Scene #5902: The Notorious Mercenary X

Owner	Pose
Staren	"March over to Kokkara Village at the attached coordinates. Bring every scrap of materials and information you dug out of there. For every hour I have to stand here waiting, one local bites the dust. Try any funny business and they all will." After hearing that, Staren's already FTL jumped over the area, suited up, and started climbing into his mecha before he even /thinks/ of talking to the guy. He just threatened to kill the whole village, though... Sorry, Twilight. The Star Hawk dives into the atmosphere, aiming to land somewhere beyond visual range and snipe the guy as soon as someone can get him the targeting data. When someone threatens mass murder, the gloves come off.
Note	KOKKARA VILLAGE is nestled atop a hill surrounded by bigger hills and lush lands, reachable primarily by a great number of steps that lead up past what's ALMOST a Tori gate. ALMOST. The buildings are spread about somewhat haphazardly, a collection of dome-shaped yellow 'Capsule Houses' and more traditional wooden huts and other buildings. What looks like a temple lies atop even more steps and a grander hill, far out behind. It isn't, all things considered, a very advanced or sizable village. A few dozen homes and buildings, and the bus-stop at the bottom of the steps is on a dirt road, and badly cared for. As promised though, KOKKARA IS IN TROUBLE. As people arrive, they'll notice a great many bodies laying facedown - and some laying against trees, houses (walls caved in) and others face-up. At a distance it's quite difficult to say how many are dead or alive, but MOST of them are dressed in loose-fitting or outright martial arts outfits. Some lay at the end of long trenches carved in the end that still smoke a little. Standing at the very center of the village, around a GIGANTIC STATUE of a... a... what is that supposed to be? Rotund form, big fat arms and stubby legs, over-sized lips, a featureless face, wears some kind of 'genie outfit'... yes. Yes. It's a giant statue of Mr. Popo. God only knows why. Standing in front of this is a tall man with a sharp jaw... which happens to be the ONLY skin visible. Everything from the nose down to his chin appears to be flesh, and he has a short mustache spanning his upper lip. The REST of this man seems to be heavily armored cyborg of finely machined parts. He's wearing a pink chinese-styled man's longcoat (or 'chang pao'), bearing the kanji for 'kill' on the front. On the back... in bright red capital letters, in english: KILLYOU! Among the fallen, smashed through one of the village trees, is a familiar girl with a monkey tail. She's not moving.
Orchid	Hostage situation. Check. The good news is that the Paladins' Rules of Engagement are fairly clear on the priorities here. The bad news is that it means the bad guys getting away is an acceptable cost for keeping the hostages safe. In any case, while Orchid wasn't here last time, she is here now, applying her skill with battlefield analysis to the area. She's sent her tiny spyder drones in, circling the village, while she approaches on foot. She may need to get more involved than she wants to, but with this kind of threat, she can't hold back. Her spiders make a special task of marking the location of anyone in the area, alive or not, on the tactical net Orchid is setting up. She'll try and figure out who is and isn't alive.
Alexis Maaka	KILLYOU! = Yeah this guy's pretty easy to dial in. Hostage rescue is an ugly, nasty thing. Maaka's had missions where getting hostages free can go wrong with so much as someone coughing. The man holding this village is not someone to fuck with. Maaka isn't taking chances, as she's hiding in an outcropping using a Cheytac M-200, the massive rifle covered in brush matching her suit. If Tao sees the scope lens glint even for just a second, a shimmer of a tactical cloak through his cybernetic optics...This is all over. It's why she's remaining very, very still, training her rifle on the mercenary's head from almost a mile away. Her HUD picks out yellow, green, and red dots, and she keeps that in mind. 'Son of a bitch,' Maaka thought, as she spied Note's body. It was hard to tell from this distance just what the mercenary was capable of, but Maaka expected the worst; Alert senses upgraded by sensory equipment built into his head, multiple weapons, and years of martial arts experience with a killer's instinct. It was best to keep this guy talking until all villagers were securely taken out of the area. No way of knowing if there are traps laid about, or soldiers in hiding waiting for interlopers.
Yang Xiao Long	Yang's suited up for a high altitude drop. A tight fitting body suit in her colours, a helmet that obscures her face... the only thing that isn't part of the suit are the two bracelets around her wrists. She's inside a Bullhead transport, flying at high altitude from the warpgate. Ochre, not Yang, is making the decision to keep the doors closed so a certain hot-head can't just jump out and start going nuts. She can see on the visor display the info coming through from Orchid's drones, and Yang's blood begins to boil when she sees the bodies... and that specific one in particular. "Note... He's killed Note!" Yang punches the door to try and smash it open, managing to put a dent in the reinforced hull but nothing more. "LET ME OUT! I'M GOING TO TEAR HIS FACE OUT OF HIS ASS!"
Hoshi Amakasu	Hoshi Amakasu is on foot as well, keeping up a jog with a steady pace while dressed in some fresh new kendo gear, sans helmet. She admittedly doesn't have much of a stake in this whole affair; the Red Pants Army and whatever they wanted were a mystery to her, and until recently she hadn't thought that her presence was required to keep things running smoothly on this world. That changed the moment she heard the myterious man threatening to kill hostages. From the looks of things, he'd already been going at it for awhile. "That monster..." She says under her breath, staring daggers up at the murderer next to the statue. It takes a firm mental effort to remind herself that she didn't show up to hurt anyone, not really. Everyone else could probably beat his ass. She instead starts going to the downed bodies, gently shaking and touching them to see if they're conscious... or alive. "Are you okay? Can you hear me? I've come to take you to safety..."
Zek	Zek arrives promptly. When there's lives in danger and he's supposed to be carrying the Package, it doesn't pay to dilly-dally. The Warframe that strides through the village is six and a half feet of weird, sleek armor with an opaque visor and nothing resembling a face. There's a bazooka laid across its shoulders, the Red Ribbon Army emblem scratched but visible on the side facing forward. Zek's other weapons are stowed at his back or sides, but he's got a metal hard-case with a handle in his left hand, presumably containing the drives they took. "Hey," he calls. Zek keeps walking, approaching at a slow, measured pace past torn-up turf and fallen martial artists. He assesses the damage, and extrapolates the relative strength of the man in front of him, not that his lack of eyes to glance around with would reveal that. His verdict: don't get hit dead-on. "I destroyed the equipment," Zek says, voice firm but exhausted. He sounds too young to match the better-than-six-foot battle armor that's standing in the wrecked village. "If it's alright with you, I'd prefer to not have to bury anyone else today." He stops, bowing just low enough to be respectful of a strong combatant. "I am Zek. You aren't with the Red Pants Army. Who are you?"
