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Priscilla	Entering the Central Fountains of Alma is entering the offices of Dedan, Queen's Inspector, Guardian of Zone 1. The two things are one and the same, because there is nothing here *but* Dedan's central offices, or so it would seem.     Hitting the obnoxious sequence of floating crates in the correct order (something one of the workers is probably incapable of, and that's accounting for the ones who can get past the obtuse entry quiz) results in lowering the bridge, splitting the meat-fall, and opening the huge doors, but what lies beyond appears to be nothing but deep purple walls five times taller than they need to be, set with yawning black and empty doorways into branching hallways that come off massive intersections. Crossed walkways of violet metal bridge entry to entry, right over a churning vat of liquid meat --almost glowing red in the strange, sourceless light-- which now smells oddly sweet, though no less offputting for it, filled by constant downpour coming from so high above you can't actually see the source.     There are no desks here. No workers. No crates. Nothing but huge, echoing halls, endlessly pouring meat, and the sounds of a piano being played somewhere deeper within, repeating the same couple of bars over and over again in loop, in the exact same way the brain does when a song gets stuck in your head; the one piece loops into itself incessantly, rather than playing out the whole song, not actually meant to, but seamlessly doing so all the same.     Which of the west, east, or north passages it's coming out of though, is strangely difficult to tell.
Starbound Flotilla	Among the many doors and chambers of the maze, one can hear a constant piano, of course. And it's terribly difficult to find the source. But did you know that, as you wander, you might hear something else as well? And it's much easier to find the source than it is to find the source on that piano, since it's totally natural.     George is once more here among the walls as well, somehow having gotten a bit ahead of the rest of the group. He's got a saxophone, of all the things. He's trying to use the piano as a backing, but it's terribly difficult to use it as backup. Every so often he has to stop and get ahold of the beat a little more, and devise fresh melody. He's available for conversing! Might be a good idea to chat, considering what happened just a little while ago.
Thomas Alva Edison	Edison walks through, the halls.  Too tall to make any sense, now sweet smelling yet still disturbing in its own way.  Looking up does not provide any answers either, the source of the meat being just out of sight.  Perhaps it would just always be out of sight, something not answerable because the logic behind its creation was 'it just is'.   The Queen had hired outside help, a thought that did not sit well with him.  Of course, they were summoned too, so that should not be odd after all...if they were summoned why would others not?  Of course, this left more questions than answers, and the bullheaded push on either side was more than frustrating.   It reminded him of the egos that caused the seminal tragedy.  How with words and an attempt to speak that so much death could have been avoided.  Yet egos pushed against each other here too, and nobody would listen to reason.  Yet, he too felt pushed forward...the desire to know the truth of the matter ate at him. To that end, he wondered if he was complicit in these events too?  Stopping, the ways split up.  "We could split up, but in here we might run into trouble.  I think we should all pick a direction, or split into larger groups," Edison comments.   Reflecting just a bit more, he wonders if even talking to Dedan was possible?  Or if egos would flare into a fight before it could even start?  The thoughts gnawed at him, but at the same time nor could he stop.  He could only push forward in one direction and reflect on it as it happened.   Then there was George, which Edison regarded with a look.  "So how much do you actually know?" he asks, not 'whose side are you on' which seems kinda silly.  In the end, they are only ever on their side.  If he was in the way, being forward like this would be weird.
August Kohler	August is here, dressed in his winter coat, fully armed with pistol and combat knife, and heading straight through the entrance once the puzzle is solved, taking in the smell of sweet meat and quickly disregarding it. His direction is simple. George. "George, you alright?" Is the first thing the redhead asks, seemingly worried, before continuing. "Were you fighting specters or something? Based on the way Albert was talking, you were somewhere dangerous when you disappeared. What the hell happened?" There's also a glance as Thomas approaches, as August considers. "You mind sharing some of those tickets you bought, in case we need them later?" If they do indeed split into groups, August wants to stick near George, as he taps his foot to the piano medley. If George disappears again, that'll be a bad thing, and he also kind of wnats to keep an eye on his 'friend', in case George isn't necessarily an ally here. August thinks he is, based on the way Albert was acting...but they'll find out.
Tina Natsumi	If this was all happening where Tina could bring things back with her, she'd be having a field day. Trying a new kind of weird meat would be perfect video fodder, plus there'd be the added bonus of getting to cook up something new and weird! Alas, she's not even sure if the liquid meat is even edible, and the odd smell has her gag reflex working with her brain for once.      Maybe another time.      This time, Tina's focus is on trying to figure out where the sounds are coming from. It doens't take long for her head to start bobbing with the beat that George is providing, the gravity of situation perhaps not hitting her quite as hard as it should.      Not quite knowing what's going on with all this liquid meat and is the likely cause of that. "Not a bad plan, Mister Edison! Let's see now. We've got three paths, so!" Tina taps a gloves finger to her hat, looking down each path before heading for the western path.      She hopes it's the western path, anyway. It's the one on her left compared to the others, anyway, and she'll go that way with or without anyone in tow. "I call this way! That's how America expanded, so that's gotta be the right way. Kohler, you keep an eye on ol' George, alright? I'm countin' on ya!"
Starbound Flotilla	George blows his saxophone in Edison's direction for a few more bars of accompaniment with the piano, even bouncing in a dance-like way for a little bit, before he stops with the serenading. He doesn't stop bouncing a little to the beat, as if it's a wonderful toe-tapper of a song. "I," He says firmly. "Am a idiot, and that's why I don't know anything, actually. That's the convenient answer that's easy to digest, goes in and out easy, and tastes fine." And the implication of other options more difficult to deal with, but he'll leave that up to Edison to pursue.     He gives a quick wink to August. "Right as rain, Gus. Took a bit of a tumble! You know my old-man knees, and I sink, I don't swim. Had to climb up the side, had a couple specters down there. Don't worry about it! Looks like you dealt with whatever purification needed doing, though. Reliable! Good seeing it."
Janine Liberi	Janine sniffs the air as they finally reach the innermost fountains of meat. She makes a slight face because, you know, it smells of raw processed meat, but comments. "It smells sweet in here. You think something got added to this shit?" she asks, looking over the side before hawking a loogie over it. "Whatever it was, no way to mask the taste I bet."     She groans as the saxophone comes out and starts mingling with the endless loop of the same piano keys echoing down from somewhere. "Nah, fuck this. Biancabella!" Out comes her Persona, who lets fly a blast of wind down each of the hallways in turn. While it might be difficult to make out from which direction the music is coming from, maybe disrupting it by blowing howling winds down the hallway it's coming from will help. If so, Janine immediately races down that hallway.     If not, she just goes down the one of the two that George doesn't.
Aoko Aozaki	Let's be honest, Aoko is here solely to watch the spectacle as Gilgamesh takes the matter of ruining everything Dedan loves in his own hands.     Something that becomes increasingly more desirable with each time that short loop of notes repeats, like someone who has no business being near a piano has decided to dedicate his life to mastering exactly five notes and not one more.     The saxophone improves it, but honestly, nails on a chalkboard would also improve that tune. It's a very low bar.     Of course, it's possible Gil won't deem this worth his time after all. That'd be quite a bore.     "I'm just surprised this place doesn't have a floor map, honestly. What kind of respectable office doesn't have a nice map with a YOU ARE HERE star?"
Priscilla	Wandering or charging down into one of the passages is an experience in going into pitch black motor tunnel and arriving somewhere other than the road you were on. Though they only look like typical 'JRPG'-esque dark doorways, you have to walk quite a ways through them in the dark, until the start and end are invisible on both sides, before finally exiting to the new area.     This is a relief for those going north and east, as the soun of piano mashing slowly fades into the background. Meanwhile, those going west find it becoming *heinously* loud, as if being played right in their ear. In all cases however, when you emerge, the piano suddenly goes right back to its previous background level, loudening or quieting depending on which direction you went.     West ends up in a room that looks exactly the same; another four way intersection of corridors. East and north enter a room slightly more interesting, but the fact is both east and north end up in the *same* room, despite the physical impossibility of it. While Tina et al. are stuck in what looks like a room loop, the others are in a room loop with a cat. The Judge is already there, turning his oversized head to grin with his even more oversized teeth, blinking slowly at the group in the way that cats do.     "I wish you good day, omnipresent comrades." purrs the Judge, despite how incredibly arguable it is that he's the one who is. "You will soon be able to admire all the apples and ultramarine landscapes of this area. However, you seem bewildered by the unique architecture of this place! If that is the case, you should learn to concentrate. In order to not be misled whilst choosing the opportunities offered at each corner of the maze, you had better remain and ponder a little while longer before crossing one of these trap doors next time, young drunkards."     Indeed, there is only one exit from the room the Judge has decided to sit around in, and the light makes it clear that it just heads right back out the way you came.
