Scene #6495: P:WtWM

Owner	Pose
Janine Liberi	They came in the night. Alberichstadt had been hit with a rolling blackout that rendered the streets pitch black. Along the dark, quiet streets, dark vans with quiet engines and padded tyres. They move in quiet unison, taking up positions throughout the city. Some open up, and deposit people in plain clothes. Others deposit electricians, who start working on substations. But the ones that emerge from the van outside Janine Liberi's home are clad in body armor, night vision goggles, and carry submachine guns. They quietly breech the locked doors, both front and rear, and tactically spread out throughout the house. As they head up the stairs, the sound of a toilet flushing causes them to freeze and level their guns at the source. The bathroom door is kicked open, and Janine strides out, spotting the agents in the light spilling from the open door. "Lie face down on the floor," one of them says through a voice modulator, levelling their gun at her. Janine opens to instead rush for her bedroom. The guns ring out, firing rubber bullets with the power of gas cartridges. While this means the guns lack killing power, it renders them quiet. But Janine's speed outpaces the bullets, and she grabs her phone before leaping out an open window. "Biancabella!" she shouts, paying no mind to silence. Her Persona emerges, and conjures winds to cushion her fall and blow away the agents lying in wait. Using only the dim light from her phone, she races for the fence separating her home from other properties and vaults it with Biancabella's help. One of the agents speaks into a radio. "Subject Liberi has escaped. All units, be on the lookout and prepare to intercept." Janine meanwhile, hops from garden to garden, setting off a multitude of security lights as she accesses the Multiversal broadbands. "Jesus Christ, I have a bunch of black-ops motherfuckers break into my home!" she shouts into the receiver. "Probably gonna need an assist, I left my sword behind, it's pitch black, and there might be more of them out here!" The only nearby warpgate is the one in the cave near the Die Reisende shack. This is, to be charitable, a ways away from Janine's home. Crossing the entire town to find her will be a feat. And while they may not know it, more agents lie in wait to intercept. Who are these people? What do they want?
August Kohler	August wakes up as soon as the emergency blares. He'd been having nightmares anyways, as usual, so it wasn't regretful. He quickly gets dressed, grabbing his revolver, a knife, and especially the mirrored bracelet, before heading out the door. The shack was no longer invisible. It was still hard to notice, since the magic defending it still partially worked, but it was getting weaker each day, and eventually, it'd be clearly visible in the daylight. August was lucky he wasn't the one attacked, but this meant that as he left the barrier, the interception squad could notice him in the trees, shining a flashlight in the dark to get through. And when they'd fire at him, it'd be too quiet to hear. But rubber bullets can't take out August anymore, not in a few hits. He's stronger than that. Dietrich tears into the trees, August on his back, trying to find the interception squad and slice through most of them (he wants one alive, their leader, to learn what the fuck's going on). "Alright, you bastards! My name is August Kohler, and you've picked the wrong person to start a fight with! Toss up your guns and I might be nice enough to let you live!" August shouts into the treeline. He's not going to accept people assaulting his 'territory'. This place is his. He's safe here. And he won't let them make it dangerous.
Sanary Rondel	Sanary is one of the responders to Janine's summons, and it's clear when she emerges from the warp gate that being quiet is not her approach today. She's clad in a black coat, sure, but she's bearing a riot shield that may or may not be stolen along with her usual amount of axes. That is, a lot of them. Big ones, throwing ones, even a somewhat longer one that isn't particularly heavy for its length. Once Janine sends out the coordinates, the healer starts taking a roundabout path heading towards it. If anyone asks, it's because she's trying to beat the black ops guys at their own game and is totally two steps ahead of their black oppyness! It's definitely not because she assumed she was just heading to Janine's house first and has to double back to go the actual way. Not at all. Should she run into any of those black ops troops, meanwhile, her first order of business: Whipping tomahawks at them like a madwoman and leaving the interrogation to August.
