move people out instead. "Thank you," she tells the Saber and Elsa Maria, before forgetting. And then Kiyohime appears! No, Shielder's never met her. And the fact they sound alike aside, has no reason to feel any familiarity either! Though, she does restrain the urge to squee a bit at the proximity of two authentic Servants(?) who speak an old dialect of Japan. Living history is much better than reading about it. Then the Saber calls her Kiyohime, so we're going to skip right to the fangirling after all. "E-Eh? Wait, did you call her Kiyohime? THE Kiyohime? T-The one that became a... with the bell and the..." Oh, is the stuttery bookworm showing through the stoic knight persona? That's unusual. "More importantly! There's a lot of people in there, I can't just leave them and hope nothing else shows up. I can stay behind and guard the library if needed while you go find the source of this!"
Elsa Maria	"I don't think I can leave these people behind, either," Elsa agrees, landing next to Shielder and taking the lull in the battle to reorient herself. "I'll stay here with you to defend the library and help get people inside. I don't know at all what's going on, but I don't think I want to leave these people at the mercy of these things while we hunt for the source. The rest of you can go do that." Maybe she's just not feeling like she wants to leave a place where she seems to be actually helping for one of more uncertainty.
Kiyohime	Huh. So many people seem to know her? Kiyohime dismisses her naginata to stare at Saber and Shielder, but it isn't hard to figure out what is going on. "Grail War Servants? But there's no Grail W- ah... you're from Outside." She looks at the library, "If you want to guard this, that's your choice. I need to get to the source, which means following that." Kiyohime points to Nozomi, who is speeding off toward one of the underground entrances probably. That's her concern. Shin gets a stare from her, and a puzzled expression. "Kay?" She gets some of the references though, and blushes, "Thank you. You there..." A quick leap up, Servant-style, and she blurrs right into range of Shin. "Come with me. To defeat the villain in the darkness." Oh, she figured him out that quickly, huh? Will's efforts have lead to a clearer space, giving him a breather as well. This lets him see the approaching cluster of larger, sturdier-looking robots heading right for the library. Up to him if he wants to join the library group, or try to hit the source of the problem. Sanary also has that choice now. Either way, a lot of the shorter, smaller, and shoddier-made ones are rushing toward the side of the library now, as if making a sprint for all the juicy humans within. These things really are dead set on killing, aren't they? What is the source? Well, Nozomi(and anyone who comes with her) will need to bust through a large, four-legged walker that has somehow crammed itself into the Chicago tunnels. On the good side, this means it's way less mobile than it needs to be to actually be at its best.
Shin Tokuyama	"Fuck yeah I will come with you and defeat a villain in the darkness!" Shin exclaims, clenching his fists together as he lets her lead the way. Once they get under the tunnels, Shin clenches his hands together again and says, "Fucking... I KNOW JUST HOW TO FIX THIS SHIT!" "Yo!" He points at Nozomi, "Calvin and Hobbes! You two grab some subway cables. Wrap a ton of it around that thing's legs." Shin points at anyone else who has wandered down who isn't specifically Nozomi, "Everyone else! Start smacking it in the upper body really hard! "We're gonna Empire Strikes Back the FUCK out of this thing." Shin hops up and down on his feet a bit, cracking his knuckles. And then he dashes forward and leaps straight up, "Rising Mountain Punch!" He tries to basically uppercut the robot and knock it over if people go with hisplan.
Nozomi Houken	Nozomi seems content knowing that Sanary is following, if a bit slowly. That healing was quite helpful, minimal as it might have been. The others, either she hasn't registered or she isn't concerned one way or the other. In her singleminded state, she wants only 'get to the source and end it, with prejudice'; to that end, this great big multilegged walker is in her way. The armored girl touches down and skids to a stop in the tunnel, pauses for a few moments to take a quick sensor sweep... and then turns to look at Shin briefly with those cold eyes. She seems to have something slightly different in mind. Specifically, she lunges in at a full-power jet charge, and attempts to start cutting off its legs entirely.