Aoko Aozaki	"I'm gonna take a wild guess if I ask whether or not we can just blow a hole straight through the walls until we find where we want to go, you'll answer that won't work, because this is supposed to challenge us in some way," Aoko says to the Judge, making it clear what HER approach to solving mazes is.     It's the Nanoha approach.     It tends to work!     Just, not here, because this place sucks.     She's a lot of things, but a solver of puzzles isn't one. Not unless it's blatantly magical in nature, in which case her sharp magical senses should be able to find the path. But odds are it isn't that simple, because of course it wouldn't be.
Thomas Alva Edison	George gives his answer, Edison shakes his head.  "Then I see this continues to drive towards a potential tragedy," He says quite bluntly.  However, like another member of the group, he decides he doesn't have the patience to deal with this today.   Edison goes with Tina, because her logic is impeccable.  "I like the way you think, lass," he says, now feeling a bit better and drawn out from his reflection.  Walking, he notices the volume increase sharply, and then go back to normal when they cross.  The room seems...the same... "Weird...maybe we should try heading in different directions and listening for the volume to get louder?  I think that's the way?" He says, not SURE...but it's the only clue he has, and things have been based around puzzles SO FAR.   "So let's go each direction until the music gets loud and go that way?" Edison says this and starts testing each direction.  He also marks each direction that is correct, so that the others could follow them.  He would assume when they don't come back that they'd figure they moved ahead.   Hopefully, that was the case.
Starbound Flotilla	George certainly has enough patience to continue what he's doing, which involves following the group as they move. "Well, that's not putting much faith in authority, is it Presiking? You got given a job by top folks, you know. Don't tell me you don't think they know what they're doing!"     As for the matter of the maze: "Hey, J! Glad seeing you again." He says, cheerfully, before addressing Aoko. "I'd say don't worry too much. This is a maze, but it's a whole lot less unclear about things than most, huh? After all, looks like one wrong turn just gets you back here. Stands to reason, if you want a brute force solution, there might be one you can find. Who knows, though?" He blares his saxophone a few more bars. Seems like he endorses, in some sense, the approach Edison is suggesting, as some sort of conceptual extension of Aoko's tendency.
Janine Liberi	Janine's gambit doesn't work, so now she has to solve this through trial and error like some /unwashed peasant./ This means she goes north, and is frustrated to realise that the piano is getting quieter. Bad choice, it seems. But hey, she gets to run into the Judge again, that's always nice.     "Man I wish I was drunk before doing this," she bemoans as the cat calls her a drunk. But he does offer a helpful hint; remain for a while, instead of rushing ahead. She doesn't really know what that means, but time to test it out. Through the only door she goes, and returns to the beginning.     By considering who ended up in that room with her, she could by process of elimination figure out the right way. But instead, she stands in the middle and waits, looking about and listening intently for any kind of cue.
Tina Natsumi	Going down thet dark hallway is disorienting to say the least. When Tina can't see where she's going and all she can hear is vile shitty piano next to her, there's the temptation to turn back the way she came. She even comes cose to turning around ,but she stays true to her path largely because turning around after moving forward so confidently would just make her look stupid if she turned around so soon. Plus, she's not even sure which way back /is/ in that darkness. Luckily, the darkness fades, and the western group comes face to face with... More paths! Wait. Does this mean she's going the right way? She reconsiders the option of turning back, if only to see what else was down the other path and make sure nothing's missed. Noticing that not everyone's went this way, though, she trusts in their judgment to explore the other paths and turns back towards the west! Maybe west. Straight ahead from where she had come from. Still 'west'! "That so? Mighty kind of ya to say that~ It did get pretty dang loud on the way here, yeah... Let's see how far this road takes us, then. If it gets quiet, we'll know! And if it's the same every which way, then..." Tina taps on her chin lightly, then snaps her fingers. "Worst case scenario, we start makin' a... A conga line o' exploration! Same person always goes first, second, third, an' all that until we know which way isn't takin' us back where we already were. Can't get lost if we move in a formation, right?"
Yuuki Kuran	Like a one of those indie games where you only have one save file that's permanently writing over itself, there's no option to start a new game. Thus, when prompted for an option, there's only one solution. > CONTINUE And so, awakening in a similar state without benefit of tutorializing or even explanatory content, Yuuki slides into temporaneous consciousness in the piano music maze being serenaded... By saxophone, and the sound of gentle rain. Certainly not the worst awakening, on the surface! But the piano doesn't move through the first few bars of music, like a Kanye single where the beat doesn't drop. So, like a Niel Cicerega track. The rain, as before, smells of plastic and (now) sweet ham, which is stomach turning in its regularity of assault on the senses. And the saxophone is being played by--     "George?" Yuuki asks quietly and groggily, rubbing a knuckle into her red-brown quirked eye. "Oh. You're back. That's good. Is the saxophone a special technique, or were you just inspired?" Apparently they're doing a maze, but for now Yuuki doesn't even venture a helpful guess or movement, trying to process things in order. "Are we... following the piano because it's a hint, or becasue we want a 'jam session' to become 'cool cats'?"
August Kohler	August nods to George. He's not overly suspicious of the guy, but he's a little suspicious...but his story matches up with what Albert said, and Albert said he had wished George was dead, so. This means they meet up with the Judge. "Hey, Judge. So, we follow the sound of the piano, it seems. We lost the sound coming in here...so the other way we go." He smiles slightly at Janine wishing she was drunk, before he doubles back towards the exit. "Alright, then, time's a-ticking." Following the path west the others took, August would hopefully catch up with the others. If/when he learns the group's plan, he'd follow it, allowing them to try each path and try and find the correct one forward. "When we find Dedan, we can find out what's going on and kick his ass. If he's one of the Spectres, well, he's in for a rough time."
Priscilla	"If you are so happy to simply lay eyes upon my immaculate fur, then I imagine you will continue to experience unparalleled joy in your future experience, considering how doggedly it appears you tail me." the Judge says to George. "I'm certain your penchant for pernicious rampage may prove altogether effective for seeking new vistas of uncannily identical red falls, but what would be the point if you were still stumbling about in a lost stupor, without any idea of where to direct your feet?" the Judge replies to Aoko. Seemingly satisfied that you've gotten something from his, big airquotes, 'advice', however, he returns to licking his paws and grooming behind his big ears as you leave.     Taking the only exit puts you outside again, but entering in through the same door puts you back in the first room. The west exit involves the same borderline hearing damage as the others, but this time you end up in the copypasted room instead. Stopping to concentrate, as the Judge had said, doesn't seem to be too much use at first, but the longer you stay put, close your eyes, and open your ears, the more you're able to make out where the sound is coming from, at least as it pertains to constant four-way crossings. It's entirely necessary; by the time you might walk a little ways into a doorway to check the volume, you're already coming out in either the trap room or the right one no matter what.     It goes on like this for an annoying length of time, a sense of progress only coming from the number of dark halls and wavering steps in volume that *don't* involve being dumped in the 'now get out' metaphorical gift shop. This must be why nobody's ever found Dedan's office --why nobody actually knows where it is. If even you were (briefly) fooled by it, the scatterbrained and ailing office heads would certainly never figure it out before being too discouraged to keep trying, if they were even brave enough to enter at all.     Eventually, you emerge into a room that is completely different without warning. There are no exits here except one, that being the entrance itself, leaving you standing on a broad swath of metal platform, like a balcony, over a flowing lake of meat that comes from a split waterfall above. For the first time ever in this place, you see something like ornamentation too; the back wall, between its many, strangely arranged windows, has odd, artful, semi-floral patterns traced into it at great size, almost like the abstract curls and fractals found in that corner of the Nothingness, save that they have visible definition. Other than that though, there's just a big desk of deep purple, and Dedan.     There isn't a piano in the room.     The tall, gaunt, scowling, excessively-toothed man behind the desk swivels in his chair to face you, and the dark pits that are his eyes beneath his intensely furrowed brows somehow get even more strained and angry.