Staren	Janine is under attack by 'black ops motherfuckers'? That's interesting. Either the locals have finally seen through the masquerade, in which case Staren would love to teach them and establish relations and attacking one of their persona-users is a misunderstanding... or they're someone seeking to interfere in the mirror forest for questionable reasons, in which case they should probably be stopped. Staren rushes out of the warpgate. Ears and tail notwithstanding, if these guys are local, he's obviously wearing armor out of science fiction. Energy wings appearing with no visible attachment to him stand out further as he starts to take to the air... but he doesn't get very far before August, and he, are met by interception squads. His helmet has night vision, so the darkness isn't really an issue. As long as they keep to rubber bullets and don't run away, he doesn't attack. Rubber won't do anything to his armor. He lands on the ground and his voice comes out of speakers like he's using a megaphone. "I am Staren Wiremu, Hand of the Concord. Stand down and explain yourselves and you will live." After a second or two he shrugs and adds, "Otherwise you will also probably live, but it will be less pleasant."
Sanary Rondel	When Staren mentions people still being alive, Sanary finally speaks up in her creepiest voice possible. It just makes her sound like a wannabe yandere edgelord instead. "Hi. I'm a healer. It's fine if we chop you up as long as you don't die, right?"
Rean Schwarzer	Rean also responds to the emergency alert, and while he's dressed the same as he usually is, his sword's already drawn, and there's a look of utter determination on his face. Regardless of the reason, sneaking into someone's house to kidnap them was something he did not stand for and he didn't need to know Janine personally to come help her. He catches up to the others fairly quickly, and points his sword at any oncoming 'Black-ops Motherfuckers.' "Your chances of success are a lot lower than you think they are, so you should probably listen."
Riku	One of the problems with putting everything into the darkness is sometimes you get more than you bargained for. THINGS live in the darkness. And some people know how to use it. There is no warning. There is no justification. There is no parley. One moment, a van is driving down the street. The next, they see a in a yellow vest and white hair in the headlights. Then the darkness rises up, a grotesque blackness with a hollow chest and claws thay grips the van and smashes into it, flipping it over. A moment later, he vanishes through a hole, stepping out of another inside the back of the van with his own blade outstretched. There will probably be comms equipment inside. If there's someone inside, he's going to try to knock them unconscious so he can listen in on their channels. If not, well, less problems for him. He needs to know what they're up to so he can intervene properly.
Janine Liberi	The battle is joined in the woods. As Dietrich lashes out, slicing through trees in order to get at the agents, some actually duck under the blade. A couple are too slow, and one is pinned under a tree, but actually manages to bench press it off of them. None of them volunteer themselves as the leader, but one does start mumbling into a radio, their voice scratchy and distorted, but clearly speaking in English. "Subject Kohler located. Encountering resistance, unknown hostiles. Requesting clearance for lethal force." There's a long pause, before it seems that clearance is granted. All the surviving men dump their clips and load up new ones before opening fire. Sanary, August, and Rean are targeted by hollow-points. Bullets that bloom in the wounds they create. Staren meanwhile, is shot at with armor-piercing rounds. How prepared are these guys?! And to make matters worse, one of them throws a flashbang into the mix, filling the space between the trees with a searing white flash. Meanwhile, in town, Riku is going to work. One of the vans is consumed by darkness, send slipping, the occupants crying out. The perpetrator disappears, appearing in another van and knocking out the sole occupant monitoring the comms. "Hey, you can't-" they start to say in German before being put to the floor. The devices in the van are advanced, showing positions of agents and vans throughout the town as members of this operation report in. One of the voices sounds young, but unfamiliar to Riku. More importantly, Riku can see that a lot of agents are converging on the edge of the city's main hub. Just as Janine radio's in. "Okay, I'm out of the suburb, sneaking around the edge of the city proper. Where the hell are you guys?!"
Staren	Staren doesn't wait. When they start changing magazines, Staren shoots at a couple of them with freaking particle beams. Armor-piercing rounds... it's a bit much to hope they'd actually go THROUGH his armor, but they damage it much better than hollow-point would've. Staren's forcefield comes up. His visor tints at the flashbang -- it doesn't matter, anyway, he has cameras even if he's blinded -- and he holds out his arms. The field drops just long enough for him to fire two more beam shots, and launch a half-dozen anti-tank micromissiles which try to pierce enemies through the heart. (They're clearly significantly smaller than possible with local technology.) "Are we done now? Look, you obviously don't know who I am if all you brought was tungsten bullets. I want to talk, not to kill you. You want to not die. We can both get what we want!" He waves at the guys he just missiled, if they didn't manifest some amazing defense. "I can save them too, you know. I've got medical technology AND weapons."