Staren	Others get eyes on the village. Staren frowns as he sees the devastation. But... it looks recent, and the bodies seem to all be intact. Maybe he can save them... IF he doesn't have to try to extract them under the eye of a murderous cyborg mercenary, anyway. And that's what they seem to be facing. A cyborg was powerful enough to do this? Curious... Staren thought ki was the road to power on this world. Maybe ki is more compatible with cybernetics than magic is on his world? In any case, he gets into position, taking aim with the railgun. If things start to go wrong, he can pull the trigger, at least. He thinks it's fairly unlikely this guy set up a dead man's switch, and there's no sign of supporting soldiers... But he's not 100% sure, and the others can have a chance to talk to him and get the hostages clear in case, at least.
Tomoe	A hostage situation? Tomoe's blood boiling now, Tpomoe is ready to kick some ass but this will be ugly she's not suited to stealth but she's going to show up here. She knows what's worse this guy is being paid, not a fanatic which means he's looking for pay day so here she is she will arrive at the villiage she looks at the carnage and does not seem to be very happy, she does not pull a weapon she does not move to fight not yet. "All right I'm here. I have the data I pulled." the towering woman is a seething mass of anger and it's clear sye's barely keeping it in check.
Twilight Sparkle	Twilight Sparkle has little choice but to respond when she hears the radio call. She walks into the village slowly, pulling a small wooden wagon behind her loaded down with file boxes. They probably hold the documents she helped remove from the excavation a few days ago. As she makes her way through town toward the man who has apparently done all this the usually cheerful pony's face is a deep, angry frown. She looks over toward Note for a long moment before coming to a stop a short distance away from the strange cyborg and close to Zek. "And I am Twilight Sparkle. These are the documents we removed from the facility." She may be ready to hand over these things, but she is looking for ways to secure the village and keep this man from escaping. He has killed and terrorized, and that is something Twilight would not allow even if she weren't a Paladin. But...why aren't the villagers gathered together in one place? Is this simply how he operates? Are they so afraid that they aren't trying to flee? ...is he so dangerous that the villagers know there would be no point in running? After her surveying looks, Twilight keeps her eyes on the villain before them. Someone like this is unlikely to simply take the ransom and leave in her opinion, and she starts going through spells in her head to be prepared for if and when he attacks.
Mairead Sandilands	Mairead was here helping and happened to be one of the hostages. "Ye know this is not going to work," she says to the bad guys. "And ye did not have to kill everyone.." in reference to the village.
Note	"Who am I?" The man responds in a snide, nasally voice, but chooses not to return the bow. His red optics telescope and focus and refocus to cover each person who walks up. Tiny glints of yellow light flicker on them... no doubt he has an Augmented Reality H.U.D. and is analyzing those who've answered his demands. "The name is Tao Pai Pai. Pleased to kill you. Contractual obligements over recent upgrades force me to add an X to the end of that. Tao Pai Pai X." Uh. Right. He's standing with both hands folded behind his back, and doesn't seem terribly alarmed at a Warframe - odd as it is - perhaps assuming it to be some other kind of cyborg. Or maybe an alien. He's seen a few by now. Of the group, though, it's Twilight Sparkle that draws the most attention. "Hrmph. A professional assassin keeps their word. I did nothing but announce my intentions upon arrival. These reckless fools made the mistake of getting in my way." Is his answer to Mairead's accusation. Delivered in the same business-like, heartless tone he's been using the whole time. Sprinkled with mildly sadistic amusement. The killer grins lopsidedly. It's far from a pleasant expression. Downright psychotic enough to send tingles down an onlooker's back! "Me, with the Red Pants Army? Oh please. If you're trying to be a comedian, I'm not here for a show." He finally clarifies for Zek. "... Good. Some of you have some sense." He is not exactly PRAISING Tomoe and Twilight Sparkle there... But he does pull out a small capsule, activates its button with a CLICK - and boom, he's carrying a small crate. Which he dangles out in front as a sort of deposit box. "Everything in the crate. Pronto. You have one minute until the hour."
Note	Hoshi will discover - just as with ORchid - that about half of the bodies are cold and unmoving. They've been killed by precise martial arts strikes to vitals and likely suffered internal bleeding. Others have had whole limbs disintegrated and are covered in burns. Many though, are alive, and in much better shape... although unconscious, and likely suffering from internal injuries. Between the 30-or-so bodies spread around, the surviving-to-wounded ratio is about 50/50.
Orchid	Those watching the tactical net will see yellow dots vanish, as Orchid's spiders tell her the difference between the living and the dead. Yellow dots also appear, as those in the houses are discovered, as well as those less obviously hiding in the trees. There is still only the one red dot there. She's also keeping track of the Green Dots which represent those who are against this cruel behavior... even Staren, despite her new doubts about the scientist. Orchid herself is now in among the trees. As she encounters locals, she tries to quietly comfort them, and encourage them to move away, hopefully out of any splash range. As for her spiders among the houses, a few will attempt to make their way onto this "Killingyouguy", so they can track him if he gets away. One even tries to jump up to the bottom of the crate. The rest try to not disturb the people in the huts. They have enough worries.
Mairead Sandilands	Mairead sighs as she listens and mutters, "I doubt they got in the way. Probably just used to prove a point," she adds as she looks at those here. Watching, she looks at X, "So why did you kill them? They did nothing to you," she adds.
Note	"Would you like to become a point and find out?" The cyborg asks Mairead in a cruel, snide tone. He clearly has no concern for anyone's lives here.