Priscilla	". . . You!! By the Queen's thousand faces! Are you crazy? Are you just completely retarded?! What part of 'I'm gonna kill you' didn't you understand?" he snarls, standing up so sharply that his chair goes rolling into the meat stream, and is swept away. "I'm here to eliminate you." the Batter says, bringing up the rear, then stepping to the fore, taking rare initiative in the conversation. "You're insane." says Dedan. "I'm the guardian of Zone 1. It ain't nothing without me! What mental disorder got your blind faith to hide even the slightest bit of evidence from yourself?" "I'm the one who's going to purify the world." the Batter replies, unruffled. "And you're the pest that eats away at this land." "And you idiots just came along from the ride?" Dedan scowls at the Choir. "You're even dumber than he is." "Prepare yourself." says the Batter, still wearing his tranquil, slightly holier-than-thou semi-smile. "I'm gonna cut your face to remove that insufferable smile." says Dedan, long, skeletal fingers slowly unfastening his greatcoat, one button at a time, until it falls partly open, exposing what look like military fatigues and boots, and a bare chest of extremely high muscular definition, completely at odds with the warped, scowling face and skeletal hands normally visible outside his heavy outerwear. He doesn't look like a skeleton. He looks ripped. Like a marine twice your size.     "Then I'm going to beat your skulls until either your tiny brains fall out or some damned respect gets hammered in!"                 ~BATTLE TIME~
Starbound Flotilla	"A saxophone is always a special technique." George assures Yuuki. "Ever met someone playing a saxophone with a /normal/ technique?" He taps the side of his temple, and grins. "Exactly." And, on the way into Dedan's special meat-waterfall office, George lights up a smoke. "Hey," He says. "Lotta walking in that maze, and I'm feeling all jangled from the piano." He lets out a big cloud of something that smells like a hospital. "You cool guys don't mind if I wait up a bit, do ya?"     Once again, he refuses to go be in the same room as Dedan. It's weird. But it's not like he's failing to involve himself! While he chills just outside the door, he waits, grinning around the cigarette. When things get heavy, he takes a quick peek, squints one eye shut to examine it closely with the other, and pulls out a heavy flashbang grenade.     Soft countdown beeps fill his allied radio channels, giving his allies an early warning that he intends to roll that thing on in there and give it a quick burst of sound and light to stun the man and keep him from evading the upcoming initial strikes. Just because he doesn't want to be seen helping the Chorus doesn't mean he can't help without being seen!
Tina Natsumi	Fortunately for Tina, being subjected to endless jump scares in her streaming career means she's immune to hearing damage! ... Not really. She might not flinch as much as a regular person might, but the pain is still there. It's not like she can build thick eardrums or something to block it out. No, she just makes a mental note to visit a doctor by the time all of this is said and done. For now, she'll just have to settle for being in a place that reminds her of that one doctor's office, complete with unpleasant old guy with awful teeth! Dedan's shouting gets a disapproving frown from the cowgirl as she draws her revolver, her other hand already reaching into her pocket for her phone. Before she can retort with something witty, though, the Batter speaks up first! Tina breaks into a wide grin as that exchange goes on, tapping her phone to her head as the screen turns on. "We ain't never said we were smart, old man!" Wait. Didn't she hear something like that from somewhere else once? Hopefully, nobody else did. What Tina does notice more than her own possible gaff, however,is how gross Dedan looks with that coat opened. On anyone else, that ripped torso would be pretty hot! Just not on that face or with those hands. Glancing towards her allies slowly, Tina switches her phone to photo mode briefly to snap a picture of Dedan, then turns the camera towards herself. "PERSONA!" There's a flash of light, and then a RED WHITE AND BLUE robot appears behind the cowgirl, brandishing two star-decal'd rifles with which it starts firing on and around Dedan wildly to further try and keep the freaky old man in place! And also shoot him, too. That would also be helpful.
Janine Liberi	It's really annoying, but with that little nudge the Judge provided, everyone slowly makes their way through the complex. The constant pounding of the piano on the right paths have drilled a headache into her, so when they finally reach the fabled offices of Dedan, she is in no mood to put up with his bullshit.     "Fuck you, Mister British Smile! This place is a fucking maze to stupid bullshit! Your employees fall apart at the slightest touch, and your product ain't worth shit! If this place falls apart without you, the ruins will still be more valuable!"     Out comes her sword, which she points at the not-as-emaciated-as-he-seems Dedan. "You're gonna die here today pal. And because you built this shithole maze, no one will find the body. You're gonna be the last bit of meat coming from here!"     She takes initiative by summoning Biancabella, and using her winds to push her up, rebounding off one of the excessively high walls, then blasting down to sneak up on Dedan. Her sabre flashes, as she swings at the back of his legs. Slicing them open and prompting a spurt of blood. "Bleed out, bitch!" she shouts as she hops out of his reach.
Aoko Aozaki	Aoko is fine letting OTHER PEOPLE solve the puzzle.     Surely, her time to shine will come eventually, when they're faced with something that isn't a weird metaphysical maze of relatively non-magical nature. It also fits pretty well into her idea of keeping her hands in her pockets and being the worthless party member until she feels like not being.     Which is roughly when Dedan opens his mouth.     "How do you have so little chill? I've told you like four times now I'm just along because I want to talk!" Four? Three, maybe? Doesn't matter. "Geez, you're just a paragon of listening, aren't you. I guess it doesn't help mister Batter over there's provoking you." And also Janine. And uh... alright, it's going to be everyone, let's be honest. Or IS everyone, because there go attacks. A lot of attacks.     "Uuuuuugh! Fine. But let's try not to kill him, I feel he has answers we're going to lose if we do. Purification be damned, we have things to figure out."     Aoko snaps her fingers, and a volley of blue motes of energy shriek towards Dedan. They're not especially threatening.
Thomas Alva Edison	Edison arrives with the group as Dedan starts literally going batshit.  Of course, it's just bizarre to him as people seem ready to egg the guy on, instead of any sort of reasonable talking.  Before he can do anything...bullets are flying, fists are swinging, and Edison lets his shoulders sag.   Edison, slowly, steps up and moves towards Dedan, a hand moving right for the chest of the suddenly /ripped/ figure, and moving to attempt to push him the hell back and stare at him with his lion-headed figure.   "That is /ENOUGH/!  I have absolutely no idea what in the blue blazes is wrong with any of you, but it stops here.  I have questions, you have answers, we're going to talk them peacefully out, or so help me..." he says, with a sudden vigor, "I will turn you over my knee." "We're people of power, of prestige and of responsibility.  We should all be not dropping into being thugs the first moment we have the chance to use our strength and power on others.  So, you will calm your behind down, Dedan, you will sit back in your chair, and you will calm down.  When you have done that, we will have a firm conversation about what is going on, and why the Batter thinks you have been corrupted." "We will also have a conversation about the Spectres, and find out more about them.  If you are the protector of this zone, then /start/ acting like it instead of a spoiled brat afraid of losing his toy!"  Edison roars at the last part, absolutely /through/ with this.
August Kohler	They finally reach the room, August now possibly possessing hearing damage (probably not). When they enter the '''office''', August sees that Dedan isn't going to be friendly, and immediately raises the mirrored bracelet to eye-level. "Come out, Dietrich!" In a flash of red and grey, the mechanized black knight with a mechanical buster sword appears, as August responds to Dedan. "Shut up. You're a spectre, aren't you? Your employees are getting Burnt. Spectres are roaming free around your Zone. You're not the hero. You're the monster." Edison is moving to push Dedan back. So, August moves to capitalize on that, and leaps onto Dietrich's back. The knight suddenly boosts forward, and then slides around, moving to slash that blade /hard/ into Dedan's back, the blade igniting in flames to burn the 'spectre'. Hopefully, as Edison pushes, it'll push Dedan straight back into the sword, too, and further hurt him. "Die already."