Sanary Rondel	Getting shot at isn't a new thing for Sanary. Getting shot at and actually being somewhat prepared with a riot shield is. Granted, the thing is strapped to her back and she's getting shot at RIGHT NOW, but at least she isn't getting any bullets in the back of her head. The healer staggers back as bullets slam into her, but she makes no move to actively avoid them. Instead, she starts laughing. Green light surrounds her as the bleeding wounds stop bleeding and just mask the sharpnel that's surely stuck inside of her, but she keeps laughing. "Come on! You really think that's gonna stop /ME/, you... You... Sucky dumb assheads?!" She's trying to be intimidating, okay? As Sanary pulls that shield off her back, however, she spies that flashbang and holds her axe forward to defend against it as if it were a regular explosive. The flash blinds and disorients her, drawing a long drawn out shout of pain. Clearly, the responsible thing to do here is start shooting exploding lasers around. Even though she's blinded, Sanary can still channel energy into her eye, and channel she does before sweeping a laser from her eye into a large swath of land around her. Moments later, explosions burst out of spots her laser struck, threatening to ignite anyone that's unlucky enough to actually be in the path of it.
August Kohler	They change to lethal force. That suits August just fine, as magazines change and bullets pierce through Dietrich. Armor is ripped to shreds. But there's a twist, for them. The armor begins to repair itself. Even as August starts bleeding out the mouth, he's moving forward, moving to cave in the skull of one of them with absolutely superhuman strength (probably destroying his brain in the process, which August doesn't care about), and then aiming for the one talking through the radio. The flashbang ignites, staggering him, but August keeps pushing forward, trying to grab the 'leader' with Dietrich's spare hand and pick him up. "You get to live." For everyone who even knows August a little, this is pure, seething rage. There is none of his usual sympathy or attempt to do things without killing involved. He probably will feel bad tomorrow, but tonight, he just wants them dead and whoever sent them regretting this.
Rean Schwarzer	"Not a chance!" Rean shouts, dashing to attack the nearest reloading combatant. He swings his blade upward, and tries to knock the gun out of the guy's hand, then moving to the next one as soon as he can. Unfortunately, there's more than one guy firing, and a few bullets lodge themselves in his leg. Rean falls to one knee, but he's not quite done yet. A shower of blue light surrounds him, stoaunching his wounds- for now at least. Then the flashbang happens, and there's a lot of noise and lasers firing. Rean stays low to the ground so that he doesnt get hit in the process too.
Riku	Everything is hellish. He doesn't have the full context, but he does his bext to memorize what he sees and what's going on. The voices over the radio are a serious issue. ESPECIALLY since he hears Janine. He shouldn't be hearing Janine on that radio. He's forced to choose between continuing to monitor and tipping off Janine. He chooses to help Janine. That's the current priority for him. He'll need to come up with something else. More importantly, he knows where Janine is. He bursts from the van, leaving it as he looks around the street. She needs something reflective. He looks down at one of the rear view mirrors of the van and simply cuts the damn thing off of side of the vehicle. A moment later, a hole opens and he leaps through it. Sixty seconds later, Riku drops out of the sky above the edge of the city, arms outstretched as he descends. The Eidolon flashes in front, taking any initial bullet bursts before it hammers into the ground, sending out a shockwave of dark flames. Riku hits the ground a moment later, looking around for Janine. She'll probably be nearby. The moment he sees her, he'll yell, "CATCH!" as he hurls the rear-view mirror to her.