Sanary Rondel	As a medical... Assistant who's never been actually qualified to be considered a practitioner, Sanary knows that sometimes, it's better to treat the sickness at the source rather than focusing on the symptoms. Although she spots the robots heading for the library, the draw of the mysterious magical energy coming from underground is too much for her to ignore. She'll just have to hope her allies above ground are able to handle it as she follows Nozomi into the tunnels alongside Shin. "So we just beat the crap out of it, yeah? I can do that. I can do that real good!" Sanary laughs lightly before charging in at the massive walker crammed into the tunnel, sending out twin beams of green light at Nozomi and Shin to give them a nice boost to their energy levels via feeding right off her own reserves. Following Shin's lead, the healer leaps into the air and... ... Lands into another run. She doesn't want to risk hitting her head on the ceiling with an AANS-powered, but it's not like it matters too much. Her gunaxe is long enough that once she's close enough to the walker, she'll just try to climb up a leg Nozomi isn't targetting before starting to hack away at its head with brute force and an oversized gunaxe!
Moonlit Saber	Saber tilts her head slightly in confusion. "...ah. You are not the Kiyohime I know, then." There's a tinge of sadness on her face, but she shakes her head. "You may call me Saber... or Kaguya, as it pleases you." Her true identity has not been secret for some time now, after all. Shielder's fangirling does get some amusement from her, though she quickly hides it for now. "I am not very good at point defense. Can I leave this place to you two, then?" Her gaze goes back between Shielder and Elsa Maria. "I think the two of you are quite strong, and I would only be in the way if I stayed anyway." Reaching out, she briefly touches Mashu's shoulder before turning to follow Kiyohime. Saber isn't quite as fast as the rocket-powered Nozomi, but she can at least keep up with her fellow Servant. Rather than leap to the rooftops, however, she remains on the ground, mostly so she can cut through the legs of any of those mechanical beasts on her way. At least she can cut down the number that make it to the library. By the time she arrives at the tunnel, she sees a plan to take down the large robot is already being enacted. As she sees Nozomi going for one of the legs, Saber draws her blade and dashes for another, Kusanagi leaving a small whirlwind eddy behind in the path of its slash.
Shielder	With the source of her fangirling leaving, Mashu falls back into her flatter behavior, regaining a sort of focus and resolve that matches the massive shield she's hauling around. This doesn't stop her from making small talk with the other person she's left with! "Ah, I'm Mashu, by the way. Shielder is fine too. Nice to meet you. Thanks again for the help." Straightforward, but it says everything it has to! For the time being, the Demi-Servant will stand in front of the library's main entrance, awaiting any robotic horde that might try breaching it again. Or if they don't come she'll keep talking with Elsa! That works fine for her too.
William Pauwel	Will has no idea about any previous Kiyohime that may or may not have existed. He's hardly even met a Servant at all! This is a fresh, new experience for him. But there is something that he knows real well- when there are giant robots afoot, and there are people in danger, they need someone to keep them safe! Plus, there are already /way/ too many people going into that tunnel. Too much risk of accidentally hitting someone or frying their fancy internet phones. Also leaving the Mistral behind means that chances are good that it'll end up installed into one of these walker machines sooner or later. He'd really rather that not happen. "Heads down!" Will yells over towards some of the civilians still shuffling into the library. "Guns, guns, guns!" Rippling waves of nearly invisible energy hammer at the sturdier machines. He brings his bike around, swinging up alongside Shielder's barrier. "Howdy, y'all!" He calls up to the Demi-Servant before aiming and popping off another series of rippling, electromagnetic blasts. "Y'all look like you need some support."
Elsa Maria	Elsa nods to Saber and doesn't argue, turning to face the oncoming robotic horde. "Elsa Maria. Pleased to meet you, Mashu." Polite greetings out of the way, she kneels down again to take a deep breath and concentrate on her powers. Will finds some support in dark, grappling arms that reach out from the shadows and cling at the scurrying robots, holding them as still as possible for his shots to pin down and take out as many as possible. She can only guess which ones he is firing at, but surely there is some overlap. "I think I would do best up here," she says quietly.