Yuuki Kuran	"Always a special technique... I see, I see." Yuuki replies, nodding with the air of someone just about to fall asleep - or just having woken up. The entire sequence of 'puzzling' involving going in and out of brute force tunnels. Livelier in the dark than the light, when they arrive at Dedan - and George remains in the Dark Tunnel (of DARKNESS), Yuuki carries on the conversation as if Dedan doesn't exist - and really, does he? "I never knew you to be a musician, so it's just something that I enjoy... Everything here's just a little... you know, 'off', but..." Yuuki engages in an Absurdly Shoujo amount of ellipsis as the Batter - and then Edison - engage in Dramatic Talking. It takes her that long to realize that George didn't keep walking with them (though really, she should know, she's almost always aware of those sorts of things someways) and instead threw a flash-bang down the hall. So, instead of engaging in dramatic talking and strutting and posing, Yuuki just slaps her hands over her eyes for the inevitable beeping 'kerboom'. As the light clears, and the inner ear recovers, Yuuki draws Artemis from her hip-clip, extending the baton into a staff and with a swing roughly imitating the Batter, tenses and then swings full-force into Dedan's knees with her length of metal. "Thomas, don't spank other men, that seems very... ... off, too."
Priscilla	"Do you have any idea how long I've been doing this job? Nothing would function unless I did it! None of these lazy morons would do any work unless I made them! All of the Zones owe it to me that they have air to breathe and food to eat! You ungrateful little shits don't amount to a smear on my boots!" Dedan yells, even *as* the flashbang goes off, just screaming through the period of blinding white.     Janine leaps from behind while he's still blinded and slashes into his flesh, spilling *actual blood* instead of just cutting into weird paper mache spectre flesh, albeit it's so dark it barely looks red, only a few shades more crimson than the goo that rushes out of the Burnt when they can finally handle no more. Dedan snarls and whips around on reaction, slamming Janine with the back of his hand with the kind of pimp smack that could put someone through a wall if taken dead on.     Aoko blasts his front with lasers and finds that the wall of shredded abs is pretty damn resilient, eliciting a roar from him along with the smell of burnt flesh that is almost a welcome relief from the off-ham stench. He rubs his eyes furiously as Thomas steps up and shoves him, and then literally (not verbally) spits in the lion-man's face. "I don't owe you drones shit! Your job is to take orders and do what I say, so get back to work or I'll break your knees right off!" That's . . . an odd thing to say.     Dedan suddenly draws what is absolutely Just A Ka-Bar and flashes it for Thomas' chest, aiming to bury the blade straight into his heart in an instant, then bat him away and into Aoko like a bowling ball. "Piss off! That's your fault!" he snaps at August. He advances towards August, then seizes up with a howl as the Persona appears and suddenly grinds into his back with the chainsaw, shredding through surprisingly tough flesh. Dedan staggers forward, then whirls around and grabs Dietrich itself by the head, looking to leverage his strength and smash the knight face first into the ground. Tina blasts him with scattered rifle fire, punching holes in his coat, to which he responds by dragging and trying to throw August at Tina as well. "Learn your place and stop making work for me you walking trash!"     "What are you talking about, idiot?" Dedan deadpans at Yuuki commenting on music, before Artemis swings for his knees, which even he knows to dodge, jumping over it just so that it slices his shins. In the air, he comes down on her with both feet, aiming to pulverize her between his boots and the hard metal floor with his considerable height, weight, and strength.     "You are blind and deaf to everything around you. Begone, cursed spirit." says the Batter, suddenly up in Dedan's face *real close*, despite having been at the doorway a second ago. He swings the Emmanuel bat straight for his face, but Dedan fixates on him most of all, catching it in his fingers and attempting to rip it out of the Batter's grasp, though it proves strong enough that he ends up just throwing the player. The Add-On that comes at it after is similarly swatted away. "Is that it? You expect me to take this seriously?"
August Kohler	August doesn't manage to climb onto Dietrich's back, and the Persona gets grabbed by the head and slammed into the ground. The good news is that he can repair the cracked armor with regeneration, and that August manages to avoid getting thrown too hard into Tina, though he still goes that way, and manages to slide on his feet. the bad news is that it /hurts/, dazing both August and Dietrich, as August stumbles back, clutching his skull, and Dietrich has just been hit in the head and would, if a person and not a suit of armor made of August's ego, possibly have a concussion from sheer force. August leaps onto Dietrich's back for real this time, riding the Persona forward, and now that Edison is no longer holding him straight, Dietrich leaps into the air, and with a whir, that blade suddenly becomes a chainsaw whipsword. It's lashed straight at Dedan, moving to grapple around his arm or neck, and then suddenly, with a yank, pull the guardian backwards and into Dietrich's reach. When he gets close enough... Dietrich moves to slam foot first into Dedan's skull and with absolutely superhuman strength, crush him into the ground, kind of like he did to Yuuki. The whipping part of the blade hurts as well, so it should be effective, as the chainsaw gears grind into Dedan's flesh in the grab in the first place. "Us? This isn't us! We're here to eliminate the spectres, you asshole!"
Janine Liberi	Janine is backhanded hard as she tries to withdraw. She goes flying, nearly crashing into a wall, save for Biancabella conjuring a cushion of wind to halt the impact. The Italian slumps, having managed to retain her sword, and spits blood from her mouth. "Hah, is that all you got! My grandma slaps harder than you! Weak, ineffectual, disrespected. I'll carve it on your body to save on the gravestone. 'Here Lies Dedan, He Never Scored.'"     In truth, Janine is covering because that slap really rattled her brain, and she needs a second to find her legs. She leans against the wall and watches the fight in progress, awaiting her moment. When she spots a gap, she shouts, "Duck and cover!" at everyone before Biancabella picks up Dedan's desk with a massive gust of wind and launches it at the man himself.
Tina Natsumi	"Yeesh. Gramps sure is grumpy tonight. Today." What time is it? "... Whenever. Calm down a smidge, will ya? Don't blame us if'n you-" For all that time Tina's spending running her mouth, she sure isn't doing a good job evading. She tries getting the ALL AMERICAN ROBOT to shimmy out of the way of August's flight path, but all that manages to do is give August a better landing zone than a larger-than-average-person robot. "Geh...! Y.. Y'alright, pard?" Wincing as she gives him a quick pat on the back while trying to hide her own pain, Tina pulls herself back up as Uncle Sam brings what looks like an oversized loudspeaker in front of Tina. She takes in a deep breath, then starts yelling right into it. "Kick his ass, everyone! We've got the power of TWO AMERICANS, and what's he got? Nothin'!" Oddly enough, the audible sound isn't quite as ear-blasting as it should be. The air visibly distorts in front of the loudspeaker/sonic cannon, however, as it launches blasts of concentrated noise right at Dedan!
Thomas Alva Edison	Edison tries...he tries so hard.  Once more, reality does not coincide with his wishes, as the weapon goes right for his chest.  Staggering back from the blow he coughs up blood.  However, it was not enough to kill him, it missed vital organs and even then he would still be significantly harder to kill than most.  The advantages of being a Servant, he guesses.   Slowly, however, he rises.  He feels old, the weight of the world crushing on him again.  His own injuries not helping as he breathes slowly.  Slowly, he looks right towards Dedan, and then moves into motion, no longer slowed down. He moves to clock the man right across his face.  Again, and again...it was brutal, it was consistent.  He doesn't put everything into the blows, not yet...but he DOES hit hard.   "No, you shut up.  You listen.  You stop being the loudest thing around and stop treating people as if you are superior," He says, eyes blazing.  "Then if this is the only way for you to see reason..."
Starbound Flotilla	While the Batter is being tossed about, George quiiiiietly sneaks on in, barely unjostled by flying combat. He slips under the near end of the desk, where he takes a drag of his cigarette again. "Never liked this fuckhead all that much." He mutters under his breath. As Dedan has to turn and focus his sight on the Chorus, and as the desk itself is lifted, George decides to slip to one side and go over the edge of the balcony, hiding under it.     Magnetic boots and gauntlets, made to work with spacecraft and stations in orbit, latch tight to it, and he clambers around clumsily under it. "Alright, where is it..." he mutters, trying to remember where things were in his mind, and listen for where Dedan is /constantly/ yelling. "Around about... here? Eh, whatever, I'm eyeballing it." He tries to slap a sticky piece of explosives under the balcony, right where he thinks Dedan will be moving. He peeks over one side of the balcony, still hiding from the jacked skullhead, and tries to detonate the bomb right as Dedan's feet are on it, hoping to blast some hot metal shards straight up the man's shins without having to show his face again. Though, this means Dedan can probably make an attack on him without needing to see his face, exactly.