Janine Liberi	The agents move in the flashbang. Their goggles must have filters as well. One of them jumps on Rean as he goes prone and tries to ziptie his hands, but he's cut in half by Sanary's laser eye before he can secure it. Staren's micromissiles pierce the hearts of several of them, leaving only the one that August snatched up alive. It's a dire situation for him, so much so that he begins to speak. "We want August Kohler and Janine Liberi and we want answers about the attack on Drachenblatt Academy. Why did security footage show a massacre no one remembers? Who are you people?" Before anyone can answer, someone emerges from the darkness, slowly clapping. "Damn, you guys are as good at senseless violence as I remember!" crows a familiar voice. From among the trees emerges Sascha Leitner. Floating behind her is a Persona. A soldier clutching a sword with three dog heads jutting from his shoulders and the back of his neck. Each one has massive eyes, and they scale up from left to right. His pockets overflow with gold coins, and a tinderbox hangs around his neck like a collar. "You really should keep your ears to the ground here in Drachenblatt more, instead of gallivanting around out there," Sascha says. "You would have noticed these Stasi goons hanging around before I did. Too late now though. I've thrown in with them, and now you and Liberi are public enemies. Turns out governments really like the idea of Persona. Fyrtojet!" Her Persona bears its sword. "Now let him go and come quietly. You don't want your family to get a visit, do you Kohler?" Meanwhile, Riku descends on a bunch of soldiers that have Janine surrounded. Without her phone, she has no means to defend herself, so she has her good arm raised. One of them notices Riku, and guns are turned on him, only for the bullets to be blocked by the Eidolan. They are sent flying by the shockwave, and Janine catches the van mirror. "BIANCABELLA!" she shouts, the Persona erupting with a torrent of winds that knock the rest clear. "Phew... thanks for the assist." she says, an honestly grateful smile on her face. "But we should meet up with August and the rest. I don't think Alberichstadt is safe for us right now. Can you bring plus one along with you? I saw you come out of nowhere, so you can teleport right?"
Riku	Riku gets there just in time, which is good. He's been lucky enough so far to not take serious damage, but that's been mostly because he cheats like hell, bringing a real Black Swan situation into what would have been a clean roundup for these specops assholes otherwise. But they're literally not out of the woods yet. He straightens, looking around and breathing, one hand wiping his brow as he nods to Janine. "Yeah. I can bring you with. Stay close, it's easy to get lost... And I haven't been to that location before. It'll take us longer." Faster than running though. Probably. "Come on!" There's no time to debate, and Riku leaps in, expecting Janine to follow. Within the portal is an endless expanse of blackness with a vague sense of ground below them. Riku seems to be running ahead, working to navigate the darkness almost instinctively as he wends along non-Euclidean paths towards the destination. The other side will open near the confrontation, but there's no telling how long it will take. He had Janine's exact location. August isn't so lucky.
August Kohler	So this is about the school attack at Drachenblatt. Sascha Lietner shows up, clapping. Her real Persona. Her real power. Her working with the government. This is local. Part of August says that he should give up, talk to the government, throw around diplomacy, try and work this out. He could do better than violence. That part is wrong. The other part finally takes it out back and shoots it, as Sascha threatens his family. He became what he is today to fight this. To fight governments doing this. To fight people like Sascha Lietner. To protect people, like his family. Dietrich's hand swiftly rises, and grasps around the head of the soldier. Pop. It's exploded like a grape with the sheer strength of the grasp, as the corpse is dropped to the ground. "Burn in hell, Lietner." Dietrich moves swiftly. Darkness coats around the large blade, as it suddenly moves to swipe at Sascha. He expects Fyrtojet to intercept. He doesn't care. The weight behind the swing is like getting hit by a train. "You should have realized how badly you fucked up when we killed you the first time! Don't play this shitty game with me, you'll REGRET IT!"
Sanary Rondel	Shaking off that disorientation, Sanary takes a moment longer to repair the bleeding in her ears before finally getting a better look at what's going on. That sure is a lot of dead people. Also, a familiar voice and face. Unfortunately, it belongs to someone that's caused a fair amount of trouble for Die Resende, and the healer tightens her hold on her shield and axe while turning to face the new Persona user. "You... Really? That's gonna be your angle?" She gives Sascha an incredulous look before scoffing and laughing, stepping over towards August as he turns the soldier's head into something very not a head anymore. She holds a finger up, pauses, then shakes her head. She'll stay quiet and let August's rage speak for itself. What she will do actively, though, is channel an energy link between herself and the Persona user. If he had felt even the slightest hint of sluggishness from fighting those agents earlier... Well. Not anymore.