Kiyohime	Guns guns guns causes some screaming, but it's mostly shock. People are clutching their children close, ducking heads, etc. The strangeness all around them is more panic-inducing, atop the killer robots. Which, fortunately, get staggered a little by Elsa's shadow arms and the destruction of several. This means that what crashes into the barrier of the reinforced Shield is staggered and in pieces, rather than a powerful mass. IT's... relatively easy to hold off, thanks to that, though more are coming. Or, well, were coming. Because beneath the ground, another battle is ongoing. Taiga/Nozomi slashes at the cumbersome legs, making the walker turn and try to kick out. This is going down way too easy though... or is it too easy? While distracted, Saber catches its other leg, causing it to crash down into the filth of the ground beneath. This allows Shin to hammer it right in the 'head' and cause it to crumple further. A moment later, said head is crashing down separated from the body, Sanary's axe having finished it off... or has she? Kiyohime's next attack, another naginata, is aimed at a very specific place, deep in the 'chest' of the walker. It causes a sputtering, then a flickering of fading light as the whole noise level up top dies down. The oncoming wave of attackers to the library staggers and falls, going inert all at once. Sigh. Kiyohime murmurs, "If only they were all so easy."
Nozomi Houken	Kiyohime strikes a blow that ends the walker. As it falls, Nozomi jets back a good three or four meters, taking up a guard stance... and then relaxes. Those magical holographics appear in front of her eyes again, first for a scan of the walker, then she turns and looks upward at the rest of the city. After a few seconds, the holographics go away... and the armored girl relaxes. That must have been 'game over'. "Disengaging Rampart mode. Restoring Gensou Engine power to cognitive and sensory systems." "Independent Mode engaged." The black armor of Rampart Mode folds out, blossoms open. Nozomi steps out, and the undersuit disappears in a flash of yellow, leaving her in her school clothes. While Taiga converts back into his robotic form, Nozomi's eye and hair color both fade back to brown... and almost immediately, her face goes from 'cold monster-slayer' to 'quiet, frightened girl'. She's already hugging herself and shivering a little. But she does look up to Sanary and give her a shaky smile and a soft, "...th-thanks."
Shin Tokuyama	Shin lands on the ground after his totally awesome uppercut and then pats Kiyohime on the back a couple times, "There, there, Kiyohime. You'll get em!" He gives her an enthusiastic thumbs up, "Just keep the passion of heroism in your heart and fight an ever-increasing progression of linearly stronger enemies while gaining new abilities." He turns the thumbs up into a clenched fist. "AND THEN BECOME OP AND MAKE THEM ALL SALTY AS FUCK!"
Moonlit Saber	And the great mechanical beast falls. Saber casts a curious glance at Kiyohime as she sheathes Kusanagi. "It sounds like you have fought several of these, Kiyohime." Though her guard isn't completely down, her stance is at least a bit more relaxed now. "At least we were able to stop it quickly." Saber glances at the others, and the change in Nozomi's face strikes a chord with her. Stepping over to the girl and Sanary, she gives both of them a brief nod. "Thank you both for what you have done here today." The very loud Shin gets a glance and another nod, albeit with a bit of hesitation.