Aoko Aozaki	"Drones? Do we look like we're wearing suits and ties?" Aoko squints at Dedan, before receiving A LION PRESIDENT right in the face, which causes her to crack painfully against - a wall? Maybe Dedan's desk. The door frame leading in. It barely matters, because it's something hard, and it hurts.     "Ow. Rude," she says, getting back up, because being under Edison for any amount of time is probably not healthy for a Normal Human. He is big and strong and buff. And heavy.     Like America.     "You're really starting to weird me out. What's WITH you? First you're calling us ghosts, then specters, then drones, all the while your ACTUAL drones are turning into... weird... black goop zombies."     This is pointless, isn't it? Dedan doesn't seem to like talking. Or rather, he seems to like insulting people a lot. Not helping them. Certainly not answering them.     Her fist clenches, and blue circuits draw themselves across her arms and legs. She leaps, suddenly superhuman, to get all up in Dedan's face.     "Will you just SPEAK CLEARLY already?!"     And a punch, right to his sternum. Hopefully those abs give way, this time.
Yuuki Kuran	'Nothing would function unless I did it'. 'Lazy Morons'. 'Ungrateful'. 'That's your fault'. 'I don't owe you drones shit'. 'Learn your place'. And 'Idiot'. Dedan double-dropkicks Yuuki, bearing her right down onto the ground where her skull cracks and shatters across the floor, quite like Dedan first claimed he'd do, smearing viscera and bone and gore across the floor. It's grisly, and gruesome. The very sound of it could be stomach-turning. The Batter and Add-On come in to swat at Dedan and are similarly swatted back, and moments later Yuuki is back up, her head unbroken, her skull unshattered, and right as rain, as if it never happened... Less the 'scarf' of blood around her neck and slicking her hair betraying she did just get scrubbed out like pencilmarks meeting an eraser. "Oh, I understand now." Yuuki breathes, her eyes a glowing red like penlights behind rubies. "You're a terrible boss, and the world would be better managed by nobody relative to you." Bringing her staff up to hold it around the middle, Yuuki runs her hand along the top, drawing out the organic metal with a loud electric crackle into the form of a broad scythe-head. And then, like anime, Yuuki disappears in a blurring flash of speed, 'stepping' halfway across the room in a heartbeat to see George messing... with the desk? Okay. He's doing a thing. That's fine. That's winning on every angle. Good Concord centerline. What a wonderful subordinate. "I should give George a raise, later." She murmurs, as if not in Absurd Woobie Murder Mode. Stepping again, she finishes her speedy anime-blur in mid-air, mid-strike, screwattacking with the scythe's business end out directly at Dedan's Ka-Bar weilding arm, fit to chop the damn thing off.
Priscilla	The chainsaw separating into a whip seems to catch Dedan by surprise. Who wouldn't, really? Since when can chainsaws be whips. It bites into his bicep and drags him forward, bleeding down his sleeve where Dietrich's foot comes flying at his head, knocking it back, before he bites into the Persona's foot with those rows of ridiculous teeth, bleeding from the mouth, but stopping it, and possibly injuring the Persona in return. "You don't have a grandma you stupid cretin." Dedan spits at Janine, along with a glob of blood. "Did that insufferably smug preacher scramble your puny brains as well?" The desk upends and crashes into Dedan, grunting as he leans into it and snaps it in half with brute force, lacking the satisfying crash of something made of wood as it simply breaks on his shoulder, robbing him of momentum.     When Tina attacks with the third Persona, Dedan clenches his muscles, and outright hulks through the soundwave, blowing his greatcoat back and almost off his body, but he begins walking right into it, sneering cruelly all the way. Thomas steps in his way and begins boxing, while George slips underfoot where the lion-man blocks the view with his giant body, setting up explosives. Dedan takes two hits to the face and catches a third, snarling "Get back in line." at Edison, wrenching the knife free of his chest and punching him back and conveniently out of the way of the explosives that erupt underfoot and suddenly halt his advance completely with so much fire and hot metal (and molten meat).     Aoko goes flying through the smoke cloud, right when Dedan should be off-balance and blind, but her fist connects with his crossed arms, and his guard is like bunches of taut steel wire, stopping her absolutely cold. "I see a bunch of deluded rats who think they're somehow special and more deserving than all the other mice! Maybe if you put your tie back on, I'll forgive you!" says Dedan, before abruprtly elbow dropping her with incongruous expertise. He flips the combat knife in his grip and brings it down to finish her off, only to for the Batter to suddenly fly across the room as if skating, skidding into a deep slide under Dedan and smashing him straight in the ribs with a flash of the bat that sends droplets of white liquid everywhere as much as blood, the 'Alpha' Add-On zapping him in the face at the same time.     Reeling back and howling in pale, Dedan's arm succumbs to Yuuki's scythe, slashing right through what are probably tendons, causing his hand to spasm and knife to fly away and splash into the drink. "That's IT! You pissants have no idea what you've gotten yourselves into!" he bellows. The dark pits where his eyes are, buried somewhere beneath his perpetually twisted brow, suddenly flash white.     Everyone who isn't currently flying away from a physical blow is suddenly subject to white light in the shape of what looks like a clock hand, pointed towards each of them, and then coming slamming down on them like the blade of a massive sword, not cutting physically, but rending into them in some kind of metaphysical sense, spilling blood not unlike how a spectre does it, but also massively slowing down their senses and draining the energy from their body, leaving them feeling as if they're moving in slow motion and slogging through air turned to jello as hard temporal coagulation sets in.     Dedan begins laughing, not quite a maniacal villain cackle, but loud, sustained, and unstable, bellowing and mad. As he laughs, the air starts filling what look like Chinese or Japanese characters (to the Japanese person, they are, in fact, the kana for laughter), popping up like text dialogue in three dimensional space. They begin flying around the room at random, not even aimed, but just cutting into anyone and anything like spectre bites.
Aoko Aozaki	Flashback!     Alice: Aoko that werewolf has Mystery on the level of the Age of Gods, you can't possibly harm it!     Teen Aoko: I CAN AND I WILL! AOKO KIIIICK!     Aoko is sent flying halfway across the road. Following the road, not going across. She slams into a tree.     Teen Aoko: I have learned a lesson today.     Now!     Dedan slams Aoko into the floor like the superior melee combatant he obviously was. Aoko has learned and will continue to learn absolutely nothing from these encounters. It's lucky for her the Batter is there to prevent Dedan from straight up shanking her, too.     Aoko rolls to the side, to glare up at the skeleton-faced officer. "I'm not even FROM here! Do you even realize we're from other worlds entirely? Did the Queen not fill you in on that while she was hiring mercs from other worlds to fight us in your stead? Hell of an opinion she must have about you if she thinks you need help like that!"     Whether that yields any effect besides enraging Dedan or not, Aoko follows with a rising uppercut, blue flames gushing right out of her elbow to rocket her upward into Dedan's teeth, and, on impact - assuming one occurs at all - she releases a beam of blue light to cap the punch off.
Thomas Alva Edison	Edison goes flying from the punch, hitting the wall and sliding down for a moment.  Taking a breath, he pushes himself back up to his feet, but hearing the man continuing to talk.  He squints his eyes, not sure if he's just hit a bit hard and reeling, or if he heard that right.  However, he did, and he sighs. "Dedan, we're NOT the others in this zone, we're from the world outside of this place...I mean, it shouldn't be that hard to tell, I don't think any of your people are lion-faced Presikings like I am." Of course, the laughter... "That's like the Spectres..." he says, realizing what was happening.  Or what he thinks is happening.  Was it an infection?  Was something happening that affected the very people themselves?  He had to do more research on this later, but right now... There was only one thing in front of him, only one thing he could do.  Maybe he was wrong the entire time, but it was no use being upset about it now.  It wasn't too late to change things. He moves forward again, once more THROWING himself at Dedan, but now with much more forceful attempts to push through and fight the man.  He punches again and again, before pulling back just in time for the /AMERICA BEAM/!  A large multicolored beam fires from his chest, aiming to smash into Dedan and drive him back.