Twilight Sparkle	Mentioning the tight schedule gets Twilight Sparkle moving. In a flash of magic all the boxes she brought with her are levitated and neatly arranged inside the provided crate. But, that angry, determined gaze of hers is fixed on the pink-clad cyborg. "So, you will not harm any more villagers once all the items confiscated from the dig site are placed in this box?" she asks, just to make sure the terms of the exchange are clear. She is usually pretty trusting, but she doesn't think she can trust this guy at all. Once her file boxes are inside the crate Twilight steps back to make sure she doesn't get in the way of anyone else. She doesn't even say the usuall good-guy line of 'you won't get away with this' because she is concerned he might see that as resistance and use it as an excuse to retaliate against the innocent villagers. "Please. Just take the items and go."
Yang Xiao Long	Yang is in a rage, a burning hot blaze and the inside of the Bullhead is suffering for it. Her fists connect repeatedly with the door and the frame, until she makes the tiniest gap. Fingers jam into this gap and begin forcing the door open against the powerful hydraulic rams keeping it closed. Muscles tense, Aura flares and eventually, the door gives up and swings open. She leaps out, her Aura flaring out like dragon wings as she descends. Eyes flare red behind the visor of her helmet, and her gauntlets extend, unfolding along her forearms. She shifts position, aiming down at the gradually growing target of the guy with a giant crate. She doesn't even bother trying to slow down, merely ratcheting her arm back, aiming for a single, all-or-nothing strike.
Hoshi Amakasu	Touching cold, dead human flesh brings shudders along Hoshi's spine, but she grimly purses her lips and continues her work, giving out small gasps of releif when she /does/ find someone among the living. "It's okay, I'm gonna get you out of here," she tells some of them, ignoring the fact that they're unconscious. With her enhanced strength, she manages to carry two over her shoulders and one in her arms, but it's slow going as she makes for the trees outside of the village, away from the danger. Noting that the murderer seems to be distracted by talking, Hoshi tugs out her locket and opens the mirror to the shining light. "Come, Rosamond!" She calls out, and the huge woman in her soiled wedding dress and green cloak appears, taking several of those living into her arms and flying them quickly towards safety. It's working, but this is still slow going...
Zek	Zek's Warframe reads to sensors as the kind of mix between organic material and inorganic matter that you'd expect to get from a cyborg, albeit maybe an offworld one. It would explain why he's not giving him a weird look. Twilight is definitely the more odd-looking member of their group, though... He's picking up comm chatter about the survivors. He feels himself frown, but no evidence of it appears on his face(?). He starts to lift the datamass -- -- and stops. "A professional assassin isn't sent to pick up lost mail, either," Zek observes, his tone mild. "You aren't intending to leave anyone here alive either way, are you?" He cants his head slightly. "I wouldn't." One shoulder shrugs. "Anyway. Here." Zek tosses the hardcase towards the box. The stasis bomb affixed to it goes off, bathing the immediate vicinity in a pale blue-white light. Gravity, at least for Tao Pai Pai, momentarily terminates. A strong, steady pressure closes in from all sides in the span of a heartbeat, threatening to render him totally immobile -- at least for a moment or two. Coincidentally, it's the same span of moments it takes for Yang to fall out of the sky like a god-damn meteor. Weird how that works out, huh?
Staren	If, thanks to the stasis field, Tao Pai Pai is still in position after Yang's strike, Staren fires a burst from the railgun until the field wears off. He's picked his angle so that missed shots will hit the ground away from any people. If not... given that he's so far away that the railgun rounds will take /multiple seconds/ to hit, he abandons that strategy to instead fly towards the town and engage in a more conventional battle.
Tomoe	Tomoe has copied the location data of the Dr. Gero lab, she will be heading there right away after this is all over, she never said she wouldn't run there after. She looks at Tao Pai Pai X. She's noa happy woman but she moves to throw the item into the box as requested. "You have the data from my end." Tomoe notes he towering size not doing much really for once. She keeps tabs on others like Hoshi and ORchid but she's got to focus on the task at hand which is keeping an eye on Tao Pai Pai X? "They made you have to slap an X on your name due to a hardware upgrade?" Keep him talking keep him distracted right? There come Yang she says nothing as Yang heads in it's too late now to do anyting about it. Then comes the Tenno mocing to trap Tao in a stasis field. In a flash her Naginata is out ansd she's joining the pile on, there's nothing that can be done about it now.
Alexis Maaka	Maaka waits until Yang is finished smashing into Tao like a meteor, before she squeezes off a shot. .408 Cheytac is nothing to sneeze at, and Maaka aims center-mass. That gravity bomb thing shouldn't wear off by the time she shoots.
Note	"Hrmph." As usual, it takes some serious threats to get do-gooders to move to the beat of his drum. Tao seems... about as pleased as a guy with THAT KIND OF SMILE can be over the prompt delivery of the files. He actually has to pull out a few more capsules to store it all, and he does so smoothly and without ONCE dropping his guard. "As I said. I'm a man of my word. Although..." As soon as he's packed away the crates back into Capsule form and tucked them into his outfit, the GRIN RETURNS. "How attentive, Zek. Quite right! That word never included ANY OF YOU returning alive. Task number two is eliminating everyone who showed up today!" Well THAT IS NOT AT ALL A GOOD THING. Tao's tone has heated up and turned combative in a flash! Then the solid noise of a VEHICLE BULKHEAD DOOR being smashed out. "WHAT?!" Tao, as any person might do, cranes his neck back to look upwards... and what he sees is troubling indeed. But he smiles in premature triumph, and raises one metal hand. It whirrs, revvs, and DISASSEMBLE-WITHDRAWS into the arm's internals, leaving only an empty barrel, with three smaller barrels spaced around the rim. "DODON---" BZZZZZZZZZZZZTT! Looking up was a mistake, no matter how quickly he can normally fire off.. whatever he was about to fire off. The statis field catches him, and the mercenary's words are caught off, replaced with grunting and straining and some undignified frustrated noises! In the next few seconds, Yang just PUMMELS the stunned and defenseless Tao, which sends him trenching across the ground and smashing THROUGH one of the Capsule Houses. In one wall, OUT another. Some screams come from inside, and four kids hop out the windows and run off in a panic! Seemingly unharmed though, thankfully. The stasis field wears off though, and now Tao is likely pissed. He smoothly executes a FLIP to get to his feet as if it were nothing. And is then under assault from GUNFIRE. The hitman responds instantly though, bringing his arms up to protect his defenses. An ENERGY SHIELD glimmers into existence in the nick of time, bleeding considerable kinetic energy from both projectiles. STILL, the shots rip into his arms. Without saying a word, he almost instantly DIGS WHAT'S LEFT OF THE BULLETS out of his arms... and FINGER FLICKS them at hypervelocity back the way they came. "YOU CAN HAVE THESE BACK!" Leaping up atop the building he just crashed through (well, what's left of one wall, anyways), Tao aims down at the ENTIRE GROUP with that arm cannon! "DODON CANNON!!" Not just a ray anymore, it would seem. Everything. Goes. YELLOW-WHITE! A beam that must be a FIFTY FEET WIDE erupts from the cannon and aims to BURY everyone who was in front of him - and hasn't managed to scatter - in a pulverizing energy blast.