Kiyohime	Fought several? "I fought these once before, but all the othre attacks are much different, harder to understand. None of them originate from this world." She does a small, polite bow. "Thank you, Kaguya, and to you ladies." That's to Nozomi and Sanary. Then she straightens and explains further. "I must be a different Kiyohime than that which you know. I am only recently to this world, and my task is to go into the other worlds from which these things have emerged, to find their weaknesses and eliminate them. Fortunately, I have my beloved Master to aid me in this." Kiyohime takes Shin's arm and rests her cheek on his shoulder~
Sanary Rondel	With the last of the walker getting taken apart by the trio's... Quartet's... Five-e-o's? Sanary's never learned the right word for that. Whatever the right word for their number is, Sanary lets out a long sigh as she sets the head of her gunaxe on the ground while glancing around at the group's handiwork against the giant walker. "Hoo... Nice work, everyone! If you need healing, gather 'round." Despite her words, Sanary's already sending out small clouds of healing magic around, focusing them on the Elites around the tunnel to help stabilize their more grievous wounds. Shin's easy enough to recognize (and he even gets a casual wave from the one-eyed healer, but Nozomi's, Saber's, and Kiyohime's curious appearances draw her attention fairly quickly. "Haven't seen you three around before... Eh?" Nozomi's shift in both shape and personality doesn't go unnoticed by the one-eyed healer, and she chuckles lightly in return. "Hey, good job handling the gunner back there. Those things are tricky to handle without shields, but... Yeah, you did it." Shin, meanwhile, gets a curious look from the healer as she looks him and Kiyohime over quickly. "You two know each other? Ah..." Probably not, if he's talking to her about progression and... "Salt? Oh pee? Ehm... More of your training, I guess." She laughs lightly, then turns to Saber with a quick nod of her own. "You did good, too, ma'am. Er. You're... Not a native here either, huh?" It's easy enough to guess the same of Kiyohime, who ends up getting a chuckle and light wave as well. "Ah, don't worry about it. If it helps any, I never met a Kiyohime before you, so..." And then she's grabbing Shin's arm. WELL. That's definitely not going to make Sanary raise an eyebrow slowly or grin more. Except it totally does. IT TOTALLY DOES.
Shin Tokuyama	"Exactly." Shin says when his arm is taken and she rests her chin on his shoulder, "Wait what?" He abruptly looks surprised. "Oh are we doing a romance arc?" He asks to Kiyohime, looking her dead on, "Okay. So I've gotta establish the baseline. Two options here." "One, I will acknowledge and understand your feelings for me, but be nervous and spaghetti-drop-awkard about my own feelings. It means that you will receive a moderate level of reciprocation for your feelings, but." He holds up a finger, "The tradeoff is that I'll be hella awkward about any doting that you do and act in a comical fashion that inevitably sabotages or ruins the display of progression." "OR! OOOOOR!" He holds up a second finger. "Option Two is that my feelings for you are uncertain and I regard most of your actions as those of a well-meaning friend and ostensibly believe our relationship is platonic and take most of your affections and doting as those of a close friend." He adds, "This second option allows you to display affection and dote on me however you like, but means that any true depth of my feelings will be left unknown until a narratively dramatic moment presses me." He looks at Kiyohime dead in the eyes, "Which do you prefer?"
Moonlit Saber	"We should sit down and talk some time, Kiyohime. Even if you are not the same one..." Saber shakes her head. "Either way, I would like to get to know you better. But.. ah.." Pause. "Ma...am?" Saber blinks owlishly at Sanary. "I am only seventeen years old. But no, I am not from around here." She lets out a breath. "In any case..." Kiyohime and Shin are given a brief glance, and Saber takes a step back. "Whatever is happening there sounds very confusing."
Nozomi Houken	"Ah, th... thanks..." Nozomi mumbles in reply to Sanary. Strangely, she doesn't seem very flattered by the praise. Now in his normal form, Taiga ambles up beside her, remaining close for the moment- Then Shin replies to Kiyohime. And Nozomi is just sort of quietly staring in complete perplexity.
Kiyohime	One might think that this sort of reply would be... well, a little confusing. Not so, for Kiyohime gives Shin a stare at first, then a look of understanding. "Oh... of course, the second would have a greater impact when you finally admit your true feelings for me. That would be the best way to express our deep fated bond."
Shin Tokuyama	Shin raises up his hands and then places them both on her shoulders, "Awesome. Awesome. I usually crash in hotel rooms and stuff, so you should get used to travelling and walking." Shin gives her another thumbs up, and apparently now a set of command seals have appeared which he did not notice before.