Staren	Staren doesn't support governments threatening families; however, it's clear that they have reason to believe August is a magic terrorist, and while they're technically not wrong, it's... still something that Staren hopes can be cleared up. He suspects that whoever this chick is, she wouldn't really risk dying here. She's probably got an escape plan, and only showed up to rile August. He's all for killing her, but it's too risky to count on doing so. So what else can he do...? First: He has Dawn search the local internet to try and track down August's family so they can be warned, because there's probably ALREADY more 'black ops motherfuckers' headed their way. Little does he know this will be harder than it sounds. Second: He has to get more of these soldiers somewhere he can talk to them. He hurries to the side of the half-dozen he dropped, applying nanomachines to sabotage their tech and stop their bodies from decaying for a bit, pulling innocuous-looking stones from his bag, pressing them against their chests, and using a tiny push of his own magic to release the stored spell on their bodies: Animating them as golems which he directs to go through the warpgate for pickup. He will debrief them later.
Rean Schwarzer	So Rean's got no idea what's going on again, and it's not because of the flashbang this time. The guy August is holding claims that there was a massacre at a school a while back that August and Janine were a part of.Another girl shows up with a floating dog-headed thing behind her. And she's taunting an already on the edge August by threatening his family, and claiming that she was the one that tipped off the attackers to them. Rean doesn't say anything, tossing the rigid hoop thing around his wrists aside, and immedately steps in front of August. "She's just trying to bait you! Janine is still in danger! We don't have time for this!" Would he listen? probably not, but it was the only thing he could think of right now.
Janine Liberi	Janine is a little weirded out by Riku's form of teleportation, but she chases after him into the dark iris and keeps pace as she follows him. It spits them out by the cabin, with the sounds of conflict coming from the woods. "Shit, let's go!" she shouts to Riku, rushing in and arriving just in time to see August pop a man's head like a zit. "JESUS CHRIST!" Dietrich rushes in, and Frytojet charges to match the attack, actually knocking Rean down as Sascha grins viciously. It's clear that while yes, she is trying to bait August, she also wants this fight. Their swords clash, shaking the woods with the impact as they grind against each other. But the chainsaw blade of Dietrich easily overwhelms Frytojet's plain sword, and the Persona is cut through. Sasha screams as her chest explodes in blood. "H-Hah... damn..." she gasps. Still standing, but it's clearly not a contest. But the woods light up as van lights approach. The other agents are on their way. "What are you gonna do Kohler? Kill all of us? Walk into city hall, put the mayor's head on a pike? Bring down the whole EU, declare war on the world?" Sascha lets out a mocking laugh that's choked with blood. "You've already got one down after all! What's ten, a hundred, a thousand?! Killing's easy, right?!"She cackles as boots hit the forest loam. "We gotta go August!" Janine yells, already stepping away, intent on dashing for the warpgate after the ghoulish golems Staren sent off
Staren	Staren also directs the golems to drag off other bodies. Their lives can still be saved, after all! Meanwhile, Sascha rants. "Please. At SOME point we'll run into a reasonable person who wants to talk. If the soldiers all suicide against us, you think the mayor's gonna charge him with a knife? If the whole world's gone THAT mad, there's nothing we can do to save it anyway." "Oh hey, more guys! Let's see if they're the talky kind or the get killed-y kind, huh?" Staren walks towards the vans. "HEY! I JUST WANT TO TALK! DO YOU WANT TO TALK? I WILL RETURN YOUR MEN ALIVE! WELL EXCEPT FOR ONE, BUT LOOK, YOU TRY SAVING A BUNCH OF GUYS SHOOTING AT YOU WITH GUNS, A 100% SUCCESS RATE IS HARD!"
Riku	It's right to be weirded out. The things Riku does are unnatural and wrong in many respects. But the darkness is a tool, one that he's come to rely on, and how it looks to others is something he's had to learn to not care about. That said, even he looks shaken by the way August handles his captive. "Holy cow!" He says, reeling as he sees the situation and the exchange. Sure, he's done some damage but not like /that/. That said, Sascha seems to stall have fire in her as she hits the ground. Riku steps forward, but Janine decides to bail. Riku pauses, and then nods, turning back and covering her as she heads towards the warpgate. There's nothing saying they don't have people waiting there too... And this isn't his decision to make. It's August's.