Staren	Mecha-scale railgun rounds create a disappointing lack of red mist. Well... not that Staren really expected such, once he saw the guy was a cyborg. When Tao Pai Pai FLICKS THEM BACK AT HIM, though, he's surprised. But not so surprised that he doesn't have the mecha step out of the way in the seconds before they zoom past him. "Wow." he mutters, impressed. Shooting with that kind of lag into a fight isn't going to work, though, so he takes to the air, transforming his machine to fighter mode and speeding towards the battle at supersonic speed! He winces when he sees that energy blast. There's nothing he can do about it from this distance...
Yang Xiao Long	Yang lands, leaving a crater around the impact point. The energy bleeds out of her body, causing her Aura to surge and billow... then begin to crackle as it bleeds out the momentum. Yang then begins to stand, lifting her visor to stare at the assassin. Red dots show through the visor. Then he fires off the energy cannon and her arms lift. They cross in front of her and she takes the brunt of the beam, skidding backward from the impact force. "GHHHHHHRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!" The suit begins to shred away, the helmet cracks, visor disintegrates, and finally the rest just falls apart from the force being applied. But Yang doesn't go down. She sets her feet, digging in then starts to PUSH BACK against the Dodon Cannon beam, spreading her hands to take more of it against herself. Her hands are scorching from the energy, her suit is shredding in typical Clothing Damage style, but she isn't going down. Not yet. "IS THAT ALL YOU HAVE!? SOME ASSASSIN YOU ARE, CAN'T EVEN KILL A TEENAGER!" she bellows over the sound, then heaves back and PUNCHES THE BEAM, deflecting it skywards and away from the village and the evacuation route. "COME AND FIGHT ME THEN! COME ON!" Tao might recognize, or be reminded of some certain little monkey-tailed boys from his past, especially one who has golden hair that billows from unfelt wind.
Alexis Maaka	No red mist. No effect on target. Maaka grunts under her breath, as suddenly she sees something flash, and she narrowly avoids getting blown to pieces. Her armor takes the brunt of the bullets as she tries to move, and is knocked onto her back. The wind is knocked out of her lungs, and she tries to regain her breath. Blood trickles out of wounds in her armor, as she tries to stand. Wounded but not dead, Maaka just opts to regain her position and rechamber a round into her Intervention. The rifle settles onto Tao's smug dome, before she squeezes off another shot.
Hoshi Amakasu	It's to Hoshi's disfavor that she doesn't know quite how this place works in comparison to what might be called a 'normal' world... though she does give a little cheer when she sees that cybernetic bastard being punched through a house like a chump. "I hope something in you breaks," She mutters over the din of collapsing masonry and gunfire, while hauling out her second batch of critically wounded persons. Hustling like mad means that she and the Persona are able to set down the wounded and go for the third and final batch. Only four more people left to go... Unfortunately, enhanced as she is, she's just too slow to be able to pick up and carry out everyone before Tao's cannon can fire it's ridiculous blast of energy. She's in the middle of picking up two more, and Rosamond the other two, when the Persona flies with preturnatural speed to protect her from the ray, but not giving the same protection to the people in her arms. Hoshi screams in pain and falls to her knees as the searing energy strikes Rosamond at the edges and washes through their mental link, but she's physically unharmed. Rosamond, however, has disappeared for now, and the two bodies she was carrying are ashen and horribly burned... dead. "No... No!" Hoshi cries out upon seeing their devastated forms, but she notices that the ones she's carrying are still alive. Grimly, she sets into her task of saving them. She can get justice later, if everyone else can't do it themselves...
Mairead Sandilands	Mairead stands and rushes Tao as the binds holding her and as she does, she summons her IS which covers her body. "No more will you kill," she says to Tao. As she moves forward, she summons her signature weapon, Bearnard, a Scottish Broadsword. As she rushes, she swings at Tao...
Zek	Well, that worked out better than expected. The moment the enemy cyborg has gone down, Zek is on the move. He circles around, his auto-mapper giving him an idea of the layout of the village and the overlaid AR HUD from the tactical network providing him with locations of survivors. He doesn't want any of them caught in the inevitable retaliation if he can help it. And inevitable is right. The wide-ranging energy wave sweeps the field, and the Warframe gets caught in it, even as it dives wide and goes for cover. The blast hits a half-collapsed capsule house and tears through the wall, blunting it; the rest hammers against his shields, snapping the azure haze over one half of his body and then searing the blue and red surface black. He's mid-dive when it connects. When the smoke clears... well, it doesn't. The Warframe slides across the ground like it was iced over, the shields giving him an almost frictionless surface to glide across. He's got that big bazooka he was carrying around shouldered, and slams a shell across the space between himself and the cyborg with a whistling shriek of rocketry -- a sound that abruptly doubles as the shell splits, apparently impossibly, two spinning warheads sent sailing into the middle distance. The blast isn't fiery. There's a flash of bright light and a pulse of heat, the scent of ozone abrupt and harsh. An electromagnetic blast bursts out of the points of impact, swallowing up the space the enemy cyborg occupies.