Tina Natsumi	"Preachers, lines, ties? Just what kinda crazy stuff are you goin' on about? We ain't your workers here!" Tina snaps back at Dedan as she watches those circling blades, keeping herself and Uncle Sam moving in preparation for the deadly hands to strike. "Watch yourselves, everyone! Just wait for 'em to come to you, don't rush around blindly!" Easier said than done, of course, when the attacks can come from anywhere at any time. Seeing the hands coming towards her faster than she can react, she directs the Persona to take the hit for her, although blood still spills out in slow motion as she starts jumping to the side. ... Why's it moving in slow motion? Hell, why's /Tina/ moving in slow motion? She can see the letters appearing normally, but her own movements are just so sluggish! Dodging those is futile, and Tina resolves to steel herself against those further cuts and bites with the AMERICAN ROBOT filtering those wounds for her. "What's.. With... Those... Words? Laught... Ter?" Lurching forward as even her footing is affected, Tina braces herself against Uncle Sam as the AMERICAN ROBOT draws out a cannon and takes aim not at Dedan, but somewhere behind dEdan. She's banking on one of her allies' attacks moving him right into attack range for her before letting loose with her own AMERICAN FIREPOWER! It's explosives. Cannon shots, rockets, even some fireworks and sparklers ^mixed in for extra flash! ^It's almost all flash, actually. Is this really an attack ,or is it a distraction?
Janine Liberi	The minor distraction of the desk managed to buy Janine enough time to steady herself . She comes off the wall just in time to hear "You don't have a grandmother," from Dedan. The man is clearly confused, thinking everyone in this room is the same as the drones outside. How he can make that mistake, who can say, considering the party has a man with a lion head.     But even if he's clearly mad, the notion that 'Janine doesn't have a grandma' hits her hard. Because she does, and she's great, Janine loves her a lot. And this place is so weird, who can say if being here has taken that away? It's a crazy, paranoid thought, but Janine has never been the most rational person.     "Fuck you," she says, as the clock hand comes crashing down on her, rattling her very concept and making her feel utterly abyssal. Her motion slows to a crawl and she looks like she's wading through soup. But Biancabella is behind her, and she manages to choke out another "Fuck you," through the temporal distortion as winds pick her back up to moving at normal speed.     And with this slowed-down high speed, she slashes Dedan across the back. "Fuck you." She's starting to speed up, backing off and speeding back in to slash him across the chest. "Fuck you." Back off and coming back in again to slash at his eyes. "FUCK YOU!"Back and forth, she slashes Dedan over and over and over, each one punctuated with an cuss. No regards for self-preservation, she just wants to make him hurt.
Starbound Flotilla	George moves about as quick as he can, but there's only so quick that someone can get out of the way of a supernatural spear from above, one that lances through his body and wounds his flow of time. "Oh, well shit." He grunts in pain. "Used to this, though." He's an old man, and he has Old Man Bones, and so for various reasons this is hardly the very first time he's ever had the terrible misfortunes of dealing with a slow day.     He maximizes his motion and minimizes its dependence on his agility, latching a grappling hook to the underside of the balcony and extending low, blasting with microthrusters to get some swing. This should let him whirl about, looking up around the balcony!     With his free hand, he pulls out a heavy pistol and begins blasting away at the great big HA HA HAs, trying to cover the group, and also doing his best to keep Dedan from seeing him still; as a bonus, hopefully, this gives him some chances to dodge around their attacks, or shoot them out of the air before they manage them.
August Kohler	Dietrich gets bit in the foot. It hurts, and sends the Persona reeling back off of Dedan, falling to the metal floor with a hard thud, but quickly righting itself, August holding on despite the pain to his body. August takes a moment for a breather...when the clock hand blade comes slashing into Dietrich, hitting it center-on, slowinghim down and draining his energy, and then kana characters bruise into August and the Persona, knocking them around. August shakes it off, even in 'slo-mo', and forces Dietrich forward, but he doesn't go for a strong attack. He needs to regain his energy. Specifically, August tries to shake off the weird slowdown effect, while fire again collects around the whip-sword. Instead of being used for a melee attack, though, the whip sword is swung in Dedan's direction, firing off a small blast of fire to keep him on his toes. Turns out, August still has ranged attacks!
Yuuki Kuran	Yuuki gets exactly what she wants. Her weapon chops and carves and disarms (but not, strictly, dis-ARMS) Dedan. Her determination to actually punish him for his transgressions as a leader, as an authority figure, as a 'boss', awakens her from the dreamlike state she had drifted through the preceeding time as. Of course, a dreamlike state of time is exactly what the shouting, laughing executive of Zone 1 strikes her back with. Another spray of blood, another splash of spectre-like crimson without a wound to go with it, not blockable by her weapon being raised crosswise into the motion of the clockhand, nor the molasses-time effect around her resistable in the moment, as each moment begins to drag. If Dedan wasn't 'past contemptable' and well into 'full on nonperson that should be removed with prejudice', Yuuki would be vaguely insulted by being laughed at, too singleminded in her cold anger to realize the monstrous executive is T-Posing And Laughing At Them. Stripped of her absurd anime zippiness by the clock's hand-fall, Yuuki remains acrobatic in her dodges, sliding around the HaHA complex characters to arrive close to Dedan's feet with her scythe cocked and couched in the crook of her elbow. She really doesn't have a smart thing to shout or a witty phrase to destroy Dedan verbally. Instead she leaps up, springing high in the wake of August's fire shot to sweep her weapon out in a ringing arc - straight through the last set of HaHA -- and ideally, Dedan's head, at the ear level.
Priscilla	Aoko suddenly rises up from below, after Dedan was pretty sure he flattened her, with a flaming magical uppercut to the jaw, snapping his head back and breaking a couple of his needle-like exaggerated teeth loose with an unidentifiable sound that just sounds angry. Before he can even hit her back, Thomas lands his POWERFUL AMERICA BEAM and drives him back, holding up his oddly CQC-like guard, sliding straight into Tina's barrage of shells and flashes, causing him to move his hands to cover his eyes and ears out of reflex, briefly looking up, only to be blasted with fire for doing so.     Hunkered down in the middle of the constant barrage of shells and AMERICAN BEAM PRESSURE, Janine comes down hard, slashing across his back, his shoulders, his arms, his hands, and everything generally protecting his head and center of mass, drenching his coat and fatigues with blood, starting to trickle from the platform and mix into the meat, 'tainting' the bright, sickly sweet red with dark hues. His laughter has stopped now, leading to a rapidly dwindling number of 'laughs' in the air as George wages his secret battle against them, as the unsung hero, leading to fewer and fewer of them flying around the room and slashing into people. Yuuki carves out almost the last of them completely, and actually slices one of Dedan's ears right off, cutting through the side of his neck as well in a way that begins sheeting blood.     "So you're all completely insane then!" Dedan outright screams. "I was thinking you were just stupid, but you've actually lost your minds! Useless! All of you are useless! Nothing gets done unless I do it all! This entire Zone won't function unless I beat you black and blue through it every day! You're either scared of your own shadow or completely out of your gourd! I'm sick of you!"     Spreading his arms, light spreads along the floor in a circle around Dedan, and rays of light shoot upwards out of it at twelve evenly spaced points, materializing into smaller, thinner blades of light, which go whirling out into the room along with the last of the 'laughs', piercing through whoever they find and out the other side, not only harming them physically, but slamming them mentally with splitting headaches and a forceful sensation of terrible disorientation as their perception of time decouples from the actual, leaving them further fighting with 'button lag' between trying to do something and actually executing it, many with even further slowed motions.     "I'll wipe the floor with you and get the Queen to make more! Shut up and die already!"
Thomas Alva Edison	Edison is driven into the ground, light impaling him once more, but he refuses to go down.  Standing back up with a mighty roar, he refuses to go down quietly.  Even as blood mats on his body, sinking into his clothing and fur.   It is time that he pushed himself even farther...as he throws himself against the monster again, this time aiming to catch him in a bearhug.  He aims to squeeze him tightly, aiming to challenge his SWOLE FORM with his own SWOLE FORM.   And then flips backward, aiming to try and press him into the ground in a suplex.  He flips back to his feet, before parts of his mystic code fly off, aiming to support Aoko's form, instead of continuing to remained focused on his own resilience.   "I do not know what happened to you, but you need to snap out of it before it is too late."