August Kohler	The swords clash, August not afraid of knocking Rean aside, but not moving to kill him because he's planning on leaving. August wins the duel, anger in his eyes, but... Reinforcements are coming. The others make him weigh what to do. Will he kill ten, a hundred, a thousand? ...yeah, he will, he tells himself. If he has to. But right now, he has something else he needs to do. "I'll see you again, I'm sure of it. And then I'll cut your tongue from your throat." August raises the sword one more time in Dietrich's hands, but as it slashes, it misses Sascha entirely. This is intentional. Fire comes off the tip, and blasts out in an explosive burst. It flies, and flies, and impacts with the nearby Shack. The barrier is destroyed, as the shack is lit ablaze, burning the place the group called home. The fire's going to spread. It's going to be disastrous - the Black Forest is full of trees. It's going to be an absolutely nasty forest fire that's going to tear a national landmark aflame. And it's the perfect distraction. August books it on Dietrich, heading for the warpgate. The soldiers won't pursue - they'll be caught in the fire. They'll probably survive, with Sascha's help, but August doesn't care. Next time, she stays dead.
Sanary Rondel	As Sanary maintains that link to August to let him go ham with whatever he and Dietrich may need, she sees the curious teleportation abilities of... Janine?! Oh. Wait. That's Riku's work. Breathing a sigh of relief, she unhooks that longer lightweight axe from her belt while strapping the riot shield to her back. "Alright, let's go. This..." She spares a glance to Sascha and mouths 'run' silently to her before moving to help Rean up should he need a hand. "Come on, you don't wanna get burnt by any of that. It sucks." There's a distant look in her eye, not unlike someone having a brief mental flashback about something. "We'll get you caught up in a few, alright? But first things first and all that." Should he need it, she'll even haul him over her shoulder, but only if he really does need the assist. Either way, she takes off after August and Janine to keep their backs covered through the power of having a riot shield strapped to her back! The latter even gets offered that longer, lightweight axe. "Just in case."
Rean Schwarzer	The two Personas colliding knocks Rean flat on his back. At least Janine was here, and their job was done. "Thanks," he mutters, taking Sanary's hand. He then headed through the warpgate- no reason to add 'being set on fire' to his list of injuries today. Before stepping through though, he turned to look back at the mess behind them. Despite his words, he understood why August was so mad. If it were him.. ...It wouldn't be all that different, would it? And that was the scary part.
Janine Liberi	The Black Forest catches quickly, and the flames spread. Indeed, the agents opt out of pursuing everyone in favor of getting away. If the gunshots hadn't alerted people, the fire will. This, sadly, makes them difficult to talk to. Sascha retreats with them, but not after smirking at August and saying, "You won't get me twice." It's a mad dash to the warpgate. Janine looks over her shoulder at the Shack as it crumbles, the distant sound of glass breaking as their mirror breaks. But onward, through the warpgate. "Keep going, don't let them follow us," Janine says, Biancabella conjuring winds to push at their backs and urge their escape. Once they've gained some ground, she turns and hits August as hard as she can with the car mirror. "Thanks for saving me," she says, voice dripping with venomous sarcasm. "And thanks for escalating the situation. Now we /can't/ go back! Oh God, what are they going to tell my family?" She turns away from him and puts her hand to her face, taking a long deep sniffle before letting out a choked sob. "What are we even doing? How did we get here?..." She walks off before anyone can offer any condolences, and ignores any shouted after her.
Staren	Oh sure, now they run away! And Staren tried so hard not to set the forest on fire. Oh well. He glances around, but with a forest fire starting there isn't a really good place to leave a way to contact him. He'll have to hope that the soldiers he recovered, and their gear, provide a means to open diplomacy with the German government, or whoever sent them. He doesn't say anything more to August and Janine. He told them the situation was untenable long ago, and this is not the time for 'I told you so's. Besides, he needs to plan how he's going to handle these guys...