Orchid	Orchid was not close enough to where Yang landed. This is good. Big energy beams are getting tossed around. This is bad. Orchid basically abandons her attempts to do more than manage the tac-net at its most basic level; the dots will show where people are. Hoshi is moving out the wounded, so Orchid uses her dash boots to move around quickly, and with the battle going on knocking people through buildings, she's diving into the middle. Specifically, she's going UNDER where Tao is, into the building he was knocked through, thankfully moving at right angles to the energy blast. She comes out the other side, carrying the screamer. Here's hoping her dash boots can get her away fast enough.
Tomoe	Tomeo has long learned to be rapid in her response to changing events in a fight, it's how she was even able to protect Klien from the Skull Reaper in what seemed like a lifetime ago. She moves the Nagitnat vanishes into her inventory and out comes the Dawn Breaker and the mourning wall. She moves inhuman fast on the heels of Yang and the shield will be driven into the ground hard. Several abilities are popped as she/s not in the way of the blast intending to take whatever Yang has not. "No." That is the only reply Tomoe has, she takes the hit, the damage is clear and Tao would see something strange as would everyone else who didn't know Tomoe well. The beam is causing her body to distort and warp, she's grits her teeth in the pain from the blast but she's also poped every panic ability she has at this point. She's still standing when it's over but her body is a mess of wireframes glowing bright red, even part of her face, she looks right at Tao. "Some two pit Coffin bait like you?! Wouldn't know a real fight if it bit you on the ass." Comes the voice of the Iron Lily she's still in the fight through her HP bar has taken a hell of a beating and it's clear she's in a good deal of pain from this. She's starting to move again and move towards Tao. "That all you ... got? Garbage?" The sight of Tomoe having the illusion of flesh stripped away and looking like some damaged 3d Avatar that's quite real, and heading for Tao.
Twilight Sparkle	Twilight is not exactly surprised by Tao's actions. What she -is- surprised by is just how powerful the blast he lets loose is! And how everyone else was moving in even before he announced his true intentions! She has barely a moment to react when that beam is fired, but that is long enough for her to charge up her magic. Her horn glows blindingly bright for a moment before she fires back! She doesn't usually make beams this big, but this is an emergency! The purple unicorn cries out from the effort of producing such a beam - a sound probably heard quite often in this world - and intercepts the Dodon Cannon as best she can! She might not have been quite fast enough to keep Hoshi or others out of danger, and that just adds more anger to her attack. "You will not hurt anyone else!!!" she screams as she pours all she has into the beam, trying to push Tao's beam back...and engulf him in her own if possible. Or at least hold him off long enough for all the others around to pummel him again. Either way, as her beam clashes with Tao's she tries to position herself so that she is directly opposite his firing path. No one else other than herself will be hurt if she can help it! Purple-white and yellow-white are soon pushing back and forth against each other, and the feedback could easily lead to some sort of explosion!
Note	Evacuating now is a very fine idea! And while many people are CREEPED OUT by talking spider drones, the drones are talking sense. It doesn't take much for those in the houses to be persuaded to evacuate! They just needed to be shaken out of their PURE TERROR! Except that one screamer. ORchid emerges from the building she dashed through clutching a very bewildered-looking kid who can't be more than 8. And the kid is a humanoid Dalmatian. Yep. White fur, and black spots. So is he a kid, or a puppy? DOWN screams the beam, engulfing the warriors - only for it to stop and wobble in a VERY unstable manner, swirling and reshaping from the impact against Yang's fists, Tomoe's shield, and Twilight's magic beam as if it were a giant soap bubble. It slows, it roils... it stops. Oh, it's still trying to engulf the trio, but the clashing forces roil and scream, filling the village with light. At the other end of this clash, Tao Pai Pai X narrows his optics, running calculations on the balance of power here... and then... "NICE TRY, GIRL! Even if you were one of those Saiyan brats, these upgrades are more than enough to put you six feet under. SEE FOR YOURSELF!" The energies roaring from Tao's cannon-arm rather suddenly TRIPLE, a huge pulse traveling down to rejoin the rest of the yellow-white blaze! ... And all the progress that the tank, unicorn, and SERIOUSLY ANGRY PUGILIST have made REVERSES. The blob INCHES BACK TOWARDS them, putting the pressure back in their court. The ground begins to shake and crack, and the roaring energies are deafening. Almost so much that a fourth figure joining the endeavor could go unnoticed. A second set of hands reaches out to SLAM against the blazing Dodon Cannon's leading edge. Ones much smaller and a bit daintier than Yang's... but they hold back the blast nonetheless! ... For a moment. "No... no no no no no no...!" Note's as overwhelmed as the three she's with. Her face contorts with panic and rage, watery with hints of tears. The fact that she's standing here with the group after what was clearly a one-sided-beatdown - she's favoring one leg, and covered in cuts and gashes, with plenty of accompanying rips in her clothes - is itself miraculous, since none of the others being rescued have recovered this fast. "You... killed... all these people I know...!! Teachers... friends... rivals... !! NO MORE!" Brave words from one very beaten up girl... but there's something ferocious building in her eyes. As she struggles to help her friends push the roaring energy back... her hair wavers and rises in different thick locks, shifting smoothly from black to a golden-blonde. Energy crackles around her, the air sizzling and bursting with freak winds clashing with the Dodon blast! "YOU WILL PAY FOR THIS! RIGHT NOW!!" As if some great barrier was just breached, there's a thunderous CRACK-A-BOOM and Note's body erupts into a fiery and wild golden aura. Her ponytail stands up horizontal, splitting out into a number of spiky locks, and the more bound hair atop her head attempts to bunch up and do the same. Her eyes all but shine from within, a clear green instead of black. And, despite all that injury, THIS time when she shoves along with her friends... equilibrium is restored. Between Yang and Note both displaying this power, Tao Pai Pai, a tall silhouette against the brilliance of the energy war playing out in front of him... begins to fret. He grits his teeth nervously and starts to pump more power out! But he made a mistake committing to this effort - overly much. Not that he had much choice. Mairead comes in swinging a SWORD. He happens to be MOSTLY MADE OF METAL THOUGH, and the edge clips into his shoulder. There's plenty of POWER in that blow. It wrecks his balance, though it only digs in about an inch. He BACKHANDS with his one free hand, sending Mairead flying for a tree if she's not careful...