Janine Liberi	She's scored him, again and again. Her blade is choked with blood and skin. Her breath is coming ragged as she pushes against the temporal distortion, not wanting to get caught by another swing. But Dedan has clearly progessed beyond physical strikes, and launches another metaphysical assault. The 'Four o'clock' ray carves through her, making her skull feel like it's splitting apart. Racked with pain, she slumps to her knees and drops her sword to catch herself on her free hand.     She's really hurt. She went way too hard on someone way tougher than her, while already tired from the crawl, and is paying for it. And more likely than not, if she dies her, she'll be dumped off the side, a pointless, silly death. Her tired eyes meet themselves in the reflection of her sword, and she struggles to sync what she wants to say with the correct mouth and tongue movements.     "B-Bi... BIANCABELLA!" The Persona surges forward to hover directly before Dedan, before slamming both her bloody, stumped arms into his mouth and as far down his throat as they can fit. The blood they issue turns to rose petals that flood his body, sapping his power. His flesh seems to get weaker, bones more brittle, vision hazy, reflexes dulled. Essentially making him wide open to all flavours of harm.     "Finish him already!" Janine slurs.
August Kohler	"Alright, listen here. We're not your drones. We were never your drones. We will never be your drones." August says, battered and bruised and bleeding a little, but defiant. As he says the light whirls into him, knocking him and Dietrich back, and splitting open August's arm, granting him a massive headache and disorientation. Luckily, the bleeding stops rapidly, August's arm stitching itself back together... But the disorientation doesn't. So, there's only one solution August is okay with. Overwhelming firepower. Dietrich's sword wreathes with both fire and darkness, the two elements whirling around together, before the swordsman slowly, out of sync, slams the blade into the ground. Shockwaves burst forward as the metal shakes from the sheer strength and tries to drip Dedan up, as suddenly, blazing walls of fire and inky walls of darkness, both of which are painful and caustic to touch, form in a close space around Dedan. They're walling in his range - if he wants to get past them, he /will/ have to move through them, or somehow leap entirely over their high reach. And to make things worse, August is still inside that wall. Despite the input lag, Dietrich is fast, and it moves, slowly, to wrap Dedan up in the chainwhip and grind it into him, trying to grapple around his damaged hand Yuuki cut into, and just /rip it off/. "Do you really think you have a chance against us? We're the Chorus. And we're going to erase you."
Aoko Aozaki	Light, headaches and weird time shenanigans. That's an issue, with all that ache in her body from getting repeatedly slammed by an angry skeletonman. Aoko does her best to flare up a wall of light, but it only handles a hit before breaking. An attempt to dispel opposing magic with a sudden surge of her own doesn't fare that much better.     She hits the floor again, but at least has the grace left in her to roll right back up as if she'd meant to fall. The nervous laughter that follows indicate she did not.     "Ahah... I don't how someone can be as disconnected from reality as you are. Your queen's been playing behind your back, Dedan! Or at least she's seen fit not to tell you what she clearly knows." Or maybe she was acting under the delusion the Flotilla was local. Hard to say right this moment! But getting under Dedan's skin is a noble goal.     "Thanks for the assist, Lion-O!"     Another surge of magic.     "Barrel, expand! Set!"     A small sun appears in from of Aoko. It is slightly larger than she is. It has its own little solar flares and everything! It's very accurate, except it's bright blue and white.     "Heads up! SPHERE!"     Aoko punches the sun. It becomes an ANIME LASER BEAM that tries to swallow Dedan up whole.     "BREAK!"     Aoko punches the sun again. It implodes, and the beam gets that much bigger, and not one ounce less powerful for being more spread out.     "SLIDER!"     Aoko jumps up, and delivers an aerial round-house at nothing. A second beam blasts out of her foot, as large as the last, to cross the first and hopefully hurt Dedan a lot.
Tina Natsumi	"HEY. If believin' we can clean up your weirdo spectre mess is insane, then hell yeah we are! You can take /that/ back to your Queen if you get outta this with yer head intact!" It doesn't quite make much sense to Tina, either, but to be fair? She's a little woozy at the moment, still fighting off the sluggishness and buckling down to regain her footing. Her composure. Her sense of place and time. Her arms are moving normally again, her legs are where they should be, and that sure is a lot of light filling the room. By the time she realizes that it's another attack, Tina's already getting pinned down with more glowing spikes ramming into her. Even with Uncle Sam weathering the worst of the attacks, she can feel the disorienting effects of those hands dragging her down once more. She tries counting the seconds between thinking about moving and actually moving, but it's not consistent. Change of plans. Trying to catch her breath didn't work ,trying to dodge things didn't work. This time, she'll just have to focus on buckling down as much as she can, and engaging in EXCESSIVE FIREPOWER. Out comes the guns. Out comes the sonic cannons. Out comes the rocket launchers, the grenade launchers, and a laser cannon. "The Queen this... Queen that... Quit blamin' other people for your screw ups and get a clu, ya wrinkly prick!" If she can't aim properly at Dedan as a single target, then she'll just have to shoot enough that dodging is no longer an option!
Starbound Flotilla	Dedan's efforts bear a terrible fruit. While George, slowed and swinging, maneuvers below, he gets a bit daring, swinging up past the floor of the balcony and going for an aimed shot while he drifts in mid-air...     And that's when a shot lances him right in the head.     Thankfully, at least, it's a metaphysical shot, a strike in the abstract sense, rather than a chunk of solid material. As it passes in one side of George's skull and out the other, he cries out in surprisingly intense pain, tumbling hard to the ground. For the first time, George actually speaks to Dedan; perhaps it's the disorientation, perhaps the stress, or the pain, or perhaps he just doesn't have any more reason to keep himself hidden.     "Yeah. Yeah, good stuff, Dee. Almost makes you think, maybe it shouldn't function this kinda way, huh? Kinda suffering on life support?" He laughs a bit. "Yeah, you got us, Dedan. Crazy stupid and disrespectful." He darts onto his feet terribly abruptly, jamming an emergency needle into his neck to try to neutralize the head-splitting pain that comes with each movement.     Alerts barge into his vision, declaring that he needs to retreat now, or he's gonna eat shit and go down hard. He ignores them. Not because he's so confident that he won't eat shit and go down hard, but because he's so focused on making sure to use that last little bit of combat efficacy he has to the fullest potential.     "Would appreciate if you didn't beat 'em in line though. Deep down it's sounding like we both know where this Zone goes in the end, we just got different opinions on if it should." He's not justifying himself per se; it's the kind of conversation an irrational old man has with another irrational old man. Presumably while he plunges one hand into his Matter Manipulator... and pulls out trusty Harold. "Hey, Bats. Double header."     He moves in hard and fast, and swings with the sort of force that's liable to smash Dedan towards the Batter with force that shouldn't be contained within the frail form of a just-post-middle-age man, power-armored or no.
Yuuki Kuran	The words grate on Yuuki more and more as Dedan's mouth continues to run rampant. She claims another bloody trophy, but with a flick of her scythe, it's discarded with the dark blood that mars the cartiliginous chunk smearing her staff and hands with more of that blood. There's blood all over! It's a bloody battle, but that sort of thing is Yuuki's element (with a rosy filter, obviously, she's not a savage). What isn't, is being hit by CLOCKS. Lanced through the chest and right on through, the Minute Hand tears a metaphysical hole straight through her momentum, her speed slowing even further, her agility dropped another step, from anime agile to merely athletic, springing away from the rather tremendous amount of fire and firepower being poured on by her fellow combatants as she falls back simply to prowl, lurking at the edge of the office until George powerslam Manipulates Dedan towards the Batter for the Big Play. Hopping into the fray besides George, there's a clipped "Good Work!" before Yuuki's feet touch the floor to leap a second time, following the powerslammed Dedan towards the batter purely on leg thrust, her scythe twirling around so the bare cue of the butt faced Dedan and not the cutting edge-- --to thrust out with a spin, imparting all her momentum plus her considerable noodle-arm strength into Dedan -- all for that BIG. HOMERUN PITCH.