Note	Though, she'll want to vamoose either way. Because she's in the line of FAR too much fire. First Maaka's shell! It doesn't reach its target... because Tao raises his one free hand, attempting to simply SLAP THE BULLET AWAY. A bullet he couldn't have easily seen coming... This DOESN'T work though! He's much too torn between everything else to pull that off. So it slams straight into his palm and ruptures into the fine machinery, causing the whole hand to basically explode - now held together by only bits of wire and support skeleton. "Grrrrr! How are they giving me so much trouble?!" And he's in for so much more than that. Because Zek's side-winding maneuvering gives him an excellent angle to fire something that Tao just isn't prepared to deal with. Not in general... and definitely NOT right now. The EMP bursts cover Tao's body, resulting in an immediate lightning storm and SCREAMING from the hitman. His body contorts wildly as systems go UTTERLY HAYWIRE, including the Dodon Cannon. It's powered by his Ki to be sure, but there are plenty of intricate systems working together to augment it to insane degrees. And all but his most shielded, most critical life support ones just went into a reboot-and-re-initialize cycle. At the worst possible time. For HIM, that is! "No... NOT AGAIN!!" Tao just barely manages to gape in PURE FEAR FOR HIS LIFE, the panic shifting to HIM now! Because down below, now that he's lost control of his attack... Tomoe, Yang Xiao Long, Twilight Sparkle, and Note collectively force the Dodon Cannon back the way it came! The yellowish mini-sun engulfs Tao and picks up speed, sailing higher and higher off into the distance... taking Tao's screams with it! All the way to the horizon... twinkle
Yang Xiao Long	Yang's Aura is flickering, wounds piling up along her arms as the sleeves of her suit are fully torn away to the shoulders. Blood leaks from cuts along her arms... and then another pair of hands come to take the pressure. She glances, a brief lull in her berserk rage taking note of... well, Note. She spares a brief half-smile, before the pressure returns and her legs begin to buckle. Then Note goes Super, and with Tao's attention diverted, she rears back with a roaring "HYYYYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" and delivers a PUNCH to end all PUNCHes to help speed the Dodon Cannon blast back at its origin. Her Gauntlet discharges a secondary blast to go along with it, hopefully detonating when the assassin is well away from the village. That second blast has all the force she's been absorbing locked into it, so hopefully that assassin won't be hurting anyone, ever again. But he's survived worse than that before now. Once the immediate threat is over, Yang just collapses to the ground, gasping for breath as her Aura finally flickers out completely, leaving her a bloody, beaten up wreck of a woman in a torn up jumpsuit.
Orchid	The Red dot vanishes from the Tactical Map. I guess that means the good guys won? Mostly? Well, only if they can survive. Orchid puts the screaming down down with as much care as she can muster, before, well, diving once more into action, pulling out a first-aid kit as she dash-boots back over to the focus of so much of the fight, where Yang needs medical help. "Once more into the breach..."
Staren	A lot can happen in less than a minute. Staren races back. He's planning to shoot Tao Pai Pai as soon as he's in range, but... other things happen. The mercenary is sent sailing off into the distance, and it's not worth it to chase him down and finish the job... Not when there are so many that need to be saved. A sonic boom can be heard from the sky, before the Star Hawk slows down, transforming to humanoid mode and landing by the Popo statue. "You went super saiyan without even having any idea what it is? At this age? I think at this point you should really talk to Goku. Congrats." Unfortunately, he has no knowledge to share besides the name of the technique and that it's some kind of power boost he's seen Goku, Gohan, Raditz, and Vegeta do. The mecha kneels and its cockpit opens, Staren hopping out, briefly manifesting wings to slow his fall. "Alright. You guys handle the wounded, I'll collect the dead to see if I can save them." And he does, first giving Twilight a hug, then rushing around the town beaming dead bodies back up to his ship, where Dawn frantically moves them off the teleporter platform and applies nanobandages. Once he's got them all, he beams up himself and FTL jumps to space over Grand Dorado. He's going to need resources to speed this up... The Star Hawk, meanwhile, closes its cockpit and stands up. It will follow Twilight back to the gate and then make its way back to Equestria to wait for Staren there.
Alexis Maaka	Maaka watches as Tao is sent into the next dimension...or at least into the horizon. She just sighs, before stowing her Intervention as she goes down to the village through a combination of jumping and climbing that is made EXCRUCIATING with her injuries. "Just gonna bleed to death, En-Bee-Dee." She says, leaning onto something with a grunt. Ow. Everything really hurts.
Hoshi Amakasu	Hoshi doesn't witness the amazing lightshow that is occuring in the village, and... problably laying the place entirely to waste. Instead, she's been hustling all o the survivors into Yang's ship, as well as herding the unhurt villagers in with their neighbors. After she's done, she starts to make her way back, ripping her hair tie from her hair so it can shift into her katana. Emnity ripples through her as she considers how it'll feel to break every last piece of cybernetics on that bastard's body... Only to witness Tao Pai Pai fly off into the sky, gone from their thoughts. "Good riddance!" She yells at the retreating speck... She almost considers summoning Rosamond again to make chase, but it wouldn't serve any purpose now. Besides... revenge didn't make heroes. Instead, she responds to Yang's medical alert, racing over as fast as her legs can carry her while she lets her sword return to its more innoculous form. Turns out she didn't need to run quite so hard, because Orchid was on the case, and she's no healer. "The ship is back in the woods if we you guys need to get to trauma care... the rest of the villagers are in there too." Hoshi sighs and bows to everyone with deep respect, while she tells Zek, Orchid, and Note, "It's nice to meet you in person. I'm Amakasu Hoshi, but you... probably knew that." Sighing, Hoshi kneels down and looks over the devastated village with a sorrowful expression on her face. "I'm sorry we didn't get here in time to stop this, Ms. Note. I'm sorry I couldn't do more to help."
Tomoe	Things are not going as well as she could hope, there is a lot of power coming at here and it's not letting up. It's gone full-on Journey to the West J here. There's a lot coming at her right now a whole lot of energy and a whole lot of pain here too. There are warning on her HP meter bad memories come crashing back. As the beam finally lets up and it's a good thing, then she sees something she has not seen a very long time. She sees a super sayain before her eyes, there are no doubts about Note's bloodline at this point the answer is as blinding as the sun at high noon. She does drop to the ground. Tomoe's in the deep yellow almost red after that and she's now on one knee for a moment. "If that's the tactics the Red Pants army is going to use?" She doesn't finish she now just falls forward on to the ground and lays there groaning in pain, she's still clearly awake.
Note	Far off in the distance, the twinkling energy FLARES. ... probably quite a painful thing for Tao. Can he survive what just happened? Who knows. Note, meanwhile, is... NOT in much shape to think or respond to anything at the moment! Not Hoshi, not Staren talking about Goku or whoever... nothing. She's staring at the ground, wreathed in a roaring golden flame of her own blazing Ki. Hair still blonde, eyes still green. The aura spikes and surges up and down in intensity wildly and she's leaning forward in a wobbly stance, as if struggling to stand. "Aaaaah...... AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHRRRRRRRGHHHHHHHHHHnnnnnnnn.....rrrrrnnnnnnnkhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!" Considering the fact that she's covered in injuries, whatever this transformation is? Probably isn't the greatest thing for recovering. Any spiritual senses can tell the amount of energy she's putting off - much of that aura is PURE WASTED ENERGY that just can't be properly contained - is staggering. Beyond staggering. How does an injured girl HAVE that much to offer, let alone stand there and radiate it into the world? But as people get near her, she struggles to raise her head and speak. Every time she does it's just more grunting and wild energy flares. Until, finally... With another THUNDERCRACK of shifting Ki, Note's stamina fails. She drops down to one knee. The golden aura's cut off and dwindles to nothing. As it does, Note's hair drops back down, returning to the comparatively boring black. Her eyes similarly shift. Which leaves her panting for breath. Gasping for it, really. And finally collapsing forward, unable to even kneel very well. "Awwwwrawrwfh." IS mumbled unintelligibly in protest to her own exhaustion. She blearily looks up and just sort of stares at Hoshi, unsure WHAT to say.
Zek	Zek comes out of the slide with the bazooka slung over his shoulder and his assault rifle up and ready to fire. It turns out that it isn't strictly necessary: the EM bursts took care of the cyborg with a speed that he didn't expect. He stands there, rifle shouldered, for an awkward second or two as the assassin is flung into the distance. Zek was all ready to empty a magazine into him before he hit the ground, but the angle gets bad as soon as he clears the treeline. Which means they can't confirm the kill. Troublesome. The gun comes down. Zek checks his motion tracker and the tactical overlay, finding no hostiles in the vicinity. There's a moment's concern as Note's power flaring up triggers an alert on his sensors, but he clears it as a friendly and resumes his sweep. <"Clear,"> he broadcasts over the shortwave, and moves back into the middle of the village with the others. It's a mess all around. He rejoins the group, gun still held in his hands, and only reaffixes it to his back once he's sure they're largely secure. Hoshi bows, and he returns it with a sort of practiced formality, the tall, armored and faceless figure speaking through radio broadcast. His visor is totally opaque, making getting a read on him a matter of tone and extremely reserved body language. <"Zek. I am glad to meet you."> Note falls. Zek sinks into a seiza position. He holds a hand out, palm up. <"You need control,"> he tells Note. His other hand sweeps over it, as if swiping on a menu. His augmented reality display brings up a map of the village, and the shared tactical network displays him drawing up plans to rebuild it.
Yang Xiao Long	Yang looks up at Orchid... then waves her off, gesturing toward Note. "Deal with the kid first... I'm not going anywhere." she says, just kind of half-slumped. She's in only slightly better condition than the saiyan girl, might even be worse for wear on the inside, but she wants to make sure the others are looked after first. She's the tough one, after all.
Twilight Sparkle	Twilight's eyes widen as Tao somehow finds even more power to pour into the beam, and she looks a bit worried as the impact point starts pushing toward them again. Twilight winds up in a small crater herself as she pours every ounce she can muster into her beam, but she doesn't think they could hold out long! And then... "Note?! I was afraid you might be dead, too!" She seems very happy to see the monkey girl. And awed at the sudden transformation. As the others start getting the licks in against Tao Pai Pai and the beam starts pushing back toward him, Twilight's worried expression melts into a confident smirk, and with another shout of effort she helps blast Tao off into the sky! She makes a note of his trajectory, hoping that perhaps he can be captured while surely incapacitated and taken to a Paladin facility for secure imprisonment. But, as soon as the danger has passed...Twilight wobbles before falling over, panting like someone who just ran a very long sprint. She can hear people talking around her, but she can't quite respond or add to anything yet. She manages to raise a foreleg when Staren comes to give her a hug, but other than that she just lies there trying to catch her breath. After she finally recovers a bit, Twilight slowly gets to her hooves again and looks around. "H-how many were..." But, she notices how many Staren is loading up before he rushes off and silently prays he can help them. She looks to Note, who ended up collapsing as well. She just reaches out a hoof...and rubs Note's back lightly, careful of injuries. She then looks around at the others. "We shouldn't feel down about this. We saved lives, and Staren should be able to restore any that were lost. But, if possible we should try to secure that Tao person while he is weakened. The Paladins have facilities where someone like that can be held. And if they don't...perhaps Queen Celestia and Queen Luna can send him to Tartarus."
Orchid	"You took it worst of all," Orchid replies to Yang. "And while you're not going anywhere, I'd rather it not because you died for lack of care. Leave the triage to the professionals." The medical attention at the moment is mostly cleaning wounds, making sure nothing broken in the wrong places, splints, and gauze to stop the bleeding. Orchid's spider drones crawl over Yang, putting down webbing to hold the splints and bandages in place. It's not her favorite thing, but it is what Orchid was brought online to do. She finishes making sure Yang won't die, then checks out to see that Tomoe and Note are at least comfortably on their backs, and cleans up the worst of any holes she finds. However, it doesn't take all of her attention, as she can manage some radio chatter.