Priscilla	Thomas comes at Dedan to engage in muscular men grappling action. Despite being a Servant, he finds out *immediately* that Dedan overpowers him to a concerning extent, catching both his hands and slowly wresting his arms back, bending his wrists with some amount of malicious glee. When he is on the verge of breaking them, Biancabella lands on him and begins getting her blood/roses into the equation, causing the Royal Guardian to snarl and snap, and bite down on another Persona's arms when they approach his mouth, throwing her aside. The damage is done though, and his strength slowly failing, Edison begins winning the grapple, until finally he is able to throw the man over his shoulder and send him crashing to the floor.     The Batter is there again already, everywhere in-stance without ever really seeming to move while anyone is looking. "You've forgotten me." he remarks in his same steadfast tones, eyes actually closed as he winds up, and then hits Dedan with the exact sound of a baseball crisply cracked into a home run, painting the metallic floor with yet more slippery blood and hurling Dedan straight into the massive pillars of roiling dark fire that August causes to erupt all around him.     The Queen's Inspector goes tumbling through the hellish veil of flame and arrives on the other side blacked from head to toe, his wounds effectively cauterized, but his white flesh peeling off all the same, the tatters of his coat smouldering. He staggers to his feet, pointing towards you, getting out a "You . . ." before both Aoko and Tina tag-team blast him. A solid wall of cannon shots, heavy explosive, and sonic blasts blow him back, shattering bones, disgorging blood from his gaping mouth, and driving him all the way *back* to the edge of the fiery curtain, grunting in exertion as he squares his arms, digs his heels in, and stops himself short.     Only a split second later, Aoko hits him with giant anime laser one. He takes it on his arms, howling aggressively through the strain. She hits him with the second beam. One of his arms breaks, the shoulder dislocating. He throws out his functioning hand to the third beam, splitting it over his palm as the magic light consumes him, and blasts apart the wall of flame behind him as surely as it puts him through it.     Dedan tumbles over the ground, slamming against the back wall of the office, leaving his own shape as a blood print beneath the elaborate, one of a kind, floral filigree above. Slapping his hand to the wall, another circle of light rushes out from under him, like a wave, rapidly passing through the entire room. Two massive rays of light shoot out along with it, at twelve and four from him, thrumming with power like electrical shadows across the ground. He shakily gets to his feet, drooling blood from his chest, arms, legs, neck, and face, yet somehow manages to smile with his horrifically contorted face, slashing his hand down, and saying "You're all dead, scum!"     He's just said it, when George suddenly appears beside him. Dedan turns in shock, only getting out "Who the f-" before George clocks him with the Batter's previous weapon, the Harold Bat, sending him spinning away and straight into Yuuki's dive attack, accelerating him on a crash course for the Batter, who winds back up with Emmanual Bat, the tip making little circles by his ear as he slightly lifts one foot.     In the one moment Dedan is in the air, the twin rays of light cast across the floor abruptly flare up in floor to ceiling screens of burning, colourless radiance. Like the hands of a clock, they sweep in massive, room-filling circles from the center point of where Dedan just was, both going clockwise, but at different speeds that makes them extremely difficult to stay between. Hitting one is like ramming face first into a semi truck heated to 2000 degrees, even though it passes through you as well.
Priscilla	It's too late for Dedan, though. He's straight on course and with no chance to correct it. The Emmanuel bat briefly glows with an intense, pure white aura, making a strangely electric 'charging sound', and then strikes in a blinding flash of motion that casts white hot stars into the room like sparks. The bone-shattering crack that follows sends Dedan right back against the wall, splattering his last lifeblood against it, streaking it across the floor, and landing at a horrid angle that shows his spine is definitely broken. The rays disappear just the instant they close in on the Batter. The man is completely unmoved. Unconcerned. His capital f Faith in the Puppeteer, and their confidence in the Choir, is unshaken. "hhh . . . hhh . . . hhh . . ." Dedan wheezes, blood bubbling from his mouth. "Is . . . this . . . a joke? I . . . I . . . I lost? Lost ???" "You've been defeated, Dedan, guardian of the first Zone." replies the Batter, altogether too calm for the gruesome carnage all around.                 "This land is now pure."     No sooner has the Batter said those words than the world around you tints and saturates a bright, bloody red, shifting everything to shades of spectre-blood scarlet, searing to the eyes. Then, the tint turns to pure, perfect white, leaving you with no sense but that of infinite, spotless, colourless purity all around you, for a few dizzying moments before you're dumped battered and bleeding back into the Nothingness, right before the winking point in the black that says world map(?)                 Cancer Card obtained.                 Competence fully restored.
Janine Liberi	By exposing Biancabella's arms to danger, Janine has also exposed her own arms as Dedan bites down on the bloody stumps. The pain is felt in the exact same way with Janine, phantom pains flowing from her withered arm to her brain, causing her to belt out a single, awful scream before she utterly blacks out. Biancabella dissolves into blue wisps, leaving Janine exposed.     But her final gift in the form of crippling Dedan pays off, and everyone manages to pull it together and finish him off. The Zone is made pure, and Janine wakes up in the Nothingness, fully restored. "Holy shit, what happened? Did we do it?"
Thomas Alva Edison	Edison watches the Batter do what he does...and sighs. Even as he is beaten, even as he feels his physical body wanting to fade, he watches. Once more faced with the reality of this world. Breathing, then the world flashes white...     And they end up back in Nothingness...Edison, sits there for a moment.     "...I think so. We could always go back to check?"
Aoko Aozaki	"YEAH, TAKE THAT!" Aoko yells at Dedan.     Wait, what's that light.     Oh. Oh no.     "Sore loser! SORE LOSER!"     Okay, hang on, she can do this. She can just...     "Hear me, Lord of All Creation! I announce! In my name representing order--" That's a chant. A sudden, intense surge of power!     SEVERAL SCENES AGO:     A specter shoots a headache at Aoko.     Aoko shoves the headache into the future instead of putting up with that, because man, fuck that noise.     NOW:     A crippling, psychic headache suddenly rips through Aoko's chant. It is awful. This is followed immediatly by INTENSE SCORCHING HEAT and tumbling about on the floor. Dead? Thankfully not. Dying? You wish you could get rid of Aoko that easily. In intense pain? Oh yes.     "I demand we bring him back to life so I can punch him again," she rumbles from her comfortable position on the floor, not bothering to get up.
Tina Natsumi	All Tina has to do is weather what she can only hope is the last of Dedan's attacks, shoot him more than his clocks stab her, and... Something good'll hpapen! Maybe. It's hard to really think straight when her perception of time is so screwy, and even trying to tense up for the incoming hands as they sweep across the room proves to be too much for the cowgirl. At least she dodged it somehow, right? She's moving fast, so she must have somehow thought to dodge it before it even appeared. Or... No, no, she's just being flung across the room and set on fire. That's fine, too. Except it totally isn't. Thankfully, landing right on her head blocks out the rest of the horrible burning and gaping wounds with a heaping helping of head trauma! By the time Tina finally comes to again, the world is shifting colors, the Batter is saying something cryptically simple, and there's a... Card? Yes, a card. "... Heck was all that? Ugh. Remind me to stick with shootin' and climbin' higher next time. All o' y'all got your parts together in one piece?"
August Kohler	Rays of light sear into August, even if he's happy about his firewall, and, well - light is his weakness now, instead of fire. He's just discovering that, as it explains why light was fucking him up pretty decently before, and causes excruciating pain as both Persona and Wielder spasm from the pain, August incapable of desummoning Dietrich. They're left writhing there, August feeling it intensely, until eventually, the world fades away. And they're in a world of pure white. They've won. After a few minutes of heavy breathing and pain, August desummons Dietrich, rises, and finally, gets fully healed. They have the Cancer Card now, it seems. August just sighs in relief, moves up to the Batter, and pats him on the shoulder. It's weird for him to be so touchy. "We did it. Next time, I assume we're going to clear out Zone 2. I'm betting that Queen's a spectre, based on the mercenaries and Dedan being a spectre. We'll purify the zones, don't worry." August is pretty zealous about this. No wonder the original Wide Angle painted him as an Inquisitor.
Yuuki Kuran	It's fine. Light isn't a lethal variety to Yuuki. Then again, what is? It's fine. Once she imparts her velocity into Dedan, the scything beams and clock hands can tear out another chunk of her blood. It's fine. Because Yuuki can fall on the ground, be beaten there by attacks, and watch Dedan fly straight down the plate towards the Batter's homerun special. The purifying 'bath' of ichor that sprays behind the crack of that louisville slugger gets all over Yuuki to a vastly unsatisfying degree, before the world turns red. That's not the part that gets Yuuki's eyes, even at its most eye-searing. You can guess at the reason! It's the world of white that gets her to squint and shy away. "Did we... win?" "Oh... that's good. I'm feeling both very refreshed and very tired. I'm glad you pulled through, Batter.""