Note	"Ow ow ow ow ow." Is Note's reaction to being shuffled on her back. She takes any offered medicine... but then proceeds to sit up the moment she can. Perhaps, she doesn't want to be laying on her tail. And this brings her looking straight at Zek. Who is kneeling too formally for her tastes. She blinks a few times. "Control what...?" As an afterthought, she begins reaching into her garments - the vest covers several dozen small dense... bean-bag-like pouches attached via something that seems similar to velcro, but is a bit more convoluted. She yoinks and twists, and starts dropping the bag-weights. Also slides off her wristbands, which hit the ground with noticeable THUDS. And shuffles out of her boots, struggling to kick them away.
Tomoe	Tomoe lets her self be rolled over and will lay there for now she'll be getting up sooner or later. She's just going to lay there for now and she looks over to Note for a moment but doesn't move much more for the moment.
Zek	Zek's formality doesn't seem to get into his speech. The way he sits is just... the way he sits. It's kind of odd, considering how heavily-armed he seems to be. <"Whatever energy you were leaking a moment ago,"> Zek replies. <"You were giving off enough of it to make my neuroptics think there had been a reactor breach on a planet's surface. You're lucky it didn't seem to do anything but make you glow."> His faceless head turns slightly. Orchid seems to have Yang under control. <"Are you alright,"> he asks, looking in Tomoe's sprawled direction. Zek's blackened armor seems to be gradually regaining its luster, the gold piping glinting again while the blue and red seems to be more thoroughly burned. He seems to be in pretty good shape regardless, though.
Hoshi Amakasu	Hoshi listens silently for a time, though she occasionally looks over to make sure everyone was doing okay, and to check if anyone needed any help. Eventually, though, she stands and brushes herself off. "I should get home... I promised my parents I'd be there for dinner. Mr. Zek--we still gotta spar sometime. Looks like it'd be pretty intense." She bows deeply to everyone again while putting her hair tie back in, and makes her way off into the distance, back towards the nearest Warpgate.
Tomoe	Tomoe looks to Zek for a moment "I wasn't knocked out of Avatar state I'll live, but it's not going to be fun for me later. "I might need some help getting out of here later, I admit but for now I think I'm going to enjoy laying here Zek." She does manage a bit of a smile and her form is slowly becoming less wireframe.
Note	Note blinks a few more times at Zek. The fact that she's staring at a Warframe with an Uncanny Valley facelessness thing going on doesn't seem to bother her too much. She's seen Zek a bit now! "Oh... oh yeah! That... that was... I don't know what that was! All of a sudden there was this... this sort of... tingly heat all through me and whooooooooosh!" Note slams both hands to her knees, but winces from the movement. She's staring excitedly at Zek though! Because maybe he knows a bit about what happened? Though she spares a few glances left and right. Immediately quieting down again. It's not right to be all excited when she's surrounded by so much loss. So many terrible things happening. She innerly kicks herself and tries to tamp down the excitement. But... all that POWER! But as she looks around at the ruined buildings. Injured allies. And injured people she's never even met before... she realizes... "Everyone came... and got hurt... because I dragged you all into this like an idiot..."
Zek	Zek inclines his head as Hoshi takes her leave. <"Definitely. Have a nice night."> He watches her go, and then turns to Tomoe, giving her what might be a weird stare -- it's hard to tell -- and then nodding sharply. <"I can help move you to a warp gate if I need to."> Note... has no idea what she's doing. Zek looks back to her. <"It's dangerous to lose control of that sort of power,"> he says, somberly. <"I remember doing it... before."> The slightly awkward way he says it makes it sound like it was a long time ago. <"I don't remember what really happened, but I know it was... bad."> He inclines his head. <"You should do your best to learn control."> He looks up. <"An honorable warrior is responsible for their own choices,"> he says, firmly. <"Everything you say, everything you do, and all the consequences of those things. Don't wallow in pity. Think instead about what you can do to make it right.">
Tomoe	Tomoe grins faintly again to Zek as she listens to the comms. She seems to be relaxing somewhat and her own damage at least. Well her apperanc ie norming. "That's something I had to learn as well. Then again I didn't come into this by the way many do around here. Went for a evening of gaming wound up with a gun to my head of win or die."
Note	Displaying considerable stamina - and perhaps an overall disregard for bed rest - Note struggles to her feet and sheds several more weight-packs from her clothes. She's scratched up pretty badly and bruised and her clothes are ragged. One leg is DEFINITELY sore. But it's hard to keep one with Saiyan blood down! She does some very minor experimental arm stretches while listening to Zek and Tomoe... "Mh-...mhuh, this got heavy fast." But she does mull over Zek's words. And glances at Tomoe. "... What?" Control the power though, huh? For a bit, Note looks off into space thoughtfully. Then... carefully spaces her legs out and puts both fists at her waist. Sucks in a long breath, despite the soreness... And... ".....hooooooooooooooaaaaaaaaaaaaAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!" Perhaps a bit thoughtlessly, starts focusing her energy. Whatever she's doing though... DOES seem to be working. Her brow furrows with focus and strain, and flickers of golden light once again flow from her skin and start to swirl around. But it's an immense effort to build up that power in her current state... "HRAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!!" With one final push of focused Ki and thunderous crackle-SNAP of golden power, the transformation emerges again. Golden light sears the air around Note, shifting about and rising upwards like a burning flame. Her hair's once again upraised and spiky, and eyes a light green. "W-woooooooagh...." And she's breathing HARD the moment that effort's over with. Looks a litle wobbly really. Though... Over the sound of the rushing Ki-wind, a grumbly tummy squeals in protest at all this exertion. Which causes Note to IMMEDIATELY blush furiously and bunch her shoulders up. "Eheheheheheheh..."
Tomoe	Tomoe says "A Virutal reality game, one of swords and adventure. How could one say no to a full sensory feedback game like that? I was one of the first ones in, it was a trap the hardware had been rigged to kill you if you died or were pulled out of the rig. Nearly three years passed and things got trippy thanks to the multiverse." She notes she looks over to Note for a moment "Ya your a Sayain all right if you can do that."